PRAYER FOR A PERSON VISITED BY A SLIGHT

ILLNESS.

O Lord and heavenly Father, I come before Thee with my humble thanks for all Thy mercies towards me, more especially for the means of grace which Thou hast afforded me, in this interruption to my usual course of health. I thank Thee for thus reminding me that my enjoyment of the blessings of this world will not last for ever; that the things in which I commonly take delight will one day cease to please me. I thank Thee that, by calling me off for a little while from my common employments and amusements, Thou givest me time to think how I am passing my life, and what those joys are which, if I once learn to know them, will abide with me for Lord, deliver me from all impatience and all fear for my body, and fill me at the same time with spiritual fear; let me not be

ever.

afraid of pain or sickness, but let me be afraid of Thee, and not waste the opportunity which Thou art now affording me. Give me grace to think, under the visitations of light sickness, whether I am fit to be visited with dangerous sickness; let me consider what I should do, if, while my body were weakened, my mind should be clouded also, so that I could not then pray to Thee for succour. Now, therefore, O Lord, teach me to call on Thee while I can call on Thee, to think on Thee while my reason is yet in its vigour. Teach me to look into my heart and life, to consider how Thou wouldest judge me, to ask Thy forgiveness through Thy Son Jesus Christ for all that Thou seest amiss in me, and by the help of Thy Holy Spirit, to overcome all that is evil in my heart, and to learn and practise all that is good. Restore me in Thy good time to my usual health, and grant that this interruption to it may be sanctified to my soul's health, so making it not an evil to me, but an infinite blessing, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

TWO PRAYERS FOR SUNDAY EVENING.

O Lord our God, we are once again arrived at the evening of Thy holy day. May Thy Spirit render it truly blest to us!

We have attended the public service of Thy Church; Thou knowest, O Lord, and our own consciences each know also, whether, while we worshipped Thee in form, we worshipped Thee in spirit and in truth. Thou knowest, and our own consciences know also, whether we are, or are likely to be, any the better for what we have heard with our outward ears this day.

Forgive us, Lord, for this great sin of despising the means of grace which Thou hast given us. Forgive us for all our carelessness, inattention, and hardness of heart: forgive us for having been far from Thee in mind, when our lips and outward expression seemed near to Thee.

Lord, grant that this may not be so for

ever; but that what we hear with our outward ears may at last be grafted by Thy Spirit in our hearts; so that, when our life is drawing near to its end, as this day is now, we may not feel that we have lived without Thee in the world, and that we are dying unforgiven. Gracious Father, be pleased, if need be, to touch our hearts in time with trouble, with sorrow, with sickness, with disappointment, with anything that may hinder them from being hard to the end, and leading us to eternal ruin.

Thou knowest our particular temptations here. Help us with Thy Holy Spirit to struggle against them. Save us from being ashamed of Thee and of our duty. Save us from the base and degrading fear of one another. Save us from idleness and thoughtlessness. Save us from the sin of falsehood and lying. Save us from quarrelling and illtemper. Save us from unkindness and selfishness, caring only for ourselves, and not of Thee and for our neighbours. Thou who knowest all our weaknesses, save us from

ourselves, and from our own evil hearts. Renew us with Thy Spirit to walk as becomes those whom Thou hast redeemed, through Thy Son Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

O Lord, we thank Thee for having preserved us safe from all the perils and dangers of this day; that Thou hast given us health and strength, food and clothing; and, whilst there are so many who are poor, so many who are sick, so many who are in sorrow, that Thou hast given us so richly such manifold and great blessings.

Yet more, O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy mercies to us in Thy Son Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for Thine infinite love shown in our redemption, that Thou hast opened, through Thy beloved Son, the kingdom of heaven to all believers. We thank Thee for the full assurance of hope which Thou hast given us, that, if our earthly tabernacle be dis