And now, O Lord, what wait I for? Surely my hope is in Thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions, remove Thy stroke away from me, I am even consumed by the blow of Thy hand.

When Thou with rebukes dost chasten man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry, hold not Thy peace at my tears;

For I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers

were.

0 spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more seen.

Let all those that seek Thee, rejoice and be glad in Thee; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord careth for me; Thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying, O my God.

Amen, Amen, Amen.

Then read the second chapter of Ecclesiasticus;

or the sixth chapter of S. Matthew's gospel,

or the twelfth chapter to the Romans,

or the fifth chap. of the second Ep. to the Thessalonians, or the first of Timothy, the sixth chapter,

or Hebrews the twelfth,

or James the fifth ;-these at several times.

After the chapter is read, sit still a while, and consider of such comforts or instructions as are in the chapter, fitted to your needs. If this office be said by a minister in the company of the afflicted person, then he may add such useful and comfortable discourses as are occasioned by the chapter, and then say the following collects. After meditation or discourse, humbly kneel down and pray. An act of repentance. I.

O MY God and Father, in vain do we beg to have Thy heavy hand taken from us, so long as the cause remains: our sins, O God, our sins are so great, so numerous, so intolerable, that we must needs with shame hide our face, and confess we have deserved all the evil that we suffer, and all that which Thou hast threatened. We have, O God, more to give Thee thanks for, than we have to deplore. It is Thy infinite mercy that we are yet kept from feeling Thy severest judgments: it is Thy mercy that we have our senses and our understandings, that we have the use of Thy word and sacraments, that we have not intolerable pains of body, and unsufferable troubles in

:

our mind it is Thy blessing that we have bread, that we have many friends, that we have the prayers of Thy faithful servants; that we have faith in Thee, and that we have hope: it is Thy infinite mercy, that we are yet kept from the unsufferable pains of hell, and are permitted to pray to Thee, to rely upon Thy mercies, to work out our salvation, and to expect Thy loving-kindness in the land of the living.

II.

ALL the evils that we suffer, we have deserved, but nothing of this good have we deserved; we are less than the least of all Thy mercies, and our sins are greater than the greatest of all our sufferings. And now, O God, Thou who hast so mercifully dealt with Thy servants in taking a less fine of us than in justice Thou mightest have exacted, be pleased also to proceed in the methods of Thy mercy; and make our present sufferings be instrumental of Thy glory, of the pardon of our sins, of the sanctifications of our spirits, of the humiliation of our souls, that, like silver tried in the fire, we may some forth more pure, vessels of honour, pleasing and acceptable to Thee in Jesus Christ.

III.

An act of patience and resignation.

We know, O God, that Thou art infinitely wise and infinitely good, and Thou disposest all the events of Thy creatures to excellent purposes, and delightest to bring good out of evil. Behold, O God, we are Thy servants and Thy creatures; do to us as seemeth good in Thine eyes, only give us patience and a long-suffering spirit, that we may not murmur secretly when we complain openly; that we may not make haste in the day of our calamity, but with a quiet spirit expect and wait for the time of our redemption. But make no long tarrying, O Lord; make haste to help us, O God of our salvation; and be pleased to give us a light from heaven, that with the eye of faith we may see beyond the cloud, and look for those comforts which Thou didst prepare for Thy servants that love Thee, and put their trust in Thee, and have laid up all their hopes in the bosom of God.

IV.
An act of hope.

O GOD our God, Thou hast said unto us, I will never leave you nor forsake you; Thou hast often eased our calamities, and taken off Thy severe hand; Thou hast promised to be with us in time of need, Thou delightest to deliver them whose confidence is in Thy

goodness. Thou hast supported our spirits in the day of our sorrow, and hast given us many intervals and spaces of refreshment, and renewest Thy loving-kindness day by day: O let us never have our portion amongst the hopeless and desperate. Let us always pray to Thee, and hope in Thee, and in every period of our affliction let us do some actions of virtue, by which we may please Thee, and be accepted so long as we can pray. Thou hast commanded us to hope, and we do hope that these comforts shall refresh our souls, that Thy mercies will support us under our afflictions, that Thy spirit shall comfort us in it, and Thy grace and Thy glorious providence shall speedily deliver us from it. Amen, blessed Jesus, Amen.

V.

The petition.

AND now, O most merciful Father, give Thy servants admittance to present our complaint before the throne of grace, and let our petition enter into Thy presence: Thy arrows stick fast in us, and Thy hand presseth us sore; open Thy heart, the treasure and spring of mercy, and thence let comforts and refreshments descend upon Thy servants. Put a blessed period to our sorrows, but first put a stop to our sins; let us not sin against Thee, when for sin Thou art smiting us; let us never charge Thee foolishly, nor behave ourselves peevishly towards others, but use all the means we can to ease their sorrows, to lighten their burdens, to sweeten their lives, that so we may expect from Thy goodness a more plentiful and abundant measure of loving-kindness.

VI.

LORD, put a bar and stop unto our passions; make them to be humble ministers of religion [and prudent government]; but never let us suffer any violent transportations in ourselves, never be provoked to any bitterness, never to be harsh or cruel towards any, never to speak any thing peevishly and undecently, never to put too much upon any temporal interest; in all things let us behold Thy providence, and reverence Thy justice, and adore Thy majesty, and feel Thy mercy, and obey Thy spirit; and if Thou shalt still persevere to smite us, and to try Thy servants, let not Thy punishing us ever cause us to sin against Thee. Let not our own follies be our scourges, lest we sin against Thee, and lose Thy blessing for

ever.

VII.

BE pleased, O God, to add this favour unto Thy servants, that our trouble may not be doubled or increase by our own infirmities; take from us all troublesome fancies and too quick apprehensions of our a ['O my God' A.]

['O Lord' B.]

sorrows; blessed be Thy name, they are finite, and they are temporal sorrows, they are less than our sins, and they are less than Thy mercies; give us grace to despise the world, and all its interests and possessions, that while we set not our affections upon them, we may not be too much afflicted when we are crossed in them; but let our great care be to please Thee, our greatest fears lest we should sin against Thee; let our duty be our employment, Thy providence our portion, Thy spirit our guide, Thy law our rule: that when this cloud is passed over, we may see the brightness of Thy face, and perpetual showers of grace and mercy, refreshing our sad and weary spirits: so shall Thy servants sing praises to the honour of Thy name, when Thou shalt have saved our souls from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling. Grant these mercies, O blessed God and Father, for Jesus Christ his sake, our dearest Lord and Saviour. Amen.

A private prayer to be said by or for a person (mutatis mutandis) apt to be afflicted with fear of death or God's anger, and the uncertain state of his or her soul.

I.

O ETERNAL God, most gracious Father, in much mercy and compassion behold me Thy servant loaden with my sins, encompassed with infirmity, assaulted by enemies without, and apt to be betrayed by my own weaknesses within. If I am cheerful, I am apt to be careless of my duty; if I am sad, I am timorous and unsafe, too ready to distrust Thee, and to sink under the burden of those calamities which by my sins I have deserved. O God, I confess with sorrow and shame, that I resolve often to give myself entirely to Thy service, but I am so perpetually beaten with the violent tempests and storms of passion, that all my hopes and all my fears grow unactive and useless and are overcome by them, and sink under my own evil customs and infirmities, [lust, pride, ambition, anger:] and under this state of infelicity I groan and labour, and to Thee I humbly make my complaint; for Thou art my hope and my strength, my rock and my might, my Saviour and defender, my support and my deliverer. Ŏ hear the saddest cries of Thy humble and afflicted servant, and give me ease from my greatest sorrows: give me a cheerful heart, and a severe spirit; a love of Thy mercies, and a trembling at Thy judg ments; an infinite desire to please Thee, and a great fear to offend Thee; and though I humbly desire of Thy glorious goodness to secure and promote my eternal interest by what instruments Thou pleasest, yet because Thou art my Father and my merciful God, I beg of Thy infinite goodness to take care of my infirmities, and to pity my weaknesses; and make my religion to be to me the pleasantest thing in the world; that nothing may tempt me from Thee, and prevail in the days of my weaknesses and disadvantage.

e ['me' A.]

II.

O BLESSED God, be pleased to give me a perfect repentance for all my sins; and admit me to a full pardon, and not only so, but, if it be Thy gracious will, consign this my pardon by some testimony from heaven, by a holy and a humble hope, by a strong faith and a cheerful spirit, by joy in God, and a command over my passions, by meekness and charity, by forgiving every one that troubles me, and every one that offends me. O God, my God, give to Thy servant an excellent religion and a devout spirit, and grant that I may take great pleasure in the service of God, in obedience to my spiritual superiors, in doing the works of that duty to which Thou hast called me in my present state of life; and never suffer me to fall into a despairing or an amazed conscience, into the evils of a tedious or impatient, a wounded or an afflicted spirit: but grant that rejoicing in Thee evermore and delighting in doing my duty, in mortifying my passions, in loving and serving my dearest relations, I may be preserved in Thy fear and Thy favour, and nothing may be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.

III.

O My dearest Saviour, take from Thy servant all inordinate fear of death and give me a great desire after heaven, and heavenly things: and when Thou shalt call me from this world, conduct me by the graces and comfort of Thy holy spirit evenly and holily, certainly and cheerfully, to the regions of hope and joy, that in Thy arms I may expect and long for the day of recompenses and of Thy glorious appearing. O God, hear the prayer and most passionate desires of Thy servant; and since Thou hast commanded us in the time of need to come with boldness to the throne of grace, grant that I may be accepted by Thy mercies and loving-kindness, through the merits and intercession of my Lord, in whom I desire to live, and for whom I will not refuse to die, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus; to whom with Thee O blessed Father and most holy Spirit, I humbly give all honour, and thanks, and glory, and love, and service; and desire to do so for ever.

Amen.