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A short form of Thanksgiving to be said upon any special deliverance, as from Childbirth, from Sickness, from Battle, or imminent danger at sea or land, &c.

O most merciful and gracious God, thou fountain of all mercy and blessing, thou hast opened the hand of thy mercy to fill me with blessings, and the sweet effects of thy lovingkindness: thou feedest us like a shepherd, thou governest us as a king, thou bearest us in thy arms like a nurse, thou dost cover us under the shadow of thy wings and shelter us like a hen; thou (O dearest Lord) wakest for us as a watchman, thou providest for us like a husband, thou lovest us as a friend, and thinkest on us perpetually, as a careful mother on her helpless babe, and art exceeding merciful to all that fear thee. And now, O Lord, thou hast added this great blessing of deliverance from my late danger [here name the blessing]; it was thy hand and the help of thy mercy that re lieved me; the waters of affliction had drowned me, and the stream had gone over my soul, if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these waters. Thou, O Lord, didst revoke thy angry sentence, which I had deserved, and which was gone out against me. Unto thee, O Lord, I ascribe the praise and honour of my redemption. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble, and hast known my soul in adversity. As thou hast spread thy hand upon me for a covering, so also enlarge my heart with thankfulness, and fill my mouth with praises, that my duty and returns to thee be great as my may needs of mercy are; and let thy gracious favours and loving-kindness endure for ever and ever upon thy servant; and grant that what thou hast sown in mercy, may spring up in duty: and let thy grace so strengthen my purposes, that I may sin no more, lest thy threatening return upon me in anger, and thy anger break me into pieces: but let me walk in the light of thy favour, and in the paths of thy commandments: that I, living here to the glory of thy name, may at last enter into the glory of my Lord, to spend a whole eternity in giving praise to thy exalted and ever-glorious name. Amen.

"We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the

powers therein. To thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The glorious company of the apostles praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee. The noble army of martyrs praise thee. The holy church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee, the Father of an infinite majesty; thine honourable, true and only Son; also the Holy Ghost, the comforter. Thou art the king of glory, O Christ: thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe, that thou shalt come to be our judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting. O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage. Govern them, and lift them up for ever. Day by day we magnify thee, and we worship thy name ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded." Amen.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving after the receiving of some great blessing, as the birth of an heir, the success of an honest design, a victory, a good harvest, &c.

O Lord God, father of mercies, the fountain of comfort and blessing, of life and peace, of plenty and pardon, who fillest heaven with thy glory, and earth with thy goodness; I give thee the most earnest, most humble, and most enlarged returns of my glad and thankful heart, for thou hast refreshed me with thy comforts, and enlarged me with thy blessing: thou hast made my flesh and my bones to rejoice for besides the blessings of all mankind, the blessings of nature and the blessings of grace, the support of every minute, and the comforts of every day, thou hast opened thy bosom, and at this time hast poured out an excellent expression of thy

loving-kindness [here name the blessing]. What am I, O Lord, aud what is my father's house, what is the life and what are the capacities of thy servant, that thou shouldest do this unto me; that the great God of men and angels should make a special decree in heaven for me, and send out an angel of blessing, and instead of condemning and ruining me, as I miserably have deserved, to distinguish me from many my equals and my betters, by this and many other special acts of grace and favour?

Praised be the Lord daily, even the Lord, that helpeth us, and poureth his benefits upon us. He is our God, even the God of whom cometh salvation: God is the Lord, by whom we escape death. Thou hast brought me to great honour, and comforted me on every side.

Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works; I will rejoice in giving praise for the operation of thy hands.

O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his name: tell the people, what things he hath done.

As for me, I will give great thanks unto the Lord, and praise him among the multitude.

Blessed be the Lord God, even the Lord God of Israel, which only doth wondrous and gracious things.

And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever: and all the earth shall be filled with his majesty. Amen. Amen. Glory be to the Father, &c.

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As it was in the beginning, &c.

Prayer to be said on the Feast of Christmas, or the Birth of our blessed Saviour Jesus: the same also may be said upon the Feast of the Annunciation and Purification of the B. Virgin Mary.

O holy and almighty God, Father of mercies, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of thy love and eternal mercies, I adore and praise and glorify thy infinite and unspeakable love and wisdom, who hast sent thy Son from the bosom of felicities to take upon him our nature and our misery and our guilt, and hast made the Son of God to become the Son of man, that we might become the sons of God, and partakers of the Divine nature: since thou hast so exalted human nature, be pleased also to sanctify my person, that, by

a conformity to the humility and laws and sufferings of my dearest Saviour, I may be united to his Spirit, and be made all one with the most holy Jesus. Amen.

O holy and eternal Jesus, who didst pity mankind lying in his blood and sin and misery, and didst choose our sadnesses and sorrows, that thou mightest make us to partake of thy felicities; let thine eyes pity me, thy hands support me, thy holy feet tread down, all the difficulties in my way to heaven: let me dwell in thy heart, be instructed with thy wisdom, moved by thy affections, choose with thy will, and be clothed with thy righteousness; that, in the day of judgment, I may be found having on thy garments, sealed with thy impression; and that, bearing upon every faculty and member the character of my elder brother, I may not be cast out with strangers and unbelievers. Amen.

O holy and ever-blessed Spirit, who didst overshadow the holy virgin-mother of our Lord, and caused her to conceive by a miraculous and mysterious manner; be pleased to overshadow my soul, and enlighten my spirit, that I may conceive the holy Jesus in my heart, and may bear him in my mind, and may grow up to the fulness of the stature of Christ, to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Amen.

To God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the eternal Son that was incarnate and born of a Virgin, to the Spirit of the Father and the Son, be all honour and glory, worship and adoration, now and for ever. Amen.

The same Form of Prayer may be used upon our own birthday, or day of our baptism: adding the following prayer.

A Prayer to be said upon our Birth-day, or day of Baptism.

O blessed and eternal God, I give thee praise and glory for thy great mercy to me, in causing me to be born of Christian parents, and didst not allot to me a portion with misbelievers and heathen that have not known thee. Thou didst not suffer me to be strangled at the gate of the womb, but thy hand sustained and brought me to the light of the world, and the illumination of baptism, with thy grace preventing my election, and by an artificial necessity and holy prevention engaging me to the profession and practices of Christianity. Lord, since that, I have broken the promises made in

sins.

my behalf, and which I confirmed by my after-act; I went· back from them by an evil life: and yet thou hast still continued to me life and time of repentance; and didst not cut me off in the beginning of my days, and the progress of my O dearest God, pardon the errors and ignorances, the vices and vanities, of my youth, and the faults of my more forward years, and let me never more stain the whiteness of my baptismal robe: and now that by thy grace I still persist in the purposes of obedience, and do give up my name to Christ, and glory to be a disciple of thy institution, and a servant of Jesus, let me never fail of thy grace; let no root of bitterness spring up, and disorder my purposes, and defile my spirit. O let my years be so many degrees of nearer approach to thee and forsake me not, O God, in my old age, when I am grey-headed; and when my strength faileth me, be thou my strength and my guide unto death; that I may reckon my years, and apply my heart unto wisdom; and at last, after the spending a holy and a blessed life, I may be brought unto a glorious eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then add the form of thanksgiving formerly described.

A Prayer to be said upon the days of the memory of Apostles, Martyrs, &c.

O eternal God, to whom do live the spirits of them, that depart hence in the Lord, and in whom the souls of them that be elected, after they be delivered from the burden of the flesh, be in peace and rest from their labours, and their works follow them, and their memory is blessed; I bless and magnify thy holy and ever-glorious name, for the great grace and blessing manifested to thy apostles and martyrs, and other holy persons, who have glorified thy name in the days of their flesh, and have served the interest of religion and of thy service and this day we have thy servant [name the apostle or martyr, &c.] in remembrance, whom thou hast led through the troubles and temptations of this world, and now hast lodged in the bosom of a certain hope and great beatitude, until the day of restitution of all things. Blessed be the mercy and eternal goodness of God; and the memory of all thy saints is blessed. Teach me to practise their doctrine,

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