CLXIII.

PRAYER IN PROSPECT OF TRIALS.

O Lord, we commit unto thee all our hopes and fears in the prospect of what is before us. What time we are afraid, we will trust in thee. Do thou enable us to wait only on thee, and to pour out our hearts unto thee, and not to be afraid of evil tidings. Do thou give unto us a fixed heart, stayed on thee, and trusting in thee, and so to possess perfect peace. And at length may we have, in the happy issue of our present fears, fresh and abundant cause to speak good of thy name, through Jesus our Redeemer.

CLXIV.

PERPLEXITIES AND TROUBLES.

O Lord Jesus Christ, whose blessed apostle Paul was troubled on every side, perplexed, but not in despair, cast down, but not destroyed, and who hast told us that we too, through much tribulation, must enter the kingdom of heaven, we implore thy guidance and direction in our present difficulties; give us singleness of eye, that our whole body may be full of light; may we, above all, attend to the one thing needful. Strengthen our confidence in thee, direct our paths in thy ways. May we find now that though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, and may we hereafter abundantly and joyfully discover that our light afflic

tion, which is but for a moment, has wrought out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Hear us, for thy name's sake.

CLXV.

HEAVY CALAMITIES.

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O Lord, we call upon thee who hast so graciously encouraged us to seek thee in trouble, saying, Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Thou art our only refuge, and a very present help in time of trouble. seech thee then to succour us at this time. faith; give us patience, give us grace to glorify thee, and honour thy name by full confidence in thee, and entire unmurmuring submission to thy holy will. O grant that this affliction may not harden us, or make us despair. May we neither despise it, nor faint under it. May we see in it tokens for our best good. May it work patience, experience and hope, and when thy purpose of love is thereby wrought in us, beyond all our hopes, may the dark clouds hanging over us be scattered, and the bright light of thy love cheer and refresh our souls, through Jesus our Redeemer.

CLXVI.

DEATH IN A FAMILY.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who art the resurrection and the life, who didst thyself weep over the dead, and wert full of compassion towards the weeping widow

of Nain, and who dost truly sympathize with us in all our griefs and sorrows, of whom may we seek for succour but of thee, O Lord. Though by our sins we have justly displeased thee, and death is the wages of sin, yet blessed be thy name, we are called upon to look to thee as the conqueror of sin, and death, and the grave; and we believe that the saying shall yet be fulfilled, Death is swallowed up in victory.

But, O Lord, be with us at this time, and greatly sanctify to us all, this removal of one from the midst of us. May the solemn lessons taught by it be deeply and abidingly impressed on our hearts. 0 may we see what a vapour our life is. O may we turn to thee with our whole hearts, in true repentance and in lively faith. Let no repining or murmuring dishonour our Christian profession. May we confide in thee for all that is to come, ourselves consider our latter end, and be prepared to meet our God in that day when our spirit shall return to him. Hear us for thy name's sake.

CLXVII.

WHEN THE DEATH HAS BEEN TRULY CHRISTIAN.

What thanks we owe to thee also for the happy departure in the Lord of our beloved friend, and that we have so joyful a hope that death was great gain, and that our departed [brother] is now with Christ, which is far better. O Lord, may so blessed an end quicken us to full confidence in Jesus, and entire devotedness to his service.

CLXVIII.

TIME OF RIOTS AND INSUBORDINATION.

O Lord God of our Fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all, and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thine eyes are upon the ways of man, and thou seest all his goings. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves from thee. Do thou give quietness, and none can make trouble. Do thou, who stillest the noise of the waves, still the tumult of the people. Break thou the power of the ungodly and malicious. Make the wrath of man to praise thee, and the remainder of wrath do thou restrain. And in the midst of all outward disquietude may we and all thy people be able to testify, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and shall say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Grant also that all this shaking of earthly things may lead us more gladly and fully to receive that kingdom which cannot be moved, and to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, through Jesus our Redeemer.

CLXIX.

FOR RAIN.

O thou who, when the heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because we have sinned against thee, hast taught us in thy word to pray unto thee, acknowledge thy hand, and turn from our sins, and thou wilt hear us, we acknowledge our sinfulness, and come unto thee. We beseech thee now to visit the earth, and to water it with the showers from above, that we may receive the fruits of it in due season, through Jesus our Redeemer.

CLXX.

FOR FAIR WEATHER.

O Lord, we have justly deserved immoderate rain, and to be deprived thereby of the fruits of the earth; but it is thy faithful covenant, of which the bow in the cloud is to us a sure token, that there shall not any more be a flood to destroy the earth, and that while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. The eyes of all wait upon thee; give them their meat in due season, and may we learn righteousness by thy chastisements, and thankfulness by thy mercies, through Jesus our Redeemer.

CLXXI.

THANKS FOR RAIN.

O thou that waterest the hills from thy chambers and the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work