and relieve

vant.

12, 13. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Psal. cii. 1.

CCXII. A Prayer for Support under Affliction.

1. O Lord, 1. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this behold, visit, vine. Psal. lxxx. 14. Look down from heaven, this thy-ser- and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory. Isa. lxiii. 15. Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people : O visit me with thy salvation. Psal. cvi. 4. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? Psal. cxix. 82. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. Psal. xxxi. 16. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. Psal. cxix. 41.

2. Look upon him

give him

2. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, with the eyes and his ears are open unto their prayers. 1 Pet. of thy mercy, iii. 12. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow comfort and to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for defend him ever. Psal. ciii. 8, 9. Let, I pray thee, thy merfrom the dan- ciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy

sure confi

dence in thee,

ger of the

enemy,

word unto thy servant. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? Psal. cxis. 76. 82. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Psal. xc. 15. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. Isa. lvii. 18. I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Isa. li. 12. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Matt. v. 4. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. Prov. xiv. 26. O God of our salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth. Psal. lxv. 5. If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 1 John iii. 21. And this is the confidence, that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. 1 John v 14. Your adversary the devil, as a roar

3. and keep

tual peace

and safety;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ing lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Pet. 5. 8. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Psal. Ixiv. 1. Defend me from them that rise up against me. Psal. lix. 1.

3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose him in perpe- mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Isa. xxvi. 3. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phil. iv. 7. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Psal. cxix. 117. Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Prov. xxix. 25. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock, Psal. xxvii. 5. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord; let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. Psal. xl. 11. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psal. Iv. 22. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. John xvi. 23. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Heb. vii. 25.

CCXIII. A Prayer for the sanctifying of Affliction.

1. If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; surely now he would awake for thee. Job viii. 5, 6. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Job v. 17. Mighty to save. Isa. lxiii. 1. The Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. Psal. c. 5. Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. Psal. cxviii. 4. The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;

2. extend thy accus

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. As for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Psal. Ixix. 13. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. Isa. xlv. 15. He said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie so he was their Saviour. Isa. Ixiii. 8. Thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Isa. lx. 16.

2. Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto tomed good- me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Psal. cxix. 132. Remember me, O Lord,

ness to this

thy servant

who is griev- with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: ed with sick- O visit me with thy salvation. Psal. cvi. 4. Bring

ness.

3. Sanctify, we beseech

my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Psal. cxlii. 7. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Psal. cxvi. 3, 4. O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. Isa. xxxviii. 14. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. Psal. xxv. 18. Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy. Psal. cxix. 124. Hezekiah was sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. Then he prayed unto the Lord; and Hezekiah wept sore. 2 Kings xx. 1, 2, 3.

3. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. 1 Pet. thee, this thy iii. 15. Blessed is the man that endureth temptafatherly cor- tion: for when he is tried, he shall receive the

rection to

him;

crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. James i. 12. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom

4. that the sense of his weakness may add strength to

seriousness

to his repent

ance:

the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Heb. xii. 6 to 11. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Psal. ciii. 13.

4. I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. Isa. xxxviii. 10. Thou holdest his faith, and mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. Psal. lxxvii. 4. 9, 10. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity. Psal. xxxi. 9, 10. Mine eyes fail with looking upward : O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. Isa. xxxviii. 14. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psal. xlii. 11. He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor. xii. 9. Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark ix. 24 This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me. Psal. cxix. 50. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psal xxvii. 13. Blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, sat by the high-way side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and

5. That, if

good pleasure

health, he

residue of

his life in thy

thy glory:

say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me, and many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. Mark x. 46, 47, 48. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke xiii. 3. I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Job vii. 20. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job xlii. 5, 6. If I have done iniquity, I will do no more. Job xxxiv. 32. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Psal. cxix. 75. 67. 59, 60.

5. O Lord, let it be thy pleasure to deliver me: it shall be thy make haste, O Lord, to help me. Psal. xl. 16. O to restore him spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go to his former hence, and be no more. Psal. xxxix. 13. Not my may lead the will, but thine, be done. Luke xxii. 42. The word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, Tell Hezekiah the fear, and to captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold I will heal thee; and I will add unto thy days fifteen years. 2 Kings xx. 4, 5, 6. Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. John v. 14. Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Prov. xxiii. 17. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. Psal. cxvi. 12. 9. 13. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. Isa. xxxviii. 19, 20.