FIRST COLLECT.

O Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve this Thy servant. Look upon him with the eyes of Thy mercy, give him comfort and sure confidence in Thee, defend him from the danger of the enemy, and keep him in perpetual peace and safety; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SECOND COLLECT.

Hear us, Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour; extend Thy accustomed goodness to this Thy servant who is grieved with sickness. Sanctify, we beseech Thee, this Thy fatherly cor= rection to him; that the sense of his weakness may add strength to his faith, and seriousness to his repentance: That, if it shall be Thy good pleasure to restore him to his former health, he may lead the residue of his life in Thy fear, and to Thy glory: or else, give him grace so to take Thy visitation, that, after this painful life ended, he may dwell with Thee in life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve this Thy servant.

MY

GRACE.

George Herbert.

Y stock lies dead, and no increase
Doth my dull husbandry improve :

O let Thy graces without cease

Drop from above.

If still the sun should hide his face,

Thy house would but a dungeon prove; Thy works, night's captives: O let grace

Drop from above.

The dew doth every morning fall;

And shall the dew outstrip Thy Dove?

The dew, for which grass cannot call,

Drop from above.

Death is still working like a mole,

And digs my grave at each remove;
work too, and on my soul

Let grace

Drop from above.

Sin is still hammering my heart

Unto a hardness void of love:

Let suppl'ing grace, to cross his art,

Drop from above.

O come, for Thou dost know the

way;

Or if to me Thou wilt not move,
Remove me where I need not say-
Drop from above.

℗ Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve this Thy servant.

EVENING HYMN.

Flatman.

LEEP, downy sleep! come close my eyes,

Tired with beholding vanities:

Sweet slumbers, come and chase away
The toils and follies of the day;
On your soft bosom will I lie,
Forget the world, and learn to die.

O Israel's watchful Shepherd, spread
Tents of angels round my bed;

Let not the spirits of the air

While I slumber me ensnare ;

But save Thy suppliant free from harms,

Clasped in Thine everlasting arms.

Clouds and thick darkness are Thy throne,
Thy wonderful pavilion ;

O dart from thence a shining ray,
And then my midnight shall be day.
Thus when the morn, in crimson drest,
Breaks through the windows of the east,
My hymns of thankful praise shall rise
Like incense at the morning sacrifice.

Give him comfort and sure confidence in Thee.

COMFORT.

Elizabeth B. Barrett.

SPE

PEAK to me, O my Saviour, low and sweet, From out the hallelujahs,—sweet and low, Lest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee so, Who art not miss'd where faithful hearts intreat : Speak to me, as to Mary at Thy feet; And if no precious gums my hands bestow, My tears fall fast, as amber. Let me go In reach of Thy divinest voice complete With humanest affection, there, in sooth, To lose the sense of losing, as a child, Its song-bird being lost, fled evermore, Is sung to in its stead by mother's mouth; Till sinking on her breast, love-reconciled, He sleeps the faster that he wept before.

Give him comfort and sure confidence in Thee.

MY

PSALM XXIII.

"Psalter in English Verse."

Y Shepherd is the Lord; I know
No care or craving need:

He lays me where the green herbs grow
Along the quiet mead :

He leads me where the waters glide, The waters soft and still,

And homeward He will gently guide My wandering heart and will.

He brings me on the righteous path, E'en for His Name's dear sake. What if in vale and shade of Death My dreary way I take?

I fear no ill, for Thou, O God,
With me for ever art;

Thy shepherd's staff, Thy guiding rod, 'Tis they console my heart.

For me Thy board is richly spread
In sight of all my foes,

Fresh oil of Thine embalms my head,

O nought but love and mercy wait
Through all my life on me,
And I within my Father's gate
For long bright years shall be.