An Act of Holy Resolution of Amendment of Life, in case of Recovery

O most just and most merciful Lord God, who has sent evil diseases, sorrow and fear, trouble, and uneasiness, into the world, and planted them in our houses, and round about our dwellings, to keep sin from our souls, or to drive it thence; I humbly beg Thee that this my sickness may serve the ends of the Spirit, and be a messenger of spiritual life, an instrument of reducing me to more religious courses.

I know, Lord, I am unready and unprepared in my accounts, having thrown away great portions of my time in vanity, and set myself hugely back in the accounts of eternity; and I had need live my life over again, and live it better; but Thy counsels are in the great deep, and Thy footsteps in the water, and I know not what Thou wilt determine of me. If I die, I throw myself into the arms of the holy Jesus, whom I love above all things; and if I perish, I know I have deserved it; but Thou wilt not reject him that loves Thee: but if I recover, I will live by Thy grace, and help to do the work of God, and passionately pursue my interest in heaven, and serve Thee in the labour of love, with the charities of a holy zeal, and the diligence of a firm and humble obedience. Lord, I will dwell in Thy temple, and in Thy service; religion shall be my employment, and alms shall be my recreation,

and patience shall be my rest; to do Thy will shall be my meat and drink, and to live shall be Christ, and then to die shall be gain.

O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength before I go hence, and be no more seen. "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

Conformity of Will and Joyful Hope

Give me grace, O merciful Father, to put the rudder of my life into thy hands, to steer the course of it as seemeth Thee good; for, believing that Thou lovest me, and believing withal that Thou art wiser than I am, I needs must confess, that whatsoever Thou doest with me is better than my own choosing for myself would be: and by all the troubles and unhappiness of this life, enable me to gain this, that when they most abound upon me, I may feel myself a stranger, and behave as such; and think, thereupon, with more delight and stronger desires on my own country, and the rich and sure inheritance that lies there, and the ease and rest I shall have when I come thither. O, happy indeed, good Lord, are the stones Thou choosest to be living stones in thy spiritual temple, though they be hewed, and hammered, and polished for it by trials and afflictions. How much happier to be the meanest expectant of the glory to come, than the sole possessor of all the world! May my soul have a continual desire to go to that company which

is above; to the spirits of just men made perfect, to the company of angels, but most of all to Thee, O God, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament! In that excellent country, Thou hast told me, O Father, that there is light and love, and nothing else; that thy saints will there be happy for ever; that they shall die no more, shall sorrow no more, shall be sick no more, shall doubt no more. How cheerfully, then, may a Christian go through all the sorrows and adversities of this transitory life! To Thee, O blessed Lord, I commend and commit myself, both for time and eternity, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON.

O compassionate Father, I would render unto Thee most humble thanks for that wonderful gradation of mercies shown to me in Thy Son. In Him Thou dost offer me Thy Holy Spirit, and with it the whole golden mine of all spiritual comfort and good; allowing me, when wearied by the follies and miseries of the world, to refresh my soul in Thee; yea, enjoining it upon me to speak my mind to Thee freely, as the kindest and tenderest of all Fathers, with the sure confidence that, as Thou art withal the Lord of heaven and earth, so Thou wilt make all different lines always to concentre in my highest good, how opposite soever in appearance now. I do humbly confess my great need of afflictions,--yea, of many afflictions; keep me, there

fore, I pray Thee, from ever promising myself an exemption, although my present state be ever so free from them; and for the number and weight of them, let me resign that altogether into Thy hands, who art my wise Father and Physician, who knowest my mould and maladies, and what kind of chastisement is needful for my cure. But, merciful Father, let me never so wrong myself as to entertain any care at all but such as I may put into Thy hands, and make Thine on my behalf. May I have grace to give up all outward things into thy hands, referring the disposal of them to Thee, and that heartily and fully! Even in the darkest night of sorrow, may I cast anchor in Thee, and repose on Thee when I see no light; remembering that this is not my hope, nor the place of my rest, but the place of my trial and conflict; and that my home is above. Good Lord and Father, of Thine infinite mercy Thou hast called me to eternal glory; save me, then, I pray Thee, from ever being so ungrateful as to repine against Thee, and so to drown a hundred great blessings in any little trouble that befalls me: give me more deep thoughts of the things of the world. to come; lift my eyes to that state that I am most nearly related to; direct my steps to it, and lead me towards it, cheerful and unwearied, by an assured hope that the joyful day will at length come, when, as Christ's disciple, I shall be admitted into the fullest light.

ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON.

Ejaculatory Prayer for one under any severe Suffering

Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, and hear me, for I am poor and in misery: help me, meekly and gratefully, and with perfect resignation, to bear the chastening of the Lord; to feel that it comes from the hand of a Father, and is sent with designs of the tenderest mercy. I implore Thee to bring home to my heart the blessed assurance that Thou dost not afflict willingly nor grieve Thy children; that Thou dost it for our profit, to make us partakers of Thine holiness; and that Thou art sitting as a Refiner, watching the process, and wilt keep Thy gold no longer in the fire than as Thou seest needful for the clear reflecting of Thine image in it.

O subdue all my unwillingness to suffer, and turn it into a meek and grateful acquiescence, that so I may glorify Thee, and show forth the power of Thy grace. O my God, I lament before Thee, and am most truly grieved and sorry at heart, that I feel so little of this divine and thankful reception of Thy chastenings. I acknowledge and bewail this my great sinfulness, and do the more earnestly cry for grace and help; for I know Thy grace is sufficient for me, and that I can do and bear all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Leave me not to struggle alone through these dark waters, but let me feel Thy helping, supporting hand; let