Let not the Con

nefs to provide for me. tempt which fome Perfons wrongfully caft upon Poverty, or any Evil which I may endure, tempt me to any difhoneft Ways of getting; but let me choofe rather to be poor than wicked, and to want any Thing rather than thy Favour. Clothe me with a meek, and quiet, and humble Spirit, which in thy Sight is of great Price: Give me a thorough Contentedness in my present Circumftances: let me not dare to repine at my own Condition, or envy the Profperity of others; but teach me to poffefs my Soul in Patience: That I may acknowledge thy Right and Sovereignty over me, that thou art juft, and wife, and merciful in all thy Difpenfations. Convince me of thy Fatherly Love, and enable me chearfully to refign myself to thy All-wife. Providence.

Teach me to look unto Jefus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith; who to reconcile us to a State of Poverty, chose to be born, and to live in a mean Condition, enduring Hunger, and Thirst, and Cold, and not having where to lay his Head: That by his Example, I may be encouraged to fit loose to the.World, and wean my Affections from temporal Objects; that be

ing convinced of the Vanity and Emptinefs of this World, I may more and more delight myself in thy Love, and in the Practice of true Religion.

And do thou, O God, quicken and enlarge my Defires, after fpiritual Happinefs, and thofe Pleasures which are at thy Right Hand for evermore; that through Faith and Patience, having finished the Race which thou haft fet before me, I may be received into the Joy of my Lord. Grant this, O merciful Father, for the Sake of my Redeemer, the ever bleffed Jefus. Amen.

A Prayer for a meek and quiet Spirit.

O BLESSED Lord God, thou most compaffionate Lover of Souls; look with thy tendereft Pity upon me, a weak and frail Creature; who am encompaffed about with many and great Infirmities; my Nature is corrupt, my Paffions are strong and violent, and fo prone am I to Peevishness and Anger, that almost every flight Provocation disorders my Mind, and makes me froward and impatient, and many Times (alas! with Sorrow I confefs it)

I have been hurried away into foolish and unreasonable Paffions.

O Lord, I lament and bewail this wretched Corruption of my Nature, humbly befeeching thee, for the Sake and Merits of my bleffed Saviour, to pardon and forgive all that Sin and Folly that it has betrayed me to; and I beg of thee, O merciful Father, to give me a meek and quiet Spirit, a patient and forgiving Temper, an humble, charitable, and Chriftian Difpofition; that my Mind may at all Times be quiet and eafy, my Carriage gentle, kind, and obliging to all Men, and the whole Conduct and Deportment of my Life, fuch as becomes the Servant of the meek and bleffed Jefus.

Convince me truly, O Lord, of the great Folly of Paffion and Anger; how contrary it is to the Spirit of thy most holy Religion, which commands us to put away all Bitternefs of Wrath, and Anger; what an Enemy it is to our present Happiness, and how much it unfits us for the Duties which we owe to thee, our Neighbour, and ourselves.

Let the Example of my bleffed Saviour be powerfully prefent to my Mind, and infpire me with an humble, charitable, and

forgiving

forgiving Temper. Let me confider, with what Meeknefs and Patience he endured the Contradictions of Sinners, and the Infults and Reproaches of wicked and unreasonable Men; that, like him, I may be meek and lowly in Heart, and find that Reft unto my Soul, which he has promised to those that will be taught of him.

O my God, it is my fincere Defire, and it fhall be the hearty Endeavour of my Life, to be free from the Bondage and Dominion of Sin! but alas! I am a weak and feeble Creature: I find a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind, which, without the Affiftance of thy Holy Spirit, will bring me into Captivity to the Law of Sin: Olet the mighty Power of thy Grace ftrengthen my feeble Wishes and Endeavours, and enable me to conquer my most inveterate Habits.: Let the sweet and gentle Influences of thy bleffed Spirit calm the Paffions, and compofe the Storms and Disorders of my Soul; and O do thou fave me from the Dangers of this troublesome and tempeftuous Life.

Root out of my Heart, O merciful God, all Pride and Vanity, all Malice, Hatred, and Ill-will, and give me a low and humble. Opinion of myself, that the Senfe of my

Own

own Unworthinefs, and of the many Offences which I have been guilty of towards thee, may move me to pity the Weakneffes and Infirmities of others, and to forgive the greateft Injuries and Provocations, which I fhall meet with; remembering how much more I ftand in Need of Pity and Forgiveness at thy Hand.

Take away from me, O Lord, the Spirit of this World, and fill me with that Spirit of Love and Charity, that fuffereth long, and is kind; that beareth all Things, and is not eafily provoked; that being full of that Peace of God, which paffes all Understanding, I may live with Comfort and die with Joy, and may hereafter dwell in thofe peaceful Regions of everlasting Blifs, where thou O bleffed Jefus, who art the Prince of Peace, livest and reigneft with the Father, and the Holy Spifit, one God, World without End. Amen.

A Prayer to be used in Time of Temp

tation.

O GOD our Refuge and Strength, who art a prefent Help in Time of Need, I fly unto thee for Succour against the Face

of