GIVER and Preserver of Life! I desire with grateful heart to celebrate thy mercy to thy servant, whom thou hast been pleased to raise up from sickness, and restore to health and strength. Blessed be thy name, for thou hast heard my voice when I cried unto thee, and hast granted my prayer. O Father, may I henceforth employ in thy service those powers which thou hast originally bestowed, and dost continually preserve; and may I be enabled to show my thankfulness, by a cheerful and uniform compliance with thy will, and by a persevering fulfilment of all my various duties. In health and in sickness, in sorrow and in joy, in life and in death, may I remember thee, and be thou my consolation and great reward. All my prayers I present at thy throne, in the name and as the disciple of Jesus Christ; and through him ascribe unto thee all power and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

O THOU God of providence and grace, all my times are in thy hands. All diseases

come at thy call and go at thy bidding. Thou redeemest my life from destruction, and crownest me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. Thou hast chastened me sore, but thou hast not given me over to death. May I live to declare the works of the Lord, and may the impressions produced on my mind by recent mercies be durable as well as lively. May my spared life be devoted to thy glory; and may I remember that the sentence which dooms me to the dust is only suspended, and that, at most, when a few years shall come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return. May I live, therefore, with eternity in view, and give diligence to secure the one thing needful.

I ask all in the name of my Saviour, through whom to thee be glory and praise forevermore. Amen. *

* Psalins on Recovery, 18, 103, 107, 116, 147.

PSALMS.

PSALM XXIII.

THE Lord is my shepherd; I shall not

want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

PSALM XXXIX.

I SAID, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue:

I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; then spake I with my tongue,

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

Surely every man walketh in a vain show surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee.

Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it.

Remove Thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand. When Thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

PSALM XLII.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?