may also be the interpreter of thy word, to make it plain to our undertanding, to set it home powerfully upon our hearts, and to render it the savour of life unto our souls. The Lord open our ears, and quicken our attention, to receive what shall be delivered from thy word with carefulness and neckness, and with all readiness and gladness, and love and delight in it, and desire to come on and grow by it; and strengthen our memories to treasure up and retain what we hear, that we may not let it slip without making our benefit of it, and being the better for it. O gracious God! teach us to profit, and make our improvements more answerable to those means of grace, which through thy mercy we do enjoy. Let the word which shall sound in our ears also sink down into our hearts, and take root in our souls, and produce and shew the fruits of it in our lives, that we may not be forgetful hearers, but faithful doers of thy holy word. O let the immortal seed of this heavenly word, beget such principles of grace and holiness in our hearts, that may be in us as a well of water, springing up to everlasting life. Make us so obedient to thy holy precepts, that we may also inherit the glorious promises of thy word. O let our teachers be taught of God; and direct the stewards of thy mysteries to give unto every one their portion in due season; yea, give, Lord, the heavenly benediction and increase upon the planting and watering of thy servants, and make the waters of thy sanctuary healing to our souls; yea, make thy word as fire in the mouths of thy messengers, and set home the sword of the Spirit with thy own hand, making it mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, and subduing all oppositions to the obedience of Christ. O let thy Spirit cause thy word to do thy great and gracious

work effectually upon all our hearts, for which we may have reason to give thee praise and glory, to all eternity. Amen.

A Prayer after Hearing of the Word.

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E bless thee, O Lord, the living God, who holdest our souls in life, and providest for them the bread of life, that food of thy holy word, by which we live more and better than by our daily bread. It has now been delivered and received; but the blessing is in thy hands, O gracious God, to make it prosperous and successful to the gaining and saving of souls. O wilt thou be pleased to send it home to the heart, and there make it to stay and abide, till it has done thy will, and wrought thy work, to build us up in the faith of Christ, and to set us forward in all holiness of life; to make every hearer such a doer of thy word, that we may be all blessed now in our deed, and hereafter for ever blessed in the joy of our Lord.

O that all who have been convinced of their sins may also be converted to thyself, that they may not only think of the holy change, but resolve upon it, and go through with it; and let thy blessed Spirit so prevail with them, that the good motions may not go off before they have effected the work of grace in them. O make thy word mighty, through God, to plant thy grace where it is not; to increase it where it is, and to guide and govern all our hearts and lives in thy holy ways, that the word which we hear may do us good, and still bring us nearer, and make us more like to our God; that we may find our knowledge and our faith not only to come, but to grow by hearing, and may so hear that our souls may now

live the holy life of grace, and hereafter the blessed life of glory, for evermore. Amen.

A Prayer for Increase of Grace.

GOD of all grace, who both quickenest the dead, and after thou hast given life, givest the increase. Thy people go from strength to strength, growing in grace, till they appear before thee in glory; and the path of the just is as the shining light, shining more and more to the perfect day. But O Lord, how barren and unfruitful have I been among the trees of righteousness! and how little have I made my profiting and progress appear under all thy gracious means, and abundant mercies; yea, how weak and low am I still in my spiritual estate! 0 how small is my will and strength to that which is good! how much am I behind many of thy servants, who have not had the helps and advantages which I so long have enjoyed! and how little is it to be seen in my life what great things the Lord has done for my soul! O my God, I have not well improved the talents which thou hast put into my hands, nor answered the care and kindness of heaven, which I have so long experienced. Thou hast not been wanting to me, O good Lord! but I have been exceedingly wanting to myself, and to that duty which I owe to my God. I am ashamed that it is no better with me; that so many mercies have been spilt and lost upon me. Forgive me, O my Father, and repair thy holy inage in me, who have so much dishonoured thee, and disabled and spoiled myself. O help me still more and more, to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and to put on the new, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Whatever else I want,

Lord, deny me not thy grace, but increase it in me, and discover it still more and more upon me ; yea, let the graces of thy Spirit, that accompany salvation, so flourish in my soul, that the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, may keep my heart and mind, through Jesus Christ.

Blessed Saviour! who camest into the world that we might have life, and have it more abundantly, of thy fulness let me receive grace sufficient for me, to make me strong in the Lord, and ready to every good work. My life, my strength and my Redeemer ! leave me not under the curse of barrenness, to stand at a stay, or to decline in my spiritual estate; but as thou hast wrought all my works in me, establish, O God, that which thou hast wrought for me, and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, and cherish all the seeds of grace sown in my heart, that my soul may prosper and increase with the increase of God, as a watered garden, and as a spring whose waters fail not; growing in knowledge and grace, and abounding in all those fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God, that so I may be fully satisfied of the truth of thy grace in me, by its growing upon me. O my Lord! Carry on with power the work of faith and sanctification in my soul, that my sin. ful corruption, every day, like the house of Saul, may grow weaker and weaker; and thy grace in me, every day, like the house of David, may grow stronger and stronger, till from groaning under sin, the body of this death, I come to triumph over all that opposes and hinders the progress of my spiritual life: and as thou art pleased to afford me the means of grace, O grant me the increase of thy grace, to answer the end of all those means, that in the use of them, I may be made still wiser and holier, and bet

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ter, and fitter for thy blessed acceptance in Jesus Christ, my only Saviour. Amen.

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A Prayer for quickening Grace.

Acknowledge and bewail before thee, O Lord, the living and all-seeing God, my sinful dulness and indisposedness for the duties of thy holy service: when I should delight in the law of God, and serve thee with gladness, and make it my meat and drink to do the will of my heavenly Father; O how cold and listless am I to do that which is the best for me, and which does most nearly and eternally concern me. I am alive to the world, and very apt to be transported with sensual objects; but how heavy and dead to those offices of attendance on my Lord, which are the glory and joy of all the worthies of heaven. My soul cleaves to the dust of the earth; quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word, according to the word of thy precept, which does command us to be spiritually minded; to abound in the work, and not to be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord: and quicken me, O my Lord, according to the word of thy promise, that sin shall not have dominion over thy servants; that thou wilt perfect what concerns thy people. Dear Lord! be thou pleased to perfect that which concerns my soul, and engage the love of my heart to thy service; and make me to delight to do thy will, O God, and with an enlarged heart to run the way of thy commands. O help me to put forth myself with vigour and activity in thy holy ways, and to apply myself to the performance of thy blessed pleasure, not only because I must, but because it is the desire of my soul, and the joy of my heart to be so taken up that nothing in the world may give me so