A Prayer for a Person at the Beginning of a Sickness.
O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, with whom alone are the issues of life and death, who dost wound and dost heal, who killest and makest alive, who bringest down to the grave, and liftest up again, and hast commanded us to call upon thee in the time of trouble, and thou wilt deliver us, stretch forth, I beseech thee, the right hand of thy majesty on high, and save me from the power of this present sickness, which otherwise will destroy my life. Have compassion on me, as thou hadst on Peter’s wife’s mother, when she lay sick of a fever. Rebuke my distemper, and grant it may leave me. Speak the word, O Lord, and thy servant shall be whole. It is but for thee to say, Go, and it shall go: for I believe, Lord, that thou art the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. By thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, by thy precious death and burial, by thy glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost, good Lord deliver me from my present approaching illness. Behold, to thee I fly for succour. In obedience to thee, do I give place to the physician. But I know that I may waste all my substance, and shall not grow better, but rather the worse, unless thou, O great Physician, who, in the days of thy flesh, didst give sight to the blind, and restore strength to the lame, and didst cure the woman of the bloody issue, dost also recover me from my sickness. Do thou, therefore, who didst bless a bunch of figs to the recovery of Hezekiah, sanctify the means that shall be made use of to my recovery. O let me not, like Asa, seek only to the physician, but depend on thee, O Lord, for a blessing. Or, if the decree be gone forth that I must die, grant, O Lord, I may set my house and heart in order, and though thou killest me, let me put my trust in thee. Into thy hands I commend my spirit: though worms destroy my body, yet grant, that in my flesh I may see thee my God.
If it be thy will, let this sickness not be unto death, but spare me yet a little longer, that I may recover my spiritual strength before I go hence, and am no more seen. If thou seest it best, let this affliction immediately pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but thy will be done. Only sweeten it, O Lord, with a sense of thy love, and strengthen me with thy mighty power in the inner man. Let thy grace be sufficient for me. Magnify thy strength in my weakness, and under the shadow of thy almighty wings, let my soul take refuge till this day of thy visitation be overpast. Shew me, O Lord, wherefore thou contended with me. For I know of very faithfulness thou hast caused me to be thus troubled. Make thou my bed in my sickness, and let thy rod as well as thy staff, comfort me. In patience, grant I may possess my soul. And though this affliction at present be not joyous, but grievous; yet grant, O Lord, I may be so exercised thereby, that it may bring forth in me the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Let tribulation, O Lord, work patience, patience experience, experience hope, even that hope which maketh not ashamed, and whereby thy love, O God, may be shed abroad in my heart. Give me, O Lord, in this, and in every thing to give thanks, and enable me to suffer, as well as to do thy will, even like the angels in heaven. O! for thine infinite mercy’s sake, let not Satan get any advantage over me, by tempting me to charge thee foolishly. Let not such a wretch as I am, ever complain for this punishment of my sin, knowing that I receive the due reward of my crimes. O suffer me not to cry out with wicked Cain, “My punishment is greater than I can bear;” but let me sanctify thee the Lord God in my heart, and rejoice in this tribulation, knowing that whom thou lovest thou chastenest, and scourgest every son whom thou receivest. Blessed be thy name O Lord, that thou hast not yet given me over to a reprobate mind. Blessed be thy name, that thou hast not cursed me, as I most justly deserve, as thou didst the barren fig-tree. Blessed be thy name, that thou still dost condescend to dig and dung round me. O purge, purge me for thy mercy’s sake, and grant that I may henceforward bring forth fruit unto thee. O let me not forget this day of my visitation: and if it be thy good pleasure, that I shall not die, but live, grant that I may constantly declare thy works, O Lord. Whenever I am cleansed, let me immediately return and give thanks. With thy servant Hezekiah, may I go up into thy house, O Lord, and pay thee my vows, which I now make whilst I am in trouble. Suffer me to sin no more, lest a worse evil befal me: and as thou wast pleased to reveal thyself in the temple to the poor man, whom thou didst cure in the days of thy flesh, be pleased, for thy mercy’s sake, to reveal thyself to me. Then shall I shew forth my thankfulness, not only with my lips, but with my life, by giving myself up to thy service, who didst die for our sins, and rise again for our justification; to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
A Prayer for a Woman lately married to a believing Husband.
EVERLASTING Father, who didst make Eve out of the rib of Adam, and didst give her to him to wife, accept my thanks for calling me to the marriage-state, and blessing me with a husband fearing thee. O, for thy mercy’s sake, make me a help meet for him. Grant, as Sarah called Abraham, so I may call and honour him as my lord. Let me always remember, I am the weaker vessel, that man was first made, and not woman, and suffer me not at any time to usurp authority over him. O let me always take heed to reverence, and be in subjection to my husband; and let not my adorning be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, or of wearing of gold, or of putting on fine apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of thee, my God, of great price. O let me be grave, discreet, chaste, a keeper at home. Suffer me not to be a busy-body, or to wander about from house to house. Keep me from being a tatler, speaking the things which I ought not. And if thou dost bless me with children, Lord, teach me to guide them in the right way, and manage my house with such meekness and wisdom, that I may give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. Though in the marriage-state, enable me, O Lord, to serve thee without distraction, and let me never be so cumbered about the many things of this life, as to neglect the one thing needful. May I with Mary, continually sit at thy feet, and learn of thee, O Jesus, to be meek and lowly in heart. Keep me from being a snare to my husband. Make me willing to part with him whensoever thou shalt call him from me. Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend both our spirits, souls and bodies. O sanctify us throughout, and let our seed be blessed. O let our marriage-bed be undefiled, and give us to live together as heirs of the grace of God, that our prayers be not hindered. Help us to love one another, like thee and thy church. Give us freedom to pray with and for each other, and grant I may be the glory of my husband, as the church is the glory of thee my Saviour. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, according to the multitude of thy mercies in Jesus my Redeemer; to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, I desire here and hereafter to ascribe all power, might, majesty, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen, and Amen.
A Prayer for a Man, convinced that it is his Duty to marry, for Direction in the Choice of a Wife.
O ALMIGHTY, ever-living God, who, after thou hadst made all things out of nothing, and man after thy own divine image, didst say, “It is not good that man should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him;” look down, O Lord, on the work of thine own hands, and hearken to the voice of my humble request. O Lord, chuse a help meet for me. Thou Lord, art acquainted with my wants. Thou didst once chuse a Rebecca for Isaac. Thou art the same to-day as thou wast yesterday. Bless me, even me also, in like manner, O my Saviour. Suffer me not, O Lord, to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. O let me not be in the number of the sons of God, who saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose. Lord, do thou chuse for me, and direct me to a child of thine own, adorned with a meek and quiet spirit. O suffer me not to fall by the hand of a woman. For, Lord, thou knowest I desire to take a wife, not for lust, but uprightly; therefore, mercifully ordain, that I may have one after thy own heart. When I marry, let it be only in and for thee, O Lord. Let not lust or passion pervert or blind my eyes; but, Lord, give me to watch unto prayer, and let thy providence point out the person thou hast appointed for me. Thou didst direct Abraham’s servant; Lord, for thy mercy’s sake, direct me. Behold, I call thee, O blessed Jesus, to my marriage. Direct me also, when I consult my friends, thy disciples. O bless their advice unto me in this important change of my life, and let all know my marriage is of thee, my God. All which I humbly beg in thy name, and through thy merits, O blessed Lamb of God, thou heavenly bridegroom of thy church, to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen, and Amen.