patience, in all faith and godliness. Give them grace to serve before Thee with fear and reverence, seeking Thy glory alone, not desiring the praise of men. Grant that they may duly administer Thy blessed sacraments, and carefully feed all faithful souls with the Body and Blood of Thy dear Son. O prosper Thou the work of their hands, and make their labours to redound to Thy glory. May they desire nothing, seek nothing, toil for nothing, but to do Thy will, and to save souls. Let them count their own lives as nought, if by any means they may bring back wandering sinners to the fold of Thy Holy Church. Let them not be weary in well-doing, nor having put their hands to the plough afterwards look back; but so enrich them with the love of Peter, and the courage of Paul, and the zeal of the blessed John, that faithfully fulfilling their course here upon earth, they may be received into the fellowship of Thy saints in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. LORD Jesu Christ, who didst give to Thy holy apostles many excellent gifts, and didst charge them earnestly to feed Thy flock; give grace, we beseech Thee, to all bishops, the pastors of Thy Church, that they may diligently teach Thy truth, and duly administer godly discipline. Enable them as tender shepherds to feed Thy people with the wholesome food of sound doctrine. May they hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the lost. Let them be so merciful, as not to be too remiss; so strict as not to forget mercy; that at Thy coming again, like wise and faithful servants, they may be found giving Thy family their portion in due season, and at last may be received into everlasting joy, where Thou livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. The Lord's name be praised. The following Prayers may be added, as occasion I. FOR FAITH. ALMIGHTY God, mercifully regard Thy peo ple, and graciously bestow upon them the gift of faith; that they may believe all that Thou art pleased to reveal, and Thy holy Church is commissioned to teach through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. : II. FOR OBEDIENCE. ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, in whose sight obedience is better than sacrifice; grant that all Christian people may gladly obey those that are set over them in the Lord, and may pay due reverence to their lawful Pastors and Priests; through Christ our Lord. III. Amen. FOR UNITY. GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord; look down with pity upon us Thine unworthy servants: heal our miserable divisions: make us to hold, in very truth, the same faith, and to submit to the same obedience : that we may dwell together in unity as reconciled. brethren, and thus be made meet to partake of Thy heavenly blessing: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON. ARE YOU BETTER FOR YOUR SICKNESS? WHEN you were very sick, when death seemed to be drawing near, when thoughts of judgment swept across your soul, when you felt yourself to be likely to die, you prayed earnestly, you cried to God, you exclaimed in David's words, "O spare me a little that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and be no more seen." You said, "O if God will but spare me this time and let me live, I will not be what I have been; I will lead a different life; I will forsake my sins; I see now how mad I have been in forgetting God. I will not do the like again, if the Lord will but give me another trial, and not hurry me this time out of the world, unfit and unprepared as I am for the awful mystery of death.” Thus you spoke when your illness was at its height, and you were in great fear and distress of spirit; you meant what you said; you really saw the madness of being ungodly; you felt the greatness of your sins; you dreaded meeting God; you sincerely wished to have your life spared, that you might become a changed and altered man, a more faithful disciple of Christ, a better member of Christ's Church. And now, thanks be to God, you are well again; you have risen from your bed; your strength is restored; your health has been given back; your pains have all gone; you are again going forth to your work and to your labour until the evening; there is scarce a trace of your sickness left, and you are able to toil again as other men. you Now then I ask you, Are better for your sickness? Are you the changed and altered man you wished and resolved to be? Are you now carrying out your sick-bed resolutions, and seeking with all your heart to conform yourself to Christ's most holy will? Are you pressing forward with a thankful and a repentant spirit along the narrow way, blessing God for the life which He has so mercifully spared, and spending it in His service? Have you put away from you your former ways, all your sins, all your evil and foolish companions? Are you praying more all |