O Lord, let it be thy Pleasure to deliver me; make hafte, O Lord, to help me.

A Prayer to be used by a Husband, or other Friend in private, for a Woman in Labour; and which by changing I for we, may be used by the Friends of the Woman in her Prefence.

O GOD, our Refuge and Strength, I fly unto thee for Succour, in behalf of thy Servant, now labouring under the Pains and Anguifh of Child-birth. Shorten her Sorrows, increase her Patience, and lay not upon her more than thou wilt enable her to bear.

O hear her Prayers, and let her Crying come unto thee: Forfake her not, I befeech thee, when her Strength faileth: Give her an humble Truth and Confidence in thy Goodness; and Oh! let her find, that the Supports and Comforts of thy Holy Spirit far exceed the Pains that the is now to go through.

Give her quiet Submiffion to thy blessed Will, and in thy good Time fend her Eafe and Deliverance. Preferve that Infant which now ftruggles for its Birth;

and (if it be thy good Pleasure) make her fpeedily a joyful Mother of a hopeful Child, that may live to be an Inftrument of thy Glory, and useful in its Genera'tion.

O Lord, I leave her in thy Hands, and refign her to thy Will; humbly befeeching thee to deal gracioufly with her through the Merits, and for the Sake of thy dear Son, and our alone Saviour Jefus Chrift. Amen.

A Thanksgiving to be faid in the Prefence of the Woman after her Delivery, which may be used for fome Timè afterward.

O FATHER of Mercies, and. God of all Comforts; we thy unworthy Servants, do now prefent ourfelves before thee, to réturn unto thy divine Majefty our most bumble and unfeigned Thanks, for that thou haft vouchsafed to deliver thy Servant from the great Pain and Peril of Childbirth. Bleffed be thy Name, O Lord, that thou haft turned her Sorrow into Joy, and her Pains into Eafe and Refreshments: continue, we beseech thee, thy Fatherly Goods. nefs to her; let thy good Providence still watch over her, and thy Strength support

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her under all the Weakneffes of her prefent Condition.

And grant, O most merciful Father, that not only this thy Servant, but every one of us here prefent, may from the Confideration of thy great Goodness, be excited to a greater Love to thee, and a ftricter Obedience to thy Laws: that thou mayeft ftill delight over us to do us Good; and that we ferving thee faithfully all our Days, may at last obtain that greatest of all Mercies, the eternal Salvation of our immortal Souls, through the Merits of thy Son, and our alone Saviour Jefus Christ.

This is to be add.

We commend likewife to thy Mercy and Goodness ed if the Child is this tender Infant; preserve living.

it, that it may be regenerated and born again by Baptifm; that as it is thine by Creation, fo it may thereby be made thine by Adoption and Grace.

Sanctify it, we humbly pray thee, and take it into thy Protection, and fo fill it with the Graces of thy Holy Spirit, that it may be of the Number of thy faithful Servants, through Jefus Chrift our bleffed Lord and only Saviour. Amen.

A Thankf

A Thanksgiving to be used by a Woman in private before her going abroad.

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, in whom I live, and move, and have my Being; by thee I have been preserved ever fince I was born, and to thy infinite Goodness I acknowledge it to be oving, that I am now alive. I defire, O Lord, to adore and praise thy glorious Majefty, for the many Mercies and Favours which thou haft bestowed on me all my Life long; and in a more particular Manner, I prefent myfelf before thee at this Time to bless and praife thy holy Name, for thy late Mercies vouchfafed unto me, in delivering me from the great Pains and Peril of Child-birth: It was thy Power that preferved me, thy Goodnefs that delivered. me, and thy Hand that fupported me, when Pain and Sorrow laid hold upon

me.

Praised therefore be that infinite Love, which moved thee to deal fo graciously with thy Servant, and to enable a weak and feeble Creature to go through the Sorrow and Anguish of Travail.

O Lord, give me fuch a Senfe of thy great Goodness to me that I may make

fo

it the great Study and Bufinefs of my Life to serve and please thee in all Things; that my Returns of Duty and Obedience may in fome Measure be answerable to thofe many Mercies I have received at thy Hands.

Mortify and fubdue in me all finful and corrupt Affections, and whatever may tend to alienate my Love from thee, and to flacken my Endeavours after the Pursuit of heavenly Things.

I commend, likewife, O

This is to be add

Lord, to thy Mercy and ed if the Child is Goodness, that tender In- living. fant which thou haft lately given me. Sanctify it, I humbly pray thee, and fo fill it with the Graces of thy Holy Spirit, that it may ever be in the Number of thy faithful Servants.

And grant, O merciful Father, that I may never be wanting in my Duty towards it; but enable me, by thy Grace, to bring it up in the Nurture and Admonition of thee the Lord; that as it grows in Years, fo it may increase in Grace, and thy Favour, and be a Comfort to me all my Days, through Jefus Christ our Lord; to whom with thee, O Father,

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