ously pleased to preserve this woman, thy servant, through the great pain and peril of Child-birth; grant we beseech thee, most merciful Father, that she, through thy help, may both faithfully live, and walk according to thy will in this life present: and also may be partaker of everlasting glory in the life to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ¶For Rain. God, our heavenly Father, who by thy gracious providence dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth, that it may bring forth fruit for the use of man; we give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased thee in our great necessity to send us at the last a joyful rain upon thine inheritance, and to refresh it when it was dry, to the great comfort of us thy unworthy servants, and to the glory of thy holy Name, through thy mercies in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For Fair Weather. Lord God, who hast justly humbled us by thy late plague of immoderate rain and waters, and in thy mercy hast relieved and comforted our souls by this seasonable and blessed change of weather; we praise and glorify thy holy Name for this thy mercy, and will always declare thy loving kindness from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ¶ For Plenty. Most merciful Father, who of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of thy Church, and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and plenty; we give thee humble thanks for this thy special bounty, beseeching thee to continue thy lovingkindness unto us, that our land may yield us her fruits of increase, to thy glory and our comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For Peace and Deliverance from our Almighty God, who art a strong tower of defence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies; we yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our deliverance from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed. We acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey unto them; beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercy towards us, that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ¶ For restoring Public Peace at home. Eternal God our heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house, and stilleth the outrage of a violent and unruly people: we bless thy holy, Name, that it hath pleased thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately raised up amongst us; most humbly beseeching thee to grant to all of us grace, that we may henceforth obediently walk in thy holy commandments, and leading a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty, may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For Deliverance from the Plague, or other common Sickness. Lord God, who hast wounded us for our sins, and consumed us for our transgressions by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation, and now in the midst of judgment remembering mercy, hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death, we offer unto thy fatherly goodness ourselves, our souls and bodies, which thou hast delivered, to be a living sacrifice unto thee, always praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. WE TOr this. E humbly acknowledge before thee, O most merciful Father, that all the punishments which are threatened in thy law, might justly have fallen upon us by reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart. Yet seeing it hath pleased thee of thy tender mercy, upon our weak and unworthy humiliation, to assuage the contagious sickness wherewith we lately have been sore afflicted, and to restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings; we offer unto thy Divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation and providence over us,through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE MINISTRATION OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS, ¶ The Minister shall say. HATH this Child been already baptized, or no? If the Parents or Friends who bring the Child, answer No: Then shall the Minister proceed as followeth. EARLY beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin, and that our Saviour Christ saith, none can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost; I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous mercy he will grant to this Child that thing which by nature he cannot have, that he may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy Church, and be made a lively member of the same. |