S.V. We offer unto thy fatherly Goodnels our lelves, our Souls and Bodies, which thou haft delivered, to be a Living Sacrifice unto thee.]

When God had delivered David's Soul from death, Ffal.cxvi.8. He asks, ver. 12. What shall I return unto the Lord for all his benefits? And St. Paul doth answer that Queftion, I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God, that you prefent your bodies a living Sacrifice, boly, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable Service, Rom.xii. 1. And doubtless it is never more reasonable to offer up both Soul and Body to God's Service, than when we have received our felves, and both foul and body,as it were,by a rewDonation from the hands of his Mercy. Our own Cuftoms do oblige a Malefactor, that is begged from the place of Execution, to be a perpetual Servant to that gracious Perfon, whose pity fued for his l'ardon, and faved his Life And it is as reafonable, we should spend our Life in God's Service, which he hath now fo miraculously preferved; efpecially confidcring, that when the Plague threatned us, and Death was at our doors, moft of us did in our earnest Prayers to be fpared refolve and vow, promife and engage, if God would fave our Lives, we would lead them in a new manner,and fpend our time more holily and religioufly than ever we had done before, So that now we fhall add perjury to our Ingratitude if we do not perform our Vows, and inftead of giving fomewhat more to God, we shall rob him of that, which our promife hath made to be his. And doubtlefs it had been better for us to have dyed by the Plague, when our fears had in fome measure humbled us; then to live to encrease our Sin and aggravate our Damnation; this will make

the

the very mercy of our fparing become a grievous curfe unto us. Yet thus it proves too often, that the rest of the men which were not killed by thefe Plagues, yet repent not of the works of their hands, Rev.ix. 20. And as foon as the Calamity is over, there is as much Lying and Swearing, Luft and Debauchery as ever; he that was unjust is unjuft ftill, and he that was filthy is filthy ftill,fcarce one Inftance of amendment doth appear. Good God! what can reclaim fuch wretches if the approach of death will not affright them from their Sins, nor the Mercy of a new life oblige them to be more holy? furely they are incureable who cannot be healed by fuch a Judgment, and may fear their next punishment fhall be in eternal flames. Confider therefore in time you that are yet alive, and refolve fincerely to make this oblation of your felves, to which you are engaged by gratitude and reafon, by God's goodness and your own Vows, and then we thall behold,that your Correction and your reprieve was not in vain: Now for the manner of doing this Duty we shall not need fay more here,because if any be convinced, and defirous thus to dedicate themselves to God, they may find directions,and a proper Form for it. Comp. to the Altar.Partit.IV. Se&.II. §.5.whither we refer the Reader. ~

S.VI.

S.VI.Lways praising and magnifying the mercies in the midst of thy Church, through Jelus

Christ our Lo2d, Amen.]

(f) Pfıl.22.22. ir péop ixxnuoías lxx. In medio Ecclefia.Vulg.

The Conclution of this Thanksgiving is David's refolution, when God had delivered bis Soul out of the Lions mouth, Pfal.xxii.2 1. For in the next verfe he adds, I will declare thy name unto my Brethren, in the midst of the Congregation will I praife thee, v.22. Or as St. Paul (and we from the Old Tranflations (f)) read-in the midst of the Church will I fing praife unto thee, Heb.ii. 12. The praifing God by our lives is the beft,but not the only praise which is due unto him; for we must alfo blefs him with our lips, our Tongue being among other parts to be offered up as a Sacrifice unto God, wherefore it must be the Inftrument of his glory, and that not only just now, but always fo as long as this Life endures, which hath been reftored to us, when we praise the Lord for any other Mercy, we muft think of this,and the remembrance of this deliverance must never be obliterated; moreover as our Prefervation from this Plague hath been a publick Mercy,fo must our gratitude be alfo, we must give thanks in the house of God, and before his People (both fignified by the Church) that there may be as many witneffes of our Praises, as there was of our Deliverance,let us fay,I will pay my Vews U 1to the Lord,in the midst of thee O Jerufalem, even in the Courts of the Lords boufe, and in the presence of all his People, praife the Lord,Pfal.cxvi.ult.

The

The Paraphrafe of the first Thanksgiving.

[D] Almighty [Lo20] and moft glorious [God, who balt molt grievously [wounded] fome of [us,] who art yet alive [for our Sins,] which had provoked thee to anger [and consumed] many others of [us] by this cruel death [fo2 our Tranfgrefton] of thy Holy -Laws. We acknowledg,these were the Cause of thy punishing us fo feverely [by thy late] Judgment of the Plague, which was to them that felt it an [heavy,and to them that only feared it a [Dreadful Wifitation:] Lord thou haft moft justly corrected us hitherto, yet of thine infinite Mercy, thou inclineft to spare us [and now] while thou art [in the midft] of the execution of thy righteous Sentence [of Judgment] upon us, thy compaffions are not extinct; for thou [remembzing] thy wonted [mercy, haft redeemed our Souls] from Hell, as well as faved our Lives [from the Jaws of Death, which was ready to have devoured us if thou hadft not prevented: [e] whofe Lives are thus miraculously fpared [oo offer] with a fincere gratitude Canto the Fatherly goodness,] and in return for thy mercy [our felbes] wholly and intire,even [our Souls, and] all the faculties thereof, our [booies] and all our Members [which thou haft delivered] from death and deftruction; wherefore they fhall be dedicated [to be a living, holy and reasonable [acrifice unto thee] and only exercised hereafter, in doing thy Holy Will: For we will henceforth be thy Servants, not only now, but [always] fpending our time in [patang] the freenefs, [and magnifying] the greatness of this and all [the mercies] towards us, and this not only in private,

but

but also [in the midst of] the Affemblies of [thy Church, that all our Brethren may joyn with us in bleiding thy Name(thzough Jesus Chzif our Lozd) and only Saviour. Amen.

Of the Second Thanksgiving for Deliverance from any Common-Sickness.

§. VII. T

Here are many other Diseases befides the Plague, which are infectious and Epidemical cauling great Mortality when they spread themfelves, fuch as Fevers and fmall Pox in our times,and the fweating Sickness, of which many thousands dyed in a

() An. 1. Hen, vii. An.9. Hen.viii.

An.5. Edvard-vi.

little space, in the laft Century ; wherein this Nation was thrice fevercly vifited therewith (g). Now when we are delivered from fuch

Distempers, we may very properly give thanks to God in this Form.

The