then published others for the like Occafion, fo did I defire him to inform me, whether that admirable Collect of Thanksgiving and Prayer on Occafion of the great Storm, Nov. 27. 1703, for which I have long fought in vain, were to be met with at Lambeth; and if it were I defired a Copy. To which I had no answer. That Form, if it could be found, would be an excellent Pattern for future Forms. However, if that cannot be found, I beg that you will provide better Forms for the Time to come; and particularly that you will infert into the next Form for the Faft, Feb. 17. What has hitherto been utterly neglected, I mean fome ferious Collect on Occafion of the long and fore Murrain or Plague now deftroying the Horned Cattle: Which how far it may extend we none of us know. This may not only then be used, but afterwards alfo, during the Continuance of that Diftemper; which has been no Way ftoped hitherto either by the natural or political Means ufed for that Puopofe. I fay natural and political Means only; for neither do any medical Methods of Cure confiderably avail, nor have any other Means but political, been tryed by the Publick hitherto, as if we had no Notion of the Interpofition of Providence in fuch a terrible, and general, and long a Judgment as this has been. I know that my Brethren the Baptifts in this Neighbourhood have earnestly and frequently petitioned God Almighty in their Places of publick Worship, for a Stoppage of fo great and uncommon a Calamity: And I suppose other Diffenters do the fame in their Places of publick Worfhip alfo. While our Churches, intended for

higher Purposes, have been only employed to read Orders of the State relating thereto. But how it has come to pass that the established Church of England has been quite filent all along, as to the Religious Part; I believe no good Reason can be given. If our thirteen Times a Year Curfing the Eufebians or Primitive Chriftians by publick Authority in the Athanafian Creed were once corrected; our Manners in Court and Country throughly amended, and our Prayers on all fuch Occafions were more folemn and ferious than they now are, we might hope that God Almighty would pity us and our poor dumb Creatures, and procure both them a Release from this Diftemper, and ourselves a Deliverance from the Effects of it, and from those other great and amazing Judgments which I fully and fuddenly expect; as a Confequence of what is already begun, and this upon the most authentick Evidence. I am,

My Lord,

Your obliged and very humble Servant,

WILL. WHISTON.

N. B. On that Faft-Day, Feb. 17th, I went to our Congregation at Morcot, which was very folemn, and supplied by the Prayers of our several Preachers one after another, with a Sermon on the Occafion by one of them. Where alfo I myself read that excellent Sermon about the Murrain, on Exod. ix. Part of the 3d and 6th Verses, which I had before read at Dd 4

our

our Family Morning Devotions that Day. And which I told them I wifhed had been preached in every Church and Meeting in these Kingdoms.

I

Revd. Sir,

The Archbishop's ANSWER.

thank you most kindly for your good Letter, and am better pleased with your Chriftian Wishes for me, than with an hundred Compliments I have received in pick'd and elegant Phrafes. Yours, I am fure, comes from a good Heart, and a fober Judgment; I will do the best I can in this Station, to which indeed I have been forced. And as neither Pride, nor Ambition, nor Covetousness tempted me to defire it, so it is my daily Prayer to God, that in the Ufe and Exercife of this great Office, I may keep my Heart and my Hands free from thofe fad Temptations. What you hint about the Form of Prayer, your Age and Learning, and Experience give you a Right to fay; but it becomes those who have lefs of all thofe to be a little more reserved: The fame Form is come out by Authority for this Year. Many good Men concur with you on the Subject of the Murrain; and I am afraid in a little Time it will make the ftouteft of us cry out for Mercy, and reach those high Places which feem almost out of the Reach of fuch Calamities. Upon your Hint I looked over the Forms of Prayer, and find one for the 17th of Jan. 1703-4. This I fuppofe

is what you mean, and I fend you one of the Prayers transcribed.

I am, Reverend Sir,

Your affured Friend,

Kenfington, Jan. 28, 1747.

THO. CANTUAR,

The PRAYER.

Reat and glorious Lord God, juft and terrible in thy Judgments, and unfearchable in all thy Ways: At whofe Rebuke the Earth trembles, and the very Foundations of the Hills fhake; who also commandeft the Winds and the Sea and they obey. We vile Duft, and miserable Sinners, in a most awful Senfe of thy amazing Judgments, our own great and manifold Provocations, and thy tender Mercy to the Penitent, do with all Humility of Soul, caft ourfelves down before thy Footstool; bewailing our Unworthiness, and imploring thy Pity, and the Bowels of thy Compaffion. We befeech thee, O Lord, to awaken our Consciences, that we may see and duly confider thy Hand, which in fo aftonishing a Manner has been lifted up againft us. Pardon our own crying Sins, and thofe of the whole Nation; which have drawn down this thy heavy Displeasure upon us; and grant us fuch a Measure of thy Grace, that we may no more difobey thy Laws, abufe thy Goodness and Forbearance; or despise this and other thy Chastisements, left a worse Thing come unto us. It is of thy Goodness, O Lord,

O Lord, that we were not all confumed by the late Winds and Storms, whichfulfill'd thy Commandment; and thatin theMidft of Judgment thou did't remember Mercy; fhewing forth the Care of thy Providence in fo many wonderful Prefervations of thy People. Let the Remembrance of them work in us fuch a Thankfulnefs of Heart, and fuch a Serioufnefs and Watchfulnefs of Spirit, that no Calamity may ever be a Surprize to us, nor Death itself come upon us unawares. That fo we may at length arrive fafely at that bleffed Kingdom which cannot be fhaken, for the Sake of Jefus Chrift, our only Mediator and Advocate.

N. B. On Afcenfion-Day, May 19th, 1748. The Collect on Account of the Murrain was first read in Lyndon Church.

A Short View of those National and Perfonal Sins which call for Humiliation and Repentance. By Mr. Overal.

WH

HEN we are called upon by publick Authority, to humble ourselves in the Sight of God, on Account of our manifold Sins and Trefpaffes against him, we should, in order to prepare our Minds for that folemn Work, feriously reflect upon thofe National and Perfonal Tranfgreffions, which render us unworthy of the Divine Favour, and expofe us to his juft Difpleafure.

If it fhould be afked, what Sins may properly be called National? I anfwer all fuch Laws and Customs of a Nation, as are contrary to the Laws

of