TSO D E V O 
In a fenfe anal®gor.is to what has been already illuf- 
trated, though by no means in the event funilar, was the 
Devotion of his daughter made by Jephthah. The 
purport ot his vow was-not to immolate his daughter, 
but to devote her, as. a perpetual virgin, to the fervice of 
the Lord! “ Jephthah (fays the learned Randolph) 
vowed two things ; to dedicate whatfoevcr, or wh'ofoever 
Jlmdd com-: forth, vf the doors of his houfe to meet him , to the 
fervice ot the Lord; and alfo to offer on this occafion 
a hurnt-ofj ring to the Lord of feme clean bead, fuch as the 
law allowed, and God would accept.” See Randolph’s 
very f at i'-factory Sermon on Judges xi. 30, 31, which ac¬ 
cords evidently with hilltop Hall’s Contemplations on 
Jephthah. See p. 963. vol. i. of Hall’s Works. 
But Devotion, in the more ufual and familiar ac¬ 
ceptation of the word, implies that ferions direction and 
earned elevation of the foul to Almighty God, when 
either with ^application or thankfgiving we humbly and 
fincerely offer religious wordiip. It is that inward date 
and difpodtion of heart, without which prayer is but un¬ 
meaning loquacity. Neverthelefs, it is diewn externally 
by prayer ; on which account, and that it might not be 
embarraded or interrupted, it adopts forms of prayer as 
helps to devotion. The life of fuch forms is of the highed 
antiqui-y. Prideaux has given us the S/iemonetk EJhrch 
or Eighteen. Prayers attributed to Ezra, and a nineteenth 
againd Chridians, inferted by rabbi Gamaliel, as devo¬ 
tional forms ufed by the ancient and modern Jews. They 
are very folemn, and very intereding in point of curious 
.antiquity, and therefore will not be either inapplicable 
or unacceptable in this place. 
1. Bleded be thou, 0 I.ord our God, the God of our 
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, the God 
of Jacob, the Great God, powerful and tremendous, the 
High God, bountifully difpenfing benefits, the Creator 
and Podedi r of the Univerfe, who remembered the good 
deeds of our fathers, and in thy love fended a Redeemer 
to thofe who are defcended from them, for thy name’s 
fake, O King, our Helper, our Saviour, and our Shield. 
Bleded art thou, O Lord, who art the Shield of Abraham. 
2. Thou, O Lord, art powerful for ever. Thou raifeft 
the dead to life, and art mighty to Live ; thou fended 
down the dew, Hilled the winds, and maked the rain to 
come down upon the earth, and fudained with thy bene¬ 
ficence all that live therein ; and of thy abundant mercy 
maked the dead again to live. Thou helped up thofe 
that fall; thou cured the dek; thou loofed them that 
are bound, and maked good thy word of truth to thofe 
that deep in the dud. Who is to be compared to thee, 
O thou Lord of might? and who is like unto thee, O 
our King, who killed and maked alive, and maked fal- 
vation to fpring up as the herb out of the field ? Thou 
art faithful to make the dead to rife again to life. Bleded 
art thou, O Lord, who raifed the dead again to life. 
3. Thou art holy, and thy name is holy, and thy faints 
do praife thee every day. Selah. For a great King and 
an Holy art thou, O God. Bleded art thou, O Lord 
God mod holy. 
4. Thou or thy mercy gived knowledge unto men, 
and teached them underdanding ; give gracioully unto 
11s knowledge, wifdom, and underdanding. Blelfed art 
thou, O Lord, who gracioully gived knowledge unto 
men. 
3. Bring 11s back, O our Father, to the obfervance of 
thy law, and make us to adhere to thy precepts; and do 
thou, O our King, draw us near to thy worlhip, and 
convert us to thee by perfect repentance in thy prefence. 
Bielfed art thou, O Lord, who vouchfafed to receive us 
by repentance. 
6. Be thou merciful unto us, O our Father, for we 
have finned ; pardon us, O our King, for we have tranl- 
greffed againd thee. For thou art a God, good and ready 
to pardon. Bleded art thou, O Lord mod gracious, who 
multiplied thy mercies in the forgivenefs of fins. 
Look we belbech thee upon our afflictions. Be thou 
1 
T I O N. 
on our fide in all our contentions, and plead thou otVf 
caufe in all our litigations; aijd make hade to redeem us 
. with a perfect redemption for thy name’s lake. For thoit 
art our God, our King, and a drong Redeemer. Bleded 
art thou, O Lord, the Redeemer of Ifrael. 
S. Heal 11s, O Lord our God, and we diall be healed. 
Save us, and we (hall be faved. For thou art our praife. 
Bring unto us found health, and a perfect remedy for all 
our infirmities, and for all our griefs, and for'all our 
wounds. For thou art a God who healed, and art mer¬ 
ciful. Bleded art thou, O Lord our God, who cured 
the difeafes of thy people Ifrael. 
9. Blefs us, O Lord our God, in every work of our 
hands, and blefs unto us the feafons of the year, and 
give us the dew and the rain to be a bleffing unto us 
upon the face of all our land, and fatiate the world with 
thy bledings, and fend down moidure upon every part of 
the earth that is habitable. Bleded art thou, O Lord, 
who gived thy bledings to the years. 
id. Convocate us together by the found of the great 
trumpet, to the enjoyment of our liberty, and lift up 
thy endgn to call together all of the captivity, from the 
four quarters of the earth into our own land. Bleded 
art thou, O Lord, who gathered together the exiles of 
the people of Ifrael. 
11. Redore unto us our judges as at the fird, and our 
counfellors as at the beginning, and remove far from us 
affliction and trouble, and do thou only reign over 11s in 
benignity, and in mercy, and in righteoufnefs, and in 
judice. Bleded art thou, O Lord our King, who loved 
righteoufnefs and judice. 
12. Let there be no hope to them who apodatife from 
the true religion ; -and let heretics, how many foever 
they be, all perifli as in a moment. And let the king¬ 
dom of pride be fpeedilv rooted out, and broken in our 
days. Bleded art thou, O Lord our God, who dedroyeft 
the wicked, and bringed down the proud. 
13. Upon the pious and the jud, and upon the profe- 
lytes of judice, and upon the remnant of thy people of 
the houfe of Ifrael, let thy mercies be moved, O Lord 
our God ; and give a good reward unto all who faithfully 
put their trud in thy name, and grant us our portion with 
them, and for ever let us not be adiamed. For we put 
our trud in thee. Bleded art thou, O Lord, who art the 
fupport and conddence of the jud. 
14. Dwell thou in the midd of Jerufalem thy city, as 
thou had promifed; build it with a building to lad for 
ever, and do this fpeedily even in our days. Bleded art 
thou, O Lord, who builded Jerufalem. 
13. Make the offspring of David thy fervant fpeedily 
to grow up and flouridi, and let our horn be exalted in 
thy falvation. For we hope for thy falvation every day. 
Bleded art thou, O Lord, who maked the horn of our 
falvation to flouridi. 
16. Hear our voice, O Lord our God, mod merciful 
Father, pardon and have mercy upon us, and accept of 
our prayers with mercy and favour, and fend us not away 
empty from thy prefence, O our King. For thou beared 
with mercy the prayer of thy people Ifrael. Blelfed art 
thou, O Lord, who heared prayer. 
17. Be thou well pleafed, O Lord our God, with thy 
people Ifrael, and have regard unto their prayers; redore 
thy wordiip to the inner part of thy houfe, and make 
hade with favour and love to accept of the burnt-facri- 
fices of Ifrael, and their prayers; and let the wordiip 
of Ifrael thy people be continually well pleadng unto 
thee. Bleded art thou, O Lord, who redored thy divine 
prefence to Zion. 
18. We will give thanks unto thee with praife. For 
thou art the Lord oiif God, the God of our fathers for 
ever and ever. Thou art our rock, and the rock of our 
life, the diield of our falvation. To all generations will 
we give thanks unto thee, and declare thy praife, beeaule 
of our life which is always in thy hands, and becaufe of 
our fouls which are ever depending upon thee, and be¬ 
caufe 
