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May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all, now, and evermore.

Sunday Evening.—Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Lord God! we hum bly thank Thee for the great blessings of this holy day: that we have been admitted to the privilege of joining in public worship; of offering up our prayers and praises to Thy Divine Majesty; and of hearing Thy holy word read and preached. May the great truths we have been taught, sink deep into our hearts, and, by Thy grace, bring forth in us the fruits of a sober, a contented, and a holy life.Pardon, we beseech Thee, the coldness of our hearts, the wanderings of our thoughts, and all we have done amiss. Help us to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and grant that we may daily become more, humble--more devout, and thereby more happy. Bless, we pray Thee, with Thy choicest gifts, all our relations and friends; teach them, and us, Q God! to know, to love, and to serve Thee. Grant that we may go to rest in peace and charity one towards another, forgiving all who may have offended us, as we hope and pray to be forgiven of Thee, Enable us, throughout the week upon which we have this day entered, to obey Thy laws, and keep Thy commandments; grant that Thy strength may help our weakness; and make us diligent to watch and pray that we fall not into temptation. In Thy great mercy, O Lord! bless, direct, and pardon us, through the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Father, &c. &c..

Morning Prayer for a Week day.—Let us pray..

O LORD our heavenly Father! we humbly thank Thee for Thy great mercy in bringing us in health and safety to another morning. Continue to us, we pray Thee, O God! Thy Almighty care; and guide us through this day by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may make it our earnest desire to obey Thy laws, and to keep Thy commandments. May we remember that thine eye always seeth us, and that, according to what we do and say, and think here, we shall be happy or miserable hereafter. Enable us then to do such things as will please Thee; to love Thee with all our hearts, and all our minds, and all our strength; to be humble and lowly in ourselves; kind to all our fellow-creatures, and to every creature that thou hast made, and to do to all our fellow-creatures as we would have them do to us. Make us honest and true in all our dealings, and careful to do our duty in that state of life in which Thou hast placed us. May we remem ber the weakness and sinfulness of our hearts, and constantly pray to Thee for Thy grace to help and strengthen our endeavours. Uphold us by Thy power, purify us by Thy holiness, and lead us to the comfort and peace of true religion in this life, that in the world to come we may rise to the joys of heaven, for the sake of Jesus Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Our Father, &c. &c.

Evening. Let us pray.

BLESSED Lord God Almighty, we humbly pray Thee, of Thy great mercy, to keep us in safety through the dangers of this night, and to grant that we may enjoy such quiet and refreshing sleep as may strengthen us for the labours of the following day. Give us grace heartily to repent of all our

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faults, and, for Jesus Christ's sake, pardon, we humbly beseech Thee, all that we have, throughout this day, done, or said, or thought amiss. Make us to feel the great danger of sin, and how liable we are to be overcome by it. May we daily examine our hearts, and be careful not to let any sin get the dominion over us. Grant that we may diligently endeavour to grow wiser and better, and with humble hearts look to Thee for help and forgiveness. We thank Thee, O Lord, for the comforts which we have this day enjoyed; for our health, friends, food, and clothing. Add to these, Thy mercies, Almighty God! a larger share of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may daily increase in grace, and may at last by Thy great mercy, be accepted, for the sake of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Our Father, &c. &c.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR,

SHOULD you deem the following extracts from Mrs. Chapone's works worthy of a place in your publication, it may be the means of leading some of our Cottage friends to a nearer and more minute survey of the Scriptures than they have hitherto adopted.

"The first book of Genesis contains the most grand, and, to us, the most interesting events that ever happened in the universe. The creation of the world, and of man; the deplorable fall of man, from his first state of excellence and bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see all his descendants continue; the sentence of death pronounced on Adam, and on all his race-with the reviving pro

wrought for us by our blessed Saviour; the account of the early state of the world; of the universal deluge; the division of mankind into different nations and languages; the story of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people, whose unshaken faith "and obedience under the most severe trial that human nature could sustain, obtained such favour in the sight of God, that he vouchsafed to style him his friend, and promised to make of his posterity a great nation, and that in his seed-that is in his descendants--all the kingdoms of the earth should be blessed. This, you will easily perceive, refers to the Messiah, who was to be the blessing and deliverance of all nations. The story of Abraham's proceeding to sacrifice his only son, at the command of God, is affecting in the highest degree, and sets forth a pattern of unlimited resignation, which every one ought to imitate, in those trials of obedience under temptation, or of acquiescence under afflicting dispensations, which fall to their lot. Of

this we may be assured, that our trials will be always proportioned to the power afforded us. If we have not Abraham's strength of mind, neither shall we be called upon to lift the bloody knife against the bosom of an only child; but if the Almighty arm be lifted up against him, we must be ready to resign him, and all we hold dear, to the Divine will. This action of Abraham has been censured by some, who do not attend to the distinction between obedience to a special command, and the detestably cruel sacrifices of the Heathens, who sometimes voluntarily, and without any divine injunctions, offered up their own children, under the notion of appeasing the anger of their gods. An absolute command from God himself, as in the case of Abraham, entirely alters the moral nature of the action; since he only has a perfect power over the lives of his creatures, and may appoint whom he will, either angel or man to be the angel of destruction. That

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119

it was really the voice of God, which pronounced the command, and not a delusion, might be made certain to Abraham's mind, by means which we do not comprehend, but which we know to be within the power of Him who made our souls as well as bodies, and who can controul and direct every 'facalty of the human mind; and we may be assured that if he was pleased to reveal himself so miracudously, he would not leave a possibility of doubting whether it was a real or imaginary revelation. Thus the sacrifice of Abraham appears to be clear of superstition; and remains the noblest instance of religious faith and submission, that was ever given by a mere man. This book proceeds with the history of Isaac, which becomes very interesting to us from the touching scene I have mentioned and still more so, if we consider him as the type of our Saviour. It recounts his marriage with Rebecca the birth and history of his two sons, Jacob, the father of twelve tribes, and Esau the father of the Edomites the truly affecting story of Joseph and his brethren and of his transplanting the Israelites into Egypt, who there multiplied till they became a great nation.”

Your constant reader,

M. S. H.

Cumberland. Exercise in Geography.

CUMBERLAND is bounded on the north by Scotland and the Solway Firth, on the west by the Irish sea, on the south by Lancashire and Westmoreland, and on the east by Northumberland and Durham. This county comprises every variety of

* This word is sometimes written frith, and is of common use in Scotland. Thus the firth or frith of Forth. It is used

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