desires of our own hearts. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed; and enter not into judgment with thy servants, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. O cast us not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from us; for thou art the health of our countenance, and our God. May we henceforth be more obedient to thy counsels and thy precepts, and more devoted to thy service.

And we pray that the year upon which we have now entered may be an abundantly fruitful one in all temporal and spiritual blessings, and especially for the cause of the Redeemer. May the labourers in the gospel vineyard, be many and faithful, and the harvest plenteous; and may peace on earth and good-will among men everywhere prevail, and be more and more promoted; till the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, and even the wilderness, and the solitary places be glad and rejoice. When all people shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, and be constrained to say, How great is his goodness: how great is his beauty. May this be truly a year of merciful and gracious visitation to thy church-the church of the first-born, which are written in heaven: may it be emphatically, the acceptable year of the Lord, for the preaching of good tidings to the meek; for the binding up the broken-hearted; for proclaiming deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound.

Hear our prayers, O Lord, according to thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindnesses, which have been ever of old. For doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father; our Redeemer: thy name is from everlasting.

And when we shall have passed the few years of our pilgrimage upon earth, which we spend as a tale that is told; receive us we beseech thee to thyself, to enjoy an eternal year of jubilee in thy heavenly kingdom. And to thy name be ascribed all honour, praise and glory, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

For a Day of Fasting and Prayer.

AMEN.

ALMIGHTY and incomprehensible Jehovah; the high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. AMEN.

With all humility and reverence, we would adore thee as the author of our being: our Father and our God: the fountain of life, and the centre of all perfection and blessedness. From thy bountiful hand we derive all our capacities and all our enjoyments. Thou hast wonderfully preserved and sustained us, from feeble infancy to our present state; and we acknowledge our equal dependance on thy care and bounty for the time to come. May we be deeply impressed with a sense of that dependance, and of the obligation to gratitude, obedience and submission, which it confers upon us.

On this day, appointed by the civil authority, for a public annual fast, and prayer, we have assembled to offer our religious devotions to the God of our lives, and the giver of all our mercies. It is meet and right, and our bounden duty to confess before thee our numerous transgressions of thy righteous law, and our wide departure from its precepts; which are holy, just and good. We have left the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out to

ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns which can hold no water. In the variety of our earthly pursuits, we have forgotten God our Maker, who giveth songs in the night, who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven. Blessed be the name of the Lord who hath not forgotten us, nor turned away his mercy from us; but who hath graciously met our various necessities, and relieved our ever-returning wants. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee; but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him, neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he set before us. Yet although thou hast often visited our transgressions with a rod, and our iniquities with stripes; nevertheless thy loving-kindness thou hast not utterly taken from us, nor suffered thy faithfulness to fail. Thy covenant thou wilt not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of thy lips.

And now, O Lord our God, hear the prayers of thy servants, and their supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon us; for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive: O Lord, hearken and do: defer not, for thine own sake, O our God; for thy church and thy people are called by thy name.

O Lord our heavenly Father, we do not expect or desire that our supplications and prayers shall in any degree alter thy character, or change thy counsels; which have been ever of old. Rather, we would rest satisfied, and rejoice that thou remainest always the same, and that thy counsels and purposes, formed in infinite wisdom and goodness, will advance, and secure the best interests of thy whole

creation. May we learn to imitate thy great benevolence, by doing good in our day and generation, and thus setting forth thy most worthy praise.

We pray for thy blessing upon our rulers, and all who are in authority. May they be guided by the wisdom which is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. May they remember that they that rule over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And may we the people be subject to the powers that be, knowing that there is no power but of God; and that the powers that be are ordained of God. May we therefore be subject, not only for fear of wrath, but also for conscience' sake; and may we render to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour, May we owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for love is the fulfilling of the law. Preserve us, O Lord, we beseech thee, as thou mayest see it best, from wasting sicknesses, and from evils and disorders of every kind: from foreign aggression and invasion, and from violent internal commotions. Grant us peace in our borders, plenty in our garners, and health in our habitations. May the mercies we enjoy be continued, and those we need be bestowed. And while we live in the enjoyment of thy favours, and under the smiles of thy bounty, may we remember in effective charity, the poor, the afflicted, and the sorrowing; because these constitute, in reality, the fast which thou hast chosen.

And unto thee, O Lord, will we look, in all coming time, for fruitful seasons, crowned with thy goodness. Favour us with refreshing dews and rain from heaven, that the earth may bring forth her increase according to thy ancient promise, that while the

world standeth, seedtime and harvest should not fail. In thee, O God, do we put our trust, assured that thy word and thy promises are true and faithful. And unto thee, O thou that hearest prayer, and to whom praise belongeth, would we offer, in the name of thy beloved Son, all our petitions, and all our praises and thanksgivings; beseeching thee graciously to hear and accept them, and to send down an answer of peace. And to thy ever-adored name shall be ascribed all honour, power and glory, world without end. AMEN.

For an Annual Thanksgiving.

O THOU ever-living, ever-blessed, and ever-blessing God! the fountain of all life and being; the Creator and Governor of all worlds, and of all which they contain! All things are sustained by thy providence, and all creatures are dependant on thy bounty. O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all. May we be still, and know that thou art God, and that thou wilt do all thy pleasure. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works: we will therefore sing unto the Lord as long as we live: we will sing praise to our God while we have our being.

We thank thee, heavenly Father, for the existence thou hast given us; for its preservation in this frail state; from its commencement to the present time; and for the many blessings, and tokens of thy favour with which it has been crowned. We rejoice in contemplating the revealed excellence of thy character, thy parental relation to us, thy needy and dependant children, and the blessed and glorious destiny for which thou hast designed us. Thou wilt guide us with thy counsel, and afterward receive us to glory.