may we be drawn to thee as our Father, and feel towards thee as thy children. Henceforward, instead of contemplating thee with an averted and reluctant mind, may we rejoice to recognise thee in every thing, and to think of thee as everywhere. Not only now, but when we leave thy throne and engage in our customary occupations for the day, may we bear about with us a prevailing sense of thy presence. And may all we do be done as under thine eye, and with a view to thine approbation. In the hurry and business of life may we often raise our thoughts to thy throne, and snatch a moment, from the engrossing demands of worldly affairs, for communion with the Father of our spirits. Thus, O Lord, may we be fortified against temptation, strengthened for the discharge of duty, provided with resources against the day of trial, and qualified for maintaining a stedfast and consistent deportment in the midst of a world of vanity and sin.`

As we advance in our christian journey, may our thoughts turn more habitually towards thee as our ever-present Protector and Guide. In fellowship with thee, may we lose sight of the comparative emptiness of earthly blessings, and the necessary imperfection attendant on the cultivation of the best earthly feelings. In thee may we find realized all that our hearts have sought in vain to find in the creature. And satisfied from full and ever-growing experience, that thou art the unfathomed boundless ocean of all bliss-the true centre of the creature's breathings after happiness, may we rejoice to lose

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ourselves in thee, and to stretch forward in delighted anticipation to the time, when we shall behold thy face in righteousness, and be satisfied when we awake with thy likeness.

Thus, O Lord, would we feel and act this day. And O do thou, who knowest the frailty of our best purposes, assist the weakness of our nature, and enable us by thy grace, to carry our intentions into execution, and to set thee the Lord continually before

us.

Lead us, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of our enemies: make thy way straight before us.

Nor would we lift up our souls for ourselves alone. Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice; let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them; let them that love thy name be joyful in thee.

Increase the number of those that fear thee, and that call upon thy name. Let our friends and our connexions, and all whom we ought to remember in thy presence, be numbered among the righteous, whom thou wilt bless, and whom thou wilt compass with favour as with a shield. Let thy name be hallowed; let thy kingdom come; and let thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven! And all that we ask is for Christ's sake, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory for ever. Amen.

SATURDAY EVENING.

O LORD, we desire this evening to come before thee under a lively sense of thy goodness and mercy.

We bless thee for the protection and guidance thou has afforded us during the past day; for the comfortable circumstances in which we are now assembled in thy presence; and for the inestimable privilege we enjoy of pouring out our hearts before thee in the language of prayer and of supplication.

Blessed be God who hath given us so many causes of thankfulness, and so many subjects of praise. Blessed be God who daily loadeth us with his benefits; who in the morning waketh us to taste and see that he is good; who in the course of the day restoreth our soul, and spreadeth a table for us in the wilderness; and who, when the shadows of the evening fall around us, extendeth over us, and over those who are dear to us, the shield of his protecting and gracious providence.

While thus, O Lord, we thank thee for thy goodness, we would also unite in contrite acknowledgments of our unworthiness and ill-desert. We are not worthy of all the goodness and truth thou hast shown us: we are not worthy even of the least of thy mercies. Hadst thou withheld them, we could not have complained of injustice: and now, wert thou in anger to withdraw them, we could not charge thee with causeless severity; for we, O Lord, have often misapplied thy benefits, and have always failed suitably to acknowledge thee in them.

But we bless thee, gracious God, that while to us belong shame and confusion of face, to thee belong mercies and forgivenesses. We bless thee that though we have rebelled against thee, thou art looking with

an eye of compassion upon us, and art not willing that we should perish, but that we should have everlasting life. O, for the sake of thy Son whom thou hast given to be our Saviour, let thy mercy towards us be very great. For his sake, pardon freely all our sins; justify our persons, and accept of us as righteous in thy sight. Clothe us also with the graces of thy holy Spirit: endue us with the dispositions, and impart to us the character of thy children.

Begin, in the instance of each of us, thy good work, and carry it forward unto perfection. Fill our understandings with light; our hearts with love; our whole souls with an ardent and predominating principle of subjection to thine authority, and zeal for thy glory. In our respective situations, and according to our various powers, help us to advance the cause of Christ, and to promote the good of our fellow-men. May the diversified means and opportunities we possess for forwarding these great objects, be turned to the best account. O forbid that O forbid that any of us should give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme: forbid that we should fail in any point of walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. In our intercourse with those with whom thou hast connected us by so many different ties, may we make it our habitual and anxious study to exemplify the wisdom of the serpent in conjunction with the harmlessness of the dove; to transfuse into our deportment much of the holy and benignant spirit of the master we serve; and by pureness and knowledge, by long-suffering and kindness, by the

Holy Ghost and love unfeigned, by the word of truth and by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report, to approve ourselves the genuine and devoted children of the living God.

Into thy hands, O Lord, we commit ourselves during the future period of our lives. In all our trials and perplexities, be thou our Comforter and Guide. When we are ready to go astray, do thou make the path of duty plain before us, and keep us in it. When we are sinking under the burden of affliction, do thou sustain and comfort us. In the hour of temptation, make thy grace sufficient for us. In all our conflicts with our spiritual adversaries, plead our cause with them that strive with us, fight against them that fight against us, and stand up for our help and deliverance. Be our God for ever and ever, and continue to be our Guide even unto death.

Nor would we be unmindful in thy presence of our brethren of mankind. Look in compassion upon all who are in affliction; hear their cry; relieve their wants; and sanctify to them the chastening dispensations of thine all-wise and merciful providence. Enlarge, we pray thee, the boundaries of the Redeemer's kingdom; bring into it men of every kindred, and of every condition; may they especially who are our connexions and friends belong to it; and may the ties of nature and affection be drawn closer by the bond of a common alliance with one God and Father, of whom are all things and we in him, and