THIS is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. I JOHN V. 14.

GOD'S "ask,"

Meaneth all fulness and all grace,
Access in every time and place;

Yet we,

To whom this mercy is so free,
This privilege of light to bask
In the full sunshine of his face,
Regard prayer even as a task.

A. E. H.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always

more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

THE meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

PSALM XXV. 9.

TRUE dignity abides with him alone
Who, in the silent hour of inward thought,
Can still suspect, and still revere himself
In lowliness of heart.

WORDSWORTH.

WE beseech thee, O Lord, to govern the hearts of thy faithful servants: and that they may obtain thy good things, grant first of all that their own wills may be good through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THOU hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord,

according unto thy word.

PSALM CXix. 65.

FATHER, thy life-long mercies, old and new,
Shall be the stones so fair

Built on the ground-work of a grateful heart,
To raise an altar there.

So, "all things" minister of right to me,
Things present, things to come;

And help to bring me on my pilgrim path
To the eternal home.

M. K. A. S.

GOD, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; we humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

HE was marvellously helped, till he was strong. 2 CHRON. xxvi. 15.

UNSTABLE waves grow firm beneath Christ's feet;
The wilderness doth blossom as the rose;
These he doth soften with his mercy sweet,
Strengthening the weak and feeble will of those.
In him we find

The lacking power of every frame of mind,
In whom we are complete."

A. E. H.

FROM presuming to measure the depth of thy almightiness by the short line of human reason, from presuming to interpret the unsearchable secrets of thy will by the fallible rule of man's judgment: good Lord deliver us!

FOR through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. EPH. ii. 18, 19.

THERE is a tie 'twixt thee and me,
All strangers though our kindred be,
Of differing climes, of varying speech,
The blood of Christ was shed for each;
That blood which cleanseth from all sin,
Makes sinners everywhere akin.

E. HAMILTON.

GOD, who hast made all those that are born again in Christ to be our spiritual kindred, grant that thy people who are called to eternal life, may have the same faith in their hearts, and the same piety in their actions, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.