most dangerous to virtue, and to be exposed, without defence, to the lusts of the flesh, the snares of the world, and the wiles of the devil. Nevertheless, in order to prove, by our words, the sincerity of our repentance, our dependance upon thee, and our earnest desire to be created in holiness anew, we would most humbly beseech thee, of thy goodness, O Lord, so entirely, even in this world, to take away the evil consequences of our transgressions, as neither to lead, nor permit us to be led, into any temptation, as a punishment for their guilt and a demonstration of thy wrath. Or should it prove inconsistent with the purposes of thy holy Providence, and the end of our creation in a state of trial, to free us altogether from this curse of our nature; still we would venture, with all humility, to ask, that whenever thou art pleased either to tempt or permit us to be tempted, thou wouldest, at the same time, be pleased to "deliver us from evil." Save us, we implore thee, from evil of every kind; from every evil passion and every evil thought; from every evil word and every evil work; from every evil being and every evil thing; from the wickedness of man, the malice of the devil, and the danger and deceitfulness of our own corruption. Thus, and thus only, when supported by the strength of thy holy arm, can we hope to triumph over the adversaries of the soul.

To whom should a subject flee for aid, but to his lawful and hereditary sovereign? On whom can a weak and helpless creature rely, but upon a Being who has power at all times to guard and preserve him? Or what can be more natural than for him who bows down as an humble suppliant for another's favour, to ascribe the glory to him, whom he deems worthy to receive, and ready to hear, and able to answer his prayers? Under all these characters, and on all these accounts is it, that our Saviour hath taught us to offer up our devotions to thee, O Father, and in obedience to his words we do now profess that these are the reasons by which we are influenced, saying, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."

Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art King, be the people never so impatient. Thou art exalted a head above all, and sittest, as a Ruler, between the Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet. Thou reignest over all, and therefore, as humble dwellers in that universe which is thy dominion, we feel it our duty to bring our petitions before thee. We feel it our interest too, because thine also is the greatness and the victory, and the majesty. Riches and honour and blessing, and health and sickness, and strength and weakness, and joy and sorrow, and

good and evil come of thee. In thine hand is. power and might, and in thine hand it is, to make great or to cause a fall, to raise us up or to cast us down, to bless or to curse, to kill or to make alive, to save or to destroy, to give or to take away. In wisdom, therefore, as well as in duty, we appear as suppliants before thy heavenly throne, and glorify thee, by acknowledging, in meekness and in truth, that the glory of all we have, and the honour of all we do, and the praise of all we either speak or think, are thine, and thine for ever. Earthly monarchs and protectors shall all wax old as doth a garment, and weakness come with their years, and they shall go down to the grave, and their place and power be remembered no more. But thy years endure throughout all generations, and thy strength shall never fail. The elements shall melt with fervent heat. The heavens and the earth shall pass away, but thou, and thy dominion, and thy might, and thy mercy shall still remain; and so long as there is life in any suffering and thinking creature, to feel and express its wants, so long shall there be power in thee to hear and relieve them. And therefore we say, "Amen and Amen." Verily so would we have it, is our wish, and verily so do thou let it be, is our prayer.

*

Such is the model which has been left us by

our blessed Saviour, for our use and imitation in the supplications we offer up to God, and it is no less than five times repeated during the course of the Morning Service on every Sabbath. To this frequent recurrence of the same words, in the brief devotions of an hour, we may perhaps be inclined to object, as many have done before, that it is liable to the censure of a vain and useless repetition. But, whatever might be the force of this remark upon other occasions, in the present instance it can have little weight, because the circumstance may be accounted for without any imputation upon the judgment of those who com piled our Liturgy. The Communion, the Litany, and the ordinary Morning Prayers, which the custom of the Church has now combined into a single service, were originally intended to be distinct from each other, and performed at different periods of the day. With the greatest propriety, therefore, has the Lord's Prayer demanded and received an admission into each; because no service, however short, or however admirably framed, could be considered as otherwise than defective, in which we did not attempt to sanctify and correct the errors of a human composition, by the introduction of that faultless prayer, which the Author of our religion has prescribed as the model for our devotions, and which tacitly implies, though it does not positively express, our desire

for every thing which man can wish, or ought to ask.

But waving this usual defence, we would seriously ask under what circumstances this holy prayer of our Lord can ever be said to be too frequently repeated? Our ignorance in asking is palpable and confessed, and it is much to be feared, that from errors both in the manner and the matter of our devotions, they might sometimes almost degenerate into sinfulness. What then can be more wise, or just, or holy, than at short and frequent intervals to recall to our minds, both for what, and in what manner, we ought to pray, by the insertion of the Lord's prayer, whose perfection will cover every evil, and whose fulness will supply every defect. Superior that prayer is in excellence, comprehensive in brevity, holy in substance, solemn in manner, and simple in expression. But it were an idle task to attempt to give dignity, by human praise, to that which proceeded from the Lord of all. It was he, who spake as never man spake-it was Jesus the wise, the holy and the just, who gave this prayer for the use and imitation of his disciples; and if we are not moved to adore and to adopt it, by the reverence and gratitude we feel for the Speaker, it were in vain to endeavour to influence the heart or the understanding by the weak applauses of a creature's