have received our being. Thou art our constant Preserver, and bountiful Benefactor: the source of every present enjoyment, and the spring of all our future hopes. Thou hast also, in thine infinite condescension, been pleased to look down with pity on our fallen race, and freely to offer salvation to us through Jesus Christ. We adore Thee for the knowledge of thy will, for the promises of thy mercy and grace, and for the joyful prospect of eternal life so clearly revealed in thy holy word. Possess our minds, O Lord, with such a deep sense and firm persuasion of the important truths which are there made known to us, as shall powerfully influence and regulate all our thoughts, words, and actions. But while we celebrate thy goodness towards us, we have cause to be ashamed of our own conduct. We have great reason, O Lord, to be humbled before Thee on account of the coldness and insensibility of our hearts; the disorder and irregularity of our lives: and the prevalence of worldly and carnal affections within us. Too often have we indulged the passions and appetites which we ought to have opposed and subdued, and have left our duty unperformed: and we find a daily occasion to lament our proneness to corrupt inclinations and sinful lusts, and our reluctance to the practice of what is agreeable to thy will. O Lord, be merciful to us miserable sinners, and forgive us for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake. Produce in us deep and unfeigned repentance for our manifold transgressions; and a lively faith in that Saviour who hath died for our sins, and risen again for our justification. And may thy pardoning mercy be accompanied with the sanctifying influences of thy Holy Spirit, that we may no more sin against Thee; but may live from henceforth as becomes the redeemed of the Lord, and the candidates for a happy immortality. Put thy fear into our hearts, that we may never more depart from Thee. May thy blessed will set bounds to our desires, and regulate all our passions. May our affections be fixed, not on present objects, but on those which are unseen and eternal. Convince us more effectually of the vanity of this world, and its utter insufficiency to make us happy; of the vileness of sin, and its tendency to make us for ever miserable; of the value of our souls, and the awfulness of that everlasting state, on the borders of which we are standing and may we be serious and diligent in our preparation for death and judgment. : We desire this morning to offer Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, for the watchful care of thy Providence exercised over us during the past night. We laid us down to sleep, and, blessed be thy name, we have arisen in safety. May the lives which Thou hast mercifully prolonged be devoted entirely to thy service. Graciously continue thy protection and favour to us this day. Save us from sin, we beseech Thee, and from all other evils, if it be thy blessed will. Enable us faithfully to perform every relative duty under an abiding sense of thy presence and of our accountableness to Thee. May we, as a family, dwell together in peace and unity. May we put away from us every angry and discordant passion; and loving Thee with a supreme affection, may we love each other with pure hearts fervently. Preserve us, O Lord, from the influence of those temptations to which we are daily exposed. Make us duly sensible of our own weakness, that our hearts may be raised to Thee, in humble and fervent supplications, for the needful supplies of grace and strength. When we are in company, may it be our care to do and to receive as much good as possible. When we are alone, may we remember that our heavenly Father is with us; and may this thought excite in us an earnest desire to act as in thy sight. May all mankind be visited with the light of the gospel; and may its influence be more widely diffused in this land. In tender mercy regard all who are in affliction, of whatever kind. Grant unto our dear friends and relations, every blessing which Thou knowest to be needful for them. May they and we experience thy favour in this life, and in the world to come, life everlasting. We offer up these our imperfect prayers, in the name of our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ. Our Father, &c. -000-000 EVENING PRAYER FOR A FAMILY. ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, in whom we live, and move, and have our being: to thy tender compassion are we indebted for all the comforts of the present life, and for the hopes of that which is to come. We bless thy great goodness, for the measure of health which we have this day enjoyed; for our food and raiment; for our peace and safety; for our domestic and social enjoyments; for the use of our reason; and for the opportu nities of religious improvement, with which we have been favoured. But above all, we acknowledge with thankful adoration, thine inestimable love, in sending thy Son Jesus Christ into the world, to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification. To this love we owe thy forbearance with us, thine unwearied patience towards us, the gracious invitations of thy word, thy promises of pardon, reconciliation, and eternal life, and the gift of thy Holy Spirit, to renew our fallen natures, and to enable us to perform thy righteous will. Here, O Lord, in thy presence would we bewail our carelessness and inconsideration in time past, and the innumerable sins whereby we have provoked Thee to withdraw thy tender mercies from us, and to abandon us to the natural blindness and hardness of our hearts. Our lives, even during the day which is now drawing to a close, have little corresponded with those obligations which our christian profession lays upon us, and which, by our baptismal engagement, we have solemnly promised to fulfil. We have loved the world more than God; and we have been pursuing its vain and worthless objects, far more eagerly than the glory and the treasures of thy kingdom. How little, O Lord, have we felt the force of gratitude to Thee and to Christ, as the animating spring of our obedience! How little have we been restrained by thy fear, and by the recollection of thy presence, from transgressing thy commandments! How little has it ever been in our thoughts and intentions to please Thee, and to do thy will! O Lord lay not our sins to our charge. Be merciful, we beseech Thee, to our unrighteousness, through the blood of the Lamb of God which was shed for the sins of the world. Remember not against us, O Lord, the vanity of our thoughts, the errors of our judgment, the pride of our spirit, the inordinateness of our desires, the violence of our passions, the inconstancy of our resolutions, the selfishness of our motives, or the unworthiness of our ends. Let not the time we have wasted, the talents we have misapplied, or the grace we have abused; let not our unkindness to others, nor our ingratitude to Thee, rise up in judgment against us. But grant unto us thy gracious pardon for the past; and bestow on us the grace of thy Holy Spirit, to renew us in body, soul, and spirit, and to enable us to amend our lives, according to thy holy word. Inspire us, O Lord, with such an affecting sense of thy love to us, as may powerfully excite our love to Thee, and produce in us a greater earnestness, zeal, and diligence, in all our duty. May thy favour be the great object of our desire and pursuit, and by thy grace, may we be restored to such a lively image of thyself in all righteousness, purity, goodness, and truth, that we may have an abiding testimony of thy love. May the holy dispositions of Jesus Christ be formed within us, that we may walk in all humility, meekness, patience, contentedness, and self-denial, and make an entire surrender of our souls and bodies to thy holy will and pleasure. May Christ reign in our hearts, that we may no longer live to ourselves but to Him; and that the life we lead in the flesh, may be by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. And the same mercies which we implore for ourselves, we desire also for the rest of mankind, especially for all who are called by the name of Christ. May the ministers of Christ guide their flock with true wisdom and fidelity; and may the people follow their godly counsels. May the rich have compassion on the poor, and learn to trust, not in uncertain riches, but in the living God. May the poor of this world be rich in faith and a contented spirit, and heirs of thy kingdom. Give thy grace to husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, that in their several relations, they may so behave themselves, as to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. May all who are endeared to us, by whatever ties, be dear to Thee, and have their final portion with the saints in thy glorious kingdom. And now that we are about to lay ourselves down to rest, receive us, O Lord, into thy gracious protection. Refresh us with comfortable sleep; and when we awake in the morning, may our first thoughts be directed to Thee, our merciful Preserver. Defend us from the |