Create in us also, O God, a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us. Illuminate our understandings with the light of life. May we know the truth, and may the truth make us free, Give us tender and wakeful consciences; and may they always smite and torment us when we sin against God. May we be consistent and uniform in the whole of our conversation and conduct; the same alone and in company; in prosperity and adversity; esteeming all thy commandments concerning all things to be right, and hating every false way-Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile.

May we never be satisfied with any present progression in the divine life: but this one thing may we do, forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those that are before, press towards the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus. May we add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity: and may all these things not only be in us but abound.

And while we never forget what is necessary to constitute the christian character, may we never neglect what is needful to complete it. May we cultivate the expedient and the lovely. May we be concerned to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour; to recommend the religion of Jesus to all around us; and to induce observers to say, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

Enable us to accommodate ourselves to the dispensations of thy providence, with the views and feelings of Christians. May we know how to be abased, and how to abound; may we learn in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content; yea, in everything may we give thanks, knowing that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to those that trust in Him.

May we feel the ties that unite us to our fellow-creatures, especially to our fellowchristians. By sympathy, and praise and prayer, may we make their mercies and miseries our own; rejoicing with them that rejoice, and weeping with them that weep.

Regard the sons and daughters of distress: and as afflictions are not immutable dispensations, and we are allowed to pray for temporal blessings conditionally, if it be thy pleasure command deliverance for them: or should thy wisdom continue the trial, keep them from sinking or sinning in the evil day; let thy strength be made perfect in their weakness; and in the multitude of their thoughts within them may thy comforts delight their souls.

Be with those who will pass the day in absence from thy dear abode. Though Thou art with thy people in trouble, yet Thou hast

taught them by experience to value thy ordinances, and to esteem a day in thy courts better than a thousand. O let them not pass an unprofitable, though a silent sabbath: let their meditation of Thee be sweet; and though not in thy house, may they be in thy Spirit on thy own day.

And make those thankful who are exempted from spiritual privations, and have liberty and health and strength to go into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies.

We bless Thee that this is our privilege. May we know the day of our visitation, and embrace the things that belong to our peace. May we hear with solemnity of mind, knowing that for all these things God will bring us into judgment. May we hear with prayer, remembering that whoever may plant or water, Thou alone canst give the increase. May we be doers of the word, and not hearers only; and may we keep in memory what is preached unto us, that we may not believe in vain.

May we carry into ordinary life the various portions of divine truth which successively engage our attention, and use them as seasons and circumstances render them suitable: may its doctrines inform, its warnings caution, its rules guide, and its promises comfort us, till we have received the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.

Bless the congregation in whose devotions we are to mingle. Let thy minister be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints shout aloud for joy. O Thou holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, peace be within thy walls-For our brethren and companions' sakes we will now say, Peace be within thee.

And bless, we beseech Thee, all thy churches and all thy servants of every name. Plead thy own cause. Build up Zion. Establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the whole earth. May many run to and fro, and knowledge be increased: and may all know Thee from the least even to the greatest. Our Father, &c.

SUNDAY EVENING.

QUICKEN our souls to call upon thy name: pour upon us the Spirit of grace and of sup plication; and in our enlivened and enlarged experience, may we know that Thou art not only the gracious rewarder, but the Almighty helper of them that diligently seek Thee.

For such, O God, is the ignorance of our minds, the vagrancy of our thoughts, the earthliness of our affections, and the unbelief of our hearts, that without Thee we can do nothing. But the preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue are from Thee. Thy Spirit helps our infirmities. Thy grace is sufficient for us. Unite our hearts to fear

May we approach Thee, not as the eternal Jehovah only, but as our Father and our Friend, our exceeding joy, the strength of our heart and our portion for ever. May we not only exercise that faith by which we understand the worlds were made by the word of God. May we not only believe in Thee as the God of nature and providence, but in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent, and sent to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. We feel discouragements resulting from our guilty fears, and find it hard to believe that on our return Thou wilt meet us in peace. We therefore bless Thee for the displaying of the exceeding riches of thy grace, in thy kindness towards us by Christ Jesus: and we rejoice in the blessed intelligence, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their iniquities unto them.

These glad tidings we have this day been hearing. O Lord, Thou knowest how often we have heard the joyful sound; and Thou knowest the manner in which we have received it. We have reason to fear that many have received it in vain; that their hearing has only added to their guilt; and that their sabbaths have been only employed in treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. O what would the spirits in prison give for one of our opportunities, one of our offers of mercy! How many now sitting in darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death, would exult at the entrance of that light, against which we shut our eyes, or which we behold with indifference!

Awaken, O Lord, in our consciences the inquiry, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation!

May we believe the report we have this day heard; and keep in memory what has been preached unto us, lest we believe in vain. May we hide thy word in our hearts, that we may not sin against Thee. May the truth as it is in Jesus illuminate in us all that is dark, sanctify in us all that is unholy, establish all that is wavering, comfort all that is wretched, and accomplish in us all the good pleasure of thy goodness and the work of faith with power; that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us, and that we may be glorified in Him.

We sometimes hope Thou hast commenced a good work in us; we hope that we have begun to see the evil of sin, to hunger and thirst after righteousness; that we are asking the way to Zion, with our faces thitherward; and are praying, Remember me, O Lord, with the favour Thou bearest unto thy people.

Command and enable us to go forward. Take us by the hand, and lead us on from

We live in a world of changes, but Thou art the same: may we know that Thou hast made with us an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. We are pressing through a vale of tears, but we bless Thee for the opening glory at the end of it. Enable us to realize as our own, a better even a heavenly country. Prepare us for every part of our pilgrimage: uphold our goings in thy word; and let no iniquity have dominion over us.

May we rejoice as though we rejoiced not, and weep as though we wept not; and buy as though we possessed not; and use this world as not abusing it.

We would sympathize with those who are in distress. Give to them that mourn in Zion, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Bless all the institutions which are established to diffuse the Scriptures and to send forth missionaries. Remember those who have gone forth to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Preserve their health, their morals, their spirituality, their zeal : let them be examples of all they teach: and be thou a little sanctuary to them among the heathen. May all the events that take place in the nations of the earth subserve the spread of the Redeemer's empire; and may we exult in the period when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

And to God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, be praises for ever and ever. Amen.

MONDAY MORNING.

THE heavens declare thy glory, O God, and the firmament showeth thy handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge; and there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. We behold displays of thy wisdom, power, and goodness, in all thy works, from the largest of them to the least.

But Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name; and we can never be sufficiently thankful for the revelation of thy will in the scriptures of truth. We bless Thee that this sacred volume has been preserved, and translated, and published, and multiplied, so that we all have it in our possession, and can read in our own tongue the wonderful works of God. Here we see not only thy greatness, but thy grace; and not only thy pity, but thy rectitude; we see mercy and truth meeting together, righteousness and peace kissing each other. Here thou hast shined in our hearts to give us the light of

the knowledge of thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

For in Him Thou hast reconciled the world unto thyself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Thou hast made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And Thou hast raised Him up from the dead, and given Him glory, that our faith and hope may be in God. May the hearts thus tenderly wooed be effectually won. At the view of this infinite kindness, may we resign all our unworthy and suspicious thoughts; and placing our confidence in Thee, return and say-Lord, I am thine, save me. Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

We ask not to be enrolled among the rich and the great of this world, but to be numbered with those who are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The graves are ready for us, and we shall soon be in a state that will render it a matter of indifference to us whether we have been rich or poor, whether we have filled a cottage or a palace-But it will be eternally important to us that we have been justified by thy grace, and sanctified by thy Spirit, and adopted into thy family. May we therefore be wise unto salvation; and make it our present, our supreme, our persevering concern, to obtain those blessings which are spiritual in their nature, eternal in their continuance, satisfying in their possession, and which unerringly indicate that we are the friends of God.

Preserve us from a false estimate of the whole of our character, or of any part of it. May we regard our principles as well as our conduct, our motives as well as our actions. May we never mistake the excitement of our passions, for the renewing of the Holy Ghost. May we never judge of our religion by occasional impressions and impulses, but by our constant and prevailing disposition. May our heart be right with God, and our life such as becometh the gospel.

May we maintain a supreme regard to another and a better world, and feel and confess ourselves to be only strangers and pilgrims in this. How often by bodily infirmities and pains, by relative afflictions, and by dissatisfactions growing out of every enjoymenthow often have we been told-O when shall we be taught that this is not our rest? O God, not only command, but enable us to arise and depart hence. Afford us all the direction, all the defence, all the support, all the consolation our journey will require. Give us in large abundance the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, that we may be prepared for every duty; that we may love Thee in all our mercies; that we may submit to Thee in every trial. May we trust Thee when we walk in darkness and have no light:

and amidst all the changes of the present and the uncertainties of the future, may our minds be kept in perfect peace, being stayed upon God.

Hast Thou not made with us an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure? The very hairs of our head-are they not all numbered? Are not all thy ways mercy and truth? Lord, we believe, help Thou our unbelief.

And now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy -To the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.

MONDAY EVENING.

O LORD, Thou art over all by thy providential agency, and rich unto all that call upon Thee in the exercise of thy mercy and grace. With Thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light.

Help us to consider the way, the new and living way, in which a fallen creature can approach Thee with acceptance. May we behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. May we contemplate the dignity of his person, the perfection of his sacrifice, and the prevalency of his intercession, who is the great High Priest over the house of God. May we feel the distance between Thee and us done away, and rejoice that now in Christ Jesus, we who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

A glorious high throne from the beginning has been the place of thy people's sanctuary: and we have found it good to be there. O what a resource is devotion!-When under all the toils that weary us, the cares that corrode us, the infirmities that press us down, the fears that disturb us; in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we can make known our supplication unto God, and feel a peace which passeth all understanding, keeping our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus!

We were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of our souls. Yet we feel the same grace that restored us, to be necessary to preserve us, and to supply us. And hast not Thou promised to lead us, to guard us, to suffer us to want no good thing, to make all grace to abound towards us? And art not thou a faithful God, and able also to perform? Lord, we take Thee at thy word. Do as Thou hast said.

We have tasted that Thou art gracious, and the relish has provoked our desires after more: and they who hunger and thirst after righteousness are blessed, and shall be filled. Make us to lie down in green pastures, and feed us beside the still waters, where we shall

often exclaim, O how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!

We often meet with those who have far more grace than we ourselves have: but this only encourages our hope, since they were once poor, and He who supplied them is as rich as ever-and as accessible-and as free. We are continually meeting with duties and trials, which call for more grace than we have in ourselves; but not more than we have in our divine treasury, in whom it hath pleased Thee that all fulness should dwell. To Him therefore may we continually repair, and from his fulness receive, and grace for grace, till every void made by sin be replenished, and we ourselves filled with all the fulness of God. We bless Thee that Thou dost not despise the day of small things; but we aspire after a day of great ones. We are not straitened in Thee, may we never be contracted in ourselves: may our desires be enlarged, and our hopes emboldened: may we honour Thee by the entireness of our dependence, and the greatness of our expectation; and living and walking in the Spirit, may we go from strength to strength, and be changed from glory into glory till we appear perfect before Thee in Zion.

We know not what a day may bring forth; nor would we if it were in our power draw back the veil that hides the future, and learn the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But O be Thou with us in all, and prepare us for all. Prepare us for the smiles of prosperity; prepare us for the frowns of adversity; prepare us for those losses in substance, and those bereavements in friends so possible, so probable in a world like this; prepare us for the days of darkness, for they may be many: prepare us for every change, and-prepare us for the change and when heart and flesh fail us, and we have no more a portion in all that is done under the sun, be Thou the strength of our heart and our portion for ever.

May our very memory be blessed. May those who follow us, praise God that we have ever lived; and may we leave behind us those instructions, examples, and effects, which shall glorify our God on earth, while our spirits have joined the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven.

And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all everAmen.

more.

TUESDAY MORNING.

O THOU, whose name alone is Jehovah, the most high over all the earth. We desire to adore the perfections of thy nature, and to admire the works of thy hands. May the united displays of thy greatness and thy G

goodness impress our minds, and influence our thoughts and affections while we approach Thee.

Heaven is thy throne, and the earth is thy footstool. The universe with all its myriads of creatures was made by thy word and is upholden by thy power: and Thou dost according to thine own will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: none can stay thy hand, or say unto Thee, what doest Thou?

But Thou art the Father of mercies; the God of all grace; and the God of all comfort. Even we, poor mean dying creatures, are not beneath thy care. Thou hast been mindful of us; Thou hast visited us; and thy visitation hath preserved our spirits. The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places: yea we have a goodly heritage. We live in a land of vision, We have the scriptures in our hands; and our ears hear the joyful sound of the gospel. We know that Thou hast not spared thine own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. We know that He has borne our grief, and carried our sorrow; that his blood cleanseth from all sin; and that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

We come in His name, and make mention of His righteousness only. We plead the obedience and sufferings of him who magnified the law, both in its precept and penalty, and made it honourable. May we be justified by his blood; may we be saved by his life. May we be joined to the Lord and of one spirit with him. May we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. May the agency of thy grace prepare us for all the dispensations of thy providence. May we be willing that the Lord should choose our inheritance for us, and determine what we shall retain or lose, what we shall suffer or enjoy.

If indulged with prosperity, may we be secured from its snares, and use its advantages as not abusing them. And may we patiently and cheerfully submit to those afflictions which are necessary to hedge up our way when we are tempted to wander, to excite an abhorrence of sin, to wean us from the present evil world, and to make us partakers of thy holiness. Only assure us, and we shall learn in whatsoever state we are therewith to be content-only assure us that Thou wilt be with us in trouble, and that at the end of the vale of tears we shall enter Emanuel's land, where the inhabitants no more say I am sick; where our sun shall no more go down, nor our moon withdraw itself, but God shall be our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning shall be ended.

May our friends and relations be fellowheirs with us of the grace of life. Let our house be the tabernacle of the righteous: let our children and servants be a seed to serve Thee, and among none of those who surround

this family altar, may there be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, when they shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and they themselves shut out.

Lord, help us all to view our religious opportunities as talents for which we are accountable; to remember that our greatest danger results from our highest privileges; and to fear lest a promise being left us of entering into thy rest, any of us should seem to come short of it.

Thou hast determined the bounds of our habitation; and by the events of thy providence, many of those in whose society we delight are separated from us. When we are absent in body, may we be often present in spirit. We commend our absent friends and kindred to thy covenant care. May no evil tidings concerning them wound our hearts.. Spare them in thy mercy; may we often embrace each other in circumstances of health and comfort; or if we have had our last interview on earth, may we all meet in our heavenly Father's house, and be for ever with each other, and for ever with the Lord.

In hope of which, with every other blessing, we devoutly ascribe to the only wise God our Saviour, praise and glory everlasting. Amen.

TUESDAY EVENING.

O THOU King of Glory, we desire to approach thy divine Majesty with reverence and godly fear, and to worship Thee in the beauty of holiness. Every perfection adorns thy nature and sustains thy throne. The heavens are thine; the earth also is thine; the world is thine, and the fulness thereof. Thy power drew the universe from nothing. Thy wisdom has managed all its multiplied concerns, presiding over nations, families, and individuals, and numbering the very hairs of our head. Thy goodness is boundless: the eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them their meat in due season: Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. How precious are the thoughts of thy mercy and grace and so excellent is thy lovingkindness, that even the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wing.

Thou art the blessed and happy God. O teach us to place our happiness in thyself. May we never seek the living among the dead, nor ask with the deluded many, Who will show us any good? but may we prize the light of thy countenance, implore the joy of thy salvation, and passing by the attractions of creatures, be able to say, Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.

Thou hast been infinitely more attentive to our happiness, than we ever have been or ever can be. Thou madest man upright, and

when by voluntary transgression we fell away from Thee, Thou didst not treat us with the severity or the neglect we deserved. In thy love and pity Thou wast pleased to provide for us a Saviour, who bore our grief and earried our sorrows, and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Apply this redemption to our hearts, by the justification of our persons and the sanetification of our natures. We confess our transgressions have mercy upon us. We are weary-give us rest. We are ignorantmake us wise unto salvation. We are helpless-let thy strength be made perfect in our weakness. We are poor and needy-bless us with all the unsearchable riches of Christ. Having begun a religious course, may we run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. And though perplexities and trials and dangers await us, yet may we travel on, unchecked and undismayed, knowing that Thou hast said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Thus far, blessed be thy name, Thou hast led us on, and we have found thee faithful to thy promises. We have had our sorrows; but Thou hast been a very present help in every time of trouble. We have had our fears; but Thou hast not suffered the enemy to triumph over us. We have sometimes been on the verge of despair and have said, I am cast out of thy sight: but we have been enabled to look again towards thy holy temple, and the shadow of death has been turned into the morning. Ebenezer! hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Thy vows are upon us, O God: we will render praises unto Thee. For Thou hast delivered our souls from death: wilt not thou deliver our feet from falling, that we may walk before God in the light of the living?

We would feel the connexions which unite us to others, and by sympathy and prayer and praise, make their miseries and mercies our own. We would rejoice with those that rejoice, and weep with those that weep. Provide support and employment for the poor, and may their hands be sufficient for them. Make the widow's heart to sing for joy; and in Thee may the fatherless find mercy. Visit those that are on beds of sickness, and prepare them for thy pleasure; that if they live it may be to serve Thee; and if they die, it may be to enjoy Thee. Bless the king as supreme. May righteousness and peace be the stability of his times; and the subjects he reigns over be a happy people, whose God is the Lord. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem: and may all our churches, like the original disciples, continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers.

Protect and refresh us through the night season; and then cause us to hear thy loving