with power and rank, we are taught to pray for the lords of the council, the nobility, and magistracy of the realm; for the great council of the nation when assembled in parliament, "that God would be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations, to the advancement of his glory, the good of his church, and the safety, honour, and welfare of our sovereign and his dominions, so that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations." I believe that it is in the true spirit of those pious men who drew these forms of prayer, to attribute the blessings of the profound peace, and great national prosperity which we now enjoy, to these "effectual and fervent prayers" which many righteous men among us continually offered, during a protracted season of public difficulty and misfortune. Nor do we see how any man can lay claim to the character of a good citizen, and a lover of his country, who does not draw near to God continually with these or

up

similar petitions in behalf of every order

of society.

Many excellent prayers are also inserted in the liturgy for the bishops and inferior orders of the clergy; and when you consider, my brethren, the awful responsibility which devolves upon those who watch for your souls, and must give an account; when you reflect on their peculiar trials and difficulties, the anxiety which they must feel, not only for the souls committed to their charge, but for their own souls also, "lest after having preached to others, they themselves should be cast away;" when you call to mind the momentous events which in a measure depend upon them, surely you must feel the duty of praying for your ministers. And you cannot ask greater blessings for them than those which are implored in the words of your church that God would "send down upon all bishops and curates, and upon all congregations committed to their charge, the healthful spirit of his grace,

and the continual dew of his blessing; that they may be illuminated with the true knowledge and understanding of his word; and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth, and show it accordingly." And here we may observe again, that if those persons who are loudest in their just complaints of the inconsistencies of some few clergymen, who by their worldliness or vice bring disgrace upon their profession, if they who see these things and lament them, would give themselves to earnest prayer in behalf of their clergy, they might soon expect that every individual of our order would, according to the apostolical expression, faithfully "preach Christ," and live according to godliness; we may well conclude this subject with beseeching you, earnestly and affectionately, in the words of St. Paul, "Brethren, pray for us!"

When, to the petitions which we have quoted, we add, that the church not only prays for every order of men in

our own country, but for foreign nations, for all men, for Jews, Turks, infidels and heretics, and above all, in obedience to the commands of Christ, that she teaches us to pray even "for our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers," we then may assert that the universality of the petitions of our church can be exceeded in right feeling and excellence, only by the word of God itself.

But we wish, III. To POINT OUT

то YOU MORE PARTICULARLY THE TENDER CARE OF THE CHURCH TO INTERCEDE FOR THE RELIEF OF THE MORAL AND SPIRITUAL EVILS OF MAN

KIND. In the confession, we not only detail our own sinfulness, and seek mercy for ourselves, but we say for others: "Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults: restore thou them that are penitent." And one prayer in the litany comprehends almost every change in the Christian life, where we pray that God would be

pleased" to strengthen such as do stand, to comfort and help the weak-hearted, to raise up them that fall, and finally, to beat down Satan under our feet." They who never felt any anxiety respecting their own souls, cannot be expected to have much feeling or care for the souls of others: but they who have passed through the various stages of spiritual trial alluded to in this petition, will offer it with great earnestness for such of their fellow-christians as are tried and tempted now. We present many general supplications at the throne of grace for the whole church of Christ, and all true believers. "Make thy chosen people joyful! that it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people! Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance!" And because there are always numbers around us who are Christians only in name, but in heart and life are followers of sin or of the world, therefore we pray every sabbath day, "that all who PROFESS and CALL themselves