WE

E beseech thee, O Lord! to give us grace, now and at all times, to hear thy holy word with attention, with reverence, and with fear; and to receive willingly the instructions and admonitions which may be addressed to us by the ministry of thy servants. Vouchsafe to them thine especial help; and grant that they labour not in vain. Let not thy word return to thee unfruitful. May it please thee to accompany it with the power and efficacy of thy Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Then the Minister shall say,

EAR with reverence, the Ten Commandments of the Law of God, as they are written in the 20th chapter of the Book of Exodus.

Here the People rise.

OD spake these words, saying, I am the Lord

GOD

thy God, who brought thee out of the land of

Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers

upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

III.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

IV.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

V.

Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

IX.

Thou shalt not bear false. witness against thy neighbour.

X.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife; nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass; nor anything that is thy neighbour's.

H'

EAR also what our Lord Jesus Christ saith, in the 22d chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

THOU

HOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy .mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

EARLY beloved!

DE

There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not. Ecc. vii. 20.

If we say we are perfect, it shall also prove us perverse. Job ix., 20.

But there is forgiveness with God. Psalm cxxx., 4. He hath raised up his Son Jesus, and sent him to bless us, in turning away every one of us from his iniquities. Acts, iii., 26.

By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let our requests be made known unto God. Philip. iv., 6.

Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY God! Lord of heaven and earth, we humble ourselves before thy Divine Majesty. Thou art God over all, the Supreme, the Eternal. Thou didst make the heavens, and all the hosts thereof; the earth, and all that therein is. Thou givest life to all things; and the army of heaven boweth down before thee. Thy majesty is incomprehensible; thy greatness infinitely above our thoughts and our praises. But thy goodness is over all thy works, and we offer unto thee our thanks for the manifold blessings thou hast vouchsafed to us, even unto this day.

O LORD! we are crowned with thy favours; and the testimonies of thy loving-kindness are ever around us. Thou hast given us life; and thy bountiful hand hath not ceased to provide all that is necessary, to enable us to pass our days in peace. But we praise thee, especially, that thou hast blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ, and art willing to number us with those who have been ransomed by the blood of thy Son, and are called to inherit the glory of thy kingdom. Through thy great mercy, thou hast offered to all of us the means of salvation, furthering us by thy word, by the influence of thy Spirit, by the voice of thy servants, by thy bounties, thy chastisements, and thy continued

help. Thou hast not rejected us in the midst of our iniquities; we are this day engaged in thy worship; and thou art still disposed to bless us.

BUT we have abused thy mercies, O our God! and have made them the occasions of transgressing. We have not served thee, even whilst receiving thy benefits. We have not walked in the light of thy Gospel, nor have we lived in a manner worthy of our vocation.

O LORD! we confess the multitude and greatness of our iniquities. Neither we, nor our rulers, nor our pastors, nor the people, have been mindful of thy commandments, nor of the warnings vouchsafed unto us during the years of thy forbearance. O Lord! the sins committed among us provoke thine anger. Impiety and indevotion, hypocrisy, blasphemy, and the profanation of thy holy name, of thy worship, and of thy laws; injustice, violence and fraud; hatred, dissensions, envy and evil speaking; sensuality and intemperance; pride, luxury, avarice, and the love of the world; open transgressions, and secret sins; the trespasses of the high, and the trespasses of the low; all these sins, O God! most righteous judge, all these sins pollute our country and its inhabitants, and justly kindle thine indignation and thy wrath.

O LORD! thou art just, and we are wicked. To thee belongeth righteousness; to us confusion of face. Thou mayest justly condemn us, and cast us