We next seek Divine protection for all our people, each Sabbath day, we place our nation afresh under the guardian care of our God; oh let it not be true of England, as of Israel of old, that she comes to inquire of God and to sit before Him, while she pollutes His Sabbaths, and defiles herself with the idols of Egypt, lest He should say unto her, "I will not be inquired of by you. Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also if ye will not hearken unto me; but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts and with your idols." Ezek. xx.

Our prayers now embrace a wider range, and we seek for all nations the blessings of unity, peace, and concord, Scripture shows that defensive war is lawful, but every war must imply guilt on one side, it is abhorrent to the character of the gospel, and the constant prayer of the Church is for unity peace and concord' amongst all the nations of the earth.

Spiritual blessings are then sought for ourselves and the whole Church of God. How beautiful the prayer as to the hearing of God's word: that it may please Thee to give to all Thy people grace, to hear meekly Thy word, and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.' A meek teachable spirit, waiting humbly for a message from God: a childlike spirit that loves to hear a Father's voice, and treasures each word with pure affection: an obedient spirit, that listens only to obey, and brings forth the fruits of the spirit this needs an increase of grace, but it is the blessing we are taught to pray for, and encouraged to expect. That it may please thee to bring into the way of truth, all such as have erred and are deceived.' We had prayed before to be delivered from all heresy and schism, but we are here taught not to be content with

personal deliverance, while any of our brethren are wandering in the paths of the destroyer. The error and deception we are to hate, whether it be Popery, Socinianism, or any other form of false doctrine, but those led astray by it, we are to love, and to pray earnestly that they may be brought into the way of truth. We should do well when we offer up this petition, to bring to mind some for whom we have a special interest, it would help to give earnestness and reality to our prayer.

'That it may please thee to strengthen such as do stand, and to comfort and help the weak-hearted, and to raise up them that fall, and finally to beat down Satan under our feet." What a comprehensive prayer of Christian love. Here is no envy against those who are strong in grace, their strength is the strength of the whole army, their dishonour would be the dishonour of all; yet of themselves they cannot maintain their position one single day, strengthen those that stand. Here is no contempt against the weak-hearted, but tender brotherly care, which seeks not only that they may be helped but comforted. Some of our brethren have fallen, yet even these are not forgotten; raise up them that fall, and finally beat down Satan under our feet. Let the day of triumph come at last, now the enemy casts one and another down, we hear him exult over their fall, and we tremble for our own standing, but it shall not always be so, he is now in reality a conquered foe, hasten the day when he shall appear as such, beaten down under the feet of the saints.

The following petitions are for the succour of the needy. It has been objected against our forms of prayer, that they cannot be made sufficiently individual; but surely so minute and full a list of human sorrows, espe

cially joined with the power of mentioning special cases where the prayers of the congregation are asked, leaves us little to desire. Few extemporary prayers would embrace so much. Even young children are remembered, the little ones whom the Church has received into her fold at baptism, but who are yet too young to join in the services. From their very birth, the shield of prayer shall be thrown around them, their protection amidst the perils of infancy, the pledge of future mercies so soon as they shall be capable of receiving them. The worship of God is intended to call forth all the graces he has implanted in the hearts of his people, here we are called on to exercise the grace of Christian sympathy; we are to realise the sorrow of the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the sick, or the prisoner, and bear them before our God in prayer. Do we thus offer up these petitions? We would willingly help them if they came under our immediate notice, have we faith enough in the efficacy of prayer, to believe that it will really avail for their help, and thus to call upon God earnestly on their behalf.

Forgiveness of injuries is the next grace called for; not a sullen forgiveness, with the wrong still rankling in the heart, but a forgiveness of love, that can seek the real good of our enemies, even that God would forgive and turn their hearts.

6

The past year has sufficed to bring vividly before our minds the importance of the next petition, That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use, the kindly fruits of the earth, so as in due time we may enjoy them.' Long continued plenty had almost led us to forget how dependent we were on the yearly gift of our God, in the kindly fruits of the earth. Let us show that we have laid to heart the lesson; stern famine has

been needed to teach, and let it be as no mere form, that we look up to Him week after week, to preserve the treasures of the field for our use.

The comprehensive petition which closes this series of supplication, embraces all that we most need, forgiveness for the past; forgiveness, not only for actual sins, but for negligence and ignorance; true repentance as we look back upon our guilty course; and the grace of the Holy Spirit to amend our lives in the time to

come.

At the close of each of these petitions, we have, or we ought to have, repeated the words; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.' To beseech, is a strong word, and implies much earnestness of desire; does the state of our hearts correspond with it? have we thus earnestly longed for the blessings we have asked for ourselves and others? The standard of our Liturgy is high, if we seek grace to rise up to it, it will be quickening and strengthening to our souls, but if we are content to use words which we cannot honestly make our own, we insensibly harden our hearts and encourage a habit of self-deception.

LÉA GLAIZETTE.

(Translated from the French.)

PERHAPS, my friends, you may remember, that, three months ago, I took a journey into l'Ardêche, where the history of a young peasant, named Peter, was related to me. But, strange to say, at the same time that I was taking this journey on the right bank of the Rhone, and on the same day perhaps on which the pastor Theophilus related to me the edifying life of this young boy; on the other bank of the river, one of my friends was taking a journey like mine, and heard also from the mouth of another pastor, a similar history of a little girl. Oh! if we could see thus, on every spot of the earth, all the interesting scenes which are passing—if we could, with one glance, embrace the thousands of Christians who, on the throne or in the cottage, bend their knee at the same time to pray to the same God-if our ear could seize all the christian words which are pronounced simultaneously in a thousand diverse circumstances, great and small, of life, how reviving would the spectacle be to our faith. How happy should we be to see and hear that we are not alone; that, in all parts of the globe, christians are found thinking and acting as we do, praying to, and loving, the same God as ours. Well, to realize, in some measure, this ideal, represent to yourselves this fact, which is only the exact truth : at the same time that I was crossing the mountains