Thou shouldst take us out of the world, but keep us from the evil. We ask not for the accomplishment of all our wishes, for we often know not what we ask; but we pray that whatever may be denied us, we may be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. May the joy of the Lord be our strength. And let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in Thee. We love the communion of saints, and would be mindful of them in our prayers. Bless those with whom we are more iminediately connected in the fellowship of the gospel. And bless thy church universal! may peace be within her walls, and prosperity within her palaces. Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee. Take to thyself thy great power and reign; and let the exclamation be heard from earth and from heaven, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and Even so; Amen. ever. WEDNESDAY EVENING. O GOD, thy greatness is unsearchable, and thy ways are past finding out. Before Thee we are nothing, less than nothing and vanity, worse than nothing and iniquity. With shame and sorrow we acknowledge our degraded and perishing condition. For sin has forfeited thy favour, stripped us of thy image, banished us from thy presence, and exposed us to the curse of thy holy law. And from this condition we have no power to deliver ourselves: and we lie down in despair unless a resource be found in thyself from whom we have so deeply revolted, and who for our sins are so justly displeased. crucified to the world; and there become dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God. There may we sink into the deepest humiliation; there may we find motives to patience, selfdenial, active benevolence: there may hope lift up its head; and faith lay hold on eternal life; and love bind us to live not unto ourselves, but to Him that died for us and rose again. Enable us to rejoice in Him whom Thou hast sent, not only as a Redeemer, but the Sanctifier. We want holiness; and not only the reality of the principle and the practice, but the increase. May we be more thankful for thy mercies, more humble under thy corrections, more zealous in thy service. Make us more constant in duty, more watchful against temptation, more contented in our stations, more exemplary in our conduct, more useful in our day and generation. May we do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Teach us to be ready for affliction. In health may we think of sickness; and in our brightest hours may we remember the days of darkness, for they may be many. We know that Thou wilt bring us to death and to the house appointed for all living; may we also know that when this earthly house of our tabernacle shall be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ: may we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him. Ŏ Thou whose mercies are over all thy works, have pity upon all men. Smile upon our country, and fill our churches with thy glory. Bless all the magistrates of the land, and all the ministers of thy word. Be a father to the fatherless; plead the cause of the widow; comfort the feeble-minded; support the weak; be the guide of the young, and the solace of the old. In a peculiar manner regard all those who are near and dear to us; be their sun and their shield; give them grace and glory, and withhold no good thing from them. But Thou, even Thou, without our desert, without our desires, and ages before our existence, wast pleased to accomplish a plan extending from everlasting to everlasting, ho- In how many dangers hast Thou preserved nourable to all thy perfections, and which the us, and by how many comforts hast thou inangels desire to look into. And the word dulged us through another day. Let the which announces all the glory of this good-night also praise Thee, and the morning reness is nigh us; and invites and beseeches us joice; as we implore it through the intercesto partake of all the fulness of God. O let sion of Him, in whose words we address Thee us not turn away from Him that speaketh as Our Father, &c. from heaven, and reject the counsel of God against ourselves: but as convinced and selfdespairing sinners may we receive it as a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation; O THOU great and only Potentate; the soand find it to be the power of God to salva-vereign Ruler of heaven and earth; whose tion. And as the cross of our Lord Jesus mercies are over all thy works: we desire to Christ is the centre of all the parts, and the come before thy presence with thanksgivings. source of all the blessings of the gospel, may We bless Thee for all thy amazing goodness we repair to it, and there be relieved from a to the children of men, and of which we burden too heavy for us to bear; and there be have so largely shared ever since we have THURSDAY MORNING. Establish the throne in rightBless all the branches of the royal family, and all the nobles of the land; and may they remember that in the heraldry of heaven nothing is great but what is good. May the king's counsellors never be ashamed to ask counsel of Thee: and let our magistrates be the ministers of God for good; a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well. had a being. Thou hast made summer and with a shield. sun. But all these benefits Thou hast eclipsed, as the stars disappear before the rising of the O lead us to adore the wisdom that planned, and the grace that purposed the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ. O blessed for ever be that abundant mercy that laid help on one that is mighty, and one that is as willing as he is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him. Make us deeply sensible of our need of the influences and blessings he has to impart. May we value, as weary and heavy laden, the rest he has promised, and sigh in our bondage for the liberty wherewith he makes us free indeed. Give us a full interest in that blood which cleanses from all sin; the complete imputation of that righteousness which can justify the guilty, and give them a title to life everlasting; and the entire possession of that Spirit which can renovate our nature, and make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. May we not only discern the all-sufficiency of the Saviour, but by appropriation render it our own, and be able to exclaim with Thomas, My Lord and my God! And may we not only be replenished ourselves, but concerned also that our fellowcreatures may be partakers of the benefit. Thou hast commanded us to pray for others, and we rejoice in the command as an evidence of thy benevolence, and as the resource of our own. We are perpetually meeting with wants which we cannot relieve, and distresses which we cannot remove: but we can implore and gain the attention of Omnipotence; prayer has power with Thee and prevails; and success depends not on our rank or our talents. Thou despisest not the prayer of the destitute, but wilt hear their prayer. Sanctify the afflictions of the afflicted; turn the curse into a blessing; and let the effects of sin be the fruits to take away sin. Preserve the prosperous from the folly that will destroy them; may they possess as if they possessed not, and rejoice as if they rejoiced not; and ever use this world as not abusing it. Reward those who have done us good or wished us good; and forgive those who have injured or wished to injure us. May all our dear connexions be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord our God. Compass our country with thy favour as And may he who said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me, reign from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. May all kings fall down before him, and all nations serve him. And blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. THURSDAY EVENING. We adore Thee for O God of all grace; the heavens declare thy glory, and the firmament showeth thy handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. making thy ways known unto Moses; thine acts unto the children of Israel. At sundry times and in divers manners Thou spakest in times past unto the fathers by the prophets; but Thou hast in these last days spoken unto us by thy Son. At His feet may we sit, and receive of his words; and be led into all truth. May we admit the testimony that we are fallen, guilty, depraved, perishing creatures; and be driven to that self-despair which will urge us to seek after the hope of the gospel, and endear us to that Saviour in whom is all our help found. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; but Thou hast laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Surely he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrow: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with his stripes we are healed. It is well for us that He died for the ungodly; that He makes intercession for the transgressors; and that from the pitiableness of his great goodness he is now saying, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. We have nothing to recommend us, and we want nothing. We have no money, and we are called to buy without money and without price. While we love the freeness of his salvation, we also rejoice in the holiness of it. Our sins are our worst enemies, and never does he appear more worthy the name of Jesus, than when engaged to save us from them. May he accomplish in us the new creation; and uphold us with his free Spirit; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Put thy fear into our hearts, that we may never depart from Thee. We know that only as we walk in the fear of the Lord can we walk in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. We have made the trial, and can say from experience, that no joy can be compared with that which arises from serving and fearing the Lord. May we therefore feel more dedicated to Him in all the obedience of faith: and while we live, may we increasingly live unto the Lord, and when we die, die unto the Lord, that living and dying we may be only and entirely the Lord's. We bless Thee for the exceeding great and precious promises upon which Thou hast caused us to hope. They provide for every exigency we feel, and every evil we fear. May we be more familiarly acquainted with them: may we take them as our heritage for ever; and make them our song in the house of our pilgrimage. May they yield us such satisfaction that our hearts may be kept from straying after forbidden pleasures; that the world may lose its power of allurement; that we may learn in whatsoever state we are therewith to be content. May thy providential will bound all our wishes; for we know not what is good for us in this vain life which we spend as a shadow: but Thou knowest. To thine unerring care therefore, we resign all our concerns, remembering that Thou art able to make all things work together for our good: and hast proved thy regard for our welfare in not sparing thine own Son, but delivering Him up for us all. We are in a vale of tears, in a world of tribulation, and among creatures that prove reeds and broken cisterns: in the multitude of our thoughts within us, may thy comforts delight our souls. And since we are daily told that this is not our rest, may we arise and depart; may we seek a better country; and lay hold on eternal life. Make us sensible of our weakness, that we may be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Secure us from all those temptations which in every state of life arise from a wicked world and a wicked heart. May we, under the belief of thy all-seeing eye and thy awful tribunal, discharge faithfully the duties arising from our various relations in life. As a family, may we keep sin from our tabernacle, and dwell together in unity and love. We present Thee our evening sacrifice of thanksgiving for the preservations, the supplies, and the indulgences of the day; and into thy hands we commit our spirits and our bodies for the night. Cover us with thy feathers, and under thy wing may we trust: and in every future period may thy truth be our shield and buckler. And to the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, be honour and power everlasting. Amen. FRIDAY MORNING. O LORD God Almighty. Thou dwellest in light inaccessible to men and angels. Thou hidest thyself behind the elements of thy own creation. None can find Thee out unto perfection. Possess our minds with the grandeur of thy nature and perfections. There is no searching of thy understanding: it is infinite. There is no staying of thy arm: it is almighty. Thy agency extends through all space; and all worlds hang on thy care. One day with Thee is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day. The most elevated beings Thou hast made are continually crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of thy glory. Thy wis dom is a holy wisdom; thy power is holy; thy mercy is holy. Thou art holy in all thy ways, and righteous in all thy works. How then, O God, can we stand before Thee! How numberless and how aggravated have been our offences! How often have we said, if not by our words, yet by our disposition and conduct, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. O how have we loved darkness rather than light; how have we observed lying vanities, and forsaken our own mercies; how have we trampled under foot the Son of God. Thy providence has restrained us; but we have done evil as we could. We have had our religious convictions and excitements; but we flattered Thee with our lips, and lied unto Thee with our tongue; for our heart was not right with God, neither were we steadfast in his covenant. And why are we not beyond the reach of hope? Why are we not exclaiming, The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved? It is because thy compassions fail not, that we are not consumed. O let us not add to all our iniquities impenitence; but let thy goodness lead us to repentance. Let us not seal up our doom for ever by despair; but grievously as we have offended, may we come to thy footstool, renouncing, condemning, loathing ourselves for our abominations, but hoping in that grace which flows to the chief of sinners through the obedience and sufferings of thy dear Son. May we receive the atonement; and know the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven, and in whose spirit there is no guile. If Thou hast begun a good work in us, perfect that which concerneth us. Strengthen us in the name of the Lord, that we may run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. O Thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, why shouldst Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? What will become of us if we are left to ourselves? But Thou hast said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. May we there fore say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear. May we live out of the world, as to its spirit and maxims and manners, but never may we refuse to enter it as the sphere of action and of usefulness. At every call of duty may we be alive and awake. May we leave Thee to determine the nature of our service, without murmuring and disputing; as we have opportunity may we do good unto all men; and especially unto those that are of the household of faith. We are now in the wilderness, but, blessed be thy name, all is not briers and barrenness. We are not without the bread from heaven, and the streams of the rock, and the pillar, and the tabernacle, and the ark. We are sometimes discouraged because of the way, but the way, though winding and trying, is safe and short. Jordan often dismays us, but the feet of our High Priest, standing himself in the waters, will open for us a passage; and beyond it there is a better, even a heavenly country. Many have reached it, and some we once called and still call our own; and we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. While we live may our lives be exemplary; and when we die, may our end be peace. May we give diligence to make our calling and election sure; that doing these things we may never fall; and so an entrance may be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour-To whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. FRIDAY EVENING. O THOU Most High, we bow before Thee. It becomes us to lie very low in thy presence. We are nothing compared with Thee as creatures. Yet we would not despise ourselves as we are the work of thy hands; or because we do not occupy the rank and possess the powers of angels. We acquiesce in thy sovereign pleasure which has placed us where we are, and made us what we are: yea we thank Thee that in this embryo stage of our endless being, we are rendered capable of so much knowledge and improvement; that we can bear thy own image, and not by subserviency only but by design, can be workers together with God, and advance his cause and his glory. But so much the more deplorable is the confession we are constrained to make; the crown is fallen from our head; wo unto us, for we have sinned. We mourn over the depravity of our nature; that we are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us; that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. O how glorious is the grace that was mindful of us in this desperateness, and devised means for our rescue. Thou wouldst not at an infinite expense have provided salvation for us, had we not been entirely lost; and Thou wouldst not have laid help on one that is mighty, could we have been our own deliverers. We bless Thee for the designs of thy goodness, and for the accomplishment of them by the Son of thy love; that he came between and laid his hands upon us both; that he made peace by the blood of his cross; that he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers; that he received gifts for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them; that in Him surely we have righteousness and strength. May we be found in Him, that we may be freed from all condemnation, and possessing a new source of influence, may we walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. And may we mind the things of the spirit; may we savour the things that be of God; may we call the Sabbath a delight; may we love the habitation of thy house; may we find thy word and eat it, and may it be to us the joy and the rejoicing of our heart. Spare around us, if it please Thee, our outward comforts, though we are unworthy of the least of them; but keep us from abusing them, from idolizing them, from being satisfied with them, without the hope of having in heaven a better and an enduring substance. May we never act, never feel as those who make flesh their arm, and the world their portion, and earth their rest; but may we declare plainly that we are heirs of immortality, and that our utmost anxiety is to lay hold on eternal life. Thou dost not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, but Thou art concerned for our profit; and thy regard for our welfare often compels Thee to adopt a painful discipline. May we be concerned to gather from it the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Let tribulation work patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. How many hast Thou allured and brought into the wilderness, and given them their vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. May we be also thy witnesses, and be able to testify that it is good for us that we have been afflicted. These returning periods remind us of the progress of our time. We lament over opportunities now alas gone, and gone for ever, in which we could have glorified our Saviour, and been blessings to those around us. How few remain; and these how short and uncertain! Enthrone and keep divinely alive in each of our souls the conviction, I must work the work of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh wherein no man can work. In all our affairs may we learn to distinguish between duty and anxiety. May we diligently and dependently use the means which Thou hast appointed; but cast all Regard this household. May all the mem- | nature; in loosening us from the present evil bers of it be the charge of thy providence, world; in supporting us under the trials of and the subjects of thy grace; and in their life; in enabling us to abide with God in our several stations may each daily ask, Lord, callings; and in exercising ourselves always what wilt thou have me to do? Bless all to have a conscience void of offence towards the families of Israel. Favour all the churches God and towards man. of the ithful, however denominated among men. Rule and govern thy church universally in the right way. And let all the dispensers of thy truth, both by their preaching and living, set it forth and show it according-care upon Him who careth for us. May our ly. Let the king live before Thee, and his subjects be the happy people whose God is the Lord. And from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, may thy name be great among the gentiles, and in every place incense be offered unto Thee, and a pure offering. Our Father, &c. SATURDAY MORNING. O THOU whose name alone is Jehovah. From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God. One generation passeth away, and another cometh; and Thou hast appointed us bounds which we cannot pass: and every day upon which we enter, brings us nearer the end of our course. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. Verily Thou art a God that hidest thyself, yet Thou art the God of Israel, the Saviour: and by means of thy word we know that Thou art not far from any one of us, and that Thou art not only able to relieve all our wants, but willing to hear our supplications: yea, Thou hast commanded us to ask and receive, that our joy may be full. character rather than our circumstances, chiefly engage our attention; remembering that if we seek the Lord, we shall not want any good thing; and if we love Him, all things will work together for our good. Give us compassionate hearts that we may feel the distresses of others, and never refuse our aid when it is in the power of our hand to give. Is any afflicted? Teach him to pray; and let him find Thee a very present help in trouble. Awaken the careless and especially alarm those that are at ease in Zion. Preserve the awakened from those betrayers and murderers of souls who never cry, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Meet those who are asking the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, with the assurance, I will lead thee, I will guide thee, I will direct thee with mine eye. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong; restore them that have gone astray, and help them much who have be lieved through grace. We forget not the millions of our fellowcreatures who are sitting in darkness and in the regions of the shadow of death; and to every empire, every province, every village, O these wretched hearts of ours, these evil say, Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and hearts of unbelief, in departing from the liv- the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. ing God instead of trusting in Him! How Raise up and send forth many more labourfuil of suspicions are we; how backward to ers; for the harvest truly is great. May approach Thee in full assurance of faith, those who remain at home aid in this blessed though we know Thou art pacified towards cause by their property and their prayers; us, and waiting to be gracious, and exalted to and in their own spheres of action, may they have mercy upon us. Work in us, O God, to be careful to hold forth the word of life, not will and to do: fulfil in us all the good plea-only by a verbal testimony, but by an actual sure of thy goodness, and the work of faith with power. May we believe the record that Thou hast given to us eternal life; and knowing that this life is in thy Son, and that he who hath the Son hath life, may we receive Him as He is presented to us in the Gospel; and having received him continue to walk in Him. May we feel far more powerfully than we ever have felt the importance of religion; may we regard it as the one thing needful. If ever we are negligent, or if ever we trifle, may it be in the concerns of time and sense; not in those which pertain to the soul and eternity, and for which the Lord of all bled and died. And may we feel more of the power of godliness, in subduing the corruptions of our exemplification. To Thee, the God of our mercy, we afresh dedicate this morning the lives which Thou hast spared, the strength which Thou hast renewed, and the comforts which Thou hast continued. May we be in the fear of the Lord all the day long: and whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, may we do all to thy glory: through our adorable Redeemer. Amen. SATURDAY EVENING. O THOU, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, and whose service is perfect freedom, cleanse the thoughts of our heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, and give |