life, and grant me that wisdom which leads to salvation. Instruct me in all the duties I owe to men, to myself, and to thee. While I am careful to educate my faculties, make me mindful of the weakness and failings of human judgment. Let me not lean on my own understanding, but trust in the living God. O do thou so discipline my thoughts, that I may be fitted to enjoy the pleasures of knowledge, in that holy region, where there is no cloud of ignorance nor of error, and where the light of truth fills and surrounds all its blessed inhabitants.

LAW OF GOD.

I thank thee, Great God, for that law of nature, impressed on my conscience, by which I am left without excuse, in the transgression of thy will. But I would praise thee still more, that thou hast given me the law of thy word, to convince me of sin, to warn and restrain me, and to lead me in the ways that are well-pleasing in thy sight. Thy commandment, O Lord, is holy, just, and good. Thou art holy; and thy law is perfect, converting the soul-thou art just; wherefore thy judgments are true and righteous altogether thou art good; and thy statutes rejoice the heart; for in keeping them there is great reward. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.

Incline me, O Lord, to take heed to my ways, according to thy word. Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Make thou thy testimonies my delight and counsellors; my songs in the house of my pilgrimage, and the daily monitors of my conduct. May I make

thy will my meditation by day, and my remembrance in the night. Make it a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path; and do thou incline my heart to perform thy statutes always, even to the end. Impress deeply on my mind that solemn truthwhosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all.

Lord, teach me that thy commandment is exceeding broad and deep; that it has relation not only to the actions of life, but to the hidden workings of thought and feeling. For though the sound of my lips, and the work of my hands, may be right before men; yet thy statutes may condemn the thoughts of my heart; and I may stand more guilty in thy sight, for secret sin, than for open violations of thy will.

Heavenly Father, let not my regard for thy commandment create within me a spirit of self-righteousness; for in the trial of thy justice, every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Make it a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ, as my only hope of justification. May I remember, that while it is the rule of my obedience, it is not the plan of salvation. He who came to fulfil it, is himself the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that believeth.

O Lord, make thy law the sword of the Spirit in thy dealings with the impenitent. May it awaken and alarm their consciences, enlighten and convince their minds, and persuade and sanctify their wills; so that they may be born, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible; by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

.

LEVITY.

Lord, keep me from levity of spirit and behaviour. Thou knowest my proneness to this sin; and how ready I am to yield to that frivolity which characterizes the careless and unconverted; and which is so inconsistent with the solemn realities of the Christian life. Help me, I beseech thee, through the Saviour, to repent of it, and so turn away from it in future, as to avoid the appearance of evil.

Lord, let not my thoughts cherish those subjects which excite levity of speech or action. I pray thee especially, to lay a restraint on my tongue, that unruly member; and dispose me to avoid studiously saying any thing which may dissipate serious impressions, or make me a stumbling-block in the path of others, or cause the ways of religion to be despised or reviled. Enable me to attain and cultivate that happy medium between moroseness and frivolity, that calm seriousness of mind and holy cheerfulness of life, which will diffuse a savour of piety in all I say and do.

Great God, do thou show me that the rational faculties with which thou hast endowed me, were given for higher and holier purposes, than for indulgence in a light and frivolous demeanour.-Seriously impress on my mind, that a disposition to trifle is a fruitful cause of disquietude in the soul, and of delinquency in the life. May I reflect that the eyes of the church, and of the world, are upon me; and that according as I demean myself, so will the cause of religion be advanced or hindered.-Let a sense of thy presence control me to live as one professing godliness.-O, incline me, I pray thee, to order all

my walk and conversation, so that I may be a living illustration of the sober influences of piety.

LIBERTY.

Lord, increase my gratitude to thee for the blessings of liberty. While millions of the human race are groaning under the yoke of oppression, thou hast, in undeserved mercy, given to me the privileges of civil and religious freedom. O let me not abuse them, nor deny them to others, who are destitute of them. Give me strong sympathy for the downtrodden of every name and nation. Dispose me to desire, and pray, and labour for the extension of freedom to all mankind. Enlighten the consciences and cleanse the hearts of all men, in relation to the great doctrines of human rights. Do thou fan, and purify, and spread the fire of truth, until it shall melt off every fetter from every limb-until deliverance shall be preached to all the captives, and liberty be proclaimed to all the oppressed.

O Lord, release men everywhere, from the bondage of sin. Break the yoke of Satan, of the world, and of selfishness. May thy Son make mankind free, and they shall be free indeed: so shall they be servants to God only, that their fruit may be holiness, and the end everlasting life.

LIFE.

Lord, thou art the Author and Owner of my life. Apart from thy will, I can have no existence; and if it should please thee to revoke my title to being, in that moment I would be blotted from the face of creation.-Instruct me, I pray thee, in the uncertainty and shortness of human life. We are but of yesterday, and our days upon earth are a shadow.

Our breath is in our nostrils: it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. Teach me that my span of life is given me as my probation for eternity. Grant, therefore, that I may walk circumspectly; redeeming the time, because the days are evil. While I grow in age, enable me to grow in grace. While I travel through this wilderness, guide me by the fiery-cloudy pillar, feed my hunger with manna from heaven, and quench my thirst with water from the smitten rock. Lord, let me not be anxious for length of days; nor grow weary of my season of trial. Make me contented that my seasons are in thy hands, and willing to wait all the days of my appointed time, till my change come. Give me, I beseech thee, in all the vicissitudes of life, such preparation of heart, that whether I live, I may live to the Lord; or whether I die, I may die to the Lord: so that whether living or dying, I may be the Lord's.

Heavenly Father, may the considerations that life is short, and that it involves the destinies of eternity, excite those who are now thoughtless about their eternal peace, to number their days, that they may apply their hearts unto wisdom: even that wisdom which will lead them to live for the glory of him who died for their salvation; and which will also prepare them to depart, and be with Christ, which is far better.

LONG-SUFFERING.- See Forbearance.

LORD'S SUPPER.

Compassionate Jehovah, give me lively perceptions of the nature and uses of that holy Supper, which thou hast instituted in memory of the dying