belong to wisdom and salvation. Lead me, I pray thee, to remember thee, my Creator, and all thine excellent mercies. May my memory be precious of him who is the way, the truth, and the life. Impress indelibly on my thoughts, the doctrines, precepts, warnings, and promises of thy word. Make me mindful of my transgressions, and let my sin be ever before me. Enable me to bring up in review, the covenants and promises I have made to thee; and lead me to pay unto thee my vows.

O Lord, preserve me from every thing, moral or physical, that will weaken or deprave my memory. Lead me to the use of such means as will promote its strength and purity. May I regard and value it as the storehouse of knowledge and comfort; the spring of repentance and hope; and the monitor of thankfulness and faith. May it retain that which is good, and banish that which is evil. Dispose me to practice every holy thing it remembers; and grant that I may so use this noble power, that I may glorify thee in my body and spirit, which are thine.

MERCY.

Great Giver of every good and perfect gift, grant me a sanctifying and saving knowledge of thy mercy. O thou art good and gracious; slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Yet thou hast, a perfect right to withhold it from us-yea, to visit us with unmixed and irretrievable evil, for we are not only unworthy of the least expression of thy goodness, but we have deserved the severe retributions of thy wrath. Nevertheless, thy goodness has pursued us in all the walks of life. It has stayed, or soothed, or healed the inflictions of merited evil; and it has

bestowed on us uncounted tokens of unmerited good. When we have been thoughtless of thee, thou hast been mindful of us: when we hated thee, thou hast loved us. Verily, thou art long-suffering, and abundant in compassion. Thou dost not mete unto man evil for evil; but dost crown him with loving-kindness and tender mercy.

O that my memory could retain, and that my heart could properly value, the long catalogue of thine affectionate dealings with me. Thou hast

watched over me by night, and guarded me by day; thou hast preserved me in health, and healed me in sickness; thou hast chosen for me the changes of life, and hast suited me to them: and more than all things else, thou hast given our race that mercy of Christ, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, with healing in its beams. Lord, enable me to cherish a suitable estimate of thy goodness. May it lead me to love thee, and to do thy will— may it succour me when I am tempted, and comfort me when I am grieved.-May it strengthen me in the hour of death, and be the song of my rejoicing throughout the ages of eternity.

Compassionate Father, deal not in strict justice with those who are now rejecting thy mercy. Say not in thy wrath, that they shall not enter thy rest. Make them hear thy tender and oft-repeated entreaties to turn from their wickedness, whilst thou art waiting to be gracious. Display to them the riches and fulness of that compassion, which brings the Sovereign of heaven to plead with them, and to pursue them, in their obstinacy, with so many expressions of love. Extend to them thy golden sceptre of grace, that they may touch it, and live. O, forsake them not; but multiply thy mercies upon

them, until their hardness of heart shall be melted down, in humble sorrow and love-until their rebellious wills shall be brought to serve the living and true God.

MILLENNIUM.

Great God, rejoice my heart with frequent and thankful contemplations of that millennial glory, when thy name shall be great among the heathen, and when thou wilt give them to thy Son, for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth, for his possession. Then thou wilt pour out thy Holy Spirit without measure, and darkness and transgression will be supplanted by light and obedience. Love to God and love to man, will fill the hearts of all the dwellers on earth: they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Then there will be no clashing of sects; for there will be one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The heavens shall give their dew; the earth shall give her increase; the parched ground shall become a pool; and the desert shall blossom as the rose. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord;" for they shall know thee, from the least of them unto the greatest of them. The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and be exalted above the hills. then there will be great voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever!"

O

Lord, teach all thy people the duties that belong

to them, in reference to the coming of that glorious season. May they trim their lamps, and keep their lights burning, and be ready at the advent of their Master. But do thou show them that his glorious appearing will be by the instrumentality of the sanctified and intelligent efforts of his church. O induce them to desire it ardently, to pray for it fervently, to hope for it believingly, and to labour for it diligently, in all those measures which thou hast been pleased to institute, as the means of accomplishing it. Bless all their works of faith, and labours of love. O hasten thy glorious dominion. Spread it from pole to pole, from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; and fill the wide world with thy knowledge, even as the

waters cover the sea.

MINISTRY.

Great Author and Dispenser of Truth, bless those whom thou hast set to preach the everlasting gospel, and to bring glad tidings of good things. Thou hast not sent us the ministry of angels, but of men; and hast given us this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God. It has pleased thee, by that which the world calls the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.

Lord of the Vineyard, let none take upon them this holy office, who are unfit for its sacred duties, in body, mind, or spirit. Yet do thou call out and prepare many, very many, who thou knowest are meet for the divine work of saving souls. Qualify those who are now ambassadors for Christ, and enable them to persuade sinners to be reconciled to God. Make them men of strong and cultivated

judgment; of diligent and persevering study; of zealous and faithful labour; and of prayerful, fervent, and consistent piety. Make them as the voice of him that cried in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight." May they be themselves instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, and bring forth out of their treasure, things new and old. Cause them to exemplify their doctrine by a holy walk. Preserve them from the desire of applause, and the love of lucre. Let them not confer with flesh and blood. Bestow on them a mouth and wisdom which their enemies shall not

be able to gainsay nor resist. Give them grace to speak thy word with all boldness; keeping back nothing that is profitable; shunning not to declare all the counsel of God; and having this record, that they are pure from the blood of all men.

O Lord, bring them before their flocks in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Dispose them to give themselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word. Lead them to proclaim the gospel, not only in the sanctuary, but from house to house. May their preaching be in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. Let thy pleasure prosper in their hands, and thy word have free course, and be glorified. May they seek diligently to bring the religion of their people up to the standard of the Bible-to the measure of the faith once delivered to the saints. Give them power to alarm the guilty consciences, and to persuade the stubborn wills, of the impenitent. Constrain them to watch, as those who must give an account of their stewardship. Let them not be compelled to say, "All day long, we have stretched forth our hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people:"