a too hesitating step. We have not fronted the world with a sufficiently determined brow. We have too much yielded to its rules and maxims ; or at least we have felt too much of its spirit. Deliver us from this evil world! Remove our shoulder from its burden. Expel every temper of conformableness to it from our heart. May all its secular business be so arranged, that it may leave no care on our minds to-morrow.

Our recollections of Thy bounty stretch back to the threshold of our being. When children, Thou didst love us. Thou didst teach us to go, taking us by our arms. Thou didst restore us from weakness and disease, not that Thou didst heal us.

though we knew How great has

been Thy longsuffering to usward! How have we requited it! We have made Thee to serve with our sins: we have wearied Thee with our

iniquities. How could Thy vengeance so long sleep! Thou art God, and not man!

We would anticipate with sacred pleasure the engagements of the morrow, the day of grateful peace. Our spirits require its memorial, its incentive, its repose. We will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth. May we wait for the morning. Then do Thou fill Thy house with Thy glory. Enter into Thy rest. Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy

glory unto their children. May we see Thy goings, O God our King, in Thy sanctuary. Abundantly bless the provisions of Thy house, and satisfy Thy poor with bread. For it is not vain to serve God, and there is profit when we keep His ordinance. We have sought Thee among Thy works: but we have found Thee in Thy Temples.

Be very favourable, O Lord, to the Vine which Thou hast planted amongst us, Thy Church subsisting in every difference of administration. Let there be no strife among brethren. Let them now be of one heart, and speedily of one mind. Repair her fences, and spread her branches to the ends of the earth. Build up

the waste places of Zion. Thou who didst remember the children of the Bondage in Egypt, and the children of the Captivity in Babylon, compassionate the children of the Dispersion among all the nations of the earth. May Jesus be known of his brethren. May they look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn. Say Thou of the ancient people, I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. Feed the flock of Thy heritage, which now dwell solitarily, in the midst of Carmel, in Bashan, and Gilead, as in the days of old. Nor forget the wandering, idolatrous, Gen

tiles. They know Thee not, nor call upon Thy name. Let their altars rend asunder. We thank Thee for Thy purpose of mercy towards them. Thou art not wrath that Thou dost ride upon Thy horses, and Thy chariots of salvation! For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the

sea.

Pour out Thy Spirit upon all flesh. How can we better hail the approaching dawn than by prayer for His influence? For without Him, the preaching of the Gospel would indeed be foolishness, and Thy servants would weary themselves for very vanity!

We cast ourselves upon Thy protection. Give stillness to our sleeping frames, speak comfort and quiet to our spirits. Like the holy women, let our earliest thoughts visit the Saviour's tomb; and with His convinced disciples, may we be glad because we see the risen Lord!

Hear us, O Father, for the sake of Thy Dear Son, the spotless Victim of Expiation, the All-powerful Advocate for sinners, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, One God, world without end. Amen.

"The grace of our Lord," &c.

Fourth Week.

LORD'S DAY MORNING.

GREAT art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountain of Thy holiness. Thou didst come of old with ten thousands of Thy saints! Thousand thousands ministered unto Thee, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Thee! But Thou dost this day seek Thy saints below, Thou summonest Thy people to Thy temple, Thou preparest for them a feast of fat things, Thou stoopest to inhabit their praises, Thou wilt dwell with man on the earth. Thou requirest us to keep Thy Sabbaths, and to reverence Thy sanctuaries. This is the day for our solemn meeting. This is the statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This Thou hast ordained in Joseph for a testimony. Thy saints shout aloud for joy. Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion! The streams of Thy river shall make glad the holy places of Thy tabernacles, O Most High!

In the Name of Him whose Day, by covenant, this peculiarly is,-Who is its Lord,-Who rose upon it,-Who, being risen, kept it again again while He showed himself alive after His passion forty days,-Who solemnised it to His beloved disciple amidst the solitudes of Patmos, -in His Name we make our supplications, and bring our honours, to Thee! May we rely upon His Atonement ! May we perceive how His resurrection is a release from his undertaking as our Surety, is a proof of the acceptance which Thou hast stamped upon His Work of Redemption, is a victory over all His enemies. The seal is broken, O Jesus, from Thy tomb! The stone is rolled away! The guard has fled! Earthquake was Thy servant! And angels in their shining garments, honouring the spot where Thy Body lay, proclaim to Thy Church which stood without at Thy sepulchre weeping, the Triumph Thou hast won! Bless ye God in the congregations! Make the voice of His praise to be heard! He is greatly exalted!

We adore Thee that it is no question of our superstition concerning Jesus, who was dead, when we affirm him to be alive. Always would we show His dying that His life may be manifest in us. May we rejoice that He both died, and rose, and revived. Raise our affections to seek things above where He sitteth at Thy right hand.