etude, and smile upon them in the tranquillity, purity, and sweetness of that Sabbath which He only can diffuse around the heart.

We lament before Thee, that those blessed ordinances which are given for life have so little power over us, and fail of their due impression upon our fellow-creatures. We should be like a green olive tree in Thy house. We ought for the time to be teachers, and yet need that one teach us again which be the first principles of the oracles of God. How low are our attainments and feeble our virtues. What little progress have we made in proportion to our means and facilities. We have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. We cannot see afar off. Too much are we entangled with the affairs of this life. The world has too strong a hold upon our heart. We have not flourished in the courts of our God. Scarcely have we been in Thy great house vessels of dishonour. And while we complain of ourselves, we bewail before Thee that so few take heed to Thy word and are affected by Thy grace. Many are called but few are chosen. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? When shall a nation be born in a day? When shall nations that knew not Thee run unto Thee? When shall Thy servants go forth in spirit and in power? When shall large districts and neigh

bourhoods be religiously moved? When shall thousands together be pricked to their hearts? When shall the churches of Thy saints throughout the world put on their strength? When shall divine ordinances acquire acquire their full vitality, unction, and efficiency?-When we implore Thee to assist and help us, we deceive ourselves, and seem to imply that we can do something. Humble us in our nothingness. May we be little in our own eyes. It is as the Lord

giveth to every man. Let no flesh glory in Thy presence. Our sufficiency is of Thee! We cannot lie too low! Humbly shall we think of ourselves, if we think as humbly as we ought to think!

Forbid it, Blessed Lord, that any of us should remain uninterested in the blessings of the Gospel. They are set before us and are with all affection and fidelity pressed upon our acceptance. While the light shineth, shall our darkness comprehend it not? While the charmer charmeth never so wisely, shall we be like the deaf adder that stoppeth its ear? Shall we reject the counsel of God against ourselves, and judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life? Oh fix our attention, may we awake from the dead, may we take heed what we hear and how we hear, let us not be the forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, but we deceive our own selves.

May our hearts live in seeking Thee. May we enter the fellowship of Christ Jesus, win Him, and be found in Him! Let us not frustrate Thy grace, nor sin because it abounds! Let it not be our fearful case that Christ is become of no effect unto us, and that as to us he is dead in vain. If the ministration of condemnation were glorious, how in our sorer punishment, if we die impenitent and unbelieving, shalt Thou, Most Gracious Judge, be justified when Thou speakest and be clear when Thou judgest!

Let us, as a family, exhibit the happy influence of the Sabbath on our dispositions, habits, and intercourse. May this house be ruled well. Let the law of kindness be felt by all as the law of liberty. May they who are placed at its head know Him that is from the beginning. May they who are just entering upon active life overcome the wicked one, and may the word of God abide in them. May the little children know their heavenly Father, and may their sins be forgiven them for the name's sake of their Redeemer. May the stranger within our gate be included within the everlasting covenant which Thou hast made with us, which is ordered in all things and sure. Even may the wicked say us, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel.

of

We thank Thee that the Sabbath rolls round

our earth, and that tens of thousands hail its dawning. Thy people every where are glad and rejoice in it. How do converts from heathenism bless it as coming in the name of the Lord! How do they give thanks for the day which attests that they are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God! How do they contrast the Christian assembly and its holy affecting rites, with the impurity and cruelty of the temples they have forsaken! How do our Missionary brethren lift up their hearts over these converts, and what joy have they of them in the Lord! O be this Sabbath a confirmation to the one, and the blest solace of the other. May they fear Thy name from the west, and Thy glory from the rising of the sun.

Again we raise to Thee our reverent and confiding eye. We look unto the hills from which cometh our help. We implore the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost. May this be the most happy, the most useful Sabbath we have ever spent on earth, the fullest earnest, and fairest type, of heaven!

In virtue of the blood of the everlasting covenant, by which Thou didst bring from the dead the Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, in the name of that High Priest who hath the power of an endless life, we offer our

prayers and our praises: and we ascribe to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the glory of our salvation for ever!

"Our Father," &c.

"The Lord bless us," &c.

LORD'S DAY EVENING.

How can we, O Lord, break off from the blessed engagements of this Holy Day? How happy are Thy servants ! How delightful is Thy Why cannot we praise Thee continually? Why do we not always wait upon When shall we be eternally united to

service!

Thee?

Thee? When shall we walk in the light of the Lamb? Thou knowest our frame. Thou rememberest that we are dust. Our power of attention, our capacity of impression, soon fail us; and praise quickly expires on our lip. We lament that Thou hast not all our strength, that we keep back any thing from Thee! It is of Thy mercy that we are not consumed. But Thou dost forbear toward involuntary languor and weariness. Yet while we say, This is our infirmity, we would remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. There, in that blest eternity, Thou reignest with all Thine