THURSDAY EVENING.

O LORD our GOD, thy glory is above all our thoughts, and thy mercy is over all thy works. We are still living monuments of thy mercy. For thou hast not cut us off in our sins, but still givest us a good hope and strong consolation through grace. Thou hast sent thy only Son into the world, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish in his sins, but have everlasting life. O Lord, we believe; help our unbelief; and give us the true repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; that we may be in the number of those who do indeed repent and believe to the saving of the soul. Being justified by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, let us rejoice in him, through whom we have now redemption in his blood: and let the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us..

And as we pray that thou wilt be to us a Father of mercies, and a God of consolation, so that thou wilt make us "followers of God as dear children," ever jealous over our hearts, and watchful over our ways; continually fearing to offend and endeavouring to please thee. Thou knowest, O Lord, all our temptations, and the sin that doth so easily beset us. Thou knowest the devices of the enemy, and the deceitfulness of our own hearts. We pray thee, good Lord, that thou wilt arm us with the whole armour of God. Uphold us with thy free Spirit, and watch over us for good evermore.

Let our supplications also ascend before thee, for the whole race of mankind. Send thy word unto all the ends of the earth, and let it be the savour of life unto all that hear it. Be gracious to this our native land. O do thou rule all our rulers, counsel all our counsellors, teach all our teachers, and order all the public affairs to thy glory. Turn from us the judgments which we feel or fear; continue thy blessings to our souls and bodies. And notwithstanding all our provocations, be thou still our God, and

let us be thy people. Have compassion on all the children of affliction, and sanctify thy fatherly corrections to them. Be gracious to all our friends and neighbours. Reward our benefactors. Bless our relations with the best of thy blessings, with thy fear and love. Preserve us from our enemies, and reconcile them both to us and to thyself. O that all the habitations of Christians may be the houses of prayer! and be thou especially kind to the several families where thy blessed name is called upon. Let thy blessing rest upon us of this family. Bless all our present estates to us, and fit us all for whatsoever thou shalt be pleased to call us to. O teach us "how to want, and how to abound." In every condition secure our hearts to thyself, and make us ever to approve ourselves sincere and faithful in thy

service.

And now, O Father of mercies, be pleased to accept our evening sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. O that thou wouldest imprint and preserve upon our hearts, a lively sense of all thy kindness to us, that our souls may bless thee, and all that is within us may praise thy holy name. Yea, let us give thee thanks from the ground of the heart, and praise our God while we have our being; for all thy patience with us, thy care over us, and thy continual mercy to us, blessed be thy name, O Lord God, our heavenly Father. And unto Thee, with the Son of thy love, and the Spirit of grace, be all thanks and praise now and for evermore.

FRIDAY MORNING.

O LORD GOD, " merciful, gracious, and long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth! thou keepest mercy for thousands; thou pardonest iniquity, and transgression, and sin. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of thy wings!" And therefore do we still look up to that bountiful Hand, from whence we have received all

our good things. O Lord our God, be favourable unto us, as thou usest to be unto those that love thy name! O look not upon the sin of our nature, nor the sins of our hearts and lives, which are more than we can remember, and greater than we can express. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because thy compassions fail not. But thou lookest upon the face of thine anointed, who was manifested to take away our sins; by whom it is that we have access to the Majesty on high,

O God, be merciful to us miserable sinners, for his sake whom "thou hast exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto thy people and forgiveness of sins." Be merciful, O God, be merciful unto our souls which have greatly sinned. O heal our backslidings: renew us to repentance. Establish our hearts in thy fear and love; and establish our goings in thy way, that our footsteps slip not. Let us waver no more: let us never more be weary or faint in our minds. Let us not revolt from thee, or turn to folly again, after thou hast spoken peace to our souls : but may we go on conquering and to conquer all the enemies of our souls, and all the hindrances of our salvation, till thou hast bruised Satan under our feet.

Seeing there is in Christ Jesus an infinite fulness of all that we can want or wish, O that we may all receive of his fulness, grace upon grace; grace to pardon our sins and subdue our iniquities: to justify our persons, and to sanctify our souls: and to complete that holy change, that renewal of our heart, whereby we may be transformed into that blessed image wherein thou didst create us. O make us all meet to be partakers of the inheritance of thy saints in light.

And teach us, O GOD, to use this world, without abusing it; and to receive the things needful for the body, without losing our part in thy love, which is better than life itself. Whatever we have of this world, O may we have the same with thy leave and love, sanctified to us by the word of God and by prayer; and by the right improvement thereof to thy glory. And whatever we want of worldly things, leave VOL. XI.

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us not destitute of the "things that accompany salvation;" but adorn our souls with all such graces of thy Holy Spirit, that we may adorn the doctrine of our God and Saviour in all things.

And now that thou hast renewed our lives and thy mercies to us this morning, help us to renew our desires, and resolutions, and endeavours to live in obedience to thy holy will. O restrain us from the sins into which we are most prone to fall, and quicken us to the duties we are most averse to perform. And grant that we may think and speak, and will and do, the things becoming the children of our heavenly Father: and so find the strong consolation of thy gracious acceptance in Jesus Christ our Saviour: Who, when we pray, hath taught us to say, "Our Fa ther," &c.

FRIDAY EVENING.

O LORD, thou wast before all, thou art above all, and thy years shall not fail. Thou art the Searcher of our hearts. Thou knowest the dulness and hardness, the vanity and deceitfulness of them. We were born sinners, and so we have lived. We have added sin to sin. We have abused thy great and manifold mercies, tempted thy patience, and despised thy goodness. And justly mightest thou have cast us into outer darkness, where is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But of thy loving kindnesses there is no number. Thou still callest us to return to thee: and "whosoever cometh unto thee, thou wilt in no wise cast out." O meet us with thy heavenly grace, that we may be able to come to thee. Be thou graciously pleased to stretch forth thy hand, and loose the chains wherewith our souls are entangled. O free us from every weight of sin, from every yoke of bondage. O help us to feel, and bewail, and forsake all our sins. And let us never want the comfortable assurance of thy forgiveness of them, thy acceptance of us, and thy love to us, in the blessed Son of thy eternal love. Thou art never

weary, O Lord, of doing us good. Let us never be weary of doing thee service. But as thou hast pleasure in the prosperity of thy servants, so let us take pleasure in the service of our Lord, and abound in thy work, and in thy love and praise evermore. O fill up all that is wanting, reform whatever is amiss in us, and perfect the thing that concerneth us. Let the witness of thy pardoning love ever abide in all our hearts. O speak into every one of our souls the peace which passeth all understanding: and let us always look upon thee as our Father, reconciled to us in Jesus Christ.

In his great name we cry unto thee in the behalf of the whole race of mankind. O that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. Continue thy mercies to this sinful land; teach us, at length, to know thy will concerning us: and, O turn thou all our hearts unto thee, as the heart of one man. Bless the King; O Lord, prolong his days and prosper his government; make him always a "terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well." And grant unto all magistrates and ministers of thy word, a continual supply of all the needful gifts and graces of thy Holy Spirit. Be thou a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, a refuge to the oppressed, a physician to the sick, a helper to the friendless, a God of consolation to the sorrowful and distressed.-Bless to us whatsoever thou art pleased to allot to us, and every thing that befalls us. May all work together for good, to build us up in thy grace, and to help us on to thy glory.

Continue thy fatherly care over us this night. O preserve and defend, and bless and keep us, that no evil may befall us, "nor any plague come nigh our dwelling." Give us comfortable sleep to strengthen us for thy service. And whenever thou callest us to the sleep of death, let us cheerfully resign our spirits into thy hands, through the riches of thy grace, and the worthiness of thy Son, in whose merits and mediation alone we put our trust. And for all that he hath done and suffered for us, to thy name, O blessed God of our salvation, be the praise, and honour,