HYMN. Lord of the vineyard, we adore For ever may they there abide, Be influence spread thro' ev'ry branch Shine forth, my God, the clusters warm 1 PRAYER For the Lord's Day Evening. O our Father, when we consider what thou art, and what thou hast been to us; what a tender, gracious, and compassionate Father; how long thou hast borne with our ingratitude and rebellion; how tenderly thou hast invited, yea intreated us to come to thee; and how many unkind denials we have given thee; and that thou art still beseeching us by all thy mercies, standing at the door of our hearts, and knocking there for admittance.-We cannot, Lord, withhold ourselves from thee, we must surrender soul and body into thy hands, which have been so long, so lovingly stretched out towards us, hoping never, never to depart from thee. The more we know of thee, the more we find we must love thee; and the more we love thee, the more we desire to love thee, and to resemble thee, and to be beloved of thee. O may we feel the power of thy love so great in our hearts, that it may govern the rest of our passions and affections, and nothing in the world may tempt us to displease thee, but every thing provoke us to love thee. For whom is there in heaven that we can desire but thee, or on earth besides thee, who art the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hast immortality; and designest by thy Son Jesus, to raise us, sinful dust and ashes, to a kingdom of glory, honour, and immortality in the heavens: O preserve in our minds how dearly we are bought by the precious blood of thy Son Christ Jesus. Early we were dedicated to thy service, how often we have since found abundant cause to determine we would be thine we do here own and acknowledge most heartily the righteousness and goodness of all thy laws; we admire the loveliness of thy image and wisdom, righteousness, and true holiness; we hate ourselves because we are so unlike thee: we implore thy renewing grace, as the greatest blessing we can receive from thee; and we bind ourselves to the faithful improvement of it as the weightiest employment of our lives. We resolve, O our God, in thy strength, that holiness and eternal life shall be our design and study. We accept no pardon, O our God, but in the ways of sobriety, righteousness, and godliness. We hope for a blessed immortality only by patient continuance in well doing. We consent to every part of the holy gospel, and add our testimony to the truth of its words, that none of thy commandments are grievous; that thy yoke is easy and thy burden light! We hope, O Lord, that we shall never contradict in our practice these serious professions, but that we shall every day so call to mind our own protestations and resolutions, as to continue with unwearied diligence in steadfast obedience to thy commands, and to grow still stronger in the grace of our Lord Jesus. O that every such address as this, to thy divine Majesty, may leave a greater sense of thee, of our duty, of our happiness, and of our manifold obligations and repeated promises upon our hearts. That we may always go out of thy presence with our minds more towards heaven; with lower thoughts of all the enjoyments of this life; with a greater relish of piety and holiness, and more passionate desires to become every way such as thou canst approve, and love, and delight in for ever! And assist us, we beseech thee, so constantly from above, that whatsoever good thoughts are at any time in our minds, they may grow to fixed principles, and all heavenly affections may become a new nature and the constant temper of our spirits; and all our resolutions may advance into a serious practice and exercise of godliness; and all the actions of an holy life may grow more free, cheerful, and vigorous, and full of delight, till they are completed in everlasting bliss; there may we shine among those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. " Meditation for Monday Morning. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."-John x. 11. Is not this a character full of gentleness and goodness?" Is it not instead of ten thousand arguments to prove, that if he pitied us in this low estate, in which he at first found us, his mercy towards us will endure for ever?" View our blessed Redeemer in the abasement of his abode among men view him in the agonies in which he finished the long scene of his sufferings; and then say, what but love brought him from heaven, and kept him on earth? What but love stretched him on the cross, and laid him in the grave? And can any expression of tenderness be too great to be expected after such amazing effects of it have already been experienced? Surely, as he himself says, greater love has no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends! But, as the apostle justly observes, his love is commended towards us; it is set off by this important circumstance, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and how cheerfully may we depend upon it, that if when we were enemies we were reconciled by his death, we shall by his life obtain complete salvation?-and his living care will accomplish what his dying love has began? He has graciously assumed the character and title of a shepherd: his words set a mark of infamy on those shepherds that have not strengthened the diseased, nor healed the sick, nor bound up that which was broken, nor brought again that which was driven away, nor sought that which was lost, surely the |