state, that I may be prepared to leave it with a mind, supported by cheerful reflections, and by humble and invigorating hopes.

Hear my supplications, Heavenly Father! for all my brethren of mankind, for the increase of Christian knowledge and virtue, for the happiness of my native land, for the relief of the poor, for the support of the afflicted; and, especially, for the best interests of my relations and my friends.

God of my life! I gratefully adore thy watchful care of me through the past night. My renewed powers of body and of mind, I thus dedicate to thy service. I implore thine aid in the business, thy direction amidst the events of the day; and, humbly confiding in thy fatherly kindness, I ascribe unto thee, agreeably to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, everlasting praises. Amen.

MONDAY EVENING.

O GOD! who art supreme in excellence and dominion! retiring from every human eye,

I desire to praise, with pious awe, thine infinite and unsearchable perfections; and I am thankful, that to the many undeserved favours and distinctions, which thou hast bestowed upon me, thou hast added that of a capacity to engage in this employment.

I adore thee, as the one, living God, whom no man hath seen or can see, who alone art from everlasting to everlasting, who art unchangeable in thy nature and thy purposes, who art present at all times in every part of the boundless universe, who seest the end from the beginning, who knowest the most secret intentions of the heart, whose counsels are unfathomable, who art righteous in all thy ways, holy in all thy works, and who dost according to thy good pleasure in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. But I especially delight to remember and to shew forth thy loving kindness. Thine immutable benevolence, O God, is displayed in every object, it is experienced at every moment, it is the spring of all my comforts, it is the only solid basis of my hopes, and is the grand principle of thy moral administration.

Thou reignest, and all is well. Thy government is the government of perfect love, directed by unerring wisdom, and carrying its measures into effect by resistless power. By methods, which my limited faculties are unable to comprehend, thou causest good to arise out of apparent evil, and order from confusion. Thou promotest the highest interests of human beings, even by means, which to my partial and narrow judgment appear hostile to the advancement of them. But thy thoughts are above my thoughts, and none can fathom thy counsel, which shall endure for ever. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

It is my sincere desire, O God, that my mind may be open to the full influence of these great and consolatory and animating truths. Deeply impressed by them, may I dismiss every anxious, selfish, and repining thought; may I welcome with a thankful and contented temper, the allotments of thy providence, and indulge no wish but to resign myself entirely to thy will, and, by a strict conformity to the eternal laws of truth and righteousness, to become the voluntary instrument of accomplishing thy designs.

Thy mercy, O Lord, is over all thy works. But I feel myself under a special obligation to celebrate thy beneficence to the sons of men. I adore thy skill and goodness, exhibited in the frame and constitution of mán. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I will praise thee for the support, the preservation, and the comforts of my mortal life, for the powers of my body, for the faculties and affections of my mind. I will also give thanks unto thy name for the unspeakably valuable privileges, which have been communicated to me by the Christian Revelation; for the prophecies, which have been delivered and completed, and for the miracles, which have been performed to attest that Revelation; for the certainty and importance of its disco-. veries; for the purity of its precepts; for the examples, the labours, the sufferings, the death, and the resurrection of its holy founder.

For every instance in which my past temper and behaviour have been contrary to the rules and spirit of the Gospel, in which I have shewn myself regardless of thee and thine authority, in which I have been remiss with respect to the duties that I owe to my neighbour, and have

neglected to cultivate that Christian benevolence, which it is the design of the Gospel to promote; for every instance in which I have omitted to keep my heart with diligence, to govern my appetites and passions, and to act like those, who look at things unseen and eternal; for every such instance of inattention, folly, and sin, I earnestly supplicate, O Lord, thy forgiveness. Teach me, I pray, in what my true dignity and happiness consist; nor let earthly hopes and fears have dominion over me, in opposition to the suggestions of conscience, and the principles of religion.

Endue me with the dispositions, which it becomes me to cherish and exercise toward thee my maker. Since thou art my parent and my friend, may I reverence and love thee above all. Since thou art my benefactor, may I be thankful for thy mercies, and joyfully confide in thy providence. Since thou art the ever-present witness of my conduct, may I fear to offend thee. Since thou art the final judge of all men, may I study to approve myself in thy sight, and may I refrain from rash and censorious judgment upon my fellow-crea

tures.