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FOURTEENTH ADDRESS.

LORD God Almighty! who rulest with uncontrouled sway over every part of thy infinitely extended works. Bow down thy ear to the supplications of me thy creature, who am perfectly dependant upon Thee, and every moment indebted to Thee for life and breath, and all that I possess. Continue to me thy accustomed benignity-feed me with food convenient and suitable for me and preserve me from excess of every kind. Let not such abundance be my portion as would estrange my soul from Thee, and in the great profusion of thy gifts lead me to forget the giver. Preserve me too from that poverty and destitution which might tempt me to set thy laws at defiance, and violate the rights of my fellow-creatures.

Whatever portion or degree of happiness I shall ever enjoy in this world will be the effect of thy free and unconstrained bounty. I am indebted to thy mercy for the gift of reason, and for all the superior faculties by which I am distinguished from other

creatures around me, that I am made capable of knowing, loving, and obeying Thee, of enjoying thy favour here, and being happy for ever in thy kingdom of glory hereafter. Adored be thy goodness! that as a reasonable creature I am made capable of the duties of religion, and of being the subject of thy moral government, that as a christian I enjoy the benefit and advantage of a revelation from above, by which I have ury interest and my duty as well as the means of my happiness set before me in the clearest light and with the greatest certainty.

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O that I may faithfully endeavour to make a diligent use of all the advantages and privileges I enjoy; that I may set the highest value upon the gospel, and love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Grant that I may daily grow in the knowledge of thy will and of the truth as it is in Jesus. May I form and execute the most deliberate purpose of conforming my life entirely to its precepts. May I be delivered from all slavish and abject principles, and from all narrow and ungenerous sentiments, loving what Thou approvest and growing in wisdom and true goodness.

Give me strength to govern my temper to attain a meek and peaceable spiritto be modest, charitable, and heavenly minded. May my moderation and benevolence be extended through the whole of my future life, so that all my conduct, as well as all my future conversation, may be worthy of my christian character. Dispose me to act consistently with my engagements and professions as the disciple of a meek and holy Lord and Saviour, who has taught us to love and obey Thee as the father of spirits-the fountain of everflowing and inexhaustible benignity-and as a God of perfect purity, rectitude, and truth.

Grant that I may diligently labour to acquaint myself still more and more with Thee, that I may gain a more perfect knowledge of thy adorable perfections by the study of thy works, and by a deeper insight into the genuine meaning of every part of the records of revealed truth, so that I may habitually possess an awful sense of thy glorious excellencies, and love and honour Thee with truly rational and devout affections, possessing a calm, steady, -and invigorating principle of piety, and offering unto Thee the tribute of a pure heart and a holy good life.

Incline my heart to a readiness to forgive even my worst enemies, praying for them and conducting myself towards them in the spirit of true christian candour and charity. May I be willing to do good to all as I have opportunity; and study to be useful and exemplary in whatever situation or circumstances I may be placed. And may it be a most effectual motive to this, that by so doing I shall imitate the pattern set me by my revered Lord and Master Jesus Christ. O grant that like him too I may take a pleasure in going about doing good, and improving every opportunity of encouraging truth and virtue as he did, considering it the end for which he was sent into the world, and the work which he rejoiced when he had finished.

In obedience to his commands, I would offer unto Thee my humble intercession in behalf of all my brethren of mankind. Visit them, O Lord! with the light and knowledge of thy truth; bring them into the way of life, salvation, and happiness, by making known to them the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of thy love. May christians study to resemble their Master, and both to be good and to do good continually; may they

be unwearied in acts of kindness, compassion, and benevolence, and in their endeavours to promote as much as in them lies the welfare and happiness of all around them.

Enlighten the ministers of thy holy truth with a just knowledge of the religion they undertake to teach others. Remove from them the impediments which may stand in the way of their overcoming the prejudices they have imbibed, and inspire them with courage to avow the convictions which they feel. Let the dew of thy heavenly blessing descend upon all congregations of thy worshipping people in all places. Pour out a spirit of true piety upon every member of them, and let them be particularly distinguished as the disciples of Jesus Christ by the harmony, union, concord, and love that prevail among them.

Pity, good God! and relieve all that are in affliction and sorrow; all that are in pain and suffering, distress of mind or body, from whatever cause. Communicate to them the support and consolation of which they stand in need. Grant more especially that the troubles they now endure may be the means of securing their eternal interests, and quali fying them for more exalted scats in the realms of glory.

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