if we speak, may it be to acknowledge and pray, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me; let thy loving kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

We bless Thee for thy goodness to the deceased, and that we are not called to sorrow as those who have no hope. We ascribe whatever excellency was found in them to thy grace; and desire to be followers of them, as far as they also were of Christ.

Forgive us in whatever instances we failed in our duty towards them. Let the prayers they offered for us while on earth be answered; may we hold communion with them in our living Redeemer; and look forward to a period of renewed and improved intercourse, in which we shall be for ever with each other, and for ever with the Lord.

Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and Amen.

ever.

FAST DAY*-MORNING.

HOLY, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of thy glory. O for such an impression of thy holiness as Isaiah had, when, penetrated with a sense of his own sin, and the sin of the nation, he exclaimed, Wo is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. Banish all insensibility and indif

*The two following prayers are particularly adapted to a fast appointed or account or some great calamity, but with slight alterations may be used on ordi navy fast days.

ference from our minds, and unite our hearts to fear thy

name.

We lament that the world in which we live, formed to show forth thy praise, was so early defiled by sin; that all flesh corrupted its way before God, and every imagination of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually. We adore thy awful but righteous displeasure, in bringing the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and taking then all away.

Yet even this tremendous desolation did not hinder the renewed human race from rebelling against Thee; and a long succession of private and public calamities proclaims the desperate depravity of our nature, and the evil of sin. Our world is the empire of death, a vale of tears; and tempests and earthquakes, and war, and pestilence, and famine, scatter the tokens of thy wrath, for Thou distributest sorrows in thine anger.

Thy judgments are now abroad in the earth-may the inhabitants thereof learn righteousness. They have reached and invaded us-may we lay them to heart, and be suitably impressed with the afflicting circumstances of the country to which we belong.

We have been equally distinguished by privileges and guilt; and it is impossible for us to review the one, without being reminded of the other. An innumerable number of natural, providential, and religious benefits, have distinguished our portion. The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, yea, we have a goodly heritage. At an early period the gospel visited our shores, and has continued in the midst of us to this hour. We have lived under the admi aistration of laws, just, mild, and beneficent. We have enjoyed civil and religions freedom. The scriptures have not been withholden from us, nor have our teachers been removed into a corner-but our eyes have been our teachers; and sitting under our own vine and fig-tree, none has

dared to make us afraid. In our dangers Thou hast appointed salvation for walls and bulwarks; the earth has yielded to us her increase, and God, even our own God, has blessed us.

It is impossible for us to express or conceive the obligations we are under to love and serve Thee.

But we know-and O help us to feel-how unworthily and ungratefully we have behaved ourselves towards our adorable Benefactor. We are a sinful nation, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint; from the crown of the head even to the sole of the foot, there is no soundness, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day, to our rulers.

But Thou art the Almighty. Thou hast all hearts in thy hand, and all events at thy disposal.

And we have heard that to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We are proofs ourselves that thy compassions fail not-hence, though corrected, we are not consumed; and though guilty, we are yet allowed and invited to enter thy presence.

With deep humiliation, not unmingled with hope, may we approach the throne of thy grace, at this time of need. O be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause thy face to shine upon us that we may be saved. For the sake of thy dear Son, who died the just for the unjust, by whose name we are called-behold a country prostrate at thy footstool; and hear the voice which will issue to-day from so many temples and closets, saying, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach.

Remove, if it please Thee, the blow of thy heavy hand, in the calamity which we are deploring; and after giving us such a deliverance as this, may we no more break thy com.

mandmen the Or if Thou hast determined to continue the correcti ais O correct us, but with judgment, not in Thine anger, levét Thou bring us to nothing.

Aid d hy people in the private and public devotions of the day Pour out a spirit of grace and of supplication, that we hay sorrow after a godly sort. May thy ministers be faithful and fearless; may they cry aloud, and spare not; but lift up their voice like a trumpet, and show thy people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sin.

And let the work that is to be spoken be quick and pow erful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Our Father who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and exer.

Amen.

7

FAST DAY-EVENING.

U GOD, Thou hast established thy throne in the hea vens, and thy kingdom ruleth over all. We prostrate our selves before Thee, deeply impressed with a sense of the vastness of thy agency and dominion. Thou changest the times and the seasons: Thou removest kings, and settest up kings. Empires rise and fall, and fade and flourish, at thy bidding; and all nations are in thy hand but as clay in the hand of the potter.

But none of thy dispensations are arbitrary. Whatever

Thou doest, is done, because O Father it seem hou hth good in thy sight; and thy judgment is always accordin, eart to truth Thou art holy in all thy ways, and righteous in Go all thy works--and Thou art good; even in wrath Thou berest mercy; and dost not afflict willingly, nor grie obe the children of men.

emem

Therefore it is that we have been this day humbling ourselves in thy presence. For we acknowledge that we have been deeply guilty. Thou hast nourished and brought up children, but we have rebelled against Thee. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but we have not known, we have not considered. Thou hast given us our corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied our silver and gold; and we have prepared them for Baal. Because of swearing, the land has mourned. Pride has compassed us about as a chain. Discontent has rebelled against thine appointments. How has the love of money, which is the root of all evil, abounded among us. How have thy sabbaths been profaned, and thy ordinance? disregarded. How has the gospel been undervalued, neglected, despised!

And all our transgressions have been more aggravated than those of any other people, because Thou hast favoured us unspeakably more than all the families of the earth.

Therefore Thou couldst easily and justly have destroyed us ; but Thou hast not stirred up all thy wrath. In all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve. Yet Thou hast testified thy displeasure, and visited us with thy judgments; so that when we looked for light and peace, we have seendarkness and trouble.

O let us not be inattentive to the design of thy dealings, or insensible under thy rebukes. O let it not be said of us, as it was of the Jews, The harp and the viol, and the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their feasts, but they re