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to our eyes thine existence: Our ears hear the voice of universal nature proclaiming the Providence which sustains what it made. Thou walkest in the circle of the universe. Thy footsteps are every where seen; Thyself, the invisible God. How powerful is that arm which supports the pillars of the firmament, and keeps the wheels of nature in perpetual motion! How unsearchable that wisdom, which, from the first of time, has conducted all nature? How boundless that goodness which supplieth the wants of the whole creation! How precious are thy thoughts of grace to

the children of men?

"Thine is the power and the victory, and the majesty. Whatsoever pleaseth thee, that thou dost in the heavens, and in the earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places. Thou weighest the mountains in scales; thou takest up the isles as the dust of the ba lance; the nations are as the drop of the bucket before thee. At thine altar, Labanon is not sufficient to burn; nor the cattie upon a thousand hills, to be a burnt-offering.

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"Thou inhabitest time and eternity, and the prais es of Israel. Thy goings forth hath been of old; thy love to the human race before the birth of time. fore the mountains were brought forth, when no deep arose from beneath, and no fountains abounded with water, even then were we present to thy mind. Thou didst rejoice in the earth that was to be inhabited, and thy delights were with the children of men.

We thank thee for the rank thou hast assigned us in thy creation. Thou hast given us a portion of thine own light; thou hast opened to us the source of intellectual joy, and hast made us capable of becoming fit for heaven, and like unto thee. Above all, we rejoice in Jesus Christ, who redeemed us from death, and washed away our sins in his own blood.

"As we come now before thee to commemorate the sacrifice of the Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world, we recal with joy what ancient days beheld, and the wonders thou didst work

of old. To the fathers thy presence appeared, and to the prophets, thine inspiration was given. On mount Sinai thou didst descend to give the law; by types and figures thou didst shadow forth good things which were to come. In these last days thou hast spoken unto us by thy Son. Thou hast performed thy holy covenant, and raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of thy servant David. Our souls do magnify the Lord; our spirits now rejoice in God our Saviour.

"But whilst we adore thy goodness and mercy, we lament our own unworthiness and guilt. We are less than the least of all thy mercies. We are transgressors from the birth. We are unworthy to lift up our eyes to the place where thine honour dwelleth. Thou whose pure eye discerns darkness in the sun, and charges thine angels with folly, thou beholdest the multitude of our iniquities. We have sinned, and what shall we answer unto thee, O thou who triest the heart! We have neglected the good which it was in our power to perform, and done the evil from which we should have abstained. Deaf to the voice of wisdom we have turned aside unto folly; forgetting heaven and immortality, we have set our affections upon the earth; we have looked up to the fashion of the world, rather than to thy laws. Alas! when we consider what we might have been; when we think upon the talents that we have abused, the means of improvement that we have neglected, the opportunities of doing good that we have lost; when' we reflect how long it was before we began to form a serious thought; we tremble at the foot-stool of thy justice.

،، We confess our sins to thee, O Lord ! Our iniquities are now before us. Thou who knowest the heart; thou who knowest the sorrow of our souls. Trampling upon conscience, undervaluing the joys of heaven, and braving the pains of hell, we have surrendered ourselves to delusions, which, under the colour of good, have left us to misery and remorse.

We have turned our glory into shame; we have de faced thine image, and the lineaments of heaven. Woe unto us for we have sinned. Every way have we sinned; ungrateful for mercies bestowed; insensible of blessings promised; impatient under the smallest evils; provoking the friend who loves us! Our condemnation is aggravated, when we think against whom we have sinned! Hadst thou been a hard master, less had been our crime, and less had been our sorrow; but we have offended against the most indulgent goodness, against the tenderest mercy, against the fondest love.

"O Thou who madest us, have mercy upon us! O Thou who redeemest us, lift up again the light of thy countenance! God of infinite perfection, wę humble ourselves before thee in the dust! Suppliant at thy throne, we plead for mercy! In the meritorious life, in the atoning death, in the prevalent intercession, of our great High Priest, we place our claims for life, and our hopes of salvation. Hide not thy face, O God! Shut not thine ears against the prayer of the miserable. Shine forth in our redemption, and let thy glory appear in saving thy people from their sins.

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By thy goodness which created the world, by thy tender mercies which are over all thy works, by the love which moved thee to redeem mankind by the death of thine own Son,-save us, we beseech thee; save us, O God, from our sins! Have mercy upon us, O Lord! O Lord! have mercy upon us!

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See, O Father! the tears of thy children. Wea and heavy laden with sin, we come unto thee, O blessed Jesus! that we may find rest unto our souls. At thy feet, great Patron and Protector of the human race, we lay ourselves, and pray for mercy and salvation. We come again unto thy altar, to seal our yows of new obedience.

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Why are our hearts cast down, and our spirits disquieted within us? Thou art mighty to save; we still hope in thee; our fathers trusted in thee, and

they were not deceived. Whom have we in heaven but thee? When thou standest at the door and knockest, may it be the voice of our hearts, Come in thou beloved to sit with us and to bless us! Clothe us with the garments of salvation: let thy banner over us be love.

"Father of all! God of our Israel, bend now the heavens, and come down this day to thy holy mountain. O send forth thy light and thy truth. Lead us by the green pastures. May the dews descend, and the blessings be poured down. Here take up the place of thy rest; here command the blessing, life for evermore, Uphold our goings in the paths of righteousness, and perfect within us thy good work unto eternal life.

"And now, what wait we for, O our Father in heaven! Manifest now thyself unto us we most fervently beseech thee. May we see thee as thou hast been seen heretofore in thy holy place. Go up with us, O our God, this day unto thy holy mountain; and make us joyful in thy house of prayer.

"Now, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, be praise for ever and for ever! Amen.”

MORNING, OR ACTION SERMON.

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LUKE xxii. 44.

And being in agony.—

TH THE agony of our Lord in the garden, and his complaints upon the cross, are most extraordinary parts of his life. A dread of those sufferings which he was to undergo, appears to have made a strong impression upon his mind. Forebodings of them frequently disturbed his repose, and overwhelmed his spirits. Many days before his passion he cried out, "Now am I troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour." It was probably with a view to console his mind in such a dejected state, that he was transfigured; that he re-assumed the glory which he had with the Father before the foundation of the world, and was favoured with the presence of Moses and Elias from the mansions of immortality; for, as we are informed by the Evangelist, they talked of that decease which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. Magnanimity in all its exertions was a conspicuous part of his character. He who walked upon the water, who slept in tranquillity amid the storm, and who encountered the foe of mankind in the desert, cannot be accused of a defect in courage. When a band of soldiers, with Judas at their head, came to apprehend him and inquired for Jesus of Nazareth, he said unto them, "I am he;" and by the dignity of his demeanour, struck them with awe. When he was accused by the chief priests and elders before the judgment-seat of Pilate, with that Majes tic silence which is sometimes the best expression of

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