fear of thee may direct and sanctify all our actions, to thy glory and our souls' good. Bless, we entréat thee, all thy creatures; let thy kingdom come, and let the spirit of piety fill every heart. O, send out thy light and thy truth; comfort the afflicted, restore the wandering, forgive the penitent, and let the knowledge of thee and thy Son fill the earth. Mercifully regard our relatives and friends; be thou the guide of all our lives; make us fruitful in every good work to thy glory, and evermore bless and keep us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.

OCCASIONAL PRAYERS.

I. FOR SUPPORT UNDER AFFLICTION.

UNCHANGEABLE and eternal God! Amidst the changes of this earthly state we would look to thee as the Ruler of all things, and the refuge of thy people. Thou doest according to thy will in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and none can stay thine hand, or ask thee, What doest thou? Thou hast seen fit in thy wisdom to visit us with the afflictive dispensations of thy providence, and thus to make trial of our faith and hope. O that we may find that it is good for us to be afflicted, and bow with submission to thy holy will. May patience have its perfect work in our hearts, and lead us to wait with trust

and confidence until thou shalt compass us about with songs of deliverance. Grant that as our day is, so our strength may also be, that the affliction with which we are visited may be sanctified to our souls, and work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. May we learn righteousness from thy judgments, and receive profit from thy corrections, and come forth from the furnace of trial as the purified gold. And do thou graciously receive us at the last to that blessed state where sin and suffering never enter, where all tears shall be wiped away, and sighing and crying shall be for ever unknown. To thee, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, the hope and consolation of thy people, the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Lord, be everlasting praises. AMEN.

O THOU, who knowest my frame and rememberest that I am but dust, who dost not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men, who chastenest, not for thy pleasure, but for my profit! Give me grace, I beseech thee, to bear with patience and submission the sickness with which I am visited, and let it be overruled for my present and my future good. May it be the means of weaning my thoughts from the world, and of leading me to thee, the Physician of souls. Mercifully look down upon me, O God, in my low estate; and if it please thee, in thine own good time, restore me again to health and strength, that I may praise thy name. Under my bodily

sufferings do thou graciously support and comfort my fainting spirit, and prepare me for either longer life or early death. Remove, I pray thee, all distressing doubts and fears; endue me with holy resignation to thy will; forgive my many transgressions, increase my hope in my blessed Saviour; fill my heart with joy and peace in believing; and at length receive me to thyself in glory, through thy mercy in Jesus Christ. AMEN.

III. FOR A YOUNG PERSON.

O HOLY and blessed God! I desire to approach thee with penitence and humility, to acknowledge my offences and to ask thy forgiveness. Regard in thy compassion one who has a desire to flee from sin, and to remember thee his Creator in the days of his youth. I come to thee, my Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for pardon and peace, beseeching thee that it may please thee of thy infinite goodness to guide me safely through the perplexities of life to which I am exposed, to deliver me in every hour of temptation, and to make me a monument of thy saving grace. O let me, as thy child, ever be the object of thy kind regard; let thy love fill my soul; and whatever may be my earthly lot, may I in all my ways acknowledge thee, that thou mayest direct my paths. May the whole of my days be devoted to thy service; and after a life of holiness and usefulness here, may I be received to dwell with thee in joy and felicity hereafter, through thy grace in Jesus Christ thy dear Son, my Redeemer. AMEN.

IV. - FOR AN AGED PERSON.

O MOST merciful and glorious God! Thou hast by thy continued providence brought me thy unworthy servant to hoary hairs and tottering limbs, and in looking back upon the years of my pilgrimage that are gone, I have thankfully to acknowledge thy goodness to me from the moment of my birth until the present hour. Abundantly have 1 experienced thy mercy and thy truth, thy faithfulness and thy love, and now that I am old and grey-headed thou wilt not forsake me. To thee, O Lord, therefore, as to a faithful Creator, do I commit my soul. Thou art a God of mercy and compassion, and in thee do I put my trust; thou hast been my protector, preserver, benefactor, and guide, and my praise shall be continually of thee. O let my last days be my best days, and when thou shalt see fit to call me hence, may my faith and my hope be found resting on thy mercy in Jesus Christ. Lord, be thou with me in these my days of weakness and infirmity, give me grace to lean by faith on thy promises for strength, and finally bring me to the rest which remaineth for thy people, through my blessed Saviour and Redeemer. AMEN.

V. FOR A DYING PERSON.

O THOU, to whom belong the issues of life and of death, who at first didst give existence, and hast a right, whenever thou pleasest, to take it away! Hear us, we humbly

pray thee, on behalf of our dying brother, and fit him for this his last great change. Let thy blessed presence be with him in his departing moments, let faith and hope sustain his sinking spirit, and though his heart and his flesh fail, be thou the strength of his heart, and his portion for ever. To thy all-merciful hand do we commend him, beseeching thee to keep him in his last moments, to take away from him the bitterness of death, to cheer him as he passes through the dark valley, to give him the victory over the last enemy, and to receive him hereafter to thine eternal kingdom. O let the Saviour now be precious to his heart, and let a foretaste of heavenly glory fill his soul. Grant to him, we beseech thee, an easy dismissal from the poor perishing body, and let him gently fall asleep in Jesus, in the blissful assurance of a joyful ́immortality. Graciously be pleased to regard the living as well as the dying, teach us to prepare ourselves for our final change, and grant that we may all meet together before thy throne at the resurrection of the just, of which thou hast given us assurance through our Mediator and Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN.

VI. A PARENT'S PRAYER.

ALL glorious and eternal God! Thou art the Father of all the families of the earth, the common Parent of all mankind. Be thou a God and Father to us and to our children, and enable us to bring them up in thy fear and to thy praise. May it ever be our object and desire, both by our instructions and our example, to lead them in the