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SHORT PRAYERS

-FOR THE

MORNING AND EVENING

OF

EVERY DAY IN THE WEEK.

WITH OCCASIONAL

PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS.

Abraham Hawkins

PRINTED FOR THE

American Unitarian Association.

BOSTON:

JAMES MUNROE & Co. 134 WASHINGTON STREET. OCTOBER, 1841.

Price 4 Cents.

THESE Prayers were written by an aged Christian layman of Trowbridge, England, and were published a short time since by the Christian Tract Society of London. A few changes have been made in forms of expression, but the whole amount of alteration is very small.

I. R. BUTTS, PRINTER, 2 SCHOOL STREET.

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.

To those of my brethren who feel their dependence upon God and their need of salvation through Christ Jesus.

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

An aged and afflicted man, who has had to pass through many of the sorrows and trials of life, but who "has learned in the station in which God has placed him therewith to be content,” affectionately offers the following short and simple prayers to assist you in your communings with your heavenly Father; a duty which he trusts you perform in private and in your families every morning and evening. Prayer is your first obligation and your highest privilege; it is a pouring out of the soul before God, and is attended with great and numerous advantages. In the day of prosperity, when all things go well with you, and your hearts rejoice, how pleasant it is to look up to God, the source of your blessings, and say, "Thou crownest me with loving-kindness and tender mercies!" In the hour of adversity, when your minds are cast down, how comforting it is to go to your heavenly Father with all your griefs and sorrows, encouraged by his own declaration, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me!" In the season of affliction, when you are confined to your dwelling by sickness and pain, how consoling it is to lift up the spirit to that merciful Being "who healeth all our diseases," and in whose hands are " the issues of life and of death!" In the time of poverty, what a relief it is to pray to Him

who knoweth all our wants, and who hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee!" Indeed, whatever be our circumstances, God hears and answers the humble, fervent, persevering prayers of his children; his throne of grace is always accessible, and to that throne we may go, by faith in Jesus Christ, "and find grace and mercy to help in every time of need.

Beloved friends, let an old man therefore beg that you will on no account neglect the duty of prayer.``It will be attended with most blessed results both to your families and to yourselves; your children will be excited by your example to love and fear God, and you will enjoy satisfaction and peace in your own souls. Why do so many complain of their inward sorrows and distresses, but because they are such strangers to this devout communion with God? The spirit of devotion is the spirit of happiness, and earnestly do I pray that you may enjoy it; but in order to do so you must use the means, especially by reading the word of God, in which you will find things suited to your spiritual state, and calculated to promote intercourse between God and your souls. Let some portion of scripture be read every day in a devotional manner, and you will find it will lead you into the true spirit of prayer and meditation in the heavenly life, and thus, through the influences of divine grace, you will become more holy, and consequently you will be better prepared to become " partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

And now, dear friends, I commend you to God. May this little book, under the divine blessing, be of service to you in your devotions. In the spirit of love it was written, in the same spirit let it be received. The writer of it feels that, from increasing infirmities and the weight of nearly fourscore years, he must soon become a tenant of the grave, and he leaves this little "help to prayer" behind him, in the hope that it will be useful after he is gone. May the Almighty bless this feeble attempt to promote his service and his praise! Believe me, brethren and friends,

Your affectionate well wisher,

ABRAHAM HAWKINS.

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