us lines that have fallen in pleasant places, and our goodly heritage.

And when we look back on the past day, amidst all its toils and cares, how many mercies of thine have crowned it with blessings! Thou hast given relish to our food, zest to our pleasures, and pleasure even to our toils. While others have fallen into sorrows, and would give worlds if they could regain what they have lost, thou hast kept our feet from falling, our eyes from tears, and our souls from death. Thou hast given invention to our minds, cunning to our right hands, and success to all our labors. Thou hast surrounded us with friendly counsel and sympathy, and by thy Holy Spirit rebuked every wrong desire, and promoted holy aspirations. For these, and the other mercies of the past day, which are more than we can number and richer than we can estimate, we would render thee the homage of grateful and adoring hearts.

O God our Judge, another day has gone, with its solemn account, to bear witness for or against us at thy tribunal. We confess, with sorrow, that we have done many things which we ought not to have done, and left undone many things which we ought to have done. For all our misspent time and neglected opportunities; for all our wrong motives and unchristian feelings; for all our irregular desires, vain hopes, and foolish fears, we would supplicate thy pardoning mercy. We fear that pride and moral insensibility have concealed from our view many sins which have

been open to thine all-seeing eye. Open our eyes to behold our moral condition; touch our hearts with true penitence, that we may not lie down to rest with the burden of unrepented sin upon our consciences, and the frown of thy displeasure on our slumbers, O thou in whose protection is all our hope.

To thee, who dost never slumber, and to whom the darkness is as the light, as we lie down to rest and resign ourselves to unconsciousness, do we now commit our bodies and spirits. Defend us, we implore thee, from the devouring flames, from the assaults of violence, from the attacks of disease. And as sleep brings refreshment to our toil-worn bodies and careworn minds, let rest from earthly cares and passions renew a tenderness of spirit, a sensibility to conscience, a sense of thy presence and love. And as the dew refreshes the parched earth and revives the drooping plants, so may the dews of thy grace refresh our hearts, and revive our best affections and desires. Keep us in safety through the silent watches of the night, and open our eyelids on a morning filled with holy thoughts, and consecrated to thy service. Or, if our bed should prove our grave, awake us at the glorious morn of the resurrection, with spirits disenthralled, and prepared to enter thy service, and behold thy glories, and enjoy thy love. These thanksgivings and supplications we offer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom unto thee we ascribe all glory, and honor, and praise. Amen.

VIII.

Continual Praise.

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

They looked unto him, and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed.

The poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

O LORD, Maker of heaven and earth, we cast ourselves on thy care for this coming night. Weary with the labors to which thou grantest our daily bread, and filled with the experience of many lessons of thy providence, we seek the wonderful refreshment thy wisdom has prepared for our bodies and our souls. We bless thee for the grateful vicissitudes of day and night, labor and rest, wakefulness and sleep. Thou sendest us forth into the world thou hast made, to the society thou hast ordained for us. We thank thee for the provision thou hast made for our necessi

ties, knowledge for our minds, friends for our hearts, obstacles to strengthen our will, trials to deepen our faith, successes to cheer our hope. In all we perceive and adore our great Taskmaster's faithfulness, and bless the gracious hand with which he mingles our cup. Thy praise shall be continually in our mouths.

And now that we commit ourselves to thy care during the darkness that gathers round us, we desire to review our lives, to confess our sins, and implore thy forgiveness. We look back upon many omissions of duty, on many acts of careless or wilful offence against thy holy law. We have allowed the world too much room in our hearts. We have yielded to the seductions of sloth or of pleasure, and to the love of money or the fear of man. O God, rescue us from the bondage of iniquity. Break this tyrannous sceptre of the world which usurps thy throne in our hearts. Suffer not the convictions and desires of our better hours, when thy Spirit is nigh, to expire in the moment of temptation, and the season of trial.

We fervently pray, O God, that thy kingdom may come, thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven. We deplore the unchristian customs, the negligent ways, the cruelties and wrongs, of society; and especially ask thy pardon for whatever we are doing, by our sloth or our activity, to perpetuate their existence, or delay their extinction. Give new power to thy Gospel over our hearts and throughout the world, that its blessed Spirit may overcome every

high thing that is set against it, and establish the pure worship of thy holiness, the love of Christ, and the brotherhood of our race, in all parts of the earth. Father of our spirits, we adore thee with the last strength of this day. We worship thee, not for what thou canst do for us, but for what thou art in thyself. Source of all truth, beauty and goodness, in our deep sleep steal thou into our unresisting hearts, and impress thine image freshly on our souls. We would rest in thy arms, and awake in thy likeness.

And when, O Lord, our day of life is over, and the great night cometh, may a glorious resurrection bring us to the light of the everlasting morning of thy presence. We ask it in the name of thy Son our Saviour. Amen.

IX.

Trust and Courage.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle will he hide me; he will set me up upon a rock.