this altar our bodies and our souls as living sacrifices: their blood might have been required, and mingled in the offering of Eternal Justice. May they be holy and acceptable to Thee through Christ Jesus. Give them the rest which the night invites, and their exhausted powers need. May their living oblation, in the morning, be renewed!

The only name of Jesus (how happy that none can compete with it!) we now plead, that we may be accepted and sanctified; and that all our petitions may find grace with Thee, and enter into Thine ear, Lord of Sabaoth!

And to the Incomprehensible Jehovah,—Incomprehensible in His love as in His essence,Father, Son, and Spirit, we will give praise for ever! Amen.

"The grace of our Lord," &c.

WEDNESDAY MORNING.

THE eyes which Thou hast once more awakened and enlightened, O most Merciful Lord, we would turn to Thee! We lift them to the hills from whence cometh our help! Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

He that keepeth us hath not slum

bered! All our bones shall say, Who is like unto Thee, O Lord? Our eyes see the forms of love, our ears listen to the voices of friendship,—our tongues can show forth Thy praise! Fearfully and wonderfully are we made, but Thou preservest the curious mechanism of nerve and vein and every precious sense! How lost were we a little while ago to all the accuracy of memory and all the exercise of reason, but Thou now restorest to us the control of both! Again we exist as creatures of reflection and accountability! Thou hast wrought all these things for us! Thy hand is lifted up, and reverently, gratefully we would see it! We would regard Thy work, and trace all its characteristics of power, skill, and love!

But how may we come before the Lord? How appear in the Presence before which angels veil their faces ? How shall we cover ours! They veil them with their wings, but those wings were ever swift to do Thy Will, Thrice Holy Jehovah! They shade Thy brighter glory from their eyes with plumes which were never stained by sin! In vain we hide our face with our hands defiled with every crime! Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance ! Thou hast searched and known us! We cannot look up! We cannot propitiate Thee with slain beasts and offerings. But Thou art

It

Propitious in the Atonement of the Cross. declares and proves Thine Infinite Placability! We urge it not that Thou mayest become favourable to our lost condition,-it is the proof that Thou canst be!—it is the expression that Thou art!it is the pledge that Thou wilt be! May we look unto Jesus with a more single eye, and rest upon His expiation with a more unreserved dependence!

We

Help us by Thy good Spirit. Nothing is so frail, so weak, so unstable, that it can express these qualities of our minds. We would not utter this confession without a deep sense of its truth. We pray that we may be fully convinced of it, and be thoroughly humbled by it. can do nothing. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Only can the Spirit of Grace sustain our frailty, enforce our weakness, and fix our instability. O Thou the Searcher, and the Sanctifier, the Indwelling God! according to Thy glorious power, strengthen us with all might! So can we do all things, we shall glory in tribulation,-out of weakness we shall become strong, the worm Jacob shall beat the mountains small as chaff, and David, already strong, shall be as the angel of the Lord!

How much we owe Thee for the Lively Oracles! These companions of our solitude, these guides of our union, are given to us while

they are unknown to millions.

Shall we not

bless Thee for the Volume of the Book ? Shall we not study it as the imprint of Thy mind and will? May He who inspired it, the Spirit of Truth! direct our studies into it, and our conclusions from it. May He shine upon his own word! May He signify to us his own meaning! May we hide it in our heart! May we meditate in it day and night! May we be clean through it! Sanctify us through by Thy truth, Thy word is truth!

Little know we, O Lord, what shall this day befall us. We cannot divine what a day shall bring forth. Unexpected trials and mercies have saddened and cheered the evening of days whose mornings did not intimate them. We have been painfully and gratefully surprised at their close. We have adored Thee who created darkness as well as light. Thou didst it! May we leave ourselves in Thy hand! And may the issues of these hours be so holy, so beneficial, so joyous for time and for eternity, that they may neither drag along with heavy tardiness, nor fly away with inconsiderate levity; neither speed on a wanton wing, nor leave after their escape a poisoned recollection.

Be with us, O Blessed Leader and Commander of Thy people, in all our diurnal transactions. There are twelve hours in which men

ought to work. Various are our departments of labour. We are now going forth to it. We pray that a high morality may distinguish us. May we breathe an excellent spirit. May we in all things live honestly. May we speak truth to our neighbour. May we keep ourselves pure. Let our moderation be known unto all men. Let us attend to the things which are of good report. Let us, while acceptable to God, be approved of men.

Thou who hast in every age, and in every dispensation, acknowledged the line and relationship of holy families, disdain us not if newly won to Thy grace,-nor fail us, if our fathers worshipped in this mountain. All ungodly kindred we would remember before Thee. Shall our own flesh perish? Shall the blood which we share with them sink as a blot and stain? Shall we be bound in different bundles when the celestial reapers gather the harvest? Shall the Right hand and the Left,-shall Heaven and Hell,separate us according to their fearful distances? Cement us by a common experience of religion. May we have like precious faith. Make us perfect in one!

Lord! be gracious to our land. Long has it been sacred to liberty, and sown with the ashes of saints and martyrs. Long has Thy church found here a site and shelter. Thou hast been