same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The eternal world, to which we are hastening, is always equally important. But, alas! our views, and our affections, and our best resolutions are continually varying. Whence, O Lord! whence this sad change which we now experience in the frame and temper of our minds towards thee? Whence this alienation of our souls from thee? Why cannot we come to thee with all the endearments of filial love, as we once could? Why is thy service so remissly attended, if attended at all? And why are the exercises of it, which were once our greatest pleasure, become a burden to us. Alas! Lord, whither are we fallen! Thine eye sees us still; but oh! unlike what it once saw us! Cold and insensible as we are, we must blush at the reflection. Thou seest us in secret; and seest us, perhaps, often amusing ourselves with trifles in those seasons which we used solemnly to devote to thine immediate service. Thou seest us coming into thy presence as by constraint! and when we are before thee, so straitened in our spirit, that we hardly know what to say to thee; though thou art the God with whom we have to do; and though the keeping up an humble and dutiful correspondence with thee, is beyond

all comparison the most important business of our lives. And even when we are speaking to thee, with how much coldness and formality is it! It is perhaps the work of the imagination, the labour of the lips; but where are those ardent desires, those intense breathings after God, which we once felt? Where is that pleasing repose in thee which we were once conscious of, as being near our divine rest, as being happy in that nearness, and resolving, if possible, we would no more be removed from it? But oh! how far are we now removed! When these short devotions are over, in what long intervals do we forget thee! Thou callest us to thine house, O Lord, on thine own day; but how heartless are our services there! We offer thee only an empty form. Our thoughts and affections are engrossed with other objects, while we draw near to thee with our mouth, and honour thee with our lips. Thou callest us to thy table; but our hearts are so frozen, that they hardly melt, even at the foot of the cross! Hardly feel any efficacy in the blood of Jesus! Is this, Lord, the service we once promised; and which thou hast such manifold reasons to expect? Are these the returns we are making for thy daily providential care; for the sacrifice of thy Son; for the com

Imunications of thy Spirit; for the pardon of our numberless aggravated sins; for the hopes of eternal glory? Lord, we are ashamed to kneel before thec! but pity us, we beseech thee, and help us. "Our souls cleave unto the dust," and lay as in the dust before thee: but, "O quicken us, according to thy word!" Let us trifle no longer; for we are on the brink of a precipice! O give us grace to turn our feet unto thy testimonies. Search us, O Lord, and try us; go to the root of this distemper which spreads itself over our souls; and recover us from it. So represent sin unto us, O Lord, we pray thee, that we may see it with abhorrence and represent the Lord Jesus Christ to us in such a light, that we may look upon him and mourn; that we may look upon him and love. May we awake from our stupid lethargy into which we are sinking. And may Christ give us more abundant degrees of spiritual life and activity than we have ever yet received. May we be so quickened and animated by him, that we may more than recover the ground we have lost. Send down upon us, O Lord, in a more rich and abundant effusion, thy good Spirit: may he dwell in us as a temple which he has consecrated to himself: and may the joy of the Lord be our strength. Amen.

PRAYERS

FOR YOUNG PERSONS.

A repenting Youth at Prayer.

O most just and holy, most gracious and merciful Lord God, I am a wretched undone sinner, and had been undone for ever, if thou hadst not pulled me as a brand out of the fire. I have been sinning grievously, practising almost every youthful lust. I have broken through the restraints of principle and education, forced conscience, stifled conviction, and hardened my neck against reproof. I have stopped my ear against thy word, slighted and neglected prayer, and rejected all the offers of thy love. But thine eye has pitied me, and thy hand touched my heart. Thy word and thy rod have awakened me. I now begin to see my folly and my danger. I see thy flaming sword hanging over me. All the terror of thy Law and Gospel belong to me. But I fly to thy mercy. I see thy

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arms of grace extended to receive me. see a fountain opened to wash me. I see the blood of Christ shed to take away my sin. It has been trampled on, and despised; but now I prize it above all the world, I plead it as my atonement; I have no other plea but my Saviour's merits and thy mercy. Thou hast sent him to be my Saviour. Save me, O my God, through him, by the virtue of his blood; by the efficacy of his Spirit; by the power of his word. Save me, O God, or I am lost for ever. review my life with horror. I repent in dust and ashes. I have done foolishly a thousand times, and forgotten thee days without number; but I hope thou hast changed me, and formed me anew; and that I am not the creature I once was. I am ashamed; yea, even confounded, when I look back. But with thee is plenteous pardon Pardon my transgressions, for they are great. Let a repenting sinner live. I purpose, by thy grace, to offend no more. O God, create my heart anew; repair thine image in me; put thy Holy Spirit within me; and make me thine adopted child.

I have been a lover of the world, and of sinful pleasures more than of God; have indulged my body, but neglected and