prayers are foolish, pity us; if presumptuous, pardon us; if acceptable to thee, grant them, allpowerful God, grant them; and, as with our living voice, and with our dying lips, we will express our submission to thy decrees, adore thy providence, and bless thy dispensations, so in all future states, to which we reverently hope thy goodness will raise us, grant that we may continue praising, admiring, venerating, worshipping thee more and more, through worlds without number and ages without end. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

FORMS OF SERVICE FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP.

MORNING SERVICE.

Introductory Prayer.

OUR Father who art in heaven, thy children and thy creatures would come to express to thee the language of their common wants, and their common weakness. While we are assembled to think of our eternal concerns, we would remember that we are surrounded, supported, and inspected by thee. We desire now, O Lord, to learn thy will; to give thee the praise and homage that are thy due; to confess before thee our manifold transgressions; to implore thy pardoning mercy through Jesus Christ, and to gain some new strength for our Christian course. In these our endeavours, we ask thy divine assistance. And as we know not whether we shall spend another sabbath on earth, may we this day ask ourselves, if we are prepared to meet our God. We come as the disciples of Jesus Christ, to whose name be honour in the church forever. Amen.

Prayer before Sermon.

PRAISE waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

Almighty and most merciful Father; thou art our God, early would we seek thee; our unwearied Benefactor, and we would bless thee; our fathers' God, and we will exalt thee. We would come this morning to acknowledge thee, the only proper object of religious worship. We would come as the disciples of thy Son to ask for mercy, because we are sinners; to implore the influence of thy Spirit, because we are weak; and to entreat for thine assistance, because on thee we continually depend. O may we be duly impressed with the solemn duties of prayer. May we remember thine eye is upon us and never turned away. O thou who searchest the heart, we desire to worship thee, who art a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. We thank thee for the light of another of thy holy sabbaths. Thy mercies, O Lord, are new upon us every morning, and fresh every evening. And now that our gratitude may be awakened, we would remember the favours which have crowned our days. Ever since thou gavest us life, we have been pensioners on thy bounty. Thou hast been bountiful to us beyond our necessities, and merciful beyond our hopes. Each day has come to us, bearing thine unremitted favours. Thy goodness, O Father, has been greater toward us, than we can express. Thou hast permitted

nature, year after year, to furnish out its treasures, for our support; and thy hand hath been scattering liberally about us, the varied blessings of life. We rejoice and praise thee, that in these second causes, which we see operating around us, we are led to thee, the first Great Cause of all; that from these unnumbered streams we are led to the exhaustless Fountain of being and beneficence. O may we study thee in thy works, and see how much we have to thank thee for; and may the multitude of blessings, which surround us, be motives that shall bind us in obedience to thy commands. We would admire and adore that wisdom which is so evidently displayed in the structure of our bodies. But glory be to thy name, that in each of these bodies thou hast placed the bright image of thyself; a rational, immortal principle. How good wast thou, O God, to give us immortality; to create us in the image of thine own eternity! O make us duly grateful to thee for the gift of mind; for that reason which controls our passions and regulates our propensities; and for those moral powers, which determine our duties, nourish our good affections, and prepare us for happiness by making us holy. Grant, O God, that we may use all our powers as thou designedst they should be used; in searching after truth, and in the cultiva

tion of the affections of love to thee and love to our fellow men. But while we adore thy wisdom as displayed in these thy works, our souls would kindle into praise for the crowning gift of Christianity. Never can we too much thank thee, for the gift of a Saviour. Glory be to thy name, O Father, that in the records of Christianity, which have come down to us, we also are permitted to hear the same glad tidings that angels announced; that there is now peace on earth and good will towards man. In an especial manner we thank thee, that by him, life and immortality are brought to light; that now we are assured we shall not rest forever in the grave, but that beyond the darkness of the tomb, there shall break forth a bright and a glorious morning of the resurrection, when all who are in their graves shall come forth to appear before God. God of mercy and of grace, prepare us all for that day.

But while we remember thy various goodness, it becometh us to remember with deep humility and sincere contrition, how little we have deserved thy many favours. Thou hast been doing much for us, but we have been doing little for ourselves. We have offended against thy holy

laws. Thou knowest how often we have sinned. But we have hope in thy grace, through Jesus