to his kingdom of glory. Saving grace is the free gift of God; and he gave it to remain and abide for ever, Eccl. iii. 14. This is his gracious promise in Isaiah, liv. 8-10. " With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, faith the Lord, thy Redeemer, The mountains fhall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness fhall not depart from thee," &c. So fays Chrift, John x. 28. fpeaking of his fheep, "they fhall never perish, neither fhall any pluck them out of my And the apostle hands.' fpeaks of fome who are kept by the power of God (kept as in a garrifon), through faith, unto falvation, 1 Pet. i. 5. Whence is that of an ancient father: Horum (videl. electorum) fi quifpiam perit, bumano vitio vincitur Deus: Jed nemo eorum perit, quia nullá re vincitur Deus: "If any of the elect perifh, God is overcome by man's perverfenefs; but none of them perish, because God, who is omnipotent, can by no means be overcome." Auguft. de Corrupt. & Grat. cap vii. The faints, therefore, fhall be brought off more than conquerors; for God hath faid, "I will never, never leave thee: no, no, I will never forfake thee," (for thus that precious promise should be rendered) Heb. xiii. 5. Add to this,

V. The teftimony of God's people in all ages of the Church. Look at the generations of old, and fee, did any ever truft in God, and was confounded? or "when were the righteous caft off?" "The Lord will not caft off his people," Pf. xciv. 14. Lam. iii. 31. To this truth they are now enabled, at times, to bear their joint teftimony. Bucer, a little before his death, fpoke thus to Bradford: Caftiget fortiter, abjiciet autem nunquam, nunquam abjicies which exactly correfponds with the Pfalmist, Pf. lxxiii. 26. "My heart and my flesh faileth; but God is the ftrength of my heart, and my portion for ever!" How triumphant is the apoftle's ftrain, Rom. viii. 38, 39. We read of Baxter (who, though heterodox in many things, was a partaker of

the

the one thing needful), that, when asked by a friend, when he lay on his death-bed, how he was, he replied," almoft well," which a perfon, in the view of opening eternity, could never fay, unless he found God very precious, and found him faithful. Whatever drofs this holy man carried about him in his life, it was confumed in his death, and he received into glory. The teftimony of glorified fpirits above, as it bears weight in it, fo it corroborates this truth, Their fong is, "Faithful and true," Rev. xix. II. This is proved likewife,

VI. And lastly, from the interceffion of Christ. "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," fays our Saviour to Peter, Luke xxii. 32, and we know his prayer was heard; though his faith failed as to the exercise of it, yet the root and habit of it remained, and accordingly fprung forth, revived, and grew fo ftrong, that Peter afterwards was emboldened to fuffer and to die for his Lord.

Our Lord began the prayer upon earth which he now offers in heaven for his people: "Keep, through thy own name, thofe whom thou haft given me," John xvii. 11. 24. he prays (or rather demands, as the purchase of his death) faying, "Father, I will, that they also whom thou haft given me, be with me where I am;" on which ground we may conclude, that all Chrift died for, fhall poffefs that crown of glory that fadeth not away. It being impoffible that Jefus fhould intercede in vain. This is the foundation of the apostle's challenge, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Chrift that died, yea, rather that is rifen again, who alfo maketh interceffion for us,' Rom. viii. 34. May all God's people, who have their faces Zion-ward, take encouragement from these things, to go forward in the name and ftrength of the God of their falvation, till they arrive fafe to the manfions of blifs, and endless felicity.

A COURSE

A COURSE OF

FAMILY PRAYER,

FOR EACH DAY IN THE WEEK.

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there ar I, in the midst of them. Matth. xviii. 20.

Praying in the Holy Ghost. Jude 20.

And the smoke of the incenfe, which came up with the prayers of the faints, afcended up before God, out of the angel's hand. Rev. viii. 4.

SUNDAY MORNING.

(The Collect, before reading the appointed portion of Scripture.)

THR

"HROUGH the riches of thy mercy, and by the power of thy fuftaining goodness, we are brought in fafety, to fee the light of another day, even the light of a new Lord's day, the best of days, the type of that glorious reft, which remaineth for the people of God. Lord, fend forth, and fend down thy Holy Spirit into our hearts; and make thy fabbath, a fabbath-day, indeed, to each of our fouls; a day of fpiritual improvement, heavenly confolation, and near communion with thee: fatisfy us with thy mercy, and that right foon; fo fhall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our lives. Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us at this time; blefs us to all the means of grace, whether public or private, in the ufe of which we wait for

thy

thy falvation: O let them not be as wells without water; but make them channels of divine influence, and effectual to the end for which thou haft appointed them. We defire to begin the Lord's day with the Lord, and to hallow it by the word of God and by prayer. Enable us, O thou Father of mercies, to keep it holy unto thee, and to enjoy faving communion with thee, for the fake of Jefus Christ,

Amen.

(Here let the family rife from their fupplicating posture, and all being feated, let a felect portion of Holy Scripture be read; which ended, an hymn or pfalm may be fung: after which, the mafter of the family may conclude as follows, either ftanding or kneeling.) Let us pray.

OUR Father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trefpass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

We thank thee, gracious God, for the return of the morning light, and for caufing the day-fpring to know its time and place. O may the day-ftar from on high, vifit our benighted fouls; and may that Saviour, who is the bright and morning ftar, arife and fine within us with healing in his wings glory be to thy goodness, that the light we fee is the Lord's; that this is the day which thou haft made for thyfelf, and fet apart for thy name. May this fabbath-day be an high day to our fouls; a day of fpiritual feafting and heavenly joy; bring us, O bleffed Spirit, into thy banqueting houfe, and let thy banner over us be love. Bleffed be thy name, that we fee fo many of the days of the Son of

that we enjoy fo many precious oppor

tunities

tunities of worshipping thee in the beauty of holiness, and of paying our vows unto thee publicly, in the prefence of thy people. May we be in the Spirit on the Lord's day; and call the fabbath a delight, holy of the Lord and honourable. May we ceafe from our own works, as God on the feventh day ceafed from his; and abound only in the work of the Lord. Efpecially make it to us a fabbath of reft from fin, and a fabbath of reft in God. We are, indeed, utterly unworthy of the honour, and unable for the work of a fellowship, with the Father, and with his Son, Jefus Chrift; but we come unto thee, O bleffed Lamb of God, in thy own adorable name, who alone art worthy; and depend on the ftrength and supply of thy good Spirit, to work all our works in us, and to ordain peace for us. Blefs all thy miniftring fervants throughout the whole world, may they obtain mercy of the Lord to be faithful; faithful to thee, faithful to truth, and faithful to the fouls entrusted to their care. Particularly, vouchfafe to be with all those who are this day to stand up in thy name, and preach the gospel of thy grace. May they be mighty through thee, to convince the unconvinced, to convert the unconverted, to heal them that are of a contrite heart, and to build up believers on their most holy faith. Enable them to preach thy truths with power, and with the Holy Ghoft fent down from heaven; thou thyfelf graciously working with them, and confirming the work with figns following: Be in the midst of all thy worshipping people, who fhall affemble in thy name to-day. Have mercy on those who shall be unwillingly detained from thy house, by fickness, or any other providential impediment; comfort them in fecret, fanctify their abfence by granting them much of thy inward prefence. Let them that tarry at home, divide the spoil; and, as they are excluded from the ftream, give them to drink the deeper at the fountain head. Lord, affist us, thy unworthy fervants, in the religious fervices of