THOU, O Lord, makest the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice. Thy mercy has defended us during the night, and because thou hast been about our bed, we are preserved and now come before thee. What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits? we will take the cup of salvation, and will call upon the name of the Lord. Thou art God alone, blessed for evermore. Thou art from everlasting, and thy years fail not. The praises of eternity are thine, and thine is the grateful song which the children of men raise at the thought of thy condescension and of thy great mercy. We adore thee, for that thou permittest us to pray and to praise. May we increasingly love and delight in worshipping thee. Thou hearest prayer; may we never fail to draw nigh to thee in thine own appointed way; and help us to plead with thee thine own promises and mercy in Christ Jesus.

O Lord our God, thou hast raised us up this morning in peace and comfort, and we are permitted to assemble at thy throne, and to record our sense of thy kindness. May the lives which thou sparest be consecrated to thy service. With the returning light of this day oh grant to us the holy and cheering influences of thy Spirit. Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee; and help us always to think and to do such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may be enabled to live according to thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Preserve

us from temptations; uphold us in difficulty; and enable us ever to trust in thee, for in thee the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us. May we act under guidance of motives that approve themselves in thy sight. Let love toward one another and toward thee abide in our hearts; and may we so walk in the house and in the world, as to show that we are born of God, and that we are seeking the things which are on high.

Be very gracious to all whom we should remember in our supplications. Have mercy on all men, and give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth. Let the dark places of the earth be visited with the day-spring from on high. May those who have the gospel know in this their day the things which belong to their peace; and especially forbid that any of us should neglect thy great salvation. Let our land be greatly blessed. On the queen bestow of thy rich mercy; and may every member of the royal family fear thee. Regard the churches of Christ of every name, and let them shine in the beauties of holiness. Guide all who preach the gospel. Raise up, O thou Lord of the harvest, many more labourers who shall faithfully and assiduously labour to gather in souls to Christ. Let all ranks of men in our land be taught to serve thee; and may sin, ashamed, hide its face, and holiness be the glory and stability of our times. Grant us forgiveness of our individual and family sins, and accept this our morning sacrifice in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

MOST merciful and gracious Lord our God, we thank thee for the privilege of prayer. May our hearts now go out in humble supplication, and let thy mercy be bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ our exalted Advocate. Blessed be God that we have such an Advocate; one who knows our condition, one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and whom thou hast exalted to thine own right hand, where he appears on our behalf. This is our confidence and our joy. Oh for his sake forgive our offences. We look

back upon the day and the week now closing with shame and contrition, for we have sinned against thee. We feel that we have been corrupt. In our intercourse with the world we have not kept thee before us as we ought; and in our family we have failed to serve thee with a perfect heart. What shall we say unto thee, O thou preserver of men? But for thy mercy in Christ we must perish; O Lord, we hope in that mercy, let it be bestowed for his sake, and we will be thy servants for ever.

We thank thee that to-night we can lay aside the cares of the world, and spend the next day a holy Sabbath with thee. Those cares have sufficiently occupied our thoughts during the week; we bid them depart now. Lord, keep our minds free for the delightful exercises of communion with thyself. Watch over us through the night, and in the morning may we rise in health and vigour to go up to thy sanctuary, to

worship thee with an undistracted mind. May we pay our vows with devout and grateful affection. Grant to us thy Spirit as the Spirit of grace and of supplication. Give us the ear to hearken to thy truth, the mind and the heart to understand and to do it. May we delight ourselves in the Lord, and enjoy the provisions of thy house. We commend to thee our pastor. Enlarge his heart; enlighten his understanding; and may he come to us well instructed in thy truth, and doing, with great faithfulness and affection, the work of the Lord. Let all faithful ministers be similarly blessed, and may all teachers and visitors of the ignorant and the sick to-morrow be fitted by thy Spirit for their work, and rendered very useful in discharging it.

Bless, O Lord, especially our own family and friends in connexion with thy church. May we all have a place there. Planted in the house of the Lord, may we flourish in the courts of our God, and bring forth fruit even down to old age.

We fall, O Lord, into thine hands. Grant our requests for thy mercy's sake, and exceed them in the bestowments of thy compassion according to thy riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Thou hast taught the hearts of thy faithful people by sending to them the light of thine Holy Spirit, and still the residue of the Spirit is with thee. Grant us, by the same Spirit, to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen

FOR

SPECIAL OCCASIONS AND SEASONS.

The prayers and petitions that follow are for the most part short, and be used in connexion with either of the prayers for the may day, being introduced at the end of the prayer, or after any period or section, as may be felt most suitable.

FOR A COUPLE NEWLY MARRIED.

WE acknowledge thy mercy, O our God, in the circumstances in which we now come before thy throne. We have sought thee apart, we would seek thee together. May we be helpers of each other's faith and joy. Without thy presence our habitation would be desolate; if thou be with us it will be the dwelling of holiness, and love, and peace. God of our fathers, be our God. May we live as fellow heirs of life, and at last dwell in the land where they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

FOR MERCIFUL DELIVERANCE IN CHILDBIRTH.

THOU God of our family, we ask thy kindness to the mother in this house in her hour of pain. Thou hast helped in need. Wilt thou again interpose? Let not the root be dried up beneath, nor let the branch wither. Spare thy servant that hopes in thee, and preserve from peril the expected object of parental love. And may we and all that appertain to us belong to the family of God, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.