To this end, be thou pleased to enlighten our darkened minds with thy saving truth, that we may not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is: and reform our depraved wills, inclining them to a cheerful and ready compliance with all the motions of thy good Spirit. Regulate our unruly passions; purify our corrupt affections; and convert all the faculties of our souls, to be instruments of thy glory, as they have been of thy dishonor; and make our bodies fit temples for thy Holy Spirit to dwell in. Continue, we pray thee, thy mercy to us when we lie down and when we rise up. Sanctify our motives; direct our undertakings, and prosper our endeavours. Fill our hearts with thy fear and love; keep us from evil, and help us to do that which is good and pleasing to thee; that living here to thy glory, we may, in the end of all our days, enter into thy rest, through the merits of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Father, &c. me. Friday Evening. PSALM CXXXIX.-O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Search me O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art exalted far above all blessing and praise, and yet humblest thyself to the prayers of thine unworthy servants, be present, we beseech thee, with us, who are now met together in thy name. As another day is taken from the sum of our lives, give us grace to remember that we are so much nearer to our latter end; and fill us with a true repentance for all the sins and follies of our past lives. Cleanse us from all our guilt, through the blood of thy Son, and give us a peaceful conscience, and a good hope through grace. Grant that the opportunities which thou mayst yet vouchsafe us, may be improved by us to the purposes of our Christian calling: make us day by day more watchful, diligent, and devout. By all the dispensations of thy providence, whether of good or evil, bring us nearer to thyself; and make us thine, in heart and life, as we are by name and in profession. Quicken us, O Lord, in the pursuit of heavenly things, and make us faithful in the discharge of every appointed duty; serving thee with sincerity of heart, and doing to all men as we would they should do unto us. Subdue in us, by the power of thy grace, every evil affection; and make our conversation to be such as becometh the people of the Lord. Almighty God, vouchsafe to direct, sanctify, and govern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy commandments. Let neither pleasure, nor profit, nor anger, nor fear, make us forget the very least of thy commandments; but increase in us more and more all the Christian graces and virtues. Heavenly Father, receive our humble prayers for all conditions of men. Grant that all, who confess thy holy name, may live in unity, holiness, and zeal. Show forth the power of thy grace, by enlightening those that are in darkness, and by converting those that are in sin. Endue all orders and degrees of men amongst us, with such virtues as may most conduce to thy honor and glory, and to the good of thy Church and people. We commend to thy fatherly goodness all our relations and friends; beseeching thee to take them and us into thy holy keeping this night; defend us from all evil and from the fear of any. Prepare us, both in soul and body, to serve thee faithfully another day. And give us time and grace to make our peace with thee, before we go hence and be no more seen. Hear us, O Lord, for thy dear Son's sake, and answer us according to the comprehensive spirit of that prayer which he hath taught us: Our Father, &c. Saturday Morning. 1 SAM. XX. 3.-There is but a step between me and death. PSALM ciii. 15.-Man's days are as grass; as a flower of the field so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. ECCLES. xii. 5, 7.-Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. The dust shall return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. PSALM XXXIX. 4, 5.-Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am. Behold thou hast made my days as an handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more seen. JOB Xxi. 23.-One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. Another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. JOB iii. 17.—There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. NUMB. xxiii. 10.— Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. JOB Xxiv. 24.-The mighty are exalted for a little while, but are soon gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. Neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. JOB. xxvii. 20.-Terrors take hold on him as waters; a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away and he departeth, and as a storm hurrieth him out of his place. ECCLES. v. 15.—As he came, naked shall he return, and shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his hand. In all points as he came, so shall he go. Who knoweth whether |