COMMUNION WITH GOD. Mais, dispitions A O thou that hearest prayer, grant that I may hold a Part communion of spirit with thee, the Father of Spirits. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so may my soul pant after thee: and as the parched land drinketh in the rain of heaven, so let my soul receive the gifts of thy presence. Dispose me to be faithful and to delight in the observance of stated seasons of private devotion, and in the frequent exercises of occasional prayer. May I love to seek thee in the tabernacles of the righteous. Let my thoughts and desires hold intercourse with thee in hy word, and in thy works, and in thy ways. Let my walk be close with thee; and do thou fix my affections on thee, as the highest and noblest object of love. Teach me thy will, that I may acquaint myself with thee, and be at peace.

me.

Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon Part Draw near to me in all my attempts to approach thee; and manifest thyself unto me as thou dost not unto the world. Sprinkle reconciling blood 2 on the altar where I meet thee. Kindle with heaven- 3 ly fire the incense I bring thee, and let it rise up as a sweet-smelling savour before thee. Make thine & abode with me; and let my heart be a temple of the Holy Ghost. Give me that spirit of adoption by which I may cry, Abba, Father." May I be persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from thy love, which is in Christ Jesus. Give me such a sense of pardoned sin, as shall fill me with holy joys, and strong purposes of new obedience to thy will. Grant me, in these seasons of sweet converse with thee, those

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blessings which are spiritual in their nature, satis fying in their possession, and eternal in their con tinuance. Cause me, in the enjoyment of them, to commiserate the destitution of those who are without God in the world, and the wo of them who are shut out from thy presence forever. O let me cling closer to this precious privilege, and be pervaded with deeper pity, and animated with stronger zeal, for those who know not the delights of thy communion.

Lord, vouchsafe that my fellowship with thee may be sought only through him who is the way, the truth, and the life; for no man cometh unto the Father but by him. Let the communion of thy Holy Spirit rest upon me, and abide within me, now, henceforth and forever.

COMMUNION OF SAINTS.

Heavenly Father, dispose me, in gladness and singleness of heart, to keep the fellowship of the saints. May I have more relish for their company, though they may be poor and unhonoured, than for intercourse with those who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Make my communion with them pleasant and profitable to my soul; and do thou come and be in the midst of us, to bless us. Let our bonds of union have the strength and beauty of those that bind the happy throng above, in their perpetual fellowship of bliss. May I feel that we are all children of the same Parent; brethren of the same family; subjects of the same discipline of trials and duties; and heirs of the same inheritance beyond the grave. Incline me to love their persons, their character, and their interests-rejoicing with them that do rejoice, and weeping with them that

weep-ministering to their necessities-holding converse with them in the grace of God-seeking not to please myself, but bearing their infirmities and burdens-and so fulfilling the law of Christ, who hath given us a new commandment, that we love one another.

COMPANY.

Lord, teach me that my habits of life, and my reputation, will be determined by the company I keep. Make me ever mindful that evil communications are full of corruption, and that the companion of fools shall be destroyed. Make me holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. O let me not enter the path of the wicked, nor follow a multitude to do evil; and permit me not to conform, in any degree, to either the principles or practices of the ungodly. But when I am called, in the exercise of social or religious duties, among the impenitent, enable me to seek by kindness, and persuasion, and example, to win them to the obedience of faith. Make me, O Lord, a companion of them that fear thee and keep thy precepts. May I desire more the fellowship of them that are lowly and poor spirit, than of those who are rich in this world's goods, while their hearts are strangers to the love of God. Preserve me, I pray thee, from every unholy association; and lead me to seek the communion of thy saints, that we may be comforted together, by our mutual faith. Suffer not my conduct, anywhere, to be a reproach on thy cause; but do thou bestow on me grace to occupy my station in the family, in society, and in the church, so as to promote thy glory in the sight of men.

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Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou art infinite in all thy perfections, and needest not our praises nor services to increase thy happiness and glory. If our guilty race had continued even as thou didst create it, (but a little lower than the angels,) we must have praised thee for thy condescension in nourishing and governing us; but now, that we have lifted the arm of rebellion against thee, and have steeped our souls in transgression, how greatly is thy condescension magnified, in pursuing us with thy mercies, in providing for our wants, in protecting and delivering us from evil; and above. all, in offering to redeem us from our lost estate by the sacrifice of thy Son. He, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He, who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. He, who from eternity knew no pain, sweat great drops of blood, and suffered unspeakable agony, that we might escape the wrath to come-the worm that never dieth, and the fire that is never quenched. O help me, God of Grace, to acknowledge thine undeserved and astonishing mercy. May it draw me closer to thee in the bonds of love and confidence, and seal me for thy service, in a covenant never to be forsaken.

CONFESSION.

Holy One of Israel, help me, I beseech thee, to confess before thee my unworthiness and ill-desert. To whom but to thee should I go with the recital of my transgressions; for it is against thee, thee

only, I have sinned. Thou hast said that he who covereth his sins shall not prosper; while he who confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy. If I say, "I have no sin," I deceive myself, and the truth is not in me; but if I confess my sins, thou art faithful and just to forgive them, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

O Lord, I have sinned against thee in doing what thou hast forbidden, and in leaving undone what thou hast commanded. I have transgressed thy law and gospel, in thought, word, and deed. I have sinned in childhood, in youth, and in riper years. I would acknowledge with shame and sorrow, my vanity and selfishness, my pride and hypocrisy, my impatience and unbelief, my self-indulgence and self-righteousness, my neglect of thy service and glory, and my living to myself, and not unto thee. How often has my heart rebelled against thy wholesome discipline in affliction, or impiously forgotten thy dispensing hand in the enjoyment of mercies. O, I have in countless instances, backslidden from thy love, broken my covenants with thee, and brought dishonour on thy name. I have rolled that as a sweet morsel under my tongue, which has filled heaven with solicitude, earth with desolation, and hell with anguish. And yet such has been the hardness of my heart, that I have mourned but little over such transgressions.

O Lord, these my sins have been protracted. through long years which thou hast crowned with forbearance and mercy. They are heavy and black with enormous guilt, because they were committed in the midst of light and knowledge. My transgressions are more numerous than the hairs of my head; and if thou wert strict to mark one in a thou