abundance of life, is now wrapped in the cold windingsheet of nature!

Yet, O Lord, let me not be heedless of thy mercy and wisdom, in the arrangements of even these gloomy months. In the midst of all this barrenness, thou preservest the life of man and beast. Behold the fowls of the air, which neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet our Heavenly Father feedeth them. These seeming desolations are the repose of nature; and thou art keeping in safety beneath them, the germs of seedtime and the promise of harvest. In due time thou wilt bring forth, refreshed and renewed by the sleep of Winter, the green herb, the waving leaf, the smiling flower, and the rushing waters, to cheer and bless the heart of man, and praise and magnify the greatness of God.

Merciful Father, I thank thee for the abundant food, the convenient raiment, and the protecting home I enjoy, in the inclemency that surrounds me. May the rigours of the season be strong and unfailing motives for gratitude to God, and mercy to man. Cause my heart to abound with pity to the destitute. Let me not say to them, with heartless charity, "Be ye warmed and filled;" and notwithstanding, give them not those things which are needful for the body. Dispose me to open my hand to the needy-remembering that thou hast said, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor."

Lord, may I regard this season as the emblem of adversity. Life is indeed not all sunshine, and pleasure, and plenty. It has its days and months of darkness, and sorrow, and want. O prepare me, by the grace that is derived through Jesus, for its severest vicissitudes. Make me feel that I deserve to have my joys withered, and my hopes blasted; and that thou wilt be fulfilling only the dictates of merciful justice, if thou shouldst at times withhold thy favour, and visit me with thy frown, in this world, that thou mayest save me from destruction, in the world to come.

Teach me to look on Winter as the type of the grave. As thou buriest the beauty and excellence of the earth in its icy shroud, so thou hidest the generations of men beneath the clods of the valley. And as thou wilt bring forth from this tomb of the year, the fertile beauty of the spring; so thou wilt bring up from the long desolation of death, that which was sown in dishonour, that it may be raised in glory! Lord, grant that in the renewing power of that great day, I may share in the resurrection of the just, and enjoy the light of thy countenance, and the bliss of thy love, forever!

WISDOM.

Lord, thou hast said that if any man lack wisdom let him ask of thee, and it shall be given him. I would come before thee, Merciful Father, feeling the weakness of my judgment, and its unfitness, without strength from thee, to enable me to discharge aright the various duties of life. I pray thee, keep my understanding from error, fill it with knowledge, and govern it by prudence. Especially do thou give me that wisdom that is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Vouchsafe unto me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, that the eyes of my understanding being enlightened, I may know what is the hope of his

calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And grant me, the blessedness of knowing, by my own experience, that he that winneth souls is wise.

WISDOM OF GOD.

Great God, who hath been thy counsellor, or who hath directed thy judgment? Lo, thou workest all things according to the counsels of thine own will. O Lord, how manifold are thy works: in wisdom thou hast made them all. Thy discerning and directing mind is seen everywhere in the works of thy hands, in the ways of thy providence, and in the government of thy creatures. Thou choosest thine ends, and framest all thy means according to knowledge. Thy counsels are steadfast, thy thoughts are deep, and thine understanding is infinite.

O Lord, thou hast gathered, as into a radiant focus, the power and glory of thy wisdom, in the work of redemption. Into this the angels desire to look; but they cannot measure its matchless strength and fulness. Herein are those mysteries of thy grace-God manifest in the flesh-he who knew no sin was made sin for us-while we were sinners Christ died for us-thou canst be just, and still be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus! O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!

Omniscient Jehovah, I desire to put all my trust in thee; for thou knowest both how to provide and to deliver. I would acknowledge thee with prayer in all my ways; for thou only canst direct my steps. I would submit to thy will, which is the perfection of reason. And I would adore thee, because thou art infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in thy wisdom!

WORLD.

Lord, keep me from conformity to the world. May I use it, as not abusing it; having my affections set on things above, and not on things on the earth. Show me that its pleasures are few in number, brief in existence, unsatisfying in their nature, and corrupting in their influence. Let me not seek to unite the service of God and mammon. Lord. I would love and hold to thee, and hate and despise the other. O, what is a man profited, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? Assist me, I pray thee, to pass the time of my sojourning here in fear, knowing that it is a sphere of danger, in which my heart is tempted to wander from God, to forget eternity, to neglect my noblest duties, and to live in sense and sin. I cannot, and indeed I should not desire to, withdraw from the business of the world, and from intercourse with worldly men; but I beseech thee, O Lord, that thou wouldst abide with me on all those occasions which require me to mingle with such scenes and companions. Teach me thy way, and lead me in a plain path, for the sake of my own purity, and the welfare of them that observe me. Let me not pollute my own soul, by being a partaker of ungodliness. Make me an epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. May my words be fitly spoken, and my conduct be according to godliness. Give me grace to walk in wisdom to them that are without, persuading them to taste and see that the Lord is good, and teaching them that religion's ways are ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are peace.

Gracious God, open my eyes to the moral condition of this world, that lieth in wickedness. Unfold to me its Pagan idolatry and Mahommedan delusion; its Jewish unbelief and Papal corruptions; its religious heresies and infidel deceptions; its bloody wars and cruel oppressions; its open wickedness and secret abominations. O that pity, and grief, and zeal might fill my soul as it dwells on these works of evil. Lord, cast them out, and let truth, love, and holiness fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

WORSHIP.

Adorable Jehovah, thou art exalted above principalities and powers, that at thy name every knee should bow, and every tongue confess. All thy works praise thee. Bestow on me, in the name of Jesus, that grace which will qualify me to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Let me not seek to draw nigh to thee with my lips, while my heart is far from thee; nor take the attitude of devotion, while my thoughts wander among the cares and pleasures of life. If the language of insincerity be offensive when offered to a fellow-being, how much more when it is presented to the God of Truth! May strong convictions of thy greatness and presence rest upon me, and make me suitably afraid. Make me feel that I am unworthy of the least of thy mercies, and that if thou wert strict to mark iniquity, I dare not come before thee, but should take up my abode where there is no mercy-seat, and no answer of peace to the cry of despairing want.

Gracious God, let all my approaches to thee be in humble reliance upon the merits of Christ. Give me such an impression of thy goodness, in the boun