an approving conscience, and find it more blessed to give than to receive. May I regard benevolence as the means of improving the heart, and making the character like that of Jesus. I would remember, too, that thou lovest a cheerful giver. Help me, O God, to make thy glory the end of all my benevolence.-Dispose me to do good, as I have opportunity, in all my spheres of life. May I be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, health to the sick, strength to the feeble, help to the needy, and comfort to the mourner. But above all, may my desires. and zeal go forth for the spiritual wants of mankind. Let not indolence, selfishness, nor unbelief steel my heart against the claims of those who live regardless of thy will, and of those who are perishing for lack of knowledge. Lord, make me an humble yet honoured instrument in thy hand, of spreading the knowledge of thy truth, and of turning sinners from the error of their ways, unto the wisdom of the just.

BIBLE.-See Scriptures.

BIRTH DAY.

O thou Giver and Preserver of Being, I would lift up my thanksgivings to thee for having continued and blessed my life through another year. Here 1 would raise my Ebenezer, and say, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped me." I would look back with mingled feelings of wonder and love on the way in which thou hast led me, ever since the dawn of my existence. If thou hadst measured unto me according to my deserts, my days of probation would long ago have been ended, and I should now be reaping the fruits of sin in the world of despair. But, thanks

be unto thee, thy mercy rejoiced against judg ment; and I, who might have been a monument of thy justice, am a witness that thou art long-suffering and abundant in goodness.

Lord, accept my gratitude for the many tokens of thy favour which I have enjoyed since my last birthday. I thank thee for my food and raiment, my home and friends, my health and my countless comforts. I praise thee that the means of grace— the institution of prayer, the worship of thy sanctuary, the oracles of truth, the fellowship of saints, have all been continued unto me. And to all these thou hast added the teaching, and sanctifying, and rejoicing influences of thy Holy Spirit. Lord, thou hast crowned my year with thy goodness, and thy paths in it have dropped fatness.

O God, help me to ponder and fulfil the duties of heart and action which lie before me in the untravelled and uncertain, but important period of time, on which I am now entering. I may have numbered the last year of my existence; and ere the present one shall have finished its brief circle, time may be to me no more, and the state of my soul be unalterably fixed. Make me thoughtful of death and eternity; and yet suffer me not to forget, that while it is still day, and before the night cometh, in which no man can work, thou hast appointed unto me spheres of duty, which thou requirest me to occupy until thy coming. Give me, I beseech thee, in Christ Jesus, an eye of wisdom to discern, and a heart of love to do, all the requirements of thy blessed will. And if it be thy pleasure to prolong my years, may I look back on them as spent in thy service, and say, "For me to live is Christ!" But if thou wilt bring my season of trial to an end, O

grant that I may be able to say, with exulting joy, "For me to die is gain !"

BIGOTRY.

God of Truth, preserve my understanding and heart from the influence of bigotry. While I am not permitted to tolerate dangerous error, nor connive at heresy, keep me from ignorant perversity and blind obstinacy in defending my own opinions; and from unkindness and intolerance towards those from whom I differ in sentiment. Suffer me not to mistake prejudice for the love of truth, nor malice for true zeal. Lord, if this root of bitterness be in my spirit, (and who among the children of men is free from it?) O, do thou take it utterly away: and in its place implant a vine whose branches will cling in love, and whose fruits will hang in plenty, on every object in its reach. May I sincerely desire the success of all who labour for the glory of God and the welfare of souls. Restore, O Lord, the spirit of harmony in all the divisions of the household of faith; so that thy watchmen may see eye to eye, and thy saints, of every name, dwell in the unity of the Spirit.

BLESSING OF GOD.

Great God, I desire to feel that without thy blessing, which maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it, all that I now possess, and all I hope to enjoy, will be barren and worthless. Thou only canst make my possessions and pursuits answer the purposes of wisdom and goodness. Lord, bless thou my waking and sleeping hours; my seasons of retirement and intercourse; my daily food and daily duties; my joys and sorrows; my prosperity and

adversity; my rest and labour; my praises and prayers; my thoughts, words, and actions; my hopes; my all. Whatsoever thou mayest deny me, grant me thy favour which is life, and thy lovingkindness which is better than life. Let me not undertake nor prosecute any thing on which I cannot ask thee to set the seal of thine approbation. May I turn away from every thing which I may judge to be repugnant to thy will. Especially may I feel, in my religious duties, that neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. If thou vouchsafe not thy favour, the heaven that is over my head shall be as brass, and the earth that is under my feet shall be as iron. Without thee I can do nothing; for in myself my strength is weakness, my wisdom is folly, and my goodness is as the morning cloud and the early dew. But I praise thee that my sufficiency is of God, and that I can do all things through Christ strengthening me. Endue me, I beseech thee, with power from on high; and make thy strength perfect in my weakness.

O Lord, bestow thine abiding sanction and thy richest blessing upon the various efforts of thy church. Give them abundant success. Make them all works of faith and labours of love. Let " Glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace and good-will to men," be inscribed on every motive and every exertion of Christian zeal. Cast down every obstacle, and subdue every enemy. O, do thou remove all the woes and vices that afflict humanity and in their stead, bring thou the peace and purity of the precious gospel, which are the sure and satis fying tokens of that holy blessedness which fills the courts of thine upper sanctuary. Lord, give thes

petitions gracious audience through Christ the Saviour; and dispose me to ascribe unto the King, immortal, eternal, and invisible, all the praise and dominion, now, henceforth, and forever.

BLIND.

O thou, who hast formed the eye to be the light of the body, look mercifully on the blind; in whom thou hast sealed up, in rayless darkness, one of man's chief avenues of knowledge and pleasure. Lord, I would acknowledge my ingratitude to thee for the blessing of eyesight; and my indifference towards those, from whom, in thine inscrutable wisdom, thou hast withheld it. I pray thee that when I look upon the cheerful scenes of nature, and share in the pleasant fellowship of social life, and drink in precious knowledge from the leaves of human and holy writ, that then I may remember thee, the giver of these perfect gifts, and those also, whom thou hast deprived of them.

Lord, I thank thee that whilst thou hast denied to them the light of the eye, thou hast bestowed on them an increased and wonderful sense of touch: and that the ingenuity and benevolence of men have taken advantage of this provision of thy mercy, to restore, in part, the priceless boons of intelligence and joy. I pray thee so to improve the healing art, that many, very many, of these children of darkness may be brought into the open light of day but do thou put within the reach and use of those whose sight no skill can restore, the means that are now employed for giving them, in the mysterious language of the fingers, the pages of intellectual and saving wisdom.

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But O, let thy chief compassion to them be, to