that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace, and of all virtues.

Our enemies are our benefactors, procuring for us a new right to heaven.

I pray God convert all those who hate us without

cause.

I beseech thee for my enemies, not for vengeance, but for mercy; that thou wouldst change their hearts by thy grace, or restrain their malice by thy power.

IN TIME OF WAR.

O Sovereign Lord! who for our sins art justly dis pleased, I prostrate myself before thee, confessing my own sin, and the sin of this people; acknowledging the justice of any scourge which thou shalt think fit to bring upon us; and trembling to think how much I may have contributed towards it.

Thou hast already spoken to us both by thy judgments and mercies, both by the scarcity and plenty of bread, and we have not regarded it. Thou hast taken away the lives of many, very many, in their very sins, by which numerous widows, and fatherless children, have been left miserable.

The sins of whoredom and drunkenness; of swearing, lying, and perjury; of litigiousness, injustice, and defrauding the public, are made light of.

The sins of impiety, of profaneness, of despising the means of grace and salvation, are too common amongst us.

What shall we say, to prevail with God to avert the judgments which these sins deserve?

God be merciful unto us, and put a stop to this torrent of wickedness,-put thy fear into all our hearts, that we may return to thee; that we may repent, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance; and that iniquity may not be our ruin.

May the dread of thy now threatened judgments deter us from evil;—may thy goodness and patience lead us w repentance,-weaken the power of Satan,-take from

among us the spirit of slumber, of ignorance, and inconsideration.

Let every one of us see and feel the plague of his own heart, and say, What have I done to bring these evils upon us? So that bringing forth fruits answerable to amendment of life, we may escape thy judgments now hanging over us; and, above all, thy judgments against sinners in the world to come. And this I beg

for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

JUDGMENT DAY.

Grant, O Lord, that I may be of the number of those that shall find mercy at that day.

ZACCHEUS.

The good Lord grant that I may give a proof of the sincerity of my conversion by a change of life.

Matt. iv. 9, 10. All these things will I give thee.Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Great and glorious God, who alone art worthy of our love and service, cure me of, and preserve me from the sin and vanity of admiring this world.

Give me grace to renounce all covetous desires, all love of riches and pleasures;-to desire only what is necessary, and to be content with what thou, O Lord, thinkest so:

Not to be troubled at the loss or want of any thing besides thy favour:

That no business, no pleasures, may divert me from the thoughts of the world to come:

That I may cheerfully part with all these things, when thou requirest it of me;

And that I may be ever prepared to do so, dispose me to a temperance in all things, and to lay up my treasure in heaven, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

Luke vi. 24. Wo unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation.

A man must have but little faith, who can read these words, and yet love riches, and the pleasures they afford.

Lord grant that I may resist every temptation to the love of creatures; lest they steal my heart from thee, my God, whom I desire to love with all my soul.

I know that I must, in a great measure, renounce all other objects of my affection, in order to love thee with all my heart. Lord, give me grace and strength to put this in practice.

1 John ii. 15. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Grant, O God, that I may never hope to reconcile two things so inconsistent as the love of thee and the world. Matt. v. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

To be poor in spirit, is to be disengaged from wealth, to look upon it as a burden, or as a trust.

1 Tim. vi. 8. Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.

And yet even the Christian world is not content without superfluities and excess. These disorders are

not less criminal, because so common.

Give me, O God, the eyes of faith, that I may see the world just as it is:-the vanity of its promises, the folly of its pleasures, the unprofitableness of its rewards, the multitude of its snares, and the dangers of its temptations.

FASTING.

Jesus Christ spared not his innocent flesh, but fasted; the sinner cherisheth his continually, refusing it nothing.

Fasting is in some sense a punishment and expiation for past sins, a remedy for present, and a preservative against future temptations.

Psalm cii. 4. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

The humble and afflicted soul is not much concerned to please the appetite.

Luke vi. 25. Wo unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger; that is, ye whose daily meals are feasts, who make profession of a life of sensuality, who know not what it is to fast; wo to such Christians.

If we judge ourselves with severity, we shall be judged with mercy.

IN TIME OF TROUBLE.

Psalm xxxix. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.

O merciful God, who in thy wise providence dost so order even natural events, that they serve both for the good of the universe, and for the conviction of particular sinners, so that men shall have reason to acknowledge thy glorious attributes;—I do, with great sorrow of heart, but with all submission to thy good pleasure, confess thy mercy as well as justice to me in the judgments, afflictions, sorrows, of this day.

I acknowledge thy voice, O merciful God; I ac knowledge my own transgressions, which have provoked thee to speak to me after this manner, and at this very time.

O Lord, give me true repentance for all the errors of my life, and particularly for that which was in all probability the occasion of this affliction.

Blessed be God, that my punishment was not as great as my crime.

Blessed be God, that he has given me time to repent of the sin that provoked him to deal with me after this

manner.

Blessed be God, that when he spake to me once, yea twice, that I regarded it at last.

me.

Good God of mercy, give me grace that I may not provoke thee any more to repeat this word to me, but that 1 may faithfully perform those vows which are upon This I cannot do without thy gracious assistance. which I most humbly beseech thee to vouchsafe me, for Jesus Christ's sake, who by his merits has purchased this grace for all that faithfully ask it of thee; for his sake, O merciful God, grant me this grace. Amen.

I do in all humility accept of the punishment of mine iniquities.

I will hold my peace, and not open my mouth, because it is thy doing and my deservings.

I know, O Lord, that it is good for me to be in trouble, or thou wouldest not suffer it so to be.

Let thy merciful kindness be my comfort, according to thy promise to all that love and serve thee.

DIFFICULTIES.

We are to pray for the particular direction of God's Holy Spirit upon all great occasions;-we are humbly to depend upon, and cheerfully to expect it.

IN A LAW-SUIT.

Convince me, O God, if I am under any mistake in this affair.

Direct, assist, and support me under all the difficulties I shall meet with.

Put a happy end, in thy good time, to this troublesome controversy.

Dispose the hearts of those with whom we have to do to peace and justice.

Give me grace to rest satisfied with whatever shall be the issue, believing assuredly, that God can make good any loss I may sustain, or sanctify it to my eternal welfare.

Lord, in this, and in all other things I undertake, thy will be done, and not mine.

O manifest thy will to me, preserve me from evil counsels, and from rash enterprises.