FAITH.

Grant, O God, that I may with humility receive, and with perseverance hold fast, all those truths which thou hast revealed.

I thank thee, O God, for thy Holy Word, and for that thou hast not left us, in the affair of eternity, to the uncertainty of our own reason and judgment.

Defend me against all delusions of error, the snares of wit and learning, the railleries of profane men, and from deserting the truth.

Grant, O God, that neither education, interest, prejudice, or passion, may ever hinder me from discerning the truth.

Open the eyes of all that are in error; heal the wounds of the divided Church; that we may be one fold under one Shepherd. Amen.

John xvi. 13. The Holy Spirit shall guide you

into all truth.

O Holy Spirit, make me to understand, embrace, and love the truths of the Gospel.

Give, O God, thy blessing unto thy word, that it may become effectual to my conversion and salvation, and to the salvation of all that read and hear it.

Give me grace to read thy Holy Word with reverence and respect, becoming the gracious manifestation of thy will to men; submitting my understanding and will to thine.

Let thy gracious promises, O God, contained in thy word, quicken my obedience. Let thy dreadful threatenings and judgments upon sinners frighten me from sin, and oblige me to a speedy repentance, for Jesus Christ's sake.

Cause me, O God, to believe thy word, to obey thy commands, to fear thy judgments, and to hope in, and depend upon, thy gracious promises contained in thy Holy Word, for Jesus Christ's sake.

Give me a full persuasion of those great truths which thou hast revealed in thy Holy Word.

The Gospel will not be a means of salvation to hin who reads or hears it only, but to him who reads, loves, remembers, and practices it by a lively faith.

Cause me, O God, rightly to understand, and constantly to walk in the way of thy commandments.

Grant us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting, for Jesus Christ's sake.

From hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word, good Lord deliver us.

Give us grace to hear meekly thy word, to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of thy Spirit, to amend our lives according to thy Holy Word. Amen.

SELF-DENIAL.

Ecclus. xix. 5. He that resisteth pleasures crowneth his life.

Vouchsafe me gracious God, the graces of mortification and self-denial, that my affections and flesh being subdued unto the Spirit, and my heart and all my members being mortified from all carnal and worldly lusts, I may ever obey thy blessed will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

All mankind being under sentence of death, certainly to be executed, and at an hour we know not of; a state of repentance and self-denial, of being dead and crucified to the world, is certainly the most suitable, the most becoming temper that we can be found in, when that sentence comes to be executed; that is, when we come to die:-Especially when we consider, that this short and uncertain time allowed us betwixt the sentence and execution, will determine our condition for eternity.

If this be the case of fallen man, as most certainly it is, then thoughtless unremitting pleasure is the greatest indecency; a fondness for the world, the greatest folly;—and self-indulgence, downright madness.

And, consequently, the contrary to these, namely, a constant seriousness of temper, an universal care and

exactness of life, an indifference for the world, self-denial, sobriety, and watchfulness, must be our greatest wisdom.

And this discovers to us the reason and the necessity of all the duties of Christianity; and of God's dealings with fallen man in this state of trial.

For instance :-Jesus Christ commands us to deny ourselves, and to take up our cross daily, not because he can command what he pleases (for he is infinite goodness, and can command nothing but what is good for his creatures) but because the corruption of our nature requires that we should be forbidden every thing which would increase our disorder.

And because this disorder has spread itself through all the powers of our souls and bodies, and inclines us to evil continually, he requires that our self-denial should reach as far as our corruption.

He commands us, therefore, to deny our own wisdom, because we are really blind as to what concerns our own true good, and should infallibly ruin ourselves, if left to our own choices.

He commands us to deny our appetites, because in temperance would ruin us.

He forbids us to give way to our passions, because a thousand evils will follow if we should do so.

He obliges us to keep a very strict watch over our hearts, because from thence proceed hypocrisy, covetousness, malice, and many other evils.

We are forbid to set our hearts upon the world, and every thing in it, because our eternal happiness depends upon our loving God with all our heart and soul.

We are obliged to love our neighbour, and our very enemies; and are forbid to hate, to contend with, to hurt, to go to law with him, because this would exasperate our minds, and grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by which we are sanctified; being against that charity which God delights in.

We are forbid all repining when God afflicts us, because, as sinners, suffering is due to us. And because our bodies have a very great influence over our souls, we are commanded to fast, and to be stricty temperate

at all times, and to deny ourselves the love of sensual pleasures and self-indulgence.

We are commanded to deny all the ways of folly, vanity, and false satisfactions, that we may be able to take satisfaction and pleasure in the ways of God.

In short:-In whatever instances we are commanded to deny ourselves, it is because it is absolutely necessary, either to cure our corruption, or to qualify us for the grace of God, or to hinder us from grieving God's Holy Spirit, and forcing him to forsake us.

The more we deny ourselves, the freer we shall be from sin, and the more dear to God.

God appoints us to sufferings, that we may keep close to him, and that we may value the sufferings, of his Son, which we should have but a low notion of, did not our own experience teach us what it is to suffer.

They that deny themselves, will be sure to find their strength increased, their affection raised, and their inward peace continually advanced.

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

Let us not imagine that excess, luxury, and superfluity, and the love of pleasures, are less criminal, `because they are so common.

TAKE UP THE CROSS.

This is designed as a peculiar favour to Christians, as indeed are all Christ's commands. Miseries are the unavoidable portion of fallen man. All the difference is, Christians suffering in obedience to the will of God, it makes them easy; unbelievers suffer the same things, but with an uneasy will and mind.

To follow our own will, our passions, and our sense, is that which makes us miserable. It is for this reason, and that we may have a remedy for all our evils, that Jesus Christ obliges us to submit our will, our passions, &c. to God.

The good Christian is not one who has no inclination to sin, (for we have all the seed of sin in us) but who

being sensible of such inclinations, denieth them continually, and suffers them not to grow into evil actions.

Every day deny yourself some satisfaction;-your eyes, objects of mere curiosity;-your tongue, every thing that may feed vanity, or vent enmity ;-the palate, dainties;-the ears, flattery, and whatever corrupts the heart;-the body, ease and luxury; bearing all the inconveniences of life, (for the love of God) cold, hunger, restless nights, ill health, unwelcome news, the faults of servants, contempt, ingratitude of friends, malice of enemies, calumnies, our own failings, lowness of spirits, the struggle in overcoming our corruptions; bearing all these with patience and resignation to the will of God, "Do all this as unto God, with the greatest privacy."

All ways are indifferent to one who has heaven in his eye, as a traveller does not choose the pleasantest, but the shortest and safest way to his journey's end; and taat is, the way of the cross, which Jesus Christ made noice of, and sanctified it to all his followers.

Matt. viii. 20. The Son of Man has not where to ay his head.

This should fill us with confusion, whenever we are >vermuch concerned for the conveniencies of life.

Our affections being very strongly inclined to sensible good, for the sake of which we are often tempted to evil, and fall into great disorders, we should resolve to sacrifice our will to reason, and reason to the will of God.

God does not require it of us, that we should not feel any uneasiness under the cross, but that we should strive to overcome it by his grace.

VIRTUES OF A HOLY LIFE.

Fervency in devotion ;-frequency in prayer;-aspiring after the love of God continually;-striving to get above the world and the body; loving silence and solitude, as far as one's condition will permit; humble and affable to all; patient in suffering affronts and contradictions ;-glad of occasions of doing good even to ene