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early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad, according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish thou

it.

Into thy hands, O Father, I commit my spirit through this night. Be merciful unto me, and bless Redeemer's sake. Amen.

me,

for my

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MORNING PRAYER FOR FRIDAY.

1 COR. XV. 20. Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that sleep. ACTS i. 9. And while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

I THANK thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast made me capable of feeling my relation to thine uncreated perfection. How high, O Lord, is the distinction to which I am thus raised; and how invaluable is the privilege which that distinction implies! I am indeed placed but on the footstool of thy throne, and it is but a dim and imperfect view which I am capable of attaining of thy nature and attributes; but, amidst all my imperfections, thou hast implanted in my nature the indications of high honour to which I may yet attain; and it becomes me to cherish ceaseless gratitude, because I have been encouraged and commanded to commit

all my ways and thoughts to thee, who art pleased to reveal thyself as our Father in heaven, and who hast called us to aspire after communion with thee, and after a gradual approximation to the perfections of thy nature.

Surely, O God, thou hast made man but a little lower than the angels; thou hast crowned him with glory and with honour, and hast made him lord over all thy works.

But blessed, O Lord, be thy name, that our prospects have not been limited to this passing life. In a short time, indeed, we must resign our place upon this earth; and our eyes, which have seen thy perfections manifested in the things which thou hast made, must close for ever on every thing that is beneath the sun. The days of our lives, O Lord, are fast hastening away; and the seeds of death, which are implanted in our nature, remind every man, that the hour is approaching when he must bid adieu to this living scene.

But blessed be thy name, that even this our mortal part shall not perish. For thou, Lord, canst breathe into our dry bones, that they may live again; and in that word of comfort by which thou

hast enlightened our darkness, thou hast been pleased to announce, that thy spirit shall yet breathe over the valley which is full of bones,—that this our mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible be clothed with incorruption,—and that, when the sleep of death is past, a glorious morning shall dawn upon all those who have done well their part

in time.

O grant, heavenly Father, that I may be among those who at that great day shall arise, not with fear but with triumph; and may my heart now be so disengaged from all earthly vanities, that at last I may awake to everlasting life.

I desire this morning, O Lord, to remember with gratitude, that thou hast given us a yet more sensible assurance of our resurrection from the dead: for, blessed be thy name, that he who came into the world as our representative, and who died upon the cross for our sins, has also risen again for our justification; and that when the days of his tarrying upon the earth were accomplished, he went up in glory, from a mountain of this earth, and in the view of his disciples, to thy right hand.

How wonderful, O Lord, have been thy dealings

with the children of men! Surely, O God, it becomes us, in all our fears, and sorrows, and doubts, to commit ourselves with confidence to thy fatherly love; for thou hast assured us, by the highest of all tokens, even by the resurrection and glorious ascension of our Redeemer, that the nature which he saved is precious in thy sight,—and that thou, who gavest thine own Son for us, wilt deny no good thing to them that ask thee.

Grant me, O Lord, a perfect and joyful faith in the acceptance of that work, which, by the resurrection of my Redeemer, thou hast declared to have been well-pleasing in thy sight; and while I see him thus exalted by thine own right hand, may repose with assured confidence in the belief, that all my sins may be forgiven me, through that death which he once suffered for the transgressions of mankind.

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And feeling, as I do, that the hour is coming when I must leave my place among those who are alive, O let me be comforted and sustained by the thought, that as Jesus died and rose again, them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. May I, therefore, resign this my mortal garment, in

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