PART II.

MORNING AND EVENING PRAYERS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE WEEK, AND ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS; DEVOUT MEDITATIONS; A COURSE OF SELF-EXAMINATION; AND DEVOTIONAL POETRY.

"It cannot be supposed that persons who use the following forms of prayer are under the necessity of confining themselves to every expression and sentiment in them. Any words or sentences may be added, omitted, or changed, as they see occasion, to suit their present state, their own judgment of things, and their circumstances. For it can never be expected that the same method or form of private prayer should suit all persons at all times. It is impossible that a serious Christian can present to God in secret prayer all his wants, all his sorrows, all his dearest and most important concerns, in a few general sentences pre-composed by another."

AN INTRODUCTORY

MEDITATION ON PRAYER.

BY BISHOP WILSON.

How good is God! who will not only give us what we pray for, but will reward us for going to him, and laying our wants before him.

May I always present myself before God with a firm faith and hope in his promises and mercy; with great reverence to his infinite majesty; with the humility of an offender; and with a full purpose of keeping God's commandments.

May the thoughts of eternity quicken my devotions; my wants make me earnest; my backslidings make me persevere; and may I never wilfully give way to any distracting thoughts.

May I wait with patience, and leave it to thee, my God and Father, how and when to grant my petitions.

He that has learned to pray as he ought has got the secret of a holy life.

It is of greater advantage to us than we imagine, that God does not grant our petitions immediately. We learn by that, that whereunto we have already attained, it was the gift of God.

The best way to prevent wandering in prayer is, not to let the mind wander too much at other times; but to have God always in our minds in the whole course of our lives. The end of prayer is, not to inform God, but to give a man a sight of his own misery; to raise his soul towards heaven; and to put him in mind that there is his Father and his inheritance.

MORNING PRAYERS.

SUNDAY.

O LORD, I desire to begin the day and the week with thee. Let a solemn sense of thy presence be upon my mind; and while I offer my supplications, in the name of my only Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, comfort my heart by the assurance that thou art nigh unto all them that call upon thee, even all such as call upon thee faithfully.

I acknowledge before thee, O Lord, how unworthy I am to be numbered with thy children; for I have sinned against thee, and thy wrath might justly have consumed me in a moment, and have sent me down to hell: but thou hast had mercy on me, and hast made known unto me, by thy word, how I may be saved.

I thank thee, O Lord, for the opportu