It was ever my aim while with you to show that Christ's Religion is a thing of daily life, and that all the circumstances of your lives, from the cradle to the grave, are bound up with the Church, and should be sanctified by a right use of her Services. Next to the Holy Bible you will always find the Common Prayer Book of our Church your best friend and companion; and the more fully you follow its godly leading, the happier you will be. Only remember, dear Brethren, that however excellent the form of prayer, it is quite powerless without the spirit of prayer. The form, destitute of the spirit, is but the skeleton, without the breath of life. It is an express object of this little book to prepare your heart beforehand for a more profitable, because a more spiritual, use of the Church's stated services. If you make a cold and formal use of my book, it will prove injurious rather than helpful to your spiritual interests: but I heartily pray the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He will bless it by disposing you to cultivate the inward life of prayer. I have not only anxiously thought of the matter, but even the print of these prayers, and I hope I have succeeded in getting it of a largeness and clearness which may suit the eyes of my aged friends, while the book is of sufficient lightness not to burden the hands of my sick and feeble friends. May God, in his mercy, accept this poor offering, and bless it to you all! and when I am no more among you let me beseech you in your prayers to remember me, and to pray to God" for me, that utterance may be given me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." Finally, Brethren, stand fast in the Lord. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." PHILIPPIANS iv, 6. 7. Note.-I have used the word DEVOTION as well as Prayer. Devotion means the act of devoting yourself afresh to the service of God. The chief seasons for a Christian's devotions will be night and morning; and Prayer will always accompany them. SUNDAY. AT MORNING DEVOTION. I.-Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. EXOD. XX, 8. II.-Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary: I am the Lord. LEVIT. xix, 30. III.-Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, I am the Lord your God. that ye may know that EZEK. xx, 20. IV. This is the day the will rejoice and be glad in it. Lord hath made; we V.-I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. REV. i, 10. VI. O come, let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Ps. xcv, 6. (All the family kneeling) LORD, we come before Thee with joy and gladness upon this sacred day. We heartily thank Thee, that Thou hast permitted us to meet to gether again in thy name on the returning Sabbath morn. O gracious Father, who didst make Heaven and Earth in six days, and didst rest upon the seventh, we praise Thee for the blessings of the Sabbath, and the workman's weekly rest. Enable us this day to cast entirely aside all the toils and labours and anxious cares of the week gone by, or of the week to come. it a day of bodily rest, and spiritual joy. Make O Lord, we are conscious of the body of sin we carry about with us; we call to mind with shame and sorrow, how many Sabbaths have been neglected, or at least not faithfully improved; we therefore humbly implore Thee, to give us this day a truly Christian frame of mind: and may we be in the Spirit on the Lord's day. May our Saviour's triumph over the grave, and his glorious Resurrection be subjects of adoring gratitude to us this day! May we also meditate upon the outpouring of the holy and life-giving Spirit, as upon this first day of the week. When we presently join our Christian Brethren in the public services of the Sanctuary, give us not only the hearing ear, but the praying heart. Bless our fellow-worshippers, and specially thy servant our minister; speak unto us, O gracious Father, a word in season by his mouth, and enable us to |