change worlds, may it not be our lot, to have treasured up fear and remorse.

God of our lives and

We would begin this

O thou, who art the the length of our days! year with thee; and in thy service we would spend it. Aid us in all our doings by thy most gracious favour, and preserve us from every evil. And when our years shall cease to revolve on earth, O receive us to thy presence, where there is neither beginning of years nor end of days. Hear us, O God! through our great Mediator; and unto thee, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

SPRING.

O GOD! the Creator and Preserver of all things! With unerring wisdom thou maintainWe look est the beauty and order of nature. up with joy and confidence to thy gracious power which causeth the returning seasons to know their place. Thou hast sent forth thy spirit; thou renewest the face of the earth. The laws of nature are thy government, and the effects of them are the dispensations of thy providence. Summer and winter, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, are directed

by thee. At one time thou givest snow like wool, and scatterest the hoar frost like ashes; at another time thou bringest food out of the earth, and causest grass to grow for cattle, and herb for the service of man.

Because thine eye is upon the year, from the beginning even unto the end, we are now called to rejoice that the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear upon earth, the singing of birds is come; the tree puts forth its leaves, and the fields give forth their fragrance; the mountains and hills break forth into singing, and the trees of the forest clap their hands. O Lord, how manifold are thy works!

We bless thee for the beneficial influences of the heavenly bodies; for the light of the sun, and the constant revolution of the seasons and all the rich provision thou hast made for our present support and delight. We bless thee for all our comforts during the inclemencies of the winter which is now past; for all the pleasant intercourse of domestic life, and the kind offices of mutual friendship and good neighborhood; and, above all, we rejoice in our capacities for contemplating thy mighty works with emotions of religious praise and pleasure.

We now behold the effects of thy powerful energy. All nature bespeaks a present Deity. We would look up to thee, from whom cometh our help. May devotion invigorate and sanctify the labours of the approaching season. May he who plougheth, plough with religious hope. May he who soweth, duly rejoice in the expectation of his reaping. As our great Exemplar hath taught us, we pray for our daily bread; and wilt thou feed us with food convenient for us. Bless thou the springing of the year, and enrich the earth with the rain of heaven; let our pastures be clothed with flocks, our vallies covered with corn, and the year crowned with thy goodness.

Above all, we beseech thee to multiply the spiritual seed of divine truth. Crown with an abundant blessing our spiritual labours; and while we reap the harvest of bread, O may we reap the richer fruits of righteousness. By our spiritual improvements, may we be like unto that earth, which, drinking in the rain that cometh oft upon it, bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, and receiveth blessing from God; and not like unto that, which, bearing thorns and briars, is rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.

Establish us in every good word and work, and unite us more closely to him who is the true vine. As branches in him, wilt thou mercifully spare and purge us, and may we glorify thee, our heavenly Father, by bearing much fruit. Unto thee, O God, who art the Author of our condition, and the Foundation of our hope, be praises everlasting. Amen.

SUMMER.

ETERNAL God, the Creator of the world, whose almighty power and continual agency are seen by the things which are made! we beseech thee to enable us to derive instruction from the prospects of the present season. We would raise our thoughts to thee, by whom the sun rises in his strength, and in his daily course diffuses light and heat over the world; by whom the earth is overspread with trees, and herbs, and flowers; who art the Father of the former and latter rain, and nightly begettest the drops of the dew. We adore thee in all the various productions of the earth, which thou art now causing to advance to maturity for the support, comfort, and delight of thy creatures. We desire never to forget thine hand in the glorious scenes by which we are surrounded, or cease to receive all the moral

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lessons thy works convey. While we gratefully adore thy goodness in the present circumstances of this life, teach us to trust in thy mercy and deliverance when adversity shall overtake us. May we preserve on our minds an affecting sense of this truth, that all flesh is grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. Having been planted in thy vineyard, may we bring forth much good fruit, so that we may finally be numbered among those who are not cumberers of the ground. May our faith increase continually. O grant, that by the milk of thy word we may grow up unto him in all things who is the head, even Christ. Make our souls as a well watered garden; and may the soil, by divine cultivation, yield all the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

We bless thee, whose works as well as words speak thy will, for the confirmation which the season affords to our religious faith. The corn of wheat, that was cast into the ground, has resumed the body that pleased thee. We will inquire no more,-How are the dead raised up, and with what bodies do they come? We rejoice in the prospect of the peaceful bow in the clouds, the early pledge of thine inviolable fidelity, and repose ourselves under the shadow of the Almighty.