Thou knowest. We seek not to unrol the hidden scroll of thy counsel, but we receive with unwavering faith thy gracious revelation, that word which remains for ever inviolable.

"I

Oh! ever in thy prayers remember patience,
For hope of better days attends the good;
And virtue, like the wild bee, can extract
E'en from the bitter plant adversity,

Sweet food to cheer the spirit.

10th. Mercy of God.-When we are able (and who is not so?) to view the kind hand of God in the past; it removes painful apprehensions respecting what may come upon us, and induces us to hope that the final issue will be favourable, for we know that our God does not afflict willingly or unnecessarily.

11th. Submission.-Submission to the will of God and His dispensations is the only way

in which we can meet them with benefit and comfort. Resistance is vain, sinful, and injurious.

12th. Heavenly Hope.-Let us look beyond the disorders of the present time to that holy and glorious state which is the object of our believing expectation, and where undisturbed rest shall be enjoyed. Let the hope of heaven animate us on our course.

13th. Trials.-If trials are but sanctified to wean us from a world we must soon quit, we have reason to be thankful for them, and to number our crosses among our chief mercies. -Newton.

14th. Earthly Enticements.-Let us ever remember, that whatever keeps the mind from God, whatever stops the heart short of heavenly things, however laudable and harmless in itself, becomes sinful, by drawing the thoughts and affections from their proper and legitimate objects.-More.

15th. Christianity. There is no other foundation for solid comfort but the Christian religion, not merely acknowledged as a truth, from the conviction of external evidence, (strong and important as that is,) but embracing it as a principle of hope and joy, and peace, and from feeling its suitableness to the wants and necessities of our nature, as well as its power to alleviate, and even to sanctify our sorrow. More.

16th.-Self-government.—

"Who subdues his earthly heart for heaven, Heaven to his prayers subdues his wish."

17th. Prayer and Praise. -Prayer and praise bring with them the comforts of heaven, to revive and enrich our weary and barren spirits in the gloomy seasons of sorrow, like the dew descending on the green pastures.

18th. Joy.-God, and not the world, is the fountain of joy, which the thoughtless talk of, but the good only possess.-Horne.

19th. True Faith.-Faith is to the soul in affliction, what an anchor is to a ship in dis

tress.

20th. Blessings.-There are three requisites to the proper enjoyment of every earthly blessing God bestows upon us, which the events of the past, and the uncertainty of the future, should ever keep alive in our minds:A thankful reflection on the goodness of the giver, a deep sense of the unworthiness of the receiver, and a sober reflection of the precarious tenure by which we hold it. The first should make us grateful; the second humble; the last moderate.-More.

21st. He that neglects prayer is a despiser of the promises annexed to the performance of the duty, and the high privilege of communion with God, who hath said, "Call upon me, and I will deliver thee." "Ask, and ye shall receive."

22nd. By the neglect of prayer, our faith, which is the great foundation of holiness, does

by degrees decay and perish, for prayer is the nourishment of faith. Prayer may be deemed the life of faith, and faith is the root of all that is good in us. It is our power, our strength, our consolation; and it is by prayer we receive this holy spirit, to bear, to resist, and to suffer, and are made partakers of the blessings of heaven.

23rd. True happiness arises from an inward sweet delight, occasioned by the harmonious adjustment between our will and the will of our Creator.-Cudworth.

24th. Think not that your heart is too bowed down to utter words before the majesty of heaven. "The eloquence of prayer," says the pious Bishop Wilson, " consists in our proposing our wants to God in a plain manner." "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole." "Lord, help me." "Lord, increase my faith." "Lord, save me, or I perish."

Prayer shows the dependence man has upon God, and keeps up a correspondence between heaven and earth.