life; that death may never surprise me in an hour when I am not aware: but being always provided with oil in my lamp I may be ready whenever the Bridegroom shall come, to enter with Him into the marriage feast; and receive a blessing among those who watch and wait for the coming of their Lord; to Whom with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

Prayer for grace to prepare our souls for the society of glorified spirits in heaven.

O ETERNAL God, with Whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord; and with Whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity; I give Thee humble thanks for that it hath pleased Thee to give us so clear a revelation of life and immortality by Thy Son Jesus Christ: and I most humbly beseech Thee to give me grace in this my day of trial and probation, to fit myself for the employment of eternity, by weaning my heart from the things of this world, and by setting mine affections on things above, and having my conversation in heaven; that when I put off this frail body my soul may be immediately brought into the blessed society of just men

made perfect, and readily join with them in singing praises and hallelujahs to Thee for ever and ever; through Thine only Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Almighty Lord, Who art &c. p. 180.

Unto God's gracious mercy &c. p. 180.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

The troubles and afflictions of this life. The duty and blessedness of patience and perseverance to the end.

O DEATH, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions! to the man that hath nothing to vex him, and that hath prosperity in all things"!

O death, acceptable is thy sentence to the needy, and unto him whose strength faileth; that is now in the last age, and is vexed with all things!

For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath la

a Ecclus. xli. 1.

b Ibid. ver. 2.

boured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travel grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night ".

Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been d.

Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust; neither doth trouble spring out of the ground:

Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward".

All things are full of labour: man cannot utter it f.

Sore travail hath God given to the sons of man, to be exercised therewith.

But my son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction. For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth". If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he, whom the Father chasteneth not? But if But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers; then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore,

we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the

C

Eccles. ii. 22, 23. Eccles. i. 8..

d Gen. xlvii. 9. Ibid. ver. 13.

e Job v. 6, 7. Prov. iii. 11, 12.

Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, unto them which are exercised thereby.

Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping oft heir souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them'. Though they be punished in the sight of men; yet is their hope full of immortality: And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded; for God proved them, and found them worthy for Himself".

Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours".

And they repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves, This was he whom we had sometimes in derision, and a

i Heb. xii. 7—11.

I Wisd. iii. 1.

* 1 Pet. iv. 19.

n Ibid. v. 1.

m Ibid. ver. 4, 5.

proverb of reproach. We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour. How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints? Therefore have we erred from the way of truth; and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us; and the Sun of Righteousness rose not upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction; yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way; but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it. What hath pride profited us? or what good have riches with our vaunting brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by o.

But the righteous live for evermore: their reward also is with the Lord; and the care of them is with the Most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand; for with His right hand shall He cover them, and with His arm shall He protect them P.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him".

• Ibid. ver. 3-9.

P Ibid. ver. 15, 16.

1 Jam. i. 12.