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ter, may we be diligent in our different spheres,faithful in our promises and engagements,-contented with the portion thou hast given us, and anxious to promote the peace and prosperity of each other, that at last we may stand together before the judgment-seat without reproach, and be taken to dwell for ever with all those who shall be ransomed from among men.

In this blessed hope, we now commit ourselves to the protection of thy providence; and to thy name, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed, as is most due, the kingdom, the majesty, and the glory, world without end. Amen.

PART THIRD.

OCCASIONAL PRAYERS,

TO BE SAID

BY PERSONS IN PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES.

PROV. iii. 6.

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he

shall direct thy paths."

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

BESIDE the daily duties of morning and evening prayer, and those more solemn acts of worship which members of the same family perform together, there are seasons constantly occurring, in the life of every individual, when, if his mind is in a proper state, he will be disposed to ask the guiding providence of God. It is seldom that the course of events continues for any considerable length of time in the same state to any man. On the contrary, human life has been, in all languages, likened to a voyage, during which we must expect to meet both with tempest and with calm, and to have all our vigilance called forth by the rapidity with which these alternations succeed each other.

It is good and becoming to be at all times in a devout frame of mind; but every man, whose heart is as it ought to be, will be especially disposed to acknowledge the hand of God in the more striking

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events of his lot; and, indeed, it is one of the very highest comforts which a good man has in this world, that he can thus, amidst all the changes of his life, enter into his closet, and there, by prayer and supplication to the Giver of all good, commit his ways to the direction of his wisdom.

It is, perhaps, in such seasons, that devotion is performed in the best spirit, and brings the purest satisfaction to him who performs it; because, he who is thus led to ask the directing hand of God, is not likely to do so, merely in compliance with a habit, which has been gradually, and almost unconsciously, formed in him,-as may happen with respect to our more regular supplications,—but to pour out the genuine effusions of his heart, and thus to feel more deeply how truly great the privilege is, of being at all times, and amidst all perplexities, permitted to approach that throne, from which we may derive grace to help us in time of need.

It is with a view to these occasional, addresses to the throne of grace, that, in almost all the books of prayer which have hitherto been published, there are forms of supplication adapted to a variety of

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