Watch, therefore, and pray, that ye do not sleep unto death. For your former good deeds will not profit you, if at the last part of your life ye go astray from the true faith.

24.

2.

11: 4.

24: 10.5

13.

30.

XXXII.

A Prediction concerning events which are to occur.

For in the last days false prophets shall be multiplied, and such Matt. } as corrupt the word; and the sheep shall be changed into wolves, and love into hatred; for, through the abounding of iniquity, the love of many shall wax cold. For men shall hate, and perse2 Thess. cute, and betray one another. And then shall appear the deceiver of the world, the enemy of the truth, the prince of lies, Isa. } whom the Lord Jesus shall destroy with the Spirit of his mouth; who taketh away the wicked with his lips. And many Matt. shall be offended at him. But they that endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. Thereupon shall be the voice of a trumpet by the archangel, and immediately the revival of those that were asleep. And then shall the Lord come, and all his saints with him, with a great concussion above the clouds, with the angels of his power, on the throne of his kingdom, to condemn the deceiver of the world, and to render to every one according to his Matt. deeds. Then shall the wicked go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous shall go into life eternal, to inherit 1 Cor. those things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man such things as God hath prepared for them that love him; and they shall rejoice in the kingdom of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Matt.

16: 27.}

25: 46. S

Since now we have been honored with so great blessings from him, let us become his supplicants, and call upon him by continual prayer, saying:

XXXIII.

A Prayer declarative of God's various providence.

:

O eternal Saviour, the king of gods, who alone art almighty, and the Lord, the God of all beings, and the God of our holy and blameless fathers, and of those before us; the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob; who art merciful and compassionate, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy; to whom every heart is naked, and by whom every heart is seen, and to whom every secret thought is revealed to thee do the souls of the righteous cry aloud; upon thee do the hopes of the godly trust, thou Father of the blameless, thou hearer of the supplications of those that call upon thee with uprightness, and who knowest the supplications that are not uttered. For thy providence reacheth to the inmost parts of men, and by thy knowledge thou searchest the thoughts of every one; and in every region of the whole earth the incense of prayer and supplication is sent up to thee.

O thou who hast appointed this present world as a place of combat to righteousness, and hast opened to all the gate of mercy, and hast shown to every man, by implanted knowledge, and natural judgment, and the admonitions of the Law, that the possession of riches is not everlasting, the ornament of beauty is not perpetual, our strength and force are easily dissolved; all indeed is vapor and vanity; and nothing but consciousness of faith unfeigned passeth through the midst of the heavens, and, returning with truth, taketh hold of the right hand of the joy which is to come. And, withal, before the promise of the restoration of all things is accomplished, the soul itself exulteth in hope, and is joyful. For from the beginning, when our forefather Abraham was laboring after the way of truth, thou, by a vision, didst guide him, teaching him what kind of a state this world is; and knowledge went before his faith, and faith ensued upon his knowledge, and the covenant was a consequence of his faith. For thou saidst, I will make thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is by the sea- {22: 17. shore. Still further, when thou hadst given him Isaac, and knewest him to be similar in his character, thou wast called also his God, saying, I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

S Gen. 13: 16.

S Gen. ? 26: 3.

Gen.

17: 7.

15.

And when our father Jacob was sent into Mesopotamia, 28: 18-} thou showedst him Christ, and by him spakest, saying, 48: 4. Behold, I am with thee, and I will increase thee, and multiply thee exceedingly. And thus spakest thou to Moses, thy faithful and holy servant, at the vision of the bush, I am he that is. This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. O thou Protector of the posterity of Abraham, blessed art thou for ever.

XXXIV.

A Prayer declarative of God's various creation.

Blessed art thou, O Lord, the King of ages, who, through Christ, hast made the whole world, and through him, in the beginning, didst reduce into order the disordered parts; who didst divide the waters from the waters by a firmament, and didst put into them a spirit of life; who didst fix the earth, and stretch out the heaven, and didst dispose every creature by an accurate constitution. For by thy power, O Lord, the world is beautified; the heaven is fixed as an arch over us, and is rendered illustrious with stars, for our comfort in the darkness. The light, also, and the sun, were produced for days, and for the production of fruits; and the moon for the change of seasons, by its increase and diminutions; and night and day received their respective names. The firmament, moreover, was exhibited in the midst of the abyss; and thou didst command the waters to be gathered together, and the dry land to appear. But, as for the sea itself, who can possibly describe it? which cometh with fury from the ocean, yet runneth back again from the sand of the shore, 38. being stopped at thy command; for thou hast said, Thereby shall her waves be broken. Thou hast also made it capable of supporting little and great creatures, and made it navigable for ships.

Job,

Then did the earth become green, and was planted with all sorts of flowers, and the variety of different trees; and the shining luminaries, the nourishers of those plants, preserve their unchangeable course, and in nothing depart from thy command. But where thou biddest them, there they rise and set, for signs of the seasons, and of the years, making a constant return of the work of men.

Afterwards the kinds of the several animals were created: those

belonging to the land, to the water, to the air, and both to air and water; and the skilful wisdom of thy providence bestoweth upon each a suitable provident care. For as it was not unable to produce various kinds, so neither hath it disdained to provide variously for each.

Gen.

And at the conclusion of the creation, thou gavest direction to thy Wisdom, and formedst a rational living creature, as the citizen of the world, saying, Let us make man after our image, and 1: 26. after our likeness; and hast exhibited him as the ornament of the world, and formed him a body out of the four elements, those primary bodies, but hast prepared a soul out of nothing, and hast bestowed upon him his five senses, and set over his sensations a mind, as the conductor of the soul.

And besides all these things, O Lord God, who can worthily declare the motion of the rainy clouds, the shining of the lightning, the noise of the thunder, in order to the supply of proper food, and the most agreeable temperature of the air?

But, when man was disobedient, thou didst deprive him of the life proposed for his reward; yet thou didst not utterly destroy him, but laidest him to sleep for a time; and thou hast by oath called him to a resurrection, and hast loosed the bond of death, O thou Reviver of the dead, through Jesus Christ, who is our hope.

XXXV.

A Prayer with thanksgiving, declarative of God's care over the beings he hath made.

Great art thou, O Lord Almighty, and great is thy power; and to thine understanding there is no limit;-our Creator and Saviour, rich in benefits, long-suffering, and the Bestower of mercy, who dost not take away thy salvation from thy creatures; for thou art good by nature, and sparest sinners, and invitest them to repentance; for admonition is the effect of thy bowels of compassion. For how should we abide if we were required to come to judgment immediately, when, after so much long-suffering, we hardly emerge from our miserable condition!

The heavens declare thy dominion, and the earth shaketh with

earthquakes, and, hanging upon nothing, declareth thine unshaken steadfastness. The sea, raging with waves, and feeding a flock of ten thousand creatures, is bounded with sand, as standing in awe at 103: 24.5 thy will; and it compelleth all men to cry out, How great are thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast thou made them all. The earth is full of what thou hast created.

Psalm

Isaiah,

Ezek.

And the bright host of angels, and the intellectual spirits, say to Palmoni, One is holy! And the holy seraphim, together with the six-winged cherubim, who sing to thee their triumphal song, cry 6: 3. S out, with never-ceasing voices, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. And the other multitudes of the orders, angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, E principalities, authorities, and powers, cry aloud, and say, Blessed be the glory of the Lord out of his place. But Israel, thy church on earth, taken out of the Gentiles, emulating the heavenly Powers, night and day, with a full heart and a willing soul, singeth, Psalm The chariot of God is ten thousand fold, thousands of them that rejoice. The Lord is among them in Sinai, in the holy place.

67: 18.

The heaven knoweth Him who fixed it as a cube of stone, in the form of an arch, upon nothing; who united the land and the water to one another, and scattered the vital air all abroad, and conjoined fire therewith for warmth, and for the mitigation of darkness. The choir of stars striketh us with admiration, declaring Him that numbereth them, and showing Him that nameth them; the animals declare Him that putteth life into them; the trees, Him that maketh them grow; all which creatures, being made by thy word, show forth the greatness of thy power. Wherefore, every man, since by thine appointment he hath power over them all, ought, from his very soul, to send up a hymn to thee, through Christ, in the name of them all.

For thou art kind in thy benefits, and beneficent in thy bowels of compassion; who alone art almighty; for when thou willest, to be able is present with thee. For thine eternal power quencheth flame, and stoppeth the mouths of lions, and tameth whales, and raiseth up the sick, and over-ruleth the power of all things, and overturneth the host of enemies, and casteth down a people numbered in their arrogance. Thou art He who art in heaven, IIe who art on earth, He who art in the sea, He who art in finite things, thyself unconfined by any thing. For of thy majesty there is no