PREMONITION.

IN the prospect of drawing near to Almighty God in an Act of Worship, it becomes you to reflect deliberately and seriously on the nature of that

sacred service.

Think, who He is whose presence and blessing you are about to invoke :-He is the Almighty Jehovah, the Creator of all things, himself uncreated, the Preserver of all things, himself selfexisting, the thrice-holy and all-seeing God who must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Think, likewise, who you are that are about to place yourselves in the immediate presence, and solicit the notice of this stupendous Being. You are creatures of the dust-frail, fallen, sinful, dying creatures, who wholly depend on His bounty, and deserve His wrath, instead of possessing any claim to His favour.

Surely, when such creatures crave the ear and attention of such a God, they ought to do it with

holy solemnity both of heart and demeanour. Yet there need be no servile dread. God is good as well as great, our gracious Heavenly Father as well as our glorious Creator. So far from barring up all access to His presence, He has appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Mediator and Advocate, in order that the miserably-sinful may have intercourse with the Absolutely-Holy: and, in place of requiring to tremble while you kneel down before Him, the least and meanest of you-if you but rest your hope in the merits of the Saviourmay present your prayers and praises with boldness, and with the comfortable hope of being graciously heard and answered. "The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord; but the sacrifice of the contrite is his delight."

DAILY PRAYERS.

MONDAY.

ALMIGHTY God, our Creator and Preserver, who of thy goodness hast permitted us to meet together for our mutual improvement, at the beginning of another week, bestow upon us, we pray thee, with this new portion of time, the disposition and capacity to employ it to thy glory and our own good.

We acknowledge, O God, that hitherto we have not been sufficiently alive either to the value of time, or to the importance of improving the season of youth. We have often trifled when we should have been usefully employed; we have often esteemed the hours of study a weariness, and accounted only

those of recreation too brief and fleeting; we have never habitually borne in mind, that the youth who mispends his time at school, is guilty of injustice and ingratitude alike to his parents, his teacher, and to Thee, his Almighty and earliest friend.

But we desire, O God, to be wiser and better for the future.-O may thy great goodness in continuing advantages which we have so often forfeited, touch our hearts; and do thou help us to fulfil, as well as to form, the purpose of amendment. Forgive us for past neglect, and preserve us from laying up in store for ourselves, matter of future regret. May no temptation to idleness, frivolity, indiscretion, or other sin, however enticing to our weak hearts, be any more allowed to gain the mastery over us. But may the solemn thought, that thine eye, O thou all-seeing God, is ever upon us; that the days of youth are passing away never to be recalled; and that whatsoever we now sow, the same shall we hereafter reap ;-so dwell in our hearts and move our springs of

action, that we shall always feel constrained to prefer the consciousness of doing what is right to the transient gratification of our appetites and passions. Above all, O God, give us grace to remember Thee, our Creator, in the days of our youth. While we acknowledge other and inferior claims on our service, may we ever recollect that Thy claim is first, and highest, and most enduring. Amid all our gettings, may we get heavenly wisdom; and may our desire of it be so strong, our pursuit of it so unwearied, as to show that, without it, all other learning loses its value in our eyes, all other distinctions their relish. These and all other necessaries, for us and all our friends and fellowcreatures, we humbly beg, in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ, in whose words we sum up our petitions.

Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temp