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us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering: for He is faithful That promised'.

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator 2.

For God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it 3.

5.—in that God is most gracious, long-suffering and merciful.

Who is a God like unto Thee, That pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again; He will have compassion upon us: He will subdue our iniquities, and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your ways; for why will ye die, Ŏ house of Israel?

evil

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness: but is long-suffering to us-ward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you; and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him'.

The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all his works 3.

Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One

1 Heb. x. 22, 23. Micah vii. 18, 19.

2 1 Pet. iv. 19.
5 Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

3 1 Cor. x. 13.
62 Pet. iii. 9.

of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, Which teacheth thee to profit; Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go1.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will not I forget thee'.

In an acceptable time have I heard thee: and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee3.

Practical inferences from the foregoing.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service 1.

Knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance'.

O fear the Lord, ye that are His saints; for they that fear Him lack nothing o.

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They who seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good'.

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Love Him, because He first loved us3.

O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good, for mercy endureth for ever.

His

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful 10.

And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you".

God be merciful to me a sinner.
Our Father, Which art in heaven &c.

1 Isai. xlviii. 17.
4 Rom. xii. 1.
7 Ibid. ver. 10.

10 Luke vi. 36.

2 Ibid. xlix. 15.
5 Ibid. ii. 4.
8 1 John iv. 19.

3 Isai. xlix. 8.

6 Psalm xxxiv. 9. 9 Psalm cvi. 1. 11 Eph. iv. 32.

Prayer for becoming apprehensions of God's power and majesty.

O MOST glorious Lord God, terrible in Thy judgments, and wonderful in all Thy dealings towards the children of men, possess my soul, I beseech Thee, with awful and becoming apprehensions of Thy divine Majesty. Give me a sincere contrition for ever having hardened my heart from Thy fear, and provoked that vengeance which can consume me in a moment. Lord, make me to feel and know Whom I ought to dread; and let me never, for the gratification of any sinful inclination, forget any more the Lord my Maker, and incur the displeasure of Him Who is able to cast both soul and body into hell.

And as I implore Thy grace that this consideration of Thy power may be an effectual check to all my unruly appetites; so, I beseech Thee, let it be my stay and confidence in all dangers and distresses: that forsaking the broken reeds of all worldly succours I may put my whole trust in Thy mercy; and, evermore serving Thee in holiness and pureness of living, may even in death itself be more than conqueror: through the merits of Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for a lively sense of God's excellency and goodness.

O MOST blessed and gracious God, the Father of mercies, and fountain of happiness, in Whose presence is fulness of joy, and at Whose right hand are pleasures for evermore, inspire me, I beseech Thee, with such a lively sense of Thine infinite excellency and goodness, and with such a vehement desire of that eternal weight of glory which Thou hast promised to all those that love and obey Thee, as may every day more and more raise and improve my love of Thee, and dispose me more cheerfully to run the way of Thy

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commandments, and to be holy in all manner of conversation.

Fix my thoughts, my hopes, and my affections upon heaven and heavenly things. Engage all the powers and faculties of my soul to love and delight in Thee; and to endeavour to be like Thee in all the imitable perfections of Thy nature. Make my heart the seat of prayer and holy meditation; and my body a fit temple for Thy Holy Spirit to dwell in; that being inured to spiritual objects, and continually exercised to godliness, I may be prepared both in body and soul to pass eternity in the contemplation of Thy glorious excellencies; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth One God, world without end. Amen.

To the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; Whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to Him be honour and power everlasting'. Amen.

WEDNESDAY NOON.

The practice of Christian holiness enforced from a consideration of the excellency and advantages of the Christian religion :

1.-in that it contains a clear revelation of all those truths and doctrines that are necessary to be known and believed by us, and of the duties which we are required to practise in order to our attaining everlasting salvation.

GOD, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

1 Tim. vi. 15, 16.

hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things; by Whom also He made the worlds'.

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men2.

That was the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world3.

For the law was given by Moses: but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time the Only-begotten Son, Which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him*.

All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him".

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known the Father also; and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him o.

For he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father'. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

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Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit".

Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to his good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself 10.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins".

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4 Ibid. ver. 17, 18.

7 Ibid. ver. 9.

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