quote the promises of deliverance, of succour, of preservation, and of salvation, which are given to those who depend on God, in humble submission to His disposing will, would be to refer to a very considerable portion of the whole Scriptures. The passage referred to is a transcript of the whole.

This trust in the Lord is the very heart of religion; in it is everything which is sanctifying and cheering, "in all time of our tribulation" and "in all time of our wealth." The enemy of souls may point his fatal darts, but the panoply of faith, "the whole armour of God," is around the believer; he cannot be wounded, for "the shield" is before and behind. "His leaf shall be green;" and, come scorching heat, come wintry blast, come hail, come fire, he "shall not see when evil cometh" upon the children of disobedience. When troubles break the hearts of wicked men ; when the sorrows of an un-godly breast cannot be appeased by the things of the world; when disappointments bend and subdue the whole frame; when man, unregenerate man, sinks, the victim of despair, and seeks to tear apart with bloody hands the issues of life and death-then, yes, then, there is "balm in Gilead” to heal up all the wounds and bruises which fall to the lot of God's people! “None of these things move me," says the servant of God, in the prospect of worldly trials"I know that my Redeemer liveth :" "there remaineth-(it is not here)—a rest to the people of God."

"We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities: and, for the glory of thy Name, turn from us all those evils that we most righteously have deserved: and grant, that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living, to thy honour and glory: through our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

THE subdued and chastened tone of this lovely petition is deeply indicative of the entire humbleness of mind which the preceding supplications have left behind them; they, if rightly offered, are now be fore the throne of heaven. Christ interceding in our behalf, the blessings of pardon and peace go forth; but the soul, not like a satisfied vassal who has performed his duty and now awaits the voice of commendation, is humbled to the dust before the eye of an all-searching God. There is no haughty spirit of selfcomplacency-if there be, God has not been worshipped as he must be-but a feeling of holy hope and child-like confidence fills the heart, and the servants of God are emboldened to say, "Abba, Father," mercifully look upon our infirmities.

These have been specially exhibited in our lukewarm prayers, in our tearless supplications, in our heartless praises; God cannot look upon them, save through the veil of mercy. That scorching gaze we desire to mitigate in the streams of a Father's love

and, for the glory of His name, knowing well that He can have no other motive to compassion, we humbly beseech" Him to "turn from us all those evil consequences which our sins, negligences, and ignorances-crying through "our infirmities"-have provoked upon us as our most just dessert.

Had we been visited with infamy among men, with the pains of disease in our dishonoured bodies, or by the swift arrow of vengeance from our infinitely more dishonoured God, we confess that 66 we most righteously have deserved" it all—but the tear gives assurance of the stricken heart; and, as the dewdrop sparkles in the break of day, this bespeaks the rising of "the sun of righteousness with healing on his wings," to turn away the fierce displeasure which has brooded o'er the terrors of that night of sin in which we had forgotten the Lord our God. Raised up then, and comforted, from "the weariness of the flesh," the soul ventures to pray. We beg that, in all the future "troubles" of our warfare, we may have grace and strength to "put our whole trust and confidence in the mercy" of God our Father, and, without which our confidence is vain, that we may "evermore serve Him in holiness and pureness of living," in a faithful observance of all his ordinances, and a constant keeping under of the lusts of the flesh. Nor is this all: for, unless done to the “ honour and glory" of God, all our efforts in the way of holiness, and all our strivings against the "man of sin," will only recoil upon us; crumbled and beaten back, they will "go up as dust," and, falling back into our eyes, will blind us in self-conceit and vanity. There is no more wretched sinner, wandering in the wilderness of

"Not

time, than the man who builds not upon "the foundation that is laid"—in the worthiness of Christ aloneany notions of his own honour and glory. unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy Name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake!"*

CHAP. VII.

"Most gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as for this Kingdom in general, so especially for the High Court of Parliament, under our most religious and gracious Queen at this time assembled: that thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations. These and all other necessaries for them, for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen."

THERE are some things, incidental to the language and construction of this prayer, which first require notice. We approach our Maker with the title of Most gracious God, and, in almost the same breath, we speak of our Sovereign as "our most religious and gracious Queen." But it would indeed be distressing

* Ps. cxv. 1.

1

to every member of the Church were this apparent inconsistency not to be satisfactorily explained.

Most religious is an epithet incapable of being applied to our Lord—the sole object, and not in anywise the subject, of religion. It only remains, therefore, to observe, that it is applied to the sovereign as an attribute of the office, not the person, of the monarch: for, "to use such a phrase indiscriminately, and by appointment, with respect to every sovereign that may sit upon the throne, would be unjustifiable on any other ground, than that it may be regarded as describing the sovereign as, officially, temporal headTM of the Church."* Of this we have already spoken.

It may be added that no offence could ever reasonably be felt against this mode of speaking of one so intimately connected with our visible Church, seeing that, without any breach of propriety, we may call the book which lies before her Majesty "most religious."

Any objection to the epithet "most gracious" being applied to the Queen of the realm has already been met.

The construction of the words demands notice in the following inquiry:" Do we beseech God that He would be pleased to direct and prosper to the advancement of His glory, the good of His Church, the safety, honour, aud welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions, all the consultations of Parliament ?” We apprehended not, most certainly. There are many consultations in that august assembly not at all intended, and assuredly not calculated, to serve any one, much less the first and second, of these great

* Stebbing.