the bow of promise, "and the waters shall no more become a flood, to destroy all flesh."

Thus when the kingdom of grace was to be exalted, a flood of sin overwhelmed the world, and mankind, careless of warning, and deaf to reproof, were perishing in ignorance, obstinacy, and crime. The blessed Jesus came to rescue the human race from the dangers about to overwhelm them; to deliver them from the anger of an offended God; to invite them to come unto him, as unto an ark of safety to bear them securely through every trial, until the ransomed of the Lord should raise their grateful altar, and in a sinful world confess there is no other name under heaven, by which they can be saved, but the name of Jesus. To thee-to thee alone, blessed Saviour! be the honour, the glory, the praise. O fill our hearts with gratitude, with reliance on the promises of thy mercy, with a living, ardent, and confiding faith in thee. May the flood of abounding iniquity be arrested by the Spirit of all grace, and thus another token of thy love be given us, as above the world of waters the dove bare the olivebranch, to cheer the heart of the faithful patriarch. We contemplate the wondrous love thou hast already manifested towards us, and as we contemplate we willingly adore. In thy cross we behold the sign of mercy. In thy death we perceive pardon secured. O give us to participate largely in that faith, by which holy men have

been enlightened and cheered in all circumstances. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God, blessed for ever. Amen.

May the peace of God which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.

365

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

Let us pray.

LORD of all power and might, who art the Author and Giver of all good things; graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We humbly pray, O God, that we may be found in the spirit on this thy holy day, for thou didst, at first creation, sanctify the Sabbath unto thyself, as a day of holy and peaceful rest. May we ever hold thy Sabbath day as honourable. May we delight in its sacred duties. May we rejoice when it is said to us, "Let us go up to the house of the Lord." O God, on this day, may we give our heart and thoughts to thee. Lord, we confess ourselves unworthy of the great privileges we enjoy. We have too often slighted thy holy day. We have too often despised thy people, in their

strictly religious services. We have long been careless of the sacred duties of the day of peace. O Lord, in our future lives, enable us to sanctify, reverence, and delight in the Christian Sabbath, the day of God, the day dear to all true believers.

We rejoice that we live in a country, wherein thy Gospel is preached, and men are called from their evil ways, to return unto thee, O Lord. We rejoice that the ministers of thy word are until this day, still bearing thy message to man, still declaring thy Gospel of peace to a fallen world. O Lord, grant that many may, this Sabbath, be added to thy church, of such as shall be saved. May the sacred fountain, opened in Zion, have its healing waters applied, for the purification of many souls, and may they richly experience that the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin. O Lord, for his sake, blot out our transgressions against thee. O pardon our iniquities, and send upon us the hallowing influences of thy Divine Spirit, to seal and signify thy acceptance of us, and to make us for ever thine own. May we always bear about with us the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in us. O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage. vern them, and lift them up for ever. Day by day we would magnify thee, and we would worship thy name, ever world without end. Amen.

Go

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 temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE SCRIPTURE.

The portion of Scripture is in the 2nd chapter of the book of Genesis, from the 1st to the 9th verse.

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field, before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a gar