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signal favour from God, we know that the time must come (but if it be consistent with the Divine will, may it long be deferred!) when he must submit to the common lot of humanity, and appear before his Lord and our's. Therefore if we love his person, and are thankful for his government, we shall pray for his final happiness, that he may exchange the crown of gold for a crown of glory, and the sceptre of temporal dominion for the palm of everlasting joy and triumph, that he who governs, and we who obey, may finally rejoice together in the kingdom of God. And as there is but one way of salvation either for kings or subjects, we supplicate these mercies" through Jesus Christ our "Lord." Reader, this is your only plea before the throne of God. Go, use it for yourself, your king, and your country; and may the King of kings and Lord of lords hear and answer from heaven His dwelling-place! Amen,

* Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres.-HOR.

request on his behalf, that God would "endue "him plenteously with heavenly gifts." All the graces of the Christian character are gifts from heaven; and such, in an especial manner, are those important endowments of the mind which are essential to the character of a wise and good governor. We pray for a continuance of his life, health, and prosperity. And surely, if we duly consider our present circumstances, we shall clearly perceive the indispensable obligations which lie on us, arising both from our interest and our duty, heartily to join in these petitions, and moreover to add, "strengthen him, that he may vanquish and "overcome all his enemies." For though a Christian is a friend to peace, and a lover of concord, yet, since wars will unavoidably exist, so long as infidelity and rebellion against God continue in the world, both the Scriptures and the great law of self-preservation authorise and oblige us to pray to Him" whose power no "creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth

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justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful to "them that truly repent: that He would save "and deliver us (our King and country, our "lives and possessions) from the hands of our "enemies; that He would abate their pride, "assuage their malice, and confound their de"vices; that we, being armed with His defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify Him who is the alone giver of all "victory, through the merits of Jesus Christ "our Lord. Amen."*

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Finally, we pray that, "after this life," our Monarch "may attain everlasting joy and felicity." For though we consider his life as a

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* The Prayer in the Time. of War and Tumults.

signal favour from God, we know that the time must come (but if it be consistent with the Divine will, may it long be deferred!) when he must submit to the common lot of humanity, * and appear before his Lord and our's. Therefore if we love his person, and are thankful for his government, we shall pray for his final happiness, that he may exchange the crown of gold for a crown of glory, and the sceptre of temporal dominion for the palm of everlasting joy and triumph, that he who governs, and we who obey, may finally rejoice together in the kingdom of God. And as there is but one way of salvation either for kings or subjects, we supplicate these mercies "through Jesus Christ our "Lord." Reader, this is your only plea before the throne of God. Go, use it for yourself, your king, and your country; and may the King of kings and Lord of lords hear and answer from heaven His dwelling-place! Amen,

* Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres.-HOR.

ESSAY X.

On the Prayer for the Clergy and People.

TH

HE wisdom of God appears in every cir cumstance that is connected with the redemption of fallen man. The structure of universal nature, and of every minute part of its system, discovers the glory of this Divine perfection. It is written in legible characters on every blade of grass, and on every individual atom of matter. But if this world were erected on purpose to be a theatre, on which the wonders of redeeming love might be displayed; if it were created only as a scaffold to a building of far greater magnificence; if, when the more important fabric is compleated, the scaffold is to be demolished as of no further use, we may reasonably expect to find greater wisdom manifested in the spiritual than in the natural creation.

Among a thousand other wonders which crowd on the spiritualized imagination, the selection of ambassadors for the work of the ministry of reconciliation is not the least. As it was the design of the ETERNAL THREE, in the whole economy of grace, to secure the glory to Him to whom alone it is due; the wisof God, in the appointment of the instruments by which His designs are carried into effect, is very apparent. Had angels been employed as ordinary preachers of the Gospel, their eloquence

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might have been considered as meriting a share of the honour derived from the success of the ministry. Therefore the rich, the heavenly treasure is deposited "in earthen vessels, that "the excellency of the power may be of God, " and not of us.' On the same account our Lord chose twelve illiterate fishermen to be the first messengers of His love to man, that the astonishing revolution to be produced in the' human heart, and in the world at large, by the preached Gospel, in turning it from sin and Satan to the service of God, might evidently appear to be accomplished, not by the wisdom of man, but by the power of God-not by moral suasion, but by the energy of the Holy Ghost. It is allowed that one who was afterwards admitted to the fellowship of the Apostolic office, was a man endowed with extensive erudition, having been instructed in the academy of the celebrated Gamaliel, and favoured with every advantage which can arise from a learned education. But it is pleasing to remark with what a holy anxiety this person endeavours, in all his writings which are transmitted to us, to evince that the effects of his preaching were intirely owing to the dew of God's blessing which attended his word. He every where speaks of himself in the most disparaging terms, lays all his learning at the foot of the cross, and avows his total unfitness, independent of help from God, for the discharge of the ministerial office. Writing to the Corinthians, among whom he had laboured with great success, he says, When I came to you, I came not with excel"lency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto

* 2 Cor. iv. 7.

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