darkness, and disaffection to God, if thou hadst not been in me a spirit of life, and light, and love. The tempter would have been too strong for me. And how then

shall I deal with him myself, when the languishings of my body shall disable my soul! Thou despisest not art and reason. I thank thee for the use I have had of them in their season. But one beam of thy light, one spark of thy love, one motion of thy heavenly life, will better confute the enemy of faith than my disputes can do. Teach me effectually to love and praise thee; and it shall powerfully prove to me that there is a heaven where I shall joyfully love and praise thee for ever.

The Prayer of a Christian near Death.

O thou Sovereign of Life and Death, of Earth and Heaven! Thy mercy brought me into the world, kept me from a thousand dangers, and gave me innumerable blessings of life and godliness. Thy merey convinced and converted me, renewed and sanctified my heart, and formed Christ in

me.

O amazing mercy, that I am not dying in an impenitent and Christless state!

I thank thee for the means of grace, and the hopes of glory. I thank thee for the fruits of Canaan through the wilderness, and now on the brink of Jordan. I thank thee for the cordials of thy great and precious promises, and that they are now as precious as ever. I covenanted with thee for eternal life, as the gift of thy free grace, through Jesus Christ my Lord. In his name I humbly claim it. To thine hand I commit this departing spirit. I am thine; save me. I have fled to the cross of thy Son. I have renounced all dependance on any worthiness of my own. I come to thee as a sinner, believing in Christ for pardon and salvation. Let me have my lot among the followers of Jesus. I know in whom I have believed. I rejoice that I am in the hands of the good Shepherd. I thank thee, that, after this long absence, thou art calling me home-to my glorious eternal home. But forsake not the world I am leaving, nor thy church from which I am removing. Having bought it with an inestimable price; still guard it, purify it, and unite it more and more, till all flesh shall see thy salvation. Let my few remaining moments on earth be spent for thy glory. Whatever this flesh may suffer, let my soul be rising to the general as

sembly and church of the first-born, to the innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Let faith be strong in the last hour. Let me ascend in the chariot of love and praise, and for ever sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb! Even so, come Lord Jesus, come surely; come quickly! Amen.

Prayer for a dying Christian.

Thy mercy brought me into the world. Thy mercy chose my parentage, education, and habitation; it trained me up, it kept me from a thousand dangers; it attempered my body and furnished my mind; it gave me teachers, books, and helps; yea, it gave me a Redeemer, the promise of life, and the word of salvation! It gave me the influences of thy Spirit, which touched and turned my sinful heart; all my repenting and resolving thoughts; all the forgiveness of my manifold sins; all the sweet meditations of thy love, and the experience of thy good and pleasant service! The comfortable hours which I have had in secret thoughts, in public worship, on thy holy days, at thy holy table, among thy

people; all these have been the dealings of thy love! All my deliverances from temptation and sin; from death and danger; all my recoveries from my too frequent falls, and pardon of my daily sins; all the use it hath pleased thee to make of me an unworthy sinner for the good of any, for soul or body; all these are the pledges of thy wondrous love! And shall I be afraid to come to such a God! Hath mercy filled up all my life, and brought me now so near to my end? and shall I not trust it after so much trial? It is heaven that thou madest me for; and heaven that Christ did purchase for me. It is heaven thou promisedst if I would be thine; and it is heaven that I consented to take for my portion, and for which I did engage to forsake the world. And O that I had more entirely done it; for I now find how little reason I have to ། repent of my covenant! It is heaven which thy Spirit of grace and merciful providences have all this while been preparing me for; and shall I now be fearful and unwilling to possess it? O my God, do

not these foretastes of love assure me that I shall be happy in thy love for ever! My hope in thy goodness, thy Son, and thy covenant, will never be disappointed. Thou

hast guided me by thy counsel, and thou wilt bring me to thy glory. Amen.

An Address to a dying Christian.

DEAR FRIEND,

Though nature teaches us to mourn with you under your present sufferings; yet faith permits us to rejoice with you in hope of your endless joys, which seem to be near at hand. We must rejoice with you as the friends that love you; and therefore, are partakers of your welfare. And we must rejoice with you as fellow-travellers and fellow soldiers, that are going along with you to the same felicity: and if we are left behind for a little while, yet we hope ere long to overtake you, and never to be separated from you more. This is the day for which Christ has been so long preparing you; this is the day which you thought on in all your prayers, and labours, and sufferings; your self-denial and mortifica. tion. Now you are going to see the things which you have believed, and to possess the things which you have sought and hoped for. O! now, what a mercy is it to