May I never seek peace, never find a delight,
But when I pursue what is good in thy sight:
Whatsoever I do, suffer, feel to befall,
Be Thou the sole cause, the one reason of all!

A PRAYER,

FROM

MR. LAW'S SPIRIT OF PRAYER.

OH Heav'nly Father! Gracious God above! Thou boundless depth of never-ceasing love! Save me from self, and cause me to depart From sinful works of a long-harden'd heart; From all my great corruptions set me free; Give me an ear to hear, an eye to see, A heart and spirit to believe, and find Thy love in Christ, the Saviour of mankind.

Made for thyself, O God, and to display Thy goodness in me, manifest, I pray, By grace adapted to each wanting hour, Thy holy nature's life-conferring pow'r: Give me the faith, the hunger, and the thirst, After the life breath'd forth from thee, at first; Birth of thy Holy JESUS in my soul;

That I may turn, thro' life's succeeding whole, From ev'ry outward work, or inward thought, Which is not Thee, or in thy Spirit wrought.

ON ATTENTION.

SACRED attention! true effectual pray'r! Thou dost the soul for love of truth prepare. Blest is the man, who, from conjecture free, To future knowledge shall aspire by thee;

Who in thy precepts seeks a sure repose,
Stays till he sees, nor judges till he knows;
Tho' firm, not rash; tho' eager, yet sedate;
Intent on truth, can its instruction wait;
Aw'd by thy powerful influence to appeal
To Heaven, which only can itself reveal;
The soul in humble silence to resign,
And human will unite to the divine;

Till fir'd at length by Heaven's enlivening beams,
Pure, unconsum'd, the faithful victim flames.

A PRAYER,

USED BY

Francis the First, when he was at War with the Emperor Charles the Fifth.

ALMIGHTY Lord of Hosts, by whose commands The guardian angels rule their destin❜d lands; And watchful, at thy word, to save or slay, Of peace or war administer the sway! Thou, who against the great Goliah's rage; Didst arm the stripling David to engage; When, with a sling, a small unarmed youth Smote a huge giant, in defence of truth; Hear us, we pray thee, if our cause be true, If sacred justice be our only view; If right and duty, not the will to war, Have forc'd our armies to proceed thus far, Then turn the hearts of all our foes to peace, That war and bloodshed in the land may cease: Or, put to flight by providential dread, Let them lament their errors, not their dead. If some must die, protect the righteous all, And let the guilty, few as may be, fall. With pitying speed the victory decree To them, whose cause is best approv'd by thee; That sheath'd on all sides the devouring sword, And peace and justice to our land restor❜d, We all together, with one heart, may sing Triumphant hymns to thee, th' Eternal King.

Following Passage, in the general Confession of Sins,

USED IN THE CHURCH LITURGY;

According to thy Promises declared unto Mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord.

ACCORDING to thy promises-Hereby,
Since it is certain that God cannot lie,
The truly penitent may all be sure
That grace admits them to its open door;
And they, forsaking all their former sin,
However great, will freely be let in.

Declar'd-By all the ministers of peace,
God has assur'd repentance of release;
And intervening penitence, we see,
Could even change his positive decree;
As in the Ninevites; if any soul
Repent, the promise is the sure parole..

Unto mankind—not only to the Jews,
Christians, or Turks, in writings which they use;
Writ on the tablet of each conscious heart,
"Repent, from all iniquity depart;"

Not for no purpose; for, the plain intent
Is restoration, if a soul repent.

In Christ-by whom true scripture has assur'd
Redeeming grace for penitents procur'd;
The fainter hopes, which reason may suggest,
Are deeply, by the gospel's aid, impress'd:
"Twas alway hop'd for-was the promis'd good,-
But, by his coming, clearly understood.

Jesu-Jehovah's manifested love,

In Christ, th' anointed Saviour from above;
The demonstration of the saving plan,
For all mankind, is God's becoming man:
No truth more firmly ascertain'd than this-
"Repent, be faithful, and restor'd to bliss."

Our Lord-our new, and true parental Head;
Our second Adam, in the first when dead;
Who took our nature on Him, that in men
His Father's image might shine forth again:
Sure of success may penitents implore
What God, thro' Him, rejoices to restore.

FOR

The Due Improvement

OF

A FUNERAL SOLEMNITY.

AROUND the grave of a departed friend,
If due concern has prompted to attend,
Deep on our minds let the affecting scenes
Imprint the lesson, which attendance means:
For who can tell how soon his own Adieu
The solemn service may, for him, renew?

He that believes on me (what Christ had said The priest proclaims) shall live tho' he were dead: To ev'ry heart this is the gracious call,

On which depends its everlasting all;
The ever hoping, loving, working faith,
That saves a soul from death's devouring wrath.

The patient Job, by such a faith within,
Strength'ning his heart, could say this mortal skin
Destroy'd, I know that my Redeemer lives-
In flesh and blood, which his redemption gives,
Job, from the dust, expected to arise,
And stand before his God with seeing eyes.

The royal Psalmist saw this life of man, How vain, how short, at its most lengthen'd span; Conscious in whom the human trust should be, Truly my hope, he said, is ev'n in TheeAnd pray'd for its recover'd strength,-before He went from hence, here to be seen no more.

The mystic chapter is rehears'd, wherein Paul sings the triumph over death and sin; The glorious body, freed from earthy leav'n, Image and likeness of the Lord from Heav'n; For such th' abounding in his work shall gain; Labour, we know, that never is in vain.

Hence comes the sure and certain hope, to rise In Christ; tho' man, as born of woman, dies: True life, which Adam died to, at his fall, And Christ, the sinless Adam, can recall, By a new, heav'nly birth from Him revives, And breathes again God's holy breath of lives.

A voice from Heav'n bade hearing John record, Blest are the dead, the dying in the LordIn them, the pray'r, which man's Redeemer will'd "That men should pray," is perfectly fulfill'd: This perfect sense the words that we repeat, Require, to make the pray'd-for good complete.

Thanks then are due for all the faithful dead, Departed hence to be with Christ, their Head; And pray'r, unfainting, for his come ye blestCome, ye true children, enter into rest; Live in my Father's kingdom, and in mine, In grace, and love, and fellowship divine.

ON

CHURCH COMMUNION.

IN SEVEN PARTS;

FROM A LETTER OF MR. LAW'S.

PART FIRST.

RELIGION, church communion, or the way

Of public worship, that we ought to pay,

As it regards the body, and the mind,
Is of external, and internal kind;
The one consisting in the outward sign,
The other in the inward truth divine.