FOR A FRIEND IN SORROW.

WE pray, O Lord, on behalf of our beloved friend just plunged into grief. Oh grant him divine consolations. Remember his love to thee, his tears, his supplications. Be pleased thyself to reward him, smooth away his difficulties, soften his path of woe, grant him spiritual prosperity, and the divine skill of getting meat from the eater, and spiritual good out of calamity. May he grow in grace. Enrich him with the comfort of thy Holy Spirit. Take away his sorrow, or sweeten it, and make it the means of lasting good. We leave him in thy hands. May he, and we, meeting with sorrow and disappointment here, ever seek comfort with thee. May our hearts cleave to thee, for at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore!

FOR THE CONVERSION OF CHILDREN.

O LORD, we plead with thee on behalf our sons and daughters. Pour out thy Spirit upon them, and thy blessing upon our offspring. May they become thus the children of God. May they be a seed to serve thee, and be accounted to the Lord for a generation. May they early seek and know him whom to know is life eternal. May Christ be formed in their hearts the hope of glory. May they be taught of the Lord, and may their peace be great. May the blessings that distinguish the subjects of the new and better covenant be their portion. May thy laws be put in their minds, and written in their hearts; be thou their God, and make them thy children through faith in Jesus Christ

SEASONS.

NEW YEAR'S DAY. MORNING.

EVERY morning, O Lord, sets forth thy goodness and awakens our song of praise; but this morning we would especially record the kindness which spares us from year to year. Our time hitherto has borne witness to thy forbearance and thy love. The year which has just closed was filled with mercy; and even its sorrows and disappointments betokened thy care. We have been blessed in our basket and our store, in our lying down and our rising up. Receive our thanks in the review of the year.

And now, O our God, we ask thy favour through the new year. What it may bring forth we do not seek to know. Prepare us for whatever thy providence may ordain as our lot. Turn away our eyes from beholding vanity, and help us to maintain devotedness to thy service. May the ordinances of thine house be increasingly blessed to us; and under the constraining influence of the love of Christ, may we seek in every situation to do good. In prosperity keep us from presumption; in adversity help us to consider. In all our ways do thou guide us, so that no enemy may prevail against us. Suffer us never to waste our time, or to lose sight of the great purpose for which time is given to us. Keep us, O Lord, in thy fear; assist us in every duty; watch over us and all that pertain to us from day to day; make us submissive and obedient; and bring us and all whom we would pray for safely at length to thy right hand.

ANOTHER.

O LORD, hast thou not promised that all the ends of the earth shall see thy salvation? Long has our world groaned and suffered under the calamities sin has inflicted. May the set time to favour Zion come this year. Let the idols be abolished; and may the news of thy mercy in Christ Jesus be made known in every land. Father of mercies, increase the number of those who run to and fro in the earth, that knowledge may be increased; and may the family of thine ancient friend be brought this year from their wanderings and their impenitence. Oh that the salvation of Israel may speedily come out of Zion. Give more zeal, and love, and simplicity to the messengers of thy mercy. Let Christ be made known in lands where as yet his name has not been proclaimed. Let all nations. this year receive his salvation; and may the power of the Holy Spirit crown every effort of Christian zeal and benevolence with success.

Especially do we pray this morning for our family and friends. If any of them be strangers to the truth as it is in Christ, let this be the year which shall witness their hearts' reception of that truth. Long hast thou borne with them. Let thy long-suffering now teach them repentance. Abundantly bless our land. God save our queen, and endow our rulers with wisdom and integrity. May our country in all its interests receive blessing from the God of the whole earth. Let this year be eminently one of the years of the right hand of the Most High, that all kindreds of the earth may rejoice in thy mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

FATHER of our mercies, the first day of a new year is drawing to its close; we would be mindful of the mercy which permits the year to open upon us. Long ere now we might have been cut down as cumberers of the ground. As we are spared, and ministrations of mercy are continued to us, may they more evidently contribute to our spiritual fruitfulness. We distrust ourselves; grant us thy Holy Spirit, and help us cheerfully to place ourselves, our family, our friends -all our interests, in thine hands. Do with us as it pleases thee. Let us not be anxious; give us neither poverty nor riches; let the one thing needful engage our attention; and as the year passes may we apply our hearts unto wisdom.

THE FIRST LORD'S DAY MORNING IN A NEW YEAR.

GREAT is thy goodness towards us, O Lord, that we see the light of this sacred day. Many who reckoned upon living till now are numbered with the dead. We adore the riches of thy long-suffering that spares us. Oh help us to improve the hours of this day, and of every Sabbath with which we may be favoured this year. Strengthen our memory, that we may keep in mind thy holy word. Open our hearts, that we may receive it with grateful affection. Give us access to thy throne in prayer and praise; and may we delight in intercourse with thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. May every Sabbath, as it passes, contribute to our meetness for the everlasting Sabbath which remaineth to thy people.

GOOD FRIDAY.

MORNING.-THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

ENABLE us, we beseech thee, O God, to think aright of the death of Christ. We would be abased and contrite, for in his sufferings we see the evil of sin, our own sin, and the dreadful punishment it deserves. We would be penitent and believing, for he died for us, that we might be brought unto God. We would be grateful and obedient, for by his death he redeemed for himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. May we be crucified with him. May we know the fellowship of his sufferings. Blessed for ever be thy name, thou glorious Redeemer, that thou didst submit to be made a curse for us. We give thee thanks that thou didst bear our sins in thine own body on the tree. Help us, O Spirit of grace, to rest entire confidence in the all-sufficiency of the sacrifice on Calvary. Give us a heart to feel and a tongue to speak his praise who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God, even his Father, for ever. And may the doctrines of the cross be every where proclaimed. Let the Redeemer see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. May the blood of sprinkling purge multitudes from dead works to serve the living God. Let the people who pierced him mourn and be in bitterness for him; and may the time soon come when the children of God who are scattered abroad shall be brought together by the cross, and the name of Christ shall be had in honour in every land by Jew and Gentile, as the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.