THE INNOCENTS' DAY.

DECEMBER 28.

O ALMIGHTY GOD, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify Thee by their deaths; mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy holy name; through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen.

THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.

To be added to the usual daily prayer. O HEAVENLY Father! we heartily desire to thank Thee for thy merciful goodness in preserving our lives through another year. While Thou hast called away thousands, many of them in the midst of youth and health and prosperity, Thou hast graciously prolonged our lives, giving us still more time for repentance of the many sins we have committed, and for growing in grace and meetness for thy heavenly kingdom. O, how great has been thy mercy to us; how patient thy forbearance with us; how wonderful thy grace towards us! Though we have often and grievously rebelled against thy holy laws, yet Thou hast not cut us off in our wickedness, nor withheld thy blessings from us. Mercies have surrounded us from day to day, and from month to month.

Thou hast protected us at home and abroad,

in our journeyings and in our resting-places. In fatherly kindness Thou hast given trials, crosses, and afflictions, to chastise us for our sins, and to wean our affections from earth and earthly objects; and by the mortality of others Thou hast shown us that here we have no continuing city, no certain remedy against sickness, sorrow, or death. While we rejoice in believing that Thou hast led us by the right way that we may reach the city of habitation, may we frequently meditate on the way that Thou hast led us, and humble our hearts before Thee under a deep sense of our own unworthiness, and of thy bounteous goodness towards us. May we thus apply our hearts unto true wisdom, and ever have our loins girt, and our lamps burning, and be as servants waiting for their Lord, that when He cometh, and howsoever He may come, He may find us watching and prepared to meet Him.

Accept these our humble and imperfect prayers for the sake of JESUS CHRIST Our Lord. Amen.

NEW YEAR'S DAY.

THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST.

BLESSED be thy name, O Lord our God, for thy merciful protection of us during the past night, and for the continuance of our lives through so many successive years. Pour down upon us thy Holy Spirit that we may begin this new year, on which Thou hast permitted us to enter, with new and increased efforts after holiness. Grant that it may be more devoted to thy service, and bring forth more abundantly in us the fruits of the Spirit, than any of the past years of our lives. As we thus pass on the journey of life, and our frail bodies draw nearer and nearer unto death and dissolution, may our souls be daily strengthened and made meet for that inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

And in commemorating this day the

condescension of our Saviour in submitting to the rite of circumcision, may we not only learn to follow the example of his perfect obedience to the ordinances of thy Church, but also strive after his example of inward purity and holiness. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, the true circumcision of the Spirit; that our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal affections, we may in all things obey thy blessed will. Enable us to keep ourselves in temperance, soberness, and chastity; and daily to grow in all purity of the flesh and of the Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of GOD.

We know not what a day may bring forth, but the past and the future are both alike to Thee. Do Thou, O God, who knowest what is to befal us, mercifully prepare us for it. Although we desire rightly to value and gratefully to acknowledge the many temporal blessings which Thou often seest fit to bestow on us thy unworthy creatures, yet we ask not for mere bodily