would be praying God not to show forth his power and might, and use means calculated to fix our minds upon him. Moreover, "lightning and tempest" have a beneficial effect in purifying the air we breathe. During the last awful visitation of cholera, it was observed that a violent storm which happened at that time, had the effect of almost cleansing the metropolis of this scourge of the human race. And all must have observed how much the oppressive sultriness and closeness of a summer's day are relieved by a storm of lightning. In this view also, then, we cannot be understood, in the above petition, to pray that there be no "lightning and tempest," for this would be praying God not to use his own appointed means for purifying the atmosphere from disease, for refreshing our bodies, aud benefiting our health. What we do pray for is, that we may be delivered from all those calamities which sometimes befall mankind from "lightning and tempest," and these are, from time to time, most appalling, both by sea and land. Whether in the blaze of the lightning, or amid the blackness and darkness of the hurricane, death finds his victims, and hurries them unwarned, too often unprepared, to judgment. From all such calamities as these, well may we pray, good Lord, deliver us!

The next petition is against "plague and pestilence." Within the last few months*, we have * 1837.

had awful experience of this. Few homes have not been saddened by the loss of some dear relative or friend by that appalling visitation of Providence, of which not only England, but all Europe, has been the prey. We must ever bear in mind, that all this is mercifully designed, like the trials of the Israelites in the wilderness of old, to humble us and to prove us, to know what is in our hearts, whether we will keep his commandments or no. If we, who have been mercifully spared, make a spiritual and holy and heaven-seeking use of the "plague and pestilence," which is happily passed and gone, that, my friends, will be virtually praying, it will be the best of all prayer, practical prayer,-for deliverance therefrom for the time to come. From plague and pestilence, good Lord, deliver us!

The

The next petition is against "famine." advantages which nature has so largely scattered over our happy country, have been of late years so carefully improved by a better and more extensive cultivation of the soil; and our wants, if any, are now so readily supplied by other nations, from the increased facilities which we now possess of intercourse with them; that a national famine, however frequent in former times, is now, humanly speaking, scarcely possible. But individual famine is still sometimes to be met with. You, my friends, to whom "the sordid hut of cheerless poverty" is happily unknown,-you, in your well-provided

houses, or comfortable cottages, with the means of subsistence always at hand, are exempt from the dreadful privations and sufferings to which many of your fellow-creatures, who "pine in want," are subject, from being destitute of the common necessaries of life. But, though you are now in a Goshen, it may be the lot of some of you, ere you die, from circumstances which you can neither foresee nor control, to travel through a wilderness. Pray God to deliver you from such a trial of your faith; and, above all, pray the Holy Spirit so to direct and rule your hearts, that such a trial may not be necessary, in order to try and to prove you. From famine, good Lord, deliver us!

The next petition is against "battle and murder." War is, indeed, a dreadful thing, though, in the present state of society, it is sometimes unavoidable. It is only justifiable, by the laws of God, when undertaken to repress the injustice and violence of others; that is, in self-defence. Every life sacrificed-as how many are sacrificed!-for the mere purpose of gaining that which rightfully belongs to another is, in the eyes of God, murder added to robbery, on the part of the ruler who orders it. If every one of God's creatures could be brought to pray, in this, the true sense of the prayer, "From battle, good Lord, deliver us," and, of course, act up to the prayer, for, without this, all prayer is an empty form, a mockery of Almighty God-then would all war cease; for, as

St. James says, "Whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your own lusts, which war in your members*?" Hear ye this, too, ye blood-stained votaries of ambition, hear what your Saviour says, upon whom ye as much depend for salvation as does the meanest victim of your pride and covetousness, hear it, and tremble: "They that take the sword shall perish by the sword+." They who use the sword as a weapon of offence, and not of self-preservation only, shall perish by the sword of God's wrath and vengeance, when they and their victims shall be brought together unto judgment. From all the horrors of unsought strife, above all, from the horrors of provoked and wicked strife, good Lord, deliver us!

In praying against "murder," we must be understood as praying, not only to be delivered from the inhuman crime so called, but from all personal violence, and from all malice, according to the meaning of the word, 1 John iii. 15, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." So that we pray God to implant in our brethren those feelings of Christian love and affection, which, instead of exciting them to disturb and harm us, shall enable them to lead a godly and quiet life, and seek to do us good. But, while we are praying that our brethren may be restrained by divine grace from attempting to harm us, we must ever bear in mind

* James iv. 1.

Matthew xxvi. 52.

that we are thereby indirectly pledging ourselves to indulge in no feelings of unkindness, or resentment, or malice, which could lead us to harm them. From murder, good Lord, deliver us!

The last thing which we pray against, and which some have unwisely censured us for praying against, is "sudden death." This is always awful; at the same time, if we are but prepared for the change, the suddenness of it is, after all, of greater moment to those who survive us, than to ourselves. We pray against it, among other reasons, from an humble and becoming sense of our not being prepared; at the same time, let no one suppose that encouragement is held out to delay all to a deathbed repentance, if the gradual decay of our outer man should leave ever so much time for it. God requires our health and strength for His service, He will not be content with receiving that portion only of our time which we cannot devote to the world. But, do what we will, we shall feel ourselves and the more we do, the more we shall feel ourselves to be unworthy and unprofitable servants; ever unfit to appear before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; wholly unworthy of the blessedness that shall be revealed; and may well, therefore, pray to be allowed the opportunity of confirming our peace with God, when the time of our departure draweth nigh. Yes, in this sense, we may very piously and properly pray, and we will now and again pray, "From sudden death, good Lord, deliver us!”