how well they are adapted to the condi tion of human life; and how wisely every day would begin, if it begun with such meditations.

2. From the wants of the present time, we are led, by an irresistible impulse, to look back to the time which is past. When we present ourselves before the purity of Heaven, and dare, on the renewal of every day, to solicit the renewal of its care, there is a question which rises unbidden in every heart. What am I? and with what preparation do I come into the presence of God? In what manner have I employed the days that are gone ?-and what claims have I to the continuance of his goodness, by the use which I have made of that which is past? It is a solemn question; and solemn are the images which memory then must bring to every heart; and the best and

the wisest of us have no answer to return

but the lowly petition of our prayer, Lord" forgive us our trespasses."

upon

the

There is something very striking in the instruction which these words afford us. If the wisdom of the world were to instruct us, it would teach us to look back past only for images of joy. It would summon up to us the memories of pleasures we had enjoyed,-of distinctions we had received,—of honours we had won ;-and it would inflame every weak and worthless passion which had the present dominion of our hearts, by the remembrance of the gratifications of the past. The wisdom which our Saviour teaches us, is of a higher and a holier kind. The retrospect which he cominands us, is solely a moral retrospect,― the retrospect which becomes a rational and accountable being, and to whom the past is valuable, only as it can influence the future. It is not, therefore, to pleasures or distinctions that he calls our re

membrance, but to our conduct amid

them.

It is the

It is the memory of our errors,

not of our enjoyments, which he brings before us; and while he prostrates us in sadness before the majesty we have disobeyed, he teaches us that abasement which may yet lead to exaltation, and that humility which is the surest forerunner of

honour.

There is something, however, in this petition still more striking. In every other petition of this prayer, we employ the language of dependent beings; and it is in absolute submission to the will of God, that we offer every supplication. But this petition is conditional; and in the very moment we utter it, we ourselves express the terms upon which we hope and know it is to be granted. Father" forgive us our

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trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." There is not in the language of man, a sentence of so high and

solemn a signification. With the dawn of every day, it reminds us of that spirit, of" which alone is the kingdom of

Heaven;" and ere we pass the threshold of our closets, it makes our own voice pronounce the conditions upon which the day is to be passed.-Let the kind and compassionate spirit go forth with renewed confidence, after such preparation, to its labours of mercy and of love. But let the selfish, the uncharitable, and the unforgiving man pause ere he advances into the scenes of guilt; and, if the pleasures of sin, of hatred and revenge allure him, let him consider well, what are those conditions which he renounces, and whose is that forgiveness which he disdains.

3. The last petition of our prayer is for the future. We have just prayed for the time that is past;—we have been looking back upon the days that are gone;

we have called to mind the errors by which they have been distinguished ;and we have solicited the pardon of Heaven, for all the wanderings of our way. Under such impressions, how natural is the prayer for the future. Lord! "lead

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us not into temptation, but deliver us " from evil."

If the wisdom of the world were to instruct us, it would here also instruct us in a different manner. Limiting its views to the present scene, it would teach us to pray for what we call the prosperities of life, for the acquisitions of wealth, the splendours of fame, or long luxurious years of mortal pleasure. How simple, but how sublime, on the other hand, is the prayer of our Lord!

"Lead us not into temptation!" "What"ever may be the scenes of that future "time which no eye but Thine can see, whether it be into the scenes of prospe