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Zion, as upon her assemblies, a cloud by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night. And christianity, by its baptisms of housholds, and by its injunctions to show piety at home, has sanctified the domestic compact, and rescued its disciples from the threatening of divine displeasure on the families who call not on the name of the Lord.

The practice of family worship commends itself by the numerous advantages which flow to those who, with constancy and spirituality, observe it. By this act God is recognised as the Governor of communities, as well as of individuals, and as the author of all temporal and spiritual blessings. Through its instrumentality correct impressions of the nature and value of evangelical religion have been conveyed to children, to servants, and to strangers occasionally within the gate; and recollections of the hallowed seasons of family worship have often followed the youthful wanderer from his father's house, to the ends of the earth, and have terminated in his return to Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of souls. Personal comfort and social happiness are greatly promoted by this exercise. The nameless distinctions of character and varieties of temper which mark different individuals are subdued, as mind unites with mind, in holding fellowship with the Father of spirits. At the family altar the difficulties and sorrows of life are sanctified; gratitude is excited for divine mercies; the bonds of social attachment and happiness are strengthened; and a holy, exhilirating influence is shed over all the relations and engagements of the family, which render it, in a humble degree, a type of the family in heaven.

There are persons, who admit the obligations to domestic worship, and who never doubt its advantages, but yet live in the neglect of this duty; and the evil is more widely spread than might be imagined, in this day of extended christian profession. Were the destroying angel commissioned to pass through our land, as he once did through Egypt, to smite the first-born in every family, where the morning and evening sacrifice is not presented, in how many houses would one be found dead! While many professing christians endeavour to justify this neglect by frivolous excuses, it is readily admitted that some truly pious individuals are unable to offer extemporaneous prayer, to edification, in the presence of others; while the occasional absence from home of the

only individual in a family competent to discharge the duty, leaves it, for a time, unsupplied with this means of grace. To meet such cases, forms of prayer, of different degrees of merit, have been given to the public; and though strong objections to the use of such forms have been urged, yet it is obviously desirable to offer supplication and thanksgiving to God with the assistance they furnish, rather than to live in the total, or even occasional neglect of family devotion.

On this ground little or no apology is, perhaps, needed for adding another volume of prayers to those already published. This domestic prayer book was composed principally with a view to the benefit of the author's congregation, many of whom having been but recently brought to feel the powers and claims of the gospel labour under disadvantages in relation to the gift of prayer, from which more experienced christians are happily exempt. To such individuals the assistance these offices of devotion may afford is affectionately tendered, by a pastor who has no greater joy than to know that the members of the flock intrusted to his care are walking in truth, and publicly and privately adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour. By other persons the book may be used constantly, or for a time, when commencing the practice of family worship, or on such occasions as may serve to maintain its unbroken exercise, so that the voice of supplication and of rejoicing may be heard continually in their dwellings.

It is hoped that the prayers contained in this volume will be found suited to the wants and desires of christian families generally, without regard to denominational distinctions, as they recognise the great principles on which all the followers of Jesus Christ are happily united, rather than the minor points of doctrinal truth and ecclesiastical polity on which they differ. Many of the sentiments of these exercises are couched in scripture language, and it appears desirable in devotional compositions to employ the phraseology of holy men, who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If any of the prayers should be found too long for daily use, the sentences which are least appropriate to the circumstances of a particular family can be omitted; but as each prayer may be deliberately read in the space of eight or ten minutes, it is presumed that usually they will not be inconveniently long.

To those heads of families who may use this book the author ventures to offer some brief counsels in reference to domestic worship. Let this service be conducted regularly, at morning and at evening; and punctually, at that hour which may best comport with the attendance of all the members of your houshold. Connect with the exercise of prayer the reading of the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you and yours wise unto salvation. Do not imagine that the maintainance of family prayer is the whole of religion, or that the daily offering of this external service will constitute you a christian. God is a Spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. In order to this there must be a change of heart, produced by his own gracious Spirit, and as its result you will be prepared to serve him acceptably, under the influence of regenerated principle and emotion. There must be individual repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, connected with personal consecration to the service of heaven, or the observance of domestic worship will leave you unsanctified and unsaved.

The publication of this volume has been delayed by circumstances over which the author had no control; and it is now sent forth, amidst scenes of domestic bereavement and sorrow, which urge him to do quickly what he can attempt for the cause of Christ. Should it be the means of introducing houshold worship into any family, or of aiding its exercise where it was previously established, he will not have laboured in vain, as praise will thus redound to that glorious Being who is the exclusive object of worship, and to whose blessing he looks to succeed the work of his hands.

GEORGE SMITH.

MAY 24, 1844.

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