Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.-Ps. cxli. 2.

A SOLDIER'S EVENING PRAYER.

Be

O GOD of mercy and love, Thou hast graciously cared for me this day; and I desire with unfeigned gratitude to thank and bless Thee for protection and help, and for every comfort I have enjoyed. pleased to take care of me this night, and may Thy holy angels guard me during the helpless hours of sleep. I confess before Thee, with sorrow and shame, the sins which I have committed, and earnestly implore Thy forgiveness. I thank Thee for the knowledge of Thy salvation, and that I may have an interest therein. Pardon and redeem me from all mine iniquities, that it may be my delight to do Thy will continually.

And O do Thou restore peace and order to this land. "Turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," that truth, and righteousness, and liberty may every where prevail,—that this great nation may again become one united and prosperous people, to fulfill the grandeur of its destiny and noble mission on the earth. To the praise and glory of Thy name. Amen.

THE SOLDIER'S EVENING HYMN.

33

THE SOLDIER'S EVENING HYMN.

INTERVAL of grateful shade,

Welcome to my weary

head;

Welcome slumber to mine eyes,

Tired with glaring vanities.
My great Master still allows
Needful periods of repose:
By my heavenly Father blest,
Thus I give my powers to rest.
Heavenly Father! gracious name!
Night and day His love the same;
Far be each suspicious thought,
Every anxious care forgot:
Thou, my ever bounteous God,
Crown'st my days with various good:
Thy kind eye that cannot sleep,
These defenseless hours shall keep;
Blest vicissitude to me!

Day and night I'm still with Thee.

WE SHOULD EVERY NIGHT CALL OURSELVES TO AN ACCOUNT.

"WHAT infirmity have I mastered to-day? What passion opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?" Our vices will abate of themselves, if they be brought every day to the shift. Oh! the blessed sleep that follows such a diary!

2*

THE CONTINUAL PRESENCE OF GOD

SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED BY THE SOLDIER, AS WELL AS BY ALL OTHER MEN.

HE who remembers that God stands as a witness and a judge beholding every secrecy, besides his impiety, must have entered upon a course of rebellion against Heaven itself, if he be not restrained in his temptation to sin. God is to be feared in public, and in private; whether you go forth, or come in, He sees and observes you. Be sure that while you are in His sight, you behave yourself as becomes so holy a presence. But if you will sin, retire yourself wisely, and go where God cannot see you; for nowhere else can you be safe. And certainly, if men would but always consider and duly esteem this truth, that God is the great eye of the world, always watching over our actions, and has an ever-open ear to hear all our words, it would be one of the readiest means to make sin to cease from among the children of men..

He walks as in the presence of God who converses with Him in frequent prayer.

AM I A SOLDIER?

A HYMN.

AM I A SOLDIER?

Am I a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb,

And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign ;
Increase my courage, Lord;
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy word.

Thy saints, in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
And seize it with their eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thine armies shine

In robes of victory through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine.

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APHORISMS, PROVERBS, AND REFLECTIONS.

"Have some maxim to call up your reason, and fortify your principles upon occasion."

1. VIRTUE is bold, and goodness never fearful.

2. Fear God, and thou shalt have no need of being afraid of man.

3. The kingdom of God consisteth not in talk, but in virtue.

4. O ye that stray, by fires false-glaring led,

In vice deep sunk, companions of the dead;
The light approach; to the straight paths repair,
See your salvation, your Redeemer hear!

4. Practical Christianity may be comprised in three words-DEVOTION, SELF-GOVERNMENT, and BENEVOLENCE.

5. A Christian is the highest style of man.

6. As in the succession of the seasons, each, by the invariable laws of nature, affects the production of what is next in course; so, in human life, every period of our age, according as it is well or ill spent, influences the happiness of that which is to follow.