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STIR up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people; that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of Thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This is the last of the Sunday Collects for the year, for though the number of Sundays after Trinity is regulated by the time that Easter falls, this is reserved for the close.

Success in every undertaking depends in great measure, upon the energy with which it is pursued. If the mind or will be uninterested, little will be accomplished, and even that little will bear the sickly stamp of our indifference. In our spiritual, as in our earthly career, this is essentially true. Justly then do we pray the Almighty in this Collect to arouse our sluggish affections, and to "stir up our wills" by the divine flame of the Holy Spirit, that pursuing our course with patience and perseverance

(for the fruit of good works like those of the earth are not of sudden and spontaneous growth, but the produce of continued and careful labour) we may at last reap in the great day of harvest our reward. Thus an appropriate connexion is observed between the season of the year and that awful event which is to seal up time for ever.

As the year began with Christ, so does it end with Him, for He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last. The Epistle accordingly with direct reference to Advent, gives notice of the approach of the Messiah, and of the blessed consequences of his appearance, cheering the hearts of the humble, the faithful and the penitent by the title accorded to Him, "the Lord our Righteousness.” We indeed are impure, and our best deeds are stained and spotted with infirmity and sin, and a review of one year's actions alone is calculated to fill the heart with apprehension for the result of the final judgment; but our weakness shall be covered by his strength, our defects by his merits, and his righteousness shall be imputed to our sincerity. Hope then reposes upon faith, which receives fresh accession from the Gospel, where we behold in Him, who miraculously fed the five thousand in the wilderness, that same gracious Being, who is equally ready to satisfy all who hunger and thirst after righteousness; and with grateful hearts we join with the multitude in proclaiming him "the Prophet who should come into the world."

Of the Proper Lessons the same may be said as of those for Sunday last. Wise is he who will apply the holy maxims they contain to his own heart and conduct; for better "indeed it is to gain wisdom than gold, and to choose understanding than silver." Blessed, thrice blessed are they, who, being found rich in good works towards God, firm in faith and sound in doctrine, may look with humble confidence to the glorious appearing of their Lord and Saviour, and regard the gate of the grave only as the entrance to that heavenly inheritance which is the purchase of that Saviour's manifestation, and all-sufficient sacrifice and death.

JEREMIAH Xxiii. 5.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

'Tis done the sacred year is closed,

The faithful Church her own bright sun
As her dear Lord, not man imposed,

Has followed and her service run,

In proof of her obedience and love,
Owning not earthly rule but mandate from above.

She watched the day-star from on high

Rising with healing on its wing;

She heard the strains that filled the sky,

In honour of the new-born king;

And echoing sublime the rapt'rous song,

Her joyful children taught to join th' angelic throng.

With Gentile kings she lowly knelt,
With them her offerings duly paid;

Nor weary of the service felt,

But long the season gladly staid.

She thought upon the darkness once her own,

And dearer prized the beams that bright upon her shone.

And she beheld her Light, her Lord,
By cruel hands betrayed and slain;
And wept, although the mercy stored

For guilty man's most heinous stain

She made the subject of her grateful theme, While with unceasing love she own'd him God supreme.

She had beheld with tearful eye
The moon that lit her Lord to death;
Had with the watchers hovered nigh

O'er the rich prey earth held beneath.
But lo her Lord is risen! those strains attest,
Her festival she keeps, her highest, holiest, best.

Awhile his presence glads her sight,
While ampler lessons she receives

To fit her for the coming fight

Which, when the earth her Master leaves,

The world and satan 'gainst her fierce shall wage, And keep her free from stain amidst each sinful age.

She saw the angels bear him far

To realms unpierced by mortal view;

But follows still her guiding star,

And patient waits till he endue

With power from high, by his own Spirit brought,

The children of his love, the spouse his blood has bought.

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