how mightily hast Thou wrought salvation, O Christ!

Thou hast cast down from our backs the burden of our sins: Thou hast broken the yoke of our oppressor.

Thou hast brought us forth from prison : Thou hast burst the fetters of our captivity;

Thou hast clothed the shame of our nakedness with glory: Thou hast covered the baldness of our head with a crown of life.

Who shall give Thee thanks who shall utter thy praises?

My heart counteth, and cannot come to an end my voice and my tongue fail me.

Hear and receive my prayer: O Lord God

of my salvation. il 26th 186. Sprie

XXIII.

CHRIST'S DISCIPLE.

WHOм do men call Thee, O my soul: what title dost Thou bear?

Lord, am I not called after thy name : am I not thy disciple?

Do I not cry, Lord! Lord!: O how excellent is thy salvation.

Do I not read in thy book: do I not learn thy statutes?

Do I not study thy word: do I not remember thy promises?

Do I not publish thy name with praise : and speak of thy wondrous works with thanksgivnig?

And some rebuke thy disciple: and some learn to glorify thy name.

It is not enough, O worshipper with the lips still lackest thou, O disciple of the let

ter.

Did not Judas cry unto me, Hail Master : did he not proclaim his love with a kiss?

And by that token his enemies knew me : and took me to be crucified.

Dost Thou then read my word : and not keep my commandments?

Dost thou fill thy memory with my promises and not thy life with my requirements?! Dost thou publish my love and dost thou not care to do the works of love?

:

Callest thou me master and obeyest thine own will?

Art thou not betraying me with a kiss : that men may crucify me afresh;

Mocking me in the people that is called after my name putting me to open shame in my disciples ?

O Lord, Thou art strict in thy justice : even as Thou art abundant in thy love.

Justified art Thou in all which Thou speakest and clear art Thou in all which Thou judgest.

Therefore even thus convict me daily, that I

be not self-righteous: rebuke me daily, lest I be highminded.

Make me to fear and keep my heart with diligence and evermore to walk in thy pre

sence.

O give not up thy servant to self-delusion : neither set Thou his place among the hypocrites.

Give me thy truth in my inward parts: and evermore sharpen the sword of thy word to my conscience.

So shall I know myself and shall fear so shall I be known of Thee, and will love.

O Lord! be Thou alone my Master: O Christ, make me thy true disciple.

XXIV.

A THANKSGIVING FOR THE LIFE.

O GOD! how full is thy fountain of life : how abundantly dost Thou pour from it upon earth.

Thy creatures drink thereat and are filled : and hark! how the sound of their joy goeth up to heaven.

And it saith, good are all the things which Thou hast made and plenteously hast Thou provided for the creatures of thine hand.

Let everything praise Thee, O Lord, accord

ing as Thou hast given it utterance: beast, and feathered fowl, and fishes of the sea.

And let man come forth at their head with

the tribute of his understanding

and minister unto Thee with the offering of his heart.

Shall I give my understanding to the dead things of the world : shall I yield my heart to the things of vanity which have no feeling?

Amid life shall I forget the Author of life : and shall I not remember Him who laid down his life to give me life?

O Lord Christ, Thou art my light and my life let me thank Thee with the service of my life.

Let me give unto Thee the work of the day: and not withhold from Thee the meditations of the night-watches.

Lead me in newness of life and feed me with the hope of life everlasting.

So shall my name be read from the book of life when the books shall be opened before Thee at thy coming.

And I shall drink of the river of life and shall eat of its tree for ever.

O Lord Christ, Thou art my light and my life into thy hand I commit my spirit.

XXV.

A PRAYER FOR THE NATION.

THE Voice of man is loud, and goeth up to heaven but his tongue carrieth no praise before the throne which is set therein.

His step is quick, and hurrieth to and fro : but it cometh not into the house of God.

Open are all his halls of traffic : full of visitors are all his palaces of delight.

But no sacrifice is offered unto Thee : none stayeth to kneel down before Thee, O God.

Thy houses are shut, thy altars are desolate thy priests are far away, and not to be found.

How art Thou forgotten in the midst of the works of thy mercy: how art Thou put out of mind amid the brightness of thy noonday!

Art Thou not counted even as the gods of the heathen which have no understanding: as their idols which can neither hear nor see?

Whose feet cannot pursue : whose hands cannot be stretched forth.

But Thou searchest the heart, and art swift to vengeance thy hand reacheth far and is terrible.

Spare us, O Lord, and turn us let not thy day overtake us in our forgetfulness of Thee. Cast us not down into the pit, as Thou hast dealt with the nations of old let us not go

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