Page images
PDF
EPUB

Tuesday Evening.

ness and sanctification and redemption, and all our glorying be in him. O may thy grace be sufficient for us, and thy strength be so made perfect in weakness, that we may be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, and strive successfully to enter in at the strait gate.

And help us, O Lord, to offer, and graciously accept our evening sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Every day would we give thanks unto thee, and praise thy name forever and ever. Great art thou, O Lord, and marvellous; worthy to be praised; there is no end of thy greatness. One generation shall praise thy works unto another, and declare thy power. Thou art gracious and merciful, long-suffering and of great goodness; thou art loving unto every man, and thy mercy is over all thy works. All thy works praise thee, O Lord, and' thy saints give thanks unto thee. Make us truly thankful that our voices may be heard among them.

We bless thee, O God, for thy daily goodness to us and to all men; for our life and health, our food and raiment, our mental endowments, and for all our social enjoyments. We bless thee that we live in a land where the gospel is preached and thy word is known; and that we have the offer and the means of salvation in Jesus Christ. Make us,

we beseech thee, duly thankful for these thy mercies; and give us grace that we may rightly use them to thy glory, and to our own and others'

salvation.

And we pray that these privileges which we enjoy may be extended to all who need them. Let thy Spirit be with thy ministers who labor to evangelize the nations of the earth. May thy word be truly spoken, and in an honest and good heart received. And grant that all Christians may be so joined together in unity of spirit and in the bond of peace, that thy church may be a holy temple, acceptable unto thee.

Wednesday Morning.

And wilt thou, O merciful Lord, grant to this family the abundance of thy grace! Defend us from evil; watch over us for good, and take us, and all that appertains to us, under thy holy care and keeping. These things, and whatever else thou seest fitting for us, for our neighbors, relatives and friends, and for thy whole church, we humbly ask, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

Wednesday Morning.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, the Maker of all things, the Father of our spirits, the Life of them who believe, and the Resurrection of the dead, thou alone art worthy of all adoration and praise. To thee all angels cry aloud; the heavens and all the powers therein. The holy church throughout all the world doth worship thee; and with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name. We bless thee for thy adorable perfections, and for all the wonders thou doest for the children of men. We thank thee for thy unnumbered mercies vouchsafed to us thy unworthy creatures; and especially that our lives are still preserved, and that we are permitted this morning to open our lips that we may show forth thy praise. May these our thankful offerings flow from lips unfeigned, and from hearts sincere.

We are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice, and our humblest supplications will need thy pardon; yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our of

Wednesday Morning.

fences. Give us, O Lord, the spirit of humble supplication: help our infirmities, and teach us how to pray.

Help us, O Lord, each one to do his duty in that state of life to which respectively we are called, with diligence and fidelity. May we abound in love; abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good; not be slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Give us grace to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them that weep. May we recompense to no man evil for evil; but endeavor to overcome evil with good, and to provide things honest in the sight of all men. Help us to resist temptation and escape the snares of sin. Make us ever mindful of thy presence and desirous of thy grace. Open thou our eyes that we may see the excellence of thy law: give us understanding that we may know thy testimonies and write the words of thy gospel in our hearts. Direct and bless us in our endeavors to know and to do thy will make us contented with what thou shalt provide for us; industrious in some honest calling, and temperate in all things. Make us thankful for all the good that we receive, and kind to those who need the blessings which we enjoy. May all bitterness and anger and evil speaking be put away from us, with all malice: and may we be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as thou hast, we hope and pray, for Christ's sake, forgiven us.

Have mercy, O Lord, upon all those who are still in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity, living in sin, and without God in the world. Convert their souls and bring them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and become one fold under one Shepherd.

We beseech thee, O God, to bless our country

Wednesday Evening.

with prosperity and peace. May this nation be a people serving thee, having thee for their God, and thy word for their guide. Bless our civil rulers, and all who are in authority over us, with wisdom, justice and truth. And wilt thou extend the blessings of light and liberty, and pure and undefiled religion, to all the nations of the earth. May thy kingdom come: may the time arrive when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.

Let thy spirit, O Lord, be with us this day and while we live. Give us grace to love and fear thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments. In all our doings and desires; in our going out and coming in; in the business of our callings, and in the work which our hands find to do, wilt thou rule our hearts, strengthen our hands, and give us thy blessing. May we love the things which thou commandest, and desire those which thou dost promise; and among all the manifold changes and perils of this world, may our hearts be surely fixed where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ.

And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us evermore. Amen.

Wednesday Evening.

ADORABLE Creator, who art exalted above all thrones and dominions, dwelling between the cherubim, in the holy place of the highest heavens, and yet humblest thyself to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth, and to hear the prayers of thy unworthy creatures, be pleased now, we be

Wednesday Evening,

seech thee, to hear the petitions which we would offer in the name of Jesus Christ,

Another day is taken from our scanty span of life, and may it awaken in us a lively sense of the importance of time, and that the period is swiftly approaching when time with us will be no more. Teach us, we beseech thee, so to number our days that we may apply our hearts to true wisdom. Grant that the time and opportunities which thy patient goodness may yet vouchsafe to us, may be rightly used to the purposes of our Christian calling. As we advance in age, may we grow in grace.

us.

We beseech thee, O God, to turn thy face from our sins, and to blot out all our iniquities. Make us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within The sacrifice in which thou delightest is a meek and humble spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, wilt thou not despise. Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers; neither take thou vengeance of our sins. Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood, and be not angry with us forever. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name.

Though we have wickedly transgressed, to whom can we go for pardon and acceptance but unto thee, O thou Savior of men, who alone hast the words of eternal life? If thou speak the word, we shall be healed. Cast us not away from thy presence, nor take thy Holy Spirit from us. Direct, sanctify and govern both our hearts and our bodies in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy commandments. May we seek first, and above all things, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy, that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through

« PreviousContinue »