Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/179

 are pleasures for evermore. Be with us, by thy good Spirit, through this night, and may the morning's dawn find us prepared, with willing minds, to follow Thee in the way that leadeth to the mansions of the blessed.

Our Father, &c.

GOD of Heaven and Earth! impressed as we are with thy protecting providence, and grateful for thy goodness and mercy, which continue to guard us from every danger, we approach, with reverence, thy Divine Majesty, to offer up to Thee, in sincerity and truth, the worship of our hearts and lips. O Lord, we acknowledge our many transgressions, and our sins are ever before us. Still, gracious Father! we look to Thee as to the rock of our salvation—the only source of all our hopes and expectations. Lord Jesus, thou who art the one eternal God, we beseech Thee, according to thy loving-kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, to blot out our transgressions. "O Lord, open thou our lips, and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise." To Thee, Heavenly Father! we look for all we stand in need of, both in time and eternity. Help us to cast away the sinful pleasures of the world, and to fix our supreme affections, our highest hopes, on Thee. Give us to see that worship, springing from spiritual love and charity, is, as the offering of Abel, acceptable in thy sight, because it brings down from heaven everlasting blessings to the worshippers: and oh, guard us