Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/107

 this shall all men know that we are Thy disciples, if we have love one to another." Amen.

Our Father, etc.

MOST holy, most gracious, and adorable Lord God our Saviour, we adore Thee as the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity, who sittest enthroned in the centre of the sun of heaven, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom shall not pass away.

We adore Thee, we magnify Thy holy name, for Thou only art holy. Help us, we entreat Thee, so to express our gratitude, that in approaching Thee this morning, after the blessings and refreshment of sleep, we may draw down Thy divine benediction, may feel how gracious Thou hast been unto us, that Thou hast renewed our existence, hast continued us in health, and still endowest us with power to go forth into the field of use, and perform the several duties allotted unto us.

Lord, enable us this day to keep our eyes fixed upon Thee, and to strive to bring ourselves into a state of devout obedience to Thy divine laws; that we may acquire that serenity of mind which flows from an advancement in the regenerate life.

We see and acknowledge, O Lord, that there is no true peace in the pursuit exclusively of worldly delights or of worldly pleasures.

We confess we have thought differently, and have pursued the world and its delights with all the avidity and ardour of our natural affections; but we have found by repeated experience those delights to end in satiety and disgust; and, borne onward as we have frequently been to the gratitieation of our sensual appetites, we have also found that such gratifications have ended in vexation of spirit. It has been in states of mind such as these that Thy providence has prepared spiritual sufferings to purify us; and we acknowledge that blessed is the man whom Thou chasteneth, that Thou mightest teach him out of the law. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD of heaven and earth, again hast Thou in Thy mercy preserved us through another day, and brought us in peace to its conclusion. Though "Thou art high and inhabitest eternity," yet art Thou our indulgent Father, as Thou art also the great God of heaven and earth. "We are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture;" unto Thee we owe our life, our health, our every good; glory be to Thy holy name. O Lord! "The day is Thine, the night is also Thine;" Thou watchest over us by night and by day. "Thou art about our path and about our bed, and spiest out all our ways."

We approach Thee this night, and kneel before Thee at our family altar, that we may render due praise unto Thy holy name, express our gratitude for Thy marvellous loving-kindness, and humbly implore Thy pardon for our manifold transgressions.

We have sinned, O Lord; and if we should say that we have not sinned, the truth would not be in us. We have not been sufficiently watchful