Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/127

 "Thou art our trust, O God." Lord, let Thy peace be with us this morning, and make us from this act of devotion strong to go through the duties of the day, and thankful for all the privileges we enjoy. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

SATURDAY EVENING.

LORD, we confess, and Thou knowest, our frailty. Often have we bewailed and said, " Surely the Lord hath forgotten us. He hath hidden His face from us, we qo mourning all the day long." And yet ere the evening has arrived. Thou hast poured balm into our wounds. Thou hast assuaged our pains, and while our hearts have been filled with distrust and bitterness, we have been suddenly brought to our recollection, and enabled to say. Never has the Lord forgotten us; yea. Hia mercy, spite of our ingratitude, continues with us, and even this our affliction He has turned into comfort and blessing. Merciful Lord, we, the members of this family, may not now be in sickness or sorrow, neither may the members of our nearest and dearest connections, but Thou hast enjoined us to weep with those that weep, as well as to rejoice with those who rejoice. Still there may be around us a multitude of the wretched and miserable, who groan under their sufferings. For them we would humbly Plead, and towards them, in humble imitation of Thee, we would perform the charities of the good Samaritan. Help us. O Lord, in this neighbourly office, and while we sympathise with them, according to our means put it into our hearts to relieve them. And every good we are enabled to perform shall be ascribed unto Thee. O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. Our Father, etc.

LORD Jesus Christ, help as we beseech Thee to sanctify and keep holy this Sabbath-day, and to worship Thee only in spirit and in truth.

Aid us to sanctify and render holy Thy divine name. May we not only use it reverently in the public worship of Thy Church, but never presume to profane it by introducing it into our ordinary discourse, or in an irreverent manner. O teach us that Thy name comprehends the whole of Thy divine qualities, that Thy name is stamped on every page of the sacred Word, that Thy name exhibits Thy Supreme Divinity, as Well as the Divinity of Thy Humanity; and O how awful must it be, if We use it profanely! Thou canst, indeed, not hold us guiltless if we take Thy name in vain.

Lord of the Sabbath, we desire to glorify Thee that Thou hast instituted it for man's rest, peace, and happiness, not merely as a cessation from bodily toil, nor even that he may engage in spiritual duties, but also that it is for ever to be a memorial of that rest which Thou affordest us as we pass through the varying states of the regeneration. Lord, we desire to acknowledge that every six days of our natural existence has a tendency to remind us of all the trials, labours, and conflicts necessary