Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/132



LORD Jesus Christ, who givest liberally to all men, help us, we beseech Thee, that we may be enabled to minister to the necessities of others, and thus mourn with those that mourn, and help to bring them to a sense of Thy divine goodness, and to comfort them with the divine benediction, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Thou hast bestowed upon us the "blessing of rationality; O teach us rightly to exercise our rational faculties. Thou hast bestowed these faculties upon us, that we might limit self-indulgence, keep down the sensual principle, and subdue within us the love of self and the world; and we confess, O Lord, for the purpose of being better prepared to minister to the necessities of others, and to bring us more completely under the government of the divine precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

Incline our hearts, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to the love of that which is good, that we may thus "grow up as trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

O Lord God, the sum of the commandments, as Thou hast tanght us, is to love Thee above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves; teach us, Lord, to keep this precept ever before us, that we may show a devout and willing obedience to all which Thou hast ordained, and that this obedience may be evinced by a faithful performance of all the relative duties of life, by which alone we can exhibit our love to our neighbour. Lord help us to fulfil these duties, for Thy name and mercy sake. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

THURSDAY EVENING.

LORD Jesus Christ. Thou art the source of all wisdom, and without Thee we can do nothing. © teach us to sanctify every engagement upon which we enter by some truth from Thy holy Word; to begin every action under Thy divine guidance, and to glorify Thee as we bring it to a successinl issue.

Thou hast been pleased safely to conduct us to the close of another day. We desire ta acknowledge, with heartfelt gratitude, the continuance of Thy fatherly eare towards us. Every day presenta us with a renewal of Thy goodness, overy night reminds us of Thy unceasing bounty; what shall we render wnto the Lord for all His goadness unto ns? We will take the cup of salvation sud call upon the name of the Lord; we will speak of all His marvellous acts.

In drawing near unto Thee before scching repase for our wearied frames, we have been refreshed in our spirits by the perusal of a portion of Thy Word. O Lord God our Saviour, mercifully grant Thy blessing on the instruction we have received from the sacred page. May its truths sink deeply into each of our hearts, and 'be in us a well of water springing up into eternal life.' May Thy glory be ever before our faces; may the light of Thy countenance be constantly lifted up upon us; and may the light derived from Thee so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. We bless