Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/159

 Lord, help us to keep Thee ever before us. When we would indulge in evil, we would wish to remove from the sight of a just and holy God; we seem incapable of parting with our sins, and though we again and again experience the words that "there is no peace to the wicked," and feel that our actions bring with them punishment and suffering, yet do we hold fast the cause of punishment. O God, save us from our sins, pardon our evils, we beseech Thee, and help us to repent and turn to Thee with full purpose of heart and life. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD God, whose goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life, though we are utterly unworthy of Thy fatherly love, another day has been added to our existence, and we come before Thee with our humble tribute of thanksgiving. Thy blessings have not failed us, and innumerable have been Thy providential interventions by which we have been preserved this day and every day of our existence. Glory be to Thy name, O Lord!

As we kneel in Thy presence this night, O may our hearts and understandings be the prompters of our devotional exercises; for in approaching Thee it is our duty to reflect that not only must we appear devotional in act, but our acts must be prompted by and filled with the love of goodness and truth.

Lord, Thou hast been very bountiful unto us. Thou hast opened Thine hand and we have been filled with good; and as Thou hast loved and been good unto us, Thou requirest us to love and do good to others. Thou art best served when, we show our love to Thee by deeds of charity to those whom Thou hast made. The sacrifices Thou now requirest under the gospel dispensation are those of broken and contrite hearts; humbled by a sense of our deficiencies, and by the knowledge that without Thee man can do nothing. We cannot offer these sacrifices with acceptance, without the surrender of our selfishness. Lord, help us to lay down our own life that we may find life eternal. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LMIGHTY and most merciful Lord God our Saviour. Thine eyes behold. Thine eyelids try the children of men; there is no action of our lives which escapes Thy notice, and no thought arises in our minds, but lo! O Lord. Thou knowest it altogether. We desire humbly to bow before Thy throne and to acknowledge our manifold sins and transgressions. We have grievously erred from the way of Thy commandments, and our hearts have harboured deceit and are indeed desperately wicked. O give unto us contrite spirits, that we may put away our evils and turn unto Thee with singleness of eye, and with an humble but ardent desire to repent and do the first works. Thou hast not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; Thy mercies have never failed, and amidst all our backslidings Thou hast been near to assist us on our first desire to repent, and by Thy love to quicken and