Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/202

 While all around us is fresh and verdant, while the fields are covered with corn, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, we know not whether we shall be permitted to participate in these temporal blessings. Though we are now in the enjoyment of high health, we know not how soon we may be called into Thy immediate presence; we feel that we are mortal, and all the beauties of nature which now surround us tend to remind us of the great change we must undergo. Our lives pass as the grass of the field withereth. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

TERNAL and omnipotent God, Thou who art high, inhabiting eternity, yet condescending to behold the dwellers upon earth, we Thine unworthy servants again approach Thy mercy seat. From the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same, Thy goodness and mercy have followed us; and we desire this evening to express our humble thanks for Thy fatherly and protecting care.

Help us, Lord, we beseech Thee to take a review of the past day, while we devoutly acknowledge that no moment of it bas passed without Thy watchful superintendence. The eye of Thy providence has been bent upon us, averting danger, and strengthening us in the way of righteousness. O enable us to keep Thy Word of truth before us, and assist us with Thy grace, that we may go on to perfection. Ever varying as are our states, O teach us, that whatsoever be the state in which we are, our duty still is to render it perfect. Every faculty of our souls should be bent to the attainment of that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

Teach us, then, O Lord, we beseech Thee, and help us to press forward to the mark of the prize of our high calling. While we mourn over our past transgressions, teach us to give due diligence to avoid evil for the future, and so to pursue our course that we may live the life which leads to heaven. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD Jesus Christ, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, help us, we earnestly beseech Thee, to approach Thy throne this morning with feelings of devout gratitude for the blessings we have enjoyed during the past night, and assist us to look unto Thee for aid, that the engagements upon which we are about to enter this day may be performed in a spirit of genuine charity, and with a desire to render ourselves useful, according to the best of the ability with which Thou hast endowed us. "O that our ways may be directed by Thy statutes; O let us not wander from Thy commandments."

Leave us not to our own counsels, and suffer us not to indulge the desires of our vain and deceitful hearts; but let Thy providence go lead us in the way we should go that we may follow in the orderly path of righteousness, and be prosperous in our engagements, because our minds are stayed on Thee.