Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/208



LMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, again has the light renewed the day and brought us into Thy presence. Thou only art the true source of wisdom, and, to become wise unto salvation, Thy Word of truth must be explored by us. "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Assist us, then, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that we may, by exploring Thy Word, acquire this true wisdom,—the wisdom which cometh from above; the wisdom to know Thee, the only true God, who in Thy divine humanity art over all blessed for evermore; the wisdom which shall enable us to behold Thee in all Thy dealings with us as a tender and beneficent Father, whose great delight is in beholding His children prosperous and happy.

O heavenly Father, how great is Thy goodness and how great Thy mercy to enable and permit us thus to know Thee! Thy revealed words proclaim Thee, as Thou art, a fountain of inexhaustible love. We look at the tenderness of our earthly parents, we behold their solicitude for our welfare, the watchfulness they exercise over us, and we hear the warnings they address unto us of the snares and dangers which beset our path; and by their love for us are we led to form a faint idea of that love wherewith Thou hast everlastingly loved us. But all that our earthly father can do is finite, and bounded by his limited perception and limited knowledge. Thy love leads us to behold Thee in the tender character of a Father, while we adore Thee as our Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour. We glorify Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, who art over all, God, blessed for evermore. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

TERNAL, omnipotent, and glorified Lord God Almighty! In Thy divine humanity every attribute of the Deity dwells; in Thee "dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." O Lord Jesus Christ, we worship Thee, and Thee alone, and we pray Thee assist us, that we may acquire a deep reverence for Thy high and holy name. Thou hast enjoined us to be holy, even as Thou art holy. Thy holiness is grounded in Thy essential love; and holiness is an accommodated expression unto as, that, as Thou hast ever evinced Thy love to us, we ought to reverence Thee with deep and fervent and undisguised affection. To be holy as Thou art holy is to return Thee love for love—to display in a finite degree that love which Thou hast ever infinitely bestowed upon us.

Thou dwellest in the high and holy place, in the inmost of the celestial heavens, which is love celestial; in the inmost of Thy Church, which connects Thee with all true worshippers; and in the high and holy place of man's regenerated will, filling it and blessing it with that goodness by which it can best exhibit Thy love to others.

O give unto us clean hearts that Thine abode may be taken up within us, and that the inmost of our affections may be the high and holy place in which Thou delightest to dwell. It is impossible for us to show forth Thy goodness to the world unless it has its abiding place within