Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/239



LORD Jesus Christ, Thou hast taught us to pray, that as Thy will is done in heaven so may it be done on earth. In heaven the blessed know not selfishness; theirs is the delight of love for its own sake; goodness is the very life of their existence, and to them it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive. There there is not the mere appearance of holiness, but the very spirit of it; and there their neighbour is, in the celestial kingdom, loved even better than themselves. As these important truths develop themselves before us, from the study of Thy Word, O Heavenly Father, help us to acquire the state which shall enable us to love our neighbour as ourselves. Help us to do good and to communicate, and to do good for the sake of good, remembering that with such sacrifices Thou art well pleased.

O help us to remove from our understandings all that is opposite to Thy truth, and from our wills all that is opposite to Thy goodness; that there may be a clean heart given us, and a right spirit renewed within us; and that thus, with Thy divine assistance, we may be enabled to do Thy will on earth as it is done in heaven.

Lord, we pray most earnestly for the purifying power and regenerating influences of Thy Spirit. Thou knowest the hereditary bias which is in us, yea, that our hearts are set in us to do evil, and that continually. Do Thou, then, give us power to resist the bias of our hereditary promptings; to practice constant vigilance and self-denial; so that our wills may become more and more receptive of Thy love, and more completely surrendered to thy divine government. O help us to acquire that temper and spirit which, under every trial, may exclaim, "Not our will, but Thine be done." Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that while vicissitude and trial are necessary for us, to exercise that freedom of will with which Thou hast endowed us, and without which we could not become accountable creatures, we feel that we have need of the constant aid of Thy righteous dispensations, so that our ruling affection may be turned towards goodness, and thus towards heaven; and as Thou art essential goodness, our duty plainly is to love Thee above all things; that Thy love may be shed abroad in our hearts, and that from it every affection and desire may be purified and rendered holy; that, from the inmost affection of our souls to the natural desires and external affections of our minds, we may glorify Thee in our bodies and in our spirits which are Thine.

O heavenly Father, reign Thou in our understandings. Be Thou King over all the earth of our natural or external minds; and grant that Thy kingdom of spiritual truth may be established within us, so that every thought may obey the dictate of its own guiding principle of wisdom. And bow Thou our wills in submission to Thy divine will, until every affection has so learned to be submissive, that whatever may happen unto us, may Thy directing providence have its termination in our ever-