Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/245

 not what they do." Assist us at all times to exercise gentleness to the accusing spirits, lest we be brought into a state of greater suffering by spiritual captivity, from which there can be no release until full repentance be performed.

Lord, help us this day to keep a watch upon our tongue; every bitter word we utter, or every angry thought we cherish, brings us under the dominion of evil. May we, therefore, in all our trials, possess our souls in patience, and serve Thee, the living God, in righteousness and true holiness. To Thee, O Lord, we commend ourselves this day. Suffer not the arrow that flieth, nor the deadly pestilence, nor any evil to approach us, but in all things be near for our defence, and so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

HERE is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High." It is Thou, O Lord, which causeth springs to arise, and Thy hand impregnates them with healing virtues. It is by Thee that man is led to them, and the earth with all its products does but provide food or medicine to sustain, or to nourish man in health, or to restore him when his health faileth. From a contemplation of these Thy temporal benefits, Lord, lead us to view those which are spiritual. From the fountains of medicinal waters which bring health to the body, O Lord, lead us to the fountain of living waters which heal and purify the soul. From the rivers of Damascus, symbolic of the truths of self-derived intelligence and spiritual pride, Lord, lead us to the river of Jordan, that we may dip in its purifying stream, and have ourselves restored to innocence and childlike simplicity and dependence upon Thee, while we feel ourselves healed of spiritual leprosy. And O grant that, like the honest Syrian captain, when we are convicted of our evils, and have dipped seven times in Jordan, we may with humble gratitude acknowledge the cleansing eficacy of truth, and know and worship no other God than Thee our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD Jesus Christ, our heavenly Father, we desire humbly to thank Thee for Thy revealed Word, and for all the glorious promises which it holds forth unto us. Thy whole work of creation is a book of wisdom and instruction, teeming with intelligence, if we could only look unto Thee for light, to enable us to read it aright. O help us to consider Thy works; not only as they present themselves to our contemplation in external uses, which are obvious, but to explore them in every point of view, that we may gain more interior knowledge of the wisdom with which they are constituted and arranged. On every side the earth teems with Thy blessings; even the very dust has the stump of Thy divinity set on it, and a world of minute beings has been discovered in a grain of sand. We acknowledge Thy beneficence, because Thy