Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/266

 254 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK.

to be constant in labours of love and charity; and to be so submissive to Thy wise dispensations as shall give the assurance of that perfect love to Thee which casteth out all fear. Give us to perceive that when faith includes charity it conducts to heaven, when it is alone it is powerJess. Give us therefore, we boseech Thee, an interior perception of Thy trath; and grant us Thy grace that the truth we perceive may bo rightly exercised in the direction of true charity. Above all things grant us the grace to look continually unto Thee for help, and to have no doubt that that help will be afforded us, if it be rightly sought. Give unto us that trae evangelical faith, which gives vigour and light to the understanding, and add unto it that living eharity, which bears, hopes, aud endures all things, while it is full of good fruits, without partiality and withont hypocrisy. Amen. Our Father, ete.

LORD our Saviour, Thou hast declared that the meek shall inherit the earth. O keep us free from pride and vain-glory. May we never forget that all our talents, whether natural or acquired, are derived from Thee; and to be of service to our fellow-creatures, we must be guided by the influences of Thy good Spirit: and, to be so guided, we must wait upon Thee, daily and hourly remembering that without Thee we can do nothing. With this knowledge before us, with the assurance that to be Thy disciples we must love one another, grant unto us a spirit of pure, disinterested, brotherly love, that in all we say or do there may be nothing of a selfish or mercenary spirit. As we are commanded to forsake all that we have, to relinquish our own life before we can find life eternal, so help us to make this complete surrender of ourselves. As Thou art essential love, as the blessed angels are the more immediate recipients of Thy love, that they may respectively act as mediums of conveying Thy love to us; so, O Lord, we earnestly pray to be preserved in such a temper and spirit as may present no obstacle to the entrance of their love; but may we at all times learn of Thee, and be found among the number of Thy true and faithful disciples. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD Jesus Christ, who art the essential truth, make us grateful for the measure of truth meted out to us. Thy glorious perfections, Thy infinite love, are revealed in purity, and with so much plainness and truth that we cannot resist their potency. Make us grateful, then, 0 Lord, for the spiritual view we have of Thy perfections; assist us to make a right use of our knowledge! Be it our aim to be constantly shadowing forth Thy love in all humility and tenderness of soul; but O prevent us from censuring or judging others; suffer us not to exercise any spirit of pharisecism, or to use the vaunting language, "God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are!" Keep us in humility and lowly-mindedness. Bring us to the reverent and devout acknowledgment, that the most perfect seasons of enjoyment, the most blissful moments