Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/348

 firstlings of our flock and the fat thereof; and may the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be accepted in Thy sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer.

O Lord, Thou knowest what is best for us before we ask it; fain would we be taught of Thee—fain would we wait to hear what Thou, by the influences of Thy Spirit, should suggest. If left to ourselves our prayers would be too frequently framed after the fashion of this world, and our desire would be but to receive the pleasures and enjoyments of this lower state. So ignorant: are we of what would conduce to our true interests, that we might seek for and desire those things which would be most prejudicial, and in the blindness of our ignorance might earnestly pray for honours and titles, or for the wealth of the world. "Lord, teach us how to pray!" Give us whatsoever Thou seest fit, even thongh we ask it not; and withhold from us what may be detrimental, even though we ask it most earnestly. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

WEDNESDAY EVENING.

Most glorious, most holy and beneficent Saviour! who is like unto

'Thee? with whom canst Thou be compared, or to whom canst Thou be likened? High aa the heavens are above the earth, o are Thy ways above ours, and Thy thoughts above our thoughts; there is none to whom we can compare Thee. Thon sittest upon the circle of the heavens, and the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers before Thee. But high ag Thou dwellest above the heavens. Thou art not unmindful of the humble inhabitants of the sarth. Thou notest all their wants, and suppliest them. Beholding all their wanderings. Thou interposest Thy righteous dispensations; Thou preventest the destruction into which they would plunge themselves, and stopping them in their headlong carecr to misery, turnest them and bringest thom by a way they know not of, and savest them even though it be by fire. Oh what love is equal to Thy love? The mother may forget the tender infant, but Thy love can never forget us. Oh what thought can animate the understanding of man more than this: that the great Master of all things, the most potent and mighty King of kings and Lord of lords, the Creator of the world and of the universe of worlds, doth so love the whole of His creatures that not one of them is beneath His notice? Lord, in Thee do we pat our trust, and into Thy hands we commend onr spirits. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

THURSDAY MORNING.

0 LORD Jesus Christ, as Thy goodness extends to all, and thy tender

mercies are over all Thy works, may we be kept in remembrance that no good can be done but that has its origin in Thee; and may we therefore honour Thee in the instrument Thou hast chosen for dispensing Thy bounty; ss we behold Thy servants executing judgment in behalf of the oppressed, dealing out their bread to the hungry, covering the naked with a garment, relieving the fatherless and the widow, raising the poor from the dust, and visiting the sick in their affliction, may the