Page:The Book of Family Worship.pdf/385



OST gracious, most merciful, and holy Lord God Almighty! who is like unto Thee? who is able to compare with Thee? Infinite in wisdom and power, from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God. Infinite in goodness, Thy love is universal, and Thy mercy extends to all Thy creatures. Again have we tasted of Thy bounty; and it is of Thy mercy that the refreshment of sleep has been granted us, and we are endowed with strength to enter again upon our various duties. Our humble prayer to Thee, O Lord, is that we may be enabled te keep Thee ever before us, that we may learn of Thee, and follow Thee in the regenerate life.

O Lord, we acknowledge how full of evil our hearts are: yes, there is no soundness in us. The whole head is sick, and the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. The loves of self and the world have usurped dominion over as. How variously have our passions infested us and alienated our souls from Thee! Pride and vanity, hatred and revenge, craft and subtlety, depreciation of our neighbour and an exaltation of self have at times completely silenced the pleadings of Thy voice within us. We have indeed been very guilty, and it is: of Thy mercy that we are not consumed. Day after day passes with but little progress made in the regenerate life. Years pass on, and still we are in the bonds of iniquity. Another year, another period of our existence is nearly passed, and still we are unprepared to meet Thee if it should please Thee to call us. O heavenly Father, help us to redeem the time, seeing the days are evil. Assist us to keep our eyes fixed upon Thee and to follow Thee. Help us to know Thy will and to do it, by abandoning our own wills and all that belongs to them. Lead us by Thy divine hand in the paths of religion and virtue. Prepare us for the important change which cannot be far distant, but which may be nearer than we have any conception of. Draw us more and more within the sphere of Thy love, till we are wholly and altogether Thine. Amen.

Our Father, etc.

LORD Jesus Christ, our heavenly Father, help us to walk in "that more excellent way" which is the design of all Thy dispensations, to bring us into that "straight" that "narrow way," the termination of which is everlasting life. May our principal desire be to secure the blessings which await the righteous. May we reflect deeply upon the power which goodness and truth, wherever they are affectionately received, exercise upon the life and conversation. May we also think with gratitude upon the influence they exercise over the most profligate, even in this dark world of sin and sorrow, and call to remembrance that a time will come when righteousness shall triumph—when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ. O Lord, our Saviour, most earnestly do we pray Thee that Thy kingdom may be hastened; that a spiritual reformation may bring the world to Thy footstool, and that all may acknowledge Thee, from the least even unto the greatest. As our days pass rapidly on, may our duties be more aud more faithfully discharged, until the sun of this world shall no more