anointed SoN, that he may continually be transfigured before us. May we see his shining robes, and hear the voice in the holy mount, that our thoughts may be inspired by the communion of heaven. Unveil us to ourselves, that the fashion of our countenance may be changed in prayer. Lift upon us the light of Thy countenance, that our souls may be changed into Thine image, from glory to glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. SELECTION 48: The Beatitudes. T SCRIPTURE LESSON: Matthew xvii. 1-13, and 2 Peter i. 13-18. CRUCIFIXION-GOOD FRIDAY. WHEN Rom. v. 6-8. Titus ii. 14. HEN we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a benefactor some would even dare to die. But GOD Commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. [LET US PRAY.] THINE image and superscription, O LORD, are upon ing with all flesh. The hidden man of the heart, though defiled and marred, is precious in Thy sight, and shall come up, out of darkest depths, into union with Thee. Blessed be Thou, our Father, for the revelations of human sympathy and the prophecies of divine aspiration. Light shines behind light in all Thy works: glory dwells within glory in all Thy ways; and light and glory meet and rejoice together, in the Redeemer of the world. Out of his heart flowed living streams, evermore replenished by the fountain above; and the Holy Spirit, breathing in the patience and tenderness of the cross, shall yet awaken humanity into a new and devotional life. veil from our thoughts, that we may see Thine image in every man, and read the dedication of Thy purpose, Holiness to the LORD! O let us not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to Thee. Quicken us into a living sense of his dying love, that we may consecrate ourselves to the good of others, and find the blessing of continual peace, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶ SELECTION 41: "Who hath believed our report ?" SCRIPTURE LESSONS: 1 Peter ii. 19-25; iii. 13–18; or Mark xv. 25-39. RESURRECTION-EASTER. 1 Peter i. 3. 2 Cor. v. 14. LESSED be the GOD and Father of our Lord Jesus BLE Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again. F [LET US PRAY.] ATHER ALMIGHTY, who through Thine onlybegotten SoN hast overcome death, and brought life and immortality to light: How shall we worthily praise Thee, how shall we truly glorify Thee, for the eternal purpose of Thy grace, made known in the triumph of a rejected and crucified Redeemer! Thou hast delivered many souls from tears and anxiety: Thou hast poured the peace of heaven into sorrowing hearts: Thou hast given strength to the weary, and bended the bow of hope over the valley of prayer: Thou hast turned the shadow of death into the morning of the resurrection, and the believing soul looks upward, out of dust and ashes, into the bloom of incorruptible life. O THOU who art working in and through all things, that the Lord Jesus should be embalmed in our midst as a dead Christ, or entombed in a stony heart, and forgotten. Raise him up in our meditations, we beseech Thee, that none of us may seek the living among the dead. Open our souls to the dominion of his love, that we may feel his continual presence, and know him to be a quickening spirit. Exalt Thy SON among the nations, O our God, that his victory and salvation may be known in all the earth. Let his living light go forth, conquering and to conquer, until all the world shall be redeemed from darkness, and sorrow, and death, and glorify Thy holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. SELECTION 49: "The Lord shall comfort Zion." SCRIPTURE LESSON: John xx. 1-17; or 1 Corinthians xv. 1–28. BEING ASCENSION-EXALTATION. EING found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. JUST [LET US PRAY.] UST and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints! No sacrifice of personal ease, no work of charity, no word of the heart, no answer to the plea of sorrow, not a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, shall fail of its reward. Blessed be Thou, O righteous Father, for the merciful mission of the Redeemer; and blessed be the Redeemer who came to do Thy will,-through lowliness to exalt humanity, through poverty to enrich the world. Deeper than words was the joy set before him, and higher than the dominion of the earth is the honor of his shining footsteps; and the path he trod, though solemn and lonely, led upward through the gates of day, from the cross to the crown. O GOD the King of Glory, who hast exalted the Lord of Life to the right hand of power: Grant us the indwelling of his spirit, that we may faithfully follow him in the regeneration, be more than conquerors through him who loved us, and gain the empire of souls. Inspire our thoughts of a higher life, that we may feel how divine a thing it is to rise above ourselves, by outgrowing selfish aims-and how we may be lifted into peace through sharpest suffering-and how the kingdom of heaven comes down into the heart, when the affections are set upon things above. Thou art continually exalting the Saviour in all willing minds, and art ever calling upon Thy redeemed ones to honor him as they honor Thee. Make us entirely Thine, we beseech Thee, that in all our thoughts and ways, in life, and in death, and in the life beyond, we may truly acknowledge the Lord of All, to the glory of Thy holy name, world without end. Amen. SELECTION 5: "The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof." PENTECOST-WHITSUNDAY. Hebrews viii. 10-12. HIS is the covenant that I will make with the house of Triel after those days, saith the LORD: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a GOD, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. [LET US PRAY.] W revelations E praise Thee, Father of Lights, for the Holy ways; yet do we feel that Thy kingdom is not in word, but in the power and dominion of the Holy Spirit. Let the blessed Gospel which comes to us in the authority of truth, be established within us by the redemption of Thy grace. Put Thy law into our minds, that we may be epistles of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. May the faithful Witness be in our thoughts as a Light, and His quickening power be the Guide, and Sanctifier, and Comforter of our souls. May Pentecost be the daily experience of our lives, and the Holy Spirit be upon us as cloven tongues of fire, that the truth may be spoken in love, and prayer glow heavenward in unity with praise. So shall duty become one with happiness, and the worship of earth be the communion of heaven, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶ SELECTION 23: "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts!" SCRIPTURE LESSON: John xiv. 15–27; xv. 20–27; xvi. 1–13. THEA BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. Jer. xxxi. 3. Isa. xli. 10; xliii. 2. HE LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, saith the LORD: Be thou not dismayed, for I am thy GOD. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee-and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, saith the LORD. [LET US PRAY.] ATHER of Lights, with whom is no variableness, the goodness and mercy which have continually fol lowed us, and for the memories which are with us this day, as familiar friends, inscribing on the new way |