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Bless each one of us before thee. May peace and love fill this home with grateful happiness. May we be wise unto salvation. Lead the young in paths of innocence; cheer the days of old age; and guide all hearts to thee.

O Thou, who didst so love the world as to give thine only Son to reclaim man from sin, and open before him the way of life, we thank thee that thou hast appointed us to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Convinced of our need of a Saviour, may we seek and find Christ, hear his word, obey his precepts, and have him formed and living in our hearts. This day may we be children of the light, Christians in every thought and deed, and come one day's journey nearer to a glorious and blessed immortality; so that the day of our death, even should it be this day, may not overtake us as a thief, and whether we wake or sleep we may live with Christ.

Graciously hear us, O Father of our spirits, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

XXXVI.

For Self-Control.

My son, attend to my words; incline thy ear to my sayings.

Let them not depart from thy eyes; keep them in the midst of thy heart.

For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

Let thy eyes look right on, and let thy eyelids look straight before thee.

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

ETERNAL GOD, we adore thee as the sovereign Lord over all beings and in all worlds. None can dispute thy authority, resist thy will, or deny thy right to reign supreme. But we rejoice and are comforted to know that thy power is not more absolute than are thy wisdom and thy goodness, and that thy mercy endureth forever.

O God, grateful for thy continual care, we would feel that it is our duty and our happiness alike to submit ourselves to thy will. O, teach us to obey thee as we ought. Let not the evil that is in our own hearts, nor the evil that is in the world around us, beguile us to our ruin. May we keep thy sayings in the midst of our heart, remembering that we can be safe, innocent and happy, only as we are guided, controlled and disposed of, according to thy holy will. Be thou, O God, our counsellor, guardian, sanctifier, and comforter. With filial reverence, gratitude and love, we

would commit to thee the keeping of our souls, as te a faithful Creator, who does all things well, and cannot lay upon man more than is right.

If it be our lot this day to endure hardship, loss or pain, to be wounded in our affections, or injured in our interests, then, O Father of mercies, do thou help us to keep our hearts with all diligence, and in patience to possess our souls. Blessed by thee in all time past, we would never repine at thy chastisements, or doubt thy future care and kindness. Let not one murmuring thought or feeling arise within us in the hour of our chastening. But may the sorrows we experience be mitigated by the remembrance of all thy past mercies, and soothed by the hope of good yet to come after sorrow may have purified and made us better. If the events of this day shall be conducive to our prosperity, replete with joy, and our hearts exult in the attainment of some good we have desired, then, O Father, may thy Holy Spirit graciously move each better feeling within us, prompt us to render the thanks due for thy merciful goodness to us, and repress every impulse which might tend to convert to evil what is designed for our improvement. Thus may we use all sublunary things with pious wisdom, nor turn to the right hand nor to the left in the path of thy service.

Great God, we beseech thy blessing on us and on all who are dear to us. Let this be a day well spent.

Let thy peace dwell in our hearts. Let integrity and justice, truth and innocence, purity and charity, distinguish and adorn our characters. May we honor Christ before men by a conduct consistently Christian. To thee, O Father, we yield ourselves, to be thine now and forever. Amen.

XXXVII.

Mutual Affection.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice :

And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

ALMIGHTY GOD, it is owing to thee that we have been preserved through the past night. It is through thy goodness that we have been refreshed with sleep, and that our eyes are now opened to the light of another day. Accept, we beseech thee, our grateful praise; and grant that this day we may be upheld by thy power, and led by thy hand, and kept from danger, from sin, and from pain. With the return of each morning may our thoughts and affections rise to thee; and as one day succeeds another, so may our

love to thee be perpetually renewed in our hearts, and our service of thee be constant.

Help us, O God and Father, to love one another. Let thy love be shed abroad upon this family, and may each member of the same walk in the light of thy favor. May children know thee to be their God, and their father's God; and may they seek thy blessing as their greatest happiness, and make it their first duty and find it their highest pleasure to keep thy commandments.

O God, we commit our ways to thee. To thee we commend all whom we love. Be with them and with us, by day and by night, in sorrow and in joy, in time and in eternity. Forgive us all our sins, and accept us freely through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

XXXVIII.

Submission and Peace.

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction :

For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain of it than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her.

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