藤 unfeigned thanksgivings for the mercies of another day. Thou gavest us our being, and thou preservest us from day to day. Through the defenceless hours of the night thou hast kept us in safety. Thou hast given us a soul capable of knowing and rejoicing in thee, and a body by which we may serve thee. We bless thee for the seeing eye and the hearing ear, for the free use of our limbs and of our senses, for the powers of the mind, and the affections of the heart. But, O Lord, we thank thee most of all for thy spiritual blessings. We bless thee that we were not born in Heathen lands, but in this favoured Country, where the light of thy truth clearly shines. We thank thee for the comfort of the Holy Scriptures, for the labours of faithful ministers, and for all the means of grace. O how great has been thy love to us! Thou sparedst not thine own Son, but delivered him up for us all, and with him thou hast freely given us all things. We are invited to come to thee; though we be guilty and sinful, we are freely offered pardon, peace, and salvation; and thou givest us a hope full of immortality in Christ Jesus our Saviour. Dedication. [And what reward shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits? We desire now afresh to devote ourselves to thy service. We give up ourselves, our whole selves unto thee. God of peace, sanctify us wholly. God of our life, grant that our whole spirit, and soul, and body, may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.] Confession. But with shame and confusion of face we would confess, that we have been rebellious and disobedient. Thou art holy, but we are unholy. Thou art merciful, but we have often been selfish and unkind. Thou art pure, but we are impure. Thou art patient, but we are impatient. We have abused all thy gifts, and made them occasions of sin. Lord, we acknowledge our impenitence, we confess our unbelief, we bewail our selfrighteousness. Petition. Forgive us all our offences, remember not against us our transgressions, but remember thy great and tender mercies which have been ever of old. Grant unto every one of us a saving interest in the death of Christ, full and free forgiveness of all our sins, and grace and strength to go and sin no more. Lord, help us to love thee, teach us to serve thee. Give us thy strength that we may overcome our corrupt nature. Grant that this day we may have power from on high to resist every temptation, to confess Christ before men, to labour steadfastly with a single eye to thy glory, to live in the spirit of prayer, in faith, humility, self-denial and love, and to walk before thee in that narrow way which leads to eternal life. Fill us with love to others. Teach us to do good to all men, [and to seek according to our means to visit and relieve the fatherless and the widows in their affliction;] and do thou keep us unspotted from the world. Pleading. [Lord, for thy name's sake, hear us. We beseech thee, according to thy infinite mercy, give us grace to serve thee, constantly and unfeignedly. Herein art thou glorified that we bear much fruit. For thine own glory, grant us thy Spirit that we may bring forth all the fruits of righteousness.] Intercession. And hear us farther in behalf of our relations and friends, our neighbourhood, our Minister, and all for Y whom we ought to pray. Help those that are weak.--Comfort those that are cast down. Heal those that are sick. Relieve those that are in distress. Be merciful unto thy Church. O bless us, and cause thy face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Bring the Gentiles to Christ. Gather thy people Israel into thy fold. Give wisdom and power to every effort of Christian love to spread thy Gospel. Bless all societies formed for this end, and let those who support and conduct them have thy direction and guidance. Lord grant that the power of the cross of Christ may at length fully triumph over all error and superstition, all idolatry, and delusion, and sin. Gracious Lord, not for our worthiness, but for the only name's sake of Jesus Christ, hear these our prayers which we sum up in his own words. Our Father, &c. ANOTHER MORNING FAMILY PRAYER. ALMIGHTY Father, source of every good, and fountain of every blessing, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in him our God and Father, give us the spirit of adoption, and enable us to cry, Abba, Father. Help us to come and pour out our hearts before thee with the same confidence and affection with which children go to an earthly parent. Enable us to repose ourselves on thy love, to tell thee all our desires, and all our sorrows; and, from the heart, to thank thee for all thy goodness to us. Thanksgiving. Great and abundant cause we have to bless our God for all that he is in himself, and for all that he is to us. We bless thee, that in the Gospel of Christ we have seen that mercy and truth meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other. We thank thee for all thre mercies of redemption. We rejoice in thy power and justice, thy holiness, mercy, and love; and that the light of the knowledge of this thy glory shines into the hearts of thy people in the face of Jesus Christ. Blessed be thou, the just God and the Saviour. Thy mercies are new every morning. We thank thee that we meet together in peace and safety. Thou hast been our defence and our refuge. Let then the outgoings of the morning and of the evening praise thee. Confession. But we are all sinful and guilty. We have turned every one to his own way. We would give thee glory by an ingenuous and free confession that in many things we have all offended thee. From our youth up, even till now, we have been in a great trespass. We dare not justify ourselves in thy sight, for if we should attempt it, even our own mouths would condemn.us.We have omitted to perform many plain duties. We have done many things for which our consciences justly accuse us. All our righteousnesses are defiled. All our prayers and services are polluted. Pleading. [But spare us, good Lord, spare us, according to thy great compassion and thy tender mercy. Lord God of our salvation, it is thy gracious promise on which our souls rely, that if we confess our sins thou art just and faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We now confess our sins, and we ask that they may be forgiven, and our souls purified from sin. We plead thy justice, for Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree. We plead thy faithful- ness according to thy many precious promises. Let us now by faith obtain those promises.] Petition. Forgive, forgive us all our sins. Cleanse, we beseech thee, the thoughts of our hearts, by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name. Strengthen us for the duties of this day. Suffer us not to be tempted above what we are able to bear; but with every temptation make a way to escape. Incline and enable us to walk in that way. Hold thou up our goings in thy paths that our feet slip not. Set a watch before our mouths, and keep the door of our lips, that we offend not with our tongue. May we always speak that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.— Enable us also to keep our heart with all diligence, seeing that out of it are the issues of life. Increase our faith, enliven our hope, and enlarge our charity, that we may faithfully serve thee, and in all things glorify thy holy name. Intercession. We pray for all our absent relatives and friends. Give them prosperity both of body and soul.* Grant *When any member of the family is sick, add— We particularly commend unto thee that member of our family now in affliction: may faith, patience, submission, and resignation be granted in this hour of trial, and in thy own good time remove the affliction. And, Lord, grant that all our tribulations bere below may lead us to look at the things which are above, and work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Ever give us a spirit of sympathy, and tender feeling, and love for each other; and may we always be ready to weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. When any member of the family is on a journey, add O Lord, we beseech thee, regard with thy favour, protect and defend him who is now absent from us. Take him under thy special care. Preserve him from every temptation. Prosper him in his undertakings. May he be a blessing wherever he goes; and bring him in health and peace among us again, that we may toge ther have fresh cause to praise and bless tby holy name. |