us draw nigh unto thee in the spirit, that we may feel how near thou always art unto us. Teach us that the heaven where thou lovest to dwell is in the heart and in the home of the pure and the lowly. Open thou our eyes that we may see this place to be none other but the house of God, and its lowly door the gate of heaven. Open our hearts by the gentle urgencies of thy Spirit, that thy Christ and all thy holy angels may come in and abide with us as welcome guests. Thou who hast been our dwelling-place in all generations, O dwell thou with us and within us to-day. Once more the light of the visible heaven, which declares thy handiwork, shines in through the windows of our earthly tabernacle to guide and to gladden our daily toil. O, let the light of thy spiritual presence, as imaged in the face of Jesus Christ, in like manner shine in upon our souls to quicken our affections and to guide our thoughts to thee. May this new morning kindle in us a new desire to live as children of the day. May we walk and work as seeing Him who is invisible. May we see and share thy endless and boundless activity of beneficence, entering into the joy of our Lord. Let thy works appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children, and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Guide us this day and all our days with thy counsel, and afterward receive us to glory. Amen. EVENING. OD of the evening, while its shades deepen around us, we come to thee. We give thee thanks for what the day has bestowed: for protection, for sustenance, for the blessings that have crowned us; yes, even for the trials that have been sent to bring us nearer to thyself. "The day is thine," and through the day thou hast been with us. "The night also is thine"; through night be near us still. Be near, not only as thou art, in thine infinity, present everywhere, but as thou art with thy people, looking on them with approval, and granting them the sweet assurance of thy love. Thou hast said that thy dwelling is with the lowly and with him of contrite heart; thus in lowliness and penitence for sin, enable us to seek thee and to find thee near. Abide with us, O Lord, "for the day is far spent." Abide to defend our dwelling from outward evil, and to guard our hearts from every unworthy thought and feeling. Be thy protection not with us alone, but with the traveller on the land or on the deep, the soldier in his tent, the captive in his cell. Be with those in sorrow and those in gladness, with those in the fulness of strength and those drawing near to death. As thou sendest to the wearied children of men thy freshening gift of sleep, send to the souls of all spiritual refreshment, that good purposes may be formed or strengthened anew, for patient endurance or for active duty. Abide with us, for the day of life is drawinghow nearly we know not! - toward its close. Be with us, ever that we may be prepared; be with us when that close shall come; and then may we go to our final rest with calmness, even as now to our slumber, knowing that thou art with us still. Grant unto us thine approving presence, not in time alone, but in eternity; and, awaking in the light of heaven, may we be ever with the Lord. To thee, in the name of Him who is one with thee, and through whom we have access to thy throne, be praises evermore. Amen. XXXIV. A SUSTAINING HOPE. Hope humbly, then; with trembling pinions soar, POPE. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Hope is like the wing of an angel soaring up to heaven, and bears our prayers to the throne of God. - Taylor. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. Without hope it is impossible to pray; but hope makes our prayers reasonable, passionate, and religious; for it relies on God's promise. - Taylor. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Hope strengthens, nourishes, and fortifies all the virtues, it softens all afflictions, it weakens all temptations, and is the fruitful source of all good works. — St. Chrysostom. Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen. Faith, if it be true, living, and justifying, cannot be separated from a good life; "it overcomes the world," it "works righteousness," and makes us diligently to do, and cheerfully to suffer, whatsoever God hath placed in our way to heaven. Taylor. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou dis`quieted within me? hope in God. The fear of the Lord is strong confidence; and his children shall have a place of refuge. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all that hope in the Lord. In thee, O Lord, do I hope. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail. MORNING. UR Father who art in heaven, thou who art OUR our Creator and daily Preserver, in the morn ing will we direct our prayer unto thee, and will look up. We thank thee for the repose of another night and for the light of this day. With bodies refreshed by sleep, and with minds awakened anew to the consciousness of existence, we come to thee who art ever watching over us, that we may be taught by thy wisdom and strengthened by thy grace in the duties and labors before us. Our Heavenly Father, we know not what is before us in this day upon which we have entered; but thou knowest, and we feel that thou hast ordered all things for us in mercy and in wisdom. Deepen our faith, we beseech thee, in thy fatherly care and interest. Enable us to feel that thou art ordering our ways, and that thou wilt cause all things to work together for good to them that love thee. O God, we know not what a day may bring forth, or when our appointed time shall come; but we have hope in thee, and in that hope would we abide evermore. Sustained by it, we would do the work which thou hast given us to do in this world, and labor on unto the end, feeling that what thou hast not given us to know here we shall know hereafter. Thou hast assured us, O God, that if we are the obedient disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, thou wilt receive us into thy bliss in the world to come, and give unto us crowns of righteousness. Having this hope, we would day by day purify ourselves, even as thou art pure, and with diligence and pa |