IV. SUNDAY EVENING. Glory to thee, my God, this night, Forgive us, Lord, through thy dear Son, BISHOP KEN. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him. Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Jesus said, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. E love thee, O love thee more our God; and we desire to and more. Grant to us that we may love thee as much as we desire, and as much as we ought. O love of God, ever burning and never extinguished, fire in the unconsuming bush, inflame, and preserve by inflaming, our hearts. May the tumult of the senses be silent, the fantasies of earth and air be still, and God alone be near to us now. O dearest Friend, who hast so loved and saved us, who art so vitalizing and uplifting us, the thought of whom is so sweet and always growing sweeter, come with Christ and dwell in our hearts; then thou wilt keep a watch over our lips, our steps, our deeds, and we shall not need to be anxious either for our souls or our bodies. We have lived, O Lord of light, through another day of thy light. Jesus, our Master, has led us to-day, and we rest in quiet this evening, sitting at his feet, and hearing his words. Our souls, made in thine image, now feel thee dwelling in them. It is as a drop of water holding in it the image of the sun. Make it more luminous, that thine image in us may be seen by others. Give us love, sweetest of all gifts, which teaches and learns, and knows no enemy, - love which praises or blames, but never suspects or injures. Give us in our hearts pure love, born of thy love to us, that we may love others as thou lovest us. Give us love, never idle, never weary of well-doing, which never faints or turns or goes backward. Give us love, which flows out equally to old and young, poor and rich, wise and foolish, free and slave, black and white, sick and well, high and low, infidel and saint, good and bad, to the innocent child, and to the abandoned and corrupted sinner. O most loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom floweth all love, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to thee and cold to others, be warmed by this divine fire. So help and bless us in thy Son. Amen. V. SUNDAY EVENING. Fading, still fading, the last beam is shining; At evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Watch, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Jesus said, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. T He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. UR Father, we kneel before thee in these last moments of the first day, to thank thee for the pure, quiet rest of the Sabbath. For this one day, when we can sit down and be still, and know that thou art God, can set our life afresh by thine everlasting truth, and wash ourselves from the dust and strife of the world, and be clean. We thank thee, that thou hast made the need for this day a part of our nature, and made the needful day a holy day by thy grace. We adore thee, that thou hast made it a day when thy children can go home from the school of the world, and be fresh and free for worship in the home, the church, or in the outer temple of nature,for thoughts of thee, and of the dear ones who have gone from us to thy near presence in heaven. O forgive us if we have broken this good Sabbath by any hard thought or word or deed to men, or by any hard bondage to thee. And may the blessing of this day so blend with the repose of this night, as to make us in the new morning more true and |