all our talents as under stewardship from God, and may the weight of them bow us down more humbly before thy mercy-seat. May we care more to befriend the lowly than to flatter and to feast the rich and powerful, and may we so employ our time and means as to lay up the goods that will remain with us when earthly friends and favors vanish. All-Wise and All-Holy, graciously animate us with a true purpose, a pervading and unwavering determination to do all our work as within thy kingdom, and hold our business, our home, and our pleasures in subjection to thy laws. Help us to bear reverses so patiently and humbly as to save us alike from envy of our neighbor's prosperity and from repining at thy good Providence. Enable us to consecrate duly our joys, that when we are happy our blessedness may be in thee, our God, and so our joys shall rise and make our children and friends rise in faith and gratitude toward thee. In thy mercy forgive our overweening love of the world, and establish us in the fellowship that is divine and abiding, through him who for us overcame the world, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. EVENING. GOD, our Heavenly Father, grant, we beseech thee, that a sense of thy nearness and thy holiness may draw us away from every inordinate attachment to the transitory, unsatisfying things of time. Save us from worldliness and sin. Guard us against the insidious and deceitful arts which would blind us to our highest good and bring us into subjection to the world. Teach us to have our conversation in heaven. Let us not wander away from our heavenly home, but, while our hands and thoughts are engaged amid the cares and employments of time, grant that we may bring with us into these employments the spirit of thine heavenly kingdom, and be inspired and guided by it wherever we go. Thou, who embracest all beings and all worlds as if they were one, and who carest for every one of us as if he were the whole universe, enfold us in thy love, breathe into us thy gentle and holy spirit, and so win us to thyself, that neither the world nor the things of the world shall gain dominion over us, or estrange us from Him who alone can satisfy the heart, in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. III. THE GOODNESS OF GOD. The Lord is never far away, Nor sundered from his flock; J. J. SCHUTZ. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among his people. God is great, therefore will he be sought; he is good, therefore will he be found.-J. Mason. Seek the Lord, and his strength; seek his face evermore. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, 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. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. WE MORNING. E would render thanks unto thee, O Lord, for thou art good, and thy mercy endureth forever. We would praise thee for thy goodness, and for thy wonderful works to the children of men. And may we learn, with devout thankfulness, to connect the thought of thy goodness with every event of life and every gift of thy love, till thou hast become to us, as thou art, the all-embracing influence in which we live, the fountain of every pure affection, the author of every dear and holy inspiration, — the atmosphere of love in which we may bathe our souls with an infinite joy,—not afar off, but a present helper in every time of need, ready to hear and answer wherever there is a heart yearning for thee, thou bestower of all that crowns our happiness on earth, or that - - turns our sorrows into blessings, who art always waiting to be gracious, to renew our minds with ever-enlarging and uplifting thoughts, to refresh our hearts with affections ever more expansive and devout. We thank thee for what our eyes are permitted to see, for this world of order and beauty which lies around us; but more heartily we thank thee for what our eyes cannot see, for the holy, loving Providence which hems us in by defences too delicate and gentle to be perceived, — for the hidden, but divine benignity which rules the tempest, scatters the hoar-frost like ashes, imprisons the arctic seas in ice, breathes upon us in the morning light and summer breeze, enfolds us in darkness and sleep, guides the sun and stars in their course, and, in all times of prosperity or tribulation, waits with love and tenderness on every defenceless and humble soul. May we feel that, while we live in thee, no evil can approach to do us harm, and that amid the fiercest violence of the tempest, or of disease, the little child, wrapt in its own sweet and trusting innocence, is surrounded and protected by a power mightier than all the outward storm and strife. We thank thee, O God, for the assurance of thy love in Jesus Christ, for the grace, mercy, and truth which have flowed into the world through him, and in which we may rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. May we be made |