m 
 
 

 
 
 
 BV 210 .S46 1885 
 
 Service, John. 
 
 Prayers for public worship 
 
PRAYEES FOE PUBLIC WOESHIP. 
 
PRAYERS 
 
 FOR 
 
 PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 JOHN SEEVICE, D.D., 
 
 MINISTER OF HYNDLAND ESTABLISHED CHURCH, GLASGOW. 
 
 LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 APR 4 2002 
 
 THEOLOQOLSEMINARY 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1885. 
 
GLASGOW: ROBERT MACLEHOSE, 
 Printer to the University. 
 
PEEFATOEY NOTE. 
 
 The singular influence acquired by the 
 late Dr. Service as a religious teacher was 
 thought by many members of his con- 
 gregation to be due to some extent to an 
 unusual combination of qualities in his 
 sermons and in the prayers which he com- 
 posed for public worship. The fearless 
 frankness with which he gave expression 
 to unpopular views, and opposed beliefs 
 widely entertained in the Churches, when 
 he held them to be dangerous, was in dis- 
 tinct, though perhaps only in apparent 
 contrast to the deep reverence and all- 
 
prefatory IFlote- 
 
 embracing charity which characterized his 
 prayers. 
 
 It has been thought, therefore, that to 
 present these prayers in a collected form 
 may gratify many of his friends, and may 
 show more clearly the range and character 
 of his teaching. He wrote them out with 
 extreme care, and it is plain that he at- 
 tached great importance to the adequate 
 expression of the feelings by which he 
 thought a Christian congregation should be 
 animated. It is, however, difficult to pre- 
 sent these prayers in such a form as he 
 himself might have chosen. They are 
 nowhere arranged for particular days of 
 the month, for morning or evening service, 
 or for special Church occasions. As he 
 thought them suitable he was accustomed 
 
Ipretator^ Mote. 
 
 to select portions of one prayer, and com- 
 bine them with parts of others. 
 
 The two friends to whom the arrange- 
 ment and selection of the contents of this 
 volume is due — the Eev. William Muirhead 
 and the Very Eev. Principal Caird — have 
 not felt themselves at liberty to make 
 modifications in the manuscripts further 
 than by the omission of a few passages 
 repeated in different prayers. 
 
 No other form of religious composition 
 can be made so conventional as this, but 
 there is, perhaps, none in which a religious 
 teacher can give truer expression to his 
 deepest thoughts about man and God, and 
 to his best hopes and aspirations. It is 
 hoped that in the perusal of this little 
 volume many readers may feel their own 
 
IPretator^ 1Rote» 
 
 spirits drawn into more intimate fellowship 
 with Him whom its writer served. By 
 personal friends and by the members of his 
 congregation it will be welcomed as the 
 heartfelt and solemn expression of those 
 central truths of the Christian Eeligion in 
 which Dr. Service most surely believed. 
 
 viii 
 
PEAYEES FOE PUBLIC WOESHIP. 
 
 Blessed and Eternal Lord, whom no man 
 hath seen or can see, but who art nigh 
 nnto all that call upon Thee, grant us Thy 
 grace that withdrawing our thoughts from 
 that which is seen and temporal we may 
 enter into fellowship with Thee through 
 Jesus Christ. We bless Thee and praise 
 Thee, Lord and King of all, for the sphere 
 of work and duty in which our common 
 life is passed, for the toil which through- 
 out the week makes rest sweet, and the 
 rest which renews our strength for toil. 
 We bless Thee and praise Thee for the 
 
IPrai^ets tor [i. 
 
 rest and quiet of this day, and for the 
 blessings and opportunities which it brings 
 to us as spiritual beings. We thank 
 Thee that Thou openest Thine hand and 
 satisfieth the desire of everything that 
 liveth. We bless Thee that Thou who 
 hast given us life without end dost give 
 us the means of grace to strengthen and 
 purify it. 
 
 Lord God, holy and just and good, be 
 merciful to us and pardon us who have 
 sinned against Thy holiness and justice and 
 goodness. Against Thee, Thee only have 
 we sinned. Light hath come into the 
 world ; we being evil have loved the dark- 
 ness rather than the light. We have 
 known what is good, and what the Lord 
 doth require of us, and in regard to our 
 sin both of neglecting to do Thy will and 
 of transgressing Thy holy commandment, 
 
I ] public Morsbtp^ 
 
 we are without excuse. Thou hast given 
 us faculties to be used and time to be spent 
 for Thy glory and the good of our fellow- 
 men. Thou hast thus purposed to make us 
 heirs of eternal life, but we have used Thy 
 gifts vainly and misused them sinfully, and 
 have brought ourselves near to the gates of 
 death. Thy glory, King Eternal, and Thy 
 blessedness is to do good, to bless and save. 
 In all the darkness and misery of the world, 
 in the sorrows of the poor and needy, in 
 the desolation and distress of the friendless 
 and forsaken and outcast, Thou grivest us 
 from day to day the opportunity to share 
 Thy blessedness and Thy glory. But in 
 our blindness we have preferred the vain 
 and fleeting pleasures of sense and selfish- 
 ness, saying to ourselves. What shall we eat 
 and what shall we drink, and wherewithal 
 shall we be clothed ? Our knowledge is 
 
prai^ets tor 
 
 Ignorance, for it has served to hide Thee 
 from our view. Our religion is selfish- 
 ness, for we have sought in it chiefly our 
 own well-being here and hereafter. Our 
 life is vanity and our work folly, for we 
 have not lived for Thee nor wrought our 
 work in Thee. Forgive us, Lord, all this 
 our sin and blindness. Forgive us, that 
 Thy works declare Thy glory, and we have 
 not rejoiced in beholding it. Forgive us, 
 that in Jesus Christ Thy grace has been 
 revealed to us and we have not welcomed 
 it nor desired it. 
 
 God of all grace, who didst in tlie fulness 
 of time send forth Jesus Christ, born of a 
 woman, made under the law, that He might 
 fulfil all righteousness in a life of povert}-, 
 humiliation, and suffering, inspire us by 
 Thy grace, quicken us by Thy spirit to love 
 righteousness as our only life, so that He 
 
i-l public Morsbip* 
 
 may not have lived in vain nor died in vain 
 for us, but that He may live in us and 
 we in Him to the glory of Thy holy name. 
 
 Blessed God, who didst cause the light to 
 shine out of darkness at the first, and hast 
 turned again the shadow of death into the 
 morning, we praise and bless Thee for all 
 that the light reveals to us, for the beauty 
 and glory of Thy w^orks in the heavens 
 above and the earth beneath, for the works 
 which thou hast given to man strength and 
 skill to plan and to perform, for the place 
 which is endeared to us as the place of our 
 birth, and for the place in which we enjoy 
 the comforts and pleasures of home and 
 friendship. We bless Tliee that day by 
 day Thy goodness is manifested to us in all 
 the arrangements of jSTature and all the 
 events of Providence, and that, as for the 
 good most truly and perfectly, so for all Thy 
 
praters for [i. 
 
 creatures assuredly and at last, all things 
 work together for good and all things are 
 ordered to bless. We bless Thee for the 
 innumerable precious gifts with which Thou 
 hast enriched our lot in this our native 
 land, f(jr tlie memories with which it is 
 stored of the great and good who have 
 lived in it and toiled for it and died for 
 it, for the liberty which is its boast, and 
 the peace and prosperity which are its 
 ancient heritage. The Lord hath been 
 mindful of us and He will bless us. Give 
 thaidvs unto the Lord for He is good, for 
 His mercy endureth for ever. Thou 
 who art the soul of our souls, and the life 
 of our lives, in whom we live and move 
 and have our being, w^e bless Thee for Thy 
 goodness and patience in prolonging our life 
 and givinii: ^^s food and raiment; and we 
 
 thank Thee tliat along with those things 
 
public Morsbip* 
 
 which are required for the sustenance of 
 our life, Thine hand is opened to bestow so 
 many that contribute to our happiness. 
 We thank Thee far our friends and old 
 acquaintances, for all who rejoice in our 
 joy and grieve in our grief; and as for these, 
 so also we thank Thee for all whom we 
 love and for all who commend themselves 
 to our hearts as objects of regard or pity. 
 
 We bless Thee, Lord, for Jesus Christ ; 
 we thank Thee for His life and death, for 
 His work and sacrifice, for the contradiction 
 of sinners which He endured to establish Thy 
 kingdom upon earth, for the blessings which 
 are heaped upon His name through all 
 generations. May we who know His name 
 and call Him Lord, obey His voice and 
 follow His example ; may we be ready to 
 forgive, to pity, to bless those that curse us 
 and to return good for evil. 
 
Iprapers tot [i. 
 
 Almighty God, whose days are without 
 end, whose mercies cannot be numbered, 
 grant that our few days upon the earth 
 may not be also evil, but that they may be 
 spent in praising Thee and glorifying Thy 
 name. Let the people praise Thee, Lord, let 
 all the people praise Thee. Known unto Thee 
 are our temptations, our infirmities, and 
 l)esetting sins. Help us to overcome them 
 in Thy strength by a patient continuance 
 in well-doing. What feeble desires we 
 have after the life divine of truth and good- 
 ness. Thy mercy has bestowed ! Be pleased 
 to strengthen and quicken them by Thy 
 grace that we may run and not be weary in 
 the way of righteousness and peace. May it 
 please Thee, Eternal King and Lord, to accept 
 our worship and to pardon our unworthi- 
 ness. Not as we ought but as we are able, 
 we bless Thee, we adore Thy majesty. As 
 
i] public Morsbtp^ 
 
 those that wait for the morning, we wait 
 for Thee and Thy salvation. Deny us 
 not Thy grace, but when we seek to 
 draw near to Thee, draw near to us, and 
 cleanse us by Thy purity, and enlighten 
 us with Thy light, and save us with Thy 
 salvation. 
 
 Thou who gTaciously acceptest the in- 
 tercessions of Thy children on earth, inspire 
 the ministers of Thy gospel with love of the 
 truth as the power of God unto salvation, 
 and grant that all the members of the 
 Church universal may be joined together in 
 the bond of a living faith. May we know 
 the blessedness of communion witli each 
 other in the rites of a reasonable and 
 sincere worship, and in mutual acts of 
 charity and sympathy and kindness. 
 Thou who orderest our steps, yet not so 
 that we are never in difficulty or in danger, 
 
praters for [i. 
 
 gTant us that light of Thy Spirit which is 
 a light unto our feet and a lamp unto 
 our path, that we may persevere in the 
 ways of godliness, and that henceforth 
 and at length we may enjoy a fuller com- 
 munion than we have yet enjoyed with 
 Thee and with Thy Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 Almighty God, who rulest among all 
 nations, and governest by princes as Thy 
 servants, we pray for Thy blessing on our 
 beloved Queen. Let Thy wisdom be her 
 guide. Thine arm her strength ; let justice, 
 truth, holiness ; let peace, love, and light 
 flourish in her day ; direct all her counsels 
 and endeavours to Thy glory and the welfare 
 of her people. And together with her, bless, 
 we beseech Thee, the Eoyal Family, that 
 they all, ever trusting in Thy goodness, 
 protected by Thy power, and crowned with 
 Thy mercy, may live in peace, gladness, 
 
 10 
 
i] IDublic Morsbtp. 
 
 and honour, and after long and happy lives 
 upon earth, may enter into life everlasting, 
 revealed by Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 We give Thee thanks, Lord God most 
 holy, and praise Thy glorious Majesty for 
 all the graces and virtues Thou has wrought 
 in Thy servants who have departed this life 
 in Thy faith and fear, and have entered 
 into their rest. We thankfully remember 
 in Thy presence, who art the beginning and 
 the end of all lives, their worth and good 
 example, and we rejoice in the thought that 
 they have not ceased to be, but have yet 
 experience of Thy mercy and grace, where 
 Thou art more clearly revealed than here to 
 souls that love Thee and long for Thy 
 salvation. May we so remember them 
 that we may emulate their goodness, and 
 finally have fellow^ship with them and with 
 Thee in the kingdom that cannot be moved. 
 
Iprapers tor [i 
 
 Father of mercies, hope and desire of all 
 whom Thou hast made, even of those that 
 know not Thy name, we remember before 
 Thee the helpless and outcast, the sick and 
 the sorrowful, the tempted and the dying, 
 beseeching Thee to hear us when we make 
 mention of Thy loving-kindness and hope 
 for it for them all. 
 
 Almighty God, our portion and our hope, 
 who turnest not aw^ay the soul that seeks 
 Thee, we beseech Thee to incline Thine ear 
 unto us, who now make our prayers and 
 supplications unto Thee, and grant that 
 those things which we have asked faith- 
 fully, according to Thy will, we may obtain 
 effectually, to the relief of our necessities, 
 the setting forth of Thy glory and the 
 advancement of Thy kingdom in our hearts 
 and in all the world. 
 
 Our Father, &c. 
 
n] public Morsbip* 
 
 The Lord is my light and my salvation, 
 whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the 
 strength of my life, of whom then shall 
 I be afraid? One thing have I desired 
 of the Lord and tliat will I seek, after 
 that I may dwell in the house of the 
 Lord all the days of my life to behold 
 the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in 
 His temple ; for in the time of trouble 
 He shall hide me in His pavilion, in the 
 secret of His tabernacle He shall hide me, 
 He shall set me upon a rock. When 
 Thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart 
 said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will 1 
 seek. 
 
 Thou who art everywhere present 
 in heaven and earth, and art the life of 
 all that live, we beseech Thee who art 
 
 13 
 
praters for [n. 
 
 near to us to enable us to draw near 
 to Thee and to feel that Thou art near. 
 Though we cannot flee from Thy Spnit 
 or go from Thy presence, and cannot be 
 where Thou art not, yet m our pursuit 
 of vanity and love of evil we have erred 
 and strayed from the l)lessedness of feeling 
 Thy presence and grace, and we beseech 
 Thee to grant that however we may have 
 departed from Thee we may now seek 
 Thy face, and seeking may find Thee. It 
 is Thy presence in them which makes the 
 ])eauty and glory of the heavens above 
 us and the earth beneatli us ; it is Thy 
 presence in us whicli makes us conscious 
 of ourselves and of Thy works. May 
 Thy presence in us this day and all our 
 days insj)ire us with the life divine of 
 righteousness and goodness. 
 
 We bless Thee for the Church of Christ 
 
 14 
 
n] public Morsbip. 
 
 and all the means of i^a^ace which it yields 
 us, and for this day of rest and quiet on 
 which we, with so many who love the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, offer our prayers to 
 Thee. We thank Thee that on this day 
 dedicated to Thy worship, we are reminded 
 of our fellowship with all men in the Gospel 
 of Thy grace, and of Thy goodness to us 
 and to them in making us heirs witli them 
 of Thy boundless pity. We bless Thee 
 that as we lift up our voices to Thee this 
 day to thank Thee for Thy goodness to us, 
 we can feel that over half the world there 
 are multitudes who, along with us, have 
 entered into Thy courts, and gathered them- 
 selves together to laud and bless Thy name, 
 that their faith is our faith, their hopes 
 are the liopes which cheer and comfort us, 
 their prayers for the coming of Thy kingdom 
 the prayers which we desire to offer. 
 
prapers for [n. 
 
 Blessed and eternal Lord, whose glory 
 it is to exalt the humble and to pardon 
 the contrite, be gracious and merciful to 
 us, and by Thy grace enable us to feel 
 how much reason we have in Thy presence 
 to be humble and to be contrite. We are 
 glad that Thou who knowest all things 
 knowest all our sins, for we know that 
 Thou art good beyond our hope, and we 
 can joyfully trust ourselves to Thy com- 
 passion. But while we rejoice that Thou 
 knowest us altogether, and that our sins 
 and iniquities are not hidden from Thee, 
 we stand in awe and fear in Thy presence 
 when we recall to mind how many and 
 grievous they are. We bless Thee for any 
 faithful and honest and useful work which 
 we have been enabled to do, whether for 
 wages or goodwill. We confess that most 
 of our lives has been spent in idleness, or 
 
 16 
 
II ] public Morsbip^ 
 
 in doing nothing that was good or useful. 
 We thank Thee for any desire we have 
 felt and any effort we have made to be- 
 friend and help any of our fellow-men, for 
 any feelings of friendship and love that we 
 have had towards them. We acknowledge 
 the sin of our hardness of heart, in that we 
 have been so often and so much indifferent 
 to the good of our brethren. We bless Thee 
 for any wise use we have made of any of 
 Thy gifts. We confess that we have used 
 none of them as we ought. We thank 
 Thee for any feelings of hope and thank- 
 fulness towards Thee we have experienced, 
 for any gratitude towards Thee for giving 
 us prosperity or succouring us in sickness 
 or redeeming us from the death of vanity 
 and sin. But we confess that these feel- 
 ings have been but momentary and tran- 
 sient, and that Thou who art present with 
 
praters tor [n. 
 
 us in mercies and benefits innumerable hast 
 been to us as one absent or unkind. The 
 good that we would that we do not, and 
 the evil that we would not that we do. 
 Forgive us this our folly and vanity and 
 sin, and in Thy mercy incline our hearts to 
 the love of that which is good. 
 
 Thou whose glory fiUeth heaven and 
 earth, yet is above all revealed to us Thy 
 creatures, in Thy kindness to the evil and 
 unthankful of our race, we desire to join 
 with this confession of our evil, thanks- 
 giving for Thy goodness. Because we are 
 evil, and because to us even Thy severity 
 is kindness and Thy judgments are mercies, 
 we in our lives, above all Thy creatures and 
 all Thy works, declare Thy glory. Whether 
 we give or withhold our worship. Thou 
 art glorified in that we live. But we desire 
 as Thy children to worship thee. "We bless 
 
 18 
 
II] public Morsbip. 
 
 Thee for the varied experience Thou hast 
 given us in uniting in us body and soul. 
 We bless Thee for the experience which we 
 thus have of bodily and mental enjoyments, 
 of mingled good and evil, of passions which 
 enrich, and reason which guides our lives, 
 of change without us and within us of 
 which there is no end. We thank Thee for 
 the experience with which we are thus 
 gifted of a progress from youth to age, for 
 life which is thus enriched with various 
 good, for blessings and enjoyments which 
 are thus enlarged by recollection of the 
 past and by hope of the future. 
 
 We bless Thee for the good which is 
 common to all liuman life. We thank Thee 
 for the higher and greater good which men 
 enjoy who live not unto themselves but 
 unto Thee. We bless Thee for daily bread, 
 and for the strength to toil by which we 
 
 19 
 
praters tor [n. 
 
 earn the sweetness of rest. We bless Thee 
 that we know that He that keeps us 
 slumbers not nor sleeps, but when we sleep 
 or when we wake cares for all our race. We 
 thank Thee for those powers and faculties 
 of mind by which we know that we are and 
 that Thou art, and we thank Thee for that 
 light of science and of reason by which we 
 know that Thou art the rewarder of them 
 that diligently seek Thee. Be Thou our 
 Shepherd, and we shall not want. 
 
 Thou who art the Fountain of life, we 
 bless Thee for Jesus Christ, the life and the 
 light of men, by whom there has been added 
 to our few days upon the earth the inherit- 
 ance of life everlasting ; through whom our 
 darkness is turned to light, in whom, though 
 we see not yet all things reconciled unto 
 Thee, we enjoy the hope that all flesh shall 
 see it together, and seeing it, shall rejoice 
 
"•] public Morsbip, 
 
 in Thee and glorify Thy name. We thank 
 Thee tliat we have not an high-priest which 
 cannot be touched with a feeling of our in- 
 firmity, but One who was in all points tried 
 like as we are, yet without sin. We bless 
 Thee that the name which we name in Thy 
 presence, and by which our confidence in 
 Thy fatherly goodness is sustained, is the 
 name of the Holy and Perfect One, who 
 was a stranger only to guile and envy and 
 wickedness, and not to any of our weak- 
 nesses or sorrows or temptations, who, 
 though He were a son, yet learned obed- 
 ience by the things which He suffered. 
 We bless Thee for tlie poverty of that life 
 of which the only wealth was love for Thee 
 and for mankind. We bless Thee for the 
 suffering and persecution which attended its 
 course, and which brought to light its per- 
 fect peace and its heavenly glory. When 
 
praters tor [n. 
 
 we come into Thy presence and offer our 
 prayers to Thee in the name of Thy well- 
 beloved Son, we know that we do not need 
 to plead with Thee for mercy to pardon 
 us, or for grace to help us ; we know also 
 that our infirmities and our unworthiness 
 hinder not our communion with Thee, but 
 bring near Thy fulness to our necessity. 
 We bless Thee that through our great 
 High-Priest, once a man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief, we have this con- 
 fidence towards Thee, the Highest, and this 
 sense of fellowship with Thee by faith, 
 though with our eyes we cannot behold 
 Thee. 
 
tn] public Morsblp. 
 
 III. 
 
 Blessed Lord, who art near iis when we 
 think not of Thy presence, and art always 
 near us to bless us, we pray that we may 
 be enabled by Thy grace to draw near to 
 Thee and feel that Thou art near. In this 
 earthly darkness in which our spirits dwell, 
 and in which we see Thee not, we desire to 
 hold fellowship with Thee who art light, 
 by faith beholding Thy glory, by faith as- 
 sured of Thy goodness. In token of Thy 
 eternal grace Thou causest the sun to shine 
 so that our eyes are gladdened with all the 
 beauty of the earth and sea and sky ; may 
 the better light of Thy grace enlighten our 
 minds so that we may behold Thee, the 
 maker of them all, and with all saints com- 
 prehend Thy love, how it passeth know- 
 ledge. 
 
 2?, 
 
prapers tor [m. 
 
 We remember before Thee, Thou holy 
 and perfect One, our sins and the sins of 
 our fathers and of all our race, how we with 
 them have ever been unfaithful to the light, 
 which Thou hast caused to shine in the 
 world, and unthankful for the good which 
 Thou hast caused to abound in it. By our 
 example and our negligence, by our prefer- 
 ring our own ease and comfort to the good 
 of others and Thy glory, evil abounds where 
 we are, evil which is our sin and shame. 
 AVhile all Thy works praise Thee, the world 
 in which we are appointed to work, in its 
 abounding evils and miseries, is our condem- 
 nation. All that we have is Thine. Eeckon 
 not with us as to Thy gifts ; in Thy pre- 
 sence. Lord of all, we are unprofitable ser- 
 vants. We have taken Thy talents and 
 used them at our pleasure, or liidden them 
 in the earth, as if Thou wert a liard task- 
 
Ill] public Morsbip* 
 
 master, reaping where Thou hadst not sowed, 
 and gathering where Thou hast not strawed. 
 As the heavens declare Thy glory, the earth 
 which Thou hast given to man is a witness, 
 in all its darkness and misery, of the vanity 
 and sin of which we are all partakers. We 
 acknowledge our part in the abounding evil 
 of the world. We with our fathers, and with 
 all our race have sinned, and loved false- 
 hood, and hated truth and righteousness ; 
 hated the light, and loved the darkness 
 rather than the light. And we confess that 
 evil abounds in our lives and in all the 
 world. Thou knowest how often we have 
 been careless of duty, how much we have 
 harboured in our thoughts of that which is 
 impure and evil, how often we have spoken 
 unkind words, and done unkind and ungene- 
 rous deeds, how often we have been pleased 
 with unworthy hopes, and been filled with 
 
praters for [m. 
 
 base and foolish fears. Thou knowest how 
 weakly we have feared, and shrunk from 
 reproach and suffering in a good cause, and 
 how unworthily we have yearned after and 
 hoped for other good than to be righteous, 
 and to know the peace of the man that 
 pleaseth the Lord aright, and delighteth 
 greatly in His commandments. We thank 
 Thee that the way of transgressors is hard, 
 and that never when we have walked in it 
 have we found it to be good. May the 
 experience which we have thus had of evil 
 deepen in us the longing which Thou hast 
 created in us after Thee, the perfect truth 
 and righteousness and love. Out of the midst 
 of vanity and folly and evil, we cry unto 
 Thee. living God, our heart and our flesh 
 crieth out for Thee. 
 
 Maker and Preserver of all, in whom all do 
 live, we thank Thee for this gladsome and 
 
Ill] public Morsbtp. 
 
 glorious world which Thou hast given us for 
 a dwelling-place, for our portion in it where 
 life is varied by the varying year, where 
 pestilence is only by man's neglect, and 
 where temperate seasons admit of toil by 
 day and refreshing sleep by night. We 
 thank Thee for that larger and better world 
 of spirit of which Thou hast also made us 
 the inhabitants, in which Thou hast given 
 us eyes to see and hearts to feel, in which 
 Thou art Lord and we are Thy servants and 
 Thy children. We bless Thee that in this 
 larger world than that which is seen we 
 have converse and fellowship with ages past 
 and generations to come, with l)rethren w^ho 
 are with us in the flesh, and with friends 
 who have gone from us and are with Thee. 
 We thank Thee for all whom Thou hast 
 raised up and gifted to be workers for Thee 
 and for their fellow-men, to give sight to the 
 
 27 
 
praters for [m. 
 
 blind, bread to the hungry, succour to the 
 afflicted and friendless ; for all who have 
 had hearts, to rejoice in the joy of others 
 and grieve in their grief, and themselves 
 burdened, to carry the heavier burdens of 
 the children of sorrow. For all such whom 
 Thou hast given to the Church of Christ, to 
 our country, to mankind, for every friend of 
 the fatherless and the widow, every helper 
 of the weak and weary and outcast, for 
 every lover of his kind, and every worker 
 for the public good, and every reformer of 
 that which is old and evil in our age and in 
 every age, in this land and in all lands, we 
 praise Thee, we bless Thy name. Thou hast 
 given us gifts of men, great in intellect, 
 greater still in heart, by whom our captivity 
 has been led captive, our life ennobled and 
 enriched, our faith in Thee and in Thy eter- 
 nal empire established and confirmed. We 
 
in.] public Morsbip. 
 
 bless Thee for them all, for all of them 
 known to us and for all unknown. We bless 
 Thee for all that by Thy grace they have 
 done for the Church to which we belong, for 
 the country of our birth, for our brethren 
 whose earthly lot is poorer than ours, for 
 the success which has crowned their labours, 
 for the example of faith and patience and 
 courage and charity which they have left 
 behind them. 
 
 We bless Thee, merciful Father, for Jesus 
 Christ, for the fulfilment in Him of the hopes 
 of ages and generations before His day, and 
 for the continual increase of His influence 
 in the world, since He came to His own and 
 His own received Him not. We bless Thee 
 that the ages which know His name and re- 
 ceive His testimony concerning Thee, the 
 Father of all, call the peacemakers blessed, 
 and reverence truth and purity and good- 
 
praters tor [m. 
 
 ness in the lives of small and great. We 
 thank Thee for the assurance that has been 
 given to us by the increase of His govern- 
 ment that it shall have no end, that we in 
 our time, as others in ages past, have only 
 seen the dawn of the better day for all man- 
 kind in which all nations shall call Him 
 blessed. 
 
 May the Spirit of Christ dwell in us richly 
 through faith to make us Thy children, as 
 He was Thy well-beloved Son. May we be 
 His disciples not in word only, nor only by 
 the outward ties of Church or country or 
 profession of faith, but by doing the will of 
 God from the heart. 
 
 30 
 
IV.] public Morsbip. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Almighty God, whom no man hath seen, 
 but who art everywhere present, and m 
 this sinful world present always to bless 
 and save, to Thee shall all flesh come. 
 Thou givest us rest this day from common 
 work and toil, from our ordinary occupa- 
 tions and week-day cares, and we desire to 
 come to Thee as children unto a Father, 
 that we may enjoy here in Thy house a 
 higher and fuller sense of Thy presence 
 and grace than is common in our common 
 lives. The Lord is nigh unto all that call 
 upon Him, to all that call upon Him in 
 truth ; He also will hear their cry and 
 will save them. We are sure that Thou 
 wilt hear us, sure also that what is best 
 for us Thou wilt freely give us. Grant, 
 Lord, that we may desire above all not 
 
 31 
 
prapers tor [iv. 
 
 Thy gifts but Thyself, and may seek Thy 
 face with all our heart. 
 
 Father, who hast made the world beauti- 
 ful, and hast given us faculties and powers 
 to enjoy its beauty, we know that Thou 
 art Thyself more to be desired than all 
 Thy works. None of them, nor all of them, 
 satisfy us or fill up the measure of our 
 desires and hopes. In the enjoyment of 
 them, and much more in the midst of 
 changes which affect them, we are filled 
 with a sense of vanity and disappointment 
 and unrest. Thou alone, infinite and eternal 
 Eighteousness and Love, art our portion and 
 inheritance. To Thee shall all flesh come. 
 Thou that hast breathed a spirit into 
 man, and hast given us understanding and 
 knowledge, in Thee and Thee alone can we 
 find rest for our souls. satisfy us early 
 wdth mercy and show us Thy salvation. 
 
 32 
 
iv] public Morsbip, 
 
 There is forgiveness with Thee, Lord, 
 that Thou mayest be feared, and plenteous- 
 ness of mercy that Thou mayest be sought 
 unto. We come to Thee and seek Thy 
 face, that our sins which are many may 
 be forgiven us, and that even as sin hath 
 abounded in us, Thy grace may much more 
 abound. Thou who preventest us with 
 the blessings of goodness and extendest 
 Thy mercy where it is not welcomed or 
 desired, who art kind even to the evil 
 and unthankful, we do not need to entreat 
 Thee to pardon us, but we beseech Thee, 
 enable us by Thy grace truly to repent 
 of our sins, so that Thy pardon may 
 cleanse and Thy redemption save us. We 
 remember before Thee this day, when we 
 seek Thy presence, our past lives, how 
 full they have been of mercies and benefits, 
 and how empty of gratitude and of good deeds, 
 
praters tor [iv. 
 
 how much we have received and how little 
 we have given, in how many ways we have 
 been taught of Thee and how little we have 
 learned except folly, how many opportuni- 
 ties we have had to become purer and 
 better and wiser and happier, and how little 
 we have profited by them, how many of 
 them we have not used at all. We recall 
 to mind how much our religion has been a 
 name, our worship a form, our duty a hard 
 task, our life a vain show ; we remember 
 how fondly we have clung to earthly 
 pleasures and satisfactions, and how dull 
 has been our sense of the beauty of holiness 
 and the divinity of goodness. We remem- 
 ber and we confess how like our lives have 
 been to those of the vain multitude, without 
 God and without hope in the world, and 
 how unlike the life of Him who, to save 
 us by His example, was holy and harmless 
 
IV.] public Morsbip, 
 
 and iiiidefiletl and separate from sinners. 
 We remember these onr sins ; we desire 
 to remember tliem ^vith a godly sorrow. 
 Lord, be mercifnl to us, and from all our 
 hardness of heart, from all our unbelief 
 and vanity and earthliness be pleased to 
 deliver us. 
 
 We thank Thee for Tliy unending benefits 
 and Thy boundless pity. Day and night 
 alike declare Thy glory, and in our lives 
 the light and the darkness, prosperity and 
 adversity, joy and sorrow, are witnesses of 
 Thy love. We bless Thee that while sin and 
 folly and ignorance and superstition, and all 
 the evils of which men are guilty, and by 
 which tliey are oppressed are temporary in 
 their nature. Thou thyself, infinite in good- 
 ness, boundless in mercy and truth, art for 
 ever — light in the midst of darkness, order 
 and beauty in the midst of all trouble and 
 
 85 
 
©raiders tor [iv. 
 
 confusion. We thank Thee that out of 
 seeming evil Thou still bringest forth good, 
 and that as the rains from heaven water 
 the earth and return not whence they came 
 without effect, so all Thy dealings with our 
 race tend to the coming of Thy kingdom 
 and the prevalence of righteousness and 
 truth. We bless Thee for the good which 
 befell men in past times and which we in- 
 herit from tliem ; we bless Thee that in our 
 days we see how evils of past times have 
 by Thy care and providence been turned to 
 fijood. Our fathers suffered not in vain for 
 themselves or us, but what they sowed in 
 tears we reap in joy. Great and good men 
 lived and toiled in past ages, and we have 
 entered into their labours. For the best 
 who live now, for Thy chosen servants in 
 this generation and in all generations to 
 come, the common work and toil and suffer- 
 
IV. 1 public Morsbip. 
 
 ing of common men have stored the world 
 with good. We bless Thee, Lord of all, 
 that Thy glory and our good are still 
 the same, and that Thou art great, and 
 that Thy kingdom and glory shall have no 
 end. 
 
 We bless Thee, Lord, for liealth, for the 
 comforts of home, for the joys of kindred 
 and acquaintance, for all the unnumbered 
 mercies with which our lot is enriched and 
 blessed. We thank Thee for ability to 
 work and earn our daily bread by daily 
 toil, for toil which makes rest sweet and 
 rest which refreshes us for toil, for the 
 varied exj^erience of liuman life and its 
 progress from youth to age. We thank 
 Thee for the rain and the sunshine which, 
 in their season, cause the earth to bring forth, 
 and for the constant influences of goodness 
 by which summer and winter, seed time 
 
praters for [iv. 
 
 and harvest, keep their unfailing order, and 
 yield us their unfailing treasures. 
 
 We bless Thee and praise Thee above all 
 for what Thou hast done for us and in us 
 in giving us reasonable souls and revealing 
 to them through Jesus Christ Thine own 
 eternal grace and glory. We know in part 
 and prophesy in part, and see through a 
 glass darkly, but we bless Thee that we 
 know that Thou art, and that Thou art the 
 Eewarder of them that diligently seek Thee, 
 rich in mercy to all that call upon Thee. 
 Blessed be Thy name we are not left alone 
 in this world of myster}', but have Thee be- 
 side us, a light to lighten our darkness, an 
 Almighty arm on which to lean in weakness, 
 a very present help in trouble. We thank 
 Thee for Jesus Christ, for the nearness with 
 which we have been brought to Thee in 
 Him, for the new and living way into Thy 
 
 38 
 
IV.] public Morsbip. 
 
 presence which He has opened for us, for 
 that newness of life which comes to us 
 through Him, and that eternal life which 
 is by Him to as many as believe on His 
 name. 
 
 Grant, blessed Lord, that having these gifts 
 and benefits we may live to show forth Thy 
 praise, living not unto ourselves but unto 
 Thee. It is Thy world in which we live, 
 may we work Thy work while we are in it. 
 It is Thy bounty that nourishes our life, 
 may we dedicate our life wholly to Thee. 
 May we so live that every day, according 
 to Thy will, we may grow wiser and better 
 and nobler, more full of the spirit of charity 
 and brotherliness, and more free from envy 
 and guile and greed. Every day may we 
 seek to learn some new truth, to gain some 
 new view of Thy glory and Thy grace, and 
 to attain some new virtue and nobleness. 
 
praters tor [iv. 
 
 While all things in heaven and earth and 
 in our mortal bodies change from day to 
 day, may there be increased in our souls the 
 righteousness of Christ, so that when the 
 earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved 
 we may have a building of God, an house 
 not made with hands eternal in the heavens. 
 
 40 
 
public Morsbtp* 
 
 V. 
 
 Praise waitetli for Thee, God, in Sion ; 
 and unto Thee shall the vow be performed. 
 Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall 
 all flesh come. Iniquities we confess pre- 
 vail against us, but as for our transgressions 
 Thou wilt purge them away. Blessed is the 
 man whom Thou choosest and causest to 
 approach unto Thee that he may dwell in 
 Thy courts. In the keeping of Thy com- 
 mandments there is great reward ; in the 
 submission of our will to Thy will is all 
 our strength and health and safety and 
 happiness. It is not in man that walketh 
 to direct his steps aright. Thy Word only 
 is a light unto our feet and a lamp unto 
 our path. Send forth Thy light and Thy 
 truth, and let them lead us and guide us 
 unto Thy holy liill and unto Thy tabernacle. 
 
praters for [v 
 
 How amiable are Thy tabernacles, Lord 
 of hosts ; our soul longeth for the courts of 
 the Lord, our heart and our flesh crieth out 
 for the living God. 
 
 Almighty and Eternal God, who art not 
 worshipped of men's hands as though Thou 
 neededst anything, seeing Thou givest unto 
 all life and breath and all things, yet who 
 hast commanded all men everywhere to 
 pray and not to faint, to whom it is a 
 good thing to give thanks, from whom 
 Cometh down every good and perfect gift, 
 help us by the recollection of all Thy good 
 gifts, help us by the gift of Thy good Spirit 
 acceptably to worship Thee through Jesus 
 Christ. Thou who hast again permitted 
 us to enter Thy gates with praise and Thy 
 courts with thanksgiving, grant us now also, 
 we beseech Thee, access unto the throne of 
 the heavenly grace, that in lowliness of heart 
 
public Motsbtp* 
 
 and mind, yet in the full assurance of faith, 
 we may make our requests known unto 
 Thee. 
 
 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves and the truth is not in us. If 
 we confess our sin, Thou art faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness. O Thou who 
 hast made all things for man and man for 
 Thy glory, we desire to feel and to acknow- 
 ledge the sinfulness of lives of which often 
 the least part has been re^'erence for Thy 
 eternal righteousness and truth and good- 
 ness. Other gods ha\'e had dominion over 
 us. Other blessedness than a heart at 
 peace with Thee, other gain than content- 
 ment with Thy will, other good than ex- 
 perience of Thy loving-kindness to them 
 that fear Thee, have turned our affections 
 away from Thy service to the service of 
 
IPrapcts tot [v. 
 
 vanity and sin. There is none that cloeth 
 good and sinneth not. Enter not into 
 judgment with Thy servants ; in Thy sight 
 shall no man living be justified. Much of 
 our doing has been wrong-doing ; the best 
 that we have thought and purposed has 
 come miserably short of the righteousness 
 which is by faith in Thee as good and in 
 goodness as our only life. Our own hearts 
 condemn us in the recollection of evil that 
 we have done, in the knowledge of good to 
 which we have never struggled to attain. 
 We who have received by Jesus Christ the 
 spirit of truth and righteousness, are con- 
 denmed in Thy sight as being of the world 
 whicli knew Him not. Have mercy upon 
 us, Thou who lovest to have mercy and 
 to forgive. Be merciful to us, miserable 
 offenders. 
 
 Almighty and Eternal God, whose is the 
 
v.] ipublic Morsblp. 
 
 day and the night and all things seen and 
 nnseen, in whom and for whom and by 
 whom are all things, blessed be Thy holy 
 name. All Thy works praise Thee. From 
 all Thy vast dominion, which is for ever 
 and ever, from every corner of Thy king- 
 dom, of which there is no end, adoration, 
 praise, thanksgiving ascend to Thee con- 
 tinually as the voice of many waters. By 
 Thy power created, by Thy wisdom fash- 
 ioned for their use and place, by Thy 
 goodness preserved in being, all Thy crea- 
 tures and all Thy works show forth Th}- 
 praise. Creator of the ends of the earth, 
 who faintest not, neither art weary ; Father 
 of the spirits of all flesh, in whom all live, 
 for Thy glory are we made conscious of 
 ourselves and of Thy works ; in these our 
 bodies and our souls, we are the living to 
 praise Thee. From Thee we came at our 
 
 45 
 
prai^ers for [v. 
 
 birth, to Thee we return at our death ; all 
 that we are is Thine, and Thine in us, and 
 in all that we have and hope for is Thy 
 praise and glory. Whether we live we 
 live unto the Lord, whether we die we 
 die unto the Lord. Xo man liveth unto 
 himself, no man dieth unto himself. Grant 
 that in our life and in our death, in all our 
 ways and works, we may seek to glorify 
 Thy name. Our souls would magnify the 
 Lord, our spirits would rejoice in God our 
 Saviour. Let the people praise Thee, Lord, 
 let all the people praise Thee. 
 
 For wliat our eyes liave seen and our 
 ears have lieard of the word of life, for all 
 that righteous men and good men before 
 our day saw of Thy mercy and faithfulness, 
 for the promises which they received as 
 from heaven, for the hopes in which they 
 rested, and with which they were com- 
 
v.] public Morsbip* 
 
 fortecl, of good in store for all mankind, 
 for the fulfilment of these promises and 
 the communication of these hopes to all 
 in every age and every place who have 
 believed in Thy name or sought to ac- 
 quaint themselves with Thee, we praise 
 and bless Thee. Shepherd of a chosen 
 race, who didst lead Thy people like a 
 flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron, 
 we bless Thee that Thou hast led all people, 
 though they have not known it ; in mercy 
 and in faithfulness guiding the nations by 
 a way they know not into a better country 
 of peace and light, even an heavenly. 
 Wandering, Thou hast reclaimed us ; lost, 
 Thou hast found us; sick and captive, Thou 
 hast visited us ; sunk in wretchedness and 
 misery, Thou hast cast Thy cords of love 
 about us, and set our feet upon a rock, 
 and established our goings, and put a new 
 
praters tor [v. 
 
 song into our mouth, eA'en praise unto our 
 God. Blessed be the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten 
 us again to a living hope ; to an inherit- 
 ance in His grace which is incorruptible 
 and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
 
 As heirs of an incorruptible inlieritance, 
 having in us a good hope of eternal life, 
 grant that we may purify ourselves from 
 all that is base and evil, even as Christ was 
 pure, and that w^e may be workers with 
 Him for the diffusion among mankind of 
 the blessedness of the pure in heart, for 
 whom is the vision of God. Forasmuch 
 as we have not been redeemed with cor- 
 ruptible things, as silver or gold, from our 
 vain conduct received by tradition from 
 our fathers, but with the precious blood of 
 Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and 
 without spot, may we not be content with 
 
V] public Morsbip. 
 
 any fashion of goodness less pure and 
 perfect than His, may we be the sons of 
 God without rebuke, unworldly because 
 we love Thee, unselfish because Thou hast 
 loved us. 
 
praters tor [vi. 
 
 VI. 
 
 God, we would be thankful unto Thee 
 and praise Thy name, not as those who 
 know Thee only in Thy might, but as those 
 to whom there has been revealed something 
 of the exceeding riches of Thy grace and 
 mercy. We desire to thank Thee, whose 
 glory filleth heaven and earth, for the glory 
 which is Thine in ordering our lives so that 
 it is Thy good and not our evil which 
 prevails in them at last. We cannot forget 
 in Thy presence their shortcomings, errors, 
 sins ; their poverty of that which is true 
 and noble, their abundance and variety of 
 ills and miseries, which are the signs of 
 their disorder and unrighteousness. We 
 thank Thee that it is not the evil in them 
 which is ours, but the good in them which 
 is Thine, that is preserved for increase. 
 
VI] Ipublic Morsbip. 
 
 O Thou who art the Father of all men, 
 who art no respecter of persons, we tliank 
 Thee for Thy loving-kindness and tender 
 mercy which are over all tJiy works, not 
 only as we have heard of it from our fatliers, 
 but also as we see it and know it in the 
 issues of our lives and tlie lives of those who 
 live with us. We thank Thee that Thou 
 causest the sun to shine on the evil and on 
 the good, and sendest rain on the just and 
 on the unjust. We bless Thee that with 
 fatherly care and watchfulness and love, 
 Thou that seest all dost watch for all to 
 bless them and save them, that Thou 
 lovest Thy saints and art the Friend of 
 sinners. We thank Thee for the provid- 
 ence which is over everything Thou hast 
 created to make it all speak of Thee to 
 every ear that hears. We bless Thee for 
 the rain which waters the earth, for the 
 
IPrapers for [vi. 
 
 flowers which beautify it, for the song of 
 birds, and for all the innocent gladness 
 which is stored for man and beast in this 
 dwelling-place of Thine. "We bless Thee 
 that while the heavens last they declare Thy 
 glory, while the earth abides it publishes 
 Thy praise, while the soul of man is 
 conscious of itself it is conscious of Thee ; 
 and that thus where we dwell Thou 
 dwellest, and manifestest Thyself to all 
 the sons and daui^diters of men. We thank 
 Thee that in the midst of darkness of 
 our making Thou art ever, by an older 
 Creation, present to lighten the steps of 
 erring generations. We thank Thee that out 
 of seeming evil Thou still educest good, and 
 better thence again, in a fulness of which 
 Thy thoughts, and not ours, are measures. 
 We thank Thee that even the wrath of man 
 is made to serve Thee, and the remainder of 
 
 52 
 
VI.] public Morsbip. 
 
 wrath Thou dost restram, makmg all things 
 work together at last for good. We thank 
 Thee that Thou carest for us all, that in our 
 hours of gladness it is the hand which made 
 us as we are, and o^ave us the faculties we 
 have, that makes our cup of happiness run 
 over. We thank Thee that Thou art with 
 us in our days of hardship and suffering 
 and sore temptation and calamity, that 
 when our own hearts cry out against us 
 Thou art greater than our hearts, and, 
 understanding all things, blessest us in 
 secret ways; and when we are cast down 
 and hope dies within us, Thou art still with 
 us and leadest us from strength to strength 
 to make Thy strength perfect in our weak- 
 ness. We remember the sorrows with 
 which we are tried, to be thankful to Thee 
 that they are not meant to crush us, but to 
 build us up in newness of life. We 
 
 53 
 
praters for [vi. 
 
 remember those who were clearer to us 
 than our own souls, from whom it was the 
 bitterness of death to part, in whose death 
 we entered into the Valley of the Shadow 
 of Death — we remember them before Thee. 
 We bless Thee that they were given to us, 
 and we cease from murnuiring that Thou 
 hast taken them away. We remember 
 before Thee their immortality and ours, and 
 we bless Thee for the kingdom of light and 
 life overarching the darkness in which they 
 are hid from our sight. In the days of our 
 sorrow, and in all our days, may we, young 
 and old, have a sense within us of this 
 spiritual kingdom in which the living truly 
 live, and in which the dead are alive unto 
 Thee. May it please Thee, Heavenly Father, 
 to give ear to our thanksgivings and our 
 supplications, and to grant that we may be 
 thankful unto Thee and praise Thy name. 
 
VII.] public Morsblp* 
 
 VII. 
 
 Almighty God, who didst in the beginning 
 create the heavens and the earth, and hast 
 established righteousness by a law in all 
 that Thou hast made, we thank Thee for 
 this day, which reminds us of Him who 
 was delivered from the bondage of death 
 through the power of an endless life, in 
 order to turn every one of us away from 
 his iniquity and to give us the gift of 
 eternal life. We thank and praise Thee 
 this day. Lord of all, for Him, who, coming 
 in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned 
 sin in the flesh, and having died unto sin 
 once, now dieth no more, but is exalted a 
 Prince and a Saviour to give repentance 
 unto Israel and the remission of sin; by 
 Whom, in regard to our faith in Thy right- 
 eousness and our trust in Thy grace, all old 
 
prapers for [vn. 
 
 things have passed away and all thmgs are 
 becoming new. May we as those who are 
 alive from the dead, as those who are re- 
 newed in the spirit of their minds, this day 
 worship Thee and glorify Thy name. Our 
 souls would magnify the Lord, and our 
 spirits would rejoice in God our Saviour. 
 For He that is mighty hath done great 
 things for us, and holy is His name. 
 
 Blessed Lord, who hast made the Sabbath 
 for man, and hast divided between us and our 
 common work and care by one day in seven, 
 w^e thank Thee for all the opportunities and 
 advanta<>-es which it cjives us for brinoino: 
 our work and care into harmony with Thy 
 eternal will. Grant that we may be in the 
 Spirit on the Lord's day. May it please 
 Thee, Father of mercies and God of all grace, 
 to keep our hearts and minds this day, that 
 as He who was Thy well-beloved Son 
 
 56 
 
vii] public Morsbip^ 
 
 turned the earthly Sahbaths to the glory of 
 the Highest by deeds of love and sympathy 
 towards sinners and sufferers of mankind, 
 we also, who profess to be His disciples, 
 may worship Thee and glorify Thy name by 
 using the opportunities which this day gives 
 us, not only of repeating His words, but of 
 following His example. O Thou, to whom 
 feasts and fasts and Sabbaths without love 
 are an abomination, may Thy grace, through 
 the example of Christ, help us more and 
 more to dedicate our Sabbaths and all our 
 days to the work which Thou hast given us 
 to do of communicating to others the good 
 which we have received, and helping the 
 kingdom of Thy truth and love to come in 
 all the world as it has come among us. 
 
 Father, we thank Thee for the privilege 
 which we this day enjoy of coming to Thy 
 throne of grace with the burden of our 
 
 57 
 
Iprapers for [vn. 
 
 shortcomings and sins. Another six days 
 have passed in which we have had oppor- 
 tunity to gather experience of Thy goodness 
 and to work for Thee as those who know 
 that Thou art good. In these days, as in all 
 our days, we acknowledge that we have been 
 unprofitable servants. Temptation has come 
 to us, that we might overcome evil with 
 good, but we have been rather overcome of 
 evil. Thou hast loaded us with Thy benefits, 
 that through them Thy salvation might be 
 always nigh unto us, and the tokens of Thy 
 presence and grace keep our faith from 
 failing ; but we ha\'e received them un- 
 thinkingly and used them and loved them 
 selfishly, and the good that was in them 
 has been changed by us to that which is 
 vain and evil. We, who are called in 
 Christ Jesus to a heavenly life, acknowledge 
 the worldliness of our lives. We have been 
 
 38 
 
vii] public Morsbip. 
 
 careful and anxious about many things for 
 which those who are worldly are most 
 anxious and careful. But He w^hom we 
 call Lord, and who is the manifestation of 
 Thy invisible glory, has presented Himself 
 to us in the poor and sick and erring and 
 ignorant and unworthy of our kind, and we 
 have not been ^iad or willinGj to minister 
 unto Him in them. He who once came 
 unto His own has thus come again, and 
 we, like others before us, have not received 
 Him. Have mercy upon us, and help us to 
 bless Thee, that the light which is in us has 
 thus been shown to be darkness. 
 
 Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, wdio art reconciling the world unto 
 Thyself through Him, we pray that Thy 
 mercy may be upon us as Thou hast made 
 us to know Thee and to hope in Thee. 
 Thou who hast been revealed to our thought 
 
 59 
 
praters for [vn. 
 
 and our liope not alone as ready to forgive 
 but as mighty to save even unto the utter- 
 most, who art the Saviour of all men, 
 especially of all that believe, grant us the 
 aid of Thy spirit that steadfastly trusting in 
 Thy goodness to us and to all men we may 
 as Thy creatures worship Thee, and as Thy 
 children love Thee. As we cannot worship 
 Thee or stand in Thy holy place, pretending 
 to have clean hands and a pure heart, we 
 would offer, if we could, the sacrifice of 
 thanksgiving as those who know the mercy 
 of the Lord, how it is from everlasting to 
 everlasting upon them that fear Him, and 
 who are assured of tlie love and pity which 
 pass understanding. We bless Thee for 
 those bounties of Thy providence, which are 
 to us tokens of Thy grace, and for those 
 benefits of lil)erty, enliglitenment, and 
 security in a Christian land, which Thy 
 
VII. ] public Motsblp^ 
 
 mercy has made to us as common as the 
 things that supply our bodily wants. We 
 acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. We 
 bless Thee that we know, that we are 
 taught by our experience of good and evil 
 in the world, that Thou dost rule only to 
 bless. We thank Thee for all that we enjoy 
 as Thy gift — for our friends as made dear to 
 us by Thy friendship for us ; for our health 
 as preserved by the care which suffers not 
 a sparrow to fall to the ground ; for our 
 wealth in all that is the real good of life as 
 lent to us from Thy treasury ; for work and 
 rest, for day and night, for life and death 
 as all devised by Thee, and appointed and 
 administered by Thee for our good and the 
 good of all that live and breathe. We 
 would be thankful unto Thee, and praise 
 Thy name. 
 
 61 
 
praters tot [vm. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord 
 God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, 
 Thou Kmg of Saints ; all Thy works praise 
 Thee and Thy saints bless Thee. 
 
 Thou, who art not worshipped of men's 
 hands, as though Thou needest anything, 
 seeing Thou givest unto all life and breath 
 and all things, we remember in Thy presence 
 that Thou art glorified whether we give or 
 withhold our worship, for Thou hast made 
 all and preservest all, and in the being and 
 preservation of all Thou dost record Thy 
 praise. Heaven is Thine, the earth also is 
 Thine, and all that live therein are the 
 living to praise Thee. As having received 
 from Thee intelligence to know that Thou 
 art, and hearts to worship Thee because 
 Thou art good, we desire to mingle the 
 
 62 
 
viii] public Morsbtp* 
 
 voice of our praise and thanksgiving with 
 the voices of all Thy worshipping creation 
 and with the songs of the just made perfect 
 through their faith. Holy is the Lord God 
 Almighty ; the whole earth is full of His 
 glory. 
 
 Lord, what is man that Thou art mindful 
 of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest 
 him ? Thou, whose nature and whose 
 glory it is to regard with kindness and 
 patience and pity the meanest thing that 
 lives, without whose knowledge a sparrow 
 falleth not to the ground, we adore Thy 
 mercy and goodness in caring for us and 
 visiting us, who being made in Thine image, 
 and placed in the seat of dominion over 
 Thy works, have often made ourselves less 
 than the least of Thy creatures through our 
 vanity and sin. Not alone because man is 
 frail, and Thou hearest his cry for help 
 
 63 
 
Iprapers tor [vm. 
 
 when lie is in extremity, but above all 
 because man is vain and vile, and yet Thou 
 dost not turn away Thy compassions from 
 him, but in open and secret ways most 
 manifold art his help and succour, his 
 refuge and fortress, we bless Thee, we adore 
 the eternal love and grace. 
 
 Almighty God, who in the beginning didst 
 cause the light to shine out of darkness, 
 shine into our hearts to give us the light of 
 the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
 face of Jesus Christ. Thou that dwellest in 
 the light, and art found only of those that 
 seek Thee in the light, enable us through 
 Him whom Thou hast given to be the light 
 of the life of men, to seek Thee and find 
 Thee. Help us to put away from us the 
 works of darkness and the darkness which 
 is in our hearts through our evil works, and 
 as children of the light and of the day to 
 
 64 
 
vni.] public Morsbip. 
 
 come unto Thee that our deeds may be 
 made known. 
 
 Blessed and merciful Lord, whose name is 
 holy, from whom the darkness cannot hide, 
 to whom the light cannot reveal, to whom 
 all things are naked and open, we come to 
 Thee to acknowledge and confess our evil 
 works, our cold hearts, our unprofitable 
 service. We will arise and go unto our 
 Father, and will say to Him, " Father, we 
 have sinned, and are no more worthy to be 
 called Thy children." We bless Thee for 
 the love and pity which assure us that we 
 cannot come to Thee in vain. Thou who 
 knowest us better than we know ourselves, 
 to whom the guilty thoughts and deeds that 
 we keep from the knowledge of others do 
 not need to be confessed, who hast marked 
 and known all our unthankfulness for 
 mercies, our slothfulness in duty, our 
 
prapers tor [vm. 
 
 selfishness in enjoyment, our impatience 
 in trouble, our vanity and blindness and 
 ignorance and unbelief, we bless Thee that 
 Thou dost permit us to call upon Thee and 
 acknowledge our sin, having this faith 
 toward Thee, that, if we confess our sin. 
 Thou art faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
 ness. 
 
 Blessed God, Father of our spirits, cleanse 
 us from earthly dross and vileness, from 
 uncleanness, from the love of the world and 
 the love of self, and from the stain of 
 habitual transgressions. We are Thy chil- 
 dren, and these our sins hide from us the 
 light of Thy countenance ; we are Thy 
 servants, and they hinder us from doing Thy 
 work; we are members one of another, and 
 they make us the enemies one of another. 
 By them we offend Thee, by them we injure 
 
 66 
 
vin.] public MotBblp* 
 
 our own souls and tlie souls of others. Be 
 merciful to us, and from these and all our 
 sins deliver us. 
 
 Gracious Lord, who hast so manifested Thy 
 unspeakable mercy in the coming of Jesus 
 Christ, that though we have sinned we 
 might not despair, and though we suffer 
 we might not perish, let His example 
 instruct us, and His life save us, and His 
 death quicken us, so that we may depart 
 from evil and do good, so that we may die 
 unto sin and live unto righteousness, and 
 even while we fear because of our sin we 
 may yet more rejoice because the abundance 
 of Thy grace has been manifested through 
 sin. 
 
 Lord, have mercy upon us through Thy 
 loving-kindness declared to us by Jesus 
 Christ. Hear us, Lord. Grant us Thy 
 peace. 
 
 67 
 
IPra^ers for [ix. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Blessed Lord, who hast given us this day 
 of rest and quiet for the offering of our 
 prayer and thanksgiving unto Thee, for the 
 reading of Thy Word, and for communion 
 one with another, as Thy children we desire 
 to bless Thee for this day and for all our 
 days, for this life and for that which is to 
 come, and for all Thy benefits and gifts. 
 We thank Thee that in compassion for our 
 weakness Thou, who art more glorified by 
 our works than by our words, dost permit 
 us to rest from work this day, and to seek 
 in the ordinances of Thy house Thy mercy 
 to pardon and Thy grace to help us. 
 
 It is a good thing to give thanks unto 
 the Lord, to show forth His loving-kindness 
 in the morning and His faithfulness every 
 nisht. Thou art our God and we will 
 
IX.] public Morsbtp* 
 
 praise Thee, our Saviour and we will bless 
 Thee, our Father and we will be glad in 
 Thee. We bless Thee for Thy goodness to 
 us and all men, for all those benefits which 
 make life blessed, and for all those mercies 
 which alleviate its ills. We bless Thee for 
 our country and our friends, for teachers 
 who teach knowledge, and workers who are 
 examples of faith and patience and noble- 
 ness. We bless Thee for the hopes with 
 which Thou hast comforted us and all men 
 under the present evil of our lot and the 
 present miseries of the world. We bless 
 Thee for the Gospel and for Him who is 
 the Author and Finisher of our faith, by 
 whom we know that Thou art love, and that 
 all things work together for good to them 
 that love Thee. Thou art good and doest 
 good ; it is Thy glory to be kind even to the 
 evil and unthankful. Thy mercies are 
 
praters for [ix. 
 
 heaped upon the undeserving, and upon 
 them that deserve ill Thou bestowest good. 
 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for 
 His mercy endureth for ever. The Lord is 
 good unto all, and His tender mercies are 
 over all His works. 
 
 Thou who hast given us life and 
 breath, and all things, and requirest from 
 us — not alone for Thy glory, but for our 
 good — a right and thankful use of all Thy 
 gifts, this day instruct us how to live ; teach 
 us so to pass through the things that are 
 seen and temporal, that we may not finally 
 lose the things that are eternal. Thou 
 who art the only Life, whom to know is life 
 everlasting, who hast been the home and 
 dwelling-place of all those who in Thy faith 
 and fear have been pilgrims and strangers 
 upon the earth, may Thy Spirit help us this 
 day to know and to believe Thy promises, 
 
 70 
 
IX.] public Motsbip. 
 
 that we also may look for a city which hath 
 foundations whose builder and maker is 
 God ; that, turning from vanity and sin to 
 righteousness and love, and from the world 
 to Thy blessed service, we may find rest to 
 our souls. Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
 peace whose mind is stayed upon God. There 
 is no w^ant to them that fear Thee. In all 
 the troubles and temptations of this life may 
 we have greater than earthly power to help 
 us; in grief may we have better than earthly 
 solace to comfort us ; in sickness and the 
 hour of death may we have better than 
 earthly support on which to lean — in life 
 and death may we be Thine and rest our 
 souls on Thee. 
 
 Help us to be grateful to Thee for all 
 those gifts and benefits which bring gladness 
 to our hearts, and enable us to be thankful 
 to Thee for all those privations and griefs 
 
prapers tor [ix. 
 
 which cause us to turn to Thee for help. 
 The Lord is the portion of our souls. He 
 only is our Eock and our Salvation. He is 
 our defence, we shall not be greatly moved. 
 Glory be to the Father. 
 
X.] public Morsbtp^ 
 
 X. 
 
 Blessed Lord, who art worshipped of all 
 the host of heaven, and art exalted above 
 the thoughts of all Thy creatures whether 
 in heaven or earth, we bless Thee that Thou 
 dwellest with him who is of a humble spirit 
 and dost not despise the sighing of the con- 
 trite in heart. We thank Thee that while 
 we know in part and believe in part, and 
 our worship is but a poor endeavour to 
 come into Thy presence and be conscious of 
 Thy majesty and goodness. Thou art pleased 
 by necessity of our nature to require our 
 worship. Let the people praise Thee, Lord, 
 let all the people praise Thee. In our 
 blindness and ignorance we have often 
 sought other help than Thine in trouble, 
 other blessing than Thy favour in prosperity, 
 other strength than Thy grace in temptation 
 
 73 
 
prapers for [x. 
 
 and trial. But Thou art all our salvation 
 and desire, and we desire to come to Tliee 
 and taste and see that Thou art good. 
 There be many that say, Who will show us 
 any good? Lord, lift Thou upon us the 
 light of Thy countenance. 
 
 Almighty God, who knowest that we 
 with our fathers and with all our race have 
 sinned and done evil, help us to believe in 
 Thy forgiving grace, that we may come to 
 Thee with the sacrifice of a broken and 
 contrite heart, and be accepted with Thee 
 and cleansed from our sin, and saved from 
 our iniquity. Forgive us, Lord, most 
 merciful and gracious, the sin of which our 
 hearts accuse us. Pardon the evil deeds 
 and the vain and impure thoughts that rise 
 up to condemn us in the presence of Thy 
 light and truth. Forgive us that greater 
 unrepented sin in which we have lived, 
 
^•] public Morsbtp. 
 
 when we have lived without God in the 
 world, forgetting Him who has made us and 
 preserved us, despising Him that bought 
 us, and lightlv esteeming the Eock of our 
 Salvation. Forgive us, Lord, those 
 many days and years of our life in which 
 our hearts have been visited by no thought 
 of Thee, no reverence for Thy greatness, no 
 gratitude for Thy love. Forgive us those 
 many days in which we have been dead 
 even while we lived, in which we have been 
 careful and anxious about our own comfort 
 and ease and pleasure, and have despised 
 others both in their griefs and joys. For- 
 give us that we have feared to die and meet 
 Thee in judgment, and have not been 
 ashamed to live, in defiance of Thy will, a 
 vain and evil life. Forgive us that we have 
 been shown the way of life in Christ Jesus 
 and yet have chosen the way of death, pre- 
 
IPta^ers tor [x. 
 
 f erring the company of vain persons to 
 fellowship with Thee in love and truth. 
 
 give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, 
 for His mercy endureth for ever. We will 
 bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall 
 continually be in our mouth. Blessed be 
 Thy holy name, Lord, for Thy goodness 
 in giving us life and preserving us in being, 
 in supplying us with food and raiment, and 
 making us members of that whole family in 
 Heaven and in earth who are named with 
 the name of Christ, and to whom Thou hast 
 given powers of reason and the knowledge 
 of Thy existence and Thy goodness. We 
 thank Thee for Thy goodness to us and all 
 men in causing enlightenment and happi- 
 ness continually to increase in the earth, 
 and in causing barbarism and cruelty to be 
 displaced by the blessings of civilization and 
 peace. We bless Thee that as all the ar- 
 
 76 
 
^ ] public Morsblp. 
 
 rangements of nature are adapted to secure 
 man's bodily welfare, so also all the arrange- 
 ments of providence tend to advance his 
 intelligence and to enrich his spiritual well- 
 being. We thank and praise Thee that the 
 evils which befell nations and classes in past 
 times have, by Thy care and providence, 
 been turned to good, so that we reap in joy 
 what former generations sowed in tears. 
 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting 
 to everlasting upon them that fear Him, 
 upon them that hope in His mercy. We 
 bless Thee for the freedom and peace and 
 prosperity which we enjoy in this favoured 
 land ; for all those institutions and agencies 
 which have for their end and aim the good 
 of the whole body of the people ; for all 
 those public workers and benefactors whose 
 lives are devoted to the public service. We 
 thank Thee for the wisdom of our teachers. 
 
praters tor [x. 
 
 for the uprightness of our judges, for the 
 integrity of our statesmen and lawgivers, 
 and above all we thank Thee for all those 
 who in various ranks of life are examples .of 
 Christian faith and patience. We thank 
 and praise Thee that though wars have not 
 yet ceased many are the nations that love 
 peace and long for the day of universal peace. 
 We bless Thee and praise Thee that our own 
 nation and many neighbouring nations en- 
 joy the blessings of settled government and 
 religious freedom, and that there are signs 
 among them all of the coming of Thy 
 kingdom. We bless Thee, Lord of all, for 
 the lot that has been assigned to us among 
 the things that are seen, for our discipline 
 in the knowledge of things unseen and 
 eternal. We bless Thee for all the com- 
 forts and enjoyments which tempt us to 
 desire prosperity and abundance. We 
 
X. 
 
 public Morsbtp. 
 
 bless Thee for the admonition which there 
 is in trouble and adversity. The Lord is 
 good unto all, and His tender mercies are 
 over all His works. Above all we thank 
 Thee for whatever grace Thou hast given 
 us to desire Thy favour as better than 
 life, for any desire we have felt to resist 
 sin and to attain salvation, for any warmth 
 of friendship or of love we have experienced 
 in our hearts. We bless Thee for Him by 
 whom grace and truth have come afresh 
 to mankind, in whom all old things are 
 passed away, and all things are become 
 new. Thanks be unto God for His un- 
 speakable gift. Blessed be the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 God, whose mercies cannot be num- 
 bered, whose love passeth understanding, 
 be merciful to us Thy servants and increase' 
 our faith that these things which we have 
 
 79 
 
prapers tor [x. 
 
 only heard with our ears concerning Thy 
 mercy we may truly believe with our 
 hearts. "We know in part and prophesy 
 in part concerning Thee, who art the 
 perfect goodness and truth, but even as 
 Thou art good, teach us to love Thee, as 
 Thou art kind and pitiful, help us to trust 
 Thee, that our lives may abound in the 
 comfort of Thy friendship and favour. 
 
^^ ] public Mor5bip. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole 
 earth is full of His glory. Let the people 
 praise Thee, Lord, let all the people praise 
 Thee. 
 
 Thou who in Thy perfect holiness as 
 in Thy boundless mercy art ever nigh unto 
 us, and who dost by Thy presence in the 
 world and in our hearts convince us of sin, 
 while Thou dost claim us as Thy children, 
 grant that we may come to Thee as unto 
 a Father with love and confidence, but also 
 because we are unworthy and sinful, with 
 lowliness of heart and mind, offering unto 
 Thee the sacrifice of a contrite and broken 
 heart. A broken and a contrite heart, 
 God, Thou wilt not despise. 
 
 Be pleased, merciful Father, to free us 
 from vanity and ignorance, from the do- 
 
praters tor [xi. 
 
 minion of selfishness and the curse of un- 
 belief, that we may know ourselves as Thou 
 knowest us, and know Thee as Thou art 
 revealed to us in Christ Jesus, so that we 
 may truly repent and turn to Thee and find 
 mercy with Thee and obtain life, even life 
 eternal in Thy favour and grace. Let the 
 wicked man forsake his way, and the un- 
 righteous man his thoughts, and let him 
 return unto the Lord, and He will have 
 mercy upon him, and to our God, for He 
 will abundantly pardon. If we say we 
 have no sin we deceive ourselves and the 
 truth is not in us, but if we confess our 
 sins. Thou art faithful and just to forgive 
 us our sins and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness. Thou whose faithful- 
 ness is in the heavens and whose mercy 
 reacheth unto the clouds, with whom there 
 is forgiveness that Thou mayest be feared 
 
 82 
 
XI] public Motsbip, 
 
 and plenteous mercy that Thou mayest 
 be sought after, we thank Thee that this 
 day we are permitted to seek Thee within 
 the courts of Thy house, and to confess the 
 sin and unworthiness of all our daily com- 
 mon life. Thou art manifesting Thy good- 
 ness to us from day to day in calling us to 
 labour with the morning light, in giving us 
 rest at night, in appointing to us our share 
 of work and care and temptation and sorrow; 
 for in all this Thou art giving us opportunity 
 to serve Thee and glorify Thee, but in all 
 this we confess we are unprofitable servants. 
 The good that we would do, we do not. 
 And not alone do we offend Thee who art 
 good by neglecting to do good, but we deny 
 Thy presence and despise Thy grace by 
 our lives of vanity and our doing of evil- 
 Our impatience in trouble, our weakness in 
 temptation, our selfishness and ingratitude 
 
IPrapers for [xi. 
 
 in prosperity, Lord, forgive us. Forgive 
 us also for Thy great mercies' sake all 
 that we have thought impurely or un- 
 charitably, all that we have done unjustly 
 or unkindly, all that we have desired or 
 hoped for selfishly or ungodly. Forgive us 
 the sin which clings to us from our earlier 
 years, and the sins which in our weak 
 hearts are nourished and strengthened by 
 our present temptations. 
 
 Gracious and merciful God, who hast 
 called us to newness of life in the revela- 
 tion of Thy mercy in Jesus Christ, forgive 
 us our unchristian selfishness and sloth, our 
 carefulness and anxiety for many things 
 that are pleasing to ourselves, our negli- 
 gence in regard to much that is necessary 
 for others ; forgive us our doubts and fears 
 and unbeliefs regarding Thee, our coldness 
 and indifference in regard to our brethren. 
 
 84 
 
XI.] ipubltc Morsbtp. 
 
 Save lis from all our guilt and blindness, 
 from our vanity and worldliness, and keep 
 us as those that are alive from the dead to 
 live unto Thee. 
 
 Praise waiteth for Thee, God, in Sion; 
 and unto Thee shall the vow be performed. 
 Iniquities we confess prevail against us ; 
 but as for our transgressions, Thou shalt 
 purge them away. We praise Thee, Lord 
 and Maker of all, for life and breath and 
 all things, for those powers and faculties of 
 mind with which Thou hast endowed us, 
 and by which Thou hast made us heirs of 
 the wealth and beauty of the world that 
 now is and of the grandeur and mystery 
 of that which is invisible. We thank Thee 
 for those affections by which we are united 
 to our kind, and by which we may be drawn 
 to Thee, for all we love and all that love 
 us, for the reward of food and raiment 
 
 85 
 
ptapetB tor [xi. 
 
 which is given for our daily toil, and for 
 all the return of sweetness and enjoyment 
 which we receive from any obedience to 
 Thy will and any effort to know Thee in 
 Thy works, for day and night, for work 
 and rest, for youth and age, for life and 
 death and all the changes of this life, and 
 for the unchanging goodness which under- 
 lies them all and orders them all for our 
 good and the good of all men. 
 
 King eternal, immortal, invisible, whose 
 kingdom ruletli over all, we bless Thee that 
 Thy kingdom is not force but goodness. 
 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is 
 good, for His mercy endureth for ever. 
 Let the people praise Thee, Lord, let all 
 the people praise Thee. Blessed be the 
 most high God, our Father! Thy thoughts 
 are not our thoughts, nor Thy ways our 
 ways ; Thy mercy is not limited to persons 
 
 8G 
 
XI.] ipubltc Morsbip, 
 
 and to races, but compreliendeth all that 
 live and. breathe. Blessed be Thy name; 
 Thy glory is shown and Thy kingdom 
 established and advanced, not in destroying 
 and punishing our guilty and feeble and 
 blinded race, but in saving and blessing 
 them, leading men and nations by a way 
 that they know not to a land of security 
 and peace. Thou that didst lead Joseph 
 like a flock. Thou hast been the Guide and 
 Saviour of all men in all generations, their 
 sure defence in trouble, their light in dark- 
 ness, their life in death. that men would 
 praise the Lord for His goodness, and for 
 His wonderful works to the children of 
 men ! 
 
 God of all grace, who hast revealed Thy 
 mercy to us and in us, that we might be 
 redeemed from the service of vanity and 
 abound in love toward Thee and toward 
 
 87 
 
praters tor [xi. 
 
 one another, grant us grace to praise Thee, 
 as with our lips so also with our lives. 
 Teach us to find in the commonest work 
 of our daily lives opportunity to serve Thee 
 and a divine call to be children of the 
 Highest. Help us, after the example of 
 the holy and the just One, who fulfilled 
 all righteousness in a life of poverty, 
 humiliation and pain, to be Thy children 
 and servants in the midst of earthly toil 
 and temptation, in the duties of home, in 
 all our relations to our kind, in prosperity 
 and adversity, in life and death. Teach us 
 after His example to be kind even to the 
 evil and unthankful ; to lend, hoping for 
 nothing again ; to do good without hope 
 of reward. Help us, looking to Him and 
 following Him, to be temperate in abund- 
 ance, cheerful in trial, patient and resigned 
 in tribulation and in the hour of death. 
 
XI.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 Thou who art the life, teach us to live; 
 Thou who hast loved us and redeemed us, 
 help us by Thy grace to live by love, that 
 death may not have dominion over us ; but 
 that the life which we now lead in the 
 flesh being led by faith in Christ, we may 
 share His resurrection and come at last 
 whither He is o-one. 
 
Iprai^ers for [xn. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Almighty and Everlasting God, whose per- 
 fections are revealed in heaven and earth 
 and in the souls of men created by Thee, 
 and above all in Jesus Christ, we desire, as 
 those to whom not only Thy power and 
 greatness but also Thy love and goodness 
 have been made known, to adore and bless 
 Thee. Not as we ought, but as we are 
 able, we lift up our souls to Thee and 
 bless Thy holy name for what Thou hast 
 made us, and for what Thou art, for 
 the love which Thou dost manifest to all 
 Thy creatures, and for the boundless un- 
 exhausted grace and mercy which is Thy 
 nature and glory. 
 
 All this vast universe in which Thou hast 
 given us a dwelling-place is the witness of 
 Thy power and greatness ; day unto day 
 
 90 
 
xii.] public MotBbtp* 
 
 uttereth speech, night unto night showeth 
 knowledge of Thee. All Thy works praise 
 Thee, and we desire that, as they in their un- 
 conscious beauty and grandeur declare Thy 
 glory, so our hearts and our lips may speak 
 of Thy goodness and tell of Thy wondrous 
 works. Thou art in heaven, and art every- 
 where present in the earth ; and the world, 
 because it is full of Thee, is full of beauty 
 and glory ; dwell also in our hearts that we 
 may be like Thee, and manifest something 
 of Thy beauty, of Thy holiness and goodness. 
 Our souls would magnify the Lord, and our 
 spirits would rejoice in God our Saviour. 
 
 Gracious and merciful Lord God, we 
 thank Thee that while the knowledge of 
 Thy perfections convinces us of sin, we are 
 encouraged by that knowledge to confess 
 our sin, and are assured by it that if we 
 confess our sin, Thou art faithful and just to 
 
 91 
 
Iptai^ers for [xn. 
 
 forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness. Tliou hast placed our sin, 
 even our secret sin, in the light of Thy 
 countenance. Thou hast brought to light 
 in Jesus Christ at once all Thy goodness 
 and all our evil, all Thy perfection and all 
 our infirmity and unworthiness. By the 
 revelation of Thy love toward us Thou hast 
 manifested our selfishness, by the manifes- 
 tation of Thy perfect goodness Thou hast 
 revealed our vanity and sin. Even as we 
 learn to know Thee more truly in Thy 
 works and in Thy Word, and are more 
 assured of what is most certain in our 
 knowledge of Thee ; even as the fear of the 
 Lord is increased in the earth, and supersti- 
 tion and misbelief are displaced by light 
 and knowledge, so do we learn to feel how 
 poor and miserable are our best endeavours 
 to serve Thee, and how great is the sum of 
 
XII. ] public Morsbip* 
 
 our unprofitableness and our evil. Lord, 
 we believe; help our unbelief. Eeveal to us, 
 we beseech Thee, more clearly and fully 
 Thy perfect truth and Thy glorious right- 
 eousness, that we may not be misled by 
 false and worldly views of justice or right, 
 but that we may truly know and entirely 
 love that which is good and true, and shrink 
 from all that is base and evil. Thus be 
 pleased to convince us of sin ; thus enable 
 us to repent of that evil which we still love, 
 and of that vanity to which we still cling. 
 We acknowledge that even now our own 
 hearts condemn us. We have known what 
 is good and what the Lord hath required 
 of us, but sometimes in weakness, often in 
 wilfulness, we have spoken that which was 
 insincere and untrue, done that which was 
 unjust and unkind, denied Thy grace striving 
 with us, yielded to the tempter tempting 
 
Iprai^ers tot [xn. 
 
 us to evil. We confess, Lord, before Thee 
 those many sms of which, in the course of 
 our lives, our consciences have accused 
 us, but which are now forgotten by us. 
 We remember those great sins which, be- 
 cause they were great and heinous, we 
 cannot forget. We know that whether we 
 remember or forget them their wages is 
 death till we repent of them and turn 
 from them. Save us, Lord, from these 
 and from all our sins. Deliver us from 
 evil, and from the vanity of a life empty of 
 Thy grace. Hide Thy face from our 
 trespasses and remember not our trans- 
 cessions. 
 
XIII.] public Morsblp. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Thou who art the God and Father of 
 all men, we bless Thee for Thy goodness 
 to all, for the providence which watches 
 over all nations, and the love to which 
 every individual of our race is dear and 
 precious. We thank Thee for the steadfast 
 order and the unfailing beauty of nature, 
 for the earth bringing forth abundantly its 
 yearly harvest, and the sea yielding its 
 treasures to the dwellers on its shores, 
 and affording a highway to nations, and for 
 the heavens above us filling our souls with 
 awe and wonder. As in the reviving life of 
 spring, so also in the fulness of autumn 
 we desire to trace Thy hand and to 
 acknowledge Thy goodness. We thank 
 Thee for the bread of life which cometh 
 down from heaven whereof if a man eat 
 
 95 
 
praters tor [xm. 
 
 he shall never die, for that eternal harvest 
 of grace and truth which has been given 
 to us in the fulness of time in Jesus 
 Christ. We bless Thee for all who have 
 laboured and striven to gather souls into 
 Thy garner, and to cultivate in them the 
 fruits of the spirit, which are love and 
 peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We 
 bless Thee for the increase which has been 
 given to their labours. We bless Thee 
 that by the labours of the apostles and 
 martyrs and missionaries and preachers and 
 teachers who lived and died in faith, we in 
 our time and in our country, and millions 
 more of the human race along with us, 
 are enriched with the fulness of God, 
 filled with hope towards Thee and confi- 
 dence in Thy purpose of mercy towards 
 all mankind. We thank Thee for Thy 
 goodness to them in giving them nobleness 
 
 96 
 
'^^"•] public Morsbtp. 
 
 to labour for Thee, and for Thy goodness 
 to us in making us heirs of the good for 
 which thej laboured. 
 
 Thou who art about us to bless us, 
 and who orderest all our steps, we thank 
 Thee for this life, and all its blessings 
 and trials and temptations. We thank 
 Thee for the peace and comfort which 
 it gives us in every condition and in every 
 place to feel that Thou art near us, and 
 that Thou art good, and that even our 
 evil cannot change Thy purpose of grace 
 and mercy toward us. We bless Thee for 
 all the sweetness which is infused into the 
 bitterest hours of our life by the sympathy 
 of our kind, and for the cheerfulness which 
 is lent to the hour of death, by the know- 
 ledge that Thou art for ever and Thy years 
 and Thy grace shall not fail. For Thy 
 Son, Jesus Christ, we bless Thee, in whom 
 
praters tor [xm. 
 
 Thou hast made Thy goodness known to 
 us, and by whom Thou art imparting Thy 
 goodness to men ; by whom a new heaven 
 has been revealed to us, and through 
 whom all things are being made new on 
 earth. We thank Thee for all that His 
 life has done to make our life better and 
 happier, and for the life to come of glory 
 and honour which He has brought to light. 
 Thou whose mercies cannot be num- 
 bered, whose perfections cannot be uttered, 
 grant that we may be enabled by Thy 
 grace so to use all Thy mercies that we 
 may be changed more and more into Thy 
 likeness, and that our imperfection may 
 put on tlie image of Thy glory. Help us to 
 know and to believe with open heart and 
 mind what is revealed of Thyself in Thy 
 works and in Thy word, and to distinguish 
 between the letter which killeth and the 
 
XIII. 
 
 public TKIlorsblp, 
 
 Spirit which maketh alive, between the 
 commandments and traditions of men and 
 Thy ever-enduring law, and give us faith 
 and patience to do according to what we 
 know. May we account our days oppor- 
 tunities to serve Thee and know Thee. 
 May we who know that Thou art good 
 account it our meat and drink to do Thy 
 will. Help us, as good soldiers of Jesus 
 Christ, to be steadfast in striving for what 
 is right, and in searching for the truth, 
 and in doing what is good and kind. 
 Strengthen us by Thy might to live not 
 unto ourselves but unto Thee, and to walk 
 as pilgrims and strangers, looking for a 
 city whose builder and maker is God. 
 
 Thou without whom nothing is good 
 or profitable, be pleased to shed abroad Thy 
 love in our hearts, and teach us Thy fear, 
 and to Thee the Father be glory for ever. 
 
prapers tor [xiv. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 God, wlio hath commended to our 
 hearts as Thnie the words which were 
 spoken by Christ, that except we become 
 as Httle children we cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of heaven ; give us a meek and 
 childlike spirit that we may seek to know 
 Thy truth, and strive to do Thy will, and 
 may enter into Thy rest. May it please 
 Thee of Thy great mercy, ministering grace 
 to us in the time of our temptation and 
 our failing purpose, to enable us to strive 
 against the spirit of pride and envy and 
 selfishness which is in us and in the world, 
 and to overcome what is evil in ourselves 
 and in the world by faith in Thee, who art 
 good, and doest good always. 
 
 Father of Light, the entrance of whose 
 Word giveth light, grant that as children 
 
 100 
 
XIV.] public Morsbtp* 
 
 of the light and of the day we may come 
 unto Thee that our deeds may be made 
 known. May we come unto the light that 
 our evil deeds, our deeds and thoughts of 
 vanity and sin may be made known, that 
 we may see them as Thou seest them, and 
 know the evil of them as it is known to 
 Thee. May we come unto the light that all 
 our deeds may be made known, that we may 
 feel that none of them are insignificant or 
 fruitless as regards good and evil, but that 
 all of them are evil or good, and serve to 
 advance Thy kingdom in our hearts and in 
 the world, or to hinder its coming. May 
 we come unto the light that the deeds 
 which in our conscience Thou hast com- 
 manded us to do may be made known, 
 that we may feel that they are not com- 
 manded because Thou art the master of 
 all men, but because Thou art every man's 
 
 101 
 
praters tot [xiv. 
 
 friend, not because they are burdensome to 
 flesh and blood, but because to the spirit 
 they are life and peace. In Thy light 
 may we see light. May the light which 
 lighteneth every man that cometh into the 
 world so increase and rule in our souls 
 that we may love truth for its own sake, 
 and strive after righteousness as salvation 
 and eternal life ; and that we may shun 
 all the works of darkness, all falsehood 
 and hypocrisy and unrighteousness, not as 
 forbidden only but as hateful, not alone as 
 condemned, but as condemnation and misery 
 and death. The wages of sin is death, but 
 the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Thou who hast given 
 us in Christ a Saviour, who is the Life and 
 the Light of men, grant that we his dis- 
 ciples and followers may be children of 
 the light and of tlie day, seeing, as in the 
 
 102 
 
xiv] public Morsbip, 
 
 day that Thou orderest the world in right- 
 eousness, and givest peace to men only along 
 with grace to do Thy will ; assured by the 
 shining of the Sun of Eighteousness within 
 us that godliness with contentment is great 
 gain, that Thy yoke is easy and Thy bur- 
 den light, that Thy commandments are true 
 and righteous altogether, more to be desired 
 than gold, yea, than much fine gold. 
 
 Drive away by the light of the gospel 
 the darkness which lingers in our minds, 
 the unbelief and selfishness and supersti- 
 tion which find refuge in their darkness. 
 Thou who hast established a kingdom 
 upon earth which cannot be moved, and 
 hast by Jesus Christ revealed it to us, grant 
 that what was hid from ages and from gene- 
 rations of its greatness and its glory and its 
 constant progress, may be manifest to us. 
 Enable us by Thy grace to l^ehold Tliy 
 
 . 103 
 
IPra^ers tor [xiv. 
 
 kingdom extending itself in the world by 
 means of all events and by all experience 
 of Thy creatures; and help us to strive and 
 labour that it may come everywhere, and 
 be finally perfect in the salvation of all 
 our race. There be many that say, Who 
 will show us any good ? Lord, lift Thou 
 upon all mankind the light of Thy coun- 
 tenance. Satisfy us early with Thy mercy. 
 Show us Thy salvation. When we are 
 troubled and perplexed by the evil in our 
 own hearts, from which we cannot be 
 wholly delivered in this life, when we are 
 in despair of the world at the sight of the 
 abounding misery and sin and death for 
 which there is no redress or cure, be Thou 
 our hope, be Thy kingdom our confidence. 
 Show us Thy salvation still hasting to its 
 accomplishment, show us Thy light slowly 
 dispersing the darkness, thy grace still over- 
 
 104 
 
XIV.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 coming iniquity and strife and wrong, Thy 
 good, which is good indeed, still brought 
 out of our evil. Lord, we believe ; help our 
 unbelief. We believe in Thy mercy and 
 grace towards some men ; help us to be- 
 lieve in Thy goodness and loving-kindness 
 towards all men. We believe that Thy 
 will concerning some men is that they 
 should be saved ; help us to believe that 
 Thy will and purpose concerning all men 
 is that they should not die, but live. Grant 
 this for Jesus' sake. 
 
 105 
 
praters for [xv. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Almighty God, who art the Saviour of all 
 men, especially of all that believe, who in 
 evil times of the Church of Christ didst 
 minister comfort to the souls of suffering 
 believers in the hope that He who came 
 once in great humility should come again 
 to reign and govern among men — we bless 
 Thee for the consolation which is given to 
 us under the adversities of our lot and 
 under tlie present miseries of the world by 
 the progress of his rule and influence. We 
 thank Thee for all we see of Thy purpose, 
 not by might but by the secret operation of 
 Thy Spirit, to put all things under His feet, 
 and through Him who came from the God 
 of Peace to reconcile all things on earth to 
 Thee. While still we see in part and pro- 
 phesy in part of the coming of Thy king- 
 
XV.] ipubltc Morsblp. 
 
 (lorn, may we, in the light of the gospel of 
 glad tidings which are for all mankind, look 
 forward to a time and believe in it and long 
 for it, when the evil of the world that now 
 is being consumed as if by fire, good shall 
 be where e\dl was ; when to better minds 
 and purer hearts all old things shall have 
 passed away and all things shall be made 
 new ; when righteousness and truth and 
 peace and innocent delight shall abound, 
 as now iniquity and inhumanity and relig- 
 ion which is a cloak of covetousness ; when 
 all men shall confess that the Crucified One 
 is anointed and glorified to the glory of God 
 the Father. Merciful Father, whose will is 
 our salvation, hasten the coming of that 
 time by our lives who now live, and by our 
 work and suffering who now labour and 
 endure. This grant for Jesus' sake. 
 
 Enlighten us by Thy light, our Father, 
 
 107 
 
prai^ers tor [xv. 
 
 in all that concerns the truth of Thy nature 
 and Thy will. Drive away by Thy light 
 not only the darkness which is in us by 
 nature, but that darkness which is spread 
 abroad from man to man, and that light 
 which was light to other ages and has be- 
 come darkness. If the light that is in us 
 be darkness, how great is that darkness. 
 May we fear to attribute to Thee, Eternal 
 Mercy and Righteousness, anything of our 
 own selfishness or waywardness or evil or 
 disregard of perfect truth and justice ; and 
 may we humbly seek to know Thee as 
 Thou hast revealed Thyself in Him who 
 has revealed Thee as our Father. May we, 
 laying aside what we have vainly learned 
 or imagined of Thy nature, learn to worship 
 thee in spirit and in truth as Eternal Truth 
 and Goodness. With all saints, with all 
 whose experience has been of other than 
 
 108 
 
XV] ipubltc Morsbip. 
 
 earthly good, who have tasted and seen 
 that Thou art good, who have discovered 
 that Thy judgments are blessings, may we 
 attain to the assurance that Thy love pas- 
 seth knowledge and is great beyond our 
 belief or hope, that it is not limited by 
 man's thoughts of it, but is more and 
 greater than can be measured. Thy mercy 
 is in the heavens. Thy faithfulness reacheth 
 unto the clouds, Thy righteousness is like 
 the great mountains, Thy judgments are 
 a great deep. Lord, Thou preservest man 
 and beast. How precious is Thy loving- 
 kindness, Lord, therefore the sons of 
 men put their trust under the shadow of 
 Thy wings. They shall be abundantly sat- 
 isfied with the goodness of Thy house, and 
 Thou shalt make them to drink of the rivers 
 of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the foun- 
 tain of life ; in Thy light shall we see light. 
 
 109 
 
praters tor [xvi. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Almighty and Eternal, hidden from all eyes, 
 but near to all human hearts in all their 
 necessities and all their hopes and fears, 
 this day, when the bustle of our ordinary 
 life is hushed, may we draw near to Thee 
 and find that our true life is in Thee. 
 Because so much of our life is lived in that 
 wliich is outward and changeable, our 
 thoughts of Thee are often and too much 
 as if Thou wert a God afar off, unknown 
 and unfelt, as Thou art unseen and un- 
 sought. But in all that Thou hast made 
 us to be and know and feel, in all our 
 experience of life, Thy thought is revealed 
 to our thought, and in the revelation of 
 Tliyself we desire to feel that Thou who 
 art a Spirit art ever present to our spirit. 
 May we know Thee as the Source and 
 
 110 
 
XVI.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 Fountain of all our love and hope and 
 
 gladness, and of all that varied enjoyment 
 
 which makes us cling to life, and of that 
 
 trust and confidence in the working of One 
 
 who is invisible for the good of all, by 
 
 which we are strengthened and supported 
 
 to bear its ills. Whatever any of our race 
 
 have thought and felt and known, so that 
 
 they have been conscious of a life within 
 
 them, not limited by sense and time, but 
 
 going beyond and above the bounds of time 
 
 and sense, has been from Thee, and is 
 
 to them and us a most sure word of 
 
 testimony concerning Thee. Thou hast 
 
 never left Thyself without a witness among 
 
 men ; and this testimony, which Thou dost 
 
 give of Thy existence and nature and will 
 
 in the thought and feeling of mankind, is 
 
 that witness, which is greatest and best and 
 
 surest of all. In this, we desire to feel 
 111 
 
IPrapers tor [xvi. 
 
 Thou art ever nigh to us, and we to Thee ; 
 present, indeed a very present help in 
 trouble, when our hearts cry aloud for 
 Thee; but present also and equally in that 
 joy in Thy works, and in that delight in 
 Thy gifts in which too often we are for- 
 getful to name Thy name, and to utter 
 Thy praise. 
 
 The heavens declare Thy glory, the firma- 
 ment showeth Thy handiwork, day unto 
 day uttereth speech of Thee. Still more, in 
 the constant working of the heart and 
 thought of man, working to one end — to 
 reveal in all that is without us and in our 
 lives and in our hearts an order which is 
 eternal and which is good, more lasting 
 than the hills, more unsearchable than the 
 foundations of the deep — in all this, more 
 than in all else. Thou art a present God and 
 not one afar off'. What men in past times 
 
 112 
 
XVI .] public Morsblp, 
 
 and belonging to other races than ours have 
 thus learned of Thee, we desire to accept 
 and value as from Thee. May no wilful- 
 ness or prejudice or carelessness or supersti- 
 tion hinder us from welcoming or enjoying 
 these Thy most precious gifts given at sun- 
 dry times and in diverse manners and 
 among all peoples. May we have under- 
 standing and wisdom to value and to 
 use that which is thus given us from day 
 to day as a revelation of Thy thought 
 to our thought in our own experience 
 of life and of the world. Thus having 
 fellowship and communion with Thee, the 
 Father of all, not less truly and directly 
 than any of Thy gifted children, who have 
 spoken in Thy name and testified of Thy 
 might and glory and grace, may we be free 
 to enjoy all that is good in our earthly lot 
 without fear or distrust or taint of super- 
 
 H 113 
 
praters tor [xvi. 
 
 stitious scruples, and when our desires and 
 passions conflict with reason and conscience 
 may we thus learn to bow to a judgment in 
 ourselves which is truly Thine. 
 
 Lord of Light and of all that the light 
 reveals, Lord of all men and of all hearts 
 and lives, as children of Thine, not ignor- 
 ant of Thee, though not perceiving Thee 
 by sight or hearing, may we, as our days 
 pass swiftly away, grudge the light of 
 every day in which we are not more con- 
 scious than before of all the beauty and 
 glory of Thy works in the heavens above us 
 and in the earth beneath us. Still more 
 may we grudge the loss of every day in 
 which we are not more alive than before to 
 the fact that in our hearts, in all the 
 experience and thought and feeling of us 
 and of all mankind, the Father of all is 
 present to all, a light to lighten our dark- 
 
XVI.] public Morsbip. 
 
 ness, a shepherd to lead us and feed us in 
 green pastures and by living streams. 
 
 O Thou who dwellest not in temples 
 made with hands, but art nigh unto all that 
 call upon Thee, and dost find Thy chosen 
 dwelling-place in pure and lowly hearts, 
 grant that our communion with Thee the 
 
 o 
 
 Father may be through Thy Son Jesus 
 Christ, and through the experience of Thy 
 grace to all the children of God. Though 
 Thy presence in the world and in the 
 experience of all Thy rational creatures is 
 without variableness, and that which it has 
 been, it is and shall be, yet we in our blind- 
 ness and dulness of spirit need to seek for 
 it. In the ordinary changefulness of all 
 that is without us Thy presence is veiled 
 from sight, and still more is it withdrawn 
 from us in the unordered experience of our 
 lives and in the movements of the spirit 
 
 115 
 
praters tot [xvi. 
 
 within us. Wliere we are ignorant of Thy 
 works and of Thy ways. Thy presence is 
 hidden from us as in darkness; and it is 
 hidden from us as in light, in what we 
 know of the things that Thou hast made — in 
 all our knowledge, science, and wisdom. It 
 is high, Most Mighty ! we cannot attain unto 
 it. Thou who art in all and through all, 
 by whom all things were and are — the light 
 as well as the darkness, the mystery and 
 sorrow of our lives as well as all their 
 satisfaction and enjoyment — Thou who art 
 the cause of all causes and source of all life 
 and being, art beyond our thoughts of Thee, 
 even the highest of them, as far as heaven 
 is above the earth; and it is at the best 
 only the shadow of Thy presence of which 
 we can be conscious, when we look to that 
 marvellous order which is without us, and 
 when we think of the unresting world of 
 
 116 
 
XVI.] public Morsbip, 
 
 thought and feeling within us. Canst thou 
 find out the depths of God, canst thou find 
 out the end of the Almighty ? It is as high 
 as heaven, what canst thou do ? deeper than 
 hell, what canst thou know ? The measure 
 thereof is longer than the earth, and broader 
 than the sea. In the light of Thy coun- 
 tenance we live, while we live, and in that 
 light all Thy works stand fast and rejoice 
 together; but Thou art a God that hidest 
 Thyself, so that none may see and live. 
 
 Therefore we bless and praise Thee, this 
 day and all our days, that our communion is 
 with Thee the Father through Jesus Christ 
 Thy Son, and through all the favoured ones 
 of our race in whose spirit, as in His, Thy 
 Spirit has had a dwelling-place. By Thy 
 Spirit working in Him and in them the life 
 that is divine and eternal, they have been 
 chosen and separated from their kind to 
 
 117 
 
Iptapers tor [xvi. 
 
 receive blessing and honour and praise from 
 us, who are still too much of the earth 
 earthly, and are enslaved in the lower life 
 of sense against which they struggled and 
 over which they were victorious. To Him 
 and to them, we bless and praise Thee, it 
 was given to see in our life, more than in 
 the heavens above or in the earth beneath. 
 Thy presence may be seen and felt turning 
 all that seems poorest and meanest in the 
 conditions of the most despised existence 
 into greatness and beauty and glory. We 
 desire that their thoughts of Thee and of 
 the world and of the life of man may be 
 our thoughts, that their aims and purposes 
 and endeavours may be ours ; that we may 
 have communion and fellowship with them 
 in the desire to live not unto ourselves but 
 unto Thee, and so to escape from the bond- 
 age of sense and live for ever in the larger 
 
 118 
 
XVI.] public Morsbip- 
 
 life of the spiritual and divine. Thus, our 
 Father, we bless Thee that it is possible for 
 us to have communion with Thee through 
 fellowship with them. Evermore give us 
 of the bread of this fellowship and com- 
 munion that in it we, who see Thee not, 
 and are troubled often because Thy presence 
 is veiled from us, may have experience of 
 peace in the thought of Thee, which the 
 world cannot give and cannot take away. 
 
 119 
 
praters for [xvn. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 We will say of the Lord, He is our God, our 
 refuge in Him will we trust. Thou eter- 
 nal, who to our minds dwellest as if in 
 heaven rather than upon earth, because evil 
 is in the world by sin, but who art present 
 everywhere, as in heaven so also upon earth, 
 to be a help in trouble and light in dark- 
 ness to the children of men, may we feel 
 Thy presence with us now and here in 
 thoughts of Thee which are free from doubt 
 and full of peace and gladness. As we rest 
 from work this day may we live the life of 
 thought and feeling where it is best and 
 purest in Thy presence, conscious of Thy 
 being and Thy love. 
 
 Thou most High, it is a good thing 
 to give thanks unto Thy name, to show 
 forth Thy praise in psalms and hymns and 
 
 120 
 
XVII.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 spiritual songs. Yet would we not forget 
 that still more acceptable is it with Thee, 
 what time we know anything of the deep 
 shadow and mystery in which our life is 
 wrapped, to commune with our own hearts 
 and listen to Thy voice speaking in them and 
 telling us to be still and know that Thou art 
 God. We, as we may and ought, laud and 
 praise Thy name for all that has made life 
 gladsome to us, and to all we love, and 
 to the whole race of man, of which the 
 smallest part is that which has not tasted 
 and seen that Thou art good. But for tri- 
 bulations also would we bless Thee, God. 
 That which is often beyond our strength. 
 Thou knowest. Father of mercies, God of 
 all grace and consolation — is to be thank- 
 ful to Thee and to praise Thy name for the 
 things which are to us and to our kind not 
 joyous but grievous, to feel no doubt of Thy 
 
IPra^ers tor [xvn. 
 
 goodness, no suspicion of Thy loving-kind- 
 ness. We bless Thee that our hearts, wit- 
 nessing for Thee and of Thee, assure us that 
 this which is often so much beyond our 
 strength is not what Thou dost require from 
 us or expect from us ; but that it is, that in 
 all the troubles and sorrows of this life, as 
 in all its hours of gladness and of mirth, 
 our thoughts should be of Thee as one who 
 like as a father pitieth His children, pitieth 
 them that fear Thee, who is most mercifully 
 as well as most justly to the pure pure, and 
 to the froward froward. Thou who art 
 the beginning and the end of all things, 
 life of all that lives, source of all true and 
 blessed life for man, that which is known to 
 Thee altogether of the issues of our life in 
 its sadness and in its gladness, is but little 
 intelligible to us. Here when above all we 
 wish to see Thee, we see Thee not, and have 
 
 122 
 
XVII.] ipubllc Morsbtp* 
 
 to walk by faith, our faith being often made 
 weak by the darkness which is all around 
 us. May it be enough for us to feel here 
 in this darkness of our lives that there is 
 hope and comfort for us in that which all 
 our earthly adversity and sorrow is able to 
 do for mankind, in turning their thoughts to 
 One over all, with whom evil cannot dwell, of 
 whose government there shall be no end but 
 universal order and peace and blessedness. 
 
 That these thoughts and feelings may 
 be deepened in us and strengthened, we 
 rest this day from work, and we come 
 together to worship Thee and to praise 
 Thy name. May the desire of our hearts 
 be granted to us, so that we may feel that, 
 even for the sad and weary and sorrowful 
 of mankind, in Thy presence there is fulness 
 of joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures 
 for evermore. 
 
 123 
 
Iprapers tor [xvin. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Thou who art the hearer and the an- 
 swerer of prayer, to whom all flesh come in 
 all their longings after things spiritual and 
 divine, who art no respecter of persons in 
 regard to any of Thy best gifts, but .who 
 givest unto all men liberally and upbraidest 
 not, may it please Thee to give us with all Thy 
 gifts and benefits a heart right with Thee to 
 discern and to feel the value of Thy bene- 
 fits and gifts. While we desire and hope 
 and seek for blessings and enjoyments for 
 ourselves and others, which are given but to 
 the few, or which Thy providence or our 
 weakness has placed beyond our reach, we 
 are tempted to neglect and to undervalue 
 sources of enjoyment and of blessedness 
 which lie near to us and are open to us. 
 We beseech Thee, Father of mercies, to save 
 
XVIII.] public Morsbip* 
 
 us from this blindness and folly. We desire 
 so to be informed by Thy light and guided 
 by Thy grace that we may not in invoking 
 from Thee rare and v^onderful mercies judge 
 ourselves to be unworthy because unmind- 
 ful of blessings and benefits Thou hast 
 freely bestowed upon us. In asking from 
 Thee, and looking to Thee for gifts of grace 
 and piety, and with them experience of 
 gladness and of peace, may we not be for- 
 getful to avail ourselves from day to day of 
 the opportunity to gladden our lives and in- 
 crease their store of enjoyment, by min- 
 istering of our abundance to the need 
 of others. May we not in looking and 
 hoping for the blessedness of the just 
 made perfect through their faith, forget to 
 learn something by trial and experience of 
 the blessedness of being kind, like Thee, to 
 the just and to the unjust. It is good and 
 
 125 
 
ptapers tor [xvm. 
 
 profitable for us, God of our fathers, to take 
 pleasure in and to learn wisdom from the 
 study of Thy dealings with men of old, whose 
 fathers, as they believed, walked closely with 
 Thee and heard Thy voice ; yet may we not 
 so value this study, or engross ourselves in 
 it, or superstitiously judge it, as to take no 
 thought or pleasure in the present experi- 
 ence of our nation and other nations, to 
 whom Thou art, as to Israel, God and Father 
 and Shepherd and Guide. What time has 
 brought to us, especially in the words of 
 prophets and saints, of promises of good for 
 all our race — great and precious promises 
 going beyond this life into another and 
 larger and better — we cannot fondly enough 
 cherish or thankfully enough accept and 
 welcome. Yet, Lord, be pleased to grant 
 that we may not fail, in dreaming of the ful- 
 filment of those promises and of a distant 
 
XVIII.] ipubltc Morsbtp* 
 
 heaven foreshadowed in them, to see and feel 
 how much of heaven Thou hast given here 
 and now to the seeing eye and to the un- 
 derstanding and loving heart — in the study 
 of nature and of the life of man — in a mind 
 cultivated to the enjoyment of art and litera- 
 ture — in homes in which gentleness and 
 refinement reflect divine order and cause 
 heavenly peace to dwell — in the observation 
 of the coming of Thy kingdom in the pro- 
 gress of men and nations. We desire that 
 Thou wouldst not suffer us in our blindness 
 to neglect and disregard these purer and 
 nearer sources of blessedness which Thy 
 mercy has provided for us. May we 
 rather thankfully accept them and use 
 them for our advantage and to Thy 
 glory. 
 
 Thou hast not, in these times of ours more 
 than in ancient times, raised up and gifted 
 
 127 
 
praters tot [xvni. 
 
 men to be teachers of truth and wisdom — to 
 give sight to the blind in regard to what is 
 beautiful and good — to be discoverers and 
 guides in the paths of knowledge and science 
 — only that we should rebuke them in Thy 
 name, or that we should by our indifference 
 or contempt reject Thy gifts to us in them. 
 May we not desire wealth, or pursue it, or 
 seek it from Thee, as if it were to be com- 
 pared with that which Thou hast given to 
 these men to give to us. Above all, we pray 
 that, having a grateful sense of how much 
 Thou hast given us here in sources of 
 blessedness which are near us and open to 
 us and that are pure and lasting, we may 
 desire to open them to the many to whom 
 they are shut; so that their life, made dull 
 and wretched by ignorance and superstition 
 and fanaticism and sensuality, may be ele- 
 vated and purified and ennobled ; and thus 
 
 128 
 
XVIII.] ipublic Morsbip* 
 
 in seeking to help Thy kingdom to come 
 npon earth, may we share Thy blessedness 
 and know Thy peace. 
 
 129 
 
Iprai^ers tot [xix. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Father of all, whom to know is life ever- 
 lasting, we give Thee thanks and praise 
 that through Jesus Christ Thy name is 
 known in all the earth. We bless Thee 
 that there is felt among them that know 
 Thy name the bond of a spiritual com- 
 munion and fellowship. That Thou hast 
 never left Thyself without a witness among 
 men, that this voice has been heard speak- 
 ing as from heaven in the hearts of men, 
 and in the words of the wise and good 
 and true of all lands and all times, we 
 praise and bless Thee. But, above all, we 
 desire to bless Thee that having spoken 
 unto us by a Son, whose words are to us 
 a message of reconciliation and of peace, 
 many have heard and known Thy voice, 
 and in their hearts and in their lives 
 
 130 
 
xix] public Morsbip. 
 
 have turned to Thee to seek Thee as His 
 Father and their Father. For as many 
 as have thus been of that fellowship and 
 communion in which we this day rejoice 
 we praise and Ijless Thee. We thank 
 Thee for all the work which they have 
 done, and all the suffering which they 
 have endured to establish Thy kingdom 
 upon earth, to undo the work done by 
 the evil and untliinking of our race, and 
 to redress the evil done and the suffering 
 caused by them. We bless Thee for what- 
 ever grace was given to them through 
 the revelation of Thy mercy to mankind 
 in Jesus Christ to live lives adorned with 
 patience and noljleness and self-sacrifice. 
 And we desire to be of one mind with 
 them all, that our communion and fellow- 
 ship may be as theirs was in this earthly 
 life with Thee, the Father, through Jesus 
 
 131 
 
praters for [xix. 
 
 Christ. As belonging to this communion 
 in which there is named tlie name of Jesus, 
 we remember with thankMness the de- 
 parted who still live with us and for us 
 in their works and words, our friends who 
 have gone from us and are with Thee, 
 and all who now live and are living as 
 we desire to do not unto themselves but 
 unto Thee. May grace, mercy, and peace 
 be upon them all. By whatever name 
 they are named, may the spirit of Jesus 
 dwell in them by faith to make them 
 Thy children and brethren one of another. 
 May the blindness be removed which, while 
 it is day, causes any of them to walk as 
 in the night, considering not the things 
 that make for peace. May strife and di- 
 vision which mar this communion give 
 place in it to goodwill among men and 
 peace on earth. 
 
XIX.] public Morsbtp* 
 
 Deny us not tliat grace which in this 
 communion and fellowship has been given 
 to many whose faith we desire to follow, 
 in whose footsteps we desire to walk. 
 Malvc us followers of all them who through 
 faith and patience now inherit the promise. 
 Whatever men have known and felt of the 
 satisfaction and peace of being reconciled 
 to Thee, and of doing Thy will here as it 
 is done in heaven, we also may feel in 
 this communion. To the same ministry 
 we are called, Our Father ! in which they 
 have served whose names and deeds and 
 lives we remember with reverence and love. 
 In our daily work, and while we are beset 
 by the cares and troubles and temptations 
 of daily life, we also like them may be 
 Thine, and know the peace of God which 
 passeth all understanding. ]\iay we. Our 
 Father ! through Thy grace ministered to 
 
praters for [xix. 
 
 us in these our acts and hours of worship, 
 and in all the discipline of this earthly 
 life, be so inspired and guided that this 
 our high calling in Christ Jesus may not 
 be in vain for us, but that we too, while 
 our day is, may work the work which is 
 given us to do, and receive in doing it 
 the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. 
 Our Father who art reconciling the world 
 unto Thyself in Jesus Christ, suffer us 
 not, because of the evil that is in the 
 world through unrighteousness, to be un- 
 mindful of his example, or to be unthankful 
 towards Thee for all that He did and 
 suffered to bring the world to Thy light and 
 Thy light to the world. Evermore in this 
 earthly darkness may the light which is 
 in Him be to us a light to lighten our 
 darkness, wdthin us and about us. May 
 He not have lived in vain or died in vain 
 
 134 
 
xix] public Morsbip^ 
 
 for us, but grant that we may live after 
 His example to the praise of Him who 
 has called us out of darkness into his 
 marvellous light. And may the light which 
 we share, and in which we desire to re- 
 joice, be spread abroad over all the earth, 
 that all who are of the night and of dark- 
 ness, and whose lives are bound in misery 
 and superstition through error and sin, may 
 be delivered from the bondage in which 
 they are held, and rejoice in Thy salvation. 
 
praters tor 
 
 [xx. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, 
 and His greatness is unsearchable. Our 
 thoughts cannot reach unto Thee, Eternal ! 
 but are bounded by the shadows in which 
 we dwell, of things that Thou hast made 
 and that are a part of the mystery of Thy 
 being and of ours. But with the desires 
 of our hearts we may come to Thee, and 
 through them in part know Thee even 
 as we are known. Thou that hidest 
 Thyself from the search of those that seek 
 Thee in the heavens above and in the 
 earth beneath, but who art nigh unto every 
 one of us, and art found by those who look 
 for Thee in a pure and humble heart — may 
 we have grace and wisdom in this our 
 worship to commune with our own heart 
 and be still — not to speak unto Thee as 
 
 136 
 
XX.] public Morsbtp.. 
 
 if Thou neededst that we should tell Thee 
 what is in us, but to listen to Thy voice 
 speaking to us in the reasonable soul with 
 which Thou hast endowed us. All our 
 knowledge that is by Thy favour to us 
 the children of men continually increased, 
 deepens only by its increase our conscious- 
 ness of ignorance concerning Thee, the First 
 and the Last, the Beginning and the End, by 
 Whom and for Whom all things were and 
 are. Thy gift to favoured generations of 
 service which is their best possession and 
 tlieir glory, brings us not near to Thee, 
 magnifies not to our minds the mystery of 
 Thy being. Only, O Lord, our own hearts 
 bear witness to us of Thee, and speak to us, 
 as with Thy voice, of what Thou art. We 
 know and believe that which they have to 
 tell us of Thee — that One there is whom 
 we see not, by whom all that is seen 
 
 137 
 
praters tor [xx. 
 
 and we ourselves, have a being, and that 
 all we desire or dream of greatness and 
 goodness, He is. What we cannot know 
 they teach us to hold as most certain of 
 all that we think concerning Thee — that 
 Thou, who art the Father of all, dost with 
 fatherly pity and mercy behold and bless 
 all that Thou hast made. We bless Thee 
 that this revelation of Thyself is made 
 within us, that so the darkness without 
 us should not overwhelm us. For the 
 certainty with which this revelation of 
 Thyself in our hearts comes to us we 
 praise Thee and bless Thee: it is our 
 comfort in the time of trouble, our safety 
 in the day of temptation. We bless Thee 
 that not the evil of the world, nor that of 
 which we are conscious in ourselves, can 
 drive away from our hearts the haunting 
 thought of Thee, as Thou art known and 
 
XX.] public Morsbip. 
 
 manifested in the intelligence of Thy rational 
 creatures better than in the most glorious 
 of Thy works. May it please Thee to 
 grant that we may learn by experience of 
 life, and of what its good and its evil are, 
 to delight ourselves in Thee more and more, 
 as Thou art ever present and ever gracious 
 to thought and feeling that are turned to 
 Thee. Our heart and our iiesh crieth out 
 for Thee. 
 
praters tov [xxi. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 God of all grace, light of all our seeing, giver 
 of every gift of understanding and know- 
 ledge, we bless and praise Thee for these 
 Scriptures of a favoured race in which we 
 have received from Tliee that wisdom which 
 is able to make us wise unto salvation. 
 We desire to render unto Thee thanks and 
 praise for the fulfilments of the promise in 
 which the fathers of that race believed — 
 that in their father and his offspring all 
 the nations of the earth should be blessed. 
 As Thou hast given to communities gifts 
 of men, jjjreat in intellect and sreater still 
 in heart, to be the founders in them of 
 higher and better life, so hast Thou given 
 to the world races to whom the world has 
 owed salvation from some of its worst evils, 
 and a marvellous increase of the highest 
 
 140 
 
XXI ] public Morsbip. 
 
 good. We reniem])er, as we read these 
 Scriptures, which come to us from one 
 such race of men, how much we owe to 
 Thee in that which we owe to them. The 
 errors and sins and follies of which 
 they were guilty, and which they have 
 recorded in these Scriptures for a testi- 
 mony against themselves, have by Thy 
 mercy long ago ceased to l)e known by 
 their effects among children of men. 
 They suffered for them, as was meet, and 
 we have not now to fear the shame and 
 sorrow which they involved. But we are 
 the inheritors of that good which they 
 achieved by their virtues, when other races 
 were sunk in ignorance and sensual dulness, 
 to which the thought of Thee and of right- 
 eousness as Thy sceptre was strange and 
 alien. To that one race, what concerned 
 the worship and service of the Eternal, 
 
 141 
 
Ipra^ets tor [xxi. 
 
 whose name is holy, was more than the 
 glory of war or gain of trade. Age 
 after age, broken only by human frailty, 
 the life that was lived by the race of Israel, 
 Thy chosen, was life eternal and divine. 
 By that life, thanks and praise be to Thee, 
 Jehovah, God and Father of Jew and 
 Gentile ! the life of mankind has been en- 
 riched for all fj^enerations with thouoht, 
 experience, knowledge of things spiritual, 
 in the inheritance of which from one nation 
 all nations are blessed in one. We thank 
 Tliee for examples of worth and nobleness 
 which were the Hower of that marvellous 
 national existence in God and for God; and 
 we bless Thee for the incomparable treasures 
 of song and prophecy, of imperishable truth 
 concerning Thee and concerning man's life 
 in Thee which were its final outcome, and 
 in which it fulfilled its course and destiny. 
 
XXI.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 We desire to profit by these Scriptures 
 which record the virtues and the sins of 
 one people so that we may, with the wisest 
 of their wise and good and great, count 
 righteousness and justice as the most sacred 
 and most weighty of all interests to all 
 peoples and all nations, and that we may 
 honour worth more than wealth or might or 
 rank. We thank Thee for the treasures of 
 religious truth and wisdom which have been 
 preserved to us in tlie recorded thought of 
 peoples who to Jew and Christian have 
 been heathen and strangers. Thou hast 
 never left Thyself without a witness among 
 men. It is Thy spirit which giveth us 
 understanding. We bless Thee for truth, 
 wherever it has been spoken or known or 
 welcomed as Thy gift to the children of 
 men. We thank Thee above all for Jesus 
 Christ, by whom in regard to Thee, and our 
 
 143 
 
praters tor [xxi. 
 
 life in Thee, our darkness is turned to light. 
 Be pleased to grant that as children of the 
 light and of the day we may come unto the 
 light that our deeds may be made known, 
 and that what we do we may do to Th}' 
 glorv. 
 
 144 
 
XXII. ] public Morsblp. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Unto Thee, Lord, we lift up our eyes, and 
 the desire of our hearts is to be conscious 
 that where we are Thou art, and that in Thy 
 presence there is fulness of joy. There be 
 many that say. Who will show us any good ? 
 Lift Thou on us the light of Thy countenance. 
 In our lives, as in all besides of Thy bound- 
 less dominion, Thou createst darkness and 
 commandest light to break forth ; the dark- 
 ness and the light are both alike to Thee. 
 In our search after happiness and in our 
 desire to avoid want and suffering, we 
 have erred and strayed from Thy presence 
 into darkness ; and now we would return to 
 Thee to seek the light of Thy face — believing 
 that Thou hast never said unto any, Seek 
 ye My face in vain — knowing that Thou 
 hast never failed to be to souls that loved 
 
 K 145 
 
praters tor [xxn. 
 
 Thee help and stay and guide and exceeding 
 great reward. With life Thou hast given 
 us the desire of life, never to be satisfied, so 
 that the good which we have enjoyed in it, 
 and which we now have, seems poor and 
 vain and empty compared with the better 
 and greater which lives in our thoughts, 
 and is not found by us in the world. May 
 we not be hindered by all the failure of our 
 lives to find good from striving after some- 
 thing better and higher. May we not be 
 hindered by our errors, our griefs, and vexa- 
 tions in past days, from struggling now 
 towards happiness and peace. And thus 
 may we who have wandered from Thee 
 return to Thee again. Thou Source of all 
 life and blessedness. Beginning and End of 
 all lives, open Thou our eyes that we may 
 behold wondrous things in those things that 
 are common in our common lives — in all the 
 
 146 
 
XXII.] public Motsbtp. 
 
 want which we feel, and all the sorrow we 
 endure, and all the pain we fear — in the rich 
 man's wealth and the poor man's toil, and 
 the wise man's knowledge — in the gladness 
 of youth, in the sweetness of love and friend- 
 ship in the scorn of life of a few men, and 
 
 the dissatisfaction with life of all men. We 
 are of little faith, Lord Most High! and 
 that which the wise and good have written 
 for our learning — that which many pro- 
 phets and righteous men have testified 
 to us concerning righteousness and good- 
 ness as man's true life and Thy will, 
 comes often to us as a sealed book, and 
 concerning it we doubt and question and 
 cannot be satisfied. But in these common 
 things in common lives. Thou, living God 1 
 art revealing to us the Invisible and Eternal 
 Spirit, which no man hath seen or can see; 
 so that our spirit may have fellowship with 
 
 147 
 
praters tor [xxu 
 
 Thee, and know that Thou art, and that 
 Thou art a re warder of them that diligently 
 seek Thee. May we look into this revela- 
 tion of Thyself, and inquire diligently into 
 it. May we be instructed by it how to live. 
 May we learn from it to redeem the time, 
 counting the time past of our life sufficient 
 to have wrought the will of the flesh, and 
 thinking that now it is high time to awake 
 out of sleep. Thou who art better and kinder 
 than any who have loved us and cared for us 
 upon earth. Thou who hast loved us and cared 
 for each of thy children by making all the 
 love and all the life of all our kind to con- 
 tribute to the good of each — grant of Thy 
 great mercy that we learn to love Thee by 
 learning from our lives what Thou art and 
 what is Thy will concerning us — by taking 
 heed to that which we are taught in our 
 hearts by failure and success, by want and 
 
 148 
 
XXII.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 abundance, by joy and sorrow, by sin and 
 suffering. Thou who art good, and who 
 turnest evil to good, hast shown us what is 
 good in giving us good and the shadow of 
 evil with it. In this thou hast given to thy 
 chosen ones opportunities to live a heavenly 
 life and to enjoy blessedness upon earth ; 
 as He who was rich, for our sakes became 
 poor, and yet had all things. May we be 
 thus followers of all those who, through faith 
 and patience and enlightenment in things 
 divine and eternal, have inherited here in 
 this life the promises of these things. Grant 
 us this grace, for Jesus' sake. 
 
praters tor [xxm. 
 
 XXIIT. 
 
 King Eternal, whose glory it is to be 
 loved of all thy creatures made capable of 
 knowing Thee; who art great in goodness and 
 greatly to be praised ; we come to Thee with 
 confidence as children to a father, believing 
 that Thou art more willing to give, than 
 we to ask, the things that are needful for 
 us. How shall we come before the Lord ? 
 With what sacrifice shall we bow our- 
 selves before Him ? We will bring unto 
 Thee, Most High, as our hearts teach us, 
 and as tlie best and choicest of Thy 
 saints and servants have taught us, the 
 desire that Thou wouldst have compassion 
 upon us and upon all men — that Thou 
 wouldst make Thy way known in the earth, 
 and Thy saving health among all nations. 
 Hast Thou not said by the mouth of the 
 
 150 
 
XXIII.] public Morsbtp, 
 
 Holy and Blessed One, in whose name we 
 are called, Ask and ye shall receive, seek and 
 ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened 
 unto you? May we, our Father who art in 
 heaven, and who dwellest also upon earth! 
 with wonder and adoration acknowledge 
 Thee in Thy works, and see and confess that 
 Thy greatness is unsearchable. Deepen by 
 all our knowledge the mystery of life and 
 being for us, that in the shadow of this 
 mystery the light of Thy glory may shine in 
 upon us more and more, and that ever as 
 day and night in our fleeting lives revolve, 
 and we are brought nearer to the end of our 
 existence here below, we may more and 
 more truly and heartily, with all Thy works, 
 praise Thee. But by what Thou dost re- 
 veal to our hearts of Thy goodness we are 
 taught that what the Lord doth require of 
 us as worship and sacrifice and praise and 
 
 151 
 
Iprapers tor [xxm. 
 
 blessing is, above all, that we should trust 
 in Him as good, and without wrath and 
 doubting lift up our empty hands to Him 
 that they may be filled. 
 
 We call to mind what we have known 
 and felt and heard of the sorrow and 
 suffering and weariness and want of man- 
 kind. Thy kingdom come, as in heaven, 
 so also upon earth. We pray for the sick 
 that they may be healed through suffer- 
 ing; for the sorrowful that they may be 
 purified through sorrow; for the wretched 
 and miserable and outcast, that their wrongs 
 may be righted and their misery relieved ; 
 for all who are wounded in their affections 
 and broken in their hearts, that as their day 
 is so may their strength be ; for all who are 
 in this earthly darkness bewildered by the 
 shows of things and led astray into folly 
 and vice and sin, that by the mercy of 
 
 162 
 
XXIII.] public MorBbtp^ 
 
 the Highest they may be led into the 
 way of righteousness and peace. May our 
 nation and all the nations upon earth learn 
 the wisdom to be friendly, to love right- 
 eousness, to prefer industry and peace to 
 war and bloodshed. Grant to our nation 
 and to all nations, in kings and princes and 
 rulers, the rule of the wise and good and 
 great. Bless our Sovereign the Queen, in 
 making her a blessing in her wide empire 
 to many nations and peoples and tongues, 
 by giving to her Government the glory of 
 promoting among them enlightenment and 
 industry and peace. 
 
 Our Father, who art in heaven, whose 
 glory it is to give always more and better 
 than we can ask or think! in all our weak- 
 ness in this life minister to us courage and 
 hope ; in all temptation give us grace to suf- 
 fer and be strong ; in all sorrow may we be 
 
 153 
 
praters for [xxm 
 
 patient and hope to the end for the grace of 
 the Highest yet to be revealed to us and all 
 men. May we, in all experience of the 
 vanity of earthly things, have bread to eat 
 which the world knoweth not of in the as- 
 surance that the purpose of the Lord from 
 everlasting to everlasting is our salvation 
 from sin and sorrow. Grant us this grace, 
 for Jesus' sake. 
 
XXIV.] public Mot6btp» 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 BUEIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The Lord is merciful and gracious. 
 
 Thou who art the Beginning and the 
 End of all lives, in whom the living live 
 and the dead sleep, grant that we in the 
 presence of death may feel that our true 
 life is in Thee. Thou who hast made us 
 as we are made, to love life and to grieve 
 and suffer in the presence of death, be 
 near to us when we call upon Thy name, 
 feeling in that presence we have no help 
 save in Thee alone. It is our comfort 
 and consolation in turning our hearts to 
 Thee, when they are made heavy by sorrow, 
 that Thou art greater than our hearts 
 and knowest all things, that our grief 
 when it is too great to be uttered, and 
 
Iprapers tov [xxiv. 
 
 our need when it is more and deeper than 
 we know or can express, is what Thou 
 knowest altogether. If, Lord, it seems to 
 us when we need Thee most, and Thy help is 
 most to be desired for our relief, that Thou 
 art farthest away from us and we are most 
 left to ourselves; if the burden of life has 
 thus, through our weakness, to be borne 
 by us often without that help which it is 
 Thine to give, do Thou, most merciful, have 
 compassion upon us, be near to us to keep 
 us even when we have not strength to call 
 upon Tliy name. 
 
 It is Thy hand, Father Almighty, which 
 has fashioned the ties that bind us one to 
 another in love and friendship, and when 
 these ties are broken by death, that which 
 we have to suffer is known to Thee and 
 Thee alone. May we come to Thee as 
 children unto a father, asking from Thee 
 
 156 
 
XXIV.] public Morsbip* 
 
 for a childlike confidence to make our re- 
 quests known unto Thee, remembering that 
 like as a father pitieth his children, so the 
 Lord pitieth them that fear Him. We 
 desire to feel though we cannot know that 
 Thy will in trouble and affliction, even the 
 greatest of all, is not to punish us but to 
 bless us, that alike in all that we are born 
 to suffer in our affections and in all the 
 happiness and enjoyment that we derive 
 from them, the pity and goodness of the 
 Highest are manifested and expressed. 
 When we shrink, as w^e do now, from the 
 painful part of the discipline of this life, 
 when our grief is heavier than we can bear, 
 when all that is best and sweetest in the 
 gift of life is withdrawn from it by Him 
 who gave it, when our strength is proved 
 to us to be weakness, in our weakness be 
 Thy strength perfected, and may we lean 
 
 157 
 
praters for [xxiv. 
 
 upon it and feel that Thou art a very 
 present help in trouble. We desire in our 
 darkest hours to trust Thee, and against 
 doubts and fears that test us and perplex 
 us, to cling to the belief that all is for the 
 best, not meant to crush us or to extinguish 
 our hopes and desires for those we love and 
 for ourselves, but to work out for them and 
 for us good beyond our belief and hope. 
 
 When our faith is weak and heart and 
 Hesh faint and fail, good Lord, have mercy 
 upon us ; in Thy mercy remember us, in- 
 clining us to remember Thy mercy ; in Thy 
 pity visit us, that in the thought of Thy pity 
 we may be saved from despair of ourselves. 
 Most merciful Father, seen of no creature 
 Thou hast made, but near to all that live 
 and in all that lives, we who see Thee not, 
 and only dimly reason of Thy existence 
 and Thy ways, are made subject to doubt 
 
XXIV.] public Morsblp. 
 
 and fear in being made subject to death 
 and the sorrow which is by death. Tliou 
 knowest how hard it is for lis to assure 
 ourselves, when those we love better than 
 life are taken from us, that we are not 
 forgotten or disowned by Him that made 
 us, that our loss is not all loss, and our 
 suffering and anguish not all vain and 
 fruitless. Our affections cling to that 
 which is earthly and familiar to us, so 
 that it is hard for us to think and feel 
 that our beloved dead, whose faces we 
 shall no more behold, are still with Tliee, 
 and that for Thee and in Thy presence and 
 Thy dominion, death hath no more dominion 
 over them. 
 
 Lord, have mercy upon us, and when our 
 faith is thus weak and faltering increase 
 our faith. Where the witness of Thyself 
 which Thou hast given to men is most 
 
 159 
 
praters for [xxiv. 
 
 precious and most needful, may we seek 
 it and find it not only in the experience of 
 Thy saints and servants in past ages, but 
 in our own hearts fashioned by Thee, and 
 in our own lives ordered by Thee. Like 
 as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
 pitieth them that fear Him. Even as we 
 are moved by pity for the weak and down- 
 cast and sorrowful, so our hearts assure us 
 it must be that He who is the highest of 
 all must be the best of all, pitiful and 
 compassionate beyond our belief and hope 
 to all that lives and breathes. Grant, our 
 Father, that we may in all trouble that is 
 darkest and deepest finil in this revelation 
 of Thyself within us, Thy consolation 
 ministered to us, and Thy light lightening 
 our darkness. 
 
 Help of all the sorrowful. Comforter of 
 all that mourn, we remember in Thy pre- 
 
XXIV.] ipublic Morsbtp^ 
 
 sence those whose share in the sorrow 
 which we feel this day is heaviest and 
 sorest. Comfort by the sympathy of 
 friends, and much more by Thy grace — 
 comfort and support one whose heart is 
 made sorrowful with a great sorrow for 
 the loss of a kind and faithful husband. 
 We commend to Thy care children too 
 young to know the calamity that has be- 
 fallen them, beseeching Thee to be their 
 Father and Friend and Saviour, and to 
 raise up for them friends of their youth 
 and of their later years, who, in remem- 
 brance of the dead, will be to them guides 
 and helpers. We remember in Thy pre- 
 sence all the sorrow of the present moment 
 and the present occasion. We remem- 
 ber the sorrow of friends who have lost 
 one near and dear to them, most worthy 
 of their love — friends who regret the 
 
praters tor [xxiv. 
 
 loss of one esteemed by them and loved 
 for his manliness, generosity, and truth — 
 friends and acquaintances who must miss 
 henceforth from the scenes of busy life one 
 whose part in them was always honourable 
 and dutiful. We remember, too, the sorrow 
 of friends associated with him in public 
 religious duty and observance. Consecrate 
 the sorrow for all of us who have part in 
 it, and grant that even what is darkest and 
 most mysterious in it, may be not without 
 profit in showing us and opening for us the 
 ])ath of life. May we in tlie wreck and 
 ruin, always come or coming, of that which 
 is seen and temporal, learn not only to bear 
 what cannot be avoided of grief with pa- 
 tience, but to set our affections more and more 
 upon that which is unseen and eternal. 
 Grant that, seeing how this earthly life of 
 ours in all that is outward of it, is liable to 
 
 162 
 
XXIV.] public Morsbip* 
 
 change and dissolution, we may be moved 
 by Thy grace to live not unto ourselves, or 
 only with a view to the life that now is, 
 but unto Thee ; and that Thy kingdom may 
 come, as in heaven so also upon earth. 
 Teach us to number our days that we may 
 thus apply our hearts unto wisdom. 
 
 We remember in Thy presence, now and 
 here, all the children of sorrow — above all, 
 those whose sorrow like ours this day is 
 for the dead, concerning whom their souls 
 refuse to be comforted. In the darkness 
 and mystery in which their lives are 
 shrouded by this sorrow, may light arise 
 for them and shine upon them from the 
 sympathy of their kind, much more from 
 what the Spirit which Thou hast given 
 to man witnesses to itself of One, the Be- 
 ginning and the End of all things, the First 
 and the Last, whose tender mercies are 
 
 163 
 
prapers for [xxiv. 
 
 over all His works, who knoweth our frame, 
 who remembereth that we are dust. 
 
 As in our experience of the world, the 
 mystery and the darkness belonging to it 
 are greatest and deepest in the presence of 
 death, by which useful and upright lives are 
 cut short and their aspirations and purposes 
 left unfulfilled — as the yearnings and affec- 
 tions that go out from us towards such lives 
 are the strongest and deepest of our nature 
 — so our hearts above all things refuse to 
 think that their end is only to be remem- 
 bered by us as having come to nought. 
 
 In this may the children of sorrow find 
 comfort for themselves, as in a revelation 
 through human hearts of the pity and 
 loving-kindness of the Highest. 
 
 To one in whose sorrow we are made 
 sorrowful there has come experience of 
 
 164 
 
XXIV.] public Motsbtp. 
 
 calamity the greatest and sorest that human 
 heart can feel. 
 
 We who mourn for a friend taken from 
 us in the vigour of his gifted manhood, and 
 for a useful and honourable life untimely 
 ended, remember in Thy presence her 
 unutterable grief, and to Thy fatherly mercy 
 and compassion we commend her in her 
 desolation and misery for protection and for 
 consolation, of which Thou alone hast that 
 to bestow which is needful for her. 
 
 Though life may not ever be again for her 
 what it has been, yet may the experience 
 which has been that of Thy children in all 
 time, in all earthly tribulation and calamity, 
 be shared by her also, by submission to Thy 
 will being found to be the best of this life, 
 and the assurance and foretaste of another 
 and a better. 
 
 May she be led by her experience of life, 
 
 165 
 
Iprapers for [xxiv. 
 
 on which the shadow of death has fallen, only 
 more firmly and truly than ever to believe 
 and trust that Thou who canst do all things 
 wilt not suffer anything evil in the experi- 
 ence of any of Thy creatures to have any 
 end but to be turned to good. 
 
 With this comfort, comfort her heart and 
 the hearts of those who share with her a be- 
 reavement so heavy to be borne. With this 
 comfort, comfort their hearts in Jesus Christ. 
 
 May He be to them indeed the Eesurrec- 
 tion and the Life. From the fleeting and 
 often painful life of sense may they with 
 Him rise to newness of life, in the thought 
 of Thy will concerning them and all man- 
 kind being that they should be saved from 
 sin and sorrow. 
 
 May the fatherly pity of the Highest, 
 revealed by Jesus Christ, comfort them and 
 touch their hearts with a childlike faith and 
 
 166 
 
XXIV.] public Morsbtp. 
 
 hope, so that as the Perfect One who knew 
 no sin and much sorrow here upon earth 
 was comforted of His Father in all tribukr 
 tion, so they also may be strengthened and 
 supported to bear calamity with resignation 
 and with hope. 
 
 From the example of a life in the courage 
 and manliness of which we have rejoiced, 
 and for the end of which we now sorrow, 
 may we learn to work while it is called 
 to-day. We thank Thee and praise Thee 
 for every useful and noble life which has 
 been lived upon the earth, and specially for 
 this one, the end of which is for us, and for 
 many, an unexpected and irreparable loss. 
 Teach us to number our days, as in such 
 lives the days have been numbered by the 
 best and worthiest of our race, that we may 
 apply our hearts as they did unto wisdom, 
 and may help as they have helped to 
 
 167 
 
praters for public Morsbip. [xxiv. 
 
 advance the coming of Thy Kingdom. Thy 
 Kingdom come, Lord, as in heaven so 
 also upon earth, that living in Thee and for 
 Thee we and all men may be delivered from 
 the power of sin and death, and know by 
 all our experience, both of joy and sorrow, 
 that in Thy favour there is life, that Thy 
 loving-kindness is better than life. Thou 
 wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind 
 is stayed on Thee. In sickness and the 
 hour of death may we have better than 
 earthly support on which to lean ; in life and 
 death may we be Thine and rest our souls on 
 Thee. Be Thou our Shepherd and w^e shall 
 not want, our succour and we shall not fail, 
 our life and we shall not die. No man 
 liveth unto himself — no man dieth unto 
 himself Whether we live may we live 
 unto the Lord — whether we die may we die 
 unto the Lord. Amen. 
 
 168 
 
 THE END. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 S e r m n 6 . 
 
 With Prefatory Notice and Portrait. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 " The reader not already acquainted with Dr. Service's writings 
 will he surprised here to find some very different from what he is 
 wont to associate with the pulpit discourses of the Church of Scotland. 
 There is much earnestness and thoughtfulness in Dr. Service's 
 sermons." — The Academy. 
 
 ' ' Those who knew Dr. Service will value the book as helping them 
 to recall something of that nameless charm — the invariable accom- 
 paniment of true genius — which made his words so winning whether 
 
 sjioken from the pulpit or in private talk Such as did not 
 
 know him will now, to some extent, be put in the position of being 
 able to understand why Dr. Service was so loved and is still so 
 lamented." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " A reall}' remarkable volume of sermons." — Literary Churchman. 
 
 ' ' There are many fine features of the Gospel ministry in these 
 sermons — fearless honesty, profound faith, a large humanity, and an 
 unconquerable hope for man. There is not a sermon which does not 
 evince the author's profoimd sympathy with the poor, and his sense 
 of the wrongs imposed on them by the conditions of modern society. 
 . . . . The sermons are full of quaintness, humour, and subtle 
 thought, reminding us frequently of the ' Essays of Elia ' ; but fine 
 humanity is their prevailing spirit We prize the ser- 
 mons, and shall often recur to them for impulse and instruction." — 
 Nonconformist. 
 
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BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Sal\?ation 1bere anb Ibeteatter : 
 
 Sermons and Essays. By John Service, D.D., late 
 Minister of Inch. 4th Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 "We believe that never, since the literary splendour of the Scottish 
 Church, in the middle of the last century, has it produced so many 
 genuine fruits of learning and piety as at the present time. There 
 are several names that might be cited, but we will confine ourselves 
 to two volumes, those of Principal Tulloch and Mr. Service, which 
 have lately appeared, and which in boldness of thought, and depth 
 of insight into the real wants of the time, have not, we venture to 
 say, been sm-passed by any corresponding volumes that have appeared 
 for the last ten years south of the Tweed. To those who think the 
 Church of Scotland is bound up in a narrow Calvinism, it must be a 
 surprise to find its chief pastors filled with a spirit which Jeremy 
 Taylor would have honoured, and Schleiermacher would have wel- 
 comed, which Coleridge would have envied."— The Times. 
 
 " We have enjoyed to-day a rare pleasure, having just closed a 
 volume of sermons which rings true mettle from title-page to finis, 
 and proves that a new and very powerful recruit has been added to 
 that small band of ministers of the Gospel who are not only abreast 
 of the religious thought of their time, but have faith enough and 
 courage enough to handle the questions which are the most critical, 
 and stir men's minds most deeply, with frankness and thorough- 
 ness." — Spectator. 
 
 " Among the vast number of religious piiblications there are a few 
 only which stand out prominently above the throng, attracting atten- 
 tion by any freshness of the expressions, originality in the thought, 
 or by the clear light which they throw on obscure although familiar 
 questions. Seeing that such volumes are scarce, it is the more need- 
 ful that notice should be directed to them when they appear. A book 
 which condenses much sound thinking in small bulk, and is manly 
 in tone, liberal in sentiment, and full of healthy teaching."— -Scotsman. 
 
 "There is no subject treated by Mr. Service in which we do not 
 recog-nize a fresh and vigorous mind. He is always interesting. The 
 volume is one which cannot fail to interest itself to all who seek to 
 preserve amid the controversies and confusions of the time a faith to 
 which they can cling, and by which they can live pure and manly 
 lives. If the Church of Scotland can afford to keep such a preacher 
 in such an obscure country parish, she must be richer in men and 
 genius than any other denomination of Christians with which we 
 happen to be acquainted." — Glasgoiv Herald. 
 
 " This is one of the few volumes of untheological discourses that is 
 both readable and well worth reading."— C'/m/.vcA Revieic. 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON, 
 
r iniP 01 290 8515 
 
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