I flpraykr i mi, Copyright N?._ COPYRIGHT PEPOSIT A Prayer Before the Lesson For superintendents and teachers in the Sunday-school and in the quiet hour at home By ^: Philip E^Heward tfil^Ut* The Sunday School Times Company Philadelphia P .H<> \ i\\\ Copyright, 191 i. by The Sunday School Times Company b )CI.A2S6646 FOREWORD One voho leads in prayer has the great responsibility and privilege of bringing to the throne of grace vohat he believes to be the heart-longings of his fettovo-voorship- ers, and the thoughts to which they foould voish to give expression in the Father's presence* Thanksgiving, praise, petition for forgiveness, the uttering of the soul's deepest needs and highest aspira- tions, definite prayer for persons and causes at home and abroad, the seeking of God's blessing upon the service of the hour — all these and many other elements enter into public prayer, Since this is true, the one vjho leads others in prayer hom he leads. The superintendent or the teacher in the Sunday-school wilt not lead in prayer unthinkingly in behalf of those in the school or class, if he conceives his op- portunity and his privilege aright. He will pray sometimes with one or two per- sons definitely in mind, or again he will remember a neighborhood condition, or problem, or cause for especial gratitude. cAnd he will let his prayers take on the atmosphere of the lesson for the day, so that the school or class may be led, through prayer, to the vision of truth that will be revealed in the day's teaching. cAll this requires preparation, week by week, in the light of the lesson and the leader's knowledge of those whom he leads. This little book is not intended to replace preparation, but to encourage it, not by attempting a model prayer, always falsely so-called, but to record the prayer- thought of one who thus invites laymen like himself to consider and to practise the privilege of leading others in prayer. Genesis 39 : 20 to 40 : 15. OUR Father, the past week has gone hard with some of us. We have let sin get the upper hand just when we had thought we would not; we have chosen to do wrong in that hour when we closed our eyes to the light of thy word, and withdrew from the clasp of thy guid- ing hand, to seek our own way in the dark. Father, forgive us once again as we confess to thee our wilfulness. Help us to learn over again to-day the lesson of brave faithfulness to duty, and the sharp turning away from temptations that pull upon us so hard that we can scarcely keep from go- ing where they draw us. Help us to put no trust in ourselves, but to rest confidently in thy promised power for the breaking of the grip of tempta- tion — the very temptation that so far has overcome us most easily. In Jesus' name. Amen. Genesis 41 : 38-49. GOD of all wisdom, giver of every good gift, grant unto us, we pray thee, great wisdom in our teaching to-day. Lift before our eyes very clearly the vision of this thy servant of old, taking his wisdom from thee in word and deed, and com- ing into the free confidence of a great king because of what thou didst re- veal to him. Reveal to us, thy fret- ful, unquiet children, the foolishness of our futile gropings after the broken toys of our own notions. Bring us into the quiet waiting times, when we may have the patience to hear, in our play or in our work, the steady- ing word from thee, the call that bids us go or stay, work or rest, as thou, not we, may please. And whether thou callest us to high position or low, as the world counts, may we have the wisdom for the daily task, until the sun of life shall set, and the day's work is done. Amen. 2 Genesis 45 : 1-15; 50 : 15-21. AND now, our Father, we turn to the study of a lesson that will rightfully make us ashamed, — ashamed that we have not learned more by experience in the school of forgiveness. Thou hast forgiven us, in thy tender mercy, when we have confessed our sins; bring to our thought this day the brother whom we have never forgiven, for we yet remember bitterly the wrong; and may we forgive to the uttermost, even to forgetfulness. May we harbor no resentment, cherish no hope of retal- iation, nor keep about us in any way the least reminder of any wrong wrought upon us. May we never for- get that thou, who dost promise to put the sins of thy people out of thy remembrance, dost call upon us to be merciful and forgetful, doing good for evil, walking not with pride but with humility and forbearance among men. Amen. Exodus i : 1-14. OGOD of all power, who hast given unto men the power to overcome the evil that men would do, grant unto us the courage and strength to strive valiantly for the relief of those who are bond- slaves to-day because of man's greed for gain. Help us to remember the children whose lives are darkened, whose bodies are hindered, whose minds are shadowed by the toil of days and nights in shop and factory and mine; and may we do what thou canst enable us to do to set these children free. And if any one of us to-day is struggling on in the bondage of a self-made slavery to any wrong habit of thought or deed, merciful Father, may the bonds be broken quickly, and may there come into such a life the freedom of full surrender to thy will. Amen. Exodus 2 : 1-15. HOW tenderly, our Father, dost thou care for little children in all their ways! Thou dost keep them safe from harm in the midst of dangers seen and unseen; and thou dost protect them from the evils that would thwart thy purpose for them. And whether we are young in years or old, we know that thy care sur- rounds our waking and our sleeping, our work and our play; for how should we otherwise win through the dangers that threaten us all along the path? In remembrance of thy tender care over us, may we be sensitive to the needs of those about us whose burdens are grievous and not to be borne alone. Quicken our sym- pathies; remind us of the joy that can come into the lives of others through the little lift that we can give. Grant unto us such measure of service as our increasing willingness may enable us to undertake for thee. Amen. 5 Exodus 3 : 1-14. ALMIGHTY GOD, to whom we may not come save in reverence and humility, give us an open mind to receive thy message to-day. We have turned aside from the daily task; we stand upon holy ground; we await thy word. And whether thou dost call us to service that may seem too great or too small for us, may we go forward to answer thy call, remem- bering the certainty of thy presence with us in the doing of thy will. Teach us not to measure the bounds of the duties thou dost make ours by the variable measure of our own strength, but rather to do what thou dost command, with thy promises, and not our ability, as our sufficient en- couragement. Amen. Exodus 12 : 21-30. O DELIVERER of thy people, re- member this day the children of thy kingdom in all the earth. Free us, we beseech thee, from any bonds that hitherto have held us in slavery to any evil thing. Nothing is too hard for thee, and so many things are too hard for us! Help us to have reason for recalling this day as a time when thou didst enable us to go free, — free from the ruthless task-mas- ter of a habit of which we are ashamed, free from the fruitless serv- ing of sin. By the blood of thy son Jesus the Christ may we be cleansed unto righteousness and salvation, in an everlasting covenant with thee, the giver of the life abundant through the living and dying of our blessed Sav- iour, to whom be glory and honor, and our whole allegiance. Amen. Exodus 14 : 13-27. OUR Father, we have never yet trusted thee to the utmost of thy desire. We have chosen the seeming safety of slavery, instead of daring to take thee at thy word in following thee to freedom. If any of us this day would rather serve in bondage than take, if need be, the wilderness road with thee toward the promised land, may we hear and heed the heartening word of thy servant of old, "Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." We thank thee that sea-barriers and wilderness wastes are as nothing to thee, when thou wouldst bridge the way for thy children from Egypt into Canaan. But may we set up no barriers of our untrustful forebodings against the working out of thy plans for us. Amen. Exodus 16 : 1-15. O FATHER in heaven, teach us how to trust thee. The very next time everything seems dark to us, help us to look up into thy face; then everything will be light. Show us how to live so close to thee that we will always see thy face; then there can never be any darkness in our lives. When trouble threatens us, may we remind ourselves, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." Forgive us when we hurt thee by doubting thee, and when we darken the lives of others by gloomy looks and frowning faces. Smile upon us, and may the sunshine thus received straight from thee be given out by us to all we meet, until our little world is made glad that we have been with thee. Amen. Exodus 20 : i-ii. LET thy guiding hand, O God, be upon us always. May we not pull away from thee. We have done this again and again, and so have brought disappointment and loss into our lives. Forgive us for the doubt of thee that makes us want our own way. May our love to thee grow until we are eager to do just what thou dost tell us; until we can sing with thy servant of old, "O, how love I thy law!" May we find the liberty thou hast promised those who follow thee, through Jesus Christ. Amen. 10 Exodus 20 : 12-17. FATHER, we thank thee for light on life. How blundering is our best effort! How clear and sure is thy call to us! Grant us this day a new sense of our oneness with oth- ers the world around. Teach us that duty is not shortened by the name we bear, and that in thought and deed we are ever influencing others whether we will or no. In honoring those to whom honor is due, in restraint of our passions, in remembering the rights of others, may we keep thy commands, not as dwelling apart from others, but as one with them in the living out of the lives thou hast given us. Amen. 11 Exodus 32 : 1-8, 30-35. FATHER, we have been warned to-day by the sins of these peo- ple of old, to be watchful against a like sin in our own lives. We are prone to take into our own blunder- ing hands the helm, and to lose pa- tience. Help us to trust thee without foolishly trying to hasten thy times of revelation and blessing. May we find in the quiet of this Sabbath day a renewing of our calm and trustful willingness to rest confidently, with- out any shadow of doubting, in thy sure promises and love. Amen. 12 Exodus 40 : 1-13, 34-38. ALMIGHTY God, deliverer of thy people from bondage by the wilderness way, who didst pro- vide for them guidance and sus- tenance, and a place of worship in accordance with their need, be with us this hour as we study the pages of thy holy Word. May thy glory be in this house, and in our hearts, fill- ing to the utmost the place where we love to meet, and the thoughts that crowd in upon us as we reflect this day upon thy merciful care and pro- vision for us. And whether we wor- ship thee in houses made with hands or in the quiet of our own prayerful up-reaching toward thee, may we be conscious of the manifold signs of thy grace and watch-care, and render unto thee a reverent and unwavering serv- ice of heart and head and hands, in full consecration of all our best to thee. Amen. 13 Leviticus 10 : i-ii. OGOD, we know that thy love is in thy judgments, and that in love thou hast set bounds about our doings. In keeping thy laws, we are but obeying the orderings of thy love. Grant that we may not fool- ishly refuse to abide by thy commands, and in our folly make wreck of our lives and the lives of others; but may we daily strive to find and to do thy will and not our own. Help us to live the clean and open life of those whose hearts are right with thee, and to make an unyielding fight for the over- coming of every temptation to give way to lower ideals and unworthy deeds. Amen. 14 Leviticus 16 : 5-22. OUR Father, we pray for mercy this day, because of our many wanderings from thee. Thou hast been patient with us beyond measure; thou hast loved us with an everlasting love, and yet v/e have done wrong in thy sight. O God of right- eousness, help us to keep a sure con- trol of our thoughts and deeds, so that we may not do that which is not in accord with thy will. Help us to do right, to have each day a clean page in the book of our lives. Send away from us our sins into the dark places of forgetfulness, and enable us to be pure and true and reverent at all times. When we are tempted may we remember the sinless Saviour, and in remembering him find strength to overcome. Amen. 15 Numbers 13 : 17-20, 23-33. WE THANK thee, our Father, that our ability is not to be measured by our strength* We thank thee that in our very weak- nesses thou dost find opportunity to teach us the reality of thy strength; that when we are weak then we are strong— in thee. Give us this day the needed courage to go forward with life's duties, fearing not the giants ahead, but rather the feeble wills within us, and the scant courage we find in our own hearts. Nay, Lord, may we cease to fear even these hin- drances, knowing that thou canst make us equal to any duty to which thou dost call us. Help us to think of thee, rather than of the obstacles in our path, and may we press on boldly toward whatever land of prom- ise thou hast set before us. Amen. 16 Deuteronomy 6 : 1-15. LOOK mercifully upon us, O God, this day as we confess unto thee our ungrateful forgetting of thee. We remember how easily we have ac- cepted thy good gifts, and how scan- tily we have rendered thanks unto thee for them. How generous thou art in thy bounty, in thy never fail- ing guidance; how thoughtless we have been in the enjoyment of our blessings! Help us to turn more of- ten to thee with simple words of thankfulness, — for health, for home and friends, for work and play, and for the quiet night of rest. And if any little success of ours should seem to be of our own strength of mind or body, grant unto us greater wis- dom than to think so foolishly of our doings, and teach us how utterly we must rest upon thee for the right outcome of any work committed to our care. Amen. 17 Deuteronomy 34 : 1-12. TO THIS hour thou hast led us, our Father. Every day thou hast walked with us in the way, and at night, when our eyes could not pierce the darkness and we were help- less in our blindness, thou hast watched over us in loving protection against harm. But may we remem- ber that darkness and light are as one to thee in thy care over us, and that in the light of day our own sight is never sure and sufficient, even as in the dark it is baffled and of no avail. Teach us our utter dependence upon thee, O God! May we rise this day not only to Pisgah heights of vision, but to a joyous trust in thee. And whether thou dost grant unto us long life or brief, may every day of it be crowded full of obedience to thee, according to the word of Jeho- vah. Amen. 18 Joshua i : i-ii. ALMIGHTY GOD, our Heavenly Father, we rejoice in thy strength to-day, and in the father-love which makes it possible for us to draw our strength from thee. Forgive our weak and futile attempts to do our work in our own strength. Forgive us for bemoaning our in- ability, when thou hast promised us ability in such measure as we need. Put new courage into our hearts this day, O God, — new courage to do right, to bear burdens lightly, to face hard duties with eager desire for the doing, and take away from us the last touch of sloth and cowardice and halting doubt as we go forward in the way thou hast chosen for us. May we no longer prefer the dangerous, softer ways of our own negligence, but rather the steady fight upward step by step with thee. Amen. 19 Joshua 6 : 8-20. LORD, increase our faith! May we be increasingly willing to do thy bidding without asking why. Help us to be content with less see- ing and more trusting. Thou know- est, Lord, that we lose no sleep over any anxious fear lest the earth should cease to swing in her orbit. Impress upon us the need of the same quiet trust in thy plans for us even in small things, and grant unto us the cour- age to conquer any obstacle in our path, if we have thy word of com- mand to go forward. Forgive us, in thy mercy, for our fondness for our own plans, and help us to have a keen zest for thy plans as unquestioning soldiers of the King. Amen. 20 Joshua 14 : 6-15. OUR Father, we are thankful to- day for the smallest opportun- ity to serve thee. Forgive, we beseech thee, our half-hearted serv- ice. Forgive us for dividing our strength between good and evil. We have sinned against thee in the fool- ish endeavor to serve thee devotedly while unwilling to give up that one habit of ours which is displeasing to thee because it harms us a little. Father, arouse us to singleness of aim, to freedom from hindering thoughts, to undivided straight-line service of thee. Oh, rid us by the indwelling pre-occupying presence of thy Spirit, from the hidden, lowbrowed wishes of our perverse and wilful natures, so that we shall desire supremely to do thy will. Amen. 21 Joshua 20 : 1-9. FATHER of mercies, we thank thee this day for thy loving for- bearance. Unmerited blessings have been poured out upon thy people from the treasury of thy love, and we think with contrite and grateful hearts of the distresses from which thou hast mercifully spared us. Thou art our refuge, for in thy presence is pa- tient and righteous judgment. We trust thee to deal with us in accord- ance with thy purpose to render us tested servants in right relations with thee and with our fellow-men. For- bid that we should knowingly sin in the vain hope that thou art ever ready to overlook our misdoings, and help us not to tax thy forbearance and pa- tience by our waywardness to-day. Amen. 22 Joshua 24 : 14-28. IN THE light of thine overflowing goodness to us, O Lord, our fitful and feeble service shames us. Thou dost never fail us. Day by day we receive untold blessings from thee, and our hearts are glad. Yet we are prone to forget thee, even in the day of thy supreme goodness to us, and our resolutions go down in ruins un- der the weight of our self-assurance and pride. O Lord, we beseech thee to keep us in keen remembrance of thy lovingkindness ! Grant that we may hold our purpose strong to serve thee, yielding not the least to the temptations that would draw us away from thee. Amen. 23 Judges 7 : 9-23. OUR Father, we thank thee that thou dost prepare the way for us whithersoever thou dost di- rect our footsteps. We rejoice in the knowledge that we are not to go for- ward for a single hour without thy direction, unless we wilfully leave thee. In love thou dost permit us to attempt hard things for thee, and in love thou walkest with us in the way, bearing the weight of the burden for us, under which our scanty strength would utterly fail. Help us this day to look forward joyfully to this blessed, hourly, daily partnership with thee, in which we bear so little, and thou, in thy mercy, dost bear the brunt of the task. Strengthen our hands and hearts for the little that thou art asking us to do, and help us to do our part less unworthily. Amen. 24 Judges 16 : 21-32. TO THEE we give thanks, our Father, for such measure of strength as thou hast given us. We thank thee for bodies strong for service, for minds that are able to think out our work, to understand our duty to thee. May it be far from us to destroy our strength of mind or of body through any yielding to sin. Help us to keep ourselves free from the weakening habit of low thoughts, and enable us, strong Son of God, to be strong in purity of thought and life, so that we may render unto thee the fullest service of which we are capable. Amen. 25 Ruth i : 14-22. WITH grateful hearts we thank thee, our Father, for the abid- ing love wherewith thou hast blessed us day by day. With thee is no variableness or shadow of turning. We pray that in our love toward oth- ers we may be constant and faithful. Teach us loyalty and unselfish de- votion to those to whom our love and devotion are due, and grant unto us the joy of yielding our own prefer- ences for the comforting and sustain- ing of others in their need of us. Amen. 26 i Samuel 3 : 1-21. OUR Father, we thank thee that thou dost call us more than once. While yet we did not know thee, thy voice came to us ap- pealingly, and we did not understand. Yet again thy voice sounded in our ears, and when we knew that it was indeed the Lord, we did not answer thee with such eagerness as Samuel, but hearkened as in sleep to thy call. Oh, arouse us, if any are in drowsi- ness and indifference of soul to-day, so that every one of us may answer thee speedily, and enter the service to which thou dost beckon us so lovingly and patiently. Amen. 27 i Samuel 8. OUR Father, we thank thee that thou hast not given us all that we have asked in our short- sighted prayers. When we have asked for a stone thou hast given us bread; when our heart-longings, our restless desires, have reached out for what we wrongly counted a blessing, thou hast stilled us into the peace of content- ment and gratitude because of thy lov- ing refusal. Help us, O God, to care less about what we want, and infi- nitely more about thy loving choice for us. We do not discern the line be- tween bane and blessing. Choose thou for us, and may we be joyfully content with thy choosing. Amen. 28 i Samuel 12. OUR Father, we have reason this day to thank thee for thy pa- tience with us. Again and again we have sinned wilfully against thee, and yet thou hast called us to fresh en- deavor toward Tightness, and thou hast not measured us by our sins, but by thy mercy, and thy high purposes for us. Make us by such training as we may need more mindful of thy pa- tient hope for our growth in the mas- tery over sin, and the willingness to be mastered by thy will. Amen. 29 i Samuel 15. OUR Father, we thank thee that thou dost call us to simple obe- dience — unquestioning obedi- ence that asks not why, but obeys. Oh, forgive the improvements that we try to make on thy plans. Help us to take thy loving commands as king's or- ders, and to go about the business upon which thou sendest us, without turning by a hair's breadth from the way thou dost point out. - Give us sharp hearing to catch thy lightest word, and simple directness in obedi- ence. Amen. 3° i Samuel 16 : 1-13. LORD, who are we that thou shouldst choose us for high serv- ice in thy kingdom? If we were to be measured by man's judgment of us, who could stand in these places of privilege? But thou hast measured us by what thou dost rely upon us to do, and we pray that the kingly spirit may rule in us, making low things hateful to us, and high deeds of spiritual cour- age possible to us. As thou hast called us out of yesterday's duty into the new duty of to-day, wilt thou give to us, as thou didst give to David, new power to meet the new calls to special serv- ice. Amen. 3* i Samuel 17 : 1 to 18 : 5. OUR Father, how can we thank thee enough for the victories of the past week? Thou hast armed us against the onset of brag- ging giants of temptation, by giving us power to use the weapons suited to our hands. The hopes of our friends for us; a growing hatred of sin; the rising courage of hearts that would be clean and strong; the clear knowledge that the challenges of evil must be boldly met; and above all, the keen sense of thy presence with us in the fight — for all this, and more, we thank thee to-day. Grant unto us this day the emerging of a new spirit of power from the broken strivings of our weaker selves, and the girding of our hearts and wills to meet without fear the issues of the days to come. Amen. 32 i Samuel 18 : 6-16. OUR Father, we thank thee that thy protecting care is ever round about thy threatened children. Through the midst of dangers known and dangers unguessed thou hast led us in safety, and we are here to-day to praise and magnify thy holy name. And we especially pray thee that thou wilt guard us from the danger of yield- ing to the bitterness of jealousy. Oh, how easily may any one of us be de- stroyed by that monster of our own making! Protect us, our Father, from the terrible ravages of his biting, ruin- ous presence in our souls, and may we be large enough and brave enough to rejoice over others' honors, thus honoring thee and escaping the black dishonor of hating others because of their loyalty to thee, and their up- lifting among the sons of men. From meanness and jealousy and hatred, de- liver us, O God, as from deadly plagues. Amen. 33 i Samuel 20. OUR Father, we remember with deep gratitude to-day that the disciples of thy Son Jesus were called by him his friends. In that up- lifting name is our hope, for we too would be friends of his; friends in our readiness to love and serve to the end of all our strength. Teach us this day the high privilege of service in friend- ship for the Friend by whose life alone are we at all able to understand what true friendship is. Help us to forego any selfish gains in our friendship with others, and to count our friendship as opportunities to give out our best to others. Amen. 34 i Samuel 26. OUR Father, we thank thee for the restraining touch of thy hand when we are moved to do evil. We thank thee for the higher motives from thee that have won the fight in us against the lower motives from within, and for the joy we have been privileged to know in overcoming. Forgive us, we pray thee, for those hours of weakness and wilful sinning, when we have not listened to thy voice, when we have drawn stubbornly away from thy guiding hand. May such black hours find no place in the record of the days to come. May we have freedom from the passion for re- venge and from the blind hatred by which we stumble and fall into sorrow and shame, and create in us, we be- seech thee, generosity of heart and act in all our dealings with the unfriendly round about us. Amen. 35 i Samuel 31. HOW lovingly thou hast led us, O God, some of us these many years, along life's pathway. In honor and in dear friendships many of us dwell, whose long service for thee has won the silvery crown, to be over-crowned some day by the dia- dem of thy praise, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And our hearts are sad when we think of the king of thy choice, who would not choose for himself kingly obedience to thee, and thus grow into honor, but who chose rather his own will, and died miser- ably. O thou King of kings, defend us from wilfulness, from the wrong exer- cise of that marvelous power, the will, that thou hast put so freely at our command. Sustain in every one of us the living sense of obligation to obey thy will, and thus keep us in remem- brance of the one sure way to rightful service and thine own approval. Amen. 36 2 Samuel 2 : 1-17; 5 : 1-5. OUR Father, we thank thee for the strength that thou dost give us to meet new and untried duties. We thank thee that true obedience is not a slavish, unlovely, and grudging following of thy will, but ever a joy- ous entering into the spirit of thy high purposes for us. May we gain the strength that comes from such obedience. Help us to face and to do the duty of the hour without flinch- ing, and to rise into the kingly walk of glad obedience to thee. Amen. 37 2 Samuel 6. OUR Father, we thank thee that in all the ages men have exalted thy name in worship and in praise. We thank thee that in the old days and in our day great sacrifices have been made by men everywhere to maintain the house of worship, whether the little prairie cabin, or the splendid cathedral in the city's heart. Help us to realize anew the meaning and the privilege of worship; the worth of ideals set before us in every altar, every house of worship; and grant that we in our turn may not be forgetful of our duty to hold in high honor the visible signs of men's love for thee, and of thy presence with them. Amen. 38 2 Samuel 9. OUR Father, we thank thee that good deeds are not forgotten by those who are worthy of them, that true friendship remem- bers lovingly and does not coldly forget. Grant that we may never so take for granted the ministry of others in our lives that we shall for- get how much we owe to those who have helped us. May that memory last from generation to generation, and never die in us by reason of the frosts of forgetfulness. Keep, we pray thee, the lamp of gratitude burning brightly in all our thought of those who have given us a help- ing hand at any time. It is so easy, O Father, for us to forget! Forbid that we shall thus dishonor the love that our friends have had toward us. Amen. 39 2 Samuel 15. OUR Father, we lift up our hearts in gratitude to thee for the great fact of thy fatherhood. We plead thy forgiveness for our un- faithful sonship, and for the hours of wilful turning away from thee. Keep us, we beseech thee, from betraying thy love; from the sin of ingratitude; from the bitterness of causing thee a father's grief over a son disobedient and false; and grant us daily strength to do the things that please thee, and to bar from our doings the ravenous sins that crowd in upon us to maim and destroy us. Trustfully we look to thee for the quickened sense of loyal sonship in all our thoughts and deeds. Amen. 40 2 Samuel 18. TO THEE we look, our Father, in humble gratitude for thy father- hood. Have we pained thee be- cause of our waywardness? Then are we akin to the wretched son of whom we read to-day, and our shame is great. Forgive us that we have ever returned thy love by disloyalty; for- give us for disappointing thy Son our Saviour and Elder Brother! Help us, we beseech thee, so to live that the day may not be shadowed by any cause of grief to thee through our wil- fulness. Oh, help us to give back thy love in loving thoughts and deeds, and in clean, unswerving, upstanding loyalty to thee. Amen. 4» i Kings i : i to 2 : 12. LORD of Lords, and King of kings, by whose grace the rulers of the nations have power, we thank thee for thy care over thy people of old in providing leaders for their day of great need. Increasingly, with the onward march of the years, thou hast granted unto thy people in all the earth wider visions of opportunity, and men of vision to lead in crises of growth. Grant unto us in these days of national problems, men of wisdom, men of devotion, men who serve for the common good and not for self, who shall lead us by right paths to worthy ends. And may thy Kingdom come in very truth, we pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. 42 i Kings 3 : 4-15. OUR Father, with whom is all wis- dom and understanding, we thank thee that we who lack both may come confidently to thee to supply our need. Even in our asking we blunder, for we are so beset by un- worthy desires that we are prone to call evil good, and good evil. Through the saving blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, cleanse us from our low seek- ings, and grant an understanding heart even to the most stupid of us, to the end that we may have a bal- anced, sensitive judgment in the com- mon daily task, and freedom from the disappointments of empty outreaching toward still emptier acquirings. We ask it in the name of Jesus, our Lord, who hast set before us the upward way of worthy strivings. Amen. 43 i Kings 8. HERE in thy house, O God, we meet to study thy Word, to sing praises unto thee. And our study and our praise are set about with thankfulness for so great privileges. How quiet it is within this room! What peace we have within these walls; what visions of thy love and mercy, what glad hopes and new cour- age come to us as we bow our heads in prayer before thee! Lord, grant that the soul life of our every day may be more filled with a sense of thy presence. O Jesus, Saviour, be with us in very truth here and in our daily walk, and cleanse us from the un- worthiness that makes us less truly the temple of the Holy Spirit. May he come without hindrance to dwell in us, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 44 i Kings ii : 4-13. LORD JESUS, we rejoice in thy coming to the hearts of men. Thy life and thy love were re- vealed to mankind in the distant past; but to some of us only a little while ago thou didst fully come, because it was only so late that we have been willing to open wide the door. How great is the gift of thyself! How little have we to give to thee! O Master, we pray that thy love may become very life to many a halting, growth- less soul among us, and that the joy of this thy birthday season may be the holier and sweeter for the birth of some of us into the new, free, abound- ing life of service to thee. Amen. 45 i Chronicles 17. OUR Father, our gratitude to thee for unnumbered blessings is ever mingled with amazement over thy tender forbearance. Who are we that thou hast poured out upon us such abundance of lovingkind- ness? We wonder at thy love; we wonder at our lack of steadfastness; and through it all we still lift up our voices in gratitude to thee for all thy mercies. Grant that we may not forget how great things thou hast done for us. Teach us to ac- cept thy promises as unfailing be- cause they are thy promises. What proof do we need of thy kept promises other than to remember that thou hast indeed made them? And may we go on confidently about our daily work, resting in the sure knowledge of thy care and purpose in our lives. Amen. 46 Psalm 23. JESUS, thou shepherd of the sheep, we rejoice in thy shepherding love. To thee we are not un- known. Our weaknesses are thy care. Our wanderings do not lead us away from thy yearning love. All we like sheep have indeed gone astray, but thou, the good shepherd, hast not shortened thine arm, or ceased to seek us for our enfolding in the security of thy presence. We remember to-day the still waters, reflecting thy face; the green pastures out of the abund- ance of the Father's provision for us; the courage that came to us in the valley. Lord Jesus, shepherd us yet a little while by the wayside, until all our follies and dulness of soul shall pass away with the ending of our pas- ture-days, and we are gathered into the fold beyond the shadow, to thy presence at the right hand of God. And this we ask in glad knowledge of thy love. Amen, 47 Psalm 32. OUR Father, we thank thee that the burden of sin need not be ours to bear. If it were not for thy forgiveness, how could we sustain the remembrance of our wrong-doing? We thank thee that thou dost even forget our misdeeds in thy acceptance of true repentance. And since thou dost forgive and for- get, we pray that the sense of forgive- ness may be so real to us, its joy so abiding, that we too may indeed for- get the wilful past in our lives. But may we never forget the ever-pres- ent need of thy strength to keep to-day's record free from shame. May we not get comfortably used to the ups and downs of falling into sin and rising from it, but may we be so stirred with a God-given discontent that we shall come to hate with a ruth- less hatred the low levels, and fight our way steadily up to the higher levels of daily living. Amen. 48 Proverbs 23 : 29-35. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that thou hast indeed overcome the world. And we rejoice that the world need not overcome us, if we ac- cept thy strength for our task. Help us, we pray thee, to dare the day's struggle against temptation, to set bar- riers against the incoming of evil thoughts and deeds, and may we love purity and righteousness so genuinely that we shall lose the liking for our lower longings. May they become hateful to us, and no part of our thought at any time. Put iron into our feeble wills, and may we be clean of all indulgence in things that are evil. Amen. 49 Isaiah 5 : 11-23. OUR Father, we thank thee for teaching us to see the empti- ness of evil and the gain of good; the glory of a character grow- ing into service, and the gloom of a life that will not discern between good and evil. Keep us, O God, in our daily living, from the ruinous mixture of right and wrong that would compro- mise with evil, and help us, we pray thee, not only to see the straight, clean way, but to dare to follow it unswerv- ingly. How else may thy will be done in us, and thy Kingdom come, to rule in human hearts? We look to thee confidently, and into our own foolish doings with shame, as we pray for the gift of clear eyes and courageous hearts. Amen. 50 Isaiah 28 : 1-13. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the unblemished life that men could not have known without thee. Help us to keep faith with thy pure purposes for us, as thou dost call us to follow thee. May we not drag in the mire the crown of strength thou hast given us for mind and body, and may we be sensitive to the least hint of coming temptation, so that we may meet the onset with decisive overcom- ing courage even unto victory. Here in our land where so many have gone down under the bitter curse of drink, may there be such an uprising of the people against the traffic of sorrow and despair, that we shall dwell in the very noon-tide of a new day for every community where the curse has pre- vailed. We ask it in the name of him who came to bring life and not death to the world. Amen. 5i Isaiah 43 : 2. AS OUR thoughts turn back over the quarter's lessons, we pray thee, our Father, to help us to see the golden thread of thy promises running through all the web of life. With Jacob we look up through the night into the glory of an angel vis- ion, and we hear thy word, "I am with thee"; we go with Joseph on the dusty way to bondage, and we rise with him through God-led faithfulness to power for good over others and into the little company of earth's finer souls who know how to forgive; we see thy people downtrodden and op- pressed, and the coming of a little child among them who became the colossal burden-bearer of his day,— and we hear thy word yet again: "Certainly I will be with thee." In that dark hour when foes pressed hard and the impassable sea stood guard over the way to freedom, thy power, O Lord, was abroad in the 52 Isaiah 43 : 2. night; thou didst command the sea to stand aside, and thy people passed on in safety. Yet, again, do we hear thy word, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." In the light of these great lessons may we trust thee more freely, and render unto thee more faithful service, through the power of thy Son, our Deliverer and Guide. Amen. 53 Matthew 2 : 1-12. OUR Father, we thank thee that thy Son Jesus Christ became brother and friend and Sav- iour, dwelling among men for our saving. We thank thee that he counted himself a shepherd, and us as his flock, dealing patiently with our stupidity and waywardness, en- folding us in loving care and tender mercy. We rejoice because of his never-failing guidance, his strong, sure hand outreached to hold us to the way of righteousness. In this Christmas season may we find joy in giving of our, best to others, to the giving of our very selves in glad service, so walking in the footsteps of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Amen. 54 Matthew 3 : 1-12. LORD JESUS, to whom we turn in the opening of our new year of study, we rejoice in thy revealing of the Father's love to man. We praise thy name, that name above every name, because thou art indeed very Son of God, and yet brother to us in our humanity. Thou hast lived the earth life unsoiled by its touch. Thou hast toiled and suffered; thou hast known the joys and the sorrows of our little day, and we gladly follow thy loving leadership into the unknown paths of the new year. Be with us, we beseech thee, in the light and in the shadow, and may we know thee more fully, and serve thee more devotedly with the unfolding of thy truth and life. Amen. 55 Matthew 3 : 13-17; 4 : 1-11. OUR Father, we stand amazed in the light of thy forgiving love. How often have we broken our word to thee! How readily have we turned away from thee to sin, when we have been tempted! We have forgot- ten that we are sons, and have chosen to be strangers. Press in upon us, we beseech thee, the deep meaning of this lesson to-day, so that when we are tempted we may temember the tempted and yet sinless Saviour, who is so ready to save us from falling into sin. Cleanse us, we pray thee, from the desire for evil, and help us to meet sturdily and humbly, in reliance upon thee, every test that comes. In Jesus' name. Amen. 56 Matthew 4 : 12-25. LORD JESUS, by whose voice the fishermen were called to a better fishing, constrain us, we pray thee, by that same loving call, to fol- low thee to the saving of others. Thou hast indeed been calling us this great while, as we listened indiffer- ently, and turned to our small tasks once more. But now we are longing for the same spirit that drew the fish- ermen straightway to thy side for service. Grant that we may be swift to answer thee, and to take on the true spirit of thy ministry. Amen. 57 Matthew 5 : 16. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the keen truth of thy teachings, searching out the untruth in our common notions of blessedness. Cure us, we pray thee, of our selfishness and greed; our love of power for the sake of power, and our clumsy and foolish pride. Open to us to-day clear visions of a better way, and help us to understand the blessedness of service in thy Kingdom. And grant unto us, we pray thee, a spirit of readiness to believe and to bear the high and glori- ous standards of thought and action set forth in thy Word, without lower- ing them to suit our weakness. Amen. 58 Matthew 5 : 17-26, 38-48. OUR Father, we thank thee that the voice of thy Son Jesus calls us over the tumult of life's con- fusion of voices, always with patient love and clear certainty. So much we have heard from the voices of half- truth that we listen with relieved in- tentness when he speaks. Quicken our ears to-day while he speaks to us of the Kingdom, and help us to be loyal subjects of the King of kings, in obedience and faithful service. Amen. 59 Matthew 6 : 1-15. OUR Father, help us to be more simple in our ways. Help us to care less about the whimsical favor of the world and more, far more, about right doing. Teach us the joy of doing good deeds without noise or praise, and the blessing of unheralded service to humble people who can never repay. We remember with shame the many times we have been moved to tell of our own well-doing. Forgive us, O God, for our petty pride and self-seeking, and cleanse us from hypocrisy; in Jesus* name. Amen. 60 Matthew 6 : 19-34. OUR Father, we thank thee for the never-failing encouragement that thou dost give us in our up- ward strivings. Over against the temptation to be content with low ideals thou dost set before us the op- portunities of high endeavor. When we would seek selfish ends thou dost remind us by noble lives around us, by the life of thy Son Jesus Christ, that outgoing service for others is the path of privilege and duty. Keep us, we pray thee, from the sin of seeking second-best achievements, the lesser good, and the cheap and empty gains of a life of casual drifting with the tides of unworthy desires. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 61 Matthew 7 : 1-12. LORD JESUS, help us to be more gentle in our judgments, more tender in our consideration for others. May we not speak harsh words of others under the bitter im- pulse of hate or jealousy. Help us, we pray thee, to remember with humility how much we have tried thee with our petty meanness, our waywardness, our headstrong sinning. Grant us, we be- seech thee, a readier interest in the needs of our brothers, and greater care in our words and ways, so that we shall not be unfair or hurtful, or in any way do wrong toward our brother. Make us valiant in the fight against every evil that besets us in these days of struggle for the right, and especially bless with power all who are striving to blot out the dread- ful traffic in strong drink, and the use of it from among the sons and daugh- ters of the earth. In thy name we ask it. Amen. 62 Matthew 7 : 13-29. OUR Father, we thank thee for the daily ministry of Jesus, thy Sor^ wrought out among men. We are ashamed of our much speaking and our scanty doing, when we think of his perfect combining of words and work. Help us, we pray thee, to prom- ise less and to do more; to put more of our strength into doing and less into mere intentions. Cultivate us, we pray thee, by harrow and pruning-knife as thou seest best into a more worthy fruit-bearing for thy service, and cast us not aside as hopeless. Thou know- est our need for training. Purge us of corruption, and prepare us in thine own good ways for yielding blessing to others. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 63 Matthew 8 : 2-17. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the healing touch of thy love. Unclean and damaged as we are through sin, yet in us thou seest the hidden promise of purer living through thy life in us. Enter thou in, we beseech thee, to renew and restore the lost wholeness, and awaken in us an unending desire for purity of body and soul. Thou who gavest cleansing to the leper, power to the powerless, rest to the restless, peace to the un- quiet, give unto us, we pray thee, these blessed provisions of thy love, to the end that we may render unto thee a less unworthy service. Amen. 64 Matthew 8 : 23-34. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the assurance of safety in thy presence. Thou art Lord of every barrier against the harm that hovers near. Thou hast hindered and halted the enemies of our soul when we were in fear of destruction, and thy hand hath led us in security through dangers seen and unseen. Quiet, we pray thee, the dark forebodings of evil, the distresses of a fear-filled spirit, and help us to establish in our heart of hearts the peace which brings power for service, in calm confidence in thy prevading, protecting love. Amen. 65 Matthew g : 1-13. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the abundant life that thou didst bring to thy followers. How rich in peace and power, how lavish in service, how joyous and strong was that life in thee! Quicken us, we be- seech thee, out of the unprofitable palsy that keeps us bedridden in the heart of the busy life about us. How sickly our nerveless efforts! How great a burden we have been to our friends when we have not risen out of impotence even at thy call! May we hear thee to-day, and arise. May we be more like thee in thy burning zeal to serve, to pour out life in swift, incessant deeds for the needy of body and soul. And guard us against the fear of overwork, for do we not have life and power from thee, sufficient for every duty? May we rise to the day of our opportunity, and spend our- selves like a torrent from the inex- haustible springs of the hills. Amen. 66 Matthew 9 : 18-34. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the abounding, overflowing life, thy gift to man. Endlessly thou hast poured forth thy power into the lives of the weary and broken of body and soul, and yet thou art not weary of helping! Move thou among us this day, we beseech thee, taking from us our distresses, opening our eyes, and removing far from us the evil that most easily holds us in bondage. May we have faith to trust thee in our help- lessness, rejoicing in thy power made perfect in our weakness. Amen. 67 Matthew 9 : 35 to 10 : 15, 40-42. LORD JESUS, by thy sending we have entered into service for thee, and all our way has been set about with blessings. Thou hast given us hard work to do, many friends to encourage us, and strength for the daily task. For all this we thank thee with glad hearts. Help us, we pray thee, to be more trust- ful as we remember thy goodness to us; more courageous as we realize that thou art with us; more eager to give of our best as we recall thy bountiful gifts to us. Forbid that we should have the treasures of thy truth for ourselves alone. May we be spendthrift in our service, pouring out life for thee! Amen. 68 Matthew n : 1-19. LORD JESUS, by many loving deeds thou hast made thyself known to us, and to thee we look in gratitude for thy manifold mercies. Thou hast touched with thy power the slow purposes of our souls, and thou hast quickened us into service. When we have been blind to the truth, the veil has been lifted by thy revealing hand. When we have halted and stumbled in the daily round of plain duty, thou hast upheld us with thy sus- taining hand, urging us on in reliance upon thee. Quiet, we pray thee, our doubts and our fears. May we care less about the vision that struggles to see beyond the day, and more about the faith that rests confidently in thy sure presence in our lives. In thy life- giving name we ask it. Amen. 69 Matthew n : 20-30. OUR Father, we thank thee for the clear signals along the way, to warn us of danger. We thank thee that thou hast not left us to our own foresight, blind and mistaken at its best, but that we may have thee for guide through dangers seen and un- seen. Forgive us for our unheeding, wilful pride, our foolish self-reliance, our satisfaction with sin, and arouse us, we pray thee, to a sense of our deep need of thee. May we hear the tender invitation of thy Son Jesus Christ, to be at rest in the midst of the heavy daily work, to become yoke-fellows with him, while he shares our burdens to their light carrying because of his fellowship in toil. In his dear name we ask it. Amen. 70 Matthew 12 : 1-14. LORD of the Sabbath, we thank thee for rest in the heart of toil, for the quiet of this thy day. To thee we lift our songs of praise for all thy benefits, and before thee we bow in humble gratitude for all thy mercies. May we find rest this day in glad service for thee, in fellowship with one another in the home, and in this thy house of prayer and worship. Relieve, we pray, the strain of the week-day work in the turning of our thought into quieter channels of wor- ship. May this be no idle day, but a day of rest in loving service. May we give food to the hungry of soul, and take away the despair and distress of those who are bowed down with care or infirmity. May thy peace be upon us and upon thy people every- where on this thy holy day. Amen. 7 1 Matthew 12 : 22-32; 38-42. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for thy clear call to us, sounding above the "murmurs of self- will." Thou hast taught us by un- numbered blessings how great is thy love for us. Thou hast set before us times without number, in the word of teacher and preacher, in the daily life of thy children round about us, a revelation of thy power and presence. If any here this day have not yielded in full surrender to thee, may thy call be made so plain, thyself so pres- ent in the teaching, in this hour, that many may be turned to thee as Lord and Saviour. May we be at one in this school in fellowship with thee and with one another as thy faith- ful friends in the work of thy king- dom. Amen. 72 Matthew 13 : 1-9, 18-23. OUR Father, how patiently thou hast cultivated the unpromising soil that we are! Thou hast sowed the truth broadcast among us, and we have not been the good ground. Help us this day, we pray thee, to hear thy Word, to under- stand it, and to bring forth fruit in word and deed for thee. Oh, grant that nothing in us may, thorn-like, choke the good seed that would grow into fruitage. Keep us sensitive, we beseech thee, to the message of thy Word in this hour of study and of praise. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 73 Matthew 13 : 24-30, 36-43. OUR Father, we thank thee for thy patience with us, for thy con- straining love. We are strange mixtures of good and evil, and we are ashamed to look straight up to thee, because we have let evil so often have the management of us. Father, we are in the world, indeed, but we long to be less worldly. We are pressed with temptations on every hand. The very roots of our life are tangled with the choking roots of deadly sin. O Lord of the harvest, may we not be cleared of the hold that the world has on us? Free us, we beseech thee, not from toil, or the needs of others, or the problems of the working hours, but from sin. May we be true to the Kingdom of Heaven, meeting bravely the daily duty, and patiently working for the Lord of the harvest until the long day is golden with the sunset. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 74 Matthew 13 : 3i-33> 44-52. HOW patiently thou hast con- strained us, O Master of the heart, to be obedient in word and deed and spirit to the laws of thy Kingdom. Give unto us, we beseech thee, a clear understanding of our duty as followers of thine in the up-build- ing of thy Kingdom in all the earth. May we live not unto self, but unto thee, in the service of others. May we teach by word and deed the right- eousness, and peace, and joy that are of thee in thy reign among men, now and always, and may we in our homes, at our work and play, wherever we are, be true to thee in all things as good and faithful servants of the King. Amen. 75 Matthew 14 : 1-12. OUR Father, we thank thee that we are not without the record of brave deeds for thee. We are reminded in thy Word of the selfless daring of many a servant of thine in the faithful doing of duty. Cleanse us, we pray thee, from the taint of cowardice in our own lives, the craven fear of the consequences of right-doing. Put courage into our wavering spirits, and may we dare to speak out against evil, dare to stand bodly for righteousness at any cost. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 76 Matthew 14 : 13-21; 15 : 29-39. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for thine unfailing provision for our every need. Thou hast never sent us away from thee to the shal- low sources of the world's unsatisfy- ing gifts, but from thy Father's treas- ure-house thou hast drawn in liberal bestowal upon us the fulfilling of our need. Forgive us, we beseech thee, for the selfishness of our ungrateful hearts; for we have been sparing in our gifts to others, heedless of our duty to feed the hungry of soul and body, the thirsty, the forlorn and lonely. May we learn how to spend ourselves, how to give ourselves with the gift, and may we remember not our poverty, but thine own inexhaust- ible riches abounding unto us and to all this needy world. Amen. 77 Matthew 14 : 22-36. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for thy presence in storm and stress as in every hour of our need. Thou art there, though we may not see thee as friend and helper because of our blindness. Thy word brings cour- age to drive away our fears; thy hand stretched forth lifts us into a knowledge of thy power, and we are ashamed of our lack of faith. How slow we are to learn thy readiness to fulfill our every need! How timid we have been, when thou hast courage to give us! Cleanse us, we beseech thee, from this unworthiness, so that we may be free from the weight of fear that drags us down even in thy presence. Help us not to be over- come by our weaknesses, but to be sustained by thy strength, as faith- filled brethren of thine. Amen. 78 Matthew 15 : 21-28. LORD JESUS, we turn to thee in gratitude for thy cleansing power. Thou hast broken the grip of sin; thou hast opened wide the doors of freedom to us, disclosing the way to life eternal. Keep us, we pray thee, from the harboring of evil thoughts and wicked desires. Cleanse us from every lingering sinful pur- pose, and drive out from us any evil spirit that has claimed possession of any part of our being. May we live in faith, looking to thee for the doing of whatever work must be done in us to bring us into communion with thee. Amen. 79 Matthew 16 : 13-28. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for revealing thyself so clearly in thy work and thy word that we do not need to have any doubt about thyself. Help us, we pray thee, to be bold in the stand we take before all the world as thy loving followers, and may we not be willing to hide in the dark the gospel truth that thou hast sent into our lives, or our belief in thee. Forgive us, we beseech thee, for our cowardly silence; for our fool- ish delay in acknowledging thee; for our shifting allegiance under the stress of temptation, and for our unwilling- ness to do the work that is just at hand in leading others to thee by the word spoken directly and definitely. Stir us, we pray thee, by the knowl- edge of thy sacrifice, to deny ourselves, to put self out of our thought, and take up the cross and follow thee without questioning. In thy name we ask it. Amen. 80 Matthew 17 : 1-8, 14-20. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the knowledge of thee that has come to us down the centuries. We have been on the mountain with thee when we have shut our eyes to the world, and have followed thee in spirit to the quiet places of prayer. We have seen thee in the changed lives of our friends; we have known that thou art with us by thy saving power, and we will indeed hear thee. Speak thou to us, Lord Jesus. Make us useful. Make us humble. Help us to be faithful and not perverse. Lord Jesus, may we be less trouble to thee, coming steadily into closer fellow- ship by thy grace and our obedience and faith. In thy name we ask it. Amen. 81 Matthew 18 : 21-35. OUR Father, we thank thee for the unspeakable breadth of thy for- giveness. As far as the east is from the west dost thou remove our transgressions from us. Forgive us, we pray thee, for remembering the wrongs that others have done to us, when thou dost forget our sins against thee. Help us to be more ready to forgive. Help us to overlook the slights that trouble us so; to see good motives where we have imagined only bad; to be more generous, more fair in our thought of others. Lord, help us to learn how to forget, and to take no pride in forgiving. May we re- member with humility our own deep need of forgiveness, and be kind. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. 82 Matthew 19 : 1-2, 13-26. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that thy word is among us with its warnings, and its high call to service. Move us, we pray, from our stolid selfishness to a ready following of thee. Stir us to a devotion that never counts its deeds by measure, or holds back anything from thee. Thou knowest the sordidness of our souls. Thou knowest where we most easily fail. And thou, O gracious Redeemer, canst work in us the saving of such as we are to a life of consecration to thee. Lord Jesus, be thou our su- preme desire. How shallow and empty is all else! Help us, we be- seech thee, to break loose from the bondage of any hope, any wish, any purpose that could hinder our fellow- ship with thee now and forevermore. Amen. 83 Matthew 20 : 1-16. LORD JESUS, master of work and rewards, help us to be glad when thou art especially gen- erous to others! Grant that we may not give way to envy or mean-spirited eagerness to gain reward for our- selves. Teach us, we pray thee, a quiet trust in thee as "the Master of all good workmen," and may we re- joice in the work itself because of thy willingness to use us at all. May we learn to see in the very doing of our task the end and aim of our most devoted service. Lord, is it not enough that thou dost depend upon us for even the least task of thy choos- ing? Oh, may we be so taken up with the work itself that we shall forget about our wages! In thy dear name we ask it. Amen. 84 Mark 16 : 1-18. OUR Father, we thank thee for the coming of thy Son to live the life of service and perfect purity. Along the path of these last weeks of new acquaintance with him, we look with eager joy to trace the new revela- tions of his love, his courage, his loving-kindness and brotherly walk with the needy and the forlorn. Re- mind us this day of our debt to him, by a quickened sense of the unspeak- able love by which he came to earth, and the healing, restoring, uplifting power with which he made life new for the helpless and the hopeless and the fearful of heart. May we yield our- selves freely to his guidance in the path to power! Amen. 85 Luke 9 : 51. LORD JESUS, we lift our prayers to thee this day in humble gratitude for the revealing of thyself in our daily lives. Not through us, but to us, in countless loving ways art thou revealed. Thy ministry in sorrow; the strong hand of thy power in the hours of discourage- ment; the assurance of thy strength in our weakness; the plain teachings of thy Word for our guidance, — all come from thee in abundance beyond our need. As we mark to-day the work of thy love among the needy in the crowd, or in the group of thy chosen disciples, may we be moved to draw very near to thee, bringing to thee our broken lives, our tangled problems, our feeble, halting wills. Help us to realize more keenly that we must live and breathe and work in a finer, clearer air, on higher levels of service. In thy dear name we ask it. Amen. 86 John i : 1-18. WE THANK thee, O God, for the life of thy Son, Jesus Christ — the life that was and is the Light. May we take up our new year of study to-day with that life as the light to lead us into a fuller knowl- edge of thee, and with a deep desire to let our own lives reflect the life of the Master with more fidelity than we have yet shown. Cleanse us, O God, from the blurs and the shatter- ings of sinful thoughts and deeds, and may we be able to see the glory of thy Son, because of a growing eager- ness to serve him. Amen. 87 John i : ig-34« OUR Father, we thank thee for the humility and straightforward honesty of John the Baptist. We thank thee that we have before us to-day this narrative of his free- dom from pride and selfish desire for honors. Take from our own lives, O Lord, the mean and sordid scrambling for place and credit, and may we see ourselves as we are, so utterly de- pendent upon thee that our own worth is nothing. Give unto us, we pray thee, simple humility and common honesty in our remembrance and dec- laration of what thou hast done for us; and to thee shall be the glory for every achievement of ours, great and small. Amen. 88 John i : 35-5i« IT IS with grateful hearts, our Father, that we thank thee for the privilege of discipleship. In thine infinite wisdom and tender mercy thou hast not left us to our- selves in the straggle for righteous- ness, but thou hast sent thy Son to be our companion, our teacher, our friend. Up through the thought of our unworthiness leaps the joy of that companionship, and our feet go firmly and our eyes are clear to see the way when we remember that he who was and is the V/ay walks with us. And may we do all that we can, while in this blessed fellowship, to win others one by one into the same close walk with thy Son, counting our companionship with him unavailing unless we are steadily leading others to him. Amen. 89 John 2 : 13-22. TO THEE we give thanks, our Father, for allowing these bod- ies of ours to be counted as the temples of God. Purify these tem- ples in such ways as may seem good to thee. Help us, we beseech thee, so to think and so to live that no un- clean thing may find an abiding-place in our thought or our doings. Father, we are ashamed when we remember what evil we have allowed to be at home in our lives. Cleanse us, O God, even though by the scourge. Amen. 90 John 3 : 1-21. HOW can we render unto thee, O God, our thanksgiving for bless- ings unbounded! Thou gavest us life, and in order that the life might not become death, thou gavest thy Son, to be our light and our life forever- more. When thou hast loved us to the immeasurable sacrifice of such a gift as that, who are we that we should withhold anything from thee? Grant that none of us may grieve thee by re- fusing the outstretched hand of thy Son, Jesus Christ, or disappoint thee by ignoring thy love made manifest in the gift of him who lived and died for us. Amen. 91 John 4 : 1-42. WE ARE grateful to thee, our Father, for life and abounding life on this thy holy day. We rejoice in the many evidences of thy care in the past week, and we look forward hopefully, trustingly, to the busy week upon which we are enter- ing. No good thing have we lacked; nothing that is for our good dost thou withhold from us. We have longed for much that would not have been best for us, and these things thou hast mercifully denied us. If only our thirst would ever lead us to thy Son for its satisfying ! Grant, O Lord, that to thee we may turn when desire is keen within us, and instead of the emptiness that we so often find in the thing we seek, may we find through thee the satisfying of every true need, regarding what is not of thee as un- worthy. Give us, we pray thee, that living water which thou hast prom- ised to those who ask it. Amen. 92 John 4 : 43-54. OUR Father, we thank thee for the health that thou hast given us. In mind and body thou hast blessed us, and thou hast taught us that we have need to look to thee for daily strength for the daily task. May we not take for granted the continuing of this blessing, but by prayer and the exercise of wisdom in doing with mind and body what pleases thee, may we daily remember our need of thy presence, and be at our best for thy service through a trustful, obedient walk with thee. Amen. 93 John 5 : 1-18. FOR every time we have been will- ing that thou shouldest keep us from sinning, we thank thee, our Father. For every word of warning, we thank thee. And we are unspeak- ably grateful to thee for thy patient love in the dark hours when, after we have done wrong, thou hast nev- ertheless given us light and hope, and courage to rise again. O God, we pray that we too may be made whole, even as thou didst make the poor man whole who had been helpless so long! We too are helpless without thee. May we look to thee, and obey thy call to the renewing of power within us for thy service. Amen. 94 John 6 : 1-21. OTHOU who dost know and sup- ply our every need, quicken us, we pray thee, to a keener sense of gratitude for all thy mercies. May we realize that thy providing care is not limited by the narrow bounds of what we think is reasonable, but is eager to do more than we can ask or think. And if thou dost choose to prove us by hard problems, may we remember that their solving is with thee, and not with us. Help us to go on trustingly, not concerned with to- morrow's outcome, but to do to-day's duty. Amen. 95 John 9. OUR Father, we thank thee that the light is not darkness to us: that the beautiful colors in the world about us are not shut away from our vision. We thank thee for the won- drous pictures that thou dost paint for us on the sunset skies, and for the clear shining of the stars through the deep darkness of the night. For all this we thank thee, our Father. And we thank thee that thou hast opened the eyes of many among us who were once blind to the glories of thy son Jesus, so that they now can perceive the Light of the world, which Light he is. May every one of us who has been so blessed with the ability to see thy wondrous work in earth and sky be blessed with open eyes to see the yet greater wonder of thy love moving in the hearts of thy children, to their quickening and saving. May every one of us let thy light shine into our lives unhindered. Amen. 96 John 10 : 1-18. OUR Father, we thank thee for the shepherding care bestowed upon us by thy Son. We are indeed like the stupid sheep, wandering often from the fold of thy love, yet con- strained to safety and shelter by the love that will not let us go. Forgive our erring footsteps, our keenness for strange pasturage, and help us, we pray thee, to hear our Shepherd's voice more clearly, to follow his guid- ance unswervingly, and in him to find the abundance of life which he has made possible for us in the laying down of his own life. Amen. 97 John ii : 1-57. WE THANK thee, O God, for the gift of life, for the privilege of living day by day among our friends and in the midst of many du- ties. We thank thee that life is a struggle, and a victory over the daily assaults of death upon us. These bodies that thou hast given us need daily upbuilding; this spirit daily renewing, and, without thy sustaining power we know that we could not overcome the wear and tear of the contest. In thee is life, and to thee we turn confidently day by day for the renewing of the life in us. Grant unto us, we pray thee, the power to live to the fullest possibilities of service here, and the continuance of life with thee through the endless ages of the life thou dost promise to thy faithful chil- dren. Amen. 98 John 12 : i-ii. OUR Father, we thank thee that on every side thou hast set be- fore us the gain of loss. The springtime flowers, coming into life about us, tell of the seed that fell into the ground to die; the mother-love spent freely for us day by day, poured out with no thought of the cost, moves us to understand more clearly thy love; the patient teacher, bringing to us at great cost of time and earnest study, the truth of thy Word, leads us to understand the teaching-life of thy Son Jesus, who spent himself for man. O God, may we not be slow to pour out lavishly the strength that thou hast given us, our best treasures of mind and body, in our worship of thee and work for thee! Forgive us if we have withheld our best, prof- fering unto thee in the Judas spirit nothing that costs us any sacrifice, and teach us to count nothing of ours too dear to yield to thee. Amen, 99 John 13 : i-20, LORD, thou hast indeed loved us to the uttermost! When we have walked with thee, not compre- hending the depth of thy love; when we have wandered from thee, careless of that love; when we have turned our steps straight toward the world and away from thee, yet thou hast loved us even then to the uttermost. And what may we do to tell thee in some way our unspeakable gratitude for thy forbearance, thy constraining hand, thy continuing love toward us? We would not do this by words alone, but we pray for the will to serve, even as thou didst serve, and thus render unto thee a joyous sacrifice of love, as bond-servants of the serving Christ. Grant unto us the readiness to humble ourselves in the exalted duty of fol- lowing thy example in the whole spirit of all our daily living. Amen. 100 John 14. OUR Father, we thank thee that there is peace for troubled hearts, that there is a home for us, and a Way to that home, provided by thy love. Forgive us, we beseech thee, for the blindness which has kept us from seeing thee in thy Son, who is that Way; and help us to have the perfect peace of walking with him. May we show our love to him by keep- ing his commands unquestioningly, faithfully, with the constant sense of the presence of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father has sent to abide with us. Amen. 101 John 15 : 26 to 16 : 24. OUR Father, thou hast ever sought to lead us to the truth. How blind and wayward we have been! How desperately set in our own ways! How heedless of thy leadings! Forgive us for the perver- sity which has kept us from the com- panionship of thy Spirit, from the up- holding power of the Comforter. Grant unto us a new sense of our need of thy Spirit in our lives to reveal the truth unto us and to strengthen us for the daily task. Amen. 102 John 18 : 1-27. OUR Father, we turn to thee with grateful hearts for thy forbear- ance. Much as we have grieved thee, often though we have failed to show ourselves thy followers, still thou hast not given us up. We pray that thy tender mercy may so impress us that we shall be shamed out of our faithlessness, and that we may become sturdy and unyielding in our allegi- ance to thee. Forbid that any of us should sink to the dreadful depths of any betrayal of thee. Uphold us, our Father, lest we ourselves should do that which we count traitorous in others. Save us, we pray thee, from the depths of such infamy, and grant unto us boldness and courage in our service of thee. Amen. 103 John 19 : 17-42. WHO of us is worthy this day to draw near to thee, O God! Thou hast given unto us thine only Son, our Saviour, to live and to die for us, and some of us have not even accepted thy gift. Still others among us have named his name, and have not yet fully given themselves to him. All of us have come short of understanding him, of serving him as we ought. Teach us this day the les- son of his love for us so clearly that we may no longer be willing to with- hold from him the love and service we owe. May we gladly give ourselves to him for whatever use it may seem good to him to make of us. Amen. 104 John 20 : 1-18. WE thank thee, our Father, that in the very hour of utmost sor- row and disappointment thou dost speak to us through thy Son. Be- cause he is risen, we too can rise. Because he is near, we can rejoice. And his steadying word to every one of us speaks through our confusion and despair in that moment v/hen we are about to yield our hope of his presence and power. Forgive us, dear Lord, that we have ever thought of thee as distant from us, and teach us in every hour of the day to listen for the sound of thy voice speaking through every problem, every doubt, and even calling us by name. Amen. 105 John 20 : 19-31. IN the midst of all our trials thou hast promised us peace, O God, — a peace that is too wonderful for us to understand, but so real that we cannot doubt its presence. Even as thou didst speak peace to thy disciples of old, so to us thou dost speak in these days. Even as thou didst an- swer every doubt of theirs, so thou an- swerest our doubts by pointing us to thy wounded, risen, peace-giving self. We pray that no one of us this day may miss the meaning of that peace, and the scattering of doubts that have troubled some of us. Help us to trust thee as the whole answer we need for all our problems, and may we have the good sense and the grace to come out squarely, as Thomas did, and ac- knowledge our devotion to thee. Amen. 106 John 21 : 1-25. OUR Father, we thank thee for dawn after darkness, for abound- ing encouragement after fruit- less toil, and for the presence of thy Son in every hour of need. When we look back over the long and blessed story of thy love to us, and when we look beyond to-day into the hopeful- ness of the still better days ahead, we are amazed at thy patience with us and thy tender care over us. What shall we do to show our gratitude? Suffer us to serve thee yet a little while, to feed even the least of thy Hock, to render unto thee the praise of entire devotion to thyself, in faith- ful service to those about us. Amen. 107 Acts i : 1-14. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that in the hour of thine ascension thou didst clearly set thy follow- ers a glorious task. And even as they dared to face the world unafraid of its uttermost hatred, we pray that we may dare to do our far easier task of extending thy kingdom under the favoring surroundings of this later day. Lord, give us the little courage needed to speak for thee! Forgive us for the feebleness of our efforts to win others to thee, and help us, we pray thee, to put our lives without reser- vation into thy high service. Amen. 108 Acts 2 : 1-2 1. OUR Father, we thank thee that the promised Comforter has in- deed come to dwell among men. The days would be evil without his guidance in all our doings. The knowl- edge of his nearness gives us courage to press on toward truth and light. Forbid that we should so blind our eyes by sin that we can by no means discern him, and so close the door of our hearts that he can find no wel- come there. Give us, we pray thee, a keener realization of the Holy Spirit as our strengthener and guide, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 109 Acts 2 : 22-47. LORD JESUS, we rejoice that even as thou didst rise from the dead, so we too shall rise to be with thee. And we come to thee to-day in gratitude for the daily uplifting, when, without thee, we could not rise above the sins that lead only unto death. Help us, we pray thee, to continue steadfastly in thy teachings which ever lead us into life, and to turn reso- lutely from sin and its end in death even while we yet live. O Lord Jesus, who art exalted by the right hand of God, hear our prayer, and set about us this day the ever-new evidences of thy love. Amen. no Acts 3 : 1-26. LORD JESUS, we who have heard thy call to arise lift up our glad hearts in thankfulness to thee for thy great lovingkindness. Only by thy power are we able to walk with eagerness and joy along the path where once we could only wait miser- ably for help. Lord, give us the spirit of the disciples of old, who could not keep to themselves the blessings of thy love; and teach us liberality in the outgiving of thy gifts in such measure as we have received. So may we render praise and honor to thee in daily deeds of service. Amen. in Acts 4 : 1-31. LORD JESUS, give us the courage to speak out for thee. How bountifully thou hast poured into our lives the richness of opportunity unmeasured! And how dull and timid we have been in our words and deeds when thou hast set before us the mo- ment of opportunity to dare in thy name! Forgive our cowardice, dear Lord. Help us to be bold and instant in our service for thee, and forbid that we should deny thee by feeble asser- tions or laggard deeds. Amen. 112 Acts 4 : 32 to 5 : 11. OUR Father, we thank thee that we may always be sure of thee. When we discover in ourselves the willingness to deceive even in the least things, the cowardly desire to cover our misdoings with a lie, we turn away from these untrustworthy selves to find certainty and truth and perfect Tightness in thee. Lord, may we come to hate a lie as an abomina- tion unto thee, and may we be con- stantly testing our words and deeds by the pure truth which thou art. May we so dread the deadly refuge of a lie that we shall never seek security elsewhere than in the truth. We ask this in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Acts 5 : 17-42. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that since thy coming the prison- doors of life have been flung wide open. No longer need we be the bond- slaves of self, but thy free men, mov- ing out into the open air of service and joy. Help us, we pray thee, to count our freedom as a glad bondage to thee in increasing service for thee. And may the memory of the dark hours when we were yet within the prison- walls of sin and self be a keen spur to the doing of our utmost in bringing others to a knowledge of thee and thine abounding grace and mercy. Amen. 114 Acts 6 : i to 8 : 3. LORD JESUS, in whose name men and women have gladly laid down their lives, give us a due sense of the debt we owe to these strong souls. May our hearts be stirred to a higher devotion by the courage and faithfulness of the mar- tyrs of the early days, until, in such simple ways as thou dost set before us, we may do nobly in thy name, to the measure of thy desire for us. And may we know that in humble, patient, unseen service, as well as in the world-famed deed of devotion, thou dost rejoice in the faithfulness of thy brethren, to the glory and honor of God, our Father. Amen. "5 Acts 8 : 4-25. O MASTER of the heart, we thank thee for turning our hearts to thee by thy constraining love. We thank thee that thou hast en- folded us with light from thy Word, with the uplift of friendship, with the many duties of the day, to defend us from the onset of sin, and disloyalty to thee. May we yield fully to thy control, thy tender, sure guidance; and giving over our vanities of thought and deed, may we live out our lives without bitterness or iniquity, in the power of the freely-offered Holy Spirit. Amen. 116 Acts 8 : 26-40. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that thou dost prepare the path along which thou sendest us. In des- ert or in city thou dost provide oppor- tunity for service, and we whom thou hast called friends are even less than servants when we rise not to meet the call. Give us, we beseech thee, a keener hearing when thou speakest to us, and ready speech when we may speak to others thy message. May we this day make thy Word, thyself, so clear to those whorn we teach that every hindrance to a full confession of thee may vanish, and new life open gloriously to those who listen and learn with open minds and wills sur- rendered. In thy dear saving name we ask it, Amen. 117 Acts 9 : 1-30. LORD JESUS, we bow in humble thankfulness to thee for thy patience with us. How often we have pained thy loving heart! How steadily hast thou loved us into the desire to serve thee most where hith- erto we have hindered thee most! Grant unto us this day, in the reclaim- ing of Saul, a vision of our own need, and turn every one of us to strong ser- vice and away from indifference or opposition to thee. Lord, the light has been shining upon us, and some of us do not yet see. Grant sight and strength and high purpose to every one of us, to the end that we may do our utmost to lead others to thee, who art the light and the life. Amen. 118 Acts 10 : 1-48. OUR Father, we thank thee that thy cleansing power clears life of the soil and stain of sin. How very tender and patient thou hast been toward us, when we have pre- ferred the unclean to the flooding of our lives by the lavish stream of thy love! And we have been so blind in our failure to perceive the brother in the man who seems beneath our notice. Forgive us for that failure. By heavenly vision, by the humiliating knowledge of our own natures, by the revelation of the clean hearts of hith- erto unliked people about us — by any and every means sent of thee, may we come into a finer spirit of brother- hood, a humbler desire to serve one another, in the name of Jesus, our el- der brother. Amen. 119 Acts ii : 19-30; 12 : 25. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that even in our unworthiness thou hast called us to bear thy holy name. Who are we that we should be called Christians? For we have fol- lowed thee afar off, and we have earned that name by no merit of our own. But we rejoice that we may in- deed bear thy name among men, be- cause of thy choice of us, because of our choice of thee, our Saviour and our Lord. Help us day by day to be less unworthy of the gift of thyself, of thy dear name, and may we reso- lutely strive to exalt thy name among men by living as true Christians in faith and purity and self-sacrificing good works. Amen. 120 Acts 12 : 1-19. OUR Father, we thank thee that no prison bars can shut us away from thy love. We thank thee that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other crea- ture, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In thee, O Christ, is our hope of freedom from bondage to self and sin, our joy in the hour of abasement and trial. And as thou didst overcome even death itself in thy resurrection, so may we rise into the life which thou art, for service and allegiance in the endless life in which we may even now share in thy name. Amen. 121 Acts 13 : 1-12. OUR Father, we thank thee that the gospel of thy Son Jesus Christ is a world-wide message. We thank thee that we whose eyes are seeing day by day the wonders of thy love among men can dwell in the light that was shed abroad for us from the land of thy chosen people. May we in our turn be light-bearers to the lands where waiting millions sit in darkness, and may we be moved by a sense of unforgettable obligation to give as we have received, and to spend ourselves utterly in pushing far the bounds of the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Acts 13 : 13-5^ LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the patient outstretched hand not sparing in its bestowing of gifts upon us. We plead thy forgiveness for our blind refusal of thy choicest blessings, and we pray that love of self, pride, and vanity, may have no power to keep us in poverty of spirit, when thou art offering us wealth. Lord, may it never be needful for any messenger of thine to turn from us because of our hardness of heart. Keep us, we pray thee, sensitive to the touch of thy love. Amen. 123 Acts 14 : 1-28. OUR Father, we thank thee for the voices that speak to us of thee, in sky and sea, in forest and field. We pray that our ears may not be dull to hear thy call to turn from empty and foolish things unto thee, the living God. Help us, our Father, to remember thy bounty, not in mere acceptance of it, but by carrying the gospel message to those who have not heard. May the sunshine and the flowers, the song of birds, the laughter of little children, the music of the wind in the trees, be in our hearts to the quickening of all our being into thankfulness to thee for thy manifold blessings: in Jesus' name. Amen. 124 Acts 15 : 1-35. OUR Father, in thankfulness we come to thee, remembering the night of rest, and the new light of another day. Every day is the rec- ord of thy tender mercy, thy providing care, thy patient love. No need have we to put thy love to the test, for thou hast overwhelmed us with blessings beyond our most eager asking. Thou art in thyself promise and fulfilment, and we have found the yoke easy and the burden light in our co-work with thy Son, Jesus the Christ. Once more we renew our purpose to serve thee, once more we lift our praises to thee, for to us has come down the years the story of thy patient love to mankind everywhere, and the experience of it in our daily toil. Father, be with us in all that we do in the fulfilling of thy will, and save us for service in Jesus' name. Amen. 125 Acts 15 : 36 to 16 : 15. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the clear call to service in the need of our fellow-men. We thank thee that thy servants in the early days of thy church were swift to do thy will in answering that call. Grant that their courage and obedience may be ours, in these days when need is every- where, and so many temptations to in- dolence crowd upon us. Quicken us to regard others' needs as our obliga- tion to serve, and may we not be nar- row in our spending of the best that we have for our brethren near and far, as members of one family on the earth. Widen our vision of brotherhood, we pray thee, in thy name, and for the furthering of thy kingdom. Amen. 126 Acts 1 6 : 16-40. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that in thy presence we may face all things, unafraid. With thee are courage and poise; with thee we can dare to meet any challenge of hard- ship or danger. Forgive our coward- ice, our doubtings, our restless worry, and bring us, if need be, by a very earthquake shock through the dark- ness and bondage of fear into the light and freedom of the life in thee. Help us, we pray thee, to live the saved life, the life of steady belief in thee, the life of unwearying service for thee. And may we in our spiritual awakenings not be content to have the new vision just for ourselves, but may we be mindful of our dear ones at home, to whom we may bear by life and word the gospel of the risen, serving, loving Christ. In that dear Name we humbly pray. Amen. 127 Acts 17 : 1-15. OUR Father, we thank thee for thine open Word. We pray thee that our minds may be open to receive it. Forbid that we should hinder the incoming of that word into our lives by pride, or in- difference, or disbelief. Keep us, we beseech thee, sensitive to its message, eager to learn from it, and free from the danger of self-satisfied guessing at truth when truth is so readily at hand. Make us teachable and thoughtful, our Father, as children who daily learn of thee; in Jesus* name. Amen. 128 Acts 17 : 16-34. OTHOU in whom we live and move and have our being, we thank thee that thou art not an unknown God, but even as a father very present in the life of thy children. We turn to thee for the fulfilling of all our needs. We seek not after thee in vain, but in the glad assurance of thy nearness to every one of us. Help us so to live that our daily thoughts and deeds may be in accord with thy will for us, and grant unto us the power of making very real to others the life of faith and service, in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen. 129 Acts 1 8 : 1-22. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the vision of thyself that gives courage to us day by day. When thou art with us, whom shall we fear? And we thank thee that thou art ever with us for our guiding and sustaining. Help us, we pray thee, to live as in thy presence, putting aside the weight of worry, the chains of care, and speak- ing out boldly for thee in word and deed. Thou hast set us about with friends who are friends of thine, and we have help on every hand in living out thy will. Grant that we may not unwisely for- get whose we are and whom we serve, in days bright or dark; and that we may do our work peacefully, joyously, with no break in our courage. In the name of the strong Son of God we ask it. Amen. 130 Acts 18 : 23 to 19 : 22. O LIVING Word, we thank thee for thy prevailing power! We turn to thee in the conflicts of Jife, we seek thee in our need, and we find in thee sure guidance and the mighty spirit of conquering love. Help us, we pray thee, to hold fast to thy teachings, and may we dwell in the spirit of obedience and sensitive- ness to thy leadings, not grieving thee by hardness of heart against thy love toward us. Save us, Lord Jesus, from the evil that would possess us, and may Thy name be magnified in all our deeds, in Thy dear name. Amen. 131 Acts 19 : 23 to 20 : 1. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for making clear in thy life and teaching our chief business — thy service. Teach us the supremacy of our allegiance to thee as above all claims of money-profit. Help us, we pray thee, to count our business gains unworthy and empty apart from thine own approval. And when it is given to us to use great courage in standing out against unrighteousness of any sort, may we be strong in the knowl- edge that thy grace is enough to turn weakness into strength to meet every occasion. Put heart into us, Lord Jesus, for the day's work, and use our weakness, we pray thee, to teach us thy power. Amen. 132 Acts 20 : 2-38. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for the spirit of self-sacrifice be- queathed by thee to thy follow- ers. We thank thee that self may be denied, put out of remembrance, and that thou mayest come into full con- trol in us. Help us to count life only as means of service, material for use in the upbuilding of thy Kingdom. Grant us the vision of a goal far more desir- able and worthy than the keeping of life, even the goal of complete and un- reserved spending of ourselves for thee. Teach us, we pray thee, the folly of withholding anything from thee, and the high wisdom of devotion to the uttermost in thy service. In the name that is above every name we ask it. Amen. 133 Acts 21 : 1-17. OUR Father, giver of every good gift, we thank thee for the life that thou hast given us to use for thee. Grant unto us a true under- standing of our stewardship, so that we may have no purpose to possess for ourselves in cautious withholding the life that is thy gift, but to spend it freely for thee. May we be ever ready to yield for thy purposes whatever we have in our keeping, and grant that our courage may not fail under any test of danger or loss. Help us, we pray thee, to endure to the end of our journey in uncomplaining giving without selfish- ness, in Jesus' name. Amen. *34 Acts 21 : 17 to 22 : 29. LORD JESUS, thou who didst en- dure with patient courage the hardness of thy daily task, help us, we beseech thee, to share with thee joyously the spirit of endurance. Help us not to love ease, but to do hard things gladly, to the end that we, as thy soldiers, may be good soldiers, able to render valiant serv- ice for thee. Grant that we may grow in strength by the overcoming of our cowardice, our indolence, our unwillingness to suffer, and may we keep strong in the knowledge that thou art with us in sustaining love. Amen. 135 Acts 22 : 30 to 23 : 35. OUR Father, we thank thee that thy providence sets barriers across the path of evil desires. How often thou hast hindered our wrong purposes! How securely thou hast sheltered us from the evil purposes of others! Remind us, we pray thee, by this lesson of thy care, that we too are in thy keeping. When we dread the coming day, quiet our faithless fears. When we are tempted to the sin of worry, steady us, we beseech thee, with a consciousness of thy loving in- terest in our doings, and help us to rest and to work in quiet confidence in thee. Amen. 136 Acts 24. OUR Father, we thank thee for the warnings of conscience in our fight with temptation. May we be more sensitive to its prompt- ings, and less willing to silence its voice. Help us, we pray thee, so to live that no one shall be drawn away from thee by any word or deed of ours, and may we be strong to de- clare our loyalty to thee in the face of taunts and dangers as true soldiers of the Great Captain of our Salvation, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 137 Acts 25 : 6-12. Chapter 26. LORD JESUS, we thank thee for such glimpses as we have had of thee, through the mists of our human blindness. Thou hast been revealed in thy love and power these many centuries, and we have not been able to see thee clearly because of our own sins. Forgive us, we beseech thee, for thus losing the vision. Help us so to see thee that we may not be disobedient to the heavenly vision of thy leadership in life, of thy loving care, — indeed, of thy very self in all perfection of goodness and truth. Clear away for us, since we are so needy and so helpless by our- selves, the mists of sin, and lift us into purity and sunlight. In thy name we ask it. Amen. 138 Acts 27 : 1-26. OUR Father, we thank thee for the surprises of life, turning us to utter dependence upon thee. When all is easy for us, and the wind is gentle and favoring, we too readily forget thee and our need of thee. But when tempests come, and sun and moon and stars go out, whither shall we go for shelter but to thee? Remind us, by tempest if need be, of our con- tinued need of thee. Help us to give over our vain reliance upon self and to learn the deep lesson of our helpless- ness and thy sufficient love. Amen. 139 Acts 27 : 27 to 28 : 10. LORD JESUS, in whose love we abide, we thank thee for the steadying touch of thy hand in the hour of distress. To thee we turn when the dark is about us, when we are driven to and fro we know not whither. Teach us also the daily walk with thee in the light, the sweet com- panionship of thy presence in our joys as well as in our troubles, and help us to realize the perfect security of simple trust in thee, and the solid ground of belief in thee, the Son of God, our Saviour. Amen. 140 Acts 28 : 11-31. LORD JESUS, for whom men and women and children have laid down their lives, we lift up our hearts in gratitude to thee for thy life outpoured for us. Forgive us, we pray thee, for withholding anything from thee. Forgive us for our anxiety about ourselves lest we should give thee too much of our time and strength, and for our gloomy faces and hesitating footsteps, as we look doubtingly along the path of thy making. Give us, we beseech thee, no less than the spirit moving in the will of the great Apostle to enable us cheerfully and bravely to do thy will, Christian soldiers unafraid. Amen. 141 Romans 13 : 8-14. /^\UR Father, we thank thee for the v-^ power to overcome in the time of temptation. We thank thee for the call to awake from the sleep of indifference, for the day of rejoic- ing at hand, for the armor of light ready for our using. And we pray thee that we may hasten to cast off the works of darkness, the burden of sin, the chains of low living in thought and deed, and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Grant unto us strong hearts to meet the onset of temptation, clear visions of thee, and a safe journey through life to the hon- oring of him whose we are and whom we serve. Amen. 142 Romans 14 : 10-21. LORD JESUS, we thank thee that in following thee we have no occasion for stumbling. Thou art ever sure to lead us aright. In thee is all wisdom and foreseeing for our guidance and sustaining. Endow us, we pray thee, with thy spirit in all our dealings with others, that we may lead none into sin, that we may never be a stumbling-block to any. Help us gladly to give up whatever we have done that is harmful to others, and create in us the will to be unselfishly careful in word and deed to harm no other human soul. Amen. H3 Romans 14 : 12-23. OUR Father, it is good to come to thee with our sorest tempta- tions. Thou knowest how hard it is for us to keep out from our thoughts the harmful and the unclean. And when we draw near to thee in prayer, we cannot hear thy voice, we cannot even think the thoughts that have any place in communion with thee unless we let go the thoughts and imaginations of evil. Father, we thank thee that thy presence with us means purity for us; that through prayer is the power found to over- come the testings of evil. May we fight the evil that besets us, not merely for our own cleansing, but for the saving of those about us. Grant that no one may be led into the shadow of evil by any deed or word of ours, but may we be mes- sengers of purity and strength to all who are touching our lives in any way, Amen. 144 i Corinthians 10 : 23-33. OUR Father, we thank thee for the constraining power of thy love toward us, by which thou dost draw us ever toward purity. We thank thee for every impulse that we have toward the right, and for the strength to resist the tug of evil de- sires. Forbid that we should be a stumbling-block to any. Grant, we beseech thee, that we may lift up others who have already stumbled into sin, and help us to be strong and very courageous in our warfare against strong drink, the blighting enemy of the Kingdom. We rejoice in the victory of thy children through- out the land over the dread enemy of youth. Continue us in purpose and power, O God, to the utter abol- ishing of the liquor traffic, to the end that the curse of strong drink may be removed from the face of the earth. In Jesus' name, we ask it. Amen, 145 i Corinthians 13 : 1-13. OUR loving Father, we thank thee that thy love is toward us with- out ceasing. We thank thee that we may know thou art love, and that we may turn to thee confidently in every need and with every worthy de- sire. Thou who art love never faileth, and thou dost abide when all else has passed away. To thee we come for fulness of power and of joy; to thee we pray for the spirit of longsuff ering, kindness, humility, patience, to the end that we may show forth in all our words and deeds thy love, in the name of thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen. 146 2 Corinthians n : 21 to 12 : 10. OUR Father, we thank thee for thy tender care in the midst of dangers seen and unseen. Hitherto hast thou led us, and we are here because of thy providing and pro- tecting love. Reveal very clearly to us, we pray thee, the daily duties be- cause of which we are saved by thee for service. Incline us to the cour- ageous facing of the hard work that is ours in home and school and in busi- ness, and may we never shirk, or do scantily, the blessed tasks to which thou dost call us, knowing that when we are weak and helpless thou dost supply all needed strength. May we lose ourselves, and find thee in the daily task, in Jesus' name. Amen. H7 Ephesians 5 : 6-21. ^\UR Father, we thank thee that as ^-^ little children we did not at first walk alone, but, in thy loving provision for us, mother-love taught us our first steps. And now that we are no longer helpless, we thank thee that we may still count upon thy love in keeping us in the right path, in keeping our feet from dangerous ways. Thou hast given us sight and touch and hearing, and control over our will, and thou hast taught us to avoid the unsafe and the treacherous. May we to-day learn with new impressive- ness the safety of abstaining from strong drink, and the danger of taking it at all. O Father, in thy tender love forbid that any one of us or any of our dear ones may be wrecked by the fool- ish beginning of a wrong course, but that all of us may keep clear of the danger that lurks in the least yielding to the temptation of strong drink. Amen. 148 i Thessalcnians 5 : 12-24. OUR Father, we thank thee for the clear light from thy Word on our daily path. When the confusion of our unworthy longings, our mean and narrow motives, would cause us to be disloyal to thee, thy Word points the plain way to service. Help us, we pray thee, to hate evil and to cleave to the good so strongly that we shall have no evil gifts to render miserable those to whom we are tempted to bring evil word or deed. Take away from us, we beseech thee, the passion for squaring accounts in the same coin with those who have used us despitefully, and may gentle- ness and fairness, gratitude and gener- osity, be our purpose and practise without ceasing. In Jesus' name, Amen. 149 2 Timothy 4 : 1-18. OUR Father, we thank thee for the testimony of thy servants of old to thy promised presence in all our ways of duty. In the dark and in the light thou art near. Even prison walls and angry mobs and the wild sea-tempest avail not to shut us away from thee. May we no longer move with hesitating step along the daily path, feebly doubt- ing and groping, but may we be sober, urgent, courageous, speaking out for thee, and serving to our utmost through the unending fight, in faith, to the end. Steady us, strong Son of God, for the brave doing of duty. In Jesus* name we ask it. Amen. ISO Hebrews n : 1-40. LORD JESUS, with grateful hearts we turn in faith to thee this day. Thy love has inspired men to walk with thee in the dark as well as in the light. When we could not see, we were the more sure of the way be- cause of thy more complete leading. As we study to-day the story of faith- ful servants in the olden days of thy care, may we realize anew the su- preme power of faith in these later days of thy continued guarding. En- able us, we pray thee, to forsake our foolish reliance upon our shortsighted vision, and to rely upon the sure pro- vidings of thy love for our coming ex- periences. May we live joyously in the knowledge of our own inability to find our own way, and in the certainty of thine all-wise leading. In thy name we come with our earnest prayer to thee. Amen. 151 James 2 : 14-26. LORD of our faith, and Master of every good work, we thank thee that through man thou dost choose to forward the progress of thy Kingdom. How little we have given thee of ourselves to use in thy service! How fitful and faltering has been the faith in which we have done the work committed to our care! Defend us, we pray thee, from the dying out in us of faith, and from the failing of good works, and help us one and all to work with ever-growing power, ever-increas- ing faith, to do thy will unto the per- fection of our faith, in Jesus' name, Amen. 152 James 3 : 1-12. OUR Father, we thank thee for the gift of speech, for the power of language, for the blessing of speaking with one another as we go about our daily tasks. Help us, we pray thee, to think loving thoughts, so that we shall not be led to say hard things. Keep us from uttering the cruel word, from thus striking at the very heart of friendship. And may we keenly realize that we do need thy help day by day in curbing the hot and hasty impulse to say what, once said, cannot be unspoken. Oh, grant that in our hearts we may regard others with such consideration, such tender- ness, such understanding, that we shall no longer even have the wish to send forth barbed and bitter words to the hurt of any human soul. We ask this in the name of the Christ who loved his enemies, tenderly taught in love his wayward friends, and who has been so patient with us. Amen. 153 MAY 3 1S11 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: August 2005 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 f7?4W79-2111 s One copy del. to Cat. Div. HAY 3 19f?