PRAYERS. PRAYER. WE acknowledge and praise thee, O God, as the high and holy One, who inhabiteth eternity; the Maker of all worlds and Father of all men; our Preserver, Governor, and Judge. We adore thee as the Source of light and wisdom; the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; the Author of all good. We worship and magnify thee, as the Being of infinite perfections; unchangeable in thy nature, universal in thy presence, and uncontrollable in thy dominion. We give thee our humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men. We bless thee, O God, for our rational and moral life; for all the endowments of our nature, and the privileges of our condition; for our daily comforts, which are more than we can number; for our families and friends; for the instructions and consolations of thy holy word; for the redemption of the world by thy Son Jesus Christ, and for the precious hope of everlasting life. O God, give unto us, we pray thee, a deep and lasting sense of thy goodness and mercy, so that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we may show forth thy praise not only with our lips, but by a pure and righteous and beneficent life, in obedience to the precepts of thy blessed Son, and for the glory of thy holy name. Let us make thee our refuge and defence, our confidence and joy. Let us rest our hearts and our hopes upon thee, through all the scenes and trials of this short and uncertain life. Let us always look up to thee, and draw near to thee, as our kind Protector, our gracious Comforter, our best and unchangeable Friend. May we submit all our desires to thy will, all our actions to thy direction, and all our concerns and interests to thy disposal. If thou shalt send us health and prosperity, may our hearts not be lifted up with pride, nor, in the enjoyment of thy gifts, grow forgetful of the Giver; but let thy goodness soften our hearts; let it lead us to repentance, and dispose us to brotherly kindness and charity. If thou shouldst weaken our strength and disappoint our hopes, may we learn submission, and exercise patience; may we be strengthened by faith, and purified by our afflictions. Of thy great mercy grant us such things as shall be good for us, though we may neglect to pray for them; and deny us such as would be hurtful to us, though we should earnestly desire them. O most merciful Father, forgive us, we beseech thee, through our great Redeemer, the manifold sins which we have committed against thee. Give unto us a true and living repentance. Blot out our transgressions from the book of thy remembrance, and wash them thoroughly from our hearts. We would forsake them; we would cast them behind us; we would return to them no more. May thy spirit quicken us with a holy life, and fill us with all pure desires and all Christian affections. O may thy grace strengthen, and thy love constrain us to go and sin no more. We commend to thy fatherly care and goodness all those who are dear to us; all such as are in any affliction; all them who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and all the great family of men our brethren. Show thy mercy upon them all; lift up upon them the light of thy countenance; grant them thy peace on earth, and bring them to the everlasting joys of thy heavenly kingdom. Accept us, O Father of all mercies, in these our prayers and supplications, which we present unto thee in the name of him through whom thou always hearest us; and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy will may effectually be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, to the comfort of our brethren, and to the setting forth of thy paternal glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. PRAYER. O THOU, who art the only living and true God, infinite in glory and goodness, to thee we present our lowly homage; to thee we bring our grateful thanks; to thee we make our humble supplications. Condescend, O God, mercifully to look upon and accept us; to hallow our offerings and to assist us in our prayers. Enlighten our minds, we beseech thee, and sanctify our hearts, by thy heavenly truth. Teach us to magnify thee as we ought; to worship thee in spirit and in truth; to bend our whole soul, and our every thought, in adoration before the throne of thine unspeakable majesty. Thou knowest our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking. We beseech thee to have compassion upon our infirmities; and those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us, for the sake of thine infinite mercy in Jesus Christ our Lord. What we know not, and ought to know, teach thou us. Whatever is amiss in us, dispose us to reform. Whatever in us is good, assist us to carry forward to perfection. Govern, we pray thee, both our hearts and bodies in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy commandments, that through thy most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved, in body and soul, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Dispose the way of thy servants toward the attainment of everlasting salvation; so that, among all the changes and chances. of this mortal life, we may ever be kept from falling away from the path of peace, and, by thy most gracious and ready help, may press on to the inheritance of the saints. Endue our hearts with every pious and virtuous disposition. May we live constantly under the influence of our most holy religion, purifying our minds by its spirit, and ordering our conversation by its precepts. May we sit meekly at the feet of Jesus in the closet, to learn our duty; and in social scenes and public walks patiently and courageously confess his name by doing his commandments. May the remembrance of the innumerable blessings which thy bounty hath bestowed upon us by thy Son, filling us with admiration and love, transform us into thine image, and incline us to become like thee, righteous, and merciful, and beneficent. O dispose us to conform to the gracious purposes of thy providence, by promoting, as far as we have the power, the good and happiness of our brethren. Incline us, as we have opportunity, to relieve the necessitous, to comfort the afflicted, to instruct the ignorant, to encourage and assist the honest and industrious, to redeem the oppressed, and to go about doing good. Thus, O God, animated by the divine spirit of Christian charity, and drawn and led upward by faith and love towards thy blessed and holy |