fruit to thy glory and our eternal salvation. Let our prayers and praises be spiritual sacrifices, acceptable in thy sight through Jesus Christ. This day ride forth in the chariot of thy everlasting gospel conquering and to conquer. Let heathen nations be brought to acknowledge their Creator and Redeemer. In all thy churches let the arm of the Lord be revealed, sinners be converted, and saints be edified in their most holy faith. Continue the gospel in our own land, and give it more abundant success. Make the ministers of the gospel faithful to Christ and souls; as those that must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief. Heal the sick; ease the pained; succour the tempted; supply the necessitous; be a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow in thy holy habitation. If afflictions detain any from the public solemnities of thy day, let them enjoy thy gracious presence in their own dwellings. Fit the dying for a glorious sabbath above. Blessed be God, that we are in health and comfort, to engage in the duties and enjoy the privileges of this sabbath. Leave us not to barren hearts and wandering thoughts and affections. But let our conversation be in heaven, from whence we look for our glo rious Redeemer, whom having not seen, we love; in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, may we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. For his sake we beseech thee to hear us, and do for us abundantly above all that we can ask, conceive, or think! Amen. HYMN. The Lord my pasture shall prepare, When in the sultry glebe I faint, Though in a bare and rugged way Though in the paths of death I tread, PRAYER For the Lord's Day Evening. Blessed and glorious Majesty, we desire humbly to adore thee, as the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and through him as our reconciled God and Father. We have none in heaven but thee, and there is nothing upon earth we desire beside thee. Thy favour is life, and thy loving kindness is better than life. Thou hast given us all things richly to enjoy, pertaining both to life and godliness. Every day hast thou loaded us with thy benefits, On this thy holy day thou hast taught us the knowledge of thyself and of thy dear Son, whom to know is life eternal. Thou hast set before us life and death, blessing and cursing, good and evil, that we might flee from the wrath to come, and secure the blessings of thy people. Thou hast shewed us the evil of sin, the danger of an unconverted state, and the riches of pardoning grace and love. Thou hast invited us by thy precious promises, and hast opened to our view the glories of thy heavenly kingdom. Holiness has in some degree appeared to us in its beauty, sin in its deformity, Christ in his allsufficiency to save, and thy Holy Spirit in his gracious influences to renew our natures, and fit us for a perfect sabbath at thy right hand. * (Adored be thine infinite mercy, if any of us have experienced thy recovering grace! If thou hast plucked us as brands out of the burning: if thy pardoning love hath delivered us from guilt and condemnation, let our souls here find a refuge from thine eternal wrath. To us thy promises are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Satan, the world, and death are overcome for us. O death! where is thy sting? O grave! Where is thy victory? Because Christ lives, we shall live also. Because our head is glorified, we shall be glorified with him. Once we were dead in sin, but are now quickened to spiritual life. Long were we in ignorance and unbelief, but are now light in the Lord. Too long were we carnal, sold under sin, but the Holy Spîrit hath renewed us, in the law of our mind. This parenthesis may be omitted where the mind of the reader cannot rise so high. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ. O that every soul of us, not one excepted, may bear for itself a joyful part in these thanksgivings and praises! And why, Lord, are we regenerated and sanctified, but to love, and praise, and serve thee? We beseech thee, perfect our weak and languid graces. Make us more holy and heavenly, and bring us nearer to thyself in faith and love, that we may rise higher in thy praises.) Lord, pardon the sins of our holy things. Sprinkle our persons and services with the all-atoning blood of Jesus. Mortify our pride, and clothe us with humility, that when we have done all our duties, we may account ourselves unprofitable servants. Make us meek and patient, serious and sober-minded. Give us grace to keep under our body, and bring it into subjection. Let the love of the world be rooted out of our hearts, and shed abroad thy love there by the Holy Spirit given unto us. Mortify in us all envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness, and help us to love all men, and especially our fellow Christians, with a pure heart fervently. What we know not, teach us, and wherein we have done iniquity, help us to do so no more. |