Friday Morning (Third Week)

O GOD, our Heavenly Father, we desire on this the morning of a new day, to encompass the footstool of Thy Throne of Grace. We thank Thee for the guardianship and care vouchsafed during the unconscious hours of sleep. Thou hast dispersed the darkness of another night, and permitted the natural sun once more to arise upon us. O Thou better Sun of righteousness, do Thou disperse the deeper darkness of sin; shine on us with the brightness of thy rising; let us enjoy this day the blessedness of peace with GOD.

LORD JESUS, we commit our temporal and eternal interests anew to Thy keeping. Soul and body are Thine by Thy redemption-purchase. May this be their superscription “ holiness to the LORD.” May nothing that is unclean or that defileth enter therein, May it be our sovereign motive to walk so as to please Thee. May this be our sorest cross and trial to incur Thy displeasure. May we seek to diffuse around us the silent, noiseless influence of a heavenly life. Let us seek wholly to follow Thee. Let us not be content with a name to live. May existence be one continuous effort to do Thy will and promote Thy glory.

Oh forbid that any of us should rest satisfied with being half-way to safety— lingering on the borders; may we live up to our privileges; may we have grace to follow the holy example and to reflect the blessed image of Thee, our adorable LORD and Master. May we deal tenderly with others, remembering the tenderness of Him who would not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, and whose dying words were forgiving ones. In the performance of every-day duty, let us seek to make this the directory of our conduct—“How would JESUS have acted here ?” May we put on as the elect of GOD, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a quarrel against any, even as CHRIST hath forgiven us, so may we do also.

We pray for all in sorrow. O Thou GOD of all consolation, be a Father to the fatherless, a Husband to the widow, the stranger’s shield, and the orphan’s stay. Enable Thy suffering people to rest in Thy love—saying, the LORD’S will be done.

Bless our beloved Friends; if there be any among them who are still strangers to Thee, LORD convert them; reveal to them Thy dear Son in all His ability to save. Preserve us as a household from all danger and sin; hide us in the hollow of Thy hand; and may death, when it comes, be to all of us the entrance to glory. May Thy church universal live in the unity of the Spirit, and in the bond of peace. Revive Thy work in the midst of the years; may the day soon arrive when all ends of the earth shall see the salvation of GOD.

Listen, gracious Father, to these our supplications, when Thou hearest forgive, and grant us an answer in peace, for the Redeemer’s sake. Amen.

Our Father, &c.

The Grace of our Lord, &c.