EIGHTEENTH WEEK.—WEDNESDAY. — Evening

O GOD, our Creator, Preserver, and continual Benefactor, we bless Thee at the close of another day, for all thy goodness and mercy towards us. Thou never weariest in doing us good. Our Lord, when He was upon earth, had not where to lay His head; but Thou hast made our lot far different. Thou hast given us food, raiment, and a habitation; and of the least of all thy mercies we are utterly unworthy. How much more unworthy must we be of the unutterable mercies of the covenant of thy grace!

O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, look not upon us, but look upon the face of thine Anointed. We come to Thee without a claim of our own, without one single recommendation in thy sight. But we come to Thee in the Name of thy dear Son. In Him and with his perfect sacrifice for sin Thou art always well pleased; and Thou art able to save to the uttermost them that come to Thee through Him. Oh, may thy good Spirit ever enable us so to come to Thee, that, being justified by faith, we may be at peace with Thee, because in Christ Thou art at peace with us; and may our peace in Jesus be like a river ever flowing forth from Him, as the smitten Rock in whom are all our fresh springs.

O eternal Spirit, the Author and Giver of all life in Jesus, bind our souls unto Jesus, in love and gratitude, for ever. Teach us to live not as our own, but as bought with a price; and may the life which we now live in the flesh be lived by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave Himself for us, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to Thee.

Make us, also, faithful in all our duties; faithful in that which is least as well as in that which is greatest; faithful in that which is another’s as well as in that which is our own. We are but stewards, every one of us, of that which is thine. Thou art the one Proprietor and Owner of all. The earth is thine and all the fulness thereof. All things are of Thee, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Make us, therefore, to feel the great responsibility of our stewardship. May we be daily living and trading for our Lord and Master, and be ready to give in our account at a moment’s notice, if so required. May we remember that One is our Master, and not try to serve God and Mammon. Give us a decided faith and a decided mind; and when we fail, and may be no longer stewards on earth, give us an abundant entrance into the everlasting habitations of the blest. We ask all for Jesus Christ’s alone sake, to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be praise and glory for ever. Amen.