SIXTEENTH WEEK.—SATURDAY. — Morning

ALMIGHTY God and merciful Father, Thou hast said that Thou wilt be sanctified in them that come nigh Thee, and before all the people Thou wilt be glorified. We beseech Thee to put thy Spirit within us, that we may sanctify Thee in our hearts, and make Thee our fear and our dread, our confidence and our joy. And seeing that what we have read was written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come, may we take heed to our spirits that we lust not after evil, as the people in the wilderness also lusted, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

How prone, O God, have we been to think of this world as our home, and not as a resting-place by the way! Or we have gloried in thy mercies as though we had not received them from Thee; and when Thou hast seen fit to remove them, we have repined as though Thou hadst taken away what was not thine own. In prosperity we have not been thankful, nor rendered according to the benefits received; nor have we been submissive in adversity. But spare us, good Lord, and let not thy wrath wax hot against us; correct us, but in thy mercy; rebuke us, but not in thine anger, lest Thou bring us to nothing.

Bread for the day Thou hast taught us to ask, and promised to bestow; having this, may we not murmur as though Thou hadst broken faith with us; but learn therewith to be content, and to labour chiefly, not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto eternal life. Deliver us from an earthly mind, from a mind that would seek its happiness in the creature rather than the Creator, and from affections which cleave to things of time and sense as their supreme good. May thy Spirit maintain within us so decided a sway and predominance of heavenly and eternal things that it may be manifest to all that we are seeking a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

Under the hand of thy servant Moses Thou didst give the people manna, the type of the true; but Thou hast provided some better thing for us, even the true Bread which came down from heaven. We bless Thee for the gift of the Saviour, who has said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Give us, we beseech Thee, a spiritual desire, and evermore feed us with this bread through all the days of our pilgrimage, until Thou bring us to thy holy hill and thy heavenly sanctuary, to behold the glory of the Lord, and go no more out for ever. Be with us through all this day. Leave us not to ourselves, for we are weak, and unable to stand without Thee. Enrich us with the tokens of thy love, and preserve us from all evil, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.