TWENTIETH WEEK.—FRIDAY. — Evening

INFINITE and everlasting God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being, whose power sustains, whose wisdom guides, whose love enriches all that thy hands have made, accept our warmest thanks for the unnumbered mercies we have this day received at thy hand. Thy very thoughts unto us, O God, how precious are they! How great is the sum of them! If we should count them, they are more in number than the sand. And yet, alas! how few have been our thoughts of Thee, how poor our services, how faint our gratitude! We have forgotten Thee, whilst Thou hast been mindful of us. Our hearts condemn us. Lord, have mercy upon us, and help us to love Thee with all our hearts, and to show forth our love by a ready obedience to thy will.

Oh that we could live as seeing Him who is invisible! Oh that we might walk with God! then should we be safe from the tempting vanities of the world. How great is our danger! How needful that we should watch unto prayer! How grave and solemn our responsibility! Lord, who is sufficient for these things? Gird us with thy strength, O thou Most High! Hide us under the shadow of thy wings.

Let thy blessing rest upon us as a family. Make every member of our household a member of the body of Christ. Let the love which binds us together here be sanctified, so that we may be companions in the road to heaven. Let us not be separated at last. To this end may we be prepared to die, trusting only in the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We worship Thee, O our Saviour. Thou art the Resurrection and the Life, and hast promised that whosoever liveth and believeth in Thee shall never die. Thou art God—God manifest in the flesh. As the Christ of God Thou hast spoken; and thy words we have now read. Thou hast acted; and the story of thy deeds we have listened to with wonder and delight. Thou canst now raise us from the death of sin, as Thou didst raise Lazarus from the grave.

Have we passed from death unto life? Then strengthen our life, and lead us on to spiritual maturity. Are we, or any who are dear to us, still dead in trespasses and sins? O Lord, listen to our earnest prayer, that now thy voice may be heard, saying, “Come forth and live!” This very night may we be delivered from the bonds which have bound us, and walk forth on the morrow in newness of life. Come and visit our slumbering souls, and let there be joy here and in heaven over the spiritual resurrection of those for whom we pray. Hear us, O Lord, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.