TWENTIETH WEEK.—MONDAY. — Morning

O GOD, who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, may we draw near to Thee by the new and living way which Thou hast consecrated for us.

While encouraged, by the promises of thy Word and the mediation of Christ, to come boldly unto the throne of grace, may we come with the boldness becoming a conviction of our guilt and a sense of our unworthiness, tempered by considerations of thine unsearchable greatness and perfect purity.

May our devotion be kindled with fire from the altar of our God, find a place in the golden censer of our great High Priest, and, presented with the prayers of all saints, be an offering of a sweet-smelling savour, acceptable to Thee through Jesus Christ.

It is of thy mercies that we are not consumed for having so often come before Thee in our worship with the strange fire of formality, self-righteousness, and a worldly mind. How, then, can we sufficiently adore thy long-suffering towards us, that a fire has not been kindled in thine anger, and come forth from thy presence, to consume us for our heinous sins against the authority of thy law and the mercy of thy Gospel?

We pray that our sins may be all forgiven for the sake of Christ, our paschal Lamb, who suffered the Just for the unjust. Purify and refine us by the Spirit of burning, the fire of thy Word, and the furnace of affliction.

Help us to learn wisdom from the conduct of thy servant Aaron, and enable us, like him, meekly to bow at all times to thy righteous judgments.

May we keep ourselves unspotted from the world dead in trespasses and sins. When corrected for our sins, may we be silent and submissive under the correction, and be quickened by it to serve Thee in newness of life. [Be gracious to our dear children, and convert them. Let not one of them live or die offering strange fire on thine altar; but let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon them, that, satisfied early with thy mercy, they may rejoice and be glad all their days.]

Help us this day to walk in the fear of God, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Help us, in our intercourse with the world, to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Hold Thou us up, and we shall be safe; be our Arm every morning, and our Salvation in every time of trouble. Deliver us from every evil work, and preserve us unto thy heavenly kingdom. Let these our prayers, O Lord, be acceptable unto Thee, through Jesus Christ thy Son, our great High Priest, who ever liveth to make intercession for all who come unto Thee through Him. Amen.