Week 2 Friday Evening Prayer

O LORD, Thou art great, and doest wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Among the gods there is none like Thee, neither are there any works like unto Thy works. Thou doest all things according to Thy pleasure, and all that Thou doest is wise and good. Thy mercy is in the heavens, and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. With unfeigned submission to Thy authority, and reverence for Thy majesty, and gratitude for Thy goodness, do we, Thy unworthy and sinful creatures, come before Thy footstool to-night. Oh, help us to praise Thee with joyful hearts, and to exalt Thy name together.

To Thee, by whom our wants have been this day supplied, and our lives preserved, and our souls delivered from death, do we offer our evening worship. We adore and give thanks. Oh, that all men to whom these great and undeserved mercies have been given in common with ourselves, would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works unto the children of men ! All that Thy pure eyes have seen amiss in our actions, our motives, and our tempers, graciously forgive. We rejoice to know that if we confess our sins, Thou art faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well may we tremble, because of our exposure to Thy wrath and curse ; but, thanks be to Thy name, Thou hast told us, in Thy word, of the great love wherewith Thou hast loved us, even when we were dead in sin, in sending Thy Son to suffer and die in our stead, that we might have redemption through His blood, and enter into life eternal. Thanks be unto God for this unspeakable gift.

Lord, help us to do all that in us lies to adorn His doctrine, to advance His cause, and to promote the honor of His name. Knowing His preciousness in our own experience, may we commend Him to our fellow-men. May we look on this world as He looks on it : love it with His love, and long for its conversion with somewhat of His yearning compassion. Bring down, O God, all that is opposed to the progress of Christ's gospel. Destroy every form of superstition and idolatry that exists. Put the wicked in fear. Let not the needy be alway forgotten, nor the expectation of the poor perish for ever. Bring Thy sons from far, and Thy daughters from the ends of the earth. Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion !

To thy watchful care, O God of our life, we commend us all through the silent hours of the night. Keep us all as the apple of Thine eye. Abiding in the secret place of the Most High, and lying down under the shadow of the Almighty, may ours be the sleep of Thy beloved. Thou who hast delivered us from the destruction that wasteth at noon-day, save us also, we beseech Thee, from the pestilence that walketh in darkness. May all whom we love be precious in Thy sight, and wherever they are, Lord, let Thine angel encamp about them to defend from all ill. Have mercy on all who are racked with pain, and who will seek for rest but find none. Be kind to their frail and suffering bodies, and save their immortal souls. Be gracious to all those to whom this night is to be the last on earth. May they be in Christ as their Refuge and Saviour before they appear in His presence as their Judge.

If it please Thee, spare us to see the light of a new day, and raise us up strengthened both in body and mind for the duties of the morrow, to Thy glory and praise. But if it should be otherwise, may the angels who minister to the heirs of salvation, bear our souls home to the bosom of our Lord. As for us, may we behold Thy face in righteousness, may we be satisfied when we awake with Thy likeness. Whether we wake or sleep, we would make this our rejoicing, that Thou wilt show us the path of life, and that in Thy presence is fulness of joy, and at Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.

Let these our prayers come before Thee as incense and the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice, for Jesu's sake. Amen.