Easter Sunday — Evening

O Thou ever blessed God, we rejoice to think Thou hast determined to get thyself honor in this apostate part of thy empire, not by the merited infliction of thy justice, but the displays of thy goodness. For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever, a monument higher than the heavens, more durable than eternity, and inscribed to the praise of the glory of thy grace, wherein Thou hast made us accepted in the Beloved.

We bless Thee for the appointment and revelation of the one only Mediator between Thee and us ; by whose death sinners are reconciled, and by whose life they are saved. Thou hast laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Establish in our minds a full persuasion that He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification ; and may we above all things be concerned to know, not only that he is risen again, but that we are quickened together with Christ, and raised up, and made to sit with him in the heavenly places, May we hold communion with Him as a living and reigning Saviour, able to carry on our cause, and save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.

Is He not head over all things unto his body the church? Is He not exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour? Has He not assured us, that because He lives, we shall live also? May we view Him as the first fruits of them that sleep; and believe that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. May we view his resurrection, not only as the pledge, but the model of our own ; knowing that He shall not only change our vile body, but fashion it like his own glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.

Thou hast appointed a day in which Thou wilt judge the world in righteousness by that man whom Thou hast ordained ; and Thou hast given assurance of it unto all men, in that Thou hast raised Him from the dead. O save us from the wrath of the Lamb. May we tremble at the thought of appearing before Him, if we have neglected his salvation, despised his precious blood, and resisted his Holy Spirit.

Let not the head stone of the corner be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence ; but as He is chosen of God and precious, may He be precious to us. And while He is living for us in heaven, may we be living for Him on earth. May we esteem it our highest honour to be like Him, and feel it our greatest pleasure to serve Him.

And let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that Thou hast made that same Jesus whom their fathers crucified, both Lord and Christ. May the veil be taken from their heart, and may they behold as in a glass his glory.

As a nation, be merciful unto us and bless us. May this Christian country be a country of Christians ; and let all who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Bless all those who preach Jesus and the resurrection May they preach with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven. May their sound go into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

As yet, after all we have read and heard and experienced, we know but little of the value of the gospel; but we know enough to induce us to be thankful for our religious advantages, to sympathize with those who are without Christ, and to pray that in Him all the families of the earth may be blessed, and all generations call Him blessed.

Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.