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And all that we ask is for Christ's sake, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory and honour, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.

96

THIRD SERIES.

SUNDAY MORNING.

O LORD, whom have we in heaven but thee, and in all the earth there is none whom we desire besides thee; our heart and our flesh faileth, but thou art the strength of our heart and our portion for ever. We adore thee, gracious God, as the ever-living and inexhaustible fountain of all excellence, the glorious centre and the unfailing source of all that is good in the works of thy hands, and in the hearts of thy creatures.

We rejoice that we are permitted to approach thy throne; and that, laden with guilt and with corruption, beset by dangers, oppressed by infirmities, exposed to affliction, and appointed at last to die, we have thee as our sure refuge to which we may ever resort. We rejoice in the abundance of the blessings which are treasured up in Christ; and we magnify that mercy which invites us to partake of them without money and without price.

In the provisions of the Gospel, we rejoice to contemplate the lively characters of divine and paternal love. We thank thee that thou didst send even thine own Son into the world to be our Saviour, and that through him not only has peace been proclaimed on earth, but glory been secured to God in the highest. We rejoice that in Christ Jesus, mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other; and that thus a foundation hath been laid for the exercise of thy mercy towards us, in infinite consistency with thine essential hatred of sin, and with thy revealed abhorrence of all who commit it. Contemplating the whole plan of saving mercy, we lie prostrate before thee in admiration of the height and the depth, the length and the breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus; and feeling our own insufficiency suitably to comprehend, or worthily to celebrate it, we own, with humility and gratitude, that it passeth knowledge.

May we be thus engaged and affected this day. This is the day consecrated to the memory of Him who having laid down his life for his sheep, resumed it for their justification and salvation. On this the day which the Lord hath set apart as his own, and which he hath made precious to his people by his victory over death and hell, may we rejoice and be glad. May our minds be raised in correspondence with the subject which the day commemorates. May we rise with our risen Lord; and as risen with him, may we seek those things that are above, where he sitteth at the right hand of God.

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And we would bless thee, O Lord, not only for the Sabbath day, but for all the means of religious instruction and spiritual improvement, which we especially enjoy on that day. We thank thee for the respite from worldly employments and pursuits, with which we are this day favoured, for the public ministry of thy blessed word, for the opportunity given us of meeting with thy people in thy house, and for all the advantages of social and public, as well as of private and domestic devotion which it is our privilege to enjoy. O may a rich and an effectual blessing from on high accompany the means of grace, and make them in our experience abundantly instrumental to the advancement of every holy principle, devout affection, and religious habit, by which it is thy will that thy people should be distinguished.

And this we entreat, O Lord, not only for ourselves, but for all our fellow-worshippers. In every assembly of thy saints, O do thou, who art the King of saints, vouchsafe thy presence. Thou art acquainted with the case and circumstances of all who shall this day meet in thy courts: whilst thou turnest away in displeasure from the hypocrite and the formalist, and seest the proud and the self-confident afar off, draw nigh, in mercy and great compassion, to the soul of every sincere and humble worshipper.

On the mind that mourns its darkness, lift thou up the light of thy glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Into the wounded and the broken heart, pour the balm of heavenly consolation. Dis

pel every cloud which sin or sorrow may have raised between thy genuine people and thyself. O thou who art the hope of Israel and the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, be not to any of them as a stranger in the land, or as a way-faring man that turneth aside to tarry but for a night. What they know not, teach thou them: what they feel oppressing them, enable them to bear: what they have not, but which thou knowest to be needful for them, direct them to ask from thyself. Lead each to commit his way unto thee, and to cast his burden upon thee; and may the heart of every one experience, that the Lord is good to them that wait for him, to every soul that seeketh him.

Assist thy ministering servants, O Lord, in declaring thy truth. Send into their hearts much of the savour and power of the Gospel : and accompany their ministrations with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

Lord, let thy kingdom come! Everywhere let the power of the Gospel be this day felt; let its converts be multiplied; and let increasing and visible progress be made towards its glorious diffusion over the whole earth. Hear us, we beseech thee, and accept of us. And all that we ask is for Christ's sake. Amen.

SUNDAY EVENING.

O LORD, on this the evening of thy day we desire to give thee thanks for all the goodness and mercy

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