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THE

ASSISTANT TO FAMILY RELIGION.

PART IV.

MORNING AND EVENING, AND OCCASIONAL PRAYERS.

Sabbath Morning.

O THOU Lord of the sabbath! enable us, on this morning of thy holy day, to worship thee in spirit. and in truth. May we find it good to draw near to thee in prayer. We thank thee for the consecration of one day in seven to thine immediate service, and that there remaineth unto us the keeping of sabbaths. This is the day, which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice, and be glad in it. Grant us thy gracious presence and blessing. Take off our thoughts from the vanities of time and sense, and place them upon divine and heavenly things. We would cease from our own works, as God on the seventh day did from his, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and honour him, not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words; but delighting ourselves in the Lord. We confess before thee, O God! our manifold transgressions. With the leper under the law, we cry, Unclean, unclean, and with the humble publican, God! be mer

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ciful to us sinners. Like penitent Job, we would abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. O thou God of salvation! have mercy on us. Make bare thine almighty arm for our deliverance; save us, or we perish. Make us the trophies of thy victorious grace. Wilt thou, who didst at first command light to shine out of darkness, shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.- We bless thee, O God! for our creation and preservation; for the kind care thou hast taken of us from the commencement of our existence to the present moment. We thank thee especially for the gift of thy Son to a lost world, and for the method of salvation by him. What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits? We will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. We would present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, unto God, which is our reasonable service. When permitted to wait upon thee in thine earthly courts, grant us thy blessing. If thy presence go not with us, wherefore should we go up to thy house? Help us to keep our feet, when we go to the house of God, and to be more ready to hear, than to offer the sacrifice of fools. Be with all thy worshipping assemblies every where this day. Give them fellowship with thee in thine ordinances, and, while in thy banquetting house, may thy banner over them be love. Let none be disposed unnecessarily to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is. Impart, unto the Ministers of the Gospel, a double portion of thy Spirit. May they show themselves approved unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Bless the Minister of this church and people. Make him wise to win souls unto Christ. May this sabbath be a spiritual birth-day to thousands. Open thou blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, and break hard hearts.

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Instruct the ignorant, reclaim the wandering, and edify thy people. We thank thee, gracious Father! for the mercies of the past night, and the light and blessings of this holy morning. Let thy good providence preserve and defend us this day, and thy Holy Spirit guide and comfort us. Prepare us for all the duties and events of subsequent life, and, especially, for death, judgment, and a happy eternity. And now, O thou prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God! hear our supplications, and grant us an answer in peace through Jesus Christ; to whom as the Lamb, that was slain to redeem us to God by his blood, be blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, forever and ever. Amen.

Sabbath Evening.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come! Thy name endureth forever, and thy memorial unto all generations. Help us, at the close of thy holy day, to bow before thee with the profoundest veneration, and to worship thee in the beauty of holiness. We thank thee for the sabbath, which is now passed, and its sacred privileges; that we have been permitted to worship thee in the family, and in the house of our holy solemnities. Accept, through the mediation of the heavenly Advocate, our praises and thanksgivings; hear our supplications; and sanctify to us the instructions of thy word. May what we have this day heard, read, and meditated upon, of a religious nature, deeply impress our minds and do us good, as thy word doth the upright in heart. If we have mispent or profaned in any degree thy holy day, pardon us we beseech thee. May the services of thy people, int all parts of Christendom, come up in acceptable remembrance before thee. Wherein their worship

has been defective or defiled, forgive. Let what they have this day learned of God and his law, their depravity and ruin, Christ and his gospel, powerfully impress their hearts, and influence their practice. May thy word, this day dispensed, be quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. Cause a heavenly wind to blow, that dry bones may be enlivened, and the dead in trespasses and sins be quickened. Bless all thy churches. Build them up in the faith, order, and purity of the gospel. May all, who minister at thy holy altar, be richly furnished for the services of the sanctuary, and be inspired with an ardent love to the souls of men. Bless the Minister of thy gospel in this place. May he be instant in season and out of season, labouring abundantly in word and doctrine, not teaching for doctrines the commandments of man, but the pure word of God. Succeed all attempts to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to save a perishing world.O Lord! graciously regard us, who are now worshipping before thee. Behold! we are vile, what shall we answer thee? Our sins are more numerous, than the hairs of our heads, and testify against us. But, O Lord! enter not into judgment with us, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. With the disciples of Christ we pray, Lord! save us; we perish. O thou, who art exalted to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins! give us

uly sorrow, which worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. Pardon us we beseech thee, O God! and accept us in the Beloved.-We thank thee, heavenly Father! that thou hast so tenderly loved us, as to give thine only begotten Son to die for us! Praised be thy name, that eternal redemption may be obtained through the blood of sprinkling. We give thee thanks, O God! for the blessings of life, and of the past day in particular.

-We commit ourselves into thy hands for keeping this night, O thou Shepherd of Israel, who never slumberest nor sleepest! May we lie down to rest in peace and safety, and in favour with God and man. Having been refreshed with sleep, bring us to behold the morning, rejoicing in its light and in thy loving kindness. Ever may we act in thy fear and live to thy glory. When the evening of life shall arrive, and we are called to close the day of toil and trouble, may we fall asleep in Jesus, and, in the morning of the resurrection, awake to a glorious and blissful immortality. Hear our prayer, O Lord! give ear to our supplications; in thy faithfulness answer us, and in thy righteousness. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Monday Morning.

Our voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord! in the morning will we direct our prayerunto thee, and will look up. Lord! teach us to pray in faith, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them, that diligently seek him. O thou eternal Father! we have sinned against heaven and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy children. We have acted the part of prodigals. We have strayed far from our heavenly Father's house, and wantonly rioted in the vanities and follies of the world. We would repent and return; and, O! have compassion upon us. Hide thy face from our sins, and blot out all our iniquities. Enable us to lay aside every weight, and the sin, which doth so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race, that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Fulfil in us all the good pleasure of thy

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