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We bless thee for all thy long-suffering and forbearance towards us. We bless thee for the infinite mercies of redeeming love. We bless thee for the knowledge of thy salvation, and for the light of thy truth; for protection from every danger during the night, and provision for all our wants by day. Thou hast spread our table with food, and thou givest us every needful good. Accept these our prayers and our praises, which we offer up in and through Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

Our Father, &c.

FAMILY PRAYER, SUNDAY MORNING.

O Almighty God, Creator, Governor, and Upholder of all things, who after making the heaven and earth, didst rest on the seventh day, and bless and sanctify it, teach us now, resting from our worldly labours, to devote the day to thy service. O thou whose Son did, as on this day, rise again from the dead, grant us grace to rise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. Help us now, in his name, to seek thy blessing on those holy duties to which the sabbath is set apart.

Thanksgiving.

We bless and praise thee for the appointment of this day, and for all the means of grace which we enjoy in this highly-favoured land. We bless thee that thy house is open, that thy ministers have liberty to preach, and we have opportunity and inclination to go and assemble with thy people and hear thy holy word. Above all, we thank thee for the knowledge of Jesus Christ; for free justification and salvation through his life, death, and resurrection. We praise thee for the

gift of thy Holy Spirit. Blessed, for ever blessed, be thou, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for all these thy benefits.

Confession.

Great have been thy mercies to us; but with shame we confess that we have slighted thy goodness, and carelessly regarded thy great salvation. How many sabbaths have we broken; how many invitations of mercy have we neglected, how many warnings and How cold have been threatenings have we trifled with!

our prayers; how great our irreverence; how inexcusable our unbelief!

Petition.

Return again, and bless with us, through all the Enable us to go to thy Pour out upon us,

and

Forgive us, O forgive us, all our negligences, and infirmities, and all our sins and iniquities. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him. us. Graciously be present solemn services of this day. house in the spirit of prayer. all that shall meet in thy name, the spirit of grace and supplication. Let none of us draw near to thee with our lips only, while our hearts are far from thee; but enable us to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Cause thy face to shine upon us. Grant that we may find that the Lord is in his holy Temple, and be able to say, It was ..good for us to have been there! Prepare our hearts to receive thy holy word, that it may be sown in good ground, and bring much fruit to perfection.

[Bless especially, such of us as hope this day again to receive the memorials. of our Saviour's sufferings and death. May contrition, penitence, faith, humility, and love, be in lively exercise, and be greatly increased.]

Help all of us, not only to abstain from engaging in

our usual business and occupation, but also keep us from worldly conversation and from vain thoughts. Raise our affections to things above, and let our conversation be in heaven. Enable us to give this day to reading and hearing thy word, to meditation, self-examination and prayer; and be thou with us, to bless us in our retired devotions.

Intercession.

And, Father of mercies, we beseech thee to bless all that minister in holy things. Multiply unto them thy grace, that they may be faithful, diligent, and laborious. Grant them humility, disinterestedness, watchfulness, and zeal; may all have grace to take heed to themselves and to the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers, feeding the Church of God which he has purchased with his own blood. Stand by and strengthen them this day. Open thou their mouths, and enable them to testify boldly the Gospel of the grace of God. We especially pray for him who ministers among us. May he this day be enabled to speak a word in season to us, and to all that shall hear him.

And, we beseech thee, grant that this thy sabbath may be distinguished by great and singular mercies to thy church. Be thou with all Christian congregations meeting to worship thee. By the ministry of thy word. this day, convert many sinners; heal those that have backslidden, strengthen those that are weak, and confirm those that are strong. Give thy holy word free course, and let it be glorified in every land, and among every people. Hear us, and answer us, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

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FAMILY PRAYER, SUNDAY EVENING.

HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and art to come! thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; thou chargest thine angels with folly, and in thy sight the heavens are not clean; we approach thee, then, only in the name of Jesus Christ.

We confess, O our services are.

Confession.

Lord, how defective and defiled all We acknowledge that our prayers are full of distractions. Our confessions want confessing over again, our very petitions need thy pardon, our cold intercessions for others increase our own guilt, and our unworthy thanksgivings fall utterly short of thy great goodness to us. We carelessly and unbelievingly hear thy word. All we do is polluted and sinful. forgive us. Forgive the sins of solemn duties; and let that great High Priest, who is passed into the heavens, bearing the iniquities of our holy things, plead for us in thy sight.

Petition.

O

And grant, most merciful Lord, that it may not be in vain, that we enjoy such distinguished privileges as thou hast given to us, lest it be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for us. Let not the seed of the word of God which has this day been sown in our hearts, be plucked away by Satan, lost through temptation, or choked with the cares of this life; but having heard it and received it, incline us to keep it, and do thou cause it to bring forth fruit, an hundred-fold. Grant that our lives may exhibit whose we are and whom we serve: remembering that if we know our Lord's will and do it not, we shall justly

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have the severer punishment; we humbly beseech thee, strengthen our resolutions to live more decidedly to thee. We feel that we now have again to enter into the contest with our spiritual enemies; make us more than conquerors through him that loved us. We have again to exert ourselves to run the race set before us; teach us ever to look unto Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. O let us take the more earnest heed never to let slip the things which we have heard.

Intercession.

And we pray for all those who have this day assembled before thee, and heard the word of salvation. Grant unto them the same mercies which we ask for ourselves. Let thy ministers that water others be themselves abundantly watered in their own soul. Strengthen them for thy work, both in body and soul. Remember in mercy those who by thy providence have been kept from thy house, and let them receive a special supply of thy grace. Grant that those who have wilfully or ignorantly deprived themselves of public worship may have their eyes opened to see, and their hearts awakened to feel, their guilt and their danger, and learn to flee from the wrath to come. O hasten the time when thy house shall be a house of prayer for all nations, and the whole world shall worship in thy courts.

Thanksgiving.

Thanks be unto God for all the privileges of the past Sabbath. Blessed be thy name that we were permitted to hear thy word, to join thy people in prayer and praise, and to enjoy so plentifully the means of grace.. Blessed be our God for any thing of communion with him, or desire after him. Blessed be God, if the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, or his holy word, be more

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