Prayers. Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak SHAKSPEARE. Prayers. J BY J. F. THOU who art infinite in thy power, thy wis dom and thy love: may we be enabled to acquit ourselves as becomes thy servants in the warfare of life, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint, and to pass from glory to glory till we are transfigured at last into the perfect image of thy spirit. Then when thou hast finished thy work with us on earth, when the clods of the valley are sweet to our weary frame, may our soul go home to thee, and so may we spend eternity in the progressive welfare which thou appointest for thy children. And here on earth may the gleams of that glory come upon us, strengthening our heart when it is weak within us, that so day by day we may grow to higher heights, and to a nobler service in thy kingdom here, that this earthly life may be one with the life eternal. Amen. ALTERED FROM THEODORE PARKER. อ THOU whose life is our life, whose strength is our strength, day by day may we pass from the glory of a good beginning to the glory of a noble end, and when we have well served thee with these mortal bodies, may we lay them in the dust, and clothed with immortality, rise upward and evermore to thee. Amen. F JATHER of our spirits: who art unto these frail bodies the breath of life: we rejoice to think of thee as having a purpose in the existence of this outer tabernacle, and also in its appointed dissolution. We rejoice that as from thee we came, to thee we return when the period of our dwelling in the flesh has ended. We rejoice to go back to thee who art perfect--who art unchanging light--who art our eternal life. May we find comfort in the good hope prompted and inspired by our natures, that "if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And as we lay away to rest this now worn out and lifeless form, may we treasure the memory and good name of its departed occupant, who has dwelt in this tabernacle to honor it, to use it for a rational service of the world, to enjoy it as the temple of thy spirit. We thank thee that he has lived, and been of us and among us, to bless his kindred and to bless humanity by his industry, his thought, his living example. We thank thee that having lived and lived well, he still belongs to the "choir invisible" of those who have made the world better by their presence in it. We thank thee that he still lives in his work, that being dead he yet speaketh. May we take into our hearts May we hear him. the lesson of his life, to profit by all the good he has done for us and for mankind. May we feel our obligation to be better, and more efficient by reason of the good that we recall as belonging to him. Bless these his kindred in the flesh. Direct their minds to those high themes which are sustenance in need and mitigation for life's sorrows. In honoring his memory and his remains, may they take counsel of thy truth, and find thy grace sufficient for them. Prepare us day by day for the duties of each day. Fit us more and more for life in this world. So wilt thou prepare us also for departure, and for entrance upon such life as awaits us on the shores beyond. In all these, our prayers, may we pray in the exercise of our highest purposes, and in the right use of all our faculties, by the discharge of all our responsibilities, that so our prayer shall not be the prayer of words alone. And unto thee who art able to do only wisely and well whatever we may ask or think, belongeth all praise and glory evermore. Amen. |