And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? II. RESPONSES. S. God, that made the world and all things therein, T. Seeing he giveth to all life, breath, and all things; S. For in him we live, and move, and have our being. T. He hath not left himself without witness, S. In that he hath given us rain from heaven, T. And fruitful seasons, C. Filling our hearts with food and gladness. III. PRAYER. O Thou, by whom the light is sweet, and who made it a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun! again have we greeted the cheerful beams of day, and have seen the Light advancing in its upward course. Make our path to be like that of the sun, that shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. We praise thee that the true light has come into our benighted world—that the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in his wings. O, let the light of the knowledge of thy glory shine into our hearts from the face of Jesus Christ, and we be left no more to stumble as in a dark way. Keep us from indifference to the means of grace; let not our love of sacred things grow cold, but may our hearts be warmed with a flame that shall never expire. We mourn that so soon we forget the teachings of our Sabbath school, the need of prayerful thought, the ensnaring nature of temptation, the precious value of the lessons of thy Word. O God, make us stronger in the strength of goodness. Thus, while we live on earth, our hearts will be purified for heaven; where we hope to dwell, through thy grace, in the great Redeemer. Amen. IV. HYMN. L. M.-How shall we worship? Man comes to meet his Maker, God, Vain, sinful man! Creation's Lord [L. M.] TWENTY-THIRD SERVICE. I. SCRIPTURE READING. Matt. iv. 18-25; v. 1, 2. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of diseases, among the people. And his fame went abroad throughout all Syria; and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. And seeing the multitude, he went up into a mountain; and when he was set, his disciples came unto him; and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, II. RESPONSES. S. Blessed are the poor in spirit, T. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. S. Blessed are the meek, T. For they shall inherit the earth. S. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, C. For they shall be filled. S. Blessed are the merciful, All. For they shall be called the children of God. III. PRAYER. All-Wise and All-Perfect! Sovereign God! with the light of this day comes to us thy lovethe love against which we too often sin. Sanctify this day to holy thought. May it be no common day, but may its hours be winged for heaven, and bear thither our praises and our prayers. Awake our hearts to fervent interest in the duties of this hour, and may our school seem to us a new and diviner thing, because of the depth of our concern in its usefulness and honor. We thank thee for our school, for the Bible, for all that men have learned from its pages to teach to us, for all the books they have written, and for the treasures of thy wisdom opened to us in their labors. O, may we not remain ignorant, while so great are our means of obtaining knowledge; and, above all, may we early become acquainted with thee and thy Son, with the labors and sufferings of prophets, apostles, and martyrs, with the institutions of the Christian church, and the blessings which the Gospel has conferred on man. May we show the beauty of thy laws by our lives, and live in hope of that heaven which shall fulfil all pure hopes, through Jesus Christ. Amen. IV. HYMN. C. M. - Example of Christ. Appears each grace divine; To spread the rays of heavenly light, To preach glad tidings to the poor, Be Christ our pattern and our guide; [C. M.] TWENTY-FOURTH SERVICE. God is a spirit just and wise, He sees our inmost mind; In vain to heaven we raise our cries, I. SCRIPTURE READING. Luke xii. 1-3; Mark xiv. 4–9. Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached through #49 out the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of, for a memorial of her. II. RESPONSES. S. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! S. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; T. They will be still praising thee. C. They go from strength to strength; All. Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. S. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. T. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, T. & C. Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. III. PRAYER. Preserver of our race! unchangeable Friend of man! in adoration of thee do we bow our hearts before the throne of grace, rejoicing that we live, and that thy love is still over and around us. Unsearchable are thy ways! We go where thou art, but we see thee not. We behold thy works, but thou art unseen. Yet can we commune with thee as we commune with our own souls- the likeness of thy spirit. It is good for us to come to thee. We feel it in the elevation of our thoughts, in the sanctity of our feelings, in the greatness of our hopes, in the more earnest desire to know and to love thee better May we never lose this joy of the soul, but may it make every duty sacred, every blessing a gift of thy love, every grief a wisely ordered discipline for good. O, let us see in this the worth of our school, our meditations, our worship, lest we retain not God in our minds, and fall into evil. By the faithful performance of duty, by a sincere love of our kindred, by devout gratitude for all our privileges, may this day bring us nearer heaven, as it bears us nearer to our grave. Strengthen our hope of immortality, and save us in the kingdom of thy Son our Redeemer. Amen. 5 |