thy ordinances, whereby it is provided that seasons of thoughtful reflection and needful rest should constantly follow hours of busy toil. The day is thine; the night also is thine; and in their regular succession may we ever acknowledge the love of Him who careth for us.

For what we have enjoyed in the day that is now ended, we offer the tribute of our hearts. For what we have left undone that we should have done, or have done that we ought not to have done, we implore pardon. Erase from our souls, O God, the impression of evil we may have thoughtlessly incurred. Print deeper there the mark of every truth which has moved us, of every virtue which has drawn forth our esteem and love. Let all the experience we meet with from day to day leave some profitable lessons for our future warning and instruction. We would not live in vain: we would not be cumberers of our Lord's ground. We desire to increase in knowledge and virtue continually. We would be wiser and better with every added day.

Great God, how solemn and momentous is the end for which thou givest us a day more of life! May we seriously ponder it. May we feel that we are living for a purpose whose importance eternity alone can fully show. Wilt thou, who didst give thy dearlybeloved Son for our salvation, fulfil in us the design of his divine mission. Help us with unfeigned faith to accept the gracious words which he brings, and

to embrace the Gospel which he has sealed with his blood. May the love of Christ constrain us to devote ourselves unreservedly to his service. Let all hardness and impenitence be removed from our hearts. Let our whole natures be brought into harmony with thy perfections, and be transformed by the renewing influences of thy truth and grace into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

May we live to

May we make

Almighty Father, we pray that the blessed example and the solemn instruction of thy dear Son may never pass from our minds. May his meekness, gentleness and purity, be ours. May we learn to bear and to do thy will, even as he did. In him may we find peace to our souls. Let no sin have dominion over us. Let all selfishness, and pride, and anger, and malice, be banished from our hearts. do good and be useful in the world. timely Christian preparation for death. to wander in unbelief and guilt from the only way that leadeth to eternal life. Keep us from that love of this world which may make us forget the world that is to come. Save us from that bondage to uncertain riches through which we may lose the true riches that fade not away. In the midst of all thy bounties help us so to live that the summons may not find us unprepared or unwilling, if this night our soul should be required of us.

Suffer us not

Father, through the darkness that now encompasses us wilt thou protect us from all evil. Safely conduct

us along the pilgrimage of life. Fit us to die the death of the righteous, and finally grant us a part in the blessedness of heaven. Amen.

XXXVI.

For Renewed Diligence.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day : we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet the hope of salvation:

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one an other, even as also ye do.

OUR FATHER which art in heaven, the day is thine, and the night also is thine. Thou sendest the morning light to summon us to activity, and thou gatherest about us the shades of evening that we may sleep and rest. How manifold is thy goodness! We

are thine, made, and preserved, and saved by thee, and thine we would be by choice and solemn consecration.

At the close of another day, laden with new experience of thy great goodness, we would renew our vows. May we feel the solemn call to revive and quicken our diligence. How many hopes and aspirations of our morning hours are lost in the cares, struggles or pleasures, of the day! O thou Searcher of our hearts, if we this day have done aught that is well pleasing to thee, we rejoice, and thank thee for opportunity and strength. And wilt thou look in mercy upon our failures and defects. Though so far from what we should be, may we neither lose sight of our high vocation, and become indifferent, nor sink through despondency to faithless despair.

Almighty God, encourage us from thy holy word. If weak, thy service will make us strong; if our feet stumble upon the dark mountains, the light of Christ will give us noonday; and if prodigals afar from thee feeding our meaner appetites, in penitence we may return home. We thank thee for the hope of forgiving mercy. May we not abuse that mercy. Awaken us to unceasing and earnest activity while our day of life lasts, and till the long night cometh. Help us to put on the whole armor of God, and to enter with renewed courage upon that service which is appointed to us, that we may obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father of all the families upon earth, may thy blessing rest upon this our home. We come here from our more outward and public concerns, and here may we meet thee, and see ourselves as thou seest us. May our life and health be precious in thy sight. May love, harmony and peace, come as good angels into the midst of us.

O thou ever-present Guardian, be with us this night, defend us in its lonely watches, and let thy peace possess our souls. O hear and graciously keep us; for thine is the power, and to thee be rendered everlasting praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XXXVII.

Lowly Service.

Then he cometh to Simon Peter and Peter saith to him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

Jesus answered and said to him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

Peter saith to him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

So after he had washed, their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said to them, Know ye what I have done to you ?

Ye call me Master. and Lord and ye say well; for so I

am.