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Look upon us in this our assembly. Be very near each of us according to our different necessities. Thou knowest these better than any others can know them, better than we ourselves know them. Thou dost interpret the cries of our spirits which we often misunderstand, and thou knowest how to still the hunger of our souls which we often try to satisfy with things not much better than the husks that the swine did eat. We pray Thee that Thou wouldst come to us, and help us, giving to us the things that we most need, whether they are the things that we wish most or not. Do Thou discipline and train us, instruct and educate us. Bring us near to Thyself, and fashion us more after the likeness of Thy Son. May we, too, be transfigured, that our faces may shine as the light, and by the renewing of our minds may we altogether be transformed from conformity to this world. Guide us day by day by Thy wise counsels; may they never be neglected by us. Mould us by Thy shaping hands; may we be as the clay in the hands of the potter. Preserve us from struggling against Thy gifts, from leaving them untaken. Preserve us from misusing any of them for lower purposes than those for which they are sent; and help us that in all our doings, setting the Lord before us, we may be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Hear us now, when we cry to Thee, for all that are in any kind of sorrow or trouble, and humbly ask Thee that where Thou art chastening there may be the sense of the Father’s love, even in the chastisement, and that Thy rod as well as Thy staff may comfort many a troubled heart.