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We draw near to Thee now, compassed about with many infirmities, and some of us carrying in our hearts some sorrows, and all of us conscious of much weakness which often foils our efforts; and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst help us not only to trust in the living God, Who giveth us all things richly to enjoy, but to flee all the things that are contrary to His will, and earnestly to pursue after till we possess, godliness, faith, love, righteousness, and all manifold beauties and blessings with which Thou canst and dost desire to clothe our spirits.

With lowly love, and loving trust, and trustful obedience, we would come to Thee now, O Lord. With Thee is the fountain of life. All our seeing is by Thy light, and all our joys are in the drinking of the river of Thy pleasures. Help us, we beseech Thee, drawn by Thy grace, and driven by our sins, and knit into such close communion with Thyself, that there may flow into our hearts the life, the light, the joy, which Thou dost mean us to possess. We acknowledge that we, by our own faults, have been dead in trespasses and sins. We acknowledge that we have loved darkness more than the light of life. We acknowledge that we have sought, and in some partial measure found, our joys elsewhere than in Thee. And we come to Thee now, not without some sense of our follies, and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst deliver us from the snares of falsely fixed desires, and wouldst keep us from the folly of seeking in the world for what it can never give, and wouldst stir us up that we may take hold upon Thee, and laying hold of Thee may find that we have Thee for our very own.

Teach us all that lies in that great Name, and may it ever be present in our hearts and lives, so that we may bring Thee not only the honour due to a Father, but the love which Thou dost wish more.

We bless Thee that Thou hast gathered us together this morning, and that so many mercies have crowned our path since last we met together. Another week of blessing from Thy hand has gone over our heads. We are another week nearer the time of rest. We beseech Thee that we may be conscious of some growth in Thy grace and knowledge, and that we may be aware of some weakening in us of anything that is contrary to Thy will, and may gather together here better prepared and more desirous to receive Thy great gifts of grace and goodness.

O Lord, our gracious and glorious Lord, who dwellest in the light inaccessible, and inhabitest the praises of Eternity, we would worship before Thee with the reverence and godly fear becoming us. Thou art holy, separated from all the limitations of Thy creatures, and far above our thoughts. But we bless Thee that Thou hast come near us, near us in Thy daily gracious providences, near us in the voice in our own hearts, near us best of all in Thy Son. And we thank Thee that, impassable for us as is the gulf between us and Thee, Thou hast bridged it over; and there is for us now a way into the Holiest of all, by which thoughts and love and trust and obedience can pass into Thy presence, and be united to Thee.

We would commend each other to Thee, in all the variety of our condition. Especially we pray that Thou wouldst be near any who may have a hard fight in the world, who may have burdens to carry that they do not expect ever to lose, or ever to be fit to carry in their own strength. Comfort all sad hearts, enlighten all that may need guidance and light. Be near us in all the variety of our circumstances, and mould Thy gifts according to our characters and dispositions. And we pray that by whatever variety of method Thy providence may be working with any of us, may we be able to recognise the unity of purpose in all the various ways which Thou dost take, and may work together with God to make all things contribute to the highest end, even our perfecting.

Comfort all sad hearts, O Lord, we pray Thee. Be near us according to our different difficulties and conflicts. Guide us by Thy counsel, and make us willing to accept Thy guidance. Hear our prayers, make us more prayerful, receive our thanksgiving and deepen our gratitude, answer our petitions, and make us more earnest in asking. We pray Thee to hear us, and to grant us Thy blessing, and help now, for our Lord Christ’s sake.

We bless Thee for all Thy great mercies to us. We draw near to Thee now, laden with benefits. Thou crownest our days with Thy goodness; and we believe, though it is sometimes hard to feel it and be sure of it, that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep His covenant. Help us to keep it. Teach us to accept Thy commandments, to believe Thy promises, to live in the light of Thy Presence, and whether present or absent to labour that we may be well-pleasing to Thee; and then do Thou help us that we may ever be compassed about with Thy favour as with a shield, and may feel that in union with Thee all our need is greatened and purified and glorified.

O Lord our God, from Whom cometh every good and perfect gift, give us, we pray Thee, the consciousness of Thy presence in this hour of worship, and grant that whatever we may each of us most need for our inward life we may find here and now. Draw our hearts to Thyself, we beseech Thee; prepare us for better service; help each of us to pass beyond the outward forms of worship; and to come, in the silence of our minds, into the secret place of the Most High. Flash Thy truth upon all our hearts and minds, help us in hearing and in speaking, bless us each as we severally require, receive our thanks for the individual and private blessings which we each possess, and for the universal gift which we each may have—the unspeakable gift of God in Jesus Christ. Hear us, we pray Thee, and grant us Thy presence and help now, for our Saviour Christ’s sake.

O Lord our God, we pray that we may not be of those who think they see and are blinded by the light. Help us all to fix our faith and our hope on that Son of God, and to be His in very deed and truth, not only in word but in our inmost lives, in the depths of our hearts, in the foundations of our thinking, and in all the energies of our activity. We come to Thee with humble thanksgiving that Thou dost permit us thus to gather ourselves together, and together to receive from Thee, as we trust, some impulses that may help us on our journey. Thou knowest each of us here before Thee, and all our present want; and we pray that every one of us may wish for, and may get from God, the things that we most require. Thou hast often seen our foolish desires; some of them Thou hast granted, and some of them Thou hast withheld. We thank Thee that there are desires which are sure to be granted, and we pray that we may increasingly long for the things which Thou dost long to give, and confine our seeking to those gifts which we shall be sure to find. We thank Thee that there is one region in which Thou canst do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, and will do it. O Lord, help us to wish most for what is best, and to influence desire and hope, as well as faith and trust, and submission, and obedience, that Thou hast Thyself manifested and brought to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

We thank Thee, Lord, for all Thy blessings to us. We praise Thee for daily care and nightly mercies. We beseech Thee that Thou wouldst help us to offer up to Thee not only the words of thanksgiving but the sacrifice of loving, trustful, and obedient hearts, and that our characters may become more like what Thou wouldst have us to be. We have to pray for the forgiveness of many imperfections and sins. We could not lose the consciousness of our own shortcomings. We pray Thee to deliver us from all illusions as to our own strength and our own righteousness. We pray Thee for quickened consciences, enlightened by Thee; and we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst preserve us from ever losing sight of our own deep necessities, or from ever seeing them so mountainous and great as that they obscure Thy greater mercy and Thy more than sufficient supplies. May we ever hold in one grasp our own need and Thy infinite riches, our own sinfulness and Thy free blessing, our own deficiencies and Thy wealth.

When we come to Thee, O Lord, we are overwhelmed with the number of Thy mercies. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; they can only be reckoned up in order by Thee. And yet we pray that we may have a clear perception of, and a more adequate thankfulness for, and a more entire dependence upon, Thy loving heart and Thine innumerable mercies. Draw us, we beseech Thee, to Thyself by thoughts of Thee; and when there rise up in our consciences the sins that are more than the hairs of our heads, and we feel as if we durst not look up, may the thought of Thy greater mercies, more numerous still than these, strengthen and encourage us. What should we do if the measure of Thy forgiveness did not overlap and exist far beyond the measure of any man’s or of all men’s sin? We thank Thee that we can cast ourselves on Thee, and flee to Thee from ourselves; and we beseech Thee that Thy good Spirit, which Thou dost give to them that ask Thee, may indeed dwell in our hearts, and mould us by the power of thankfulness for Thy service. May it be true of us, too, that we delight to do Thy will, and that Thy law is within our hearts. We come to Thee empty-handed, sacrifice and offering Thou dost not require; Thou hast provided it. We come to Thee to receive, not to give; we come as those for whom the great offering has already been presented which makes all ours needless, except as thank-offerings. And we pray Thee to help us to render ourselves to Thee in entire surrender and devotion, as the token of our grateful acceptance of Thy greatest gift.

We pray Thee to help us in our worship, to guide our thoughts when we meditate upon Thy truth, to keep us from wandering away in mind and imagination and fancy into the ordinary affairs of life with all its trivialities and its trials. Help us as we draw near to Thee in worship, and as we open our minds and hearts to the teaching of Thy truth. Grant that our meeting may be full of blessing and of lasting good for every one of us. We would come to Thee with humble thanksgiving for all Thy great mercies to us, and for Him Who is the sun of them all, and in Whom all the sweets of Thy giving lie compacted, even Jesus Christ our Saviour.

We beseech Thee to receive our acknowledgments; we pray that they may become more adequate and more operative in our lives, so that to us all the service shall be an honour, and all that the Lord lays upon us shall be a joy to accept and to do. Forgive our many sins, cleanse our hearts from their manifold evils, deliver us from all our errors, lead us into the full truth. May we live by the truth that we know, and be ever growing in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour. Hear us in our prayer, and in Thy great mercy forgive and accept us, through Christ our Lord.

Be with each of us in our daily lives, guide us by Thy wisest counsel, draw near to us as we wait before Thee, and let our gatherings together be for the better and not for the worse. May we each, coming in Christ’s Name, find Him in the midst. Hear us; in Thy mercy forgive and answer and bless us, for Jesus Christ our Saviour’s sake.

Regard us all now, in the light of our circumstances. Thou knowest these better than we know ourselves, and far better than we know one another. May Thy gracious wisdom guide us, and may we not resist Thy guidance. May they not fail to give us what Thou seest our condition most requires. May we not turn away from Thy gifts, nor squander or misuse them. Keep us from wasting our Lord’s substance, from wasting the substances that Thou dost give us. May we feel that we are stewards as well as possessors; and may we, in all things, seek to praise and glorify Thee. Bless us each according to our diverse requirements. Comfort any that are in sorrow; be near all lonely and sad hearts. Let sorrow and loss be ministers to us of joy and gain. And may any tribulation of any kind, great or small, any difficulty or perplexity, anything disagreeable or unwelcome that comes to us in the way of our duty be useful to, and minister good to, us. And do Thou grant that, amidst all losses and pains, we may hear the great Voice that says to us, ‘Come up hither!’ and may we more and more set our affections on the things above, where Christ is; and with Him so many whom we know and loved, sitting at the right hand of God.

Happy the soul that, loosed from her earthly prison, seeks heaven with unhampered wing; happy the soul that sees Thee face to face, O dearest Lord ; that is touched by no fear of death, but gathers gladness from the incorruptible stores of the glory that cannot fail. Set free from toil and care, she fears no foe now, dreads no death now. She has Thee for her own; Thee, the merciful Lord, whom she long sought and ever loved ; and, associated with the hymning choirs, sings through eternity sweet songs of ceaseless festival to the praise of Thy glory, O Christ, King of glory, O Lord Jesus. For she is inebriated with the plenteousness of Thy house, and Thou givest her to drink of the torrent of Thy pleasures. O happy society of the citizens on high, O happy concourse of all returners to Thee from the weary toil ofthis our pilgrimage to the loveliness of perfect splendour, to the excellency of perfect grace, where Thy lieges, O Lord, behold Thee evermore. There nothing that can distract the mind is given the ear to hear. O, what chants are chanted there! What instruments of music there are there ! What songs, what melodies without end are sung out there ! There sweet-voiced organs sound everto the hymns, and angels’ tenderest melodies, and songs of songs full wonderful, which by the citizens on high are tuned forth to Thy praise and glory. No bitterness, no gall-like harshness, finds place in that Thy realm; for there evil and evil one are not. There is no assailing foe, nor no wantonness of sin there. There is no want there, no uncomeliness, no strife, no insolence, no wrangling, no fear, no uneasiness, no pain, no doubt, no violence, no discord; but peace profound, and perfect love, and jubilation, and eternal praise of God, and unanxious rest for ever, and joy in the Holy Ghost for evermore, O, how blessed shall I be if I hear those Thy people’s jocund melodies, and their sweet hymns pouring forth with due honour praises to the most high Trinity ! Happy, ay, too happy, shall I be, if I, this very self of mine, shall merit to sing to the Lord Jesus one of the dear songs of Sion.

O Lord our God, many are the wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to usward are thoughts of good and not of evil. And we bless Thee for the peaceful confidence we have that there is nothing in Thy heart or mind towards us but a Father’s pitying love. Strong in that confidence which we have learned from our elder Brother, and His unveiling of Thy heart, we draw near to Thee now, and seek that the flame, the immortal flame, of Thy love may kindle in our hearts some answering and kindred glow.

Teach us this evening how to speak Thy word, guide our thoughts, preserve us from saying anything that might be a stumbling-block to any. May the simplicity of motive mark all that we say, and may the word of the Lord shine even through the imperfect medium of the human utterance and vindicate its own divine power and sufficiency, whatever becomes of the vase in which it is carried. We pray for one another; we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst be near us according to our different circumstances and needs. If there are any amongst us who are in sorrow or trouble, any from whom Thou hast taken away earthly treasures, any who have been brought near to the gates of death, any who may be laden with anxiety, or perplexity, or cares, and surely there are many such among us, we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst help us to cast our burdens upon the Lord, Who bears our burdens, and Who gives us strength to bear them, and to live in the possession of that peace that passes understanding, because we have ceased to be anxious about ourselves, and anxiety has been swallowed up in faith.

O Lord, our gracious Father, we come to Thee to pray that Thou wouldst help us to have our loins girded and our lamps burning; and that Thou wouldst strengthen us, with all energy and faithfulness, to labour at Thy command, and to offer all our works to Thee. May we increasingly be able to look beyond the things seen and temporal. May they be transparent to us, and shew us the things unseen and eternal. Help us not to make snares of what Thou dost mean for merciful occasions for growth in Thy likeness to Thee. Help us not to shut Thee out with the screens of our duties or of our blessedness. May we day by day be looking for, and hasting unto, the Lord in the brightness of His coming; and may our lips be all the more full of earnest service, because we know that the night is far spent and the day is at hand.

O Lord, Who dwellest in the light, and hast immortal life, we, out of the darkness and ringed about with death, do lift up our hearts to Thee, and beseech Thee that some beams of the light, and some touches of the life, may be ours. May they grow in us, may we see light more clearly in Thy light day by day, and drink ever deeper draughts from the fountain of life, and the river of Thy pleasures.

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.

O Lord! bless us in our meeting now. We beseech Thee to give us some word to speak; though our own words be feeble let Thy strength come with them. Do Thou help us, and give us wisdom and utterance and earnestness, and may the word of the Lord be magnified among us, and the message of the great love of the Christ Who keeps us from evil find entrance into many hearts. O Lord, bless us each in our several callings and condition; be near any of us who may have any special temptations or difficulties. If any of us are proving the loneliness of life, or its sadness, or its difficulties, and if our way may seem to be barred against us, do Thou help us to patience and courage, to wise effort, to dependence upon Thee. O Lord, do Thou keep us all, and may every one of us from this time forth say unto Thee, ‘My Father! Thou art my Guide.’ These young men and maidens we commend to Thee that they may grow up serving God, His faithful witnesses and soldiers, hating covetousness and all evil, and binding sound wisdom and discretion on their hearts and their foreheads.

Take us, O Lord, we pray Thee now, into Thy gracious care, and what we have failed to ask, or have asked amiss, do Thou give in large abundance, not for our sakes but for Christ’s sake, and for Thy own Name and love’s sake.

We pray that Thou wouldst use our many necessities and wants as open doors through which Thy grace may come into our hearts. We pray that we may keep open the door for the entrance of all Thy gifts. Draw near to us now, and help us always to wait on the Lord so that we shall not want any good. Thine ears are open to the cry of the righteous; make us righteous that our cry may ‘enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.’ Teach us how and what to desire. Help us to subordinate all our wishes for earthly things to the higher aspirations after greater and deeper good. May our lives be in accordance with that prayer; and may we, in all our daily pursuits and amidst all the temptations and distractions that belong to our earthly life, be seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Lord, we feel that our lives would be very different if that prayer were fulfilled, and we know that it is in Thy heart to fulfil it unless we hinder Thee. So we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst mould us, and discipline us so that we may cease to set our affections and minds on things of earth shutting out the things that are above where Christ is. We may not know what we ask, we do not know how Thou mayest be pleased to fulfil the petition; but we ask Thee to help us that we may stand to it, and even if Thou dost answer it by disappointment and by sorrow may believe that they too are working together for our good. Hear us; in Thy mercy forgive, quicken, strengthen and answer us, through Christ Jesus our Lord.

O Lord, we thank Thee that Thou hast, in some measure, drawn back the veil, and shown us the things which are at Thy right hand. And we beseech Thee to help each of us, so long as we tarry here below, that we may press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. May we forget the things that are behind, our failures, our disappointments, our attainments, or only remember them to make us more earnest in seeking that to-morrow may not be as this day, but much more conformed to Thy holy will. Help all of us, we pray Thee, to live as those whose home is beyond the stars, and in the depths of God. And may this our life here below be so used by us as that it shall fit us to be ‘partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’

O most sweet Lord Jesus, by this bitter Torment, Sorrow, Grief, and Anguish, vouchsafe, I beseech thee, to have pity on me, and succour me in all my Sorrows, Sufferances, and Tribulations, and particularly at the hour of my Death. O then, my dearest Lord and my God, vouchsafe to assist and succour me, and do not forsake me, I beseech thee. Amen.

Now, Lord, we beseech Thee to hear us, to take us into Thy holy care and keeping, to forgive all our many sins; and grant us now Thy help, according to our need, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

Take us now into Thy loving care, forgive all our evils, quicken and strengthen in us any little spark of good, and bring it to a flame. Hast Thou not promised that Thou wilt not quench the dimly burning wick? We pray Thee to tend the fire in our hearts, and help us not to quench it. We pray Thee to hear us, and in Thy mercy to accept us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Help us each in our several parts in this service, that hearing we may hear what God the Lord shall speak, and speaking we may preach the preaching that He bids us. Hear, and forgive us, and accept our petitions through Jesus Christ our Saviour.