SCRIPTURE LESSON. HY mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.-Ps. xxxvi: 5-9. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations.-Ps. xxii: 27, 28. All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him, all men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.-Ps. lxxii: 11, 17. PRAYER. ATHER, we have erred, and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices of our own hearts. We have broken Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. Have mercy upon us, and forgive us as we confess our sins, and turn from them. Restore us by penitence according to the promise of Thy love in Jesus Christ. And grant, O Father! that we may live a godly, righteous and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name. Amen. SCRIPTURE LESSON. THEN a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his eneI mies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pleasant words are as an honey-comb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.-Prov. xvi: 7-32. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.-Rom. viii: 21. PRAYER. VER-LIVING Father, who art the light of every mind that seeks Thee, and the life of every heart that loves Thee: deepen within us the assurance of Thy lovingkindness, that we may come unto Thee in the rejoicing of praise; quicken us into a sense of our frailties, that our souls may bow in the humility of prayer. Thy lovingkindness, filling the heaven of heavens with Thy blessing, has overflowed into all the earth. Make us sensible, O our God, that when we turn away from the light, we walk in our own shadow. Let the hand of Thy love be upon us, that we may never be deaf to the voice of Thy calling, nor hardened against Thee. Amen. SCRIPTURE LESSON. LESSED are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be com forted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Bless ed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.-Matt. v: 3–10. PRAYER. FATHER, who didst send Thy word to speak in the prophets and live in Thy son, revive the purity and deepen the power of the testimony of Thy kingdom; and through the din of earthly interests, and the storm of human passions, let it make the still small voice of Thy spirit inly felt. Nearer and nearer may Thy kingdom come from age to age; meeting the face of the young as a rising dawn, and brightening with joy the song of the old. By the cleansing spirit of Thy son make this world a fitting entrance to that sanctuary not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Amen. SCRIPTURE LESSON. HE earth also was corrupt before God; and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth; and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.-Gen. vi: 11-13; vii 23. And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.-Gen. viii: 21, 22. And God said, This is the token of the cov enant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.-Gen. ix: 12-15. : PRAYER. LMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who, of Thy great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who, with hearty repentance and true faith, turn unto Thee; have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. SCRIPTURE LESSON. RET not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envions against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evil doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.-Ps. xxxvii: 1-9. PRAYER. E render thanks to Thee, O our Father, for all the tesI timonies of Thy love. May we feel our dependence upon Thee for all we have and all we enjoy; that we may worship Thee with all our hearts. We pray for Thy blessing to rest upon us. May we ever feel grateful to Thee for all expressions of Thy goodness; and may we show our gratitude by our obedience to Thy will. Help us, we pray Thee, to live according to Thy precepts; that others, seeing our good works, may be led to glorify Thy name, through Jesus Christ. Amen. |