FAMILY PRAYERS.*

Sabbath Qoyning.

O GOD, our Father in heaven, we come before Thee in the name of Jess, to offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, and we approach Thee with reverence and holy fear; hut Thou art also our Father in Christ Jesus, and we would come with filial confidence and love.

We thank Thee for the healthful repose of the night, and for the light of this day of the Son of Man. This is the day which Thou hast made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. We thank Thee for this day, so rich with the memories of Thy love, so joyful with the light and hopes of the resurrection and of the life immortal. Oh, may Thy love beam upon us with the freshness and inspiration of the morning light! Grant us grace, to consecrate this day to Thy special service and glory, and to our personal sanctification. May we be freed from all the cares and anxieties of the world. May our aspirations be heavenward, and our hearts be opened to all the sacred suggestions and influences of this day. May they be sweetly drawn by Thy Spirit into heavenly communion, and rise to meet Thy fatherly benediction.

O Lord, grant us grace to unite with the great congregation in acceptable worship, so that we may see Thy glory in the sanctuary this day. May Thy ministers be clothed with salvation, and the people shout for joy. May the

word be preached in the demonstration of the Spirit and with power. May the gospel be so preached, in simplicity, and affectionate earnestness, that Jesus may draw all hearts to himself; that, as of old, the blind, and lame, and halt may come to Jesus in the temple, and be healed: that the ignorant may be enlightened, the wandering reclaimed, the weak established, the mourner comforted, and the weary and heavy-laden may find rest in Jesus.

Father of mercies, remember in compassion those who are this day kept in homes of sickness and sorrow. May private affliction subserve the designs of public instructions, and Thine own presence and spirit make the chamber of sickness, and the home of sorrow, the house of God and the gate of heaven.

Have mercy, O Lord, upon a world that lieth in wickedness. Send out Thy light and truth, that all nations, whom Thou hast made, may come and worship before Thee, and glorify Thy name. We thank Thee for all the agencies and instrumentalities at work for the salvation of this lost world. We bless Thee for the ministers, who are preaching the gospel at home and abroad. May their number be increased a thousand-fold. May the pious young men of our land be moved by Thy Spirit, and the love of Jesus, to consecrate themselves to the Christlike work of preaching the gospel. Oh, grant this prayer, and multiply the heralds of the cross, and extend the boundaries of Christendom, until the light of this holy day shall fall on every nation, and the name of Jesus shall be heard to earth's remotest bound.

And now, O Lord, what wait we for but Thy blessing? God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that parents and children, and all the members of this household, may be united in love, and dwell together in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace. May we all this day receive a Father's blessing, and enjoy such a sweet sense of Thy forgiving love, such a conscious peace, such joyous hopes through Jesus Christ, as shall give us a foretaste and an earnest of heaven, and enable us to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Hear us, O Thou eternal Son, to whom, with Thee the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.