FRIDAY EVENING.
O LORD Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that all finite perfection is but the shadow of which Thou art the substance; even the world and its pursuits may awaken within the soul feelings of devotion and love. Even the busy scenes of man's labour may be made subservient to lessons of pure and practical charity. We pray Thee make us thankful for the activity which we see everywhere prevailing, for the various fields of use which Thy numerous children are occupied in; for the labour of charity and love which crowns the earnest desires of those who, learning of Thee, and striving everywhere to diffuse their good, do but exhibit traces of that expansive benevolence, which dwells and burns with such unextingnishable potency in Thy divine mind.
O Lord, Thou hast likened Thy kingdom to a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. We thank Thee for thus placing before us the diversified operations of charity, which we are exhorted also to make known unto all men. O give us to see that we most resemble Thee when we are engaged in doing good. That, as Thy love knows no limit, so does our love most resemble Thine when its universality extends to all the creatures Thou hast made, to all Thy children that dwell upon the face of the earth. Prosper, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the labours of our hands, as we engage in them with singleness of purpose. Prosper the merchants that trade to foreign parts; prosper the artisan that labours at home; prosper the tencher that sows the seeds of truth in the young mind; prosper all Thy creatures who do their duty faithfully; and to Thee be all the glory. Amen.
Our Father, etc.
SATURDAY MORNING.
O LORD Jesus Christ, who givest liberally to all men, help us, we beseech Thee, more fervently to love Thee, more faithfully to serve Thee, more dutifully to obey whatsoever Thou enjoinest. All the works of Thy hand bear the impress of perfection; and in the smallest thing Thou hast created, there is a use and a beauty which our shortsightedness alone prevents us from at once perceiving.
By obedience to Thy gracious injunctions, we humbly hope to have a more interior knowledge of the works of Thy hands; help us therefore, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to acquire this obedience, that every duty which devolves upon us may be willingly and cheerfully performed, and that all our engagements may be sanctified to Thy glory.
O let Thy gracious presence go with us this day. Assist us to keep Thee ever before us. May no one duty in which we engage be performed without our remembrance that the power and ability to perform it belongs to and is derived from Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and intelligence. O hold Thou us up and we shall be safe; direct us in all our paths; sustain us in all our progress. Help us to acquire meek and forbearing spirits. May gentleness, meekness, and love be our attendant virtues. May we overcome the assaults of our spiritual enemies, by the pure force of goodness; and keeping in remembrance our own numerous imperfections, may we be forgiving one to another, even as Thou for Thine own name sake forgivest us. Amen.
Our Father, etc.
