Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

felicity, which Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour is gone to prepare for all those who love Thee, and strive to approve themselves before Thee. O give strength and confirmation, I beseech Thee, to the solemn purposes I form to devote myself wholly unreservedly and cheerfully to thy most holy will.

Bring all mankind, O God! to know and consider themselves as children of the same common Father, to regard and esteem each other as brethren, and to be studious to promote peace, mutual improvement, and happiness. Grant that my relations and friends may be guided, directed, and governed by a prevailing desire to promote the honour of thy name. By a wise and becoming improvement of thy mercy and favour in this world, may they be daily ripening in their preparations for a happy and glorious eternity.

Most sincerely would I also intercede in behalf of those who, for whatever cause, have conceived any displeasure against me. If I have acted unjustly or unkindly towards them, I ask forgiveness for myself upon the terms of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and if they indulge a spirit of illwill against me without cause, I solicit mercy for them.

Now unto thee who art the Lord God omnipotent, the God of my life and the lengthener of my days, the rock of my confidence and the foundation of my hopes, -the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation-I would, with all possible soJemnity and devotion, ascribe, as being most justly due, all honour and glory, praise and blessing, thanksgiving and adoration, for ever.-Amen.

C.

FOURTH ADDRESS

THE heavens are full of thy glory and majesty O Lord God Almighty! great and wonderful are thy works,-just and true are all thy ways.--Thou alone art holy !-Thou art the only wise God, and thou doest good continually.

Accept and bless me, most gracious Father, in the offering of prayer and praise which I would now present unto Thee. Enable me to pray unto Thee in such manner that my prayer may ascend up to Thee with acceptance, and this my humble tribute find favour in thy sight. Thou gavest me life, and endowest me with understanding. By thy paternal care all my wants are supplied, and in Thee I continually live and move and have my being.

I rejoice that all events are under thy guidance, and conducted by thy fatherly providence, that nothing can befal any of thy creatures without thy knowledge and permission; and that Thou wilt cause all things to work together for the good of those who love and serve Thee. Thou art

slow to anger and plentious in mercy, even to thy disobedient children; and Thou wilt abundantly pardon all those who forsake their iniquities and turn from the error of their ways.

I praise and give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, for all the aid and encouragement Thou hast granted to mankind by Jesus Christ, for the attainment of thy favour and everlasting salvation. I would rejoice in thy universal government, and confess my great and numerous obligations to Thee; yea, with my whole heart I desire to be truly thankful for all the riches of thy grace, and all the bounties of thy providence, which thou hast bestowed upon me from the time I began to breathe the breath of life, to the present moment.

I lament and beseech Thee to forgive my unworthiness, and pray that I may act a wiser and better part for the time to come: May I live under an habitual sense of my dependence upon Thee my God, and always maintain such grateful love and reverence towards Thee, as shall engage me to obey thy will in all things, and to delight myself in a growing acquaintance with my duty, and a more faithful and cheerful practice of

it in all its branches. May I be daily improving in fervent piety towards Thee, my heavenly father, and in a cordial and extensive benevolence towards all my fellow-creatures. May I continually endeavour to prove myself the genuine disciple of Jesus Christ, by loving and doing good, as I have opportunity, to all around me; always keeping in mind the assurance which he gave to those who believed in him, that all men should know them to be his disciples by the love they cherished one towards another.

Give me grace, O thou great searcher of hearts, who requirest truth and sincerity in the secret recesses of the soul,-to be pure in heart to walk circumspectly-and to maintain my integrity through the whole of

my future life. Enable and dispose me to correct every evil habit and irregular propensity -to cleanse myself from all impurity both of flesh and spirit; and to advance and improve more and more in knowledge and virtue-in truth and holiness-in piety and entire devotedness to thy service.

But, O Thou father of the universe! I would not confine my prayers to myself, but most humbly beseech Thee to extend thy favour even to the remotest part of the

« AnteriorContinuar »