Opening of Worship: Invocations

  1. O Thou, who hast neither dawn nor evening, yet sendest us the alternate mercies of the darkness and the day; as thou liftest the curtain of night from our abodes, take also the veil from all our hearts. Rise with thy morning upon our souls; quicken all our labor and our prayer; and, though all else decline, let the noontide of thy grace and peace remain. May we walk, while it is yet day, in the steps of him who with fewest hours finished thy divinest work. Amen.
  2. From the night our spirit awaketh unto thee, O God, for thy precepts are a light unto us. Teach us thy righteousness, thy commandments, and thy judgments. Enlighten the eye of our mind, that we sleep not in sin unto death. Cause to rise upon us the Sun of Righteousness, and drive away from our hearts all dark and evil imaginings. Guard our life from reproach: guide our steps unto the way of peace. Grant us to behold with joyfulness the dawning of this day, and at eventide to send up unto thee our prayer of thanksgiving. Amen.
  3. O God, who dividest the day from the darkness and turnest the shadow of death into morning, drive from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep thy law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done thy will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when the night cometh, rejoice to give thee thanks. Amen.
  4. O Lord, renew our spirits and draw our hearts unto thyself, that our work may not be to us a burden but a delight; and give us such a mighty love to thee as may sweeten all our obedience. Oh, let us not serve thee with the spirit of bondage as slaves, but with the cheerfulness and gladness of children, delighting ourselves in thee and rejoicing in thy work. Amen.
  5. Almighty God, who hast bidden us seek that we may find, and who pourest out on all who desire it the spirit of grace: deliver us, when we draw nigh to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, that with steadfast hearts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth. Amen.
  6. O Lord our God, who art always more ready to bestow thy good gifts upon us than we are to seek them, and art willing to give more than we desire or deserve: help us so to seek that we may truly find, so to ask that we may joyfully receive, so to knock that the door of thy mercy may be opened unto us. Amen.
  7. O Thou Infinite One, who fillest the universe with thine unsearchable presence, and hast thy dwelling-place in every heart that looks up in love and trust to thee: we come unto thee with our psalm of thanksgiving and our words of prayer, and would commune with thee in this hour of worship, that we may find thee nearer to us in our daily lives, and learn to live as in thy constant presence. May thy spirit rest upon us, and pray with us in our prayer, teaching us the things we should ask, and how to pray to thee as we ought; that we may worship thee, the infinite Spirit, in spirit and in truth. Amen.
  8. O heavenly Father, we have loved thee, but not enough; we have sought thee, but not diligently; we have seen, but not perceived; we have heard, but not understood; we have hoped for things heavenly, but have clung to things of earth, and our hearts have been far from thee, the Holy One. Draw us now in mercy to thyself, O God, that the time to come be not as the past, but that finding, perceiving, understanding and loving thee, we may have rest and joy undisturbed forevermore. Amen.
  9. O God, who hast put a song in our hearts, we give thee thanks for every voice that praises thee, the Author of all things good: for the sunlight which brings life to the world; for everything that grows, and lifts its head towards thy light; for the hopes which, though crushed, rise eternally towards better things; for the deep impulses of the soul which set towards thee. We thank thee that above all the‘ bewilderments of life rises the song of man’s unconquerable faith — his assurance that thou art the Eternal Spirit of Good; that thou hast better things in store for thy sons than they can ask or desire; and that through darkness and through light thou art the abiding Friend of all the sons of men. Put that song in our hearts this day as we gather in thy house. Give us the spirit of praise, and accept the devotion of ourselves to thee and to thy purposes. Amen.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Praise

  1. O God, we thank thee for this universe which is our home; for its grandeur and its beauty, and for the abundance of the life which covers the earth. We praise thee for the over-arching sky and for the driving clouds, for the winds of heaven and for the constellations on high. We praise thee for the salt sea and the running waters, for the everlasting hills and the quiet valleys, for the trees of the wood and the grasses beneath our feet. We thank thee for our senses by which we can see the splendor of morning, and hear the jubilant songs of birds, and enjoy the fragrance of the springtime. Grant us, we pray thee, a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty; and save our souls from being so absorbed in care or so darkened by selfishness that we pass heedless and unseeing, when even the thorn-bush by the wayside is aflame with the glory of God. Amen.
  2. Almighty God, we bless and praise thee that we have wakened to the light of another earthly day; and now we will think of what a day should be. Our days are thine, let them be spent for thee. Our days are few, let them be spent with care. There are dark days behind us, forgive their sinfulness; there may be dark days before us, strengthen us for their trials. We pray thee to shine on this day — the day which we may call our own. Lord, we go to our daily work; help us to take pleasure therein. Show us clearly what our duty is; help us to be faithful in doing it. Let all we do be well done, fit for thine eye to see. Give us strength to do, patience to bear; let our courage never fail. When we cannot love our work, let us think of it as thy task; and, by our true love to thee, make unlovely things shine in the light of thy great love. Amen.
  3. O Thou, Almighty and All-merciful, Giver of every good and perfect gift, we bless thee that day by day thou dost maintain and renew our life. Hither we come with our thanksgiving and our prayers. Receive the confessions which we must needs make each one silently before thee, for wasted moments and bitter words and untrustful thoughts, for evil tempers, meanness and insincerities, and all our daily failures to live our best life in thee. Here help us to rise above our weaknesses and fears; deliver us from shifting purposes and wandering desires; be thou the guide of our minds and the strength of our wills, that in simplicity and steadfastness we may do our daily work and in patience and quietness may meet our daily cares. Amen.

Prayers for Righteousness of Life

  1. O God, from whom all good counsels, all holy desires, and all just works do proceed; we pray thee to enlighten our minds and sanctify our hearts by thy heavenly truths. What we know not, teach thou us; whatever is amiss in us, dispose us to reform; whatever in us is good, assist us to carry forward to perfection, that we may live evermore to thy praise. Amen.
  2. O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; defend us, thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries. Amen.
  3. Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than we deserve; pour upon us the abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us the sin whereof our conscience is afraid, and granting us those good things which we are too ignorant to desire or not worthy to ask. And this we ask for thine infinite mercy’s sake. Amen.
  4. Holy and eternal Spirit, source of life and light, thou art our helper in every need, thou fulfillest all our joy. Be thou this day the present help of all who turn to thee, here and everywhere, whether hurt or ashamed, whether sick or disheartened. And when we are strong, be thou a light beyond our present thoughts and pleasures, to guide us into ways of larger right and nobler blessedness. Amen.
  5. O God, the Protector of all who hope in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, multiply thy mercy upon us, that, thou being our governor and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal. Amen.
  6. Grant us, O Lord, to pass this day in gladness and peace, without stumbling and without stain; that, reaching the eventide victorious over all temptation, we may praise thee, the eternal God, who art blessed, and dost govern all things, world without end. Amen.
  7. O God, who hast in mercy taught us how good it is to follow the holy desires which thou manifoldly puttest into our hearts, and how bitter is the grief of falling short of whatever beauty our minds behold, strengthen us, we beseech thee, to walk steadfastly through life in the better path which our hearts once chose; and give us wisdom to tread it prudently in thy fear, as well as cheerfully in thy love; so that, having been faithful to thee all the days of our life, we may be able hopefully to resign ourselves into thy hands. Amen.
  8. O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of men, grant unto thy people that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found. Amen.
  9. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whom we live and move and have our being, who hast created us for thyself, so that our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee, grant unto us purity of heart and strength of purpose so that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing thy will, and no weakness from doing it. In thy light may we see life clearly, and in thy service find perfect freedom. For thy mercy’s sake. Amen.
  10. O God, who puttest into our hearts such deep desires that we cannot be at peace until we rest in thee: mercifully grant that the longing of our souls may not go unsatisfied because of any unrighteousness of life that may separate us from thee. Open our minds to the counsels of eternal wisdom; breathe into our souls the peace which passeth understanding. Let our hunger and thirst be for righteousness, that we may be filled with the bread of heaven. O Lord, give us grace to seek first thy kingdom; and we know that thou wilt add unto us all things needful. Amen.
  11. Grant that we here before thee may be set free from the fear of vicissitude and the fear of death, may finish what remains before us of our course without dishonor to ourselves or hurt to others, and, when the day comes, may die in peace. Deliver us from fear and favor: from mean hopes and cheap pleasures. Have mercy on each in his deficiency; let him be not cast down; support the stumbling on the way, and give at last rest to the weary. Amen.
  12. O Thou who dost deliver us from ourselves, purge us today from all that is of the beast within us, drive from us all the leering and plausible devils of sin, those devils which have been born within us of the sore struggle upward of our race, and which in the past by our own grievous fault we have pampered and encouraged.
    Deliver us from all low use of this matchless tool — this body which thou has given us: this body of our death, which is yet thy temple, O Living God: this body which by a million years of agony has been bought for us and built for us: this body wherein dwell grovelling relics of that animal past whereby it was created and fashioned: this body wherein dwell also, confident and glorious, the shining heralds of that ineffable future when God and man shall be one.
    Give us conquest, O God, this day, over all the sins of the flesh, that thou mayest find free expression of thy divine being in these thy marred and crumbling habitations, which shall become the chosen palaces of thine indwelling. Amen.
  13. Almighty and most merciful God, toward whose everlasting blessedness we ascend by the strong desire of the soul and by patient continuance in well-doing; lead us by thine inspiration to seek our true life with thee, and earnestly to strive to enter thy heavenly kingdom. Set us free from the bondage of ill-will, selfish passion, and ungodly desire, that sin may not have dominion over us, but that with a willing mind we may serve thee, the Lord of heaven and earth. Deliver us from unrighteous anger and an impatient temper; from uncharitable judgment and readiness to believe evil; from inordinate cares and needless anxieties; from complaints against thee and from rebellion against thy holy will. Give us a wise and understanding heart; a fervent and faithful spirit; a love of holy things, and a longing for whatsoever is good and pure. Protect and bless our friends and kindred, and so fill us with gentleness and kindness, that we may dwell in our homes with a perfect heart, and have joy in one another that passeth not away. Amen.

Prayers for Inward Peace

  1. Grant us grace to rest from sinful deeds and thoughts, to surrender ourselves wholly unto thee, and to keep our souls still before thee like a still lake, so that the beams of thy grace may be mirrored therein, and may kindle in our hearts the glow of faith, and love, and prayer. May we, through such stillness and hope, find strength and gladness in thee, O God, now and forevermore. Amen.
  2. O God, who art the source of all true peace and joy, grant us so perfectly to do thy will that we may find both that inward peace which the world can neither give nor take away, and that pure joy which shall make radiant all our duty and our toil. Amen.
  3. O Thou, from whose unfathomable deep cometh the peace which passeth understanding, enable us so confidently to trust thee that with a quiet heart and untroubled mind we may face the storms and tribulations of this life. Make us to know that the stormy wind, though it buffet us, is yet fulfilling thy purpose, and that though we blindly grope in thick darkness, yet the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Give us so complete a mastery over our own souls that no event in life shall terrify us, nor any clouds utterly shut out the light of thy love. In that self-possession, which comes from thee alone, may we find confidence and our rest. Amen.
  4. O Thou from whom to be turned away is to fall, to whom to be turned is to rise, and in whom to abide is to stand fast forever; grant us in all our duties thy help; in all our perplexities thy guidance; in all our dangers thy protection; and in all our sorrows thy peace. Amen.

Work and Duty

  1. The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to play the man; help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces; let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonored, and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. Amen.
  2. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who declarest thy glory and showest forth thy handiwork in the heavens and in the earth; deliver us, we beseech thee, in our several callings, from the service of mammon, that we may do the work which thou givest us to do, in truth, in beauty, and in righteousness, with singleness of heart as thy servants, and to the benefit of our fellow men; for the sake of him who came among us as one that serveth. Amen.
  3. We invoke thy grace and wisdom, O Lord, upon all men of good will who employ and control the labor of men. When they are tempted to follow the ruthless ways of others, and to sacrifice human health and life for profit, do thou strengthen their will in the hour of need, and bring to naught the counsel of the heartless. May they not sin against the Christ by using the bodies and souls of men as mere tools to make things, forgetting the human hearts and longings of these their brothers. Raise up among us employers who shall be makers of men as well as of goods. Give us men of faith who will see beyond the strife of the present and catch a vision of a nobler organization of our work, when all will still follow the leadership of the ablest, not in fear but by the glad will of all, and when none shall be master and none shall be man but all shall stand side by side in a strong and righteous brotherhood of work. Amen.

Prayers for the Beginning or End of the Year

  1. O Thou eternal and infinite One, there are no seasons unto thee. But unto us thou hast appointed a set time upon the earth, and the shadow on our dial lengthens out. Our hours of faithful duty follow us from the past and do not perish; our wasted hours we cannot gather and they are gone forever. Stir thou within us an effectual repentance, that we may redeem the time we have lost, and in the hours that still remain may do the work of many days. Make us to hear thy urgent word, “Fulfill thou thy work ere the sun goeth down”! Hasten us even with thy chastisements, great Giver of the task. O righteous God, it is a solemn thing to live by day and night beneath thy constant eye, and move onwards to thy mysterious eternity. May we be steadfast through all faintness of soul, and rest not by the roadside while thine errand waits, nor be bewildered and held back by pleasures of the world. Daily may we crucify our selfishness, and delight to bear our brother’s burden and uphold each other’s faith and charity; being tender-hearted and forgiving as we hope to be forgiven. Soon shall we be spent and gathered unto thee; let all disquiet and contention cease, and our minds be wholly turned to finish the work thou hast given us to do. O Watcher of our days and nights, we would commit them all to thee. Amen.
  2. O Thou whose faithfulness endureth to all generations; in whose sight a thousand years are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night; and who hast called us out of the silence that we may live in thee; — we come to thee for the aid without which we are sure to fail. Amid all the changes of the years we would lay hold on thee in unfailing trust, and in communion with thee would find help and comfort and direction for all the days of our lives. Bless, we pray thee, the worship of this hour, for the upbuilding of our souls to thine honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
  3. Almighty God, the unfailing. source of light and mercy, who has brought us to the beginning* of this year; prepare us in thy lovingkindness for the coming days. In thy grace enlighten our darkness and strengthen our weakness. Deepen within our hearts the love of truth and goodness. Inspire us with new purposes and new hopes. Enable us to use the wondrous opportunities of these earthly years, and to discern the sacred purpose for which they are given. Whatever light may shine or shadow fall, keep us faithful to the high resolves of this hour and preserve us in the fellowship of those who trust and serve thee forever. Amen.
    * For the last Sunday of the year the phrase “end of this year” may be substituted.

Prayers for Family; Parents and Children; Children’s Sunday

  1. Almighty Father of all, who dost set the children of men in families, enable us, we pray thee, so to guide the children committed to our care that they may love the ways of truth and of righteousness, of peace and of goodwill. Fulfill in them our divinest dreams, and through them carry forward the coming of thy kingdom upon earth. Amen.
  2. O God, our Father, from thy hand has come every blessing which gives us joy and comfort. Thou dost speak to us through the love of our mothers, through the guiding care of our fathers. Help us to worship thee as the all-holy love who dost inspire every pure affection; as the infinite wisdom who art the revealer of all truth; as the almighty power who dost uphold us in life. As we grow day by day in stature help us to grow in grace, that we may gladly serve thee and our fellowmen in righteousness and love. Amen.
  3. We bless thee, O Lord, for the men and women who interpret life to the coming generation; who labor, seeking to make the road safer for the children; who suffer, seeking to make the world gladder. Bless all the fatherhood of our land, we beseech thee, and preserve for us the sweetness of our motherhood; and keep for us the childhood of our country that it may enter into the rich heritage which has been bought with travail and sorrow. Grant, O Lord God, that each of us may pass something on to the unknown future to make the world a little better and cleaner and purer. Amen.
  4. Most Gracious God, we beseech thee for all who are near and dear to us; for little children, that they may be kept in their innocence; for aged folk, that they may have clear shining at eventide; for men busy with the affairs of life, and women burdened with household cares, that the peace of God may fill their hearts and minds; and for dear friends who are far away, that thou wouldst have them in thy safe keeping and spare us to meet again in thy peace and joy. Amen.

Prayers for the Church Universal

  1. Almighty and ever living God, who hast taught us to make prayers and supplications and to give thanks for all men, we pray that thou wouldst inspire the universal church with the spirit of truth, unity and concord; that all they who do confess the name of Christ may live in peace and in godly love. Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all ministers of the gospel, that they may, both by their life and doctrine, set forth thy true and living word. And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace, especially to this congregation here present; that with meek heart and due reverence they may serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.
    Comfort and succor in thine infinite goodness, all those who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity. And we also bless thy holy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; praying thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom. Grant this, O Father, for thine infinite mercy’s sake. Amen.
  2. Eternal and ever-blessed God, who hast made us the heirs of many ages and set us in the midst of many brethren; deepen our gratitude for thy blessings as we have received them from our fathers, our benefactors, and our friends. May we never forget the kindness that surrounds us in the present, nor be careless of the treasures we inherit from the past; but having a- lively sense of our debt to the brethren, and a loving remembrance of departed generations, may we reverently carry forward the work of the ages. We thank thee for the fellowship of the living; for partners in duty; for comrades in the good fight; for all who feel with our joys and our sorrows; and especially for those by whom we are beloved and whom we love. We also bless thy name for the labors of the men of old; for the succession of prophets, apostles, and martyrs, continued even to this day; for leaders and commanders of the people, who have made themselves great by becoming the servants of all; and for the nameless multitude of the loyal and devoted, who have fallen asleep in their generations, leaving their memorial with thee. Make us of one heart with all these thy worshippers; of one purpose with all these thy servants; of one communion with all these thy saints; and of one will with thine. Amen.
  3. O God, our heavenly Father, thou settest the solitary in families, and of thy tender mercy dost ordain that thy children shall be united, not only by the dear bonds of home and kindred, but also by the close and sacred ties of spiritual fellowship. Grant us grace to enter more deeply into the joy of that communion with each other and with thee which shall enrich our life on earth, and fit us for the higher life of heaven. May we truly feel that we are companions of all them that love thee, and of them that keep thy commandments. May we cling in reverent affection to the friends of our spirits, the wise and saintly who have helped us on our upward way. In gratitude and loyalty to them, may we share with others such measure as we have received of the steadfast faith, the tender love, the unconquerable hope by which their lives have been exalted and ennobled. Grant, we pray thee, gracious Lord, that thus we may grow more worthy to enter the goodly fellowship of thy faithful servants, to whom thou hast given the blessed consciousness that thou dost rejoice to call them thy children, and art in very truth their loving Father. Amen.

Prayers for a School

  1. O Thou Eternal Wisdom, who dost inspire the understanding heart, the searching’mind, and the skilful hand, we give thee thanks for the great treasury of human knowledge which thou hast opened to us. Here we have entered into the heritage which the wise and upright have transmitted to our generation. Here we have found happy fellowship and wise guidance in the discipline of life. Grant us to go forth into the world with souls steadfast for the right, eager to know thy law and to do thy will. Uphold us in all high endeavor, and keep warm and bright in our hearts the light of truth and the love of our fellow-men kindled in the school of our youth, that all our days we may look back upon it with joy and gratitude. Amen.
  2. Grant, O Lord, to all teachers and students to know that which is worth knowing, to love that which is worth loving, to praise that which pleaseth thee most, and to dislike whatsoever is evil in thine eyes. Grant us with true judgment to distinguish things that differ, and above all to search out and do what is well-pleasing unto thee. Amen.

At a Music Festival

  1. O Thou, before whom the morning stars sang together, and who hast given us hearts to love thee and lips to speak thy name, grant us to sing with joy the songs of faith and hope and goodwill. And we would praise thee not with our lips only but with our whole lives. Teach us so to live that our thoughts may be wise and brave, that our speech may be considerate and gracious, that our actions may be generous and sincere. Make thy light to shine from our faces, thy love to glow within our hearts. So may we praise thee in the beauty of holiness, and go singing on our way all the days of our lives because we rejoice in the life which thou hast given us and in the splendor of thy universe which is our home. For thou art our Father, and we are the children of thy love, and naught can separate from thee the souls which thou hast made and which thou dost sustain forevermore. Amen.

Prayers for Evening

  1. O Thou who hast ordained that when the restless clay is over there should come the quiet night; grant now thy rest unto all thy servants. Comfort and support all who must spend the hours of night in wakefulness through pain or grief or care, and all who must watch while others sleep. And when the night is ended, and the light of day returns, may we who now have joined in thy praise rise up with cheerful strength and gladness, to serve thee in all good works. Amen.
  2. O God, the Father of our spirits; abide with us at eventide and grant unto us, thy children, the assurance of thy presence. May no unhallowed thoughts or cares disturb the quiet of this evening hour. Deliver us from all the vain things which have such power over us. Open our minds to the wisdom that cometh from above; give to our hearts fresh courage and hope. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us; may we be still and know that thou art God. Amen.
  3. Almighty Father and keeper of our souls, who alone makest us to dwell in safety; refresh with quiet sleep this night those who are wearied with the labors of the day; and mercifully protect from harm all who put their trust in thee, that, lying down in peace to take our rest, we may fear no evil, but confidently give ourselves unto thy holy keeping. Amen.
  4. Lord of the night as of the day, when evening-comes be thou our refuge from the distractions and clamor of the world, and from the anxieties of our perturbed spirits. In quietness may we hear thy still, small voice bidding us turn our thoughts to unseen things. Speak to our listening hearts the word of life, and let thy word abide with us until it has wrought thy holy will. Let not the darkness of our ignorance, our folly and our sin shut out the light of eternal truth and love. As we lie down to take our rest do thou, through the silent hours, quicken and refresh our spirits, that with renewed strength and courage we may awaken on the morrow, to fulfill each high purpose and holy desire with which thou dost inspire us. Amen.
  5. Father of Light, Sun of the soul, when the shadows of twilight fall and darkness ends the day, our thoughts turn to thee who dwellest where night never comes. If we have lost our way in doubt, so that we despair of thee, may the light that lighteth every man shine the clearer within us now, and in thy light may we see light. If we have turned aside to try the ways of darkness and death, yet leave us not, but lead us back by thy kindly light, till in thy flame our sins are consumed and in the light of thy countenance we rest in peace. As stars come out when the sun goes down and voices are heard in the silence, which were drowned in the noise of the day, so let us be silent now and rest in the joy of thy continual presence. Amen.
  6. We beseech thee, Lord, to behold us with favor, folk of many families and nations, gathered together in the peace of this roof, weak men and women subsisting under the covert of thy patience. Be patient still; suffer us yet a while longer with our broken purposes of good, with our idle endeavors against evil; suffer us a while longer to endure, and, if it may be, help us to do better. Bless to us our ordinary and our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with our friends; be with our selves. Go with each of us to rest; if any awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns, return to us, our Sun and Comforter, and call us up with morning faces and with morning hearts, eager to labor, eager to be happy if happiness shall be our portion, and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to endure it. Amen.
  7. O God, the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift; help us so to live in thy peace that even the night shall be light about us. O Thou who dost neither slumber nor sleep, and who givest thine angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways, send out thy light and thy truth, till all men shall see thy glory and the whole earth be full of the knowledge of God. Amen.
  8. Abide with us, O searching and chastening Spirit of the living God, for it is evening and the day is far spent. Let the shadow of thy presence shelter us from the haste and fret of the day, and the sense of thy tranquillizing guidance give us peace and rest. From all the blunders and follies of the day; from its wandering desires and its unjust judgments; from any sense of grievance or any word of blame which has blotted the fair hours, good Lord, deliver us. May the perplexing problems and petty cares of the day relax their grasp, and the meaning of life shine through the gathering dusk like the watching stars. Lift our minds to the vision of the permanent; rescue our wills from the illusions of the day’s gain or loss; that the pressure of routine may not crush the life of the spirit, or the gain of the world become the loss of the soul. May we rest tonight in the protecting shadow of thy love, and wake with new courage and hope to fulfil the duties of another day. Amen.
  9. Disposer of life, who appointest unto all their tasks, and measurest out their days of service, behold, our time is short and our work is great. Give us the soul of industry and a heavenly spirit of alacrity, that, when the shadows of evening close, we may be able to say, “It is finished.” As thou workest hitherto, with sleepless mercy, for us, so may we work with thee; and morning and evening find us ready for thy perfect will. May our souls be as one that fulfilleth the night watches; — awake with a constant awe, and strong with a divine courage; communing with thee in our silent walks of duty, and looking for the light of thine everlasting morning. Amen.

Close of Worship

  1. Almighty God, grant that the words which we have heard this day with our outward ears, may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to the honor and praise of thy name. Amen.
  2. Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy gracious favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy name. Amen.
  3. Almighty God, our portion and our hope, who turnest not away the soul that seeks thee; mercifully hear us in all our prayers and supplications; and grant that those things which we have asked faithfully, according to thy will, we may receive gratefully to the renewing of our hearts, the setting forth of thy grace, and the furtherance of the work thou hast given us to do. Amen.
  4. Make our hearts thy dwelling-place, O Lord, that we may go forth with the light of hope in our eyes and the fire of inspiration in our lives; that, thy word on our tongues and thy love in our hearts, we may do thy will this day and evermore. Amen.
  5. Grant, O Lord, that the ears which have heard the voice of thy songs may be closed to the voice of clamor and dispute; that the eyes which have seen’thy great love may also behold thy blessed hope; that the tongues which have sung thy praise may speak the truth; that the feet which have walked in thy courts may walk in the region of light; and that the souls of all who here receive thy blessed Spirit may be restored to newness of life. Glory be to thee for thine unspeakable gift. Amen.