Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, Thine unworthy servants, do give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for all Thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men. We praise Thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for Thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. And we beseech Thee give us that due sense of all Thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we may show forth Thy praise, not only with our lips but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to Thy service and by walking before Thee in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.

Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication unto Thee, and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in Thy name, Thou wilt grant their requests; fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants, as may be most expedient for them, granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen. 10. THE BENEDICTION.

THIRD FORM.

Almighty and most merciful God, our heavenly Father. Look down with an eye of compassion and favor upon us, as we present ourselves at this time before the throne of thy grace. Thou art a great God, and a great King, worthy to be feared and had in reverence of all created intelligences. To Thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein. Let a sense of Thy presence, and of the awful majesty of Thy glory, possess our spirits, we humbly entreat Thee, when we attempt thus to engage in Thy solemn worship. Save us from the condemnation and misery of those who draw with their bodies only, and not with their hearts.

near to Thee Turn us not

over upon the resources of our own fallen nature; but let Thy grace be sufficient for us, and cause Thy strength to become perfect in our weakness. May we have power to draw nigh to Thee with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith; that it may please Thee at the same time to draw nigh to us, and to fill us with the consolations of Thy heavenly grace, through the infinite merits of Thy Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

name.

We acknowledge ourselves, O God of infinite purity and truth, unworthy altogether of the high privilege we enjoy, in being permitted to tread Thy courts and to call upon Thy We have sinned against Thee; and have broken Thy law in innumerable instances, which is holy, just and good, doing what we ought not to have done and leaving undone that which it was our duty to do. We have erred and strayed from Thy way like lost sheep. We have come short in all respects of Thy glory, and in us naturally there is no soundness nor health. Enter not into judgment with us, O Lord; for in Thy sight no flesh living shall be justified. But look upon us mercifully in Christ, in whom Thou hast declared thyself to be ever well pleased, and who is the propitiation for our sins, as also for the sins of the whole world. We come before Thee in His name, bewailing and lamenting our deep unworthiness and guilt, renouncing and forsaking all confidence in ourselves, and pleading in our behalf His perfect and all-sufficient righteousness alone. For the sake of His holy life, His precious death and burial, His glorious resurrection and ascension, have mercy upon us, O God the Father of heaven, have mercy upon us miserable sinners. Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Son of God, Redeemer of the world have mercy upon us, and grant us Thy peace. Amen.

Out of the depths have we cried unto Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear our voice; let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of our supplications. If Thou, Lord shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. We wait for the Lord, our soul doth

wait, and in his word do we hope. Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Amen.

O God of our salvation, who hast so loved the world as to send into it Thine only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, vouchsafe unto us the aid of Thy holy Spirit, that we may be firmly and constantly assured of this mystery of grace, and cleaving to it always with true faith in our hearts may be enabled to cleanse ourselves more and more from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God, following those who through faith and patience already inherit the promises. Grant unto us, we beseech Thee, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, set free from the power of sin and hell through the glorious and most perfect merit of Christ, may serve Thee without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Thee, all the days of our life. Let the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel accomplish in us their proper power, that by them we may become more and more partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and may so abound in the graces of the Spirit that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, may we press always toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So order in regard to us the course of Thy providence, that whether in the form of prosperity, or in that of adversity and trial, it may redound continually to Thy praise through our continual growth in righteousness and grace. Help us rightly to understand, and wisely to improve, the lessons of heavenly wisdom which are set before us every day in the divine administration of this present world. But especially enable us, through the aid of Thy Spirit, so to use the means of salvation we enjoy by the Church, that we may be delivered more and more from the power of all our sins, and that we may grow in grace

and be strengthened with all might in the inner man unto every good word and work. Sanctify us by Thy truth. Let Thy holy sacraments be in us a perpetual well-spring of grace, springing up into everlasting life. Make us equal to all duties and trials. Give us power to be diligent and faithful in our appointed spheres of work, that we may have consciences void of offence in Thy sight as well as towards our fellow-men. Help us to overcome the world. Subdue Satan under our feet. Hold Thou us up in our goings, and lead us by Thy hand in the way in which we ought to walk, that we come not short of Thy glory at the last, and that no man take from us our crown. And finally, when we shall thus have endured to the end, through the power of Thy victorious grace, grant, O most merciful Father, that we may die in peace, and that so an entrance may be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

O God, the fountain of all truth and grace, regard in mercy, we beseech Thee, Thine own cause and kingdom in the world. Cause Thy face to shine upon Thy holy catholic Church in all lands, that she may become more and more the joy and praise, the peace and salvation of the whole earth. Clothe her ministers with righteousness and truth. Bring to an end the disorders and divisions, the deplorable heresies and schisms, which now mar her communion. Restore, O Lord, the captivity of Jacob. Let Zion arise and shine, that the Gentiles may come to her light and kings to the brightness of her rising. So reign Thou in the midst of all changes and revolutions which are going forward in the world, that they may serve continually to establish and extend the kingdom of Thy Son. Let no weapon prosper, that is formed against the Church. Defeat the counsels of the ungodly. Encourage the hearts, and strengthen the hands of Thy faithful people in every place. Crown with success all efforts made for the dissemination of truth and righteousness. Be merciful unto Thine own cause, O God of our salvation, and cause Thy face to shine upon it; that Thy way may be known upon the earth, and Thy saving

health among all nations. All this we beg, for the sake of Thy Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, who doest according to Thy will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant, the President of the United States, and all others who are set over us in the exercise of civil authority and power. Inspire our rulers with wisdom. Direct and control our public counsels, that we may be defended from wickedness which is a reproach to any people, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, and that we may be exalted and established by truth and righteousness among the nations of the earth. Lift up the standard of Thy Spirit, within our borders, against all ungodliness and sin, and shed down upon us the healthful influences of Thy grace, that pure and undefiled religion, as it is before God and the Father, may everywhere more and more abound and prevail. Prosper our colleges, seminaries, and schools. Make them fountains, from which shall go forth pure streams continually to fertilize and bless the land. Continue towards us the common blessings of Thy providence, the dews and showers of heaven, the fruits of the earth in their season, with general outward tranquillity, health and peace. Save us from plague, pestilence and famine, and from the terrible scourge of war. Uphold and perpetuate our political state. Preserve it mercifully from all sources of danger to which it may be exposed, either from within or from abroad. Set us apart and sanctify us as a people, O Lord, for Thine own praise and for the service of Thy glorious Gospel throughout the world. Amen.

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of our mercies and the God of all comfort, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift, we humbly beseech Thee for all sorts and conditions of men, that it may please Thee to be nigh unto them always with Thy divine help, according to their various