WHEN he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for

they know his voice.

JOHN X. 4.

WHAT though the path be up-hill, bare and lone,
Drear to the eye, and rough to weary feet?

What though it wind o'er heights, through depths unknown,

Where shadows gather, and where storm-waves beat? Our shepherd leads the way,

As well by night as day,

And when he leads, we cannot go astray.

W. M. L. JAY.

HEAVENLY FATHER, guide us by thy divine grace into the path of thy holy will, that we may be accounted worthy to hear thy voice, and to follow thee, the only mighty and true shepherd, and to obtain the place prepared in thy heavenly kingdom: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

WILL strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord. ZECH. X. 12.

STRONG Son of God, immortal love,
Whom we that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone embrace,
Believing, where we cannot prove!

Thou seemest human and divine,

The highest, holiest manhood thou:
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.

TENNYSON.

GOD, who bestowest thy mercy at all times on then that love thee, and in no place art distant from those that serve thee; direct the way of us thy servants in thy will, that having thee for our protector and guide, we may walk without stumbling in the paths of righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. PSALM Xviii. 2.

WHAT though my sinfulness be great,
Redeeming love is greater:

What though all hell should lie in wait,
Supreme is my Creator:

And he my rock and fortress is,

And when most helpless, most I'm his,
My strength and my Redeemer.

MARTIN LUTHER, 1524.

GRANT us, O Lord, to enter on the service of our Christian wariare, ever fortified by thee, that as we are to fight against spiritual foes, thou, O Captain of our salvation, will evermore help and defend us, for thine own sake, O Jesus! world without end. Amen.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

PSALM XC. 12.

HAVE I laid by from summer hours
Ripe fruits as well as leaves and flowers?
Hath my past year a growth to harden,
As well as fewer sins to pardon?
Is God in all things more and more
A king within me than before?

I know not, yet one change hath come,
The world feels less and less a home.

FABER.

GRANT unto us, O Lord, to pass the residue of our days on earth, in fulness of peace and holiness, without sin and stumbling. For it is thine to pity and to save, O Christ our God. Amen.

FOR ye are all the children of God by faith in

Christ Jesus.

GAL. iii. 26.

THE stars have a differing brightness,
Yet all upon each do shine;
All share in the wide resplendence,

None thinketh of "thine or "mine."
All know that the source of their glory,
O Sun of the kingdom, is thine!

W. M. L. JAY.

FROM all blindness of heart; from pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred and malice, and

all uncharitableness: good Lord deliver us. Amen.