in sending Jesus Christ in our nature to save us sinners. O what love was this that thy only-begotten Son, being in the very form of God, should not disdain the virgin's womb, should take upon him the form of a servant and be made in the likeness of man. We bless thee, we praise thee, we glorify thee, for those good tidings of great joy that there was born unto us, as on this day, a Saviour, even Christ the Lord.

May we, with full confiding faith, humble adoration, and unfeigned gratitude, and intense love, consider this great mystery, God manifest in the flesh; and behold the glory of Jesus, as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, till Christ be formed in us the hope of glory. May we behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, till we be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

O give unto us a cheerful, holy, spiritual and edifying improvement of this sacred season. May we rejoice in thy goodness, be filled with thy praise, diffuse thy love, and be a blessing to all around us.

May thy house be crowded with willing, glad, and devout worshippers, and believing, and obedient hearers of thy truth. Open to thy ministers the great mystery this day commemorated, that they may fully declare the wonders of redeeming love to thy churches. [Bless those of us especially who hope to go to thy holy table, and there to obtain in

the breaking of bread, the communion of the body of Christ, and in the cup of blessing the communion of the blood of Christ. May we find a double blessing in commemorating the Saviour's death on the day of his birth, receive Christ into our hearts, evermore to dwell there, and daily through his Spirit mortify and crucify the lusts of the flesh.]

Bless all thy churches through the earth, in the commemoration of this wonderful and all-surprising mystery of love. O Lord, pardon all the great profanation of this sacred season, which has so long dishonoured thy name. O let it not be desecrated by mere carnal mirth and worldly pleasure. May we never lose sight of all the awful guilt of man which required this humiliation of the Son of God, and of the holiness and purity to which He has redeemed us at such a costly sacrifice. May we never act inconsistently with the great and mysterious truths of His incarnation this day celebrated.

May thy Holy Spirit be largely granted, through the incarnate Redeemer, not only to us now as a family kneeling together, but to all the members and branches, kindred and connexion of our several families. May family love and union and all the ties of kindred, never decrease or diminish amongst us, but enlarge and be strengthened, till time be swallowed up in eternity.

Bless all lands with the light of thy glorious gospel. May Christ, the light of the Gentiles, speedily

shine over all the world; may Christ, the long-expected glory of thy people Israel, at length in all his majesty and love be revealed to thy waiting people.

O Lord, we thank thee not only for the great miracle of thy love in the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour, but for the farther miracle of his being born in many a sinner's heart from age to age, even to this day. O still help thy church. Thou knowest how great are its dangers, how strong are the pillars of the kingdom of darkness, and how mighty the Prince of the power of the air, who now worketh in the children of disobedience; but, O thou who art stronger than he, be in us, and prevail within us over all our foes, and hasten the full triumph of thy church in thine own kingdom, for thy name's sake.

CXXVI.

EVENING PRAYER.

Thanks, eternal thanks be unto thee, O Father, for that blessed truth which we have this day commemorated, that the Eternal Word, who was in the beginning and was with God and was God, was made flesh and dwelt among us. All glory be unto thee, that unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.

O help us, Lord, to ponder these things in our hearts as Mary did, and to adore thee more and more, and to admire the wondrous fact that God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem us, and give us the adoption of sons. May we live as becomes those brought nigh unto thee, in so glorious a relation that Jesus, thy own Son, is not ashamed to call us brethren. May we realize the certainty, the fulness, the freeness and the glory of that salvation which Jesus, by his incarnation, accomplished.

Enable us also not only to look at all that Jesus in our nature did for us on earth, but to look upward and see that same nature carried into the heavens, and that same Jesus now appearing in the presence of God for us. May we by faith now see him at the right hand of God, ever living to make intercession for us. May we know that he can enter into all the feelings, distresses, sorrows, wants, and desires of humanity, and into all our temptations, being touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all things like as we are, sin only excepted. May we be assured then of his sympathy, his compassion, and the tenderness of his fellow-feeling towards the children of men, and gladly commit our cause and interests and our immortal souls to him who was born, and lived, and died for us, and be constrained by his love to devote our selves to him.

We beseech thee also now to give us grace not only to look at the birth, and life, and death of Jesus here below, and at his present seat at thy right hand, and his interceding there for us, but also to look forward to the quickly approaching period when the same Jesus shall return again to our earth in like manner as he ascended from it. When his feet shall once more stand upon Mount Olivet, no longer in his lowly form of a servant and a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, no more for suffering and sacrifice, but crowned with glory and honour, coming in the glory of the Father with all his holy angels, King of kings and Lord of lords, to overthrow all his enemies and to reign for ever and ever. For that coming in glory make us truly prepared and ready; may we be looking for it and expecting it. May we have on all the armour of light. May we be manifestly the children of the light and the children of the day. May our conversation be in heaven and our affections set on things above, that looking for Jesus from heaven, he may change our vile body and fashion it like unto his glorious body, according to the working of his mighty power.

Write upon our minds the truths which have been brought before us this day. Let not our faith fail in the time of trial. Teach us to keep judgment and to do justice, knowing that thy salvation is near to come and thy righteousness to be revealed. O may we seek heavenly and not earthly treasure, and may