第 2 节
作者:
套牢 更新:2021-02-20 16:02 字数:9322
AT MORNING
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 undishonoured; and grant us in the end the gift of sleep。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
EVENING
WE come before Thee; O Lord; in the end of thy day with
thanksgiving。
Our beloved in the far parts of the earth; those who are now beginning
the labours of the day what time we end them; and those with whom the
sun now stands at the point of noon; bless; help; console; and prosper
them。
Our guard is relieved; the service of the day is over; and the hour come
to rest。 We resign into thy hands our sleeping bodies; our cold hearths; and
open doors。 Give us to awake with smiles; give us to labour smiling。 As
the sun returns in the east; so let our patience be renewed with dawn; as
the sun lightens the world; so let our loving…kindness make bright this
house of our habitation。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
ANOTHER FOR EVENING
LORD; receive our supplications for this house; family; and country。
Protect the innocent; restrain the greedy and the treacherous; lead us out of
our tribulation into a quiet land。
Look down upon ourselves and upon our absent dear ones。 Help us
and them; prolong our days in peace and honour。 Give us health; food;
bright weather; and light hearts。 In what we meditate of evil; frustrate our
will; in what of good; further our endeavours。 Cause injuries to be forgot
and benefits to be remembered。
Let us lie down without fear and awake and arise with exultation。 For
his sake; in whose words we now conclude。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
IN TIME OF RAIN
WE thank Thee; Lord; for the glory of the late days and the excellent
face of thy sun。 We thank Thee for good news received。 We thank Thee for
the pleasures we have enjoyed and for those we have been able to confer。
And now; when the clouds gather and the rain impends over the forest and
our house; permit us not to be cast down; let us not lose the savour of past
mercies and past pleasures; but; like the voice of a bird singing in the rain;
let grateful memory survive in the hour of darkness。 If there be in front of
us any painful duty; strengthen us with the grace of courage; if any act of
mercy; teach us tenderness and patience。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
ANOTHER IN TIME OF RAIN
LORD; Thou sendest down rain upon the uncounted millions of the
forest; and givest the trees to drink exceedingly。 We are here upon this isle
a few handfuls of men; and how many myriads upon myriads of stalwart
trees! Teach us the lesson of the trees。 The sea around us; which this rain
recruits; teems with the race of fish; teach us; Lord; the meaning of the
fishes。 Let us see ourselves for what we are; one out of the countless
number of the clans of thy handiwork。 When we would despair; let us
remember that these also please and serve Thee。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
BEFORE A TEMPORARY
SEPARATION
TO…DAY we go forth separate; some of us to pleasure; some of us to
worship; some upon duty。 Go with us; our guide and angel; hold Thou
before us in our divided paths the mark of our low calling; still to be true
to what small best we can attain to。 Help us in that; our maker; the
dispenser of events … Thou; of the vast designs; in which we blindly labour;
suffer us to be so far constant to ourselves and our beloved。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
FOR FRIENDS
FOR our absent loved ones we implore thy loving…kindness。 Keep
them in life; keep them in growing honour; and for us; grant that we
remain worthy of their love。 For Christ's sake; let not our beloved blush
for us; nor we for them。 Grant us but that; and grant us courage to endure
lesser ills unshaken; and to accept death; loss; and disappointment as it
were straws upon the tide of life。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
FOR THE FAMILY
AID us; if it be thy will; in our concerns。 Have mercy on this land and
innocent people。 Help them who this day contend in disappointment with
their frailties。 Bless our family; bless our forest house; bless our island
helpers。 Thou who hast made for us this place of ease and hope; accept
and inflame our gratitude; help us to repay; in service one to another; the
debt of thine unmerited benefits and mercies; so that; when the period of
our stewardship draws to a conclusion; when the windows begin to be
darkened; when the bond of the family is to be loosed; there shall be no
bitterness of remorse in our farewells。
Help us to look back on the long way that Thou hast brought us; on the
long days in which we have been served; not according to our deserts; but
our desires; on the pit and the miry clay; the blackness of despair; the
horror of misconduct; from which our feet have been plucked out。 For our
sins forgiven or prevented; for our shame unpublished; we bless and thank
Thee; O God。 Help us yet again and ever。 So order events; so strengthen
our frailty; as that day by day we shall come before Thee with this song of
gratitude; and in the end we be dismissed with honour。 In their weakness
and their fear; the vessels of thy handiwork so pray to Thee; so praise Thee。
Amen。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
SUNDAY
WE beseech Thee; Lord; to behold us with favour; 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 awhile longer; … with our broken purposes of good; with our
idle endeavours against evil; suffer us awhile longer to endure; and (if it
may be) help us to do better。 Bless to us 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 ourselves。 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 labour … eager to be
happy; if happiness shall be our portion … and if the day be marked for
sorrow; strong to endure it。
We thank Thee and praise Thee; and in the words of him to whom this
day is sacred; close our oblation。
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Prayers Written At Vailima
FOR SELF…BLAME
LORD; enlighten us to see the beam that is in our own eye; and blind
us to the mote that is in our brother's。 Let us feel our offences with our
hands; make them great and bright before us like the sun; make us eat
them and drink them for our diet。 Blind us to the offences of our beloved;
cleanse them from our memories; take them out of our mouths for ever。
Let all here before Thee carry and measure with the false balances of love;
and be in their own eyes and in all conjunctures the most guilty。 Help us at
the same time with the grace of courage; that we be none of us