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