PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS OFFERED AT THE 

 VARIOUS MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



ANNUAL INVOCATION. 

 By Rev. W. H. Gould, Dexter. 



Our Father who art in heaven, whose loving kindness is in 

 every right and thoughtful and earnest hope, whose goodness is 

 manifested in the coming together of those who have good pur- 

 poses in mind and in heart, we ask that thy grace may be mani- 

 fested in our midst at the beginning of these series of meetings. 

 We come to thee, thanking thee for thy goodness and blessings 

 which have been with us all our days, thanking thee for the 

 reward which comes in the autumn for the toil of hand and for 

 the care of mind and for the devoted purpose of the heart. We 

 would remember that thy blessings come to those who work and 

 wait day by day, and we learn by our experience that our own 

 joy and satisfaction and delight in life increase as we learn to 

 thank and know thee as the one who rewards our toil and our 

 thoughtfulness and all our loving service. And so we find it 

 to be fitting at the beginning of any earnest enterprise, and so 

 at the beginning of these meetings, to bring our thought close 

 to thee, to remember in gratitude how gracious thou hast been 

 to us, how thou hast prospered us in our effort and in all our 

 enterprise, how thou hast brought and given satisfaction and 

 joy and happiness to us. 



We thank thee for the peculiar privileges that shall be ours 

 during these meetings. We pray that thou wilt increase happi- 

 ness to those who renew old acquaintances and old friendships 

 and in the forming of the new ; that thy Spirit may be so mani- 

 fested in kindness and thoughtful consideration and desire to 

 give and to receive, that there shall be great reward in the meet- 

 ing together. 



