"Sin shall not have dominion over you."—Rom. vi. 14.
O God,Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Evil cannot dwell with Thee, fools cannot stand in Thy presence. Thou hast solemnly declared, "Thou canst by no means clear the guilty," and that "though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not escape unpunished."
Lord, I rejoice that I can draw near to Theein the name of Him by whom the guiltyhavebeen cleared; and through whom it is that a holy and righteous and sin-hating God can yet be holy and just, in the very act of justifying the ungodly.
I desire to adore Thee for all Thy creative and providential goodness. Thou hast loaded me with Thy benefits. The past is paved with love. I see in the retrospect of life nothing but amazing, unmerited kindness, mercy upon mercy! Amid manifold changes there has been no change inThee, no altered looks, no fainting or weariness or estrangement. Amid the wanderings of my own fitful spirit I can write over every remembrance of the past,But"Thouart the same!"
I desire with penitence of soul to mourn my own ingratitude and sin, the desperate wickedness and deceitfulness of my own evil heart, the power of corruption, the mastery of self, the alienation of my affections from Thee their rightful Sovereign and Lord. What an easy prey have I often fallen in the hour of temptation—by thought and word and deed dishonoring Thy name and basely requiting Thy love!Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy child!
Give me genuine contrition for the past, inspire me with new purposes of obedience for the future. Without Thy favor and reconciliation, in peace I cannot live, in peace I dare not die! My cry would be, "More grace, more grace!" Let me be gaining every day fresh victories over sin; may my soul be daily nurtured by the influence of heaven-born principles. May I know the expulsive power of the new implanted affection of love to Thee. Dethrone the world. Subjugate the power of sin. Give me greater tenderness of conscience; may I jealously guard every avenue to temptation, and be ready ever with the reply to the seductions of the tempter, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"
Let me be willing to forego anything rather than forsake Thy ways. Be it my habitual purpose and desire to cleave unto Thee the Lord with full purpose of heart. Let me hallow all life's duties and engagements with Thy favor, looking forward to that time whenmywill andThine, blessed God! shall be one, and when there shall be no more sin to interrupt the interchange of love and devotedness.
Bless all my dear friends; may the blessing of Jacob's God, the God of all the families of the earth, rest upon them. Give them all needful temporal blessings. Fill their souls with peace and joy in believing. May they and I look forward with joyful anticipation to that "morning without clouds," which knows no change nor vicissitude, when there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, because there will be no more sin; and all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"The life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."—Gal. ii. 20.
O God,I desire to draw near unto Thy blessed presence on this the evening of anotherday, adoring Thee for all the loving-kindness Thou art continually making to pass before me. May I ever be enabled to look up to Thee as the Author and Bestower of all my mercies. May no created good ever be suffered to dispossess Thee of my affections. May all that I enjoy, alike temporal and spiritual, be traced to Thee, the Fountain of all happiness. May prosperity be hallowed by receiving it as a pledge of Thy favor, and may trial lose its bitterness by the consciousness that every thorn in my path is permitted by Thee, and every bitter drop in the cup appointed by Thee.
May I thus seek, O God, from day to day, to live a life of simple faith and dependence on Thy grace; with confiding love may I commit my every care and want and perplexity to Thy better direction, feeling sweetly assured that Thou wilt guide me by arightway to the city of habitation.
Above all would I seek a renewed interest in those covenant blessings which Christ died to purchase and which He is exalted to bestow. All my hope is in Him; weak, helpless, perishing, I flee to Him, as the help and hope andportion of all who seek Him. Hide me, O blessed Jesus, in Thy wounded side. I would overcome alone through the blood of the Lamb. Wash me thoroughly in Thy precious blood. May I hear Thine own voice of pardoning love saying, "Your sins which are many are all forgiven."
After all Thou hast done for me, let me harbor no guilty and unworthy suspicions of Thy faithfulness. Let me feel assured that tender love regulates all Thy allotments. Thou art pledged to use the dealing and discipline best suited for Thy people's case, and what will best effect Thine own will concerning them, even their sanctification. Carry on within me Thine own work in Thine own way. Fortify me against temptation; let me not surrender myself to the base compliances of a world lying in wickedness. But, strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, may I know that He who is with me is greater far than all that can be against me. Oh enkindle afresh my expiring, languishing love; let me live more under the influence of "things not seen," having the eye of faith more upwardsand homewards, looking for that blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of the great God my Saviour.
Let Thy kingdom come! Arise, O God, and plead Thine own cause. May all the ends of the earth soon be gladdened with the Gospel's joyful sound!
Bless all in sorrow, all bereaved of near and dear friends; may they see no hand in their trials but Thine. Thou givest us our blessings; and when Thou seest meet Thou revokest the grant. Let us see love in every threatening wave, all rolling atThybidding.
Lord, take the charge of me this night. Abide with me, blessed Saviour, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. Oh, may it be mine to feel that each successive evening as it brings me nearer eternity, is ripening me for its never-ending joys. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"I die daily."—1 Cor. xv. 31.
O God Almighty,Father of all mercies, God of all grace, I beseech Thee to look down upon me at this time in Thy great kindness; let me feel it to be good for me to draw near unto God.
I desire to come acknowledging my great unworthiness. Forgive, gracious Lord, my many, many sins of thought, word, and deed; wash out all the defilements of the day. If I were to be tried by the doings of any single hour, how would I stand condemned! I am a miracle of mercy; kept, sustained, upheld, moment by moment, by the power of God.
Blessed Saviour! where could I have been this nightbutforThee? Thou art praying for me, as for Thy faltering disciple of old, that my faith fail not. Idorejoice to think that the same hand that was once outstretched for me onthecross is now lifted up in pleadinglove before the Throne, and that He who isforme is greater far than all that can beagainstme! Oh strengthen me with all might by Thy Spirit in the inner man. Subdue my corruptions, crucify all remaining sin. Let me die to the world; let me not imbibe its false maxims, conform to its sinful tastes, or accord with its evil practices. Let self in all its manifold forms be crucified, and God exalted. Come, Lord! search me, try me, prove me, and see if there be any wicked way in me. Let me maintain a constant and habitual hatred of those sins that do more easily beset me; may I exercise a holy jealousy over my own heart. Let no prosperity be strengthening my ties earthward, and weakening my ties heavenward. If Thou givest me much of worldly good, may I write upon it all, "the things which are seen are temporal." May it be my exalted ambition to use it for Thy glory. If Thou sendest trial, let it issue in the peaceable fruits of righteousness, producing a child-like acquiescence in Thy present dealings. Let me never forget my pilgrim attitude.Let me be ever looking forward to that joyous time when, "clean escaped" from the corruptions that are in the world, I shall stand "faultless before the Throne." Meanwhile, make me more heavenly-minded, copying the example of Him who was meek and lowly in heart.
Let me be gentle and forgiving, let me not harbor unkind suspicions of others, but consider myself, lest I also be tempted. O give me thecharacterof Heaven on this side of death, that when I come to pass through the swellings of Jordan I may be prepared for the joyous welcome awaiting me on the shores of glory, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"
Have mercy on a world lying in wickedness! Pity the careless; arouse the slumbering; support the weak; succour the poor and those that have no helper. Bless Thy Church everywhere. May Thy ministering servants hidethemselves, that their Lord may be exalted.
Take the charge of me and of all near and dear to me this night. Keep me, O keep me, King of kings, beneath Thine own Almighty wings. Lying down in Thy fear may I awakein Thy favor, fitted for all the duties of a new day; and all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."—2 Cor. iii. 5.
O God!do Thou bend Thy pitying eye upon me this night, as I venture once more into Thy sacred presence. What mercy it is that, with all my great unworthiness, a throne of grace is still open, and a God of grace is still waiting to be gracious!
I come to Thee in deep creature-destitution, bringing nothing in my hands, but simply cleaving, blessed Jesus, to Thy cross; looking away from my guilty self and my guilty doings to Thee, who hast done all and suffered all for me, I rejoice to think that Thou hast brokenevery chain of condemnation—that Thou hast satisfied the requirements of a broken law; and having overcome the sharpness of death, Thou hast opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Oh let me not continue in sin because all this wondrous grace abounds. Let me not think lightly of the accursed thing which was the cause of all Thine untold and unutterable anguish. I know, Lord, that I am apt at times to plead vain excuses for my sins. I am unwilling to think them, and to think myself, so vile as I really am, in Thy pure and holy eye.
My heart is deceitful; but "Thou art greater than my heart." Oh bring me in self-renouncing lowliness to cry out, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Let me cling to no remnants of my own self-righteousness. Let me see that my best actions are marred with defilement and mingled with impure and unworthy motives.
Enable me to aim more and more at the conquest of self. Show me the plague of my own heart. Keep me from all that is unamiable and selfish, from all that is unkind and uncharitable, and that would exalt myself at the expense ofothers. Keep me holy. Keep me lowly.—Lead me through the valley of humiliation. May life become more one grand effort to crucify sin and to please God. Take, gracious Saviour, my whole heart, and make it Thine; occupy it without a rival. May there be no competing affection. Keep me from alienating existence from its great end, by living to myself. May this be the superscription on all my thoughts, and duties, and engagements—"I am not my own, I am bought with a price."
May whatever be Thy time be mine. May I not murmur at deferred blessings or disappointed hopes. May my own will be resolved into the will of Him who knows best what to give and what to withhold.
May the Lord have mercy upon Zion. May showers of blessing descend on Thy holy hill. Hasten the glories of the latter day, when Jesus shall take to Himself His great power and reign!
Bless all my dear friends; may those ties which may be so soon severed here be rendered indissoluble by grace. Guard their couch and mine this night; give us refreshing sleep, lying down in Thy fear, and awaking in Thy favor,fitted for all the duties of a new day. And all we ask or hope for is for the Redeemer's sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"My soul is even as a weaned child."—Psalm cxxxi. 2.
O Lord,I rejoice that I am permitted with filial confidence to approach Thy blessed presence. What a privilege it is to have such liberty of access to the Mercy-seat—to look upwards to Thee, the Infinite One, whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain, and call Thee my Father and my God! Earthly love may grow cold or changeable, or perish; but "Thou art the same." The mercy of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord pity them that fear Him.
Alas! I have to mourn too often an unthankfulspirit amid all Thy manifold mercies. I have been rebellious and wayward, ungrateful and selfish. Thou mightest righteously have surrendered me to my own perverse will; left me to the fruit of my own ways, and to be filled with my own devices. It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed! Infinite is my want, but infinite too is my help. I would seek to stand before Thee, O God, in the nothingness of the creature, and to know the boundless resources treasured up for me in the great Redeemer. Unite me to Him by a living faith, as Thine own child by adoption; may it be my great desire to glorify Thee, my Father in Heaven; cherishing towards Thee a spirit of filial love and devotedness, seeking to do only what will please Thee, and having a salutary fear of offending so kind and forbearing a Parent.
Oh keep me from any sullen fretfulness, or unbelieving misgivings, under the strokes of Thy chastening hand. Let there be no hard construction of Thy dealings. May I see all Thy chastisements tempered with gracious love—allto be needful discipline. Give me an unwavering trust and confidence in Thy faithfulness.Nothing befalls me but by Thy direction; nothing is appointed but what is for my good.
Let Thy varied dealings conform me to the image of my adorable Lord. Let me be willing to suffer patiently forHimwho so willingly and so patiently suffered forme. Let me not so much seek to have my afflictions removed as to have grace given me to glorify Thee in them, and in the spirit of a weaned child to say, "Even so, Father!" O may my heart become a living temple, my life a living sacrifice, breathing the incense of gratitude and love. Let me give myself no rest until in this soul of mine I find a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
Do Thou sanctify trial to all the sons and daughters of sorrow. Draw near to those bereaved of beloved relatives. Do Thou Thyself compensate for every earthly loss. May they know that Thou art faithful who hast promised, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
Have mercy on Thy whole Church. Heal divisions. Bless Thy preached word. StrengthenThy ministering servants, that they may be enabled to proclaim the whole counsel of God.
Take the charge of me, and of all near and dear to me, this night. Give Thine angels charge over us. May no unquiet dreams disturb our rest, and when we awake may we be still with Thee. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"The path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more onto the perfect day."—Proverbs iv. 18.
O God,I bless Thee that Thou hast spared me during another day, and permitted the shadows of another evening to gather around me in peace. It is Thou, Lord, only who makest me to dwell in safety. Enable me to live from day to day as the pensioner on Thy bounty; to feel my dependence; to receive every created blessing and gift direct from Thy hand, and toseek to have all of them sweetened and hallowed as the pledges of Thy covenant love in Jesus.
I bless Thee, gracious God, for the richer tokens of Thy redeeming grace in Him. I bless Thee that His infinite merit has come in the place of my infinite demerit, that in Him there is "no condemnation;" that in His precious blood I have a secure shelter from the terrors of Thy righteous law and the accusations of a guilty conscience. May I know more and more the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. May my every hope of pardon centre in His cross. May I be living from day to day under the constraining influence of His love, and experience now a sweet foretaste of that everlasting communion which awaits me in His presence hereafter.
Lord, quicken me in my heavenly way; let me not loiter or linger on the road. Let this be my habitual feeling and watchword, "I am journeying." May I seek to mark my progressive advancement in the divine life, my increasing conformity to the image and will of Thee, my God. Keep me humble, cherishing a constant sense of my dependence on Thee. Oh inevery step Zionward, may I be led to cry, "Hold Thoume up, and I shall be safe." Let there be no longer any halting between two opinions, any wavering or indecision. May I regard life as a great mission to please Thee. Let my animating wish be to be nearer Thee now, ere I come to be with Thee for ever in glory everlasting. Walking heavenwards, may I feel I am walking homewards.
May I spend each day as if possibly it were my last, so that should the midnight cry break upon my ears, "Prepare to meet Thy God," it might be to me no unexpected summons, but as an angel whispering, "The Master is come and calleth for thee."
Look down in mercy on the dark places of the earth full of the habitations of horrid cruelty. How long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? Go forth with Thy missionary servants in heathen lands; may they witness much of Thy power; may Thy word still be mighty as ever to the pulling down of Satan's strongholds. Give thy Churches at home grace to be more faithful in the fulfilment of the great commission of their Great Head—"Go ye intoall the world and preach the Gospel to every creature!"
Take all my beloved friends this night under Thy guardian care. Shield them from all danger; and if Thou art pleased to spare us till to-morrow, may we rise refreshed and invigorated for the duties of a new day. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"He giveth grace unto the humble."—James iv. 6.
O God,Thou art great and greatly to be feared. Thy greatness is unsearchable. Thou art seated on a throne that is high and lifted up; myriads of blessed spirits cease not day nor night to celebrate Thy praise in their ever-triumphant hymn, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts."
But I rejoice to think that though Heaven is Thy dwelling-place Thou deignest to dwell inthe humble and contrite heart; no sacrifice dost Thou so love as that of the broken spirit; no incense so prized by Thee as the incense of a grateful, believing soul, which, oppressed with its own unworthiness and sin, reposes with unwavering trust in the work and righteousness of the Great Surety.
Lord, on this ever-living, ever-loving Saviour I desire wholly to lean. As helpless, hopeless, friendless, portionless, I cast myself on Him who is Helper of the helpless and Friend of the friendless. There is nothing but Thy sacrifice and intercession, O Thou Lamb of God, between me and everlasting destruction. O wash every crimson and scarlet stain away in Thy precious blood. Let me lie low at the foot of Thy cross. Give me a lowly estimate of myself, and a lofty view of Thy all-glorious work and finished righteousness. I have no other hope of mercy, and, blessed be Thy name, Ineedno other.
While I take Thee as my Saviour, may I be enabled to follow Thee also as my pattern; conscious of the supreme enthronement of Thy love in my heart, may I feel superior to all the fluctuations and changes of a changing world. MayI live as the chartered heir of a better inheritance; while in the world, may I seek not to be of it. May I diffuse around me the noiseless influence of a heavenly life, subordinating all I do to Thy glory. Lord, enable me to be useful in the sphere in which Thou hast placed me, to work while it is called to-day, remembering that there is no work nor device nor labor in the grave whither I am going.
Bless all in sorrow. Sanctify their trials. Keep us ever from the guilty atheism of looking to second causes. May we ever rejoice in the elevating assurance that "the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth," and that Thou orderest all things wisely and well. May the Holy Spirit the Comforter pour his own balm into every bleeding heart.
Have mercy on a world lying in wickedness. Hasten that glorious period when creation, now groaning and travailing in sin, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and be translated into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Let Thy word everywhere have free course and be glorified. May Jesus, faithfully"lifted up" by the attractive power of his cross, draw all men unto him.
Let Thy best benediction rest on my friends. The Lord watch between them and me when we are absent one from another. May we experience Thy guardian care this night; and if spared to awake in the morning, may it be to spend a new day in Thy service, through Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."—James iv. 7.
O God,Thou art from everlasting to everlasting. Loving me at the beginning, Thou hast promised to love me even unto the end. Notwithstanding all the fitful changes of my own changing heart towardsThee, therehasbeen, andcanbe, no shadow of turning in Thy covenant faithfulness towardsme. I am at thishour the monument of Thy mercy—a living comment on the words, "Thy ways are not as man's ways, nor Thy thoughts as man's thoughts."
If I have been enabled in any degree to resist the assaults of temptation, it is all Thy doing. I am "kept by the power of God." Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul must long ere now have dwelt in silence. By the grace of God I am what I am.
Lord, indulged and cherished sin unfits me for the enjoyment of Thy service and favor. I have to lament my proneness to evil, the natural bias of my heart to that which is opposed to Thy pure and holy will. When I would do good, sin is too often present with me. I feel the power of my spiritual adversaries. If left to myself and my own unaided resources, I must often hopelessly resign the conflict.
But I rejoice to think that there is help and hope and strength at hand. I would look to Him who is now bending upon me an eye of unchanging love from the throne. All Thy ascension glories, blessed Redeemer, have not obliterated the tenderness of Thy humanity. Thou art"that same Jesus;" Thou, the abiding Friend, art still left changeless among the changeable; and when Satan often desires to have me, that he might sift me as wheat, it is Thy intercessory prayer that saves me from utter ruin. Thou art pleading for me, that my faith fail not! Oh may I be found invincible in the hour of temptation, being made more than conqueror through Him that loved me. Sheltered in Thee the true Refuge, the wicked one will touch me not.
Let me not trifle with my own soul or with the momentous interests of eternity. Let me every day be living under the realizing consciousness that Thy pure eye is upon me. Keep me from all that is at variance with Thy gracious mind. Keep me from unchristian tempers, from an unholy or inconsistent or uneven walk. By a Christ-like demeanor may I exhibit the sanctifying and transforming influence of the Gospel on my own soul, that others may take knowledge of me that I have been with Jesus.
God of Bethel! do Thou take under Thy protecting providence all related to me by endearing ties. However far we may be separated from one another, let us never be separated fromThee. Let us often rejoice in this our common meeting-place; that around Thy mercy-seat in spirit we can assemble, and lay our evening incense in the one Golden Censer of our gracious High Priest!
Take charge of me this night, defend me from all danger; whether I wake or sleep, may I live together with Thee; and all that I ask or hope for is in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight."—Matt. xi. 26.
O God,I come into Thy presence this night, rejoicing that amid all earth's vicissitudes, I have in Thee a rock that cannot be shaken. Thou doest according to Thy will in the armies of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth! Thou doest all things well, and nothingbut whatiswell. There is no finite wisdom in Thy dealings. All is the result of combined faithfulness, power, and love. Let me repose in the righteous ordinations of Thy will. If Thou withhold from me earthly blessings, let me feel that the very denial is precious because it is Thy sovereign pleasure. Covenant love and wisdom cannot lead or teach me wrong; every burden is imposed by Thee. The lot may be thrown into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.
O Thou who turnest the shadow of death into the morning, may every wilderness-storm only drive me nearer Thyself, my true shelter. Thou takest the sting from every cross, the bitterness from every cup. Let me recognise in all that befalls me the tokens of a Father's love; and if sense and sight should at times fail to descry "the bright light in the cloud," may I see written over every dark trial Thine own unanswerable challenge, "He that spared not his own Son, but gave Him up to the death for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
Lord! the end of all Thy sovereign dealingsis to subjugate my wayward will, and to unfold more of the preciousness of Jesus. Blessed Spirit of all grace! do Thou take of the things that are Christ's and show them unto my soul. Let me not stagger at the promises through unbelief. Let me see nothing but love in the past, love in the present, and love looming through the mists of a cloudy future. Thou, O God, art seated by every furnace; all is meted out, all is provided for; all has a "need be" in it! Magnify the power of Thy grace in me, by a sweet spirit of patient submission to Thy righteous ordinations. May I seek to have no other prayer than this, "Father, glorify Thy name." Impart Thou that inner sunshine which no outward darkness or trial can obscure. May the peace of God, which passeth understanding, keep my heart.
May Thy Holy Spirit shed abroad His blessed influences over the whole Church. Revive Thy work, O God, in the midst of the years. In wrath remember mercy. May Thy ministers be more faithful. May Thy people be more close and consistent in their walk with Thee. May the young be growing up in Thy fear and favor;may the aged find in Thee the staff of their declining years. May the sick and afflicted pillow their head on Thy promises. May the dying fall asleep in Jesus.
I commend myself, my friends, and all belonging to me, to Thy paternal care and keeping; and when earth's long night-watches of trial and sorrow are ended, may I wake up in the sorrowless morning of glory, to enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with Thyself. Through Jesus Christ, my only Lord and Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord."—Romans xii. 11.
Lord,I come to Thee this night rejoicing in the thought that Thou faintest not, neither are weary: Thou art ever good, and doing me good. Thine arm is never shortened, Thine ear isnever heavy. The gates of prayer are ever open. The Throne of the Heavenly Grace is ever accessible, none of Thy children need perish with hunger!
May the darkness now gathering around me be as the shadow of Thine infinite presence. I take comfort in the thought that the Shepherd of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; that He is ever bending over me his watchful, untiring eye, compassing my path and my lying down, and holding up my doings that my footsteps do not stumble.
Lord, how sad is the contrast of Thine unwearied and unwearying watchfulness, with my negligence and inactivity in Thy service. How little have I sought to promote Thy glory. How little have I felt the solemnity and responsibility of being a steward in Thy household! Let me be more zealous for Thy honor in the future. Let me seek more than I have ever yet done, to ask in the midst of life's duties and engagements, its perplexities and trials, in simple faith, "Lord! what wouldst thou have me to do?" Let me feel that duty is a delight when done for Thee. Keep me from further relaxingmy diligence. Let me not mock Thee any longer with the wrecks of a worn affection. Let there be no half-surrender of the heart and life to Thee, but may soul and body be consecrated as living sacrifices, and may I have the growing experience that active obedience in Thy service is self-rewarding.
Lord! I have indeed a vast work to do and a brief time to do it in. May opportunities and talents, while I have them, be cheerfully given to Thee. May the warning words oft sound in my ear, "Work while it is called today, for the night cometh wherein no man can work." Oh prepare me for my Saviour's coming. Forbid that I should be found among the slothful servants or the faithless stewards who are squandering their Lord's money, and are living, forgetful that a time of reckoning is at hand! May I be so waiting and so watching, and so working, that the cry may never break too soon or too suddenly on my ears—"Behold, the Judge standeth before the door!"
Send forth thy gracious Spirit into a world lying in wickedness. Scatter the darkness that is now brooding over the nations. Bless allthy ministering servants; may they be valiant for the truth; may the Lord send His own angel to stand by them, and to shut the mouths of every adversary.
Bless all my friends; may they too be working out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and so be found at last prepared for the appearing and kingdom of Jesus.
Take me under Thy protecting care this night; vouchsafe me a season of refreshing repose; spare me to awake in Thy favor; and may every returning morning find me better prepared for the glorious noon-day of immortality; through Jesus Christ, my ever-living Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."—Rom. viii. 14.
O Lord,Thou art the God of my life and the length of my days. There is no real happiness independent of Thee. Thy favor is life. In vain can I seek for any satisfying portion in an unsatisfying world. If bereft of Thee I am bereaved indeed. But with Thy countenance shining upon me, I must be safe, I must be happy.
Do Thou pour down upon me the gifts and graces of Thy Holy Spirit. May he "garrison" my heart. May He write on its blood-besprinkled lintels the superscription, "Holiness to the Lord." Oh may this soul of mine become a living temple, an "habitation of God through the Spirit." Let me not trifle with convictions. Let me not grieve by my hardness and impenitency that gracious Agent, whereby I am sealed unto the day of redemption; but may all my affections be willingly surrendered to His service. By His omnipotent energy mayevery high thought and lofty imagination be brought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus. May I be enabled to lean upon Him in the extremity of my weakness. Fill me with all joy and peace in believing that I may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost; fitted for Thy service here, and for the enjoyment of Thee forever hereafter.
I pray for the outpouring of the same blessed Spirit on the whole Church. May He descend like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth. Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe upon the slain in the valley! Hasten that glorious period when the year of Thy redeemed shall come, when the earth shall be full of the tabernacles of the righteous, in which the voice of joy and melody will continually be heard!
Oh that there were more in me of the mind of my gracious Saviour, on whom the Spirit was poured without measure. May I, like Him, be more meek and gentle, more amiable and forgiving, overcoming evil with good.—Transform me into the same image from glory to glory, by the Lord the Spirit.
Hide all my friends under the shadow of Thy wings. Put Thy good Spirit also into their hearts. May He guide them into all the truth, and reveal to them more and more of the preciousness of Jesus.
Let all poor afflicted ones rejoice in the presence and consolations of the promised Comforter; may He pour oil and wine into their wounds; may He strengthen them in the midst of all their tribulations, and enable them in lowly resignation to say, "The Lord's will be done." Teach us all to repose in that will as the best; and to make it day by day our aim and ambition to attain a greater conformity to it.
Lord, take the charge of me through the watches of the night. Under the blessed sense of Thy presence and favor I would compose myself to rest, and when I awake, may I be still with Thee. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."—Isaiah xi. 9.
O God,I desire to draw near into Thy blessed presence, beseeching Thee to lift upon me the light of Thy countenance and grant me a Father's blessing. I am utterly unworthy of Thy mercies. And it is only in Jesus, the Son of Thy love, that I dare venture to cast myself at Thy footstool.
I rejoice to think that in Him there is an open door of welcome; that He has by His doing and dying satisfied the demands of Thy righteous law, and magnified all Thy glorious attributes. I would bury all my sins in the ocean-depths of His redeeming love. Oh let me now know the blessedness ofliving, and at last the blessedness ofdying, at peace with Thee, in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life.
Darkness is still covering the lands, and gross darkness the people. Lord, do Thou have mercy on a world lying in wickedness. I rejoice tothink of all Thy glorious promises concerning the latter day. That this creation of ours, now groaning and travailing in bondage under sin, is yet to be delivered from the yoke of corruption, and to be translated into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Glorify Thy great name in the salvation of sinners! Hasten the period of predicted glory, when all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God; when from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised. May Thine own omnipotent Spirit brood over the darkness, as He did over chaos of old, and say, "Let there be light, and there will be light." May gladsome voices soon be heard proclaiming, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."
Oh may I know personally something of that compassionate yearning over ruined souls and a ruined world that my Saviour had. Let me be prodigal in devising means for the extension of His kingdom and the good of my fellow-men. I would pray the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers to the harvest. Stand by Thy missionary servants. May they havemany souls for their hire. May mountains of difficulty be levelled before them; may crooked things be made straight and rough places plain, and may the glory of the Lord be revealed. Let them exercise simple faith in the power of Thy word and the efficacy of Thy grace. May they feel that these are mighty as they ever were to the pulling down of strongholds.
Arouse Thy churches to greater zeal. May Jesus, faithfully lifted up by His servants, by the attractive power of His cross draw all men unto Him. May they be the honored instruments of preparing many gems for Immanuel's crown, who will be found unto praise and honor and glory at His second appearing.
Lord, guard me through the silent watches of the night; be the defence and protection of my friends and relatives; may they too dwell under the shadow of Thy wings and experience the sleep of Thy beloved; and when the night of earth's ignorance shall vanish away, may we all wake up in glory everlasting, through Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"Revive Thy work in the midst of the years."—Hab. iii. 2.
O God,Thou hast permitted me in Thy great mercy to see another evening. How many of my fellow-men have this day slept the sleep of death, and are now beyond the reach of grace and privilege! I am still spared, all unworthy though I be, a monument of Thy forbearance and love.
I desire to make acknowledgment of my many and grievous offences. They are more in number than the sand of the sea;—sins against light, and mercy, and warning; sins committed against the kindest of Benefactors, the most indulgent of Parents.
I would seek anew to take refuge in the offered shelter of the Gospel, and to rejoice anew in the faithful saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners. Oh may I be enabled confidingly to repose in His matchless sacrifice, and with lively appropriatingfaith to say, "He lovedmeand gave Himself forme!"
Lord, carry on Thine own work within me. Quicken my languid and languishing affections by the omnipotent agency of Thy Holy Spirit. Let me not live at a guilty distance from Thy favor; but may I covet a close and habitual walk with Thee, and feel the sustaining power of Thy grace in my heart.
Revive Thy work in Thine own Church universal, Thou great High Priest, who walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Do Thou feed every lamp with the oil of Thy grace. Let them burn with a clearer, holier, more steady and consistent flame. As lights set in the world, may they diffuse Thy glory; and feel the honor of being instrumental in shedding abroad a Saviour's love.
Oh may the Lord arise and have mercy upon Zion. May the time to favor her, yea, the set time, soon come. As there is but one Shepherd, so may there soon be but one sheep-fold. Let Thy churches no longer continue apart from one another in unholy estrangement, but live in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace; holding fast that which they have, that no mantake their crown. Spirit of all grace, come in all the plenitude of Thy love and mercy. Breathe upon every portion of Thy visible Church, and say, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost!" "Awake, O north wind! come, thou south! blow upon our garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." May Thy gracious influences descend like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth.
Bless all Thy faithful ministers. May peace be upon them and upon the whole Israel of God. Direct their hearts and the hearts of all Thy faithful people into Thy love, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
Comfort all in sorrow. May they see a "need be" written on all their trials. May they look beyond the long night-watch of earth to the glories of that eternal morning when clouds and darkness shall for ever flee away.
Take charge of me while I sleep, and as evening after evening comes round may I feel that a day has been spent for Thee. Hear me, gracious Lord, for the Redeemer's sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."