"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."—Ps. xxiii. 4.
O God,I come to Thee this night through Jesus Christ, the Son of Thy love, beseeching Thee to have mercy upon me, and to impart unto me that Peace of Thine which passeth all understanding. Blessed be Thy great and glorious name for those hopes full of immortality which have been opened up to me in the Gospel. I rejoice in Christ as the great Abolisher of death. I rejoice that the rainbow of covenant faithfulness spans the entrance to the dark valley; that all that is terrible in the last enemy is in Him taken away, and that I can regard these closing hours of existence as the introduction and doorway into everlasting bliss.
Give me grace, O God, to be living in constant preparation for death. Let me not unprofitably squander my present golden moments.Let melivewhile Ilive—let me live a dying life. Let me feel that life is a trust given me by Thee. O Thou Great Proprietor of my being, may this all important talent of time be more consecrated to Thy glory. Let it not be mine, when the hour of death arrives, to bewail, when it is too late, lost and forfeited opportunities. Let me not leave till then, what best can be done and what onlymaybe done now. May it be my earnest endeavor while it is called today to secure a saving interest in the everlasting covenant, and then I need not fear how soon the silver cord may be loosed and the golden bowl broken. Through Jesus the darkness has been taken from death, and to His own true people its shadows will melt and merge into the brightness of eternal day.
Thou art ever giving me impressive remembrances that "at such an hour as I think not," the summons may come, "Prepare to meet Thy God." The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Verily every moment there may be but a step between me and death. Let me be so living a life of habitual faith inthe Son of God that this step may be changed into a step between me and glory.
Lord, prepare all who may now be laid on dying couches for their great change. May their eyes be directed to Jesus. Pillowing their heads on his exceeding great and precious promises, may they fall asleep in the glorious hope of a joyful resurrection.
Bless all in sorrow; those who have recently been bereaved of near and dear friends, who may have been called recently to the brink of the tomb, consigning their loved ones to the narrow house appointed for all living. May they be enabled to fix their sorrowing gaze on the brighter prospects beyond death and the grave, and anticipate that glorious hour when, reunited to death-divided friends, they will be able to exult together in the song, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
Take the charge of me this night. Watch over me during the unconscious hours of sleep, and when I too come to the long night and slumber of death, may it be the gentle rest of Thy beloved, a falling asleep in the arms ofeverlasting love, looking forward to the joyful waking time of immortality, through 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."
"Prepare to meet thy God."—Amos iv. 12.
O God,Thou art daily loading me with Thy benefits. Thou art making the outgoings of the evening and morning to rejoice over me, giving me unnumbered causes for gratitude and thankfulness. No earthly friend could have loved and cared for me like Thee. Oh may the life Thou art thus preserving by Thine unceasing bounty be unreservedly dedicated to Thy praise.
Lord, keep me mindful that I am soon to be done with this world, that I am fast borne along the stream of time to an endless futurity."It is appointed unto all once to die, and after death the judgment." May I be living in a constant state of preparedness for that solemn hour when small and great shall stand before God, and the books shall be opened. Educate me for eternity. Let me not be frittering away these fleeting but precious moments. Impress on me the solemn conviction that "as men live so do men die," that as death leaves me so will judgment find me. Oh let death leave me falling asleep in Jesus, united to Him by a living faith, that so judgment may find me seated at His right hand, listening to the joyous welcome, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Blessed Jesus, all my hope of a glorious resurrection centres in Thee. I look to Thee as the strong tower which cannot be shaken. I flee anew to the holy sanctuary of Thy covenant love. Sheltered there, amid a dissolving earth, and burning worlds, I shall be able joyfully to utter the challenge, "Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?" Meanwhile may I seek to "occupy" till my Lord comes. Keepme from all negligence and unwatchfulness. Trim my flickering lamp. Let me live with Thy Judgment-throne in view. Whether waking or sleeping, may I bear about with me the thought that I must soon give an account of myself to God. May I feel that all the talents and means Thou hast given me are trusts to be laid out for Thee. When thou comest to demand a reckoning, may I not be among the number of those who have hid their talent in the earth, and have the cheerless retrospect of a misspent time.
Lord! bless my friends, reward my benefactors, forgive my enemies. Sanctify sorrow to all the sons and daughters of trial. May the torch of Thy love light up their gloomy prospects. May every providential voice sound loud in their ears, "Arise and depart ye, for this is not your rest!"
Gracious God, watch over me during the night, and grant that at last, when all earth's evenings and mornings shall have passed away, I may, on the great day-break of glory, wake up in Thy likeness, through Him in whom is all my hope, and to whom, with Thee, O Father,and Thee, ever blessed Spirit, one God, be everlasting praise, honor, and glory, world without end. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
"Meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."—Col. i. 12.
O God,I come into Thy gracious presence on this the close of another day, beseeching Thee to accept of my evening sacrifice. May this my unworthy prayer come up before Thee perfumed with the fragrant incense of the Saviour's adorable merits. It is my comfort to know, O Thou blessed Intercessor within the veil, that Thou art even now appearing in the presence of God for me! The names of Thy covenant people are engraven on Thy breastplate,and, all unworthy in themselves, they are accepted in the Beloved.
My special prayer to Thee this night is, that by Thy grace I may be made meet for Thy blood-bought inheritance in Glory. Transform me by the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost; may I be dying daily unto sin, and living daily unto righteousness. Make me more heavenly-minded. Give me more of a pilgrim attitude and a pilgrim spirit. May I ever feel that my true home is above, that I am here but a wayfarer and sojourner, as all my fathers were. May I attain, as I advance nearer heaven, the blessed habit of a holy life, bearing about with me the lofty impress of one who is bornfromabove andforabove, declaring plainly that I seek "a better country."
Let me not arraign the appointments of Infinite wisdom, but patiently await the disclosures of the great day. Keep me from a hasty spirit under dark dispensations. I am no judge as to what fancied mercies are best withholden. Let me look to every trial as an appointed messenger from the Throne whispering in my ears, "Be ye also ready!" MayI delight often to anticipate that happy time when I shall suffer no more, and sin no more; when Thou shalt no longer teach me by mysterious dispensations and a crossed will; when all shall be "a sea of glass" without one disturbing ripple, and I shall trace with joyous heart the long line of unbroken love and unchanging faithfulness! Anew I would wash in the atoning fountain. Anew I would take refuge "in the faithful saying." O blot out all the sins of the bygone day. Let them not rise up in the Judgment to condemn me. Let me close my eyes this night listening to the Saviour's own voice—"Your sins which are many are all forgiven you."
May the Lord arise and have mercy upon Zion. May the streams of Thy grace make glad the city of God. Build up her broken walls; restore her ruined towers; may her watchmen be men of faith and men of prayer; making mention of the Lord, and keeping not silence, till He establish, and till he make Jerusalem again a praise in the earth.
Lord, bless my friends. Let us exult in those ties which survive the uncertain ones ofearth, and look forward to the hour when we shall come to stand at last faultless before Thy Throne. Oh, prepare us all for the breaking of that eternal day—that "morning without clouds," when in Thy light we shall see light—when the love of Christ shall be enthroned supremely in every heart, when the glory of Christ will form the animating motive and principle of life that shall never end: and all I ask is for His sake. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."
THE END.
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Twenty-Eight Lectures on the Morning Prayer: by Rev. Robert A. Hallam, D. D., Rector of St. James' Church, New London, Conn.
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