"Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father."--Rom. viii. 15.
Blessed Lord! I desire to draw near this night with holy boldness to
the footstool of Thy throne, rejoicing that I can look up to Thee as
my Father in heaven. "Behold what manner of love is this the Father
hath bestowed on me, that I should be called a child of God." Thou
mightest have righteously left me orphaned, friendless, portionless
for ever. But in the midst of wrath Thou hast remembered mercy: the
kindness of no earthly parent, O God, could equal thine. Thou hast
borne with all my obstinacy, all my perverseness, and waywardness, and
ingratitude. I am at this hour the monument of a love as wondrous as
it is undeserved.
Oh teach me to cultivate more and more a spirit of child-like
obedience to Thee; to cherish a holy fear of offending so kind and
forgiving and beneficent a Father. Whilst Thou art strewing my
wilderness path with unmerited blessings, may I be enabled to rise
above every earthly gift and mercy to the better inheritance I have in
Thee, the bountiful Bestower of all! Let me feel every created
blessing to be doubly sweet, as emanating from a Father's hand, and
being a proof and pledge of a Father's love. Let the hour of prayer be
doubly hallowed by the thought that I am permitted to haunt a Father's
presence, and pour my wants into a Father's ear. Let the season of
sorrow be sweetened by the thought that the rod is in a Father's hand,
and that the voice, though apparently rough, is the tender whispering
of parental love.
Blessed Jesus! I desire to remember that it is Thou and Thou only who
hast not left me "comfortless." It is Thou who hast devised and
completed a way by which "Thy banished" may not be "expelled" from a
Father's presence. Thou hast opened a door of welcome to the chief of
sinners. It is Thy blessed voice and Thy glorious work which utter the
gracious declaration, "In my Father's house there are many mansions."
Oh let me lean with a more simple and entire dependence on Thee; let
me live from day to day with an unfaltering trust in Thy mercy. May
every new evening, as it finds me laying the incense-offering of
gratitude and love on Thine altar, find me also a stage nearer my
Father's house, nearer _home_, and nearer _Thee_.
Take all my beloved friends under Thy shadowing wings this night. The
darkness can not screen them from Thee; the curtains of night can not
exclude Thy kind and watchful eye. Guide, guard, protect them, and
bring them all at last to Thy heavenly kingdom.
Bless Thy Church everywhere; lengthen her cords and strengthen her
stakes. Be a wall of fire around Thy Zion and the glory in the midst
thereof. Clothe her priests with salvation, let her saints and people
shout aloud for joy.
Bless those on whom Thou hast laid Thine afflicting hand. May they
take refuge in the arms that are chastising them, and be enabled to
say in unmurmuring submission, "The Lord's will be done." Hear me,
gracious Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, my blessed Lord and
Saviour. Amen.
"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE AS
INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS
AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."