"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 broken
every 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 of others. 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 AS
INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS
AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."