Part 3

Bless my dear friends, may they too be led to count all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord, whom to know is life eternal. Pity the careless; reclaim the backsliding; comfort the sorrowful; sustain the dying. May the Lord arise and have mercy on Zion; may He show that the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come!

Ere I lay my head on my nightly pillow, I would lay anew my guilt on the head of the Divine Surety; may I fall asleep under the blessed sense of sin forgiven, and look forward to that blessed day when earth's night-shadows shall have vanished forever, and when I shall be enabled more fully "to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." And all I ask or hope for is for His sake. Amen.

"LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."

FIFTEENTH EVENING.

FOR GUIDANCE IN PERPLEXITY.

"Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee."--Psalm cxliii. 8.

O God, Thy favor is life, Thy loving-kindness is better than life. Thy mercies have been new to me every morning, and Thy faithfulness every night. Thou hast watched over me from the earliest years of infancy with more than a Father's care. The kindness of the kindest on earth has been coldness itself when compared with Thine. I rejoice that I can thus trace in a wondrous past the visible footsteps of Thy love, and fearlessly trust and repose in Thee for the future.

Thou art a rich provider. None so able, none so willing to guide me in every perplexity, to extricate me from every difficulty, and to befriend me amid the fitful changes of life. What a safe anchorage is this amid the world's restless surges of vicissitude, "The Lord reigneth!" Do Thou enable me wholly to follow the Lord my God; to follow Thee not only in smooth places, but even when the path is rough and the way thorny. May I confide in the wisdom of all Thine allotments. I rejoice that all the changes Thou orderest for Thy covenant people are changes for the _better_, and not for the _worse_.

O blessed Jesus! Thou who art the true pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, do Thou precede me ever in all my wilderness wanderings. May I encamp only where Thou leadest me. May I strike my tent only when Thou speakest that I "go forward." Let me experience the conscious happiness of knowing no will but Thine, and of being solicitous in all things to follow the guiding voice and footsteps of the Great Shepherd of the flock. If there be aught in Thy providence perplexing me now, I would say in child-like simplicity, "I am oppressed, undertake Thou for me!" "My heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." Hide me in the crevices of that smitten Rock; let me know the safety and joy of being shielded _there_, until earth's calamities be overpast.

Graciously forgive all the sins of this past day--the sins of thought, word and deed; all my selfishness and uncharitableness; all my pride and vain-glory; all my censoriousness and inconsideration of the wishes and feelings of others. Blessed Jesus! let me follow more closely Thy holy footsteps, and drink more deeply of Thy heavenly spirit.

Bless all in sorrow, sanctify to them their trials, may they see and own a "need be" in them all. Prepare the dying for death, and spare useful lives.

Take all belonging to me this night under the shield of Thy protecting providence, let them ever commit their way onto Thee, and do Thou bring it to pass. Hold up their goings in Thy word, that their footsteps may not stumble.

Watch over me during the unconscious hours of sleep; and when all my days and nights on earth are finished, may it be mine to enjoy Thy presence in a cloudless, nightless Heaven; through 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."

SIXTEENTH EVENING.

FOR VICTORY OVER SIN.

"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 Thee in the name of Him by whom the guilty _have_ been 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 in _Thee_, 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_ "_Thou_ art 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 when _my_ will and _Thine_, 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 AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."

SEVENTEENTH EVENING.

FOR THE LIFE OF FAITH.

"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 another day, 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 a _right_ way 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 and portion 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 upwards and 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 at _Thy_ bidding.

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 AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."

EIGHTEENTH EVENING.

FOR THE DAILY DEATH.

"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 night _but_ for _Thee_? Thou art praying for me, as for Thy faltering disciple of old, that my faith fail not. I _do_ rejoice to think that the same hand that was once outstretched for me on _the_ cross is now lifted up in pleading love before the Throne, and that He who is _for_ me is greater far than all that can be _against_ me! 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 the _character_ of 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 hide _themselves_, 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 awake in 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 AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."

NINETEENTH EVENING.

FOR RENUNCIATION OF SELF.

"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."

TWENTIETH EVENING.

FOR A CHILD-LIKE SPIRIT.

"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 unthankful spirit 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--_all_ to 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 for _Him_ who so willingly and so patiently suffered for _me_. 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. Strengthen Thy 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 AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."

TWENTY-FIRST EVENING.

FOR HEAVENWARD PROGRESS.

"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 to seek 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 in every step Zionward, may I be led to cry, "_Hold Thou_ me 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 into all 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 AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE."

TWENTY-SECOND EVENING.

FOR HUMILITY OF HEART.

"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."