FOR PARDON OF SIN. "For Thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine in- O God, I bless Thee that Thou hast permitted me to lie down in sleep, and to awake this morning in safety. Thou hast dispersed the darkness of another night: may no shadow of sin obscure the sunshine of Thy favor and love. May the returning light of day be to me the type and emblem of that better radiance with which Thou visitest the souls of Thy people, when they are enabled, in Jesus, to behold a pardoning God seated on a throne of reconciliation and grace. I come to Thee, acknowledging my transgressions in all their heinousness I have nothing to plead in extenuation. Warnings have been abused, providences slighted, grace resisted, Thy Spirit grieved. It is of the Lord's mercies I am not consumed-that Thou hast not long ere now consigned me, with all this load of unpardoned guilt, to that place where pardon is unknown. But I do rejoice to know that "there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared" that I can bring my great sins to a great Saviour. May I be enabled to feel that this all-glorious name of a reconciled God in Christ is "a strong tower," into which I may "run and be safe." Give me grace, in selfrenouncing lowliness, to disown every other ground of confidence or hope of mercy, and to cast myself, a broken-hearted, humbled penitent, at the feet of Him on whom was laid the burden of all my transgressions. May mine henceforth be the blessedness of those "whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." May life's joys be sweetened, and life's sorrows sanctified, and life's terminating hour gladdened, with the as surance, "I am at peace with my God." May Thy favor brighten every scene, and the sweet sense of Thy reconciling love be interfused with all my occupations. If sorrow should cloud or darken, may I be brought to feel that there can be no true sorrow or disquietude to the soul which has found its rest in the finished work of Jesus, and which has attained that blessed peace here which is the prelude of glory hereafter. Give me grace to walk more closely with Thee in the time to come. Being forgiven much, may I love Thee all the more. May my life be one habitual effort of self and sin crucifixion, seeking to consecrate my soul's best energies to Him who is willing to "blot out as a thick cloud" all my transgressions. Overrule the discipline of Thy providence for promoting within me this death of sin, and this life of righteousness. Amid earth's manifold disquietudes, its crosses and its losses, enable me with joy to look forward to that blessed hour when there shall be no more sin, and therefore no more sorrow-when every tear shall be wiped from every eye, and when I shall be permitted to know all that is comprehended in the holy beatitude, how "blessed" indeed are "the pure in heart," who are to 66 see God." Direct, control, suggest, this day, all my designs, and thoughts, and actions, that every power of my body, and every faculty of my mind, may unite in devotedness to Thy sole service and glory. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen. 66 CAUSE ME TO HEAR THY LOVING-KINDNESS IN THE MORNING, FOR RENEWAL OF HEART. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."-Ps. li. 10. ALMIGHTY God, who hast mercifully preserved me during the unconscious hours of slumber, I desire to dedicate my waking moments and thoughts to Thee. Do Thou preoccupy my mind with hallowed and heavenly things. May I be enabled throughout this day, by the help of Thy Holy Spirit, to exclude all that is vain, and frivolous, and sinful, and to have my affections centred on Thee, as my best portion and chiefest joy. As Thy Spirit of old did brood over the face of the waters, may that same blessed Spirit descend in all the plenitude of His heavenly graces, that the gloom of a deeper moral |
