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tor and my Redeemer, hear the voice of my supplication; give ear unto give ear unto the words of my

prayer.

My sins are so grievous, that I cannot endure them; mine iniquities are so heavy, that they press me to the dust: I cannot look up for shame, I am cast down, I am utterly discomfited.

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But, O Lord most mighty, O God most merciful, Jesu Christ most righteous, cast me not utterly from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

I have been deceived and cruelly mocked; I have loved the world, and despised righteousness; I have set up Dagon in my heart, and wilfully thrown down the ark of the Almighty. My name is Legion, for the sins that beset me are beyond number. The one evil spirit is gone, but seven others, more wicked than the first, have entered in to dwell in there, and my last state is worse than the first.

But O Lord most mighty, O God most merciful, O Jesu Christ most righteous, cast me not utterly from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

O my Father, let me pour forth my voice in confession, let me lay bare my heart before thee.

My open sins, my secret sins, my presumptuous sins; sins that I noted not, that I willingly neglected, that I acted in wilful ignorance and voluntary blindness, sins which a diligent spirit

might have prevented, but I would not. How manifold they are!

[Here confess them, naming them individually, and detailing their circumstances.]

But thou, O Lord, hast shed thy blood for the sins of the whole world. Thou enduredst the cross, despising the shame. Thou didst arise from the dead a glorified body; thou didst ascend, and lead captivity captive; thou sittest at the right hand of God, to mediate and to intercede. Through thee let me come before the Father: by thy blood of atonement suffer me to be cleansed; O quicken me according to thy word!

Lead me, O blessed Lord, to that sacred altar, the altar of thy memorial; there suffer me to feed on thy holy mysteries of love. Too long have I neglected thy holy feast; too long have I despised thy means of grace, too long have I forfeited my hopes of glory; but now no longer. Only do thou, who seest that I have no power of myself to help myself, be my guide, my propitiation, my advocate; so strengthen me by faith, so sanctify me by grace, that henceforward I may take up my cross and follow theethat when I shall be cleansed from the past, I may be strengthened for the future, that I may grow in grace more and more, that I may cast away the evil principles of the world, the degradation of sin, the foulness of the flesh; that I may be transformed in the renewing of my mind,

and put off the old man ;-so that from the hour in which I shall taste spiritually of thy body and thy blood, I may taste spiritually of comfort, and joy, and hope;-so that when this perishable world shall have passed away, this corruption shall have put on incorruption, this mortality shall have put on immortality, I, though unworthy, though weak, though disobedient, may yet sit down at the Supper of the Lamb, my soul redeemed, my sins forgiven.

O holy Father, hear my voice, for the sake of thy Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

THURSDAY.

SINS OF TEMPTATION.

THE MEDITATION.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

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The sinfulness of nature may, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the blood of Jesus Christ, be washed out; evil habits, evil principles, may have been avoided, and the knowledge of God's law may have worked in my heart a generally righteous life, so that I may look around me and say, "Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity." With the young man in the gospel, I may say, "All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet."

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a 1 Cor. x. 12.

Psalm xxvi. 1.

c Matt. xix. 20.

But, O my soul, darest thou thus commune with the Lord? Supposing that thou couldest hope to be called with righteous David, a man after God's own heart; yet hast thou had no moments of meditation, no losses from thy state of purity, no deviations in the hour of weakness from that holiness which God loves?

Cast back thy mind upon the days that are past. The Scripture tells me to "be sober, be vigilant, because my adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."a St. Paul says, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity of the gospel." My Saviour tells me that the seed is very often "sown among thorns ;" and though it presents a good appearance for a time, yet the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things enter in, and choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." And again, he most solemnly warns me to "watch and pray lest I enter into temptation, for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

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Am I then superior to all this? Do I stand in no need of this warning?

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Have I

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