because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. (Isa. xxvi.) But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my LORD hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My Hands; thy walls are continually before Me. (Isa. xlix.) I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in Righteousness, and in Judgment, and in Loving-kindness, and in Mercies. I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. (Hosea ii.) I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am Glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy FATHER, keep through Thine Own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word. FATHER, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My Glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. (S. John xvii.) EXERCISE OF LOVE. WHOM have I in hea ven but Thee: and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth but GOD is the Strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. (Ps. lxxiii.) Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after Thee, O GOD. My soul is athirst for GOD, yea, even for the living GOD: when shall I come to appear before the Presence of GOD? (Ps. xlii.) O GOD, Thou art my GOD: early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh also longeth after Thee in a barren and dry land, where no water is. : Thus have I looked for Thee in holiness: that I might behold Thy power and glory. (Ps. Ixiii.) O how amiable are Thy dwellings : Thou LORD of hosts! My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the LORD my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living GOD. Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young: even Thy altars, O LORD of Hosts, my King and my GOD. (Ps. lxxxiv.) By night on my bed I sought Him Whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek Him Whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. (Cant. iii.) I sleep, but my heart waketh it is the Voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled: for My Head is filled with dew, and My Locks with the drops of the night. I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when He spake. I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, that ye tell Him, that I am sick of love. (Cant. v.) Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My FATHER, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. (S. John xiv.) JESUS answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My FATHER will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. (S.John xiv.) Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (S. John xv.) For GOD so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life. For GOD sent not His SON into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (S. John iii.) But GOD commendeth His Love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, CHRIST died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His 'Blood, we shall be saved rom wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to GOD by the Death of His SON, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His Life. (Rom. v.) or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able Love of GOD, which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD. (Rom. viii.) He that spared not His own SON, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely to separate us from the give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of GOD's Elect? It is GOD that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is CHRIST that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the Right Hand of GOD; Who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of CHRIST? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which GOD hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His SPIRIT: for the SPIRIT searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of GOD. (1 Cor. ii.) EXERCISE OF CONTRI TION. LORD, rebuke me not in Thine indignation neither chasten me in Thy displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am weak: O LORD, heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul also is sore troubled but, LORD, how long wilt Thou punish me? Turn Thee, O LORD, and deliver my soul: O save me, for Thy mercy's sake. (Ps. vi.) O remember not the sins and offences of my youth but according to Thy Mercy think Thou upon me, O LORD, for Thy Goodness. : For Thy Name's sake, O LORD be merciful unto my sin, for it is great. Look upon my adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin. (Ps. XXV.) LORD, Thou knowest all my desire and my groaning is not hid from Thee. My heart panteth, my strength hath failed me: and the sight of mine eyes is gone from me. (Ps. xxxviii.) I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job xlii.) Withdraw not Thou Thy mercy from me, O LORD: let Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth always preserve me. For innumerable troubles are come about me; my sins have taken such hold upon me, that I am not able to look up: yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me. (Ps. xl.) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips : for mine |