blindness, and from the eternal night of the dark abyss. Sanctify to me every pain and every sorrow, that I may pass through the furnace of affliction, as gold purified in the fire; and when I have suffered all thou hast appointed unto me, may I come off more than a conqueror, through him that hath loved me and given himself for me. Amen. Our Father, &c. PRAYER XXV. Under Spiritual Trouble. SAVE me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul: I sink in the deep mire where there is no standing. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name. O show me the true estate of my soul, and make me to know the things that are freely given of God; and deliver me, gracious Lord, from all those offensive matters that provoke thee to hide thy face from me, and that wrap up my soul in clouds and darkness, and make me so much a stranger to peace and comforts. O grant me a clear discovery of the evidences of my calling and election; and seal a comfortable assurance of thy blessed love in Christ Jesus to my soul. O thou who didst bid the winds and waves, Peace, be still, and they obeyed thee,— settle my discomposed mind, and quiet my troubled breast, and bring me to see the light of thy countenance, and the joy of thy salvation. O thou who art of power to establish us, be pleased to establish my heart with grace, and let me be rooted and grounded in the faith, that I may not stagger, through unbelief, but hold the beginning of my confidence steadfast unto the end. Rejoice the scul of thy servant; for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul; and let the joy of the Lord be my strength, to make me victorious over my sins, and always to abound in thy work; never pleased so much with any thing as to do the things pleasing to my God, through Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Father, &c. PRAYER XXVI. An Invocation to the Holy Spirit. [Author of the Retrospect. Он, thou Holy Spirit! whose delight it is to convince sinners of their need of a Redeemer, and then to lead them unto Christ and give them faith to believe, do thou evermore dwell in my heart, and keep me ever mindful of my wants, and humbled for my sins. Give me, O thou Comforter and Sanctifier, give me grace to apply all his blessed work of redemption, all his gracious promises, to my soul. Enable me, as in the presence of a heart-searching God, day by day to declare, that this Saviour is my all, my theme, my inspiration, and my crown.Nothing short of this exceeding riches of grace, this incomprehensible weight of glory, can satisfy my soul. Oh! give me Christ, or all other gifts will be worse than nothing. Without Christ, life would be the prelude to certain and eternal death, and existence itself the greatest of curses. Come, thou Eternal, Holy Spirit! come and possess this soul of mine, and consecrate all its faculties to the service and glory of the Eternal Jehovah, for ever and for ever. Amen. Our Father, &c. PRAYER XXVII. For the Graces of the Spirit. [Author of the Retrospect. O ALMIGHTY, blessed, and eternal God, I now come, and in the name of Him in whom thou art well-pleased, I ask for grace to keep me in all my ways; for wisdom to instruct and direct me in all my wanderings and ignorance; for cou rage to confess Chust before men; for all those fruits and graces of thy Spirit, which shall enable me to glorify thy name in the world, and to serve my fellow-creatures for their good, until I am gathered to my fathers and see corruptien. And when the enemy comes in with the power of an overwhelming flood, the subtilty of hell, or in the garb of an angel of light, do thou stand by me and deliver my soul. When pain and sickness try this mortal body, do thou impart the meekness and resignation of a lamb unto my spirit. When death itself approaches, and the solemn scenes of eternity unfold themselves to my view, do thou enable me to read my title clear to a habitation not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Our Father, &c. |