"keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins."—psalm xix. 13.
blessed god, thou hast in thy mercy permitted me to see the close of another day. with what unwearying watchfulness has thou been compassing my path!—defending me from {20} danger, guarding me from temptation, hedging up my way with thorns, "preventing me with the blessings of thy goodness!" there is no friend in the world i have like thee; none so able, none so willing to be my friend. if i have been successful in resisting sin, it is all thy blessed grace which has enabled me. from how many slippery places has thou rescued me! when often on the brink of the precipice, ready to fall, thy interposing hand has saved me from inevitable destruction. when through my own weakness and unwatchfulness i must now have been wandering in hopeless alienation from thee, thou hast mercifully not suffered the bruised reed to be broken, nor the smoking flax to be quenched.
lord, my earnest prayer is that thy grace may still be made sufficient for me. may no spiritual foe be allowed to invade my peace or endanger my safety. let thy love be restored to its rightful ascendancy in my affections. may no rival be allowed to usurp its place. may i ever exercise a holy jealousy over this truant, wandering, deceitful heart; seeking day by day to subdue unmortified sin.
{21} may all thy dispensations issue in my sanctification. let me seek no unruffled path; may the cross be willingly carried. thou lovest me too well to give me my own way. whatever thy will and thy dealings may be, be it mine cheerfully and rejoicingly to acquiesce in them, knowing them to be the dictate of infinite wisdom and unchanging love. may all my worldly business and engagements be interfused and hallowed with the blessed sense and assurance of thy favor! walking all the day in the light of thy countenance, i must be safe!
god of bethel—god of all the families of the earth, vouchsafe thy richest benediction on all near and dear to me. give thine angels charge over them; let their names be written among the living in jerusalem; and oh, may we all seek in our several spheres to glorify thee on earth, either by active duty or by patient endurance; exemplifying in our daily walk the meek and lowly, the unselfish and self-denying, spirit of him, who hath left us an example that we should follow his steps.
hasten the coming of thy son's kingdom. {22} arise, o god, and plead thine own cause. "save thy people, bless thine inheritance, feed them also and lift them up for ever."
the curtain of night is again drawn around me. if it be thy will, spare me to see the light and enjoy the comforts of a new day; may i seek anew to enjoy them in thee; may every blessing be doubly sweet to me, bearing the impress of thy love in jesus. guide me in life, through death, into glory, for the sake of him in whom is all my hope, and to whom, with thee the father, and thee, ever-blessed spirit, one god, be ascribed all blessing and honor and glory and praise, world without end. amen.
"let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense: and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice."
