"i die daily."—1 cor. xv. 31.
o god almighty, father of all mercies, god of all grace, i beseech thee to look down upon me at this time in thy great kindness; let me feel it to be good for me to draw near unto god.
i desire to come acknowledging my great unworthiness. forgive, gracious lord, my many, many sins of thought, word, and deed; wash out all the defilements of the day. if i were to be tried by the doings of any single hour, how would i stand condemned! i am a miracle of mercy; kept, sustained, upheld, moment by moment, by the power of god.
blessed saviour! where could i have been this night but for thee? thou art praying for me, as for thy faltering disciple of old, that my faith fail not. i do rejoice to think that the same hand that was once outstretched for me on the cross is now lifted up in pleading {61} love before the throne, and that he who is for me is greater far than all that can be against me! oh strengthen me with all might by thy spirit in the inner man. subdue my corruptions, crucify all remaining sin. let me die to the world; let me not imbibe its false maxims, conform to its sinful tastes, or accord with its evil practices. let self in all its manifold forms be crucified, and god exalted. come, lord! search me, try me, prove me, and see if there be any wicked way in me. let me maintain a constant and habitual hatred of those sins that do more easily beset me; may i exercise a holy jealousy over my own heart. let no prosperity be strengthening my ties earthward, and weakening my ties heavenward. if thou givest me much of worldly good, may i write upon it all, "the things which are seen are temporal." may it be my exalted ambition to use it for thy glory. if thou sendest trial, let it issue in the peaceable fruits of righteousness, producing a child-like acquiescence in thy present dealings. let me never forget my pilgrim attitude. {62} let me be ever looking forward to that joyous time when, "clean escaped" from the corruptions that are in the world, i shall stand "faultless before the throne." meanwhile, make me more heavenly-minded, copying the example of him who was meek and lowly in heart.
let me be gentle and forgiving, let me not harbor unkind suspicions of others, but consider myself, lest i also be tempted. o give me the character of heaven on this side of death, that when i come to pass through the swellings of jordan i may be prepared for the joyous welcome awaiting me on the shores of glory, "enter thou into the joy of thy lord!"
have mercy on a world lying in wickedness! pity the careless; arouse the slumbering; support the weak; succour the poor and those that have no helper. bless thy church everywhere. may thy ministering servants hide themselves, that their lord may be exalted.
take the charge of me and of all near and dear to me this night. keep me, o keep me, king of kings, beneath thine own almighty wings. lying down in thy fear may i awake {63} in thy favor, fitted for all the duties of a new day; and all i ask is for jesus' sake. amen.
"let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense: and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice."
