Fifth Week: Saturday Evening
O LORD G3d of Hosts, Thou hast established thy throne in the heavens, and thy kingdom ruleth over all. It is a source of joy to our minds, and of encouragement to our hopes, that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. In thy greatness, we see thy all-sufficiency to accomplish all that 1 hou hast promisedj to confer upon us all we need; and to do for us exceeding abundantly, above all we can ask or think.
It is therefore good for us to draw near to Thee, and it is our mercy to know, that we ca!i approach Thee with confidence of acceptance and success, founded not on any worthiness or works of our own, but on thy own grace, in the appointment of a Mediator, who has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and opened a new and living way, into the holiest of all, by his own blood.
We have no other name to plead; and we need no other. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine Anointed: and for his sake, who groaned in the garden and died upon the cross, and now appears in thy presence for us, pardon our iniquity for it is great; cleanse us from all unrighteousness; deliver us from the power of darkness; and translate us into the kingdom jf thy dear Son
May we no longer be strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and because we are sons, send forth the s])irit of thy Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. May our intercourse with Thee, be free, and delightful, and constant; and not on peculiar occasions only, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving may we make known our requests unto Thee. May we live in thy presence.
May we walk with God — and walk humbly with God; sensible of our deficiencies and desert; admiring thy condescension and patience; and bowing to all thy dispensatious, without murmuring or repining.
May we walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. May we be zealous in the discharge of all those duties, the performance of which, depends on a season so fleeting and precarious. May we consider one another, and provoke one another to love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more — as we seethe day approaching.
Enable us to realize the universality and perfection of thy agency, in all our affairs; and since all thy ways are mercy and truth, may we learn in whatsoever state we are therewith to be content; yea in every thing may we give thanks.
May we not only submit to our trials, but be grateful for them. They are designed for our profit, that we may be partakers of thy holiness. They evince a care of which we are unworthy and which we have never properly repaid. Lord, what is man, that Thou shouldst magnify him? that Thou shoulds. set thy heart upon him? tha* b2
Thou shouldst visit him every nnorning, and chasten him every moment? So impatient, and wayward and foolish, have we been under thy hand, that we have forfeited all claim to the rod, and deserve lo be stricken no more. It would be just in Thee to say, They are joined to idols, let them alone. But O Lord, abandon us not to ourselves; treat us not with neglect. Employ whatever means are necessary to save and sanctify our souls. Try us as Thou pleasest; only, while we are chastened of the Lord, let us not be condemned with the wicked.
Humble us under a review of our depravity, through another day, and another week, which is now hastening to join the days and weeks before the flood. Who can understand his errors? In many things we all offend. Hide thy face from our sins Heal our backslidings and receieve us graciously.
On the coming day, let thy good Spirit lead us to thy holy h II, and to thy tabernacle. May we go unto the altar of God as to our exceeding joy, and taste the blessedness of those that dwell in thy house, and are still praising Thee. Teach us to value properly, the means of grace, and be concerned to derive from them, the benefit they are designed to afford. May we remember our accounlableness for them. May we remember, that they never leave us as they find us; but always prove the savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.
Let not our attendance add to our sin and condemnation. Let us not sing without devotion, pray without desire, and hear in vain; but be found in the number of those, who know the joyful sound, and walk in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost.
And may those who will not be able to hear the word, hear the rod, and hear it saying, As jnany as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Let meditation, and reading-, and pious conversation, and above all, thy special presence, be substitutes for public ordinances. Thus send portions to those lor whom nothinor is prepared, and let them that tarry at home, divide the spoil. And have mercy upon all men, as we implore it through the mediation of the ever blessed Redeemer, in whose words we address Thee — Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the p-owei and the glcry, f;>r ver. Amen,