For a Pilgrim Spirit

“And confessed that they -were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” — Heb. xi. 13.

O God, again, in the multitude of Thy mercies. Thou art permitting me to approach the footstool of Thj throne. I am another day nearer death — oh, may I be a day nearer Thee! With a new morning’s dawn may I hear the pilgrim summons — “Arise, for this is not your rest.” Ere I mingle with the world, give me to feel I am not of it, but born frort% above, and/br above; and cherishing more and more of a pilgrim spirit, may my prayer and watchword be — “I desire a better country.”

Lord, I bless Thee for the rich provision Thou hast made for the wilderness journey —

for all Thy mercies, temporal, providential, and spiritual. Forbid that the manifold gifts of Thy love should draw me away from Thyself, the bountiful Giver, or obliterate the solemn impression — “I am a stranger with Thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” May I ‘^ use the world without abusing it.” By the varied discipline of Thy providence, may I be led to feel that all my well-springs are in Thee. May the world’s fascinations be becoming more powerless — sin more hated — holiness more loved — heaven more realized — God more “the exceeding joy” of my soul. Driven from all creature-stays and earthly refuges, may Jesus be the prop and staff of my pilgrimage. When the world is bright, may I rest upon Him, and seek that He sanctify my prosperity. When the wilderness is dreary, and the way dark, may He hallow adversity. When friends are removed, may I feel that I have One left more faithful than the best of all earthly friends; and when death comes, and the pilgrim warfare ceases,

leaning confidingly on that same arm, may I enter the pilgrim’s rest.

0 adorable Saviour! — Thou who wast once Thyself a pilgrim — the lonely, weary, homeless, afilicted One — who hadst often no arm to lean upon, and no voice to cheer Thee — an outcast wanderer and sojourner in Thine own creation — I rejoice to think that Thou hast trodden all this wilderness- world before me — that Thou knowest its dreariest paths. I take comfort in the assurance that there is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, a Fellow-Sufferer, who has drunk of every “brook in the way” — shed every tear of earthly sorrow — heaved every sigh of earthly suffering — and who, being Himself the “tried and tempted One,” is able and willing to succor every pilgrim who is tried and tempted too.

1 beseech Thee this day to look down in great kindness on all my beloved friends. Seal to them a saving interest in Thy great salvation. Wash them all in Thy blood — sanctify them all by Thy Spirit. May not one be wanting on “the day when Thou makest up Thy jewels.”

Compassionate a fallen world. Thy Church is slumbering — the enemy is all vigilant — souls are perishing. Arise, Lord, and plead Thine own cause. Promote greater unity, and love, and concord among Thine own people. Let us be nearer Jesus, and then we shall be nearer one another. Give us all more of the single eye to Thy glory. Make us more self-sacrificing — more heavenly-minded — more Saviour-like. And all I ask is for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

“cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning,

FOR IN thee do I trust.”