O Lord! truly we have nothing to pay, and frankly, Thou forgivest us all. May the sense of our infinite obligations to Thee for Thine infinite mercy to us open up fountains of joyful surrender in our hearts which will follow out always in all holy living, and in grateful yielding of ourselves to that great Saviour.
Deliver us, we pray Thee, from the error of ever making light of the sins which Thy pardoning mercy takes away. May we all, feel, what indeed is true, that we all have been forgiven very much. And may our love ever bear some proportion to our obligation and our lives be ordered by our love.
We thank Thee, O Lord, that however the past has been stained and imperfect, they who come to Thee with penitent tears and with thankful love cease to be sinners, whatever men may think. We thank Thee that Thou, Who knowest us better than any of us know one another, hast infinite mercy, and that Thou canst read all hearts. Read ours, we beseech Thee, and teach us to read them. May we have no pharisaical abhorrence of sinful men and women, no pharisaical confidence in our own deeds, but we be glad to take our place beside the publicans of the world, and be content to depend, as they do, upon Thy mercy, unmerited and free, all sufficient and entire.
But we pray Thee, O Lord, that Thou wouldst help us day by day to 'perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord' ; and just because Thou hast lifted us from the horrible pit and the miry clay may we feel that our feet are set upon a rock. And may our goings be established, and we live day by day cultivating and making our own more and more of the excellences and the graces of which Jesus Christ is the Example, and of which, blessed be God ! Jesus Christ is the source for us.
We thank Thee that in union with Him we become other than we are. We thank Thee for that new life created after the image of Thyself, which is imparted to all them that humbly cherish the faith in Jesus Christ. And we pray that we may experience, and feel that we growingly experience, not only Thy forgiving mercy but Thy sanctifying and elevating and ennobling grace. May we be growing, and to our own perception growing, more and more in the likeness of our Lord and Saviour.
Thou hast appointed that the nearer we come to Thee, the further off we feel we are. Thou hast made it the case that the more we grow towards God, the more we are sensible of the distance between us. But we thank Thee for that gracious knowledge of infirmity, of imperfection, which ever accompanies the advance in the Divine life. And we beseech Thee that the higher we rise toward Thee, the lowlier we may lie in our own estimation, as recognising how far it is from the highest mountain-tops to the Heavens, and from the most perfect man to God. But help us, we pray Thee, not only to be buoyed up, and borne onwards by, and uprising continually to calm assurance that we shall be like Him when we see Him as He is.
We thank Thee for the great hope, we thank Thee for the encouragement which comes to all toilers and wrestlers here below. We thank Thee that none of us needs to give up, or to let the feeble hands hang down, and the knees give way and cease to advance on the road to God. We pray that we may be helped and heartened day by day to take up our cross and our burden to-day, to do the day's work with the day's strength, and look as those who trust in Thee may look without presumption, that in all good things possessed, and in all good things done and realised in our souls, 'to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.'
Help us thus, we pray Thee, to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Saviour. May our lives be peaceful and happy lives because we are coming ever nearer to our love, ever closer to our Redeemer, ever liker to Him in his perfection.
We beseech Thee to give us Thy blessing in this evening's worship. May it be indeed to meet with Thee that we come. Oh ! do Thou help us to pass beyond all external aids, even by the help of these aids, to come into the secret place of the Most High, that we may each have touch with God, and each feel that it is Thee Who by these outward ordinances art speaking to our hearts. Lead us we pray Thee, in our hour of service into the holy places where we shall find our Master, and lose our sins. And if we have brought with us burdens or sorrows, tasks or duties, cares or troubles, strengthen us by waiting upon Thee to bear and to do all Thy holy will, and may we do it as from the heart, and so do it well.
In all the variety of circumstances and character, guide us along the paths of life so that we may glorify Thy Holy Name. It is for Thee to appoint whether the road be rough or smooth, crooked or straight. We dare not seem to prescribe to Thee. Thou maintainest our lot. May our hears say Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us, but help us, wherever Thou dost lead us, and whatever Thou dost lay upon us, giving us grace according to our need, strength that shall perfect itself in our weakness, and the daily bread and succour for the daily hunger and necessity.
Take us into Thy care now, O Lord, forgive or many sine, and grant us Thy gracious presence and blessing in this hour of worship, for the sake Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
