III.

For Newness of Life.

ALMIGHTY CREATOR, Father of Jesus Christ my Lord! Thou didst breathe into me the breath of my natural life. Inspire me now, I beseech thee, with the life that is spiritual and immortal. Thou didst frame this body, so fearfully and wonderfully made. Hallow it by an indwelling soul devoted to thy will. Let its frailty, its disorders, its perishableness, make me only the more diligent and faithful in consecrating all its powers to thy service. The faculties of my mind were planted and attempered by thy wondrous skill. Subdue them to thy perfect authority, and let them rejoice to bow at thy righteous control. The affections and sympathies of my heart were all wakened by thine unsleeping love. May they rise first of all to thee, and find their noblest exercise in the adoration of thy wisdom and mercy, so that all my mortal friendships shall be made stronger and purer, by being mingled with the higher love which binds my heart to heaven.

But O, thou Searcher of hearts, thou knowest that I am stained within and without by the defilements of sin. I am not clean; I am not just; I am not good. The bright heavens over my head are impure in thy sight; how much more this offending breast! The world has too much power over me. I

am too

much the victim of its delusions, and the slave of its passions. Grant me deliverance by thy Holy Spirit. I am too apt to conform to its wicked customs, to be overborne by its proud fashions, to be led astray by its base examples. O, break this vile bondage, and bring me into the liberty of the sons of God. I am too self-seeking in my business, too harsh in my speech, too uncharitable in my judgments, too impatient in my temper, too fond of ease and indulgence, too devoted to the way that seems pleasant in my own eyes. Scatter these deceptions and snares. Show me my peril and guilt. Rouse me to repentance, and then, merciful Father, pardon me, and restore me unto thyself.

But thou seest, my God, that the root of all my outward transgressions is an unsubmissive and unreconciled heart. Bend my stubborn will, therefore, and break down every feeling that rebels at thy law. The sin is in the depths of my heart. I feel that my disease is in the inmost dispositions and hidden state of my soul. Reach after it there, I pray thee, and purge it thence. No superficial sorrow or fitful effort can drive it away. Nothing can save me but a renewal of my inmost being, through the inworking of thy grace. Give me that hearty and thorough repentance which is unto life, and needeth not to be repented of. Pour into the springs of thought and feeling within me a quickening and converting energy. Hold up before me, in thy word and providence,

that law of awful purity which is a terror to the conscience, and which is the condemnation of my life. Alarm my indifference. Urge my sluggishness. Hasten my steps in the return from the far country to my Father's house. Reveal to me the promise and the peace that dwell forever in that blessed home, and so lead me, from under the stern and fearful discipline of a law which maketh nothing perfect, into the liberty of grace; from the obedience of a servant to the free and filial trust of a child; from the dread of penalties and the seeking of rewards, to a better hope and the love that casteth out all fear. Make me a true disciple of the cross.

Lord God Almighty, with thee all things are possible. I implore this infinite good, this glorious salvation by thy Son. Work it out within me, I beseech thee, in thine own way, and by such instruments as thou wilt; by pain or joy, by suffering or comfort, by sickness or health, by peace or by grief. Only so chasten me that I may be wholly thine. So renew me that I shall say and feel, in all things, "Thy will be done." And so refashion my sinning soul, that I shall be a new creature in Christ Jesus, and by the power of his redemption. And thine shall be all the glory, through him who is the Mediator of the new covenant. Amen.

IV.

Prayer when Oppressed by Difficulties in Theology.

INFINITE and Eternal Being, whose nature and whose ways no finite mind can comprehend, thou seest how my frail reason is burdened, how my thoughts are oppressed, how my words are silenced, in meditating on thy decrees and dispensations, on the prevalence of evil, and on the prospects of human kind. O my Lord, these mysteries are too awful and too painful for me. Help me, I pray thee, to repose on the belief of thy divine perfection, who art supremely just and holy, merciful and good, and with whom all things are possible. Let me never forget or doubt that God is love and great as may be the difficulty of reconciling the state and history of our race with that glorious and delightful truth, O give me strength to hold fast the invaluable declaration and supreme manifestation of it, and to believe that it shall at last be developed in all its cloudless and overcoming splendor.

Teach me ever to believe with the heart that fact which is the marvellous and crowning demonstration of thy essential love; that God so loved the world that he spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; that he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the

whole world; that Jesus was made lower than the angels in order that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man; that he gave himself a ransom for all; that as the Lamb of God he taketh away the sin of the world; and let me not entangle myself in strifes of words and perplexities of speculation, which would restrict the largeness of this grace. Merciful Father, never may I forget that we know but parts of thy ways; that man's mind and man's systems are limited and dark, and that human hearts are deceitful and erring. O give me to believe that there is something beyond and above their view and mine, in the glory, efficiency and vastness, of thy great salvation. Let me cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of!

Save me and mine, I beseech thee, good Lord, from all fundamental and ruinous error, from all haughty and presumptuous reasonings, but specially from distrustful and despairing thoughts of thee, of thy glorious administration, and thy holy purposes. O grant me strength to believe that it is for wise and gracious reasons thou permittest me to be variously tried, perturbed and tempted, and peculiarly so at times, by pondering the high and surprising mysteries of thy procedure and decrees. O Lord, be pleased to extricate me from all trials, as they shall successively or together occur; and at present particularly from this arduous trial of faith. Give me, I entreat, that calm and happy confidence in thee which