Tuesday Evening — Week 1

O Thou who wast, and art, and art to come, the Almighty! With Thee is the fountain of life. In thy presence there is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. It is our privilege as well as our duty to draw near to Thee. It is the prerogative of our nature, that of all creatures in this lower world, we alone are made capable of knowing, resembling, serving, and enjoying Thee. All our degradation and misery have been produced by our alienation and absence from Thee; and all our happiness and perfection depend upon our reunion and intercourse with Thee. We therefore bless Thee for the revelation Thou hast given us, and by which we learn, that thy thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace and not of evil. We rejoice in a new and living way into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus, who has once suffered for sins the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. We pray that the grand design of his sacrifice may be accomplished in each of us. May we feel that we are brought back from the dreadful distance to which sin had conveyed us, and that we are one with God again; and henceforth may the life that we live in the flesh, be a life of communion with the Father of our spirits, and of devotedness to him. May thy service be the employment of our days, and the enjoyment of our hearts. May we love thy commands and acquiesce in thy dispensations; and then we are at the gate of heaven.

We lament that this has been so little the case with us, since we have known Thee, or rather have been known of Thee. We ought to be ashamed to think, that after all the instructions of thy word, the ordinances of thy house, and the discipline of thy family, our ears are still so dull of hearing, and our hearts so slow to believe; that our souls so cleave unto the dust; that we live so much under the influence of things seen and temporal, and feel so little of the powers of a world to come. How obscure is our knowledge; how weak our faith; how low our hope; how wavering our obedience; how lifeless our worship. O Lord, clothe us with humility; and in this attire help us to present Thee the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, which Thou wilt not despise.

And since Thou art the God of all grace, and hast commanded us to ask and receive that our joy may be full; afford us more of the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, to give more decision to our character, and more earnestness to our zeal; that with enlarged hearts in the way of thy commandments, we may run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. May we always realize thy presence; and may the thought that thine eye is upon us, operate as a check to sin, an excitement to duty, and a source of consolation. May we bear with firmness and submission the various trials of life and religion, and derive from them all the advantage which they are designed to afford. May we glorify the Lord in the fires, and may every day of trouble afford us an opportunity to prove the truth of thy promise, the tenderness of thy care, and the supports of thy grace. May tribulation work patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.

But how few, how limited, and how light are the afflictions with which we are exercised. How much more reason have we to be thankful than to complain. Bless the Lord, O our souls, and all that is within us, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O our souls, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all our iniquities; who healeth all our diseases; who redeemeth our lives from destruction; who crowneth us with loving kindness and tender mercies.

We praise Thee for the protection, the supplies, and the comforts of another day. Take us under thy care for the night on which we have entered. May no evil befal us, nor any plague come nigh our dwelling. Refresh our bodies and renew our strength by needful repose; and when we awake, may we be still with God, and rise to love Thee more and serve Thee better than we ever have done, through our Lord and Savior, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.