"even the righteousness of god which is by faith of jesus christ unto all and upon all them that believe."—rom. iii. 22.
almighty god, father of all mercies, i desire to draw near into thy sacred presence on this the evening of another day, under a deep sense of my own great unworthiness. what am i, guilty, sinful, polluted, that i should be permitted to take thy name into my lips, or so much as lift up my eyes to the place where thou in glory dwellest!
i desire to renounce all dependence on myself. i come with all the great burden of my great guilt to a great saviour. i seek to bring the unrighteousness of an unworthy creature to the infinite righteousness and everlasting faithfulness of a tried redeemer. where would i have been, blessed jesus! this night, but for thee! all i am, and all i have, i owe to thy free, sovereign, unmerited grace. all my temporal mercies are sweetened to me as flowing from thy cross, and bearing on them the image {30} and superscription of thy love. and for every spiritual blessing i enjoy, and every spiritual hope i entertain, i desire doubly to adore thee, thou great author and finisher of my faith! whom have i in heaven but thee, and there is none in all the earth i desire besides thee. thou alone canst fill up the aching voids of my heart. in vain can i look to a transient world, or to the perishable creature, for solid peace and permanent enjoyment. all my well-springs are in thyself; with thee for my portion i am independent of every other.
i desire this night to obtain a lively and humbling view of my own spiritual poverty and deep creature destitution, that i may rejoice in the fullness and all-sufficiency of that righteousness which is unto all and upon all them that believe. in that righteousness i would seek to live, and in that righteousness i would seek to die. there is nothing else between me and everlasting ruin. but for thee, thou great covenant-angel standing in the breach, the fire of god would break forth and mingle my blood with this my evening sacrifice! but i "will greatly rejoice in the lord, my soul shall be {31} joyful in my god, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with a robe of righteousness." i take thee, o adorable saviour, as mine only, mine wholly; mine for all wants and all exigencies. i rejoice in the inexhaustible riches treasured up in thee—that thy fullness is adequate to supply all my present necessities; and out of that fullness i may still continue receiving, and that for ever and ever!
lord, look in great kindness on all whom i love. pity a perishing world. arrest the careless; reclaim the wandering; strengthen the feeble. hasten thy son's coming and kingdom. how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? save thy people; bless thine inheritance; feed them also, and lift them up for ever.
let the curtain of thy protecting providence be drawn around me this night. let me fall asleep at peace with thee, ready, if need be, to awake up in glory. and all i ask is for jesus' sake. amen.
"let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense: and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice."
