"prepare to meet thy god."—amos iv. 12.
o god, thou art daily loading me with thy benefits. thou art making the outgoings of the evening and morning to rejoice over me, giving me unnumbered causes for gratitude and thankfulness. no earthly friend could have loved and cared for me like thee. oh may the life thou art thus preserving by thine unceasing bounty be unreservedly dedicated to thy praise.
lord, keep me mindful that i am soon to be done with this world, that i am fast borne along the stream of time to an endless futurity. {98} "it is appointed unto all once to die, and after death the judgment." may i be living in a constant state of preparedness for that solemn hour when small and great shall stand before god, and the books shall be opened. educate me for eternity. let me not be frittering away these fleeting but precious moments. impress on me the solemn conviction that "as men live so do men die," that as death leaves me so will judgment find me. oh let death leave me falling asleep in jesus, united to him by a living faith, that so judgment may find me seated at his right hand, listening to the joyous welcome, "come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
blessed jesus, all my hope of a glorious resurrection centres in thee. i look to thee as the strong tower which cannot be shaken. i flee anew to the holy sanctuary of thy covenant love. sheltered there, amid a dissolving earth, and burning worlds, i shall be able joyfully to utter the challenge, "who shall separate me from the love of christ?" meanwhile may i seek to "occupy" till my lord comes. keep {99} me from all negligence and unwatchfulness. trim my flickering lamp. let me live with thy judgment-throne in view. whether waking or sleeping, may i bear about with me the thought that i must soon give an account of myself to god. may i feel that all the talents and means thou hast given me are trusts to be laid out for thee. when thou comest to demand a reckoning, may i not be among the number of those who have hid their talent in the earth, and have the cheerless retrospect of a misspent time.
lord! bless my friends, reward my benefactors, forgive my enemies. sanctify sorrow to all the sons and daughters of trial. may the torch of thy love light up their gloomy prospects. may every providential voice sound loud in their ears, "arise and depart ye, for this is not your rest!"
gracious god, watch over me during the night, and grant that at last, when all earth's evenings and mornings shall have passed away, i may, on the great day-break of glory, wake up in thy likeness, through him in whom is all my hope, and to whom, with thee, o father, {100} and thee, ever blessed spirit, one god, be everlasting praise, honor, and glory, world without end. amen.
"let my prayer be set forth before thee as
incense: and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice."
