Meditation IV

Afflicted saints to Christ draw near,
The Saviour's gracious promise hear;
His gracious words declare to thee.
That as thy days, thy strength shall be.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul, why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him. Have just returned from church meeting. Did not perceive that Christian spirit of fellowship which ought to exist. Is there an Achan among us, O God, who has done the accursed thing; or is there a Jonah among us who has refused to obey thy will? If not, why hast thou so long hid thy face from us? for we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Return again unto us, O Lord God, we beseech thee, and open the eyes of our understanding, that we may see wherein we have sinned against thee. O God, we have robbed thee, in not presenting thee the first offering of our hearts. O turn away from us thy fierce anger, and pardon this our iniquity, and lift upon us more the light of thou reconciled countenance, and the joy of thy salvation. Have met with an earthly disappointment. Am somewhat disheartened. Naked came I forth from my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord. O my soul, labor not for the meat that perisheth. but for that which endureth unto life eternal. Lord, thou hast chastened me sore; but though thou hast caused me to fall, thou hast not utterly taken from me thy loving kindness: but thou hast dealt in tender mercy and compassion with me. I adore thee, praise thee, and bless thee, Parent of mercies, for thy patience and forbearance with me; for hadst thou left me to myself, where would my mad career have ended? Parent of mercies, give me calm submission to thy holy will in all things; for thou hast said that as thy day is so shall thy strength be.

Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Enable me to say from my heart, Thy will be done, O God. The heaven is thy throne and the earth is thy footstool; neither may any say unto thee, what doest thou? But though thou art the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, yet will thou condescend to look upon him that is of a humble, a broken, and a contrite heart. As such, enable me, O God, to bow before thee at this time, under a deep sense of my guilt and unworthiness. It was my sins that caused thee to arise in thy wrath against me. Be pleased, O God, to blot them from thy book, and remember them no more forever. Bless the church to which I belong. Thine arm is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is thine ear heavy that it cannot hear; but it is our sins that have separated thee from us. Purge us from all our dross; hide thy face from our iniquities, and speak peace to our troubled souls. Bless thy servant, our pastor; let not his soul be discouraged, but may an angel appear unto him strengthening him. Bless all the benighted sons and daughters of Africa, especially my unconverted friends. Send them not away from thy presence into that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; but magnify the riches of thy grace in plucking their souls as brands from the burning; and though I may long sleep in death before thou wilt perform this work, yet grant that in the resurrection morn we may all awake in thy likeness and our souls be bound in the sure bundle of eternal life.