【英文文学】Evening Incense.docx

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1、【英文文学】Evening IncenseFIRST EVENING. FOR COMMunion WITH GOD.Abide with us; for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent.Luke xxiv. 29.O God, I desire to approach Thy throne of Grace on the evening of this day, beseeching Thee to grant me Thy benediction and blessing. The shadows of night have

2、once more gathered around me; may no shadow of sin or unbelief darken my soul, or interrupt my communion with Thee. It is not night if Thou art near. Let me enter the inner chamber of Thy presence, and experience conscious fellowship with Thee my Father in Heaven.Do Thou graciously forgive all the s

3、ins of the past day, its sins of omission and of commission, of thought, and word, and deed. Hide me anew in the clefts of the Smitten Rock. I confidently repose my everlasting interests on the finished work and righteousness of a tried Redeemer. May I know more and more of the attractive power of H

4、is Crossthe adaptation 8 of His character and work to all the wants and weaknesses, the sorrows and infirmities, of my tried and suffering and tempted nature. May I live more under the sovereign motive of love to Him, and experience more the happiness of life spent in His service.Gracious Lord! may

5、a sense of Thy favor penetrate with its leavening power every duty in which I engage, lessening every cross and sweetening every care. Take what Thou wilt away, but take not Thyself; no earthly good can compensate for the loss of Thy friendship. Existence would be one vast blank without Thee. Give m

6、e to realize the blessedness of unfaltering dependence on Thy covenant mercy, knowing that all which befalls me is the pledge and dictate of unerring love, and that nothing can come wrong that comes from Thy hand.Thus while my daily walk is hallowed and brightened by Thy presence and fellowship, may

7、 I be enabled to look calm and undismayed on the unknown and chequered future, feeling that even over the gloomy portals of the grave, with Thee as my Portion and Heritage, I can write, To die is gain! Meanwhile do Thou fit me 9 for every duty, prepare me for every trial. If Thou givest me the full

8、cup, give me grace to carry it with a steady hand. If Thou sendest adversity, let me regard it as Thine own gracious discipline, to wean me from earth and train me for glory.May it be my great ambition, through the help of Thy Blessed Spirit, to attain a gradual resemblance to the character and conf

9、ormity to the will of my adorable Redeemer. May I be clothed with humility. May I be daily becoming more meek and gentle, more contented and thankful, more submissive and resigned, watching against anything in my heart or conduct that I know would be displeasing to Thee, making it my meat and my dri

10、nk to do Thy holy will.Thou unslumbering Shepherd of Israel, vouchsafe Thy guardian care to all near and dear to me: shield them from danger: give Thine angels charge over them; sanctify them body, soul, and spirit; seal them unto the day of eternal redemption.May we all lie down to sleep this night

11、 in Thy fear, and awake in Thy favor, fitted for the 10 duties of a new day. And all I ask is for Jesus sake. Amen.LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE.SECOND EVENING. FOR PARDONING GRACE.For Thy names sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniq

12、uity; for it is great.Ps. xxv. 11.Gracious God! do Thou look down upon me this night in Thy great mercy. May I have now the inner sunshine of Thy presence! Ere I retire to rest, let me pitch my tent near Thyself, and enjoy the tokens of Thy favor and blessing. Thy loving-kindness has been new to me

13、every morning, and Thy faithfulness every night.I desire to render Thee the thank-offering of a grateful heart. My life is one wondrous attestation to Thy patience and forbearance. The kindness of the best earthly friend has been nothing to Thine. Thou mightest long ere now have left me to reap the

14、fruits of my 11 own guilty estrangement, withdrawing the grace and Spirit I have so long resisted, executing against me the awful doom of the cumberer. But I am still spared, a living monument of mercy. Thy ways are not as mans ways, nor Thy thoughts as mans thoughts.Lord, I would seek anew this nig

15、ht to close with the alone Sovereign remedy! Jesus! there is no other prop but Thee to support a sinking soul and a sinking world. There is nothing between me and everlasting destruction but Thy glorious work and finished righteousness. I rejoice to think that it is all I needliving or dying, for ti

16、me or for eternity. O blot out in Thy precious blood my many, many sins. Nothing in my own hands I bring; I cling simply to Thy cross. Mercy and truth have there met together; righteousness and peace have embraced each other. Reposing in what Thou has done, and in what Thou art still willing to do,

17、I can rejoicingly say, Return unto thy rest, O my soul.Bring me to live more habitually under the constraining influence of redeeming love. Purchased at such a price, may I be willing freely 12 to consecrate soul and body to Thy service. Let me feel that the bitterest of all trials is the forfeiture

18、 of Thy favor and love, and the loftiest joy is the assured possession of Thy gracious friendship. May my spirit be brought into blessed unison with Thine. May I become more gentle, and resigned, and submissive, and unselfish; more heavenly-minded; more Saviour-like. May I be led to regard all, even

19、 Thy darkest dealings to me here, as needful parts in Thy plan of stupendous wisdom. May I rest contented in the assurance that what I know not now I shall know hereafter.Unite me to all my dear friends, and them to me, in the bonds of Christian love. Amid all the fluctuations of this mortal life, m

20、ay we ever have grace given us to cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. Treading the same pilgrim-journey, may we arrive at last at the same pilgrim-home.I would retire to rest this night with my eye on the opened fountain. O give me that peace of Thine which the world knoweth not of, whi

21、ch the world cannot give, and, blessed be God, which the world cannot take away! Abide 13 with me, for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. Give thine angels charge over me during the unconscious hours of sleep, and, when all my evenings and mornings shall be finished, may it be mine to

22、wake up with Thyself in glory everlasting, through Jesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour. Amen.LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE.THIRD EVENING. FOR RENEWING GRACE.Renew a right spirit within me.Psalm li. 10.Blessed God, I desire

23、anew to end this night with Thee! Do Thou enkindle my soul as with a live coal from off Thy holy altar! Let all unhallowed and obtrusive thoughts and cares be set aside, that I may enjoy a season of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.I rejoice to think that I have such a Friend

24、 to repair tosuch a never-failing refuge in every season of perplexity and trouble; vicissitude 14 is written on all around me, but Thou art the same. Though often, alas! I have changed towards Thee, Thou hast never changed towards me. Thou didst love me from the beginning, and that love remains to

25、this hour, infinite, unalterable!Lord, I am mourning over my many and grievous backslidings, my base and unworthy requital of all Thine unmerited kindness. Bring me in poverty of Spirit, with deep conscious unworthiness, to say, God be merciful to me a sinner. Give me a realizing sense of the evil o

26、f sin, and my own sin in particular. I feel that I have no abiding and depressing consciousness of my guilt. How little of genuine, heartfelt contrition do I experience! How often I appear to be humble and penitent when I am not! How do my very prayers condemn me; and my confessions of sin need them

27、selves to be confessed!Oh renew me in the spirit of my mind.May all old things pass away; may all things be made new. Transform me by the indwelling power of Thy quickening Spirit. May affections now alienated from Thee be reclaimed 15 to Thy service. May I seek to be more animated by the sovereign

28、motive of love to Him, whose I am, and whom it is alike my duty and my privilege to obey. Knowing that this is Thy will concerning me, even my sanctification, may it be my constant ambition to be growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.I have in myself no might, no

29、 power, no sufficiency, to do any of these things. My sufficiency is of Thee. Do Thou make Thy grace sufficient for me, and perfect strength in weakness. Keep me from all evil that would be likely to grieve me. Wean me from all that is fleeting and perishable here, and may all Thy dealings towards m

30、e issue in the confirmed habit of a holy life. If Thou sendest affliction, let me regard it as Thine own way of dispensing spiritual blessing, and bow with lowly submission to Thy sovereign appointments.Bless all my beloved friends. Keep them as the apple of Thine eye. Hide them under the shadow of

31、Thy everlasting wings. Sanctify trial to all in sorrow. Let the widow and the fatherless put their trust in Thee. Succor the 16 poor and him that hath no helper. Support the aged. Sustain the dying. May we all bear one anothers burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.As the pillar of cloud has been

32、with me by day, so may the pillar of fire be with me this night. Watch over me during the unconscious hours of sleep, and when I awake may I be still with Thee. And all I ask is for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only Saviour. Amen.LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP O

33、F MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE.FOURTH EVENING. FOR SANCTIFYING GRACE.Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.John xvii. 17.Blessed Lord, do Thou bend Thy pitying eye of love and mercy upon me this evening. Draw Thou near to me as I venture once more on praying and on pleading ground.

34、I desire to feel that I am one night nearer glory. Oh, enable me to feel, as night after night is silently 17 stealing over my head, that my seasons and opportunities of grace are fleeting fast away, and that soon the night cometh, wherein I can work no more.Alas! O God, how little have I improved t

35、he time that is past! I am a wonder to myself, that with all my deep ingratitude and utter vileness I am yet permitted to approach Thy footstool: I have sinned against light and lovewarning and mercygrace and privilege. The retrospect of life is a retrospect of guilt. I mourn over my manifold shortc

36、omingsthe alienation of my heart from Theethe fitfulness of my spiritual framesthe ebbings and flowings in the tide of my love. When tried by the lofty and unerring standard of Thy law, how are my best actions and duties marred with defilement! How much self-seeking and self-gloryinghow little anima

37、ted by the predominating motive of love to Thee, and singleness of eye to Thy service!Blessed Jesus! I flee anew to the pavilion of Thy love. I have no other hope, no other refuge, but in Thy finished workThy matchless atonementThy spotless righteousness. 18 There is in Thee an all-sufficiency for e

38、very want. Finite necessities cannot exhaust Infinite fullness. Let me hear Thy voice saying, Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee! O sprinkle me with Thy blood; sanctify me, body, soul, and spirit. Transform me more and more into Thine own image. May I know more and more the happiness of

39、 true holinessthat I am really blessed in seeking to walk so as to please God. May the power of grace wax stronger and stronger, and the power of sin wax weaker and weaker. May trials and crosses become light and easy to me when borne in a spirit of meek, unrepining submission to the Divine will. Ma

40、y this quiet every doubt and misgiving, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Lord, may every providential dealing prove a heart-searcher, testing the reality of my love to Thee, and my meetness and preparedness for Thy heavenly kingdom.Extend, Lord, Thy cause and Gospe

41、l everywhere. Strengthen Thy missionary and ministering servants. May they ever hear the sound of their Masters footsteps behind them. May 19 thy churches walk in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.Bless all my beloved friends wherever they are; do Thou be their Almighty Protector

42、and Guide. Let the angel come at this the time of evening incense, touching all our hearts, and granting us an answer to our several petitions. Let us rise to-morrow refreshed for Thy service; and fitted for whatsoever in Thy good providence we may be called either to do or to suffer. Hear me, graci

43、ous God, for the sake of Him whom Thou hearest always. Amen.LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE ASINCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDSAS THE EVENING SACRIFICE.FIFTH EVENING. FOR RESTRAINING GRACE.Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins.Psalm xix. 13.Blessed God, Thou hast in Thy merc

44、y permitted me to see the close of another day. With what unwearying watchfulness has Thou been compassing my path!defending me from 20 danger, guarding me from temptation, hedging up my way with thorns, preventing me with the blessings of Thy goodness! There is no friend in the world I have like Th

45、ee; none so able, none so willing to be my friend. If I have been successful in resisting sin, it is all Thy blessed grace which has enabled me. From how many slippery places has Thou rescued me! When often on the brink of the precipice, ready to fall, Thy interposing hand has saved me from inevitab

46、le destruction. When through my own weakness and unwatchfulness I must now have been wandering in hopeless alienation from Thee, Thou hast mercifully not suffered the bruised reed to be broken, nor the smoking flax to be quenched.Lord, my earnest prayer is that Thy grace may still be made sufficient

47、 for me. May no spiritual foe be allowed to invade my peace or endanger my safety. Let Thy love be restored to its rightful ascendancy in my affections. May no rival be allowed to usurp its place. May I ever exercise a holy jealousy over this truant, wandering, deceitful heart; seeking day by day to

48、 subdue unmortified sin.21 May all Thy dispensations issue in my sanctification. Let me seek no unruffled path; may the cross be willingly carried. Thou lovest me too well to give me my own way. Whatever Thy will and Thy dealings may be, be it mine cheerfully and rejoicingly to acquiesce in them, kn

49、owing them to be the dictate of infinite wisdom and unchanging love. May all my worldly business and engagements be interfused and hallowed with the blessed sense and assurance of Thy favor! Walking all the day in the light of Thy countenance, I must be safe!God of BethelGod of all the families of the earth, vouchsafe Thy richest