MEDITATION ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. O FATHER without beginning, O quickening Spirit, Merciful, compassionate, long-suffering, of great pity, of great loving-kindness, who lovest the righteous, and hast compassion on the wicked, Pardoning our offences, and granting our petitions ; O God of the repentant, O Saviour of sinners, I have sinned against Thee, O Lord, and thus and thus have I done. Alas! Alas! Josh. vii. 20. How have I been enticed by my own lust. How have I hated instruction! James i. 14. Prov. v. 12. I have neither revered nor dreaded Thy incomprehensible splendour, Thy awful presence, Thy terrible power, Thy enduring kindness. I will call therefore if there be any that will answer me : Job v. 1. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Rom. vii. 24. How terrible is Thy judgment, O Lord, When the thrones are prepared, When the Angels stand by When mankind are introduced, When thoughts are revealed, When hidden things of darkness are brought to light. What will be my sentence, Who will extinguish my flame, 1 Cor. iv. 5. Grant me tears, O Lord, as Thou lovest me! A dreadful tribunal, Pleadings without excuse, The yawning gulf of hell, The roaring stream of fire, Of fire never to be extinguished; A dungeon of darkness, Of darkness where no light can pene trate; Beds of burning ashes, A worm that never dieth, A wall we cannot surmount, None to defend, None to liberate. But I repent, O Lord, O Lord, I do repent; help Thou mine impenitence; and more and more continually, pierce, cleave, and bruise my heart. Behold, Lord, what indignation I have wrought against myself. 2 Cor. vii. 11. Job xlii. 6. Behold how I abhor myself. Behold how continually my confusion is before me, and the shame of my face hath covered Psalm xliv. 15. Behold, Lord, how I denounce myself wor me. thy of eternal punishment, yea, and of all the miseries of this world. Behold me, Lord, condemned by my own judg ment : Tit. iii. 11. Behold, O Lord, and enter not into judgment with Thy servant. Psalm cxliii. 2. And now, Lord, I am humbled under Thy mighty hand; Unto Thee, O Lord, I bow my I fall on my face to the earth. 1 Pet. v. 6. knees. Eph. iii. 14. Josh. v. 14. Be merciful, O Lord, to me, the chief of sin ners. 1 Tim. i. 15. O my God, let mercy rejoice against judgment over my transgressions. James ii. 13. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken; O Lord, hearken, and do; defer not, for Thine own sake; defer not, O Lord my God. Dan. ix. 19. A WORD TO THE AGED. LONG, my friend, has God kept you upon earth; He has prolonged your time; He has not cut you off in the midst of your life, nor shortened your days; He has given you the full length of man's life. Many a neighbour have you seen cut down before you; many in their prime, many in their youth, many even in their infancy; and yet sickness, accidents, fevers, the pestilence that walketh in darkness, have passed you over, have left you standing in the land of the living, have not hurried you into God's presence. Has not God in thus sparing your life been very merciful to your soul? Have there not been times when it would have gone hard with you if you had died? Have there not been times when you were unfit for death, unfit for judgment, unfit for seeing face to face the Lord Jesus Christ our Judge and Saviour. Bless God therefore, bless Him and praise Him with |