Isaiah xl. Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your GOD. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our GOD. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of our GoD shall stand for ever. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; Ō Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your GOD! Behold, the LORD GOD will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being His counsellor hath taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught : Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken GOD? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and He shall blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my GOD? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting GOD, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Prayer. I praise Thee, my God, my mercy, Who didst not forget me although I had forgotten Thee. Thou hast broken my bonds asunder. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise. Let my heart and tongue praise Thee, and let all my bones say, LORD, Who is like unto Thee? Let them say, and do Thou answer me, and say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Who, and what am I? What evil have I not done, or my actions; if not my deeds, my words; if not my words, my will? But Thou, O LORD, art good and pitiful, and regardest the depth of my death with Thy right hand, and drawest up the abyss of my corruption from the bottom of my heart. Grant to my heart, I beseech Thee, O LORD my GOD, Thy Holy Spirit, to lead me in the way of Thy commandments, and to teach me to do Thy will. Grant me to desire Thee alone, desiring to seek, seeking to find, finding to love, loving to repent my sins, repenting not to repeat them. Extinguish in me the desires of the flesh, and kindle the fire of Thy love. Drive out from me the spirit of pride, and grant me of Thy goodness the spirit of Thy humility. Take away from me the passion of anger, and mercifully vouchsafe to me the shield of patience. Grant to me, O most merciful FATHER, firm faith, fitting hope, continual charity. Turn from me vanity of soul, inconstancy of mind, reproaching of my neighbour, the sins of slanderings, the desire of riches, the longing after vain glory, the evil of hypocrisy, the poison of flattery, contempt of the poor, oppression of the weak, the fire of avarice, the canker of envy, the death of blasphemy. My God, my mercy, I beseech Thee by Thy beloved SON, give me the works of mercy, pursuits of piety, sympathy with the afflicted, to guide the erring, to help the needy, to console the sad, to relieve the oppressed, to refresh the poor, to forgive debtors, to spare those who sin against me, to love those who hate me, to render good for evil, to despise no one, but to honour all, to imitate the good, to shun the bad, to seek virtues, to reject vices, patience in adversity, temperance in prosperity, watchfulness of the tongue, and a door kept upon my lips, to tread earthly things under foot, to thirst for things of heaven. Make me, O Lord, Thou strength of my salvation, not to be of the number of those, who are faithful for a season, and in time of temptation fall away. Shelter my head in the day of battle; be Thou my hope in the day of affliction, and salvation in the time of trouble. Behold, O LORD, my light and my salvation, I have asked what things I need, 1 have mentioned what I fear. Have mercy upon me, my GOD, and hear my prayers, through Thy SON OUR SAVIOUR, blessed for ever. Amen. Accept, O LORD, the residue of the years of my wretched life, and for those which I have lost in my living, because I lost sight of Thee, my broken and contrite heart, O God, do Thou not despise. My days have departed and perished without fruit; I cannot recall them, but may it please Thee that I remember them in the bitterness of my soul. Amen. Grant, O LORD, that cleansed from the filth of my sins, and enlightened in soul, I may know Thee by the eye of faith; and knowing Thee, may I ever direct my heart to Thee, press and pant after Thee, till at last I may obtain, by a happy death, to come to Thee, CHRIST JESUS, Who livest and reignest with God the FATHER, in the unity of the HOLY GHOST, for ever and ever. Amen. Glory be to the FATHER, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. CHAPTER VII.-THE DAYS THAT ARE LEFT. "WILT thou not from this time cry unto Me, My FATHER, Thou art the guide of my youth."" Thus GOD speaks unto thee. He overlooks all the past, and only asks for the future. Thou hast but the halt and the blind, and the maimed to offer to Him, but even this, the remnant of thy life, the least and most unprofitable part, He will accept, if it be truly thine all; if it be offered in faith and love. David said, “ Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my GOD of that which cost me nothing." This thou art doing, and GoD of His infinite mercy in CHRIST receives thee. Alas! how much time is lost! how little remains ! Remember the days of thy life, how much of thy time was spent in sleep, how much in eating, how much in works for the world and thyself, how much in folly, how little to GOD. It is well if more than a hundredth part of thy time has been given to GOD. Let the time past then suffice to have walked after thine own will. "Redeem the time." Walk "in the day." "The night cometh when no man can work." At least thou canst spend well what remains to thee. Root out the last fibres of old sins, and make perfect thy repentance. Resist the faults of old age. Be not irritable, nor complaining. See that thou art not hard and covetous. Take heed lest thou be severe with others, thou who needest so great mercy at GOD's hand. Be prepared for thy end, come it when, and how, it may. Let no debts be outstanding, no difficult affairs unsettled. Let thy will be made, and that fairly. Beware of injustice in thy last act. What is a will but a dying man's desire and intention? "I will," he says, "that when I am dead these things be 1 Jer. iii, 4. |