Extracts from the Golden Treasury.
O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Psalm xliii, 3. DIVINE ANSWER. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Prov. iv, 18. The wiser we are in our own conceit, the more negligent are we in prayer, the more destitute of true wisdom and faith; for the Lord gives sight only to the blind, and to the babes, who pray for it. Therefore the deepest humblings go before the greatest blessings. O my blessed Saviour; since I am always blind and ignorant of myself if I am not guided by thine eyes, I desire always to look up to thee, and do every thing under thy direction. Prevent me, lest I harbor pride,
Lest I in my strength confide;
Show me my weakness; let me see
I have my power, my all, from thee. Enrich me always with thy love,
My kind protector ever prove;
The signet put upon my breast,
And let thy Spirit on me rest. Assist and teach me how to pray,
Incline my nature to obey;
What thou abhorrest let me flee,
And only love what pleases thee. O may I never do my will
But thine, and only thine, fulfill;
Let all my time and all my ways
Be spent and ended to thy praise. To rely on grace, and desire to be saved only by free grace, is a sweet exercise; but so far from being practised enough, we have all need to learn the prayer of the publican better still, since the Pharisee is ever busy to creep in again. But care must be taken that we do not build our faith only upon the sweet enjoyments of the grace of God, as it is procured by Christ, and promised to us through Christ: for which reason God sometimes denies us sensible enjoyments, that true faith may begin to act like itself, and depend upon nothing but his free grace in Christ. And this we have also boldness to do, should we ever seem to fall short of the due measure of faith, godly sorrow, and repentance; for since there is no merit to be placed in these things, there is no certain measure and degree prescribed to all; but it is enough truly to hate sin, to desire grace and sincerely to enter upon the Christian race.