3. ASPIRATIONS AFTER
HOLINESS
"With my whole heart have I sought you: O let me not wander from your
commandments." Psalm 119:10
Blessed Savior! Oh lover of my soul, give me grace to love you. Never, oh,
never let me forget what you have done for an unworthy sinner! Let me never
forget your bloody sweat, your cross and passion, your known and unknown
agonies, when you made your soul an offering for sin. Oh! that I had a heart
to love you with a supreme affection. Come, blessed Spirit, shed abroad in
my heart a Savior's love, and that will kindle mine. Sit as a refiner's
fire, as a purifier of silver, until the dross of sin is consumed, and your
holy image be reflected on my soul; yes, until I be made fit for the
inheritance of the saints in light. Give me a hatred of sin; preserve me
from the wiles of Satan; deliver me from the workings of pride; save me from
a worldly spirit, from a carnal mind, from sensualized affections.
Oh! fountain of all spiritual life, quicken my dead soul to act with energy
in the cause of truth; give me a thirsting after holiness; strengthen my
faith in the Redeemer's righteousness; my reliance on his power; my
confidence in his grace; my hope in his promises; my assurance in his love.
Fill me with holy joy, tranquility, and peace. Take what you will of earth
away, only give me your Blessed Self, and then, through grace, I shall sing
in the darkest seasons; triumph in death; and shout hallelujah in glory.
Manifest yourself, Almighty Jesus, in these days of rebuke and blasphemy,
when infidelity, popery, and anarchy are combining to overthrow your church,
that church, which you have purchased with your blood, that "congregation of
faithful men," however differing in name, whom you have chosen out of the
world. Make bare your arm as in the days of old. Stir up your people to arm
themselves for the combat, with the armor of your providing for attack and
defense- with the belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness; the
shield of faith; the helmet of salvation; the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God; and with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, that
they may be able to withstand in the evil day, and be faithful even unto
death.
Preserve me, gracious Savior, from false philosophy; from that wisdom which
is from beneath- the poison of the old serpent. Alas! how is your glorious
plan of redemption perverted by men of corrupt minds, destitute of the
truth. Preserve me from that spurious charity and mistaken toleration, which
would embrace in its arms every error, every false doctrine, every heresy;
and from that infidel liberality, that boasted freedom of sentiment, which
delights to darken the clearest truths, and would root out of the world, if
it were possible, the saving knowledge of your Divinity, your Atonement, and
Intercession.
Oh, Son of God, one with the Father, God over all, blessed for evermore,
give me grace to build all my hopes for heaven on You, and You alone; to
plead nothing before the Throne of offended Justice but your blood and
righteousness; to acknowledge my sinfulness with deep contrition; to loathe
myself in your sight and my own; and to praise you by a life of loving
obedience, for all that you have done and suffered for me, the chief of
sinners. Give me grace to know my weakness, my worthlessness, my
wretchedness, my danger. Impart unto me your Holy Spirit, that I may
apprehend your saving merits; that I may taste that you are gracious; and be
filled with all joy and peace in believing.
O, my soul! spread your needs before the Lord, who is ever more ready to
hear than you are to pray. Lord hear my prayer, give hear to the voice of my
supplication. I want to feel a greater delight in God. I want to look up to
God, as my covenant God in Christ. I want a greater freedom of access to Him
through the Son of his love. I want a more vigorous faith; a more spiritual
understanding; a greater ardency of affection. My mind is dark; my spiritual
feelings are benumbed; I seem to myself cold and lifeless! Lord quicken me
according to your word. I see many around me who live only to You. Many
hearts are burning with love to Christ, and zeal for the salvation of
perishing millions. I behold glorious Societies flourishing in our land.
Like so many trees of life, they spread their fruitful boughs over the
earth, while their leaves are for the healing of the nations. O, how awful!
-to be dark, in the midst of light- cold in the midst of holy fire- dead in
the midst of life! Lord grant this blessing, grant that the fire of love may
ever be burning on the altar of my heart, and never go out. Oh! what a
precious gift is a new heart. This is the new covenant gift; "A new heart
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." What a gracious
command, "My son, give me your heart."
Blessed Lord, through your abounding grace in Christ Jesus, grant this
request of my lips. I want a penitent heart- a heart deeply humbled on
account of sin. Only the sight of a crucified Jesus can melt my frozen
heart, and cause the tear of penitence to flow, as water from the smitten
rock. I want a believing heart, a heart filled with lively faith, and clear
views of the power and grace of Christ; a faith, which can draw the healing
virtue from the great Physician. Oh! the blessed power of faith, which can
make the Savior's merits mine, and place my sins on him! What joy, what
peace, what sweet assurance does this economy of grace impart to the
believing soul! I want a loving heart. God is love, and every one who loves
is born of God, and knows God.
"Happy the heart where graces reign,
And love inspires the breast."
Oh! that my heart were the abode of holy love; the Spirit thus witnessing
with my spirit, that I am a child of God. How I long to feel the purifying
influence of this heavenly grace, which assimilates the believer to the
saints in glory. I want an obedient heart, the heart of a child, whereby,
with filial confidence, I can cry- Abba, Father! As love is the spring of
all holy obedience, so obedience is the truest test of love. All profession
is vain without obedience to the will of God. The Redeemer's character was
marked by obedience to his Father's will. His active obedience, and passive
sufferings, proved his entire submission as man to the will of God; while,
by his obedience unto death, he wrought out a righteousness to justify my
guilty soul and to save me from eternal death. O, miracle of grace! the
wonder of angels! and the everlasting song of the redeemed.
I want a thankful heart, a heart to praise my God with unceasing praise. A
thankful heart is a tuneful heart. Its melody is sweet in the ear of Eternal
Love. It is a good thing to be thankful. The joy of the Lord is our
strength. Humility will help forward the work of praise, while love will
strike the chords of celestial harmony. This I indeed want- one of the
richest gifts of grace, a penitent, believing, loving, obedient, thankful
heart. For this will I never cease to pray, knowing that this is the will of
God and my sanctification.
Without the blessings flowing from the covenant of grace, through the
precious blood of Christ, the greatest monarch, though surrounded by
grandeur, is poor; and possessing these blessings, his poorest subject,
though encompassed with misery, is truly rich. This truth our blessed Lord
has taught us in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The blessings of
the New Covenant are beyond all earthly price. Nothing could purchase them
but the blood of Christ; none can bestow them but the Friend of sinners,
through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit. Lord look upon me in Christ, as a
member of his mystical body, then will my soul be filled with your goodness.
In myself, I am nothing but sin and misery. In Christ, I have holiness and
happiness, yes, and abound in all things– wisdom for my ignorance,
righteousness for my guilt, sanctification for my pollution, redemption for
my thraldom. Oh! delay not, blessed Savior, to shower down upon me, the
abundance of your grace. Your work is salvation; let mine be praise. You
know my heart, which, though hard and deceitful by nature, can be
transformed by grace. Make me holy as you are holy. If I am not be a
partaker of the divine nature, in all your communicable perfections of love
and mercy, faithfulness and truth, righteousness and holiness, I can never
enjoy your beatific presence in the realms of light. There, all is holiness,
and there, all is happiness. Sin which blighted the earthly, cannot blight
the heavenly paradise. There, the tree of life forever bears its celestial
fruit; no cherubim, with his flaming sword, guards it from unhallowed hands;
for all the ransomed throng, having entered through the gates into the city,
the New Jerusalem, have right to the tree of life which is in the midst of
the Paradise of God, and may eat, and live forever. Oh! that my portion may
be YOURSELF, for whom have I in heaven but you, and there is none upon earth
I desire in comparison of you.
Spirit of Holiness! descend and dwell,
Within a heart which pants after thee;
Of living water, You the sacred Well,
Spring up, and rise into eternity.
O! shed abroad your love within my heart,
Fill all my soul with every pure desire!
Yourself, dear Lord, in showers of grace impart,
And kindle in me the celestial fire.
Reveal the Savior to my longing soul;
His grace and beauty may I hourly see;
The force of pride and unbelief control,
And clothe me with his own humility.
Be every day devoted to your fear;
Be every moment sacred to your will;
Your voice of mercy, hourly let me hear;
And all your righteous purposes fulfill.
Then, when I draw towards earth's remotest bound,
A weary pilgrim on life's dreary road,
Oh! may my soul with Christ my Lord be found,
And spring with triumph to his blessed abode.