"My soul is even as a weaned child."—Psalm cxxxi. 2.

O Lord, I rejoice that I am permitted with filial confidence to approach Thy blessed presence. What a privilege it is to have such liberty of access to the Mercy-seat—to look upwards to Thee, the Infinite One, whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain, and call Thee my Father and my God! Earthly love may grow cold or changeable, or perish; but "Thou art the same." The mercy of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord pity them that fear Him.

Alas! I have to mourn too often an unthankful {67} spirit amid all Thy manifold mercies. I have been rebellious and wayward, ungrateful and selfish. Thou mightest righteously have surrendered me to my own perverse will; left me to the fruit of my own ways, and to be filled with my own devices. It is of the Lord\'s mercies that I am not consumed! Infinite is my want, but infinite too is my help. I would seek to stand before Thee, O God, in the nothingness of the creature, and to know the boundless resources treasured up for me in the great Redeemer. Unite me to Him by a living faith, as Thine own child by adoption; may it be my great desire to glorify Thee, my Father in Heaven; cherishing towards Thee a spirit of filial love and devotedness, seeking to do only what will please Thee, and having a salutary fear of offending so kind and forbearing a Parent.

Oh keep me from any sullen fretfulness, or unbelieving misgivings, under the strokes of Thy chastening hand. Let there be no hard construction of Thy dealings. May I see all Thy chastisements tempered with graci............