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AMEN OHIO AND AMEN ALL!
GRACE,PEACE,INFINITE MERCY TO ALL BRETHREN!

Thou God of my end,

Thou hast given me a fixed disposition

to go forth and spend my life for thee;

If it be thy will let me proceed in it;

if not, then revoke my intentions.

All I want in life is such circumstances

as may best enable me to serve thee in the world;

To this end I leave all my concerns in thy hand,

but let me not be discouraged,

for this hinders my spiritual fervency;

Enable me to undertake some task for thee,

for this refreshes and animates my soul,

so that I could endure all hardships and labours,

and willingly suffer for thy name.

But, O what a death it is to strive and labour,

to be always in a hurry and yet do nothing!

Alas, time flies and I am of little use.

O that I could be a flame of fire in thy service,

always burning out in one continual blaze.

Fit me for singular usefulness in this world.

Fit me to exult in distresses of every kind

if they but promote the advancement

of thy kingdom.

Fit me to quit all hopes of the world’s friendship,

and give me a deeper sense of my sinfulness.

Fit me to accept as just desert from thee

any trial that may befall me.

Fit me to be totally resigned to the denial

of pleasures I desire,

and to be content to spend my time with thee.

Fit me to pray with a sense of the joy

of divine communion,

to find all times happy seasons to my soul,

to see my own nothingness,

and wonder that I am allowed to serve thee.

Fit me to enter the blessed world

where no unclean thing is,

and to know thee with me always.

A PURITANS PRAYER!

"On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus."
- Luke 23:26

We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church
throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark
then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He
bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it.
Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow.
Remember that, and expect to suffer.

But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in
Simon's, it is not our cross, but Christ's cross which we carry. When you
are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel
mockings upon you, then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ's
cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!

You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is
marked with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red
shoulder is upon that heavy burden.
'Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes before his
sheep.
Take up your cross daily, and follow him.

Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the
opinion of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the
whole of it.
That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against
the transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end.
Certainly it is so with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross,
Christ bore the heavier end.

And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while,
it gave him lasting honour.
Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while at most, and then
we shall receive the crown, the glory.
Surely we should love the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count
it very dear, when it works out for us "a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory.
"

C.H.SPURGEON!

SOLI DEO GLORIA!