REFLECTIONS

“THE DARK GUEST

O LORD,

Bend my hands and cut them off,

            For I have often struck thee with a wayward will,

            When these fingers should embrace thee by faith.

I am not yet weaned from all created glory,

            Honour, wisdom, and esteem of others,

            For I have a secret motive to eye my name in all I do.

Let me not only speak the word sin, but see the thing itself.

Give me to view a discovered sinfulness,

            To know that though my sins are crucified

            They are never wholly mortified.

Hatred, malice, ill-will,

Vain-glory that hungers for and hunts after

            Man’s approval and applause,

All are crucified, forgiven,

But they rise again in my sinful heart.

O my crucified but never wholly mortified sinfulness!

O my life-long damage and daily shame!

O my indwelling and besetting sins!

O the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart!

Destroy, O God, the dark guest within

            Whose hidden presence makes my life a hell.

Yet thou hast not left me here without grace;

The cross still stands and meets my needs

            In the deepest straits of the soul.

I thank thee that my remembrance of it

Is like David’s sight of Goliath’s sword

Which preached forth thy deliverance.

The memory of my great sins, my many temptations, my falls,

            Bring afresh into my mind the remembrance

            Of thy help, of they support from heaven,

            Of the great grace that saved such a wretch as I am.

There is no treasure so wonderful

            As that continuous experience of thy grace toward me

            Which alone can subdue the risings of sin within:

Give me more of it.”

-From The Valley of Vision; a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett (Canon of St Albans Cathedral); published by The Banner of Truth Trust. Page 71.