Excerpt from The City Temple: Sermons Preached in the Poultry Chapel, London, 1869-70 Almighty God, Thou directest the steps of men according to a counsel which we cannot understand. Thou dost as thou wilt in Heaven and on earth; we humbly desire to say, "Not our will but Thine be done. Thou dost so combine the strength of righteousness with the tenderness of love in all Thy ways concerning us, as to work in us a most perfect and joyful confidence in Thy fatherly dominion. Truly, Thy throne is high and lifted up, yet there is not a flower on all the earth that is not brightened by Thy smile; there is not an insect in the deepest places of the sea that draws not its little moment from Thy eternity. As for ourselves we live and move, and have our being in God. Once we lived unto ourselves; we were as our own gods; we took counsel of our own hearts and looked to our own understanding; but we are washed, we are cleansed, we have been slain on the Saviour's cross, and brought to know somewhat of the mystery of sacrifice, and now we are able to say, not only with submission, but with joy and rapture, "Not our will but Thine be done." We once should have regarded this as the prostration of our nature, as if it involved the throwing away of our manhood; but Thou hast brought us to know that Thy will is higher than our will; that the whole universe is absorbed in Thy great power, and in Thy boundless love; and that we only truly live as we live in harmony with Thyself. To-day we magnify Thee; though Thou art above all blessing, we would bless Thee. Our cup runneth over; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort us. Thou hast prepared for us a table in the wilderness; the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.