Starting the day with God

Let us seek the Lord early. "If my heart be
early seasoned with his presence, it will savof
of him all day after." Let us see God before
man every day. "I ought to pray before seeing
any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet
with others early, and then have family
prayer and breakfast and forenoon callers, it
is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin
secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is
unscriptural. Christ rose before day, and
went into a solitary place. . . Family prayer
loses much of power and sweetness, and I
can do no good to those who come to seek for
me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul
unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then, when
secret prayer comes, the soul is often out of
tune. I feel it far better to begin with God, to
see His face first, to get my soul near Him
before it is near another.
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)