O God, Thou knowest, and Thou alone, how far I am right, and how far
wrong. I leave myself in Thy hand, certain that Thou wilt deal fairly,
justly, lovingly with me, as a Father with his son. I do not pretend to
be better than I am; neither will I pretend to be worse than I am. Truly
I know nothing about it. I, ignorant human being that I am, can never
fully know how far I am right, and how far wrong. I find light and
darkness fighting together in my heart, and I cannot divide between them.
But Thou, Lord, canst. Thou knowest. Thou hast made me; Thou lovest me;
Thou hast sent Thy Son into the world to make me what I ought to be. Thou
wiliest not that I should perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth;
and therefore I believe that I shall not perish, but come to the
knowledge of the truth about Thee, about my own character, my own duty,
about everything which it is needful for me to know. Therefore, O Lord,
I will go boldly on, doing my duty as well as I can, though not
perfectly, day by day; and asking Thee day by day to feed my soul with
daily bread. Thou feedest my body with daily bread. How much more wilt
Thou feed my mind and my heart, more precious by far than my body. Lord,
I will trust Thee for soul and body alike; and if I need correcting for
my sins, I know this, at least, that the worst thing that can happen to
me, or to any man, is to do wrong and not to be corrected; and the best
thing is to be set right, even by hard blows, as often as I stray out of
the way. Therefore, O Lord, I will take my punishment quietly and
manfully, and try to thank Thee for it, as I ought; for I know that Thou
wilt not punish me beyond what I deserve, but far below what I deserve. I
know Thou wilt punish me only to bring me to myself, and to correct me,
and purge me, and strengthen me. I believe, O Lord, on the warrant of
Thine own word I believe it--undeserved as the honour is, that Thou art
my Father, and lovest me; Thou dost not afflict any man willingly, or
grieve the children of men out of passion or out of spite. Thou wiliest
not that I, or any man, should perish; but Thou wiliest have all men to
be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, for Jesus Christ His
sake.
Amen.