thy spirit! Dost thou indeed teach us to pray, as though the measure of thy favour and indulgence depended on our conduct and feeling to our neighbour? Oh, new and wonderful form of words, that is at once a prayer and a pledge of thy goodness! Behold, thou wilt be to us such as we are to our neighbour! Shall I then be slow to forgive my neighbour, that I may find thee slow to forgive myself? No, rather will I be slow to anger, and the sun shall not go down upon my wrath. Far be it from me to be implacable to my neighbour, eager for revenge, and tenacious of injuries, lest thou shouldst remember my former iniquities, and chastise me in thy wrath. Why should I not cheerfully forgive my neighbour a penny, that thou mayest forgive me an infinite number of pounds!
VII. CONSTANCY IN TEMPTATIONS.
And lead us not into temptation, For what else but temptation is the life of man upon earth? Yet suffer me not to be tempted above that I am able. For without thee I can do nothing, but in thee I can do all things, if thy grace support me. Grant me, by mortification and avoidance of occasions, to prevent the temptations of the flesh. Let me be strong in faith to resist the roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour. Let me despise the judgment of the world, and not prefer the things of a moment to those of eternity. Make every temptation conduce to my instruction, none to my ruin.
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
But deliver us from evil.
For behold, while we thus strive to attain the height of virtue, we are here on all sides perplexed by many evils, though in all of them we are governed by thy divine providence. This is attested by thy prophet, where he says: There is no evil in the city which the Lord hath not done;[1] the evil, that is, of punishment, such as war, famine, disease, want, &c. What we earnestly entreat of thee is, that these may not tend to the evil of sin; for that, of all evils, would be the greatest; but otherwise they will not be evils at all, if they do not separate us from thee our highest good. It is the part of thy power, goodness, and wisdom, O Lord, so to dispose those evils, that they all work together for good to them that love thee. For so great is
- ↑ Amos iii. 6.
