to offend thee, or attempt to do, say, or think any thing contrary to thy will; but to shun, as a basilisk, every occasion of sinning, and whatever is displeasing to thee; for what thou wiliest I will, and what thou detestest I detest.
Yet if that should, which I wish never may, happen to me, to do, or leave undone, any thing in, opposition to thy will, I now solemnly declare it all to be, not from any will or intention of my own, but from evil suggestion and sudden impulse, contrary to this my resolve. Enable me, then, O Lord, to continue firm in it, and to be so fully master of all my desires and impulses, as to permit none of them ever to creep in upon me.
I now freely renounce, therefore, all consent which is contrary to thy will; and I entirely abandon all freedom of will as often as I shall be allured to evil, and be placed in danger of offending thee, and in all that has a tendency to evil.
2. And I purpose, besides, to keep most perfectly in future all thy divine precepts, and the promises I made thee in baptism, or other vows. And I will also endeavour, as far as by thy grace I am able, to imitate thy most holy life, and acquire the habit of all those virtues which please thee the most; and in all things to do thy most just will, and to restrain my own, which is inclined to evil, by subjecting it, for love of thee, to all my superiors, equals, and inferiors, and finally to enter on the way of perfection by those means which thou, my Master, hast shown me, by word and example, in thy holy Gospel.
3. Help me, then, O Lord, for without thy special aid I cannot follow out and fulfil these my good resolutions. Give me a lively faith, and a strong and constant spirit; that, as thou art unable to sin by nature, so I may be unable to sin by grace.
4. Lastly, vouchsafe, I implore thee, by thy judgment, to accept and approve this declaration of my will, that all things may be and be done to thy glory and honour, and the salvation of my own soul, and my neighbour’s, and according to thy most holy will; to which I dedicate and consecrate myself, together with the whole being which thou hast bestowed upon me.
