Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/186

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of those who are entrusted to my care. My prayer is, to he made an instrument of real good to my fellow creatures, and that all my selfish feelings may be absorbed in love to God, and to man. Many errors have stained my life. May their dominion be broken, their effects counteracted, and their record blotted from the dread book of remembrance. The past has been a year of few changes, but God only knows what are appointed to me in this. Perhaps it will lead on my last and final change. May I often reflect upon that solemn event; and may this year exceed my whole life for well directed exertions, piety, and preparation for it. Will God watch over me in all my wanderings with the tenderness of a father, will he mercifully order all my earthly changes; and when that hour shall come, which comes to all, will he not purify my spirit, and take it into his rest; because one intercedes for us, who is strong to suffer and mighty to save.