me! Woe is me, that I was once as it were cherished in my Father’s most tender bosom, brought up in his house, shared his table, and was in all respects as a son, in want of nothing! Now I am living in a far country, a foreigner among strangers that know me not, an exile, starving, and naked.
I. Hallowed be thy name.
On how many accounts have I been bound, in how many ways been able, to hallow thy name, return thy love, and glorify thee, the Father of infinite majesty, power, wisdom, and goodness, anticipated as I have been by so many benefits, and strengthened by so many aids! I grieve that I have not done so. Behold, to do so for ever, from this moment, is my most anxious desire from the inmost depths of my heart.
2. Thy kingdom come.
Oh, how foolishly have I preferred the cruel tyranny of the world, the flesh, and the devil, to thy sweet yoke! and now, wearied out in the way of sin and perdition, how greedily I long again for my Father’s kingdom, the kingdom of thy grace and glory, wherein is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost!
3. Thy will be done.
Oh, how many evils have I suffered from my own perverse will, by the abuse of which, in opposition to thy most holy will, I have made myself liable to punishment, when I ought to have used it to merit for myself an increase of grace and glory! May, not mine, but thy most holy will be done by and for me henceforward, for ever, and in all things, as it is done by the blessed in heaven.
4. Our daily bread.
O most bountiful Father, who satisfiest thy elect with the plenty of thy house, from which I have but too foolishly separated myself! How many hired servants in my Father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger! Time was, alas! when I was clothed in scarlet, and fed with the bread of sons; but now I hardly fill my empty belly with the husks of swine! Oh, that, if not as a son, yet at least as a hired servant, I might be fed again with the bread of thy grace.
5. And forgive us.
Behold, I cry out, prostrate before thee. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants. I am sorry that I have ever offended thee. Forgive me, as I too forgive all for thy sake.
