thanks at church for the mercy granted me, which has now continued a year.
Thanksgiving.
Almighty God, our Creator and Preserver, from whom proceedeth all good, enable me to receive with humble acknowledgment of thy unbounded benignity, and with due consciousness of my own unworthiness, that recovery and continuance of health which Thou hast granted me, and vouchsafe to accept the thanks which I now offer. Glory be to Thee, O Lord, for this and all thy mercies. Grant, I beseech Thee, that the health and life which Thou shalt yet allow me, may conduce to my eternal happiness. Take not from me thy Holy Spirit; but so help and bless me, that when Thou shalt call me hence, I may obtain pardon and salvation, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
September 18, 1780.
I am now beginning the seventy-second year of my life,
with more strength of body and greater vigour of mind
than I think is common at that age. But though the
convulsions in my breast are relieved, my sleep is seldom
long. My nights are wakeful, and, therefore, I
am sometimes sleepy in the day. I have been attentive
to my diet, and have diminished the bulk of my body.
I have not at all studied, nor written diligently. I
have Swift and Pope yet to write; Swift is just
begun.
I have forgotten or neglected my resolutions or purposes, which I now humbly and timorously renew. Surely I shall not spend my whole life with my own total disapprobation. Perhaps God may grant me now to begin a wiser and a better life.
Almighty God, my Creator and Preserver, who hast permitted me to begin another year, look with mercy upon my wretchedness and frailty. Rectify my thoughts, relieve
