My God, I feel it is heaven to please Thee, and to be what You would have me to be.
        O that I was as holy as You are holy…as pure as Christ is pure…and as perfect as Thy Spirit is perfect!
        These, I feel, are the best commands in Your Book, and shall I break them? Must I break them? Am I under such a necessity as long as I live here?
        Woe, woe is me that I am a sinner, that I would grieve this blessed God, who is infinite in goodness and grace!
        O if He would punish me for my sins, it would not wound my heart so deep to offend Him;
        But though I sin continually, He continually repeats His kindness to me.
        At times I feel I could bear any suffering…but how can I dishonor this glorious God? What shall I do to glorify and worship this best of beings?
        O that I could consecrate my soul and body to His service, without restraint, forever!
        O that I could give myself up to Him, so as never more to attempt to be my own! Or have any will or affections that are not perfectly conformed to His will and His love! But, alas, I cannot live and not sin.
        O may angels glorify Him incessantly, and, if possible, prostrate themselves lower before the blessed King of heaven! I long to bear a part with them in ceaseless praise;
        But when I have done all I can to eternity I shall not be able to offer more than a small fraction of the homage that the glorious God deserves.
        Give me a heart full of divine, heavenly love.

        Would that this also be our prayer – a prayer written out of the abundance of a Christian’s love for God some 300 years ago.

        Pastor John