24 Prayers and Meditations.
in the enjoyment of thy favour 1 . Give me, O Lord, pardon and peace, that I may serve thee with humble confidence, and after this life enjoy thy presence in eternal Happiness.
And, O Lord, so far as it may be lawful for me, I commend to thy Fatherly goodness, my Father, my Brother, my Wife, my Mother. I beseech thee to look mercifully upon them, and grant them whatever may most promote their present and eternal joy.
O Lord, hear my prayers for Jesus Christs sake, to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost three persons and one God be all honour and glory world without end. Amen 2 .
O Lord, let the change which I am now making in outward things, produce in [me] such a change of manners, as may fit me for the great change through which my Wife has passed 3 .
41.
EASTER DAY, April 15, 1759*.
Almighty and most merciful Father, look down with pity upon my sins. I am a sinner, good Lord ; but let not my sins burthen me for ever. Give me thy grace to break the chain of evil custom. Enable me to shake off idleness and sloth ; to in thoughts, words and actions : to love and frequent thy worship, to study and understand thy word ; to be diligent in my calling, that I may support myself and relieve others.
Forgive me, O Lord, whatever my mother has suffered by my fault, whatever I have done amiss, and whatever duty I have neglected. Let me not sink into useless dejection ; but so sanctify my affliction, O Lord, that I may be converted and
1 This paragraph is quoted in the remember of Easter 17 \sic\. Life, i. 350. Use the lines on this page.
2 Boswell adduces this prayer as On another page is written : proof of Johnson's 'orthodox belief Uxbridge, 13.9.
in the sacred mystery of the Trinity.' Wicombe, 10. 6.
Life, ii. 254. Tetsworth, 10. 6.
3 The following words are scored If my mother had lived till March, out : she would have been eighty-nine.
At the place where I commended 4 Croker's Boswell, x. 130.
ner - 5 Johnson does not give in his
At the place where she died. Dictionary such a construction as
As much of the prayer as I can grant me chaste.'
healed
�� �
