A Resolution of Amendment
“That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me a commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go,” saith Christ, ( John , xiii.) “instantly and without hesitation, to execute his will.” Such is the generosity with which we should now, and at all times, resolve to execute, in every particular, the commandments of the Almighty.
Behold, O my God, the moment is now come, wherein I am to sacrifice those inclinations to thee which thou hast so often demanded, and which I was so miserably slothful as to have refused thee. I now see the danger to which my sluggish languor has exposed me, and am determined to avoid it. I will labour incessantly against my vicious habits. I am determined to quit the immediate occasion of sin. I pledge myself to thee, and am satisfied to be treated as thine enemy, if these promises be not most sincere and determined. I will no longer resist thy inspirations, nor allow myself those pleasures which thy law forbids, nor expose myself to the danger of offending thee. There shall be no more remissness in my duty, nor languor in my devotion. I do not make these promises through a spirit of presumption, (for I am convinced of my own insufficiency, and know, that if abandoned by thee, I must necessarily fall back into all my former disorders,) but being now united to thee, I flatter myself that, in spite of my frailty, I shall constantly persevere in thy grace. Why should I not find the same strength in this divine sacrament, which thy glorious martyrs have derived from it? It was here they imbibed that generous spirit of suffering, which could brave the power of tyrants, and smile on the horrors of death. And art thou now less faithful, less liberal, or less able to fortify me against the attacks of the enemies of my salvation? No. Come, then, it is full time I should begin the work of my salvation. Thy will has been sufficiently declared to me; I will hesitate no longer to put it in execution, how great soever the conflict may be against myself and the world. In fine, let me feel, O Lord, an experimental conviction of such a reformation of life, as may edify those whom my past conduct has scandalized, by convincing them that I do now really love thee. “Arise, let us go: I have sworn, and am resolved to keep thy commandments.”—Psalm cxviii. “Confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us.’”—Psalm lxxvi.