ever so little, in making myself better, and my neighbour better. I long
to be useful, and not useless; a fruit-bearing tree, and not a noxious
weed in Thy garden; and therefore I pray that Thou wilt not cut me down
or root me up, nor let foul creatures trample me under foot.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, in my trouble, for the sake of the truth
which I long to learn, and for the good which I long to do. Poor weak
plant though I may be, I am still a plant of Thy planting, which is
struggling to grow, and flower, and bear fruit to eternal life; and Thou
wilt not despise the work of Thine own hands, O Lord, who died that I
might live? Thou wilt not let me perish! I have stuck unto Thy
testimonies. O Lord, confound me not!

Amen.

CONFESSION OF ONE IN CONFUSION OF SPIRIT.

O God, Thou knowest, and Thou alone, how far I am right, and how far
wrong. I leave myself in Thy hand, certain that Thou wilt deal fairly,
justly, lovingly with me, as a Father with his son. I do not pretend to
be better than I am; neither will I pretend to be worse than I am. Truly
I know nothing about it. I, ignorant human being that I am, can never
fully know how far I am right, and how far wrong. I find light and
darkness fighting together in my heart, and I cannot divide between them.
But Thou, Lord, canst. Thou knowest. Thou hast made me; Thou lovest me;
Thou hast sent Thy Son into the world to make me what I ought to be. Thou
wiliest not that I should perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth;
and therefore I believe that I shall not perish, but come to the
knowledge of the truth about Thee, about my own character, my own duty,
about everything which it is needful for me to know. Therefore, O Lord,
I will go boldly on, doing my duty as well as I can, though not
perfectly, day by day; and asking Thee day by day to feed my soul with
daily bread. Thou feedest my body with daily bread. How much more wilt
Thou feed my mind and my heart, more precious by far than my body. Lord,
I will trust Thee for soul and body alike; and if I need correcting for
my sins, I know this, at least, that the worst thing that can happen to
me, or to any man, is to do wrong and not to be corrected; and the best
thing is to be set right, even by hard blows, as often as I stray out of
the way. Therefore, O Lord, I will take my punishment quietly and
manfully, and try to thank Thee for it, as I ought; for I know that Thou
wilt not punish me beyon