Gracious Father.
You have made man for the glory of yourself,
and when not an instrument of that glory,
he is a thing of nothing;
No sin is greater than the sin of unbelief,
for if union with Christ is the greatest good,
unbelief is the greatest sin,
as being cross to your command;
I see that whatever my sin is,
yet no sin is like disunion from Christ by unbelief.
Lord, keep me from committing the greatest sin in departing from him,
For I can never in this life perfectly obey and cleave to Christ.
When you take away my outward blessings, it is for sin,
in not acknowledging that all that I have is of you,
in not serving you through what I have,
in making myself secure and hardened.
Lawful blessings are the secret idols, and do most hurt;
the greatest injury is in the having, the greatest good in taking away.
In love divest me of blessing that I may glorify you the more;
remove the fuel of my sin,
and may I prize the gain of a little holiness as overbalancing all my losses.
The more I love you with a truly gracious love
the more I desire to love you,
and the more miserable I am at my want of love;
The more I hunger and thirst after you,
the more I faint and fail in finding you,
The more my heart is broken for sin,
the more I pray it may be far more broken.
My great evil is that I do not remember the sins of my youth,
no, the sins of one day I forget the next.
Keep me from all things that turn to unbelief or lack of felt union with Christ