"Deliver me, gracious Lord from the bondage of doubt and from all evil customs, and take not from me thy Holy Spirit, but enable me so to spend my remaining days, that by performing thy will I may promote thy glory, and grant that after the troubles and disappointments of this mortal state I may obtain everlasting happiness for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord."
— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Author
Date
September, 1766
Metaphor
"Deliver me, gracious Lord from the bondage of doubt and from all evil customs, and take not from me thy Holy Spirit, but enable me so to spend my remaining days, that by performing thy will I may promote thy glory, and grant that after the troubles and disappointments of this mortal state I may obtain everlasting happiness for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord."
Metaphor in Context
[SEPT.]8 18. 1766. AT STREATHAM. I have this day completed my fifty seventh year. O Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake have mercy upon me. Amen.
Almighty and most merciful Father, who hast granted me to prolong my life to another year, look down upon me with pity. Let not my manifold sins and negligences avert from me thy fatherly regard. Enlighten my mind that I may know my duty; that I may perform it strengthen my resolution. Let not another year be lost in vain deliberations: Let me remember [that] of the short life of man a great part is already past, in sinfulness and sloth. Deliver me, gracious Lord from the bondage of doubt and from all evil customs, and take not from me thy Holy Spirit, but enable me so to spend my remaining days, that by performing thy will I may promote thy glory, and grant that after the troubles and disappointments of this mortal state I may obtain everlasting happiness for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and most merciful Father, who hast granted me to prolong my life to another year, look down upon me with pity. Let not my manifold sins and negligences avert from me thy fatherly regard. Enlighten my mind that I may know my duty; that I may perform it strengthen my resolution. Let not another year be lost in vain deliberations: Let me remember [that] of the short life of man a great part is already past, in sinfulness and sloth. Deliver me, gracious Lord from the bondage of doubt and from all evil customs, and take not from me thy Holy Spirit, but enable me so to spend my remaining days, that by performing thy will I may promote thy glory, and grant that after the troubles and disappointments of this mortal state I may obtain everlasting happiness for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Categories
Provenance
Reading "Samuel Johnson, Unbeliever," Eighteenth-Century Life 29:3 (Fall 2005): 1-19, 9. https://doi.org/10.1215/00982601-29-3-1
Citation
Samuel Johnson: Diaries, Prayers, and Annals, ed. E.L. McAdam, with Donald and Mary Hyde, vol. 1 of The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1958). <Link to the Yale Digital Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson>
Date of Entry
04/16/2018
