We  must  remember,  that  in  offering  this
prayer,  we  may,  by  our  own  request,  be  offering
to  resign  what  we  most  dread  to  lose,  to  give
up  what  is  dear  to  us  as  our  own  soul ;  we  may
be  calling  on  our  heavenly  Father  to  withhold
what  we  are  most  anxiously  labouring  to  attain,
and  to  withdraw  what  we  are  most  sedulously
endeavouring  to  keep.  We  are  solemnly  re-
nouncing our  property  in  ourselves,  we  are  dis-
tinctly making  ourselves  over  again  to  Him
whose  we  already  are.     We  specifically  entreat


THY    WILL    BE    DONE.  131

Him  to  do  with  us  what  He  pleases,  to  mould  us
to  a  conformity  to  His  image,  without  which  we
shall  never  be  resigned  to  His  will;  in  short,  to
dispose  of  us  as  His  infinite  wisdom  sees  best,
however  contrary  to  the  scheme  which  our
blindness  has  laid  down  as  the  path  to  unques-
tionable happiness.
To  render  this  trying  petition  easy  to  us,  is
one  great  reason  why  God,  by  such  a  variety
of  providences,  afflicts  and  brings  us  low.  He
knows  that  we  want  incentives  to  humility,  even
more  than  incitements  to  virtuous  actions.  He
shows  us,  in  many  ways,  that  self-sufficiency  and
happiness  are  incompatible;  that  pride  and
peace  are  irreconcilable;  tliat,  following  our
own  way,  and  doing  our  own  will,  which  we
conceive  to  be  the  very  essence  of  felicity,  is  in
direct  opposition  to  it.
