CHRIST ALONE

Reprinted from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Edited by Arthur Bennett

O GOD,

Thy main plan, and the end of thy will

is to make Christ glorious and beloved

in heaven

where he is now ascended,

where one day all the elect will behold his glory

and love and glorify him for ever.

Though here I love him but little,

may this be my portion at last.

In this world thou hast given me a beginning,

one day it will be perfected in the realm above.

Thou hast helped me to see and know Christ,

though obscurely,

to take him, receive him,

to possess him, love him,

to bless him in my heart, mouth, life.

Let me study and stand for discipline,

and all the ways of worship,

out of love for Christ;

and to show my thankfulness;

to seek and know his will from love,

to hold it in love,

and daily to care for and keep this state of heart.

Thou hast led me to place all my nature

and happiness

in oneness with Christ,

in having heart and mind centred only on him,

in being like him in communicating good

to others;

This is my heaven on earth,

But I need the force, energy, impulses of thy Spirit

to carry me on the way to my Jerusalem.

Here, it is my duty

to be as Christ in this world,

to do what he would do,

to live as he would live,

to walk in love and meekness;

then would he be known,

then would I have peace in death.