Grant, Almighty God, that inasmuch as we are so dull and slothful, that though often admonished, we still don't consider our sins, and, though chastised by your hand, we yet return not immediately to a right mind--O, grant that we may hereafter profit more under your rod, and not be refractory and untractable; but as soon as you raise your hand, may each of us mourn, know our own evils, and then, with one consent, surrender ourselves to be ruled by you; and may we, in the meantime, patiently and calmly endure your chastisements, and never murmur against you, but ever aspire to the attainment of true repentance, until, having at length put off all the vices and corruptions of our flesh, we attain to the fulness of righteousness, and to that true and blessed glory which has been prepared for us in heaven by Jesus Christ. Amen.
(a prayer of John Calvin, in his Commentary on Hosea, translated into English in 1846 and updated by me into modern English)
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