has prescribed, namely, That we should apply ourselves to the Knowledge of such Things as are best for us, this too is explain'd at large in the Doctrines of the Gospel, where we are taught in several Instances to regard those things as Curses, which appear as Blessings in the Eye of the World; and on the contrary, to esteem those things as Blessings, which to the Generality of Mankind appear as Curses. Thus in the Form which is prescribed to us we only pray for that Happiness which is our chief Good, and the great End of our Existence, when we petition the Supreme Being for
the coming of his Kingdom, being solicitous for no other temporal Blessings but our daily Sustenance
. On the other side, We pray against nothing but Sin, and against
Evil
in general, leaving it with Omniscience to determine what is really such. If we look into the first of
Socrates
his Rules of Prayer, in which he recommends the above-mentioned Form of the ancient Poet, we find that Form not only comprehended, but very much improved in the Petition, wherein we pray to the Supreme Being that
his Will may be done:
which is of the same Force with that Form which our Saviour used, when he prayed against the most painful and most ignominious of Deaths,
Nevertheless not my Will, but thine be done