Page:The pastor in his closet.djvu/58

 Defend also the gray-headed, the hoary head, that it may be "a crown of glory." Give the aged above all men a watchful spirit; preserve their senses; let not their minds grow dim and fail; let not darkness fall on them, nor a second childhood, till they have finished their course and fought their fight. As they have but the fragment of a span left, grant that all their thoughts may be turned heavenwards, that heaven may be begun in them before they go hence out of the world, and that the world may be dead in them before they die. May their last days be the holiest of all. May their light be burning so much the more in the inner man as their outward house wastes and decays. Prepare their souls, most holy Father, for the last judgment, through Jesus Christ.

For the sinners of my flock,, the great sinners, who live wilfully in sin, who harden their hearts against Thee, I have need most earnestly to pray. Move them to repentance, good Lord; melt their impenitent hearts, that they may open their eyes and behold the peril of their souls. Draw them out of the mire, that they sink not; turn Thou them, and they shall be turned; convert them, and they shall live; though they have sinned desperately, forgive their sins; I pray Thee