And what shall we ask?

Ask--'Father, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.'

For in asking that, we ask for the best of all things. We ask for
the happiness, the power, the glory of saints and angels. We ask to
be put into tune with God's whole universe, from the meanest flower
beneath our feet, to the most glorious spirit whom God ever created.
We ask for the one everlasting life which can never die, fail,
change, or disappoint: yea, for the everlasting life which Christ
the only begotten Son lives from eternity to eternity, for ever
saying to his Father, 'Thy will be done.'

Yes--when we ask God to make us do his will, then indeed we ask for
everlasting life.

Does that seem little? Would you rather ask for all manner of
pleasant things, if not in this life, at least in the life to come?

Oh, my friends, consider this. We were not put into this world to
get pleasant things; and we shall not be put into the next world, as
it seems to me, to get pleasant things. We were put into this world
to do God's will. And we shall be put (I believe) into the next
world for the very same purpose--to do God's will; and if we do that,
we shall find pleasure enough in doing it. I do not doubt that in
the next world all manner of harmless pleasure will come to us
likewise; because that will be, we hope, a perfect and a just world,
not a piecemeal, confused, often unjust world, like this: but
pleasant things will come to us in the next life, only in proportion
as we shall be doing God's will in the next life; and we shall be