The Lord hath promised his blessing, and life for evermore. The Lord liveth, and blessed be my strong helper, and praised be the God of my salvation. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. IT is very meet, right, and our bounden duty that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks and praise, honor and adoration, love and duty to thee, O Lord God, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who hast known our soul in sdversity, and delivered us from the evil we have deserved, and hast given us good things we deserved not. We confess, O God, that we are less than the least of all thy mercies; but thy immense, thy unlimited, goodness, and loving-kindness, rejoices in doing us good, in preserving us from evil, in heaping thy benefits upon us, in giving to us witness from heaven [in feeding our hearts with food and gladness:] in delivering us from our enemies [in snatching us from the power of the grave] [in commanding thy destroying Angel to hurt us not] Holy Jesus, blessed be God. We are thy servants and thy children; we are all thine; and have no interest but thy service; thou art our God, and all our hopes are laid up in thee thou art gracious when thou smitest us; but A a 2 we we cannot express thy infinite kindness when thou relievest our necessity, when thou sustainest our sorrows, when thou dost deliver us from thy wrath, when thou hearest our prayers, when thou pourest thy benefits upon us. O give unto thy servants thankful hearts, obedient and loving spirits, carefulness of duty, charity, and humility, zeal for thy glory, submission to thy divine will and pleasure; that serving thee with all our powers, loving thee with all our faculties, obeying thee in all instances, delighting in thee in all dispensations, we may be conducted through all varieties of Providence, and defended in all temptations of our enemies, and relieved in all the necessities of our life, and assisted in all particulars of duty, that so we may pass through this valley of tears in peace and meekness, in faith and charity, with the confidence of a holy hope, and in the strength of thy righteous promises, to the fruition of those mercies, which are the portion of obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen, A short Form of Thanksgiving for any special O MOST merciful and gracious God, the fountain of all mercy and blessing, thou hast opened the hand of thy mercy, to fill me with blessings, and the sweet effects of thy loving kindness: thou feedest us like a shepherd, thou governest us as a king, thou dost cover us under the shadow of thy wings; thou, O dearest Lord, wakest for us as a watchman; thou providest for us like a husband; thou lovest us as a friend, and thinkest on us perpetually, as a careful mother on her helpless babe, and art exceeding merciful to all that far thee. And now, O Lord, thou hast added this great blessing of deliverance from my late danger: [here name the blessing] it was thy hand and the help of thy mercy that relieved me; the waters of affliction had drowned me, and the stream had gone over my soul, if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these waters. Thou, O Lord, didst revoke thy angry sentence, which I had deserved, and which was gone out against me. Unto thee, O Lord, I ascribe the praise and honor of my Redemption. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble, and hast known my soul in adversity. As thou hast spread thy hand upon me for a covering, so also enlarge my heart with thankfulness, and fill my mouth with praises, that my duty and returns to thee may be great as my needs of mercy are; and let thy gracious favors and lovingkindness endure, for ever and ever, upon thy servant; and grant that what thou hast sown in mercy, may spring up in duty. O, let thy Grace so strengthen my purposes, that I may sin no more, lest thy threatening return upon me in anger, and thy anger break me into pieces: but let me walk in the light of thy favor, and in the paths of thy commandments; that I, living here to the glory of thy name, may at last enter into 2 the the glory of my Lord, to spend a whole eternity in giving praise to thy exalted and ever glorious Name. Amen. A Prayer of Thanksgiving after the receiving of some great Blessing. O LORD God, Father of mercies, the Fountain of comfort and blessing, of life and peace, of plenty and pardon, who fillest Heaven with thy glory, and earth with thy goodness; I give thee the most earnest, most humble, and most enlarged returns of my glad and thankful heart, for thou hast refreshed me with thy comforts, and enlarged me with thy blessing; thou hast made my flesh and my bones to rejoice: for besides the blessings of all mankind, the blessings of nature and the blessings of Grace, the support of every minute, and the comforts of every day, thou hast opened thy bosom, and at this time hast poured out an excellent expression of thy loving kinkness [here name the blessing]. What am I, O Lord, and what is my Father's house, what is the life, and what are the capacities of thy servant, that thou shouldst do this unto me; that the great God of men and Angels should make a special decree in Heaven for me, and send out an Angel of blessing, and instead of condemning and ruining me, as I, miserably, have deserved, to distinguish me from many my equals and and my betters, by this and many other special acts of grace and favor? Praised be the Lord daily, even the Lord that helpeth us, and poureth his benefits upon us. He is our God, even the God of whom cometh Salvation: God is the Lord, by whom we escape death. Thou hast brought me to great honor, and comforted me on every side. Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works I will rejoice in giving praise for the operation of thy hands. : O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his Name: tell the people what things he hath done. As for me, I will give great thanks unto the Lord, and praise him among the multitude. Blessed be the Lord God, even the Lord God of Israel, which only doth wondrous and gracious things. And blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever and all the Earth shall be filled with his Majesty. Amen, Amen. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Psalms |