A Family Prayer in prospect of a Journey

Most blessed and everlasting God! thou art great, and of great power, and thine understanding is infinite! Thou, O Lord, hast searched and known us, thou understandest our thoughts afar off; thou compassest our path, and our lying down, and art acquainted with all our ways! Whither can we go from thy Spirit, O Lord? And whither shall we flee from thy presence? If we ascend up into heaven, thou art there! If we make our bed in the grave, behold thou art there! If we take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead us, and thy right-hand shall hold us! If we say, surely the darkness shall cover us, even the night shall be light about us; yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, the night shineth as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike to thee! Adored be thy name, O Lord, for the proof we have had of thy constant presence with us, from the constant, favourable, and gracious effects of it! From the beginning of our lives to this day hast thou been with us; in our lying down and rising up; in all the business of every day, and amidst all the terrors and darkness of every

night and in every place we have found thee nigh unto us, as our friend, our preserver, and benefactor!

We desire now solemnly to recommend ourselves to thy care and protection, for the journey we are designing to undertake. Being encouraged from our past experience of thy watchful providence, and comforted with the thought of thy universal presence, we commit our ways unto thee, O Lord; humbly acknowledging thee in them, and begging thou wouldst direct our paths! If thy presence go not with us, let us not go up from our habi tation. But as we hope we are undertaking nothing unlawful in itself, nor unsuitable, we humbly pray, that we may be the objects of thy special care and protection! Direct our course for us, and be with us in the way in which we go. Keep us from every evil to which we are exposed; keep, we beseech thee, all our bones, that not one of them may be broken. Preserve to us our bodily health, and may the journey tend to the confirming and establishing of it.

Provide, we pray thee, for our bodily wants by the way; give us bread to eat, and raiment to put on. In every place where we shall go may we find favour, and

behave in a proper and becoming manner Keep us, we beseech thee, from all manner of sin. May we set thee, the Lord, always before us; that so we may never venture to be off our guard because we may be at a distance from those who used to observe, and take notice of our conduct at other times. May we preserve a sense of God and religion upon our minds, in all places and companies; and take every proper opportunity to perform the duties of religious worship. Particularly help us to maintain a constant regard to thy holy day as often as it shall return; and, instead of profaning it by unnecessary tra velling or amusements, keep it holy to thec, the Lord! May we endeavour to do all the good we can wherever we go, and so leave a blessing and not a curse behind us. And do thou succeed and prosper whatever we lawfully undertake, and sanctify to us our diversions and re creations.

May our frequent removes from one place to another put us continually in mind of our unsettled state in this world. May we consider ourselves as pilgrims and strangers upon earth; as those who have here no continuing city, but are seeking one to come.

O may we learn to reckon

our whole life is a journey towards that everlasting, unchangeable settlement ! And may such a notice of life teach us the better to bear and struggle with the evils and trials of it, and to be more moderate in the enjoyment of the comforts of it: that so we may neither tire nor faint in our course, nor be at a fatal stand. Nor may we ever mistake our way; but hold on and hold out unto the end. And may we be guided through the whole by thy counsel and at last be received to thy glory.

Watch over our habitation, O Lord, we beseech thee, in our absence: may thine eye be upon it by night and by day; keep it safe from devouring flames, and from the attempts of wicked men. And, in thy due time, may we be returned in health, safety, and comfort, and find our tabernacle in peace!

To thee we recommend our friends and all our fellow creatures. Mercifully regard, we beseech thee, our nation and our public affairs! Bless all that are in authority over us, and may they become terrors to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well. Bless the Ministers of thy Gospel; and by their means may the word of the Lord have free course and be glorified.

Accept, we humbly pray thee, O thou good and gracious God, of these our acknowledgements of thy perfections and providence, and our repeated dedication of ourselves and all that belongs to us to thy care. Be thou our sun, and our shield; give us grace, and glory; and withhold no good thing from us! We ask all in the name, and through the mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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A Family Thanksgiving for a safe Return from a Journey.

Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds! Thy righteousness is unmoveable as the great mountains, thy judgments are a great deep. O Lord, thou preservest

man and beast.

We, who have experienced this thy kind preservation in our late journey, are now come, at the end of it, to bless and praise thy name! We bow ourselves in thanksgivings at thy footstool, O thou our Almighty Guardian, for all that care and protection wherewith thou hast befriended us, from the time we left our habitation to this comfortable return to it! We committed ourselves to thee by prayer and

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