O God, the Author of all good,
I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events.
I step out into a wicked world,
I carry about with me an evil heart,
I know that without thee I can do nothing,
that everthing with which I shall be concerned,
however harmless in itself,
may prove an occasion of sin or folly,
unless I am kept by thy power.
Hold thou me up and I shall be safe.
Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error,
my affections from love of idols,
my character from stain of vice,
my profession from every form of evil.
May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore thy blessing,
and in which I cannot invite thy inspection.
Prosper me in all lawful undertakings,
or prepare me for disappointments;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with food convenient for me,
lest I be full and deny thee
and say, Who is the Lord?
or be poor, and steal, and take thy name in vain.
May every creature be made good to me by thy prayer and thy will;
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it,
to improve my talents,
to redeem my time,
to walk in wisdom toward those without,
and in kindness to those within,
to do good to all men,
and especially to my fellow Christians.
And to thee be the glory.
From The Valley of Vision, puritan prayers [BoT]
3 comments:
Ah, The Valley of Vision... wonderful stuff. B of T must be very grateful to Sovereign Grace for getting everyone reading it again!
I'm grateful to them, anyway! Of course I was aware of its existence beforehand, but much to my shame, I was put off by the clunky large paperback with its old cover. I picked up a nice slim leather-bound edition in the 2nd hand section of my Dad's bookshop though :) Aesthetics do make a difference!
beautiful.
I should really buy myself a nice slim leather-bound edition. I'm always helped when people quote the Valley of Vision... and do like the sov grace CD :)
Only wish they would replace the thees/thous/thys. Wouldn't change the rest, but they always make me stumble.
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