God Honored

O God,

Praise waits for you,

   and to offer it is my noblest activity;

This is your due from all your creatures,

   for all your works display your attributes and fulfill your designs;

The sea, dry land, winter cold, summer heat,

   morning light, and evening shade are full of you,

   and you give me them richly to enjoy.

You are King of kings and Lord of lords;

At your pleasure empires rise and fall;

All your works praise you and your saints bless you;

   Let me be numbered with your holy ones,

   resemble them in character and condition,

   and sit with them at Jesus' feet.

May my walk with you be always firmly rooted in your Word,

   my understanding divinely informed,

   my affections holy and heavenly,

   my motives simple and pure,

   and my heart never wrong with you.

Deliver me from the natural darkness of my own mind,

   from the corruptions of my heart,

   from the temptations to which I am exposed,

   from the daily snares that attend me.

I am in constant danger while I am in this life;

Let your watchful eye ever be upon me for my defense,

Save me from the power of my worldly and spiritual enemies

   and from all painful evils to which I have exposed myself.

Until the day of life dawns above

   let there be unrestrained fellowship with Jesus;

Until fullness comes, may I enjoy the deposit of my inheritance

   and the firstfruits of the Spirit;

Until I finish my course with joy may I pursue it with diligence,

   in every part display the resources of the Christian,

   and adorn the doctrine of you my God

      in all things.

Man's Great End

 Lord of all being,

There is one thing that deserves my greatest care, 

   that calls forth my fervent desires,

That is, that I may live for the great end for which I am made - 

   to glorify you who have given me being,

   and to do all the good I can for my fellow men;

Truly, life is not worth having

   if it is not lived for this noble purpose.

Yet, Lord, how little is this the thought of mankind!

Most men seem to live for themselves,

   without much or any regard for your glory,

   or for the good of others;

They earnestly desire and eagerly pursue

   the riches, honors, and pleasures of this life,

   as if they supposed that wealth, greatness and merriment,

   could make their immortal souls happy;

But, alas, what false deceptive dreams are these!

And how miserable before long will those be that sleep in them,

   for all our happiness consists in loving thee,

   and being holy as thou art holy.

O may I never fall into the passions and emptiness,

   the sensuality and folly of the present world!

It is a place of inexpressible sorrow, a vast empty nothingness;

Time is a moment, a vapor,

   and all its enjoyments are empty bubbles,

   fleeting gusts of wind,

   from which nothing satisfactory can be gotten;

Give me grace always to keep in covenant with you,

   and to reject as delusion personal fame here or hereafter,

   together with all sinful pleasures or profits.

Help me to know continually

   that there can be no true happiness,

   no fulfilling of your purpose for me,

   apart from a life lived in and for the Son of your love.