A Thanksgiving for a safe Arrival after a Voyage.
ALMIGHTY and gracious Lord God, who art good, and doest good, who sendest thy rain on the just and on the unjust, and causest thy sun to shine on the evil and on the good; we thy unworthy servants humbly beseech thee, that thou wouldst open our lips, and enlarge our hearts, to shew forth thy praise, for letting us see thy wonders in the deep, and for leading us through the sea, as on dry land, and bringing us to the haven where we would be.
O do thou, who didst inspire Moses and the children of Israel to sing a song unto thee, when thou broughtest them up out of the Red-sea, open our lips, O Lord, that our mouths may shew forth thy praise: for thou art our strength and our song, and art become our salvation. Thy right hand is become glorious in power. Who is like unto thee, O God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Praise the Lord, O our souls, and may all that is within us praise his holy name.
We have seen thy paths in the great waters, and thy providence and power hath alone preserved us, otherwise the deep had long since overwhelmed us, and the waters gone over our souls. It is thy arm, O Lord, alone hath brought us this salvation. O that we may therefore praise thee for thy goodness, and declare the wonders that thou hast shewn to us, the unworthiest of the children of men.
Lord, let us never be unmindful of thy manifold mercies, but enable us to pay thee the vows we made thee when we were in trouble. O keep us, keep us, we beseech thee, unspotted from the world into which thou art sending us. Grant we may not turn thy grace into wantonness, but henceforward walk so holy, and unblameably in all manner of conversation and godliness, that after we have passed the waves of this troublesome world, we may arrive at the haven of eternal rest, which thou hast prepared for all that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity. Grant this, O Father, for thy dear Son’s sake Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen, and Amen.
A Prayer for a Sailor.
O THOU God of the sea and dry land, who in thy strength settest fast the mountains, and art girded about with power, who claspest the winds in thy fist, and holdest the waters in the hollow of thy hand, who deckest thyself with light, as with a garment, who spreadest out the heavens like a curtain, who tellest the number of the stars, and callest them all by their names, who hast set bounds to the sea which it cannot pass, and hast said, Hitherto shall ye come and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed: O thou, who hast made Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, who layest the beams of thy chambers in the waters, who makest the clouds thy chariot, and walkest on the wings of the wind: O thou almighty Jehovah, who hast called me by thy providence to go down to the sea in ships, and to occupy my business in the great waters; grant, that as I daily see, so I may daily admire thy wonders in the deep, and learn from storms and winds to obey thy word. They go, O Lord, when thou biddest them go; they come, when thou commandest them to come. But I have broken all thy commands: thou hast commanded me to go often, but alas! I go not. Thou requirest me to come and draw near unto thee in prayer, but alas! I come not. Or if I do pray unto thee at such time as a storm comes upon me, yet my devotion ceases with the storm, it is but like a morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away.
Lord, I blush and am confounded, when I consider how often thou hast magnified thy power in my preservation, and yet that I could continue so ungrateful. Thou hast often heard me when I have cried unto thee, when I have been staggering to and fro, and been at my wit’s end, when the waves went up to the heavens, and down to the hell beneath, and my soul hath fainted for very trouble: but I have forgotten to praise thee, O Lord, for thy goodness, and to thank thee for the wonders thou hast shewn to me, the unworthiest of the sons of men.