Page:Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, in the Year 1821.djvu/19

Rh grace, and by avoiding whatever may grieve the Holy Spirit; and may we manfully resist the lusts of the flesh that war against the soul; the lusts of the eye, the pride of life, and all other besetting sin. Then shall we experience the blessing of religion, and prove that her ways are ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are peace.

Bless now, O Lord, all for whom it is our duty to pray—our wives, our children, our parents, our kindred, our friends: may they have favour at the hands of the Lord, and be made partakers of the salvation of Jesus: though separated by an expanse of waters, we may yet meet in heart at the throne of grace. Preserve them, we beseech thee, in our absence; be unto them a husband, a father, a friend; and, if it please thee in thine infinite mercy, to restore us to each other, may we again unite in adoration to thee for thy protecting goodness.

Bless the sailors, our companions in this voyage of anxiety and peril; may they be obedient to the will of God: and when they behold thy wonders in the deep, grant them grace to acknowledge thy sovereignty, thy mercy, and thy power.

We thank thee, O Lord, for the mercies with which we are so richly surrounded: while thousands of our fellow-creatures are pining in misery and want, we are permitted bountifully to enjoy every necessary, and almost every luxury, of life; and while many are given up to a hard and wicked heart, to work all mischief with greediness, and to sin against thee with a high hand; we praise thee that thou hast restrained us from gross iniquity, and especially if thou hast given us the power of religion in our hearts.

We now commend ourselves to thy fatherly care and protection: keep us, we beseech thee, from evil, and lead us into the knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ. Pardon our manifold iniquities, and grant us a blessing according to thy promise, that when two or three are gathered together in thy name, then wilt thou be in the midst: fulfil, O Lord, every desire and petition as far as thou shalt see good for us, giving us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting. These, with all other mercies, needful or good for us, as well for the body as