Bowling Green Covenant Church

O Thou Most High,

It becomes me to be low in thy presence.
I am nothing compared with thee;
I possess not the rank and power of angels,
but thou hast made me what I am,
and placed me where I am;
help me to acquiesce in thy sovereign pleasure.
I thank thee that in the embryo state
of my endless being
I am capable by grace of improvement;
that I can bear thy image,
not by submissiveness, but by design,
and can work with thee and advance thy cause and glory.

But, alas, the crown has fallen from my head:
I have sinned;
I am alien to thee;
my head is deceitful and wicked,
my mind an enemy to thy law.

Yet, in my lostness thou hast laid help
on the Mighty One
and he comes between to put his hands on us both,
my Umpire, Daysman, Mediator,
whose blood is my peace,
whose righteousness is my strength,
whose condemnation is my freedom,
whose Spirit is my power,
whose heaven is my heritage.

Grant that I may feel more the strength of thy grace
in subduing the evil of my nature,
in loosing me from the present evil world,
in supporting me under the trials of life,
in enabling me to abide with thee in my valleys,
in exercising me to have a conscience void
of offence before thee and before men.

In all my affairs may I distinguish between
duty and anxiety,
and may my character
and not my circumstances
chiefly engage me.

—From The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions