24. The true Believer returns thanks to God after a Storm

EXHORTATION.

"God thundereth marvellously with his voice: great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend."—Job xxxvii. 5. God thunders with his thunder. He governs the clouds charged with vapors and fire. He conducts them according to his will. In the clouds he passes over the habitations of men; THE TRUE BELIEVER RETURNS THANKS they tremble; even the dumb cattle take fright;

for God thundereth marvellously with his voice.

He does great things. Strong trees he causes to be shivered with his lightnings; houses to be fired; men and beasts to be slain; but he also purifies the air with his tempest, and refreshes fields, meadows and gardens. Great things doeth he with his thunder, which we cannot comprehend. While the lightning darts through the clouds, and the thunder roars, most men are timid and cast down, but no sooner does the tempest pass away, than all the great things are forgotten which the Lord God hath done in his thunder storm. O vile insensibility! O shameful ingratitude! The true Christian does otherwise. He admires the majesty, the greatness, and the glory of him who thunders in the clouds.

When the thunder rolls over his head, and the lightnings flash, he cheerfully resigns himself into the hand of the Lord, and when the storm has happily passed away, he praises and extols the goodness and truth of his God.

Praised be God, who hath warded off the danger! I was afraid when I heard thy strong voice in the clouds, thou Lord of Lords. Great was the danger in which I hovered, with those who are dear to me, but thou, Lord! hast heard

TO GOD AFTER A STORM.

my childlike prayer, turned away the danger, and screened with almighty hand my house and home, and the teeming grain of the field.

It is by thy goodness that we may dwell at ease in the shadow of thy wings. This my soul doth well perceive. Touched in spirit, therefore,

I come before thee, and give thee praise and thanks, for the great things thou hast done me, even now. I shall never forget thy goodness, and in all danger that may befall me, I will remember that in thee we have a God who helps us. Thy storm, good God! has happily passed over us, and has left nothing but marks of thy bounty, instead of the harm we feared. Elsewhere, perhaps, it has done damage; O then be pleased to look in mercy on the sufferers!—

Arouse all those whom thou hast protected, to pity and assistance, for the best gratitude for thy assistance is to help those who are in need.

Let me deal with my possessions like a good husbandman. Be pleased to take them all into thy further protection. Grant us wholesome and fertilizing weather, and guard us against all misfortune. Lead us on even paths, and let us enter into eternal life on the great day of judgment. O do not withdraw thy attention from me, when the last day shall rise, the day when all things shall be brought to judgment, even those which pass unnoticed here; let me stand

THE TRUE BELIEVER PRAYS WHEN HE at thy right hand, and go in unto the wedding of the Lamb. My Jesus, take me into thy care, and I will praise thee evermore. Amen.

The true Believer prays when he undertakes a journey. EXHORTATION.

"The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore."— Psalm exxi. 5-8.

Various matters may induce a believing Christian to travel away from home, such as the exigencies of his occupation, the love of his neighbor, or the condition of his health; journeys for mere enjoyment and pleasure are unbecoming to a true child of God. 1. If a believing Christian has good cause for leaving his home for a time, he must enter upon his journey with God, and consider that God will always be with him in strange countries, and that he sees and hears all things; for which reason he must also conduct himself, honorably, becomingly, and in a Christian manner, as being in the sight of God. UNDERTAKES A JOURNEY.

2. A true believer must commend himself to the favor and protection of God when he undertakes his journey, and pray that he may be permitted to return home in good health, with hale and straight limbs. 3. He must also commend to God those whom he leaves behind, as well as his house and goods, and pray him to put them all under the watch and ward of his holy angels, and guard them against fire and flood, and all misfortune. 4. He must pray that God will favor him to find his family and his household in good order and condition when he returns. Gracious and merciful God! I have resolved for a time to leave my house and home; therefore, I come to thee and beseech thee to bless my going out and my coming in. In thy name I will undertake my journey; under thy escort let me accomplish it, and under thy protection wilt thou bring me safely back to my home. Let troops of angels surround me, like Jacob; let thy angels follow me through all danger, like Paul; let the host of thy angels travel forth and back with me as with Joseph and Mary, and the boy Jesus, so that I may be preserved from all harm. O thou guardian of Israel! thou who dost neither sleep nor slumber, be by day and by night a fiery ramTHE TRUE BELIEVER PRAYS WHEN HE part round about me, as around Elisha, that no evil or destruction may approach me. Lead me by day and night, through fields and woods, with a guard of thy holy angels, as thou didst lead the children of Israel through the desert with a pillar of clouds. Grant that every day and every hour the words may sound in my ear, which thou spakest to Abraham when he was setting out on his journey: Walk before me, and be thou pious. Guard me, that when away from home, evil desires may not assail me, preserve me from gluttony, wantonness, insolence, malice, worldliness, sin, and shame. Help me to return home with an unstained conscience. Turn away mine eyes when they see evil, turn away my heart when it is visited by evil desires, and help me that I may neither damage my body nor my soul upon this journey. I commend to thee all I leave behind, guard it from thieves, from fire and flood, and let me find it all again unspoiled. I commend unto thee also, the persons I leave behind; O my God! I leave them, but do thou remain with them, avert all danger, harm, misfortune, and sickness from them in mercy. Be their sentinel, keep them, guide them, guard them, and let no sad news from them reach my ears. O Lord Jesus! thou who didst travel with the two disciples in the form of a wayfarer, be with me in my journey also, and fill my heart UNDERTAKES A JOURNEY.

with good thoughts. Let my fellow-travellers be pious, that we may not offend them as we go, with shameful words and sinful speech, but may think of thee and thy most holy presence, and discourse of thy goodness and thy miracles, thy faithfulness and truth. O my God! in thy name I have undertaken this journey, in thy name let me happily end it, and I and mine will praise and thank thee all our lives. Send thy angel on before me, to prepare my path; bid him to resist Satan and all evil men. Take me into thy protection, O Lord! so that their cunning and their violence may never harm me. Remain with mine also constantly, who are anxious to see me again, let thy eyes of mercy follow them, as thy children; lead them, wherever they go, by thy Spirit, so that they may never lapse into danger or sin. Amen. Prayer of one who sojourns in a foreign City

1. Lord, I am in a land of strangers

Far distant from my father's house;

Who here will screen me against dangers,

When foes lie wait, who will me rouse?

On thee alone my hope is based;

O do not leave me here to waste!

PRAYER FOR ONE SOJOURNING.

2. With thee I did resolve to travel,

And all my friends approval gave;

Thou must my journey's maze unravel,

And bring me home, as much I crave.

Lord, here abroad be still with me

I never can depart from thee.

3. Bring many cordial friends around me,

Where'er I stay my foot to rest;

Let not mine enemies confound me,

Give them to know I am thy guest

Thou art my friend, to thee I cling,

In every land thy praise I sing.

4. Preserve me whole in every member,

My strength, my senses, sight, and speech;

And should I sicken, O remember,

That thou art here, my household leech;

Think that it is thy child that lies

In sickness under foreign skies.

5. Keep me from shame and from transgression,

Preserve my conscience undefiled;

Let me still cling to the possession

Of knowing that I am thy child;

Let me forget it never more,

Thine eyes still see me as before.

6. O bless my sleeping and my waking

And bless my every walk and tread;

Bless me in every undertaking;

Bless wheresoe'r I need thy aid.

And bless me with a heavenly zest,

Then shall I be most truly blest.

THE TRUE BELIEVER PRAYS, ETC.