O GOD,

We bless thee,

        our Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, Teacher,

  for opening to us the volume of nature

    where we may read and consider thy works.

Thou hast this day spread before us the fuller pages

    of revelation,

  and in them we see what thou wouldest

    have us do,

  what thou requirest of us,

  what thou hast done for us,

  what thou hast promised to us,

  what thou hast given us in Jesus.

We pray thee for a conscious experience

    of his salvation,

  in our deliverance from sin,

  in our bearing his image,

  in our enjoying his presence,

  in our being upheld by his free Spirit.

Let us not live uncertain of what we are,

  of where we are going.

Bear witness with our spirit that we are thy children;

And enable each one to say, ‘I know my Redeemer.’

-from 'The Valley of Vision', a collection of Puritan prayers