
O SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN,
You were incarnate, suffered, rose, and ascended for my sake;
Your departure was not a token separation
but a pledge of return.
Your Word, promises, and sacraments proclaim your death
until you come again.
That day is no horror for me,
for your death has redeemed me,
your Spirit fills me,
your love animates me,
your Word governs me.
I have trusted you and you have not betrayed my trust;
I have waited for you, and have not waited in vain.
You will come to raise my body from the dust,
and re-unite it to my soul,
by a wonderful work of infinite power and love,
greater than that which bounds the ocean’s waters,
ebbs and flows of the tides,
keeps the stars in their courses,
and gives life to all creatures.
This corruptible shall put on incorruption,
this mortal, immortality,
this natural body, a spiritual body,
this dishonored body, a glorious body,
this weak body, a body of power.
I triumph now in your promises,
as I shall when they are performed,
for the head cannot live if the members are dead;
Beyond the grave is resurrection, judgment, acquittal, dominion.
Every event and circumstance of my life will be dealt with –
the sins of my youth, my secret sins,
the sins of abusing you, of disobeying your Word,
the sins of neglecting minister’s admonitions,
the sins of violating my conscience –
all will be judged;
And after judgment, peace and rest, life and service,
employment and enjoyment, for your elect.
O God, keep me in this faith, and ever looking for Christ’s return.
The Valley of Vision A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, slightly modified
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And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to deal with sin
but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.