Lancaster Feby. 12th. 17551
O most holy great & merciful Lord our God, we Adore thee as the Author of every good & perfect Gift. We Adore thee as our Creator & bountifull Benefactor. Thou at first created Man at little lower than the Angels, gave him An Exalted Reason capable of beholding thy Wisdom in the Works of Creation, & endowed him with Wisdom above the rest of thy Creatures. Thou Madst the Sun to Shine for his Pleasure & the Night for his Repose. The Earth brought forth Spontaneously for his Support, & Comfort, & the Trees yeilded him their delicious fruits. The Beasts Acknowledge'd homage to him & received their Names from his mouth. But Notwithstanding these Comforts thy Wisdom saw 'twas not good for man to be alone, nor consistent with thy Glory. Therefore thou said, & let us make an help-meet for him. Thou created'st a Woman for him out his own Side that so he might regard her as Bone of his Bone & Flesh of his Flesh, & from that Time thou Ordainst that a man should forsake his Father & Mother & cleave unto his Wife & they twain should be one Flesh, & thou hast ever since been gathering thy People into Familys & granting thy peculiar Blessings upon the Religious Observers of this thy Institution. O Lord we would now humbly bow ourselves before thee on this Occasion in behalf of thy Servant & Handmaid who have at this Time so Solemnly Engaged themselves in the Vows of Matrimony. Grant O Lord that they may have a true understanding of the Nature of their Mutual Engagements. Grant that they may be fully Sensible of the peculiar Nature of their Respective Dutys, such Dutys as they Owe to none other of their Fellow Creatures, Dutys that are founded on the tenderest principles of Love & Affection. May they be Sensible that as it is their Duty to seek the Good of their Neighbours so it is now become their Interest to consult the Good of each Other. Enable them to lay aside all party views of Interest or Pleasure & to join in consulting the general happiness of their Souls & Bodys. May they live together in all that harmony & Peace wch. thy Divine law obliges them to & may they never Suffer their Affections to be Seperated or their Actions to become Indecent & grant that they may become truly help Meets to each other, forwarding on the great Work they were sent into the World to do & Walk humbly before thee in their Houses. O thou God in whom all the Familys of the Earth are blessed, grant thy Blessing upon this New240Made Family. Grant that It may be Increas'd with the Encreasing of God, & may they have many Children given to them as pledges of thy Love, & may it be their Care to bring them up in the Nurture & Admonition of the Lord. Grant them a Sufficiency of the Good things of this World, & may they never Want thy Blessing upon the Lawfull & Industrious Labour of their Hands. But above all grant them thy divine Favr. & an Inheritance in thy Hevenly Kingdom. O thou Redeemer of the World, Who in thy condescending Love art pleas'd to call the Church thy Spouse, & to compare the Union between thee & thy Believers to a State of Matrimony, do thou Shed abroad thy Love in the Hearts this new Married Couple, & as they have now plighted their Vows to each other so may they Unitedly dedicate themselves to thee, who art the Author of all their happiness. May they imitate thee in all thy imitable Perfections. May they put on that Meekness, that Lowliness & that universall forgiveness which thou hast sat them so bright an Example off. May their Sins be forgiven them & may they be made living members of thy Mistical Body walking before thee in all Sobriety, Worthy Members of the Community, & good Neighbours to all around them, setting such an amiable Example of Conjugal Happiness, as may engage others to follow them in the same divine Institution. And Sanctify this Solemnity to all here present before thee. May we learn to reverance all thy Institutions, & to perform all our Dutys in our Respective places. May we see the Beauty of Chastity & endeavour after perfection in that most amiable Carecter, and grant that we may all behave ourselves worthily here & hereafter recieve a Crown of Glory.
MS
; endorsed: "Prayer at a Wedding." "Lancaster Feby. 12th. 1755."
1.
RTP, Diary, Feb. 13, 1755: I attended a wedding at Deacon Hooker Osgood's, Exceeding fine Day." This marriage ceremony between Samuel Prentice and Prudence Osgood was performed by RTP's friend Rev. Timothy Harrington of Lancaster (Henry S. Nourse, ed., The Birth, Marriage and Death Register . . . of Lancaster, Massachusetts [Lancaster, 1890], 87).