"If devout and thankful souls rejoice when God has permitted them to pass a week in safety, why should they not much more rejoice when under God’s protection they have lived through a whole year? How much suffering may come to us in a single day! how much more in a whole year! Consequently, when a devout Christian beholds the end of the year, he lifts his hands and heart and voice to heaven, and closes the year with praise, thanksgiving, and prayer. …

"Thy goodness and faithfulness have been with me from the beginning to the end of the year. Thy wisdom has led me; Thy love has guarded me; Thy help has gladdened me; thy grace has preserved me; Thy omnipotence has ever upheld me; Thy tender Father-hand has given me all things that I needed; Thine all-seeing eye has kept watch over me, guarded my going out and my coming in, and warded off all harm. …

"If at times Thou didst permit me to experience great distress, Thou didst deliver me again. …

“O Lord God, I now close the old year with thanksgiving and praise and prayer. Remain, I humbly beseech Thee, my Shield and gracious God in the new year also. Keep Thy guarding hand over me. Yea, let me be entrusted to Thy care and love and grace in all time to come. Amen.”

John Frederick Starck. Daily Hand-book in Good and Evil Days, containing all the meditations and prayers of the complete German original edition, together with an appropriate selection of standard English hymns for general use, for the afflicted, the sick, and the dying. Translated by Joseph Stump. Burlington, Iowa: German Literary Board, 1904, pp. 121, 124-125.