us a fulness of holiness, of wisdom and spiritual understanding, that we, increasing in the knowledge of God, may be fruitful in every good work, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Collect for the Morning. II. O Almighty Father, great God of all the world, who dwellest in the light to which no man can approach, in thy presence there is no night, in the light of thy countenance there is perpetual day: we thy servants, whom thou hast preserved this night, who bless and glorify thee this day, who live by thy power, who desire to walk by thy laws, to be blessed by thy providence, to be defended by thy almighty hand, humbly pray unto thee, that this day and all the days of our lives may be holy and peaceable; send thy Holy Spirit, the Spirit of peace, to be the guide of our way, the guard of our souls and bodies. Grant that all the chances and accidents of this day may be healthful to our bodies and profitable to our souls; and that we may spend the remaining portion of our life in blessing, and peace, and holiness. Make thou the latter end of our days to be Christian, without shame and without torment; and when we shall appear before thy dreadful seat of judgment, grant that we may not be confounded, but may stand upright in the congregation of the saints, acquitted by the death of Christ, justified by his resurrection, pardoned by his sentence, saved by his mercy, that we may rejoice in his salvation, and sing thy praises for ever and ever. Amen. A Prayer against Temptations. III. O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thy name is great, thy essence is infinite, thy goodness is eternal, and thy power hath no limit; thou art the God and Lord of all, blessed for evermore. Look down in mercy and compassion from thy dwelling, hear our prayers and supplications, and deliver us from all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Take not thy grace from us, let us never want thy help in our needs, nor thy comfort in the day of our danger and calamity. Never try us beyond our strengths, nor afflict us beyond our patience, nor smite us but with a father's rod. We have no strengths of our own, thou art our confidence, our rock, and our strong salvation. Save us, O God, from the miseries of this world, and never let us suffer the intolerable calamities of the next. Rescue us from the evils we have done, and preserve us from the evils we have deserved; that we, living before thee with clean hearts, and undefiled bodies, and sanctified spirits, may, at the day of judgment, be presented pure and spotless by the blood of the Lamb, that we may sing eternal hallelujahs in heavenly places to the honour of God our Saviour, who hath redeemed our souls from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling. Grant this in the richness of thy mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall be added, upon all Sundays and Festivals of the year, this following Prayer: and upon other days, as opportunity is to be had, all or some portions. The Prayers for Kings, &c. and the state Ecclesiastical, are never to be omitted: but, on ordinary days, it may suffice to recite them, omitting so much of either as is included in the columns [*]. The Prayer of Intercession, for all States of Men and Women in the Catholic Church. I. : SAVE us, defend and keep us in thy fear and love, O thou God of mercy and grace: give unto us the light of thy countenance, pardon of our sins, health of our body, sanetification of our spirits, peace from heaven, and salvation of our souls in the day of our Lord Jesus. Amen. For the Catholic Church. II. Hear our prayers for thy holy church catholic, which thou hast redeemed with thy blood, sealed and sanctified with thy spirit: extirpate all heresies and false doctrines, unite all her divisions, let her be prosperous under thy favour, and the protection of kings and princes, and the whole secular arm : that she may daily celebrate thy name, with strict obedience, and pure spiritual sacrifices; that she may be accepted, and prevail in her daily and nightly prayers, and that the gates of hell may never prevail against her; let her live in the spirit, and reign in thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. : For the supreme Power. S We pray unto thee, O great King of heaven and earth, for all Christian kings, princes, governors, and states: crown them with justice and peace, and with the love of God, and the love of their people; (*) let holiness be the ornament of their heads; invest them with the armour of righteousness, and let the anointing from above make them sacred and venerable, wise, and holy, [*] that being servants of the King of kings, friends of religion, ministers of justice, and patrons of the poor, they may, at last, inherit a portion in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus. For the State Ecclesiastical. Remember all them that do the Lord's work in the ministry and conduct of souls. Give them great gifts and great holiness, [*] that wisely and charitably, diligently and zealously, prudently and acceptably, they may be guides to the blind, comforters to the sad and weary, that they may strengthen the weak and confirm the strong, separate the vile from the precious, boldly rebuke sin, patiently suffer for the truth, and be exemplary in their lives, [*] that in all their actions and sermons, in their discipline and ministrations, they may advance the good of souls, and the honour of our Lord Jesus. Amen. For all Orders and States of Men, &c. V. O blessed God, who art rich in mercy and compassion, take care of all states of men and women in the Christian church, the nobility and gentry, magistrates and judges, advocates and physicians, merchants and artificers, husbandmen and tradesmen, the labourers and the hirelings: give them grace in their several callings to glorify thee, and to keep a good conscience both towards God and towards man, that they may find eternal comfort in the glorious day of our Lord Jesus. For the Miserable and Afflicted. VI. In mercy remember the poor and needy, the widows and : fatherless, the strangers and the friendless, the oppressed and the grieved, the decrepit and sickly, the young men and the tempted, the weak of heart and the weak in body, them that languish and them that are dying; relieve their necessities, comfort their sorrows, sanctify their calamities, strengthen their weaknesses, and suffer not the devil to prevail over them in the days of their sorrow and disadvantage: and, in thy due time, deliver them from their sad bondage into thy glorious liberty of the sons of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, VII. Be a guide to the travellers, a star and a port to mariners, the comfort and strength of miners and galley-slaves. Pity, good God, all gentlemen that are fallen into poverty and sad misfortunes; strengthen and deliver all women that are in sharp and dangerous labour; all them that roar and groan with intolerable pains and noisome diseases: have mercy and compassion upon all, that are afflicted with illusion of the night and frightful apparitions; that are haunted or possessed with evil spirits, or troubled with despairing or amazed consciences, with the stone and with the gout, with violent cholics and grievous ulcers: give them pity and give them patience, a speedy deliverance from their calamity, and a sanctified use of the rod of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. VIII. We pray unto thee, O blessed Father, in behalf of all that are in banishment and captivity, in fetters or hard services, in want or extreme poverty, in great fear or in any great passion. Keep them from sinning against thee, and from being swallowed by too great a sorrow. Let the accidents of their lives be under the command of reason, and of thy Holy Spirit, and end in holiness and comfort, in peace and joys eternal; through the mercies of our God, in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. For Preservation from Danger and Evil. IX. Keep us, O God, from famine and pestilence, from earthquakes and inundations, from fire and sword, from invasion by foreign enemies and from civil wars, from false religion and from discountenancing the true: let every Christian soul find pity at the throne of grace: let all our errors and ignorances find pardon by Christ, and remedy by the Holy Spirit of Christ; hear all our prayers, relieve all our necessities, sanctify all the events of thy providence, and the changes of our life, that we may for ever love and for ever fear thee, and all things may work together for our good unto thy glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Blessing. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit of God, be with us, and with all our relatives, and with all the servants of God, this day, and for evermore. Amen. 5 EVENING PRAYER, THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. J Say one or more of these Sentences, O LORD the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee, shall be ashamed, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us; have mercy upon us for thy name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. : Seek the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, when he is near. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the remnant of the transgression of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, |