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After the Lesson recite the Creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, &c.
The Lord be with you.

Answer. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.
I.

The Confession of Sins, taken out of the Prayer of
St. Ephraim, the Syrian.

O Almighty God, who dwellest in the inaccessible light, before whom the greatest mountains are like the dust of the balance, and in whose sight the heavens are not pure, and the angels tremble, and the saints are charged with folly, and all the world shall fear in thy glorious presence; we confess to thee, O Lord, Father of heaven and earth, all those sins which we have wrought in private and in public; for thou knowest all things, and nothing is hid from thy righteous eyes. Thou art the God of mercy and pity, and thou wouldst have all, even strangers, to be saved; we fly therefore unto thee, who art the Lover and Saviour of all the souls of the faithful. Have pity upon us, who have many times embittered and grieved thy most Holy Spirit, to the joy of our enemies, and the sad ruin of our pitiable and wounded souls. Behold, O God, we have been dead in sins and trespasses, and servants to thy enemy. There is no kind of sins but we have committed, or would have committed; if it were pleasant, we cared not for the foulness, but if we were tempted we did fall; and where we did fall, there we did love to lie; we have sinned worse than the adulteress or the thief, more than the publican or the prodigal, oftener than David or Manasses: we have sinned against greater mercies, a more determined conscience, a better law, a clearer revelation, more terrible threatenings, and better, much better promises.

II.

We know, O God, and tremble at the sad remembrance, that all our sins shall be placed before our faces at the day of thy dreadful appearance; O look upon us with a mighty pity, let not the angel of wrath snatch our precious

souls from thy beatific presence; take not the sweet refreshments of thy Spirit from us one hour. O dearest Lord, thou Lover of souls, take not our lives from us, while our souls are unprepared and unready, unexcused and unpardoned; for thou knowest the abyss of our sins, and thou knowest what is that abyss of flames and anger, which is prepared for foolish and unwary souls.

III.

Most blessed Saviour Jesus, thou gavest thy life to redeem us from death; and thou art the Judge of those actions, for which thou wert a sacrifice; and to give sentence upon those men, for whom thou art an advocate, and makest perpetual intercession: O suffer us not to fall under thine eternal anger; destroy the whole body of sin in us; bring our understandings into the obedience of God; our affections under the dominion of reason, our reason into a perfect subordination to thy Holy Spirit; that we may love thee and fear thee, and, by repentance and charity, may enter into thy favour, and dwell there by a holy perseverance all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

IV.
The Prayers.

Do thou open our eyes, that we may see our own vilenesses, and forsake them; and our foolish errors, that we may amend them; and all our infirmities, that we may watch against them; and all our duty, that we may pursue it earnestly and passionately, prudently and entirely, presently and for ever. Cause us to return to our duty with greater fervor and devotion than ever we have sinned against thee with pleasure and delight; and as we have dishonoured thee by our unworthiness, so grant that we may glorify thee ten times more, weeping bitterly for our sins, watching against them strictly, hating them infinitely, and forsaking them utterly. O grant that we may every day renew our repentances and vows of a better life, and make us to do every day what we promise, and what is our duty; so imprinting a holy religion and a severe repentance in our spirits, that we may confess our sins with a real and humble sorrow, and beg for pardon, because we desire it, and ask for thy help, because we will make use of it, and number our sins, because we will

leave them; not resting in forms of godliness, but living in the power of it, in love and duty, in holiness and godly choice; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

V.

Most gracious God and Father, imprint in our hearts great apprehensions of thy power and thy glories, of thy judgment and thy mercies; of our sins and of our change approaching, of our fugitive life and the day of our death, of our duty and our danger, and the inexpressible terrors of the day of judgment; and, in proportion to such apprehensions, teach us, O God, to walk in this world with fear and caution, with hope and purity, with diligence and devotion, religiously and usefully, humbly and charitably, with love and obedience to thee, with love and justice to our neighbours, with sober spirits and chaste bodies, with temperance and peace, with faith and patience, with health and holiness, in the favour of God and the friendliness of our neighbours, in the communion of the church, and in obedience to all good laws; that we, being blessed by thy providence, defended by thy ministering angels, conducted by thy good Spirit, instructed by thy word, nourished by the body of Christ, cleansed by his blood, and clothed with his righteousness, may grow from grace to grace in the increase of God to the fulness of Christ, being subjects of thy kingdom of grace in this world, and heirs of the kingdom of glory in the world to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

VI.

Give us pardon, O thou God of mercy and peace, for all the errors and follies, the ignorances and omissions, the rash words and imprudent actions, of which any of us hath been guilty this day, or at any time before; we confess our sins every day, and yet every day sin against thee; and we pray unto thee for all the blessings that we need, and thou givest us all that we pray for, and much more; but yet we regard thee not, but every day we have new matter of shame and

sorrow.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

For if thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, we shall not be able to abide or stand upright in judgment: thy mercy is great, and thou hast blessed us this day, and kept us from the evils of our inclination, and the evils of temptation: and though in the things wherein our consciences do not accuse us, we are not justified, but by thy mercies and loving-kindness in Christ Jesus, yet we rejoice in thy goodness to us, and praise thy bounties and thy love, and hope in thy mercies, and beg of thee that thou wilt pardon us, and keep us this night and ever; sanctify and save us, bless us at home and abroad, in the works of our calling and the duties of religion, in our persons and relations; make us to do what pleaseth thee, and to be what thou hast designed us to be, and to receive what thou hast promised, and to keep us from all the evil we have deserved, for Jesus Christ's sake, our dearest Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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, for ever and ever. Amen.

VARIETIES

TO BE ADDED

UPON THE GREAT FESTIVALS OF THE YEAR.

UPON CHRISTMAS-DAY.

The Psalms appointed at Morning Prayer, Psalm ii. xlv. CX.
Evening Prayer, Psalm lxxxvii. lxxxix.

The Hymn for Christmas Day, to be said after the Second
Lesson at Morning and Evening Prayer.

PRAISE waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh

come.

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: he shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

The people that walked in darkness, hath seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men.

He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs.

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.

His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.

He shall sit upon the throne of David to order his kingdom, and to establish it with judgment and justice for ever and ever.

O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men.

Minister. Glory be to God on high.

Answer. And on earth peace, good will towards men.
Minister. Amen.

Answer. Amen.

Then proceed to the Nicene Creed.

The Collect, to be inserted after the first Collect of the Morning and Evening Prayer; and may be said during the twelve Days.

Almighty God, who hast so loved the world, that for our

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