If this whole office be said at morning or evening prayer respectively, the collect before sermon here put down may be used instead of the usual prayer before sermon; ending with the Lord's prayer: and the sermon to begin immediately before the blessing.

The sermon being ended; the prayer of thanksgiving may be said, and the congregation dismissed with the blessing set down at the end of evening prayer.

A prayer when a sick person desires to be publicly prayed for.

I.

O ALMIGHTY and most gracious Father, who art the fountain of life and health and pardon, hear the prayers of Thy servants in behalf of our brother [or sister,] the miserable for the afflicted, of sinners for him [or her] whom Thou hast smitten. Lord, lay no more upon him than Thou shalt enable him to bear, but give him patience; and do Thou thyself open a door for his escape, even by a holy and a reformed life, and a speedy recovery, or else by a blessed death, as Thou in Thy infinite loving-kindness shalt choose for Thy glory and his eternal interest.

II.

LORD, give unto Thy servant a perfect repentance and a perfect pardon of all his sins. Remember not the errors of his youth, the weakness of his spirit, the surprises of his life, and the crimes of his choice but join his present sufferings to the passion, his prayers to the intercession, and his repentance to the merits of our dearest Saviour Jesus, that he may be pardoned and pitied, comforted and supported, sanctified and saved in the day of recompenses.

III.

BLESSED Jesus, who hast overcome all the powers of sin, hell and the grave, take from Thy servant all inordinate fear of death, give him a perfect resignation of his will and conformity to Thine; restrain the power of the enemy, that he may not prevail against the soul which Thou hast redeemed: if it be Thy will, give him a speedy restitution of his health, and a holy use of the affliction: or if Thou hast otherwise decreed, preserve him in Thy fear and favour, and receive his soul to mercy, to pardon, and eternal life, through Thy mercies and for Thy compassion sake, O blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus. Amen.

For seasonable weather in time of drought, immoderate rain, or
scarcity, or death of cattle, &c.
I.

O LORD God, whose providence is universal and sufferest nothing to happen in vain, have mercy upon Thy servants who have de

served Thy wrath and to suffer Thy indignation in every expression by which Thou art pleased to signify it. Thou, O God, coverest the heaven with clouds, and preparest rain for the earth; Thou makest the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men: Thou givest fodder unto the cattle, and feedest the young ravens that call upon Thee; hear us, O God, who are Thy servants, and the sheep of Thy pasture; we have indeed wandered and gone astray, but do Thou be merciful unto us, and bring us home to Thee take away Thine anger from us; bless the labours of the husbandman and the fruits of the field, refresh the weary earth with

* According to the present need of rain or fair weather respectively.

:

seasonable showers [or, seasonable weather *;] for Thou hast the key of rain, and the key of providence, Thou didst bind up the heavens with ribs of iron, and Thou didst open again the sluices of water at the prayer of Thy servant Elijah, and Thy hand is not shortened, and Thy mercies have no limit.

II.

OPEN Thy hand, O God, and fill us with Thy loving-kindness, that the mower may fill his hand, and he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosom; that our garners may be full with all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets that our oxen may be strong to labour, that there be no breaking in or going out, that our hearts may be replenished with food and gladness, that there be no complaining in our streets. Give us sufficient for this life; food and raiment, the light of Thy countenance, and contented spirits; and Thy grace to seek the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof in the first place, and then we are sure all these things shall be added unto us. Grant the desires and hear the prayer of Thy servants, for Jesus Christ his sake, our Lord and only Saviour. Amen.

Or this upon the same occasion, or in the time of any other judgment.

ALMIGHTY Father, Lord of heaven and earth, we have sinned and Thou hast smitten us, and all our evils that we suffer are drawn upon our heads by our own impious hands; let Thy threatenings and Thy judgments, Thy love and Thy fear, Thy promises and Thy precepts, work in Thy servants an excellent repentance, and let our repentance obtain Thy favour, and Thy favour remove the present evil [of drought, of immoderate rain, of murrain, of plague, of war, of sickness] from us according to the present occasion; sanctify unto us Thy rod, and support us with Thy staff, and restore us to those comforts which we need and which Thou hast promised to give to them that love and fear Thee, that repent of their sins, and beg for pardon through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A SHORTER FORM OF MORNING PRAYER

FOR A FAMILY.

A more private office for the family to be said betimes in the morning on Sundays, or at any hour of the morning upon the other days of the week.

IN the name of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus.
Our Father, &c.

THE MORNING HYMN.

HEARKEN unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto Thee will I pray.-My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning. O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up.

Great is our Lord, and greatly to be praised; His eyes are ever upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.-Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, Thy judgments are a great deep; O Lord, Thou preservest both man and beast.-How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O Lord! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.

For with Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light we shall see light. According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise to the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness.

The Lord, the Lord God is merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.

What is man that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thy heart upon him :-And that Thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment?

If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty:-If thou wert pure and upright, surely now

He would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

O Lord be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee, be Thou our arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.— O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me, let them bring me to Thy holy hill, unto Thy dwelling.

O put your trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption; He shall redeem His people from their sins. Then shall their light break forth as the morning, and their health shall spring forth speedily; for the glory of the Lord shall be their rereward.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

If there be time and conveniency, let a chapter be read out of the sapiential books in order, viz., the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus.

Then shall follow the Creed; to be said by all together.

I BELIEVE in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, which was conceived by the holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Minister. The Lord be with you.
People. And with Thy spirit.

I.

LET US PRAY.

O ETERNAL and most blessed Saviour Jesus, Thou art the bright morning star, and the sun of righteousness; Thou dost enlighten our eyes with Thy beauties, and our hearts with Thy comfort and with the joys of God; Thou art the fountain of health and life, of peace and truth, of rest and holiness; Thou givest to them that want, Thou comfortest them that suffer, Thou forgivest them that repent, and hearest the prayers of all them that call upon Thee, we

adore Thee and praise Thy glories, and rejoice in Thy salvation, and give Thee thanks for Thy blessing and defending us this night, from all the evil which we have deserved every day, and from all the violences and snares by which the enemy of mankind would have hurt us, or destroyed us, unless he had been restrained by Thy eternal goodness and Thy almighty power. Blessed be God.

II.

WE acknowledge O God and Father of our life, that we are less than the least of all Thy mercies, and our iniquity is greater than we can bear our thoughts are vain, our words are foolish and useless, injurious and uncharitable, our actions criminal and hateful; our devotion cold, our passions violent and unreasonable; our duties imperfect, our repentance little, our holiness none at all. O God our Judge, we confess before Thee that we neither know Thee as we ought, nor have taken care that we might; we live in the world to ourselves, but without just regards of Thee and of religion; we daily receive Thy blessings, and yet we provoke Thee every day; we tremble not at Thy judgments though we have deserved them, nor fear till the evil day comes upon us; we are greedy of doing evil, but impatient of suffering any: in prosperity we forget Thy severity and justice; in afflictions we are timorous and amazed, and dare not rely upon Thy goodness, nor with confidence and love expect the effects of Thy mercies and forgiveness. Every thing can tempt us to sin, and we fall infallibly; but by all the arts of Thy spirit and the methods of Thy mercy we are not brought to obey Thee as we ought: our state is sad, our condition is sinful, our hopes are broken, and we often forget ourselves, and still neglect and despise our own danger.

III.

BUT, O God our Father, merciful and gracious, have mercy upon us. Be pleased to admit Thy servants to a full pardon of all our sins, let us not persevere in any one sin, nor pass from one sin to another. Smite us not, O God, in Thine anger, and let not Thy wrath descend upon our guilty heads. Thy anger, O God, is insufferable, Thy vengeance is the portion of accursed souls, and Thou hast prepared the everlasting fire for the devil and his angels for ever. O Lord, Thou Father of our life and lover of souls, let us never have our portion in the bottomless pit, in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever: but let our portion be in the actions of repentance, in the service of God, in the aids and comforts of Thy spirit, in duty and holiness, in the light of Thy countenance, and in the likeness and in the inheritance of our Lord Jesus. O God, let not Thine arrows smite us, nor Thy judgments consume us; keep us from all expressions of Thy wrath, and let us rejoice in Thy mercies and loving-kindnesses for ever and ever. Amen.