A ND lest, through our own Prayer for grace to reform which encompass us, we be drawn and grow better. again into sin, vouchsafe us, we beseech thee, the direction and assistance of thy Holy Spirit. Reform whatever is amiss in the temper and disposition of our souls; that no unclean thoughts, unlawful designs, or inordinate desires, may rest there. Purge our hearts from envy, hatred, and malice; that we may never suffer the sun to go down upon our wrath; but may always go to our rest in peace, charity, and good-will, with a conscience void of offence towards thee, and towards men; that so we may be preserved pure and blameless, unto the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. AND accept, O Lord, our inter Amen. The Intercession. cessions for all mankind. Let the light of thy Gospel shine upon all nations; and may as many as have received it, live as becomes it. Be gracious unto thy Church; and grant that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may serve thee faithfully. Bless all in authority over us; and so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands, that they may punish wickedness and vice, and maintain thy true religion and virtue. Send down thy blessings, temporal and spiritual, upon all our relations, friends, and neighbours. Reward all who have done us good, and pardon all those who have done or wish us evil, and give them repentance and better minds. Be merciful to all who are in any trouble; and do thou, the God of pity, administer to them according to their several necessities; for his sake who went about doing good, thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. T The Thanksgiv our prayers, O Lord, we all thy mercies; for our being, our reason, and all other endowments and faculties of soul and body; for our health, friends, food, and raiment, and all the other comforts and conveniences of life. Above all, we adore thy mercy in sending thy only Son into the world, to redeem us from sin and eternal death, and in giving us the knowledge and sense of our duty towards thee. We bless thee for thy patience with us, notwithstanding our many and great provocations; for all the directions, assistances, and comforts of thy Holy Spirit; for thy continual care and watchful providence over us through the whole course of our lives; and particularly for the mercies and benefits of the past day; beseeching thee to continue these thy blessings to us, and to give us grace to show our thankfulness in a sincere obedience to his laws, through whose merits and intercession we received them all, thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Prayer for Goa's protection through the night following. IN particular, be beseech thee to continue thy gracious protection to us this night. Defend us from all dangers and mischiefs, and from the fear of them; that we may enjoy such refreshing sleep as may fit us for the duties of the following day. Make us ever mindful of the time when we shall lie down in the dust; and grant us grace always to live in such a state that we may never be afraid to die; so that, living and dying, we may be thine, through the merits and satisfaction of thy Son Christ Jesus, in whose Name we offer up these our imperfect prayers. Amen. THE HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen. On Sundays, and on other days when it may be convenient, it will be proper to begin with a Chapter, or part of a Chapter, from the New Testament. PRAYERS FOR USE IN THE FAMILY. For the Spirit of Prayer. ALMIGHTY God, from whom every good prayer cometh, and who pourest out on all who desire it, the spirit of grace and supplications; deliver us, when we draw nigh to thee, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind; that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship thee in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. LORD, our God, great, eternal, wonderful in glory, who keepest covenant and promises with those that love thee with their whole heart; who art the life of all, the help of those that flee unto thee, the hope of those who cry unto thee; Cleanse us from our sins, secret and open, and from every thought displeasing to thy goodness, cleanse our bodies and souls, our hearts and consciences, that with a pure heart and a clear soul, with perfect love and calm hope, we may venture confidently and fearlessly to pray unto thee. Amen. GOD, who art the Truth, O God who art a Spirit, help us in spirit and in truth to worship thy great Name; not acknowledging thee in one place or at one time only, but in every place and at every time, in all we do and in all we see, in our work and in our rest, in our laughter and our tears, in loneliness and in fellowship, in the eye of day and in the shadow of night, beneath the open sky as in the house of prayer, in the heart of the little child as in the wisdom of the man, in the fulness of health and strength and happiness as in the valley of the shadow of death, through which, O Father Almighty, do thou in thy mercy bear us to never-ending life and light and love. Amen. WE E beseech thee, Lord, open thy heavens, open our eyes: from thence may thy gifts descend to us; from hence may our hearts look back to thee. May thy throne be laid open to us, while we receive the benefits which we implore; may our mind be laid open to thee, while we render the service which is enjoined to us. Look down from heaven, O Lord, behold and visit this vine which thy right hand hath planted. Strengthen the weak, relieve the contrite, confirm the strong. Build them up in love, cleanse them with purity, enlighten them with wisdom, keep them with mercy. Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, who didst lay down thy life for the sheep, defend the purchase of thy blood. Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, seek for the lost, convert the wandering, bind up that which is broken. Put forth thine own hand from heaven, and touch the head of each one here. May they feel the touch of thy hand, and receive the joy of the Holy Spirit, that they may remain blessed for evermore. Amen. Sunday Morning. EAVENLY Father, we commend ourselves thee, in prayer, to quicken our devotion; in praises, to heighten our love and gratitude; keep us from all wandering thoughts; fill our memory with the words of thy law, and enlighten our understanding with the illumination of the Holy Ghost. Remember in mercy all who are hindered from coming to thy house, or who are deprived of the means of grace. Bless and teach all those who this day give themselves to the instruction of the young or ignorant, and grant to us and thy whole church that at length, with all thy faithful servants departed, we may enter into that rest which remaineth for thy people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the Morning. GOD, the King eternal, who dividest the day from the darkness, and turnest the shadow of death into the morning; Drive far off from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep thy law, and guide our feet into the way of peace, that having done thy will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when the night cometh, rejoice to give thee thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ALMIGHTY God, who alone gavest us the breath of life, and alone canst keep alive in us the holy desires thou dost impart; We humbly beseech thee to sanctify all our thoughts and endeavours, that we may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without thy blessing. And grant that having the eyes of the mind opened to behold things invisible and unseen, we may in heart be inspired by thy wisdom, and in work be upheld by thy strength, and in the end be accepted of thee as thy faithful servants; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. FRO ROM the night our spirit awaketh unto thee, O God, for thy precepts are a light unto us. Teach us, O God, thy righteousness, thy commandments, and thy judgments. Enlighten the eyes of our minds, that we may sleep not in sins unto death. Drive away all darkness from our hearts, vouchsafe us the sun of righteousness. Guard our life from all reproach by the seal of thy Holy Spirit. Guide our steps into the way of peace. Grant us to behold the dawn and the day with joyfulness, that we may send up our prayers to thee at eventide. Amen. |