Evening Prayer. PSALM CVIII. A Prayer for Victory against our Enemies. O LORD GOD, whose mercy is greater than the heavens, and thy glory is above all the earth, be thou exalted in thine own strength, and magnify thy power and thy mercy, in defending us, and all thy holy church, against all our enemies, temporal and spiritual. Forsake us not, O God our defence, for vain is the help of man: do thou strengthen us, and go forth with our hosts to battle, that we, being defended and armed. by thee, may do acts great and good, fighting thy battles, and putting our confidence in thy righteousness only, and thy salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. PSALM CIX. A Prayer against God's Enemies, and especially Traitors, prophetically intended against the Person of Judas. O God of our praise, who wast contented that thy Son Jesus Christ should be betrayed into the hand of sinners by one of his own apostles, the traitor Judas, and in punishment of so great impiety, didst suffer Satan to stand at his right hand, tempting him to despair, and to give sentence upon himself to condemn himself, and to execute his own judgment, and gavest his bishopric to another; let thy righteous judgments find out all those that are traitors to their prince, enemies to the church, apostates from religion, hypocrites under specious pretences, and beauteous titles; that they may be clothed with shame, and may cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a cloke; that, by thy punishments in this life, they may be driven to a sharp and salutary repentance, and may be saved in the life to come. Deal thou with us, O Lord, according to thy mercy; take away the curse, and let not thy blessing be far from us; let not our wickedness, nor the wickedness of our fathers, be had in remembrance in thy sight; let our minds be alway to do good, and our hearts and lips be given unto prayer, and our prayers so guided by thy assistances, that they be not turned into sin; that when we go hence, like the shadow that departeth, and are driven away like the grasshopper, when the days of our vanity and rejoicing are past, we may stand at thy right hand, and our souls be saved from the lot and portion of the unrighteous; through the righteousness and passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. THE TWENTY-THIRD DAY. Morning Prayer. PSALM CX. A Hymn in the Honour of Christ's Kingdom, and Priesthood, and Exaltation. O ETERNAL God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who when thy Son had drunk of the brook in the way to the grave, and to our redemption (beginning his passion by the brook Cedron, and tasting the waters of bitterness till he had drunk off the whole chalice of thy wrath upon the cross), didst lift up his head, and set him at thy right hand, till thou shalt make all his enemies his footstool; fill our hearts with his love and praises, that we may pay him the offerings of our souls and bodies in an holy worship, and joyful thanksgiving for all the parts and mysteries of our redemption; for his birth in the womb of his holy Mother, pure and virginal like the morning dew; for his death and passion; and for his continual mediation and intercession, by which he doth officiate in his eternal priesthood, which is after the order of Melchisedeck. Remember us, blessed Jesu, in the day of thy power, when thou shalt come to judge the world, and the places filled with dead bodies shall give up their dead; that we may sit at thy right hand to magnify and behold the glories of thy kingdom for ever and ever. Amen. PSALM CXI. An Eucharistical Hymn for the Benefits of the Holy Gospel, particularly of the Blessed Sacrament. O blessed Jesu, whose righteousness endureth for ever, thy work is worthy to be praised and had in honour, for that thou hast been merciful and gracious to us, and hast given meat, even the food of the blessed sacrament, unto them that fear thee, that by the participation of thy holy communion, we should have thee in remembrance, and ever be mindful of thy covenant: plant thy fear in our hearts, give us wisdom and good understanding, and make us to have pleasure in thee, and all thy works; that we, obeying the precepts of thy holy Gospel, and performing the conditions of thy covenant, which thou hast established for ever in truth and equity, in verity and judgment, we may worthily praise and adore thy reverent and holy name among the faithful in this life, and in the congregation of saints in the life to come, through thy mercies, O blessed Jesu, to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen. PSALM CXII. A Prayer for the Fear of the Lord, for Charity, and the Blessings of the Righteous. O Lord God, who art to be feared in the generations of the world, teach us the fear of thy name, that we may fear to offend thee, and that, delighting in thy commandments, we may serve thee, without fear of our enemies, in holiness and righteousness all our days. Let thy light arise upon the darkness of our understandings; let thy mercies and gentleness cure all thoughts of unmercifulness in us; and make us charitable, of tender bowels, yearning with pity over the needs of the poor. Teach us to guide our words with discretion, make us never to be moved from our purposes of holy living, stablish our hearts in thy love, that in the day of restitution of all things, thou mayest give us the portion of the charitable, the rewards of thy right hand; and when the wicked shall gnash with their teeth, and consume away in a sad eternity, we may be satisfied with the riches and plenteousness of thy house for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. PSALM CXIII. A Thanksgiving to God for his Acts of Providence, and particular Care over the Poor and Humble. O Lord God, whose dwelling is on high, and yet thou humblest thyself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth, have mercy upon us thy humble servants, and lift us up from the gates of death; take us out of the mire, that we sink not into the bottomless pit of misery and infelicity : and when for our sins thou humblest us as low as the dust, let thy mercy exalt us, and restore us to the light of thy countenance and the joy of thy salvation; that when thou shalt call all the world to judgment from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, we may be set with the princes of thy people, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in thine eternal kingdom, to sing praises to thy name from this time forth for evermore. Amen. Evening Prayer. PSALM CXIV. A Thanksgiving to God for the Deliverance of his People from Bondage and Misery. O LORD GOD, at whose presence the earth trembles, who workest salvation and deliverance for thy church in all ages, and didst deliver thy people from the bondage of Egypt with a mighty hand and an arm stretched out in miraculous effects; deliver us from the bondage of sin, from the tyranny of the devil, from the empire and dominion of the flesh: that our bodies and souls being mortified, our flesh brought under subjection of the spirit, our appetites made subordinate to reason, and our souls wholly conformable to thy will, our hard stony hearts may be converted into hearts of flesh, and into a springing well bringing forth the waters of repentance, and fruits springing up to life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. PSALM CXV. A Prayer against Idolatry, and for Confidence in the O Lord God Omnipotent, whose seat is in heaven, and thou hast done whatsoever pleased thee in heaven and earth, give us thy grace, that in all our troubles we may make thee our succour and defence, and put our trust in thee only; that we, receiving thy mercies and the satisfaction of all our hopes from thy plenteousness and loving-kindness, may give praise unto thy name, never ascribing to ourselves any honour, or the glory and thanks of any good action or prosperous success, but to thee, who art the Author and Giver of all good things. Preserve us from all dangers of idolatry, from worshipping or loving any vain imaginations, and making any thing to be our confidence besides thee, our God; that so thou mayest be mindful of us, and bless us in all our ways, and when we die and go down into silence, we may have our portion amongst the blessed of the Lord, in the inheritance of thy kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. Morning Prayer. PSALM CXVI. An Act of Love and Thanksgiving to God, for Deliverance from Sin and Death. O LORD GOD of eternal mercies, gracious and righteous, give unto us hearts filled with love and praise, to thy holy name; for thou hearest our prayers, thou breakest asunder the bonds of our sins, thou deliverest our souls from trouble and heaviness, and snatchest us from the snares of death, and savest us from the pains of hell. O merciful God, let our souls rest in thee, and be satisfied in the pleasures of thy mercy, that we may receive the cup of blessing and salvation, |