[A Prayer of the Queen's Majesty. O LORD our heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, Lord of lords, the only ruler of princes, which dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth, most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour to behold our most gracious sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, and so replenish her with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that she may alway incline to thy will, and walk in thy way: Indue her plentifully with heavenly gifts: Grant her in health and wealth long to live: strength3 her that she may vanquish and overcome all her enemies: And finally after this life she may attain everlasting joy and felicity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 2 ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, which only workest great marvels, send down upon our Bishops and Curates, and all congregations committed to their charge, the healthful spirit of thy grace, and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing: Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our advocate and mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer of Chrysostome. ALMIGHTY God, which hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee, and dost promise that when two or three be gathered together in thy name thou wilt grant their requests: fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them, granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen*. ii. Corin. xiii. THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen. For rain, if the time require. O God heavenly Father, which by thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to all them that seek thy kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, all things necessary to their bodily sustenance: Send us, we beseech thee, in this our necessity, such moderate rain and showers, that we may receive the fruits of the earth to our comfort and to thy honour, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For fair weather. O LORD God, which for the sin of man didst once drown all the world, except eight persons, and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to destroy it so again: we humbly beseech thee, that although we for our iniquities have worthily deserved this plague of rain and [1596, for.] [1596, plenteously.] waters, yet upon our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather, whereby we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season, and learn both by thy punishment to amend our lives, and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the time of dearth and famine. O GOD heavenly Father, whose gift it is that the rain doth fall, the earth is fruitful, beasts increase, and fishes do multiply: Behold, we beseech thee, the afflictions of thy people, and grant that the scarcity and dearth (which we do now most justly suffer for our iniquity) may through thy goodness be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty, for the love of Jesu Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be praise for ever. Amen. In the time of War. O ALMIGHTY God, King of all kings, and governour of all things, whose power no creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful unto them that truly repent: Save and deliver us (we humbly beseech thee) from the hands of our enemies; abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices; that we, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils to glorify thee, which art the only giver of all victory, through the merits of thy only son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the time of any common plague or sickness. O ALMIGHTY God, which in thy wrath in the time of king David didst slay with the plague of pestilence three score and ten thousand, and yet remembering thy mercy, didst save the rest: have pity upon us miserable sinners, that now are visited with great sickness, and mortality; that like as thou didst then command thine angel to cease from punishing, so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague, and grievous sickness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O God, whose nature and property is ever to have mercy, and to forgive, receive our humble petitions: and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet loose us, for the honour of Jesus [1596, Jesus.] Not in 1596.] Christ's sake, our mediator and advocate. Amen.] [1596, be all honour. &c.] ¶ The Collects, Epistles and Gospels, to be used at the celebration of the Lord's supper and holy Communion, through the year. Rom. xiii. Math. xxi. The first Sunday of Advent. The Collect. ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life (in the which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility;) that in the last day, when he shall come again in3 glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal through him: who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen. The Epistle. Owe nothing to any man, but this, that ye love one another. For he that loveth another, fulfilleth the law. For these commandments: Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal: Thou shalt bear no false witness: Thou shalt not lust: and so forth, (if there be any other commandment,) it is all comprehended in this saying: namely, Love thy neighbour as thyself. Love hurteth not his neighbour: therefore is love the fulfilling of the Law. This also, we know the season, how that it is time, that we should now awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer, than when we believed. The night is passed, the day is come nigh: let us therefore cast away the deeds of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as it were in the day light: not in eating and drinking, neither in chambering and wantonness, neither in strife and envying: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it. The Gospel. AND when they drew nigh to Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage unto mount Olivet: then sent Jesus two of his disciples, saying unto them: Go into the town that lieth over against you, and anon you shall find an Ass bound, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, say ye, The Lord hath [1578, The Collectes, with the order how to finde the beginning and ende of the Epistles and Gospels in the newe Testament, by the Chapter and the verse, as it is appoynted in the booke of Common prayer.] [3 Grafton and 1596, in his.] [ 1596, in.] need of them and straightway he will let them go. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Prophet, saying: Tell ye the daughter of Sion: behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, sitting upon an Ass, and a colt, the foal of the Ass used to the yoke. The Disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the Ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and set him thereon. And many of the people spread their garments in the way. Other cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. Moreover, the people that went before, and they that came after cried, saying: Hosanna, to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the people said: This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth, a city of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written: My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. The second Sunday". The Collect. BLESSED Lord, which hast caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them: that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ". The Epistle. WHATSOEVER things are written aforetime, they are written for our Rom. xv. learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. The God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one towards another, after the ensample of Christ Jesu: that ye all agreeing together, may with one mouth praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesu Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ received us, to the praise of GOD. And this I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might praise God for his mercy, as it is written: For this the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. gentiles with his people. And again: and laud him all ye nations together. shall be the root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may be rich in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. [ 1596, in Aduent.] cause I will praise thee among [ Grafton, Amen.] [ Grafton, of.] Luke xxi. i Cor. iv. Math. xi. The Gospel. THERE shall be signs in the sun and in the moon, and in the stars: and in the earth the people shall be at their wits' end, through despair. The sea and the water shall roar, and men's hearts shall fail them for fear, and for looking after those things, which shall come on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall move. And then shall they see the Son of man come in a cloud, with power and great glory. When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he shewed them a similitude: Behold the Fig tree, and all other trees: when they shoot forth their buds, ye see and know of your own selves, that Summer is then nigh at hand. So likewise ye also (when ye see these things come to pass) be sure that the kingdom of God is nigh. Verily I say unto you: this generation shall not pass, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass. ¶ The third Sunday'. The Collect. LORD, we beseech thee, give ear to our prayers, and by thy gracious visitation lighten the darkness of our heart, by our Lord Jesus Christ2. The Epistle. LET a man this wise esteem us, even as the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the secrets of God. Furthermore, it is required of the stewards, that a man be found faithful. With me it is but a very small thing, *that I should be judged of you, either of man's judgment: no, I judge not mine own self; for I know nought by myself, yet am I3 not thereby justified. It is the Lord that judgeth me. Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, which will lighten things that are hid in darkness, and open the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. The Gospel. WHEN John, being in prison, heard the works of Christ, he sent two of his Disciples, and said unto him: Art thou he that shall come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered, and said unto them: Go, and shew John again, what ye have heard and seen. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor receive the glad tidings of the gospel: and happy is he that is not offended by me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the people, concerning John: What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed that is shaken with the wind? Or what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing, are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A [1596, in Aduent.] [ Grafton, Amen.] |