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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

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom.

LMIGHTY God, who 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 are 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.

TH

2 Cor. xiii.

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.

Here endeth the Order of Morning Prayer throughout the Year.

Almighty and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels.]-This is a prayer for the People and Clergy of the Church, and the petition is for spiritual gifts. God is therefore addressed in it as thou "who alone workest great marvels; "marvels" signifying in this place, "miracles," or divine or spiritual things, in distinction from natural things; as rain, fair weather, plenty, peace, and similar objects of prayer. It is in the same sense of spiritual things, that, a little further on, we read in the "Cantate Domino," "O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things."

Bishops and Curates, and all Congregations.]—In this passage, by "Curates," we are to understand the immediate Pastors of Congregations, however specially denominated. So, in the observations "Concerning the Service of the Church," to which the reader may here refer, we read, "And the Curate that ministereth in every Parish Church, or Chapel, &c.;" while, in a subsequent page of the Liturgy, we shall find the word "Pastors,' taking the place of "Curates."""Curate," from the Latin curator, was the Romish, and, therefore, elder term; and it is thus that in the French, "Curé" has still the same general interpretation. How it happens that the term Curates is used in one prayer, and Pastors in the other, appears from the circumstance that, at the revisal of the English Prayer Book, the latter was introduced from a different compilation; namely, the Scotch Liturgy.

THE ORDER FOR

EVENING PRAYER,

DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

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At the beginning of Evening Prayer the Minister shall read, with a loud voice, some one or more of these sentences of the Scriptures that follow. And then he shall say that which is written after the said

sentences.

WH

HEN the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Ezek. xviii. 27.

I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Psal. li. 3.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Psal. li. 9.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psal. li. 17.

Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel ii. 13.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he set before us. Dan. ix. 9, 10.

O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Jer. x, 24. Psal. vi. 1.

Repent ye, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. St. Matth. iii. 2.

I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. St. Luke, xv. 18, 19.

Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord; for, in thy sight, shall no man living be justified. Psal. cxliii. 2.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 St. John, i. 8, 9.

DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us, in sundry places, to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God, our heavenly Father, but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God, yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice, unto the throne of the heavenly grace; saying after me,

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A General Confession, to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister, all kneeling.

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LMIGHTY and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may, hereafter, live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

The Absolution, or Remission of Sins, to be pronounced by the Priest alone, standing; the People still kneeling.

LMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord

sinner, but, rather, that he may turn from his wickedness and live; and hath given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel; wherefore, let us beseech him to grant us true repentance and his holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do at this present, and that the rest of our life, hereafter, may be pure and holy; so that, at the last, we may come to his eternal joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then the Minister shall kneel, and say the Lord's Prayer; the People also kneeling, and repeating it with him.

OUR

UR Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Then likewise he shall say,

O Lord, open thou our lips.

And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing, the Priest shall say,

And

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.

Praise ye the Lord.

The Lord's Name be praised.

Then shall be said, or sung, the Psalms in order as they are appointed. Then a Lesson of the Old Testament, as is appointed. And after that, Magnificat (or the Song of the blessed Virgin Mary) in English, as followeth.

MY

Magnificat. St. Luke, i.

soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For, behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed;

On

Thy will be done in earth.]-Among the errors of modern criticism upon the language of the English Lord's Prayer, fault has been found with the words, "Thy will be done in earth;" and we have been told that the sense requires "on earth." There is perfect propriety, however, in the words, exactly as we find them; for, if the phrase " on earth" refers to the earth's surface, that of "in earth" equally refers to its circumference. an island," and "in an island," are phrases equally proper; according as we mean to speak of an island's surface or its circumference, or the space which it contains.

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