A Prayer for the High Court of Parliament, to be read during their Session. M OST gracious God, we humbly beseech thee as for this Kingdom in general, so especially for the High Court of Parliament, under our most religious and gracious Queen at this time assembled ; that thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, the safety, honour, and welfare, of our Sovereign and her dominions ; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations; these and all other necessaries for them, for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen. A Collect, or Prayer, for all Conditions of Men, to be used at such times when the Litany is not appointed to be said. 0 God, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men, that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially, we pray for the good estate of the Catholic Church; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those who are any ways afflicted, or distressed, in mind, body, * This to be said or estate; [* especially those for when any desire the whom our prayers are desired; that it may please thee to comfort Prayers of the Congregation. and relieve them, according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions; and this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake. Amen. A THANKSGIVINGS. A General Thanksgiving. LMIGHTY God, father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us, and to all men ; [*particularly been prayed for de * This to be said to those who desire now to offer up when any that have their praises and thanksgivings for sire to return praise. thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them.] We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen. 0 For Rain. God, our heavenly Father, who, by thy gracious providence, dost cause the former and the latter rain to descend upon the earth, that it may bring forth fruit for the use of man; we give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased thee, in our great necessity, to send us, at the last, a G joyful rain upon thine inheritance, and to refresh it when it was dry, to the great comfort of us thy unworthy servants, and to the glory of thy holy Name, through thy mercies in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 0 For Fair Weather. Lord God, who hast justly humbled us by thy late plague of immoderate rain and waters, and in thy mercy hast relieved and comforted our souls by this seasonable and blessed change of weather; we praise and glorify thy holy Name for this thy mercy, and will always declare thy lovingkindness from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For Plenty. Most merciful Father, who, of thy gracious thy Church, and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and plenty; we give thee humble thanks for this thy special bounty, beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness unto us, that our land may yield us her fruits of increase, to thy glory and our comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For Peace and Deliverance from our Enemies. O Almighty God, who art a strong tower of de fence unto thy servants against the face of their enemies; we yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our deliverance from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed; we acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey unto them; beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards us, that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 0 For restoring Public Peace at Home. Eternal God, our heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house, and stillest the outrage of a violent and unruly people; we bless thy holy Name that it hath pleased thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately raised up amongst us; most humbly beseeching thee to grant to all of us grace, that we may henceforth obediently walk in thy holy commandments, and leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For Deliverance from the Plague, or other common Sickness. 0 Lord God, who hast wounded us for our sins, and consumed us for our transgressions, by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation, and now, in the midst of judgment remembering mercy, hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death; we offer unto thy fatherly goodness ourselves, our souls and bodies which thou hast delivered, to be a living sacrifice unto thee, always praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. WE Or this. TE humbly acknowledge before thee, O most merciful Father, that all the punishments which are threatened in thy law might justly have fallen upon us, by reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart; yet, seeing it hath pleased thee of thy tender mercy, upon our weak and unworthy humiliation, to assuage the contagious sickness wherewith we lately have been sore afflicted, and to restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings, we offer unto thy Divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation and providence over us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS, TO BE USED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. Note, that the Collect appointed for every Sunday, or for any Holyday that hath a Vigil or Eve, shall be said at the Evening Service next before. A FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. The Collect. LMIGHTY 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 which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that, in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen. Collects.]-With reference to all the numerous Prayers contained in the Liturgy under the name of "Collects," the observations that follow occur in the valuable work entitled, " A Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, &c." By Charles Wheatley, M. A., &c. &c. "The reason why these Prayers are so often called Collects is differently represented. Some ritualists think, because the word Collect is sometimes used, both in the vulgar Latin Bible, (Lev. xxiii. 36.; Heb. x. 25.) and by the ancient Fathers, to denote the gathering together of the people in religious assemblies, that, therefore, the Prayers are called Collects, as being repeated when the people are collected together. Others think that they are so named upon account of their comprehensive brevity; the Minister collecting into short forms the petitions of the people, which had before been divided between him and them, by versicles and responses; and that, for this reason, God is desired in some of them, to hear the prayers and supplications of the people. Though I think it is very probable, that the Collects for the Sundays and Holy days bear that name upon account that a great many of them are collected out of the Epistles and Gospels." |