Morning

The Minister shall begin the Morning Prayer by reading one or more of the following Sentences of Scripture.

The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

St. John iv. 23.

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 cloak 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 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—

A General Confession. To be said by the whole Congregation, after the Minister, all kneeling.

ALMIGHTY 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 those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou those who are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus 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 Declaration of Absolution, or Remission of Sins. To be made by the Priest alone, standing; the People still kneeling.

ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live, 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 those who 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 still kneeling, and repeating it with him, both here, and wheresoever else it is used in Divine Service.

OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Then likewise he shall say,

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say.

Then shall be said or sung the following Canticle; except on those days for which other Canticles are appointed; and except also, that Psalm 95 may be used in this place. But Note, That on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday the Venite may be omitted.

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD; * let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; * and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God; * and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the corners of the earth; * and the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; * and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, * and kneel before the LORD our Maker. For he is the Lord our God; * and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; * let the whole earth stand in awe of him. For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; * and with righteousness to judge the world, and the people with his truth.

35, 36

¹Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!

²Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help!

³Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!”

⁴Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life! Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me!

⁵Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away!

⁶Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!

⁷For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.

⁸Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it — to his destruction!

⁹Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation.

¹⁰All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

¹¹Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.

¹²They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.

¹³But I, when they were sick — I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.

¹⁴I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.

¹⁵But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;

¹⁶like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth.

¹⁷How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!

¹⁸I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.

¹⁹Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.

²⁰For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit.

²¹They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!”

²²You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me!

²³Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!

²⁴Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!

²⁵Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, our heart's desire!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!

²⁷Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”

²⁸Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.

¹Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.

²For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

³The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good.

⁴He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.

⁵Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

⁶Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.

⁷How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

⁸They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

⁹For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

¹⁰Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

¹¹Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

¹²There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.

2 Samuel 21:1-14

Then shall be read the First Lesson, according to the Table or Calendar. And NOTE, That before every Lesson, the Minister shall say, Here beginneth such a Chapter [or Verse of such a Chapter]. of such a Book; and after every Lesson, Here endeth the First [or the Second] Lesson.

¹Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

²So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

³And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?”

⁴The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?”

⁵They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel,

⁶let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I will give them.”

⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the LORD that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

⁸The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

⁹and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the LORD, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.

¹¹When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done,

¹²David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa.

¹³And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.

¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.

BLESSED art thou, O Lord God of our fathers; * praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou for the Name of thy Majesty; * praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou in the temple of thy holiness; * Praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and dwellest between the Cherubim: * praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou on the glorious throne of thy Kingdom: * praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven: * praised and exalted above all for ever.

Luke 22:1-13

Then shall be read, in like manner, the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament, according to the Table or Calendar.

¹Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.

²And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

³Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

⁴He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

⁵And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

⁶So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

⁷Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

⁸So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.”

⁹They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?”

¹⁰He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters

¹¹and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’

¹²And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.”

¹³And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; * for he hath visited and redeemed his people; And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, * in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, * which have been since the world began; That we should be saved from our enemies, * and from the hand of all that hate us. To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, * and to remember his holy covenant; To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, * that he would give us; That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies * might serve him without fear; In holiness and righteousness before him, * all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: * for thou shalt go. before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * for the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; * whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us; To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Then shall be said the Apostles’ Creed by the Minister and the People, standing. And any Churches may, instead of the words, He descended into hell, use the words, He went into the place of departed spirits, which are considered as words of the same meaning in the Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty: From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost: The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints: The Forgiveness of sins: The Resurrection of the body: And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after that, these Prayers following, the people devoutly kneeling; the Minister first pronouncing,

Let us pray.

Then shall be said the following Suffrages.

Then shall follow the Collect for the Day.

Collect of the Day

Wednesday after the 18th Sunday after Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Peace

O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Grace

O LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings, being ordered by thy governance, may be righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The following Prayers shall be omitted here when the Litany is said, and may be omitted when the Holy Communion is to follow. And NOTE, That the Minister may here end the Morning Prayer with such general intercessions taken out of this Book, as he shall think fit, or with the Grace.

A Prayer for The President of the United States, and all in Civil Authority

O LORD, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; Most heartily we beseech thee, with thy favour to behold and bless thy servant THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and all others in authority; and so replenish them with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way. Endue them plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant them in health and prosperity long to live; and finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift; Send down upon our Bishops, and other Clergy, and upon the 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 for all Conditions of Men

O 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 thy holy Church universal; 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, or estate; [*especially those for whom our prayers are desired;] that it may please thee to comfort 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’s sake. Amen.

A General Thanksgiving

ALMIGHTY 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 to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for 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 our selves 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.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom

ALMIGHTY 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.

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.