THE PASTOR'S PRAYERS FOR HIMSELF AND HIS PEOPLE. LORD my God, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; yet thou hast honoured thy servant with appointing him to stand in thy House, and to serve at thy holy Altar. To thee and to thy service I devote myself, soul, body, and spirit, with all their powers and faculties. Fill my memory with the words of thy Law; enlighten my understanding with the illumination of the Holy Ghost; and may all the wishes and desires of my will centre in what thou hast commanded. And, to make me instrumental in promoting the salvation of the people now committed to my charge, grant that I may faithfully administer thy holy Sacraments, and by my life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word. Be ever with me in the performance of all the duties of my ministry: in prayer, to quicken my devotion; in praises, to heighten my love and gratitude; and in preaching, to give a readiness of thought and expression suitable to the clearness and excellency of thy holy Word. Grant this for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Saviour. Amen. MOST OST gracious God, the giver of all good and perfect gifts, who of thy wise providence hast appointed divers Orders in thy Church; Give thy grace, we beseech thee, to thy servant, to whom the charge of this Congregation is now committed; and so replenish him with the truth of thy doctrine, and endue him with innocency of life, that he may faithfully serve before thee, to the glory of thy great Name, and the benefit of thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. GR RANT to us, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we may so behave ourselves by thy grace as to be worthy of thee, and may afford to thy faithful people the example of a right conversation; and that the everlasting salvation of thy people may become the reward of the priest, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. GOD, whose ways are all mercy and truth, carry on thy gracious work, and bestow, by thy benefits, what human frailty cannot attain; that we who attend upon the heavenly Mysteries may be grounded in perfect faith, and shine forth conspicuous by the purity of our souls; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. And Perfection of all virtues; grant us, we LMIGHTY and Everlasting God, the Source beseech thee, both to do what is right and to preach what is true; that both by action and teaching we may afford to thy faithful people the instruction which is of thy grace ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ETERNAL God, who hast made all things for man, and man for thy glory, sanctify my body and soul, my thoughts and my intentions, my words and actions, that whatsoever I shall think, or speak, or do, may be by me designed to the glorification of thy name, and by thy blessing may be effective and successful in the work of God, according as it can be capable. Lord, turn my necessities into virtue, the works of nature into the works of grace, by making them orderly, regular, temperate, subordinate and profitable to ends beyond their proper efficacy, and let no pride or self-seeking, no covetousness or revenge, no impure mixture or unhandsome purposes, no little ends and low imaginations pollute my spirit and unhallow any of my words and actions; but let my body be a servant of my spirit, and both body and spirit servants of Jesus; that doing all things for thy glory here, I may De partaker of thy glory hereafter, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Grant GOOD Shepherd, who camest to seek and to save that which was lost, be with me in this my work. Strengthen me in my weakness. Give me greater zeal for thy glory; greater love for the souls thou diedst to save. Let not my sins or infirmities hinder thy grace. me faithfulness with tenderness, and boldness with meekness. Teach me, that I may teach. Comfort me, that I may comfort. Bless that which I shall speak in thy name. And have mercy both upon the Pastor and upon the flock; for thine own merits' sake. Amen. :::: GOD, Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful, visit, we pray thee, this Congregation with thy love and favour; enlighten their minds more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel; graft in their hearts a love of the truth; increase in them true religion; nourish them with all goodness; and of thy great mercy keep them in the same, O blessed Spirit, whom, with the Father and the Son together, we worship and glorify as one God, world without end. Amen. GOD, the Sovereign Good of the soul, who requirest the hearts of all thy children; deliver us from all sloth in thy work, all coldness in thy cause; and grant us by looking unto thee to rekindle our love, and by waiting upon thee to renew our strength; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. LORD Jesus Christ, thou good Shepherd of the flock, mercifully hear our supplications, and grant unto this parish all things that are needful for its spiritual welfare. Unite the hearts of pastor and people in love of thee, and in zeal for thy work. Endue the clergy with holiness and wisdom; strengthen and increase the faithful; visit and relieve the sick; convert the wicked; rouse the careless; recover the fallen; restore the penitent; remove all hindrances to the advancement of thy truth; and bring all to be of one heart and mind within the fold of thy holy Church; to the honor and glory of thy Name, who art with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one world without end. Amen. God, ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; take from us all our lukewarmness and halfheartedness. Stir up within us more life and zeal and entire devotion to thee. Give us the spirit of prayer, without which we cannot serve thee truly. Make us forward and self-denying in good works. Make us to care for the eternal good of others, that we may, each according to his power and his calling, teach thy ways unto the wicked, and that sinners may be converted unto thee. Build us up more and more, O Lord, in faith and love and unity and holiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour. Amen. A LMIGHTY God, we beseech thee to hear our prayers for such as sin against thee, or neglect to serve thee, especially those in this parish, that thou wouldest vouchsafe to bestow upon them true repentance, and an earnest longing for thy service, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ORD Jesus, we ihtercede with thee for the conversion of all in this parish, who are living in wilful sin and godlessness. Turn them, O Lord, and they shall be turned. Take from them the heart of stone, and give them the heart of flesh. Rouse them to see their peril, and to flee from the wrath to come. Hear, O Lord, our special intercession for those near and dear to ourselves. Make us also to labour as we pray and may each one of us be an instrument in the salvation of some one soul. Hear us, O Saviour, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, evermore. Amen. LET thy Name, O Lord, rest upon thy congre gation. We have brought to thy house our selfishness and vanity, our vulgar delight in our possession of the things which our neighbors do not possess, our debasing pride in the things that cause us to differ from our brethren, our hard-hearted indifference to others' needs and pains, our gilded hypocrisies, our smug selfsatisfaction, our hideous formalism, our heathenish ingratitude to thee. Yet we are thy people. Thou hast redeemed us. Thou hast called us by thy Name. We are thine. O let thy Name rest upon us. Visit us with thy salvation. our hearts with the divine heat and glow of thy presence. And send us home forgetful of everything save thy goodness and of the infinite debt we owe to our fellowmen; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Melt RESERVE us, O Heavenly Father, from the be to our hurt, being heard and not done, known and not loved, received and not retained, but rather grant us to meditate upon thy Truth that our lives may be conformed to thy Will and perfected in thy fruition; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen. |