thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or this.

(Bp. Cosin, D. Hickes.)

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, we beseech thee of

thanks which we offer to thee for all thy graces and virtues, which thou hast declared in all thy saints, and by them bestowed upon thy holy Church from the beginning of the world, who have shined forth as lights

in the several generations of the world; such * The Mother of as were the Holy Patriarchs, and Prophets, our Lord, whose Purification (or [the Blessed Virgin Mary,* the Apostles] Annunciation) we Martyrs, and Confessors, whom we remem- this day commeber with honour, and commemorate with morate.

day.

Or,

joy, and for whom, as also for all other + Especially thy thy happy servants, our fathers and brethren, servant, for whose who have departed this life with the seal of Apostleship [or preaching, witfaith, [and do now rest in the sleep of peace, ness, confession, we praise and magnify thy glorious Name, suffering, for thy most humbly desirous that we may still sake, &c.] we yield continue in their holy communion, and thee thanks this enjoy the comforts thereof while we are on earth, and have grace to follow their To be used as the blessed examples of godliness of life, and stedfastness of faith; and that at the last day, we with them, and they with us, may attain to the resurrection of the just, and have our perfect consummation of bliss, both in body and soul, in thine eternal kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or this, on Martyrs' days.

(Serv. for K. Charles the Martyr.)

case may be.

LESSED Lord, in whose sight the death of thy

abundant grace bestowed upon thy servant; by which he was enabled so cheerfully to follow the steps of his blessed Master and Saviour, in a constant meek suffering of all barbarous indignities, and at last resisting unto blood; and

even then according to the same pattern, praying for his murderers. Let his memory, O Lord, be ever blessed among us; that we may follow the example of his courage and constancy, his meekness and patience, and great charity; and according to the example of this thy blessed Martyr, may press forward to the prize of the high calling that is before us, in faith and patience, humility and meekness, mortification and self-denial, charity and constant perseverance unto the end: And all this for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ his sake: to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

0

On the Holy Innocents' Day.

(D. Sparkes, M. Spinckes.)

GOD, who by the death of the Holy Innocents hast taught thy Church that no age or occasion of suffering for our Saviour is exempt from reward; Grant, we beseech thee, that our celebration of this festival may make us adore the gracious dispensations of thy providence, that our hearts may be confirmed in an entire resignation to thy will, and assured that all our sufferings shall conduce to our eternal advantage.

Make us, we beseech thee, [and the children of this family] to be as becomes Christ's little ones, children in humility and teachableness, in cheerfulness, in obedience, and in reverence, in gratitude for thy bounty, and in all dependance on thee, that so at last thou mayest embrace us in the arms of thy mercy, and invite us to the everlasting habitations of thy Father's house. Amen.

For the Ministration of Angels on Michaelmas-day.
(D. Hickes, M. Spinckes.)

ETERNAL God, who in thy wonderful providence hast made the angels ministering spirits, and sendest them forth to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation [and who this day callest us by the voice of thy Church to commemorate all the glorious host of heaven, who by thine appointment assist thine elect against the powers of darkness]; behold with pity the temptations and dangers to which the frailty of our nature is exposed; give

thine angels charge to bear us in their hands, that we fall not, to succour and defend us in this our pilgrimage on earth, and to shield us from all the violence of the powers of darkness. Give us grace to adore and praise thee for their ministry and protection, that we may with firmer hope pursue the holy ways of increasing their joy by advancing our own bliss.

Give us grace to endeavour to do thy will with the same diligence and industry, with the same zeal and cheerfulness as thy blessed angels do it in heaven, that imitating their exemplary obedience and unspotted purity in our life, we may enjoy the advantage of their assistance in the hour of death, in that dismal conflict with the powers of darkness; and being by them conducted to the mansions of glory, may be advanced to a more intimate society with them in the life to come, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, and there with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of Heaven, evermore to bless and praise thy Holy Name. Amen.

VIGILS, FASTS, AND DAYS OF ABSTINENCE.

The Table of Vigils is given at the commencement of the Book, so also is the general List of Fasts and Days of Abstinence, although it is not specified what days belong to those two classes respectively. At the time that Table was given in the Common Prayer Book, the two first of the Rogation-Days, and all Fridays in the year, were Days of Abstinence. The rest were Fast-Days: the one being a limitation in the kind and quantity of food, the other entire deprivation of food until late in the day.

VIGILS.

YONTINUE in prayer, and watch in the same. Col. iv.

CON

Watch and pray,

Matt. xxvi.

that ye

enter not into temptation.

I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached unto others I should myself be a castaway. 1 Cor. ix.

Appropriate Psalms.-vi. cii. cxxx.

The Prayer.

(Dr. Hickes.)

GOD, who inspirest thy Church to sanctify the year with

festival memorials of our blessed Saviour and his most exemplary followers, and to excite and introduce our devotions to each feast by the wholesome discipline of a religious fast. Grant us thy servants, we most humbly beseech thee, brought again to the Eve of the Festival of

by this day's obedient mortification of our carnal appetites, to call in and purify our souls, and fitly dispose them for the fruitful celebration of the approaching solemnity (or festival), through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end. Amen.

Or this, which will also serve for Fast-days.

LORD Christ, who by thy Holy Doctrine hast taught us to fast, and watch, and pray, and by thy blessed example hast powerfully engaged us to follow thy steps; vouchsafe, we beseech thee, by thy grace so to mortify our bodies (withdrawing the fuel from our unruly passions, and reducing our immoderate sleep to the measures of necessary refreshment), that our minds may be better disposed for prayer and meditation, devoutly to celebrate the Fasts and Festivals of thy Church, and eternally to rejoice with thee hereafter in the kingdom of thy Glory, where with the Father and the Holy Ghost, thou livest and reignest one God, world without end, Amen.

FASTS.

SENTENCES. (See those for Lent, p. 143.)

Appropriate Psalms.-vi. xxxvi. xxxviii. li. cii. cxxx. cxliii.

Collects and Prayers.

LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.

Second Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, who madest thy blessed Son to be

circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit; that our hearts, and all our members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From the Commination Service.

URN thou us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned.

invourable to thy

who turn to thee in weeping, fasting, and praying. For