tinually employed in some such actions, for which thou, my God, mayest remember me for good, and spare me, according to the multitude of thy mercies. Preserve my going out and my coming in, from this time forth for evermore. For the Evening. HAVING passed over the day, I render hearty thanks to thee, my God, for thy good providence. The evening now draws on; make thou it comfortable. As each day hath its evening, so likewise hath human life. Life's evening is old age; make thou this also comfortable. Abide with me, my Saviour; for the time is far spent, yea, the shadows of the evening are stretched out, and the day is declining upon me. The night posts on apace, so doth that death, of which night is the image; a night after which, in this world, we must expect no morning. In constant remembrance and due sense whereof, I earnestly entreat thee, blessed Lord, to order such an end of this life for me as may be truly Christian-acceptable to thee—perfectly void of sin and shame, and, so far as thou seest fit, free me from extreme pain too: so gathering me to the remainder of thy elect in peace and innocence at thy own time, and after thy own way; only let it be free from guilt and from reproach. As the day goeth away, and the shadows of the evening are stretched out, so passeth away my life, even like a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. The Lord hath commanded his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the nightseason also my song shall be of him, and my prayer unto the Lord of my life. O, let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God and the God of our fathers, who hast ordained the successions of light and darkness; who makest thy saints to rejoice upon their beds; who hast delivered me from the perils of this day, and not cut off my life like a weaver's web, nor wasted me with pining sickness from morning until night. O thou Keeper of Israel, that neither slumberest nor sleepest, preserve me this night from all manner of evil, yea, do thou preserve my soul. O most kind and merciful Lord, let this season of rest be an entire cessation to me, as well from sin as from labour and sorrow; and suffer not any thought to surprise my unguarded mind which is capable either of displeasing thee or of defiling me. During the Night. O THOU, who inspirest thy saints with songs in the night, and givest wholesome sleep to thy beloved-whose name I will think of in the night-season, and will keep thy law, let thy protection and mercy be upon me, and let the prayers and thanksgivings come up to thee, which my soul poureth out when it fleeth unto the Lord before the morning-watch. Make me to remember thee on my bed, and to think upon thee when I am waking; then let me commune with my own heart, and search out my spirit: for thou art about my path and about my bed; and when I awake, I am present with thee. Thou, Lord, hast granted thy lovingkindness in the day-time; and in the nightseason will I sing of thee, and make my prayer to the God of my life. O Lord, the holy angels are now before thy throne in heaven. They never rest day or night from thy praises; and with them do I sing hallelujah, salvation, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto our God, for ever and ever. Amen. O Thou, who didst at midnight raise the prophet David, and Paul and Silas, to sing praises to thee because of thy righteous judgments, make us to think upon thee with gladness in our beds, whose presence makes our darkness to be light; and save us. O Thou, who by the crowing of the cock didst call back thy fallen apostle to a sense of his sin and infirmity, grant us, like him, to take warning by the same signal-to retire into ourselves, and weep bitterly for our offences; and then do thou accept our repentance, and save us. O Thou, who hast foretold that thou wilt return to judgment in an hour that we are not aware of, grant us grace to watch and pray always; that whether thou shalt come at even, or at midnight, or at the cockerowing, or in the morning, thou mayest find us ready to meet thee. BPS. KEN AND ANDREws. |