A FORM OF COMMON PRAYER To be used on Wednesday the 27 th of March 1672. Within the Cities of London and Westminster c. And on Wednesday the 17 of April next through the rest of the whole Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed Being the days of the GENERAL FAST Appointed by His Majesties Proclamation for Imploring Gods blessing on His Majesties Naval Forces Set forth by His Majesties Authority In the SAVOY Printed by the Assigns of John Bill and Christopher Barker Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty 1672. 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 most 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 after me ¶ The Confession to be said of 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 them O God which confess their faults Restore thou them that are penitent according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Iesu 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 Absolution to be pronounced by the Priest alone standing the people still kneeling ALmighty God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live and 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 them that 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 Iesus Christ our Lord. ¶ The people shall answer here and at the end of all other Prayers Amen ¶ Then shall the Minister kneel and begin the Lords Prayer the people also repeating it with him OVr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that 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 O Lord open thou our lips Answ And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise Priest O God make speed to save us Answ O Lord make haste to help us ¶ Here all standing up the Priest shall say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the holy Ghost Answer As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Priest Praise ye the Lord. Answ The Lords name be praised ¶ In stead of Venite exultemus shall be sung or said this Hymn following one Verse by the Priest and another by the Clerk and People Psal 65.6 O Come let us humble our selves before the Lord and fall down before him with reverence and fear Psal 65.7 For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands Act. 3.19 Let us repent and turn from our wickedness and our sins shall be forgiven us Psal 32 7. For this shall every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee O Lord in a time when thou mayest be found Psal 18.2 In my trouble I will call upon the Lord and complain unto my God so shall I be safe from mine enemies Psal 18.6 So shall he hear my voice out of his holy temple and my complaint shall come before him it shall enter even into his ears Ps 102.1 Hear my prayer O God and let my crying come unto thee Psal 44.5 Thou art my King O God send help unto Jacob Psal 44.6 Through thee will we overthrow our enemies and in thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us Psal 44.7 For I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall help me Psal 44.8 But it is thou that savest us from our enemies and puttest them to confusion that hate us Ps 33.15 There is no King that can be saved by the multitude of an Host neither is any mighty man delivered by much strength Ps 31.1 Therefore in thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion deliver me in thy righteousness Ps 31.2 Bowe down thine ear to me and save me make haste to deliver me Ps 18.1 I will love thee O Lord my strength the Lord is my stony rock and my defence my Saviour my God and my might in whom I will trust my buckler the horn also of my salvation and my refuge Ps 33.17 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and upon them that put their trust in his mercy Ps 51.18 O be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Ierusalem Ps 33 21. Let thy merciful kindness O Lord be upon us like as we do put our trust in thee Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Domine quid multiplicati Psal 3. LOrd how are they increased that trouble me many are they that rise against me Many one there be that say of my soul there is no help for him in his God But thou O Lord art my defender thou art my worship and the lifter up of my head I did call upon the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill I
holy Name Amen ¶ The Absolution to be pronounced by the Priest alone standing the people still kneeling ALmighty God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live and 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 them that 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 Iesus Christ our Lord. ¶ The people shall answer here and at the end of all other Prayers Amen ¶ Then shall the Minister kneel and begin the Lords Prayer the people also repeating it with him OVr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that 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 O Lord open thou our lips Answ And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise Priest O God make speed to save us Answ O Lord make haste to help us ¶ Here all standing up the Priest shall say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the holy Ghost Answer As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Priest Praise ye the Lord. Answ The Lords name be praised ¶ Then shall be sung or said this Hymn following one Verse by the Priest and another by the Clerk and People Psal 65.6 O Come let us humble our selves before the Lord and fall down before him with reverence and fear Psal 65.7 For he is the Lord our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands Act. 3.19 Let us repent and turn from our wickedness and our sins shall be forgiven us Psal 32.7 For this shall every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee O Lord in a time when thou mayest be found Psal 18.2 In my trouble I will call upon the Lord and complain unto my God so shall I be safe from mine enemies Psal 18.6 So shall he hear my voice out of his holy temple and my complaint shall come before him it shall enter even into his ears Ps 102.1 Hear my prayer O God and let my crying come unto thee Psal 44.5 Thou art my King O God send help unto Jacob Psal 44.6 Through thee will we overthrow our enemies and in thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us Psal 44.7 For I will not trust in my bow it is not my sword that shall help me Psal 44.8 But it is thou that savest us from our enemies and puttest them to confusion that hate us Ps 33.15 There is no King that can be saved by the multitude of an Host neither is any mighty man delivered by much strength Ps 31.1 Therefore in thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion deliver me in thy righteousness Ps 31.2 Bowe down thine ear to me and save me make haste to deliver me Ps 18.1 I will love thee O Lord my strength the Lord is my stony rock and my defence my Saviour my God and my might in whom I will trust my buckler the horn also of my salvation and my refuge Ps 33.17 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and upon them that put their trust in his mercy Ps 51.18 O be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Ierusalem Ps 33.21 Let thy merciful kindness O Lord be upon us like as we do put our trust in thee Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Domine refugium Psal 90. LOrd thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting and world without end Thou turnest man to destruction again thou sayest Come again ye children of men For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday seeing that is past as a watch in the night Assoon as thou scatterest them they are even as a sleep and fade away suddenly like the grass In the morning it is green and groweth up but in the evening it is cut down dried up and withered For we consume away in thy displeasure and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance For when thou art angry all our days are gone we bring our years to an end as it were a tale that is told The days of our age are three score years and ten and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone But who regardeth the power of thy wrath for even thereafter as a man feareth so is thy displeasure So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Turn thee again O Lord at the last and be gracious unto thy servants O satisfie us with thy mercy and that soon so shall we rejoyce and be glad all the days of our life Comfort us again now after the time that thou hast plagued us and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity Shew thy servants thy work and their children thy glory And the glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us prosper thou the work of our hands upon us O prosper thou our handy-work Qui habitat Psal 91. WHoso dwelleth under the defence of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say unto the Lord Thou art my hope and my strong hold my God in him will I trust For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter and from the noisom pestilence He shall defend thee under his wings and thou shalt be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler Thou shalt not be afraid for any terrour by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day For the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day A thousand shall fall beside thee and ten thousand at thy right
that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word and rightly and duely administer thy holy Sacraments And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace and especially to this Congregation here present that with meek heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy Word truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life And we most humbly beseech thee of thy goodness O Lord to comfort and succour all them who in this transitory life are in trouble sorrow need sickness or any other adversity And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom Grant this O Father for Iesus Christs sake our only Mediator and Advocate Amen ¶ Then shall be added the prayers following WE humbly acknowledge before thee O merciful Father that all the punishments threatned in thy Law against sinners might justly fall upon us by reason of our manifold transgressions and especially our great unthankfulness for thy unspeakable mercies towards us But though our crying sins call aloud for thy wrath and vengeance to be poured down upon us yet there is mercy with thee O Lord that thou mayest be feared and with thee our God there is plenteous Redemption Oh enter not into Iudgement with thy servants For if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what we have done amiss O Lord who will be able to abide it At the Footstool of the Throne of thy Grace we prostrate our souls and bodies with fasting tears and supplications Look down graciously upon us we humbly beseech thee from the habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory and for the all-satisfying Death and Passion of thy blessed Son accept this our unfeigned Submission and Humiliation O deliver us from all our sins and then our enemies cannot hurt us Deut. 23. Let us ever remember what thou hast so strictly enjoyn'd That when the Host goeth forth against our enemies we should then especially keep our selves from every wicked thing Vnite our hearts that we may fear thy Name and then we need not fear what man can do unto us O let our ways be such as may please thee that Thou mayest make even our enemies to be at peace with us here and when we have accomplishâ—d our Warfare upon earth maist admit us to the blessed Vision of everlasting Peace in thine own glorious presence through his Merit and Mediation who is both the Lord of Hosts and the Prince of Peace Iesus Christ our Lord and blessed Saviour Amen O God the Protector of all that trust in Thee without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and so great dangers and seest that we have no power of our selves to help our selves Mercifully look upon our infirmities Raise up thy power and come among us and with great might succour us and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty to help and defend us against all our enemies Look we pray thee upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants Encrease and multiply upon us thy mercies that we who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved and that Thou being our Saviour and Deliverer our Ruler and our Guide we may so pass the waves of this troublesom World that finally we may come to the land of everlasting life there to reign with Thee world without end through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty God who hast promised to hear the petitions of them that ask in thy Sons Name we beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears to us that have made now our prayers and supplications unto thee and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy will may effectually be obtained to the relief of our necessity and to the setting forth of thy glory through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen ¶ Then the Priest shall let them depart with this blessing THe peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Iesus Christ our Lord and the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the holy Ghost be amongst you and remain with you always Amen The Order for Evening PRAYER ¶ Let him that ministreth read with a loud voice one or more of these sentences of Scripture and then say the Exhortation that followeth Joel 2.13 REnt your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Dan. 9.9,10 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us Jer. 10 2â— O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing 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 cloke 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 most 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 after me ¶ The Confession to be said of 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 them O God which confess their faults Restore thou them that are penitent according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Iesu 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