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1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer: Preface
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States
1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer: Prayers and Thanksgivings, with additional Collects
The Book of Common Prayer
| 1786 Proposed U. S. Book of Common Prayer |
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| PRAYERS AND | |
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| THANKSGIVINGS upon several Occasions, to be used before the two final | |
| Prayers of Morning and Evening Service. | |
| P R A Y E | |
| R S. | |
| ¶ For Rain. | |
| O God, | |
| heavenly Father, who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to all those | |
| who seek thy kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, all things necessary | |
| to their bodily sustenance; Send us, we beseech thee, in this our necessity, | |
| such moderate rain and showers, that we may receive the fruits of the | |
| earth to our comfort, and to thy honour, through Jesus Christ our Lord. | |
| Amen. | |
| ¶ For fair Weather. | |
| O Almighty | |
| Lord God, who for the sin of man didst once drown all the world, except | |
| eight persons, and afterward of thy great mercy didst promise never to | |
| destroy it so again; We humbly beseech thee, that although we for our | |
| iniquities have worthily deserved a plague of rain and waters, yet upon | |
| our true repentance thou wilt send us such weather, as that we may receive | |
| the fruits of the earth in due season; and learn both by thy punishment | |
| to amend our lives, and for thy clemency to give thee praise and glory, | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ In the time of Dearth and Famine. | |
| O God, | |
| heavenly Father, whose gift it is, that the rain doth fall, the earth | |
| is fruitful, beasts increase, and fishes do multiply; Behold, we beseech | |
| thee, the afflictions of thy people; and grant that the scarcity and dearth, | |
| which we do now most justly suffer for our iniquity, may through thy goodness | |
| be mercifully turned into cheapness and plenty, for the love of Jesus | |
| Christ our Lord ; to whom with thee, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour | |
| and glory now and for ever. Amen. | |
| ¶ Or this. | |
| O God, merciful Father, | |
| who in the time of Elisha the prophet didst suddenly in Samaria turn great | |
| scarcity and dearth into plenty and cheapness; Have mercy upon us, that | |
| we, who are now for our sins punished with like adversity, may likewise | |
| find the seasonable relief: Increase the fruits of the earth by thy heavenly | |
| benediction; and grant that we, receiving thy bountiful liberality, may | |
| use the same to thy glory, the relief of those who are needy; and our | |
| own comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ In the time of War and Tumults. | |
| O Thou | |
| Almighty Ruler of the Universe, whose power no creature is able to resist, | |
| to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful to those | |
| who truly repent; Save and deliver us, we humbly beseech thee, from the | |
| hands of our enemies; that we, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved | |
| evermore from all perils, to glorify thee; who art the only giver of all | |
| victory, through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ In the time of any common Plague or Sickness. | |
| O Almighty | |
| God, who in thy wrath didst sed a plague upon thine own People in the | |
| wilderness, for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron; and | |
| also, in the time of King David, didst slay with the plague of pestilence | |
| threescore and ten thousand, and yet remembering thy mercy, didst save | |
| the rest; Have pity upon us miserable sinners, who now are visited with | |
| great sickness and mortality; that like as thou didst then accept of an | |
| atonement; and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing; | |
| so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous | |
| sickness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ For those who are to be admitted into holy Orders. | |
| ALmighty | |
| God, our heavenly Father, who hast purchased to thyself an universal Church | |
| by the precious blood of thy dear Son; Mercifully look upon the same, | |
| and at this time so guide and govern the minds of thy servants the Bishops | |
| and Pastors of thy flock, that they may lay hands suddenly on no man, | |
| but faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred | |
| ministry of thy Church. And to those who shall be ordained to any holy | |
| Function, give thy grace and heavenly benediction; that both by their | |
| life and doctrine they may shew forth thy glory, and set forward the salvation | |
| of all men, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ Or this | |
| ALmighty | |
| God, the giver of all good gifts, who of thy divine providence hast appointed | |
| divers orders in thy Church; Give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to | |
| all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the | |
| same and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine, and endue them | |
| with innocency of life, that they may faithfully serve, before thee, to | |
| the glory of, thy great, Name, and the benefit of thy holy Church, through | |
| Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| T H A N K S G I V I N G S. | |
| ¶ The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth; | |
| to be said when any Woman, being present in Church, shall have desired | |
| to return Thanks to Almighty God for her safe Deliverance. | |
| O Almighty | |
| God, we give thee humble thanks, for that thou hast been graciously pleased | |
| to preserve this woman thy servant through the great pain and peril of | |
| Child-birth; Grant we beseech thee most merciful Father, that she through | |
| thy help may both faithfully live, and walk according to thy will in this | |
| life present, and also may be partaker of everlasting glory in the life | |
| to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ For Rain. | |
| O God | |
| our heavenly Father, who by thy gracious providence, dost cause the former | |
| aud the latter rain to descend upon the earth, that it may bring forth | |
| fruit for the use of man; We give thee humble thanks that it hath pleased | |
| thee, in our great necessity, to send us at the last a joyful rain upon | |
| thine inheritance, and to refresh it when it was dry, to the, great comfort | |
| of us thy unworthy servants, and to the glory of thy holy Name, through | |
| thy mercies in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ For fair Weather. | |
| O God, | |
| who hast justly humbled us by thy late visitation of us with immoderate | |
| rain and waters, and in thy mercy hast relieved and comforted our souls | |
| by this seasonable and blessed change of weather; We praise and glorify | |
| thy holy name, for this thy mercy, and will always declare, thy loving | |
| kindness from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord, | |
| Amen. | |
| ¶ For Plenty. | |
| O Most | |
| merciful Father, who of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers | |
| of thy Church, and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and p!enty, | |
| We give thee humble thanks for this thy special bounty; beseeching thee | |
| to continue thy loving kindness unto us, that our land may yield us her | |
| fruits of increase, to thy glory and our comfort, through Jesus Christ | |
| our Lord, Amen. | |
| ¶ For Peace and Deliverance from our Enemies. | |
| O Almighty | |
| God, who art a strong tower of defence unto thy servants against the face | |
| of their enemies; We yield thee praise and thanksgiving for our deliverance | |
| from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed: We | |
| acknowledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey | |
| unto them; beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards | |
| us that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty deliverer, | |
| through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. | |
| ¶ For restoring Publick Peace at Home. | |
| O Eternal | |
| God, our heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in a | |
| house, and stillest the outrage of a violent and unruly people; We bless | |
| thy holy Name, that it hath pleases thee. to appease the seditious tumults | |
| which have been lately raised up among us; most humbly beseeching thee | |
| to grant to all of us grace, that we may henceforth obediently walk in | |
| thy holy commandments and leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness | |
| and honesty; may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and | |
| thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us through Jesus Christ our | |
| Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ For Deliverance from the Plague or common Sickness. | |
| O Lord | |
| God, who hast wounded us for our sins, and consumed us for our transgressions | |
| by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation; and now in the midst of judgment | |
| remembering mercy, hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death; We | |
| offer unto thy fatherly goodness ourselves, our souls and bodies, which | |
| thou hast delivered, to be a living sacrifice unto thee, always praising | |
| and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church, through Jesus Christ | |
| our Lord. Amen. | |
| ¶ Or this. | |
| WE humbly | |
| acknowledge before thee, O most merciful Father, that all the punishments | |
| which are threatened in thy law, might justly have fallen upon us, by | |
| reason of our manifold transgressions and hardness of heart: Yet seeing | |
| it hath pleased thee of thy tender mercy, upon our weak and unworthy humiliation | |
| to asswage the contagious; sickness wherewith we lately have been sore | |
| afflicted, and to restore the voice of joy and health into our dwellings; | |
| We offer unto thy divine Majesty the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, | |
| lauding and magnifying thy glorious Name for such thy preservation and | |
| providence over us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| C O L L E | |
| C T S. | |
| ¶ C O L L E C T S that may said | |
| after the Collects of Morning or Evening Prayer, or Communion, at the | |
| discretion of the Minister. | |
| Assist | |
| us mercifully, O Lord, in these our supplications and prayers, and dispose | |
| the way of thy servants towards the attaining of everlasting salvation; | |
| that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever | |
| be defended by thy most gracious and ready help, through Jesus Christ | |
| our Lord. Amen. | |
| O Almighty | |
| Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to direct, sanctify | |
| and govern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of thy laws, and in | |
| the works of thy commandments; that through thy most mighty protection, | |
| both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul, through our | |
| Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. | |
| GRant, | |
| we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words which we have heard this | |
| day with our outward ears, may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly | |
| in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living | |
| to the honour and praise of thy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| PRevent | |
| us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further | |
| us with thy continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and | |
| ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name; and finally by thy mercy | |
| obtain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ALmighty | |
| God, the fountain of all wisdom, who knowest our necessities before we | |
| ask, and our ignorance in asking; We beseech thee to have compassion upon | |
| our infirmities; and those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, | |
| and for our blindness we cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us for the worthiness | |
| of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. | |
| ALmighty | |
| God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of those who ask in thy Son's | |
| Name; We beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears to us who have | |
| made now our prayers and supplications unto thee; and grant that those | |
| things which we lave faithfully asked according to by will, may effectually | |
| be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and to the setting forth | |
| of thy glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
Return to 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer
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