Morning Prayer

THE ORDER FOR MORNING PRAYER DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

The Minister shall read aloud one or more of these Sentences of the Scriptures that follow.

Advent. Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
St. Matthew 3. 2.

Christmas. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
St. Luke 2. 10, 11.

Epiphany. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2. 14.

Lent. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psalm 51. 17.

Rend 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.
Joel 2. 13.

Passiontide. God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5. 8.

Good Friday. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53. 6.

Easter. The Lord is risen indeed.
St. Luke 24. 34.

Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15. 57.

Ascension. Seeing that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4. 14, 16.

Whitsunday and Embertide. The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.
Romans 5. 5.

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1. 8.

Trinity. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God in him.
1 St. John 4. 16.

Saints’ Days. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race which is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Hebrews 12. 1, 2.

Rogation Days. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Psalm 145. 18.

On National Occasions. O let the nations rejoice and be glad; for thou shalt judge the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
Psalm 67. 4.

Of Missions. Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.
St. Mark 16. 15.

Of Worship. The LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Habakkuk 2. 20.

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
Psalm 96. 9.

Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.
Isaiah 57. 15.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalm 122. 1.

The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
St. John 4. 23.

Of Penitence. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
St. Luke 15. 18, 19.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us: but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 St. John 1. 8, 9.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, 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.
Daniel 9. 9, 10.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55. 6, 7.

The Minister, turning to the people, shall say the Exhortation in the form following. Occasionally the second paragraph may be omitted, or in place of the Exhortation the Minister may say, Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.

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.

A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation with 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 Jesu 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, or Remission of sins, to be pronounced by the Priest alone, standing: the people still kneeling.

ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live, 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 we 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 Jesus Christ our Lord.

The people shall answer here, and at the end of all other prayers:

Amen.

Here the Lord’s Prayer may be said; the people repeating it with the Minister.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on 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, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;
People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Minister. O God, make speed to save us;
People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Minister. Praise ye the Lord;
People. The Lord’s Name be praised.

Then shall be said or sung this Psalm following; except on days for which Proper Anthems are provided. On the nineteenth day of the month, this Psalm shall be omitted in the ordinary course of the Psalms.

At the discretion of the Minister the last four verses may be omitted.

Invitatories may be said or sung before this Psalm and after the Gloria Patri which follows it, as provided on page 25.

VENITE EXULTEMUS DOMINO. PSALM 95

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD: / let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, / and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, / and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth: / and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: / and his hands prepared the dry land.

O COME, let us worship, and fall down, / and kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God; / and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

TO-DAY, O that ye would hear his voice: / ‘Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation, and as in the day of Temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me, / proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, and said, / “It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways”;
Unto whom I sware in my wrath, / that they should not enter into my rest.’

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.

Then shall follow THE PSALMS.

Then shall be read THE FIRST LESSON as appointed, and before each Lesson the Minister shall say, The First [or Second] Lesson is written in such a book, in such a chapter, beginning at such a verse. And after the Lesson he shall say, Here endeth the First [or Second] Lesson.

After the First Lesson shall be sung or said the Hymn Te Deum Laudamus. But the Canticle Benedicite, Omnia Opera, page 26, is suitable of use in Advent, in Lent, on Ember Days (except those in Whitsun Week), on Rogation Days, and when the third chapter of Daniel is read as the First Lesson.

At the discretion of the Minister, the third section of Te Deum may be omitted.

TE DEUM LAUDAMUS.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,
The Father, of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Then shall be read in like manner THE SECOND LESSON as appointed; and after that the following Canticle, except when it forms part of the Gospel or Second Lesson appointed for the day.

BENEDICTUS. ST LUKE 1:68

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us
That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;
Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

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.

Or instead Jubilate Deo, the 100th Psalm, page 457.

Then shall be said or sung the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles’ Creed.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

And after the Creed these prayers following, all devoutly kneeling, the Minister first pronouncing:

The Lord be with you;
People. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on 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. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
People. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the King;
People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;
People. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people;
People. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;
People. And evermore mightily defend us.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;
People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY , together with any other Collects appointed to be said, and these two prayers in order.

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Third Collect, for Grace.

O LORD our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Here may follow an Anthem or an Hymn.

Then shall be read one of the Prayers for the King, and the Prayer for the Clergy and People.

A Prayer for the King’s Majesty.

O LORD our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King of kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth: Most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour to behold our most gracious Sovereign Lord, King CHARLES; and so replenish him with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that he may alway incline to thy will, and walk in thy way: Endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant him in health and wealth long to live; strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies, and finally after this life he may attain everlasting joy and felicity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or

A Prayer for the King and the Commonwealth.

ALMIGHTY God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless our Sovereign Lord, King CHARLES, the Parliaments of the Commonwealth, and all who are set in authority under him; that they may order all things in wisdom, righteousness, and peace, to the honour of thy holy Name, and the good of thy Church and people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or

A Prayer for the King and all in Authority.

O LORD God Almighty, who rulest the nations of the earth, we humbly beseech thee with thy favour to behold our Sovereign Lord, King CHARLES, that in all things he may be led by thy guidance and protected by thy power. We pray thee also to bless [* Queen Camilla, William Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and] all the Royal Family. Endue with wisdom the Governor-General of this Dominion, the Lieutanant-Governors of the Provinces, the Legislators of the Commonwealth and Empire, and all who are set in authority; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

* Here shall be named, as determined by authority from time to time, the several members of the Royal Family.

Or there may be said the prayer For the King, For the Royal Family, or For the Commonwealth: Prayers and Thanksgivings, 21, 22, 23, pages 48 and 49.

A Prayer for the Clergy and People.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our Bishops and Clergy, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Then may be read any of the Occasional Prayers or Thanksgivings, or any prayers sanctioned by the Ordinary, always ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace; and before any of the prayers may be said Let us pray for —, and before any of the thanksgivings, Let us give thanks for —.

A Prayer for all Conditions of men.

O GOD, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholic Church; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those, who are any ways afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or estate; [* especially those for whom our prayers are desired;] that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them, according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake. Amen.

* This to be said when any desire the Prayers of the Congregation.

A General Thanksgiving, to be said by the Minister alone, or by the Minister and people together.

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, We thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks For all thy goodness and loving-kindness To us and to all men; [* particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings.] We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; But above all for thine inestimable love In the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; For the means of grace, And for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, That our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, And that we show forth thy praise, Not only with our lips, but in our lives; By giving up ourselves to thy service, And by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, To whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

* This to be said when any that have been prayed for desire to return thanks.

A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:14.

THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

A Sermon may be preached here and the offerings of the people received and presented at the Lord’s Table. Or the Sermon may be preached immediately after the Hymn or Anthem following the Third Collect. The Minister shall then proceed to the intercessions and thanksgivings, ending with the Prayer of St Chrysostom and the Grace.