Thursday after Third Sunday in Advent
EVENING
Lord's Prayer and Preces
Our Father, whichwho art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done inon earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them thatthose who 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.
O Lord, open thou our lips.
And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
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.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Ps. 93.
| The Lord is King, and hath put on glorious apparel; the Lord hath put on his apparel, and girded himself with strength. |
| He hath made the round world so sure, that it cannot be moved. |
| Ever since the world began hath thy seat been prepared: thou art from everlasting. |
| The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods have lift up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. |
| The waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly; but yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is mightier. |
| Thy testimonies, O Lord, are very sure: holiness becometh thine house for ever. |
| 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. |
Ps. 94.
| O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, thou God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. |
| Arise, thou Judge of the world, and reward the proud after their deserving. |
| Lord, how long shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly triumph? |
| How long shall all wicked doers speak so disdainfully, and make such proud boasting? |
| They smite down thy people, O Lord, and trouble thine heritage. |
| They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death. |
| And yet they say, Tush, the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. |
| Take heed, ye unwise among the people: O ye fools, when will ye understand? |
| He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or he that made the eye, shall he not see? |
| Or he that nurtureth the heathen: it is he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he punish? |
| The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are but vain. |
| Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him in thy law; |
| That thou mayest give him patience in time of adversity, until the pit be digged up for the ungodly. |
| For the Lord will not fail his people; neither will he forsake his inheritance; |
| Until righteousness turn again unto judgement: all such as are true in heart shall follow it. |
| Who will rise up with me against the wicked? or who will take my part against the evil doers? |
| If the Lord had not helped me, it had not failed but my soul had been put to silence. |
| But when I said, My foot hath slipt; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. |
| In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul. |
| Wilt thou have any thing to do with the stool of wickedness, which imagineth mischief as a law? |
| They gather them together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. |
| But the Lord is my refuge, and my God is the strength of my confidence. |
| He shall recompense them their wickedness, and destroy them in their own malice; yea, the Lord our God shall destroy them. |
| 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. |
First Lesson✤
| Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. |
| Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. |
| I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. |
| The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. |
| The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. |
| I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. |
| For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. |
| He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. |
| Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. |
| Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. |
| Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. |
MAGNIFICATFirst Canticle
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me;
and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him
throughout all generations.
He hath showed strength with his arm;
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy, hath holpen his servant Israel;
as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.
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.
Second Lesson✤
| Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: |
| Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, |
| According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: |
| Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. |
| And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; |
| And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; |
| And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. |
| For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
| But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. |
| Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: |
| For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. |
| Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. |
| Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; |
| Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. |
| Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. |
| For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. |
| For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. |
| And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. |
| We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: |
| Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. |
| For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. |
NUNC DIMITTISSecond Canticle
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
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.
Collect of the Day
O Lord Jesu Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the Ministers and Stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; that at thy second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Collect of Advent
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
Collect for Peace
O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; Give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies, may pass our time in rest and quietness, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Collect for Aid Against All Perils
Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
