April 17, 2024

Evening Prayer

Wednesday after Second Sunday after Easter

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, 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.

PSALM 89.

My song shall be alway of the lovingkindness of the Lord; with my mouth will I ever be shewing thy truth from one generation to another.
For I have said, Mercy shall be set up for ever; thy truth shalt thou stablish in the heavens.
I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my servant;
Thy seed will I stablish for ever, and set up thy throne from one generation to another.
O Lord, the very heavens shall praise thy wondrous works; and thy truth in the congregation of the saints.
For who is he among the clouds, that shall be compared unto the Lord?
And what is he among the gods, that shall be like unto the Lord?
God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.
O Lord God of hosts, who is like unto thee? thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on every side.
Thou rulest the raging of the sea; thou stillest the waves thereof when they arise.
Thou hast subdued Egypt, and destroyed it; thou hast scattered thine enemies abroad with thy mighty arm.
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; thou hast laid the foundation of the round world, and all that therein is.
Thou hast made the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy Name.
Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat; mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Blessed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice in thee; they shall walk in the light of thy countenance.
Their delight shall be daily in thy Name; and in thy righteousness shall they make their boast.
For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy lovingkindness thou shalt lift up our horns.
For the Lord is our defence; the Holy One of Israel is our King.
Thou spakest sometime in visions unto thy saints, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him.
My hand shall hold him fast, and my arm shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not be able to do him violence; the son of wickedness shall not hurt him.
I will smite down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
My truth also and my mercy shall be with him; and in my Name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his dominion also in the sea, and his right hand in the floods.
He shall call me, Thou art my Father, my God, and my strong salvation.
And I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
But if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgements;
If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges.
Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my truth to fail.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips: I have sworn once by my holiness, that I will not fail David.
His seed shall endure for ever, and his seat is like as the sun before me.
He shall stand fast for evermore as the moon, and as the faithful witness in heaven.
But thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed, and art displeased at him.
Thou hast broken the covenant of thy servant, and cast his crown to the ground.
Thou hast overthrown all his hedges, and broken down his strongholds.
All they that go by spoil him, and he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
Thou hast set up the right hand of his enemies, and made all his adversaries to rejoice.
Thou hast taken away the edge of his sword, and givest him not victory in the battle.
Thou hast put out his glory, and cast his throne down to the ground.
The days of his youth hast thou shortened, and covered him with dishonour.
Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyself, for ever? and shall thy wrath burn like fire?
O remember how short my time is; wherefore hast thou made all men for nought?
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
Lord, where are thy old lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
Remember, Lord, the rebuke that thy servants have, and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people;
Wherewith thine enemies have blasphemed thee, and slandered the footsteps of thine Anointed: Praised be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen.
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.
Here beginneth the 7th chapter of 2 Samuel.
And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies;
That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.
And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.
And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying,
Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?
Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.
In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?
Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,
And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?
And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?
And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant.
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them.
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God.
And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said.
And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.
For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.
Here endeth the first lesson.
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.
Here beginneth the 1st chapter of 1 Peter.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Here endeth the second lesson.
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.

Almighty God, who hast given thine only Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin, and also an ensample of godly life; Give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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.

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.