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we take the cup of salvation, and call upon Thy name, and pay our vows now in the presence of all Thy peo ple; humbly beseeching Thee to accept this our be coming service and bounden duty, even as we offer it, in the name and through the infinite merits of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thanksgiving for Harvest.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, we yield Thee hearty thanks for all Thy goodness, and especially for this Thy bounty again bestowed upon us, who, through Thy providence and tender mercy, have now reaped the fruits of the earth in due season, and gathered them into our garners. Give us power to use the same to Thy glory, to the relief of those that are needy, and to our own comfort. Continue, we beseech Thee, Thy loving-kindness toward us, that year by year our land may yield her increase, filling our hearts with joy and gladness; and so dispose us by Thy special grace that we, Thy servants, may never sow only to the flesh, lest of the flesh we reap corruption, but may sow spiritually to life everlasting, and reap the same in Thy heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Deliverance from Dearth.

WE YIELD Thee abounding thanks, O most bounti ful God and Father, who hast had compassion upon the multitudes that were ready to perish with hunger; and even as Thou didst make the few loaves and fishes enough for thousands, art now crowning the

seed-time with harvest and filling the land with plenty. And we beseech Thee, that unto this Thy miracle of earthly providence, Thou wilt add Thy richer miracle of heavenly grace, and evermore give us that bread which cometh down from heaven, whereof they that eat shall be nourished unto life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Deliverance from Pestilence.

O LORD God of our salvation, who turnest man to destruction and sayest, Return, ye children of men; we yield Thee hearty thanks for that Thou didst not shut the ears of Thy mercy when we cried unto Thee, in the day of Thy terrible visitation, as out of the valley and shadow of death; but hast mercifully driven from our borders the wasting pestilence, and restored the voice of joy and health into our dwellings. Of Thy mercy it is, O Lord, that we were not utterly consumed and wasted away; and, therefore, as the living from the dead, we return to bless and praise and magnify Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

For Deliverance from War, or other Public Calamity.

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast in all ages showed forth Thy power and mercy in all the miraculous deliverances of Thy Church, and in the protection of righteous states and nations, maintaining Thy holy and eternal truth; we adore the wisdom and goodness of Thy providence, which hath so timely interposed in our extreme danger, and again filled our hearts with

joy and gladness, after that Thou hadst afflicted us. We beseech Thee, give us such a lively and lasting sense of this Thy great mercy towards us, that we may not grow secure and careless in our obedience by presuming upon Thy goodness, but that it may lead us to repentance, and move us to be the more zealous in all the duties of our religion, as well to Thee as to one another. Let truth and justice, liberty and order, holiness and piety, concord and unity, with all other virtues, so flourish among us, that they may be the stability of our times, and make this nation a bulwark of Thy Church, and a joy and praise in the earth. So will we, Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pasture, give Thee thanks for ever, and always be showing forth Thy praise from generation to generation: through Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer, to whom, with Thee, O Father, and the Holy Ghost, be glory in the Church throughout all ages, world without end. Amer.

THE

GOSPELS, EPISTLES, AND COLLECTS

FOR

THE CHURCH YEAR.

First Sunday in Advent.

The Gospel, St. Matt. xxi. 8–11. (St. John i. 1–18.)

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

The Epistle, Rom. xiii. 11–14. (1 John i. 1–ii. 2.)

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY GOD, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor 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 forever. Amen.

The Festival Prayer.

ALMIGHTY GOD, Father of all mercies, we Thine unworthy servants do render Thee unfeigned thanks, that after man, created in Thine own image, had, through the fraud and malice of Satan, fallen under the power of the curse, Thou didst not leave him to perish in helpless misery, but didst provide a Deliverer and proclaim to the fathers, by the mouths of the prophets and holy men of old, the Advent of Thy Son, the Hope of Israel, the Desire of all nations, the Redeemer of the world: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

GOD of all grace and comfort, who hast not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, aid us, we beseech Thee, at this time, to repent heartily and truly of all our sins, and so to humble ourselves, that, when He cometh, we may be prepared to receive Him with childlike faith, and join in the glad cry: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Amen.

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