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ORDER OF EVENING PRAYER.

Meditation.

THE day is gone,

and I give Thee thanks, O Lord.
Evening is at hand,

make it bright unto me.
As day has its evening,
so also has life;
the even of life is age,
age has overtaken me,

make it bright unto me.

Cast me not away in the time of age; forsake me not when my strength faileth me. Even to my old age be Thou He,

And even to hoar hairs do Thou carry me; do Thou it Thyself, do Thou Thyself bear, do Thou Thyself carry and deliver me. Abide with me, Lord,

for it is toward evening,
and the day is far spent

of this toil-worn life.

Let Thy strength be made perfect
in my weakness.

Day is fled and gone,
life too is going,

this lifeless life.

Night cometh, and cometh death,

the deathless death. Near as is the end of day,

so too the end of life:

We then, also remembering it, beseech of Thee, Lord, O Lord, for the close of our life,

that Thou wouldest direct it in peace, Christian, acceptable, sinless, shameless, and, if it please Thee, painless,

gathering us together, under the feet of Thine Elect,

when Thou wilt, and as Thou wilt,
only without shame and sins.

Remember we the days of darkness, for they

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shall be many,

lest we be cast into outer darkness.

Remember we to outstrip the night,
doing some good thing.

Near is judgment;

a good and acceptable answer

at the dreadful and fearful judgment-seat of Jesus Christ

vouchsafe to us, O Lord.

By night I lift up my hands to the holy place, and praise the Lord.

The Lord hath granted His loving-kindness in the day-time;

and in the night season will I sing of Him, and make my prayer unto the God of my life. As long as I live will I magnify Thee on this manner,

and lift up my hands in Thy name.

Let my prayer be set forth in Thy sight

as the incense,

and let the lifting up

of my
my hands

be an evening sacrifice.

Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God,

the God of our Fathers,

Who hast created the changes of days and nights, Who givest songs in the night,

Who hast delivered us from the evil of this day, Who hast not cut off like a weaver my life, nor from morning even to night made an end of me.

The just falleth seven times a day; and I, an exceeding sinner, seventy times seven ; a wonderful, a horrible thing, O Lord. But I turn with groans from my evil ways, and I return into my heart,

and with all my heart I turn to Thee, O God of penitents and Saviour of sinners; and evening by evening I will return from the innermost marrow of my soul; and out of the deep my soul crieth unto Thee. I have sinned, O Lord, against Thee, heavily against Thee;

alas, alas, woe is me! for my misery. I repent, O me, I repent; spare me, O Lord; repent, O me, I repent,

help thou my impenitence.

Be propitious to me, spare me, O Lord; be propitious to me, have mercy on me; I said, Lord, have mercy upon me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee. Have mercy upon me, O Lord,

after Thy great goodness,

according to the multitude of Thy mercies

do away mine offences.
Remit the guilt,

heal the wound,

blot out the stains, deliver from the shame,

rescue from the tyranny, and make me not a public example. O Lord, bring Thou me out of my trouble, cleanse Thou me from my secret faults, keep Thy servant also from presumptuous sins. My wanderings of mind

and idle words

lay not to my charge.

Remove the dark and muddy flood

of foul and wicked thoughts.

O Lord,

I have destroyed myself;

whatever I have done amiss, pardon mercifully. Deal not with me after my sins,

neither reward me after my iniquities. Look mercifully upon my infirmities; and for the glory of Thy All-holy Name, turn from me all those evils and miseries, which by my sins, and by me through them, are most righteously and worthily deserved.

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