XVI.

BISHOP ANDREWS' DEVOTIONS.

The Rt. Honorable and Rt. Reverend Lancelot Andrews, D.D., Lord Bishop of Winchester, was born A.D. 1555, in the parish of Allhallows, London, and was the ecclesiastical light of the age in which he lived, though his theological works are now almost forgotten, and only his prayers have survived his commanding influence and reputation. He died in 1626.

Of his habits of devotion, Bishop Buckeridge thus speaks, in his funeral sermon:

"Of this reverend prelate I may say, his life was a life of prayer. A part of five hours every day did he spend in prayer and

devotion to God. In the time of his fever and last sickness, besides the often prayers which were read to him, he continually prayed to himself, though he seemed otherwise to rest or to slumber. And when he could pray no longer with his voice, yet, by lifting up his eyes and hands, he prayed still; and, when both voice, and eyes and hands failed in their office, he still prayed with his heart, till it pleased God to receive his soul to himself."

Bishop Andrews' Devotions in Greek and Latin were published in Oxford in 1675. Various translations have since been issued.

Milton's sonnet on Bishop Andrews shows the lofty estimate the poet entertained of his religious character.

The following is Bishop Andrews' Horology:

"O Thou, that hast put in Thine Own Power
the times and the seasons,

give us grace that we may pray to Thee
in a convenient and opportune season,
and deliver us.

"Thou, that for us men and for our salvation, wast born in the depth of night,

grant us to be renewed daily by the Holy Ghost until Christ Himself be formed in us,

to a perfect man;

and deliver us.

"Thou, that very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun,

didst rise again from the dead,

raise us also daily to newness of life.

suggesting to us, for Thou knowest them,
methods of penitence;

and deliver us.

"Thou, that at the third hour didst send down thy Holy Ghost

on the Apostles,

take not that same Holy Spirit from us,

but renew Him every day in our hearts;
and deliver us.

"Thou, that at the sixth hour of the sixth day didst nail together with thyself on the Cross the sins of the world,

blot out the handwriting of our sins
that is against us,

and, taking it away, deliver us.

"Thou, that at the sixth hour didst let down
a great sheet from heaven to earth,
the symbol of thy Church,

receive into it us sinners of the Gentiles,
and with it receive us into heaven;
and deliver us.

"Thou, that at the ninth hour for us sinners, and for our sins,

didst taste of death,

mortify our members which are upon earth,
and whatsoever is contrary to thy will;
and deliver us.

"Thou, that didst will the ninth hour to be the hour of prayer,

hear us while we pray at the hour of prayer, and grant unto us that which we pray for and desire; and deliver us.

"Thou, that at eventide wast pleased to be taken down from the Cross,

and laid in the grave,

take away from us, and bury in thy sepulchre,
our sins;

covering whatever evil we have committed
with good works;

and deliver us.

"Thou, that late in the night, by breathing on Thine Apostles,

didst bestow on them the power

of the remission and retention of sins,
give unto us to experience that power

for their remission, O Lord, not for their retention; and deliver us.

"Thou, that at midnight didst raise David thy Prophet,

and Paul Thine Apostle, that they should praise Thee,

give us also songs in the night,

and to be mindful of Thee upon our beds;
and deliver us.

"Thou, that with Thine own mouth hast declared, at midnight the bridegroom shall come,

grant that the cry may ever sound in our ears,