(17) For the Two Sundays in Christmas. After Evening Sermon. REAT God, who art the Creator of the World, and the Fa GR ther of our Lord Jefus Chrift, we lift up our Hearts to Thee, to adore thy infinite Majefty, and chiefly to celebrate thy great Mercy, and to offer to Thee the humble Sacrifice of our Bleffings and Praifes. It is juft, it is our Duty, and it is a good Thing, that at all Times, and in all Places, we fhould give Thee Thanks, O Lord our God, Holy Father, Almighty and Everlasting God! But above all, we ought to do it at this Time, in which Thy whole Church is met together to meditate upon the Mystery of the Nativity, and of the Death of our Redeemer Jefus Chrift. Thou haft fent thy only Son into the World in the Fulness of Time, out of thy great Love towards Men; Thou haft been pleas'd that He fhould be born upon the Earth, and that He should be there fubject to the Miseries of our Nature; and that in dying for the Salvation of Man, He fhould facrifice the fame Body that He had taken upon Him in the Womb of the Blefled Virgin, His Mother. O Lord, we acknowledge with Joy and Thanksgivings, that it is by that Birth and that Death, that we have been tranflated from Death to Life, and made the Heirs of thy Kingdom. Wherefore with the Angels, and with all the Heavenly Hoft, we magnifie thy glorious Name, and celebrate thy Mercy. Let all the Angels adore thy Glory and thy Goodness! Let the Sons of Men, as long as there any upon Earth, thew forth thy great Praise, and fay, Glory be to God in the Higheft, Peace on Earth, and Good-will towards Men! O Jefus our Saviour, we blefs Thee that Thou didst become Man for our Redemption; and we befeech Thee to make us fenfible of the faving Fruits thereof. Thou who art the Son of the bleffed God, the Joy and the Glory of Mankind, the Lamb of God that takeft away the Sins of the World, have Mercy upon us miferable Sinners! Thou who haft partaken of our Infirmities here upon Earth, who haft died, and having taken up thy Life again, didit return into the Bofom and Glory of thy Father, where Thou fitteft on His Right-hand, where the Angels are put under Subjection to Thee, and where Thou prepared ft for us Everlasting Manfions; Hear our Prayers, and receive the Praises which we offer to Thee. Thou who art come to destroy the Works of the Devil, turn us from our Iniquities, and enable us to forfake them. Grant that as Thou waft born, and didft live in a very mean Condition, and didft renounce the Pleafures and Glory of the World, even to the Death of the Crofs, we alfo may defpife the finful Vanities and the falfe Goods of the World, and that we may only aim at the Glory and at the good Things which Thou haft procured D for for us; that as Thou haft fo much loved us, we may also ardently love Thee, and that nothing may feparate us from thy Love. O God, fince thy dear Son was born, to make us thy Children, and Heirs of thy Kingdom, and of everlafting Life, grant that we having that Faith and that Hope, may purifie our felves as He is pure; to the end that we may be enabled worthily to celebrate thy Praife, and to rejoice before Thee; and that when this glorious Saviour, who appeared the first time in finful Flefh, fhall appear again without Sin and with Glory, for thofe who wait for his Salvation, we may be made like to Him in his Kingdom, where He lives and is worshiped for ever and ever. Amen. Our Father, &c. And the rest as on Sunday Evening. For Christmas-Day. Almighty God and Merciful Father, we ought to blefs and give The Thanks at all Times, but chiefly on this Day on which we celebrate the Remembrance of the bleffed Birth of Jefus Chrift our Re-deemer. Thou didst promife to our first Parents in Paradife, that Thou wouldst fend thy Son into the World; Thou didst alfo declare his Coming by the Prophets, and Thou haft caus'd Him to be born in the Fulness of Time. Thy Eternal Son, who was from the Beginning with Thee, did not difdain to unite Himself to our Nature, and to be made Man; fo that He who was very God, took upon Him the Form of a Servant, and did partake of Flesh and Blood as Children, being made like to his Brethren in all Things, Sin only excepted; to the end that He may be a merciful High-Prieft, and that He might make Attonement for our Sins, and have Compaffion on us. How great and venerable is this Mystery of Godliness! God manifeft in the Flesh, juftified in the Spirit, feen of Angels, preach'd unto the Gentiles, believ'd on in the World, received up into Glory. O God, we acknowledge, that without this happy Birth, we had perish'd everlastingly. Let the Prayers and the Praifes which we offer to Thee this folemn Day, be acceptable to Thee. Let the Joy which we feel, be fincere and pure; and let the Birth of thy Son become our Salvation. Look down with a favourable Eye upon thy People, who offer their Supplications to Thee. Keep thy Church which this Day celebrates the Coming of their Saviour, and proclaims thy Praifes. O God, who didft declare the Birth of thy Son by the Angel Gabriel, and who didft caufe this holy Child to be born of a Virgin, grant that Christ may be form'd in our Hearts, that He may be born, that He may live and dwell there through Faith, to the end that we may only live in Him and for Him. Lord, Lord, who didft caufe a divine Brightnefs to fhine about the Shepherds that Night in which thy Son came into the World, inlighten Our Souls with the Beams of thy Heavenly Light. Grant that from this Time, and hereafter, we may live in Holinefs, Juftice, and Temperance, as it behoves those who believe that thy Son is come into the World to fave them; to the end that we may wait with Joy and Peace, the bleffed Hope of the fecond and glorious Appearance of Jefus Chrift; to whom with The and the Holy Ghost be given Honour and Glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Our Father, &c. For New-Years-Day.' After Sermon. This Paragraph is u'd in Time of Profperity. Eternal and Almighty God, we humble our felves before Thee, to fanctifie the Beginning of this Year by our Adorations, our Praises, and our Prayers. Lord, we adore thy infinite Majefty, and we give Thee Thanks from the bottom of our Hearts, for all the Mercies Thou haft fo bountifully bestowed on us to this prefent Time. Thou haft given us Life, Thou haft preferv'd it, and we are beginning another New-Year, which Thou doft vouchfafe to add to those we have already paft in this World. Thou haft not ceased to heap upon us thy Favours, both general and particular, both for the Body and the Soul. Thou haft caus'd us to enjoy Peace, Plenty, and Liberty: Thou haft removed War, Famine, and other Miferies from our Country; and whilft almost all the People of Europe have been afflicted, Thou haft caus'd us to dwell in Safety, and to pafs Our Years in a profound Peace.] But above all, O God, Thou haft enriched us with thy fpiritual Bleffings, Thou haft multiplied them upon us, by continuing among us the Candlestick of thy Word, by keeping thy Service and the Miniftry of the Gospel in the midst of us, by calling us to thy Table, by inviting us to Repentance, by thy Affiftance, by thy Chaftifements, by thy Mercies, by the Warnings of thy Word, and of thy Spirit, and by giving all of us in general, and each of us in particular, the Time and the Means of working out our Salvation. O Almighty God, the Fountain of all Goodness, receive the Praifes and Thanks which we offer to thy Divine Majefty. And though we have offended Thee in divers Manners, and have abus'd thy Mercies, have Pity on us, for the fake of Jefus Chrift, and withdraw not thy Favour and Protection from us. Lord, we devote our felves to Thce, the Beginning of this Year, being defirous of imploying it better than we have done thofe that D 2 are arę paft: We beg thy Bleffing, deny it not to us, O God, and fet thy Mercy accompany us during this Year, and to the end of our Days. Amen. Blefs the facred Perfon of our Sovereign Lord the King, prolong his Days, preferve him for the Good of thy People, to the end that we may live peaceably under his juft Government, and ferve Thee in Holiness all the Days of our Life. Blefs alfo the Queen, the Prince Royal, the Princefs his Confort, the Prince and Princefs their Children, and all the Royal Family; the Count of Wartemberg, Hereditary Governour General, and all thofe that are in Authority in this State, or in this Town. Blefs the Paftors and Minifters of thy Word: Keep thy Church in general, and particularly the Flocks which thy Providence has gathered in our Country. Above all, grant thy Bleffing to this Church and its Paftors, to the Families and private Perfons of which it is compofed, to Great and Small, to Rich and Poor, to Young and Old, to Fathers and Children, to Mafters and Servants, to Merchants and Handy-Crafts-Men, and to all forts of Perfons, of whatfoever Condition they be: Help all thofe that are afflicted by Sickness, or in any other manner, and particularly thofe that are Members of this Church: Deliver the Perfecuted, convert the Sinners, bring back the Wanderers, confirm in Holinefs all thofe that fear Thee, and grant us whatfoever is neceffary to pafs this Life happily, and to attain everlasting Salvation. And fince, O Lord, we are warn'd by this Day, that the Years of our Life do wear away, give us the Grace to confider feriously, both to Day and at all Times, that we are mortal, and that our End approaches daily; to the end, that we may have a wife Heart; that we may endeavour after a better Life, where neither Days, Months, nor Years will be reckoned; and that during the Time that remains for us to live in the Flesh, we may live no longer according to the Lufts of Men, but according to thy Will. O God grant us the Grace to live in fuch Wifdom, Temperance and Holinefs, that when the Courfe of our Years fhall be finished, and the Hour of our Death fhall be come, we may leave this World with Joy, and reft in Peace, in Expectation of a happy Eternity. Lord hear us, Lord receive thefe Thanks, Supplications and Vows which we now offer to Thee, through Jefus Chrift thy Son, Amen, Our Father, &c.. For Palm-Sunday.. After Evening Sermon.. O Thou Thou haft now afforded us to fhew forth the Remembrance of that Death, in partaking of the Holy Sacrament, which was appointed to be a Memorial for it. Lord, we celebrate thy Mercy, we return Thee Thanks for fo precious a Gift, and we befeech Thee, that all we who have been Partakers of thefe holy Myfteries, may reap the Fruits of the Sufferings of our Redeemer, and through thy Bounty, obtain the Pardon of our Sins, the Grace of thy Spirit, the Senfe of thy Love and Peace, and after this Life, the Glory of thy Kingdom. Lord, we alfo offer to Thee at this time, our Bodies, our Souls, our Perfons, and all that is within us, as a living Sacrifice; defiring to glorifie Thee, to ferve Thee, and to live only for Thee. Praife the Lord all ye his Servants; celebrate his Name, for He is Good, for his Mercy endures for ever: Rejoice thou Daughter of Sion, behold thy King cometh in the Name of the Lord to fave Thee, Hofanna to the Son of David! Bleffed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Bleffed be the Kingdom of David our Father! Peace be in Heaven, and Glory in the Higheft. O Lord Jefus, who as on this Day didst enter into the City of Jerufalem in the midst of the Acclamations and Praifes of a Multitude of People, and of thy Difciples, who fpread their Garments in the Way, and who followed Thee, carrying Branches of Palms in their Hands, give us Grace to prepare the Way for Thee by all kind of good Works, to prefent Thee with the Fruits of Righteoufnefs, to ferve Thee conftantly, and to rejoice without ceafing in thy Salvation. O Lord, who was pleas'd to be praised by the Children as on this Day, that cried in the Temple, Hofanna, to the Son of David; grant that in Imitation of their Innocence and Simplicity, we may worthily celebrate thy Praises this Day and all our Days. Grant that when Thou fhalt come from Heaven at the laft Day, we may meet Thee in the Air, and enter with Thee triumphant and victorious in the Heavenly Jerufalem, into the Temple and Palace of thy Glory.. Amen. Our Father, &c. For Good-Friday. Lmighty God, we beseech Thee to look down mercifully upon: this thy Congregation for which our Lord Jefus Chrift was pleas'd to be betray'd, and deliver'd, as on this Day, into the Hands of wicked Men, and to endure the Death of the Crofs. Grant us, Lord, this Favour, that as thy dear Son has fuffer'd and fhed his pre cious Blood for the Atonement of our Sins, we may thereby obtain the Pardon of thy Mercy, and that that precious Blood may pu rifie our Confciences to ferve Thee, the living God, through the fame Jefus Chrift thy Son. Amen. O Lord, |