SUNDAY.

THROUGH

HROUGH the tender mercy

of our

God, the day-spring from on high hath visited us.

Glory be to thee, O Lord, all glory be to thee, who didst, as on this day, create the light, and command it to shine upon the face of the deep.

How glorious is that light, which affects our senses, the rays of the sun, the flame of fire, the day divided from the night, the evening and the morning.

How much more glorious is that light, which shines in upon our minds, by the examples of Patriarchs, the revelations of Prophets,

the

the sweet solace of holy Psalms, the instruction of wise Proverbs, the profit and experience of faithful Histories.

Blessed be thy name for this light, which no darkness ever overspreads, this sun, which never goes down! God is the Lord, who hath shewed us such light; bind ye the sacrifice with cords, yea, even unto the horns of the altar.

O thou, who on this day didst rise again, raise up our souls unto newness of life; granting us repentance from dead works, and planting us in the likeness of thy resurrection.

And thou, O Father and God of Peace, who didst bring again from the dead Our Lord Jesus Christ,

that

that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant; make us perfect in every good work to do thy will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in thy sight, through Jesus Christ.

O thou, who didst also on this day of the week, send down on thy Apostles thy most holy Spirit; take not the same, Spirit away from us, but grant to all thy servants, who ask it of thee, that they may be, daily renewed, and more plentifully enriched with the same,

O Lord, who by chusing this day for these most important, most beneficial events, didst direct thy Apostles, full of the Holy Ghost, to call it, and to make it be, thy day, by translating it to the sacred.

rest

rest of the Sabbath; to make this

1

day of the Lord, a refreshment after labour, an interval of recruit to our feeble and wearied bodies; a merciful cessation to servants and beasts, our fellow-labourers ; a constant return of thy solemn worship, by prayers and praises, by hearing thy word, and administration of thy sacraments in the [publick assemblies of the Saints, and the house where thy honour dwelleth; and a figure and pledge of that better rest hereafter, which still remaineth to the people of God: O grant me so to use these days of rest, and of pub lick worship in this life; that I fail not of a part in thy eternal rest, and in the continual hymns of Angels and blessed Spirits in the life to come.

An

An Act of CONFESSION,

MERCIFUL and compassionate, long-suffering and patient Lord God, I have sinned, wretched man that I am, I have frequently and grievously sinned against thee; by trusting to vanity, by following deceit, and being occupied in ungodly works, with them that practise wickedness.

I come not now before thee to cover or extenuate my guilt by frivolous excuses; but, with full purpose to give thee glory, by an ingenuous and free confession, that I have many ways offended against thy holy laws. For thus, O Lord,