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From the Private Devotions of Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) whose feast we celebrate today: his daily devotions for Wednesday, the Fourth Day of the week.

(This post on Sinden.org is the first in a seven-part series to conclude September 26, 2020 )

THE FOURTH DAY
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  INTRODUCTION

   I HAVE thought upon Thee, O Lord,
   when I was waking,
   for Thou hast been my helper.
   Blessed art Thou, O Lord,
   who madest the two Lights,
   Sun and Moon,
   greater and lesser,
   and the stars
   for light, for signs, for seasons,
   spring, summer, autumn, winter,
   days, weeks, months, years,
   to rule over day and night.
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  CONFESSION

   Behold, Thou art angry,
   for we have sinned.
   We are all as an unclean thing,
   and all our righteousnesses
   as filthy rags.
   We all do fade as a leaf,
   and our iniquities, like the wind,
   have taken us away.
   But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father,
   we are clay, all Thy handiwork.
   Be not wroth very sore,
   nor remember iniquity for ever,
   behold, see, we beseech Thee,
   we are all Thy people.
   O Lord, though our iniquities testify
   against us,
   do Thou it for Thy Name's sake;
   for our backslidings are many,
   we have sinned against Thee.
   Yet Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us,
   and we are called by Thy Name,
   leave us, not.
   O Hope of Israel,
   The Saviour thereof in time of trouble,
   why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in
   the land,
   and as a wayfaring man that turneth
   aside to tarry for a night?
   why shouldest Thou be as a man
   astonished,
   as a mighty man that cannot save?
   Be merciful to our unrighteousnesses,
   and our iniquities remember no more.
   Lord, I am carnal,
   sold under sin;
   there dwelleth in me, that is, in my flesh,
   no good thing;
   for the good that I would, I do not,
   but the evil which I would not, that I do.
   I consent unto the law that it is good,
   I delight in it after the inner man;
   But I see another law in my members,
   warring against the law of my mind,
   and enslaving me to the law of sin.
   Wretched man that I am,
   who shall deliver me from the body of
   this death?
   I thank God through Jesus Christ,
   that where sin abounded,
   grace hath much more-abounded.
   O Lord, Thy goodness leadeth me to
   repentance:
   O give me sometime repentance
   to recover me from the snare of the devil,
   who am taken captive by him, at his will.
   Sufficient for me the past time of my life
   to have done the will of lusts,
   walking in lasciviousness, revelling,
   drunkenness,
   and in other excess of profligacy.
   O Lamb without blemish and without
   spot,
   who hast redeemed me with Thy
   precious Blood,
   in that very Blood pity me and save me;
   in that Blood, and in that very Name,
   besides which is none other under heaven
   given among men,
   by which we must be saved.
   O God, Thou knowest my foolishness,
   and my sins are not hid from Thee.
   Lord, Thou knowest all my desire,
   and my groaning is not hid from Thee.
   Let not them that trust in Thee,
   O Lord God of hosts,
   be ashamed for my cause;
   let not those that seek Thee be
   confounded through me,
   O Lord God of Israel.
   Take me out of the mire that I sink not;
   O let me, be delivered from them
   that hate me
   and out of the deep waters;
   Let not the water flood drown me,
   neither let the deep swallow me up,
   and let not the pit shut her mouth
   upon me.
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  PRAYER FOR GRACE

   [Defend me from]
   [against seven deadly sins]
   Pride                 Amorite.
   envy                  Hittite.
   wrath                 Perizzite.
   gluttony              Girgashite.
   lechery               Hivite.
   [covetousness]
   the cares of life     Canaanite.
   [sloth]
   lukewarm indifference Jebusite.
   [Give me]
   Humility, pitifulness, patience,
   sobriety, purity, contentment, ready zeal.

   One thing have I desired of the Lord
   which I will require, [12]
   that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
   all the days of my life,
   to behold the fair beauty of the Lord,
   and to visit His temple.
   Two things have I required of Thee,
   O Lord,
   deny Thou me not before I die;
   remove far from me vanity and lies;
   give me neither poverty nor riches,
   feed me with food convenient for me;
   lest I be full and deny Thee
   and say, Who is the Lord?
   or lest I be poor and steal,
   and take the Name of my God in vain.
   Let me learn to abound,
   let me learn to suffer need,
   in whatsoever state I am,
   therewith to be content.
   For nothing earthly, temporal, mortal,
   to long nor to wait.
   Grant me a happy life
   in piety, gravity, purity,
   in all things good and fair,
   in cheerfulness, in health, in credit,
   in competency, in safety, in gentle estate,
   in quiet;
   a happy death,
   a deathless happiness.
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   [12] Vide p. 194, Edition of 1675.
     __________________________________________________________________

  PROFESSION

   I believe
   in the Father, benevolent affection;
   in the Almighty, saving power;
   in the Creator, providence
   for guarding, ruling, perfecting the
   universe.
   In Jesus, salvation,
   in Christ, anointing;
   in the Only-begotten Son, sonship,
   in the Lord, a master's treatment,
   in His conception and birth
   the cleansing of our unclean conception
   and birth;
   in His sufferings, which we owed,
   that we might not pay;
   in His Cross the curse of the law
   removed;
   in His death the sting of death;
   in His, burial eternal destruction in the
   tomb;
   in His deseent, whither we ought,
   that we might not go;
   in His resurrection,
   as the first-fruits of them that sleep;
   in His ascent, to prepare a place for us;
   in His sitting, to appear and intercede;
   in His return, to take unto Him His own;
   in His judgment, to render to each
   according to his works.
   In the Holy Ghost; power from on high,
   transforming unto sanctity
   from without and invisibly,
   yet inwardly and evidently.
   In the Church, a body mystical
   of the called out, of the whole world,
   unto intercourse in faith and holiness.
   In the communion of saints,
   members of this body,
   a mutual participation in holy things,
   for confidence of remission of sins,
   for hope of resurrection, of translation,
   to life everlasting.
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  INTERCESSION

   And I have hoped in Thy mercy
   from everlasting to everlasting.
   How excellent is Thy mercy, O Lord;
   If I have hope, it is in Thy mercy,
   O let me not be disappointed of my hope.
   Moreover we beseech Thee,
   remember all, Lord, for good;
   have pity upon all; O Sovereign Lord,
   be reconciled with us all.
   Give peace to the multitudes of Thy
   people;
   scatter offences;
   abolish wars;
   stop the uprisings of heresies.
   Thy peace and love
   vouchsafe to us, O God our Saviour,
   the Hope of all the ends of the
   earth.
   Remember to crown the year
   with Thy goodness;
   for the eyes of all wait upon Thee,
   and Thou givest them their meat in due
   season.
   Thou openest Thy hand,
   and fillest all things living
   with plenteousness.
   Remember Thy Holy Church;.
   from one end of the earth to the other;
   and give her peace,
   whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy
   precious blood;
   and establish her
   unto the end of the world.
   Remember those who bear fruit,
   and act nobly,
   in Thy holy Churches,
   and who remember the poor and needy;
   recompense to them
   Thy rich and heavenly gifts;
   vouchsafe to them,
   for things earthly, heavenly,
   for corruptible, incorruptible,
   for temporal, eternal.
   Remember those who are in virginity;
   and purity and ascetic life;
   also those who live in honourable
   marriage,
   in Thy reverence and fear.
   Remember every Christian soul
   in affliction, distress, and trial,
   and in need of Thy pity and succour;
   also our brethren in captivity, prison,
   chains, and bitter bondage;
   supplying return to the wandering,
   health to the sick,
   deliverance to the captives.
   Remember religious and faithful kings,
   whom Thou hast given to rule
   upon the earth;
   and especially remember, Lord,
   our divinely-guarded king;
   strengthen his kingdom,
   subdue to him all adversaries,
   speak good things to his heart,
   for Thy Church, and all Thy
   people.
   Vouchsafe to him deep and undisturbed
   peace,
   that in his serenity
   we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
   with all godliness and honesty.
   Remember, Lord, all power
   and authority,
   our brethren in the court,
   those who are chief in council
   and judgment,
   and all by land and sea
   waging Thy wars for us.
   Moreover, Lord, remember graciously
   our holy Fathers,
   the honourable Presbytery,
   and all the Clergy,
   rightly dividing the Word of Truth,
   and rightly walking in it.
   Remember, Lord, our brethren
   around us,
   and praying with us in this holy hour,
   for their zeal and earnestness-sake.
   Remember also those who on fair reasons
   are away,
   and pity them and us
   in the multitude of Thy pity.
   Fill our garners with all manner of store;
   preserve our marriages in peace and
   concord,
   nourish our infants,
   lead forward our youth,
   sustain our aged,
   comfort the weak-hearted,
   gather together the scattered,
   restore the wanderers,
   and knit them to Thy Holy Catholic
   Apostolic Church.
   _Set free the troubled
   with unclean spirits,
   voyage with the voyagers,
   travel with the travellers
   stand forth for the widow,
   shield the orphan,
   rescue the captive,
   heal the sick.
   Those who are on trial, in mines, in exile,
   in galleys,
   in whatever affliction, necessity,
   and emergence,
   remember, O God;
   and all who need Thy great mercy;
   and those who love us,
   and those who hate;
   and those who have desired us unworthy
   to make mention of them in our prayers;
   and all Thy people remember, O Lord,
   our God,
   and upon all pour out Thy rich pity,
   to all performing their requests
   for salvation;
   and those of whom we have not made
   mention,
   through ignorance, forgetfulness,
   or number of names,
   do Thou Thyself remember, O God,
   who knowest the stature and appellation
   of each,
   who knowest every one from his mother's
   womb.
   For Thou art, O Lord, the Succour of the
   succourless,
   the Hope of the hopeless,
   The Saviour of the tempest-tost,
   the Harbour of the voyager,
   the Physician of the sick,
   do Thou Thyself become all things
   to all men.
   O Thou who knowest each man and his
   petition,
   each house, and its need,
   deliver, O Lord, this city,
   and all the country in which we sojourn,
   from plague, famine, earthquake, flood,
   fire, sword, hostile invasion,
   and civil war.
   End the schisms of the Churches,
   quench the haughty cries of the nations,
   and receive us all into Thy kingdom,
   acknowledging us, as sons of light;
   and Thy peace and love
   vouchsafe to us, O Lord, our God.
   Remember O Lord, our God,
   all spirits and all flesh
   which we have remembered, and which
   we have not.
   And the close of our life,
   Lord, Lord, direct in peace,
   Christianly, acceptably, and, should it
   please Thee, painlessly,
   gathering us together under the feet
   of Thine elect,
   when Thou wilt and how Thou wilt,
   only without shame and sins.
   The brightness of the Lord our God be
   upon us,
   prosper Thou the work of our hands
   upon us,
   O prosper Thou our handiwork.
   Be, Lord,
   within me to strengthen me,
   without me to guard me,
   over me to shelter me,
   beneath me to stablish me,
   before me to guide me,
   after me to forward me,
   round about me to secure me.
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  PRAISE

   Blessed art Thou, Lord, God of Israel,
   our Father,
   from everlasting to everlasting.
   Thine, O Lord,
   is the greatness and the power,
   the triumph and the victory,
   the praise and the strength,
   for Thou rulest over all
   in heaven and on earth.
   At Thy face every king is troubled,
   and every nation.
   Thine, O Lord, is the kingdom
   and the supremacy over all,
   and over all rule.
   With Thee is wealth, and glory is from
   Thy countenance;
   Thou rulest over all, O Lord;
   the Ruler of all rule;
   and in Thine hand is strength
   and power,
   and in Thine hand to give to all things
   greatness and strength.
   And now; Lord, we confess to Thee
   and we praise Thy glorious Name.

Labels: Lancelot Andrewes, prayer

While a fine hymn for the American Labor Day holiday, this hymn is also closely associated with St. Thomas Church, New York, and it is heard hear sung at the final Sunday of the tenure of the late Gerre Hancock, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 2004. The concluding voluntary after the hymn is improvised.

Labels: Gerre Hancock, hymns, improvisation, St Thomas (New York)

Minnesota-based organist David Sinden marks the John Cage centenary with a performance of Cage’s “Organ 2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible)” on Sept. 7 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. (This reading, lasting about 10 hours, will be a relatively speedy one; a performance of the piece under way since 2001 at a German church is projected to last 639 years.)