the Mighty One of Israel.

And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you:

For the Lord is a God of

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise God,

Be honor and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

THE HE people that walked in darkness have seen great light:

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They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit

of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the

earth:

And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain:

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them;

And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice, even with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon :

They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the

wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water:

And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads:

They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise God,

Be honor and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

God.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the

crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, when the breath of the Lord bloweth over it.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, the isles are like flying stubble.

All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

To whom, then, will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges

To whom, then, will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host in order:

He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, because he is strong in power:

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? his understanding is unsearchable.

He giveth power to the faint; and to the feeble abundant strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise God,

Be honor and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens, and all the powers therein.

To thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the apostles praise thee.

The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee.

The noble army of martyrs praise thee.

The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,

The Father of an infinite majesty;

And Jesus as thy well-beloved

Son.

Thou art the Holy Spirit, the Comforter;

Thou art the King of glory, O God;

Thou art the everlasting One, the Father.

Thou didst not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou gavest him the victory over Sin and Death;

And openest the Kingdom of heaven to all the faithful; And callest us thither by the Spirit of adoption.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed in thy boundless love.

Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people, and bless thy heritage;

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Govern them, and lift them for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee; And we worship thy name ever, world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten. upon us, as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have we trusted, let us never be confounded.

BLES

I.

LESSED be the Lord God of ages, who never ceaseth to draw more nigh.

His voice in the morning of the world was heard from afar: in the evening he speaketh at the door, and entereth to abide with us for ever.

Manifold are thy witnesses, O God, and the angels of thine invisible presence: else had we never known thee.

Though thou unsealest the light for all that lives, and lookest through the doors of the shadow of death;

Though thou causest the dayspring to know its place, and sayest to the sea, "Here shall thy proud waves be stayed;"

Though thou seest the end from the beginning, and weavest the ages as a work upon the loom :

Yet lo! thou goest by us, and we see thee not: thou passest on also, and we perceive thee not.

Till thou didst look for him upon the earth, he was not; and when thou sayest, “Return," he is no more.

But thy years are countless. as the stars; from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

Hadst thou not remembered our low estate, and bent to us with thy testimonies from of

old,

We had been in darkness and the shadow of death, and the light of thy countenance had been hid.

But the firmament declareth thy glory, the prophets proclaim thy judgments;

The righteous wonder at thy law in their heart, and the songs of Zion make melody to thee.

Lo! these are a part of thy mercies; yet how little a portion is heard of thee!

Blessed be the dawn of thy everlasting light: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Glory be to God most high, the ever-blessed Father,

Who is and was and shall be, world without end. Amen.