protecting providence, through the coming night. Thou hearest every
prayer offered to thee believingly with a penitent and sincere heart.
For thou in withholding grantest, healest in inflicting the wound, yea,
turnest all to good for as many as truly seek thee through Christ, the
Mediator! Thy will be done! But if it be according to thy wise and
righteous ordinances, O shield me this night from the assaults of
disease, grant me refreshment of sleep unvexed by evil and distempered
dreams; and if the purpose and aspiration of my heart be upright before
thee who alone knowest the heart of man, O in thy mercy vouchsafe me yet
in this my decay of life an interval of ease and strength; if so (thy
grace disposing and assisting) I may make compensation to thy church for
the unused talents thou hast entrusted to me, for the neglected
opportunities, which thy loving-kindness had provided. O let me be found
a labourer in the vineyard, though of the late hour, when the Lord and
Heir of the vintage, Christ Jesus, calleth for his servant.

'Our Father', &c.

To thee, great omnipresent Spirit, whose mercy is over all thy works,
who now beholdest me, who hearest me, who hast framed my heart to seek
and to trust in thee, in the name of my Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, I
humbly commit and commend my body, soul, and spirit.

Glory be to thee, O God!




NOTES ON THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.