Devotions of Bishop Andrewes. Vol. I

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.
84Moreover 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;
85and 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,
86whom Thou halt 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.
87Remember, 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.
88Those 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,
89the 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,
90Christianly, 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.