03/04/2026
O Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Son of God, Who has suffered death for us
upon the Cross, that we might thereby be brought unto eternal life: have mercy
upon us, we pray you, both now and at the hour of death to live on earth with
righteousness; and grant to us your humble servants, and to all that have this
blessed and godly life of yours in this present world unconditional love for
God and our neighbours and, through your grace, eternal glory in the world to
come; where with the Father and the Holy Spirit, You live and reign, one God
for evermore. Amen.
It is over now, O Lord, as with Your sufferings, so with our humiliation. We
have followed You from Your fasting in the wilderness till Your death on the
Cross. The time has been long and it has been short; but whether long or
short, it is now over. And we feel a pleasure that it is over. It is a relief and a
release. We thank You that it is over. We thank You for the time of sorrow,
but we thank You more as we look forward to the time of festival of victory.
Pardon our short-comings in Lent and reward us in Easter.
We have indeed done very little for you, O Lord. We recollect well our
listlessness and weariness, our indisposition to mortify ourselves when we
had no plea of health to pray and to meditate, our disorder of mind, our
discontent, our peevishness. Yet some of us, perhaps, have done some
thing for you. Look on us as a whole, O Lord, look on us as a congregation,
and let what some have done plead for us all.
O Lord, the end is come. We are conscious of our failure and lukewarmness;
we do not deserve to rejoice in Easter, yet we cannot help doing so. We feel
more of pleasure, we rejoice in You more than our past humiliation warrants
us in doing; yet may that very joy be its own warrant. O God, who put it into
the hearts of Your faithful servants reverently to anoint the precious Body of
Your only begotten Son, to His burial; grant to us Your unworthy servants,
