The 1552 Book of Common Prayer: Evening Prayer

AN ORDRE

FOR EVENING PRAYER

THROUGHOUT THE YERE.

The Priest shall saye.

OUR Father which, &c.

Then lykewyse he shal saye.

    O Lord, open thou our lippes.
    Aunswere. And our mouth shal shewe furth thy prayse.
    Priest. O God, make spede to save us.
   Aunswere. Lord, make haste to helpe us.

Priest.

    Glory be to the father, and to the sonne: and to the holy gost;
    As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without ende. Amen.
    Prayse ye the Lorde.

Then Psalmes in ordre as they be appointed in ye Table for Psalmes, except there be proper Psalmes appointed for that day. Then a Lesson of the Old Testament, as it is appointed likewise in the Kalendar, except there be propre lessons appointed for that day. After that, Magnificat in Englishe, as foloweth.

Magnificat.*

MY soule doth magnifie the Lord :
    And my spirite hath rejoyced in god my Saviour.
    For he hath regarded the lowelyness of hys handmayden.
    For beholde from henceforth all generacions shall call me blessed.
    For he that is mightie, hath magnified me : and holy is his name.
    And his mercy is on them that feare him : throughout all generacions.
    He hath shewed strength with hys arm : he hath scatered the proud, in the imaginacion of their hearts.
    He hath put down the mighty from their seate : and hath exalted the humble and meke.
    He hath filled the hungrye with good thyngs : and the riche he hath sent emptie away.
    He rememberynge hys mercy, bath holpen hys servaunt Israel : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his sede, for ever.
    Glory be to the father, &c.
    As it was in the, &c.

Or els thys Psalme.

Cantate Dominio. Ps. xcviii.

O SING unto the Lorde a newe song : for he hath done marvaylous thynges.
    With his own right hande, and with hys holy arme : hath he gotten himselfe the victorye.
    The lord declared his salvacion : his rightousnes hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
    He hath remembred his mercy and trueth toward the house of Israel : and all the endes of the world have seen the salvation of our God.
    Shewe your selfes joiful unto the lord al ye lands : syng, rejoyce and geve thankes.
    Prayse the Lord upon the harpe: sing to the harpe with a Psalme of thankesgeving.
    With trompettes also and shawmes: O shewe your selfes joyful before the Lord the king.
    Let the sea make a noise, and all that them is : the rounde world, and they that dwel therm.
    Let the flouds clappe their hands, and let the hilles be joiful together before the Lorde : for he is come to judge the yearth.
    With righteousnes shal he judge the world : and the people with equitie.
    Glory be to the father, &c.
    As it was in the, &c.

* Some printings add Luke i after the title

The Gloria Patri is printed out at length here and elsewhere in some printings.

Then a Lesson of the newe Testament. And after that (Nunc dimittis) in Englishe, as foloweth.

LORD, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace : accordyng to thy worde.
    For mine iyes have seen : thy salvacion.
    Whiche thou hast prepared : before the face of al people;
    To be a light to lighten the Gentiles : and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
    Glory be to the father, &c.
    As it was in the, &c.

Or els thys Psalme.

Deus misereatur. Ps. lxvii.

Then shal folowe the Crede, with other prayers as is before appointed at Morning prayer after Benedictus. And with three Collects: First of the day: the second of peace: Third for aide against al perilles, as herafter foloweth: wiche two laste Collectes shalbe daiely said at Evening praier without alteracion.

The second Collecte at Evening Prayer.

O GOD, from whom all holy desyres, all good counsayls, an all just woorks doe procede. Geve unto thy servaunts that peace, which the worlde cannot geve; that both our heart maie be set to obeye thy commaundments, and also that by thee we beeing defended from the feare of our enemies, may pass our tyme in reste and quietnes through the merites of Jesu Chryste our Savioure. Amen.

The third Collecte jor ayde agaynst al perilles.

LIGHTEN our darkenes, we beseche thee, O Lorde, and by thy greate mercye, defend us from al perilles and daungers of thys nyghte, for the love of thy onely Sonne, our Savyoure Jesus Christe. Amen.

In the feastes of Christmas, the Epiphanie, Saincte Mathie [Mathias], Easter, Thassencion, Pentecost, Sainct John Baptist, Sainct James, Sainct Bartholomew, Sainct Matthew, Sainct Symon and Jude, Sainct Andrewe, and Trinitie Sunday: shalbe song or sayd immediately after Benedictus, this confession of our Christen fayth.

WHOSOEVER will be saved : before al thinges it is necessarye that he holde the Catholyke fayth.
    Which faith except every one doe kepe holy and undefiled : without doubte he shall perishe everlastyngly.
    And the Catholyke fayth is thys : that we worshyp one God in Trinitie, and Trinitie in unity;
    Neither confounding the persons : nor dividing the substance.      For there is one person of the father, another of the sonne : and an other of the holy gost.
    But the Godhed of the father, of the sonne, and of the holy goste, is all one : the glory equall, the maiestye coeternall.
    Such as the father is, suche is the sonne : and such is the holy gost.
    The father uncreate, the sonne uncreate : and the holy gost uncreate.
    The father incomprehensible, the sonne incomprehensible : and the holy gost incomprehensible.
    The father eternall, the sonne eternall : and the holy gost eternall.
    And yet they are not three eternalls : but one eternall.
    As also there be not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
    So likewyse the father is almightie, the sonne almighty : and the holy gost almightie.
    And yet they are not three almighties : but one almightie.
    So the father is God, the sonne is God : and the holy gost is God.
    And yet are they not three Goddes : but one God.
    So likewise the father is lorde, the sonne lorde : and the holy gost lord.
    And yet not three lordes : but one Lord.
    For like as we be compelled by the Christian verytie : to acknowledge every person by himself, to be God and lorde.
    So are we forbidden by the Catholyke religion : to saye there be three Goddes, or three Lordes.
    The father is made of none : neyther created nor begotten.
    The son is of the father alone : not made nor created, but begotten.
    The holy gost is of the father and of the sonne neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but procedyng.
    So there is one father, not three fathers, one sonne not three sonnes : one holy gost, not three holy gostes.
    And in this Trinitie none is afore nor after other : none is greater nor lesse then an other.
    But the whole three persons : be coeternal together and coequal.
    So that in all thyngs, as is aforesaid : the unitie in Trinitie, and the Trinitie in unitie, is to be worshypped.
    He therefore that wilbe saved : muste thus thynk of the Trinitie.
    Furthurmore, it is necessary to everlasting salvacion : that he also beleve rightely in the incarnacion of our Lord Jesu Christ.
    For the ryght fayth is, that we beleve and confesse : that our lorde Jesus Christe, the sonne of God, is God and man;
    God of the Substaunce of the father, begotten before the worldes : and man of the substaunce of his mother, borne in the worlde.
    Perfecte god, and perfect man : of a reasonable soule, and humaine flesh subsistyng.
    Equall to the father, as touchyng hys Godhead : and inferiour to the father, touchyng hys manhode.
    Who although he be god and man : yet he is not two, but one Christ.
    One, not by conversion of the Godhead into fleshe : but by takyng of the manhode into God;
    One altogether, not by confusion of substaunce : but by unitie of person.
    For as the reasonable soule and fleshe is one man : so God and man is one Christ.
    Who suifred for our salvacion : descended into hell, rose agayn the thirde daye from the dead.
    He ascended into heaven, he sytteth on the ryghte hand of the father, god almighty : from whence he shal come to judge the quicke and the dead.
    At whose coming all men shall ryse agayn with their bodyes : and shall geve accoumpte for their own woorks.
    And they that have done good, shall goe into lyfe everlasting : and they that have done evill, into everlasting fyre.
    This is the Catholike fayth : whiche except a man beleve faythfully, he cannot be saved.
    Glory be to the father, and to the sonne : and to the holy goste.
    As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall bee : worlde without ende. Amen.

Thus endeth the ordre of Morning and Evening Prayer through the whole yeare.

Quiqunque vult
(Athanasian Creed)

The title Quicunque vult is given here in some printings