P. He hath blessed thy children within thee.
M. He maketh peace in thy borders,

P. And filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

M. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth;
P. His word runneth very swiftly.

M. He giveth snow like wool;

P. He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.

M. He casteth forth his ice like morsels;

P. Who can stand before his cold?

M. He sendeth out his word,

P. And melteth them.

M. He causeth his wind to blow,

P. And the waters flow.

All. He sheweth his word unto Jacob,

His statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

He hath not dealt so with any nation;

And as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord.

M. *Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

P. For He hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us

In the house of his servant David;

M. As He spake by the mouth of his holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began ;

P. That we should be saved from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;

M. To perform the mercy promised unto our fathers,
And to remember his holy covenant;

The oath which He sware to our father Abraham,

P. That He would grant unto us,

That we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

In holiness and righteousness before Him,

All the days of our life.

* Luke i. 68-79.

M. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the

Highest ;

P. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord

To prepare his ways,

To give knowledge of salvation.

Unto his people, by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God.

All. Whereby the Day-spring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them

That sit in darkness

And in the shadow of death,

To guide our feet into the

way of peace.

Amen.

II. CREATION.

All. *In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void;

And darkness was upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. M. And God said, Let there be light;

P. And there was light.

M. And God saw the light, that it was good:

P. And God divided the light from the darkness.

M. And God called the light Day.

P. And the darkness He called Night.

All. And the evening and the morning were the first day. M. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst

of the waters,

And let it divide the waters from the waters.

Genesis i., ii. 1—3.

P. And God made the firmament,

And divided the waters which were under the firmament

From the waters which were above the firmament.

All. And it was so.

Children. And God called the firmament Heaven.

All. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

M. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place,

And let the dry land appear.

All. And it was so.

M. And God called the dry land Earth.

P. And the gathering together of waters called He Seas.

All. And God saw that it was good.

M. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass,

The herb yielding seed,

And the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind,

Whose seed is in itself upon the earth.

All. And it was so.

P. And the earth brought forth grass,

And herb yielding seed after its kind,

And the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind.

All. And God saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the third day. M. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven,

To divide the day from the night;

And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,

and years.

And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven To give light upon the earth.

All. And it was so.

P. And God made two great lights;

The greater light to rule the day,

And the lesser light to rule the night:

He made the stars also.

C. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven

To give light upon the earth,

And to rule over the day and over the night,

And to divide the light from the darkness.

All. And God saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. M. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly The moving creature that hath life,

And fowl that may fly above the earth
In the open firmament of heaven.

P. And God created great whales,

And every living creature that moveth,

Which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind,

And every winged fowl after its kind.
All. And God saw that it was good.
M. And God blessed them, saying,
Be fruitful and multiply,

And fill the waters in the seas,

And let fowl multiply on the earth.

All. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

M. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind,

Cattle, and creeping thing,

And beast of the earth after its kind.

All. And it was so.

P. And God made the beast of the earth after its kind,

And cattle after their kind,

And every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind.

All. And God saw that it was good.

M. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after

our likeness;

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,

And over the fowl of the air,

And over the cattle,

And over all the earth,

And over every creeping thing

That creepeth upon the earth.

P. So God created man in his own image,
In the image of God created He him;
All. Male and female created He them.

M. And God said,

Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
Which is upon the face of all the earth,

And every tree,

In which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed:

All. To you it shall be for food.

P. And to every beast of the earth,

And to every fowl of the air,

And to every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
Wherein there is life,

I have given every green herb for food.

All. And it was so.

M. And God saw every thing that He had made,

P. And behold it was very good.

All. And the evening and the morning were the sixth

day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,

And all the host of them.

And on the seventh day

God ended his work which He had made;

And He rested on the seventh day

From all his work which He had made.

And God blessed the seventh day

And sanctified it;