16th Century – Page 16 – A Collection of Prayers

By Remembering Christ, We Endure

Almighty and eternal God,
merciful Father,
you gave your Son
for our sins,
and raised him up again
for our righteousness.
Through him you have overcome death
and have opened up for us the way to eternal life.
Through your Holy Spirit,
grant that we may rely on this in true faith,
that our bodies also will arise
with Christ to eternal life,
and that by remembering this comfort
we may endure
all kinds of sorrow in this life
with patience
through the power of the resurrection
of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who with you and the Holy Spirit
lives and reigns,
forever and ever.
Amen.

Source: Die pommersche Kirchen-Ordnung und Agenda, p. 289, #2, Martin Luther, [Die Gebete Luthers, #13]

Original in German:

Allmächtiger ewiger Gott, barmherziger Vater, der du deinen Sohn um unsrer Sünde willen dahin gegeben und zu unsrer Gerechtigkeit auferwecket, durch ihn den Tod überwunden, und uns den Zugang zum ewigen Leben geöffnet hast: wir bitten dich, gieb uns durch deinen Geist, daß wir in wahrem Glauben uns hierauf verlassen, und unsre Körper mit Christo auch zum ewigen Leben erwecket werden, und daß wir in Betrachtung dieses Trostes allerlei Ungemach dieses Lebens mit Geduld mögen ertragen, durch die Kraft der Auferstehung deines Sohnes, unsers Herrn Jesu Christi, der mit dir und dem heiligen Geiste lebet und regieret von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit. Amen. Pommersche Agende.

Give Our Hearts Faith in Christ’s Work

matthiasgrunewald_thecrucifixion2 Merciful, eternal God,
you did not spare your own Son,
but gave him up for us all
to bear our sins on the cross.
Give our hearts such faith
that we may never be frightened
or despair;
through your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Martin Luther

Source of this version: Translated for A Collection of Prayers. German source: Gebetbuch, enthaltend die sämtlichen Gebete und Seufzer Martin Luther’s, ….Evangelischer Bücher-Verein, 1866, #600. [Die Gebete Luthers, #293]

Also found in Die pommersche Kirchen-Ordnung und Agenda, p. 288(1).

Original in German:

Barmherziger, ewiger Gott, der du deines einigen Sohnes nicht verschonet hast, sondern für uns alle dahingegeben, daß er unsre Sünde am Kreuz tragen sollte; verleihe, daß unser Herz in solchem Glauben nimmermehr erschrecke noch verzage, durch denselben deinen Sohn, Jesum Christum, unsern Herrn. Amen. Luther.

Look on Us with Mercy

matthiasgrunewald_thecrucifixion2 Christ was pierced for our transgressions;
and was crushed for our iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5)

O Lord God, Father of all mercy,
graciously look on your people and household
for whom your dear Son Jesus Christ
did not refuse to be betrayed
into the hands of sinners,
and endured the shameful pain of the cross;
who lives and reigns with you,
true God, in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever.
Amen.

Source: Coburger Agende

Original in German:

Christus ist um unsrer Missethat willen verwundet und um unsrer Sünde willen zerschlagen.

O Herr Gott, Vater aller Barmherzigkeit: wir bitten dich, du wollest gnädig sehen auf diefes dein Volk und Hausgesind, um welches willen dein lieber Sohn Jesus Christus sich nicht geweigert hat übergeben zu werden in die Hände der Sünder,und zu dulden die schmähliche Pein des Kreuzes; der mit dir lebet und regieret, wahrer Gott in Einigkeit des heiligen Geistes ewiglich. Amen. Coburger Agende

A similar prayer is found in the Pomeranian Agenda.

A Doxology by Thomas Cranmer

To the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us,
with the Father who made and created us,
and the + Son who redeemed us,
be given all honor and glory,
now and forever.

Source: Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), found on http://www.biblia.work/sermons/prayersbible-prayers-short/ (modified)

Three Blessings by Philip Melanchthon

0940_Cranach_nR 001 Son of God,
Lord Jesus Christ,
crucified on a cross for us
and raised up from the grave,
to you we pray.
Receive us into your eternal church
and keep us always.
With your Holy Spirit, guide us
in the light of your Word.

The almighty God,
Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
mercifully protect you,
strengthen you,
and guide you.

May the almighty God,
Father of our Savior Jesus Christ,
who through his gospel is gathering
an eternal church among men and women,
strengthen you in body and soul,
and graciously keep and guide you,
now and forever.

Source: Philip Melanchthon, found on http://www.biblia.work/sermons/prayersbible-prayers-short/ (modified)

Prayers by Philip Melanchthon are included in Prayers from the Evangelical-Lutheran Heritage, available from Amazon.com, and also available for Amazon Kindle. It is a collection of prayers from the history of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church from Luther to Loehe. The collection includes prayers by Johannes Bugenhagen, Georg C. Dieffenbach, Veit Dietrich, Matthias Flacius, Wilhelm Loehe, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Joachim Mynsinger, Johann G. Olearius, Johann Jacob Rambach, and the early agendas and prayer books of the Austrian, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lueneberg, Norwegian, Nuremberg, Pomeranian, Riga, Russian, Saxon, Schleswig-Holstein, and Swedish Evangelical-Lutheran churches.

O Lord, Hedge Up My Way

Launcelot Andrews (1555-1626)
O Lord,
hedge up my way with thorns,
that I may find no path
for following vanity.
Hold me in
with bit and bridle,
lest I fall away from you.
O Lord, compel me
to come to you:
to bruise the serpent’s head,
to remember my life’s end,
to cut off opportunities for evil,
to be alert,
not to sit idle,
to shun what is evil,
to cling to what is good,
to look at no worthless things,
to bring my body into subjection,
to devote myself to prayer,
to search my heart with penitence.

Source: Adapted from Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) for A Collection of Prayers from The devotions of Lancelot Andrewes (The Hedge of the Law).

For Patience

christ-in-gethsemane-hofmann-w500

O God,
by the meek endurance
of your only Son
you beat down the pride
of the old enemy.
Help us rightly
to treasure in our hearts
what our Lord has borne
for our sakes,
that following his example
we may bear
all our troubles
with patience;
through your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Missale Romanum (16th Century?), English translation freely modified from Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, # 29.

Original in Latin:

Deus, qui Unigeniti tui patientia antiqui hostis contrivisti superbiam: da nobis, quaesumus, quae idem pie pro nobis pertulit, digne recolere; sicque exemplo ejus, nobis adversantia aequanimiter tolerare. Per Dominum… Amen.

A Litany

O God the Father in heaven:
Have mercy on us.

O God the Son, Redeemer of the world:
Have mercy on us.

O God the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son:
Have mercy on us.

O holy blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons and one God:
Have mercy on us.

Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers,
do not take vengeance on us for our sins.
Spare us, good Lord.

Spare your people whom you redeemed with your most precious blood,
and do not be angry with us forever:
Spare us, good Lord.

From all evil and harm,
from the power of sin and the snares of the devil,
from your wrath and from everlasting damnation:
Good Lord, deliver us.

From all blindness of heart,
from pride, vain-glory and hypocrisy,
from envy, hatred, and malice, and all lovelessness:
Good Lord, deliver us.

From all impure lusts and desires,
and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil:
Good Lord, deliver us.

From lightning, tempest, and earthquake,
from plague, pestilence, and famine,
from all disasters by land and by water,
from battle and murder, and from sudden death:
Good Lord, deliver us.

From tumult and riot,
from sedition and rebellion,
from heresy and schism,
from hardness of heart and contempt of your Word and authority:
Good Lord, deliver us.

By the mystery of your holy incarnation,
by your holy nativity and circumcision,
by your baptism, fasting, and temptation:
Good Lord, deliver us.

By your agony and bloody sweat,
by your cross and passion,
by your precious death and burial,
by your glorious resurrection and ascension,
and by the coming of the Holy Spirit:
Good Lord, deliver us.

In all time of our tribulation,
in all time of our wealth,
in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment:
Good Lord, deliver us

We sinners pray, hear us, O Lord:
Son of God we pray, hear us.

That it may please you to keep us in all time of temptation and heaviness,
to comfort and help all the weak-hearted,
to lift up those who fall, and finally to beat down Satan under our feet:
We pray, hear us, O Lord.

That it may please you to nurture, help, and comfort
all who are in danger, need, and trouble:
We pray, hear us, O Lord.

That it may please you to preserve all travelers and strangers,
all women in the perils of child birth,
all sick persons and young children,
and to show your pity on all prisoners and captives:
We pray, hear us, O Lord.

That it may please you to defend and provide
for the fatherless children and widows,
and all who are desolate and oppressed:
We pray, hear us, O Lord.

That it may please you to have mercy on all people:
We pray, hear us, O Lord.

O Son of God, Redeemer of the world:
Have mercy on us.

O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world:
Have mercy on us.

O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world:
Grant us your peace.

O God, merciful Father, you do not despise the sighing of a contrite heart or the desire of those who are sorrowful. Mercifully help us in all our troubles and adversities whenever they oppress us. Graciously hear us, that those evils which the craft and subtlety of the devil or humanity work against us, may be brought to nothing by your will and purpose, that we your servants, may be hurt by no persecutions, and may evermore give thanks to you in your holy Church, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

O God, all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works come from you. Give your servants that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments. Defend us from the fear of our enemies, that we may pass our time in rest and quietness, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Source: Modified from The Litany, Order of Worship for the Reformed Church in the United States, 1866, p. 21-24.

This Litany is very similar to the German litanies by Martin Luther and in the Saxon Agenda of 1540, which were shortened versions of the Litany of the Saints. The Litany of the Saints, along with the original Latin, can be viewed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litany_of_the_Saints

Available also in pdf and in docx formats.

A Confession of Sins

I, a poor sinner,
confess before you, my God and Creator,
that I have grievously sinned against you in many ways,
not only by gross outward sins,
but much more through inward natural blindness,
unbelief, doubts, despondency, impatience, pride,
covetousness, secret envy, hatred, malice,
and other sinful affections
which you see in me, my Lord and God,
and which, alas, I cannot always see in myself.
I repent of these, and cry to you for your mercy,
through your beloved Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Source: Palatinate Liturgy, 1563, and Lutheran Liturgy of Wuerttemberg, 1536.

Translation based on Tercentenary Monument: In Commemoration of the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism M. Kieffer & Company, 1863

Shield Us from the Devil’s Cunning and Terror

devil-1566853_640

Lord God, heavenly Father,
since that evil spirit, the devil,
always prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking to devour us,
you want to shield us
by your dear holy angels
from all of his cunning and terror,
for your dear Son’s sake.
Through your Holy Spirit,
give us repentant hearts,
that we may serve you
in all soberness and vigilance;
through Jesus Christ,
your dear Son,
our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Die pommersche Kirchen-Ordnung und Agenda, p. 287

Original in German:

Herr Gott, himmlischer Vater, wir bitten dich, weil der böse Geist allzeit als ein brüllender Löwe um uns hergehet und suchet, ob er uns verschlingen könne, du wollest uns um deines lieben Sohnes willen mit den lieben heiligen Engeln wider alle feine List und Gewalt beschirmen, und uns durch deinen Geist bußfertige Herzen verleihen, daß wir in Mäßigkeit und Nüchternheit dir dienen mögen, durch Jesum Christum deinen lieben Sohn, unsern Herrn. Amen. Pommersche Agende