James Martineau

1805-1900

Here was choice new wine in the most delicately shaped new bottles. In unforgettable cadences he expressed a blend of Biblical faith and the in- sights of the day derived from the comparative study of religions, his deeply ethical sense, and from the love of nature and a conviction of the basic unity of mankind emanating from German and American versions of Transcendentalism. Martineau therefore left to the twentieth century a heritage of historic techniques of prayer expressive of the newest insights into the ways of God and men. His influence was felt strongly in his own denomination, but also widely beyond it.

Horton Davies, Worship and Theology in England,
The Ecumenical Century, 1900-1965.

Princeton University Pess, 1965.

Eternal God, who commits to us the swift and solemn trust of life: since we know not what a day may bring forth but only that the hour for serving you is always present, may we wake to the instant claims of your holy will, not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today. Lay to rest, by the persuasion of your Spirit, the resistance of our passion, indolence, or fear. Consecrate with your presence the way our feet may go; and the humblest work will shine, and the roughest places be made plain. Lift us above unrighteous anger and mistrust into faith and hope and charity by a simple and steadfast reliance on your sure will; and so may we be modest in our time of wealth, patient under disappointment, ready for danger, serene in death. In all things, draw us to the mind of Christ, that your lost image may be traced again, and you may own us as at one with him and you.

O God, before whose face the generations rise and pass away, age after age the living seek you and find that of your faithfulness there is no end. Our forebears in their pilgrimage walked by your guidance and rested on your compassion: still to their children be thou the cloud by day, the fire by night. Where but in you have we a shelter from the storm or shadow from the heat of life? In our manifold temptations, you alone know and are ever near: in sorrow, your pity revives the fainting soul; in our prosperity and ease, it is your Spirit only that can wean us from our pride and keep us low. O thou sole source of peace and righteousness: take now the veil from every heart, and join us in one communion with your prophets and saints who have trusted in you and were not ashamed. Not of our worthiness, but of your tender mercy, hear our prayer.

Orders of Worship

O Thou whose eye is over all the children of the earth, and who has called them by your Prince of Peace into a kingdom not of this world: send forth his spirit speedily into the dark places of our guilt and woe, and arm it with the piercing power of your grace. May it reach the heart of every oppression, and make arrogance dumb before you. Let it still the noise of our strife and the tumult of the people; put to shame the false idols of every mind; carry faith to the doubting, hope to the fearful, strength to the weak, light to the mourner; and more and more increase the pure in heart who see their God. Commit your word, 0 Lord, to the lips of faithful men and women, or the free winds of your invisible Providence; that soon the knowledge of you may cover the earth as waters cover the channels of the deep. And so let your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Orders of Worship

Morning Collect
O Lord, fill us with the simplicity of a divine purpose, that we may be inwardly at one with your holy will and lifted above vain wishes of our own. May we heartily surrender our powers to the work which you have given us to do, counting it as our crown of blessing if we may join the company of the faithful who have kept your name and witnessed to your kingdom in every age.

Orders of Worship

Evening Collect
O God, who faints not, neither are weary, whose everlasting work is still fresh as your creative thought: we bless you for the pity of night and sleep, giving us the rest you never need. We would lie down each evening in peace and thankfulness, and commit the folded hours to you. But, 0 Lord, through toil and repose, save us from any fatal slumber of the spirit, and keep us through life to the holy vigils of love and service, as they that watch for your morning of eternity.

Orders of Worship

O God, you have set us in the train of many martyrs and holy men and women, and given us, as author and finisher of our faith, one who offered himself up a living and dying sacrifice. We are not our own but yours. Freely may we crucify our shrinking will, surrender ourselves to the uttermost claims of your Spirit, and seek no peace but in harmony with you.

Orders of Worship

O God, who did send your word to speak in the Prophets and live in your Son, and appoint your Church to be witness of divine things in all the world: revive the purity and deepen the power of its testimony; and through the din of earthly interests and the storm of human passions, let it make the still small voice of your Spirit inwardly felt. Nearer and nearer may your kingdom come from age to age, meeting the face of the young as a rising dawn, and brightening the song of the old, ‘Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.’

Already let its light abash our guilty negligence, and touch with hope each secret sorrow of the earth. By the cleansing spirit of your Son, make this world a fitting fore-court to that sanctuary not made with hands, where our life is hid with Christ in God.

O Source of all good, day by day your blessings are renewed to us, and again we come with thankful hearts to seek the sense of your presence. 0 that we could be reborn like the morning! For even as we seek to commune with you, shadows from our past dim the joy of our aspirations. We remember our thoughtless lives, our impatient tempers, our selfish aims; and yet we know that you have neither made us blind like the creatures that have no sin, nor left us without holy guidance -- your still, small voice speaking in our inmost conscience, and your open word, having dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, appealing to us to choose the better part. Take us now to serve you in newness of spirit, and sweep away every dust of care, every trace of fear, every taint of an uncharitable mind.

Hymns of the Spirit

O Eternal and Infinite One, there are no seasons for you. But for us you have appointed a set time upon the earth, and the shadow on our dial lengthens out. Our hours of faithful duty follow us from the past and do not perish; our wasted hours we cannot gather and they are gone forever. Stir within us an effectual repentance that we may redeem the time we have lost, and in the hours that still remain may do the work of many days. Make us hear your urgent word. Hasten us even with your chastisements, great Giver of the task. 0 righteous God, it is a solemn thing to live by day and night beneath your constant eye and move onwards to your mysterious eternity. May we be steadfast through all faintness of soul, and not rest by the roadside while your errand waits, nor be bewildered and held back by pleasures of the world. Daily may we crucify our selfishness, and delight to bear each other’s burden and uphold each other’s faith and charity; being tender-hearted and forgiving as we hope to be forgiven. Soon shall we be spent and gathered to you; let all disquiet and contention cease, and our minds be wholly turned to finish the work you have given us to do. 0 Watcher of our days and nights, we would commit them all to you.

Hymns of the Spirit

O God, who has neither dawn or evening yet who sends us the alternate mercies of the darkness and the day: as you lift the curtain of night from our abodes, take also the veil from all our hearts. Rise with your morning upon our souls; quicken all our labor and our prayer; and, though all else decline, let the noontide of thy grace and peace remain. May we walk while it is yet day in the steps of him who with the fewest hours finished your divinest work.

Hymns of the Spirit

In the holy quiet of this hour, let each of us bring an offering of penitence, if not of purity; of love, if not of holiness; of teachableness, if not the fruits of well-doing in the time that is past. And so may we find strength and courage for every time of need.

Hymns of the Spirit

O God, who gives us not only the day for labor and the night for rest but also the peace of this blessed day, grant us that the season of holy quiet may be profitable to us in heavenly things, and refresh and strengthen us to return to the work which thou hast given us to do. With reverence and grateful love we adore the Eternal Goodness which makes our lives so rich. We lift up our hearts unto you and bless your holy name. 0 Spirit of wisdom and grace, may your presence be felt today in our souls; may light from you open the eyes of our minds, that we may behold your truth; may your love enter our hearts. So may our lives be filled with kind and gentle affection, and our worship of you be in spirit and in truth. Nor let our service cease with our words; may our cheerful duty be as a continuing sacrifice, and our daily conduct as a song of praise, and our whole life become a thank-offering to you.

Hymns of the Spirit

Disposer of life, who appoints to all their tasks and measures out their days of service, behold, our time is short and our work is great. Give us the soul of industry and a heavenly spirit of alacrity, that, when the shadows of evening close, we may be able to say, “It is finished.” As you work with sleepless mercy for us, so may we work with you; and morning and evening find us ready for your perfect will. May our souls be as one that fulfills the night watches -- awake with a constant awe, and strong with a divine courage; communing with you in our silent walks of duty, and looking for the light of your everlasting morning.

Hymns of the Spirit

Almighty God, of whose righteous will all things are and were created, who lifts the islands out of the deep and prepares not in vain the habitable world: you have gathered our people into a great nation, and sent them to sow beside all waters and multiply sure dwellings on earth. Deepen the root of our life in everlasting righteousness. Make us equal to our high trusts, reverent in the use of freedom, just in the exercise of power, generous in the protection of weakness. With all your blessings bless your servant the President of the United States. Fill his/her heart with loyalty to you. To our legislators and counselors give insight and faithfulness, that our laws may clearly speak the right, and our judges purely interpret it. Let it be known among us how you hate robbery for burnt-offering; that the gains of industry may be upright, and the common wealth may become the heritage of all. May wisdom and knowledge be the stability of our times and our deepest trust be in you.

Hymns of the Spirit