The Prymer: Matins, Lauds, Evensong and Compline of Our Lady (Middle English) (English Primer, Cambridge MS Dd.11.82, c. 1420–30)

Matins: The Opening

Lord, open thou my lips!

And my mouth shall tell thy praising.

God, behold thou unto mine help!

Lord, haste thou to help me!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! As it was in the beginning, and now, and ever into the worlds of worlds. Amen!

Alleluia! Praise ye the Lord!

The Invitatory and Venite

Invitatory. Hail, Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee.

Come ye, make we full out joy to the Lord; heartily sing we to God our help; before occupy we his face in acknowledging; and heartily sing we to him in psalms.

Hail, Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee.

For God is a great Lord, and great King above all gods; for the Lord shall not put away his people; for all the ends of earth be in his hand, and the highnesses of hills be his.

The Lord is with thee.

For the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come ye, worship we, and fall we down before God; weep we before the Lord that made us! for he is our Lord God; and we be the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Hail, Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee.

If ye have heard his voice today, nill ye make hard your hearts; as in the provoking to wrath, in the day of temptation in desert; where your fathers tempted me; they proved and saw my works.

The Lord is with thee.

Forty year I was offended to this generation, and I said: 'Ever they err in heart.' And these men knew not my ways; to whom I swore in mine ire, 'They shall not enter into my rest.'

Hail, Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! As it was in the beginning, and now, and ever into the worlds of worlds. Amen!

The Lord is with thee. Hail, Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee.

[Then follow the hymn Quem terra, the psalms, three lessons and their responsories.]

Te Deum laudamus

Thee, God, we praise; Lord, thee we acknowledge.

Thee, endless Father, every earth worshippeth.

To thee all angels, to thee heavens and all manner powers,

To thee cherubim and seraphim cry with voice without ceasing:

Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of hosts!

Heavens and earth be full of majesty of thy glory.

Thee the glorious company of apostles,

Thee the praiseable number of prophets,

Thee praiseth the white host of martyrs,

Thee holy church acknowledgeth throughout all the world:

Father, of right great majesty;

And thy soothfast worshipful only Son;

And the Holy Ghost, our comforter.

Thou, king of glory, Christ,

Thou art the endless Son of the Father!

Thou were not squeamish to take the maiden's womb to deliver mankind.

When thou haddest overcome the sharpness of death, thou openedest the kingdom of heavens to them that believed in thee.

Thou sittest on God's right side, in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge; therefore we beseech thee, help thy servants that thou hast bought with thy precious blood.

Make them to be rewarded with saints in endless bliss!

Lord, make safe thy people, and bless thine heritage!

Govern them and make them high without end!

By each day we bless to thee;

And we praise thy name into the world, and into the world of world.

Lord, vouchsafe to keep us today without sin!

Have mercy of us, Lord: have mercy of us!

Thy mercy be made upon us, Lord: as we have hoped in thee.

In thee, Lord, I have hoped: let me not be shent without end!

Holy mother of God, ever maid Mary,

Pray for us to our Lord God!

Lauds: Benedictus

[Lauds begins God, behold thou unto mine help, with the psalms, chapter and hymn; then:]

God chose her, and before chose her;

And he maketh her to dwell in his tabernacle.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel! for he hath visited and made redemption of his people.

And he hath raised to us an horn of health, in the house of David, his child:

As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, that were from the world:

Health from our enemies, and from the hand of all men that hated us:

To do mercy with our fathers; and to have mind of his holy testament;

The great oath that he swore to Abraham our father; to give himself to us,

That we without dread, delivered from the hand of our enemies, serve to him,

In holiness and rightwiseness before him, in all our days.

And thou, child, shalt be cleped the prophet of the highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways.

To give science of health to his people, into remission of their sins;

By the inwardness of the mercy of our God; in the which he, springing up from on high, hath visited us;

To give light to them that sitten in darknesses and in the shadow of death; to dress our feet into the way of peace.

Lauds: The Memorial of Peace

[After the memorials of the Holy Ghost, the Trinity and All Saints:]

Anthem. Lord! give us peace in our days, for there is none that fighteth for us but thou our God;

Lord, let peace be made in thy virtue;

And plenty in thy towers.

Orison. God, of whom be holy desires, rightful counsels and just deeds, give to thy servants that peace that the world may not give, so that our hearts be given to keep thy behests, and dread of our enemies be taken from us, so that our times be peaceable in thy protection, by our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, that liveth with thee, and reigneth God by all worlds of worlds. Amen!

Bless we the Lord!

Thank we God!

Evensong: Magnificat and Orison

[Evensong begins God, behold thou unto mine help, with the psalms, chapter and the hymn Ave maris stella; then:]

Grace is given in thy lips;

Therefore God hath blessed thee without end.

My soul magnifieth the Lord;

And my spirit hath gladded in God, mine health;

For he hath beholden the meekness of his handmaiden; for lo, of this all generations shall say that I am blessed.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and his name is holy.

And his mercy is from kindred into kindreds to men that dread him.

He made might in his arm; he scattered proud men with the thought of his heart.

He set down mighty men from seat, and enhanced meek men.

He hath fulfilled hungry men with goods; and he hath left rich men void.

He, having mind of his mercy, took up Israel, his child.

As he hath spoken to our fathers; to Abraham and to his seed into the worlds.

Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c.

Anthem. Saint Mary, succour wretches; help fearful, and refresh the sorrowful! Pray for the people; bid for the clergy; beseech for devout womankind!

Lord, shew us thy mercy,

And give us thine health!

Orison. Grant us thy servants, Lord God, we pray thee, that we may be joyful evermore in health of soul and of body; and through the beseeching of the glorious everlasting maid Mary, we may be delivered of this sorrow that we have now, and use fully the joy without end, by our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, that liveth and reigneth with thee in onehead of God the Holy Ghost, by all worlds of worlds. Amen!

Bless we the Lord!

Thank we God!

Compline: Opening and Nunc dimittis

God, our health, convert thou us,

And turn away thine ire from us!

God, behold thou unto mine help!

Lord, haste thou to help me!

Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Alleluia! Praise ye the Lord!

[Then the psalms Usquequo (13), Judica me (43), Saepe expugnaverunt (129) and Domine non est (131), the chapter Sicut cinnamomum and the hymn Ave maris stella; then:]

God chose her, and before chose her;

And he maketh her to dwell in his tabernacle.

Now, Lord, thou leavest thy servant: after thy word, in peace;

For mine eyes have seen thine health,

Which thou hast made ready before the face of all peoples,

Light to the revelation of heathen men, and glory to thy people Israel.

Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c.

Anthem. We glorify thee, mother of God, for of thee is Christ born; make safe all men that glorify thee.

Lord God of virtues, convert us.

And shew thy face, and we shall be safe.

Orison. Lord, we beseech thee, send thy grace into our hearts, that we, by the message of the angel, know the incarnation of thy Son Christ, and be brought by his passion to the glory of his resurrection; by the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord; that with thee liveth and reigneth in onehead of God the Holy Ghost, by all worlds of worlds. Amen!