Good Friday

THE COLLECTS.

Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family,
for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and
given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon
the cross, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy
Ghost, ever one God, world without end. _Amen_.

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of
the Church is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications
and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in
thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation
and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. _Amen_.

O merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou
hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he
should be converted and live: Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks,
Infidels, and Heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness
of heart, and contempt of thy word; and so fetch them home, blessed
Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of
the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd,
Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the
Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. _Amen_.

THE EPISTLE. Hebr. x. 1.

The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they
offered year by year continually, make the comers there unto
perfect: for then would they not have ceased to be offered? because
that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made
of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but
a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure: then said I, Lo, I come (in the
volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God.
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings
and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure
therein, (which are offered by the law;) then said he, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may
establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every
priest standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the
same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on
the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies
be made his foot-stool. For by one offering he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a
witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering
for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he
hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his
flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw
near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed
with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us
consider one another to provoke unto love, and to good works; not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of
some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see
the day approaching.

THE GOSPEL. St John xix. 1.

Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers
platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put
on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews: and they
smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and
saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may
know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing
the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto
them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers
saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate
saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault
in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he
ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate
therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went
again into the judgement-hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art
thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him,
Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to
crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou
couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given
thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath
the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him:
but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art
not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh
against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought
Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgement-seat, in a place that is
called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the
preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith
unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him,
away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify
your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified: and they
took Jesus, and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went forth
into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the
Hebrew, Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him,
on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a
title, and put it on the cross; and the writing was, JESUS OF
NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus
was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew,
and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to
Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the
King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have
written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took
his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and
also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top
throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend
it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them,
and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the
soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother,
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary
Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple
standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman,
behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother.
And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there
was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with
vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished:
and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. The Jews therefore,
because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain
upon the cross on the sabbath-day, (for that sabbath-day was an
high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and
that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake
the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with
him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already,
they brake not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear
pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he
knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things
were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him
shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, They shall
look on him whom they pierced.