A Prayer to the Lord and Master of All, before making intercession for all men.
From the Book of Wisdom
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(O Lord) … Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.
* For thou canst shew thy great strength at all times when thou wilt; and who may withstand the power of thine arm?
* For the whole world before thee is as a little grain of the balance, yea, as a drop of the morning dew that falleth down upon the earth.
* But thou hast mercy upon all; for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men, because they should amend.
* For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.
* And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee?
* But thou sparest all: for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.
* For thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.
* Therefore chastenest thou them by little and little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that leaving their wickedness they may believe on thee, O Lord.
Wisdom 11:20 (partial,beginning edited) – Wis 11:26, Wis 12:1-2, Brenton Sept