O Almighty and Eternal God, the creator of all things, who hast made our days upon earth as it were a span long, and our age even as nothing in respect of Thee; give us grace, we humbly beseech Thee, to live under such a constant sense of our mortality, and of the shortness and uncertainty of this present life, that death may never surprise us in an hour that we are not aware; but, being always provided with oil in our lamps, we may be ready, whenever the Bridegroom may come, to enter with Him into the marriage feast, and receive a blessing among those who watch and wait for the coming of their Lord; to Whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end.
–Henry Stobart, Daily Services For Christian Households (London: SPCK,1867), pp. 95-96