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God, and faying, Lord Jefus, receive my fpirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this fin to their charge. And when he had faid this, he fell afleep.

The Gospel. St Matt. xxiii. 34.

Ehold, I fend unto you prophets, and wife men, and fcribes; and fome of them ye fhall kill and crucify; and fome of them fhall ye fcourge in your fynagogues, and perfecute them from city to city; that upon you may come all the righteous blood fhed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, fon of Barachias, whom ye flew between the temple and the altar. Verily I fay unto you, All thefe things fhall come upon this generation. O Jerufalem, Jerufalem, thou that killeft the prophets, and ftoneft them which are fent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you defolate. For I fay unto you, Ye fhall not fee me henceforth, till ye shall fay, Bleffed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Saint John the Evangelift's Day.
The Collect.

[Erciful Lord, we beseech thee to caft thy bright beams of light upon thy Church; that it being enlightenert by the doctrine of thy bleffed Apoftle and Evangelift Saint John, may fo walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlafting life, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

PARAPHRASE.

On the COLLECT for St John the Evangelift's Day. Merciful Father, we entreat thee to enlighten the hearts of all chriftians, by that evangelical truth, revealed to us in the facred books of the New Teftament; particularly by thofe myfteries fet forth unto us in, the golpel of St John, that they may walk honeftly as in the day; (Rom xiii. 13.) not erring in the darkness of heathenish fuperftition, but as children

TH

The Epiftle:

I St John i. 1.

HAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have feen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life (for the life was manifefted, and we have seen it, and bear witnefs, and fhew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifefted unto us) that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye alfo may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowhip is with the Father, and with his Son Jefus Chrift. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the meffage which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we fay that we have fellowfhip with him, and walk in darknels, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowThip one with another, and the blood of Jefus Chrift his Son cleanf th us from all fin. If we fay that we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confefs our fins, he is faithful and juft to forgive us our fins," and to cleanse us from all unrighteoufnefs. If we fay that we have not finned, we make him a liar, and his Word is not in us.

The Gospel. St John xxi. 19.

JESUS faid unto Peter, Follow me.

ing about, feeth the difciple whom Jefus loved, following, (which alfo leaned on his breaft at fupper, and faid, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?) Peter feeing him, faith to Jefus, Lord, and what fhall this man do? Jefus faith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this faying abroad among the brethren, that that difciple fhould not die yet Jefus faid not unto him, He fhall not die; but,

PARAPHRASE.

of light, (Eph. v. 8.) who know the truth, (John viii. 32.) and after they have led a life conformable to the holy doctrines therein delivered, they may have the light of everlasting life; (John viii. 12.) and this we beg for the fake of Jefus Chrift. Amen.

O Thos

If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the difciple which teftifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his teftimony is true. And there are alfo many other things which Jefus did, the which, if they fhould be written every one, I fuppose, that even the world itfelf could not contain the books that fhould be written.

The Innocents Day.

The Collect.

Almighty God, who out of the mouths of babes and fucklings haft ordained ftrength, and madeft Infants to glorify thee by their deaths, Mortify and kill all vices in us; and fo strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and conftancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Epifle. Rev. xiv. 1.

I Looked, and lo, a Lamb ftood on the mount Sion, and

with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's Name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harp. ers harping with their harps: and they fung as it were a new fong before the throne, and before the four beasts, and

PARAPHRASE.

On the COLLECT for Innocents Day.

O thou omnipotent Being, who out of the mouths of babes and fucklings, haft ordained strength, (Psal. viii. 2.) and madest the infants of Bethlehem, who were maffacred by Herod, to glorify thee by the martyrdom which they fuffered upon account of Chrift, we beseech thee fo to aid us by the affiftance of thy fpirit, that, by mortifying our members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, &c. (Col. iii. 5.) thefe and all other vices may be as perfectly killed in us, as the children were by the Affaffins, and that by leading holy lives, and conftantly holding fift the faith, we my glorify thy holy Name; and this we beg for the fake of Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

O AL

the elders and no man could learn that fong, but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. Thefe are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins: thefe are they which follow the Lamb whitherfoever he goeth: thefe were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God, and to the Lamb, And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.

TH

The Gospel. St Matth. ii. 13.

HE angel of the Lord appeared to Jofeph in a dream, faying, Arife, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word for Herod will feek the young child to destroy him. When he arofe, he took the young child and his mo ther by night, and departed into Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, faying, Out of Egypt have I called my fon. Then Herod, when he faw that he was mocked of the wife-men, was exceeding wroth, and fent forth, and flew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coafts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wife-men. Then was fulfilled that which was Spoken by Jeremy the prophet, faying, in Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, becaule they are not.

The Sunday after Christmas-day.
The Collect.

God, who haft given us thy only begotten

Son, to take our nature upon him, and, as at this

PARAPHRASE

On the COLLECT for the Sunday after Christmas Day. O Almighty God, who haft given thy only begotten fon. (John iii. 16.) Not to take upon him the nature of angels, but to take on him the feed of

Abra

time, to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy holy Spirit, through the fame our Lord Jefus Chrift; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the fame Spirit, ever one God, world without end.

Amen.

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The Epiftle. Gal. iv. 1.

OW I fay, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a fervant, though he be lord of all, but he is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father. Even fo we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was come, God fent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons. And becaule ye are fons, God hath fent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Wherefore thou art no more a fervant, but a fon; and if a son, then an heir of God through Chrift.

TH

The Gospel. St Matt. i. 18.

HE birth of Jefus Chrift was on this wife: When as his mother Mary was efpoused to Jofeph, before they came together, fhe was found with child of the Holy Ghoft. Then Jofeph her husband, being a juft man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, faying, Jofeph, thou fon of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and

PARAPHRASE.

Abraham, (Heb. ii. 16.) and to be born of a pure virgin, which birth we at this day with gratitude commemorate; beftow upon us thy grace we beseech thee, that we become regenerate by a fpiritual life, may receive the adoption of fons, (Gal. iv. 5.) and may be daily renewed in the fpirit of our minds, (Eph. iv. 23.) by the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost; which we beg for the fake of our fame bleffed Lord, . Amen.

O AL

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