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Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, must consider how Saint Paul exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves, before they presume to eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup. For as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that Holy Sacrament; (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us ;) so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. For then we are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour; we eat and drink our own damnation, not considering the Lord's Body; we kindle God's wrath against us; we provoke Him to plague us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent you truly for your sins past; have a lively and stedfast faith in Christ our Saviour; amend your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men; so shall

ye be meet partakers of those holy myste. ries. And above all things ye must give most humble and hearty thanks to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both God and man; who did humble Himself even to the death upon the Cross, for us, miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; that He might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. And to the end that we should alway remember the exceeding great love of our Master, and only Saviour, Jesus Christ, thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by his precious blood-shedding He hath obtained to us; He hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of His love, and for a continual remembrance of His death, to our great and endless comfort. To Him therefore, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, let us give (as we are most bounden) continual thanks; submitting ourselves wholly to His most holy will and

pleasure, and studying to serve Him in true holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Amen.

THE INVITATION.

Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the Holy Communion,

YE that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make your humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees.

LISTEN, O my soul, to these words. Spoken they are by the voice of man, but let them not be to thee as mere words of man. He that speaketh them, speaketh them for another-and that other is mightier than

all, even as He is more loving than all. Hear in the words the invitation of this loving Friend, and let them carry thee in thought to the upper chamber in Jerusalem, of which the holy Gospel tells. Picture the scene there. Behold the One who came from heaven to give His life a ransom for thee. See Him take the bread and wine. Hear Him say, "Take, eat, this is my body;" "Drink ye all of this, for this is my blood of the New Testament." These are the abiding memorials of my love, of my death, and of my pierced side: "Do this in remembrance of me." It is His invitation. He it is Who is saying, "Draw near, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort."

Listen yet again, how does He bid thee come! With Repentance, for without this over past sinfulness, forgetfulness, lukewarmness, what place can there be for any

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at the table of the Holy One, "Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity"?

"With love and charity to your neighbours," for in the soul where these are wanting, there the loving Saviour cannot be by His Spirit a guest—and the soul in which He is not a guest cannot be an accepted guest at His Table. The very feast is the memorial of His love-His love as GoD as well as man; and love must be the garment of the soul that would sit at His Table, and would depart therefrom enriched by His grace.

"With intent to lead a new life, following the commandments of GOD, and walking from henceforth in His holy ways." Look into heaven, as God's word enables you, and what is the life there ?-Holiness and love. Look at thine own life, and what is it? At best a striving to be holy, and an endeavour to love; all that is in thy

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