Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy;
and, because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall, keep
us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all
things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. _Amen_.
THE EPISTLE. Gal. vi. 11.
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own
hand. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they
constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised,
that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule,
peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From
henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with your spirit. Amen.
THE GOSPEL. St Matth. vi. 24.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say unto
you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye
shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not
the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the
fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor
gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye
not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add
one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field how they grow: they toil not,
neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if
God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow
is cast into the oven; shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of
little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?
or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For
after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the
morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself:
sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.