Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the
temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure
hearts and minds to follow thee the only God; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. _Amen_.
THE EPISTLE. 1 Cor. i. 4.
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is
given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by
him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony
of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift;
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also
confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE GOSPEL. St Matth. xxii. 34.
When the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had put the Sadducees to
silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, who was
a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus
asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They
say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth
David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot-stool?
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able
to answer him a word; neither durst any man from that day forth ask
him any more questions.