all them that come nigh Thee; and hast commanded us to examine ourselves before we presume to approach Thy table; grant

me,

I beseech Thee, so seriously to consider the transcendent dignity of this holy sacrament, and the great peril of unworthily receiving the same; and so to examine my conscience by the rule of Thy commandments, that I may never become obnoxious to the dreadful sentence, which Thou hast denounced against those who eat and drink unworthily.

My heart, O Lord, is corrupt and deceitful above all things; how can I know it? O Thou Who searchest the reins, and requirest truth in the inward parts, and dost also make us to understand wisdom secretly, discover to me all the evil and deceits of my own heart; and help me so impartially to judge and condemn myself, and so penitently to acknowledge and bewail my great sinfulness and wretchedness, that I may not be condemned in the last day, when I shall be summoned before Thine awful tribunal to give a strict account of all my thoughts, and words, and actions.

O let me not act partially or carelessly in

a matter of such vast importance; but give me grace so diligently to search every secret of my heart, that I may leave no sin unrepented of; but may come holy and clean to this heavenly feast in the marriage garment required in Holy Scripture; and may be received by Thee as a worthy partaker of Thy holy table, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

2. True repentance for our former sins,and a stedfast purpose to lead a new life. Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matt. iii. 2.

Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Luke xiii. 3.

Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matt. xviii. 3.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Acts iii. 19.

In that day, saith the LORD, I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the in

habitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Zech. xii. 9, 10.

In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

Zech. xiii. 1.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Cor. v. 7, 8.

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to God.

the will of

1 Pet. iv. 1, 2.

For how shall we, that are dead to sin, live

any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Rom. vi. 2-7.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Rom. vi. 12, 13.

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Rom. vi. 16.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom. vi. 21-23.

The confession of our former sins, and prayer for sincere repentance.

O most holy Lord God, Who beholdest all our ways, and understandest the most secret imaginations of our heart, I desire to humble myself before Thee with shame and confusion of face, in a deep sense of my great wretchedness and unworthiness by reason of the original corruption of my nature, and the manifold sins and provocations of my life.

I confess, O Lord, that I was conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity; and while I have forgotten Thy laws, and neglected to