e seen and heard declare we unto you, that
ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the
message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, That
God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that
we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and
do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that
we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

THE GOSPEL. St John xxi. 19.

Jesus said unto Peter, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on
his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth
thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this
man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come,
what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad
among the brethren, That that disciple should not die: yet Jesus
said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which
testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know
that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things
which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one,
I suppose, that even the world itself could not contain the books
that should be written.

THE INNOCENTS' DAY

_December_ 28.

THE COLLECT.

O almighty God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast
ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their
deaths: Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us
by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy
of our faith, even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. _Amen_.

FOR THE EPISTLE. Rev. xiv. 1.

I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood 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