Proper Prefaces

O Lord and heavenly Father, we your humble servants entirely desire your fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving;¹

most humbly beseeching you to grant, that by the merits and death of your Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all your whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.²

And here we offer and present unto you, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto you;³

humbly beseeching you, that all we, who are partakers of this holy Communion, may be fulfilled with your grace and heavenly benediction.⁴

And although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto you any sacrifice,⁵

yet we beseech you to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences,⁶

through Jesus Christ our Lord; by whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto you, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.⁷