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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. "?) II 1.0 I.I 15.0 1^ 2.8 3.2 14,0 Z5 2.2 1.8 1.6 ^ APPLIED IM/IGE inc 1653 East \«ain Street Rochester. Ne ' York 14609 USA (716) 482 - 0300 - P.^one (716) 288- 5989 -Fax 15 A PLAIN LECTURE. TO ENQUIRERS INTO THE MEANING OF THE LITURGY /, hC9o/ /.^ * y ^ 1^1 National Library Bibliofh^que nationale of Canada du Canada "Oh, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream ]My great example, as it is my theme ! Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull ; Strong, without rage ; without o'erflowing, full." Denham. lA EOWSELL k ELLIS, PBISTERS, KING STBKET, TORONTO. LECTURE. 1^- There is nothing ^Yhich so perplexes a Non-Episcopalian as the Episcopal service, when heard for the first time. The whole routine of it is so different from what he has been ac- customed to, that he is naturally tempted to ask, "What mean ye by this service ? " To answer this question ration- ally, and, I trust, satisfactorily, shall be the aim of the pre- sent lecture, which has been written with a view of giving a brief and popular explanation of the Episcopal Liturgy. In such a treatise there is no need of proving either the utility or necessity of public prayer. We shall take it for granted that all denominations agree in observing the apos- tolic command, " Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together." All religions prescribe, all nations practise, and unprejudiced reason recommends the pious, profitable and becoming custom of offering the homage of our souls and bodies to the Lord of heaven and earth in the public service of the congregation. So, then, we need not waste time in defending by Scriptural authority, a practice which (how- ever it may be, a.id is, awfully neglected) all christians allow to be an enjoined duty, but shall at once proceed to examine what it is which men "come together in the Church"* to do, and having ascertained this, to find out the best mode of carrying their intentions into effect. Now, if we ask an Episcopalian why he assembles with his brethren on the Lord's day, he will reply in the language of the Church, " To render thanks for the great benefits we have received at God's hands, to set forth His most worthy praise, to hear His most holy word, and to ask those things which are re- quisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul." Here is a definite and intelligible answer. But let us next ask a Non-Episcopalian the same question, and as he has no form of words in which to reply, we must judge of his an- * 1 Cor. xi., 8. W1?rTriil3fB88egfl5aJ4i4^ Which s,,o« pL„„ J-itiri ,, ,:L'°,st:"?'" Pi-mcpal business on J.mmI • l,is „,,i° ,• ' '"'' "' '"' >"on is the cl,iof object of au, i ' N ' " "'"' ""^ '«'- tl.c Episcopalian, tnswe,. .t ri, ^'Vf "" """'' " »orm„n, because tl.o plu-a^e " Tn , t''"""' '" "'° »»nV' n.fe,.s to tl.o s kc tns ff b T% ' '""' ''"<<' ^.. Jis;r:i:; ^;:aX"^1b: ^:"f r- pn>pe. place as a Lf„I .a^ to"t , "L^i eV r.^ Lord s day, but not his chief or only attraction H V, -ngs are somewhat of the following Mni ''"'Jfl '""; for another workl-this life is but fl.t ,i \^ "" '^"™'='' Ijust learn to -icipatetlrto: ^i; rj:::;--^ .0 which I ^o^^zzj^t^^'fz^f^:^!^' »/' willfethetprrr prlfTol ^'" 'T"™' >"" '""« orpurified spLts^^^ ^^itV^^^^^^^^^^^ n.in.s,rat.on of His will throughout worlds t„d,w known and unimagined. Thtse I TZ\ ^ ' ""• anticipation, or I shall never enjoy "hi f" % '^"^'' "^^ to the Church, therefore, to e:^7a trta^e'o" ^ ' '" tHon.„,tunaewhic;trci:inL: :t\r^^^^^^ :h":rerhe;^::;:!:T, t'^ '- r "-^^ - ''^ ^^^ ^e^^;=trsi;r:^-trz:;^ 1 snail DC — a house of pmner •" iml i«f . , I 1 /^' 1*1/1/ , ana let ns now pnn<5 flm. f.0 fact that „„ KpLc„pa,tC:an^w1f;:3 ™^^^^^^ he w„,.,l„p to s.y wlmtcvcr l,o likes h. bel.alf ofll o „1 «afo„, wl.c.„ he addresses God in prayer. Ho i IS to „ pro.eo.„p„sod f„r,„ of prayer, wWch his eonlel L have m thc.r hands, and with whieh they o„„ht to be » well acquainted as he is liimscif T« ,(■ -nerons ohjections are nrgeTlnd w^li lleS Z' wmcl,, ,t true, of course renders all other obiections unn.> cessary namely, that forms of prayer are unl. f" ^ ho Gospel <,spensat.e„, inas,„„eh as ,vo are promised t God would g,veusaspiritofgr„eo and of supplie" and ha the spirit would " teach us what to prayer as wo llio Alimghty, ,8 allowable, than under the law, &o Bu! surely tese passages, and sueh as these only nfean tha God would g,ve his people a love, and taste, and elish t nrLroV ;' "^ ^™'"" -p-™'"™"^ '"spire t^, in the act of eftering up prayer for a congregation. That cannot bo unlawful in itself, in which our Lord joined in the emple-the services of which were pre-compo's 7 s„eh a thn,g as extemporary prayers (or at the spur of the moment) bemg aUogether unknown to the Jewish people • "] from ^le iT'^','"'"™ "''^-S'"' •- -nneo/pl'f runlbli:;!b Tin ::. Z:rZT^ havesetatrap J, which he°not only o e "d 'us f„ frt" '^71 1^''^"'^ i" the very words'^ He p t;; , r!rf' ' ''"' '» "»" 110 " Aff ii,- p'L^Luuea. lie not only commanded us, After this manner, therefore, pray ye," but also ir/«„^.^™^ .^^ Our Father"-4t[. vl 9, and L k^ X . 2. Now If He intended to supersede the old system of -0... „o.a=.oii» whicn naturally suggested some allusion to ! ! ■ i 6 the intended change, and would not have acted in auch a way as to mislead the whole Christian Church, which (on the Hupposition that (x temporary prayer is the only lawful one) was sadly mistakci for 1500 years. Again, our Lord, by the use of the plural number in His prayer, led us to believe that He intended it for social, not private prayer only ; He would not have drawn up His form to suit a congregation, by using the words "our" and "us' all through it, if He intended it for use in private prayers only ; and what makes thi:i argument stronger, is the fact that Ho well know His disciples would understand Him to mean that He wished this form to be for public use, because the Lord's Prayer is not an original composition, but an epitome of the eighteen prayers then used by the Jews in their Liturgy, with the addition of one clause, " as we forgive them that trespass against us," and also because our Lord added to it a doxo- logy, which was never used by the Jews except in public worship. Certainly, therefore, if our Lord intended to establish extemporary prayer as the rule in His Church, He took a most extraordinary way of telling us so, so extra- ordinary, indeed, that no one discovered His intention till 1500 years after His ascension. Moreover, if the system of extemporary prayer in public worship prevailed in the Apos- tolic age, it is absolutely impossible that such a noticeable event— as a transition to pre-composed forms— could have taken place without dispute in the Church, debate in coun- cils, or remark in history, none of which are to be found- as the Ecclesiastical student well knows. We may well therefore, use the same argument to prove Liturgical wor- ship Apostolic, which Chillingworth used to prove Episco- pacy Apostolic. Forms of prayer are acknowledged to have been univer- sally received in the Church presently after the Apostles' times. Between the Apostles' times and this presently after, there was not time enough for, nor possibility of, so great an alteration. And therefore there was no such alteration, and therefore forms of prayer being confessed to be su ancient and catholic must bo granted also to be Apostolic. To this we may ad*', that if prayer, accordin-j; to a pre- composed form bo an Apostolic practice, we may Hafelv conclude that the Apostles umlerstooil our Lord to ])roscribe set forms when he established the precedent of the Lord's prayer. The lawfulness of forms of prayer is further establislied from the consideration of this fact, that Almighty God under the first dispensation always evinced his desire that his people should address him in woll-Aveighed and carefully expressed language. Whatever be the -;?ason of the fact, (arising perhaps from the knowledge of a perverse tend<>ncy of our nature to slide from familiarity into contempt, and from carlessness of expression into irreverence in conduct,) a fact, it is, that God prescribed forms in which he should be approached in prayer. By the mouth of Ilosea lie di- rected the Jews to use a prearranged form : — ^^Tahc tvithyon words and turn to tho Lord ; say unto him, take asvay all iniquity and receive us graciously, so will wc render the calves of our lips." — Ilosca xiv., 2. ; Joel ii., 17. In Numbers vi., 22, we find that He commanded Aaron to use a prescribed form of blessing : " Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying. On this iuisc ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, tho Lord bless thee and keep thee ; the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gra- cious unto thee ; the Lord lift up his countenance i.pon thee and give thee peace." But it would be tedious to enumerate all those places in which set forms are either directly or incidentally proved to have been well pleasing to God, the whole worship of God's people having been so compiled as not to come under the censure of the wise man, " Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few." — Ex. v., 2. A system then which pervades the whole of the Old Testament, with God's approval and prescription, surely requires a vert/ formal repeal in the New Testament to make us believe it unlawful when adopted in Christian worship. But have we any intimation of such abolition of forms ? On the contrary, St. John tells us that even in heaven the saints p^ing the song ^ of Moses, which was part of the Jewish Liturgy.— Rev XV., 3. The Apostles, St. Peter and St. John, (had tliey in- tended to put an end to forms of prayer,) would not have gone "up to the temple at the hour of prayer."— Acts iii., 1. Let us remember, also, that at this time they were en- lightened by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which was guiding them into ah truth," and yet they went up to the temple worship ''daily and with one accord," and Avhat is also to the point, the Holy Spirit provided that their conduct should be put on record, as part of inspired scripture, for our guidance and instruction. Another strong reason for believing the Apostles to have continued the practice of Liturgical worship, arises from the fact, that we no where find the Christians taunted by the Jews with having innovated in this respect. And yet men who were so wedded to their own rites and ceremonies would certainly have taken offence at such an innovation, had it been attempted, and would have urged it as a strong ground of complaint against the Christians. But enough has been said to shew that prayer, according to a prescribed form, is not unlawful. The next objection against forms of prayer that Ave shall notice, is the want of variety in divine services— that the sameness of prayer Sunday after Sunday begets, dulness and heartlessness in devotion. Now in the Episcopal service, on the contrary, there is much variety where variety can be had with edification. Different lessons from holy scripture are read on ev;ery Sunday, and also different psalms ; there are separate epistles and gospels, and a speci-J collect for every Lord's day, while the hymns and psalms may be vari- ously used at every service. True, there is little or no variety in our prayers, and why should there be ? Are not our wants the same from week to week ? and should not supplications for the supply of those wants be the same also ? The bless- ings necessary for a Christian congregation's temporal or eternal welfare are always the same, why then should not the form in which we implore them be ever constant ? But it is said variety is a stimulus to devotional feeling. We doubt it much. If a man be in need of variety in his prayers to 9 make him relish them, his soul must be in a sickly morbid condition. As Dean Comber well remarks, " it is wantonness not devotion, which makes variation of phrase necessary' Ihe poor, laborious, healthful man hath a fresh appetite to the same dish, and 'tis sicklj a.d luxurious men that need sauces and variety. The carnal Jews loathed manna with long use, though it was the bread of heaven, and suited itself to every good man's taste." Let a man only have a devo- tional spirit, and he will soon possess himself of a true varietv in his worship. Public prayer must be in a great decree general. It must, says Paley, be calculated for the ave?a2e condition of human and christian life. When a devout worshipper joins in general thanksgiving, he " brin-s to church the recollection of special mercies and particular bounties vouchsafed to himself individually." These of course, will be various from day to day, an ' these he bears in his thoughts— he applies as he proceeds— that which was general he makes close and circumstantial;" and we may add, the sameness of the expressions from day to day ^vi\l not prevent him from making that well known form of prayer or^ praise the chariot in which he sends aloft his various private wants and his various ^evsoml thanks-ivin^s If then variety in language does not necessarily promote devotional feeling, we can imagine no other reason for in sisting on It, unless indeed it be foolishly supposed that God IS more pleased with the petitions which are offered up with tlie qualification of variety, than with a set form of prayer But God IS to be propitiated neither by flowers of rhetoric nor by variety of language. Nay, when he became incarnate and was m an agony he prayed " the more earnestly " three times for rehef, " sat/inff the same words." He did not dis dam to use a prayer from the Jewish Liturgy when on the cross he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me; nor yet again when expiring He breathed out Hi. soul m these woi-ds, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit, t But why insist further when the fact is patent that variety, even when most urgently sought after, is seldom *PsaIm xxii., 1. B fPsalm xxxi., 5. 10 found He must indeed be an extraordinary person who m which the phrases are arranged ; and if the prayers of one year wore taken down in shorthand from the sl^l ' njouth we should find on critieal exan-inltTn tt tTere tl times fine and sometimes coarse. ^' hindraneetoLotion. ^^hilf th7n, ' i^ 1:3^7 r !: :iriirn?:r : ' --' ^^^^^^ it be occupied with the T ,"'"" *"" '"''"^^^' »"«' '^ wholly inte^tl lotion '^T^Zs V' ''"T! "^ guageheperoeiv^ Tl'2t!:fr:?: ; hHiSt^-f ''^ — -• public service held for th. . ''°"'"'"'"' ''^»' '^ we suppose a Lotion, ort!:'3if J ;trrz"Ttht ''''r n'» producing a revival is broughtfnlo nL o \ '""^ '^"'^ rs&et:i^r:tr widely known and commonly used i A<, , ^ ii i h«s justly observed, "a new tuTe or h™„ d ', ™ '"'" for variety, would kill a Z val ir^Ct ' 4^°'"''''. '" " ment and warmth of feeline are thrt- . ^'','» "^^o"'" " new hymn, by a new^X is ev ^reso^ted r",!^; one as familiar to the audienc; as the L Uu^rls ^ th"e Churchman one of Wesley's, or Heber's, or Wa ts' T short, as there is least variety in those iCjZi. ofr I . 11 bodies need most, and as a healthy person never wearies of the common air, and brorj . .d water, so a well-regulated mind will not look for varif.^ in its spiritual nourishment, but will, when engaging in prayer, " hold fast the form of sound words," whenever it is once for all satisfied with the soundness and the sweetness of those words. The next objection to forms of prayer (at least to those of the Episcopal Church) which we shall notice, is, that there are too many repetitions in them— that we say the Lord's Prayer too often— that we unnecessarily repeat " Good Lord deliver us," and " We beseech thee to hear us good Lord," and '^ Lord have mercy upon us ;" thus, as it is said, render- ing ourselves liable to our Lord's censure, of using " vain repetitions." First, as regards ths too frequent use of the Lord's prayer ; we would observe that the repetition of it arises from no defect in the Liturgy, but from the fact that we have come to use three distinct services at the same time of worship, whereas they were intended to be used sepa- rately, with an interval between them. Now as it is a prin- ciple of our worship never to have any form of service in which the Lord's Prayer does not hold a prominent place, fulfilling the command of our Lord, " When ye pray, say, Our Father," of course the Lord's prayer comes to be re- peated frequently at the same service. But this arrange- ment (if it be a defect) can be readily altered whenever the Church thinks fit — it is not the fault of the Liturgy, but of those who prescribe how the Liturgy shall be used — and should morning prayer, the Litany, and Communion Ser- vice, be e 7er used [in such a way as to show more fully the distinction of services, this objection regarding the Lord's Prayer will be taken away. But even though the Lord's Prayer were used three or four times during the same morning's service, still we deny that we should be incurring the imputation of using " vain repetitions." The word [translated " vain repetitions, " Matt, vi., 7, literally in the Greek means " the language of Battus," or such verbosity as this person (whoever he was) was accustomed to use. We can lud^e. howfiver. from the 12 latter clause of the sentence what it was which our Lord intended to reprove. The " vain repetitions " which he for- bad were such " as the heathen " uttered, for, said the Sa- viour, " They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." An instance of this custom of the heathen is to be found in 1 Kings xviii., 26, where we find the priests of Baal calling "from morning even until noon, *0 Baal, hear us,' '' so that we cannot be said to be guilty of using vain repetitions, unless we pray under the delusion that a prayer is acceptable to God just in proportion to its length, and that God will more favourably regard a prayer uttered a hun- dred times than if it were uttered fifty times only. That our Lord did not mean to cond-^mn length of prayer, pro- vided it were intelligently offered, is evident (as St. Augus- tine says) from the fact that He Himself spent " a whole night in prayer to God ;" neither did He mean to censure the repeating the same prayer many times, since Himself thrice prayed in the same words ; therefore the sin He con- demned was the idea of merit in the mere length to which a prayer might he spun out. The other repetitions objected to in the Liturgy are so far from being objocUouable, that the use of them is founded on a knowledge of the human mind and natural emotions. The employment of such repe- titions as " Lord have mercy upon us," &c., are found fault with by an indevout mind alone. As Paley has well re- marked, " The spirit of devotion reconciles us to repetitions. In other subjects repetitions soon become tiresome ; in de- votion it is different. Deep, earnest, heartfelt devotion naturally vents itself in repetitions. Observe a person racked by excruciating bodily pain, or a person struck with the news of some dreadful calamity, or a person labouring under some cutting anguish of soul, and you will always find him breaking out into ejaculations imploring from Go'' support, mercy, and relief, over and over again uttering the same prayer in the same words. Nothing he finds suits so well the extremity of his sufferings as a continual recur- rence to the same cries, and the same call for Divine aid." How often may the truth of these remarks be vedfied among 13 worshippers who are listening to their minister composing a prayer for them. They now and again break out into loud " Amens," sometimes ejaculating, "Lord have mercy upon us," sometimes by groans and short sentences, either im- ploring mercy or expressing assent to what they hear ut- tered. Now if all this is reasonable and natural at extem- porary prayer meetings, why is it not allowable in the Litany ? Who shall find fault Avith an Episcopalian for using the same language which is constantly used by those who censure his prayers ? If it be said that the use of these ejaculatory prayers are left ""o the voluntary adoption of those who worship after the extemporary method, whereas the Episcopal Church puts them into the mouth of all worshippers indiscriminately, we reply, that it is true that the Church expects that all who come into God's house to worship, ought to be in such a frame of mind as that those ejaculations should best express their emotions of contrition and remorse ; but it is also true that all Churchmen do not join in these responses as they should. • To their shame be it spoken, the use of these heartfelt ejaculations is by no means universal among Liturgical worshippers, no more than it is among all who attend a Wesleyan or Presby- terian service ; still its tendency is toward edification, and all who do not join in it are convicted of a sad incon- sistency between the prayers of the Church and their own feelings, by the very Prayer Book in their hands. But this charge of repetition may be most easily retorted. Oh ! the dire repetitions of him who prays frequently and publicly extempore. The dread of breaking down, and of being at a loss for a word, of course prevents his mind from being rivetted on Him to whom he is speaking; but this is not all — he finds that he is expected to diversify his prayers with new ideas or words ; this, when prayer is often made, becomes a great difficulty, and under the pressure of embarrassment repetition succeeds repetition, unless indeed the prayer has been committed to memory, in which case it ceases to be ex- temporary, and becomes the rehearsal of a lesson. There is yet another objection to the use of forms in public I I 14 worship, arising from the alleged fact that extemporary prayer is more likely to be sincere, and that the idea of sincerity in the minister tends to edification. This is of course a merely ideal objection ; it scarcely deserves reply, as It is the extreme of uncharitableness to suppose that they who use forms cannot pray as sincerely as those who do not use them. After all, the great point to be gained is sincerity m the congregation. The sincerity of the minister cannot bo applied to the people. A greater apparent intentness must always characterise an extemporary prayer, because inattention would end in a break down. But if the people are engaged as they should be, not in gazing at the minister, but with bowed faces absorbed in devotion, then to what good purpose IS it urged that the minister uemn more earnest Is he a spectacle the sight of which is to promote devotion ? llis apparent earnestness cannot serve even for a profitable gazing-stock unless it be watched, and if it be watched, are the people employed as they should be when pretending to be in the act of " taking upon them to speak unto the Lord ?" VYe admit, indeed, that in extemporary prayer there 'is oftentimes more a^^arent sincerity_we know full well that when the attraction of novelty is wanting « the reader will otten bo negligent, and the hearers will often bV^jold " But put that and as much more as the ingenuity of objection can devise into one scale, and for a moment weigh it against the shameful and ludicrous distress of a man who, in addressing the Deity, has begun a sentence he knows not how to finish and who while the congregation are hanging on his lips, is obliged to save himself by grasping at an expression inlp- propriate incoherent, often ludicrous, oftener presumptuous-l and has this never occurred ?-not once, but a thousand times • and admitting it never had, its bare possibility is an argu' ment irresistibly strong in favour of a form of prayer as the most proper for our infirmities, and most suitable to that solemnity with whicl; worms of the dust should approach their Maker.* ^^ Having thus noticed tho se objections which are generally * Maturin's Sermons. 15 made against forms of prayer, wo pass on to adduce o«r objections to extemporary prayer in public worsliip. And first, we would remark, that we can form no better conccp- tion of the right attitude of a Christian congregation than by assuming that it is a deputation going into the presence of the King of Kings for the express purpose of presenting a petition on behalf of themselves, the church, and the world. So far as prayer is a part of divine service, this seems to be a fair description of the business in hand. Now, bearing in mind the way rashness of speech and irreverence of expres- sion are denounced, and how carefully God guarded his people against such carelessness in prayer. Ictus consider how a depu- tation would demean themselves when going into the audience chamber of an earthly king. Can we suppose that the depu- tation (supposing them to be in solemn earnestness petitioning for a favour) would risk the expression of their prayer on the impromptu language of a spokesman ? Would they not commit it to writing for fear there should be any mistake in the expression of their want, or in the tone of their supplica- tion ? Or would they (which is more preposterous still) take no precaution to agree beforehand together as to what they would ask, and the way in which they should ask it ? Would they intrust their petition to the discretion or ability of one of their number, and go into the king's presence actually ignorant of the prayer which as a body they were going to present ? How would such conduct be regarded by an earthly king ? Would he not more highly esteem those who ap- proached him with a well weighed, carefully drawn up petition? But it may be said, this illustration has no Aveight, inasmuch as it is idle to compare things temporal and spiritual, and that God is a being above being influenced by such trifles. True, God is not to be influenced by outward appearance ; but let us remember that though "He knows our necessities ' before we ask, and our ignorance in asking," yet that He has made our asking a condition of our receiving ; He has made our words essential ! why not, therefore, use the best words ? Now if the Almighty will not bestow His favours unless they are implored, He will not bestow them unless 16 tUy • J'l I • 1^ up. The first is the Eniseonal »„ 7,' " " " °^"""^ "agreed together touS tj «i ng w'e rk""";,:^ ''" "" is the method of those ,°ho join f„ .IL ' ""=""'' ^. ifthey are exerting tirunlr:: r;Xi!;7:, offering of prayer, there is an end to devotion Th» ,, calculation whether the language be such r^ ? standing approves of, checks' devout em ion Z Z "" then- understanding has done its work on one T.t I iu oruer, tnen, to avail ourseIvp<< nf ^n„ t j. "That if two of you shall agr ^ eLth f \?'°"^^''' thing that they \h.M ,.,. f5 f v I ""' *'"'^^°g ^"^ y ^„.... a.,., X. «ha]i be Uone for them of my 17 Father whic ; va in heaven," and also to fuiei the condition imposed by the Apostle, " I will pray with the understand- ing also," there must be a clear, definite arrangement, whereby, as worshippers, we may offer prayers which our understanding approves, and on which, as a congregation, wo have agreed, and this can only be^done by the use of a Lit- urgy or pre-composed form of prayer. Listening to a ser- mon, oven though the understanding endorses every asser- tion made, cannot be called preaching; and listening to prayer, while the understanding is engaged in examining its merits, cannot be called praying. Again, the advocates of extemporary public prayer are guilty of inconsistency in denouncing forms, while themselves are led by a form. To the minister, and to him alone, are the prayers extemporary, that is, composed on the instant— on the spur of the moment. The words, as they flow from his mouth, become a form to the audience, and unless they accept it, they must go without any other. The only dif- ference between the extemporary and Liturgical systems is that in the one case it is the minister who dictates the prayer, in the other it is the Church, through the Prayer Book. In both cases the congregation are compelled to take what is set before them ; but the Episcopal congregation are bound to the form with their eyes open and their under- standing assenting ; the other, while " they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants " of a form. Another inconsistency of which the advocates of extem- porary prayer are guilty, is that of singing forms of prayer, and yet refusing to sai/ forma of prayer. Forms in verse are allowable-— forms in prose ^e intolerable. Why should this be ? Does not the Apostle place the two acts of worship, prayer and praise, on the same footing ? " I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also ; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understand- ing also." Now it is admitted that extemporary language is not necessary to the singing of prayer with the spirit and the understanding, neither is it necessary to the sat/ing of I ; 18 The last objection that wo shall urge against the system of extemporary public prayer is a serious one. It is this-it , |8 a powerlul means of introducing an.l fostering false doc- trme and heresy. In America the religious ideas of the people are ma great degree suggested and perpetuated by the prayers they hoar. If then a minister embodies religious error constantly in his prayer, it will gradually leaven his hearers. False doctrine in a sermon is not half so dangerous to he audience as the same false doctrine in public prayer • and the reason is obvious: in prayer the people take it fo; granted that the mmister will not dare to address the Deity in a heterodox manner. It is never suspected during the fervour of praying, that the excited language and the earnest petition contain unscriptural sentiments ; but the mischief is that the constant repetition of such error in the language of prayers, by degrees brings men to think that what they have so often heard uttered with such Energy of voice and unction of manner, must be founded on truth. A heretical minister has therefore only to embody his views in his prayers suffi- ciently often, and they will become stereotyped on fhe minds his congregation. The heresy, from being often ^..^.^, at last comes to be believed. It has been well said, tha m this respect a form of prayer is a safeguard against heterodoxy; a minister may be heretical in the pulpit, but provided he is bound to a form of prayer, his words in the prayer-desk will convict him, from the contrast they exhibit to the teach ng of his sermons nnrl fi.. "^ey exnioit ,*=; Heimons, and the congregation will soon detect the inconsistency. ^'^"on wm Haying thus answered the objections to forms of prayer and stated the objections t. the extemporary system the' next question is, are the forms of the Episcopal 0^2 the best we can get; do they satisfy the cravings^of iL human heart, and meetthe approbation of the human'understanding" This can only be ascertained by the examination of the mean- ing and structure of our services, on which, perhaps we shall enter hereafter; but we would first remark LtTilfo:" which have come down to us from immemorial antiquity and which have endured the test of time without loss of IS populai-ity among some of tlio wi.,o»t an.I best of mankhul winch wero onco tl.row,, a.i,Ic, l,„t i-hMy e.nlnace.I a..u,; after oxpencnco ofthci,- loss, „u,»t possess strong claimr on our regard, nn,l contain great intrinsic oxceller.ce. Further more, not only Episcopalians, b„t the wisest an.I „,ost holy men ol all Cristian denonn-nations tcslifv to the excel lency of om- forms, i„ such glowing lungn'age hat it is i„,. po»s,hlo to con.o to any other conclusion tl ,|n,t ,|,„,e prayers and praises which arc eulogi.cl alike hy ,h„so who me them, and by those who do not, arc the nol.hst that Inve yet appeared in Christ's Church militant saJ^'''" w''"r' " T'" ^"T" """'»'•• "'"' ■■' l''-™l'.V'-ian. ays We have always thought that there are Christian heart, and mtnds that would find more edification in , forms of worship in the Episcopal Chnreh than i„ any other. We lave never doubted that many of the purest fiatnes aevotton tta rtsc from earth, ascend frotn the altars of he Episcopal Church, and that many of the purest spirits t t he earth contains minister at those altars, or breathe forth thetr prayers and praises in language consecrated hy the use of piety for centuries." '' The Now York Christian Observer, the representative of the Dutch Reformed Church in America, says of the Epis- copal Chmxh, "Her spirit stirring Liturgy and a serupull adherence to ,t, have, under God, preserved her integr ,y beyond any denomination of Christians since the Refor ma tion* The Rev Dr. Camming, a celebrated Presbyterian divine Chnr^h^ T, F °". "^ "''' ™"'™S » %«eopal Church. It ,s perhaps the finest sentence and the sweeiest prayer in the language: 'In all time of our tribulaZ t all time of our wealth, in the hour of death and in the iZ "( judgment, good Lord deliver us.' " -^ Dr. Doddridge another Presbyterian divine, says, " The language IS so plain as to be level to the ca^acL of t e meanest, and yet the sense is so noble as to raise to the capacity of the highest." Dr. Clarke, ij^e great Methodist commentator, declares 20 tl.o univcsal church of J VTtZ17,'''r'r' "'' Robert Hall, the britf/„„( li^u that ever shono ««,■ •,„ the Bapfsts, and one that ,v„„u have been bright in aJv firmament, confesses that "the evangelical ZlZZ «en .ments, the chastened fervour of if, devotfon" ™c the ^ajesHc n„^l^i,, of its language, have combined to pi t " ; '."'V^'y fi"' '•»"'' of uninspired eompositions." '^ Ihe heavenly m,„ded Baxter, another non-comformist «hose wn ,„g, have prepared hundreds for that saTnts' ""*[ of wh,eh he wrote says: "The constant disuse of ?o Is ap to breed g.ddmess in religion, ,,nd to make men hypo cres who shall delude themselves with conceits tlattZ u.l,ght .n God when .t is but in those novelties and varie i!^ of expre. a tk -. they are delighted, and therefore Id! adv.se ftrma to S. Christians and make them sound " As Mr. Wesle: for the Methodists, so Baxter prepared a L.turgy for the Non-Comformists, and like Wesley Le'oght tne consolafons of the Church Liturgy i„ the hou^ of deafh and Watson a Methodist divine as great as either of these' sa.djus as h.s soul took wing to paradise, "Read the ri ?r'l """1 T" ""' '" "P'"' *'*'' the whole Catholic Church in earth and heaven."* ■."•"•one When such testimony is b,„„e to the beauty, sublimity outs.de the Church, .s ,t surprising that Churchmen, who have been brought „p .nside her pale, and on whose car; h r prayers fallhke melody, recalling the happiest association ofhfe, should recommend to all men to make trial of the •Vitl. "looking for tli« I ™;i,"p. 104. ■•«i»!jSS»Svt.- ro- ho es 18 1 e- to 7- k ^ 21 power of tl,o Liturgy i„ ,p:rit „„a i„ „.„tu_t„ ,,, „,,„(,.„ t icy cannot realize tl.e Krat.fication of bein;> nZ , ciate " those l.eautiful eollectV wl.iel s.y Ln m" "T' Wo cannot bo blmd to the fact tl,«t thr idea of a IJturtrv as u subsftute for that »,.tc,„ under wlu„l, congreS a^o merely ;.™.V. rcipienU of ,u.l, /„„«. .,: :« T^ >nto thnr rmnd, by the minister for U.o day, i, ,,£ ing fresh ground everv vmi- Ar„„ i ■ . * n.t .-f r 1 • r. , ^ *^'^" ""'" IJi' "inning to ask ,f Calvin eft a titurgy f«r his disciples, and if Luther composed one for the Lutherans, and K^ox com p. ed one for th. Presbyterians, and Baxter prepared ol fo his followers and Wesley commanded the Methodists to adhere to ;bo Liturgy ; why should not a return toZpr^U ivo praot.ce cCthe Church of Christ be resorted to L Tn cspee,, ly s,„oe the great advantages e.pcetcd from extern! porary services have net been realized ? That the idea of he uthty of ,n reducing Lilurgies is deeply agitating the houghtful portion of the religious worhl, is forcibly pfoved KlformJ rTT, '^ '"" """ ^"'"■8''-'- '-I'l'^ German Refo.med Church have prepared and published a Liturgy for the use of their churches in the United States, and what .3 more striking still, a " Service Book for Publie Worship ■• has been prepared especially for use in the chapel of Har- vard Umyersity. Nothing more signifieant of a revolution m the christian mind, on the subject of forms of prayer, ean be imagmed, than that at Harvard-the first and most influ- entia college mAmerica-the fountain-head of all that is ablest an New England Congregationalism and Unitarian- ism, there should arise a Utuujy, a form of public prayer after wo centuries of bitter antagonism to the principles of a Book of Common Prayer. Hear the reasons assigned by the divines of Harvard for this wondrous innovation ; the prefa o the work says, "Tho object of this Service Book IS to make our public worship more intcroting, more rever- ential, more variom, moro congregational, and more effec tuaUn promoting the sacred purposes for which the worlhip IS offered.- An Episcopalian eould not, if he tried, expre s 22 fcribing the udvanta-c" of ?„ J 5 '^^"' ^"S'""' "' Je- ■^ ^'idenL The compilers '0; '"■''^"'' '.'"" "'" «"«»" cumstanco. I.ave reanC !" V" T/' "though the cir- Book of CWmon C 2r^'* 'l^viation fron, the """Plete body of Lituraicn'r IT ''fo^-w^W «, ,fe ,„,,^ . With an tife/e tS ^ ,7^^ '» ^'^ ''»'^-^-- >" general, and to the exeellen v P '"'™"'»S''» of liturgies lar, there should be no ' !, ^ "r ^""''Sy "> P"tL- intelHgent and educated ChuIT" "' ' '""'"'""^"' ^^W^'' of «ound words" wU h hat ! T "'""''^^"•'»- ^at "form 'heir best emotions to \Z TotZT'''"' T *^»^P-' be no surprise that they sl^ouH > "' ' *"'''' «•«""'' oIa.ms and to perpetuato^its te ' The'T '" ^"'"""•''^ ''» men are to be found to disrara^:. , , /''",° """'■™' ''"' '^at ^vhat is it which some tl^us S "'' "•''<'>"='' i'; and yet principal ingredient in „„,. 't^ . T""' ? ^hat is L ™er, the nnadulterated 11 ! t^ '^'™^^ ? Wean- might naturally expeet thaT ^ ^^ """^ "^ «<"!■ Wo -pposed deficiencyf , t iTT "^ "» '» -"» service. The tastes of chri!t "^''gements in our f »0' details, in e r^yint ! ?" '™" '"" *'^^'-' ''^ '» "'e think that the fact of G^7s 2dT'' ''"'""'P'^' hut we 'he Episcopal Liturgy sho!,, '^"™'"S ""= «■-" bu"^ of 'eot it from many IV^Z'l ^"? "' " ^h-ld to pro- order of morning prayer tl r '" '^"^""^ ^om the ivhich are read, ftere ;[» I ?°'^"' "^ ''"'y Scripture 'he Church to claim 7 e el;"':' " """ ^^^'""™ ^o'" her martyrs or her saints ThT °'' '^""'Position of Morning Service, the Wd^Prtr'""; ^«"'»«^= of the Vemte, the Psalms of DavMthf«T' *' '^'^'■^H the the Chants after the seelnd T . "J '"°°"'' ^^» ons "■ents, the Epistle and Gosnel ! ?'.''*^ '''^ Command: express, unaltered words of ^nlre ."^^'o'-^' »- the add the portions of the prave„Tf T ^"^ '^ '» 'hese we eonfess our sins in Bib fe' Z IZ w ""''"^ ""'■ -"'« -' *-"-^-ho Church J:^z:::t^r;-;: i 23 i in the vulgar tongue, has taken the best means of impressing its sentiments on their hearts bj embodying it in their prayers ; and we must moreover deelare that he who wil- fully disparages the Liturgy, disparages the Bible so far as it forms an ingredient in the Liturgy, and we have seen how largely the very words of Scripture enter into its composi- tion. Indeed, it is probable that'as the Bible itself is always least valued when it is least known, and depreciated oftenest by those who seldom study it ; so the Prayer Book, because it is misunderstood, fails to be appreciated as it deserves. And yet unconsciously is the Protestant world a debtor to those fixed and unwavering forms which have perpetuated evangelical truth and Apostolic order, not only in creeds and articles, but in prayers and praises, which daily repeated and unceasingly ringing in the ears of thousands of wor- shippers, proclaim that God is to be served "in spirit and in truth," with "reverence and godly fear." The task of eulogising the Liturgy is indeed a pleasant and an easy one. It is no difficult matter to magnify those prayers which have thrilled the heart of so many saints who have departed this life in God's faith and fear. No better means of holding communion with our Maker have been yet devised by the wit of man, and the Liturgy is still that ladder by which even angels might ascend in lauding and magnifying God's holy name. Many an one, unguided by its forms and abandoned to his own self-indited prayers, would gladly (but for artificial hindrances) embrace its aid' and imitate its flowing and majestic language, from a con- sciousness that it contrasts with the multitude of extempora- neous effusions, as the calm and solemn river does with the meandering and babbling rivulet ; while many on the other hand, who pretend to despise it, constantly and without ac- knowledgment employ its language. These and many other points remain to bo urged, but we must conclude by reminding those who are strangers to the feelings of reverence with which we regard the Liturgy, that the foundation of our attachment is liot merely a sentimental love for a time honoured, literary 24 treasure, but the firm belipf fh«f th^ r: • , wird in ;,.„ "","'" Christian soul may mount heaven- Y"l. m prayoi- and praise ; but alas ! like God's otW essmgs, itisfroqucntly disregarded to the extent oftrin.in. ;;THe,ha.J:;^n;lVtera:::i^^^^^^^^^^ there were such an heart in them." \ • > \ »