THOUGHTS ON THE SERVICES DESIGNED AS Hn flntrotmction to tbc 7Utur0t> AND Bn Bio to its Devout BY THE LATE RT. REV. A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D. Bishop of Western New York REVISED AND ENLARGED BY RT. REV. CORTLANDT WHITEHEAD, S.T.D. Bishop of Pittsburgh " Look upon the city of our solemnities ; thine eyes shall see a quiet habitation." ISAIAH xxxiii. 20 PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1900 Copyright, 1900, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. PRINTED B/ J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U.S. A. Dedication of first JEOition TO THE REV. WM. PAYNE, M.A. Rector of St. George's, Schenectady THESE THOUGHTS ARE DEDICATED AS A TRIBUTE OF REGARD FOR HIS WORTH, RESPECT FOR HIS ATTAIN- MENTS, AND GRATITUDE FOR HIS EXAMPLE AS A MINISTER OF CHRIST A. C. C. IT would be strange, indeed, if fifty years had brought no changes in the customs and usages of the Church tending to make the former editions of this little book somewhat out of date. And when those fifty years have been the most active and progressive in all our history, characterized by wide-spread interest in liturgical and ritual matters, and by a marvellous development of the churchly spirit, in architecture, music, and life, we might well expect that many changes would be necessary in order to harmonize the past and present. The Prayer- Book has been revised and new features introduced into our worship. The Lectionary has been considerably altered, rendering most inappropriate some of our au- thor's references. A large and varied Hymnology has succeeded to the metrical Psalms and selected Hymns of former days. But no rude hand has destroyed or marred the sublime beauty of our Common Prayer, and so deeply had our Poet-Bishop entered into the spirit of the Church's wor- ship that in revising this book few changes have been found needful other than those caused by the circum- stances mentioned above. If this revised edition shall enable the lamented author to help another generation of Church people to enter deeply into the worship of the sanctuary, praising and praying with the spirit, and with the understanding also, and learning to love more and more " the habitation of 5 Preface to the Revised Edition God's House and the place where His Honor dvvelleth," then shall my labor of love in memory of the great Bishop of Western New York reach a reward far beyond its meed. To connect my name with his in any wise would in- deed be presumptuous were it not for the reverent love which has prompted me to try to make these " Thoughts on the Services' ' as precious to others as they have been to myself for many years. C. W. PITTSBURGH, 1899. NOTE. There have been added chapters on the ser- vices other than the Sunday and Daily Offices, concern- ing which Bishop Coxe had not written. Several of the Bishop's Christian Ballads have been inserted. PREFACE THE object of this work is to beget habits of close at- tention to the Psalms and Lessons, and to their bearing on the subject of each particular service. The young, more especially, need to learn that the Church's arrange- ment of the Lessons and other portions of Scripture is a commentary of itself, and that the Word, thus fitly spoken, is, indeed, "like apples of gold in pictures of silver." The Clergy, by giving emphasis to the characteristic portions of the Lessons and Gospels, often preach Christ most powerfully even when there is no Sermon. But nothing can make up for the lack, in the people's hearts, of a genuine relish for each "portion of meat in its season." The variety with uniformity, which our Church per- mits, is sometimes illustrated in this book by sugges- tions as to the public celebration of worship. It is important, the writer supposes, that every Churchman, however strongly he may prefer the precise way they do things in his own parish church, should know of the other ways, and should feel the most liberal spirit of satisfaction with those who do somewhat differently, pro- vided always it be only in the use of that large liberty with which the Church has so wisely chartered her chil- dren ; and provided nothing more than that, whether on the one side or the other, be sought after, imitated, or desired. 7 Preface The writer has avoided a dry and technical manner of arranging his comments, believing that a more uniform method of treating the Services would become weari- some. What is lost in apparent method, is thus regained in the comparative freshness of each successive page. In missionary districts, and where families live re- mote from the privileges of the Church, he trusts the work will meet the wants of heads of families, who act as priests in their own households. For use in Church, before Service begins ; for the closet of invalids, desirous of being present, in spirit, with their fellow-worshippers ; for the instruction of children, and as an introduction of the Church's system to strangers, the writer commits it to his beloved brethren of the Household of Faith. A. C. C. BALTIMORE, 1860. Hn Cburcb LET vain or busy thoughts have there no part, Bring not thy plough, thy plots, thy pleasures thither; Christ purged His Temple; so must thou thy heart. All worldly thoughts are but thieves met together To cozen thee. Look to thy actions well; For churches either are our heaven or our hell. GEORGE HERBERT. 2>atl Sacrifice OF the Liturgy our Blessed Lord is Himself the great Author. The words of the Lord's Prayer, and those which He used in the Institution of the Eucharist, with other scriptural forms of worship and confession, are its essential parts. The residue is borrowed from Apostolic and Primitive ordinances, or is closely conformed to what we learn of them from Holy Scripture and the most ancient Christian writers. The word Liturgy is taken from the original Greek of the New Testament, where it may be found in several forms; as, for example, in Acts xiii. 2; Rom. xv. 16; Heb. viii. 2. But, in strict usage, the Liturgy means only the service for the celebration of the Holy Com- munion, which was the ordinary' worship of Christians on the first day of the week. The Daily Sacrifice of prayer and praise originated in the Hebrew rites, which the Apostles continued to practice so far as they were consistent with the Gospel, as is evident from their con- stant observance of the "hours of prayer." For the perpetuation, in substance, of such Apostolic Institutions we have the express precept of St. Paul: "Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle" (2 Thess. ii. 15). And again, " By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name" (Heb. xiii. 15). Let us reflect, then, that ' ' the disciples came together to break bread," whenever they assembled on the first 10 The Daily Sacrifice day of the week. As in the synagogues, they read the Law and the Prophets on such occasions, mingled with Psalms and Prayers. But in process of time the New Testament Scriptures were given to the Church, and then a portion of the Epistles and a portion of the Gos- pels were read, as more specially Christian. Thus a division of worship grew up. The Law and the Prophets, with the Psalms, were arranged for a sacrifice of Daily Prayer; while the Liturgy or Eucharistic Sacrifice was provided with its series of Epistles and Gospels. The identical Epistles and Gospels which are now used, as well as the Collects accompanying them, are, for the most part, traceable to the age of primitive antiquity. But the Prayer-Book, as we have it in our hands, is, in fact, a volume consisting of several books. Thus, the Prayer-Book, properly speaking, ends with the Psalter. For mere convenience of reference and use, the Articles of Religion, the Ordinal and other Episcopal Offices are added.* So, then, in order to understand the Prayer- Book thoroughly, we must view it as complete, without the Episcopal Offices, and as consisting of three parts: the Liturgy, the Daily Prayer, and the Ritual. The Liturgy is the Communion Service, with its Col- lects, Epistles, and Gospels. The key-note of all the appointments, for every day, is found in this part of worship. In this Service, also, the Decalogue or Moral Law is read on every Lord's Day as part of the Peniten- tial System of the Church, because it is written, " Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that Bread"; and again, " He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be abomination." *See title page of the Prayer-Book, as also the Table of Contents. II The Daily Sacrifice The Daily Prayer, as \ve have seen, grew naturally out of the Synagogue worship, and its "hours of prayer," which the Apostles continued to observe, in the faith of the Gospel. The Psalter, with the Law and the Prophets, and New Testament Lessons, are accord- ingly the basis of Christian worship ; and on Sundays and Holy days these parts of worship are conformed to the higher solemnities of "the breaking of Bread," which, as with the primitive Faithful, is still the great Service of the Feast. The Calendar, with its solemn distribution of times and seasons, is a rule of devotions common to the Lit- urgy and Daily Prayer. Its object is to subordinate the whole of human life, and all time, to the service of GOD : so that no day which shines upon the world shall ever pass without its proper service of prayer and praise to GOD. With the Ritual we are not here concerned; but some subordinate parts of worship require a word of expla- nation. The Introits are the Psalms which are sung before the Communion Service begins, and are so called be- cause they are sung as the priest enters, or goes within (intro-ire), the rails of the Chancel or Sanctuary ; for the Common Prayer is properly said, among the People, in the nave of the Church, or at its junction with the Choir or Chancel. Such was the primitive way; and, even in the City of Rome, there is at this day an ancient Church, that of St. Clement, in which the ambons, or reading- desks, are preserved as a curiosity. The modern Ro- mans have no use for them in their worship. They are in the middle of the Church, as in the Synagogues of the Jews ; but in another ancient Church, which retains these desks, they are at the sides of the Chancel, as in Eng- 12 The Daily Sacrifice lish Churches, attesting the primitive character of our worship in the vulgar tongue, and as Common Prayer. To enter the Chancel, for the Eucharistic Sacrifice, was to begin another Service; and hence the Introit was sung as its prelude.* Anthems are sung at Evening Prayer after the third Collect, according to the Rubric; and before and after Sermon, at the discretion of the Minister. The Hymnal may be regarded as a collection of Metrical Anthems. Let us also observe that the Morning Prayer, the Litany, the Holy Communion, and the Evening Prayer, are so many distinct Services, and may be used entirely apart, f although the law of convenience has often caused congregations to celebrate three of them together; and sometimes country districts use the fourth immediately afterwards. A stranger to the Order of our worship should be informed of these simple facts, and then invited to open the Prayer-Book, where he will observe that its first pages are devoted to the most careful pro- vision for the reading of Holy Scripture, in public and in private. The profuse employment of Scripture, as a feature of this great system, is to be specially remarked. The Psalms are to be read twelve times a year; the Old Testament once, and the New Testament twice; while, over and above, there is such an arrangement of special Psalms and Lessons as forces on every mind, without a word of comment, the harmony of all the parts of Scripture, and the true law of its interpretation. The Prayer-Book, then, is but an humble handmaid of the Scriptures, which nobody can use, as is designed, with- out becoming thoroughly versed in the Word of GOD. * See Table of Introits, Appendix A, p. 345. t See Prayer-Book, p. vii. 13 The Daily Sacrifice First of all, we have directions for using the Psalms of David. These are the inspired foundation of social worship; and with the Lord's Prayer, and the Lessons, are a complete formulary of devotion, in the very words of the Holy Ghost, and of JESUS CHRIST. It is clear, therefore, that we have the Prayer-Book in the Bible; and nothing is added which is not, virtually, from the same source. The Psalter is an old translation of the Psalms;* much older than that in the English Bible, and is better adapted for devotional uses. Those who are acquainted with other languages than their own, know how common is the difficulty of fully expressing a single word in one tongue by any single word in another. The value of these two versions, in bringing out the full sense of the Psalms, is, therefore, very great, and we ought to be familiar with each. The Psalms were inspired to be chanted, in public worship. This is evident in the Bible version of Psalms, which retains the musical directions. Rhymed hymns and psalms, it must be remembered, were unknown to the Apostles, and chanting was the only singing they taught the Church. For technical use and convenience, each Psalm is dis- tinguished by its old Latin name; with which appropriate chants, or tunes, are still traditionally associated. Although the Psalter is conveniently set at the end of the book, it must be regarded as, in fact, the first thing contained in it ; seeing that the directions for its use are the actual beginning. And here we are to note that twenty Selections of * That of Tyndale and Corndale (1535) and Rogers (1537), which was revised by Cranmer (1539), and published in a large volume, and placed in the churches with the royal sanction. PROCTER. 14 The Daily Sacrifice Psalms are given to be used at discretion, instead of the Psalms for the Day ; and special Psalms are appointed for sixteen days of special observance ; divers Messianic Psalms (those which relate directly to Christ) being distributed among the appropriate festivals. By this little table, then, one can always pick out the Psalms for special subjects of meditation. Next we have the table of Lessons, arranged by the Calendar. First come the special Lessons, for Sundays and Holy days ; and then the tables for daily Lessons, for every day in the year. Turning to January first, we ob- serve a blank in the table, which indicates that we must look to the special table, and find the Lessons for the Circumcision. On the second of January, in the morn- ing, begins the first chapter of Genesis, and the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel ; and in the evening, after the second of Genesis, we begin the Acts of the Apostles. And so we go through the year ; no day that ever comes being without its special provision from the oracles of GOD. In the history of the Church, and of individuals, the coincidences of these oracles with spe- cial occasions have often been noted. Thus, when the seven bishops were sent to prison, for resisting the Popish projects of James the Second, they read the Evening Prayer together, and were much consoled to find the Second Lesson to be II. Corinthians, chapter sixth, which, from the second verse to the tenth, seemed a message to them from GOD Himself ; while from the sixteenth verse to the end it seemed to be a divine testi- mony to the fidelity of the Church of England, in her happy Reformation. Let it never be forgotten that this Reformation did not construct a new Church, but merely restored the ancient Church of the realm to its primi- tive freedom and purity. 15 The Daily Sacrifice The Christian Year of the Church is not properly es- timated as a means of grace, even by ourselves. For supposing it had never been invented or thought of be- fore, and supposing it had just entered into the mind of some modern sectary to establish a system, like that of the Church, for insuring a full display of Christ, and a thorough exploring of the Scriptures, every year. How brilliant the thought ! How Scriptural the conception ! How Evangelical, how richly spiritual, how blessed, the practical plan ! Such would be the universal expression of popular piety : and the author of this great method would be regarded as the man of the times ; the grand original of a new and progressive form of Christianity ; a Luther or a Wesley. And justly so ; for it may be safely said that no one of those leaders of the popular mind who has left a sect to perpetuate his name and teaching, has embodied in it anything which is one-thou- sandth part so substantial, and positive, as this truly Christian system of Scriptural Exposition. Of the sects, one perhaps exists on some merely negative basis, be- cause it denies something which another sect maintains : while another takes up some single idea, and on this meagre foundation rears its claim to be a Christian Church. But look at this majestic system of claiii>ig all fime for JESUS CHRIST, and filling every day in every year with His Name, and His Worship ! See how vast and rich the scheme, as a token of, and a provision for, the Second Advent ! And, then, see what may be said of its divine origin ! In the following pages we bring proof that GOD is the real author of this scheme, and that it is revealed, in its substance, as part of His Wis- dom, for perpetuating His Truth. Were it, therefore, the peculiarity of a sect, and as such were it maintained and propagated, I do not hesitate to affirm that no existing 16 The Daily Sacrifice Christian sect has half so broad a ground to stand upon, or urges so clear and conclusive an apology for its exist- ence, as that sect could demonstrate, and claim as its own. And yet, because all this is but part of our ines- timable inheritance as Churchmen, we hardly think of it as, even on popular grounds, a conclusive reason for being what we are, and as furnishing an irresistible argu- ment against those who oppose themselves. Of course, we are Churchmen on higher grounds, and for indepen- dent reasons : yet it is a fact that the mind of our coun- trymen is too much perverted and prejudiced to appre- ciate these higher principles. We can hardly refer to them without wounding their feelings, and exciting their antagonism. But might we not safely and charitably direct their attention to our Liturgic System, first of all, as something which they ought to examine ; and then leave them to their own conclusions, when once they shall have discovered that this inestimable possession is only to be found in its completeness among those who have preserved all the other Apostolic institutions of the Gos- pel in their purity and integrity ? The orderly reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue is an essential part of this primitive system, as also is responsive prayer, and GOD has made it the distinction of the Anglican Church, in divers parts of the world, to be almost the only witness for that system of His worship, in the great Congregation, which the Holy Scriptures show to have originated with the Divine Wisdom ; and which is plainly the plan and principle of public service such as the New Testament everywhere implies and presupposes. The disciples of John the Baptist, although they were pious Israelites, were awakened by the deeper insight which he gave them of spiritual things, to new views of the dignity and importance of Prayer. He, therefore, 2 17 The Daily Sacrifice taught them new forms. Our Blessed Saviour did the same when His own disciples came to Him, with a like view of their incompetency, saying, " Lord, teach us to pray." They had worthy apprehensions of the character of GOD, and humble ideas of themselves, and they felt profoundly that they " knew not what they should pray for as they ought." It is certain that similar convictions are not characteristic of many in our times. But ' ' the Spirit helpeth our infirmities." The worship of GOD in the order and method of a Service of Prayers and Thanksgivings, prepared beforehand, by competent authority, has its origin in no human foresight. In the inspired Psalms, which are a collection of Prayers for Liturgical use, we have found the warrant for such a system. In the arrangements of the worship of the Temple and Synagogue, as divinely constituted, or ap- proved by GOD when instituted by His servants, we have the assurance that such worship is acceptable to the Most High. In the fact that our Blessed Saviour, and His Apostles, scrupulously observed this worship, we have its further warrant. In the fact that John Baptist gave his disciples a form of prayer ; and that our Lord Himself set forth a form, to be used by all Christians, we are assured that, like instrumental and vocal music, such forms were no part of the ceremonial Law which the Gospel abolished. Further, in the Apostolic use of Psalms and Hymns, and the responsive nature of the Apostolic worship, with its characteristic lifting up of the voices of all "with one accord," we have the sufficient evidence of the Evangelical character of such worship. Finally, in the Apocalypse we have a glimpse of the worship of Heaven ; and we find it a responsive and ceremonial, and Liturgical worship, like that of the Church on earth, but infinitely more sublime. The 18 The Daily Sacrifice historical fact that the Church has always used a Liturgy, and that no period can be mentioned when such was not the worship of Apostolic Christendom, may be added to sustain the use of our own Liturgy, under the Apostle's rule, for such is its literal rendering, " Let all things be done decorously and according to set usage. ' ' * Whenever, in the course of the following pages, the Catholic worship, or Catholic usages, are mentioned, the reader will understand, therefore, that this primitive Christian system is referred to. The corrupt system of the Church of Rome originated in the Middle Ages. That of our own Communion is Catholic, because it existed before the Papacy arose to divide that Holy Catholic Church, of which we make mention in the Creed. Let us ever remember that a true Church of Christ exists in its historical identity, wherever a Christian flock lives in communion with a Christian Bishop, who derives his authority from the Apostles, and professes all the articles of the Christian Faith, as contained in the primitive Creeds. The aggregate of such Churches is the Holy Catholic Church, and its unity consists in the unity of their origin and of their faith. But some of these Churches have added to the faith or corrupted it like Sardis and Thyatira of old. It is the blessed privilege of the Anglican Chris- tian to belong to a portion of the Catholic Church which holds neither more nor less than the Christian faith, as professed in the purest ages and by the purest Churches. In proof of this, she fearlessly appeals to the earliest Christian records, and (what is more important still) she fearlessly opens the Holy Scriptures to all her chil- dren, and submits all she does and teaches to that test, "commending herself to every man's conscience in the * See Appendix B, p. 348. The Daily Sacrifice sight of GOD." In point of fact, her Services are, sub- stantially, the most ancient now in use in Christendom. She is practically the Church of the Nicene Age, restored. Such as the Church was then, in essence, in the days of martyrs, such is our own Church now. So then, while she has yet much to do, in strengthening the things that remain, we may venture to believe that she is, in these latter days, what Philadelphia was among the Seven Churches of Asia, in the days of St. John. As such, GOD is wonderfully enlarging her in all the earth, and by restoring in her the primitive pattern, just as it was in danger of being wholly lost, He seems to have signally fulfilled in her the promise concerning the Apostolic Church, which is builded on the Rock CHRIST JESUS, that " the gates of hell shall never prevail against it." ZTbe Calendar MY Prayer-Book is a casket bright, With gold and incense stored, Which, every day, and every night, 1 open to the Lord; Yet when I first unclasp its lids, I find a bunch of myrrh Embalming all our mortal life; The Church's Calendar. But who would see an almanac When opes his Book of Prayer? Of all the leaves between its lids, These, only, are not fair. So said I, in my thoughtless years, But now, with awe, I scan The Calendar, like Sybil-leaves That tell the life of Man. God set the sun and moon for signs: The Church His signs doth know, And here, while sleeps the sluggish world, She marks them as they go. Here for His coming looks she forth As, for her spouse, the bride; Here, at her lattice, faithfully She waits the morning-tide. 21 The Calendar All time is hers, and, at its end, Her Lord shall come with more: As one for whom all time was made, Thus guardeth she her store; And, doting o'er her letters old, As pores the wife bereft, Thus daily reads the Bride of Christ Each message He hath left. As prisoners notch their tally-stick, And wait the far-off day So marks she days, and months, and years, To ponder and to pray; And year by year beginning new Her faithful task sublime How lovingly she meteth out Each portion in its time. This little index of thy life, Thou, all thy life, shalt find So teaching thee to tell thy days, That wisdom thou may'st mind. Oh, live thou by the Calendar, And, when each morn you kneel, Note how the numbered days go by, Like spokes in time's swift wheel. With this thy closet seek; and learn What strengthening word, to-day, From out the Holy Book of God Our Mother would display: And know thy prayers go tip on high, With thousands that, unknown, Are lighted at the self-same fire, And mingle at God's throne. The Calendar For so though severed far on earth Together we are fed; And onward, though we see it not, Together we are sped. Oh, live ye by the Calendar, And with the good ye dwell: The Spirit that comes down on them Shall lighten you as well. A. C. C. flDonttions PREPARE for divine service in your closet, not at your toilet. It is a sign of ill-breeding, as well as of frivolity, to dress elaborately for Church. It is well to be early at Church, if that time before service be devoutly employed in the use of the Prayer-Book, or Bible, or pious meditation. Do not be afraid of making your devotions too long, when you first kneel on entering. And remember that if you come late you should not dis- turb the worship of others, by going to your usual seat, until there is some change in the Service, especially if the congregation is kneeling. Instead of staring about, or listlessly lolling in your seat, after the usual devotions on coming in, you should read over the Psalter, or some other portion of Scripture, as suited to direct your thoughts in the House of Prayer, and as the best stimulant to the enjoyment of the public Service. It is the house of GOD : why should you throw away one minute within its sacred walls, and at the very gate of Heaven ? It is the Court of the great King, who expects us to wait on Him, in His temple. Why should you forget that you are in His immediate presence, and have come to do Him homage? If you have time, use the Collects in the Institution Office for the Minister and the congregation, your brethren and fellow- worshippers. [Prayer-Book, pages 552 to 554.] Find the Psalms for the day ; look them over ; and also the Epistle and Gospel, and suit your ejaculations to the subject, the season, or the festival. Look over your baptismal vows ; your confirmation promises ; and use proper ejaculations, beseeching GOD for grace to keep them. 24 Monitions If you have God-children, now is the time to pray for them, or for your own children, or for both together. If you have particular sins to repent of, confess them : and use the Ash-Wednesday Confessions, or the 5ist Psalm, as preparatory to the General Confession and the Absolution in the Service. If you have received peculiar mercies, thank GOD for them : and use the 63d Psalm, or some other Psalm of Thanksgiving. If peculiar afflictions, use the seven Penitential Psalms [those for Ash-Wednesday] or any Prayers appropriate. Or make use of the Collects successively ; as reminding you of past and future Services, and as being very compre- hensive. Or, if you choose, commune utith your oiun heart and be still ; and, like the publican, smite your breast, saying, GOD be merciful to me, a sinner ! On great Festivals meditate on the events you com- memorate, and ask GOD to show you the wondrous things of His Law concerning them. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; and be sure, if GOD should not give her immediate prosperity, they at least shall prosper who love her. Join fervently, and audibly, in the responses. You serve GOD by assisting and encouraging others in this way. But be careful not to pitch your voice so as to create a discord and make yourself conspicuous. In singing, observe the same rule. GOD has a right to the use of your tongue, which He made to sing His praise, as angels do. Remember, it is "the best member that you have," and yet it is often abused to offend GOD. Use it in asking forgiveness, and in magnifying His mercy. Good manners are bred of the Gospel. Be considerate in the House of GOD, especially to poor persons. Give them room, for Christ's sake. Charity is better than burnt- ofterings. And remember, JESUS CHRIST was poor. He became so for our sakes, though He was infinitely rich ! 25 Monitions Even though you be a prince, then, you will act becom- ingly if you show yourself willing to kneel down at the side of a beggar. Human distinctions are for courts and drawing- rooms : in the house of GOD, all are worms of the dust together, as in the grave, or at the bar of final Judgment. Should you enter the Church after the Service is begun, remain near the door till some change in the solemnities, but do not fail to join in the worship, nor to take a devout attitude while you are waiting at the door. And, finally, why should you ever pass by an open Church, without entering it, and doing as did the publican? On weekdays in strange cities, anywhere where GOD'S holy house invites you in, why not offer a Prayer, and go on your way rejoicing? Many Churches there are, especially in our large cities, at whose doors you will find the invitation "ENTER, REST, AND PRAY." On entering an empty Church at any time, say, devoutly, " How dreadful is this place ! This is none other but the House of GOD, and this is the gate of Heaven." Before leaving, say the 54th Psalm, and add, reverently, " For my brethren and companions' sakes I will wish thee prosperity : Peace be within thy walls." Before divine service, say, as you kneel, in your accus- tomed place : " In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Holy Spirit of GOD be with me in the solemn sacrifice of prayer and praise, and keep me from vain thoughts and roving eyes, and from the Evil One. Be with thy Minister in prayer and preaching, and give all the congregation ears to hear, and hearts to understand, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen. " \Ve wait for Thy loving kindness, O GOD, in the midst of Thy congregation. Oh, hear the voice of our humble petitions when we call upon Thee. Take from us all vain and wander- ing thoughts, and open our lips to bless and glorify Thy Holy Name. Through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen." 26 Bfter Service FORGIVE for Christ's sake, O merciful Father, the im- perfections of this Service, and grant that our lives may- show forth Thy praise, through JESUS CHRIST, our Lord. Amen. Before Mol^ Communion READ PSALM XLIII TAKE from us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, our iniqui- ties, that we may be made worthy to approach Thy Holy Mysteries, witli pure minds and undefiled hearts, and offer a sacrifice acceptable to Thee; through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen. Hfter Mol Communion O MERCIFUL Father, we render Thee thanks and praise that Thou hast vouchsafed to feed us, Thy unworthy ser- vants, with the precious Body and Blood of Thy dear Son. And we pray that by Thy Grace we may walk worthy of our holy calling, and learn to adorn the doctrine of GOD our Saviour in all things, who livest and reignest one GOD, world without end. Amen. 27 After Holy Communion r tbis : O GOD, who in this Blessed Sacrament hast left us a memorial of Thy Passion, grant us so to venerate the Sacred Mysteries of Thy Body and Blood here on earth, that we may receive in ourselves the fruit of Thy Re- demption, who livest and reignest one GOD, world with- out end. Amen. 28 COMMON PRAYER COMMON PRAYER is so called in distinction from private or special prayer. It comprehends those needs and expresses those religious feelings which are common to all GOD'S children who come together to worship. So we make our common supplications, confess our common sins, and offer our common sacrifice of praise and thanks- giving, of alms and devotion. And since this common worship is intended to conse- crate all parts of the day, we have in the Prayer-Book services for various hours; this in harmony with the resolve of the psalmist: "At morning, and at evening, and at noonday will I pray; and that instantly, and Thou shalt hear my voice." morning prater THIS Service, which is called " Maltins" in the Eng- lish Prayer-Book, is chiefly formed from those offices of the Sarum Breviary known as Matins, Lauds, and Prime condensed into one. First, we have a Penitential Office, then the Doxologies; then the Lessons and Creeds; and then the Collects and Prayers. i. The Sentences, and what follows them down to the Lord's Prayer, are a Penitential Preface to the rest of this Service. In the first English Prayer-Book it is not found; 29 The Daily Morning Prayer but it was afterwards added, as part of the Penitential System, established by the Reformers, in place of the effete mediaeval system, which they could no longer re- tain with fidelity to Christ and His ordinances. 2. With the Lord's Prayer, u hich is the language of loving children, begins that strain of elevated devotion, which is carried on in the Psalms, intermingled with Hallelujahs and Glorias, until the Lessons introduce a new portion of the Service. As the Doxology is a marked characteristic of this division of Public Worship, and as the spirit of praise and adoration runs through it, it may well take its name accordingly. 3. The Symbols, or Creeds, give significance to the next stage in the Service, because the confession of a true faith is the great end for which the Lessons are read in our hearing. In the Lessons the Spirit speaks, and in the Creed the Bride lifts up her responsive voice. The place of the hymn Te Deitm, which is a symbolical hymn, accords entirely with this plan; nor is there any- thing really exceptional in the place of the Bencdicite, and of the Hymn and Psalm which follow the Second Lesson. 4. After witnessing a good Confession, all kneel down for united and continuous Prayer, chiefly in the form of Collects, an ancient name for a very ancient sort of petition, in which the Minister collects the words and desires of many hearts, or, more probably, what may be conceived of as the spirit and sum of foregoing devotions and Lessons. Keeping in mind these distinct parts or divisions of the Service, observe that many of the opening sentences are of a penitential character, and there are others specially suited to Advent, and Lent, and other Holy days and seasons. 30 The Daily Morning Prayer Next, the congregation is exhorted to the General Confession. We come before GOD as sinners ; and hence our first duty is to take our place in the dust, at His footstool. The Confession is now made by all, with one accord. There should be no hurrying in this solemn part of the worship ; for it presupposes a collected state of mind, and that the worshipper knows and feels the burden which he thus casts on the Lord. Then the Minister (if he be a Bishop or a Priest) rises from his knees and pronounces the Absolution, in the name of Christ. Received in faith, it is a great com- fort and assurance to the soul of the believer ; for whereas by his Confession he has pronounced himself in the position of one who has broken the Baptismal Cove- nant, so Christ, on his part, assures him hereby of com- plete restoration to Baptismal privileges, if he be truly penitent. The Covenant of Remission is made in Bap- tism, and this is renewed by Absolution. For, as Bap- tism can never be repeated, a fresh token and pledge of that " Everlasting Covenant," which nothing but un- repented sin can annul, is a sweet consolation to a burdened conscience. The words of our Lord, "who- soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them," have primary reference to the administration of the Sacra- ments ; but the Scriptural warrant for such a benediction as is here pronounced, is included in the power to admit to the Sacraments and to refuse them. As the power of excommunication must of necessity exist, (Titus iii. 10,) so, a like power of admission to all the means of Grace in connection with the Church cannot be denied. It is, in all respects, similar to the language of the Apostle, "Grace be unto you, and peace, from GOD our Father, and from the Lord JESUS CHRIST." Let the penitent 3* The Daily Morning Prayer say Amen, meaning thereby to say, "Even so, Lord: be it unto me according to Thy word." For such re- sponses we have the testimony of Scripture, (I. Cor. xiv. 16,) in a passage which seems to refer to an Absolution as "blessing with the Spirit." So, then, we have newly received "the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" ; and now we are ready for the children's bread. This is the place for saying, Our father, therefore, and we do so, as set free from sin and admitted to "the glorious liberty of the Sons of GOD." Let us reflect that the petition, Deliver us from evil, means deliver- ance from the Evil One. When we utter the Doxology, Thine is the Kingdom, we begin to praise GOD. But, before rising to carry on this delightful part of worship, we utter the Psalmist's Prayer, O Lord, open Thou our lips. Then, all standing up, we repeat the Gloria Patri, which is followed by the Hallelujah ; for this Hebrew form is merely translated and paraphrased in the versicle, Praise ye the Lord, and its response, The Lord' s name be praised. The portion of Psalms for the day is now introduced by the Invitatory, (O come let us sing, etc.,) which by its very words suggests that it was inspired of GOD to be so used. After this we turn to the Psalter. And although we only read the Psalms in ordinary worship, we must remember that they were designed by inspiration to be chanted, and that we only partially comply with their design when we read them. The popular views on this matter are clearly wrong ; and a visit to any Jewish synagogue will give one a more just idea of what the Apostles established, and what they meant by " speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." A much better idea in every way of the Apostolic wor- ship would be derived from our own Service, were our people trained to take up the Psalter " with one accord," 32 The Daily Morning Prayer and to lift up their voices in chanting it, antiphonally. Suffice it, the provision is made, though we may not be able to enjoy it ; and a heart rightfully tuned will not fail to make a melody acceptable to GOD, even in reading these inspired strains of praise and prayer. With these Psalms are intermingled repeated Doxol- ogies to the Holy Trinity. In this way the Hebrew Psalter is harmonized with Christian worship, and the GOD of Jews and Gentiles is acknowledged as the one great I AM, the mysterious Trinity. Special Psalms are appointed for special days, and Selections of Psalms for exceptional cases. [See Prayer- Book , pages vii, viii, 328. ] The Lessons are read next, the one from the Old Tes- tament, and the other from the New. And thus Christ is preached, even if there be no Sermon, just as Moses was preached in the synagogue. For it is written, " Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day." (Acts xv. 21.) We should remember the testimony which Christ Himself gave to such preaching : " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose .from the dead." By this we learn the great importance of this part of the Service, and how competent is Holy Scripture, thus read, to make us wise unto salvation, even when no word of comment is added. The Holy Spirit accompanies this reading, and blesses it to all who have ears to hear : so, if it does not profit, it is only because it "is not mixed with faith in them that hear it." The Te Deum, which follows, is a very ancient hymn ; one of the sublimest compositions of uninspired devotion. It came into general use in the time of St. Ambrose, by whom it was introduced to the Church in Milan at the baptism of St. Augustine. It has been 3 33 The Daily Morning Prayer well observed that, "as the Nicene Creed is indirectly a hymn, so this hymn is indirectly a creed." Its place in this part of the Service, therefore, is very appropriate. The Benedicite, which is sometimes in Advent and Lent, and on Thanksgiving Day, used in place of the Te Deum, is a Hebrew paraphrase of the I48th Psalm, and is called in the Apocrypha "The Song of The Three Children," that is to say, of Ananias, Misael, and Azarias, in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. After the Second Lesson we have the Bettedichis or hymn of Zacharias, in which he hailed the coming of the Redeemer, at the circumcision of his son, John Baptist. Sometimes, but rarely, (as on Trinity Sunday and Thanksgiving Day,) the alternative Psalm Jubilate is used. But Bcnedictus is always liturgically the proper "respond" to the New Testament Lesson. "Faith cometh by hearing"; and, therefore, having heard the Word, we endeavor to show that it has been received into good and honest hearts, by professing our faith in it. The Apostles' Creed is now recited, as that "form of sound words" which we are commanded to hold fast. And it is well called the Apostles' Creed ; for, as has been shown by a learned author, there is nothing in it -which may not be found in the single book of the "Acts of the Apostles." In the Nicene Creed, which is always used on great festivals, we say the same in paraphrase ; and both creeds may be regarded as paraphrases of the Baptismal formula. In the germ, then, the creeds were given by Christ himself. He who truly believes "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," believes these creeds, which simply affirm what Holy Scripture testifies con- cerning each person in the Godhead. Thus, "the descent into Hell" (or Hades) is asserted of Christ by 34 The Daily Morning Prayer St. Peter. (Acts ii. 29-36.) The "Communion of Saints" is that common fellowship of Christians which is like the common blood of one family, and which con- sists in a common partaking of the Spirit, who dwells in all believers that are baptized into the one body of Christ. (I. Cor. xii. 13.) So "the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" is described in Scripture, and de- clared to be the work of the Holy Ghost. (Eph. ii. 19.) Nobody can doubt that St. Paul, in the Ephesians, speaks of that same fabric, built on Christ, the Rock, against which Christ himself declared the gates of hell should never prevail. So, when we compare "the re- mission of sins," in the one creed, with the " one bap- tism for the remission of sins," in the other, we see how the primitive Church understood the expression of Christ to the Apostles: "Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted." They had no idea of absolution or remission apart from a Sacrament, ordained by Christ himself, of which St. Peter says, " Repent, and be bap- tized, every one of you, in the name of JESUS CHRIST, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." How entirely Scriptural is every word of these ancient Symbols of the Church of Christ ! As we have all one faith, in one only living and true GOD, we are now ready to complete our Prayers by full and united supplication, before the throne of Grace. Instead of the kiss of charity which used to be inter- changed by the brethren at this point in the primitive worship, for in those days, as in the Jewish synagogues to this day, men and women were not permitted to sit together in public worship, we have now a fraternal benediction between the Minister and the people.* He *Ruth 2: 4. 35 The Daily Morning Prayer says, The Lord be with you, and they rejoin, And with thy spirit. So all kneel down together, and the Prayer proceeds, in fervent charity, and faith, and hope. First, we have, in the form of brief versicles and re- sponses, petitions for mercy, salvation, purity, and sanc- tification. These ejaculations are from the Ssth and 5ist Psalms; and their selection from such a source pays tribute to the example of our dear Redeemer, who, even in the agonies of Crucifixion, expressed Himself, not in extemporaneous petitions, but in the language of the Psalter. In the agony of the Garden, also, it should be remembered that He repeated His prayers, " saying the same words " thrice; a fact which fully justifies the occa- sional recurrence of similar forms in the Service. Then follows the Collect for the day, borrowed from the proper Liturgy, or Communion Service. To this Col- lect peculiar attention should be given, as supplying a sort of key-note to the other Prayers. On the greater festivals and fasts, the Collect for the day often lends it- self in a striking manner, to those which follow it, bringing into prominence now one and now another expression, and freshening it with special significance.! The Collect for Peace is a very ancient one ; and as it comes from the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great (who was Bishop of Rome, before the extreme Papal claims were set up), we trace its place in our Liturgy to the Mission of St. Augustine, whom he sent to convert our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. The Collect for Grace is from an ancient Greek source, and reminds us of the Greek origin of the primitive fThus also (as Archdeacon Freeman shows in his " Principles of Divine Service") are our petitions through the week linked onto the pleading of the Sunday Eucharist, by the use of the Collect from the Communion Service. 36 The Daily Morning Prayer British Church, which existed in England from Apostolic times, and which afterwards became one with that of the Anglo-Saxons, converted by St. Augustine. The Prayer for the Civil Authority reminds us of the command of St. Paul to Timothy, that such intercessions should be offered. (I. Tim. ii. i, 2.) And as the Apostle says that "first of all supplication should be made for all men," and then names " kings, and all that are in authority," it must be noted that the first place in the intercessory Prayers is thus assigned to such persons. After this, the Minister begins the Litany, if it is to be said at that time. Otherwise, he continues the Prayers. Another Apostolic injunction is obeyed in the Collect for the clergy and people, which comes next. How often the Apostle exhorts the faithful to pray for himself and his fellow-laborers ! This Prayer, also, is taken from the ancient Prayer-Book of St. Gregory, and from that of his predecessor, Gelasius. It has been used in the Church of England for more than twelve hundred years; and how great and manifold are the blessings which it has brought down, through the intercession of Christ, upon that Church, in the faithful men who have been numbered among its Apostles, and martyrs, and pastors, and evangelists ! The Prayer for All Conditions of Men is of compara- tively modern origin; for it was added only two centuries ago. But it is a faithful embodiment of the subjects which St. Paul suggests to Timothy as those for which we ought to pray. The petition for the Holy Church Universal, or, as it runs in the original, for "the good estate of the Catholic Church," is a token of unity with all Apostolic Churches, in whatever they retain that is truly Apostolic, and of charity for them, in wishing the reformation of what they may have that is not such. At 37 The Daily Morning Prayer the same time, in very becoming language, we pray for a blessed reunion among "all who profess and call themselves Christians," and for their restoration to a confession of the entire faith once delivered to the saints. This, then, is a prayer of fervent charity, breathing the love of souls, and therefore the spirit of the Redeemer, in every line. Here are inserted any Occasional Prayers which are requested, or ordered to be used. [See Prayer-Book, pages 37-43.] And after the General Thanksgiving are to be inserted any Special Thanksgivings. [See Prayer- Book, pages 44-47.] In the Occasional Prayers, it is proper to note the singular dignity and completeness of the Prayer for Congress.* Its constant use, amid all the turmoil of politics, ever since this nation began to exist, has done much to give a national character to our Church, and to make it a bond of union. Nor can any human thought presume to limit the results which such calm and majestic intercessions have secured from GOD in behalf of our whole country, in the overruling of men's passions, and the consequent stability of our Constitution. The Prayers for the Ember Weeks and Rogation Weeks are also note- worthy, as conceived in a spirit of primitive piety and faith ; and the Synodical Prayer is equally appropriate, if not equally beautiful. It is always touching to hear a fervent response to the Prayer for the sick, for the afflicted, and for others in need of charitable interces- sions. It is so unselfish and so eminently Christ-like to bear one another's burdens. The Occasional Thanks- givings offer opportunities for the exercise of similar charity, in praising GOD for His mercies to others. We * Supposed to have been composed by Bishop Laud, 1625. The Daily Morning Prayer may not know those for whom we pray and praise GOD : enough, they are our brethren in Christ, objects of a common Love Divine, and redeemed by the same precious blood of Christ ; and for ourselves we should often return special thanks when we have received some great mercy. The General Thanksgiving was added to the Service in 1660, and, like the Prayer that precedes it, gives proof that much Liturgic skill survived in the Church even at that modern period in her history. It is a happy thing that we cannot refer their authorship, confidently, to individuals ; although the Bishops who had chief part in them are said to be known.* The glory of the Prayer- Book is GOD'S only : the merits of men need not con- cern us in our approaches to GOD. We only know that these Prayers are the Church's clothing, and that it is of " wrought gold." The Churches of Caesarea and Constantinople, in very ancient times, made use of the short and simple Prayer which follows, and which is called a Prayer of St. Chry- sostom, because it is from the Liturgy which bears his name. Its beauty is of that primitive sort which consists in Scriptural purity and point. It is said of the purest incense that it consumes in fragrance, and leaves no spot upon the censer : all goes up to GOD. Such are Prayers in which there is nothing human, and which, like Christ Himself, come from the Father, and return to Him. The Holy Ghost is the Author of the next Prayer, which is rather a comprehensive Benediction, in the name of the Holy Trinity. And so the Office of Matins ends, as it begins, in the language of Holy Scripture ; that is to say, "not in the words which man's wisdom teach eth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." * Bishops Sanderson, Gunning, and Reynolds. 39 The Daily Evening Prayer tlbe Bails Evening ]pra\?er THIS Service differs from the Morning Prayer only in a few particulars. There are specially appropriate sen- tences at the beginning. The Canticles after the Lessons are the beautiful song of the Virgin, called from its first word in Latin "Magnificat" and the plaintive song of Simeon " Nunc Dimittis." Both these, as also Bene- dictus at Morning Prayer, are from the Gospel of St. Luke, and the three are called the Evangelical Hymns or Canticles, memorials of the Incarnation. There are also alternative Psalms which follow the Lessons, and two of the Collects are peculiar to this Service, as also a Prayer for the President added at the last American revision. As in the morning we have a Collect for such Peace as comes from outward circumstances, so in the evening we pray for inward Peace. And this Collect is from the same ancient source with the other, both being founded on a Scriptural precept. (I. Tim. ii, 2.) So, as in the morning we ask for Grace to be with us through the perils of the day, we now implore Light and Mercy amidst the perils of the night. The source of both these Prayers is an ancient Greek formulary. This Service is known as " Evensong" in the English Prayer- Book. When a Third Service is required, our Bishops are wont to allow the use of an order set forth long ago in one of our oldest dioceses, in which, after a single Lesson, and the chanting of a Canticle or Psalm, (some- times of the Magnificat or Nunc Di miff is,} the Creed is said, and followed by the Collect for the day, the Collect against Perils, and then the Prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church Militant, as it stands in the Euchar- istic Service. One or more of the Collects printed at 40 The Litany the end of that Service is added with the Apostolic Benediction. Of these Supplementary Collects, use is sometimes made, according to the Rubric, in Morning and Evening Prayer. But, since the Rubrics inserted at the time of the last American revision in 1892, there is no need of a shortened Third Service. For, by begin- ning with a sentence and the Lord's Prayer, and ending with the Collect "Lighten our darkness," we have the original Evensong of the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI. It is not permissible to omit one Lesson unless full Evensong with both Lessons has been previously said or is to be said the same day. THE word Litany is Greek, and means an earnest supplication. As we use it, it means a Penitential Ser- vice, which is appointed for certain days. It is used on Sundays, for the benefit of the large numbers who can on that day alone attend public worship. But it is specially appropriate to the stationary days, (Wednes- days and Fridays,) which are so called because, from the earliest periods, they have been made days of peni- tential assembling or standing before the Lord, in mem- ory of the Death of Christ, which was plotted on Wednesday, when Judas betrayed Him, and accom- plished on Friday, when "they crucified Him." It is a Service which may be said, by itself, at any time after Morning Prayer ; although it is more commonly said with it, and as part of it, in place of the Prayers that follow the Prayer for the President of the United States, or at Evening Prayer in the place of the Prayers that The Litany follow the Collect for Aid against Perils. On the greater festivals, it is sometimes omitted ; but it can never he inappropriate for sinners, who should keep their feasts with " bitter herbs," and "rejoice with trembling." Moreover, the Litany contains almost the whole Gos- pel, in the form of a sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving. In it are distinctly recognized the whole Creed, and the whole Moral Law, and the Lord's Prayer is part of it. It is a compendium of theology, recognizing the Being of GOD ; His Trinity, His Nature and Attributes ; the offices of the divers Persons in the Godhead ; the origin of man, his temptation, fall, and depravity, and all that has been done for his redemption and justification, with all that remains to be done in final judgment and glorifi- cation. It is of all forms of prayer the mostly richly evangelical. Besides, the Litany is a proper preparation for the Holy Communion, at all times ; and on that account it is not out of place even in the Easter Service. In fact, when the Morning Prayer used to be offered at an early hour, it was reserved till just before the High Service, or Communion, and, while it was said, a bell was tolled, to let all know that the Eucharist was about to be cele- brated. An old canon is worthy of note in this connec- tion, which enjoined that every householder dwelling within half a mile of the Church should send "one at the least of his household fit to join with the Minister in prayers," whenever the Litany was said. There is real faith in the spirit which thus called for a representation of those who might not be able to attend ; and, if more of it were to be found in our times, every family would strive to be thus represented, on every occasion of pub- lic worship. Of Litanies, the most ancient is the fifty-first Psalm ; 42 The Litany but, as this fs of a private nature, we may refer to the book of Joel (11 17) for an inspired warrant for public Litanies, closely resembling ours. Very frequently the Litany is said at a faldstool, ' ' between the porch and the altar," in the manner commanded by the prophet, or, rather, by Got) Himself. The responses of the people are called suffrages, that is, words of assent, in which they make ine voice of the Minister their own. Perhaps the most ancient form of Common Prayer on record is the Litany in its original shape of bidding- prayer, in which the Minister said, Lei us pray for all in authority, etc., pausing for the suffrages of the people after each commemoration. The Litany has several marked divisions, which it is well to note. 1. We begin with the Invocations, calling on each Person in the Blessed Trinity to have mercy on us ; and finally invoking the Trinity, as one GOD. We have thus an opportunity for dwelling on the several Offices of the distinct Persons, and on the unity of the Divine Majesty, while we review our condition as sinners, and crave mercy with respect to all our sins against the Mysterious Godhead. 2. After this, we begin the Deprecations, remember- ing that GOD visits the sins of the fathers on their im- penitent children. With deep self-abasement, therefore, we implore him to spare His redeemed people, in the language of the prophet Joel, to which allusion has already been made, and which is repeated in the suf- frage. After this, the Deprecations must be regarded as a sort of paraphrase of the petition, Deliver us from evil. We begin with the greatest evils, sin and Satan, GOD'S wrath, and eternal damnation, and then go on to enu- 43 The Litany merate the evils of soul and body which are the lesser products of sin. 3. Then follow the Obsecrations, introduced on pur- pose to celebrate the Redemption of JESUS CHRIST, in its various parts, as the only ground of our hope. How sublimely these fervent commemorations of the scenes of Bethlehem, the Temple, the Jordan, the mountain, the wilderness, the garden, Calvary, the sepulchre, and the summit of Olivet, are made to succeed each other as parts of the great work of salvation which JESUS wrought for us! What a supplication to the Author of our faith, by all that He has done, to be the Finisher of the same, in the saving of our souls! 4. Next come the Intercessions, in which, according to St. Paul's precept, (I.Tim, ii. i,) we invoke the Redeemer for a world of sinners, as being sinners ourselves and sharing in the common wants of mankind. The spirit of love to our fellow-men is essential to our acceptance with GOD; and it should be our study to live up to the spirit of these intercessions, by becoming as far as pos- sible the instruments of GOD'S goodness in the answer- ing of them. Observe the wonderful variety of human wants which the Church forgets not, while praying for herself and for all who are in authority, in her holy pale. How many ships on the sea, how many travellers on the land, how many beggars and outcasts, how many cap- tives and sufferers by the cruelty of wicked men, how many widows and fatherless children and sorrowing mothers, how many great states and empires, how many heathen lands where no Sun of Righteousness is shining, are blest by these unceasing prayers of the Bride of Christ, who thinks for them that think not for themselves! Truly " the world stands by the prayers of the faithful." The "kindly fruits of the earth," we may note, are 44 The Litany what in modern phrase would be called the natural or genial fruits.* But how much more expressive is the old English word ! 5. The Supplications, or fervent outcries of the soul to Christ, begin with the Scriptural form, " O Lamb of GOD, who takest away the sins of the world." Then follows the Kyrie Elcison, as the Greeks call it : that is, Lord, have mercy upon us. But this, and the following Rogations, the Minister is permitted to omit; for, as they are of a very elevated tone of feeling, they may not be altogether suitable to all occasions; and so they are very frequently omitted on Sundays, and reserved for days of fasting and of more particular penitential exercises of devotion. 6. The Lord's Prayer, which has its place in all the services of the Church, here marks the beginning of the Rogations, which are a portion of the Supplications, but which are not so ancient as the Litany itself, dating only from the fifth century, as we shall learn when we come to the Rogation Days. It must be observed that when these are interrupted by the old Exhortation, Let us pray, it is because there is to be a transition to the less fervent form of a Collect, or ordinary Prayer, as distinct from Supplication. Observe the ascending in the response, from the form, " help us for Thy name's sake" to the more zealous "help us for Thine honor," which follows a commemoration of GOD'S works of olden time, and which thus makes way for a Gloria Patri, introduced with sublime abruptness, while the Church is on her knees, as if in fulfilment of the Psalmist's resolution to " praise the Lord at all times" and to have his praises ever in her mouth. After this, the Supplications again * Trench. Quoted in Webster's Dictionary. 45 The Penitential Office proceed, and Christ is invoked as our Defender, Coun- sellor, Saviour and Intercessor, while by the title "Son of David," he is also, as it were, reminded of the days of His humiliation, and of the mercies He wrought in answer to those who showed their faith by giving Him this acknowledgment of His true character as the King of Israel. The Litany concludes with a very ancient prayer, ad- dressed to GOD the Father ; but it is to be noted that the words, put our whole trust and confidence in Thy mercy, were introduced by the Reformers, as defining the proper security for a Christian's hope. This they did, because they had thrown out a corrupt Litany of the Middle Ages, which used to follow in this place, full of Supplications to the saints, as if they were needed after Christ, or could be a ground of Christian confidence ! Thus the rust and cobwebs of the Papal times were put away ; and the Litany, restored to its primitive beauty and purity, is seen once more to be like that golden censer which an angel held in his hand, in the Apoca- lypse, filled with much incense, "the prayers of all saints." ZTbe penitential ffice THIS is one of the most conspicuous memorials of the latest revision of the Prayer-Book, a Service introduced in its entireness by vote of the General Conventions of 1889 and 1892. It takes the place of that which is called in the Eng- lish Prayer-Book "A Commination, or Denouncing of GOD'S anger and Judgments against Sinners, with cer- 46 The Penitential Office tain Prayers, to be used on the First Day of Lent and at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint." In this English Service are rehearsed the Curses of Jehovah as recorded in the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy and other places of Scripture, and the people answered to every denunciation, Amen ; " to the intent that being admonished of the great indignation of GOD against sinners, they might the rather be moved to earnest and true repentance, and might work more warily in these dangerous days ; fleeing from such vices," etc. Then followed a long homily and exhortation to repent- ance and amendment. All this portion of the Com- mination Service is omitted from the Penitential Office in the American book but the remainder is retained, consisting of the fifty-first Psalm, several Versicles with the Lord's Prayer and the special Ash Wednesday Prayers, and the Aaronic Benediction, "The Lord bless us and keep us," etc. Attention should be drawn to the beautiful Collect in- troduced here just before the Blessing, taken from the Occasional Prayers in the English Prayer- Book , " O GOD, whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive," etc. In exquisite rhythm and language it stands pre-emi- nent, and like many others is as old as the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great. (A.D. 600.) Although intended specially for use after the Litany on the morning of Ash Wednesday the Penitential Office is frequently, sometimes daily, used during Lent in connec- tion with Morning or Evening Prayer, or by itself with a Lecture or Instruction. 47 THOUGHTS ON THE SERVICES H&vent Sunfcag THE Sun of Righteousness is the great centre around which the Church revolves, and her ritual year begins with a renewal of His glorious light and warmth. Thus it happens that in the Kingdom of Heaven we live in ad- vance of the world ; we are a whole month on our way before the civil year begins. In this manner our Holy Mother teaches us to be ever on the alert, " looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of GOD." This feast of the Advent, which opens the Advent Season, is one which strongly mingles the most joyous with the most appalling thoughts ; for while it strikes the key-note of our Christmas rejoicings, it dwells on the first Advent, with especial reference to its bearings on that which is yet future, and for which we are called to prepare. Our " song is of mercy and of judgment." How salutary to the soul this annual awakening, and setting forward towards immortality! The Advent Season should always be made one of discipline, and of solemn meditation and reading on the Four Last Things, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell ; for all time is but the pre- lude to Judgment and Eternity. In the Christian Year, Advent Sunday answers to that 4 49 Advent Sunday day in the Mosaic year, when the "Trumpet was blown in Zion," preparatory to the Feast of Tabernacles. As Christmas is the Christian Feast of Tabernacles, the analogy is complete. A proper anthem for the day is made of the striking words of the Prophet Isaiah, " Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence !" In some such thrilling passage of Scripture is often condensed the entire spirit of a feast-day ; and here we have that longing after GOD, which is the instinct of the Church, His Spouse, and which says, come quickly, when the world would delay. The Minister begins the Sen-ice with the cry of the Baptist, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; and the proper Psalms are the Eighth and Fiftieth : " O Lord our Governor : how excellent is Thy name in all the earth" ; "the Lord, even the Most Mighty GOD hath spoken : out of Zion hath GOD appeared : our GOD shall come : and the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for GOD is Judge Himself." The First Lesson begins the Prophet Isaiah, who is always read in Advent for the Old Testament Lesson, because Isaiah is the Evangelist of the older Scriptures, and abounds with predictions of both Advents of the LORD JESUS. On this account Isaiah is omitted in the regular order of the Prophets, and is reserved till this time, both in the daily and special tables of Lessons. This Lesson will be found full of the judgment of the Lord, respecting justice, mercy, and truth, showing what He will require of us at the last day, but it also suits the occasion, as setting forth the requirements of GOD with respect to the Ecclesiastical Year, now opening, "its new moons, and Sabbaths, and appointed feasts." GOD appointed these observances, under the Law, yet Advent Sunday because of the iniquity, oppression, and blood-guiltiness of His people, He was forced to say, "My soul hateth them ; they are a trouble unto Me ; I am weary to bear them." There can be no doubt that the Christian festi- vals, however precious to GOD when kept in spirit and in truth, are equally hateful to Him, if defiled by practical irreligion or unbelief, by cruelty to the poor and needy, or by neglect of any of our fellow-creatures in their temporal and spiritual wants. The Second Lesson is that pictorial opening of the Gospel by St. Luke, in which the announcement of the First Advent is made to Zacharias, and the promise is given by the Archangel that there should be born the Great Forerunner, John the Baptizer, who shall pre- pare the way of the Lord. It is designed to prepare us for Christmas, and at the same time to remind us, by the fulfilment of the promises respecting that first coming, that the Judgment is no less certain in its time. When the appointed day arrives, the Archangel will again appear, and with his voice, and the sound of a trumpet, proclaim the general resurrection, and the gathering of all nations in the Valley of Decision. No one can at- tentively listen to the words of this Lesson without emotion, as the great events to which the inspired Evan- gelist introduces us are rehearsed with all the effect of brilliant portraiture. In the Litany, let the mind dwell on the suffrages, which relate to the Incarnation, and on those which sup- plicate deliverance in the hour of Death, and in the day of Judgment. The Collect for the Day is a sublime petition, illus- trating the original idea of such a prayer, which is that it collects, or gathers together, the prominent parts of the Service for the day, and reduces them to a practical 5* Advent Sunday offering of mingled prayer and praise to GOD. Thus the Epistle, which bids us to "cast off the works of darkness," and the Gospel, which exhibits the "great humility" of the first Advent, are united in the petition that we may be prepared for the glorious majesty in which He shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and for the award of immortality which is the inheritance of the just. Reflect especially on the language of the Epistle, that "it is high time to awake out of sleep," that " the night is far spent and the day is at hand" ; and connect it, mentally, with the beautiful imagery of the prophet, "Watchman, what of the night? The morn- ing cometh, and also the night." The resurrection draws nigh, though we must first sleep in the night of death. First awake, and fill the vessel with oil, and replenish the lamps, and then we may lie down in our graves, and have no fear that our lamps will have gone out, when the cry is made, and the Bridegroom comes. The Gospel is designed to contrast the meek and lowly appearance of the Great King, in the days of His flesh, with the royal splendors which shall surround His coming in the clouds of heaven. Though this Gospel, as it were, anticipates Palm Sunday, yet it is the narra- tive of the event in which the first Advent was consum- mated. Let it always be remembered that, until this event, the kingdom of heaven was only "at hand." It was strictly the Advent : the fulfilling of what was written, "Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh unto thee." In the Holy Communion, dwell on the thought that many shall say in that day, "We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence," to whom the Judge shall answer, "I know you not whence ye are : depart from ME, all ye workers of iniquity." 5 2 Second Sunday in Advent At Evening Prayer the First Lesson contains many marked allusions to the day of the Lord "when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth"; and the Second Lesson begins the reading of the marvellous Revelation of St. John wherein the mysteries of the Last Days and of Heaven and Hell are solemnly made known to us. It is customary in some churches to provide a Judgment anthem ; but perhaps nothing is more impressive to the ordinary worshipper than the solemn singing of a part of the familiar hymn : "Great God what do I see and hear? The end of things created." So solemn a day ought to be concluded, in the family, in an appropriate way, and afterwards in the closet. For private reading, nothing could be more appropriate than the impressive words of our Lord, beginning thus:* " When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy Angels with Him; then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." In fact, the earnest Christian would do well to begin with the preceding chapter of St. Matthew, and to read devoutly the whole of the Saviour's Advent Sermon. So one may spend a good day and lie down at night, at peace with GOD, and ready for the judgment trumpet, let it sound when it may. Mi Seconfc Sunfca^ in Efcvent THIS day is designed to set before us the great truth, that the Holy Scriptures are given us to prepare us for Judgment, as well as to testify of Christ. "The testi- *St. Matt. xxv. 31. S3 Second Sunday in Advent mony of JESUS is the spirit of prophecy," and the Word that He spake, "the same shall judge us at the last day." The Lesson from the prophet Isaiah is a strong re- monstrance against the iniquities which shall be punished in the Great Day of Account: while that from the Gospel is the record of the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce the Incarnation. The Benedictus in its entirety should follow this Lesson on every day in Advent, commemorating, as it does, the coming of the Messiah. In the Collect we entreat Almighty GOD for grace to use aright the Holy Scriptures, which are " able to make us wise unto salvation." Thus, we acknowledge the Bible to be the counterpart on earth of the Book of Account which is kept in heaven ; and the spirit of our prayer is, that it may be to us an assurance that our names are written in that Book of Life, which shall be opened at the Last Day. The Epistle is the portion of Scripture which supplies, in part, the language of the Collect, and which is further appropriate, because it sets forth Christ, as the "Root of Jesse" and the hope of the Gentiles. The Gospel makes itself felt, as an overwhelmingly sublime predic- tion of the Last Day, and of the fearful signs which shall precede it. It was the custom of the Ancient Prophets to give an immediate sign, or fulfilment of their words, in token that the ultimate fulfilment would be as certain. Our Lord, therefore, gave the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish Church and State, as the immediate token, or fulfilment, of what he pre- dicted concerning the destruction of all things temporal. Improbable as it then appeared that such a sign would prove a reality before that generation of men passed 54 Second Sunday in Advent from the stage of human life, we all know that it actually came to pass, and that the Jewish people have ever since been wanderers over the face of all the earth. Thus, then, the whole prophecy was fulfilled in its earnest, or pledge, and we cannot doubt that it will be so in its entire length and breadth. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but Christ's word shall not pass away. This con- cluding text of the Gospel for the day continues the great idea of the Collect, that the Word of GOD is the sure monitor and guide of the faithful. Among the hymns which the Church supplies, none is more appropriate than : " O Word of GOD Incarnate, O Wisdom from on high," a hymn which embodies the Church's teaching concern- ing the Holy Scriptures. In the Evening Lessons, the worshipper will not fail to note the prophetic words concerning the times in which we are now living, as premonitory of the Judgment : " the earth mourneth and fadeth away ; the world languisheth and fadeth away ; the haughty people of the earth do languish." The concluding verse of the chapter is scarcely less striking: "the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His Ancients, gloriously." The Ancients here spoken of are probably the five-and-twenty Elders of the New Jerusalem and other Saints of the " General Assembly and Church of the firstborn," which are written in heaven. The Second Lesson continues the solemn warnings addressed to the Seven Churches of Asia by the Risen and Ascended Lord, who shall come to be our Judge. 55 Third Sunday in Advent Sunfcag in Bftvent. ' ' BEHOLD, I send my messenger before thy face who shall prepare my way before thee." This prophecy has a double fulfilment. In one sense it has already come to pass. John the Baptist was the Elijah who heralded the first coming of Christ. But the Apostolic Ministry is the John Baptist of the latter day, heralding the Second Advent, and the coming of the Judge. Accordingly the Church to-day dwells on the Chris- tian ministry and its great Mission, in connection with a retrospect of that of the Baptist, as its precursor. There is a marvellous blending of interests, and of sub- jects, therefore, in the Services of this day. As a mere preparative for Christmas, the ministry of John Baptist might well come into view ; but again, as a preparative for Judgment, it is not less coincident, for its burden was and is, "flee from the wrath to come." With this message that of the Gospel Ministry is strictly harmoni- ous, and the subject of eternal rewards and punishments is thus presented with that of Death and Judgment. The Collect will be found to sum up what is thus as- serted, with reference to the spirit of the day. The Epistle, short as it is, is admirably selected, as a con- densed statement of the commission of Christ's Minis- ters and of the relations sustained by them, and by those that hear them, to the bar of GOD. They are not merely Ministers of the Word, but "Stewards of the Mysteries," that is, ministers of the Sacraments, and other means of grace, for the administration of which they bear " the keys of the kingdom." They bind and loose, and open and shut ; and when they do so accord- 56 Third Sunday in Advent ing to the laws of the kingdom, then what they do on earth is ratified in heaven. The Gospel is the testimony which our Lord gave to John Baptist, as his faithful steward and fore- runner ; and cites the prophetic promise of such a mes- senger, which serves to identify both John and his Master. At the same time, it bears on the Epistle, as showing that it was " a light thing" for St. John, as it was for St. Paul, "to be judged of man's judgment," and that He that judgeth both is the Lord. Thus, some said of John that he was "a reed shaken with the wind" ; others that he was a time-server ; and others that he had a devil ; but here -we see his Master setting the seal to his work, as that of "a prophet, and more than a prophet." It is in beautiful harmony with a Sunday-Service, so forcibly setting forth the nature of the Ministry of the Gospel, that the Ember-fasts occur in this week, and that the following Sunday is the Advent time for Ordi- nations. The Ember Collect used at Morning and Even- ing Prayer falls in with happy effect, harmonizing with all the Services of the day. In the First Lesson, at Morning Prayer, is a prophecy of all the blessings of the Incarnation, Sacrifice, and Resurrection of Christ. The nature of the Advent Season is brought out in the experience of the faith- ful, " Lo, this is our GOD, we have waited for Him." The patient waiting for Christ will be thus rewarded, at the day of His appearing. Observe, too, the prophecy of a crucified Saviour, in the words, "He shall spread forth His hands in the midst of them, as he that swim- meth spreadeth forth his hands to swim." The Second Lesson recounts the birth of the great Forerunner of the First Advent of our Lord. In this Lesson occurs the Benedictus, or song of Zacharias, which should not 57 Ember- Week in Advent on that account be omitted as the Canticle after the Les- son. It comes in with fine effect as a chorus after being read by the Minister. So, in the Evening Prayer, the promises alike of pun- ishment and reward, in the Lesson from prophecy, ex- plain the propriety of its selection ; but we must not overlook the promise of Christ, under the title of "the precious Corner-Stone," which also occurs. The Sec- ond Lesson carries us on in the solemn Revelation of St. John the Divine, warning us of the wrath to come and promising to the faithful the blessings which belong "to him that overcometh." Over and over again we hear the refrain: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." EmbeMPOleefc in B&vent How free are many to speak ill of their pastors and teachers, who have never uttered in their behalf a single prayer ! How many profess a singular desire for the purity of the Priesthood, who never fasted a day, to ask of GOD this blessing ! Yet the Church hallows for this end Four Seasons, which she bids her children spend in abstinence and prayer ; and, perhaps, if they were better kept, both the people and their pastors would better adorn the doctrine of GOD their Saviour. These seasons are called, technically, the Quatnor Tempora, or i\\efour times, that is to say, of Ordination ; for the Sundays immediately succeeding these days of prayer are appointed by the ancient and modern Canons, as the stated times for ordaining. Vulgarly, the Quatuor Tempora were called Quatember, and finally Ember ' 53 Fourth Sunday in Advent weeks ; the usage being very ancient, and the name having undergone the changes incidental to the lapse of ages. But, whatever be the name, no one can dispute its propriety, or the Scripture warrant for the institution itself. See Acts xiii. 2 ; xiv. 23. As a blessing is pro- nounced on all who strengthen the hands of their pastors, it is not to be forgotten that a curse is as plainly uttered against those who grieve and afflict them. Indeed, it has often been observed that evil hunts the man who offends against a servant of GOD. See St. Matt, xviii. 7 ; x. 40, 41. The Master regards it as done against Himself, and punishes it as sacrilege. ffourtb Suntmp in Hfcvent THE Sen-ices to-day are singularly illustrative of the mingled character of Advent. They contain allusions to Judgment, Death, Hell, and Heaven, and interchange the call to joy and gladness with warnings of fiery in- dignation. In distributing the subjects of the Four Last Things, it is appropriate to this day to dwell on that of Heaven, as the natural antecedent of the Nativity, which brings heaven down to earth; and the great result to which the coming of Christ was designed to bring man- kind. In the first Morning Lesson, among those passages which specially relate to the Season, should be noted such as this: "Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be ex- alted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a GOD of Judgment; blessed are all they that wait for Him." In the Second Lesson, which continues the history of 59 Fourth Sunday in Advent the holy Baptist, besides the obvious wisdom of the full recital of the missionary work of the great pioneer of the Gospel, we should observe the warning to "flee from the wrath to come." In the Evening Lessons we have, with other passages of solemn interest, the promise of the Incarnation. GOD shall become man, and, as the Son of Man, shall wear rightfully the titles of the GOD of Israel ; yea, " A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land." The Second Lesson is the closing chapter of the Book of Revelation, showing to men the Heavenly City ready for all those who, profiting by the First Advent, joyfully await the Second. As an anthem, part of the 7ad Psalm is appropriate: "Give the king thy judgments, O GOD, and thy right- eousness unto the king's son. . . . He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool, even as the drops that water the earth." The Collect was anciently addressed to Christ Him- self, but is now addressed to the Father, in recognition of the truths that Christ is "of GOD made unto us redemption," that GOD the Father comes unto us in His Son; and that in Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily." We, therefore, pray the Father to reconcile the world unto Himself, by the coming of His Son, which we are now about to celebrate. The Epistle closes up the Season of Advent discipline, with a call to spiritual festivity. "Rejoice! . . - the Lord is at hand." The Gospel is the testimony of John to the Saviour, "Who, coming after Him, is preferred before Him." Christ Himself testified of John, that he 60 Christmas Eve was "the greatest born of woman," that is, by natural generation. Yet John says of Christ, "Whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose." Infer from this the Godhead of Christ; and "consider how great this man was," this great Melchisedec, to whom Abraham gave tithes, and John Baptist paid such tribute; saying, elsewhere, " He was before me," though here he says, " He cometh after me." In His Godhead, though not in His humanity, Christ was before all worlds, and says of Himself, " Before Abraham was, I AM." Gbristmas WE come to the great Eve or Vigil of the Nativity ; and the Church has appointed for its observance two most appropriate Lessons. The first is the gorgeous prophecy of Isaiah, descriptive of Messiah's peaceful kingdom : "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." This Lesson is the rather striking, because it comes of itself into its place, this evening, according to the regular Advent reading of the prophet, and is not otherwise selected, than as it thus fits into its time, as if by providential coincidence. Yet the decoration of our churches, on this evening, would seem to have been especially designed to illustrate this Lesson, in its rapturous words, " The glory of Leb- anon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanc- tuary ; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." Of the Second Lesson it is also true, that it happens, rather than that.it is selected ; yet how strikingly ap- 61 Christmas Eve propriate is the passage, an echo and amplification of the angel's song : " Alleluia ; Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our GOD. . . . Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him. ... I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse, and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True . . . and His Name is called The Word of God, . . . and He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a Name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Other verses are scarcely less appropriate. The thirteenth Selection of Psalms may appropriately be used on this Eve, because it contains the Ssth Psalm, and others proper to the time. Thus, the 97th Psalm contains the expression, "Worship Him, all ye gods" ; which St. Paul renders, "Let all the angels of GOD worship Him," and which he refers to GOD the Father, who gives this command, "when He bringeth in the First-Begotten into the world." It would have been difficult to make a selection more entirely suit- able ; and although the 85th Psalm is repeated on Christmas morning, it is impossible that a foretaste of it can diminish the joy with which every devout wor- shipper will join in the song, " Mercy and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." It is customary, on this Eve, to sing anthems ; and a great variety of them are in use. The most appropriate seems to be that from Handel's Messiah, " There were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night"; followed by the chorus, "Glory to GOD in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." Few congregations are willing to leave the Church without the Carol, 62 Christmas Eve " Hark ! the herald angels sing, Glory to the new-born King ; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, GOD and sinners reconciled." The writer can also testify, from frequent experience of such kindness on the part of musical parishioners, that in some places the "Waits" still go round, late in the evening, and never cease till the Rector has been saluted with this and other carols beneath his windows. With respect to the festival itself, some are disposed to regard the date of the Nativity as chosen arbitrarily, and to be respected as the ecclesiastical, but not the natural, anniversary. Every Christian is free to hold this opinion ; but there are many reasons for regarding it as the true date. In fact, it is as well established as many other historical dates that are accepted without hesita- tion ; but we need not insist on what is not clearly proved, especially in a matter so entirely unimportant. It ought to suffice us that it is an observance which seems to have been anticipated by the Law ; in which the Feast of Tabernacles answers to Christmas, as the Paschal does to Easter, and Pentecost to Whitsuntide. They celebrated the typical presence of Christ in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, as we do the great fact that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," or, as it is in the Greek, " tabertiacled among us." Be- sides, this feast has been kept from the very beginning of the Christian Era, as we learn from St. Chrysostom : and its date was commonly supposed to be verified by the date of the taxing made under Caesar Augustus, and by the records thereof kept at Rome. We know that St. John lived into the second century ; and as he was the adopted son of the Blessed Virgin, (made so by Christ Himself on the Cross,) we cannot suppose him 63 Christmas Carol to have been ignorant of the true birthday of his Divine "Elder Brother," nor yet that he could have failed to make it known to the churches in which he ministered. Be that as it may, the festival has been so long hallowed, and is so full of the Spirit of the Gospel, that no right- minded person can fail to enjoy it. For the temporary deliverance by Queen Esther, the Jewish Church ordained the Feast of Purim, (Esther ix. 19, 26, 27,) as for a similar reason they instituted the Feast of the Dedication, which our Saviour himself kept. (John x. 22.) Surely, then, our great Deliverance may be celebrated. Long may this day be the peculiar joy of children, and the season of the gathering of families; " of sending portions to those for whom nothing is prepared"; of gifts to the poor, and of universal good will : even as it is written : "Go your way; eat the fat and drink the sweet, . . . and send portions, and make great mirth ; go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive-branches, and pine branches, and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees ; ... for this day is holy unto our Lord ; ... for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Cbristmas Carol CAROL, carol, Christians, Carol joyfully ; Carol for the coming Of Christ's Nativity ; And pray a gladsome Christmas For all good Christian men ; Carol, carol, Christians, For Christmas, come again. Carol, Carol. 64 Christmas Carol Go ye to the forest, Where the myrtles grow, Where the pine and laurel Bend beneath the snow ; Gather them for JESUS : Wreathe them for His shrine ; Make His temple glorious With the box and pine. Carol, carol. Wreathe your Christmas garland, Where to Christ we pray : It shall smell like Carmel On our festal day : Libanus and Sharon Shall not greener be Than our holy chancel On Christ's Nativity. Carol, carol. Carol, carol, Christians : Like the Magi now, Ye must lade your caskets With a grateful vow : Ye must have a sweet incense Myrrh, and finest gold, At our Christmas Altar Humbly to unfold. Carol, carol. Blow, blow up the trumpet, For our solemn feast, Gird thine armor, Christian, Wear thy surplice, priest. 65 Christmas-Day Go ye to the altar, Pray, with fervor, pray, For JESUS' second coming, And the Latter Day. Carol, carol. Give us grace, O Saviour, To put off in might, Deeds and dreams of darkness, For the robes of light. And to live as lowly, As Thyself with men ; So to rise in glory, When Thou com'st again. Carol, carol. A. C. C. How beautifully breaks the morning sun on the snowy landscape, enlivening the cold air and dispelling the darkness ! So shines forth the Sun of Righteousness upon the winter of man's ruined estate, and gives light to his eyes, and gladness to his heart. Well may Chris- tians salute each other with congratulations, and, by acts of kindness and tenderness to the poor, proclaim the Universal Brotherhood of mankind in JESUS CHRIST. The proper Psalms for the morning illustrate the spirit of the Feast, in strains of rapture and adoration, endited by the Spirit, and descriptive of the Only Begotten Son of the Father. His Gospel "goes forth into all lands," 66 Christmas-Day and "there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." To Him, in the 45th Psalm, the Father addresses the salutation, "Thou art fairer than the children of men. . . . Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou most mighty. . . . Good luck have Thou with Thine honor. . . . Thy Seat, O GOD, endureth for- ever." In this connection, too, the Church is introduced, as the Bride of Christ, coming before Him in her glo- rious attire, and worshipping Him as her LORD GOD. St. Cyprian regards this Psalm not less as a special prophecy of the Incarnation, but refers it primarily to the eternal generation of the Son, reading the first verse of it, "My heart has generated a blessed Word," and considering it the language of the Father to the Son, rather than that of the Psalmist to the Messiah. The First Lesson is very short ; but it is one of the sublimest passages in the prophets. "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." \Yhat follows (say the critics) should be read as an interroga- tion, as if it were, " Hast thou multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy?"* To which the prophet responds, in view of the union of all nations in exulting over a Redeemer's birth, "They joy before Thee accord- ing to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." He then makes a bold lyrical transi- tion to another view of the First Advent, as a "battle of the warrior" with the powers of darkness ; and its terrible results to the Jewish nation are presignified by the warning, "this shall be with burning and fuel of fire." The conflagration of the Temple under Titus was the terrible consequence of Jewish unbelief in their promised Messiah ; and while exulting in the prophecy *Or simply omit the word "not," which should not be so trans- lated. 67 Christmas-Day of Gentile converts, the inspired lyrist makes this apos- trophe to the sad reverse of Gentile joy exhibited among his own people. Then follows that magnificent burst of adoration and of faith, " For unto us a Child is born ; linto us a Son is given ; and the government shall be upon His shoulder ; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty GOD, the Everlast- ing Father, the Prince of Peace." It is impossible that anything should be added to this to heighten its effect, except after the Te Deum, the Lesson from the Gospel which narrates the fulfilment of the prophecy, in strains scarcely less elevated, How simple, yet how sublime, the narrative of the Virgin's arrival at Bethlehem ; of the pastoral scenes in the neighboring fields ; of the great light that shone upon them, and of the message of the Angel ! Who can look upon a Christian congregation, gathered together, here in disfant America, on Christmas-day, without feeling the fidelity of the promise, " I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" ? But the Service mounts yet higher ; for the Collect, Epistle and Gospel, take up the worship at this point, and carry it on to the elevated stage of devotion, where the Holy Eucharist becomes our only sufficient expression of gratitude and praise. The noth Psalm makes a majestic Introit: " the dew of Thy birth is of the womb of the morning." From beginning to end it is full of " Messiah the Prince," and of the blessings of His cove- nant; and hence it is one of the appointed Psalms for Evening Prayer. The Collect not only celebrates our Saviour's birth "of a pure Virgin," but, recognizing the exceeding great " love bestowed on us," that we also should be "called the sons of GOD," it supplicates that daily renewal of Grace, by which our sonship may be 68 Christmas-Day preserved, and we may be made, eternally, " heirs of GOD, and joint-heirs with Christ." The Epistle is not only appropriate for its majestic proclamation of the Advent fo the Son of GOD, fulfil- ling the Law and the Prophets, but also for the sequel to this proclamation, which defines His glory and divinity. Christ is not an angel, but, by inheritance, far better: He js "the Son of the Father, ): and where was this title ever given to any angel ? Or when did GOD say of any created being, "let all the angels of GOD worship Him " ? Of the angels, GOD saith certain things, defining their character and office; but the Son, He addresses as GOD, the co-partner of His own throne and sceptre. Yes, continues the Apostle, to the same JESUS is ad- dressed the language which defines Him as alike the Creator and the Judge of the World: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thine hands." Again, " As a vesture, Thou shall fold them up, and they shall be changed ; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Such, then, is the little Babe whom we have seen "wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." His name is Lord and GOD; the stars of Heaven are the work of His fingers; and He shall dispose of them at last. Now follows the Gospel, and the jubilant shout, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord," may well precede it. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD, and the WORD WAS GOD." Thus the Evangelist declares His generation before the world was, His creative power, and His Godhead. How is it that the Eternal GOD is born of a woman? The great mystery of the Incarnation is finally asserted in these divine words : " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ; and we beheld His Glory ; the Glory 69 Christmas-Day as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth." Here follows the Nicene Creed, and there is no moment in the worship of the entire year, where its lofty strains of confession and worship come in with equal effect. The Gospel which immediately precedes it, seems to prolong itself in this Creed, as in a sublime hymn, in which the Church responsively salutes Christ, as being what the Gospel proclaims Him, and lays her tribute at His feet. It is important to observe the Preface, (which intro- duces the Trisagion, ) as of like significance with the Creed, and as blending all Angels with the Church Catholic, in the ascription of this festal homage to the Blessed Trinity, in view of the great humility of GOD the Son. How much there is in the Christmas Communion, viewed as setting forth the great end for which "the Word was made flesh"! It was that His flesh might be broken and His blood shed for us. "A body was prepared," in order that He might " bear our sins in His own body on the tree." So, then, we commemorate His death, with His birth, in the sacrifice of thanksgiving. From this holy feast, who can turn away without sharing the emotions of the shepherds of Bethlehem, who "re- turned praising and blessing GOD for all the things that they had seen and heard" ? The Alternative Collect, Epistle and Gospel were added at the last revision, because in so many Churches there are several celebrations of the Holy Communion on Christmas-day, the first one usually at midnight. At the Evening Prayer, which closes this blessed day, the Psalms are again admirably selected. In the 8gth, the Covenant of GOD with David, and with the greater Son of David, is the burden of the Psalmist's "song of mercy and judgment." Of the noth, what has been 70 The First Sunday after Christmas said in speaking of it as the Introit, may suffice ; only let it be noted that in the last verse, Christ is exhibited in His power and His resurrection, as a mighty victor who lifts up his head indeed at the end of the fight, but not without stooping, in the heat of the battle, to "drink of the brook in the way' ' ; or, in other words, to feel the suffering, and to share the nourishment, of the poorest of human beings. In the I32d Psalm, " Ephrata," it must be remembered, is Bethlehem; and "Anointed" is the Messiah, or Christ. Viewing Him as the Son of David, born in Bethlehem, the City of David, it will be seen that the whole Psalm is appropriate to the day, and speaks of the blessings promised to the Church, in the oath which was confirmed to the Royal Prophet, " Of the fruit of thy body, shall I set upon thy seat." The feast of Christmas reigns over the whole time, till Twelfth-Night, or the Epiphany. Let the Day itself, then, be sacred to the house of GOD, and to the joys of Home; and let such restrained festivity as is innocent in itself be reserved for other days of this holy tide. Hbe jffrst Suntms after Gbrfstmas THIS Sunday, falling within the Octave of Christmas, repeats its Collect, and is a sort of lower Christmas. Its Epistle shows us how we are made sons of GOD by adoption and grace, through the Incarnation of GOD'S Only Begotten, and what an heirship we have with Him ; while the Gospel repeats the story of this great mystery, and shows that it was intimated to the Hebrews in the name Immanuel. It may be worthy of remark that The First Sunday after Christmas there is nothing in this Gospel to persuade us that the Mother of our Lord ever ceased to be the Virgin, (as the wife of Joseph, ) if due comparison of the text be made with other Scriptures. As the last Sunday of the civil year, this day has a special solemnity, and is furnished with Lessons not unsuitable to the use very often made of it by zealous pastors, in reviewing a year of mercies. In the morning occurs the thrilling passage from Isaiah : "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." This for Christmas ; but for the close of the year, the Lesson ends with a holy anticipation of that eternal country, where "the redeemed shall walk" in the joy of the Lord ; free forever from the calamities and trials and temptations incident to Time : when "songs and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." So, in the Second Lesson, the Nunc Diinittis of the aged Simeon blends sweetly with this prospect of immortality : " Now, Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." And it is a sug- gestive thought, that as it was revealed to him that "he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ," so we are permitted to pray that the years of our mortal life may not end before we, by faith, have not only seen Him, but acquainted ourselves with Him, as our Strength and our Redeemer. The Evangelist's narrative of our Saviour's infancy and youth is so full of beauty and of instruction, that it would be too great a task to attempt any further remarks on such a Lesson. In the Evening Lessons it is difficult to say whether the Christmas or the Old Year thoughts are uppermost. Those special to the feast will suggest themselves, such as, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd"; but it 72 The Circumcision may be well to note those appropriate to the last of the fifty-two Sundays which every soul has added to his account with GOD. "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." How impressively comes this warning, as the servant of GOD solemnly reads this burial-service of a year, which has seen the end of so many who were flourishing like flowers when it began ! Then, the whole course of the stars, and the circuit of the earth through her twelve signs, seem to pass in review, as he reads, "lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by numbers, not one faileth." Nor let advancing years appall or shake the persever- ing believer; for "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall run and not be weary ; and they shall walk and not faint.'* The Second Lesson gives wonderful instruction concerning the true Deity and glorious Incarnation of the Son of GOD, and asks as a solemn question for the closing year : " How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Ube Circumcision THE Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by JESUS CHRIST. The year begins with the day on which the Holy Child, made of a woman, submits to the legal rite which makes him a debtor to the Law, and designates him as "made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." To-day His saving work began in blood, and, being circumcised, He undertook to fulfil 73 The Circumcision the Law ; which He alone perfectly fulfilled, and so showed the Law to be " holy and just and good." This day He received also His saving Name of JESUS, the Name at which every knee shall bow ; and, therefore, in the Name of JESUS, our Saviour and Redeemer, we begin the new year ; praying Him for that circumcision of the spirit which will enable us to live and die unto the Lord according to His will. In the proper Psalms for the day the thoughtful Chris- tian will discern a tone of holy fear, very appropriate to the beginning of a year ; and such expressions of trust in GOD, and of prayer for His protection, as well become the heart and lips of a pilgrim on earth, setting forth anew towards the city that hath foundations. Also in various verses there is reference to the Messiah and His appointed work : " Lo, I come, to do Thy will, O GOD." The Morning Lessons explain each other, and teach us how to read and compare the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The First Evening Lesson sets forth the spiritual nature of the Law as requiring the circum- cision of the heart, and not its mere ritual symbol. The Second Lesson teaches us that Holy Baptism is the true circumcision, and also unfolds its superiority, as a sacra- ment, to the ordinance that was its shadow. In the Communion Service, the Epistle explains how all the faithful become the sons of Abraham, though they have not the outward circumcision of the flesh ; and the Holy Gospel continues the Christmas story till the Oc- tave of the Nativity, when the son of Mary received the name of JESUS, according "to the prophecies which went before on Him." If we would walk with GOD this year, let us commence it with the holy resolutions which this feast is meant to 74 Second Sunday After Christmas inspire, a mortification of our worldly lusts, and a pious spirit of " running with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our Faith." Seconfc Sun&ai? after Gbristmas WHEN there is a Second Sunday after Christmas, it falls so soon after the Circumcision that it is considered a part of that feast, and its Altar Sen-ice is repeated. But Special Lessons are appointed, nevertheless, and thus an opportunity is given for bringing out the double idea of the Circumcision. Christ's obedience to the Law for man, and His "coming by blood," as well as af terward by ' ' water, ' ' is the first thought. The second thought is that the saving Name of JESUS, "as the Name which is above every name, and to which every knee shall bow." This Name, specially prefigured in that of Joshua, and prenamed by the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin, is the Name assumed by the Eternal Word of GOD, on taking our nature: it means a Saviour; and it designates the way of salvation, through the veil of His flesh. Now, "the king's name is a tower of strength," and the First Lesson may be regarded as setting forth the might and power which GOD'S people possess in the name of Him who is their "strength and their Re- deemer." The Incarnate GOD ; this is the thing signified by the name of a man given to the Son of GOD ; and this is that truth in which the Gospel finds free course, and glorifies itself among men. We therefore bow at the Name of JESUS because, though it is the name of a man, we would confess its dignity, when it is made the 75 The Epiphany Name of the Divine Person who condescended to bear it. In the Second Lesson the new circumcision is brought into view, in the baptism of JESUS. He comes by water as well as by blood. In the Evening, we have the prophecy which is applied to our Lord expressly by the Evangelist, St. Matthew, and the whole of which is a picture of JESUS as a Saviour. St. Paul quotes the closing words of it, as applied to Christ : " He will magnify the Law, and make it honor- able." In the Second Lesson, we read St. Paul's strong expression of that which has been and which was ever to be the pith and marrow of his preaching, " JESUS CHRIST and Him crucified," "speaking the wisdom of GOD in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which GOD ordained before the world . . . revealed unto us by His Spirit" and through the glorious Incarnation of the Son of GOD. Ube Epfpbanp THIS Festival, called also Twelfth-Day, is one of peculiar interest to those who realize the great power of GOD, by which we Gentiles have received the Gospel. On this day came the first-fruits of the Gentiles, to pay homage to the new-born King of Nations ; thus ren- dering an early representative acknowledgment of His lawful right in behalf of all the Gentile world. As for us, who dwell in these "uttermost parts of the earth," which were peculiarly given to the Only Begotten Son for His inheritance, there seems a great propriety that we should keep the feast with a willing and a holy worship ; presenting ourselves before GOD, on its recurrence, as 76 The Epiphany living witnesses, that those " who sat in darkness have seen a great light." The day is frequently called "The Feast of Lights." In the Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, we observe a very delicate and beautiful judgment in the appoint- ment of Special Psalms and Lessons. As the word Epiphany implies a glorious Shining, or Manifestation, there can be no need of pointing out the propriety of the First Morning Lesson, which begins with a blaze of glory ; the whole of which is so cheering a prediction of the ingathering of the nations ; and in which the visit of the wise men is particularly prophesied, in the passage, "they shall bring gold and incense." The Second Les- son contains that solemn warning by which the great Doctor of the Gentiles calls on his converts to be humble, and not to copy the Jew, in despising others, as being now a chosen people ; informing them that if GOD had dealt so severely with His former people as to cut them off for their barrenness, it was evident that the Gentiles, who were but grafted into the good old olive- tree, would not be more tenderly treated if they also should prove cumberers of the ground. The two Les- sons taken together will have a most happy effect upon the heart of the truly devout believer. The one calls him to give GOD glory, for the unspeakable blessings of the Gospel ; and the other to fear before Him, lest the richness of the gift should, by neglect, bring in the end a greater condemnation. The latter suggests some serious ideas with respect to the future prospects of the Jews, and of the fulfilling of "the times of the Gentiles"; as well as, in the concluding verses, an humbling view of our ability to foresee how or in what degree the mercies of Christ, through the Gospel, are to abound to all mankind. 77 The Epiphany When we reflect, however, that the Apostle is address- ing the Church of Rome in her virgin purity, it does certainly seem as if he were intimating her awful apos- tasy and rejection, when he says so solemnly, " Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith: be not high-minded, but fear ; for if GOD spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of GOD, toward thee goodness if thou continue in His goodness, othet~ivise thou also shalt be cut off." Here, certainly, is no intimation even of indefectibility in the See of Rome ; and we are, possibly, beholding the days in which this awful excision is near. Let us also fear and not triumph in so great a downfall ! The Evening Psalms and Lessons, in like manner, will impress the thoughtful with a pleasing sense of pro- priety. They are all in the same vein of prophetic rapture, which characterizes all the promises of the Gospel-Day, which were made to the Ancient Church by the burning lips of Isaiah and the Psalmists. The Second Lesson is the history of one of the Epiphanies ; for the ancient name of this feast is in the plural, and includes the commemoration (besides that of the visit of the Magi) of the first miracle, and of the baptism of our Lord, in which he was first manifested to Israel. In- deed, this baptism is a primary Epiphany, in view, es- pecially, of that anointing of the Holy Ghost which manifested Him as the Messiah, that is, the anointed Prophet, Priest, and King, who had been promised from the beginning of the world. In the Altar Service, the Epistle is appropriately taken from St. Paul, to show the might and grace of GOD, in making that Apostle a "chosen vessel of His name to the Gentiles "; and the Gospel is the pictured narrative of the 78 The First Sunday after the Epiphany wise men's visit, as given by St. Matthew. The proper Psalms appointed for this feast include, of course, the y2d, enabling us to repeat the prophecy, " the kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts"; and to rehearse many prom- ises of GOD'S goodness to the Gentiles even to the end of the earth. It is scarcely necessary to say that, in ancient tradition, those wise men were kings. (Psalm Ixxii. 10, u.) Bishop Taylor calls them "the Levantine Princes," and adopts the beautiful comment of St. Hilary, that their gifts were symbolical, the gold, of tribute to a king, the incense, of adoration to GOD, the myrrh, of recognition as a mortal, and a man of sorrows. With Twelfth-Night the Christmas holidays conclude. At the altar of the Chapel Royal of St. James', the reigning Sovereign of England still pays a Twelfth-Day oblation at the Offertory, in gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Let us pray, for the sake of that august and venerable Church of our fathers , which worldly politicians would fain oppress and despoil, that GOD would make such homage more than a thing of form, and that all kings and potentates may become in very deed nursing fathers and mothers to the Church, and defenders of the Faith. fffrst SuitoaB after tbe Epipbanp THE Sundays after the Epiphany bear us gently along in the growing light of the Sun of Righteousness, now manifested to the world. In the Morning Prayer, this day, we note the First Lesson as selected with primary reference to its awful 79 The First Sunday after the Epiphany rebuke of Idolatry, from which the heathen were called by the Star of Bethlehem, to the worship and service of the living GOD. Besides this, the beautiful anthem, "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it," suffi- ciently marks it as proper to this holy season of spiritual refreshing. The Second Lesson takes up the story of the wise men's visit, and subjoins the narrative of its imme- diate consequences, the flight into Egypt, and the mar- tyrdom of the Innocents. In the Evening Prayer, the First Lesson contains that appropriate call to the nations: "A just GOD and a Saviour, there is none beside Me: look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." But the immediate reason for its selection is the prediction which the Fathers discovered in it, as compared with the loth verse of the 72d Psalm : "The Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine ; . . . they shall fall down unto thee, saying, Surely GOD is in thee ; . . . verily thou art a GOD that hidest thyself, O GOD of Israel ', the Saviour." In the gifts which the wise men brought, if not in the words which they uttered at the time, they fulfilled this prophecy, confessing JESUS as, to their faith, "Goo manifest in the flesh," though hidden from the world. The Second Lesson contains St. Paul's outpour- ing of his heart for the enlightenment and salvation of his own nation and through them of the whole Gentile world, a notable chapter full of the missionary thought, which is the keynote to the understanding of the services at Epiphany tide. The old Introit, appointed by the Anglican Reformers, was the Usquequo, Doniine, or i3th Psalm, appropriate to be sung as the Priest goes to the Altar to begin the Communion Service. To see its application we must suppose it the song of the wise men, recounting their 80 The First Sunday after the Epiphany long and patient expectation of the Epiphany, and their exceeding great joy at the appearance of the star. The Collect is from the old Sacramentary of Gregory the Great, but is found in even older Liturgies, and has no doubt been used on this Sunday for at least sixteen hundred years, by the churches of the saints. When St. Paul beheld the Epiphany of Christ on his way to Damascus, he at once recognized it as a call to a work and warfare for the glory of His Name, and he cried, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" In like manner the Church recognizes the manifestation of JESUS, as laying us under the deepest obligation to devote our- selves to His service; and so puts into our mouths a prayer for wisdom "to perceive and know what things we ought to do; and for grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same." Let this Service, therefore, be regarded as one peculiarly calling on us to show our gratitude for the blessings of the Gospel, by a healthful missionary zeal. If we value the grace of GOD, we must extend it to those heathen who are as yet unclaimed to be the Lord's inheritance. And let us particularly remember in our prayers at this Holy Season all true missionaries of the cross, wherever throughout the world they are bearing the sign of the world's redemption ! The Epistle is from the great Doctor of the Gentiles himself, teaching us, in answer to our prayers, the things which ice ought to do. The Holy Gospel displays the Holy Child in one of the earliest Epiphanies of that gracious power by which He "spake as never man spake." It tells us also that He " increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with GOD and man"; or, in other words, that as the natural sun grows brighter and brighter in our sight from the dawning to the noon- day, though in itself the same all the while, so the Sun 6 81 Second Sunday after the Epiphany of Righteousness was manifested more and more, in the flesh, till " we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Seconb SunCrnp after tbe jEpipbans THE attentive worshipper will now be quite prepared to detect for himself the special texts of the Epiphany Season, as they occur in the Lessons. To indicate only one or two; we have in the First Lesson the reference to a "Light of the people," and the promise, "the Isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust." In the Second Lesson, the Holy Baptist repeats the story of the Redeemer's Baptismal Epiphany, and again mani- fests Him to Israel as "the Lamb of GOD, that taketh away the sins of the world." At Evening Prayer we have the passage, " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace !" The whole chapter is a sort of Missionary Anthem, and every heart must feel its appro- priateness. The early Christians regarded prophetic references to the "Arm of the Lord," or the "Right Hand of the Lord," as designating the Son of GOD, while the "Finger of GOD" was often regarded as the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son. A beautiful Epiphany text is seen, therefore, in the pas- sage, " The Lord hath made bare His Holy Arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our GOD." The Second Lesson exhibits the glorious instruments of evangelizing the heathen, which the Lord raised up in Paul, Apollos, and Cephas; yet forbids us to give the glory to these 82 Third Sunday after the Epiphany mere vessels of His election, and calls the whole Church to preserve the one hope of their calling, in the unity of the Spirit. The Epistle speaks ol Faith and Hope, but enlarges on Charity as the essential spirit of the Gospel, and gives the precept, "let Love be without dissimula- tion." The Gospel is the manifestation of Christ by His first Miracle, one of the three principal Epiphanies. It connects with the Second Morning Lesson, being a continuation of it. The Collect will be seen to be ap- propriate, as the prayer of Gentiles calling themselves the people of GOD, and asking for that peace which His ministers publish, and the Covenant of which they also establish as the Ministry of Reconciliation. Ml Ubirfc Sunbag after tbe Epipbang THE prominent thing in the Sen-ice to-day is the Holy Gospel containing the narrative of our Lord's mercy to a Gentile, the Roman centurion. His com- mendation of Gentile faith, in the words, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel," must also be noted. To this he subjoins a promise of the ingathering of Gentiles from East and West, and North and South, with the awful threat to reject Israel, "but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness." The Epistle is a specimen of that heavenly morality which the Gospel preached to the Romans and other Gentiles, who worshipped Brute Force, and War, and Fraud, and Revenge, and Hatred, teaching them to throw down these idols, and to enthrone Love, Joy, and Peace in their stead. The Collect teaches us to look to "the right hand of the Lord" for that defence which 83 Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany the heathen expect from their own hands, their bows and spears, and from their false gods. The First Lessons, at both services, are prophecies of the conversion of the Gentiles, so full that it is almost impossible to select special passages. In the Morning, the text which may most strike us will be, perhaps, that command to ancient Israel to make room for the ad- mission of other nations: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, spare not ; lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes." But then we must not overlook the repeated reference to the Lord, as the Redeemer, showing the Divinity and Atonement of Christ ; and the highly poeti- cal conclusion of the "Lesson is to be understood as a prophetic version of the promise that the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against the Church of Christ. The Second Lessdns are also full of appropriate texts. In the Morning the prophecy of Christ, as a Great Light to the people that sat in darkness, is quoted, and applied to its first fulfilment in Syria, "beyond Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles." In the Evening Prayer St. Paul narrates the sufferings of the early Missionaries of Christ, and their support and comforts in their work. He also shows that where Christ is preached it is the fault of those who hear it, if the Gospel is not manifested to them : 'tis only hid because they worship Mammon. jfourtb Sun&aE after tbe Epfpbang. THE Morning Lesson, from Isaiah, declares the pur- pose of the Lord in bringing in the sons of the stranger to share the blessing of the Covenant. The Gospel Lesson exhibits Christ beginning His ministry by read- 84 Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany ing in the synagogue a lesson from Isaiah, and expound- ing it by a sermon in which He announces Himself as the "Holy One" thus spoken of in prophecy, and as being come, in person, to preach the Gospel to the poor. Observe this new Epiphany. The "anointing of the Spirit," of which the prophet speaks, was that descent of the Holy Ghost upon Christ at His baptism, to which He refers so often as His mission. Therefore, preach- ing His first sermon, He says, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." In the Evening Lesson from the prophet, there is the sad picture of. the iniquities and waywardness of the people which have separated them from their GOD, but at the close, the glorious promise: "the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from trans- gression." The great and critical periods of the Church, when iniquity has so abounded as to threaten her extinc- tion, have ever been the occasion for signal deliverances ; and thus the promise has been fulfilled: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." In the Second Lesson we have St. Paul's statement of the blessedness of dying in the Lord, and he proceeds to show how the Gospel of Christ, and that only, is capable of producing such blessedness, in view of the great realities of Death and Judgment. The Collect recognizes our many spiritual dangers, and appeals to GOD for the aid of His Spirit, to support and guide the soul. The Epistle shows that the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and that it obliges its sub- jects to be obedient to the laws of earthly rulers. The Gospel, which the Collect seems to fit more especially, displays the power of Christ to defend us in perils of the great deep, and in all the assaults of the devil. It 85 Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany suits the Epiphany, more especially, as displaying His power and majesty in controlling the winds and the waves. All the powers of Nature obey Him, and even unclean spirits attest His divinity and supremacy, and bear fearful witness to the wrath to come. Thus He is identified as the Promised Seed, who should "destroy the works of the devil." But a striking display of the hardness and uncleanness of the human heart is afforded in the conclusion of the Gospel ; for this merciful and Holy JESUS, in spite of all His marvellous acts of benev- olence, is entreated to depart from their coasts by cer- tain people, who find His presence an impediment, to their unlawful gains. Thus, as we learned on the third Sunday, the Gospel is sometimes hid, when it would be manifested but for the disposition of money-lovers to worship the god of this world rather than Him who alone can give us the true riches. MP ffiftb suufcaE after tbe WHEN we observe how full of Epiphany texts are the prophets of the Old Testament, we need not wonder that the Church calls us to dwell on them for a suc- cession of Sundays. We must reflect that we are now commemorating the Incarnation of the Son of GOD, and the great ends for which GOD consented to this marvel- lous abasement. It is impossible that we should become too thoroughly acquainted with what Scripture has re- vealed on this great point. When our blessed Lord began His ministry' at Naza- reth, where He was brought up, He did so, as we were reminded last Sunday, by going into the synagogue on 86 Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany the Sabbath-day, and taking the book of the prophet Isaiah from the Minister, and reading therefrom a pro- phecy of the Mission which he had just received of His baptism, adding, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." It was, probably, by a providential coin- cidence, the lesson of the day in the Jewish calendar, and it is still the custom in Jewish synagogues for the Rabbi to call on some of the people to assist in reading the Lessons, a privilege which they often purchase. The First Morning Lesson, to-day, is this very passage of Isaiah, which the Holy JESUS Himself thus read as a Lesson, and then preached upon. Reflect on this as the Minister of Christ goes on to do as his Master did, and your heart will burn within you. The voice of Christ that day has never ceased. It was ' ' the Father that had sent Him," and so afterward He sent others, and by His ministers He prolongs that reading and preaching which He Himself instituted at Nazareth. The Second Lesson recounts the Master's strong testimony to the worth and ministry of John His Forerunner, and tells how He Him- self carried forward His Ministry in fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy. The Evening Lessons are, first, a promise of the en- largement of Zion, by receiving in the Gentiles, and second, St. Paul's argument that the Gentiles are not bound to observe the letter of the Ceremonial Law, but only the Moral Precepts of Moses. Observe the text, " Thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name." After the addition of Gen- tiles to Israel, the people of GOD are indeed no more called Israelites, but Christians : this promise was there- fore fulfilled, in part, when the Lord named His house- hold His Church, (St. Matt. xvi. iS,) and when the dis- ciples were first called Christians at Antioch. This 87 Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany great idea of a Church, denationalized and made to embrace all mankind, finds its further fulfilment in the Creed, where the new name is adopted, with an apostolic prefix, "the Holy Catholic Church." In the Collect for the day we have the same idea, in the petition, "Keep Thy Church and Household continually in Thy true re- ligion." The Epistle reverts to the subject of Charity, and con- tinues the exposition of that Morality, by which the Gospel has sanctified even the " philosophical virtues," which were all that ' ' the world by wisdom' ' ever knew. In the Gospel we observe the conflict of the truth with the powers of darkness. Christ was "manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil" ; but the devil resists, and the victory is not to be complete till the end of the world. Meantime, the existence of any wheat in such a field as this world, is a manifestation of the King- dom of Heaven, even though the tares are growing with them. Siitb Sunfcas after tbe lEpipbam? THAT grand Epiphany which is yet future is brought into view, to-day, to close this solemn Season. It is the Epiphany of the Son of GOD, in the clouds of Heaven, when men shall no longer be able to blind, their eyes to the glory of His power and Godhead. Coincident with this will be the "manifestation of the sons of GOD," whom He, as their Elder Brother, condescends to call His brethren. They will be part of His glory ; the trophies of His victory ; the evidences of his ability to "destroy the works of the devil," and to crown all by destroying Satan himself, casting him, forever, into the 88 Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany place prepared for him and his angels. The tares he planted, and all who refuse to be the sons of GOD must perish with Satan. This, therefore, is all summed up in the Collect for this day. The connection of the Gospel with the Collect is evident enough, as it is a full and thrilling prediction of His second coming by Christ Himself. This Service, when crowded out of its place by the approach of Lent, is sometimes taken up, by a provision of the Rubric, just before the season of Advent, at the close of the Christian year ; and this Gospel makes it as strikingly appropriate to that season as it is to this. The Epistle connects with the words of the Collect, in its opening ejaculation, "Behold, what man- ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" ; and also in its con- cluding words, "For this purpose the Son of GOD was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." In the Morning Lesson from Isaiah, we have the passage, ' ' I am sought of them that asked not for Me, I am found of them that sought Me not." Now, St. Paul ( Romans x. 20) tells us that Isaiah was "very bold" in thus warning the Hebrews that the Gentiles were to be their brethren, in the true Israel of GOD. His Greek translation and, again, our English rendering of his quo- tation, are a little nearer the idea of the Epiphany than the original, as here given : "I was made manifest to them that asked not after Me." Such is our New Testament version. The Second Lesson continues the story of our Lord's active ministry, the sending out of the Twelve, and the beheading of John the Baptist. At Evening Prayer observe, among the manifold promises of the spirit of prophecy, that extraordinary one of a Christian Priesthood : " I will also take of them 89 The Paschal System (the Gentiles) for Priests and for Levites, saith the Lord." Now, even a Jew was inadmissible to the Priesthood unless he belonged to the tribe of Levi and was of the sons of Aaron. Here, then, was a prediction of a new succession of Apostolic Priests and Levites ; and we see the fulfilment in every Diocese, which is a complete Church, having its High Priest, Priests, and Levites, now called Bishop, Priests, and Deacons. The Second Lesson is a rebuke of the Jewish Christians for not seeing this great principle, that " GOD is able to raise up children unto Abraham" from those not natu- rally of his seed, and that the test of a true Israelite, since Christ came, is the faith of Abraham, and not his blood. Besides, Christ is the true Seed of Abra- ham, to Whom all the promises are made ; and all who are grafted into Him by faith and by baptism (the true circumcision) are thus made true Israelites. So, then, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in CHRIST JESUS ; and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs, according to the promise." On this sublime exposition the teaching of the Epiphany Season may rest. It explains our right to use the Old Testament Scriptures, and shows that we are built on the foundation of Prophets, as well as of Apostles, JESUS CHRIST Himself being the chief corner-stone. Ubc pascbal System SINCE Advent Sunday, the current of our devotion has flowed on, like that of a river. Now it is met by a tide, as it were, from the great deep, which obeys the ordinances of the moon, and often sets further back and 90 The Paschal System overwhelms the Season of the Epiphany at its very be- ginning. In a word, we have reached one of the limits within which the Movable Feasts advance and recede through long cycles of years, mysteriously varying the Christian anniversaries, and suggesting a measure of time more in accordance with our eternal destinies than that of years and months and days. It is edifying to ob- serve that this law of sympathy with the cycles of the moon was given to His Church by the Creator Himself, who placed the sun and moon in Heaven, not alone for their physical properties, but for moral uses. He made them "for signs and for seasons"; and He developed this great purpose, when He gave the Paschal Season to the Hebrews, as the mere shadow of that which the Christian Church perpetuates till the sun and moon shall cease to shine. So, then, as the great tides of ocean sweep around our planet, this great Evangelical System, of more than three thousand years' duration, continues its sublime and regular operation on the wor- ship of the Catholic Church, from age to age, in such wise that every rolling year is full of Him who is " the very Paschal Lamb, that taketh away the sins of the world." That the Paschal Season was not given to the Jews, as a temporary and carnal ordinance, but rather as the germ of a perpetual and spiritual one, seems apparent, not only from the plan of GOD in creation, but from the express records of Holy Scripture, and from the analo- gies of other Christian Institutions. Thus, Circumcision, as existing long before Moses, is perpetuated in the Sacrament of Baptism ; and a similar law is recognized in the principle of the Christian Sabbath, which we call the Lord's Day. In fact, it is reversing the true principle of the divine The Paschal System ordinances, to speak of these things as originally Jewish Institutions, which, in process of time, were changed into Christian ones. Rather, we should say, the Chris- tian ordinances, in their richness and solid substance, "of the body of Christ," were foreshadowed by these mere types. The Christian sabbath was presignified by the original institution of a sabbath at the foundation of the world. Christian Baptism was foreshadowed in cir- cumcision ; the Lord's Supper, in Melchisedec's bread and wine, and in the Jewish meat-offering ; and so the Christian Paschal, commemorative of Christ's Atone- ment, was foreordained in the altar of Abel, in Abra- ham's sacrifice on Mount Moriah, and, above all, in the Jewish Passover, which "showed forth the Lord's death until He came." It is singular that, in modern times, there are many Christians who recognize this principle so far as the first day of the week is concerned, and yet reject its fuller application to the feasts of Easter and Pentecost, al- though the Holy Scriptures furnish the same reasons for observing the latter as are urged for the former, and although the primitive practice which is always cited for the one institution, is equally positive touching the other. But how can we separate the argument for the observ- ance of Sunday, from that which establishes the annual observance of the Paschal? What is Sunday, more or less, than " An Easter-Day in every week?" The New Testament will be found as clearly and ex- pressly testifying to the annual "day of the Lord" as a Christian feast, as it does to the weekly Lord's Day. Thus, St. Paul says to the Corinthians, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the 92 The Paschal System feast" ; and a little examination of the text and context will suffice to show that both he and those to whom he wrote were just then celebrating the yearly Easter. In fact, our Lord's own command and ordinance concerning Pentecost was a re-enactment of that festival and of the Paschal feast, on which it depended. The Jewish Church had passed away, but, instead of abolish- ing its Festival system, Christ bade His disciples tarry at Jerusalem certain days after His Ascension; and " when the day of Pentecost was fully come," and while they were devoutly observing it, then, and not till then, did He send the Holy Ghost which He had promised. Now, it must be noted that they were all gathered to- gether, not merely because it was the first day of the week, but because it was the " Feast of Weeks," or Pentecost. The true reason for the pre-establishment of this Feast of Weeks was then shown to be some- thing greater than the giving of the Law; and if the coincidence of the first day of the week with Easter and Pentecost marked it as the hallowed and sanctified day of the Christian Week, then, plainly, those feasts were equally sanctified as the great days of the Christian Year. St. Paul afterwards blames those Christians who kept these days in the Jewish manner, (Gal. iv. 9, 10;) but it is evident that he did not blame them for keeping them in the Christian manner, for he kept them himself, zealously, as appears from many Scriptures. ( See Acts xviii. 21 ; xx. 6, 16; and I. Cor. xvi. 8.) Besides, in his Epistle to the Colossians, (Col. ii. 16,) he shows that the rule of the Christian sabbath is the rule of the Christian holy days. Jews cannot condemn us because we keep the first day, instead of the seventh ; nor because we keep the Paschal by a new law, which more clearly shows "the body of Christ" than did the shadows of the old 93 The Paschal System law. All this will appear the more clearly from the prin- ciple on which we hallow the first day of the week, and apply to it St. John's beautiful phrase, "the Day of the Lord." This phrase, originally, meant the Day of the Resurrection, and so it was understood by the Fathers, because it is borrowed from the Paschal Psalm, (Ps. cxviii.,) which St. Peter quotes, (Acts iv. n,) and applies to that great event. ' ' This is the Day which the Lord hath made," says the Psalmist; and the Apostle shows that this refers to the day when the Lord arose from the dead, "making all things new." It would be hard to show that this great fact, in connectfon with others, sanctifies the first day of the week, without perpetuating the annual " Day of the Lord," which we now call Eas- ter. It is also worthy of note that in Isaiah's prophecies of the Christian Church and Priesthood, (Isa. Ixvi. 23,) the new moons and the sabbaths of the old law are clearly identified as existing under the New Dispensa- tion, though certainly not in their Mosaic form. The mind of the primitive Church must also be re- garded as reflecting in this, as in other respects, the mind of her Master. In the transition from the Jewish to the Christian Institutions there were variations in the customs of different churches, as to the Christian sab- bath and the Christian Paschal. But all these were re- duced to order, and settled finally, in the first General Council at Nice, in the year of our Lord 325. In order that Easter and Pentecost might always coincide with the first day of the week, those laws were adopted which are illustrated in our Prayer-Books after the Calendar. (See Prayer-Book, pp. xxiv.-xxviii.) Thus, the Council decided that Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon which should occur after the soth of March. Hence, it follows that no full moon occurring 94 The Paschal System before the 2ist of March can be taken into account, and that Easter can never take place before the 22d of that month, which is, therefore, known as the prima sedes Paschce, or earliest Easter limit. The earliest and latest limits of all the movable days as they depend on Easter may be seen, at a glance, in the Prayer-Book Tables. In the Nineteenth Century there was but one Easter falling on the earliest limit, namely, that of 1818; and only one on the latest possible date (April 25th), namely, 1886. The concurrences which may make an Easter fall in the month of March are much rarer than those which make it fall in April ; for, out of the one hundred Easters of the last century, only twenty-three occurred in March. The latest date possible is the 25th of April ; for, should there be a full moon on the 2oth of March, then the Paschal full moon will occur twenty-nine days later, that is, on the iSth of Ap4|fand should that day be a Sunday, the celebration of Easter could only take place on the Sunday following, namely, the 25th. \Yhen the Feast of the Resurrection falls within four days of the lowest Easter limit, we have the full number of Epiphany Sundays, an interesting and rare occur- rence. Much solemn reflection on the past and the future does this great system give us from year to year, in con- nection with the wondrous history of our Redemption. Well does the Christian poet say of it, " Yes, if the intensities of hope and fear Attract the still, and passionate exercise Of lofty thoughts, the way before us lies Distinct with signs ; through which, in fixt career As though a zodiac, moves the ritual year Of Holy Church. Stupendous mysteries ! Which whoso travels in her bosom, eyes. As he approaches them, with solemn cheer!" 95 The Paschal System We cannot but wonder, then, how any of the redeemed can rob themselves of that precious annual review of the successive events of our Redemption through the blood of the Lamb, which this great commemoration affords, and which, year after year, deepens our faith and strengthens our hold upon the grand fact of the Atone- ment. The Gospel is a Gospel of facts ; and its historical form seems to require this Evangelical arrangement of time, to impress it upon the mind and heart. "The rolling year is full of Him" Who is our Hope and Joy. Hence, some .Christian sects which have lost the Paschal system of fast and festival have apparently, in the course of time, lost the doctrine of the Atonement itself ; and so GOD justifies His own institutions as " wiser than man," even when they seem to wordly-wise men to be but "foolishness.". Let us cherish, with all Divine and Apostolic ordinances, this most ancient of all existing observances, this great Evangelical system which was pre-eminently the Gospel under the Law, and by means of which, seen in its imperfect form, Christ crucified was set before the eyes of the ancient faithful, for fifteen cen- turies before His first Advent. The Paschal System includes Lent, and its prepara- tory days, starting with Septuagesima Sunday, which is counted backward, from the Octave of Easter. This is a purely ecclesiastical arrangement, but is designed to lead us to the great Remedy, by the way of self-knowl- edge and self-abasement, revealing to ourselves, first of all, our disease, and our need of an Atoning Sacri- fice. The Paschal Season, in the strictest sense, begins on Thursday in Holy Week, and ends on Low Sunday, eight days after the Feast of the Resurrection, and from Septuagesima Sunday just threescore and ten days. 96 Septuagesima Septuaoesima THE Church now enters the penumbra of her Lenten Eclipse, and all her Services are shadowed with the sombre hue of her approaching season of humiliation. The ancient name of this Sunday implies that it is Seventy days to (the last day of) the Feast of the Resurrection ; next Sunday it will be, in round numbers, Sixty days ; then Fifty days ; and then, when Lent is fairly begun, the first Sunday is called Quadragesima, as being only six weeks, or about forty days, to the Grand Feast. Thus, we have turned our back upon dear old Christmas, and the group of holidays that hand-in-hand seemed fairly to dance around it ; and, setting our faces towards the more sober, but still more glorious, light of Easter, we begin to number the days of preparation, which if duly observed will fit us to keep the Paschal as the Apostle commands, "not with the old leaven, . . . but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Nor is the way in which the Church counts these days to be regarded as teaching nothing. It is the way of the world to reckon advancing time by addition ; but the Church now gives us Seventy days, and gently hints to us how life is going, as she bids us daily to subtract one, that so we may " number our days and apply our hearts unto wisdom." In these Seventy days, we thus see a striking emblem of our threescore and ten years, a model of the Christian life, which passes through tears and trials to the Resurrection. While we persevere through Lent, growing more and more desirous of the sunrise of Easter, and rejoicing to find the appointed days diminish as that day draws near, we learn also to pass the few and evil days of our sojourning in this world, feeling every 7 97 Septuagesima day that we have one day less to live, keeping the Great Day always in view, and singing with the Psalmist, " when I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it." The ancient Introit for Septuagesima Sunday is Psalm the 23d: "The Lord, is my Shepherd." It is an ap- propriate choice ; for, as Dr. Hammond has remarked, there is a pathetic strain in this Psalm, which well com- ports with what the day brings into view. The Lenten Season is especially the time when the Church would have her children learn how to live. Life itself should be a Lent, a term of holy discipline, with a Great Easter in constant view. And, as even in Lent come Sundays which are to be kept as feasts, so in Life, days of festivity must be in such proportion as to remind us that restraint, and watchfulness, and penitence are the business, and mirth only the refreshment, of our pil- grimage. The Introit, therefore, sings the joys of the Christian life, as consisting in following the Good Shep- herd whithersoever He goeth ; and looking with con- fidence to death, as brightened by the promise of the supporting rod and staff of Him who, as Easter will remind us, has Himself gone through the Dark Valley, and who will not desert the sheep of His pasture when He brings them also to its shades. There is something sweet, too, in the use of this Psalm, which tells of green meads and waters of comfort, at the very time when the world regards the Church as about to be fed with the bread of affliction, and the drink of tears. And while the way of the Church is set forth in this Psalm as the true way of following the Saviour, its concluding verse gives utterance to a holy purpose of ensuring GOD'S favor, by dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. The Collect, which is the ancient one for this day throughout Western Christendom, is penitential and 98 Septuagesima deprecatory in its character, and seems to have reference to the many prayers which the people of GOD through- out the world are now about to offer up, for individual blessings, and for the "good estate of the Catholic Church." The Epistle is from the great preacher of Faith, St. Paul, and shows what kind of faith he recommends , declaring that even he, whose faith removed so many mountains, nevertheless found works of discipline abso- lutely necessary, lest he should be a castaway. Thus, though he has taught us that bodily exercise, by itself, profiteth as little as, faith without love, he shows us, on the other hand, that the body must be kept under and brought into subjection, in the ways which he elsewhere recommends, \>y fastings often and watching unto prayer. To the same purpose is the Holy Gospel, which repeats the significant warning, "Many be called, but few chosen." The choice of Lessons exhibits the same penitential influences. The plaintive Jeremiah becomes our prophet, denouncing to the wild and grafted branch the same warnings against unfruitfulness, which ages ago he uttered to that good olive-tree, of whose root and fat- ness we Gentiles now partake, but only so long as we are not high-minded, but fear. Let us specially note the prophet's close and searching rebuke of sins against the peace and purity of society, and how he upbraids "such a nation as this," alike in the Morning and Evening Les- sons. There is an invitation to the proper observance of Lent, in the words, " Let us now fear the Lord our GOD that giveth rain, the former and the latter, in his season ; He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest." The Lesson from the Gospel is from the Sermon on the Mount, that better Sinai, where Love gave forth a new 99 Sexagesima edition of the Law, amplified and spiritually explained, and wrote it, " not on tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart." By this law the true penitent must try himself, and he will find reason for keeping Lent. As to the Second Lesson in the Evening Prayer, it may suffice to say that the Church, thinking proper, at this Season, to read through the whole Epistle to the Ephe- sians, begins to do so on this day. The devout Christian will not fail to note that its great argument appears to be our union with Christ by connection with the Church, and the necessity of preserving that union by bringing forth good fruit, to the glory of the True Vine, of which GOD the Father is the husbandman, and all the faithful are the branches. No one can understand the Epistle to the Ephesfons and think lightly of the visible Church. And as the expression predestinated occurs in this Lesson, it may be well to note that pre- destination is defined by the Apostle to be the foreor- daining of individuals to the membership of this visible Church, not to unconditional salvation. Thus, GOD has chosen us to "the adoption of children," which, in Holy Baptism, he established with us. The question is, shall we "make this calling and election sure"? Our probation consists in the working out of our salvation, under this system of privilege and accountability. Seiaoesima LENT draws near : and we are we getting ready to use it aright ? Now is the time for good resolves, as to what acts of self-denial we shall endeavor to practise by the help of the Lord. 100 Sexagesima For Sexagesima, the Psalm Domini est terra (24th) is the old Introit ; in which there seems but little reference to the day or season : save as it describes "the genera- tion of them that seek thy face, O Jacob." Jacob, in this place, signifies the same as Israel, the Church, called of GOD, and thus separated from the world. It may be considered as setting before us the pattern to which we must conform ourselves by the discipline of Lent. The Collect, which comes from the ancient Sacramen- taries, exhibits the Scriptural and primitive doctrine concerning works of discipline and mortification ; de- claring that "we put not our trust in anything that we do." Thus, though we should be able, at this season, to say, " I fast twice in the week," like the Pharisee, (who was right so far, ) we rather smite our breasts and say, "Goo be merciful to me the sinner," like the publican, who, while he did this, left not the other undone. The Epistle shows how St. Paul kept his body under and brought it into subjection. His stripes and imprison- ments, his perils by land and sea, his "deaths oft," were not enough ; he added thereunto vigils often and fastings often. Are we in no danger of being cast- aways, who though in. feasts often scarcely fast on Ash- Wednesday, and cannot "watch one hour"? Or are these mortifications in such an example as St. Paul, and is this record thereof by the Holy Ghost, designed to teach us nothing? By the Gospel we are taught to take heed how we hear. Our Lord Himself gives the parable ; and adds the interpretation thereof, showing "that those only who seek to understand His sayings are in the way of being fully enlightened. His Church exhorts men to ask them- selves how they are accustomed to hear the Gospel ; and 101 Sexagesima if their hearts are rocky, or stony, or thorny, or like the baked and beaten way, to " break up the fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord." Alas, how many, see- ing, see not, and hearing do not understand the teachings of the Word, nor the method by which the Church dis- tributes every portion thereof in due season ! Of the Sentences that begin the Daily Prayer the most appropriate to the Season are those which invite to peni- tence, rather than those which are strictly penitential, and hence better adapted to Lent than to its preparatory season. The Sentence, "When the wicked man" and that from St. John, "If we say that we have no sin," will be found in keeping with the Services of the day. The First Morning Lesson, by the example of the ancient Rechabites, calls us to deny ourselves, for the sake of our Heavenly Father, as faithfully as they did, by the will of their earthly parent. It is an interesting narrative, and a most forcible expostulation with the people of GOD, who are often unwilling even for the few weeks of Lent, to practise as much self-control as the Rechabites did, (and do to this day,) with respect to the precepts of their fathers. The Lesson refers to other duties, however, than "bodily exercise," and re- proaches us with our general unfaithfulness to our Father in Heaven. The Second Lesson continues the Sermon on the Mount, and we are taught by our Blessed Lord Him- self how we are to give alms and pray and fast, in order to obtain acceptance with GOD our Father. At Evening Prayer, the First Lesson is the story of Jehoiakim's burning the roll. To get rid of the fearful warnings of GOD, many, like Jehoiakim, pretend a con- tempt for His Word, and endeavor in every way to hide their real fears, by an outward indifference to its threats 102 Sexagesima and promises. Jehoiakim cut the Word of GOD into shreds with his penknife, and threw it into the fire. The Spirit of GOD immediately dictated a new roll, contain- ing all that was written in the former, "and there were added besides unto them many like words. ' ' Those who stop their ears to the message of GOD'S rebuke only ensure to themselves the greater judgment. The Second Lesson is full of encouragement to newness of life, for those who understand the true nature of their union with Christ, by communion with His Church. In time past we were Gentiles, without Christ, strangers from the Covenant, having no hope, and without GOD in the world. But now in CHRIST JESUS we who sometimes were far off "are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Thus of Jews and Gentiles is made one Holy Catholic Church, reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, JESUS CHRIST Himself being the Chief Corner- stone ; and this is the Communion of Saints : all mem- bers of this spiritual building having access by one Spirit unto the Father. What an exhibition is this of our glorious privileges as members of that ancient Commu- nion in which we are declared to be fellow-citizens with the Saints, and of the household of GOD ! This, then, being our calling, let us be holy even as He that called us is holy, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Let us pray, moreover, for the restoration of that outward and visible sign of Catholic Unit)*, which has been so much impaired by the Papal usurpations. Unity still exists, though union is de- stroyed. Every apostolic Church exhibits apostolic features which sectarians have forfeited ; and the time is coming when the Church's visible unity shall be restored, and then the world will be converted to the Cross of Christ. 103 Quinquagesima THE days of bodily exercise are at hand : therefore in the Service for the day we are reminded of the absolute nothingness both of faith and works, without that love which is the fulfilling of the Law. ' ' I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord, and so will I go to Thine altar"; such is the sweet language of the Introit for this Sunday, which is the Psalm, Be Thou my judge, O Lord ; the 26th Psalm of David. It is partly penitential, partly jubilant. And as in Lent we purpose to be more frequent than ever in our attendance on the sanctuary, it gives expression to this pious resolve, in the words, " Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth." The Collect is modern as to its form, but in substance it is the word of GOD Himself, being composed out of Scripture, so late as the year 1549. Its invocation of the Holy Ghost in anticipa- tion of Lent, to quicken the love of the Saints to one another, and to their dear Lord, reminds us of the voice of the Bride in the Canticles, ' ' Awake, O North wind; and come, thou South, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." All will agree that it is very beautiful, and surely the Catholic spirit survived in those who could mould a Collect so well worthy of stand- ing side by side with the ancient ones ! The Epistle is the rich mine from which the Collect was brought out. If the Collect requires any proof, you have it in the Epistle ; if the Epistle needs any comment, you have it in the Collect. The Holy Gospel is a foreshadowing of the crucifixion ; and is designed to affect us as it did the Apostles them- selves, when "JESUS took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all 104 Quinquagesima things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished." Moreover, it warns 1 us that "JESUS of Nazareth passeth by," and seems to take up the strains of the First Lesson " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ?" The Season of Grace is com- ing and going. Now is the time to cry, with the blind man, " JESUS, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." The First Lesson in the Morning Service will powerfully dispose to humiliation and fasting all those who reflect on the awful changes which have reduced the Catholic Church to her present forlorn and divided state. " How is she become a widow she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces ! . . . She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. . . . All her friends have dealt treacherously with her ; they are become her enemies. The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to her solemn feast ; all her gates are desolate, her priests sigh. . . . Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper ; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions." This is language that well becomes us in the present state of the Church, and it should prepare us for the day of sackcloth and ashes. Let us reflect that as the Seven Churches in the Apocalypse were still Churches, and enjoyed Christ's presence, although some of them were grossly corrupt, so now every branch of the Vine, whether Greek, or Coptic, or Roman, or German, or Gallican, is to be prayed for, and hoped for, till Christ Himself has cut it off and cast it away. We have a duty to purify ourselves, and others if we can ; but we are not per- mitted to judge others, or to attempt to hasten the judg- ment which GOD forbears to execute. The Second Lesson is full of warnings from our Lord, that we fail not to remember the purpose of the discipline of Lent, 105 Ash- Wednesday that we judge not lest we be judged, that we continue instant in prayer, that we enter in at the straight gate, that we bring forth good fruit, that we renounce all hypocrisy, that we be careful to build our character on the rock and not on shifting sand. The Evening Lesson, from the Lamentations, suggests a pause for reflection at every verse. Yet we have seen its touching appeals read in the Church, to a congrega- tion evincing by their manner not the least appreciation of its meaning, not the least conception of its delicate fitness to the approach of Ash-Wednesday. " Remem- bering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall!" And again, "It is of the Lord's mer- cies that we are not consumed ; because His compas- sions fail not : they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness !" Who can read who can hear such Scriptures, without emotion, contrition, and that " char- ity without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before GOD" ? The Second Lesson continues the Epistle to the Ephesians, and concludes with one of the sublimest doxologies in the writings of St. Paul. The whole Lesson is a climax of fervid eloquence and majestic doctrine. THE Season of Lent begins on a Wednesday, in order that, omitting Sundays, just forty days may be accom- plished before Easter, in humble imitation of the Re- deemer's fasting in the wilderness. The Mosaic Law provided for a great fast of expia- tion ; and the Christian Church, adapting the idea to 106 Ash- Wednesday the atonement of Christ, as celebrated at the Christian Passover, and instituting Lent as a proper preface of the Paschal solemnities, seems to have acted on the warrant of our Saviour Himself: "The days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away ; and then shall they fast in (hose days." The duty of fasting is ordained of Christ Himself : there must be a time for every duty ; and therefore the Church appoints a time in all respects fitting and appro- priate. Not to "hear the Church," in a matter so Scriptural, and so true to her Divine Mission, is to run the risk of being made "as a heathen man, and a pub- lican." "Welcome, dear feast of Lent," says holy George Herbert, intimating that to fast in the flesh is to feast in the Spirit ; and, oh, how true it is, when the promised " feast of fat things" is now before us, in the sacrifice of Redemption ! To this grand central fact all things are now subordinated : first we are made to look at our own uncleanness, and then our eyes are turned to the Foun- tain in JESUS' side. "Rend your heart, and not your garments," is the fitting beginning of the Morning Prayer to-day. The Seven Penitential Psalms are all used in the Sen-ices, the Miserere (Psalm sist) occurring in the Penitential Office to be used after the Litany. Thus the Morning Prayer is provided with the first four and the Evening Prayer with the last three of the Penitentials. In reciting the Penitential Psalms, let every soul reflect that he is a sharer in human misery and sin, and that at his very "best estate he is altogether vanity." So, then, though he may be, in the world's sight, far enough from the condition therein described, he is, in GOD'S sight, poor indeed, and "there is no whole part in his 107 Ash- Wednesday body." In a few years the most healthy and prosperous of us must lie down in the dust, and become a prey to corruption and worms; and the fire and the worm that are eternal may yet be our awful doom. With such certainties in view, and with such possibilities to be encountered and resisted by prayer and self-denial, every man may find these Psalms suited to himself; and happy is he who, by genuine self-abasement and contrition, makes them the outcry of his soul and body unto a gracious Redeemer. The First Lesson is a solemn warning from Prophecy that the great thing required of a penitent is the putting away of iniquity, and the exercise of that love to our fellow-men which is the surest sign of love to GOD. The prophet denounces mere formal fasting, and shows that "the fast which GOD has chosen" consists in showing mercy to the poor, and doing to others as we would that they should do to us. The Second Lesson is that beau- tiful chapter from St. Luke which tells how the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son were sought and found and joyfully restored to their rightful place. Even so is there joy in the presence of the Angels of GOD over every sinner that repenteth. To-day, the entire Litany is used ; and after that, the Ash-Wednesday supplications, called the "Penitential Office." These solemn sighs are joined in by the whole congregation with one voice, when first the priest has begun them "between the porch and the altar," as ap- pointed of old in Israel. The flood-gates of the soul are opened in these words, which are taken from Scripture, and which the Spirit has supplied to help our infirmities, as "with groanings that cannot be uttered." Every individual offers them for himself, as knowing the plague of his own heart ; and yet, in her corporate character, the 108 Ash- Wednesday Bride of Christ may be regarded as thus imitating her Lord in His fasting, and in His contest with Temptation. She uses what " is written," even as He did, and in His strength she prevails. It is a sublime thought, that in many lands and in divers tongues, but with language very nearly identical, the Church Catholic, in her sad and divided estate, still presents herself before GOD on this day, bearing this stupendous testimony to human misery and sinfulness, and to the fulness of mercy and of right- eousness which is provided for her in CHRIST JESUS by His Atonement and Mediatorship ! In the First Evening Lesson, we have an ancient example of fasting in sackcloth and ashes, and of the benefits secured thereby. The name of the fast is justi- fied by this Lesson ; for, although we neither gird sack- cloth on our loins, nor sprinkle ashes on our heads, as was done among Eastern nations of old, we do both in spirit ; calling to mind the approach of a day when "ashes to ashes" shall be the sentence of the Church over our mortal part, and when it must submit to the sentence of GOD Himself, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." In the Second Lesson, we have a most fervent exhortation from the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, urging us to the devout use of all discipline, and reminding us, in closing, of Esau, who because of his light regard for holy things, "when he would have inherited a blessing was rejected." For the Epistle in the Communion Service, we have the words of the prophet Joel, " Sanctify a fast." It is a pleasing thought that when those ancient priests "blew the trumpet in Zion," they were, in fact, opening the high solemnities which we still perpetuate. "Let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet ; let the priests, the ministers of the 109 Ash- Wednesday Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach." Let Christian parents note also the words, "gather the children," which supply a hint to pastors and families that even children must not be overlooked on a day like this. The Gospel presents us with our Saviour's rule of fasting ; to which it is only requisite to subjoin His other rule, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." No degree of " bodily exercise" is required of any one which is really inconsistent with health and the performance of other duties. The Church prescribes Fasting on Ash-Wednesday and Good Friday, and such a degree of abstinence on other fasting days as is suited to extraordinary devotions ; but she makes no distinction of meats, in the manner of the Jews and ancient heretics, and leaves details to every man's con- science, in the fear of GOD. Real self-denial is the essence of fasting, provided it be in the spirit of peni- tence and faith, and not as a work of human merit. Fasting is not merely a monitor, making us feel that we are pilgrims, and "prisoners of hope," in a miserable world, but also it is an exercise of the soul against peril of the tempter. Many men are slaves to lust and drunk- enness ; they exhibit a soul in bondage to the body, and they say they cannot help it. They have never resisted lawful appetite, and hence unlawful passion has been too strong for them. If, then, we would prepare for the assaults of the devil, let us sanctify a fast, and endeavor to form a habit of living " not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." In ancient times the Church, on this day, put offenders to open rebuke ; and while discipline is less active, let each lay GOD'S comminations sincerely to heart, and no Ash- Wednesday judge himself thereby. And as commonly, on this day, the penitent and humble-minded alone are found at Church, a more profitable opportunity for the publica- tion of Ecclesiastical censures seems afforded by this day than by the days in which there are more present than would be likely to receive the same in the spirit en- joined by the Apostle. (Galatians vi. i.) The Pentateuch supplies our Old Testament calen- dar Lessons, during Lent, in the Daily Prayer. This is appropriate to the Forty Days, as the history of forty years in the wilderness, during which time the children of Israel fed on manna, and gave us an example of all the experiences, dangers, combats, encouragements, and spiritual refreshments by which we are tried and strength- ened in this vale of misery, till we pass the Jordan of Death and enter the Land of Promise. There have also been provided special Lenten Lessons (Prayer-Book, p. xi.), which by many are found most edifying, and yet it is a question whether the record of the Forty Years' wanderings is not, after all, more suited to the Season. Among private duties of Lent, the propriety of ab- staining from ordinary amusements must be obvious. It is justly considered out of character, too, to celebrate a marriage in Lent ; and if ever this rule is departed from, it is plainly a duty to dispense with the ordinary festivi- ties and merrymakings. The writer has known the most unhappy results to follow an unbecoming marriage of this sort ; the distraction of young minds, at the time and afterwards, impairing all the sanctities of Lent. Thus, the unreflecting parties who chose such a season for their wedding, may have been the cause of inflicting endless evil upon souls. Among other private duties of Lent may be mentioned Intercessions in Church, and in the Closet, for all pas- iii The First Sunday in Lent tors and their flocks during this season of Grace ; for Missionaries, and the heathen ; for those who live in sin ; and for Christians who have departed from the unity of the Apostolic Family. Let us never forget that GOD is dishonored by the melancholy divisions which disgrace the Christianity of our country, and ' ' by reason of which the way of truth is evil spoken of." Lent is a fitting time to exercise ourselves in seeking the scattered sheep, winning them back to the fold, and saying to them, as we invite them to keep this blessed Season with us, " Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." Let us recognize, however, the obligation of honoring, in such Christians, the gifts and graces which GOD may have already imparted to them by His Spirit, and let us endeavor to " speak the truth in love," as the means which GOD has ordained for " teaching them the way of the Lord more perfectly." Ube Jfirst Sunfcap in %ent OUR blessed Lord fasted forty days without intermis- sion ; but while we endeavor to follow His holy example, every seventh day is a blessed feast, recurring like wells in the desert of Baca, and like pools filled with water, lest we should faint by the way. Sunday is always a feast commemorative of the Resurrection, and the Sun- days in Lent are not days of Lent, though they partake of the solemn and disciplinary character of the Season. Let us go, then, from Sunday to Sunday, as from strength to strength, halting on the first day of the week, like travellers at a green spot in the wilderness, and then setting forward anew, with refreshed and stimulated as- 112 The First Sunday in Lent pirations after that heavenly Canaan towards which we are faring. The old Introit for the day is the Psalm Beati quorum, (32d,) which is one of the Seven Penitentials. In the Collect we implore the Lord for grace to keep the fast, with due bodily exercise for the proper spiritual ends. To this let all say Amen, with purpose of heart to make the effort it implies. Nor let any persons suppose themselves morally free to disregard the precept, as a thing indiffer- ent. It is the call of GOD ; and he that refuses to hear the trumpet which is blown in Sion, and to sanctify the fast, should fear lest he be visited with judgment for his neg- lect. Perhaps ' ' many are weak and sickly among us, ' ' and fast in spite of their wills, because they do not voluntarily fast for their souls' good. They do not bring themselves down, in fear, and so GOD brings them down, in judg- ment and in mercy. When the ancient people of GOD refused to let their lands lie fallow on the seventh year, He carried them into captivity, till the time was fully made up, that the land might enjoy its Sabbaths. Per- haps in the same way now, by sickness and disease, He makes the neglecters of their duty in Lent humble them- selves, unwillingly, and so keep the Church's fast. We speak not of those without her pale: we "warn the unruly" who boast themselves her sons. In the Epistle, while its adaptation to Ember- Week is apparent in its enumeration of the gifts and graces of the Apostles and primitive ministers, we are also reminded of their labors and sufferings for our sake. The example of Apostles approving themselves by labors, by vigils, and by fastings, is thus presented with that of their Divine Lord and Saviour, which follows in the Holy Gospel. This latter exhibits the Man of Sorrows, in that "fasting and temptation" by which we supplicate The First Sunday in Lent His mercy in the Litany. It shows the temptation of the Prophet in the Desert ; of the Priest on the Temple ; and of the King upon the Mountain. It tells us how He was tempted in all points like as we are ; assailed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, the flesh, the world, and the devil, yet without sin. It teaches us how He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and reminds us of the sword of the Spirit, wherewith He has shown us how to resist the devil and to make him flee from us. He overcame the devil, not in the power of his Godhead, but with the weapon which is given to man. He foiled the tempter with the word of GOD. His sword and shield alike were simply, It is written. Christian, in the holy-tide of Lent the Spirit leadeth thee away from the world, into a wilderness, where thou art bidden for a while to exercise thyself in that valiant fight, which thou vowedst at the font. Look, then, unto JESUS, and in His might and in His manner, wrestle mightily and prevail. Learn, while thou fastest, that "man shall not live by bread alone" ; that the promise of GOD to save thee must not encourage thee to presume ; and that the pursuit of worldly objects in this life is the worship of the Devil! Search the Holy Scriptures as the Church interprets them, that thou mayest have an answer to the Tempter ; and be warned of the perversions of Scripture, by which Satan and his ministers beguile and deceive them that are ' ' unlearned and unstable. ' ' Learn also that, as Satan tempts in three ways, through sug- gestion, delectation, and consent, so if thou resist sug- gestion thou hast not sinned, but triumphed, as thy Saviour did. So shalt thou be more than conqueror through Him that loveth us ; and "as angels came and ministered to Him," so after thy fight, alike of Lent and "4 The First Sunday in Lent life, thou shall find thyself refreshed by the service of those who are all ' ' ministering spirits, sent forth to minis- ter to the heirs of salvation." If there be those in the Church who deem their baptism and their Catholic privileges sufficient to save them, without that holiness which alone can qualify them to "see the Lord," let them learn from the First Lesson in the Morning Prayer, this day, how fearful is their de- lusion. The Jews, who had among them "the temple of the Lord," supposed this a sufficient safeguard. If any one threatened them with a righteous retribution, they were ready with the answer, that GOD could never allow His own Holy Place to be defiled or His Holy Mountain to be made a desolation. They pointed to the great stones and the towering pinnacles of the House of GOD, and said, "the temple of the Lord are these." And this was true: and "if ye thoroughly amend your ways, and your doings," said the Lord, "then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." But, on the other hand, said the Lord, "suppose not that this will save you if ye go on in sin and pretend that ye cannot help it. My Holy Ark and My Tabernacle were once in Shiloh, as they are now on Mount Zion; yet for the sins of Eli and his sons, and for the wickedness of the people, the Philistines were allowed to destroy forever that Taber- nacle, and to take captive the Ark itself. Remember this and be sure that, though the temple of the Lord be among you, it shall not save you, except ye repent." Such was the warning ; but they regarded not. And judgment came, and the temple was destroyed, and ' ' from the streets of Jerusalem ceased the voice of glad- ness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the land was desolate." The First Sunday in Lent The Church now bids her children consider these solemn admonitions; and to remember that "baptism doth now save us," but not unless we preserve unto the end, when the Bridegroom cometh, that "answer of a good conscience" which is the marriage garment required. Doubtless the temple of GOD is among us, and we are true inhabitants of the city of GOD. But so much the more does GOD require of us to be indeed the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. If we lose our savor of holiness and bury our candle under a bushel, the Lord will come quickly, and take away our candle- stick out of its place; and the wicked and slothful servant will be the more severely punished for wearing the livery of a Master whom he has disobeyed and whose cause he has disgraced. As the Lenten Ember-Week begins this day, the Church, in her Second Morning Lesson, presents us with the history of the call and commission of the twelve Apostles, and with the Sermon of our blessed Lord on that occasion, showing the duties, the responsibilities, and the dignity of those who are made His messengers to men. It concludes with the solemn assurance, " He that receiveth you receiveth Me ; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me." Note also the solemn warnings of Christ to those who despise or injure the servants of GOD, in the discharge of their duties ! By some it is thought no great matter to neglect the pay- ment of a pastor's salary, to offer him the meanest sup- port, to grieve his heart, and hinder him in his labor. But Christ reckons all these wrongs as done directly to Him. At this solemn Lenten Season the clergy often exhaust themselves in laboring for souls. Many have been Christ's martyrs, in America, who have thus " given their life for the sheep." Miserable, then, are they who 116 The First Sunday in Lent afflict and grieve the soul of a zealous pastor ; and blessed are they who sustain and comfort him, and bear with his infirmities, for the sake of his Master, and be- cause they honor Him in His servant. Observe, too, the precept, " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." As Ember-Week is an institution of the Church, designed to secure the observance of this command, the Lesson is well chosen, as setting forth the origin of that ministry which our own apostles have received from the original Twelve. Again, in the Evening Lesson from Jeremiah, we have a fierce rebuke and call to penitence. "Shall not I visit for these things ? saith the Lord ; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" As Churchmen and patriots we should hear these things with lowliness and fear. " Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might ; let not the rich man glory in his riches." The Lesson tells us in what alone we should presume to glory. The Second Lesson is also appropriate to Ember- Week, as showing us the "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," which identify the Catholic Church, and the Apostles, pastors, and teachers whom Christ has set therein, for the work of the ministry- and for the edifying of His Body. It concludes with an exhortation to holiness, and the enumeration of many particulars in which we are tempted to offend ; and reminds us that though we have been sealed in baptism, unto the day of redemp- tion, by the Holy Spirit of God, there is a possibility and danger of grieving Him forever away. 117 Ember- Week in Lent in Xent BEFORE our Lord ordained the twelve, He passed the night in prayer ; and the Holy Apostles, before they sent forth Barnabas and Saul, fasted and prayed. This week the Church commands us to do the same ; and has provided two most comprehensive prayers " for those who are to be admitted into Holy Orders," which it is our duty, in the closet, at the family altar, and in the house of GOD, fervently to employ in their behalf. Let these prayers be uttered in faith and earnest zeal for the glory of GOD, and the salvation of men ; and on the Ember-Days (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) let all who love the Church keep the fast together. Through- out the world it is observed by many, but in every Church by, alas, too few ! He who faithfully keeps the Ember Seasons will have done more for the Church in his lifetime than a thousand satirists of the Clergy, or an army of censorious declaimers, setting forth their own ideas of what the ministry should be. Indeed, he has no right to find fault with his spiritual pastors, who has never helped them with the offices which the Church, knowing their peculiar dangers, has provided and en- joined for their assistance and support. How often does the Apostle Paul crave the like benefit from those to whom he ministered ! And surely the "earthen ves- sels" which bear the treasure of the Gospel now are as much in need of the prayers of the faithful as he was. Let the Ember fasts be generalized also, and let prayers be offered for all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in Christendom, and chiefly for those to whom we are nearest allied. "Pray ye also the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest." Pray for pious 118 Ember-Prayers and lowly Deacons, purchasing to themselves a good degree by St. Stephen's fervor and St. Philip's perse- verance. Pray for sacred Priests, rightly dividing the Word of GOD ; bearing with clean hands the vessels of the Lord ; faithfully dispensing His holy Sacraments ; continuing instant in prayer ; and rejoicing to suffer shame for JESUS' Name. And pray for holy Bishops, bringing to their work maturity of years ; soundness of doctrine ; boldness in the faith ; a good report of all men, and of the truth itself ; dignity and humility com- bined ; purity and zeal and wisdom united ; and all those excellent qualities which will enable others, with- out mocking GOD, to present them for Consecration, as " godly and well-learned men." LET out thy soul, and pray ! Not for thy home alone ; Away in prayer, away. Make all the world thine own. Let out thy soul in prayer ; Oh, let thy Spirit grow ! God gives thee sun and air, Let the full blossoms blow. Plead for the victims all Of heresy and sect ; And bow thy knees like Paul, For all the Lord's Elect. Pray for the Church I mean, For Shem and Japhet pray : And Churches, long unseen, In isles, and far away. 119 The Second Sunday in Lent Oh, pray that all who err May thus be gathered in, The Moslem worshipper And all the sects of sin. For all who love in heart But have not found the way, Pray and thy tears will start. 'Twas so the Lord did pray. Now even for heartless Rome Appealing to the Lord, Be every Church our home, And love the battle-word. The saints' communion one, One Lord, one Faith, one birth, Oh, pray to God the Son, For all His Church on Earth. A. C. C. ftbe Secont> Sunfcap in OLent THIS was no common Sunday in old times. In the days of St. Augustine, those who expected to be bap- tized at Easter were obliged to give in their names by this day, and were called no longer Catechumens, but Competents, or Co-Seekers of Regeneration. The rest of Lent they passed as "valiant tamers of the body." Very suitable to such is the Introit for this day, which is the famous Psalm (130) De profundis, containing the passage, "I look for the Lord ; my soul doth wait for Him ; in His word is my trust." The Collect, which is from ihe Liturgy of St. Ambrose, is no doubt the same to which Augustine, with his son, and his friend Alypius, 120 The Second Sunday in Lent responded Amen, when they knelt in the Church at Milan, on this day, to be catechized, as seekers of what he calls "the sacrament of that fountain." In that in- terval of holy preparation, in which these seekers had reason to fear that their experiences might be those of their Divine Master, when He fasted in the wilderness, it was natural to pray " to be defended from all adversi- ties which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul." In the Epistle, those evil thoughts which most assault and hurt the soul are pointed out, in the Apostle's exhortation to purity, and to the sanctification of the body, in honor of Him who hath called us to holiness. The lusfs of the flesh are, therefore, the peculiar subject of rebuke this day, and the Bride of Christ bids us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, that she may present us to her Lord without spot or blemish. In the Holy Gospel we are encouraged to ' ' continue instant in prayer," and assured by the example of the poor woman of Canaan, that though for a time He may hide His face, and "make as though He heard us not," He will not cast off forever those who cry after Him, and who seek earnestly to be healed of their plague of sin. In the Morning Lesson from Ezekiel, we note much that is appropriate to the day. We must understand the prophet as showing us the reason of the unsatisfac- tory character of many of our attempts to serve GOD, and the cause of our unanswered prayers and uncom- forted confessions. The Lord declares that He will not be inquired of by those who appear before Him, while they keep the idols of their heart as the real ob- jects of their love and worship. Let us search and look, therefore, whether we keep such idols ; "for the Lord our GOD is a jealous GOD." In the evening we begin 121 The Second Sunday in Lent the reading of the Book of Daniel, the prophet of the captivity, himself in many of his experiences a type of Christ, and one by whom some of the clearest prophecies were uttered concerning the corning of the Messiah. This evening is recounted the deliverance of the " Three Hebrew Children" (as they are called) from the burning fiery furnace. Their Song of Deliverance is the Bene- dicite which it is customary to use instead of the Te Deum at Morning Prayer during Lent. The Lesson we are to learn by the reading of this chapter is that in all our afflictions He is afflicted who is our Elder Brother, and the Angel of His Presence will save and bless His People in time of testing and of discipline now, as in the days of old. It may at first strike us that the series of Lessons from Daniel which the Church reads at this season is not so appropriate as some other selection might be, but it must be remembered that Daniel, "the man greatly beloved," is in many points like unto St. John, "the beloved disciple," and the Prophecies which he was permitted to give were peculiarly ' ' the testimony of JESUS." The Second Morning Lesson will be seen to be appro- priate to the Lenten Ordaining Sunday ; as well as, in several particulars, to the Season in general. The Even- ing Lesson, from the Epistle to the Ephesians, is in excellent harmony with the Epistle for the day, reproving "evil communications " as well as shameful deeds. In contrast with the sinful habits which the Apostle reproves, he places, in this same chapter, the "great Mystery" of Marriage, as so pure and blessed in the sight of GOD, as to be a mystic symbol of Christ and the Church. Nor must we overlook the little quotation with which the Lesson favors us, from an ancient hymn of the Primitive 122 The Third Sunday in Lent Church ; for -such it seems to have been, being in perfect metre in the original, and rhythmical even in our ren- dering, " Awake, thou that sleepest : And arise from the Dead, And Christ shall give thee light." We may reasonably cherish a thought, derived from the appropriateness of this language to the august event, that this is a fragment of one of those Odes which flamed from the burning tongues of the Apostles at Pentecost, as "the Spirit gave them utterance." ZTbe Ubirfc Sunfcap in Xent IN the Lesson from the Old Testament, Ezekiel is again our prophet ; and he earnestly reasons with us, showing the justice of GOD'S requirements and dealings, and fully explaining in what sense GOD does not "visit the sins of the fathers upon the children." At the same time he presents us in the language of GOD Himself, with one of the most tender and encouraging calls to repent- ance which the Old Testament contains ; and concludes with that solemn assurance of mingled mercy and justice, " I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth." It is mercy, because it exhibits the sorrow with which GOD will pronounce the sentence, Depart ; it is judgment, because it implies that in spite of that sorrow, some shall not escape the second death. The Lesson from the Gospel sets before us our Saviour in the Glory of His Transfiguration. In this sublime Manifestation of the Son of GOD, the three disciples who 123 The Third Sunday in Lent were to behold Him in His " agony and bloody sweat," were permitted to gaze upon the unveiled brightness, and express image of the Father, in the same man CHRIST JESUS ; and to see Moses and Elias the Law and the Prophets summoned from the Place of the Departed to "talk with Him." As we are about to renew the scenes of Calvary and to behold the Son of Mary in His hu- miliation, we are, in like manner, by the rehearsal of this Lesson, prepared to understand the true character of Him who must suffer such things. It is worthy of remark that Moses and Elijah had both fasted forty days, as prophets, in type of Christ's Lent; and also, that while the one was mysteriously buried by GOD Himself, and the other was translated, both now reappear ; proving that they live unto GOD, and are yet servants of Christ. The story of the demoniac boy, and of Christ's mercy to him in delivering him from his spiritual enemies, will be seen to be illustrative of the Collect and the Gospel; and the honor which the Lord puts on "prayer and fasting" harmonizes the sublime narrative of the Transfiguration with the season of Lent. The First Lesson at Evening Prayer is the story of GOD'S judgment of sin in the warning and overthrow of Belshazzar. In the Second Evening Lesson St. Paul teaches us the great Christian lesson, so hard to learn, of tolerance and patience and kind judgment of others. "Whoartthou that judgest another man's servant ?" " Why dost thou judge thy brother?" "Let us follow after the things which make for peace, and things whereby one may edify another." It is well to notice that the last verse of this chapter, so open to misunderstanding as it reads in our English Bible, really means, " He that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not with con- 124 The Third Sunday in Lent fidence, for whatsoever is not with confidence is sin"; that is, unless we are confident we are doing right, we do wrong in performing any action concerning which there may be doubt. The idea common to the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, appears to be that of our spiritual dangers from Satan, and our spiritual sufficiency in Christ. By the "Right hand of GOD'S Majesty" the Fathers were wont to under- stand a name of our Saviour ; and thus, in the Collect, GOD is invoked to save us from our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, by "the Man of His Right hand," CHRIST JESUS. So, also in the Epistle, while the sins of the flesh are specially instanced, we are warned to have no fellowship with those unfruitful works of darkness which, as the children of the Day, we have renounced. The promise is, that Christ shall give light to those who turn from dead works to serve the Living GOD. The Holy Gospel, in like manner, connects with the Second Morning Lesson, and exhibits the Right Hand of GOD'S Majesty casting out devils, by the finger of GOD ; in which expression, perhaps, we ought to recognize a name of the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son. So, in the Veni Creator, the Church chants, to the glory of the Spirit, " In faithful hearts Thou writ'st Thy law, The finger of GOD'S hand" Here note that the power of Christ to destroy the works of the Devil is the subject of each of the Gospels for the first three Sundays in Lent. To-day Christ as- serts Himself stronger than our great enemy, and able to rescue us ; but He also warns us that a child of GOD must ever watch against Satan's efforts to regain pos- 125 The Fourth Sunday in Lent session of a soul which has renounced his service. In Confirmation, we are "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," Who gives us His seven-fold gifts: but here we are told that Satan has an evil spirit for every good one, and will try to usurp the place we have given to "the seven Spirits of GOD." The Gospel, moreover, warns us of the necessity of decision in our Christian profession ; and of the dangers which follow the first experience of the Christian life, unless the renewed assaults of Satan are prepared for. It concludes with a beatification of all those who "hear the word of GOD and keep it"; and, to guard us against superstition, the Son of Mary assures us that such is a higher blessing than that which is peculiar to the Blessed Virgin, His Mother. The Introit connects with the Epistle, as a supplication for the Light of Christ. As the Priest goes up to the Altar, to begin so comfortable a service, let the whole sacramental host remember it is their part as a "royal priesthood" to accompany him with these aspirations from the forty-third Psalm : "Oh send out Thy light and Thy truth, that they may lead me and bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy dwelling ; and that I may go unto the Altar of God, even unto the GOD of my joy and gladness." MP TTbe jfourtb Sunbag in Xent WE have reached Mid-Lent ; and now we turn to the second part of its great design, and consider "Christ our Passover," as we have heretofore learned by the temptation and fasting of Christ, that Satan is our task- master, and the world our Egypt. To-day we are also 126 The Fourth Sunday in Lent presented with Christ as our Prophet, next Sunday with Christ our Priest, and then on Palm-Sunday with Christ our King. Further, this Sunday is sometimes called the Sunday of Refection ; because, having thus far consid- ered the havoc of sin, we come now to consider its repair ; and because the sufficiency of Christ to refresh and satisfy our hunger and thirst after righteousness, is exhibited in the Gospel for this day. It has little of the austere character of the other Sundays in Lent ; and its design is the encouragement of catechumens and peni- tents. To this end, the Epistle is chosen to exhibit the glorious freedom of the Sons of GOD ; and it further ex- pounds the great centre of Christian unity, as existing in that heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Jerusalem that rejected its anointed Prophet and Priest and King has ceased to be a type. The Gospel relates the miracle at Capernaum, which sets forth the Lord our Righteous- ness as able to feed alike the souls and bodies of all who follow Him. As this portion of Scripture is twice used as a Gospel, that is to say, here, and on the 25th Sunday after Trinity ; and as the similar miracle of the seven loaves is made the Gospel for the 7th Sunday after Trinity-, it is but just to suppose that the Church wishes this divine operation to be seen in all its bearings. This miracle, then, may be well taken in at least two senses. At a future time we may consider it as a proof of the mercy and creative power of our divine Lord, and so a proof of His Godhead. In the present instance we should not merely regard it as a display of omnipotence, but rather with reference to its typical signification. It is to be noted that "the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh"; and, doubtless, it was designed to illustrate the Institution of the Christian Passover, and of the holy Eucharist. "Therefore," to quote St. Augustine, "as 127 The Fourth Sunday in Lent we have heard how great this miracle is, let us likewise discover how profound ! Let us not alone be charmed with its surface ; let us also sound its depths ! For what we so much admire without, contains something within." The Fathers have seen much that is mystical in all parts of the parable. "Twelve baskets," says one, "remained over and above, that each Apostle, bearing a basket on his shoulder, might recognize the ineffable wonder of the miracle." In the division of the com- pany into different portions, each served by an Apostle, they see a lively image of the Catholic Church, which is one blessed company, in which all partake of that One Bread, which the Apostles received from Christ, and have delivered to us, And as both Epistle and Gospel exhibit the comfort- able promises of the Lord, the Collect implores Him to vouchsafe to us relief, in spite of our unworthiness. While all who are lifting up their eyes, and hungering for the Easter Feast, to which we now draw near, will find this Prayer a consoling one, it will be seen also how appropriate it is to those especially who are preparing for baptism at Easter ; or to lapsers and others look- ing for restoration to the privileges of full Commun- ion, which used to be a public solemnity, on Maundy- Thursday. The 46th Psalm, (Deus noster refugium,} which is the Introit, is a blessed expression of confidence and trust, which fully harmonizes with the refreshing Services of the day. The Lesson from the prophet Micah, is "profitable" alike "for reproof and instruction in righteousness"; as it reproaches those who have ungratefully forgotten their obligations to the Lord, and teaches the acceptable ser- vice which he requires of those who seek Him. "To 128 The Fourth Sunday in Lent walk humbly with GOD," let it be noted, implies humble obedience to all the Institutions of the Gospel. He who refuses to become as a little child at the feet of JESUS, walks proudly before his GOD. The text is no excuse, therefore, for those who say that Christ requires not obedience to His Sacraments and Ordinances. The Lesson from Daniel, telling of his protection from the lions, depicts the sure trust of the Christian, and his consequent independence of outward prosperity or woe. "My GOD hath sent His angel and hath shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me." The history of Daniel's life in Babylon is one of strange vicissitude. He was a captive, and a eunuch, an exile from the Land of Promise, and his beloved Jerusalem was in ruins. In the i3Jth Psalm we have the portrait of his heart, as he sat down and wept by the waters of Babylon. But those who make the sorrows of the Church their own, and who so identify themselves with truth in the world that its wounds are theirs, may bear the lot of temporal prosperity. And Daniel, with all his great trials of faith, was the most prosperous of all the prophets. He became the premier of an empire ; he directed all the affairs of a great State ; and yet he walked with GOD. He was in the world, but not of it. Three times a day (and no doubt four times in the night) he retired from worldly thoughts, and kneeled in his chamber and gave thanks, even when a den of lions yawned for him ; and observe how much is implied in the words "his windows being open towards Jeru- salem.'' 1 That much at least he could enjoy of Church privileges ; so much he could have of the temple ; for it had been consecrated with a special Collect for such a case, (I. Kings viii. 48;) and so "he thought upon her stones, and it pitied him to see her in the dust." In all 129 Passion Sunday this we learn the duty of a Christian in the present state of the Catholic Church. Let his prayer go up to GOD, looking towards "Jerusalem which is above, which is the Mother of us all." The Second Mo'rning Lesson contains one of those marvellous discourses which St. John alone has pre- served to us, wherein JESUS opened to his Disciples and before the unbelieving Jews as well, the meaning and purpose of His coming, and exhorts them all to turn to Him that they might have everlasting life. An Anthem for this Sunday might -be made of the words, (Numb. xiii. 23,) "They came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff, . . . saying, The land floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it." passion Sunfcap WHILE the Israelite, in the desert, was dying of the plague, it was natural that he should forget everything but his horrible condition and disease ; but when Moses lifted up the serpent, and bade him look, and be saved, self was comparatively forgotten. He looked in faith, and was healed. So, while the penitent in the former weeks of Lent has probed and examined his heart, and bewailed his sin and uncleanness, he has been chiefly concerned with his own wretchedness and unworthiness of relief ; but when, to-day, the Church begins to set be- fore him Christ crucified as his cure, it is time to look unto Him and be saved to cast our burden upon the 130 Passion Sunday Lord, to behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow, which is done unto Him ! To-day is called Passion Sunday, because the Services begin to relate the story of our Lord's sufferings and death. The Atonement is pre-eminently the theme of this day. Christ is exhibited as our Great High Priest ; and from now to Easter, the Lamb of GOD, dumb before His shearers, is the engrossing object of wonder, of worship, and of love. The Services of this day will strike the attentive wor- shipper as singularly harmonious throughout. They are full of the name that is honey in the mouth and music in the ear, mel in ore, melos in aure. In the first Morning Lesson, we observe two texts as peculiarly suited to the season. The first is, "there shall be a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness" by which we are reminded of the water and the blood, which flowed from the cleft side of the Redeemer. The other is, "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts !" This text our Saviour applied to Himself expressly (St. Matt, xxvi. 31,) and thus, " thought it not robbery to be equal with GOD, the Man that is GOD'S Fellow ! How, except by the Church's doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, and of the Mystery of the Incarna- tion, is such language to be interpreted ? The Second Lesson is our Lord's sad prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the sorrows which should come upon His disciples, a discourse which was delivered in the Temple very shortly before His be- trayal and Crucifixion and which breathes the tenderness of our Great High Priest. The Epistle begins " Christ being come," and declares His power to give us peace with GOD, as a High Priest Passion Sunday of good things. The Levitical Sacrifices, as a great system, illustrative of the one Sacrifice of the Lamb of GOD, which alone explains them, are then expounded, in connection with the priesthood of Christ. And then, the Holy Gospel is a touching exhibition of the blind- ness of the Jews, to this glory which had been the joy of Abraham, and the desire of all nations. It exhibits the Lord of Glory " enduring that contradiction of sin- ners," which is elsewhere spoken of. They said, " He hath a devil !" They impudently looked into His face, scanned His features, and pronounced Him not yet fifty years old : proof that He looked older than He really was. In reply He assumes the great name of the self-existing One I AIM. Then they took up stones to stone Him, but JESUS went out of the Temple ! So the glory departed, and "Ichabod" was its name, and desolation its award. The Introit is Psalm fifty-fourth ; but it is an ancient custom to omit the Introit and the Gloria Patri, on this day ; and not to sing the latter again till Easter Sunday. Of the Collect it is only necessary to say, that with the Epistle and Gospel, it remains as it stands in the ancient Sacramentaries, for this Sunday. In the Even- ing we have the wonderful prophetical vision of Daniel concerning the Ancient of Days. The Prophet's description of the Son of GOD, whom he beheld in vision, is remarkably like that of St. John, who beheld the same unchangeable Lord in the Isle of Patmos. Thus Christ is set before us as the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last ; the Lord alike of the Prophets and Apostles, the great I AM, ' ' Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come." The description of His vesture shows Him as the great High Priest of the Church. He is "clothed in linen," "His garment as 132 Palm Sunday white as snow," surpliced in His light raiment, as our glorious Melchisedec, about to offer Himself as the Lamb without blemish, for the sins of the whole world. The Second Lesson follows with words of comfort and strength and instruction. The sacrifice of all for Christ, justification through His merits alone, the fellowship of His sufferings, and the power of His resurrection, these are its themes. It glories in "the Cross of Christ," and concludes with a fervent exhortation, and a promise of the Resurrection.* Oh, how amiable would be the tabernacles of the Lord, if only all kept holy-day in the spirit, and with the understanding of the inimitable Service of the Church, this day ! From now till Easter the devout Churchman enjoys a soul-ful of spiritual meat. He goes in and out, and finds pasture, with the good Shep- herd ; and beholds, in all the glory of His wonderful humiliation, the patient Lamb of GOD. palm Sunftag " REJOICE greatly, O daughter of Zion ! behold thy king cometh unto thee ; he is just and having salva- tion ; lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." With these words at the beginning of the First Morning Lesson does the Church annually celebrate the day, on which this ancient prophecy was * To-day, and also on Palm Sunday, notwithstanding the length of the Service, should be read the warning for the Easter communion all of it for the people seldom hear it. Indeed, at this time in the year it would be helpful if every congregation might hear the Ex- hortation on page 242 of the Prayer-Book. Palm Sunday fulfilled. It was on the first day of the week in which He suffered, that our Lord entered the Holy City in this way. The multitude, by a divine influence, obeying the prophet, greeted His approach with hosannas, and strewed their garments and waved palm-branches before Him. This beautiful and striking event, in the life of our Saviour, viewed in connection with the scenes that immediately followed, the hosanna of Sunday, con- trasted with the away with him of Friday, has taken deep and mysterious hold upon the hearts and the im- aginations of men, and its associations still brighten with melancholy light the sombre solemnities of the week before us. Many there are who bear a green sprig or piece of palm in their hands to Church, as a silent, though expressive memorial of Him who dis- dained not to accept the same tribute from His Apostles ; and we learn from an English writer that owing to their former general use, in this way, "the catkins of the sallow or large-leaved willow, which are now in full bloom, are still called palms, by the country-people of England." Whatever outward customs are observed, we can think as we go to Church, in the bland spring sunshine, how, as at this time, and on such a day, our blessed Lord came into Jerusalem, to die for our sins. We can identify ourselves with the scene, as it was once in reality passing. Here is our gracious Master who has gone about doing good so long, approaching on His meek beast, the City that "slayeth the prophets and toneth them that are sent unto her." The multitudes are going up to the Passover ; and rejoicing to get a glimpse of the marvellous Nazarene, and trusting that He is about to exert His miraculous power for the worldly restoration of His country, they have plucked down boughs from the trees, and are laying even their 134 Palm Sunday raiment beneath His feet. He, the while, rides on in silence, for great is the travail of His soul, and His time is come. It is the day when the shepherds are driving the lambs into Jerusalem to be sacrificed at the Passover ; the highways are full of the victims ; but lo ! here is our very Paschal Lamb led by His own love to the slaughter, and, like the sheep before the shearer, opening not his mouth. \Yith such meditations, let us employ our time till the Service begins. Then let us endeavor to do more than those who merely cast their vesture in the way, in obedi- ence to the sentence, " Rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord." As we listen to the fearful details of the- Passion, as they are given by St. Matthew, in the Second Lesson, and in the Holy Gospel, let us resolve that, forsaking, as far as possible, all worldly thoughts, we will devote this hal- lowed week to devout meditations on the Cross, and to ardent adoration of the Crucified. The Introit is Psalm 6ist. But Psalm 118 is even more appropriate, especially from the 25th verse ; for these are the words of the Hosanna which was shouted before Christ Himself on this day. By ancient custom there are no Introits appointed for the remaining days of the week, until Good Friday. The Collect, although it is the ancient Latin one for the day, has been delicately improved in the process of translation. The Gospel, as we have said, is the narrative of the Passion, according to the Evangelist ; and the Epistle is comprehensive of the whole spirit of the week. Sublime as that glorious passage is at any time, it never affects us as it does in connection with the overpowering solemni- ties of Palm Sunday, and as associated with the scenes about to be renewed during the week. It compresses Palm Sunday the whole Gospel into such a condensation of language ; it so vividly pictures the Incarnation, the Passion, and Ascension together ; it so feelingly gives utterance to our natural emotions, that we spontaneously bow soul and body when we hear the words of the Apostle : " He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross: Wherefore GOD also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name : that at the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, . . . and every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is Lord, to the glory of GOD the Father." Let it be observed that in both the Epistle and Gospel the Royalties of Christ are strikingly displayed. Christ, as the King of Israel, is the burden of the day. JESUS was to be rejected after a full declaration of His true character ; He was the King of the Jews, and as such he displayed Himself, in His official Advent to Jerusalem and the Temple, on Palm Sunday. But His kingdom was not of this world. The First Lesson, at Evening Prayer, contains Daniel's mysterious prediction of this solemn week, as that in which Messiah should be cut off, but not for Himself. In the Second Lesson we have from St. John's Gospel the record of the great event of the Day, the triumphal entry into the Holy city. The subsequent events of this day were, in brief, as fol- lows : Our Lord, after reaching the Temple, healed many of the sick, blind, and lame, and graciously accepted the hosannas of the children. St. Philip announced to our Lord that certain Greek proselytes, who could not enter the interior of the Temple, were anxious to see Him, and He therefore went to them, in the Court of the Gen- tiles. Here He predicted the Conversion of the Gentiles, as the glorious harvest of His own death and resurrec- 136 The Holy Week tion ; and as he uttered a prayer to the Father, He was answered by a miraculous voice, which the people mis- took for thunder. Our Lord further fulfilled the pro- phecy, in clearing the Temple of the profane traffickers, by whom it was polluted, and in so doing He seems to have been miraculously sustained, and also to have had the consciences and sympathies of the people in His favor.* In this He gave a foretaste of the Last Day, and showed us that His mercy does not annihilate His judgment. He also showed how easily He might have overcome His enemies, and even seized the government, had such been His motive. St. John asserts that many of the chief priests did, in fact, believe on Him, but they were afraid to confess him openly. At evening, the Holy Saviour returned to Bethany, with the Twelve, and was probably the guest of the beloved Lazarus, and his pious sisters. On the previous evening, Mary had anointed Him " for His burial :" as it were applying to Him the language of the Bride, in the Canticles, "Be- cause of the savor of Thy good ointments Thy name is an ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love Thee." Ube t)ols TKleefc WE are drawing nearer and nearer to the Cross ; and do not our hearts burn within us by the way ? To those who really know the love of Christ which passeth knowl- edge, what a season is this ! The Master calls us not servants, but friends: we are not living in the twen- * Mai. iii. I. 137 The Holy Week tieth century, nor in the uttermost parts of the earth. We are carried back to the Holy Land, and to the Passover which JESUS desired to eat with His disciples. We are not hearing we are living the history of our Redemp- tion. Happy are they who duly celebrate these Myste- ries, acquainting themselves more and more with Him whose countenance was marred more than the sons of men, but who is, to us, the Chief among ten thousand, and the One altogether lovely ! How sublimely the Epistle for this morning opens ! How augustly it ushers in the glorious Sufferer coming to redeem His people ! Whether it be read in the quiet country Church, or in the spacious choir of the Cathedral, it is everywhere the same ; yet every year more significant, and more precious to the soul : ' ' Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength ; I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save ! " The whole of this prophecy, read in immediate con- nection with Good Friday and Palm Sunday, strikes us as a happy illustration of the sagacity with which our Holy Mother ministers to us the rich bounties of the Word of GOD. The Gospel makes its mark as an experience. We gain living associations with different Scriptures, and learn their interpretation, as a child learns language, not in harsh tasks from a mere master, but in delightful and winning intercourse with a mother, who day by day adapts her discourse to our growing powers, and im- presses truth on our minds, as it were, by example, rather than by direct indoctrination. Hence this chapter gets its meaning, in our minds, from its place in the Liturgy. We care not for what mere critics or barren literalists may fancy to be the sense. To us it is full of the Saviour ; and The Holy Week whenever we see it in our Bible, we remember how it is wont to sound in our ears, in the week of the Redeemer's Passion. Delightful art, by which the pure milk and the rich meat of the Word are thus duly dispensed, in their season, to the children of Christ's Bride ! Some have objected that this prophecy speaks of a day of vengeance, whereas it was a day of suffering. But let us reflect that it is a highly lyrical poem, wherein the Passion is viewed as that contest with the powers of darkness, in which Satan's head was finally bruised. It was also a day of terrible vengeance to the Jews ; and the scourging of those who profaned the temple must be regarded as a foretaste of the dreadful retribution which afterwards visited Jerusalem, and made that temple a heap of stones. The Church has taken care that each of the Evangelists should be heard this week, in his narrative of the Passion. So, yesterday, the Holy Gospel was taken from St. Mat- thew; and to-day St. Mark is begun. Though we do not include in our plan any commentary on the Scripture it- self, yet we will note what is peculiar in the Gospel, as con- tributing to Liturgical completeness. The Gospel of St. Mark is traditionally ascribed to the patronage of St. Peter ; and there is little doubt that it was composed by his direction and care, under inspiration of the Holy Ghost. As St. Peter's fall and repentance, therefore, are an important part of the tremendous drama before us, his account of that transaction, with which the Holy Gospel concludes to-day, must be heard with peculiar interest. It is his confession. Let it be remarked, then, that while the other Evangelists seem more slightly to detail his guilt, and more fully to record his penitence, he, on the other hand, gives his shame in all its base- ness ; and when he comes to speak of his repentance, gives himself the least credit that is possible. Other 139 The Holy Week Gospels say, " he went out and wept bitterly." St. Peter only says, "And when he thought thereon he wept." How eloquent the simplicity how touching the silence of one who in two words relates the hours of anguish, the bitterness of which language could not describe ! St. Peter seems to leave it with GOD : to say I will not tell how I repented ; Lord, Thou knowest my groaning ; put my tears into Thy bottle : are they not noted in Thy book? In the Lessons from the Old Testament during Holy Week, we are for the most part lovingly instructed con- cerning various types of Christ and his Redeeming Work. This morning we read of the acceptable sacrifice of Abel, and of the hatred and treachery of Cain, akin to that spirit which betrayed and crucified the LORD JESUS. In the Second Morning Lessons for three days, our gracious High Priest, touched with the feeling of our in- firmities, condescends to talk with us, and to strengthen us, as He did His disciples in the upper room "in the night in which He was betrayed." How choicely the Church tells o'er her treasures, and counts and weighs the parting words of comfort, which fell from her divine Lord, ere He left her, nineteen hundred years ago ! In the Evening Lesson from the Book of Numbers we read of that smitten Rock, from which water came forth to refresh the people. And we remember the inspired comment of St. Paul: "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." Most appropriate for this service is that hymn of Hora- tius Bonar (673) which contains the words : " I heard the voice of JESUS say, Behold, I freely give The living water ; thirsty one, Stoop down and drink, and live." 140 The Holy Week In old time it was customary to rehearse, on every day of the Holy Week, the events of that day ; the more forcibly to impress the minds of the people with the history of their redemption. In this way, the great mys- teries of our faith were solemnly renewed and commem- orated annually. But a perversion of the original sim- plicity was introduced, and the Clergy, in an ignorant age, invented scenic representations of the events ; one of which (the feet-washing) has been retained until very lately, even in some reformed communions. Thus grew up those dramas called Mysteries, or Scripture plays, which in time became painfully profane. But our object in mentioning this is to suggest the happy effect of the Mysteries of Holy Week, if only preserved in their original form. The pastor with his flock, the mother with her children, can still rehearse day by day, this week what JESUS did on each day, for their souls. Thus will the Gospel story sink deeper in the heart, and Holy Week and Easter be, each year, more perfectly realized, and more earnestly desired. Thus, "the Mysteries" celebrated to-day would be the morning-walk from Bethany ; the cursing of the barren fig-tree, as a symbol of the Jewish nation ; the second cleansing of the Temple ; and the return at night- fall to the Mount of Olives. THE events of this day, as given in the Harmonies of the Gospels, are very striking. As our Lord, with His disciples, passed the fig-tree, on their way to the city, they were appalled to see that it had withered away so soon. It was not only a type of the Jewish nation, but also of the traitor Judas. 141 The Holy Week In the Temple, our Blessed Saviour spake many of His parables, on this day, and among others that of the vineyard and the wicked husbandmen. The hearers saw its bearings, and were, apparently, much affected by it, for the time. As He left the Temple, He was led, by the pride which the disciples showed in its magnifi- cence, to foretell its speedy ruin ; and, seated on the Mount of Olives, He further enlarged on this as a type of the end of all things. As the sun was setting, He foretold His hour as fast approaching. Thus, our Lord to-day abandoned the Temple forever to its fate ; and the Jewish people were solemnly given over to their own devices, in punishment for their rejection of the Messiah. The Epistle is well suited to the day in which JESUS "endured such contradiction of sinners"; and the Gos- pel concludes the narrative of St. Mark. The Lesson from Numbers tells of the brazen serpent whose true significance was declared by our Lord Himself when He said : "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- ness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." The Lesson from St. John contains more of our Saviour's parting words to his disciples. In the Evening Lesson from Leviticus, we have Jehovah's ru- brics for the service on the great day of Atonement, when the High Priest offered the sin offering, sent away the scapegoat, and brought the blood of the sacrifice into the Most Holy Place. Thus are we led to compare scripture with scripture. Thus do we learn to discern the Gospel in the Older Dis- pensation, and to interpret the Mosaic books by the light of the tender memories of Holy Week. 142 The Holy Week OF "the Mysteries" celebrated this day, the conspic- uous and absorbing one is the sale of " Him that was valued," for thirty pieces of silver. The Epistle, therefore, explains why it was necessary to the new Covenant that JESUS should die ; and, as to- morrow will tell us how JESUS instituted the "New Tes- tament in His Blood," so to-day rehearses how Moses, with the blood of calves and goats, ordained the first Testament with the words, "this is the blood of the Testament, which GOD hath enjoined unto you." This word "Testament" would be more intelligible to the average hearer if it were translated "Covenant" as in the Revised Version. The Holy Gospel commences St. Luke's pictorial nar- rative of the sublime events of the Passion. Observe, in this Gospel, the fact that our Lord was blindfolded, when they smote Him. It has been well remarked, that, but for this minute fact, thus mentioned, we should have been unable to see the point of St. Matthew's story ; for that Evangelist merely states that "they smote Him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ, who is he that smote Thee?" Thus it is, however, that the more closely we inspect the Gospels, the more we shall be convinced of their artless and simple truth- fulness. Doubtless, other things not easily explained, as we now read, would be very clear if we understood all the customs and peculiarities of the times and places mentioned. Thus, there is an apparent difficulty about the cock-crowings, which entirely disappears on the close comparison of the most learned critics. The scarlet robe of one Evangelist is the same as the purple robe of the other ; for the color intended is a glaring combi- M3 The Holy Week nation of these dyes, well described by St. Luke as a gorgeous robe. In the Lesson from the Prophet Zechariah, we notice, on this day of the Betrayal, the typical incident : " They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver." The Les- son from St. John narrates the discourse of our Lord at the table when the Traitor was present, and "after the sop" went out to perfect his treacherous purposes. At Evening Prayer we read from the patriarchal records how Joseph's brethren, "moved with envy," sold him to the Ishmaelites to be a servant, for twenty pieces of silver. " But GOD was with Him, and delivered Him out of all his afflictions," (Acts vii. 9, 10, ) a type thus of Him who bowed His head and humbled Himself to take upon Him the form of a servant that he might indeed be ex- alted. The Second Lesson at Evening Prayer carries out the consistent teaching of the day by telling us in the beau- tiful language of St. Peter how precious above all price or estimate is that blood of JESUS who was basely be- trayed for a few coins ; but hath obtained for us "an in- neritance, incorruptible and undented and that fadeth not away." THIS day is so called as being Dies Mandafi, the Day of the Mandate ; that is to say, of the command, "Do this in remembrance of Me."* This day the Church's gates are opened wide, that the truly penitent may come back to the Saviour, and begin anew to sup with JESUS, according to His precepts. The warning to the Easter Communion is appropriately read * Or, as some say, the day of the " new commandment," to love one another. 144 The Holy Week in its entirety after the Holy Gospel, and nothing could be more appropriate than that very solemn one which is provided in case the pastor has a negligent flock. (Prayer- Book, p. 242.) Alas ! in these days, what pastor sees even the greater part of his adult flock zealous and faithful in attendance on the Holy Eucharist? To-day, all lukewarm believers are admonished. If there be those, therefore, who have allowed the world or their own carnal will to withdraw them from the Altar, let them return this day, in dust and ashes, and neglect their Redeemer no longer. Or, if there be those who labor under the Church's discipline, to-day is the day of res- toration ; let them ask of those who bear the keys of the Kingdom, and, if truly penitent, they may again be admitted to the fold. We commemorate this day the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and there are usually cele- brations in all our churches. The Morning Prayer should begin with the prophetic sentence from Malachi ; and with reference to the penitential character of the day, there might be appropriately added that from the Psalter, ' ' The sacrifices of GOD are a broken spirit. " The Fourth Selection of Psalms will perhaps be found more appro- priate than the Psalms for the day, as it contains Psalms which all relate, more or less, to the Table of the Lord, the Christian Altar. " Oh, taste and see how gracious the Lord is," is, in fact, an ancient selection for use at the Lord's Supper. The First Lesson is most appropriate to the day, being the narrative of the "bread from heaven" the manna which Jehovah provided for His people in the wilderness ; concerning which the Second Morning Les- son furnishes an inspired commentary, in that wonderful discourse contained in the Sixth Chapter of St. John's 10 145 The Holy Week Gospel. A mine of priceless wealth is ready for any disciple who will prayerfully study with a reference Bible these two lessons and parallel passages. All of this and much more which follows is peculiarly appropriate to this day of the Sacrament, wherein we seek the fulfilment of the Saviour's pledge, " Whoso eateth My flesh and drink- eth My blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day." The Evening Lesson, from Genesis, brings to our view that mysterious personage Melchisedec, a distinguished type of our Great High Priest, who on this night so long ago brought forth bread and wine for the refreshment of GOD'S children. Then follows, in the Second Lesson, the inspired com- ment upon the history of Melchisedec, which the Holy Spirit has preserved for us in the Epistle to the He- brews. As we behold the Paschal Moon this evening, making bright with her pale beams the scenes of the Saviour's sufferings, let us think of Gethsemane, and of our Lord's mysterious agony, on which the same Paschal Moon presumed to shine ; and let us profitably meditate, with shame and contrition, on the profane retinue that came with lanterns and with staves, and laid hands on Him whom His own familiar friend saluted with a traitorous kiss. It may be interesting to mention that, with reference to the precept, "ye ought also to wash one another's feet," which probably was uttered at the Last Supper, the Kings of England were long accustomed to perform this ceremony, washing the feet of a number of beggars, in public, at Whitehall Chapel, after Morning Prayer, this day. King James II. was the last who did this in person ; but at least as late as 1731 the Archbishop of 146 The Holy Week York officiated instead of the Sovereign. When the ceremony ceased we cannot say precisely ; but a relic of it is still preserved in the annual procession at the Chapel Royal, and the distribution of loaves and fishes to a num- ber of poor persons corresponding numerically with the years of the Sovereign's age. Bags of silver are likewise distributed in the same way. Some say that be- cause these gifts were carried in maunds, or baskets, hence this day received its name, "Maundy-Thursday." All this is very well ; but let us not forget the spiritual import of what JESUS did, teaching us by his example, condescension, humility, and brotherly love. GOOD ffrioag Oh come and mourn with me awhile, And tarry here the cross beside ; Oh come, together let us mourn ; JESUS, our Lord, is crucified. THIS is the great and awful day that commemorates the Redeemer's sufferings. Let us keep it in solemn fasting and humiliation, for our sins, alas ! were thorns to His glorious and immaculate Head, and nails to His holy and venerable Hands. The Service begins, of course, with the most deeply penitential of the Sentences, and the Vcnite and other Canticles are read without music. Indeed, there should be no chanting or gloria during this day's Sen-ices, no organ-playing except for the solemn Hymns of the Pas- sion. Of the Proper Psalms, the 22nd is the most minute description of the Passion that is given in Holy Writ ; and the 4oth contains that oblation of Himself which was 147 The Holy Week made by the Blessed Word, ere yet He was Incarnate of the Virgin. "Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me that I should fulfil Thy will, O My GOD. I am content to do it. Yea, Thy law is within My heart." The First Lesson is the narrative of the typical offering of Isaac ; who, bearing the wood on his shoulder, as JESUS bore His cross, asks, " Where is the Lamb?" and receives an answer from the Father of the faithful, " GOD will provide Himself a lamb, my son." When it is remembered that it was on the same Mount Moriah that JESUS, in fulness of time, was seen bearing His cross towards Calvary like Isaac, the amazing beauty of the Lesson will be felt. Of this event, the prophecy is explicit : " In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." "The Lord will provide." It must be observed, more- over, that the whole transaction was designed to teach Abraham, and the faithful through him, that the love which he bore to his son, "his only son," was only a faint type of that of the Father to His Well-beloved. St. Paul tells us that the unbinding of Isaac was a signal type of the Resurrection, and that Abraham acted as he did, sustained by strong faith that God was able to raise him from the dead. Thus we see that the patriarchs knew and believed more of the Gospel than is usually supposed. The Second Lesson begins St. John's narrative of the Passion, and closes with the astounding declaration that he whom the Jews chose to release in- stead of Christ, was, like all that ever came before Him, "a thief and a robber !" For the Introit may be used a passage from the 22nd Psalm, "My GOD, my GOD, look upon me." The Collects are three ; the first, commemorative of JESUS ; the second, a supplication for the faithful ; and the third, (after the example of Christ,) a prayer for His murderers : 148 The Holy Week those infidels who crucify Him afresh, as well as the pagans who know Him not ; those Turks and Heretics who deny His power and Godhead ; and those unhappy Jews who wander the Earth, as living witnesses of the hour when their fathers cried, " His blood be on us and on our children." These Collects are very ancient ; and the same, or similar ones, are referred to by St. Augus- tine ; though the introduction of the word "Turks" must be comparatively modern. The Epistle is a majestic passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews, explanatory of those blessed effects of the Redeemer's Incarnation and Passion, which, in spite of its fearful commemorations, has gained for this day the name of Good Friday. The Holy Gospel is the exceed- ingly full and tender narrative of that eye-witness who alone of the Apostles clung to the cross, and succored the Mother of our Lord, when the sword pierced through her heart. Of course we shall spare all comment on such a Gospel ; which, after the other three have been read during the week, seems to be filled up with the ac- cumulated pathos of the whole, and, like a cup of trem- bling, to overflow. After the words, // is finished, and again after the words, He bowed His head and gave up the Ghost a Clergyman who reads with feeling gen- erally makes an impressive pause. It concludes with a remarkable exposition of two prophecies, showing how minute are the details of the Hebrew Scriptures in their allusions to Christ. The Paschal Lamb was to be care- fully slain, and no bone was to be broken ; and Zech- ariah had said, "They shall look on me whom they have pierced. ' ' Now we learn that both of these matters, the ordinance and the saying, were prospective, and sought their fulfilment in the one moment, when after the death of JESUS, the executioner forbore to break His 149 The Holy Week legs, but a soldier thrust his spear into the side of the Blessed Body. It may at first appear strange that there is no Proper Preface at the Trisagion, for so solemn a day. But the reason is that, except for the sick, the Holy Eucharist is traditionally not offered on this Fast. As the day itself is a mournful commemoration, and as the Eucharistic Feast little comports with the deep abasement of our humiliation on such a day, there appears every reason of congruity for this omission.* At Evening Service \ve shall find relief in the feeling that, with our Master " the worst is o'er" ; and like the holy Marys "sitting over against the sepulchre," our meditations will tenderly linger around the tomb of JESUS. In the whole course of the year there is no Les- son which comes into its place more effectively than this Evening's Lesson from Isaiah, so full of pathos and beauty in itself, and so minutely descriptive of the events of the Passion. No one on hearing it, can doubt that Isaiah "spake beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow." St. Peter furnishes the Second Lesson, full of instruction as to the many duties which follow upon our Lord's complete work for us. The closing words we may well take to heart : " Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps ... by whose stripes ye were healed." Oh, let us keep this fast with the true spirit of the publican, and of the repentant thief ; and He who was crucified "shall see of the travail of His soul and be sat- isfied." * However, concerning this there is much difference of opinion. There is certainly nothing intrinsically wrong in consecrating on Good Friday. 150 The Holy Week Hbrccs=Mours' Service THE Commemoration of the Agony of our Most Holy Redeemer upon the cross, from noon until three o'clock, when "He bowed His head and gave up the ghost," is a devout and profitable Service. It consists of hymns, scripture readings, and prayers, with addresses on the Seven Words from the cross or other subjects connected with the crucifixion. This Service should by no means supersede or take the place of the regularly appointed Services for Morning and Evening. It is a Service unauthorized, but nevertheless recognized as profitable and appropriate, as may be seen by reference to the Hymnal. (Hymn 530.) In so far as such a Service contains Prayers which are not already to be found in the Book of Common Prayer, it should be submitted to the Bishop of the Diocese for his approval. Otherwise its use is not lawful. Rightly used and solemnly engaged in, and concluded by a commemoration of the Faithful Departed, the Three-Hours' Service is most helpful for the due observ- ance of the Day. WHERE anthems are sung, the proper anthem for this day is, "My flesh shall rest in hope : for why? Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell, neither shalt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." The First Lesson at Morning Prayer is " the writing of Hezekiah, King of Judah," when he had been near to death and was " recovered of his sickness." The Sec- The Holy Week ond Lesson relates how JESUS was "with the rich in His death." At Evening Prayer, the First Lesson refers to the precept of the Passover, which in its Christian ob- servance begins on the Eve of Easter-day. The Second is designed especially for the comfort and instruction of the catechumens about to be baptized at the close of the Lesson, for this is the special day for baptisms. "Let us come boldly," is a warrant for their assurance in ap- proaching the font. From the customs of the early Church, which pro- tracted the Service of this day through the night till Easter morning, it still traditionally retains the name of Easter-Even. It is, of all vigils, the most absorbing and delightful. As for the "Man of Sorrows," with Him the pain is over ; the battle is fought, His victory is won, His soul has gone to Paradise. We commemorate His mysterious Descent into Hell,* with the happy spirit of the repentant thief. Meantime, His dead body re- poses in Joseph's tomb ; the seal is on the stone ; the guards are pacing around it ; the Paschal moon is gleam- ing on their helmets and spears. The Church, with fra- grant spices of remembrance, keeps vigil, like Magdalene and Mar}'. At the Introit, therefore, she, as it were, forgets that she is commemorating, and rather antici- pates the Resurrection of her Lord. How expressively she describes the condition of His body, in the sealed sepulchre, as she sings the Doniine, Dais ! (Psalm 88.) "Free among the dead, like unto them that are wounded and lie in the grave, who are out of remem- brance and are cut away from Thy hand ! ' ' Dost Thou show wonders among the dead ? or shall the dead rise up again, and praise Thee ? * See Acts ii. 22 to 32 ; St. Luke xxiii. 43 ; I Pet. iii. 18, 19. 152 The Holy Week " Shall Thy wondrous works be known in the dark ; and Thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten ?' ' As we have heard this sung on Easter-Eve, we have almost been able to identify ourselves with those who, nineteen hundred years ago, with such despairing words, rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment, and looked for the morning that they might hasten to the tomb. As we are " buried with Christ in baptism," so Easter- Eve has from time immemorial been the great baptiz- ing day; on which, especially, those catechumens who have been prepared during Lent are brought to the laver of Regeneration. To this custom the beautiful Collect for the day has especial reference ; and a modern Ger- man scholar has suggested that the apostle refers to this primitive ordinance when he speaks of those who were "baptized for the dead"; that is, for a dead Christ. Baptized at the Passover into the death of JESUS, what is their hope, if there be no reality in His Resurrection ? The Epistle is singularly appropriate; containing the doctrines of the Descent into Hell ; of Regeneration in baptism; and of the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST for our justification. The Holy Gospel embalms the name of him who embalmed the world's Redeemer and laid Him in his own new tomb. It recounts the interment of JESUS; the vigil of the two Marys, who sat "over against the sep- ulchre"; the testimony of the chief priests to Christ's prediction that He would rise again; and the sealing of the stone, and the setting of the watch. So, then, they have made it "as sure as they can"; go your way from such a service, and come early on the morrow. Let us see what Pilate's guard, and their seal upon the stone, '53 Easter-Day shall avail against the promise of Him who is the Resur- rection and the Life. The holy women have prepared their spices, and are unconsciously giving a new meaning to the language of the Canticles: "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till He please. ... I will get me to the moun- tain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense, until the day break, and the shadows flee away." Ml CHRIST is risen ! Such is the shout which encircles the earth, as this morning's sun wakes up the world ! To-day ten thousand temples are crowded ; ten thousand altars spread ; ten thousand voices sing, " Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast !" The font and altar are decorated with flowers, emblems of the Resurrection, and of our faith in the promises. These flowers, after the solemnities of the day, are sent to the sick, and others, who have not been permitted by Providence, to visit the temple. Surely, if ever it is right to use such demonstrations of joy as the disciples did of old, when they plucked down branches of the trees, and threw their robes in the way, it is on this fes- tival, which Prophecy itself has proclaimed to us, in the words, " This is the day which the Lord hath made : we will rejoice and be glad in it." Early, while it is yet dark, in some places, the singers go about the streets with the song, " Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Christ hath burst the gates of Hell !" or, as among the Moravians, with instruments of music. 154 Easter-Day By permission of the venerable Presiding Bishop of our Church, the writer, when a Presbyter of his Diocese, was long accustomed to assemble his flock, for worship, at sunrise, on Easter-day, and to use a special service, which received the Bishop's approbation. First was said the Lord's Prayer and the Collect for the day; and then, after the versicles, (O Lord, open Thou our Lips, etc.,) and the Easter Anthem, were said, or sung, Psalms, ( 16, 81, 84, no,) with Glorias. The Lesson was Revelation, the fifth chapter, followed by the Jubilate and the Nicene Creed. A brief pastoral salutation was followed by the carol, "Christ the Lord is risen to-day." And the Service closed with Collects, (those for the First and Second Sundays after Easter, for Easter-Even, for the Feasts of St. Thomas, and SS. Philip and James,) and the concluding Prayer in the " Burial of the Dead." This order is suggested for family prayer, on Easter-day, or for use in such parishes as cannot have a Priest's presence even for the sunrise Eucharist, which is THE Service for Easter morning. For the early Communion of Easter-day an alternative Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are provided (p. 127). The Easter Anthem to be used instead of the Venite at Morning Prayer is to be found just before the Collect for the day, on page 125 of the Prayer- Book. The words "Christ, our Passover, etc.," and the exhortation, " Let us keep the feast," show that the Christian Passover is an Apostolic Institution. St. Paul wrote his first Epistle to the Corinthians, at Easter, and hence the pertinency of his appeal (I. Cor. v. 7) to them as "unleavened"' that is, keeping the days of un- leavened bread. The Jewish Christians seem to have used *55 Easter-Day unleavened bread at the Lord's Supper, but the Apostle bids them to be spiritually unleavened. Year after year, as this glorious strain begins, we find ourselves wishing it may not be over too soon, and then, as it dies away, regretting that a year must pass ere we hear it again. Let us reflect that possibly we shall hear it and sing it to the glory of the risen Redeemer, never again on earth ! Then follow the Proper Psalms, which are prophecies of the Resurrection, collected from the Psalter, and which, though written ages before Christ came, are still the best poetical descriptions of His history. The First Lesson narrates the Institution of the Pas- chal Feast, which took place more than three thousand years ago, and was enjoined to be kept forever ; as it has been, in Jewish shadow or in Christian substance, ever since, and as to time's end it ever shall be, as sure as the moon, which GOD set for signs and for seasons, comes annually to her Paschal maturity. How sug- gestive the thought, as we thus read the original warrant for this festival, that in our generation we have risen up to observe it also, and to pass it to our posterity, saying, when our children ask, " What mean ye by this sen-ice ?" " It is the Lord's Passover." How expressive, in the Te Deum which follows, is the strain, "When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers." In the Second Lesson, we read St. Matthew's record of some of the events which followed the Resurrection on the first Easter-day and later. Then, if \he Jubilate be sung, how appropriate its bur- then, "Be joyful, all ye lands!" Or if the Bcnedictus follows (which is always the proper liturgical Canticle 156 Easter-Day after the Gospel Lesson), how new and fresh a meaning is given by the day to the passage, "He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, in the house of His servant David." "To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember His holy Covenant . . . that we being de- livered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear." Beginning the Sen-ice with the Easter Sentences and the Lord's Prayer, the Morning Prayer will doubtless be closed with the Prayer for the Presi- dent and the Litany this day omitted. The desire of every communicant to present himself at the Altar, on this festival, in obedience to the recog- nized duty of partaking always at Easter of the Blessed Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, sometimes ren- ders the solemnities too protracted to be to the end en- joyed. But where the services succeed each other as the rubrics provide, there is the happiest combination of continued service, and desirable bodily refreshment. The Great Service of the day is the Easter Eucharist. As the Priest enters the chancel, the old Introit is devoutly chanted, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." (Ps. 16.) Then, after the Decalogue, comes the beautiful Collect, commemorative of Him who "hath overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life." To this succeeds the Epistle, " If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above"; and then follows the Holy Gospel, in which the beloved Apostle describes to us the scene at the sepulchre on the early morning of the first Easter- day. The alternative Col- lect is taken from an ancient source, the alternative Epistle repeats a part of the Easter Anthem, and the Gospel which follows is St. Mark's narration of the visit 157 Easter-Day of the holy women to the sepulchre ' ' that they might anoint Him." Then we say or sing the Nicene Creed; and then the Minister ascends the pulpit, to preach, like St. Paul at Athens, " JESUS and the Resurrection." Oh, sublimest hour in the Christian's year ! when the Paschal Altar is spread, and all things are ready, and the ambassador of Christ bids us come to the Supper of the Lamb ! And now the sermon is over, and perchance the thoughtless and gazing multitude have withdrawn, and the doors are shut, and Christ is within, as of old. At the Holy Table stands the commissioned agent of His own eternal Priesthood, once again to "do this in commemo- ration of Him"! How wonderfully this sublime Memo- rial fulfils its purpose ! how augustly, as it proceeds, Christ is set forth "before our eyes, crucified among us "! At the Preface, how touching is the recognition of Christ as the very Paschal Lamb! and in the Trisagion, how are we joined in adoration with the heavenly choir itself! The words of Institution recount the solemn scenes of the week, and remind us of the upper chamber in which the last Passover and the first Eucharist were cele- brated. For the Easter Communion the traditional hymn is the old Ambrosian: "At the Lamb's High Feast \ve sing." (Hymn 118.) There is, indeed there can be, no better hymn for the Christian Passover. And then we receive the Heavenly Food Itself, and so go in peace to our homes, with many a holy resolve and secret prayer " to go in the strength of that meat " all our lives, and to the Mount of GOD. Oh, what a happy day! Like those who kept the first Easter with Christ, our hearts have burned within us all the time; and He hath made Himself known to us in the BREAKING OF BREAD. 158 Monday in Easter- Week The Evening Psalms and Lessons are most appropriate for the Day, the first Lesson being the tumultuous song of triumph which rang out over the waters of the Red Sea when Jehovah had gotten Himself the victory. This is "the song of Moses and the Lamb," in its typical form as the song of Moses over the triumph of the Paschal Lamb in Egypt. A more glorious song of Moses and the Lamb is to be sung by all the faithful, in the mount of GOD, when the last enemy is slain, and when death and hell are thrown into the lake of fire. We ought to note that Miriam, who leads the chorus of the female saints, bears the name of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, and the sweet singer of the Magnificat. The Second Lesson must be specially noted as an Apostolic Sermon on the text, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." It is an exposition of the Morning Introit. As we thus conclude the Festival, let us praise GOD that now, in all the world, the same Church of Christ con- fesses Him with boldness, which on the first Easter was contained in one room at Jerusalem, and that secretly, for fear of the Jews. fiflontmp in j aster *1ICleefe EASTERTIDE continues through the Octave of Easter- day, that is, for eight days inclusive ; though for two days only are special services appointed. Thus all the Scrip- tures specially referring to the Resurrection may be read, and the opportunity of Communion may be still afforded ; for it is required by universal consent, as well as by the ancient canons, that every one should endeavor to re- ceive the Holy Communion at the Easter season. 159 Monday in Easter-Week The tree which sweetened the waters of Marah and the abundant supply of water at Elim, are the subjects of the First Lesson, reminding us of Him who by His Resurrection has brought life-giving refreshment to a world of thirsty souls. (St. John iv. 10-15. See also St. John vii. 37.) In the beautiful words, "I am the Lord that healeth thee," we see the promise of a Saviour to heal the world, embittered and poisoned by sin. We have also a hint of the immediate work under- taken by GOD, in conducting the children of Israel forty years through the wilderness. It was to heal them ; to purify them of their carnal lusts, and to make them a holy seed. Here was a type of the Gospel : the twelve wells and the seventy palm-trees of Elim being, also, emblems of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy Dis- ciples, whose gifts of healing were made the tokens of Christ's first Advent to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The Second Lesson is St. Luke's account of the Resurrection. At Evening Prayer, the First Lesson contains the most ancient prophecy of the Resurrection, and must be re- garded as an exhibition of man's wretchedness and Christ's sufficiency. " I know that my Redeemer liveth" here is the balm of Gilead for every mortal wound, and for all the diseases of our souls. The Second Les- son is St. Mark's account of the Resurrection in part repeated from the alternative Gospel for Easter-day. The Epistle is the narrative of the first preaching of the Resurrection to the Gentiles, in the case of Cornelius ; and the Gospel is the story of the walk to Emmaus, and of the first Easter Eucharist, which was celebrated by our Lord Himself, after an Easter Sermon which He Himself preached. 160 The Great Forty Days Ube Great 3Fort No Churchman should fail to note and to profit by the blessed Eastertide extending to the Feast of the Ascen- sion. Let us imagine ourselves in company with the dis- ciples during those Forty Days when JESUS "showed Himself alive after His passion, by many infallible proofs." What a flood of light had been thrown upon His Person, His Mission, His words, actions, prophe- cies, and promises, by the glorious Rising again from the dead ! How at one bound the disciples had advanced from primary scholars to pupils of a much higher grade, appreciative, receptive, alert, eager to hear more and understand more. And here He was with them over and over again during almost six weeks, " teaching them the things pertaining to His kingdom," "opening their understandings that they might understand the scriptures," explaining the "whither," the "why," the "little while," and many things else which before His crucifixion had sorely puz- zled them. It was a marvellous time, of which our popular Chris- tianity takes no heed. But we, as Churchmen, believe that everything that follows the third verse of the first chapter of the Book of the Acts originated and emerged from the Great Forty Days, and has the sanction of the Master's command, and the seal of the Master's Personal authorization. Hence, when at His Ascension He said, "Make learners or disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," He included, of course, the instruc- tions of the Great Forty Days ; and when He had as- 161 Tuesday in Easter- Week cended up on High, He sent the Holy Spirit according to His promise to " bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." Therefore, from the Great Forty Days originated, among many other things, all the doc- trines of the Apostolic Church, and also the Lord's Day, Infant Baptism, Confirmation, the Weekly Eucharist, the Threefold Ministry, the Christian Festivals, and what- soever else appears of doctrine or practice on the pages of the New Testament, corroborated by the history of the early church as given by secular writers. We may well thank our Blessed Lord for His condescension in tarrying so long after His victorious Resurrection, that He might establish and well order His Church before leaving it in human hands. Thus, He loved His Church and gave Himself for it even unto the end. in Baster^Meeft EASTER, like Christmas, is a time of household re- joicing ; and when the solemnities of Sunday are passed, a moderate festivity should be encouraged. The chil- dren, too, with their gilded Easter-eggs the egg being an Oriental symbol of life in a sepulchre, which breaks forth of itself, and flies to heaven should be made to under- stand why it is meet to make merry, and Who it is that " was dead and is alive again." During the whole of the Easter Season, the concluding prayers of the Burial Service are frequently used by the Clergy, after sermons, and elsewhere, with pleasing propriety. It is also customary, in some churches, to 162 Tuesday in Easter- Week use as an Easter benediction, after the Evening Sermon, St. Paul's language : "The GOD of peace, who brought again from the dead, etc." Thus, the service may be enriched, though there are no special Collects for these supplementary days. The Holy Eucharist, with its Proper Preface, celebrated each day during the Octave, most properly emphasizes the importance of the Feast, and shows us how distinctly the Christian Passover is the substance of which the ancient Passover was the shadow. " Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. ... In the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation. . . . And this day shall be unto you for a memorial ... ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance, forever." (Ex. xii. 14-17.) The Lesson from Isaiah this morning, has many pas- sages worthy of remark ; but it is appointed chiefly be- cause of the concluding verses, and the prophecy, "Thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." In the Evening Lesson, we have the story from II. Kings of the revival of the dead man whose body touched the bones of Elisha the prophet, a prefigure- ment of the Resurrection. The Second Lesson in the morning is St. John's narrative of one of the most strik- ing appearances of our Lord after His Resurrection ; and in the evening we have, in the same place, a con- tinuation of the same chapter, which closes the Fourth Gospel. The Epistle is St. Paul's sermon, at Antioch, preached in the synagogue, after the Lessons for the day had been read ; in which he proved from the prophets that Christ was the true David, and that He must needs rise again from the dead. The Gospel continues the Gospel of yesterday, and concludes with the words of our tri- 163 First Sunday after Easter umphant Lord Himself, pointing the lesson for us all : " Ye are witnesses of these things." How much that implies as to our life and conversation ! fffrst Sunfcap after Easter THIS is sometimes called Low Sunday, or the Sunday of Albs. The former name, pertaining to it as the Octave of Easter, signifies that, although not the High Feast, it Is the first of the Lower Rasters which we keep every week ; and the latter is an old name, derived from the throng of catechumens who, in ancient times, appeared at Church, in the albs, or white garments given to them at their baptism. This ceremony of Albs is done away ; but not so the spirit of the same. The Church would have us now revert, all together, to that rising with Christ out of the burial of Baptism, in which our Chris- tian life began ; and it will be observed that the edifying of the young Christian in practical holiness is a promi- nent thought in the spirit of the Services, from this time until Pentecost, when the riper fruits of the Spirit are brought into view. " Pureness of living" is, therefore prominent in the language of the Collect ; while the Epistle contains the doctrine which is embodied in the familiar hymn, " Let the water and the blood From Thy side, a healing flood, Be of sin the double cure : Save from wrath and make me pure." One of the texts occurring in the Epistle may be re- garded as an Epitome of Revelation : " And this is the record, that GOD hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." The flaming sword is removed, 164 First Sunday after Easter and the fall remedied ; we may now put forth our hands to the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever. The Son of GOD hath destroyed the works of the devil ; and henceforth "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life." Mere Deism or Socinianism will not save a man. Salvation turns on the acceptance of the Son of GOD, and on being so grafted into Him as to partake of His life. With this great truth connects the Gospel for the day, ' ' As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. ' ' Here is the great mission of the ministry of reconcilia- tion. Christ rose for our justification to "sprinkle many nations"; and therefore His first words are those which are to perpetuate His work to the end of time. There are always to be in the world authorized Ambas- sadors of Christ, administering "the water and the blood" to the souls of men for the remission of sins. The great bestowal of the keys follows, in the words, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained." In this formula is given the author- ity to bind and loose, to baptize and to administer the Lord's Supper, and (by admitting to or excluding from the Sacraments) to remit and retain sins. But there is no arbitrary power conferred in these words : the Chris- tian priesthood bind nothing and loose nothing, except as they act according to the laws of Christ. The truly penitent and believing, with little children, receive bene- fit from these powers ; and only the unworthy and unbe- lieving need dread the sentence of excommunication, or other censures. An ancient Father observed that when a Bishop or Presbyter censures, or excommunicates, other- wise than as Christ has ordained, he only harms himself. This great text refers then to the " one Baptism for the 165 First Sunday after Easter remission of Sins," which is professed in the Creed. It is to be interpreted by the "Acts of the Apostles"; by what they actually did under this commission. As to other forms of Absolution, and Confession for baptized persons, they are of Ecclesiastical origin, and have greatly differed in different ages of the Church, being adjuncts of the one great Sacrament and preparatives to the other, but not in themselves " sacraments of the Gospel." (See Article xxv. Prayer- Book, p. 562.) Our Church ex- acts, in several cases, a general confession, and provides for private confession in case of troubled consciences. A penitential system is requisite to full Communion, in the nature of things, and must, of necessity, exist in some form or other ; but the gross abuses, which in times past have arisen about enforced confession, make it all-important that we should the more carefully keep the simple truth as here recorded. "The LORD JESUS CHRIST hath given power on earth to His Church," which is His Body and wherein He dwells, to adminis- ter in His Name, the forgiveness of sins. And this the Church does authoritatively by Preaching, by Baptism, by Confirmation, by Holy Communion, by formal Ab- solution. The Church thus remits sins, remembering always that she is but a Voice and a Hand. The Lord Himself is the only Absolver, Baptizer, Administrant of any sacrament or ordinance whatsoever. The Apostolic Commission was bestowed after the Resurrection. Christ had not given any general Com- mission to His Apostles, when He died on the Cross, though He had promised that He would give them the keys. Consequently, the existence of a body of men bearing this Commission is a perpetual witness of the Resurrection. The "Apostolical Succession" as it is called is a perpetual token that Christ rose from the 1 66 First Sunday after Easter dead, and that he sent forth witnesses to proclaim His Resurrection, with whom He promised to remain till the end of the world. Any ministry, then, which is not of Apostolical Succession, is not a competent witness that Christ rose again for our justification, according to the Scriptures ; but of this truth, the Apostolic Church is "the Pillar and Ground." (I. Tim. iii. 15.) In the Lessons from Isaiah, to-day, we are to look for allusions to our Lord's power over Death and Hades the dark river, and the land of the enemy. Hence, we have, in the morning, several such passages : e.g., "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." With reference to what has been already said of the Gospel for the day, and of the Apostolic Succession, observe also the text, "Therefore, ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am GOD"; and again, "This people have I formed for Myself ; they shall show forth My praise." In the Evening, observe, "I am the first, I also am the last," and reflect on the similar passage in the Revelation, and on Christ, as the speaker in both places. Then listen to the residue of the Lesson : "thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, . . . Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments ! ..." "Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." The Lesson from the Acts, not only completes the melancholy history of Judas ; but shows how GOD took care that the Apostolic line should be continued, to wit- ness the Resurrection. The text " His bishopric let another take" is proof that the successors of the Apos- tles are rightly termed Bishops, although that term is a 167 First Sunday after Easter generic one, like the term pastor, and hence, in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, it is, in a limited sense, used for the inferior office of the Presbyter. The Pres- byter was one of the Bishops, or Pastors, of a particular flock, or congregation ; but the Apostle was the Bishop of a district like Crete, or of a whole city like Ephesus, and hence he is called, in the Revelation, the "Angel" of such a Church Angel and Apostle meaning the same thing a messenger. We usually give the name Angel to heavenly messengers, however, and the name Bishop, with equal propriety, to chief pastors. The Second Evening Lesson is the beginning of the sublimest of all those glorious bursts of inspired poetry with which St. Paul's Epistles abound. It is the fullest exposition we have of the doctrine of the Resurrection : it declares that at the Resurrection the righteous shall as truly have bodies of their own as any given seed is sure of a blossom of its own. On the other hand, it shall not be the body that dies and is buried, any more than the same glorious flower is the perishing seed that was sown. The identity consists in the connection between the product and the germ : "to every seed a body of its own," and yet, "thou sowest not that body that shall be." The text, " what shall they do which are baptized for the dead?" seems to have reference to the martyrs, whose baptism of blood, for a dead Christ, and for the faith of dead Patriarchs and Apostles, would be without a shadow of hope. On the other hand, for a living Christ, and for the patriarchs and prophets as "living unto Him," in the power of His Resurrection, the mar- tyrs might well consent to be "baptized with the bap- tism that He was baptized with," and St. Paul and others might, as willingly, "stand in jeopardy, every hour." As for the Apostle's "fighting with beasts at 1 68 Second Sunday after Easter Ephesus," although he may have contended in the arena, in some unrecorded persecution, it is more likely that he here speaks of his persecutors as "beasts"; for so St. Ignatius, the Martyr Bishop of Antioch, in his Epistle to the Romans, speaks of the "ten leopards," or soldiers, that guarded him, and who abused him with rude indignities, as he journeyed towards Rome, to be devoured by lions in the Flavian Amphitheatre. Although the whole of this chapter is not read on this Sunday Evening, yet so familiar is it as the sad yet triumphant Lesson in the Burial Service, that it is well to mention these points which need a word of explanation. The Lesson appointed covers the first twenty-two verses, in which St. Paul enumerates the various appearances of the risen Lord to so many witnesses as to make the Res- urrection absolutely indubitable. (See Acts i. 3.) Seconfc Sunfca after Easter THE Paschal Lamb is now exhibited as the Shepherd; for this is the day which the French call so prettily the Sunday of the Bon Pasteur, referring to the beautiful words of the Gospel: " I am the Good Shepherd." The Gallican Church, until lately, retained many other ancient resemblances to the Anglican; for the genuine Gallicans did not wholly submit to the Roman yoke, even at the Council of Trent. Unhappily for them, however, they gave enough power to the Pope to en- able him to mar their ancient heritage ; and to substi- tute for it, after their first Revolution, a purely papal one, which has almost entirely abolished the good things 169 Second Sunday after Easter that were left, for which the nobler spirits among them once contended so boldly. In reciting the Collect, we must not fail to recognize the reflected form of the verb, in the words endeavor ourselves, which is here the same as in the Confirmation- Office, and in the Ordinal, at the close of the Bishop's address to the candidates for the Priesthood. The Epistle speaks of Christ as "the Bishop and Shepherd a, Eiabtb after THERE is a marked coincidence between the Epistle and Gospel. "The sons of GOD," says the former, are they that are "led by the Spirit of GOD," or, in other words, they that bring forth "the fruits of the Spirit." So the Gospel says, "by their fruits ye shall know them." Instead of sowing to the flesh, therefore, or listening to "false prophets, that come to us in sheep's clothing," teaching worldly wisdom, as if "gain were godliness," we commit ourselves entirely to the care and providence of GOD, and, in the Collect, leave it to Him to decide what is good for us, and what is hurtful. In the spirit 219 Sunday, Eighth after Trinity of this beautiful prayer it may be we are asking GOD to give us poverty, and sorrow, and sickness, and death ; for GOD may know that the reverse would work our eternal loss. But this is the spirit of every true prayer, " Thy will be done." The worldly-minded, on the other hand, proudly dictate to GOD, in their hearts, if not in words. They " will be rich," and they " fall into temp- tation and a snare" ; GOD gives them their heart's desire, and sends leanness into their souls. " But, O Thou bounteous Giver of all good, Give what Thou canst, without Thee we are poor, And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away." In the First Lesson we hear of that glorious deliver- ance of GOD'S people " in the cloud and in the sea," and note that the same cloud which gave light by night to Israel was darkness to the Egyptians. So it is with all the providences of GOD : they are baleful to His enemies, and blessed to His friends, come in what shape they may. In the Second Lesson we read that, though St. Paul was to be the preacher, the disciples " came together to break bread." This shows us how important as part of the Gospel is eating often of that Bread. We note also that St. Paul had kept his Easter at Phillippi, that this was the Second Sunday after Easter, and that he was making exertion to keep his Pentecost at Jerusalem. His sermon to the Presbyters of Ephesus is a fitting prelude to his two Epistles to Timothy (then Bishop) and shows how clearly distinguished were the offices of Presbyters and Bishops from the beginning, although the title of "over- seers" was common to both orders, as the term pastors is at the present day. The fervor and unction of the Apostle's language in this charge make it one of the most eloquent of all his exhortations. Nor should we fail 220 Sunday, Eighth after Trinity to reflect on the fact that for three whole years, night and day, and with tears, as St. Paul declares, he had warned the primitive Christians against the approaching heresies and schisms which false brethren were to excite. To these warnings we owe, under GOD, much of that spirit which wrestles with heresy, as with heathenism through all the primitive ages, and which preserved the faith entire as we have it in the Nicene Creed. In the First Evening Lesson there are related the experiences and wonderful deliverances of the children of Israel at Massah and Meribah and Rephidim, and note how GOD in all his revelation makes use of means, (as in these instances, the rod of Moses), employed in connection with fervent prayer to accomplish His purposes of grace. The Second Lesson records the words of St. Paul con- cerning "JESUS CHRIST, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," and his exposition of the Jewish sacrifices, as setting forth the Cross, and the Blood of the everlasting Covenant. Observe, the Cross is called "the reproach of Christ," and we are bidden to bear it; not, indeed, materially, but in lives crucified to the world. The reality of the Christian altar is also asserted, and its superiority to the altar of Mosaic sacrifices is implied. The Lord's Table is the Christian altar, and they only have a right to eat of it who "glory in the Cross," as St. Paul did ; being willing to suffer shame for the Cru- cified, and to offer their souls and bodies a living sacri- fice to the Paschal Lamb who was sacrificed for us. 221 Sunday, Ninth after Trinity Sun&a, fllintb after WHETHER the thoughtful wisdom of men, or rather the providential guidance of the Lord, is to be credited with the careful arrangement and succession of Scrip- tures in this day's Services, it may be difficult to say. Wisdom and skill are, nevertheless, conspicuous through- out, as the devout worshipper cannot fail to see. In the First Lesson, at Morning Prayer, we have the history of Korah's rebellion. Now, observe, Korah was a Levite, or deacon, and Dathan and Abiram were con- spicuous laymen. They thought they might take the priesthood upon themselves, and that Aaron was a proud prelate, who had " lifted himself above the congregation of the Lord." Thus they became Congregationalists, or Independents. Their pretext was (precisely that of the Puritans in England in the seventeenth century) that " all the congregation were holy, every one of them, and the Lord was among them." They insisted that no priesthood was necessary. It was true, then, as it is now, that, in a certain sense, the Laity were part of the priesthood : GOD had said, (Exod. xix. 6, ) " Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests," just as in the New Tes- tament it is said of all Christians, "Ye are a royal priesthood." But observe how Moses answered this pre- text. To Korah and the Levites he showed the dig- nity of their diaconate, and the presumption of their intruding further into the priest's office. To the laymen Dathan and Abiram, he addressed another expostula- tion. To all he said, in defence of the High-Priest- hood bestowed on Aaron exclusively, "The Lord hath sent me to do all these works ; for I have not done them of my own mind." It was GOD'S own ordinance that 222 Sunday, Ninth after Trinity there should be a separate priesthood, and this the Lord Himself showed, once and forever, by His judgment on Korah and his company. So, in the New Testament, it is written, " No man taketh this honor to himself but he that is called of GOD, as was Aaron." The sin of "heaping to themselves teachers" is censured by St. Paul; and the "gainsaying of Korah" is rebuked by St. Jude, as a sin which may be repeated under the Gos- pel. Hence, the Apostolic Priesthood is shown to stand in a position similar to that of the Aaronic Priesthood under the Law. In the Second Lesson St. Paul pleads before Felix, and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled. Now comes the Collect, imploring grace that we may "think and do, always, such things as are right"; and "be enabled to live according to GOD'S will." The Epistle, as it were, taking up the history of Korah's murmuring, teaches us that " these things happened unto them for examples ; and they are written for our admo- nition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." GOD will not again open the earth to avenge the precepts of the Moral Law, nor yet to enforce again His despised ordinances ; but the warning is written, expressly, that we may be admonished. Observe, too, it was Christ, not Moses, against whom sin was committed even under the Law : the Apostle says "that Rock was Christ," and that "they tempted Christ." Is it not a suggestive thought, that many Christians who have rejected the Apostolic ministry and started a purely con- gregational one, have, in the course of time, rejected Christ ? We must not fail to recognize the eminent piety of many who, in modern times, have been involved by birth, education, or misconception of duty, in the evil 223 Sunday, Ninth after Trinity consequences of schisms, which they did not make, and which they would not have made. GOD has greatly blessed the individuals, but He has not blessed their systems. These have oftentimes died out, in endless divisions, or in blank Socinianism. Take the instances of Geneva and Holland, and New England. ' ' Where- fore," says the Epistle, "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." GOD has provided ample means of grace, and in every kind of temptation there is a way of escape. The Gospel is that parable of the unjust steward, which is " hard to be understood." The worldly wis- dom of this bad man suggested to him the importance of providing for the day of want, which he saw coming : being a bad man, he used bad means ; but he prepared himself a home, among those whom he had obliged. Now, why should the children of GOD suffer a bad man to rebuke them, at least in this point, his wise and care- ful provision for the future ? As a day is coming when we shall be turned out of our stewardship, why should we not be good and faithful stewards, on the like prin- ciple of forethought ? By using our own means, as the bad steward used his master's, we may make ourselves friends in many a poor Lazarus, who in the day of our death will welcome us to Abraham's bosom. Let us note that "the lord" who commended the un- just steward, is not the Lord JESUS CHRIST, but the steward's own lord, or master, who confessed that the steward was, at least, a shrewd fellow, and had made a prudent arrangement for himself, however unprincipled the means. We are to understand that it was a regular bargain, on the basis of the suggestion which is only once recorded. He said to each of these debtors, "I will give you a receipt, for so much, provided, if it should 224 Sunday, Ninth after Trinity come to my master's ears, and he should turn me away, you will give me a home, till I can find some other means of subsistence." In this matter of forethought, worldly men, says our Saviour, are, in their way of doing things, and on their limited scale of providing for them- selves, far wiser than those whose aims are professedly towards an everlasting futurity, but who often fail in turning their present opportunities to the best advantage, in preparing for it. Bad men often rebuke good Chris- tians, by their superior zeal, and forethought, in the con- cerns for which they profess to live. If in higher con- cerns, and by better courses, and on a nobler scale, Chris- tians would be as thoughtful, they would secure a glorious inheritance in the day of their departure from this life. In the First Evening Lesson, we begin the history of Balaam, a bad man, and a false prophet ; who sinned against his own conscience, for the sake of reward. He is coupled with Korah, by St. Jude. Observe, when a man will not take a plain intimation of duty from GOD, but tries to bend GOD'S will to his own, GOD often gives him his way, and yet is displeased with him, and sends him warnings and chastisements. The miracle of " the ass speaking with man's voice," is often carped at ; but it is important to note that it is reaffirmed in the New Testament, (II. Peter ii. 16, ) and also that it explains the principle on which Balaam's own mouth was after- wards opened in prophecy. GOD, who used even a dumb animal to rebuke a false prophet, used Balaam and Caiaphas (who had made themselves "as natural brute beasts") to utter His own words, and to rebuke the in- credulity and madness of men. Hence, the "gift of tongues" is no proof of divine favor, and a man may be a preacher, without being saved at last. So, too, we read in the Second Lesson, from the severely practical 15 22 5 Sunday, Tenth after Trinity St. James, " Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"; and again, "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." Obedience is the law of holiness ; and " rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft," (or sorcery,) which was one of the sins of Balaam. Sunfcap, Uentb after IT was the plan of Providence, by the deliverance of Israel, and the humiliation of the great empire of Egypt, to call the surrounding nations to a knowledge of the true God. The overruling of Balaam's efforts to curse Israel, and the sublime prophecies which GOD put into his mouth, making "the wrath of man to praise Him," are very instructive to a devout worshipper, and not less consoling to the faithful. There is something so magnifi- cent in the scenery of the history, and, in the language of the inspired historian, there is such a pictorial effect, that few of the Lessons of the year are more capable of being read to the congregation, with command over the feelings of old and young together. The group on the mountains, the smoking altars, and the wild prophetic rapture of Balaam, with the mute astonishment of Balak and the Moabite princes, are strikingly contrasted with the scene below, the white tents of Israel, the banners of their army, and the holy place of the Tabernacle, over which hangs the mysterious cloud, a shade by day, and a light by night. Especially in the Evening Lesson, where Balaam is forced to abandon himself to the spirit of prophecy, let us note his impressive utterances, ' 'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O 226 Sunday, Tenth after Trinity Israel !" "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel." In these words the Moabites, and other Oriental nations, perceived a pro- phecy of universal dominion, to be granted to the off- spring of Jacob. They kept the oracle among themselves till the star appeared at the Epiphany of Christ, and then the Wise Men sought out the promised Seed. With this prophecy, also must be taken the obscure words, " He shall pour the water out of his buckets^ and His seed shall be in many waters." St. Cyprian reminded the Jews that this was an admitted testimony to the divinity of the Messiah; for when the Jews speak of "water poured from the bucket" they mean a son begotten in the image of his father, the same water being in the bucket at the well, and in the vessel which it fills. In the Second Morning Lesson we hear St. Paul's eloquent pleading before Agrippa, and while we cannot enumerate the inexhaustible subjects of his discourse, we must note the story of his own extraordinary call to the Apostleship. Such a call can only be made by miracle, He relates the particulars of His call by Christ person- ally, and repeats the very words of His ordination " Unto whom now I send thee" : in the Greek make thee an Apostle. To this special and miraculous commission St. Paul refers when he declares himself ' ' an Apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by JESUS CHRIST, and GOD the Father who raised Him from the dead." He would have been a false Apostle had his commission been " of men," but he might have received a valid commission "by man" as Timothy did: but it was his privilege to receive it directly, as the eleven Apostles did, from the risen Redeemer, and this he often asserts ; for His ene- mies pretended to doubt it, and seem to have put him to the proofs of his extraordinary- call, which he is always 227 Sunday, Tenth after Trinity ready to produce. (See Phil. i. 16, 17; Gal. i. 20; I. Cor. ix. i, 2 ; II. Cor. xii. 12. ) All this shows the necessity of a regular Apostolic ordination, or of miraculous cre- dentials on the part of those who undertake to minister to men, as "Ambassadors of Christ." In the Second Evening Lesson St. James shows that a practical faith is the only faith which justifies, and his reproof of pride in public worship as a sin against GOD, inconsistent with justification, should be specially noted. The system of selling seats in churches has many wrongs connected with it, and should be reformed as soon as possible ; while it lasts, let us beware of the evils which it tends to foster. In the Epistle, we have an account of the various manifestations of the Spirit, by which GOD was pleased to assure the Church, in the martyr-ages, of His pres- ence and power. In the Gospel, Christ weeps over lost sinners, who knew not the time of their visitation, and foretells the overthrow of the Jewish Church and people. He also gives us the perpetual decree, "My house is the house of prayer." These who have "itch- ing ears," and would make it exclusively a place of preaching, should reflect on this ; and all should take to heart the amazing privilege which the decree confirms to us. Let us go to church, to " make known our requests unto GOD." The Collect teaches us the law of accept- able prayer. When we ask GOD to give us the things He has expressly promised in Holy Scripture, we may be sure we please Him, and that we shall never ask for such things in vain. He may wait long enough to de- velop fervor and patience in us ; but in the end, He will satisfy our desires, or give us contentment, and even joy, in bearing a trial of faith for His sake "whom, having not seen, we love." 228 Sunday, Eleventh after Trinity , Eleventb after ZTrinttp THE First Lessons to-day contain a sermon of Moses on the Law, and also a prophecy of the judgments which should fall on the Hebrews in case they should disobey it. When we see, in the subsequent books of the Old Testament, how these awful warnings were fulfilled to the letter in the history of the chosen people, we should learn a lesson with respect to the threats and promises of the New Covenant, under which we are now living. The Second Lesson this morning gives us a specimen of these forewarnings, and is otherwise full of instruction. Observe the place which little children occupy in the affections of Christ, and \vhat is said of their guardian angels. It is further noteworthy that our Lord, who elsewhere recommends the searching of the Scriptures, here ordains that we should "hear the Church." It is our duty to do both ; and they who neglect to practise and enforce either duty are, so far, unevangelical. The text concerning binding and loosing is worthy of special notice, moreover, as showing that the discipline of the Church is to be dreaded, when it is exercised according to the commandments of GOD. The shocking abuse of this power by Popes and Councils, in the Middle Ages, has taught men to despise even the legitimate authority of the Church ; but until such texts as these are erased from the Gospel, it must stand forever true, that he who for sin and scandalous offence is cut off from her com- munion becomes as a heathen man and a publican to Christians, and unless he repents and is restored, must die under the wrath of GOD. The importance of Chris- tian unity is further enforced by the rule, " Wherever two or three are gathered together, in My name, there 229 Sunday, Eleventh after Trinity am I in the midst of them"; and the promise, to grant what we ask with one accord, is only limited by the scriptural laws of prayer, which forbid us to ask any- thing capriciously, and which reserve to GOD, in His superior wisdom, the right to modify His answers to prayer, so as to secure the real prosperity of the peti- tioner. St. James expounds the ethics of the Gospel in the Second Lesson in such a manner as powerfully to bring out the length and breadth of GOD'S holy Law, as a spir- itual law, requiring the careful cleansing of the heart, and a jealous restraint of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Thus, how suggestive is what he says of the tongue ! How forcibly the conscience corroborates his fearful delineations ! And yet, but for this inspired oracle, who would have suspected the perils that beset our use of words ? In harmony with these Lessons, we have the Collect, beseeching GOD for grace to " run the way of His com- mandments." The Epistle shows the connection of faith with morals ; a steadfast belief in the Resurrection of the LORD JESUS CHRIST being enforced by the Apostle, as requisite to salvation ; while in the Gospel, self-righteous- ness, or the boasted merit of the Pharisee, is shown to be the reverse of what is acceptable with GOD. \Yhat the Pharisee said of his alms and mortifications, was probably no more than the publican might have said, were it not that he had come to the temple to confess his sins, and not to proclaim his deservings. Besides, the publi- can did all these things, not to bring GOD into his debt, but from a real desire to be cleansed from sin, so that he was rather sensible of the sin which was yet unpurified, than of the means he had so imperfectly employed to free himself from it. Observe, too, the Pharisee confessed 230 Sunday, Twelfth after Trinity not his own sins, but the sins of his neighbor ; while the publican, thinking only of his own unworthiness, refrained from comparing himself with anything but GOD'S per- fect Law. Beholding in that, as in a burnished mirror, his own deformity, he threw himself upon mercy, and deprecated the awards of justice. The original Greek implies an appeal for mercy through a propitiation, and teaches us how to escape from the thunders of the Law through the sacrifice of Calvary. Finally, "the publican went down to his house justified "; and so may we return from Church on every occasion of worship, if only we have there poured out our hearts, as the publican did, saying, " GOD be merciful to me a sinner." The means of grace are richer, in every way, in the Christian Church, than ever they were in the Hebrew Temple ; and it is good to make this petition the language of our hearts on entering and leaving the house of GOD. May it be the spirit of our last ejaculations when we come to die ! , Uwelftb after THE Collect is a favorite one, and is extremely felici- tous in expression, while its material thought is no less happily conceived. Our conscience is burdened so that we can scarcely look up, and we have no merits whatever to assure us in approaching GOD ; but we deal with One who is more ready to hear than we are to pray, and who is wont to give not only more than we deserve, but even more than we desire. And the reason is, that we have a Mediator and Advocate whose merits are infinite, and in whom the Father is well pleased : so that, for Christ's sake, we may venture to expect, not only dews of grace, 231 Sunday, Twelfth after Trinity but a drenching shower of mercy upon the thirsty fallow of our souls, and a broad sunshine of love upon our bodies and temporal estates. We have only to be con- stant in prayer, and GOD will not withhold the abundance of his goodness, whether we live or die. This trust in Christ's sufficiency, and this deep sense of personal insufficiency, are further set before us in the Epistle, where St. Paul applies the principle to the case of the Christian ministry. They, of all men, have the greatest reason to feel it, and to act upon it. Observe how the Apostle interprets the shining of Moses' face. The Hebrew Church was the Body of Moses, as the Christian is the Body of Christ : it was the spirit of the one to detect and judge our sins, and it is the spirit of the other to remit and to justify. How glorious, therefore, the Gospel as compared with the Law, and the Church Catholic as compared with the House of Israel ! In the Gospel we see a beautiful illustration of the Collect : Christ is more ready to give than His petitioner to pray ; for while the latter is deaf and dumb, and can- not speak a word, an imploring look secures the abund- ance of His mercy. JESUS bore the infirmity of the suf- ferer ; for, "looking up to heaven, He sighed." Oh, how much that sigh reveals of the compassions of JESUS ! Mysterious world ! when He who thus sighs over our woes yet permits them to exist ; but that single sigh of JESUS convinces me that he doeth all things well, even when He forbears, for a time, and for His own wise rea- sons, to make "the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." One reason why our Saviour forbade the peo- ple to tell of these things, was that He "sought not His own glory," and was purposely giving us an example in this respect. He had provided abundantly for His mani- festation to Israel at the appointed times, and His plan 232 Sunday, Twelfth after Trinity was to work certain public miracles on fitting occasions. At all other times He withdrew from public homage, and avoided popularity, so that when He stood before Pilate, nobody could lay anything to His charge, to justify their accusation that He had sought to make Himself a king. In the old Testament Lessons this morning, let us note the holiness of that Law which Moses commended to Israel by so many considerations, and concerning which he gave them such minute and careful directions. Christ delivered us from the curse of the Law, but He re-enacted all its moral requirements, first in His own blessed exam- ple, and then in express words. In the Second Morning Lesson, we are taught that our service of GOD is to be judged not by how much we do but with what spirit we do it, which should be not grudgingly, or with envy in our hearts, but unselfishly and diligently. In the Second Evening Lesson, St. James explains one reason why many prayers remain unanswered, in spite of Christ's readiness to hear. And further, this eminently practical Apostle expounds the Law, as developed into a system of Christian ethics. He enforces not merely a series of pious acts, but the formation of holy habits, which is the essence of true piety. An eminent American layman has very happily enlarged upon this idea in the following words : " People talk of acting without thought, and think they have made an excuse. They have only disclosed the sin out of which the sin they are excusing grew. Men should never act without the thought of the Presence of GOD. The so acting betrays the fact that our religion is not continuous, that it does not pervade our whole soul and regulate all our actions. What is wanting is a deep and abiding reverence for ALMIGHTY GOD. It is that, and that alone, which can regulate all our actions as they 233 Sunday, Thirteenth after Trinity ought to be regulated. Such reverence involves a habit. Habits, after all, are the things by which human life is governed. Hence, the habit of self-indulgence is the worst of evils, and the habit of self-control the greatest of goods." , Ubirteentb after IN the Old Testament Lessons, we have a retrospect of the Mosaic history, which we have been following for several Sundays, and a sublime exhibition of the grand principle to which the Almighty was introducing the Israelites by all their experiences in the wilderness. They were a nation of degraded and illiterate slaves when GOD, by His mighty power, delivered them from the yoke of the proudest empire then existing. They were carnal and sensual, and all that discipline was necessary' to open their faculties to the perception of the great truth, that ' ' man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." \Ye infer, that in the discipline of His people, now in this wilderness of the world, GOD is preparing us for the Heavenly Canaan, in a like manner. In the Evening Lesson the great Leader Moses chants his dying and triumphal song, celebrating all the wonder- ful things which God had wrought notwithstanding the perverseness of the people. In the Second Morning Lesson, our Lord avenges the holiness of the Law, against the wretched casuistry of Pharisees, and other false teachers, and establishes the morals of his Gospel on the firm basis of sincerity and truth. St. James, in the Second Lesson at Evening Prayer, seems to apply and enforce this sermon of his 234 Sunday, Thirteenth after Trinity Master, beginning with an awful warning addressed to those who "oppress the hireling in his wages," or who^ in any way do unto others as they would not that men should do to them in a reverse of circumstances. He moreover enforces the Saviour's teaching about swearing ' ' by heaven, or any other oath. ' ' Note also the resource of Christians when they are sick. It is commended by St. James that they should not merely send for a physi- cian, as the worldly do, but also for the Presbyters of the Church ; and the " Visitation of the Sick" is here shown to be an ordinance of the Gospel, for turning the trials of sickness to good account for the soul. In the primi- tive day, while the "gifts of healing" were still vouch- safed to the Church, there was a ceremony of anointing which seems to have been annexed to the exercise of this gift by Christ Himself. (See St. Mark vi. 13.) When this miraculous power ceased, then also the Church ceased to use its outward sign ; for to do otherwise would be a perversion of its purpose, and an imposition.* But it is still true that ' ' the prayer of faith shall save the sick," and that "if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven," in answer to such prayer. If the Lord for- bears to save the sick from death, in answer to such prayer, it is for reasons which the dying Christian would himself approve, and in that case the greater bless- ing of forgiveness is indeed a greater salvation. Note also the duty of being reconciled to those whom we have justly offended. It seems to spring out of our Saviour's ordinance. (St. Matt. v. 23, 24.) We are to confess our faults one to another, and to use intercessory prayer one for another, as part of that brotherly love which is the fulfilling of the Law. This teaching follows, * See Appendix C, p. 356. 235 Sunday, Thirteenth after Trinity very appropriately, the intercessory prayer of Moses, in the First Lesson. Finally, how great is the reward which is promised to that Christian who succeeds in converting a single sinner from the error of his way ! The Epistle demonstrates the unity of the Abrahamic Covenant with the Christian Covenant. "The Law," argues the Apostle, "was given, by way of parenthesis, for a certain end, and it could in no wise affect the great drift and meaning of that which was instituted long before Moses, and which was meant to supersede him." This was not agreeable to the Jews, but it is the truth which makes the whole plan and Providence of GOD, as regards the Jews, intelligible and self-consistent. " GOD is one" party in the great system of the Jewish Covenant, and it is impossible, whatever the other party may have chosen to understand, that He could have made any contract with them, contrary to the previous and existing contract, which He had made with Abraham, and with all nations in Abraham. The Gospel shows us how to make all men our neighbors. The Lawyer did not like to own that a Samaritan could be nearer to a Jew than a priest and a Levite of his own people ; but he was forced to own as much, by circumlocution. In like mannner Christ commands us to make all men our brethren. And ob- serve that, when Christ was preaching to a Samaritan (St. John iv. 22), although He asserted the just claim of the Hebrews to be the true Church, He now tells the Hebrews not only that a good Samaritan is better than a bad Hebrew, but that even a true Priest and Levite, of His own ordination, may be rebuked by the piety and zeal of a Samaritan layman ! Infer that a good dissenter is better than a lukewarm Churchman. A man may be a true priest, or a true deacon, by ordination, and yet fail of the reward which, because of his neglect and indiffer- 236 Sunday, Fourteenth after Trinity ence, others shall have the opportunity to ensure. With less of privilege and knowledge, they do more for Christ; and if they are not guilty of intentional disrespect to divine institutions, no doubt they shall receive the Mas- ter's approval in the end. Now, the Collect, which speaks of "true and laudable service," connects with this Gospel, and beseeches GOD that we, who are His people, and who stand in the place of the ancient Hebrews as to Orthodoxy and Divine authority, may not fail to be like the Samaritan also, in his example of Christ-like benevolence and love. Bishop Heber has a sermon on this parable, treating it partly as an allegory, which it may be well to read. Suttoag, fourteenth after IN the Morning, the First Lesson is that gorgeous lyric in which Moses, like the dying Jacob, blesses the tribes, and speaks of things to come. As it frequently coincides with the Autumnal Ember-Week, or falls near it, we should note particularly the blessing of Levi as prophetical of the Gospel ministry, which is called to teach the new Law and put incense before the Lord. The duty of Christian pastors to leave father, and mother, and wife, and chil- dren, to preach the Gospel, is one of the signs by which we know that the blessing of Levi is transferred, with the self-denial of Levi, to the Apostolic Ministry-. The parable of the talents, which occurs in the Second Lesson, bears also upon the commission of the Christian priest, very forcibly, but is equally applicable to every servant of GOD in his vocation and ministry. The point of our 237 Sunday, Fourteenth after Trinity Lord's answer to the wicked servant must not be over- looked. The servant had accused Him of seeking to reap where he had planted no seed. The Lord answers, " If so, you cannot blame me when I only ask the fruit of what I did plant ; you admit that I gave you the talent, and hence I have a right to expect it back again, with its natural increase." The sublimity of the whole Lesson, and its vast importance as a foretaste of judgment, can- not be too strongly described. How remarkable it is, with respect to merit, that the wicked are represented as insisting on their innocence ! while the righteous cannot remember what they ever did to deserve the vast re- wards which the Saviour brings with Him. At Evening Prayer the history of Moses concludes. The Law cannot take the people of GOD into the land of Promise. Joshua (the type and namesake of JESUS) represents the Gospel, and is raised up to do what Moses could not. If this happens to be Ember-week note the Ordination of Joshua : he " was full of the Spirit of Wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him." In the Second Lesson we begin to read St. Peter's First Catholic Epistle every word of which seems steeped in the tears he shed when he "wept bitterly." Observe, how he speaks of Christ as it were breaking a costly box upon His head, in every word ! It must be remarked, also, that we have here a key to the right understanding of the Old Testa- ment. The prophets spake by the Holy Ghost, and were obliged to study their own Scriptures, afterwards, to know their full meaning ! But this spirit of prophecy is called the Spirit of Christ which was in them ; and the grand purport of their writings was to " testify before- hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." So, St. John affirms, " the testimony of JESUS is the spirit of prophecy." In a word, the true Chris- 238 Sunday, Fifteenth after Trinity tian sees Christ everywhere, in the Old Testament, as well as in the New. To obtain GOD'S promises we must love His precepts ; and faith and hope are essential to this love of duty or practical obedience. Such is the spirit of the Collect. But the Epistle shows us that GOD'S commandments are at war with our natural appetites and passions, so that nothing but grace can make us believe and hope in such wise as to obey. Last Sunday we had an instance of true charity, in a good Samaritan ; to-day, we have another of this despised class, setting an example of true faith, and rebuking the conduct of nine members of the true Church, who had not even common gratitude! Yet Christ maintains the authority of the Church in bid- ding them "go and show themselves unto the priests," as Moses had commanded. This they should have done, but they should not have left the other undone. Note that as "they went they were cleansed." In obeying, they found healing. It need scarcely be said that leprosy is a type of sin. If the sinner, instead of waiting till he feels better, would begin at once to obey GOD, and to observe His ordinances, the conversion and grace which he needs would be wrought in him simultaneously. jfifteentb after IT has been before noted, that the Autumnal Ember Sunday may fall elsewhere, owing to the movements of the Paschal Feast. But this Sunday appears to be de- signed, in part, as its representative, and as it is very often the Sunday before or after the Ember-fasts, it may be properly regarded in that light. 239 Sunday, Fifteenth after Trinity Hence, the Collect is a prayer for the Church ; it recognizes man's frailty, and GOD'S sufficiency. The Epistle contains the text, ' ' GOD forbid that I should glory save in the cross' ' : and the Gospel teaches us not only the care of GOD for his servants, but also that " no man can serve two masters." While every part of the Service is full of apt teaching and comfort for all the faithful, in common, it is also to be observed that it contains special words for the pastors of the flock. The First Morning Lesson brings us to the closing scene of Joshua's ministry, as we have lately observed that of his predecessor Moses. It is primarily a charge to "the presbyters of Israel," but also is full of in- struction to the people. In the Second Lesson, the greater Joshua instructs His ministers how to sow the seed of His word, and the people how to receive it. In it, also, the Church is exhibited under the similitude of the Apostolic ship, in which His presence, alone, insures peace and successful navigation. At Evening Prayer, the dying charge of Joshua is con- tinued, and, like Moses, he reviews the great points in the history of Israel, to illustrate the fidelity of GOD with respect to His threats and promises. The text, " Choose you, this day, whom ye will serve," connects with the Gospel for the day, "No man can serve two masters." It is to be specially noted that the discipline through which GOD made Israel to pass in the wilderness, pro- duced its effect. That servile and sensual race of half- Egyptians fell in the wilderness ; but their children, who had been nurtured under Moses and Joshua, served the Lord, and hence founded the new nation with every ad- vantage to be derived from a holy and happy beginning. In the Second Lesson, the Christian Church, like Israel of old, is called "a royal priesthood"; and it is to be 240 Ember- Week after Trinity remarked that St. Peter understands Christ to be the Rock of the Church, and all Christians, like himself, "lively stones," upon that foundation. Christ also is the great Bishop and Shepherd of souls, whose Supreme Pontifi- cate is the only Universal Bishopric of which St. Peter seems to have known. When any one who imagines himself the peculiar successor of St. Peter exhibits the same love for Christ, and for men, which this Apostle did, and a like hatred of making himself a " lord over GOD'S heritage," and a like fidelity in teaching nothing more nor less than the Scriptures teach, it will be time enough to examine his other claims to such a character. But, in any event, no such person could ask us to give him more than belonged to St. Peter himself. Now, St. Peter submitted to be blamed where he was in the wrong, (Gal. ii. n,) and refused extravagant homage, (Acts x. 26, ) and sat, in the Church at Jerusalem, at the feet of St. James, and subscribed to the common decree which was enacted by "the Apostles, Presbyters, and brethren. ' ' Nearly all the wof ul divisions of Christendom have grown out of the violation of these principles by those who assert a fabulous claim to St. Peter's dignity and apostleship. Embei>!Cleefe after Urinitp THE Ember- week of Autumn comes in like " the latter rain" upon the fields, after harvest-home. Again it gives token of a harvest, though it seems to say, in the words of St. James, " Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain." It falls in the 16 241 Ember- Week after Trinity month of September, marked in our American Calender by the anniversaries of the deaths of ten of our Bishops, and so moves, like a planet, in the midst of a constel- lation made up of brilliant names, (those of Hobart, and Chase, and Wainwright, Lay and Randall,)* while that of St. Matthew the Apostle who left all and followed Christ is the great star of the shining group, and the sign of this holy season. It is sweet to think of the holy dead, as we pray for the pastors of Christ's flock, who have entered into their labors, and who must soon follow them to their rest. "The fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they live forever?" But the Church still lives ; the coal on her altars shall never be quenched ; and constant prayer is the sign and token of her per- petuity. Let us, therefore, never cease to pray " that servants may abound Of those pure altars worthy ; ministers Detach'd from pleasure ; to the love of gain Superior ; insusceptible of pride, And by ambition's longings undisturb'd ; Men whose delight is where their duty leads Or fixes them ; whose least distinguished day Shines with some portion of that heavenly lustre Which makes the Sabbath lovely." After the heat of the Summer, this week is a good time for stirring up one's heart for the work of the Lord during the Autumn. The leaves begin to be sere ; the days grow shorter ; the stormy equinox is hard at hand ; but the fields are ever green in which the Good Shepherd leads the soul ; and prayer and fasting are as the still waters in which heaven is reflected, and where the soul may bathe and be refreshed with the peace of GOD. * The others at this writing (1899) are Provoost, Bass, Eastburn, Lee of Iowa, and Rulison. 242 Ember- Week after Trinity Now, in schools and colleges, the youth of the land are coming together, after long vacation, to go on with studies which they are very little prepared, in general, to turn to account for the glory of GOD. Now let us pray for much rain on their young souls : that every col- lege may be as Gideon's fleece, drenched with the dews of GOD'S grace ; and that the choicest youth of the land may be called of GOD, as was Samuel, and led to an- swer, as he did, " Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." So may the ignoble spirit of covetousness and low ambition, which blights the young minds of America, and makes so many of them prematurely old in vice, give way to the glorious spirit of the Gospel ; the spirit of winning souls which is the spirit of true wisdom ; the spirit of missionary enterprise ; the spirit of Chris- tian heroes and martyrs. Oh, for such sons of the Church as were Martyn and Heber, of late years, and such as were St. Paul and St. Athanasius of old ! And let us not forget to pray for "holy women" also, such as bestowed much labor on St. Paul, and were his helpers in the Gospel. Let us pray for the patient Deaconesses and Sisters who labor for Christ among the poor, and the diseased, and the young, and the vicious ; and not less for mothers in Israel, like Hannah, and like Eunice, to rear their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"; or, like Monica, to give the Lord no rest, in prayers and struggles, till their wayward sons are brought back from the paths of sin, by the grace of GOD, to shine as lights in the world, and after that "as the stars, for ever and ever." As at the other Ember seasons, the Proper Lessons and the Ember-Prayers will serve to make the season profitable for all. 243 Sunday, Sixteenth after Trinity Sunfcap, Siiteentb after TO-DAY, the Old Testament lessons contain the story of the discomfiture of Jabin and Sisera, chiefly by the hands of the maiden Jael and the prophetess Deborah. It seems to have been the will of GOD, as the time of redemption drew on, that women should be made the instruments of greater and greater blessings to His people. These noble women were soon succeeded by Hannah and Ruth ; and a bright succession followed, until Anna and Elizabeth appear on the scene, and then the Blessed Virgin, in whom God fulfils the great pro- phecy concerning the Seed of the Woman. The re- proach of womanhood was taken away in her, as it had come with Eve ; and from that time, woman has been elevated to a new dignity, and an enlarged sphere of action and of privilege under the Gospel. But we must not apply to ancient examples of female piety the high views of woman's sphere and duties, which have been the product of the Gospel only. It can never be the duty of a Christian maiden to smite even an enemy, or an oppressor, in his slumber. Woman is now called on to minister in a far different way, even at the bedside of the wicked and of the foes of our Holy Faith. Let us, for a moment, look at the case of Jael. It may be doubted whether a Hebrew maid would have been equally justified in doing as did Jael. Inspired wisdom has not pronounced in the case of Judith. But Jael was not a Hebrew, but only an ally of the Hebrews ; a daughter of the roving Rechabites ; far less imbued with the knowledge of GOD than the most ignorant Israelites ; far less instructed in His Holy Law. In these circum- stances, GOD accepted her faith in the performance of a 244 Sunday, Sixteenth after Trinity duty, and forgave her ignorance in the way she took to do it. It was her duty, as an ally of Israel, to aid the Hebrews in an undertaking which GOD had commanded. This she knew : and it is instructive as to the state of the heathen generally, that, in her case, as in the case of Rahab, GOD accepted what proceeded from real faith, and pardoned what was the result of birth and education. Thus, when Deborah eulogizes her as "blessed above women," she pauses, and qualifies her words by a signifi- cant addition, "Yea, blessed shall she be above women in the tent," that is, Arabian women. She is blessed above all of her nomadic tribe, for that is wholly noble and heroic in such an one, which, in a daughter of Jacob, might not have deserved unmixed praise. Had the savage, Pocahontas, delivered our colonial forefathers from cruel sufferings by a similar stratagem, we must admit that she would have deserved a similar homage ; yet we should pause before awarding as much to one of the many English ladies of those days, who came to live in Virginia, had she wrought deliverance in this way. The sublimity of Deborah's ode must inflame the mean- est imagination, especially when it is read in Divine Sen-ice with mingled simplicity and feeling. The proper manner of an Anglican priest, in reading the Lessons, is one equally removed from artificial effect and from lan- guid or monotonous formality. The Second Morning Lesson contains warnings against a life unprepared for Judgment. The imagery derives impressiveness from the consideration that all has been fulfilled, on a limited scale, in the Judgment of the Jewish people under Titus : and that this fact is a pledge of what yet remains to be accomplished, on a grander scale, "when the Son of Man shall come in His glory." In the Second Evening Lesson we have a chapter of St. 245 Sunday, Seventeenth after Trinity Peter's ethical teaching, with his exposition of Baptism, and of the Descent into hell. The Collect is a touching act of Intercession for the Church Militant, which is coupled in the Epistle with St. Paul's more full and fervent genuflection in the same behalf. Observe that this solemn devotion of St. Paul seems to have been his habitual prayer; and that "the whole family in heaven and earth," that is, of angels and saints, is recognized by him as one Church. Ob- serve, also, how much is implied in his desire that all Christians, " may be able to comprehend . . . the fulness of GOD." Alas ! how little of the riches of what we believe endows the souls of most of us ! How content- edly we impoverish ourselves, by neither "hearing the Church" nor "searching the Scriptures"! The Gospel is a favorite narrative from St. Luke, that of " the only son of his mother," who was a widow of Nain. It connects with the Epistle, as enabling us to know, in some degree, "the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." Sunt>a, Seventeentb after Urinity THE hypocrisy and pride of the Pharisees are rebuked in this day's Gospel as a warning to us ; and the gen- eral law is repeated, which we heard on the Eleventh Sunday, in connection with the prayer of the publican, " that whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased." So in the Epistle, lowliness and meekness are insisted upon ; and it is more than intimated that the Church's unity depends on this law of humility and forbearance in all its members. A divided Christendom bears wit- ness, in our degenerate day, to the havoc which the con- 246 Sunday, Seventeenth after Trinity trary spirit has made among those who ought to be one. In the short and pithy Collect, our need of preventing grace (that is, grace which anticipates and presanctifies our thoughts, words, and deeds) is confessed before GOD ; and we pray for more grace to secure the former grace, lest our humility should be changed into pride by our earliest growth in godliness. This is a prayer, there- fore, for the earlier and the latter rain ; and it is well suited to the natural suggestions of the Autumnal Sea- son, when, in our latitudes, the latter rain is often so greatly necessary. In the First Morning Lesson we find Samuel's exhor- tation to Israel, marking a great stage in the history of the ancient people. The devout Christian will re- member Jacob's valediction on the Fifth Sunday, that of Moses on the Fourteenth, and that of Joshua on the Fifteenth. To-day the Series is continued in that of Samuel ; and so we go on, from Sunday to Sunday, to review the teachings, at various epochs of similar im- portance, of the great and holy men whom GOD raised up successively to do His work among His chosen. In the Second Lesson we have a reference to the cruelty of Pilate towards certain Galileans, which is supposed, with reason, to have occasioned that enmity between Pilate and Herod, (the tetrarch of Galilee, ) which was only made up when they united in crucifying the Lord of Glory. In the First Evening Lesson we have the story of the beginning of King David's career, his contest with the giant. Observe, that the inquiry at the close of the chap- ter is not concerning David himself, for Saul knew him well ; but his surprising heroism made the king anxious to know something of his father and his family as we always take an interest in the antecedents of one 247 Sunday, Eighteenth after Trinity who has distinguished himself. The whole of this story has instructive spiritual bearings ; and, like all true his- tory, it may be studied as a parable. Thus, in the Second Lesson, the words "arm yourselves with the same mind," may serve to illustrate David's unwillingness to confide in Saul's armor. St. Peter's further exhortation to godly living and patient suffering, furnish a sublime out- line of the Christian character, amid the trials and com- bats of the world. The affection with which the Church commemorates the primitive martyrs, is also justified by the Apostle, when he says, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." This is the bright nimbus, or halo, which the Church discerns encircling the heads of those great heroes whose faith encountered, in her behalf, the giant heathenism of Caesar's empire, and de- feated it in the name of JESUS. Suntmp, EiQbteentb after TTrinttp THE spirit of this Sunday's service in the main is to exhibit the peril of temptation and the mercy and judg- ments of God towards sinners. We therefore pray in the Collect, for purity of heart and mind, and for grace to withstand the great enemies whom we renounced in baptism. In the Epistle, we are directed to Him who alone can confirm this grace in us and give us this blame- less purity against the day of account. In the Gospel, we see our Lord subjected to the temptations of men, and re-enacting the whole Law, in its spiritual breadth, as the standard of Evangelical morality. It is well to omit, after the Decalogue, on this Sunday, the words, 248 Sunday, Nineteenth after Trinity " Hear also what our LORD JESUS CHRIST saith," etc., for the obvious reason that we have the same here, in its original place. In the same Gospel, He intimates that He is the Lord, as well as the Son of David : thus as- serting His right to enact a Law, and to judge all men by it, without respect of persons. With such a Service for the Altar, the Church has thought good to connect the history of David's conse- cration to GOD'S service, and his determination to build him an House, a purpose which God overruled in favor of David's seed. The Second Lesson displays GOD'S mercy to sinners, and the principle on which a repenting transgressor gives joy in heaven to the angels. If any one was disposed to say of Christ, "this man receiveth sinners," he is most touchingly rebuked by the Second Lesson, and more especially by the story of the prodigal. In the Evening Prayer, the First Lesson relates the heinous sin of David before referred to, and his sub- sequent repentance and grief. In the Second Lesson, we have a text which seems the motto for all the ser- vices of this day " Be sober ; be vigilant ; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." ;? t fllineteentb after THE First Lessons, this Morning and Evening, mark another step in the progress of the chosen people. Solo- mon makes his wise choice and the Lord blesses him. The Temple of GOD, in Jerusalem, built by Solomon "the Peaceful," is consecrated as a house of prayer for 249 Sunday, Nineteenth after Trinity all people, and a great advance is made towards the illumination of the Gentile world. In the prayer of con- secration, note the provision made for the case of Israel's captivity in Babylon ; a provision which seems to have comforted Daniel. Much of the imagery of the Psalms and of the prophets is taken from the hill of the Lord, which was now crowned with this stupendous work ; a " figure of the true," and an emblem also of the Church of GOD, whose "foundations are upon the holy hills" of GOD'S covenant and promises. In the Second Morning Lesson we read the story of Zac- chaeus, and our Lord's wonderful parable of the pounds. In the Second Evening Lesson, note especially the nature of the Christian calling and election how clearly it is an election to the means of grace, which the believer is to "make sure" by obedience. St. Peter says, "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall," by which we see that the elect may fall, although strong terms are used else- where in Scripture, implying that there are some who have, unknown to themselves, made sure their election before death. What is said elsewhere of the latter half of the Chris- tian year is beautifully illustrated in the Altar Service of this day. We have seen that the Creed, and the In- carnate Word, are the prominent matter in the services of the first moiety, that is, till Trinity Sunday ; after that, the Decalogue and the Holy Spirit have predominant place. In the Collect, therefore, this day, we pray for the Holy Spirit, as the director of our consciences, in all duty, acknowledging our natural inability to please GOD. The Epistle enlarges on the holiness of Christian morals, and warns us against grieving the Holy Ghost, who, as the finger of GOD, alone is able to " write these laws in our hearts." In the Gospel, we learn that this, our 250 Sunday, Twentieth after Trinity natural inability, is a spiritual disease, like the palsy, by which we are rendered powerless to perform what we know to be right. This disease Christ can cure, forgiving our sins, and giving us the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that we can please Him both in will and deed. This Gospel illustrates the doctrine of "baptism for the remission of sins." The sick of the palsy found sponsors to do for him what he could not do for himself ; "and JESUS, seeing their faith, said unto him, Thy sins be forgiven thee." When the sick man heard this, he had only to appropriate it, by his own faith, and the effect was complete. So it is in the case of baptized children. We need not suppose that the sick man's sins were forgiven him without his own faith ; but the faith of others had influence with Christ, in moving Him to this free proffer of His salvation. We ought to bring our friends to JESUS, in every way ; in prayer, and effort, and by becoming sponsors to children and catechumens. The power of Christ to forgive sins, as the Son of Man, was thus demonstrated to be a part of His Eternal Priest- hood. How He still exercises this power may be seen by recurring to the Gospel of Low Sunday. Uwentietb after THE rich Lessons from the Old Testament, to-day, contain the narrative of noble works, which the Lord wrought, in the old time, by His sen-ant Elijah. From the time of the appearance of the Tishbite, until the close of the ministry of John the Baptist, a period of well-nigh a thousand years, we must regard all things as signs and harbingers of the first Advent the Coming of 251 Sunday, Twentieth after Trinity the great Sun of Righteousness. Elijah's voice in the wilderness was as the first cock-crowing, in the deep of night ; while John Baptist's was as the last, at break of day. A lively interest is stimulated by the very opening of this history, which introduces Elijah with a wild ab- ruptness. The occurrences at Cherith and at Zarephath are most stirring. The scene on Mount Carmel is one of the sublimest of the Scripture histories, and should be read with feeling, and heard with earnest meditation, as the history of a great reformation in the ancient Israel. How wonderfully, from age to age, GOD pre- pares His chosen witnesses, and brings them, at the fitting time, to their appointed place! In the Second Morning Lesson, after the impressive discourse of our Lord with Nicodemus, John Baptist is introduced as "the friend of the Bridegroom," bearing witness to the Messiah, while the Messiah himself is seen as the great central figure on whom the two Elijahs are thus made to wait. The Second Evening Lesson follows appropriately the history of the priests of Baal, for it begins with the words, ' ' but there were false prophets, also, among the people." In the Christian Church, GOD does not propose to visit false teachers with temporal pains and penalties; but He shows His people how to escape their snares, and also reveals His abhorrence of their practices. The "privy introduction of damnable heresies," here spoken of, has been remarkably exem- plified in the history of modern Socinianism. Whole congregations in New England, and in Europe, which once professed the "knowledge of the Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST," have been privily seduced from their faith, by popular preachers, who, being subject to no Apostolic discipline, and having no Liturgical safeguards, have first declined from "the way of righteousness" 252 Sunday, Twentieth after Trinity themselves, and then, little by little, have succeeded in drawing their flocks, to "deny the Lord that bought them." Blessed be GOD for the marked contrast which the Church has always presented in this respect! Its teachers have sometimes fallen, but they have seldom been able to "draw away disciples after them"; for its divine organization is such as to provide against this very danger, and to protect the flock from wolves in sheep's clothing. The Collect for the day is a prayer of faith, embodying the concurrence of man's free will, with the love of GOD for His elect, and asking for temporal and spiritual blessings as a means of serving Him the better in one's vocation and ministry. The duty of circumspection in the Christian life and warfare, is part of the teaching of the Epistle ; and a reason for it is shown us in the Gospel : "Many are called, but few chosen." It is one thing, then, to be called, or evangelized ; an- other, to be elected, or baptized ; still another, to be finally chosen, as a perpetual guest at the heavenly banquet. Many were called who refused to come at all ; of those who finally came, one, at least, showed the king such great disrespect, that he refused to put on the wedding-raiment, which was usually provided at the gate of an Eastern palace, with water and ointments, to fit the company for the presence of the Sovereign. So, those who come to the supper of our Lord, refusing to put on the righteousness of Christ, will, at the last, be driven out from the eternal feast, upon which they have thrust themselves unworthily. True, they were invited, even benevolently compelled to come in : but there was no reason why they should thus neglect the only qualifi- cation exacted of them, for the everlasting enjoyment of their privilege, seeing that also was freely proffered. 253 Sunday, Twenty-First after Trinity Their contempt for the worthiness of Christ, and the robe of His righteousness, or justifying grace, was the final proof of their character, as hardened against the fear and love of GOD. t Uwent*3ftrst after Urinitg PARDON and peace, and cleansing from sin, and a quiet mind all these are the burthen of the Collect. The Epistle shows where disquiet and unrest, and the bonds and filthiness of sin, come from even from the devil. The Gospel teaches us importunity in prayers, and the power of the Saviour to work His mercies, in immediate answer to prayer, as well when afar off as when near at hand. Observe in the Epistle how the shield of faith covers the whole body ; it is "above all," that is, worn over the entire armor and the entire man. See, too, how eloquent is St. Paul's expression " an ambassador in bonds !" An ambassador is a sacred person, among the most savage nations, but an ambassador from the Court of Heaven is in chains, under Caesar's government. In the Gospel, the nobleman's faith is the more praise- worthy, because not many " signs and wonders" had yet been wrought by Christ ; this was only His second miracle. The First Lesson in the morning is the continuation of the history of Elijah, with the call of Elisha to be his successor. In the Evening, we have the story of Naaman's cleansing from his leprosy. Leprosy was a type of sin. It was incurable except by GOD Him- self, and, in the instance of Naaman, baptism was fore- shadowed ; but baptism itself is but a symbol of the 254 Sunday, Twenty-Second after Trinity blood of JESUS, which alone cleanseth from all sin. The world's remedies for sin are Abana and Pharpar : but the little Jordan of Christ's merits, is the test of that humility and repentance which are prerequisites of heal- ing. In the Second Lesson, the same fountain is ex- hibited by Christ Himself, as quenching the sinner's thirst " Come unto me and drink." The Lesson from St. Peter is filled with threats which should terrify the wicked, and with promises which insure to the believer abundance of peace, amid the afflictions of the world, and in anticipating its final doom. , Trwent*Secon& after IN the First Morning Lesson we have the story of the destruction of Sennacherib, a sublime narrative and full of instruction. The Church is ' ' the Virgin, the daughter of Jerusalem," who shakes her head at the threats of the world, and defies the gates of hell. Her Maker is her husband. Let her preserve her purity and fear no evil. The First Evening Lesson shows the sad final scene of the recreant kingdom of Judah, when the predicted cap- tivity occurred under Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zede- kiah, "to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah ... to fulfil threescore and ten years. (Jere- miah xxv. 8-1 1 ; Daniel ix. 2.) The " contradiction of sinners against Himself" which was borne by our blessed Lord, is set forth in the Second Morning Lesson, after that marvellous record of His mercy to a guilty woman, which teaches that none need 255 Sunday, Twenty- Third after Trinity despair. Christ "came not into the world to condemn the world :" He could pity one whom her fellow-sinners despised, though they were just as bad. Mercy and for- giveness were the spirit of His First Advent even to the chief of sinners. But His Second Advent will be of a different kind ; and His rebuke of the accusers shows that He is the Searcher of hearts. So the delays of divine justice only teach us to expect that it will burn like fire, when it is revealed. In the Evening, St. John teaches us, therefore, to confess our sins betimes, and that "the blood of JESUS CHRIST cleanseth from all sin." The Gospel connects with the story of the woman. Her accusers could never expect forgiveness for them- selves, while grasping her by the throat and not only thirsting for her blood, but for that of JESUS also. Christ teaches us to hope for forgiveness "until seventy times seven," for all our offences, but only on condition of our forgiving those who trespass against us. In the Epistle we have St. Paul's prayer for his dear Philippians, and an example of love and devotion to their good, which the Collect teaches us to employ for the Church in general, as one Household of Faith. Uwent^Ubirfc after Urfntts THE Epistle, which is again from that of St. Paul to the Philippians, is marked by the special tenderness with which the Apostle uniformily saluted the Church, which was the first-born of his mission in Europe, the fruit of his scourgings, of his imprisonment in the stocks, of his midnight songs and prayers, and of the jailer's question, " What must I do to be saved ?" How he magnifies the 256 Sunday, Twenty-Third after Trinity Cross ! As the Philippians made much of their Roman citizenship, (even St. Paul had asserted his own in their city, which was a colony, ) so he now teaches them of a better citizenship, saying, " our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven," the original word being that which im- plies the freedom of an empire. Now, take the idea of the Gospel, and as we "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's," so, by virtue of our relations to His kingdom, let us be sure to render "to GOD the things which are GOD'S." The Roman coin bore Caesar's image, but our souls and bodies bear the image and superscrip- tion of our Maker and our Redeemer. While we draw this meaning from our Saviour's words, let us not fail to admire His wisdom, in thus rebuking those who sought to entangle Him in His talk, and to involve Him in a breach of His subjection to the temporal power. In the Collect, the Church presents her corporate prayer for the prayers of all the faithful in general, that GOD may be their refuge and strength, and that, asking in faith, they may be answered in love. To-day we begin to read the Proverbs the Young Man's Own Book, able to make him wise unto salvation. By taking heed unto his way, according unto this word, he may also cleanse his way. Every precept and " dark saying" of this book is a priceless jewel to him who will attain to the understanding of it. The book is the Deca- logue in its application to all the circumstances of life ; and it is a guide to temporal prosperity, as well as to life eternal. The history of the man that was born blind, is an inter- esting exhibition of the divine love, bringing good out of evil ; and in the fact that the sufferer was sent to Siloam, instead of being healed by a word, we have an illustration of the same law by which Naaman was sent '? 257 Sunday, Twenty-Fourth after Trinity to wash in Jordan. "The foolishness of GOD is wiser than men." He has been pleased to ordain means of grace : the use of them is a proof of humility, faith, and obedience. Hence, the Lord honors his own appoint- ments, and requires the use of the means, where they may be had. The blind man had to grope his way to Siloam, but he returned more easily. So the trembling sinner should go forward to the Sacraments, and use them to lay hold on Christ. Enough that he is "sent" and that Siloam is sent forth for him. In that pool, which issued from the Temple, we have a type of the Holy Ghost, sent forth into the hearts of all who seek Him in the means of grace. In the Second Evening Lesson we have the messages of the Spirit to each class in the several stages of Christian life, childhood, youth, and age. To childhood their baptismal purity is suggested " your sins are forgiven you." To youth, the duty of contest "because ye are strong." To age, the benefits of Christian experience "ye have known Him that is from the beginning," that is, the "Ancient of Days." trwent=3fourtb after Urinitp IN the Lessons from the Proverbs, let us note, to-day, that Wisdom is gradually unveiled to us, not as an ab- straction, but as a Person, the Word of GOD. In the Morning, this fact is very nearly brought out, for by Wisdom, as by the Word, GOD is said to have created all things ; but in the Evening Lesson all is disclosed. He who is speaking is Christ, the Wisdom of GOD ; for He says, "He that sinneth against ME wrongeth his own 258 Sunday, Twenty-Fourth after Trinity soul." In the Second Morning Lesson we hear the same Wisdom saying, " My sheep hear My voice and I give unto them Eternal Life." In the Second Evening Lesson, the Evangelist who supplied the Morning Les- son enforces it, pleading the cause of the Good Shep- herd who " was manifested to take away our sins." In the Epistle, " Wisdom" is again made prominent in the prayer of St. Paul for the Colossians ; but it may be observed that he here enumerates it, as one of the seven spiritual gifts, each one of which, in paraphrase, he appears to specify. The Gospel is the raising of Jairus' daughter, and, in parenthesis, the healing of the woman with the issue. Both are symbols of loosing from those bonds of sin and frailty, which are spoken of in the Collect ; but each miracle demands a word of special comment. The raising of this damsel affords an example of one of the four stages of death, over which our Lord dis- played his power, (i.) The daughter of Jairus had just expired ; her soul had not yet entered Hades ; she slept in death, but was not yet fast bound in it. It is question- able whether it was more than a trance ; a trance which would not have been broken, deepening to complete dissolution, but still a trance, rather than the extinc- tion of vitality. JESUS called it sleep; and though " they laughed him to scorn," we may see in this a proof of His purity and guilelessness. He did not magnify the miracle, but pronounced the hopelessness of the case less absolute than it seemed to be. (2.) The son of the widow of Nain was truly dead and cold, and borne out to burial. (3.) Lazarus' body was putrid in the grave. (4.) The Saints that slept (St. Matt, xxvii. 52) were in the very dust of death. Yet over all these JESUS had the same power of release. 259 Sunday, next before Advent The woman with the issue had faith, but it was weak and trembling. She overcame her fears, by faith, and laid hold on JESUS, and there went virtue out of Him and healed her. So, by faith, we may approach Christ, in the Lord's Supper. It is well to have fears, if only faith is stronger, and seizes the means of cure. The Sacraments are as the hem of JESUS' garment ; they present something by which He may be reached and appropriated. Whosoever will may come, and be loosed from the bonds of sins, and absolved from offences. Sunoas, next before H&vent WE have come to the end of the great circle, and the Christian Year is complete. There may indeed be twenty-seven Sundays after Trinity, and these are par- tially provided for, by special Lessons ; but, if there be so many, it is because several Epiphany Sundays were dropped to meet an early Lent, and we fall back upon the Collects and Altar-Services of such Sundays, as the supplement of these. The Lessons for the surplus Sundays need not be com- mented upon, but may suffice to try the reader's own powers, whether he has learned to seize in each at least one striking and prominent text, in harmony with the other sen-ices. But here it may properly be asked, at the close of our review of a whole year, where is the soul which has followed its inexhaustible variety, that can listen to the objection, sometimes thrown out against the Church Service, that it is only going over the same things on all occasions. But now we come to the Sunday next before Advent 260 Sunday, next before Advent always to be used on the last Sunday in the Christian Year. It is called by old-fashioned people "Stir-up Sunday," (from the first words of the Collect,) for so they avoid the difficulty of naming it numerically. The Lessons for the day are taken from Malachi and Ecclesiastes and are easily seen to be appropriate to the close of the year. So, also, the tender words of our Lord in the Second Morning Lesson from St. John. While the Evening Lesson, from the Apostle Jude, seems singularly fitted for the close of the year, warning us against the Antichrist who is coming in the latter days, and urging fidelity to the faith. The Collect is a note of animation and awakening. One year is gone through ; we are the more ready for another, and we pray for a stirring-up to new efforts for fresh blessings. An appropriate Anthem may be made of the words, ' ' They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be wear}', and they shall walk and not faint." The Gospel, for the third time in the year, gives us an account of our Lord's miraculous power to feed the souls and bodies of those who hunger and thirst after Righteousness. Appropriately enough to the last Sunday, it thus seems to observe the precept which it contains, to gather up the fragments and to let nothing be lost. As the Epistle promises JESUS, as The Lord our Righteousness, and "the Righteous Branch," so the Gospel shows how He imparts His righteousness to all who come unto Him by faith. They must feed on Him, that is, on His death and Sacrifice, and draw life from His Atonement. The Epistle is a prophecy of the coming Prophet and King ; the Gospel exhibits Him as the Priest, and claims for Him the predictions of the Epistle, as "that Prophet that should come into the 261 Sunday, next before Advent world." In the Epistle He is foreshown as the Son of David ; in the Gospel, we see that as He was born in Bethlehem, "the house of Bread," so He is the Bread of Life to the world. This Service is thus redolent (like an early Spring or Summer) of the coming Advent Season and Christmas- tide. The Services of the entire year are like the Grand Oratorio of the "Messiah." The mere stranger, who comes for a single Service, is like him who listens to a recitative, or trio, and goes his way, knowing nothing of the magnificent whole of the Music, its choruses, and its sublime Hallelujah, at the close. Happy are they who, year after year, enjoy this foretaste of the Music of Heaven. "The Messiah" is its Alpha and its Omega : it begins with " Hosanna to the Son of David," and ends with "the Lord our Righteousness." It sets forth " Him first, Him last, Him midst and without end :" and they who have lived in the enjoyment of its sweet harmonies for any considerable portion of their days, are able to testify that in the Church is fulfilled the promise, "All Thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of Thy children." LAUS DEO. AMEN. 262 The Minor Festivals flQinor festivals WE call those Festivals minor ones which are in- stituted with subordinate reference to the commemora- tion of holy men and women, and angels of GOD,* although their great end and object is, like those of the great Feasts, the elucidation of the Gospel and the glory of the Holy Trinity. The Minor Feasts are designed to give us an intimate acquaintance with the characters of Scripture ; with the chosen friends and servants of the LORD JESUS ; and so to make the Life of Christ Himself more clear and real to us. They are also designed to aid us in forming our own characters after the pattern of Christ. (Heb. vi. 12 ; Phil. Hi. 17.) When we consider how much of the Holy Scriptures is made up of narratives and biographies of the Saints, we cannot doubt that the wisdom of GOD has suggested the plan by which we review the histories of the Apos- tles of the Lamb ; those great Saints whose names are written on the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem, and whose faith and godliness we are repeatedly bidden to follow. (I. Cor. iv. 16, xi. i ; I. Thess. i. 6 ; Heb. vi. 12.) In a word, for these commemorations, as they ex- ist in the evangelical purity of our reformed ritual, we find authority enough in the precepts of Christ and of the Apostles themselves. Thus, our Lord says of the woman who broke the precious box upon His head "Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." Also, it is said * With the exception of the Annunciation, Purification, and Transfiguration. 263 The Minor Festivals in the Apocalypse, " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my GOD, . . . and I will write upon him the name of my GOD, and the name of the City of my GOD, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my GOD : and I will write upon him my new name." Who can doubt when "such honor have all His saints" that we derive benefit from the memorial of such examples of ' ' suffer- ing affliction, and of patience"? In the catalogue of ancient worthies, given us by St. Paul, in his Epistles, (Heb. xi. 1-40; Rom. xvi. 1-16,) we have an inspired Calendar of saints, whose glittering examples and pre- cious names are made a lesson to all believers. Truly, "they shine as the firmament." The movable feasts may often fall in concurrence with some one of the fixed festivals. Thus, Advent Sunday may fall on St. Andrew's Day, and Easter on the Festival of the Annunciation. It is a good rule that a Sunday is always the superior day, because it is of Divine institu- tion, and also because it is, at the least, a minor Easter ; but the Service for the inferior day may take precedence, nevertheless, (the Services being all alike Scriptural and equally of Ecclesiastical selection,) whenever the Service for the inferior day harmonizes ivith the Season, and is the superior service in point of dignity and pro- priety. But, among Ecclesiastical days, some are plainly superior to others ; as, for example, Good Friday, though a fast, is superior to the Annunciation, though it be a feast. In all Concurrences, the inferior day should be so far observed that its Collect may be used with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of the other ; a usage for which the Collect for the Annunciation would seem to have been prepared, as it is beautifully harmonized with Good Friday and Easter. Students of Liturgies have given 264 The Minor Festivals divers rules for these Concurrences ; but, as much must be left to the discretion and taste of individual clergy-- men, it may be proper to say that the following arrange- ment is based on the simple principle above mentioned : 1. St. Andrew's day may also be Advent Sunday, and then its Sen-ice must give way. 2. St. Thomas' day may be the Fourth Sunday in Ad- vent, and its Service gives way. 3. St. Stephen's day, St. John's day, the Holy Inno- cents', or the Circumcision, may also be the First Sunday after Christmas, but the Service of the latter gives way, because it is not any more suitable to the Sunday, and adds less of Scriptural richness and variety to the Season. 4. The Epiphany may be the Second Sunday after Christmas, but the latter is inferior, and yields to the greater Feast. 5. The Conversion of St. Paul, for like reasons, lends its Sen-ice to the Third Sunday after Epiphany ; though not to Septuagesima and Sexagesima Sundays. 6. The Purification lends its Service to the Fourth Sun- day after Epiphany ; but not to Septuagesima, Sexa- gesima, or Quinquagesima Sundays, which belong to the Paschal Season, and cannot be deprived of their Services without injury to the unity and harmony of the System. 7. St. Matthias 1 day gives way to the Services of Sexa- gesima and Quinquagesima Sundays, Ash -Wednesday, and the First, Second, and Third Sundays in Lent, which belong to the Paschal Season. 8. The Annunciation gives way to the Sen-ices for the last four Sundays in Lent, all the days of the Holy Week, and Easter-day, but may properly lend its Services to Monday or Tuesday in Easter-week, with which it is harmonized. 9. St. Mark's day gives way to the Sen-ice for Easter 265 The Minor Festivals and its Octave, but not necessarily for those of the fol- lowing four Sundays. 10. S/. Philip' 1 s and St. James 1 day gives way to the Service for the Octave of Easter and for Ascension-day, but may lend its Service to the four Sundays which follow the Octave of Easter. 11. St. Barnabas' day yields to Whitsunday and Trinity Sunday, but lends its Service to the Monday or Tuesday in Whitsun-week, and also to the first three Sundays after Trinity. 12. St. John Baptist' s day lends its Service to the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays after Trinity. 13. St. Peter 1 s day lends to the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Sundays after Trinity. 14. St. James 1 day lends to the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Sundays after Trinity. 15. The Transfiguration is superior to any Sunday on which it may fall, being a special Feast of our Lord. 16. St. Bartholomew' s day lends to the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth Sundays after Trinity. 17. St. Matthew's day lends to the Fourteenth, Fif- teenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Sundays after Trinity. 18. St. Michael' s day lends to the Sixteenth, Seven- teenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Sundays after Trinity. 19. St. Luke' s day lends to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first, and Twenty-second Sundays after Trinity. 20. All- Saints' day lends to the Twentieth, Twenty- first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth Sundays after Trinity. 21. Thanksgiving day lends, or borrows, ad libitum. 266 St. Andrew's Day N.B. In such cases, Lessons from Canonical Script- ure may take precedence of those from the Apocrypha, where the former do not clash with other parts of the Service, and in every instance the Collect for the inferior day is to be said after the Collect for the superior day, as a memorial. St. Hnfcrew's E>as As Advent Sunday is the Sunday which falls nearest to the Feast of St. Andrew, this day governs the season of Advent and also leads the choir of minor feasts. For this, there is reason of congruity. The readiness of the true Israelites for the First Advent, furnishes an example to us who expect the Second ; and Andrew was the first called to be an Apostle, and the first to announce the Messiah, as such, to his brother, St. Peter, as we read in the Gospel of St. John. These holy brothers were among those who "feared the name of the Lord," according to the injunction of the prophet, in those days of waiting which supervened upon the closing of that line of great prophets, which began with Samuel and ended with Malachi. Hence, in them was fulfilled the promise of Malachi, " Unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing in His wings." The Collect for the day, accordingly, embodies this idea of readiness, and of unworldliness in obedience. We pray for grace to imitate the Apostle, in prompt obedience to the admonitions of the Gospel and to the commandments of GOD'S Law. The Epistle sets forth the glory of the Gospel ministry, of which St. Andrew was an original dispenser, on the borders of the Black 267 St. Thomas' Day Sea, near Sinope, and about the now famous region of the Crimea and Sebastopol. The Gospel is a brief history of his call into the apostolic ministry, after his original introduction to the Saviour, as a disciple of John the Baptist. St. Andrew is said to have completed his work as an Apostle, at Patrae in Achaia, where he was dread- fully scourged by the heathen magistrate, and then fixed to a cross of the figure of the letter X, which, in the Greek language, is the initial of the name of Christ. The proper Lessons for the morning contain the invi- tation of Moses to Hobab, ." Come thou with us, and we will do thee good," very similar to the words of St. Andrew to Peter, "We have found the.Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ ; and he brought him to JESUS." The First Evening Lesson brings to us the prophet Isaiah's invitation, " Ho, every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters," and the Second Lesson tells of a later occasion in St. Andrew's life when he again brought men to JESUS, certain Greeks who came desiring to see Him. "Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and Andrew and Philip tell JESUS. " No wonder that the Brotherhood of St. Andrew have chosen this Apostle as their patron and their human exemplar ; for the main purpose of their organization is to bring men to the Church and hence to the Master ; and their emblem is, as is well known, the St. Andrew's Cross. (X.) MP St. Ubomas' 2>as THIS Festival might seem appropriate to Eastertide rather than to Advent ; but it must be recollected that there is an important connection between the Nativity 268 St. Stephen's Day of Christ and His Resurrection, which is brought into view by the position of this Feast. For this truth, see Romans i. 3-4. The Collect and Gospel explain each the other ; and the Epistle connects with the Gospel in affirming JESUS CHRIST the Corner-stone : for He became such when He rose from the dead. St. Thomas doubted because the eyes of his soul, so to speak, were holden ; his spiritual perception was dull. To believe, is to see clearly in the atmosphere of truth ; to doubt, is to be limited in vision. Hence, we read in the Proper Lessons for this day two instances in the Old Testament when a halting faith was rebuked ; and our Lord's words of assurance beginning, " Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in GOD ; believe also in Me." The Morning. Second Lesson contains St. Mark's record of our Lord's Commission to His Apostles, and His promise of success to them in their work. This day is the shortest day in the year, as St. John Baptist's Day is the longest, in our northern hemisphere. After the Baptist's day, till now, the days are gradually shortened ; after St. Thomas' da}', they begin to lengthen. By this coincidence, old-fashioned people used to recol- lect that saying of the Baptist " He must increase, but I must decrease." St. Stepben's Bag THE Church has ordered that, nearest to Christ, in her commemorations, should stand those who are most like unto Him, in "counting not their own lives dear unto them" for His sake, and for the sake of souls for which He died. And so we have, immediately after Christmas, 269 St. Stephen's Day the three representatives of corresponding classes of wit- nesses for Christ St. Stephen, the martyr in will and deed ; St. John, the martyr in will, but not in deed ; and the Little Innocents, martyrs in deed, though not in will. And it has been well observed, that thus the great sun of Christmas seems to linger in its light, after its go- ing down ; the red glare of the first martyrdom being succeeded by the softer radiance of St. John's long confessorship, and that, in turn, by the fainter glory of the suffering babes of Bethlehem. In the Lesson from Genesis we have the story of a martyr for GOD many years before St. Stephen Abel, who brought the acceptable offering and was slain by Cain, his brother. In the Second Lesson we have the account of the choice and ordination of the first Deacons, St. Stephen with others, and listen to St. Stephen's speech before the Council, an elaborate review of the history of the Jewish Church ; showing that they never had recog- nized nor received the messengers of GOD not even Moses himself in the day of their visitation ; and that in rejecting Christ, and fulfilling the Lord's parable of the vineyard, they had been like unto their fathers. Their fathers had slain the servants, but they had slain the Heir whom the Father had sent, saying, "They will reverence my Son." This great sermon of St. Stephen, which was the immediate cause of his martyrdom, is concluded in the Second Lesson for Evening Prayer ; and the First Lesson gives an instance of the waywardness of the peo- ple all through their history, when " GOD sent prophets to bring them again to the Lord . . . but they would not give ear." And when Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, "testified against them," "they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones," a prefigurement of the fate of St. Stephen, as the death of Abel was. The 270 St. Stephen's Day words of the Master are brought to mind : "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." (St. Matt, xxiii. 35.) How deeply had St. Stephen drunk in the forgiving spirit of His Lord when he exclaimed amidst the shower of stones : " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge " an echo of the Lord's own petition, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." If we use the 83d Psalm as an Introit, it would seem to be appropriate, as celebrating the deliverance of the Church from her enemies, which has been accomplished in all ages, by making the blood of the martyrs the seed of her increase. Thus, "the Synagogues of the Liber- tines, the Cyrenians and Alexandrians," may well be likened to "the tabernacles of the Edomites and Ish- maelites, the Moabites and Hagarenes." But the solemn and prophetic imprecations of the Law against the enemies of GOD, must be viewed as one side of an all-wise system ; while it is the part of the Gospel to illustrate rather its other side, that of mercy to the chief of sinners. For such as repent there is mercy, as is proved by the case of Saul of Tarsus ; while, for such as live and die in their iniquity, there is a dreadful retri- bution, which often begins even in this world. The fearful end of persecutors is the subject of an early Christian treatise by the elegant and classical Lactantius. Concerning the Epistle, it is sufficient to say that it is the history of St. Stephen's martyrdom ; short and simple, but sublime. Observe, his dying was but "fall- ing asleep." The early Christian sepulchres were called cemeteries or sleeping-places, with such inspired warrant for the idea. The Gospel is our Lord's prediction of 271 St. John's Day the persecution of His messengers, (part of which we have already quoted, ) and is a terrible denunciation of judgment against the city which killed the prophets. On this generation their fathers' sins were visited, because they filled up the measure of their fathers' sins ; and this is the Law of GOD'S temporal judgments. Had they repented, Christ Himself assures us, He "would have gathered them as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." Their blood was left on their own heads when JESUS added the words, " but ye would not." St. THIS is the day of the Daniel of the New Covenant the beloved disciple the Son of Thunder the Evange- list, the Divine, the Apostle ; the writer of three in- spired Epistles ; the exile of Patmos ; the centenarian patriarch of the Church ; who outlived all the other Apostles ; who lived into the second century" of the Christian Church ; who did for the Greek Churches what St. Paul did for the Latin ; who saw the Apocalypse, and who, to all his other claims to our veneration, adds yet this, that he was the guardian and adopted Son of the Blessed Virgin, was chosen to this office by the Lord Himself, and named thereto by His dying words upon the Cross. Tradition avouches that in him was realized the promise " If ye drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you," and that he escaped the burning cauldron of the tyrant Domitian, unharmed by the fire. He was a martyr of a peculiar kind. The First Morning Lesson tells of the Apocalypse of 2-J2 Innocents' Day Jehovah's glory vouchsafed to Moses ; and the First Evening Lesson recounts a like manifestation vouchsafed to the prophet Isaiah. The Second Lessons are from St. John's own writings in the morning speaking of himself as "the Disciple whom JESUS loved," his proudest distinction, "who leaned on His breast at supper"; in the evening the Apostle's Second Epistle in which he repeats the new commandment of love, of which he was himself the pre- eminent example. This Apostle says that he has no greater joy than to hear that his children "walk in truth." In the Collect we pray accordingly that this joy may be fulfilled in us. It is an eminently beautiful prayer. The Epistle is St. John's Christmas offering to his Master, a tribute to His Divinity, Incarnation, and Atonement. The Gospel teaches us that there are many ways of glorifying GOD, in life and death ; and that we must not curiously in- quire as to our destinies, but simply follow providence in fidelity to obvious duty. GOD will order all to our good and to His own glory. Unnocents' Dap THIS day was called Childermas, in old times, and is still the Church's Feast of Children. It is designed to remind us of the relations of little children to the king- dom of heaven ; that Christ has accepted them as un- conscious martyrs ; and that, as experience in such as the aged St. John, and strength in such as the youthful St. Stephen, so a state of baptismal innocence, by remission of sin, is the glory of little children. (I. John ii. 12-13.) The First Morning Lesson, from Isaiah, is the grand key 18 273 Innocents' Day to the day's solemnity, as a direct prophecy of the Mas- sacre of the Innocents by Herod ; and also as a predic- tion of Infant salvation "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping," etc. "Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears ; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." The Epistle takes up this promise, and shows the lovely army of infant martyrs as little lambs on Mount Sion, in the fold of Him who is at once the Lamb of GOD and the Shepherd of the Sheep. Observe, with reference to the Baptism of Infants, the simple charac- teristic of their salvation " having His Father's name written in their foreheads." In the death of Christian infants, this is the consoling thought, they have not known Him, but He has known them, and written His name upon them. They are redeemed, and their original sin is washed out, and they have committed no actual transgressions: "in their mouth is found no guile, and they are without fault before the throne of GOD. " Closely connected with this is the Second Morning Lesson, when JESUS set a little child in the midst of them, and pro- nounced a woe upon those who should offend His little ones. " For their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven." The gospel narrates the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning Rachel : and the Collect is a pious aspira- tion after that spirit of little children, without which no soul can be accepted, according to the promises of Christ. It is important to the understanding of the nature of Redemption, that we should get the great idea, that "of such is the kingdom of Heaven." The ignorant question whether infants may be baptized is thus reversed ; for we 274 Conversion of St. Paul find that actual transgressors can only be entitled to baptism " by becoming as little children." In a word, Christ's Atonement would include all that are born of woman, and would restore all mankind, were it not for actual sin. Children, who do not sin, in act, are therefore healed by free grace ; but others who have sinned against light and knowledge, must of necessity repent of their sins, before the same free grace can reach their souls. Conversion of St. OF other Saints we celebrate the Martyrdom ; but for him who was in deaths oft, and who " died daily," we commemorate the event in which he first learned what great things he was to suffer for Christ's sake. This day is another Epiphany, well worthy to stand next that Feast in the Calendar, for it is the commemoration of Christ's Manifestation to the Great Doctor of the Gentiles, in order that by him He might be manifested to all the world. The Light that appeared to the Wise Men was made effectual when the same Light shone round Saul of Tarsus as he journeyed to Damascus. That Light was the Shekinah or incommunicable glory of GOD. JESUS appeared invested therein, to prove to His persecutor that He was the Messiah, and was risen from the dead. Not for his sake, but for ours ! The door to the Gentiles was about to be opened by the baptism of Cornelius ; a chosen vessel to bear the grace of GOD was needed. It pleased the Lord of Glory to furnish an Apostle, who should be himself a witness of His Resurrection and Godhead. All the evidence that an honest heart could desire, in an unexpected moment flashed upon him. 275 Conversion of St. Paul This miracle was wrought to enlighten the whole world, but Saul's "obedience to the heavenly vision" was that of any convinced and humbled sinner. He might have disobeyed but he repented. His regeneration followed as in other cases of true faith, in Holy Baptism, after prayer and fasting. The Gospel, therefore, was miracu- lously preached to him, and through him to all the world ; but to say that his conversion was miraculous (if we mean thereby that he turned to GOD in any other wise than by his own free will, as other sinners do, under the influence of divine grace) is not true, and is contrary to his own account of the great event. (Acts xxvi. 19 ; Gal. i. 16.) We celebrate, this day, not so much the conver- sion of St. Paul, as the illumination of the World, by means of a miraculous Epiphany of Christ Himself ; and while we enjoy the reflected light of this Epiphany, in the Epistles written, and the Churches planted, by St. Paul, we must not forget that much more was done for our souls than for his, in that dispensation of Providence to which we owe our knowledge of the Gospel. But even if we regard this great event with the leaden eye of the cold and faithless rationalist, what abundant reason there is to remember it ! The Conversion of St. Paul has left enduring consequences. In modern times a worldly great man has been known to revolutionize all Europe, and by means of armies and navies, and swift beasts, to fly throughout the world, working the mightiest of changes. But all has died with him, and vanished " like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm." St. Paul, on the contrary, journeying as far and wide as he, (although on foot, "in perils of robbers," or in crazy vessels, "in perils of the sea,") with the simple sword of the Spirit, meets and conquers alike the boisterous mob of Ephesus, the rustics of inner Asia, the sages of 276 Conversion of St. Paul Athens, the officers of Caesar's household ; if not, also, the savages of Britain. It is over eighteen hundred years since ; and all that he did remains. In three hundred years from the time when he bowed his head to Nero's sword, the work he left had survived the super- stition of the Caesars ; and the odious Cross, in which he gloried, had supplanted the Roman Eagles. We have reason, then, to celebrate the event on which the world's destinies have hinged ; especially as GOD has committed it to our devout admiration in no less than three several narratives. The old Introit is the Psalm Confitebor tibi, or the i38th. It appears to have been chosen with reference to St. Paul's mission to the princes of the earth, who are called "gods" by the Psalmist. Yet in reference to his fasting and penitence, and his strengthening in the Holy Ghost, there is a propriety in applying to the Conversion of St. Paul the verse, " When I called upon Thee, Thou heardest me, and enduedst my soul with much strength." The Collect expresses the object of the commemo- ration ; gratitude to GOD for the Conversion of St. Paul, as the gracious means of bringing us to the knowledge of the Truth. The Epistle repeats the history of the event ; and the Holy Gospel is chosen in reference to one who sacrificed houses and lands, and wife and children, for Christ's sake and the Gospel's. Yet its chief point seems to be in the words of Christ Himself, " But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." Of the earliest Apostles, one betrayed the Lord, and another, who in many things was first, for a time fell away ; but St. Paul, though " born out of due season," and last called, labored " more abundantly than they all," and ''was not a whit behind the chiefest of the Apostles." 277 Conversion of St. Paul V The Daily Prayer is impressively commenced on this festival, by the sentences, " From the rising of the sun," and " When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness." The First Lessons have not been appointed at random. In that for the morning, we must note the application of the passage, "This is He whom we had sometime in derision and a proverb of reproach : . . . how is he numbered among the children of GOD, and his lot is among the Saints." Again, the contrast we have drawn between St. Paul and a worldly conqueror is forcibly suggested by the passage beginning with, " The hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind." "But the righteous," it adds, "live for ever- more : their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the Most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand." One can scarcely read this without being reminded of St. Paul's assurance that "there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord should give him at that day." Again, we are re- minded of St. Paul's panoply, (Eph. vi. i,) in the pas- sage, "He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of a helmet. He shall take holiness for an invincible shield." The Second Lesson in the Morning Prayer is one of the several accounts which the Apostle gives of the great occurrence we commemorate, and should be noticed for its touching allusion to St. Stephen, in an- swer to whose dying prayers, perhaps, St. Paul was given. Here is a lesson to faith ! What a loss to the Church was the martyrdom of that young Deacon ! Yet the harvest of his blood was an Apostle ! That Apostle was the sower that went forth to sow in all the 278 The Purification world : so that we may say, indeed, that the blood of the first martyr was the seed of the Church. The First Lesson at Evening Prayer is the opening chapter of Jeremiah's prophecy wherein he tells of his call and commission, so similar in distinctness and solemnity, to that by which St. Paul was set apart for his great work. On the Second Lesson it is not necessary to make comment, for in it St. Paul is ' ' permitted to speak for himself." tlbe purification TO-DAY our Lord is presented in the temple, by the Blessed Virgin His Mother ; and because she is too poor to offer for the Lamb of GOD, the lamb that was usual, she brings her turtle-doves, to bleed for the world's Redeemor. (See Levit. xii. 2, 6, 8.) The adoration of St. Simeon and St. Anna, and the example of these holy persons, in their faith and patience and continued service and worship, are to-day com- mended to our imitation ; while a leading event in the holy histor> r of the Child JESUS is renewed in our hearts and minds. The Introit (Ps. 134) alludes to the watch- ings of St. Anna, and to her "departing not from the Temple"; as if the Psalm had been an invocation to her and St. Simeon, and an earnest of the time when "the Lord, that made heaven and earth," should bless them in Zion. " Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord, . . . lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord." Compare with this the picture which the painter Evangelist has given, of the aged Saint, 279 The Purification with the Lord in his arms, singing the swan-like Nunc dimittis. The Epistle, from Malachi, suggests the fearful con- sequences that were to follow to the Levitical priest- hood from their blindness to discern "the Angel of the Covenant," in whom the faithful delighted. The Daily Prayer should begin with the sentence, " The Lord is in His Holy Temple." The First Morning Lesson is that beautiful story of the child Samuel ministering be- fore the Lord in the temple with Eli the priest. The Second Lesson is St. Paul's exposition of the purpose of the Incarnation and the manner of our Sonship to GOD in Christ. The Evening Lesson from Haggai is a prophecy of Him who should fill the latter house with glory greater than of the former, "and in this house will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." From the example of the Holy Virgin, all Christian mothers should learn to value and comply with the Churching-OfHce appointed by the Church ; bringing an offering, however small, as directed by the rubric, after the pattern of the poor but blessed St. Mary with her turtle-doves. As the Purification answers to the modern Churching of Women, the Natalitia of our Lord are considered as terminating to-day ; and therefore it has been the im- memorial custom, on the eve of this day, to remove the Christmas-greens from the church. The Feast was formerly of much greater moment in the devout esteem of Churchmen ; and many of our older divines have ex- cellent sermons "preached at Candelmasse." This latter name was given because of the blessing of candles and carrying them in procession, which formerly occurred on this day, referring to the words of Simeon, " A light to lighten the Gentiles." 280 St. Matthias' Day St. firiattbias' Bap ALTHOUGH little is said of St. Matthias in the Holy Scriptures, his memory is fragrant in the Church, as that of the first in succession from the "handful of corn" which, when JESUS ascended, was left alone "upon the top of the mountain," with the promise that "the fruit thereof should shake like Lebanon." The gates of hell had done their worst upon the little flock, and the twelve were reduced to eleven ; but the Lord raised up Matthias, as a pledge to the Church that she should never be over- come. We pray in the Collect that GOD would raise up faithful and true pastors, and preserve us evermore from wolves in the clothing of sheep. The Epistle affords us the inspired interpretation of the logth Psalm ; to which the weak and irreverent so commonly object. St. Peter declares it to have been a prophecy of the treachery of Judas and of its awful ret- ribution, as well as an inspired warrant for the election of Matthias ; and when the Psalm is read in course, this solemn truth should always be borne in mind. How in- teresting, in this light, the Psalm becomes, as showing us more of the private character of the apostate than the Holy Gospel itself reveals ! Then, too, the passage, " let another take his office," has a mysterious interest, from its remaining uninterpreted till the eventful moment when "the lot fell upon Matthias." Then it was made plain who that other was, of whom the Spirit wrote, so many ages before. The Holy Gospel, which is the ancient one for this day, seems to refer to the wonderful fulfilment of pro- phecy, and the interpretation thereof, which the "wise and prudent" had never understood, but which the 281 Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Spirit had revealed to St. Peter and the Apostles, in the events related in the Epistle. The scribes and lawyers, who boasted themselves "teachers of babes," could not have interpreted the passage from the Psalms which referred to Judas ; but those poor peasants, albeit not yet fully endowed with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, clearly explained, in the history of their own holy col- lege, the things of which David had written. The I4oth Psalm, which is the Introit, is sufficiently appropriate to suggest its own commentary. In the Lesson from I. Samuel, GOD utters His warnings against false priests like the recreant sons of Eli, and the Lesson from Isaiah makes Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, a prefigurement of St. Matthias, chosen to be " as a nail in a sure place" instead of him who failed and fell away. Holy Scripture says much of the traitor Judas, and very little of the faithful Matthias. So, often, the Provi- dence of GOD makes public much more of the delinquent than of the honest Christian ; but the Church's faith an- ticipates the day when the " secret ones" of Christ shall have praise of GOD. TTbe Hnnunciation of tbe Blessefc THIS festival celebrates the Mystery of the Incarnation ; for to-day our Blessed LORD GOD and SAVIOUR was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. The year of our Lord, until a century ago, was reck- oned from the 25th of March ; because, with the miracu- lous conception, the work of our redemption, and hence the era of grace, began. Proper Psalms as well as Proper 282 Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Lessons mark it as an important day to be observed. The Sgth Psalm is full of joyous prophecies concerning Him who was conceived of the lowly Virgin, and the Psalms at Evening Prayer have much to say, as if from the Virgin's own lips, of Him, and also of that humble and contrite heart in which GOD cares to dwell. In the two Morning Lessons we have the pendant pic- tures of the entrance of sin into the world by a woman's transgression, and the coming of a Saviour to redeem from sin, born of a woman in the fulness of time, in ac- cordance with the edict promulged in the very day of Eve's fall : " The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." The Second Lesson contains the Vir- gin's song of praise, the Magnificat, which all devout Church people love to sing at Evening Prayer, as the daily memorial of the Incarnation. The beautiful similarity to this, of Hannah's ecstatic Psalm of praise at the Birth of Samuel, will appear as we listen to the First Evening Lesson, which should of course be followed on this day by the Magnificat, both lifting up our hearts in jubilant adoration. And then the Second Evening Lesson reveals to us the Great Mystery of this day when " The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Well may we praise GOD when we hear: "Of His fulness have all we received"; "Grace and truth came by JESUS CHRIST" ; "The Only Begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are sufficiently appropriate to furnish their own commentary. Observe (as we have elsewhere remarked) how the Collect has been made appropriate to Paschal-tide, in which this festival most frequently falls. It is a mysterious coincidence, that on the 25th of March began the Passion, as well as the Incarnation of 283 St. Mark's Day the Redeemer ; in allusion to which, St. Augustine, com- menting in his quaint and simple way on the remarkable text, "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk," says, " The opinion of some is perhaps not absurd, who say this was commanded by the prophet, in order that the good Israelites should not unite with the wicked Jews, by whom Christ suffered, as it were, a lamb in His mother" s milk, that is, in the season of His conception." The joyful tidings of a Redeemer's Incarnation come to us amid our Lenten sorrows and tears. So it was in her "low estate" that the Blessed Virgin was "highly favored"; and we are reminded that the richest spiritual blessings wait on the state of penitence and self-abase- ment. Ml St. flilarfe's S>as ST. MARK was the kinsman, the disciple, and the min- ister of St. Peter, and his Gospel was always regarded as, in a sense, St. Peter's Gospel, for there can be little doubt that it was written under the Apostle's eye, and shares his authority and inspiration. Thus, when St. Peter says" Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance," he is supposed to have reference to the composition of the Gospel, under the hand of St. Mark. Thus, St. Peter fulfilled the commission, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." The Collect for the day fastens on this idea ; our con- firmation in the faith and establishment in it, enabling us to resist the seductions of heresy and schism. In a land where the artful Jesuit is insidiously at work, on one hand, and the pert rationalist is no less busy, poisoning 284 St. Mark's Day the streams of knowledge, on the other, and where millions are literally blown about and carried away "with every wind of doctrine," how earnestly we should pray this prayer, and thank GOD for our unity with the Apostles in the pure and primitive faith which shall never be destroyed ! The Gospel shows us how essential to spiritual life is that grafting into Christ, which is made in baptism, and maintained through faith, by the use of all the means of grace, with a penitent and lowly heart. The Epistle shows us what instrumentality Christ has ordained to this end ; and that communion with Christ is maintained by communion with His Apostles, in the unity of the Church. The Apostolic Ministry, it appears, is the gift of a risen and ascended Lord. Christ has given it "for the edifying of His body," the Church. Now, St. Paul contrasts with Christ's, the ministers of men. Such are they whom strange sects, " having itching ears, heap to themselves" in these last days. (II. Tim. iv. 3.) In the Second Epistle of St. Peter, and in that of St. Jude, we have more to the same purpose. The First Morning Lesson is Isaiah's glad prophecy of the glories of the latter days when the truths of the Evangelist shall prevail among the people ; and at Even- ing Prayer we read Ezekiel's vision, wherein appear those four "living ones," described also in St. John's Apoca- lypse, (Rev. iv. 7,) which have been used by the Church as symbols of the four Evangelists. The Lion is the emblem or "attribute" in art, of St. Mark, the Man of St. Matthew, the Ox of St. Luke, and the Eagle of St. John. These four are frequently seen depicted in stained glass, sculptured in stone and marble, impressed on the arms of altar crosses, and embroidered on altar cloths. The Eagle lectern thus has its meaning from the in- 285 Feast of SS. Philip and James spiration of St. John, which carries us up to see the glories of the Divine JESUS. St. Luke tells us particu- larly of His sacrificial work ; St. Matthew of His Hu- manity, and St. Mark of His might as "the Lion of the tribe of Judah." [See also under St. Matthew's day.] The Second Lesson at Morning Prayer begins St. Mark's Gospel, and at Evening Prayer we have the account of his first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. At the close we have the record of St. Mark's instability in that he turned back from Pamphylia and went not with them on their former journey. But although St. Paul resented this a little later, (Acts xv. 36-40,) nevertheless further on, St. Mark had become so strong and stable, that the Apostle rendered willing testi- mony to his worth. (Col. iv. 10 ; II. Tim. iv. u ; Phil- emon 24. ) Like Peter and the others, as time went by, St. Mark waxed " strong in the grace that is in CHRIST JESUS." jfeast of SS. pbtlip ano Sames OUR blessed Lord recognized the power of sympathy and friendship, when He sent forth His disciples in pairs. So now the Church, by her double festivals, commemor- ates the unity of purpose and the bonds of love, in which the holy Apostles began and completed their glorious work. In like unity of spirit should the faithful still glorify their Master. St. Philip and St. James are paired, in this festival, possibly in view of the promise made by our Saviour to St. Philip, touching the efficacy of prayer, and of the teachings of St. James as to the prayer of faith, which 286 Feast of SS. Philip and James expounds and limits the apparently boundless pledge of the Saviour to give anything asked in His name. St. James shows the need of faith and patience, in believing the promises, and yet bearing trials and disappointments. The Epistle and Gospel harmonize with the Rogation Season, which falls near the time of this feast ; while the exhibition of the Saviour, as "the Way, the Truth, and Life," is equally harmonious with the entire spirit of the season between Easter and Pentecost. The text, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me," shows that a clear recognition of the Mediation of Christ is essential to prayer and to salvation. Therefore, all our prayers, expressly or by implication, end with the formula "through JESUS CHRIST our Lord." Observe in the Epistle, the text" A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" : while the double feast is meant to show that two men, of the same mind, may be steadfast and successful in ' ' the way of truth and life. ' ' This is brought out in the Collect, very happily. The Gospel exhibits the character of St. Philip, while the Epistle is from the invaluable treatise of St. James. In the First Morning Lesson we have the joyful proclamation of Isaiah as to the message he was to deliver ; a message brought in its fulness by Him who, reading this chapter in the syna- gogue at Capernaum announced, "This day is this Scrip- ture fulfilled in your ears." This message all his faith- ful apostles like St. Philip and St. James have carried down the ages. In the Second Morning Lesson we read our Lord's wonderful discourse concerning Himself as the Bread of Life, a discourse suggested by the miracle of the loaves in the record of which St. Philip is men- tioned twice. (St. John vi. 5, 7.) St. James the Less, as he was called from his stature, (not from his character, certainly,) was one of those three 287 Feast of SS. Philip and James Apostles who seemed to St. Paul to be the pillars of the Church, and whom he names before St. Peter and St. John, in giving them this distinction. He was, in many respects, " the very chief est of the Apostles." He pre- sided over the Mother Church of Jerusalem, and in its Apostolic Council ; and he has left us a catholic, or general, Epistle, which supplies a key to the trueexposi- tion of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He was, more- over, "the Lord's brother," being the son of Joseph, by a former marriage, or perhaps the son of Cleophas, and of the sister of the Blessed Virgin ; for cousins-german were often called brethren among the Hebrews. The idea that he was the younger son of the Blessed Virgin has been broached by fantastic writers, but is sufficiently disproved by the fact that our Saviour, on the Cross, provided for His Mother, by giving her to St. John. Surely, the lofty conception of the maternity of her who was " highly favored" is much lowered by supposing that the Saviour of the world was not her only son ; and, as Scripture, unless distorted from its critical sense, favors no such idea, it is somewhat ignoble to urge it against the strong current of Ecclesiastical testimony and Scrip- tural probability. St. Philip preached in Phrygia, and suffered martyr- dom, being hanged to a pillar. St. James, like his Master, was tempted, on a pinnacle of the temple ; for there the rulers of the Jews called on him to deny his Master, whom he instantly confessed as sitting on the right hand of the Father. On this, they dashed him down to the pavement, and a fuller, with one of his pro- fessional implements, a club or pole, struck him on the head, so that he died, like Zacharias the son of Barachias, "between the temple and the altar." It may be that St. Philip's pillar, and this instrument of St. James' martyr- 288 St. Barnabas' Day dom, had something to do with the old May-pole festivi- ties, on this feast. One of the many good things we owe to the great and good Bishop Grosseteste, who held the See of Lincoln in the thirteenth century, was the sup- pression of the old heathenish Floralia, which so long profaned this day. The day is always observed at Ox- ford, by a sunrise hymn, in the open air, upon the tower of Magdalen. The singing-boys and others, in their surplices, ascend the tower, and there chant a thanks- giving for the food which Christ supplies to the body and to the soul of man. At this solemnity, the writer had once the great pleasure of being present. The Introit celebrates the love of brethren, in the I33d Psalm, Ecce quam bonum ; and the American Church has an appro- priate hymn written by one of her prelates* : " Thou art the way ; to Thee alone, From sin and death, we flee. And he who would the Father seek Must seek Him, Lord, by Thee. ***** Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life, Grant us that Way to know, That Truth to keep, that Life to win Whose joys eternal flow." St. Barnabas' THIS festival falls near the time of Pentecost and it has been provided accordingly with services which strictly harmonize with those of that great annjversary. In the Epistle for the day, we are reminded that "he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost." In the * Bishop G. W. Doane, of New Jersey. 19 289 St. Barnabas' Day Gospel, we have our Lord's own commentary on the Apostolic commission, which He had given to His ser- vants, whom He vouchsafed to call His friends. He called and ordained them that "they should go and bring forth fruit, and that their fruit should remain.'" The work of the Apostles is indestructible ; the Apos- tolic Church is never to be overcome by the world. St. Barnabas, who is also called Joses, was added to the Apostolic company after our Lord's Ascension, and was at once an Apostle, and the first-fruits of Apostolic labor. He introduced St. Paul to the Church, and labored a long time with that Apostle. He seems to have been of a majestic bearing, for the pagans would fain have worshipped him as the chief of their gods. As he was a Levite, the Apostolic Succession was, in his person, grafted upon the Mosaic Priesthood, so that in him, and others, the line of Levi became perpetuated and identified with the Christian Ministry. It is sur- prising, if we closely follow his history, how much more the infant Church was indebted to this remarkable man than to most of the original Apostles, so far as we can judge by the inspired records. The Apostles them- selves named him "The Son of Consolation," and this surname, no doubt, is the chief reason for the appoint- ment of his feast in the season and near the great day of the Comforter. Hence, also, Hospitals and Guilds for nurses are frequently called by his name. (Note the hymns for this day so full of instruction. Hymns, 161, 162.) The Collect is a beautiful comment on the endow- ments of St. Barnabas, and on his fidelity in using all his talents for his Master's honor. He is said to have suffered martyrdom at Salamis, where he was beaten and stoned by the Jews, while preaching in their synagogue. The ancient "Epistle of 290 St. John Baptist's Day Barnabas," though probably not his work, is a precious relic of antiquity, and should be read by all Christians, as a memorial of primitive piety. In the Lesson from Malachi \ve read the prophet's description of what a true priest and Levite should be, indeed, such an one as St. Barnabas was. In the Evening, Isaiah's well-known chapter, " Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your GOD," reminds us of the Son of Consolation. The Sec- ond Lessons contain portions of the history of St. Bar- nabas, and complete the Church's Bible Lesson for this day, all of it full of interest and instruction. St. 3obn Baptist's OF the minor feasts, this is one of the greatest. It marks the exact half-year from Christmas, and reminds us that our Lord's forerunner was just six months older than Himself ; at the same time, it waits on Christmas, as the Baptist did on Christ, giving us much instruction and devotional material that bears directly on the Incar- nation of the Son of GOD. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the winter-feast, which renews to our devoted missionaries the recol- lections of the Northern Christmas they have left be- hind them. With us, 'tis the sweet feast of midsummer, of the longest twilight and shortest night, and of the fragrant hay-harvest. How appropriate, then, is the imagery- of the Epistle ! ' ' All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." The Epistle is well chosen, as containing a detailed and direct prophecy of the first advent and of the Messiah, of whom the Baptist was the precursor, 291 St. John Baptist's Day while it no less explicitly predicts the Baptist himself as " the voice of one crying in the wilderness." The Gos- pel is the history of his marvellous birth, and contains the hymn of his father Zacharias. In the Collect, we commemorate the Nativity of the Baptist, though, in all other cases, we celebrate the deaths of the Saints. For this, there are two reasons : he was sanctified from his mother's womb, (St. Luke i. 15,) in which he did homage to the Redeemer's presence before He was born ; and again, the angel prophesied that " many shall rejoice at his birth." His birth was, in fact, a pledge of the better birth of Messiah the Prince, and this is the great reason why it is thus commemorated. But the language of the Collect may be said to epitomize the whole history of this greatest of prophets, and to condense, in a very happy manner, the practical benefit to be derived from it by us. The First Morning Lesson is Malachi's prophecy, "Behold, I will send My Messenger, and He shall pre- pare the way before Me"; while the First Evening Les- son contains the same prophet's not less memorable prediction concerning Him, "Behold, I will send you Elijah." The Second Lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer relate the history of St. John, in the fulfilment of these prophecies. It will be observed that he came out of the wilderness, not only " in the spirit and power of Elijah," but in the same wild raiment, identified, in every respect, with the former prophet, at least officially. So that it seemed as if the same Elijah, who never died, but went up in a chariot of fire to GOD, had again re- sumed his ministry on earth, as it were, at the point where it was so suddenly broken off. It is very im- portant, as a help to the avoiding of bald literalities, to observe how the Old Testament promises were fulfilled 292 St. John Baptist's Day in this respect. Elijah was promised, because a definite idea of the coming prophet was given by that name ; whereas no idea at all would have been imparted had Malachi used the name of "John" in his oracles. So the Messiah is often promised in the Old Testament under the name of "David," because David was His type, as well as his ancestor. St. John Baptist did not belong to the Christian dis- pensation ; nor was his baptism in any sense Christian baptism. It was only an introduction to the Gospel, as he himself shows, and as the practice of the Apostles to re- baptize his converts fully confirms. (Compare St. Mark i. 8, and Acts xix. 1-5.) He lived and died under Moses, and " the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he," because it is a greater thing to be a chosen member of the Bridegroom's family than to be merely the Bridegroom's friend. (St. John iii. 29.) But he was the greatest born of women until JESUS ; because, as the last of all the prophets, he was the immediate index and usher of Him of "whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets did write." He gave all prophecy its point and application, when he directed it to the Saviour per- sonally, saying, " Behold the Lamb of GOD"; and when he identified the Messiah, and manifested Him personally to Israel, at His baptism, after four thousand years of promise and of foreshadowings. When we reflect how great was the Baptist then, as compared with Moses and all the prophets, let us reflect on the testimony he gives to the Divinity of Christ, by saying of Him, " He was before me" "whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." Let us consider, too, that the Last of the Prophets was the preceptor of St. Andrew and St. John, who were the first members of the Apostolic company, and 293 St. Peter's Day that he himself transferred them to JESUS, (St. John i. 37,) so that in him and them is fulfilled in a measure that which is said of the foundation of the Catholic Church, upon "Apostles and Prophets, JESUS CHRIST Himself being the Chief Corner-Stone. " The profound humility and fidelity of this great prophet are among the most conspicuous of his charac- teristics. He was but a " voice" to proclaim the Lord ; and fulfilling that office, he was ready to decrease. Yet what unmingled eulogy he receives from his Master ! He was ' ' a burning and a shining light. ' ' He was ' ' more than a prophet." He was "the greatest among those born of women." He seems to have lived and died al- most without a fault. St. Peter's ST. PETER was "the very chief est of the Apostles," until St. Paul, who "was not a whit behind him," be- came, in fact, his superior, realizing our Lord's own in- timation, addressed to St. Peter, that there were " last, who should be first." His Apostleship was limited to the Jewish Church, while St. Paul's was almost of uni- versal jurisdiction, the Apostleship of the Nations. The seat of St. Peter's jurisdiction was Antioch ; but he was probably a prisoner and a martyr at Rome, where he seems to have suffered, with St. Paul, under Nero. He was crucified, and that (at his own request) with his head downward ; for he felt himself unworthy to suffer in the same manner as his Master had suffered. But St. Peter had some personal distinctions which were all his own. To him Christ gave the name of 294 St. Peter's Day Cephas ; and to him, as the foremost Apostle, were first promised the keys of the kingdom, in token that he should admit the first Jews to the Church, and also the first Gentiles ; thus laying the first lively stones upon the Rock, CHRIST JESUS, and beginning the holy fabric of the Apostolic Church. It must always be borne in mind that Christ is the Rock, and St. Peter only a Stone, ac- cording to Scripture ; and that He Himself shows us how all believers may acquire the name of Cephas, by becoming built on that Living Stone, the true Messiah. (I. Peter ii. 4. ) Among the Apostles, St. Peter was un- doubtedly the Symbol of the Church's Unity, even as the other Apostles were of its Universality ; but the limits of his dignity and precedence among the Apostles have been already spoken of in connection with the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. His primacy was personal, and could not be entailed, and it had nothing in it of a supre- macy or " lordship over GOD'S heritage." In the Second Morning Lesson, we have the threefold charge given to St. Peter by the risen Lord, "Feed My sheep," and the First Lesson has reference to that con- taining (as the heading of the chapter phrases it) "a reproof of the shepherds. GOD'S judgment against them His providence for His flock, the kingdom of Christ." The Lessons at Evening Prayer recount the exalted commission given to Joshua the High Priest, kindred to that which St. Peter received and in the story from the Acts the memorable testimony given by St. Peter before the Council at Jerusalem, in behalf of the LORD JESUS. In the Collect there is a beautiful allusion to the pre- eminent Apostleship of St. Peter, as he is made the model of all worthy bishops and pastors who have suc- ceeded him. The phraseology of this Collect is in part 295 St. James' Day borrowed from St. Peter's own language, in one of his Epistles, while it is based on that touching incident irr his history, when, as he had thrice denied the Lord, he was made to profess Him thrice, and as often was rein- stated in His ministry, by the words " Feed my lambs, feed my sheep." In the Epistle, we have the history of St. Peter's imprisonment under Herod, and of his deliverance by the angel ; while the Gospel is that sublime passage in which he who was formerly called Simon, received the name of Peter, in reward for that bold confession in which he recognized JESUS as the Rock of Ages. St. Sanies' THE Apostle called St. James the Great was the brother of St. John, and shared with him the name " a Son of Thunder."* He was a son of Zebedee, and drank, first of all the Apostles, of his Master's cup of martyrdom, as his brother drank it latest. Putting the narratives of the Epistle and the Gospel together, we see this fact in a strong light, and it is a little striking, that, whereas he is surnamed "the Great," the strife to be greatest should be one of the most memorable events in his history. Note the text, "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister." In the Collect, his prompt obedience, and sacrifice of worldly interests and affections, are made our example. He was admitted with Peter and John to the most sacred privacies of the LORD JESUS ; and the cheerfulness with which he suffered death is said to have converted his * See St. Mark iii, 17. 296 The Transfiguration accuser, who, breaking out into a confession of Christ, was beheaded with the same sword. The First Lessons seem to have been chosen because of the staunch witness borne, like St. James' , by the prophets Elijah and Jeremiah in their day. All true servants of GOD in every age must "bear witness unto the truth." Indeed, the very word "martyr" means "a witness." In the Second Lessons are narrated by St. Mark and St. Luke, the calling of St. James to be an Apostle, and the incident wherein he and his brother John manifested the spirit which gained for them from the Master the name " Boanerges," " Sons of Thunder." ft* ZTbe transfiguration UNFORTUNATELY for its general observance this Fes- tival falls at a season when our congregations are scat- tered on seaside and mountain, where, alas ! church- going, even if possible, is not largely practiced ; and also at a time when in the large cities many Churches are " closed during the hot weather." Hence, except when the Feast occurs on Sunday, most of our people fail to reap the advantage which must come from a devout par- ticipation in its services. The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel need no comment, except as they are the latest admitted to the sacred pre- cincts of the Prayer-Book. The Lessons also carry their appropriateness on their face, contrasting the "ministration of condemnation" which was indeed glorious, with the "ministration of righteousness," which exceeds in glory ; and giving promise of the "Son of righteousness" to arise "with healing in His wings." 297 The Transfiguration It is interesting to note how two of the three Apostles who were present vouched, later, for the reality of the Transfiguration. St. Peter says, "We were eye-witnesses of His maj- esty, " " . . . this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the holy mount." St. John testifies, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father." The third witness, St. James, was earliest of all the Apostles called to suffer martyrdom, and thus to drink of the cup of suffering with the Master, as he had at the Transfiguration shared His momentary triumph. It is difficult to explain in few words the significance of this event in our Blessed Lord's earthly life. It was a transcendent Epiphany, a "manifesting forth His glory" far surpassing any at other times accorded. It was, indeed, the glory "as of the Only Begotten of the Father." Being found in fashion as a man, he was about to humble Himself yet further to man's lowest estate, and that by the accursed death of the cross. And here on the mount, just at this point, came the Father's attestation to the Saviour's Divinity, "This is my beloved Son, hear Him." And in Moses and Elias we are reminded how both the Law and the Prophets bore no other witness, they all "testified of Him." It is written, that after the Resurrection, " beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, JESUS expounded in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself." He who would understand his Bible must never lose sight of this unifying thread running through all the Sacred Book from Genesis to Revelation. He must learn to perceive this pure Light which transfigures the whole Bible as with the presence of the Son of GOD, the Incarnate Word. 298 St. Bartholomew's Day We must not fail, too, to remind ourselves that as our Lord's Divinity irradiated and transfigured His Hu- manity, and His Presence makes the written word a Revelation, so also does He make glorious the sacra- ments and ordinances of the Church in which He dwells, and which is the "fulness of Him that filleth all in all." St. :JBartbolome\x>'s ST. BARTHOLOMEW is commonly supposed to be Na- thanael, the companion of Philip, and the Israelite "in-: deed, in whom there is no guile." He is said to have preached in Persia, and, when he came to suffer for his testimony, to have been flayed alive. The Collect is a commemoration of the sincerity and purity of the Apostle's preaching and example. The Epistle seems to be a supplement to the feast of St. Peter, and the Gospel to that of St. James : so that the last two Saints' Days lend their spirit to this. The unity and equality of the Apostolic College are signified in both ; for what is said of one, is said of all : " by the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought." And in their company, no one was greatest : Christ had or- dained "it shall not be so with you." Together they labored and suffered, and together "they shall sit on thrones." It is distinctly with reference to the identity of Barthol- omew and Nathanael that the Lessons are chosen, the Vision of Jacob at Bethel, Nathanael' s introduction to our Lord ; Moses' prediction of the Great Prophet that should come, whom Nathanael recognized ; and St. 299 St. Matthew's Day Peter's exhortation to be like Nathanael, humble, docile, and without guile. It is melancholy that the festival of this guileless Apos- tle is forever associated with the treachery and malice of the Massacre in France in the year 1572. Oh, for the day of a restored unity, when all Christians shall be like their Master, "in whose mouth there was found no guile !" St. fifeattbew's ST. MATTHEW, or Levi, is to be thought of, not only as a rich man, but as one of a class which the Jews esteemed to be hopelessly depraved. In his conversion, there is a signal instance of grace overcoming the deceit- fulness of riches, and also the enslaving effect of an unhappy position and reputation. The publican was supposed to be what a heartless usurer is, and he was even more detested, because he was an instrument of foreign tyranny. He paid the Roman government a certain sum, and was permitted to collect it, with excess- ive increase, from a certain district of his native land. Levi was actually engaged in this business, and seated at the receipt of custom, when Christ called him to be an Apostle. Who knows but he was the identical Publican who is elsewhere constrasted with a certain Pharisee? He had repented of his sins, and was performing his duties equitably and mercifully. JESUS bade him leave this pursuit, and the accumulation of wealth, and become a follower of Him, in poverty and death. What an ex- ample when, at the word, he arose and left all, and followed JESUS ! Our Lord's accepting a banquet in his house, and sitting down to eat with publicans and sinners, 300 St. Matthew's Day is a proof of the worldly comfort which St. Matthew gave up to become an Apostle : and, at the same time, it fur- nished a rebuke to the Pharisees, who were thus taught that Christ came to call sinners to repentance. As a commentary on this Gospel, we have the Epistle, in which Mammon, or the god of this world, is shown to be the agent of spiritual blindness, in the unbelieving. We cannot serve GOD and Mammon ; and they who are blinded by the glare of gold, cannot see the light of the glorious Gospel. The Collect is a prayer for deliverance from this awful condition of blindness, and hardness of heart. The Morning Lesson from I. Kings contains the story of the calling of Elisha to succeed Elijah. The Second Lessons record by the hands of St. Luke and St. Mark the same incidents as those which we read from St. Matthew in the Gospel for the day. The First Lesson at Evening Prayer tells of the true uses of wealth by generous giving to the Lord, in contrast with the devotion to Mammon, "the god of this world," rebuked in the Epistle. St. Matthew is the Evangelist to whom, under GOD, its great Inspirer and Giver, we owe the first Gospel. He is said to have suffered martyrdom among the Par- thians. It is usual to represent him with an Angel near at hand, as St. Mark is pictured with the Lion, St. Luke with the Bullock, and St. John with the Eagle. These emblems (as was said under St. Mark's Day) signify the characteristic feature of each Gospel ; the Angel with "man's face" betokening the exhibition of our Lord's humanity, which angels desired to look into ; the Lion, His royalty ; the Ox, His patience, and preparation for sacrifice, and hence His Priesthood ; while the Eagle sig- nifies His Divinity, with the assertion of which St. John begins his Gospel, as an eagle flies up to the sun and 301 Michaelmas fixes his eye upon the brightness of its glory. The em- blems are borrowed from the heavenly creatures of the Apocalypse, ( Rev. iv. 7 ; also Ezek. i. 10, ) called beasts in our version, but more properly living-ones. fniicbaelmas THE feast of St. Michael and All Angels is designed to keep before our minds the relation of Angels to the Church of Christ, as being concerned, as well as our- selves, in the Saviour's Mission ; as being, with us, members of His mystical body ; as being guardians of our souls, and ministers to our bodies, in life and in the hour of death. All this, and much besides, that is affirmed of Angels, we should devoutly consider and bring to mind on this day. Michael is called a Saint, just as Gabriel is called a Man, (Daniel ix. 21,) to as- sure us of the great truth that " Angels and living Saints, and dead, But one Communion make." In the Prophet Daniel, moreover, (iv. 13, 17,) the name of Saints, or holy ones, is especially given to the Angels. The Epistle is the vision of St. Michael contending with the Devil, as related by St. John. "They that be with us, are more than they that be with them," said Elisha, (II. Kings vi. 16, ) a fact which should animate us always to "resist the devil," knowing that, if we do so, "he will flee from us." The Gospel asserts that little children have the highest Angels for their heavenly sponsors : as we elsewhere learn, that every repenting sinner gives joy to some of the heavenly host. The Col- 302 Michaelmas lect teaches us to address prayer and praise to GOD only, for the services of Angels, thus strictly observing the precept, and avoiding the danger, pointed out in St. Paul's Epistle (ii. 13) to the Colossians. The special Psalms are full of allusions to the angelic hosts, and are not without hints that the processes of Nature are wrought by their agency. The First Lesson not only contains the story of Jacob wrestling with "the Angel of the Covenant," who is the Word of Gop, but begins with the fact that a host of GOD'S Angels encountered him, at a certain place, pos- sibly to recall to mind his youthful vision at Bethel. The Second Lesson is the history of a signal service rendered by an Angel to the infant Church, in Jerusalem. In the First Evening Lesson we are warranted in the belief that St. Michael was the Guardian Angel of the Jewish Church and nation, and that fallen Angels withstood him, in behalf of heathen nations. The Second Even- ing Lesson brings to us St. John's glorious picture of the rapture and adoration of the Angels and the Re- deemed in heaven. Let us never forget, while we bless GOD for the "elect Angels," those who kept their first estate, that we have renounced the devil and all his works, and that he goeth about seeking to destroy us. It is all-important that the personality and power of Satan should be kept before us, so long as we are in the body, in order that we may maintain our fight against him, and conquer him, after the example of Christ. And it is very important in this materialistic age to emphasize the existence of a spiritual world close to us, all about us, filled with spiritual existences, the ministers of GOD, and the friends and fellow-servants of men. Let us be sure to avoid that thoughtless falsehood which teaches children that they are to become Angels St. Luke's Day when they die. That cannot be. The Angels are an entirely different order of beings from ourselves. We can- not and shall not change our nature at death. The " Re- deemed by the Blood of Christ" shall be exalted even above the angels. Hence, the value of this Festival to send us to our Bibles, and to enable us the better to heed the Church's teaching about these Heavenly mem- bers of the one Family of GOD. Read, in addition to the appointed Scriptures, Col. i. 16 ; Heb. i. 13, 14 ; ii. 5-10, and especially verse 16, and ponder the fine hymns appropriate to this Festival, 170, 171, 398, 476. St. Olufee's TO-DAY we celebrate the holy memory and example of the sublime Evangelist who was the companion and fellow-laborer of St. Paul, and who, after enriching the Church with his Gospel, proceeded to set forth the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel of the Holy Ghost. He is the earliest historian of the Church, whose narrative we may be sure has no error, nor any coloring of human prejudice or partiality. He was originally a physician ; and although it is supposed that he was a freedman, and therefore originally a slave, it cannot be doubted that he was a man of education, and of highly refined intelli- gence. All his gifts he nobly devoted to the service of Christ, and finally, at an advanced age, he suffered mar- tyrdom in Greece, being hanged upon an olive-tree. Those who think that he was a painter have much reason so to think, for he is the most pictorial of the Evangelists, and by his use of words he makes cartoons of the story of the Messiah. 34 St. Luke's Day In the Collect we have a curious and unique specimen of ingenuity, in the adaptation of spiritual significance to historical fact. Luke, the Physician, is seen in the work of the Gospel, as a dispenser of remedies to the souls of men ; not so much abandoning his occupation, as turning his skill to the higher part of human nature. We pray, therefore, that we may be healed by the medi- cines of the truth he has delivered. The Epistle furnishes evidence of the fidelity of St. Luke at a critical period in the life and labors of St. Paul, when he was deserted by friends and greatly persecuted by enemies. The Gospel is a specimen of the Evange- list's own pages, and is chosen as a hint that he was, originally, one of the seventy disciples. The First Morning Lesson is that wonderful description of the Physician in the apocryphal Book Ecclesiasticus, with admirable advice for both patient and doctor : " My son, in thy sickness be not negligent : but pray unto the Lord and He will make thee whole. . . . They shall also pray unto the Lord, that He would prosper that which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life." The First Evening Lesson is an excellent example of such advice obeyed, for Hezekiah, in his sickness, not only made use of the remedy prescribed by the prophet, but also cried unto the Lord. The Second Lessons are from the writings of St. Luke, and contain his two prefaces addressed to Theophilus, for whom the Evangelist in- dited his Gospel and the Acts. Guilds of Physicians, and sometimes Hospitals, are named after this Beloved Physician, "whose praise is in the Gospel." Feast of SS. Simon and Jude jfeast of SS. Simon ano 3uoe THE unity of the Church is the subject presented in the Collect to-day, as founded in the Apostolic doctrine and fellowship. The Epistle from St. Jude sets forth the sin of schism, and the duty of " contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." In the Gospel, our Saviour promises the Spirit of Truth to the Church, and identifies the testimony of the Apostles with the testimony of the Spirit ; while He foretells that it shall be hated and opposed, and that its friends must suffer for the Truth's sake. In the fraternity of two Apostles in the same feast, the entire concord of the primitive faithful is symbolized ; an example of unity being made the basis of our prayers for the same. Of St. Simon we know very little : he was surnamed Zelotes, and also the Canaanite ; and some have imagined that he was the bridegroom at the Marriage in Cana. St. Jude is much more prominent as an Apostle : he is named Thaddseus, and Lebbaeus, and is once distinguished from the traitor by the suffix, " not Iscariot." We may, per- haps, safely suppose him the brother of Simon the Ca- naanite, (St. Matt. xiii. 55,) and also of St. James the Less. He was "the Lord's brother," therefore, as St. James was, his cousin-german, as has been explained in speaking of that Apostle. His bold and spirited Epistle gives us an idea of his character, as does also his ques- tion, at the Last Supper, " Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" During the persecution which raged under the tyrant Domitian two young men were accused before him, as of the seed royal of David, and relatives of the LORD 306 Feast of SS. Simon and Jude JESUS, who were specially obnoxious as likely to aspire to empire on that account, and to be favored by the Christians. They were accordingly closely interrogated by the tyrant, when it appeared that they labored with their own hands as small farmers, and looked only to reign with Christ, in the life of the world to come. On this, they were contemptuously dismissed, and the per- secution ceased ; and these good men lived till the time of Trajan, apparently as pastors, if not bishops, of the Church. They were the grandchildren of St. Jude, and the last of our Lord's kindred, according to the flesh, of whom history makes mention. The First Lesson in the Morning prophesies of the true Foundation Stone, the precious Corner-Stone who is the centre and source of all true Unity; and in the Even- ing Lesson the Holy City Jerusalem is promised as a like symbol and means of Unity. ' ' All the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. ... In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inhabitance unto your fathers." The Second Lessons have reference to St. Jude. On this day (as indeed on every day) there should be fer- vent prayers for Church Unity both in private and in Church. There are appropriate prayers provided in the Prayer-Book, not only in the Collect for the Day, but also in the Collects for the Fifth, Twelfth, Fifteenth, Six- teenth, and Twenty-second Sundays after Trinity ; the Prayer for Unity on page 38, and the last prayer in the Institution Office, page 554. The following short Collect may profitably be used daily at noon in unison with thousands of those who really mean "Thy Kingdom come," whenever they repeat 37 The Feast of All Saints the Lord's prayer. It is the prayer recommended by the Association for Promoting the Unity of Christendom. O LORD JESUS CHRIST, who saidst to Thy Apostles : Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : Re- gard not my sins but the faith of Thy Church, and grant her that peace and unity which are agreeable to Thy will, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one GOD, world without end. Amen. And as we pray for unity, let us cultivate the spirit of unity, and drive out by the grace of GOD the narrow and sectarian spirit which makes impossible an answer to our prayers. May all who profess and call themselves Christians, ourselves included, be " led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life." ZTbe Jfeast of HU Saints THE Greeks instituted this Festival ages before it was observed in the West ; and it was kept on the Octave of Pentecost, our Trinity Sunday. It was not observed among the Latins till the seventh century, when the Pantheon was turned into a Church, and dedicated by this name. It was then made to fall on the first of No- vember. The American Indians observed that what is called the "Indian Summer" falls at this season, and they called it the "Summer of All Saints." It is a peculiarity of our climate which is very much in keeping with the tender associations of this day. The remarks with which these Minor Festivals have been prefaced in this book may serve to illustrate its beautiful Collect. All Saints ! what a glorious idea ! 308 The Feast of All Saints The General Assembly and Church of the First-Born, whose names are written in heaven, and every spirit of just men made perfect, since Abel worshipped or St. Stephen fell asleep ! Jewels in the crown of JESUS ! Lights of the world, and the salt of the earth ! Young men and maidens, matrons and little children, gray-haired sires and mothers in Israel ! Oh, what images are called up by the very name of this feast, which is " a pleasant odor like the best myrrh, as gal- banum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the Tabernacle." Nay, it is as the sound of the Bridegroom's coming, and in a moment we may see the bright procession marshalled, and crowding to the skies. There go the wise virgins, lamp in hand, and loins girded, their lights trimmed and burning ; there are the martyrs, palm-branch in the right hand, and in the left knife, and sword, and wheel, and saw, and faggot, the emblems of their sufferings : Apostles, with their keys, and a long line of Bishops, each with his pastoral staff. Then comes the bright band of cross- bearers, - the Faithful, the Redeemed. Oh, their crowns, their harps, their amaranthine chaplets, their vials full of odors ! Say, my soul, shalt thou be with these when the cry goes forth at midnight, " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh !" All the Saints who are uncalendared are commemo- rated, to-day, with those who, in every Christian country, are of local memory and renown. To-day, we remember departed friends who are asleep in JESUS. 'Tis a day to visit graves and burial-places, and to fling wreaths of remembrance upon the spot that holds beloved dust. So mourn we not as without hope. Hence, we keep the feast at Church ; and some pastors read the names of all parishioners who have died during the year, in 39 The Feast of All Saints full communion with the Church ; and then, in the Prayer for the Church Militant, we give thanks "for all Christ's servants departed this life in His faith and fear." The Gospel for the day suggests that every true Chris- tian has some characteristic of piety which unites him with a class, one is meek, and another is merciful. All are, in some degree, what others are, but each leaves an example of some special grace ; all are "entire," as re- producing every feature of Christ, in element, but each one is Christ-like in some particular in which he has exercised himself especially. The Beatitudes supply us with much food for reflection in this, also, that they fur- nish such a contrast to the characteristics of the world's heroes. The world "calls the proud happy"; Christ blesses the "poor in spirit." The Epistle teaches us that Christ knows all His faithful ones; and that, whether Jews or Gentiles, all have been marked as His own, and shall be gathered from every kingdom and nation, at the fitting time, to live forever in His presence. Some of the prayers in the Burial Service are singularly suited to the close of service after sermon : and the Introit should be Psalm 149. The special Psalms make frequent mention of the Gospel Beatitudes after the manner of those who are indeed "the Blessed." The Lessons from the Apocrypha are full of sublimity and appropriateness ; they may be regarded as noble proofs of the hopes and aspirations, coincident with ours, with which even the Old Testament Scriptures animated the Jewish faithful, before Christ came. They are, therefore, in effect, canonical Scripture, in the shape of ancient hymns ; reflections from the mind of the "Church of the first-born." We see in them a full testimony to the peace of departed Christian souls in the intermediate place, and also to the resurrection of 310 The Feast of All Saints the dead, and the life of the world to come. The Second Morning Lesson is part of an Inspired Calendar, and a glorious epitome of the older dispensation ; while the Second Evening Lesson is a sublime Hallelujah chorus, and a prelude to the Song of our Salvation. At the close of the All Saints' Feast, while " Fades o'er the moor the brief November day," let us meditate on the impressive fact that this Festival grows richer every year, with fresh harvestings to the garner of GOD. Thousands swell the Song of Victory this year, who last year were groaning with us under the burden and heat of the day. Soon our time must come. Oh, in that hour of death, and in the day of Judgment, by Thy Cross and Passion, good Lord, deliver us ! Amen. What more beautiful setting forth of the teaching of this day than that which the I76th Hymn affords : 1 For all the saints, who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy Name, O Jesu, be forever blest. Alleluia. 2 Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might; Thou, Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight ; Thou, in the darkness drear, the one true Light. Alleluia. 3 Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, And win, with them, the victor's crown of gold. Alleluia. 4 O blest communion, fellowship divine ! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine ! Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia. 3" Thanksgiving Day 5 And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, Steals on the ear the distant triumph-song, And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia. 6 The golden evening brightens in the west ; Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest ; Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest. Alleluia. 7 But lo ! there breaks a yet more glorious day ; The saints triumphant rise in bright array ; The King of glory passes on His way. Alleluia. 8 From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia. See also Appendix, note D. Dap * DAYS of thanksgiving, specially appointed for signal deliverances, were common in England during the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First ; but the origin of a Thanksgiving Day, of annual appointment, to praise GOD for the fruits of the earth, is attributed to the early colonists of New England. They deserve all praise for it ; although we need not question that the idea was borrowed from the Thanksgiving Days or Harvest Homes to which they had been accustomed in the bosom of their Mother Church ; for even their leader was willing to testify " that he had one and the same faith, hope, spirit, and * Prayer-Book, pp. 319-322. 3 I2 Thanksgiving Day baptism which he had in the Church of England, and none other. ' ' What was a partial and local thing, however, our Church, finding it in keeping with her own system, and a sort of complement to the Rogation Fasts, did not hesi- tate to take up and make national, appointing the First Thursday in November as the day of annual rejoicing before the Lord for the ingatherings of harvest, and "for all the other blessings of His merciful providence." The day is made mutable, however, in deference to the Civil Authority, in case any other day is appointed ; and custom has made it the last Thursday in the month, rather than the first. The sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving which has been appointed for this Festival is worthy of its purpose. It is a giving of thanks, from first to last ; and if it could but be universally adopted and used by the Christians of America on a set day every year, it would make the Feast one of the noblest National observances that can be imagined. For the lack of such a sen-ice, the day has degenerated among its hereditary friends, in many parts of the country, and is often kept as a day of politi- cal harangues, of races and games, with betting, gluttony, and excess. The Sentences which precede the ordinary ones at Morning Prayer are very striking, particularly the open- ing Sentence, " Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase," etc. The In- vitafoiy, which takes the place of the Venite, is also well selected ; and, on a bright autumnal morning, sung with spirit in the great congregation, it is very inspiring, especially in its close : " He maketh peace in thy bor- ders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat." It is a Song of Harvest-Home. Thanksgiving Day The Twentieth Selection ordinarily is then said, or sung, the isoth Psalm, with which it concludes, being sung with fine effect as a Doxology, with the Gloria. But the minister is at liberty to make his own selection of Psalms, and often does it with good effect, to celebrate particular or local blessings. The loyth Psalm is always appro- priate ; and the Non Nobis Domine has been appointed for such occasions from very ancient times, as the great poet records of the days of Henry V., into whose mouth he puts the language, " Do we all holy rites ; Let there be sung Non Nobis and Te Deum." The First Lesson is very applicable to us, as the de- scendants of a modern colony, in many temporal re- spects like that of Israel in Canaan. The Second Les- son is chosen chiefly for the words, " in everything give thanks. ' ' The Special Thanksgiving is chaste in language and simple in construction, and so is the beautiful Col- lect for the day. The Epistle and Gospel are admirably selected, with reference, evidently, to the inculcating of works of mercy as the kind of thanksgiving which GOD prefers to mere words of praise. In the former, note that the early Christians are called " a kind of first-fruits," which is language that looks to a great harvest of faith- ful men at the last. In the Gospel, how sublime is the epitome of GOD'S bounties to us, given in the words of Christ, " He maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un- just." So many, even of our own people, seem to be at a loss where to find the Service for this day, that it would be well for the minister to give the page at the beginning of the Service and again at the Epistle ; else much of the value of the Service is lost for the bewildered worshipper. 3'4 The Communion Service And all should remember that there can be no true thanksgiving without beneficence, others must share our blessings that their true blessedness may be ours. Money and gifts must flow forth to the poor and needy, according to the exhortation of old : "Go your ways, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy unto our GOD. For the joy of the Lord is your strength." TTbe Communion Service THAT our use of the Services may be intelligent in- deed, we should give heed to the arrangement and signifi- cance of the various Offices, some of them occasional, which occupy the space in the Prayer-Book between the Gospels and the Psalter. The least "occasional" is the Service for the Holy Communion, for that is the central point of all our wor- ship. Indeed, the Eucharist is the highest act of wor- ship ; the celebration of the Holy Mysteries is the only public service which is in so many words commanded by our Lord. Hence, the Holy Communion is technically and especially "Divine Service," and "The Liturgy" means the Sen-ice of the Altar. The Daily Morning and Evening Prayer all through the week are linked with the Sunday Eucharist by means of the Collect from the Communion Sen-ice, which must be used daily. In a very real and truly Evangelical sense, "the altar sanctifieth the gift." Here in the Memorial of Christ's death we perform in act what at the end of every prayer we acknowledge in word. All is for Christ's sake, and on account of His meritorious 3'5 The Communion Service Cross and Sacrifice: "THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD." Hence the absolute centre of the Prayer-Book, in point of preeminent honor, are the words of Consecration and Invocation in the Communion Service. Up to that point all is preparatory, after that point all is subsidiary. First the Priest says the Lord's Prayer as a prepara- tion for himself. Then come the Collect for Purity, the Decalogue, and the Collect which follows, all of the nature of a self-examination and preparation of mind and heart on the part of all the worshippers. The Col- lect for the Day and the Epistle and Gospel are a vari- able part of the Service, adapting it to the changing seasons of the Christian Year. Then, as faith cometh by hearing, after the Gospel is read, all unite in the Confession of the Apostolic and Primitive Creed. Here is the place for the Sermon (if there be one), that the people may be built up and es- tablished in the Faith. Then the Offerings of the people are collected and presented to the Lord ; for no one should come to Holy Communion without making an offering, however small. (Ex. xxv. 2 ; Deut. xvi. 16, 17.) We come to consecrate to our Master all we have as well as all we are and all we do* The "Oblations" of bread and wine are then offered, and the Prayer of Intercession recited. The worship- pers thus fulfil their office as priests unto GOD, interced- ing for all men who are of "Christ's Church Militant," and commemorating also the faithful departed. Now, * At early communions and on week-days when the attendance is small, the alms-plate is, in some Churches, placed on the centre of the altar rail, or at the top of the chancel steps, and the offerings made when the communicants come forward. In others there is an alms-box at the door. 316 The Communion Service all this is preparatory, and is called as far as to the Ob- lation, the "Pro-anaphora," or, incorrectly, the "Ante- Communion." With the Exhortation "Ye who do truly," the Com- munion Sen-ice Proper may be said to begin, although the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, and the Oblations are liturgically essential parts of it. But no worshipper coming into the Church later than this point in the Ser- vice should receive the Communion at that time, because he will not have joined in the Confession to be "made by all those who are minded to receive," and will not have heard the Absolution which follows it, and bids him welcome. The " Comfortable Words" are indeed full of divine reassurance, enabling the humble listener to respond most gratefully to the sublime Sursum Corda, " Lift up your hearts." And then after the Preface, (and the Proper Preface if it be one of the Great Feasts or within the octave of the first four of them,) the magnificent Tersanctus or Trisagion unites us with "Angels and Archangels and all the company of Heaven" in adoring the Triune GOD. In strong contrast with this rapturous burst of praise, we join with prostrate hearts in the tender Prayer of Humble Access ; and then the Priest, standing as the representative of all the Priestly company, begins the Canon, the Prayer of Consecration, whereby the Bread 'and Wine are blessed and offered as the " Perpetual Memorial of the Saviour's precious Death and Sacrifice." He consecrates and then makes The Oblation, invokes the presence and sanctifying power of the Word and Holy Spirit, and proceeds to pray that the Father will "accept this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving" in be- half of " all the whole Church." And the marvellously 3'7 The Communion Service beautiful and urgent Prayer closes with the offering and presentation of ourselves as "a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice," acceptable to GOD through the merits of Him whose One Sacrifice for sins is thus pleaded once again, JESUS CHRIST our Lord. After the Communion Hymn, the Sacrament is ad- ministered and the Sen-ice closes with the Thanksgiving for so great a mercy. The Gloria in Excelsis is sung and the people are bidden to depart with the blessing of GOD'S peace. Why should any one turn away from such a privilege ? Why should any disciple of our Lord at this point of obedience ' ' turn back and walk no more with H im' ' ? Why should any communicant, for any reason what- ever, having received, hurry out of church, a discourteous guest, not waiting for the Master's final blessing? Surely a dinner or a social engagement may wait, rather than so great and awful a Host be treated with irrev- erence. It is a profitable custom in the pauses of the Service to read over the exhortations which are to be found on pages 240 to 243, supplemented by psalms, and collects, or hymns from the Hymnal. Nor should any communicant fail on returning home, to seek the retirement of his room to fall upon his knees and render again his devout thanks- giving for the inestimable blessing vouchsafed in the Holy Communion. The Soul-Dirge TIbe THE organ played sweet music While as, on Easter-day, All heartless from the altar, The heedless went away ; And down the broad aisle crowding, They seemed a funeral train, That were burying their spirits To the music of that strain. As I listened to the organ And saw them crowd along, I thought I heard two voices, Speaking strangely, but not strong. And one, it whispered sadly, Will ye also go away ? But the other spoke exulting, Ha, the soul-dirge hear it play. Hear the soul-dirge ; hear the soul-dirge ; And see the feast divine. Ha, the jewels of salvation, And the trampling feet of swine. Hear the soul-dirge ; hear the soul-dirge ; Little think they as they go, What priceless pearls they tread on, Who spurn their Saviour so. Hear the soul-dirge ; hear the soul-dirge ; It was dread to hear it play, While the famishing went crowding, From the Bread of Life away. The Soul-Dirge They were bidden, they were bidden To their Father's festal board : But they all, with gleeful faces, Turn their back upon the Lord. You had thought the Church a prison, Had you seen how they did pour, With giddy, laughing faces From the consecrated door. There was angels' food already, But the bidden, whe-re were they? O'er the highways and the hedges, Ere the soul-dirge cease to play. Oh, the soul-dirge, how it echoed The emptied aisle along, As the open street grew crowded With the full outpouring throng. And then again the voices ; Ha ! the soul-dirge, hear it play. And the pensive, pensive whisper, Will ye also go away ? Few, few were they that lingered To sup with JESUS there : And yet, for all that spurned Him, There was plenty, and to spare. And now, the food of angels Uncovered to my sight, All-glorious was the altar, And the chalice glittered bright. Then came the hymn Trisagion, And rapt me up on high, With angels and archangels To laud and magnify. 320 The Baptismal Service I seemed to feast in Heaven ; And downward wafted then, With angels chanting round me, Good-will and peace to men. I may not tell the rapture Of a banquet so divine ; Ho ! every one that thirsteth, Let him taste the bread and wine. Hear the Bride and Spirit, saying, Will ye also go away? Or, go, poor soul, forever. Oh, the soul-dirge, hear it play ! A. C. C. Ube Baptismal Service BY our natural birth we are born, although uncon- scious of it, into the family of Adam. By our new birth we are born, it may be also unconsciously, into the family of the Second Adam, the Household of God. This second birth "by nature we cannot have." This is the meaning of Baptism for every person who approaches the Font, or is brought by loving hands, as the palsied man was borne by his friends, or as children were carried by their mothers, to Christ " that He might touch them." Baptism is not something that we do, but something that GOD, who is the author of life, does for us. Much misunderstanding and even heresy would be avoided were these simple truths remembered. " By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." The Minister who pours the water is but the visible hand of the Ever-Present and Divine Administrant. If we join in the Baptismal 21 3 21 The Baptismal Service Sendee with this thought in mind we shall easily under- stand why the Church makes the administration of Bap- tism so impressive, and uses language so strong in all her assertions concerning it. The rubrics should be carefully studied, as well as the various exhortations and prayers ; and the meaning of the service will then abun- dantly appear. Sponsors have their reason in Jewish and undoubtedly early Christian tradition, in many legal transactions where minors are brought into important relations with others, and in accordance with various passages of Scripture, two of which have already been referred to. The manner of Baptism may be by immersion or by pouring. The Church does not permit what is called " sprinkling," but prescribes the use of at least a sufficient quantity of water to symbolize a "washing" or purify- ing. The great occasions of Baptism have ever been on Easter-Even in remembrance of Christ's Death and Resurrection, of which Baptism is a figure, (Rom. vi. 4,) and at Whitsuntide, in remembrance of the three thou- sand souls, baptized by the Apostles at that time (Acts ii. 41) ; also because "by one Spirit we are baptized." But Baptism may be administered on any day, preferably, however, as the rubric enjoins, on Sundays and Holy Days, and always after the Second Lesson, and not care- lessly at some other time, when only a few are present. For there should always be a congregation to "testify the receiving of them that be newly baptized into the number of Christ's Church," and that every one present "may be put in remembrance of his own profession made to GOD in his Baptism." For these reasons when a child is baptized privately because of sickness, he must be brought afterwards to the Church, that his public and solemn reception may be made. 322 The Catechism The question, " Hath this child been already baptized or no?" has its reason in the fact that Baptism is never to be repeated. So that even heretical or lay baptism, if it be rightly done with water in the name of the Blessed Trinity, is accounted valid. The beautiful service is concluded by two exhortations which, if all present would but ponder and heed, they would be the better Christians themselves, and perceive how the Church at every Baptism faithfully preaches the Gospel, and urges all to remember and make real to themselves the Christian covenant into which by GOD'S great mercy they have been admitted. Moreover, all parents and sponsors would at every such occasion be stirred to greater diligence in fulfilling their duties of prayer and guidance and religious ex- ample in behalf of those whom they have in holy Bap- tism "brought to JESUS that He should bless them." TTbe Gatecbism \ MANY are puzzled by the first question in the Catechism, "What is thy name?" not understanding its deep sig- nificance. [A 7 , in the answer stands for Name, and M. is supposed to represent NN. or Names. The child should always reply by giving his Christian name, not by saying " A^or M" as some ignorant or careless instructors per- mit the child to do.] For what is the one unchangeable thing about us ? Is it not the name which was given us when we were christ- ened or made Christ's own children? The name is that whereby we are to be known all through life and in the world to come as well. Does it not stand for that identity 323 The Catechism of personality which, whatever changes and chances of time may bring, never alters ; so that the sage of ninety years is the same person who was brought in infancy to the Font? Taking hold of us, as it were, by that un- changeable personality, the Church reminds us solemnly of our accountability, and proceeds to teach us our relationship to GOD and our duty to Him and to our neighbor. Wheatley says most helpfully : "As to the contents of our Catechism, it is not a large system or body of di- vinity, to puzzle the heads of young beginners, but only a short and a full explication of the Baptismal Vow. The primitive catechisms, indeed, consisted of no more than the Renunciation, or the repetition of the Baptismal Vow, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer: and these, together with the Ten Commandments, at the Reforma- tion, were the whole of ours. But it being afterwards thought defective as to the doctrine of the Sacraments, King James I. appointed the Bishops to add a short and plain explanation of them, which was done accordingly in that excellent form we see ; being penned by Bishop Overal, then Dean of St. Paul's, and allowed by the Bishops. So that now ( in the opinion of the best judges) it excels all other catechisms that ever were in the world ; being so short that the youngest children may learn it by heart ; and yet so full that it contains all things necessary to be known in order to salvation. "In this also its excellency is very discernible, viz.: that as all persons are baptized not into any particular Church, but into the Catholic Church of Christ, so here they are not taught the opinion of this or any other particular Church or people, but what the whole body of Christians all the world over agree in. "If it may anywhere seem to be otherwise, it is the 324 The Confirmation Service doctrine of the sacraments ; but even this is here so worded with so much caution and temper as not to con- tradict any other particular Church, but so as that all sorts of Christians, when they have duly considered it. may subscribe to everything which is here taught or delivered." The Catechizing of the children by the Minister is enjoined not only by the rubrics which follow the Cate- chism, but by the canons of the Church as well, and there is no more beautiful sight than the clustering of the lambs about the shepherd that he may feed them. Nor is there a more important or profitable duty for the shepherd to fulfil. All parents and sponsors should see to it that the children learn the Catechism. It is invaluable as a con- cise statement of doctrine and duty. The two answers, duty to GOD and duty to one's neighbor, form a track on which every life may safely run and reach the best and truest and happiest end. TTbe Confirmation Service THE Laying on of Hands, as the outward symbol of the conveyance of spiritual blessing, is a custom venerable with age. By it, in patriarchal times, was conveyed to the first-born son, as by a document signed and sealed, the heritage or " Birthright " of Covenant blessing in the line of GOD'S Election. (See Genesis xlviii. 9-21.) By it Moses conveyed some of his honor to Joshua, and "gave him a charge." (See Num. xxvii. 18-23.) Our Lord laid His hands upon the children that were brought to Him. It has ever been accounted an act paternal, tender, full of benediction. So in Confirmation the Lay- 325 The Confirmation Service ing on of Hands is administered by the Bishop as the Ecclesiastical Father of the Diocese, representing the Great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls, and he imparts a blessing as from the holy place on high, admitting the children of GOD, who are the "First-born"* because "in Christ," to their Birthright, "the earnest of their inheritance"; conveying to them, (as did the patriarchs to their children,) the assurance of Covenant Election and Grace, "accepted in the Beloved." (Eph. i. 3-14.) Hence, the ancient Church frequently called Confirma- tion "The Seal," because the impress of the Bishop's hand sealed to the recipient so great a privilege. It was also frequently called "The Unction," because from an early date the candidates were anointed in token of the gifts of the Holy Spirit vouchsafed in Confirmation. To this custom it is thought reference is made in II. Cor. i. 21, 22 (where the anointing, and the sealing, and the ad- mitting to the Birthright are mentioned together) and I. John ii. 20, 27. In later times each candidate was also signed with the Cross. But in our Confirmation Sen-ice all rites and cere- monies are omitted save that which the Apostles them- selves without doubt practised, the solemn imposition of hands with prayer. First, by way of preparation, there is a statement of the meaning and purpose of Confirma- tion. This was formerly a rubric, but is now called the Preface. Then those who are to be confirmed are presented to the Bishop and the record of the first Confirmation is read. Then is propounded the solemn question, the answer to which reaffirms and renews the vows of Baptism ; and * Heb. xti. 23. Gal. iii. 27 ; iv. 6, 7. Eph. i. 13, 14 ; iv. 30. The Confirmation Service then, the Bishop rising from his seat, begins what is the Confirmation Service proper. It cannot be too often emphasized that the Church be- lieves and teaches that the Divine Head of the Church and not the human minister is the administrant and cele- brant in every holy function ; that He baptizes and con- firms and offers the Eucharist. The human officiant is just exactly and only what his title implies, a minister. Hence, these outward ceremonies are not empty forms, because the Lord is present in them to bestow a bless- ing which is real and not illusory ; all the more real be- cause spiritual and not corporeal. Therefore, inasmuch as "we put not our trust in anything that we do" come the Versicles, "Our help is in the name of the Lord," "Lord, hear our prayer," and the beautiful prayers which precede and follow the act of Confirmation. The Office fitly closes with a blessing, and usually the Bishop addresses those who have been confirmed, giving them affectionate and fatherly counsel. The canons require the Bishops to visit the Churches for Confirmation "at least once in three years," but it is customary for the Bishops to make their visitations throughout their Dioceses annually. It is the duty of the Clergyman, faithfully and diligently, to prepare and instruct his Candidates, and to present all whom he shall consider properly qualified. All unusual personal adornment of Candidates for Confirmation should be discountenanced. In the case of women and girls, a modest veil or cap is sometimes worn. This among some of our English people is an attire to which on Confirmation occasions they are ac- customed. The Candidates should bring their Prayer-Books with them, to answer with full voice the question addressed 327 The Confirmation Service to them by the Bishop, and to respond audibly through- out the Confirmation Office ; also, to kneel after the first prayer, with head erect, and to remain kneeling until after the Blessing. The congregation should be instructed to stand until the Lord's Prayer, as witnesses, and participants in the Bishop's act. No one should come to Confirmation who does not fully intend to approach forthwith the Holy Communion. To receive Confirmation without purpose of regular Communion afterwards, is to invite spiritual injury and not a blessing. Every Candidate should seek from his pastor plain, practical, spiritual instruction as to the conduct of life, in private devotion, public worship, church work, giving for the support of the Church, and personal example. Sermons will not adequately do this. There is no better time than in the preparation for the Bishop's coming. The Parish Priest should deal earnestly and prayerfully with the individual soul. (Ezek. iii. 17-20 ; Heb. xiii. 17.) This is an opportune time also to ask for and to re- ceive earnest instruction how to pray, and what to pray for, both in private and at Holy Communion. It is sad, indeed, to see the new communicants look aimlessly about, even when at the communion rail, and in their pews before and after receiving Holy Communion, with no idea how to employ themselves profitably. " They should be provided with Manuals of Devotion, or at least learn the devotional use of f heir Bibles and Prayer- Books. Some of the Clergy are verily guilty concerning this matter. The Candidates should always be instructed to come to the Holy Communion with ungloved hands, to receive the Consecrated Bread in the open palm, and to be most 328 The Marriage Service careful not to drop crumbs and portions, but to consume //that is delivered to them. Likewise, there should be instructions as to the reverent and seemly guiding and re- ception of the Chalice. It is not to be assumed that chil- dren and youth, or others, uninstructed, know how, best, with due regard to the Priest, their neighbors and them- selves, to engage in this most holy Service. They should be helped in every way to come without distraction. There is no virtue in carelessness, but always a loss by irreverence and thoughtlessness. Table manners are not to be ignored because it is the Lord's Table. Holy Scripture in many places bids us to be careful even of little things, and the Apostle enjoins, " Let all things be done unto edifying," " decently and in order." Ube fiflairiaoe Service THIS beautiful Sen-ice is entitled " The Solemnization of Matrimony." It is intended to solemnize both the participants and the witnesses; to make "holy" that which many enter into unadvisedly and lightly. Mar- riage is sacramental in its character, because it signifies "the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and His Church," (Eph. v. 32,) and the Service in ever)' word teaches most solemnly that true marriage is the union of one man and one woman, a union which nothing but death can sever. The Service, therefore, does not recognize Divorce for any cause whatever, although the Church's legislation has ("because of the hardness of men's hearts") per- mitted a dissolution of the Marriage tie for one cause which our Lord has apparently allowed, as recorded in St. Matt. xix. 9. But there is much difference of opinion 329 The Marriage Service as to the exact meaning of that passage. Certain it is that any persons married "reverently, discreetly, ad- visedly, soberly, and in the fear of GOD," will indeed find matrimony "a holy estate," and, living faithfully to- gether, surely performing the vow and covenant betwixt them made, will ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and live according to GOD'S laws. The former half of the Office is called the Betrothal or Espousal* which is, indeed, a valid, legal marriage ; but the Church looks upon this as only preparatory to that which She has to give, and asks "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" Up to this point the persons to be married properly stand "in the body of the Church," at the foot of the chancel steps. Now, all advancing to the altar rail, the Church by her Minister gives the bride (as at the first GOD gave a wife to Adam), to be taken by the hand of the bridegroom as for a covenant, and each promises "troth" or fidelity to the other. Nor is the word "obey" omitted, because there is no humiliation in the due and scriptural subordination of the wife to him who, by divine appointment, is the official head of the house- hold, whether he be personally worthy of it or not. When man and wife truly love one another there can never be trouble on that score. (Eph. v. 22-24.) And there is a corresponding duty and high privilege for the husband ; (Eph. v. 25-33 ; I. Pet. iii. 7.) There are many most interesting inquiries connected with the Ring in marriage. But these are not within the scope of this manual. Suffice it to say that the giving of jewels at betrothal and marriage dates from the * There has always been historically a difference between Es- pousals and Nuptials or Marriage. (St. Luke i. 27 ; St. Matt. i. 18.) The former was performed sometimes weeks or months before the latter. 330 The Marriage Service earliest times. (See Gen. xxiv. 51-54 ; Ezek. xvi. n, 12.) And the Ring is the representative of the dowry anciently bestowed, of precious metal, intimating "the generous, sincere, and durable affection which ought to be between the married parties," and round, to imply that "the conjugal love should never have an end." The fourth finger of the left hand was chosen (so said the Salisbury Manual) because thence a particular vein proceeds directly to the heart ! Others explain it that touching the thumb at the name of the Father, and the next finger at the name of the Son, the next at the name of the Holy Ghost, the ring would rest on the fourth finger at Amen ! The reference to Isaac and Rebecca in the nuptial prayer is a very significant one, not understood by many. In a time when plural marriages were prevalent, and when even Abraham took Hagar for his concubine, "Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together," Isaac sought no other connection. It is recorded in Gen. xxiv. 67 : " Isaac took Rebekah, and she became his wife ; and he loved her." So may it be with all who are married with the Church's blessing. May they "so live together in this world , that in the world to come they may have life ever- lasting." "Those whom GOD hath joined together let no man put asunder." These are the words of the Master Himself. 331 The Visitation of the Sick Ube Visitation ot tbe Sicft IT would be profitable if persons when in health, (perhaps during the pauses which occur sometimes at Holy Communion) would make themselves familiar with the beauties of this much neglected portion of the Prayer- Book. Doubtless more of our people would seek its use in times of sickness. At any rate, when ill they would know where to turn for subjects of thought and guidance in prayer, and words of comfort on their sick-beds. First comes the apostolic salutation, " peace be to this house," and, " if the son of peace be there, GOD'S peace shall rest upon it." The Lord's Prayer and Versicles and Prayers for the sick person are followed by a beauti- fully tender exhortation, ' declaring the meaning of all such providential dealings, as sickness, and affliction ; reminding him who is suffering under GOD'S hand that there is always to be expected a spiritual blessing. " Know you certainly, that if you truly repent you of your sins, and bear your sickness patiently, trusting in God's mercy for His dear Son JESUS CHRIST'S sake, and render unto Him humble thanks for His fatherly visitation, submitting yourself wholly unto His will, it shall turn to your profit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life." Much instruction is given in the rubrics which follow this exhortation. And, were this instruction heeded, it could not be that so many Christian people would die intestate, or without some provision in their wills for the furtherance of Christ's gospel, for the support of His Church, and for the relief of the poor. "We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out." How sad is it that multitudes leave no bequests behind them wherewith to make their memory 332 The Communion of the Sick blessed by carrying on the work for GOD and man which they themselves can no longer perform ! A selfish death is as sad as a selfish life. The prayers which follow may be made use of by the sick person for himself at any time, and be found most comforting ; and the additional prayers are frequently read by the Minister or loving friends, as need may require. Especially should it be noted that, whether a Clergyman be present or not, no Christian should be willing to die, or be permitted to die, without the Commendatory Prayer said by some one present at or near the moment of departure. Church people are not heathen, that they should neglect this bounden duty to one who is passing away from earth. " Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," said the Saviour with His dying breath. So should the sick person in his own behalf ; or those who love him in his behalf, if because of the pain or unconsciousness of death, he cannot frame the petition for himself. Nor should the Thanksgiving for the Beginning of a Recovery be forgotten, or the public thanksgiving in Church, by one for whom the prayers of the Church have been besought in time of anxiety. The Prayer, " O GOD whose days are without end," is not only appropriate in behalf of those who are "present at the Visitation"; but also for those who are afflicted with long illness, and for the aged ; and it is frequently made use of on funeral occasions. Communion of tbe Sicfc THIS scarcely needs a separate chapter, because the rubrics, if carefully studied, will surely teach the student all that is necessary in order to engage intelligently in it. 333 The Burial Service It may be well to note that our American Church, at the last revision of the Prayer-Book, wisely added the third and last rubrics on page 293. This was done, of course, in the interest of adaptation to modern requirements. OTe Burial Service THIS service is, alas ! sadly familiar to us all, and its prevailing note of sober and hopeful Christian assurance has oftentimes brought comfort, or at least some measure of strength, to our hearts. From first to last it proclaims with no bated breath the power of the Risen Christ over the darkness, the sadness, the bitterness, the thraldom of death. Happy he who can accept this message. To him in dire affliction and in spite of tears and heartache, peace shall flow as a river. At the outset the mourner is bidden to look away from selfish sorrow to Him who alone and surely promises conquest over the last of foes. Then the Burial Anthem, while it recounts man's frailty and mortality, and pleads for mercy and help, points on again to Him who is our Refuge in the cloudy and dark day. Then follows that triumphant oration of St. Paul, bet- ter than any funeral sermon can possibly be, which de- clares even amidst the countless graves of earth that " Death is swallowed up in Victory."* A hymn follows, and the Creed, wherein we confess our undying faith in the Communion of Saints, the Resurrection of the body, and the Life Everlasting ; and then the Service is enriched in our American Book (as it was not until the last re- * For some remarks upon this chapter see the First Sunday after Easter, p. 164. 334 The Burial Service vision) by "such fitting prayers as are elsewhere pro- vided" in the Book. At the Grave an ancient Anthem is recited as the body is lowered into the ground, and then the solemn com- mittal follows in hope of a joyful resurrection " when the earth and the sea shall give up their dead." It has from of old been the Christian custom to bury the dead with the feet eastward and the face upward, so that at the Resurrection " they may be ready to meet Christ, who is expected from the East, and that they be in a posture of prayer as soon as they are raised. ' ' Any old Church graveyard will bear witness to the mainte- nance of this custom which our modern cemeteries have ruthlessly forsaken. " For a space the tired body Lies with feet toward the dawn, Till there breaks the last and brightest Easter Morn." "The casting earth upon the body was esteemed an act of piety by the very heathens ; insomuch that to find a body unburied, and to leave it uncovered was judged amongst them a great crime." With us, some one stand- ing by, sometimes the Minister himself (according to Horace's description in his 28th Ode), "gives three casts of earth upon the body or coffin while the Priest pro- nounces the solemn form which explains the ceremony ; viz. , " Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust."* As by a trine Baptism of water we are committed to the care of Mother Church, so by a trine baptism of dust is our mortal part consigned to the keeping of Mother Earth, both "looking for the General Resur- * " Quamquam festinas non est mora longa ; licebit Injecto ter pulvere curras." Horace, I, Ode 28, v. 35. 335 The Burial Service rection and the Life of the world to come, through our LORD JESUS CHRIST." (Rom. vi. 5 ; Phil. iii. 21.) Then follows the glorious promise made concerning them that die in the Lord, and the assurance of their blessedness. The prayers which are appended sustain the Christian hope which has characterized the service all through, and the mourning heart is comforted by words of sure confi- dence in Christ, and supplications that we may hear that His most joyful voice of welcome at the last great day. In two of these prayers and in the frequent petition, "Thy Kingdom come," we have the nearest approach to Prayers for the Departed which this Church has seen fit to permit in her public services. Similar guarded petitions are also to be found in the Prayer for Christ's Church Militant and in the Consecration Prayer in the Communion Service. Concerning Prayers for the Departed, then, this Church has made no pronouncement, yet has she nowhere con- demned them. It will suffice to give the comments* of Bishop Cosin and Bishop Overal upon the very careful words of these prayers of the Burial Service. "Though the souls of the faithful be in joy and felicity ; yet because they are not in such a degree of joy and felicity as that they can never receive more than they have already ; therefore, in the latter part here of this our prayer, we beseech GOD to give them a full con- summation of bliss both in body and soul in His eternal kingdom of glory which is yet to come. And whatso- ever the effect and fruit of this prayer will be, though it be uncertain ; yet hereby we show that charity which we owe to all those that are fellow-servants with us to Christ : and in this regard our prayers cannot be condemned, * Cited by VVheatley in loco. 336 The Burial Service being neither impious nor unfit for those that profess the Christian religion. For in like manner if I should make a prayer to GOD for my father or mother, for my brother or sister, for my son or daughter, or any other friend of mine travelling on a journey, beseeching Him that He would prosper them in their way and keep them from all danger or sickness, till they should safely and happily arrive at their journey's end, and the place where they desire to be ; although at the same time, when I prayed this for them, peradventure, they have arrived at the place already (which I knew not) with all safety, and met wifh no danger or diseases by the way, whereby all my prayer is prevented ; yet the solicitude and charity in the meanwhile that I had for them, cannot be justly or char- itably reprehended by any others. "Although it cannot be exactly and distinctly declared what benefit the Dead receive by these prayers which the Living make for them ; yet if there be nothing else, there is this at least in it, that hereby is declared the communion and conjunction which we have still with one another, as members of the same body, whereof Christ is the Head."* "The body lies dead in the grave, but by Christ's power and GOD'S goodness shall men be raised up again ; and the benefit is so great that sure it is worth the praying for : because then we may pray for what we ourselves or our deceased brethren as yet have not ; therefore doth the Church pray for the perfect consum- mation of bliss both in soul and body, to be given to our departed brethren. We believe the Resurrection ; yet may pray for it as well as for God's Kingdom to come. Besides prayer for the Dead cannot be denied but to * Bishop Cosin. 337 The Country Churchyard have been universally used by all Christians in the ancientest and purest times of the Church, and by the Greek fathers, who never admitted any Purgatory, no more than we do, and yet pray for the Dead notwith- standing. What though their souls be in bliss already? they may have a greater degree of bliss by our prayers : and when their bodies come to be raised and joined to their souls again, they shall be sure of a better state. Our prayers for them, then, will not be in vain, were it but for that alone."* (See Appendix D. ) At the last revision of the Prayer-Book, additional Prayers were provided for the Burial Service, and the Committal of the Dead at sea was changed from its for- mer position to its present place on page 302, somewhat altered in its phraseology. Ube Country Cburcb^arD OUR mother the Church hath never a child To honor before the rest, But she singeth the same for mighty kings And the veriest babe on her breast ; And the Bishop goes down to his narrow bed As the ploughman's child is laid ; And alike she blesseth the dark-browed serf And the chief in his robe arrayed. She sprinkles the drops of the bright new-birth The same on the low and the high, And christens their bodies with dust to dust, When earth with its earth must lie ; * Bishop Overal. 338 The Churching Office Oh, the poor man's friend is the Church of Christ From birtli to his funeral day ; She makes him the Lord's, in her surpliced arms, And singeth his burial lay. And ever the bells in the green Churchyard Are tolling, to tell ye this ; Go pray in the Church, while pray ye can, That so ye may sleep in bliss. And wise is he in the glow of life, Who weaveth his shroud of rest, And graveth it plain on his coffin-plate, That the dead in Christ are blest. I never loved cities of living men, And towns of the dead I hate ; Oh, let me rest in the Churchyard, then, And hard by the Church's gate ; 'Tis there I pray to my Saviour Christ, And I will, till mine eye is dim, That, sleep as I may in this fevered life, I may rest, at last, in Him. A. C. C. Cburcbing ffice A FALSE standard of modesty, and the general in- difference of the times, have together served to render this beautiful Service the one least commonly observed among us. In the hope that a few words concerning it may tend to revive it, we propose a study of its meaning. That it has Divine sanction there can be no doubt. To be "a joyful mother of children" has ever been, as 339 The Churching Office it is now among right-minded women, a blessing to be much desired. From the birth of the first infant, great has been the gratitude of every devout woman who, after the pain and peril of childbirth, "remembereth no more the sorrow, for joy that a man is born into the world." Read the story of Eve's maternity, (Gen. iv. i ;) of Sarah's, (Gen. xxi. 6,) and of Hannah's, (I. Sam. i. 27, 28). Remember what the Magnificat means which we so often sing at Evening Prayer, the Virgin's song of praise for GOD'S mercy to her. Read the law of Jehovah for the purification of the women whom He had blessed with children. (Lev. xii. 6-8.) Although the precise ceremonial law of Moses is abolished, yet "the open and solemn acknowledgment of GOD'S goodness in delivering the mother and in- creasing the number of mankind, is a duty that will oblige to the end of the world." And there is always to be offered the sacrifice of praise.' Even if the whole service be not used, at least every Christian woman should account it a privilege (for which she should ask the Minister) to have the concluding Prayer read as it stands among the Special or Occasional Thanksgivings, on page 44 of the Prayer-Book. In the second rubric, the words "decently apparelled," were formerly interpreted to mean, as the custom was, with a white covering or veil. But that custom having been long discontinued, the words may be taken to signify any seemly and sober dress which a true sense of modesty and propriety may indicate. "Some con- venient place," has usually been interpreted to mean the chancel steps, the faldstool, or the altar rail. " The ordinary-" here, as in the second rubric before the Com- munion Service, means the Bishop of the Diocese. 340 Note The Service should be used on some Sunday or Holy day, before the Communion Service, or (as in some Churches) after the Second Lesson at Morning or Even- ing Prayer. After a short exhortation, there is recited a portion of the n6th Psalm, followed by the Lord's Prayer (which in all Services has a place), some Versicles and the Special Thanksgiving. With much appropriateness does the closing rubric prescribe an offering to be made by the thankful recipi- ent of GOD'S mercy, and her personal consecration in Holy Communion to renewed service as one who has received a signal blessing. No mother who faithfully and devoutly renders this reasonable tribute of praise will return home unblessed. Like the publican, she will "go down to her house justified"; and with her soul attuned as never before to the psalmist's words in the I2ist, i27th, and i28th Psalms. Moreover, she will be happy in the consciousness of a duty done which shall help other women by example, and tend to exalt the tone of society and hallow other homes besides her own. fllote As the Forms of Prayer to be used at sea , and the Form of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners are of such in- frequent use, it is not deemed necessary to review them. The rubrics will sufficiently bring out their meaning. The Church Cburcb I LOVE the Church, the holy Church, The Saviour's spotless bride ; And oh, I love her palaces Through all the land so wide : The cross-topped spire amid the trees, The holy bell of prayer : The music of our Mother's voice, Our Mother's home is there. The village tower, 'tis joy to me : I cry The Lord is here. The village bells, they fill my soul : They more than fill my ear. O'er kingdoms to the Saviour won, Their triumph-peal is hurled : Their sound is now in all the earth, Their words throughout the world. And here, eternal ocean cross' d, And long, long ages past, In climes beyond the setting sun, They preach the Lord at last ; And here, Redeemer, are Thy priests Unbroken in array, Far from Thine Holy Sepulchre, And Thine Ascension-day. Unbroken in their lineage. Their warrants clear as when Thou, Saviour, didst go up on high, And give good gifts to men ; 342 The Church Here, clothed in innocence, they stand, To shed Thy mercy wide, Baptizing to the Trinal Name, \Yith waters from Thy side. And here, confessors of Thy cross, Thine holy orders three, The Bishop and the Elders too, And lowly Deacons be ; To rule and feed the flock of Christ, To fight, of faith, the strife, And to the host of God's elect, To break the Bread of Life. Here rises, with the rising morn, Their incense unto Thee, Their bold confession Catholic, And high doxology : Soul-melting litany is here And here, each holy feast, Up to the altar, duly spread, Ascends the stoled priest. Then with the message of our King, The herald stands on high : How beautiful the feet of them That on the mountain cry. And then, as when the doors were shut, \Yith JESUS left alone, The faithful sup with Christ, and He In breaking bread is known. And kneeling at the altar's rail, With blessings all divine, As from the Saviour's hand, they take The broken bread, and wine ; 343 The Church In one communion with the saints, With angels and the blest, And looking for the blessed hope Of an eternal rest. The peace of God is on their heads ; And so they wend away, To homes all cheerful with the light Of love's inspiring ray : And through the Churchyard and the graves, With kindly tears they fare, Where every turf was decent laid And hallowed by a prayer. The dead in Christ, they rest in hope ; And o'er their sleep sublime, The shadow of the steeple moves, From morn to vesper-chime : On every mound, in solemn shade, Its imaged cross doth lie, As goes the sunlight to the West, Or rides the moon on high. I love the Church, the Holy Church, That o'er our life presides, The birth, the bridal, and the grave, And many an hour besides. Be mine, through life, to live in her, And, when the Lord shall call, To die in her, the spouse of Christ, The Mother of us all. A. C. C. 344 Appendix A H A TABLE OF INTROITS (From the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI.) PSALM St. Andrew's day 129 The First Sunday in Advent I The Second Sunday in Advent 120 The Third Sunday in Advent 4 St. Thomas the Apostle 128 The Fourth Sunday in Advent 5 Christmas-day (First Communion) 98 Christmas-day (Second Communion) 8 St. Stephen's Day 52 St. John the Evangelist's Day n The Innocents' Day 79 The First Sunday after Christmas-day 121 The Circumcision of Christ 122 The Epiphany 96 The First Sunday after the Epiphany 13 The Second Sunday after the Epiphany 14 The Third Sunday after the Epiphany 15 The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany 2 The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany 20 The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany 20 Conversion of St. Paul 138 The Sunday caHed Septuagesima 23 The Purification of St. Mary the Virgin 134 The Sunday called Sexagesima 24 345 Appendix A PSALM The Sunday called Quinquagesima 26 Ash-Wednesday 6 The First Sunday in Lent 32 St. Matthias' Day 140 The Second Sunday in Lent 130 The Third Sunday in Lent 43 The Fourth Sunday in Lent 46 The Fifth Sunday in Lent 54 The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ... 131 The Sunday next before Easter 61 Good Friday 22 Easter-even 78 Easter-day (First Communion) 16 Easter-day (Second Communion) 3 Monday in Easter-week 62 Tuesday in Easter-week 113 The First Sunday after Easter 112 The Second Sunday after Easter 70 The Third Sunday after Easter 75 St. Mark's Day 141 The Fourth Sunday after Easter 83 St. Philip and St. James' Day 133 The Fifth Sunday after Easter 84 The Ascension-day 47 The Sunday after Ascension-day 93 Whitsunday 33 Monday in Whitsun-week 100 Tuesday in Whitsun-week 101 Trinity Sunday 67 Twenty-two Sundays after Trinity 119 St. Barnabas the Apostle 142 St. John Baptist's Day 143 St. Peter's Day 144 St. James the Apostle 148 346 Appendix A PSALM The Transfiguration of Christ 99 St. Bartholomew the Apostle 115 St. Matthew the Apostle 117 St. Michael and All Angels 113 St. Luke the Evangelist 137 St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles 150 All Saints' Day 149 The Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity 124 The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity 125 The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity 127 The Sunday next before Advent 127 347 Appendix B THE SPIRIT OF THE PRAYER-BOOK BY EDWARD LOWE TEMPLE [We are permitted to print a portion of an address by Edward Lowe Temple, delivered at a service in Grace Church, Providence, R. I., May 24, 1899, ' n commemoration of the adoption of the Prayer- Book in 1549.] LET us for a moment try to free ourselves from a little of the familiarity (which, though it does not breed con- tempt, may dull a critical perception), and take up a simple parable. Imagine an intelligent scholar, though as yet unskilled in the religious architecture of Christian, as in that of heathen temples, for the first time brought face to face with a great Gothic cathedral. Set in the midst of its green close that speaks of constant cultivation, and masked in walls of greener ivy that tell of age and assiduous care, its buttressed mass, as it dominates the landscape, upholds turreted towers or soaring spire or traceried lantern that lift the eye to the blue vault over- head. As he enters at the west front, in wonder not unmixed with awe, the lofty nave with its converging lines repeats and intensifies the impression, and colors and chastens his thought. "Surely," he thinks, "such soaring spaces as these were meant to shelter the wor- shippers of a pure faith." He has perhaps been told that the ground plan is cruciform, and so he finds it ; though grouped around the inner structure lie the man}' ecclesiastical accessories that befit man's needs. Transepts are thickly set with monuments that, in "storied aisle and animated bust," commemorate the righteous dead who once trod these 348 Appendix B courts. As he progresses eastward, chapels, or what once were such, denote the spots for more quiet wor- ship apart from the great throng. The ruined walls of library and refectory suggest the food for mind and body which must once have served the needs of those whose evident home was here. Mullioned cloisters, their oriels now sightless to the sky, speak of meditation, as they perchance enclose a green garth in which lie the swelling and cross-surmounted mounds that tell of mortality. Within, beneath a nobly arched and carven screen, he passes to a raised central space, set like an island, at the heart of the great building, where insignia on every hand speak of sacred music ; while light, golden, azure, ruddy, tempered by the art of man, floods the spot with mellowed radiance. Yet even here he must not pause, for still a higher level summons him ; till, Church upon Church, an altar stands before him, crowning a lofty ascent, the central shrine of all this hallowed grandeur. In speaking symbolism it points to the Passion and Redemption of Him whose flesh is the Life of the World. By every reference its tokens surpass those of the Bishop's throne which stands before it in the choir, of the pulpit in yonder nave, even of the antique font he left behind him at the western portal. Enclosed within a low railing that denotes at once a barrier and a meet- ing-place, it is crowned, beneath the effulgence of its great eastern window, that " looks toward Jerusalem," by the similitude of -the empty cross of the ascended Lord. Doubtless these teachings will not at once make upon him their full impression. He will have seen much to puzzle him on the way thither. Aside from the object and uses of various parts of the building, its structural styles have seemed to need explanation. He has found (what later he learns to be) Saxon forms superimposed 349 Appendix B on Roman masonry, and the dog-toothed mouldings of some Norman arch in strange juxtaposition with the lancet points of an early English window. Decorated Gothic and Late Perpendicular details here and there stand side by side, and he is at first tempted to call the work an incongruity. But he reflects that this must be due to the long march of history ; that during great lapses of time one form has grown out of another by process of evolution ; and that the architecture he sees before him is not only worthy to be called " frozen music," but is also the im- perishable record of religious aspiration in stone. He has not failed to note on window and buttress and carven column the many grievous wounds of man's making, and the evidence of generations of neglect in days now happily gone by. With a sigh it will dawn upon him that, in war as well as in peace, precious human lives have themselves been built into the glorious fabric ; and he will thank God that such things can no longer be, since, at last, Christians are learning to good purpose that it is not Mount Sinai with its fire and tempest, but rather Mount Sion's company of angels and the Church of the First-Born, which is the goal of the Pentecostal pilgrimage. And, ere he turns away, he will, above all, be led captive by the thought that up to the groined vault, dimly shadowed overhead, has ascended, for more generations than he cares to trace, the passionate de- sire to raise a temple meet for the King invisible, and to give Him honor through forms and symbols which are one by one the highest expression of each gener- ation's thought. " Verily," he will say, " they dreamed not of an earthly home who thus could build." If our analogy has been a faithful one, it will have in- dicated that the Book of Common Prayer is not less a 350 Appendix B loving and enduring symbol and record of the higher life of worship than are the aisles and arches of the noblest cathedral. Like them, it speaks with the voice of one- ness and conscious authority, amid the jarring notes and divisions of our time ; and its eirenic value as a standard of teaching it would be hard to overestimate. Like them, it is the product of human experience, guided by the Holy Spirit, striving through the ages to express and store up for those that come after, the loftiest meth- ods by which man may worthily appear before his Maker. Like them, it is the natural heritage and meeting-ground of all sorts and conditions of men ; whose multifarious needs there find expression, in words so simple that he who runs may read, so strong that addition or change only serves to dull their significance. If at first its contents seem involved in order and somewhat to need an interpreter, yet surely not more than is the case with the material cathedral to a tyro. And the same criticism attaches in far greater measure to the Authorized Version of the English Bible, in literary and typographical arrangement without doubt the worst printed book in the world. In due rela- tionship of part with part the former needs far less for its clarification than has been accomplished for the latter by the consecrated service of American scholar- ship through such help as the Modern Reader's Bible. Indeed, now that "liturgical enrichment and increased flexibility of use" have been accomplished in America in our time, there are few blemishes that may not well be left for a later generation to remove. Nothing of human ordering is of purely ideal merit, not even the Prayer- Book, which has its gradations of excellence. Were the order for the Daily Sen-ice to be closely followed by the Psalter, and did the Altar Service of Collect, Epistle, and Appendix B Gospel immediately succeed the Office of the Holy Com- munion, as adjuncts should logically accompany their principals, there would remain, me judice, little to be desired even in such a standard. Consider for a moment its structural range and com- prehension. The Offices of Daily Morning and Evening Prayer mark the book's broad choir and nave, with their lectern and prayer desk and pulpit for the mixed con- gregation. Clustered about them are offices, like litur- gical chapels ; first for the due and reverent adminis- tration of Holy Baptism, as at the Church's portal ; then, as if in the cathedral library, forms of instruction for the catechizing of the young, leading on to that for the sacred rite of Confirmation of the baptismal pledge. Here is a lady-chapel, where matrimonial vows are blessed by Mother Church ; and there an oratory', where family prayer, most neglected of all Christian obli- gations, was habitually wont to be offered. And next beyond these lies a chantry, having the ancient lych- gate as a part of it, where the earthly body is laid down with solemn rite before its final progress to the grave without, and where the spirit is commended to the GOD who gave it. The whole of Holy Scripture is inferentially contained within the covers of this volume, whose lessons for the yearly round are omitted in their entirety only for convenience. Its Ordinal sets forth the necessity, dig- nity, and authority of diaconate, priesthood, and epis- copate ; the function of the latter in the setting forth of special offices well sustaining analogy' with the supremacy of each Bishop's throne in his own cathedral. At the heart of the book, as with the altar in the structure of the material fane, its supreme inner sanctuary of worship is the Office of the Holy Eucharist, having for its core 352 Appendix B the very words of consecration of our Blessed Lord. . . . And upon the arms of His cross, as again with the cathedral, is upreared the whole fabric of the manual, as set forth in due measure and proportion, through the events of our Lord's earthly life in the ever-changing passage of the ritual year. Again, as to the styles of its literary architecture. Its prayers, which owe nothing to modern Rome, are, very many of them, as old as the pagan days of the mistress of the world. The Hebrew Church, the Primitive, the Greek, the Gallican, the early British, the Scotch, each makes offering to its pages. Its Collects, Canticles, and "Te Deum," the correspondence of Epistle and Gospel, Proper Psalm, and Preface, are the fruit of a liturgical science as undoubted as the mechanical skill that reared material vault and buttress. Not one age, but many, have been at its christening. Not one style, but many, have had their evolution here. Other passages than its Psalter are from a Scripture version older than that of King James. As with the Hymnal, the sources laid under contribution have not always owned a Churchly sponsorship. Quaint Jeremy Taylor, the rhetorical Cranmer, the fiery Laud, the Lutheran " Consultation" of Archbishop Her- mann of Cologne, the Swiss monk Notker of St. Gall, blend their voices in loving accord with the words of St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose, the Sacramentary of Gelasius and the Missal of Sarum. The consecrated learning of Bishops Cosin and Lancelot Andrewes have not placed us under greater obligation than has been laid upon us by our own Seabury, when he secured for the American Book the Scottish use in the arrangement of the Communion Office. From deepest notes of peniten- tiai abasement to loftiest paean of rhapsody and praise, *3 353 Appendix B the whole gamut of spiritual passion is swept. In the glowing words of Stedman, " It has no counterpart, and can have no successor." Through all, the vigorous in- fluence of the English Bible has kept it forever true to the thought and spirit of the Anglo-Saxon race. And hither that race brought it and first used it in worship on our far western shore but thirty years after young King Edward had set it forth, and more than four decades before the landing at Plymouth. Such is one method of regarding the Prayer-Book. But our visitor to an English Minster would have brought thence but a partial impression, had he not listened at- tentively to the pealing notes of its great organ ; wit- nessed the procession of clergy and choristers as they led its solemn sen-ice ; above all, had he, an idle and passive spectator, refrained from joining with heart and voice in the sacrifice of prayer and praise to GOD in the House called by His name. Many a traveller, I suppose, makes what seems to him satisfactory pilgrimage to some great fane, and yet gives slight heed as to whose courts they are wherein he treads. With vision bounded by purely archaeological or artistic limitations, he fails to recognize that a true cathedral is not a mere museum of the past, however noble, but is animated by a vital and far-reaching present ministry in holy things ; and thus he naturally falls far short of plucking out the heart of its mystery. But age, association, beauty, science, these are, indeed, but the handmaids of religion and service. And so, finally, with the Prayer-Book as well. Its artistic and literary preeminence are, or easily may be, known and read of all men. But the rounded and robust body of its theology, the simplicity and dignity of its creeds, the reverent fitness and fervor of its supplica- tions, the uplift of its hymns and anthems, the awful yet 354 Appendix B tender mystery of its Eucharistic Office, these exhaust a lifetime to compass them, and the peasant may here win the blessing where the sage may fail. For that is the best Prayer-Book which shows most signs of constant use, and the strongest evidence of influence on a life, and through that life on the lives of others perhaps less privileged. Let the monition come home to ourselves. It is the Book of Common Prayer, and we children of the Church too carelessly forfeit opportunities for its use in public as well as in private, and suffer too many a wandering thought to steal away the jewels from its pages, as they lie open before us when on bended knee in the service, or in the solitude of our closet. When we do the Lord's will we shall fully know of His doctrine. The Prayer-Book, like every other re- ligious organization, is a means, and not an end. And in striving to subdue our rebellious spirits to the temper that befits its noble periods, we shall not be content to characterize the Prayer-Book, or the Church itself, by the phrase which even the unecclesiastical Hawthorne applies to a cathedral, " It is the only thing in the world that is large enough and rich enough." \Ve shall rather gratefully and devoutly add, paraphras- ing the words of the Patriarch Jacob, when he had his glimpse of the far-off Incarnation : "This is none other but the House of GOD, and this is the gate of Heaven." 355 Appendix C Hppenfcii C ANOINTING OF THE SICK FROM these statements of our venerated author many will be compelled to dissent. The Anointing of the Sick seems to have continued all through the history of the Church unto the present, and in the Church of England until the Second Prayer-Book of Edward VI. Bishop Forbes of Brechin (Explanation of the Articles) speaks of it as " the lost pleiad of the Anglican firma- ment"; and continues, " one must at once confess and deplore that a distinctly Scriptural practice has ceased to be commanded in the Church of England. ... no one can doubt that a sacramental use of anointing the sick has been from the beginning." " Extreme Unction" may well be denominated a "corrupt following of the Apostles," but adusus non tollit iisum. " As the Visita- tion of the Sick is a private office, there is nothing to hinder the Apostolic and Scriptural custom of anointing the sick, whenever any devout person may desire it. It was never considered necessary to salvation. It was rather a privilege of the devout." There are multitudes of Bible readers in the Anglican Communion who believe, indeed, that the disuse of Apostolic anointing is the setting aside of an "inspired rubric," and with scant reason. Many are the prayers offered daily by earnest souls for its restoration. It may well be noted that Anointing of the Sick can- not be forced upon unicilling recipients. It must be asked for by the laity. "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church." 356 Appendix D CONCERNING THEM THAT ARE ASLEEP ; THE following compilation has been found comforting to some in bereavement : SORROW NOT AS OTHERS WHICH HAVE NO HOPE [Verses by the Rev. Walter C. Smith, a minister of the Scotch Kirk.] ' ' / exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.'' 1 I. Tim. ii. i. O'er land and sea, love follows with fond prayers, Its dear ones in their troubles, griefs and cares ; There is no spot On which it does not drop this tender dew, Except the grave, and there it bids adieu, And prayeth not. Why should that be the only place uncheered By prayer, which to our hearts is most endeared, And sacred grown ? Living, we sought for blessings on their head ; Why should our lips be sealed when they are dead, And we alone ? Idle ? Their doom is fixed ? Ah ! Who can tell ? Yet, were it so, I think no harm could well Come of my prayer : And O, the heart, o'erburdened with its grief, This comfort needs, and finds therein relief From its despair. 357 Appendix D Shall GOD be wroth because we love them still, And call upon His love to shield from ill Our dearest, best, And bring them home and recompense their pain, And cleanse their sin, if any sin remain, And give them rest ? Nay, I will not believe it. I will pray As for the living, for the dead each day. They will not grow Less meet for heaven when followed by a prayer To speed them home, like summer scented air From long ago. Who shall forbid the heart's desire to flow Beyond the limits of the things we know ? In heaven above The incense that the golden censers bear, Is the sweet perfume from the saintly prayer Of trust and love. SOMEWHERE How can I cease to pray for thee ? Somewhere In GOD'S great universe thou art to-day. Can He not reach thee with His tender care? Can He not hear me when for thee I pray? What matters it to Him, who holds within The hollow of His hand, all worlds, all space, That thou art done with earthly pain and sin ? Somewhere within His ken thou hast a place. 358 Appendix D Somewhere thou livest and hast need of Him ; Somewhere thy soul sees higher heights to climb ; And somewhere still there may be valleys dim, That thou must pass to reach the hills sublime. Then all the more because thou canst not hear Poor human words of blessing, will I pray, O true, brave heart ! GOD bless thee ! whereso'er In His great universe thou art to-day. ALL SOULS " God is not a God of the dead but of the living, for all live unto Him." They are living unto Thee, Living there where none can die ; Now no more they " darkly" see Through a glass in mystery ; Earthly mists through which we tread, Vex no more the living dead. Dead to all which tends to mar Thy pure image in the soul ; Dead to all that leads afar From the one, the only goal ; From the death of sin set free, Only living, Lord, to Thee. Gracious Lord, " All souls are Thine !" Parent, brother, spouse, or friend Shall on Abram's breast recline, Till thy work in them shall end ; Till all souls in Thee that died Shall by Thee be purified. 359 Appendix D For the Inheritance made meet Of thy blessed saints in Light, Holy, perfected, complete, They shall walk with Thee in white, Worshipping before the Throne, With Thy saints, the Three in One ! COMFORT I know this Cross is hard to bear, 'Tis hard, my well loved One to spare, And yet to Him who gave His Son, I meekly say, "Thy will be done." Death hides, but he cannot divide ; Thou art but on Christ's other side, Thou art with Christ, and Christ with me, And thus, united still are we. Dear Man of Sorrow, Thou art still The refuge of all human ill ; And Thou wilt still be more to me, For that dear One, who is with Thee ; And Thou wilt fill his vacant place In Thy deep tenderness and grace. Almighty Father, with whom all souls do live, remem- ber, we beseech Thee, Thy servants who have gone be- fore us with the seal of faith and now rest in the sleep of peace. Grant unto them, O Lord, eternal rest, and may light perpetual shine upon them. Through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen. 360 Appendix D GRANT US THY PEACE Lord of the living and the dead, In whom our loved ones still abide ; 'Neath us Thine arms of comfort spread And draw us closer to Thy side. And while we lean upon Thy breast, Enlarge our hope, increase our faith ; And whisper of that perfect rest That endless life that follows death. Who in the cross of JESUS trust, But fall asleep; they cannot die ; And while we mourn above their dust They dwell with Thee, dear Lord, on high ! In Thine own presence grant them rest ; And, from the radiance of Thy throne, Shine on them, Lord, and make them blest ; For Thou hast claimed them for Thine own. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. Iff OQ1 RV FAOJTf 601 3