42. What alterations have been made in the portion which forms the third division of the daily offices; how far do they still agree with the early formularies; and are the additional prayers for the King and Royal Family conveniently inserted, and sanctioned by Scripture?

Among the Prayers, which constitute the concluding portion of the daily services, were originally included, besides the Creed, a form of Confession and Absolution, which have been replaced by more comprehensive forms in the commencement of the office. Otherwise this part of the service, with the Lesser Litany and the collects in the same relative positions, is in effect the same as in the early offices of the English Church. The prayers indeed for the King and Royal Family, prior to the revision in 1662, were repeated at the end of the Litany; but they now occupy precisely the place they would have held in antient times; and though not actually identical, they correspond in expression and import with many prayers for Kings, and those in authority, in the Liturgies of the Primitive Church, and are in full accordance with the injunctions of Scripture (1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.).

43. What do you mean by the Lesser Litany; and what is the reason for which it occupies the position in which it stands?

The Lesser Litany, is the short supplication for mercy addressed to each person in the Trinity separately before the Lord's Prayer, which the Church seldom suffers to be used without some preceding preparation, as by the confession and remission of sin in the earlier part of the service. This Litany is introduced by the mutual salutation of minister and people, with reference to their respective duties, followed by the words, Let us pray, enunciated with solemn emphasis.

44. What is the object and import of the mutual salutation of minister and people, with which this portion of the service begins; and whence is it derived?

This Salutation is both antient and Scriptural (Ruth ii. 4. Gal. vi. 18. 2 Tim. iv. 22.); and its use in this place appears to be

grounded on the prohibition to salute a heretic (2 John 10.). Having been joined by the congregation in repeating the Creed, the minister can now salute them as true members of the Church, praying that God may be with them in their prayers, which can only be offered in faith and with God's assistance; and the people reply to him as their representative, with a wish that he may be enabled to pray with the spirit in their behalf.

45. By whom were the words Let us pray uttered in the early Church; what is the object of the exhortation; and what was the more intense form of it?

The words, Let us pray, are an exhortation to earnest attention, without wandering thoughts or careless minds. In the early Church, a deacon kept alive the devotion of the brethren by frequently exclaiming, éкTevŵs den0ŵμev, let us pray earnestly; and then again, ἐκτενέστερον, more earnestly.

46. With what view is the Lord's Prayer again introduced; and can its frequent use in our devotional services be reasonably found fault with as a vain repetition?

As in the former part of the service the Lord's Prayer followed the absolution to seek God's confirmation of the pardon pronounced by his minister, so it here precedes our prayers for particular blessings, as a general summary of all our wants, spiritual and temporal. Independently, however, of the different objects for which it is introduced, the repeated use of this prayer in our devotional offices cannot be reasonably complained of; when it is remembered that our Lord himself, within the space of one hour, prayed three times in the same words (Matt. xxvi. 44.); and that in the 136th Psalm the same form is repeated twenty-six times in as many verses. The vain repetitions against which our Lord cautioned his disciples were such as the heatheu used (1 Kings xviii. 26.); and the very prohibition of vain repetition implies that there may be repetitions which are not vain.

47. What probably gave occasion to the rubrical direction, for saying it with a loud voice; and can you

adduce any proof of a similar practice in the primitive Church?

Here and elsewhere the Lord's Prayer is directed to be said in a loud voice: as a corrective, doubtless, to the practice of the Romish Church, where it is ordered to be said mentally; and in order that the congregation may follow the minister more readily in repeating it. That a similar practice prevailed in the primitive Church appears from Justin Martyr, who represents the Christians of his day as λόγῳ εὐχῆς καὶ εὐχαριστίας, ὅση δύναμις, αἰνοῦντες (Apol. I. c. 13.); and again (c. 67.) observes that opоeσT@S εὐχὰς ὁμοίως καὶ εὐχαριστίας, ὅση δύναμις αὐτῷ, ἀναπέμπει.

48. How many Collects are used at each Service; when are they introduced; and are they invariably the same?

After the versicles, which follow the Lord's Prayer, and before the Litany on those days when it is appointed to be used, succeed three Collects, of which the first is variable as being connected with the Scriptural subjects of the Sunday or Holyday; the two last are never changed.

49. Mention the subjects of the Collects which are constantly used at Morning and Evening Prayer; and shew that they are respectively appropriate to the times at which they are directed to be used?

At Morning Service, the second collect, for Peace, is appropriate to the beginning of the day, when, entering on the business of the world, we are exposed to the injuries and affronts of wicked and designing men; while the third collect, for Grace, is a safeguard against the dangers and temptations by which we are on all sides surrounded. The second collect in the Evening is for that inward peace and tranquillity which the world cannot give, and which enables us to lie down with quiet conscience, so that our sleep may be sweet; and the third against all the perils and dangers of the night, is equally seasonable and expressive.

50. State the early source from which they are derived; and quote a passage from St. Augustine

upon which one of them may have been grounded, and which also bears some resemblance to a clause in the General Thanksgiving.

All the four Collects are found in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, and other antient offices of the English Church. The first of them may have been suggested by a passage in St. Augustine's Meditations (c. 32.):-Deus, quem nosse vivere est; cui servire, regnare est; quem laudare, salus et gaudium animæ est; te labris et corde, omnique qua valeo, virtute, laudo, benedico, atque adoro. With the latter part of this quotation may be compared the concluding portion of the general Thanksgiving.

51. Is the Prayer for the Clergy and People a composition of modern date; and what is the meaning of the word Curate, which occurs therein ?

The prayer for the Clergy and People is as old at least as the fifth century. We are not therefore to understand by Curates, in the modern acceptation of the word, the stipendiary assistant of an incumbent; but all, whether priests or deacons, to whom the Bishops have committed the cure of souls, whatever be the nature of the charge.

52.

Is it probable that the Prayer, entitled the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, was really written by him; and does it occupy the same place in our Prayer Book as in the early Liturgies?

Although of very early date, it is very doubtful whether the prayer which bears his name was really composed by St. Chrysostom. It is found indeed in the Liturgies ascribed both to Chrysostom and Basil; but not in the earlier MSS. of either. Moreover it occurs in the middle of their Liturgies: in our's, more appropriately at the end; being addressed immediately to Christ, for the acceptance of the supplications which he has given us grace to present in his name to the throne of mercy.

53. Retranslate this Prayer into Greek.

It stands thus in the original:—Ὁ τὰς κοινὰς ταύτας καὶ συμφώνους ἡμῖν χαρισάμενος προσευχὰς, ὁ καὶ δύο καὶ τρισὶ συμφωνοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου τὰς αἰτήσεις παρέχειν ἐπαγ γειλάμενος· αὐτὸς καὶ νῦν τῶν δούλων σου τὰ αἰτήματα πρὸς τὸ σύμφερον πλήρωσον, χωρηγῶν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ παρόντι αἰῶνι τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς σῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι ζωὴν αἰώνιον χαριζόμενος. ̓Αμήν.

54. How were the people usually dismissed in the Jewish and early Christian Churches, and whence is the concluding benediction of our daily services derived?

The Jewish people were, by God's command, dismissed with a sacerdotal benediction (Numb. vi. 23.); and this blessing in the Christian Church is replaced by forms which recognize the great fundamental doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. That which closes the daily services, is the appropriate prayer with which St. Paul concludes most of his Epistles.

SECT. VI. Of the THREE CREEDS.

1. GIVE the derivation and meaning of the word Creed; and adduce an example to prove that a Creed does not necessarily embrace every article of Faith.

The word Creed, from the Latin Credo, signifies a Confession of Faith; embracing indeed not the whole, but the leading articles of a Christian's belief. Thus, in the Apostle's Creed, the doctrine of the Atonement is not directly stated; whence the Socinians infer that the doctrine itself is false, though it is rather to be inferred that it was never disputed.

2. What were Creeds originally called; and why?

Creeds were in early times called symbola or watchwords; by which, as the sentinel recognizes a comrade, so the Christian soldier is distinguished from the open enemies or false friends of the religion of Jesus.

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