a little more liberty than the Church allows.

And some

teachers of late years, within the Church as well as out of it, have thought that, without quite abrogating the Liturgy, it might be used alternately with some prayers of the minister's own making, or of his choice. "Good and excellent as it is, have we not a little too much of it?" This, I believe, is the latest proposal of a change which we have heard. It is felt, probably, by those who made it to be a weak proposal, as it rests on no firm reasons. Let us see what answer should be made to it.

We need not hesitate to affirm, my Christian brethren, -we have most certain grounds for affirming and believing, that a public Liturgy is an ordinance of Divine authority. Our Liturgy, or any other, may be imperfect in some particulars; it may be defective, or it may, if it can be proved, have admitted errors or superfluities. It may be altered; it may be improved ;-even of our own, good and satisfactory as it is, I do not say it cannot be improved; but it cannot, without offence to duty and piety, be abolished".

4 The late Dr. Arnold.

5 It may perhaps be asked in what particulars it may be improved. We must speak cautiously, and in no tone of dissatisfaction with our services; but if at any time it should be thought advisable by those who have authority in such matters, there are a few things which might be added with some advantage to the fulness of the Prayer Book, on principles which the Prayer Book already recognizes. For instance, in the Calendar, a few days before Christmas, you may see a day distinguished by the words, 'O Sapientia.' What do the words mean? They are the first words of an ancient Hymn, which was chanted in churches at that season, inviting our Lord by His Scriptural titles, the Wisdom of God, the Root of Jesse, and Him who holds the key of David, to come to enlighten His people, to make fruitful the branches of His Vine, to set the prisoners free. There could be no objection to restore this Advent Hymn, as we have an Easter Hymn, to vary the Service at the solemn season to which it belongs. Again, our Prayer Book notices the Rogation Days in Spring, when there once were, as there still are in some Christian countries, some especial services to entreat the blessing of God on the fruits of the field. If it were ever thought

Without a Liturgy, there must be either no public prayers in our religious assemblies, or we must depend upon the unknown and uncertain imaginations of different ministers to guide us in our prayers. But what could be more unscriptural than this? If we will take only the Word of God for the ground of our belief, how can we take the words of men to be the ground of our prayers? "The prayer of faith" can only be offered, where men believe as they pray. No private man can offer it for another; you cannot pray with me, if I give you words for prayer, which you never heard before. So that it is not too much to say, as was said by a countryman of our own, who saw the Prayer Book abolished": "False Liturgy is superstitious; but no Liturgy is Atheistical. It is Atheistical, because it must bring religion to uncertainties, and may bring it to impieties uncertainties are as nothing, impieties are worse than nothing; uncertainties cannot honour God as God; impieties must dishonour Him as God!" And at least where there is no Liturgy, there can be no communion of worship; and where there is no communion of worship, it is but the next step to have no worship at all.

As our fathers therefore opposed the abolition of the Liturgy, and ceased not to pray by it, till it was again restored, so let us oppose any such weak compromise, as would leave us only half our spiritual inheritance. have good reason to do so. Those contending parties,

We

fit to add a few prayers to our Liturgy for these solemn days, it might, perhaps, add something to its completeness, while it would change nothing of its principles. I would also suggest, that, as in many populous districts it has become almost a practice of necessity, and in other parishes a matter of expedience, to have the Churches open for a third Service every Sunday, whether the time has not now come, when another Form of Prayer, on the model of the Hours of the Ancient Offices, might be advantageously added to the two Forms of Morning and Evening Prayer.

6 Dr. Edward Hyde.

which once threatened its destruction, have scarcely left a record of themselves behind': while our Prayer Book remains uninjured, the treasure of devotion to the thousands of our native land. It is the best service-book of Christ's Church on earth, fit for the use of that temple, which is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, of which our Lord Himself is the chief corner-stone. It is not of yesterday, but is full of the spirit of those saints, and the words of those good fathers, whose efforts, following in the track of the Apostles, by faith and patience converted the world. It has in it the choicest devotions of the Eastern and Western Churches, but the superstitions of neither. O, despise it not: "destroy it not; for a blessing is in it."

Rather let us, by the help of Him who died for us, bear the reproach of men, if it be God's will, while to Him we "offer the sacrifice of praise continually." From week to week, and from day to day, let us listen to the words of instruction, and join in the solemn words of these prayers, till their deep meaning opens upon our inward sense, and their spirit goes with us in our works abroad. And while we pray for ourselves, and for all who are near and dear to us, let us not forget to pray for all the Church of Christ, that God may heal its divisions, and enlarge its borders,— and for our own, believing that, in God's wonderful protection of it during the years that are past, we have a pledge and earnest of hope for better things to come. "Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." This is that holy boldness, to which, as our blessed Saviour taught us, the powers of the kingdom of heaven will yield. For our heavenly

7 See Bp. Jebb, Practical Theol.

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DIVINE WORSHIP IN ITS CEREMONIES.

Father will withhold no good thing from those who make His service their delight, who make their boast in His praise, and find their chief earthly joy in imitating the anthems of the seraphim above, "crying out to one another," in songs of eternal praise, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory."

SERMON XIII.

(Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. Oct. 25th. Evening.)

THE POWER OF PRAYER

JOEL ii. 32.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

THUS does the Prophet Joel declare the blessings which men may expect in the Church of Christ. Mount Zion and Jerusalem are figures of the Church. Jerusalem on earth, before she had committed the sin of crucifying the Son of God, was the type of the Jerusalem which is above, and is the mother of us all, and the type of the Church on earth, of which we still are members. Joel then shows us the blessings which we may find in the Church,—even the blessings of deliverance and salvation: "In mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." From the Acts of the Apostles we know that Joel is here speaking of the Church. Three verses before he had said, "It shall come to pass afterward, that I will