when our devotions receive warmth and fervour from their exemplary zeal. These considerations should make all good Christians regularly attend public worship.

Q. Is family prayer a duty incumbent upon the master of a family?

A. A master of a family is answerable to God for the welfare of those souls that are under his care; and a sense of religion cannot be maintained in a family, without the exercise of daily devotion in it. This is the best method to confirm and establish children and servants in the practice of their Christian obligations. When, in a body, they daily acknowledge the perfections of God, and supplicate his favour for the mercies of which they stand in need, they have the greatest reason to hope that his blessing will descend upon them. Nor should this devotion be neglected at our meals; for we ought to beg the blessing of God upon those good creatures provided for our use, since it is by the word of God and prayer" that they are sanctified to us.

Q. What are the great advantages of the frequent and devout exercise of the duty of prayer?

A. The constant exercise of prayer is the best method to get the mastery of our evil inclinations, and to overcome our vicious habits. It preserves a lively sense of our duty upon our minds, and fortifies us against those temptations that continually assault us: it raises our souls above this world, by making spiritual objects familiar to them; and supports us under the calamities and crosses of this life, by sanctifying such afflictions: it leads us gradually to the perfection of Christian piety, and preserves that union between our souls and God, in which our spiritual life consists..

Q. Since our Church has prescribed a form of prayer, or Liturgy, for the public service of the Church, state some of the particular advantages of forms of prayer.

A. When a form of prayer is used, the people are previously acquainted with the prayers in which they are to join, and are thus enabled to render unto God a reasonable and enlightened service. In forms of prayer, the greatest dignity and propriety of sentiment and expression may be secured. They prevent the particular opinions and disposi tions of the minister from influencing the devotions of the

r 1 Tim. iv. 5.

congregation; they serve as a standard of faith and practice; and they render the service more animating, by uniting the people with the minister in the performance of public worship.

Q. Are not prescribed forms of prayer for public worship sanctioned by Scripture, and the universal usage of the Church?

A. The public service of the Jews was according to prescribed forms of prayer. We are told, that David appointed the Levites to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even, (1 Chron. xxiii. 30,) which duty could not be performed by many persons together, without some set form, in which they could all join. The whole book of Psalms may be considered as forms of prayer and praise, suggested by the Holy Ghost, for the joint use of the congregation. Our Saviour, by joining in communion with the Jewish Church, gave his sanction to set forms; and, finally, gave his strongest approbation to continuing the practice, by delivering to his disciples at least one set form of prayer. The apostles and disciples no doubt joined, till our Lord's ascension, in the Jewish worship, which was conducted according to a prescribed form. That the primitive Christians used set forms of prayer, is also evident from the expressions to be found in the earliest fathers, of common prayers, constituted prayers, &c. The Bishop in each diocese established set forms of prayer for the churches under his authority. Many of these ancient Liturgies are still extant.† So that forms of prayer, besides possessing many peculiar advantages, have the authority of Scripture, and the universal usage of the Church.

Q. What are the peculiar excellences of the Liturgy prescribed by our Church?

A. In the Liturgy of our Church there is an admirable mixture of instruction and devotion. The Lessons, the Creeds, the Commandments, the Epistles and Gospels, contain the most important and impressive instruction on the

The concurrent testimonies of Josephus, Philo, &c. prove the use of prescribed forms of prayer among the Jews. The fact has been undeniably established by the learned Dr. Lightfoot and Dr. Hammond.

t Liturgies ascribed to St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. James, which, though not composed by those persons, are certainly of an age very near them; a form of morning and evening prayer in the Apostolical constitutions; and the Liturgies of St. Bazil, St. Chrysostom, and St. Ambrose, are still extant.

doctrines and duties of religion; while the Confession, the Collects and Prayers, the Litany and Thanksgivings, lead the understanding and the heart through all the sublime and affecting exercies of devotion. In this truly evangelical. and excellent Liturgy, the supreme Lord of the universe is invoked by the most appropriate, affecting, and sublime epithets; all the wants to which man, as a dependent and sinful being, is subject, are expressed in language at once simple, concise, and comprehensive; these wants are urged by confessions the most humble, and supplications the most reverential and ardent; the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, are uniformly urged as the only effectual plea, the only certain pledge of divine mercy and grace; and with the most instructive lessons from the sacred oracles, and the most profound confessions and supplications, is mingled the sublime chorus of praise, begun by the minister, and responded with one heart and one voice from the assembled congregation. The mind, continually passing from one exercise of worship to another, and, instead of one continued and uniform prayer, sending up its wishes and aspirations in short and varied collects and supplications, is never suffered to grow languid or weary. The affections of the worshipper ever kept alive by the tender and animating fervour which breathes through the service, he worships his God and Redeemer in spirit and in truth, with reverence and awe, with lively gratitude and love; the exalted joys of devotion are poured upon his soul; he feels that it is good for him to draw near unto God, and that a day spent in his courts, is better than a thousand passed in the tents of the ungodly.

Q. By whom was the Liturgy of the Church drawn up ? A. The Liturgy of the Church was originally compiled out of the various Liturgies of the primitive Church; and alterations and additions have, at different times, been made by the most eminent divines of the Church of England. In the late revisions of the Book of Common Prayer by the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, that Church was studiously careful "not to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship, or further than local circumstances require."s

5 Preface to the Book of Common Prayer.

Q. What should be our behaviour during the performance of public worship?

A. On our first entrance into the Church, we should fall down upon our knees in private prayer to God for the assistance of his Holy Spirit in those solemn duties of religion which we come to perforin. We should consider that we are in the immediate presence of a God who searches the heart, who cannot be deceived, and who will not be mocked: we should consider that he observes what we think, as well as what we say or do, and should therefore take care that the inward dispositions of our souls, and the outward demeanour of our bodies, be suitable to the sacred duties of his house, and the sanctity of his awful presence. In the ascription of praise we should stand; but, in supplication, a kneeling posture is most proper, being that which is prescribed by the Psalmist, and which is dictated by nature, in solemn adorations and humble confessions.

Q. In what manner do the morning and evening services of the Church commence ?

A. Some short sentences out of the Holy Scripture are read by the minister. To these the people should diligently hearken, considering them as spoken by the inspiration or command of God himself at first, and now repeated by his minister, to put the people in mind of something which God would have them believe or do. The design of reading these sentences, is not only to bring our sins against God to our remembrance, but also his promises of pardon and forgiveness if we repent, in order that we may be excited to worship him with that reverence and godly fear which be comes those who are sensible of their own sinfulness and unworthiness to approach his divine majesty; and likewise with that faith and huinble confidence which become those who believe that, upon our repentance, he will pardon and accept us according to his promises.

Q. What is the design of the exhortation which follows the sentences?

A. The design of the exhortation is to apply the foregoing sentences, and to direct the congregation how to perform the confession which follows. This is the minister's part alone, and not to be repeated after him by the congregation. It is their duty to take particular notice of every word and expression in it, as contrived on purpose to prepare them for

& Psalm xcv. 6,

the worship of God, by possessing their minds with a due sense of his special presence, and of the great end of their coming before him.

Q. Why is the general confession placed at the commencement of the prayers?

A. We learn from holy Scripture, that such as would pray with effect always began by confession," to the end that their guilt being removed by penitence, there might be no bar to God's grace and mercy. The Church has, therefore, rightly placed this confession at the beginning of our prayers. It is conceived in a very general form, in order that it may suit the whole congregation; and while they are repeating it sentence by sentence after the minister, they should call to mind their unworthiness and guilt, so as to be heartily sorry for their transgressions, and steadfastly to resolve against them for the time to come; imploring the mercy of God for the pardon of them, and his grace, that from henceforward they may entirely forsake them, and bring forth the fruits of an unfeigned repentance.

Q. What follows the confession?

A. God having committed to his ambassadors the ministry of reconciliation, the Church calls upon them to exercise it now, when the congregation have been humbled by the preceding confession. The priest, therefore, rising from his knees, and standing up, declares and pronounces for their comfort and support, that God pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. While the absolution is thus pronouncing, we should continue upon our knees, and hearken to it with perfect silence, not reading or repeating it along with the priest ; for it is the priest's duty alone to make this declaration by authority from God, and in his name, as his ambassador. However, every particular person there present ought humbly and thankfully to apply it to himself, so far as to be fully persuaded in his own mind, that if, after an unfeigned and unshaken belief in Christ, he really and heartily repent, he will be absolved from all the sins he had before committed, as certainly as if God himself had declared it with his own mouth, since his minister has done it in his name, and by his power.

Q. Why does the Lord's Prayer immediately follow the absolution?

u Ezra ix, 5, 6; Dan, ix. 4, 5.