Confession of sin, and a solemn Prayer for pardon of that sin, but a Confession of Faith; and as the people repeat the General Confession of sin after the minister, and the Creed (which is the General Confession of our Faith) in like manner, so this, which is both a Confession of Sin and Declaration of Faith, is to be said by the people after the minister; and they are to accompany him here, as at the beginning of our Public prayer, with pure heart and humble voice to the Throne of the heavenly grace.'

The rest of the Litany after these first prayers, is addressed to our Lord Jesus Christ, as the first petition shews; wherein we pray, that He will spare His people, who has redeemed them with His most precious blood '-as those most solemn pleadings shew, wherein we implore Him "by all the different mysteries and mercies of His lifeand death-His resurrection and ascension-to deliver us and as the concluding prayers shew, wherein we call on Him as 'the Son and Lamb of God, to hear us-to grant us His peace-and have mercy upon us.'

The first part of the Litany, ending with that prayer, In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our wealth; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgement,' is made up of supplications, that is, of prayers for "deliverance from evil; and following our Church Catechism, which, in explaining those words of the Lord's prayer ("deliver us from evil") distinguishes evil into 'sin and wickedness'-'our ghostly (spiritual) enemy' (the Devil)-' and everlasting death,'we shall find that this part of our Litany contains first prayers for our deliverance from all those, and then the means whereby, and the reasons on

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account of which we pray to be thus delivered, viz. by the merits and death of our Lord Jesus Christ,' which we plead separately in those solemn prayers, beginning by the mystery of Thy Holy Incarnation' (that is, His becoming flesh and being made a man.)

It would be almost impossible, in so short a sketch as these Sermons, to notice each particular prayer of the Litany. The observations that have been or shall be made, may (with God's good blessing) lead you to consider those attentively for yourselves, and thereby see more clearly the fulness of these Scriptural and most comprehensive Prayers. It must be enough for us, however, shortly to notice any difficulties-call your attention to particular beauties-or shew you the general plan and arrangements of this form of prayer.

By the crafts of the Devil,' are meant those more secret and less apparent temptations by which he takes us at unawares-by his 'assaults, those open, sudden, and unexpected attacks, by which he thinks to overcome and destroy us. Pride, vain-glory, and hypocrisy, are plainly sins of one chain-pride leading men to seek not God's glory, but their own-and when, to gain a character, they act a part, they become hypocrites, like actors with a mask on, seeming what they are not, and thus the pride that leads to vain-glory (for God's is the only true glory) leads also to hypocrisy. Thus too, envy, hatred, and malice' are kindred sins. Envious feelings, not resisted or cherished, become hatred-hatred, blown and budded, swells at last into malice, and uncharitableness (want of love and charity) as the root of all these, is put last. By 'deadly' sin, as applied to fornication and such like crimes, we do not mean, like the

Papists, to affirm, that any sin is small and venial, because "all unrighteousness is sin-and the wages of all and every sin is death"-but, declaring and believing that no sin is small (since all sin is the transgression of God's Law, and he who is guilty of breaking one part of the Law is guilty of all) declaring that, every sin deserves the punishment of God's Law, because by every sin we break God's Law, and therefore, that every sin is worthy of death-we yet, on the authority of Scripture, also believe, that some sins have a more direct tendency to harden and deprave-" that whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart

blunt and destroy the moral feeling, and bring Egyptian darkness over the understanding. We therefore pray more earnestly against these more peculiarly deadly sins,' while we, in the same breath, pray against every deceit of the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

By sudden death,' we of course mean unprepared death. We know that to the true Saints of God sudden death is sudden glory. Herod's executioner, and his sharp sword, that in a few moments after his prison doors were unlocked, left the Holy Baptist's body a headless trunk, only sent his blessed spirit into endless rest. To such as him, however suddenly death may come, it will not find them unprepared; but as there are few such saints in any mixed assembly of Christian worshippers, and many far unlike him in every congregation, it is both a wise and necessary prayer to be delivered from 'sudden death.' Concerning that Prayer, in which we intreat our Lord. to deliver us from 'sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion' (which are evils to our Government and Nation), and from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism (which are the evils that would most

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injure the Religion and Church of the Nation,)— Concerning this prayer it is worthy of observation, that the root and cause both of disobedience to the Authorities of the State, and of division in the Church, is put forth in the last words of this prayer-as hardness of heart, and contempt of God's Word and Commandment,' the one leading to the other; since to despise God's Word is a proof of hardness of heart, and it is neglect and contempt of that Word, which makes men factious and discontented, as regards the State, and he retical as regards Religion.

In those following Prayers, in which we plead with Christ, by all He hath both done and suffered, to deliver us, the word 'Passion' means 'bitter suffering,' and in the Greek Church there was added another sentence, 'by Thine unknown sorrows and sufferings.' And surely concerning all our blessed Redeemer's sufferings it may be said, that we cannot know them, though we name them— for "He trod the winepress alone, and of the people was there none with Him.'

The last prayer of this division of the Litany teaches us, that there is no time or circumstance in which we do not need our Redeemer's help, and accordingly we are led to pray for that help against every time of need. In tribulation and severe trial we need Him to keep us from despair. In wealth, when we are prosperous in soul, and body, and estate, we need Him to keep us humble. In the hour of death we need him to be with us, that no pains of death may cause us to fall from Him. In the day of judgement we need Him, because it is only through the pardoning goodness of our Judge that we can ever find mercy of the Lord at that day."

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Such is this first part of our Litany, in which we pray to be delivered from evil; and a more full and perfect comment on, and explanation of, that portion of the Lord's prayer could scarcely be given, than these words of our Litany contain.

The next part of the Litany belongs to that branch of Prayer which St. Paul (1 Timothy ii. 1.) calls "Intercession;" that is, prayers in behalf of others. And we shall find (even on the very short and imperfect examination we shall be able to give to it) that there is no sort or condition of men-no state or circumstance of life-which we are not taught to remember in these petitions.

We begin this part of the Litany with the words, We sinners do beseech Thee, to hear us, O Lord God;' and we do this in humble acknowledgement of our unworthiness to pray to Him in behalf of others, though we do it in obedience to His express command to his Holy Apostle, St. Paul (1 Timothy ii. 1.)

We pray first for Christ's Universal Church, the same as is called the Catholic Church, in the Creeds; and means, in both its names, the Holy Church throughout the World.

After praying for the whole state of Christ's Church generally, we pray next for that branch of it to which we belong particularly, and therein first for the Sovereign, as the temporal head of our National Church; and we ask for the Sovereign that (he or she) may be first 'sound in the faith,' 'strengthened in the true worshipping of God,' and in the effects of a sound faith, viz.-'in holiness and righteousness of life.' We ask next, that our Sovereign may be 'pious'-that his heart may