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adversary, our Church directs us, without delay, to have recourse to the comprehensive and perfect prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein He instructs us, after offering the petition that our trespasses may be forgiven, to beseech immediately that we may not be led into temptation, but may be delivered from evil.

Thus I have endeavoured to excite your attention to the benefits which we may, and ought to, derive from this first part of our Church service. Surely, if (as her enemies assert,) our Liturgy is a burden and a yoke, it is the burden and the yoke of Christ; the yoke which is easy, and the burden which is light; in taking which upon her, the Church, following the example of her blessed Lord, is meek and lowly of heart. Let us then continue stedfast in devout communion with her, let us obey her dictates and observe her counsels, and conform to her rules; for the covenant of God is pledged, that He who has begun a good work in us, will carry it on to perfection. His grace is sufficient for us. Let us look up to Him, with confidence in his love and his power, and we shall never want an incentive to holiness

of life. The Scriptures abound with promises for our encouragement; and those who accept and appropriate these promises, will not fail to make their faith in them apparent by their zeal for promoting the unity and prosperity of the Church of God. They will contend earnestly, but never bitterly, for the faith once delivered to the Saints. They will take up the cross, and "endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ," and, being made strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, they will "bear with the infirmities of the weak, ""with meekness instructing those that oppose themselves."

It may be said that a part of this character is at variance with the temper frequently exhibited by the framers of our Liturgy; and we cannot deny that the writings of many of the early reformers are defaced by a mixture of bitterness and acrimony of language, little suited to their Christian calling. Before, however, we condemn men who professed to make the precepts of their Redeemer their rule of life, and whose martyrdom is a certain pledge of the sincerity of their religion, we should give due weight to the character of the times in which they

wrote, and the universally unpolished state of manners. Expressions, which in these days would be considered uncharitable and harsh, were then but little thought of; and the urbanity in addressing an opponent, introduced by modern refinement, was totally unknown. Let the tree be judged of by its fruits. The substantial kindness which these men frequently exhibited to the persons and families of the bishops who adhered to the Roman creed, proves that, though they might be rude of speech, they were faithful followers of that Lord who had taught them to love their enemies, and to do good to those who despitefully used them, and persecuted them. Whilst, therefore, we endeavour to imitate the virtues apparent in their actions, let us carefully avoid the errors of their language, remembering that the progress of society has made it far more incumbent on us, than it was on them, to keep a watchful guard over our lips, in order that we may obey the commandment of our Saviour, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them."

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LECTURE III.

THE SENTENCES.

PSALM XCV., 6.

Oh, come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

ISAIAH LV., 7.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

WHEN the priest has put on the surplice in the vestry, he enters the reading pew, and, after a few moments spent in private prayer, he stands up and reads one or more of the Sentences, at his discretion, with a clear and audible voice. These sentences are all of a very humiliating character; indeed, the very place occupied by the priest is an instance of the self-abasement of our Church.

Before the Reformation, he used to take his station on the most sacred portion of the building, to the east of the screen which

separates the chancel. But the framers of our Liturgy felt that the iniquities of the Church had stripped her of her former glories, and they removed the priest from the post of honour to the body of the edifice, where, when the people are gathered, and the congregation sanctified, as the Israelites of old, according to the direction of the Prophet Joel, the minister of the Lord weeps, as it were, between the porch and the altar, saying, "Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach;" and where, in conformity to the same Prophet, he bids the people rend their hearts, and not their garments, and turn unto the Lord their God.

When England was divided into parishes, and curates were appointed to watch over the souls of particular flocks, it was intended that pastors should be appointed in sufficient numbers to ascertain the characters of all their sheep; were this still the case, each minister would be enabled to select the sentences most applicable to the wants of his congregation; and we shall find that the choice of addresses given him is so happily selected as to appeal to the hearts of every class of hearers.

Perhaps, in the course of visiting his

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