The comments, therefore, have been made as explanatory and practical as is possible in so brief a space. The aim has been to have fulness without length, and completeness without prolixity. The time given to Family Prayer should not be rendered tedious or wearisome even to the younger members of the household.

The Readings may also be used in private as an aid to the higher life, and may help to awaken to more serious thought those who seek to live near to God.

At the end of each volume will be found Family Prayers for one week, together with the Collects and Prayers for special occasions.

An effort has been made here to accommodate the principle of worship which prevails in the Book of Common Prayer to the wants of the family. The congregational form of worship has therefore been adopted, and the prayers have been arranged under the heads of Confession, Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Commendation. It is intended that all present should take an intelligent part in the daily worship at the family altar*, and therefore they are exhorted to repeat the Confession and Lord's Prayer slowly

1

* In order that the children, the servants, and other members of the household may intelligently join in the service, and take their part in the responses, an edition of the Family Prayers has been published separately, at the price of one penny sewed, or three pence in cloth cover.

and distinctly in an audible voice, and to say the responses.

With these few prefatory and explanatory remarks the work is sent forth with an earnest prayer that the great Head of the Church may breathe His blessing on it, that whatever is erroneous may be forgiven to the Author and neutralised to the reader, and that whatever is true and useful may be the means of promoting union and love in the family as the fruit of daily worship; and holiness and conformity to the life of the Redeemer in the individual as the fruit of daily meditation; through the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

"HE WHO SEEKS MERCIES MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THOSE

ALREADY GIVEN,"

HEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were

then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her loose them, and bring them unto Me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them.-St. Matthew xxi. 1-6.

is Advent Sunday. To-day we enter on a new civil year, so we have a civil year, which begins the first of January, and a sacred, or Church year, which begins on Advent Sunday. The gates of salvation are opened up anew for us, and we see a long row of Sundays and Feast-days before us, and in the very forefront the joyous Christmas festival, with its shepherds and angels-a festival which unites, as it were, heaven and earth together in one holy bond. What words more suitable for this most blessed season than those to which Israel of old gave utterance when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, "Hosanna," that is, "Lord preserve, help us.' It is the expression of an earnest desire that God would send us help, help to put off the old man with all its works of darkness, help to put on the new man, that our hearts may be new, our lives new, our affections new, our thoughts and hopes new, help that we may have a share in the renewed means of grace, and the workings of grace. Well may we say, "Lord, help." We want help in this new year. Of ourselves we can do nothing. Well may we say," Blessed is He that cometh." The Advent season brings no news more joyful than this, "He comes again. Where He comes there is salvation, there is "righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost."

THE day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.-1 Thessalonians v. 2-9.

DVENT speaks of a two-fold coming of the Lord, the

dwelt among us, when He emptied Himself of the glory which He had, and took the form of a servant; the other in great glory when He shall appear a second time to judge the quick and dead. The same warning voice is heard in the portion of Scripture we have now read, as in the epistle for Advent Sunday. There we were told to "wake out of sleep," here the Apostle bids us not "sleep as do others." There we were exhorted to put on the armour of light, here are mentioned the very pieces of armour which we shall find most useful in our conflict with the spirit of evil. We have no excuse if the second coming of the Lord overtake us as a thief. We are not left in darkness. Our Church, as a beloved mother, holds forth a bright light week by week, year by year, that all her children may see the way and walk therein. She holds up before us sin and innocence, repentance and condemnation, grace and wrath, and earnestly calls on us to make our choice that we may walk in the light until the Eternal Day dawns. If we have not yet made our choice, let not the year which has now commenced, grow one day older before we have thrown in our lot with the children of God. Let us ponder the second coming of the Lord in glory, and watch for it in sober earnestness. Let us also help others to see and walk in the light, that being sanctified by the Spirit we may be found meet to stand in the day of the Son of man.