general regard to the duty of Family Religion. We shall however remark, in reference chiefly to our Protestant dissenting readers, that in almost every thing relating to domestic discipline and domestic worship, our Paritan ancestors appear to have had greatly the advantage of us, And if our estimate of what may be denominated the Family Piety of the mass of m dern professors, be correct, it certainly falls far short of that by which the despised and persecuted Puritans were distinguished. There was an earnestness, a consistency, a sincerity about the whole of their character, as well as a correctness and strictness in their domestic management, which deserve to be universally known and universally imitated. Their punctuality, their perseverance, their instructive piety in their families, have never, we conceive, been brought prominently before those who claim to be the inheritors of their principles and their privileges. There was among them all a principle which may be pointed out as of the utmost moment and the highest value, and which existed with almost as much rigour among the laity as among the clergy. It was a sacred regard and a profound submission to the authority of scriptural example and precept. They were not afraid of the terms duty and obligation. Hence, they employed the means of religious instruction among their children and domestics, with unlimited faith in the efficiency of those means, and with earnest prayer for their suc. sess. Family instruction by reading the Scriptures with expositions, and by the catechetical mode for the younger members of the household, was enforced frequently and publicly; and the pastor considered it as a part, and not a small part, of his duty, to see that such order was observed among all the families of his congregation. The effect which Mr. Baxter's instructions and labours produced in this respect, in the populous town of Kidderminster, are too well known to require a repetition here. It may however be important to notice how the practical piety of the Puritans sunk into general disrepute, and how the nation in less than half a century veered about from the extreme of punctiliousness and of religious enthusiasm, to a total indifference to the spirit and neglect of the duties of Christianity. And it is here obvious to remark, that as soon as episcopacy felt itself predominant and secure, it began to assume that tone of dogmatism which approximated very nearly to the claims of infallibility. Not content with having triumphed in the political struggle over the Puritans, they must be branded and booted, and every term of reproach and execration that the vocabulary of the language supplies, must be heaped upon them; while those who had unhappily suffered in the episcopalian party, must be canonized and even almost deified from the pulpit. Many of the episcopal writers of that age furnish ample

specimens of this. South is an eminent instance. He ventures even to run a parallel between the sufferings of Charles and those of the Saviour; and insinuates that in severity and meritorionsness they were second only to those of Christ. Now the effect of all this was not merely to bring the doctrines of the Puritans into contempt, but to spread a notion, that their eminent practical piety, was the thick guise of a most hateful and pestilent hypocrisy, which possessed indeed the alluring exterior of the serpent, but with all his venom. The tendency therefore was not to discriminate between the excellencies and the defects of the Puritans, but at once to proceed to the utmost possible distance from their habits and practice. This disposition was fostered in the nation at large, by the growing secularity of the clergy, and the dissoluteness of the Court; so that while there arose among the people in general a laxity approaching to utter indifference, in the practical duties of Christianity, a way was preparing among the literary classes of the nation, for that prevalence of infidelity, which is at once the uniform effect and the certain indication of a general departure either from the faith or the practice of the Gospel.

The strictness of puritanical discipline was no longer incul cated upon the people. It was odious at Court, and therefore could not be patronized by a courtly religion. Ethical lectures and moral essays were indeed often heard from the pulpits of the establishment; but they were destitute of the living and moving spirit of true religion. It was enough to bring any practice into discredit, and consequently into disuse, to denoninate it puritanical. Family worship therefore was among the practices which fell into neglect, and which for the best half of a century was almost forgotten by the public instructers, and nearly exploded by those who formed the mass of members in the Episcopal Church. But this leaven was not confined to one communion. The fashion spread, because it was a fashion, among the successors of the Puritans, too many of whom were attached to the puritans and nonconformists rather from political affinities than from an accordance in the orthodoxy of their creed or the strictness of their practice. It was about the middle of the last century, or perhaps a little earlier, that the spirituality of Dissenting congregations began to revive, and from that period there has been a very rapid increase of the power of religion. This has been particularly exhibited in the growth of the benevolent feelings, a disregard of minute religions observances, and a disposition to unite and co-operate in advancing the common interest of the Redeemer's kingdom. The revival of genuine piety in the Established Church, has we conceive been much later, and might perhaps be shewn to have followed as a consequence. The spirit of true religion is

to a degree contagious; and though we are not anxious to advance any claim on the behalf of Dissenters, we are yet sure, from a universal principle of our nature, that not a little of that revival of evangelical and practical piety, which has taken place in the last thirty years, in the Established Church, is to be ascribed to that not unholy rivalry, which makes us all anxious for the prosperity of our own religious denomination.

We believe we may venture to assert, that generally among orthodox Dissenters, the duty of family worship is still regularly and conscientiously attended to; though in fairness we must confess our suspicion that domestic instruction is not so general as it might be, and as it evidently was among the nonconformists. Perhaps the practice which has now become so very prevalent, of attending a place of worship thrice on the Lord's day, has been the means, in many families, of superseding this important branch of primitive practice. The disuse of this venerable and useful custom we cannot but regret. How far the advantage gained by a third public service may compensate the loss that Christian families sustain, it is not for us to determine; we leave our readers to make their own decision, convinced that before the practice of family instruction can be extensively revived, it must be generally recommended by Christian pastors, and be rendered practicable by new arrangements in professing families.

Our present concern is strictly with Family Prayer. Upon this topic, the prevalence of the practice, as it might secure attention to what we might say, seems to render it less necessary that we should say any thing. We shall therefore content ourselves with expressing our opinion of the most eligible mode of conducting that service. We conceive that there is something in the very nature of prayer, that is revolted and violated by an attention to the niceties of language, and by a set and regular repetition of the same words; and that upon the whole there can be no person free from prejudice upon this subject, but must in the closet, and perhaps in the family, feel, that the natural and simple effusions of the heart are much more impressive, and much more likely to be the sincere and spiritual expression of the real sentiments and feelings of the mind. Every one must admit that from a universal law of our nature, the repetition of an action becomes the more mechanical as it becomes more frequent; and that the attention and feeling excited, diminish in the same ratio as the habit becomes mechanical, until the action may be performed almost unconsciously. We readily admit that there may be various things to counteract the operation of this law in the matter of devotion, among truly pious persons; but as it regards the mass of the people, its existence and its effects are but too visible. The

great object in social prayer, as well as in public preaching, must first be to awaken attention, and to animate the feelings of love, and gratitude, and desire. Now, we are decidedly of opinion this cannot be done in either case, without some variety. For this reason we certainly prefer extemporary devotion in the family, and we are sure that it has the additional advantage of being susceptible of more appropriateness. While therefore it may be conceded that the free mode loses from its occasional inaccuracy, it yet far surpasses a form, in its tendency to awaken and sustain a high tone of devotional feeling.

These remarks apply with as much, and perhaps even with more force, to family devotion, than to public worship. In the family, where there are young persons and servants who cannot be supposed to be urged on to the duty by any innate principle, any inspiring impulse of mind towards it as a privilege, and where they compose probably the majority, it is of the utmost importance to employ those means which are most likely to awaken their attention, and secure the repetition of the duty, without weariness and disgust. With this view, therefore, heads of families will certainly consider it a part of their appropriate duty, to cultivate the gift of prayer; and for this purpose we recommend to their attention Dr. Watts's Guide to Prayer. And especially the last chapter, entitled, 'A Persuasive to learn to pray,' from which we extract the words of a learned and venerable prelate of the Establishment. For any one to satisfy. ' himself,' he remarks, with a form of prayer, is still to remain in infancy: It is the duty of every Christian to grow and increase in all the duties of Christianity, gifts as well as graces. How how can a man be said to live suitable to these rules, who doth not put forth himself in some attempts and en"deavours of this kind? And if it be a fault not to strive and labour after this gift, much more it is to jeer and despise it by the name of Extempore Prayer, and praying by the Spirit; which expressions (as they are frequently used by some men by way of reproach) are, for the most part, a sign of a profane heart, and such as are altogether strangers from the power and the comfort of this duty.'

Still, Forms of Prayer are of great utility. For, after all, there will be many sincere individuals, who feel it extremely difficult, or even impossible, to express themselves with propriety in this service. Difficulties also may arise where females are at the head of a family, and may have neither sufficient courage, nor confidence, to engage even with those of their own sex, in extemporary devotion. There may be other instances in which persons converted late in life, and with but very little previous advantage of religious instruction, may be called to the performance of family devotion, and in all families the ab

sence or the affliction of the head of the household, may render it necessary that another should take his place, in conducting the devotions of the family. In all such cases we do most earnestly recommend the use of a form of prayer. We should consider it, under such circumstances, as wholly inexcusable to neglect the duty; and therefore every family without exception should be furnished with at least one volume of domestic prayers. Many such works have been prepared and offered to the public, by ministers in the Establishment and among the Dissenters. Many of them possess merit, but not all in an equal degree. Among the best is a smail collection by the late Mr. Palmer of Hackney.* Another volume of prayers by Jenks, edited by Mr. Simeon, is truly evangelical and devotional. A later volume by Mr. Bean possesses great excellencies in point of language, but is not equal, either in evangelical sentiment or fervour of devotion, to Jenks's or Palmer's.

We consider this by Mr. Smith, though it has some slight blemishes, as a valuable accession to those already in our possession. It is much fuller, and embraces a much greater variety of topics than any of its precursors, and is certainly fitted for very extensive utility in the Christian Church. The course of prayer is for six weeks, morning and evening, with additional prayers for unusual occasions. Each prayer is in general long, but they possess one very great advantage; by the use of asterisks and crotchets the author has marked out those paragraphs, that may either be omitted without breaking the connexion, or those that may be taken together to form a much shorter service. We can give the volume our decided approbation, and most sincerely hope that every pious family will avail themselves of this, as one of the most comprehensive, and most evangelical volumes of domestic prayers extant. We cannot profess to give extracts, but we refer our readers to the work itself.

*Mr. Palmer also edited an abridgement of the Family Prayer Book, by the Rev. W. May, which has run through several editions. "The Pocket Prayer Book," printed by the Philanthropic Society, deserves the warmest recommendation. Its singular cheapness, added to the excellence of the compilation, entitles it to decided preference, for the purpose of gratuitous distribution, which was, we be Jieve, the main object of the benevolent Editor.