Church, or any part of it, do take hurt or hindrance, by reason of any negligence of ours, we know the greatness of the fault, and also the wrath of God which shall ensue." But, "who then is sufficient for these things?" Yet we trust in the Lord, who hath promised us His assistance, and that His Spirit shall work with us; we trust, I say, that by the blessing of God Almighty we shall "so take heed unto ourselves, and unto the doctrine, and so continue in them, that in doing this we shall both save ourselves and them that hear us."

SERMON XIII.

Common Prayer.

1 TIM. ii. 8.

"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands."

O in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, “Pray

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

In obedience to this rule given by her founders, who were commissioned by Him who had received all power from the Father, and had endowed them with an authority which all are bound to respect and to obey,-in compliance, I say, with their rule, to "pray without ceasing," and in imitation of their example, who gave themselves indeed continually to pray from the very first, for "they continued daily with one accord in the temple,"

going up together at the hour of prayer," the Church hath ever made prayer the ordinary declaration of her worship. In public worship, then, let prayer be always understood as standing in the first place; prayer, which is a confession of our own helplessness and dependence, and of faith in God; prayer, whereby we seek at His hands things of which we feel the want, and which

accordingly we desire. But in public worship it hath ever been customary with the Church of God, as is most due, to add praise and thanksgiving; and likewise the reading certain portions of Scripture, after the older practice, which was sanctified in our Lord's person, when He stood up in the synagogue and read from the Prophet Isaiah, and then preached on what He read, while "the people wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth." To this practice that of the apostles themselves is to be referred of which they said, "We will give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

So that common prayer, (necessarily implying a form,) praise, and thanksgiving, with reading the Word of God, and preaching upon it, have even from the beginning constituted the confession and worship of the servants of God in the assemblies of the Church.

Let us see now, how this hath been provided for in our own branch of the one, Catholic, Apostolic Church.

In what is called the Prayer-book, the Church of England has set forth a sufficient and edifying form for these necessary purposes.

I say nothing now of the various offices contained in this Prayer-book for the several chief and most important occasions of our lives, and the accidents they are liable to, shewing that from first to last we are wholly dedicated both in body and spirit by the Church to God, and taught to depend upon God, and apply to Him for grace at every turn; or of those occasional

forms which prove that the Church recognises and adores the power of God in all things that affect the state and body of the people in temporal affairs, and that men should humble themselves or rejoice before Him, acknowledging and fearing His overruling providence, in peace and in war, in time of scarcity or abundance, in seed-time and harvest, in the accidents of the seasons which make for or against our hopes, in prosperity and adversity of every kind,―omitting these on the present occasion, let us consider the daily sacrifice of prayer and the liturgy alone.

The liturgy, or Communion Service, (to begin with this,) may be used any day in the week, and is so used when occasion requires, but it is appointed specially for all the festivals of the Church, and for some of the chief fasts also. In this we have what now doth and ever did constitute the proper and peculiar worship of Christians in com. memoration of the death of Christ, the great and only sacrifice which taketh away sin, and of which the faithful are made partakers by feeding spiritually on His Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

In this part of our Service, according to the order of all the ancient liturgies, we have an oblation or offering, and we have a sacrifice,—yea, and we feast upon the sacrifice,-with prayer and thanksgiving, (wherefore it is called the Eucharist); and we read portions of the Old Testament and of the New, both being the Word of God; we communicate one with another, nor are our departed brethren forgotten, but we pray God

that together with them we may be partakers of His everlasting kingdom.

To the Communion Service belong the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for all the Sundays in the year, the seventh-day feasts of the resurrection of our Lord, and for all the other festivals and holy days of the Church; and in like manner the sermon, which is appointed to follow in its order the Nicene Confession of Faith.

The return of every seventh day, the day of rest and cessation from common labour, none can forget; but notice is to be given of the other feasts, lest the observance of them should be neglected and the memorial lost, there being nothing belonging to them in general that might stand instead to remind us of the seasons of their recurrence.

Of the Service specially appointed for these occasions, the sermon forms a part. That it is so ordered may be taken as a sufficient reason for not transferring it to the evening, or repeating it then.

It is to be feared people are sometimes disposed to set too high a value upon exercises of this sort, and neglect what is much more essential, for prayer is the end of preaching; and it seems very likely that a departure from the rule in this respect would be followed by a greater neglect of the morning attendance, when alone the liturgy is used, which is the most essential part of Christian confession and of common prayer.

But it is the bounden duty of all Christians