the public, at the same time, he is not without hope that some help may thence be derived by Students of Divinity, Probationers, and others; as also that it may not be uninteresting to Members of the Church at large, to have a record and memorial of services as conducted in that branch of Christ's Church to which they belong. EDINBURGH, May 1858. CONTENTS. Page PART II. DIRECTORY FOR THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD, agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, PART III. FORMS AND SERVICES OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. . PRESBYTERIAN LITURGIES: WITH SPECIMENS OF FORMS OF PRAYER. AN experiment has been lately tried in Edinburgh respecting the method of celebrating public worship, which, if not interfered with by the Church judicatories, as after a considerable period it has not been, may lead to important consequences. Dr Robert Lee, on the re-opening of Old Greyfriars' Church, is said to have deviated to a somewhat startling extent from the accustomed manner amongst us of conducting the public worship of God in the sanctuary. Very plain and ungainly the ancient building of Old Greyfriars was, nor has its exterior been susceptible of any considerable measure of improvement. But on entering, a somewhat novel spectacle is presented. With more or less taste, every window has been filled with stained glass, to an extent, we confess, that suggests the idea almost of a religious toy. There are memorial windows, commemorative of various eminent individuals, most of whom ministered within the building-through which a dim religious light penetrates upon what is considered to be one of the more knowing and philosophical congregations in our city. The galleries have been removed, and the pulpit has vanished-a platform of no great height, running instead along the east end of the church, which platform might bear, with little alteration, no small resemblance to an altar.* The pews are so constructed, that if hassocks be placed in them, there is no hindrance to kneeling; while the elders have places arranged for them in front of the minister, * Since we wrote we see that this part of the original arrangements, is, we presume for acoustic reasons, about to be in some measure altered. As there are no galleries in the church, we should imagine that a very slight additional elevation will be sufficient. and the choir have their place assigned behind the congregation, who, we must further mention, are understood to stand while the singing proceeds. Nor is this the whole amount of alteration, if rumour be correct. The worship is conducted according to what is understood by the minister to be the spirit of the Directory of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. The clergyman is said to read the prayers out of a book, and the people are alleged to be invited at the close of each branch of the petitions, to give their response, thus audibly expressing their concurrence with what has been uttered ; while the service in the forenoon is also alleged to be almost wholly devotional-consisting of prayer, singing, and the reading of two chapters of Scripture, with merely a running commentary, and a few interjected remarks-the sermon, which has hitherto occupied so very prominent a place at each diet of Scottish worship, being reserved for the afternoon-an arrangement, we should have said, in the case of any one less able and well furnished with matter, than Dr R. Lee, undoubtedly affording nearly the whole amount of leisure and restricted composition which usually attaches to the enjoyment of a collegiate charge. It is not our intention to enter at large into the question, whether extempore and unpremeditated prayer be preferable to a liturgical form, but only, from materials before us, to which our space prevents us from doing full justice, to furnish some specimens of forms, other than those contained in the English Book of Common Prayer, adopted by the Continental and American Presbyterian Churches. Regarding the changes made in Old Greyfriars' Church, we are far from expressing any positive condemnation. It would, we fear, be next to impossible to conciliate for such innovations the acquiescence of our country artisans and peasantry; since, be it right or wrong, they have learned to look upon practices of this kind, as being at variance with the simplicity of Presbyterian worship, and as a departure from the rigorous abstinence from what is comely or ornamental in the practice of which they have been nurtured. When we remember that in very many of our country districts, the reading of |