lution; but they do no such thing. They only say that God does it. The minister is here made either to utter a falsehood, or disobey the commandment of God in the very midst of divine worship. The power of absolution God has not committed to the hands of the clergy. He reserves that to himself. "He pardoneth and absolveth the penitent" in the solemn and personal intercourse of the soul with its Creator and Redeemer. There is no need of a priest to interpose in this As God only is the judge of true penitence and genuine faith

matter.

our

66 we

most humble and hearty thanks."We ask him to "turn [avert] from us all evils."-We speak of "the prayers of thy humble servants;" and of "us, thy poor servants."-We tell the Almighty, repent, and are heartily sorry."-We pray him to "fight for us."-We speak of those who "do him laudable service.". We call on him to "stir up the wills" of his people. We pray him to "mortify and kill all vices in us," and "that we may not be carried away with every blast of vain doctrine."-We pray to be defended" among all the changes and chances of this mortal life."-Over a sick man, we pray, that he "may take his sickness patiently," and speak of "the means which shall be made use of."—We address God with the appellation of "the Sovereign Commander of all the world.”—In a storm at sea, we intreat him to "send his word of command," and rebuke the raging winds; and before a battle, that he would make it appear" that he is our deliverer. We are to say to him, "O most mighty and gracious good God;" and, of ourselves, we are to say, "we, thy poor creatures;" and we call upon all beings to "speak good of the Lord."

3. Many passages of the liturgy are greatly obscured, (if not rendered unintelligible,) by the use of archaisms, or other faulty expressions. Thus we say, "there is no health in us;" meaning, there is no spiritual life in us. And we pray, that God would "send down upon our bishops &c., the healthful spirit of his grace;" which means, I know not what. We are to sing: "All ye powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord;" intending, perhaps, the holy angels. When we denominate God, "the Father of Heaven," what do we mean? In praying for the President of the United States and others in authority, we ask God to "endue them plenteously with heavenly gifts." What gifts are here meant? We ask God, to

in Christ, he has given no commandment to others, however high may be their standing in the visible church, to pronounce forgiveness. This mongrel service, which is neither Popish nor Protestant, should have been long ago expunged from a Protestant liturgy. And it would have been, we doubt not, had the principles of the Reformation been permitted to grow to maturity unchecked by the civil power. We consider this part of the service as peculiarly offensive, not only for the reasons first given, but because it is repeated so often. It is read twice

"mercifully assist our prayers;" when the connection shows that we mean, to hear, or attend to our prayers. In the prayer for such as are candidates for holy orders, we ask God to "replenish them with the truth of his doctrine;" probably meaning, with his true doctrine. We are to pray, "that our land may yield us her fruits of increase;" when others would say, the increase of her fruits, or simply, her fruits. On the first Sunday in Lent, we thus pray: "give us grace to use [observe] such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions." The godly motions here mentioned are, probably, the divine admonitions. But what is intended by our flesh being subdued to the Spirit? Does it signify, our sinful nature being subdued and made obedient to the Holy Spirit, or our bodies being subjected to our better part, the mind? We say: "O Almighty God, who alone canst order [regulate, reduce to order,] the unruly wills and affections of sinful men.""Grant, that, by thy holy inspiration, [thy gracious influences,] we may think those things that are good."-"Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration [grace] of thy Holy Spirit."-" That we may do all such good works as thou hast prepared [prescribed] for us to walk in." "Nourish us with all goodness, [the manner in which? or the material with which?] and of thy great mercy keep us in the "-"Bring forth in us the fruit of good living" [holy living]." Increase in them.....the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength."(?)-"That he may.....daily increase in thy Holy Spirit (?) more and more."-" Our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, (?) one God," &c. To a sick man, the priest must say: "I require [request] you to examine yourself, and your estate [state], both towards God and man." In one of our prayers, we say: "They,

same.

every Sabbath; and as though this were not enough, something similar to it is appointed in the communion service in the shape of a prayer or benediction. This latter is to be said by the priest, or "the bishop, if he be present;" which provision shows that something more than a mere prayer, which would be as well to come from the one as the other, is intended. The idea, if there is any thing in it, evidently is, that the absolution comes by authority. Indeed the same idea is implied in this absolution, supposing it to be a prayer, when the priest

whose consciences by sin are accused;" instead of, they whose consciences accuse them of sin.

4. In consequence of the careless use or construction of terms, the sense is sometimes wholly perverted, and even an untruth asserted.

Thus, in the longer form of absolution at morning prayer, the priest exhorts us to beseech God, "that those things may please Him, which we do at this present:' whereas we ought to pray, that we may do those things, which will please Him. For there is a great difference between asking Him to be pleased with whatever we are disposed to do, and praying for grace so to act, as to meet his approbation. In the prayer used at the meetings of convention, request is made "that the comfortable () gospel of Christ may be truly preached, truly received, and truly followed, in all places, to the breaking down the kingdom of sin, Satan and death; till at length the whole of thy dispersed sheep, being gathered into one fold, shall become partakers of everlasting life." But are all men, even those still in the king dom of sin and Satan, the dispersed sheep of Christ? Where then are the goats?-In the thanksgiving for deliverance from great sickness and mortality, we are to say: "O Lord God, who..... now, in the midst of judgment remembering mercy, hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death;" implying, either that the soul is mortal, or that, if we die in such seasons of pestilence, our souls are sent to hell. In the collect for the day of St. Paul's conversion, we must say: "O God, who, through the preaching of the blessed apostle St. Paul, hast caused the light of the gospel to shine throughout the world:" while yet many nations are unenlightened by the gospel.-In the Catechism, the child, being asked how many sacraments Christ has ordained, must answer: only, as generally necessary to salvation:"

"Troo

pronounces it. Why should the minister rise up in the midst of the congregation and pray separately from them, unless some peculiar authority were attached to his pray. er, not as an individual, but as a public functionary? It is difficult to make less of this than a beggarly imitation of Popery.

The general confession being over and the absolution pronounced, the congregation are now prepared for the Lord's prayer, which they repeat audibly at the same time with the minister. To us there would appear much more decency

implying that there are more, but that only two are generally necessary to salvation. In the Visitation of the Sick, the invariable prayer is: "O Lord, save thy servant; send him help.

mightily defend him. Let the enemy have no advantage of him; nor the wicked approach to hurt him. Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower, from the face of his enemy." The manifest implication is, that Satan, the wicked one, is the cause of the sick man's disease, and that if this enemy can be overcome or kept away, the sick man will recover.-The Gloria Patri, which is to be often repeated every Sunday, is in these words: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." This implies a desire, that just so much homage and adoration may be given to God, as was given him in the beginning, is now given him, and ever will be given him, neither more nor less.

We had intended to notice two other very common faults in the diction and phraseology of the liturgy; namely, pleonasm, or the insertion of words which add nothing to the meaning; and bad grammar, especially in the regimen of verbs, and in the use of prepositions. But the length of this note forbids a suitable illustration of these and other faults in the style of the book. We will therefore only add, that it is to be lamented that a book so extensively and constantly used, and having so much influence in forming the taste as well as shaping the religious views of vast masses of people, should not only be handed down from age to age unimproved and unpurged of its most glaring and obvious faults, but be imposed upon a very numerous and respectable denomination of Christians, as containing the only thoughts and expressions with which they may publicly worship God from the beginning to the end of their lives.

and order if the people would follow the petitions silently; but this may be a mere matter of taste. The ejaculation which follows, "O Lord, open thou our lips," with the response from the people, "and our mouth shall show forth thy praise," must be taken in a sense altogether below the original force of those words when they came from the Psalmist. As all that is to be uttered is prepared beforehand and written down, it can not be the state of the heart, out of the abundance of which the mouth speaketh, but the muscular motion, by which the precomposed form can be made audible. Or if this be too barren a sense to put upon the words, as indeed it ought to be, you insist upon the living energy of the Psalmist's petition; then we think it peculiarly unhappy, because it betrays at once the imperfection of a liturgy. The prescribed form must needs prevent an answer; for however the heart may be enlarged, the effusions of the lips corresponding therewith, have no enlargement nor liberty. They must move on as the book directs.

if

After this solemn invocation and the Gloria Patri, which by the way is repeated so often the same day as to lose all its force, what do we find next? The congregation all go over to a recitation of some portion of the Psalms, no matter how inappropriate it may be for the present occasion. Indeed appropriateness seems to be entirely out of view in this part of the service. The minister recites one verse, and the people respond with another, like a school-boy and his teacher repeating a lesson. Is this prayer, or is it praise? or is it instruction? If the latter, the minister had better read it alone; if neither of the former, what ideas can be attached to it when all the Psalms as they happen to arise, containing a great variety of different subjects, and setting forth different states of the Vol. I. 61

mind, are used; and when the verses are read alternately, though they are frequently divided in the midst of the sense. Though it is scripture that is recited, yet even scripture is not intended for all purposes under the sun. To transfer the Psalms without distinction, accommodation, or change, to the ordinary worship of a Christian assembly, seems to us exceedingly absurd. Take for example the twentieth Psalm. This was com posed probably with reference to some battle into which King David was about to go, or some other great trial which he expected to encounter. He meets the people in the place of worship, and the priest perhaps commences singing, "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee, send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion-remember all thy offer. ings, and accept thy burnt sacrifices -grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfill all thy counsel." Then the congregation in full chorus sing, "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners : the Lord fulfill all thy petitions." Then the king alone, "Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed: He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand." Then the congregation conclude in full chorus"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call." This is beautiful and appropriate. But when a minister of the gospel in the assembly of the saints reads the first verse, and the people respond by reading the second, and so on alternately to the end of the Psalm, what does it mean?

Still more inappropriate to Chris

tian worship is the sixtieth Psalm. The minister reads, v. 6, "God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth." And the people answer, "Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver." The minister reads, "Moab is my wash-pot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; Philistia, triumph thou because of me." The people respond, "Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?" Here we ask again, is this worship in a Christian assembly? If so, then to take it away from the region of the ludicrous, a man must resort to some Swedenborgian principles of interpretation by which an imaginary sense different from the obvious one is put upon the words. What shall be said of the imprecations in the Psalms? Does a Chris tian congregation adopt them as its own?

A portion of the Old Testament, we believe, is next read, which is rather inelegantly concluded by "Here endeth the first lesson." Then various other selections, which we can not particularly notice, including a portion of the New Testament, all concluded by "Here endeth the second lesson." Now the time is come for the general supplication. But the way is not yet fully prepared. The Apostles' creed, so called, must be said by the minister and people standing. This we suppose is introduced here as a profession of faith, showing the people's qualifications for the services which follow. We have no objection to this, except that it shows no such thing; and the frequent repetition of it as an essential part of divine service, tends to produce a false impression on the minds of the ignorant. It tends to produce the impression that a mere formal recognition of the principles of Christianity is the condition of sal

vation-an error easily gaining access to the human mind. Because they believe all these truths, they suppose they exercise that faith in the Redeemer which is required. Whereas every well informed Christian knows that there is no virtue in assenting to the articles of the creed. If they are true, there is evidence which compels assent; and there is no virtue in acknowledging that which we can not resist. All these things we may believe, and yet be totally destitute of saving faith, or such as is indispensable to acceptable prayer.

What advance then is

It

here made on the subject of quali fications to be recognized in the Christian assembly? The faith of the gospel lies deeper than the mere assent of the understanding. It is something distinct from the outward observance of prescribed forms. is the cordial consent of the heart which constitutes the spirit of prayer, and which no human being can witness. We can see no possible reason for cumbering the liturgy with this confession of faith, but the fear of innovation on the Catholic ritual-a reason which was good enough perhaps in the days of King Edward, but which now has no force. The church of Rome recognizes as her children all who give an intellectual or even a merely formal assent to the Apostles' creed, and who submit to her regimen. It was on this principle that Bonaparte supposed he had become reconciled to the church and to God because he confessed his faith. It was the same principle which led Talleyrand to think that he died in the communion of the church and of Christ. And it is the same principle which leads many at the present time to mistake a belief in certain articles of faith, for a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the creed must be said, we had rather see it occupy any other place than this in the liturgy. We have seen too much of its fatal influence.

True, the minister may, and doubtless many do, warn the people against such an abuse of this confession. But there it stands, indicating a preparation for certain acts of worship. When therefore the people assent to it with an audible voice, they feel in spite of the remonstrances of the minister, that they are believers. And especially when they hear the "exhortation" which is appointed sometimes to be read before the communion to the whole congregation, beginning with these words: 66 Dearly beloved brethren, on — I intend, by God's grace, to celebrate the Lord's supper; unto which, in God's behalf, I bid you all who are here present," &c.; how can they fail of being confirmed in the idea that they are believers ?

While we speak of the creed as containing truths, we would not be understood as saying that all its declarations are true, or that it contains all the essential parts of Christianity. It is manifestly deficient in regard to one great doctrine which constitutes the very essence of our religion, without which we can not conceive that the gospel is acknowledged. We allude to the doctrine of justification by faith in the blood of Christ. Not an allusion is made in this creed to the atonement. A man may believe the historical facts of Christ's death, burial, resurrec tion and ascension, and yet know nothing and believe nothing of the great design of these facts. He may believe and confess all that is said in this creed, and yet know nothing and believe nothing of the plan of salvation which God has devised. So that he may be totally ignorant of the only way in which he can be saved. Paul declares, Gal. i, 8, "But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." We understand the Apostle here as calling that another

gospel which holds forth any thing in the place of justification by faith. Though the creed does not positively do this, yet it presents no obstacles to doing it on the part of the preacher, or the person who repeats the creed in sincerity. What would he who was not behind the chiefest of the apostles say of a creed which omits that great doctrine which he took so much pains to establish, and yet calls itself the Apostles' creed?

The "litany" appears to be taken from several Romish litanies, leaving out the idolatrous parts, and greatly improving the rest. There are some things in this part of the service which we greatly admire, and other things which are worthy of decided reprobation. The beautiful, strong, and simple Saxon English is used, with a few exceptions, throughout. It contains most of the general petitions which a congregation might be supposed to make; and the responses are by no means deficient in meaning or solemnity. But we very much dislike the idea of addressing the Father in general terms, and then the Son in the same terms, and then the Holy Ghost in the same, and last of all, the Trinity. This appears to us unevangelical. It looks like the vain repetitions of the heathen, against which the Lord's prayer is intended to caution us; and it certainly has no example in sacred writ to authorize it. We dislike also the repetition of words nearly synonymous in several petitions, followed by the response," Good Lord, deliver us." We look upon the prayer to be delivered "from lightning and tempest; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death," without any conditions annexed of submission to the will of God, as savoring too much of a spirit of fear and worldliness, unwilling to leave all in the hands of infinite wisdom and love. We look upon the concluding part of this composition as vio