the very tone of the expressions is apt to dwell on our outward ears. And that, independently of these considerations, the mere mention of "the commandments" and of " obedience" is of great value, will appear from the extreme fastidiousness which certain persons of peculiar opinions entertain against them, and the great pains they take to prevent the occurrence of such words. But in addition to what has been said of the Prayers, if we take the sentences at the Offertory in our own Communion Service, which are not that I know of to be found elsewhere, we can scarce find a clearer instance of our distinctive character. They are all, we know, a practical appeal to good works or almsgiving. Instead of these continued sentences, in the Sarum and Roman Missal there is after the Creed which succeeds the Gospel, one or more verses in the way of anthem, called "offertorium," either of prayer or thanksgiving. They might be quoted in contrast to our own, but that, alluding to the Gospel just read, they would not be understood without it. They are found in Edward's First Book as we have them now.

9. Omission of the Festival of St. Mary Magdalene.

In speaking of the Saints' days, there is an omission which bears as much upon the view here taken as the additions and alterations alluded to, an omission which appears so singularly providential in many ways, that it cannot be passed over; that of an entire festival, the day of St. Mary Magdalene, which found a place in the First Book of Edward. The Service for this day went entirely on the supposition that Mary Magdalene was the sinner spoken of in the 7th chapter of St. Luke. This opinion is inserted in the heading of our translation of the Bible, and is alluded to by good men of those times and the preceding centuries without doubt or hesitation. Yet it has been supposed on inquiry, to be not at all supported by the Fathers, and to have had its origin in a Popish legend'. Now we know that one Mary has had her good deed recorded as a memorial of her to all nations,

1 See the statement of an inquiry on this subject in Bishop Heber's Remains. In this Day's Service in the Paris. Brev. there is no allusion to her being "a sinner."

and it would be painful to think we might be commemorating another in a character of which she was guiltless. Nor is there any other Service in the Prayer Book, through the good Providence of God, which we should be so much tempted to wish removed. And it is evident, independently of this consideration, that the practical tendency of this Service would have been, more than any other, to sanction the lax opinions which prevail respecting a late conversion.

10. The Epistles and Gospels.

The same tendency, which has been noticed as pervading the Collects, may be also observed of the passages of Scripture which are new in our Prayer Book. To take some of the Epistles which are partly or entirely altered. That for the first Sunday in Advent has added the former part to the Epistle as it stood in the Sarum and Roman Missals. And what is this addition? The second table of the Commandments, as the subject of preparation for the second Advent, the object of that Epistle being to remind us of "the night far spent and the day at hand." In like manner, on the Sunday after Ascension Day, only one sentence was prefixed to the former Epistle, but that sentence is such that, when once connected with it, it speaks through the whole Epistle; "The end of all things is at hand." This harmonizes with all

1 That this preparation for judgment, and calls to obedience with reference to it, and also warnings against false doctrines and teachers does, in a remarkable and peculiar manner, pervade the Services of our Church, and that this is not a mere imaginary supposition, will derive confirmation from a Service entirely new at the last review of the Prayer Book, and the mention of which has been omitted. It is that for the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany. It seems impossible that any combination of Collect, Epistle, and Gospel could teach these more fully, more strongly, or more beautifully than these do. And observe how it arises out of the previous Offices. The star appearing, the child in the temple, the first miracle, the heathen centurion, the going over to the Gadarenes, the visible Church in which the tares will be blended with the wheat, are the subjects in succession of the previous Sundays, as varied and gradual manifestations or Epiphanies, and found in the old forms; but observe this new Service for the sixth after the Epiphany arises, as it were, and unfolds itself into the great and last manifestation

the other changes: is it not, to recur to a former allusion, is it not, I say, to be received as from Him who repeats so often in the Revelations, "Behold, I come quickly;" and "If thou shalt "not watch, I will come on thee as a thief?" It was observed that on St. John's day, the expression of "walking in the light of "God's truth" was inserted in the Collect. It is curious to observe that this was only taking up the practical lesson and very words of the Epistle, which is from the first of St. John, on obedience as the only test of our acceptance and sincerity: "If we "walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one "with another, and the blood of CHRIST cleanseth us from all sin." This Epistle, moreover, is itself new in Edward's First Book; that in the Missals being from the 15th chapter of Ecclesiasticus. And indeed the custom of adding to the length of the Epistle in our Church is itself of this character, for it implies more of a practical 00s. Our Church reads more of Scripture as serving for instruction, less as eucharistic and choral, in the manner of the Breviaries.

Take again the new Epistle for St. Simon and St. Jude's day; for it is new as it now is in our Prayer Book. In the Sarum Missal the Epistle is from that to the Romans, chap. viii.; on the very exalted state of the Christian, "Who can separate us from "the love of CHRIST ?" et reliqua. In the Roman Missal it is from the Epistle to the Ephesians; the no less exalted description of the Christian privileges (c. iv.); “Till we all come unto a "perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of "CHRIST." Instead of this we have that awful Epistle from St. Jude, of which, compare but the termination with those of the preceding two: "These filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise "dominion, and speak evil of dignities." A solemn warning of the evils of the last days; which is forcibly contrasted with that high confidence expressed in both of the Epistles alluded to in the Missals; and it would appear as if the Collect itself derived

of the Day of Judgment, and connects it with the former manifestations as preparatory. But it may be noticed that this, and all the changes at the last Review, are more expressive of Christian hope; and this slight change of tone may be connected with circumstances hereafter to be observed.

a peculiar interest from its connexion with the Epistle, which speaks of "earnestly contending for the Faith once delivered "unto the Saints."

The observations made on the Collect for Easter Even may be also carried on to the Epistle for that day, which is also new; inasmuch as it bears upon the doctrine spoken of in that Collect, viz. of our being buried with CHRIST in baptism, as strongly as any passage that could be extracted from Scripture: for the lesson which it inculcates is, that we should patiently suffer after the example of CHRIST, and that it is Baptism, containing a good conscience consenting to GOD, which doth save us. If any other passage in the Epistles states more fully the doctrine of our "being crucified with the world and the world to us," one would think it is the conclusion of that to the Galatians; and it is an interesting fact to perceive that there is only one Epistle in all the Sundays after Trinity for which Mr. Palmer finds no authority in previous Liturgies, that for the fifteenth Sunday, and that Epistle is no other than this passage from the Epistle to the Galatians. One instance more may be mentioned; on the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, the Epistle is one substituted for another in the Sarum from the same chapter; and the subject of it is on submission to appointed authorities; and it is curious to notice that this Lesson here substituted, as it were by accident, for another, has been one so necessary from the times ensuing, that an Epistle similar to it from St. Peter has been since appointed three times in the State Services.

1

11. Service for Passion Week.

What has been said of the Collect and Epistle for Easter Even, may be considered as furnishing a key to the better understanding of the Services for that week, which are peculiar. We find that in the Breviaries, the Prophet Jeremiah is very much used at this time; and in Edward's First Book, the Lessons for this day and

1 The reason for the substitution seems to have been, that the one in the Sarum had been added to that for Advent Sunday.

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the Thursday are from the same Prophet: whereas our own has entirely adopted the historical narrative of His sufferings, and the Collect for the week sets before us the example of our SAVIOUR as the point of view in which the season is considered, and thus gives us the spirit of our own Church as being peculiarly and entirely practical. The tone of other Churches is that of sympathy; ours of admonition. Others have the language of the Lamentations, such as might become the blessed Virgin at the cross, or "the beloved Disciple;" ours is as if our LORD turned and said, "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves "and for your children:" or "Not every one that saith unto me, LORD, LORD... but he that doeth the will of my FATHER." A comparison with the Breviaries will strongly indicate this peculiarity; for there is, perhaps, nothing in which we differ more from the Breviaries than we do in the Services for Passion Week. The Epistle for Good Friday also appears to be new; and its position must strike every one, as bringing forward the Divinity of our LORD on that occasion, as the very central doctrine from which others emanate and diverge in various ways; the denial of which is the consummation of "lawlessness" of the latter days, and to which all disobedience and disloyalty in heart and practice to our SAVIOUR necessarily tends. And it is placed at this point, it would seem, by way of protection, lest, when the example of our LORD is so much urged, we should forget how infinitely holy the ground is on which we stand. And yet, coming round to the previous lesson of obedience, it ends with these remarkable words: "Let us hold fast the profession of our "faith without wavering, provoking unto love and good works; exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."

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There appears, in other points, a certain preparation pervading the Liturgy as it has come down to us, as if against a time when the "love of the many shall have waxed cold," and "he who "endureth to the end" may be singular. In Edward's Second Book there was this rubric; "And there shall be no celebration "of the LORD's Supper, excepting there be a good number to "communicate with the priest:" and in Edward's First Book, the