from those great and apparent dangers wherewith we were compassed; we acknow. ledge it thy goodness that we were not delivered over as a prey unto them; beseeching thee still to continue such thy mercies towards us, that all the world may know that thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

For Restoring Public Peace at Home. (17.)

0 ETERNAL God, our heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house, and stillest the outrage of a violent and unruly people; we bless thy holy name,

and he blessed the most high God for delivering his enemies into his hands, (Gen. xv. 20.) The song of Moses upon the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and that of Deborah upon her conquering Sisera are both recorded in holy Scripture. (Exod. xv. and Judges v.) Many of David's Psalms also were written on this occasion, particularly Psalm xviii. whose title speaks it to be an hymn of praise to God for deliverance from all his foes. (2 Sam. xxii. 1.) Jehoshaphat, after his great victory, assembled all his people together, and did so publicly and solemnly give thanks to God, that this memorable act gave name to the place, which was called the Valley of Blessing ever after. (2 Chron. xx. 26.) The very inhabitants of heaven also are described singing glory to God for giving victory to his Church over all his enemies. (Rev. xv. 3. and xix. 1.) which some explain as a prophecy, that the Christian Churches should sing praises for their conquest over Pagan religion and the defenders thereof. Among the heathen there were several ways of acknowledging victory to be from the blessing of the gods. So that if the reason and example of mankind, yea, of Christians, and our own pious ancestors, can move us, we must not omit this duty. I have not indeed met with any form for this office in the Roman Church. only I perceive it is their custom to sing the Te Deum, which seems to be very improper for such an occasion; and therefore we are obliged to the care of our own Church which hath provided us with a most pertinent and pious form.

DEAN COMBER.

(17.) If the war hath been raised by our fellow subjects, and especially if it were crushed in the beginning, we may use this form.

The introduction of the present thanksgiving, (being the words of the holy Scripture,) is the reason why we give thanks to Almighty God for the allaying our trouoles, and giving us this peace we now enjoy. First, because he it is who keeps us in

that it hath pleased thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately raised up amongst us; most humbly beseeching thee to grant to all of us grace, that we may henceforth obediently walk in thy holy conmandments; and, leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, may continually offer unto thee our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for these thy mercies towards us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Deliverance from great Sickness and Mortality. (18.)

O LORD God, who hast wounded us for our sins, and consumed us for our trans

peace; and secondly, when any tumults arise he it is who doth appease them, The first is asserted in the words of Psalm lxviii. 6. He is the God that maketh man to be of one mind in a house, that is, not only within the walls of private families, but within whole nations and kingdoms; which are as it were one great house, being all under one government, every one having their several offices, and all governed by the same rules. Now we learn from our Saviour, that a kingdom and a house are alike in this, that if either of them be divided against itself, it cannot stand. (Matt. xii. 25, 26.) And therefore it is very necessary that our heavenly Father, of whom the whole family of heaven and earth is named, should interpose to keep us quiet among ourselves. And oh! that none of us nad any other ends, than to serve God and do honestly towards all men: for then we should all live quietly under our governors, we should never mutiny nor rebel; nor should we break God's laws that command subjection, if our only aim were to serve God: Our only employment then would be to live holy, and happy, to obey our rulers, and love our fellow men, and to pray for the continuance of halcyon days: And then also, as St. Paul adviseth, (Heb. xii. 15,) we should have continual cause to offer up the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ, for these his mercies 10wards us; for then heaven would so watch over us, that our peace should never be disturbed, we should have no plots, or none to prosper, and we should frequently have occasion to bless the name of God for the increase of piety and virtue, the security of laws and magistrates, the suppressions of treasons and conspiracies, the continuance of peace and plenty; and happy are the people that are in such a case, (Psalm exliv. ult.) wherefore let our lives as well as our lips hereunto say, Amen.

DEAN COMBER.

(18.) Life is the greatest of all earthly blessings, and therefore the preservation thereof should be

gressions, by thy late heavy and dreadful visitation; and now, in the midst of judgment remembering mercy, hast redeemed our souls from the jaws of death; we offer unto thy fatherly goodness ourselves, our souls and bodies, which thou hast delivered, to be a living sacrifice unto thee; always praising and magnifying thy mercies in the midst of thy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For a Recovery from Sickness.

O GOD, who art the giver of life, of health, and of safety; we bless thy name, that thou hast been pleased to deliver from his bodily sickness this thy servant, who now desireth to return thanks unto thee, in the presence of all thy people. Gracious art thou, O Lord, and full of compassion to the

acknowledged by the most solemn thanksgivings. It hath been the custom, and is the duty of all pious men to praise God for the recovery from an ordinary sickness. And the very heathen, when they were restored to health after any disease, offered sacrifices, and built temples to the honour of their gods. How much more then are we bound to return our highest praises for deliverance from pestilence. They that have been infected have Hezekiah's thanksgiving after he was healed of his sickness, for their example and encouragement. (Isa. xxxviii. 9.) And they who were free may learn from holy David to offer up thanksgivings for their own preservation, and for the deliverance of the whole nation, (2 Sam. xxiv. 25;) and for their assistance here is a devout form prepared by the Church DEAN COMBER.

As the service, which has been now examined, is almost every where separated, and very properly, from the following one, namely, the Communion service, by the singing of a Psalm, this appears a convenient place for saying a little concerning that branch of public worship, which in many places is too much disregarded.

As singing is capable of expressing strongly every state, in which the mind can be, towards every object; so there never was perhaps any one nation upon earth, civilized or barbarous, that did not make this a part of the honour paid by them to the God, whom they adored. We find in the Old Testament, is vas practised by the Jews, before their law was given, as well as after. The book of psalms consists wholly of religious songs: and directs the "saints of the Lord, to sing unto him, and give thanks for a remembrance of his holiness: to sing unto the honour of his name, and make his praise glorious; to sing praises unto our

children of men. May his heart be duly impressed with a sense of thy merciful goodness, and may he devote the residue of his days to an humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For a safe Return from Sea.

MOST gracious Lord, whose mercy is over all thy works; we praise thy holy name, that thou hast been pleased to conduct in safety, through the perils of the great deep, this thy servant, who now desireth to return his thanks unto thee, in thy holy Church: May he be duly sensible of thy merciful providence towards him, and ever express his thankfulness by a holy trust in thee, and obedience to thy laws, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God, while we have our being." Ps. xxx. 4 ; lxvi. 2; cxlvi. 2. The prophets foretell, that, in the Gospel times, men shall sing for the majesty "of the Lord:" and, which brings the predictions home to us, "they shall cry aloud, and glorify God, in the isles of the sea." Isa. xxiv. 14, 15. Accordingly St. Paul, not only himself with Silas, even in prison "sang praises unto God:" (Acts xvi. 25;) but appoints, that all Christians should "speak to themselves, and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody with grace in their hearts to the Lord." Eph. v. 19; Col. iii. 16. And St. James prescribes, “Is any one merry?" in a joyful frame of mind, on account of blessings received, (for the word, mirth, comprehended anciently the most serious kind of glad ness,) "Let him sing psalms," James v. 13.

In pursuance of these rules, the first Christians made singing a constant part of their worship: as, besides the ecclesiastical writers, even a heathen, Pliny, informs us; and the whole congregation joined in it. Afterwards indeed the singers by profession, who had been prudently appointed to lead and direct them, by degrees usurped the whole performance. But at the Reformation the people were restored to their rights: and it made a much quicker progress for the pleasure and comfort, which they found in this practice: a circumstance, that ought to endear it to considerate persons not a little. And as the only way of singing known in common parochial Churches, is by the metre psalms; unless we join in that, we entirely omit this branch of our duty.

It is true the verse translation of the psalms, generally used, is void of ornament; and hath expressions, often low and flat, sometimes obsolete. And I wish a better were substituted in its place. But still, in many other cases, ancient solemn forms

of words are thought venerable, when they are far from elegant: not to say that the language of our forefathers, even where it may seem very uncouth at present, had in its time frequently full as much beauty and propriety, as ours. Ani several words of it have been, for that reason, revived by some of our best modern authors. But at least the matter, comprised in the words, of which I am speaking, is so highly respectable, that the mind, which is affected only by the phrase, and not by the sense, must be a light one indeed.

Again, it is true also, that the tunes, to which the psalms are sung, are most of them plain and slow, and the voices of many in the assembly unharmonious, and apt to be ill managed. But tunes, designed for the multitude to join in, who have never been regularly instructed, must be plain and slow, and such as they have been accustomed to: for which purpose the number should be moderate. Ours are many of them recommended, and as it were, consecrated by long usage. Confessors for the protestant cause have composed them. Martyrs for it have yielded up their dying breath in them. And several of them are thought, by competent judges, no way deficient in real melody. Amongst a variety of people, part of them with bad ears, and most of them with untaught voices, there will be some who had better totally abstain; only attending to the sense, as well as the sound, of what is uttered by the rest and others, that should moderate themselves to a prudent degree of lowness, till they have learnt, how to exert themselves more properly. But all who are, or can be, qualified, (and there are few who cannot,) should bear such a part as they are able. It may Je done, without in the least disordering the more skillful singers, who perform the very useful office of raising and supporting the tune. This in many congregations is done by an organ, the charity children, or both. But then the organ should express the tunes plainly and distinctly, and make very moderate intervals between the lines: the children should be taught to sing in exact time and concert with it; and the whole congregation should accompany them fervently, yet with prudence. Taking this care though there should still happen to be some little discords, they would be entirely lost in the general chorus: the effect of which would be noble and elevating, if we took rightly into our thoughts the whole of the matter instead of cavilling at minute particulars.

Consider the nature of a wild multitude, in its original state, met together at the call of some vehement ungoverned passion: how alarming the concourse, how frightful and horrid the confused and hideous cries of it must be. Then consider the same multitude, sof.ened and cultivated by the gentle influences of religion, and unanimously as

sembling at stated seasons, to sing forth the praises of the wise and good Parent of all, and echo to each other the precepts of a rational, and mild, and beneficent life here, as the means of obtaining eternal felicity hereafter. Can there be a happier change of scene, a sweeter and more pleasing view? and, suppose the harmony made by them were ever so little better, than "shouting unto God with a voice of triumph," as the Scripture expresses it, and "making a joyful noise unto the Rock of their salvation," (Ps. xlvii. 1. xcv. 1.) yet what worthy and humane and pious heart is there, that would not be charmed with the sound, and zealously join in it? we are disposed thus on all occasions.

Amongst our ancestors, who judged of propriety as discreetly as ourselves, to say no more, the very highest joined humbly and cheerfully with the lowest of their fellow Christians in the duty of psalmody, however artlessly performed. And it is worth our while to reflect what it is, either to disdain, or be ashamed, or to be too indolent to lift up our voices to the honour of our Maker, when we come into his house professedly to worship him and he hath commanded that one part of his wor ship shall be this.

But if we will not employ our lips in the service we may still fix our minds upon it at least we should not hinder others from doing either. And particularly we should abstain from giving the bad example, and the offence, of indecently holding conversation at that time, for which there cannot surely be so pressing an occasion, but that it may very safely be deferred till after Church, if not altogether omitted.

In the singing of Psalms, different persons use different postures. The prose psalms, I believe, are, and ever have been, repeated by all persons, every where, standing. In the verse psaims we alı stand at the Doxology. And, in what goes before, the reason for doing it is exactly the same, and a very strong one: that the whole is sung to the glory of God, and often directly addressed to God. Accordingly we read in the Old Testament that not only the "Levites" were to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and like wise at even," (1 Chron. xxiii. 30;) but that when "they waited with instruments of music to praise the Lord, all Israel stood," (2 Chron. vii. 6;) and that they said to the people, "Stand up and bless the Lord your God." (Neh. ix. 5.) We read like wise, that in a vision of St. John, in the Book of Revelation, "a great multitude whom no man could number, stood before the throne, and cried with a loud voice, Salvation to our God," (Rev. vii. 9, 10:) and in another, that "they who had gotten the victory over the beast, stood and sang the song of Moses and the Lamb." (Rev. xv. 2, 3.) Standing

therefore, as it is plainly the fittest posture in itself, is the authorized one also: and were it more uncommon than it is, would be far from a dishonourable singularity. But still, as very many in most congregations, either have by long habit been prejudiced in favour of sitting, or, though they disapprove the custom, feel a difficulty of quitting it, unless every one did: they should not be censured for a practice by which they inean nothing amiss ; but kindly encouraged to an alteration in this point, which we may thus hope will gradually become general. Abp. Secker.

To prevent improprieties in the performance of this excellent part of public devotion, and to provide for due solemnity in it as well as in the rest, it is much to be wished, that ministers should not leave the choice of proper psalms to their parish clerks, but should take upon themselves the trouble of directing it; or rather, that they should once for all fix and establish a course of psalms, to be given out and sung in their order. By which means the congregations might be furnished with those which are most proper, and also with a due variety; and, by degrees, the most useful parts of the Book of Psalms, would be implanted in the minds of the people, and become familiar to them. BP. GIBSON. It is evident, that the Psalms in metre are not known in the rubricks of the Church of England. And yet it was provided in the very beginning of the Reformation, by the act of uniformity then passed, that Psalms or Prayers, taken out of the Bible, might be used in divine service, provided that it were not done to the omitting of any part thereof. This was in the reign of Edward VI. In the course of that reign, Sternhold and Hopkins edited their version; which must have been brought into use, not by any special act of authority, but under the sanction of that provision. These facts have been stated, in a preceding part of the present work. They are again referred to, in order to make them a ground of the supposition that the posture of sitting grew out of the laxity of manner, in which this part of the public devotion was introduced. When the present writer was in England, during the whole of the year 1771,

and nearly the half of the year 1772, he was not in any Church wherein the people stood, at the singing of the metre Psalms. He does not remember to have seen it, during his short visit to that country, about fifteen years afterwards. And yet it seems well attested of late, that the posture of standing prevails in London and its vicinity, and elsewhere. It is said to have been introduced by the late excellent Bishop of London-Dr. Porteus: and this is very probable. The custom has travelled to some congregations in this country; wherein until lately, it is not probable there was a single Congregation who stood, during this part of the service. In order to put an end to the diversity, and under the conviction that standing is the more fit and decent posture, the Bishops proposed and the other house approved of the measure which has been adopted.

BP. WHITE.

"Whereas, a diversity of custom has of late years prevailed in the postures of ministers and of the people, during the act of singing the Psalms and the Hymns in metre; the former practice of sitting during this part of the service gradually giving way to the more comely posture of standing; it is hereby recommended by this Convention, that it be considered as the duty of the ministers of this Church, to encourage the use of the latter posture, and to induce the members of their Congregations, as circumstances may permit, to do the same; allowance to be made for cases, in which it may be considered inconvenient by age, or by infirmity. Practice under this recommendation, is to begin from the time when suitable infor mation shall be given by the Clergy to their respec tive flocks. And, it shall be the duty of every minister, to give notice of this recommendation to his Congregation, at such time, as in his discretion may be the most proper.

The carrying into effect of the contemplated change, may be delayed by the Bishop of any diocess. Or, where there is no Bishop, by the Ecclesiastical authority therein, until there shall have been time and opportunity of explaining satisfac torily the grounds of the measure."

See Journal of the General Convention of 1814

The Collect. (5.) ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness,

(1.) THE Holidays observed by our Church are either weekly or annual. Of the first sort are all the SUNDAYS in the year. To the second class belong the NATIVITY of our Lord, GOOD-FRIDAY, the day of the ASCENSION, and all those usually denominated SAINTS-DAYS.

The hallowing or sanctifying of every seventh day, by appropriating it to the more immediate service of God, and the offices of Religion, is a practice common to both Jews and Christians; with this difference, however, among others, that the Christians, in the system of their ecclesiastical polity, transferred the repose and worsnip of the Sabbath, or seventh day, to Sunday, or the first day of the week, in commemoration of the resurrection of the Saviour of the world.

Of the practice of holding religious assemblies on the first day of the week, or Sunday, in contradistiction to Saturday, or the Jewish Sabbath, frequent mention is made in the New Testament. About twenty-five years after our Lord's resurrection, and while all the Apostles, but James the greater, might yet be living, St. Paul preached to the disciples at Troas "upon the first day of the week, when they came together to break bread." To the Corinthians the same Apostle writes, "Concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."

The name of Lord's day likewise is nearly as ancient as the Church itself. That it had commonly obtained among Christians towards the close of the first century is evident, from St. John's manner of employing it in the book of Revelation. It is however probable, that this title was not generally given to the day, long before the Revelation was written; for had the Lord's day been its usual appellation, when Paul preached at Troas, or when he wrote his Epistle to the Corinthians, it is not likely that bou Luke and the Apostle should have

and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great omitted to mention it by its proper name, and describe it only as the first day of the week.

Though we have no evidence from Scripture that the observance of the Lord's day, as a season appropriated to religious solemnities, proceeded from any express command of our Saviour; yet it is to us a law of Christianity, having been instituted, if not by our Saviour himself, at least by his Apostles, and since confirmed by the constant practice of the Church.

When the early Fathers addressed the Gentiles, they scrupled not to call the Lord's day, Sunday, that being the name by which it was commonly distinguished among the Greeks and Romans. This is done among others, by JUSTIN MARTYR, and TERTULLIAN, in their respective apologies, though it is observable that the latter, when he writes to Christians, commonly uses the name of the Lord's day, and especially when he would distinguish it from the Jewish Sabbath.

The religious observance of the Lord's day has been uniformly recognised by Christians of every age and sect. Yet for the three first centuries it appears, that as soon as the celebration of the public worship was finished, the congregation usually returned to their ordinary occupations. But this might be in the first Christians an act of necessity rather than of choice, for till their Religion had obtained some countenance from the civil power, its professors were obliged to comply with the existing laws of the empire. CONSTANTINE, the first emperor that publicly professed Christianity, was likewise the first that made civil regulations respecting the keeping of Sunday. By an imperial edict he commands his Pagan as well as Christian subjects, all who lived under the Roman empire, to rest on the weekly return of the day dedicated to the Saviour. The soldiers of his army were some of them Heathens and some Christians. The Christians he directed to frequent the public service of the Church, and exempted them from every other employment during the whole of the day. The Heathens he