"The aspect which it wears towards those of other communions is fearful in the extreme. No purity of faith, no labor of love, no personal piety, no manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit, will avail anything. Though steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, they pass not through the eye of this needle, and shall not see the kingdom of God." The great evil of such a system is, that it is a religion of forms, of mysterious rites and awful prerogatives. Heaven in mercy save us from a religion which substitutes these things for the gospel of the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. To Episcopacy in any form, the one great objection which includes almost all others is this-it unavoidably, if not intentionally, encourages that besetting sin of man,—the innate propensity to substitute the outward form for the inward spirit of religion. We close, therefore, this protracted view of the Government and Worship of the Primitive Church, with a deepened impression of the greatness of that wisdom from on high, which guided the apostles in adopting an organization so simple and at the same time so efficient in promoting those great ends for which the church of Christ was instituted; which also directed them in the establishment of those simple and impressive forms of worship, which most happily promote the spirituality and sincerity in the worship of God, that alone are well pleasing in his sight. Nor can we resist the conviction, that the substitution of the Episcopal government and worship for the apostolical, was an efficient if not the principal cause of that degeneracy and formality, which soon succeeded to the primitive spirituality and purity of the church. It began in the multiplication of church officers and ceremonies. Everything that could attract attention to religion by its pomp and ceremony was carefully brought to the aid of the church. It had been alleged by the heathen as an objection to the Christians, that they had no solemn rites, nothing attrac tive, nothing imposing to command the admiration of men. To obviate this objection and reconcile the heathen to the Christian religion, not a few even of these pagan rites, with a little variation, were incorporated into the rituals of the churches. After this fatal departure from the spirit of the gospel, the progress of declension exhibited in constantly increasing ostentation and formality, was easy and rapid. The elegant and forcible language of Robert Hall is the happiest expression which we can give to our view of this speedy and disastrous degeneracy. "The descent of the human mind, from the spirit to the letter, from what is vital and intellectual to what is ritual and external in religion, is the true source of idolatry and superstition in all the multifarious forms which they have assumed; and as it began early to corrupt the religion of nature, or more properly of patriarchal tradition, so it soon obscured the lustre and destroyed the simplicity of the Christian institute. In proportion as genuine devotion declined, the love of pomp and ceremony increased. The few and simple rites of Christianity were extolled beyond all reasonable bounds; new ones were invented, to which mysterious meanings were attached! till the religion of the New Testament became in process of time as insupportable as the Mosaic law." APPENDIX. THE reader will better understand the propriety of calling the Episcopal liturgy “an extract of the mass translated," by comparing some extracts from the Mass Book, with corresponding portions from the Book of Common Prayer. For the sake of comparison they are set in parallel columns. The forty days of Lent. The ember days at the four seasons, being the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, of the first week in Lent; of Whitsun-week; after the 14th of September; and of the third week in Advent. The Wednesdays and Fridays of all the four weeks of Advent. The vigils or eves of Whitsunday ; of the Saints Peter and Paul; of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin ; of All Saints; and of Christmas day. All Fridays throughout the year. The abstinence on Saturday is dispensed with, for the faithful throughout the United States, for the space of ten years (from 1833) except when a fast falls on Saturday. Ash-Wednesday. Good - Friday. Other Days of Fasting; on which the Church requires such a Measure of Abstinence, as is more especially suited to extraordinary Acts and Exercises of Devotion: The Season of Lent. The Ember-days at the Four Seasons, being the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, after the first Sunday in Lent, the Feast of Pentecost, September 14, and December 13. The three Rogation Days, being the Monday, Tuesday, and Wedesday before Holy Thursday, or the Ascension of our Lord. All the Fridays in the year, except Christmas-Day. PREFACE. It is truly meet, and just, right and available, that we always, and in all places, give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God: Through Christ our Lord; by whom the Angels praise thy Majesty, the dominations adore it, the powers tremble before it, the heavens and the heavenly virtues, and blessed Seraphim, with common joy, glorify it: With whom we beseech thee, that we may be admitted to join our voices; saying in an humble manner : Dearly beloved brethren, the scripture moveth us, in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness, and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God, our heavenly Father, but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy. And although we ought, at all times, humbly to acknowledge our sins MASS BOOK. [The Lord's Prayer often repeated.] PRAYER BOOK. before God; yet ought we chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me, with a pure heart and humble voice, unto the throne of the heavenly grace, saying [The same wearisome repeti tions.] Gloria Patri. 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. Venite, exultemus Domino. Come let us praise the Lord with joy; let us joyfully sing to God our Saviour. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and let us make a jubilation to him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all Gods; for the Lord will not reject his people. For in his hands are all the ends of the earth; and the heights of the mountains are his. For the sea is his, and he made Gloria Patri. 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. ["By this rubric," say the Commissioners of 1661, "the Gloria Patri is appointed to be said six times ordinarily, in every morning and evening service, frequently eight times in the morning and sometimes ten; which, we think carries with it, at least, an appearance of that vain repetition which Christ forbids."] Venite, exultemus Domino. O come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God; and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; |