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you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace." They were desired to seek for the peace of the city, where they were in captivity, with an assurance of the blessing which should fall on themselves. Intercessory prayer never fails to bring its own blessing with it. My prayer," says the Psalmist, "shall return into my own bosom." Surely then we are bound on every account to seek the peace of Jerusalem, seeing we are not strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Such love has God to the gates of Sion, that he loves in an especial degree all who seek its stability. But assuredly the spiritual members of our church may confidently look for the benefit. In proportion as we love our church, from a sense of her excellence, we cannot fail to prosper in the welfare of the soul. consider the spirit of her services, and enter with heart-felt feeling into her expressness of humiliation and abasement, into her petitions and pleas for divine mercy; into that temper of filial confidence and reverential fear with which she leads the worshippers to the presence of the Most High, we shall then be led on from the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, to such perfection as is attainable by communion in these earthly courts.

If we

Yes, we may boldly say, (our adversaries, if on this point we have any,) our adversaries themselves being judges, we may boldly say with reference to the fitness and spirituality of our liturgy, they shall prosper that love thee. Here there is that manna provided, from which babes in Christ derive their sweetest nourishment, and that strong meat which is suited for them that are of full age.

But then, to enjoy this beuefit, we must enter into the spirit of the prayers we use. This cannot be

done without a careful consideration of their suitableness to the wants of man, and their accordance with the will of God. If you would love the church, see that you understand the words she puts into your mouth. Examine the congruity of the whole with the word of God, so that a divine superintendence seems to have been extended over its compilation. You will then see that we have a liturgy, reverential yet glowing; humbling, yet full of comfort; a liturgy which applies itself to every want of a returning sinner, and to every desire of a confirmed believer; a liturgy which can guide a transgressor in the deepest valley of distress, and which, assists the adoring saint in the highest fervour of devotion; a liturgy which unfolds fresh excellences to those who know it best, and requires nothing but spirituality in the worshippers, or a desire to become spiritual, to be the instrument of edifying the body of Christ, and of educating man to be the companion of God for ever.

We may appeal to the experience of every devout worshipper, and ask whence have you derived the most sacred lessons of comfort and instruction of holy joy and lively delight. Have you not found the fulfilment of the Psalmist's words in the spiritual use of our Liturgy. They shall prosper that love thee."

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The Psalmist adds another consideration for the completion of the direction he had given, which will apply with no less force than the former, to the Church of England: "For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, peace be within thee."

The Psalmist felt deeply the sociableness of the system for which he had so much zeal, and his love for Zion was warmed by human sympathies. And, Christian friends, is it not indeed a joyful and pleasant thing, to see brethren

"to dwell together in unity," "to go with the multitude to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that keep holy day." If we think of those

with whom we have gone up to worship, our brethren and companions, some of whom have been gathered to the church above, and remember the feeling of social sympathy which warmed the breast, the antepast of heavenly communion, can we not adopt the Psalmist's language, For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee."

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If also we call to mind what we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us," of the holy, pious, devoted pastors, whom God hath raised up to serve at her altars, and tread her courts-men who have been as lights in a dark place," wise to win souls, and patient to endure reproach, diligent in season and out of season- -Is there one tongue that will refuse to utter, for thy pastors' and teachers' sake, "I will now say, Peace be within thee."

If too, we look to the page of history, and survey the noble army of martyrs, who watered

Our

church with their blood, who made the bold and unflinching stand against the man of sin who broke the Popish yoke from off the neck of the English nation; if we consider their unshaken fortitude, their intrepid coolness at the stake, their blameless lives, their unwearied labours, the rich treasury of sacred lore they have left in their writings, may we not take up the declaration,-For thy martyrs' and reformers' sake, "I will now say,

Peace be within thee."

But to seek the peace of Jerusalem supposes that we participate in the blessings communicated thereby. To comply with the direction of the Psalmist, we must imbibe his spirit, "Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good." Is it unnecessary

to inquire whether we have this hearty regard to the house of the Lord?

The boast and condemnation of disobedient Israel was, "We have Abraham to our father." Many, it is to be feared, speak of attachment to the church, who deny her doctrines who are strangers to her spirit of devotion, and give no evidence on scriptural ground, that they will be numbered with her saints in glory. Our responsibility is in proportion to our advantages. Our advantages, I firmly believe, are pre-eminent over those enjoyed by the members of other communions. Our responsibility, therefore is alike pre-eminent. The name of churchmen will not save us in the day of judgment. A pure creed will not rescue us from the awful sentence recorded against the workers of iniquity. Let us then pray that the doctrines we profess to receive, may divorce us from sin, renew our souls, and make us ready to meet our God. Let us seek, that the worship in which we join, may form us to the taste and temper of the great multitude who stand before the throne and the Lamb.

There is a duty which you are called on to discharge at this time, to aid the Incorporated society for promoting the enlargement and building of churches and chapels. The demands for increased accommodation are urgent from every quarter. There is hardly a part of the country where the population has not gained on the means of religious worship formerly existing. There is indeed ample provision in the heart of this city for the reduced number of inhabitants; but in the environs, there is, as you know, a sad deficiency of means for religious worship. In one district only they are making exertions to raise ten churches. Within the last three months, a church has been opened in the neighbouring parish, which has a regular con

gregation to the fullest extent of its accommodation. A few of these worshipped formerly in other places, but from what I understand, a very large majority were neglecters of public worship. Thus, wherever a fresh church is opened, numbers are led to attend public ordinances, a whole neighbourhood is brought into spiritual connection with their pastor, and receive from him the benefits of local ministrations; a train is laid for improving all classes; schools are raised for the children; attention to the sick and needy, and various means are devised for the moral and spiritual improvement of the people. I may mention that the society has assisted in providing 435,000 sittings, of which 318,000 are for the poor. During the last

year it has spent £18,000, and fortyeight additional applications for assistance have been received. I trust, therefore, that as we are provided by the piety and liberality of our forefathers, all will think it their duty to contribute to those who have not these advantages which we peculiarly enjoy. While thus I ask your assistance, let me intreat you to pray that the divine blessing may attend on this and all other means of Christian usefulness. Pray that the Spirit may be poured out from on high; that the divine blessing may rest on all who are engaged in promoting the work of the Lord. Yea, 66 pray for the peace of Jerusalem, let every heart now say, Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces.”

THE following observations of Bishop Meade on the American Liturgy, apply still more forcibly to our own. They occur in a sermon delivered before the general convention of the American Episcopal Church; we are indebted for them to the Philadelphia Episcopal Recorder.

We delight to trace a very remarkable and pleasing resemblance between the church in which we minister at this day, and the primitive church, in some important and interesting particulars which identify them together, and make us feel that we are a part of that church which was built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone. It is well known to the Christian world, that it was the declared and most anxious desire and study of the reformers of our church, and the framers of our liturgy, to select

from the canons, creeds and liturgies of the primitive church, all those things relating to faith, discipline, and worship which were most conformable to the word of God. Next to the Scriptures these, though fallible, were the standards to which they referred. They delighted to retain as much as possible of the language, order of service and the forms of the primitive church. They wisely judged it to be a safe course to copy from those holy, resolute, devoted heavenlyminded men who lived nearest to the times of our Lord and his Apostles, who laboured in the same field on which they toiled, carried on the same work which they begun, and heard from the lips of the disciples those things which our Lord spake concerning his kingdom, during the last forty days and nights which he spent upon earth. No wonder then, that there should be so remarkable a coincidence in

many things of worship, doctrine and discipline, and that our church should be endeared to the hearts of all who are able to trace the similitude, by its numerous expressions, petitions, forms and usages which have come down to us almost unchanged from such high and holy antiquity.

Where shall I begin with my congratulations on this subject! Shall I speak of the resemblance in all important points between our church polity and that of primitive and apostolic times? What need is there, seeing that so many public sermons make mention of it-that so many tracts and volumes trace it out, and that there is but one sentiment among us on the subject? Who but reads in Scripture and other books of the "divers orders of ministers" in God's ancient Church. Who does not meet with the same in the Christian Church established by our Lord and the apostles, transmitted to the Fathers and continued in unbroken succession to the present day! In this old path our Church has always trodden and found rest therein.

Shall I speak of our unity in faith and doctrine with the primitive church? How can we differ, seeing that we have the same creeds which formed an important part of their regular service? How many millions of God's saints have in the very same words solemnly uttered their belief in all the great articles of the Christian faith from the early ages of the church! What a communion must thus be produced in the minds of men on these important subjects!

In how many other parts of our own and the primitive liturgies are the great distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith set forth. Witness that of the holy, undivided and glorious Trinity. How carefully has the church guarded it in every age against the gates of hell. Who can tear it from our own or any primitive liturgy without scat

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tering them all in ten thousand fragments to the winds? In every repetition of the doxology, after psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, we renew a declaration of our faith in the adorable Trinity, confirming and strengthening the same. can unite in the Te Deum-the Gloria Patri-Gloria in Excelsis -our Litany-Communion, and other services, without believing in the three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit? Whence came all these prayers, doxologies and ascriptions of praise? Without any excep

tion, from the liturgies of ancient times, which copied them if not always in the very words, yet in substance, from the Holy Scriptures. When we examine into some of these venerable relics which have come down to us from ancient times, and meet with so many well-known and hallowed ejaculations and supplications, we almost feel as if we were engaged in our own beloved liturgy.

I would especially notice one thing common to our own and the ancient liturgies. Our prayers are many, though forming one service, being broken into short expressive collects, and always conclude with the name of the blessed Saviour. Just so was it in the primitive liturgies. One only plea was put up, and that plea was, mercy through Christ. Through thy Christ, for thy Christ's sake, were the last words of every prayer, except such as were offered up immediately to the Son himself, as in the prayer of St. Chrysostom, the last of our service, which was addressed to the Son. This is a most blessed feature in our service and was in theirs. It was a strict compliance with the Saviour's direction that we should ask every thing in his name. The church seems fearful to utter many words in prayer, to put up more than one or two petitions, without stopping and mentioning the name of God's dear Son and entreating his inter

cession. What an effectual method of impressing this great doctrine on the heart!

Having said thus much as to our agreement in doctrine, and the mode of setting it forth, let me briefly allude to a close resemblance even in gestures and form. Are we sometimes called upon to fall low on our knees before the Lord in humble supplication, and then to rise up and stand before him and lift up our voices in praise! The primitive church had her days and seasons when all must kneel, and those on which it was forbidden to kneel, praise being comely in those days, and standing the comely posture for praise. Is it now our custom, when certain choice portions of the Gospel are read, for the people to rise up and hear it standing, as if Christ himself were speaking! So did the Christians of old stand up and listen to the gospel. Do we on our first entrance into the church fall on our knees and offer up a short prayer in silence before the Lord ? Do we in that most impressive service which invests the wellproved deacon with higher orders, call upon every soul in whom is the spirit of prayer to fall upon their knees and for the space of a few minutes engage in silent entreaty with the Lord, and is this ever so done as to surprise and overawe the whole assembly and almost constrain the ungodly to pray? Why do we these things? Because the fathers did the same, only much more frequently, in the midst of their solemn services, ages since. Does the minister at this day, when about to break the bread, and pour out the wine of our Lord's Supper to humble recipients, say to them in words commanding and encouraging, "Lift up your hearts," and the people immediately respond, "We lift them up unto the Lord." These very words were taken warm from the lips of God's best ministers and DECEMBER, 1839.

best people in the best days of the church. By how many millions of God's ministers and saints have those words been uttered each Sabbath throughout all Christendom from the times of which I speak to the present moment! In dispensing the sacred elements also, does the officiating priest or bishop lifting up the same, utter the wellknown words, "The body or blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life." Ah who can number the myriads of voices that have uttered, and ears that have heard those sweet sounds, those blessed benedictions in the use of sacramental services from the times of the Holy Fathers to the present day! They were the very same then as now, saving only the change which must be, in passing from one language to another. And what shall I say of the Lord's Prayer, so often in our mouths, so blended with every service of the church, proceeding first from the lips of Him who alone can teach us how to pray? This was the very beginning of all Christian liturgies. On this as a foundation were they built, the superstructures rising gradually and variously in the different churches planted by the Apostles. When we use these words in our various services, sometimes again and again on the same Sabbath, can we otherwise than think with emotions of gratitude to its Author, of that communion of the hearts of the faithful produced by the use of these same words, for eighteen centuries, every day, every hour, by the countless myriads that have uttered them? Is it not probable that more true prayer has gone up to heaven through the medium of these few words than of any or all other forms ever used among men?

To what has been said as to forms and prayers, I might add, that as to all the great festivals of the church, such as Christmas,

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