.^ 
 
 A CHARGE 
 
 DELIVERED TO THE 
 
 CLERGY OF THE ARCHDEACONRY 
 
 OF THE EAST-RIDING, 
 
 AT 
 
 THE ORDINARY VISITATION, 
 
 1844. 
 
 BY ROBEKT ISAAC WILBERFORCE, M.A., 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF THE EAST-RIDING. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 YORK: R. SUNTER. 
 
 HULL: W. R. GODDARD, 
 
 MDCCCXLIV.
 
 VENERABLE ARCHDEACON^ TODD, 
 
 RECTOR OF SETTRINGTON, 
 
 TO 
 
 THE EEVEREND THE RUEAL DEANS, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 THE OTHER CLERGY OF THE EAST-RIDING 
 
 WHO REQUESTED ITS PUBLICATION, 
 
 THIS CHARGE 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
 
 Z uiuc ^
 
 A CHARGE TO THE CLERGY, 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 My Reverend Brethren, — I cannot call your attention to 
 the public measures by which our position has been modified during 
 the past year, without expressing my regret that our legislators 
 are not content to leave us to the discharge of those unnoticed but 
 not unimportant duties to which we have vowed our souls. It 
 certainly is but reasonable, now that the legislative body has ceased 
 to consist exclusively of Churchmen, that it should abstain from an 
 intrusion into our internal affairs from which all other societies in 
 the country are exempted. We have pledged ourselves in return for 
 that protection, which secures to us the gifts of our departed bene- 
 factors, to make no laws for our own government without the 
 consent of her Majesty, and we consent to adopt those persons as 
 our spiritual rulers who find favour in her sight. This established 
 settlement, the main body of the clergy, I am persuaded, have no 
 present wish to interrupt. It is the more important that we should 
 not be driven to doubt its wisdom by finding that spiritual questions 
 are interfered with by parties who are neither qualified nor entitled 
 to decide them, but whom the vague name of an Established Church 
 persuades that we are only functionaries of the civil power, and 
 have less claim to independent rights than those who are merely 
 tolerated by the magistrate. Whereas we differ from them only 
 in that our rights being recognised by the State, we have been 
 
 A 3
 
 contented hitherto to leave them undefended. We have no com- 
 mittee of privileges like the unestabUshed possessors of religious 
 endowments, because having an authorised representation in the 
 Houses of Convocation, we cannot constitutionally recognise any 
 other body. Hence that difficulty in expressing our united opinion, 
 which is not felt by those who have a more pliable organization. 
 But what must be the result, supposing that this circumstance is 
 turned to our disadvantage, and that our rights are less respected 
 because they are recognised by the laws of the land ? Such a state 
 of things we need the less anticipate after the recent decision of the 
 House of Lords against the extinction of one of our most ancient 
 bishoprics, because it vdtnesses a disposition to respect the wishes 
 of the clergy on a question on which they have peculiar interest 
 and knowledge. On the question itself I say nothing : it is hard 
 to speak of it with the calmness which is due to the character and 
 place of its supporters ; but whatever may be the result in the 
 present year, I feel persuaded that the well-nigh unanimous voice 
 of the clergy vrill ultimately be successful. Let us hope that this 
 point conceded, we may not be compelled to step forth again from 
 our privacy, and make our voice heard by the legislature. 
 
 Somewhat similar may be said respecting another important 
 measure, which may now almost be spoken of as certain, whether 
 concluded during the present year or no, I mean that by which it 
 is proposed to extinguish peculiar jurisdictions, and to subject the 
 whole body of the clergy to the bishops in whose dioceses they dwell. 
 It is not a little surprising that it should have been left to the 
 British Parliament, in the year 1844, to remedy an e^dl which com- 
 menced with the foundation of the reformed order of Benedictines 
 of Clugni, A.D. 1063. This was the beginning of those exemp- 
 tions which were introduced by the bishops of Rome between the 
 11th and 16th centuries, and which formed one of the grand expe- 
 dients by which they maintained their influence in all parts of 
 Christendom. When the Crown, at the Reformation, asserted 
 to itself that secular power which had been usurped by the 
 Pope, these exempt parishes ceased to be under any episcoj^al 
 authority. By the general laws of the Church of England they
 
 would have fallen again under the jurisdictions from which they 
 had severally been withdrawn ; but they had gained a legal hold 
 upon the custom of the country, which the strength of private in- 
 terests made it difficult to relax. It was reserved for the present 
 period, when individual interests have been swallowed up in the 
 augmented population and wealth of the country, to withdraw those 
 restraints which have so long prevented the laws and customs of 
 the Church from flowing into their natural channel. The measure 
 which is at present in progress, especially if compared with that 
 which was introduced in former years, encourages the hope that 
 Parliament will be contented to abstain for the future from direct 
 legislation respecting Church matters, and will merely unloose the 
 shackles which its jealousy has in past times imposed upon our 
 efforts. What the Church needs of the State is only to be relieved 
 from the burthen of those laws by which, in former times, she was 
 compelled to exercise a coercive control over schismatical parties, 
 — laws, the perpetuation whereof only mocks her impotence and 
 embarrasses her efforts — and to be allowed freer scope to direct her 
 existing resources towards the benefit of voluntary members of her 
 communion. 
 
 In no part of the county will the effect of the measure at present 
 in progress be more important than among ourselves. The exist- 
 ence of forty-nine parishes under peculiar jurisdictions within the 
 limits of this single Archdeaconry has interfered materially with that 
 unity of action which is essential to the efficiency of the Church. 
 We have been taught on the highest authority that a house divided 
 against a house falleth. We cannot be ignorant that unless we 
 are ready to act together, in the spirit of a frank and cheerful ac- 
 quiescence, looking less to the requirements of law than to the 
 suggestions of conscience, we can little answer to the necessities of 
 our country. To draw forth this unity of action, the Church exacts 
 a promise from every one of her ordained children, that they will 
 not only render such obedience as can be enforced by penal enact- 
 ment, but likewise that they will co-operate in every godly attempt 
 to which their aid is invited by her constituted authorities. " Will 
 you reverently obey your ordinary, and other chief ministers — 
 
 A 4
 
 8 
 
 following with a glad mind and will their godly admonitions ? " 
 On this principle must depend all attempts at united action, which 
 under any circumstances could hardly be enforced by statute, and 
 till the synods of our Church regain their liberty, must depend 
 altogether on the authority of conscience. Its free development 
 will be facilitated by the change which brings us together. No 
 peculiar jurisdiction Avill interfere henceforth with the obligations 
 of owe oath of service : we shall have the same places of meeting ; 
 the calls of charity and the demands for mutual concert will be 
 responded to with augmented ease — and, therefore, with increased 
 effect. 
 
 If I dwell at length on this subject, it is because I feel that upon 
 it depends the main effect of the present meeting. For without 
 renouncing my official right to make this court an opportunity for 
 the enforcement of any doctrinal truths which may demand notice, 
 it seems more expedient to urge upon you the consideration of 
 such practical questions as affect the due discharge of our common 
 duties. In doing so, I can appeal to that solemn promise which 
 assures me of your concurrence. Should I suggest what may be 
 inapplicable to the circumstances of some, or divergent from the 
 practice of others, it is much that your " glad mind and will " 
 should at all events co-operate with my attempts. 
 
 Let me bespeak your assistance, then, in the attainment of two 
 great objects, of primary importance to the inhabitants of this 
 Riding — an increase in the means of instruction, and better oppor- 
 tunities for public worship. 
 
 The first of these 'must be attained by augmenting the number 
 of our schools, and increasing their efficiency. In several places, 
 subscriptions have been entered into, during the past year, for the 
 purpose of providing national schools : an advantage of which 
 many large villages are still destitute. Yet, without such assistance, 
 the poor cannot possibly provide their children vdth suitable in- 
 struction. I do not stop to demonstrate the importance of education, 
 which few in the present age deny : for the question which meets 
 us in this day is, not whether children shall be taught, but 
 whether the lessons of their childhood shall be associated with the
 
 fear of God, and an attachment to the institutions of their country. 
 For this end, it is not less material to render our schools efficient 
 than to create them. And no schools will permanently flourish 
 without such an organized system of inspection as may enable 
 masters to profit by recent improvements, and remind them that 
 their meritorious labours do not escape observation. A government 
 inspection has been talked of : but happily it is forbidden by its 
 immense expense, as well as repudiated by the freedom of our 
 institutions. It would be premature to enter into any detailed 
 calculation on such an occasion as the present — enough, that while 
 the government inspection of such a district as the East Riding, 
 according to the calculations submitted to the Privy Council, 
 would require an expenditure approaching £1,000 per annum, the 
 Church might effect the same object vidth full as great efficiency 
 for much less than a third part of that sum. And were such a 
 system once in action, her Majesty's government, having of course 
 no object but the general improvement, might be disposed to aid 
 us in effecting a good, which could not otherwise be attained 
 with similar economy. But for this purpose we must make a 
 commencement ourselves. Government will do nothing till it sees 
 us fairly in action. Our several local boards of education require 
 to be supported with more spirit. We must interest our lay bre- 
 thren in their piuposes and prosperity. Each year should see an 
 increase in the effect which we produce upon the county. We need 
 to be awake and stirring, each in our respective posts, to be earnest 
 and importunate, yet calm and forbearing ; in meekness instructing 
 those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure would give them 
 repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. 
 
 This is a subject, to which, if it pleases God to spare me, I hope 
 to return on subsequent occasions, when I purpose to lay before 
 you a still more detailed statement of the actual wants of the 
 Archdeaconry^ than that lately circulated in the report of our 
 Diocesan Board, and for which we are indebted to the exertions of 
 an indefatigable layman, Robert Baxter, Esq., of Doncaster. But 
 I pass now to the other object for which I ask your attention — an 
 increase, namely, in the opportunities of worship.
 
 10 
 
 Here, likewise, it is a subject of thankfulness that during the 
 present year two Churches have been erected, St. Stephen's at 
 Hidl, and St. Paul's at Tickton ; and that the Church at Leven, 
 which formerly stood like a lodge in the wilderness, has been 
 brought into the centre of that busy life which it was designed to 
 hallow. These are all movements in the right direction. Yet 
 much more remains, before the people of this Riding have places 
 enough for their public worship. Nor must I pass over what is 
 not of less importance than the erection of new Churches — the 
 restoration of old ones. Great improvements have been made this 
 year at Lund and Skerne, in the Deanery of North Harthill ; and 
 the large and handsome Church of All Saints,* at Hunmanby, has 
 been restored, on the whole, in a very satisfactory manner. The 
 same work is in progress in several other places. In these cases, 
 I observe, with peculiar pleasure, the abandonment of that odious 
 principle which would carry personal distinctions into the House 
 of God. A decent regard to family convenience none can censiure ; 
 but the erection of lofty partitions, whereby the united worship of 
 God is seriously impeded, and the poor are pewed out of their 
 rightful inheritance ; the fictitious sale of seats in our Parish 
 Chvirches, to which the seller can give no title, and to wliich the 
 buyer acquires none ; the illegal locking up of boxes in the com- 
 mon area of the Church, as though they were private dwellings ; 
 these are among the causes of that division which has thinned, and 
 that irreverence which has polluted us. 
 
 The commencements which have been already made may en- 
 courage those who are deterred from attempting to rectify evils 
 which testify to the accumulated neglect of ages. But it is not 
 so difficult, surely, to renovate our Churches, as it was to rear 
 them. Let it only be understood that such restoration, like the 
 original erection of the fabric, must be looked for from the volun- 
 tary eiForts of devout persons : to expect it from the enforced 
 contributions of the temporary occupiers of the soil would be as 
 unreasonable as illusory. All that can at present be hoped from 
 
 * The improvements at Hunmanby and Skerne are owing respectively 
 to the liberality of Captain M it ford and Charles Arkwiight, Ksq.
 
 11 
 
 such parties is, to maintain with decency what already exists : 
 when their eyes have become accustomed to associate solemnity 
 and reverence with the service of God, their liberality will be 
 more successfully appealed to. 
 
 For I nowise question that the habit of devotion would in time 
 produce, everywhere, its natural effect in an augmented zeal for 
 God's service. And it is to no lack of wealth that the niggard 
 meanness which has debased our public worship must be attri- 
 buted. For every other public work, means are readily provided. 
 Roads and bridges, drains and barriers, private houses and ex- 
 changes, appear wherever they are needed : men have only to 
 feel, therefore, that it is an honour to bring of their substance 
 into their Master's Courts — that the best security is to lend to 
 Him — that the only safe mode of preserving the rest, is to hallow 
 it by setting apart a selected portion — that those who store up 
 everything for themselves are in danger of losing all ; and that 
 spirit which raised our sacred edifices will be developed anew for 
 their restoration. Then will men learn the true secret of at once 
 expending their means and enjoying them ; and every occupant 
 of property will be interested in sustaining the common record of 
 the devotion of his parish. But it must be from ourselves that 
 such efforts must commence. Let the incumbent, who wishes 
 that his Church should be a place smtable for divine service, pro- 
 cure a plan from some competent architect, setting forth such 
 improvements as are needed ; and, if possible, also, a drawing, 
 exhibiting the effect of the building when completely re-edified. 
 Let him set this before him as an object for his efforts. Let him 
 exhibit it as well to his parishioners as to those who have an in- 
 terest in the soil ; and experience shews that the cases will not 
 be few in which the liberality of his neighbours will in time re- 
 spond to his call. Especially may this be expected when he himself 
 possesses the means of commencing so good a work ; that he will have 
 the will is a point not to be questioned, for a man must be lost to 
 all feeling of the real dignity of his ofiice who can be content that the 
 place of his public ministrations shall be sordid and neglected, 
 while his private dwelling is ornamental and commodious.
 
 12 
 
 One caution I must give to Church-restorers ; — that they will 
 consult economy, as well as taste, by procuring a plan from an 
 architect before they commence their restorations. The attempts 
 at reparation, which have left things worse than they found them, 
 fully justify the law, which I hope the Rural Deans of this Arch- 
 deaconry will invariably assist me in enforcing, that no works 
 shall be commenced without a specific permission. I must not 
 omit to mention, that an architect at Hull, Mr. Lockwood, 
 has consented to give gratuitous assistance, by inspecting any 
 plans for partial improvements which may be submitted to him. 
 On this head, caution is the more needed, because architecture, 
 unhappily, is one of those sciences on which the popular mind 
 still remains to be educated. No one, in the present day, would 
 put his name to an ungrammatical inscription ; no one would 
 attempt any random alteration of a musical composition : but, 
 though architecture has certain fixed laws, no less than grammar 
 or harmony, yet men feel no shame at perpetrating barbarisms in 
 places the most public, and materials the most enduring, forget- 
 ting that in a few years the extension of knowledge will expose 
 these discreditable monuments of their ignorance. Places might 
 be mentioned where a false economy has already defeated its own 
 object, and where considerable svuns have been wasted through 
 the ignorance of those to whom ornamental works have been 
 entrusted. 
 
 You will not suppose that these observations on the restoration 
 of Chiu-ches are dictated by a mere antiquarian partiality for a 
 peculiar style of architecture, or that they terminate in outward 
 beauty or artistic taste. Such trivialities consist neither with the 
 solidity of our nation nor the sobriety of our Church ; they are 
 unworthy of being put in competition with the serious and real 
 interests of actual life. But the ground of my recommendations 
 is, that a due attention to such external circumstances is ancillary 
 to that which is a main part of religion ; that slight causes may, 
 in this case, be the parent of great results ; that the revival 
 among us of the habit of worship may be furthered, as its loss is 
 not uncertainly indicated by the outward aspect of our ritual.
 
 13 
 
 Now, practical religion consists mainly in two things — obedience 
 and worship. The first whereof is chiefly relative to our per- 
 sonal duties ; but the second has great reference to that public 
 homage, which, as part of the collective body of the Church, we 
 owe to God. It is the very condition and object for the sake 
 whereof the Church of Christ was formed, and in which its life 
 is situate : the discriminating circumstance which separates the 
 communion of all saints from that individual adherence which 
 any single votary might render to God. Now it cannot be 
 doubted that it would increase our people's sense of the import- 
 ance of public worship, did they see us consider nothing wasted 
 which contributed to invest it with all the accessories of dignity 
 and honour ; did we desire obviously to render God's house the 
 best house in every parish. 
 
 And I beg you to consider how much this would tend, in itself, 
 to set forth the Church in its proper character, both among the 
 various societies which of late years have risen up around us, and 
 among those many individuals who are still hovering on the verge 
 of our communion. We cannot be igiiorant that the circum- 
 stances of our age and country have given a preponderating in- 
 fluence to one portion of the truth of God's word ; that religion 
 in the present day has come to be looked upon as a mere per- 
 sonal concernment. Now while we nowise deny, or rather while we 
 strenuously affirm, that religion is an individual concern, we are 
 bound to contend, with equal earnestness, that it is not an indi- 
 vidual concern only. The service of God is not based merely on 
 our natural feelings, on the development of any innate principles 
 of human judgment, on the proclivity of the will, on the calmness 
 of the understanding ; it is a divine graft and superhuman in- 
 fluence, which has its root above, which descends to individuals 
 from the body, and is partaken by each member of the divine 
 household, through his union with that parent source wherein it 
 resides. Now the gifts of grace are nowhere promised to men as 
 individuals, but as members together of Christ, and as the family 
 of God. What is needed, then, is not to withdraw men's atten- 
 tion from other truths, but to set this also before them. Such is
 
 14 
 
 the glory of God's grace, wheresoever any of its beams have 
 visited the soul, that the regenerate taste cannot choose but 
 recognize its lustre and beauty. It were idle, therefore, to 
 attempt to withdraw men from whatsoever their consciences have 
 affirmed to be beneficial ; nay, the very suspicion is likely enough 
 to excite distrust and arouse opposition. But to set before them 
 a new truth which does not militate with the old, but illustrate 
 and explain it — which opens enlarged views of God's kingdom — 
 which unfolds a fresh idea — which calls forth their feelings for the 
 future, without doing violence to the past — this is the true prin- 
 ciple of a divine philosophy. " Whom therefore ye ignorantly 
 worship, Him declare I unto you." Our office, therefore, must 
 be, to instil truth rather than to expose error. The parties with 
 whom we have to do have no rival system of belief, no truth 
 which can be set in opposition to our own, but they know not 
 the "manner" of Christ's kingdom, — the transcendent doctrines 
 of His real incorporation with the body of His elect, that He 
 tabernacles among the sons of men, His mysterious presence 
 with the congi-egation of His people, — of all this they need 
 to be informed. Yet how shall we deal with men who are 
 swayed rather by sense than faith — feeling than testimony — and 
 to whom the history of the past has never been unfolded. There 
 is but one thing which can speak to such men's minds, — the 
 subduing effects of a truly Christian worship. If God be indeed 
 present in the congregation of His saints, if His mysterious in- 
 fluence is vouchsafed there, we must believe that where this 
 portion of religion is adequately set forth, and human efforts 
 properly minister to the divine praise, there will be manifested a 
 present influence which will arrest the attention and carry along 
 the will, so that the feelings of mere worldly interest will be gra- 
 dually elevated into the perceptions of Christian sympathy. 
 Thus was it with the Christian assemblies of old, when he that be- 
 lieved not or was unlearned, found the secrets of his heart made 
 manifest ; and so falling down he worshipped God, and reported 
 that God was of a truth with His people. What is needed, then 
 is, not to tell men their duty, but to accustom them to feel it.
 
 15 
 
 By the neglect of warship has the Church lost her children, — and 
 she must regain them by its revival. Till this portion of their 
 office and heritage is felt and valued by our people, till they take 
 a part in the public service of God as their highest privilege and 
 pecixliar blessing, as that which challenges for them a share in the 
 divine promises, and gives them place and entrance amidst the 
 famUy of God, we have taken no step towards the enlargement of 
 their spiritual sense, because they have not learnt the only lan- 
 guage in which mankind are to be instructed. 
 
 If public worship were not thus intimately connected with the 
 existence of Christian Society, if it were not a recognition of its 
 character, and proof of its being, we might well marvel at the 
 importance attached to it by the early Christians. 
 
 The only express command which bound them to assemble for 
 religious duties was our Lord's order to celebrate the Holy Com- 
 munion. The Hebrew converts, indeed, might refer to an 
 incidental expression in the long disputed Epistle addressed to 
 them by St. Paul. But the first Gentile believers, at all events, 
 could not ground their ordinary worship on any recorded com- 
 mand either of Christ or his Apostles, while the mere impulse of 
 a natural feeling would hardly have led them to disregard the 
 prohibition of the magistrate. Nor could they have founded their 
 custom on the precepts of the Old Testament ; for such collective 
 meetings as theirs, though introduced into the synagogue after 
 the captivity, were no part either of Mosaic or Patriarchal law. 
 Yet their assemblages for public worship were the main thing 
 which excited the attention of heathen persecutors, who would 
 have been indifferent what opinions pervaded the depths of 
 society, if its surface had continued unbroken. 
 
 Why, then, did the first Christians provoke what might seem 
 so needless a jealousy ? Why did not they allow their opinions 
 to spread like a literary taste or philosophical conviction ? What 
 induced them to challenge opposition from the empires of the 
 world, by presenting themselves in the obnoxious light of a 
 spiritual kingdom ? Yet we find everywhere that public worship 
 was the fundamental law of their religious union ; as men could
 
 16 
 
 not be Christians save by participation in that sacred rite of the 
 Lord's Supper, whereby they were united to Christ, so were 
 public prayer and praise held to be the necessary conditions of 
 individual welfare. The reason was, that private benefit was felt 
 in that age to result from participation with Christ, as engrafted 
 members of His mystic body. And, therefore, the independent 
 allegiance of unconnected worshippers was not enough ; the 
 Gospel was not to be locked up in each man's bosom, his religion 
 being a personal affiance, his faith the judgment of his own un- 
 derstanding ; but social worship was the necessary condition of 
 church-membership. To prescribe it was as needless as to assert 
 the inspiration of the Gospel, when once admitted to be the words 
 of the son of God ; for, allow public worship to be communion 
 with Christ, and what believer could be indifferent to the Lord's 
 presence ? 
 
 Now, the increased importance of public worship in the present 
 day, is exactly proportionate to its diminished estimation. We 
 need it, not only for its inherent advantages, but also as the stay 
 or restorer of that very truth, from which in earlier days it was a 
 spontaneous and unbidden produce. For, can we disguise from 
 ourselves that a large proportion even of our more earnest attend- 
 ants are wholly ignorant that any peculiar gift is to be expected 
 through the instrumentality of Christian ministers ? Is not their 
 object instruction, if not excitement ? Do not they measvure the 
 effect by what they feel, and think the present result the sole test 
 of edification ? Have they any serious belief that the Church of 
 Christ is a spiritual kingdom, and that each minister in his appointed 
 place is a steward of the mysteries of God ? On this subject we 
 may quote the opinion of a well informed and dispassionate his- 
 torian, who illustrates the little sensation produced by the exclusion 
 of the nonjuring bishops in the year 1688, by remarking that the 
 " established liturgy was and is at present in the eyes of the great 
 majority, the distinguishing mark of the Anglican Church, far 
 more indeed than episcopal government, whereof so little is known 
 by the mass of the people, that its abolition would make no per- 
 ceptible difference in their religion." Mr. Hallam's assertion is
 
 17 
 
 strikingly borne out by what befell the Church of Scotland at the 
 very period to which his observations refer. The mass of the 
 Scotch, except in a small portion of the West, were living con- 
 tentedly under the episcopal government which had prevailed 
 chiefly in that country from the year 1612 until the aera of the 
 revolution. To what can we refer their ready compliance ^vith 
 the interested attempts of William III. to introduce Presbyterian 
 doctrine and discipline, save to their lack of an established Liturgy. 
 Except to those who were well taught in the principles of their 
 faith, the change from one source of authority to another seemed 
 immaterial. A portion only of the more educated classes continued 
 from conviction to be members of the same primitive communion 
 with ourselves, and remain as a scanty remnant in the inheritance 
 of their fathers. 
 
 A sunilar change, Mr. Hallam asserts, might easily befall the 
 English Church, but for the national attachment to the Book of 
 Common Prayer. Indeed its possibility is increased by causes 
 which at the revolution were yet slumbering in the womb of time. 
 For while the other ranks of the ministry have expanded them- 
 selves in a manner somewhat proportioned to our increased popula- 
 tion, the unhappy limitation in the number of our spiritual rulers 
 has precluded any proportionate development of this part of our 
 system. Our altars are served by ten times as many priests as 
 in the time of Elizabeth, but cqpfirmation and orders are not 
 ministered by more hands than were found needfril for a tythe of 
 our population. This evU, my reverend brethren, can hardly be 
 remedied till the residue, of the clergy follow your examjile, and 
 petition her Majesty to grant that opportunity of synodical delibera^" 
 tion, which she is pledged to concede to their request — but its 
 existence sufficiently accounts for the popular ignorance. Formu- 
 laries and Canons vrill never teach the mass of mankind, whose 
 instructor must be experience, and the key to whose faith lies in 
 the usages of the age. Till the episcopate therefore is so far 
 increased that its functions can be adequately developed — a thing 
 at present notoriously impossible — what marvel if our people 
 believe the Bishop to be only a check upon the actions of the 
 clergy, and that his functions might be as easily discharged by any
 
 18 
 
 commissary of the crown. Indeed, it is to be feared that this 
 notion is not confined merely to vulgar minds. Now it is vain 
 to tell such persons of those more sacred objects of this order 
 which our service book declares ; the ancient maxim Ecclesia est 
 in. Episcopo is a mere unpractical statement till it is exhibited in 
 action. Under these circumstances, what remains to constitute a 
 Churchman save attachment to our public ritual. If the principles 
 of our system are so little appreciated that the majority of our 
 people neither know nor value those peculiar blessings which 
 result from union with an Apostolic Church, to what can their 
 attachment be linked, save to that mode of public worship, which 
 at all events is no unmeaning name, but which lives and acts 
 among them. A Churchman is in reality a man who believes in 
 the doctrines, and lives in the communion of the Church ; who 
 abides i. e. "in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in 
 breaking of bread and in prayer." But the name is popularly 
 applied in a loose, indefinite, uncertain manner ; and persons are 
 supposed to be Churchmen who lead unholy lives, and are habitu- 
 ally absent from the Lord's table. With many, the word has no 
 other signification th^m that the parties are occasional listeners in 
 the House of God. Now the habit of public worship is the only 
 mode of conveying conviction to such minds. Its office is to lead 
 men to that belief from which in past ages it resulted. Let them 
 once learn to regard it in its true light, as the collective action of 
 the Christian community ; as sustaining our title to be one with 
 that family of Christ, with which is the Lord's Spirit; as essentially 
 distinct from any private offering or voluntary assemblage ; and 
 we shall have done much to teach them the forgotten truth, that 
 Christ is truly present with His Church among the generations of 
 mankind. 
 
 Our whole conduct then, my reverend brethren, in the per- 
 formance of our public office, must be subservient to the great 
 end of leading our people to regard public worship in its true 
 light. To say that we should ourselves be grave, reverential, and 
 devout, is almost superfluous. But it may be as well to notice, 
 that an attention to what may seem the minor decencies of rubrical 
 observance, falls under the same head. It is because we are in
 
 19 
 
 God's presence, discharging as His ministers a public part, that 
 each word and gesture is to be adapted to that authorised rule which 
 directs our conduct. Therefore, are we clothed in a peculiar dress, 
 that we may be taken out of the ordinary rule of our every-day 
 demeanour. "WTiat would be aifectation in a private man, is but 
 a due sense of the solemnity of his office in the public messenger 
 of the Church of God. Now, unless our people see this distinc- 
 tion regarded by ourselves, are they likely to regard it ? This is 
 doubtless the reason why a punctual observance of its rubrical 
 directions is demanded from every minister of our Church. It 
 were superfluous to inculcate the necessity of this obedience, for 
 it needs no words to prove, that what men have solemnly promised 
 they are bound to perform. If it be urged that some rubrical 
 irregularities are too trivial to require notice, let us remember that 
 it is the more inexcusable to be led by trivial causes to depart 
 from the enjoined orders of the Church, The case seems to be 
 provided for in the preface to the Prayer Book, which reminds us 
 that " although the keeping or omitting of a ceremony in itself 
 considered is but a small thing ; yet the wUful and contemptuous 
 transgression and breaking of a common order and discipline is no 
 small offence before God." Nor let it be said that individual 
 clergymen are exonerated from this guilt, when obedience is not 
 enforced upon them by their Bishop ; for the Order of the Prayer 
 Book, which enjoins them to refer dubious cases to his decision, 
 expressly limits his dispensing power to such cases as are not 
 contrary to anything which is contained in this book. We give 
 proof, therefore, that we look at worship as a public ministration 
 in God's presence, when we render a careful attention to its pre- 
 scribed solemnities. Through that perfect uniformity, which 
 results from dutiful obedience to an established order, the office of 
 prayer being discharged everywhere with one form and one spirit, 
 exhibits itself as the uniting principle of a national devotion. 
 ^^^lat better fitted than this spectacle, backed by the fervent co- 
 operation of innumerable worshippers, to regain those who have 
 wandered from the fold, to absorb them again into the mighty 
 stream of the public piety, and to teach them the true meaning of 
 united worship ? b 2
 
 20 
 
 It is as contributing, tlien, to such an enlightened judgment, 
 that an attention to the external circumstances of devotion is 
 worthy of regard. That the House of God should accord with 
 the solemn and inspiring feelings of devotion, — that when men 
 enter it, they should remember the Psalmist's words, " O come, 
 let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our 
 Maker," — that every knee should be bent in reverence, every 
 voice lifted up in adoration ; these are no trivial niceties, whether 
 we regard the effect upon our brethren, or what is due to the 
 ceremonial of His coxirts, who is King of kings and Lord of 
 lords. 
 
 And here must be noticed a difficulty which you will no doubt 
 experience, and which it will require patience as well as reason to 
 overcome. When men have been unaccustomed, as in many of 
 our villages, to take part in the service, they are open to the 
 delusion that viTritten prayers are in some measure inconsistent 
 with fervency of spirit, and that the affections will not flow forth 
 within the artificial barriers of a preconceived devotion. That it 
 has been so with themselves is obvious, otherwise they would not 
 have been deaf to the Church's call, when she invited them to 
 lift up their voices in the sanctuary. But that this error is 
 their own fault — that it is by no means essential — that it flows 
 from their negligent use of an appointed means, — is a thing which 
 it is less easy to make men feel than to demonstrate. 
 
 To prove it, indeed, seems easy enough. Have we not our 
 Lord's own example for a form of prayer ? Was not written 
 prayer the usage of that Jewish Church in the worship whereof 
 he participated ? Is not a part of the language of our Prayer 
 Book actually employed in the perfect worship of the hosts of 
 heaven ? Has not the whole book of Psalms been put into the 
 mouth of the Christian Church by God's Spirit ? But more than 
 this : not only is the use of a form of prayer defensible, it is, in 
 truth, the only means by which the full purposes of Christian 
 worship are attainable. Suppose one party to pray in the pre- 
 sence of others, they may be edified, as St. Paul expresses it, by 
 his words, and his fervour may kindle theirs, but it is no common
 
 21 
 
 prayer ; — they do but listen to his expressions. Cases may 
 occur, indeed, in which the speaker's line of thought may be so 
 familiarly known, that his hearers may anticipate his conclusion ; 
 but, in such instances, a fonn is in reality employed, though a 
 more judicious and considerate form might often be adopted. In 
 many cases, indeed, there is a virtual recurrence to the very 
 practice which has been so justly censured in the Romanists, who 
 think it enough that the people should know the general purport 
 of the priests' petitions, and should accompany him silently after 
 their own way, and in their own language. Thus we hear of 
 persons who testify their approbation of a prayer offered in their 
 presence, by reiterated and sometimes unmeaning acclamations. A 
 somewhat similar custom prevailed at one period in a part of Spain, 
 where, according to the Mosarabic usage, the people were taught 
 to exclaim Amen, at each succeeding clause of the Prayer of our 
 Lord ; but even in that land it has been abandoned — nor did it 
 ever find entrance into our own. And there seems small wisdom 
 in introducing it in the present day, since it implies an obvious 
 forgetfulness of our Lord's prohibition against using vain repeti- 
 tions like the heathen, as well as of St. Paul's counsel, to pray 
 with the spirit, and to pray with the understanding also. 
 
 Indeed, why should one part of the Apostle's precept be deemed 
 at variance with the other ? No one questions that the singing of 
 hymns gives scope for the utmost measure of warmth and fervency. 
 Yet, unless the words were agreed upon beforehand, how could men 
 join with one accord in their adscription. United praise would 
 thus be impossible, because men could not follow unwritten words 
 with which they were previously unacquainted. Now what is 
 common prayer but the uniting in like manner in the same 
 petition ? Is not praise as much an address to God as prayer ; 
 do not we speak to him whom we thank, as much as to him whom 
 we supplicate ? The mass of men have the same wants, as they 
 have the same reasons for rendering gratitude ; and why should 
 they not employ the same words for petitioning favours, as well as 
 for rendering to the Giver their thanksgiving and praise ? 
 
 Besides, our Lord has been pleased to sanction the use of pre- 
 
 B 3
 
 22 
 
 conceived expressions, not only by his own example, but by a 
 promise of peculiar importance. The common prayer of the 
 Church, however few the worshippers, entitles them to an atten- 
 tion which surpasses what is promised to any single devotion. 
 If two of you shall agree upon earth as touching anything which 
 you shall ask, it shall be done for you of my Father which is in 
 heaven. Observe the peculiar fulness of promise conditional on 
 the common participation in a pre-arranged devotion. With such 
 sanction from scriptural authority, and with those divine examples 
 of prayer and praise which have been bequeathed to us in the book 
 of Psalms, it were impossible that so singular a blessing should be 
 neglected, did not entire disuse make our people wholly ignorant 
 of the rich mine of thought and feeling which the service of the 
 Chui'ch affords. 
 
 But how are we to awaken them to greater attention ? How 
 shall we induce them to seek for an ore, of the value whereof they 
 know nothing ? Where are we to begin our efforts ? It would 
 not, I fear, be unreasonable to imagine localities where there 
 would scarcely be found two or three persons enlightened in the 
 great truth that the Christian Kingdom is set up in the world, 
 and that by union with the Church men are associated in its ranks. 
 Are there not places in which all serious and vital godliness is 
 associated merely with the thought of personal religion, where no 
 sense prevails of the supernatural blessings which are promised to 
 communion with God in His public ordinances, where men look 
 solely to the experience of their individual minds, and belief in 
 the truth of Christ's public presence is well nigh obliterated ? WTiat 
 follows from such lack of faith, but that lack of devotion vdth 
 which we are so familiar ? Do men enter God's House almost as 
 carelessly as they would the Market-place,' — do they sit at ease 
 when the congregation is called upon to fall down with one accord 
 before the Majesty of Heaven, — is their voice silent when men are 
 invited to respond in prayer and Psalm, — do they render no loud 
 Amen when the priest offers to God the collective service of the 
 multitude, as though for them were no part in the solemn offering 
 of the people's worship, — we cannot doubt that such men have no
 
 23 
 
 knowledge of Christ's presence, or any belief in the efficacy of that 
 sacrifice which the Church has been elected out of all nations to 
 offer. There may be among them much private worth and per- 
 sonal holiness — and may God in His mercy through Christ accept 
 and increase it — but of the peculiar truths of the Christian cove- 
 nant they are doubtless ignorant, they are untaught in the doctrines 
 of grace, in a material portion of the creed of the Apostles they 
 are uninformed, like the Samaritans they worship they know not 
 what, they are in danger of stUl greater and more fatal heresies, 
 and of all the inspiring and renewing effects of Christ's special 
 presence they are absolutely bereft. 
 
 And yet how are such persons to be instructed ? The mere 
 force of teaching will do little for their benefit. The facts of the 
 Christian system have lost that novelty which produced the habit 
 of devout worship among the earlier disciples. Wlien men in adult 
 years were suddenly translated from Pagan darkness into the 
 kingdom of God's dear Son, their wonderful alteration produced 
 such feelings of awe, reverence, and thankfulness, as were mani- 
 fested in the consentient supplications of the Christian multitude. 
 Then, those very psalms and prayers to which our brethren in this 
 neighbourhood listen with a careless and insensible neglect, were 
 responded to by the ardent and devout voices of thronging congre- 
 gations. Their responses, their psalms, are compared, as is well 
 known, to the voice of many waters. And we hear with thank- 
 fulness, that when our Chvirch is planted out in the new soil of 
 heathen countries, the half-civilized inhabitants of Africa or New 
 Zealand are in like manner not unmoved by invitations which our 
 own countrymen hear with indifference ; that the responses to our 
 service are now re-echoed in their native tongues with such piety 
 and enthusiasm as befits the service of the King of Heaven. Glad 
 must we be that men should come from the East and West, and 
 North and South, and sit down as welcome guests in the great 
 supper which is set forth before mankind in the Church of God ; 
 but O shame, my brethren, and confusion of face to ourselves, 
 who living in a Christian land, being by birth and adoption the 
 children of the kingdom, have lost the habit of worship from the 
 midst of us. b 4
 
 24 
 
 Excuse these passionate exclamations, to which I am sure any 
 zealous man among you must often be tempted. Surely the 
 prophets of old time would have called heaven and earth to wit- 
 ness against the irreverence and coldness of mankind, had they 
 seen men assemble as our countrymen do in God's House, with- 
 out even bowing the knee in worship, without witnessing either 
 by word or deed, by answer or gesture, that they take any part 
 in addresses to which the very stones might be expected to 
 respond. And yet for all this I am far from supposing that there 
 is no piety and devotion in the hearts of those who in the habit of 
 worship are so lamentably defective. But since there are no new 
 facts, and no fresh profession by which to alter their ways, it is 
 impossible to enlist them in the startling and unwonted usage of a 
 new service. Preaching, and instruction in old truths, will never 
 move men to enter upon the novel practice of united worship. 
 Rather must our beginning be on the other side, and by a new 
 mode of worship must we lead them to the comprehension of 
 truths, which they have heard without comprehending. They 
 must join together in the inspiring worship of the Chmrch, they 
 must take part each for themselves in her office, they must listen 
 to those commands which all their lives they have neglected, 
 before they can enter into the truth of Christ's presence with His 
 people, or discern the divine significancy of what they have been 
 wont to hear, " the holy Church throughout all the world doth 
 acknowledge Thee." 
 
 Here, then, lies our difficulty. We must infuse a belief in the 
 existence of Christ's Church, not so much by the force of argu- 
 ment, as by the habit of devotion. We must teach men through 
 their prayers. Instead of founding habit on belief, we must build 
 up belief through habit. And, no doubt, some part of this work 
 may be effected through personal persuasion. The man who 
 unites firm faith with earnest devotion, who is himself a living 
 pattern of the principles which he desires to cherish, -will diffuse 
 the contagion of a godly example among those who are within the 
 sphere of his influence. For this end, we need to be ourselves 
 fully convinced of those truths to which we have declared our
 
 25 
 
 assent at our ordination, that the ministration of the doctrine and 
 sacraments, as they obtain in the Church of England, is accordant 
 to the commandments of God. Let a man be duly versed in 
 Holy Scripture and ancient authors ; let him perceive, as the 
 preface to the Ordination Service witnesses, that Christ's Church 
 has existed from the days of the Apostles : let him be well 
 grounded in those unanswerable arguments by which the Anglican 
 Divines have shown that its present practice in this land is con- 
 formable to ancient law and Apostolic usage ; let his convictions 
 ripen into a feeling, and take root in his soul as what neither 
 requires proof nor admits refutation ; let Mm be ready to risk all 
 on this basis, and to flinch neither at the weakness of friends nor 
 the violence of enemies ; let him resolve, at all hazards, to put his 
 resolutions into action, and to exhibit in the face of mankind the 
 principles of the cross ; let him make up his mind neither to desire 
 praise nor fear censure, but to fight to the death under Christ's 
 banner against the maxims of an evil age ; and it is certain that 
 He who sways mortal hearts will in time reward the fidelity of his 
 service. Whereas, a pusillanimous doubt whether the Church is 
 truly Christ's earthly kingdom, and whether invisible gifts are really 
 dispensed through the hands of earthly ministers, will chill his 
 heart and enfeeble his efforts. The same confidence in his prin- 
 ciples will produce a spirit of truly enlightened affection towards 
 those who separate themselves from the body of Christ, instead of 
 that party rancour which would be as repulsive to them as dan- 
 gerous to ourselves ; for nothing would be more fatal either to 
 our peace or our usefulness, than to allow that godly zeal with 
 which we ought to contend for the truth, once delivered to the 
 saints, to be contaminated by the low and pitiful suggestions 
 of personal jealousy. To be actuated by charity to men's 
 souls, not by love of popularity ; to lament their separation, 
 because it shuts them out from the grace of sacraments, not because 
 it diminishes the number of our own hearers ; to be zealous for 
 Christ's glory, instead of wishing to be held in admiration because 
 of advantage ; this is truly to act upon the principles of a 
 Churchman. 
 
 B 5
 
 26 
 
 But we must not flatter ourselves that our admonitions, how 
 serious, earnest, and affectionate soever, will produce at once any 
 great effect. Men, in general, are not to be reasoned by old argu- 
 ments into a new practice. We must teach them by example the 
 nature of public worship. Yet, how are we to begin ? In some 
 cases the question is hard to answer, but in others the reply is 
 obvious : worship, like charity, must begin at home. Are we not 
 reminded by Joshua's declaration, that from the obedience and 
 order of individual families must arise that spirit which, radiating 
 more widely as it advances, and interfusing and extending its 
 influence, will gradually overspread the whole surface of social 
 life. And where, if not in the families of the clergy, must we 
 look for an attention to the heart-stirring declaration of the 
 Patriarch, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord " 
 Every clergyman, to whom God has given the government of an 
 household, may secure, at all events, such habits of common 
 worship amidst those who are sheltered by his own roof, as may 
 teach his parishioners for what purpose they assemble together. 
 I am not speaking now of the daily duty of public intercession in 
 Church, but of the effect which may be produced upon the people 
 on the Lord's Day, if the habit of public worship be duly cultivated 
 in the family of the priest. There is no clergyman, probably, 
 whose daily life is not consecrated by some species of family 
 devotion. But it may be questioned whether the mode in which 
 this duty is performed is always that which is best adapted to 
 make our households, as the Ordination Service suggests, " whole- 
 some examples and patterns, as much as in us lieth, to the flock 
 of Christ." Of the forms of worship which have been composed 
 for family use, during the present century, many have been the 
 work of good men, and are adapted to call forth the feelings and 
 express the wants of our nature. But, without exposing the Book 
 of Common Prayer to be viewed in the unattractive light of a 
 compulsory service, it may certainly be expected that the en- 
 thusiastic praises which our Ordinal receives should lead men, if 
 not to adopt, at all events to imitate it. Whereas, nothing is 
 more usual than for men to speak of the Liturgy as the sublimest
 
 27 
 
 and most spiritual of all uninspired compositions, who not only 
 abstain from its use six days in the week, but seem studiously to 
 shun all approximation to its spirit. Of those who have gone 
 fully along with the arguments which have just been adduced in 
 behalf of a Liturgic form of worship, many Avill be positively 
 startled at the thought of its practical adoption. Yet, when 
 persons use unpremeditated prayers, in their families, or when they 
 have recourse to such multiplicity of forms as may supply endless 
 variety, their course is exactly contrariant to that rule of our 
 Reformers, which commands the clergy to use " Morning and 
 Evening Prayer " every day, under a feeling that one day stands 
 in want of few petitions which are not needed by another. If it 
 be said that persons w^ll not be attentive to prayers which are 
 continually employed, is not this an objection to the use of any 
 public Liturgy ? We come back, therefore, to the very fallacy 
 which has been already refuted. If unpremeditated prayer is 
 expedient in a family, it is difficult to discern why it is imsuitable 
 in that larger household, the Church of God. But, in truth, its 
 adoption in a family is found to produce the same evils as would 
 attend its employment in public worship ; that common prayer, 
 united worship, the consentient flowing forth of many persons in 
 the self-same petitions, is impossible. Our Refonners were clearly 
 of opinion, and I believe that no one has ever tried the experiment 
 without witnessing to its success, that the constant reiteration of 
 the same prayers, if men combine with one heart and one voice in 
 giving them meaning and utterance, infuses rather a relish than a 
 distaste for their use. But even if the rule which they have 
 prescribed is not fully complied with, yet to render a partial 
 obedience to its spirit would in some measure contribute to the 
 same result. Suppose only that the family devotions of the 
 clergy, if not consisting of the Order of Morning and Evening 
 Prayer, were framed in some degree upon its model. Would not 
 the custom of bearing their part in responses and psalms give their 
 households that habit of public worship which, even among them, 
 is often wanting ? Might not this spirit spread to the rest of the 
 parishioners ? If the priest's family do not kneel in prayer, if 
 
 B 6
 
 28 
 
 they take no part in the Church's public acclamations, if they 
 listen unconcerned while he invites them to join him in praise and 
 supplication ; can we wonder if a similar listlessness is found in 
 the congregation ? Are we not taught by the Apostle, that a due 
 care for our individual households is an essential requisite for the 
 discharge of our public duties ? For, if a man know not how to 
 rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God. 
 
 If the clergy in general were more attentive to this subject, 
 their influence might modify the whole manner of performing the 
 important duty of famUy devotion. The laity who have adopted 
 this ' salutary practice, might often be guided to a more expedient 
 manner of performing it. The general prevalence of the present 
 usage must be traced, probably, to the fact that, in former times, 
 family prayers were often employed by those who disliked that 
 more frequent observance of public worship, which was maintained 
 till the earlier part of the last century. The consequence has 
 been, that the great mass of forms of family devotion have been 
 constructed upon a puritan basis. Not only is their language 
 oftentimes cold and unspiritual, implying little gratitude for the 
 benefits of the Baptismal covenant, and a low view therefore of the 
 responsibilities of the Christian character — the very points which 
 in the consentient devotions of a Christian family shoiJd be 
 brought prominently forward, — but their very form and arrange- 
 ment show that the public offices of the Church have not been the 
 ideal models after which they have been fashioned. An obvious 
 proof is the manner of using the Lord's Prayer. This hallowed 
 form of words has of long time been employed in the English 
 Church as the introduction to our acts of common worship. " It 
 has been the foundation," according to the recommendation of 
 Tertullian, " upon which our other prayers have been buUt." Such 
 was not the primitive usage, because as none but Christians could 
 properly employ our Lord's words, and address God as their 
 Father, this prayer could not be used pubhcly in the commence- 
 ment of worship, while a large portion of the congregation con- 
 sisted of unbaptized men. But not only does the daily service of 
 the English Church begin with the Lord's Prayer, so soon as the
 
 29 
 
 profession of penitence and promulgation of forgiveness have 
 prepared the worshippers to appear before God ; but the Com- 
 munion Service, and the series of prayers which follow the reading 
 of Scripture, are commenced in the same manner. A similar 
 practice is observable in the private prayers of some of our ancient 
 worthies. But, whether from inadvertence, or from superstitious 
 aversion to the usages of the Church, the Directory for Public 
 Worship, which was put forth by the Long Parliament, together 
 with their prohibition of the Liturgy, defers all mention of the 
 Lord's Prayer to the conclusion of its ordinances. And this ex- 
 ample has been followed in most forms of family devotion. 
 
 A still more serious evil has been the prevalent adoption of pro- 
 tracted recitations by the reader,* instead of that system of 
 antiphonal response of which the Book of Common Prayer affords 
 so striking an example. Yet what can be better than the usage 
 which the Church has sanctioned, whether we regard its authority, 
 or its effect ? Not only was it adopted in the Jewish Church, 
 when under the immediate direction of God ; but the selfsame 
 manner of worship is practised, as we are assured, by that portion 
 of the united family of worshippers which stands nearest to the 
 throne of God, with which the Church militant must naturally crave 
 to be associated. And if we regard the natural effect of a frequent 
 interchange of address and answer, we must recognise their efficacy 
 in arresting the attention, and aiding the devotion, of those whose 
 thoughts are too apt to be left behind in a lengthened supplication. 
 The two systems, which are thus opposed to one another, depend 
 in reality on two different principles, and propose to themselves 
 different results. The usage of reciting continuous prayers proceeds 
 
 * It is not designed to recommend the custom of those who read portions 
 of the Liturgy in their family worship, without providing that the rubrical re- 
 sponses shall be made by their domestics. This habit does injustice to the 
 Book of Common Prayer, which was framed for an antiphonal service, and 
 loses its effect so soon as its principle is abandoned ; while the custom of 
 hearing the prayers without taking part in them will rather prevent than en- 
 courage the practice of responding. The same may be said respecting the uie 
 of the Psalter : the Psalms will be found to be far more impressive when read, 
 according to the Church's intention, as prayers or hymns, than when con- 
 verted, according to the practice of the present day, into lessons: while the 
 daily habit of employing them will render persons, who are comparatively 
 illiterate, so familiar to their use, that they will be able to take part in them.
 
 30 
 
 on the notion that prayer is a species of instruction, and is mainly 
 designed to admonish the auditory. The antiphonal responses of 
 our public ritual suppose, on the other hand, that the great end of 
 prayer is God's worship. The former, therefore, seeks such variety 
 of expression as may stimulate the hearer by its novelty ; the latter 
 desires that the public offices may be so familiar to men's minds, 
 that all may be able to partake in them. Now, strictly speaking, 
 it is this last system only which has in view the real purposes 
 of public prayer. And therefore, without implying censiu^e upon 
 those who have adopted other methods of doing good, I cannot but 
 think that the clergy would find great advantage from constructing 
 their family devotion on the model of our public offices. In places 
 in which the Church service is not publicly employed, the use of 
 the greater or lesser Litany, according to the day of the week, to- 
 gether with the appointed portion of the Psalter, would supply 
 opportunity for accustoming their households to bear part for 
 themselves in social worship. Indeed such an usage seems naturally 
 suggested by the obligation which the clergy have themselves con- 
 tracted, that either in public or private they will make daily use of 
 the Common Prayer. Surely those who maintain a form of 
 family service, which has no reference whatever to the authorised 
 formularies of the Church, are hardly showing them such genuine 
 affection as is likely to tell upon the feelings of their people. Nothing 
 is more important for the clergy than consistency. Should it ever 
 seem, that while eulogising the Book of Common Prayer in public, 
 in private we disrelish its use ; should we abandon it whenever 
 we can evade the requirements of authority, and rather accept it 
 as a necessary bondage than resort to it as the most appropriate 
 expression of our unconstrained thoughts ; we can hardly expect 
 that our insincerity will escape detection, or that our words will 
 weigh more than our actions. 
 
 And this leads to the last observation with which I will trouble 
 you, that if we would set our people the example of united worship, 
 and desire to infuse a spirit of devotion and faith, our only course is 
 to be what we inculcate, and to set forth our advice in our lives. 
 How far we have each done this heretofore, is a question which I
 
 . 31 
 
 leave to your own consciences. You will have to answer it at the 
 day of the Lord Jesus, before a far different auditory. So much only 
 I will say, that where a clergyman's vows say one thing, and his 
 life says another ; when, after promising at his ordination to lay 
 aside the study of the world and the flesh, his first objects are 
 l^leasure, wealth, or advancement ; however he may deceive him- 
 self he seldom deceives others, but is soon felt to be, what it is 
 impossible to deny that he is, the most contemptible being that 
 beholds the sun. But it is not merely to escape men's censure that I 
 would beseech you to be what your vows require, but still more 
 because you will find no acceptance from Him whom you serve, 
 unless you pray from the heart, and live according to your prayers. 
 Now the great trust that has been committed to our hands — the 
 treasure wliich we have in earthen vessels — can prosper only 
 through His blessing, who rules the wills and affections of mankind. 
 He can make us acceptable with those who hate, and revered by 
 those who despise us, Let Him go forth with us, and our anus 
 prevail — ^let Him leave us, and we must turn back in the day of 
 battle. What, then, shall win us success, save that effectual fervent 
 prayer to wliich the ear of heaven is accessible ? Did our Great 
 Master in the days of His flesh pour forth strong crying and tears, 
 and was heard in that He feared, and shall we expect our warfare 
 to succeed without earnest and importunate supplication ? This 
 must be the secret of our strength in the warfare of the approaching 
 year. Many souls ought this year to be gathered into our Master's 
 fold : may He increase our efforts and further our success ; that we 
 may be acquitted of our this year's labour, at that awful 
 retrospect — " The hour of death and the day of judgment."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 As a specimen of the use which may be made of the Church 
 Service in family worship, the following plan is suggested. 
 
 It is presumed that every member of the family is provided 
 with a copy of the Prayer Book. 
 
 AN ORDER OF MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER 
 FOR A FAMILY. 
 
 (when daily service is not offered in church.) 
 
 All standing up. 
 
 Reader. — O Lord, open Thou our lips. 
 
 Answer. — And our mouth shall show forth Thy praise. 
 
 R. — O God, make speed to save us. 
 
 A. — O Lord, make haste to help us. 
 
 R. — Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 A. — As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : 
 world without end. 
 
 R. — Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 A. — The Lord's name be praised. 
 
 Then are read the Psalms for the day of the month, in alternate 
 verses. Then (all sitting down) is read a Lesson from the Old 
 or New Testament. Then is said The Confession (all kneeling) : 
 the whole family repeating each clause after the reader. 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father ; We have erred, and 
 strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too 
 much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended
 
 34 
 
 against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which 
 we ought to have done ; And we have done those things which we 
 ought not to have done ; And there is no health in us. But 
 Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare 
 Thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore Thou 
 them that are penitent ; According to Thy promises declared unto 
 mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful 
 Father, for His sake ; That we may hereafter live a godly, 
 righteous, and sober life. To the glory of Thy holy Name. Amen. 
 
 O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully hear our prayers, and 
 spare all those who confess their sins unto Thee ; that they whose 
 consciences by sin are accused, by Thy merciful pardon may be 
 absolved ; through Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. 
 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in 
 heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us oiir 
 trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And 
 lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil : For Thine 
 is the kingdom. The power, and the glory. For ever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 Reader. — O Lord, show Thy mercy upon us. 
 Ansioer. — And grant us Thy salvation. 
 R. — O Lord, make clean our hearts vdthin us. 
 A. — And take not Thy Holy Spirit from us. 
 
 Then follow the Collect for the day, the Collects for Peace and 
 Grace, or the two Collects for Evening Prayer, with other 
 Collects at the discretion of the Reader : the family answering, 
 at the end of each Collect, Amen, 
 
 On Wednesday and Friday Morning, the Litany may he read, the 
 family ansivering to every petition. 
 
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