model of prayers which are found in the Jewish Liturgies. He also gave directions to the chief pastors of HIS CHURCH, that they should agree, touching the petitions which they offered in His name; and, in accord-. ance with these directions, the sublime prayer recorded in the Acts (iv. 24 seq.) was manifestly a precomposed form, in which the whole company lifted up their voices with one accord. It would be indeed a palpable absurdity to offer up joint prayers, without agreeing as to the subject of them.

14. OBJECTION MET. As to those passages of SCRIPTURE, which refer prayer to the influence of the SPIRIT, they can only be fairly interpreted to speak of the heart, rather than the head, and to indicate the mind with which we pray, not the words which we employ.

15. CUSTOM OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. Not only had the PRIMITIVE CHURCH many forms in constant use from the earliest days, such as those for the administration of BAPTISM and the EUCHARIST; but JUSTIN MARTYR (martyred A. D. 165) speaks of their Koinai euchai, (xowaì εvxαí) "Common εὐχαί)

Prayers" (Apology I. ch. 65), and so early were LITURGIES introduced, that four of them are mentioned under the names of ST. PETER, ST. MARK, ST. JAMES, and ST. JOHN, the dates of whose deaths were respectively 65 A.D., 68, 62, and 99.

16. FIRST SAXON LITURGY. LITURGIES rapidly multiplied; and it is affirmed by the VENERABLE BEDE (born A.D. 672, died 735), in his Ecclesiastical History, that one of the first acts of St. Austin (who died A.D. 610), after the conversion of the SAXONS, was the compilation of a LITURGY, from the best formularies then in existence.

17. COMPILATION by which the SAXON LITURGY was SUPERSEDED. This Liturgy was at length superseded by the BOOK OF OFFICES, which OSMUND, BISHOP of SALISBURY (A.D. 1078), put forth, secundum usum Sarum"according to the usage of Salisbury," and which was adopted immediately, and with little variation, by most of the CHURCHES in the KINGDOM.

18. CIRCUMSTANCES which called for a change at the period of the REFORMATION. Gradually, and more or less in different

places, the PUBLIC OFFICES of devotion became defaced by the innovations and corruptions of the ROMISH CHURCH, and these, at the time of the REFORMATION, it was necessary to expunge; and thus the BREVIARIES, MISSALS, and RITUALS were set aside, and the Book of COMMON PRAYER substituted in their place.

19. The ROMAN BREVIARY and its CORRUP

TIONS.

The BREVIARY, so called, probably, from its being an abbreviation of various ancient service-books, corresponds, in some sort or degree, with the English and our OFFICES for MORNING and EVENING PRAYER. Among the corruptions introduced into it, besides its being in Latin, are the INTERCESSION of SAINTS and ANGELS, LITANIES of the VIRGIN MARY, LESSONS taken from the LEGENDS of SAINTS and MARTYRS, PRAYERS for the DEAD, and for the liberation of souls from PURGATORY.

20. The MISSAL, and the MASS. The MISSAL contains the daily services of the MASS, which is regarded as an expiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and involves the doctrine of Transubstantiation. It

is the basis in form, however, of our COMMUNION SERVICE, and many of its prayers belong to the earliest and purest ages of THE CHURCH.

21. ORIGIN of the term MISSAL. The derivation of this term is uncertain; but it is probably built upon the words, Ite, missa est,

"go ye, it is sent,"— with which the deacon dismissed the catechumens and excommunicated persons from the congregation, before the celebration of the LORD'S SUPPER.

22. MEANING of the term RITUAL. The particular ordinances of a Church constitute its RITUAL, such as those of BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, MATRIMONY, etc. For ExTREME UNCTION, which is a part of the LATIN RITUAL, there is no warrant in SCRIPTURE. As to the passages in James v. 14, and Mark vi. 13, it may be observed that oil was used in the East for healing, for which see Luke x. 34, in Burton's Greek T.

LESSON THE SECOND.

History of the English Prayer-Book;

(WHICH, IN THE MAIN, IS THE SAME AS OURS.)

BJECT OF THE COMPILERS.

OBJECT

In compiling the Book of COMMON Prayer, it was not the object of the REFORMERS to introduce innovations, but simply to exclude errors and corruptions; and to this end they retained those portions of the ANCIENT FORMULARIES which were sanctioned by the SCRIPTURES, and by primitive usage, rejecting only what savored of ignorance and superstition, and had originated in the doctrines and practices of the ROMISH CHURCH.

2. CONCESSION of HENRY VIII. THE KING'S PRIMER. HENRY VIII. (reign 1509 -1547), though by no means favorable to the REFORMATION, had yet so far assented to the general wish of the nation, as to permit the use of the English language in public wor