the child, and the preservation of the woman, ought publicly to be owned, that so others may learn to put their trust in HIM. Secondly, that the whole congregation may have a fit opportunity for praising GOD for the too much forgotten mercy of their birth. And, thirdly, that the woman herself may, in the proper place, own the mercy now vouchsafed to her, of being restored to the happy privilege of worshipping GOD in the Congregation of His Saints. How ridiculous therefore is the absurdity, which some would introduce, of stifling their acknowledgments in private houses, and of giving thanks for their recovery and enlargement in no other place than that of their confinement and restraint! a practice quite inconsistent with the very name of this OFFICE, which is called "the Churching of Women," and which consequently implies a ridiculous solecism of being "Churched at home."

4. DUTY of receiving the Sacrament soon after being Churched." In the GREEK and ETHIOPIC CHURCHES (writes Dean Comber) women, upon these occasions, always did receive the SACRAMENT; and, it seems, in this

very CHURCH (of England) above a thousand years ago; and still we carry them up to the Altar to remind them of their duty. And doubtless the omission of it occasions the too soon forgetting of this mercy, and the sudden falling off from piety, which we see in too many. Here they may praise GOD for our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and for this late temporal mercy also; here they may quicken their graces, seal their vows and promises of obedience, offer their charity, and begin that pious life, to which they are so many ways. obliged. To receive the SACRAMENT, while the sense of God's goodness and her own engagements is so fresh upon her, is the likeliest means to make her remember this blessing long, apply it right, and effectually to profit by it. Wherefore let it not be omitted."

LESSON THE SEVENTEENTH.

Other Offices and Forms for Special
Occasions.

ORMS of PRAYER to be used at Sea.—

FORMS

The FORMS of PRAYER to be used at SEA were first inserted in the ENGLISH PRAYERBook at the last Review. They have been adopted in OURS, with a few slight alterations, chiefly resulting from the political changes incident to the establishment of INDEPENDENCE. "It will be seen (says Bishop Brownell) that, with the exception of the two first COLLECTS, which are discretionary, they are all occasional Services The COMMON MORNING and Evening Prayer being appointed to be used daily at sea. They are so well adapted to the occasions for which they are appointed and so simple in themselves, as to require no comments." "It must have been from oversight (says Bp. White)

that the word 'Minister' designating the person who is to pronounce the ABSOLUTION, which had been used here and elsewhere in the Proposed Book, was not changed to Priest,' as in other parts of the Liturgy."

as

2. A FORM of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners.-This Form is not found in the ENGLISH PRAYER-BOOK. It was taken by the Reviewers of our VERSION from the IRISH BOOK of COMMON PRAYER of 1771, in which it is set forth "Treated upon by the Archbishops and Bishops and the rest of the Clergy of Ireland, and agreed upon by Her Majesty's License in their Synod, holden at Dublin, in the year 1771." This is a very comprehensive, appropriate, and beautiful OFFICE, and must prove of great value to all those of our CLERGY, whose more peculiar duty it is to minister to the spiritual wants of Prisoners a duty, let us remark, which, while more officially incumbent upon the Chaplains of Prisons, must strongly recommend itself to every earnest and faithful Minister of OUR CHURCH. There is no place where the services of the Minister of GOD are more needed, nor any in which they are

likely to be blessed with a better reward, than the Prison.

3. FORM of Prayer and Thanksgiving to ALMIGHTY GOD. This is another Form not to be found in the PRAYER-BOOK of our Parent Church, and which originated in the wise and patriotic desire of the Reviewers of our Version to conform in all things right and lawful to the general feeling of the PEOPLE of the STATES. It being a general custom in the several STATES for a day of THANKSGIVING for the fruits of the earth to be appointed and kept, this suitable and very expressive FORM has conveniently met the wants of OUR CHURCH in the circumstances.

4. FORMS of PRAYERS to be used in Families. However it may be thought by many that Forms for Family Worship scarcely find their proper place in the Book of OUR PUBLIC LITURGY, still the design of those who inserted these forms deserves our gratitude, as rendering our PRAYER-BOOK more generally and comprehensively useful to all circumstances, as well as all conditions of men; nor will any be found to disapprove of the form or purport of the Morning and Evening Prayers of which they consist.