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of an attentive study of the Scriptures in general. Let me, however, intreat you to give your best attention to those portions of the sacred volume which are read to you in church; and not to let the word of God, which is the word of life, fall on careless and inattentive ears.

Between the first and second lessons the congregation rise up, and take their parts with the clergyman in reciting the hymn, which I have already mentioned to you, and which is called the Te Deum. This is a hymn of praise originally written in Latin, and which is thought to be of the date of about 540 years after Christ. Its name is derived from the first words with which it begins, Te Deum laudamus, which we translate "We praise thee, O God!" The Te Deum begins with offering a tribute of worship and glory to God: it proceeds to call our attention to some of the chief articles of the Christian faith; and it ends with pious prayers to God for his protection and blessing; "We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge; We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom

thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood; Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin; O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.” These are words which even the most thoughtless cannot utter with their lips, without feeling that they strike on their spirits, and lift them in confidence to the throne of God.

After the second lesson, the hundredth Psalm, another hymn of praise, is read, and then follows the Apostles' Creed. This creed is called the Apostles' Creed, not because it was actually drawn up by the Apostles themselves, but because it was received in very early times as a summary of the faith which they taught. All persons who then applied to be baptized were required to rehearse this creed, or some other similar to it, before they could be admitted to that Christian rite; and you yourselves may probably remember that you also were taught this confession of your faith almost as soon as you were capable of repeating it. Not that at that early age you could be supposed to comprehend the words which you uttered, but that they might be so imprinted on your memories as to render

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you, when you should come to years of understanding, not uninformed of what all persons professing themselves to be Christians ought to know and believe. And all who are capable of examining this creed sentence by sentence, will perceive that it contains in brief the whole essence of all the Christian doctrine.

The

The Apostles' Creed is followed by a repetition of the Lord's Prayer, and then by a few short sentences in which the congregation take their alternate parts; and then come three short prayers entitled collects. first of these is a collect specially appointed for the particular Sunday. The two others, the one for peace, and the other for grace, are read in the morning service throughout the year, and are such beautiful prayers that they well deserve to be added to our daily and private devotions. Even a child may do this, for nothing is prayed for in them which the youngest amongst you may not venture to ask of God. The collects are a very ancient part of the Christian worship, and were for the most part composed by early fathers of the church.

The Litany or supplication, which follows

the collects, is a succession of prayers, in which all may join, and in which in many parts indeed all must join who have any regard for themselves, or love for their fellowcreatures. It is moreover the duty of us all to join in the petition of one of the fine prayers which follow the Litany, the petition "that God will mercifully look upon our infirmities, and will turn from us many of those evils that we most righteously have deserved."

The general thanksgiving is the pouring forth of our hearts in thankfulness to God for all his mercies bestowed on us, for the many and undeserved blessings which he has given us in this life; and above all, for his gracious promises of a better life, and for our redemption through Jesus Christ. This part of the morning service is concluded by a short prayer entitled a Prayer of St. Chrysostom, because taken from a Greek liturgy supposed to be drawn up by him, and by another still shorter prayer, taken from the last verse of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, imploring the grace of our Lord Jesus to be with us all. In the Prayer of St. Chrysostom we beg of God to ful

fil the petitions of his servants who have been making their common supplications to him.

If you, my dear young friends, have neglected

to join with heart as well as with lip in the petitions which the rest of the congregation have been offering up to our Father in heaven, these words ought to strike you with selfreproach. But I may still entreat you to offer up a silent prayer, that the next opportunity which may be afforded you of being among the attentive, instead of being among the indolent hearers of God's word, may not be lost.

With the succeeding prayer for the grace of our Lord, the morning service, properly so called, and as it was used originally, and is still used on common week-days, comes to its end. That I may not fatigue you, I must now reserve to another time what I have to say on that part of the communion service, which is read in addition to this original morning service, on Sundays and holydays.

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