the Deity, must forever exist, and infinite happiness or endless woe be its portion. How transporting the thought of one! of the other, how dreadful! On the one hand, joy inconceivable; on the other, misery unutterable, and never to have an end! Be not diverted, O my soul, from the thought of one, by the vain, the fleeting, and fantastical pleasures of time; from the contemplation of the other, shrink not with sinful terror. Let them be ever present, and rule over all thy desires and emotions, causing thee to pursue the straight and narrow road that leadeth unto life.

And, O my God, shower down upon me the abundance of thy grace, that, walking by thy blessed will, I may attain unto the excellency of thy blessed children! Then when the King of Terrors shall approach, I will not shrink from the cold grasp of his hand; but joyfully enter, along with him, the confines of the grave; beyond which a bright world shall open to my view, inhabited by the good and holy, singing eternal praises to him that liveth forever and ever. With them I shall be permitted to mingle, with them to rejoice, that we have overcome death, through him who shall have opened unto us the gate of everlasting life. With them I shall be enabled to look back with pleasing triumph on the scenes which shall have passed in this transitory world. The storms and waves of this tempestuous sea of life will be passed; and I shall enjoy a quiet haven, where no dangers can come, and no evils to make me afraid. O may I be ever thus prepared, and I will wait God's will till my change come, and he shall receive me to himself in his kingdom of glory.

By this expression it is not meant that the human soul is a part of the Deity, but only a creature possessing his spiritual nature, without a perishable body.

FROM THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE.

A new History and Illustration of the Common Prayer.

ONE great point at issue between the Church and other denominations being the dispute about prescribed forms and extemporaneous prayer, nothing should be omitted on our part that can elucidate or confirm the excellence of our Liturgy; and this we trust will result from a retrospective view of its origin, and the reforms, revisions, and augmentations it has undergone, to the latest period.

That any should set themselves against prescribed forms of prayer in general, is truly surprising, when we consider that the psalms of DAVID were not only a part of public worship under the Jewish law, but continued to be quoted and used as such, by the writers of the New Testament, adopted, and as it were, incorporated with the phraseology and the spirit of the Gospel.

As an objection to the use of forms in the gospel dispensation, it may be urged as a symptom of apostacy, but with little probability of success; for the primitive christians, even in the apostolic

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age, adopted a great variety of forms, which may be proved from the forms themselves, which are unquestionably of very great antiquity. It is needless to insist upon the high valuation set upon the English Liturgy, by several of the learned, and the foreign churches abroad, while we have more recent examples at home. Messrs. Whitfield and Wesley, in the very last schism made by them in the church, still thought fit to retain the use of the Litur gy, on Sundays, for morning and evening service, a practice still kept up by most of their followers.

But the more we investigate, the more it will appear that prescribed forms of prayer have at all times been in use, under the name of psalms, spiritual songs, breviaries, messals, mass-books, &c. The latter, till the reformation, mostly in Latin, by which the laity were compelled to join in they knew not what. This state of things continued more or less till the reign of Henry VIII. when it was not only thought proper to have the offices of the Church in the vulgar tongue, but that they also should be purified from the false doctrines they contained, by rendering them more conformable to scripture and the practices of the church, in the primitive ages, when christianity was pure and without the alloy of popish inven tions.

By mentioning the gradations and steps by which our Liturgy has arrived to that perfection in which it now stands, we only wish to urge upon opponents, that the care and caution used in its compilation ought to recommend it, as the cool and deliberate result of human wisdom, corrected by experience, and improved by a long series of time. Accordingly, "the first step taken in this attempt to reform our public worship, was in the year 1537, when the convocation appointed a committee for that purpose. This committee composed a book, entitled, The godly and pious Institution of a Christian Man; containing a declaration of the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the creed, the ten commandments, and the seven sacraments. This book was republished in 1540, and again in 1543, with alterations, under the title of A necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man. Also, in the year 1540, a committee of bishops and divines was appointed by the king, to reform the rituals and offices of the church; what they did was reconsidered by the convocation in 1543; and in the next year the king ordered the prayers for processions and litanies to be put into English, and publicly used. Finally, in 1545, the king's primer came forth, wherein were contained, among other things, the Lord's prayer, creed, ten commandments, venite, te deum, with other hymns and collects, in English, and several of them in the same version in which we now use them. This is all that seems to have been done with respect to liturgical matters, in the reign of Henry VIII.

In the first year of Edward VI. Anno 1547, the convocation declared, nullo reclamante, the opinion, that the communion ought to be administered to all persons, under both kinds; whereupon it was ordained, by the first statute passed in his reign, that the communion should be so administered. The next measure was to appoint a committee of bishops and other learned divines, for composing

an uniform order of communion, according to the rules of scripture, and the use of the primitive church. Within a few days, the com mittee drew up that form, which is to be seen in Bishop Sparrow's collection. Being empowered, by a new commission, to proceed farther in this pious work, they finished, in a few months, the whole liturgy; having drawn up public offices for Sundays and holy days, for baptism, confirmation, matrimony, burial of the dead, and for other special occasions; among these services, the forementioned office for the communion was inserted, but with seve eral alterations. The liturgy was thus composed by learned bishops and divines of eminence, many of whom afterward became martyrs for the reformation in which they had labored. It was revised and approved by the Convocation, and was established by statute, 2 & 3 Edward VI. ch. 1. under the title of The Book of the Common Prayer,and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, after the Use of the Church of England. But the Puritans of those times objecting against this reform, as savoring too much of Popery, Archbishop Cranmer, willing to indulge them, admitted of the advice of Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr, two strangers, who had taken refuge in England, in con sequence of the troubles in Germany, on account of religion. Much indeed was thrown out by the advice of these two calvinistic reformers, who are supposed to have acted more from their own prejudices in favor of the church of Geneva, than from sound judgment, or any regard to the practices of antiquity.

Some useful additions, however, were made at this review; of which, one was prefixing the sentences, éxhortation, confession, and absolution, at the beginning of morning and evening prayer; some things were properly expunged, such as the use of oil in baptism; the unction of the sick; prayers for souls departed, both in the communion office and in the burial of the dead. There was also expunged, the invocation of the Holy Ghost,* in the consecration of the eucharist; the prayer of oblation, which used to follow it; and the rubric, that ordered water to be mixed with the sacramental wine. The habits prescribed by the former rubric, were now to be laid aside, and the rubric was added at the end of the communion service, to explain the reason of kneeling at the sacrament. The book thus revised and altered, was confirmed by Stat. 5 & o. Edward VI. ch. 1. which at the same time declares, that the doubts, which had arisen respecting the first book, were, rather by the curiosity of the ministers and mistakers, than of any other worthy cause. this work was also added, for the first time, a form and manner of consecrating Archbishops, Bishops, Priests and Deacons. But this act, and the former act of uniformity, were both repealed when Queen Mary came to the throne, who re-established the Romish form of worship in all its rites and ceremonies.

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The alteration then made in the liturgy, it should seem, was in favor of the papists, by the obliteration of the following words, a part of the last deprecation in both the books of King Edward: "From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enor* Now restored in the American Revised Liturgy.

mities." But to the first petition for the queen, it was added, "strengthen in the true worshipping of thee, in righteousness and holiness of life." And in the administration of the sacrament, “ The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee; or the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy hody and soul to everlasting life," were the words taken out of king Edward's first book; and these-take, eat, or drink this, were substituted with those that follow in their room.-And in queen Elizabeth's book both these forms were united.

⚫ Other alterations there were, though these only are mentioned in act of parliament. The first rubric concerning the chancel and place of reading was altered, and the habits restored which were enjoined by the first book, and prohibited by the second. At the conclusion of the litany, a prayer was added for the queen, and another for the clergy; while the rubric in the second book, at the end of the communion service, against the real or essential presence in the holy sacrament, was omitted.

In this amended state the liturgy continued during the long and happy reign of Elizabeth; but after the conference at Hampton Court, in the first year of James I. between his majesty and the puritans, some further alterations were agreed upon.

[To be continued.]

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FROM THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE.

The Life of Bishop Latimer.

HUGH LATIMER, bishop of Worcester, was born of mean parents at Thurcaston, in Leicestershire, about the year 1475, who gave him a good education, and sent him to Cambridge; where he shewed himself a zealous papist, and inveighed much against the reformers, who began to make some figure in England. But conversing frequently with Thomas Bilney, the most considerable person at Cambridge, who favored the reformation, he saw the errors of popery, and became a zealous protestant. He himself says, "Master Bilney, or rather St. Bilney, who suffered death for God's word sake, was the instrument whereby God called me to knowledge. For I may thank him, next to God, for that knowledge I have had in the word of God, for I was an obstinate papist, as any in England, insomuch, that when I should be made bachelor of divinity, my whole oration went against Philip Melancthon, and his opinins. Bilney heard me at that time, and perceiving that I was zealous without knowledge, came to me in my study, and desired me for God's sake to hear his confession; I did so: and I learned more than afore in many years. So from that time forward, I began to smell the word of God, and forsake the school of Doctors, and such fooleries,"

Latimer thus converted, labored both publicly and privately to promote the reformed opinions, and pressed the necessity of a holy life, in opposition to those outward performances, which were then thought the essentials of religion. This rendered him obnoxious a Cambridge, then the seat of ignorance, bigotry, and superstition,

However, the unaffected piety of master Bilney, the cheerfulness and natural eloquence of honest Latimer, wrought greatly upon the junior students, and increased the credit of the protestants so much, that the popish clergy were greatly alarmed, and according to their usual practice, called aloud for the secular arm.

Under this arm, Bilney suffered at Norwich. But his sufferings, far from shocking the reformation at Cambridge, inspired the leaders of it with new courage. Latimer began to exert himself more than he had done; and succeeded to that credit with his party, which Bilney had so long supported. Among other instances of his zeal and resolution in this cause, he gave one which was very remarkable. He had the courage to write to the King, [Henry the VIII.] against a proclamation, then just publishing, forbidding the use of the bible in English, and other books on religious subjects. He had preached before his majesty once or twice at Windsor; and had been taken notice of by him in a more affable manner, than that monarch usually indulged towards his subjects. But whatever hopes of preferment his sovereign's favor might have raised in him, he chose to put all to the hazard, rather than omit what he thought his duty. His letter is a picture of an honest and sincere heart; he concludes in these terms, "Accept, gracious sovereign, what I have written, without displeasure; I thought it my duty to mention these things to your majesty. No personal quarrel, as God shall judge me, have I with any man; I wanted only to induce your majesty to consider well what kind of persons you have about you, and the ends for which they counsel. Indeed, great prince, many of them, or they are much slandered, have very private ends. God grant your majesty may see through all the designs of evil men, and be in all things equal to the high office, with which you are entrusted. Wherefore, gracious king, remember yourself, have pity upon your own soul, and think that the day is at hand, when you shall give account of your office, and the blood which has been shed by your sword; in the which day, that your grace may steadfastly stand, and not be ashamed, but be clear and ready in your reckoning, and have your pardon sealed with the blood of your Saviour Christ, which alone serveth at that day, is my daily prayer to him, who suffered death for our sins. The Spirit of God preserve you."

Lord Cromwell was now grown up into power, and being a favorer of the reformation, he obtained a benefice in Wiltshire for Latimer, who immediately went thither and resided, discharging his duty in a very conscientious manner, though persecuted much at the same time, by the Romish clergy; who at length carried their malice so far as to obtain an archi-episcopal citation for his appearance at London. His friends would have had him fly; but their persuasions were in vain. He set out for London in the depth of winter, and under a severe fit of the stone and cholic; but he was most distressed at the thoughts of leaving his parish exposed to the popish clergy. On his arrival at London, he found a court of bishops and canons ready to receive him; where, instead of being examined, as he expected, about his sermons, a paper was put into his hands, which he was ordered to subscribe, declaring his belief in the effica