Our most gracious Sovereign Lord King George ;] Whom we name in the office, as the ancients were wont to do both in the Eastern and Western Churches. Dean Comber. When the emperors became Christian, they were particularly named in the Liturgies, with titles expressing the dearest affection and the most honourable respect. Wheatly.

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The whole of this prayer is happily adapted to that spirit of loyalty, which our Church on all occasions recommends; and no person, void of that spirit, can join in it without gross hypocrisy. The language is remarkably noble and sublime: the introductory part grand and solemn: and the several petitions that follow are extremely pertinent and proper. May God give us all grace to use it with sincerity and devotion; and to shew in the whole course of our lives and conversations that loyalty, which is one distinguishing mark of the disciples of Christ. Waldo. -that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies,] This and similar passages in our Liturgy have been sometimes misrepresented, as recommending aggrandisement and conquest. On Christian principles the Church must presuppose, that Christian princes will engage in no wars, which are not undertaken in just and necessary defence. She knows, that all war, excepting in cases of unjust aggression from abroad, or unnecessary resistance to the measures of government at home, is equally repugnant both to the letter and spirit of the Christian religion. In her offices day by day she prays for peace. In her Litany, or general supplication, thrice a week, she deprecates war, and from "battle and murder" intreats deliverance. Whenever she prays for a blessing on the arms of the sovereign, and for victory over all his enemies, she must be understood to pray for the ends of victory: the preservation of the lawful and just rights of his majesty and of these realms, deliverance from the power of enemies, and the restoration of quietness and peace. Shepherd.

Ps. 3, 4.

A Prayer for the Royal Family.] This was added in conformity to that ancient desire of the Persian emperor, Ezra vi. 10; that the Jewish priests would pray for the life of the king and his sons; and among the Romans the heirs of the empire were prayed for as well as the emperor, as Tacitus relates: the primitive Christians also prayed for the imperial family; and the canons of old Councils, both at home and abroad, do injoin it: and our Reformers have composed an excellent form to do it by. Dean Comber.

Because the royal family are the future hopes of the publick, and in the mean while their whole behaviour is of very great consequence to it; we apply more distinctly than the ancient Church did, but surely with reason, to "the Fountain of all goodness," who therefore is able to supply the branches, as well as the root, for such blessings on every branch, especially the principal by name, as their condition requires. Abp. Secker.

But let us not suppose that we have discharged our duty by only praying for them. Something more is certainly required of us: for, if we are bound to honour our sovereign, we ought surely to pay a suitable regard and reverence to those, that are so nearly related to him: not to listen to every idle and scandalous report, which malice may propagate concerning them; but to think, and speak, of them with affection and respect; to admire and applaud their virtues; and to conceal, rather than publish, their failings. Waldo.

A Prayer for the Clergy and people.] Holy Scripture is full of prayers for the Church of God, and particularly for the governors and pastors thereof, and all the ancient Liturgies have peculiar petitions for the bishops and the clergy, as well as for the congregations committed to their charge: Synesius a primitive Bishop writes to his clergy to pray for him in all their churches; and our Saxon Councils ordain daily prayers shall be made for the bishop and for the Church of

shops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace"; Tit. 11. and that they may truly please thee,

2 Thess. iii. 1. i. 11. Luke xi. 13.

pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, Col. i. 9, 10. for the honour of our Advocate and 1 Tim. ii. 5. Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

1 John ii. 1.

2 Thess. i. 12.

God; which order we observe in this ancient form. Dean Comber.

The Church, for which this prayer is offered, is excellently described by "bishops, curates, and the people committed to their charge." By curates here are not meant stipendiaries, as now it is used to signify, but all those, whether parsons or vicars, to whom the bishop, who is the chief pastor under Christ, hath committed the cure of souls of some part of his flock, and who are thus the bishop's curates. The bishop with these curates, and the flock or congregation committed to their charge, make up a Church. For according to our Saviour's definition, a Church is a "shepherd, and his sheep that will hear his voice;" to which St. Cyprian's description agrees, "The Church is a congregation of believers united to their bishop, and a flock adhering to their shepherd; whence you ought to know, says he, that the Church is in the bishop, and the bishop in the Church, and they, that are not with the bishop, are not in the Church." Now because the bishops are the guides and governors of the Church, so that all acts of the Church are ordered and directed by them, as the same St. Cyprian says; therefore the custom of the Church always was, and not without reason, to pray particularly by name for their bishop, as they did for the king.

To make this Church, to gather it from among infidels and heathens, and to preserve it from all her subtile and potent enemies, "by the healthful Spirit of his grace," is an act of as great power, and a greater miracle of love, than to create the world. "Although thou beest wonderful, O Lord, in all thy works, yet thou art believed to be most wonderful in thy works of piety and mercy," says St. Augustin: and therefore the preface is suitable," Almighty God, who alone workest great marvels, send down upon thy Church, bishops, curates, and the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace." Bp. Sparrow.

In this prayer we beseech Almighty God, that he, "who alone worketh great marvels;" who hath in all ages marvellously protected his Church against the devil and wicked men; who endued his apostles with marvellous and miraculous gifts on the day of Pentecost, and by their means many others; who doth and ever will produce marvellous effects on the hearts of believers by the ministry of his word and sacraments; and who only can do such things; would "send down the healthful, that is, the healing, strengthening, and saving "Spirit of his grace, on all bishops and curates;" persons, to whom the cure or care of souls is intrusted: for this the word "curates" signifies throughout the Prayer-Book, not merely those persons, who assist the proper incumbent ; and likewise on "all congregations committed to their charge." And we further beseech him, not only to bestow on them at first good dispositions; but, " that they may truly" and lastingly "please him," to " pour upon

them his continual blessing," like a kindly "dew" descending from above. "For neither is he, that planteth, any thing, neither he that watereth; but God, that giveth the increase," 1 Cor. iii. 7. Abp. Secker.

"-the healthful Spirit of thy grace ;] The Spirit of God's grace is, according to the Scripture idiom, God's gracious Spirit. And is therefore called healthful, because he brings health, that is holiness, to the soul. Dr. Bennet.

As the influences of the Holy Spirit, in a greater or less degree, are absolutely necessary to be experienced by every individual, that would be a Christian indeed; so are they more especially by those, who are appointed to teach the way of salvation to others. For he that teacheth, and he that learneth, must be assisted by the same master: they must be renewed by the same grace, and derive their spiritual health from the same source. acknowledge this, when we pray, that God would send down upon his ministers, and the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of his grace. Rogers.

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our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ.] An advocate is one, that pleads the cause of another in a court of justice. Therefore Jesus Christ is called our Advocate, because he pleads our cause with his offended heavenly Father, and causes our pardon to be sealed, and our persons, accused by our sins, to be acquitted by him. He is also our Mediator: that is, the person, who transacts the grand affair of reconciliation between God and his creatures. He intercedes for us, and is continually offering up his own merits for our sakes, to rescue and skreen us by his all perfect righteousness from that damnation, to which we otherwise must have been eternally liable. Dr. Bennet.

Neither ministers nor people must ask for the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, with a view to advance their own glory and importance in the Church. The honour of our Advocate and Mediator must be the grand end of our petitions. It is Jesus who procures for us, by his intercession with the Father, both the Spirit and the blessing. Let him have the honour of all the good, we have ever received; and of all the hope, and joy, and comfort, we have ever experienced. And as nothing can tend more effectually to promote his glory and the promotion of his religion in the world, than that his Church should be governed by wise and pious rulers; his ordinances conducted by zealous and holy ministers; and his house filled with humble, teachable, and godly people; we have good reason to pray that the Lord will give grace to all bishops and pastors of his Church, that they may diligently preach his word, and duly administer the godly discipline thereof; and that he will grant to the people, that they may obediently follow the same; that all may receive the crown of everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Rogers.

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom.] Where ancient Liturgics afforded proper prayers, our Reformers chose to retain them rather than compose new ones: therefore, as some are kept from the Western offices, so this is taken out of the Eastern, where it is daily used in the Liturgies both of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, who is agreed to be the author of it. And it is very proper for a concluding prayer. Dean Comber.

It is taken from the middle of St. Chrysostom's Liturgy; but much more judiciously placed in the close of ours. It first thankfully confesses the great goodness of our blessed Redeemer, in disposing our minds, of themselves so variously and wrongly inclined, to ask unanimously of him such things as we ought, and encouraging our applications by such explicit assurances of hearing us. Then it submits intirely to his wisdom, in what manner, and how far, he will think it for our good to grant us any of our particular requests: begging nothing absolutely, but what he hath absolutely engaged to bestow on our prayers and endeavours; namely, that practical "knowledge" here "of his truth," his doctrines and precepts, his promises and threatenings, that hereafter we may attain "everlasting life" and happiness. Abp. Secker.

Neither this nor the following benedictory prayer is at the end of either the Morning or Evening service, in any of the old Common Prayer Books; which all of them conclude with the third Collect. But the prayer of St. Chrysostom is at the end of the Litany, from the very first book of King Edward; and the benedictory prayer from that of Queen Elizabeth; and there also stood the prayers for the King, the Royal Family, for the Clergy and people, till the last review. And I And I suppose, though not printed, they were always used, as now, at the conclusion of the daily service. For after the third Collect, the Scotch Liturgy directs, that "then shall follow the Prayer for the King's Majesty, with the rest of the Prayers at the end of the Litany, to the Benediction." Wheatly.

Almighty God, &c.] It is a general rule in our Liturgy, (except in the Litany, in some few of the Collects, and in the Hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus" in the Ordination service,) to address our prayers to the Person of the Father, in the name and through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the prayer of St. Chrysostom is directed immediately to the Son, as appears plainly from the promise referred to in the introductory part, which our Saviour made in his own person, whilst

he dwelt on earth; and also from the omission of the usual words, "through Jesus Christ our Lord," at the end. Not that, when we address ourselves to one Person only in the blessed Trinity, we are to exclude the others from our thoughts; since they are one undivided nature or substance, the joint objects of our faith and worship. Accordingly it is justly remarked in the Nicene Creed, that "the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;" and, in the Athanasian, that "in all things the Trinity in Unity is to b worshipped." Waldo.

-common supplications] That is, joint or united: such as are "common" to more persons than one; or such as more persons than one bear part in. Thus "common supplications" are opposed to private supplications, or such supplications as a person pours forth in his closet, when no one joins in prayer with him. And for this reason our established Liturgy is called a "Book of Common Prayer," that is, a book containing such forms of prayer, as people meet together to join in, and with united hearts and affections to offer up to God at the same time. Dr. Bennet.

b-when two or three are gathered together in thy Name &c.] This is founded on that gracious promise of Christ, Matt. xviii. 19, 20, that "where two or three are gathered together in his name, he is in the midst of them;" that is, he will give them this assurance of his presence, that he "will grant their requests," 1 John v. 15. Perhaps we are but few at common prayer; but since we come as his disciples, in obedience to his precepts, to ask in his name alone, we are sure that Jesus is among us, and hears our prayers; aud then such is his love to us and power with God, that we doubt not to obtain them. And oh! whom would it not move, to lay aside all needless impediments, and come to prayers, when we are sure to meet the Lord Jesus there! Dean Comber.

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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.] It was ever the custom to dismiss the people from religious assemblies with a "final blessing" both in the Jewish and Christian church, pronounced by the priest, and received by the people on their knees; nor ought any one to go out before it was given. The Jews had a form of God's making, and ours is indited by the Spirit, with which St. Paul uses to close his Epistles. Dean Comber.

This form of blessing seems to have been delivered to the Church, that it might be used instead of the Jewish form, with which the priest under the law dismissed the

congregation. The reason of its being changed was undoubtedly owing to the new revelation made of the three Persons in the Godhead. For otherwise the Jews both worshipped and blessed, in the name of the same God as the Christians; only their devotions had respect chiefly to the Unity of the Godhead, whereas ours comprehend also the Trinity of Persons. Wheatly.

The words are somewhat altered from what they are in the text whence they are taken. For, 1. the minister makes use of the term "us," instead of " you," including himself with the people: 2. the word "evermore" is added. By the former of these alterations the Church has turned this form into a prayer, rather than a blessing. It is also expressly called a "prayer" in the rubrick before the prayer for the king. The minister therefore is to kneel whilst he utters it, as he does in using the other prayers and the congregation are to speak it mentally to God, to whom it is addressed. Dr. Bennet, Dr. Bisse.

The former things being done, it only remains, that on departing from God's more immediate presence in his

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church, we intreat for ourselves and one another, as we do accordingly in the words of Scripture, the continual presence of the holy Trinity, wherever we go: that grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," which will secure to us "the love of God" the Father, and " the fellowship," that is, the communication of the needful warnings and assistances," of the Holy Ghost." Abp. Secker.

Nor are these only desired for us, but pronounced over us, and conveyed to us by the Ambassador of heaven, from whose mouth when we have received this blessing, let us bow our heads, and return home in peace, saying, "Amen, Amen," and God shall make it good. Dean Comber.

Thus we have attempted to set before the reader the several parts or offices of the Morning or first service of our Church which upon this imperfect view appear so rational in themselves, so exact in their proportions, and so apt in their connexions; that we may venture to affirm, that thus far our holy Mother doth "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." 1 Chron. xvi. 29. Dr. Bisse.

EVENING

PRAYER,

WHE

HEN the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Ezekiel xviii. 27.

I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Psalm li. 3.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Psalm li. 9.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm li. 17.

Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel ii. 13.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him: neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he set before us. Daniel ix. 9, 10.

O Lord, correct me, but with

judgement; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Jer. x. 24. Psalm vi. 1.

Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. St. Matth. iii. 2. I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. St. Luke xv. 18, 19.

Enter not into judgement with thy servant, O Lord; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Psalm cxliii. 2.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us but, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 St. John i. 8, 9.