OF THE THANKSGIVINGS.

PRAISE and Thanksgiving have ever been a most essential part of Divine Worship, among Jews and Christians. The Compilers of our Liturgy had provided for the performance of this duty, by the Hallelujah, the Gloria Patri, and the daily Psalms and Hymns; but there still seemed wanting some more particular Thanksgivings on occasional deliverances, and therefore, in the time of James I. were added the following special Thanksgivings; for Rain, for fair Weather, for Plenty, for Peace and Deliverance from Enemies, for restoring public Peace at Home, and two forms of Thanksgiving for Deliverance from the Plague, or other common Sickness. Still further, to obviate every possible objection of defects in our Liturgy, there was prefixed to the whole of them, at the last Review, one GENERAL THANKSGIVING, Almighty God, Father of all Mercies, &c. for daily use; drawn up, as is said, by Bishop Sanderson; in which, besides giving God thanks for common blessings, there is an especial clause for those who have received some eminent personal mercy, and desire to offer up their public Thanksgiving for the same; a duty, which none, who have had the Prayers of the Church, should ever omit after their recovery, lest they incur the reprehension given by our Saviour to the ungrateful Lepers; Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? Luke xvii. 17.

THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS,
To be used throughout the Year.

OF SUNDAYS IN GENERAL.

FROM the beginning, one day in seven has been commanded by God, to be set apart for the exercise of religious duties. After six days spent in labour, the seventh is sanctified to the service of God, as an acknowledgment, that we worship the one true God, who rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it, after he had created the heavens, and the earth, in six.

The Jews keep this festival on Saturday, the day of the week, on which God delivered them from their Egyptian bondage. That deliverance was a type, and pledge of the deliverance, which was to come by Christ; and when this latter deliverance was consummated, by the Resurrection of Christ, on the first day of the week, Sunday, or the first day of the week, became, and has ever been among Christians, the stated time of meeting, for more solemn performance of Public Worship. Among Judaising Christians, and, from their example, over a great part of the East, the Jewish Sabbath was, in addition to Sunday, still kept by Christians with some of the ceremony, and reverence shewn to the Christian one; while in the West, the Saturday was, more generally, kept as a fast, in consideration of its being the day, during which our Lord lay in the grave.

OF OUR SAVIOUR'S HOLY-DAYS.

As the weekly return of Sunday calls upon us to celebrate God's goodness and mercies, manifested to us, not only in the creation, but in the redemption of the world, so are there set apart, by the Church, some days in the year, for the more especial remembrance of certain acts and passages in our Lord's life, and during his grand work for accomplishing our redemption. Such are his Incarnation and Nativity, Circumcision, Manifestation to the Gentiles, Presentation in the Temple; his Fasting, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension; the sending of the Holy Ghost, and the Manifestation of the Sacred Trinity. That the observation of such days is fit, and necessary, we are taught by the example of the Jewish Church, where the celebration of solemn festivals was a part of the public Service. Some of these were appointed by God; as the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles: others by men, who in this followed only the analogy of such Divine appointments; as the Feast of Purim, and that of the Dedication of the Temple; to the latter of which our Lord himself gave his approbation, by his presence. The abovementioned Christian commemorations were thought so laudable, that they were, very early, established in our Church, under the names of Epiphany, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday, and the rest.

OF SAINTS' DAYS IN GENERAL.

Besides the more solemn Festivals, wherein they were to celebrate the mysteries of our redemption, the primitive Christians had their Memoria Martyrum, or days set apart for commemorating the Apostles, and the Martyrs of the Church, at whose graves they used to meet, annually, to celebrate their virtues, and to bless God for their exemplary lives, and glorious deaths; a practice, probably, founded upon that exhortation to the Hebrews; Remember them, which have the rule over you, and who have spoken unto you the word of God, Heb. xiii. 7. These celebrations were usually on the days of the deaths of Martyrs, which were considered as their birth days; whereon they were freed from the sorrows of this world, and born again, to the joys, and happiness of an endless life.

OF FESTIVALS OBSERVED BY THE CHURCH OF

ENGLAND.

The pious celebration of Festivals, in honour of Martyrs, and Holy Men, grew, in course of time, to be not only burthensome from their number, but censurable from the superstitious manner of their observance. It became, therefore, necessary, at the Reformation, to lay aside the Saints of later date; this was accordingly done, with one Saint after another, till no Holy-days were retained in the Calendar, as days of obligation, but such as were dedicated to the memory of those, that were famous in the Gospels. Of these, the principal were, the twelve Apostles, who were constant attendants on our Lord: St. John the Baptist, and St. Stephen; the former, because he was Christ's forerunner; the latter, because he was the first Martyr: St. Paul, and St. Barnabas, on account of their extraordinary call: St. Mark, and St. Luke, for the service they did Christianity by their Gospels: the Holy Innocents, because they were the first who suffered on our Saviour's account; as also for the greater solemnity of Christmas, the Birth of Christ too, being the occasion of their deaths. The memory of all other pious persons is celebrated together upon the Festival of All Saints; and, that the people may know, what benefits Christians receive by the ministry of Angels, the Feast of St. Michael, and All Angels, is, for that reason, solemnly observed by the Church.

These Festivals have been observed in the Church of England ever since the Reformation; and the Rubric directs the Curate to declare unto the people, on the Sunday before, what Holy-days, or Fasting-days, are, in the Week following, to be observed. The Preamble to the Act of Uniformity intimates it to be schismatical to refuse to come to Church on those days; and it is directed, by Stat. 1. Eliz. chap. ii. which is still in force, that persons shall resort to their Parish Church on Holy-days, as well as Sundays.

OF THE VIGIL, OR EVE.

Vigilia, Vigils, or Watchings, were exercises which the primitive Christians imposed on themselves; and they conşisted in passing great part of the night, that preceded certain Holy-days, in devotion. This practice is thought to have been founded on some texts of Scripture, which enjoins Watching no less than Prayer; as where our Saviour says, on concluding the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh, Matth. xxv. 13. Others suppose, it originated from the perilous state of the early Christians, which compelled them to meet in the night, to avoid the malice and persecution of their enemies. When these Night-watchings were laid aside, they still practised the other part of their devotional exercise, that of Fasting, and retained the former name of Vigils; so that a Vigil now signifies only a Fast.

The following are the Festivals that have such Vigils assigned to them by our Church. The Nativity of our Lord, the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation, of the Blessed Virgin, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, St. Matthias, St. John Baptist, St. Peter, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon and Jude, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and All Saints. The reason why the other Holydays have no Vigils before them is, that they happen generally either between Christmas and the Purification, or between Easter and Whitsuntide, which two intervals were always esteemed such seasons of joy, that the Church did not think fit to mingle with them any days of Fasting and Humiliation. They that fall between Christmas and the Purification, are the Feasts of St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, the Circumcision, and the Conversion of St. Paul. The others, that may happen between Easter and Whitsuntide,

are St. Mark, St. Philip and St. James, and St. Barnabas. It is true, there is a Vigil within the latter period, namely, before the Festival of Ascension; but that is in respect of the Rogation Fasts, which are upon the three days that precede Ascension Day. There are besides, two Holy-days that have no Vigils, St. Michael and All Angels, and St. Luke; the reason why the former has no Vigil, may, perhaps, be, that the heavenly Spirits, for whose protection and assistance we return God thanks on that day, were created in full possession of bliss; unlike the holy men, who passed through the sorrow and sufferings of this life to the joy of their master, and whose example in suffering was commemorated in the Vigils, and was the principal cause of their institution. The reason why St. Luke has no Vigil, is because the Eve of that Saint was formerly itself a celebrated Holy-day in our Church, namely, the Feast of St. Etheldred; but that reason now being removed, it is presumed every one is at liberty to impose on himself the devotional exercise of a Vigil on that Eve.

All Sundays being appointed Festivals, no Vigil can be kept on any Sunday: it is accordingly directed by a Rubric, that whenever a Feast, having a Vigil, falls upon a Monday, the Vigil, or Fast Day, shall be kept on the Saturday.

OF DAYS OF FASTING, OR ABSTINENCE.

Fasting has been used in all times as a part of repentance. Even the Ninevites, who lived in idolatry, had recourse to Fasting, as the means which appeared to them the most proper for appeasing the wrath of God. Besides the examples of Fasting in private persons, as in David, Daniel, and others, there were Fasts observed by the whole nation of Jews, upon solemn occasions. It is true, in the New Testament we find no positive precept that expressly enjoins Fasting; but our Saviour mentions Fasting, with Almsgiving, and with Prayer; both of which are unquestionably duties: he himself too, before the entrance on his ministry, was pleased to give us an example of it, in his own person, by fasting forty days and forty nights; and he tells his Disciples, that the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast, Matt. ix. 15. Accordingly, after his Resurrection, the duty of Fasting was not only recommended, 1 Cor. vii. 5, but practised by the Apostles, Acts xiii. 2. xiv. 23. After the Apostles, the primitive Christians were constant and persevering in their