hundred years, it continued in substance the ritual of the English Church; gradually, however, becoming intermixed and debased with Popish error and superstition. At the Reformation, these corrupt innovations were cleared away; improvements were adopted, chiefly from the ancient formularies of Gaul, Spain, and the East; and thus came forth the Book of Common Prayer, a body of primitive devotion, the choicest collection of Prayers in the whole Christian Church. How pure is their doctrine; how deep their spirituality; how noble their language; how brief yet how comprehensive. Where on earth can be found forms so fitting, wherewith to approach the awful God?

But we must not forget that the bare utterance of a prayer avails nothing, however excellent the prayer may be. The divine words of our Lord's own prayer have in themselves no virtue to convert the repetition of heedless lips into acceptable supplication with the spiritual God.

They, who wish to offer these matchless prayers effectually, must strive to have their hearts full of the devout thoughts and holy feelings which they express. The true preparation for daily prayer is the daily endeavour to increase in all godliness.

There is one thing, however, in the act of prayer itself, which you would do well to impress upon yourself and family. It is this:

When you have knelt down, pause, and solemnly place yourself in the presence of God: then lift up your heart to Him and pray. During the prayers be very careful to maintain the feeling of God's presence;

for the instant you cease to remember you are speaking to God, that instant you cease to pray. When the prayers are over, pause again before you rise from your knees, and slowly and reverently withdraw in heart from the presence of the Lord.

This is a simple and obvious direction, yet the neglect of it is one great cause why many find the time of prayer uninteresting and profitless.

It is indeed difficult to keep up a lively sense of God's presence from the beginning to the end of a long, continuous prayer, where petition is heaped upon petition in one unbroken succession. But the prayers of our Church greatly assist human infirmity in this respect. Each separate subject is in general made one short separate prayer, to which the mind can give its earnest attention without the slightest strain. And then the quick recurrence, prayer after prayer, of the opening invocation, which lifts up the thoughts directly unto God, and the closing words, which turn them to the blessed Intercessor, leaves no time for the worshipper to slip into forgetfulness that he is kneeling before the Lord. On this ground, in addition to their intrinsic excellence and supreme authority, I prefer the prayers of our Church before all others for family worship.

May the God of all grace be with him who has put together these prayers, and with those who use them, that, "praying in the Holy Ghost, they may keep themselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life"."

3 Jude 20, 21.

3

Before the Morning Prayers I would recommend the reading of a Psalm, or portion of a Psalm, according to the length; going through the Book of Psalms in regular order, but omitting those Psalms, or parts of Psalms, which are not of easy comprehension, nor adapted to general edification. It is desirable that the verses of the Psalms should be read alternately by the Head of the Family and the Family.

Before the Evening Prayers, I would recommend select parts of the Old Testament; but the whole of the New Testament in regular order, with the omission of a few chapters in the Epistles, and most of the Book of Revelation: a chapter or portion of a chapter each time. On the Sunday Evening, perhaps, an appropriate Psalm may be preferable, as in the specimens here given.

The Prayers, marked King Edward's Primer, are taken (more or less abridged) from the Primer, a Book of Private Prayer, authorized and set forth by order of King Edward VI., "to be taught, learned, read, and used of all his subjects."—See the Preface to the reprint by Professor Walter.Rivingtons, 1825.

Alterations will be observed in some of the Prayers from the Book of Common Prayer; in cases, where the expression seemed unsuitable for Family Worship, or where an adaptation of the Prayer is attempted.

SHORT SERVICES

FOR

FAMILY WORSHIP.

FIRST WEEK.

"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth."Eccles. v. 2.

SUNDAY MORNING.

Portions of Psalms to be read, one or more, before the Prayers.

I.

This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the gate of the Lord: the righteous shall enter into it.

Open me the gates of righteousness, that I may go into them, and give thanks unto the Lord.

I will thank thee, for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.

Help me now, O Lord: O Lord, send us now prosperity.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord we have wished you good luck, ye that are of the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord who hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, yea, even unto the horns of the altar.

Thou art my God, and I will thank thee: thou art my God, and I will praise thee.

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious, and his mercy endureth for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm cxviii. 24. 20. 19. 21. 25-29.