tained in, or undeniably founded on the word of God himself *. INDEX TO THE SUBJECTS OF THE SEVERAL COLLECTS FOR Angels, for the guardianship of; St. Michael's day. Chastity, for; 1st Lent. Christ, for the imitation of; Sunday before Easter, 2nd after Covetousness, against; St. Matthew's day. Courage, for Christian; St. John Baptist. Enemies, for deliverance from; 3rd Lent. For the Peace Example, that we may follow the Example of Christ; Sunday next before Easter, and 2nd after Easter. Faith, for a right and firm; Trinity Sunday, St. Thomas, St. Mark. For Faith, Hope, and Charity; 14th Trin. Grace, for Grace and Assistance in our Christian Course; 4th Advent, 2nd Lent, Easter day, 3rd after Easter, 1st, 7th, 13th Trin. Heaven, for heavenly desires; Ascension day. For admittance to the enjoyment of God in Heaven; Epiph., 6th Epiph., Sunday after Ascension. Humility, for Humility and Patience; Sunday before Easter. Illumination, for; Whitsunday, 1st Epiph., 9th Trin. Judgments, for deliverance from; Septuages., Quinquages., 4th Lent. Love, for the love of God and his laws; 4th after Easter, 6th 7th, and 14th Trin. For Love and Charity; Quinquages. * For a table of the collects, showing their origin, time of composition, and the principal variations they have undergone, see MANT's Edition of the Common Prayer. Examples of the rigorous, close, yet simple and unconstrained translation of several of the collects will be found in BLUNT'S History of the Reformation in England. Ministers, for the fitness of; St. Matthias' day. That they may be diligent; St. Peter's day. That their Labour may be Successful; 3rd Advent. Mortification, for; Circumcision, and Easter Eve. Obedience, that we may obey and follow the Doctrines of the Prayers, for the acceptance of our; 10th Trin. Providence, for protection by God's providence, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 20th Trin. Purity, for purity of Heart; the Purification. Renovation, for; Christmas day. Religion, that we may be truly religious; 7th Trin. Saints, for the imitation of; Innocents' day, St. Stephen, St. For Pardon of Sin; 12th, 21st, 24th Trin. Sincerity, for; 3rd Easter. Holy Spirit, for the direction of; 19th Trin., 5th Easter. Temptations, for deliverance from, and support under; 4th Epiph.; 2nd Lent. Thoughts, against Evil; 5th Easter. Unbelievers, for; 3rd for Good Friday. Good Works, for fruitfulness in; 5th Easter, 1st, 9th, 11th, 13th, 17th, 25th Trin. The second collect at morning prayer is entitled the COLLECT FOR PEACE. Peace is used in Scripture for all earthly blessings, because it is the mother and nurse of them all; it is the most comprehensive benefit on earth and the type of heaven; and to encourage us to pray for it, God is here represented as the "Author of peace," Isai. XLV. 7, and the "lover of concord," Ps. cxxxiii. 1. Peace was our Lord's legacy-" My peace I leave with you." He prayed for peace, paid for peace, wept for it, and bled for it. Peace should therefore be dear to us; all kinds of peace, outward peace and all; for if there be not a quiet life, there will hardly be godliness and honesty, 1 Tim. ii. 2. In addressing God as the lover of concord, we have a motive and a direction suggested to do our part in endeavouring to obtain what we ask. When we pray for peace, we ought to be ourselves under the influence of charity, and take care that it, at least, be not our fault if we fail in securing it. It is not likely, if we endeavour to promote that concord which God loves, that we shall generally fail to be at peace. But, as from the wickedness or infirmity of others, our benevolent efforts may be defeated in this life, we are reminded, that we shall not finally fail in our object; for we remember, that in the knowledge of God standeth our eternal life, and that his service is perfect freedom: a noble freedom indeed, to have the soul released from the insupportable slavery of ignorance and vice, and set at liberty to range in the spacious and delicious plains of wisdom and virtue; to have it delivered from the harsh and turbulent tyranny of insulting passions, and established under the gentle and delightful government of right reason. O my good God, grant my soul this happy freedom, and set my heart at liberty, that I may cheerfully run the way of thy blessed commandments, and suffer no impediment to obstruct my course * ! "I have sometimes considered in what a troublesome case is that chamberlain in an inn, who being but one, is to give attendance on many guests. For, suppose them all in one chamber, and yet if one will command him to come to the window, and the other to the table, and another to the bed, and another to the chimney, and another to come up stairs, and another to go down stairs, and all in the same instant, how would he be distracted to please them all! Yet, such is the sad condition of my soul by nature; not only a servant, but a slave to sin. Pride calls me to the window, gluttony to the table, wantonness and laziness to the bed, ambition commands me to go up stairs, and covetousness to come down. Vices, I see, are all contrary to themselves as to virtue. Free me, Lord, from this distracted case; fetch me from being sin's servant to be thine, whose service is perfect freedom; for Thou art but one and ever the same, and always enjoinest commands agreeable to themselves-thy glory and my good."FULLER'S Contemplations. The second collect is connected with that FOR GRACE which follows; the former being a petition for temporal blessings, such as are needful for the body; the latter for spiritual, such as are necessary for the soul; in the former we pray for freedom from the evil of punishment, in the latter, from freedom from the evil of sin. In the latter we pray for grace to live well; for if there be not peace with God by a holy life, there will never be peace in the world. Both these collects are connected with the PRAYERS POR THE KING AND ROYAL FAMILY, FOR THE CLERGY AND PEOPLE. Peace is the great and summary blessing to us as men, the subjects of civil government; and grace is the same to us as Christians, the members of a spiritual society, that is, the Church. Now because the former is conveyed to us by the wise government of our temporal rulers, there follows a prayer for the king; and because the latter is derived to us by the administration of our spiritual governors, there follows a prayer for the bishops and clergy, and the charge committed to them. We pray for the king, not only because it is authorized by Scripture, and sanctioned by the ancient practice of Christians, but also from the reason of the thing. St. Paul shows (1 Tim. ii. 1, 2,) that to do so is our own interest, as well as the prince's; for we pray that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives under them, in all godliness and honesty, and in their peace we shall have peace also; besides the duties of the royal station being very important and difficult, and the hazards of erring and sinning in it many and great, the sovereign has consequently much need of our prayers. The whole prayer itself 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 which follow are extremely pertinent and proper. May God give us all grace to use it with sincerity and devotion, and to show in the whole course of our lives and conversations that loyalty, which is one distinguishing mark of the disciples of Christ. Wealth does not mean riches or money, but prosperity or welfare, which latter was its common meaning when the liturgy was compiled. We use the word weal now in the same sense. Public weal means public welfare; "In health and wealth," is the same as in health and prosperity. In the litany there is a passage which clearly shows that this was the sense intended: "In all time of our tribulation, in all time of our wealth," when the contrast is between tribulation, that is, adversity, and wealth, that is, prosperity, in adversity and prosperity deliver us. The expression that our sovereign should vanquish and overcome all his enemies, is one among similar passages in our liturgy which has been misrepresented as recommending aggrandizement 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, is equally repugnant 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 entreats 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 the |