But that all our doings may be Ordered by Thy Governance;

Then only are we sure, or should we be confident that our doings and devices will be right in the Judgment of Him, Who Seeth through All and Ruleth over All, when they are planned and regulated in deference to the Will of GOD, and in subservience to the Sanction and Assistance of His SPIRIT, Who is always Ready to Impart Wisdom and Counsel and Strength to them, that in a right faith seek Them; Shedding Light on our paths, that we may not err from Those, in which Righteousness and Peace alone are found. Not as Controuling our wills so as to destroy our responsibility as free Agents; but only Assisting and Furthering them by the Suggestion of holy desires and pious resolutions, unto their own accomplishment. To do always that is Righteous in Thy Sight;

That we may be Influenced to the practice of all, that is in our line of duty, as respects GOD, our Fellow-Creatures, and ourselves; and that we may have impressed on our Souls the continually operating principle of being under the Observation of The ALMIGHTY in our thoughts and purposes and motives, equally as in those acts which are under the eye of Man; and that, as we profess to honour and obey Him, we should seek in all things to do His Pleasure, that through the Love He Bears to our Interceding SAVIOUR, His Only SON, Whose Meat and Drink it was, when upon Earth, to Do His FATHER's Will, we may strive by the Help of His SPIRIT to walk in all the Ordinances of The LORD blameless. Through JESUS CHRIST, our LORD.

Through the Reconciliation Effected for us with our justly Offended GOD, by the Incarnation, Sufferings and Death of His Blessed SON, Which alone Expiate our guilt and Restore us to the Benign and Purifying Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT, that we may be withdrawn both from the continuance and the desire to continue in sin; and on the contrary may delight in the practice and pursuit of holiness and righteousness of life,

94 The Collect for Grace concld.—The Anthem, and the Litany.

after the Example of our Blessed REDEEMER. the People add,

Amen.

The Anthem follows where Choirs prevail.

THE LITANY.

-And

The Litany then follows, which opens with an address to Each Order of The TRINITY, and then to The United GODHEAD, for Mercy and Compassion; supplicating Deliverances from All evil, ghostly and bodily, and imploring the Continuance of The DIVINE Goodness and Favour. The Priest first saying,

O GOD, The FATHER of Heaven, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

Knowing how corrupt and evil are our hearts, and the thoughts of them, which are the issues thereof, our Heavenly FATHER is thus beseeched, in the endearing Relationship of That Character, to Visit us with Pardon and Reconciliation, Constituting, as They do, the Quality of GOD's Mercy towards Mankind; as without the hope of experiencing That Mercy, our conscious unworthiness of Heavenly Happiness, and the conviction of our unfitness for Its Holiness, must sink us into utter and irretrievable despair; leaving us without the prospect of inward peace either here or hereafter. The People then repeat, and should do so in the same self-condemning and supplicating state of mind; and not, as is but too frequently done, in a hurried or formal and unfelt style of delivery, the same prayer. For it should be considered that The Same Almighty BEING is Addressed, and the Soul of each Member of the Congregation is equally an Object of His Gracious Regard as that of the highest Minister in His Church.

O GOD, The FATHER of Heaven, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

How just is it for all Mankind so to think of themselves when contrasting themselves, in the spirit of faithful examination of their hearts, with the Purity of the Heavenly Host;

and how deep should be the sense of the need we have in consequence of DIVINE Mercy! -The Priest then says―

O GOD, The SON, REDEEMER of the World, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

Appealing to Him, by the Character and Office of His Twofold Nature, by Which He is to us most Prominently Distinguishable, That of SAVIOUR of fallen and sinful Man from the Effects of DIVINE Displeasure, but too justly incurred by every Soul of Man through a wilful departure from GOD's Commandments, and Which Displeasure, in His Boundless and Mysterious Love for us, He hath Effectually Removed, Restoring us to the forfeited Favour of HEAVEN by His Incarnation and Meritorious Intercession for us. But though the sin, whether original or actual in us up to the instant of our conversion, is thus Washed away in the Atoning and Propitiating Blood-Shedding of CHRIST, yet, as by our acceptance of Such A MEDIATOR we enter into a new Covenant of obedience, through the Promised and continually Extended Assistance of DIVINE Grace; and as we still, from the perversity of our Natural inclinations, fall short of the perfect Righteousness and Holiness which are well-pleasing in GOD's Sight, we are here properly led to consider, in reference to the Love and Nature of CHRIST, our so repeatedly offending, and to implore the Effectual Mediation of The SON of The MOST HIGH to Get our Pardon Renewed; and should, therefore, in adopting the language of the Minister, be careful to let our hearts respond to the utterance, when we also say,

O GOD, The SON, REDEEMER of the World, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

The Priest then, in like manner, prays to The HOLY SPIRIT on behalf of himself and All present, that He also, Regarding us, as He must Do, as overwhelmed with the weight and responsibility of our sins, may Shew Mercy unto us, saying,

O GOD, The HOLY GHOST, Proceeding from The FATHER and The SON, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

Addressing Him as The SPIRIT of Holiness, Emanating from The FATHER and The SON, and Who, though but too well Acquainted with the treachery and hypocrisy of the human heart, yet Bears with it, and is Willing and Able to Speak Pardon and Peace to it, if it will but cast away the hidden works of darkness, and put on, in singleness and sincerity, the Love of GOD, and turn to the thoughts and ways of Righteousness and Holiness. And the People repeat,

O GOD, The HOLY GHOST, Proceeding from The FATHER and The SON, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

Acknowledging in effect that, without the continual Striving of The HOLY SPIRIT within us, and the Influence of Its Grace upon our hearts, we should have been, or might become the wretched Victims of the depravity and perverseness of our will and affections, and altogether unfitted for that State of Holiness, out of which no One shall see The LORD but with utter confusion and dismay. The Priest then addresses The TRINITY, saying,

O Holy, Blessed and Glorious TRINITY, THREE PERSONS and ONE GOD, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

Appealing thus to The TRIUNE JEHOVAH by the Threefold Attributes Emanating from Him of Purity, Beneficence, and Honour. To which the People respond,

O Holy, Blessed, and Glorious TRINITY, THREE PERSONS, and ONE GOD, Have Mercy upon us, miserable Sinners!

Thus confessing their totally lost and otherwise helpless condition and consequent hopelessness of obtaining DIVINE Pardon and Reconciliation, but through the Extension of DIVINE Mercy from The ENTIRE GODHEAD. The Priest then continues,

Remember not, LORD, our offences, nor the offences of our Forefathers; neither Take Thou Vengeance of our sins; Spare us, Good LORD! Spare Thy People, whom Thou hast Redeemed with Thy most Precious Blood; and be not Angry with us for ever!

It is not that The OMNISCIENT can Forget the transgres

sions either of our ourselves or our Forefathers: to pray unto Him to Remember them not, is to be understood as a figurative expression, and virtually imploring Him to Blot out the Record of those offendings, numberless as they have been; and Wash their stain away in the Pure Blood Shed for that very Object by The Paschal LAMB of GOD, even The Incarnate JESUS; that He would not Pour out upon us the Vials of His Just Displeasure; but that He would Look on The SON of His Love, and for His Sake Withdraw from us the Fury of His Wrath, and Rescue us from the inconceivable misery of a Banishment from the experience of His Favour for Ever.

-The People having followed in their minds, but in silence, the Priest through the foregoing prayer, confirm their sense of its propriety and seasonableness by solemnly and deliberately saying at its conclusion,

Spare us, Good LORD!

In effect acknowledging equally the fact of having deeply offended in thought, word and deed, and standing therefore awfully amenable to DIVINE Punishment and Rejection, but for the Same Graciously Offered and Atoning Sacrifice.

-The Priest then enters upon a specific detailment of the evils to which Human Nature is peculiarly exposed and prone, and deprecates their influence over us, thus

From all evil and mischief; from sin, from the crafts and assaults of the Devil; from Thy Wrath, and from Everlasting Damnation,

And the People adopting and taking up as it were the unfinished sentence, break forth with the emphatic supplication, Good LORD, Deliver us!

The various ills from which Deliverance is thus suppliantly sought, are from unhallowed purposes and acts, either of ourselves or Others, from yielding to the sinful impulses of our own hearts, from the cunning and unfailing efforts of Satan to shake our faith and overcome our constancy; with a renewed intercession for the Withholding the Utterance of DIVINE Indignation, and to exempt us from the awful wages of unre

G