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nished by the wise and good. On these grounds, Mr. Noel challenges the respect of his hearers for the Liturgy and Homilies of the Church of England, and strenuously urges the apostolical exhortation to stand fast and maintain them.

The first point which he proposes to consider, is, The object and use of a national liturgy. He exaraines, secondly, The nature of a liturgy likely to attain that object. He then proceeds to adduce some evidence, that the Liturgy of the Church of England answers the description; and lastly, solicits patronage and support to the Prayer book and Homily Society, as being directly calculated to increase the eficiency of the national liturgy. Under the first head, and among the principal uses of the liturgy, he mentions, uniformity of religious sentiment, the means of publicly worshipping God in an intelligible and spiritual manner, and the benefit of a standard by which to convict of error the eareless and the wandering.

The discordant views which different parties of professing Christians are accustomed to take of the Bible, have supplied many argaments against the general diffusion of the Scriptures alone, even by a society whereas, the conclusion to be derived from that circumstance is, the importance of circulating some conimon and received exposition of faith and practice. If we cannot send into all lands both the Bible and the Prayer-book, the Bible alone can do no harm, and will certainly do good. If we have the opportunity of supplying the members of our church with its regular services, we shall confer a greater benefit by giving both the Bible and the Prayer book than the Bible alone: we sup ply that exposition of the Scriptures, which churchmen admit to be asound exposition, and uniformity of sentiment is thus increased and confirmed. No permanent church-fellowship is likely to arise from acknowledging the mere authority of Revelation; a union founded upon the contents of

the same volume must imply a certain mode of interpretation, and refer to certain articles either written or understood. Such is the manner in which the preacher asserts the importance of a liturgy for producing uniformity of sentiment.

"What, then, every parent daily attempts in the domestic circle, and every separate

congregation attempts among the little ones of the Rock, by catechisms, and sacred songs, and accredited instructions; that does the national church attempt amidst society, at large, by her liturgy and solemn services. If therefore, happy is that family, and happy that society, which, having collected the principles of their mutual auachment from the infallible records of the Gospel, form those principles into bonds and ties of affeetion, by a reference to one standard of faith, wise is that national church, which having and one method of instruction; happy like formed her hallowed services upon the principles of revelation, and admitted, I will not say the privilege, but the duty of private judgment, is enabled to blend the affections, and to secure the veneration of the community, by the wise reception and enlightened belief of her forms of worship, and expres sions of faith!" pp. 6, 7.

In proving the use of a liturgy from the circumstance of its affording the public means of worshipping God in an intelligible manner, Mr. Noel introduces several judicious ob servations upon extemporary prayer; and it cannot be denied, that this mode of public worship is liable to very serious objections Among others, which might be adduced, he specifies the unequal abilities of those that lead the worship; the uncertainTM frames of mind to which the Mini-: ster is liable, and according to which, rather than to the diversified state of the people, his prayers will generally be conceived; above all, the occasion afforded for error.Ay written form, prescribed and \drawn up by the collective wisdom of humble and holy men, has,kin dall these respects an obvious advantage it depends not upon the caprice for feeling of the moments it runs into no extravagancies of thought or expression; it is always applicable, and always safe.

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Nor is a national liturgy of trifling value, as it affords a standard by which to convict of error the careless and the wandering.

The Bible is the great standard; but the formularies of the Church, as all sects, by their conduct and the regulation of their internal policy, virtually admit, are valuable as a secondary standard. The opinions of great and good men are to be received with deference; many, who might be disposed to explain away the declarations of Scripture, may be induced to bow with submission to their own acknowledged formularies; and an appeal to these records may excite a spirit of inquiry, which shall lead the wanderer back to the fold.

"In the efforts therefore to revive a spirit of religion, to promulgate the unutterable importance of Christ's Salvation, we may unfurl not only the banner of the Lord, but the banner of the Church; and ground the soundness of our principles, not merely upon their agreement with the oracles of Christ, but on their unison with those truths which our Reformers taught, and bled to maintain. The names of those departed servants of the Lord may yet fall with unwonted efficacy on the ear of the deluded. Those good men, though dead, may yet speak to the silencing of the caviller, and it may be to the conversion of the sinner!" pp. 11, 12.

Such are the chief purposes of a national liturgy. The preacher examines, in the second place, the character of a liturgy which is likely to ensure the attainment of these ends.

This liturgy, he observes, must be scriptural in its sentiments, simple in its construction,, and general in the subjects both of petition and thanksgiving. In illustration of the first of these observations, we cite the words of the author.

"Hence they must be suited to the case of a being, once depraved and lost, but now penitent and preserved. They must be fashioned to meet the wants of a soul, help and safety, only through the atoning blood less in itself, and looking for strength, mercy, and perfect righteousness of a Mediator, granted to us by the sovereign benevolence of God. They must presuppose the deadness and darkness of the human heart and under standing, and the absolute necessity of conversion and sanctification by the power and Spirit of God. They most refer the contrite and heavy laden to the eternal faithfulness of Him, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and guide the weak and desponding to the knowledge of those gracious be fulfilled and glorified in the all-sufficiency purposes and designs of God, which are to of Jesus Christ. They must unfold the character and duties of a Christian, as of one separate both in heart and life from the views, maxims, and principles of the world: and finally they must be adapted to him as to a pilgrim and stranger, passing quickly, through a troublous world, to an eternal and blissful home in the vision of God!" pp. 12, 13.

The third point is to shew, that the Liturgy of the Church of England agrees with this description,

The general excellence of our forms, as Mr. Noel justly observes, Dissenters: the majority of them is commonly admitted even by have no complaint against the doctrines of the Church. By the pious members of our own communion à more abundant testimony will be afforded and to them he appeals with peculiar force. The simple confessions of the Liturgy breathe a spirit, and are descriptive of feelings, which every penitent will acknow ledge as corresponding with his own. The subjects of consolation are all drawn from the treasury of God's holy word, and lead the supplicant to that temple of mercy under which he is directed to repose. The Weary and heavy laden are brought immediately to Him who hath pro mised rest to their souls; and while they partake of these blessings of grace, which the abundant love of

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To enable the spiritual worshipper to pray without hesitation, he must feel the sentiments uttered to be harmonious with the will of God. The prayers and thanksgivings offered must be grounded on the solemn and Immutable truths of revelation,, on disclosure of God's mercy to the full their Saviour has unfolded to all that Christ to ask him, they are taught to renounce the ungodly. NIGE donlw dusmirase providemtis : all dependence upon these, and to

pour out their full hearts in thanksgiving and praise.

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"And if scriptural in its confessions of sin, and petitions for consolation, equally scriptural are the prayers of the Liturgy as to the practical dispositions and tempers of mind, which they at once cherish and evince in the breast of the worshipper.

"How abundantly do the petitions of the Liturgy imply this truth, that faith worketh by love!' What attention to the wants, what sympathy with the sorrows, what tenderness to the infirmities of others are there exhibited! Can I here but men

tion that part of the service, entitled the Litany in particular, as containing a series of petitions, in which every relative duty, every charitable sentiment, every case of calamity, is remembered and remembered with a feeling which seems almost to transmute, the petitioner into the sufferer? As

men connected with the whole human race, or as subjects of a particular kingdom; as citizens, as members of families, as companions in society, as witnesses of the helplessness of the child, the solitude of the widow, the desolation of the orphan, the regrets of the captive; as partakers of the fears of the weak, and the perils of the wandering; as spectators of the remorse, with which the bosoms of the enemy, the slanderer, and the persecutor will one day be torn, as mourners by the bed of death, receiving the last sighs of the dying, and anticipating our own; in all these capacities, and many more, we are found supplicating, in this astonishing remembrancer of human wants!

"Those who framed this holy, this simple, this affecting detail, appear to me to have caught the very spirit and manner of Scripture. Their minds must surely have been cast in no ordinary mould. Nor will it I think be denied by the candid inquirer, that they have well fulfilled the injunction of the Apostle, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints.'" pp. 49, 20. 1 Mr. Noel concludes by soliciting support to the Institution, as calculated to give efficiency to the national liturgy, not only by widening its circulation, but by deepen ing the respect and value for the general principles of liturgical ser vice.!

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Under this head, he adverts with much force to the mistake which

many persons commit with regard to the relative importance of prayer and preaching Preaching is indeed the great instrument of religion; but prayer is a part of religion itself. If the Christian seek for intercourse with his God, he will go to his temple as to a house of prayer. His mind will be free from those temptations to criticise and cavil, which infest the hearts of those who go rather to hear the preacher than to converse with God. He will approach the sanctuary in that spirit which best prepares him to derive benefit from the service, and is best suited to the cultivation of humility and love. Whatever may be the lessons of the pulpit, if he repair in this disposition to the worship of his Father in heaven, he will not fail to derive from the Liturgy itself a large measure of knowledge and edification.

It is under the conviction of the tendency of this Society, thus to promote the estimation of the Liturgy, that Mr. Noel appears as its advocate. The object of the Institution is simple and exclusive: it regards the formularies of the Church," not as subsidiary, not as attached to other views and ministrations more important," but as entitled to all its care: and expe rience proves that distinct societies, established for distinct objects, will, in their several departments, produce effects infinitely greater than any society which has a combination of plans. Where many objects are proposed, it generally happens that undue pre-eminence and importance are given to one department, while another is lamentably neglected.

In the three last pages of his discourse, the preacher dwells with heartfelt exultation upon the b pros pects which are now opening before the Catholic Church of Christ** militant here on earth." In contending for the peculiar forms of that church of which he is so valuable and cop scientious a minister, he displays a mind which is animated by charity to all men, Every sentiment which

he utters is warm with the glow of Christian love; and it is impossible to peruse this eloquent and scriptural sermon a sermon written for a special purpose, and in behalf of a particular church-without ac knowledging, that the writer at least is "united in heart to the people of God of every denomination." It is impossible not to join in his fervent wish, that the stream of charity," which issues" from the threshold of our sanctuary," may "flow on to enrich and heal the farthest nations of the earth." (p. 26.)

In place of further recommendas tion of this able and excellent dis course, we shall present our readers with the concluding paragraphs. The force and beauty of them will induce many, we trust, to read the whole.

"The preparations which justify this hope" (of the approach of Christ's kingdom) are certainly strange and portentous, At the close of more than twenty years of ruinous warfare a long and disastrous period, sufficient to have blotted out all records

of Charity, and to have engraven the vows of hatred on every heart-at such a period, and even in the very moment of direct conflict, a spectacle has appeared, at once pacific, novel, and contradictory. The jarring world, holding fast the sword drenched in blood in the one hand, has suddenly grasp ed the Bible in the other. The bow of God has not as usual illuminated the sum mer cloud, but shot across the blackest tempest. The seeds of peace have been sown in the very track of armies; and contending

nations have communed as friends, on the means of relieving their common ignorance of the Prince of Peace, and of attaining their real felicity in Him! The wretched situation of millions has come up in remembrance before us; and every hand has been lifted up to spread that Gospel, whose prophetic testimony is gone forth, that war ere long shall be learned no more!

"Is the tumult now hushed, and by a power as great, though silent, as that which in the chosen land, transformed the

once,

Behold

and

bride adorned for her husband And I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor erying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write-for these words are true and faithful!" pp. 27—29.

Near

It may be proper to add, that it appears from the Report annexed to this sermon that the Society has gained a considerable accession of patronage, and many subscribers during the past year. A delay bad taken place in the publication of the folio edition of the Homilies; but it had chiefly arisen from the desire to render it as perfect as possible by a careful collation of the different editions of these formularies which have appeared. seven hundred copies had been sub. scribed for; two hundred of these by one benevolent individual in the North of England. The price to subscribers is one guinea for each copy; but when they have been supplied, as this price is inadequate to defray the expense, it will be raised to a guinea and a half, except in the case of parish churches, which shall receive the copies they. require at cost price.

books to New South Wales, to the The Society has supplied Prayersoldiers of the duke of Welling ton's army, to the hospital and barracks at Brighton, to the London Fe. male Penitentiary, and to the debtors and felons in Newgate. The num ber of Prayer-books issued during the year amounted to 7660, besides 550 Psalters. The number of Ho mily Tracts issued amounted to 86,847, of these 7824 were bound

up

in little volumes. Besides fresh

surge into a calm? For what high purpose, editions as they were called for of and design is this sudden and rapid change? God grant the vision of the Apocalypse the 25 Homilies previously pubmay prove its blessed explanation! I saw lished, the Homilies " on Prayer, the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down on the Resurrection," and on from God out of Heaven, prepared las as the Gift of the Holy Ghost," and the

"Articles of Religion," have been published in tracts, 5016 Jan & brew,

The Society has added to its list of Vice-presidents the Dean of Wells, the Dean of Carlisle, and the Dean of Armagh (Viscount Lifford), the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Viscount Galway. The Rev. H. Budd, the late secretary, in consideration of his zealous services, has been nominated a governor for life,

We conclude our abstract of the Society's Report, and this article, with the following testimony, selected from several others, to the (usefulness of the Homily Tracts, which has lately appeared in the Report of a Society for visiting and relieving sick and distressed poor. "Speaking of an afflicted man, the Re

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port says (p. 19, Case 10.), The sufferer had served God in the days of health and prosperity, and d was eminently comforted in his illness. He was frequently blessing and praising Gud for the mercies he reand great, the Visitor, who often saw him, ceived. Though his sufferings were long does not recollect a murmur having escaped his lips. The inan improved in every holy and joyful Christian grace and when at length he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, he evidently feared no evil, but died rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. Several Homilies of the Church of England had been given him, and that against the Fear of Death had been a source of peculiar consolation to his mind. In a private communication, the clergymanwhọ attended him, remarks, Several tracts were put into his hands, but he expressed himself again and again during his long illness, and that unsolicited, as peculiarly interested in that Homily." pp. 16, 17.

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GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication;--An Anatomical and Physiological Examination of the Brain, as indicative of the Faculties of the Mind, in one vol. royal 8vo. with engrave ings by Dr. Spurzheim.

In the Press: A Narrative of the Travels of the Rev. John Campbell in South Africa, at the Request of the Missionary Society; A Life of Melancthon, by the Rev.F.A. Cox, A. M. of Hackney-Historical Sketches of the House of Romanoff, the reigning Family of Russia, with an Account of its present State, by the Rev. W. Anderson-Letters from England, by a foreignf Nobleman, in 1810, 1811, 1812 and 1813A Diction ary of Religious Opinions, by Mr. Jones, author of the History of the, Waldenses; A Second Volume of the History of the English Church and Sects, by the Rev. J. Grant;-and The Second Volume of Studies in History," by the Rev. T. Morell, of St. Neot's, containing the History of Rome from its earliest Records to the Death of Constantine, in a Series of Essays,

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accompanied with moral and religious Re flections, &c. &c.

The use of the gas of coal for the purpose of illumination, is extending considerably in the Metropolis. The Houses of Parliament and several of the streets in their vicinity are now enlightened by it. Establishments for its manufacture have been formed both in the City Road and in Worship Street; where it is presented in butts for sale, and transmission to distant places. The light produced by it is without doubt extremely brilliant.

The following work has just appeared, viz. Lettre à son Excellence Monseigneur Prince de Talleyrand Perigord, Ministre et Secretaire d'Etat, &c. au Sujet de la Traité de Negrés, par William Wilberforce, Ecuyer; Membre du Parlement Britannique." It is printed by Schulze and Dean, 13, Poland Street; and contains about 100 8vo. pages. An edition of this Letter in English may be expected. The work is worthy of the cause and of its author.

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Another valuable pubucation on the same.

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