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THE

BOOK

OF

COMMON PRAYER,

AND ADMINISTRATION OF

THE SACRAMENTS

AND OTHER

RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH,

ACCORDING TO THE USE OF

The United Church of England and Ireland:

TOGETHER WITH SUCH OF

THE SUNDAY LESSONS,

AS ARE TAKEN FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT.

WITH

NOTES.

BY SIR JOHN BAYLEY, KNT.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH & SON, 43. FLEET-STREET;
C. & J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD;

J. HATCHARD & SON, PICCADILLY; OTRIDGE & RACKHAM, STRAND;
AND J. COOKE, ORMOND QUAY, DUBLIN.

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PREFACE.

In those parts of Scripture which occur in the Prayer Book or constitute the Old Testament Sunday Lessons, many require explanation, and many admit of observations upon those important points, the evidences of Christianity, and the pre-existence and divinity of our Saviour. To these points the earlier notes in the following work are principally directed, and attention is called to the authenticity of the Old Testament and of the New, to the prophecies they contain, the miracles they record, the conduct of our Saviour and his followers which they detail, the nature of the precepts enjoined, and of the obedience required. In the notes upon our Saviour's divinity, where particular texts can be better appreciated in the original than in the translation, the original is set out, that the scholar may judge for himself to what weight the text is intitled. In the notes upon the Psalms, a short abstract is given of the contents of each, the name of the Author and the occasion of writing it, when known, are mentioned, and where the Psalm is clearly prophetical, the prophecy is noticed, and its completion. Upon the Sunday Lessons the notes are chiefly explanatory.

The work is not of deep research, or high pretensions; but it has not been hastily produced, and is the genuine

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result of repeated, though unassisted, consideration. To those who have made the Scriptures their study, it will offer little, if any thing, new, and can only be of use as a compendium in the absence of other Books. To others, it may point out and fix in the mind the foundations of a Christian's faith, and by a periodical recurrence to the different parts of it on the days to which they belong, it may produce a habit of searching out the meaning of obscure passages, and make the Scriptures better understood. That it may increase religious knowledge, promote religious habits, and bring into practice the Christian charities and virtues, the true religion of the heart, is the earnest wish with which it is published.

Tables are placed after the calendar to point out where notes upon particular subjects (especially upon the evidences of Christianity, and the pre-existence and divinity of Christ,) occur, and to shew where particular parts of Scripture are to be found.

June, 1824.

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