REFLECTIONS ON THE CHURCH SERVICE. (Continued from the Dec. Number, p. 426.) A TRUE Christian is often spoken of in Scripture as one who is "in the faith." A Christian is, moreover, required to have a constant sense of God's mercies; he is called upon to be "thankful;" but there cannot be real thankfulness unless there be real faith. He who has not faith to believe in, and to see the value of, all that has been done for him, cannot be expected to have any feeling of thankfulness; but he who meditates on all the goodness and mercy of God, and who is a faithful believer in all that is recorded of God's love to man, both in temporal and spiritual things, will see how much he owes to so merciful a Benefactor: and his faith will lead him to wish t VOL. XVIII. D express the thankfulness which he feels. Our Church service, being made for those who are sincere, supplies the worshippers with such expressions as are suited to those who desire to honour God, not only with outward_worship, but with the sincere homage of the heart. Public worship should be an offering of praise as well as of prayer, for if we receive God's gifts and mercies aright, we shall feel great delight in returning our thanks for them. In the hour of need many are ready to pray and to ask for help; but, when they have received mercy, how grievously apt are they to forget to "return and give thanks unto God." Of the ten lepers who were healed, only one came and returned thanks. Let us look to God, and pray to him in every time of trouble, and in every time of temptation. We have need of the divine help and protection in the time of prosperity as much as in the time of adversity, and even more:-we must, therefore, pray to be delivered, not only in all time of our "tribulation," but in all time of our "wealth :" and to this our Church directs us. And those who have received mercy must return their most "humble and hearty thanks" to God for all the benefits that he hath done unto them. must be done in our private worship; and our sincerity must be seen in our daily conduct, shewing that we desire to live to the service of Him, to whom we are bound by so many obligations. And the Church requires us to offer our public thanks, and supplies us with proper words for this our offering. The psalms which are sung or said, are, for the most part, "thanksgivings;" so are many of the lessons, and many of the short sentences which we use in our public service. But, besides these, we have a "general thanksgiving." This contains a Christian's thanks for the goodness and mercy of God, constantly bestowed upon man. Let us beware whilst we offer the words with our lips, lest our hearts be far from the Lord, whom we profess to be speaking to! We call Him the "Father of all mercies;" and if we judge rightly, we shall see that he is so. This thanksgiving prayer is suited to every worshipper, and the devout Christian sees how exactly suited it is to his own particular case: he applies it as a thanksgiving for the mercies which he himself has This 1838.] REFLECTIONS ON THE CHURCH SERVICE. 39 received, as well as for those with which God has blessed all his people. We here praise God for "creating" us; it is He who has given us the blessing of life: none but an almighty power can give life. Men may imitate the works of God, by using the materials which God has made; but man cannot create any thing; he cannot give life or existence to anything. As long as we have life, then we are bound to return our daily acknowledgment of thanks and gratitude to Him who gave it. But life itself would be of no use, if it were in our own keeping; we could not preserve ourselves alive for a single moment; we are to think of this with a grateful sense of God's protecting care; and, as we have returned our thanks for our "creation," we now bless him for our "preservation, and all the blessings of this life." But our obligations go much farther than this. The present life makes but a small portion of our whole existence; and all that we receive here would be of little use, if we were hereafter to be cast out from God's presence for ever. The true Christian then, whilst he blesses God for his "creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life," feels," above all," most anxious to express his thanks for the "inestimable love of God in the redemption of the world by his Son, Jesus Christ." And that he may be made partaker of the eternal blessings of redemption, he sees the benefit of the "means of grace" offered him here, and he is cheered with the "hope of glory hereafter." He thankfully uses the means; he rejoices in hope. But a true servant of God is not satisfied with the mere outward expression of his thanks, he desires to shew his gratitude by his life and conduct; yet he feels his own weakness, and knows how liable he is to fail; he therefore offers up his prayer to his heavenly Father to help him, and to give him a "due sense" and right feeling of all His mercies, and he prays to Him to renew his heart to unfeigned thankfulness, and thus to lead him "to shew forth the praise of God, not only with his lips, but in his life," that he may henceforth be enabled to devote himself to God's service, and to walk before Him in "holiness and righteousness" all his days. He offers his prayers through the only Mediator, Jesus Christ, and ascribes all honour and glory to the holy and blessed Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are all engaged in the work of man's salvation, and to whom all honour and praise must for ever be ascribed. The Hallelujah, the Gloria Patri, and daily Psalms are expressions of praise; but it was thought by some that our Liturgy, as compiled in the time of King Edward the Sixth, wanted forms of praise; upon which account the "particular thanksgivings" were added in the time of King James the First, and the "general thanksgiving" at the time of King Charles the Second's restoration. V. St. Thomas's Day, 1837. ON FREQUENT COMMUNION. SIR, IT has often surprised me, that men of piety among the clergy and laity, should deem it sufficient to partake of the holy sacrament of the Lord's Supper only just so often as the law of the land compels them to do. Can they, one is apt to think, can they ever consider the apostolic custom of partaking of that divine feast on every occasion, on which they met for public worship? Can they consider the practice of the primitive Church? or, can they ever think what is the intention of our own Church, in ordering the Communion Service to be read every Lord's Day and Holy Day, but that all her members may have an opportunity at those times to receive that holy sacrament? This seems to have been generally done for some time after the Reformation: and this should certainly teach us to communicate as often as we have opportunity. If the following passage from Bishop Beveridge's Sermon, entitled "The Worthy Communicant," is not too long for your useful publication, and seems to you likely to be productive of good, the insertion of it will much oblige, Your's, &c. B. "Blessed and thrice happy are they that receive the Lord's Supper worthily, and that receive it often; for the oftener we receive it, the more expert we shall be at it, and the more benefit and comfort we shall receive from it. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for them that receive it only now and then, ever to receive it as they 1838.] ON FREQUENT COMMUNION. 41% ought. And, therefore, it is no wonder if they are never the better for it; it is rather a wonder if they be not much the worse. It is by frequent acts that habits are produced; it is by often eating and drinking of this spiritual food, that we learn to do it so as to digest and convert it into proper nourishment for our souls, that they may grow thereby; which the primitive Christians and the Apostles themselves, were so sensible of, that they made this a necessary and essential part of all their public devotions; at least they never reckoned that they kept the Lord's Day aright in remembrance of His resurrection, unless they had been at His table, to do this (i. e. partake of the Lord's Supper) in remembrance of His death and passion. And could this apostolical practice be once revived amongst us, our Church would soon put on a new face, and appear as excellent in its members, as it is in its constitution. For by this means we should soon arrive at that degree of grace and virtue, as to be and live as becometh Christians indeed! that is, the most holy, most righteous, and most excellent persons upon earth, such as the primitive Christians were, and such as we must be, if ever we desire to go to heaven. "What, therefore, if the laws of our land do not absolutely require all men to communicate oftener than thrice a year? the only reason why they require it at all is, that all people may thereby manifest themselves to profess the Christian religion established in this nation; for no human laws can look further: and yet, even for that, it is judged necessary, and therefore commanded, that all persons should communicate at least thrice a year. "I never expect to see our Church settled upon the lasting foundations of peace and piety, till the Holy Communion is oftener celebrated and received than for some years past it hath used to be, and am sure that if people were but sensible of the advantage it would be to them, they would need no other arguments to persuade them to the frequent receiving of it. For we should soon find, as many have done already by experience, that this is the great means appointed by our blessed Saviour, whereby to communicate Himself, and all the merits of His death and passion to us. Insomuch that, |