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TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.

INDICATIONS OF A SUPERINTENDING PROVIDENCE IN THE PRESERVATION OF THE PRAYER BOOK AND IN THE CHANGES WHICH IT HAS UNDERGONE.

PART I.

EXPRESSIONS OF REPENTANCE INTRODUCED INTO OUR LITURGY.

1. Whether a Divine purpose be ascertainable.

2. Such an inquiry particularly necessary at present.

3. The three divisions of the argument.

4. That we have given us the language of servants rather than sons.

5. The Collects.

6. Verbal alterations.

7. Commencement of our Liturgy.

8. The general tone and spirit of our Prayer Book.

9. The Sunday Lessons.

10. Changes in the Rubric.

11. Omission of anointing at Baptism and Confirmation.

12. Changes in the Visitation of the Sick.

13. Concluding remarks.

PART II.

LESSONS OF OBEDIENCE INTRODUCED INTO OUR LITURGY.

1. Recapitulation of the general point of view in which the

subject is treated.

2. Duty of considering these changes as a Divine work.

3. Warnings introduced against the "lawlessness" of the last days.

4. Scripture and tradition combined in the Prayer Book. VOL. V.-86.

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5. The Collects for Advent.

6. Other new Collects.

7. The Collects for Saints' days.

8. Verbal alterations on this subject.

9. Omission of the Day of St. Mary Magdalene. 10. The Epistles and Gospels.

11. Service for Passion week.

12. The vow of obedience at Baptism new.

13. Other peculiarities new in the Baptismal service.

14. The Decalogue in the Communion.

15. The general bearing of this argument on the former. 16. Reflections.

PART III.

EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CHURCH COINCIDING WITH

INTERNAL CHANGES.

1. Such mutual adaptation and concurrence the mark of design.

Considered with regard to the first point, of Repentance.

2. Apparent objections to our being supposed in a state of servitude.

3. Suffering, the privilege of sons.

4. The strength of the Church in persecution.

5. Confirmed by the history of our own Church.

6. Her feebleness and state of servitude.

7. That states of servitude are Divine appointments.

8. Such best suited to the condition of the Church.

Considered with regard to the second point, of Obedience.

9. Lessons of obedience the corrective to the tendencies of

the age.

10. Our situation a trial of obedience.

11. Our recovery of lost privileges depends on obedience.

12. Dutiful allegiance to our own Church in particular.

13. Especially necessary at the present crisis.

14. Difficulty of realizing sanguine hopes.

15. The voice of warning.

PART I.

EXPRESSIONS OF REPENTANCE INTRODUCED INTO OUR LITURGY.

1. Whether a Divine purpose be ascertainable.

THE expression used by the Parliament of that day, respecting the First Book of King Edward, was, that it had been done "by the aid of the HOLY GHOST with mutual agreement." Such we may suppose was as it were the echo of God's voice in His Church, and that in these words that assembly, then perhaps to be considered Catholic, prophesied; though, in so doing, they, like Caiaphas of old, knew not the full meaning of their words. But these we may adopt in their amplest signification, nothing doubting but that, by the superintending care of CHRIST in His Church, there has been in that, and other circumstances of change, a controlling Power beyond the reach of man's wisdom; provisions against future evils in the dark womb of time, and adaptations to the existing condition of the Church, beyond what entered into the thoughts of those concerned.

The object of the present inquiry is to ascertain whether, after the lapse of time, we may not obtain some slight clue to the object of such dispensations; whether there are not discernible some remarkable indications of such a presiding Hand, not only controlling the tide of popular changes which have come over the Church, so as to have preserved to us that dispensation under which we now live, but also regulating and directing those changes to meet the wants of succeeding ages.

Had these revolutions been produced by persons acting in the largeness of human wisdom, and by forethought directing their views to one great design, and that design peculiarly suitable to the wants of the Church, even in this case we should have to acknowledge that superintending Hand in which are the hearts.

of men. But if this does not appear to have been the case, excepting on some particular occasions, yet, notwithstanding, at one time by the aid of persons supporting the Catholic Truth, at another by that of those opposing it; at one time by the care of reverential men, at another by the passions of the inconsiderate, -there may be traced the predominance of one great and overruling purpose :— -And if such a Providential Power, now converting and then controlling; now amalgamating, then neutralizing; in short, either by maturing or by frustrating the thoughts of men, has throughout, so far as we can discern, made all things to work to one great end, and that an end peculiarly suitable to our condition-if such be the case, then surely such an inquiry as the present may do something towards regulating the feelings with which we regard those events, and pointing out the line of conduct which our position requires.

ways are in the But if even in

I am aware that such an investigation demands the greatest circumspection and reverence, for although we have the promise that CHRIST shall be with His Church to the end of the world, yet therein, as in His natural Providence, "His deep waters, and His footsteps are not known." our lives as individuals, where we can still less comprehend in our view the lengthened bearing or end of the circumstances which encompass us, yet even in the short course of our existence on earth we may trace in past events manifest Providential leadings, and something of a design with respect to ourselvesmuch more may we suppose that such indications of God's care may be discerned in the protection of His Church, where we have entire centuries through which to mark the footsteps of a Divine Governor. And if in the former case it be considered the part of widom and piety, in a review of our life, to divert the attention from persons and events, and thus divesting ourselves of human passions and prejudices, to acknowledge and discern the Hand of GOD, and to look upon apparent contingencies only as the instruments which He uses in conducting the great ends of His wisdom; in like manner also, with regard to the history and position of our Church, to turn our thoughts from man to God, is one of the best means of learning to judge and to feel correctly in

short, we ought to be very cautious how we consider events without recognising therein His Presence.

One protest only it is necessary to make, that the argument is very distinct from that unreal eclectic system, which confounds truth, and degrades our sense of Providence, by looking on the different forms of error only as various modes of educing good under the Divine control. The cases are perfectly distinct, inasmuch as it is one thing, where God has promised to be present for our guidance, " to feel after Him, if haply we may find "Him," in order to know what that guidance is; and another to acquiesce in, and reconcile ourselves to, shapes of evil, on the ground that they will ultimately redound to His glory.

2. Such an inquiry particularly necessary at present. The consideration which is here entered upon appears to be especially necessary at the present crisis: for the more our attention is turned to the ancient Liturgies and usages, the more, I suppose, shall we be convinced that such could have come from no other source than that from which the Holy Scriptures have themselves proceeded. This thought, indeed, is familiar to most of us, from what we have retained. And, impressed with this awful sense of the sanctity of the ancient forms of worship, a reverential mind will naturally shrink from the idea of their being remodelled and altered by man. And the discovery that this has been to a certain extent the case in our own Liturgy may have a tendency to impair that (I may say) filial affection and respect which are due to her from whom we have received our Spiritual birth in one Sacrament, and the bread of life in the other. And, indeed, obedience to her, as standing in the nearest of parental relations, is a part of that charity without which even the understanding of mysteries and knowledge avail not. When our thoughts revert to earlier and better times, we shall, of course, be filled with some sad reflections at the melancholy contrast, looking upon the later Church as "the second temple," and, in the words of holy Herbert, "deserving tears ;" or, in the more sacred words in the Prophet Haggai, "Is it not in your "eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" But He who spake these

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