PREFACE. THE plan of this little volume will be seen at a glance. A short Service-comprising a Psalm, a Lesson from Scripture, Prayers with Versicles, or a Litany—is arranged for every Morning and Evening in the Week. The principal Prayers are purposely repeated, but some variety is given to each Service, by the introduction of one or more suitable Collects; while at the end will be found other Forms of Prayer, and a large number of Collects, to be used at the discretion of the Master of the Family. Those for the great Fasts and Festivals of the Church should be used during the seasons to which they belong. Each Service is calculated to occupy six or seven minutes-not too long a time, surely, to be devoted to domestic worship; but, where circumstances do not allow so much, the reader may conveniently begin at the "Sentences." Ordinarily, the Service should commence with the Psalm, to be read, not by the Master alone, but by the Master and Household alternately; and the whole family should be required to join audibly in the responses, wherever they are to be made. Where family worship consists of one or two long prayers, it is apt to become cold and lifeless; and it has, therefore, been the object of this compilation to introduce Psalms, Litanies, and Versicles, which require every member of the family to bear a part, and so to make the Service a really social one. Wherever, therefore, the present compilation is adopted, every member of the household should be furnished with a copy of it. Short Lessons, for one week, have been printed in full, in order that there may be always some portion of Scripture ready at hand. A table of other Lessons for a whole month has been annexed, not, of course, with any intention of interfering with the Calendar of the Church, but simply to furnish an easy and immediate reference, where the Master of the House has little leisure, or lacks the confidence requisite to make a selection for himself. As it is, of course, impossible that fixed forms, however numerous, can meet all the varying circumstances of every family, such alteration, adaptation, or addition, as seems to be called. for by affliction, sickness, and death, or by any especial mercy, should be made by the Master of the Household. The more nearly our family worship touches the condition of the particular family in which it is used, the better will it answer our Saviour's requirement of a true and spiritual service. The Compiler is aware that many Manuals exist, which are superior to his own in richness and abundance of materials; but if by simplicity of plan, and a more convenient arrangement, he shall be instrumental in introducing Family Prayer into any household where it is not the custom at present, he will consider that the time bestowed upon the preparation of this little book has not been misspent. E. H. MARCH 15, 1855. |