Liturgia domestica: or, Services for every morning and evening of the week ...

and fellowship, and whom we bear in especial and thankful remembrance in the Holy Sacrament.

The Liturgical and Responsive form of the Services has been found the best calculated to aid in preserving the interest and attention of those who have to join in them. The time occupied little exceeding a quarter of an hour, or, with the addition of instruction in the Scriptures, a somewhat longer period, ought scarcely to be felt burdensome by any who remember the rebuke given to the Apostles, "Could ye not watch with Me one hour?"

Looking back upon what he has now written, the Editor almost shrinks from the thought that this compilation of devotions is in any way to be an indication of his own estimate or observance of such duties and privileges. His own deficiency in design must have made it very incomplete in the eyes of those who have attained to a higher order of devotion, and on the other hand the sources from which it is drawn are far beyond the reach of his own practice; yet he is not without hope, that as far as it can be practically acted upon, it will be found to press upon our attention the object of the Christian life," to me to live is Christ," whilst we are in the recollection of each day's mercy; at the same time leading us to contemplate that life as begun in His holy ordinance of Baptism, continued and nurtured in the refreshing reception of His Body and Blood, and ended visibly on earth, but to begin anew in heaven; so that the week thus spent and a life thus lived, ever speaks of Him the Lord of Life, and through Him it speaks of His members, baptized into one spirit, longing for the same kingdom, guided by the same light, filled with the same spirit of penitence, partakers of the same food, cleansed by the same blood, animated by the same glorious hopes; and, as its closing hours draw on, the recollection of their peaceful rest who sleep in Jesus, consoles our own declining days, and we rejoice in their communion, while the prospect of the coming dawn prepares us for the grateful memory of our risen and ascended Lord, and for renewed remembrance of the all-gracious gifts of the eternal, indwelling, and alone life-giving Spirit. Such a life he desires for himself, as also for all his brethren in Christ, and for every family that bows the knee to Him. He knows not where to seek for outward assistance in it unless it be in the almost inspired prayers and praises of the Church, and of her affectionate and devout children.

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