prayers; two folio pages being all that he has allotted to them, in which he has only defined the name, pointed out their general mode of construction, and given a table of reference to their several subjects. "Some judge," he says, "that they take their name from being collected out of those portions of holy writ which are annexed to them under the title of epistles and gospels. But if we regard the use of the word in the Scriptures and the fathers, they may rather seem to be denominated from the collection and gathering together of the people into religious assemblies, among whom (so collected) these prayers were to be used. * For which cause, though they be short, yet all that any need ask for is comprehended in them, and collected into a small epitome. Therefore let the whole congregation join most unanimously in them, and apply them to their own and their brethren's known necessities. And observe, that they are all directed to the Father through the Son, who liveth and loveth us, and so will hear us; and who reigneth in heaven, and therefore can help us. The beginning is commonly the ground on which we are induced to ask; and after the petition made, it is commonly backed with some motive taken from the glory of God for our benefit, which we believe will be the effect of our being heard." †

*May not the name collect be rather derived from the pithy and comprehensive nature of these short forms? Collecta, quæ ex plurimis locis in unum lecta est. Varro de L. L. Dicta collectanea, Suet. Cæsar. 56. Apophthegms, or notes.

+ Comber's Companion to the Temple; or, Help to Devotion in the Use of the Book of Common Prayer, fol. edit. p. 153. It seems a pity that the Clarendon press, which has lately reprinted some other valuable works, should not be employed in giving to the public a new edition of this. It is much wanted, and might be of great use.

"That most of our collects are very antient, appears by their conformity to the epistles and gospels which are thought to have been collected by St. Jerom, and put into the Lectionary by him: for which reason many believe that the collects also were first framed by him. It is certain that Gelasius, who was bishop of Rome, A. D. 492, ranged the collects which were then used into order, and added some new ones of his own; which office was again corrected by Pope Gregory the Great in the year 600, whose sacramentary contains most of the collects we now use. But our Reformers observing that some of these collects were afterwards corrupted by superstitious alterations and additions, and that others were quite left out of the Roman Missals, and entire new ones, relating to their present innovations, added in their room; they therefore examined every collect strictly, and where they found any of them corrupted, there they corrected them; where any new ones had been inserted, they restored the old ones; and lastly, at the restoration, every collect was again reviewed, when whatsoever was deficient, was supplied, and all that was but improperly expressed, rectified.” *

Of the piety of Gregory I. Mr. Milner has produced the most indisputable evidence in his Ecclesiastical History. Concerning his liturgical labours, Mr. Milner says (vol. iii. p. 96), "The church of England is not only indebted to Gregory for the Litany. In his Sacramentary he embodied the collects of the antient church, and improved old or made new ones. Gelasius, before him, had appointed public prayers composed by himself

* Wheatly. Oxford edit. p. 185.

or others. These were all placed in the offices by Gregory. And by a comparison of our Book of Common Prayer with his Sacramentary, it is evident that almost all the collects for Sundays and the principal festivals in the church of England were taken out of the latter. To me it appears to be an advantage, that our Reformers followed antiquity so much in the work. The purification of the antient services from the corrupt and idolatrous mixtures of Popery was as strong an indication of their judgment as the composition of prayers altogether new could have been; which, however, they scrupled not to introduce in various parts of the liturgy. From the brief account I have given, it appears that the service of the church is far more antient than the Roman Missal, properly speaking. And whoever has attended to the superlative simplicity, fervor, and energy of the prayers, will have no hesitation in concluding that they must, the collects particularly, have been composed in a time of true evangelical light and Godliness. It is impossible, indeed, to say how early some parts of the liturgy were written, but doubtless they are of very high antiquity. Many persons in dark times, and under the disadvantage of slothful ignorant pastors, have been enlightened and nourished through their medium; and not a few, I trust, of my readers can justly confess with me, how much their devotion has been assisted by the public use of them. Let any unprejudiced person compare with the liturgy several forms of prayer composed in modern times, and he will find an unction to attend the former, of which the latter are destitute. The present age is certainly much tinctured, in general, with a sceptical, philosophical spirit, which in its nature is not favourable to the production of devotional compositions."

The favourable manner in which the public received the Author's former volume of " Essays on the Morning

and Evening Services of the Liturgy of the Church "of England;" and the approbation which it has received from two periodical reviews, viz. the British Critic for December 1798, and the Christian Observer, (vol. ii. p. 548) have greatly encouraged him in his present work. The latter of these periodical publications has stated some general sentiments on the utility of such attempts as the present, which the Author may transcribe without any infringement of the laws of modesty. "Many arguments," it observes, have heretofore been produced to prove the advantage which attends the providing a pre-composed form of devotion for the exercise of congregation-worship. If these arguments be valid, when applied to the abstract question of the expediency of forms in general, their force must be very much augmented, when applied to that pre-eminent set of public services with which the church of England is favoured.

"It is to be more than feared, that a large part of the professed members of the church have a very inadequate perception of the excellencies which our liturgy possesses, and of the unrivalled merits by which it is distinguished; and that, from this and other concurrent eauses, they lose the edification with which it is pregnant. Some, through ignorance and the insufficiency of their understanding, cannot of themselves attain a clear comprehension of its meaning; many, though not deficient in ability, through inattention and inconsiderateness, remain in nearly equal, but far more disereditable ignorance; while not a small number of those

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who understand the letter of the liturgy, and even admire its construction and contents, are unaffected, during its rehearsal, with those feelings which it is intended to express, and calculated to inspire.

"He, therefore, who labours to enable the ignorant to comprehend the liturgy, to persuade the careless to examine it, and to awaken and stimulate the formalist to feel it, certainly undertakes a very necessary work, and deserves great commendation. He does honour to the church, by exemplifying one of its greatest excellencies; and confers an important benefit upon its members, by furnishing them with the means of increasing both the rationality and spirituality of their devotion."

After giving its sentiments of the work under review, the Christian Observer proceeds in its general remarks. "We would avail ourselves of the opportunity which the review of these Essays affords us, of suggesting to those clergymen, by whose perusal our work is honoured, that, wherever it has not been already done, a series of explanatory and practical lectures on the liturgy of our church is a work of expedience, and one, from the attentive execution of which, many and great advantages might be expected. The liturgy, as we have already observed, presents one of the distinguished excellencies by which the established church of this kingdom is recommended; but this excellency must be discovered before it can attract. The conscientious minister of the church will, therefore, make no inconsiderable provision for training up and confirming sound members of her communion, who makes plain to the