all dignity and power are derived, and to whom all men are accountable. The seasons, and chief festivals of the year, make every one familiar with the fundamental truths of Christianity, which they are appointed to commemorate. These truths are again recognized in the services for marriage, and the burial of the dead; with which, not to speak of baptism, most become acquainted at some time, either for themselves or their friends. The catechism, of which most know something, is simple and intelligible. The commandments, the creed, and the Lord's prayer, stand with unquestionable authority; and the practical application of each can hardly fail to approve itself to the understanding of the most simple, and the conscience of the most profligate. There is nothing exclusive, nothing repulsive, in her faith and worship. No pretensions to superior goodness, and assumption of exclusive right to Christian privileges, by a class, who take upon themselves to determine who shall be admitted to the Lord's table, and who repelled. Her invitations are as general, and as free, as the Gospel itself. Prominent in her position, she compels every one's attention: comprehensive in her spirit, she invites all to her fold: simple in her worship, she offers truths, before which the wisest bow, in a form which the young and the unlearned may understand. Thus, to recapitulate, presenting the features and character of the Gospel; and displaying through all her history the marks of God's care, and peculiar blessing, the Church is the source of intellectual and moral greatness to individuals, the bond of society, the excellency of the Nation, and the bulwark of Religion. THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED ON THE BIBLE; OR, THE DOCTRINES AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH SHEWN, IN THE ORDER AND CONNEXION OF THE SERVICES SHE APPOINTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES. THE SUNDAYS AFTER TRINITY. HAVING completed that portion of the Christian year which treats more particularly of doctrines, we now begin a course of subjects more entirely practical. The same accordance will be found between all the parts of each service; with an orderly arrangement of the successive services, though in a less degree than we have hitherto observed. Most of them will admit of being treated briefly, because they teach chiefly by examples, which are easily understood. close relation to the services for Whitsuntide : for they direct us to God as our strength; shew the trust and holy service He requires; and teach us that love to Him, and to the brethren for his sake, cherished in our hearts, and displayed in our lives, is the evidence that we have his Spirit. The morning lesson to-day shews Israel going on, in the strength of God, overcoming and destroying the Canaanites; but especially that signal victory over the five Kings who would have smitten Gibeon; when the Lord discomfited the enemy with great hailstones, and the Sun and the Moon stood still at the bidding of Joshua. In the evening lesson, Joshua, his work now accomplished, and himself ready to die, calls upon Israel to acknowledge God's truth and goodness in the fulfilment of all his promises; reminding them very solemnly that the condition of his favour is devotedness to his Name, and obedience to all his commands. As long as they should observe this, none would be able to stand before them: neglecting it, He would turn to be their enemy. Lest the mercies they had experienced should lead them to presume This, and the next Sunday, have a very upon God's favour, Joshua warns them that FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. God is our helper and strength; holy service and brotherly love are the return which he requires. Morning Lesson Epistle. Joshua x. Joshua xxiii. 1 St. John iv. 7-21. these very mercies, as they were the fulfilment of his promise to bless, were a pledge that He would as truly execute all his threatenings, if they should turn aside from his Law. The epistle commends the love of God, in that He hath given his Son to be a propitiation for us, and hath imparted to us his Spirit. His love towards us makes it our reasonable duty to love Him; and the proof of our love which He requires is, that we love the brethren for his sake. Gratitude obliges us to this the more strongly, since He loved us freely, and without any claim, or desert on our part. God is love; and if we are his, He dwelleth in us, and giveth us his Spirit, that we may be like unto Him. Love, therefore, is the evidence, the test of our condition. If we O ever good and kind! My best affections move; To succour those in need My grateful breast incline; SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. God, who delivers us in our troubles, requires that we relieve the distresses of others. Morning Lesson. love not the brethren, we have not the Spirit Epistle. of God, and are none of his. The gospel, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, supplies an additional motive to the exercise of this divine principle, by shewing that those who are apparently the meanest, and the most wretched, may be the chief objects of God's favour. Lazarus, miserable and despised on earth, is exalted to the most honourable place in heaven; while the luxury of the rich man ends in the torments of hell. Wealth is an important trust. It enables its possessor to become the channel through which God pours his blessings; the minister and instrument, by whom God executes his purposes of goodness. But it is also a snare. Affording the means of present ease and pleasure, it may harden the heart that refuses to be disturbed from its repose by the sorrows of another; and engrossing the individual with present enjoyment, it may keep him without a thought of the future; till in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment. XLIV. My Maker and my King, What thanks to Thee I owe! Thy sov'reign goodness is the spring The creature of thy hand, My God! thy benefits demand More praise than tongue can give. Gospel. . The lessons describe the misery which Israel endured, when, for their sins, God sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, who "mightily oppressed them twenty years;"— their cry unto the Lord for help;—the great deliverance which He wrought for them by the hand of Deborah and Balak;-and the song of praise and joy with which they celebrated their victory. The epistle begins with an allusion to the trials which Christians must expect from the enmity of the world; a consideration which implies dependence upon God, who alone can support, comfort, and deliver us. It enjoins in more emphatic language than that for the last Sunday, the duty of love to the brethren; shewing the deadly sin of omitting, and the great blessing of observing it. It requires that practical evidence and exercise of this love which is shewn in relieving their necessities, and denying ourselves for their sake. It offers faith, love, and obedience, as the substance of religion, and declares the glorious privilege of all who thus keep God's commandments; that God dwelleth in them, and they in Him, having the witness and comfort of the Spirit which He giveth them. The gospel, like the parallel portion, St. Matt. xxii. 1-9, may apply to the invitation and rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles; but, that its more literal meaning and application are to be chiefly observed here, is evident, from the four preceding verses of the chapter, in which Christ commends the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, to our attention and liberality. It offers a caution to those who are busied with the world, lest its cares lead them to neglect the call of God, and so they become excluded at last from the blessings of Heaven; while it shews the poor and destitute, called from the streets and the lanes, the highways and the hedges, and gathered in to feast with the Lord. XLV. In deep distress to God I cried, Ah! wo is me: constrain'd to dwell When will thy word their tumults quell, Fain would I bid contention cease, Psalm cxx. XLVI. Great God! o'er heaven and earth supreme, Whose glories all creation fill; Our souls adore thine awful Name, And humbly wait to do thy will. Thy glorious power what tongue can tell! What force thy sov'reign word withstand! Yet Thou dost stoop with men to dwell, And give thy blessings through their hand. 'Tis ours to feed these lambs of thine, And train their footsteps on to heaven; We take with joy the charge divine, And freely give, as Thou hast given. The contrite heart, the humble mind; For a School Anniversary. St. Peter in the epistle insists upon the great blessings which belong to humility, displayed in lowliness towards one another, and entire submission to God's will. He encourages to acquiescence in present abasement, by the prospect of future exaltation: to perfect trust in God, by the assurance that He careth for us to soberness, that is, to moderation in desiring and using all the things of this life, lest they lift up our hearts with pride; and to vigilance, against our active and powerful adversary the devil, whom he bids us resist, steadfast in the faith; reminding us that God's people must, indeed, be exercised with trials; but that the God of all grace, who hath called us to his eternal glory, will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us, through all that we are called to suffer. Therefore, as we depend upon Him, we pray in the collect for his mighty aid to defend and comfort us in all dangers and adversities. The morning lesson contains the song of Hannah, when God had rewarded her meek temper, and patient waiting, with the blessing she sought. It is a beautiful and animated commendation of humility, and greatly resembles the song of the blessed Virgin, both in the subject and the spirit. The latter part of the chapter presents a lamentable contrast in the sin of Eli's sons, who dishonoured God's Name and service by their impudent and shameless conduct; and so brought sorrow upon their father, and judgment upon themselves. The evening lesson, in the call of Samuel, presents another example, of the favour with which God regards the lowly. Devoted by the pious vow of his mother, he was brought up from his infancy in the fear of the Lord. The whole of his conduct on this occasion is very pleasing his immediate and respectful attention to the supposed calls of Eli; his unwillingness to repeat the painful message; | injustice, might appear inconsistent with his and his candour in telling the whole, when providence, who governs all; and with his Eli required him to do so. The submission equity, whose ways are equal, we are often of Eli to the sentence pronounced against his reminded, as in the epistle, that this life is house, (v. 18,) teaches in what temper we only a short season of trial; and that a day ought to receive the chastisement, when God is coming, when all the sufferings which now visits for our sins. exercise the good shall end in exceeding glory. We therefore pray to Him whose mercy abounds, and whose power is over all, that we may so obey Him as our Ruler, and observe Him as our guide, that we may pass safely through this life to our eternal inheritance. The gospel offers, in the conduct and words of Christ, the greatest encouragement to those whose conscious unworthiness would make them afraid to come to God. The kindness of our Lord towards the veriest outcasts of society provoked the taunt from his enemies, "this man receiveth sinners." He justifies himself by expressive parables; and declares, not merely that the penitent sinner shall be received, but that Heaven itself rejoices over him when he repents. XLV. O God! the high and Holy One, Not human thought can reach so high: Before thy dreadful majesty. Yet, to the lowly contrite breast, Thou God of love, art ever near; The mourner's comfort to restore, And bid the fearful, sin no more. On the subject of God's government, we find Samuel reproving the Israelites, in the morning lesson, for their ingratitude and folly, in demanding that a King should reign over them, when the Lord their God was their King. He proves to them, by a miracle, how greatly they had offended therein; and while he comforts them with words of encouragement, if thenceforth they would serve God faithfully, he warns them of the fatal consequences if they should turn aside. In the evening lesson, he condemns Saul for his disobedience to the express law of God, in presuming to intrude into the priest's office; and declares that, for his sin, the kingdom should be taken away from his family. In the portion appointed for the gospel, our Lord shews the obligation and blessings of equity; and exposes the hypocrisy of such as condemn the failings of others, while they allow themselves in gross offences. He directs attention to the supreme Lord and Judge; whose mercy and goodness he offers for our FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. example, and whose justice will regard our dealings with others. For an illustration of this part of the subject, we have a noble example of integrity in the morning lesson; where Samuel, having laid down the authority which he had so long exercised, appeals before God to the assembled people, from whom he challenges and receives an unqualified testimony to the moderation of his conduct, and the justice of his government. XLVIII. Come, let us search our hearts, and try We are taught in the epistle to walk with. quietness, gentleness, brotherly love, and purity; convinced that in the way of peace we shall find peace; or if our righteous conduct should expose us to suffering, still that we should not swerve from our integrity; but trust in God, whose providence is over all, to protect his people, and withstand the wicked. In accordance thereto, the collect prays that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by God's governance, that his Church may joyfully serve Him with all godly quiet ness. The sin and punishment of disobedience are shewn in the morning lesson by the conduct of Saul, when God had sent him to destroy Amalek. The victory of David over Goliath, described in the evening lesson, is a noble example of confidence in God, under circumstances so unfavourable, that nothing but the most unskaken faith could support the young champion of Israel. In the gospel, we see the example and reward of St. Peter's obedience, when, at the word of Christ, he let down the net, though his fruitless toils through the night left him no reason to expect any advantage. The miraculous draught of fishes he obtained was a type of his success through the power of the same word, when he should become a fisher of men. The gospel shews also the trust of the apostles, Peter, and James, and John, who, at the call of Jesus, left all, and followed him. XLIX. God is our strength! away our fear: O Lord of Hosts! while Thou art nigh, On Thee our trust is surely stayed, Though proud and fierce the giant foe; Through Thee, our all sufficient aid, The stripling's arm shall lay him low. So may thy saints on Thee depend; Forsake the world, and follow Thee. From considering the duty of obedience and confidence towards God, we proceed to the means whereby we may be restored to his favour when we have offended. This is found in humble and sincere repentance; arising from a due sense of the evil of sin; and from such love to God as shall make us grieve, and condemn ourselves for having broken his Law. The morning lesson gives to the penitent every encouragement to return, in the pardon which the heinous guilt of David obtained upon his contrition; the sincerity and depth of which, we know from the penitential Psalms. The corrections which the prophet declared against him, even while he pronounced God's pardon, and the sorrows which accordingly embittered all the rest of his life, warn us against the presumption which would draw encouragement to sin from God's mercy. |