ministration of the Holy Communion, are inserted under the sanction of the pious Nelson, into whose work they are incorporated in their seasons. 5. The part which provides for the observance of domestic events and anniversaries, though substantially the same, is partly re-arranged and made easier of reference. One or two portions of it have been a little extended, especially that for journeys. The circumstance of the Editor's removal to a life for a time without fixed local duties, from the home of many past years in which both the comfort and defects of his provision for family devotion have been practically tried, [appeared both to call for a special remembrance of all his former homes and was also a mean, for which he is thankful, of suggesting to him additions for a very numerous class of families with which, before, he had never been called to sympathize. For all such, whose earthly home is whether altogether or for a season only unfixed, and many of whose earthly associations have been providentially severed, God has provided even here in His mercy a home in the bosom of His Church, where alike they may feel themselves ever and in all places welcome as in the House of their Father, and in the care of their Mother, His Spouse; and if they be faithful members of this His Church, even now some rest from the strife, and divisions of men, with at least u good hope of eternal rest in that city which is to come, those mansions which He has prepared for them that love Him.

Lastly, Some notice of the contents and arrangement of the clendur with suggestions for the order of family Scripture reading, have been added in the Appendix.

The sources from which the additions and alterations have been taken are the sume as those from which the former editions were compiled. The Editor's desire to avoid original composition has led him in every case, where he could not find prayers exactly suitable to domestic worship, to compile and adapt whatever either of exhortation or of private devotion he found capable of conversion to such a purpose. And again both in the texts from Holy Scripture and Collects from the Common Prayer Book, he has not scrupled to make such small verbal alterations (generally marking them by some change in type or otherwise) as were requisite to adapt them to family devotion. In this he was led by what he heard of the inconvenience resulting from its not having been done in the former editions; having ample sanction both in the Common Prayer Book, and in the devotional writings of Bishop Andrewes and others, whose object seems to have been to clothe the expressions of their wants and thanksgivings as much as possible in Scriptural and pri mitive language where this could be adapted. It is as well to mention that the Texts of Scripture are taken from the Services of the Common Prayer Book wherever they are contained in these, as this will account for several variations from the authorized version.

The additions made to the work, since its first publication, have been made with care and consideration; for although there are many instances in which the offices and devotional writings of members of other branches of the Catholic Church have conduced

to and nourish up a spirit of devoutness, as well as tend to explain and throw light upon those of our own; yet it has been deemed wiser to refrain from making selections directly from such sources, and there is no portion of the whole work which is not taken immediately from the Book of Common Prayer, the Primitive Liturgies, the early Fathers, or the devotional writings and compilations of members of our Church, excepting only some of the Prayers for the Seasons, and portions of the Litany, compiled from a volume of Litanies and Prayers for the Sundays throughout the year. Excepting the Invocations and Thanksgivings, which are chiefly compiled from Bishop Andrewes and the Primitive Liturgies, or from a Collection of Devotions (1734) taken from similar sources, the Prayers in the First Part are almost wholly from the Book of Common Prayer.

In the whole work two leading objects have been still kept in mind, 1st. to provide for the real relation of a master to his family and household, in as ample a manner as possible, without infringing upon the priestly office; and, 2ndly, to make that provision at once upon the model of that branch of the Church to which we belong, and in unison with the devotions and aspirations of Primitive ages.

The first of these he believes to be of paramount importance. The Church itself, in all her parts, is at once the Spouse of Christ and the Family of the Most High God. Her relations to her Lord and to her children are so wonderfully ordered, that they radiate through, and may be reflected by the several Churches which make up her visible body, by the Dioceses and pastoral Cures of which those Churches are composed, and by the families and individuals which they each comprise; "The souls of the righteous are the house of God," (8. Aug.); "and although she has herself an existence in her living Head not dependent on the numbers of her several members, yet she reflects the beauty of her Lord in particular places, in just such proportion as they practise what she teaches, and they participate in the benefit entrusted to her dispensation in proportion as they enter into her mystical character, and endeavour to bear the impress of a portion of her body in all their acts. Hence a most serious responsibility rests upon all masters of families diligently to inculcate the faith of the One Catholic and Apostolic Church, first delivered to the Saints and since handed down to them. selves by her successive Ministers, and to teach and instruct all, both children and household, whom God has entrusted to their care, in that holy and blessed Word, which is as capable of being perverted by those who wilfully persist in giving to it their own private interpretations, or fetter it with the systems of men, as it is infallibly sure, by the guidance of the Eternal Spirit, to fill with truth, and peace the minds of those who read it with earnest prayer, and submit themselves with reverence to the divinelyappointed teaching of His most holy Church. Moreover the true secret of domestic happiness is family piety and family worship; it is no

less so of domestic order. The best outward means of leading a household to the true fountains of happiness and peace, is by consecrating visibly, yet without ostentation, a portion of our time, of our substance, and even of our dwellings, to sacred and holy purposes, leading them, as far as possible, to connect with all that is around them the feeling of a dedication to God, encouraging them, as members of the same body with ourselves and our children, to share all that is likely to lead them on to a heavenly mind. In so doing it will be of great advantage to let them see that while our intercourse with the world, our daily meals, our plans, and undertakings, are all changing with the duties and circumstances of the day, our hours and places of prayers are fixed, and do not give way to other engagements. They may also be encouraged to join both in the setting apart and even in the distribution of the family alms, and in other works of charity a.

In providing for the second object, it ought most carefully to he borne in mind that the influence of the master should not interfere with or supersede that of the pastor, nor family worship be made an excuse for not attending the public services of the Church, where they may be had. Yet it will be found that where the master endeavours as much as possible to be in things lawful as a pastor to his family and household, and in all other things subject to those set over him in the Lord, there will be but little difficulty in setting before them the Church of Christ, and all her ordinances and rules, as at once the channels of grace and the best guide of their habits and actions. An instance of the temper which the Editor thinks should prevail on the subject in the family of a layman will be seen in the directions given relative to the form of Family Benediction, added since the earlier editions of this book, though the practice is not singular, nor is the recommendation original. Bearing this in mind, and endeavouring to make a provision for wants which such a temper and tone of life would create, he has followed out the method of which he learnt the first principles under his own paternal roof, where he was early taught that attachment to the habits and formularies of the Church, and that understanding of the faith, which he hopes to hand down unimpaired to his children after him. In the present compilation he has endeavoured to make provision for the devotions of a Christian household, upon the principle that every epoch and event of life is to be rescued from a secular, and converted to a religious use.

a The Collection of Alms and Offerings from the whole family is an important object and one in which even children may join. To the collection may be added whatever is saved by a systematic family observance of the season of Lent. The wants of the poor, and the work of the Church at home, and abroad, form three great heads of charity which might be left optional to the givers. The further distribution must be undertaken by the head of the family.

Thus the services are arranged according to the gracious acts of our most blessed Saviour and Redeemer, so far as possible, on the days on which they occurred, and which the Church points out for the commemoration of them. They consist of her Prayers, her Responses, her Creeds, her Thanksgivings. Provision is made for keeping each one of her Festivals, and for a due observance of her most distinctly appointed Fasts, days of self-denial indeed, but full of penitential joy and peace. It is lamentably true that a large class of devout and religious persons have, in an endeavour to avoid a spirit of formality and self-righteousness, followed the example of a luxurious and carnally-minded age in ridiculing and neglecting them; but it is for the faithful members of the Church rather to follow a holier and better example in a matter which our Lord and His Apostles, and almost every age and portion of His Church but this age and this country, have seriously and diligently ordered and observed. The different classes of Fast-days are therefore all provided for in the firm belief that, while our individual acts of mortification and self-denial are to be in secret, it is no less an obligation to explain, enforce, and encourage the duty in every member of our household, and aid them by suitable family arrangements on such occasions. Provision is also made for the religious observance of the anniversaries of birthdays and baptismal days. These latter are rarely thought of; few perhaps even ask whether their servants have been baptized or no: yet surely it is a clear path of duty to admit none into our families but those who are baptized members of Christ's Church, and afterwards to train them up as sound and faithful members of her communion. Preparatory prayers for the Eucharist, that holy bond of union and communion between all ranks and classes, both from the Services of the Church and other sources, are added, and in the course of each week thanksgiving is made both for the Sacraments themselves, and our own participation in them. Prayers and thanksgivings for domestic events of ordinary recurrence, and for those ecclesiastical and civil meetings which so much affect many neighbourhoods, and include in the numbers of those who take part in them one member of so many lay-families, are also inserted. A Prayer for a Penitent, after the commission of heinous sin, is added; for surely it is better in every case to attempt to restore by kindness and perseverance, rather than at once to degrade or abandon a fallen fellow-creature. Provision is also made for the hour when the spirits of those dear to us are passing into eternity; for the period whilst their widowed corpses lie still amongst us; for the days of our mourning, and for the frequent remembrance of them, that so we may be more and more living amongst those who live, though we see them not, and are still joined to us in lively and mutual sympathies, with whom we profess to have communion and fellowship, and whom we bear in especial and thankful remembrance in the Holy Sacrament. But with all the care that has been bestowed on the work, neither this nor any other book will supersede

the duty incumbent on all heads of families to seek by the grace of God to have their own minds so deeply imbued with the need and the blessing of domestic devotion, that whatever manual they adopt as a help to the duties of the place of prayer, their own minds may be in a state capable of adapting it day by day to the ever-varying circumstances in which they and those entrusted to them are placed. As far as this method 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.

If in this republication there is anything which is really painful to the Editor, it is the feeling that all such works appear to be some indication of the estimate and observance of these duties and privileges by the person who puts them forth for the use of others; whereas his own experience of himself calls too sadly forth the thought that while working in some sort for them, he may be falling short himself, and so it must be unless God in His mercy for Christ's sake forgives him for having done and that most imperfectly, less than he has in many instances proposed to himself and others to do. MISERERE NOBIS DOMINE.

A. H. D. A.

Killerton, 70 Aug.