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Almighty God, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the gospel, to be an Evangelist and Physician of the soul; may it please thee, that by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed, through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'

Even the slight hint afforded by the festival of St. Simon and St. Jude, when two Apostles are commemorated together, is not overlooked by the Church,—This ardent prayer for unity springs from it:

"O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone; grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

And again; how sublime is this Collect, suggested by the martyrdom and the shining example of St. Stephen!

"Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the example of thy first Martyr, St. Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen."

Bold and insensible must that heart be, which the recital of the Collect on the Festival of the Holy Innocents affects not; and blind must the understanding be to all the chaste elegancies of liturgical composition, if it acknowledge not the beauty of

holiness which so peculiarly distinguishes this divine prayer:

"O Almighty God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths; mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and the constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

I conclude this enumeration of excellencies, I finish and complete this cluster of jewels, with the Collect for EasterEven; of many appropriate, I think it the most so. Recollect, the day on which the Lord Jesus' crucifixion is solemnized, precedes Easter-Even; of course the glorious festival of his Resurrection follows it; and the Gospel for the day details the piety of Joseph of Arimathea, who buried

the body of Jesus :-see how these circumstances are managed in the Collect, and mark the colouring which they give to the entire composition :

"Grant, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections, we may be buried with him; and that through the grave and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection, for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.'

Let us all say Amen! to this most impressive Collect;-and here let us conclude the present Discourse,―adding, however, one piece of advice.—If the Liturgy be so charmingly written; if its petitions be so richly varied; so pregnant with every thing which man ought to ask; so replenished

with all those blessings which, without a crime, he may expect God, for Christ's sake, to grant; then let me exhort you not to rest satisfied with admiration alone, but to rise from the character of admirers of the Liturgy, into that of zealous worshippers of God. So shall I not preach, neither you listen, in vain. So shall comfort attend you in this world; God will pour down the abundance of his mercy upon you, and will finally receive you to himself in the world to come. He knoweth how to give good gifts to them that ask

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;-" Ask, then, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, (at heaven's gate) and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh (in faith, and the name of Jesus) receiveth; he that seeketh (diligently) findeth; and to him that knocketh (with a sincere desire of entering in) it shall be opened."