*** The Reader is requested to bear in mind, that the chief object of this work is not so much to show the authority on which the Services of our Church rest, or to prove the doctrines they enforce-that has been done by other writers. Its aim is rather to point out the beautiful and affecting manner in which those Services appeal to the heart as well as to the understanding. The Services themselves are not inserted, as the addition of them to the book would have inconveniently increased its size; therefore it would be desirable, in reading the following pages, that the PrayerBook be referred to for the Service to which the Reflections are directed, lest otherwise they fail to convey the instruction hoped for. INTRODUCTION. Ir cannot but rejoice every faithful member of the Church, that in these days of intellectual advancement, an increasing value seems set upon our incomparable daily Liturgy. Nor is this surprising. As no state of mind is more unsatisfactory or unsafe than doubt, so, where to doubt risks not only some temporal interests-wealth, or power, or fame-but peace to the soul in time and in eternity; doubly welcome is a resting-place both for its fears and its hopes. Such a resting-place for faith the Church supplies. Nor could the wisdom of man frame a service more consonant with the feelings of a devout worshipper, whatever be his condition as to this world, whatever his hopes as to the next. Whether he be rich or poor, learned or unlearned, great or lowly; whether he pour out his soul before the Almighty, humbly as "a miserable sinner," or hopefully as a penitent reconciled through faith; the desire of the heart finds in the liturgy such adequate expression for every varied feeling, that his soul can scarcely fail to gain thereby strength for weakness, comfort for sorrow, hope for despair. |