such an inestimable mercy, by shewing us how only the bare promise of it, so many ages since, wrought upon the saints of those times. The cxth Psalm is a prophecy of the exaltation of the Messiah to his regal and sacerdotal office; 66 both which are by him exercised at the right hand of the Father, and settled on him as a reward of his humiliation and passion.67 The cxxxiind Psalm seems to have been at first composed by Solomon upon the building of the temple (part of it being used in his prayer at the dedication of it).68 It recounts David's care of the ark, and his desire to build God a temple, and God's promises thereupon made to him and his posterity, of setting his seed upon the throne till the coming of Christ. SECT. IV. Of the days of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Innocents. THAT the observation of these days is ancient, The antiquity of we have the testimonies of several very ancient writers,69 who all assure us that they were celeprimitive times.

them.

brated in the Why observed

immediately af

ter Christmasday; and in the order they are placed.

§. 2. The placing of them immediately after Christmas-day was to intimate, as is supposed, that none are thought fitter attendants on Christ's nativity, than those blessed martyrs, who have not scrupled to lay down their temporal lives for him, from whose incarnation and birth they received life eternal. And accordingly we may observe, that as there are three kinds of martyrdom; the first both in will and in deed, which is the highest; the second in will, but not in deed; the third in deed, but not in will; so the Church commemorates these martyrs in the same order: St. Stephen first, who suffered death both in will and in deed; St. John the Evangelist next, who suffered martyrdom in will, but not in deed, being miraculously delivered out of a caldron of burning oil, into which he was put before Port Latin in Rome;70 the holy Innocents last, who suffered in deed, but not in will; for though they were not sensible upon what account they suffered, yet it is certain that they suffered for the sake of Christ; since it was upon the account of his birth that their lives were taken away. And besides, wheresoever their story shall be told, the cause also of their deaths will be declared and made

66 Matt. xxii. 44. Acts ii. 34. 1 Cor. xv. 25. Heb. i. 13.

67 Phil. ii. 8, 9.

68 2 Chron. vi. 41, 42. 69 Orig. Hom. 3, in Divers. part. 2, p. 282, G. Aug. in Natal. Steph. Martyris, Serm. 314, tom. v. col. 1260, B. Chrys. in S. Stephanum, Orat. 135, 136, tom. v. p. 864, &c. et alibi. 70 Tert. de Præsc. Hær. c. 36, p. 215, A.

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known for which reason they cannot be denied, even in the most proper sense, to be true martyrs or witnesses of Christ. Mr. L'Estrange " imagines another reason for the order of these days. He supposes St. Stephen is commemorated first, as being the first martyr for Christianity: that St. John has the second place, as being the disciple which Jesus loved and that the Innocents are commemorated next, because their slaughter was the first considerable consequence of our Saviour's birth. To this he adds another conjecture, viz. "That martyrdom, love, and innocence are first to be magnified, as wherein Christ is most honoured."

:

§. 3. The Collects for the days of St. Stephen Their Collects, and the holy Innocents were made new at the Epistles, and Restoration; and that for St. John was somewhat Gospels. altered.* But the Epistles and Gospels for all these days are the same that we meet with in the oldest offices; excepting that the Epistle for St. John was first inserted at the Reformation, instead of a Lesson out of the xxvth of Ecclesiasticus.

On St. Ste

The reasons of their choice are very plain. phen's day the Epistle gives us an account of his martyrdom, and the Gospel assures us, that his blood, and the blood of all those that have suffered for the name of Christ, shall be required at the hands of those that shed it. On St. John's day both the Epistle and the Gospel are taken out of his own writings, and very aptly answer to one another: the Epistle contains St. John's testimony of Christ, and the Gospel Christ's testimony of St. John: the Gospel seems applicable to the day, as it commemorates this evangelist; but the Epistle seems to be chosen upon account of its being an_attendant upon the preceding more solemn festival. On the Innocents' day the Gospel contains the history of the bloody massacre committed by Herod; and for the Epistle is read part of the xivth chapter of the Revelation, shewing the glorious state of those and the like innocents in heaven.

* The old Collect for St. Stephen's day was this: "Grant us, O Lord, to learn to love our enemies by the example of thy martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his persecutors to thee, which livest and reignest," &c.

In the Collect for St. John's day, after the words, "Evangelist Saint John," followed, may attain to thy everlasting gifts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." The Collect for Innocents' day was as follows: " Almighty God, whose praise this day the young innocents thy witnesses have confessed and shewed forth, not in speaking but in dying; mortify and kill all vices in us, that in our conversation or life we may express thy faith, which with our tongues we do confess, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." 71 Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 137. Lond. 1690.

SECT. V. Of the Sunday after Christmas-day.

observed.

It was a custom among the primitive ChrisOctaves formerly tians to observe the Octave, or eighth day after their principal feasts, with great solemnity, (the reasons whereof shall be given in speaking of the particular prefaces in the Communion Office hereafter;) and upon every day between the feast and the Octave, as also upon the Octave itself, they used to repeat some part of that service which was performed upon the feast itself. In imitation of which religious custom, this day generally falling within the Octave of Christmas-day, the Collect then used is repeated now; and the Epistle and Gospel still set forth the mysteries of our redemption by the birth of Christ. Before the Reformation, instead of the present Gospel, was read Luke ii. ver. 33 to ver. 41. But then the first of St. Matthew was appointed, which is still retained; excepting that the first seventeen verses, relating to our Saviour's genealogy, were left out at the Restoration. SECT. VI.-Of the Circumcision.

The design of this feast.

THIS feast is celebrated by the Church, to commemorate the active obedience of Jesus Christ in fulfilling all righteousness, which is one branch of the meritorious cause of our redemption; and by that means abrogating the severe injunctions of the Mosaical establishment, and putting us under the easier terms of the Gospel.

The antiquity of it.

§. 2. The observation of this feast is not of very great antiquity: the first mention of it under this title is in Ivo Carnotensis, who lived about the year 1090, a little before St. Bernard, which latter has also a sermon upon it. In Isidore, and other more early writers, it is mentioned under the name of the Octave of Christmas. The reason why it was not then observed as the feast of the circumcision, was probably because it fell upon the calends of January, which was celebrated among the heathens with so much disorder and revellings, and other tokens of idolatry, that St. Chrysostom calls it oprny diaßodiny, the Devil's festival. For which reason the sixth general Council absolutely forbade the observation of it among Christians.72

72 Concil. Trull. Can. 62.

The Lessons,

§. 3. The proper services are all very suitable to the day. The first Lesson for the morning Epistle, and gives an account of the institution of circum- Gospel. cision; and the Gospel, of the circumcision of Christ: the first Lesson at evening, and the second Lessons and Epistle, all tend to the same end, viz. that since the circumcision of the flesh is now abrogated, God hath no respect of persons, nor requires any more of us than the circumcision of the heart. The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day were all first inserted in 1549.

SECT. VII. Of the Epiphany.

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it signifies.

The ancient

names of it.

THE word Epiphany in Greek signifies Manifestation, and was at first used both for Christ- Epiphany, what mas-day, when Christ was manifested in the flesh, and for this day, (to which it is now more properly appropriated,) when he was manifested by a star to the Gentiles: from which identity of the word, some have concluded that the feasts of Christmas-day and the Epiphany were one and the same but that they were two different feasts, observed upon two several days, is plain from many of the Fathers.73 But besides this common and more usual name, we find two other titles given to it by the ancients, viz. rà ayia pura, the day of the Holy Lights; and rà Otopávεia, the Theophany, or Manifestation of God. The first name was given it, as being the day whereon they commemorated the baptism of Christ, who from that time became a light to those that sat in darkness: upon which account this day was as solemn for baptizing the catechumens among the Latins, as Easter and Whitsuntide among the Greeks. And for the greater solemnity of so high a festival, it was the custom to adorn the public churches with a great number of lights and tapers, when they came to perform the service of the day. The reason of the other name is very plain, the feast being instituted in commemoration of the first manifestations of our Saviour's divinity.

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§. 2. The principal design of the Church's ce- The feast of it. lebrating this feast, is to shew our gratitude to to what end inGod, in manifesting the Gospel to the Gentile stituted. world, and vouchsafing to them equal privileges with the Jews,

73 Aug. Serm. 102, tom. v. col. 914, F. Greg. Naz. in S. Lum. Orat. 39, tom. i. p. 624, &c. et alii. 74 Greg. Naz. in Sanct, Lum. 75 Epiph. Orat. in Ascens. Domini.

who had been all along his peculiar people; the first instance of which divine favour was in declaring the birth of Christ to the wise men of the East.

Three manifestations of Christ commemorated.

The Lessons,

§. 3. But, in all, there are three great manifestations of our Saviour commemorated on this day; all which, St. Chrysostom tells us, happened on the same day, though not in the same year: the first of which was what I just now mentioned, viz. his manifestation by a star, which conducted the wise men to come and worship him, which we commemorate in the Collect and Gospel. The second manifestation was that of the glorious Trinity Collect, Epistle, at his baptism, mentioned in the second Lesson and Gospel. at morning prayer. The second Lesson at evening service contains the third, which was the manifestation of the glory and divinity of Christ, by his miraculous turning water into wine. The first Lesson contains prophecies of the increase of the Church by the abundant access of the Gentiles, of which the Epistle contains the completion, giving an account of the mystery of the Gospel's being revealed to them. The Collect and Gospel for this day are the same that were used in the ancient offices; but the Epistle was inserted at the first compiling of our Liturgy, instead of part of the lxth of Isaiah, which is now read for the first Lesson in the morning.* SECT. VIII. Of the Sundays after the Epiphany.

The design of the
Epistles and
Gospels.

:

FROM Christmas to Epiphany, the Church's design in all her proper services, is to set forth the humanity of our Saviour, and to manifest him in the flesh but from the Epiphany to Septuagesima Sunday (especially in the four following Sundays) she endeavours to manifest his divinity, by recounting to us in the Gospels some of his first miracles and manifestations of his Deity. The design of the Epistles is to excite us to imitate Christ as far as we can, and to manifest ourselves his disciples by a constant practice of all Christian virtues.

The Collects, E

§. 2. The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for pistles, and Gos- the five first Sundays after the Epiphany, are all the same as in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory,

pels.

* In the Common Prayer Books of king James, and down to the Restoration, Isaiah the xlth was by mistake (as I presume) set down for the morning first Lesson, instead of the 1xth, from whence the same error is continued in some of our present books. The Ixth chapter was undoubtedly designed, being in all the books of king Edward, queen Elizabeth, the Scotch Liturgy, and the Sealed Book, at the Restoration. And in those books of king James, where the xlth chapter first appears in the table of the Lessons appointed for Holy-days, the lxth chapter stands against the day in the calendar.