LECTURE XVIII.

CHURCHING OF WOMEN, THE COMMINATION,

AND

ORDINATION SERVICES.

Psalm cxxii. 6, 7, 8.

PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM; THEY SHALL PROSPER THAT LOVE THEE. PEACE BE WITHIN THY WALLS, AND PROSPERITY WITHIN THY PALACES. FOR MY BRETHREN AND COMPANIONS' SAKES, I WILL NOW SAY, PEACE BE WITHIN THEE.

JERUSALEM, in the Scripture language, is considered an emblem of the Church of God in all ages. The author of Psalm 122, as we are informed in the title, was David. The subject of it is, the joy which the people were wont to express, upon their going up in companies to the feasts at Jerusalem, when that city, with its temple, the city of the great King and the joy of the whole earth, was appointed to be the place of public worship. Every thing however which

is found written in the Psalms on this subject, may be very naturally applied to the services, the worship, the welfare, or the distress of the spiritual Jerusalem, the Church of God under the Gospel dispensation. In the latter part of the Psalm, viz. in the words of the text, the members of the Israelitish Church of old are directed to pray for its peace and welfare.

What that Church once was, the Christian Church militant upon earth now is; and demands, in like manner, the prayers of all Christian people for its peace and welfare in a troublesome and contentious world. Its increase here below is in reality the increase of Jerusalem above, of which it is a part, and ought to be a resemblance. Heaven has therefore decreed, that they who contribute their labours, as well as their prayers, to promote so great and glorious an end, shall enjoy its protection, and its blessing shall be upon the work of their hands-" they shall prosper that love thee."*

Of the true Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, the Church of England, is one undoubted and essential branch. It was probably first founded by one of the Apostles, or by preachers of the Gospel who first came hither in the time of the Apostles, if there be not very strong reasons to * Bp. Horne,

believe that St. Paul himself first preached and planted the Cross of Christ in this country.* And ever since those days there has never ceased to be a true branch of the Apostolic Church amongst us; although it has seen its dark, as well as its bright days, was for a long time corrupted by the errors of Romanism, and was for a short period disturbed by fanaticism and rebellion. Still the Apostolic Church has ever remained in this country with its Temples, its Altars, its Services, its Ministers, and its blessed Sacraments-here it has been for nearly one thousand eighteen hundred years here it is at this day, bright, blooming, flourishing as ever-flourishing as in its youth, if not more flourishing than ever-" built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone."

I have mentioned its Services-let me now repeat to you what I have said in a former discourse. So long, my brethren, as we preserve our treasure-house of Services, the Book of Common Prayer, whole and inviolate, with all its scriptural doctrines, and its holy and affecting observances, as they have been transmitted to us by our pious ancestors of old time, so long will

* This may be said to be almost proved by the present Bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Herbert Marsh,

the Church of England stand and continue to flourish; and probably the very first sign of our being about to become like one of the departed Churches in the Revelation of St. John, a Church existing only in the records of Time, will be that melancholy day on which our false and faithless members shall put their hand to the mutilation or corruption of that precious Volume.

It was principally with the view of exciting your attention to this subject, and of attaching you to the scripturalness, the holiness, and impressiveness of all the Services, Creeds, and Offices, contained in the Common Prayer Book, that I have endeavoured in these Discourses to direct your notice to each part of the Volume separately. I shall now bring this part of my work to a close, after having offered one or two brief remarks on three Offices which I have not yet considered, viz. the Office for the Churching of Women, the Commination Service for the first day of Lent, and the Ordination Service of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.

1. That a Christian woman should come to the Sanctuary of the Lord to return thanks after her delivery from "the great pains and perils of child-birth," is, of course, very religious, and, if properly considered, very remarkable. It is a practice that may have originated in the melan

choly events that took place in Paradise. It is however in conformity with the practice of the Jewish Church, in which the service for the occasion was called "The Purification of Women." The Jewish rites, ceremonies, and offerings, for this Service, have with us been done away, but the spiritual part has been retained. The woman simply comes to the Church, and returns public thanks to Almighty God for His late mercies vouchsafed to her.

2. With respect to the Service for the first day of Lent, that solemn season of abstinence and religious meditation, if the last great day, the day of our Lord's Passion, be kept sacred, it is of course most proper that there should be some mode of observing the first day also.

It is called "the Commination Service"-i. e. the denouncing of God's anger against impenitent sinners; and here I have only one remark to make on the subject. It has been said that when we repeat the "Amen" to each of the Curses pronounced by the Minister, we are cursing our neighbours. This is a very great mistake-and I should wish you clearly to understand, my brethren, that it is God's curse which is here pronounced, and that when the people say "Amen," they ought to mean "Yea"-"Verily it is so "

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