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The Church of Christ-the Church Catholicthe Universal Church-of which the United Church of England and Ireland forms a part, whilst in it the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly administered.

16. What claim, then, has the Roman Church to the term 'Catholic' ?

None, whilst her present heresies exist: the worship of saints and images; communion in one kind; the setting up of tradition as coequal with Scripture; purgatory. Putting away her errors, she may be restored to the communion of the Catholic, or Universal Church of Christ.

17. The Romanists accuse us of dissenting from them at the Reformation: Was it so?

No: besides that the Church of England was an independent Church, the Romanists continued to attend our reformed services under Elizabeth for ten years; and the foreign ambassadors of the Roman faith attended our churches. The Pope was even ready to approve the reformed Liturgy, if the Queen would acknowledge him as head of the Church on her refusal, the Romanists seceded from the Church of England-became, in fact, dissenters.

8. When we speak of the Liturgy of the Church of England, what do we mean

?

The public service of that portion of the Church of Christ here established.

19. From what time established?

From time immemorial.

20. The Church of Rome then introduced her mode of service with her usurpation?

no

Yes; by degrees, and to a great extent. It was, however, long resisted; and there was uniformity of service ever established. Different habits, and different forms of prayer, prevailed in different dioceses.

21. Was the Liturgy of the Church of Rome originally an Apostolic service?

Its ground-work may be traced to Apostolic times; upon which later ages had erected the heresies which the Church of England was compelled to discard.

22. The Church of England might, then, retain portions of the Liturgy of the Church of Rome?

Certainly. Apostolic habits and forms are the right of the Church of Christ in any land. 23. From whom is it probable that the Church of England received her original Liturgical forms?

From St. John; Irenæus, a disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, being the first Bishop of Lyons; and the probability being, from various considerations, that our first bishops came from Gaul.

24. How long, then, have those portions of our Liturgy, which we received and retain from the Church of Rome, been in use amongst us?

For 1200 years.

25. But their age is greater?

Yes; they date from early antiquity, when the Church of Rome was as yet uncorrupt.

26. When the Church of England reformed her Liturgy, purifying it from the errors of the Church of Rome, and retracing her forms to Apostolic days, did she adhere to the forms of the Church of Rome in her uncorrupt state? No; as an independent Church, the Church of England referred back to all original Liturgies of Apostolic times: not only to forms which had existed here previous to the Roman usurpation, but to those which had continued almost unchanged in the East from the first preaching of Christianity.

27. How do you know this?

From the patient investigation of learned men. 28. Our Liturgy and its forms are then no modern invention?

They are guided by the forms and habits, and often by the very words, of times so early, that they can scarcely be separated from the Apostles; and it is a wonderful and beautiful thing that God should have raised up, in the persons of our Reformers, men, having at once the learning and research enabling them to trace back Apostolic forms, and the piety and good taste to adhere strictly to them.

The Preface.

29. When was the Preface prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer?

At the last revision in 1661, on the accession of

Charles II.

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30. What is the date of the clear and practical passage, Concerning the Service of the Church?"

That of Edward's First Book, 1549; and so, likewise, the passage following, "Of Ceremonies."

The Sentences.

31. When were the Sentences prefixed to the Service?

In the Second Book of Edward, in 1551.

32. Is the custom of beginning with Scripture an ancient one?

It is mentioned by one writer 1000 years ago;

and appears to have been practised in the Church of Gaul at least 300 years earlier. 33. How did the service commence in Edward's First Book?

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With the Lord's Prayer.

34. What may we suppose the object of the Sentences?

The same sought by Solomon in Eccl. v. 2: "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God." To calm down the minds of a miscellaneous congregation, of all employments and all dispositions; and to show all that their one God calls them in His own word,

1. To repent, and to confess sin-sentences 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10.

2. To hope for mercy-sentences 1, 4, 5, 6, 11.

The Exhortation.

35. When was the present Exhortation introduced into the Liturgy?

At the same time with the Sentences-in 1551. 36. There was, then, no such address in the services of the Church of Rome?

No it is one of those cases in which the Reformers wisely referred back to the primitive services of the Gallican Church, in which such addresses have been recognised and used. 37. What is the doctrine of the Church of England in the Exhortation?

1. That the Scripture (i. e. God in His word) calls us to humble and sincere confession to God.

2. That the end of this call is, that we may obtain mercy.

3. That whilst there is a universal and constant

call to this necessary habit of confession, there is a special call when we meet together as a Church, to offer thanksgiving and praise, to hear God's word, and to seek our wants of body and soul in prayer.

38. Show me that God does call us to humble and sincere confession, with the hope of mercy.

The Exhortation thus appeals to the sentences just spoken; and it is the universal language of God's word; as-merely for example :"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper : but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Prov. xxviii. 13.

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