ABEL TOMPKINS and J. M. USHER, Boston, and at the Publication Offices BX 715 3 сор.2 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by ABEL C. THOMAS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO. PRINTED BY T. K. & P. G. COLLINS. Explanatory Preface. LITURGIES, or formulas of worship, were in use in the Jewish Church long before the Christian era. We learn in the New Testament that John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray; and no follower of the Saviour, however averse he may be to repetition, would be willing to abandon the Lord's Prayer. In the Christian Church, in the age of the apostles, the People responded Amen “at the giving of thanks," but the existence of a Liturgy cannot be affirmed. The gifts of the day of Pentecost may have set aside all other helps, for the time being; yet forms of worship were introduced at an early date, and gradually passed into universal authority. Marked changes, in doctrine and in ritual, were effected by the Reformation; but Liturgies, prepared and adopted by the Reformers, are still in use, with some modifications; and they seem to be increasing in favor. Reason and Value of a Liturgy. HYMNS and music are arranged beforehand for united worship: Why should the like preparation be denied to prayers? Shall the Congregation submit all praising to the Choir, and all praying to the Minister? If congregational singing be approved, (with or without the aid of a choir,) a large variety of tunes would seem to be undesirable. Why should not the same hymns be sung, and in the same melodies or harmonies, from generation to generation? And why should not the reason of the case be equally applicable to prayers? Sermons are addressed to the People, and cannot be too widely instructive. Prayers and praises are addressed to the Supreme Being. The mercies of the good Father, though always new, are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The needs, sympathies, |