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In the Intercessions for blessings upon all mankind, according to their several ranks and orders in society, and the claim which connexion may give them upon our good offices and charitable regard; our thoughts are directed, first, to the universal Church of Christ, as most worthy to take the lead in our prayers: then, to the Sovereign, as the earthly ruler and head both of our spiritual and temporal state, and to the other members of his family, with a predominant respect to the welfare of their souls: next, to those persons, by whom, under the King, the affairs of our Church and State are principally directed: then, to the nobility at large; and, lastly, to the whole body of our fellow-subjects. In all which petitions, our kindly affections and right feelings of respect and solicitude are not only stimulated by the universal principle of charity, but directed to keep pace with the relative claims of those individuals and classes of men, for whose welfare they are offered.

Having thus interceded at the throne of grace for all descriptions of our fellow-men, according to their several stations and conditions in this

earthly scene; our attention is now most naturally turned to the peculiar wants and distresses, to which individuals may be exposed by particular circumstances. Thus, we are guided to pray for an "increase of grace" to God's faithful people ; well assured, that the most faithful can never, in this life, be raised above the need of that aid and support;-for strength, to those who stand in the faith, and for comfort and help to the weakhearted; for consolation and relief to all who are suffering under captivity, imprisonment, sickness, or any other calamity; for widows and orphans, and all other desolate persons: lastly, for our enemies and persecutors, that their hearts may be turned to mercy and pity.

Having then offered up a single petition (as in the Lord's Prayer) for a timely supply of whatever may be needful for the body, we are directed to end, as we began, with an earnest entreaty for the aid of God's Holy Spirit, that, being thereby enabled effectually to repent, and turn from the evil of our ways, we may obtain from our heavenly Father the remission of our sins, and everlasting life.

The form of supplication, peculiar to the Litany, is henceforward laid aside: but the minister and people proceed anew, in alternate verses, to beseech the Son, the Lamb of God, to "hear them," to "have mercy upon them," and to grant them his peace."

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They then jointly repeat the Lord's Prayer; which is succeeded by a form of supplication, remarkable for the pathetic tone of sorrow and affliction, in which it is conceived. It was, no doubt, designedly clothed in the language of grief and distress, with a view to make it particularly suitable to those feelings, which any unusual crisis of difficulty or embarrassment may be supposed to excite. This prayer, however, is sufficiently adapted to the general exigencies of Christians; whose condition, in this present life, is truly represented as a state of spiritual warfare, in which the adversary, however baffled for a time, returns again to the charge; daily and hourly exposes the soldier of Christ to new dangers and difficulties, and fills him with ceaseless apprehensions for his final deliverance.

It is observable, that, at the end of this prayer,

the people are directed, instead of the Amen," so generally made the response to other prayers, to answer by a short petition, that the "Lord" would "arise, help them, and deliver them, for his name's sake." A response of the same nature is also subjoined to the solemn acknowledgment, which now follows, of the testimony borne by our fathers to the "noble works of the Almighty, both in their days, and in the old time before them."

Next, interposing only the doxology, or glorification of the Holy Trinity, already explained, follows a further earnest supplication to our Saviour Christ for pity and protection, and for a favourable hearing of all our prayers: and the whole is concluded with a general Collect or Prayer, for mercy towards our manifold infirmities; for averting all kinds of evil; for the gift of trust in God's goodness and forbearance; and for grace to serve him in holiness and pureness of living : being, in substance, a summary of the entire Litany.

To these are usually added (from the Morningservice) the general Thanksgiving, the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and that of St. Paul for the bless

ing of the Holy Trinity, which have already been considered.

Thus, not only in each of the principal divisions of the Litany, an order and method is observed, most suitable to the wants of all men, and to the natural feelings and reflections of a pious mind ; but the whole is so solemnly opened, so clearly expressed, so uniformly carried on, and so affectingly wound up to a conclusion, that, while the most faithful, devout, and blameless Christian might be delighted to find in it a just and forcible expression of his accustomed sentiments and desires, the most ignorant might derive instruction from it, and the most supine or negligent might be roused by it into some sense of their own danger, and some fear of their God.

No congregation of Christians, indeed, is actually composed of persons who reach any of these extremes. As the best-informed and most serious frequenters of the house of God have great need to be reminded both of their duties and their spiritual wants; so, on the other hand, few of those, who are usually to be found there, can be supposed to be so ignorant, as to be unacquainted