In lecturing upon the Litany, I shall endeavour to imitate its practical spirit, by passing over abstract doctrines, and enlarging on such as have a more direct influence upon our daily conduct. For instance, in illustrating the petitions which form the subject of this lecture, I shall not attempt to explain the nature of that incomprehensible union which exists between the three Persons of the Godhead; neither do I think it necessary to prove to you from Holy Writ, which happily all of our Church are permitted and exhorted to study for themselves, that we are thereby authorized to address our prayers to each of these persons.

That such an union does exist, cannot be doubted by any consistent Christian, if he abide by his baptism, because he was baptized in the names of all those several persons of the Godhead*. That,

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notwithstanding this, notwithstanding that he is compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge each Person by himself to be God and Lord," there is still but one God, he will assert as strongly as those who call themselves for distinction-though all members of the Church of England have, in this respect, an equal claim to the title-Unitarians.

But, not writing for purposes of disputation but of instruction, wishing, conformably to the prac

"I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Office of Baptism.

tical character of the Litany itself, to avoid all subjects which "minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith*;" I pass over this most true and essential, but mysterious, doctrine; thinking that I can profit you more by recalling to your minds the object for which we come before the Triune God, and in what character we

come.

Suffice it to say, then, that our object in coming is to obtain "mercy," and that we come in the character of "miserable sinners."

Now we ought to carry both these things carefully and anxiously in our minds, whenever we engage in this solemn invocation; we ought to reflect upon the description which we voluntarily give of ourselves before God, and what it really is that we are asking. We do not come, as deserving and independent men, to claim the reward of our merit; we do not come, as injured men, to demand justice; we confess that we have no merit whatever to depend upon, and that justice would condemn us; we come to ask for " mercy," as miserable sinners." We come, then, to ask a favour, and, at the same time, confess that we do not deserve it; nor is this all, for we not only confess that we have done nothing to entitle us to the favour, but, as "sinners," have done much to destroy our title to it. Lastly, we not only confess that we come for a favour, that we have done

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nothing to enable us to lay claim to it, but a great deal to forfeit it; we profess to be "miserable" about our state; we profess to bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed, against the Divine Majesty, provoking most justly His wrath and indignation against us. We profess earnestly to repent, and to be heartily sorry for these our misdoings; that the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them intolerable*; in a word, that we are "miserable sinners." I repeat, all who engage in this solemn invocation should solemnly reflect upon both these things-the description which they voluntarily give of themselves before God, and what it really is that they ask of Him. They should solemnly reflect upon these things while engaged in the act of devotion, and they should afterwards prove the sincerity of these professions of their lips by a real and abiding effect upon their hearts, as shown in their lives.

What would be said of him who has a favour to ask of a fellow-creature, whom he has offended by a long course of wilful opposition to his wishes, if he should be very submissive and humble and respectful, so long as he is in the presence of that person; professed to be very "miserable" about his conduct towards him, so long as he is occupied in asking the favour; but has no sooner left him,

* Communion Service.

than, by returning to the very same courses, he shows very plainly that he had not meant what he said, that he was not sincere, that he had only pretended to have a respect for his benefactor, and to be "miserable" at having offended him, in order to get something from him? What would you say of such a person?-You would say, and very rightly, that he was a heartless hypocrite, undeserving of the smallest favour from the individual whom he had so imposed upon. And this is exactly the case with all those who engage unworthily and unprofitably in this solemn invocation of the Litany; with all those who come before God with professions-only professions-of humility, veneration, and sorrow, to obtain something from Him; with all those who pray God to have "mercy" upon them as "miserable sinners," when, all the time, they do not feel in the smallest degree "miserable" about their sins, or indeed that they have sinned at all, going back into the world to do all that they had before done. You cannot doubt, for a moment, that such hypocrites are equally undeserving of any favour from God.

So far the two cases have been must now show where they differ. imposed upon, God cannot be; God

parallel: we

Men may be knoweth the

secrets of the heart, man does not; all hearts are open, all desires are known, to God, no secrets are hid from Him; but the most acute and practised penetration of man is constantly overreached;

hypocritical professions may effect a dishonest purpose between man and man, but never between

man and his God.

Then, what does this solemn invocation, rendered more solemn by the separate appeal for the same object to each Person of the Godhead, and then to the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons, and one God-what does all this amount to, in the mouth of such a worshipper? It amounts to the most solemn mockery that it is possible to conceive; this solemn and separate invocation is made for the mere purpose of taking the name of God, in all his characters and offices, in Trinity and in Unity, in vain!

And what is the consequence to those who act in this way? God has said, again and again, in His holy word, that He will not accept such prayers as these, and that they are calculated rather to draw down His wrath than His "mercy," being an insult to His Divine Majesty. In proof of this, we need go no farther than the passages of Scripture, quoted in the beginning of your Prayerbooks, and which are read by the minister before any prayers are offered up, as a caution to the congregation in this respect: "When the wicked man turneth away from the wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive*." You see, God does not say that he who, Sabbath after

* Ezek. xviii. 27.