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men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing: but in every thing by prayer and fupplication with thanksgiving, let your requefts be made known unto God. And the peace of God which paffeth all understanding, fhall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The Gospel. St. John i. 19.

Tand Levites from Jerufalem to af him, Who art HIS is the record of John, when the Jews fent Priests

thou? And he confeffed, and denied not; but confeffed, I am not the Chrift. And they afked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he faith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he anfwered, No. Then faid they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that fent us. What fayeft thou of thyfelf? He faid, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ftraight the way of the Lord, as faid the prophet Efaias: And they which were fent, were of the Pharifees. And they asked him, and faid unto him, Why baptizeft thou then, if thou be not that Chrift, nor Elias, neither that Prophet? John anfwered them, faying, I baptize with water but there ftandeth one among you, whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whofe fhoes latchet I am not worthy to unloofe. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The NATIVITY of our LORD, or the BIRTH-DAY of CHRIST, commonly called CHRISTMas-Day.

A

The Collect.

LMIGHTY God, who haft given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at

That prophet Rather, a prophet. See chap. vii. 40, 41; " Any one of the ancient prophets rifen from the dead."

There ftandeth one among you] That is, there now dwells one amongst you, (namely Chrift) though he has not yet manifefted himself publickly by his mighty works.

Christmas-day] Though the celebration of Chrift's birth be fixed for the 25th of December, yet it feems to be generally agreed amongst the

this time to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit, through the fame our Lord Jefus Chrift, who liveth and reigneth with thee, and the fame Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

learned, that the real time of his manifeftation in the flesh was about three months earlier, in the clofe of September or the beginning of October.The conception of John the Baptift was in June, as is proved by the courfe of Abia, or Abijah, executing its office in the temple at that time; vide 1 Chron. xxiv. 1o. Now John was fix months older than Chrift. See Luke i. 36; comparing this 36th verfe with the preceding 26th, it appears that the fixth month of John's age in his mother's womb was the Lame fixth month in which the angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary, and in which the conceived Jefus Chrift. Hence it follows, that as John was conceived in June, and Chrift in December, he must have been born about the latter end of September, or beginning of October. See Peli. Synop.; Newcome's Obfervations; Phanix, vol. 1, p. 115. The miftake of the time of Chrift's birth (obferves the laft writer) feems to have been introduced into the church by Chryfoftom, who fuppofed that Zacharias miniftered in the pricft's office in the feventh month, and fourteenth courfe, which is September; and not in the fourth month, (June) and eighth courfe." It must be observed, however, on the other hand, that there does not want teflimony of the prefent day of our celebrating Chrift's nativity being that on which the ancient church commemorated the fame event. Baronius and other writers allert, that both in the Greek and Latin church it was always obferved on the 25th of December.-Baron. Apparat. 121. St. Auitin alfo reports, that the ancient tradition of the Western church was, that Chrift was born on the 8th of the calends of January, or 25th of December.-See Bingbang's Antiq. Chrift. Church, b. xx. c. iv. fect. 1, 2, 3. The circumftance of the uncertainty of the day is however to us of no confequence, as we commemorate the joyful event, and not the particular time or featon on which it occurred. It is probable the real day was altered very early by the Chriftians, with a wife accommodation to the prejudices and habits of the heathen converts, who had been in the practice of obferving a folemn fettival on the 25th of De cember; and therefore regarded the day with peculiar veneration; this was the Saturnalia, which began on the 14th of the calends of January, and extended to the 8th inclufive, our 25th of December.-See Lipfius de Saturnal, lib. 1, c. ii. This is the more likely, as we know they followed the fame excellent policy in other cales; fuch as fixing the Annunciaton on the laft day of the Quinquatria, or five days facred to Minerva; and St. Mark's day, on the 7th of the calends of May, or 25th of April, the Robigalia, or day of facrifice to the god or goddels that preferved the crops from mildew.

The Collect This prayer for regeneration was compofed and introduced into the liturgy in 1549, and appointed, together with the epistle and gofpel, to be used at the fecond communion; for on particular days, when the number of communicants would naturally be very great, there were two, and fometimes more, communions in the courfe of it. The Collect for the first communion was as follows: "God which makeft us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jefus

The Epiftle. Heb. i. 1.

OD who at fundry times, and in divers manners, fpake

GOD

in time paft unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in thefe laft days fpoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom alfo he made the worlds. Who being the brightnefs of his glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our fins, fat down on the right hand of the Majefty on high: Being made fo much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they. For unto which of the angels faid he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he fhall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he faith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he faith, Who maketh his angels fpirits, and his minifters a flame of fire. But unto the Son he faith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a fceptre of righteousness is the fceptre of thy kingdom. Thou haft loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladnefs above thy fellows. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning haft laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They fhall perish, but thou remaineft; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vefture fhalt thou fold them up, and they fhall be changed; but thou art the fame, and thy years fhall not fail.

Chrift, grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, fo we may with fure confidence behold him, when he fhall come to be our judge, who liveth and reigneth," &c. The introit for the firft communion was pfalm cxviii.; the epiftle, Tit. ii. 11; the gofpel, Luke xi. 1 to 15: the introit for the fecond communion was pfalm viii.

Unto the fathers] To Jacob by Ifaac, Gen. xxvii.; to the twelve patriarchs by Jacob, Gen. xlix.; to the Ifraelites by Mofes, and by his fucceffors in the prophetical office.

A fame of fire] The paffage might be better tranflated, "who maketh the winds his meffengers, and flames of lightning his minifters." Com pare pfalm civ. 4.

The Gofpel. St. John i. 1.

'N the beginning was the Word, and

of men.

the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The fame was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made, that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light And the light fhineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man fent from God, whofe name was John. The fame came for a witnefs, to bear witnefs of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was fent to bear witnefs of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the fons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.

Comprehended it not] Rather overfpread it not; as is evident by a comparison of this verfe in the original Greek, with John xii. 35; "Left darkness come upon you." The meaning of the above paffage is, the light was not impaired by the darknefs that furrounded it. Jefus Chrift was pure, perfect, and finless, in the midft of a corrupted world, and a finful generation.

His own received him not] The fenfe of this paffage is twofold. Chrift came to his own, to the human race at large with the gracious intention of redeeming them by his blood, and fpiritualizing them by his preaching and example; but they (for the most part) ungratefully reject his covenant, and prefer the flavery of fin, and the homage of the world, to "a fervice that is perfect freedom," and to the love of God: Or, he came to the Jewish people, over whom he had already prefided, as the angel of the covenant," and "they crucified the Lord of glory."

Full of grace and truth] i. e. Full of gracioufnefs, or benignity; and of folid fubftantial doctrine, without the figures, types, and fhadows of the law. Truth may fignify fidelity; but the fenfe here given it feems to be citablished by the oppofition in verfe 17 of this chapter: "For the lar was given by Mofes; but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

St. STEPHEN's Day.

The Collect.

RANT, O Lord, that in all our fufferings here upon earth, for the teftimony of thy truth, we may ftedfaftly look up to heaven, and by fanh behold the glory that shall be revealed;, and being filled with the Holy Ghoft, may learn to love and blefs our perfecutors, by the example of thy firft Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O bleffed Jefus, who ftandeft at the right hand of God to fuccour all thofe that fuffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. ¶ Then fhall follow the Collect of the Nativity; which fbali be faid continually unto New-Year's Eve.

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TEPHEN being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up ftedfaftly into heaven, and faw the glory of God, and Jefus ftanding on the right hand of God, and faid, Behold, I fee the heavens opened, and the Son of man ftanding on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and ftopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and caft him out of the city, and ftoned him: and the witneffes laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whofe name was Saul. And they ftoned Stephen, calling upon God, and faying, Lord

The Collect This prayer for grace to follow the example of the faints and martyrs, in their refignation under perfecutions, and in the forgivenefs of injuries, was entirely newly framed at Charles's review; for before that time it ran thus: "Grant us, O Lord, to learn to love our enemies by the example of thy martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for his perfecutors, to thee which liveft," &c. The epiftle and gofpel, however, are the fame which were appropriated to the day from high antiquity. Speaking of the epiftles and gofpels for this day, St. John's, and Innocents, Sparrow obferves, that "the choice of them for thefe days is plain, thefe being all privileged days,that is, days which have in fcripture their peculiar hiftories. Rationale, 125. The day was kept holy at leaft as far back as the time of Auguftine, in whofe works we find a fermon or homily compofed for that occafion. The introitus appointed for this day was pfalm li.

A young man's feet] Compare Acts xxii. 20. Keeping the raiment feems to have been the customary office of one who had been active in convicting the perfon ftoned. It is remarkable, that by the juft providence of God, the punishment of toning was inflicted upon Paul himfelf. See Acts, chap. xiv. 19.

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