We need to take time now to reflect upon the nature of the relationship which we have with God since the way we understand this relationship will determine to a large measure our attitudes within common prayer and worship.  If I come to common worship thinking that my relationship with God is that of an equal or near-equal partner with God then my attitude will reflect that mindset.  If I come thinking that I am doing God some kind of favor or showing Him some special loyalty then my attitude will reflect this mindset.  In contrast, if I come in gratitude and humility, conscious of my sins and unworthiness but overwhelmed by God’s mercy to me in Jesus Christ then my attitude will be very different.

In the Bible God enters into a relationship with believing sinners through what is called His covenant.  We tend to think of a covenant as an agreement or contract between two parties who are of the same kind or who are equal in some way or another.  The Bible contains references to such covenants – e.g. agreements between kings. However, God’s covenant with man is not an agreement between equals and it is not a contract to which both sides agree.  It is a totally one-sided affair because God alone establishes it and in doing so He sets out its terms and conditions.  Then to remind us of our sinful, creaturely status and reduce our pride God tells us that we can only fulfil the conditions of the covenant as His junior covenant partners with His help.  In fact without the help of the Holy Spirit we cannot even enter, let alone live rightly within, His covenant.

On first consideration this may seem to be dictatorial and tyrannical action by God.  Yet, if we take time to reflect upon such a covenant, we shall see that we are not talking of two equal partners but of the Lord God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, whom the angels serve and adore and who is infinitely above our being and our thought.  He is God and we are mere creatures – sinful, spiritually and morally diseased creatures!  Further, if we recognize that His covenant is truly a covenant of grace and is established for our good and eternal welfare that we may become His children and be restored to genuine knowing and loving of Him for all eternity, then we shall probably admit not only that He has every right to act as He has but that He has acted in mercy and compassion towards us by establishing His covenant of grace.  For the simple fact is that we of ourselves cannot help ourselves in terms of lifting ourselves up to God in order to negotiate with Him.  He must come towards us.  His covenant of grace is His coming towards us so that we can draw near to Him.

The initiative and grace of God in our salvation is most clearly understood and presented in the BCP (1928), as in BCP (1962).  The First Office of Instruction of the Catechism in BCP (1928) begins with this Collect:

Lord of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

It is also the Collect for the seventh Sunday after Trinity.  Its words clearly point both to the initiative of God towards us and of His help to us in fulfilling our duties of His covenant.  He is the "author" and "giver" and it is He alone who can "increase", "nourish" and "keep" His believing children in His grace and covenant.  Our genuine freedom is to do His bidding with His gracious help.

In contrast the BCP (1979) does not have this clarity of commitment to the initiative and assistance of God in His relationship with His people.  There is lurking there both in its Catechism (An Outline of the Faith) and in some of the Collects (e.g. that of the First Sunday after the Epiphany, which refers to the covenant as being made by those who are baptized!) the tendency to treat human beings as if they were negotiating, near-equal covenant partners with God!  This tendency reflects, of course, the pride of modern man who refuses to recognize that he is not merely in rebellion against God (which BCP 1979 seems to teach) but that he is so sick and diseased by sin that he cannot truly help himself (which BCP 1979 appears to downplay or reject).

God’s relationship with human beings is established and begins with His relationship of Creator to created.  This can never change for, however ennobled man is, he can never be God.  He will always be a finite and dependent and contingent being looking unto God in whom, as Paul declares, he lives and moves and has his being (Acts 17:28).  However, within this relationship which man has marred by sinfulness and rebellion God has moved to establish a further relationship, a relationship of grace and unmerited favor, whose full content is a new creation.

The Lord God began this new relationship when He declared, "I will establish my covenant" (Gen.6:18; Ex.6:4–5).  Then the essence of the covenant was captured by God’s declaration: "I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God" (Ex.6:7; see also Gen.17:7 & Rev.21:2–3).  The covenant is unilateral in origin and establishment: it is not only offered but it is given unto Abraham and his descendants.  Thus it is two sided when it comes into practical effect for the recipients (Israel and then the Church) become by God’s mercy and choice His covenant partners.  He is to them their LORD and they are to worship, trust, love and obey Him as He directs (Deut. 7:9, 13; 1 Kings 8:23).

God established His covenant of grace with Abraham (Gen.17:7) and his descendants.  On Mount Sinai a special administration of this covenant was established with Israel through Moses (see Ex. 19ff.).  In the Five Books of Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy) we learn not only of what God’s initiative and relationship meant but also what were the covenant obligations of the people of Israel.  While God promised to be the living God who would guide, protect and bless them and care for them as His elect people, they in turn were committed to be His people on His terms and according to His conditions.  In their relationship to Him there were no negotiating possibilities for He was their God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt and who would lead them into the promised land.  The Ten Commandments began with a statement of faith – the God who commands is the living God who has redeemed and will guide His people (see Ex.20:1–2).

In the rest of the Old Testament (= Old Covenant) we read both of God’s continuing faithfulness to His elect people and of their imperfect response to His gracious mercy and guidance.  The story of the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles is the story more of failure to be His faithful covenant partners than of success in that vocation.  Much of what the prophets declared was a word from heaven calling upon the Israelites to fulfil their covenantal duties.  The people were called to know their Lord God and in knowing Him to reject other gods; but so often they chose not to know Him and to go after Baal and the gods of Canaan.  Yet, despite their apostasy and pride, God, Yahweh (Jehovah) remained their God never forgetting them.

Speaking through Jeremiah the Lord God addressed His covenant people in these words:

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understands and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these I delight (9:23-24).

The LORD delights to see in His creatures a true knowledge of Himself.  Through Hosea He said: "For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings" (6:6).  Within the Mosaic covenant what God looked for in and through the use of the Temple, the sacrificial system and priesthood was a people who knew Him and thus worshipped from within knowledge.

With the Incarnation of the eternally begotten Son of God, the Word made flesh, God revealed the length and breadth, height and depth, of His mercy and of His covenant of grace.  In and through Jesus Christ, God the Father established what Jesus Himself called "a new covenant" (see Matt. 26:26–30) – the fullness of His covenant of grace.  In the atoning, reconciling work of Jesus, God made possible for people of all races and all times what He had offered and given to Israel in a limited space and time.  By His sacrificial death and shed blood Jesus established the covenant of grace on new foundations.  He became the Mediator through whom believing sinners come to God and call Him "Father".

Jesus Christ is now the Way, the Truth and the Life and no-one comes to the Father except through Him.  And those who come in faith to the Father in and through Him are not only adopted as the children of God but also in their souls God deigns to dwell as He promised through Jeremiah, the prophet.  "Behold... I will make a new covenant... I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people... They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them" (31:31–34).  This is not merely knowing about God but it is the knowing through direct communion with God in personal prayer and trusting relationship.

Anyone who carefully reads the New Testament (the account of how the new covenant was established by God the Father through God the Son by God the Holy Spirit) must see and understand that the relationship with God through faith and by the agency of the Holy Spirit is genuinely personal and dynamic.  It is a relationship which operates in both directions with the human movement to God through Jesus Christ being always dependent upon His primary movement through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit to His children.  Within this covenant God calls His people into ever deepening fellowship, union and communion with Himself for He delights to be known by His redeemed creatures.  Has he not made them in order that they might enjoy and love Him forever?  Human knowing of God begins in personal and corporate prayer but it is extended from prayer into the whole of life, for God calls His people to walk with Him and to be aware everywhere and at all times of His presence with them.  Paul himself wrote of knowing God in his sufferings with and for Christ as he proclaimed the Gospel in the Roman Empire (see e.g. 2 Cor. 4–6).

In his marvelous Letter to Rome, Paul made much use of the word "justification", a word closely tied to "righteousness" and "justice".  He used it to explain what it means to be in a covenant relationship with God through believing the Gospel (see Rom.1:16–17; 3:21–31 & 5:1–2).  It is to be placed by God Himself in a right relationship with God because of the merits of Jesus Christ through whom our sins are forgiven and the way to communion with God restored.  It is to be declared righteous or just (in God’s heavenly court) and to be placed in the way of becoming righteous and just.  To be justified by faith is to be in God’s covenant of grace and the recipient of His covenant mercy and faithfulness.  It is to be able to know Him as God for He has placed believers in a right relationship with Himself.  Previously in their sinfulness they were in a wrong or non-relationship but now by grace they are in the most intimately close relationship possible with Him for they are heirs and joint-heirs with Christ of the kingdom of God (Rom.8:17).  In fact Paul makes it clear in his Letters that we only know God because He first knew us (see 1 Cor.8:3; 13:12 & Gal.4:9).  God entered into personal contact with sinful human beings through the Incarnate Son and by the Holy Spirit.  Only on this basis of His knowing them can they know Him.

To be placed in the way of personal, practical righteousness, which is the inner life of the new covenant, means being united with Jesus Christ in faith and by the Holy Spirit.  Thus in Romans 8 Paul describes the intimacy which God, the Father, establishes with His adopted children.  He places in their hearts the Holy Spirit whom He names the Spirit of Christ.  By His presence believers are enabled to cry out from the depths of their beings, "Abba" (the familiar name for father in the Jewish home).  Further, they experience the Spirit Himself praying through them, uttering prayers they themselves could never compose.  Their prayer and their life is a response to the heavenly Father’s gracious, loving initiative and continuing faithfulness.  The response becomes a life of maturity in faith, hope and love.

Taking the broad range of images used in the New Testament of the relationship of God to those who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, we may notice their personal nature by briefly mentioning four.  God is the heavenly Father and believers are His adopted children, the brethren of Christ and joint-heirs with him of the Father’s kingdom.  Thus we pray, "Our Father."  Further, God (or Jesus Christ as God-Man) is the Lord and King and believers are His subjects and servants, who live to render to Him humble service.  Then God (or Jesus Christ) is the Shepherd and believers are His sheep.  Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd and know my sheep...my sheep hear my voice and I know them" (John 10:14ff.).

God (or Jesus Christ as God-Man) is the Bridegroom who loves the Church and in response the Church is the Bride who likewise loves and obeys the Bridegroom.  The last image points to a vital intimacy and it is interesting to observe that the Hebrew verb "to know" can and does refer sometimes in the Old Testament to the intimate act of sexual intercourse (e.g. 1 Sam 1:19, "Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife).  Therefore the knowing of the Bridegroom (Jesus) by the Bride (the Church) points to deep spiritual union and communion within the souls of the faithful with Christ Himself and because with Him, with the Father.

Archbishop Cranmer and those who assisted him in the composition of the first Books of Common Prayer in the sixteenth century were greatly influenced by the Letter to the Romans.  Traces of its teaching can he found at many points, not least in the service of Holy Communion.  Another theme which is found in Common Prayer is the ancient Christian wisdom that all Christian holiness is contained in two things – the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self.  Often Augustine of Hippo, whose Confessions is a true classic and whose writings have always been prized by Anglicans, exclaimed, "Lord, that I may know thee and that I may know myself."  To claim that this prayer is a summary of the Common Prayer tradition of piety and devotion would not be an excessive claim!  I think it is generally true.

The knowledge of God elevates the Christian believer while knowledge of self keeps him humble.  Knowing God is that ascent wherein the believer contemplates the divine perfections and glory while knowing self is that descent which makes him see his own nothingness and sinfulness.  That knowledge of God which raises the believer up to God also simultaneously humbles him by the comparison of himself with God as He is revealed in Jesus.  Further, genuine self-knowledge, though it humbles the believer, also lifts him up through the necessity of approaching God to find comfort, forgiveness and solace through Christ Jesus.  The true elevation of man is inseparable from his true humiliation – which is made crystal clear in the Anglican Common Prayer Tradition.  To elevate man without humbling him is to cause pride; and to humble him without exalting him is to bring misery without hope.  Thus to complain as do some modern teachers of liturgy that the Common Prayer Tradition is preoccupied with concerns of guilt, sin and justification is to go against the wisdom of Scripture and tradition.  Unless worshippers see their sin, guilt and hopelessness how can they see that in Jesus Christ alone is salvation?

To know self is as necessary for holiness as is the knowing of God.  To know self is to treat the self justly for to know ourselves as we really are is to see ourselves as God Himself sees us.  Consider the question, Who am I?  I am nothing in and of myself for from all eternity I was not and there was no reason why I should exist or be what I am.  My existence is the effect of God’s will alone – not mine or anyone else’s.  Were God to withdraw His powerful, sustaining word and power my being would cease to be.  All I am and can be comes from God and is dependent upon Him and thus there is nothing in myself to love.  In fact since I have sinned against my Creator I justly deserve His punishment.  I have offended and continue to offend the Lord my God.  I have become His enemy and I transgress His law.  I fail in essential duties to Him and my fellow creatures for in me the tendency to sin has become a fixed habit and a strong inclination.  Further, I cannot help myself out of this mess.  God Himself must lift me up if I am to be raised.

A significant statement is left out of the General Confession in Morning Prayer in Rite I of BCP (1979).  On first sight the Confession from BCP (1928) and (1979) appear to be the same but the reality of original sin or the diseased, deceitful heart (Jer.17:9; Mark 7:18–23) is missing from the latter.  "There is no health in us" is profoundly true and is wholly recognized by those, tutored by Holy Scripture, who see themselves as God sees and knows them.

Thus we learn from our Bibles and Prayer Books that to be genuine Christians we must recognize and admit that we are nothing of ourselves, that we receive all things from God, both in the order of nature and of grace; and, further, that we expect all things from Him in the order of glory in the age to come.  As the Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity puts it:

O God, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal.  Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

This knowing of God and self inspired by the Holy Spirit is in part intellectual but it also is a knowing by the heart.  By this knowledge of God the whole soul is penetrated, reformed, renewed and ennobled so that it begins to want to know and to love what God Himself commands and loves.  To know God is to possess a lively faith, a firm hope, an ardent love, a filial fear and reverence, a total trust in times of trial and testing, and an entire submission to His gracious and perfect will.  This is the form of knowing taught and encouraged by the Common Prayer Tradition.

To know God is thus a knowing by the whole soul.  It is to know God in and through the mind (to have right thoughts about Him and to contemplate Him through His self-unveiling in Revelation), in and through the heart (to direct one's affections to Him so as to trust Him and His Word, to delight in Him, love Him, rejoice in His grace and fear His holy name) and through the will (in the obedience of faith in daily life).  Of course people are different – some are more intellectual than others, while some are more affective than others.  For some the mind descends into the heart in knowing God while for others the heart rises to contain the mind in knowing God.  There is of course place for both types of personalities and the Common Prayer Tradition is wide enough for all kinds of people who come to the knowledge of God in faith in different ways.  What this tradition does not cater for is merely an affective knowing – that is, a religion only of feelings.  Instruction in basic Christian doctrine and biblical teaching is fundamental to the Anglican Way and this intellectual understanding ought to be there even in people who are primarily affective or feeling persons.

One of the great losses in modern worship – and thus modern Christianity – is that of the inner sense of the glorious Majesty, the wonderful transcendence and greatness of the Lord our God.  "The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty" (Ps.93:1); "I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty" (Ps.145:5).  This recognition of Majesty has been called "a sense of the numinous" and "the fear of the Lord."  So often Anglicans have sung: "The LORD is a great God and a great King.  ...O come let us worship and bow down" (Ps.95).  In the Bible one of the most obvious examples of the recognition of Majesty is the abasement and attitude of Isaiah in the Temple when he saw the glorious majesty of God, the King above all kings, and heard the angelic cry of worship, "Holy, Holy Holy" (Is.6).

If this deep conviction and inner sense of the transcendent, awesome Mystery (Mysterium Tremendum) who is God, is absent, then the resulting low view of God, (which regrettably can occur and has even occurred where there is a general commitment to Trinitarian Theism) has not only been the cause of a general diminishing of a sense of awe and wonder in worship but also of a host of practical errors and evils within the churches.  Apparently so few seem to be aware of this loss because any vital sense of divine transcendence is absent from the surrounding culture as well as from the popular religious mind of today.

Further, so much emphasis has been placed in popular piety on God as personal, that is, personal in the sense that we are personal – weak, ineffective and inadequate – that we have lost the sense of the omnipotent and almighty LORD who is our God.  Certainly He is personal but personal as the LORD, who is majestic and great and who in His sovereign freedom establishes personal relationships with His creatures.

Few Christians and even fewer preachers appear to have high and lofty thoughts of the LORD our God: instead of being lost in wonder, love and praise at the thought of His Majesty we tend to think of Him only as around us and with us here and now.  Of course He is omnipresent in the created order by the Holy Spirit and thus immanent in this world; but, He is only immanent because He is first transcendent, high and lifted up as Isaiah saw and knew Him in his vision.  Perhaps the problem is that we think from the immanence of God towards His transcendence rather than from His transcendence to His immanence.  In fact, it is probably true to say that there is an emerging sense of the irrelevance of the older Christian doctrine of the transcendence of the Lord our God, for modern people appear to need a God with whom they can easily identify and be a part of or negotiate with.

If we could regain the conviction in mind and heart that it is only by the creating and sustaining dynamic word of the LORD that each of us and everything around us actually exists and is kept in being then we would realize that God, the Creator, must he transcendent to be immanent.  And if to recognize that He is the transcendent Creator, the infinite, eternal Majesty on high, glorious in holiness and perfect in purity, wholly beyond our thoughts and aspirations, then we would also both begin to appreciate His mercy and grace in revealing Himself to us and His infinite condescension in becoming Man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.  To this end we could do nothing more useful than meditate upon Isaiah 40:12ff. where the greatness and majesty of God is so very powerfully presented – "To whom will ye compare me that I should be like him? says the Holy One" (verse 25).

We learn in the Book of Proverbs, that the fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom but also the beginning of knowledge.  There can only be godly fear in the soul when there are large views of God and small views of man.  Filial fear is not fear of being judged and cast into hell but it is the awe, reverence, humble dependence and profound sense of dependence of the child of God upon the holy Lord God of hosts.  This godly fear is encouraged in the Common Prayer Tradition by the repeated addressing of God as "Almighty God" at the beginning of Collects (and happily it is generally preserved in the BCP, 1979).

The Lord our God is holy with an absolute, almighty holiness that knows no degrees and this He cannot impart to His creatures for He is God and they are the work of His creative power.  Yet there is a relative and contingent holiness which the Lord shares with the holy angels in heaven and with believing sinners on earth.  The will of God is the sanctification of mankind in Christ and His command in both the Old and New Testaments is, "Be ye holy for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44; I Pet. 1:16).  God shares His holiness with those who know Him through imputation of Christ’s righteousness (in Justification) and impartation of the indwelling Holy Spirit (in Sanctification).  The Common Prayer Tradition faithfully sets forth this sharing.

Knowing God as His adopted child begins for the Christian at holy Baptism.  In the case of adults there will have been a preliminary and preparatory knowing as they are drawn to Christ in what we may call an initial conversion and as they begin to prepare for full incorporation into Christ, crucified and risen, and membership of his Body, the Church.  In the third and fourth centuries adults went through a long period of preparation in the catechetical schools before the final preparation in Lent leading to baptism on Easter Eve.  In modern times we have made the preparation less exacting, but there are moves afoot to recover a longer and deeper preparation for entry into the full fellowship of the church.  This preparation is so necessary today for the tentacles of secularist culture have entered our minds and hearts and corrupted them so deeply that we need a new view of the world and of God in order to develop Christian thinking, feeling and acting.  One problem is – do we have the clergy and lay leadership to do this teaching?

With infants there is no obvious preliminary knowing of God and thus their knowing of God – or more strictly God’s gracious knowing them as His adopted children – begins at Baptism and comes to fruition with Confirmation.  At least this is how it ought to be but in this instance God’s grace coming to fruition in their lives is in part dependent upon faithful nurturing and teaching of the baptized by parents and godparents (sponsors).  Therefore the actual coming to know God in a personal way seems to occur more readily and easily when the baptized infant is surrounded by faithful prayer, godly example and sound teaching.

Originally what we call Baptism and Confirmation belonged together and were one, occurring in the one service and usually at Easter Eve in the early centuries of the Church.  However, from the fifth century onwards, and with the great increase in the number of people professing Christianity, many more babies than adults were brought for Baptism and so the separation of Confirmation (really the last part of the rite of baptism) from Baptism developed in the West (but not in the East where the priest administered chrism [anointing with oil] as part of Baptism of infants).  Thus in the West, from the Middle Ages to the modern day, the precise relation of Baptism and Confirmation has sometimes not been as clearly stated as it could have been: and this is reflected in the question whether or not baptized children ought to be brought to, or encouraged to, receive Holy Communion before their Confirmation – and in fact whether Confirmation is truly necessary.

There is provision for both the baptism of adults and infants in the BCP (1928) and BCP (1962).  The rite of holy Baptism has five parts to it: (1) the Preparation (which represents what has survived from the ancient catechetical ceremonies of the early Church); (2) the promises of the candidates or their sponsors/godparents taking on the duties of the covenant of grace; (3) the Blessing of the water in the Font; (4) the act of Baptism, and (5) a final Thanksgiving.

In the first part consisting of an exhortation, prayers and reading of the Gospel, the truth that it is God who calls and brings people into covenant with Him and thus into His Kingdom and Church is most clearly acknowledged.  In fact this understanding is summarized in the prayer: "Almighty and everlasting God, heavenly Father, we give thee humble thanks that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the knowledge of thy grace and faith in thee: increase this knowledge and confirm this faith in us evermore. Give thy Holy Spirit to this child... etc."

The promises made by the one to be baptized or the sponsors of the infant may be described as the response to the grace of God offered to mankind in Jesus Christ.  They can only promise because God has come to them, called them and promised them the riches of His grace.  It is of note that they say, "I will, by God’s help," and that human promises are immediately followed by four supplications which, in addressing the God of all mercy for help, give expression to the mystical, spiritual and moral meaning of baptism.  For example, the first supplication is: O merciful God, grant that like as Christ died and rose again, so this child [or this thy servant] may die to sin and rise to newness of life."

The Blessing of the Font is an ancient practice since prayers for the sanctification of the water formed a part of the baptismal liturgy from earliest times.  The physical water does not change its chemical composition through prayer but it is consecrated or set aside to be the outward and visible expression of an inward and spiritual cleansing.  In fact it is related in its spiritual function to the water and blood which flowed from our Lord’s pierced side (John 19:34).  Once again therefore, we see that the initiative is with God; human beings are the recipients, not the initiators, of grace.  All that they have is from God and by God in grace.

The formula of Baptism is taken from Matthew 28:19 and is a fully Trinitarian formula.  To pronounce the threefold name of the One God over a person is to state and confess that he or she belongs to God and is His forever.  The Name of God here stands for God Himself and thus we hallow the name of God. In other words, God is admitting this person into full membership and relationship of His covenant of grace.  To sign him or her with the sign of the Cross makes clear that the covenant of grace is in, by and through Christ crucified: thus those who are in Christ are to take up their cross and follow Him and continue in His name the war against the world, the flesh and the devil, until he comes again in power and glory.

Finally, grateful hearts offer Thanksgiving for the union of the baptized with the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died but who is risen from the dead and reigns in glory.  They have died to sin and are alive to God and must now put this divine truth into practical daily living with the help of the Holy Spirit.  With infants the responsibility to make the presence of Christ effective in their lives devolves of course upon parents and sponsors.

There is a solemn duty laid upon the local church to pray for those who have been baptized as infants and await their Confirmation.  A Collect provided in BCP (1928) for children encourages this constant prayer:

O Lord Jesus Christ, who dost embrace children with the arms of thy mercy, and dost make them living members of thy Church; give them grace, we pray thee, to stand fast in the faith, to obey thy word and to abide in thy love; that, being made strong by the Holy Spirit, they may resist temptation and overcome evil, and may rejoice in the life that now is, and dwell with thee in the life that is to come; through thy merits O merciful Saviour, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest one God, world without end.  Amen.

To pray thus is to encourage the duty of bringing children up in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

The substance of the teaching to be given to baptized children before they are brought to Confirmation is given in the Catechism or Offices of Instruction.  As the covenant partners of God they are to know what His law is (Ten Commandments) what their faith is (the Apostles’ Creed) and how to pray (the Lord’s Prayer).  Further, they are to know what are the sacraments of the new covenant and who are the ministers of Christ in the Church.  The Collects which are included in the Offices make it abundantly clear that it is only possible to please God through the assistance of His grace.  For example:

O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Another Collect asks that the baptized may have "the spirit to think and do always such things as are right" for in and of ourselves we cannot do any good [good that is good before God himself].

I often think of a Latin expression used by Martin Luther.  Each morning as he arose from his bed he would say aloud, Baptizus sum (I have been baptized or I am a baptized Christian).  In saying this he was reminding himself of what it means to be baptized (and confirmed) and he was expressing his prayer that each day he would live as one who in Christ has died to sin and who in Christ is to be filled with the new, resurrection life of Christ, which is the life of the kingdom of God.  There is a very intimate connection between the state of being baptized and the vocation to live a genuinely Christian life.  Although all is of grace there is a real sense also in which all is of the baptized believer.  This truth is wonderfully captured in the words,

I would not work my soul to save

For that my Lord has done.

But I would work like any slave,

For love of God’s dear Son.

I believe we can learn and profit from what Luther said and practiced for we all are called to demonstrate in daily living the meaning of our baptism into Christ.  And, as Confirmation makes clear, we can do so because – and only because – of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who indwells the souls of the baptized.

There has been much discussion and dispute in recent times within the Anglican Communion on the nature and purpose of Confirmation.  Is it a sacrament in its own right or is it the completion of Holy Baptism?  And if in the case of infants it is only the completion of Baptism is it really necessary?  Should baptized children who are not confirmed be admitted to Holy Communion?

It seems to me that Confirmation is the conclusion of the sacrament of Holy Baptism.  It may be called a sacrament in the sense that it is the final part of the rite of Baptism which has been held back until such time as the child truly understands and appreciates what is the content of the covenantal obligation to God that already by grace he or she stands in.  Thus as long as the Church advocates and practices infant baptism so long ought she to take Confirmation seriously.  And First Communion should normally follow Confirmation.

Confirmation is necessary in terms of providing the opportunity for the fulfilling of the human side of the covenant of grace (i.e. public commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord) and it is most useful as the opportunity to provide the reason for sound, preparatory instruction to those who are now seriously taking on the duties of the baptismal covenant (already promised by their sponsors).  Here preparation for Confirmation functions in much the same way as did preparation for Baptism in the Early Church and as catechetical teaching functions in missionary situations today.

Where the local church is truly concerned for the spiritual and moral welfare of those to be confirmed she prays for them.  A Collect is actually provided in BCP (1928) for this obligation:

O God, who through the teaching of thy Son Jesus Christ didst prepare the disciples for the coming of the Comforter; make ready, we beseech thee, the hearts and minds of thy servants who at this time are seeking to be strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, that, drawing near with penitent and faithful hearts, they may evermore be filled with the power of his divine indwelling; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The making ready is both a work of God and a work of man.  God does His work invisibly through the ministry of the Holy Spirit but the local church does her work through wise teaching and fervent praying for the confirmands.

Now to the service itself, which is simple and brief.  Those to be confirmed are presented to the bishop, who asks them whether they are ready to renew the solemn promises and vows made by or for them at holy Baptism.  They are to ratify and confirm these and in response they say, "I do".  Then he asks them: "Do ye promise to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?" (which faith and following, we may note, is surely the very heart of the Christian religion and the essence of what it is to know God).

Following responsive versicles from the Psalter, there is an ancient prayer, offered by the bishop for those about to be confirmed.  It is informed by Isaiah 11:2 (not from the Latin or Hebrew but from the Greek translation known as the Septuagint) where the seven (rather than six) gifts of the Holy Spirit are found.  These are the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, the spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and holy fear.

Commenting on the sevenfold gifts the late A. J. Mason made the following observations which I find helpful:

None of the gifts are directly of moral virtue.  They are gifts which set a man in a position to acquire moral virtues, and incline him to practice them; but they do not in any way supply him with virtues ready-made, or relieve their possessor from the necessity of carefully forming right habits of action and feeling.  It seems that all the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost is done by an inward teaching, which commends to us the true principles of moral choice, and an inward strengthening, by which the forces of Christ are imparted to us, that we may act, and act perseveringly, upon the convictions which the Holy Ghost has wrought in us.  (The Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, 1891, p.481.)

I would add that this is entirely what the New Testament leads us to expect and think, for the indwelling Spirit (whose work Paul so lovingly describes in Romans 8 and elsewhere) prompts, guides and inspires us so that we may be and do what is pleasing to God.  Only in this way of being treated as persons can we know God personally.

Though there is no required anointing with oil (chrism), the Bishop does lay his hands upon each person and call upon the Lord to defend and empower His child (through humble reliance upon the Holy Spirit’s presence and power) to live faithfully and come unto His everlasting kingdom.  And following the Lord’s Prayer there are two prayers before the Blessing. In the first, the bishop prays thus:

Let thy fatherly hand, we beseech thee, ever be over them; let thy Holy Spirit ever be with them; and so lead them in the knowledge and obedience of thy Word, that in the end they may obtain everlasting life...

Like other confirmed Christians the newly confirmed are to walk under the protection of God and in the power of His Spirit as they prayerfully meditate upon, and thereby are prepared for obedience to, the written Word of God.  Knowledge of the Word is the route into the knowing of God as God.  And, as we shall see, this knowledge is increased through the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer (for which see chapter six) and is enhanced and made personal in Holy Communion (for which see chapter eight).

For Christians the obligation and tradition of daily prayer is traced not only to the Jewish discipline adopted and developed by the early Church but to Jesus Himself.  As a boy he was taught the Jewish custom of praying three times a day.  The morning prayer consisted of the meditative recital of the Shema (Deut. 6:4–7) which confesses the Oneness of the Lord and the duty to love Him, and the Tephilla, a prayer made up of eighteen acts of blessing God (benedictions) – e.g. "Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of Abraham..."  The afternoon prayer required only the Tephilla while the evening prayer was the same as morning prayer.  Of course the use of the Shema and Tephilla was only the basic structure and around it and with it the pious Jew prayed the Psalter and offered his own petitions.  Jesus obviously used it and in using it made it the means of communion with His Father in heaven, for at the age of twelve He told His mother, "I must be about my Father’s business" (Luke 2:49).

The services of Morning and Evening Prayer, sometimes called Matins and Evensong and referred to as the Daily Offices, the Choir Offices and the Divine Office, are directly descended from the system of daily services or Canonical Hours of the medieval Church.  These developed from the simple morning and evening prayer of the early Church and are to be found in the Breviaries used by the monastic and secular clergy.

It is generally recognized that the creation of Morning and Evening Prayer in the sixteenth century was an important advance in engaging the laity in the duty and joy of daily worship and prayer.  The late Massey H. Shepherd Jr. put it well when he wrote:

It was the genius of the great Reformers, such as Luther and Cranmer, to see the potential advantage to the Church of making the Daily Offices a means of corporate worship for all the faithful, the laity as well as the clergy, and, in particular, a vehicle for the recovery of a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures by all the people of God.  To achieve these ends required not only the translation of the offices into the vernacular, but a very practical simplification and reduction in both the number of these offices and their content.  The artistry of Cranmer’s accomplishment of these purposes has been the admiration of all succeeding generations.  (The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary, 1950, introduction, p.1.)

We certainly admire the literary artistry but we are also grateful to God that the daily services can and were intended to be, under the blessing of God, a wonderful vehicle for the knowledge of God through the encounter with Him through His Word and in prayer.

In Prayer Book Studies VI published in 1957 the Standing Liturgical Commission stated:

The genius of our Common Prayer is in no instance more clearly exemplified than in the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.  Out of the elaborate, complicated Canonical Hours of the medieval Breviary the sixteenth century Reformers produced a pattern of daily praise and prayer that was loyal to tradition, solidly Scriptural in content, simple and convenient in execution, balanced and artful in design.  The older Latin Offices had been a primary duty of the clergy, the monks and friars, upon whom their recitation was imposed by canonical law.  But the Reformers intended their simpler, vernacular forms to be a means of corporate worship and edification in the knowledge of God’s Word for all the laity no less than the clergy.  In this purpose their labors have borne abundant fruit.  To no other part of the Prayer Book have the lay people shown greater attachment and responsiveness.

These are fine words and it is interesting to note that after Vatican II the Roman Catholic Church caught up with Cranmer!  I refer to the provisions in the document, General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours (1971).

It is perhaps impractical to expect all faithful Anglicans to go twice daily to their parish church in order to say the Daily Office.  However, there is no reason why either or both of the services should not he used in the home as the basis for personal and/or family prayers.  Alternatively church members who live near each other can gather in homes on a regular basis to pray one or both of these offices.  Where there is a desire and a will to pray them a way will be found.

The daily services are for the covenant people of God, for those who walk by faith in faithfulness – or at least desire so to do.  Thus Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer begin with a call from God through his minister to his people to engage in penitence, praise and thanksgiving, instruction from God through His Word and petitionary prayer.  This call is achieved through the recital of sentences from Scripture and an Exhortation, which fully recognizes the sinfulness of the human condition before God.

Having been summoned and having come before Almighty God as believers or people of faith, the covenant people of God must confess their sins, recognizing that in and of themselves they have nothing good to offer unto their gracious, faithful, covenant Lord who is the God of all mercy.  So kneeling down and thereby submitting to the sovereign mercy of God, His people confess not only their rebellion against Him ("we have offended against thy holy laws") but the actual sinfulness of their souls ("There is no health in us").

The Declaration of divine absolution and remission of sins pronounced by the priest or bishop is composed of a medley of scriptural sentences.  To all who repent of their sins and believe the promises of the Gospel there is full and free forgiveness as there is also a call to "be pure and holy."

The rest of the service may be described as an expression of responsive faith.  The faith which has responded to God’s call and heard His promise of forgiveness and eternal life now speaks to God and hears from Him.  It is entirely fitting and appropriate therefore that believers begin their response by saying the prayer composed by our Lord Himself – the Lord’s Prayer, which is the model for all prayer and the summary of all prayer.  And following this the heart, now warmed by God’s gracious presence and word, is ready to praise His name.  This is done through the versicles taken from Psalm 51:15 which lead into the Gloria Patri or the "little doxology" – "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit..."  Christian souls are now ascending in and with Christ to heaven to bow before and adore the One God, who is a Trinity of Persons.  They not only affirm trinitarian theism but they worship this LORD God.

Responsive faith continues to praise the Lord through the Venite (Ps 95) which celebrates the Majesty of God, the Creator, Sustainer, Provider and Judge.  Then follows the meditative reading or chanting of the appointed psalms.  These are prayed in, with and through Jesus Christ, and not merely as prayers from the Old Testament (see below chapter seven for a full treatment of the Psalter).  This contemplative, reflective hearing is continued with the listening to what God has to say and teach from the first lesson, read from the Old Testament.  It is heard not merely as a reading but as a lesson (i.e. a teaching from God Himself through the illumination of the Holy Spirit on the mind).

Having heard the Word of God read, the people of faith join again in the worship and praise of Almighty God.  This is achieved through the use of the Te Deum laudamus (the magnificent hymn of praise to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) or the shorter Benedictus es, Domine (from the addition to the Book of Daniel in the Apocrypha) or the longer Benedicite, omnia opera Domini (from the same source as the Benedictus).

God has yet more to say unto His believing people and so there is read the Second Lesson, this time from the New Testament, to be heard with obedient, reflective faith.  Following it, there is again a wholly appropriate song with which to join in the praise of God.  This is achieved through the recital of either the Benedictus (the Song of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist) or Psalm 100, the Jubilate Deo.

Now praising, believing souls are ready to speak to God and tell Him what they believe as baptized Christians on the basis of His Revelation to them through sacred Scripture.  Thus they join in the Apostles’ Creed, each one making his or her personal profession of faith, "I believe."  On some occasions they may use the longer and more theologically developed confession of faith, the Nicene Creed.  The Creed is a word addressed to God, a word shared with fellow Christians and a concise word of hope and good news offered to the world.

Finally, forgiven, praising and believing souls express their faith and commitment to Jesus as Lord by engaging in petitionary and intercessory prayers for themselves and others, especially those with heavy responsibilities in State and Church.  Believers pray for others in the confidence that the Lord God who has blessed them will also bless those for whom they pray.  They pray in the name of the Lord Jesus to the Father in heaven, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The set prayers, which are all memorable in style and theology, include the two great prayers which all Anglicans ought to know by heart – the Prayer for all Conditions of Men and the General Thanksgiving. The final prayer of the service is the Grace, taken straight from the Bible (from 2 Cor.13:14).

Such is the logic of faith of Morning Prayer – and the same logic is there in Evening Prayer.  Modern usage often begins the Office at the Versicles and thereby destroys the logic of faith which requires us to begin where we are, in our sin, in order to rise by and in Christ as forgiven people to the praise of God Almighty.  This is why in the Common Prayer Tradition the confession of sin is not optional.  Such is the human condition, even of the best of us, that we always need to confess our sins of commission and omission, and to recognize both the bias to sin which is deep in our souls and our participation in the sins of mankind as a whole.

One important dimension of the Daily Office often mentioned by the saints is that it is the voice of the bride addressing her Bridegroom and it is the very prayer which Christ Himself, in and through His Body, addresses to the Father.  Thus by offering praise to God the Church on earth joins in the heavenly litany and canticles of praise of the angels and archangels.  Earth and heaven combine in the heavenly liturgy.

Intimately connected on earth to the Daily Office is the Litany or General Supplication.  It is to be used after the Third Collect of Morning or Evening Prayer.  The Litany is composed of (a) solemn addresses to the Holy Trinity; (b) petitions for deliverance from evil; (c) entreaties addressed to the Lord Jesus recalling His saving deeds for us; (d) petitions and intercessions ending with the "O Lamb of God...", the "Lord have mercy" and the Lord’s Prayer, and (e) a final supplication, composed of responsive versicles and collects.  The entire Litany, apart from the beginning and the ending is addressed to the Lord Jesus.

The aim of all prayer is to know God and thus the Litany ends with this prayer:

We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities; and for the glory of thy Name, turn from us all those evils that we most justly have deserved; and grant, that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore trust thee in holiness and pureness of living, to thy honour and glory; through our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

To know God is to live in utter dependence upon His mercy and strength.

Faith hears and reads Scripture as the Word of God.  Therefore it hears prayerfully and meditatively.  This spirit is captured in Psalm 19, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer" (verse 14).  It is stated with clarity in the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent:

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant that we may in such wise hear them, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou has given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This Collect assumes what the Church of God has always believed – that the Holy Bible is the record, inspired by the Holy Spirit, of God’s self-revelation to human beings.  Further, it assumes that it was written under God's superintendence for our benefit, that we may learn therein by the illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit of the nature of God and of His salvation offered to us in Jesus, the Christ.  To hear or read Scripture prayerfully and in faith is to place oneself in the position to he taught by God, where the Lessons become truly teaching sessions of the Holy Spirit.

In the Collect we pray that we may hear the Lessons (that is hear not only with our physical ears but with the spiritual ears of our soul and thus allow the Word of God to enter our minds and hearts and wills); that we may mark them (that is notice the particular message or teaching, doctrinal, moral or spiritual which God is giving us through the Lesson); that we may learn (that is take to heart to be obeyed and learn off by heart in order to meditate upon later, where appropriate); and that we may inwardly digest them (that is allow the teaching of the Word of God to become food for our souls through our inward receiving of its contents in the mind, with the affections and by the will).  By such receiving of the Word of God we gain knowledge about and grow in the knowing of the living God and thus embrace and hold fast "the blessed hope of everlasting life" through Jesus Christ.

Some may raise the problem of the agnostic assumptions of modern Biblical Studies and claim that they make such meditative, prayerful reading of Scripture to be impossible today.  I do not think that truly modern, scientific study of Holy Scripture in any way puts a barrier in the way of meditative reading.  However, I can see that a small dose of it can have this effect; regrettably too many people today get a small dose of it from second-best practitioners and make their judgments on inferior knowledge and understanding.  I have every confidence that the Word of God can and does speak to us as clearly and effectually today as it did when the Prayer Book was first written in 1549-1552.

In my book, Meditating as a Christian (Harper-Collins, 1991) I made a distinction between informative reading and formative reading, as a way to state the nature of biblical meditation which is possible in the Daily Office (or, of course, at other times as well).  Most of the reading we do is to gain information – from newspaper, book, letter, report, journal and magazine.  The information may be for work or leisure or for another purpose.  Now to read the Bible for information, that is informatively, is to study it as a historical, religious book.  Biblical Studies are usually sophisticated forms of informative reading.  The reader is here in charge and looks at the Book as an object which he or she is examining.

In contrast, formative reading is to read in such a way as to be formed by what is read.  It is to read slowly, preferably aloud, so that the Word can be seen, heard and tasted.  It is also to read prayerfully and expectantly.  In this approach the intention is to put Jesus Christ in charge so that He can speak to the reader and hearer through the Word and by the Spirit.  To read and hear in this way in the Daily Office is an art to be cultivated and cannot be achieved overnight.  To develop the art may require returning to the Lessons at the end of the Office and re-reading them in the formative mode.  Or it may require preparing for their reading in the Office by looking at them or studying them in advance.  At first it may only be possible to treat one of the Lessons seriously.  We must begin where we are and grow in grace and in the knowledge of God for God is a tender Father who leads us on by His gracious hand.

One of the aims of modern Liturgy appears to be to keep people from staying with one form of worship, one set of texts and prayers.  However, there is great spiritual benefit in the use of the same texts day by day, especially if they are, as in the Daily Office, excellent Canticles and Prayers in fine, memorable English.  However this benefit only applies if they are said, sung or prayed in faith with the mind in the heart.  They will become utterly boring if they are merely repeated because that is what is required.  To the heart which is seeking to know and love God they become the very words through which that knowledge and faith is expressed.  Familiarity with them increases their usefulness as the content of the human response to God’s gracious invitation to draw near to Him and behold His glory.

If they are learned off by heart then each day as they are prayed the mind is able both to see and to pour into them ever deeper meaning, the affections are able to be raised in delight, peace and love towards God, while the will is moved in resolve to obey God at all times.  Further, the stability of the structure of fixed Canticles and Prayers provides the appropriate context for the changing Psalms and Lessons.  The latter can be appreciated and their content spiritually received because of the devotional and theological reliability of the structure in which they are placed.

In fact the logic of faith, which we have noticed informing Daily Prayer is the logic of the whole of Common Prayer.  We are summoned by God to daily prayer to hear His Word, utter His praise, offer prayers and supplications and be strengthened for our vocation in daily life.  We are further summoned to the Lord’s Table each Sunday, the first day of the week and the day of the Resurrection of the Lord in order to meet Him in Word and Sacrament – in the most spiritually intimate communion as we hear again His Word and receive His Body and Blood.

The lectionary of weekdays and of Sunday is also harmonized by this logic of faith.  The lectionary is an ordered program of readings from Scripture for the public worship of the Church.  The Common Prayer Tradition presents in the lectionary readings both for Sundays (and the week after) and Holy Days, and also for the Sunday and week-day offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.  The interrelation and inter-dependence of these programs of readings, together with the comprehensive doctrinal unity which they create, is the fruit of a long development.  Guiding this development has been the principle of Holy Scripture understood as a doctrinal instrument of salvation (which means that Holy Scripture has a content, that this content is thinkable and that its intelligible content is doctrine).  All this is to say that by such an arrangement the Church consciously puts herself under the rule and authority of Scripture.

Perhaps a final comment is needed on the singing of hymns.  Where they are used they ought to become a part of the logic of faith and not disturb or stand in opposition to that logic.  Not all hymns are suitable and some are suitable only at specific points in worship.

[Writing nearly three hundred years ago William Beveridge, Bishop of St Asaph in Wales, gave some first-class advice on how to prepare for and participate in corporate worship.  This is what he wrote in his The Great Necessity and Advantage of Public Prayer, 1708.]

Here then is the great task we have to do in all our public devotions, even to keep our spirits or hearts in a right posture all the while that we are before God, who sees them, and takes special notice of their motions...  Blessed be God, by His assistance we may do it, if we will but set ourselves in good earnest about it, and observe these few rules...

First, when you go to the house of God at the hour of prayer, he sure to leave all worldly cares and business behind you, entertaining yourselves, as ye go along, with these, or such like sentences of Scripture: Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God; my soul is athirst for God, yea, even the living God.  When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?  (Ps. 42:1, 2).  O how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of hosts!  My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord.  My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.  (Ps. 84:1, 2).  We will go into His tabernacle and fall low on our knees before His footstool.  (Ps. 132:7).

When ye come into the church say with Jacob, How dreadful is this place!  This is none other but the house of God; and this is the gate of heaven (Gen. 28:17), or something to that purpose.  And as soon as ye can get an opportunity, prostrate yourselves upon your knees before the Master of the house, the great God of heaven, humbly beseeching Him to unite your hearts unto Himself, to cleanse your thoughts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, to open your eyes, and to manifest Himself unto you, and to assist you with such a measure of grace in offering up these spiritual sacrifices, that they may be acceptable to Him by Jesus Christ.

And now set yourselves, in good earnest; as in God’s sight, keeping your eye only upon Him, looking upon Him as observing what you think, as well as what you say or do, all the while you are before him.

While one or more of the Sentences out of God’s Holy Word (wherewith we very properly begin our Devotions to Him) are reading, apprehend it as spoken by God Himself at first, and now repeated in your ears, to put you in mind of something, which He would have you to believe or do upon this occasion.

While the Exhortation is reading, hearken diligently to it, and take particular notice of every word and expression in it, as contrived on purpose to prepare you for the service of God, by possessing your minds with a due sense of His special presence with you, and of the great ends of your coming before Him at this time.

While you are confessing your sins with your mouth, be sure to do it also in your hearts, calling to mind every one, as many as he can, of those particular sins which he hath committed, either by doing what he ought not to do, or not doing what he ought, so as to repent sincerely of them, and steadfastly resolve never to commit them any more.

While the minister is pronouncing the Absolution in the name of God, every one should lay hold upon it for himself, so as firmly to believe, that upon true repentance, and faith in Christ, he is now discharged and absolved from all his sins, as certainly as if God Himself had declared it with His own mouth, as He hath often done it before, and now, by His ministers.

While you, together with the minister, are repeating the Psalms or Hymns, to the honour and glory of God, observe the minister’s part as well as your own; and lift up your hearts, together with your voices, to the highest pitch you can, in acknowledging, magnifying and praising the infinite wisdom, and power, and goodness, and glory of the most high God in all His works, the wonders that He hath done, and still doth, for the children of men, and for you among the rest.

While God’s Word is read in either of the chapters, whether of the Old or New Testament receive it not as the word of men but (as it is in truth) the Word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe (1 Thess. 2:13).  And therefore hearken to it with the same attention, reverence and faith, as you would have done, if you had stood by Mount Sinai, when God proclaimed the Law, and by our Saviour’s side, when He published the Gospel.

While the Prayers or Collects are reading, although you ought not to repeat them aloud, to the disturbance of other people; yet you must repeat them in your hearts, your minds accompanying the minister from one prayer to another, and from one part of each prayer to the other, all along with affection suitable to the matter sounding in your ears, humbly adoring God according to the names, properties or works, which are attributed to Him at the beginning of each Prayer, earnestly desiring the good things which are asked Him in the body of it, for yourselves or others.  And steadfastly believing in Jesus Christ for His granting of them, when He is named, as He is at the end of each prayer, except that of St Chrysostom; because that is directed immediately to Christ Himself as promising, that when two or three are gathered together in His name, He will grant their requests, which is therefore very properly put at the end of all our daily prayers, and also the Litany (most part whereof is directed also to our Saviour) that when we have made all our common supplications unto Him, we may act our faith in Him again for God’s granting of them according to His said promise.  And so we may be dismissed with, The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the Communion or Fellowship of the Holy Ghost; under which are comprehended all the blessings, that we can have, or can desire, to make us completely happy, both now and forever.

After the Blessing, it may be expedient still to continue for some time upon your knees, humbly beseeching Almighty God to pardon what He hath seen amiss in you, since you came into His presence; and that He would be graciously pleased to hear the prayers, and to accept of the praises, which you have offered up unto Him, through the merits of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate.

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