INTRODUCTION. Ir must be a subject of great comfort and consolation to a member of the Church of England, to be able to trace Scripture truths in all the Prayers and Liturgy of our Church; and it is her being built upon God's Word, that gives her the pre-eminence over all other Churches. And, like everything that is great and good, the more you examine it, the clearer its excellence appears. As a help, therefore, to some who have hardly time to stop and take a long survey of our Establishment, and can only just sip of the brook and press on, I have selected the Collects, each in their written order, for the convenience of those who are busy in the affairs of life, and for the comfort of others who have little else to do than to prepare for their happy change, and pray for those who are labouring for the perishable things of this world, earnestly beseeching Him, who alone can bless the increase, to countenance this little work with His gracious favour. REFLECTIONS UPON THE COLLECTS. FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, to which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when He shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through Him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen. The first Collect reveals, that none but an in B |