The holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknowledge thee; The Father of an infinite Majesty ; When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man: thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death: thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the Glory of the Father. We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Judge, We therefore pray thee help thy servants: whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy saints: in glory everlasting. O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage. Day by day we magnify thee; : And we worship thy Name: ever world without end. in thee. O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded." There is no state of extreme elevation of mind which might not find vent in the words of this sublime hymn. There is, therefore, all the more danger, lest the frequency of its repetition should blunt our susceptibilities to the grandeur of its tone. Having abruptly uttered an address of praise to God, and of public acknowledgment that He alone is the Lord, imagination pictures the earth itself as worshipping Him-flowers, fruits, winds, sun, moon, stars, telling of his power. F The ear is supposed to catch the notes of angels, the melodies of heaven, and the "powers" appertaining to them, hymning his praises. The highest celestial intelligences never weary with the anthem, whose perpetual chorus is, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. The heaven above, with its myriads of unknown specks of light, and the earth beneath, with its countless varieties of creation, are full of his majestic glory. Imagination still continues its flights, and listens to the praises of the glorious band of "Apostles," the long line of " Prophets," whose fellowship is one, for their object was one; to "the noble army of Martyrs" who laid down their lives for His honour; to the "holy Church," wherever it meets for worship. One and all acknowledge" thee, the Father, whose "majesty is infinite," and thy one "honourable, true, and only Son," and the "Holy Ghost, the Comforter" of man in life's struggles and tribulations. Turning from God, the hymn then apostrophises Christ, assigning to Him the loftiest titles. The soul bows before Him as the "King of glory," "the everlasting Son of the Father," who, that he might deliver enslaved man, refused not to ally hmiself with our degraded race, by a mother of that race. And when he had at length overcome the "bitterness of death," having fulfilled the purposes for which he came, he threw wide open the shut gates of heaven, to all who should believe in his mission. We adore him as "sitting on the right hand of God," surrounded by eternal glories. We solemnly utter our belief, that he will, at the appointed time, "be our Judge." In the mean time we, therefore, adjure him to help us, "his servants," whom he has "redeemed with his most precious blood," that, in that character hereafter, he may be our acquitting friend. Suppliantly we further ask to be "numbered with his saints in everlasting glory." Again the hymn turns to the Father, and supplicates him that he would save his people from their foes, and bless them whom he had taken for his inheritance. We implore him to govern us, not leaving us to rule ourselves, and to lift us up, though fallen into the lowest depths. For "day by day" does the Church, in this hymn, magnify thee; and we, and those who shall stand here after us, shall worship in thy name, until the world and its present fashion shall have passed away. Then the hymn descends from these sublime strains to the hours' and days' personal, individual wants, and the heart asks to be kept, one more day, from sin. And why is this so important? Surely, after such sublime imaginings, the victory over sin must be easy ! The cry of the next stanza answers this :-) -it might be a wail for mercy; Oh, have mercy on poor frail nature, and keep me this one day from sin! Oh, let this mercy lighten, fall upon, cover me, for my trust and hope are in thee! Yes, O Lord, I have trusted in thee! Let me never be confounded. The Apostles' Creed. "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary. Suffered under Pontius Pilate. Was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. "I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen." As a perpetual public protest against infidelity in the fundamental verities of Christianity, this formulary possesses an inestimable value. Amidst the multiplied and growing heresies of our times, the thoughtful Christian should consider it to be his especial duty, on every public occasion, to give forth a clear, intelligent utterance to this string of vital Christian truths. For it is a safe watch over the teachings of the pulpit, to test them by this confession of faith. Hence, the preacher of the Church of England cannot hold, and teach, Pantheistic, Socinian, Unitarian, rationalistic, or other heretical opinions on the doctrine of the Trinity; on the purely miraculous facts of Christ's life (in contradis tinction to the mere historical facts, which profane history generally testifies to), which constitute the basis of our belief in his divinity,-such as his conception, resurrection, and ascent into heaven. The minister of the Church of England who does not admit the truth of these facts of Christ's history, exposes himself to the heavy accusation of standing forth, and publicly proclaiming, every time he officiates" I believe"-what he does not believe. For the terms of this creed admit of no loophole for sophistical evasions. The prelude, "I believe," is applicable to every statement that succeeds it. What is required of every minister, therefore, is, that his mere unexamined hereditary opinions on these vital doctrines shall have given place to intelligent and stedfast convictions of their truth. There can be no true peace of conscience, unless any unhappy doubts on such momentous points are fairly cleared up. "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." It does not appear that the Pantheist can adopt this creed, any more than the Atheist. For the God we are required to believe in, is he who, as universal "Father," has called us into existence; in whom, henceforth "we live, move, and have our being;" who, as "Almighty," made "heaven and earth," that is, who is the author, maker, and mover of these agencies and materials by which our planet |