κύριε τῶν εὐσεβεστάτων καὶ πιστοτάτων ἡμῶν βα σιλέων.

The prayer for all sorts and conditions of men' was also inserted at the last review. It has been ascribed to Bishop Sanderson; but according to another tradition, Bishop Gunning, some time Master of St John's College, Cambridge, was the author of it. It has been also said that it was originally much longer than it now is, and that the throwing out a great part of it, which consisted of petitions for the King, the Royal family, the Clergy, &c., was the occasion of the word finally coming so soon in so short a prayer. (Wheatly.)

'Christ his sake.' This mode of writing the genitive case was common at the time when this prayer was composed. It was founded on the erroneous supposition, that the genitive in our language was formed by adding the possessive pronoun to the substantive; whereas the genitive originally ended in es (as we find in Chaucer 'Christes love') as in the Teutonic languages, from which our own is derived.

neral

The beautiful prayer entitled 'A General The GeThanksgiving' was added in 1662, in compliance Thanksgiving. with a suggestion of the Puritans. Though placed among occasional thanksgivings, it has deservedly been received into the regular service of the Church. It certainly gives to our devotions a more eucharistical and cheerful tone. Nor is it out of place at the close of an office of humiliation like the Litany. For after such an office we need something to raise us, as it were, and refresh us; and nothing is more suitable for this purpose, nothing is more apt to give us confidence for the future, than the recollection of God's mercies vouchsafed to us in past

times. This transition is also in accordance with the example of David, who sometimes ends a Psalm of sorrow and supplication with a burst of praise and thanksgiving. See Psalms vi., xxii., lxxi., &c. The General Thanksgiving has been often attributed to Bishop Sanderson, who is stated by his biographer, Isaac Walton, to have borne a principal part in the preparation of the new prayers at the last review; but from the proceedings of the upper house of Convocation, we learn that it was prepared and presented to the Convocation by Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich, who had been one of the most eminent representatives of the dissenters at the Savoy Conference.

THE

CHAPTER VIII.

The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.

the Col

HE Collects, Epistles, and Gospels always Origin of formed part of the Communion-office, and are lects. therefore contained not in the Breviary or book of daily service, but in the Missal or Mass-book of the unreformed Church. The Collects which we use are for the most part of great antiquity; very many of them have been used in the English Church for twelve hundred years, and are in the Sacramentary of Pope Gregory, A.D. 590: some are found in the Sacramentary of Gelasius, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 494. It has been seen that improvements in the mode of performing Divine Service were introduced into the Western from the Eastern Church, as the alternate chant, the recitation of the creed, the form Kyrie Eleison, and the use of litanies and processions: and it is probable that these short prayers also were derived from the East, where they were called ovvanтaì, as distinguished from the broken prayers or Litanies which preceded them. (Palmer.)

The following table shows the antiquity of our Collects, and the principal variations which they have undergone. It has been derived from Mr Palmer's work (Origines Liturgica), with the assistance of a similar table compiled by Bishop Cosin and Dean Comber. Where a reference to the Missal of Sarum is not given, it may be inferred

that the Collect was not used in the English Church before the Reformation.

Collects that have been substantially re

tained from ancient liturgies.

Most of the Collects are founded either upon the Epistle or Gospel; and some appear to have a reference to the first Lesson. It has been observed that very many of the Collects are prayers for Grace, and for the support of human infirmity; and hence an argument has been deduced for their date, showing that they were composed in the 5th century, when the Pelagian controversy was at its height.

stles and

The Epistles and Gospels are also, with some The Epifew exceptions, the same that were used in the Gospels. unreformed Church. In the first ages of the Church