pointed in the Roman Missal, and in such of the Gallican Missals as I have had the means of examining*. The changes of the Epistle for this day have been more numerous than those of the Gospel. Without specifying any of the former, I shall simply observe, that the passage adopted by the Church of England has for several centuries been employed on the same occasion by the general concurrence of the Western Churches; with this only difference, that in the Roman and Gallican Missals the Epistle begins at the eleventh verse, but in our Liturgy at the eighth. The present Collect, which is consonant to the Epistle, was composed at the Reformation. The Collect formerly used in England, and still appointed by the Roman and Gallican Offices for this day, is, with some variation, the same that we and they read on the fourth Sunday of Advent †. Before the overthrow of the Church of France, the Missals of different dioceses differed considerably, as those of York, Sarum, and Lincoln, formerly did in England. The Roman Missal is uniformly one and the same, like our Book of Common Prayer, When alteration has been made in either, its observation was not partial but universal. + GREGORY'S Collect for the fourth Sunday before the Nativity, and that of the Roman, Gallican, and Sarum Missals for the first Sunday in Advent is, Excita, quæsumus, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni; ut ab imminentibus peccatorum nostrorum periculis, te mereamur protegente eripi, te libe rante salvari; qui vivis. That for the fourth Sunday is, Excita quæsumus, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni; et magnâ nobis virtute succurre, ut per auxilium gratiæ tuæ, quod nostra peccata præpediunt, indulgentia tuæ propitiationis acceleret; qui vivis, &c. SECOND SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. In the time of GREGORY the Great, A.D, 590; and for many centuries after; in the time of RUPERTUS, who wrote early in the twelfth; and of DURANDUS, who flourished about the end of the thirteenth century, the Gospel from St. Luke, which, in the latter ages, the Western Churches in general have transferred to the first Sunday, was uniformly appointed to be read on the second; and in the Church of England it retains its ancient situation. This Gospel relates to the end of the world, and the signs that shall precede our Lord's coming to judgment. In the place of this Gospel the Gallican and Roman Churches read the narrative related by St. Matthew, of the deputation of two of John's disciples to Christ, and of the testimony that Jesus gave of the Baptist. * The Epistle for this day has had the singular felicity to retain its place with little interruption among the selections appropriate to Advent. The Collect, which corresponds with the Epistle, was composed by the Compilers of our Liturgy. The ancient Collect for this day was, Excita, Domine, corda nostra ad præparandas unigeniti tui vias; ut per ejus adventum purificatis tibi mentibus servire mereamur; qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus per omnia sæcula, &c." * Rom. xv. 4. THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. FROM the sixth century at latest to the fourteenth, the Gospel appointed by the Church of England was often uniformly, and always generally read on this day. In its room the Roman and most of the Western Churches had substituted the testimony which the Baptist bore to Jesus, recorded in the first chapter of St. John's Gospel. Our Reformers however thought proper to retain the passage, that is found in the ancient Sacramentaries. Our Epistle likewise is the same that was anciently appointed for this day, or in the language of the old Lectionaries and Sacramentaries, for the second Sunday before Christmas. In lieu of it, the Roman and Gallican Churches have, for several centuries, read a portion from St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians *. The Collect was drawn up at the last Revisal in 1661, and has a reference to both the Epistle and Gospel, Before that period the Collect was, "Lord, "we beseech thee, give ear to our prayers; and by "thy gracious visitation lighten the darkness of our hearts, by our Lord Jesus Christ," which is translated from that found in GREGORY, and the Missals, FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT, THE Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for this day, have been always used in Advent, though not always * Phil. iv. 4, on on the fourth Sunday. It was long customary to repeat the Offices appropriated to the third Sunday, on the fourth, that having been considered as a vacant Sunday. In the modern Roman and Gallican Churches, this Epistle and Gospel are appointed for the third Sunday; and for the fourth their Epistle, or rather Lection in lieu of the Epistle, is taken from Isaiah *, and their Gospel from Luke †. neither of these portions of Scripture does the Collect seem to have much affinity; and the observation may, I think, be extended to the relation that exists between the Epistle and Gospel that we read, and our Collect, which it is evident was compiled from one or both of the Collects already quoted in p. 42. With OF THE NATIVITY, OR BIRTH-DAY OF OUR LORD, COMMONLY CALLED CHRISTMAS DAY. THE feast of the Nativity is, by many writers, supposed to have originated in the apostolic age. The first vestige of it that the learned author of primitive Christianity finds, is in the second century; though he doubts not but it might have been cele * Chap. vii. 10-16. Chap. i. 26-39. omitting the last sentence in verse 38. Here I speak of the Gallican Missal only. brated brated before *. In the time of BASIL, as he and his contemporaries testify, the feast of the Nativity was observed with a veneration superior to that of the Lord's day. In this age, sermons, that are still extant, were preached on Christmas day, and the Communion always administered. CHRYSOSTOM in particular affirms, that the celebration of this festival was, when he wrote, of great antiquity; that from the very beginning of the Christian Church it was renowned far and wide, even from Thrace to Cadiz. He styles it," of all festivals the most venerable, the "mother and metropolis of the rest. From this," he says, "the Theophany," that is the Epiphany, "the holy Paschal feast," or Easter, "the Assumption," that is the Ascension, "and Pentecost took "their rise." On this day, in the time of LEO, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered at three different times. The Nativity of our Saviour was not always in all Churches celebrated on the twenty-fifth of December. By some it was observed in April, or May, and by others on the same day with our feast of the Epiphany in January. This last was, for several centuries, kept as our Lord's Birth-day by the Churches of Alexandria and Egypt, of Jerusalem and Palestine, of Antioch, and by others of the East: But afterwards upon making enquiry and receiving better information, the Oriental Churches altered the day, and conformed to the practice of the Western World, |