Note that the Collect appointed for every Sunday, or for any Holiday that hath a Vigil or Eve, shall be said at the Evening Service next before.

The First Sunday in Advent.

LMIGHTY 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, in 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 dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

This Collect is to be repeated every day, with the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Eve.

THE arrangement of the COLLECTS, EPISTLES, and GOSPELS in the order here observed has prevailed from the most ancient times. It is to the zeal and piety of St. Jerome that the selection is ascribed; and the assertion of its antiquity is justified by the frequent allusion to the Collects, or portions of Scripture appointed for particular days, in the homilies of the early fathers. The Collects, though for the most part left unaltered, were revised on being adopted into our Liturgy; and the Epistles and Gospels, which were, at first, taken from the old version, or that of the great Bible, were subsequently selected from the last translation, an improvement for which we appear to be indebted chiefly to the presbyterian divines. Formerly, and according to the first

The Epistle. Rom. xiii. 8.

WE no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

book of King Edward VI., a proper psalm was appointed to precede the reading of the Collect at the Communion. This psalm was called The Introit, from its being used when the priest entered the altar; and as it was selected with great care, and in close correspondence with the Gospel, it might be productive of benefit were a similar selection still authorised.

As the Jews began their religious or ecclesiastical year from the memorable day on which they were delivered from Egypt, so the Christian Church commences the course of its annual services with the dawning of the Day of Salvation;-the approach of him in whom all things have become new. The word Advent means a coming, or arrival; and the season of preparation to which it rfers has been observed in the Church for at least fourteen hundred years.

THE COLLECT. Of the four collects for Advent, the last is the only one traced immediately to an ancient source. The first and second were composed for the reformed Liturgy; and the third was added at the Restoration, to supply the place of one thought inadequate to the occasion. Founded on the most beautiful expressions of spiritual eloquence, the First Collect teaches us to seek that purifying, and, at the same time fortifying grace, which alone can fit men for the service of Christ. He now comes to us as a Saviour: let us cast away darkness from our hearts; the pride, - the folly, the sensuality, which have hitherto separated us from God. He will return from his throne as a Judge: let us so live in the Spirit now, that we may rise by the Spirit hereafter!

THE EPISTLE-The wisdom and power of the Gospel are eminently set forth in this portion of Scripture. Every practical duty of life is urged upon us by the grand argument of love;-which forming the ground-work of the whole system of creation and redemption, enters also, like the pervading breath of the Universal Spirit, into the minutest circumstance and relation of the Christian's course. Our preparation for the coming of Christ, either as a Saviour or a Judge, can go beat slowly on while we are making "provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." Then only can we be fit to appear before him when from the grave of sin we wake up in his own likeness, Fing" put him on" by the graces of faith and holiness.

The Gospel. St. Matt. xxi. 1.

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HEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the fole of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them; and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple; and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves: and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

THE GOSPEL.-This account of Christ's entrance into Jerusalem is chosen for the Gospel of the day as illustrating the prophetic character of our Lord. We here behold him coming as the King of Israel-" Behold I have set my king upon my holy hill of Sion." As the Messenger of the Covenant, suddenly coming to his Temple, and manifesting his authority in that house of prayer. But with all this, he comes in the meekness of one who intended to make himself an offering for the sins of his people. Isai. lxii. 11. Zech. ix. 9.