Page:Two Sermons on the Duty and Joy of Frequent Public Worship.djvu/33

Rh ourselves from going to Church, when we have opportunity, because there is no sermon, or no music, let us remember that the Common Prayers of the Church—by which we join with all holy persons throughout the world, and feel the fulness of the communion of saints—that these prayers are the noblest part of our life, and that the moments we so spend, if we really pray, are the moments in which we are taken furthest from the mists, and clouds, and darkness of earth, and drawn most near to the glories of heaven, where God's special Presence dwells.

"I ought perhaps to add, that the reason why it is not enough to 'say our prayers at home,' when we can say them at church, is simply this: that our blessed Lord went himself to the Temple, and taught us to pray with our brethren; and that His holy Apostles and the early Christians taught and did the same. Good, humble Christians will need no more arguments than these."J. G. T.

It appears from a comparison of the Guide to the Churches where Daily Prayers are said in Great Britain and Ireland (Masters), (so far, that is, as they are known to the compiler), and from the Guide to the Church Services in London and its Suburbs (J. H. Parker), with the Clergy List, that in 1862 the whole number of churches in which there was Daily Service, including London, was 764 Of these, 335 were in parishes of which the population was under 2,000, What the numbers are now, in 1879, it is difficult to ascertain.