Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the

PREFACE.

THE present volume was suggested by a little

book, printed in London, entitled "A Sabbath

at Home."

On looking over that work with a view to its republication, it was deemed advisable, on many accounts, to lay it aside altogether; though the idea of "a short manual for those who are occasionally hindered from attending the house of God," was so good, that it has been taken up and followed out in the present volume.

The aim has been to make a book which should comprise within its lids, offices of social devotion, hymns for social praise, and sermons for social circles. There are many circumstances of time and place, such as sickness, inclemency of weather, loss of friends, which occasionally prevent the whole or a portion of a

family from going up to the Courts of the Lord; there are others too remote from the Church to be able at all times to attend its services; there are others, living in destitute regions, where no Sabbath bell is heard, and no minister of Christ proclaims the words of everlasting life; there are others, "who go down to the sea in ships," who are shut out from the great congregations; and to each of these various classes, this book, it is hoped, will prove a welcome manual.

It consists of four services for four Sundays, each being different from the other, in order to give variety in the mode of worship, and to admit of a choice where tastes so materially differ.

A liturgical form has been preserved in each, because, being designed for the family, or for such little circles as could not command the services of a clergyman, it was supposed that it would be more. acceptable to the great majority of persons to have a guiding form, than to be left to the impulses of extemporaneous efforts. They are such forms, however, as no true Christian, be his denominational views what they may, can object to. They have been gathered from the writings of holy and learned men, and they

smell

smell of the "myrrh, aloes, and cassia" of "the ivory palaces" of the Bible, out of which they were originally taken. Any head of a family, male or female, or any member of the family deputed for that purpose, can easily go through all these services, and thus supply, in some measure, what is lacking in the ability "to go up to the Courts of the Lord, and to worship in his holy temple."

A few hymns have been added, as it may often happen that "the voice of melody" can mingle with the voice of prayer, and thus impart new interest to the social service.

The Sermons have been introduced, with a view to furnish material for family reading, should the time, and place, and other circumstances favour their introduction; and also with the design of making one book contain all that was necessary for conducting social worship at home. They are plain and practical, and advance no claim to any other merit, than conformity to what the author believes to be the truth of God.

There have been published many works of devotion for family and private use; many collections of religious hymns;

hymns; many volumes of most admirable sermons; but this is believed to be the first attempt, to condense all the elements of Divine Service in one book, so arranged that all the family or friends can unite in its prayers and praise, and thus, when debarred from the house of the Lord, worship God in spirit and in truth.

If it shall be the means, in God's hand, of gathering little household bands around the mercy seat, and causing them to spend the Lord's Day profitably to their own souls; if it shall collect a group of listeners and worshippers in some secluded dwelling, some outskirt settlement, and guide their hearts in prayer, and their tongues in praise, and their minds with truth; if it shall call some voyagers on the great deep to meet in the cabin to join in a Home Service, though tossed on the restless sea; if it shall minister any comfort to the sick, the sad, and the afflicted, leading their minds to Jesus, putting words into their mouths and melody in their tongues, giving them "the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," then will the aim of the book be attained, and to God shall be all the glory!