THE CHURCH

HER BOOKS AND HER SACRAMENTS

BY

E. E. HOLMES, B.D.

ARCHDEACON OF LONDON

A COURSE OF INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN AT ALL SAINTS
MARGARET STREET, IN LENT, 1910

NEW IMPRESSION

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1914

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

IN WATCHINGS OFTEN: Addresses to Nurses and Others. With a Preface by the Right Rev. EDWARD KING, D.D., late Bishop of Lincoln. With a Frontispiece (the Crucifixion, by PERUGINO). Crown 8vo, paper boards, 2s. 6d.; cloth, 3s. 6d.

PRAYER AND ACTION; or, The Three Notable Duties (Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving). With an Introduction by the Bishop of London. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.

IMMORTALITY. Crown 8vo, 4s. net. (Oxford Library of Practical Theology.)

PARADISE: A Course of Addresses on the State of the Faithful Departed. Crown 8vo, paper covers, 1s. net; cloth, 2s. net. *** Extracted from "Immortality"

RESPONSIBILITY: An Address to Girls. 16mo, paper covers, 4d. net; bound in rexine, 1s. net. Cheap Edition, 1d. net.

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.,
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS

TO
H. F. B. M.

INTRODUCTION

These Lectures were originally delivered as the Boyle Lectures for 1910, and were afterwards repeated in a more popular form at All Saints, Margaret Street. They are now written from notes taken at their delivery at All Saints, and the writer's thanks are due to the kindness of those who lent him the notes. Some explanation of their elementary character seems called for. The Lecturer's object was twofold:—

(1) To remind an instructed congregation of that which they knew already—and to make them more grateful for the often underrated privilege of being members of the Catholic Church; and

(2) To suggest some simple lines of instruction which they might pass on to others. Unless the instructed Laity will help the Clergy to teach their uninstructed brethren, a vast number of Church people must remain in ignorance of their privileges and responsibilities. And if at times the instructed get impatient and say, "Everybody knows that," they will probably be mistaken. Many a Churchman is ignorant of the first principles of his religion, of why he is a Churchman, and even of what he means by "the Church," just because of the false assumption—"Everybody knows". Everybody does not know.

It seems absurd to treat such subjects as The Church, Her Books, Her Sacraments, in half-hour Lectures; but, in spite of obvious drawbacks, there may be two advantages. It may be useful to take a bird's-eye view of a whole subject rather than to look minutely into each part—and it may help to keep the Lecturer to the point!

E. E. H.

CONTENTS

Dear Saviour! make our hearts to burn,
And make our lives to shine,
Oh!