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COPYRIGHT, 1914

BY THE AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION

M

2131
.05
A6

1914
сороз

COMPOSITION AND ELECTROTYPING
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

PRESSWORK AND BINDING

F. H. GILSON COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS.

PREFACE

The Book of Services for Congregational Worship is the outcome of the labors of a Committee appointed on November 14, 1911, by the Directors of the American Unitarian Association. The Committee consisted of Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, Rev. Howard N. Brown, Rev. Thomas Van Ness, Rev. William S. Jones, Rev. John H. Lathrop, Rev. Sydney B. Snow. The book has been prepared to meet the growing demand for a convenient and well-considered manual of worship adapted to the use of the Free Churches of the Congregational order. For this reason the simple order of service adopted is the form already familiar in many of these churches. It has had a natural growth and is, apparently, best suited to their common requirements. No part of the book as it stands bears the stamp of any single mind. It is the product of a group of minds, fairly representative of different shades of judgment and experience. In the preparation of the first five services the Committee has limited itself for the most part to editing material already at hand; this has been taken from a wide variety of sources, both ancient and modern. The services for special days and occasions reflect to a greater extent the individual taste and feeling of the members of the Committee.

That the work of the Committee, protracted and painstaking as it has been, has provided a final solution for the problem of public worship would be too much to claim. Services put together with far less thought have, however, held their place for years and have become endeared to the congregations using them. The members of the Committee cherish the hope that the services now offered will win for themselves an even deeper esteem. They are bold enough to think that the suggested readings and prayers contain less to which reasonable minds can make objection and more that is of the highest rank as an expression of religious thought and feeling than any heretofore employed in our churches. Especially do they believe that the Responsive Readings from the Psalms are the best ever compiled for general use.

With the fervent hope that these utterances of the spirit which searcheth the deep things of God may commend themselves to all who are striving to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, these services for congregational worship are offered to the churches of the Free Christian faith.

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FIRST SERVICE

One or more of these sentences to be read

by the minister

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together; for with him is the fountain of life, and in his light shall we see light. Psalms xxxiv. 3; xxxvi. 9.

The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John iv. 23, 24.

Surely the Lord is in this place. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Genesis xxviii. 16, 17.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah vi. 6, 8.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew vii. 21.

Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James i. 25.

Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey. Joshua xxiv. 15, 24.

To be said by the minister

With reverence and gratitude we adore the Eternal Goodness which makes our lives so rich and fruitful. Let us lift up our hearts unto the Lord, and bless his holy name; and may our praises and our prayers help to make our whole life an offering pure and acceptable in his sight.

Let us pray.

To be said by minister and people
together

O Thou, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things, both in heaven and on earth: we praise thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks unto thee for all thou art to us, and all thou doest for us, day by day. For reason and conscience, for nurture and guidance, and for all the gifts of nature and of grace; for thy forbearance and long-suffering, and thy tender mercies which never fail; for all good things received, and for thy promise, and our hope of good in time to come; for these and all other mercies, known or unknown, remembered or forgotten, we will give thanks unto thee now and evermore. Amen.

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