"(5) When error or superstition has been introduced; when that which was at first good and healthful has been perverted to the nourishment of falsehood or wickedness; or when that which was always evil has found utterance, and is now revealed in its true character." The Memorial failed for the reason that the promoters of it had not a clearly defined notion in their own minds of what they wanted--the secret of many failures. Out of its ashes there may yet rise, however, "some better thing" that God has kept in store. [97] _Ancient Collects and Other Prayers selected for Devotional Use from Various Rituals_. By William Bright, M. A. J. H. & Jas. Parker, Oxford and London. From the Appendix I take the following illustrations of the statement ventured above: "_For Guidance_--O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly; grant us in all our doubts and uncertainties the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do; that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble: through Jesus Christ our Lord. "_For those who live in sin_.--Have mercy, O compassionate Father, on all who are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; vouchsafe them grace to come to themselves, the will and power to return to thee, and the loving welcome of thy forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. "_For all who do the work of the Church_.--O Lord, without whom our labor is but lost, and with whom thy little ones go forth as the mighty, be present to all works in thy Church which are undertaken according to thy will, and grant to thy laborers a pure intention, patient faith, sufficient success upon earth, and the bliss of serving thee in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. "_For grace to speak the Truth in love_.--O Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who earnest not to strive nor cry, but to let thy words fall as the drops that water the earth: grant all who contend for the faith once delivered, never to injure it by clamor and impatience, but speaking thy precious truth in love, so to present it that it may be loved, and that men may see in it thy goodness and thy beauty: who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end." Both as regards devotional flavor and literary beauty these prayers will, I feel sure, be judged worthy, by such as will read them more than once, to stand by the side certainly of many of the collects already in the Prayer Book. [98] Preached in Grace Church, N. Y., on the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, that being the Sunday next following the adjournment of the General Convention of 1892. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer, by William Reed Huntington