Excerpt from Devotions in the Ancient Way of Offices: With Psalms, Hymns, and Prayers, for Every Day in the Week, and Every Holy Day in the Year The volume of Devotions here presented in a new edition is one which has enjoyed a considerable and well-merited share of popularity ever since its first appearance in the seventeenth century. Its author, John Austin, an alumnus of S. John's College, Cambridge, and afterwards a barrister, was one of the small but influential knot of converts to the Roman Church who left the Anglican Communion during the troubles under Charles I. And his secession, in 1640, anticipated by only a very short time the temporary overthrow of the polity in which he had been reared. The book of Prayers and Meditations which he compiled was, however, marked by so much genuine piety, and such a loving spirit, that it had the rare fortune of becoming a favourite in the Communion which he had left, as well as in that he had joined and it also stands nearly at the head of those adaptations from Roman sources which have for centuries contributed to the spiritual nutri ment of devout members of the English Church. Two nearly contemporary revisions of the work for Anglican use were made soon after the author's death in 1669 one, that which is the better known and the most frequently printed, having been made by a lady named Susannah Hopton, and edited with a preface by the well-known Dr George Hickes, Dean of Worcester, afterwards titular. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.