eople, no reserved or rented pews, but every seat free and
unreserved, so that high and low, rich and poor alike shall be equal
in the Father's House; and open not simply when there is a service,
but open all the time for private prayer as well as public. This
movement is growing rapidly so that to-day more than half of our
churches are thus free, and a great many of them are kept open
all day long every day in the week. It is found that many earnest
and devout souls, homeless perhaps, or dwellers in hotels or
boarding-houses where there is little or no privacy, as well as
others, gladly avail themselves of this privilege of the _Open
Church_ and find comfort in it. A society for the promotion of
Free and Open Churches has been organized for many years with
headquarters in Philadelphia.

Frequent Communion.--The influence of the Puritans on the religious
life of the Church was in many instances tremendous and far-reaching.
While the Prayer Book provides for _frequent Communion_, that is,
every Lord's Day and Holy Day at the least, yet under the Puritan
influence _infrequent_ Communion became prevalent, and four times a
year at the most came to be considered sufficient. When the Church
began to pass out from under this influence we find that a _monthly_
celebration became the universal rule {116} in the Church, and even
with this many seem now to be satisfied. But as the Church grew, as
the study of the Prayer Book and of Church History became more
general and the Church began to assert herself, to claim her
heritage, we find a return to the ancient order and Scriptural
rule. The Sunday and Holy Day Eucharist was more and more restored,
so that to-day there are very few parishes where "Frequent Communion"
is not the rule. On this subject the Bishop of Maryland, the Rt.
Rev. William Paret, D.D., has remarked, "God's Word and all
history show that receiving the Holy Communion every Lord's Day
was the _old way_ and receiving once a month entirely a modern
custom. In often receiving we are copying the whole Church of the
first three hundred years."

Friday.--In the Prayer Book we find that Friday of each week
is placed in the Table of Fasts to be observed in this Church
throughout the year, and the rubric directs that it be announced to
the congregation on the Sunday before. Friday as a Fast is intended
to be the weekly memorial of the Crucifixion of our Lord just as
Sunday is the weekly memorial of the Resurrection. Both