prayed expressly for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Elements. This appears from the writings of Optatus (368) and the elder Fulgentius (507). Thus the former1 addressing the Donatists:-"What so sacrilegious as to break . . . the Altars . . . where Almighty God has been invoked, where the Holy Ghost being prayed for has descended?" Fulgentius 2 considers at some length the question, "Why, if the sacrifice be offered to the whole Trinity [as he explains that it is in a manner], only the mission of the Holy Ghost is prayed for to sanctify the gift of our oblation?"

The Roman Invocation, with which our own mediæval forms agreed, is couched in these words:" We beseech Thee, O God, to cause that this Oblation may be in all things blessed, admitted, ratified, reasonable, and acceptable; that it may become to us the Body and Blood of Thy dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."3 It is still, word for word, the same as in the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries. A Romano-Gallican form was as follows:-"Let this oblation be imputed to us, ratified, reasonable, acceptable, which thing is a figure of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."4

It will not, however, be supposed, that the work of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of the Elements was denied or doubted in those Churches, that did not in direct terms

1 L. vi. c. i. p. 90.

2 Ad Monimum, L. ii. Q. ii. c. vi. Migne, tom. lxv. col. 184.

3 I use the translation of Berington and Kirk (Faith of Catholics, p. 197), which agrees with Le Brun, Explic. P. iv. Art. vi. § iii. tome ii. p. 451. The word rendered "admitted " is ascriptam, which is better perhaps rendered "credited or imputed (to us); " especially as admission into heaven is prayed for elsewhere,―Jube hæc perferri . in sublime altare Tuum. Ascriptam is thus explained by the Gallican tract, De Sacram. L. iv. c. v. inter Opp. Ambros. tom. v. p. 231:-"Fac nobis, Deus, hanc oblationem ascriptam," etc. But Florus, in the ninth century, writing on the pure Roman Canon, says that ascriptam means, "ut in numerum placitorum Sibi numeretur recepta."-De Expos. Miss. § 59, col. 51.

The

4 De Sacram. as in last note. For the proof that this work belonged to the Gallican Church, see Oudin, tom. i. col. 1861. Ambrose of Cahors, its supposed author, wrote at the end of the eighth century, after the introduction of the Roman Liturgy by Charlemagne. Observe the qualification of the Roman original :-"Quod figura est Corporis," etc. language of Charlemagne himself is a witness to this peculiarity of the Romano-Gallican Canon of that age :-"Conando cum discipulis panem fregit, et calicem pariter dedit eis, in figuram Corporis et Sanguinis sui." Epist. ad Alcuinum; Hittorp. col. 303. It will hardly be doubted that the expression in figuram was suggested by the Canon quoted in the text. Compare Constit. Apost. L. v. c. xiv., L. vi. c. xxx., L. vii. c. xxv. Cotel. pp. 317, 58, 70.

pray for His coming. Gelasius, who became Bishop of Rome in 492, speaking of the change that takes place at the consecration, ascribes it expressly to the Holy Ghost; while the Milanese 2 Liturgy itself in the Preface for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany still bears express witness to the same truth"To offer unto Thee this victim of sacrifice, which is offered by many in the saving and ineffable Sacrament of Divine grace, and is made One Body of Christ by the infusion of the Holy Ghost." This doctrine was also preserved in the churches of France after the adoption of the Roman Liturgy. Thus Florus of Lyons, A.D. 837, Remigius of Auxerre, 880, and pseudo-Alcuin of the eleventh century, paraphrasing the words of the Canon:"We pray that Thou wouldst sanctify these things by Thy Spirit, and bless them with Thy mouth."

We may be disposed to regret that the use of a prayer expressly asking for the action of the Holy Ghost upon the Elements was not continued; but it is clearly not necessary. It was not a constant part of the old Spanish Invocations; though in them the Church was held to pray that the Elements might be hallowed by Him. The following examples,7 which appear to be original and unaltered, will suffice:"Take Thou these offerings to be blessed by Thee, and grant to us the gifts of Thy blessing;" "Sanctify these gifts offered unto Thee by unclean hands; by which," etc. We know, indeed, that the Holy Ghost is the inmediate agent; and it was natural (so to speak) that the mystery should be fully and openly expressed at the time, when men had but recently received "the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven;" but now perhaps it is more reverent not to lift up the veil. It is enough that God works behind it. He will do His own work in His own all-sufficient way. It is our part to believe, to fear, and be thankful.

In conclusion, we remark that the Invocation of our own Liturgy is not an explicit prayer for the sanctification of the Elements, but is rather, like the Roman, a prayer that they may be to us what they can become only through such sanctification. Had the Revisers of 1662 thought it well to be more explicit, they would not have been restrained by any

1 Routh's Opusc. tom. ii. p. 493. His words are, Sancto Spiritu perficiente. See also the Roman Secrets quoted further on, p. 594. 3 De Expos. Missæ, § 44, col. 44.

2 Pamel. tom. i. p. 319.
De Celebr. Miss. Biblioth, PP. Max. tom. xvii. p. 956.
5 Hittorp. col. 284.

See the statements of S. Isidore,
Sect. v. of this Chapter, p. 577.

and of Heterius and Beatus, in

7 Miss. Mozar. Leslie, pp. 9, 22.

1

fear of giving further occasion to calumny; for the Presbyterians themselves had distinctly recognised a sanctification of the Elements in their Directory for Public Worship:"Let the Words of Institution be read out of the Evangelists, or out of the First Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians." ... "Let the Prayer, Thanksgiving, or Blessing of the Bread and Wine be to this effect." Suggestions for it are then given, and lastly the Minister is directed "earnestly to pray to God to vouchsafe His gracious presence and the effectual working of His Spirit in us, and so to sanctify these Elements, both of Bread and Wine, and to bless His own ordinance, that we may receive by faith the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ," etc. After which "the Elements" are spoken of as "being now sanctified by the Word and Prayer." The Divine Agent is named in the Book of Common Order of the Scotch Presbyterian Church Service Society:-"We most humbly beseech Thee. . . to bless and sanctify with Thy Word and Spirit these Thine own gifts of bread and wine, which we set before Thee." In the "Reformation of the Liturgy," that hasty production of Baxter, which he and his fellows proposed to the Bishops at the last Revision, as a substitute for the Book of Common Prayer, the Minister is directed to "bless" the bread and wine, praying in these or the like words:" Almighty God . . . who hast given Thy Son to reconcile us to Thyself, who . . . hath instituted this holy Sacrament to be celebrated in remembrance of Him till His coming, sanctify these Thy creatures of bread and wine, . . that they may be sacramentally the Body and Blood of Thy Son Jesus Christ."

The position of the Invocation relatively to the Words of Institution differs both in modern and ancient Liturgies. In our own, both present and mediæval, the Scotch of 1637, and in the Roman, it comes before; in the Scotch since 1755, and in the American, it comes after. In the common

1 The Directory in Confession of Faith, etc., p. 500; Edinb. 1756.

2 P. 181; ed. 3. Compare 1 B. E. and the Scotch Liturgy, p. 588. 3 Reformation, etc., in Hall's Reliquiæ Liturgicæ, vol. iv. p. 68. The following example, for which I am indebted to Archdeacon Woollcombe, is from a hymn used by the sect of the Bryanites.

"Come, Holy Ghost, Thine influence shed,
And realize the sign;

Thy life infuse now with the Bread,
Thy power with the Wine.

Effectual let the tokens be,
And made by heavenly art,

Fit channels to convey Thy love
To every faithful heart."

Greek Liturgy, in S. Mark, S. James, and several of their derived forms, there is a petition for the sanctification of the Elements before the Words of Institution, sometimes in the same1 prayer with them, sometimes in the Prayer of Oblation, but the more formal Invocation follows it. In the Mozarabic a prayer for the sanctification of the gifts precedes immediately the account of the institution; but the direct prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost was in the Collect which followed, and is still preserved in many examples of it. In the old Gallican (as we now have it), the Invocation comes after the Words, in the Post Secreta;5 but there is a prayer for the benediction of the Elements now attached to one Post Sanctus, which suggests that originally (as is otherwise probable) the Gallican Liturgy also had a double Invocation. I refer to the Post Sanctus for Easter Eve in the Gothico-Gallican Missal :-"We pray Thee, that Thou bless this Sacrifice with Thy benediction, and bedew it with the dew of Thy Holy Spirit, that it may be to all a due and valid Eucharist, through Christ our Lord, Who the day before," etc. In the Syrian' Liturgies, and the Greek Alexandrian of S. Gregory, there is no prayer to this effect before the Words. In some Nestorian forms it occurs both before and after, in others only after.10

It is well worthy of remark, that all the ancient Western Liturgies, whatever change their Invocations may have undergone, still betray their Eastern derivation by retaining in their Prayers of Oblation many petitions for the sanctification of the gifts, sometimes even ascribing it expressly to the Holy Ghost. Thus the Roman :-"Let the Holy Ghost,

1 S. Mark, Renaud. tom, i. p. 156; the Copt. S. Cyril, p. 46; the Nestorian Malabar (Raulin, p. 315); and Chaldæan (Renaud. tom. ii. p. 592, or Le Brun, Diss. xi. Art. xii. tome vi. p. 508).

2 S. Chrys. Goar, p. 74; S. James, Lit. PP. p. 19, Assem. tom. v. p. 30; (S. Basil, Goar, p. 164, reduces it to a prayer for the acceptance of the gifts); Copt. S. Bas., Renaud. tom. i. p. 3.

3 Leslie, pp. 5, 229.

4 See before, p. 589.

5 See examples, p. 589.

6 Mabill. Liturg. Gall. L. iii. Missa xxxvi. p. 251.

7 See the Prayer of Oblation in the Ordo Communis, Renaud. tom. ii. p. 3.

8 Renaud. tom. i. pp. 90-104. The Alex. S. Basil is imperfect here.

9 See the Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles, Renaud. tom. ii. p. 592, or Le Brun, tome vi. p. 508. The Words, etc., are wanting in the Ms. from which Renaudot prints; but the Malabar Rite, Raulin, p. 315, shows that the Invocation was in its usual place.

10 See the Anaphora of Theodore (Renaud. tom. ii. p. 621), and Nestorius (p. 633).

O Lord, graciously take to Himself the gifts placed upon Thine Altar;" 1 "" The gifts which we offer to Thee of our service, O Lord, do Thou make a saving Sacrament to us; "2 "The Sacrifices offered unto Thy regards, O Lord, let that Divine Fire take, which through the Holy Ghost inflamed the hearts of the disciples of Thy Christ."3 The Milanese:"Sanctify, O Lord, the gifts offered unto Thee, that they may become the Body and Blood of Thine only-begotten;" "Touch these gifts, O Lord, with the power of the Holy Ghost, that," etc.;5 "Let our gifts, O Lord, be consecrated by the coming of the Holy Ghost"."Impart the presence of Thy Majesty to these gifts." The Spanish:-" Impart to these sacrifices an ample gift of Thy blessing;"8" Glide down, O Lord, into the oblations now offered unto Thee." 9 The Gallican:-" So glide down on to the oblation here present, that it may afford remedy to the living, refreshment to the departed," etc. ;"10 "Do thou water these gifts with the rain of the Holy Spirit;"1 "Let our gifts be consecrated by the graciousness of Thy Holy Spirit." 12

SECTION VIII.-The sign of the Cross in the Prayer of Consecration.

In the First Book of Edward VI. the sign of the Cross was made twice over the Elements during the Invocation:"With Thy Holy Spirit and Word vouchsafe to bless and

1 Sacram. Greg. Pamel. tom. ii. p. 210. See Gerbert, Lit. Alem. P. i.

p. 31. It occurs also in the Ambrosian, Pam. tom. i. p. 444.

2 Pamel. tom. ii. p. 230; Murat. tom. ii. col. 39.

3 Ibid. p. 303; Murat. tom. ii. col. 93. Prayers for the "blessing or "sanctification" of the gifts are frequent. See Pamel. tom. ii. pp. 186, 203, 290.

4 Pamel. tom. i. p. 369.

6 Ibid. p. 379.

6 Ibid. p. 380.

Ibid. p. 385; similarly, p. 402. Simpler petitions for the sanctification or blessing are common in this also; as pp. 317, 22, 97, 407, 54, etc. 8 Leslie, p. 285.

9 Ibid. pp. 272, 464. We might expect such examples to be more frequent in the Oratio post Nomina of this semi-Oriental Liturgy; but we must remember that the Masses were probably all either re-written or composed in the sixth and seventh centuries (Le Brun, Diss. v. Art. i. tome 3, pp. 280, 5), and that the nearly constant aim of the writers was to make this Collect a prayer for those who offered and for the departed, as S. Isidore (who was himself one of them) remarks, De Eccl. Off. L. i. c. 15. Hitt. col. 188. Several petitions for the sanctification, however, occur. -See Leslie, pp. 54, 57, 65, 356.

10 Mabill. Lit. Gall. L. iii. p. 207.

11 Ibid. p. 264.

12 Ibid. p. 269. See also, pp. 209, 63, 70, etc.