calicem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas: item tibi gratias agens, benedixit, deditque discipulis suis, dicens : Accipite, et bibite ex eo omnes. HIC EST ENIM CALIX SANGUINIS MEI, NOVI ET ÆTERNI\TESTAMENTI:-MYSTERIUM FIDEI: QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MULTIS EFFUNDETUR IN

REMISSIONEM PECCATORUM. Hæc quotiescunque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis."

In the first Book of Edward: "Who in the same nyghte that he was betrayed: tooke breade, and when he had blessed, and geuen thankes: he brake it, and gaue it to his disciples, sayinge: Take, eate, this is my bodye whiche is geuen for you, do this in remembraunce of me. Likewise after supper he toke the cuppe, and whe he had geuen thankes, he gaue it to them, saying: drink ye all of this, for this is my bloude of the newe Testament, whiche is shed for you and for many, remission of sinnes: do this as oft as you shall drinke it, in remembraunce of me.'

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The Prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit is by no means express in either of the ancient English Uses, or in the Roman; still it is included in the following petition and necessarily must be, if only by the operation of the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity, the sacred elements are indeed made the Body and the Blood of Christ. And who would deny this? The old Missals and the Roman invocate the Holy Spirit therefore in the prayer: "Quam oblationem tu Deus in omnibus, quæsumus, benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, acceptabilemque facere digneris: ut nobis Corpus, et Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi."79

79 Much more express, I would remark, is the invocation in the old Gallic liturgy used in the extreme west before the days of Charlemagne, and of S. Augustin of Can

terbury. In the Office for the Epiphany we find a proper Preface with the prayer, "ut qui tunc aquas in vina mutavit; nunc in Sanguinem suum oblationum nostrarum vina

But in Edward's first Book the prayer is in plain words: "Heare us (o mercifull father) we beseche thee : and with thy holy spirite and worde vouchsafe to blesse and sanctifie these thy gyftes, and creatures of breade and wyne, that they maye be unto us the bodye and bloud of thy moste derely beloued sonne Jesus Christe.” The Oblation to the Almighty God of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ was in this form in the old English Uses, after declaring how mindful both priest and people were of the passion, resurrection, and ascension of the Son: "Offerimus præclaræ Majestati tuæ de tuis donis ac datis, hostiam puram, hostiam sanctam, hostiam immaculatam: panem sanctum vitæ æternæ, et calicem salutis perpetuæ."

In the first Book of Edward: "Wherefore, O Lorde and heauenly father, accordyng to the Institucyon of thy derely beloued sonne, our sauioure Jesu Christe, we thy humble servauntes doe celebrate, and make here before thy díuine Maiestie, with these thy holy giftes, the memoriall whiche thy sonne hath willed us to make: hauyng in remembraunce his blessed passion, mightie resurrection, and glorious ascension, entyerely desyringe thy fatherly goodnes, mercifully to accepte this our Sacrifice of prayse and thankes geuinge."

We know that of these services the more ancient were derived, by a constant succession, from the very highest antiquity, their source being no less than Apostolic:

convertat: et qui aliis saturitatem, meri potatione, concessit; nos potationis suæ libamine, et Paraclyti Spiritus infusione sanctificet. Per Dominum, &c." And again, upon the Feast of the Assumption, in the "Post Mysterium,” “Descendat, Domine, in his sacrificiis tuæ benedictionis coæternus et cooperator Paraclytus Spiritus: ut oblatio

nem, quam tibi de tua terra fructificante porregimus, cœlesti permuneratione, te sanctificante, sumamus. Ut translata fruge in Corpore, calice in Cruore, proficiat meritis, quod obtulimus pro delictis. Præsta omnipotens Deus: qui vivis et regnas in sæcula." Thomas. Codic. Sac. 287. 293.

and of the latest it will be sufficient to remember how acknowledged and undenied at any time in the church of England is the excellence of the first Book of King Edward the sixth. I have already spoken of the assertion that it was compiled by the aid of the Holy Ghost, but more than this (the evidence of friends) is the testimony given by the Act itself by which it was superseded in 1552: this, whilst it enjoins the observance of another Form, expressly recognizes the excellence of the one which it abolished as being "a verye Godlye ordre, agreeable to the woorde of God, and the primative Churche;" and declares that it had been made (to use its own language) "fully perfect" to please too scrupulous & tender consciences: and to set at rest doubts which had arisen "rather by the curiositie of the minister and mistakers, then of any other worthy cause."80

80 The Act for Uniformity. 5th and 6th Edw. VI. cap. I.

N all the Forms which we examined in the last chapter, it is evident that the essential rites which I have spoken of are to be found :

be

to this fact let us add an extract from the Homily of the worthy receiving of the Sacrament: and it will indeed appear, as I have said, of no slight importance according to what Order we administer the Eucharist, and make the enquiry an anxious one, whether we do in the first place administer rightly and validly consecrate; whether, secondly, we give due prominence to all, and have not obscured any, of the necessary parti culars of the celebration of so great a Mystery! The Homily declares: "Before all things, this we must b sure of especially, that this supper be in such wise done and ministered, as our Lord and Saviour did, and commanded to be done, as his holy Apostles used it, and the good fathers in the primitive church frequented it.", 'Now, of these two questions, the first is infinitely of the greatest consequence: if the liturgy of any Church has the essentials which the consecration of the Holy Eucharist requires, whether they be all expressed or implied, whether they be clear to every one's comprehension, or somewhat hidden in obscurity of language, or in a deficiency of detail, nevertheless the consecration is complete, the Divine commands fulfilled, and the promised benefits conveyed. Hence, the second question is important rather in its bearing upon the general belief which is inculcated upon the members of the Church; and there may be reasons, and just reasons, why at

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81 Book of Homilies. Edit. Oxford. 1832. p. 404.

certain periods in the existence of any Church, it may become a matter almost of necessity, that certain great truths, which have been perverted and abused, should for a time be veiled from the common sight and hearing of the people. But they must not be denied: and it demands a most accurate judgment, in the rulers of a Church, not only to know the time when such a course of conduct is to be advised, but the limits beyond which it cannot be permitted to go: and Truth being in her very nature open, it is not without risk of spreading errors that any reserve can be allowed. If this is so, as it undoubtedly is, in other branches of religious teaching and practice, it is no less in the matter of liturgies and rituals: people are not a little influenced by their constant use, and they unconsciously adopt from them doctripes, as it may happen, of absolute necessity to be believed, or to be rejected.

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If in what I am about to say, I may seem to speak too boldly upon subjects which, it is confessed, the Church of England in her liturgy does not plainly and openly lay before her children, the reader must remember, that not only the causes which once influenced her to be cautious and reserved may have passed away, but that fears of another kind, and contrary reasons may now recommend quite a different course that one danger having been happily removed, the precautions which were once wisely taken against it, may in their turn become productive of injury to some: and that if it is impossible or even unnecessary that the Church herself should by another deliberate revision correct and meet this new difficulty, it surely is not a merely lawful thing that her servants and ministers should explain her meaning, and vindicate the purity of her faith, and the sufficiency of her practice.

It is not to be denied that there have been for many years most lax opinions prevalent with respect both to the nature of the Holy Eucharist, and to the blessings