be cleansed: wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow; and afterwards incenses them thrice.

Meanwhile all the lights in the Church are extinguished, to be relighted later from the new fire.

THE BLESSING OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE.

Then the Deacon, vested in a white dalmatic, takes a rod on the top of which a tripartite candle has been fixed: and the procession moves towards the High-altar, as follows: the thurifer and an acolyte bearing the grains of incense, the Subdeacon with the Cross, the clergy in their order, the Deacon with the triple-candle, and lastly the celebrating Priest.

As the procession moves up the church, one of the three candles on the rod is lighted at the entrance of the Church, from a candle which has itself been lighted at the new fire: a second is lighted half-way up to the Altar, and the third before the Altar.

As each candle is lighted, the Deacon kneels, and sings (raising his voice higher each time),

Lumen Christi.

The Light of Christ.

And all the cross-bearer excepted-kneeling, respond,

Deo gratias.

Thanks be to God.

The Celebrant then ascends to the Epistle corner of the Altar, and the Deacon handing the rod with the triple-candle to an acolyte, receives the Book, and asks the Celebrant's blessing, as is done before the Gospel in Mass. The Priest replies, May the Lord be in thy heart and on thy lips, that thou mayest worthily and fittingly proclaim His Easter praises: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Deacon then goes to the stand on the Gospel side of the choir, and placing the book upon it, incenses the book. On his right stand the Subdeacon with the Cross, and the thurifer: on his left an acolyte holding the triple-candle, and another the five grains of blest incense to be fixed into the Easter Candle. Then all rising and standing as at the Gospel, the Deacon sings:

ET the Angelic hosts of hea

ven, and the Divine Mysteries now exult! Let the trumpet of salvation sound forth the victory of our great King! Let the earth, too, be glad, illuminated by rays of so much brightness, and feel that the splendour of the Eternal King in which she is now flooded, hath chased away darkness from the whole world. Let the Church also, our Mother, rejoice, adorned with the brightness of so great

sultet. Qua propter adstantes vos, fratres charissimi, ad tam miram hujus sancti luminis claritatem, una mecum, quæso, Dei omnipotentis misericordiam invocate. Ut qui me non meis meritis intra Levitarum numerum dignatus est aggregare, luminis sui claritatem infundens, Cerei hujus laudem implere perficiat. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium suum: qui cum eo vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus :

Per omnia sæcula sæculorum: R. Amen.

D. Dominus vobiscum:
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.
D. Sursum corda:
R. Habemus ad Domi-
num.

D. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro : R.Dignum et justum est.

a light; and let this temple re-
sound with the triumphant
voices of the people. Where-
fore, dearly beloved brethren,
that stand by in the wondrous
clearness of this holy light, join
with me, I beseech you, in call-
ing upon the mercy of God Al-
mighty: that He Who hath been
pleased, without any merit of
mine, to admit me into the num-
ber of His Levites, may by im-
parting to me some of the bright-
ness of His light, enable me to
sing fittingly the praises of this
Candle. Through our Lord
Jesus Christ His Son, Who with
Him liveth and reigneth in the
unity of the Holy Ghost God:
World without end:
R. Amen.

D. The Lord be with you:
R. And with thy spirit.
D. Lift up your hearts:
R. We have lifted them to
the Lord.

D. Let us give thanks to the
Lord our God:

R. It is meet and just.

is truly meet and just, that we should, with the whole voices, give praise unto the invisible God, the Father Almighty; and unto His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who for us paid Adam's debt unto His eternal Father, and with His gracious blood blotted out the bond of our ancient guilt. For this is the Paschal Feast in which that true Lamb is slain, with Whose blood the door-posts of the faithful are consecrated. This is the Night in which of old Thou didst bring forth out of the land of Egypt our fathers, the Children of Israel, and didst make them to pass with dry feet through the Red Sea. This, then, is the Night which, by a pillar of light, dissipated the darkness of sin. This is the Night, in which now, throughout the world, those who believe in Christ are separated from the vices of the age and the thick-darkness of sin, and are restored to

grace and joined to holiness. This is the Night in which, breaking the chains of death, Christ rises victorious from hell. For what, indeed, would our birth have availed us, if we had not also received the benefit of redemption. O the wonderful condescension of Thy mercy towards us! O Thine inestimable loving-kindness: Who to redeem us from slavery, didst deliver up Thy Son! O sin of Adam, which we might declare truly necessary, since it required the death of Christ to blot it out, [and so was the means of proving God's infinite love for us]. O happy fault, happy in making it necessary that we should have such and so great a Redeemer! O Night, truly blessed, to be the one singled out as worthy to know the time and the hour in which Christ rose again from hell! Night of which it is written, 'And the Night shall shine as the day;' and 'Night shall be my light in my pleasures.' Hence the sanctification of this Night doth put to flight crime, and wash away sin. It restoreth innocence to sinners, and joy to the sorrowful: it banisheth enmities, prepareth concord, and softeneth the harshness of power.

Here the Deacon fixes the five grains of incense in the Paschal Candle, placing them in the form of a cross.

Therefore, O Holy Father, do Thou, on this propitious Night, receive the evening sacrifice of this incense, which, by the hands of her Ministers, Holy Church doth lay before Thee in the solemn offering of this wax Candle made from the work of bees. But we already know the excellence of this pillar of light, which, for the honour of God, the sparkling fire doth now kindle.

Here the Deacon lights the Candle with one of the three candles on the rod.

Which, though it be divided into parts, suffereth not loss by the communication of its light. For it is fed by melting wax, which bees, the artificers of it, have prepared for the substance of this precious Candle.

Here the lamps are lighted.

O truly blessed Night, which plundered the Egyptians, and enriched the Hebrews: Night in which heaven is united to earth and things human, to things divine. We therefore beseech Thee, O Lord, that this Candle, consecrated to the honour of Thy Name, may continue without fail to dissipate the darkness of this night and that being accepted as an odour of sweetness, it may be numbered among the lights of heaven. May the Morning Star find its flame

:

alight that Morning Star, I mean, that knows not setting; that Star which, rising again from hell, shone forth brightly upon the human race. We therefore beseech Thee, O Lord, that, granting unto us peaceful times, in this Easter gladness, Thou wouldest with constant protection, rule, govern, and preserve our most holy Father, Pope N., our Bishop N., and us Thy servants, together with the whole body of the clergy and people devoted to Thy service. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost God, world without end. R. Amen.

THE PROPHECIES.

The Deacon, thereupon, exchanges his white vestments for violet ones, and joins the Celebrant at the Altar; who, laying aside his cope, puts on a violet chasuble. Then the Prophecies are read aloud (but without titles) by Lectors in the Choir: the Celebrant reading them in a low voice at the Epistle-corner of the Altar.

Meanwhile Priests catechize any Catechumens about to be baptized, I prepare them for Baptism.

and

IN

Proph. 1. the beginning God created heaven and earth: Gen. 1, 2. and the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and He divided the light from the darkness. And He called the light Day, and the darkness Night; and there was evening and morning, the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament amidst the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from those that were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament, Heaven; and the evening and morning were the second day. God also said, Let the waters that are under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land, Earth: and the gathering together of the waters, He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And He said, Let the earth bring forth the green herb, yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit, having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good; and the evening and the

morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: to shine in the firmament of heaven, and to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights: a greater light to rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. And He set them in the firmament of heaven to shine upon the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to divide the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good; and the evening and the morning were the fourth day. God also said, Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature having life, and the fowl that may fly over the earth under the firmament of heaven. And God created the great whales, and every living and moving creature, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged fowl according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And He blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds be multiplied upon the earth; and the evening and morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature in its kind, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and cattle, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good. And He said, Let us make man to our image and. likeness; and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth. And God created man to His own image; to the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth. And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed upon the earth, and all trees that have in themselves seed of their own kind, to be your meat; and to all beasts of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to all that move upon the earth and wherein there is life, that they may have wherewith to feed upon. And it was so. And God saw all the things that He had made, and they were very good and the evening and morning were the sixth day. So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them. And on the seventh day God ended