CHAPTER IX. The Order of the Administration of the THE Lord's Supper. names of munion HE title of the Communion-Service in the Various Prayer Book of 1549 was, 'The Supper of the Comthe Lord, and the holy Communion, commonly Service; called the Mass.' At the review in 1552 the title was altered to the present form. The usually received derivation of the word mass The Mass, is that which is given by Cardinal Bona, according to whose conjecture it is taken from. the old form of dismissing the congregation after the Communion. Ite missa est' (i. e. congregatio). Hence it came to mean not only the holy Communion, but any holy feast; and in this wider sense it is retained in the words Christmas, Michaelmas, &c. The word Liturgy was for many ages re- Liturgy, stricted to the office of the Holy Communion; and in this sense it is to be understood, when we speak of the Liturgy of St James, St Chrysostom, &c. In the Preface to the Prayer Book, the more ancient meaning of the word is revived, in which it is applicable generally to the public worship of God in the Church. This sense occurs frequently in the LXX. Eucharist, &c. translation of the Old Testament, (e. g. Deut. Χ. 8; παρεστάναι ἔναντι τοῦ Κυρίου λειτουργεῖν, 'To stand before the Lord to minister to him,' &c.) and in several places of the New, as Acts xiii. 2, Λειτουργούντων δὲ αὐτῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ vnotevóvtwv, 'As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted.' In classical Greek the word λeTovpyia, liturgy, denotes any public service, whether of a secular or religious nature. This wider signification was in conformity with its derivation from Xeitos, public, and épyov, a work. Other names for the Communion-Service are, among the Greeks, Eucharistia, a thanksgiving; mysterion, or mystagogia, a mystery; synaxis, a congregation; telete, a rite; anaphora, or prosphora, a votive offering: among the Latins, communio, cœna domini, or dominicum, oblatio, agenda (a rite), collecta (a contribution). The term communion, Kowwvia, as applied to the Lord's Supper, was probably taken in the first instance from 1 Cor. x. 16, where we are said to have communion (i. e. to be partakers) of the body and blood of Christ. Hence the sacrament is called a communion, because it unites us with Christ, and through him, with each other. In most cases, however, where KoLvwvia, communion, occurs in the New Testa ment, it means not partaking, but imparting, not having a share with others, but making others to share with us, especially alms-giving. Thus Rom. xv. 26, 'It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution (κοινωνίαν τινὰ ποιήσασθαι), for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.' Heb. xiii. 16, 'To do good and to communicate forget not' (τῆς δὲ εὐποιΐας καὶ κοινωνίας μὴ ἐπιλavoάveσle). See also 2 Cor. viii. 4; Acts ii. 42, (probably.) According to our present usage, to communicate is to partake of the communion, and they who do so are said to be communicants. Lord's The sacrament is termed the Lord's Supper, The from 1 Cor. xi. 20, 'When ye come together Supper.' into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper,' (κvρiakov deiπvov payeiv); although in this passage of St Paul the phrase probably includes the agape, or feast of charity, which was joined with the Eucharist1. For an outline of the service used at the administration of the Lord's Supper in the ancient church of Jerusalem, see above, p. 5. the Service The present arrangement of the Communion- Order of Service is almost entirely that adopted in 1552. in 1549. 1 See Olshausen on 1 Cor. xi. 20. The following summary will shew how it stood in the Prayer Book of 1549. After the Lord's prayer and the collect for purity came the introit: the Kyrie eleison: the hymn Gloria in excelsis: 'The Lord be with you,' &c.: the collect for the day, with the two collects for the king: the epistle and gospel: the Nicene Creed: the sermon or homily: the exhortation to be used at the time of the Communion, 'Dearly beloved in the Lord,' &c.: the exhortation for some day before: the offertory: the setting of the bread and wine on the altar: "The Lord be with you,' &c.: 'It is very meet,' &c.: the proper prefaces with the seraphic hymn the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church: the prayers of consecration and oblation: the Lord's prayer: "The peace of the Lord,' &c.: the address: the general confession: the absolution: the comfortable sentences out of Scripture: We do not presume,' &c. the partaking of the elements: the sentences of Scripture called the post-communion The Lord be with you,' &c.: Almighty and everliving God,' &c.: the blessing. So far as the arrangement is concerned, the alterations made in 1552 were generally for the better. 'From Clay's Prayer Book illustrated. to be re the Lord's Rubric at the beginning: And if any of Who are those be an open and notorious evil liver, or pelled from have done any wrong to his neighbours by word table. or deed,' &c. In the first ages it does not appear that any of the believers either absented themselves or were excluded from the Lord's Supper. But in the course of time, the custom of universal communion was relaxed; some voluntarily withdrawing, others being repelled on account of their evil lives: the former class are mentioned and threatened with excommunication by the apostolical canons; the case of the latter is noticed by St Chrysostom, Homil. LXXXII. in Matth. 26. Thus St Ambrose refused communion to the emperor Theodosius, who had ordered his guards to put down a sedition at Thessalonica by a cruel massacre of the inhabitants. Bishop Andrewes states that the law in England will not suffer the minister to judge any man as a notorious evil liver, but him who is convicted by a legal sentence. And thus it was laid down by the canon law: 'Omnibus episcopis et presbyteris interdicimus segregare aliquem a sacra communione, antequam causa monstretur, propter quam sanctæ regulæ hoc fieri jubent.' (Novell. 123. Collat. 9. tit. 6. c. 11.) So also St Augustine: Nos a commu |