Alcuin was a contemporary and disciple of archbishop Egbert. His book de divinis officiis explains, in one chapter, the rites in his day observed In capite jejunii. He first declares that the priest's duty is to admonish all persons that they are bound to confess and be absolved at that time of the year. Then he gives a long account of various crimes, much after the manner of a penitential. After which;

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Denique sacerdos suscipiens pœnitentem, si laicus est dimisso baculo, quisquis vero ille est, sive laicus, sive clericus, sive monachus suppliciter se inclinet ante sacerdotem. Tunc sacerdos dicat hanc orationem: Domine Deus omnipotens, propitius esto, etc. Deinde jubeat eum sacerdos sedere contra se, et colloqui cum eo de supradictis vitiis, sive exhortationibus divinis, ne forte pro verecundia aut ignavia sive oblivione aliquid putridum in corde remaneat, per quod iterum diabolus eum ad vomitum peccati reducat."

Then, says Alcuin, examination into faith was to be made and he is not singular in this arrangement. For the old orders varied in this respect: some placing the confession first, some and more of them placing it after the profession of faith. "Quo facto, fixis genibus in terram, et super ipsa innixus stans, suppliciter tensis manibus, blando ac flebili vultu respiciens sacerdotem, dicat his verbis: Multa quidem et innu

6 Morinus observes: " Omnes antiqui rituales confessionem pec

catorum sedendo editam testantur." De pænit. p. 213.

merabilia sunt alia peccata mea, quæ recordari nequeo, in factis, in dictis, et cogitationibus, etc.' . . . Post hæc vero dicat sacerdos super eum has orationes." The prayers are not given by Alcuin, only the first words of them they were well known, and are common in the penitentials. The whole ends with directions that if time and opportunity would permit, both the priest and penitent should go into the church, for the purpose of special prayer and communion."

The reader will not forget that these are offices which were in use among our forefathers eight hundred years before the reformation. And I suppose that he will recognize their value as evidence both of the continued stream of doctrine in the church of England, upwards to its source; and of the uniformity of practice which prevailed, in its more important features, for so many centuries.

7 Bibl. patrum. Auct. tom. 1. p. 239.-244.

CHAPTER VI.

HE first document which meets us at the period of the revision of our Service Books is of a most important character in all enquiries into the history, whether of the discipline or of the doctrine of the church of England. A document of especial weight in its bearing upon the question with which we are at present engaged. I mean The Order of the Communion put forth in the year 1548.

Here let me say that I shall altogether pass by any argument whether for or against the relative authority of this Order, of the two Books of king Edward, of Elizabeth, of James, and of the Book of Common Prayer of 1662. The last has been undeniably accepted and agreed to by the church of England, and by the temporal estates also of the realm. It is very true that there are, as regards the others, various formal deficiencies which, it may be said, diminish their authority: but really, after all, as we know that each later one was, confessedly, based upon the preceding; as, moreover, the intermediate Orders from 1547 to 1662 were virtually, if not formally, without

dispute used and obeyed with very few exceptions by all the members of our Church; it does seem to me to be rather a splitting of straws than a reasonable objection, to distinguish between the authority of the one Book as greater than another. I would not be so foolish as to pretend that we ought to forget facts: whether weighty or not, whether the conclusions which we draw from them are always equally correct or just, they nevertheless are facts, and must both remain so and be dealt with accordingly. However, be this as it may, I shall now consider these several Books as equally decisive links in the chain of authoritative evidence, by which we are bound to test and to learn the true doctrine of the church of England.

The order of the communion, set forth in 1548, was intended to be used only for a season, until a more complete revision of the service-books could be settled; and no alteration whatever was made in the liturgy itself, except the direction both that the priest should consecrate a larger quantity of wine, and that he should not, as of old, consume the whole of it himself. This necessarily followed from one chief object for which the order was prepared; namely, that the laity should receive, according to the practice of the primitive ages, the holy communion of the Body and Blood of our Blessed Lord in both kinds, and not in one kind only.

There

This, however, although one chief effect and purpose of the order of 1548, was not the only one. was another, by which the people were left at liberty

to avail themselves or not, as they might judge expedient, of the sacrament of absolution. The obligation to confess and to be absolved, before communion, was distinctly and totally removed. And upon this second point, no less than upon the first by which the Cup was restored to the laity, I entirely believe that the church of England returned to primitive practice, and was to be supported in her decision by the plain words of Scripture.

In the warning of communion which was to be given to the parishioners on some day shortly preceding, the priest, according to this order, first declared to his people the duty of all persons who intended to receive the sacrament: namely, that they must come (in a word)" in the marriage garment required of God." Next, he was to tell them of "The ways and means thereto." First, that they must sincerely repent of all former sins; that they must confess them to Almighty God; and ask of Him pardon, with inward sorrow and tears, and with a promise to Him by themselves of future amendment. So much as regarded their duty towards God. As concerning their neighbours, they were to put away all hatred and malice, to be reconciled if possible, and to forgive as they would be forgiven. These were the ways, and these alone, by which it was necessary that all persons should prepare themselves for communion; thus they were to clothe themselves "in the marriage garment" and "be found worthy to come to such a table."

But if persons feared to rely upon their own judge