can be made, (its partial 75 disuse in the Church of England being no objection) would be a wise and pious

It remains that we now examine our present Office for the Holy Communion, and point out the three rites which I have said seem to be essential, and are to be found in it. These are the recital of the Words of Institution, the Oblation of the Elements, and the Invocation of the Holy Ghost.

The recital of the Words of Institution occurs in (what the Rubric expressly calls) the Prayer of Consecration. The Priest having made a very short commemorative thanksgiving for the Infinite Mercies and Loving-kindness of the Father, Who hath given for us His only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross; and having invoked the Divine Blessing, (which we shall come to presently,) goes on to say, "Who," i. e. our

75 I say partial, because there is ground for supposing that many Priests have continued to mix water with the wine, since 1552, notwithstanding the removal of the rubric. Mr. Palmer, however, seems to me to draw the line very narrowly when he says, (as above) that the Church of England has never prohibited this custom. The Statute 1 Eliz. c. 1, which enforces the Act of 2nd and 3rd Edw. VI. c. 1, ordains, "That all Ministers shall be bound to say, and use the Mattens, Evensong, Administration of each of the Sacraments, and all other Common and Open Prayer, in such Order and Form as is mentioned in the said Book so authorized by Parliament, and None other or otherwise." And the Statute 14 Chas. II. enacts, "That the former good Laws and Statutes of this Realm, which have been formerly made, and are still in force for the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, shall stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever, for the establishing and confirming the said Book,-herein before mentioned to be joined and annexed to this Act."

76 I would refer also to Brett's remarks upon this observance. Dissertation, p. 86–102. And to Johnson. Unbl. Sac. vol. ii. pp. 58, 59.

Blessed Lord, "Who in the same night that He was betrayed, took Bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body, which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise after supper, He took the Cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins: Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of Me."" Nothing can be more accordant with ancient usage.

But I would not pass on, without a brief notice upon a point which has already been alluded to: viz. that by the recital alone of the Words of Institution the Bread and Wine cannot be held to be validly consecrated. If there is any Rubric which we may desire to be altered in our present service, surely none rather than that which is so contrary in its spirit to all antiquity, so agreeable to the erroneous doctrine of the modern Church of Rome, and which declares, that "if the consecrated Bread or Wine be all spent before all have communicated, the Priest is to consecrate more, according to the Form before prescribed; beginning at (Our Saviour Christ in the same night, &c.) for the blessing of the Bread; and at (Likewise after supper, &c.) for the blessing of the Cup." The manner in which Wheatley endeavours to evade the difficulty which the observance of this Rubric enjoins, is very unsatisfactory.78 He humbly presumes that, if the Minister should at the consecration of fresh Elements, after the others are spent, repeat again the whole form of consecration, or at least

66

"So also the Liturgy of 1552.

78 P. 290.

from those words, Hear us, O mercifull Father, &c.' he would answer the end of the Rubric." This cuts the knot and like other methods in similar cases, by breaking the rule. Still, however, it does seem, unsatisfactory as it is, the only way left to us, when unfortunately it happens, that the elements first consecrated are not sufficient for the number of communicants; and as to objectors upon the score of obedience, let those who have been accustomed to observe rigidly all the rubrics of the Common Prayer Book, throw the first stone.

Next, as to the Oblation of the Elements, after the recital of the Words of Institution; or, to speak more strictly, as to the offering of the Sacrifice. The Prayer of Oblation, says Wheatley,79 was "mangled and displaced at the review in 1552; being half laid aside, and the rest of it thrown into an improper place: as being enjoined to be said in that part of the Office which is to be used after the people have communicated." He adds, approvingly certainly than otherwise, the example of another cutting of a knot by Bishop Overall, whose practice was to use the first prayer in the Post Communion Office between the consecration and the administering, even when it was otherwise ordered by the public Liturgy.'

"80

79 Bp. Hickes, however, also says that the second oblation, "is made in substance, and according to the intention of the Church in the prayer of Consecration to God the Father, where after the commemoration of Christ's offering Himself upon the Cross, and His institution of the perpetual Memorial of His precious death, God the Father is implored to hear us," while "according to the same Institution, we receive His creatures of Bread and Wine, in remembrance of His Son, our Saviour's Death and Passion."

Christian Priesthood, vol. i. p. 119. 80"On this Bishop Jolly remarks, that he must have thought it no breach of the Act of Uniformity"-(on the Eucharist, 155); Dr.

f

No expression can be more just than this, that in our present Office the Prayer of Oblation is both displaced and mangled: more, the great truth is hidden, as though we feared to speak it. Still, there it is, and we may, using it in humility and thankfulness that it has been spared to us at all, now, as our fathers have ever done since the days of the Apostles, offer up to the Almighty Father the Unbloody Sacrifice, the appointed and powerful Memorials, the Body and the Blood of Christ. Thus then it stands: 81 "O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy humble servants entirely desire thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant, &c." And again; "Although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice; yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

82

Lastly, as to the Invocation of the Holy Spirit: that He may descend upon, and make the Representative Elements the Body and the Blood of Christ. It is true

Pusey, (to whom Tract 87, p. 98, warrants us in ascribing the Introduction to Tract 81), that "perhaps his so doing implies that it had always been so done in that portion of the Church, and the Rubric not received in that Church as yet." (p. 36). Note to Robertson's How to Conform to the Liturgy, p. 127, who, it is but fair to him to add, confesses, that he does not understand Dr. Pusey's explanation. 81 So also the Book of 1552.

82 Bishop Watson says; "In his last supper, Christ beyng our most hye Priest, firste of all did offer a Sacrifice to God the Father, and commaunded the same to be done of the Priestes of his Church that occupye hys offyce, in memorye of hym, and so taughte the newe oblation of the newe Testament, whyche Oblation the Church recyving of the Apostles, dothe offer to God throughoute the holle worlde." Holsome and Catholyke doctrine, p. 68, edit. 1558.

that anciently this was prayed for in plain and direct words. As in the Clementine; "Send down thy Holy Spirit, the witness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, that He may make (año¶nvy) this Bread the Body of Thy Christ, and this Cup the Blood of Thy Christ." Again, in the Liturgy of S. James; "Send down, O Lord, Thy most Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these Gifts which are here set before Thee, that by His descent upon them, He may make this bread the holy Body of Thy Christ, and this cup the precious Blood of Thy Christ." And once more, in the Alexandrian ; "Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these loaves and these cups, that the Almighty God may sanctify and thoroughly consecrate them: (iva ávrà ayiáoŋ kai TEλEIσŋ) making the bread the Body, and the cup the Blood of the New Testament of our Lord Himself, our God, our Saviour, and supreme King Jesus Christ." It does not appear necessary, however, that this Invocation should be so express. The Western Church for a thousand years has not used such a prayer, and we may conclude with Palmer and Waterland, that it is not essential to mention before God the means by which He is to accomplish the end we pray for. "However true it be, that God effects this consecration by means of the Holy Ghost, it is unnecessary to pray expressly for the Holy Ghost to consecrate the elements of bread and wine, because God knows perfectly all the means and methods of consecration, and because any prayer for consecration, is, in fact, a prayer that it may be accomplished by all the means which are known to Infinite Wisdom." 83 The Invocation, therefore, in the

83 Palmer. Orig. Lit. 2. 138.