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tic powers (which the widespread use of the Greek tongue made at that time less necessary), or whether it was for the ecstatic prayer and praise of the time only, it was none the less miraculous. God exercises an "economy of miracles," and Our Lord's promise that "they shall speak with new tongues" appears to be applicable rather to their converts than to the Apostles themselves. In the Preface for Trinity, which is as old as Gelasius, declaration is made of this doctrine, and of the faith which makes it a practical influence on our lives. Our usage varies from the English Book in providing an alternative form that may be used with the retention of the words "Holy Father," which words must be omitted when the first is employed.

The culmination of the Great Thanksgiving is the sublime TER SANCTUS or TRIUMPHAL HYMN, which is found in all Liturgies from the beginning, and is a quotation from the Angelic Song heard by the prophet Isaiah twenty-six centuries ago, and again by St. John the Evangelist on the Isle of Patmos. It has sometimes been called the " Trisagion," but this appears rather to be a different though similar Hymn, which was sung in the Greek Church before the reading of the Gospel. Its opening Ascription is repeated by the Priest alone.

The closeness of angelic communion with believers was established as a fruit of the Incarnation, and their presence with a worshipping congregation is plainly indicated by the references in I. Cor. xi. 10, and Hebrews xii. 22, 23. The prophet who heard the Angelic Hymn cried: "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips "; but his lips were unsealed by his very cry of self-abasement. This

threefold "Holy" was a foreshadowing of the Trinity, and the word "hosts" is the same as "Sabaoth " (or all rational creatures) in the Te Deum. In its glorious strains Priest and people join with the Blessed Company of Angels, in chanting the praises of Redemption with which Heaven and earth are filled. In most ancient Liturgies there was added to the Sanctus the "Benedictus qui venit," or "Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, Hosannah in the highest"; the words that greeted Our Lord Himself at His last entry into Jerusalem, and which are exquisitely applicable as welcoming Him who is present in the Sacrament of the Altar, but which are not authorized by rubric at this point.

The force and appropriateness of the PRAYER OF HUMBLE ACCESS would be greatly enhanced if it retained in the English and American Book the position which it held immediately after the Consecration and before the Reception in the First Book, for which it was compiled; and which position it still retains in the Scottish Office. It somewhat corresponds to the " Prayer of Inclination" in the Greek Church, and is signally fervent and beautiful. Its words and the posture of the Priest (kneeling with the people), associate it closely with the Act of Participation. In its touching reference to the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman, it is a confession of utter unworthiness, but also of faith in that unchangeable Lord whose mercy is the essence of Love. The petition is for the gift of purification, through union with the Sinless One and by His perpetual indwelling.

The body, which was forever hallowed by the fact of the Incarnation, is first mentioned, and is here given equal

honour with the soul. The Savoy Conference, at the time of the English revision, objected that Christ's Body is said to cleanse our bodies, while His Blood is assigned a higher office; forgetting that for man's complete restoration, the redemption of the body cannot be disassociated from that of the soul. The Scripture says that "it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," and it has therefore become an emblem of the soul's life. In this view the error of Rome becomes so much the more fearful, in her denial of the Cup to the laity. The use of the word "so" implies the terrible alternative that we may so "unworthily receive" as not to be true partakers with Christ; and that what was ordained to be "a savour of life unto life" may prove the contrary, in despite of a Merciful Saviour.

XXI.*

THE CONSECRATION PRAYER AND THE ADMINISTRATION.

"The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on Him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving."

"The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ's Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.”—The Administration of the Elements.

THE central Act of the Eucharistic Office is the PRAYER

OF CONSECRATION-the very heart alike of the intensest religious thought and the simplest trust of every age. With us it has three divisions, the CONSECRATION, the OBLATION and the INVOCATION. In the First Book it most impressively succeeded the Prayer for the Church Militant, and was substantially the same as our own (the variations and additions being slight), but the Invocation proper preceded the Words of Institution. The present English Book places the Reception immediately after the Words of Institution; the Oblation and direct Invocation being altogether omitted, and the remainder used as an alternative for the Prayer of Thanksgiving which follows the Administration. The American use is the most full, logical and beautiful of all, being derived by Bishop Seabury from the Scottish Liturgy. In so doing, as has been said

on very high authority, Scotland gave us well nigh as great a boon as the Episcopate itself.

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As the Jewish Priest stood to offer sacrifice, so the Christian Priest stands at the head of his congregation facing the Altar, as also did the Priesthood of the third century when offering the Christian Sacrifice in the Catacombs, on the Altars which were the tombs of Saints. The Roman and Greek Churches both habitually conceal the manual acts of the Priest; the latter certainly by design, a veil being drawn, or the Chancel-gates closed. Anglican use restricts itself to the reverent symbolism expressed by the Priest's evident representative character; a marked contrast to the non-sacramental usage of the Puritans, who broke the Bread by subordinate hands in the precincts of the vestry-room. In the Roman and Greek Churches this Prayer is said privately by the Priest; but in the Anglican the laity hear and assent to his spoken words.

It opens with the solemn recital of the work of Redemption through Christ's Atonement. The sacrificial Death of God Incarnate is named as the perfect propitiation for human sins; the Death past and over like the events of human history, but the Life from death continuing and forever extended in the sacrifice of the Altar. The Oblation once offered can never be renewed like its many prototypes, yet the Act is as living now as nineteen centuries ago; for past, present and future are not limiting terms to Him with Whom "a thousand years are as one day." Before the Father, Our Lord forever pleads His One Sacrifice, and His commissioned representatives associate reverently in the Act, of which the Eucharist is the earthly counterpart. Christ's sacrifice is "full "-not limited and

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