include, God's commission; and in whichsoever of them it be pronounced, it is in substance the same; an act of authority, by virtue of Christ's commission, effectual to the remission of sins in the penitent.

THE SENTENCES WHICH FOLLOW are promises of Scripture, on which the foregoing absolution is founded, chosen to confirm the faith and revive the hope of the penitents, by taking away all unreasonable fears and doubts of God's gracious pardon and acceptance. The VERSICLES, which occur next, beginning "Lift up your hearts," to the end of the hymn, called in the Greek Church Trisagium, and in the Latin Tersanctus, from the word "holy" being thrice repeated, have been used in the communion-service of the English Church for 1600 years, and probably descended from apostolic times.

We presume that the heavenly choir join with us when we repeat the Trisagium, as Isaiah describes it to have been chanted by them before the throne of glory, Isa. vi. 3; and the early Christians believed that angels were present in their religious assemblies, 1 Cor. xi. 10; and that they desired especially to look into these mysteries, 1 Pet. i. 12. Considering also, that this hymn plainly declares the Trinity the peculiar doctrine of Christians, they did therefore take this hymn into the office for this sacrament, believing it fit for angels and men to join in this heavenly song over the memorial of our redemption; and surely it is most proper, that as every person in the Trinity concurred for our redemption, so every one should be adored in the memorial thereof. The Father is Holy, who gave us such a Saviour; the Son is Holy, who effected this salvation; and the Spirit is Holy, who sanctifieth us by virtue thereof; and yet these three are one Lord, to whom it is just that we should, with the most fervent gratitude, offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

PROPER PREFACEs are appointed FOR THE PRINCIPAL FESTIVALS, that, by the repetition of the signal mercies then commemorated, they might make the deeper impression, and be better remembered. These prefaces are very ancient. Some had been in later times added to them by the Romish Church, relating to saints, but they were expunged by our Reformers, who have only retained five, and these upon the principal festivals which relate to the persons of the Trinity, and not to any saint. The reason of their being fixed to eight days, is taken from the practice of the Jews, who by God's appointment observed their greater festivals some of them for seven, and one, namely, the feast of tabernacles, for eight days; and therefore the primitive Church, thinking that the observation of Christian festivals (of which the Jewish feasts were only types and shadows) ought not to come short of them, lengthened out their higher feasts to eight days.

The design of THE PRAYER AFTER THESE PREFACES and before the prayer of consecration, beginning "We do not presume, &c.," is, that by this act of humility, to allay our exultations, which otherwise might savour of too much confidence. In it the minister acknowledges his own and the communicants' unworthiness, and God's unmerited kindness in admitting them to his table; and each should make this humble form his own by attending to it devoutly. The happy union of Christian lowliness with Christian exaltation, presented to our minds and hearts in this part of the office, is everywhere to be met with in the New Testament. With what mingled emotions, therefore, of faith and fear, of prostrate, at once, and of uplifted adoration, should we approach the house, the services, the altar of God? With what holy, humble zeal should we not learn from our Church services

"to serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before Him with reverence?"

The expressions "That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood," have been censured, thinking that by them was implied, that each of these, at least the latter, his blood, had some peculiar efficacy, of which the other was destitute. This cannot, however, be intended; because, soon after, the preservation of our bodies and souls also "unto everlasting life" is ascribed separately, both to his body and blood; and it is in Scripture also, Heb. x. 10, 19. Therefore this distinction made here was only meant for some kind of elegance of speech; and it much resembles what St. Clement, the Roman, whom St. Paul entitles "his fellow-labourer," Phil. iv. 3, says, that "Christ gave his flesh for our flesh, and his soul for our souls.”

The priest stands in a different position as regards the people, than what he does in the Romish Church, during THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION: in the latter he stands in such a manner as to prevent the people from being eye-witnesses of the operation in the working of the pretended miracle: our Church, that pretends no such miracle, enjoins the direct contrary, by ordering the priest so to "order the bread and wine, that he may with more readiness and decency break the bread and take the cup into his hands before the people."

There is manifest propriety in the consecration of the elements. We do not eat our common food without first praying for a blessing upon it; how much more then are we obliged, before we eat and drink this bread and wine, by which Christ designed to set forth the mystery of his death, to consecrate it and set it apart by a solemn prayer, especially since Christ himself, in the institution of this holy ordi

nance, whilst he was teaching his apostles how to celebrate it, did use a form of blessing over it, Matt. xxvi. 26, which St. Paul calls "giving thanks," 1 Cor. xi. 24. Wherefore all the churches in the world, from the apostles' days, have used such a form, the ancient and essential part of which is the words of our Saviour's institution; for since he makes this sacramental change, it hath been thought fit by all churches to keep his own words, which, being pronounced by a lawful priest, do properly make the consecration, of which accordingly the prayer of consecration in our Church consists, with a proper prayer to introduce it.

Our Church differs from the Romish, and also from the Lutherans and Calvinists, respecting the consecration of the eucharist. Our Church, in conformity with the sense of the ancient Church of Christ, ascribes their consecration in this sacrament, as also of the water in the other sacrament of Baptism, to the prayer of the faithful offered by the priest, and to the words of the institution repeated by him. The others ascribe it to the bare repeating of the words "This is my body," &c.

Christ has, by his one oblation of himself, once offered, made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world: the death of Christ, if we regard the persons for whom it was undergone, is a "sacrifice;" if we regard him who offered it, it is a "free oblation;" if we consider Him to whom it was offered, it is a "satisfaction;" and in every one of these respects it is "full, perfect, and sufficient;" or particularly, it is a full satisfaction, a perfect oblation, and a sufficient sacrifice,-not like the legal offerings, for the sins of one kind, or the offence of one nation or of one person, but for the sins of all the world. Let none suppose that we are about

to sacrifice Christ again, (as the Romish Church falsely teaches its priests to think they do every time they say mass, as properly and truly as he offered himself in his sacrifice upon the cross,) for that is not only needless and impossible, but a plain contradiction: to St. Paul, who affirms that Jesus was offered only once, Heb. ix. 26; x. 10, 12; and by that "one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," v. 14, so that there needs "no more sacrifice for sin," v. 18.

The expression that we may be "partakers of his most blessed body and blood" is proper, for though the bread and wine do not cease to be what they were before, yet to the worthy receiver they become something far more excellent; become visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace; and do not merely figure to us the breaking of Christ's body, and the shedding of his blood, but are a pledge of that inward and spiritual grace which they represent. What that grace is, we are taught in the Catechism; that it is the body and blood of Christ, that are "verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper;" that is, they have a real part and portion given them in the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus, whose body was broken, and blood shed, for remission of sins. They truly and indeed, partake of the virtue of his bloody sacrifice, whereby he hath obtained an eternal redemption for us. This is the meaning of partaking of his body and blood, which are here communicated.

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The utensils that hold the elements are the paten," or plate on which the bread is laid; the

chalice," the cup from which the communicants drink; and the "flagon," the larger vessel, which contains the larger quantity of wine to be consecrated.

The phrase "shed for many" means the same