and Mozarabic Liturgies, was enormous, but in the Roman Church from a very early date, and in the English Church in Norman times, the number was reduced to ten, for use on the following occasions: Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Passiontide, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, Festivals of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Apostles' (SPCK.). Our English Office now contains five only, for use at Christmas, Easter, Ascensiontide, Whitsuntide, and on Trinity Sunday. There seems to be a feeling that the number of these Proper Prefaces has been reduced too low, and might be increased again with much advantage. What we now have not only introduce an element of variety into the Church's Thanksgiving Service, but also serve to give a direct meaning and intention to the particular Eucharist, varying with the different tides or seasons of the year, according as we are specially thanking God--at Christmas, for the Incarnation; at Easter, for the Resurrection; at Ascensiontide, for the Ascension of the Lord; at Whitsuntide, for the descent of the Holy Ghost; on Trinity Sunday, for the full revelation of the mystery of the Godhead. Three of these are to be said daily through an octave, or period of eight days-viz. the Proper Prefaces for Christmas, Easter, and Ascension; an arrangement probably borrowed from the Jewish custom of extending the chief festivals over a period of seven or eight days, as in the case of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 36) and of Dedication (1 Mac. iv. 56),' (SPCK.).

The Preface for Christmas Day 'declares the Incarnation and Sinlessness of the Saviour' (W.). Didst give (cf. S. John iii. 16, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son'). By the operation of the Holy Ghost was made Man (cf. S. Luke i. 35, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God'). Without spot of sin (cf. I S. Pet. ii. 22, 'Who did no sin;' I S. John iii. 5, In Him was no sin'). To make us clean from all sin (cf. 2 Čor. v. 21, 'He hath made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him ').

The Easter Preface shows how the Resurrection of the Lord is, for us, the source of life, and hope, and gladness. We are bound to praise Thee (cf. I S. Pet. i. 3). He is the Very Paschal Lamb (cf. I Cor. v. 7, 'Christ our Passover [or Paschal Lamb] is sacrificed for us;' S. John i. 29, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world'). By His Death hath destroyed death (cf. Heb. ii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 55-58). The Preface for Ascension Day states the purpose of our Blessed Lord's Ascension. After His Resurrection manifestly appeared

to all His Apostles (cf. Acts i. 3, 'to whom He showed Himself alive after His Passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them;' Acts x. 40, 41, 'Him God raised up and showed Him openly . . . unto witnesses chosen before of God'). In their sight ascended up into Heaven (cf. Acts i. 9, 10, while they beheld He was taken up'). To

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prepare a place for us (cf. S. John xiv. 2, 3, 'I go to prepare a place for you,' etc.). And reign with Him in glory (cf. 2 Tim. ii. 12, ‘If we suffer we shall also reign with Him').

The Preface for Whitsun Day gives an account of the descent of the Holy Ghost. True promise (cf. S. John xiv. 16, 26). The Holy Ghost came down. with a sudden great sound (cf. Acts ii. 2-5). Giving them. boldness. . . to preach the Gospel (cf. Acts iv. 13, 'When they perceived the boldness of Peter and John,' etc.). Whereby we have been brought out of darkness (cf. Ephes. v. 8, 'Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord;' and S. Luke i. 79).

The Preface for Trinity Sunday is used only on the day itself, as 'this Festival possesses no Octave, having been itself originally only the Octave of the Feast of Pentecost' (SPCK.), and the Epistle and Gospel for Trinity Sunday were, originally chosen with reference to the Holy Spirit, though now retained on account of their allusions to the Blessed Trinity. One God, One Lord (cf. Deut. vi. 4, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is One Lord'). Three Persons . . . without any difference or inequality (cf. Athan. Creed, And in this Trinity none is afore or after other: none is greater or less than another; but the whole Three Persons are coeternal together and coequal;''Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost:' (Isa. vi. 3; Rev. iv. 8; S. Matt. xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 14.)

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20. The Prayer of Humble Access' is peculiar to the Anglican Liturgy' (SPCK.). This Prayer, 'said by the Priest kneeling Eastwards,' afore the midst of the Altar, in the name of the Communicants, first appears in its present form in the Communion Office of 1548' (W.), but it has been modelled on, and its sentences and words have been carefully selected from, ancient Eastern and Gallican Liturgical sources (SPCK.). On the very threshold of the tremendous Sacrifice there is a third and still nearer approach to the Altar, when the Priest, now himself kneeling at the Altar, uses this Prayer of Humble Access or lowly approach unto the Mysteries of God, in the name of those that are about to receive the Holy Communion. The rubric (25) here specially directs the Priest himself to kneel; this [and at the General Confession] being the only place[s] in this Office where he is told to do other than stand. We have just been joining with Angels and Archangels in their song of Praise, now we sink to the ground in lowliest humiliation and self-abasement. Thus must warmth and fervour be ever mingled with humiliation in our devotions (see G. here). Angels, though sinless, when they worship cover their faces and their feet with their wings in deep humility. What wonder, then, if we fear, and again prostrate ourselves, and fall low and worship, as we enter into the bright overshadowing cloud, wherein the Lord of Life and Glory is about to give us His own most Precious Body and Blood, to be our Food.

Notice three Parts in this Prayer: i. Humiliation; ii. God's unchangeable mercy; iii. Petition for worthy reception. i. We do not presume to come-we do not rush unbidden into the Presence of the

King of kings, but we come because we are called and commanded to come (Prov. ix. 5; S. Luke xiv. 17; cf. Dan. ix. 18)—trusting in our own righteousness, which is but as filthy rags.' A sense of our own unworthiness is absolutely needful to the devout Communicant; but how can we feel this if we are self-satisfied, well pleased with ourselves and our religious attainments, and know not that we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked'? but in Thy manifold and great mercies. God's mercies are our only warrant and assurance (Ps. v. 7; Lam. iii. 22, 23; Heb. iv. 14-16). We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table-not worthy (Gen. xxxii. 10)—the crumbs (S. Matt. xv. 27). ii. God's unchangeable mercy. Property = peculiar or distinguishing characteristic, ‘I am the Lord, I change not' (Mal. iii. 6; Heb. xiii. 8). This bridges over the gulf between our humiliations and our petitions. iii. Grant so to eat. This implies the possibility of eating unworthily so as obtain loss and damage, and not blessing. So to eat, i.e. 'after the manner of those to whom He is Life unto life, and not after the manner of those to whom the WORD of Life itself is Death unto Death' (JHB.). That our sinful bodies may be made clean by His Body, etc. People often think wrongly and slightingly of that part of us the body, but Holy Scripture teaches that hereafter it shall be glorified (Rom. viii. 11), that it is even now the subject of sanctification (I Thess. v. 23), and is capable of being offered unto God (Rom. xii. 1). We here 'pray that we may receive the twofold benefit of our Sacramental union with our Blessed Lord' (W.); sanctification of body by the touch of that Holy Body which has healing, strength, and life, and cleansing of soul by the washing with that Precious Blood which washes white (Rev. vii. 14), and cleanses from every spot and stain of sin (Heb. ix. 14; I S. John i. 7; Isa. i. 18).

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21. The Prayer of Consecration. 'The natural meaning of the present rubric (26) is that the Celebrant who, during the Prayer of Humble Access, has been "kneeling down at the Lord's Table," shall now stand "before" it, i.e. at the middle of its front, facing East, and having so ordered the Bread and Wine," etc., shall, without changing his position (for which there is no direction), say the Prayer of Consecration." The phrase "before the People" means, not turning towards them, but (1) in front of, at the head of them, as their representative and spokesman; (2) in full view of them, in the one place where he can best be seen by all present' (JHB.). It does not mean facing the people, as though it were intended or desired that the Act of Consecration should necessarily be seen and witnessed by them, for they are supposed to be kneeling humbly on their knees, and not looking about them, for Art. xxv. tells us that the Sacraments are not intended to be 'gazed upon,' besides which the whole Act is an Offering to God in obedience to the Lord's command, 'Do This.' The Prayer of Consecration is the very core and centre of the whole Office, to which everything which h s gone before leads up, as it were, to a climax

(SPCK.). This is absolutely indispensable, for without this Prayer of Consecration the whole Office would be as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. The three essentials of a Sacrament-Priest, Matter, Words -here combine together to produce the Real Presence of our Blessed Lord, which is the very life-blood of the whole (SB.). This is part of the Canon or fixed Rule for celebrating the Holy Mysteries, and is found in all ancient Liturgies. This part of our Liturgy is unlike the Roman form, and resembles the Eastern forms of Antioch and Constantinople' (W.). It may be said to consist of three parts: i. The Introduc tion; ii. The Invocation; iii. The Consecration proper. i. The Introduction recites the fact of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christits origin, Thy tender mercy-its object, our Redemption. It is not now as an example of holy living that we commemorate Christ's Death, but as the Redemption of our souls, and we speak of it as a full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, Oblation, and Satisfaction. The sinner needs a Sacrifice to be offered up for him; Christ presents the Oblation; God demands satisfaction (G.). The Sacrifice is full; the Oblation is perfect; the Satisfaction is complete. It is all one thing viewed from three different points of view. Next the Priest recites the authority for this Service-the express command of Christ in His Holy Gospel (S. Matt. xxvi. ; S. Mark xiv. ; S. Luke xxii.). Because will-worship is so offensive and displeasing to Almighty God, and we may not without sin devise other methods or modes of serving Him than He has Himself appointed, therefore in all our solemn acts of Religion we quote the authority on which we proceed (G.). As in the Absolution of daily Mattins and Evensong, and of the Visit. of the Sick, so here we quote the authority by which we do these things.' To continue a perpetual Memory until His coming again. Though the One Sacrifice for sins for ever can never be repeated, yet must there be a perpetual re-presentation of It by the Great High Priest Himself at the Heavenly Altar (for Heb. viii. 37), and by His Church mystically here below; and this she does in the Holy Eucharist. ii. The Invocation. 'This, both as to its position and form, is borrowed from the Roman Canon' (SPCK.), where, however, the work of God the Holy Ghost is confessedly obscured, to say the very least. In the Prayer Book of 1549, the Invocation of the Holy Ghost was most express and distinct, and ran thus: 'Hear us (O merciful Father), we beseech Thee; and with Thy Holy Spirit and word vouchsafe to bless and sanctify these Thy gifts and creatures of Bread and Wine, that they may be unto us the Body and Blood of Thy most dearly beloved Son JESUS Christ.' In 1552, however, this was omitted, and the present clause, 'Grant that we, receiving these Thy creatures of Bread and Wine, according to Thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ's holy institution, in remembrance of His Death and Passion, may be made partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood,' substituted for it. In these words, it is true, the sense of the former is still implied' (Wh.), and indeed they contain 'an oblique invocation of the Holy Ghost' (JHB.), since we can only receive

the creatures of Bread and Wine as the Body and Blood of the Lord, according to our Saviour Jesus Christ's Holy Institution, through the operation of the Holy Ghost, for it is the Spirit that quickeneth' (S. John vi. 63). The Scotch and American Liturgies have retained the Invocation entire, but place it after the words of Institution. The Eastern Church regards the Consecration as being effected by the Invocation, the Western Church by the recital of the words of Institution. iii. The Consecration Proper, i.e. the recital of the words and actions of the original Institution, which have been used in this Office in every branch of the Church from Apostolic times. 'The words of Institution in our Liturgy are a compilation' (W.) from SS. Matt., Mark, Luke, and I Cor. xi. And of such importance was the Institution that S. Paul had a special revelation made to him concerning it (1 Cor. xi. 23-26). During the repetition of these words the Priest performs to God the representative Sacrifice of the Death and Passion of His Son. By taking the bread into his hands, and breaking it, he makes a memorial to Him of our Saviour's Body, broken upon the Cross; and by exhibiting the wine he reminds Him of His Blood there shed for the sins of the world; and by laying his hands upon each of them at the same time that he repeats the words, Take, eat, this is My Body, etc., and Drink ye all of This, etc., he signifies and acknowledges this [to be a] commemoration of Christ's Sacrifice as made to God' (Wh.). For the Holy Eucharist was from the very first institution esteemed and received as a proper Sacrifice, and solemnly offered to God upon the Altar, before it was received and partaken of by the communicants' (Wh.). 'The Manual Acts now are seven, viz. (1) Take the Paten, (2) Break the Bread, (3) Lay hand upon it, (4) "Do This," i.e. "Offer This," (5) Take the Cup, (6) Lay hand upon it, (7) "Do This" (Bishop of Salisbury's Charge, 1867)' (SB.). And now the Priest, standing before the flock of Christ in the Presence of Almighty God, as the representative of the one Great Eternal High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary, shows forth the Lord's Death, and pleads before the Father in the Holy Eucharist, the one Sacrifice once finished on the Cross. This is the Church's highest act of worship, our bounden duty and service.' 'The direction to the Priest to break the Bread during the Consecration Prayer does not preclude his completing the Solemn Fraction in the ancient place, which was after the Prayer of Consecration' (W.). 'There are four different points of the service at which a Fraction is found, though not at all four in any one Liturgy-viz. (i.) In the Preparation of the Paten . (see pp. 84-87); . . . (ii.) Accompanying the Words of Institution; (iii.) The Fraction is found in almost every Liturgy between the Consecration and the Communion; . . . (iv.) The Fraction for distribution among the communicants (see pp. 50, 190)' (H.). 'The Priest may well do both, by dividing the Priest's Bread into two, during the Consecration Prayer, and afterwards dividing one of the pieces to complete the Solemn Fraction' (W.). And now the whole congrega