THE REV. MR FLETCHER AND OTHERS,

FRAMERS OP A

Scries of fxescrliitiaus on " lituiil"

JAMES BOVELL, M.D.,

l^ay .Secretary to the Provincial Synod : and to the Synod of the
Diocese of Toronto.

When Solo7)ion had made an end of prai/iiig idl this prayer and
supplication unto the Lord, he arose from be/ore the Altar
OF THE LoRDj from kneeling on his knees, ijiith his hands
spread up to heaven.'^ — 1 Kings viii. 54.

TORONTO, e.W. :

T. HILI^ CAXTON TRESS, COR. KIN<J k NELSON ST.

1867.

MM.

LETTERS, ^5

ADDRESSED TO

THE REV, MR. FLETCHER AND OTHERS,

FRAMERS OF A

^tm d ^lesoluttons on '' |lhal/'

JAMES BOVELL, M.D.,

Lay Secretary to the Provincial Synod ; and Lay Secretary to the
Synod of the Diocese of Toronto.

" When Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and
supplication unto the Lord, he arose from before the Altar
OF THE Lord, from kneeling on his knees, with his hands
spread up to heaven." — 1 Kings v?ii. 54.

TORONTO, C.W. :

T. HILL, CAXTON PRESS, COR. KINO & NELSON ST.

1867.

LETTERS, &c.

*' WHEN HE SEETH THE BLOOD UPON THE LINTEL, AND THE TWO
POSTS, THE LORD WILL PASS OVER THE DOOR, AND WILL NOT
SUPi'ER THE DESTROYER TO COME INTO YOUR HOUSES TO

s;iiTE you."— 1^)^. xii. 23.

Toronto, Canada West, 2nd May, 1867.

My Dear Mr. Fletcher,

I venture to address this second communication to you,
and through you, to the members of the Church here, as a fuller
expression of what seems to be the teaching of the Church, than it
would have been seemly to have given in a secular paper.

J. suppose we all will admit, that forms and ceremonies are insepa-
rable from a decent and orderly celebration of divine worship ; and
will further acknowledge that it is not wise to institute or use forms
and ceremonies whieh do not harmonize with the teachings of the
Church. Ritual may therefore be disorderly and indecent, when it
either detracts from or adds to, doctrine ; and the only safe course is,
to follow that one which keeps clear of two very disastrous extremes.
It is with special reference to the Ritual employed in the celebration
of the Eucharist-^<A« true Christian sacrifice— th&t the agitation now
moving us is directed. The question is a serious one : and unless we
discuss our divergences in a right spirit, nothing but trouble and
heart-burning will come of it. Believing, as I do most firmly, that
the doctrine of the Objective Presence held by so many is true
doctrine, it is not right that we should allow you, or any other member
of the Church, to confound it with Romish belief, nor to denounce

those who hold this truth, as Romaniscra in the Church. Certainly
I know of no Anglican Divine who has anywhere expressed himself as
accepting the definition of the Real Presence as declared by the
Romish Church. The extremist ritualist — and there are some
surely — expressly states, that the doctrine of transuhitantiation is
untrue ; and certainly no true Anglican could hold doctrine which
implies the reiteration of a bloody sacrifice. It is clear, that our Lord
made the oblation of Himself at the Paschal Feast ; then He verily
ofiFered Himself as the Lamb, slain in the purposes of God, from the
foundation of the world. He had nothing further to do : there wae
tuuu a beginning of the end : " It is finished," He s?.id, w'^'^n mm
and Satan had killed the Victim. He previously had made provision
for a perpetuation — a continuation of the offering of Himself — not
the killing — when he instituted the Blessed Sacrament. He is now
in Heaven, where St. John saw Him as the Lamb slain ; He is there
now, at this moment, with his open wounds, the one continual Sacri-
fice which pleads for man ; and we shew to God, by the oblations of
bread and wine — held in our own hands — according to his holy insti-
tution — Jesus the slain Lamb, the only possible claim we have to
mercy and pardon. This, with the presentation of ourselves, is our
lively sacrifice. I hope, therefore, we may reasonably approach each
other, hoping to help each the other, in the way of truth. To set
forth so great an act of worship, we must express ourselves in form
and ceremony. I must remind you, that our Father from heaven.
Himself established a service, ritualistic and full of meaning.
St. John also describes to us a service, rich and wonderfully
symbolical, as the inheritance of the Church of the redeemed. Some
kind of meaning ritual we must have. We need not receive it from
Rome. Our proper course is, to wait with patience and loving
confidence the action of the Anglican Bishops ; and more especially
the action which no doubt will be consequent on the conference about
to be had in London : for although no act of parliament be passed,
the wishes and opinions of such a body will be respected. Such a
gathering is full of promise to our Zion, and we may now look for a
more precise and close definition of the Church's teaching. Mean-
time may we implore yourself, and those who think with you, to
pause ere you introduce new rules of conduct, or make the attempt to
define too rigidly exact ritual observances. Our people at home, in

Convocation, where the strife is hottest, refrain from taking any new
steps, leaving the introduction of measures to the Bishops. Above all
things remember, that difiFerences of opinion do exist, and that we
must deal charitably with one another ; nay further, we must
recollect those who are without, and whom we wish to sec with us ;
and I believe most sincerely, that a candid discussion, conducted with
charity, will tend to show, that doctrines apparently divergent may be
reconciled and brought into close agreement. Solely with this object
4ew, I ask your attention to the remarks which are hereinafter
ddressed to you.
I doubt very much whether any Anglican Divine has used freer
expressions with reference to the Holy Sacrament than some of those
to be found in Non-Conformist writings. Take the expressions of a
single writer : Dr. Fletcher, in his well-known and magnificently
illustrated edition of the Holy Scriptures, has the following comments
on each of the accounts of the Holy Eucharist, found in the Gospels,
1st. In that in S. Matthew, he says : — "Do we value the Sacrifice
wliich as our Passover he presented for us ?" In Mark it is : — " Have
we faith to discern the spiritual meaning and intent of the elements in
the Sacrament of the Supper ? Do we see the hody, the blood, the
atonemcfity and the death of Christ, held up to our view?" In S.
Luke : — " Can we discern the spiritual meaning and end of the
Sacramental elements ? if so, in receiving the elements literally, we
receive Christ spiritually, really, savingly." In S. John : — " Jesus is
alway present at His Gospel Feasts ; let us seek Jesus at his feasts,
then shall we find Him, and say, * There is nOne like Christ.' "

We dare not curtail the force of any truth delivered by our Lord and
Saviour ; and therefore we must reject, as a curtailment, the defective
belief, which looks on the most blessed Sacrament of our Lord's Body
and Blood, as a mere memorial of His death, instead of a perpetual
memory of the Sacrifice of His death. After our Lord had used the
very strong language which he did to his apostles, he adds : '' The
words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life ;"
i. e., says Mr. Home, " they are from the Spirit of God, and if
received with true faith will lead to eternal life." We see no escape
from difficulty if we travel a hair's breadth from scripture. We are
taught, that there is but one Sacrifice ; it is still, at this very time,
being ofiered ; and it is this one perpetual offering, this inconsumable

sacrifice, ever being offered for the salvation of men, which keeps this
earth from being "rolled up as a scroll," till God's elect shall be

. sealed, and their number accomplished : then shall the Son Himself be
subject unto the Father. We certainly must make or represent the
selt-same oblation that Christ made on earth, and offer to God the one
sacrifice which lies before him locally in heaven, supra-locally here on
earth ; for where two or three are gathered together, there is He
in the midst. Through representation, done according to Christ's

, commands, the Lamb which was slain and is alive again, is offered
without spot to God, by Himself, the High Priest, when faithfully

»«r>r>».rtor>r> f n/l in Tv>omr>riol r\\T ne r»T> poi»+n

Of His own divine will, he comes to us, and in the blessed
Sacramental Communion makes himself known to his faithful and
sin-forgiven disciples, in the breaking of bread. Now pause and
think ! May we not adore Him in His house where he is pleased to
set His name, can the children of the bride-chamber fast, can they
mourn ever, whilst the Bridegroom is with them ? No ! He is with
them, and feeds them with his own most blessed Self; for out of His
Presence there flows the fount of living water. Here is the Bread of
Heaven come down for man's salvation — here is our great and
holy Eucharistic celebration. What a comfort to the soul that
through this most blessed Sacrament, there is made known a living
merciful, personal Mediator, who desires that we should memorialise
a Covenant God, and present our claim to forgiveness through the
blood of the Covenant. A Mediator, who for sinners can say
^* Father, forgive them ;" and who for the righteous will say, " These
are they who have washed their robes, and made them white in My
Blood." Again it is asked, may we not express our joy for this,
aod in becoming ceremonial, exhibit our joy ? Under the former dis^
pensation, God's real presence was not taken in a figurative sense ;
the people believed Him ; and when they saw the signs of His
presence they worshipped Him. So when Aaron was ordered to
sacrifice upon the altar two lambs of the year continually, one in the
morning and the other in the evening, this was to be a continual
burnt offering, at the door of the tabernacle before the Lord ; where,
said the Lord, I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. " And there
\yill I meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be
sanctified by my glory, and I will sanctify the tabernacle of the cou-

gr^ation and the altar ; I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons
to minister to me in the priests' office. And I will dwell among the
children of Israel, and will be their God." Thus was the Almighty
pleased to make His presence known In the celebration of these
representative sacrifices, a priest ministered ; and so mtist it be when
the Gospel clouds appear in His Church now. Isaiah we find declaring
of the Gentile Church, " I will also take them for Priests and for
Levitcs ;" and by Jeretniah, " Thus saith the Lord, David shall
never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel ;
neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before me to offer
burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice
continually.

It was the sacrifice of the Passover to the Lord, which all along
had most fitly typified man's deliverance from "the curse and bondage
of sin, through the sacrifice of Christ. When it was to be accom-
plished or fulfilled, by the very deatn and passion of the Lamb of
God: He who was both Priest and Victim, took the oblations of
Bread and Wine, proper to the Paschal Feast, and with these in His
hands, offered Himself to God realli/, trult/, in the place of the
typical lamb hitherto ofiered; saying to His Apostles, that from
thenceforth they were continually to shew forth His death, and that
the bread which was blessed and broken, was the communion of His
Body ; and that the wine which was poured out, was the communion
of His blood. " Take eat, this is my body." " Drink ye all of this,
for this is my blood," &c. Now, if we reflect a moment, and think
who our Lord was ; we must admit that. His body, pure, sinless, holy,
had a power which sinful and ruined human nature did not and does
not possess. The hem of His very garment gave forth virtue ; the
spittle from His mouth had healing in it ; His presence raised the
dead ; His word cured the afSicted soul, and all matter obeyed His
will. He raised Lazarus by His immediate presence j He cured the
C^turion's child^ when a great way off. Certainly, without faith the
multitude may press upon Him; and we may still ask, " Asketh
Thou who touched Thee;" for He will only know the faithful who
touch Him, and they only can be healed. So a thousand may see
bread broken, and wine poured out, but the faithful only will know.
Him. If His Word be truth, then we must believe S. Paul's declara-
tion to be very true, when he says, that the Holy Communion is a^

communion of the body and blood of Christ. As our Lord has been
pleased to ascend to the right hand of the Father, there to be the
Lamb slain, with the wounds " with which he was wounded in the
house of His friends," we must understand that He is yet in offering,
still offering Himself; and that there can be no more sacrifice for sin,
for we may now enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, having
(yes, having still, even now) an High Priest over the House of God.
As then from Himself, in that upper room, His human nature flowed
out in loving tenderness, to cleanse and purify and strengthen and
refresh Holy Apostles, even so in every celebration which has ever
been made since, His own dear words testify, that a like out-pouring
of His Humanity has come unto all those who with hearty repentance
and true faith turn unto Him. They have verily and indeed taken
and received the body and blood of Christ. In the words of a recent
writer : —

" I believe that the Holy Eucharist was primarily instituted * for
the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ :
that when our Lord said, ' Do this in remembrance of Me,' He used
the word ' do ' in the same sacrificial sense which it ordinarily bears
in the Greek of the Old Testament — offer this sacrifice for a memorial
of Me : that this is the ' remembrance ' meant in the Catechism, and
in the service for the Holy Communion, by the expressions, ' perpetual
memory,' 'sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving' i.e., Eucharistic
sacrifice ; and sacrifice which is ' our bounden duty and service.' I
believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, ' abiding a priest for ever ' in
Heaven, offers there continually His sacrifice of Himself — both priest
and victim in His own person — the ' one full, perfect, and suflQcient
sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world,'
* once offered ' in blood upon the cross, now perpetually presented as
our propitiation in heaven. He does now, as in heaven so in earth,
(here as there, although under earthly veils. Himself both priest and
victim) offer in each Eucharist the same one all-sufficient sacrifice. I
believe that our Eucharists are true sacrifices, not as separate and
independent, not as repeated sacrifices, but because they are the
continual presentation and pleading with the Father here on earth, of
the same One Sacrifice, once finished upon the cross and now presented
and pleaded continually by Him in His Own Person in heaven — by
Him, too, in a mystery, on earth."

The best commentary on our blessed Lord's words are his acts.
What did He ? He took an oblation, bread and wine in His hands,
and with these, He offered Himself to the Father. He then said to
His Apo& A, "this do (make) in rememberance of me." Every
Christian since has done the self-same thing in act. As our Lord
offered Himself to God, so He requires, that every redeemed child of
His should, as their Master did, offer Himself together with the ob-
lations of bread and wine to be a lively sacrifice. But what a
.difference ! Wc must offer this, our bounden duty and service, and
offer simply in obedience, well knowing that, that only can make our
sacrifice acceptable which was offered by Jesus Christ. As the Jew
was to take the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the
upper door posts of the houses, that when He saw the blood He might
pass over ; so we representing to our merciful God, the holy sacrifice,
and being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, holding in our hands the
signs of His sprinkling, and in representation pleading with God, the
body and blood of His Son, which Jesus has Himself bestowed upon
us, God in His justice is satisfied, and pardons us. He passes over us,
and hides us from Satan, and from our sins. Another fact is here
striking : that whereas our sins nailed Christ to the cross — killed Him
— it is Christ who slays — not us — but our sins, by His own body on
the cross. The withholding from us the truth, that our blessed
Lord had enlarged and deepened the nature of sacrifice, has beea
most destructive to full faith in His atonement, and has obscured the
perception of our own duty. He never said there was to be no more
sacrifice, but no more sacrifice for sin. And truly, no more blood-
shedding, " for a body hast thou prepared." Christ, in the offering of
Himself, for ever perfected us. But throughout the whole scriptures,
the redeemed children of Adam are always and everywhere spoken of
as " His body," ** For now are ye the body of Christ, and members
in particular,'^ Wherefore, if we are to do that which our Xord
commanded, or in any sense carry out St. Paul's exhortation, then
although there be no more sacrifice for sin, yet there is a sacrifice for
sin in the offering of which we are participators; "I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your

reasonable service." '* For we being many, are one body in

Christ J and every one members one of another." When therefore the

_--^.^ .^^^^^^^-^--

body of Christ on earth, or any member in particular, makes a
remembrance of the sacrifice which He made, Christ is, as High
Priest, ministering for us, and perfecting us in His own nature. Now
granting that the Apostles may not have understood their Lord at the
first Eucharistic feast, surely after the second and third celebration
they must have been fully enlightened, and have comprehended His
meaning. " The same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
(and the second Eucharist at which Christ was visibly present) when
the doors were shut, when the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace
be unto you. And when he had so said he shewed unto them Hia
bands and his side." On the following Sunday, for the Third
Eucharist. " His disciples were within, and Thomas was with them :
then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and
said. Peace be unto you. Then said He to Thomas, reach hither thy
band, and thrust it into my side ; and be not faithless but believing
And Thomas answered, " My Lord, and my God !" Now we have our
Saviour's declaration, " Where two or three are gathered together,
there am I in the midst." It is true the natural eye, because of sin,
does not behold Him, any more than it can behold natural things at
midnight ; but lighten the darkness, and all things are clearly seen. So
if it pleased Jesus now, we could behold Him at the Feast ; but Faith
is the eye, by which He desires we should behold Him, and welcome
Him, " Our Lord and our God." Carnally, we see a man clothed in
white, breaking bread and pouring out wine, and blessing them.
These he gives to us. Faith is roused by familiar Words of Life,
and she takes and receives from Jesus that which he gave lo His
Apostles. " And I will come down and talk with thee there ; and
I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon
them."* This is the promise made to us now. As he gave to them, so
to us now. Even so let it be.

Our Lord's words would seem to receive furtLftr explanation, from
the injunctions for the celebration of some of the Jewish oflFerings.
Levit. xvii. 10, it is written: — "Whatsoerer man there be of the
house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that
eateth any manner of blood, I will even set my face against that soul

Numborg xi. 17.

that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For
the life of the flesh is in the hhod ; and I have given it to you, upon
the altar to make an atonement for the soul. For it is the life of all
flesh : the blood of it is for the life thereof : therefore I said unto the
children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh ; for
the life of alljlesh is the blood thereof." And in Deuteronomy xii. 23,
" Be sure that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is the life : and
thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh." Our heavenly Father
here speaks specially of a sacramental eating. It is not surprising
that the Jews, influenced by the hard and narrow Pharasaical doc-
trines of their teachers, should have been offended at an apparently
flagrant violation of their law, when our Lord said, " this is my
blood." They could not see, that God had under the law set forth
before their eyes the shedding of blood as a cleansing from sin, which
blood was given to them upon the altar, to make an atonement — an
atonement vaHd only for the immediate offerer. Such blood may
signal to them the forgiveness of sins, but it could not make them
perfect : they must not eat it, for no brute life could even in sacrifice
heal them. The blood of an inferior life could not impart anything
to a superior life. But when the true Lamb came and offered Him-
self as the Atonement for the sins of the whole world, then was
unveiled the mystery of the Jewish sacrifice of atonement, and the
reason made clear why the blood of bulls and of goats could not take
away sin ; and therefore could not be eaten. T heir life, i. e., their
nature, could in no way influence superior human life ; and tjod only
permitted it, to represent the necessity of bloodshed for sin, for
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin ; and in a
sense, remission of sin to the Jew, was less perfect than under the new
dispensation — for the atonement then was operative to the Jew who
offered in his person, • not yet for the world ; for we need now no
further shedding of blood. It surely then should teach ns, that what
our Lord really meant was — that as hitherto the Jew had only seen
on the altar typical blood, which could impart to him no life-giving
property, and would only assure him of forgiveness of sin, — so now,
when the true blood of atonement was shed, and the River of Life
opened from the side of Christ, they w-ere to come, every one that
thirsteth, and buy and eat : " yea come, buy wine and milk without
Hioney and without price." The blood is theUfe, for the life of aM

■ 12

flesh is the blood, i. e., 'he source from whence the flesh Is nourished,
the liquid Jlesh. So Christ is the life of His redeemed ; He freely of
His own will redeems them, and gives to them His Nature, His
Humanity, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body,
and our souls washed in His blood — flesh and blood — i. e. His nature.
Verily the life of the flesh is in the blood, and the blood is the life
thereof ; so it was absolutely essential, in order that there be no more
shedding of blood, that the blood of Christ, and the flesh of Christ,
should for ever continue on the altar of atonement, a perpetual
sacrifice, inconsumable, and yet partaken of by every reclaimed soul ;
for here is the life of the flesh — human flesh taken by Christ, which
can impart new life to us. Now it is clear, that the command not to
eat the blood, was given, because it was the life of the flesh of inferior
creatures : it was therefore contrary to God's will, that the life of
beasts should be imparted to or taken in by man. Not so, whan in
His most wonderful loving-kindness, ho accepted the sacrifice of the
Son-of-Man. Then indeed was the fount of life opened up for us ;
then did it become necessary that Christ should sufier in the flesh,
that He may be enabled to say, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you ; for my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Nor does this mean
a mere contemplation of Christ — it means a very great deal more ;
for if our Lord's words have any meaning at all, they mean, that the
faithful Christian is a partaker of Christ's nature, whenever in
genuine faith he drinketh of that cup and eateth of that bread worthily.
For the Jew touched not the blood, and why ? The blood, then
standing for the life of the flesh, was to be poured out on the ground,
and not touched on pain of death. Christ's blood, i. e., His life, is
to be drank in by us. And so it is written : " The first man Adam
was made a living soul : the last Adam was ma.de a quickening spirit.^*
" For OS in Adam aill die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
" And if Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin : but the
spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raiseth up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raiseth Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by (because of)
His Spirit, that dwelleth in you." And S. Paul reminds true Chris-
tians, that " ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit." All which is
in perfect agreement with the teaching of an ancient bishop : — " He

■who keepeth in mind that Christ our Passover hath been sacrificed for
us, and that we must feast, eating the flesh of the Word, at all times
keepeth the Passover, passing )ver in thought, and ever in word and
deed, from the things of this life to God, and hastening to His
city." — Origen. ^

It seems to be clearly our blessed Lord's meaning, that as the Jews
had been forbidden to touch the blood of atonement because it was
the life of the animal ; so now in the fulness of time, when the Son of
Man, the second Adam, had come in man's nature, so bs He was the
true Lamb, the prohibition to drink the blood must be removed, for
the blood is the Ufe thereof, and so is '^ our life hidden with Christ in
God." In Genesis ix. 5, the language is very decided : it is there
shown, that the blood is spoken of as standing in the place of the Life,
and in the sense of the real nature : body and soul and spirit.

*' Surely your blood of your lives will I require." ** At the hand

of every man's brother will I require the life of man." And so, in
Romans v. 10, we find S. Paul declaring of our Lord, that " we shall
be saved by. His life." " For the gift of God is eternal life, through
Jesus Christ our Lord." And in Acts, He is called " The Prince of
Life ;" and this explains 1 Cor. xv. 47, where our Lord is declared to
be our second Adam, in whom we are re-made ; for " The first man is
of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven."
" For since 6y man came death, hy man cam^ also the resurrection of
the dead ; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive." Christ, therefore, must have become to us a source of actual
life ; for it h plain that he declared His work to be the rectification of
all the ill that Adam had brought upon the race : ill that we to this
hour inherit consequent on our descent from him. Very mysterious
words were spoken when our Lord was baptized " with water and the
Holy Ghost." He who was sinless, undefiled, yet fulfilled all righte-
ousness, and having taken our nature for us, was anointed by the
Holy Ghost, and openly accepted as the second Adam by the Father —
thus self-anointing his manhood. He is our head ; He is the Vine,
we are the branches ; and we must be graflfed in, if we be of Abra-
ham's seed. The sap of life, i. e. the very life and essence of
the Christ, the quickening Spirit — for he is the second Adam — must
flow to us by divine impartation, if we be really heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ. As death hath passed upon us by Adam, so

immortality — endlesg life — by the power of Christ's body : we be not
then the " untimely fruit of woman ;" for all that are baptized into His
death are buried with Him, and shall rise again : the bad to endless
misery ; the good to endless life with Him.

The result of the blessed communion of our Lord's body to us, is
that which S. Paul so fully discourses about ; it was the consolation
which all the holy Apostles enjoyed, and the hope they held out to us.
The taking part in the first resurrection now in this present life
begun in baptism : and no doubt it was the same consolation which
holy Job enjoyed so fully : " T know that in my flesh I shall see
Grod." So S. Paul hesitates not to say : " It is sowd in corruption ;
it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour ; it is raised in
glory : it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power : it is sown a natural
body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and
there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man was
made a living soul ; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit."
Now, " The Lord is that Spirit."

" Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He also Himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death
He might destroy him that had the power of death ; that is, the devil.

For verily he took not on /Tim the nature of angels, but He

Jtook on Him the seed of Abraham." " Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God ; for the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you
Ahat eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us." The plain natural meaning of the whole body of Scripture is,
that our blessed Saviour took our human nature into the divine — that
that nature may be made a pure, clean, holy fount of regeneration to
us. In assuming man's nature, all was taken — the material body and
the spiritual soul. By His divine power, then, He bestows on us that
nature, which He as Christ has, now at this very time. It cannot
possibly be, that he bestows on us that which was material blood, and
material flesh, alone or only. Far, far deeper and more glorious
mystery than this : for it is the putting away our sinful flesh, i. e.
our vile corrupt nature ; and the imparting to us His own nature,
directly from Himself. It is His nature, cleansing and healing the
leprosy by which our nature has been defiled. " I will come and heal
him," He said, and the servant was healed. So now, we are clean

through 'lis word ; for He hath said, " Whosoever eateth my flesh,
and driLi Ah my blood, hath eternal life:" i.e. — to whomsoever I
shall give that human nature, which in me is sinless, pure, holy ;
without spot — altogether free from taint of sin.

That our blessed Lord is to men the source of eternal life, is fcgain
apparent in the raising of Lazarus. The whole of His conversation
with the sorrowing friends, whose hopes and fears hung so anxiously
on the very actions and words of Jesus, indicate that He was bringing
them to a knowledge of that great truth — that in Him men live and
move and have their being. Martha knew who He was, and was
willing to believe, that He could, and would, do as He pleased. How
her brother was to be restored she could not know, until the Lord had
said unto her, " I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth
in me, thougli he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth
and believeth shall never die. Believest thou this ? Yea, Lord j
I believe that thou art the Christ which should come into the world."
To the dead in trespasses and sins, He has declared Himself the
Besurrection and the Life j not only the resurrection, but the Life
also ; so that the life they live is in and from Him. With the humble
Christian, the like simple confidence and belief draws forth the very
same answer. When troubled and grieved at heart for sin, we turn to
our Lord for strength, and receive for answer, " Whoso eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life." We answer, " Yea,
Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ which should come into the
world. For God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son." For being reconciled to God by the death of His Son, we
shall be saved hy His life. " For the Spirit of God hath made me, and
the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." The mysterious and
precious gift of His nature to us in the holy Eucharist, is intended to
be for the strengthening and refreshing of our souls ; and if so, to
keep alive in us an active vigorous life in all Christian faith and
works. It is to have the consciousness, even amidst all our short-
comings, that we are still standing in the mercies of Jesus ; it is the
perpetual desire to have Him with us ; for as St. Jerome says, and
truly, " Since the flesh of the Lord is true food, and His blood is true
drink, the Scriptural meaning [of Eccl. iii. 13] is, that in this pre-
sent life we have only one good to feed on His flesh, and to drink His
blood ; not only in the Mystery [the Eucharist], but also in reading

- . ' 16

of Scriptures : for the true food and drink which is derived from the
WoED OF God, is knowledge of the Scripture." Clearly one of the
greatest blessings, Christ, the Word of God, bestows upon us, is a
spirit of discernment to understand the Scriptures through the Holy
Ghost. " He who keepeth in mind that Christ our Passover hath been
sacrificed for us, and that we must feast, eating the flesh of the Word,
at all times keepeth the Passover ; passing over in thought, and ever
in word and deed, from the things of this life to God, and hastening
to His city.*

A great modem divine writes : '* The Sacraments have been from
the first, the natural outwork of the doctrine of the Incarnation ; and
from recognising a true presence of Christ in these ordinances, in
which He communicates Himself, both as God and man, we are
carried on to a genuine belief that two natures are really united in
His adorable person. For if Godhead and manhood are truly united
in Christ, both must co-operate in those offices which He discharges
towards mankind. To this truth many are unwilling to listen,
because they suppose, that the efficacy of Christ's manhood can mean
only the natural efficacy of His material body." And in another
place the same writer says: — "We are assured, moreover, by our
Lord Himself, that the removal of His bodily substance into heaven,
would be a step which should lead to that spiritual presence which He
has since vouchsafed. After declaring the fact, that His man's body
would be the medium through which He would convey heavenly
^fts — ' for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed ;*
and ' this is the bread of life, which cometh down from heaven ;' — He
proceeds to represent His spiritual presence as consequent on His
ascension into heaven, ' What, and if ye shall see the Son of Man
ascend up where He was before. * It is the Spirit that quickeneth ;
the flesh profiteth nothing ;' 'for when the Son of Man,' says St. Leo,
' betook Himself to the glory of His Father's Majesty, He began in
some ineffable manner to be nearer by His Divine Power, for the very
reason that, according to His humanity, He was removed farther off;
and therefore it was,' he adds, 'that Mary Magdalene might not
touch Him before His ascension : ' I would not have you come to Me
in bodily vrise, nor recognize Me by carnal touch ; I put you off to

Origen.

something higher, I prepare you for something greater : when I am
ascended to my Father, then you shall touch me in a more true and
perfect manner ; when you shall lay hold of that which you do not
touch, and believe that which you do not behold."

When, therefore, we Bpeak of our Lord's spiritual presence, we
mean that He is really, truly present ; not less really because not
visibly present, but really present through the power of the Spirit —
a power exerted tlirough His Deity, in those places, times and
manners to which His presence is pledged in the kingdom of Grace.
" The flesh of the Lord," says St. Athanasius, " meaning therehy His
Humanity," is a quickening spirit, because it was engendered by the
quickening spirit ; for that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." It
is therefore from our blessed Lord's glorified body now in heaven j
even from the living Christ, the only Mediator, that — through the
Holy Ghost — we are partakers of His flesh and blood.

" Again, when the Real Presence is spoken of, there are two notions
which may suggest themselves. Such presence may be supposed to
result from the action of the mind, whicli receives an impression ; or
{rom the act io7i of the being vf\\o produces it. The first would be a
subjective and metaphorical, the second is an objective and real
presence. We think a spectacle, and lay hold of it by internal
impulse, as though it were present to our sight. But this is only
figurative ; the movement comes from within, irrespective of any
action in the object thought of. A real presence, on the contrary, is
when there is some object, external to ourselves, which produces upon
us those effects which result from its propinquity. Such presence
may be said to be spiritual, as well as real, when the medium of com-
munication by which this external object effects, or is present with us,
is not material contact, but Spiritual power. Whether we look, then,
to the declarations of Scripture respecting the departure of our Lord's
body from earth to heaven, or to what He tells us of the source of
that influence which He there exerts, we must conclude that the pre-
sence of our Mediator, though not independent of his fleshly nature, is
brought about by the intervention of that divine nature which is
irrespective of material contact, and of contiguity of place."*

Penitence and prayer has each its place. The Holy Spirit fills us

* Wilberforce.

with good desires — we, willing and submissive to His most holy
motions, He brings them to good effect. Praj er then brings us on
our knees to Christ. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
heaven ; nay, but we are spiritual, we have been baptized into His
Name, *he ransom has been oflfered, we have been bought with a price ;
so Jesus, the God-Man, having life in Himself, bestows His human
nature, through his divine power, on His faithful people, to whom He
is the great and sole object of life, love, and mercy. No man can go
to the Father except Christ draws him. It is not what we imagine ;
it is what Christ does, that saves us. In the celebration of the divine
Mysteries, then our blessed Saviour is, in the plenitude of His power,
diffusing into our natures — into penitent and faithful human beings —
that very nature which He took for them, to the end that the vile
children of Adam, who have tasted of the fruit of the tree of know-
ledge of good and evil, may now put forth their hands and eat of the
Tree of Life, and live for ever. " It is done, I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst, of
the fountain of the water of life freely." Yea, we give Thee thanks,
Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come ;
because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and dost reign.
Amen, Amen."

That S. Athanasius truly speaks according to Scripture, would
seem to be clear, from the reference made by holy Apostles to our
being partakers of the life of Christ ; for, says St, Paul, " if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His; and if Christ be in
you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you, He that raiseth up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit, (or because of His
spirit) that diveUeth in you." S. John i. 4 : "In Him was life; and
the life was the light of men." John xiv. 6 : "Jesus saith, I am the
way, the truth, and the life." Repeatedly, in the Older Scriptures,
innocent blood is spoken of; and of the many passages, one or two
will suffice here. In Jonah i. 14 : " Lay not upon us innocent blood ;
for thou, Lord, hast done as it pleased thee." In Jeremiah :
" If ye put me to death, je shall surely bring innocent blood upon
yourselves." Hence the fierce remorse and impenitence of Judas —
" I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." And

when the Apostles were forbidden to use t!ie Holy Nanre, the high
priest said unto them, " Behold, yc have filled Jerusalem with your
doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." That which
endures in our nature is the Life ; flesh and blood return to the dust,
but the man dies not — God ji;iveth it a body as it hath pleased Him.
Christ's body, as a part of His nature, saw not corruption, but was
raised again, glorified, and entered into heaven for us, thence ever to
be the source of life for His ransomed people.

Ancient Christians spoke plainly, without being misunderstood ,
and it is only now, in consequence of llomish corruptions, that men
speak with faltering lips. But among early Christians, Transubstan-
tiation was unknown. Thus: — " In thy visible vesture, there dwel-
leth an hidden power : a little spittle from thy mouth became a great
miracle of light in the midst of the clay. In thy bread is hidden the
Spirit that cannot be eaten ; in thy wine there dwellcth the fire that
cannot be drunk." — S. Ephrem.

" The skirt of the Lord's garment, and the slightest touch, sanc-
tifieth none but him that hath eaten the flesh of the Lamb, and drunk
His blood." — S. Jerome.

" Two-fold is the blood of the Lord. The one is His natural blood,
by which we have been redeemed from destruction ; the other the
Spiritual, that is, wherewith we are anointed — and this is to drink
the blood of Jesus, to partake of the immortality of our Lord." —
&t. Clement of Alexandria.

They who spake thus, did but follow the Apostles. S. Paul, to the
Corinthians, writes : — " For I have received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in
which He was betrayed took bread ; and when He had given thanks,
He brake it, and said. Take eat, this is my body which is hroken for
you : this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He
took the Cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the New
Testament of My blood : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remem-
brance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup,
YE DO SHEW the Lord's death till He come." Shew to whom ?

The Eacrifices under the law, were not a whit more so than the
Christian Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. " The blood of bullg
and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, could
Jiot take away sin." It was only as they represented " the One All'

f-ufficicnt Sacritice," that they were of any oflScacy. Christ has
desired that wc should represent here on earth, before men, Hi»
sacrifice ; and that we should shew to God that wjiich He presented,
the oblation of that Hacritice, together with ourselves, our souU and
bodies, ')\i»t as lie did Himself; to the end that witli these pleading
memorials in our hands, and with repentant hearts. He may com-
municate to us His life-giving body and blood, given and shed for us.
And no matter what the dress may be, we must meet Him, and
bow down to Him. He is at and in His Holy Eucharistic Feast,
although with carnal eyes we see Him not. fie is the Object of our
adoring love. We have more than an intimation, that the Apostles
did really understand our Lord's words, as they are interpreted by the
Anglican Church ; for it is said, that when He had spoken, many
said it was a hard — i. e. a revolting — saying, and went back. His
Apostles remained stedfiist. Now they had seen His wonderful power
over nature : they had seen Him cure the sick, recover sight to the
blind, bring back the spirit and soul into the dead. They certainly
do not appear to have understood Him to mean, that they were
carnally to eat His body and drink His blood. As the Jews drank
of that Ptock which followed them, and that Rock was Christ j so in a
more clearly understood and real sense, Christians partake of that
Rock on which they are built. The Apostles must have believed*
that our Lord havi.:g come, as a siiiit,. man, to transmake fallen
human nature, intended to finish that sublime work of mercy, by
rooting out Adam's nature, and imparting to man His own perfect
manhood. Adam ate death into our nature: if we would live, we
must eat Christ's perfect humanity into that nature, that we may live*
The Holy Jesus comes to us in that hour of deep and adoring
worship, in which we present ourselves before God, pleading and
repr^enting the Holy Sacrifice, as our only claim to His forgiveness.
He is known to us in the breaking of bread ; and our hearts burn
within us as He talks to us by the way. Faith sees in the midst of
the throne " a Lamb as it had been slain;" and hears the new song,
" Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof:
for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Uoodj out
of every kindred and tongue and people and nation ^ and hast made
UB, unto our God, kings said priests; and we shall reigD on the
earth."

It is because we think it impossible to solve the mystery of — the
how — of our blessed Lord's presence, that we, in common with so
many, regret the alteration in Mr. Kcble's beautiful hymn. Our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was present, as we have shewn, at
the three first Eucharistic celebrations ; and we may not be wrong in
believing, that in every and all subscijuent ones, He is as effectually
present— our carnal eyes being holdea — that the eye of the spirit,
through faith, may see, adore, and worship our Lord and our God.
Yet we know not how He is present. Who, at the moment of Holy
Communion, thinks of earthly priests, or of bread and wine ? Do we
not hear the voice of the Son of God saying to us, " Take eat, this
is my body ; drink, this is my blood." Surely, ihe material repre-
sentation is to reveal to us a real participation. Thus believing, we
are satisfied to see this highest act of duty and reverent devotion,
celebrated by a representative Priesthood, ministering in our Lord's
stead, clothed in the emblamatic garb of pure white linen, i. e. the
surplice and stole ; and all the more, if that stole was crimson* or
purplef in place of black, the emblem of woe. But if we can agree
to use no other dress than the English surplice and stole, in the service
of the Church, be it so ; it will not defeat doctrinal truth, which will
be all the more perseveringly taught and proclaimed For myself, it
would be more edifying and impressive, to see so simple a change in
the dres A the sanctuary, as a purple stole, or the wearing of some
ct ir, to bring before us the King of kings, and Lord of lords, as
well as '^e crificed Son of God.

That ou. vhole Eucharistic service on earth, is representative,
although rei._ for us, is evidently taught by S. Paul, who says, " Now
of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum : we have such
an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens ; a minister of the sanctuary, and of th^truc
tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. For every High
Priest is ordained to off&r gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is
OF NECESSITY that this Man have somewhat to offer." And again,
" Now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much
also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established

* And He was clothed In a vesture dipped in blood ; and Ills name is called tbo
Word of God.— Rev. xix.

t And they put on Him a purple robe.— 6. John xix. 2.

9')

upon better promises." " For Christ is not entered into the holy
placas made with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Tiiere-
fore it comes, that we must believe that Jesus is our sole Mediator, a
real personal Mediator: for "this Man, because He continueth ever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood." And consqucntly it is, as if the
Holy of Holies was open unto us. In the power of His Spirit, He is
with us; and, as one of our recent authors says, " We believe Him to
be locally present only in hea^^en, which He has localised by His
ascension in the flesh ; but supra)ocally (as has been said by most
thoughtful theologians) He is pres( nt, both in His Godhead and in
His manhood — which He has taken into His Godhead, though with-
out making it, like that Godhead, ubi(j[uitous — according to His own
will, wherever and whenever the sacramental conditions which He
has laid down are fulfilled;" to our vi.sible sight, in representation;
to faith, truly so. And as wickedness shuts us out from God's
presence, so we are sure that the wicked cannot discern Him, and can
have no part in God's service. '' They shall not offer wine offerings
to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto Him : their sacrifice
shall be unto them as the bread of mourners: all that eat thereof
shall be polluted; for their hreadfor their souls shall not come into
the house of the Lord." — Hosea ix. 4.

If then it be true, as we believe, that our Lord sees us, and is our
High Priest touched by our infirmities, and that we are plainly before
Him, surely it is but fitting, that we worship and adore Him, as we
ought to do at all times, but more markedly and openly, when
receiving from Him, His special and peculiar gifts as we kneel before
the representation on earth of the heavenly altar, from which Jesus is
pleased to give us of the sacrifice. In very spirit and soul, we must
ador* and worship Him. "For Thou, God, seest me." If the
blessed elements are a sign to us, that at that most holy time Jesus is
with us, in the very midst ; then let faith be active and warm : seeing
neither man nor material substance, and knowing only that Christ hath
come in the flesh ; let us praise and tliank God for His great mercy,
lauding and magnifying His holy name, saying. Holy, holy, holy.
Lord God of Hosts ; heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Glory
be to thee, Lord most High. — Amen.

" We cannot but think, that the spirit and intent of our services is

much obscured by the too great infrequency of the -celebration of the
Holy Communion. If we truly believe, that the visible part of a
sacrament is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual
grace, given unto us ; that the outward sign is tiie means whereby we
receive the same, and also a pledge to assure us thereof; then we
should, by more careful living and more earnest seeking, demand that
we be not denied the children's bread. We certainly have no more
effectual door open to the Throne of Mercy ; and although we may not
crucify the Lamb of God afresh, yet we may in every act of Com-
munion pray most fervently to God, and plead before Him the
sacrifice of the Lamb of God, as our only possible claim to mercy
and grace. " For ye are not come unto the mount that might be
touched, and that burned with fire unto blackness and darkness and

tempest but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the City

of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus, the

I^Iediator of the New Covenant ; and to the blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel." B// Uim, therefore, let
us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually : that is, the fruit of
our lips giving thanks to Ilis name; or, as Hosea says, *' Say unto
Him, Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously." For S. Paul
says, "To do good, and to communicato, forget not ; for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased." •

" When it is remembered, that the Holy Eucharist is the very
highest act of praise and thanksgiving that men may engage in, it
surely is incorrect to confine our view of it, to that side of doctrine
which shews us the sacrifice of Christ as saving us. Deeply sensible
of this, we yet must, with the voice of praise and thanksgiving, chiefly
shew forth the glorious incarnation and resurrection, and magnify
before angels, men, and all created things, the glory of God; for
such love had He to us-ward, that He gave His only-begotten Sdh for
us. The love of God towards us, the glory of God and of His Christ,
in the great work of redemption, are parts of that service and
bounden duty which we ought to shew forth in the holy celebration.
The Kingdom of Heaven is thrown open to all believers; and no
longer are the privileges and promises to a single people, but from the
least even to the greatest, all may come to the Holy Mountain.
For this, and for that, God in Christ is reconciling us to Himself,
and freeing us from the slavery of sin ; we gladly join in the chorus

of praise which sings, " Glory to God in the Ixighest. We praise
Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks unto Thee for Thy great glory,
Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty."

At Easter and Christmas tide, we must surely so think of the
Great Christian Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving.

It is because we should not contemplate only the death of Christ ;
that strong objection must be taken to your proposed limitation of the
draping of the Altar-Table, to a covering which enfolds it in the
emblems of death. The white cloth on the Holy Table was employed
as the symbol of our Lord's burial, it is true : for S. Isodore has
written, " The fine linen that is spread out underneath the ministry
of the divine gifts, is the ministration of Joseph of Arimathea. For
as he, having wrapped the body of the Lord in fine linen, committed
to the tomb that body through which our whole race has gained the
fruit of the resurrection — so we, consecrating the shew-bread on fine
linen, find undoubtedly the body of Christ gushing forth for us with
that incorruptibility which He, whom Joseph attended to the tomb,
the Saviour Jesus, risinu; from the dead, bestowed."

Now, in the use of the fair linen cloth, we conceive it should simply
be spread beneath the elements, leaving the coloured covering of the
:iltar-table still visible ; for He is not dead now, but was slain and is
alive again, although still the Sacrifice for sin. Now, in old customs,
there have been useful lessons set forth ; and therefore there must be
some principle to be observed in adornment. As we all believe in
the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the Resurrection, let us in the
employment of symbolic adornment take care, that we do not set forth
unnecessarily one part of divine truth, when we may, without oifence,
set forth the whole truth. For instance : a symbolic cross may not be
an offence, — a crucifix is ; because He is not dead. He is risen. No
lon^r Christ dead ! So, in the same way, it is not correct to set
forth our Lord iVo dead ; but it is still right to set before men the
fact of the sacrifice of His death, which the use of the fair linen
cloth certainly does. We see, as it were, only the linen which was
wrapped about His body, while at the same time we look for the signs
of His glorious resurrection. I believe, the more perfectly we
recognise our ])lessed Lord's Mysterious Presence, the less shall we
desire to obscure that presence by objects which do not appeal to our
senses plainly and at once. To my mind, the Holy Bible, in the

midst of the Altar, is a fitter emblem of Jesus, the Incarnate Word,
than any other that could be employed.

Our own part in the service brings us to our knees in adoring love
to our Saviour for His great condescension in making us participators
of His suffering, His death, and resurrection.

At page 9, it has been shown, our Lord did not intend "Sacrifice"
should cease. On the contrary, He has most clearly enlarged and
intensified the meaning of it. No longer can an inferior animal
represent Christ slain for us ; no longer may we pour out the blood of
a brute, as representing our deserts for sin ; but we human creatures
are, each in his own person, to go up before the Lord, and in the place
of the bull and goat and heifer, do exactly that which Christ did, and
desired that we should do — present ourselves, our souls and bodies, to
be a LIVING SACRIFICE. But inasmuch as we are as unworthy as was
goat or bullock, so He, the Lord, having taken our nature, and hidden
it ; put away and concealed all its defects in His own most divine
nature ; and having been made the Head of our race, through
sufiering; now bids us come, i. e. bring ourselves to Him, holding in
our hands the signs of the " blood of sprinkling," and in our bodies
" the marks of the Lord Jesus :" so that dying daily to sin, we may
receive from Him "the gift of eternal life;" that we may live to
righteousness : for we are members of His body, of His bones, and
of His flesh — true members, very members incorporate. Here, then,
is a sacrifice, more fearfully real, more wonderful — oh ! how much
more loving and inviting, than any that Jew ever offered. How
awfully solemn ! what love, and what deep mysterious mercy does it
exhibit ! " Hath He smitten Him as he smote those that smote
Him ? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain
by Him ?" — Isaiah xxvii. 7.

We can scarcely believe, that God is so condescending as to permit
vile, sinful, disobedient men to kned even in Hi? presence, and offer
themselves to Him, " lively sacrifices." We can offer Him nothing
of ourselves ; therefore He bids us come, but with the marks of the
dying Lord about us; and then, cut and wounded for our sins, and
admitting that we are guilty of death — He says, mercifully,
graciously, kindly, "your life is hidden with Christ in G^d ;" take
eat, from henceforth the life that you shall live in the flesh, shall bo
in Christ Thy sins be forgiven thee. How can any Christian

man say, that the Holy Eucharist is no sacrifice! Far from it.
It is a sacrifice, and one we had better try fully to understand. Let
no man presume to eat of that bread and drink of that cup •' unwor-
thily ;" let him not go up to oflFer himself a sacrifice — sacrifice him-
self — " with a lie in Ids right hand ;" let him not offer a body full of
uncleanness, a soul full of wickedness ;* let him be as the prodigal,
" I will go to my Father, and will say unto Him, Father, I have
sinned against Heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be
called thy son."

" If thy oblation be a meat-offering, haken in a frying-pan, it shall
be made of fine flour with oil : and thou shall bring the meat-offering
that is made of these things unto the Lord ; and when it is presented
unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the Altar ; and the priest shall
take from the meat-offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon
the Altar . it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the

Lord it is a thing most holt/ of the offerings of the Lord made

by fire." — Levit. ii. 8 «& 9. Thus we learn, that besides the bloody
sacrifices, there were other and more numerous un-hloody sacrifices ;
but in the above we have symbolized the work of the Holy Spirit, and
the mysterious work of Christ. " Neither shalt thou suffer the salt
of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat-offering : with
all thine offerings shalt thou offer salt. Here again, in the salt, is
represented the in-dwelling Christ and His people, who were thus
typically represented as burned up for their sins by the consuming fire.
St. Ephrem, therefore, could properly say, " in Thy bread is hidden
the Spirit that cannot be eaten ; in Thy wine there dwelleth the fire
that cannot be drunk;" and St. Chrysostom, "0 Thou Coal of
double nature, which touching the lips of the Prophet, didst purify
him from sin, touch my lips, who am a sinner, and set me free from
every stain, and from the power of sin." Again, Fire came down
upon sinners and consumed them. The Fire of the merciful in
bread cometh down and abideth. Fire ate up the oblations, and we,
Lord, have eaten Thy fire in thine oblation." "Instead of that
fire which devoured men, ye eat a fire in bread, and are quickened,"
In the New Testament, we are spoken of as " the Salt of the earth ;"
and THE Spirit, under the Symbol of Fire. Every Sacrifice, there-

* Mai. i. 7 ; Prov. iv. 17 ; lloeea ix. i.

fore, must still be salted with salt, and the hidden virtue of every
sacrifice must be " the bread which cometh down from heaven." For
" in the flesh and blood of Christ, the human soul rcceiveth nothing
hloody, but a life-giving saving substance in the bread and wine."
— Theophylact. We must eat of the fire that consumes our
sins.

Under this aspect of the Eucharist, we see how well the exclama-
tions of the royal Psalmist fit in. *' Give me a clean heart, God^
and renew a right spirit within me." " I will wash my hands in
innocency, and so will I go to thine Altar." " The sacrifices of God>
are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, God, Thou shalt

not despise give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good ; for

His mercy endureth forever Let the redeemed of the Lord

say sOy whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy

And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His
works with rejoicing." In our Lord, all sacrifice centres ; so
Reformers did not hesitate to call the Holy Communion, " The
Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving"* which we oflFor. By our Book
of Common Prayer, and from all that we know of the mind of the
Church, the Eucharist is the key-stone of all our services. We have
obscured its pristine beauty by making it an occasional service. Its
true nature is hidden from us. May God, of His goodness, restore it
to us, at least as our sabbath food.

By a natural instinct, many keep away from the Holy Communion,
because they are conscious of sin, and feel distrustful of their ability
to lead better lives — they shrink from the presence of God. This
interior conviction, that in some sort they are connected with, or have
a part in the service, is almost involuntary ; they get it even from a
superficial study of Scripture ; and it is not right to narrow or lessen
this conviction. A direct personal interest and responsibility, means
also, a personal and direct interest in the blessings. When, then, we
feel, that we, in our very persons, as members of Christ, are to the
Christian Sacrifice what the animal was to those of the Jewish ; that
Christ hae demanded that we, as very members of His body, shall

• Standing in the place of the .Tewiali Sacrifices of Thanksgiving, and hence may
nave arisen our rubric. "And the flesh of the Sacrifice of his peace-offerings for
thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is otfered ; he shall not leave any of
it until the morning."— Levit vii. 15.

make a personal sacrifice of ourselves to Him, as He did to the Father
for us ; and that in doing so, He ever offers Himself, mediating for
us, we shall rise to higher conceptions of our duty, and feel a keen
and intense personal interest in the atonement. We learn more clearly
that we, i. e. each man, is sinful, vile, corrupt : we feel that, as
individuals, we need each man ''anew heart, and a right spirit;"
and h?ve so deep an interest in the Great Sacrifice of the Cross, that
we do, with holy S. Paul, exclaim, " God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by wbooi the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world. From henceforth let no
man trouble me j for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus."

As to the Vestments suitable for a Representative Priesthood, the
practice of the Jewish Church teaches us, that the dress of the
High Priest was rich and very magnificent indeed. But our High
Priest is in the Holy of Holies ; and we see onli/, what the Jews
saw, the ministrations of the Priests, whose vestments were far
less gorgeous. What the ministers for Christ, represent here. He
does actually in heaven ; supralocally Himself giving to us the
offering made .in heaven — that atoning flesh and blood, by which
alone is our old man crucified in us. Therefore, believing Him
to have an active ministry for us in Heaven, where, as High Priest,
He ever maketh intercession for us, touched as He is by our
infirmities, we cannot but think that the proper vestments for^the
celebration of divine worship should be much more like those worn by
the Priests — rather than the High Priest — and used by them in the
celebrations before the people. What we do really want to see in our
Churches is, the evidence of more holy living ; and a more courage-
ous, because real, belief in the presence of God ; which would bring
Christian worshippers to their knees, and force them to pray to, and
praise God and His Christ, with cheerful voices. But when we see
His very Ministers (often, very often, inadvertently,) careless in their
behaviour, even treating His Holy Altar-Table as -they woulJ not treat
their own ; placing upon it their caps, and approaching His earthly
throne by no outward act shewing devout reverence to the place where
He has put His name, and as if not in His presence : Why ! we can-
not wonder if men learn to think of God as a great way off, and not very
nigh unto them. Under a better dispensation, we do not, as the Jew,

•

believe Him to be a very present God. We never fail to bow the
head in passing the throne of an earthly sovereign : how much more
should we, with becoming reverence, acknowledge the Majesty of
God, wherever He has been pleased to set His name.

The Bishop of Vermont seems to think, that the vestments in use
by divine sanction in the Jewish Church, may still be used in the
Christian. But there would seem to be some doubt on this point J
for the office of High Priest, was clearly only temporary, typical, and
was to be done away on earth when the true High Priest should
come : while the Priesthood was to continue, as was declared by the
Prophets. Christ, who is our High Priest, is in the Holy of Holies,
and jet over His Church on earth Apostles first, by His own personal
will^ and then, as the Holy Ghost was pleased to guide them, the
order of the Church was perfected. We know, that when Alexander
entered Jerusalem, he was met by the High Priest, clothed in his
resplendent robes, with the breast-plate ; but the Priests and Levites
wore their own robes of white. Therefore I think, that while we
should, as a matter of duty, contend for a proper dress for the
Priesthood — symbolic of the office they hold and of the truth taught —
we should at the same time avoid personal adornment. Why wear
hoods, of mere secular institution ? We do not want to know, or see,
Dr. This, or Mr. That. And if we must have coloured articles of
dress, let us have the stole coloured ; but out with the many-coloured
hoods of human device — badges, no longer exact tests even, of mental
culture

A belief in God's special presence in the place where He has set
His name, that His congregation may come and worship Him, is not
incompatible with the clearest belief that God is pleased* to dwell in
Heaven. The sublime and wonderful litany used by Solomon in the
dedication of the Temple, illustrates the propriety of testifying, by
our outward acts, to the reality of our inward belief. In the present
day, Solomon would run the risk of being called an idolater, because
He stood before the Altar of God, in the presence of all the
congregation, and spread forth his hands towards heaven : and yet,
with the most perfect faith that the Almighty was truly with him, he
could say, " Will God dwell on the earth ? Behold the heaven, and
heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee ; how much less the house that
I have builded. And it was so, when Solomon had made an end of

praying, Le arose from before the Altar of the Lord, from kneeling on
his knees, with his hands spread up to heaven ; and he stood and
blessed all the congregation." If we really believe, that all Scripture
is given by inspiration, and is for our learning, then even are the
accounts of very acts of devotion useful to us, especially when those
acts refer to the public ministrations of the sanctuary. Solomon must
have had a deep conviction, that God's Altar was the fitting earthly
representation of the Throne of Mercy, before which, in humility of
body and soul, to seek for mercy. The cold and spiritless formality
which has been and is still generally characteristic of our public
services, the perfectly emotionless and perfunctory manner in which
the praises and prayers of the sanctuary are offered up, finds no
parallel in Holy Scripture. The too common belief, that God is in
Heaven and we on earth — that He is no longer pleased to be in the
congregation — has resulted in the open disrespect which is paid to
His worship, and to the scarcely concealed frivolity which is con-
stantly displayed by the members of the Church, of both sexes,
during the very celebration of divine worship itself. Human nature
is bad enough, but if men had kept hold of the belief, which would,
have enabled them to say with the Psalmist, " we come before His
presence with thanksgiving," they would not mock and laugh, but
credit fully the promise of our blessed Lord which He has made, to
be nigh unto all those who call upon Him faithfully, and to be in the
very midst when they are congregated together to praise and seek Him.
It cannot be right to repress outward acts of devotion, so long as they
express a correct belief. We may not, and dare not, worship any
material substance ; but we should lowly, sincerely, intensely worship
our most merciful and gi cious Saviour, when we behold the signs of
His presence with us ; for as God of old sanctified the T abernacle of
the congregation and the Altar, and did also sanctify Aaron and his
sons to minister to Him in the priests' office, in order that He might
dwell among them — so now, our gift is sanctified by the Altar ; the
Priest is sanctified by partaking first of the gift ; and the congregation
are holy through Jesus Christ. " Whether is greater, the gift, or the
Altar, that sanctifieth the gift ?" It is our offering to God which is
placed on His earthly Altar, in memory of a great deliverance. The
Word sanctifies on the Altar, and makes this the gift of God to us ;
for " we have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve

the tabernacle."-'^ For we, being many, are one Bread and one body ;
for we are all partakers of that one Bread. Behold Israel after the
flesh : are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the Altar ?
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the com-
munion of the body of Christ ? Thus is God's glory now made
manifest to us — such are the signs of His Presence vouchsafed to us.
" Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He
is holy."

If we approach, in a brotherly spirit, the consideration of the
question — What Ritual shall we observe in the celebration of the
Holy Communion ? — all parties may come to agree in the matter, if
we explain each to the other, what it is we desire to set forth. We
shall gain nothing by denouncing those who have been even extreme
in their practices. We admit, that the doctrine of the Romish
Church, which sets forth a mere corporeal, carnal presence, is out of
court. What, then, remains to be guarded against ? The idea of
the reiteration of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, and a Priest-
hood with absolute authority. Well then, even an extremist will say,
that the Christian Priesthood is representative, ministering in Christ's
stead ; representing on earth, that which He does actually in heaven.
The Saviour is Himself our High Priest, and is on the right hand of
God; and on His thigh is His name written. King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. As His Father sent Him, so did He send His
Apostles. He is pleased to employ human agency to represent Him
visibly on earth. They are to go baptize all nations, and declare the
forgiveness of sins, and make a continual representation of the
Sacrifice of His death. This is the work of the Ministry op
Reconciliation. So believing, may God give us grace to love Him,
and bless Him for all the means of 'grace given unto us.

If there is one word here which seems to be unbrotherly, I pray
you consider it unwritten, and believe me,

Yours most sincerely,

JAMES BOVELL.

* The Christian Altar is Tiik Wood on which Christ was offered ; so our Altar is
representative of the Cross.

AMENDMENT TO CANON,

TO BE PROPOSED BY

THE REV. H. C. COOPER, B.A.,
At the Synod > Tthe Diocese of Toronto, 11th Jnne, 1867.

Dr. Bovell will move as follows : —

1. That the Synod of the United Church of England and Ireland,
in Canada, in the Diocese of Toronto, in Synod assembled, desires id
record its acknowledgeraen ts to the Upper House of the Convocation
of Canterbury, for their uranimous disapproval of those extreme
ritualistic practices which hiwe been recently introduced into the
Church in England.

2. That, believing those fo^ms and practices to be contrary
to the law of the Church of England, and as declared by the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council, to be entirely contrary to the Act
passed in the second year of Edward VI., legalizing the first Book of
the said king, we further declare, that we believe our branch of the
Church in Canada, is not bound by any law with reference to orna-
ments, &c., which may have been in force prior to that contained in
the said first Prayer Book of Edward VI., and shall under the
guidance of the authorities of the Church, aid our Bishop in resisting
the use of any other forms and practices than those declared to be
legal by the said first Book ; fully persuaded, that the decision
promulgated by the Judicial Committee is correct, and that the only
Book of Prayer in use was the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI , and
that no other was legal by the authority of Convocation and Parlia-
ment.

3. That, with the view to remove the more efiectually, every doubt,

and to secure the permanent settlement of the sort of ritual to be
E

allnwcd ; (a question important in itself, and full of difficulty to the
Church, if allowed to remain a disputed point) : we hereby request
our Venerable Bishop to appoint a Committee of learned and discreet
men, to draft a memorial to the Provincial Synod embodying the
convictions of this representatirc body, and praying the Synod, either
directly by petition or through the Metropolitan, to make known to
the Convocations of Kngland, our desire for a settlement of the law of
ritual, in accordance with the intention of the Reformers, as carried
out by them in the first Praycr-Book of Edward VI. ; and to
express our wish to await the result of their labours, in order that
the Colonial Church may be kept in perfect accord with the Mother
Church.

4. We further desire, that the Provincial Synod of the Church in
Canada be requested to enact a temporary Canon, declaring that the
sentence of the Judicial Committee, with reference to the ornaments
of the Ministers, and of the Church, be accepted ; as determining the
question for us; until such time as the Church in England shall have
declared her mind, as to what forms and practices shall prevail.

5. That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to every Clergy-
man having cure of souls, with the view to their understanding and
knowing the wishes of this Diocesan Synod, pending the settlement of
a question interesting to the whole Church : calling their attention to
the interpretation put upon the law by the Judicial Committee, that
"the same dress and the same utensils, or articles which were used
under the first Prayer Book of Edward VI., may still be used," and
that "the Judicial Committee hold that the word 'ornaments' applies,
and in this rubric is confined to those articles the use of which in the
services and ministrations of the Church is prescribed by the first
Prayer Book of Edward VI. Furthermore by this order the curates
shall need none other Books for their public service but the Book of
Common Prayer, and the Holy Bible."

LETTER,

TO THE REV. MR. FLETCHER, ON THE RITUAL
OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Toronto, April 11th, 1867.
My Dear Sir,

You have published, in the columns of the Glohe, %
Series of Resolutions, passed at a meeting of Clergymen, which it is
intended to propose at the next meeting of the Diocesan Synod ; and
the object of which is to " prevent the introduction of innovations in
the performance of Divine Worship in the Church of this Diocese."
These resolutions profess to be " the thoughtful, deliberate conclu-
fiions " of their framers. Seeing then, that the Resolutions are now
the property of the public, and that criticism upon them has been
invited, will you permit me, as a lay member of the Synod, to offer
some remarks on the resolutions themselves ; and further, to submit
the draft of a series of resolutions which it is my purpose to move at
the approaching Synod, as amendments to those which have been
\ published. It is not surprising, that they who fee! and think deeply
Dn religion, should be moved exceedingly at the introduction into our
branch of the Church, of forms and practices peculiarly belonging to a
time immediately anterior to the Reformation, and to a body of
religionists, from whose doctrine and peculiar ceremonial, for very
essential reasons, we have protested against. There cannot be a doubt,
fcttt that a very large number of those who differ from yourself

and your friends, in their estimate of some very important points of
religious truth, are inclined to <i;o with you, so far as to restrain
those who bring in objectionable practices and forms, clearly and
beyond doubt legislated against by the authority of the First Prayer-
Book of Edward VI. Under the law of this Book, there is no plea
whatever for the introduction of altar-lights, incense, nor the crucifix :
for. as I shall show elsewhere, the Judicial Committee have emphati-
calhj declared the perfect certainty of the First Book of Edward,
alone being legal, and no other legal, in the second year of the king.
They say, that the Rubric in the present Book of Common Prayer,
has reference to the First Book of Edward, and does not in any way
refer to the Latin Missal and other Romish service books, which that
Book supplanted. The Bishops at home are now evidently acting on
this judgment, and are at latst drying the issue with those who are
supposed to have violated the law. As yet, not a single case has been
brought before the courts, to test the strength of the law ; although the
decision of the Judicial Committee, in Westerton vs. Liddell does
expressly declare the Act of Edward VI. to have been law in his
second year.

.\s yet. there \m*\ not been a single instance in the whole Province
of Can »d I, of the intro luction of the objectionable practices com-
plained -igainst in England. VVe are tiioiefore, in this respect, in a
fortunate position ; and can, without the probability of acrimonious
feeUng, discuss the whole question in good temper, and in a proper
Christian spirit I cannot but express my deep regret, that the
resolutions to be proposed by Mr. Fletcher and his friends at our
next Synod, for adoption, should have been drawn up at all : and par-
ticularly, in a matter of such grave importance, that only one section
of the Church should have been consulted. It seems to me, tliat a
Diocesan Synod scarcely possesses power to enter upon the task
proposed. I would submit, therefore, that the safe and proper course
to pursue, is to agree on a Memorial, to be presented to the Provincial
Synod, urging that body t<; place itself in communication with the
Convocation of Canterbury ; and that in the meantime, the Provincial
Synod be requested to piss a temporary canon, sustaining the practice
and form under the First Prayer- tiook of Edward VI., as interpreted
and piomulgited by the Judicial Committee. We are farther
encouraged in this course by the present aspect of the question in

England. Bishops are bringing the subject before competent tribu-
nals; and there cannot be a doubt but that the whole question will
be also thoroughly discussed by the whole body of Bishops, soon to
assemble in London.

With a view to strengthen the position I assume, and at the same
time to prove that the Church is not so utterly helpless as she is
supposed to be, I have been at some pains to collect the opinions of
the Judicial Committee, and the comments on their judgment by
able minds, I beg not to be misunderstood : I am not one of those
who decry the proper use of forms and practices. I am, on the
contrary, in favour of an instructive ritual, suited to the doctrines of
the Church and expressing them. I am just as much opposed as you
are to the introduction of practices and forms peculiar to the Church
of Rome, against whose doctrine, in important points, and from whose
practices, we have for now a very long time protested and departed.
But we must have Anglican Ritual.

I would ask your attention to the following lengthy extract from
the pen of one of the ablest Canonists in the United States of
America : —

" Let us examine what ornaments of Church and Minister, are
sanctioned by authority of Parliament. The inquiry is as to books,
vestments and ornaments of the Church — of Articles used in minis-
trations of divine servifie. The Statute of 2nd Edward itself has only
one provision upon any part of the matter. That relates to the
Prayer Book being supplied in every Church at the expense of the
Parish. But the Prayer Book specifies as to be used in the course of
ministrations, and therefore sanctions, the following : The Prayer
Book,* the Great English Bible, f a Poor Man's Box,| a Paten ,§ a
Chalice,]] a Cup or Cups,^ a Corporas or cover for the elements,**
a Fontjfy and it seems a Credence Table,J| a Chair for the

• By the Statute above cited.

t Table and Calenders, the Two Liturgies. Parker Society, Cambridge, 1844. p. 21,
and numerous other passages.

t While the Clerks are singing the offertory, so many as were disposed are to offer to
the Poor Box according to his ability.

S Communion Office.

II Ibid. ^

IT Ibid.

*• The white napkin placed upon the Paten, on which the bread is laid. A oorporaa
is the white linen cloth used after all have communed. (Scotch Liturgy, 1637. Rubric
ia Book of 1662).

ft The Baptismal Office, Public and also Private.

U The judgment in Liddell tt. Westerton, Bastains a credence Table, upon a principle

Bishop,* Under the Second Book and Canons we find authorized
the fair white linen cloth on the table standing in the body of the
Church or Chancel, and the direction thatf a carpet of silk or
other decent stuflF cover it at other times ;| the Pulpit,§ the Reading
Desk,|| the Bell,^ an Alms Bason.** From this enumeration we
we find, that all which our Church deems needful for the seemly

very reasonable, but not to be carried too far. The Rubric, after directing the minister
to take 80 much Bread and Wine as shall suffice for the persons to receive the commu-
nion, is as follows : " And setting both the bread and wine upon the Altar, shall say. — "
The elements were not to be placed there until this point in the Service. They should be
kept somewhere, decently and conveniently, to be transferred to the Table. A small
Table near the Altar was convenient, consistent with the Rubric, and unobjectionable.

So in the Rubric of our Church, after the Alms are collected, and reverently brought
to the Priest, and humbly placed by him upon the Table, the Priest shall then place
upon the Table so much Bread and Wine as he shall think sufficient.

The Biihop of London, in the Knightsbridge case, 1854, (Apud Pmnock's Laws and
Usages, p. 784), says : " I think a credence Table, or something equivalent to it, is in
itself an unobjectionable piece of Church furniture. The elements should be somewhere
at hand. To place them on the table before the commencement of divine Service is
contrary to the Rubric. At the same time, as it is not mentioned in Rubric or Canon,
it might be removed by the Ecclesiastical Court." [Now settled that cannot be]. "I
myself prefer a projecting shelf in the wall of the chancel, or a recess, as is the case in
some Churches." Wheatly proves its use in the Ancient Church, p. 271, and so does
Dr. Nicholls, as to the Greek Church, (Book of Comm. Prayer). The criticisms and
objections of the Quarterly Review (May, 1843) are singularly weak and flippant.

• Ordering of Deacons, Rubric, 1652.

t Communion Office in the Second Prayer Book.

\ Canon 82 of 1603, copied from the advertisements of 1564. The Scotch Liturgy of
1637 implied that the carpet remained on the Table during the communion, and the
white linen cloth was placed over it. And such seems to have been the custom at a very
early period. (Pugin Apud Pinnock's Laws and Usages, p. 585).

S Liturgy of 1549 and 1552, " which ended " (the Liturgy) " the Priest shall go into
the pulpit and say," kc.

" The Church Wardens and Questmen, at the common charge of Parishoners in every
Church, shall provide a comely and decent Pulpit, to be set in a convenient place within
the same, (by the direction of the Ordinary of the place if any question arise.) and to be
there seemly kept for the ministration of God's Word." (Canon 82 of 1803). This ia
nearly a literal copy of an injunction of Edward, of 1547.

II " We appoint that a convenient seat be made for the minister to read the service in,
to be done at the charge of the Parish." (Canon 82 of 1603).

■" After Morning Prayers, the Litany ended according to the accustomed manner, the
Priest shall, in the Reading pew, or pulpit, say," <fec. (Rubric in Commination Service,
1662).

The Amho Tribunal EcclenitB of early ages was also called Pulpitutn.

It was an elevated desk from which the Scriptures recited in divine Service were
read. A lighter piece of furnit tre called the Lectern was introduced into Cathedrals,
and occasionally into Parish Churches. But the Reading desk genernlly prevailed.
[Bingham, ILL 5-13]. The earliest use of the Lectern was about the thirteenth century.
It was superseded by the modern Reading desk, which appears to have been frequently
erected with the Pulpit under the Canons of 1603.

The Rubric of 1662 directed the reader of the Lessons standing " and turning himself
as he may be best heard of all present."

The remarks of Archdeacon Sanforth appear to be very judicious.

" The Reading Desk ought not to face the people ; for he [the minister] is not ad-
dressing them, but speaking for and with them. It ought to be raised only slightly
above them, for he is not. while engaged in prayer, speaking with authority as an
instructor, but as one of themselves, making known their joint requests to God. Its
best position seems to be at the junction of the Nave and Chancel, facing either north
or south, and on the contrary side to the Pulpit. It was thought best to make it appear
enly as a continuation of the atljoining Stall. When the Lessons arc read from the
Reading Desk, there ought to be a Book-board for the Bible, facing the congregation,
but a Leotern seems more appropriate for this purpose." [Parochalia, p. 28, Apud
Pinnock's Laws, (to., p. 133].

IT By the second Book, the Curate was directed to have the Bell tolled a conveaieDt
time before he begin.

** Rubric in Prayer dook.

ministrations of her holy rites, have their sanction in the reign of
Edward, with a few additions in 1603. And thus we trust it is
established, that the late developments of Ritualism, particularly of
Lights upon the Altar, are violations of the positive Law of the
English and of this Church. If we are asked how in our country
these infractions are to be redressed, the writer is clear in his opinion
that there is an open way. But if there is none, or if it is dubious
and difficult, the impotency of a system of Discipline can never
absolve a Minister of the Church from his duty to obey its Law. The
conscience is as much under subjection where there is no penalty and
no coercive power, as if the sentence of the Law had the wh^U
sovereign force of a kingdom to execute them. The vow of the
Minister binds him to obey his Church in all her Godly precepts, in
all her rules for his ministrations. Before this tribunal, the goodly
company of true believers and faithful followers of her Discipline as
well as her Worship, must he stand. The Bishops of the Church,
here and in England, exhibit much reluctance to proceed through the
process of Law to punish for offences. It may be wise, as it is
charitable; although the habits of thought of a Judge make him
unwillingly accede to it. But the last vindication of any deviation
from rule should be the security of escaping condemnation. A higher
and better spirit, we are persuaded, influences those, who, in the case
of those observances, and in the sad breaches of our Law in calling
Ministers of other Denominations to teach the people from the pulpit,
have awakened deep solicitude for the cause of the Church. It may
be permitted to one, in the close of a life, much of which has been given
to this cause, earnestly and most respectfully to press upon their
thoughts, that lawlessness of every kind reta^Ij the progress of the
Church, and so inevitably obstructs the advance of Christ's Religion.
The practices to which we have now referred, might be of little
moment, if they were not the offspring and the symbols of Superstitions
and Dpctrines imperiling Faith and Truth."

•" To a reverential Churchman's mind, the most important of all
these questions is that which regards the apparel of the Altar at the
Admistration of the Lord's Supper. But no just opinion of what is
fitting here can be formed, unless we have some opinion of what that
Sacrament means. In our most humble judgement, no man of ordi-
nary reasoning powers, who believes in the Divinity of Christ, and

that what He and His ApoBtles taught is in substance truly narrated,
can accede to the tenet of mere Symbolism. To suppose that the
ordination of this Rite was like a wish of Socrates, that his friends
would meet and commemorate the day of his death with a solemn
feast, is wholly incompatible with what is thus divinely declared. The
doctrine of Zuinglius is but a shade beyond this. There is here a
mystery to be believed in, if we allow that anything may be credited
which cannot be explained. But if we take the Articles of Religion
as the exponent of the Catholic truth, we find " that the Bread
which we (faithfully) break is a partaking of the Body of Christ, and
likewise the Cup of blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ."
(Article XXVII.) Even upon this presentment of the Faith, there
is mystery. And it will be no deeper if we admit, as it seems to the
writer must be admitted, that we are warranted by Scripture, Ancient
Fathers, and modern Reformers, in recognizing a Spiritual Sacrifice,
and an Altar, in a sense truly Catholic, and yet wholly variant from
Romish doctrine."

"Thus instructed and believing, we look to what was sanctioned by
our English fathers at the Reformation, for the celet ration of the
Communion. There is the fair white linen cloth upon the Table, THE
Bible open upon it, the Book of Common Prayer at either end, the
Elements set upon it at the appointed time, the Paten, the Chalice,
the Cup, and the Alms-basin for the poor, termed the devotions of the
People. All these, so fitting, so sacred in association, so august in
their simplicity, furnishing the true graniture of the Holy Table for
the most holy Rite of the Church. Everything else lessens, or is
inharmonious. The presence of the Elements should exclude them
all. Even the flowers of Easter Morn should bloom and diffuse their
fragrance elsewhere in the Church. Purity, solemnity, true faith, holy
hope, hover over the Altar thus prepared ; and there is not, to the
calm religious eye, a sight on earth, more impressive and heavenward,
than the Communion Table of a Parish Church, thus plainly, thus
sublimely ornamented."

In support of the opinion of a Spiritual Sacrifice, and an Altar,
Mr. Maurice says : —

" When we say that our feast, like that of the Passover, is sacrificial,
we do not mean, that it does not commemorate a blessing which has
been fully obtained and realized ; if we did, we should violate the

analogy in the very moment of applying it; for the Passover did
commemorate a complete deliverance, and the establishment of a
national state, in consequence of that deliverance. But as that
deliverance was accompanied with a sacrificial act, and by a sacrificial
act accomplished, — and yet, in this Passover, the act was perpetually
renewed, becaase in this way the nation understood, that by sacrifice
it subsisted and consisted, — and because by such a renewal its mem-
bers realized the permanent and loving character of the good that had
been bestowed upon them, — -so is it here.^ The Sacrifice of Christ
is that with which alone God can be satisfied, and in the sight of
which alone He can contemplate our race ; it is therefore the only
meeting point of Communion with Him ; but this Communion being
established, it must be in presenting the finished Sacrifice before Gody
that wo both bear witness what our position is, and realize the glory
of it ; otherwise we have a name without the reality ; and with the
words "finished and complete," are robbing ourselves of the very
thing which makes it so important that we should prize them and
preserve them." — Maurice's Kingdom of Christ.

Perhaps there never was a' better illustration of the sin of disobedi-
ence, than is afforded by the introduction of the excessive rituaUsm
complained against.

It has led, among other serious evils, to one most palpable one,
i. e. the assertion, by those who desire to bring about confusion, that
the doctrine of the Church of England on the Eucharist is assimilable
to that of the Roman Communion. No Anglican, (and we cannot
state this too often) could for one moment hold the Koman error of
transubstantiation, and abide contentedly within the pure fold of
our branch of the Church : and it is only right, that those amongst us
who honestly prefer a devout, impressive, and soul-elevating celebra-
tion of the most sublime of all our our services, should be explicit in
the statement of doctrine.

It may, I think, be at once admitted, that the diflference in the two
great schools in the Church of England lies in this, that the one
party believe, that our blessed and only Redeemer is only present
subjectively in the mind of the faithful receiver. The other holds,
that He is objectively present, and is taken and received subjectively

* We ask a careful reading of p. 323 to 329 of Maurioe's Kingdom of Christ, Amer. Ed.

by the faithful receiver. Now we, who are of this latter school, may
safely express our belief, in the very fitting language of Dr. Monsell :
" Believing, as we do most firmly, in the Keal Presence of the Body
and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion, we still feel, that in so
great A MYSTEHY, it is taking too much upon us to assign any place
to that Presence, of which we only know, that The Sacrament being
rightly celebrated, it is there, where all rightly receiving may verily
and indeed partake of it. But where that there is, save that its
ultimate rest is in the faithful heart, we dare not say^

Again, Mr. Liddon, in an argument, observes, " Mr. Hubbard ia
perfectly right in assuming that Transubstantiation is denied on both
sides of the controversy. Mr. Keble's language on the subject is
sufl&ciently explicit. He describes the doctrine, as " an error, a one-
sided formula, a half-truth ;" and urges " that it must be an exceeding
calamity for any portion of the Church to have committed itself to
it;" and he maintains that, " looking to the average sort of believers,
it must be judged on the whole to have bore very evil fruit, both
where it is received, and where it is iwt." It may then be affirmed,
that in argument between ourselves, in the Church of England, the
erroneous dogma " Transubstantiation," is excluded, as being foreign
to the belief of any section of our Church. Well, then, the possible
error that ice would guard against is, the belief that the celebration of
the Eucharist is a mere memorial service. We never, in our present
state, can explain a mystery. The fact of our using the Scriptural
term Mystery, implies something to be taken on Faith ; and the
language of our Service enables us in Faith to declare, that we " eat
the flesh of Christ and driuk His blood," and to teach in the
Catechism, that, " the Body and Blood of Christ, are verily and
indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper."
We must believe, that when we are taking and receiving the outward
sign, that, in a mystery, our blessed Lord is communicating to us
supra-lncally and snpra-naturally Himself; and, to use a recent
writer's language, " it matters not to Faith, whether the Natural
Presence be close at hand with the Sacramental, as in the Upper
Room, or be as far from it as Heaven from Earth, as in all subsequent
Eucharists. The impossibility of conceiving the manner of this, is no
objection, any more than it would be to any other, the most undenia-
ble aspect or result of the mystery of the Holy Incarnation."

The Church of England must adapt her ritual to the doctrine she
holds. A representative, in place of a vicarial Priesthood. Repre-
sentative Sacrifice, instead of propitiatory Sacrifice.

The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, in answer to an address presented
to him, remarked : —

" Whatever changes may be fairly considered to be symbolical of
erroneous doctrine, and to favour that which was deliberaielij rejected
by the Church of England ; whatever I have reason to believe is
offensive to the great bulk of a congregation, and calculated to estrange
them from the Church of their forefathers, all this I shall resolutely
discountenance ; but I must not be understood to promise any inter-
ferance with that legitimate latitude WHICH IS permitted in the
ordering of the services of the Church, for instance, the alternatives
which allow certain portions of them to be either said or sung, or to
control variations in things indifferent where there is no appeal to me
from the congregation. I could not say with truth that those clergy
who have been following irregular customs to which they have been
habituated from their youth, are equally deserving of censure with
those who introduce innovations with a special object foreign to the
spirit. and letter of our formularies. But while I admonish all who
have broken in upon the uniformity of our" ritual observances on the
side of EXCESS, I would remind those who, either hy intentional
omission, or hy neglect and laxity, have offended in the other direction
how much they thereby weaken the side of order and embarrass the
administration of even-handed justice by their own short-comings. You
are all doubtless acquainted with the deliberate judgments in these
matters of ritaal passed by the two Houses of Convocation of the
province of Canterbury — a judgment which I hope soon to see ratified
by the Convocation of the province of York. I will not do the advo-
cates of extreme ritual, to whom this judgment refers, the injustice
of supposing that they will persevere in their present course in the face
of such authority. I would rather anticipate their promptly yielding
to it. They will thus aid in the restoration of that harmony which
has been so grievously disturbed by the recent proceedings, and will
help to avert those imminent dangers which have threatened the Church
from their rash and wilful innovations. May the God of peace so dispose
and turn the hearts of his servants that our Church may joyfully serve
Him in all godly quietness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'*'

In like manner the Bishop of Chester has recorded his opinion, in
the following unmistakeable letter : —

'' Hawarden Castle, Chester, Dec. 26, 1866.

My dear Sir — I have been requested to send to you my answer to
an address signed by 128 clergymen of Liverpool and the neighbour-
hood. In connection with one of the heads of complaint contained
therein — viz., "practices" which mean "gestures, ceremonies, and
vestments," they with good reason regret that "the law, is ambiguous."

That ambiguity has recently been aggravated by the conflicting
opinions given by very eminent lawyers. And no good result could be
expected from iny exertion of authority which cannot be sustained by
law. In the exercise of " free thought," with which the memorialists
"deprecate any undue interference," they will dotlbtless he prepared
to allow that our public service, according to local circumstances, admits
of various degrees of embellishment, when such embellishment is not
employed to symbolise doctrines repudiated by our Church, but is kept
within its due limits, as offering additional legitimate attraction, as
ministering to the ascertained edification of the congregation, and there-
fore adopted with their concurrence. The particular ceremony specified
in the address, " the elevation for worship of the consecrated elements,"
appears to me to be contrary to the concluding paragraph of the
Twenty-eighth Article, to the Declaration subjoined to the rubric at
the end of the Communion Office, and to the obligation under which
our clergy place themselves, to "give their faithful diligence always so

to minister the doctrine and sacraments as this Church and realm

hath received the same." The second head of complaint is " the use
of services not contained in the Book of Common Praver." As no
case of this kind has been reported to me from either archdeaconry, it
may, I hope, be concluded that no presentation of such practices has
been made by any of the churchwardens, to all of whom this question
is put year by year — " Does your officiating minister, properly habited,
preform the service of the Church as prescribed in the Book of Com-
mon Prayer?" The use of such services is in my judgment irrecon-
cileable with the declaration, solemnly made by our clergy, that they
will "use the forms in the said book prescribed, and none other." I
have no sympathy with ceremonial innovations or revivals. But while
I offer my thanks to the memorialists for the respect which they express

Ibr my office, I wHl beg their permission to remind them that if the
law is invoked for the suppression of errors on the side of excess, it
must he expected that strict conformiti/ to the rubric will he insisted
upon wherever variations or omissions in any of the Ojffices of the
Church have come to have tJie sanction of custom.

I remain, my dear sir, very fnithfuUy yours,

William Chester.
The Rev. Augustus Campbell, Rector of Liverpool."

Endorsing these views, I think the course proposed by yourself
and the gentlemen acting with you, will prove a most unwise one ;
and I shall feel it to be my duty, at the approaching meeting of the
Diocesan Synod, to move the resolutions of which I have given notice,
in amendment to those which have been published in the Globe.

Fortunately, in England, hasty legislation is not easy. Men like to
see their way before they act. And the probability is, that the law
as it stands, will turn out to be sufficiently clear against extreme
practices of every kind.

Since the greater part of this letter was in print, we have had the
opportunity of reading a letter published by an able English Barrister,
in support of the decision of the Judicial Committee, which entirely
declares the validity of the Rubric, and its reference to the First
Prayer Book of Edward ; and there seems now to be no doubt what-
ever, that the Church at home will be governed by it. According to
this ruling, there will be really very little to carp about. *' It is
objected," says the able Reviewer, " that the rubric in question does
not apply to the first but to the second book." It is put thus : —
" Edward VI. began to reign on Jan. 28th 1547. His second year
was over on January 28th 1549. His first Prayer Book did not come
into use by law until Whit-Sunday, 1549. Well, on his third year,
and till then, the Latin Missal and Breviary were the only lawful
books in England." The full explanation of this objection, which at
first sight seems formidable, is this : — The First Book of Edward VI.
was put forth and sanctioned by the Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI., c. 1 ; and
this statute enacts, " that all ministers, &c., shall, from and after the
Feast of Pentecost next coming , be bounden to say and use the
matins, &c., in the same book, and none other." As the session of
parliament in which this statute was passed did not begin till

November, in the second year of the King, the Feast of Pentecost
next coming would be in the third year. Hence it is argued, that the
Prayer-Book could not be in force till the third year. But a later
clause of the same Act is overlooked, which provides, that the books
should be got by the different parishes " by the Feast of Pentecost
next following, or before; and that all such parishes, &c., where
the said books shall be attained and gotten before the Feast of
Pentecost, shall within three wecJcs next after the said books so
attained and gotten, use the said service, and put the same in use
according to this Act." The question is thus narrowed to the date
of the Act itself. The Judicial Committee, in the case of Westerton
vs. Liddell, remarked, that " there seems no reason to doubt, that the
Act in question received the Royal assent in the second year of
Edward VI. It concerned a matter of great urgency, which had
long been under consideration, and was the first Act of the session :
it passed through one House of Parliament, on January 15th, 1549,
N. S., and the ether on the 21st, same month; and the second year
of Edward did not expire till January 28th. In the Act of the 5th
and 6th Edward VI. c. 1, sec. 5, it is expressly referred to as the Act
made in the 2nd year of His Majesty's reign. Upon this point,there-
fore, there can be no difficulty. The fact then, that we are governed
by the rubric and law of the First Prayer-Book, and not by any laws
or rubrics under the Latin Missal and Breviary, is settled. The
'Reviewer further notices: — " At the present day, an Act takes effect
only from the time at which it receives the Royal assent ; but this is
comparatively a recent system, having been brought about by the Act
33 Geo. III. c. 13. Previously to the passing of that Act, the rule
was, ' that when the commencement of an Act was not directed to be
from any particular time, it took effect from the first day of the ses-
sion in which the Act was passed,' therefore there is no room left to
doubt, that in the legal phraseology of the day, the usages which it
introduced would be spoken of as being in the Church in the second
year of the King."

It has been further declared by the Judicial Committee, that " the
construction of this rubric which they suggested at the hearing of the
case, is its true meaning, and that the word ornaments applies, and in
this rubric is confined, to those articles the use of which in the services
and ministratious of the Church is prescribed by the Prayer-Book of

Edward VI. All the several articles used in tlie performance of the
services and rites of the Church, are ' ornaments.' * Vestments, books,
cloths, chalices, and patens are amongst Church ornaments. When
reference is had to the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI., with this
explanation of the term, no difficulty will be found in discovering,
amongst the articles of which the use is there enjoined, ornaments of
the Church as well as ornaments of the ministers. Besides the
vestments differing in the diflFcrent services, the rubric provides for the
use of an English Bible, the new Prayer-Book, a poor-man's box, a
chalice, a corporas, a paten, a bell, and some other things."* Nothing
can be plainer than this ; and it seems unreasonable to suppose, that
the position assumed by those who contend, that certain practices and
customs of the Church in use before the issuing of the Prayer-Book of
Edward, can be maintained.

When, therefore it is said, that the Church in Canada had not in
mind the re-sumption of vestments unsuited to the usages and
doctrines set forth by the Churoh of England, we simply state the
truth ; for it is now placed beyond all doubt, that the only vestments
allowable, and the only practices permissible are those specified and
enacted by the First Prayer-Book ; for it has been declared by the
Judicial Committee, that " the same dress and the same utensils or
articles, which were used under the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI.
may still be usedj" and farther, the Judicial Committee declare, that
'' the word ' ornaments,' applies, and in this rubric is confined, to
those articles the use of which in the services and ministrations of the
Church, is prescribed by the Prayer-Book of Edward VI." No
Bishop, with such a sentence from the English Court before him,
could permit the use of articles or ornaments excluded by the very
terms and known spirit of the Prayer-Book. Incense, Lights on the
Altar, the Crucifix, ?nd othei ornaments, but the Chalice, Alms-
Basin, Flagon and Paten, with the Service Books and Holy Bible,
arc evidently excluded. Even a simple Cross may not stand on the
Altar-Table, but only may be used as a decoration or simple emblem,
as, say the Committee, '' appropriate." Now, if this is Law, where
the necessity for any new Canon ?

" The legal eflFect of the judgment of the Judicial Committee," says

* Moore's Reports, p- 156.

Mr. Shaw, •' is to put a very definite and distinct interpretation upon
^he rubric at the commencement of the Prayer-Book. The ornaments
recognised by our rubric, and by it invested with a legal sanction, are
* the several articles used in the performance of the services and rites
of the Church, which are mentioned in the First Prayer-Book of
Edward.' It may be said," continues Mr. Shaw, " that the applica-
tion of the test proposed, as to the validity of certain things, gives tw
one or two vestments, not now commonly in use. If this be so, and if
it be thought right to revive them, thei/ will be revived, because
thought worthy to be retained by our early Reformers." It is then
perfectly certain that Altar-lights, the Thurible, Incense, and the
Torch, will be declared to be illegal ; while one or two vestments will
be retained as legal.

" The decision of the Judicial Committee in Liddcll's Case,
establishing the exclusiveness of the provisions of the First Book,
made that Book supersede the Injunctions, even if they possessed full
Parliamentary sanction. The proposition is plain. The Rubric
rendered the First Book the only Law upon the subject, which had
Parliamentary sanction. What had it before was superseded ; what
possessed it intermediately was annulled."

" The consideration of the rule as to Vestments, was proposed ta
be treated separately, but we have already occupied so large a space,
that we can only now state briefly, in propositions, the conclusions
which are sustained by a great mass of testimony."

" Upon the written Law, and the construction given to the Rubric
in Liddell's case, the Vestments prescribed in the First Book are
lawful by English Laws. None previously used, and not so specified,
are lawful. The Albe, (in truth a surplice), the Cope Vestment, and
Tunicle, so authorized, though the use is cumbersome and unwise, are
not allied with Popish errors, and should not occupy a moment of
care or thought."

Why there should be any harshness used in rejecting the mixed
chalice, we cannot see. Surely, what our Lord used, it must be
right in us to use ; and what oflFence is given to any one, if a Priest,
in preparing the elements for consecration, mixes water with the
wine ? It is just one of those observances concerning which nothing
need be said. We need to exercise at this time the greatest charity
towards each other. We must all feel that we are in a crisis. The

time has evidently arrived at which it will be made manifest, whether
the Church of England is to be an active, living, visible branch of the
Church of Christ ; or whether it is to be rent asunder, and scattered
to the winds. Under our difficulties, we may only hope. God will
guide into the way of truth those who seek for His guidance, and it is
for us to pray earnestly, that His Spirit may be with our Bishops, to
guide and lead thera aright.

If men are really moved by the love of Christ, they will soon
discover that all their actions must be dictated by love ^ not by fitful
outbursts of passion, but by a sober, determined acquiescence in all
that He commands. In demanding the liberty to set forth His
truth even, care must be taken, that we err not in enforcing pas-
sionately that which may be urged lovingly. It is truly lamentable
to hear men speaking of the departure of members from the household
of faith, as if it were a matter of no moment : * Let them be off! —
the Church of England is no home for them." is but too commonly
on the lip of scorn. To such we would simply address the words of
one whose love was from the heart : " 0, my lord, give her the living
child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither
mine nor thine, but divide it." God forbid ! If we be truly loyal,
let us in love meet each other. " Choose you out men of renown,"
and, depending on the promises of God, let us wait the result of the
labour of love which these may bring forth.

• Feeling deeply the greatness of the work which the Anglican
Ohn*^V has to perform in the world, it cannot be unimportant to
Ifecsf' who love her, to witness the revival of life and energy in
Cuiistian work, which mark her in the present time as an instrument
prepared for a great purpose. While, therefore, in a more demon-
strative manner than of late, the Church sets forth her true and
lively faith j it is quite possible that human zeal hap erred, and unless
we deal tenderly, and at the same time righteously, with those whose
zeal may lack discretion, we shall in all probability be caught in their
error, — zealous over-much. It cannot be denied that our mode of
celebrating divine service has been unreasonably cold and formal.
The listless undevotional conduct of those who generally attend the
Sunday services, has had a bad effect on others who have longed for a
more real and devout exhibition of love to Christ. We must then
concede, that the expressive and more demonstrative celebration of
a

divine service has awakened thought, and brought many to recognise
a (Jod who is in the Congregation. I believe that great good has
resulted from the order now observed at those Churches, which like
All Saints, St. Margaret St., and St. Barnabas', do not go beyond, and
as it appears, not so far even, as the law of Ritual allows,* It may,
therefore, be quite right to fix two extremes to which observances
ritualistic may be carried ; but not the point between those two
extremes to which all are of necessity to conform.

It seems hardly probable that the law is so lame and obscure as to
render it impossible that a judgment should be arrived at. As yet,
remember, no case has been brought before the Courts, to show what
are, or what are not lawful practices and observances : and yet, even
in England, intemperate men have been crying out for fresh l(^sla-
tion, before they really know whether it be needed or no. The
Bishop of London has now taken steps, in the case of St. Albans, to
have the matter determined. This seems to be the only proper
course to settle the question, and to ascertain the suflBiciency or insuf-
ficiency of the present Ir w. With the decision of the Judicial Com-
mittee before his eyes, no Presbyter in Canada in any oiour dioceses,
would be so foolish as to risk the withdrawal of his license, or
suspension from duty, for introducing a ritual not sanctioihed clearly
by the First Prayer Book. We have seen, that the ritual under it
diflfers but little from Cathedral observances now. This being so,
the attempt to force through a mere Diocesan Synod, new Canons, not
worth the paper on which they may be written, because of no force in
law, would only engender discord and strife. We maintain that the
law is efficient, and needs only to be put in force against ALL its
violators. Here is the pinching of the shoe. What we truly want is
impartial administration of the law. Let us have even-handed
justice. Bishops, if they please, may secure the most loyal and
dutiful submission, by enforcing their authority, injustice. Do not
let us have Presbyters removed from their cures for obeying rubrics,
and others let alone in the most open disobedience to all law. Do not
let one set of men interpolate the service by some unauthorized and
extemporized version of their own ; or omit, as a practice, portions of
the service, and of whole services ; — while another class are held up to

• We believe that the Vestmonta complained against are not wpin in these Churches.

obloquy, and denounced even, when they commit ao other supposed
fault than that of preaching in and using the surplice. It does seem
rather hard, and unequal, to find a Dean Stanley or Colenso lightly
dealt with, or even promoted to honour, when no punishment is too
severe for those who, whatever their errors, are sacrificing themselves
to the cause of Christ, and are declared, even by the Bishop of
London himself, to be pious godly men. Nevertheless, shew them no
mercy ; hound them down. Do not try by loving persuasion to win
them. The popular voice roars, so the victim must be given to the
populace. Not this man, but Barabbas. Up to this time there is
not, we believe, a Church in the whole Confederation of Canada, in
which any other vestments are used than the surpUce and stole, in the
celebration of the Eucharist There are some Churches in which this
Vestment is changed for a black one ; and in some, to effect the
change, processions are made of the Clergy, the whole Clerical Staff,
all in due order, going to look after their brother, or else each to look
after other, as they change from black to white and white to black.
But just let one of the other school only attempt to bow at the name
of Jesus, and a Congregation follow his example, and a Bishop may
(as has been one) call out from his place, " Stop that bowing /"
It is quite i-ght that Bishops should interpose their authority to
prevent the use of incense, or other illegal practices, even when used
to intensify the reality of our worship of Almighty God ; but let their
Lordships' influence and authority be directed with no less determi-
nation, to suppress that display of extreme ultra-Protestant contempt
for all Ritual, with which the House of God, and the services of God,
are not infrequently treated. If incense is to be put away from one
class, let a Clergyman be instructed to rebuke, and even to withhold
services from those who are guilty of such profanity as filling the
house of prayer with a cloud of tobacco-smoke (the only Protestant
incense tolerated), and the desecrating His House by conduct and
conversation not even always refined. Do not pass over the great
neglect of the public administration of baptism , or the low vulgarity,
to say nothing more, of taking a Font from a Church and converting
it into a horse-trough ^ while you condemn another, who, following
the Wise-Man, bows reverently before His Maker's most holy Altar-
Table; and teaches jnen, that '' the Lord is in His holy Temple, let
all the earth keep silence before Him."

It was boastfully stated by the Lord Bishop of London, that it was
the peculiar excellency of the Church of England, that she did
embrace men of such wide views as Dr. Pusey and Dean Stanley.
His Lordship evidently had a mental reservation for the class of
liituaUsts. She, evidently he thinks, has no place for the soles of
their feet. In the all-important question of religious truth, the action
of our rulers is looked on with suspicion. Two memorable instances
of haste are before us. John Wesley took with him a multitude.
He was, by red-tapeism and cowardice on the part of our authorities,
in not resisting popular feeling, driven from his home. Popular
clamor, and ultra-Protestant haste, betrayed the Parliament of
England into passing what they now condemn as foolish — an
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. Take care ! intemperate haste may induce
timid men to do now that which England herself may regret. We
have not yet come to the belief, '' Vox populi vox Deiy We do
believe in trusting implicitly to the law, impartially and righteously
interpreted by competent authority. If, when the law is made clear,
men refuse to obey it — punish them. If the law is — as we believe it
to be — against both the extreme Ritualist, and the extreme Anti-
Ritualist — let its penalties fall on both alike. Arbitrarily withdrawing
licenses, and condemning men without trial, will not stop the work
they are doing. Prove to them that they are wrong — for this is
British justice — and then punish, if they heed not.

We, then, simply ask for justice. Feeling bound by the law, as
declared by the Judicial Committee, let our Bishops act — as we hope
and believe they will — impartially, and the great body of Clergy will
cheerfully obey their requirements, even if such should be of doubtful
legality ; and will certainly most patiently submit to the dictum of
their spiritual rulers, until such time as the mind of the whole Body
of Bishops shall be expressed and declared, and the positive law of the
Church made clear by the CJourts. The Council about to assemble in
London, is, we must believe, called at the all-powerful suggestion of
the Eternal Spirit, Who has put it into the hearts of men, at so
critical a period, to require so important and godly an assembly to be
made in the cause of the Blessed Redeemer's Kingdom. May we all
be filled with the Spirit of love and patience ; and may it be put into
the minds of our rulci-s here, to require prayer to be offered to God,
for His blessing on and guidance of the Holy Synod. The meeting

is full of significance to the Church, and will, under God's good
providence, bring forth useful and blessed fruit. Casting aside all our
own mere personal opinions, and looking to the inculcation and spread
of true religion, let us be willing to bring our minds and actions into
conformity with whatever decisions may be arrived at : the loyal and
true-hearted will not — dare not — refuse to be guided by the deliberate
opinions and judgments arrived at by Bishops gathered from all parts
of the Reformed and Holy Catholic Church throughout the world.

Strong evidence in favour of the judgment of the Judicial Com-
mittee, is found in the very existence of the present 24th Canon, still
in force ; and which evidently is in accordance with the Rubric which
refers to the ornaments under the first Prayer-Book of Edward. Here, *
then, we find, that the law has ever prescribed a special vestment to be
worn by the officiating minister at the Holy Communion. Now, as
the Cope has been disused for some time, it may be even inconvenient
to resume it again ; but we may yet carry out, in a spirit of charitable
compromise, the intent of the law and early usage of the Church, by
asking those, who are opposed to coloured vestments, to consent to
the wearing a Stole, only to be used at the Holy Communion, which
may be either of white silk, or else of purple, and to exclude the
introduction of other vestments. The Stole was originally the symbol
of the yoke which Christ, and (in Him) all Christians bore : it seems
to call back to us, the heavy burden of degredation which was laid
upon Him, when " they led Him forth, wearing a purple robe ;" and
may therefore well be employed as a fitting vestment in our Euchar
ristic Service. With the same charitable feeling towards others, who
desire to retain the use of the Black Gown in preaching, let us freely
concede to them the privilege of its use, and declare that it may bo
lawfully used by the Preacher, who with it may wear the Hood of
his degree.

How, then, would the matter of Vestments, and of Ornaments of
the Church, stand ; under the present lawful mode of carrying out the
Oanons and Rubrics ?

1. There would be no Altar-Lights.

2. " " " Incense.

((

" Cope, Dalmatic, or Tunicle.

((

" Ornaments.

((

" Crucifix nor Cross.

((

" Flowers on the Altar-Table.

THERE WOULD BE: —

1. The Sacred Vessels — Chalice, Paten, Flagon, Alms-Basin.

2. The Holy Table with a Fair Linen Cloth on it.

3. The Altar-Cloth, of some colour, covering the Holy Table.

4. The Holy Bible, open.

5. The Service Books at either end.

6. The Fair Linen Cloth, to cover the consecrated elements,

afi&r all have communicated.

7. The Credence Table, or Shelf for the Oblations and Alms

of the People.

VESTMENTS FOR HOLY COMMUNION.

1. The White Linen Surplice, falling below the knee.

2. A Stole, either of white or purple silk.

VESTMENTS FOR THE SERVICE OF PRAYER.

1. A White Surplice and Black Silk Stole.

2. The Preacher's Gown, with the Hood of his Degree,

to be worn when preaching.

We have tabularized the Ornaments and Vestments which even now
may be worn and used, in order that we may see at a glance, if the
proposed interpretation of the law should be adopted, what the
Ornaments of the Church and Clergy would be.

When we speak of settling difficulties by "compromise of our
opinions," we do not neecessarily give up any important principles. It
is rather the meeting each other in perfect charity, admitting that, as
fallihh men, we are one and all, liable to err, and particularly prone
to hold our own private convictions passionately. An assembly of
individuals is far more likely to arrive at truth — " for in the multi-
tude of counsellors there is wisdom" — than isolated disputants, each
doing battle for his own opinions. Many minds come to agreement,
by excluding excesses, and by being brought to a middle course. We
have, in secular aifairs, a good illustration of the effect of this combi-
nation of opposing ideas in the case of |)olitical Reform, now taking
place in England. A great national revolution is desired. Two
parties are pretty nearly balanced : they meet, and as the result, both
are forced to sink their personal differences by a majority of voices

of both parties; and so a common stand-point is arrive at. If
we, as Christian men, in full belief in the power of the Blessed
Spirit, determine to bring our diflferences to a close, the Holy Spirit
will guide us to a safe and happy concord.

By a proper compromise, no party or section could claim a
victory. The vast majority of earnest sound-hearted men would
consent to maintain the via mediae believing that what is not Bomish,
and is from Reformation times, is not likely to be either dangerous in
the use or unseemly in practice. Already the law excludes those more
prominent ornaments of the Church, which being in use in a foreign
Communion, as symbolic of dangerous dogma, are therefore objec-
tionable to us, from being so used to set forth error. What the law
permits, not being specially Romish, ought not to have any bad effect
on us. The very terms of the Canons imply the desire to provide for
the harmony and beauty of the services of God. While, in those
Temples of Worship, which from their very construction, and from
the greater wealth of the worshippers, a more ornate service may be
seemly, an additional vestment is used, or the use sanctioned, as
falling in wit^ the more beautiful and rich adornment of the material
Temple. In the rendering of the services, there are necessary and
unavoidable differences, clearly by the force of circumstances permissi-
ble. The choir, and fine-toned organ; the full-sized chancel, with
its richly carved stalls and desks, together with the (perhaps) elaborate
stone pulpit, and often chaste and beautiful plate, constitute of them-
selves perfectly correct differences in the rendering of the service, from
what we find the service itself to be, as offered up in a simple
structure of wood.

There can, therefore, be no real objection whatever to Congrega-
tions bringing up the celebration of divine worship to the standard of
Cathedral and Collegiate services, if they can do so.

While the authorities of the Church, both at the Reformation and
shortly afterwards, determined to exclude all that was objectionable,
they seem to have been singularly careful to do nothing which could
be construed into an intentional depreciation of the externals of wor-
ship of the Church. It is quite true, as the Judicial Committee of
Privy Council state, that the Reformers differed among themselves, a»
individuals, as to the exact meaning to be put upon our Lord's
words of institution, but their Lordships were wrong evidently,

in the inference which they deduced from this fact, that the Cliurch
ignored all idea of " the Communion of the body and blood of the
Saviour" in the Holy Eucharist ; ot in the Holy Communion itself
not being in any sense a sacrifice. They emphatically denied, and
were fierce even, in their denunciation of the errors, that there was a
re-iteration cf the vicarial Sacrifice, and of the doctrine of T ran substan-
tiation ; but from the very fact, that they so faithfully appealed to
early Christian history, and so earnestly desired to be guided by the
consent of the Fathers in all that related to Christian doctrine,
appealing to early Authority in support of what they held } it is clear
that they never meant to ignore the truth as always held by the
Church. And this is made more clear by the very fact of the existence
of the Church Catechism, the whole structure and language of the
Eucharistic servico, and the 26th Article, and more strongly the 28th.
We have nothing to do with the opinions of individual Reformers.
We have to be guided by the Book of Common Prayer and Articles
of Religion, the great result of the united labour of the Reformers.

It would seem, from the researches of the Bishop of Ely, that all
ancient Vestments were white. This being granted, there seems to be
very little doubt, that the mere question of colour should not be very
material. The Alba or Alb, .is the oldest Vestment in existence : it
is a long Surplice, with a girdle round the waist.

The latest edition of " The Prayer Book Interleaved," has the
following : — " The Privy Council ruled in Liddell v. Westerton, that
the word ' Ornaments,' in the Rubric in our present Prayer Book,
applies and is confined to those articles, the use of which in the ser-
vices and ministrations of the Church, is prescribed by the Prayer
Book of 1549.* From a study of the use and structure of these
Vestments, we may see that in the present day, if we confine ourselves
to what is known as the English circular Surplice, and a purple or white
silk Stole, we would have far more appropriate and seemly Vestments,
and much more like the early ones, than we should have if we were to
return to the use of the Cope and coloured Vestments. The law
according to the First Book of Edward VI. would certainly seem to
permit no other Ornaments to be placed on the Altar-Table, than
those which are required for the due celebration of the Holy Mystery ;

• See Prayer-Book interleaved, London edition, 1866.

while there is no law to prevent the Altar-Table itself from being of
the most beautiful and excellent workmanship. If therefore we may
never burn incense thereon, if no lights be permitted there, nor
flowers adorn the throne of Him who cometh to give the odour of
Life to His people, we must be satisfied to refrain from such symbolic
practices. But what we cannot refrain from doing is, the setting
forth our full belief in the Real Presence of Christ. We truly
believe, that the absence of lights and of flewers will have no serious
effect on any minds, nor will the removal of a simple cross even,
from the Altar, be a sufficient cause of estrangement between those of
the same household. But to attempt to define the exact method of
kneeling or of recognising the Redeemer as present with Christian
worshippers, and to say, that there is to be no presentation of the
oblations to God, may be a hard matter to accomplish. We believe,
that there ought to be some method of setting forth or symbolizing
the faith of the Church ; and while we agree to discard the use of
symbols which are employed to exprc-s doctrine from which we all
dissent, we may, on the other hand, by symbols perpetuate that truth
which we hold. The Greek Church objects to an Altar-Table of
stone; keeping in mind "The Wood" on which Jesus suffered.
The Anglican would seem to incline to the same symbolic use of wood.
Some will not recognise in any sense an Altai', but a Table, — to other
minds implying a conception as carnal and gross as that which the
Romanist professes to hold. But the Lord's most Holy Altar-Table,
is His Throne of Mercy with us ; and the richness and beauty of its
covering, and the nature of the devout service offered at it, should
ever fill us with lowly reverence, when we assemble before it.-

It certainly does seem reasonable, that the Altar-Table should
stand out in the adornment of beautiful simplicity — that there should
be no objects to call even our senses away from those elements which
represent (through our carnal sight) to our spirits, the wonderful
Sacrifice of the Son of God. Sacred vessels for such Service there must
be, and let them be such as become the House of God. Instead of
teaching people to use in His service vessels, that they would not
allow to be at their own tables, let them know, that in proportion to
their means must be their gifts. Therefore, when they may be had,
even gold cannot be too costly. In addition to these, no other earthly,
symbol than the Bible can represent to us so truly the nature of

Christ, as God and Man ; no other can bring before us so clearly,
" the Word made flesh ;" no other can illustrate as well, the power
of God and the mercy of God, as *' the Word of God."* As God's
Throne of Mercy, as His Footstool, let the Holy Altar-Table itself be
as perfect, beautiful, appropriate as human hands may make it. It
cannot be right to repress the warmth and aiFection of the heart, or
needlessly to limit the expression of that love for God which men
ever and again exhibit. " Diavid said unto all the congregation,
Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and
tender, and the work is great ; for the place is not for man, but for
the Lord God. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house
of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for
things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for thing*
of iron, and the wood for things of wood : onyx stones, and stones
to be set, glisteriing stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of
precious stones, and marble stones in abundance." — 1 Chron xxix. 2.
Let the Bezaleels to whom God still gives knowledge ; and who are
filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in
knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship — bring all their know-
ledge into God's service, and beautify His House, and make the
place, where He has put His Name, glorious. But in doing this, let
it be after the pattern that He -hath shewed us : — a Temple meet for
the indwelling of Christ's body. The tabernacle was beautiful, and
truly beautiful, as shewing forth that perfection, and beauty required
by God, and for the setting forth of truth. The Temple was very
magnificent, because it set forth the glory and truth of all that is of,
and for God. The devout Jew fell down to worship when the cloud
appeared : so when, in the Christian tabernacle, the hallowed signs of
Christ's presence are set before us, it must not be otherwise with us.
Mr. Maurice, in his Kingdom of Christ, page 341, remarks : —
*' I must say a few words before I conclude upon the difference
between my views and those of the Romanists, respecting those who
administer this Sacrament. The pure Protestant expresses his difler-
ence in such words as these. The Romanist, he says, unhappily con-
necting the idea of sacrifice with the Eucharist, necessarily supposes
that the Christian Church must have its priests, as well as the

• At St. James's Cathedral, Toronto, the Bible rests on the Altar-Table always.

Jewish ; we rejecting the first idea, of course reject the second. Now
as I have so carefully connected the idea of sacrifice with the
Eucharist, it follows from this statement, that if I suppose it to be
administered by human hands at all, I must suppose those hands to
be, in some sense of the word, sacerdotal. Nay, it would seem to
follow by necessary inference, that if I suppose the Jewish sacrifice to
have passed into something higher, I must suppose the Jewish priest-
hood to have passed into something higher. And this in fact is my
belief. I do think a Melchisedec priesthood has succeeded to an
Aaronical priesthood, even as the power of an endless life has suc-
ceeded to the law of a carnal commandment. I do think that He who
presents the perfect sacrifice before God, and himself and His people
as redeemed by that sacrifice, has a higher function than he, who
presented the daily offering, or made the yearly atonement before
Grod. I do think he who is permitted to feed the people with this
bread and wine has a higher work to do than he who came out of the
holy place to bless the people in God's Name. And I complain of the
Romanists for lowering this office^ for depriving it of its spiritual and
Catholic character, for reducing it to the level or below the level of
that which existed before the incarnation. No honour which is put
upon the person of the priest can make amends to him for the
degradation which he suffers by being treated as if he were without
the veil, pleading for admission into the presence of God, not claiming
the privilege for himself and his people of being admitted into it. No
emblems which exhibit his own mysterious glory and beauty can be
any compensation for the loss of the belief that he is permitted with
open face to behold the glory of his Lord. Above all, the differences
which are made between him and his flock, especially that most gross
and offensive one, by whatever arguments it may be palliated, of
permitting him alone to receive the sacramental wine, do but show
that he is not like his Lord, that he is not one of many brethren, but
has only the melancholy delight of fancying that there are blessings
reserved for him in which other men are not sharers. Herein he is
far below the Jew. The high-priest believed that he was one of a
kingdom of priests ; that he received his garments of beauty and his
holy mitre, because he was their representative. A Jew would have
answered to the complaint of Korah, ^ Ye take too much upon you,
seeing that all the congregation are holy, every one of them.' ' We

take this upon us which has been put upon us, because the congrega-
tion is holy, and because it would not be holy if we were not conse-
crated to be witnesses and preservers of its holiness." A Jew could
see thai the oil upon Aaron's head went down to the skirts of his
garments. It is not surely for Christians and Catholics to set up an
office in the Church against the Church itself, to set at nought the
ascription which they are appointed to offer up in the name of tha
whole body : ' Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever.

It is not alone in the use of certain vestments, that some minds are
perplexed. It is in the observance of a certain ceremonial that they
take offericc. They assume, and persist in declaring, that these
ceremonies are expressive of certain doctrines repudiated by the
Anglican Church at the Reformation. Thus, in taking the Paten
into his hand, the Priest breaks the Bread and lays his hand upon
the Bread, using the words of institution of our Lord. He then, it
may be, lifts up the Paten heavenward ; so with the Chalice. If this
were done towards the Congregation, in order that they may worship
material substance, it would be grievous sin ; but it is a presentation
before God of the oblation of the Sacrifice once for all offered by our
Lord, in which the people are to ooncur; pleading the perpetual
memory of our Lord's Sacrifice, which sacrifice we are bidden to make
and shew forth here, that its actual and effectual presentation by
Christ, through his service of representation here on earth, may be to
us the verily and indeed taking and receiving the Body and Blood of
Christ, bestowed upon faithful creatures in the power of His quicken-
ing Spirit. Christ onji/ is to be adored, wherever and whenever we
appear before Him. If He has ever taught, that the Cup of blessing
which He blesses is the Communion of His Blood, and the Bread
which He breaks is the communion of His Body, then as the Jew
was no idolater, when he saw the Cloud over the Tabernacle, and
worshipped God, and not the cloud — so they who recognise and fiilly
believe in Christ's unseen Presence, cannot be charged with idolatry
for believing Him to be really doing that which He has promised He
would do, when the signs of His Presence are before them, to certify
them of His promise.

THE PRESENCE OP GOD, AS TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE, MAT BE FOUND

IN THE FOLLOWING TEXTS :

Job xiii. 20 & 24.
Psalm X. 1.
Psalm civ. 1.
Isaiah xlv. 15.
Deut. xxxii. 20.
Psalm civ. 29,

Isaiah viii. 17.
Psalm XXX. 7.
Psalm Ixxxix. 46.
Psalm xxxi. 20.
Ezek. xxxix. 29.
Psalm xliv. 24.

Psalm Ixxxviii. 14.
Lament, iii. 56.
Jeremiah, xxiii. 24.
Job : xxiv. 29.
John xi. 36.

A careful study of these several portions of Scripture, gives us a
brighter and clearer idea of God's presence with us, than all else that
may be said or written. " We cannot ascend into heaven to bring
Christ down," but we have His "Word for it, that He has taken up
His abode amongst us. He has taken us to Mount Zion, and unto
the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels. "Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear." It is God who worketh
in us. We cannot bring Him. into our presence, it is He who
bringeth us into His presence. " For ye are made nigh by the blood
of Christ." " The Lord Is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth
keep silence before Him.'

Reasonable objection is made to the proposition that there shall be
but one coloured Altar-cloth ; because the Church has ever carried out
the contrary idea, of a year of seasons — the events of Jesus' life. To
mark the seasons in the Christian year, and practically to set forth
the varied events of our Lord's Life on earth, is but to illustrate the
teaching of the Church. To say, that we must not in any degree
vary the devotional intent of our services at Advent, Christmas, Lent,
Easter-tide, &c. , is but to render public worship a cold monotonous
formality.* If congregations, from pure love to Christ, like to
manifest their love, and are wealthy enough to afford beautiful but
correct methods of adornment, there can be no real objection to the
use of hangings and coverings of different colours, to mark the
different seasons ; and certainly the practice is in accordance with the

* " In respect to embroidered cloths, the sentence in the case of Westerton w Liddell,
is, that the covering used need not always be the same ; and that whether the cloths
used be suitable or not, was a matter to be left to the discretion of the ordinary.— See
Moore's Report.

€2

usage of the Church from earliest times. " And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me
an offering ; of every man that giveth it willingly with liis heart yc
shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of
them : gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet,
and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers'
skins, and shittim wood, oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and
for sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and
in the breast-plate; and let them make me a sanctuary, that I may
dwell among them.'^ At this very time all parties are expressing the
wish for the introduction of shorter services, to be used on special
occasions, as Harvest Time, in the Time of Pestilence, and for
Missionary Meetings ; a general movement towards a more active and
fruitful Christian life is taking place everywhere, and a more syste-
matic acknowledgment of Christian duty, is bringinf; into closer and
more intimate connection, the hitherto too widely separated classes of
society. It will be impossible to minister to such activity by an
unimpressive and icy cold performance of public worship. Earnest-
ness will make itself felt ; and the Church of England will not be the
only portion of the Church ashamed or afraid to manifest the depth
and heartiness of true devoiion.

We cannot admit, that it is a matter of indifference, what ritual
we have ; because men are deeply moved whenever ritual is either
increased or diminished. It is because it is most significant in its
teaching, that importance is attached to it. We believe that we
cannot safely deprive the services of God of all ceremonial and
adornment. In our nature He has been pleased to plant certain
powers and faculties, which are all and each to be consecrated to His
service. Hallowed by dedicating our lives to His Service, our
emotions, affections and passions are to be employed to His glory.
Our power of appreciating beauty and harmony, the elevating effect
which is produced on the mind, and the depressing effect which the
absence of beauty and harmony has upon us, warns us not to be slow
in making the ^' place of His feet glorioi^."

look how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings.
Still Quiring to the young-eyed cherubim ;
Such harmony is in immortal souls."

An Informal and spiritleas service may be as destmctive of devo-
tion, as an ornate service without the true spirit of piety. It must
be, that our souls are quickened and rendered more instantly sensitive
by appeals through the senses, or by quickening influences on our
emotions and passions ; for our Heavenly Father would not have so
constituted us, as to render our spiritual nature largely dependent
upon those senses by which we are made to a great extent cognisant
of an external world. Solomon, as we have shown, was not ashamed
to bow before God's Altar on earth. His warm emotion demonstrated
his earnest belief It is the Lord's Altar-Table laden with precious
gifts now, as then ; yet we would decry all demonstrative reverence.
" Whoso shall swear by the Altar, sweareth by it, and by all things
thereon." Therefore, whoso boweth before the Altar, boweth in
humble worship before Him, the siffts of whose Freoence are lying
thereon. " Son of man, the place of my Throne, and the place of
the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of
Israel for ever ; and my Holy Name shall the children of Israel no
more defile." Thus hath the God of Heaven and Earth claimed for
Himself a place, where in His holy House there may be His Throne
and Foot-stool at which He may receive the offerings and adoration
due to His Holy Name.

If in appropriate Ritualistic practices we set forth or demonstrate
Truth ; do not attempt harshly to repress all such practices. God
knows we are cold and lifeless enough, and need be stimulated to
warmth and fervour.

The Venerable Bishop of Exeter, who now more than ninety years
of age, still lives, again to lift his voice against the errors of Rome,
as well as to curb the extravagances of ultra-Protestantism, has
better understood the position of the English Church than perhaps
any other Bishop living. He has always acted on the principle, that
the Church has left no choice to her Bishops, Priests or People, but
has plainly declared what may be done. And it would be well that
we should keep in mind the great principle which has guided so
able a Bishop through the diflSculties with which he has had to
contend ; first with the extremely Low, and then with the ultra-High
Churchman.

The Bishop of Exeter, in Helston's Case, (1844, Pinnock's Laws
and Usages, p. 803,) decided that he would not interefere to condemn

the Rev. W. Blunt for using a surplice, because the Churchwardens
had not provided the alb, vestment, or cope, as was their duty to have
done. If they were provided, he should enjoin the Minister to use
them. The parishioners were not bound to supply a Gown, nor would
it be right to use it. The Gown was no ichere mentioned in any of
the Rubrics.

In Smith's case, 1841, (Pinnock ut supra, p. 480,) the charge
against the Minister was, that he had placed, or caused to be placed,
and suffered to remain, during the performance of Divine Service on
Easter Bay, in the Church, and especially on the Communion Table,
certain ornaments, — among them two glass vases, containing flowers
and a cross about two feet high, decked withflowers. The Bishop con-
demned theni as ornaments not warranted by Law, and admonished
the Minister. The principle upon which he proceeded, in the full and
absolute rule of exclusion of what is not authorized by the Statute and
Rubric, and found in the First Book. It was not sufficient that the
articles were not prohibited. There must be an express or implied
direction to use them.

If this principle of even-handed justice govern our Bishops, we
shall soon find out, that no change in the law is required. Our Re-
formers knew what they were about, and if the Rubric still in force,
having their approval, has escaped repeal, notwithstanding the
repeated revisions of the Book of Common Prayer, we say again,
LET IT BE, and at least carry it out, in its spirit and intent.

J. B.

FINIS.

Caxton Press : T. Uill, Printer, Corner King and Nclton Street, Toronto.