set forth His Passion in the LORD's Supper, 1 Cor. xi. 26. wherein, by a more forcible rite of intercession, we beg the divine acceptance. That which is more compendiously expressed in the conclusion of our prayers, "through JESUS CHRIST Our LORD," is more fully and more vigorously set out in this most holy Sacrament; wherein we intercede on earth in imitation of, and conjunction with the great intercession of our High Priest in heaven; pleading here in the virtue and merits of the same Sacrifice which He doth urge there for us. And because of this sympathy and near alliance between these two offices of praying and communicating, we find the Eucharist in the purest ages of the Church was a daily companion of their Common Prayer.Introd.

As the people of Israel were wont to bring their gifts and sacrifices to the Temple, and by the hands of the priest to present them to ALMIGHTY GOD, So are we appointed to give our oblations into the hands of the Minister of CHRIST, who, by virtue of his office, may best recommend them with prayers and praises to the Majesty of Heaven; and yet we must not neglect to join with him in these supplications, both to beg the acceptance of our offering, and to show that our charity extendeth farther than our alms can reach, for the benefit of these is received only by a few of our neighbours, but we ought to love all the world, especially our Christian brethren, even those who do not need, or cannot have profit by our gifts. And how can we express this better, than by recommending them all to the mercies of God, who is able to relieve them all, and of whose bounty all have need? Which excellent duty, though it be to be done daily, yet at this holy Sacrament it is most proper, because we here behold the universal love of JESUS, and are declared lively members of His mystical body, and conjoined in the strictest bonds of union with all our fellow Christians. Besides, when can we more effectually intercede with GOD for the whole Church, than when we represent and show forth that most meritorious Passion on earth, by the virtue whereof our great High Priest did once redeem, and doth ever plead for His whole Church even now that He is in Heaven? This Sacrament, therefore, hath been accounted the "great interVOL. IV.-81.

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cession;" and accordingly all the ancients Liturgies did use such universal intercessions and supplications while this mystery was in hand, and in the time of St. Cyril there was a prayer used, exactly agreeing with this' of our Church. St. Chrysostom also saith, that the priest standing at the altar, did "offer prayers and praises for all the world, for those that are absent, and those that are present, for those that were before us, and those that shall be after us, while that Sacrifice is set forth." Hom. 26. in Matt. For which cause our Communion Office in the Rubric before this Prayer, appoints the bread and wine to be set upon the table first, and then stirs us all up with that solemn "Let us pray for the whole estate of CHRIST'S Church," &c. And if, as we are worshipping without, we remember Him that is praying within the vail, and, by imitating His general charity, do unite our supplications to His all powerful intercession, we may no doubt obtain the largest and the choicest blessings in the treasures of heaven. -pp. 78, 9.

Let us then, with all possible devotion, offer up this Sacrifice, and delight in this pious and prudent intercession, which is enjoined by Him that purposes to grant it, and presented by charitable souls, who will infinitely rejoice in the success thereof, viz. the prosperity of the whole Church.-p. 83.

"Beseeching Thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord:"] Among the several prayers which were made at the holy table, it was particularly enjoined that they should pray for "the holy Catholic Church, extended from one end of the earth to the other, which the LORD had redeemed with the precious Blood of CHRIST," saith the author of the Apostolical Constitutions; for the Sacrifice here commemorated was offered for the Church, Acts xx. 28. which is called the Body of CHRIST, Eph. v. 23. Col. i. 24.—p. 85.

"Grant this, O FATHER, for JESUS CHRIST's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate; Amen."] This general conclusion of all our prayers we should not remark particularly here, but that the Mass hath thrust in the names of the Blessed Virgin, and other Saints into this supplication, through whose merits and 1 [The Prayer for the Church Militant.]

prayers they intercede, even in this place, where there is a lively commemoration of the death of CHRIST Our only Mediator, which is not only the holding a candle to the sun, but seems to intimate that to plead in the virtue of our LORD's Passion is not sufficient; and that His intercession, by which the Holy Virgin, and all other Saints, became accepted by GoD, was not alone forcible enough. But we desire no other Mediator, nor need no other Advocate (1 Tim. ii. 5), but our LORD JESUS CHRIST, who is here represented; nor do we doubt to ask all these mercies for all these persons, since we approach our heavenly FATHER with His dear and only beloved Son in our arms. Wherefore let us bless the Name of GOD, who hath chosen such a Master of Requests to present our prayers, and put such an argument in our mouths, when we approach unto Him. Let us look to the holy symbols, and remember our great High Priest, while we offer up the intercessions with a great humility, and a sprightly devotion, because our God will not, nay, cannot deny those that thus come unto Him. -p. 100.

The nearer we approach to these mysteries, the greater reverence we must express. The very heathen could say, men should be always best when they came to the gods, and therefore so much better, by how much they come nearer; our late rejoicing might savour of too much confidence, if it were not allayed with this act of humility, which is the immediate address to this holy Feast: [“ We do not presume," &c.] There is somewhat agreeable to this, some apology, or acknowledgment, in all ancient Liturgies, but that of St. James comes the nearest to this of ours. "I come to this divine and super-celestial mystery, unworthy, indeed, but relying on thy goodness." And afterwards: "Turn not away from us sinners, who are celebrating this dreadful and unbloody Sacrifice, for we trust not in our own righteousness, but in Thy bountiful mercy," &c.-p. 243.

After all this preparation, we need not ask with Isaac, Gen. xxii. 7. "where is the lamb for the burnt-offering?" for God hath provided his own dear Sox, whose Blood, being already spilt, is so efficacious and all-sufficient that there is now no need of any other but this unbloody Sacrifice to be offered, and that in me

morial of that great sin-offering which taketh away the sins of the world, 1 Pet. ii. 5. And for this purpose CHRIST Himself hath appointed these creatures of bread and wine, ordaining that, because they are designed to express so great a mystery, they shall have a peculiar consecration. . . . The Jews would not eat of the Sacrifice till Samuel came to bless it, 1 Sam. ix. 13. How much more then ought we to expect the prayers of the priest over this mysterious food of our souls, before we eat thereof? especially since JESUS Himself did not deliver this bread and wine until He had consecrated it by giving thanks.—pp. 252, 3.

"And thus by thine own appointment, dearest JESUS, we do show our thankfulness for Thy Passion, our faith in Thy resurrection, and our hope of Thy second coming. We will commemorate Thy all-sufficient Sacrifice before the ALMIGHTY to pacify His anger against us; before the world, to testify our hope in a crucified SAVIOUR; and before ourselves, to renew our sense of Thy inexpressible love."-p. 274.

LESLIE, PRESBYTER AND CONFESSOR.-Letter to the Author of "Sacrifice the Divine Service," (see next Number) prefixed to that work.

The subject you have undertaken vindicates the Church of England and her doctrine against the profane, the Papists, and Dissenters.

The profane see here what they have despised, the representative Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of CHRIST.

(1.) The Papists see their idol of transubstantiation broken to pieces, not from the nicety and criticism of a word, but from the nature of the thing. For a representative and commemorative Sacrifice must be a different thing from, but bearing a great resemblance to, the archetypal Sacrifice it represents.

(2.) Yet both are Sacrifices, and truly and properly so. For if there were no other Sacrifice but that of CHRIST upon the Cross, which only is so in the principal and original sense, then were not the Sacrifices under the Law any Sacrifices at all, because they were only typical of the true and real Sacrifice that was to come. But if typical Sacrifices were, in their order, true

and real Sacrifices, though in a subordinate sense to the only true propitiatory Sacrifice, then is the Christian commemorative and representative Sacrifice much more so; as much more, as the plain exhibition of our redemption already perfected, and now fully understood, is beyond the glimmering hopes, then faintly shadowed, of a redemption to come, but in what manner and how to be performed, almost wholly hidden from them. Will any say, that the death of CHRIST and the shedding of His Blood is not more lively expressed, and better understood, in the Christian Sacrifice than in the Jewish; in the breaking of the bread, and pouring out the wine with us, than in the death of a beast and shedding its blood among the Jews? CHRIST calls our bread and wine (when blessed by His priests, to whom He gave power and commandment to do this, as they had seen Him do) His own Body and Blood. He gave this high dignity to the commemorative Sacrifice He had appointed of Himself. Was any such thing ever said of the typical Sacrifices under the Law? So far is the fulfilling beyond the prefiguring, the commemorative beyond the typical Sacrifices. pp. 2-4.

All this, Sir, [extracts from the Liturgy and earlier Divines] justifies what you have wrote. And you have done it with that clearness and fulness as was greatly desirable among us, in an age, when not only this great point of the Christian Sacrifice, but all parts of our religion have been openly attacked.

May God give His blessing to your performance! Let it increase the knowledge and stir up the zeal of the devout, who come to the great Christian Sacrifice in full faith, beholding CHRIST Our High Priest, offering up the same Sacrifice of Himself to God in heaven, which His priests, representing His person, offer up on earth in the sacred symbols which He has commanded, and dignified with the name of His own Body and Blood. Which we verily and indeed receive, as our Catechism speaks, in our participation of these holy mysteries; and as our first. Homily concerning the Sacrament teaches us, that in the Supper of the LORD there is no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing absent, but the communion of the Body and Blood of the LORD in a marvellous incorporation, which, by the operation of the HOLY GHOST, is through faith wrought on the