cause communicants have ever used it, and we at that time do shew we use, yea, every syllable of it, as communicants, saying it together with one consent and voice.

This done, the Priest offers up the sacrifice of the holy Eucharist, or the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the whole Church, as in all old Liturgies it is appointed, and together with that is offered up that most acceptable sacrifice of ourselves, souls and bodies, devoted to God's service. Of which see Rom. xii. and S. August. de Civit. Dei.

Then we say or sing the angelical hymn, "GLORY BE TO GOD ON HIGH," &c. wherein the ecclesiastical hierarchy does admirably imitate the heavenly, singing this at the Sacrament of His body which the Angels did at the birth of His body. And good reason there is to sing this for Christ's being made One with us in the Sacrament, as for His being made One of us at His birth. And if ever we be fit to sing this Angel's song, it is then when we draw nearest to the estate of Angels, namely, at the receiving of the Sacrament. After the receiving of the holy Sacrament, we sing an hymn in imitation of our Saviour; who after His supper sung an hymn, to teach us to do the like." And when can a psalm or hymn of thanksgiving be more seasonable and necessary, than after we have

m B. X. c. vi. vol. vii. p. 242.

n Chrys. Hom. LXXXII. in S. Matt. c. xxvi. 30. vol. vii. p. 784. B.

received this heavenly nourishment? Is it possible to hear these words, "This is My body, take and eat it; drink ye all of this, This is My blood:" and not be filled, as with a kind of fearful admiration, so with a sea of joy and comfort for the heaven which they see in themselves? Can any man receive this cup of salvation, and not praise and bless God with his utmost strength of soul and body? The ancients did express their joy at this time in the highest manner that they could. Some were so ravished with joy, that they immediately offered themselves to martyrdom, impatient of being longer absent from their so gracious Lord, unable to keep themselves from expressing their love to Christ, by dying for Him, the highest expression of love. All men then counted it a sin to sully the day of their receiving the Eucharist with any sorrow or fasting; these days they called days of mirth, days of remission, days of immunity, solemn days, festival days.

This angelical hymn

was made of old by ecclesiastical doctors, and who refuses it let him be excommunicated." o

The hymn being ended we depart with a BLESSING; Goar. in Euch. p. 154, tells us, That of old, when the Communion service was ended, and the Deacon had dismissed the people, they would not for all that depart till they had the blessing; by

o Conc. Tolet. IV. can. xiii. vol. v. p. 1710. B.

this stay, saying in effect the same to the Priest that Jacob did to the Angel, "We will not let thee go unless thou blessest us." The Priest therefore departeth from them, as "our Saviour from His disciples, with a blessing;" but first he comes down from the altar, by this descending shewing his condescension to the people in affection as well as in body; and standing behind the pulpit, (retro ambonem, whence the blessing was called exǹ õñíσľ žμßwvos °) in the midst of the people, in this also imitating our Saviour, St. John xx. 9, who there gave the blessing or peace of God "standing in the midst," by the place shewing how equally he stood affected to all, how He would have His blessings spread upon all.

OF BAPTISM.

OLY Church's aim being in all her services to

H make them reasonable, that according to St.

Paul, 1 Cor. xiv. we may all join with her in her offices, both with our spirit and understanding, she hath been careful not only to put them into a known tongue, but also to instruct us in the nature of them; making thus her Prayer Book a sum of divinity. Therefore here in the beginning she

o Goar. Euchol. p. 85.

r

instructs out of holy Scripture concerning the necessity and efficacy of Baptism, as very briefly, so very pithily and fully. First, Laying down this for a rule, that we are all born in sin, as it is Rom. v. 18, 19, all guilty in Adam's fall, (so the catholic Church spread over the world always understood it,P) and therefore by our first birth have no right to heaven, into which "no unclean thing shall enter." Secondly, That therefore there is need of a second birth, to give us right to that, as it is "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Thirdly, That this second or new birth is by water and the Holy Ghost; "Except a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."s By water and the Holy Ghost is there meant holy Baptism. For first, this is the most literal interpretation of the words, (for what is Baptism but water and the Holy Ghost?) and therefore the best; for that is certainly the sense of the Holy Ghost, who, as we all believe was the Author of the letter of the Scriptures, and therefore of the literal sense, where that is not contrary to, but agreeable with, the other Scriptures. this literal sense given is agreeable to other texts; as namely, to Acts viii. 38, and x. 47, where water is declared to be the element of Baptism. And

p Conc. Milevit. II. can. ii. vol. ii. p. 1538. r St. John iii. 3.

s Ibid. 5.

Now

q Ephes. v. 5.

X

expressly again, "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water." And as this is the most literal, so is it the most catholic interpretation of the words, and therefore also the best, by St. Peter's rule, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation." That this is the most catholic interpretation appears by St. Augustine, Tertullian,” and all the ancient interpreters upon the place, who expound it all of Baptism. And indeed, if it were lawful to expound it otherwise, seeing no other Scripture contradicts this literal sense, I know not how it can be avoided, but that men may lose all their Creed by playing so with Scripture, leaving the letter for figures. Thus are we instructed in the nature, necessity, and efficacy of holy Baptism, that it is the only ordinary means of our regeneration or second birth, which gives us a right and title to heaven.

Then is prescribed a prayer, usually called the benediction or consecration of the water, which is used only for reverence and decency, not for necessity, as if the water without this were not available to Baptism; for, as the prayer hath it, "JORDAN

AND ALL OTHER WATERS ARE SANCTIFIED BY CHRIST TO THE MYSTICAL WASHING AWAY OF SIN."

t Ephes. v. 26.

u 2 St. Peter. i. 20.

x De peccatorum merit. et remiss. B. I. ch. xxx. vol. x. p. 32. y De Baptismo, p. 255.