originally delivered, nor to depart from their spirit; and hence the Apostle St. Paul wrote, * Though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach a gospel to you, besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. For the religion of Christ is essentially unchangeable, its doctrines are irreformablefor truth cannot become falsehood, nor falsehood become truth. Hence the Editor of this work has only sought for, and brought forward, what had been originally testified by that cloud of witnesses that has gone before him in the Church, and entreats, as a recompense for his labours, a share of the prayers of those who may profit thereby.

EXPLANATION

OF

THE MASS.

THE Mass is the principal office of the new law, in which, under the appearance of bread and wine, the Redeemer of the world is offered up in an unbloody manner upon our altars, as a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.

It is not a different sacrifice from that of the cross; for the victim in each is the same; the High Priest who makes the offering is the same: Christ having ▸ personally and manifestly made the oblation upon Calvary, and this High Priest, according to the order of Melchisedech, having instituted this office on the night before his death, commissioned his apostles and their successors, in all days, to the consummation of the world, to do the same, for a commemoration of him, to show forth his death until his second coming, they are his substitutes and representatives, whilst he is the principal but invisible offerer. The sacrifice, though repeated, is not different, but the mode of the oblation in the repetition differs from that bloody spectacle, which was exhibited in Jerusalem, in the person of him by whose bruises we were healed.

This holy sacrifice, in which Christ who is the Lamb without spot, offers himself upon our altars, is hat clean oblation referred to by the prophet Malachias, which is every where made to the eternal Father, from the rising of the sun to the going down hereof, and by which his name is magnified amongst he Gentiles.

The intention of the compiler of this essay not being to enter into a controversial disquisition upon the nature of the Mass, but to give to those who hold the. true faith concerning this great sacrifice, such an explanation of its accompaniments and ceremonies as may enable them to attend thereat with suitable devotion, and thereby obtain more abundant grace, he will not enter upon any of those grounds where the vindication of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church is found, but at once commence the explanation.

Sacrifice consists in the production of the victim, its oblation by a lawful minister, and a destructive change being made therein, in acknowledgment of God's supreme dominion. The person who performs the act of sacrifice is called a Priest, the place on which it is performed an altar.

In the Mass, Christ is the victim; he is produced by the consecration, which by the power of God, and the institution of the Redeemer, and the act of the Priest, places the body and blood of Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine upon the altar; then the Priest makes an oblation of this victim to the eternal Father on behalf of the people, and the victim undergoes a destructive change, showing forth the death of the Redeemer, and making commemoration thereof, by the exhibition of the apparent separation of the body from the blood; the former being under the appearance of bread, and the latter under the appearance of wine, and by the consumption of both by the Priest.

The performance of this, is the essential part of the Mass; all that is necessary for its validity is the priestly character of the minister, and the consecra tion, oblation, and consumption of the victim. And for the performance hereof Christ left power to his apostles, and to those to whom they should comm"nicate the same, and to their successors for ever"Do this for a commemoration of me." Luke xxii. 19 No particular dress is essentially necessary on th

part of the celebrant, nor is his power confined to the using of any particular language; nor is any ceremo, ny, except those instituted by our Saviour, so essential as to be indispensably necessary to the validity of the sacrifice.

But it must be evident, that unless some regulations were made upon these points, there would be interminable variance, and perpetual changes; therefore, although our blessed Lord made no specific rule on this head, we find that particular dresses, and particular ceremonies have been adopted and established by various portions of the Church.

The Liturgy in use in this country, and in the principal portion of the western division of the Church, is that of Rome. Several other portions of the Roman Catholic Church follow other Liturgies, varying from us in their dress, ceremonies, and language, though their faith is exactly the same as ours, as is also their government, being under the guidance of Bishops, who acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope and hold his communion; but their Liturgies are in many instances equally ancient as ours; others are as ancient as the days of St. John Chrysostom, others as those of St. Basil, &c. This explanation shall be confined to the ceremonies of the Roman Missal, and the western portion of the Church, as practised in most parts of Europe and Africa, and in all America.

In the explanation we shall look for three meanings in every object and ceremony. The first, the literal, natural, and it may be said, the original meaning: the second, the figurative, or emblematic signification; and thirdly, the pious, or religious meaning-frequently the two last will be found the same; sometimes all three will be found combined.

We begin with the altar-This is either entirely of stone, or a consecrated stone is placed on a table or wooden appearance of a tomb; the vicinity o. which is ornamented with architecture, paintings, statues, vases, relics, &c., where they can be procured; and our churches are, where it can be conveniently done, so built as that the altars may be at the eastern end, and the celebrant may look towards that point, and the people pray towards that quarter.

Formerly the christians celebrated the sacred mysteries upon the tombs of the martyrs, which were of stone; but the persecutions having ceased, and large churches having been erected, the place where the holy sacrifice was to be offered was decorated, the appearance of the tomb was still preserved, and the relics of the martyrs transported thither, and preserved with care and respect, as testimonies of former triumphs, and excitements to future good conduct. Our religion had its origin in the east, and we turn towards that quarter to testify whence we have received our doctrines, and to beseech the assistance of that Saviour who, though he can hear us, whithersoever we may turn, yet has made Judea the great theatre of mercy and redemption, and there left the memorials of his acts and institutions.

The altar signifies Christ, who is the great corner stone of the spiritual edifice which he has raised up to his Father. The rising of the sun in the east, after it has sunk in the west, and been hidden during the night, may be well considered as an emblem of our resurrection, after the night of death; and as this luminary arises in glory, dispelling darkness, and invigorating the earth, so has Christ risen from his tomb to confound his enemies, spread his doctrine through the earth, and invigorate man by his grace. East is the old English name for rising, and hence the name Easter Sunday for that day on which we commemorate the resurrection of our Saviour.

There is one wooden altar now in St. Peter's church, in Rome, upon which only the Pope celebrates, and this has been preserved from the earli st Christian antiquity, as having been that upon which the blessed apostle St. Peter offered the holy sacrifice.