Bleffed are the merciful: for they fhall obtain mercy. Bleffed are the pure in heart: for they fhall fee God. Bleffed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God. Bleffed are they which are perfecuted for righteousness' fake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Bleffed are ye, when men fhall revile you, and perfecute you, and fhall fay all manner of evil against you falfely for my fake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven: for fo perfecuted they the prophets which were before you. Adminiftration of the Lord's Supper; Or. Holy Communion. O many as intend to be partakers of the Holy Com Cont munion, fhall fignify their names to the Curate at leaft fome time the day before. And if any of those be an open and notorious evil liver, or have done any wrong to his neighbours by word or deed, fo that the Congregation be thereby offended; the Curate having knowledge thereof, fhall call him, and advertife him, that in any wife he prefume not to come to the Lord's Table, until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former naughty life; that the Congregation may thereby be fatisfied, which before were offended; and that he hath recompenfed the parties, to whom he hath done wrong; or at least declare himself to be in full purpose fo to do, as foon as he conveniently may. T The fame order fhall the Curate ufe with those, betwixt whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign; not fuffering them to be partakers of the Lord's Table, until he know them to be reconciled. And if one of the parties fo at variance be content to forgive, from the bottom of his heart, all that the other hath trefpaffed against him, and to make amends for that he himself hath offended; and the other party will not be perfuaded to a godly unity, but remain fill in his frowardness and malice; the Minifter in that cafe ought to admit the penitent perfon to the Holy Communion, and not him that is obftinate. Pro Lord's Supper] In Edward VIth's firft Prayer-Book, the title of this fervice is, "The Supper of the Lord, and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass.” Day before] This rubrick was nearly the fame in Edward the VIth's firft book. After the words "to the Curate," it went on "over night, or elfe in the morning, before the beginning of matins, or immediately after." Conveniently may] This rubric was introduced in the firft PrayerBook of Edward VIth, as well as the fucceeding one, except that it concluded at the words "that is obftinate." The remainder was added at the Review 1662. vided that every Minifter fo repelling any, as is fpecificd in this or the next precedent paragraph of this Rubrick, fhall be obliged to give an account of the fame to the Ordinary within fourteen days after at the fartheft. And the Ordinary fhall proceed against the offending perfon according to the Canon. The table at the Communion-time having a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the Chancel, where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be faid. And the Priest standing at the north fide of the table, shall say the Lord's Prayer, with the Collect following; the people kneeling. The table c. This rubrick was introduced in the fecond PrayerBook of Edward VIth. In the lieu of it the following rubrick appears in the first book: "Upon the day and at the time appointed for the miniftration of the Holy Communion, the prieft that fhall execute the holy miniftry, fhall put upon him the vefture appointed for that miniftration; that is to fay, a white alb plain, with a veftment or cope. But where there be many priefts or deacons, there fo many fhall be ready to help the priest in the miniftration as fhall be requifite; and fhall have upon them likewife the veftures appointed for their miniftry, that is to fay, albs with tunicles. Then fhall the clerks fing in English for the office, or introit, (as they call it) a pfalm appointed for that day. The priest standing humbly before the midst of the altar fhall fay the Lord's Prayer, with this Collect." White linen cloth] This direction was adopted from a practice of the ancient church. Quis fidelium nefcit in peragendis myfteriis ipfa ligna linteamine co-operiri?-Optat. Milev. lib. vi. p. 95. North fide of the table] With the ancient Jews, the north fide of the altar was the part where all the most holy victims were offered; and it is proved by Bishop Beveridge, Pandect. vol. ii. p. 76, that in the ancient liturgies, wherever the minifter is directed to ftand before the altar, the north-fide of it is always intended to be fpoken of. This part. being the right hand or upper fide of the altar, is not only, according to common diftinctions, the most honourable part, but it is alfo the most convenient fituation for the perfon who adminifters, because he has the free use of his right arm. In the " Ordo Communis Liturgie fecundum Ritum Syrorum Jacobitarum," is the following rubrick, which proves that the prieft occupied the north fide of the altar in performing the fervice of it: "Sacerdos portat difcum in dextera fua; calicem in finiftra; venitque a latere Septentrionali ad Auftrale." The priest takes the paten in his right hand, and the cup in his left, and comes from the north of the altar to the fouth fide.--Renaudotius Liturg. Orient. tom. ii. p. 24. The mode of adminis tering the Eucharift has been various in different churches, and different ages; as our Saviour did not mark out any particular form of its celebration. The general practice, however, in all the Eaftern and Western churches, was as follows: the fervice commenced with the Scripturarum Lectin, or the reading of the Scriptures; then followed Pfalmi et Hymni, palms and hymns; Oblatio Panis et Vini, the oblation of the bread and wine; the latter of which was mixed with water; the Ofculum Pacis, or kifs of Ο UR Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trefpaffes, As we forgive them that trefpafs against us. And lead us not into temptation; Bur deliver us from evil. Amen. peace; Recitatio Orationis Dominica, a recital of the Lord's Prayer; the Commmunionis Diftributio, or distribution of the elements; &c.-Renaudot. tom i-vi. et infra. From the various remaining liturgies of the Eaftern and Western church, our Reformers conftructed the prefent fervice; feecting what was fit for their purpose, rejecting what was unfit, and altering fuch parts as required alteration; producing, by thefe means, an office, which Bishop Jewel, in his elegant and celebrated Apology for the English Church, pronounces to be "as near as can be to the practice of the Apostolic and ancient Catholic church." I have before obferved, that this office was formerly a diftinct fervice, and in confequence of that arrangement retains the name of the fecond fervice; and Bifhop Overall remarks, that it as been only owing to the negligence of the clergy, and the carelesness of the people, that it has been blended with other fervices. Our Father] In my remarks on this divine form of prayer, in the earlier Farts of our liturgy, I have obferved that it is generally allowed our bleffed Lord felected the paragraphs of it (fave one) from the forms of Jewish prayers exifting in his time. To this obfervation I would add a few quotations from various writers, and references to different authorities, in illus tration of this point, for the reader's fatisfaction, premifing thefe two circumftances; firft, that, as Jortin obferves, (Serm. vol. ii. p. 3.) "it is doubtful whether thefe Jewish forms are indeed as old as they are faid to be" and adly, that even if they be fo, the fenfe and fignification which Chrift attributed to the various paragraphs he adopted, were fuch as made them quite original petitions to his own difciples. For inftance: Our Father, which art in heaven; not meaning the God of the Jews alone, as they always confidered and addreffed the Deity, but the common parent of the human race. Thy kingdom come; not the triumphant temporal kingdom or reign of the Melliah, to which the Jews always had a reference in their petitions; but that univerfal reign of holiness and peace," when the kingdoms of this world fhall be the kingdoms of the Lord's Chrift."— "Our Father, which art in heaven," is the very phrafe ufed by the Jews when they prayed to God, or fpoke of him.-Lightfoot's Works, vol. . p. 1140.-See inftance in p. 159. In the fame author, vol. i. Mifcel. p. 1003: "Our Father who art in heaven." In the Jewish Common PrayerBook, fol. 5, are thefe words," and humble your hearts before your Father who is in heaven; in Rosh Hafhava." Alfo vol. ii. p. 159, on Matt. vi. 9. The Jews hold no prayer right wherein there is no mention of God's name and kingdom. Alfo p. 159, on Matt. vi. 9, 10.-Baracoth xl. 2. Idem, on Matt. vi. 13, p. 160. The tradition is that the Jews faid not Amen in the Temple; but they said instead of this, “blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom for ever and ever." Nor did they fay Amen in private prayers, though in the Synagogue they anfwered Amen to the prayers of the minifter, and to the prayers of the mafter of the family.-On Matt. vi. 11, p. 159, Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations: "The neceffities of thy people Ifrael are many, and their knowledge fmall, (fo that they know not how to difclofe their neceflities) let it be thy good pleafure to give to The Collect. Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all defires known, and from whom no fecrets are hid; Cleanfe the thoughts of our hearts by the infpiration of thy Holy Spirit; that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name, through Chrift our Lord. Amen. Then fhall the Prieft, turning to the People, rehearse diftinctly all the Ten Commandments; and the People ftill kneeling fhall, after every Commandment, afk God mercy for their tranfgreffion thereof for the time pat, and grace to keep the fame for the time to come, as followeth. every man what fufficeth for food, &c."-Vol. ii. on Matt. vi. 13, Barac. f. xvi. 2. "Rabbi Judah was wont thus to pray: Let it be thy good pleafure to deliver us from impudent men and impudence, from an evil man, and from an evil chance, from an evil affection, from an evil companion, from an evil neighbour, from Satan the deftroyer, from a hard judgment, and from a hard adverfary, &c."-In the 6th of the eighteen prayers ufed by the Jews is, "Be thou merciful unto us, O our Father, for we have finned; pardon us, O our King, for we have tranfgreffed against thee."Whitby, on Mat. vi. 9, fays: "Our Father, which art in heaven," is in the Jewish Seder Tephilloth, or forms of prayer; "Let thy great name be fanctified, and thy kingdom reign," in their form called Kaddish; "Let thy memory be glorified in heaven above, and in the earth beneath," in Seder Tephilloth; "Deliver us not into the hand of temptations, and deliver us from the evil figment," in the 6th of the eighteen prayers, and the book Mufar. "For thine is the power, and the kingdom, for ever and ever," is (faith Drufius) their ufual doxology. "Deliver us, &c." is not in any of the eighteen prayers. Whitby being mistaken in this may mistake alfo refpecting the book Mufar.-L'Enfant's Introd. to New Teft. p. 65: "When the nineteen prayers were ended which the people repeated privately, the minifter began the public prayers. Their fervice began and ended with the prayer Cadifch, which runs thus: "Hallowed be his great name in the world, which he has created according to his good pleasure, and may his kingdom be established. May we be hold his redemption fpring up and flourish. May his Meffah fuddenly appear in our days, in the days of all the house of Ifrael, to deliver his people." The Collect This collect was tranflated, in 1549, almost verbatim from the ancient office of the Western church. Then fhall the Priest] The order for the Communion Service differed much from the prefent arrangement of it in the first book of Edward VIth. Immediately after the collect, "Almighty God, unto whom &c." was introduced the following rubrics and fentences, in lieu of the Commandments:-"Then fhall he fay a pfalm appointed for the introit; which pfalm ended, the Prieft fhall fay, or elfe the Clerks fhall fing; Lord, have mercy upon us. |