Thy burial, Thy resurrection from the dead, and Thy ascension into heaven, Thy sitting at the right hand of God, making intercession for us; and expecting, with fear and trembling, Thy formidable and glorious return to judge the quick and dead, when Thou shalt render to every man according to his works, do humbly present to Thee, O LORD, this present Sacrifice of remembrance and thanksgiving, humbly and passionately praying Thee not to deal with us according to our sins, nor recompense us after our transgressions...-p. 301.

Prayer for the Catholic Church.

Receive, O eternal GOD, this Sacrifice for and in behalf of all Christian people whom Thou hast redeemed with the blood of Thy Son, and purchased as Thine own inheritance.

ID.-Worthy Communicant, chap. i. sect. iv.

-p. 303.

It is the greatest solemnity of prayer, the most powerful liturgy, and means of impetration, in this world. For when CHRIST was consecrated on the Cross, and became our High Priest, having reconciled us to GOD by the death of the Cross, He became infinitely gracious in the eyes of GoD, and was admitted to the celestial and eternal priesthood in heaven, where, in the virtue of the Cross, He intercedes for us, and represents an eternal Sacrifice in the heavens on our behalf. That He is a Priest in heaven, appears in the large discourses and direct affirmatives of St. Paul. That there is no other Sacrifice to be offered, but that on the Cross, it is evident, because "He hath but once appeared, in the end of the world, to put away sin by the Sacrifice of Himself; and, therefore, since it is necessary, that He hath something to offer, so long as He is a Priest, and there is no other Sacrifice but that of Himself, offered upon the Cross,-it follows that CHRIST, in heaven, perpetually offers and represents that Sacrifice to His Heavenly FATHER, and, in virtue of that, obtains all good things for His Church.

(2.) Now what CHRIST does in heaven, He hath commanded us to do on earth; that is, to represent His death, to commemorate His Sacrifice, by humble prayer and thankful record; and, by faithful manifestation and joyful Eucharist, to lay it before the eyes of our heavenly FATHER, so ministering in His priesthood, and doing according to His commandment and example; the Church being the image of heaven; the priest, the minister of CHRIST; the holy table being a copy of the celestial altar; and the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, being always the same: it bleeds no more after the finishing of it on the Cross; but it is wonderfully represented in heaven, and graciously represented here; by CHRIST'S action there, by His commandment here. And the event of it is plainly this,that as CHRIST, in virtue of His Sacrifice on the Cross, intercedes for us with His FATHER, so does the minister of CHRIST'S priesthood here; that the virtue of the eternal Sacrifice may be salutary and effectual to all the needs of the Church, both for things temporal and eternal. And, therefore, it was not without great mystery and clear signification, that our blessed LORD was pleased to command the representation of His Death and Sacrifice on the Cross should be made, by breaking bread and effusion of wine; to signify to us the nature and sacredness of the liturgy we are about, and that we minister in the priesthood of CHRIST, who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec; that is, we are ministers in that unchangeable priesthood, imitating in the external ministry, the prototype Melchisedec: of whom it was said, "He brought forth bread and wine, and was the priest of the Most High GoD ;" and, in the internal, imitating the antitype, or the substance, CHRIST Himself; who offered up his Body and Blood for atonement for us, and, by the Sacraments of bread and wine, and the prayers of oblation and intercession, commands us to officiate in His priesthood, in the external, ministering like Melchisedec, in the internal, after the manner of CHRIST Himself.

(3.) This is a great and a mysterious truth, which, as it is plainly manifested in the Epistle to the Hebrews, so it is understood by the ancient and holy doctors of the Church. . . .

(4.) The effect of this I represent in the words of Lyra; "That which does purge and cleanse our sins, must be celestial and spiritual; and that which is such, hath a perpetual efficacy, and needs not to be done again; but that which is daily offered in the Church, is a daily commemoration of that one Sacrifice, which was offered on the Cross, according to the command of CHRIST, Do this in commemoration of me.'"

(5.) Now this holy ministry and Sacrament of His death, being, according to CHRIST'S commandment, and, in our manner, a representation of that eternal Sacrifice,-an imitation of CHRIST'S intercession in heaven in virtue of that Sacrifice, must be after the pattern in the Mount: it must be as that is, by purá prece, as Tertullian's phrase is, "by pure prayer;" it is an intercession for the whole Church, present and absent, in the virtue of that Sacrifice. I need add no more, but leave it to the meditation, to the joy and admiration of all Christian people, to think and to enumerate the blessings of this Sacrament, which is so excellent a representation of CHRIST's death, by CHRIST's commandment ; and so glorious an imitation of that intercession, which CHRIST makes in heaven for us all; it is all but the representation of His death, in the way of prayer and interpellation; CHRIST as Head, and we as members; He as High Priest, and we as servants, His ministers. And, therefore, I shall stop here, and leave the rest for wonder and Eucharist; we may pray here with all the solemnity and advantages imaginable; we may, with hope and comfort, use the words of David, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD." We are here very likely to prevail for all blessings, for this is, by way of eminency, glory, and singularity, calix benedictionis," the cup of blessing," which we bless, and by which God will bless us, and for which He is to be blessed for evermore.-pp. 437-440.

For what CHRIST did once upon the Cross in real Sacrifice, that He always does in heaven, by perpetual representment and intercession; what CHRIST does by His supreme priesthood, that the Church doth by her ministerial; what He does in heaven, we do upon earth; what is performed at the right hand of God, is also represented, and, in one manner, exhibited upon the holy

table of the LORD: and what is done on altars upon solemn days, is done in our closets in our daily offices; that is, God is invocated, and God is appeased, and God is reconciled, and GOD gives us blessings and the fruits of CHRIST's Passion, in the virtue of the Sacrificed Lamb; that is, we, believing, and praying, are blessed, and sanctified, and saved, through JESUS CHRIST. pp. 481, 482.

A Prayer, to be said after the Communion, in behalf of our souls and all Christian people.

O most merciful and gracious GOD, FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the LORD of glory; .... relying upon Thy goodness, trusting in Thy promises, and having received my dearest LORD into my soul, I humbly represent to Thy divine majesty the glorious Sacrifice, which our dearest JESUS made of Himself upon the Cross, and, by a never-ceasing intercession, now exhibits to Thee in heaven, in the office of an eternal priesthood; in behalf of all that have communicated this day in the divine mysteries, in all the congregations of the Christian world, and in behalf of all them that desire to communicate, and are hindered by sickness or necessity, by fear or scruple, by censures ecclesiastical, or the sentences of their own consciences...

I humbly present to Thy Divine Majesty this glorious Sacrifice, which thy servants, this day, have represented upon earth, in behalf of my dearest relations, wife, children, husband, parents, friends, &c. ...

For all mankind whom I have, and whom I have not remembered, I humbly represent the Sacrifice of Thy eternal Son, His merits and obedience, His life and death, His resurrection and ascension, His charity and intercession...-pp. 686, 688.

BREVINT, PRESBYTER.-Christian Sacrifice and Sacrament. For this must be granted, that the holy Communion is not only Sacrament, that the worshipper is to come to for no other purpose, than to receive; nor a Sacrifice only, where he

should have nothing to do, but to give: but it is as the great solemnity of the ancient Passover was, whereof it hath taken place; a great mystery, consisting both of Sacrament and Sacrifice, that is, of the religious service which the people owe to Gop, and of the full salvation which God is pleased to promise to His people. p. 2.

It is a certain truth, that there never was on earth a true religion without some kind of Sacrifices: and it is a very great lie to say that now the Christian should want them...

Of all the carnal Sacrifices, which the Jews do reduce to six kinds, (beside many more oblations,) none ever had any saving reality, as to the washing away of sins, but in dependence on JESUS CHRIST Our LORD; and as to our service and duty towards GOD, which they were also to represent, none had this second end so fully performed under the Law as it must be under the Gospel. The blessed Communion alone, when whole and not mutilated, concentres and brings together these two great ends (full expiation of sins, and acceptable duty to GoD,) towards which all the old Sacrifices never looked, but as either simple engagements, or weak shadows. As for the first, which is expiation of sins, it is most certain that the Sacrifice of JESUS CHRIST alone hath been sufficient for it. . . . And the reiteration of it were not only superfluous as to its real effect, but also most injurious to CHRIST in the very thought and attempt.

Nevertheless, this Sacrifice, which by a real oblation was not to be offered more than once, is by an Eucharistical and devout commemoration, to be offered up every day. This is what the Apostle calls, to set forth the death of the LORD,"-to set it forth, I say, as well before the eyes of GOD His FATHER, as before the eyes of all men,-and St. Augustine did explain, when he said that the holy Flesh of JESUS CHRIST was offered up in three manners; by prefiguring Sacrifices under the Law, before His coming into the world; in real deed upon the Cross; and by a commemorative Sacrament, after He is ascended into heaven. All comes to this--First, that the Sacrifice, as it is itself and in itself, it can never be reiterated; yet, by way of devout celebration and remembrance, it may nevertheless be reiterated every day. VOL. IV. -81.