ing that GOD in Christ is all in all, and that it is He who giveth us the bread that feedeth unto everlasting life."

1

(d) The Offering of the Sacrifice of Christ: (5) The Oblation. It is the expectation of that Blessed Gift being ours that leads us to offer to the Father for His acceptance both the sacrifice of praise we offered in the Holy Place, and the sacrifice of devoted service we laid upon the altar in the Court. Under the old Jewish ritual, once in the year, the incense symbolical of spiritual devotion, and the blood symbolical of bodily devotion, were brought respectively from the Holy Place and from the Court into the Most Holy Place, as though it were only there that they were made perfect.2 So in our Christian ritual, both the acts symbolized by the Offertory and the Sanctus are now presented before the Father in union with "the merits and death of His Son Jesus Christ." Together with His Offering they make that "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving" which alone is perfect in the eyes of the Father. And as we present It we make our prayers that It may avail for the benefit of the whole Church in general, and for ourselves in particular, that the Church may through Its mighty efficacy obtain remission of sins, and all other benefits of

1 Morgan Dix, "The Sacramental System," p. 150.

2 Lev. xvi. 12-15.

Christ's Passion; and that we, pardoned and forgiven, may be made one body with Him, that He may dwell in us and we in Him. So the Church, by the prayers she puts on our lips, guards us against all unreality. Side by side with the blessed and unspeakable privilege of uniting in His precious pleading of the all-sufficient sacrifice once made on Calvary, she places the serious responsibility of making both soul and body a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto GOD. We may not enjoy the luxury of the Eucharist without incurring the necessary stern and solemn obligations.

(c) The Holy Communion.-The very greatness

of the effort we make to realize the act in which we are engaged makes us conscious of our weakness. We stagger and fall in our attempt to be one with that act which consummated a life of entire self-renunciation. The silent invitation to communicate is a great relief. Awful as it is to come near to Him before whom angels veil their faces, it seems less so than pleading the Sacrifice without the gift of His supernatural Strength. With fear and wondering, but with a great hope, we draw near to receive that Gift Which will enable us to rise to that great devotion. And the Church as she places the Blessed Gifts in our hands does so with the solemn reminder, four times repeated, that it is sacrificed Life we receive.

The Body of our LORD Jesus Christ which was given for thee."

"Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee."

“The Blood of our LORD Jesus Christ which was shed for thee."

66

'Drink this in remembrance that Christ's Blood was shed for thee."

Sacrificed Life has but one movement, and that away from self and toward GOD and our neighbour. It is through an earnest and serious reception that we are enabled to carry the spirit of the Great Oblation we plead into the life of the home, the Church, and the world.

II. The Thanksgiving.—All that we desired has been fulfilled. We have had our part both in the Life and in the presentation of the Offering of Jesus Christ. Nothing now remains but the duty of thanksgiving for blessings so rich and precious. This is expressed for us in the LORD'S Prayer, in the Prayer of Thanksgiving, and in the Gloria in Excelsis.

The Lord's Prayer here as always sets the tone to the devotions which follow it, and now it fittingly leads our thanksgivings. We feel we cannot do better than use the very words He taught In the special Prayer of Thanksgiving we

us.

recount the various blessings which are assured to us through His precious Body and Blood." We are certified, beyond all possible doubt, of GOD'S love and goodness towards us, of our membership in the Body, and of inheritance in the coming Kingdom. Our chief desire is that we may stay where He has placed us, abide and continue in the holy fellowship into which we have been admitted, and do all such good works as GOD has made ready for us.

The note of thanksgiving which has been rising higher and higher attains its full expression in the Gloria in Excelsis. Here we render every attribute of praise and honour that mind can suggest, to the Father, in Whose Presence we still stand clothed in the merits of the Death of Christ. "God's Glory," for which we specially render thanks, was most chiefly displayed in the Passion: it shines forth, then, conspicuously in that service which celebrates it. For this we render hearty thanks. But though pardoned, and enriched with the Bread of Life, we feel as we face that "great glory "our own unworthiness, and our act of praise becomes a prayer for pity. No less than three times we beseech Him whose work it is to cleanse the world from sin to have mercy upon us. And as the assurance of His love again presses on us, we turn to Him, the Holiest amongst the Mightiest, the Mightiest amongst the Holiest,

with praise and worship, as being alone, with the Holy Ghost through whose blessed inspiration we have been enabled "to magnify GOD's Holy Name," most high in the glory of GOD the Father.

III. The Benediction.-Our Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving is now over. We have been admitted, with such gifts as we could bring, into the "heavenly places," the innermost sanctuary of the LORD of Hosts. We have partaken of the Body and Blood of our LORD and been allowed to join with Him in the pleading of the merits of His death. Before we go back into the world again, He gives us through His Church His word of blessing. As on the day of His Ascension, before the cloud received Him out of their sight, He lifted up His hands and blessed them; so now, before the inevitable mists of earthly things arise to dim the vision we have enjoyed, He blesses us. The Peace of GOD of which we are assured might lead to presumption, the Blessing we have received might be wasted. That the Peace may keep our minds in the knowledge and love of GOD, and that the Blessing— the unspeakable Gift of Life-may be amongst us forever, is His last word for us.