of consecration. It is true that according to the right view of the oblations, the Priest presents the gifts and oblations of the people to God (Clement of Rome, 1st Epistle, chap. 44); but the áváμvnots of Christ's death, inasmuch as in this the partaking is an essential part, is the act of the people as well as of the priest. 3. There seems to have been (in later times, at least), a confusion between the person of Christ, and His Body broken, and His Blood shed-i.e., separated one from the other, as during the short period of His death; as though because of the consecration of the elements Christ Himself must be on our altars."1 I would at least suggest that in any further investigation of this question careful attention should be directed to these points among others. For what seems greatly needed at this time, and what I would earnestly commend specially to my brethren of the clergy, is this-to test and to complete the investigation of this subject which has been thus imperfectly begun. Let them examine whether this be not the fact, that there is a scriptural and primitive doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice which prevailed in the Church universally and unquestioned till at least the middle of the third century, and which is absolutely identical with that set forth in our own Communion office, and that this was supplanted gradually by another form of doctrine, unscriptural and unprimitive, which has changed the character of our Lord's ordinance, and culminated in the false teaching and corrupt practices of the Church of Rome. Of this I am sure, that in times of controversy, few lines of enquiry are more useful than that into the History of Doctrine. It removes us from (it may be) a somewhat heated strife over sacred things to a patient investigation of facts; it enables us to discriminate between what is truly primitive and what is of later growth; and when claim is made to the authority of the ancient Church, to know whether we ought to bow to it or not. It will assuredly make us more loving, dutiful, and loyal sons of our own Branch of Christ's holy Church, and more deeply thankful to Almighty God for having secured to us in her the Truth, pure, as from the beginning." 66 May we learn to love that Truth more and more, and may God of His great mercy guide us to keep it "whole and undefiled." "As in the 12th Council of Toledo, Cap. 5, A.D. 681, the Priest is called "ipse sacrificans." 1 See Part IV., p. 92-3. IN SECTION 2.-THE TRUE WORSHIP OF CHRIST'S CHURCH ON EARTH- SACRIFICIAL; UNION WITH THE WORSHIP OF HEAVEN, THROUGH CHRIST OUH HIGH PRIEST.* By the late REV. DR. BIBER, Vicar of West Allington. I.-The true Sacrifice, and the true Worship. There was a worship established in Israel, when Christ appeared as 46 a teacher sent from God," the worship of the temple at Jerusalem. That worship rested on Divine authority. It was established under circumstances of a most remarkable character, by the immediate command of God Himself; and it professed to be, and by the voice of divinely inspired teachers was pronounced to be, the only correct worship, the only correct mode of approach to God on the part of sinful man, then known among men, as having the sanction of Divine authority, and therefore acceptable unto God. At the root of it lay the idea, which need only be stated to command universal assent, that the mode of access to a Sovereign and Holy God, ou the part of man, his dependent and sinful, his rebellious and yet suppliant creature, must be determined, not by man himself, but by God. And God had so determined it, by the enactment of the Mosaic law of Sacrifices, not permanently, indeed,--not according to the Divine ideal of what that worship ought to be, but in a temporary way, suited to man's capability, untutored and unchastened as he was; in calculated to supply that tutoring and chastening which man's condition required, and at the same time to indicate and to render familiar to his mind the elementary ideas of all true worship. way Looking at the nature and intent of the worship so established by Divine authority, it cannot be matter of surprise that when He came, in whom all true worship-worship according to the Divine ideal of what it ought to be, worship according to the nature of God's purpose with man, and according to the intrinsic requirements of God's claim upon man, and of man's need of God-was to centre, the Divine sanction given to the worship previously established should be withdrawn. Such a withdrawal of the Divine sanction from what had never been otherwise than temporary and pre *This Section was written by Dr. Biber as the conclusion to his Treatise on Non-Communicant Attendance, in Pts. IX., X. (but reserved for this Part), and unconnected with the Treatise following, which was written by him expressly for the conclusion of the entire Series.-ED. 3 paratory,1 when the time for the accomplishment of the design to which it pointed and tended had arrived, was to be expected. Accordingly it had been foretold by the voice of ancient prophecy, "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a Body hast Thou prepared Me; burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, 'Lo, 1 come, in the volume of the Book it is written of Me; I delight to do Thy will, O my God.'"5 Again: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure Offering; for My Name shall be great among the Gentiles," saith the Lord of Hosts."7 The change in the character of the worship, so predicted, involving both the substitution of the Body prepared of old for the sacrifices of the Law, and the extension of the worship to all the nations of the earth, was pointed out as about to take place by Him who was at once the High Priest and the Sacrifice of the new worship. "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."8 1 "The law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ" (Gal. iii. 24). "The first covenant had ordinances of Divine Service, and a worldly sanctuary.........which was a figure for the time then present, in which [time] are offered both gifts and sacrifices that can not nake him that does the service perfect, consisting only in......... carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation,"-literally, rectifying, dropwσεws (Heb. ix. 1. 9, 10). The change of tense in the original is worthy of remark. "A shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ" (Col. ii. 17). 2 The true reading of the Hebrew text in this place, which underlies the LXX. version, quoted by St. Paul, doubtless was that which has been suggested and approved by the best אז נוה כרית לי-eritics 3 Literally, the Roll of the Book-i.e., the Law. Compare Luke xxiv. 27, 44. "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work" (John iv. 34), "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John vi. 38). "Not My will, but Thine be done" (Luke xxii. 42). 5 Psalm xl. 6-8. Compare Heb. x. 5-9. D' the same word as that rendered" Gentiles" in the former part of the verse. 7 Mal. i. 10, 11. 8 John iv. 21-24. The change in the character of the worship, so predicted by the voice of ancient prophecy, and so indicated as imminent by the Lord Jesus Himself, was brought about by a series of facts -by the offering of the True Sacrifice, the GodMan, upon the Cross; by His resurrection' and ascension into Heaven,' changing the scene of the new and only true worship from earth to heaven; and by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, imparting to the new body of worshippers, the Church of Christ, a spiritual life,1 and to the worship offered by them a spiritual character ; after which the transition from the old, shadowy, carnal, to the new, the real, the spiritual worship, having been made known to to all, both Jews and Gentiles-both the old worshippers and the new worshippers admitted to the privilege of worship,-the old worship, 9"This spake he [Caiaphas] not of himself; but being High Priest that year, he p ophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John xi. 51, 52). "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. v. 7). 1 "Christ that died, yea rather. that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. viii. 34). "To this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living (Rom. xiv. 9). "By faith Abraham offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son; accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure" (Heb. xi. 17, 19). "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again" (2 Cor. v.15). "Baptism doth......save us...... ....by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. iii. 21). 2" We have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Heb. iv. 14). "Christ is not entered into the ho'y places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Heb. ix 24). 3"The temple of God was opened in heaven" (Rev. xi. 19). "The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened "(Rev. xv. 5). 4" There is one Body, and one Spirit" (Eph. iv. 4). "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor. xii. 13), "Ye are builded together for an habitati n of God through the Spirit' (Eph. ii. 22). Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit" (1 John iv. 13; 1 John iii. 24). 5 The Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom viii. 26). "God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. iv. 6). "Ye, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. ii. 5). 6 "The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentile which had virtually ceased at the moment of the consummation of the One True Sacrifice upon the Cross, and its virtual cessation at that moment being signified by the rending of the veil of the earthly sanctuary,' was rendered de facto impossible by the destruction of the Temple, in which alone it could lawfully be offered.8 II. The worship of the Church expectant in Heaven. The true worship, then, is that which is offered in heaven by the Great High Priest on behalf of His Church, and by His Church through him; and it is of its very nature a sacrificial worship, worship through the Lamb that was slain, but liveth for evermore, and is presented in heaven as the everlasting Sacrifice1 by the everlasting High Priest. The Church which offers this worship, in which holy angels are permitted to join, is composed of the firstborn of mankind, begotten anew, and incorporated into the Church-of the spirits of perfected saints which have fallen asleep in Jesus3 and should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel" (Eph. iii. 4-6). 7 "The way unto the holiest of all was not yet made man'fest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing" (Heb 1x. 8). Jesus when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the Ghost. And behold the veil of the Temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom (Matt. xxvii. 50, 51). The fact that the old worship was virtually abolished, though outwardly suffered to continue for a season, accounts for the repeated change from past to present, and from present to past, when speaking of the Temple and the old worship in St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, written during that transition period, and before the destruction of the Temple. 8"Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, bu in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there shalt thou offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee (Deut. xii, 13, 14; ef. vv. 5, 6). "In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (Dan. ix. 27). He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second" (Heb x. 9). 44 9 "We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man" (Heb. viii. 1, 2). Having an High Priest over the House of God" (Heb. x 21). "Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us " Heb. ix. 11, 12). Compare page 397, col. 2, note 2. 1 "By His own blood (Heb. ix. 12). In the midst of the hrone and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain" (Rev. v. 6). They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the of song the Lamb" (Rev. xv. 3). 2 "Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable ompany of angeis, to the general assembly and Church of G are in His presence, in the heavenly mansions," waiting for the day in which He shall descend with His holy myriads, when they shall descend' with Him, to be clothed with their resurrection bodies,8-glorious bodies-in the likeness of Christ, the heavenly Adam.9 In that true worship, the worship of the Church expectant1 in heaven through Christ her Head, the everlasting High Priest-sacrificial through the blood of the Lamb, the everlasting sacrifice-taose members of the Church who at any moment are still remaining on the earth in a transition state, a state of probation? and gradual transformation of mind and heart into the image of Christ,3 and successive gene the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of perfected saints, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant" (Heb. xii. 22-24). 3 Literally, Those that were laid to sleep by Jesus," TOÙS κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ (1 Thess. iv. 14). 4" Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better" (Phil. i. 23). "Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.........We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 6-8). 5 In My Father's house are many mansions.........I go to prepare a place for you" (John xiv. 2). 6 Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints"-literally, His holy myriads," both angels and perfected spirits (Jude 14). 7 "Those that were laid to with Him"(1 Thess. iv. 14). sleep by Jesus, will God bring See above, note 3. 8 "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds" (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17). "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;.........the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrupitble, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). 9"The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the carthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor. xv. 47-49). "It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as he is" (1 John iii. 2). "The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fa hioned like unto His glorious body" (Phil. iii. 20, 21). 1 "This man, after He had offered one Sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool" (Heb x. 12, 13). "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev. vi. 10.) "Not that we would be unclothed, bat clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (2 Cor. v. 4). "The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (Rom. viii. 19). 2* Now for a season, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith......might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. i. 6, 7: comp. 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13; James i. 12). 3" Ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in know. rations of this "Church militant on earth," are privileged to join; realizing thereby their membership of the heavenly Church, and their union with Christ. How men, still dwelling on earth, in the body, can be enabled to join in that heavenly worship, would appear to be the great problem; and the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, the appointed worship of the Church on earth, is the solution of that problem. III.-Participation of the Church Militant on Earth in the Heavenly Worship. The inquiry, then, as to the nature of the Eucharistic Worship, according to Christ's institution and the teaching of His Apostles, resolves itself into the question: "Has our Lord Jesus Christ made, and have His holy Apostles perpetuated, any appointment to enable the members of the Church on earth during their state of probation to take a part in the sacrificial worship of heaven? and if so, what is that appointinent?" 9 To this question the Holy Ghost makes answer, through the mouth of the Apostle St. Paul, We have "boldness to enter into the holiest,"—" the true tabernacle,”6 "heaven itself," into which "Christ is entered, to appear in the presence of God for us"-" BY THE BLOOD OF JESUs, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us, THROUGH the veil, that is to say, HIS FLESH." That Body prepared from everlasting, as the true Sacrifice, the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ given for us, the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for us, is the appointed means of our taking part in the true Sacrificial worship of the Church in Heaven. To eat that Flesh and drink that Blood, is the appointed means, the absolute condition, of our ledge after the image of Him that created him" (Col. iii. 10). "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii. 10). "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. ii. 5). "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord " (2 Cor. iii. 18). 4" Our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named" (Eph. iii. 14, 15). "Our conversation [literally, our community, our citizenship, woλirevμa] is in heaven" (Phil. iii. 20), "God hath.........raised us up together [with Carist], and made us sit together in heavenly places [with him] in Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii, 4, 6, Compare p. 398, Note 2). 5. That they all may be one: as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us............I ia them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made pe fect n one" (John xvii. 21, 23). abiding in personal union with Christ,' of our enjoying eternal life here, and attaining unto the resurrection of life hereafter.2 And on the eve of that great Sacrifice, once accomplished in time on earth, and everlastingly presented in heaven, the Lord Jesus Himself ordained the Mystery or Sacrament in which we are enabled, privileged, and commanded to eat His Flesh and to drink His Blood. "He took bread, and when He had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat, THIS IS MY BODY which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me.' "He took the Cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying: 'Driuk ye all of it; for THIS IS MY BLOOD of the new Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me,' "3—. not "in remembrance ❞—to put us in mind- of the historical Christ only, crucified for us eighteen hundred years ago, but of Christ the everlasting High Priest, now and for evermore appearing in the presence of God for us with the everlasting Sacrifice. To eat of this Bread consecrated by giving of thanks, and so eating, to eat the Flesh, the Body of Christ; to drink of this Cup consecrated by giving of thanks, and so drinking, to drink the Blood of Christ, is the way ordained by Christ for the Members of His Church on earth, whereby they are to take part in the Sacrificial worship in Heaven, offered by Himself the Great High Priest. So the Apostles of our Lord understood it: "The Cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ? The Bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ? " To partake of the "Altar," to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup, became the established worship of the Church, to be joined in by all the Faithful in the act of eating and drinking— the great means employed by the Apostles, their fellow-labourers and successors, for the accomplishment of the work given them in charge by their Divine Lord, the work of "perfecting the Saints and building up the Church, the Body of Christ."5 1 Abide in Me, and I in you" (John xv. 4). "He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him" (John vi. 56). 2 "Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John vi. 51). 3 Matt, xxvi. 26-28; Mark xiv. 28-24; Luke xxii. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi. 23-25. 1 Cor. x. 16. 5 Eph. iv, 11, 12; i. 22, 23. CONCLUDING TREATISE. HOLY COMMUNION, IN ITS ASPECT MAN-WARD— THE TRUE EIRENICON. That we, O, Holy Christ! when will it be And graceless strife, in conscious worth, SECTION 3.-OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE AND COM- On all sides the cry for Unity resounds: East and West, North and South, wherever the Name of Christ is named, the cry for Unity is raised. It is re-echoed by thousands of voices; it reverberates in thousands of hearts. That it is so raised and responded to is a hopeful sign, full of good omen for the future of the Church and of the world at large. Meanwhile, it must not be forgotten that the craving for Unity so universally expressed is an evidence of the want of Unity, just as the craving of hunger is an evidence of the want of food. It is indeed the deep conviction of the great loss to the Church from the want of Unity, that is now so generally felt throughout Christendom. Neither must it be forgotten that this cry for Unity, rising from so many voices, is by no means a concordant, that, on the contrary, it is a most discordant cry. Too generally it means no more on the part of those who utter it than that they desire every one else to conform to themselves in their modes of thought and speech and action. And as this sort of desire for Unity is reciprocated by those to whom it is addressed, it follows, as a natural consequence, that the more eagerly Unity is sought, the more remote becomes the prospect of its being achieved. Take, by way of exemplification, the two chief Patriarchates. Rome clamours for Unity more loudly than any Church in Christendom: it has used, and continues to use, the most violent and unscrupulous efforts to bring about what it calls Unity, meaning thereby absolute submission to the "See of St. Peter." Constantinople, though for lack of power less violent in putting forth its pretensions, nevertheless regards conformity with, and submission to, what it terms the "Holy Ortho Come, Holy Christ, with Spirit's might In Oneness of Thy Flesh and Blood; dox Church" as the sine quâ non of Unity, and the only method of obtaining it. Nor is it the two great Patriarchates only, and other Churches of kindred origin and position,1 that contend for this one-sided Unity. The smallest, the most isolated sect intrudes upon others its claims for Unity—that is, for conformity with itself-not unfrequently in a spirit of arrogance and intolerance proportionate to its own insignificance; a fact of which Quakerism and Irvingism may serve as notable illustrations. Unpromising as all this sounds for the cause of Unity, the fact remains that the desire for Unity is a true instinct of the Church, which has its roots deep in her foundations; and the widely increased expression of it, however incongruous and inconsistent, is a hopeful symptom, a sign that its accomplishment cannot be far distant. The mutual acknowledgment that Unity is desirable, is itself a rallying point, and cannot fail to beget a wish, and to lead to an endeavour, for the removal of the obstacles which stand in the way of its realization. Upon a dispassionate examination of these obstacles it will soon be discovered-indeed great progress has already been made towards the discovery among the most sincere and ardent aspirants after Unity-that the difficulty of arriving at Unity lies mainly on the service of the Church's outward developments of form and doctrine, while the principle of Unity lies hidden, and in a manner buried, deep in the heart of the Church, in her inner life. To search for it there is the business of those who are in earnest in their desire for Unity, who aim at a real, not an unreal, or mock Unity.2 1 The Anglican Church, strong in her Apostolic Descent, and having been more successful than other Churches in her Reformation on primitive principles, is not altogether free from the charge of endeavouring to assimilate other Churches to herself. Happily that tendency has received a salutary check by the judicious abstinence from proselytism, of which the Anglo-Continental Society has set the example.] 2 A formal, and a most hopeful step towards the attain ment of this Unity was made at the Congress at Cologne |