Yes; in Gaul, as here, the communicants of both sexes were allowed to approach the table-a custom not universal. 324. In the primitive Church a Psalm was sung during communion. Have we any trace of this habit? Yes; in some parts of England a psalm is sung immediately after receiving-before the Lord's Prayer. It seems to have been intended by the first book of Edward. 325. How often did the early Christians partake of the Lord's Supper? During the earliest times, the Lord's Supper was a regular part of public worship; every Christian, who came to worship God, renewed the remembrance of his Saviour's death. 326. When did frequent Communion decline? Chrysostom (4 C.) speaks of its great decline in his time. 66 I often observe," he says, a great number flock to hear the sermon, but they fly from the Lord's Table." 327. And to what extent had the habit degenerated? To three times a year; nay, to once! and that by order of a council! in 1215. 328. And it was thus at the time of the Reformation? Yes; and our Reformers have left us no greater blessing than the frequent communion of the body and blood of Christ again restored to us. 329. Do you remember one remarkable expression of Calvin (a coarse but forcible one) on the value of frequent communion? He says "The practice of communicating only once a year, whoever might introduce it, was most certainly the invention of the devil." The Service. 330. Had the Lord's Prayer been used in its present place before the books of Edward? Yes; for many ages: though, as we have so often said, we cannot trace back to the time when it was first so used. 331. It was not, then, so used in the primitive Church? It could not be; because whilst the Christians were only a few among the heathen, and the heathen came from curiosity to their services, it was held a point of faith to keep the Lord's Prayer sacred from them. 332. This rule would not prevail, you mean, in a country wholly Christian ? Exactly; and then the service of the Lord's Supper could not begin better than with His own prayer. Almighty God, &c. 333. Is this prayer ancient? We know that it has been used, as it is used, for 900 years: how much earlier we cannot yet know, whatever future researches into antiquity may teach us. The Commandments. 334. When was this portion of the Old Testament placed in its present position? In the second book of Edward, 15521. 335. Was it an ancient custom to read a portion of the old law in a similar way ? Very ancient; 1500 years ago, the Liturgy of the eastern Church is represented as beginning with the law of Moses. 336. These lessons probably varied. Are there precedents for an unchanging lesson, as in this case? There are. An ancient Irish Liturgy has the same Epistle and Gospel permanently used; and there are other similar cases. 337. Is there any thing irregular in the manner in which the lesson is broken into portions by responses? On the contrary, such was the frequent custom of the early Church. 338. Was there an efficient reason, why this portion of Scripture should be set prominently forward by our Church? Yes; that the Romanists had omitted the portion contained in the second commandment; making our third the second, and so on, till the tenth is divided into two to complete the number. 1 In Archbishop Cranmer's English edition of the Short Instruction into Christian Religion, published in 1548, the Commandments are divided in the Roman way; but in the Institution of a Christian Man, published in 1537, they are as ours, the second ending, however," nor worship them." 339. Would this seem excusable? Scarcely so; since, although Augustine and others speak of a division of the commandments after the Roman manner (as though the division were by some thought immaterial), there is no Hebrew MS., nor translated MS., without the portion of Scripture. thus omitted; whilst Deut. iv. 13, specially limits the contents of the Tables written by the finger of God to the words spoken by God, and specially names the ten commandments, or ten words, as the Jews term them. 340. And are we sure that the Commandments were originally divided as we divide them? We know that the Jews in the time of Josephus did as we do, for he says, "The first commandment teaches us, that there is but one God, and that we ought to worship Him only. The second commands us not to make the image of any living creature to worship it. The third, that we must not swear by God in a false matter. The fourth, that we must keep the seventh day by resting from all sort of work. The fifth, that we must honour our parents. The sixth, that we must abstain from murder. The seventh, that we must not commit adultery. The eighth, that we must not be guilty of theft. The ninth, that we must not bear false witness. The tenth, that we must not admit the desire of any thing that is another's." Collects for the Sovereign. 341. When were these Collects introduced into the Communion Service? In the first book of Edward; before which time none of the collects used in this place was for the king. 342. How is the custom of antiquity? This is one of the many cases in which our Reformers restored the ancient habit-a habit, in this case, tracing back clearly 1200 years. 343. And are the prayers themselves ancient or modern? They are founded upon ancient models. The Collects. 344. We have spoken of the immemorial use of Collects in the English Church: does that apply to these Collects? Fully the greater part can be traced back 1400 : years; their traces, in fact, are merely lost in the obscurity of the past. 345. Can you give me some idea of the number of originally old Collects ? Forty-seven. 346. And of those old in substance, but slightly altered? Twenty-one. 347. This will not leave many of modern composition? Fourteen in Edward's first book, 1549; one in Edward's second book, 1552; one in 1662; and it will show strikingly the caution of the Reformers and their regard for ancient models, that of the fifteen in Edward's books, twelve were for the Apostles' days, in which the Saint-worship of the Roman Church rendered a change necessary. |