The following are the originals of our Collects for this festival, and for the Annunciation :

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, majestatem tuam supplices exoramus, ut sicut unigenitus Filius tuus hodierna die cum nostræ carnis substantia in templo est præsentatus, ita nos facias purificatis tibi mentibus præsentari.

Gratiam tuam, quæsumus, Domine, mentibus nos- Annunciatris infunde; ut qui angelo nuntiante Christi Filii tui tion. incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem ejus et crucem ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.

mas.

The origin of the feast of Michaelmas' is not Michaelclearly known; but it appears not to have been generally observed before the eighth century. In 815 it was recognized by the Council of Mentz, and from that time it gained ground in the Church.

The feast of All Saints, or All Hallows, is not All Saints' of great antiquity. About the year 610 the Pan- Day. theon at Rome was taken from the heathen by the Emperor Phocas, at the desire of Boniface IV.; and as it had formerly been sacred to all the Pagan gods, it was now dedicated to all the Martyrs. Hence came the original of the feast of All Saints, which was then celebrated on the 1st of May, but was afterwards, by an order of Gregory IV., in 834, removed to the 1st of November. Our Reformers, having laid aside the celebration of a great many Martyrs' days, which had grown too numerous and cumbersome to the Church, thought fit to retain this day; whereon the Church, by a general commemoration, returns her thanks to God for them all. (Wheatly.)

The greater part of our Collects for the Saints' days were composed at the Reformation, as has been already shewn at the beginning of this chapter. Those, however, for the Conversion of St 1 Riddle's Christian Antiquities, p. 658.

Paul and St Bartholomew's Day were in part, and that for Michaelmas Day was wholly taken from the Missal, which had the following Collects for those days:

Deus, qui universum mundum beati Pauli Apostoli tui prædicatione docuisti; da nobis, quæsumus, ut qui ejus hodie conversionem colimus, per ejus ad te exempla dirigamur.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui hujus diei venerandam sanctamque lætitiam in beati Bartholomei Apostoli tui festivitate tribuisti; da ecclesiæ tuæ, quæsumus, et amare quod credidit et prædicare quod docuit.

Deus, qui mirò ordine Angelorum ministeria hominumque dispensas; concede propitius, ut quibus tibi ministrantibus in cœlo semper assistitur, ab his in terra vita nostra muniatur.

CHAPTER IX.

The Order of the Administration of the Lord's

THE

Supper.

names of munion

HE title of the Communion-service in the Various Prayer Book of 1549 was 'The Supper of the the ComLord, and the Holy Communion, commonly called Service; the Mass.' At the review in 1552 the title was altered to the present form. The usually received derivation of the word Mass is that which is given The Mass, by Cardinal Bona, according to whose conjecture it. is taken from the old form of dismissing the congregation after the Communion, 'Ite missa est' (i. e. congregatio). Hence it came to mean not only the Holy Communion, but any holy feast; and in this wider sense it is retained in the words Christmas, Michaelmas, &c.

The word Liturgy was for many ages restricted Liturgy, to the office of the Holy Communion; and in this sense it is to be understood when we speak of the Liturgy of St James, St Chrysostom, &c. In the Preface to the Prayer Book the more ancient meaning of the word is revived, in which it is applicable generally to the public worship of God in the Church. This sense occurs frequently in the LXX. translation of the Old Testament, (e. g. Deut. x. 8; παρεστάναι ἔναντι τοῦ Κυρίου λειτουργεῖν, ‘Το stand before the Lord to minister to him,' &c.) and in several places of the New, as Acts xiii. 2, Aelτουργούντων δὲ αὐτῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ νηστευόντων, ‘As

Eucharist,

&c.

'The Lord's

Supper.'

they ministered to the Lord, and fasted.' In classical Greek the word λerovpyía, liturgy, denotes any public service, whether of a secular or religious nature. This wider signification was in conformity with its derivation from Aeros, public, and pyov, a work.

Other names for the Communion-service are, among the Greeks, Eucharistia, a thanksgiving; mysterion, or mystagogia, a mystery; synaxis, a congregation; telete, a rite; anaphora, or prosphora, a votive offering: among the Latins, communio, coena Domini, or dominicum, oblatio, agenda (a rite), collecta (a contribution).

The term communion, κowvwvía, as applied to the Lord's Supper, was probably taken in the first instance from 1 Cor. x. 16, where we are said to have communion (i. e. to be partakers) of the body and blood of Christ. Hence the sacrament is called a communion, because it unites us with Christ, and through him, with each other. In most cases, however, where koivwvía, communion, occurs in the New Testament, it means not partaking, but imparting, not having a share with others, but making others to share with us, especially alms-giving. Thus Rom. xv. 26, 'It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution (κοινωνίαν τινὰ ποιήσασθαι), for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.' Heb. xiii. 16, 'To do good and to communicate forget not' (τῆς δὲ εὐποιΐας καὶ κοιvwvías un émiλav@áveσ0e). See also 2 Cor. viii. 4; Acts ii. 42 (probably). According to our present usage, to communicate is to partake of the communion, and they who do so are said to be communicants.

The sacrament is termed the Lord's Supper, from 1 Cor. xi. 20, When ye come together into

one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper,' (κυριακὸν δεῖπνον φαγεῖν); although in this passage of St Paul the phrase probably includes the agape, or feast of charity, which was joined with the Eucharist1.

For an outline of the service used at the administration of the Lord's Supper in the ancient Church of Jerusalem, see above, p. 4.

the Service

The present arrangement of the Communion-ser Order of vice is almost entirely that adopted in 1552. The in 1549. following summary will shew how it stood in the

2

Prayer Book of 1549. After the Lord's prayer and the Collect for purity came the introit: the Kyrie eleison: the hymn, Gloria in excelsis: 'The Lord be with you,' &c.; the Collect for the day, with the two Collects for the king: the Epistle and Gospel: the Nicene Creed: the sermon or homily: the exhortation to be used at the time of the Communion, 'Dearly beloved in the Lord,' &c.: the exhortation for some day before: the offertory: the setting of the bread and wine on the altar: 'The Lord be with you,' &c.: 'It is very meet,' &c.: the proper prefaces with the seraphic hymn: the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church: the prayers of consecration and oblation: the Lord's prayer: The peace of the Lord,' &c.: the address: the general confession: the absolution: the comfortable sentences out of Scripture: 'We do not presume,' &c. the partaking of the elements: the sentences of Scripture called the post-communion: The Lord be with you,' &c.: Almighty and everliving God,' &c. the blessing. So far as the arrangement is concerned, the alterations made in 1552 were generally for the better.

1 See Olshausen on 1 Cor. xi. 20.

2 From Clay's Prayer Book Illustrated, p. 101.