in primitive times, we might reasonably expect to find a plain avowal of it in that very service by means of which, according to modern Romanists, that wonderful change is effected. So far, however, is this reasonable expectation from being realised, that in this service there is not a trace of the carnal presence; but there is a prayer applicable to the spiritual presence, and to that only. If those who composed the canon had believed the mass to be a propitiatory sacrifice, they surely would have introduced some allusion to that doctrine. They have, however, introduced none, but they have described the Holy Supper as a commemorative sacrifice of praise. If they had thought of what are called solitary eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Memento etiam, Domine, famulorum et famularum tuarum N. N. qui nos præcesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Domine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus locum refrigerii, lucis et pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur, per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Nobis quoque peccatoribus, famulis tuis, de multitudine miserationum tuarum sperantibus, partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis Apostolis et Martyribus: cum Johanne, Stephano, Matthia, Barnaba, Ignatio, Alexandro, Marcellino, Petro, Felicitate, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnete, Cæcilia, Anastasia, et omnibus sanctis tuis. Intra quorum nos consortium, non æstimator meriti, sed veniæ quæsumus largitor, admitte; per Christum Dominum nostrum: per quem hæc omnia, Domine, semper bona creas, sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis, et præstas nobis. Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnis honor et gloria, per omnia secula seculorum. Amen." (Brev. Sarisb. Missal. 128.) In Foxe's Acts and Monuments may be seen a complete version of this canon and of all its numerous rubrics.

masses, they would undoubtedly have rendered their composition suitable for such a purpose. It proceeds, however, solely upon the supposition that a congregation is preparing to receive the Holy Communion. If they had believed in the omniscience of saints, they would doubtless have addressed these happy spirits, for it is plain that they appreciated their services to the Christian cause very highly, that they calculated upon their prayers, and that they even hoped for especial benefits from such supplications. The composers of the canon, however, have not ventured upon the folly, probably it should be added, upon the impiety too of making any direct address whatever to these highly venerated spirits. If those to whom we owe the canon had believed in the existence of purgatory, they ought to have mentioned something of that state, for they gave themselves a very good opportunity of so doing. They, however, intimate that such as have died with the mark of faith, are sleeping the sleep of peace, and they merely pray for such disembodied souls, that God would afford them a residence of refreshment, light, and tranquillity. From the composition of this canon the second Nicene council is placed at a considerable distance, and even the fourth council of Lateran belongs to the history of a different æra. As for the councils of Florence, and Trent, they appear, when ranged by the side of this venerable relic of the ancient Latin Church, almost like assemblies of yesterday. Now it is these four councils

chiefly that have taken upon themselves to sanction the peculiarities of Romanism, and it is not a little curious that the last of them, which ratified the doctrinal decisions of its predecessors, should have affirmed the freedom from error of a document more ancient than either of them, and proving that the system compacted together by their joint authority, was no more known to the primitive Christians of Rome, than it was to the inspired authors of the New Testament.

But although the mass is intrinsically far less objectionable than those would imagine who know it only from its public celebration, when a multitude of silly and even detestable ceremonies impress upon it a character which evidently was never contemplated by its original compilers; it is notwithstanding a service imperiously demanding an able and conscientious revisal. Those passages in the introductory and concluding parts of it which speak of human merit, whether in the dead or in the living, contradict the recorded doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. The addresses to departed spirits are absurd at best, because they attribute omniscience to beings possessed in all probability of no such faculty. The words sacrifice and host are used in such a manner as to mislead a congregation educated amidst Romish prejudices, because, although evidently referring to oblations placed upon the communiontable, and to the Eucharistic uses for which a portion of these was designed, yet ignorant or artful commentators, or even such as are merely

blinded by prejudice, might colourably explain these terms so as to countenance that doctrine of the mass, which is the key-stone of modern Popery. A similar objection must also be made to the words used in praying for the dead. There can be no doubt that these words are cited to prove that the purgatory of modern Romanists was maintained in the ancient Latin Church: although the words themselves, if carefully considered, will be found at variance with such an assertion". To rectify, however, in a solid and

"In the primitive Church a practice gradually gained ground of praying for the dead, because it was thought that something of human frailty would generally cling to men even at the moment of dissolution, and that consequently, God might be reasonably supplicated to overlook the imperfections with which disembodied souls would enter the invisible world. It was also recollected that the consummation of Christ's victory over sin and death being deferred until the general resurrection, it was reasonable to pray for the whole Christian congregation, whether still in the body, or released from the conflict with carnality, that it should be ranged on the great day at the Saviour's right hand. To these grounds of praying for the dead, others less defensible, were added by the fancies of individuals. Some men entertained a notion that a millenium would arrive, when the faithful would arise as subjects of the kingdom to be possessed by Christ for a thousand years before the final judgment, and that the best men would rise earliest in order to occupy a place under this happy monarchy. Those who were actuated by this opinion accordingly prayed that their own friends might be found among the first to rise for this purpose. Others supposed that disembodied souls are detained in a place of residence appropriated for that end, until the day of judgment, and that there might be some variations in their condition while in this place. There were those also who believed, that at the last day, all human souls,

satisfactory manner these and other defects in the ancient communion-service considerable time was

even that of the blessed Virgin not being excepted, would pass through a fire to the judgment-seat. The holders of these opinions thought themselves justified in praying that their friends might easily escape under these posthumous trials. No Christians however, of any note appear to have believed in primitive times that the human soul, when first released from its mortal encumbrances, is transferred for purification to a temporary fire. (Bingham, I. 758.) This is rendered sufficiently evident by the fact that some of the earliest prayers for the dead of which we have any knowledge include the whole body of departed Christians." It appears from all the ancient liturgies under the names of St. Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory Nazienzen, and Cyril, "that they prayed for all saints, the Virgin Mary herself not excepted." (Of such departed spirits it is not reasonable to suppose that they were thought to be in purgatory.) "And it is remarkable, that in the old Roman missal, they were used to pray for the soul of St. Leo, as Hincmar, a writer of the ninth age, informs us; who says the prayer ran in this form, Grant, O Lord, that this oblation, may be of advantage to the soul of thy servant Leo, which thou hast appointed to be for the relaxation of the sins of the whole world. But this was thought so incongruous in the following ages, that in the later sacramentaries, or missals, it was changed into this form: Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that this oblation may be of advantage to us by the intercession of St. Leo, as Pope Innocent III. assures us it was in his time. And such another alteration was made in Pope Gregory's Sacramentarium. For in the old Greek and Latin edition, there is this prayer: Remember, O Lord, all thy servants, men and women, who have gone before us in the seal of faith, and sleep in the sleep of peace. We beseech thee, O Lord, to grant them and all that rest in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. But in the new reformed missals, it is altered thus, Remember, Lord, thy servants and handmaids N. N. that have gone before us, &c. that they might not seem to pray for saints as well as others that were in purgatory. Which