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It appears that these sentences were preceded by a salutation or benediction in the ancient liturgies. According to Theodoret, the beginning of the mystical liturgy, or most solemn prayers, was that apostolic benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you allt." The same was also alluded to by Chrysostom, when he was a presbyter of the church of Antioch". We find that this benediction, with the response of the people, " And with thy spirit," has all along preserved its place in the east; for in the liturgies of Cæsarea, Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem, it is uniformly placed at the beginning of the Anaphora, just before the form "Lift up your hearts." In Egypt", Africa, and Italy, the apostolic benediction was not used at this place, but instead of it the priest said, "The Lord be with you," and the people replied, "And with thy spirit." In Spain, and probably Gaul, as now in England, there was no salutation before the introductory sentences".

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In the liturgy of Cæsarea the introduction to the thanksgiving was as follows:

t See vol. i. p. 29. u Ibid. p. 31. w Liturg. Cyrilli Copt. Renaudot, tom. i. p. 40.

x Sacramentar. Gregorii a

Menard. p. [. See also vol. i. p. 127. 136.

y Missa Mosarabic. ap. Pamel. Liturg. Lat. tom. i. p. 646. z Miss. Sarisbur. fol. 67.

Sacerdos. Η χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύ ματος, εἴη μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν. Populus. Καὶ μετὰ τοῦ Πνεύματός σου. Sacerdos. Άνω σχώμεν τὰς καρδίας. Populus. Ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον. Sacerdos. Εὐχαριστή σωμεν τῷ κυρίῳ. Ρopulus. "Αξιον καὶ δίκαιόν ἐστι προσκυ νεῖν Πατέρα, Υἱὸν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, τριάδα ὁμοούσιον καὶ ἀχώριστον.

SECTION XV.

THE THANKSGIVING OR PREFACE.

The thanksgiving in the sacrament was instituted by our blessed Saviour himself, for we learn from holy scripture, that when he had taken bread and wine he gave thanks to God, and blessed them". And we find that the same custom has prevailed in the Christian church from the beginning. In fact, we continually meet in the earliest writings of the Christian Fathers, the word eucharistia, or thanksgiving, applied both to the service and to the consecrated elements, so great a portion of the liturgy in those days consisted of thanksgiving. The term was used in these senses by Ignatius in the apostolical age, by Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian shortly afterwards, and

a Liturgia Basilii, Goar, Rit. Græc. p. 165.

b Matt. xxvi. 26, 27; Mark xiv. 22, 23; Luke xxii. 19, 20.

• Ἐκείνη βεβαία εὐχαριστία ἡγείσθω, ἡ ὑπὸ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον οὖσα, ἢ ᾧ ἂν αὐτὸς ἐπιτρέψῃ. Ignat. Epist. ad Smyrnæos, c. viii. εὐχαριστήσαντος δὲ τοῦ προεστῶτος, καὶ ἐπευφημήσαντος παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ, οἱ καλούμενοι παρ' ἡμῖν διακονοι διδόασιν ἑκάστῳ τῶν παρόντων μεταλαβεῖν ἀπὸ εὐχαριστηVOL. II.

θέντος ἄρτου καὶ οἴνου καὶ ὕδατος. Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. p. 96. ed. Thirlby. καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ παρεχώρησεν ὁ ̓Ανίκητος τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τῷ Πολυκάρπῳ κατ ̓ ἐντροπὴν δηλονότι. Irenæi fragment. Epist. ad Victorem Romanens. Episcop. p. 341. ed. Benedict. Clemens Alexandrin. Pædagog. lib. ii. c. 2. p. 178. ed. Oxon.

Eucharistia pascit.” Tertullian. de Præscript. c. xxxvi. p. 215. ed. Rigalt.

Ι

We

thenceforward by numerous Christian writers. have, however, an earlier allusion to the liturgy under the title of eucharistia, or thanksgiving, in the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians; where, in forbidding and reasoning against the practice of some persons, who used the miraculous gift of tongues in an improper manner, namely, by celebrating the liturgy in an unknown language, he says, "when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?" 1 Cor. xiv. 16. ἐπεὶ, ἐὰν εὐλογήσῃς τῷ πνεύματι, ὁ ἀναπληρῶν τὸν τόπον τοῦ ἰδιώτου πῶς ἐρεῖ τὸ ἀμὴν ἐπὶ τῇ σῇ εὐχαριστία; ἐπειδὴ, τί λέγεις, οὐκ οἶδε. The meaning of this passage is obvious: "If thou shalt bless the bread and wine in an unknown language which has been given to thee by the Holy Spirit, how shall the layman say Amen, so be it,' at the end of thy thanksgiving or liturgy, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayestd?" It is undeniable that St. Paul in this place uses exactly the same expressions to describe the supposed action as he has employed a short time before in designating the sacraments of Christ's body and blood, and describing our Lord's consecration at the last supper. Το ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας ὃ εὐ λογοῦμεν, οὐχὶ κοινωνία τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστι ; “ the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com

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d Dr. Waterland says, 66 this construction of the text appears too conjectural to build upon, and is rejected by the generality of interpreters: I think, with good reason, as Estius in particular hath mani

Re

fested upon the place."
view of the Doctrine of the
Eucharist, &c. ch. i. p. 45. It
is strange that Doctor Water-
land did not perceive the weak-
ness of Estius's arguments.

munion of the blood of Christ?" 1 Cor. x. 16. 'O κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐν τῇ νυκτὶ ᾗ παρεδίδοτο, ἔλαβεν ἄρτον, καὶ EvXαpioτýσas ekλaσe, 1 Cor. xi. 23. "the Lord Jesus, in the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it." The language of St. Paul also in the passage under consideration, as well as the action which he describes, is perfectly conformable to the description given by Justin Martyr of the celebration of the eucharist. "Then bread and a cup of water and wine is offered to the president of the brethren; and he, taking them, sends up praise and glory to the Father of all, in the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and makes a very long thanksgiving, because God has thought us worthy of these things. And when he has ended the prayers and thanksgiving, all the people that are present signify their approbation, saying, Amen. For Amen in the Hebrew language signifies so be it." Here we observe the "president" corresponding to the person who "blesses," according to St. Paul, and performs the "thanksgiving." The "people" corresponding to the "unlearned person" (or layman, as Chrysostom and Theodoret interpret the wordf) of St. Paul,

e Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. p. 96, 97. ed. Thirlby.

f Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, says, idióτnv δὲ τὸν λαϊκὸν λέγει, καὶ δείκνυσι καὶ αὐτὸν οὐ μικρὰν ὑπομένοντα τὴν ζημίαν, ὅταν τὸ ̓Αμὴν εἰπεῖν μὴ δύνηται. ὃ δὲ λέγει τοῦτο ἔστιν· ἂν εὐλογήσῃς τῇ τῶν βαρβάρων φωνῇ, οὐκ εἰδὼς τί λέγεις, οὐδὲ ἑρο μηνεῦσαι δυνάμενος, οὐ δύναται ὑποφωνῆσαι τὸ ̓Αμὴν ὁ λαϊκός. οὐ γὰρ ἀκούων τὸ, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας

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τῶν αἰώνων, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τέλος, οὐ λέγει τὸ ̓Αμήν. Hom. 35. in Epist. 1. ad Cor. tom. x. Oper. ed. Benedict. p. 325.. Chrysostom obviously understood the apostle to speak of the liturgy by alluding to the words εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, which he says orì Têλos, that is, the end of the liturgy. And accordingly look to the liturgies of Antioch, where he preached these Homilies, and we find

and replying Amen, "so be it," at the end of the thanksgiving in both passages. If we refer to all the ancient and primitive liturgies of the east and of Greece, the peculiar applicability of St. Paul's argument to the Christian liturgy will appear still more. In the liturgy of Constantinople or Greece, which has probably been always used at Corinth, the bishop or priest takes bread, and "blesses” it in the course of a very long "thanksgiving," at the end of which all the people answer, "Ameng." The same may be said of the liturgies of Antioch and Cæsareah, and in fine of all the countries of the east and Greece through which St. Paul bare rule or founded churches. It may be added, that there is, I believe, no instance in the writings of the most primitive Fathers, in which the Amen is ever said to have been repeated at the end of an office containing both blessing and thanksgiving, except in the liturgy of the eucharist.

All this shews plainly that the argument of St. Paul applies immediately and directly to the celebration of this sacrament. Whether we regard his own previous expressions, the language and the words of the earliest Fathers, or the customs of the primitive church exhibited in the ancient liturgies, we see the accurate coincidence between the case

those words terminating the liturgy. Liturgia Jacobi Græc. Asseman. Cod. Lit. tom. v. p. 48; Syr. Renaudot, tom. ii. p. 38.

Theodoret comments thus on the passage: ἰδιώτην καλεῖ τὸν τάγματι τεταγ‐ Tòv ev Tô λaïkó̟ Táyμarı Teray

μένον· ἐπειδὰν καὶ τοὺς ἔξω τῆς

στρατιᾶς ὄντας ἰδιώτας καλεῖν εἰ ώθασι. In Epist. 1. ad Cor. c. 14. tom. iii. Oper. ed. Sirmond. p. 191.

g Liturgia Chrysost. Goar, Rituale Græc. p. 75-79.

h See last note but one, and Liturg. Basilii, Goar, p. 165— 173.

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