LORD LIFT UP THE LIGHT OF HIS COUNTENANCE UPON THEE, AND GIVE THEE PEACE. Num. vi. 24 Q. And with what devotion did they receive this blessing?

A. We are told, Eccles. 1. 21, that when "the priest lifted up his hands over the congregation, to give the blessing of the Lord with his lips, they bowed themselves, that they might receive a bles sing from the Most High."

Q. What in particular ought we to observe here? A. That, lest any one should think too lightly of this blessing, because pronounced by a mortal like himself, it is added, Num. vi. 27, I, the Lord, will bless them; showing, that the effect of the blessing does not depend upon man, but upon the ordinance of God, from the mouth of his own minister, whom God hath chosen to bless in the name of the Lord." Deut. xxi. 5.

XXXV. Of the additional Prayers.

Q. Why are these collects added here? A. Lest there should be any thing left unasked in the preceding service of the day.

Q. But are they to be used at the communion only! A. No; but may be said after the collect for either morning or evening prayer, at the discretion of the minister.

Q. What is proper to be observed here?

A. That these collects are very plain and comprehensive, and almost every sentence of them taken out of the Bible, and are as proper to be joined to any other office as this; for which reason it is left to the discretion of the minister to use them when he judges proper.

XXXVI. Of the Rubric after the Communion.

2. How often was the communion administered in the primitive church?

A. While Christians were strong in faith and ardent in devotion, those who were qualified generally communicated once every day, or at least as often as assemblies were held for public worship; which custom remained till after St. Augustine's time; but when primitive piety abated, this laudible practice was discontinued.

Q. What was the consequence of this neglect?

A. Canons were made by several councils to oblige men to receive the communion three times a year at least, viz. at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, (probably in conformity to the practice of the ancient Jews, who were commanded by God himself to appear before the Lord at the three great feasts which correspond to these; namely, in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles); and those who neglected to communicate at those seasons were censured by the church. Q. And how often does our Church require the performance of this duty?

any

A. She specifies no particular days or seasons, but leaves it altogether to the discretion of the minister, who will undoubtedly feel himself obliged to give the pious and well-disposed part of his flock as frequent opportunities of testifying their love to their Saviour as possible; and God forbid that one should deprive them of these happy opportunities of increasing their graces, and securing their pardon and salvation; or that any person who calls himself a Christian, should make an excuse of not receiving this sacred ordinance, when his interest and duty oblige him to it.

2. How much of this office is to be read on every Sunday and holy day?

A. All that is appointed to the end of the gospel, together with one or more of the collects at the end of the communion, concluding with the blessing.

Q. Why is so much of this service ordered to be read, though there be no communion?

T

A. Because there are several things in that part of it which ought to be read as well to those who do not communicate, as to those who do. As, first, the decalogue or ten commandments of Almighty God, the Supreme Law-Giver of the world, which it is requisite the people should often hear and be put in mind of, especially on those days which are immediately dedicated to his service. And, 2dly, the collects, epistles, and gospels, proper to all Sundays and holy days, without which those festivals could not be distinguished either from each other, or even from ordinary days, nor consequently celebrated so as to answer the end of their institution.

Q. How is the consecrated bread and wine, which remain after the communion, to be disposed of?

A. It must not be carried out of the church, but the minister and other communicants are, immedi ately after the blessing, reverently to eat and drink the same. In the primitive church, whatever of the consecrated elements were left, after all had communicated, were either reserved by the priest to be administered to infirm persons in cases of exigency, that they might not die without receiving the blessed sacrament, or else were sent about to absent friends, as pledges and tokens of love and agreement in the unity of the same faith. But this custom, being abused, was afterwards prohibited by the Council of Laodicea, and the remains began to be divided among the clergy; and sometimes the other communicants were allowed to partake with them, as is now usual in our church.

Q. How are the elements to be provided?

A. By the minister or church-wardens, at the charges of the parish; or rather from the donations of the communicants.

Q. What kind of bread is necessary to be used in this sacrament?

A. It is sufficient that it be such as is usually eaten

at our common tables,* provided it be of the best and purest wheat flour that may conveniently be procured.

N. B. The qualifications required to the acceptable receiving the Lord's supper, are the same that are required in acceptable prayer. The sins for which men ought to be excluded from this ordinance, are the same, persisted in, for which sacred scripture allows that they should be excluded from the Christian society, and that such shall be excluded from the kingdom of heaven.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the Ministration of public Baptism of Infants, to be used in the Church.

ACTS ii. 39.

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

I. Of Baptism in general.

Q. By whom has the washing with water been used as a symbol of purification?

A. Water has so natural a property to cleanse, that it has been made the symbol of purification by all nations, and used with that signification in the rites of all religions. The heathens used divers kinds of baptism to expiate their crimes; and the Jews baptized such as were admitted proselytes at large; and when any heathens who had been circumcised became Jews, they received them by baptism only; with which ceremony they also pu

The use of unleavened bread was not known in the Christian church till the eleventh or twelfth centuries. See Broughton's Historical Library, page 506.

rified such heathen women as were taken in mar riage by Jewish husbands. And this is that universal, plain, and easy rite which our Lord Jesus Christ ordained to be a sacrament of admission into the Christian Church.

Q. How does the washing with water typify a new birth?

A. As washing is the first thing done to us after our natural birth, to cleanse us, so when we are admitted into the Christian church, we are first baptized; whereby the Holy Ghost cleanses us from the pollutions of our sins, renews us to God, and so we become, as it were, spiritual infants, and enter into a new life, which before we had not. For which reason, when the Jews baptized any of their proselytes, they called it their new birth, regenera tion, or being born again; and, therefore, when our Saviour used this phrase to Nicodemus, he wondered that he, being a master in Israel, should not have understood him. And even among the Greeks, this was thought to have such virtue and efficacy, as to give new life to those who were, in a religious sense, deemed to be dead.

Q. What is the form of baptism?

A. Our Saviour only instituted the essential parts of it, viz. that it should be performed by a duly authorized minister, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. With regard to the rites and circumstances of the administration of baptism, Christ left them to the determination of the Apostles and the church. Yet, without doubt, a form of baptism was very early agreed upon, because almost all churches in the world administer it much after the same manner.

Q. How many offices of baptism have we ?

A, Three; one for infants in public; another for infants in danger of death in private; and a third for those of riper years.