he poureth away at the base of the altar, committing unto God that which surpasseth human abilities in so great a sacrament. After this the altar is wiped with a linen cloth. The altar is Christ, the cloth is His flesh, brought by the beating of His Passion unto the whiteness and glory of immortality. Next the bishop offereth upon the altar frankincense, which is burnt in the shape of a cross in the middle thereof; and at its four corners he maketh crosses with sanctified oil. Then upon each of the four walls of the church there be made three crosses with the same oil: and the consecration being thus finished, the altar is covered with a white veil. Incense, prayers, and oil do denote the grace of the Holy Ghost. Whose fulness-' like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down into the beard: even unto Aaron's beard,' '—came down upon the apostles and their disciples who preached the mystery of the Cross through the four quarters of the world, the Lord working with them. The white covering doth typify the joy of immortality: concerning which the Son exulteth, saying unto the Father, 'Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.' ¿ : + Psalmi cxxxiii (Ecce quam bonum), 2. APPENDIX A CHANCELS 'THE temple of old was divided into two parts by a veil hung in the middle thereof. The first part was called the Holy Place, but the inner part the Holy of Holies. Whatever part then of the office of the Mass cometh before the secret is performed as it were in the outer place: but the secret itself within the Holy of Holies. There were in the Holy of Holies the altar of incense, the ark of the testimony, the mercy-seat above the ark, and over this two cherubims of glory with their faces looking towards each other. Herein the high priest entered alone once in the year, having the names of the patriarchs written upon the breastplate of judgment and the shoulderplates, and bearing a censer of burning coals and blood, and incense, which with prayer he placed in the thurible until the cloud of incense covered him.2 Afterwards he sprinkled the mercy-seat and the altar with blood, and then he went out to the people, and washed his vestments in the evening. These were types of old, but they have ceased since the things signified thereby have come. But thus the former temple doth 1 After the Sanctus, which, as we shall find, was performed with the full choir and the accompaniment of organs, came the secret, which embraced the whole Canon of the Mass, performed by the celebrant alone, and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. 'It is called the secret because these things be hidden from us, since the nature of man can in no wise fully comprehend so great a mystery: for the denoting of which it is rightly performed secretly. To signify the same also, the priest when entering upon the secret is veiled as it were with the side curtains.' See other mystical reasons adduced in the remainder of this passage, Book IV, Chapter 35, and in Chapter 39 an account of the side curtains. Upon the use of these see also the Dublin Review, vol. x, p. 339. *See Leviticus xvi; Exodus xxviii, xxxix, and xl, denote the present church; the Holy of Holies, heaven ; the high priest, Christ; the blood, His Passion; the coals, His love; the thurible, His flesh; the burning incense, prayers of sweet savour; the altar, the hosts of heaven; the ark, Christ in His humanity; the mercyseat, God the Father; the two cherubims, the twain Testaments, the which do look towards each other because the two do agree; the vestments which be washed, mankind. Wherefore consider what things were done of old, and what things Christ hath done, and then see how the minister of the Church doth represent the same in the office of the Mass. By the ark also is signified the humility of Christ, from which through His mercy all good hath come unto us' (Durandus, Book IV, Preface 13, 14). In the next section the same subject is further illustrated, though without reference to without reference to the immediate subject of this appendix, the necessity of the division of every church into a chancel and nave. The reader may consult a most interesting' series of chapters in Hugo de Sancto Victore (Tituli ii-viii, Ex. Misc. II, Lib. IV) upon this subject: the passages are far too long for insertion here. The absolute necessity of this twofold division is a point which it is more than painful at this time to have to prove. It is only within the last two centuries that our own or any branch of the Church Catholic has dared to depart from an usage which, if any, has universality, antiquity, and consent on its side, and of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church. For some of the arguments which have been adduced in the present controversy we must refer to the publications of the Cambridge Camden Society, and particularly the Ecclesiologist. There is nothing more wanted than a careful treatise on the subject which shall in a compendious form put this and several points depending upon it, such as orientation itself, and praying towards the east, in a clear light. APPENDIX B ORIENTATION 'Furthermore albeit God is everywhere, yet ought the priest at the altar and in the offices to pray towards the east according to the constitutions of Vigilius, Pope. Whence in churches which have the doors at the west, he that celebrateth turneth in the salutations to the people : but in churches which have the entrance at the east,' as at Rome, there is no need in the salutations for turning round, because the priest always turneth to the people. The temple also of Solomon, and the tabernacle of Moses had their entrance from the east. Pray we therefore towards the east, being mindful, firstly, that He, Who is the splendour of eternal light, hath illuminated 'them 2 that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, rising with healing in his wings': of whom it is said, 'Behold the man, whose name is the East.' For the which cause he saith in the book of Wisdom," "We ought to pray eastward, where the light ariseth.' Not because the Divine Majesty is locally in the cast: which is potentially and essentially in all places; as it is written, 'Do not I fill heaven and earth'; and in like manner speaketh the Prophet,' 'If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there if I go down to hell, Thou art there also ': but because to those who fear His name shall the sun of righteousness arise,' 'which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.'" 'S. John Lateran is an instance. We may observe that the resaons for the orientation of churches must have been very strong to have caused an universal disregard of an example thus set at the centre of Western Christendom. 3 Malachi iv, 2. " Jeremiah xxiii, 24. Malachi iv, 2. S. Luke i, 79. 6 Wisdom xvi, 28. • Psalm cxxxix (Domine probasti), 7. • Zechariah vi, 12. "S. John i, 9. Secondly, that our souls be thereby taught to turn themselves to the things that are more desirable. Thirdly, because they who praise God ought not to turn their backs on Him. Fourthly, according to Joannes Damascenus (who giveth also the three following reasons,10 to show that we seek our country. Fifthly, that we may look upon Christ crucified, who is the True East. Sixthly, that we may prove that we expect Him to come to be our Judge. For Damascenus saith in that place, 'God planted a garden eastward';" whence man's sin made him an exile, and instead of Paradise made him to dwell in the west therefore, looking to our ancient home, we pray towards the east. Seventhly, because our Lord, at His Crucifixion, looked towards the east: and also when He ascended into heaven, He ascended towards the east: and thus the apostles adored Him: and thus ' He shall come again in like manner as they saw Him go into heaven.' 12 Eighthly, Daniel likewise in the Jewish captivity prayed towards the temple. Yet Augustine saith that no Scripture hath taught us to pray towards the east.' [He, however, says also, Though I find not a thing on record in Scripture, yet I receive it as proceeding from the apostles if the Universal Church embrace it '] (Durandus V, ii, 57). 13 S. Isidore has a curious passage about orientation. A 13 This section is in several places corrupt: for example-from Damascenus the quotation in the sixth head belongs properly to the seventh. Our readers may perhaps be reminded of the anecdote of the good Earl of Derby (who, if the Reformed Church in England should ever have a calendar of her own, will assuredly be one of its martyrs), when on the scaffold, The church of Bolton was in sight; and the Earl requested that he might be allowed to kneel on the western side of the block, so that the last object on which his eyes were fixed might be God's house. His executioners showed their poor malice to the last, by denying him this wish. |