body of Christ; and when the Holy Eucharist is offered, and the communion participated, it is not offered for those only who, being present, participate, but offered for the whole body of Christ, living and dead, although, indeed, it be efficacious only for those who, in faith, eat the same.

This whole body, the Catholic Church, is as One body to worship, and as One body to serve God. The thing required is worship by a body, not by an aggregate or conglomeration of individuals merely, but of an organised body; and, in like manner, the service that is required is not that from a congeries of independently serving individuals, but the service of an organised body, just as a king does not require the service of a mass of independently acting brave men, but of an organised army in which each member shall know and keep his place. This idea of the unity of the body of Christ is as completely obliterated from the minds of men as if the Scriptures had never mentioned it, or as if the Roman Church did not in some way bear a sort of witness to it; yet even amongst her members there is really as little intelligence of the unity of the Church

as elsewhere, and their only idea of it consists in submission to the Bishop of Rome.

The unity of the Godhead was the first thing taught to men who had been constituted into one body for His worship. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord" (Deut. vi. 4.); and when by a subsequent revelation in an after-dispensation a plurality of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead was made known, it was not to destroy or modify the truth formerly taught, but to furnish additional knowledge to be used also, and not in lieu of that which had been previously taught. All nature teaches this unity, and it would indeed be strange if unity were not the basis of all worship in the One Church, formed especially for the adoration of the One God. Unity is essential to every thing in human affairs; all things point to an apex in nature and in art and men's eyes can perceive this truth, and its necessity in every thing except in the Christian Church. In a kingdom the king is the alone organ in whose name all acts do proceed; and officers of every degree, judges, magistrates, sheriffs, and constables, do all perform their several duties in his name and by

the authority of him the one king, who by, and in, and through them is everywhere present in his kingdom. In the arts the same principle of unity is essential to the perfection of any production. A poem must have one subject to which all others must be subordinate and subsidiary. In painting, the subject must be one; each group must assume more or less the form of the pyramid; the lights must range pyramidically up to one brightest apex, and the shadows in like manner range into one darkest point; each colour, blue, red, green, and yellow, with all their mingled halftints, must do the same;-in short, throughout the whole range of art, in every part alike, all must terminate in a point and be each a unity by itself.

The same principle holds with the worship of the Church. The services may be many or few according to the leisure afforded to the laity to attend them, and according to the number of the clergy who can be maintained to officiate at them; but still some one must be the apex to which all others point, and to which they are all subservient. It has been already observed that one of the things by which God

has preserved His Church unto our days has been by the Sacraments. The first of these can only be administered once in the course of the life of any human being, and therefore is unfit to be the centre round which the daily and weekly services of the Church should hold their course: the second, however, should be celebrated at least weekly everywhere, and in every central or diocesan church, that is, in every cathedral, daily. The worship should be performed in the place where the bishop presides, in a perfect manner; perfect in respect to number and diversity of services; perfect in respect to their due subordination, that they may not be vain repetitions; and perfect in respect to the sufficient attendance of priests at each.

The celebration of the Holy Eucharist is on every account the most important and highest act of Christian worship. It is emphatically the rite instituted by our blessed Lord in person. The time when this was done is peculiarly solemn, being the eve of His betrayal, seizure, and death; and it is the only act in place, time, or circumstance wherein His flesh and blood is declared to be

present. It is this last fact that constitutes its paramount importance, and it is that which causes it to be the centre round which all other acts of worship turn, the apex from which all other rites depend, the point towards which all the acts of men in buildings consecrated to its celebration are directed.

The commencement of every approach to the Creator must be by the prostration of the creature, indicative of its lost condition and death, so that confession of sin and of unworthiness is the first part of the celebration of these holy mysteries. The priest, after having made this on behalf of himself and of all mankind, must next in God's name pronounce pardon and absolution upon the penitent for Christ's sake, whose death is now about to be commemorated. After this a portion of the written Scriptures should be presented before God which contain the revelation of His will in permanent and abiding word, as a grateful remembrance of this most excellent gift, and as a testimony of our faith in what He has declared, and of the submission to His law so given; and, as only a small portion can be so offered, the priest, together with the congre