AN INCIDENT AT THE COMMUNION TABLE. T the Lord's Table waiting, robed and stoled, * The East window of Kirby Wharfe or Grimstone Church (Yorkshire), is: filled with stained glass, the subject being “The Crucifixion.” ( 181 ) REASONS FOR EUCHARISTIC WORSHIP. 14. Because our Prayer-Book, by the appointment of a proper •Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for every Sunday, and other Holy Days of obligation, virtually requires the celebration of Holy Communion on those days, unless as many as “three persons at the least" cannot be had to “communicate with the Priest;” while provision is made for a daily Celebration, by the rubric which enjoins that the “Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the Sunday should serve for all the week after.” 15. Because the Holy Eucharist is the perpetual re-presentation to God the Father of the Sacrifice of His Son upon the Cross; and is one with the Heavenly Offering, though made in a different Inanner. 16. Because, by this great Commemorative Sacrifice the merits of Christ's Death are applied to all such as devoutly participate in It, “for the remission of their sin, and all other benefits of His Passion.” 17. Because it is, therefore, a propitiatory Sacrifice, applying to us the merits of the Atonement made upon the Cross ; the holiest offering of praise and adoration; the highest act of thanksgiving; and the most effectual mode of prayer. 18. Because Christ is present in this Sacrament by a proper, albeit spiritual, and supernatural, Presence of His Humanity (which is inseparably united, in personal union, to his Divinity), both for the ghostly sustenance of such as worthily communicate, and that all the baptised may mystically offer Him to the Father. 19. Because the refusal to participate in Eucharistic worship, excepting when one does sacramentally communicate, is, practically, the denial of this twofold purpose of the Holy Eucharist. 20. Because, when Sacramental Communion is abstained from, out of penitence, humility, or reverence, many and great blessings may be obtained by the devout participation in Eucharistic worship, and by spiritual Communion; although the full benefits of the Sacrament can only be had by a worthy reception. 21. Because, by the practice which has obtained from the earliest times (and which is still retained, by an unbroken tradition, in the Scottish Church) of reserving a portion of the consecrated Gifts for the sick, and others unable to be present at the Oblation, the Church Catholic has declared her belief that the Sacrifice is separable from the Communion. 22. Because the mind of the Church on this point has been also declared by the extensive use in the Eastern Church, and to a less extent in the Western Church as well, and, in both, from very early times of a form of altar service, known as the “Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified,” in which at certain seasons especially during Lent, the Communion was given from the Altar out of the Reserved Gifts; but there was no Offering or Consecration. 28. Because the recognition of the presence at the Holy Oblation, of the highest class of penitents, before they were restored to the Communion, (as referred to in Reason 5) is a further proof of the mind of the Primitive Church on this point. 24. Because, therefore, to refuse to participate in Eucharistic worship, whenever one is not prepared sacramentally to communicate, under the plea that the Sacrifice and the Communion may not be separated, is to oppose the mind and belief of the Church, thus plainly expressed. 25. Because we are miserable sinners, and have many and pressing needs which God only can supply, and there is no other time or mode so favourable for obtaining our requests, as during the Eucharistic Offering. 26. Because the neglect of that Service which our Lord Himself has ordained, and commanded us to “Do in remembrance of Him,” and by means of which He fulfils His promise to be with us “unto the end of the world,” is a most ungrateful return of His infinite love. 27. Because the Holy Eucharist, being the centre of Church worship, and essential to its completeness, it follows that, if at any time we are unable to attend the whole Service, we should choose the essential part thereof; and although we may prefer any other, we are bound to choose what is most for the honour of Almighty God, and to do His will, and not our own. 28. Because the Holy Eucharist is the earthly counterpart of, and the best preparation for, the Heavenly Worship which saints and angels unceasingly offer, and in which, hereafter, all the redeemed shall have part, and shall find their perfect bliss, for ever and ever.–Fram a Tract published in Edinburgh. BEFORE THE TABLE. T one of the sessions in the Upper House of the Convocation of Canterbury, the meaning of the words “before the table ” was under discussion. It was finally decided that the meaning was “at the north end of the table.” After adjournment, the blotter of the Bishop of Peterborough was found, on which he had scribbled the following: “The piper played before Moses.” Now this may mean—(1) that the piper played antecedently to Moses' birth; or, (2) that he played before Moses did; or, (3) it might imply that the piper played in front of Moses. But it means none of these. What this remarkable man really did was to play “at the north end of Moses"—The Montana Churchman. ( 183 ) WHAT A POSTMAN DID. o a lowly sphere, may not be found uninteresting to some of our readers, who, wishing to serve God, but feeling abashed by the smallness of their endeavours, may like to know how one, at least, of his poorest servants, worked, and persevered, and entered into his rest. It was written by a lady who lived in the same parish as he did, in the form of a letter to his children. f |HE following slight account of a large hearted and earnest worker, in o SoME Account of HENRY WELCHMAN, A GLoucestERSHIRE PostMAN. My DEAR CHILDREN,-It seems very sad that so good a father as God blessed you with should pass away, and you have no record of him; and therefore, as your mother is ever busy for you, and has no time at her disposal, I will write down my remembrances of him. He was a very good man, very full of good works, and thinking very much of the immortal souls around him. What remembrances you have of him will be mostly as a father—a loving, careful father—and you, his eldest boy, may think how he wished you to become a Church missionary. What he wished, those who knew his vigour of mind, might well believe he would have accomplished. You remember now, I doubt not, how, after his weary day's work he would come in, but not with a cross or rough word; no, the law of kindness was ever on his lips, and none knew better that “a soft answer turneth away wrath.” Does his little girl remember how lovingly in his last hour he put his arm round her, and begged her as his eldest daughter to be dutiful to her mother and kind to the little ones? How very industrious your father was . How he worked for you, not only walking the many miles every day with the letters, but again working for you when he had his few leisure hours at the evening time. So industrious was he that before long he was able to buy a small piece of land at “the Passage.” You know, I doubt not, what he told me, that there he built a little shed, a place of rest when waiting for the letters that he was to bring back; that there, in that quiet place, he could think of holy things. Oh! you may be sure many prayers went up for you all; and a glimpse, no doubt, he sometimes had of his beloved Saviour, and thought of his class at the Sunday-school, and of what he should teach them on the next Sunday. No one ever loved teaching better than your father. How often have I seen him walking with the boys to church 1 always with such a grave and serious face. At one time when through trying circumstances he was no longer able to teach in the Sunday-school; agreeably to the suggestion of my dear sister, he had a room in an empty house in the poorest and worst part of the village; and there, with the utmost care and kindness, collected many poor children round him. But again he was able to return to his beloved school, and there last I saw him; a pleasant scene that I love to look back upon—green plants in the window, the sun shining through them—texts on the walls painted by a dear niece of mine— all telling the young children about their great Shepherd, Christ. Soon after this we parted. Many a pleasant talk we had had together about the schools, and the way to help on the Kingdom of Christ; but they were over then, little as we either knew it. It was, however, chiefly as a collector for missions that your father was known. He had a noble ardour for spreading the knowledge of his Divine Master; to him the knowledge of Jesus, as a Guide and Redeemer, was life, and health, and joy. Why should it not be so to others? The nations were lost in darkness, we had the Great Light; what could we do but hold it up to them? And so your father held it up, and so greatly did he feel the reality of it all, that he almost took for granted that others must share his feelings. He invited young lads to join him, and kindly did one, (though full of business) offer him a room, where, with prayer and praise, they could commend their |