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three Persons in one God, you might also be one in Them,—a partaker of the Dia sharer in the deifical

vine nature, communion.

As you proceed towards the Churchyard, put yourself in the spirit in the company of St. John, the blessed Virgin, and the other pious women, going to Golgotha, the place of a skull, to be present at the passion and death of our Lord. Represent your Saviour as carrying His Cross before you, to be immolated thereon for your sins, and bewail those sins as the cause of all His sufferings.

Let the Yew Tree, which, standing in the midst of the graves, always speaks by its green foliage of immortality and life to come, remind you on this occasion also of "the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Rev. ii, 7); which, as the ancients explained it, is none other than the blessed Eucharist itself.

Think of the dead, tread lightly over their graves, and offer up this short prayer :

"Remember not, O Lord, our offences, nor

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the offences of our forefathers; neither take Thou vengeance of our sins; spare us, good Lord, spare Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever."

ויי

Many of those that sleep in the consecrated dust have partaken of that "One Bread", which it is your privilege to go and taste. May you with them, in virtue of that divine food, rise to glory at the last day. On entering the Church direct your eyes towards the Altar, "the greatest place of God's residence upon earth," and, according to the requirements of the Canon (vii, A. D. 1640), "do reverence and obeisance, for the advancement of God's Majesty." Then as you walk to your seat, say :

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1 "Remember not, Lord, my sins, nor the sins of my forefathers; neither take vengeance for our sins, theirs or mine. Spare us, Lord, them and me: spare Thy people, and among Thy people Thy servant, who is redeemed with Thy precious blood," &c.-Greek Devotions of Bishop Andrews.

2 "His altar, as the greatest place of God's residence upon earth (I say the greatest), yea, greater than the pulpit. For there 'tis Hoc est corpus meum,' 'This is my Body. But in the pulpit 'tis at most Hoc est verbum meum,This is my Word.' And a greater reverence (no doubt) is due to the Body than to the Word of our Lord. And so in relation, answerably to the throne, where His

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

PSALM XLIII.

Judica me, Deus.

Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people: O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked

man.

For thou art the God of my strength, why hast thou put me from thee: and why go I so heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me?

O send out Thy light and Thy truth, that they may lead me: and bring me to Thy holy hill, and to Thy dwelling.

And that I may go unto the altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness: and upon the harp will I give thanks unto Thee, O God, my God.

Body is usually present, than to the seat, where His Word useth to be proclaimed." - Archbishop Laud's Speech at the Star Chamber, 1637, p. 47.

"The people were not so profane and unchristian not to perform their most humble and lowly reverence towards the most holy and sacred altar, where Christ is most truly and really present in the blessed Sacrament, &c. Altars, because they are the seats and chairs of estate, where the Lord vouchsafeth to place Himself amongst us (quid est enim altare, nisi sedes corporis et sanguinis Christi, as Optatus speaks), have been in all ages so greatly honoured and regarded of the most wise, learned, and most blessed saints of God."-Pocklington, Altare Christianum, pp. 108, 153.

Why art thou so heavy, O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me ?

O put thy trust in God: for I will yet give Him thanks, which is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

When you come to your seat, fall down on your knees, and pray to Almighty God, saying,

Take away from us, O Lord, all our iniquities, that we may be worthy to enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies.

And mercifully accept our bounden duty and service, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, which we are about to offer up to Thy Divine Majesty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Let the altar and everything appertaining thereto fill your mind with thoughts suitable to the Divine Service in which you are about to engage; and thus they will be kept from wandering after worldly

matters.

If the altar be of stone,1 let it remind you of Christ as our rock, and offer up some such aspiration as the following :

Christ the Rock was struck! May I drink of the spiritual stream that flowed out of it. -1 Cor. x, 4.

If the altar be of wood, let it remind you of the tree on which Christ was made a curse for us, and say :

Blessed be God, who hath made the dry tree to flourish (Ezek. xvii, 24); it is now a tree of life to them that lay hold upon it, and happy is every one that findeth it (Prov. iii, 18). May I eat of its fruit, and live for

ever.

1 According to the Rubric which directs "that such ornaments of the Church, &c., shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by the authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI," the altar ought to be of stone; for at the time referred to it was undoubtedly of that material throughout the kingdom.

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