to all that receive them for fanctification and fullness of the Holy Ghoft.".

In another place of St. Bafil: "O Sovereign Lord, Father of Mercies and God of all Comforts, blefs, fanctify, keep, defend, conform, turn from every evil, and lead to every good work, those who have bowed their heads to thee; and vouchsafe that without condemnation they may partake of thefe immaculate and life-giving myfteries, for the REMISSION OF SINS and COMMUNICATION OF THE HOLY

SPIRIT."

The Liturgy of Neftorius: "O Lord, may the grace of thy Holy Spirit come and dwell and reft upon this oblation, that the participation of these holy myfteries may be to all that receive them for eternal life, for refurrection from the dead, and for expiation of bodies and fouls, and for eternal falvation."

The Liturgy of Severus: "Send upon us thy Spirit, the Paraclete: may he defcend upon us and upon thefe oblations fet before thee, and fanctify them, that this bread may be made the life-giving 6 body,

body, the body of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remiffion of fins and eternal life, to thofe that partake of it; and may he make the mixture that is in this cup, the blood of the New Teftament, the life-giving blood of the Lord God and King of all, Jefus Chrift, for the REMIS SION OF SINS, and eternal life, to those that receive them."

The Ethiopic Liturgy contains the following Prayer: « O Lord, who fittest upon the Cherubim, and beholdeft thy people and thine inheritance, blefs thy fervants and thy handmaids and their children, and give to every one who cometh to partake of thy wonderful table with a pure confcience, REMISSION OF SINS, together with the HOLY SPIRIT, for the falvation of foul and body, and the obtain ing the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, through the grace and favour of thy only-begotten Son."

I will not add to the number of citations, as thefe are fufficient to fhew the fense of antiquity, refpecting the benefits annexed to the Eucharist. All the

antient Liturgies, by whomfoever compofed, or compiled, concur in proving that PARDON AND SANCTIFICATION were the advantages expected from worthy communion. On this point there was a general confent of all Chriftian churches, however they might differ in matters lefs. effential.

M

The opinion of Archbishop Wake on the authenticity of the antient Liturgies is candid and probable: "As for the Liturgies," fays he, "afcribed to fome of the Apoftles, as St, Peter, St. Mark, St. James, there is not, I fuppofe, any learned man at this day, who believes them to have been written by thofe holy men, and fet forth in the manner that they are now published. They were indeed the antient Liturgies of the three, if not of the four, Patriarchal Churches; the Roman, (perhaps that of Antioch too,) the Alexandrian, and Jerufalem Churches, first founded, at leaft governed by St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. James. However, fince it can hardly be doubted, but that thofe holy Apostles and Evangelifts did

give fome directions for the administration of the bleffed Eucharift in thofe churches; it may reasonably be prefumed that fome of those orders are ftill remaining in thofe Liturgies, which have been brought down to us under their names; and that those prayers wherein they all agree (in fenfe, at least, if not in words) were first presented in the fame, or like.. terms, by those Apoftles and Evangelifts; nor would it be difficult to make a farther proof of this conjecture from the writings of the antient Fathers, if it were needful in this place to infift upon it."

If we allow thefe Liturgies in their prefent forms to be fpurious, yet there is little doubt but that their fabricators caufed them to convey the ideas and doctrines which prevailed at the time of their compofition; and this is fufficient for our purpofe; which is to prove, that the early Chriftians, who may be fuppofed to have been within reach of authentic tradition from the Apostles themselves, were universally of opinion, that the Eucharift, properly celebrated,

I 2

brated, conveyed to worthy communicants

GRACE AND REMISSION.

I have already accounted for the application of the term Sacrifice to the feaft upon the facrifice, which occurs in the Liturgies. It was a catachrefis, or abuse of terms, adapting the name to popular conception; and indeed, including the idea of a feast on a sacrifice, without a facrifice was incomplete.