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since 1867 have in decennial periods assembled by invitation at the See of St. Augustine, in England the Mother Church of the entire Anglican Communion, and, on the bank of the Thames, under the Presidency of the venerable Archbishop of Canterbury, have held high conference concerning the welfare of Christ's Church on earth. No little impress upon this body has been made by the high character and wisdom of the members of the American branch of the Episcopate, which numbered nearly onefourth in a total enrolment of one hundred and forty-five Bishops in 1888, when their own Declaration upon Christian Unity made at Chicago two years before was reaffirmed by the greater body. Truly, in weighty words from eloquent lips, "An assembly of Bishops, solemnly gathered together with prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the highest spiritual authority upon earth to which the Church can appeal for guidance."

XXXIII.

THE REMAINING OFFICES.

"Grant, we beseech Thee, that in this place now set apart to Thy service, Thy holy Name may be worshipped in truth and purity through all generations."-Collect for the Consecration of a Church.

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"O Holy Jesus, * * * * * ; Be graciously pleased to bless the ministry and service of him who is now appointed to offer the sacrifices of prayer and praise to Thee in this house, which is called by Thy Name."-Collect in the Institution Office.

THERE is no form for the CONSECRATION OF A

CHURCH OR CHAPEL in the English Book, and our own was not set forth until 1799, it being based on one drawn up by Bishop Andrewes. In England various forms are promulgated by Diocesan authority, and in the same manner Services at the dedication of other religious buildings and for the Laying of a Corner-stone are used both there and here. From the very earliest times special places have been set apart for the exclusive worship of Almighty God. Perhaps the first recorded instance is Jacob's altar, set up at Bethel. Moses, by Divine command, erected the temporary and wandering Tabernacle in the wilderness, and in like manner Solomon built the first Temple. This sacred building, perhaps the most costly ever erected by man, with the most ornate ritual known to history, after being twice destroyed and rebuilt,

was hallowed by the footsteps of the Son of God, who came thither to the Temple worship. The Apostles were "constantly in the Temple, praising and blessing God," and Christian Churches soon took the place of Jewish synagogues, as Christianity supplanted the ancient religion of that dispersed people. From that time to this the history of consecrated buildings illustrates the history of the race.

This Service is by a Bishop (the Ordinary, unless from his absence or disability it devolves upon another), and he is met at the Church door by the temporal authorities of the Parish (the Wardens and Vestry or their deputies).. The twenty-fourth Psalm is used as a responsive Processional between the Bishop and the other Clergy. Arrived within the Sanctuary, the Bishop receives, seated, the "Instruments of Donation and Endowment." No private ownership is recognized in the Churches of our communion, and a Canon forbids Consecration of one so long as a debt remains thereon, though it may be used for worship previous thereto.

Another Canon forbids any alienation, incumbrance or removal of a consecrated Church or Chapel without the consent of the Bishop, and in many Dioceses independent boards are created by Conventional authority to hold title to parochial property purely in trust. This secures the end aimed at, but does not interfere with any feature of Parish management. No vested rights of pew-ownership are recognized, and only those of occupation, by courtesy or otherwise, are retained. Indeed, the very existence of stationary pews is a modern custom. Ancient Churches were provided with movable seats if at all, and permanent sittings were first used only in deference to the needs of

the sick and the infirm; a standing rebuke to those who preserve a constant sitting posture in public worship.

An Address is next made by the Bishop, followed by a Prayer in general terms for God's blessing. In them both Houses of public worship are spoken of as "separate from all unhallowed, worldly and common uses," and our Churches are never to be used after Consecration for any purposes whatever save those of worship and religious instruction or ecclesiastical legislation. Facing the congregation, the Bishop then recites a series of six Intercessory Petitions for a blessing on the detailed Offices to be rendered therein; on Holy Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Reading and Preaching the Word, Holy Matrimony, and on the general uses of worship; the latter section strongly resembling in its expressions the General Exhortation at the beginning of the Daily Service.

After the reading of the official Sentence of Consecration under seal by his deputy (generally the Parish Priest), the Bishop places it upon the Holy Table as the first public offering to the glory of God. A brief Thanksgiving is then followed by the Service for the Day, which contains peculiarly felicitous Proper Psalms (mainly those of the twelfth Selection), and Proper Lessons. The last are alternative, and recite the devotional acts of Jacob at Bethel and of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple in the Old Testament, and the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews on common worship, and the revelation of that of Heaven, in the New. The Communion Office has a special Collect, Epistle and Gospel, which dwell upon personal consecration and cite Our Lord's cleansing of the Temple; and also a special Collect at its close.

At a reconsecration after restoration from the defilement incident to war, accident or other change, a form of Benediction may be at any time set forth by a Bishop. It is the invariable custom to give a sacred Name to each Church or Chapel, and to the Parish as well; and also common to observe a Parish Name-day anniversary at such time in the Christian Year as best accords with it. These names are widely various, but are most often selected from a name or attribute of the Godhead, or of Our Lord or His Apostles, or from some act, place or event in their lives or some feature of their teaching. Of them all, Trinity, Christ, St. Paul's, St. John's and Grace are perhaps of most frequent

recurrence.

Cathedral Churches also have names of this character, although in the Old World we associate them rather with the city of their location. A Cathedral is not only the chief Church in a Diocese; it is the Church of the Diocese, the Bishop's Seat, controlled by a governing body called the Chapter whose executive officers are a Dean and Canons, and is entirely dissociated from parochial affairs. It is the natural home of all the Diocesan Clergy and is the centre of all Episcopal control and influence. Each canonically-resident Clergyman has a prescriptive right to a Stall in its spacious Choir, and its Services, which are free to all and which can be arranged upon a larger scale and with fuller effects than ordinary, are a model for imitation. In England no city, however large, is strictly such which has not its Cathedral, to mark the centre of the Bishop's See. A temporary or uncompleted structure preceding in use the finished building is called a Pro-Cathedral.

Its architecture, which is similar yet superior to that

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