"Juice of the Grape." 155 Some persons have lately troubled the peace of the Church by urging (in the interest, as they imagine, of Temperance Societies, which are greatly damaged by such indiscreet zeal) that the unfermented juice of the grape ought to be used at the Holy Communion. I have referred to this novel notion on another occasion.8 It is quite certain that our Blessed Lord used wine, in the common sense of the term, at the Institution of the Holy Communion. And against all such notions as these there is a protest in the practice of the Church for eighteen centuries. By one of the Apostolic Canons (Canon 3, see Coteler. i. 442, and the Latin version) any one who offered any thing for consecration instead of wine was to be deposed. It is earnestly to be hoped that the good cause of the Church of England Temperance Society may not be injured by this or by any other extravagances which endanger it, especially the enforcement, in some cases, of a vow of total abstinence, to which also I have formerly referred.1 Augustine, invisible grace and truth, and communion of the members of the Body of Christ; whence it appears how far we are from the opinion which some impute to us who say that we teach nothing else, but that a figure of the Body of Christ ought to be received by the pious and faithful communicant at the Lord's Table." 8 Diocesan Addresses, 1876, p. 46–48. 9 See Lightfoot's Works, i., 962, 963; and the Mishna, vol. ii., p. 173-175, ed. Surenhusii. The vintage of Palestine takes place in September and October. The Passover was celebrated in the spring. There could have been no unfermented grape juice then. Compare Concil. Trullan. Canon 32. The only authority for vine juice is a Pope, Julius the First, and only in case of necessity. Aquinas, 3rd Book of his Summa Theol., cap. 74, art. v. 1 Diocesan Addresses, p. 41-45. Let me repeat my desire that it may be successful in its praiseworthy endeavours for the restriction of the sale of liquors on the Lord's Day.2 Every Clergyman of a Parish is enjoined by the rubric in the Communion Office, and in the 64th Canon (under severe penalties for the neglect of this duty), to "declare unto the people" every Sunday in the Church, "what Holy Days or Fasting Days are in the week following to be observed." I request this to be done. I am thankful to remark that the observance of Holy Days and Saints' Days is becoming more and more general in the Diocese; especially that there are very few Parishes in it where Ascension Day is not observed. The number of Parishes in which it is observed, as returned in the answers to my "Visitation Queries," is 750. As to days of penitential humiliation, Ash Wednesday is observed in 700 Churches; and Good Friday in 800. Our own welfare, and that of our people, is greatly increased by our observance of the Holy Seasons and Saints' Days of the Church. It affords spiritual food and nourishment to our faith and hope, to our imagination and to our affections. It makes us holier, wiser, better, and happier. It has also another special advantage; it attaches our people to the Church of England, and makes them love their Prayer Book. They look in vain among Nonconformist bodies for that regular 2 Diocesan Addresses, p. 49. National Humiliation. 157 succession of holy associations and beautiful imagery and sublime inspiration of noble examples of doing and suffering which adorn the course of the Christian Year as with the bright constellations of a Spiritual Zodiac, in the Sacred Seasons and Holy Days of the Church. Let me entreat you not to deprive your people of this edification and delight, which the Church has provided for them in the Prayer Book. Let me also express my thankfulness that the request recently made by me for the observance of the Rogation Days (that is the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day), with Special Psalms, and Special Lessons, and Special Prayer, has been cordially received and acted on. We have "Thanksgivings for Harvest" and, surely, we ought, especially in bad times like these, to have Prayers also for Harvest; and penitential deprecations of those divine judgments, which we have deserved and which are hanging over our heads. The calamities and distresses, private and public, with which we are now visited by the chastening hand of God, call loudly for some solemn public act of national humiliation and penitential fasting and prayer for the removal of those evils which are pressing heavily upon us. And if, by reason of our unhappy divisions, political and religious, we cannot unite as a Nation in such a religious act, let us at least in our Dioceses, Parishes, Families, and in private, humble ourselves before God, and pray to Him to pardon and spare us, Let us imitate those holy men in Ezekiel (chap. ix.) who mourned over the sins and the sorrows of Zion; let us imitate the prophet Jeremiah, in his prophecies (ix. 13, xiii. 17, xiv. 17) and Lamentations, weeping and praying for his people ; let us imitate Daniel (Dan. ix.), and Ezra (Ezra ix), and Nehemiah (Neh. ix.), confessing their sins and the sins of the nation, and mourning for them before God, and praying Him to have mercy upon them. If we harden our hearts (Isaiah xxxvii. 33, xlviii. 4), and do not grieve when we are stricken (Jerem. v. 3, Amos iv.) it is to be feared that the evils we now suffer will not be withdrawn, but will be aggravated by other chastisements more hard to be borne. In July last you were exhorted to hold Special Services in this Diocese for this purpose, and I am 3 The following Letter was issued to the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Lincoln : "DEAR SIRS, "RISEHOLME, Lincoln, "A few days ago the Clergy of this Province in Convocation expressed a desire that a Day should be set apart for Prayer to Almighty God for fair weather and a fruitful harvest; and his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury signified his wish that this desire should be complied with in such manner as may be most convenient in the several Dioceses. "This being the case, and believing as I do that our present agricultural distress is a divine visitation, designed to call us to examine ourselves, and to humble ourselves before God, and to confess our sins, and to amend our lives, and to pray to Him for pardon and grace, and for blessings temporal and spiritual, request you to hold a Special Service for this purpose, at such a time as may be most suitable in your own Parishes. 66 'Any of the following Special Psalms and Lessons may be used :— Psalm 4, 20, 23. 25, 34, 37, 107, 148. 1st Lesson-Genesis viii., Job i., Proper Psalms, &c., Shortened Service. 159 thankful to know that the people of our Parishes gladly responded to the call. Let us not be weary in such supplications as these. But to return to the Services of the Church. I would thank you to make due use of the Table for Proper Psalms and Proper Lessons, put forth by the Ordinary at the Synod held at Lincoln, on September 20, 1871, and which may be found in our Diocesan Calendar, and in the Appendix to this Volume. The "Shortened Service Act," or "Act of Uniformity Amendment Act, 1872," (35 & 36 Vict., cap. 35), has, in some respects, proved beneficial; but unless we are on our guard in its application, evils may result from it, especially in two particulars. I. It allows the omission of one of the two Lessons of Holy Scripture at Morning and Evening Prayer. Thus, it is to be feared, a habit has been produced Jeremiah v., Jonah iii., Habakkuk iii.; 2nd Lesson-Matt. vi. 24 to vii. 13, 2 Corinthians ix., James iv. 13 to end of chapter v. "Portions of the COMMINATION SERVICE may be used. "The following Prayer may be used at any time in Churches and Households of the Diocese : “O LORD, we beseech Thee mercifully to hear us in our troubles and adversities, and to turn from us those evils which we most righteously have deserved; and of Thy great goodness to give us fair weather, fruitful harvests, and contrite and thankful hearts; that we may use Thy bountiful liberality to Thy honour and glory, the relief of those who are in need, and our own comfort, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. "I am, dear Sirs, "Your faithful Brother, |