The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-07-23 00:00:00

THE DORSET COUNTY EXPRESS AND AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1867.

the el ate of the weather from going out to inspect
the tier, and alms was aromapanied on . board it •
royal yacht, by Mbe Sultan, the Viceroy of Ifisapt, the
Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Cambridge. We
would rather not attempt to picture to our readers
or to ourselves the secret sufferings of many an
illustrious and many an obscure pleasure-stoker on
Wednesday, in pursuit of patriotic emotions under
diffioulties. A fleet of fifty warehips riding out a
I-MOM is in itself a splendid sight. A fleet of
@brokers and yards freighted with ardent and
carious idlers in the mune situation is • spectacle that
almost reaches the moral sublime. On the whole
we are Inclined to suspect that those who declined
or mired the honour of being present at Spithead are
not too deserving of pity. With a very moderate
ear of imagination they may have beheld all, and
more than sU, the privileged eye-witnesses sin have
contemplated on the MOO of the review thronoh the
mist and rain, and have so seen it withal, without
for one moment dissembling that most shameful vow
for any true Briton to utter, "1 would give a
thousand furlongs of sea for an are of barren ground
—long heath—barren furse--anything l"

gorrafponbence.
THE BISHOP'S CHARGE.

To tAe Sdaor.

Sir,—ft is anew thing to me, ea I doubt not to
many other serious churchmen, if our church teaches
that "through consecration the body and blood of Christ
become really present" in the Lord's supper; that a man,
fallible, it may be devoid of true faith, or immoral or
utterly Inconsistent in character with his ordination
vows, has the "power" to effect this marvellous change,
and to make tias present on the Holy Table after a
apiritual manner which was not present before, is our
Bishop clearly bids us to believe by his charge. Now
one line of argument which his Lordship takes in
support of this assertion is the changes made in the
several revisions of the Prayer book (see pp. 74, ko).
None of these amount to a declaration that the obj'iliee
presence of Christ (i.e , His presence outside of the
believer in the Sacrament) is effected by the consecra-
tion prayer. But one most significant alteration the
Bishop has failed to notice, which tells decidedly the
other way. In the first Prayer book of Edward VI.,
A. D. , 1542, the prayer has these words:—"Hear ua, 0
merciful Father, we beseech Thee; and with thy Holi
Spirit and Word vouchsafe to bless (a cross made
sanctify (another cross made) these thy gifts a
creatures of bread and wine, that they may be
unto us the Body and Blood of Thy most dearly
beloved son Jesus Christ." In the second prayer book, of
this good King A. D. 1562, ais clause mad eke crooner' ere
entirely mined; and in their stead is put the simple and
scriptural clause which we now use:—" Hear us, 0
merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee: and grant
that we, receiving these thy creatures of Bread and Wine
. . . . may be partakers of His most blessed Body
and Blood," thus making the reception of benefit deyend
on the oomunicant'e faith within, not on the consecra-
tion prayer without, in other words nibjeinem not
okienive. If we are to take our stand on the teaching
of the present Prayer book, not upon that of a Bishop
or any individual churchman, let this fact never be
forgotten.—! am, sir, your obedient soma
SABHA

P.B.—A fact admits of no degrees. The Presence of
Christ in His church is a fact. lii, against reason and
philosophy- and, therefore, also against Scripture,
which contains the highest philosophy—to assert that
Us Presence is mars reel at one time than another, Is
one part of the Church more than another. Whether
or not we melee this Presence by subjective faith and
appropriate its blessings is quite another thing; and It
is this subjective realisation, I conceive, which is
intended in such passages as Matthew 'rill, 20, ',hare
the expression of divine and incomprehensible ideas is
adapted to our capacity.