ARTICLE XXXIII.-" Of Excommunicate Persons, how they are to be avoided."

"If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother; but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."

Whatever may be said of the propriety and wisdom of the Church as the mixed community it now is, practising excommunication, it cannot be denied that the custom has Divine authority, and therefore if she deem it expedient, the Church is at liberty to revive this long-disused practice.

That it was followed by the Apostolic Church we have abundant evidence.

St. Paul, writing to the church at Thessalonica, commands his brethren "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." Also to his converts at Rome, "Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned: and avoid them." And in the case of the guilty man

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Prayer-Book of 1549 directed in the rubic for the communion of the sick, that "if on the same day there had been a celebration of the Holy Communion at the Church," the minister was to reserve so much of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood as shall serve the sick person and as many as shall communicate with him;" while if the Communion were to to administered to several sick on the same day, he was to celebrate in one case, and reserve for the others.

This custom the Church has now entirely abolished, in her anxiety to put away all that savours of the errors and superstitions of Rome, though the practice was a primitive one, mentioned by Justin Martyr in the second century; and in all cases where there is Administration, there must be immediate celebration.

Lastly, the sixth Rubric at the end of the Communion Service, which was added in 1662, is a practical prohibition of any reservation of the elements. The direction runs, "that if any remain of that which was consecrated it shall not be carried out of the Church, but the Priest and such other of the communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall immediately after the Blessing, reverently eat and drink the same."

ARTICLE XXIX.-"Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lord's Supper."

In this Article is again shown in a negative form, that it is only by faith and in a spiritual manner that Christ's Body and Blood are partaken of in the Sacrament. The wicked, who cannot have, and those simply devoid of, a "lively faith," though they duly and visibly receive the outward sign, are in no way partakers of Christ and all the benefits of His death and passion; for it is only by that 'lively faith" joined to a "true penitent heart," that the outward sign is a pledge and means to receive, the" inward and spiritual grace" given us through the same. Lacking that, though we receive His creatures of Bread and Wine," we cannot be "partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood."

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St. Augustine saw and set forth this truth even in his day, before the clouds of error and superstition had so closed round the Medieval Church that she could no longer discern the symbolised from the symbol, or separate the spiritual and the material.

The following is the passage here referred to; "qui non manet in Christo, et in quo non manet Christus, procul dubio nec manducat spiritualiter carnem ejus, nec bibit ejus sanguinem, licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat dentibus sacramentum

corporis et sanguinis Christi; sed magis tantæ rei sacramentum ad judicium sibi manducat et bibit."

To join in the outward ordinance and receive the sacred pledges of that which we do not possess or care to seek, is to make a mockery of God's most holy institution, which will most surely bring upon us His wrath and judgment. "Be not deceived;

God is not mocked," He can discern between mere visible profession, and the true worship of the heart in spirit and in truth.

"Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." 'For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged."

ARTICLE XXX.-" Of both Kinds."

This is again a protest against another abuse of the Church of Rome, in connection with the sacrament.

The refusal of the Cup to the Laity has not the slightest warrant in Scripture. The Cup was given to the disciples on the institution of this rite with substantially the same words as was the Bread.

St. Paul, writing to the Church-not the Minis

ters alone at Corinth, uses such expressions as these. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." "Let a man,"not a priest only-" examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup."

The Apostolic Church, and the Primitive Church as mentioned by Justin Martyr in the second century, administered the communion in both kinds. to the whole congregation, though in private communion sometimes but one kind was given. In the beginning of the twelfth century the use of the cup was by degrees denied in several Churches, "for fear of irreverence and effusion." The Council of Constance, A.D. 1414, confirmed this practice by canonical decree: it will be seen this refusal of the Cup was established about the same time as the doctrine of Transubstantiation.

The Council of Trent in its Catechism gives the following reasons for the denial of the Cup. To avoid spilling the blood. Reserved wine might turn acid. Some cannot endure the taste or scent of wine. Because wine is scarce in some countries. To oppose more plainly the heresy which denies that the whole Christ is contained in either species; but the real object of the papal Church in this as all her other offices, was to make the Laity mere onlookers and assistants at a service which in its fulness was the priest's alone.

The aim of the Reformed Church is to admit the