It was beyond the power of those divines to whom it fell to complete the Reformation of the English Church, to revive the ancient discipline in that discriminating manner of observance which was its chief life and value. They contented themselves, therefore, with a protest in its favour in the preface to the office of Commination; the celebration of which, although left at other times to the discretion of the Ordinary, was expressly enjoined on the first day of Lent. "This office," says Mr. Palmer, “is one of the last memorials we retain of that solemn penitence. which during the primitive ages, occupied so conspicuous a place in the discipline of the Christian Church. In the earlier ages, those who were guilty of grievous sins were solemnly reduced to the order of penitents: they came fasting, and clad in sackcloth and ashes on the occasion, and after the bishop had prayed over them, they were dismissed from the church. They were admitted gradually to the classes of hearers, substrati; and consistentes; until at length, after long trial and exemplary conduct, they were again deemed worthy of full communion.

"This penitential discipline at length, from various causes, became extinct both in the Eastern and Western Churches; and from the twelfth or thirteenth century, the solemn office for the first day of Lent was the only memorial of this ancient discipline in the West. It seems that at least from about the eighth century, there was a solemn office for public penitents on the first day of Lent; but in after ages this office was applied indiscriminatety to all the people, who received ashes, and were prayed for by the bishop or presbyter.

"Thus the office lost its ancient character. The English Churches have long used this office nearly as we do at present, as we find almost exactly the same appointed for the first day in Lent in the missals of Salisbury and York, and in the MS. Sacramentary of Leofric, which was

*Martene's De Antiquis Ecclesiæ Ritibus.

THE COMMINATION OFFICE.

159

written for the English Church about the ninth or tenth century."*

As the Commination office is practically of only annual occurrence, it may not be out of place to set before the reader the precise terms of its preface, which is directed to be said by the priest at Morning Prayer, after the ending of the Litany. "Brethren, in the Primitive Church, there was a godly discipline, that, at the beginning of Lent, such persons as stood convicted of notorious sin, were put to open penance, and punished in this world, that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord; and that others, admonished by their example, might be the more afraid to offend.

"Instead whereof (until the said discipline may be restored again, which is much to be wished), it is thought good, that at this time (in the presence of you all) should be read the general sentences of God's cursing against impenitent sinners, gathered out of the seven-and-twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy, and other places of Scripture; and that ye should answer to every sentence, Amen. To the intent that, being admonished of the great indignation of God against sinners, ye may the rather be moved to earnest and true repentance: and may walk more warily in these dangerous days: fleeing from such vices, for which ye affirm with your own mouths the curse of God to be due."

The spirit of the Church as exhibited in the Commination Office is not doubtful; it is one of faithful and yearning tenderness. The tears of pity and affection are in her eyes as she declares the curses which it was not herself who originated; and candour demands of her no vindication. Her true position is ascertained in a Sonnet for Ash Wednesday, on "God's judgments denounced against sinners in the Commination." It is by the late Bishop Mant,

*Palmer's Origines Liturgica; or, Antiquities of the English Ritual.

and is taken from that prelate's "Musings on the Church and her Services.'

No! deem it not the Church could e'er

pursue

Her sons, though marked by many a crimson spot,
With prayer or wish for evil! Deem it not

She bids thee e'er such prayer or wish renew!
But well she knows that holy, just, and true

Are God's commands and menaces; and what
His word proclaims the wilful sinner's lot,
She knows, and owns, and bids thee own it due.

"Cursed is the man who spurns Jehovah's will.”
Doubt'st thou the sentence? Does it aught declare
Which is not? aught which He shall not fulfil?

Confess the truth: pray God His flock to spare:
And, warned thyself, and heedful of the ill,

Of sin, and sin's appointed doom, beware!

The poetry of the Commination is not very abundant, and we conclude our poetical illustrations of Ash Wednesday, by adding to Bishop Mant's Sonnet, another on "The Commination Service," which finds a place amongst the "Ecclesiastical Sonnets." of William Wordsworth.

Shun not this Rite, neglected, yea abhorred,
By some of unreflecting mind, as calling

Man to curse man, (thought monstrous and appalling).
Go then and hear the threatenings of the LORD;

Listening within His Temple see His sword

Unsheathed in wrath to strike the offender's head,
Thy own, if sorrow for thy sin be dead,
Guilt unrepented, pardon unimplored.

Two aspects bears Truth needful for salvation;
Who knows not that ?—yet would this delicate age
Look only on the Gospel's brighter page :
Let light and dark duly our thoughts employ ;
So shall the fearful words of Commination
Yield timely fruit of peace, and love, and joy.

S the great Paschal Festival anciently carried its solemn joy over the seven days succeeding the day of the Resurrection, so it had a corresponding

time of preparation, which was set apart for extraordinary and continued fasting and humiliation. That the Holy Week forms a part of Lent is a fact which it is fair to regard as a matter of the Calendar merely; for, irrespective of Lent, it would have its obligations, and when these are superinduced upon the existing sanctions of the Quadragesimal period, with the last days of which Holy Week coincides, a season of surpassing solemnity and significance is the result. The Sundays in Lent, as has been remarked in treating of that season, are not of Lent, being uniformly abstracted from the fast, as weekly commemorations of the Resurrection; and so, of Holy Week, we remark that, falling in Lent, it is more than Lent, by the introduction of other and overwhelming associations. The fast of Lent, commemorating especially the forty days' fasting and temptation which our Lord underwent in the wilderness at the outset of His ministry, surrenders, so to speak, its final period of seven days to receive the impressions of the last sorrowful events of His existence.

The observance of Holy Week is nearly as ancient as

that of Easter; and its rites of mourning and self-denial developed pari passu with the reverence and exultation which attached to that sublime anniversary. St. Chrysostom furnishes the following rationale of the observance of Holy Week, and the religious exercises which characterized the same in his time, when it was generally known as the Great Week:-" On this account we call it the Great Week, not because the days of this week are of longer duration than the days of others, for there are days which are longer than these; nor yet because they are more in number, for the days in every week, without exception, are seven; but because in it great things were accomplished for us by the Lord. For in this Great Week the long-standing tyranny of the devil was destroyed, death was extinguished, the strong man was bound, his goods were spoiled, sin was abolished, the curse was destroyed, Paradise was opened, heaven became accessible, men were associated with angels, the middle wall of partition was broken down, the barriers were taken out of the way, and the God of peace made peace between things above and things upon the earth;-therefore it is called the Great Week. And as it is the head of all other weeks, so the Great Sabbath is the head of this week, in which it bears the same relation to the other days as the head does to the rest of the body. Therefore, in this Week many persons increase their labours; some adding to their fastings, others to their holy watchings; others administer more abundant alms, and testify the greatness of the Divine goodness towards them by their anxiety to perform good works, and their solicitude after pious and holy living. As after the resurrection of Lazarus all the people of Jerusalem went forth to meet the Lord, and bore witness, by their multitude, that He had raised the dead-for the anxiety of the people going forth was a proof of the miracle-so now, also, the anxiety about this Great Week is a proof and a testimony of the great and perfect things which were done in it. For not from one