our Lord."

The oblation, the communion, the peace, of the sanctuary, these all tell us thus of heaven and the "Church triumphant."

Of Christ's "mystical body," with its fellowship and cross-bearing on earth, its passage through death to the joy of Paradise, and, waiting beyond, heaven, with its communion and peace through the Cross—it is of this that the church as a building may speak to devout hearts.

Arrangement and Furniture of the Church

A person coming into one of our churches would recognize at once a difference between its interior arrangement and that of many other places of worship. If he thought out the purpose of this arrangement, its adaptation to various forms of divine service and religious uses, he would feel that "here is a place where people are taught to worship the Lord in holy rites, and where forms and spaces and objects are themselves teachers of holy truths."

From the door a broad alley (commonly but improperly called an aisle), running lengthwise of the building, leads to the chancel. It suggests that the approach of the people, for the blessings and consolations which are dispensed there, is made convenient and is invited.

The place of prominence in the furnishing of the church is given to the Altar—a table of stone or wood on which the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is celebrated. It is raised several steps above the level of the choir and is railed in. Covering the Altar is an Altar-cloth, embroidered, and varying in color with the seasons of the Christian Year. The portion covering the front of the Altar is called the frontal; that covering the top of the Altar and simply a few inches of the front is called the super-frontal.

Back of the Altar, and raised above it, is a narrow shelf, called the retable, upon which the several ornaments of the Altar are placed. In the center is the Altar-cross, that this holy symbol of our Faith may be constantly before the eyes of all who worship. The vases to hold the flowers with which the Altar is beautified on festal occasions stand at either side of the Cross. The candlesticks, in churches where lights at the Holy Communion are used, stand at the ends of the retable.

Behind the Altar, in many churches, is the reredos—a carved or sculptured screen of wood or stone, frequently extending the whole width of the sanctuary. Sometimes a painting takes its place, or a dossal—a decorated curtain of as rich material as circumstances will allow.

On the south side of the Altar is a small table or shelf, called the credence, on which are placed the elements of bread and wine until such time in the service as they are offered for consecration on the Altar. Here also the alms-basin is placed before the Offertory, and the cruets containing the wine and the water for the ablutions at the close of the service. When the communicants are not too many, a part of the wine from the cruet is poured into the chalice at the proper time; but if a large number are to communicate, the flagon, a large vessel of silver, is used to hold the wine and is placed on the credence.

Nothing should be placed on the Altar itself but the Altar-desk, for holding the book of the Altar-service, and the Altar-vessels. These are usually the paten, or plate for holding the bread at the Celebration, and the chalice, the cup for the wine. There is sometimes a spoon with a perforated bowl to use in case any foreign substance is found in the chalice. If possible these vessels should be of precious metal. They are sometimes adorned with jewels.

A rubric directs that at the time of the Communion the Altar shall be covered with a "fair white linen cloth" ("fair," that is, not only clean, but beautiful). Another "fair linen cloth," commonly called the "linen chalice veil," is also directed to be used for covering the consecrated elements after the communion of the people. To these custom has added other convenient and seemly appointments of linen and silk.

The "chalice veil" is a square of silk, embroidered and often fringed, used to cover the vessels before the consecration.

The "pall" is a square of cardboard covered with linen, used to cover the chalice during the Celebration.

The "corporal" is a square of linen spread upon the Altar at the Celebration, upon which the vessels are placed.

The "purificators" are small napkins of linen for cleansing the vessels after the service.

The "burse" is a square, stiff pocket of silk over cardboard, in which the Altar-linen is carried to and from the Altar.

The color of the chalice veil and the burse follows that of the season. The linen pieces are always white. They are supposed to represent the cloths which were wound around our Lord's sacred body and wrapped about His head at His burial.

You will see the reason for thus making the Altar a place of dignity and beauty, and for these various provisions for reverence in the sacred rite celebrated there, if you will recall what we have already seen of its meaning. We show honor to and reverence the Altar and its worship as the place and the performance of the highest act of divine worship, in which, by the ministry of His Church and according to His own appointment, "a continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ" is "celebrated and made before the Divine Majesty," and as the place where God "vouchsafes to feed us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ." All is done for His honor.

"'Tis for Thee we bid the frontal
Its embroidered wealth unfold;
'Tis for Thee we deck the reredos
With the colors and the gold;
Thine the floral glow and fragrance,
Thine the vesture's fair array,
Thine the starry lights that glitter
Where Thou dost Thy light display."

The font.—The reverent administration of Holy Baptism, the other of the two great Sacraments ordained by Christ as generally necessary to salvation, is provided for by the presence of the Font. As its name indicates (from the Latin word for a fountain or spring), this is the repository for the pure water which in this holy Sacrament is "sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin." It is generally of fine stone and often richly carved. Sometimes a separate room is marked off from the rest of the church for it and called a baptistery. There should always be, for proper protection, a cover for the Font. A ewer for the water to be used, and a baptismal shell with which to dip from the Font the water poured upon the head of the person baptized, are frequently provided as seemly appointments.

The Font is often, following ancient custom, octagonal in form. The symbolism of this form is this,—that "as the whole creation was completed in seven periods of time, the number next following, eight, may well be significative of the new creation," and, again, that the octave, as a repetition of the first, is a symbol of Christ's resurrection, and therefore of the "death unto sin and new birth unto righteousness" in Holy Baptism.

The Font is usually placed near a door of the church. Its position thus symbolizes the truth that Baptism is the outward form of admission into the Christian Church. It expresses what the child is taught in the Church Catechism to say of Holy Baptism: "wherein I was made a member of