He had no man to help him; so he was forced to do it all for himself; so
he went forward gallantly, first reading a set of Scripture sentences
while the officers collected first for the poor-box, and then, as it was
one of the offering-days, collected again the dues for the curate. It
was largely upon these, in such poor parishes as was this, that the
minister depended and his wife.
Then he went on to pray for the whole estate of Christ's Church militant
here on earth, especially for God's "servant, Elizabeth our Queen, that
under her we may be godly and quietly governed"; then came the
exhortation, urging any who might think himself to be "a blasphemer of
God, an hinderer or slanderer of His Word ... or to be in malice or
envy," to bewail his sins, and "not to come to this holy table, lest
after the taking of that holy sacrament, the devil enter into him, as he
entered into Judas, and fill him full of all iniquities."
So forward with the rest. He read the Comfortable Words; the English
equivalent for Sursum Corda with the Easter Preface; then another
prayer; and finally rehearsed the story of the Institution of the Most
Holy Sacrament, though without any blessing of the bread and wine, at
least by any action, since none such was ordered in the new Prayer-Book.
Then he immediately received the bread and wine himself, and stood up
again, holding the silver plate in his hand for an instant, before
proceeding to the squire's seat to give him the communion.
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