The remaining candles
were then lighted. After this, the communion service proceeded; and
when the officiating priest faced the congregation, to say the
exhortation, etc., one of the others, a step below him, held the book
open for him to read from--thus serving, as it were, for a reading-
stand. Wherever possible, the priests studiously preserved a position
with their backs to the congregation. In the part of the communion
service where the bread and wine are consecrated, the officiating
priest said the words in silence. In like manner, when he partook of
the sacrament himself, it was done in entire silence, with crossings,
and the lowliest of kneeling, and postures of adoration. Without
professing to be at all learned in the meaning of the rubrics in the
Prayer Book, I venture to think the language in regard to this part of
the service to be plain enough, and to require that the officiating
minister shall say it all openly, and in the presence of the people, so
that they can see or witness what is done by him, on every such solemn
occasion. But, at St. Alban's, the priests had their faces to the
altar, and backs to the congregation, and thus it was hardly possible
to see anything, and be sure of what was done or left undone.
A large portion of the congregation now went forward to the chancel-
rails, along, or on top of which, were napkins, or cloths, placed so as
to prevent a single crumb, or a single drop, falling to the floor.
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