The Rt. Rev. A. J. Doull, D.D., Bishop of Kootenay.
This volume of theology is written for laymen of the Anglican Church,
and it is to them that I address myself primarily in this chapter.
There can be no question in our minds regarding the importance of this
subject which we are now about to consider; nor yet of the necessity of
arriving at a clear understanding concerning the truth. We are about
to tread holy ground, therefore a reverent spirit is needful above all
things else. We are about to investigate, albeit in the briefest
manner, the nature and character of that Sacrament which our dying
Saviour left as the bond of comradeship between His followers and
Himself, and between His followers with one another, but which
historically has been the occasion of more strife and discord betwixt
Christian people than any other institution or fact of our holy faith;
therefore we must cast aside all prejudice and preconceived opinions,
and placing ourselves at the feet of Jesus seek to learn from Him the
real truth which He alone can impart.
I believe that Christ is especially anxious to teach us the truth
to-day after all these centuries of strife, and I am convinced that so
far as the Anglican Church is concerned that there is a wonderful
measure of agreement between all her members concerning the doctrine of
the Holy Communion when they heed the advice of our great theologian,
the judicious Hooker, and "the more give themselves to meditate with
silence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner
how."
Let us try and consider in simple faith and simple language what is
revealed to us in Holy Scripture concerning this Sacrament, what truths
about it are therefore enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, and what
it is accordingly that all Anglicans really believe though their mode
of expressing their common faith, and though their phraseology, may
somewhat differ.