[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In reply to Mr.
Minchin, perhaps I should have said " to many people," not " to most people," mass and com- munion service seem names for the same thing. I will not be one of those " imps of Satan " who contend as to the nature of the central Christian service (there have been said to have been at least 397 differing views on this vexed point, and for most—or should I say many ?—of them men and women have cheerfully and in immense anguish expired:. But few theologians have agreed with Mr. Minchin that the Anglican rite has no sacrificial aspect. To quote William Forbes, Bishop of Edinburgh in 1634: " The Sacrifice which is offered in the Supper . . . is also propitiatory in a sound sense, and is profitable to very many not only of the living but also of the departed." However, this is beside my point, which is merely that in practice the two names are continually used synonymously for the same service by Anglicans ; some prefer one, some the other. I think it depends mainly on how High Church they are.—Yours, &c., ROSE MACAULAY.
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