t and waiting of Paradise.

Let us see what the Prayer-Book says of those who are in Paradise. In
the Burial Office we have this prayer: "Almighty God, with whom do live
the spirits of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the
souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the
flesh, are in joy and felicity; We give Thee hearty thanks for {27} the
good examples of all those Thy servants, who, having finished their
course in faith, do now rest from their labors. And we beseech Thee,
that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of Thy holy
Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and
soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen."

Note how the closing portion reminds us that while the departed "do now
rest from their labors," they have not yet received their "perfect
consummation and bliss"; that they wait for this till the coming of our
Lord and the Resurrection, when it shall be "both in body and soul,"
"in eternal and everlasting glory." We speak of them, therefore, as
composing the "Church expectant."

Now observe what the same prayer tells us of their state while thus
resting and waiting in expectation of their perfect consummation and
bliss. It says, "The souls of the faithful, after they are delivered
from the burden of the flesh, _are in joy and felicity_."

This same symbolic meaning for this part of the chancel may come to us
in another way, that is, from the services which are conducted from it,
Morning and Evening Prayer, which are commonly {28} known, therefore,
as the "Choir Offices." These look beyond the choir, which represents
the "Church expectant" in Paradise, to the sanctuary, with its Altar,
which represents, as we shall see, heaven and the "Church triumphant."
The central point of the Church's worship is the great sacrificial act
of the oblation of the Holy Eucharist. Upon this the other services of
Morning Prayer and the Litany, which precede, and of Evening Prayer,
which follows, depend for their significance; the first as preparation
for it, and the second as an act of thanksgiving and praise; just as
the "felicity" of those in Paradise is a felicity not perfect in
itself, but one of anticipation of, and preparation and thankfulness
for, the "perfect consummation and bliss" which await them.

And the dominant note of these services is keyed to that same idea. It
is a note of "joy."