d. Therefore, &c.

A comparison with the Books of 1549 and 1552 shews that the time
at which the people should join in is at the words 'Holy, &c.'

117. Then shall the Priest, kneeling down at the Lord's Table,
say in the name of all them that shall receive the Communion this
Prayer following, We do not presume, &c.

The Priest is assumed to be _at_ the Lord's Table, _to_ which he
had previously turned, and is merely directed to kneel down where
he is.

118. When the Priest, standing before the Table, hath so ordered
the Bread and Wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency
break the Bread before the people, and take the Cup into his hands,
he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth, Almighty God,
&c.

The expression 'standing before the Table,' is to be rightly
understood by observing that the emphatic word in it is 'standing.'
The intention of the framers of this direction was to put an end to
the previous posture of kneeling directed in the preceding rubric,
and to direct the priest to stand during the consecration. The word
'before' evidently implies a position in front of the Table, and
excludes the end, whichever way the Table might be placed.

The ordering the Bread and Wine for the manual acts of consecration,
might include the pouring of some of the wine from the flagon into
the chalice (if not previously done); also the separation of a part
of the bread from the remainder which the Priest does not now intend
to consecrate, and pre-eminently the arranging conveniently the
individual piece to be broken during the consecration.

The expression 'before the people' in this rubric, means simply in
the presence of the people.

It was proposed by Baxter, at the Savoy Conference, to direct the
Bread to be broken in the sight of the people. The framers of the
rubric seem to have rejected the latter part of this proposal, and
to have thought it sufficient to direct it to be done in the
presence of the people, irrespective of their being able actually
to see it. Any breaking the Bread at this period of the service was
then a novelty, and is now peculiar to the English Liturgy. The
object of the Puritans probably was to bring the ceremonial acts
of the Priest in the Consecration into closer harmony with the order
of our Lord's own acts and words in the Institution itself, as
recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, and this part of their proposal
was conceded by the bishops and the revisers, as not