Note 86 — VIII.

In the Holy Communion the priest and the people offer to the Father “the one full, perfect, and sufficient Sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” The Christian Society is called in 1 Peter ii. 9, a “royal priesthood,” (Βασίλειου ιερατευμα), and in Rev. i. 6 “kings and priests to God.” (Βασιλεις και ιερεις); and as ιερατευμα and ιερεις are sacrificial terms, it is to be inferred that a Sacrifice is really offered by them. As Christ perpetually, being a “Priest forever,” and therefore “having of necessity something to offer” for ever (Heb. viii. 3), presents in the Holy Place not made with hands, in Heaven itself, the Sacrifice of Himself before the eyes of the Father, so, at every Altar on earth, the “kings and priests” being a sacrificing priesthood, represent and commemorate the same sacrifice and none other, a sacrifice which never can be repeated.