12 OCTOBER 1907, Page 23

Elevation in the Eucharist: its history and Stationers. By T.

W. Drury, D.D. (Cambridge University Press. 3s. 61.1. net.) —Dr. Drury makes an exhaustive - examination of Eucharistic practice in the matter of the elevation of the elements. He examines first the Eastern and secondly the Western Liturgies, and discusses the rationale of the practice in its various forms, for of these it has several, according to the point at which it takes place. If the bread and wine are elevated at the offertory, the ceremony means an offering of God's gifts to Him in recognition of the source from which they come ; if they are elevated after consecration or at consecration (when the words "Who in the same night" and " in like manner " are finished), the significance is different. Finally, there is a chapter on the Prayer-book as, in successive revisions, it has dealt with the subject. A loyal adherence to its injunctions would give a reasonable and reverent act of worship with which every one might well be content. Unfortunately, whether from carelessness or from a desire to read into the office what it was not intended to signify, this adherence is too often defective. Nothing could be plainer than the direction to "break the Bread before the people," yet it is rather the exception than the rule when this is done.