XXXIV REPORT. 
new plate of the cathedral church of Worcester, is to be found in his Minor 
Works, pp. 159—163. This form, in addition to the separate presentation 
and consecration of chalice, paten, and flagon, provides also for the consecra- 
tion of the altar candlesticks, and likewise for the censer for incense. 
Archbishop Sancroft consecrated the altar plate at Coleshill Church, War- 
wickshire, in 1685. The chalice belonging to the Communion Plate of the 
Parish Church of Stretham bears the following inscription :— 
‘© Ecclesiz Parochiali de Stretham infra Insulam Eliensem Consecratum, 
A.D. 1686.” 
Francis Turner was at that time Bishop of Ely ; he afterwards became a 
Non-juror. When the form of consecration used by Archbishop Sancroft at 
Coleshill was published in 1703, Mr. Tisdale, the editor, prefaced it with a 
statement that it was after the fashion of like forms that ‘‘ had been generally 
used since the Reformation.” Archbishop Sancroft is also said to have con- 
secrated some Elizabethan plate for his private chapel at Fressingham after his 
deprivation, thus establishing a precedent for consecrating that which has been 
already some time in use. This plate is now in use at the Parish Church of 
Starston, Norfolk, and is inscribed ‘‘ Deo Servatori Sacrum.” 
Dr. Patrick, Bishop of Ely, when consecrating the chapel of St. Katherine’s 
Hall, Cambridge, in the year 1704, made use of the following prayer in con- 
secrating the Communion plate :— 
“‘Most Blessed Lord, accept, we beseech Thee, of the oblation we make 
unto Thee of these vessels, which we humbly dedicate to Thy Divine service at 
Thy Holy Table; and as we now wholly give them up to Thy use, in the 
ministration of Thy Holy Communion of Christ’s Body and Blood, so we pray 
Thee to receive them for Thine own ; preserve them from being any way pro- 
faned ; and being here set apart and consecrated by our office and ministry to 
Thy service, let them always continue to be so employed, through jesus Christ 
our only Lord and Saviour. Amen.” 
The preservative influence of so solemn a prayer as this cannot, I think, be 
gainsayed. One of the most interesting specimens of English medieval plate 
is a silver-gilt cup, now preserved at Pembroke College, Cambridge, the gift, 
in 1497, of Langton, Bishop of Winchester. It is commonly styled the 
Anathema Cup, from the legend that it bears—‘‘ Qui alinaverit anathema sit.” 
May it not well be the case that this threatened curse is the cause of its present 
existence? And would not the sense of sacrilege be in a like manner 
deepened if a specific and inscribed act of consecration was used and marked 
on all our sacramental vessels? It is true that many of the clergy are in the 
habit of having, not only Church Plate, but altar linen, font ewers, or anything 
of a like nature that may be given to the Church, presented at the altar there 
to receive a special priestly benediction betokening the future separation of the 
articles so presented from any secular use ; but this is quite a different matter 
