"The repetition of the _Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison_, &c. (that is, Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us,) three times, in honour of each of the three Divine Persons, reminds us that Christ was denied three times by St. Peter. The _Dominus vobiscum_, or, Our Lord be with you, which is the usual salutation in the scriptures, and which the priest says after the _Gloria in Excelsis_, it being the greatest of all blessings for the Lord to be with us, and we with him, reminds us how Peter was touched with repentance, when Christ cast a glance of his merciful eyes upon him. The aforesaid hymn, which a choir of angels sung in the air at our Saviour's birth, denotes the joy that is in heaven among the angels upon the conversion of a sinner, The _Kyries_ also remind us of the longing desires of the holy fathers for the coming of the Messiah. The _Gloria_ represents Christ's nativity. The Collects, Epistle, and Gospel, his prayers, miracles, and preaching.--The priest returning to the epistle side of the altar, and reading the Collects and the Lesson, represents Christ sent by Caiphas to Pilate, after being falsely accused and unjustly condemned by the Sanhedrin of the Jews. Then the priest goes to the middle of the altar, and humbly bowing himself down, prays in silence. This represents Christ conducted to Herod, and interrogated and scoffed at by him, without returning the least answer, or saying a word to justify himself. The priest going to the gospel side of the altar, and returning to the middle to make a profession of faith, by repeating the Nicene Creed, represents Christ sent back to Pilate in a fool's dress, and professing that he came to bear witness to the truth, and that his kingdom is not of this world. The removal of the Mass-book from the right to the left side of the altar, signifies that the new law of the gospel being rejected by the Jews, who were the first called, was preached to the Gentiles, who embraced it with joy, and were converted to the Christian religion in great multitudes. The lighted candles are emblems of their spiritual joy and of God's glory, and denote the light of faith which Christ brought to the world by his gospel.--At the beginning of the gospel, the priest and the people make the sign of the cross, first upon their foreheads, to signify that they are not ashamed of the cross of Christ, nor of his doctrine; secondly, upon their mouths, to denote that they are ready to profess it openly by word of mouth; and thirdly, upon their breasts, to signify that they will always preserve it carefully in their hearts. The people rise up and stand during the gospel, to show by this posture their readiness to go and practise whatever they shall be commanded by the word of God." {374} Prayer At The Gloria, Epistle, And Gospel.