214. First the Banns of all that are to be married together must be published in the Church three several Sundays or Holy-days, in the time of Divine Service, immediately before the Sentences for the Offertory; the Curate saying after the accustomed manner,
On the question of the time for the Publication of Banns, see note on Rubric 99.
The rubric leaves it to the discretion of the Curate how to act, when any one rises in answer to his invitation, to declare some cause or impediment; and it is only reasonable that some words, though not set down, should be spoken by the Curate, to shew that the person has been heard. It is perhaps advisable, having regard to the precautions directed to be taken in the later rubric touching the same matter, that the Curate, while stating that he hears the declaration, should request the objector to speak to him more fully on the matter, after the Divine service is ended; and then it is also advisable to demand that the objection should be made in writing.
215. And if the persons that are to be married dwell in divers Parishes, the Banns must be asked in both Parishes; and the Curate of the one Parish shall not solemnize Matrimony betwixt them, without a Certificate of the Banns being thrice asked, from the Curate of the other Parish.
216. At the day and time appointed for solemnization of Matrimony, the persons to be married shall come into the body of the Church with their friends and neighbours: and there standing together, the Man on the right hand, and the Woman on the left, the Priest shall say, Dearly beloved, &c.
This direction to come into the 'body of the church' is best obeyed by placing the persons to be married outside the chancel, and at the chancel-step, the Priest standing upon or above the step, and turning his face towards them.
The word 'Priest' here is to be interpreted strictly, as excluding a Deacon, in accordance with the ancient law and usage that marriage ought not to be celebrated by a Deacon. Though a marriage so celebrated would not be invalid, it is contrary to all order that a Deacon should take upon himself to pronounce the solemn benedictions of the Church contained in this rite.
217. And also, speaking unto the persons that shall be married, he shall say, I require, &c.
218. At which day of Marriage, if any man do alledge and declare any impediment, why they may not be coupled together in Matrimony, by God's Law, or the Laws of this Realm; and will be bound, and sufficient sureties with him, to the parties: or else put in a Caution (to the full value of such charges as the persons to be married do thereby sustain) to prove his allegation: then the solemnization must be deferred, until such time as the truth be tried.
219. If no impediment be alledged, then shall the Curate say unto the Man, Wilt thou have, &c.
220. The Man shall answer,
I will.
221. Then shall the Priest say unto the Woman, Wilt thou have, &c.
222. The Woman shall answer,
I will.
223. Then shall the Minister say, Who giveth, &c.
224. Then shall they give their troth to each other in this manner.
225. The Minister, receiving the Woman at her father's or friend's hands, shall cause the Man with his right hand to take the Woman by her right hand, and to say after him as followeth. I,N. take, &c.
Care should be taken by the Minister not to permit the father or friend who gives the woman to be married, to give the woman's hand to the man, but to receive it himself, and himself give it to the man.
226. Then shall they loose their hands; and the Woman, with her right hand taking the Man by his right hand, shall likewise say after the Minister, I,N. take, &c.
227. Then shall they again loose their hands; and the Man shall give unto the Woman a Ring, laying the same upon the book with the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk.
The order to lay the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk on the Book, was introduced in 1552, and this seems to be the legal opportunity for the payment of marriage-fees. It must be observed that if this rubric be complied with, the accustomed duty must be removed from the book before the Priest can conveniently proceed with the Service, though any direction for removing it is omitted in the rubric.
228. And the Priest, taking the Ring, shall deliver it unto the Man, to put it upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand. And the Man holding the Ring there, and taught by the Priest, shall say, With this ring, &c.
229. Then the Man leaving the Ring upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand, they shall both kneel down; and the Minister shall say.
Let us pray. O Eternal God, &c.
230. Then shall the Priest join their right hands together, and say, Those whom, &c.
This is a peculiarity of the English rite, and a very solemn and important part of it. It should, therefore, be done very carefully and accurately, and should not be obscured by any additional ceremonial, that all men may recognise the far-reaching simplicity of our Lord's prohibition of dissolution of marriage, extending to all human action, except that of the Church, whatever civil authority such other action may possess.
231. Then shall the Minister speak unto the people. Forasmuch as, &c.
232. And the Minister shall add this Blessing. God the Father, &c.
233. Then the Minister or Clerks, going to the Lord's Table, shall say or sing this Psalm following. Blessed are all, &c.
It is in accordance with this rubric that the Psalm should be said or sung while going (in procession) to the Lord's Table. The alternative, 'or Clerks,' does not affect the minister's going to the Lord's Table, as may be seen in the original rubric of the Prayer-Book of 1549, which ran 'Then shall they go into the quire, and the Ministers or Clerks shall say, or sing,' &c. The word 'clerks' being introduced in connection with the alternative of singing, not with the going to the Lord's Table.
234. Or this Psalm. God be merciful, &c.
235. The Psalm ended, and the Man and the Woman, kneeling before the Lord's Table, the Priest standing at the Table, and turning his face towards them, shall say, Lord, have, &c.
The Priest must obviously stand at the midst of the Holy Table, and between it and the man and woman kneeling at the steps thereof.
236. This Prayer next following shall be omitted, where the Woman is past child-bearing. O merciful Lord, &c.
237. Then shall the Priest say. Almighty God, &c.
238. After which, if there be no Sermon declaring the duties of Man and Wife, the Minister shall read as followeth. All ye, &c.
When the Holy Communion is celebrated at the time of a marriage, the address, if used, is to be read in the usual place of the sermon in the Communion Service.
In exercise of the liberty of choosing any suitable subject relating to the duties of man and wife, it is well to insist especially upon the indissolubility of the marriage tie.
239. It is convenient that the new-married persons should receive the holy Communion at the time of their Marriage, or at the first opportunity after their Marriage.
This rubric testifies to the intention of the Church that Matrimony should be sealed by the reception of Holy Communion. When considered in conjunction with the ancient feeling in favour of early and fasting Communion, the direction of Canon 62, that Marriages should be celebrated before twelve o'clock at noon, and the custom of styling the subsequent festivity a breakfast, all point the same way. And as Marriage is for all who desire it in the fear of God, the Church hereby assumes that all her Members are Communicants.
240. When any person is sick, notice shall be given thereof to the Minister of the Parish; who, coming into the sick person's house, shall say,
The direction that notice should be given to the Minister of the parish was first inserted in the Prayer-Book of 1662; indicating that he is the proper person to discharge the Priest's duty in ministering to the sick.
This office, being of a more solemn and formal character than an ordinary visit to a sick person, should be used, if possible, with proper ornaments of the Minister, such as the Surplice and Stole, or, at all events, the Stole.
241. When he cometh into the sick man's presence he shall say, kneeling down, Remember not, Lord, &c.
242. Then the Minister shall say, Let us pray.
243. Then shall the Minister exhort the sick person after this form, or other like. Dearly beloved, &c.
244. If the person visited be very sick, then the Curate may end his exhortation in this place, or else proceed. Take therefore, &c.
245. Here the Minister shall rehearse the Articles of the Faith, saying thus, Dost thou believe, &c.
246. The sick person shall answer. All this, &c.
247. Then shall the Minister examine whether he repent him truly of his sins, and be in charity with all the world; exhorting him to forgive, from the bottom of his heart, all persons that have offended him; and if he hath offended any other, to ask them forgiveness; and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man, that he make amends to the uttermost of his power. And if he hath not before disposed of his goods, let him then be admonished to make his Will, and to declare his Debts, what he oweth, and what is owing unto him; for the better discharging of his conscience, and the quietness of his Executors. But men should often be put in remembrance to take order for the settling of their temporal estates, whilst they are in health.
248. These words before rehearsed may be said before the Minister begin his Prayer, as he shall see cause.
249. The Minister should not omit earnestly to move such sick persons as are of ability to be liberal to the poor.
In obeying this explicit direction, the Minister must consider that hasty and inconsiderate almsgiving, especially by will, such as bequeathing doles to the inhabitants of particular places, has been productive of much evil. He must also be careful not to advise acts of liberality which are disproportionate to the ability of the sick person, or illegal (as, e.g., in contravention of the Mortmain Acts); and in general he will do well to refrain from suggesting any special objects of benevolence.
When the sick person prepares an offering of alms, and is afterwards communicated, his alms may well be offered after the Gospel, in the Office for the Communion of the Sick.
250. Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special Confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which Confession, the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort.
The significant introduction in the last revision of this direction to 'move' the sick person to make a special confession of his sins, recalls the fact that the practice of confession had then been interrupted for many years, and required exertion for its revival. In 'moving' the sick person, is included instruction upon the nature and details of sins, as well as help to discover them, such as the suggestion of questions on the Commandments, Baptismal obligations, marriage vows, &c. The expression 'special confession' does not mean apartialconfession, but a confession which goes intodetail; and the Priest should not absolve the sick person unless his confession comprehends, besides the weighty matter which had immediately prompted it, all matters which ought to press upon his conscience, and can be recalled to mind by his utmost efforts.
The words 'if he humbly and heartily desire it,' do not refer to the expression of the penitent's desire for absolution as a positive condition of his receiving it, but denote a state of mind suitable to receiving it, and the absence whereof, if manifested, would justify the priest in withholding absolution.
'After this sort' meansin this form, and is an express direction to use the form of absolution which then follows. The form here prescribed is employed in this office as being the usual form of private absolution in all cases, and is recognised as such in the Prayer-Book of 1549, where it is enjoined for universal private use. Neither does it contain any such allusion to sickness or weakness of body, or to unlikelihood of recovery, as would render it inappropriate for persons in health.
251. And then the Priest shall say the Collect following. O most merciful, &c.
252. Then shall the Minister say this Psalm. In Thee, O Lord, &c.
253. Adding this. O Saviour, &c.
254. Then shall the Minister say, The Almighty Lord, &c.
255. And after that shall say, Unto God's, &c.
256. A Prayer for a sick Child. O Almighty God, &c.
257. A Prayer for a sick Person, when there appeareth small hope of recovery. O Father of mercies, &c.
258. A commendatory Prayer for a sick person at the point of departure. O Almighty God, &c.
259. A Prayer for persons troubled in mind or in conscience. O Blessed Lord, &c.
260. Forasmuch as all mortal men be subject to many sudden perils, diseases, and sicknesses, and ever uncertain what time they shall depart out of this life; therefore, to the intent they may be always in a readiness to die, whensoever it shall please Almighty God to call them, the Curates shall diligently from time to time (but especially in the time of pestilence, or other infectious sickness) exhort their Parishioners to the often receiving of the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, when it shall be publickly administered in the Church; that so doing, they may, in case of sudden visitation, have the less cause to be disquieted for lack of the same.
261. But if the sick person be not able to come to the Church, and yet is desirous to receive the Communion in his house: then he must give timely notice to the Curate, signifying also how many there are to communicate with him, (which shall be three, or two at the least,) and having a convenient place in the sick man's house, with all things necessary so prepared, that the Curate may reverently minister, he shall there celebrate the holy Communion, beginning with the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, here following.
The opening direction of this rubric evidently contemplates regular and frequent opportunities of access to the public administration of the Holy Communion in church, such as would suffice for times of great danger and distress; and therefore implies frequent celebrations as a permanent system. Otherwise, it would be mere hypocrisy to exhort men to the often receiving thereof, and that, not only in time of pestilence, &c., but generally and habitually. A special order for those not able to come to church was unknown in the Church until 1549. Previously to that date no provision was made for their case, except by the reservation of some of the Blessed Sacrament from the open Communion in the church, and its conveyance to them afterwards; and in the Book of 1549, the order was introduced for use on such days as there was no open Communion in church. The word 'reverently' may be best satisfied by as near an approximation to the ceremonial of the open Communion in the church as can be attained, in regard of the ornaments of the Church and Minister. In addition to the usual vessels for the celebration of the Holy Communion, the Minister will do well to provide himself with a spoon, for the administration of the species of Wine to very feeble persons.
Cases will occur where the difficulty of swallowing even very small quantities of either the Bread or the Wine is almost insuperable. Administration in both kinds may, in some of these cases, be still attained by placing a minute particle of the Bread in the spoon with some of the Wine, or conversely by touching the Wine in the cup with the corner of the piece of Bread which is to be given to the sick person.
In cases of long infirmity, as of bedridden people without acute illness, the analogy of the Office of Private Baptism would seem to hold good, and to admit of the introduction of the other parts of the Order of Holy Communion, besides those appointed for the Communion of the Sick.
262. After which the Priest shall proceed according to the form before prescribed for the holy Communion, beginning at these words [Ye that do truly&c.]
263. At the time of the distribution of the holy Sacrament, the Priest shall first receive the Communion himself, and after minister unto them that are appointed to communicate with the sick, and last of all to the sick person.
264. But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the Curate, or for lack of company to receive with him, or by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, the Curate shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and stedfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the Cross for him, and shed his Blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his Soul's health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth.
The instruction ordered to be given to the sick man, under certain circumstances, of unavoidable impediment to his receiving the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood 'that he nevertheless doth eat and drink Christ's Body and Blood,' must be understood to mean that physical incapacity to eat and drink does not cut off the sick man from the benefits of Holy Communion. But this rubric does not justify any wilful or habitual neglect of receiving the Sacrament itself.
265. When the sick person is visited, and receiveth the holy Communion all at one time, then the Priest, for more expedition, shall cut off the form of the Visitation at the Psalm [In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust, &c.] and go straight to the Communion.
266. In the time of the Plague, Sweat, or such other like contagious times of sickness or diseases, when none of the Parish or neighbours can be gotten to communicate with the sick in their houses, for fear of the infection, upon special request of the diseased, the Minister may only communicate with him.
267. Here is to be noted, that the Office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves.
This order was adapted for a state of society in which the Parish Priest was intimately acquainted with the circumstances of every deceased person who was brought to be buried. Under the altered conditions of the present day, the officiating Priest being often in ignorance of the lives and deaths of those over whom he has to perform the office of the Church, has no power of inquiry given him, nor any authority to delay a burial for the purpose of making such inquiry. He is, therefore, not obliged to seek for these exceptions, nor to infer their existence, from his own previous knowledge of the matter, unless that knowledge be very clear, and founded upon certain evidence.
The exception of the unbaptized does not apply to those who have received Lay or Schismatical Baptism, provided the proper matter and form had been used.
The word 'excommunicate' means under formal sentence of excommunication passed by a competent Spiritual Court. It is equivalent to the words 'denounced excommunicated' in Canon 68. Even those who are 'ipso facto excommunicated,' by virtue of Canons 2 to 9, are not technically 'excommunicate,' until after trial and sentence, the words 'ipso facto' having in English Canon Law a special technical meaning, viz. that the offence cannot be punished by a sentence of less severity.
268. The Priest and Clerks meeting the Corpse at the entrance of the Churchyard, and going before it, either into the Church, or towards the Grave, shall say, or sing, I am the Resurrection, &c.
The alternative of saying the sentences going towards the grave is intended to meet exceptional cases of apprehended infection, when it might be dangerous to bring the body into the church. No distinction of spiritual condition was contemplated. It is clearly the general intention of the revisers of 1662 that the corpse should in ordinary cases be brought first into the church. But when under special circumstances it has been taken from the entrance of the churchyard directly to the grave, there seems no reason why the people should not return to the church after the interment, for the reading the Psalms and Lesson, as was expressly provided in the Prayer-Book of 1549.
When the corpse is taken first to a church, and afterwards to a distant cemetery, the part of the service which follows the Lesson being necessarily reserved for use at the grave, the previous part, i.e. the Sentences, Psalms, and Lesson, which were said at the church, should not be repeated at the grave.
269. After they are come into the Church, shall be read one or both of these Psalms following. I said, &c,andLord, Thou hast been, &c.
When the corpse is brought into the church, it is usually placed in the Nave. In the burial of a Priest it would seem decorous to place the corpse in the Chancel. In either case the feet should be towards the east.
The place of the officiating Priest, in reading the Psalms and Lesson, is not specified. Sometimes it is the custom to stand at the feet of the corpse (when it is placed near the Chancel), so that the congregation may be in front of the Priest, but usually he would occupy 'the accustomed place.' The 90th Psalm seems the most appropriate for burial of an aged person.
270. Then shall follow the Lesson taken out of the fifteenth Chapter of the former Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians.
271. When they come to the Grave, while the Corpse is made ready to be laid into the earth, the Priest shall say, or the Priest and Clerks shall sing: Man that is born, &c.
In the Prayer-Book of 1549 the casting the earth upon the body was directed to be done by the Priest, with the words, 'I commend thy soul to God the Father Almighty.' This action was transferred from the Priest to 'some standing by,' when those words were omitted in 1552. The present rubric seems to direct that any one else is to perform the act. If done, as it usually is, by the Parish Clerk, or other inferior Church official, there is more dignity in it than if done by an unofficial person.
If there is a celebration of Holy Communion at the time of a burial, it is a separate service, and the celebrant must remember that the use of any Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, except the one for the day, is very difficult to justify as being in accordance with the rubrics of either service. See Rubric 6.
272. Then, while the earth shall be cast upon the Body by some standing by, the Priest shall say, Forasmuch as it hath, &c.
273. Then shall be said or sung, I heard a voice, &c.
274. Then the Priest shall say. Lord, have mercy, &c.
275. The Woman, at the usual time after her Delivery, shall come into the Church decently apparelled, and there shall kneel down in some convenient place, as hath been accustomed, or as the Ordinary shall direct: And then the Priest shall say unto her, Forasmuch, &c.
By the direction that the woman should be decently apparelled, it was originally meant that she should be veiled. This was part of the general practice of her being (in the words of the Bishops at the Savoy Conference), 'perspicuous to the whole congregation.' And although the custom of veiling cannot be revived, yet its principle of marking the individual should be borne in mind in the arrangement of the Service, as e.g. placing the woman in a special place.
The convenient or proper place in which the woman was to kneel, was 'near the church door' in the ancient English use, 'near the choir door' in the Prayer-Book of 1549, 'nigh unto the place where the Table standeth' in the book of 1552. The words 'as hath been accustomed' refer to the one of these usages which has survived, and been adhered to, in any old church. The place at the altar rails was approved by the Bishops at the Savoy Conference, in regard of the offering she is there to make. The Priest, in all cases, should stand by her—i.e. near to, and in front of, her.
He is to say to her the Address and the Psalm. The congregation should not join in the latter. Care must be taken not to replace from an ordinary Psalter the verses omitted from the 116th Psalm.
In cases where the new-born child has died, it is better to use the 116th Psalm.
276. (Then shall the Priest say the cxvith Psalm,)
277. OrPsalm cxxvii.
278. Then the Priest shall say,
Let us pray. Lord, have mercy, &c.
The Priest may at this point properly turn to look eastward.
279. The Woman, that cometh to give her Thanks, must offer accustomed Offerings; and, if there be a Communion, it is convenient that she receive the holy Communion.
The Service is intentionally concluded without a blessing, which it is wrong to insert. The suggestion of the woman's receiving the Holy Communion is aided by the incompleteness of the Service ending abruptly with the Thanksgiving.
With regard to the time of the Service, there is no express direction, provided that a congregation may be reasonably expected.
The offering of the woman is connected with her receiving the HolyCommunion, and should be made in that Service, if she comes to it.In all cases, it is well that it should be formally received by thePriest or an assistant, in an alms-bag or bason, and presented bythe Priest on the Altar.
It is to be observed that no mention is made of the condition of the woman, as being in wedlock or not. When it was objected at the Savoy Conference that some profession of humiliation ought to be required of an unmarried or profligate woman before she was admitted to the privilege of thanksgiving, the Bishops replied, "that such a woman should do her penance before she was churched."
If the Priest, therefore, be privately cognizant of the penance of such a woman, he is bound to admit her to the Service, without requiring public profession of her humiliation.
Without such cognizance he could hardly admit such a woman to aService which expressly implies access to Communion.
With certain Prayers to be used on the First Day of Lent, and at other Times, as the Ordinary shall appoint.
280. After Morning Prayer, the Litany ended according to the accustomed manner, the Priest shall, in the Reading-Pew or Pulpit, say, Brethren, &c.
The 51st Psalm is directed to be said, not 'said or sung.' Singing, therefore, appears to be excluded, as it was, in the similar place in the old English Office, by the direction to say the Psalmsine nota.
281. And the people shall answer and say. Amen.
282. Then shall they all kneel upon their knees, and the Priest and Clerks kneeling (in the place where they are accustomed to say the Litany) shall say this Psalm. Have mercy upon me, &c.
283. Then shall the people say this that followeth, after the Minister. Turn Thou us, &c.
284. Then the Minister alone shall say, The Lord bless us, &c.
Printed by Parker and Co., Crown Yard, Oxford.
Notes:
[a] "The Act of Uniformity is to be construed by the same rules exactly as any act passed in the last session of Parliament. The clause in question, by which I mean the rubric in question (the Ornaments Rubric), is perfectly unambiguous in language, free from all difficulty as to construction. It therefore lets in no argument as to intention other than that which the words themselves import. There might be a seeming difficulty in fact, because it might not be known what vestments were in use by authority of Parliament in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth; but this difficulty has been removed. It is conceded in the report that the vestments, the use of which is now condemned, were in use by authority of Parliament in that year. Having that fact, you are bound to construe the rubric as if those vestments were specifically named in it, instead of being only referred to. If an act should be passed to-morrow that the uniform of the Guards should henceforth be such as was ordered for them by authority, and used by them in the 1st George I., you would first ascertain what that uniform was, and having ascertained it, you would not enquire into the changes which may have been made, many or few, with or without lawful authority, between the 1st George I. and the passing of the new act. All these, from that act specifying the earlier date, would have been made wholly immaterial. It would have seemed strange, I suppose, if a commanding officer, disobeying the statute, had said in his defence, 'There have been many changes since the reign of George I., and as to "retaining," we put a gloss on that, and thought it might mean only retaining to the Queen's use; so we have put the uniforms safely in store.' But I think it would have seemed more strange to punish and mulct him severely, if he had obeyed the law and put no gloss on plain words.
"This case stands on the same principle. The rubric, indeed, seems to me to imply with some clearness that, in the long interval between Edw. VI. and the 14th Car. II., there had been many changes; but it does not stay to specify them, or distinguish between what was mere evasion, and what was lawful. It quietly passes them all by, and goes back tothe legalized usage of the second year of Edward VI. What had prevailed since, whether by an archbishop's gloss, by commissioners, or even statutes, whether, in short, legal or illegal, it makes quite immaterial."Remarks on some parts of the Report of the Judicial Committee in the case of Elphinstone v. Purchas, and on the course proper to be pursued by the Clergy in regard to it. A Letter to the Rev. Canon Liddon from the Right Hon. J. T. Coleridge. (1871.)
[b] We gather from the Inventories and other authorities, that the wordvestmentgenerally included, besides the chasuble, the stole and maniple, and the albe with its amice and girdle.
[c] "To bow reverently at 'the name of Jesus' whenever it is mentioned in any of the Church's offices; to turn towards the East when the Gloria Patri and Creeds are rehearsing; and to make obeisance at coming into and going out of Church; and at going up to, and coming down from, the altar, are all ancient and devout usages, and which thousands of good people of our own Church practise at this day, and amongst them, if he deserves to be reckoned among them, T. W.'s good friend."—Michael Hewetson's Memorandums concerning the Consecration of the Church of Kildare, and the Ordination of his dear friend, Thomas Wilson[S. Peter's' day, 1686],with some Advices thereon. Quoted in Life of Bishop Wilson, edited by the Rev. John Keble. A.-C.L., Part I. cap. i. p. 22.
"Whereas the Church is the house of God, dedicated to his holy worship, and therefore ought to mind us both of the greatnesse and goodness of his Divine Majestie, certain it is that the acknowledgement thereof not onely inwardly in our hearts, but also outwardly with our bodies, must needs be pious in itself, profitable unto us, and edifying unto others. We therefore think it very meet and behovefull, and heartily commend it to all good and well-affected people members of this Church, that they be ready to tender unto the Lord the said acknowledgement, by doing reverence and obeisance both at their coming in and going out of the said churches, chancels, or chapels, according to the most ancient custome of the Primitive Church in the purest times, and of the Church also for many yeers of the reign of Queen Elizabeth."—The Canons of the Church of England, 1640, No. vii.
[d] "Verba Canonisrotundedicantur, et distincte, nec ex festinatione retracta, nec ex diuturnitate nimis protracta."—Decree of Herbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in a general synod at London, A.D. 1200: Spelman'sConcilia, ii. p. 123; John Johnson's Canons, A.-C.L., vol. ii. p. 84.
[e] In most Prayer-Books printed in this century, the words 'and Banns of Matrimony published' have been omitted from this rubric; and a corresponding alteration has been made by the printers in the first rubric in the Marriage Service, under a mistaken idea of the effect of Stat. 26 George II. cap. 33, which contained the same clause as that quoted above from the Act of 4 George IV. c. 76.
Even supposing that the words of these Acts were irreconcilable with the rubric, they did not alter the rubric.
[f] The order of reception in the Clementine Liturgy is:—The Bishop, priests, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, monastics, deaconesses, religious virgins and widows, children, all the people in order (apparently first men, and then women).
[g] The direction of St. Cyril of Jerusalem was to use the hands, making the left hand a throne for the right, and hollowing the palm of the right to receive the Body of Christ.
The fact of receiving in the hands is also noticed by Tertullian in blaming people for using for purposes which he considered unworthy the hands which they had held forth to receive God.
[h] There seems a disposition to reduce the minimum lower than that appointed in our Rubric. The Lower House of Convocation of Canterbury have recommended its reduction to two or three, and the testimony of Bishop Torry to the ancient usage of the Scottish Church is that one was considered sufficient.
[i] Cosin's Works, A.-C.L. Edition, vol. v. p. 129.
[j] This is A.D. 1643, the date of the total abrogation of the Prayer-Book.
[k] A distinction must, however, be drawn between the natural juice freshly pressed from the grape which has sometimes been allowed as valid matter for the Sacrament in cases of necessity, and the compounds now sold as 'non-alcoholic' or 'unfermented' wines. The reason why the former may be allowed is because it is potentially wine, and so to speak a child-wine, and would become true wine, if given time. But the principle of wine has been killed in the latter cases, so that the artificial fluids in question not only are not wine, but never can become wine, and are therefore invalid matter. The statement that the Jews employ unfermented wine at the Passover, is contrary to fact. They could not have employed it in our Lord's time, because the process of arresting fermentation during so long an interval as that between the vintage and the Passover, was unknown until very lately; and the Passover cup is now naturally fermented grape wine, carefully watched from the grape to the bottle to provide against accidental admixture from without: while vinegar, itself the product of two processes of fermentation, is also used by them at the Passover.
[l] Note.—It is sometimes customary, with a view of scrupulously consuming the entire of the consecrated wine, to cleanse the chalice with a little wine previously to using water; and not to pour away any water thus used until it is absolutely certain that all the consecrated species has been consumed. In the rare cases where wine has been consecrated in the flagon, that vessel must be cleansed with the same care as the chalice.