Col. iii. 19.

1 Pet. iii. 7.

Eph. v. 22-24.

even as the Lord the Church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself.

Likewise the same Saint Paul, writing to the Colossians, speaketh thus to all men that are married; Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Hear also what Saint Peter, the Apostle of Christ, who was himself a married man, saith unto them that are married; Ye husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge; giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

Hitherto ye have heard the duty of the husband toward the wife. Now likewise, ye wives, hear and learn your duties toward your husbands, even as it is plainly set forth in holy Scripture. Saint Paul, in the aforenamed Epistle to the Ephesians, teacheth you thus; Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the Church is sub- |

Sermon, the Minister shall read this that followeth." Bishop Cosin altered this to, " Then shall begin the Communion if any be that day appointed. And after the Gospel and Creed shall be said a Sermon wherein it is expedient that the office of man and wife be declared according to Holy Scripture. Or if there be no Sermon, the Minister shall read this that followeth." Bishop Jeremy Taylor and Dr. Donne have left some beautiful sermons preached on occasion of marriages: and the custom seems to have been not uncommon.

...

It is convenient the holy Communion] The practice of connecting the Marriage Office with the Holy Communion fell into strange disuse during the last and present centuries. In the old manuals the mass of the Holy Trinity concluded the Office, and there is no reason to suppose that it was ever omitted. Until 1661 the rubric stood-" ¶ The new married persons (the same day of their marriage) must receive the holy Communion." This is altered in Bishop Cosin's revised Prayer Book to "The new married persons, the same day of their marriage, must receive the Holy Communion; unto which the minister is now to proceed, reading the Offertory &c. according to the form prescribed." The present form of the rubric was adopted in deference to the objection of the Puritans, who wished to dis

ject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. And again he saith, Let the wife see that she reverence her husband.

And in his Epistle to the Colossians, Col. iii. 18. Saint Paul giveth you this short lesson; Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

Saint Peter also doth instruct you 1 Pet. iii. 1. 3—6. very well, thus saying; Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible; even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands; even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amaze

ment.

It is convenient that the new married persons should receive the holy Communion at the time of their Marriage, or at the first op portunity after their Marriage.

sociate the Office from the Holy Communion, from the morbid fear which they had of attaching too much importance to the religious rite with which Marriage is celebrated by the Church. But "convenient" is used in its strict and primary sense of “fit” or "proper," the secondary sense being a more modern one. From Bishop Cosin's proposed rubric it would appear as if the Holy Communion was used on such occasions without the introductory lection of the ten commandments. "To end the public solemnity of marriage," says Hooker, "with receiving the blessed Sacrament, is a custom so religious and so holy, that if the Church of England be blameable in this respect, it is not for suffering it to be so much, but rather for not providing that it may be more put in use." [Ecc. Polit. V. lxxiii. 8.]

A custom which retains its hold in some churches, that of kissing the bride, is derived from the Salisbury rubric concerning the Pax in the Missa Sponsalium, which is :-"Tunc amoto pallio, surgant ambo sponsus et sponsa: et accipiat sponsus pacem a sacerdote, et ferat spons osculans eam et neminem alium, nec ipse nec ipsa sed statim diaconus vel clericus a presbytero pacem accipiens, ferat aliis sicut solitum est." This took place immediately before the Communion of the newly-married couple.

:

THE duty of visiting the sick is specially enjoined on the Curates of souls in the New Testament: 66 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over hin, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him " [James v. 14, 15]. The Visitation of the Sick is not therefore in the minister of Christ a mere piece of civility or neighbourly kindness, but an act of religion. He comes in the name of Christ to pray with and for the sick man; if necessary, to reconcile him to the Church by the blessing of absolution, and to communicate to him the Sacrament of our Lord's body and blood. That the primitive clergy of the Church made this visitation in time of sickness their special duty, is proved to us by many passages in early writers. Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, in his Epistle to the Philippians, gives it as advice to presbyters, IoKÉTTEσ021 Toùs àσbeveîs. Posidonius, in his Life of St. Augustine [cap. 27], relates that the Saint, as soon as he knew any man was sick, went unto him immediately. The decrees of various early Councils enjoined this duty on the Clergy whenever they were called for; and the Council of Milan goes even further than this, and orders, "Etiamsi non vocati invisant." Our own Provincial Constitutions require all Rectors and Vicars of Parishes to be diligent in their visitations to those who are sick, and warn them, "Ut quoties fuerint accersiti, celeriter accedant et hilariter ad ægrotos." [Lyndwood, Prov. Const. i. 2.] In our Post-Reformation system we find also that ample provision is made for the continuance of this ancient and laudable custom. Canon 67, "Ministers to visit the Sick," directs, "When any person is dangerously sick in any Parish, the Minister or Curate (having knowledge thereof) shall resort unto him or her (if the disease be not known or probably suspected to be infectious) to instruct and comfort them in their distress, according to the order of the Communion Book, if he be no Preacher, or if he be a Preacher, then as he shall think most needful and convenient." In the Ordination of Deacons it is also stated to be part of their duty to search out the sick and poor in the parish in which they are appointed to minister, and to give notice of such cases to the Incumbent: "And furthermore it is his office, where provision is so made, to search for the sick, poor and impotent people of the Parish, to intimate their estates, names and places where they dwell unto the Curate, that by his Exhortation they may be relieved with the alms of the Parishioners and others. Will you do this gladly and willingly?" This question, and the first parenthesis in the Canon (which speaks in general terms of the knowledge by the Minister of a case of sickness), imply that the Incumbent is expected to do something more than merely visit sick people who send for him. Whether he become acquainted with the case directly or indirectly, he is bound to visit, and even, if circumstances permit, he is to search for, or, at any rate, cause to be sought for, the sick and impotent, and to act up to the maxim quoted above, “Etiamsi non vocatus." For giving

full force to this Visitation of the Sick, the English Ritual contains a formulary which has been used with slight alteration in our churches from the earliest times. Nearly all the rubrics and prayers are to be found in the ancient Manuals of the Church of England, and some of the prayers can be traced to almost primitive times. Where some variation has been made from these originals (as, for example, in the Exhortation, and in the substitution of a rubric directing the Minister to examine whether the Sick Man repent him truly of his sins, &c., for a somewhat lengthy form), the spirit of the original is still adhered to. The only portions which have been altogether omitted in our Prayer Book are the procession of the Priest and his Clerks to the house saying the seven penitential Psalms, and the Service of Extreme Unction. The original object of anointing with oil, as we see from the passage in St. James cited above, was to "save," or procure a miraculous recovery of the infirm, by remission of the temporal punishment which they had merited for their sins. Though it should also be added that Extreme Unction was used in very early times without any expectation of cure, in extremis: and it seems probable that there was a primitive ordinance of this kind which was used for the dying, as well as that which was used with a view to recovery. The Reformers retained the practice in the first Prayer Book, but it was dropped out of the second in 1552. The Office then in use is given in a note at the end of this Service.

An Appendix of four Prayers was added to the Visitation Office in 1661, to meet particular cases; the first for a sick child, the second for a sick person when there appears little hope of recovery, the third a Commendatio Animæ for a dying person, and the fourth a Prayer for one troubled in mind or conscience. These have not as yet been traced to any ancient source.

The Use of the Office.

The structure of the Office for the Visitation of the Sick shows that it is intended as a formal rite, to be once used over the Sick Person, and not to be used as the customary prayers of the Clergyman in his ordinary and frequent visits to the sick rooms of his parishioners. It is a solemn recognition of the person over whom it is used as one who is in the fellowship of the Church, and for whom the Church, by its authorized Minister, offers prayer to God; and it is also a solemn recognition of the fact that the sicknesses and infirmities incident to human nature are a consequence of sin, a part of that heritage of death which came upon us through the Fall.

The promiscuous use of the Office would evidently be a departure from the intention with which it is put into the hands of her priests by the Church of England. Their duties towards the sick divide themselves, indeed, into two distinct general branches, the one consisting of ordinary pastoral instruction, consolation, and prayer; and the other of the use of the two services for Visitation and Communion: and every clergyman must find him

self obliged to exercise his discretion as to those cases in which he can adopt the more solemn course which the Church has appointed for him and his parishioners in the latter branch of his duties.

Those who really have any religious convictions, and who have made religious principles the rule of their life, will either be consistent Church people or religious Dissenters. The former are well accustomed to the system and services of the Church, and have been trained, consciously or unconsciously, by means of it: the latter are in more or less ignorance about the principles of the Church, and have not ordinarily been under its training influence. In the case of the one the Visitation Service would be appropriate even if used on a sudden, supposing the case to be one of imminent danger; and no prayers could be used with so great advantage. To the other it would be like a strange language, if used without much preparation and instruction: and would not be applicable at all, except it were accompanied by an understanding that its use presupposed reconciliation to the Church.

In the case of other classes of persons, who have led irreligious and wicked lives, and who are ill instructed in the way of salvation, the Visitation Service can only be properly applicable after much instruction has been given, and much progress made towards penitence. An abrupt use of it might tend to bring into their view the comforts of the Office more prominently than would be advisable for those who do not fully appreciate the necessity of repentance towards the attainment of pardon and true peace.

It may be added, in conclusion, that the Visitation Office should be used with all the proper solemnity belonging to a formal rite of the Church. The first Rubric of the ancient Service was, “In primis induat se sacerdos superpellicio cum stola....," and the same rule should still be observed. Care should also be taken that there is some one present to say the responses. In his revised book, Bishop Cosin provided for this by so far reviving the ancient practice as to direct the attendance of one lay Clerk with the Priest. But some members of the sick person's family, or a parish visitor, or other friend, can always be found ready to take this charitable duty on themselves.

The Priest, on entering the house, is ordered to use the salutation enjoined by our Lord upon His Apostles: "And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house" [Luke x. 5]. It is specially appropriate when thus pronounced by the Minister of God on entering a house of sickness. In a household so circumstanced there is often much of disquietude and anxiety. The relations are perplexed and agitated, inclined to forget, perhaps, that this sickness is of the Lord. The words of the Priest remind them of that peace which is to be found in resting in the Lord, and casting their cares on Him. But the Salutation has a special reference to the sick man, to whom the Priest comes as the Messenger of Peace. He is very probably under deep conviction of sin, longing for pardon and reconciliation; and the object of this visitation is to strengthen his faith, awaken his charity, move him to sincere confession and repentance, and on his sincere repentance and confession to give him the free and full forgiveness vouchsafed by the Saviour to all who truly turn to Him, and so to make the sinner at peace with God.

These words, too, used at the very entrance of the Priest into the house, help to remind those who hear them that he comes on no ordinary errand of condolence, but specially in his character as a representative of Him Who said to His ministers, "My peace I leave with you." They thus serve to bring about a tone of mind in unison with the service that is to follow.

THE ANTHEM.

In the older Service Books the Priest and his Clerks were directed, on their way to the house of the sick man, to say the seven Penitential Psalms, with the Gloria Patri after each, and to conclude with the Antiphon, "Ne reminiscaris."

In the Prayer Book of 1549 one of the penitential Psalms, the 143rd, was said by the Priest on entering the sick man's presence, followed by the Gloria Patri and this anthem, "Remember not," &c. Subsequently the Psalm was omitted, and the anthem, "Remember not," alone retained. The Respond, "Spare us, good Lord," was added at the last revision in 1661.

This Antiphon memorializes God of the redemption of His people by the most precious blood of Christ. To those present in the sick room, as well as to the sick person himself, it also gives the key-note of the Service at its very beginning: pointing out that sickness is a chastisement permitted by God; that sin has brought it into the world; and that our prayers for benefits to the body ought to be founded on the confession of God's undeserved mercy in Christ. The words are, of course, spoken to God, and are a kind of Litanic hymn; but they cannot fail to have a subjective side also in warning the sick of their true relation to His mercy, and of the worthlessness as well as impiety of selfreliance. They remind him that God's mercy must be sought; that His anger against sin is often shown by bodily chastisement; and that temporal judgments are frequently sent by Him in

Ps. 1xxx. 14. cvi. 4.

1 Pet. iii. 12.

Isa. lxiv. 1.
Matt. v. 4.

Minister.

V. Salvum fac servum tuum vel ancillam tuam.

R. Deus meus sperantem in te.

V. Mitte ei, Domine, auxilium de sancto.

R. Et de Syon tuere eum.

V. Nihil proficiat inimicus in eo.

R. Et filius iniquitatis non apponat nocere ei.

V. Esto ei, Domine, turris fortitudinis.

R. A facie inimici.

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.

R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat. Oremus.

behold, visit and relieve this thy servant. Look upon him with the

mercy, that He may not be compelled to be "angry with us for ever."

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

The prayer of our Blessed Lord is used here, as elsewhere, at the beginning of the Service in token of its prevailing power with God, and as the gate by which all other prayer is to enter into Heaven, and be heard by Him. The structure of the Service suggests that it should be said by all present as well as by the Priest, and "with" him, as in the end of the Litany. It should also be said with a special intention directed towards the subsequent portion of the Service, remembering that God is Our Father to chastise and Our Father to heal, that "He woundeth, and His hands make whole :" and that the first prayer of the sick and of those who love them should be in the tone of His Whose holy example teaches us to say "Thy will be done."

The lesser Litany precedes the Lord's Prayer in this place with a special emphasis, for it is the very language of those who came to Jesus to be healed of their infirmities in the days of His earthly life. Thus the two blind men mentioned in St. Matthew ix. came to Christ, "crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us;" and in like manner the two mentioned in St.

vide et visita hunc famulum tuum N. et benedic eum sicut benedi