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. Or _Psalm 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 Holy
Communion, 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 the
Priest or an assistant, in an alms-bag or bason, and presented by
the 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 a
Service which expressly implies access to Communion.
A COMMINATION,
OR DENOUNCING OF GOD'S ANGER AND JUDGEMENTS
AGAINST SINNERS,
_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 Psalm _sine
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 to _the 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 word _vestment_ generally 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 Canonis _rotunde_ dicantur, 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's _Concilia_, 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.