solemnized by his ministers from the earliest period of the Christian Church.

2. Shew that marriage has always been regarded as a religious solemnity in the Christian Church?

Of the marriage benediction, and of the rites which accompanied it, mention is made by many of the Fathers. Thus Tertullian (ad Uxor. 11. 8.) asks, Unde sufficiam ad enarrandam tantam felicitatem matrimonii, quod Ecclesia conciliat, et confirmat oblatio, et obsignat benedictio.

3.

What are the provisions made by the Church of England against illegal and improper marriages?

That the great object of an institution, designed for the mutual society, help, and comfort, of the contracting parties, should not be frustrated by illicit or improper marriages, or unadvisedly or clandestinely celebrated, the Church of England directs that, unless the license of the Bishop be duly obtained, the banns of those to be married shall be published in the Church on three several Sundays beforehand, and the parties themselves strictly cautioned before God to confess any impediment that may exist to their union.

4. Give the derivation and meaning of the word banns; and note the period of the Church service at which they now are, and were formerly, published, with the probable reason for the change.

The term banns, appears to be derived from an obsolete Latin word, bannio, "to publish" or "make proclamation." Formerly the publication of banns, which seems to have been a practice of very high antiquity, took place after the Nicene Creed, at the same time with other Ecclesiastical notices; but, with a view to greater publicity, an act was passed in the second year of George II, by which the publication was ordered "immediately after the second lesson."

5. Do the Church and State look upon marriage in the same light; and what is the duty plainly recom

P

mended to Christian people by the teaching of our Lord?

The State indeed has of late decreed, as was the case once before under the protectorate of Cromwell, that marriage may be regarded as a mere civil contract; but true Christians still continue to agree with the Church in maintaining that "so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's word doth allow, are not joined together by God," and avail themselves gratefully of the religious ceremony. During our Lord's ministry, the Jews looked upon marriage as a civil contract of no very binding character; but though he simply reproved the hardness of heart in which the custom originated, and did not declare the children of such marriages illegitimate, he plainly asserted the divine institution of marriage, from which the propriety of its religious solemnization is the unavoidable inference. See Matt. xix. 31.

6. What are the Espousals; and how were they conducted in antient times?

The first part of the office was originally called the Espousals: because, when performed in the early Church, the contracting parties gave a mutual promise of marriage before witnesses, in the presence of the Bishop or a presbyter. Upon this the Tabulæ matrimoniales, which are mentioned by Augustine, were signed; and the man gave the woman a ring as an earnest of his plighted troth and fidelity. See Tertull. Apol. c. 6. Ambros. Epist. 34.

7. When, and with what intent, is the Ring now delivered; and what symbolic notions have been attached to the ceremony?

Since the ceremonial of the Espousals came to be united with the marriage itself, the delivery of the ring has taken place after the conclusion of the contract; and, according to the English ritual, it is "given and received as a token and pledge of the vow and covenant" just made by the parties, and therefore as a constant memorial of the duties and obligations thereby undertaken. Ritualists and others have inferred various analogies and emblems from the ceremony of the ring. Thus it is of gold, to indicate the value and the

duration of wedded love; it is round, to denote the indissoluble nature of the bond; and it is placed on the fourth finger of the left hand to be always in sight, and because, that finger being seldom used, it will be less liable to be worn out or lost.

8. How was the matrimonial service concluded in early times; and what takes place additionally in the office of the English Church?

In the early Church, the paranymphus (August. Serm. 293.) having given away the bride, they joined hands (Tertull. de Virg. Veland. c. 11.), and the priest concluded the ceremony with his blessing. The office of the English Church proceeds with a Hymn of praise; the Lord's Prayer; responsive versicles by the priest and people in behalf of the newly married pair; three prayers by the minister alone, for their spiritual welfare, for progeny, and for the due discharge of the duties which marriage mystically enforces; and an appropriate benediction. Then follows an exhortation, setting forth the relative duties of man and wife; and a Rubric directs newmarried persons to receive the Holy Communion at the first opportunity.

SECT. XIII. VISITATION and COMMUNION of the

SICK.

1. UPON whom does the duty of visiting the sick more immediately devolve?

The visitation and relief of the sick is the duty of Christians generally (Matt. xxv. 34. 36. James i. 27.); but the Clergy are more particularly called upon to attend to their spiritual comfort: and from the early days of Christianity it has been a part of their ministerial office to pray with the sick, to quicken their faith and encourage their repentance, to reconcile them to the Church by absolution, and to administer to them the Holy Communion.

2. In what did the Romish use of Extreme Unction originate; and why was it discontinued at the Reformation?

In the Romish Church the practice of anointing the sick with oil still prevails, and is said to be founded on James v. 14, 15. An examination of this passage however will prove, that the original object of this ceremony was to procure a miraculous recovery of the patient; whereas the Romanists regard their Extreme unction as a Sacrament conveying grace to the souls of those actually dying. Since therefore no such rite existed in the primitive Church, and supernatural cures having altogether ceased, it was properly discontinued at the Reformation.

3. Give a brief summary of the office for the Visitation of the Sick, and of the duties which it imposes upon the minister.

The Rubric directs the minister of the Parish to go to the sick person's house, and use the appointed office; according to which, after some appropriate prayers, he proceeds, in an impressive exhortation, to advise him of the ends for which sickness is sent, of the manner in which it should be borne, and the duty of improving it to the health of the soul; to examine him as to the soundness and sincerity of his faith, and whether he repents him truly of his sins, and is in charity with all the world; to urge upon him the duty of forgiving those who may have offended him, of asking forgiveness for his own offences, and of making the best amends in his power where he has done wrong; to admonish him to make his will and set his worldly affairs in order; and earnestly to move him according to his ability to be liberal to the poor. The sick person is then led to relieve his conscience by confession; the minister absolves him from his sins on condition of repentance; and the office concludes with the recital of the seventy-first Psalm and a triple benediction.

4. With what views do the Churches of England and Rome respectively urge upon the sick the duty of being liberal to the poor?

Our Church does not suppose, with the Romanist, that Heaven can be purchased by alms-deeds, but she urges them as a duty which God has promised to reward in heaven, not for their own merit, but for the love they evince to Christ and his poor disciples (Matt. xxv. 42.).

5. State briefly the opinions maintained by our Church on the subject of Confession and Absolution?

See Sect. v. qq. 10. 13.

6. Mention the origin of the three benedictions which conclude the office; and shew in what they respectively differ.

Of the three benedictions, the first is rather an earnest prayer for help from the Redeemer; the second is a formal blessing in the name of God the Father; and the last, a committal of the patient to the care of the whole Trinity, built upon a form which the priest was directed to use under the Law of Moses (Numb. vi. 24. sqq.). two former are found only in the English ritual.

The

7. On what authority does the Church sanction private Communion with the sick; and what was the practice in early times?

Although our Church objects to Communion in private as a general rule, she charitably relaxes her discipline in favour of the sick; and in this she is justified by primitive usage. Thus Paulinus, bishop of Nola, received the Sacrament in his own chamber a few hours before his death; and the practice has also the sanction of Gregory Nazianzen and Ambrose. In earlier times the consecrated elements, which remained after public communion, were conveyed to those who were kept away by sickness.

8. What further provisions are charitably made, more particularly with reference to certain cases of emergency?

The sick person must have three, or two at the least, to communicate with him, unless in times of pestilence, when the minister,