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friend who gave away the woman, (the paranymphus is spoken of by Augustin,) came to church, and gave their consent to marriage; and while they performed this public contract, they gave each other their right hands, a custom which is mentioned by Tertullian and Gregory Nazianzen. These rites, accompanied or followed by the benediction of the priest, seem to have been always used in the office of matrimony.

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Then shall the minister say, Who giveth this woman to be married to this man? T Then shall they give their troth to each other in this manner. The minister, ceiving 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 M. take thee N. to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.

¶ Then shall they loose their hands; and the woman, with her right hand taking the man by his right hand, shall

i Augustin. Sermo 293.
j Greg. Nazianzen. ad Any-

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I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

Ego sum resurrectio et vita : qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivit : et omnis qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in æternum d.

Credo quia Redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum: et in carne mea videbo Deum Salvatorem meum. Quem visurus sum ego ipse et non alius: et oculi mei conspecturi sunte.

When the procession has entered the church, the office proceeds with psalmody and reading of scripture. A similar custom is mentioned by the author called Dionysius, as prevailing in his time in the eastf; and we find frequent mention of the same amongst the oriental fathers. Nearly the same order prevails in the patriarchate of Constantinople, where many anthems and psalms are sung, and lessons from the Epistles and Gospels are read 8. In the western churches it seems that the eucharist was celebrated at this time, in which prayers were made for the happiness of the deceased. This was customary in Africa in the fifth century, according to Augustine; and in Italy in the time of Ambrosei;

d Manuale Sarisb. Vigiliæ Mortuorum, fol. 127.

e Ibid. fol. 106.

f Dionys. Eccl. Hierarch. c.7. g See Goar, Rituale Græc. p. 526, &c.

h August. Confess. lib. ix.

C. 12.

i Paulin. Vita Ambrosii: "Illucescente die Dominico, cum corpus illius, peractis sacramentis divinis de ecclesia levaretur, portandum ad Basilicam Ambrosianam," &c.

woman's left hand, they shall both kneel down; and the minister shall say,

Let us pray.

O Eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life; send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy name; that, as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made, (whereof this ring given and received is a token and pledge,) and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

tibus dicat sacerdos benedictionem super eosk.

Oremus.

Creator et conservator humani generis; dator gratiæ spiritualis; largitor æternæ salutis; tu Domine mitte benedictionem tuam super hunc annulum . . . quem nos in tuo sancto nomine benedicimus : ut quæcunque eum portaverit in tua pace consistat, et in tua voluntate permaneat, et in tuo amore vivat et crescat et senescat, et multiplicetur in longitudinem dierum. Per Dominum 1.

The succeeding rites, in which the priest, with a certain formulary, joins their right hands together, and afterwards pronounces the marriage to be complete, are perhaps peculiar to the church of Eng

land.

The benediction which succeeds this declaration is of ancient use in the English church, as it appears in the manuals of Salisbury and York, though it is in the latter placed in a subsequent part of the office.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost,

k Manuale Sar. fol. 48.

Benedicat vos Deus Pater, custodiat vos Jesus Christus,

1 Ibid.

making, the priest and clergy sing or repeat anthems; and then, the body being interred with a certain formulary, another anthem is sung or said. The same order is found in the ancient rituals of the eastern and western churches. The only thing worthy of notice in this part of the English ritual is, the form repeated by the priest, beginning, "Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God," &c. This form of committing the "body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes," &c. seems, as far as I can judge, to be peculiar to our church; as we find that most other rituals of the east and west appoint some psalm or anthem to be sung or said while the body is placed in the tomb: but the same form nearly has been used in the English church for many ages, though anciently it followed after the body was covered with earth, and not while the earth was placed upon it. The anthems which precede and follow this formulary have generally been very anciently used in the English church on occasions connected with that which we at present consider.

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Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, Oholy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee.

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the Idead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labours.

Sancte Deus, Sancte fortis, Sancte et misericors Salvator; amaræ morti ne tradas nos.

Noli claudere aures tuas ad preces nostras, Sancte fortis. Qui cognoscis occulta cordis, parce peccatis nostris. Sancte et misericors Salvator amaræ morti ne tradas nos P.

Commendo animam tuam Deo Patri omnipotenti; terram terræ, cinerem cineri, pulverem pulveri in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti 9.

Audivi vocem de cœlo, dicentem mihi, Scribe, Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur, amodo enim jam dicit Spiritus, ut requiescant a laboribus suis, opera enim illorum sequuntur illos r.

After this anthem is concluded, the prayers commence with the short litany, which is followed by

55.

p Brev. Sarisb. Psalt. fol.

q Manuale Sar. fol. 149. In

humatio defuncti.

r Man. Sar. Antiphona in Vigil. Mortuorum, fol. 112.

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