The following is the actual form authorized in 1560 for the celebration of the Holy Communion at Funerals :

CELEBRATIO CENE DOMINI, IN FUNEBRIBUS, SI AMICI & VICINI DEFUNCTI COMMUNICARE VELINT.

Collecta.

Misericors Deus, Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui es resurrectio & vita, in quo qui credidit, etiamsi mortuus fuerit, vivet; & in quo qui crediderit & vivit, non morietur in æternum quique nos docuisti per sanctum Apostolum tuum Paulum, non debere mærere pro dormientibus in Christo, sicut ii qui spem non habent resurrectionis: humiliter petimus, ut nos a morte peccati resuscites ad vitam justitiæ, ut cum ex hac vita emigramus, dormiamus cum Christo, quemadmodum speramus hunc fratrem nostrum, & in generali resurrectione, extremo die, nos una cum hoc fratre nostro resus

citati, & receptis corporibus, regnemus una tecum in vita æterna. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum.

Epistola. 1 Thess. iv.

Nolo vos ignorare, fratres, de his qui obdormierunt, Proinde consolemini vos mutuo sermonibus his.

Evangelium. Joan. vi.

Dixit Jesus discipulis suis, & turbis Judæorumi: Omne quod dat mihi Pater. . . habeat vitam æternam, & ego suscitabo eum in novissimo die.

Vel hoc Evangelium. Joan. v.

Dixit Jesus discipulis suis, & turbis Judæorum : Amen, Amen, dico vobis, qui sermonem meum audit. . . qui vero mala egerunt, in resurrectionem condemnationis.

In

THIS Service underwent scarcely any change in the transition of our Offices from the old English system to the new. 1549 the ancient title was retained, the "quire door" was substituted for the door of the Church, and the address at the commencement of the Service was substituted for that at the end of the old one. In 1552 the present Title was adopted, and the place where the table standeth" put instead of "the quire door." In 1661 the two Psalms now in use were substituted for the 121st: the second of them being added to the 121st by Bishop Cosin, but the 116th afterwards inserted instead of it.

Although the Churching Service does not appear in the ancient Sacramentaries, very ancient Offices for the purpose are to be found in the rituals of the Western and Eastern Churches, which are given in the pages of Martene and Goar. The practice itself is referred to in St. Gregory's answer to the questions of St. Augustine [A.D. 601]. The latter had asked, "How long must it be before a woman comes to church after childbirth?" and St. Gregory's reply contains the exact expression now adopted as the title of the Service: "In how many days after her delivery a woman may enter into the church you have learned from the Old Testament. . . . Yet if she enter into the church to make her thanksgiving [actura gratias] the very hour in which she gives birth, she is not to Ce considered as doing that which is sinful." There is a still more ancient reference to the practice in the seventeenth constitution of the Emperor Leo, published about A. D. 460. In both cases the custom is mentioned in such a way as to give the impression that it was a familiar and established one; but there appears to have been a frequent difficulty as to the interval which should be allowed after childbirth before the thanksgiving was made. It is not unreasonable, therefore,

1 In the Rubric at the beginning of this Office, in the Greek ritual, the phrase irir innata is used. [Goar, p. 267.]

to conclude that the Churching of Women is a primitive practice derived from the Jews; and that its adoption by the Christian Church was accompanied by some doubts as to the extent to which the law of God respecting it, as given to the Jews, was to be literally obeyed.

This Christian custom is not founded, however, on the Jewish law alone, but on those first principles of religion to which human nature was subjected from the time of the Fall. The word of God to Eve was, "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;" and the first words of Eve afterwards are on the birth of Cain; when, as the Psalm says, "Lo, children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord," so the mother of all living said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." This sense of the Providence of God in the matter of child-bearing, and also of the sorrow and pain which He has connected with it on account of Eve's transgression, must ever lead instinctively to thanksgiving, and to a religious recognition of His goodness in giving safe deliverance. The same principles extend themselves also further than this; and, acknowledging that original sin is inherited by children from their parents, enjoin upon the mother the duty of recognizing the fact by a ceremonial return to the Church with humble prayers.

This Service was not formerly used for unmarried women until they had done penance. So Archbishop Grindal enjoined in 1571, "that they should not church any unmarried woman, which had been gotten with child out of lawful matrimony; except it were upon some Sunday or holyday; and except either she, before childbed, had done penance, or at her churching did acknowledge her fault before the congregation." [CARDW. Doc. Ann. i. 335.] So also the Bishops replied to those who excepted against this Service for the mothers of illegitimate children in 1661: "If the woman be such as is here mentioned, she is to do penance before she is churched."

at the usual time] The first Rubric as altered by Bishop Cosin in the Durham Book stands thus: "The woman, a month after delivery, being recovered, shall, upon some Sunday or other Holyday, come decently vayled into the Parish Church, and at the beginning of the Communion Service shall kneel down in some convenient place appointed unto her by the Minister before the Holy Table; at which he standing shall thus direct his speech to her."

decently apparelled] In Archdeacon HALE'S Precedents there are several presentations of clergymen for refusing to church women who did not wear veils or kerchiefs when they came to their thanksgivings, and of women for coming without them: "The said Tabitha did not come to be churched in a vaile." [p. 259.] "Presentatur, for that she being admonished that when she came to church to give God thanks for her safe deliverance in childbirth, that she should come with such ornaments as other honest women usually have done, she did not, but coming in her hat and a quarter about her neck, sat down in her seat where she could not be descried, nor seen unto what the thanksgiving was read." [p. 237.] It is evident from such records as these that some distinctive dress was considered desirable in former times; and that a veil was thought to be a token of modesty better befitting such an occasion than a mere ordinary head-dress. In an inventory of Church goods belonging to St. Benet's Gracechurch in 1560, there is a churching-cloth fringed, white damask;" from which it would seem that the veil was in some cases provided by the Church. Elborow speaks of the veil being commonly used in the latter half of the seventeenth century, but adds that it was scrupled" against by some as if the wearing it were a gross sin.

convenient place] The place assigned by the Rubric before

I found trouble and heaviness, and I called upon the Name of the LORD: O LORD, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul.

Gracious is the LORD, and righteous: yea, our GOD is merciful.

The LORD preserveth the simple: I was in misery, and He helped me.

the Reformation was the Church door. In 1549 this was altered to the Quire door; and " nigh unto the table" in 1552. Now that the place is left to the clergyman's appointment, he will have to consider that the spirit of the Rubric has always been to symbolize by the woman's position during her Churching that she is being readmitted to Church privileges and Divine worship. The Church door is not suited to modern climates and constitutions, but the Choir door seems a very fitting place, and was used by Bishop Andrewes. In the book referred to in the last note, a Churching "stool or form is referred to, which probably indicates a seat near to the Church door. The tenth of Bishop Wren's orders and injunctions for the diocese of Norwich, in 1636, enjoins, "That women to be churched come and kneel at a side near the communion table without the rail, being veiled according to the custom, and not covered with a hat; or otherwise not to be churched, but presented at the next generals by the minister, or churchwardens, or any of them." Bishop BRIAN DUPPA's Articles of Visitation of 1638 there is a similar one: "Doth he go into the Chancel, the woman also repairing thither, kneeling as near the Communion Table as may be; and if there be a Communion, doth she communicate in acknowledgement of the great blessing received by her safe delivery? Doth the woman who is to be Churched use the accustomed habit in such cases with a white veil or kerchief upon her head?"

In

Then shall the Priest say] It may be doubted whether it was ever intended that the Priest should say this alone. As

1 Yet not always, for in the Churchwarders' accounts of St. Mary Hubbard, Eastcheap, there is the entry:

"Item. For makyng of the Chirchyng pewe . . . viiid." This was in A.D. 1465-66.

What reward shall I give unto the LORD for all the benefits that He hath done unto me?

I will receive the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the LORD.

I will pay my vows now in the presence of all His people in the courts of the LORD's house, even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.

Glory be to the FATHER, and to the Son and to the HOLY GHOST ;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without end.

Amen.

Except the LORD keep the city : the watchman waketh but in vain.

It is but lost labour that ye haste to rise up early, and so late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness for so He giveth His beloved sleep.

Lo, children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the LORD. Like as the arrows in the hand of the giant: even so are the young children.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

the old Rubric directed the choral use of the Psalm, and as that in the Marriage Service is to be used in the same way (the very Psalm that formerly stood here), so no doubt it was meant that this should be used as other Psalms are. It has sometimes been used processionally in the same manner as an Introit, to which it bears a close analogy. The Priest should stand during the whole of the Service.

The 116th Psalm is most appropriate where the woman is going to communicate after her Churching; or where her sorrows have been added to by the death of her infant, in which latter case the 127th Psalm is very inoppor

tune.

A facie inimici.

DOMINE, exaudi orationem meam.

offerings] A due to the Priest offered on the Altar. Compare the words "Easter Offering" and "Easter Dues." So Bishop Andrewes interprets it, and so Hooker, V. lxxiv. 4. The Chrisom was formerly included; the woman being required to bring it for the use of the Church unless the infant had died, and so been buried in it, as a "Chrisom child" before her Churching. That this was actually done is shewn by the account rolls of Ripon Minster, in which the returned Chrisoms are entered year by year.

it is convenient] That is, suitable. Convenient is a word that meant "fitting" more distinctly in former days than now. [Comp. Eph. v. 4.]

Answer.

And let our cry come unto Thee.

¶ Minister.

Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY GOD, we give Thee humble thanks for that Thou hast vouchsafed to deliver this woman Thy servant from the great pain and peril of childbirth; Grant, we beseech Thee, most merciful FATHER, that she, through Thy help, may both faithfully live, and walk according to Thy will in this life present; and also may be partaker of everlasting glory in the life to come; through JESUS CHRIST Our LORD. Amen.

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.

that she receive] As the Churching Service is a restoration of the woman to the privileges of the Lord's house, it is clear that it should be said at the beginning of, that is, before, any service at which she is to be present for the first time after her recovery. If she is to communicate, a suitable time would be immediately before the Lord's Prayer and Collect for Purity, supposing she has not been present at Litany and Mattins; and such a use of this Service would doubtless be nearest to the intention of the Church in every way. Bishop