Manual, where it was said at the Choir door, the Priest at its close leading the woman by the hand into the Church. The phrase of the present rubric, "decently apparelled," is a reference to the ancient practice of wearing a veil. In the opening Address to the kneeling woman the First Book added (after the word "deliverance") "and your child Baptism," implying that the child had already been baptized; and the rubric then directed that she should now "offer her Crisome" (her babe's white Baptismal robe).

A part of the joyous 116th Psalm (the 127th in the English Book) is then said by them together as the woman still kneels, followed by the Lord's Prayer (unless in connection with the Daily Service) and the Versicles, as in the Visitation of the Sick. The Office closes with the Collect, which is the same as that among the Occasional Thanksgivings. No time is assigned for this Service, which is indeed now but little used, there being rubrical permission to substitute for it the Collect just named, as a part of the Morning or Evening Prayer, the woman being present. This is sometimes said at the time of the child's Baptism, and she is directed to make a Thank-offering for "the relief of distressed women in child-bed." It is furthermore directed, as being peculiarly "convenient" (i. e., suitable), that, if there be opportunity, she receive the Holy Communion as her highest Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

XXIX.

PRAYERS AT SEA, THE VISITATION OF PRISONERS, AND FAMILY PRAYER.

"They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters; these men see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep."—Psalm cvii. 23, 24.

Go not far from those, O Lord, whom Thou hast laid in a place of darkness, and in the deep."-Prayer in the Visitation Office.

"In particular, we implore Thy grace and protection for the ensuing day."-Morning Prayer in Families.

Office and that for Thanksgiving Day are printed in smaller type than the others, on account of the rarity of their use in individual experience. Neither of them is in the First Book, and the FORMS OF PRAYER TO BE USED AT SEA were not added to the present English Book (where they follow the Psalter and precede the Ordinal) until 1662, they having been compiled by Bishop Sanderson after England had become a great naval power. As there is no Church Establishment in America, and as we have comparatively few Chaplains in our Navy who are Churchmen and also a relatively small merchant marine, they are less used as yet than in the British Service. The public disgrace of inadequate religious provision for sailors while in active service is partially atoned for, so far as the

Church is concerned, by Seamen's Missions, and Chapels for seamen on shore, or floating Bethels, in some of the larger ports, and by gratuitous distribution of Prayer Books. On British steam merchant vessels of the larger sort the captain habitually reads the English Service on Sunday, and by our first rubric the Daily Service at sea is that of the Prayer Book, with the Special and Occasional forms which follow.

Two appropriate Prayers, one of them familiar elsewhere, are provided for use in war-vessels, followed by such as are fitting for all vessels in severe storms. The first of these quotes the Apostles' cry of distress, and the second that of Hezekiah; followed, when time presses, by brief ejaculatory Prayers and Kyries, addressed expressly to Our Lord and Saviour. If the danger be imminent, such as can be spared from duty are to be summoned together for the General Confession and the Absolution of the Communion Office (if there be a Priest on board), followed by the Lord's Prayer. The Prayers before and during a battle are both general and individual, and dwell on God's justice as well as on His power, asking only what accords with His sovereign will.

Thanksgiving Psalms and Collects are provided, to be used after a Storm and also after a Victory. In the former case the Psalms are from the 66th and 107th of the Psalter, the former being a Jubilate (peculiarly thankful), and the latter (a Psalm of Life) dwelling in part on the dangers and deliverances of the sea. The "Hymns of Praise" in both cases are composite in their character, being made up from many Psalms; and all are long, implying by contrast a peaceful spirit and abundance of time. The

first Collects are alternative, one presupposing imminent peril and the other in a calmer tone. After the Hymn of Victory may be said the Te Deum, a national Hymn of the loftiest character, and the final Collect before the Grace is addressed to God as the "Sovereign Commander of all the world."

The VISITATION OF PRISONERS is not in the English Book, having been taken from the Prayer Book of the Church of Ireland at the first American revision, and being composed in the diffuse style of the eighteenth century. At the time of any Service of Morning or Evening Prayer with prisoners generally, the De Profundis Psalm is substituted for the Venite, with either one or two Special Prayers, as indicated, after the Collect for the Day. As the object of imprisonment is reformatory as well as punitive, these changes give a more penitential character to the Service.

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In cases of great crimes, the criminal is to be visited "when notice is given," for a special and private Service of Prayer, which begins with the first Litany Deprecation, the Kyries, the Lord's Prayer, and appropriate Versicles. The succeeding Exhortation embodies a part of the first Warning in the Communion Office, and inculcates, with great particularity and solemnity, the duties of repentance, faith, forgiveness and restitution. The word "tender" (meaning value), in the fourth paragraph, has long been obsolete. The interrogative form of the Apostles' Creed, and its response, is followed by a particular oral examination and admonition concerning the crimes charged against the prisoner, with an exhortation to confession of them as

a preparative to reception of the Holy Communion when it may be proper to administer the same. The Miserere Psalm follows, both kneeling, and the Service closes with any or all of the appended Collects, or other Prayers judged proper. Two of these Collects are taken from the Office for Ash-Wednesday, and the whole Service bears a marked resemblance in construction to that for the Visitation of the Sick.

With condemned CRIMINALS UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH a distinct Service is used, beginning with an Exhortation which is terrible in its mingled severity and pleading, and closing with an appeal for resignation and composure under God's will, based on the discharge of the duties before indicated. The Minister then proceeds as in an ordinary Visitation, urging the criminal to a confession of the crime for which he is to suffer, and to a revelation of any "combinations in wickedness" of which he may be cognizant. If he confess, proper satisfaction to those wronged is to be inculcated, and “the pardoning mercy of God" is then to be declared to him in the words of the Communion Absolution.

Two most impressive special Collects follow, one of them appealing to the conversion of the repentant thief upon the Cross; and to these are added, as in the Visitation of the Sick, the beautiful Antiphon, "O Saviour of the world." With awful impressiveness the Minister then rises to repeat the uninspired portion of the first Anthem said in the Burial Office at the open grave (before which the criminal now stands), closing with the same form of Blessing and Commendation as in the Office for the Sick. In case the criminal is entitled to receive the Holy Communion,