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SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY.

First the Banns of all that are to be married together must be published in the Church three several Sundays, during the time of Morning Service, or of Evening Service, (if there be no Morning Service,) immediately after the Second Lesson; the Curate saying after the accustomed manner,

PUBLISH the Banns of Marriage between M. of and N. of. If any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together in holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is the first [second, or third] time of asking.

And if the persons that are to be married dwell in divers Parishes, the Banns must be asked in both Parishes; and the Curate of the one Parish shall not solemnize Matrimony betwixt them, without a Certificate of the Banns being thrice asked, from the Curate of the other Parish.

At the day and time appointed for solemnization of Matrimony, the persons to be married shall come into the body of the Church with their friends and neighbours: and there standing together, the Man on the right hand, and the Woman on the left, the Priest shall say,

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EARLY beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy men's carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained.

First, It was ordained for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name.

Secondly, It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry, and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ's body.

Thirdly. It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. Therefore if any man can shew any just cause, why they

may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.

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And also, speaking unto the persons that shall be married, he shall say, REQUIRE and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it. For be ye well assured, that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's Word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their Matrimony lawful.

At which day of Marriage, if any man do alledge and declare any impedi ment, why they may not be coupled together in Matrimony, by God's Law, or the Laws of this Realm; and will be bound, and sufficient sureties with him, to the parties; or else put in a Caution (to the full value of such charges as the persons to be married do thereby sustain) to prove his allegation: then the solemnization must be deferred, until such time as the truth be tried.

If no impediment be alledged, then shall the Curate say unto the Man,

M. WILT thou have this Woman to

thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?

The Man shall answer, I will.
T Then shall the Priest say unto the
Woman,

N. WILT thou have this Man to thy

wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of Matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honour, and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live?

The Woman shall answer, I will. Then shall the Minister say, Who giveth this Woman to be married to this Man?

Then shall they give their troth to each other in this manner. The Minister, receiving the Woman at her father's or friend's hands, shail

spiritual equality (see Gal. iii. 28), yet confirms what nature itself suggests-the subordination of the woman, and the corresponding duty of the man to bear the larger share of the burden of life (see 1 Cor. xi. 1-12; Eph. v. 22-33; Col. iii. 18, 19; 1 Tim. ii. 10-14; 1 Pet. iii. 1-7).

The "joining of hands" is from time immemorial the pledge of covenant, and is here an essential part of the marriage ceremony.

The MARRIAGE RITE itself.The use of the ring, probably of pre-Christian antiquity, is described in the succeeding prayer as the token of the marriage covenant-from the man the token of his confiding to his wife all authority over what is his, and for the woman the badge of belonging to his house. The old Service has a quaint rubric declaring it put on the fourth finger of the left hand, because thence "there is a vein leading direct to the heart." In the Service of 1549 the use of "spousal money probably a remnant of the time, when the man gave a dowry as a kind of purchase of his wife's services-was still retained, but struck out in 1552. The words to be spoken by the man are taken from the old Service, still using the ancient word

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worship" for service and honour. They declare the dedication both of person and substance to the marriage bond, and the religious consecration of that pledge in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

The PRAYER following is substituted for the form of "Blessing the ring" in the old Service, from which much of its phraseology is clearly taken. It prays that the marriage covenant, of which the ring is a pledge, may be kept both by mutual love and

by common obedience to God's law; and (in one of the many Old Testament allusions found in this Service) holds up the wedded life of Isaac and Rebecca as a pattern of its faithful observance. In the original

prayer of 1549 there was an allusion to the "spousal gifts" to Rebecca, recorded in Gen. xxiv. 22.

The solemn DECLARATIONS which follow are evidently suggested by the Consultatio. The first is quoted from Our Lord's words in Matt. xix. 5, 6, declaring, as against the former permission of divorce, the indissoluble character of the marriage bond. The second notes, as essentials of marriage, on the one hand the public assent of the parties, and the mutual pledge of their troth, symbolized by the gift of the ring and the joining of hands; and, on the other, the solemn ratification of this pledge by authority of the Church in the Name of the Holy Trinity.

The BLESSING, taken from the old Manual, is one of singular beauty and solemnity. It not only invokes God's favour to "bless, preserve, and keep " them in this world, but looks beyond it to the life everlasting, to which the wedded life here, under spiritual benediction, should be the way. Like the Service generally, it clearly implies the belief that ties hallowed and blessed here will still have some higher reality hereafter.

(B) THE POST-MATRIMONIAL

SERVICE.

The Service of the Marriage itself here ends; and the Marriage would probably be valid even without the Service next following, which is one of Prayer and Blessing on the newly mar

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cause the Man with his right hand to take the Woman by her right hand, and to say after him as followeth.

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 likewise say after the Minister. IN. take thee M. to my wedded hus

band, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.

Then shall they again loose their hands; and the Man shall give unto the Woman a Ring, laying the same upon the book with the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk. And the Priest, taking the Ring, shall deliver it unto the Man, to put it upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand. And the Man holding the Ring there, and taught by the Priest, shall say,

WITH this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Then the Man leaving the Ring upon the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand, they shall both kneel down; and the Minister shall say,

Let us pray.

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.

Then shall the Priest join their right hands together, and say, Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

Then shall the Minister speak unto the people.

FORASMUCH as M. and N. have

consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to

other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce that they be Man and Wife together, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

And the Minister shall add this
Blessing.

OD the Father, God the Son, God

GOD

the Holy Ghost, bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favour look upon you; and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen.

Then the Minister or Clerks, going to the Lord's Table, shall say or sing this Psalm following.

Beati omnes. Psalm 128.

BLESSED are all they that fear the

Lord and walk in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands well is thee, and happy shalt

thou be.

Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine : upon the walls of thine house;

Thy children like the olive-branches : round about thy table.

Lo, thus shall the man be blessed : that feareth the Lord.

The Lord from out of Sion shall so bless thee that thou shalt see Jerusalem in prosperity all thy life long;

Yea, that thou shalt see thy children's children and peace upon Israel. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Or this Psalm.

Deus misereatur. Psalm 67.

GOD be merciful unto us, and bless

us and shew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us. That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all

nations.

Let the people praise thee, O God: yea, let all the people praise thee.

O let the nations rejoice and be glad : for thou shalt judge the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.

Let the people praise thee, O God: yea, let all the people praise thee.

Then shall the earth bring forth her increase and God, even our own God, shall give us his blessing.

God shall bless us and all the ends of the world shall fear him.

Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.
The Psalm ended, and the Man and
the Woman kneeling before the Lord's
Table, the Priest standing at the Ta-
ble, and turning his face towards
them, shall say,

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Ans. Christ, have mercy upon us.
Min. Lord, have mercy upon us.

ried; leading on, as in the old Manual, to the Holy Communion, which should conclude the whole.

Of the COLLECTS (all taken from the old Service) the first opens with an address to God, as "the God of Abraham, Isaac,

The Rubric, as it stands, only and Jacob"-the God (that is)

directs

"the Minister and Clerks "to go to the Lord's Table; but the practice (as probably the intention) is to carry out the Rubric of 1549: "Then shall they "the whole marriage party-" go into the Quire."

Of the two alternative PSALMS, apparently intended to be sung in procession, the former (Ps. cxxviii.), taken from the old Service, is the one which has a special nuptial appropriateness: dwelling as it does emphatically on the gift of domestic blessing, under the shadow of the larger blessing on Israel, to all who fear the Lord. The other (Ps. lxvii.) -one of the Psalms of Evening Service-is simply one of prayer for God's general blessing, and of expression of thanksgiving from God's people, from "the nations," and from all the earth; and is probably inserted only as an alternative Psalm, in cases for which the other would be inappropriate.

The RUBRIC following is peculiar in its direction that the Priest, though the Service is one of Prayer, should turn his face to the people. Possibly the idea was that the Service was really one of Benediction, or there may have been a special desire for audibility.

The VERSICLES (translated from the old Service) are drawn as usual from the Psalms (lxxxvi. 2: xx. 1, 2; lxi. 3; cii. 1), praying for preservation. help in trouble, and strength against evil. They are substantially the same as those used in the Visitation of the Sick and the Churching of Women.

who is revealed in the Old Testament as blessing especially the chosen family in their domestic life-and prays that similarly He will bless the newly married persons, living under obedience to His will, with His protection and His love. In the Service of 1549, as in the old Manual, the allusion was not to the blessing of Abraham and Sarah, but to the mission of Raphael to Tobias and Sara, daughter of Raguel (Tobit iii. 17).

The SECOND COLLECT is for the fruitfulness of the marriage, and for a life of love together, long enough to see the children" Christianly and virtuously brought up." The latter was substituted in 1662 for prayer to see their children's children, unto the third and fourth generation."

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The THIRD COLLECT-most beautiful of all-dwells first on the primæval blessing on marriage, and next on its higher consecration to be a type of the 'spiritual marriage and unity between Christ and His Church;" and then prays (in accordance with the latter idea) that the man may give himself" in loving sacrifice for his wife, and that the woman may be loving and faithful, obedient and quiet, "in sobriety and peace." Up to 1662 this Collect had the quainter form of a prayer that she might be "loving as Rachel, wise as Rebekah, faithful and obedient as Sarah."

The BLESSING again goes back to the primeval blessing on "our first parents," and invokes God's grace, both of sanctification and blessing, that the newly

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UR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil. Amen

Min. O Lord, save thy servant, and thy handmaid;

Ans Who put their trust in thee. Min. O Lord, send them help from

thy holy place;

Ans. And evermore defend them.

Min. Be unto them a tower of strength,
Ans. From the face of their enemy.
Min. O Lord, hear our prayer.
Ans. And let our cry come unto thee.

Minister.

GOD of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, bless these thy servants, and sow the seed of eternal life in their hearts; that whatsoever in thy holy

Word they shall profitably learn, they may in deed fulfil the same. Look, O Lord, mercifully upon them from heaven, and bless them. And as thou didst send thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort, so vouchsafe to send thy blessing upon these thy servants; that they obeying thy will, and alway being in safety under thy protection, may abide in thy love unto their lives' end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Prayer next following shall be omitted, where the Woman is past child-bearing.

MERCIFUL Lord, and heavenly Father, by whose gracious gift mankind is increased; We beseech thee, assist with thy blessing these two persons, that they may both be fruitful in procreation of children, and also live together so long in godly love and honesty, that they may see their children Christianly and virtuously brought up, to thy praise and honour; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

GOD, who by thy mighty power hast made all things of nothing; who also (after other things set in order) didst appoint, that out of man (created after thine own image and similitude) woman should take her beginning; and, knitting them together, didst teach that it should never be lawful to put asunder those whom thou by Matrimony hadst made one: O God, who hast consecrated the state of Matrimony to such an excellent mystery, that in it is signified and represented the spiritual marriage and unity betwixt Christ and his Church; Look mercifully upon these thy servants, that both this man may love his wife, according to thy Word, (as Christ did love his spouse the Church, who gave him

self for it, loving and cherishing it even as his own flesh,) and also that this woman may be loving and amiable, faithful and obedient to her husband; and in all quietness, sobriety, and peace, be a follower of holy and godly matrons. O Lord, bless them both, and grant them to inherit thy everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then shall the Priest say,

ALMIGHTY God, who at the beginning did create our first parents, Adam and Eve, and did sanctify and join them together in marriage; Pour upon you the riches of his grace, sanctify and bless you, that ye may please him both in body and soul, and live together in holy love unto your lives' end. Amen.

After which, if there be no Sermon declaring the duties of Man and Wife, the Minister shall read as followeth. ALL ye that are married, or that in

tend to take the holy estate of Matrimony upon you, hear what the holy Scripture doth say as touching the duty of husbands towards their wives, and wives towards their husbands.

Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, the fifth Chapter, doth give this commandment to all married men ; Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the Word; that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself: for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself.

Likewise the same Saint Paul, writing to the Colossians, speaketh thus to all men that are married; Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Hear also what Saint Peter, the Apostle of Christ, who was himself a married man, saith unto them that are married; Ye husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge; giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

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