'We will be glad and rejoice in Thee; we will remember Thy love more than wine.'* The presenter, as before, offereth the flagons, which, while the bishop sets on, the chaplains say: 'They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them drink of Thy pleasures as of a river.† 'Eat, O friends; drink, and be replenished, O beloved.'‡ The bason is offered next by the presenter, which when the bishop hath taken, the chaplains say:— 'An offering of a free heart will I give Thee; and praise Thy Name because it is so comfortable.' || Let the free-will offerings of my heart please Thee, O LORD, and teach me Thy judgments.'§ ¶ Then shall the bishop say this prayer of consecration :— Unto Thee, O ever-blessed LORD and SAVIOUR, and to Thy most holy worship and service, do I here offer up and dedicate these oblations, [here the bishop lays his hands upon every piece of the plate,] which, in humble acknowledgement of Thy sovereignty over all, and of Thine infinite mercy and goodness to them in particular, Thy pious and devout servants have here presented before Thee. But who are they, O LORD, that they should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? Thine, O LORD, is the power and the glory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Both riches and honour, and all things come of Thee; and 'tis of Thine own that they have given Thee. Accept, we beseech Thee, these their free-will offerings, and grant that they may be for ever holy vessels for the use of Thy sanctuary. Let no profane or sacrilegious hand ever withdraw them from Thine altar, or debase them to common use again; but let them continue always inviolable in that holy service to which they have been by them so piously designed, and are now by our office and ministry solemnly set apart and consecrated. And sanctify, we beseech Thee, both the souls and bodies of all those who out of these vessels shall now or at any time hereafter partake of the Holy Communion of Thy most blessed Body and Blood; that we all may be filled with Thy grace and heavenly benediction, and also pardoned and accepted, and everlastingly rewarded through Thy mercy, O ever-blessed LORD and * Cant. i. 4. Psalm liv. 6. + Psalm xxxvi. 8. Cant. v. 1. K SAVIOUR, who dost live and govern all things, world without end. Amen.' ¶ The bishop adds this benediction 'And now, blessed be Thou, O LORD, heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting GOD, for ever and ever; and blessed be Thy glorious Name, that it hath pleased Thee to put into the heart of thy servant to give so freely for the more decent performance of Thy worship and service in the beauty of holiness. Accept, O LORD, this his bounden duty and service, not weighing his merits, but pardoning his offences. Let these his oblations come up as a memorial before Thee, and let him find and feel, that with such sacrifices Thou art well pleased. Bless him, O LORD, in his person, and in his substance, and in all that belongs unto him, or that he puts his hand unto. Remember him, O my God, for good, and wipe not out the kindnesses that he hath done for the house of his GOD, and the offices thereof. And give to all those that shall enjoy the benefit of this his piety and bounty, both a grateful sense and sanctified use of what is by him so wellintended; that in all and by all, Thy praise and glory may now and ever be set forth, O gracious and merciful LORD, who livest and reignest ever one GOD, world without end. Amen.' ¶ Then the bishop goes on to read the other sentences in the offertory. And bread and wine, upon and in the vessels now consecrated, are set upon the altar, and the alms gathered in the new bason, and the rest of the Communion-service is proceeded in as is usual at other times. ¶ When there are candlesticks presented, while the bishop receiveth them and placeth them upon the altar, the chaplains say as before : Thy word is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.* For in Thee is the fountain of life; and in Thy light shall we see light.'† So likewise when a censer is presented and received, they say: 'While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.t 'Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as the incense; and let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice.'§ * Psalm cxix. 105. Cant. i. 12. + Psalm xxxvi. 9. § Psalm cxli. 2. THE ACT. 'Notum sit omnibus quorum interest aut intererit, Quod die...... die.......scilicet mensis.......An. Dom.......inter horas.......et....... ejusdem diei antemeridianas in...........in Com.........notoriè situat. tempore Divinorum publice tunc et ibidem pro more solenniter celebratorum, Coram Reverendo in Christo Patre, ac Domino Domino......permissione divinâ......Episcopo, stante tunc temporis ad Altare in habitu Pontificali, comparuit personaliter......ad hæc infra-scripta specialiter requisitus et demandatus; et adstitit mensulæ cuidam in medio positæ, et tapeto decenti coöpertæ, superquam stabant decenti ordine Vasa quædam (Patina nimirum, duo Calices, Lagena et Pelvis, etc. qualibus in sacris utimur) argentea omnia, et bis deaurata, ad usum Eccl. Paroch. de......in Agro......Diœceseos autem......sumptibus......præparata; et post Deo debitam adorantiam, et Reverentiam Episcopo factam, nomine......humiliter petiit à Domino Episcopo antedicto, ut Vasa supradicta omnia, tam piè designata formata tam eleganter, et jam rite oblata DEO SERVATORI sisteret et præsentaret, suoque Pastorali Officio, et ministerio solenniter consecraret divino cultui in dicta......in perpetuum deservitura. Cui tam sancto desiderio toties dictus Episcopus lubenter annuens, et se promptum et paratum exhibens, Vasa illa omnia (Patinam et Calices, Lagenam et Pelvim, etc.) e manibus præfati......ante sacrum altare provoluti, sigillatim recipiens, et super altare, magnâ cum reverentiâ, reponens; fusis ad Deum precibus, ab omni profano usu separavit, DEOQUE SERVATORI, et ejus Divino Cultui, juxta morem et ritus in Eccl. Angl. piè usitatos, solenniter in perpetuum consecravit; et eisdem Vasis ità Consecratis, eisque solis, mox usus est in Consecratione S. Eucharistiæ loco et tempore suprascriptis."-Form of Dedication and Consecration of a Church or Chapel. Ecclesiastical Vestments. [255] Preaching in the Surplice.* Circa 1559.] "Because it is sufficient to use but a surplice in baptizing, reading, preaching, and praying, therefore it is enough also * A correspondent in the Times (Sept. 18, 1843), after citing the present rubrick respecting vestments, remarks, "It will be perceived from this how absurd for the celebrating of the Communion."-Letter of Bishop Guest to Sir William Cecil. Strype's Annals, vol. I. part II. Appendix XIV. p. 461. [256] 1564.] "The Evening Prayer in winter is between three and four, in summer between four and five of the clock in the afternoon. At which prayers Mr. Dean, when he is here, and every of the prebendaries are present every day once at the least, apparelled, in the choir, and when they preach, with surplice and silk hoods."-Certificate of the state of the Church of Canterbury. Strype's Life of Parker, p. 183. [257] Ibid.] "In the month of January Archdeacon Mullins, by the Bishop's Commission, visited at S. Sepulchre's church. Whither the Ministers being cited and appearing, he signified to them the Queen's pleasure, which was, that all in orders should wear the square cap, surplice, and gown...... They were therefore prayed in a gentle manner to take on them the cap, with the tippet to wear about their necks, and the gown, and to wear in the ministry of the Church the surplice only. And lastly, they were also required to subscribe their hands, that they would observe it. Accordingly an hundred and one, all ministers of London subscribed, and eight only refused......On the 24th of March following, this reformation in ministers' habits began: when the use of the scholar's gown and cap was enjoined from that day forward; the surplice to be worn at all divine administrations......And subscription required to all this, or else a sequestration immediately to follow: and after three months' standing out, deprivation ipso facto, which was afterwards executed upon some. This was done at Lambeth, the Archbishop, the Bishop of London, and others of the Ecclesiastical Commission sitting there, when the Bishop's Chancellor spake thus: 'My masters, and the the discussion was on the question, whether a minister was in the morning to preach in his surplice or in a black gown. According to law he is not supposed to have on a surplice at all, but an alb, at the time of sermon. The question therefore ought to have been between the alb and the black gown, not between the latter and a surplice." This is true: and it is curious to see how soon and completely, notwithstanding the rubrick, the use of the alb gave way to that of the surplice. The former is seldom, if ever, mentioned in the controversy concerning vestments in the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles 1: and the only instance of its being worn after the Restoration, which we know of, was in 1660, at a consecration of Bishops in Dublin.-EDD. ministers of London, the Council's pleasure is that strictly ye keep the unity of apparel like to this man,' pointing to Mr. Robert Cole, (a minister likewise of the city who had refused the habits awhile, and now complied, and stood before them canonically habited), as you see him; that is, a square cap, a scholar's gown priestlike, a tippet, and in the church a linen surplice.'"*—Strype's Life of Grindal, p. 98. [258] 1567.] "They presently declaimed against them [the cope and surplice], calling them conjuring garments of Popery, and garments that were accursed...... When some of the Commissioners had urged that they held the Reformation in K. Edward's days, one of them said, They in K. Edward's days never came so far as to make a law that none should preach or minister without these garments. The Bishop insisted again upon the innocency of them, &c."-Bishop Grindal's Concern with some Separatists. Life by Strype, pp. 118, 119. [259] Ibid.] "Although those things, in our judgment, are not rightly brought back into the Church again; yet, since they are not of the nature of those things which are wicked in themselves, we do not think them of so great moment, that therefore, either the pastors should leave their ministry, rather than take up those garments, or that the flocks should omit the publick food, rather than hear pastors so clothed."-Theodore Beza, to certain Brethren of the English Churches, upon some Controversies in the Ecclesiastical Polity. Ibid. No. XVI. Appendix. [260] 1570.] "He [Bishop Sandys] visited his diocese this first year of his translation: and January the 10th he held his visitation in London. Some articles and injunctions of the Bishop then given to the Clergy, I learn from a journal of one of those London ministers. 'We are straitly charged, 1. To keep strictly the Book of Common Prayer. II. No man to preach without a licence. III. To observe the appointed apparel; that is, to wear the square cap, the scholar's gown, &c. And in all divine service to wear the surplice."—Strype's Annals, vol. II. part 1. * It will be observed that the distinction here made is not between the apparel of the clergy when saying prayers or administering Sacraments and when preaching, but when they are out of church and when in it.-EDD. |