by the DIVINE AUTHORITY and direction, the institution being His, and He being Authorizer of, and Witness to, the Marriage, the Priest may without scruple pronounce God's BLESSING on the parties, mentioning the whole TRINITY, in whose name the vow was made, and desiring GoD to bless them with all good things, to preserve and keep them from all evil; praying that He will be kind and favourable to them, giving them such Grace, that they may live so lovingly and holily together in this life, that, when they come into that world, where they neither marry nor are given in marriage, they may be both made happy, and meet in everlasting life. Amen. This is the Priest's Blessing, which is so comprehensive and so effectual, that the whole OFFICE was anciently called, The BLESSING of the PRIEST.”

LESSON THE FOURTEENTH.

Visitation and Communion of the Sick.

UTY OF the Clergy to visit the Sick.—

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The visitation and relief of the Sick is plainly the duty of all Christians in general, as we see from MATTHEW XXV. 34, 36; JAMES i. 27; but the CLERGY are more particularly called upon to attend to their spiritual comfort; and, from the earliest ages of CHRISTIANITY, it has been a part of their Ministerial office to pray with the sick, to quicken their faith, and encourage their repentance, to reconcile them to GOD and THE CHURCH, and to administer to them the HOLY COMMUNION.

2. BRIEF SUMMARY of the Office for the Visitation of the Sick. The RUBRIC directs the Minister to go to the sick person's house and use the appointed OFFICE; ac

cording to which, after some appropriate prayers, he proceeds, in an impressive exhortation, to advise him of the ends for which sickness is sent, of the manner in which it should be borne, and the duty of improving it to the health of his soul; to examine him as to the soundness and sincerity of his faith, and whether he truly repents of his sins, and is in charity with all the world; to urge upon him the duty of forgiving those who may have offended him, of asking forgiveness of his own offences, and of making the best reparation in his power, where he has done wrong; to admonish him to make his will and set all his worldly affairs in order; and to move him according to his ability to be liberal to the poor. for GOD's mercy, grace, and support follows, after which the DE PROFUNDIS or 130th Psalm, together with the Prayer to the REDEEMER, and the Priest's Invocation of God's blessing and defence, appropriately concludes the SERVICE. Appended to this Office in our Prayer-Book are several beautiful Prayers for those sick in body or mind, and a " Thanksgiving for the beginning of a recovery."

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3. VIEWS of OUR CHURCH and that of ROME as to urging upon the sick the duty of liberality to the poor.- OUR CHURCH does not by any means suppose with the CHURCH of ROME that Heaven can be purchased by Alms-deeds, but she does urge them as a duty, which GOD has promised to reward in HEAVEN, not for their own merit, but for the love they evince to CHRIST and his poor disciples.

4. AUTHORITY for our Church's sanction of private Communion with the Sick.Although OUR CHURCH objects to Communion in private as a general rule, she charitably relaxes her discipline in favour of the sick; and in this she is justified by primitive usage. Thus PAULINUS, BISHOP of NOLA, who was born in 353 a.d., and died 431, received the SACRAMENT in his own chamber a few hours before his death. The practice also has the sanction of GREGORY NAZIANZEN (the illustrious FATHER, and THEOLOGIAN, who, after so agitated and momentous a life, died A.D. 389, leaving an immense collection of his writings, of which about fifty sermons, two hundred and fifty

epistles, and four hundred poems have come down to us), and of AMBROSE, the saintly BISHOP OF MILAN (born 340, died 397). In earlier times the Consecrated ELEMENTS, which remained after PUBLIC COMMUNION, were conveyed to those who were kept away by sickness.

5. FURTHER CHARITABLE PROVISIONS made by the Church for cases of emergency. The sick person must have three, or, at the least, two, to communicate with him, unless in times of pestilence and contagious disease, when the Minister, if others are deterred by fear of infection, may communicate with him alone. And lastly, if by any just impediment he be prevented from receiving the SACRAMENT at all, the Minister is enjoined to instruct him that "if he do truly repent of his sins, and steadfastly believe that JESUS CHRIST hath suffered death upon the CROSS for him, and shed HIS BLOOD for his redemption, earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving Him hearty thanks therefor, he doth eat and drink the BoDy and BLOOD of our SAVIOUR CHRIST to his soul's health, although he do not receive the SACRAMENT with his mouth."