the Lord's Prayer, two collects, and a benediction. The ancient manuals of the English church appointed a similar order to succeed the burial; but the collects which we use in this place are not of great antiquity, though the preface of the first is found in the manual of Salisbury, and in some very ancient monuments of the western church. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, &c. Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity, &c. Kyrie eleison. Pater noster qui es in cœlis, sanctificetur nomen tuum, &c. s Deus, apud quem spiritus mortuorum vivunt, et in quo electorum animæ deposito carnis onere plena felicitate lætantur, præsta supplicantibus nobis ut anima famuli tui, &c.t s Man. Sar. Inhumatio defuncti, fol. 151. t Ibid. fol. 148. CHAPTER X. THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN AFTER CHILD-BIRTH. How long a particular office has been used in the Christian church, for the thanksgiving and benediction of women after child-birth, it would be difficult to say; but it is probably most ancient, since we find that all the western rituals, and those of the patriarchate of Constantinople, contain such an office. That which we use in the English ritual occurs in the ancient manual of the church of Salisbury, with little variation. It begins with a short address to the woman, followed by two psalms. The address seems peculiar to the English ritual; but two psalms were repeated at the beginning of the office, according to the Salisbury manual, though they were different from those used at present. The remainder of the office will speak for itself, on comparison. Our Father which art in heaven, &c. Min. O Lord, save this woman thy servant; Answ. Who putteth her trust in thee. Min. Be thou to her a strong tower, Answ. From the face of her enemy. Min. Lord, hear our prayer. Answ. And let our cry come unto thee. Min. Let us pray. O Almighty God, we give thee humble thanks for that thou hast vouchsafed to deliver this woman from the great pain and peril of child-birth; 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. c Man. Sarisb. fol. 46. CHAPTER XI. A COMMINATION, AND PRAYERS FOR THE FIRST DAY OF LENT. THIS office is one of the last memorials we retain of that solemn public penitence which, during the primitive ages, occupied so conspicuous a place in the discipline of the Christian church. In the earliest ages, those who were guilty of grievous sins were solemnly reduced to the order of penitents: they came fasting, and clad in sack-cloth and ashes, on the occasion, and after the bishop had prayed over them, they were dismissed from the church. They then were admitted gradually to the classes of hearers, substrati, and consistentes; until at length, after long trial and exemplary conduct, they were again deemed worthy of full communion". This penitential discipline at length, from various causes, became extinct, both in the eastern and western churches: and, from the twelfth or thirteenth century, the solemn office for the first day of Lent was the only memorial of this ancient discipline in the west. It seems that at least from about the eighth century there was a solemn office for public penitents on the a See Bingham's Antiquities, book xviii. ch. 1 and 2. first day of Lent; but in after-ages this office was applied indiscriminately to all the people, who received ashes, and were prayed for by the bishop or presbyter. Thus the office lost its ancient character. The English churches have long used this office nearly as we do at present, as we find almost exactly the same appointed for the first day of Lent in the missals of Salisbury and York, and in the MS. sacramentary of Leofric, which was written for the English church about the ninth or tenth century. The peculiar office which the church of England has appointed for the first day of Lent, commences after the morning prayer and litany are concluded. In the ancient offices of Salisbury also we find that this office began after the prayers which were said at the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock in the day; and many of the western offices appointed the litany at the beginning of this service". The English office then proceeds with an address or sermon full of exhortations to penitence and conversion from sins, which is called a commination; and in the course of it the priest recites the curses of God against sin, to each of which the people, according to the custom of the old law, are invited to testify their assent. It has long been customary in the western churches for the bishop or presbyter to make a discourse or sermon on the subject of penitence at this part of the office, as we may see in the missals of Salisbury, b Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Rit. lib. i. c. 6, p. 3. See Bingham, book xviii. ch. 2, § 2. Fer. Iv in capite Jejunii post sextam imprimis fiat sermo ad populum si placuerit. d Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Rit. lib. i. c. 6, p. 86. 95. De Antiqua Eccl. Discipl. in Div. Officiis, c. 7, p. 140, &c. |