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that as Ifaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, fo thefe perfons may furely 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 Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

¶ Then shall the Priest join their right hands together, and fay,

Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put afunder.

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Then shall the Minifter fpeak unto the People. Orafmuch as M. and N. have confented together in holy wedlock, and have witneffed the fame before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the fame 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 Ghoft. Amen.

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And the Minifter shall add this Bleffing.

OD the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghoft, blefs, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favour look upon you; and fo fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may fo live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlafting. Amen.

¶ Then the Minifter or Clerks going to the Lord's Table, shall fay or fing this Pfalm following.

B

Beati omnes. Pfalm 128.

LESSED are all they that fear the Lord and walk in his ways.

Ifaac and Rebecca] After thefe words in Edw. VIth's firft book, the following were inferted," after bracelets and jewels of gold given the one to the other, for tokens of their matrimony." They were omitted in his fecond book.

Then the Minifter, &c.] In Edward VIth's firft book, the rubric is as follows: "Then fhall they go into the quire, and the ministers or clerks

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: O well is thee, and happy shalt thou be.

Thy wife fhall be as the fruitful vine: upon the walls of thine house.

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

Lo, thus fhall the man be bleffed: that feareth the Lord. The Lord from out of Sion fhall fo blefs thee: that thou shalt fee Jerufalem in profperity all thy life long; Yea, that thou shalt fee thy children's children; and peace upon Ifrael..

Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the beginning, &c.

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¶ Or this Pfalm.

Pfalm 67. Deus mifereatur.

OD be merciful unto us, and bless us: and fhew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us. That thy way may be known upon earth: thy faving health among all nations.

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

O let the nations rejoice and be glad for thou fhalt 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 fhall the earth bring forth her increase and God, even our own God, fhall give us his bleffing.

fhall fing this pfalm following." In the Salisbury Manual the rubric is, "that they fhall enter the church and go to the foot of the altar, the prieft with the clerks, &c." for in the Popish times, it was cuftomary for the couple who were to enter the holy ftate, to be placed at the church door, where the prieft joined their hands, and performed all this previous part of the matrimonial office. Selden's Uxor. Hebraic. L. V. c. 27. P. 203. The fervice from the above rubric to the end of the prayer O God of Abraham," was adopted at the Reformation from the Salifbury Manual; and a paffage in that prayer was continued in Edward VIth's first book, as follows: "And as thou didft fend thy angel Raphael to Thobie and Sarah the daughter of Raguel, to their great comfort, &c. At the review, 1551, this form of words was expunged, and the present. adopted in its room.

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God fhall blefs us: and all the ends of the world fhall fear him.

Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning,

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The Pfalm ended, and the Man and the Woman kneeling before the Lord's Table, the Prieft ftanding at the Table, and turning his Face towards them, shall fay,

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Anfw. Chrift, have mercy upon us.
Minift. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Ο Ry Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be

UR Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.

Give us this day our trefpaffes, as we forAnd lead us not into Amen.

done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. daily bread. And forgive us our give them that trefpafs against us. temptation; But deliver us from evil.

Minift. O Lord, save thy servant, and thy hand-maid; Anfw. Who put their trust in thee.

Minift. O Lord, fend them help from thy holy place;

Anfw. And evermore defend them.

Minift. Be unto them a tower of strength,

Anfw. From the face of their enemy.
Minift. O Lord, hear our prayer ;

Anfw. And let our cry come unto thee.

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Minifter.

GOD of Abraham, God of Ifaac, God of Jacob, blefs thefe thy fervants, and fow the feed of eternal life in their hearts; that whatsoever in thy holy Word they fhall profitably learn, they may in deed fulfil the fame. Look, O Lord, mercifully upon them from heaven, and blefs them. And as thou didst fend thy bleffing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort; fo vouchfafe to fend thy bleffing upon these thy fervants; that they obeying thy will, and alway being in

fafety under thy protection, may abide in thy love unto their lives' end, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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

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Merciful Lord, and heavenly Father, by whose gracious gift mankind is increafed; We befeech thee, affift with thy bleffing thefe two perfons; that they may both be fruitful in the procreation of children, and alfo live together fo long in godly love and honefty, that they may fee their children chriftianly and virtuously brought up, to thy praife and honour, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

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GOD, who by thy mighty power haft made all things of nothing; who alfo (after other things fet in order) didft appoint, that out of man (created after thine own image and fimilitude) woman fhould take her beginning; and knitting them together, didit teach that it should never be lawful to put afunder those whom thou by Matrimony hadft made one: O God, who haft confecrated the ftate of Matrimony to fuch an excellent mystery, that in it is fignified and reprefented the fpiritual marriage and unity betwixt Chrift and his Church; Look mercifully upon thefe thy fervants, that both this man may love his wife, according to thy Word. (as Christ did love his fpoufe the Church, who gave himfelf for it, loving and cherishing it even as his own flefh ;) and alfo that this Woman may be loving and amiable, faithful, and obedient to her husband; and in all quietness, fobriety, and peace, be a follower of holy and godly matrons. O Lord, blefs them both, and grant them to inherit thy everlafting kingdom, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Love and bonefty] Till the laft review the concluding paragraph was as follows: "that they may fee their children's children, unto the third and fourth generation to thy praife and honour, &c.

Her husband] In all the old prayer-books, till the laft review, the fol lowing words came in after "hufband," as Rachael wife, as Rebecca faithful, and obedient as Sarah."

Then shall the Prieft fay,

Almighty God, who at the beginning did create our

first parents, Adam and Eve, and did fanctify and join them together in marriage; Pour upon you the riches of his grace, fanctify and blefs you; that ye may please him both in body and foul, and live together in holy love, unto your lives' end. Amen.

After which, if there be no fermon declaring the Duties of Man and Wife, the Minifter shall read as followeth. LL ye that are married, or that intend to take the holy eftate of Matrimony upon you, hear what the holy Scripture doth fay as touching the duty of husbands towards their wives, and wives towards their husbands:

Bless you At the Reformation the practice of croffing was in many inftances allowed; and by Edward VIth's first book the priest was to make a cross on the married couple when pronouncing the word blefs." This was omitted at the review 1551.

After which] This rubric in Edward VIth's book was as follows: "Then fhall be faid after the gofpel a fermon, wherein ordinarily (fo oft as there is any marriage) the office of man and wife fhall be declared according to holy fcripture; or if there be no fermon, the minifter fhall read as followeth." In the fame book, this rubric was introduced by these words, "Then fhall begin the communion;" for it is to be obferved that formerly the married parties were always expected to receive the facrament on the day of marriage, a regulation that was enjoined by a rubric in Edward VIth's firft book, and all the later prayerbooks to the laft review; when it was modified by the introduction of the words," or at the firft opportunity after their marriage."

All ye, &c.] The primitive church always used a form of exhortation to the married couple, as foon as the ceremony was concluded, to conjugal fidelity. In the Greek and Romish church, in lieu of this, an epiftle and gofpel was introduced; but at the Reformation, our reformers reverted to the ancient practice, and drew up the excellent form of admonition, felected from the apoftolical writings. It is worthy remark that during the interregnum in this kingdom, in the feventeenth century, the ceremonial of marriage was entirely altered from the customary form. The convention, in 1653, confidered it as a civil contract, and put it into the hands of juftices of the peace by an ordinance which enacts, "that after the 29th of September, 1653, all perfons who fhall agree to be married within the commonwealth of England, fhall deliver in their names and places of abode, with the names of their parents, guardians, and overfeers, to the register of the parish where each party lives, who fhall publifh the bans in the church or chapel three feveral Lord's days, after the morning fervice; or elle in the market-place three feveral weeks fucceflively, between the hours of eleven and two, on a market-day if the party defire it. The register fhall make out a certificate of the due performance of one or the other, at the request of the parties concerned, without which they shall not proceed to marriage.It is further enacted, that all perfons intend

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