the Woman into the hands of the Man, joining their Sect. IV. hands, and the like, which are the known and proper ceremonies of Marriage. And indeed that the declaration is not properly a circumftance of the Marriage, is plain from the Minister's asking, after it is made, Who giveth the Woman to be married to the Man? For that evidently implies that he is even yet in the power of another, and confequently that she is still to be married to the Man. SECT. V. Of the Solemnization of the Marriage. the Mar Woman. I. THE two parties having now declared their confent The Solemto take each other for Husband and Wife, and having nization of folemnly engaged that they will each of them obferve riage. the duties which God has annexed to that state; they proceed, in the next place, to the immediate celebration of the Marriage itself, which is introduced with a very ancient and fignificant ceremony; I mean, the Father's The Father or Friend's giving the Woman in Marriage. The an- or Friend tiquity of which rite is evident from the phrafe fo often to give the ufed in Scripture, of giving a Daughter to Wife: and the univerfality of it appears from its being used both by Heathens and Chriftians in all ages 7°. The foundation of the practice feems to be a care of the female fex, who are always fuppofed to be under the tuition of a father or guardian, whofe confent is neceffary to make their acts valid". And therefore before the Minifter proceeds to the Marriage, he afks, Who gives the Woman to be married to the Man? Which fhews too, by the way, that the Woman does not feek a Husband, but is given to one by her parents or friends, whofe commands in this affair fhe feems rather to follow than her own inclinations 72. For which cause, among the nuptial rites of the old Romans, the Bride was to be taken by a kind of violence from her mother's knees 73; and when the came to her husband's houfe, fhe was not to go in willingly, but was to be carried in by force 74; which, like this ceremony of ours, very well fuited with the modefty of her sex. §. 2. But befides this, there is a farther meaning in- And the 69 Gen. xxix. 19. ch. xxxiv. 16. Jofh. xv. 16. 1 Sam. xvii. 25. chap. xviii. 17. Pfal. lxxviii. 63. Luke xvii. 27. 1 Cor. vii. 38. 70 Cic. Orat. pro Flac. Apul. Apol. 2. Præfcr. Aug. de Genef. ad lit. l. 11. e. 41. tom. iii. part. 1. col. 295. C. 71 See Hooker's Ecclefiaftical Polity, l. 5. §. 73. 72 Ambrof. de Abraham. l. 1. c. 9. tom. i. col. 201.1. E3 73 Virg. Æneid. 10. ver. 79. tended Minifter to receive her. Chap. X. tended by the church: for it is to be observed, that the Woman is to be given not to the Man, but to the Minifter: for the rubric orders, that the Minifter fhall receive her at her Father's or Friend's hands; which fignifies, to be fure, that the Father refigns her up to God, and that it is God, who, by his Prieft, now gives her in Marriage, and who provides a Wife for the Man, as he did at first for Adam 75. ceremony. Joining of II. Accordingly the Minifter, who has now the disporight hands fal of her, delivers her into the poffeffion of the Man, as an ancient he afterwards does the man into the poffeffion of the Woman, by caufing each of them to take the other by the right hand. The joining of hands naturally fignifies contracting a friendship, and making a covenant: and the right hand especially was efteemed fo facred, that Cicero calls it the Witness of our Faith": and therefore the joining of these being used in all covenants, no wonder it should be observed in the folemn one of Marriage. Accordingly we find it has been used, upon this occafion, by Heathens 7, Jews 7, and Christians in all ages. The mu lation. III. The Minifter therefore having thus joined their tual ftipu- right hands, causes them, in the next place, to give their troth, by a mutual ftipulation. And, as our lawyers tell us, that in a deed of conveyance four things are neceffary, viz. 1. The Premifes, containing the names of the person, and of the thing to be conveyed; 2. The Habendum and Tenendum; 3. The Limitations; and, 4. The Sealing 1: fo here the compact seems to be drawn up exactly antwerable to these four rules. For, firft, each party name themselves, and specifying the other, as the individual person whom they have chofe, declare the end for which they take, viz. to be wedded Husband and Wife. Secondly, The manner of taking is expreffed in thofe ancient words, to have and to hold, which are words (faith Littleton 2) of fuch importance, that no conveyance can be made without them: and therefore they ought not to be omitted here, because the Man and the Woman are now to put themselves into the power and poffeffion of each other; infomuch that after this ftipulation the Wife hath not power of her own 75 Genefis ii. 23.. 76 2 Kings x. 15. Prov. xi. 21. 78 Alex. ab Alex. 1. 2. c. 5. Xeno- En. 4. ver. 104. 79 Tobit vii. 13.. 80 Greg. Naz. Ep. 57. ad Anyf. 81 Lord Coke on Littleton's Tenures, c. I. 82 aver et tener. Littl. c. 1. p. 1. Lord Coke, ibid. Body, Body, but the Hufband; and likewife the Hufband hath Sect. V. not power of his own Body, but the Wife. Thirdly, the time of entering upon, and the time of enjoying, the poffeffion conveyed, is here exprefsly declared. It is to begin immediately from the nuptial day, and to continue during their mutual lives, From this day forward-till death us do part. And left any inconveniences appearing afterward fhould be alleged for the breaking this facred contract, here is added a proteftation, that the obligation shall continue in full force, notwithstanding any future unexpected changes. They are to have and to hold for better for worse, in refpect of their mind and manners; for richer for poorer, in respect of their eftate; and whether in ficknefs or in health, in refpect of their body. Now all these are added to prevent the fcandalous liberties of divorce, which was practifed upon every trifling occafion among Jews and Romans 84: infomuch that one of their rabbies had impiously affirmed it to be fufficient for divorce, if another Woman was better liked by the Man 5. But this being fo contrary to the nature of Marriage, it is neceffary it should be removed from all Christian societies: which cannot be more effectually done than by a particular recital at the time of Marriage, of all the cafes which may be pretended as the caufes of a future diflike. And to prevent any objection, I suppose, that might afterwards be imagined from either party's declining in their comelinefs or beauty, the York Manual, that was ufed in the northern parts of England before the Reformation, had an addition of the words, for fairer for fouler, (for it must be obferved, that this mutual ftipulation was always in English amongst our English Papists, even when all the office befides was in Latin;) which Mr. Selden tranflates, five pulchrior fueris, five invenuftior 86, i. e. whether thou fhalt be more or lefs handsome or comely. In all these conditions the engagement is the fame, viz. the Man is to love and to cherish his Wife, and the Woman to love, cherish, and to obey her Husband; i. e. each of them muft have the fame regard for the other, and pay thofe duties which I have already fhewed to be neceffary and indispensable, whatsoever accidental varieties may happen. In the old Salisbury Manual, (that was used in the fouthern parts of England in the times of Popery, as I have obferved the York Manual was in the northern,) instead of the Woman's ftipulating 83 1 Cor. vii. 4. 84 Matt. xix. 3. 85 Rabbi Akiba, as cited by Doctor Comber on the Common Prayer, folio edition, page 667. 86 Seld. Uxor Ebraic. 1. 2. C. 27. p. 197. Chap. X. to love, cherish, and to obey her Husband, fhe engaged to be bonair and buxum in bedde and at borde: and fo in the York Manual, the Minister in asking the Woman's confent, instead of demanding of her, whether the would ferve and obey her Hufband, asked her, whether the would be buxum to him. From whence we may observe, that whatever meaning those words have been perverted to fince, they originally fignified no more than to be meek and obedient. Accordingly, meek and obedient are added in the margin of the Manual, to explain them; and fo they are interpreted in the Saxon dictionaries, agreeably to which they are translated by Mr. Selden, Ero officiofa ac obediens. But to return to our present form: the next particular is the rule by which the compact is made, viz. according to God's holy Ordinance. The words before the Reformation were, if holy church it woll ordaine, i. e. I fuppofe, if there be no ecclefiaftical law to the contrary. But I think the modern words are better: which may either be referred to every part of the present ftipulation, fo as to imply that all the branches thereof are agreeable to the divine inftitution; or else they may be peculiarly applied to the two laft clauses, that each of the parties will love and cherish, &c. the other till death part them; which, I have fhewed, is according to the ordinance of God. Laftly, here is the ratification of all the former particulars in the ancient form, and thereto I plight, (as the Man fays ;) or, (as the Woman,) I give thee my troth; i. e. for the performance of all that has been faid, each of them lays their faith or truth to pledge; as much as if they had faid, If I perform not the covenant I have made, let me forfeit my credit, and never be counted juft, or honest, or faithful more. The Ring IV. But, befides the invifible pledge of our fidelity, the the remains Man is alfo obliged to deliver a vifible pledge: which the of the old rubric directs fhall be a Ring; which, by the first Common Coemption. Prayer-Book of King Edward VI. was to be accompanied with other tokens of Spoufage, as Gold or Silver. This lets us into the meaning and defign of the Ring, and intimates it to be the remains of an ancient cuftom, whereby it was ufual for the Man to purchase the Woman, laying down for the price of her a certain fum of money 89, or elfe performing certain articles or conditions, which the father of the damfel would accept of as an equivalent. Among the Romans this was called Coemption or Purchafing, and was ac 87 Uxor Ebraic. 1. 2. c. 27. pag. 194. 88 See the old Manuals, and Selden, ut fupra, pag. 194. 89 Gen. xxxiv. 12. Exod. xii. 17. Deut. xxii. 29. I Sam. 90 Gen. xxix. 18, 27, 30xvii. 25. and chap. xviii. 17, 25. Counted ; counted the firmeft kind of Marriage which they had; and Sect. V. from them was delivered down amongst the western Chriftians, by whom the custom is still preserved in the Ring9 which is given as a pledge, or in part of payment of the dowry that the Woman is to be entitled to by the Marriage; and by the acceptance of which the Woman, at the fame time, declares herself content, and in return efpouses or makes over herself to the Man. Accordingly in the old Manual for the ufe of Salisbury, before the Minifter proceeds to the Marriage, he is directed to ask the Woman's Dowry, viz. the tokens of Spoufage: and by these tokens of Spoufage are to be understood Rings, or Money, or fome other things to be given to the Woman by the Man; which faid giving is called Subarration, (i. e. Wedding or Covenanting,) especially when it is done by the giving of a Ring. : elfe. The reafon why a Ring was pitched upon for the Why a Ring pledge, rather than any thing elfe, I fuppofe was, be- rather than caufe anciently the Ring was a Seal, by which all orders any thing were figned, and things of value fecured 92; and therefore the delivery of it was a fign that the perfon, to whom it was given, was admitted into the highest friendship and truft 93. For which reason it was adopted as a ceremony in Marriage, to denote that the Wife, in confideration of her being espoused to the Man, was admitted as a sharer in her Husband's counfels, and a joint partner in his honour and estate and therefore we find that not only the Ring, but the Keys alfo were in former times delivered to her at the Marriage 94. That the Ring was in use amongst the old Romans, we have feveral undoubted teftimonies 95. And that the use of it was not owing to any fuperftition amongst them, we have the authority of Tertullian, a very ancient father of the Chriftian church 96. Pliny indeed tells us, that, in his time, the Romans used an Iron Ring, without any Jewel97: but Tertullian hints, that in the former ages it was a Ring of Gold 98; which being the nobler Why a and purer metal, and continuing longer uncorrupted, was Gold one. thought to intimate the generous, fincere, and durable affection, which ought to be between the married parties 99. What intiAs to the form of it, being round (which was the most per- mated by 91 Selden. Uxor Ebraic. 1. 2. c. 25. pag. 183, 184. 92 Gen. xxxviii, 18. Efther iii. 10, 12. 1 Maccab. vi. 15. 93 Genefis xli. 42. 94 Ant. Hotman, de Vet, Rit, Nuptiar. c. 25. 95 Juvenal. Sat. 6. ver. 26, 27. Plin, Hift. Nat. 1. 3. c. I. Tertul. Apol. c. 6. p. 7. A. 96 De Idol. c. 16. 98 Apol. c. 6. page 7. A. its roundnefs. |