CHA P. XIII.

Of the Thanksgiving of Women after CHILD-BIRTH, commonly called THE CHURCHING of WOMEN.

The INTRODUCTION.

office for

ONE would think that, after an office for the Burial Introdu&t. of the Dead, no other fhould be expected and yet why placwe see here another rifes to our view, which the churched after the has appointed for the use of fuch Women as have been the Burial fafe delivered from the great Pain and Peril of Child- of the Birth, and which the has placed in her Liturgy after the Dead. office foregoing, to intimate, as it were, that fuch a Woman's Recovery is next to a Revival or Refurrection from the Dead. For indeed the Birth of Man is fo truly wonderful, that it seems to be defigned as a ftanding demonstration of the omnipotence of God. And therefore that the frequency of it may not diminish our admiration, the church orders a public and folemn acknowledgment to be made on every fuch occafion by the Woman on whom the miracle is wrought; who ftill feels the bruise of our firft Parents' Fall, and labours under the curfe which Eve then entailed upon her whole Sex.

§. 2. As to the original of this cuftom, it is not to be The origidoubted, but that as many other Chriftian ufages received nal of it. their rife from other parts of the Jewish economy, fo did this from the rite of Purification, which is enjoined fo particularly in the twelfth chapter of Leviticus. Not that we obferve it by virtue of that precept, which we grant to have been ceremonial, and fo not now of any force; but because we apprehend some moral duty to have been implied in it by way of analogy, which must be obligatory upon all, even when the ceremony is ceased. The uncleanness of the Woman, the fet number of days fhe is to abstain from the Tabernacle, and the facrifices fhe was to offer when the first came abroad, are rites wholly abolished, and what we no ways regard: but then the open and folemn acknowledgment of God's goodness in delivering the Mother, and increafing the number of Mankind, is a duty that will oblige to the end of the world. And therefore though the Mother be now no longer

Kk 3

obliged

Chap. obliged to offer the material facrifices of the Law; yet she is
XIII. neverthelefs bound to offer the evangelical facrifice of Praise,

She is ftill publicly to acknowledge the Bleffing vouchfafed
her, and to profefs her fenfe of the fresh obligation it lays her
under to obedience. Nor indeed may the church be fo rea-
fonably fuppofed to have taken up this rite from the practice
of the Jews, as she may be, that she began it in imitation
of the bleffed Virgin, who though fhe was rather fancti-
fied than defiled by the Birth of our Lord, and fo had no
need of Purification from any Uncleannefs, whether legal
or moral; yet wifely and humbly fubmitted to this rite,
and offered her praife, together with her bleffed Son, in
the Temple 29. And that from hence this ufage was derived
among Chriftians, feems probable, not only from its be-
ing fo univerfal and ancient, that the beginning of it can
hardly any where be found 30; but alfo from the practice
of the Eastern church, where the Mother still brings the
Child along with her, and prefents it to God on her
Churching-day 3. The Priest indeed is there said to purify
them and in our firft Common Prayer, this office with us
was entitled The Order of the Purification of Women. But
that neither of thefe terms implied, that the Woman had
contracted any Uncleannefs in her state of Child-bearing,
may not only be inferred from the filence of the offices
both in the Greek church and ours in relation to any
Uncleannefs; but is alfo farther evident from the ancient
laws relating to this practice, which by no means ground
it upon any impurity, from which the Woman ftands in
need to be purged
32 And therefore, when our own Li-
turgy came to be reviewed, to prevent all misconftructions
that might be put upon the word, the title was altered,
and the office named, (as it is still in our present Common
Prayer-Book,) The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-
Birth, commonly called The Churching of Women.

:

SECT. I. Of the Rubric before the Office. The Wo- IN the Greek church the time for performing this office man to be is limited to be on the fortieth day 33; and therefore the

Churched

at the ufual time after her delivery.

29 Vide Chryfoft. et Theophyla&. in Luc. ii. 22.

30 Vide Dionyf. Alexandr. Can. 2. apud Bevereg. Concil. tom. ii. pag. 4. Novel. Conft. Leon. Aug. Novel. 17. ap. Balfam. in loc. Dionyfii ap. Bever. ut fupra. Can. Poenitent. Greg. 3. cap. 30. Biblioth. Patr. tom. vi. Honorius Solitar. 1. 1. c. 146. ut citat. ap. Goar.

in Eucholog. See alfo Pope Gregory's Answer to the eighth Queftion of Auguftin the Monk, in Mr. Johnson, A. D. 601. 8. §. 2.

31 Vide Simeon. Theffalonic. in Not. ad Eucholog. p. 329.

32 See the Places cited above in Note 30.

Simeon. Theffalonic, ut fuprà.

office with them is called, The Prayer for a Woman forty Sect. I. days after Child-bearing 34. But in the Weft the time was never ftrictly determined, as will appear from the Salisbury Manual, which was of use here in England before the Reformation, where the old rubric runs thus: Note, That Women after Child-birth may come to Church, and, giving thanks, be purified whenever they will, and they are not guilty of any fin in fo doing: neither is the entrance of the Church to be denied them, left we turn their punishment into a crime; but if, out of reverence, they will abstain for fome time, their devotion is not to be difallowed 35. And as this was confonant to the ancient canons of the church in relation to this affair, fo is it agreeable to our prefent rubric; which does not pretend to limit the day when the Woman shall be churched, but only fuppofes that fhe will come at the ufual time after her delivery. The ufual time is now about a month for the Woman's weaknefs will feldom permit her coming fooner. And if the be not able to come fo foon, the is allowed to ftay a longer time; the church not expecting her to return her thanks for a bleffing before it is received.

§. 2. It is only required that whenever the does it, fhe The of fhall come into the Church. And this is enjoined, first, for to be a the honour of God, whofe marvellous works in the form- forme ation of the Child, and the prefervation of the Woman, the ought publicly to be owned, that fo others may learn to Church. put their truft in him. Secondly, that the whole congregation may have a fit opportunity for praifing God for the too much forgotten mercy of their Birth. And, thirdly, that the Woman may in the proper place own the mercy now vouchfafed her, of being reftored to the happy privilege of worshipping God in the congregation of his Saints.

Churche

at home.

How great therefore is the abfurdity which fome would The abintroduce of ftifling their acknowledgments in private surdity o houfes, and of giving thanks for their recovery and en- being largement in no other place than that of their confinement and restraint! a practice which is inconfiftent with the very name of this office, which is called The Churching of Women, and which confequently implies a ridiculous folecifin of being Churched at home. Nor is it any thing more confiftent with the end and devotions prefcribed by this office, than it is with the name of it. For

34 Eucholog. p. 324.

35 Manual. Sarifb. Rubric. poft

Officium Benedi&. Mulier. poft Part.
pag. 37. b.
Kk4

with

XIII.

Chap. with what decency or propriety can the Woman pretend to pay her Vows in the prefence of all God's People, in the Courts of the Lord's Houfe, when the is only affuming state in a bed-chamber or parlour, and perhaps only accompanied with her midwife or nurse? To give thanks therefore at home (for by no means call it Churching) is not only an act of disobedience to the church, but a high affront to Almighty God; whofe mercy they fcorn to acknowledge in a Church, and think it honour enough done him, if he is fummoned by his Priest to wait on them at their houses, and to take what thanks they will vouchsafe him there. But methinks a Minister, who has any regard for his character, and confiders the honour of the Lord he ferves, fhould difdain fuch a fervile compliance and fubmiffion, and abhor the betraying his Master's dignity. Here can be no pretence of danger in the cafe, fhould the Woman prove obftinate, upon the Priest's refufal, (which Minifters are apt to urge for their excufe, when they are prevailed upon to give public Baptifm in private ;) nor is the decifion of a council wanting to inftruct him (if he has any doubts upon account of the Woman's ill health) that he is not to perform this office at home, though she be really fo weak as not to be able to come to Church 36. For if the be not able to come to Church, let her stay till fhe is; God does not require any thanks for a mercy, before he has vouchfafed it: but if the comes as foon as her ftrength permits, she difcharges her obligations both to him and the Church.

The Woman to be decently

§. 3. When the Woman comes to this office, the rubric (as it was altered at the last review) directs that the be apparelled. decently apparelled, i. e. as the custom and order was forVeils ufed merly, with a white Covering, or Veil. And we find that formerly. as late as in the reign of King James I. an order was

made by the Chancellor of Norwich, that every Woman who came to be churched fhould come thus apparelled; an order it seems fo well founded upon the practice of the church, that a Woman refufing to conform with it was excommunicated for contempt. And though the prayed a prohibition, and alleged in her defence, that fuch order was not warranted by any cuftom or canon of the church of England, yet the got no relief; for the Judges defiring the opinion of the Archbishop of Canterbury; and he, together with feveral other Bishops, whom he convened to confult upon it, certifying that it

36 Concil. 3. Mediol. cap. 5. ap. Binium, tom. iv. part. 2. pag. 417. Edit. Col. Agrip. 1618.

was

was the ancient usage of the church of England for Wo- Sect. I. men to come veiled, who came to be churched; a prohibition was refufed her 37. But that cuftom having now for fome time been difcontinued, long enough I fuppofe to make it obfolete, I take the decency of the Woman's apparel to be left entirely to her own difcretion.

§. 4. The Woman being come into the church decently Where to apparelled, must there kneel down in fome convenient place, kneel. as has been accuftomed. To know where that is, it is neceffary that we look back into the old Common PrayerBooks King Edward's firft Liturgy fays, in fome convenient place, nigh unto the Quire-door, which is ftill rendered plainer by all the other Common Prayer-Books from that time till this prefent one, which fay it must be nigh unto the place where the Table ftandeth, i. e. to be sure, at the rails of the Communion Table, or where she is to kneel if she receives the Communion, which the last rubric of this office declares it is convenient fhe fhould do, if there be any Communion in the church at that time. And that this fame place is meant by our present rubric, which orders her to kneel in fome convenient place, as has been accuftomed, is evident, because we fee that was the accuftomed and appointed place, when these words were put in. It is true, the Prefbyterians, at the conference in the Savoy, objected against the rubric as it was worded then: And in regard that the Woman's kneeling near the Table was in many Churches inconvenient, they defired that those words might be left out; and that the Minifter might perform that Service in the Defk or Pulpit 38. And it is alfo true, that these words were accordingly left out, and the rubric altered thus, viz. that the Woman should kneel in fome convenient place, as has been accustomed, or as the Ordinary fhall direct. But yet it is plain, that wherever the Ordinary does not otherwife direct, the Woman is ftill to kneel in the accuftomed place. And that the accustomed place, till the last review, was nigh unto the place where the Table standeth, I have fhewed before. And that no alteration was then defigned, is farther evident beyond contradiction, from the answer which the Bishops, and the other Epifcopal Commiffioners gave to the aforefaid exception of the Prefbyterians, viz. It is fit that the Woman performing efpecial fervice of Thanksgiving fhould have a special place, where he may be perfpicuous to the whole Congregation; and near the

37 Bishop Gibfon's Codex, Tit. 18. cap. 12. p. 451.

38 Proceedings of the Commiffioners, &c. p. 37. quarto, 1661.

holy