The Prayer For The King Was Inserted In 1559

Health and wealth=To be hale or whole, and to be well. They are

Saxon words which include all prosperity of body and condition.



The Prayer for the Royal Family was inserted in 1604. The persons

mentioned by name have been the Consort of the Sovereign, the Queen

Dowager, and the next King and Queen. Thus in Queen Anne's reign,

Princess Sophia was mentioned until she died, eight months before the

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The Prayer for the Clergy and People. This is, in the Gelasian

Sacramentary, a prayer in a Monastery; or, in a private house.

Afterwards, the persons for whom it was said, were "an abbat or his

congregation"; then Bishops and their congregations; and finally,

Curates (i.e. the Clergy in charge of parishes) were introduced in

1544. In Titus ii. 11 The grace of God bringeth salvation, the word

'healthful' is translated differently, but the phrase is the same as

here.



the continual dew of thy blessing: see Ps. cxxxiii. 3, where the

consecration of Aaron suggested Hermon (=consecration), and called up

thoughts of the dew and the clouds, running and floating from its

sides. So the blessing received from on high is received in order to

be transmitted to others.



The phrase who alone workest great marvels seems to be justified by

the consideration that much is asked for in the prayer--God's spirit,

and the dew of His blessing, for all the Clergy, and for all the People.



A Prayer of S. Chrysostom is so called because it comes to us from the

Liturgy of S. Chrysostom. It is said to be older than A.D. 900 but not

so old as to have been composed by S. Chrysostom himself (354-407). It

addresses Christ as Almighty God, and reminds Him of His present gift

of grace, and of His ancient promise. The two blessings claimed

are--for this life, the knowledge of God's truth--for the life to come,

the knowledge of God Himself (S. John xvii. 3).



2 Cor. xiii. This Benediction is not merely the ending of the worship

in church: it is also the link between the Church Service and the

Service of God which we perform outside. We go out of church to do our

work with grace, and love, and fellowship, in the Name and Power of the

Holy Trinity.



The more solemn part of the Holy Communion, in the Clementine Liturgy,

S. Basil's, S. Chrysostom's and other Eastern Liturgies, began with

this Benediction.



The occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings. Like the six Collects after

the Communion Service, these may be used before the Prayer of S.

Chrysostom in the Morning and Evening, and (with one exception) also

when the Litany is said.



There are 11 Prayers: the first two were made in 1549: the next four in

1552: the first of the Ember prayers, in 1661: the second, in a

slightly different form, was a prayer in the Ordination Services of

1549, where it still stands. The ninth is from Gelasius' Sacramentary.

The Prayer for Parliament appeared in the last Revision (1661), but had

been printed before, in Special forms of Service.



The Prayer for all conditions of men first appeared in 1661. There

are eight Thanksgivings: the first, fourth, and sixth, were printed in

1661: the rest in 1604. In the first of these, if the petition were

Send us, we beseech thee, such weather, the Prayer might be very

frequently used during the spring and summer. Having these, we seem to

want other, occasional prayers, and thanksgivings. The spread of

Emigration, the enlargement of our Navy and Army, the multiplication of

Municipal bodies, and other developments of the National life, demand

occasional prayers in the Service, and especially, perhaps, a prayer to

be used at times of anxiety for those at sea.