hat which is external.
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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
Queen.
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.
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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 Than
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