hope; O cast not out my soul, but save it for JESUS CHRIST's sake. Amen. III. Act of Love. I love Thee, O FATHER, Who didst give Thy SON for me. I love Thee, O CHRIST, Who didst die for me. I love Thee, O HOLY GHOST, Who dost bless me. Amen. IV. Act of Sorrow. O GOD, I repent of all my sins against Thee, forgive me, and make me holy for JESUS CHRIST's sake. Amen. Some of the Ejaculations, pp. 9 and 164, 5, may also be taught to the sick. 31. The Priest should instruct those lay persons who are much about the persons of the sick, (and especially nurses and midwives), how to act when there is great danger of a child or adult dying unbaptized. 32. If there appear no hope of an infant surviving until the Priest can be fetched, the nurse, midwife, or other person present should take a little pure water, and pour it three times on the child's head, saying, "I baptize thee in the Name," &c. It is not necessary to name the child, though this too may be done if the parents' wish be known. 33. If it be uncertain whether the child be alive, or if it appear as a monster, and not of human shape, the baptism should take place as above, only changing the form thus: "If thou art capable, I baptize thee," &c. 34. The case of adults is of very much rarer occurrence. Still it may, in most exceptional instances, happen that a person whose baptism has been neglected or deferred may desire that Sacrament when dying in the absence of a Priest. This may possibly occur in seasons of epidemic. The attendant in that case should ask the sick person these three questions:-1. Do you believe in GOD the FATHER, GOD the SON, and GOD the HOLY GHOST? 2. Do you repent of all your sins? 3. Is it your wish to be baptized? On receiving affirmative answers, the Sacrament may be administered as in 32, but this is not to be done if the Priest can be brought before the patient is likely to expire. 35. On a first visit the Priest should impress upon the patient that sickness is of God's permission, and is the consequence of sin, original or personal. The Exhortation in the Visitation Office, read with comments, is suitable for this purpose. 36. The sick poor are generally more struck with what is read out of their own Bible and Prayer Book. This should be remembered if what is to be read is likely to be strange to them. 37. When a general idea of sin has been impressed on the patient, the fact of his own personal sinfulness should be urged on him. 38. With those who assert that they have never done any harm, the Priest should explain that sins of omission are as bad as sins of commission; e.g., to starve a child is as bad as to poison it. 39. In examination of conscience the Priest may employ the Notes on the Commandments (p. 217). The explanation of our duties in the Catechism, if used, would recall early teaching. 40. Many who are prejudiced against the word "Confession" will gladly avail themselves of the thing, if suggested to them with tact, and without abruptness. 41. To do this, the Priest may suggest to the patient such considerations as the comfort of making a clean breast; the danger to himself of underrating or ignoring real evils; and the greater likelihood that the Priest can give him useful advice and real consolation, if he knows what kind of life he has hitherto led. Quotations from the Exhortation to Communion may be cited with advantage. 42. In case the sick man has wronged another either by word or deed, the fullest restitution possible should be urged upon him. 43. Where enmity has existed, the sick man shall be asked whether he can fully and freely assent to the following declaration of forgive ness: I humbly beg forgiveness of all whom I have injured; I heartily forgive all who have injured me, that I myself may be forgiven my sins, for JESUS CHRIST's sake. Amen." 44. The Communion of the Sick should be celebrated, as regards altar furniture and ritual, with as much resemblance as possible to the service in Church. This will impress the identity of the rite on the sick. 45. The Priest should carry with him the Vessels, &c., and would do well to take not only the Wine, but also the Bread and the Water. He should have a spoon with which to communicate the sick, in case of difficulty of swallowing. Small pocket Communion plate is undesirable. 46. The same amount of intelligent faith in the Holy Eucharist is not to be exacted from all classes of persons. It suffices that a communicant should believe that our LORD JESUS CHRIST feeds our souls with His Body and Blood, and that he come to the Sacrament with sorrow for past sins, and resolve of amendment. 47. It is well to have a district visitor or other fit person to make the responses, who might also be instructed to prepare the sick room for the Celebration. 48. The Priest should inquire as to the sick person's capability of swallowing or retaining food. If the answers are so unsatisfactory as to involve the risk of any irrever ence, he should confine himself, for the time being, to the use of the Office for Spiritual Communion (p. 111.) 49. If the Patient be unable to swallow solids, a very small particle of the species of Bread should be put into a spoon with the species of Wine, and the two be administered simultaneously with the single formula, "the Body and Blood," &c. 50. If he be unable to take Wine, the species of Bread may be tinged with a single drop from the Chalice, and administered as in the last case. When this is impossible, Communion under one kind becomes necessary. 51. When nausea or fear of infection prevents the Priest from swallowing the ablutions, they should be carefully poured into the fire. When a spoon has been employed it should be placed in a cup of water which may be used subsequently for the ablutions. 52. Before beginning to celebrate, he should inquire who among those present design to communicate, and should arrange them conveniently. 53. In chronic cases the sick should communicate at least as frequently as during previous health. The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day may be fitly used. 54. Unconfirmed children, if intelligent, and otherwise fitly disposed, should be communicated, however young, when in danger of death. 55. Adults of feeble mind, and deaf and dumb persons, may also be communicated, if they show faith and penitence according to the measure of their capacity. 56. Insane persons may be communicated during lucid intervals, provided their previous life has not made them unfit. 57. Idiots, and insane persons, during aberration, are never to be communicated. 58. During the death-agony spiritual consolation is especially needed. The Priest should therefore endeavour to be present at each death-bed in his parish. To insure this, he should instruct the friends of persons in dangerous sickness to summon him when death seems to be approaching. 59. As a visit of this nature may be indefinitely protracted, the devotions used must be such as can be made to extend over a considerable time. 60. The Harmonized Passion Lections should always be used, and three or four Passion Collects inserted after each portion. Hymns and Litanies may also be fitly introduced. 61. The Priest would often do well to confer with the medical attendant as to the exact condition of the sick person. He may thus, by reminding those about the sick of the medical instructions as to diet, ventilation, visits of friends, &c., assist the cure, and also aid in checking infection and panic in epidemic cases. He may often prevent the spread of sickness by recommending attention to personal cleanliness, drainage, ventilation (especially in bed-rooms,) warm clothing, &c. 62. Wine or brandy should not be provided without the permission of the medical man. 63. As a personal precaution, the Priest should take food before visiting infectious cases, except, of course, when about to celebrate the Holy Communion, and should stand to "windward" of such patients. 64. In case of sudden insensibility from faintness or loss of blood, with pallor of face, let the patient be laid_horizontally, and the head low. Loose the dress about the throat and chest, and give warm brandy and water. If accompanied with struggling and redness of face, the head should be raised, after loosening the dress, and no stimulants be given. The room must be cleared, and cold water sprinkled on the face. NOTES ON CONFESSION. 1. The Confessional is the tri- | bunal of mercy, not that of justice. 2. The practice of CHRIST in dealing with sinners is the pattern which a Confessor should set before him. 3. Therefore the qualities of a good Confessor are (1) gentleness in receiving sinners; (2) penetration in dealing with them; (3) vigour in rebuking and applying remedies. 4. The church, or at least its vestry, is the proper place for hearing Confessions. Avoid hearing them, especially those of women, in private houses, save in the case of sick persons. 5. Let all be done with as little mystery as possible, and as openly as is consistent with the nature of the ordinance. 6. The Priest, when hearing Confessions, should be vested in cassock, surplice, and violet or black stole. 7. A quarter of an hour is usually a sufficient time for an ordinary Confession. 8. Cases may occur when a longer time is required, such as a first Confession, or a general Confession made at a subsequent period. The Priest should not hurry the penitent, nor betray weariness or impatience at the time which is occupied. 9. Therefore it is well not to fix such a time for hearing Confession as must insure great briefness, e.g., just before Divine Service. 10. Before hearing the Confession of a stranger, it is expedient to inquire his occupation and position in life; whether he have ever confessed before, and if so, how long since, and why he has changed his Confessor; whether he have complied with the directions last given him; whether, if he be an ignorant person, he knows the Creed and the Ten Commandments; but the Priest has no right to ask his name. 11. In ordinary cases, it is well that the heads (but only the heads) of the confession be written down by the Penitent, that the Priest may refer to them in making his comments. The order of the Decalogue is the most convenient. 12. Penitents who come without previous preparation should be sent back, unless the want of preparation arises from ignorance, or from some sudden cause needing prompt attention. 13. The Priest should pay special attention to class sins; e.g., dishonesty amongst traders, drunkenness amongst the poor, sloth and luxury amongst the rich, formalism amongst the clergy, &c. 14. He is not to interrupt the penitent, as a rule, so long as he goes on with his confession, but he may interpose to help when fear or ignorance has checked him. 15. He is to interrupt in any of the following cases: (1) if the penitent import the name of any person into his confession-he is there to confess his own sins, not an other's; (2) if he begin making excuses for himself: (3) if he be prolix, or wandering from the point; (4) if he be coarse. 16. The Priest is to be especially careful not to allow any token of astonishment or disgust to escape him, lest he should repel or dishearten the penitent. 17. As a general rule, he is to avoid questioning the penitent (except in case of absolute necessity,) and especially as to kinds of sin to which he has made no reference in his confession. Questions are worse than useless when he can gather as much as is needful for him to know without them. 18. He should always inquire whether the penitent has performed the penance last enjoined him, and whether he has tried to make amends in case of wrong-doing. Other cases in which he should question are— (1) when a penitent is too ignorant, too nervous, or too timid to make a continuous statement; (2) when the Priest has reason to suspect that some important particular, which either aggravates the offence or is necessary to account for it, is kept back; (3) when it is needful for him to know whether the sin confessed is an isolated act or part of a chain of habit; (4) when he has from other sources knowledge of sin which the penitent has not confessed; (5) when he has reason to believe that the penitent is unconscious of, or underrates some sin. In a word, the duty of the confessor is to ascertain what is the real burden on the penitent's soul. 19. The Priest should take most especial care not to suggest any new sinful idea to the mind of the penitent, nor to teach him any evil formerly unknown to him. This is unspeakably important in the case of very young persons, since for them ignorance of evil is often better even than knowledge of good. 20. When a penitent is afraid to confess any particular sin, the Priest may often encourage him by assum ing that the sin is much graver than any which he is likely to have committed. 21. A frequent change of Confessors is to be discouraged: for such change is often due to mere caprice, or to an unwillingness to break off habits which the former confessor has condemned, and which it is hoped that the new one may overlook. 22. Cases in which Absolution should be refused or deferred are as follows: (1) when the Confession appears to be merely formal, without any real penitence; (2) when the penance enjoined at a previous Confession has been neglected; (3)| when no signs appear of any effort being made to overcome the besetting sin; (4) when the penitent declines to avoid company and places, out of the path of his duty, which tempt him to sin; (5) when he continues, without absolute necessity, in a calling which tends to lead him into sin; (6) when no attempt at forgiveness, amends, or restitution has been made in the case of enmity, scandal, or wrongdoing; (7) when the Priest knows that the penitent is keeping back some sin which he ought to confess, unless such knowledge is derived from the confession of another person, in which case he has no right to use it against the penitent. 23. The Priest should carefully impress upon penitents that penances are in no respect payment or atonement for sin. They are merely (1) tests of contrition, by showing readiness on the part of the penitent to undergo punishment; (2) remedies to prevent the repetition of sin. 24. Penances must be adapted to the age, sex, condition, and spiritual needs of each penitent; e.g., fasting is unsuitable for invalids and children, and long forms of devotion for the ignorant. 25. The spiritual questions to be considered in imposing penances are (1) the degree of sinfulness; (2) the condition of the penitent; (3) the amount of correction needful. The severity as well as the kind of penance will vary according to these conditions. 26. A good penance is one which is at once punitive, remedial, and simple. 27. A penance is a bad one which is unduly severe or lax, or which consist of minute or complicated details difficult to be carried out. 28. Remedial penances commonly consist of acts of a nature directly opposite to that of the sins committed. For examples, see pp. 210-12. 29. In estimating the gravity of a fault, the Confessor should remember that its heinousness depends rather on the premeditation with which it has been committed, than upon the consequences which it involves. 30. The Confessor should endeavour to ascertain what is the besetting sin of the penitent, and should direct his efforts and arrange his penances rather for its eradication than for the suppression of any casual manifestation of sin. His 31. It is sacrilege of the very gravest kind for the Priest to disclose what has been revealed to him in Sacramental Confession. silence must extend (1) to all things actually confessed, of which he may not speak, out of the confessional, even to the penitent himself, except by the desire or permission of the latter; (2) to the offences of other persons casually referred to in confession, and not otherwise known to the Priest; (3) to all hints, inuendoes, or indirect references as to the matter of confession, and, as a rule, to the names of the penitents. If the Priest meet with a case with which he does not know how to deal, and for whose treatment he must seek advice, he should state it in such broad and general terms as to avoid any probability of identifying the person on whose behalf he |