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 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.