122. +++ Here he is to take the Cup into his hand:
123. ++++ And here to lay his hand upon every vessel (be it Chalice or Flagon) in which there is any Wine to be consecrated.
The direction of the Priest to 'lay his hand upon all the Bread and every vessel,' indicates the extreme care of the Church that none of the Bread and Wine intended for the Communicants should be overlooked in the performance of the manual acts.
It is better not to consecrate wine in the flagon (though the rubric permits it) except in the emergency of having only one chalice, and a very large number of communicants. Even in that case, a second consecration in the chalice would perhaps be preferable.
124. Then shall the Minister first receive the Communion in both kinds himself, and then proceed to deliver the same to the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner, (if any be present,) and after that to the people also in order, into their hands, all meekly kneeling. And, when he delivereth the Bread to any one he shall say, The Body, &c.
This rubric, with the Twenty-first Canon, obliges the celebrant to receive the Communion every time that he celebrates, even if he shall do so more than once in the same day. He does so as a part of the sacrificial action, which is not complete unless a portion of the sacrifice is consumed by the offering Priest. For this reason he communicates himself, standing, as distinct from the congregation, and completing the essentials of the Sacrifice in his priestly character.
As he is not ministering to others when communicating himself, he should not speak audibly in so doing.
He is to deliver the Sacrament first of all to the Clergy assisting in the service, beginning with the Gospeller and Epistoler, in accordance with the reason assigned in the rubric of 1549 for so doing, viz. that they may be ready to help the chief minister.
The order of communicating the rest of the Clergy, and the lay congregation, would be as follows:—1. To the Metropolitan of the Province (if present). 2. To the Bishop of the Diocese (if present). 3. To other Metropolitans and Bishops (if present), in the order of their seniority of consecration respectively. 4. Priests or Deacons. 5. Lay choristers, and 6. The rest of the laity.
'In like manner' means 'in both kinds.'