DUKE UNIVERSITY DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY ! V*. . I 0 I Trinity oimgay xiv CTAAiwi. “StV'il «"»’* trttn Jii ‘ x*il» hr laid unto |,j m 'jj/P "'^‘iniu.i rr^ rwbl tins bo anb thouskk Kr &: tSu ? & mm, ,• U -a, ib toW if nb 1 pfUjbbpur 3nb 3 K*siv 6 anttpK lu *T^ \ jxftam man tocitl boton from ^Scn«ttj rm J?^riW>o’on» tW» mon » V?' “'"tf , «mt tahr'rr hr Blt Til Whro he Wh' till" hrlud roTOtr«.n . JJi went hi Inni.oi.il bonnt up Ins MM.M,, 1,110 ...I ,r.„\ mine, .mb let him-ati his olon Iin.i _ .t 3s»hp then. iliUalh in the J&pint ' <& - - - -T 3 ? ' anb pr null net fulfil «jr lult oP ;t,,erwlr J r »i the fidh iuiW •/vYj'r % agatnftthe spirit. anb tbesjpu Y'JXQ*Trh&'&' r ‘ t '»9*>nft f br (Mb; anb tbrfrl a rr cortfrarp tbr onr tu the other. *° *b«t pf rannor bo the things! A ‘ *i that re toould. But if pp hr fcb, br tiJt ^P ,r,t ' FT ar *' not unbertbrUto j2oui the 1 jMbfrof the tleibarr mamfeft. blurb are thrfr.Xbul- TT feinicjtion. nnclrannrfs, Ufrioicufnda, liobtrr, witchcraft- Imtrrb. bariance, emulations. tnratfij, I triff,(ebilu |,, 8. hcrcliei. minings. murbens, b*un4 ;, ( . l atfl4.rrt>' l >np- anb fuct) like: of tlic tobul’5 teUj matwfoic. as 10 Irabe alfo told j-oii in time part, that 1 Co- who bo furh things Hull not inherit tbr Aina i iorr. of®ob But thr fruit of the *ptnf is love. top ] n,arr. lonfl fufltrnifl. grnUcnefs. qoobnrfa. faith,! Stiffs, trraprranrr : again it furh Hirer is no late. AniUbfr Unit mt thrifts' babe rrunfiebHirflrih tuitb, ihraffrrtio nf anbla ftf . .C J ^ iJC-Ott enme to pafs. as jrfus tnrnt i fl ’ Tlenifalem. that hr paffrb|| a i?/ y2p - tlyoubh the niibft of jsianuruJ Vl£j- X^ir Callin'. Anb /is he erttndttf r-J/fxyA.v inhin tprtmn Oillagr. tiirrr nirti^ | y- him ten men that toe re Irprre.|| Who ftbod afar off. Xnb thrr lift |! ’ cbiuj tfjeirooirrs. .-.nb faib. 3r ;luii\iaflrr. Iwbr nut\(t'oit us. Aub mhm hr fair j| rlifm.hrfaib unto them, Co fl)cio pour (elm's nntol Djrpnrffs .Anb a -«nir hi pafs. that as thrvtornt. I thirlwrr deanfeb. Anb one of fliem. tohen brltrai tint ! hr ims braird, turned bark-nib Uutha loud Unictfilu- : nfirWob.flud fell Opton on his facrafhts tirt.aiDijig j! him tlpuihs anb Ilf BMSa Hainan tan Anbjrfu* ■Mifaier- 'iW foiirtcnith Sundsiy °flrr TrirurT UyA- '-yieTmightP. anbeOcrlaamn iSnb, hraLNe.'; 1 H’S unit that Ire map nbbim thatto^ thou doft proirmc. mahr ns to Uitir t lnt : tDhith thou butt rommanb. th>in,». ? ro,s year of Henry VIII. A proclamation was also issued, enjoining that no person should use “ any book or books concerning the common sendee and administration set forth in English to be used in the churches of this realm, in the time of King Edward the Vlth, commonly called the Communion Book, or Book of Common Service and Ordering of Ministers, otherwise called the Book set forth by the authority of Parliament, for Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments ; but shall, within fifteen days bring or deliver the said books to the Ordinary, where such books remain, at the said Ordinary's will and disposition to be burnt." This Act and Proclamation were preceded, apparently, by an Act of Convocation of the same tenour ; for the Upper House had been requested by the Lower (both being doubtless “ packed " assemblies at the time) to suppress the “ schismatical book called the Communion Book, and the Book of Ordering Ecclesiastical Ministers." Thus the work which had been done with so much care and deliberation was, for a time, set aside ; Divine Sendee was again said in Latin, and the customs of it reverted, to a great extent, to their mediaeval form. As, however, the monasteries were not revived, the devotional system of Queen Mary’s reign must, in reality, have been considerably influenced in the direction of reformation. We have already seen that “ the last year of the reign of Henry VIII." (which was the standard professedly adopted) was a period when much progress had been made towards establishing the devotional system afterwards embodied in the Book of Common Prayer ; and it seems likely that the services of the Church in the reign of Queen Mary were a modified form of, rather than an actual return to, the mediaeval system which existed before the six- teenth century. Queen Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on November 17th, 1558, and for a month permitted no change to be made in the customs of Divine Service. On December 27th of that year, a Proclamation was issued condemning unfruitful disputes in matters of religion, and enjoining all men “ not to give audience to any manner of doctrine or preaching other than to the Gospels and Epistles, commonly called the Gospel and Epistle of the day, and to the ten commandments, in the vulgar tongue, without exposition or addition of any manner, sense, or meaning to be applied or added ; or to use any other manner of publick prayer, rite, or ceremony in the Church, but that which is already used and by law received; or the common Litany used at this present in her Majesty’s own chapel 1 ; and the Lord’s Prayer, and the Creed, in English, until consultation may be had by Parliament, by her Majesty and her three estates of this realm 2 , for the better conciliation and accord of such causes as at this present are moved in matters and ceremonies of religion." The first Act of Parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth restored to the Crown the supremacy over persons and causes ecclesiastical, which had been taken away from ElTzabeth°°re?ui. tn it in the previous reign. But this does not seem to have been considered sufficient authority for dealing with the subject of Divine Service ; nor does it seem to have been possible, at first, to place it in the hands of Convocation. An irregular kind of Committee was therefore appointed at the suggestion of Sir Thomas Smith, the Queen’s Secretary, who were to meet at his house in Cannon Row, Westminster, and who were “ to draw in other men of learning and gravity, and apt men for that purpose and credit, to have their assents." This Committee consisted of the following persons : — § 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 1. [a.d. 1552.] I. The Book of Common Prayer, “ a very godly order, agree- able to the Word of God and the primitive Church, very com- fortable to all Christian people desiring to live in Christian con- versation, and most profitable to the state of this realm,” having been set forth by authority of Parliament, yet a great number of persons “ following their own sensuality, and living either without knowledge or due fear of God,” neglect to come to church on Sundays and Holy-days. II. For reformation thereof, it is enacted that every person shall duly attend church, unless they have some reasonable hin- drance. The two following clauses give authority to punish those who disobey the Act. V. Doubts about the manner of using tne Prayer Book having arisen, “ rather by the curiosity of the minister and mistakers, than of any other worthy cause,” the said book has, by command of the King, and with the authority of Parliament, been “faith- fully and godly perused, explained, and made fully perfect,” and a form for the cousecratiou of bishops, and ordination of priests and deacons, has been annexed to it. The revised book is to be in force under the provisions of the former Act ; and shall be put in use by all persons after the Feast of All Saints, uuder penalties such as those previously enacted : every Curate reading this Act on one Sunday in every quarter of a year; and enforcing the duty of Common Prayer in an exhortation to his people. Both Acts were repealed by 1 Mary, sess. ii. c. 2, but by the Act of Eliz. this repeal became void, so far as concerned the Book of 1552. That of 1549 still remains under the repeal of Mary’s Act. 1 The English Litany of Henry VIII. See State Papers, Dom. Eliz. i. 68. 2 That is, Lords, Commons, and Clergy. See note at p. 64. d XXXIV AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION Matthew Parker, subsequently Abp. of Canterbury. Edmund Grindal, „ Bp. of London, Abp. of York, and Abp. of Canterbury. James Pilkington, ,, Bp. of Durham. Richard Cox, restored, Bp. of Ely. William May, appointed Abp. of York, but died before consecration. William Bill, subsequently Dean of Westminster. Sir Thomas Smith, „ Dean of Carlisle. David Whitehead, ,, [Declined the Archbishopric of Canterbury.] Edwin Sandy s, ,, Bp. of Worcester, and Abp. of York. Edmund Guest, „ Bp. of Rochester, and of Salisbury. The last two were summoned to attend upon the Committee after its first appointment. It baa been supposed, from a vindication of the changes made which was sent by him to Cecil ', that Guest was the person chiefly concerned in the revision, and that be acted for Parker, who was absent through illness. Cox and May were on the Committee of 1542-1549. While this Committee was engaged on its labours, an attempt was made to reconcile the extreme Romanist party by a Conference of Divines held before the Privy Council and others in Westminster Abbey ; but the attempt failed through the impracticable temper of the leading men on the Romanist side : and thus the way was made clear for a new Act of Uniformity on the basis of those passed in Edward’s reign. The Queen and Cecil both appear to have desired that the original Prayer Book, that of 1549, should be adopted as flu- as possible; but the second Book, that of 1552, was taken by the Committee of Divines, and with a few alterations of some importance, submitted to the Queen to be set before Par- liament. The most important of these alterations were the following : — [1] A Table of Proper Lessons for Sundays was prefixed. [2] The “ accustomed place” or Chancel, instead of “in such place as the people may best hear,” was appointed for the celebration of Divine Service. [3] The “ Ornaments ” of the Church and the Ministers which had been in use under the first Book of Edward, but had been reduced to a minimum by the second, were directed again to be taken into use. [4] The Litany clause, “ From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enor- mities,” was now omitted. [5] The present form for administering the consecrated Elements to the communicants was sub- stituted for that ordered by the Book of 1552, which was the latter half only of that now used. As the first half of the words is the form that was used in the Book of 1549, the new form was thus a combina- tion of the two. [6] The declaration respecting kneeling, which had been inserted on a fly-leaf at the end of the Communion Service in the Book of 1552, was now omitted altogether. Thus altered, the Book was laid before Parliament, which (without any discussion) annexed it to the Act of Uniformity. [1 Eliz. cap. 2.] This Act was passed on April 28th, 1559, and it enacted that the revised Prayer Book should be taken into use on St. John the Baptist’s day following. It was used, however, in the Queen’s chapel on Sunday, May 12th, and at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday, May 15th. After the appointed day had passed, a Commission was issued [July 19, 1559] to Parker, Grindal, and others for carrying into execution the Acts for Uniformity of Common Prayer, and for restoring to the Crown its jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical matters 1 2 . A Royal A isitation was also held in the Province of York, under a Commission dated July 25th 3 . It then appeared that the Prayer Book was so generally accepted by the Clergy, that out of 9400 only 189 refused to adopt it; this number including those Bishops and others of the most extreme Romanist party, who had been appointed in Queen Mary’s reign on account of what in modern times would be called their Ultramontane prejudices. It is worth notice, however, that the Book of Common Prayer as thus revised in 1559 was quietly accepted by the great body of Romanist laity; and also that the Pope himself saw so little to object to in it that he offered to give the book his full sanction if his authority were recognized by the Queen and 1 CarcUv. Conf. 48. Strype’s Ann. i. 120, ii. 4-50. 2 State Papers, Dom. Eliz. v. 18. 3 Ibid. iv. 62. TO THE PRAYER BOOK. XXXV kingdom. “As well those restrained/'’ said Sir Edward Coke, “as generally all the papists in this kingdom, not any of them did refuse to come to our church, and yield their formal obedience to the laws established. And thus they all continued, not any one refusing to come to our churches, during the first ten years of her Majesty’s government. And in the beginning of the eleventh year of her reign, Cornwallis, Bedingfield, and Silyarde, were the first recusants ; they absolutely refusing to come to our churches. And until they in that sort began, the name of recusant was never heard of amongst us.” In the same Charge, Coke also states as follows : — That the Pope [Pius IV.] “ before the time of his excommunication against Queen Elizabeth denounced, sent his letter unto her Majesty, in which he did allow the Bible, and Book of Divine Service, as it is now used among us, to be authentick, and not repugnant to truth. But that therein was contained enough necessary to salvation, though there was not in it so much as might conveniently be, and that he would also allow it unto us, without changing any part : so as her Majesty would acknowledge to receive it from the Pope, and by his allowance ; which her Majesty denying to do, she was then presently by the same Pope excommunicated. And this is the truth concerning Pope Pius Quartus as I have faith to God and men. I have oftentimes heard avowed by the late Queen her own words; and I have conferred with some Lords that were of greatest reckoning in the State, who had seen and read the Letter, which the Pope sent to that effect ; as have been by me specified. And this upon my credit, as I am an honest man, is most true V’ It may have been with the object of making the Pope acquainted with the real character of the Prayer Book that it was translated into Latin in the same year ; and it is, possibly, to the work of translation that a document in the State Paper Office refers [Eliz. vii. 46] which, on November 30th, 1559, mentions the progress made by the Convocation in the Book of Common Prayer 1 2 . The Latin Version (differing in no small degree from the English) was set forth on April 6th, 1560, under the authority of the Queen’s Letters Patent. The only other change that was made in the Prayer Book during the reign of Elizabeth was in the Calendar. On January 22nd, 1561, the Queen issued a Commission to the Archbishop of Can- terbury, the Bishop of London, Dr. Bill, and Walter Haddon, directing them “to peruse the order of the said Lessons throughout the whole year, and to cause some new calendars to be imprinted, whereby such chapters or parcels of less edification may be removed, and other more profitable may supply their rooms 3 .” This commission was issued by the authority given in the 13th clause of Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity, which is cited in its opening paragraph; and in the end of it there is a significant direction, “ that the alteration of any thing hereby ensuing be quietly done, without show of any innovation in the Church.” In the Calendar revised by these Commissioners the names of most of those Saints were inserted which are to be found in that of our present Prayer Book. But although no further changes were made in the authorized devotional system of the Church during the remainder of the century, continual assaults were being made upon it by the Puritan party, extreme laxity was tolerated, and even sanctioned, by some of the Bishops (as, for example, at North- ampton, by Bishop Scambler of Peterborough), and the people were gradually being weaned from their love for a Catholic ritual : while, in the meantime, a great number of the new generation were being trained, by continual controversy and by enforced liabit, into a belief that preaching, either in the pulpit or under the disguise of extemporaneous prayer, was the one end and aim of Divine Service 4 . In 1592 the Puritans had grown so rancorous that they presented a petition to the Privy Council in which the Church of England is plainly said to be derived from Antichrist ; the press swarmed with scurrilous and untruthful pamphlets against the Church system ; and the more sober strength of this opposition may be measured very fairly by the statements and arguments of Hooker in his noble work, the “ Ecclesiastical Polity.” On the accession of James I., which occurred on May 7th, 1603, the hopes of those who wished 1 The Lord Coke, his Speech and Charge, London, 1607. See also Camden, Ann. Eliz., p. 59, ed. 1615. Twysden’s Historical Vindication of the Church of England, p. 175. Validity of the Orders of the Church of England, by Humphrey Prideaux, D.D., 1688. Bramhall’s Works, ii. 85, ed. 1845. Bp. Babingtou’s Notes on the Pentateuch; on Numbers vii. Courayer’s Defence of the Dissertation on the Validity of English Ordinations, ii. 360. 378. Harrington’s Pius IV. and the Book of Common Prayer, 1856. 3 Sir John Mason, however, writes to Cecil, on Aug. 11th, 1559, that the Book of Common Service in Latin is ready to print : and also the little book of Private Prayers for children and servants. State Papers, Dom. Eliz. vi. 11. 3 Parker Correspondence, p. 132. State Papers, xvi. 7. 4 These foreign fashions and principles were pertinaciously maintained by those who had fled the country in Queen Mary’s days, and returned with what Parker called “ Germanical natures” in Queen Elizabeth’s. [Strype’s Parker, i. 156.] See also Cardw. Conf. 117 — 120, for a strong illustration of this in Convocation. d 2 XXXVI AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION to get rid of tire Prayer Book were strengthened by the knowledge that the King had been brought up by Presbyterians. A petition was presented to him, called the “ Millenary Petition/' from the number of signatures attached to it, in which it was represented that “ more than a thousand" of his Majesty's subjects were “ groaning as under a common burden of human rites and ceremonies/' from which they prayed to he relieved by a reduction of the Prayer Book system to their own standard. The result of this petition was the “ Hampton Court Conference/' an assembly of Clergy and Non- conformists, summoned by the King to meet in his presence at the Palace of Hampton Court, and discuss the grievances complained of. This Conference met on the 14ch, 16th, and 18th of rei^rTof James 1 ^° January, 1603-4, in the presence of the King and the Privy Council; but the former was so disgusted with the unreasonableness of the Puritan opponents of the Prayer Book, that he broke up the meeting abruptly on the third day, without committing the Church to any concessions in the direction they required. Under the same clause of the Act of Uniformity by which Queen Elizabeth had directed a revision of the Calendar, the King did, however, cause a few changes to be made in the Prayer Book ’. [1] The words “ or remission of sins" were added to the title of the Absolution. [2] The “Prayer for the Royal Family" was placed at the end of the Litany; and also some Occasional Thanksgivings. [3] Two slight verbal changes were made at the beginning of the Gospels for the Second Sunday after Easter and the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. [4] An alteration was made in one of the Rubrics for Private Baptism. [See the Office.] [5] The title of the Confirmation Service was enlarged. [6] The latter part of the Catechism, respecting the Sacraments, was added. [7] Some slight changes were made in the Calendar. In the following year a petition was presented to the King from ministers in the Diocese of Lincoln, in which fifty “ gross corruptions" were enumerated in the Prayer Book : and they demanded its total abolition as the only means by which the land could be rid of the idolatry and superstition which it enjoined. Such was the spirit of the times upon which the Church of England was now entering, and which culminated, after a struggle of forty years more, in the suppression of the Prayer Book. „ . . An “ordinance" was passed by the Parliament on January 3rd, 1645, which repealed Suppression of 1 J 1,1 the Prayer Book in the Acts of Uniformity, and enacted that the Book of Common Prayer should not thenceforth he used in any Church, Chapel, or place of worship in England or Wales. On August 23rd, 1645, another ordinance forbade the use of it in private, required all copies of the Book be given up, and imposed heavy penalties upon those who dared to disobey these singularly tyrannical injunctions. For fifteen years the prayers of the Church of England could only be said in extreme privacy, and even then with danger of persecution to those who used them a . § The Revision of 1661. When the new form of government, established by Cromwell, had collapsed after his death, the restoration of the ancient constitution of the country involved the restoration of its ancient Church, and consequently of its ancient system of devotion as represented by the Book of Common Prayer. Not- withstanding the highly penal law which had been passed against its use, there had been many bold and faithful men who had not feared to “ obey God rather than men." Bishops Bull and Sanderson had been notable instances of this stedfastness, and they did not by any means stand alone 1 2 3 . As the time drew 1 See the official document in Cardw. Conf. pp. 217 — 225. 2 In the State Papers, Kennett’s Register, and Walker’s Sufferings of the Clergy, there arc many cases recorded of heavy fines levied on those who were discovered using the Prayer Book. 3 “ The iniquity of the times would not bear the constant and regular use of the Liturgy ; to supply therefore that misfortune, Mr. Bull formed all the devotions he offered up in public, while he continued minister of this place, out of the Book of Common Prayer, which did not fail to supply him with fit matter and proper words upon all those occasions that required him to apply to the throne of grace with the wants of his people. He had the example of one of the brightest lights of that age, the judi- cious Dr. Sanderson, to justify him in this practice ; and his manner of performing the public service was with so much fer- vour and ardency of affection, and with so powerful an emphasis in everv part, that they who were most prejudiced against the Liturgy, did not scruple to commend Mr. Bull as a person that prayed by the Spirit, though at the same time they railed at the Common Prayer as a beggarly element, and as a carnal per- formance. « A particular instance of this happened to him while he was minister of St. George’s, which, because it showeth how valuable the Liturgy is in itself, and what unreasonable prejudices are sometimes taken up against it, the reader will not, I believe, think it unworthy to be related. He was scut for to baptize the child of a Dissenter in his parish, upon which occasion he made TO THE PRAYER BOOK XXX Vll near for the return of Charles II. to the throne of his fathers, Prayer Boohs were brought from their hiding-places, printers began to prepare a fresh supply and its offices began to be openly used, as in the ease of the good and great Dr. Hammond, who was interred with the proper Burial Sendee on April 2Gth, 1660. Before the end of 1660, the demand for Prayer Books had been so great, notwithstanding the number of old ones which had been preserved, that three several editions in folio, quarto, and a smaller size are known to have been printed. Charles the Second landed in England on May 26th, 1660, the Ploly Communion having been cele- brated on board the “Naseby” at a very early hour in the morning ; probably by Cosin, the King’s Chaplain, whose influence was afterwards so great in the revision of the Prayer Book. As soon as the Court was settled at Whitehall, Divine Service was restored in the Chapel Royal. On July 8th, Evelyn records in his Diary [ii. 152], that “from henceforth was the Liturgy publicly used in our Churches.” Patrick is known to have used it in his church on July 2nd; and Cosin, who reassumed his position as Dean of Peterborough at the end of that month, immediately began to use it in his Cathedral. From Oxford, Lamplugh (subsequently Archbishop of York) writes on August 23rd, 1660, that the Common Prayer was then used every where but in three colleges 2 , showing how general had been its restoration in the University Chapels, and perhaps also in the City Churches. By October, 1661, Dean Barwick had restored the Choral Service first at Durham, and then at St. Paul’s. The feeling of the people is indicated by several petitions which were sent to the King, praying that their ministers might be compelled to use the Prayer Book in Divine Service, the Mayor and J urats of Faversham (for example) complaining that their Yicar, by refusing to give them the Common Prayer, is “ thus denying them their mother’s milk 3 .” The non-conforming ministers at first allowed that they could use the greatest part of the Prayer Book ; yet when requested by the King to do so, omitting such portions as they could not use, they declined 1 ; but on the part of the laity in general the desire for its restoration seems to have been much greater than could be supposed, considering how many had never (as adults) even heard a word of it used in Church ; and probably had never even seen a Prayer Book. Before the King had left the Hague, a deputation of Presbyterian ministers, including Reynolds, Calamy, Case, and Manton, had gone over to him to use their influence in persuading him that the use of the Prayer Book having been so long discontinued, it would be most agreeable to the English people if it were not restored ; and especially to dissuade him from using it and the surplice, in the Chapel Royal. No doubt this was a very daring misrepresentation of the state of the public mind on the subject; but the King appears to have been aware that it was so, for he declined, with much warmth, to agree to the impertinent and unconstitutional request, telling them in the end of his reply, that “ though he was bound for the present to tolerate much disorder and indecency in the exercise of God’s worship, he would never in the least degree, by his own practice, discountenance the good old order of the Church in which he had been bred 5 .” As we have already seen, the Prayer Book was restored to use in the Chapel Royal immediately after the King’s return. On July 6th, five weeks afterwards, there was a debate in Parliament respecting the settlement of religion. Some suggested that the restoration of the “ old religion” was the only settlement required ; but in the end it was agreed to pray the King that he would call an assembly of divines for the purpose use of tlie office of Baptism, as prescribed by the Church of England, which he had got entirely by heart ; and he went through it with so much readiness and freedom, and yet with so much gravity and devotion, and gave that life and spirit to all that he delivered, that the whole audience was extremely affected with his performance ; and notwithstanding that he used the sign of the cross, yet they were so ignorant of the offices of the Church that they did not thereby discover that it was the Common Prayer. But after that he had concluded that holy action, the father of the child returned him a great many thanks, intimating at the same time with how much greater edification they prayed, who entirely depended upon the Spirit of God for His assistance in their ex- tempore effusions, than those did who tied themselves up to pre- meditated forms ; and that if he had not made the sign of the cross, that badge of Popery, as he called it, nobody could have formed the least objection against his excellent prayers. Upon which Mr. Bull, hoping to recover him from his ill-grounded pre- judices, showed him the office of Baptism in the Liturgy, wherein was contained every prayer which he had offered up to God on that occasion; which, with farther arguments that he then urged, so effectually wrought upon the good man and his whole family, that they always after that time frequented the parish church, and never more absented themselves from Mr. Bull’s communion.” — Kelson’s Life of Bull, p. 31. ] John Williams and Francis Eglesfield printed an edition against the King’s return, and what copies remained in their warehouse were seized by agents of Bill the King’s printer on Kov. 7th, 1G60. There is extant also a royal mandate to Bill, dated July 25, 1661, commanding him to restore to R. Royston, of Oxford, a quantity of Prayer Books which he had seized by mistake, supposing them to be falsely printed. State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., vol. xxxix. 87 ; xlvii. 67. 2 State Papers, ibid. xi. 27. 3 Ibid, xxxii. 97. 109 ; 1. 22. 4 Kenuett’s Register, p. 629. 5 Clarendon, History of the Great Rebellion, iii. 990. xxx vm AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION of considering' tlie subject. The King, however, issued a “ Declaration 5 ’ on October 25th, in which he refers to his letter from Breda promising toleration to all opinions, and to the visit of the Presbyterian preachers ; and complains of the intolerant spirit which is shown towards himself by the Presbyterians in wishing to deprive him of the services in the Chapel Royal, and in much misrepresenting his words, acts, and motives. He states, that it had been his intention to call a Synod at once to consider the affairs of the Church, but that personal feeling is so strong as to make such a step unwise for the present. Throughout this Declaration the King assumes that the Church is restored in its integrity ; but promises that he will call an assembly of “ learned Divines, of both persuasions, 55 to review the “ Liturgy of the Church of England, contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and by law established •” again exhorting those who cannot conscientiously use the whole of it, to use such portions as they do not object to *. It was in fulfilment of this promise that a Royal Commission was addressed on March 25th, 1661, to the following Divines, who constituted what is known as the “ Savoy Conference, 55 from its place of meeting : — On the Church side. Accepted Frewen, Archbishop of York. Gilbert Sheldon, Bishop of London, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. John Cosin, Bishop of Durham. John Warner, Bishop of Rochester. Henry King, Bishop of Chichester. Humphry Henchman, Bishop of Salisbury, after- wards of London. George Morley, Bishop of Worcester, afterwards of Winchester. Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln. Benjamin Laney, Bishop of Peterborough, after- wards of Lincoln and Ely. Brian Walton, Bishop of Chester. Richard Sterne, Bishop of Carlisle, afterwards Archbishop of York. John Gaudcn, Bishop of Exeter, afterwards of Worcester. On the Presbyterian side. Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich. Anthony Tuckney, D.D., Master of St. John’s Cambridge. John Conant, D.D., Reg. Prof. Div., Oxford. William Spurstow, D.D. John Wallis, D.D., Sav. Prof. Geom., Oxford. Thomas Manton, D.D. [offered Deanery of Ro- chester.] Edmund Calamy [offered Bishopric of Lichfield] . Richard Baxter [offered Bishopric of Hereford] . Arthur Jackson. Thomas Case. Samuel Clarke. Matthew Newcomen. Coadjutors. John Earle, Dean of Westminster, afterwards Bishop of Worcester and Salisbury. Peter Heylin, D.D., Subdean of Westminster. John Hacket, D.D., afterwards Bishop of Lichfield. John Barwick, D.D., afterwards Dean of St. Paul 5 s. Peter Gunning, D.D., afterwards Bishop of Chi- chester and Ely. John Pearson, D.D. 2 , afterwards Bishop of Chester. Thomas Pierce, D.D. Anthony Sparrow, D.D., afterwards Bishop of Exeter and Norwich. Herbert Thorndike, D.D. Thomas Horton, D.D. Thomas Jacomb, D.D. William Bate. John Rawlinson. William Cooper. John Lightfoot, D.D. John Collings, D.D. Benjamin Woodbridge, D.D. William Drake. As this Conference was the last official attempt to reconcile what was afterwards called the “ Low Church party 55 and Dissenters to the cordial use of the Catholic Offices of the Church, it will be desirable to give a short account of its proceedings. The Letters Patent authorized the Commissioners “ to advise upon and review the said Book of Common Prayer, comparing the same with the most ancient liturgies, which have been used in the Church in the primitive and purest times ; and to that end to 2 “ And was after by Synod commissioned to review the Com- mon Prayer Book.” FotbergilTs MS., York Minster Lib. Cardwell’s Conferences, p. 286. TO THE PRAYER BOOK. XXXIX assemble and meet together from time to time, and at such times within the space of four calendar months now next ensuing, in the Master’s lodgings in the Savoy in the Strand, in the county of Middlesex, or in such other place or places as to you shall be thought fit and convenient ; to take into your serious and grave considerations the several directions, rules, and forms of prayer, and things in the said Book of Common Prayer contained, and to advise and consult upon and about the same, and the several objections and exceptions which shall now be raised against the same. And if occasion be, to make such reasonable and necessary alterations, corrections, and amendments therein, as by and between you and the said Archbishop, Bishops, Doctors, and persons hereby required and authorized to meet and advise as aforesaid, shall be agreed upon to be needful or expedient for the giving satisfaction unto tender consciences, and the restoring and continuance of peace and unity in the Churches under our protection and government ; but avoiding, as much as may be, all unnecessary alterations of the forms and liturgy wherewith the people are already acquainted, and have so long received in the Church of England V’ This Commission met at the Savoy in the Strand on April 15th, and its sittings ended on July 24th, 1661 : the Session of Parliament and Convocation commencing on May 8th of the same year. The “several objections and exceptions” raised against the Prayer Book were presented to the Bishops in writing. These are all on record in two or three contemporary reports of the Conference, of which one is referred to in the foot-note, and they are printed at length in Cardwell’s Conferences on the Book of Common Prayer. Many of these “ exceptions ” are of a frivolous kind, and the remarks which accom- panied them were singularly bitter and uncharitable, as well as diffuse and unbusiness-like. It seems almost incredible that grave Divines should make a great point of “The Epistle is written in ” being aa untrue statement of the case when a portion of a prophecy was read and technically called an “Epistle;” or that they should still look upon it as a serious grievance when the alteration conceded went no further than “ For the Epistle or, again, that they should spend their time in wilting a long complaint about the possibility of their taking cold by saying the Burial Service at the grave. Yet sheets after sheets of their papers were filled with objections of this kind, and with long bitter criticisms of the principles of the Prayer Book. The Bishops replied to them in the tone in which Sanderson’s Preface to the Prayer Book is written, but they seem to have keenly felt what Sanderson himself expressed — mild and gentle as he was — when he long afterwards said of his chief opponent at the Savoy, “ that he had never met with a man of more pertinacious confidence, and less abilities, in all his conversation 1 2 .” Perhaps too they were reminded of Lord Bacon’s saying respecting his friends, the Nonconformists of an earlier day, that they lacked two principal things, the one learning, and the other love. The Conference was limited by the Letters Patent to four months’ duration, but when that time had drawn to an end little had been done towards a reconciliation of the objectors to the use of the Prayer Book. Baxter had composed a substitute for it, but even his friends would not accept it as such, and probably Baxter’s Prayer Book never won its way into any congregation of Dissenters in his life- time or afterwards. In Queen Elizabeth’s time Lord Burleigh had challenged the Dissenters to bring him a Prayer Book made to fit in with their own principles ; but when this had been done by one party of Dis- senters, another party of them offered six hundred objections to it, which were more than they offered to the old Prayer Book. The same spirit appears to have been shown at the Savoy Conference ; and the principle of unity was so entirely confined to unity in opposition, that it was impossible for any solid reconciliation of the Dissenters to the Church to have been made by any concessions that could have been offered. After all the “ exceptions ” had been considered and replied to by the Bishops’ side (replies again replied to by the untiring controversial pens of the opposite party), the result of the Commission was exhibited in the following list of changes to which the Bishops were willing to assent : — • The Concessions offered ~by the Bishojos at the Savoy Conference. § 1. We are willing that all the epistles and gospels be used according to the last translation. § 2. That when any thing is read for an epistle which is not in the epistles, the superscription shall be “ For the epistle.” § 3. That the Psalms be collated with the former translation, mentioned in rubr., and printed according to it. 1 Cardw. Conf. 257 — 36S. “ Grand Debate between tbe most Reverend the Bishops and the Presbyterian Divines The most perfect copy.” 166 A - 2 Kennett’s Register, p. 551. This can hardly refer to Baxter, who was a man of some learning ; but no doubt his excessive vanity and moroseness were a chief cause of the failure- xl AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION § 4. That the words “this day,” both in the collects and prefaces, be used only upon the day itself; and for the following days it be said, “ as about this time/'’ § 5. That a longer time be required for signification of the names of the communicants; and the words of the rubric be changed into these, “at least some time the day before/'’ § G. That the power of keeping scandalous sinners from the communion may be expressed in the rubr. according to the xxvith and xxviith canons ; so the minister be obliged to give an account of the same immediately after to the ordinary. § 7. That the whole preface be prefixed to the commandments. § 8. That the second exhortation be read some Sunday or Holy Day before the celebration of the communion, at the discretion of the minister. § 9. That the general confession at the communion be pronounced by one of the ministers, the people saying after him, all kneeling humbly upon their knees. § 10. That the manner of consecrating the elements be made more explicit and express, and to that purpose these words be put into the rubr., “ Then shall he put his hand upon the bread and break it," “ then shall he put his hand unto the cup." § 11. That if the font be so placed as the congregation cannot hear, it may be referred to the ordinary to place it more conveniently. § 12. That these words, “yes, they do perform these," &c., may be altered thus: “Because they promise them both by their sureties," &c. § 13. That the words of the last rubr. before the Catechism may be thus altered, “that children being baptized have all things necessary for their salvation, and dying before they commit any actual sins, be undoubtedly saved, though they be not confirmed." § 14. That to the rubr. after confirmation these words may be added, “ or be ready and desirous to be confirmed." § 15. That these words, “with my body I thee worship," may be altered thus, “with my body I thee honour." § 16. That these words, “till death us depart," be thus altered, “ till death us do paid." § 17. That the words “sure and certain" may be left out. The Conference being- ended, and with so little practical result, the work of Revision was committed to the Convocations of the two Provinces of Canterbury and York. On June 10th, I860, a Licence had been issued to the Archbishop of Canterbury [Juxon], empowering the Convocation of his Province to “ debate and agree upon such points as were committed to their charge ‘." Another was issued to the Archbishop of York [Frewen], of a similar tenour, on July 10th [or 23rd]. But little was likely to be done while the Savoy Conference was sitting, beyond preparation for future action. A fresh Licence was issued on October 10th, by which the Convocation of Canterbury was definitely directed to review the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal 2 , under the authority of the Commission sent to them on the 10th of June 3 : and on November 22nd a similar letter was sent to the Archbishop of York. This letter enjoined the Convocations to review the Prayer Book, and then to present it to “ us for our further con- sideration, allowance, or confirmation 4 ." It is probable that much consideration had been given to the subject during the five months that elapsed between the issue of the first Licence and that of the second, as a Form for the 29th of May had been agreed upon, and also the Office for Adult Baptism. When, however, the Convocation of Canter- bury met on November 21st, 1661, “the King's letters were read," and the revision of the Prayer Book was immediately entered upon with vigour and decision 0 . The Upper House appointed a Committee, consisting of the following : — Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ety. Robert Skinner, ,, ,, Oxford. John Warner, „ „ Rochester. Humphry Henchman, „ Salisbury. George Morley, ,, „ Worcester. 1 State Papers, Bom. Charles 11. xliii. October 10. 2 Kennett’s Register, p. 503. 5 State Papers, Bom. Charles II. xliii. 4 Kennett’s Register, p. 564. 5 The Bishops returned to tlieir seats in the House of Lords on Kov. 20t,h, and from that time the junior Bishop said prayers daily as formerly. The Presbyterian minister had been “excused from atten lance ” on the House of Commons some time before. TO THE PRAYER BOOK. xh Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln. William Nicholson, „ ,, Gloucester. John Cosin, ,, „ Durham. The last-named had been invited (with the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of Carlisle and Chester) to be present and assist at the previous session of the Southern Convocation ; and was now appointed on the Committee as the most learned ritualist among 1 the Bishops. Wren, Warner, and Skinner bad been Bishops in the Convocation of 164.0 \ It was necessary that the co-operation of the York Lower House of Convocation should be secured : the Archbishop and three Bishops of that Province therefore wrote to them, saying that the time was very short for the work in hand, and that it would much facilitate its progress if some Clergy were appointed to act in the Southern Convocation as Proxies for the Northern. Eight such proxies were appointed, three of whom were members of the lower house of Canterbury Province, and five of the lower house of York 2 . The Committee of Bishops met at Ely House ; and Sancroft, at this time Rector of Houghton-1 e- Spring, Prebendary of Durham, and Chaplain to Cosin, appears to have acted as their Secretary. Bishop Cosin had prepared a folio Prayer Book of 1619, in which he had written down in the margin such altera- tions as he considered desirable : and this volume, which is preserved in the Cosin Library, Durham [D. III. 5], has been thoroughly examined for the present work, all the alterations so made being either referred to or printed in the Notes 3 . This volume was evidently used as the basis of their work by the Bishops, although (as will be seen) they did not adopt all the changes proposed by Cosin, and introduced others which are not found in his Prayer Book. They were thus enabled to proceed rapidly with the work of revision, and on November 23rd sent a portion of their labours down to the Lower House, which returned it on the 27th. The whole Prayer Book was completed by December 20th, and a form of Subscription was then agreed upon, of which a copy in Bishop Cosines handwriting is inserted in his Durham Book, and which is also to be found, with all the names attached, in Kenneth's Register, pp. 5S4, 585. The Revised volume, thus prepared, was a MS. of five hundred and forty-four pages, and appears to have been the same that was ultimately attached to the Act of Uniformity. It is said to have been preserved in the Parliament Office as recently as 1825, and is referred to as existing there in the Record Commissioners'' edition of the Statutes, vol. v. p. 365 ; but it has since disappeared. There was a delay of some weeks before the Prayer Book thus revised received the approval of the King in Council. The Act of Uniformity was under the consideration of the House of Lords, and on February 12th, 1661-2, the Earl of Dorset expressed the disappointment of the Blouse at not receiving the revised Prayer Book ; on which the Bishop of London promised that it should shortly be brought in. A Privy Council was then summoned, at which four Bishops were ordered to be present. This met on February 24th, 1661-2, the Bishops of London, Durham, Salisbury, Worcester, and Chester being' present : “ at which time the Book of Common Prayer, with the Amendments and Additions, as it was prepared by the Lords Bishops, was read and approved, and ordered to be transmitted to the House of Peers, with this following recommendation, signed by His Majesty — the recommendation being that the Prayer Book as altered be that appointed to be used by the intended Act of Uniformity 4 . On the next day it was sent to the Blouse of Lords, with the Great Seal attached 5 ; and on March 17th was declared (without any review of its contents) to be the Book referred to in the Act of Uniformity then passing through the House. On March 18th the thanks of the House were conveyed to Convocation for their care in revising the Book, and on April 10th it was sent down to the House of Commons. On the 16th of April the question was put in the House of Commons whether there should be any debate upon the amendments inserted in the Prayer Book by Convocation, and it was decided in the 1 Archbishop Juxon, Bishops Duppa, Piers, and Eoberts, had also been Bishops in 1640. Four other Bishops in the Upper House of 1661, Sheldon, Floyd, Griffith, and Ironside, had been in the Lower House in 1640, and so had about twenty members of the Lower House of 1661. 2 Kennett’s Eegister, pp. 563—565. 3 A fair copy of this volume, written by Sancroft in a Prayer Book of 1634, is preserved in the Bodleian Library [Arch. Bodl. I). 28], and has been collated with the original for the present work. Cosin had also written three sets of Notes on the Prayer Book ; and had prepared a fourth, suggesting amendments which he considered to be necessary several years before. These are collected in the fifth volume of his Works, published in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology. Some MS. Notes on the Prayer Book, Harl. MS. 7311, are also said to he his. 4 Kennett’s Eegister, pp. 632, 633. State Papers, li. 5. 5 When the Bill for Uniformity had been sent up from the House of Commons, a Prayer Book (probably that of Elizabeth) had been attached to it, but this was set aside for that of the Convocation. Kennett’s Eegister, p. 642. xlii AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION negative. A resolution was, however, afterwards passed, that they “ might have been debated by the order of the House.'’’’ Thus, although the Act of Uniformity was much discussed in the House of Commons, the Book of Common Prayer was accepted by them, as well as by the Lords, exactly as it had passed out of the hands of the Bishops ; and nothing was ever said about their right to consider ti e work of the Convocation until it had been decided that it was to pass unaltered through the secular part of the Legislature. This determination was also strongly illustrated by two circumstances that occurred while the Prayer Book was before the two Houses. (1) A strong desire was expressed in the House of Commons that a proviso should be introduced into the Act of Uniformity, enjoining reverent gestures during- the time of Divine Service. This proviso was twice read, “ but the matter being held proper for the Convocation/'’ it was ordered that those members who managed the Conference with the Lords should intimate the desire of the House, “ that it be recommended to the Convocation to take order for reverend and uniform gestures and demeanours to be enjoined at the time of Divine Service and preaching this course being ultimately adopted, and an addition made by Convocation to the XVIIIth Canon, in consequence, on May 12th, 1662 '. (2) The second circumstance is thus stated in the Journals of the House of Lords, on the 8th of May, 1662 : “Whereas it was signified by the House of Commons at the Conference yesterday that they found one mistake in the rubriek of Baptism, which they conceive was a mistake of the writer, Persons being put instead of Children , the Lord Bishop of Durham acquainted the house, that himself and the Lord Bishop of Carlisle had authority from the Convocation to amend the said word, averring it was only a mistake of the scribe ; and accordingly they came to the Clerk’s table, and amended the same 2 .” The amendments proposed by the House of Commons in the Act of Uniformity all tended to raise the tone in which the Prayer Book was to be used, and to make the provisions of the Act more strict. They especially required that the Surplice, and the Sign of the Cross in Baptism, should continue to be used. [Kennett’s Reg., pp. 67 6. 679.] These amendments were all agreed to by the Lords on May 10th ; and thus the Prayer Book, as amended by Convocation, and the Act of Uniformity, as amended by Par- liament, both received the Royal Assent on May 19th, 1662. In answer to inquiries from the House of Lords, the Bishops had guaranteed (on April 21st) that the Book should be in print and ready for use on August 24th, the Feast of St. Bartholomew, which was the day fixed by Parliament for the Act to come into operation. The printing was undertaken by Convo- cation, which, as early as March 8th, had appointed Dr. Saneroft to be Supervisor, and Messrs. Scatter- good and Dillingham, Correctors of the press 3 . The following MS. entry on the fly-leaf of Bishop Cosin’s Durham Book, in the Bishop’s own hand, will show how much anxious thoug-ht he had taken for this and all other matters connected with the Revision of the Prayer Book : — “ Directions to be g-iven to the printer. “ Set a fair Frontispiece at the beginning of the Book, and another before the Psalter, to be designed as the Archbishop shall direct, and after to be cut in Brass. “ Page the whole Book. “ Add nothing. Leave out nothing. Alter nothing, in what Volume soever it be printed. Par- ticularly ; never cut off the Lord’s Prayer, Creed, or any Collect with an &c . ; but wheresoever they are to be used, print them out at large, and add [Amen] to the end of every prayer. * Kennett’s Register, pp. 671. 680. 681. 2 Kennett’s Register, p. 680. An order for correcting this error had passed Convocation on April 21st. Ibid. p. 666. A more curious slip of the pen is said to have been corrected with a bold readiness by Lord Clarendon. “ Archbishop Tenison told me by his bedside on Monday, Feb. 1.2, 1710, that the Con- vocation book intended to be the copy confirmed by the Act of Uniformity had a rash blunder in the rubriek after Baptism, which should have run [ It is certain by God’s word, that children which are baptized dying before they commit actual sin are un- doubtedly saved']. But the words [which are baptized] were left out, till Sir Cyril Wyche coming to see the Lord Chancellor Hyde found the book brought home by his lordship, and lying in his parlour window, even after it had passed the two houses, and happening to cast his eye upon that place, told the Lord Chan- cellor of that gross omission, who supplied it with his own hand.” Ibid. p. 613. This story was fifty years old when it reached Bishop Kennett, but it has an air of probability : and such strange accidents in the most important matters have not unfrequently occurred. So the word “ not ” was once omitted from the seventh commandment in a whole edition of the Holy Bible ; the printers being heavily fined for the mistake. 3 Among Archbishop Sancroft’s MSS. in the Bodleian, there is a letter from one of Bishop Cosin’s chaplains, written from Bishop Auckland on June 16th, 1662, in which he says, “ My lord desires at all times to know particularly what progress you make in the Common Prayer.” There is also a mandate from Charles II. to the Dean and Chapter of Durham among the State Papers, dated June 16th, 1662, likewise, and ordering them to dispense with Prebendary Sancroft’s residence, as he “ has been for some mouths, and still is attending the impression of the Liturgy and adding that “ it is not the meaning of the statutes to require the resi- dence of members of the Chapter when service of greater use to the Church requires them.” State Papers, l\i. 61. TO THE PRAYER BOOK. xliii “ Never print the Lord’s Prayer beyond — c deliver us from evil. Amen/ “ Print the Creeds always in three paragraphs, relating to the three Persons, &c. “ Print not Capital letters with profane pictures in them. “ In all the Epistles and Gospels follow the new translation. “ As much as may be, compose so that the leaf be not to he turned over in any Collect, Creed, Verse of a Psalm, Middle of a sentence, & c. “ Set not your own Names in the Title-page nor elsewhere in the Book, hut only ‘ Printed at London by the printers to the King’s most excellent Majesty. Such a year/ “ Print [Glory be to the Father, &c.] at the end of eveiy Psalm, and of every part of cxix. Psalm. “ In this Book : — “ Where a line is drawn through the words, that is all to be left out. “ Where a line is drawn under the words, it is to be printed in the Roman letter. “ Where a prickt line is drawn under the words, it is not part of the book, but only a direction to the printer or reader. “ Where this note [ is set, a break is to be made, or a new line begun. “ Where a double line is drawn under any words, they are to be printed in Capitals While the Act of Uniformity was passing through Parliament, the House of Commons inserted a clause which provided that “ a true and perfect copy of this Act, and of the said Book annexed hereunto,” should be provided by the Deans and Chapters of every Cathedral or Collegiate Church before Christmas Day, obtained “ under the Great Seal of England,” and also that similar copies should be delivered into the respective Courts of Westminster, and into the Tower of London, to be kept and preserved as records. It was also provided that these books should “be examined by such persons as the King’s Majesty shall appoint under the Great Seal of England for that purpose, and shall be compared with the original Book hereunto annexed.” These Commissioners were to have power “ to correct, and amend in writing, any error committed by the Printer in the printing of the same book, or of any thing therein contained, and shall certify under their hands and seals .... that they have examined and compared the said Book, and find it to be a true and perfect Copy.” The Prayer Books so certified and sealed with the Great Seal were then enacted to be as good Records as the MS. itself. Soon after the Book was printed, a Commission was therefore issued : a strong Royal mandate having been meanwhile sent to the University of Cambridge, commanding the Vice-Chancellor to inhibit the University printers from sending out any copies printed otherwise than was allowed them 1 2 . The Commission was dated Nov. 1st, 1662, and was addressed to twenty-five persons, of whom seven or eight appear to have constituted the working part of the Commissioners, their names being found repeated in several of the Sealed Books. Certain alterations were made, chiefly in the headings and titles of Prayers, Psalms, &c., in all the Books which were to receive the Great Seal ; and a Certificate was appended to each of them, signed by the Commissioners on December 13th. The Books so certified were afterwards ordered to be passed under the Great Seal, and as many copies sealed as the Lord Chancellor thought fit 3 . Letters Patent, dated January 5th, 1662-3, being appended to each. Thus the Book of Common Prayer was carefully guarded through every stage of its preparation, that it might go forth to the people of England with all the authority that law can give, and that a perfect Record might never be wanting of the true document by which the system of Divine Service is regulated in the Church of England. [See the frontispiece.] An attempt was made in the reign of William III. to remodel the Prayer Book on principles much less Catholic than those which had been uniformly adopted in former revisions, but the attempt happily failed 4 . No further alteration of its pages has taken place, and the Prayer Book of 1662 is still the Prayer Book of the Church of England in ] 866. 1 It is very singular that Burton had alleged, some five-and- twenty years before, that there was “ in the great printing house at London a Common Prayer Book,” altered with Cosin’s hand, to show “ how he would have it altered.” Prynne makes a some- what similar assertion in his criticism of Cosin’s Devotions, printed in 1626 and 1627. [Lathbury’s Convocation, p. 273.] These an- ticipations of Cosin’s influence show that he was marked out for a leader in the work of revision. 2 State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., lviii. 42. 3 Ibid. lxi. 144 ; lxiii. 42. 4 The whole of the proposed Revision of 1689 was printed in a “blue book ” by order of the House of Commons, dated June 2nd, 1854. A full account of it is also given in Procter’s History of the Common Prayer, pp. 144 — 160. As it has never had any authority or influence, it has been considered unnecessary to give any particulars respecting it here. e 2 xliv AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION § National Versions of tlie Prayer Booh. The English system of Divine Service was adopted by the Church of Scotland in the seventeenth century , and by that of the United States of America in the eighteenth : and although the Churches of both countries are but small bodies, when compared with the numbers of the population, the versions of the Book of Common Prayer adopted by them have an historical claim to be called national versions, — that of Scotland having been adopted under royal and ecclesiastical authority, while that of America was adopted under the most authoritative sanction of the ecclesiastical body to which the original English colonists of the continent belonged. The Scottish The Reformation was not earned forward in Scotland with the same calm, dis- Prayer Book. passionate, and humble reverence for the old foundations which was so conspicuous in that of the Church of England. For many years no uniform system of devotion took the place of the ancient offices, and it was not until the reign of James I. that any endeavour was made to put an end to that ecclesiastical anarchy which was thinly veiled by Knox’s miserable Book of Common Order. The General Assembly of 1616 agreed to the proposal that a national Liturgy should be framed : but King James wished to introduce the English Prayer Book, and it was used in his presence at Holyrood on May 17th, 1617. Three years afterwards an Ordinal was published for the use of the Scottish Church; and the draft of a Liturgy was submitted to the King by Archbishop Spottiswoode. This was revived on the accession of Charles I., and in 1629 official measures were taken for obtaining its reconsideration and adoption by the Church of Scotland; although both the King and Laud were anxious to have the English Prayer Book introduced without alteration. Eventually the King gave way to the wish of the Scottish Bishops that a national form of Divine Service should be adopted : an episcopal committee was appointed (of whom Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, and Wedderburn, Bishop of Dumblane, appear to have been the most active), and they were engaged on the work for many months, some delay being caused, apparently, by the necessity of communicating with the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury, which had arisen lrorn the altered relations of the two countries. The Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 was the result ot these labours. It has been popularly connected with the name of Archbishop Laud, but it was the compilation of Scottish Bishops ; and all the English Archbishop did was (as one of a commission of which T\ ren and Juxon were the other two members) to offer suggestions, prevent rash changes, communicate between the Crown and the Scottish Bishops respecting alterations, and facilitate the progress of the book through the press. The Book of Common Prayer so prepared was not submitted to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. As the preceding pages have shown, the English book was, from first to last, the work of Convocation ; and no doubt the Scottish book ought also to have had the sanction at least of the whole Scottish Church by representation, and not only of the Crown and the Bishops. In the year 1637 it was imposed upon the Church of Scotland by letters patent and the authority of the Bishops : but, as is well known, its introduction was vigorously opposed by a fanatical faction which in the end became supreme, and both the Church and the Prayer Book of Scotland were suppressed. That now in use in the Scottish Church was introduced in later times; but the book of 1637 is so much connected with the history of the period, and has, besides, so much liturgical interest, that a fuller notice of it has been inserted in the Appendix at the end of this work. The American Prayer Book. Until the separation of the North American colonies from England, the English Book of Common Prayer was used without any alteration in the American Church. After they became independent, as the United States, it was thought expedient for the Church to make some changes, especially as alterations were being introduced without authority, and there seemed danger of much disorder in Divine worship if a form were not adopted which could have some claim to be called national. The first step towards this was taken at the General Convention of the American Church ne. 1 at Philadelphia in 1785 : during the next four years the various Offices were gradually remodelled until they took the form in which they are now used, and which was authorized by the General Convention ot 1789. Committees bad been appointed to prepare an entirely new book : but in the end the English Prayer Book was taken as the basis to be adopted. The language was in many parts modernized, tuo Communion Office was restored to a form similar to that of 1549, a selection of Psalms was appointed instead of our daily order, the use of the Athanasian Creed was discontinued, and some other less TO THE PRAYER BOOK. xlv important alterations were made. But the Preface declares that the American Church “is far from intending 1 to depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or wor- ship, or farther than local circumstances require/'’ § Translations of the Prayer Booh. The Book of Common Prayer arose, in no small degree, from a conviction, on the part of the Clergy and Laity of England, that Divine Service should be offered to God in the vernacular tongue of those on whose behalf and by whom it is being offered. The principle thus adopted in respect to themselves has been carried out as far as possible in all the missionary operations of the Church of England ; and the establishment of her forms of Divine Service in countries where the English language is not freely spoken, has generally been accompanied by the translation of the Book of Common Prayer into the language of those who are being won over to the Church of Christ. A necessity has also arisen for translations into some European languages : while provision was made for rendering it into Welsh and Irish at the time of its first issue. An account of the Latin translation will be found under the rubric relating to the use of Divine Service in other languages than the English p. 18]. The following list contains the names of forty languages and dialects, into which the Book of Common Prayer has been translated, but the number is constantly increasing as the missionary work of' the Church is developed : — Latin Italian Bengali Bullom Greek Dutch Hindi Yoruban Hebrew Danish Burmese Malay Welsh Russian Mahratta Dyak Irish Polish Tamil Singhalese Gaelic Modern Greek Susu Indo-Portuguese Manks Persian Amharic Cree French Turkish Telugoo Malagasy German Armenian Chinese Maori Spanish Armeno-Turkish Hawaiian Portuguese Arabic Kafir Most of these translations have been produced under the auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and of the Prayer Book and Homily Society ; and some guarantee is thus given for accuracy. It should also be mentioned as a fact of interest and importance that the Hawaiian version was made in 1863 by the native king, Kamehameha IV., who also annexed to it a Preface which shows a thorough knowledge of the principles of the Prayer Book. A RITUAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAYER BOOK. SECTION I. THE PRINCIPLES OP CEREMONIAL WORSHIP. Forms and ceremonies in Divine Service are bodily manifestations of spiritual worship, and the ordinary means by which that worship is expressed to God. The whole scheme of Redemption is based on a principle which shows that God establishes com- munion between Himself and mankind chiefly through the body and bodily acts, and not through purely mental ones, as the exercise of thought or will. For when a perfect and unimpeded spiritual intercourse was to be renewed between the Creator and His fallen creatures, God, Who “ is a Spirit,” took upon Him a bodily nature, and by means of it became a Mediator, through Whom that intercourse could be originated and maintained. For the particular application, also, of the benefits of His mediation, Christ ordained Sacraments, which are outward and visible sig’ns endowed with the capacity of conveying inward and spiritual grace to the soul through the organs of the body. In analogy with this principle, Ceremonial worship, or Ritual, may be defined as the external body of words and actions by which worship is expressed and exhibited before God and man. As it is ordained that men shall tell their wants to God in prayer, although He knows better than they know themselves what each one’s necessities are, so it is also ordained that spiritual worship shall be com- municated to Him by words and actions, although His Omniscience would be perfectly cognizant of it without their intervention. The Divine Will on this subject has been revealed very clearly and fully in the Holy Bible; from its earliest pages, which record the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, and Noah, to its latest, iu which the worship of Heaven is set forth as it will be offered by the saints of God when the worship of Earth will have passed away. Before the origination of the Jewish system of ceremonial, we find customs which indicate the use of certain definite forms in acts of Divine worship. The chief of these is Sacrifice, in which the fruits of the earth were offered to God, or the body of some slain animal consumed by fire on His altar. Such acts of sacrifice were purely ceremonial, even supposing them to have been unaccompanied by any words ; and the account of Abraham’s sacrifice, in Genesis xv. 9 — 17, illustrates very remarkably the minute character of the ritual injunctions given by God even before the time of the Mosaic system. The Divine institution of the outward ceremony of Circumcision is another instance of the same kind, and one of even greater force, from the general and lasting nature of the rite as at first ordained ; a rite binding on the Jewish nation for nearly two thousand years. Another ceremonial custom to be observed in the Patriarchal times, is that of “ bowing down the head” when worshipping the Lord [Gen. xxiv. 26. IS] ; another, that of giving solemn benedictions, accompanied by laying on of hands [Gen. xxvii. 27 — 29; xxviii. 1 — 4 ; xlvii. 10 ; xlviii. 9—20] ; another, that of setting up a pillar, and pouring oil upon it [Gen. xxviii. 18; xxxv. 14]; another, purification before sacrifice [Gen. xxxv. 2]; and, to name no more, one other, the reverent burial of the dead [Gen. xxiii. 19 ; xxxv. 19; 1. 10], which even then was an act of reverence towards God, as well as of respect and affection towards the departed. The introduction of a higher form of corporate worship was accompanied by a great development of A RITUAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAYER BOOK. xlvii ceremony or ritual. Of what was previously in use, we can only infer that it was divinely instituted ; but the divine institution of the Jewish system of ritual is told us in the most unmistakeable terms in the Holy Bible, and the narration of it occupies more than seven long chapters of the Book of Exodus [xxiv. — xxxi.] , together with the greater part of the twenty-seven chapters of Leviticus. This system of ritual (sometimes called “ Mosaic/'’ but in reality Divine) was revealed with circum- stances of the utmost solemnity. After a preparation of sacrifices, Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, went up into the lower part of Mount Sinai, and from thence “ they saw the God of Israel : and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of Heaven in clearness.'’'’ Moses was then commanded to go up to the summit of the mountain, “ and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days : and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him into the mount : and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights'’"’ [Exod. xxiv. 9 — 18], During this awful time of converse between God and His servant Moses, it appears that the one subject of revelation and command was that of ceremonial worship : the revelation of the moral law being recorded in the single verse, “ And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testi- mony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God ” [Exod. xxxi. 18] . The revelation of God’s will respecting forms and ceremonies, which was thus awfully given to Moses, went into veiy minute particulars, which were chiefly respecting the construction of the Taber- nacle, the dress of those who were to minister in it, the instrumenta of Divine Service, and the ceremonies with which that service was to be carried on. The architecture of the structure itself, the design of its utensils, and of the priestly vestments, and that kind of laws for the regulation of Divine Service which we now know as rubrics, were thus communicated to Moses by God Himself, and in the most solemn manner in which any revelation was ever given from Heaven. And when the revelation was completed, “ the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah : and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in under- standing, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan : and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee ” [Exod. xxxi. 1 — 6] . Thus Divine Inspiration was given to the principal architects and superintendents of the external fabric by means of which Divine Service was to he carried on, as well as a Revelation of its structure, and of the ceremonial itself ; and no words can heighten the importance and value which Almighty God thus indi- cated as belonging to ceremonial worship. Nor did this importance and value belong to ceremonial worship only in the early period of the Jewish nation’s life. It was not given to them as a means of spiritual education, by which they should be gradually trained to a kind of worship in which externals should hold a less conspicuous position. Nothing whatever appears, in the revelation itself, of such an idea as this; but the ceremonial is throughout regarded as having reference to Him in Whose service it was used, looking to the Object of worship, and not to the worshippers. And accordingly, when the Jewish nation attained its highest pitch of prosperity, and probably of intellectual as well as spiritual progress, in the latter years of David and in the reign of Solomon, this elaborate system of ceremonial worship was developed instead of being narrowed. The magnificent preparations which David made for building the Temple are recorded in 1 Chron. xxii., xxviii., and xxix. ; and those which he made for establishing the service there, in 1 Chron. xvi., xxiii. — xxvi. : the descriptions of the structure and of the utensils being almost as minute and detailed as in the commandments of God on Sinai respecting the Tabernacle. In this more intellectual age of the Jewish nation, and for this development of ceremonial worship, God vouchsafed to give inspiration to His servants for their work, as He had done to Bezaleel and Aholiab. When the Holy Bible gives the account of David furnishing Solomon with the designs for the Temple and its furniture, these significant words are added, “ And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit.” Even more striking are David’s own words : “ All this the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern The Lord God, even my God, will be with thee ; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord” [1 Chron. xxviii. 12. 19]. The fulfilment of this prophetic promise is indicated in a subsequent xlviii A RITUAL INTRODUCTION place by the words, “Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God ’’ [2 Chron. iii. 3] : and the Divine approval of all that was done is strikingly shown in 1 Kings ix. 3. 2 Chron. v. 11 — 14; and vii. 1, 2. Nor should the fact be overlooked that the most costly and beautiful house of God which the world ever saw was built, the most elaborate and gor- geous form of Divine Service established, by one who was no imaginative enthusiast, but by one whose comprehensive knowledge and astute wisdom exceeded those of any man who had ever before existed, and were perhaps greater than any learning or wisdom, merely human, which have since been known. Solomon was a man of science, an ethical philosopher, and a statesman, yet a ritualist. Thus the use of Ceremonial Worship in some form is shown to have existed even in the simple Patriarchal ages ; and to have been ordained in its most extreme form by God Himself in the times of Moses, David, and Solomon. Let it be reverently added, that it was this extreme form of Ceremonial Worship which our Lord recognized and took part in when He went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the great Festivals, and the restoration of which in its purity He enforced both at the beginning and end of His ministry by His “ cleansing the Temple ’’ from the presence of those who bought and sold there. The vain and empty private ceremonies which the Pharisees had invented met with the severe condemna- tion of our Lord ; but there is not one act or word of His recorded which tends in the least towards depreciation of the Temple service ; or which can lead to the supposition that the worship of God “ in spirit and in truth ’’ is to be less associated with forms and ceremonies when carried on by Christians, than when it was offered by Moses, David, Solomon, and the Old Testament saints of many centuries. The ritual practices of the Apostolic age are to some extent indicated in the New’ Testament, but as the Temple service was still carried on, and Jerusalem formed the religious centre of the Apostolic Church, it is clear that an elaborate ceremonial was not likely to be established during the first quarter of a century of the Church's existence. Yet this earliest age of the Church witnesses to the principle of ceremonial worship, as the Patriarchal age had done ; and each foreshadowed a higher development of it. A learned German ritualist has written thus on this subject : — “ On mature reflection, I am satisfied that the Apostles by no means performed the Divine Liturgy with such brevity, at least as a general rule, as some have confidently asserted. The faithful, whether converts among the Jews or Gentiles, were accustomed to ceremonies and prayers in their sacrifices ; and can we suppose that the Apostles would neglect to employ the like, tending so greatly as these must do to the dignity of the service, and to promote the reverence and fervour of the worshipper? "Who can believe that the Apostles were content to use the bare words of consecration and no more? Is it not reasonable to suppose that they would also pour forth some prayers to God, especially the most perfect of all prayers which they had learned from the mouth of their Divine blaster, for grace to perform that mystery aright ; others pre- paratory to communion, and again, others of thanksgiving for so inestimable a benefit?" [Krazer do Liturgiis, i. J — 3.] But there are distinct traces of actual forms of service in the Acts of the Apostles, and in some of the Epistles. In the second chapter of the former, at the forty-second verse, it is said of the first Christians that they continued stedfastly in the doctrine [rfj LSay?;] and in the fellowship [ rp /cowcovia] of the Apostles; and in the breaking of the Bread [tj/ K\daei tov aprov], and in the prayers [rai? Trpocreuyat?] ; the two latter expressions clearly indicating settled and definite ceremonial usages with which the writer knew his readers to be acquainted. St. Paul’s reference to a Sunday offertory [1 Cor. xvi. 1] ; to the observance of decency and order in the celebration of Divine Service [1 Cor. xiv. 40” ; to the ordinances, or traditions, which he had delivered to the Corinthians, and which he had received from the Lord Himself [1 Cor. xi. 2] ; and to the divisions of Divine Service in his words, “ I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications [Se^eret?] , prayers [7rpocrei/ya?] , intercessions , and Eucharists \evyapi tinepcSov, Acts i. 13], to which our Lord’s chosen ones resorted after the Ascension in obedience to His command that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait there for His Promised Gift, and “ where abode Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip,” Ac. Ac., who “ all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.” 3 It is necessary to hear in mind, not only what the Upper Room Sendee was designed, hut also what it was not designed, to teach us. Some would gather from it a lesson against the use of solemn circumstance and ceremonial in Christian worship ; but most incorrectly. Passing over the significant notice, that the “ Large Upper Room,” even before any of the Holy Company entered it, was by God’s secret Providence (working by human or angelic ministra- tion) “ furnished and prepared ” — words which may imply much — it must never be forgotten that, in the possibly simple arrange- ments of the Feast, there was something mysteriously iu keeping with the then estate of Him who was to be Lord of the Feast. TO THE PRAYER BOOK. lv But the chief point for us, at present, is this; that in the “Hymn” of our Ever-Blessed Redeemer we meet with a new, and, if possible, more constraining- sanction to the use of Music in Divine Worship. We learn that the “ Service of Song/'’ ordained of old by God for His Church, and commended by so many marks of His approval, so far from being discountenanced by our Lord, was deliberately sanctioned, appropriated, perpetuated, re-consecrated, “ for His Body’s sake/’ by His own most blessed practice and example. Music was henceforth, no less than of old, to form one necessary adjunct, one essential element in Divine Worship. Nor must we fail to notice that, as music was doubtless intended to find its appro- priate place throughout the entire offices of the Christian Church, even as the threefold division of Church Music into “ Psalm, Hymn, Spiritual Song '/’ twice emphatically repeated by the Holy Ghost, would seem to indicate, so its special home is the Liturgy. Wherever absent, it should not be absent here : and the immediate juxta-position of the Words of Institution, in both Gospels, with the mention of the Hymns, may be reverently conceived to teach this. So also does the Church seem instinctively to have felt : regarding the Holy Eucharist as the great centre round which her songs of praise should cluster and revolve ; the great source from which they should take their rise, and flow forth. Pliny’s mention of the early morning meetings of the first Christians to offer Divine Worship and sing hymns to Christ, probably refers to their Eucharistic assemblies. And Justin Martyr’s expression must have a similar allusion, when he speaks of their offering up “ solemn rites and hymns,” Ilofnrds teal v/avovs , — where the word II o paras is interpreted by Grabius to denote the solemn prayers “ in Mysteriorum Cele- bratione.” [Apol. i. 13.] With regard to the nature of the music used in God’s Church in early times, we are utterly in the dark. Over the grand old Temple Music, in fact over the whole of the ancient Jewish Ritual Song, there is an impenetrable veil hanging. There are doubtless natural reasons which may, in a measure, account for the fact; especially this, that the ancient Jews seem to have possessed no musical characters; so that the melodies used in their services have been traditional, and as an inevitable consequence, more or less at the mercy of the singers. And we must further bear in mind that, ever since the woful time of the Captivity, the Holy Nation, instead of maintaining its ancient grand Theocratic independence, has been in subjection successively to all the great powers of the world ; to the Baby- lonian, Medo-Persian, Gneco-Macedonian dynasties ; then, in turn, to Egypt and Syria ; then to the mighty power of Rome. When we consider this, and take into account also their intestine factions, their constant unfaithfulness to God, their gradual loss therefore of their inward strength and glory, and with it of the beauty and completeness of that perfect Ritual which at once clothed, expressed, enshrined, and preserved their Holy Faith ; can we wonder that, even before their dispersion into all lands, the memory of much of their own ancient music had faded away, and their Church song had lost its character, under the ever- varying heathen influences to which it had so long been incidentally subjected? He had “emptied Himself;” and His voluntary self-ahasement was on the eve of its full consummation. At this very Eepast He suffers an Apostle to “lean on His Breast” in the unrestrained familiarity of friendly intercourse. From the loving and simple freedom, then, of this first Eucharist (in which God Incarnate was Himself the visible Celebrant) no single argument can be adduced against outward tokens of awe and reverence before our Lord’s supernatural and spiritual Presence, which would not equally apply to His natural and visible Presence. Our Lord is now “ very highly exalted.” The very same Apostle who here reclined on His Bosom, as on that of a dear friend, is careful to narrate to us how that, when next he beheld Him, after His entrance into Glory, he “fell at His feet as dead.” So, again, the Holy Ghost is no less careful to record, “ for our learning,” the solemn warning which the Christian Church so speedily received, as to the paramount necessity of fencing round this Holy Mystery with suitable ceremonial; telling us of the solemn judgments of the Most High upon those early communi- cants, who, presuming on the simple exterior of this august Service, ere yet the Church had been able to perfect her expres- sive Ritual, and approaching the Sacred Table without reverence, “ not discerning the Lord’s Body,” and counting the “ Blood of the Covenant ” a “ common thing,” drew down upon them the heavy wrath of God, being smitten with " grievous diseases, and sundry kinds of death.” 1 Eph. v. 19. Col. iii. 16. In this threefold division, it is scarcely possible to miss some special secret relation with the three several Persons of the Ever- Blessed Trinity. (1) The “ Psalms,” flowing to us from, and uniting us to, the Old Dispensation, primarily lead us up to, and reveal to us, “the Father of an infinite Majesty.” (2) The “ Hymns,” originating, as we have seen, from the Eucharistic Hymn in the Upper Room, bring us into special connexion with our Lord Jesus Christ. (3) The “ Spiritual Songs,” as their very name indicates, rather represent the free, unrestrained out- breathings in Holy Song of that Divine Spirit which animates and inspires the Body of Christ. So that w r e find the first in our Psalters ; the second chiefly in our Liturgical Hymns, “ Gloria in Excelsis,” “ Ter Sanctus,” and the like; the third in our metrical songs, or odes,— those songs in which Christian feeling has ever delighted to find expression. The first class is rather occupied with God Himself; the second, with God in His dealings with man, through the One Mediator ; the third, with man in his dealings with God, through the Spirit of God quickening him. Reverence and devotion speak in the first ; dogma Asia utterance in the second ; Christian emotion in the third. lvi A RITUAL INTRODUCTION From tlie modern Jewish music we can learn nothing 1 . Music, we are told, has been authoritatively banished from the Synagogue ever since the destruction of Jerusalem ; the nation deeming its duty to be, rather to mourn over its misfortunes in penitential silence, until the Coming of Messiah, than to exult in songs of praise. Hence the music which still practically exists in so many Jewish congregations throughout the world, is more or less arbitrary, and destitute of traditional authority l . We are in equal doubt as to the nature of the ancient Christian music. All we know is that anti- phonal singing was at a very early period introduced : in fact, there can be no reasonable doubt that it was a heritage bequeathed to the Christian Church from her elder Jewish sister, and that the Author of it was none other than the “ Chief Musician” Himself. It was at Antioch, however, where the practice seems first to have systematically established itself, and whence it was ultimately spread over Chris- tendom. This was a city of great importance in the history of Church Music. The Church in Antioch was the one which, next in order after that of Jerusalem, rose to pre-eminence. It was in a special way the mother and metropolis of Gentile Christendom. The very name Christian originated here. Socrates’ account of the beginning of antiphonal singing in this city is too interesting to be passed over. The passage is thus given in Dr. Hanmers translation (London, 1636) : — “ Now let us record whence the liymnes that are song interchangeably in the Church, commonly called Antemes [Anthems], had their originall. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch in Syria, the third Bishop in succession from Peter the Apostle, who was conversant, and had great familiarity with the Apostles, saw a vision of Angels which extolled the Blessed Trinity with Hymnes that were sung interchangeably : and delivered unto the Church of Antioch the order and manner of singing expressed in the Vision. Thereof, it came to passe, that every Church received the same tradition. So much of Antemes.” [Soc. lib. vi. c. 12.] Antioch, as capital of Syria, capital also of Roman Asia in the East, seems to have become a great intellectual as well as theological centre. Here we find the principal theological School of Syria and the East ; a school exercising a great influence throughout Christendom 2 . Antioch appears to have been the city in which Church Song first worked itself into shape; where Jewish tradition and Gentile intel- ligence met and blended ; where the ancient Hebrew antiphonal system of Psalm recitation, and the shattered fragments of the old Ritual Song, allied themselves with, and were subjected to the laws of, modern Grecian musical science. It seems almost certain that Church music is rather Greek than Hebrew in origin. Hellenism had long been doing a Providential, though subsidiary work in preparing the world for Christianity. And though Greece had fallen under the iron grasp of the power of Rome, she had, in turn, subdued her conquerors to her literature, her language, and her arts. In the depart- ment of Christian Song, then, in the Church’s first essays at giving musical expression to her sacred services, no doubt she would be mainly indebted to the science and skill of that nation which had already furnished her with a language, and which yet ruled the intellect of the world. The very names of the (so-called) ecclesiastical modes, or scales, — Dorian, Phiygian, Lydian, Mixo-Lydian, &c., — bear incidental testimony to this fact. Perhaps the Church’s metrical hymn-music is that branch of her song which is most directly and immediately borrowed from ancient Greece. Me find the old Greek and Roman metres freely employed in the ancient Christian hymns ; and doubtless the music to which they were first allied, bore no very remote resemblance to that used in the heathen temples. 1 Dr. Burney says that “the only Jews now on the globe who have a regular musical establishment in their Synagogue, are the Germans, who sing in parts : and these preserve some old melo- dies or chants which are thought to be very ancient.” Padre Martini collected a great number of the Hebrew chants, which are sung in the different synagogues throughout Europe. Dr. Burney has inserted several of these in his History of Music. But, with a single exception, they show not even the remotest affinity to the Gregorian system of melody ; nor, in the sequence of their notes, any possible observance of the ecclesiastical modes or scales. There is, however, one exception. One single melody bears so strange a resemblance (probably purely accidental) to a Church Chant, that it is worth preserving. Transcribed into modern notation, and written in a chant form, with simple harmony, it is as follows : — (Original Key, P.) ■ I Melody to the Title of the LI Psalm, or Lamnatzeach, as sung by the Spanish Jews. =&= -4te =S=i^=B : /gy. if 1 ^ ' 3 — <=2 <=> HSH — hsh & — & s — n — ■ ■■ & G “ '' -CA_ :-^s-U 3 An influence which was eventually exercised towards very pernicious ends. TO THE PRAYER BOOK. lvii Metrical hymns appear to have been first used to any extent by heretics, for the promulgation of their tenets ; and then by the Church, with the view of counteracting heretical teaching, and popularizing the true faith. St. Chrysostom’s attempts to overcome attractive Arian hymn- singing at Constantinople with more attractive orthodox hymn-singing, are well known. Socrates tells us of “ the melodious concert and sweet harmony in the night season;'” of the “ silver candlesticks, after the manner of crosses, devised for the bearing of the tapers and wax candles,” presented to the good Bishop by “ Eudoxia, the Empress,” and used by him to add beauty to his choral processions. It was shortly before this period that St. Ambrose had introduced into the West the system of Hymn-singing and Antiphonal Psalm-chanting. He is said to have learnt it at Antioch, and to have brought his melodies thence. Responsive singing seems never to have been practised in the West till his time : and the circumstances attendant upon its introduction, — for the pmpose of relieving his people in their nightly services during the Artan Persecution, — form an interesting episode in Church History. St. Augustine’s touching account of the effect produced upon himself by the psalms and hymns in St. Ambrose’s Church in Milan, has often been quoted, and is well known. And it is in reference to the period just referred to, that he informs us [Conf. ix. 7], that “ it was then ordained that the Psalms and Hymns should be sung ‘ secundum morem Orientalium partium ; ’ ” and that from Milan this Eastern antiphonal system spread throughout all parts of Western Christendom. It is very difficult to ascertain accurately (and this is not the place to discuss) the exact nature and extent of the influence exerted by St. Ambrose over the Music of the Church in the West. That his influence was very considerable is shown by the fact of the extended use of the term “ Cantus Ambrosianus” for Church song generally. Possibly this wide use of the term may account for the title given to the old melody of the “ Te Deum ,” which — certainly, at least, in the form in which it has come down to us — cannot be of the extremely early date which its name would appear to imply. But the name of St. Ambrose, as a musical reformer, was eclipsed by that of his illustrious successor, St. Gregory, who flourished about 200 years after. As Church Song was all “Ambrosian” before his time, so has it, since, been all “ Gregorian.” The ecclesiastical modes, or scales, were finally settled by him; until the time when Church music broke through its trammels, rejected the confined use of modes and systems essentially imperfect, and, under the fostering influence of a truer science, developed its hidden and exhaustless resources. Without enteiing into any detail respecting the ancient Church scales, it may not be out of place to state thus much : — I. The four scales admitted by St. Ambrose, called the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixo-Lydian (modifications of the ancient Greek scales so named), were simply, in modern language, our respective scales of D, E, P, G, without any accidentals ; the melodies written in each ranging only from the key- note to its octave, and ending properly on the key-note, thence called the “ final Now each particular scale had its own reciting note (or “ dominant ”), generally & fifth above the final. Thus (had there been no exception) we should have had : — The respective “ finals ” of the 4 scales But there was one exception. Eor some reason or other, B was not approved of as a Recitation note; and hence, in the second scale, C was substituted for it. II. To each of these four scales, St Gregory added a subordinate, or attendant, scale — just as, in the ancient Greek system, each “ principal ” mode had two subsidiary, or “ plagal,” modes ; the one below (u7ro) it, and the other above {inrep) it — beginning four notes below it, and therefore characterized by the prefix vi to {hypo, or under ) . Thus, to St. Ambrose’s 1st (or Dorian) mode, St. Gregory added a 7Z/y»o-Dorian. To his 2nd (or Phrygian), St. Gregory added a Hypo- Phiygian. 1 It is not meant that all the chants or melodies in each mode | scale, on which a melody, which came to a full close, would do really end on the “ final but that this is the note, in the | naturally terminate. D E and their corresponding F ■ “ dominants ,” or notes G for recitation s Ivin A RITUAL INTRODUCTION To his 3rd (or Lydian) , St. Gregory added a 7/ypo-Lydian. ,, 4th (or Mixo-Lydian) ,, ,, ITy^o-Mixo-Lydian. So that the number of the scales, instead of four, became eight. Each added scale is essentially the same as its corresponding “principal” scale; the “final” (or key-note, so to speak) of each being the same. Thus, D (for instance) is the proper final note for melodies, whether in the Dorian or Hypo-Dorian mode. The only points of difference between St. Gregory’s added, and St. Ambrose’s original, scales are these : — 1. That each added scale lies a fourth below its original. Thus, while the melodies in the four primary scales lie respectively between D, E, E, G, and their octaves ; the melodies in the “ plagal,” or secondary, scales lie between A, B, C, D, and their octaves. 2. And next, that the recitation notes (or dominants) of the two sets of scales are different ; those of the added scales being respectively F, A, A, C. Thus the eight scales as finally settled by St. Gregory are as follows : — Name. Range of 8 notes beginning from “ Final ” (or Key note) “ Dominant ” (or Reciting note) 1st. Dorian D D A 2nd. Hypo-Dorian A D F 3rd. Phrygian E E C 4:in the Church, by a Bishop or Priest (or a Deacon as locum tenens in some cases), in the presence and with the aid of three, or- at least two other Christian persons. Such prayer pre- supposes a reverent assent to our Lord’s application of the words, “ My House 1 shall be called the house of prayer,” and to those already quoted. To it also may be applied the words of St. Cyprian 2 : — “ They continued with one accord in prayer, mani- festing at the same time the instancy of their praying, and the agreement. Because God, who ‘ maketh men to be of one mind in an house,’ admits into the house divine and eternal those only among whom is unanimous prayer.” This kind of prayer is therefore the highest kind of all. Other prayer is exalted in kind, and probably in efficacy, in proportion as it connects itself with that which is Common ; as it is offered in that sense in which we are taught to say Our Father ; as it is offered under the conviction that Christian individuals stand not alone, each one for himself before God, but are parts of one Body whereof all the members are in communion one with an- other through the One Intercessor, of Whom the ministers of the Church are the earthly representatives. and administration of the Sacraments ] This does not ex- clude the Sacraments from Common Prayer. The corporate work of the Church is distinctly recognized in the administration of Baptism, and the Holy Communion is the root and apex of Common Prayer. But it puts forward prominently the idea of a never-ceasing round of Divine Service as distinguished from the occasional (however frequent) offering of the Holy Eucharist. other rites and ceremonies of the Church ] These words claim, as a matter of course, that the substance of the Prayer Book is in accordance with the theological and devotional system of the Catholic Church : and, in connexion with those which immediately follow, they plainly enunciate the principle set forth mere at large in the Thirty -fourth Article of Religion, that while that system is binding on the w T hole Church, yet particular Churches have a right to carry it out in their own way, according to their own “use” as to detail and ceremonial 3 * . 1 To Kt> ptaitov, Ivy ike, Church, the house of the Lord. 2 On the Lord's Prayer, iv. 3 The phrase “Rites and Ceremonies” is not at all equivalent to our modern words Ritual and Ceremonial : but refers to the minor services of the Church, such as the Commination, or the Churching of 'Women. Arch- bishop Cranmer’s fourth article of 1536 is a good illustration of the meaning intended: “IV. Of Rites and Ceremonies. As vestments in God’s service; sprinkling holy water; giving holy bread; bearing candles on Candlemas Day; giving of ashes on Asli-Wednesday ; bearing of palms on Palm according to the use of the Church of Englan/f\ This right was acted upon so freely in ancient days that there was a con- siderable variation in the details and ceremonial of Divine Service as it was celebrated in different parts of England. Each Prayer Book took its name from the place of its origin, and was thus called the “ York use,” the “ Bangor use,” the “ Hereford use,” the “ Salisbury use,” and so forth : but when uniformity of Com- mon Prayer was established upon the b&sis of these old service- books, one “ use ” only retained its authority, that of the Church of England. In modern prayer books the words “the United Church of England and Ireland ” are substituted for the words “ the Church of England,” under an Order of Council, dated January 1, 1801 ; but this exercise of the Royal authority goes beyond that permit- ted by the Act of Uniformity ; and is very misleading *. The two Churches are, and always have been, in communion with each other, the interchange of friendly relations has always been very free, and they have been united in a common political bond since 1801. The formularies of the Church of England have also been adopted in the Church of Ireland, but a false gloss is put upon the real title of the Prayer Book when it is printed in the un- justifiable form referred to. The Church of England can alter its own “ use,” and so can the Church of Ireland, but neither can control the customs of the other : and, in fact, there are some im- portant variations in the Prayer Books of the two countries which make the expression “the use of the United Church of England and Ireland ” a misnomer. The Prayer Book as it now exists is an adaptation of ancient formularies made by the Church of England alone. Its adoption by other Churches cannot alter the fact, and therefore cannot justly influence the title. However much it may be adopted therefore in Ireland, Scotland, and oilier possessions of the English crown, America, the Book of Common Prayer is still “ according to the use of the Church of England 5 .” together with the Psalter] In the earlier Prayer Books the Psalter was printed with a separate Title-page, as distinct from the Services. The first of Bishop Cosin’s “ Directions to be given to the Printer,” is also, “ Set a fair Frontispiece at the beginning of the Book, and another before the Psalter ; to be designed as the Archbishop shall direct, and after to be cut in brass.” Such an engraved Title-page is affixed to the Sealed Books, and a proof copy is bound up with Cosin’s own volume : but that to the Psalter was not provided. The Ordinal was bound up with the Prayer Book for the first time in 1661. The following Tables will illustrate some of the preceding re- marks, and show at a glance what changes have been authorized. The table of the Contents of the Prayer Book is not in itself of much interest, but it has been so freely handled by modem printers that a work like the present cannot go forth without an accurate copy of the authorized form. The successive changes made in it have a certain interest, and they are therefore arranged in parallel columns in the following Table. There is thus given also a sort of bird’s-eye view of the History of the Prayer Book. Sunday ; creeping to tlie Cross., and kissing it, and offering unto Christ before the same on Good Friday; settingup the sepulchre of Christ; hal. lowing the font, and other like exorcisms, and benedictions, and laudable customs : that these are not to he condemned and cast away, but continued, to put us in remembrance of spiritual things. But that none of these cere- monies have power to reiiiit sin.” — Strype’s Memorials of Cranmer, i. S9. Eccl. Hist. Soc. Ed. A rubric at the end of the Elizabethan Prayer Books enjoins also that “every parishioner shall communicate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be one, and shall also receive the Sacraments and other Rites according to the order in this hook appointed.” 4 The Act of Uniformity empowers the Sovereign to alter the names of the King, Queen, and Royal Family, as occasion shall require ; but to alter the name of the Church itself is a very different thing. In Marriage Licences, and in Letters of Orders, the old form is used : but in many docu- ments the alteration has been adopted. It is right to add that in the title- page of Edward VI. ’s Injunctions he is called “in earth under Christ, of the Church of England and of Ireland the supreme head.” 5 The distinctive title, “Church of England," is very ancient, being found in Magna Charta, where it appears to be used as a familiar phrase. THE CONTENTS. [« § Successive Titles of the Prayer Book. 1549. 1552. 1661. The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church: after the use of the Church of England. Londiui in Officina Ricliardi Graftoni Regii impressoris. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. Anno Domini mdxlix. Mense Martii. [Colophon.] Imprinted at London in Fleet-street, at the sign of the Sun over against the Conduit, by Edward Whit- church. The seventh day of March, the year of our Lord 1549. The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England. If Londini, in Officina Edwardi Whytchurclie. Tf Cum Privilegio ad Imprimendum Solum. Anno 1552. The Book of Common- Prayer and . Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England ; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be Sung or Said in Churches ; and the Form or Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrat- ing of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. § Successive Tables of Contents. 1549. 1552. 1661. The Contents of this Book. 1. A Preface. 2. A Table and Kalendar for Psalms and Lessons, with necessary rules per- taining to the same. 3. The Order for Matins and Evensong, throughout the year. 4. The Introits, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and holy Communion through the year, with proper Psalms and Lessons, for divers feasts and days. 5. The Supper of the Lord and holy Communion, commonly called the Mass. 6. The Litany and Suffrages. 7. Of Baptism, both public and private. 8. - Of Confirmation, where also is a Catechism for children. 9. Of Matrimony. 10. Of Visitation of the Sick, and Com- munion of the same. 11. Of Burial. 12. The purification of women. 13. A declaration of Scripture, with certain prayers to be used the first day of Lent, commonly called Asliwednesday. 14. Of Ceremonies omitted or retained. 15. Certain notes for the more plain explication and decent ministration of things contained in this book. ! The Contents of this Book. 1. A Preface. 2. Of Ceremonies, why some be abolished and some retained. 3. The order how the Psalter is ap- pointed to be read. 4. The Table for the order of the Psalms to be said at Morning and Evening Prayer. 5. The order how the rest of holy Scrip- ture is appointed to be read. 6. Proper Psalms and Lessons at Morn- ing and Evening Prayer, for certain feasts and days. 7. An Almanack. 8. The Table and Kalendar for Psalms and Lessons, with necessary rules apper- taining to the same. 9. The order for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, throughout the year. 10. The Litany. 11. The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used at the ministration of the holy Communion, throughout the year. 12. The order of the ministration of the holy Communion. 13. Baptism, both public and private. 14. Confirmation, where also is a Cate- chism for children. 15. Matrimony. 16. Visitation of the Sick. 17. The Communion of the Sick. 18. Burial. 19. The Thanksgiving of Women after childbirth. 20. A Commination against sinners, with certain Prayers to be used divers times in the year. 21. The form and manner of making and consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. The Contents of this Book. 1. An Act for the Uniformity of Com- mon Prayer. 2. The Preface. 3. Concerning the Service of the Church. 4. Concerning Ceremonies. 5. The Order how the Psalter is ap- pointed to be read. 6. The Order how the rest of the holy Scripture is appointed to be read. 7. A Table of proper Lessons and Psalms. 8. Tables and Rules for the Feasts and Fasts through the whole year. 9. The Kalendar, with the Table of Lessons. 10. The Order for Morning Prayer. 11. The Order for Evening Prayer. 12. The Creed of S. Athanasius. 13. The Litany. 14. Prayers and Thanksgivings upon sever;! occasions. 15. The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used at the Ministration of the holy Communion throughout the year. 16. The Order of the Ministration of the holy Communion. 1 7. The Order of Baptism, both publick and private. 18. The Order of Baptism for those of riper years. 19. The Catechism, with the Order for Confirmation of children. 20. Matrimony. 21. Visitation of the Sick, and Com- munion of the Sick. 22. Burial. 23. Thanksgiving for Women after child-bearing. 24. A Commination or Denouncing of God’s anger and judgments against sinners. 25. The Psalter. 26. Tiie Order of Prayers to be used at Sea. 27. A Form and Manner of Ordaining Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. A 2 AN ACT FOR THE UNIFORMITY OF COMMON PRAYER, and Service in the Church, and Administration of the Sacraments, Primo Elizabeths. WHERE at the death of our late Soveraign Lord King Edward the Sixth, there remained one uniform order of Common Service, and Prayer, and of the administration of Sacraments, Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England, which was set forth in one Book, intituled. The Booh of Common Prayer, and Administra- tion of Sacraments, and other Bites and Ceremonies in the Church of England, Authorized by Act of Parliament holden in the fifth and sixth years of our said late Soveraign Lord King Edward the Sixth, intituled. An Act fo * the Uniformity of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments ; The which was repealed, and taken away by Act of Parliament, in the first year of the Reign of our late Soveraign Lady Queen Mary, to the great decay of the due honour of God, and discomfort to the professors of the truth of Christs Religion : Be it therefore enacted by the Authority of this present Par- liament, That the said Statute of Repeal, and every thing therein contained, only concerning the said Book, and the Service, Ad- ministration of Sacraments, Rites, and Ceremonies contained or appointed in, or by the said Book, shall he void and of none effect, from and after the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next coming : and That the said Book, with the order of Service, and of the Administration of Sacraments, Rites and Ceremonies, with the alteration and additions therein added and appointed by this Statute, shall stand, and he, from, and after the said Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist, in full force and effect, according to the tenour and effect of this Statute : Any thing in the foresaid Statute of Repeal to the contrary not- withstanding. [2] And further he it Enacted by the Queens Highness, with the assent of the Lords and Commons of this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same. That all, and sin- gular Ministers in any Cathedral, or Parish -Church, or other place within this Realm of England, Wales, and the Marches of the same, or other the Queens Dominions, shall from and after the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next coming, he hounden to say and use the Mattens, Evensong, celebration of the Lords Supper, and administration of each of the Sacraments, and all other Common and open Prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the said Book, so Authorized by Parliament in the said fifth and sixth year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth ; with one alteration, or addition of certain Lessons to he used on every Sunday in the year, and the form of the Letany altered, and corrected, and two sentences only added in the de- livery of the Sacrament to the Communicants, and none other, or otherwise : and, That if any manner of Parson, Vicar, or other whatsoever Minister, that ought or should sing, or say Common Prayer mentioned in the said Book, or minister the Sacraments, from, and after the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next coming, refuse to -use the said Common Prayers, or to minister the Sacraments in such Cathedral, or Parish-Church, or other places, as he should use to minister the same, in such order and form, as they he mentioned, and set forth in the said Book, or shall wilfully, or obstinately standing in the same, use any other Rite, Ceremony, Order, Form, or manner of celebrating of the Lords Supper openly, or privily, or Mattens, Even song, admi- nistration of the Sacraments, or other open Prayers, than is men- tioned, and set forth in the said Book, \_Open Prayer in, and through this Act, is meant that Prayer, which is for other to come unto, or hear, either in Common Churches, or private Chappels, or Oratories, commonly called the Service of the Church ] or shaft preach, declare, or speak any thing in the dero- gation, or depraving of the said Book, or any thing therein con- tained, or of any part thereof, and shall be thereof lawfully con- victed, according to the Laws of this Realm, hy verdict of twelve men, or hy his own confession, or hy the notorious evidence of the fact; shall lose, and forfeit to the Queens Highness, Her Heirs, and Successors, for his first offence, the profit of all his Spiritual Benefices, or Promotions, coming, or arising in one whole year next after his conviction : And also that the person so convicted shall for the same offence suffer imprisonment by the space of six moneths, without Bail, or Mainprise : And if any such person, once convict of any offence concerning the premisses, shaft after his first conviction, eftsoons offend, and be thereof in form aforesaid lawfully convict ; That then the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment by the space of one whole year, and also shall therefore be deprived ipso facto of all his Spiritual Promotions; and, That it shall he lawful to all Patrons, or Donors of all and singular the same Spiritual Pro- motions, or any of them, to present, or collate to the same, as though the person or persons so offending were dead : and That, if any such person, or persons, after he shall be twice convicted in form aforesaid, shall offend against any of the premisses the third time, and shall be thereof, in form aforesaid, lawfully con- victed; That then the person so offending, and convicted the third time shall be deprived ipso facto of all his Spiritual Pro- motions, and also shall suffer imprisonment during his life : And if the person, that shall offend, and be convict in form aforesaid, concerning any of the premisses, shall not be Beueficed, nor have any Spiritual Promotion ; That then the same Person, so offend- ing, and convict, shaft for the first offence suffer imprisonment during one whole year next after his said conviction, without Bail or Mainprise : And if any such person not having any Spi- ritual Promotion, after his first conviction, shall eftsoons offend in any thing concerning the premisses, and shaft in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convicted ; That then the same person shall for his second offence suffer imprisonment during his life. [3] And it is Ordained, and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any person, or persous whatsoever, after the said Feast of AN ACT FOR THE UNIFORMITY OF COMMON PRAYER. the Nativity of St. John Baptist next coming, shall in any interludes, Playes, Songs, Rimes, or by other open words de- clare, or speak any thing in the derogation, depraving, or de- spising of the same Book, or of any thing therein contained, or any part thereof, or shall by open fact, deed, or by open threat- nings compel, or cause, or otherwise procure, or maintain any Parson, Vicar, or other Minister in any Cathedral, or Parish- Church, or iu Chappel, or in any other Place, to sing, or say any Common, or open Prayer, or to minister any Sacrament otherwise, or in any other manner, and form, than is mentioned in the said Book ; or that by any of the said means shall unlawfully inter- rupt, or let any Parson, Vicar, or other Minister in any Cathe- dral, or Parish-Church, Chappel, or any other place to sing or say Common and open Prayer, or to minister the Sacraments, or any of them, in such manner, and form, as is mentioned in the said Book ; That then every such person, being thereof lawfully convicted iu form abovesaid, shall forfeit to the Queen our Sove- raign Lady, Her Heirs, and Successors for the first ofl'ence an hundred marks : And if any person, or persons, being once con- vict of any such offence, eftsoons offend against any of the last recited offences, and shall in form aforesaid be thereof lawfully convict; That then the same person, so offending and convict, shall for the second offence forfeit to the Queen our Soveraign Lady, Her Heirs, and Successors Four hundred marks : And if any person, after he in form aforesaid shall have heen twice con- vict of any offence concerning any of the last recited offences, shall offend the third time, and be thereof in form abovesaid lawfully convict ; That then every person, so offending and con- vict, shall for his third offence forfeit to our Soveraign Lady the Queen all his Goods and Chattels, and shall suffer imprison- ment during his life : And if any person or persons, that for his first offence concerning the premisses, shall be convict in form aforesaid, do not pay the sum to be paid by vertue of his con- viction, in such manner and form, as the same ought to be paid, within six weeks next after his conviction ; That then every person so convict, and so not paying the same, shall for the same first offence, in stead of the said sum, suffer imprisonment by the space of six moneths without Bail or Mainprise : And if any person, or persons, that for his second offence concerning the premisses shall be convict in form aforesaid, do not pay the said sum to be paid by vertue of his conviction, and this estatute, in such manner and form, as the same ought to be paid, within six weeks next after this said second conviction ; That then every person so convicted, and not paying the same, shall for the same second offence, in the stead of the said sum, suffer imprisonment during twelve moneths without Bail or Mainprise : and, That from and after the said Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next coming, all, and every person and persons, inhabit- ing within this Realm, or any other the Queens Majesties Do- minions, shall diligently and faithfully, having no lawful, or reasonable excuse to be absent, indeavour themselves to resort to their Parish-Church, or Chappel accustomed, or upon reasonable let thereof, to some usual place, where Common Prayer, and such service of God shall be used in such time of let, upon every Sun- day, and other dayes ordained and used to be kept as holy days, and then, and there to abide orderly and soberly, during the time of Common Prayer, Preachings, or other Service of God there to be used and ministred, upon pain of punishment by the censures of the Church ; and also upon pain, that every person so offend- ing shall forfeit for every such offence twelve pence, to be levied by the Churchwardens of the Parish, where such offence shall be done, to the use of the poor of the same Parish, of the goods, lands, and tenements of such offender, by way of distress. [4] And for due execution hereof, the Queens most excellent Majesty, the Lords Temporal, and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, doth in Gods Name earnestly require, and charge all the Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries, that they shall endeavour themselves to the uttermost of their know- ledges, that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesse and Charges, as they will answer before God for such evils and plagues, wherewith Almighty God may justly punish His people for neglecting His good and whol- [5 som law. And for their Authority in this behalf. Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and singular the same Archbishops, Bishops, and all other their officers, exercising Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, aswel in place exempt, as not exempt, within their Diocesse shall have full power and Authority by this Act to reform, correct and punish by censures of the Church, all, and singular persons, which shall offend within any of their juris- dictions, or Diocesse, after the said Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next coming, against this Act and Statute : Any other Law, Statute, Priviledge, Liberty, or Provision heretofore made, had, or suffered to the contrary notwithstanding. [5] And it is Ordained and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every Justice of Oyer and Detenniuer, or Justices of Assize shall have full power and Authority in every of their open and general Sessions to enquire, hear and determine all and all manner of offences, that shall be committed, or done contrary to any Article contained in this present Act, within the limits of the Commission to them directed, and to make process for the execution of the same, as they may do against any person being indicted before them of trespass, or lawfully convicted thereof. [6] Provided always, and be it Enacted by the Authority afore- said, That all and every Archbishop and Bishop shall and may at all time and times at his liberty and pleasure, joyn and associate himself by vertue of this Act to the said Justices of Oyer and Determiner, or to the said Justices of Assise, at every of the said open and general Sessions, to be liolden in any place within his Diocess for and to the inquiry, hearing, and determining of the offences aforesaid. [7] Provided also, and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Books concerning the said Service shall at the costs and charges of the Parishioners of every Parish, and Cathedral Church be attained, and gotten before the said Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist next following, and that all such Parishes and Cathedral Churches, or other places, where the said Books shall be attained and gotten before the said Feast of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist, shall within three weeks next after the said books so attained and gotten, use the said Service, and put the same in use according to this Act. [8] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no person or persons shall be at any time hereafter impeached, or otherwise molested of or for any of the offences above mentioned, hereafter to be committed, or done contrary to this Act, unless he or they so offending be thereof indicted at the next general sessions to be holden before any such Justices of Over and De- terminer, or Justices of Assise, next after any offence committed or done, contrary to the tenour of this Act. [9] Provided always, and be it Ordained, and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That all and singular Lords of the Parliament, for the third offence above mentioned, shall be tried by their Peers. [10] Provided also, and be it Ordained, and Enacted by the Au- thority afore said. That the Mayor of London, and all other Mayors, Bayliffs, and other Head-officers of all, and singular Cities, Boroughs, and Towns-corporate within this Realm, Wales and the Marches of the same, to the which Justices of Assise do not commonly repair, shall have full power and Authority by vertue of this Act, to enquire, hear, and determine the offences above- said, and every of them yearly, within fifteen days after the Feasts of Blaster, and saint Michael the Archangel, iu like manner and form, as Justices of Assise, and Oyer, and Deter- miner may do. [11] Provided always, and be it Ordained and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and singular Archbishops, and Bishops, and every of their Chancellors, Commissaries, Arch- deacons, and other Ordinaries, having any peculiar Ecclesiastical jurisdiction shall have full power and Authority by vertue of this Act, aswel to enquire in their Visitation, Synods, or elsewhere within their jurisdiction, at any other time, and place, to take accusations, and informations of all, and every the things above mentioned, done, committed, or perpetrated within the limits of their jurisdiction and Authority, and to punish the same by admonition, excommunication, sequestration, or deprivation, or 6 ] AN ACT FOR THE UNIFORMITY other censures, and processes, in like form, as heretofore hath been used in like cases by the Queens Ecclesiastical Laws. [12] Provided ahvaies, and be it Enacted, That whatsoever person offending in the premisses shall for the first offence receive punishment of the Ordinary, having a testimonial thereof under the said Ordinaries seal, shall not for the same offence eftsoons be convicted before the Justices ; and likewise receiving for the said first offence punishment hy the Justices, he shall not for the same first offence eftsoons receive punishment of the Ordinary : Any thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwith- standing. [13] Provided always, and be it Enacted, That such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers thereof shall be retained, and be in use, as was in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, until other order shall be therein taken by Authority of the Queens Majesty, with the advice of Her Commissioners, ap- pointed and Authorized under the great seal of England for causes Ecclesiastical, or of the Metropolitan of this Realm : And also. That if there shall happen any contempt, or irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies, or Rites of the Church, by the mis- using of the Orders appointed in this Book ; the Queens Majesty may by the like advice of the said Commissioners, or Metro- politan, ordain and publish such further Ceremonies, or Rites, as may be most for the advancement of Gods glory, the edifying of His Church, and the due reverence of Cheists holy Mysteries and Sacraments. [14] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances, wherein, or whereby any other Service, Administration of Sacraments, or Common Prayer is limited, established, or set forth to be used within this Realm, or any other the Queens Dominions, and Countries, shall from henceforth utterly be void, and of none effect. AN ACT FOR THE UNIFORMITY OF PUBLICK PRAYERS, And Administration of Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies : And for establishing the Form of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating Eisliops, Priests, and Deacons in the Church of England. XIY. Carol. II. WHEREAS in the first year of the late Queen Elizabeth there was one Uniform Order of Common Service and Prayer, and of the Administration of Sacraments, Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England (agreeable to the Word of God, and usage of the Primitive Church) compiled by the Reverend Bishops and Clergy, set forth in one Book, Entituled, The Booh of Common Prayer, and Administration of Sacraments, and other Bites and Ceremonies in the Church of England, and enjoyned to be used by Act of Parliament, liolden in the said First year of the said late Queen, Entituled, An Act for the Uniformity of Com- mon Prayer, and Service in the Church, and Administration of the Sacraments, very comfortable to all good people desirous to live in Christian conversation, and most profitable to the Estate of this Realm, upon the which the Mercy, Favour and Blessing of Almighty God is in no wise' so readily and plentifully poured, as by Common Prayers, due using of the Sacraments, and often Preaching of the Gospel, with devotion of the hearers : And yet this notwithstanding, a great number of people in divers parts of this Realm, following their own sensuality, and living without knowledge and due fear of God, do wilfully and Schismatically abstain, and refuse to come to their Parish Churches and other Publick places where Common Prayer. Administration of the Sacraments, and Preaching of the Word of God is used upon the Sundays and other days ordained and appointed to be kept and observed as Holy days : And whereas by the great and scandalous neglect of Ministers in using the said Order, or Liturgy so set forth and enjoyned as aforesaid, great mischiefs and inconve- niences, during the times of the late unhappy troubles, have arisen and grown; and many people have been led into Factions and Schisms, to the great decay and scandal of the Reformed Religion of the Church of England, and to the hazard of many souls : for prevention whereof in time to come, for setling the Peace of the Church, and for allaying the present distempers, which the indisposition of the time hath contracted. The Kings Majesty (according to His Declaration of the Five and twentieth of October, One thousand six hundred and sixty) granted His Commission under the great Seal of England to several Bishops and other Divines to review the Book of Common Prayer, and to prepare such Alterations and Additions, as they thought fit to offer ; And afterwards the Convocations of both the Provinces of Canterbury and York, being by his Majesty called and assembled (and now sitting) His Majesty hath been pleased to Authorize and require the Presidents of the said Convocations, and other the Bishops and Clergy of the same, to review the said Book of Common Prayer, and the Book of the Form and manner of the Making and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons ; And that after mature consideration, they should make such Additions and Alterations in the said Books respectively, as to them should seem meet and convenient ; And should exhibit aud piesent the same to His Majesty in writing, for his further allowance or confirmation ; since which time, upon full and mature delibera- tion, they the said Presidents, Bishops, and Clergy of both Pro- vinces have accordingly reviewed the said Books, and have made some Alterations which they think fit to be inserted to the same ; and some Additional Prayers to the said Book of Common-Prayer, to be used upon proper and emergent occasions; and have ex- OF PUBLTCK PRAYERS. bibited and presented tl e same unto his Majesty in writing, in one Book, Eutituled, The Book of Common Prayer , and Admi- nistration of the Sacraments , and other Bites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England, to- gether with the Psalter, or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches ; and the Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Beacons : All which His Majesty having duely considered hath fully approved and allowed the same, and recommended to this present Parliament, that the said Books of Common Prayer, and of the Form of Ordination and Consecration of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with the Alterations and Additions, which have I cen so made and presented to His Majesty by the said Convoca- tions, be the Book, which shall be appointed to be used by all that Officiate in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and Chappels, and in all Cliappels of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities, and the Colledges of Eaton and Winchester, and in all Parish -Churches and Chappels within the Kingdom of Eng- land, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and by all that Make, or Consecrate Bishops, Priests or Deacons in any of the said Places, under such Sanctions and Penalties as the Houses of Parliament shall think fit : Now in regard that nothing conduceth more to the setling of the Peace of this Natiou (which is desired of all good men) nor to the honour of our Religion, and the propagation thereof, than an Universal agreement in the Public Worship of Almighty God ; and to the intent that every person within this Realm, may' certainly know the rule, to which he is to conform in Public Worship, and Ad- ministration of Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England, and the manner how, and by whom Bishops, Priests, and Deacons are, and ought to he Made, Or- dained and Consecrated ; [2] Be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty, by the advice, and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- poral, and of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That all and singular Minis- ters, in any Cathedral, Collegiate, or Parish-Church or Chappel, or other place of Publiek Worship within this Realm of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, shall be bound to say and use the Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Celebration and Administration of both the Sacraments, and all other the Publiek, and Common Prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the said Book, annexed and joyned to this present Act, and Entituled, The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Bites and Cere- monies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England : together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches ; and the form or manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Beacons : and That the Morning and Evening Prayers, therein contained, shall upon every Lords day, and upon all other days and occasions, and at the times therein ap- pointed, be openly and solemnly read by all and every Minister or Curate in every Church, Chappel, or other place of Publiek Worship within this Realm of England, and places aforesaid. [3] And to the end that Uniformity in the Publiek Worship of God (which is so much desired) may be speedily- effected, Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every- Parson, Vicar, or other Minister whatsoever, who now hath, and enjoyeth any Ecclesiastical Benefice, or Promotion within this Realm of England, or places aforesaid, shall in the Church, Chappel, or place of Publiek Worship belonging to his said Benefice or Pro- motion, upon some Lords day before the Feast of Saint Bartho- lomew, which shall he in the year of our Lord God, One thou- sand six hundred sixty and two, openly, publickly, and solemnly lead the Morning and Evening Player appointed to be read by, and according to the said Book of Common Prayer at the times thereby appointed, and after such reading thereof shall openly- and publickly, before the Congregation there assembled, declare his unfeigned assent, and consent to the use of all tilings in the said Book contained and prescribed, in those words, and no other ; u [4] I A. B Bo here declare my unfeigned assent, and consent to all, and every thing contained, and prescribed in, and by the Book intituled, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites, and Ceremonies of the Qhurch, according to the use of the Church of England ; to- gether with the Psalter, or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be sung, or said in Churches, and the form, or manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, aud Deacons ; [5] And, That all and every such person, w-ho shall (without some lawful Impediment, to be allowed and approved of by the Ordinary of the place) neglect or refuse to do the same within the time aforesaid, or (in case of such Impediment) within one Moneth after such Impediment removed, shall ipso facto be de- prived of all his Spiritual Promotions ; And that from thenceforth it shall be lawful to, and for all Patrons, and Donors of all aud singular the said Spiritual Promotions, or of any of them, accord- ing to then - respective Rights, and Titles, to present, or collate to the same; as though the person, or persons, so offending or neglecting were dead. [6] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every person, who shall hereafter be presented, or collated, or put into any Ecclesiastical Benefice, or Promotion within this Realm of England and places aforesaid, shall in the Church, Chappel, or place of Publiek Worship, belonging to his said Benefice or Pro- motion, within two Moneths next after that he shall be in the actual possession of the said Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion, upon some Lords day- openly, publickly and solemnly Read the Morning and Evening Prayers, appointed to be Read by, and according to the said Book of Common Prayer, at the times thereby appointed, and after such Reading thereof, shall openly, and publickly before the Congregation there assembled, declare his unfeigned assent, and consent to the use of all things therein contained and prescribed, according to the form before appointed : and That all and every such person, who shall (without some lawful Impediment, to be allowed and approved by the Ordinary of the place) neglect or refuse to do the same within the time aforesaid, or (in case of such Impediment) within one month after such Impediment removed shall ipso facto be deprived of all his said Ecclesiastical Benefices and Promotions; and That from thenceforth, it shall and may be lawful to, and for all Patrons, and Donors of all and singular the said Ecclesiastical Benefices and Promotions, or any- of them (according to their respective Eights and Titles) to present, or collate to the same, as though the person or persons so offending, or neglecting, were dead. [7] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That in all places, where the proper Incumbent of any Parsonage, or Vicarage, or Benefice with Cure doth reside on his Living, and keep a Curate, the Incumbent himself in person (not having some lawful Impediment, to be allowed by the Ordinary of the place) shall once (at the least) in every month openly and pub- lickly Read the Common Prayers and Service, in, and by the said Book prescribed, and (if there be occasion) Administer each of the Sacraments and other Rites of the Church, in the Parish Church or Chappel, of, or belonging to the same Parsonage, Vicarage, or Benefice, in such order, manner and form, as in, and by the said -Book is appointed, upon pain to forfeit the sum of Five pounds to the use of the poor of the Parish for every offence, upon conviction by confession, or proof of two credible Witnesses upon Oath, before two Justices of the Peace of the County, City, or Town-Corporate where the offence shall be com- mitted, (which Oath the said Justices are hereby Impowred to Administer) and in default of payment within ten days, to be levied by distress, and sale of the goods and chattels of the Offender, by the Warrant of the said Justices, by- the Church- wardens, or Over-seers of the Poor of the said Parish, rendriug the surplusage to the party. [8] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That every Dean, Canon, and Prebendary of every- Cathedral, or Col- legiate Church, and all Masters, and other Heads, Fellows, Chap- 8 ] AN ACT FOR THE UNIFORMITY lains, and Tutors of, or in any Colledge, Hall, House of Learning, or Hospital, and every Publick Professor, and Reader in either of the Universities, and in every Colledge elsewhere, and every Par- son, Vicar, Curate, Lecturer, and every other person in holy Orders, and every School-master keeping any publick, or private School, and every person Instructing, or Teaching any Youth in any House or private Family as a Tutor, or School-master, who upon the first day of May, which shall be in the year of our Lord God, One thousand six hundred sixty two, or at any time thereafter shall be Incumbent, or have possession of any Deanry, Canonry, Prebend, Mastership, Headship, Fellow-ship, Professors- place, or Readers place, Parsonage, Vicarage, or any other Eccle- siastical Dignity or Promotion, or of any Curates place, Lecture, or School ; or shall instruct or teach any Youth as Tutor, or School-master, shall before the Feast-day of Saint Bartholomew, which shall bo in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty two, or at or before his, or their respective admission to be Incumbent, or have possession aforesaid, subscribe the Declaration or Acknowledgement following. Scilicet : [9] I A. B. Do declare that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King ; ami that I do abhor that Traiterous Position of talcing Arms by His Autho- rity against His Person, or against those that are Commission- ated by him; and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England, as it is now by Law established. And I do di dare that I do hold, there lies no Obligation upon me, or on any other person from the Oath, commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant, to endeavour any change, or alteration of Government, either in Church, or Slate ; and that the same was in it self an unlaivful Oath, and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this King- dom. [10] Which said Declaration and Acknowledgement shall be subscribed by every of the said Masters and other Heads, Fellows, Chaplains, and Tutors of, or in any Colledge, Hall, or House of Learning, and by every publick Professor and Reader in either of the Universities, before the Vice-Chancellor of the respective Universities for the time being, or his Deputy; And the said Declaration or Acknowledgement shall be subscribed before the respective Arch -bishop. Bishop or Ordinary of the Diocess, by every other person hereby injoyned to subscribe the same, upon pain, that all and every of the persons aforesaid, failing in such subscription, shall lose and forfeit such respective Deanry, Ca- nonry, Prebend, Mastership, Headship, Fellowship, Professors place. Readers place. Parsonage, Vicarage, Ecclesiastical Dignity, or Promotion, Curates place. Lecture, and School, and shall be utterly disabled, and ipso facto deprived of the same ; and that every such respective Deanry, Canonry, Prebend, Mastership, Headship, Fellowship, Professors place. Readers place. Parson- age, Vicarage, Ecclesiastical Dignity, or Promotion, Curates place. Lecture and School shall he void, as if such person so fail- ing were naturally dead. [11] And if any Schoolmaster or other person, Instructing or teaching Youth in any private House or Family, as a Tutor or Schoolmaster, shall Instruct or Teach any Youth as a Tutor or Schoolmaster, before License obtained from his respective Archbishop, Bishop, or Ordinary of the Diocess, according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm, (for which he shall pay twelve- pence onely) and beiore such subscription and acknowledgement made as aforesaid; Then every such School -master and other. Instructing and Teaching as aforesaid, shall for the first offence sufi'er three months Imprisonment without hail or mainprise; and for every second and other such offence shall sufi’er three months Imprisonment without bail or mainprise, and also forfeit to His Majesty the sum of five pounds. And after such subscription made, every such Parson, Vicar, Curate, and Lecturer shall procure a certificate under the Hand and Seal of the respective Archbishop, Bishop, or Ordinary of the Diocess, (who are hereby enjoyned and required upon demand to make and deliver the same) and shall publickly and openly lend the same, together with the Declaration, or Acknowledge- ment aforesaid, upon some Lords day within three months then next following, in his Parish Church where he is to officiate, in the presence of the Congregation there assembled, in the time of Divine Service ; upon pain that every person failing therein shall lose such Parsonage, Vicarage, or Benefice, Curates place, or Lecturers place respectively, and shall be utterly disabled, and ipso facto deprived of the same ; And that the said Parsonage, Vicarage, or Benefice, Curates place or Lecturers place shall be void, as if he was naturally dead. [12] Provided always, that from and after the Twenty fifth day of March, which shall be in the year of our Lord God, One thou- sand six hundred eighty two, there shall be omitted in the said Declaration or Acknowledgement so to be subscribed and read, these words following, scilicet, And I do declare that L do hold there lies no obligation on me, or on any other person from the Oath, commonly called The solemn League and Covenant, to endeavour any change, or alte- ration of Government either in Church or Stale ; And that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath, and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom ; So as none of the persons aforesaid shall from thenceforth he at all obliged to subscribe or read that part of the said Declara- tion or Acknowledgement. [13] Provided always, and be it Enacted, That from and after the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, which shall be in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred sixty and two, no person, who now is Incumbent, and in possession of any Parsonage, Vicarage, or Benefice, and who is not already in holy Orders by Episcopal Ordination, or shall not before the Feast-Jay of Saint Bartholo- mew be ordained Priest or Deacon, according to the form of Episcopal Ordination, shall have, hold, or enjoy the said Parson- age, Vicarage, Benefice with Cure or other Ecclesiastical Pro- motion within this Kingdom of England, or the Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed; hut shall be utterly disabled, and ipso facto deprived of the same ; and all his Eccle- siastical Promotions shall be void, as if he was naturally dead. [IT] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no person whatsoever shall thenceforth be capable to be admitted to any Parsonage, Vicarage, Benefice, or other Ecclesiastical Pro- motion or Dignity whatsoever, nor shall presume to Consecrate and Administer the holy Sacrament of the Loeds Supper, before such time as he shall be Ordained Priest, according to the form and manner in, and by the said Book prescribed, unless he have formerly been made Priest by Episcopal Ordination, upon pain to forfeit for every offence the sum of One hundred pounds; (one moyety thereof to the Kings Majesty, the other moyety thereof to be equally divided between the poor of the Parish where the offence shall be committed, and such person, or persons as shall sue for the same by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information in any of his Majesties Courts of Record ; wherein no Essoign, Protection, or Wager of Law shall be allowed) And to be disabled from taking, or being admitted into the Order of Priest, by the space of one whole year then next following. [15] Provided that the Penalties in this Act shall not extend to the Foremens or Aliens of the Forein Reformed Churches al- lowed, or to be allowed by the Kings Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, in England. [16] Provided always, That no title to confer, or present by lapse shall accrue by any avoidance, or deprivation ipso facto by vertue of this Statute, but after six months after notice of such void- ance, or deprivation given by the Ordinary to the Patron, or such sentence of deprivation openly and publickly read in the Parish Church of the Benefice, Parsonage, or Vicarage becoming void, or whereof the Incumbent shall be deprived by vertue of this Act. [17] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That no Form, or Order of Common Prayers, Administration of Sacra- ments, Rites or Ceremonies shall he openly used in any Church, Chappel, or other Publick place of or in any Colledge, or Hall in either of the Universities, the Colledges of Westminster, 717 n OF PUBLICK PRAYERS. * hesfer , or Eaton, or any of them, other than what is prescribed and appointed to be used in and by the said Book ; and That the present Governour, or Head of every Colledge and Hall in the said Universities, and of the said Colledges of Westminster, Win- chester, and Eaton, within one month after the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, which shall be in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred sixty and two : And every Governour or Head of any of the said Colledges, or Halls, hereafter to be elected, or appointed, within one month next after his Election, or Collation, and Admission into the same Government, or Head- ship, shall openly and publickly in the Church, Chappel, or other Publiek place of the same Colledge, or Hall, and in the presence of the Fellows and Scholars of the same, or the greater part of them then resident, Subscribe unto the Nine and thirty Articles of Religion, mentioned in the Statute made in the thirteenth year of the Reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, and unto the said Book, and declare his unfeigned assent and consent unto, and approbation of the said Articles, and of the same Book, and to the use of all the Prayers, Rites, and Ceremonies, Forms, and Orders in the said Book prescribed, and contained according to the form aforesaid ; and that all such Governours, or Heads of the said Colledges and Halls, or any of them as are, or shall be in holy Orders, shall once at least in every Quarter of the year (not having a lawful Impediment) openly and publickly Read the Morning Prayer, and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be Read in the Church, Chappel, or other Publiek place of the same Colledge or Hall, upon pain to lose, and be suspended of, and from all the Benefits and Profits belonging to the same Government or Headship, by the space of Six months, by the Visitor or Visitors of the same Colledge or Flail; And if any Governour or Head of any Colledge or Hall, Suspended for not Subscribing unto the said* Articles and Book, or for not Reading of the Morning Prayer and Service as aforesaid, shall not at, or before the end of Six months next after such suspension, Sub- scribe unto the said Articles and Book, and declare his consent thereunto as aforesaid, or read the Morning Prayer and Service as aforesaid, then such Government or Headship shall be ipso facto void. [18] Provided always, That it shall and may be lawful to use the Morning and Evening Prayer, and all other Prayers and Service prescribed in and by the said Book, in the Chappels or other Publiek places of the respective Colledges and Halls in both the Universities, in the Colledges of Westminster, Winchester, and Eaton, and in the Convocations of the Clergies of either Province in Latine ; Any thing in this Act contained to the contrary not- withstanding. [19] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no person shall be, or be received as a Lecturer, or permitted, suf- fered, or allowed to Preach as a Lecturer, or to Preach, or Read any Sermon or Lecture in any Church, Chappel, or other place of Publiek worship, within this Realm of England, or the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, unless he be first approved and thereunto Licensed by the Archbishop of the Pro- vince, or Bishop of the Diocess, or (in case the See be void) by the Guardian of the Spiritualties, under his Seal, and shall in the presence of the same Archbishop, or Bishop, or Guardian Read the Nine and thirty Articles of Religion, mentioned in the Statute of the Thirteenth year of the late Queen Elizabeth, with Declaration of his unfeigned assent to the same ; and That every person, and persons who now is, or hereafter shall be Licensed, Assigned, Appointed, or Received as a Lecturer, to preach upon any day of the week in any Church, Chappel, or place of Publiek worship within this Realm of England, or places aforesaid, the first time he Preaclieth (before his Sermon) shall openly, pub- lickly, and solemnly Read the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be Read for that time of the day, and then and there publickly and openly declare his assent unto, and approbation of the said Book, and to the use of all the Prayers, Rites and Ceremonies, Forms and Orders therein con- tained and prescribed, according to the Form before appointed in this Act ; And also shall upon the first Lecture-day of every month afterwards, so long as he continues Lecturer, or Preacher l» there, at the place appointed for his said Lecture or Sermon, before bis said Lecture or Sermon, openly, publickly, and solemnly Read the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be read for that time of the day, at which the said Lecture or Sermon is to be Preached, and after such Reading thereof, shall openly and publickly, before the Congregation there assembled, declare his unfeigned assent and consent unto, ai.d approbation of the said Book, and to the use of all the Prayers, Rites and Ceremonies, Forms and Orders therein contained and prescribed, according to the form aforesaid ; and. That all and every such person and persons who shall neglect or refuse to do the same, shall from thenceforth be disabled to Preach the said, or any other Lecture or Sermon in the said, or any other Church, Chappel, or place of Publiek worship, until such time as he and they shall openly, publickly, and solemnly Read the Common- Prayers and Service appointed by the said Book, and Conform in all points to the things therein appointed and prescribed, accord- ing to the purport, true intent, and meaning of this Act. [20] Provided alwaies, that if the said Sermon or Lecture be to be Preached or Read in any Cathedral, or Collegiate Church or Chappel, it shall be sufficient for the said Lecturer openly at the time aforesaid, to declare his assent and consent to all things contained in the said Book, according to the form aforesaid. [21] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That if any person who is by this Act disabled to Preach any Lecture or Sermon, shall during the time that he shall continue and remain so disabled, Preach any Sermon or Lecture ; That then for every such offence the person and persons so offending shall suffer Three months Imprisonment in the Common Gaol without Bail or mainprise, and that any two Justices of the Peace of any County of this Kingdom and places aforesaid, and the Mayor or other chief Magistrate of any City, or Town-Corporate, within the same, upon Certificate from the Ordinary of the place made to him or them of the offence committed, shall, and are hereby re- quired to commit the person or persons so offending to the Gaol of the same County, City, or Town Corporate accordingly. [22] Provided alwaies, and be it further Enacted by the Au- thority aforesaid, That at all and every time and times, when any Sermon or Lecture is to be Preached, the Common Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be Read for that time of the day, shall be openly, publickly, and solemnly Read by some Priest, or Deacon, in the Church, Chappel, or place of Publiek worship, where the said Sermon or Lecture is to be preached, before such Sermon or Lecture be Preached ; And that the Lec- turer then to Preach shall be present at the Reading thereof. [23] Provided nevertheless. That this Act shall not extend to the University-Churches in the Universities of this Realm, or either of them, when or at such times as any Sermon or Lecture is Preached or Read in the same Churches, or any of them, for, or as the publiek University-Sermon or Lecture; but that the same Sermons and Lectures may be Preached or Read in such sort and manner as the same have been heretofore Preached or Read; This Act, or any thing herein contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. [24] And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the several good Laws, and Statutes of this Realm, which have been formerly made, and are now in force for the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, within this Realm of England, and places aforesaid, shall stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever, for the establish- ing and confirming of the said Book ; Entituled, The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Bites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England ; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches ; and the form or manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Beacons ; herein before mentioned to be joyned and annexed to this Act ; and shall be applied, prac- tised, and put in ure for the punishing of all offences contrary to the said Laws, with relation to the Book aforesaid, and no other. [25] Provided alwaies, and be it further Enacted by the Au- thority aforesaid, That in all those Prayers, Litanies, and Collects, B 10 ] AN ACT FOR THE UNIFORMITY OF PUBLICK PRAYERS. which do any way relate to the King-, Queen, or Royal Progeny, the Names be altered and changed from time to time, and fitted to the present occasion, according to the direction of lawful Authority. [26] Provided also, and be it Enacted by the Authority afore- said, That a true Printed Copy of the said Book, Entituled, The Boole of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Bites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use cf the Church of England; together with the Psalter, or Psalms of David, Pointed as they are to he sung or said in Churches ; and the form and manner of Malcing, Ordaining , and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Beacons, shall at the costs and charges of the Parishioners of every Parish-Church, and Chappelry, Cathedral Church, Colledge, and Hall, be attained and gotten before the Eeast-day of Saint Bartholomew, in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred sixty and two, upon pain of forfeiture of Three pounds by the month, for so long time as they shall then after he unprovided thereof, by every Parish, or Chap- pelry, Cathedral Church, Colledge, and Hall, making default therein. [27] Provided alwaies, and be it Enacted by the Authority afore- said, That the Bishops of Hereford, Saint Bavids, Asaph, Bangor, and Landaff, and their Successors shall take such order among themselves, for the souls health of the Flocks committed to their Charge within Wales, That the Book hereunto annexed be truly and exactly Translated into the Brittish or Welsh Tongue, and that the same so Translated and being by them, or any three of them at the least viewed, perused, and allowed, he Imprinted to such number at least, so that one of the said Books so Trans- lated and Imprinted, may he had for every Cathedral, Collegiate, and Parish -Church, and Chappel of Ease in the said respective Diocesses, and places in Wales, where the Welsh is commonly spoken or used before the First day of Hay, One thousand six hundred sixty five; and, That from and after the Imprinting and publishing of the said Book so Translated, the whole Divine Ser- vice shall be used and said by the Ministers and Curates through- out all Wales within the said Diocesses, where the Welsh Tongue is commonly used, in the Brittish or Welsh Tongue, in such manner and form as is prescribed according to the Book hereunto annexed to be used in the English Tongue, differing nothing in any Order or Form from the said English Book ; for wlucb Book, so Translated and Imprinted, the Church-wardens of every of the said Parishes shall pay out of the Parish-money in their hands for the use of the respective Churches, and be allowed the same on their Accompt; and, That the said Bishops and their Suc- cessors, or any Three of them, at the least, shall set and appoint the price, for which the said Book shall be sold ; And one other Book of Common Prayer in the English Tongue shall be bought and had in every Church throughout Wales, in which the Book of Common Prayer in Welsh is to be had, by force of this Act, before the First day of May, One thousand six hundred sixty and four, and the same Book to remain in such convenient places, within the said Churches, that such as understand them may resort at all convenient times to read and peruse the same, and also such as do not understand the said Language, may by con- ferring both Tongues together, the sooner attain to the know- ledge of the English Tongue; Any thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding ; And until Printed Copies of the said Book so to be Translated may be had and provided, the Form of Common Prayer, established by Parliament before the making of this Act, shall be used as formerly in such parts of Wales, where the English Tongue is not commonly understood. [28] And to the end that the true and perfect Copies of this Act, and the said Book hereunto annexed may be safely kept, and per- petually preserved, and for the avoiding of all disputes for the time to come ; Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority afore- said, That the respective Deans and Chapters of every Cathedral, or Collegiate Church, within England and Wales shall at their proper costs and charges, before the twenty fifth day of Becember, One thousand six hundred sixty and two, obtain under the Great Seal of England a true and perfect printed Copy of this Act, and of the said Book annexed hereunto, to be by the said Deans and Chapters, and their Successors kept and preserved in safety for ever, and to be also produced, and shewed forth in any Court of Record, as often as they shall be thereunto lawfully required; And also there shall be delivered true and perfect Copies of this Act, and of the same Book into the respective Courts at West- minster, and into the Tower of London, to be kept and preserved for ever among the Records of the said Courts, and the Records of the Tower, to be also produced and shewed forth in any Court as need shall require ; which said Books so to be exemplified under the Great Seal of England, shall be examined by such persons as the Kings Majesty shall appoint under the Great Seal of England for that purpose, and shall be compared with the Original Book hereunto annexed, and shall have power to correct, and amend in writing any Error committed by the Printer in the printing of the same Book, or of any thing therein contained, and shall certifie in writing under their Hands and Seals, or the Hands and Seals of any Tliree of them at the end of the same Book, that they have examined and compared the same Book, and find it to be a true and perfect Copy ; which said Books, and every one of them so exemplified under the Great Seal of Eng- land, as aforesaid, shall be deemed, taken, adjudged, and ex- pounded to be good, and available in the Law to all intents and purposes whatsoever, and shall be accounted as good Records as this Book it self hereunto annexed ; Any Law or Custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. [29] Provided also, That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not be prejudicial or hurtful unto the Kings Professor of the Law within the University of Oxford, for, or concerning the Prebend of Shipton, within the Cathedral Church of Sarum, united and annexed unto the place of the same Kings Professor for the time being, by the late King James of blessed memory. [30] Provided always, That whereas the Six and thirtieth Article of the Nine and thirty Articles agreed upon by the Arch-bishops, and Bishops of both Provinces, and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London, in the year of our Lord, One thousand five hundred sixty two, for the avoiding of diversities of Opinions, and for establishing of consent, touching true Re- ligion, is in these words following, viz. That the Book of Consecration of Archbishops, and Bishops, and Ordaining of Priests and Beacons, lately set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament, doth contain all things necessaiy to sv.ch Consecration and Ordaining, neither hath it any thing that of itself is superstitious, and ungodly ; And therefore whosoever are Consecrated or Ordered according to the Bites of that Book, since the second year of the aforenamed King Edward unto this time, or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Ordered according to the same Bites ; We decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and lawfully Consecrated and Ordered ; [311 It be Enacted, and be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That all Subscriptions hereafter to be had or made unto the said Articles, by any Deacon, Priest, or Ecclesiastical person, or other person whatsoever, who by this Act or any other Law now in force is required to Subscribe unto the said Articles, shall be construed and taken to extend, and shall be applied (for aud touching the said Six aud thirtieth Article) unto the Book con- taining the form and manner of Making, Ordaining, aud Conse- crating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in this Act mentioned, in such sort and manner as the same did heretofore extend unto the Book set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth, men- tioned in the said Six aud thirtieth Article ; Any thing in the said Article, or in any Statute, Act, or Canon heretofore had or made, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. [32] Provided also, That the Book of Common Prayer, and Ad- ministration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of this Church of England, together with the form and manner of Ordaining, and Consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons here- tofore in use, and respectively established by Act of Parliament in the First and Eighth years of Queen Elizabeth, shall be still used and observed in the Church of England, until the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, which shall be in the year of our Lord God, Oue thousand six bundled sixty aud two THE PREFACE [a.d i66i.] TT hath been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first com- JL piling of her Publick Liturgy, to keep the mean between the two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it. For, as on the one side common experience sheweth, that where a change hath been made of things advisedly established (no evident necessity so requiring) sundry inconveniences have thereupon ensued ; and those many times more, and greater than the evils, that were intended to be remedied by such change : So on the other side, the particular Forms of Divine worship, and the Rites, and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein, being things in their own nature Indifferent, and alterable, and so acknowledged ; it is but reasonable, that upon weighty and important considerations, according to the various exigency of times and occasions, such changes and alterations should be made therein, as to those that are in place of Authority should from THE PREFACE. This was placed before the Book of Common Prayer in 1661, and with a special regard to the circumstances of the times, the country having just emerged from the Great Rebellion, and the Church of England from a very great persecution. Under such circumstances it is impossible not to admire the temperate and just tone which characterizes it throughout. The writer of this Preface was Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, who was probably chosen on account of qualifications such as would fit him for composing in this tone an explanation of the course which it had been necessary to take, and which had been taken, with reference to the Book of Common Prayer. He is, and was then, well known for his works on Conscience, and on the Obligation of an Oath : and he was looked up to with great respect by all parties in those days of religious division. “For the satisfying all the dissenting brethren and other,” says Kennett, in his Register (p. 633), “ the Convocation’s reasons for the alterations and additions to the Liturgy were by them desired to be drawn up by Dr. Sanderson, which being done by him, and approved by them, was appointed to be printed before the Liturgy, and may he now known by tills Title, The Preface, and begins thus, It hath been the wisdom of the Church, fyc.” In the Acts of the Upper House of Convocation it is recorded that “ on Monday the 2nd of December, the Preface or Intro- duction to the Common Prayer Book was brought in and read.” It was referred to a Committee composed of Wren, Bishop of Ely; Skinner, Bishop of Oxford ; Henchman, Bishop of Salisbury ; and Griffith, Bishop of St. Asaph, and some amendments were made in it as it passed through their hands. first compiling ] This is a phrase which could hardly have dropped from Sanderson’s exact pen. No doubt the period re- ferred to is that of the Reformation ; but as every page of the following work will show, the change which then took place in the Divine Worship of the Church of England was founded on offices which were re-formed out of the old ones, not “ compiled” in any true sense; and that the addition of “first” to the word adopted is calculated to misrepresent the true origin of our “ publick Liturgy.” in their own nature Indifferent ] This and other apologetic expressions of the Preface must he read by the light of contem- porary history. But it is undoubtedly true that in their own nature, Rites and Ceremonies are “ indifferent.” Their impor- tance arises from the relation in which they are placed with reference to God as the Object of worship, aud man as the worshipper of God. That relation being established, what was indifferent in its own nature becomes of high import through the new character which is thus given to it. alterable ] In the 34th Article of Religion this statement is more elaborately set forth : “ Of the Traditions of the Church. — • It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies he in all places one, and utterly like ; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries, times, and men’s manners, so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word. Whosoever through his private judgment, willingly and purposely, doth openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, (that others may fear to do the like,) as he that offendeth against the common order of the Church, and hurteth the autho- rity of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the weak brethren. “ Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church ordained only by man’s authority, so that all things be done to edify- ing” those that are in place of Authority ] Who are the properly authorized persons may also be known from the 20th Article of Religion : “ Of the authority of the Church. — The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Contro- versies of Faith : And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it he repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.” As will be seen from the Historical Introduction to this volume, this principle was carried out by throwing the whole responsibility of revising the older Prayer Book on the Convocations of Canter- bury and York, which officially represented the Church of England. Statutable authority was given to the work of the Church by the Crown in Parliament, in 14 Carol. II. The principle is further enunciated in the succeeding words of the Preface, where the “ Princes ” or reigning Sovereigns are named, but the whole work of revision during their respective reigns is attributed to the Church, which “ upon just and weighty con- siderations her thereunto moving, hath yielded to make such alterations in some particulars, as in the respective times of those sovereigns were thought convenient.” B 2 12 ] THE PREFACE. time to time seem either necessary or expedient. Accordingly we find, that in the Reigns of several Princes of blessed memory since the Reformation, the Church, upon just and weighty considerations her thereunto moving, hath yielded to make such alterations in some particulars, as in their respective times were thought convenient: Yet so, as that the main Body and Essentials of it (as well in the cliiefest materials, as in the frame and order thereof) have still continued the same unto this day, and do yet stand firm and unshaken, not- withstanding all the vain attempts and impetuous assaults made against it by such men as are given to change, and have always discovered a greater regard to their own private fancies and interests, than to that duty they owe to the publick. By what undue means, and for what mischievous purposes the use of the Liturgy (though enjoined by the Laws of the Land, and those Laws never yet repealed) came, during the late unhappy confusions, to be discontinued, is too well known to the world, and we are not willing here to remember. But when, upon His Majesty’s happy Restoration, it seemed probable, that, amongst other things, the use of the Liturgy also would return of course (the same having never been legally abolished) unless some timely means were used to prevent it ; those men who under the late usurped powers had made it a great part of their business to render the people disaffected thereunto, saw themselves in point of reputation and interest concerned (unless they would freely acknow- ledge themselves to have erred, which such men are very hardly brought to do) with their utmost endeavours to hinder the restitution thereof. In order where- unto divers Pamphlets were published against the Book of Common Prayer, the old Objections mustered up, with the addition of some new ones more than formerly had been made, to make the number swell. In fine great importuni- ties were used to His Sacred Majesty, that the said Book might be Revised, and such Alterations therein, and Additions thereunto made, as should be vain attempts and impetuous assaults ] The unreasonable con- duct of those who opposed the restoration of the Church and her devotional system was scarcely more conspicuous than the fierce energy by which it was characterized. For four months these “ impetuous assaults ” were carried on in the Savoy Conference ; and abundant evidence was given that “ private fancies and interests” had much stronger influence than the public good. Baxter, the chief leader of the opposition, composed a substitute for the Prayer Book which dissenting congregations could not be got to use, any more than the Church of England could be prevailed on to adopt it ; and yet on such a private fancy as this most of that bitter opposition centred. Nor must it be for- gotten that “ private interest ” was deeply concerned, since the constitutional restoration of the Church and the Prayer Book necessarily involved the restoration of the surviving clergy to the benefices which men who were not priests of the Church of England had wrenched out of their hands. These facts are re- ferred to simply to show that the expressions here used in the Preface are not those of bitterness or controversy, but plain statements of what actually occurred ; and which it was necessary to mention for the sake of explanation, as ordered by Con- vocation. divers Pamphlets ’] The most important reply to these 1 It may be interesting and useful to append the titles of some of these Pamphlets that were published before December, 16C0 : — The Old Nonconformist, touching the Book of Common Prayer and Cere- monies. 4to. 40 pp. 1660. Presbyterial Ordination vindicated ..... with a brief discourse concern- ing imposed Forms of Prayer and Ceremonies. 4to. 48 pp. 1660. Erastus Junior, by Josiah Webb, Gent., a serious detester of the dregs of the Anti-christian Hierarchy yet remaining among us. 4to. 1660. [The author was supposed to be a Romanist.] The Judgment of Foreign divines, as well from Geneva as other parts, touching the Discipline, Liturgy, and Ceremonies of the Church of England. With a lette" from Calvin to Knox on the same subject. 4to. 1660 pamplilets, next to the Prayer Book itself, was “A Collection of Articles, Injunctions, Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Consti- tutions Ecclesiastical, with other Public Records of the Church of England; chiefly’ in the times of K. Edward Vlth, Q. Eliza- beth, and K. James. Published to vindicate the Church of England, and to promote Uniformity and Peace in the same. And humbly presented to the Convocation.” This collection was made by Dr. Sparrow, afterwards Bishop successively of Exeter and Norwich. It was published in 1661, and was a kind of leg.d or constitutional sequel to a well-known work which he had printed in December, 1660, “A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer, wherein that Service is vindicated from the grand accusation of Superstition, by showing that it is a Reason- able Service, and so not Superstitious.” great importunities'] This refers to the deputations se t to the King before and after he came into England, by the Presbyte- rians; which led to the Savoy Conference. The word “persua- Reasons showing the necessity of Reformation of the public doctrine. Offered to the consideration of Parliament by divers Ministers of sundry Counties of England. 4to. 1660. The Common Prayer unmasked. 4to. 1660. The Common Prayer Book no Divine Service; or, a small Curb to the Bishops’ Career, &c. By Vavasour Powell. 4to. 1660. Beams of former Light , discovering how evil it is to impose doubtful and disputable Forms and Practices upon Ministers. 4to. 1660. Reasons showing the Neccssi y of the Reformation of the Public Doctrine, Worship, Rites and Ceremonies, Church government and discipline. Re- puted to he (but indeed are not) established by Law. By Cornelius Burgess. 4to. 1660. Smectymnuus Redivivus. 4to. 1660. A Treatise of Divine Worship. Tending to prove that the Ceremonies imposed upon the Ministers of the Gospel in England in present Contro- versy, are in their present use unlawful. Printed 1604. 4to. 1660. [“Exceptions against the Common Prayer” was not printed until 1661. after the King had yielded to the “importunities ” referred to; and was not therefore one of these pamphlets.} THE PREFACE. [13 thought requisite for the ease of tender Consciences : whereunto His Majesty, out of his pious inclination to give satisfaction (so far as could be reasonably expected) to all his subjects of what persuasion soever, did graciously con- descend. In which review we have endeavoured to observe the like Moderation as we find to have been used in the like case in former times. And therefore of the sundry Alterations proposed unto us, we have rejected all such as were either of dangerous consequence (as secretly striking at some established Doctrine, or laudable Practice of the Church of England , or indeed of the whole Catholick Church of Christ) or else of no consequence at all, but utterly frivolous and vain. But such alterations as were tendered to us (by what persons, under what pretences, or to what purpose soever so tendered) as seemed to us in any degree requisite or expedient, we have willingly, and of our own accord assented unto : Not enforced so to do by any strength of Argument, convincing us of the necessity of making the said Alterations : For we are fully persuaded in our judgments (and we here profess it to the world) that the Book, as it stood before established by Law, doth not contain in it any thing contrary to the Word of God, or to sound Doctrine, or which a godly man may not with a good Conscience use and submit unto, or which is not fairly defensible against any that shall oppose the same ; if it shall be allowed such just and favourable construction as in Common Equity ought to be allowed to all Human Writings, especially such as are set forth by Authority, and even to the very best Trans- lations of the holy Scripture itself. Our general aim therefore in this undertaking was, not to gratify this or that party in any their unreasonable demands ; but to do that, which to our best understandings we conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church ; the procuring of Reverence, and exciting of Piety, and Devotion in the publick Worship of God ; and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of cavil or quarrel against the Liturgy of the Church. And .as to the several variations from the former Book, whether by Alteration, Addition, or otherwise, it shall suffice to give this general account. That most of the Alterations were made, either first, for the better direction of sion” was introduced at this time to indicate one or the other side of those who supported and those who opposed the Prayer Booh. In which review TFJS have endeavoured ] This is the language of men who were sure of the ground, constitutional and eccle- siastical, upon which they were treading. They could speak as the Church of England, because the Convocations of Canterbury and York faithfully represented her. Catholiclc Church of Christ ] This is one of many places in which the position of the Church of England towards the Catho- lic Church is taken for granted as sound and firm. Another such has been pointed out already in the Title-page of the Prayer Book. frivolous and vain ] It is very remarkable to see how trifling these objections, officially made at the Savoy Conference, often were. One of them was to the reading of any part of the Burial Service at the grave, as the minister was sure to catch cold by doing so. The Bishops replied that a cap would remedy this inconvenience ; and this was the reply given by the Dissenting Ministers : which, though long, is inserted as being very charac- teristic of the tone of the whole objections that were offered : “ We marvel that you say nothing at all to our desire (that it be expressed in a Rubrick, that prayers and exhortations there used, he not for the benefit of the dead, but only for the instruction and comfort of the living). You intend to have a very indiscreet Ministry, if such a needlesse Circumstance may not he left to their discretion. The contrivance of a Cap instead of a Ruhr, slioweth that you are all unacquainted with the subject, of which you speak : and if you speak for want of experience of the case of souls, as you now do about the case of men’s bodies, we could wish you some of our experience of one sort (by more converse with all the members of the flock) though not of the other. But we would here put these three or four Questions to you. “1. Whether such of ourselves as cannot stand still in the cold winter at the grave, half so long as the Office of Burial re- quireth, without the certain hazard of our lives (though while we are in motion we can stay out longer), are hound to believe your Lordships, that a Cap will cure this better than a Ruhr., though we have proved the contrary to our cost ? and know it as well as we know that cold is cold. Do you think no place but that which a cap or clothes do cover, is capable of letting in the excessively refrigerating air ? “ 2. Whether a man that hath the most rational probability, if not a moral certainty, that it would be his death, or dangerous sickness (though he wore 20 caps) is hound to obey you in this case ? “3. Whether usually the most studious, laborious ministers, be not the most invaletudinary and infirm ? and “ 4. Whether the health of such should be made a jest of, by the more healthful ; and be made so light of, as to he cast awav, rather than a ceremony sometime be left to their discretion ? And whether it be a sign of the right and genuine spirit of Re- ligion, to subject to such a ceremony, both the life of godliness, and the lives of ministers, and the people’s souls P Much of this concerneth the people also, as well as the ministers.”— Grand Dehate, p. 145. It is to he hoped the time can never return when such trifling and selfish arguments can be used on such a question. 14 ] THE PREFACE. them that are to officiate in any part of Divine Service; which is chiefly done in the Kalendars and Rubricks : Or secondly, for the more proper expressing of some words or phrases of ancient usage in terms more suitable to the lan- guage of the present times, and the clearer explanation of some other words and phrases, that were either of doubtful signification, or otherwise liable to mis- construction : Or thirdly, for a more perfect rendering of such portions of holy Scripture, as are inserted into the Liturgy ; which, in the Epistles and Gospels especially, and in sundry other places, are now ordered to be read according to the last Translation : and that it was thought convenient, that some Prayers and Thanksgivings, fitted to special occasions, should be added in their due places ; particularly for those at Sea, together with an office for the Baptism of such as are of riper years : which, although not so necessary wdien the former Book was compiled, yet by the growth of Anabaptism, through the licentious- ness of the late times crept in amongst us, is now become necessary, and may be always useful for the baptizing of Natives in our Plantations, and others converted to the Faith. If any man, who shall desire a more particular account of the several Alterations in any part of the Liturgy, shall take the pains to compare the present Book with the former ; we doubt not but the reason of the change may easily appear. And having thus endeavoured to discharge our duties in this weighty affair, as in the sight of God, and to approve our sincerity therein (so far as lay in us) to the consciences of all men ; although we know it impossible (in such variety of apprehensions, humours, and interests, as are in the world) to please all ; nor can expect that men of factious, peevish, and perverse spirits should be satisfied with any thing that can be done in this kind by any other than themselves : Yet we have good hope, that what is here presented, and hath been by the Convocations of both Provinces with great diligence examined and approved, will be also well accepted and approved by all sober, peaceable, and truly conscientious sons of the Church of England. the growth of Anabaptisni] The effect of this upon the genera- tion in which this Preface was written must have been very awful : and the necessity for the Service spoken of was strongly felt by the Convocation. In a work on the Bills of Mortality, written in 1665, there are some incidental remarks which strikingly corroborate those of this Preface: “The keeping of Parish Registers having been taken out of the hands of every Parish Minister, and committed to some inferior fellow elected by the people, and confirmed by the Justices of Peace, had been much neglected, and was again reduced into better order. And till this year the account of Christenings had been neglected more than that of Burials ; one and the chief cause whereof was a religious opinion against the baptizing of Infants, either as unlawful or unnecessary. If this were the only reason, we might, by our defects of this kind, conclude the growth of this opinion, and pronounce that not half the people of England be- tween the years 1650 and 1660 were convinced of the need of baptizing Upon the whole matter it is most certain that the number of heterodox believers was very great between the said year 1650 and 1660, and so peevish were they as not to have the births of their children registered .... 1 ” It may well be believed that it was this privation of the grace of Baptism which led to such fearful profligacy and infidelity in the time of Charles JI. and his immediate successors. Convocations of both Provinces ] For greater expedition in the work of revision certain Commissioners were appointed by the Convocation of York to sit in the Convocation of Canterbury as their representatives j and thus was accomplished a selection of representatives from the whole body of the Church of England clergy. The last words of this Preface contain an appeal to other times than those in and for which they were written. The safe path which was marked out so wisely by the Reformers has proved to be one which has approved itself to all subsequent generations, and it was the effort of the 1661 Revisers to walk in it faithfully, by returning, wherever they could, to the original English Prayer Book of 1549. Had they attempted to do this to a greater extent, there might have been danger of their whole work being set aside. Sobriety in wild and fanatical times, peace in a con- troversial age, and conscientiousness when so many were unscru- pulous, were wise watchwords. ■ Grant’s Observations on the Bills of Mortality. 8vo. 1665. CONCERNING THE SERVICE OE TIIE CHURCH [a.d. iji9.] f a ^ HERE was never any thing by JL the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which, in con- tinuance of time hath not been cor- rupted : As, among other things, it may plainly appear by the Common Prayers in the Church, commonly called Divine Service. The first original and ground whereof if a man would job viii. 8 - 10 . search out bv the ancient Fathers, he Cf. p. 315, note 5, J ’ “ex . ... pa ~ shall find, that the same was not or- trum .... dained but of a good purpose, and for a great advancement of godliness. For they so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible (or the greatest part thereof), should be read over once every year ; intending thereby, that the Clergy, and especially such as were Ministers in the congregation, should (by often reading, and meditation in God’s word) be stirred up to godli- ness themselves, and be more able to exhort others by wholesome doctrine, and to confute them that were Adver- saries to the Truth ; and further, that the people (by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the Church) might continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, and be the more inflamed with the love of his true Religion. But these many years passed, this cf. p. [ 25 , note, godly and decent Order of the ancient Fathers hath been so altered, broken, ***** N IHIL enim humano elaboratum ingenio, tarn exaetum initio un- quam fuit, quin postea, multorum ac- viary * 1: ’ 35 ' 7 ' cedente judicio, perfeetius reddi possit, ut in ipsis etiam ecclesiasticis institutis circa primitivam prsesertim ecclesiam contigisse videmus. ***** Et profecto si quis modum precandi olim a majoribus traditum diligenter consideret, plane intelligat horum om- nium prsecipuam ab ipsis habitam esse rationem. ***** Tertia, ut religionis quoque futuri magistri quotidiana sacrae scriptune et ecclesiasticarum liistoriarum lectione erudiantur, complectanturque (ut Paulus ait) eum, qui secundum doc- trinam est, fidelem sermonem, et po- tentes sint exhortari in doctrtna sana, et eos, qui contradieunt, arguere. * * * * * Sed factum est nescio quo pacto pre- cantium negligentia, ut paullatim a sanctissimis illis veterum patrum in- Tliis explanatory introduction is the original Preface of tlie Prayer Book, and is supposed to have been written by Cranmer. It was moved to this place when the present Preface was inserted in 1661. Two short sentences were also erased. By whomsoever it was written, there can be no doubt that it was composed with the Reformed Roman Breviary of Quignonez lying open before the writer. The passages in the right-hand column are, with two exceptions, taken from an edition of 1537, belonging to Queen’s College, Oxford, and the preface to this edition agrees with all the later copies. But the Paris edition of 1536 (probably following the Roman one of 1535) differs con- siderably *. Our English Preface is most like the later edition of Quignonez ; hut the paragraph enclosed in brackets appears to show that the earlier one was also known to the Reformers of our Services. There are six copies of this Breviary in the Bod- leian Library, one at the British Museum, one at the Routh ' The writer has not been able to meet with this, but copies from Gue- ranger’s Institutions Liturgiques, p. 398. Library of Durham University, one in the Public Library at Cambridge, and one in Queen’s College, Oxford; but none of these are earlier than 1537. Others are in private hands. It has already been mentioned, in the Historical Introduction (p. xx), that this Reformed Roman Breviary exercised some in- fluence upon the reformed English offices. It set us the example of compression in the services, and also of method. Quignonez removed the ancient Confession and Absolution to the beginning of the daily services, and in this too he was followed by our Reformers. His Breviary, again, established a system of two lessons on ordinary, or ferial days ; the first of which was taken from the Old Testament, and the second from the New Testa- ment. On festivals, a third lesson was added, which was gene- rally a short passage from a homily of St. Gregory or some other oatristic author. The two former were seldom entire chapters, but were taken in a regular succession, like our own daily lessons. In some respects me cnanges made by Cardinal Quignonez, and sanctioned by Paul III. in a Papal bull, were more sweeping in their character than those of our own reform. It is evident from CONCERNING THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH. I0J and neglected, by planting in uncertain Stories, and Legends, with multitude of Responds, Verses, vain Repetitions, Commemorations, and Synodals ; that commonly when any Book of the Bible was begun, after three or four Chapters were read out, all the rest were unread. And in this sort the Book of Isaiah was begun in Advent, and the Book of Genesis in Septuagesima j but they were only begun, and never read through : After like sort were other Books of holy Scripture used. And 1 cor. xiv. 2—i9. moreover, whereas St. Paul would have such language spoken to the people in the Church, as they might understand, and have profit by hearing the same ; The Service in this Church of England these many years, hath cf. P . xxiii. been read in Latin to the people, which they understand not ; so that they have heard with their ears only, and their heart, spirit, and mind, have not been edified thereby. And furthermore, not- withstanding that the ancient Fathers have divided the Psalms into seven Portions, whereof every one was called see p. 3i4. a Nocturn : Now of late time a few of them have been daily said, and the rest utterly omitted. Moreover, the number and hardness of the Rules called the Pie, and the manifold chang’- stitutis discederetur. Nam libn Scripturse sacra;, qui statis annis tem- portbus legendi erant more majorum vix dum incepti omittuntur in alio breviario. Turn historic sancto- rum qusedam tarn incultse, et tarn sine delectu script* habentur in eodem, ut nec authoritatem habere videantur nec gravitatem. [Ut exemplo esse possunt liber Genesis, qui incipitur in Septuagesima, liber Isaise, qui in Ad- ventu, quorum vix singula capitula perlegimus : ac eodem modo cetera Veteris Testamenti volumina degusta- mus magis quam legimus. Nec secus accidit in Evangelia, et reliquam Scripturam Novi Testamenti, quorum in loco successerunt alia, nec utilitate cum his, nec gravitate comparanda, qu;e quotidie agitatione lingo* magis quam intentione mentis inculcantur.] ***** et psalmorum plensque omissis, pauci singulis fere diebus repeterentur. ***** Accedit tarn perplexus ordo, tamque difficilis precandi ratio, ut interdum liis preface that others, beside himself, were engaged on the work of revision ; and this, as well as the long time occupied over it, offers another point of comparison between the two reformed service-books, those of Rome and England. more majorum] Later on occur also the following words : “ Ac illud ante omnia visum nobis est in consuetudinem revocare, ut Script lira Sacra maxime omnium toto anno, et omnes psalmi singulis septimanis perlegerentur.” Ut exemplo ] This passage is in the earlier edition of 1536, but not in that from which the rest is quoted. The writer has been obliged to quote it from Gueranger, not being able to meet with this edition in England. Responds] These were short anthems, similar to that which is ten times sung during the reading of the passage of Scripture which contains the Ten Commandments. Theoretically they gave the key-note of the Lection; but this principle was often deviated from, and the sense was frequently broken up rather than illus- trated. The practice, in moderation, is a very excellent one '. Verses'] Versifies, a short form of respond. vain Repetitions] See Historical Introduction, p. xxvii. Commemorations] Anthems commemorative of festivals. Synodals] The provincial constitutions or canons which were read in parish churches after the conclusion of synods. The read- ing of them after the lessons was probably the origin of the corre- sponding custom of giving out notices after the Second Lesson. 1 See p. 11, where the 9th Respond for Festivals in Advent is given in a note. the Pie] The following is exactly one-third of the Pica or Pie for a single Sunday, the first of Advent. Haskell observes that it was not possible for the same service to occur on the same Sunday of the year twice running; and it will be seen that Quignonez and our Reformers did not overstate the case in respect to the complexity of this ancient rule. In York Minster Library there is a volume containing the Pie only. “ Pica de Dominica Prima Adventus. “LITERA DOMINICALIS A.— Tertia Decembris tota can- tetur Historia Aspiciens. Secundae Vesper® erunt de Sancto Osmundo, cum pleno servitio in crastmo ; et solennis memoria de octava, et de Dominica, et de Sancta Maria cum antiphona Are Maria. — Feria 2 de S. Osmundo: ix. lectiones: omnia de Com- muni unius Confessoris et Pontificis. Sec. vesp. erunt de com- memoratione, et mem. de Sancto, de octava, de Adventu, et de S. Maria, cum ant. Are Maria. — Feria 3, 5, et sabbato, de com- memorationibus, et Respousoria ferialia preetermittantur ; et Missa de oct. S. Andre® dicitur in capitulo. “ LIT. DOM. B. — Quin to Cal. Dec. tota cantetur hist. Aspiciens, et mem. de S. Maria. — Fer. 2, 6, et sabb. de commem. — Fer. 3 de feria, et nihil de martyribus nisi mem. ad vesp. et ad matutinas de S. Maria. Missa de vigilia. — Fer. 4. de Apostolo, et solen. mem. de Adv. et de S. Maria. — Fer. 5 de fer. cum Resp. feri- alibus, et mem. de oct. et Missa de 4 fer.” And so on, through the seven Sunday Letters. It ■was, perhaps, from the confused appearance which a page of Pica presents that printers came to call any portion of type CONCERNING THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH. [17 See p. [15, mar- gin. mgs of the Service was the cause, that to turn the Book only was so hard and intricate a matter, that many times there was more business to find out what should be read, than to read it when it was found out. These inconveniences therefore con- sidered, here is set forth such an Order, whereby the same shall be redressed. And for a readiness in this matter, here is drawn out a Kalendar for that purpose, which is plain and easy to be understood ; wherein (so much as may be) the reading of holy Scripture is so set forth, that all things shall be done in order, without breaking one piece from another. For this cause be cut off Anthems, Responds, Invitatories, and such like things as did break the continual course of the reading of the Scripture. Yet, because there is no remedy, but that of necessity there must be some Rules; therefore certain Rules are here set forth ; which, as they are few in number, so they are plain and easy to be understood. So that here you have an Order for Prayer, and for the reading of the holy Scripture, much agreeable to the mind and pur- pose of the old Fathers, and a great deal more profitable and commodious, than that which of late was used. It is more profitable, because here are left out many things, whereof some are untrue, some uncertain, some vain and superstitious ; and nothing is or- dained to he read, but the very pure Word of God, the holy Scriptures, or that which is agreeable to the same ; and that in such a language and order as is most easy and plain for the un- derstanding both of the readers and hearers. It is also more commodious, both for the shortness thereof, and for the plainness of the Order, and for that the Rules be few and easy. paulo minor opera in requirendo pona- tur, quam, cum inveneris, in legendo. ***** Versiculos, responsoria, et capitula omittere idcirco visum est . . . . et le- gentes ssepe morentur cum molestia quEeritandi, locum relinqui voluimus eontinenti lectioni Scriptura Sacra . . . ***** Habet igitur hsec precandi ratio tres maximas commoditates. Primam, quod precantibus simul acquiritur utriusque Testamenti peritia. Secundum, quod res est expeditissima propter summam ordinis simplicitatem et nonnullam brevitatem. Tertiam, quod historic sanctorum nihil habeant, ut prius quod graves, et doctas aures offendat. ***** quasdam omisimus illis nec proba- bilitate nec gravitate pares .... which is in utter disorder through accident or otherwise by the name of “ pie.” The ecclesiastical use of the word is thought to have been derived from mVa|, an index, or table, from the wooden hoards on which the directions for service were written out in primitive days. It is identical with “ordinale” and with “Directorium sacerdotum.” The “Pica” type of later days took its name from the large letters in which the pica of the Anglican Portiforia was printed. few and easy ] The following passage was omitted from the Preface at the last revision : — “ Furthermore, by this order the Curates shall need none other books for their public service, hut this book and the Bible. By the means whereof, the people shall not be at so great charges for books as in times past they have been.” It was crossed out by Bishop Cosin ; not, probably, from any idea that the passage was an unworthy one, but because it was so entirely out of date when the press had made the advance it had in 1661. Although, moreover, the passage was applicable to the case of poor parish churches, it was not so in that of richer 18 ] THE LATIN PRAYER BOOK, And whereas heretofore there hath been great diversity in saying and singing in Churches within this Realm; some following Salisbury Use, some Hereford Use, and some the Use of Bangor, some of York, some of Lin- coln ; now from henceforth all the whole Realm shall have but one Use. And forasmuch, as nothing can be so plainly set forth, but doubts may arise in the use and practice of the same ; to appease all such diversity (if any arise) and for the resolution of all doubts, concerning the manner how to understand, do, and execute, the things contained in this Book; the parties that so doubt, or diversely take any thing, shall alway resort to the Bishop of the Diocess, who by his dis- cretion shall take order for the quieting and appeasing of the same; so that the same order be not contrary to any thing contained in this Book. And if the Bishop of the Diocess he in doubt, then he may send for the resolution thereof to the Archbishop. T HOUGH it be appointed. That all things shall be read and sung in the Church in the English Tongue, to the end, that the congregation may be thereby edified ; yet it is not meant, but that when men say Morning and Evening Prayer privately, they may say the same in any language that they themselves do understand. ones and cathedrals, where as many books as formerly are required for the use of the choirs. There are practically in use by most of the clergy and choirs in one or other class of Churches, separate Breviaries, Missals, Manuals, Antiplionaries, “ Service ’’-books. Psalters, and Lectionaries ; the whole volume of the Holy Bible being now used for the latter, instead of those parts only which are needed for the daily and proper Lessons. but one Use ] Another part was this j and it seems to have that of Quignonez : And if any will judge this way more painful, because that all things must be read upon the Book, whereas before, by the reason of so often repetition they could say many things by heart : if those men will weigh their labour, with the profit and knowledge which daily they shall obtain by reading upon the book, they will not refuse the pain, in consideration of the great profit that shall ensue thereof. of the Preface erased by Cosin been suggested by a passage in Si cui autem in hoc Breviario laboriosum videbitur pleraque omnia ex libro legi, cum multa in alio quse propter frequentem repetitionem ediscuntur memo- riter pronuntientur, compenset cum hoc labore cognitionem Scripturae Sacrse, quse sic indies augescit; et intentionem annate, quam Dens ante omnia in pre- cantibus rcquiret : hanc enim majorem legentibus, quam me- moriter prosequentibus adesse necesse est : et hujusmodi labo- rem non modo fructuosum, sed etiam salutarem indicabit. shall resort to the Bishop] There is no power here given to the Bishop of the Diocese to deviate from the rules laid down in the Book of Common Prayer. He is the administrator, not the maker, of the ritual law of the Church. THE LATIN PRATER BOOK 1 . In the first Act of Uniformity (2 & 3 Edward VI. c. 1), the fifth clause was as follows : “ Provided always that it shall be lawful to any man that understandeth the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew tongue, or other strange tongue, to say and have the said prayers heretofore specified of Matins and Evensong in Latin or any such other tongue, saying the same privately as they do understand. And for the further encouraging of learning in the tongues in the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, to use and exercise in their common and open prayer in their Chapels, being no Churches or other places of Prayer, the Matins, Evensong, Litany, and all other prayers, the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass, excepted, in the said book prescribed in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew j any thing in this present Act to the con- trary notwithstanding.” In the Act of Uniformity at present in force (14 Car. II.), this clause is also enacted : “ Provided always, That it shall and may be lawful to use the Morning and Evening Prayer, and all other Prayers and Service prescribed in and by the said book, in the Chapels or other Publick Places of the respective Colleges and 1 A Greek version was printed in U73. PRIVATE RECITATION OF THE SERVICES BY THE CLERGY. [19 And all Priests and Deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some other urgent cause. And the Curate that ministereth in every Parish-Church or Chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same in the Parish-Church or Chapel where he ministereth, and shall cause a Bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear God's Word, and to pray with him. Halls in both the Universities, in the Colledges of Westminster, Winchester, and Eaton, and in the Convocations of the Clergies of either Province in Latine ; Any thing in this Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding.” Letters patent were issued by Queen Elizabeth to the same effect, and printed at the beginning of the Latin Prayer Book issued by her authority in 1560 ; there being no limitation (as there is not in the present Act of Uniformity) with respect to the Communion Service'. Bishop Cosin added to the existing rule the words “ especially in the Colleges and Halls of either University, and in the Schools of Westminster, Eaton, and Win- chester,” but the alteration was not printed, though not erased by the Committee of Revision. The first Latin Version of the Book of Common Prayer was made in 1551 by a former Canon of St. Andrew’s, Edinburgh, named Alexander Aless, and under the direction of Archbishop Cranmer 1 2 . As some provision would certainly be made by authority for carrying out the proviso of the Act of Uniformity, it is probable that the translation of Aless was made for this purpose ; although, because Cranmer used it for giving Martin Bucer a knowledge of the English formularies, it is commonly said that he had it done expressly for that object. Bucer in his Censura distinctly says “ librum istum Sacrorum, per inter- pretem, quantum potui, cognovi diligenter;” and a comparison of dates makes it almost certain that he gained what little know- ledge he there had of our English services through an oral inter- pretation, before he received the copy of Aless’ version from Cranmer. But Aless was now a professor in a Lutheran, that is, a Presbyterian, University; and his Latin version is very far from being rendered with that Iona Jides so ostentatiously put forth on the title-page. This version was, however, the foundation of that issued by Queen Elizabeth in 1560, having been revised by Walter Haddon 3 . But Queen Elizabeth’s Latin Prayer Book differs considerably from her English one ; and although, in many respects, it better represents the original Prayer Book of 1549, it can hardly be taken as having authority under our present Act of Uniformity. In addition to the ordinary services, there were also added to this Latin version an Office, “ In commendationibus Benefactomm,” and another, “ Celebratio coenoe Domini, in funebribus, si amici et vicini defuncti communicare velint.” These two offices were specially mentioned as “peculiaria qutedam” in the Letters Patent. The hook was reprinted in 1574 and in 1596, and is to he found in a modern reprint among the Parker Society’s pub- lications ; and no doubt it was adopted for the private recitation of the Daily Offices in days when Latin was more freely used 1 An authorized French translation was printed by Archbishop Cranmer's order in 1552. In a letter to Secretary Cecil (Strype’s Memorials, iii. 698, Eccl. Hist. Soc.) the Archbishop says that this was first done by Sir Hugh Paulet’s commandment (who was Governor of Calais), and overseen by the Lord Chancellor (Goodrich, Bishop of Ely), and others, being afterwards revised by a learned Frenchman who was a Doctor of Divinity. This revision was for the second book of Edward VI., and was printed in 1553. 2 Ordinatio Ecclesiae, seu Ministerii Ecclesiastici, in florentissimo Regno Angliae, conscripta sermone patrio, et in Latinam linguam bona fide con- versa, et ad consolationem Ecclesiarum Christi, ubicunque locorum ac gentium, his tristissimis temporibus, edita ab Alexandro Alesio, Scoto, Sacrse Theologize Doctore. Lipsize. MDLI. 5 Liber Precum Publicarum, seu Ministerii Ecclesiastice administrationis Sacramentorum, aliorumque rituum & ceremoniarum in Ecclesia Anglicana. Cum privilegio Regiae Majestatis. than it has been in later times. These words are to be found at the close of the Letters Patent : “ Eadern etiam formula Latina precandi privatim uti hortamur omnes reliquos Ecclesice nostras Anglicance ministros, cujuscunque gradus fuerint, iis diebus, quibus aut non solent, aut non tenentur parochianis suis, ad' cedem sacram pro more accedentibus, publice preces vernacula lingua, secundum formam dicti Statuti, recitare.” Which ex- hortation may be taken as a contemporary interpretation of the clause to which this note refers. The Daily Services, the Psalter, and some additional Collects and Prayers were translated into Latin for the use of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1660 4 5 . But this is not a complete version of the Book of Common Prayer. A Latin Version, which is by far the most complete and exact that has ever been produced, was printed by Messrs. Rivington in 1865. In this, the ancient and original Latin phraseology is adopted wherever it can he traced, and the more recent portions are rendered into Latin of a similar character 6 . PRIVATE RECITATION OF THE SERVICES BY THE CLERGY. The second paragraph of the above Appendix to the Preface of 1549 enjoins the Clergy to say the Daily Offices constantly either privately or openly, unless hindered by some urgent cause. This direction has undergone the following changes : — 1549. Neither that any man shall be bound to the saying of them, hut such as from time to time, in Cathedral and Colle- giate churches, pa- rish churches, and chapels to the same annexed, shall serve the congregation. 1552. And all priests and deacons shall be bound to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either privately or openly, except they he letted by preach- ing, studying of di- vinity, or by some other urgent cause. 1661. And all priests and deacons are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some other urgent cause. In the Scotch Prayer Book of 1637 the words were added, “ of which cause, if it be frequently pretended, they are to make the bishop of the diocese, or the archbishop of the province, the judge and allower.” Bishop Cosin also added to “ urgent cause,” “which the Bishop of the Diocese shall approve.” But the present form appears to be that which he ultimately adopted, and that which was accepted by the Committee of Revision. This rule was regarded by Bishop Cosin, as he tells us in his notes to the Prayer Book [Works, vol. v. p. 9] as a continua- tion of the ancient rule of the unreformed Church : and such has been the opinion of most sound writers since his time. The Letters Patent attached to the Latin Prayer Book of Queen Elizabeth confirm this view ; and so also does the practice of many holy clergymen at every period since the Reformation. The principle of it is that the Clergy are bound to offer the 4 Liber Precum Publicarum in Usum Ecclesize Cathedralis Christi. Oxon. Oxoniae. 1660. 5 Libri Precum Publicarum Ecclesia' Anglicanze Versio Latina. A Gulielmo Bright, A.M., et Petro Goldsmith Medd, A.M. presbyteris, Collegii Universitatis in Acad. Oxon. Sociis, Facta. Apud Rivington, Londini, Oxonii, Cantabrigiae. 1S65. C 2 20 ] OF CEREMONIES. OF CEEEMONIES, WHY SOME BE ABOLISHED, AND SOME RETAINED. O F such Ceremonies as be used in the Church, and have had their beginning- by the institution of man, some at the first were of godly intent and purpose devised, and yet at length turned to vanity and superstition : prayers of the Chtirch daily to the glory of God, and as inter- cessors for their flocks, whether any come to join them in the offering or not. Such private recitation of the daily ofBces is, however, only to be used when the better way of “ open prayer” with a congregation cannot be adopted. daily morning and evening prayer. The third paragraph of the above rule very clearly enjoins the use of Daily Service. Bishop Cosin wished to define the hours at which it was to be said within certain limits, by adding to “ a convenient time before he begin,” — “ which may be any hour between six and ten of the clock in the morning, or between two and six of the clock in the evening :” and although his alteration was not adopted, it serves to show us what were then considered the canonical limits of the times for Mattins and Evensong. The Laity should never allow their Clergy to find the House of God empty when they go there to carry out this most excellent rule of the Church. In the fifteenth Canon, which directs “ the Litany to be read on Wednesdays and Fridays,” there is an injunction which shows in what manner the practice of Daily Service ought to be kept up by the Laity as well as the Clergy : “ The minister, at the accustomed hours of service, shall resort to the Church and Chapel, and, warning being given to the people by tolling of a bell, shall say the Litany prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer; whereunto we wish every householder dioell- ing within half-a-mile of the Church to come , or send one at the least of his household, fit to join with the Minister in prayers.” It was undoubtedly the intention of the first Reformers, and of all who, at any time, revised our Services, to have them used daily, Morning and Evening, openly in the Church, by the Clergy and as many of the Laity as may be able to attend. Many endow- ments have been left for assisting to carry out this intention of the Church ; and the practice has been kept up in some parish Churches (as well as in the Cathedrals) without any break, except during the persecution of the 17th century. In 1724, when the population of London was only one-sixth of what it is at the present time, there were seventy -five churches open daily for Divine Service; and there are many proofs that the same diligence in prayer was used in the- country as well as in large cities. Such continual public acts of Divine Worship are expedient for various reasons. (1) It is due to the honour of Almighty God that the Church in every place consecrated to His service should begin and end the day by rendering Him a service of praise. (2) Each Church and parish being a corporate centre and cor- porate whole, prayer for God’s grace and His mercy should be offered morning and evening, for the body which the Church and such congregation as can assemble represents. Thus the Divine Presence is drawn down to the Tabernacle that It may thence sanctify the whole Camp. (3) The benefit to the Clergy is very great, of offering Divine Worship, prayer, and intercession, in the presence of, and in company with, some of their flock. (4) There are advantages to those who frequently join in Divine Service which can only be fully known by experience, but which will then be appreciated as blessings not otherwise to he ob- tained. (5) The service of the Sanctuary is the most real and true form of that daily Morning and Evening worship for which Family prayer has been originated as an imperfect substitute; for it is the true Common Prayer (see p. 2]) of the Church offered in the Name of Christ by two or three gathered together under His authority, and according to His ordinance. It may be noticed that the Act of Uniformity enjoins that the Common Prayer shall be said on Sundays and Holy Days, and on all other Days ; and that the title of our Morning and Evening Service is, “ The Order for Morning or Evening Prayer daily throughout the year.” In the beginning of the “Form of Prayer to be used at Sea,” there is also this rubric, “ ^f The Morning and Evening Service to be used daily at Sea, shall be the same which is appointed in the Book of Common Prayer.” And the next rubric is, “ These two following Prayers are to he also said in Her Majesty’s Navy every day.” OF CEREMONIES. This justification of the course taken at the Reformation with respect to the Ceremonial part of Divine Worship was probably written by Archbishop Cranmer, being included in some early lists of his works. It was originally inserted at the end of the Prayer Book, and was followed by some ritual direc- tions reprinted below. In 1552, the part “ Of Ceremonies ” w r as placed after the Preface, and these ritual directions were omitted. “ Certain Notes for the more plain Explication and decent Ministration of Things contained in this Book. “ In the saying or singing of Matins and Evensong, baptizing and burying, the Minister, in parish churches and chapels an- nexed to the same, shall use a surplice. And in all cathedral churches and colleges, the Archdeacons, Deans, Provosts, Masters, Prebendaries, and Fellows, being Graduates, may use in the quire, beside their surplices, such hood as pertaineth to their several degrees, which they have taken in any university within this realm. But in all other places, every minister shall be at liberty to use any surplice or no. It is also seemly, that Gra- duates, when they do preach, should use such hoods as pertaineth to their several degrees. “ If And whensoever the Bishop shall celebrate the holy Com- munion in the church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon him, beside his rochette, a surplice or albe, and a cope or vestment ; and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain. “ If As touching kneeling, crossing, holding up of hands, knock- ing upon the breast, and other gestures, they may be used or left, as every man’s devotion serveth, without blame. “ Also upon Christmas Day, Easter Day, the Ascension Day, Whit-Sunday, and the feast of the Trinity, may be used any part of Holy Scripture hereafter to be certainly limited and appointed, in the stead of the Litany. “ T If there be a sermon, or for other great cause, the Curate, by his discretion, may leave out the Litany, Gloria in Excelsis 1 The omission of this is not quite so strange as it seems at first : “ Ab Adventu Domini usque ad Nativitatem ejus [ab Septuagesima usque in Coenam Domini, cap. xlvii.], Te Deum Laudamus, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Ite missaest, dimittimus, quia major gloria Novi Testamenti, quam Veteris, cujus typum infra Adventum Domini observamus.” Micrologus de Ecc. Observat. cap. xxx. It was likewise omitted in Septuagesima and on Innocents’ Day. There was also a limitation of its use on Palm Sunday, •‘in Ecclesiis in quibus clirisma conficitur, et non in aliis " [Durand. Ration, div. O' If vi. 75. 2] : and one of the first rubrics in tire Sacramentary of St. Gregory is, “Quando vero Litania agitur, neque Gloria in Excelsis Deo, neque Alleluia canitur.” OF CEREMONIES. L*i Some entered into the Church by un- discreet devotion, and such a zeal as was without knowledge ; and for be- cause they were winked at in the be- ginning, they grew daily to more and more abuses, which not only for their unprofitableness, but also because they have much blinded the people, and obscured the glory of God, are wor- thy to be cut away, and clean rejected : Other there be, which although they have been devised by man, yet it is thought good to reserve them still, as well for a decent order in the Church (for the which they were first devised), as because they pertain to edification, whereunto all things done in the Church (as the Apostle teacheth) ought to be referred. And although the keeping or omit- ting of a Ceremony, in itself consi- dered, is but a small thing ; yet the wilful and contemptuous transgression and breaking of a common order and discipline is no small offence before God. Let all things he done among yon, saith St. Paul, in a seemly and due order : The appointment of the which order pertaineth not to private men ; therefore no man ought to take in hand, or presume to appoint or alter any publick or common Order in Christ’s Church, except he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto. the Creed, the Homily, and the Exhortation to the Commu- nion.” There was a rubric printed at the beginning of the Commu- nion Service relating to the same subject: and as all three docu- ments are of the same date (a.d. 1549), it also is here reprinted, so as to bring them under one view : “ IT Upon the day, and at the time appointed for the minis- tration of the holy Communion, the Priest that shall execute the holy ministry, shall put upon him the vesture appointed for that ministration, that is to say, a white albe plain, with a vestment or cope. And where there be many Priests or Deacons, there so many shall be ready to help the priest in the ministration, as shall he requisite ; and shall have upon them likewise the vestures appointed for their ministry, that is to say, albes with tunicles.” The subject of Ceremonies being dealt with at large in the Ritual Introduction, it is not necessary to go into much detail respecting this document ; hut a few notes are annexed pointing out the principles which actuated the Reformers of 1549 as they are indicated in their explanation or apology. institution of man] The distinction implied in these words shows that Archbishop Cranmer and his associates did not con- sider themselves at liberty to alter any ceremonies of Divine Institution, such as the Laying on of Hands, or the breaking of the Bread in the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist. turned to vanity and superstition ] The primitive love-feasts And whereas in this our time, the minds of men are so diverse, that some think it a great matter of conscience to depart from a piece of the least of their Ceremonies, they be so addicted to their old customs ; and again on the other side, some be so new-fangled, that they would innovate all things, and so despise the old, that nothing can like them, but that is new : It was thought expedient, not so much to have respect how to please and satisfy either of these parties, as how to please God, and profit them both. And yet lest any man should be offended, whom good reason might satisfy, here be certain causes rendered, why some of the accustomed Ceremonies be put away, and some retained and kept still. Some are put away, because the great excess and multitude of them hath so increased in these latter days, that the burden of them was intolera- ble ; whereof St. Augustine in his time complained, that they were grown to such a number, that the estate of Christian people was in worse case concerning that matter, than were the Jews. And he counselled, that such yoke and burden should be taken away, as time would serve quietly to do it. But what would St. Augustine have said, if he had seen the Ceremonies of and the kiss of peace are illustrations of this assertion ; so also is the excessive use of the sign of the Cross, which provoked a recoil equally superstitious, leading to the disuse of it altogether. Some entered . ... by undiscreet devotion] Of such a kind were the ceremonies connected with images, and even with relics. These ceremonies were prompted, in the first instances, by the best of feelings ; but, in the course of time, they became perverted into usages which can hardly be distinguished from idolatry, and thus “ obscured the glory of God 1 ” instead of pre- senting it more clearly to the eyes of His worshippers. Some are put away , because the great excess] The minute directions given in the rubrics of the old Service-hooks often occupy page after page, while the prayers to which they are annexed occupy only a few lines j and it must be a matter of grave doubt, whether any more than a small fraction of the cere- monies latterly used in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist were intelligible to any hut experienced priests. Their excess had become insupportable both to the clergy and the people, and the meaning of many had quite passed away. Hor is there anj reason to doubt the assertion that many ceremonies were so abused through ignorance on the one hand, and corruption on the other, “ that the abuses could not well be taken away, the thing remaining still a state of things had in fact grown up 1 Aug. Ep. 55 ad Januarium, c. xix. § 35 (al. Ep. US) 22 ] OF CEREMONIES. late days used among us; whereunto the multitude used in his time was not to be compared? This our excessive multitude of Ceremonies was so great, and many of them so dark, that they did more confound and darken, than declare and set forth Christ's benefits unto us. And besides this, Christ’s Gospel is not a Ceremonial Law (as much of Moses ’ Law was), hut it is a Religion to serve God, not in bondage of the figure or shadow, but in the freedom of the spirit ; being content only with those Ceremonies which do serve to a decent Order, and godly Dis- cipline, and such as be apt to stir up the dull mind of man to the remem- brance of his duty to God, by some notable and special signification, where- by he might be edified. Furthermore, the most weighty cause of the abolish- ment of certain Ceremonies was. That they were so far abused, partly by the superstitious blindness of the rude and unlearned, and partly by the unsatiable avarice of such as sought more their own lucre, than the glory of God, that the abuses could not well be taken away, the thing remaining still. But now as concerning those per- sons, which peradventure will be of- fended, for that some of the old Cere- monies are retained still : If they con- sider that without some Ceremonies it is not possible to keep any Order, or quiet Discipline in the Church, they shall easily perceive just cause to reform their judgments. And if they think much, that any of the old do remain, and would rather have all devised anew : Then such men granting some Ceremonies convenient to be had, surely where the old may be well used, there they cannot reasonably reprove the old only for their age, without bewraying of their own folly. For in such a case they ought rather to have reverence unto them for their antiquity, if they will declare themselves to be more studious of unity and concord, than of innovations and new-fangleness, which (as much as may be with true setting forth of Christ’s Religion) is always to be eschewed. Furthermore, such shall have no just cause with the Cere- monies reserved to be offended. For as those be taken away which were most abused, and did burden mens consciences without any cause ; so the other that remain, are retained for a Discipline and Order, which (upon just causes) may be altered and changed, and therefore are not to be esteemed equal with God’s Law. And more- over, they be neither dark nor dumb Ceremonies, but are so set forth, that every man may understand what they do mean, and to what use they do serve. So that it is not like that they in time to come should be abused as other have been. And in these our doings we condemn no other Nations, nor prescribe any thing but to our own people only : For we think it conve- nient, that every Country should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of God’s ho- nour and glory, and to the reducing of the people to a most perfect and godly living, without error or superstition ; and that they should put away other which required, strong measures for its reformation: a state of things moreover, to which the present age can never offer a parallel ; since, although it is possible to conceive of a great increase in the ceremonies used by the Church, that increase could never again be accompanied by the same ignorance. But now as concerning those persons ] Extreme and super- stitious opinions against ceremonies were beginning to be as great a trouble to the Church as the extravagant and super- stitious use of them had been. The principles here enunciated against the enthusiasts who held them are : (1) That some cere- monies are absolutely essential to the order and decency of divine Service. (2) That to invent new ones altogether would he as presumptuous as unnecessary. (3) That the old ones which were retained under the new system of the Church of England were of an edifying kind. (4) That the ceremonies retained were never likely to be abused as those which were set aside had been. we condemn no other Nations ] This excellent sentence strongly illustrates the temperate spirit in which the official work of the Reformation of the Church of England was conducted. Recognizing the right which a national Church possessed to make such changes as may be expedient (subject to the retention of Catholic essentials), the Reformers acted upon it ; but they also recognized it for other Churches as well as for that of England, and claimed to be the advocates of change and reconstruction only within the bounds of their legitimate jurisdiction. So sound a principle deserves the highest respect, and should be acted upon at all times. Had it been adhered to by the foreign party as well as by the official guides of the Reformation, a great schism would have been prevented. THE ORDER OF THE PSALTER, AND OF THE REST OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. [23 tilings, which from time to time they ordinances it often chanceth diversely perceive to be most abused, as in mens in divers countries. THE ORDER HOW THE PSALTER IS APPOINTED TO BE READ. T HE Psalter shall be read through once every Month, as it is there appointed, both for Morning and Even- ing Prayer. But in February it shall be read only to the Twenty-eighth, or Twenty-ninth day of the Month. And, whereas January, March, May, July, August, October, and December, have One-and-thirty days apiece ; It is ordered, that the same Psalms shall be read the last day of the said months, which were read the day before : So that the Psalter may begin again the first day of the next month ensuing. And, whereas the cxixth Psalm is divided into xxii Portions, and is over long to be read at one time ; It is so ordered, that at one time shall not be read above four or five of the said Portions. And at the end of every Psalm, and of every such part of the cxixth Psalm, shall be repeated this Hymn, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost ; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Note, That the Psalter folio weth the Division of the Hebrews, and the Translation of the Great English Bible, set forth and used in the time of King Henry the Eighth, and Edward the Sixth. THE ORDER HOW THE REST OF HOLY SCRIPTURE IS APPOINTED TO BE READ. T HE Old Testament is appointed for the first Lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer ; so as the most part thereof will be read every year once, as in the Kalendar is appointed. The New Testament is appointed for the second Lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer, and shall be read over orderly every year thrice, besides the Epistles and Gospels ; except the Apo- diversely in divers countries ] No doubt there are many Cere- monies used in the Eastern Church, and in southern countries of Europe, which seem unprofitable, and even worse, to persons brought up under a different system, and under different cir- cumstances : but to those who use them they may be a true vehicle of adoration as regards Him Whom they worship, and of wholesome religious emotion as respects themselves. THE PSALTER. Pull notes on the Psalter will he found in the Introduction to the Psalter, pp. 313 — 317. THE LESSONS. The old system of the Church of England, in respect to the reading of Holy Scripture in Divine Service, was very similar throughout all the offices in which it was read, to that now retained only in the Communion Service. Short selections were made from different books of the Holy Bible, and these were read successively (sometimes three, and at others nine), “ re- sponds,” or short anthems (intended to answer in character to the Lesson read), being sung after each. But the whole of the Lessons of the day were rarely taken from Holy Scripture, some being usually extracts from Patristic writings, or the Lives of Saints. The responsory system of reading Holy Scripture is still re- tained in its old form in the case of the Ten Commandments when said at the Communion Service : but one of the principal changes made in 1549, was the substitution for it of longer and continuous lessons, — generally whole chapters, — with responsory Canticles, sung at the end only. No doubt this was a return to ancient practice, as it is said to be in the original preface to the 24 ] PROPER LESSONS calypse, out of which there are only certain proper Lessons appointed upon divers Feasts. And to know what Lessons shall be read every day, look for the day of the Month in the Kalendar following, and there ye shall find the Chapters that shall he read for the Lessons both at Morning and Evening Prayer ; Except only the Moveable Feasts, which are not in the Kalendar, and the Immove- able, where there is a blank left in the Column of Lessons ; the proper Lessons for all which days are to he found in the Table of proper Lessons. And note. That whensoever proper Psalms or Lessons are appointed ; then the Psalms and Lessons of ordinary course appointed in the Psalter and Kalendar (if they be different) shall be omitted for that time. Note also, that the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the week after, where it is not in this Book otherwise ordered. IT PROPER LESSONS TO BE READ AT MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER ON THE SUNDAYS, AND OTHER HOLIDAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. f LESSONS PROPER FOR SUNDAYS. Sundays of Advent. The first. ii. iii. iv. Sundays after Christmas. The first, ii. Sundays after the Epiphany . The first. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. Septuagesima. Sexagesima. Quinquagesima Lent. First Sunday. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. 1 Lesson. 2 Lesson. Easter Day. 1 Lesson. 2 Lesson. Sundays after Easter. The first. ii. iii. iv. Mattins. Isa. i. v. XXV. XXX. xxxvii. xli. xliv. Ii. Iv*. lvii. lix. lxv. Gen. i. iii. ix. to v. 20. xix. to v. 30. xxvii. xxxix. xliii. Exod. iii. ix. Matt. xxvi. Exod. xii. Rom. vi. Numb. xvi. xxiii. xxiv. Deut. iv. vi. Evensong. Isa. ii. xxiv. xxvi. xxxii. xxxviii. xliii. xlvi. liii. lvi. iviii. lxiv. lxvi. Gen. ii. vi. xii. xxii. xxxiv. xlii. xlv. Exod. v. X. Heb. v.to v. 11. Exod. xiv. Acts ii. v. 22. Numb. xxii. xxv. Deut. v. vii. Sundays after Easter. v. Sunday after Ascension-Day . Whitsunday . 1 Lesson. 2 Lesson. Trinity Sunday. 1 Lesson. 2 Lesson. Sundays after Trinity. The first. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi. xvii. xviii. xix. xx. xxi. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. xxv. xxvi. Mattins. Deut. viii. xii. xvi. to v. 18. Acts x. v. 34. Gen. i. Matt. iii. Josh. x. Judges iv. 1 Sam. ii. xii. xv. 2 Sam. xii. xxi. 1 Kings xiii. xviii. xxi. 2 Kings v. x. xix. Jere. v. xxxv. Ezek. ii. xiv. XX. Dan. iii. Joel ii. Hab. ii. Prov. ii. xi. xiii. xv. xvii. Evensong. Deut. ix. xiii. Isa. xi. Actsxix.fov.21. Gen. xviii. 1 John v. Josh, xxiii. Judges v. 1 Sam. iii. xiii. xvii. 2 Sam. xix. xxiv. 1 Kings xvii. xix. xxii. 2 Kings ix. xviii. xxiii. Jere. xxii. xxxvi. Ezek. xiii. xviii. xxiv. Dan. vi. Mic. vi. Prov. i. iii. xii. xiv. xvi. xix. Prayer Book ’. The system in use in the fifteenth century (and • It would appear from an old rubric that some discretion was left to the officiating clergyman with reference to the length of the Lesson, “ Then let the same clerk who pronounces the Benediction, when enough at his discre- tion has been read," &c. Transl. of Sarum Psalter, p. 48. we know scarcely any thing of what was in use before then) appears to have been the result of attempts to refine the use of Scripture in the Offices of the Church to a degree of pointedness which it never really attained, and which, perhaps, it was almost beyond human skill to give to it. And although such a pointed- ness is well adapted for educated and devotionally trained minds, PROPER LESSONS FOR HOLYDAYS, [25 f LESSONS PROPER FOR HOLYDAYS. Mattins. Pvensong. Mattins. Pvensong. S. Andrew. Prov. xx. Prov. xxi. Monday in S. Thomas the Paster Week. Apostle. xxiii. xxiv. 1 Lesson. Exod. xvi. Exod. xvii. Nativity of 2 Lesson. Matt, xxviii. Acts iii. Christ. [to a. 17. Tuesday in 1 Lesson. Isa. ix. to v. 8. Isa. vii. a. 10 Paster Week. 2 Lesson. Luke ii. to a. 15. Tit. iii. v. 4 to 1 Lesson. Exod. xx. Exod. xxxii. S. Stephen. [a. 9. 2 Lesson. Luke xxiv. to a. 1 Cor. xv. 1 Lesson. Prov. xxviii. Eccles. iv. S. Mark. Ecclus. iv. [13. Ecclus. v. 2 Lesson. Acts vi. v. 8, Acts vii. a. 30 S. Philip and and c. vii. to to a. 55. S. Jacob. v. 30. 1 Lesson. vii. ix. 20 St. Ignatius. 21 St. Thomas. St. Thomas. St. Thomas. St. Juliana. 23 St. Eugenia. 24 St. Eusreuia. 25 Nativity of our Lord. Nativity of our Lord. Nativity of our Lord. Nativity of our Lord. 26 St. Stephen. St. Stephen, Proto-martyr. St. Stephen, Proto-martyr. SS. Mary and Joseph. 27 St. John, Evangelist. St. John, Evangelist. St. John, Evangelist. St. Stephen. 28 Innocents. Holy Innocents. Holy Innocents. 29 St. Thomas, Abp. of Can- St. Thomas of Canterbury. Holy Innocents. 30 [terbury. 31 St. Silvester. St. Silvester. St. Silvester. [ 61 ] THE MINOR HOLYDAYS forth) and scourged him ; then binding him to a tree, they pierced him to death with many arrows, and having cut off his head, cast it into a thicket. Here it was found about a year after, and placed with his body. In a.d. 903 his remains were translated to the place now called Bury St. Edmunds, where an abbey was founded. He is represented crowned, clothed, tied to a tree, full of arrows, and frequently with the arms of the abbey (az. 3 crowns or, each pierced with two arrows in saltier of the second)- By this and the crown he is distinguished from St. Sebastian, who is moreover represented almost without clothing. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. xxxi. 8 — 11. St. Luke xiv. 26 — 33.] 22] St.Cecilia, Vibgin and Maetye. — The name of St. Cecilia has always been dear in connexion with music, of which she is considered the patron. Very little, however, is known about her personal history, which is much mixed up with legends. Dryden alludes to one of these legends in the well-known lines : — “ He raised a mortal to the skies. She drew an angel down .” Her husband Valerian had been converted through her, and suf- fered martyrdom with her, A.D. 230, or, according to some, about fifty years earlier. A church was dedicated to her honour at Rome early in the sixth century, and still gives a title to a Car- dinal. It appears pretty certain that her body was discovered there a.d. 1599. The “Acts of St. Cecilia” describe her as having been frequently employed in music, and accordingly she is represented singing, and playing on a small organ or other instrument. She is also figured as being scalded to death in a caldron, or holding a sword as well as a musical instrument. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. li. 9 — 12. St. Matt. xiii. 44 — 52.] 23] St. Clement, Bishop op Rome, and Maetye. — We know very little about the early history of St. Clement, but he has OF NOVEMBER ( continued ). always been believed to be the “ fellow'-labourer ” mentioned by St. Paul (Phil. iv. 3) as having his name “ written in the Book of Life.” From his having been contemporary with the Apostles, he is reckoned among the “ Apostolical Fathers,” and is called “ Clemens Romanus,” to distinguish him from Clement of Alexan- dria. In a.d. 91 he was made third Bishop of Rome, where he remained through the persecution of Domitian. About a.d. 96, the year of this tyrant’s death, St. Clement wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians, which was publicly read in the Churches, and for a long time esteemed almost equally with the Canonical Epis- tles. He probably suffered under Trajan, about a.d. 100, being cast into the sea bound to an anchor, which is his distinguishing emblem, as may be seen in some frescoes of the 7th century, lately discovered in St. Clement’s Church at Rome. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Phil. iv. 1 — 3. St. Luke xix. 12 — 28.] 25] St.Kathaeine, Viegin and Maetye.— There is very little reliable information respecting St. Katharine, hut her name has been highly venerated in both East and West. She is said to have been royally descended, and of great learning and ability, so that she confuted even heathen philosophers, with whom she had to dispute before Maximin the Emperor, and was the means of their conversion. They, confessing Christ, were burnt to death, hut the saintly woman was reserved for a further trial. Refusing to sacrifice her chastity to the lust of the tyrant, she was first torn on spiked wheels, and then slain with a sword. In the eighth century her body was translated to the monastery of Mount Sinai by holy monks, who in mediaeval legends were trans- formed into angels. St. Katharine is accounted the patron of secular, as St. Jerome is of theological, learning. She is repre- sented crowned, with the martyr’s palm, or a book, or sword, in her hand, and the spiked wheel by her side. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. li. 1 — 8. St. Matt. xiii. 44 — 52.] THE MINOR HOLYDAYS OF DECEMBER. 6] St. Nicolas, Bishop and Coneessoe. — St. Nicolas was a native of Patara, in Asia Minor ; and having grown up in the fear of God, was appointed abbot of the monastery of the Holy Zion. Some time after this he was made Bishop of Myra, in Lycia, and here acquired a great reputation for sanctity and deeds of charity. He died A.D. 342, and was buried in his church at Myra, whence his remains were carried off, in a.d. 1087, to Bari on the Adriatic, for fear they should he desecrated by the Mohammedans. This was done by some merchants, and St. Nicolas has hence been accounted the patron of merchants and seafaring men. Many of the churches dedicated to him are at seaport towns. He is also considered the patron of children and schoolboys, from his re- markable humility and simplicity, and because he took great interest in their instruction. He is represented as a Bishop, with three golden balls, the original significance of which is not known ; also with children around him being raised to life from a tub, in which their murdered bodies had been concealed ; also with an anchor or ship. The mediaeval ceremonies connected with the “ Boy -bishop ” began on St. Nicolas’ day, and lasted till Childermas or Holy Innocents’ day. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. xliv. 17- 23 ; xlv. 6, 7. 15, 16. St. Matt. xxv. 14—23.] 8] Conception op the B. V. M. — It appears probable that a belief in the “ Immaculate Conception ” led to the original institution of this festival, though it may be regarded as cele- brating the joyful dawn of the Incarnation of our Lord without any particular reference to the novel doctrine. Its observation began in the East in garly times, hut did not become general in the "West till the fifteenth century. Its introduction into Britain has been ascribed, on doubtful grounds, to St. Anselm, long after whose time the observance of it was optional. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. xxiv. 17 — 22. St. Matt. i. 1 — 16.] 13] St. Lucy, V ibgin and Maetye. — St. Lucy was the daughter of a Christian lady in Syracuse, named Eutychia, and was born in the latter part of the third century. Being asked in marriage by a young nobleman of Syracuse, who was a pagan, she declined his suit, having made a private vow of celibacy long before. Her mother was not aware of this, and wished her to marry the youth ; but being restored from dangerous sickness at the prayers of her daughter, no longer opposed her resolution, of which, indeed, she now became aware for the first time. St. Lucy then sold all her goods to feed the poor, and openly professed her dedication to Cfirist. The young nobleman now hated her, and accused her before the Governor Paschasius, during the Dio- clesian persecution. She boldly confessed Christ before her judges, and was condemned to what was far worse than death, but was delivered by God. After this she was tortured by fire, and her flesh torn with hot pincers, soon after which she died in prison, without having failed in her most severe trial, about a.d. 304. St. Lucy bears the martyr’s palm, a lamp, in allusion to her name and a book, or dish, on which are two eye-balls, while sometimes rays of light are emitted from a wound in her throat. She also has the pincers fastened on to her breast. The festival of St. Lucy regulates the Ember Days in December. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. li. 9 — 12. St. Matt. xiii. 44 — 52.] 16] O Sapientia. — These words mark the first of the days on which the eight Greater Antiphons were sung. [See p. 76.] 31] St. Silyestee, Bp. op Rome, and Coneessoe. — St. Silves- ter was horn at Rome in the latter part of the third century, and was ordained priest just before the Dioclesian persecution, during which he was well known among the faithful for his zeal and piety. He was made Bishop of Rome a.d. 314, and was sum- moned to attend the Councils of Arles and Nice, but was unable through weak health to be present in person. Having filled the see for nearly twenty -two years, he died, Dec. 31, a.d. 335, and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Salarian Way, whence his remains were removed to a church dedicated in his name about the end of the seventh century. There is a tra- dition respecting him, that he restored an ox to life which had been killed by magic ; and the ox is accordingly his distinguisn- ing emblem. He is represented as a Bishop, holding the cross and book, or the portraits of St. Peter and St. Paul. [Sar. Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. 1. 1. 4, 5—12. 15. 21—23. St. Matt. xxv. 14—23.] [ 62 ] AN INTRODUCTION TO MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER, The ordinary daily Offices of the Christian Church were de- rived from the Jewish economy ; the celebration of the Holy Eucharist being the distinctive devotional characteristic of Chris- tianity. As David sang, “ seven times a day do I praise Thee ” [Ps. cxix. 164] ; and as Daniel “ kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God ” [Dan. vi. 10], so down to that period during which the old and the new economy overlapped each other, a constant habit of praise and prayer in connexion with the morning and evening sacrifice, and at other hours of the day, was maintained in the Temple at Jerusalem, and in the Synagogues elsewhere. The Apostles con- tinued the practice of devout Jews, and are spoken of in the book of their Acts as being in the Temple at the hour of prayer, or as offering their prayers elsewhere at the same hour. It was while “ they were all with one accord in one place ” at “ the third hour of the day ” [Acts ii. 1. 15] that the Holy Ghost descended upon them : “ Peter went up upon the house-top to pray about the sixth hour ” [Ibid. x. 9] : “ Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour ” [Ibid. iii. 1]: “at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God ” [Ibid. xvi. 25] : and in the early zeal of their first love all the believers “ continued stedfastly .... in the prayers” [tous npoaevxa^] “daily with one accord in the Temple” [Ibid. ii. 42. 46], as a regular part of the system of that fellowship into which they had been baptized. When the habits of the Church began to be settled, it appears that the opening and the close of each day were appointed as the principal hours of prayer ; and that the three intermediate times, the third, sixth, and ninth hour, were still recognized, and marked by public worship. Tertullian, after giving the Scriptural ex- amples cited above, goes on to say that though these “ stand simply without any precept for their observance, yet let it be thought good to establish any sort of presumption which may both render more strict the admonition to pray, and, as it were by a law, force us away sometimes from our business to this service, (even as was the custom of Daniel also, according no doubt to the rule of Israel,) that so we should pray at least not seldomer than three times a day, we who are debtors to the Three, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, exclusive, that is, of the regular prayers which are due, without any ad- monition, at the beginning of day and night.” [Tert. de Orat. ix. 26 ; ] In his treatise on fasting he also calls the third, sixth, and ninth hours, “Apostolic hours of prayer.” St. Cyprian refers to the habits of Old Testament saints, and draws the rational conclusion that the events of the Gospel gave proof that there was a “sacrament,” or mystery, in the ancient practice of righteous men offering prayers at these seasons, as if the spi- ritual instincts of good men were already moving in the light of the Cross. “ But to us, dearest brethren,” he says, “ besides the hours of ancient time observed, both seasons and sacraments of prayer are increased in number. In the morning we must pray,” not waiting, that is, for the third hour, “ that the Resurrection of the Lord may be commemorated with an early worship. This of old the Holy Spirit set forth in the Psalms, saying, ‘ My King and My God, unto Thee will I cry : My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning ; in the morning will I stand before Thee, and will look up.’ [Ps. v. 2.] And again, by the prophet the Lord saith, ‘ Early in the morning shall they seek Me, saying, Come and let us return unto the Lord our God.’ [Hosea vi. 1.] At sunset- ting likewise, and the close of day, needful is it that we should again pray. For as Christ is the true Sun and the true Day, w'hen at the going down of this world’s sun and light we make prayer and petition that the day may again return unto us, we are petitioning for that coming of Christ, which will give to us the grace of the Light eternal.” [Cyprian, de Orat. Dom. xxii.] In the Apostolical Constitutions the same habit of the Church is referred to in very distinct terms : “ Ye shall make prayers .... In the morning giving thanks, because the Lord hath enlightened you, removing the night, and bringing the day : at the third hour, because the Lord at that time received sentence from Pilate ; at the sixth hour, because in it He was crucified ; at the ninth hour, because all things w ere shaken when the Lord was crucified, trembling at the audacity of the impious Jews, not enduring that their Lord should be insulted; at evening giving thanks, because He hath given the night for rest from our daily labours ; at cocTc-crotoing, because that hour gives the glad tidings that the day is dawning in which to work the works of light.” [Apostol. Constit. viii. 34.] Ho account has come dowm to ns which tells exactly of what these Primitive daily Offices consisted; but St. Basil in the fourth century speaks of them as being made up of psalmody mingled with prayers, and specifies the nineteenth psalm as one which w r as invariably used at the sixth hour. The fifty-first psalm is also shown, from him and other writers, to have been constantly used in the night service; and the sixty -third was called the “ Morning Psalm,” being used at the beginning of the early service. The “ Gloria in Excelsis ” is also spoken of by St. Chrysostom as “ the Morning Hymn ” [see note in Communion Service], and the repetition of the Kyrie Eleison many times seems to have formed another part of these ancient services. The daily Offices of the Eastern Church are of greater anti- quity than those of the Western, and there is little doubt that AN INTRODUCTION TO MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. [-63 they represent, substantially, the form into which the Primitive Offices for the hours of Prayer eventually settled down ’. Suffi- cient points of resemblance have been traced between these and the daily prayers used under the Jewish economy, to make it almost certain that the former were originally derived from the latter 1 2 . But there are also many particulars in which the Western daily Offices, and especially those of the English Church 3 , are analogous to those of the East, and although they cannot be traced higher, in their familiar form, than the Buie of St. Benedict [a.d. 530], it can hardly be doubted that men like SS. Benedict and Gregory would build upon the old foundations of Primitive Services, such as those now represented by the hours of the Eastern Church. In the Ancient Sacramentaries there are several series of Collects for daily use : one set of twenty-three in that of St. Gregory, being entitled “ Orationes de Adventu Do- mini quotidianis diebus :” another, of twenty, apparently for Lent, being headed “ Orationes pro peccatis a third of many more in number being called “Orationes quotidian®.” There are also other sets in the same Sacramentary, “ad Matutinos lucescente die,” “Orationes Matutinales,” “ Vespertinales,” and “adCom- plotorium.” What place such Collects occupied in the daily Offices is not quite clear, but they plainly show that the Primi- tive habit of the Church was kept up, and that daily prayers were continually being offered in the Western as well as in the Eastern Church. Lessons from Holy Scripture were only read in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day ; in the Temple none at all (except the Decalogue) were ever read. This custom was con- tinued throughout the Church even until the time of St. Gregory : Epistles and Gospels being read at the Holy Communion, but no Lessons at the hours of Prayer. St. Gregory established a system which afterwards developed into that of the Breviary Lessons, but in the Eastern Church the Primitive practice of reading Holy Scripture at the celebration of the Eucharist, and on Sunday only at other offices, is still maintained. In Mediaeval times the daily Offices were developed into a very beautiful, but a very complex form ; being moulded exclusively to the capacities of clergy and laity living in communities, sepa- rated from the w r orld especially for a work of prayer and praise, which was seldom interrupted by the calls of other avocations. Those used in England differed in several important respects from the Roman Breviary 4 , and are supposed to have had the same origin as the Communion Office, the lineage of which is traced at p. 147 to the Church of Ephesus. Like those of the Eastern and Roman Churches, they consisted nominally of seven separate services or hours [see p. xxviii], but as in those churches 1 They are given at length in Neale’s Introd. Hist, of Eastern Church, vol. ii. (fh. iv. s Archd. Freeman’s Princ. Div. Serv. i. 65. 3 Ibid. 106. 4 Ibid. 246. at tne present day these seven hours are aggregated into three, or even two services, so it is probable was the case, to a great extent, in the Mediaeval Church of England, and the whole seven were only kept by a small number of the most strict among the Clergy and religious. The Reformers condensed the seven hours, instead of aggregating them, and thus gave us Mattins and Evensong, as in the manner shown by the Table at p. xxix. At the same time, the publication of Edward VI. ’s and Queen Elizabeth’s Primers showed that they by no means intended to hinder, but rather to encourage those who still wished to observe the ancient hours of Prayer : and the Devotions of Bishop Cosin, with other Manuals framed on the same model, have given many devout souls the opportunity of supplementing the public Mattins and Evensong with prayers at other hours that equally breathed the spirit of the ancient Church. In making this change the Reformers were doubtless endea- vouring to secure by a modification of the Services what the theory of the Church had always required, the attendance of the Laity as well as the Clergy at the Daily Offices of Praise and Prayer. From very early days the Church of England had en- joined the Laity to he present at them, as may be seen in the collection of Decrees and Canons on the subjecc printed by Maskell [Mon. Rit. Ang. II. xxv. — xxxi.]; but these injunctions appear to have been little obeyed, and their constant absence led the clergy to deal with the Breviary as if it was intended for their own use alone, its structure becoming so complex that none but those who had been long used to handle it could possibly follow the course of the services day by day. In forming out of these complex services such simple and intelligible ones as our present Morning and Evening Prayer, a new opportunity was offered to the Laity of uniting their hearts and voices with those of the Clergy in a constant service of daily praise and prayer. Churches without such an offering of Morning and Evening Prayer are clearly alien to the system and principles of the Book of Common Prayer ; and to make the offering in the total absence of worshippers seems scarcely less so. But as every Church receives blessing from God in proportion as it renders to Him the honour due unto His Name, so it is much to be wished that increased knowledge of devotional principles may lead on to such increase of devotional practice as may make the omission of the daily Offices rare in the Churches of our land. Then indeed might the time come when the Church of England could say, “ Thou, O God, sentest a gracious rain upon Thine inheritance ; and refreshedst it when it was weary.” It might look for the development of a perennial vigour springing from that “third hour of the day” when the Apostles first went forth in the might of their supernatural endowments ; and hope to meet with answers from on high, as sure as that which was given to Elijah “ about the time of the Evening Sacrifice.” Praised be the Lord daily : even the God who helpeth us, and poureth His benefits upon us. Day by day we magnify Thee, And we worship Thy Name : ever world without end. m \ THE ORDER FOR MORNING AND EYENING PRAYER DAILY TO BE SAID AND USED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. milE Morning' and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accustomed Place JL of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel; except it shall be otherwise deter- mined by the Ordinary of the Place. And the Chancels shall remain as they have done in times past. And here is to be noted, that such Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof, at all times of their Ministration, shall be retained and be in use as were in this Church of England, by the Authority of Parliament, in the Second Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth. The second part of this important Rubric — the Interpretation Clause to the Ritual Law of the Church of England — is fully explained and illustrated in the Third Section of the Ritual Intro- duction, p. lxv. The first part of it is still exactly in the form in which it was printed in the Prayer Book of Queen Elizabeth’s reign [a.d. 1559]. In the Second Prayer Book of Edward YI., it stood in this form : “ The Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in such place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel, and the Minister shall so turn him, as the people may best hear. And if there be any con- troversy therein, the matter shall be referred to the Ordinary, and he or his deputy shall appoint the place, and the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past.” In the Prayer Book of 1549 the rubric at the head of Morning Prayer was, “ The Priest being in the quire, shall begin with a loud voice the Lord’s Prayer, called the Pater noster.” The “ reading-desk ” was not invented until after the rubric had taken its present form, and the “ accustomed place ” was the “ pue ” (beginning then to be so called) in which the Clergy and singers sat, and which was ordinarily situated on either side of the chancel. In the Advertisements of 1565, it was directed “that the Common Prayer be said or sung decently and dis- tiiK tly, in such place as the Ordinary shall think meet for the largeness and straitness of the church and choir, so that the people may be most edified.” [Cardw. Docum. Ann. i. 291.] Such lawless bishops as Scambler of Peterborough, who knew no rule but “sic volo, sic jubeo,” forbade the service to be said in the chancel at all, under the singular plea used against it by the foreigner Bucer, that such a practice was “ Antichristian.” Thus the erection of reading-desks in the nave became common, the “ clerks ” were reduced to one, the authorized mode of Divine Worship died out in a vast number of churches during the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries, and instead of the chancels remaining as they had done in times past, they were too often looked on either as a kind of lumber-room, to be cleared out once a quarter for the administration of the Holy Communion; or as a part of the church where the most comfortable and honourable seats were provided for the richer laity. Such customs have tended to obscure the sense of the rubric, and are recalled to memory only for the purpose of explaining how it came to be so disregarded in modern times. In Griffin v. Dighton, Chief Justice Erie decided (on appeal in 1864) that the chancel is the place appointed for the Clergyman and for those who assist him in the performance of Divine Service ; and that it is entirely under his control as to access and use, subject to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary. THE ORDER FOB MORNING PRATER, DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. “Executor off- At the "beginning of Morning Prayer the Mi- di,, of Sarum nister shall read with a loud voice some one, or more of these Sentences of the Scriptures, that follow. And then he shall say that which is written after the said Sentences. Ezelc. xviii. 27. HEN the wicked man turneth V ¥ away from his wickedness, that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. I acknowledge my transgressions, p s . li. 3 . and my sin is ever before me. Hide thy face from my sins, and Ps. U. 9 . blot out mine iniquities. The Sacrifices of God are a broken Ps. li. 17. spirit : a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Rend your hearts, and not your gar- Joel ii. 13. ments, and turn unto the Lord your The Order for Morning Prayer] The word “ Order ” in the sense here intended has almost passed out of use. It simply means regulation or ordinance, according to its derivation from the Latin word ordo. Morning Prayer was called hy the ancient popular name of “ Mattins ” (abbreviated from Matutinal), in the original English Prayer Book of 1549; and that name is still retained in the three Tables of Proper Lessons and Proper Psalms, and also in the Elizabethan Act of Uniformity. THE SENTENCES. The ancient Mattins of the Church of England began with, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” (and the sign of the Cross,) followed hy an inaudible recitation of the Lord’s Prayer by the Priest who officiated. Then was said, “ O Lord, open Thou my lips : And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.” This opening of the service was retained in the 1549 Prayer Book, hut the Lord’s Prayer was directed to be said “ with a loud voice,” instead of secreto. In the 1552 Prayer Book, these Sentences, with the Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution, were prefixed to Morning Prayer, but not to Evening Prayer. This addition was suggested, probably, by the second reformed Breviary of Cardinal Quignonez, in which the ancient Confession and Absolution, hereafter given, were placed at the beginning of Mattins. But other reasons are also apparent for the change. In the first place, the full effect of the dissolu- tion of Monasteries was making itself felt by ritualists, and a penitential prefix to the service was considered more appropriate for a mixed congregation than the previous mode of opening it, which was suitable for communities professedly spending nearly their whole time in the religious portion of a Christian’s duty. And, in the second place, a relaxation of the rule about private Confession made it expedient to place a public Confession and Absolution within the reach of all, day by day. The Sentences themselves (which had nearly all been previously in use as Capitula, during Lent) are a reproduction at the beginning of Divine Service of the Invitatories which were pre- fixed to the Venite in the ancient Mattins. In both cases the object is to give the key-note to the service which is to follow. In the Salisbury use two such Sentences, with a Yersicle and Collect, were prefixed to Mattins on Easter Day. These were still ordered to be “ solemnly sung or said” in the same place in the 1549 Prayer Book ; but on the appointment of the Sentences now in use, the former were directed to be used instead of Venite, and are prints^ before the Easter Collect. It was in this light that the Sentences ;vsre viewed by Bp. Andrewes, who suggested some others in the following note : “ Adde hue, quod ad invitandam pcenitentiam egregia sunt misericordim et longani- mitatis encomia. Ps. lxxviii. 38. Jer. iii. 7. 12. Heh. iv.” B 2 MORNING PRAYER. God : for he is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Ban. ix. 9, 10. To the Lord our God belong mercies Jer. x. 24. Ps. vi. 1. 'Malt. iii. 2. LuTce xv. 18, 19. Ps. cxliii. 2. 1 John i. 8, 9. and forgivenesses, though we have re- belled against him : neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws, which he set be- fore us. 0 Lord correct me, but with judge- ment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Repent ye ; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 1 will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him ; Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Enter not into judgement with thy servant, O Lord ; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us. But, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- righteousness. D EARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness, and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father, but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart, to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God, yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble, and meet together, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy word, and to ask those things, which are requisite and necessaiy, as well for the body as the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you as many as are here present, to Phil. iv. 1. See the above sentences. Lev. v. 5. Josh. vii. 19. Prov. xxriii. 13. Ps. xxvi. 4. John xv. 22. Gen. xvii. 1. Matt. vi. 14. Jer. iii. 13. Ps. li. 3. 17. Matt. iii. 2. Isa. iv. 7. Joel ii. 13, 14. Ps. lxxxvi. 5. * Ps. xxxviii. 18. Luke xviii. 13, 14 . Joel i. 14. Hos. xiv. I, 2. 2 Chron. vi. 18 — 21. vii. 15. Ps. c. 4. xxxv. 18. 1 Chron. xvL 8, 9. Ps. cxlix. 1. * xcv. 2. Deut.xxxi.il, 12. Acts xiii. 44. 2 Chron. vii. 13. Isa. Ivi. 7. Matt. vii. 6. 11. As Invitatories intended to give the key-note to the Service, they may be advantageously used in the following, or some similar, order, appropriate to the various days and seasons. Advent : “ Repent ye.” “ Enter not.” “ O Lord, correct me.” Lent : “ The sacrifices.” “ Rend your heart.” Fridays and Vigils : “ I acknowledge.” Wednesdays : “ Hide thy face.” Ordinary days : “ When the wicked man.” “ I will arise.” “ If we say.” . Sundays, other holy days, and Eves : “ To the Lord our God.” There is a well-known traditional practice of singing one of these Sentences as an anthem ; “ I will arise ” being very frequently so used. Such a practice seems to be in strict keeping with their character as Invitatories, and in analogy with the use of the Easter Sentences referred to ; as also with such a use of the Offertory Sentences in the Communion Service. Read with a loud voice ] This is an ecclesiastical or technical phrase, the explanation of which is to he found in a Rubric before the Te Beum in the previous editions of the Prayer Book : “ Then shall be read two Lessons distinctly with a loud voice.” “Then shall the Lessons he sung in a plain tune, after the man- ner of distinct reading ; and likewise the Epistle and Gospel.” It is the clara vox of older ritualists, and presupposes a musical intonation, with or without inflection, to be the customary way of reciting Divine Service. “ To synge & rede & say.” [Mirror, f. 5.] In Bishop Cosin’s revision he appended to the word “minister” the following note : — “ That is, he who at that time ministercth or celebrateth Divine Service j” and although it was not deemed necessary at the time to print this note, it is valuable to us now as showing the technical meaning which was attached to the word Minister, when used in the Rubric. He also added Isaiah lv. 6, 7, and 1 John i. 9, the latter verse being adopted, but not the former; and “or more” afte' “some one” in the Rubric. Some may consider that the terms of the Rubric, both here and before the Offertory Sentences, strictly limit the recitation of them to the clergyman officiating. There is, however, no ritual prin- ciple by which they are so limited. THE EXHORTATION. There is an analogy between this Exhortation and some which were used, at the Holy Communion and in Lent, in the ancient services of the Church of England. There is also a trace of similarity between it and the opening of Pullain’s L’Ordre des Prieres Ecclesiasliq ues, printed for the use of the German refugees at Glastonbury, in 1552. The words of the latter are, “ Mes Freres, qu’un chascun de vous se presente devant la face du Seigneur, avec confession de ses fautes et pechez, suyvant de tout son cueur mes [pa]rolles‘.” But there is too little resemblance between our Exhortation and these to give any critical ground for supposing that it was founded upon any of them ; and it must be concluded that those who revised the Prayer Book in 1552 were entirely responsible for its composition. It has been called a short homily on Divine worship ; and may also he taken as following up the general Invitatory, as it was followed formerly by the Venite. It was probably inserted here under the impression that the people at large were extremely ignorant of the true nature of Divine worship at the time. Five principal parts of worship are mentioned in it. (1) Confession of sin ; (2) Absolution ; (3) Thanksgiving and Praise ; (4) The hearing of God’s Word ; (5) Prayer for spiritual and bodily benefits. In this structure also it bears some analogy to the Venite. The Minister celebrating Divine Service is directed to “say” this Exhortation, “ saying ” being the ritual term for reciting on one musical note, or “ monotoning,” as distinguished from “singing,” which is reciting with musical inflections, and from “ reading,” which is a general term, including both methods. If the Exhortation is said from memory, and with the face turned towards the congregation, it becomes much more expressive of the intention with which it was placed here, than when said as a lxere 1 This book was also printed in Latin, perhaps before it came out in French. The French edition seems to be very rare. MORNING PRAYER. 3 lct°s r iv '2V accompany me with a pure heart and Eecies. v. i, 2. humble voice unto the throne of the HiX. XXV'. Z l , zz. neb. iv. i6. heavenly grace, saying after me. Tsa. Ixiii. 16. Luke vi. 36. Isa. liii. 6. Ps. cxix. 176. Jer. xviii. 12. Jer. xvii. 9. Eph. ii. 2, 3. Dan. ix. 9, 10. Rom. vii. 12. 1 John iii. 4. Lam. iii. 40. 42. IT A general Confession to he said of the whole Congregation after the Minister, all kneel- ing. A LMIGHTY, and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we isa. iix. 12, 13. ought not to have done; And there is Gai.v. 17. no health in us. But thou, O Lord, u. 1 — 5. . -inf Euke xviii. 13. have mercy upon us, miserable of- Prov. xxviii. 13. fenders. Spare thou them, O God, Joelii - 17 - which confess their faults. Restore Jer. m. 22. thou them that are penitent ; Ac- Ps. xxm'. 3. cording to thy promises declared unto Matt, f 21. mankind in Christ J esu our Lord. 2 cor. i. 20. lJohni. 9. And grant, O most merciful Father, John xvi. 23. 24. . ’ Titus ii. 11, 12. for his sake; That we may hereafter Johnxv. 8. live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Eph. m. 20, 21. Amen. form for passing atvaj a few seconds, while the congregation is settling into a devotional frame of mind. The concluding words, “ after me,” were erased by Bishop Cosin, for what reason is not apparent, and were restored by the Committee of Revision. They define the manner in which the Confession is to be said ; as also do the words “ humble voice,” which represent the submissa vox of old rubrics. THE GENERAL CONFESSION. After the Minister, all Tcneeling~\ Bishop Cosin erased the word “after” in this Rubric, and substituted “with;” but the original word was carefully restored, showing that a distinc- tion was intended between the two words in their ritual use. “ After the Minister” means, that each clause is to be said first by the Minister alone, and then repeated by “ the whole congrega- tion ” alone — i. e. while the Minister remains silent, as in the case of a response after a versicle. “ With ” the Minister means simultaneous recitation by him and the congregation together, and is ordered in the Rubric before the Lord’s Prayer. The word “ all ” was also one of Bishop Cosin’s additions, and is illustrated by his note in another volume : “ Kneeling is the most fit gesture for humble penitents ; and being so, it is strange to see how in most places, men are suffered to sit rudely and carelessly on their scats all the while this Confession is read ; and others that be in church are nothing affected with it. They think it a thing of indiffereney forsooth, if the heart be right.” This sitting posture during public confessions was one of the abuses that scandalized the Puritans ; and they sought to have a Canon passed, enjoining all to kneel. The eighteenth Canon does indeed direct that “ all manner of persons then present shall reverently kneel upon their knees when the general Confession, Litany, and other prayers are read .... testifying by these outward ceremonies and gestures, their inward humility.” The gesture of kneeling here and elsewhere is not only a mark of personal humility and reverence, but also one of those acts required of every one as an individual component part of the body which forms the congregation ; and to neglect it is to neglect a duty which is owing to God and man in this respect, as well as the other. We have no right to conspicuous private gestures in a public devotional assembly; nor are the gestures which we there use (in conformity to the rules of the Church) to be neces- sarily interpreted as hypocritical because our personal habits or feelings may not be entirely consistent with them. As the clergy have an official duty in church, irrespective of their per- sonal characters, so also have the laity. It may be added, that a respectful conformity to rules enjoining such official duties, may often lead onward to true personal reverence and holiness. As far as present researches show, the general Confession ap- pears to be an original composition of some of the revisers of 1552 ; but its principal features are, of course, represented in con- fessional formularies of the Ancient Church, the ideas being a common heritage of every age and country. It has not under- gone any alteration since its first introduction into morning prayer. It has been observed 1 , that this general Confession appears to be founded on Romans vn. 8 — We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done. We have done those things which we ought not to have Sin .... wrought in me all concupiscence. The law is holy .... but I am carnal, sold under sin. The good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. done. And there is no health in us. In me dwelleth no good thing. O ... . the body of this death. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. But Thou, 0 Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offen- ders. According to Thy promises, declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. All the phrases of the Confession have, however, a Scrip- tural ring; and it was very likely compiled almost verbatim from some old English version of the Bible, or else freely rendered (according to the habit of the day in sermons) from the Vulgate Psalms, and other Scriptures indicated above in the margin. The manner and spirit in which a general confession of sins may be made personally and particularly applicable, is pointedly set forth in a Rubric which precedes the Confession to be used on board ship when there is danger of shipwreck : “ When there is imminent danger, as many as can be spared from necessary ser- vice in the ship, shall be called together, and make an humble Confession of their sin to God, in which every one ought seriously to reflect upon those particular sins of which his conscience shall accuse him, saying as followeth.” That a confession so made can be otherwise than acceptable to the Good Shepherd and Physician of our souls it is impossible to doubt. That further and more detailed confession is also at times necessary, the provisions made by the Church for her penitents, and the private habits of all pious Christians, make equally certain. The “ Am en” is part of the Confession, and is to be said by both minister and people, as is indicated by the type in which it is printed. 1 Archd. Freeman’s “ Principles of Divine Service,” i. 320. B 2 4 MORNING PRAYER. % The Absolution or Remission of sins to be pronounced by the Priest alone , standing ; the people still lcneeling. 2 Cor. i. 3. Ezek.xviii. 31,32. 2 Pet. iii. 9. Ezek. xxxiii. 11 John xx. 21, 23. Luke xxiv. 47. 2 Cor. ii. 10. v. 18—20. Isa. xliii. 23. Ps. Ixxxvi. 3. Acts ii. 38. xiii. 38, 39. A lmighty g