FROM-THE- LIBRARY-OF
TWNITYCOLLEGETORDNTO
THE
BOOK OF COMMON
PRAYER
SEWANEE THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY
General Editor The Rev. ARTHUR R. GRAY, Chaplain of
the University of the South.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH, by the Rt. Rev.
A. C. A. HALL, D.D., JLL.D., Bishop of Vermont.
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, by the Rev.
SAMUEL HART, D.D., LL.D., Dean of Berkeley Divinity
School.
THE OLD TESTAMENT, by the Rev. LORING W.
BATTEN, Ph.D., S.T.D., Professor of the Literature and
Interpretation of the Old Testament, General Theological
Seminary. (In Preparation.)
THE NEW TESTAMENT. (To be arranged for.)
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST THREE
CENTURIES, by the Very Rev. CHAS. L. WELLS,
Ph.D., Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans.
(In Preparation.)
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY FROM THE THIRD
CENTURY, by the Very Rev. CHAS. L. WELLS, Ph.D.
(Shortly.)
ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY, by the Rev. GEORGE WIL
LIAM DOUGLAS, D.D., Canon of the Cathedral of St. John
the Divine, New York. (In Preparation.)
APOLOGETICS. (To be arranged for.)
CHRISTIAN ETHICS. (To be arranged for.)
* In uniform volumes , 12-mo. cloth, printed on imported
English paper, price $i.jo per volume.
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
OF SEWANEE TENNESSEE
SEWANEE THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY
THE
BOOK OF COMMON
PRAYER
BY
SAMUEL HART, D.D., LL.D.
DEAN OF BERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL,
CUSTODIAN OF THE BOOK OF
COMMON PRAYER
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH
SEWANEE, TENNESSEE
\
Copyright, 1910
By The University Press of
Sewanee Tennessee
0463
EDITOR'S PREFACE
THE object of this series is to provide for the
clergy and laity of the Church a statement, in
convenient form, of its Doctrine, Discipline and
Worship as well as to meet the often expressed de
sire on the part of Examining Chaplains for text
books which they could recommend to Candidates
for Holy Orders.
To satisfy, on the one hand, the demand of general
readers among the clergy and laity, the books have
been provided with numerous references to larger
works, making them introductory in their nature;
and on the other hand, to make them valuable for use
in canonical examinations, they have been arranged
according to the Canons of the Church which deal
with that matter.
It is the earnest hope of the collaborators in this
series that the impartial scholarship and unbiased at
titude adopted throughout, will commend themselves
to Churchmen of all types, and that the books will
therefore be accorded a general reception and adopted
ts far as possible as a norm for canonical examina
tions. The need of such a norm is well known to all.
And finally a word to Examining Chaplains. They
will find that the volumes are so arranged that it will
vi. EDITOR'S PREFACE
be possible to adapt them to all kinds of students.
The actual text itself should be taken as the minimum
of requirement from the Candidate, and then, by
reference on their part to the bibliographies at the
end of each chapter, they can increase as they see fit
the amount of learning to be demanded in each case.
It has been the endeavor of the editor to make these
bibliographies so comprehensive that Examining
Chaplains will always find suitable parallel readings.
If in any way the general public will be by this
series encouraged to study the position of the
Church, and if the canonical examinations in the
different dioceses can be brought into greater har
mony one with another, our object will be accom
plished.
ARTHUR R. GRAY.
PREFACE
THE primary purpose of this volume is to guide
Candidates for Holy Orders in their study of
the History and the Contents of the Book of Common
Prayer as it has been set forth for use in the Ameri
can Church. To this end, I have followed the
method of familiar lectures, such as can be inter
rupted by question and answer; assuming through
out that the reader has an acquaintance with the
Book, but that he wishes to be informed as to its
origins, its principles, its purposes, and some of the
details of its phraseology and use. I have endeav
ored, therefore, to answer the questions which such
a reader might be minded to ask, and to suggest to
him lines of inquiry for more thorough study. It
will be evident that in such a method many matters
will receive attention which are of comparatively
little importance, and liturgical scholars will see
that this book lacks balance and perspective; but I
hope that the defect will be in part excused by some
little addition to its interest and to its practical use
fulness. Moreover, in such a hand-book it is fre
quently necessary to express an opinion; but t
should not be thought that the present writer con
siders all his opinions of equal value, or indeed that
riii. PREFACE
he would attach undue importance to any opinion of
his own. It must be left to the reader to distinguish
between opinions and statements of historical or theo
logical facts.
There are few books as interesting or as valuable
as the Book of Common Prayer. "The difficulties that
people find with the Prayer Book," says the author of
Ecclesia Di 'scens, "are mainly due to their not using
it as it was intended to be used, systematically and
continuously. In one sense it is hard to master, be
cause it contains a great deal that is worth learning.
A practical acquaintance with the year of worship
which it provides and with some of its occasional
offices is a liberal education in the things necessary
to salvation."
Te deprecor, bone Jesu, ut cui propitius donasti
verba tuae veritatis dulciter haurire, dones etiam
benignus aliquando ad te fontem omnis veritatis per-
venire et adorare semper autefaciem tuam.
S. H.
Berkeley Divinity School,
St. Luke's Day, 1909.
CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTORY .................................. i
The English Prayer Book ...................... 3
The American Prayer Book .................... 16
II. THE PRELIMINARY PAGES OF THE PRAYER BOOK
Title, Ratification, Preface ...................... 34
Concerning the Service of the Church ........... 35
The Psalter .................................... 38
Lessons of Scripture ........................... 41
Hymns and Anthems ........................... 46
Tables and Rules .............................. 51
III. MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER ................ 62
The Creed of Saint Athanasius ................. 93
IV. THE LITANY .................................... 97
V. SPECIAL PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS ......... 108
The Penitential Office .......................... 112
VI. THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS ......... 1 14
Coincidence of Holy Days ...................... 130
VII. THE HOLY COMMUNION I.
History of the Office ........................... 135
VIII. THE HOLY COMMUNION II.
Commentary of the Office ....................... 163
The Communion of the Sick .................... 199
IX. THE MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM.
Public Baptism of Infants ...................... 205
Private Baptism of Children .................... 215
Baptism of those of Riper Years ................ 218
X. THE CATECHISM ................................. 223
Questions and Answers on the Church .......... 228
x. CONTENTS
XI. THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION 232
XII. THE SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY 240
XIII. THE VISITATION OF THE SICK 250
XIV. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 257
XV. OTHER OFFICES.
The Churching of Women 267
Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea 268
The Visitation of Prisoners 269
Thanksgiving-day 269
Family Prayers 270
XVI. THE PSALTER 271
XVII. THE ORDINAL 274
Consecration of a Church and Institution of Min
isters 283
INDEX 287
THE
BOOK OF COMMON
PRAYER
THE
BOOK OF COMMON
PRAYER
i.
INTRODUCTORY
F AHE Prayer Book, or rather the book described
J^ by its title as "The Book of Common Prayer,
and Administration of the Sacraments, and other
Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, . . . together
with the Psalter or Psalms of David," really con
sists of five books, which had never been brought
together within one cover until the time of the Eng
lish Reformation; in fact, it is only in the English
Church and those connected with it that the five
books are to-day customarily printed and bound to
gether. These constituent parts of our Prayer Book
are called in the Anglicized form of their Latin
names: the Breviary, the Processional, the Missal,
the Manual, and the Psalter. The last named is
really a book of the Bible, arranged for use on the
successive days of the month, and bound up with the
service-books a provision made almost necessary
by the fact that it is used in Church in an old trans
lation which is rarely printed elsewhere. In regard
2 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
to each of the other parts of the volume a few words
may be said.
The Breviary, so called because it was originally a
compendium or concise arrangement of devotional
offices, contained the services for the several hours of
each day of the week, modified for special days of
the Church's year, with the Calendar and rules for
their use; it also contained the Psalter, the several
Psalms being distributed according to the places in
which they were to be read. The present Roman
Breviary is in four good-sized volumes, one for each
season of the year. The parts corresponding to it in
our Book are the general rubrics, with calendar and
tables, and the Order for Daily Morning and Even
ing Prayer.
The Processional was a book of Litanies, so called
because Litanies were often sung in procession.
Our Litany, with the special Prayers and Thanks
givings and the Penitential Office, corresponds to
this.
The Missal contained the service used at the cele
bration of the Mass or Eucharist, including the
Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, the psalms or verses
sung in connection with them, the Prefaces, and cer
tain variable prayers for different days. The Order
for the Holy Communion, with the Collects, Epis
tles, and Gospels, as of old, corresponds to this.
The Manual included all the services which we
call Occasional, as they were used by the priests, in
cluding also that for Confirmation as being a paro-
INTRODUCTORY
chial service. To it correspond the offices for Bap
tism and those which follow.
After the Psalter there is placed in our Book
though really it is another book bound up with the
former what was called a Pontifical: that is, a col
lection of offices used by Bishops. It includes with
us the three Ordination services, with their Litany
and Communion Office, the form for the Consecra
tion of a Church, and that for the Institution of a
Rector.
The Articles of Religion are, in accordance with
long-established custom, bound with the Prayer
Book; but they have their own title-page and are
not a part of the Prayer Book at all.
It may be interesting to note that both the Breviary
(as indeed its name denotes) and the Missal were
made up of more than one earlier book. The
Lessons, extracts from Homilies, and other readings
for the daily offices were contained in the Legenda ;
the antiphons and other sung parts in the Antiph-
onal; the complicated rules for reading the ser
vices in the Ordinal or Directorium, which latter,
from the great number of large black letters on its
pages, contrasting with the white of the paper, was
called the 'Magpie,' in Latin 'Pica,' anglicized into
'Pie.' l The Missal was also used in distinct parts:
the Sacramentary contained what was said or sung
by the celebrant, and his assistants had the Epistle-
^his gave name to 'pica' type and to printers' 'pi.'
4 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
book or Apostle and the Gospel-book for their parts
of the service. There was also a Gradual-book for
the choir, containing the gradual psalms sung be
tween the Epistle and the Gospel, and a Trope-book
with later additions to the musical part of the
service. We are familiar in our Church with
Litany-books and Altar Services; our Bishops have
Ordinals with other services which they use; and in
England separate Epistle and Gospel books have
been printed.
All the services contained in the ancient books
mentioned as in use in the Western Church and
the Eastern Church has in principle the same offices
continued to be used in England throughout the
reign of King Henry VIII, who died early in 1547.
Before that time, the translation of the Bible known
as the Great Bible, and first published in 1539, had
been placed in the churches. In 1543, it had been
ordered that Lessons of Scripture should be read in
England at Matins and Vespers, and announcement
had been made that a reformation of the service-
books was to follow; and in the next year, as will
presently be noted, an English Litany had been set
forth. But no other actual changes has been made,
except that the name of the Pope and the name of
St. Thomas a Becket had been erased from the books.
But schemes for revision were in hand, which led to
the publication of the first English Prayer Book in
the next reign.
INTRODUCTORY
THE ENGLISH PRAYER BOOK*
The Book of Common Prayer has been used by
some twelve generations of men and women and
children in England ; it has been carried into all the
colonies of English people everywhere ; it was used
on this continent as soon as English Churchmen set
foot on it, and it has been constantly used in our land
since the settlement of Jamestown in 1607, when the
book itself was not sixty years old. To-day there are
about two million copies of the book in the churches
and homes of the United States; its words are on
the lips of Christian people all over the world, and
its thoughts are in their hearts, and we feel sure that
it will be used and that its influence will extend as
long as there shall be English-speaking Christians on
the earth, and that we can hardly doubt will be until
the Church shall come to the end of her earthly his
tory and the Lord shall return from heaven.
We belong to a Church which teaches us to use a
book now, in nearly every part, three hundred and
sixty years old; a book which comes from a date
hardly a century after the invention of printing and
not much more than a century after the discovery of
'The writer does not apologize for using, at the beginning of
this and the following chapter, parts of A Short History of
the Book of Common Prayer, which he wrote in 1899, at the
request of the late Mr. George C. Thomas, for the use of the
Teachers and Scholars of the Church of the Holy Apostles,
Philadelphia, in commemoration of the 35oth anniversary of
the first English Prayer Book.
5 777^ BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
America; a book which is not older than the English
Bible, to be sure, but is sixty years older than the
translation which is now read in our churches; a
book with which some people have found fault, of
course, but which has gained a stronger and stronger
hold on the affection and esteem of those who have
really come to know it. It is worth our while to
know such a book well, and to learn what we can
about it.
There had been Christians in the country which is
now called England almost, if not quite, from the
time of the Apostles ; and those Christians had held
the same Creeds, had had the same Ministry, and had
used practically the same forms for daily worship and
ministering the Sacraments, as Christians in other
parts of the world. There never was a Church with
out some kind of a Prayer Book. It would have its
beginning in the teaching of Apostles or of men who
stood very near to them ; additions would be made to
it by good men as they found out what was needed ;
and so it would grow to be a part of the religious life
of the people. But there was no printing in those
days, and very few people could read and write ; so
that for the most part the use of a service-book was a
matter of hearing and of memory. Then again, the
missionaries who brought Christianity to the British
Isles whether those of earlier days who found the
Britons in possession, or those beginning with
Augustine in 597 who converted the Anglo-Saxons
by whom the Britons had been in part displaced
INTRODUCTORY
spoke Latin, which was for a long time the only
civilized language for Western Europe ; and the ser
vices of the Church were kept in Latin, the people
watching the priest to know what he was doing,
rather than listening to what he said, except when
he preached in the language which they used and
understood. Thus it came about that there was no
"Common Prayer," no response in any service
except by a few who were trained to repeat the
necessary Latin words; and what was worst of all,
the people could not understand the Word of God
when the Lessons or any other part of the Bible was
read in Church. They were indeed taught in Eng
lish and this should be thankfully remembered
the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command
ments, with some of the Psalms and some of the
Collects; and there were service-books in English,
called 'Primers' or 'First Books,' which became more
common after the invention of printing, but very
few were able to use these. Thus, as only priests
and monks could understand the daily services, the
common people were not expected to go to them;
and the rules for finding the parts of the services
became very complicated and hard to follow and the
Lessons from the Bible became very short and dis
connected. On Sundays and Holy-days the people
went to church for the service of the Holy Commun
ion, or the 'Mass' as it was then commonly called;
and probably most of them could follow the service
after they became used to it; but they did not join
8 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
with the priest in its words, and they rarely received
the Sacrament. And still further, as there had
crept into the Church errors of one kind and another,
about which we read in the history of those times,
the services came to be in some things different from
what they had once been and what they ought to
have been.
Among the changes in England at the time of the
Reformation, one of the most important was the
adoption of a Book of Common Prayer in the lan
guage of the people. The first service to be put into
English was the Litany ; and this was set forth by
Archbishop Cranmer under the authority of King
Henry VIII in 1544. Within a few months Henry
died and was succeeded by his son, the boy king
Edward VI. In his reign, early in the year 1548,
there was published "The Order of the Commun
ion" in English, which was to be used on and after
the Easter of that year. It did not displace any
part of the Latin service of the Mass; but it pro
vided that after the priest had consecrated the bread
and wine and had received the Sacrament, he should
say a service of preparation for the communicants
and then should administer to them both of the con
secrated elements, using in all an English form of
words. This new service had in it what we now
have in the Exhortation and Invitation ("Ye who do
truly"), the Confession and Absolution, the Comfort
able Words, and the Prayer of Humble Access
("We do not presume"), and the administration in
INTRODUCTORY
both kinds with the former half of the sentences now
used, followed by a Benediction. This great and
important act, giving to the people in their own
tongue a service for the full reception of the
Eucharist, prepared the way for an act still greater.
The Archbishop and those who were associated with
him continued their work, and soon had ready for
the printers a complete Book of Common Prayer.
It was duly authorized and first used on Whitsunday,
which was the ninth day of June, in the year 1549.
This Prayer Book did not have in it, nor did it
need to have, much that was new. Its compilers
had the old service-books, and in particular that
form of the Latin service-book known as the Use of
Sarum (the old city of Salisbury), which had been
most widely followed in England since about the
year 1180; and in these books was much which had
been used from the beginning : Collects which even
then were a thousand years old, Epistles and Gospels
which had been in use nearly as long, besides the
Book of Psalms for worship and all the rest of the
Bible for Lessons; and for the ministration of the
Sacrament and other holy rites they wished, as in
deed they felt it their duty, to follow the custom of
the Church in her best and purest days, with adapta
tion to the needs of the time. And for their assist
ance they had before them, besides the Latin ser
vices with which they were familiar, the Greek
Liturgies, and the ancient Spanish services, the
plans for reformation of the daily services proposed
10 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
by the Spanish Cardinal Quignonez and studied by
Cranmer, and suggestions from the reforming Arch
bishop of Cologne and from other German sources.
And in the use of this material they were guided by
three principles. First, they wished to put the ser
vices into English, so that all could understand them
and read them (or at least commit their parts under-
standingly to memory), and thus use them ; and this
was largely, if not entirely, done by Archbishop
Cranmer himself, who had wonderful skill as a trans
lator from Latin and a writer of English. Secondly,
they were determined to make the services simple,
in order that they might be 'understanded' and
readily followed and learned, and also to make them
instructive, especially by providing for large read
ings from God's Word. And thirdly, they felt it
their duty to correct errors of doctrine and of
practice which in course of time had found their
way into the service-books and into the manner of
using them. The result was, as has been said, the
Prayer Book of 1549, often called the First Book of
Edward VI, which with some changes, but with very
few of real importance, is still used in the English
Church and in our own. The detailed history of the
several offices, as well before the adoption of this
first English Book as after it, will be best given later
on, as each office comes under consideration ; but a
general statement as to the several revisions may be
made here.
First, we must note that in the present English
INTRODUCTORY 11
and American Books, Morning and Evening Prayer
from the Lord's Prayer through the third Collect,
the Litany, the Collects with the Epistles and
Gospels, and the occasional offices (beginning with
that for the ministration of Baptism and perhaps
making an exception of the Burial Office), have not
been greatly changed from the services of 1549;
while the Ordination services remain almost exactly
as they were set forth in 1550. As to the Commun
ion Office, it was modified in several particulars in
1552, and in the English Church still remains in
that form ; while in our Church the Prayer of Conse
cration has been taken from the Scottish Liturgy.
' The cause for the next revision was that there
early grew up an influential party which held and
taught that the Reformation had not gone far enough
when the first Prayer Book was adopted, and in
sisted on the need of greater changes in things relig
ious and devotional than had yet been made; others
were pushing for a return to some things which
had been abandoned ; while in those troublous times
the leaders did not always feel sure that they had
been working along the right lines. A revision was
ordered, and changes were made, some of them in
the direction of the Lutheran and Calvinist Reforma
tion on the Continent, but almost all in reality
affecting rather the form than the doctrine of the
earlier Book. It will be well to remember that in
this book the penitential introduction was prefixed
to Morning and Evening Prayer, that the Ten Com-
IS THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A VEX
roandments were placed at the beginning of the
Communion Office, and that this service and those
which follow were put practically into their present
form; the one notable exception being that at the
administration of the Holy Communion the words
provided were the second half of the present forms :
"Take and eat this . . . ," "Drink this in remem
brance . . . ," the former half having been prescribed
in 1549. This second book was to come into use on
All Saints' Day in 1552; but there was delay at the
printers, and it can hardly have come into use at all.
For Edward died in May, 1553, and his sister Mary
who succeeded him held to the Roman obedience and
put a stop to the work of the Reformation ; for the
five cruel years of her reign the use of the English
Prayer Book was forbidden by law. The great
Queen Elizabeth, Edward's and Mary's sister, came
to the throne in 1558; and in the following year the
Prayer Book was again published and came at once
into general use. It was the edition of 1552, modi
fied by bringing together at the administration of the
Holy Communion the words provided in the first and
the second Books of Edward VI, so as to give the
forms now used, and with scarce any other changes ;
yet under the Queen's influence, though it was the
book of 1552, there seem to have been retained with
it some of the usages and spirit of that of 1549.
The Puritan influence, strongly opposed to Epis
copacy and the Prayer Book, was held in restraint
during her long reign, and necessary opposition to it
INTRODUCTORY 13
strengthened the convictions of English Churchmen.
When her successor, James I, came to the throne in
1603, a conference of Churchmen and Puritans was
held under the presidency of the King at Hampton
Court ; but the king threw the weight of his learning
and his pedantry against the insurgent party, and
the new edition of the Prayer Book in 1604 practically
differed from the preceding only in the addition to
the Catechism of the questions and answers as to
the Sacraments. James died in 1625, and in the
troublous times of his son, Charles I, the combined
influence of Presbyterianism and Puritanism, aided
by the King's unwise attempt to force a Prayer Book
on Scotland in 1637 and by his other blunders, led to
the apparent overthrow of the Church of England.
Archbishop Laud was beheaded; in 1645 a* 1 ordi
nance of Parliament established Presbyterianism and
abolished the Book of Common Prayer and forbade
its use in public or private; in 1649, the King, who
always kept faithful to the Church, was brought to
the block; and the Presbyterian establishment re
mained in force till the end of the Commonwealth in
1660. After the accession, or rather restoration, of
Charles II in 1661, a debate was held at the Savoy
Palace in London between twelve divines of the
Church of England and twelve of the opposing party,
who brought almost innumerable objections against
the Prayer Book, verbal and rubrical and doctrinal.
It led to the recognition that the system of the
Church and that of the Puritans were irreconcilable,
14 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
and that the logical place of the latter was not as
dissenters but as separatists. A thorough review of
the Prayer Book was undertaken, however, by the
authorities of the Church; the book was carefully
edited ; in the Prayer for the Church in the Com
munion Office an explicit oblation and a commemo
ration of the departed were inserted ; a large number
of minor changes, nearly all editorial, were made;
and the Standard Prayer Book of the Church of
England for nearly 250 years has been the edition of
1662. No alteration has been made in the book
since that date, except the necessary changes of
names in the prayers for the Sovereign and the royal
family and the provision (in 1871) of new tables of
Lessons; some provision for shortening the daily
services has been made by authority of Convocation
and Parliament (1872), but the rubrics remain as
before.
An attempt at revision was made in 1689 as part
of the scheme of comprehension under William and
Mary, but the report (not printed till 1855) was
never presented to Convocation ; there is a reference
to it, but based on no accurate knowledge of its con
tents, in the Preface to our Prayer Book. In 1879
the Convocations of Canterbury and York proposed
amendments to the Rubrics in reply to 'Letters of
Business' from the Crown; but no action was taken
on their recommendations. Quite recently 'Letters
of Business' have been again issued for this purpose;
and at this writing (1909) a report from an influential
INTRODUCTORY 15
Committee is under discussion with a view to some
such revision as was accomplished in our Church
seventeen years ago.
In English works on the Prayer Book, and elsewhere, the
reader will find frequent references to two rubrics which are not
in our American Book, the ' Ornaments Rubric ' and 'the Black
Rubric.'
The Ornaments Rubric stands just before the beginning of
Morning Prayer, and is now in these words: "And here it is
to be noted, that such Ornaments of the Church and of the
Ministers thereof at all times of their ministration, shall be re
tained and be in use, as were in this Church in England, by the
authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of
King Edward the Sixth." The word ' ornaments,' as applied to
a church, includes what we should call 'furnishings,' such as
altar-cloths and candlesticks; and as applied to ministers, it in
cludes vestments.
The first Book of Edward VI contained directions as to the
dress of the clergy, including a surplice at matins and evensong
and " a white alb plain with a vestment [which seems to mean
a chasuble] or cope." The second Book forbade the use of
alb, vestment, and cope, but ordered for priests and deacons a
surplice only. In Elizabeth's Book of 1559, the Ornaments
Rubric, as far as the ornaments of the minister were con
cerned, took the present form ; the reference to the ornaments
of the Church was inserted in 1662. This rubric has been and
still is in England the occasion of great controversy, the ques
tion really being whether the Prayer Book requires the use of
what are known as the ' eucharistic vestments.' The opinions
of men learned in ecclesiastical and statute law have been
diverse ; there is a lack of agreement as to the meaning of the
date ; and some have held that the rubric was modified by other
legal action taken in Elizabeth's reign. It is to be feared that
some opinions and some decisions of courts in the matter have
been affected by prejudice ; and to most of us it seems that
over great importance has been attached to the interpretations
of the rubric. It can hardly be held to have any legal or
16 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
canonical weight in this country; and a commentary on the
American Book may be excused from expressing an opinion as
to its application.
The Black Rubric stands after the rubrics at the end of the
Communion Office, and is really a declaration as to the meaning
of the requirement that communicants shall receive the Sacra
ment kneeling. It is printed in italic, like the rubrics; but
when the rubrics are printed in red ink, as they ought to be by
reason of their name which expresses ancient custom, this
remains in black ; hence it is called the Black Rubric. It was
first placed in the Books of 1552 and 1559, and again inserted
in a modified form in 1662. Although evidently not written by
a careful theologian, it is of value as distinguishing between
the right meaning of kneeling at the reception of the Sacra
ment and a possible perversion of it. Our Church has lost
nothing, except a cause of endless controversy, by its omission.
It may be well to note that in the American Prayer Book
proper there is no mention of ministerial vestments ; and that
in the Ordinal it is simply provided that persons to be or
dained deacons or priests shall be "decently habited," and
that a Bishop-elect when presented to the Presiding Bishop
shall be " vested with his rochet " and before the * Veni Creator '
shall "put on the rest of the Episcopal habit." The only allu
sion to vestments in our Canons is the provision that a lay-
reader "shall not wear the dress appropriate to clergymen
ministering in the congregation" (Canon 21, III). In this
lack of rubrical or canonical provision, we fall back upon the
law of custom ; and it is certainly a fair question how far the
lawfulness of custom may be interpreted for us by the Orna
ments Rubric of the English Church.
THE AMERICAN PRAYER BOOK
In this country, as soon as Englishmen began to
make settlements, they brought with them the Prayer
Book. The first use of the book within the present
limits of the United States appears to have been in
INTRODUCTORY 17
1579, when the chaplain of Sir Francis Drake read
prayers at the time of a landing on the Pacific Coast
near the site of San Francisco; but the first perma
nent settlement at which it was used was Jamestown
in Virginia, where services began with the beginning
of the colony in 1607. The adherents of the Church
of England in the several colonies held different
relations to the civil authority, but they all acknowl
edged the somewhat shadowy authority of the Bishop
of London as their Diocesan and used faithfully the
Prayer Book of the English Church. In some
places the most notable instances being in Con
necticut copies of that book were the Church's
first and most effective missionaries. As no bishop
came to visit the colonies, the services for Confirma
tion and Ordination could not be held; but the other
services were constantly used, the only variation
noted being that some clergymen omitted the exhor
tation to the sponsors of children baptized, that they
should bring them to the Bishop to be confirmed.
After the Declaration of Independence, the united
parishes of Christ Church and St. Peter's in Phila
delphia were the first to direct the omission of the
prayers for the King and royal family of Great
Britain; in other places like action was soon taken;
and presently prayers for the United States and for
Congress were read in many Churches. But a con
siderable part of the clergy, especially in the north
ern colonies, were strong adherents of the Crown,
and held that they were still bound by the oath of
3
18 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
allegiance which they had taken at their ordination.
Some of these, under pressure of circumstances,
ceased to minister at all in public, or contented
themselves with reading from the Bible, preaching,
and saying the Lord's Prayer; some found safety
within the British lines; and a few, in spite of
threats and actual violence, continued to read the
services in their churches without alteration or omis
sion. But as soon as the war was practically over, 4
Churchmen throughout the land began to consider
the problems which confronted them, and in particu
lar those which were involved in the necessary ar
rangements for public worship under the new condi
tion of affairs and for securing the episcopate.
Action was first taken in Connecticut, where on the
25th of March, 1783, Samuel Seabury was elected
Bishop and sent to ask for consecration in England
or Scotland. He was consecrated in Aberdeen in
November, 1784; when he returned to his Diocese
in the following year he gave instructions to his
clergy as to the necessary changes in the services,
and a year later, in 1786, he set forth for his Diocese
the Communion service as used by the Scottish
Bishops who had consecrated him. Before this
time, however, delegates from seven Southern
States, as they were then called (for * Southern'
meant New York and all south of it, the division
4 The cessation of hostilities was proclaimed April 19, 1783,
but the treaty of peace was not signed till September 3 of that
year.
INTRODUCTORY 19
being at Byram River), had met in Philadelphia
near the end of September, 1785, it being one of the
'fundamental principles' enunciated in the call for
this meeting that they should "adhere to the
Liturgy" of the Church of England "so far as shall
be consistent with the American Revolution and the
Constitutions of the respective States." This Con
vention of 1785 drafted "an Ecclesiastical Constitu
tion for the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States of America;" adopted a petition to
the English Archbishops and Bishops that they
would grant the episcopate to the Church in this
country; agreed to a few alterations in the Prayer
Book due to the change in the form of government,
and also appointed a committee to consider "such
alterations in the Liturgy as it may be advisable to
recommend for the consideration of the Church here
represented." A large number of changes in all
parts of the Prayer Book were reported; and the
Convention agreed to "propose and recommend"
them, leaving the question of their adoption to an
other Convention. This revision (if it may be so
called) was largely the work of the Rev. Dr. William
Smith, formerly of Pennsylvania and Provost of the
University, but then of Maryland ; and the publica
tion of a book embodying the proposed changes was
left to him with the Rev. Dr. William White (after
wards Bishop of Pennsylvania) and the Rev. Dr.
Wharton of Delaware. The Book, known as the
"Proposed Book," was published on the first day of
20 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
April, 1 786.' It was at once seen to have proposed
too many and radical changes ; no one seems to have
thought it satisfactory; and it was used but in a few
places and for a short time. The English Bishops
wrote that they were grieved to observe some of the
changes which had been made in the forms of wor
ship, and particularly that the Nicene Creed and the
Athanasian Creed had been omitted altogether, and
that the clause "He descended into hell" had been
omitted from the Apostles' Creed; and they more
than intimated that they would take no steps to
grant the episcopate to the Church in the United
States until these matters were corrected. Another
Convention of delegates from the 'Southern' States
met in October, 1786; it voted unanimously to re
store the Nicene Creed, making it an alternative for
the Apostles', barely adopted a motion to restore the
clause as to the descent into hell, and negatived a
proposal to replace the Athanasian Creed. The
English Bishops were satisfied with this action, and
on February 4, 1787, in the Chapel of Lambeth
Palace, Dr. William White was consecrated Bishop
of Pennsylvania and Dr. Samuel Provoost Bishop
of New York.
The next Convention it was really the first Gen
eral Convention met at Philadelphia in the autumn
of 1789; a complete union of the Church in all the
5 It was reprinted in England with the label "American
Prayer Book," and is sometimes quoted as having an authority
which it never possessed.
INTRODUCTORY 21
States was effected on October 2nd ; the Convention
was organized in two Houses, and action was at once
taken in regard to the Prayer Book. Bishops Sea-
bury and White (Bishop Provoost being detained at
home by sickness) began to propose amendments to
the English Prayer Book; the House of Deputies,
with Dr. William Smith presiding, appointed
committees to propose new formularies, but all was
done here also on the lines of the English Book ; the
"Proposed Book" was not mentioned, and had little
influence on the result. The work, though it was
accomplished in two weeks, was not careless or
hasty. The two Bishops and those of the deputies
who specially had the matter in hand such men
as Dr. Smith and Dr. Parker of Massachusetts
had long had both the principles and the details of
an American revision under consideration. Many
minor changes were made in the use of words and
phrases liable to be misunderstood or lacking in pre
cision; a desire to avoid repetitions, to shorten some
of the services, and to provide for special needs, ac
counts for other changes ; and in some cases, few of
them involving any principle, concession was made
to objections which were not very reasonable. It is
not possible here to name any but the most impor
tant of the particulars in which this first American
book differed from the English. 6 The most serious
6 A full account of them will be found in the article on the
American Prayer Book in Frere's Procter's New History of the
Book of Common Prayer^ pp. 243, sqq.; they will also be
readily seen, of course, in a comparison of the two books.
22 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
omission was that of the Magnificat and the Nunc
Dimittis, together with the latter part of the Bene-
dictus; valuable additions were the prefixing of Ha-
bakkuk ii. 20, Malachi i. n, and Psalm xix. 14, 15, to
Morning and Evening Prayer, and the insertion
(though discretionary) of our Lord's Summary of
the Law after the Ten Commandments; there was
also an advantage in the insertion of a service for
Thanksgiving Day and of Family Prayers ; and the
Form for the Visitation of Prisoners, not in the
English Book, was taken from the Irish Prayer Book
of 1711. But the most important of all things at
this revision was the adoption, in the Order for the
Holy Communion, of the Scottish form of the Prayer
of Consecration, with a single modification, itself in
the direction of primitive usage, proposed at this
time by deputies from Maryland. The Churchmen
in New England, and especially in Connecticut, had
become familiar with it from Bishop Seabury's office,
now in use for some three years; and when Bishop
Seabury, following a promise made to his consecra-
tors as well as his own convictions, proposed that it
be substituted for the English form, he found that
Bishop White did not oppose it. There was some
objection to- it, we are told, when it began to be read
in the House of Deputies; but Dr. Smith, himself
(by the way) a Scotchman, reproved those who
faulted something which they had not heard, and
thereupon read the prayer with so impressive a tone
and manner that it was accepted "without opposition
INTRODUCTORY 23
and in silence." Thus there was provided for the
Church in the United States a Prayer of Consecra
tion for the Holy Communion which conformed to the
usage of the primitive Church by providing an ex
plicit Oblation and an explicit Invocation of the Holy
Spirit after the recital of the Words of Institution ;
a gift of untold value and, it cannot be doubted, a
bond of unity in this Church for all time.
The new Prayer Book went into use October I,
1790. The Ordinal was set forth in 1792, the first
service read from it being that of the Consecration of
Bishop Claggett of Maryland, on whom hands were
laid by Bishops White, Provoost, and Madison, of
the direct English succession, with Bishop Seabury,
who had been consecrated in Scotland. In 1799 the
Form of Consecration of a Church, based on that
drawn up by Bishop Andrewes of Winchester in
1620, and a Prayer to be used at the Meetings of
Convention, were added to the Prayer Book; and in
1804 an office of Institution of Ministers, already
adopted in Connecticut and New York, was also
added. The Articles of Religion were adopted in
their American form in 1801.
The only change made in the Prayer Book or
Offices, after their adoption as above stated, until
the year 1886, with the exception of modifications in
the Tables of Lessons in and after 1877 and the cor
rection of a few manifest errors, was the change of
'north' to 'right' at the beginning of the Communion
Office, which was made in 1835. The House of
24 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Bishops, however, on several occasions expressed
their formal opinion upon matters as to which the rub
rical directions were not sufficiently clear, or for which
(as for the proper postures in certain parts of the
Communion service) there were no rubrical directions.
In 1826, a proposal made by Bishop Hobart, of
New York, for the authorization of shortened ser
vices, was approved by both Houses of the General
Convention; but it found so little favor in the
Church at large that it was quietly dropped at the
next Convention. In 1853, the Rev. Dr. William
A. Muhlenberg and others presented to the Bishops
a memorial asking that provision be made for a re
laxation of the obligation of the rubrics in certain
cases. It led to much discussion, but to no immedi
ate results, except a declaration from the Bishops
that Morning Prayer, the Litany, and the Order for
the Holy Communion were separate services; that
on special occasions the clergy might use any parts
of the Bible and the Prayer Book at their discretion,
and that the Bishops might set forth forms of service
under peculiar circumstances. Other proposals for
the modification of rubrical requirements were made
in 1868 and later years; but the plans suggested or
proposed were not adopted.
At the General Convention of 1880, a resolution
introduced by the Rev. Dr. William R. Huntington, 7
7 His death, while these pages are in writing, on the 26th day
of July, 1909, calls for a tribute of affectionate esteem from one
whose privilege it was to work with him and to learn from him
in liturgical matters.
INTRODUCTORY 25
then of Massachusetts, but later of New York, was
adopted, providing for the appointment of a joint
committee to consider and report whether, at the end
of the first century of the work of the fully organized
Church in the United States, there was occasion for
"alterations in the Book of Common Prayer in the
direction of liturgical enrichment and flexibility of
use." This committee presented a report in 1883,
together with the 'Book Annexed' 8 showing the
Prayer Book as it would appear if all the additions
and alterations proposed by it should be adopted. A
large number of these proposals, with some others
introduced by individual members, were approved;
and, as required by the Constitution, the Dioceses
were notified of them that final action might be taken
at the next Convention. In 1886, the Convention
had before it the 'Book Annexed as Modified', show
ing the Prayer Book with all the changes which had
been approved three years before. When the matter
came to a vote, eighty-four resolutions of addition or
amendment were adopted, and some twenty-five
substitutes for other proposals were sent to the next
Convention ; it was also agreed that a Book of Offices
should be prepared, to contain forms for occasions
for which no provision was made in the Prayer Book.
In 1889, seventeen resolutions of amendment were
finally adopted, and some fifty more received for pre-
8 That is to say, the Prayer Book annexed to the report ; it
was, as said above, the whole book with all the additions and
all the changes proposed by the committee.
26 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
liminary approval ; the plan of a Book of Offices was
allowed to drop. And in 1892, forty-three additions
or alterations were finally adopted, nearly all as
was indeed the case at the preceding Conventions
by a practically unanimous vote. Then a Standard
Prayer Book, embodying all the changes made, with
a careful revision of the text, was set forth. All
editions printed since that time have been made to
conform to the Standard; and, with the possible ex
ception of the Authorized and Revised Versions of the
English Bible, there is no book in the world more
carefully printed than our Prayer Book; while the
editing of its text, being more modern, is better than
that of the Bible itself.
It remains to speak of the more important of the
changes made in our Prayer Book by the action com
pleted in 1886, 1889, and 1892. 9 By far the larger
part call for no notice here, having to do with correc
tions of the rubrics or the readjustment of some of
the less frequently used services.
Provision was made for shortening Morning and
Evening Prayer, for omitting the Commandments
and the long Exhortation in the Communion Office,
and for abbreviating some of the occasional offices,
all under carefully stated conditions. A large num
ber of invitatory sentences, not penitential, was pre
fixed to Morning and Evening Prayer; Magnificat
9 In the later parts of this book, changes made at any time in
the course of the last revision are generally attributed to 1892,
the year of the publication of the Standard.
INTRODUCTORY 27
and Nunc Dimittis, with the omitted verses of
Benedictus, were restored; the full number of
versicles was placed after the Creed at Evening
Prayer, and a new prayer for the Civil Authority
was provided for the same service. In the Litany,
a petition for more labourers was provided; the
Penitential Office was inserted (three of its prayers
had been in the former Book) ; and occasional Pray
ers, for Unity, for Missions, and for Fruitful Seasons
(Rogation prayers), and one occasional Thanks
giving, for a Child's Recovery from Sickness,
were added. Collects, Epistles, and Gospels were
provided for a first Communion on Christmas-Day
and on Easter-Day and for the festival of the
Transfiguration ; the title of the Sunday next before
Advent took the place of that of the Twenty-fifth
Sunday after Trinity ; and several needed rubrics were
inserted. In the Communion Office, besides the per
mission to omit the Decalogue except once on each
Sunday, and the Exhortation after it has been read
on one Sunday in the month, it was required that
the Nicene Creed be said on the five great festivals
of the year ; five new Offertory sentences were pro
vided; the Sanctus and the Prayer of Consecration
were printed in paragraphs; and the Warnings 10
were placed after the Blessing and Collects. A form
10 The ' Warnings ' are the forms of giving warning or notice
of the celebration of the Holy Communion, beginning, " Dearly
beloved, on day next"; " Dearly beloved brethren, on
I intend . . ."
28 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
of presentation of candidates and a Lesson (the latter
for discretionary use) were inserted in the Confirma
tion Office; some of the omitted clauses were re
stored to the exhortation in the Marriage Service;
and three additional prayers were placed at the end
of the Burial Office. Note should be made also of
the provision of twenty Selections of Psalms instead
of ten, and of Proper Psalms for ten days to which
they had not been assigned before. 11
It is this Prayer Book, according to the use of the
Church in the United States, received from the
English Church, adapted to our needs in this Re
public in 1790, again carefully revised with reference
to possibilities of service for a new century in 1892,
offered to all the people of the land by the Church
whose special use it is, which forms the subject of
the notes and comments in the following chapters.
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
A few books are almost necessary for any study of the
Prayer Book. Such are :
Bishop Barry's Teacher's Prayer Book, in its American edi
tion; and
The English Prayer Book of the present reign.
And with these it is very desirable to have
Bright and Medd's Latin version of the English Prayer Book
and the American Communion Office, which gives the original
11 The days newly provided with Proper Psalms are the First
Sunday in Advent, the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Puri
fication, the Annunciation, Easter-Even, Trinity Sunday, the
Transfiguration, Michaelmas, and All Saints' Day. As to the
older use in reading the Psalms, see General Bibliography.
INTRODUCTORY 29
of Collects, Canticles, etc., and the Epistles and Gospels and
the Psalms from the Vulgate ; also,
The First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549), accessible in
cheap form in The Ancient and Modem Library of Theologi
cal Literature. There are also editions of the Prayer Book
of 1549 with the Order of Communion of 1548 and the Ordinal
of 1550 (wrongly given as 1549), one published by Rivingtons in
1870, and one edited by Dr. Morgan Dix and published in New
York in 1881. (The Ancient and Modern Library has also the
Second Book of Edward VI and the Elizabethan Book.)
The successive editions of the English Prayer Book, with the
Scottish Book of 1637, have been reprinted in Pickering's
sumptuous edition ; they are given in parallel columns in Keel-
ing's Liturgia; Britannica^ a very valuable book but not often
offered for sale.
In the Parker Society's Publications is a volume containing
the two Edwardine Books with the Order of Communion of
1548; they are also published in Cardwell's Two Books of
Common Prayer. The Litany of 1544 can be found (of all
queer places ) at the end of the Parker Society's volume lettered
" Private Prayers Queen Elizabeth."
McGarvey's Liturgica Americana gives in parallel columns
the editions of the American Book with the non-English
sources, with some useful notes.
Of the numerous works on the whole Prayer Book, historical
and explanatory in character, the following may be specially
mentioned :
Wheatly (Charles), Rational Illustration of the Book of
Common Prayer. An old book with much material from still
older writers, but still very interesting and with much out-of-
the-way information.
Palmer (William), Origines Liturgica, or Antiquities of the
English Ritual. Now out of date, but it gave an inspiration to
all modern study of the Prayer Book.
Proctor (Charles) and Frere (W. H.), A New History of
the Book of Common Prayer, with a rationale of its offices. A
well-known book of a former generation, rewritten in the light
of recent sholarship, and the best general book on the subject.
30 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
It contains (pp. 234-252) a pretty full history of the American
Prayer Book by the writer of this volume, and throughout the
commentary has notes on the differences between the English
and the American Books.
Burbridge ( Edward ), Liturgies and Offices of the Church.
Particularly good as to origins and the connection with Greek
and Latin sources.
Campion (W. M.) and Beamont (W. J.), The Prayer Book
Interleaved.
Daniel ( Evan), The Prayer Book, its History, Language,
and Contents.
Blunt (John Henry), The Annotated Book of Common
Prayer. A book of wide learning, giving Latin originals and
the Vulgate Psalter ; but not recently revised. There is also a
compendious edition, without the Latin, having a monograph
on the American Prayer Book by the present writer.
Pullan (Leighton), The History of the Book of Common
Prayer (in the Oxford Library of Practical Theology). Full,
and with recent material ; better arranged than Frere's Procter.
It has a chapter on the Scottish, American, and Irish Books.
Maude (J. H.), A History of the Book of Common Prayer
(in the Oxford Church Text Books ). A good small Manual,
but with some misprints.
Procter (F.) and Maclear (G. F.), An Elementary Introduc
tion to the Book of Common Prayer.
S. P. C. K., Prayer Book Commentary for Teachers and
Students, by various authors. A great deal of valuable ma
terial in small space. It has a Concordance to the Prayer
Book and a Concordance to the Psalter.
Luckock(H. M.), Studies in the History of the Book of
Common Prayer.
Dearmer (Percy), The Parson's Handbook. It contains
" Practical Directions as to the Services according to the Eng
lish Use" as interpreted by the author.
Parker (James), An Introduction to the History of the Suc
cessive Revisions of the Book of Common Prayer.
Parker (James), The First Prayer Book of Edward VI com
pared with the successive Revisions ; also, A Concordance to
the Rubricks.
INTRODUCTORY 31
Temple ( Edward L.), The Church in the Prayer Book. An
American book ; instructive and devotional.
Huntington (William R.), Short History of the Prayer Book.
Coxe (Bishop A. C.), Thoughts on the Services. New edi
tion, edited by Bishop Whitehead.
The "Proposed Book" of 1785, with the omission of the Visi
tation of the Sick and the Articles, was reprinted for the Re
formed Episcopal Church in 1873.
The history of the English Prayer Book is treated in the
volumes named above, and at least incidentally in all histories
of the English Church. Those the titles of which follow next
have specially to do with principles and origins.
Freeman (Philip), The Principles of Divine Service. Very
learned and valuable ; deals specially with the English Daily
Offices and Communion Service.
Duchesne (Mgr. L.), Christian Worship: Its Origin and
Evolution. Translated. " A Study of the Latin Liturgy up to
the Time of Charlemagne." Of great and wide learning ; ab
solutely necessary for the careful student.
Pullan (Leighton). The Christian Tradition; Chapter V,
on The Genius of Western Liturgies.
Here may be noted also Daniel (H. A.), Codex Liturgicus
Ecclesia Universes. Vol. I, Roman; Vol. II, Lutheran; Vol.
Ill, Reformed and Anglican; Vol. IV, Oriental.
Warren ( F. E.), Liturgy of the Ante-Nicene Church. Of
wide scope and very instructive.
Warren (F. E.), Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church.
The following bear specially on the direct sources of the
English Book :
The Roman Breviary, Missal, etc.
The Sarum Breviary, Missal, etc.; also other English uses.
The Marquess of Bute's translation of the Breviary into
English is of great use.
Mozarabic Service-books.
The Quignonian Breviary (Cambridge, 1888; Henry Brad-
shaw Society, 1908).
32 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Maskell (William), Monumenta Ritualia Ecclesice Angli-
cance. Valuable and interesting. It contains, among other
things, an Ancient Primer in English.
Maskell ( William ), The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of
England, according to the Uses of Sarum, Bangor, York, and
Hereford, and the modern Roman Liturgy, arranged in parallel
columns. Contains also the Liturgy of St. Clement in Greek.
Gasquet ( F. A.) and Bishop (E.), Edward VI and the Book
of Common Prayer ( 1890). Gives Cranmer's schemes for re
forming the services before 1549, and many other details not
before published.
Card well (Edward), History of Conferences and other Pro
ceedings connected with the Revision of the Book of Common
Prayer, 1558-1690; also, three Primers put forth in the Reign of
Henry VIII. ( Oxford, 1848).
The Order of Communion of 1548 has been reproduced by
photography for the Henry Bradshaw Society (1907). This
Society has also published the excessively rare Clerk's Book of
1549, with notes.
The black-letter Prayer Book of 1636, with manuscript
changes made in it for the Book of 1662, has been reproduced
by photography ; as has also the manuscript book appended to
the Act of Parliament of 1661, which is the present English
Standard.
The Book of Common Prayer interleaved with the proposed
Revised Liturgy of 1689 (1855).
The Convocation Prayer Book, being the Book of Common
Prayer with altered rubrics as recommended by the Convoca
tions of Canterbury and York in 1879.
Jacobson (Bishop William), editor, Fragmentary Illustra
tions of the History of the Book of Common Prayer, from the
manuscripts of Bishop Sanderson and Wren.
Dowden (Bishop John), The Workmanship of the Prayer
Book; also, Further Studies in the Prayer Book. Very inter
esting and helpful.
The services contained in Peter Hall's Reliquice Liturgica
and Fragmenta Liturgica deserve to be examined by careful
students of liturgical history ; his reprints are not always exact.
INDTRODUCTORY 38
For the History of the American Prayer Book, the Journals
of General Convention should be consulted; also, Bishop
William White's Memoirs of the Episcopal Church, which is
an original authority of great value ; Chapter VI in the second
volume of Bishop W. S. Perry's History of the American Epis
copal Church, on The Prayer Book as ' Proposed ' and finally
Prescribed, with parts of later chapters ; and notices in other
histories. See also the notes to the present writer's fac-simile
edition of Bishop Seabury's Communion Office.
The Reports of the Committee on Liturgical Revision ( 1883-
1892) will be found in the Journals of General Convention;
the Book Annexed and the Book Annexed as Modified show
the changes proposed ; and a number of pamphlets published
at the time show the progress of the work and the arguments
for and against its continuance. The report of the committee
appointed to prepare a Standard Book, containing much his
torical matter, is printed as an appendix to the Journal of the
General Convention of 1892.
The occurrence of the 35oth anniversary of the first English
Prayer Book in 1899 gave occasion for the publication of sev
eral historical sketches of the book.
For the origins of the American Communion Office, see be
low, Bibliography of the Communion Service.
A Concordance to the English Prayer Book, by the Rev. J.
Green, was published in London in 1851 ; and a Concordance
to the American Prayer Book, by the Rev. J. Courtney Jones,
was published in Philadelphia in 1898.
II.
THE PRELIMINARY PAGES OF THE
PRAYER BOOK
TITLE, RATIFICATION, PREFACE
THE Title-page, as has indeed been already
noted, declares what the book contains, and
names by its formal title the Church which has set it
forth. Strictly speaking, a 'rite' is a service and a
'ceremony' is an observance in a service; in the 'rite'
of the burial of the dead the casting of the earth is a
'ceremony;' but it maybe questioned whether the
words here were not meant to be synonymous. The
Table of Contents enumerates twenty-nine items, the
order of which ought to be familiar to all who use
the book ; it ends with the Psalter. Then follow in
italic the titles of the three items of our 'Pontifical'
and, separated from them, the title of the Articles.
The Ratification gives the sanction of authority to
the book for the members of the Church which set it
forth. It might have been thought that the thorough
revision of the Prayer Book in late years, including
the insertion of not a few things which were new,
would have called for a new ratification; but such
was not the opinion of the legal authorities. There
is, therefore, nothing in the book to show that it is
not exactly as it was established and ordered to be
put into use in the year 1790; and in future years, if
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 35
not at present, there will be the need of something
like 'higher criticism' to determine the dates of the
several parts of a volume which bears but one date.
The Preface, presumably from the pen of Dr.
William Smith, is a well-worded statement of the
principles on which our forefathers in the Faith un
dertook and carried out this important part of the
task which the circumstances of the "critical time of
the Republic" and the Church in the Republic laid
upon them. It should be carefully read.
CONCERNING THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH
The two pages following the Preface contain cer
tain general directions, after the manner of rubrics,
as to the Service of the Church and the use of the
Psalms and of the Lessons of Scripture ; the tables
of Proper Psalms and of Selections of Psalms, in
cluded in these pages, are also repeated at the be
ginning of the Psalter.
While the normal Prayer Book service .for any
Sunday includes the Order for Morning Prayer, the
Litany, and the Order for the Administration of the
Lord's Supper or Holy Communion; and while for
all days other than Sundays, Morning Prayer is pro
vided, with the Litany on Wednesdays and Fridays,
and Evening Prayer for every day in the year;
and while, moreover, there is special provision for the
administration of the Holy Communion on any day; 1
1 See the first rubric after the heading of Collects, Epistles,
and Gospels.
36 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
yet the Church states here that the three morning
services "are distinct, and may be used either
separately or together;" and by the proviso, "that
no one of these services be habitually disused," she
certainly implies that it is lawful only to use on
any morning one or two of the services named.
And while the normal order of the services is cer
tainly first Morning Prayer, then Litany, and then
Holy Communion, there is no requirement that this
order shall be followed; indeed, the second clause
under the head 'Concerning the Service of the
Church' gives permission for the use of the Litany
after Evening Prayer. It belongs to practical Pas
toral Theology rather than to Liturgies to decide in
each case what is the best order of services for a con
gregation and what are the hours at which they may
most profitably be held; and it belongs also to the
clergyman of the parish or congregation to decide,
subject to the counsel of his Bishop, as to the inter
pretation, for himself and his people, which he will
give to the proviso just quoted. It may be well to
note that nothing in the paragraph under considera
tion allows any omission in any service other than is
permitted by the rubrics of that service.
The proviso in this paragraph certainly cannot
override the requirement in the first rubric after the
Collects at the end of the Communion Office, which
provides that upon every Sunday and other Holy-day
there "shall be said all that is appointed at the Com
munion, unto the end of the Gospel, concluding with
PRELIMINAR Y PA GES OF PRA YER BOOK 37
the Blessing; " that is to say, assuming that there is
a clergyman to officiate, the former part of the Com
munion Service, with the Epistle and Gospel, must
be said at some time on each Sunday and Holy-
day.
Although permission is given for reading the
Litany after the Collects of Evening Prayer, it must
be remembered, as just noted, that this is not its
normal place. Yet sometimes advantage may well
be taken of the opportunity to say the Litany at
Evening Prayer, as when in a small congregation the
only week-day service in Lent is after noon, or when
it is desirable for some other reason to have a
separate Litany service as an act of supplication,
with or without a sermon.
The third clause provides for what were once
called 'Third Services,' for special congregations or
for special occasions. "Subject to the direction of
the Ordinary" does not mean that the Ordinary need
be asked for approval in every case, but that the
service is not to be held if he shall otherwise direct.
The Ordinary, judex ordinarius, judge by reason of
his order or position, is the Bishop, or if there is no
Bishop the person who exercises the 'ecclesiastical
authority,' that is, generally under our canons, the
President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese.
The fourth clause requires that, on any special Fast
or Thanksgiving day or other special occasion, if
the Bishop sets forth a form of service, that form is
to be followed. If the Bishop does not set forth a
88 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
form of service, the minister (see below) may select
Lessons at his discretion.
THE PSALTER
The instructions as to the reading of the Psalms
are simple, and carry out the rule adopted in the first
English Prayer Book, of a monthly instead of a
weekly recitation of the Psalter. The rule in our
Prayer Book before the last revision, that in Febru
ary the Psalter " shall be read only to the twenty-
eighth or twenty -ninth day of the month," is doubt
less still binding by the rule of common sense. It is
a convenient rule, when there is daily service, in
months with thirty-one days, to read Selections at
Evening Prayer on the thirtieth and at Morning
Prayer on the thirty-first day, and then to end the
month with the Psalms which lead to the great
doxology of Psalm cl.
The Proper Psalms are never to be displaced by Se
lections. Until the last revision our Book followed the
English in assigning Proper Psalms to none but the
four great feasts and the two great fasts of the year ;
the English Book had none assigned to Ash-Wednes
day and Good Friday until 1662, and had and still
has no provision for displacing inappropriate Psalms
by others chosen from varied Selections. The ten
Selections of our Book ot 1790 and the twenty Selec
tions of 1892, with the Proper Psalms on sixteen
days, have greatly added to the richness and appro
priateness of our services, as also to their adapt-
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 39
ability to places, times, and men's manners. There
are occasions when at Evening Prayer the Psalm
for the fifteenth day of the month is too long, or
one of those for the thirteenth or the twenty-
second day cannot be read to edification; or when
at Morning Prayer we find the Psalm for the
thirteenth day coming into an otherwise solemn
service, or those for the tenth day set for such a
time as the first Sunday after Easter. The thought
ful clergyman will look carefully at the Psalms as
well as at the Lessons which he is to read, and will
secure on all special days as great a unity in the
service as he can; while yet he will not forget that
the Psalter is in its entirety a great mirror of
human life, and that there is a vast power of in
struction and of worship in its regular and unbroken
use.
It may be convenient to note the times or occasions
for which the several Selections of Psalms are specially
appropriate :
The First, for Saints' Days;
the Second, made up from the ancient Com
pline Psalms, for a night service;
the Third, for Saints' Days, or for Ascension
tide;
the Fourth, for Thanksgiving-day or Harvest
festivals ;
the Fifth, for the Holy Communion ;
the Sixth, for a penitential service ;
40 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
the Seventh, consisting of one Psalm of distinct
ively Old Testament mould, may
do for some memorial occasions ;
the Eighth serves for a solemn service of peni
tence ;
the Ninth, for Christmas or Epiphany-tide;
the Tenth and Eleventh are generally suitable to
replace an unsuitable Psalm ;
the Twelfth is well adapted to a Parochial or
Church anniversary ;
the Thirteenth is suitable for a missionary service;
the Fourteenth, for an ordinary service in Lent;
the Fifteenth, for a service of thanksgiving ;
the Sixteenth, for Palm-Sunday or Easter-tide ;
the Seventeeth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth, while
differing in tone, may all be
classed as general ; while
the Twentieth is a special doxology.
NOTE. As has been said, and as will be specially noted when
we come to the study of the Daily Offices, the theory of the
Breviary was and is that the Psalter is to be read through once
in each week and that (with a few exceptions) each Psalm is to
be read but once. But the substitution of offices for the dead
or offices in honor of the Virgin Mary for the regular services,
and the introduction of numerous Saints' days having special
Psalms assigned to them, practically overthrew the original
scheme ; the Breviary to-day provides for the constant use of
Proper Psalms and Selections of Psalms, as we should call
them; and projects of reform have been made in modern
times " by which the recitation of the whole Psalter would be
rendered possible at least several times in the course of the
year " and this, when the theory is that it is to be recited
fifty-two times in a year.
PRELIMINAR Y PA GES OF PRA YER BOOK 41
LESSONS OF SCRIPTURE
In the historical sketch of the Daily Services, pre
fixed to the notes on Morning and Evening Prayer, it
will be noted that one of the most important of the
changes made in those services when the Prayer
Book was set forth in English was the provision for
large readings of Holy Scripture in two Lessons 2
each day from the Old Testament and two from the
New, and the exclusion of all Lessons from the
writings of the Fathers or from legendary histories.
That rule has been preserved in the English and the
American Prayer Books, to the great edification of
those who use them. As first appointed in 1549,
the Lessons consisted almost invariably of whole
chapters, and nearly everything in the Old Testa
ment and the Apocrypha was read once a year. The
Gospels and Acts were read through three times a
year for the Second Morning Lessons, and the
Epistles twice a year for the Second Evening
Lessons ; the book of Revelation was not read at all
in course. This order was broken by the provision
of special Lessons for certain of the Holy-days which
had a place in the Calendar; but, except for some
changes in these special Lessons, the tables of 1549
remained unchanged in England until 1871. In the
first Prayer Book there were very few proper
Lessons; in fact, the continuous reading of Scrip
ture was unbroken on Sundays except on Easter-day,
That is * lections," readings.'
42 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Whitsunday, and Trinity-Sunday; and no one of
these days had all four of its Lessons assigned, so
that very incongruous chapters must have been often
read. In 1559, proper First Lessons were assigned
to each Sunday in the year, Isaiah beginning to be
read at Advent and Genesis at Septuagesima; the
historical books served till about the middle of the
Trinity season, and chapters from the Prophets and
from Proverbs were assigned to the rest, while there
were no proper Second Lessons on Sundays except
on the three first mentioned ; and these tables also
remained unchanged until 1871. In this year the
tables were wholly recast ; tables of daily Lessons, the
general plan of which is followed by our own present
tables, were adopted; while a choice of two First
Lessons was given for each Sunday evening, and
proper Second Lessons were assigned to Septuages
ima, the Sunday next before Easter, and the First
Sunday after Easter. Thus on all Sundays in the
year except six, the Second Lessons in the English
Church are still those for the day of the month a
provision which has something indeed in its favor,
but which would not commend itself to many who are
in the habit of using our Book.
The tables of Lessons in our book of 1790 were
taken from the Proposed Book of 1785, and seem to
have been the work of Dr. William Smith in consul
tation with Bishop White. They gave us for eighty
years a far more satisfactory and instructive course
of Sunday and week-day Scripture reading than the
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 43
Church of England had. In the Old Testament
Lessons many chapters were divided, and many
less edifying passages were omitted ; and the exclu
sion of the Apocrypha made room for all which it
was thought best to read from the Canonical books.
In the Second Lessons, the division of chapters in
the Gospels and the Acts none was divided in the
Epistles called for a full reading of all the New
Testament twice a year, except that the Revelation
was not read at all. All Holy-days were given
proper First Lessons, and chapters from the
Apocrypha served for a large part of those; and
some Holy-days had proper Second Lessons. And
all Sundays had four proper Lessons, the scheme of
this arrangement being practically the same as that
in our present tables, with Isaiah beginning at Ad
vent and Genesis at Trinity-Sunday ; only the First
Lessons for the last Sundays after Trinity were
taken from the Proverbs. After the adoption in
England of the tables of 1871, permission was
given by the General Convention for their use in our
Church ; but they were not found in accordance with
the principles of selection to which our clergy and
people were accustomed. Our present Tables of
Lessons date from 1883 and (as far as they were
new) they were largely the work, it is believed, of
Bishop Lay of Easton. Few changes were made in
the Sunday Lessons, but those for Holy-days were
nearly all selected anew, and the Calendar Lessons
were entirely rearranged, the lines being those sug-
44 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
gested by the English Tables of a few years earlier,
but the details being quite different. There were
larger omissions from the Old Testament than before,
by which room was made for Lessons from the
Apocrypha on nineteen days in November; in the
former half of the year the Gospels were appointed
for Second Lessons at Morning and the Acts and
Epistles at Evening, while in the latter half of the
year this arrangement was reversed ; and place was
kept on the thirteen last free days of the year for
the whole of the book of Revelation. 3 A Commis
sion of the General Convention has now (1909) in
hand a new revision of the Tables of Lessons.
The general rubrics as to the use of the Lessons,
found on page viii. of the Prayer Book, should be
carefully noted. The phrase 'Movable Holy-days'
occurs here for the first time; it means those which
do not fall always on the same day of the month, and
therefore 'move' in the civil or Roman calendar; and
it includes all Sundays and all Holy-days, such as
Ash-Wednesday, Good Friday, and Ascension-day,
which depend directly upon Easter and move with
it. It hardly needs to be noted that in the fourth
paragraph "the Lesson from the Gospels appointed
for that day of the Month" does not mean the Gospel
appointed for the Communion Service for that day.
The provision in the fifth paragraph, applicable to
any week-day which is not a Holy-day, gives to the
The English tables strangely omit three chapters of this
book.
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 45
Minister the opportunity of selecting the most edify
ing lessons, when there are but one or two week-day
services between Sundays; yet he needs to remem
ber that a variation from the appointed order may
disturb those who are in the habit of reading all the
Lessons at home, and also that sometimes strange or
unfamiliar passages of Scripture have a message
peculiarly their own.
It may be noted here that the Table of Proper
Lessons for the Forty Days of Lent and for the
Rogation and Ember-days (page xi. of the Prayer
Book) is not obligatory; these Lessons "may be
used in place of those appointed in the Calendar,"
but it is not required that they be so used. And
the writer trusts that he may be pardoned for ex
pressing his opinion that they are not very satisfac
tory, at least so far as those specially provided for
Lent are concerned. 4 And on the Ember-days in
December it seems ill-advised to break in on the
reading of Isaiah and Revelation for any other
passages, even if technically more appropriate. But
critcism here, as elsewhere, may well be held in sus
pense for the present.
The question as to the Lessons to be read when a
Sunday and a Holy-day concur will be considered
under the head of Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.
4 The Lessons for Ash-Wednesday and Holy Week are the
same as those in the required tables.
46 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
HYMNS AND ANTHEMS
The note as to 'Hymns and Anthems' declares in
what places Hymns and Anthems may be sung;
namely, "before and after any Office in this Book,
and also before and after Sermons." It does not
require that a Hymn or Anthem shall always be sung
wherever it is lawful to sing it; and the judgment of
the best 'ritualists' (that is to say, students of ritual
and of liturgical use) seems to be calling for less
singing of Hymns, at least before and after ordinary
services, than has been the custom of late. The use
of other Hymns than those in the authorized Hymnal
and other Anthems than those in the words of Holy
Scripture or of the Book of Common Prayer, is not
explicitly forbidden here; but in the judgment of the
writer, there is a moral obligation not to use others,
unless indeed it can be shown that some uses of
them (as, for instance, at the receiving of alms) are
extra-rubrical. As to this, a note will be made
when the rubric in the Communion Office is reached.
The Table of Lessons for the several months is in
reality, as the Table of Contents shows, "The Calen
dar, with the Table of Lessons." The Calendar
occupies three columns in March and April, four
columns. In one of those columns are the numbers
of the days of the month; in another, the Sunday
Letters; in a third, the names of the immovable
Holy-days ; and in the additional column for March
and April are the Golden Numbers.
PRELIMINAR Y PA GES OF PR A YER BOOK 47
The Dominical or Sunday Letters are the first
seven letters of the alphabet ('A' being printed as a
capital, to catch the eye more readily), placed in
succession against the numbers which indicate the
day of the month and repeated throughout the Calen
dar. If the year begins with Sunday, then every
day in the year against which the letter 'A' stands is
Sunday ; if January 4th is the first Sunday, then 'd'
is the Sunday Letter of the year and every day
marked 'd' is Sunday. Conversely, if we know the
Sunday Letter of a year, we can easily determine
the day of the week on which any date in the civil
year falls; as for instance, if we know that the Sun
day Letter of the year 1900 was 'g,' we see that the
4th day of July in that year was a Wednesday, inas
much as the letter of that day is 'c,' and V follows
three letters after 'g.' A leap year has two Sunday
Letters, the 2Qth day of February moving all the
later days of the year one step back in the week;
thus, if 'd' is the Sunday Letter with which the year
begins, February 29th will be Sunday, and the next
Sunday will be March ;th, which has the letter 'c,'
so that this will be the Sunday Letter for the rest of
the year. The initial letters of the several months
in succession may be remembered as the initial
letters of the words of the jingle:
" At Dover Dwells George Brown, Esquire,
Good Christopher Fipps, and David Fryer."
If we know that the Sunday Letter of a year was
*e' we can tell from this that June in that year began
48 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
on Sunday; February, March and November, on
Saturday ; September and December, on Monday, etc.
This Sunday Letter is commonly noted in almanacs.
The Calendar in our Prayer Book contains only
those immovable Holy-days for which services with
Lessons, and Collects, Epistle, and Gospel, are pro
vided. That in the English book contains a large
number of other names, and formerly had some as
tronomical and legal notes, such as, 'Sol in Gemini,'
'Dog Days,' 'Term ends.' Some of the days still
marked are more or less familiar to us, as St. Valen
tine on February 14, St. David (the Welshman) on
March i, St. George on April 23 (Shakespeare's
birthday), St. Swithun on July 15, St. Etheldreda
(from whose name the adjective 'tawdry' is derived)
on October 7 ; some are the days of the great doctors
of the Church Universal, as St. Gregory the Great,
St. Jerome, St. Augustine ; some commemorate men
whom we should call distinctively British saints, as
St. Alban, St. Boniface, St. Edward the Confessor;
some are days for one reason or another especially
held in honor or serving to fix dates, as Lammas on
August i, Holy-Cross Day on September 14, O
Sapientia (the first pre-Christmas antiphon) on
December 16; one, 'Evurtius, Bp.,' on September 7,
the name being a misprint for 'Enurchus,' inserted
in 1604, was evidently intended to make Queen
Elizabeth's birthday a holiday; while for some in
sertions and some exclusions or omissions, as of St.
Patrick's day, no reason can now be assigned. Im-
PRELIMINARY PA GES OF PRA YER BOOK 49
perfect as this part of the English Calendar is, it cer
tainly serves to keep in mind some thought of the
continuity of the Church and the Communion of
Saints. These days thus noted are called 'Black-
letter days,' as having their names printed in black
when the days of observance are printed in red as the
rubrics are; when black ink is used for all, a differ
ence in type marks the two classes. The names of
festivals in our Calendar are the same as the red-
letter days of the English Calendar, with the addi
tion of the Transfiguration on August 6th, which we
inserted and provided with a service at our revision
ot 1892.
The numbers in the prefixed column in the Calen
dar for March and April are the Golden Numbers,
and mark the days of the full moon within the period
by which Easter is determined; in a complete
astronomical calendar of this kind they would be in
serted throughout the year. They extend from i to
19, because after nineteen years the full moons
fall on the same day of the month, and the numbers
are set against the years in order as in the table
on page xxvi. of the Prayer Book. 6 Now the Golden
Number of the year 1900 is i, and the full moon of
that year within the Paschal period fell on April 14;
the number i therefore is set against April 14, and
on that day there will be a full moon on all years
5 There is a slight error in this statement, if a long period of
time is involved ; but the error will not amount to more than
one day in the three centuries 1900-2199.
5
50 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
removed from 1900 by any multiple of nineteen
years, as 1919, 1938, 1957, 1976, 1995, etc. The full
moons of any year are eleven days behind those of
the preceding year; therefore 1901, which has 2
for its Golden Number, had a full moon on April 3,
and 2 stands against April 3 in the Calendar; it
shows that the full moon of 1920, 1939, etc., will be
on that day. Again 1902, the Golden Number of
which was 3, had a full moon eleven days further
back, on March 23; the number 3 stands then
against that day, and gives the full moon for 1921,
1940, etc. To go back eleven days more for 1903,
to March 12, would carry us out of the Paschal
period; we therefore pass into the next lunar month
and find a full moon thirty days later, or on April n,
and set against that day the number 4. Thus we
proceed till the number 19 stands against March 27,
and gives us the full moon for the year 1918, 1937,
1956, etc. Now knowing the Golden Number of a
year, which is a very easy thing to remember in this
century, if we also know the Sunday Letter we can
readily discover the date of Easter; for Easter-day is
the Sunday next after the full moon which falls upon
or next after the twenty-first day of March, which
is the vernal equinox. The date, therefore, against
the Sunday Letter next after the Golden Number of
a year is Easter for that year.
6 If the reader happens to have before him a Prayer Book
printed before 1900, he will find all the Golden Numbers but
two removed by one day from those given above and in more
PRELIMINAR Y PA GES OF PR A YER BOOK 61
The rule for the date of Easter and the rule for
determining it by the use of Golden Number and
Sunday Letter are carefully stated on pages xxiv.
and xxv. of the Prayer Book under the heading which
is next to be considered.
TABLES AND RULES
First stand rules for determining the date of the
Movable Feasts and Holy-days, that is to say (as
above noted), those which change their place from
year to year in the Civil or Roman Calendar. The
rule for the date of Easter, already quoted, is that
which has prevailed in the Church from the time of
the Council of Nicaea or Nice in the year 325. From
the very first Christians had observed the Lord's
Day or Sunday as "an Easter-day in every week; "
and there can be no doubt that the annual com
memoration of the Resurrection at the Passion-tide
was also very early observed. But while most Chris -
recent Prayer Books. The reason is that the error in the cycle
of nineteen years, partly relieved by the extra day in leap-year,
had accumulated so that this change was necessary in the yaar
1900; it had been provided for, as later changes are provided
for, by a rule, the full explanation for which must be sought in
such essays as Professor DeMorgan's in The Interleaved
Prayer Book, or articles in the (Roman) Catholic Encyclo
pedia. The average period from full moon to full moon, or
new moon to new moon, is a little less than 29 1-2 days; lunar
calendar months are therefore considered as having alternately
twenty-mne and thirty days, and a lunar year of twelve months
has 354 days, eleven less than an ordinary solar year, as noted
in the text. For the rules as to intercalary months, the larger
treatises must be consulted.
52 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
tians kept the annual Easter on the first day of the
week, there were others who held that the com
memoration should be on the fourteenth day of the
lunar or Jewish month, on whatever day of the week
it fell. Against these latter, called Quartodecimans,
or Fourteenth-day men, from their practice, the
Council decided that the Christian Pascha or Easter
should always be kept on a Sunday ; and as Alexan
dria was the centre of astronomical learning, it was
agreed that the Bishop of that city, the only Bishop
who at that time had the title of Pope, should by
'Festal Letters' notify the Christian world, year by
year, of the date at which the great festival should
be observed.
It was soon found desirable to arrange the dates
for a series of years according to a table or cycle;
and the cycle of nineteen years, which we still use
with its nineteen Golden Numbers, came into gen
eral use. Owing to the fact that no number of years
possesses an exact number of lunations, and to the
further fact that the motions of the moon in the
heavens are not precisely uniform, these tables do
not always place the full moon upon the day on
which it is in exact opposition to the sun; in other
words, the full moon of this "ancient ecclesiastical
computation" is not always on the same day as "the
real or astronomical full moon." The divergence,
however, is rarely so large as to attract the attention
of any one but an astronomer, and never as large in
ratio as is the divergence in some parts of the y
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 53
between the sun-time as shown by a dial and the
mean-time as kept by our clocks and watches ; these
latter give correct sun-time on only four days in each
year, and are sometimes more than a quarter of an
hour or a hundredth part of a day away from it. It
is far more convenient, therefore, to follow a settled
rule which can be readily applied for years in
advance, and to neglect any minor inaccuracy into
which it may lead.
Moreover, the moon of the heavens is the full
moon at the moment of absolute time at which she is
exactly opposite the sun as viewed from the earth,
or is removed from him 180 degrees in longitude,
and this can be determined to a fraction of a second;
whereas all that is needed for the ecclesiastical full
moon is that it be assigned to a day, "the fourteenth
day of a lunar month." Now in 1903 the moon was
in opposition to the sun, that is to say, there was an
astronomical full moon, by New York time, on
Saturday, April n, at about half-past seven o'clock
in the evening; this was also the day given by the
Prayer Book tables for the ecclesiastical full moon;
so that there was no question that in New York
and for that matter, as can readily be seen, any
where on this continent Easter was to be observed
on the following day, Sunday, April I2th. But
when it is half-past seven o'clock in the evening on
the 75th meridian of west longitude, a little west of
New York, it is half-past twelve o'clock in the morn
ing of the next day on the meridian of Greenwich
64 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
near London; and thus in 1903, if Easter had
been determined by the moon of the heavens which
was not full in England till Sunday, April 12,
the people of that land would have been obliged
to defer their Easter observance .to the next Sun
day, April 19, and the two great branches of the
Anglican Church would have had variant calendars
for a large part of the year. But the Golden Num
ber rule had decided that the Paschal or Easter
full moon was everywhere on April n, and there
fore Easter itself was everywhere observed on
April 12. Such examples present themselves from
time to time, and show the advantage of tables,
proving that the provision for their use is by no
means arbitrary.
The question may be asked, why the full moon
is said to be on the fourteenth day of the lunar
month, if the full moon is mid-way between two
new moons and the period of a lunation is on the
average about twenty-nine and a half days. The
answer is that new moon and full moon for the
purposes of a lunar or Jewish month were both
determined by observation; that the new moon
cannot be seen until about a day and a half after
it has passed the sun, while the day of full moon
can be readily observed; and that therefore it is
a shorter period from visible new moon to visible
full moon than from visible full moon to visible new
moon, and the full moon may be expected to
occur on the fourteenth day of the month which
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 55
begins on the day when the new moon is first seen
in the heavens. 7
Easter-day is shown by the tables to control the
Church's year from Septuagesima, nine weeks before
it, to Trinity-Sunday, eight weeks after it; and
in fact, by affecting the numbering of the Sundays
after Trinity, it controls the year until the Sunday
next before Advent. Christmas, which is an im
movable feast, and is kept by the Roman calendar,
controls the year from Advent-Sunday until the
stopping of the Sundays after Epiphany by Septua
gesima. Advent-Sunday, elsewhere called the first
Sunday in Advent, is the fourth Sunday before
Christmas; and, when it does not fall on St.
Andrew's Day (November 30), it is the nearest
Sunday to that day; its range is, therefore, from
November 27 to December 3, inclusive.
The Table of Feasts includes : all Sundays ; five fes
tivals of our Lord ; two of the Blessed Virgin (which
are really also in honor of our Lord); fourteen days
which bear the names of eleven original Apostles and
of St. Matthias, St. Paul, and St. Barnabas ; two in
honor of the Evangelists who were not Apostles, the
7 There is abundant material in the encyclopedias and else
where for the study of the Calendar. Some historians call the
ancient British Church, which did not keep Easter by the same
rules as the Church of Rome, Quartodeciman. This is a mis
take ; the British Church kept Easter on Sunday, but it used an
ancient cycle, less accurate than the new cycle which had come
into use at Rome, and thus sometimes had a day for Easter
differing from that which was observed in the imperial city.
56 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Nativity of St. John Baptist; St. Stephen's Day, All
Saints' Day; Holy Innocents' Day; and the feast of
St. Michael and All Angels, with the two days next
following Easter and Whitsunday. Of these the
Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, amount to fifty-
six in number, or in leap-years beginning with Sun
day to fifty-seven ; the Ascension-day comes always
on Thursday; and the remaining twenty-five may
come on any day of the week. Making allowance
for (say) six occurrences of these on Sundays, we
have aoubt seventy-three feast days in each year.
As may be readily computed, the number of days of
abstinence in each ordinary year, is ninety-five, so
there are (say) 168 days out of 365, about forty-five
per cent of all the days in the year, on which the
Church bids us to special devotion. 8
Our Church appoints but two Fasts, the First
Day of Lent, commonly called Ash-Wednesday, and
the Friday of the week before Easter, known to
English-speaking people as Good Friday. But she
designates 'Other Days of Fasting' under four
heads. These are (i) The Forty Days of Lent,
which, as is readily seen, do not include the Sundays
in Lent; (2) The Ember-days at the four seasons of
Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter; (3) The
three Rogation-days preceding Ascension-day, which
festival, it is noted, is for English-speaking people
8 For further notes on the Sundays and Saints' Days with
some account of the history of the Church Year, the student is
referred to the chapter on the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.
PRELIMINARY PAGES OF PRA YER BOOK 57
Holy Thursday ; (4) The weekly remembrance of the
Lord's Passion and Death on Fridays, an exception
being made in the case of Christmas falling on that
day of the week.
Something will be said of Lent in a later chapter.
The Ember-days, days of the ymb-rene or 'around-
running' or 'circuit,' so called by our Anglo-Saxon
ancestors from the regular order in which they come,
must have been at the first, as it would seem, days
of prayer with special reference to the seasons of the
year; in Latin they are called Quatuor Tempora,
'the four times,' 'the four seasons.' But they be
came days of fasting in preparation for the quarterly
ordinations and of prayer for those who were to be
admitted to Holy Orders; and about the year noo
they were settled according to the rule which still
holds. They are the Wednesday, Friday, and Satur
day after the First Sunday in Lent and after Whit
sunday (here alone in the Prayer Book called Pente
cost), and (to put the statement precisely) the
Wednesday next after the I4th day of September
(Holy Cross Day) and that next after the isth day of
December (St. Lucy's Day), with the following Fri
days and Saturdays ; for all three days in each case
must be in one week. The winter Ember-days
always fall in the week of the Third Sunday in Ad
vent. In accordance with ancient custom, the stated
days for Ordinations are the Sundays after the
Ember-days; that is to say, the Second Sunday in
Lent, Trinity Sunday, the Sunday in the Trinity
68 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Season next after the Wednesday following Septem
ber 14, and the Fourth Sunday in Advent.
Some account of the Rogation-days, which in part
serve as a preparation for the feast of the Ascension,
but are especially days of prayer for a blessing on
the fruits and other produce of the earth, will be
found among the notes on the Litany.
A paragraph added to the Tables of Feasts and
Fasts designates the first Thursday in November, or
such other day as shall be appointed by the Civil
Authority, to be observed as a Thanksgiving-day.
This appointment, with a service, was made in the
Proposed Book of 1785, and was the first provision for
a Thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth to be ob
served throughout the country. As is well known,
the New England States had an established custom
that the Governor should in the autumn appoint a
day of public thanksgiving and prayer; and the
custom had spread to the other States in the north
ern part of the country, but without any uniformity
as to the day. In these States the Prayer Book ser
vice was used on the appointed days; and in the
Southern States, which had no Thanksgiving-day
designated by their Governors, the first Thursday in
November was observed by churchmen. It was in
the time of the Civil War that the President of the
United States first appointed an autumnal Thanks
giving-day for national blessings; and from that time
on, the last Thursday in November has been annually
appointed by the President (and also, in some of the
PREUMINAR Y PA GES OF PRA YER BOOK 59
States which had the old custom, by the Governors),
and has been observed throughout the country. 9
The tables which follow owe their careful and lucid
arrangement to the Rev. Dr. Francis Harison, who
prepared them for the revision of our Book in 1892.
Those of practical use and of constant service are on
pages xxvi. and xxvii., being a list of Easter Days
from 1786 to 2013, and a table which from the date
of Easter in any year gives information as to other
movable days and changeable numbers in that year.
The two General Tables are of use for chronologists
and curious investigators; the first helps us to find
the Sunday Letter as far as the year 5000, etc., and
the second determines the place of the Golden Num
bers in the Calendar as far as the year 8500.
It may be worth while to note that we cannot work
backward from these tables further than the date of
the Change of Style, as it is called in countries of
the Roman obedience 1582, in England 1752 with
out making allowance for that change. Whitaker's
Almanack (English) prints annually a table of Easter-
days and Sunday Letters for the years 1500-2000,
which allows for the change of style; it is well
arranged and of much interest.
The reader may care to have at hand a ew facts as
to dates with reference to the Calendar. The earliest
possible Easter date is March 22nd, if a full moon
falls on March 21 and that day is Saturday; the
9 See W. DeL. Love's Fast and Thanksgiving-days of New
England.
60 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
latest possible Easter date is April 25, if a full moon
falls on March 20 and the next on April 18 and that
day is Sunday. The following table shows the years
when Easter has recently fallen or will soon fall on
days at or near the extremes :
March 22, 1818 (not again till 2285).
23, 1845, 1856, 1913.
24, (not since 1799), 1940.
25, 1883, 1894, 1951.
April 23, 1848, 1905, 1916 (not again till 2000).
24, 1859 (not again till 201 1).
25, (not since 1736), 1886, 1943.
There was but one Sunday after the Epiphany in
1799, 1818, 1845, 1856; this will be the case again
in 1913, and then not till 2008.
There were six Sundays after the Epiphany six
times in the last century: 1810, 1821, 1832, 1848,
1859, 1886; the years in this century for the same
number are 1905, 1916, 1943, 1962, 1973, 1984, and
then 2000.
The reason for a divergence between the Eastern
Church (that of Greece and Russia) and our own in
the date of Easter is not that they have a different
rule, but that their Calendar is still of Old Style and
is thirteen days behind ours. In 1907, the full
moon fell on our March 28, and our Easter was the
following Sunday, March 31; but by their reckon
ing the full moon named fell on March 15, before the
equinox, and they waited for the next full moon on
PRELIMINA RYPA GES OF PRA YER BOOK 61
their April 15; this day being Sunday, their Easter
was postponed till their April 22, which was our
May 5 ; and thus they were five weeks behind us in
the observance of the festival.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The bibliographical references for this chapter must be to
books already named at the end of the last chapter, and to
enclyclopedia articles on chronological subjects.
The late Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury wrote a book on the The
ory and Use of the Church Calendar; and in Appendix IV. to
the Journal of the General Convention of 1871 is a very learned
and exhaustive paper on the Paschal Cycle by the Rev. Dr. F.
A. P. Barnard, then president of Columbia College.
III.
MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER
THE Orders for Daily Morning and Evening
Prayer, traditionally called 'The Divine Office,'
stand first in the Prayer Book, and rightly precede
the sacramental offices for which they are a prepar
ation. Their origin is partly from 'natural piety/
partly from the night vigils of the early Christians,
and party from community or monastic life. The
preparation for them in ante-Christian times may
perhaps be traced to the daily morning and evening
sacrifices of the temple, but more certainly and
directly to the synagogue worship of the Sabbath-
eve and Sabbath, and of two (or perhaps more) other
days in the week ; and also to the private prayers of
devout men "in the evening and morning and at noon
day" (Psalm Iv. 1 8), or sometimes "seven times in a
day" and "at midnight" (Psalm cxix. 164, 62). The
synagogue worship, consisting of Psalms with a lesson
from the Law, to which later a lesson from the
Prophets was added (see Acts 13:15), with perhaps a
sermon or exhortation based on what had been read,
and mingled thanksgivings and prayers called "Bene
dictions," corresponded in a way to our family devo
tions rather than to our Church services ; so that it is
hardly an exaggeration to say that Morning and Even
ing Prayer have grown out of family and private wor-
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 63
ship. We read at the first of no general gatherings of
Christians except to * 'break the bread" of the euchar-
ist, though occasion was taken at such gatherings to
hear the preaching of the word (see Acts 20:7); but
it would seem not at all improbable that in their
houses they would assemble in smaller groups for
prayer and praise. By the third century, as the
pressure of persecution was removed, it was possible
to hold in common a service for the eve and the
morning of the Lord's Day which had displaced the
Sabbath perhaps it was first held on Easter-even
and Easter-day. And when, a century or two later,
many Christians began to live in communities, they
were able and glad to have common prayers often ;
besides those of evening and night and morning, they
could meet for them at intervals in the busy part of
the day. Thus there grew up, largely under the in
fluence of the Benedictine rule, the eight (or seven)
regular hours of prayer, binding on members of
religious communities and a model for all Christians.
In their order, they were thus named: Vespers at
sunset, Compline at bedtime, Nocturns or Matins at
midnight or early dawn, Lauds at sunrise, Prime at
the beginning of work, Tierce at the third hour or
the middle of the morning, Sexts at the sixth hour or
midday, Nones at the ninth hour or the middle
of the afternoon. 1 The daily eucharistic office was
1 The chief meal of the day was at nones ; the meal has now
slipped back to midday, and carried the word ' noon ' with it.
64 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
regularly held after Prime. Matins was the longest
service and generally passed directly into Lauds, so
that the number of services came to be reckoned as
seven.
The origin of these services is to be found in the
idea suggested by the titles assigned to them. Thus
to the private prayers which seem to be the instinct of
personal religion we trace Compline and Prime ; and
these, it must be noted, were said in the dormitory
and not in the church, being bedside rather than
chapel services, and were very short; Vespers and
Matins, with Lauds, belonged to the vigils which
treated every day as in a sense a Lord's day; while
the three day-offices, as they were called, belonged
especially to the community, and they too were
short, like our noonday prayers for Missions.
It is not possible here to trace the history of the
Divine Office; it may be read in books named at
the end of this chapter. Beautiful in their ideal, the
services of the seven hours could not be maintained
except in monastic establishments and in 'collegiate*
churches which had a large staff of clergymen ; and
we have seen in our own times a similar retro
gression, for the survival of public daily prayers has
been chiefly in cathedrals and other large churches
and in colleges. The whole number could never
have been customarily attended by men and women
outside of the communities, and even the monks and
the clergy soon began to say the services one after
another 'by accumulation ;' combining them into two
MORNING AND EVENING PR A YER 65
or at the most three, and repeating them in private,
as is the custom in the Roman Church to-day.
In this way it came to pass that the Psalter
was read through in order once a week ; there were
also daily Lessons from Scripture and the Fathers
or other sources, along with the Canticles and the
Creed and a few familiar prayers. These, of course,
were all in Latin ; but at least as early as the year
1400 there were English 'Primers' for those who
could read or could learn from the reading of others,
containing a translation of a great part of the con
tents of the Latin Offices. Still, there was little
'common prayer' left from the more ancient offices;
the amount of Scripture in the Lessons had become
very small ; the rubrics and rules for the services had
grown so complicated that "many times there was
more business to find out what should be read than
to read it when it was found out."
The first definite plan for a revision of the daily
offices included in the Breviary came from a
Spanish Cardinal, by name Quignonez (often called
by the English Quignon), whose work was pub
lished in 1535. It was a simplification of the ser
vices then in use, providing for a weekly reading or
singing of the Psalms, the continuous reading of
both the Old Testament and the New, the simplifica
tion of the rubrics, and the removal of much non-
scriptural matter which was not to edification; all
was still kept in Latin. Eight years later, in 1543,
Henry VIII being still king, Cranmer began a re-
6
66 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
vision in England, on the lines of Quignonez's work.
He soon carried it farther than the Spanish Cardinal
had done; and in 1547, early in Edward VT s reign,
he had ready a scheme for reducing the daily ser
vices to two, repeating therein the Psalter once a
month, and reading the Lessons and saying the
Lord's Prayer in English; the Lessons being ar
ranged so as to go through the Old Testament once,
and the New Testament three times, in each year.
Out of this grew very soon, and with true Anglican
instinct, the order for Morning and Evening Prayer
in the first English Prayer Book of 1549. Cranmer
and those who were associated with him in the work
did not originate these services: they did not really
compile or arrange them; but they translated, sim
plified, revised, and in the right sense of the word
popularized services that had long been in use, and
provided for large readings from the Word of God,
for which the people were an-hungered. If we keep
in mind that the Morning and Evening Prayer of
1549 were almost exactly the parts of our services
which begin with the Lord's Prayer and end with
the Collect for Grace and that for Aid against Perils,
we can readily see how they were taken from, and
thus preserve, five of the older offices.
Our Morning Prayer is Matins with Lauds and
Prime. From Matins come the Lord's Prayer with
its versicles, the standing Invitatory Psalm xcv.
(Venite), the appointed part of the Psalter in order,
the Old Testament Lesson, and the Te Deum as the
MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER 67
Church's response to God's prophetic Word.* To
Lauds belonged Benedicite (in the new book said
only when Te Deum was omitted, that is, in Lent);
the New Testament Lesson; Benedictus sung in
response to it as the thanksgiving for the Incarna
tion ; the Collect for the day or the week taken from
the eucharistic service; and the Collect for Peace.
To Prime belonged ; the Creed with its versicles and
the Collect for Grace.
In like manner, Vespers and Compline were com
bined in Evening Prayer or Evensong, the service
being assimilated to that of the morning for sim
plicity's sake. To Vespers we may assign the
Psalms, the Old Testament Lessons and the Mag
nificat as its respond, together with the Collect from
the eucharistic service and the Collect for Peace;
while to Compline belong the New Testament
Lessons with Nunc Dimittis, the Creed, and the
Collect for Aid against Perils. No provision was
made for continuing the day-offices of Tierce and
Sexts and Nones, except as their Psalms were read in
order at morning and evening; they were wisely left
to private devotion.
In 1552, the penitential preface of Sentences, Ex
hortation, Confession, and Absolution was prefixed,
corresponding to private devotions which had been
said before the offices ; Te Deum and Benedicite were
made interchangeable; and Psalms were provided
In the Latin office, Te Deum had been the respond to the
ninth Lesson at Sunday Matins.
68 . THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
as alternatives for Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc
Dimittis.
In 1662, the Prayers for the King, the Royal
Family, and the Clergy and People, and the Prayer
of St. Chrysostom, with 'The Grace,' were added;
and in this form these services stand in the English
Book to-day. Thus it is very easy to trace their
several parts back to their originals ; and the reasons
for the modifications made in them are readily seen.
In this country, when the Prayer Book was first
set forth after the Revolution, in 1789-90, three non-
penitential sentences were prefixed to both Morning
and Evening Prayer; an alternative form of absolu
tion was inserted from the Communion Office; the
Venite was made to consist of seven verses of Psalm
xcv. and two verses from Psalm xcvi. ; Benedictus
was reduced to four verses; the Nicene Creed
was made an alternative for the Apostles' ; the
number of versicles after the Creed was reduced
to two with their responses; Magnificat and Nunc
Dimittis were omitted, and alternatives from the
Psalter were provided for Cantate and Deus Mis-
ereatur; and finally, the Prayer for all Conditions
of Men and the General Thanksgiving were brought
into these services from their English place in the
Special Prayers and Thanksgivings. In the revision
which ended in 1892, a large number of special Sen
tences, corresponding to the ancient Invitatories,
were prefixed; the full Benedictus was restored, as
were also Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis; omitted
MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER 69
versicles (but without the Lord's Prayer) were
replaced after the Creed at Evening Prayer; and
permission was given for the shortening of both ser
vices, under certain carefully stated conditions.
Both in 1790 and in 1892, there were rubrical and
other minor changes, some of which will be noted
elsewhere.
Our daily services have, therefore, for their central
part, the recital of the Psalms as an act of meditation
on the varied aspects of life in its dependence on
God, and the reading of God's Word for His honor
and for man's instruction. This meditation and in
struction are introduced by an act of repentance, and
lead to hymns of thanksgiving and the public pro
fession of faith in the great truths of revelation ; and
on this follow in turn a few simple petitions for the
worshippers, for the Church, and for all in authority,
with a thanksgiving for God's many mercies.
Attention has been called to the rubrics which
regulate the use of the offices at different times. It
should be carefully noted :
i. That at Morning Prayer on Sunday, unless the
Holy Communion is immediately to follow, nothing
must be omitted until after the Prayer for the Presi
dent; and if neither the Litany nor the Holy Com
munion is to follow, none of the prayers which stand
after that for the President may be omitted. The
Holy Communion, in the rubrics quoted, evidently
means the whole service with the celebration of the
70 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Sacrament, and not the preliminary part "unto the
end of the Gospel," known as the Ante-Communion.
And permission to omit is not a command to omit;
it may sometimes be well to read the penitential in
troduction of the service, even if a part or all of the
congregation will be presently called to another con
fession in the Communion Office.
2. That at Morning Prayer on week-days, unless
the Holy Communion is immediately to follow, noth
ing may be omitted until the end of the Collect for
Grace; but on any week-day the short bidding form,
"Let us humbly confess," may take the place of the
exhortation. On any week-day Morning Prayer may
end with the Collect for Grace and 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
3. That at Evening Prayer on Sundays, the whole
service must be said to the end of the Collect for
Aid against Perils ; the bidding form is printed as an
alternative for the exhortation, and may be used on
any day.
4. That Evening Prayer on week-days may begin
with the Lord's Prayer after one or more of the sen
tences and may end with the Collect for Aid against
Perils. The rubric seems to require at least one
more Prayer; but there is no doubt that 2 Cor. xiii.
14 is a 'Prayer of Benediction.'
Again it may be noted that 'may' is not 'shall,'
and that on many occasions it is well either to begin
Evening Prayer with the Confession, as when there
is but one week-day service, and that in the evening,
or to read all the prayers as printed, as when the
MORNING AND EVENING PR A YER 71
Sunday evening congregation is practically different
from that of the morning.
The opening Sentences are in three divisions :
general, specific, and penitential. Some of the sen
tences assigned to special days or seasons may well
be used at other times: thus, 'From the rising of
the sun' is suitable for Saints' days or for missionary
services or when the Holy Communion is to follow;
'This is the day' and 'If ye then be risen' are suit
able for any Sunday; 'Seeing that we have a great
High Priest' and 'Christ is not entered' may well be
read on Thursday ; 'O send out thy light' is always
appropriate. The careful ministrant will also select
a penitential sentence that suits the thought of the
day; the three from Psalm li. are suitable for
Friday; 'Enter not into judgment,' for Advent;
'Rend your heart,' for the earlier part of Lent, and
'To the Lord our God' for the latter part of that
season; 'I will arise* is not inappropriate even on a
festival; the first and the last are general.
The purpose of the Exhortation is evident; it is
based on the penitential sentence just read, and first
calls for a moment's meditation upon the purposes
of assembling in God's House, and secondly, re
minds us that we ought not to enter upon His
worship without confession of our sins and the as
surance of His forgiveness and acceptance. The
Confession is called 'General' as distinguished from
specific; it is public, not private. The Congrega-
72 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
tion is to say it 'after the Minister,' that is to say,
following his lead from clause to clause; and to this
end capital letters are inserted, to show when each
rhetorical clause begins ; before each such capital as
'According,' 'And grant,' 'That we may,' there
should be a distinct suspension of the voice. There
ought also, that the connection of the words may be
plainly felt, to be a semi-pause before 'declared unto
mankind' and before 'live a godly,' and no such
pause after the word 'godly.' The old custom, and
one still followed in some places, 8 was for the minis
ter to say each clause alone and for the people to
repeat it after him ; this was changed in our Church
by advice of the House of Bishops in 1835. A like
use of capitals is seen in the Lord's Prayer, the
Creed, the Confession in the Communion Service,
the next to the last prayer in the Penitential Office,
the Prayer after the exhortation based on the Gospel
in the Baptismal Offices, and two long answers in
the Catechism.
'Amen,' at the end of the Confession, is printed
in roman type; at the end of the Absolution it is in
italic type. 4 An italic ' Amen ' is a response, to
be said by the people after a prayer or thanksgiving
said by the minister; it is never to be said by the
* This is done frequently when services are intoned, as for
example in St. Paul's Cathedral.
* In the rubric after the first Absolution it is in roman be
cause the rubric is in italic, and thus in this one place reverses
Jre rule.
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 73
minister, not even at the end of 'The grace of our
Lord.' A roman 'Amen' is a part of the prayer or
formula which it closes, and is to be said by the
person or persons who have said that which precedes ;
thus, at the end of the Confession or the Lord's
Prayer or the Creed, both minister and people are to
say it ; at the end of the second part of the Gloria
Patri, the people alone; at the end of the Baptismal
formula, the minister alone; at the end of the
formula at laying on of hands in Confirmation or
Ordination, the Bishop alone is to say the 'Amen.'
The Declaration of Absolution is to be said by the
priest alone. If a deacon or a lay-reader is reading
the service, no priest being present, he passes at
once from the Confession to the Lord's Prayer.
The distinction in the use of the terms 'Minister'
and 'Priest' is carefully observed in our Prayer Book,
with one or two possible exceptions which will be
noted. The former includes a deacon or, in those
services which a layman may canonically read
Morning and Evening Prayer, the Litany, and the
Order for the Burial of the Dead a lay-reader.
The English Book has in this place but the first of
the two forms of absolution, technically known as
Declarative ; the other, called Precatory, was brought
here in the American book from the Communion
service, to which it properly belongs. It seems to
have been thought that, being less formal in phrase
ology, it was less definite in meaning than the other;
but in fact the Church has always held that a preca-
74 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
tory absolution is the most solemn and authorita
tive. It is so with benedictions: "God bless you"
is more solemn and means more than "In God's
Name I bless you." The English Book has a third
form of absolution of this last kind, called Indica
tive, to be used at the Visitation of the Sick, "if the
sick person humbly and heartily desire it;" it is of
mediaeval origin, and has been omitted from our
book, the ancient precatory absolution being re
tained, as will be noted in due time.
Matins, it will be remembered, properly begins
with the Lord's Prayer. This is to be said here and
in the corresponding place at evening by minister
and people together; and the same rule is to hold
"wheresoever else" this prayer "is used in Divine
Service." The meaning of this phrase, which
seems to apply to every recurrence of the Lord's
Prayer in the Prayer Book, is made doubtful by the
custom, practically universal in England and at least
prevalent with us, that the minister alone says this
prayer at the beginning of the Communion Office;
near the close of that office, the people are bidden to
repeat it with the minister. The people are also in
structed to say the Lord's Prayer in the Litany,
and in case of imminent danger at sea, but nowhere
else, not even at family prayers. A rubric at the
end of the Communion Office in the English Book
shows that * Divine Service' includes that office; and
it is the opinion of the present writer that this
rubric bids the people always to say the Lord's
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 75
Prayer with the minister. Whether custom in one
particular place overrides the rubric must be consid
ered when we come to the study of the special place.
It is interesting to trace the versicles with their
responses to their source, which is usually in the
Psalms. 'O Lord, open thou' is from Psalm 1L, and
may be a survival of a private act of penitence before
the beginning of public worship. In the old offices
it was said but once a day, at the beginning of
Matins; and it was followed here, as still in the
English use, by words which began each of the other
offices, taken from Psalm Ixx. i : 'O Lord, make
speed to save us; O God, make haste to help us.'
The Gloria Patri (which both in Latin and in Eng
lish has an interesting history) is said as from lips
which the Lord has opened; and upon it follows
'Hallelujah' in its English form, now said every day,
but formerly omitted from Septuagesima to Easter.
The Venite stands as the great Invitatory Psalm,
of practically daily use in the Christian Church. It
is called an 'Anthem;' yet not in the older sense of
'Antiphon,' of which the word is a corruption (and
as to this see in notes on the Litany), nor in the
later sense of a 'set piece' of music bringing out the
meaning of words by repetition, but apparently as
made up in our book of parts of two psalms, in
accurate phrase a cento. On Easter-day there are
three anthems in place of the Venite, made up from
passages in St. Paul's epistles; on Thanksgiving-day,
nine verses selected from Psalm cxlvii. take its
76 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
place; when Morning Prayer is read in a prison (see
page 312 of the Prayer Book) Psalm cxxx., De Pro-
fundis, is read instead of Venite; on the iQth day
of the month, unless a Selection is used, the Morn
ing Prayer form of the Venite is omitted.
There is no rubric as to the manner in which the
Psalms for the day of the month, the Proper Psalms
on certain days, or the Selections allowed for use on
other days, shall be said or sung. Custom has ruled
that when they are read, the minister shall read one
verse and the people shall reply with the next, and so
on. In earlier times, when few people could read, it
would appear that the minister read the Psalms as he
did the Lessons, the people sitting, sometimes with
their hats on, but rising and removing their hats at
each Gloria; it was a complaint of some puritanically
inclined people, that they were obliged to rise and
uncover themselves too Joften because of the fre
quent occurrence of the Gloria; and it was a part of
the reply that it was "seemly that at all times
women should be covered and men dis-covered" hi
the church. Later there was in many places a dia
logue between the parson and the clerk in reading
the Psalms; apparently it is not known when the
present custom began to prevail. No authority has
decided how the Gloria at the end of Canticles and
Psalms should be read ; on the whole, it seems best
that the minister should always read the first clause,
the people responding with the second.
Our rubric requires the Gloria Patri only at the
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 77
end of the whole portion or selection of Psalms for
the day. It is, however, very rarely omitted after
the Canticles except that the Te Deum never has
a Gloria and is usually read or sung after each
psalm. The English Book specially requires it not
only at the end of each psalm but also after each por
tion of Psalm cxix. ; our Book having no such re
quirement or permission, and a proposal to insert it
having been rejected in General Convention at the
time of the later revision, it seems incorrect for us
to use the Gloria with this psalm except at the end
of each morning's or evening's portion. The per
mission to sing Gloria in excelsis at the end of the
Psalms in Morning or Evening Prayer is peculiarly
American, but by no means contrary to ancient use,
as will be seen in the notes on that venerable Hymn
where it occurs in the Communion Office.
Te Deum Laudamus is confessedly the greatest of
uninspired hymns, if indeed we ought to deny the
title of inspired to that which is largely composed of
the words of Scripture, and has been for ages used
in the lofty praises of the Church. The legend that
it was composed by St. Ambrose and St. Augustine
on the occasion of the baptism of the latter, A. D.
387, is without historical foundation. A recent
editor of the works of Niceta, Bishop of Remesiana
in the region now known as Servia about the year
400, Dr. A. E. Burn, is confident that he has traced
the authorship, or at least the compilation of the
hymn, to this little-known man. At any rate, it can
78 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
be with great confidence traced back very nearly to
his time. Its structure should be studied, if possi
ble, in the original Latin. It consists of three
strophes, the first and the second containing each
four verses and leading to a doxology, while the
third, after four (or perhaps five) verses, leads to a
petition for a share in the glory of the saints. After
these strophes follow verses or * little chapters' of
Scripture and versicles which are common to the
conclusion of this hymn and others. The words are
in a rhythm, not metrical in the classical sense, but
following the general form of the ancient Saturnian
verse which reappeared in late Latin and gave rise
to our ballad or common metre. Each of the four
verses of the strophes begins with a form of the pro
noun of the second person, Tu, Te, or Tibi ; thus :
1. Te Deum laudamus : te Dominum confitemur.
2. Te aeternum Patrem : omnis terra veneratur.
3. Tibi omnes angeli : tibi caeli et universae
potestates ;
4. Tibi cherubim et seraphim 5 : incessabili voce
proclamant :
Upon this follows the doxology, taken from Isaiah,
"the hymn of praise ever ascending to God the
Father from all that He has made:"
'These words are the Hebrew forms of the plural of
' cherub ' and ' seraph.' The English book has ' cherubin ' and
'seraphin,' which are the Aramaic form adopted by Greek
translators.
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 79
5. Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus : Dominus Deus
Sabaoth ;
6 Pleni sunt caeli et terra : majestatis gloriae
tuae.
The second division is the hymn of praise of the
universal Church inspired by apostles, prophets, and
martyrs, and framed in a doxology to the Holy
Trinity, thus:
7. Te gloriosus : apostolorum chorus;
8. Te prophetarum : laudabilis numerus;
9. Te martyrum candidatus : laudat exercitus.
10. Te per orbem terrarum : sancta confitetur
ecclesia :
11. Patrem immensae majestatis;
12. Venerandum tuum verum unigenitum Filium;
13. Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
It is to be noted that apostles, prophets (that is,
those of the Christian Church), and martyrs, are
placed in the order of their number, and to this cor
respond the words 'chorus/ 'numerus,' and 'exer
citus.' Now 'numerus' was a word often used of a
'band' of soldiers, and the 'candidati' were the
picked troops of a body-guard, and it may be thought
that 'chorus' has the sense of 'cohors;' so that the
three phrases prepare for the thought of the Church
militant, which ever confesses the Triune God. 6
6 On this supposition, the translation ' noble ' is well justified,
but it is hard to explain 'goodly,' and the explanation is
therefore only suggested as possible.
80 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
In the third division of the hymn, the assembled
Church, in four or five strains, sings its creed of faith
in the Divinity, the Incarnation, the Death and
Resurrection, the Ascension and Return, of her
Lord (verses 14-19), and bases on it an earnest
prayer for present help and for a share in the glory
of His saints (20-21). 'Numerari/ 'to be numbered/
is quite certainly an ancient miswriting or misprint
for 'munerari/ 'to be rewarded.'
Here the hymn proper ends. But there have been
added to it the old 'capitellum' for the Te Deum,
Psalm xxviii. 10 (verses 22, 23), and the correspond
ing words for the Gloria in excelsis, Psalm cxlv. 2
(verses 24, 25). The remaining verses are antiphons
of not infrequent use, 'Vouchsafe, O Lord,' and 'O
Lord, have mercy,' being found very early at the end
of the Gloria in excelsis as a morning hymn, and 'O
Lord, in thee' (Psalm Ixxi. i) having been the open
ing clause of a prayer after the Gloria. In one of
the recent musical settings of the Te Deum for a fes
tival occasion the somewhat sombre ending has been
relieved by the repetition of the opening strain 'We
praise thee, O God/ at the end.
The translation of this great hymn deserves care
ful study, for which help will be found in Bishop
Dowden's 'Studies in the Prayer Book/ We may
note here the three changes made in the American
Book from the English: 'adorable' for 'honourable' in
verse 12; 'Thou didst humble thyself to be born of
a Virgin' in verse 16 (a fine example of Bishop
r
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 81
White's rhythmical power, but should it not be the
Virgin?); and 'be' for 'lighten' in the next to the
last verse, which has the advantage of being literal
and unemphatic (the Latin is 'fiat').
The alternative for the Te Deum is Benedicite
omnia opera, taken from the Song of the Three Holy
Children Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or
(to use the Greek forms of their Hebrew names)
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael as it is given in the
additions to the Book of Daniel in the Apocrypha.
It may be called an expanded paraphrase of Psalm
cxlviii. To gain a full understanding of this hymn
it should be recited or sung, after the first two intro
ductory verses, in triplets, bringing together the
Heavens, the Waters above, the Powers of the Lord ;
Sun and Moon, Stars, Showers and Dew; Winds,
Fire and Heat, Summer and Winter; Dews and
Frosts, Frost and Cold, Ice and Snow; etc. The
omission of "O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael" in
the American Book has reduced the last section to a
couplet The hymn ends with Gloria Patri, which
anciently had here a special form. Since 1552, there
has been no rubric directing the use of Benedicite at
any time; but there is a prevalent custom to follow
the rule of 1549 and use it in Lent. It may be con
sidered whether it may not well be used, as Dean
Burgon suggested, when the first Lesson is the
opening chapter of Genesis or some other passage
telling of God's works in nature, or after some
remarkable phenomenon in the natural world, such as
7
82 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
an eclipse or a storm, or at Rogation-tide, or in
harvest.
Benedictus at Morning Prayer and Magnificat and
Nunc Dimittis at Evening Prayer, the songs of
Zacharias and the Virgin Mary and Simeon, being the
'evangelical canticles' and a commemoration of the
Incarnation, are normally used each day ; and in the
judgment of some ritualists, they should never be
displaced by their alternatives unless these occur in
the second Lesson or the Gospel of the service. The
Church, however, has made no such rule; and Jubi
late is sometimes specially appropriate, as in the
Epiphany season or after Lessons from the Acts of
the Apostles which tell of the extension of the
Church among the Gentiles. So also, Cantate may
well be sung after many of the Lessons from the
historical books of the Old Testament, and Deus
Misereatur, which is by no means a penitential Psalm
(in the English Book it has a place in the marriage
service), follows well upon some passages in both the
Gospels and the Epistles. A connection with an
cient use is observed if either of the Gospel canticles
is used at Evensong.
The recital of the Creed follows naturally after
listening to God's Word and thanking Him for its
teaching and before entering upon solemn acts of
prayer. For the history of the Apostles' Creed,
(which is the baptismal symbol of the Western
Church), and that called the Nicene (which is the
eucharistic symbol and, except for the words 'and
MORNING AND EVENING PR A YER 83
the Son,' the formal confession of the faith of the
Church Catholic), reference must be made to books
specially treating of the subject. Creeds were not
of old said in public worship. In the Liturgy or
Communion Office the Nicene Creed was first intro
duced about the year 500, and to this day the Roman
Church does not say the Creed at every mass ; in the
daily offices the Apostles' Creed must have been first
used at a somewhat later date. Permission to say
the Nicene Creed in the daily offices is peculiar to
the American Book; it originated apparently from
the desire to say the Nicene Creed before the cele
bration of the Communion and at the same time to
avoid the duplication of Creeds in the one contin
uous service which was the custom ; this being done
in Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer was conformed
to it. The rubric before 'the Creed called the
Nicene' in the Communion service, which requires
that that Creed shall be said on the five chief festi
vals of the year, would seem to direct, or at least
suggest, that if for any reason there is no celebration
of the Holy Communion on those days (for instance,
when a layman is reading the service), the Nicene
Creed should be said in the assigned place at Morn
ing Prayer. The beginner in theology should be
asked to note in regard to the phraseology of this
Creed: (i) That the preposition in the phrases 'God
of God,' etc., means 'deriving from' or 'proceeding
from,' and should have strong emphasis; (2) That
'very' is an adjective and means 'real' or 'true;'
84 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
(3) That the relative pronoun in 'By whom all
things were made' refers to the Son, 'by' having the
old sense of 'through; ' (4) That, as the punctuation
shows, 'The Lord' and 'Giver of life' are two dis
tinct titles of the Holy Ghost.
In both of the Creeds the traditional division into
twelve articles is marked by placing either a colon or
(in two cases) a full stop at the end of each article.
In the Apostles' Creed, the word 'again' in 'he
rose again from the dead' (omitted in our Book until
the last revision), sometimes needs explanation, and
some readers need to be cautioned against emphasiz
ing it. It does not mean 'a second time,' but like
the prefix in the Latin resurrexit or the Greek
avecrTr), it denotes a return ; in Biblical English it is
used for the modern adverb 'back; ' and in common
talk it still has a like sense: 'I and the lad will go
yonder, and come again ; ' 'The man fell, but picked
himself up again.'
In the 'Proposed Book' of 1786, the Nicene Creed,
as well as the so-called Athanasian (see page 92),
was omitted entirely, and the clause 'He descended
into hell' was dropped from the Apostles' Creed.
The English Bishops objecting, not unreasonably, to
this action, in 1786 the Convention (not yet
'General') voted to allow the use of the Nicene Creed
and to restore the Apostles' to its full form. In the
General Convention of 1789, which set forth the
Prayer Book in the form in which it went into use
the following year, this clause was added to the
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 85
rubric before the Apostles' Creed: "And any
Churches may omit the words, 'He descended into
hell,' or may, instead of them, use the words 'He
went into the place of departed spirits,' which are
considered as words of the same meaning in the
Creed." At the last revision the permission to omit
was withdrawn, and the rubric took its present form.
The reason for the rubric was, and to some extent is,
the misunderstanding by many persons of the word
'hell' in the sense which it has in the English Bible,
always in the Old Testament and frequently in the
New, as also in the Creed ; and those who framed it
felt that the difficulty was so real that it called for a
distinct explanation, and might become so serious
in some places that explanatory words should be sub
stituted for those which were not understood, or
even that a clause introduced into the Creed at a
comparatively late date, and really adding nothing to
the faith, should be by competent authority omitted.
That competent authority was recognized as in 'any
Churches;' and 'any churches' in the ecclesiastical
phraseology of the day meant 'any dioceses; ' for the
doctrine of diocesan rights was in most quarters
firmly held at the first. The right, then, was re
served to any diocese to make the omission or the
substitution mentioned in the rubric, and the right
of making the substitution still remains. That right
has never been exercised, and quite certainly never
will be exercised; but it has been, and doubtless still
is, a great advantage to the Church to be able to ex-
86 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
plain in clear words and in a conspicuous place the
meaning of a phrase which, by reason of a change in
the meaning of a word, has been a stumbling-block
to some.
The Creeds are said by minister and people to
gether, that each may profess the common faith ; in
the Eastern Church the pronoun is in the plural, and
all say 'We believe.' And in the Creed all stand,
partly no doubt from reverence, and partly as being
Christ's soldiers on duty, professing each day their
allegiance to Him and to the truth which He
taught. The custom that those worshippers who are
so placed in church that they do not ordinarily face
the east, should at the Creed set their faces with the
rest of the congregation towards the sun-rising, is
thought to be ancient; 7 that of turning at each
Gloria, it may be noted, has not the same antiquity.
The custom of doing reverence at the name of Jesus
by bowing the head, though nearly universal, is not
known to have been followed in England before the
thirteenth century.
After the mutual salutation of minister and people
in words the full meaning of which has been dulled
for most of us by thoughtless repetition, we pass to
prayer. Our Book has omitted the Lord's Prayer
with the three-clause litany preceding it, which
stands here in the English Book; and having at first
reduced the number of 'suffrages' or versicles with
1 But cf. Proctor and Frere on this custom, page 391.
MORNING AND EVENING PR A YER 87
their responses in both services to two, still keeps
the two most spiritual petitions in Morning Prayer,
but has restored the others (in part modified) in
Evening Prayer. These suffrages are said by way of
anticipation or preparation for the collects or prayers
that follow them. The Litany, as will be soon
noted, gives us two examples of the ancient way of
saying a prayer; first, its general intent was ex
pressed in a versicle and response, and then the
minister said 'Let us pray' and recited the full
prayer, the people responding with 'Amen.' The
collection of suffrages in our Evening Prayer is like
that with which the people were familiar of old at
'bidding the bedes;' and in this phrase it must be
remembered that 'bede' or 'bead' meant originally a
petition; 'to bid bedes' is to offer petitions. We
may assign the last petition, 'O God, make clean,' to
the Collect for the day; and the first, 'O Lord, show
thy mercy' to the Collect for Grace or for Aid
against Perils; 'Give peace in our time' will then be
a preparation for the Collect for Peace; and the
second and third and fourth will be seen to belong
with the prayer for the Civil Authority, that for the
Clergy and People, and, perhaps, that for All Con
ditions of Men, respectively.
At Morning Prayer, the application must be more
general, and the two suffrages may well be referred
to the work of the Son of God in redemption and
that of the Holy Spirit in sanctification.
The use of the Collect for the day in the daily ser-
88 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
vices is as a memorial of the eucharistic service of
the preceding Sunday or of the morning; it links the
petitions which are to follow with the great act of
worship and prayer of the week or of the special
time. If, as provided in the second rubric after the
general heading of Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,
the Collect appointed for any Sunday or other Feast
is used at the evening service of the day before an
old and edifying custom the Collect serves to
introduce the thought of the morrow and to prepare
for its observance. If, as in Advent or Lent, the
Collect for the season is said with other Collects in
the Communion Office, both should be said in the
daily services ; or if when a Sunday and a Holy-day
concur, both of their Collects should be said in the
one service, both should be said in the other also.
Our Book, wisely and with true instinct, bids us
omit the variable Collect at Morning Prayer if it is
presently to be said at the Holy Communion. This
variable Collect was said of old at Lauds, and to
Lauds belonged also the Collect for Peace; the
Collect which follows was taken, with the Creed,
from the office of Compline. The careful student
will note the beauty of the ancient second and third
Collects, and that the two Collects for Peace differ as
praying for peace in the active service of God and
for the peace of rest in Him; and if he has the Latin
before him, he will learn from ' quern nosse vivere,
cui servire regnare est ' the meaning of an obscure
phrase in the prayer at morning which acknowledges
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 89
that the true life of man consists in the knowledge of
God.
In the English Book, the Litany is ordered to be
said after the Collect for Grace, and it contains ex
tended petitions for the Sovereign and for others in
Civil Authority. In our Book the Litany has but
one general petition for all Christian Rulers and
Magistrates, and the place assigned it in the morn
ing service is after the Prayer for the President.
The reason for the change of place is said to have
been that President Washington, whose home was at
some distance from Pohick Church and from Christ
Church, Alexandria, while always at service in the
morning, did not often attend in the afternoon ; and
it was thought seemly to provide that this prayer
should be read when he was present. There is no
provision in our Book for an 'Anthem' during the
prayers in the morning; but the use of a hymn
before the Litany is allowed by the general rubric
before the Tables of Lessons. In our Evening
Prayer we have the rubric, which admits of a
diversity of interpretations, "In places where it may
be convenient, here followeth the Anthem;" the
English Book reads after the third Collect, both
morning and evening, "In Quires and Places where
they sing, here followeth the Anthem." Both seem
to authorize a somewhat elaborate musical 'perform
ance* in this place; custom certainly interprets a
hymn as permissible ; but both Books seem to expect
some restraint in the use of the permission given.
90 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The Prayer for the President and all in Civil Au
thority is taken from the Prayer for the Sovereign,
inserted at the end of the end of the Litany in 1559;
that for the Clergy and People first appears in the
Litany of 1544, and then in the Litany of 1559; both
were put into their present place, as has been already
noted, in 1662. The Prayer for all Conditions of
Men was probably composed by Peter Gunning,
Bishop of Chichester and of Ely, who died in 1684 ;
it is thought to be in its present form an abridgment
of a long prayer intended to take the place of the
Litany ; but this may be no more than an inference
from the use of the word 'finally.' The General
Thanksgiving was written by Edward Reynolds,
Bishop of Norwich, who died in 1676; he should not
be confused, as is constantly done, with John
Rainolds or Reynolds, the learned puritanical divine,
president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, who
was prominent among the translators of the Author
ized Version. The word 'General,' in the title of
the Thanksgiving, is opposed to 'special' or specific;'
it does not imply that it is to be said audibly by the
whole congregation a practice for which there is
no authority. The prayer of St. Chrysostom was
translated for the Litany of 1544, and was first
printed in Morning and Evening Prayer in 1662;
its history will be given in the chapter on the
Litany.
In the daily service the Divine Office we are
using a precious part of our inheritance in the wor-
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER SI
ship of the early Church, and are continuing stedfast
in the prayers of Apostles and apostolic men. In
Morning and Evening Prayer we have universal ele
ments, contributed by natural piety and by churchly
custom, tested by the experience of the ages, cast
more than three centuries and a half ago into a form
adapted to the genius and the needs of English-
speaking people, and in our own land twice rever
ently revised with reference to the changing needs of
Christian people; and we are under obligations to
hold to the treasures of the past and to commend
them to the men of new generations. It is the Eng
lish-speaking Churches alone which provide an order
for daily Common Prayer; on the English-speaking
Churches rests the responsibility of continuing its
use and of profiting by it and commending it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
General Works, and Roman, Sarum, and Quignonian Breri-
aries, as noted at end of Chapter I.
English Primers, as noted above ; to which add
Littlehales (Henry, editor), The Prymer, or Prayer Book of
the Lay People in the Middle Ages.
Baumer (Dom S.), History of the Breviary. In German and
a French translation. This book has been called "monu
mental."
Battifol (Pierre), History of the Roman Breviary. In French
and an English translation. Learned and full and interesting.
Baudot (Dom Jules) , The Roman Breviary. Rather a popu
lar book, based on the two preceding.
Neale (John Mason), The Breviary, Roman and Gallican,
in Essays on Liturgiology. The whole book is well worth
reading.
92 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Neale (John Mason), Notes on the Divine Office. Histori
cal and mystical, learned and quaint.
Hallam (R. A.), Lectures on the Morning Prayer. Excellent
for homiletical use.
For the Canticles, consult Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology.
But for the Te Deum, Bishop John Wordsworth's article in the
Dictionary should be balanced by Burn's Niceta of Remesiana
and by the same author's book next cited.
For the History of the Creeds:
Burn (A. E.)j An introduction to the Creeds and to the
Te Deum. Very full and learned.
Gibson (Bishop C. S. G.), The Three Creeds (in the Oxford
Library of Practical Theology}.
Swete (H. B.), The Apostles' Creed.
McGiffert (A. C.), The Apostles' Creed.
For an account of the office-books of the Eastern Church,
consult Neale's General Introduction to his History of the
Holy Eastern Church, Vol. II.
" A brief but complete synopsis of the Daily Divine Worship
of the Orthodox Church" is found in Euchology, done into
English by G. V. Shann ( Kidderminster, 1891).
NOTE. In the English Prayer Book, the so-called ' Creed
of St. Athanasius ' or ' Athanasian Creed,' or ' Athanasian
Hymn' or (from its initial words in Latin) ' Quicunque vuW or
more accurately * Quicumque vult^ stands before the Litany,
with a rubric requiring that it be read at Morning Prayer in
stead of the Apostles' Creed on thirteen specified days, includ
ing the five great festivals. It was for a long time believed to
have been written by the great theologian whose name it bears ;
but it is certainly of Latin composition and written after the
time of St. Augustine, but earlier than the year 500, and in all
probability it was framed by some writer in the south of Gaul.
It combines in itself, as has been said, a creed, a canticle, and
a sermon on the creed ; and it has also at the beginning and the
end minatory or warning clauses. Its purpose was evidently
to serve in a time of danger to Christian souls, lest in deny-
MORNING AND EVENING PRA YER 93
ing the Faith under pressure of persecution they should deny
their Lord and their God. Not being used by the Greek
Church in any of its offices, it cannot be rightly called a Catho
lic Creed; and though in some ways it gives a helpful state
ment of the Catholic Faith, yet by reason of its form, the number
of phrases which call for explanation, the insufficiency of some
definitions, and the awkwardness and inaccuracy of its trans
lation, it is not well fitted for public recitation. Our Church
was quite within her rights, and in the opinion of many of us
acted very wisely, in omitting it from the Prayer Book ; Bishop
Seabury would have preferred that it should be retained in the
Book without any requirement as to its use. The Creed
follows, as it stands in the English Prayer Book, with a declar
ation as to its meaning and interpretation adopted by the Con
vention of Canterbury in 1879.
THE CONFESSION OF OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH, COMMONLY
CALLED
THE CREED OF SAINT ATHANASIUS.
Quicunque vult
WHOSOEVER will be saved : before all things it is necessary
that he hold the Catholick Faith.
Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled :
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholick Faith is this: That we worship one God
in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity ;
Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Sub
stance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son :
and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son : and such is the
Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate: and the Holy Ghost
uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible:
and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
94 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The Father eternal, the Son eternal : and the Holy Ghost
eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three un
created : but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty: and
the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties : but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God : and the Holy Ghost
is God.
And yet they are not three Gods : but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord : and the Holy
Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords: but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to
acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord ;
So we are forbidden by the Catholick Religion : to say, There
be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none : neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone : not made, nor created, but
begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son : neither
made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers ; one Son, not three
Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other ; none is
greater, or less than another ;
But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together: and
co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid : the Unity in Trinity,
and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved: must thus think of the
Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation: that
he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess: that our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man ;
God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the
MORNING AND E VENING PRA YER 95
worlds: and Man, of the substance of his Mother, born in the
world ;
Perfect God, and perfect man: of a reasonable soul and
human flesh subsisting ;
Equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead: and inferior
to the Father, as touching His Manhood.
Who although He be God and Man: yet He is not two, but
one Christ ;
One ; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh : but by
taking of the Manhood into God ;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance: but by
unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one Man : so God
and Man is one Christ ;
Who suffered for our salvation : descended into hell, rose
again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of
the Father, God Almighty: from whence he shall come to
judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies :
and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting:
and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe
faithfully, he cannot be saved.
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.
SYNODICAL DECLARATION OF THE
SYNOD OF CANTERBURY
" For the removal of doubts and to prevent disquietude in
the use of the Creed commonly called the Creed of St. Athana-
sius, it is hereby solemnly declared
"That the Confession of our Christian Faith, commonly
called the Creed of St. Athanasius, doth not make any
96 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
addition to the faith as contained in Holy Scripture, but
warneth against errors which from time to time have
arisen in the Church of Christ.
" That as Holy Scripture in divers places doth promise life
to them that believe, and declare the condemnation of
them that believe not, so doth the Church in this Con
fession declare the necessity for all who would be in a
state of salvation of holding fast the Catholic Faith, and
the great peril of rejecting the same. Wherefore the
warnings in this Confession of Faith are to be understood
no otherwise than the like warnings of Holy Scripture ;
for we must receive God's threatenings, even as His prom
ises, in such wise as they are generally set forth in Holy
Writ. Morever, the Church doth not herein pronounce
judgment on any particular person or persons, God alone
being the Judge of all."
IV.
THE LITANY
THE word 'Litany' is Greek, \iraveia, from
the verb \foo-ofiai or Xtrro/iat, to 'petition*
or 'pray;' but the Litany of our service books is
distinctively western in its history and its use. It
corresponds in definition to the Latin rogatio and
in sense to preces. The * Lesser Litany' Kyrie
eleison, Christe eleison y Kyrie eleison ( 'Lord have
mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy') is
indeed still said in Greek in the Latin services, a
survival from the time when the Church at Rome
worshipped in Greek and an Apostle used the Greek
language in addressing it; and there are still in the
Greek liturgies the so-called "Deacon's Litanies,"
like English bidding-prayers, in which the deacon
makes mention of the persons or things for which
the people should pray, and a response of Kyrie
eleison is made to each clause. But neither of these
is exactly what we mean by the word. Our Litany,
though doubtless influenced by such forms as these,
is traced back at Rome and in Gaul to popular ser
vices of supplication in times of special distress and
danger, said or sung in procession. The name
specially associated with these services is that of
Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne in the Rhone valley,
who about the year 470 called his people to special
8
98 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
devotions of this kind on the three days preceding
the festival of the Ascension. "Men's hearts were
failing them for fear and for looking after those
things which were coming upon the earth." The
barbarians were invading the empire, there were
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, famine and pesti
lence, present danger and fear for the future. Thus
the prayers or 'rogations' began with processions
about the fields and the desolated country; at Rome
and elsewhere like customs grew up, appealing to the
people because they could readily take an intelligent
part in them, and assuming that definite form which
is still preserved. We are told that they were
specially encouraged at Rome by St. Gregory (about
the year 590); and when St. Augustine and his com
panions entered Canterbury on a Rogation-day in
597, there were singing a 'litany' or 'procession.'
A Litany of the Saxon Church has been preserved for
us, of date before 1000, showing the antiquity of
most of our petitions; and we have also a vernacular
English Litany of date about I4OO. 1 From the
very popularity (perhaps we may say, informality) of
these services, corruptions crept into them. They
had been, as ours are now, specially addressed to
Christ by those whom He had redeemed; but about
the eighth century petitions to the departed saints
that they would pray for their suppliants were intro
duced; and after a time, a Litany meant little more
can be found in Maskell, Monumenta Liturgica, ii. 223.
THE LITANY
than ora pro nobis, said after each name in the recita
tion of a long roll of saints, some biblical, some his
torical, some obscure, some occasionally imaginary.
This invocation, it may be noted, has never found its
way into the text of the Roman Breviary or Missal ;
and it has been abridged in the authorized Roman Lit
any, though in it fifty-two saints and angels are still
invoked not asked to do what none but God can do,
but asked to pray to God for us on earth, presumably
as having nearer access to Him than we can have.
The Litany is the first service in our Prayer Book
which was put into English, the only service which
dates in its English form from the reign of King
Henry VIII. In 1543 a special 'procession' had
been enjoined from fear of famine and distress;
among other things, war had broken out both with
Scotland and with France. The King sent a com
mission to Cranmer, bidding him draw up a Litany
in English, and possibly making some suggestions in
the form of a preliminary draft. In the next year,
1544, Cranmer had the Litany ready and it was set
forth for use. Whatever the King had suggested,
the work was the Archbishop's throughout. It is
evident that he used material from the current Latin
form, from a similar service set out by Luther, and
from the Greek Liturgies. And in the Litany,
Cranmer, as a translator, compiler, composer, and
master of English, was at his very best; he framed a
universal service, a 'general supplication.' The
transitional character of the time of composition is
100 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
shown by the fact that not all invocation of saints
was omitted, while yet the breach with Rome was
irrevocably made; the doctrinal reformation, we may
say, was incomplete, though the political reformation
was assured: 'Saint Mary, Mother of God,' 'All
holy angels and archangels,' 'All holy patriarchs and
prophets . . ,' were asked to 'pray for us,' and a
little further on was the petition, 'From the tyranny
of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormi
ties, Good Lord, deliver us.' In another and more
pleasing way, the introduction of new petitions bears
testimony to the sense of spiritual need awakened by
better acquaintance with the Scriptures. Every
reference to God's Word is new; as the prayer to be
kept 'from contempt of thy Word and Command
ment,' the prayers that the clergy may have 'true
knowledge and understanding of thy Word,' that the
people 'may hear meekly thy Word' and may 'receive
it with pure affection,' and that we may 'amend our
lives according to thy holy Word.' So also a deep
spiritual sense is shown by the insertion of petitions
that magistrates may 'execute justice and maintain
truth,' that God's people may be kept 'from hardness
of heart,' and that they may 'love and fear' him. The
combining of several petitions under one response,
with which some critics find fault, seems to the
present writer to be one of the most praiseworthy
features of Cranmer's work. The use of 'Good
Lord,' in addressing our Saviour Christ, is to be
noted as peculiarly English.
THE LITANY 101
Few changes have been made in the Litany since
its compilation. The invocations of angels and
saints were omitted in 1549, when the service was
put into the first Prayer Book; the petition against
the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome was omitted in
1559, under Queen Elizabeth; the petitions against
rebellion and schism were inserted in 1662, after
England had had experience of both. In the prepar
ation of our American Book, the State petitions, as
they may be called, were omitted; at the last revi
sion the petition for labourers in the harvest was in
serted, a suggestion to that effect having been made
in Reformation days by Hermann, Archbishop of
Cologne. A few marks of quaintness remain in
the use of words, especially in the English Book;
hardly any in our Book call for notice, except that
few people know that the 'kindly fruits of the earth'
mean the 'natural* fruits, those which each green
thing bears 'after its kind.' *
A few other words and phrases call for brief note.
In the first petition, 'the Father of Heaven' means
practically 'heavenly Father;' the Latin is Pater de
c&lis Deus ; and in reading there should be a semi-
pause after 'Father.' 'From all inordinate and sinful
affections' replaces the English 'From fornication
2 ' Kind ' is the participle of the verb ' kin ; ' ' kind ' people
are related people, and related people are, or ought to be, kind
to each other. ' Kindly ' is often a very good translation for the
Latin fltus, as meaning that which does its natural duty ; e. g. t
plus Aencas,pia testa.
102 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
and all other deadly sin,' and (see Colossians iii. 5)
practically means the same. 'Sudden death' means
death unprepared for. 'Prosperity' in the last depre
cation is in the English Book 'wealth,' that is, the
state of 'weal ;' in England they pray for the Sov
ereign, 'grant him in health and wealth long to live;'
compare in Psalm Ixvi. 12, "Thou broughtest us out
into a wealthy place." % 'To love and fear thee' re
places 'to love and dread thee;' and 'after,' it needs
hardly be said, means 'according to,' which has
actually been substituted for it later on. 'Finally to
beat down' seems to mean 'to beat down finally 1 or
'thoroughly.'
An analysis of the Litany is made comparatively
simple by the careful way in which it is printed in
our Book. It begins with Invocations of each
Person of the Godhead and of the Holy Trinity;
which by the way, should always be said by the
minister first and then repeated by the people.
Then follows the 'Remember not, Lord,' addressed
to Christ, which is the ancient Antiphon (see below)
to the Penitential Psalms, and stands as such at the
beginning of the Visitation of the Sick. This intro
duces the Deprecations, or petitions to be delivered
from specified evils and dangers, physical, moral,
It is said that Bishop Seabury did not wish to make the
change in these two places ; and that when he assented to it,
he said to Bishop White : " I trust that you will not hence
forth speak of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but will
call it the Common-prosperity of Pennsylvania."
THE LITANY 103
and spiritual; and these lead to the Obsecrations, or
prayers appealing to the successive acts in our
Lord's redemptive work from the Incarnation to the
Pentecostal gift; to which succeeds one more most
earnest and far-reaching Deprecation.
We pass then to Intercessions, that is prayers for
others or for ourselves in connection with others ; and
the Church thereby helps us to bring all, in all their
varied needs, before their common Intercessor in the
heavens, quickening thereby our devotion and widen
ing our sympathies, and leading to the prayer that all
may be brought to repentance and forgiveness and
amendment of life. One earnest petition to the Son
of God leads to the Agnus Dei, repeated with a two
fold response for peace and for mercy. Then after
*O Christ, hear us,' come the three petitions of the
Lesser Litany and the Lord's Prayer said without
the Doxology.
The portion of the service which follows is full of
what Archbishop Trench called 'fossil history,'
showing a composite structure and the survival of
earnest supplications in time of distress. As was
said in speaking of the versicles which follow the
Creed in the daily service, we have here two ex
amples of versicle and response, distinctly marked
by 'Minister' and 'Answer,' followed by 'Let us pray*
and a full prayer. That which begins 'O God,
merciful Father,' dates from about the year 800, and
is the old prayer against distress of soul and persecu
tion, from which latter (we may well remember)
104 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
many Christians are suffering to-day. Owing to a
misunderstanding, 'Amen ' is not printed after this
prayer, as it should be, and 'O Lord, arise,' is there
fore said as if it were a response to what precedes.
In point of fact, it is not this at all, but belongs to
what follows, thus giving the only full example of a
Psalm with its Antiphon remaining in our Prayer
Book. 4 Here the Psalm is the forty-fourth, of
which but one verse is recited, but the whole of
which is suggested (as the whole of Psalm xxii. was
suggested by our Lord's use of its first verse on the
Cross); an Antiphon is said before and after it to
show its application to the present needs of the
Church and God's ability to supply them, and then
the Gloria of the Psalm is said, seemingly out of
place in a Litany but rarely omitted at the end of a
Psalm. 6 Then follow four pairs of 'preces,' taken
from the old Roman Litany against the evils of war
which was said for some now unknown reason on
St. Mark's Day. 6 Another ancient prayer is intro-
4 An Antiphon is a phrase or clause, said before and after a
Psalm or Canticle (generally with some modification of words
in the two places), as giving the key-note of the sense in which
the Psalm or Canticle is used or the interpretation which is to
be put upon it.
* Maude, in his handbook, holds that * O Lord, arise,' is here
not an antiphon, but a respond ; the difference is rather one of
name than of fact.
Perhaps 'O Son of David' is a misreading for " O Son of
the living God," FI LI DEI VI VI in abbreviation being mis
taken for FILIDAVID or FILIDVD; but the phrase as
it stands is in the Gospels on the lips of the Syrophoenician
woman.
THE LITANY 105
troduced in the ancient way, and the Litany is then
brought to an end, as may be seen by looking at it as
it is printed at the end of the Prayer Book for use at
Ordinations. The General Thanksgiving is printed
here for convenience, to make sure that in the normal
service the element of thanksgiving shall not be
omitted. And the Prayer of St. Chrysostom stands
where Cranmer placed it in 1544, apparently to lead
the devotions on from the Litany to the service of
the Holy Communion.
This prayer of St. Chrysostom was taken from the
ancient Greek Liturgy which bears the name of the
1 'golden-mouthed" Patriarch of Constantinople (John
was his name, and Chrysostom his title), and also in
the earlier Liturgy of which this is an expansion and
which bears the name of Basil ; it cannot in fact be
traced back to either of those fathers, but it is as old
as the ninth century. In these Liturgies ( it must
be remembered that the word 'liturgy,' when accu
rately used, means the service for the Eucharist)
the prayer stands near the beginning and in close
connection with the 'Deacon's Litany,' mentioned
above. It may well have been that Cranmer, look
ing into this part of the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom
as he was preparing his Litany, was struck with the
beauty and appropriateness of the prayer which
served to lead the way to the solemn office that was
to follow, and thus translated it with great felicity
into words which have become familiar. It was
not until 1662 that it was placed at the end of Morn-
106 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
ing and Evening Prayer; and until that time it may
have kept in the minds of worshippers its original
meaning as an introductory prayer, the expression
of a wish that God would guide and accept the
'desires and petitions' which His servants were
about to present, especially as the Litany usually
preceded the Communion Service. For us it has
become a customary closing prayer, and it signifies
now that we put our petitions, imperfectly framed in
our minds and expressed in our words, into the
hands of the great Intercessor, that He may fulfil
them as is best for us ; and we venture to ask con
fidently for no more than we know He wishes to give
us, 'in this world knowledge of His truth, and in
the world to come life everlasting. '
'The Grace' was first introduced into the English
Prayer Book in 1559. Its place in the Greek Litur
gies is at the very beginning of the central part of
the service or 'Anaphora,' where it introduces the
words 'Lift up your hearts.' It has now become a
customary 'final Prayer of Blessing.'
The appointed Litany-days are Sundays, Wednes
days, and Fridays : Sundays, as being the days when
the largest congregations can be bidden to this great
act of supplication and intercession; Fridays, as
being the weekly commemoration of the Passion;
and Wednesdays, possibly as thought to be related
to the betrayal of our Lord. Of old, Wednesdays
and Fridays were called 'stationary days,' that is
days when the Christian soldier was to think him-
THE LITANY 107
self specially on duty, for static in Latin means a
soldier's 'post.' The Litany should also be said on
Rogation Monday and Tuesday and on Ember Satur
days. When permission is taken, as allowed by
rubric, to omit a part of the Litany, as is constantly
done on ordinary occasions, the words 'Let us pray*
should be said before the prayer 'We humbly beseech
thee." The Litany is always said at Ordinations,
and in England at the Coronation of a Sovereign.
The use of the Litany-desk or fald-stool (that is,
'folding-chair') placed below the chancel or choir,
that the Litany may be said 'in the midst of the
Church' among the people, is ancient. And in
cathedral and other elaborate services, the parts
printed in roman type are sometimes sung by two
clergymen or lay-clerks together, except where the
word 'Minister' (in the English Book 'Priest') is
printed. 8 The Litany is also occasionally sung with
the choir in procession.
* The omitted part of the service should not be called the
1 Lesser Litany,' for it is more than that, but the ' discretionary
part of the Litany. 1
8 In Ely and Exeter Cathedrals, we believe, it is the regular
practice for two lay-clerks to sing it together.
V.
SPECIAL PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS
'Prayers and Thanksgivings upon Several
JL (that is to say, separate or distinct or special)
Occasions' need not be noticed at length. In
accordance with the general rule of worship, that
what is particular in statement should follow what
is general, the special prayers are read last among
the prayers and the special thanksgivings follow the
General Thanksgiving. It may well be noted that
the rubrics placed in the section devoted to 'Special
Prayers and Thanksgivings' are as obligatory as
any others. It is a duty to the State as well as to
the Church that our congregations should pray for
Congress 'during their session;' and it would seem
that this requires that it be read on each Sunday
when the largest congregation is assembled, and
where there is daily service at least twice or thrice a
week. The Prayer for a General or Diocesan Con
vention should be constantly read while the Conven
tion is sitting; and on no account should the Ember
or Rogation Prayers be omitted on any of the days
to which they are assigned. On the other hand, the
permission to insert in the Prayer for All Conditions
of Men the clause, 'especially those for whom our
prayers are desired,' enables the minister to ask for
special remembrance of the sick or suffering or the
SPECIAL PRA YERS AND THANKSGIVINGS 109
afflicted on frequent occasions without too often
repeating the special prayers. In a small congrega
tion, where every one is known and when a case of
serious sickness or a death calls for every one's sym
pathy, the special prayers mean more than in a large
congregation, where their application does not come
home to all with the like emphasis. It is the opin
ion of the writer that the minister may make
changes in the words just quoted, printed as they
are in italic, at his discretion; as for instance,
'especially the sick person,' 'especially the family in
affliction,' or even 'especially thy sick servant the
Governor of this State,' or 'thy sick servant John
Jones.' And it would seem that no reasonable ob
jection could be made to the minster's saying before
the prayer, 'The prayers of the congregation are
desired for a sick man,' or 'for John Jones, in his
sickness;' this seems less awkward and more direct
than, as was once the custom in some places, to use
this form of 'bidding' before the words, 'The Lord
be with you.'
The Prayer for Congress is modified from the
English Prayer for the Hrgh Court of Parliament.
It stood in the Proposed (American) Book of 1786,
while Congress was the only federal branch of gov
ernment, so that its use antedates by four years the
provision of a prayer for the President of the United
States. By a strange irony of history, the Prayer
for Parliament is traced to the pen of Archbishop
Laud, who in 1625, when he was Bishop of St.
110 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Davids, set forth in an "Order of Fasting" a form
of prayer for that body which some twenty years
later sent him to the block, as the first man in Eng
land condemned to death by an ordinance of Parli
ament. The Prayer for Convention is framed upon
a highly rhetorical passage at the end of the Homily
for Whitsunday ; it was set forth in 1799. 'The Coun
cil of the blessed Apostles' means that of which we
have a record in Acts xv. The Prayer for the Unity
of God's People, placed in our Book at the last revis
ion, is taken from the service at the end of the English
Prayer Book for use on the anniversary of the acces
sion of the Sovereign ; it seems to date from Queen
Anne's reign. That for Missions is peculiar to our
book, and was also inserted at the last revision ; it is
made up from passages of Scripture and a phrase in
one of the prayers of the English Burial office. The
six Prayers which follow are from the English Book
with some modifications; they date respectively
from 1549, 1549, 1552, 1559, 1662, and 1604. The
second Ember Prayer was brought here from the
Ordinal ; the first (specially appropriate, as it would
seem, to the earlier part of the week) was written by
Bishop Cosin, whose influence on the revision of the
English Book (1660-1662) was both wise and strong.
The Prayers for Fruitful Seasons, well suited for
haying and harvest, or for any time of anxiety for the
crops, as well as for the historic Rogation-tide, are
not in the English Book and date with us from 1892:
the first is the only thing for which we are (at least
SPECIAL PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS 111
directly) indebted to the proposed English revision
of 1689; the second is American. None of the
Prayers which follow are in the English Book, except
that for a Sick Child, which stands there in the
Visitation of the Sick; they date with us from 1790.
The attribution of all or some of them to Bishop
Jeremy Taylor is a mistake. Those for a Sick Per
son, for Persons under Affliction, and for Persons
going to Sea, have added much to the helpfulness of
our services. 1
The first of the Special Thanksgivings has been
brought to its present place from the Churching
Office. The four which follow, and the next but one
after them, date from 1604, when they were called
'An enlargement of thanksgiving for divers benefits,
by way of explanation;' that for Restoring Public
Peace at Home was inserted appropriately in 1662,
when the use of the Prayer Book was restored after
it had been forbiden by law for fifteen years; its sug
gestion came from Bishop Wren, a stern royalist.*
The three Thanksgivings at the end are peculiar to
our American book ; the first and the third date from
1790, and the third from 1892.
1 The words in italics in these prayers, it needs hardly be
said, are to be modified in gender and number according to the
facts of each case. ' Condemnation,' in the heading of the last
prayer, means condemnation to death.
2 ' Outrage ' means ' outbreaking ; ' and * seditious ' is used in
its Latin sense of * civil disturbance,' trouble and war at home.
' Apparent,' in the preceding Thanksgiving, means ' evident.'
112 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
THE PENITENTIAL OFFICE
The Penitential Office for Ash-Wednesday is the
survival of the ancient public acts of penitence with
which the Church entered upon the solemn season of
Lent. All its parts, with the exception of one short
prayer, are in the service called in the English
Prayer Book, "A Commination, or denouncing of
God's anger and judgments against sinners, with
certain prayers, to be used on the first day of Lent,
and at other times as the Ordinary shall appoint."
It dates from 1549, and consists of a brief exhorta
tion, the recital of curses contained in Deuteronomy
xxvii. and others, to each of which the people
respond 'Amen,' and a long homily made up of
passages of Scripture, leading to the Miserere and
Prayers. In our Prayer Book of 1790, the service
was omitted, but the three prayers beginning with
'O Lord, we beseech thee,' were placed after the
Collect for Ash-Wednesday, with a rubric directing
their use on that day at the end of the Litany.
In 1892, the Psalm and versicles were replaced, the
prayer 'O God, whose nature and property' was
brought in from another place in the English Book,
and, the comminatory part of the service being still
excluded, the service became a Penitential Office.
Its great solemnity, as well its historic use, seem to
limit it to occasions which may be reckoned with
Ash-Wednesday as times of public penitence.
There is no rubric as to the way in which the Psalm
SPECIAL PRA YERS AND THANKSGIVINGS 113
is to be said ; it seems most natural that it should
follow the custom of the Psalter in the daily offices.
The use of Psalm li. here and of the six others in
Morning and Evening Prayer on Ash-Wednesday,
brings all the Penitential Psalms into the services of
that day. The High-priestly blessing from Num
bers vi., given here in the first person plural as a
benedictory prayer, in the Visitation of the Sick it
is in the second person singular, and is thus a
blessing, provides a form which may be used by a
lay-reader or a deacon at the close of a service, or at
family prayers, or on other occasions.
VI.
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS
WE PASS now to the Collects, Epistles, and
Gospels, which belong to the part of the
Prayer Book corresponding to the Missal, as they
have their place in the service of the Holy Com
munion; though by Anglican use the Collect for
a day is also repeated in Morning and Evening
Prayer. Something must be said of the Collects and
their history, of the selection and arrangement of the
Epistles and Gospels, and of the titles of certain days
and portions of the Christian year.
The New English Dictionary gives this definition
of the word Collect as a liturgical term, enclosing part
of it in quotation marks: "A name given to 'a com
paratively short prayer, more or less condensed in
form, and aiming at a single point, or at two points
closely connected with the other,' one or more of
which, according to the occasion and season, have
been used in the public worship of the Western
Church from an early date; applied particularly to
the prayer, which varies with the day, week, or
octave, said before the Epistle in the Mass or
Eucharistic service, and in the Anglican service also
in Morning and Evening Prayer, called for distinc
tion the Collect of the day."
The Collect in itself is, as the description says,
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 116
distinctively Western in its form and use; there is
nothing corresponding to it in the Oriental Litur
gies. The word 'Collect' does not occur in the
present Roman service books, though it has worked
back from England, at least into France, as a popular
name. It is found in Old Latin books in the forms
'collecta? and 'collectio; ' the Gregorian Sacramentary
once calls the prayer 'oratio ad collectam' and twice
'collecta;' the Gallican books, as Mr. Warren tells
us, earlier used 'collection and later, 'collectaS
'Collecta' is formed on the same principle as the
classic 'vindicta? and 'repulsa, and means a gather
ing of the people, either for worship at the place to
which they come or to go to the place appointed for
worship; the Collect then was the prayer 'ad col-
lectam, 'at the assembling.' 'Collection on the other
hand, seems to scholars to show that the prayer
called by that name was a concise summing up of
what had been already said more fully. A writer of
the fifth century tells us that, after the monks had
knelt in private devotion, they stood up while the
officiant in words "collected the prayer." As to the
idea that the Collect was so called from 'collecting'
into a prayer the teaching of the Epistle and the
Gospel, Dr. Bright says that it is 'purely imagina
tive.' Though at present we find the word 'collectio'
in older manuscripts than the word 'collecta^ it
seems to the present writer that 'collecta? from 'ad
collectam' must be the older form, and that we may
safely say that our Collects were so called as
116 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
appointed for the use of a congregation gathered
together.
The Collects in our Prayer Book are for the greater
part taken from three ancient Sacramentaries, or
liturgical service-books, of the Western Church;
those not so taken have been framed on the same
model, for which it would seem that we are indebted
to Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome (440-461). The
oldest Sacramentary bears his name; the others are
called by the names of Gelasius and of Gregory the
Great, also Bishops of Rome (492-496 and 590-
604). It must be noted, however, that the earliest
known manuscripts of these documents date from
about the years 550, 700, and 800 respectively, and
that the only known Leonine manuscript is not com
plete. Bearing this in mind, it will be interesting
to see how far back we can trace the eighty-six Com
munion Collects in our Book.
The Collects first found in the Sacramentary of St.
Leo, as it has reached us, are seven; those for the
3rd Sunday after Easter and for the 5th, 9th, ioth,
I2th, I3th, and I4th Sundays after Trinity.
The Collects first found in the Sacramentary of
St. Gelasius are twenty-one; those for the 4th Sun
day in Advent, the first Communion on Christmas
Day, the Innocents' Day, the Sunday before Easter,
Good Friday (the second Collect), Easter-day, the 4th
and 5th Sundays after Easter, the Sunday after Ascen
sion, and the ist, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, nth, 15th, i6th,
i8th, igth, 2Oth, and 2ist Sundays after Trinity.
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 117
The Collects first found in the Sacramentary of St.
Gregory are twenty-nine; those for St. Stephen's
Day, St. John Evangelist's, the Epiphany, the ist,
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays after the Epiphany,
Septuagesima, Sexagesima, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and
5th Sundays in Lent, Good Friday (the first Collect),
Ascension-day, Whitsunday, Trinity-Sunday, the
3rd, 4th, I7th, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th Sundays after
Trinity, the Sunday next before Advent, the Conver
sion of St. Paul, the Purification, the Annunciation,
and the festival of St. Michael and all Angels.
The rest, twenty-nine in number, were composed
expressly for the Anglican Prayer Books : namely, in
1549, those for the ist and 2nd Sundays in Advent,
Christmas-day, the Circumcision, Quinquagesima,
Ash-Wednesday, the ist Sunday in Lent, Good
Friday (the third Collect), the first Communion on
Easter-day (apparently), the ist and 2nd Sundays
after Easter, and all the Saints' Days not already
mentioned, except St. Andrew's; in 1552, that for St.
Andrew's Day; in 1662, those for the 3rd Sunday in
Advent, the 6th Sunday after the Epiphany, and
Easter-Even this latter based on the Collect in the
Scottish Prayer Book of 1636 (the Collect for St.
Stephen's Day was also enlarged at this time); in
1886, in the American Book, that for the Trans
figuration. 1
1 Besides these Communion Collects, the second and third
Collects at Morning and Evening Prayer, with * Assist us
mercifully,' at the end of the Communion Service, and 'O
118 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The reason why so many of the Saints' Day
Collects were newly written for the Book of 1549
was that the old Collects contained reference to the
merits or the intercession of the Saints. The work
of Cranmer in translating the Collects is worthy of
careful study. A few of them he put into English
almost word for word from the Latin, as, for in
stance, that for the Twenty-first Sunday after
Trinity; but in more he expanded the somewhat
stern idiom of the Latin into the freedom of good
English rhetoric, as in that of the 2nd Sunday in
Lent, a literal translation of which would be; "O
God, who seest that we are bereft of strength ; Guard
us inwardly and outwardly ; that we may be fortified
in body against all adversities, and cleansed in mind
from evil thoughts; through our Lord." 2
The Epistles and Gospels which we use have come
to us, with but few exceptions, from the 'Comes,'
'Companion,' 'Hand-book,' which we can trace
Lord, we beseech thee,' in the Penitential Office, and also the
Collect (or Prayer) for the Clergy and People, are traced to the
Gelasian Sacramentary ; the Collect for Purity at the beginning
of the Communion Office, and the Collects beginning 'We
humbly beseech thee,' ' Direct us, O Lord,' and ' O God, whose
nature and property,' to the Gregorian; while the second,
fourth, and fifth at the end of the Communion Service, and the
Collect for the Communion of the Sick were composed for the
Prayer Book of 1549.
'From Dr: Bright's essay on the Collects in the S. P. C. K.
Commentary, to which reference should be made for a thor
ough and interesting discussion of the Collects as translations
and parpharases.
THE COLLECTS. EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 119
back to an early day ; it has been attributed to St.
Jerome (who died in the year 420). It contained the
Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and chief fes
tivals throughout the year, and perhaps originally
Prophecies also that is to say, readings from the
Old Testament. Now, the fact that in the Eastern
Church both the Epistles and the Gospels are
selected in order from the books of the New Testa
ment, and the further fact that the same passages (or
'pericopes') of the New Testament are found in the
'Comes' as the Epistles and Gospels of the Western
Church, seem to carry back the 'Comes' to an early
time; and it may well be that it is the order of the
readings and not the selection of the readings them
selves which we may attribute to St. Jerome. Our
Epistles show that in some places the order was not
disturbed; thus, those for the first four Sundays
after the Epiphany are absolutely consecutive, and
those for the Sixth to the Twenty-fourth Sundays
after Trinity (inclusive), with one exception, are
from St. Paul's Epistles in the order in which they
stand in the New Testament. The use in our
Book goes back, then, through the English and
the Sarum, to the 'Comes,' with but few variations
except sometimes in the length of the passages
designated. This is one of the particulars in which
England has a use more ancient than Rome ; for at
some date, which cannot now be determined, the
Roman Church introduced variations into the scheme
of Epistles and Gospels which she must have had
120 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
in early days. We can easily trace what happened
(or was done) in the Sundays after Trinity, or, as
Rome calls them, the Sundays after Pentecost.
The first Sunday after Trinity lost its proper
Gospel the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus,
so well chosen to suit the Epistle and borrowed
that of the fourth Sunday after Trinity; into the
place of this was drawn back the Gospel of the
fifth Sunday, and so on ; so that for the rest of the
season the Roman Gospels are one Sunday out of the
way. In the English use the ancient order remains.
In the former half of the Christian year, from Ad
vent to Trinity which brings before us the succes
sive events or lessons of the Lord's life the Sunday
Gospels contain the special teaching, and the Epis
tles are chosen to illustrate and emphasize that teach
ing, even in the four Sundays after the Epiphany on
which, as already noted, they are consecutive. The
choice of Gospels for the Sundays after the Epi
phany shows a thoughtful selection of readings to
illustrate the several Epiphanies of the incarnate
Christ: first, in His home-life; second, in the be
ginning of His 'signs;' third, in His power over
diseases of the body; fourth, in His power over the
world of nature and of the mind; fifth, in the history
of the Church; sixth, in the great consummation.
In the latter half of the year, the Sundays after
Trinity, it is the Apostles who are teaching and the
Lord who 'confirms their word' by His signs and
His lessons of truth. After a few readings from the
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 121
general Epistles of St. John and St. Peter and one
(on the fourth Sunday) from St. Paul, we have that
long range of selection from St. Paul's Epistles in
their New Testament order, with one exception on
the eighteenth Sunday, to which attention has been
already called. And if there is need of supplying
two Sundays at the end of the year, the Epistle for
the fifth Sunday [after the Epiphany, taken for the
first vacant day, carries on the order one step further.
The connection of Epistle with Gospel and of both
with the Collect on the several Sundays is worth
careful study; it is illustrated in Bishop Coxe's
'Thoughts on the Services' and Bishop Doane's
'Mosaics.'
In the notes on the Calendar (page 55), attention
has been called to the fact that, as far as dates are
concerned, the part of the year from Advent to the
eve of Septuagesima is regulated by Christmas or
Epiphany, which is kept by the Roman Calendar,
and the part from Septuagesima to the eve of Advent
is^regulated by Easter, the date of which is deter
mined ^by the Jewish or lunar Calendar. The
Epiphany is older in observance than Christmas; in
the EastTt~is^called^the Epiphanies^in the plural),*
and* while it is primarily the festival of the Bap
tism the date of which it jnay well preserve as the
6th day of January it also commemorates the
Nativity and^the^visirofthe Wise Men; it is for the
oriental ^Christians [a greater day than Christmas.
The first writer, as far as we know, who placed the
122 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
date of the Nativity on the 25th of December was
Hippolytus of Rome, about the year 220; but the
testimony of St. Chrysostom, soon to be cited, and
perhaps the testimony of Tertullian, give us reason
to think that its observance dates from an earlier
time. It was introduced into the East a century and
a half later; we have the sermon in which on
Christmas, probably in the year 386, St. Chrysostom
commended it to the Christians of Antioch as an
observance not ten years old indeed among them,
but kept at Rome, where men had access to the
archives, from the beginning and by old tradition.'
The name 'Christmas' (the special 'mass' or 'service'
of Christ) can be traced back to the year 1123; it
displaced in our language the name 'yule,' appar
ently a word of merriment from which 'jolly' is
derived. The nations Christianized by Latin-speak
ing missionaries call the feast by words such as the
French 'Noel,' derived from 'natalis* meaning 'dies
natalis Domini, 'the Lord's birthday.' The time of
preparation for it is 'Advent,' the name of which
explains itself. In the Roman use it includes four
Sundays; in the Milanese (Ambrosian) and Mozara-
bic, it has six, beginning on the Sunday after St.
Martin's day (November n); in the 'Comes,' five,
one being our 'Sunday next before Advent.'
' None of the chronologers seems to note that at the time of
our Lord's birth the solstice occurred on the 2$th of Decem
ber; the error in the Julian Calendar accumulated between
Caesar's reform and the Council of Nice three days in 400
years has never been corrected.
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 123
St. Stephen's is the earliest recorded Saint's day;
St. John Evangelist and the Innocents naturally
stand with him close to Christ. The old English
name of the Innocents' Day is 'Childermas.' The
festivals of the Circumcision, the Purification
('Candlemas'), the Annunciation ('Lady Day,' i. e.
'Our Lady's Day') and the Nativity of St. John
Baptist, take their dates from Christmas.
'Lent' (a word first found about 1275) is a short
ened form of the substantive 'lenten' (first found
about 1000), and means 'spring.' It appears to be
of the same stem as 'long,' 'length,' and to have
reference to the lengthening of the days at that time
of the year. The fast before Easter was at first of
short duration and very rigid, in some cases of forty
hours; next, it included the week-days of six weeks;
then, in the seventh century, four days being pre
fixed, it became our Lent of forty week-days. In
Milan Lent still begins on the eve of the first
Sunday; and with us the Collect for that Sunday
makes mention of fasting as if it were then about to
begin. The difference between Latin and English
observances is shown by the contrast between the
'Carnival' of the former, and the 'Shrove-Tues-
day' that is 'shrift-Tuesday,' 'confession-Tues
day' of the latter.
The fourth Sunday in Lent is Refreshment or
Refection Sunday, from the Gospel, or Mothering
Sunday, from the custom of visiting the mother
Church or the mother's home. The fifth Sunday
124 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
in Lent is Passion Sunday, as the services begin to
look forward to the Passion ; but Passion Week gen
erally means, in older writers at least, Holy Week or
the week next before Easter. The Sunday before
Easter is Palm Sunday, though until the last revis
ions of the tables of Lessons there was in the re
formed Anglican services no mention of the Lord's
entry into Jerusalem. It should be noted that in the
Gospels for the first six days of Holy Week, with the
second morning Lessons for the Sunday and Good
Friday, there is brought before us the full record of
the Passion as written by the four Evangelists.
Thursday before Easter was known as early as ot.
Augustine's time as the 'day of the Lord's Supper;'
the English name of 'Maundy' Thursday, dating
from about 1300, meant originally the washing of the
feet of the poor in obedience to the Lord's 'new
Commandment,' 'mandatum novum,' the day being
called 'dies mandati.' On Good Friday we have
three Collects, a survival of the ancient solemn
prayers of intercession on that day. In the first
Collect, we commemorate the suffering and vic
torious Christ; in the second, we pray for the
Church ; and in the third, we pray that God will
'fetch home' (i) His ancient people Israel, who
worship him within the lines of a special covenant,
but do not know the Messiah who has come, (2) the
'Turks' or Mohammedans, who worship one God
and acknowledge Christ, but profess higher allegi
ance to a later 'Prophet,' (3) Infidels, that is to say
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 125
unbelievers, the heathen who do not know the one
true God, and (4) Heretics, a word which histori
cally can mean here only the separated bodies of
Christians in the East, who for reasons involving no
personal blame on their part are formally outside the
Catholic Church. Easter-Even has been from of old
a stated time for the baptism of adults.
Easter, as the Venerable Bede tells us, takes its
English appellation from ' EostrS or 'Eastre,' the
name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at
the vernal equinox; her name, derived from 'east,'
shows that she was the goddess of the dawn or the
sun-rising. The word first occurs as used by King
Alfred about the year 890. In most other languages
the name of the festival is from the Hebrew 'pesach'
('passover') through the Greek TraV^a, which, by
the way, has no etymological connection with the
verb Trao-^o). 4 The feast has been observed from the
earliest times. There is a possible allusion to it in
I Corinthians v. 7, compared with xvi. 8. St. Poly-
carp, who was martyred in the year 155, is reported
to have attributed to St. John himself the custom by
which it was kept in proconsular Asia; and at Rome
the observance can be traced back to about the year
120. The rules for the determination of Easter and
4 The old pronunciation of the name of Queen Esther was
the same as of the festival Easter, a fact which has led to some
curious misunderstandings. The writer has seen in an old
record the entry of a service on ' Esther-day.'
126 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
the feasts dependent upon it have been considered in
the discussion of the Calendar.
The whole period of fifty days from Easter to
Whitsunday was in the early times considered one
continuous festival; and the Council of Nice (325),
following more ancient custom, forbade kneeling in
worship during that time, as on all Lord's Days.
The name 'Pentecost,' Trevrrjicoo-Ttf, though really an
ordinal and meaning 'the fiftieth [day],' was applied
to the period as well as to the high festival on which
it closed ; its earliest occurrence in the latter sense
is in the year 305. There seems to be no room for
reasonable doubt that the Coming of the Holy
Spirit, 'the Pentecostal Gift,' was on Sunday, seven
weeks after Easter; but that it was parallel to the
giving of the Law at Sinai, and that this event was
seven weeks after the Exodus, seems to rest on late
traditions. The word 'Pentecost' has passed into
Christian use outside of England and some of the
northern nations of Europe; but 'Whitsunday' has
been the English name from at least the year 1050.
The New English Dictionary has not yet (1909)
reached the letter W; but Professor Skeat's re
searches have made it certain that the word is really
'White Sunday,' early shortened into 'Whit-Sunday'
and then by a misunderstanding sometimes called
'Wit-Sunday,' that is 'Wisdom-Sunday,' with refer
ence to the gift of the Spirit. But why it was
called 'White Sunday' is not so clear. Probably the
right explanation is seen in. the fact that Eastertide
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 127
and Whitsuntide were the great seasons for adult
baptism; in the south of Europe, Easter was the
time specially chosen, and the white robes of the
candidates gave to the first Sunday after Easter the
name of 'Dominica in albis ;' that is to say, 'in albis
depositis^ as the robes were laid aside on that day.
But in the northern countries the later day was
naturally preferred, and the Sunday of the white
robes, Pentecost, was the White Sunday. It is in
teresting to note that the word passed at a very early
day from English to Icelandic, and that Skeat quotes
this evidence from an Icelandic dictionary. Dr.
Neale's ingenious argument that the word is
'Whitsun-day' and that 'whitsun' is the German
'pfingsten' (which is confessedly from the Greek
wevTrj/cocTTiy, 'fiftieth '), is quite impossible ; the Anglo-
Saxon 'hwita sunnan* cannot be a derivation or a
corruption of the German 'pfingsten,' of which the
earlier form is 'pfingeste.' The correct spelling,
therefore, is 'Whit Sunday;' the best Prayer Book
use is for 'Whitsunday;' modern use at the Oxford
Press and the King's Printers, and Dr. Coit's au
thority in this country from 1845 to 1871, have
given 'Whit-sunday;' Dr. Neale's influence gave
us 'Whitsun-day' from 1871 to 1892; now our Book
reads, as do the English Standard and the Cam
bridge Press and as did our standards before 1845,
'Whitsunday.' 'Whitsun-week' indeed goes back to
1549, before the derivation from 'pfingsten' was
dreamt of; it is an abbreviation of 'Whitsunday-
128 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
week;' 'Whit-Monday' and 'Whit-Tuesday' are
common forms. The octave of Whitsunday was
from an early day observed in honor of the Holy
Trinity; but it was in England that it came first to
be observed as 'Trinity-Sunday' and to attain the
dignity of a separate festival, giving its name to all
the following Sundays of the year. The special
observance is attributed to St. Thomas & Becket,
about 1165; but it would appear to have been older
by at least a century.
When, including the Sunday next before Advent,
there are twenty-six Sundays after Trinity, the ser
vice for the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany is best
brought in to the vacant place; when there are
twenty-seven, the services for the fifth and sixth
Sundays after the Epiphany are most suitably used.
Note has been made on an earlier page of the Ember-
days and the Rogation-days.
The reasons for assigning the festivals of the
Apostles to the days on which they stand in the
Calendar are for the most part now unknown. St.
Andrew's Day, observed from at least the fourth cen
tury, seems to be the only festival of an Apostle
claiming to be really on the anniversary of his death.
St. Peter's Day, still in the Roman use St. Peter and
St. Paul's Day, is the day on which in the year 258
the supposed remains of the two Apostles were
removed to a shrine in the place called 'At the Cata
combs.' St. Philip and St. James's Day commemo
rates the dedication of a church at Rome in honor of
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 129
those Apostles on the first day of May in or about
the year 561. The Conversion of St. Paul seems to
have been assigned to the Epiphany season by
reason of his being the 'Apostle of the Gentiles.'
"The other festivals of Apostles," says Bishop
Wordsworth, "differ so much in the East and the
West that, although at present we have no explana
tion of the dates to offer, we may consider them
days of dedication of churches or of translation of
relics rather than actually traditional days of their
martyrdom."
The festival of the Transfiguration was first
formally assigned in the West to the 6th day of
August in 1457. It cannot be the actual day of the
Transfiguration; but it was chosen as commemo
rating a special act of deliverance granted to the
Christians under Mohammedan oppression. Michael
mas is the day of the dedication of a church at
Rome to St. Michael the Archangel.
All Saints' Day ('All Hallows') dates from about
the year 740. It is said that it was originally ap
pointed on another day, about 610, to celebrate the
dedication of the Roman Pantheon as a Christian
Church. The Anglican Church on this day com
memorates all who have departed this life in the
faith and fear of God and await a joyful resurrec
tion ; the Roman communion commemorates on the
first day of November the canonized saints who
are believed to be with Christ in heaven, and has an
other festival, All Souls' Day, on the second of
10
130 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
November in memory of the souls in purgatory,
for which she drapes her altars in black.
COINCIDENCE OF HOLY DAYS
Neither the English Prayer Book nor our own
gives any rule as to the service to be used when a
Holy-day 'concurs' with another Holy-day or a oun-
day ; that is to say, when two Collects, Epistles, and
Gospels and two sets of Lessons are appointed under
different rules for the same day. And neither book
makes any provision for postponing the observance
of a Holy-day until some later free day; as for in
stance, in the case of the Annunciation falling in
Holy Week, the ancient use was to defer the obser
vance of that feast until a week from Easter-Monday.
The following table was approved by the Convoca
tion of Canterbury in 1879, and is generally accepted
in practice among us. It places in two columns
these Feasts and Holy-days which can concur, the
name of the 'superior' day being placed in the first
column or that at the left hand, and that of the
'inferior' day in the second column or that at the
right hand ; the intention being that in any case of
'concurrence' the service appointed for the day in
the left-hand column shall be said, with the insertion
of the Collect for the day in the right-hand column
after the other appointed Collect, thus making a
'commemoration' of the other day.
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 131
The Service for
ist Sunday in Advent
4th Sunday in Advent
St. Stephen, St. John
Evangelist,
The Innocents
Conversion of St. Paul
The Purification
With the Collect for
St. Andrew
St. Thomas
> Sunday after Christmas
j
3d Sunday after Epiphany
\ 4th Sunday after Epiphany,
> Septuagesima, Sexagesima
J Quinquagesima
Conversion of St - Paul
Sexagesima, Quinqua-
gesima, Ash-Wednes-
nesday, ist, 2d, 3d
Sundays in Lent
Annunciation
c . *. ,.,.
St. Matthias
5th Sundays in
Q . A/ r ,
St ' Mark
Sunday before Easter to ^
Tuesday in Easter- > Annunciation
Week, inclusive J
Easter-day, Monday and ^
Tuesday in Easter I
Week/ ist Sunday f
after Easter J
ist Sunday after Easter St. Philip and St. James
St. Mark, St. Philip and ) 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th Sundays
St. James j after Easter
Ascension-day St. Philip and St. James
Whitsunday, Monday
Bamabas
Sunday
132 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
St. Barnabas and alH
Ali er SaD a a y y S in Sundays after Trinity
elusive J
In proposing this table, it was added that if there
were 'additional' services the service appointed for
the day in the right-hand column might be said with
the 'commemoration' of the other, except on Good
Friday, Easter-day, Ascension-day, Whitsunday,
and Trinity-Sunday. It was intended that the word
'service' should include the Lessons, except that a
lesson from the Apocrypha might at any time give
place to one from Canonical Scripture. The table
with its notes possesses no canonical or rubrical au
thority; but it represents good authority of custom.
It should be noted that when Christmas falls on
Sunday, the next Sunday is the Circumcision and
there is no Sunday after Christmas, the Christmas
Collect ceasing on 'New Year's Eve;' and that
liturgically there is never a Second Sunday after
Christmas, for if January 2, 3, 4, or 5 falls on Sun
day, the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel to be read are
those for the Circumcision ; such a Sunday, however,
has proper Lessons provided and for that purpose is
called the second Sunday after Christmas. When
the Circumcision or the Epiphany falls upon Sunday,
its service is the only one for that Sunday.
When Thanksgiving-day, by custom the last
Thursday in November, falls on St. Andrew's Day,
it seems most proper to use both Collects with the
THE COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS 133
Epistle and Gospel for St. Andrew's Day and the
rest of the Thanksgiving-day service.
Perhaps it should be added that the Collect, Epistle,
and Gospel for a week-day not otherwise provided for
are always that of the preceding Sunday, even when
the service of the Sunday has yielded to that of a
Holy-day; and that when a Holy-day falls on a week
day, the Collect of the preceding Sunday is not to be
said after its Collect. The rubrics provide for the
services to be used on the days between the Inno
cents' Day, the Epiphany, Ash-Wednesday, Ascen
sion day, and the following Sundays respectively.
The Collect for each Sunday or Holy -day is
always to be said at both Morning and Evening
Prayer on that day, even when it immediately pre-
ceds another Feast-day or a Sunday ; but at Evening
Prayer the Collect for that Feast-day or Sun
day may be also said. Ash-Wednesday, Good Friday
and Easter-even are Holy-days but not Feasts; their
Collects are not said at Evening Prayer of the pre
ceding days.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE CHRISTIAN YEAR
Works on the whole Prayer Book, as before.
Wordsworth (Bishop John), The Ministry of Grace; Chap
ters vi., vii., viii. Scholarly and valuable.
Pullan (Leighton), The Christian Tradition (in Oxford
Library of Practical Theology} ; Chapter vi., Festivals of the
Church. Scholarly and valuable.
Articles in Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (see article on
1 Lectionary ' for the ' Comes ' ) and in [Roman] Catholic En
cyclopedia.
134 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The New English Dictionary, and Skeat's Etymological Dic
tionary.
Interesting notes on Church Festivals will be found in Brady
(John), Clavis Calendaria; Hone (William), Every Day Book;
and Neale (John Mason), Church Festivals and their House
hold Words in Essays on Liturgiology. Wheatly on the
Prayer Book has much interesting material.
Full comparative tables of Calendars, with notes on all the
black-letter days of the English Calendar, will be found in
Blunt's Annotated Book of Common Prayer.
VII.
THE HOLY COMMUNION -I.
HISTORY OF THE OFFICE
WE learn from the three Synoptic Gospels and
from St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinth
ians how it was that the Lord Jesus, the same night
in which He was betrayed, in connection with the
sacrifice and feast of the Passover, instituted the
Sacrament of His Body and Blood. All four of the
writers tell us the words with which He gave His
disciples the bread and the wine over which He had
spoken in thanksgiving and blessing, but none of
them has preserved the words in which He gave
thanks and blessed. That the Apostles after the
Lord's Ascension and the Coming of the Holy Ghost
observed the ordinance, no one doubts ; but we can
not learn from the New Testament much as to the
manner in which they did it, except that they broke
the bread (Acts ii. 46, xx. 7), and ate it, drinking
also from the cup which had been blessed (i Cor. x.
16-18, xi. 20-29). The whole service is called in the
Acts 'The Breaking of the Bread,' and perhaps by
St. Paul in the passage last cited 'the Lord's Supper,'
though it may be that by this term he means the
common meal known as the Agape or Love-feast^
which accompanied the Sacrament. At least from
St. Augustine's time (about 450) the Sacrament has
been frequently called The Lord's Supper. Its most
136 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
common name in the primitive Church was The
Eucharist, that is to say The Giving of Thanks,
probably with the distinct thought of a Blessing
asked in a Thanksgiving (compare the Words of the
Institution in the several Gospels); but we cannot
affirm that the word ev^apia-ria in any place in the
New Testament means or necessarily implies the
Sacrament. In the East both the service and the
consecrated elements were and are often called 'The
Mysteries' or 'The Holy Mysteries;' but it must be
remembered that the word fjLvcmjpiov does not mean
something concealed or hard to understand ; it means
a revealed truth (as in Ephesians iii. 3-6), or an im
parted blessing. St. Paul speaks (i Cor. x. 16) of
the cup and the bread as being each a Communion,
tcoiwwia, that is to say (most probably) something
of which all the communicants partook ; it was not
until the fourth century that the name 'The Com
munion' or 'The Holy Communion,' strictly applica
ble to the reception, was given to the whole sacra
mental act. For many years the name most used in
the Roman Communion has been that of 'The Mass,'
in Latin 'Missa.' It is first found in the last quar
ter of the fourth century in the Epistles of St. Am
brose and the Itinerary of Silvia. Of itself it is an
absolutely colorless word, being a verbal substantive
derived from mitto, missus, as collecta is derived
from colligo, collectus ; and at first meaning any re
ligious service, it came to be commonly applied to
the distinctive act of worship of the Christian
THE HOL Y COMMUNION I. 137
Church. It is held by most scholars that 'missa' was
first a solemn dimissory formula at the end of the
service, as to-day at the end of the Roman office the
priest says 'Ite, missa est,' and then came to be
applied to the service itself. One would prefer the
derivation, for which, however, there is but slender
evidence, on the analogy of 'collecta.' l The prayer
'ad collectam,' on the occasion of the assembling of
the people, became the 'Collect;' so the act of wor
ship 'ad missam,' on the occasion of the commission
of the people for official duty, may have become the
'Mass,' and the word may thus have served as a
translation of the Greek word 'Liturgy,' in its literal
sense of a public service, of which we must speak in
a moment.
To call the Holy Communion 'The Sacrament' or
'The Blessed Sacrament,' as if there were no other,
though the former is in somewhat common use among
the people and the latter among devotional writers,
unless it is evident that the speaker is using a rhetori
cal licence, is hardly correct; and to call the Com
munion Office a 'Celebration' (without adding such
words as 'of the Eucharist' or 'of the Holy Commun
ion 1 ) is hardly reverent.'
The distinctive name of the service used for the
Eucharist is the Greek word 'Liturgy,'
1 See the New English Dictionary.
1 The New English Dictionary gives no literary example of
this use, but cites it as modern colloquial.
138 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
It came to be used in English before the year 1600,
and by as careful a scholar as Hooker, for any "pre
script form of prayer;" but in a formal treatise and in
its study the word should be kept to its strictly proper
sense. Its derivation is almost certainly from an
adjective connected with the word Xao?, 'people,'
from which we get our word 'lay,' and from the noun
epyov, ffyyov, which appears in our language as
'work.' It means therefore 'public service;' and it
was applied in Athens to a work for the public which
a wealthy citizen discharged at his own expense,
such as fitting out a war vessel or providing for the
presentation of a drama. From this the Church
applied it almost in our modern sense of 'public ser
vice, ' for the appointed order of her great act of wor
ship. It is a great word with a great history.
But the consideration of names and words has
drawn us away from the history of the service.
There is little to be added from the New Testament,
except to notice that the Epistle to the Hebrews is
full of what may be called Eucharistic allusions, 8 and
that some such allusions may be found elsewhere.
St. Paul's argument (i Cor. xiv. 16) that one praying
in the congregation should pray in words that are
understood, in order that the 'plain' man may know
when to say his 'Amen' at the 'thanksgiving,' may
well refer to the Eucharistic service, especially as we
'The subject is treated in an interesting, if exaggerated,
way in J. E. Field's The Apostolic Liturgy and the Epistle to
the Hebrews ; see Bibliography.
THE HOLY COMMUNION I. 189
remember how great stress the early Church laid on
this response from the people. And St. Paul
towards the end of his Epistle to the Romans (xv.
15, 16) uses words which very soon had a distinctive
ly liturgical sense, one of them being \eirovpydv itself,
and the others lepovpyovwa, fj Trpoo-fopd, and ^ytaa--
[levy ev TTvev/jiaTi dyl<p. We may translate thus :
"That I should be a leader of liturgical worship [or
common service] for the nations, to the end that the
oblation of the nations may prove to be acceptable,
since it has been sanctified by [in] the Holy Spirit."
And it may not be amiss to suggest that part of
the imagery of the Book of Revelation seems to have
been based on the worship of the Christian Church.
We pass on now to the history of that worship as
it has led to the forms of the Communion Office in
the English Book and in our own.
The earliest account of the eucharistic service
which has reached us is contained in the Apology
for the Christians written by Tustin Martyr (of
Samaria) to the Emperor Antoninus Wus in or about
the year 152.* As he describes it, the parts of this
service "on the day called Sunday," when "all who
live in cities or in the country come together to one
place," was this:
i. The memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of
the Prophets are read, as long as time permits.
4 First Apology, chapters 65-67; a translation is in the Ante-
Nicene Christian Library.
140 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
2. The President instructs and exhorts to the imi
tation of these good things.
3. All rise together and offer prayers.
4. We salute one another with a kiss [and alms are
received for the poor].
5. Bread, and wine mingled with water, are
brought to the President.
6. He taking them gives praise and glory to the
Father of the universe, through the name of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, and offers prayers and
thanksgiving at considerable length, according to
his ability.
7. The people assent, saying 'Amen.'
8. They who are called deacons distribute to the
congregation the elements which have been blessed
and carry a portion to those who are absent.
Here we see a definite order of the service, while
yet there is preserved to the officiating Bishop or
priest, presumably speaking under divine or pro
phetic guidance, freedom of utterance in prayers and
thanksgiving. That order has never been changed,
in any essential part of its outline. Every full and
formal celebration of the Holy Communion to this
day is with a service which contains the reading of
New Testament Scriptures (the 'memoirs of the
Apostles' are probably the Gospels and the 'writings
of the Prophets' the Epistles), a sermon or homily,
prayers, acts of charity, the presentation of the
appointed elements, the blessing of the elements by
the celebrant with thanksgiving and prayer, the
THE HOL Y COMMUNION /. 141
'Amen' of the congregation, and the communion in
the elements which have been consecrated. The his
tory of the service is the history of its modifications
along these lines, which had evidently been fixed
so early that in a half century after the death
of St. John they were the established rule of the
Church.
The earliest extant liturgy completely written out
is that known as the Clementine and found in the so-
called 'Apostolic Constitutions,' of about the year
350;' it was evidently composed as an ideal form of
service, some of the prayers being quite long, and
was probably never used ; but it shows the order and
mould of the service at that time in the East. Its
teaching as to those matters is confirmed by the
Catechetical Lectures of Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem,*
delivered in the year 347, in which he explains in a
devotional way the parts of the service as they follow
in order. Without doubt the liturgies still in use in
the Orthodox Eastern Church best known to us as
the Churches of Greece and Russia go back in all
their essential parts and in their order to the
times of the Constitutions and of Cyril, except that
the Clementine form does not contain the Creed and
the Lord's Prayer, probably because in the earliest
days they were not committed to writing but were
6 Book VIII, beginning; translated in Ante-Nicent Christian
Library.
6 Lectures xxii., xxiii.; translated in Nicene and Post-Niccne
Fathers; see also Burbidge, pp. 28, sqq.
142 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
supplied from memory. And the fact that the
earliest Latin liturgies have the same outline and
order assures us that while the worship of the
Church of the West was still in Greek it was in all
essential points the same as that of the Church of
the East. Of this more will be said presently.
Holding in mind this fact of the essential unity of
all liturgical service, we note that we find at as early
a date as a century after that last mentioned, five
families of liturgies, all in general agreement, but
differing somewhat in their tone, and distinguished
by the position given to what is called the Great In
tercession, the 'Prayer for the whole State of
Christ's Church.' They are as follows:
1. The West Syrian (Antioch and Jerusalem) and
Byzantine (Caesarea and Constantinople). Its pres
ent forms are the liturgy of St. James, used on the
island of Zanteon St. James's Day, much admired by
the Scottish Churchmen and the English Non-jurors,
and the liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom,
which are used, the former on special days and the
latter on ordinary days, throughout the Orthodox
Church of the East. These all have the Great Inter
cession after the Invocation of the Holy Spirit which
completes the act of Consecration.
2. The East Syrian, of Persia and Mesopotamia,
now used by the Nestorians, who on account of
formal heresy dating from the year 431 are separated
from the Orthodox Church. In these the Great In
tercession precedes the Invocation.
THE HOLY COMMUNION I. 143
3. The Alexandrian or Coptic, used in Egypt and
Abyssinia by the Eutychians, whose separation from
the Orthodox Church dates from 451. (The Greek
Liturgy of St. Mark is no longer in use). The
Great Intercession in liturgies of this type is con
tained in the Preface to the Triumphal Hymn or
Tersanctus.
4. The Gallican Liturgies, once used in Gaul,
Spain, and North Italy, and probably to some extent
in Britain. They have been called Ephesine or
Johannine, but they cannot be traced to St. John or
to Ephesus, though doubtless of Eastern origin.
These Liturgies were largely superseded by the
Roman rite in the time of Charlemagne. Their sur
vival to our day is probably in the Ambrosian
Liturgy, still used in a modified form at Milan, and
certainly in the Mozarabic Liturgy, still used in the
form given it by Cardinal Ximenes (1500) in a few
chapels in Toledo. In these the Great Intercession
follows immediately upon the first presentation of
the elements (the 'Offertory').
5. The Roman Liturgy, which in its present form
has a part of the Great Intercession before and a
part after Consecration of the elements. We
have no example of the early Liturgy of the Church
of Rome. In the form in which it prevails, as almost
the only eucharistic service employed in the Roman
obedience throughout the world, it shows the influ
ence of Gallican forms and strange traces of confu
sion and duplication of parts ; but it has been prac-
144 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
tically unchanged since about the year 800. 7 The
special form which it assumed in England, from the
time of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1085, is that
known as the Sarum Use. The present English Lit
urgy belongs to the Roman (or Western) family ; and
the general structure of our own is traced back
through the English to the same source.
But the English office has a connection with one of
the other four families of liturgies, and ours has in
its most important part followed another of those
families. The position of the great Prayer for the
Church, in the English Book since 1549 and in our
own, following as it does upon the first offering of
the elements and preceding the central part of the
service, is distinctly Gallican; it may have been
taken from the Mozarabic use, with which Cranmer
was certainly acquainted. And in our American
Prayer Book the provision of an explicit Oblation
and explicit Invocation of the Holy Spirit, following
immediately upon the words of the Institution, and
made an essential part of the Prayer of Consecration,
is due to the conscious and almost immediate influ
ence of the Greek Liturgies. For it was from the
study of the Greek Liturgies that the English Non-
jurors and Scottish Churchmen from about the year
1718 placed the Oblation and the Invocation in their
Liturgies; and Bishop Seabury, having received
7 As to the Leonine, Gelasian, and Gregorian Sacramen-
taries, see page 116.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION L 146
from them the form of the Prayer of Consecration for
the service which he set forth in Connecticut in 1785,
secured its adoption in the Prayer Book of the
Church of the United States, as has been noted
above. 1 Our Communion Office, therefore, is of the
Eastern or Greek mould in its central act; it has the
Great Intercession in the Gallican position; and in
other matters it conforms to the general outline of
the Western or Latin or Roman liturgy, while it is
in no sense distinctly Roman. This Roman outline,
moreover, is broken in upon and obscured, both in
the English Book and in our own, by the insertion
of a public form of preparation, beginning with the
Exhortation and ending with the Comfortable
Words, the suggestion of which came from reformers
in Germany. The second and the third of the five
families of liturgies mentioned, having been used for
centuries by bodies outside of the communion of the
Catholic Church (though the services themselves are
not unorthodox), have not affected our service.
The following table shows in parallel columns
the successive parts of the Greek Liturgies, of the
Roman Liturgy in its pre-Reformation English form
(and practically in its present form), of the English
Liturgy of 1549, and of the American Liturgy. 9 A
few notes of explanation are added below.
8 See p. 22.
9 For the full Greek, Latin, and English forms, see the Bib
liography at the end of this Chapter.
ii
146
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Greek Roman Litur- English Litur- American
Liturgies gy, Sarum Use gy of 1349 Liturgy
[Service of the Preparation,
Prothesis] including Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer and Collect
Deacon's Lit- and Collect for Purity
any for Purity
Introit Introit
Little En- Lord, have
trance, with mercy
Book of Gos-
pels
Gloria in
excelsis
Lord, have
mercy
Gloria in
excelsis
Prayer, Epis
tle, and Gos-
pel
Prayers for
Catechumens
and for the
Faithful
Great En
trance with
the elements
Creed
Collect, Epis- Collect, Epis
tle, and Gos- tie, and Gos
pel, with Grad- pel
ual, etc.
[Homily]
Creed
Creed
Homily or
Sermon
Offertory, Offertory,
with presenta- with presenta
tion of ele- tion of alms
ments and elements
Lord's Prayer
and Collect
for Purity
Command
ments, and
Lord, have
mercy
Collect, Epis
tle, and Gos
pel
Creed
Sermon
Offertory,
with presenta
tion of alms
and elements
Prayer for the
Church.
Invitation,
Confession,
Absolution,
Comfortable
Words
THE HOLY COMMUNION I.
147
Greek Roman Litur- English Litur- American
Liturgies %y, Sarum Use gy of 13 '49 Liturgy
Salutation Salutation Salutation
Lift up your Lift up your Lift up your
hearts hearts hearts
Lift up your
hearts
Preface, Tri- Preface, Tri- Preface, Tri- Preface, Tri
umphal Hymn umphal Hymn umphal Hymn umphal Hymn
Benedictus Benedictus Benedictus
and Hosanna and Hosanna and Hosanna
Prayer of
Access
Prayer for the
Church on
earth, with
names of
Saints
Prayer for the
Church on
earth, and
for the de
parted
Commemora- 2 ? Prayer for Commemora- Commemora-
tion of Re
demption
acceptance of
service, and
3 ? for a bless
ing on it for
consecration
tion of Re
demption
3. Invocation
of the Holy
Spirit
tion of Re
demption
r. Words of
Institution
i. Words of
Institution
i. Words of
Institution
2. Oblation 2. Oblation 2. Oblation
3. Invocation
of the Holy
Spirit
Prayer for
living and
departed
3. Offering of
gifts to heav
enly altar
Prayer for the
departed
1. Words of
Institution
2. Oblation
3. Invocation
of the Holy
Spirit
Intercessioa
148
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Greek Roman Litur- English Litur- American
Liturgies gy, Sarum Us* gy 0/1549 Liturgy
Holy things Doxology Doxology Doxology
for the holy
Lord's Prayer Lord's Prayer Lord's Prayer
Invitation,
Confession,
Absolution,
Comfortable
Words
Prayer of
Access
Prayer of
Access
Prayer of
Access
Communion Communion Communion Communion
Lord's Prayer
Thanksgiving Post-Commun- Post-Commun- Thanksgiving
ion Collect ion Verse
Dismissal
Dismissal
Thanksgiving Gloria in ex-
celsis
Benediction Benediction
The differences between the order of our service
and that of the English Book since 1552 are thus
shown :
Present English
Commemoration of Re
demption
3? Prayer for the benefit to
Communicants
i. Words of Institution
American
Commemoration of Re
demption
1. Words of Institution
2. Oblation
3. Invocation of the Holy
Spirit
THE HOL Y COMMUNION I. 149
Present English American
Intercession
Doxology
Communion Communion
Lord's Prayer Lord's Prayer
Prayer of Intercession and Thanksgiving
self-oblation or Thanksgiving
Gloria in excelsis Gloria in excelsis
Benediction Benediction
In the Greek Liturgies the service of the Prothesis
includes an elaborate preparation of the elements with
prayers for the preparation of the priest and others ;
it is said in the chapel of the Prothesis, which corres
ponds to our credence-table, but is at the side of the
sanctuary and not included in it. There are two En
trances, both with full ceremonial: the Little En
trance with the Book of the Gospels, and the Great
Entrance with the elements which have been prepared
for consecration. The prayers for the Catechumens
have altogether or quite disappeared, as there is no
recognized body of catechumens now. (In the
Roman service the priest says in this place
'Oremus,' 'Let us pray,' but there is no prayer
following except on Good Friday.) The Salutation
is in the familiar words, 'The Lord be with you,'
and has the response 'And with thy spirit. ' The 'Lift
up your hearts,' in Latin 'Sursum corda,' is first quoted
in the Canons of Hippolytus (about 200) and by
150 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Cyprian of Carthage (martyred in 258), but as an al
ready familiar phrase. The 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' from
Isaiah vi. 3 and Revelation iv. 8, is best called
the 'Triumphal Hymn,' or (if the term is preferred)
the 'Tersanctus,' that is 'Thrice Holy.' It is often
given the name of 'Trisagion,' which has exactly the
same meaning in Greek as has 'Tersanctus' in
Latin, but which to the Greeks means a short hymn
sung by them as an earnest litany-like prayer: "Holy
God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have
mercy upon us."
The Creed was not said in the Eucharistic service
of the earliest times. In fact, we are told that it
was introduced by two Bishops of doubtful orthodoxy
about the year 500, in order to prevent additions to
the Creed which might condemn their peculiar
views. In the Roman Church it is now said only on
Sundays and on few other special days.
The Gloria in excelsis is an Eastern Hymn, and is
found in its full form, as is well known, about the
year 450. But in the East it is a daily morning
hymn, and has no place in the Liturgy. At Rome it
was for a long time used only when a Bishop was
celebrating the service, at first on Christmas, then
on Sundays, and finally on other days. The use of
the phrase 'Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of
the Lord, Hosanna in the highest,' is common to
Liturgies of both East and West.
In the Roman use, the retention of the words
'Kyrie eleison,' transliterated from Kvpie
THE HOL Y COMMUNION I, 151
('Lord, have mercy'), is one of the indications that
the service was originally in Greek. For a consider
able time there was at Rome an Old Testament
Lesson, or 'Prophecy,' before the Epistle and
Gospel; it is still retained by the Roman Church on
certain week-days in Lent and at Ember seasons,
and the Mozarabic Liturgy has it in every service.
(It may not be unreasonable, as suggested further on,
to find a reappearance of the Prophecy in the Ten
Commandments of the English and American
Books). The 'Gradual,' sometimes corrupted into
'Grail,' was a Psalm, and is now a verse, sung after
the Epistle from the steps ('gradus') of the lectern
at which the eucharistic lessons were read. It was
followed by 'Alleluia' or in penitential seasons by
a long drawn-out melody called a 'Tract;' and
'Alleluia' was sometimes followed by a 'Sequence' or
'Prose' (from 'prorsus,' that which goes forward), an
example of which is 'In the midst of life' in the
Burial Office. There was little preaching at Rome,
and the homily was early omitted there.
The consideration of the order of the parts of the
Prayer of Consecration is reserved for a later page.
The First Prayer Book of Edward VI was preceded
by "The Order of the Communion" set forth in
March 1548, and ordered to be first used on Easter-
day. Nothing was to be changed in the Latin ser
vice so long in use ; but after the priest had conse
crated the elements and himself received the Com-
152 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
munion, he was to say the new 'Order' in English.
This consisted of the Exhortation, the Invitation
('Ye who do truly'), the Confession and Absolution,
the Comfortable Words, and the Prayer of Humble
Access ('We do not presume'), which were followed
by the administration in both kinds with the words
"The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was
given for thee, preserve thy body unto everlasting
life;" "The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
was given for thee, preserve thy soul unto everlast
ing life;" and then the Benediction with 'the Peace
of God.' All the parts of this 'Order,' as well as of
the preparatory 'Warning' which preceded it, sug
gested by and largely derived from German reform
ing services, passed into the Prayer Book of the
following year, and still remain, with but slight
variations, in the English and American Books.
But in framing the Communion Office in 1549
Cranmer did much more than translate the ancient
Latin service and incorporate into it the new order
for the preparation of the communicants and for
administering to them both the consecrated bread
and wine, of the latter of which they had been for
some three centuries deprived. He followed indeed
the old office, but with the omission of the psalmody,
etc., after the Epistle and the provision for the pre
sentation of alms for the poor, until the Hosanna
after the Triumphal Hymn. Then he practically re
wrote the whole of the Great Intercession and the
Prayer of Consecration in words more full and clear
THE HOL Y COMMUNION I. 153
and beautiful than before and evidently with the
design of better arrangement. First, he brought
together the petitions for the living and the departed
into one new prayer with the bidding words, 'Let
us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church.' His
form is almost exactly that of the present prayer
with that title, substituting for the final paragraph
the third of the additional prayers in our Burial
Office ('We give thee most high praise') with special
mention of the Virgin Mary, the Patriarchs, Proph
ets, Apostles, Martyrs, etc., followed by the words,
"We commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all other
thy servants, which are departed hence from us with
the sign of faith, and do now rest in the sleep of
peace; Grant unto them, we beseech thee, thy mercy
and everlasting peace, and that at the day of the
general resurrection we and all they which be of the
mystical body of thy Son may altogether be set on
his right hand." Upon this followed without a
break the Prayer of Consecration, with first a brief
commemoration of Christ's redemptive work; then
the Invocation of the Holy Ghost upon the gifts and
creatures of bread and wine, "that they may be unto
us [this is the Roman phrase] the Body and Blood of
thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ;" then the
narrative of the Institution; then the Oblation
('Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father'), as we
have it now, with the rest of the prayer as in our
Book, and a petition in these words: "Command
these prayers and supplications, by the ministry of
154 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
thy holy angels, to be brought up into thy holy taber
nacle before the sight of thy divine Majesty;"
all concluded by the Lord's Prayer. The * Order of
the Communion' was then inserted, after a saluta
tion and greeting, its Benediction (now enlarged to
its present form) being deferred till after the newly-
written Thanksgiving.
A comparison of this office with the Roman, hav
ing reference to the parts of the Prayer of Consecra
tion, makes it evident that a devout and scholarly
hand was attempting to bring order out of confusion.
In all the ancient Liturgies, it may be safely said,
the words of Institution, the Oblation, and the In
vocation had a place, and in this order, which
the Greek Church has never lost or obscured. 10
In the Roman Liturgies at a comparatively early
time, and probably as a result of combination of
forms, there had come to be two clauses of the Con-
secratory Prayer which might be called Oblations
and two which might be called Invocations; they are
marked in the table 2? and 2, 3? and 3, respectively.
Now, there can be little doubt that the clauses
marked 2 ? and 3 ? are anticipatory and not an essen
tial part of the service. Cranmer saw that the Obla-
10 In our copies of the East Syrian [Nestorian] Liturgies the
words of Institution are not found ; but it seems quite certain
that they were omitted in the writing for reverence' sake and
were repeated from memory. The [Roman] Catholic En
cyclopedia says that " it is certain that all the old Liturgies
contained" a prayer of Invocation.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION I. 155
tion which he wished to preserve was that which fol
lowed the words of the Institution, and therefore
omitted that marked 2 ? ; but he failed to see that the
prayer (marked 3) for the presentation of the gifts
by the ministry of God's Angel upon the heavenly
altar, was in reality a prayer for the 'operation of the
Holy Spirit* in blessing, and he fell back upon the
prayer for blessing (3?) which precedes the Words of
Institution, and made it, out of true place, a definite
Invocation of the Holy Spirit. Finally, before the
Doxology which closed the whole prayer, he turned
the petition for the divine action for God's 'Holy
Angel' seems certainly to be His Holy Spirit or His
Word into a petition for the ministration of His
'holy angels' in bringing the worship before God.
Thus the order of the essential parts of the prayer
in the Book of 1549 became 3, i, 2 Invocation,
Words of Institution, Oblation an order which had
never been employed before, and the consideration of
which must have caused the Archbishop anxious
thought after it had passed into use.
It seems strange that the learned scholar who had
framed such a prayer as this for Eucharistic worship
should have been content to substitute for it three
years later the bald and unprimitive form which still
remains in the English Prayer Book. The removal
of the Prayer for the Church to a place after the
Offertory made the service in this particular conform
to Gallican or Mozarabic use ; and the abbrevation of
this prayer at the end by this omission of all refer-
156 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
ence to the departed was due no doubt to contro
versies under the influence of Calvinistic and Zwing-
lian reformers on the Continent. Cranmer was a
man of doubtful mind in regard to many matters;
educated in the mediaeval school of theology, he had
felt obliged to break with it in some important par
ticulars; and we can hardly wonder that he was at
one time minded to advance with the scholars of the
Continent, two of whom were Professors of Divinity
at Oxford and Cambridge, and at another time in
clined to fall back upon what had been so long held
as the faith and practice of western Christendom.
Certainly the influences which changed the Book of
1549 into that of 1552 were not altogether what would
be called Protestant or at a later time Puritan. The
Prayer Book which inserted an Absolution into
Morning and Evening Prayer and introduced into
the Baptismal Office the declaration that the baptized
child was regenerate, which retained conspicuously
the sign of the Cross in Baptism and required kneel
ing at the reception of the Holy Communion, did
not seek to satisfy all the objections of the radical
reformers. Now the Prayer of Consecration in the
new Book of 1552, after a short commemoration of
redemption and a prayer that the communicants
might be made partakers of Christ's most blessed
Body and Blood, making no offering of the elements
to God and no prayer for their sanctification by the
Holy Spirit, simply provided for a repetition of the
Words of Institution and the reception of the ele-
THE HOLY COMMUNION L 157
merits by priest and people. The Invocation which
had preceded these Words was removed, though a
phrase describing its desired effect in the soul was
retained ; and the Oblation which had followed them
was removed also, though phrases carrying out part
of its thought were turned into a memorial prayer
at the end of the service. The result certainly was
to teach that the consecration of the gifts was
effected by the repetition of the Words of Institution
introduced by a brief prayer for a blessing to ensue
upon their reception. And this was distinctly
Roman doctrine, such as Cranmer had learned from
the scholastic authors whom he had studied in his
youth; not the doctrine of the Missal, for that,
though confusedly, taught the need of an offering to
God and of a prayer for God's blessing, but the doc
trine of the theologians taught in the books. Is it
to be wondered at, that, finding the new Eucharistic
Office acceptable neither to the adherents of the old
theology nor to the advocates of the new, and (as
suggested above) finding that he had after all placed
the parts of the Consecratory Prayer in the wrong
order, Cranmer fell back on the old theory of conse
cration and put the prayer into the short and appar
ently uncontroversial form of 1552, which the Eng
lish still retain? It certainly seems to have been
under the influence of Roman mediaeval theology, if
with the further thought that it would not be offen
sive to radical reformers, that it was adopted, to be the
use of the Church of England for centuries to come.
158 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Other changes in the service were made in 1552,
all of which we inherit. The removal of the Great
Intercession to an earlier place in the service has
been already noted ; we should note that a petition
for the acceptance of the alms was inserted in it,
and that it was seriously abbreviated at the end.
The placing of the preparation of the communicants
before 'Sursum corda' instead of after the Consecra
tion seems due to a right instinct; for certainly they
should be prepared to take part in the whole of the
great act of worship and not in the act of communion
alone ; confession and absolution should precede the
offering and the prayer for blessing which are the act
of the whole Church. The removal of 'Gloria in ex-
celsis' to the end of the service makes it a part of
the noble thanksgiving which precedes the blessing
and violates no liturgical principle, if indeed it may
not be called an act of liturgical propriety. And the
insertion of the Ten Commandments before the
Collect for the day was of the nature of a penitential
introduction to the service, furnishing thoughts for
self-examination before each of the petitions for
mercy which had stood in the former office. A dis
tinctively Trotestant' change in the service was the
displacement of the formulae of administration in
both of which it should be noted, the Book of 1549
had read 'body and soul' by the words, "Take and
eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee,
and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanks
giving;" "Drink this in remembrance that Christ's
THE HOLY COMMUNION I. 159
blood was shed for thee, and be thankful." In the
Elizabethan Book of 1559, the 1549 and 1552 formulae
of administration were combined. And finally, in
1662 a rubric as to the presentation of the Bread
and Wine was inserted before the Prayer for the
Church, the words 'and oblations' were inserted into
that Prayer, and the present commemoration of the
departed was added at its end.
The history of the American Communion Office
calls for a brief statement as to the Scottish Offices
from which our Prayer of Consecration has come to
us. Episcopacy had been disestablished in Scotland
in 1560; reintroduced in 1610, it was again dis
established in 1638 on the ground that Episcopacy
was contrary to the Word of God; once more re
stored in 1660, it was again disestablished after the
Revolution of 1688 as not being "agreeable to the in
clinations of the people." Most of the Churchmen
of that country were loyal to the deposed Stuart
family, and they fell under the ban of severe laws, the
most stringent of which were passed after the rising
of 1745." There was a strong band of political sym
pathy between them and the English Non- jurors,
who from faithfulness to the Stuarts had refused to
take the oath of allegiance to the new line of sov
ereigns; and there was also a strong bond of ec
clesiastical sympathy which brought them together.
11 England and Scotland had been united as one Kingdom
with one Parliament in 1708.
160 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Both the Scottish Churchmen and the English Non-
jurors had among their clergy men of sound learning
who made a study of liturgical matters; and for sev
eral reasons their minds were turned toward the
Church of the East. They began to prepare forms of
service for the Holy Communion; and recognizing
no obligation to follow the English service in all its
details, they first made use of the ill-fated Prayer
Book which James I. had sent to Scotland in 1637, in
which the Communion Office closely resembled that
of the first Book of Edward VI ; and then, as they
pursued their studies, they accepted the teaching
and order of the Greek Liturgies, and among them
in particular the Liturgy of St. James. In or about
the year 1700 appeared Stephens's 'Liturgy of the
ancient Christians,' " containing for the first time
in the English language the Words of Institution,
the Oblation, and the Invocation in their primitive
order; and the same order was followed in the Non-
jurors' book of 1718, and in Scottish Offices of a
later date. These offices, containing only the Com
munion-service, beginning with the Exhortation,
were printed by themselves and were familiarly
known as 'wee bookies;' they followed the general
arrangement of the English Book of 1549, but placed
the parts of the Prayer of Consecration in the order
12 Not to be confused with his ' Liturgy of the Ancients,'
published in 1696; they are both reprinted in volume ii. of
Hall's Fragmenta Liturgica.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION I. 161
just named. It was in the form of this service as
published in 1764 that Bishop Seabury had wor
shipped in Edinburgh during the years 1752-1753,
while he was studying medicine and waiting for his
twenty-fourth birthday that he might be ordained,
and which he found in use by the Bishops who conse
crated him to their sacred office. In the 'Concordate'
which he made with them, and which they and he
signed on the following day, the Scottish Bishops
say that though they are "very far from prescribing
to their brethren in this matter, they cannot help
ardently wishing that Bishop Seabury would en
deavour all he can, consistently with peace and pru
dence, to make the celebration of this venerable
Mystery [of the Eucharist] conformable to the most
primitive Doctrine and Practice in that respect,
which is the pattern the Church of Scotland has
copied after in her Communion Office;" and Bishop
Seabury agreed "to take a serious view of the Com
munion Office recommended by them, and if found
agreeable to the genuine Standards of Antiquity, to
give his Sanction to it, and by gentle methods of
Argument and Persuasion to endeavour, as they have
done, to introduce it by degrees into practice, with
out the compulsion of Authority on the one side or
the prejudice of former Custom on the other."
The story has been told on earlier pages, how Bishop
Seabury in 1786, after the publication of the 'Pro
posed Book' in the 'South,' set forth an edition of
the Scottish Communion Office for use in his diocese,
162 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
and how at the General Convention of 1789 he
secured the insertion of the prayer of Consecration
from this office in the Prayer Book set forth by the
authority of the Church in the United States, and
that with the full approval of all who shared with
him in the important work of the Convention. Thus
a great gift, which England could not impart to us
because she had it not, came to the Church in this
land from a body which men called "a shadow of a
shade," and which called itself "the Catholic re
mainder of the Church of Scotland."
VIII.
THE HOLY COMMUNION II.
COMMENTARY ON THE OFFICE
THE Order for the Holy Communion, the
Divine Liturgy, consists of two parts, which
were called in Latin 'Missa Catechumenorum' and
'Missa Fidelium. ' At the former, which consisted of
prayer, the reading of the Scripture, and instruction
or exhortation, those who were preparing for bap
tism or even under discipline were allowed to attend,
and the ancient Liturgies contain prayers to be used
at their dismissal; at the latter, the Christian Mys
teries, only the faithful were present. Quite cer
tainly in the earliest days the catechumens did not
hear or join in the recitation of the Creed, which
appears therefore to have been said after the Sermon,
the dismissal having taken place between the Sermon
and the Creed. With us the point of division is not
exactly defined. The rubric at the end of the service
requires that 'upon the Sundays and other Holy-days,
though there be no Sermon or Communion, shall be
said all that is appointed at the Communion, unto
the end of the Gospel, concluding with the Blessing.'
This would imply that the division of the service
should come after the Gospel if there is no Sermon,
or after the Sermon if one is provided, and seems ta
164 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
assume that the Creed will not be said if the celebra
tion of the Sacrament is not to follow. But as the
Offertory Sentences may be used at any time 'when
the alms of the people are to be received/ it is
proper to defer the Benediction until the offerings
have been made. The English Prayer Book orders
that when the 'Ante-Communion' is read the service
shall conclude with the 'general' Prayer for the
Church, making the preliminary part of the service
end there; and this has come to be the usage with
us, if a pause is made for the withdrawal of cate
chumens or non-communicants. Formerly this was
not so, the Communion-alms being received from the
communicants alone.
The first two rubrics are disciplinary, and call for
interpretation by ecclesiastical lawyers rather than by
commentators on the Prayer Book. It may be well
to note that suspension or 'repelling' from the Holy
Communion is not excommunication; that 'advertise'
is old English and means 'notify' (see Numbers xxiv.
14 in the Authorized Version, where the Hebrew for
'advertise thee' is literally 'cause thee to know');
and that Canon 39 II. makes provision for further
possible action after the minister has given notice to
the Ordinary (that is the Bishop) that he has thus
disciplined a communicant.
The rubric before the Lord's Prayer speaks first of
the Table at which the service is to be said, its cov
ering, its place in the Church, and the part of it at
which the officiating minister is to stand. The word
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 165
'Table' or 'Holy Table' is by no means peculiar to
Reformation or post-Reformation times; it has been
used from the fourth century, 1 and the correspond
ing Greek word is the common name for that which
was more commonly, though by no means exclus
ively, called 'Altar' in the West. The first Book of
1549 used indifferently the names 'Altar' and 'God's
Board;' and, by the way, 'table' and 'board' were
interchangeable in English, as when we speak of the
'tables' on which were painted the Creed and the
Lord's Prayer and the Commandments. Neither
'table' nor 'altar' of itself implies or denies anything
as to doctrine. 8 A 'fair' cloth, says a careful writer,
implies "good repair as well as cleanliness;" it
seems also to mean that the cloth shall not be em
broidered with colors. The phrase 'in the body of
the Church or in the Chancel' comes to us from
1552. Its earlier part, 'in the body of the Church/
carries us back to the time when it was customary
in England, if the Communion was to be cele
brated, to bring the Lord's Table into that part of
the church in which the congregation were assem
bled, that they might hear and take part in the ser
vice; the chancels in most of the old churches being
so deep, with a great dea of choir space, and some
times so separated from the nave by a heavy screen,
l Cf. St. Paul in i Cor. x. 22.
1 As to the use of the word * altar' in the Institution Office,
see note on that office.
166 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
that the people could not readily either hear or see
the officiant at the end of the building. To this
day, in some churches in England, the communicants
go into the choir after the Prayer for the Church or
even at an earlier time, for convenience in taking
their part in the service, literally 'drawing near with
faith.' This removal of the Lord's Table seems to
have been common in England until the time of
Charles I ; with us it is quite unknown. The word
'chancel,' from the Latin 'cancelli,' meaning 'bars of
lattice- work,' and then the part of a public building
latticed off for judges or officers (chancellors), doubt
less includes all parts of a church which we call by
the name choir, sometimes also presbytery and
sanctuary (or chancel proper), as appears from our
use of the word 'chancel-arch.' The 'right side of
the Table' was in our Book until 1835, as it has been
in the English since 1552, the 'north side;' in the
Book of 1549 the rubric read 'The Priest standing
humbly afore the midst of the Altar, shall say the
Lord's Prayer with this Collect.' There can be no
doubt that the change of word in 1835 was not meant
to change the position of the officiating minister;
but while in England, where all chancels are in the
east, 3 the north side meant a definite direction, in
our country, where chancels are at all points of the
compass, it had to be interpreted on the assumption
8 The orientating of churches in England dates back to early
times.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 167
that the chancel was in the 'ecclesiastical east,'
and the word 'right' was adopted to avoid am
biguity.
The phrase 'right side' has given rise to much
controversy, the points of which it is not necessary
to reproduce. It seems certain, historically, that
'side of the Table' means the long side as distin
guished from the 'end;' that when the Lord's Table
was brought into the body of the Church for the
Communion it stood lengthwise, and that this posi
tion was not unusual even in the chancel ; and that it
was largely owing to Archbishop Laud that the
tables were finally turned about to stand crosswise or
'altar-wise,' with the short ends north and south.
With the lengthwise position of the Table, the priest
obeying the rubric would stand facing south; what
was he to do when the Table was turned? If he
went with the Table, he found himself facing east,
in the same direction as the congregation ; if he
stayed where he was, he found himself at the end of
the Table, facing south. This is the historical or
ritual difficulty, the decision of which is hardly
worth the time involved in stating it ; and it is not
possible that any matter of doctrine could depend on
its solution. The matter is settled for us, so far as
it is settled, by custom ; probably most of our clergy
now stand facing east in the place where the Gospel
is to be read, and thus at what may be called the
'right side' as one faces the people; while those
who- follow the old Anglican use stand at the 'right
168 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
side' as one faces the Lord's Table itself in the
place where the Epistle is to be read, moving to
the other position for the reading of the Gospel. It
seems to the present writer that those who follow the
former use comply more closely with the rubric as
it is read historically. The words 'or where Morn
ing and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said*
have stood in the English Book since 1552 in the
preceding sentence, and serve to define the word
'chancel' as including the place in which the clergy
ordinarily minister. In our Book they give permis
sion for saying the opening part of the Communion-
service in the reading-desk or stall, as far as to (or
through) the Sermon; the Offertory must always be
begun at the Lord's Table. This permission was
intended, we are told, to cover the case of St. Peter's
Church, Philadelphia, where the Lord's Table is still
at the east end of the building while the reading-
desk and pulpit are at the other end; and Bishop
White, who was rector there as well as at Christ
Church, did not wish to walk the length of the cen
tral 'aisle' to read the ante-Communion service and
then walk back to preach the Sermon. Very proba
bly the same conditions led to the use elsewhere of
the permission given in the rubric.
The word 'Minister' is used in the early part of
the service, because it may lawfully be read by a
deacon; as has been noted before, the American
Prayer Book almost invariably uses the word 'Priest*
only in places where none but a priest may officiate.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 169
By Canon 21 III., Lay-readers are not permitted
to read any part of the Communion-service.
The direction to the minister to stand for the
Lord's Prayer and for the Collect while the people
kneel, calls our attention here to the postures to be
observed in this service, a matter as to which the
rubrics do not give full instructions. At the Gen
eral Convention of 1832, the House of Deputies
asked the Bishops "to express their opinion as to the
proper postures to be used in the Communion Office,
with a view to effecting uniformity in that re
spect during its celebration." The Bishops replied
that
"First, with regard to the officiating priest, they
are of the opinion that, as the Holy Communion is
of a spiritually sacrificial character, the standing
posture should be observed by him whenever that of
kneeling is not expressly prescribed, to wit: in all
parts, including the ante-Communion and post-Com
munion, except the Confession and the prayer im
mediately preceding the prayer of Consecration."
Then, after speaking of the principles involved in
their ruling, they added:
"The positions, therefore, proper to be ob
served by the people during the Communion
Office, the Bishops believe to be as follows:
Kneeling during the whole of the ante-Communion,
except the Epistle, which is to be heard in the usual
posture for hearing the Scriptures, and the Gospel,
which is ordered to be heard standing; the sentences
170 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
of the Offertory to be heard sitting, as the most fa
vorable posture for handing alms, etc., to the person
collecting; kneeling to be observed during the prayer
for the Church Militant; standing, during the exhor
tations; kneeling to be then resumed, and continued
until after the prayer of Consecration ; standing, at
the singing of the Hymn ; kneeling, when receiving
the elements, and during the post-Communion, or
that part of the service which succeeds the delivery
and receiving of the elements, except the Gloria in
excelsis, which is to be said or sung standing; after
which the Congregation should again kneel to receive
the blessing."
These rules, given by way of counsel and not of
authority, are still generally observed in the Church.
Sometimes in a small congregation it is more con
venient to stand during the receiving of the alms;
when the long exhortation is omitted, as is allowed if it
has been read on one Lord's Day in the month, it is
better to kneel through the short exhortation or Invi
tation; and the Hymn after the Prayer of Consecra
tion may be treated as a prayer, and thus the posture
of kneeling continued through it.
One question remains, which is not easy to answer,
before we pass from this third rubric, really the first
which has to do with the service: Should the Lord's
Prayer in this place be said by the minister alone or
by the minister and the people together? The
rubric before the Lord's Prayer in Morning Prayer
instructs the people to say it with the minister 'both
THE HOL Y COMMUNION //. 171
here and wheresoever else it is said in Divine Service;'
and it was shown there that 'Divine Service' cer
tainly includes the Communion Office. Is the prayer,
then, in this place to be considered a part of the public
office, or is it a part of the priest's preparation, the peo
ple beginning to join in the service at the 'Amen' after
the Collect for Purity or at the rehearsal of the Com
mandments? The Collect for Purity is not in the
Roman service,but belongs to the Sarum use, where it
preceded the Lord's Prayer in the priest's office of
preparation before the Introit and the approach to the
altar. It would hardly seem that when in 1549 the
two prayers were ordered to be said ' 'afore the midst of
the Altar," although they still preceded the Introit,
they were meant to continue as private prayers ; but the
service will permit that interpretation. Of good
English authorities Mr. Scudamore, and of good
American authorities Bishop Hall, are of the opinion
that the people should here say the Lord's Prayer
with the minister. On the other hand, the almost
universal custom in England, and the prevailing cus
tom in this country, is that the people do not join
audibly in the Lord's Prayer in this place or make a
response to it ; and the writer has been told on very
good authority that both Bishop Seabury and Bishop
White held that the people ought not to say it. It
seems clearly a case where original and continued
usage has ruled against a literal interpretation of a
rubric, and where it is best to yield to usage. There
is no question that the people are to say 'Amen' to
172 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
the Collect for Purity, one of the treasures of the
Anglican Liturgy.
The Introit or 'Entrance' Psalm or Verse was so
called from its use at the time when the priest was
entering the sanctuary to begin the service. It was
called in the Sarum use 'Officium,' a word which
really belonged to all the former part of the service.
In the first Book of Edward VI an Introit Psalm
was printed in full before the Collect for each Sunday
or Holy-day. A list of these Introits follows, inas
much as they may well be used, either chanted in
the Prayer Book version or sung in some metrical
version; for instance: Hymns 412 and 413 are versi
fications of Psalm xxiii., the Introit for Septuagesima;
Hymn 334 is a versification of Psalm cxxx., the
Introit for the Second Sunday in Lent ; etc.
TABLE OF INTROITS
First Sunday in Advent Psalm i
Second Sunday in Advent Psalm 120
Third Sunday in Advent Psalm 4
Fourth Sunday in Advent Psalm 5
Christmas, first Communion Psalm 98
Christmas, second Communion Psalm 8
St. Stephen's Day Psalm 52
St. John Evangelist's Day Psalm 1 1
Innocents' Day Psalm 79
Sunday after Christmas Psalm 121
Circumcision Psalm 122
Epiphany Psalm 96
First Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 13
Second Sunday after Ephiphany Psalm 14
Third Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 15
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 2
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 1 78
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany ) ~ ,
_. , _ j r . B.J ( Psalm 20
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany )
Septuagesima Psalm 23
Sexagesima '. Psalm 24
Quinquagesima Psalm 26
Ash-Wednesday Psalm 6
First Sunday in Lent Psalm 32
Second Sunday in Lent Psalm 130
Third Sunday in Lent Psalm 43
Fourth Sunday in Lent Psalm 46
Fifth Sunday in Lent Psalm 54
Sunday before Easter Psalm 61
Good Friday Psalm 22
Easter-even Psalm 88
Easter-day, first Communion Psalm 16
Easter-day, second Communion Psalm 3
Easter-Monday Psalm 62
Easter-Tuesday Psalm 113
First Sunday after Easter Psalm 112
Second Sunday after Easter Psalm 70
Third Sunday after Easter Psalm 75
Fourth Sunday after Easter Psalm 83
Fifth Sunday after Easter Psalm 84
Ascension-day Psalm 47
Sunday after Ascension Psalm 93
Whitsunday Psalm 33
Whit-Monday Psalm 100
Whit-Tuesday Psalm 101
Trinity-Sunday Psalm 67
First Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part i
Second Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 2
Third Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 3
Fourth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 4
Fifth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 5
Sixth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 6
Seventh Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 7
Eighth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 8
Ninth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 9
174 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Tenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 10
Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 1 1
Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 12
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 13
Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 14
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 15
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 16
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 17
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 18
Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 19
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 20
Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity Psalm 1 19, part 21
Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity Psalm 119, part 22
Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity Psalm 124
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity Psalm 125
Sunday next before Advent Psalm 127
St. Andrew's Day Psalm 1 29
St. Thomas's Day Psalm 128
Conversion of St. Paul Psalm 138
Purification Psalm 134
St. Matthias's Day Psalm 140
Annunciation Psalm 131
St. Mark's Day Psalm 141
St. Philip and St. James's Day Psalm 133
St. Barnabas's Day Psalm 142
Nativity St. John Baptist Psalm 143
St. Peter's Day Psalm 144
St. James's Day Psalm 148
[Transfiguration Psalm 146]
St. Bartholomew's Day Psalm 115
St. Matthew's Day Psalm 117
Michaelmas Psalm 1 13
St. Luke's Day Psalm 137
St. Simon and St. Jude's Day Psalm 150
All Saints Psalm 149
The Ten Commandments, as has been noted al
ready, were introduced into the Communion Service
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 175
in 1552; but that was not the first time that they
were publicly read in the English Church. As far
back as the year 1281, in the Province of Canter
bury, each parish priest was ordered to read and
explain the Ten Commandments four times a year;
and the same order was given in the Province of
York in 1460. In 1542 the English Bishops directed
their clergy to read the Commandments twice each
quarter; and in 1547, it was ordered that on every
holy-day when there was not a sermon the Creed, the
Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments should
be recited in English after the Gospel. As they
stand, they are now an Old Testament Lesson ; and
followed as they are by nine Kyries of uniform
wording and one of somewhat different form, they
have a special value. 4 Our Book in 1790 introduced
from the Scottish office, as a discretionary addition
to the Commandments, our Lord's Summary of them ;
since the last revision, it may be said either after
or in place of the Decalogue, provided that the Deca
logue be read once on each Sunday. The Summary,
it may be noted, is quoted by our Lord from the
Pentateuch ; so that in either case we have a reading
from the Old Testament Scriptures. The Com
mandments were not taken from any version of the
Bible ; but, as was also the case of the Comfortable
* It is said that the Duke of Wellington declared his judg
ment, that it would be worth while to keep the Church of Eng
land established, if only to make sure that the Ten Command
ments should be read once a week in every parish in the land.
176 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Words, they were directly translated for use in the
service. The three Kyries (or Lesser Litany) follow
the Summary when the Decalogue is not read, that
the cry for mercy may not be omitted from the place
where it had stood of old. The ancient Collect for
Grace to keep the Commandments was brought into
this place for discretionary use from the Scottish
service ; it stands in the English Book at the close of
the Communion Office and also, as with us, in the
Confirmation service.
Something has already been said (Chapter V.) as
to the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels. The announce
ment of the precise place at which the Epistles and
Gospels begin may have been meant for a time when
people could look for their places in the Bible, as
many used to do when the text of a sermon was
announced. The permission to say 'The portion of
Scripture appointed for the Epistle' was granted
in 1662, to relieve the conscience of those who would
not call a passage from the Old Testament or the
Acts or the Revelation by the name of an 'Epistle;'
but having been appointed and read as an Epistle, it
becomes such, and the concluding formula is always
'Here endeth the Epistle.' It is a very old custom
that all in the congregation should rise to greet the
Liturgical Gospel, technically called the 'Holy
Gospel,' and stand while it is reading; where the
people stood during the whole service, resting at
times on staves, they laid aside the staves, and those
who had their heads covered removed their caps or
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 177
mitres or crowns; a Greek Bishop lays aside his
pall, as showing his submission to the Chief Bishop
whose words are to be read; and all in the church,
should, if necessary, turn so as to face the reader of
the Gospel. The salutation 'Gloria tibi, Domine,' is
also of ancient use; though constantly sung in Eng
land, it has not been in their Prayer Book since
1552. The doxology at the end of the Gospel,
'Thanks be to thee, O Lord,' 'Praise be to thee, O
Christ,' or other like words, has never been in any
English Book except that prepared for Scotland in
1637, which also, alone of English Books, directed
the priest to say, 'So endeth the Holy Gospel.'
Ritual purists tell us that this is never to be
said, because the Gospel never comes to an end,
and because our response to the Gospel is the
Creed.
It is an English use which we should not willingly
change, to require the recitation of the Creed at
every public service at which the Holy Communion
is celebrated: in England, the Nicene Creed is
always said after the Gospel; with us, either the
Apostles' or the Nicene is said either after the
Gospel or in Morning Prayer immediately before the
Communion, or one is said in each service; only
since 1892, our Book has prescribed that the Nicene
Creed shall be said on the five great festivals of the
year. It needs not to be noted that the Nicene
Creed is distinctly the Eucharistic Creed of the
Church, and is normally said in this place.
13
178 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
Between the Creed and the Sermon the minister is
to notify the people of the Holy-days or Fasting-
days to be observed in the next week this seems
therefore a rubric for Sundays, to give notice of the
Communion, for which purpose forms of 'warning'
are provided at the end of the service, and to make
publication of other matters. (Banns of Matrimony
are no longer required by the laws of the land, and
their publication has become obsolete.) It may be
suggested that mention might well be made of days
which are appointed for observance, even if for any
reason there is to be no special service in that
church on the particular days; the notice 'Friday in
this week is a fasting day' might be very instructive
and helpful though there were no other notices to
give. The English Prayer Book directs that Briefs,
Citations, and Excommunications are to be read in
this place. Briefs are Royal Letters asking for
special contributions, as a few years ago for the
sufferers from famine in India; Citations are sum
monses to appear in court, practically limited now to
the announcement that some member of the parish is
a candidate for ordination and that objectors are to
present their objections; and Excommunications are
obsolete. Their rubric goes on to say that no one
but the minister shall make any proclamation or pub
lication in time of Divine Service (note the words
applied to the Communion), and that he shall not
proclaim or publish anything except what is pre
scribed by the rubrics or enjoined by the King or the
THE HOLY COMMUNION 77. 179
Bishop. The spirit of this rule should regulate the
giving of 'notices' from the chancel and in the Com
munion Office; those of a semi-secular character
would be better announced from the reading-stall or
the pulpit, or posted in the porch.
The Sermon, as an exposition of the Church's
teaching from the Scriptures, it needs not be said
again, is very ancient; and it is certainly a valuable
part of public service. It is expressly ordered by
our Church only in this place and in the opening
rubric of each of the Ordination Services and in the
Institution Office.
After the Sermon, the priest returns to the Lord's
Table and begins the Offertory, saying one or more
of the prescribed sentences. The 'Offertory' is not
the receiving of the alms, nor the alms themselves,
but the sentence or sentences read at the time of
receiving the offerings. Of these sentences, the
first and the last four were added at our revision of
1892; the rest are in the English Book. They may
be divided into four classes: the first six are
general; then five (beginning with 'Who goeth a
warfare?') have to do with gifts for the support of
the clergy; then ten (beginning with 'While we
have time') are more appropriate when alms are
received for the poor; the last four may be called
oblationary or doxological. A little study will show
that all the sentences may be read at one time or an
other for the instruction and encouragement of the
congregation; and the two excellent sentences from
180 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Tobit may help to vindicate our teaching as to the use
of the Apocrypha.
Only two of the Offertory Sentences the second
and the fifth, besides those peculiar to our Book,
agree exactly in reading with the Authorized Ver
sion ; some are taken from Coverdaie, some from the
Great Bible, and some must have been specially
translated for use in this place.
Both these Sentences and the rubrics which
follow, together with the first clause of the Prayer
for the Church, remind us of the importance of the
ancient custom, dating back to apostolic times, that
at the celebration of the Eucharist, when bread and
wine were offered for the Sacrament, alms were also
offered for the poor. This presentation of alms had
long been nearly extinct in the West, when it was
revived in the English Church in the reign of
Edward VI. The 'other devotions of the people'
evidently meant gifts for other purposes than the
relief of the poor, such as the support of missions,
the maintaining of divine worship, and in fact what
may be called, in the language of the English rubric,
'pious' as distinguished from 'charitable' uses. Our
Canons (Canon 15 II. [iv.] ) specially provide that
'the Alms and Contributions, not otherwise specific
ally designated, at the Administration of the Holy
Communion on one Sunday in each calendar month,
and other offerings for the poor, shall be deposited
with the minister of the parish, or with such church
officer as shall be appointed by him, to be applied by
THE HOL Y C OMMUNION //. 181
the minister, or under his superintendence, to such
pious and charitable uses as shall by him be thought
fit.' They also (Canon 15 II. [i.] ) declare it to be
the duty of ministers to give suitable opportunities
for offerings to maintain the missionary work of the
Church at home and abroad. 5 The basin with the
alms is to be 'humbly presented and placed upon the
Holy Table,' where it should remain at least until
after the prayer has been offered for the acceptance
of the alms. At the Offertory, as indicated by the
wording, the distinctive service of the priest begins.
The Bread and Wine for the Communion are next
to be placed upon the Table. This is the First
Oblation or the Offerings of the First Fruits, 'Obla-
tio Primitiarum,' originally taken out of the gifts
brought by the people in kind; later the parishioners
in England provided the bread and wine in turn;
now they are provided at the charges of the parish.
At the consecration of the English Sovereign, he him
self offers to the Archbishop the elements for the
Communion, and that before he makes his offerings
of cloth of gold and a gold ingot. Our Book says
nothing as to the kind of bread which is to be pro
vided. No one could doubt that, as the English
6 The Liturgy for Scotland, 1637, provided that of the offer
ings at the Communion, " one half shall be to the use of the
Presbyter, to provide him books of holy divinity ; the other
half shall be faithfully kept and employed on some pious and
charitable use, for the decent furnishing of that Church, or the
public relief of their poor."
182 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
rubric says, it should be 'the best and purest wheat
bread that conveniently may be gotten;' and it
would seem that the priest is at liberty to follow the
custom of the Western Church in the use of un
leavened bread or that of the Eastern Church in
using leavened. It is a very ancient custom, dating
back to Justin Martyr and doubtless derived from
the Passover use, that a little water should be mixed
with the wine; it has sometimes been done in the
sacristy before the elements were brought into the
church, and sometimes at this point of the service.
The latest decision in England, that of the Arch
bishop of Canterbury in the case of the Bishop of
Lincoln (see Bibliography), has been that the mix
ture when practised should be at the earlier time ; in
this country we are certainly at liberty to follow
Bishop Seabury's rubric: 'The Priest shall then
offer up and place the bread and wine prepared for
the sacrament upon the Lord's Table, putting a little
pure water into the cup.' The actual presentation
of the bread and wine should, by the rubric, follow
that of the alms.
An interesting question arises here: Does the
word 'oblations' in the Prayer for the Church, and
also in the preceding rubric (which dates only from
our last revision), refer to the elements of bread and
wine now presented on the altar for the purpose of
consecration, or does it mean the 'other devotions' of
the people or perhaps merely duplicate the word
'alms?' The words 'and oblations' in the prayer and
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 183
'or oblations' in the side-note were first inserted in
1662, at which time also the sentence as to the pre
sentation of the bread and wine was inserted above ;
and this seems to show that the presented elements
were meant by the 'oblations.' But a careful his
torical study, 6 as Bishop Dowden and others have
shown, makes it evident that the word 'oblations'
was constantly used of offerings of money; and
probably Scudamore is right in saying that "by 'alms
and oblations' are meant the off erings of the people of
whatever kind, and therefore including the bread and
wine which the priest has now placed upon the holy
Table." Still, the phraseology of the new American
rubric and such American custom as can be quoted
seem to justify us in omitting the words 'alms and'
and saying simply 'to accept our oblations' in the
Prayer for the Church when there has been no collec
tion of alms but the elements for the Communion have
been presented. Even if the alms are not received, one
of the sentences is to be read for the 'Offertory.'
The presentation of the bread and wine at this
time, unless indeed they are now brought from the
sacristy, assumes the use of a credence or prepara
tion-table or stand or shelf on which they may be
placed before or at the beginning of the service and
from which they may be brought when the alms have
been presented. The word 'credentia' in late Latin,
'credenza' in Italian, seems first used as a side
* Further Studies, pp. 176, sqq.
184 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
'board' or table at which food was prepared and
tasted, to give trust or confidence to those to whom
it was to be served. For a long time they were not
common in churches; Archbishop Laud was blamed
for having one in his chapel. Until the compara
tively recent revival of ecclesiastical architecture,
few churches had credences fixed to the walls, but
there were some in which movable stands were used
on Communion Sundays.
A Hymn or an Offertory Anthem may be sung
'when the alms and oblations are presented.' Is the
verb present, as if it were 'are in process of presen
tation,' 'are presenting?' or is it perfect, as meaning
that the singing may find place when the alms and
oblations 'have been presented ?' In either case, it will
not cover the case of what is popularly known as an
'Anthem' sung while the deacons, wardens, or others
are receiving the alms. Such an Anthem is evidently
extra-rubrical, as might be a 'voluntary' on the organ
while the clergyman was passing from the pulpit to
the chancel or withdrawing to the robing room.
The English Book since 1552 has bidden to the
Great Intercession with the words, 'Let us pray for
the whole state of Christ's Church militant here in
earth;' whereas the Book of 1549 and the Scottish
offices had 'Let us pray for the whole state of
Christ's Church.' Our Book retains the word 'mili
tant;' the words 'here in earth' had become not quite
accurate after the present memorial of the departed
was added in 1662.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 186
The Exhortation is one and as coming from the
Order of the Communion of 1548 the first of the
brief homilies Introduced into the English Prayer
Book by way of instruction; the suggestion for them,
if indeed any was needed, came from the 'Consulta
tion' of Archbishop Herrman of Cologne and from
like publications. The beginning of the introduc
tory rubric, 'At the time of the Celebration of the
Communion,' is explained by the fact that for a long
time the Warnings stood in this place, following the
part of the service which by the English rubric was
to be used on every Sunday or Holy-day even if there
was to be no celebration of the Sacrament. In our
Book the Exhortation has been shortened, largely by
the omission of minatory clauses liable to be mis
understood; and it is an admirable statement of the
proper moral and spiritual preparation for receiving
the Sacrament, an encouragement to those who can
humbly trust that they come in a worthy manner, with
a statement of the relations of the Sacrament to the
great truths of the Incarnation and the Atonement,
and of the purpose of the Lord's ordinance. The
rubric evidently intends that it shall be read on the
Sunday at the beginning of each month, when there
is generally the largest body of communicants present,
even if it is omitted on all other occasions; and the
brief space of time which it requires will not be
grudged to it by any devout and thoughtful priest.
Still following the Order of Communion, the priest
in the brief and earnest Invitation bids the communi-
186 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
cants to the Confession, gives them the Absolution,
and adds the Comfortable Words of Christ and His
Apostles. Note has been made already of the use of
capital letters in the Confession, to mark the begin
ning of each pause or suspension of the voice in the
recital of the words, which certainly ought not to be
said hurriedly ; and of the special solemnity which the
Church has always believed to be attached to the use
of the 'precatory' form of Absolution. (See pages
73,74). The Comfortable Words and 'comfort
able' in 1548 meant 'strengthening' more than 'con
soling' were especially translated for the service.
Their separate meaning should be noted : the first is
Christ's call to all who need Him, and His promise
to them; the second has to do with His coming into
the world and the meaning of the Incarnation; the
third is St. Paul's witness to the Atonement; and
the fourth, St. John's witness to the Intercession in
the heavens. With this the preparation of the
communicants ends, and now they may well be
bidden to thanksgiving and praise.
The part of the service which follows is called the
'Anaphora,' as the special act of worship 'offered' to
God; or the 'Canon,' as remaining at all times un
changed in accordance with a fixed 'rule,' except for
the proper prefaces. 7 The Sursum Corda, 'Upwards
7 In the Roman use of the word, the Canon does not begin
until after the Tersanctus, but certainly that Hymn with the
Sursum Corda should be reckoned in it.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 187
hearts,' introduces the standing Preface, in Anglican
use very brief, and this leads to the great Triumphal
Hymn. The words, 'Hosanna in the highest;
Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord,'
were brought over from the Sarum use to the Book
of 1549, but were omitted in 1552, very probably
because they are not recorded as a part of the song of
the angelic host.
Of the Proper Prefaces, those for Easter and As
cension and the first for Trinity-Sunday are ancient,
those for Christmas and Whitsunday were composed
in 1549, and the alternative for Trinity-Sunday was
inserted in the American Book in 1790. The East
ern Liturgies have no Proper Prefaces; the Roman
use provides them for the Epiphany, the Sundays in
Lent to Passion Sunday, Passion and Palm Sundays
with Maundy-Thursday, and certain connected days,
besides those days for which they are appointed in
our Book, and uses the Trinity-Sunday Preface on all
Sundays not otherwise provided for; it also has
Prefaces for other special days and seasons, most of
them very brief ; while the Mozarabic Liturgy pro
vided a full and distinct Preface for the service of
each Sunday and Holy-day.
The Prayer of Humble Access, as we have come
to call it, corresponding to the 'Prayer of Bowing-
down' of the Greeks, is said in all Liturgies, except
the English and our own, immediately before the re
ception of the Sacrament; as it stands in our Book,
it breaks the connection between the 'Glory be to
188 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
Thee' of the Triumphal Hymn sung by the priest and
the people, and the same words as the priest repeats
then at the beginning of the Prayer of Consecration ;
but it may be well considered as a sort of parenthesis,
the sense of our unworthiness bidding us crave
God's mercy once more before we venture into His
nearer presence for our great act of worship.
So much has been said on the history of the Prayer
of Consecration, the meaning of its parts, and their
primitive order maintained in our service, that little
remains to be added here. The words of the rubric
'standing before the Table,' seem to belong not only
with 'hath ordered' but also with 'shall say.' It may
not be amiss to note that the Words of Institution
are recited and the manual acts performed primarily
before God, but also in the presence and in behalf of
the Church assembled before Him. The version of
these words in the Anglican Books follows St. Paul
more nearly than the Evangelists; it seems to have
come most directly from a German source.
The Oblation is the memorial of the death and
passion of Christ made to the Father, but it passes
on to commemorate the resurrection and ascension,
by means of which His death avails for the life of
His people; and the Invocation which follows is a
prayer for the blessing of the Holy Spirit whom the
ascended Lord sent to bring His life to the Church.
The rubric which provides for a second consecration,
and the rubric in the Order for the Communion of
the Sick which gives permission for a shortened ser-
THE HOLY COMMUNION II.
vice, both show that in the judgment of this Church
the Oblation and the Invocation are necessary for
consecration. Those who follow the teaching main
tained in these pages look upon the parts of the Con
secrating Prayer as consecutive; those who attribute
the consecration to the words of the Institution with
prayer, consider that the parts, though consecutive
in expression, are in reality simultaneous; but as in
our Book there is no word of prayer until the Invoca
tion is reached, they would agree with the others
that all its parts are essential.
What, or Who, is the 'Word' through which as
well as through the Holy Spirit it is asked that the
blessing and sanctification may come? The phrase,
though with the terms in reverse order, is in the
Book of 1549: "With thy Holy Spirit and Word
vouchsafe to bless and sanctify these thy gifts."
The writer has not found this phrase in any office,
Eastern or Western, of earlier date. It may be that
there is a reference to our Lord's first Word of bene
diction at the institution of the Eucharist, with a
possible allusion to I. Timothy iv. 5, where 'crea
tures of God* used for food are said to be "sanctified
by the Word of God and prayer," as if it meant by
God's original benediction at the creation and by
specific prayer at this time. But this is hardly satis
factory. It seems more probable that 'Word' is here
used as a synonym for 'Holy Spirit.' Justin Martyr
tells us in a passage which follows after a description
of Christian worship already quoted that "as Jesus
190 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Christ our Saviour was incarnate by the Word of
God, and assumed flesh and blood for our salvation,
so we have been taught that the food from which our
flesh and blood derive nourishment, having been
blessed (Mr. Ffoulkes translates, 'having been made
the Eucharist') by invocation (literally, 'prayer') of
the Word which is from Him, is both the flesh and
blood of that same Jesus Who was made flesh."
Now Justin Martyr held that the Son was the
Jehovah ('LORD') of the Old Testament, and that
it was the Holy Spirit who spake by the prophets;
and for this reason, as it would seem, he called the
Spirit the 'Word,' using a title which later through
the influence of St. John's Gospel was restricted to
the Son. Now we do not know that Cranmer had a
copy of Justin's Apology, but he may well have
owned or used one; and it would not be at all strange
if from this first account and explanation of the
eucharistic service, he took for the Prayer of Conse
cration which he was framing for the first English
Prayer Book the title of 'Word' for the Holy Spirit
in the act of Invocation. "With thy Word and Holy
Spirit" will then mean "With thy Holy Spirit, by
whom thou didst speak and didst effect the Incarna
tion of thy Son."
The concluding parts of the prayer, in their simple
vigor and far-reaching application, call for no further
exposition than has been already given. The an
tiquity and importance of the 'Amen' of the people
have already been noted.
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 191
The Hymn which may be sung after the Prayer of
Consecration may be non-metrical, such as the
'Agnus Dei' (which however recurs in the Gloria in
excelsis), or metrical, such as those which are con
tained in the Hymnal. If the latter, it may be a
hymn of praise, carrying on the doxology just
spoken, or a hymn of penitence, in the ancient place
of the prayer of humble access.
The rubric as to the administration provides that
all shall receive in both kinds, for this is evidently
the meaning of 'in like manner;' and that the ele
ments shall be given 'into their hands,' that is evi
dently that they shall themselves put the consecrated
bread into their mouths and move the cup to their
lips; 'in order' cannot refer to any order of sex or
age or dignity in approaching the altar, but must
simply mean 'in an orderly way' (as in I. Corinthians
xiv. 40). All are to receive kneeling, that having
been for a long time the custom in the West, and to
our thoughts most reverent and practically necessary,
although in early times it would seem that all stood,
as all stand in the Church of the East to this day.
Nobody sat, as the Puritans wished to make every
one do, unless it were the Pope. The officiating
priest is not expressly bidden to kneel, and may
stand to receive the Communion which he has con
secrated, as was and is the Roman rule. Bishop
Cosin thought that the celebrant should kneel at
receiving, taking the same posture as the people;
and for this there is very good authority.
192 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Our rubric has omitted the words 'to any one*
after 'delivereth the Bread' and 'delivereth the Cup,'
making it entirely lawful to place the Bread in the
hands of two or more persons, or to present the Cup
to two, or to use two Cups, with one repetition of
the formula. In administering, at least from the
paten, it is more convenient to move from left to
right, following the path of the sun in the sky.
Our provision for a second consecration, although
it uses the words 'Bread or Wine,' really supposes
that there is to be a consecration of both elements ;
otherwise part of the prescribed words become mean
ingless. The priest, therefore, when the Wine has
failed, should consecrate a bit of bread with the
wine required for the remaining communicants and
vice versa ; where this can be foreseen as likely to be
needed, some of each element should be kept un-
consecrated. That, in case of a small deficiency,
water or unconsecrated wine may be added as a
'medium' for the administration of that which has
been consecrated, however undesirable it may be
as a custom, can hardly be doubted, as each com
municant is sure to receive a portion of the conse
crated element. The English provision for a second
consecration of either element, by the bare repetition
of the Word of Institution for that element, without
a syllable of prayer, can hardly be justified by any
one.
The rubric as to placing upon the Lord's Table
what remains of the consecrated elements and cover-
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 193
ing them with a fair linen cloth or veil, dates from
the Scottish Book of 1637 and the English Book of
1662; it is a distinctly Anglican provision, to keep
part of the consecrated gifts on the Altar until after
the Blessing. In the Roman use, the priest receives
all of the consecrated Wine, and all of the conse
crated Bread which is not administered or espec
ially reserved, and cleanses the vessels, before he
proceeds with the service. The word 'Minister*
here and in the following rubric is evidently used for
'Priest. 1
The Lord's Prayer follows, in its Anglican posi
tion; and then is said the Thanksgiving, composed
in 1549, containing an acknowledgment of the spirit
ual benefits of the Sacrament and a prayer for grace
to continue in the fellowship of the Church and to do
the good works appointed for God's people.
Gloria in excelsis is then said or sung in the place
to which it was assigned in 1552. Its first strain,
the Hymn of the Angels at the Lord's Nativity, is
found in the Liturgy of St. James; the enlarged text
is found in one form in the Apostolic Constitutions
(about 350), and in another form nearer our own at
the end of the Psalter in the Greek Bible known as
the Codex Alexandrinus written about the year 450.
The oldest Latin text is some three centuries later,
and it is from this that the 'Angelic Hymn,' as it is
called, passed into the English Book and our own.
The Scottish Communion Office has the Hymn
translated from the Greek text. In the East, where
194 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
it bears the name of the 'Great Doxology,' it is and
long has been a daily morning hymn. In the West
it was introduced into the Eucharistic service for use
on the Lord's Day and festivals if a Bishop was
present, or on Easter-day without the presence of a
Bishop ; later any priest was allowed to say it on the
days for which it was appointed. The English
Church has said it at every Eucharist since her ser
vice was translated, at first in the Roman position at
the beginning of the service, but since 1552 after the
Thanksgiving at the end. Our Church has allowed
the substitution of a 'Hymn from the Selection' (or,
in modern phraseology, from the Hymnal) for the
Gloria, probably on account of the great difficulty felt
in this country for a long time as to chanting. The
Hymn, which was at first, as already noted, a com
memoration of the Nativity, has grown to be of
three-fold structure, its parts in an interesting way
parallel to the three Comfortable Words in which the
thought of the first of those Words finds application.
For its second part, addressed to God the Son, is
based on the 'Agnus Dei,' the 'Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sin of the world' (St. John i. 29),
and confesses His atoning and redemptive work,
and its third, introducing the name of the Holy
Ghost, finds its inspiration in the declaration made
by St. Paul (Philippians ii. 11) that the ascended
Christ "is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Thus it well stands at the close of our service, help
ing to make it in this element of thanksgiving, as
THE HOLY COMMUNION II, 195
presently in that of blessing, superior to any other
Communion Office used on earth.
For the Blessing which we use is, as Mr. Scuda-
more says, "at once the grandest and the most
calmly solemn extant." The first clause (from
Philippians iv. 7) was placed at the end of the Order
of the Communion in 1548; the second clause, the
final blessing, was added in 1549. It, as the Abso
lution in an earlier part of the service, is to be said
by the Bishop (of the Diocese) if he be present,
though another may celebrate the service. In the
hearing of these solemn words our faith is quickened,
and our courage renewed, both to bear and to do for
the Lord's sake.
Five Collects follow: the first, an ancient Collect
in the Mass for travelers starting on their 'way;' the
third, also old, in which 'Direct' takes the place of the
obsolete 'Prevent' (which, by the way, means rather
'start' than 'guide'); and the second, fourth, and
fifth, composed in 1549. They may be said 'after
the Collects of Morning or Evening Prayer or Com
munion. ' Now the only Collects in the daily offices
are the three which follow the Creed ; and the only
Collects in the Communion service are the Collect
for Purity at the beginning, and the liturgical Collect
of the Day with the discretionary Collect preceding
it. It seems evident that these five were intended
for special use at the end of the daily offices before
the intercessions (which had not been inserted in
196 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
1549), and before the Epistle in the eucharistic
office. An undisputed custom has ruled that after
the closing hymn or a sermon the minister may read
any collect in the Prayer Book before dismissing the
people; and these are oftentimes well suited for that
purpose.
As to the first rubric after these Collects, enough
has already been said (see pages 36, 163).
The second rubric in this place dates from Scot
land in 1637 and from England in 1662, and as the
dates show was directed rather against profanation,
of which there was then a real danger, than against
superstition. There is no question that from very
early times it had been the custom to carry the ele
ments consecrated in Church to those who were pre
vented from attending the public service; and there
is no question that for a long time there was no cus
tom in any place of reserving the consecrated ele
ments in Church that they might be made an object
of worship.
The Prayer Book of 1549 provided for the continu
ance of the ancient practice of ministration to the
sick from the altar in the church in these words,
after speaking of the notice to be given by a sick
man to the priest that he was 'desirous to receive
the Communion in his house;' "And if the same day
there be a celebration of the Holy Communion in the
church, then shall the priest reserve at the open
communion so much of the Sacrament of the Body
and Blood as shall serve the sick person and so many
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 197
as shall communicate with him (if there beany); and
as soon as he conveniently may, after the open com
munion ended in the church, then go and minister
the same, first to those that are appointed to com
municate with the sick (if there be any), and last of
all to the sick person himself." A direction was
added as to the part of the service to be used. This
rubric was omitted in 1552; but it was not until
more than a century later that the order was inserted
here that none of the consecrated Bread and Wine
remaining at the end of the service should be carried
out of the Church. Whether the words 'if any
remain' were meant to exclude the setting apart of
what was necessary for immediate administration to
the sick in no accurate sense of the word 'reserva
tion' may be and has been doubted, in view of well-
known facts, both as to rubrics like worded in pre-
Reformation books and to the usage allowed by the
Latin Prayer Book of Queen Elizabeth's reign. On
the other hand, there has been no provision in the
English Book since 1552 and there is no provision in
our own Book for the administration of the Holy
Communion to the sick except after a consecration of
the elements in the sick person's house; moreover,
both books have a clear statement as to spiritual
communion in cases when, for any just impediment,
a sick person cannot receive the Sacrament ; and at
our last Revision a rubric was inserted providing for
a very brief form of service, yet including consecra
tion, which can be used when necessary or expedient.
198 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Our House of Bishops, in their Pastoral Letter of
1895, said: "The practice of reserving the Sacra
ment is not sanctioned by the law of this Church,
though the Ordinary (that is, the Bishop of the
Diocese) may, in cases of extreme necessity, author
ize the reserved Sacrament to be carried to the
sick." With this statement, which does not declare
that so-called 'reservation' for immediate communion
is unlawful, but suggests that it needs the authoriza
tion of the Ordinary, we may leave further discus
sion of a vexed question to the authorities on Pas
toral Theology. It may be added, however, that the
usage and the law of the Scottish Church in this
matter are practically, if not exactly, the same as in
the English Book of 1549. In Bishop Tony's
Prayer Book (1849), there are these rubrical provis
ions: "The Priest shall reserve so much of the con
secrated Gifts as may be required for the Commun
ion of the sick and others who could not be present
at the Celebration in Church." "All that remains
of the Holy Sacrament and is not so required, the
Priest and such other of the Communicants as he
shall then call unto him shall, after the blessing,
reverently eat and drink."
The Warnings, or formal notices of intention to
celebrate the Holy Communion, are now printed at
the end of the service. The first dates from the
Order of 1548, the second from the Book of 1552.
They are full of instruction; and however the rubric
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 199
is interpreted as to the necessity of reading them
before each celebration of the Sacrament, they
should not be neglected.
THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK
It seems well to bring in here, though out of
Prayer Book order, a few notes on the directions for
administering the Holy Communion to the Sick.
The long rubric at the beginning should be care
fully read, and also the rubrics which follow the
Gospel. It will appear that the service as ordinarily
provided begins with the special Collect, Epistle,
and Gospel; and that after the Gospel the priest
(called here inadvertently the 'minister') is to pass
to the Invitation and then to proceed with the service
without change from the ordinary form ; and at the
administration the sick person is to be the last to re
ceive, probably to remove fear of infection. But
(see last rubric) when persons are kept at home by
age or infirmity, which is not of the nature of acute
sickness, the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the
day may be used; and (see third rubric after the
Gospel) when it is necessary to make the service as
brief as possible, only its absolutely necessary parts
need be used. What is considered necessary should
be carefully noted : the preparation by confession and
absolution ; the eucharistic act of praise ; the conse
cration of the elements completed by the Invocation ;
then the administration, followed by the Lord's
Prayer and the Blessing. Without doubt, in any of
200 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
these cases other parts of the service may be re
tained, as the Creed after the Gospel, or the Prayer
for the Church, or (in the case last mentioned) the
Gloria in excelsis. The opening rubric requires that
there shall be two at least to communicate with the
sick person; and this may be interpreted to mean
one beside the priest ; but the next to the last rubric
allows the priest alone to communicate with the sick
person under extreme circumstances. The intention
doubtless is to have a real representation of the
Church and to avoid all semblance of the 'solitary
masses' which were an abuse of the Sacrament.
Certainly no one could blame a priest for acting
on the principle of the next to the last rubric,
even in a case which did not fall under the letter;
yet, as Bishop Hall says, "the Church assumes
the responsibility of allowing various hindrances
to stand in the way of an actual Sacramental Com
munion."
Where such hindrances do exist, the Church tells
the minister who may for this purpose be a dea
con or a layman to call upon the sick person to
make an act of spiritual communion, or in the old
phrase to seek the benefit of the Sacrament 'in voto.'
This is in no sense a modern teaching; it was in the
present form in the Book of 1549, and was taken
from the ancient Sarum use, in which under these
circumstances the priest was bidden to say to the
sick man, 'Brother, in this case a true faith sufficeth
thee, and a good will; believe only, and thou hast
THE HOL Y COMMUNION II. 201
eaten;" and the last clause was borrowed from St.
Augustine in his comment on St. John vi. 29.
It remains only to note that the provision that the
Visitation Office is to be 'cut off at the Psalm' when
Holy Communion is to follow, means that the Visi
tation Service is to be said through the prayer of
reconciliation ( 4 O most merciful God') and up to the
Psalm ; but in practice this will rarely occur.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE COMMUNION SERVICE
Editions of the Prayer Book, and works on the whole
Prayer Book already noted.
Editions of the Greek, Roman, Sarum, and Mozarabic Litur
gies. The following are among the most accessible and helpful :
Hammond (C. E.), Liturgies Eastern and Western, with In
troduction, etc. All in Greek or Latin except the Armenian
Liturgy. Later editions have the Ancient Liturgy of Antioch,
from the writings of St. Chrysostom. This handy volume has
been displaced for the Greek Liturgies by
Brightman (F. E.), on the basis of the former work by Ham
mond (C. E.), Liturgies Eastern and Western, with Introduction
and Appendices. Vol. I., Eastern Liturgies. The Greek Lit
urgies are given in the original ; the others are translated into
English. Very learned and helpful ; the standard book on the
subject Vol. II. has not been published.
Brett (Thomas). A Collection of Liturgies, translated into
English, with a Dissertation upon them. An old book ( 1 720) , re
printed at least once (1838), with all the important Eastern Lit
urgies, the Roman, the English of 1549, and the Non-jurors' of
1718. Well worth purchasing when it appears in a catalogue.
Neale (J. M.), The Liturgies of S. Mark, S. James, S. Clem
ent, S. Chrysostom, S. Basil, and the formula of the Apostolic
Constitutions, in the original Greek.
Neale (J. M.) and Littledale (R. F.),The Liturgies of SS.
Mark, James, Clement, Chrysostom, and Basil, and the Church
of Malabar, translated into English. In an appendix are the
202 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
formulae of Institution in eighty-two different Liturgies, trans
lated. Very convenient and useful.
Neale (J. M.), A History of the Holy Eastern Church. Part
I., General Introduction (in two volumes). A mine of litur
gical information, and a monument of liturgical learning.
Rattray (Bishop Thomas), The Ancient Liturgy of the
Church of Jerusalem, being the Liturgy of St. James, with an
English translation and notes. Not easily found, but worthy of
special note for its indirect influence on our American Book.
Neale (J. M.), Tetralogia Liturgica: sive S. Chrysostomi, S.
Jacobi, S. Marci, Divinae Missae; quibus accedit Ordo Mo-
zarabicus. In the original, in parallel columns. Very valuable.
Swainson (C. A.), The Greek Liturgies, chiefly from the
original authorities. Valuable as furnishing material for a
critical text, and showing the approximate date of interpolations.
Robertson (J. N. W. B.), The Divine and Sacred Liturgies
of our Fathers among the Saints, John Chrysostom and Basil
the Great. In Greek and English, with all the rubrics, on op
posite pages of small size. This book, published in 1886, ap
pears to be displaced by the much larger
Robertson (J. N. W. B.), The Divine Liturgies of our Fath
ers among the Saints, John Chrysostom and Basil the Great,
with that of the Pre-sanctified, preceded by the Hesperinos and
the Orthros (Vigil and Matin services). In Greek and Eng
lish, with all the rubrics, on opposite pages. Beautifully printed,
well translated, a thick but handy volume, and altogether the
most useful book for those who can have but one at hand.
(Published by David Nutt, London).
The Leonine Sacramentary, edited by Feltoe, was published
at Cambridge in 1896; the Gelasian Sacramentary, edited by
Wilson, at Oxford in 1894; the Sarum Missal, at Burntisland,
in 1861.
The Henry Bradshaw Society has reprinted the Roman
Missal as it stands in the first known printed edition of 1474.
The Missal as now used can be readily obtained; but the writer
does not know of any English translation of the whole volume.
Maskell (William), The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of
England, according to the uses of Sarum, Bangor, York, and
Hereford, and the Modern Roman Liturgy, arranged in parallel
THE HOLY COMMUNION IL
columns. Not translated. With full notes. The second
edition (1846) is better than the first.
Bulley (Frederic), A Tabular view of the variations in the
Communion and Baptismal Offices of the Church of England,
1549-1662, with the Scotch Prayer Book of 1637.
Skinner (John), The Office for the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper, according to the use of the Episcopal Church in
Scotland. With dissertation, notes, and a collation of offices
drawn up by Bishop Horsley.
Dowden (Bishop John), An Historical Account of the
Scottish Communion Office and of the Communion Office of the
Church in the United States ; with liturgical notes and reprints.
A book of great learning, interesting and valuable.
Benson (Archbishop E. W.), Judgment in the case of Read
and others vs. the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, 1890. A learned in
vestigation of rubrics and usages in disputed matters.
Sprott (George W.), Scottish Presbyterian, Scottish Liturgies
of the reign of James VI. (Reference may be made also to the
same author's The Worship and Offices of the Church of
Scotland).
Ffoulkes (E. S.), Primitive Consecration of the Eucharistic
Oblation. Also, the same author's article on the Eucharist in
the Dictionary of Christian Biography, etc. Of great learning.
Gummey (H. R.), The Consecration of the Eucharist. From
the point of view of the American Office.
Pullan (Leighton), The Christian Tradition (in Oxford
Library of Practical Theology). Chapter V., The Genius of
Western Liturgies. Valuable to the student.
Gore (Bishop Charles), The Body of Christ. Primarily
doctrinal, but with helpful liturgical application.
Stone (Darwell), The Holy Communion (in Oxford Library
of Practical Theology). Chiefly doctrinal. See also the same
author's large work on the History of the Doctrine of the Holy
Eucharist, and his outlines of Christian Dogma, Chapter XII.
Jolly (Bishop Alexander), The Christian Sacrifice in the
Eucharist. A typical Scottish Church Book.
Mortimer (A. G.), The Eucharistic Sacrifice. Also, Catholic
Faith and Practice; chapters XIV.-XV1II. are on the Holy
Eucharist and the Liturgy.
204 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Hedley (Bishop John C.), The Holy Eucharist. A modern
Roman work, well worth reading, with special chapters on the
Liturgy and the Mass at the present day.
Milligan (William), Scottish Presbyterian, The Ascension
and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord. A work of great value
and interest. Lectures V. and VI. dea in part with the Eu
charist.
Dale (R. W.), English Congregationalist, Essays and
Addresses. Lecture VII. is on the Doctrine of the Real
Presence and of the Lord's Supper.
There are many other works, doctrinal, devotional, and con
troversial, which deal with the great subject of the Eucharist,
from a standpoint in part liturgical. It must suffice to have
pointed out those which seem to be of special value to a student
of our Prayer Book service.
IX.
THE MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM
PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS
MUCH is said, and much implied, in the New
Testament as to the importance of Baptism
and as to its benefits and its obligations. But we
are told little as to the manner of its ministration,
except that it was with water, as were the Jewish
baptisms of proselytes; and we read that our Lord
commanded that it be "into [or "in"] the Name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit;"
making as He spoke a new revelation of the God
head. We learn also that its symbolism was that of
a burial with Christ by baptism into His death and
a resurrection with Him unto newness of life
(Romans vi. 3, 4); that it was looked upon as an act
of the Holy Spirit admitting to the Christian body
or Church (i Cor. xii. 13), and that it was called a
'regeneration,' that is, a 'new birth,' or (more accur
ately) a 'new begetting' (Titus iii. 5). We do not
find the Lord's baptismal formula repeated in the
Acts or the Epistles; the phrases in the Acts are "in
[ei/] the Name of Jesus Christ" (ii. 3; x. 48), and
"into [et?] the Name of Jesus Christ" (viii. 16 ; xix. 3).
But in the last case, at Ephesus, we find St. Paul
expressing his surprise that persons could have
been baptized without hearing the name of the Holy
206 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Spirit ; and the fact that in the Didache (before the
year loo) and in Justin Martyr (about the year 157)
we find the Lord's words given as the form of minis
tration, and that they have continued to be used
throughout the Church, assures us that the ex
pressions in the Acts imply all that the Lord Jesus
Christ commanded. There can be no doubt that bap
tism was ordinarily either by immersion in water after
the manner of a bath or by pouring water over the
body after the manner of a burial ; l the evidence of
pictures in the catacombs and elsewhere leads us to
think that the latter was more common. It would seem
quite certain that some confession of faith was required
from those who were baptized ; though the words in
Acts viii. 37, in which Philip requires of the Ethiopian
chamberlain that he declare his belief and he replies
by acknowledging his belief that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, are not in the most ancient manuscripts,
yet they are an interpolation of an early date, being
quoted by Irenaeus about the year 200, and testify to
a custom or requirement which has been and is uni
versal. 'Sealing' and 'anointing' are mentioned in
apparent connection with baptism both terms in 2
Corinthians 21, 22, the former in Ephesians i. 13, iv.
30, and the latter in i John ii. 20, 27; if the words
are not used quite figuratively, 'sealing' may refer to
the use of the sign or seal of the Cross, and 'anoint-
1 Compare Horace, Odes, I. xxviii. 35, 36, where three casts of
earth make a formal burial, as is still the case with us.
THE MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM 207
ing' to the use of oil or chrism which we certainly
find in early times. The only person of whom we
expressly read as ministering baptism is Philip the
Deacon and Evangelist (Acts viii.), on whom hands
had been laid by the Apostles for special service;
the laying-on of hands which followed baptism was
always the work of Apostles, as will be noted later.
As we pass from the New Testament to the
records of the early Church, we find that great care
was taken for the admission and preparation of
'catechumens' (that is, those who were receiving
instruction) as candidates for the Sacrament; but
that the administration of the Sacrament itself was
with very simple ceremonial, including little if any
thing more than was mentioned in the New Testa
ment. Into the details of the preparation this is not
the place to enter. It included renunciation of the
wicked one and his works, 'exorcism' or prayer for the
expulsion of evil spirits, examination in knowledge of
Christian truth, and finally the teaching of the Creed
and the Lord's Prayer, with the 'Effeta' or 'Ephpha-
tha' (St. Mark vii. 34), a ceremony which betokened
the opening of the ears and the lips to hear and to
confess the truth. This preparation was formally
ended, at Rome and doubtless elsewhere, on Easter-
even; the Bishop then with great solemnity blessed
the water in the baptistery ; the candidates were pre
sented and declared their faith by replying 'I believe'
to the three parts of an interrogative Creed; the
Bishop and his attendant clergy immersed them, or
208 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
poured water over them as they stood in the font ;
they were anointed with chrism, and the Bishop laid
his hands on them with prayer for Confirmation and
signed them with the sign of the Cross. The Bishop
then passed to the service of the first Eucharist of
Easter-day.
All this had to do with the baptism of adults, and
in fact most of those baptized in the earliest times
were adults ; but the number of infants brought to
baptism must have soon exceeded the number of
older persons prepared as catechumens. The service,
however, continued in most respects as before; the
prayers and the questionings were not greatly modi
fied, except that, there being no real catechumenate,
the services of preparation and of administration
were condensed into one, and sponsors made the
replies on behalf of the children ; and presently the
ministration of the sacrament, in the case of adults
restricted practically to the eve of Easter or Whit
sunday, was allowed on any Sunday or day of special
service, the water which had been blessed being
always ready for use in the font, but covered except
at the time of ministration. Further, in West
ern use, the Bishop being rarely present at a baptism,
confirmation was deferred, and that usually until
the infants had 'reached years of discretion* or be
came 'children.' There were some exceptions; the
Princess Elizabeth, afterward Queen, was both bap
tized and confirmed by Archbishop Cranmer when
she was three days old. In the East, where Con-
THE MINIS 'TR A TION OF BAPTISM 209
firmation is administered by priests, using chrism
blessed by the Bishop, infants are still confirmed and
communicated immediately after their baptism.
By the time of the framing of the Sarum office,
which was in use in England until the Prayer Book
of 1549 was set forth, adult baptism had quite passed
out of use, and all the rubrics in the baptismal ser
vice spoke of infants. The priest met the child to
be baptized at the church door, asked whether it had
been baptized, and demanded its name. Then fol
lowed the prayers and ceremonies for making and
instructing a catechumen, with the sign of the
Cross, prayers, exorcism, the Gospel from St. Mat
thew (xix. 13, sqq.) followed by 'Effeta,' and the
Creed. The child was then brought into the church,
the questions as to renunciation and desire of bap
tism were put, and the child was thrice immersed,
anointed, clad in a white robe called a 'chrisom,' 2
and given a lighted taper. The service was ended
with an exhortation to the sponsors.
For the Prayer Book of 1549, some of the minor
ceremonies were omitted, and an exhortation and
prayer from Archbishop Hermann were prefixed to
the part of the service said at the door. The Gospel
was taken from St. Mark (x. 13, sqq.) instead of St.
Matthew an excellent change and followed by an
See the New Dictionary for the use of this word. A
'chrisom child' was a child who died soon after baptism, while
still wearing its baptismal robe ; but by ,a strange perversion,
the words came to mean a child who died unbaptized.
15
210 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
exhortation, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, and
another prayer. The child was then brought into
the church, an address was made to the sponsors, and
the questions of renunciation, faith, and desire of
baptism were put. Then (at least once in a month)
newly-brought water was blessed, the child was bap
tized either by triple immersion or (if it were weak)
by 'affusion' (pouring), clad in a chrisom, and
anointed; and the service ended as before. In
1552, the service was brought into nearly its present
form. It was then ordered that all should be said at
the font, and the order of making a catechumen
became an introduction to the baptismal service.
The Lord's Prayer was deferred until after the bap
tism, and the Creed was not said except in the ques
tion as to belief. The four short Mozarabic peti
tions, beginning 'O Merciful God,' and a following
prayer were inserted from the Benediction of the
Font, and a short exhortation and the prayer after
the baptism with explicit declaration of the regener
ation of the child were also added. In place of the
giving of the chrisom and the unction, the ceremony
of signing with the Cross, omitted at the beginning
of the service, was put in its present most suitable
place. In 1662, besides some changes in the rubrics,
a question as to obedience was added, and by the in
sertion of a clause provision was made for the bene
diction of the water on every occasion of baptism.
The Baptismal Service in our Prayer Book is prac
tically the same as that which has stood in the Eng-
THE MINIS TR A TION OF BAPTISM 211
lish Book since 1662. A few rubrical changes were
made for our Book of 1790, one of which allows
parents to be admitted as sponsors; the two prayers
at the beginning were made alternative; instead of
the Creed in an interrogative form was placed the
question, 'Dost thou believe all the Articles of the
Christian Faith, as contained in the Apostles'
Creed?'; 'by God's help' was added to the reply to
the last question; and the permission to pour water
on the child instead of dipping it in the water was
left absolute, without any limitation to the case of
weakness. Permission was also given to omit the
Gospel and all that follows to the Questions, provided
that all be read once in a month if there be a bap
tism, and also to omit, at the desire of those who
bring the child, the signing with the Cross and the
form of words accompanying it, with the statement,
however, that "the Church knoweth no worthy cause
of scruple touching the same."
Thus our service contains a 'survival' of the old
office for the admission of a catechumen, a form for
the Benediction of the Font (or, to speak more
accurately, of the Water), and a Baptismal Office
proper, with two exhortations addressed to the con
gregation and two addressed to the sponsors. Its
outline is ancient; part of the prayers, as the second
at the beginning, 'Almighty and immortal God,' and
(in part at least) the prayer of benediction, with the
suggestion of the exhortation at the end, are from the
212 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Sarum use; the four short prayers preceding that last
mentioned, 'O merciful God,' are from the ancient
Spanish use, known as 'Mozarabic;' and the two be
ginning 'Almighty and everlasting God' are from
Hermann's project of reform, called the 'Consulta
tion,' to which also are due in great part the exhor
tations before the baptism. It is full of meaning and
deserves careful study, and might well serve the pur
pose of extended instruction.
A few words may be added as to some of the
rubrics and as to certain phrases in the service.
Attention should be called to the provision, in the
next to the last rubric at the end of the service for
Adult Baptism, for changing the word 'Infant' to
4 Child' or 'Person' when the candidate is no longer
an 'infant' and yet has not come to such age as to
answer for himself. The lawyers call a person an
'infant' until he is 'of age;' the ecclesiastical writers
call those between seven and fourteen years of age
'children,' and consider them of the right age for
Confirmation; probably in the service the word
'infant' may be best kept for 'babes in arms.' If the
child cannot well be taken into the minister's hands
(as the rubric says), he should stand or kneel at the
side of the font, the minister with his left hand hold
ing the child by the hand or touching him on the
shoulder, both for the reassurance of the child and as
,a symbol of admission into the brotherhood of the
Church.
THE MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM 213
It is greatly to be desired that baptism should be
administered, as often as it may possibly be, in the
face of the Church and during Divine Service, as the
rubric directs, that the congregation may unite in
the admission of a new member and bear witness to
it and say the Creed with him or his representatives
after the service is ended, and that at the same time,
as the English Book says, ' 'every man present may be
put in remembrance of his own profession made to
God in his Baptism."
The water, as has been noted, is to be placed in
the font expressly for each ministration, and may
well be poured in by the minister as he is about
to begin the service.
In the opening question, as in the question ad
dressed to the sponsors, the nouns and pronouns are
not to be put in the plural, however many there are
to be baptized; the question is asked as for each one,
or is put to each one, severally: 'Hath this child ?'
'Dost thou, in the name of this child ?'
In the first prayer, there is no doubt that 'by
water' is to be connected with 'perishing' and not
with 'didst save,' though the latter might seem to be
required by I Peter iii. 21; the water which saved
those in the ark saved them from the danger itself
brought. The second and more ancient prayer is valu
able for its sound theological teaching, 'may receive re
mission of sin by spiritual regeneration,' 'may enjoy
the everlasting benediction of thy heavenly washing/
and has a special appropriateness at Easter-tide,
214 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
speaking as it does of God as 'the resurrection of
the dead.'
The word 'allow' in the exhortation after the
Gospel is used in its old sense of 'commend,'
'approve;' it is the French 'allouer', the Latin
'allaudare.' The word has this meaning in the
authorized version of St. Luke xi. 48, where it trans
lates (rwevSoKeire, and in other passages.
The prayer after 'give thanks unto him and say' is
to be repeated by the congregation with the minis
ter, as is shown by the capital letters at the begin
ning of the several clauses.
The minister's holding the child or holding the
hand of the adult (as we shall see in the later service)
is not a matter of small importance ; it signifies an
actual reception of the candidate by Christ's author
ized representative, and is especially significant in
the case of children who are thus received from the
parents and given back to them to be cared for and
brought up as children of God.
When more children than one are to be baptized,
the oldest should be taken first, yet so that the chil
dren of one family should be taken together. There
was an old idea, with some superstitious notion, that
boys should be baptized before girls.
If the Baptismal Office is said as a separate service,
the minister may well add at the end the Thanks
giving from the Churching Office (if the mother con
sents), the Collect for Easter-even, and a blessing.
Care should be taken that the water which remains
THE MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM 215
in the font be reverently removed and poured out in
a clean place.
PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN
The circumstances and manners of these times
make it impossible for us to assume that the normal
time for the baptism of children is within the ten
days or two weeks after the birth, as is implied in
the first rubric. But the principle of early baptism
emphasized in the rubric, and that of the desirability
of baptism in church on which the second rubric lays
stress, are both of great importance.
The form of service required, namely the Lord's
Prayer with one or more Collects from the service of
Public Baptism, the naming of the child, the actual
ministration of the Sacrament, and the thanksgiving
with the prayer which it contains, shows what the
Church considers absolutely necessary for the bap
tism of a child. 3 The prayer for the blessing of the
water should certainly be said before the baptism ; and
at the end the prayer for a sick child may be added.
Apparently by some misunderstanding, the Thanks
giving is not shortened in our Book as it is in the
English by omitting the words, 'he, being dead unto
sin .... and that,' so that it seems to assume
that the child is healthy and well and likely to live to
mature years.
8 It is interesting to note that the Lord's Prayer here, as
below in the service for the reception of a child privately bap
tized into the Church, stands in its ancient place.
216 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The service for receiving into the Church a child
baptized in private calls for no special note. Its pur
pose is two-fold : first, to certify the assembled con
gregation of the baptism, and withal to make public
declaration of the child's place in the Church; and
secondly, to secure the promises of sponsors in its
behalf, arid therewith to give them a solemn exhorta
tion to their duty.
We need, however, to ask what is meant by the
words 'lawful minister' in two of the rubrics. The
Prayer Books of 1549, 1552, and 1559 said nothing as
to the presence of a minister; their rubric before the
words of administration read thus: "First, let them
that be present call upon God for his grace, and say
the Lord's Prayer, if the time will suffer; and then
one of them shall name the child, and dip him in the
water, or pour water upon him, saying these words,
N. I baptize thee," .... etc.; and after the form
of words the rubric went on, as at present: "And
let them not doubt but that the child so baptized is
lawfully and sufficiently baptized, and ought not to
be baptized again in the church." And later on
there was no question as to whether the person bap
tizing was a minister or not. But in 1604 the
requirement of a 'lawful minister' was twice in
serted, and it still remains in the English Book and
from it has passed over to our own. An attempt to
require all private baptism "to be ministered by. a
lawful minister or deacon" had been made in Con
vocation in 1575, but Queen Elizabeth would not
THE MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM 217
sanction it. But at the Hampton Court Conference
(1604), King James expressed his decided opinion on
the other side of the question: "that any but a law
ful minister might baptize anywhere, he utterly dis
liked; and in this point his Highness grew some
what earnest against the baptizing by women and
laics." The Bishops agreed with the King; and the
Puritan party, rather strangely, was also very strong
on the necessity of an ordained minister for baptism;
so that the new form of the rubric was adopted, as it
would seem, by general consent. The statement
that "from this time Lay-Baptism was distinctly
discountenanced by the Church of England" is indis
putably true, as far as the Prayer Book and official
formularies are concerned ; yet it must in fairness be
noted that in the next to the last rubric at the end of
this service, dating in this part from 1662, Water
and the Lord's Words are declared to be "essen
tial" though not "the essential" "parts of bap
tism;" which may possibly imply that though lay-
baptism had not the sanction of the Church, yet it is
to be reckoned as sufficient, according to the legal
maxim, 'fieri non debuit, factum valet.' The theo
logical question as to Lay-Baptism is beyond the
limits of this book.
In carrying out the instructions in the last rubric
as to a combination of services, it would appear that
the certification as to the child already baptized
should be first made; that then the question: 'Hath
this child been already baptized, or no?' should be
218 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
asked as to the others ; that the service should then
proceed as in Public Baptism; that the sponsors for
the baptized child should remember that the ques
tion 'Wilt thou be baptized in this faith?' is not ad
dressed to them ; and that the baptized child should
be publicly received into the Church with the sign of
the Cross before the others are baptized.
BAPTISM OF THOSE OF RIPER YEARS
We have seen that in the early Church the baptism
of adults gave way to the baptism of infants, the ser
vice being but gradually changed. Then for centuries,
all the nations of the civilized world having become
Christians and all Christians recognizing it a duty
to bring their children to baptism in their infancy,
there was no need of any service for the baptism of
such as were able to answer for themselves. The
English Prayer Book had no office for adult baptism
until its last revision, which it will be remembered
went into use two years after the close of the Com
monwealth and the restoration of the Monarchy.
Two very different things united to make it neces
sary to provide this new service. In the first place,
during the fifteen years in which the use of the
Prayer Book had been forbidden by law and other
years in which it had been largely neglected, the
influence of the Anabaptists and such like sects had
been so great that a considerable part of a whole
generation had grown up unbaptized ; in the second
place, the discovery of America and the beginning of
THE MINIS TR A TION OF BAPTISM 219
colonization on the American coast (Jamestown had
been settled fifty-five years) had led to the conversion
of some of the natives and to the hope that many
more would be converted and brought to baptism.
And thus the Preface to the English Book of 1662
speaks of this office as one ''which, although not so
necessary when the former book was compiled, yet
by the growth of Anabaptism, through the licen
tiousness 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."
The service follows closely the lines, and for the
most part the words, of that for the Baptism of In
fants. A different passage is of necessity chosen for
the Gospel, the exhortation following being largely
made up of passages from the New Testament bear
ing on the same subject. The opening rubric lays
stress on the proper preparation of the candidates,
and solemn exhortations are addressed to them. At
the time of administration the minister is to 'take
the candidate by the right hand and place him con
veniently by the Font according to his discretion.'
He should transfer the person's hand to his own left
hand, thus holding it while with his own right hand
he pours the water; and the candidate should kneel
both for the baptism and for the signing with the
Cross. In case of baptism by immersion, either in
a baptistery or in living (that is, running) water, the
candidate should kneel in the water and the m nister
220 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
should bow the head forward at the recital of the
words of administration, until the body is quite cov
ered ; it is best to lay one hand upon the forehead
and one upon the upper part of the back, and thus to
be able to bend the body forward and to lift it up
without discomfort or inconvenience.
The student will note that the pronouns and nouns
referring to the candidates are in this office in the
plural, as normally adults are baptized at stated
times and in comparatively large numbers ; while in
fants are normally baptized separately, and the
pronouns and nouns relating to them are in the
singular.
The second, third, and fifth rubrics at the end of
the service are peculiar to our American Book; the
last sentence of the second and the whole of the fifth
were added at the revision of 1892. The provision
for shortening the service shows that the Church
considers it necessary to require in the case of an
adult the profession of repentance and faith and
obedience and the desire for baptism, with prayer
including the petition for the blessing of the water,
before the administration, and the Lord's Prayer
with thanksgiving after it.
The combination of Infant and Adult Baptism, as
provided for in the third rubric, is very awkward,
even when, as in most clergymen's handbooks or
Books of Offices, the parts are printed in the order
in which they are to be used; it is far better, if
possible, to use the two services separately.
THE MINISTRA TION OF BAPTISM 221
The permission of hypothetical baptism extends
to adults what was already provided in the case
of infants. The minister must decide as to the
reasonableness of the doubt; but it would seem
that serious doubt as to whether the former min
ister had been lawfully ordained and had thus
authority to baptize, could hardly be called un
reasonable.
The question may be asked whether in our Church
it is lawful for a deacon to administer baptism to
adults, inasmuch as in the Ordering of Deacons it is
said to be a part of a deacon's office "in the absence
of the Priest to baptize infants, and to preach, if he
be admitted thereto by the Bishop." Until 1662, it
read "to baptize and to preach if he admitted thereto
by the Bishop." It is certainly noticeable that the
limiting word 'infants' was inserted at the time when
a form for the baptism of adults was provided. But
at the same time the words 'in the absence of the
Priest' were inserted; and it would appear that the
case in mind probably the only case in England
was that of a deacon serving under a priest; if the
priest were absent, he might baptize infants, but for
the baptism of adults they must wait until the priest
returned. If a deacon is in 'quasi sole charge,' it
would seem that the Bishop's licence practically
covers full right to baptize. Doubtless adult bap
tism, as a great act of remitting sins, is a priestly
act, and if possible a priest should be responsible for
every adult baptism ; but the actual administration
222 THE BOOK OF COMMON RRA YER
may be demitted to one in Holy Orders of a lower
rank. And we know from the example of St.
Philip that it is not contrary to God's Word or to
the practice of Apostolic times for a deacon to
bapt ze adults.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works on the whole Prayer Book, already noted.
Marriott (W. B.), Article on Baptism, in Dictionary of Chris
tian Antiquities. A full study, coming down to the year 800.
Other articles in Dictionaries and Encyclopedias.
Rogers (C. F.), Baptism and Christian Archaeology. Illus
trated from ancient pictures.
Stone (Darwell), Holy Baptism (in Oxford Library of Prac
tical Theology).
Maskell (William), Holy Baptism.
Mozley (J. B.), The Primitive Doctrine of Baptismal Re
generation ; also, A Review of the Baptismal Controversy.
X.
THE CATECHISM
THE Catechism is the form of Instruction which
the Church provides "to be learned by every
person before he be brought to be confirmed by
the Bishop." The word has a Greek form, as
KaT7j%t<rfjuk from the verb /carrjxea), in Roman letters
'kat-echeo,' to 'echo-down,' to 're-sound,' almost 'to
din in one's ears by repeating,' and then 'to instruct
orally.' The verb occurs in the New Testament in
the Prologue to St. Luke's Gospel (i. 4) of the in
struction which a convert, Theophilus, had received
in the fundamentals of the Christian faith; in Acts
xviii. 25, of like instruction which Apollos had re
ceived; in Acts xxi. 21, 24, of an oft-repeated charge
made against St. Paul; in Galatians vi. 6, of instruc
tion in the faith; in Romans ii. 18, of like instruc
tion in the Jewish law; and in I Corinthians xiv. 19,
of the instruction given by a Christian teacher.
There were Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, as we have already seen, about the year
350, and St. Augustine wrote a treatise on Catechis
ing about 400; the fame of the Catechetical School
at Alexandria is world-wide. And there was doubt
less catechising in England before the verb came
into use about 1450 and the noun 'catechism' a little
after 1500. In Henry VIII's reign, the Curates
224 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
(that is, clergymen having cure of souls) were
charged, "That ye shall, every Sunday and Holy-day
throughout the year, openly and plainly recite to
your parishioners, twice or thrice together, if need
require, one particle or sentence of the Paternoster
or Creed in English, to the intent that they may
learn the same by heart ; and so from day to day to
give to them one little lesson or sentence of the
same, till they have learned the whole Paternoster
and Creed in English by rote. . . And that done, ye
shall declare unto them the Ten Commandments,
one by one, every Sunday and Holy-day till they be
likewise perfect in the same." When Edward VI
came to the throne, one of the first things that de
manded the attention of his advisers was the diligent
instruction of the people, and especially the young,
in the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Command
ments, and expounding and declaring the understand
ing of the same. And when the Prayer Book was
set forth in English, a brief catechism was prefixed
to, or rather incorporated in, the Order of Confirma
tion, that the Bishop, or such as he should appoint,
might at his discretion 'appose' the candidates in
it. It differed but in few words, except that some
of the Commandments were abbreviated, from that
which stands in our Prayer Book, as far as to the
end of the long answer explanatory of the meaning of
the Lord's Prayer.
It was in reality a 'short catechism,' shorter than
others prepared about the same time, and much
THE CATECHISM
shorter than the 'Shorter Catechism' of the West
minister Assembly set forth in 1647. And it is the
only part of the Prayer Book which had not a Latin
original. It is one of the most remarkable produc
tions of a remarkable time ; good Izaak Walton calls
it "that good, plain, unperplext Catechism, that is
printed with the old Service Book;" and the late
Archbishop Benson said, "I believe that there has
never been in the hands of any Church any manual
representing the doctrines, the true spirit, of the
Bible, to compare with the Catechism of the
Church of England."
We cannot absolutely determine who was its
author; but tradition points to Alexander Nowell,
who was in 1549 a master in Westminster School, a
man of mature years and good learning. Two years
later he was made a prebendary of St. Paul's, and in
1560 he was advanced to be Dean of that Cathedral.
He wrote in Queen Elizabeth's day a long catechism,
in both Latin and English ; and some parts of the
addition to the Prayer Book Catechism on the sub
ject of the Sacraments, made in 1604, can be traced
back to this. But the author of this addition is be
lieved to have been John Overall, at that time Dean
of St. Paul's, and afterwards Bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield and of Norwich.
Some few years ago the Lower House of the Con
vocation of Canterbury, after a good deal of discus
sion, prepared an addition to the Catechism of twelve
questions and answers on the Church (see note
16
226 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
below); it was not adopted by the Upper House, the
Bishops holding that action relating to the definition
of doctrine should have originated with themselves,
but it deserves to be better known and might well be
used in some places.
Few changes were made in the Catechism when
the American Prayer Book was set forth ; the only
one deserving note is the substitution of 'spiritually*
for 'verily and indeed' in the answer as to the inward
part or thing signified in the Lord's Supper.
The rubrics of 1549 required that the curate of
every parish, 'once in six weeks at least, upon warn
ing by him given,' should 'upon some Sunday or
Holy-day, half an hour before evensong, openly in the
church instruct and examine' the children sent unto
him in some part of the Catechism. In 1552 it was
ordered to be done 'diligently upon Sundays and
Holy-days, half an hour before evensong;' in 1662 the
time was changed and the catechising was appointed
to be 'openly in the church' 'upon Sundays and Holy-
days, after the Second Lesson at Evening Prayer.'
Our rubric still directs that the minister's instruc
tion and examination of children of his parish in the
Catechism shall be 'openly in the church;' it is evi
dently something additional to what is ordinarily
understood by the work of the Sunday School.
The second rubric lays a duty on fathers and
mothers. There are no longer 'servants and appren
tices' whom their 'masters and mistresses' can send
to church 'to hear and be ordered by the minister,'
THE CATECHISM 227
The third and fourth rubric have to do with the
Confirmation Service which follows.*
It is not at all easy to say what is the meaning of
'M.' in the 'N. or M.' which is given as the answer
to the first question in the Catechism. The usual
explanation is that 'M.' is for 'NN.' and that 'N. or
M.' means 'Name or Names.' But when the Cate
chism was written very few persons, if any, had
more than one baptismal name; and in fact the use
of 'middle names' was very infrequent until well into
the nineteenth century, as will be evident if one will
think of the names of the signers of the Declaration
of Independence or of men prominent in the early
history of the Republic. Bishop Charles Words
worth thought that 'N.' was meant for boys and 'M/
for girls, and that the letters stand for the typical
names of Nicholas and Mary. The fact that in the
Marriage Service 'M.' is used for the bridegroom
and 'N.' for the bride is no objection to this; for
in the old books 'N.' is used for both, and it is still
the correct reading for both in the English Book.
Our Book has 'M.' for the bridegroom by "corrupt
following" of a false reading.
* It may be noted as a matter of curiosity, that our Catechism
was printed in a Latin version, with the quantity of vowels
marked and the rules of prosody prefixed, in Philadelphia, by
Lydia R. Bailey ; what seems to be the second edition bears the
date of 1820.
228 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE CHURCH
AN ADDITION TO THE CATECHISM,
As AGREED TO BY THE LOWER HOUSE OF THE
CONVOCATION OF CANTERBURY
Q. What meanest thou by the Church ?
A. I mean the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head, and
of which I was made a member in my Baptism.
Q. How is the Church described in the Creeds ?
A. It is described as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
Q. What meanest thou by each of these words ?
A. I mean that the Church is One, as being One Body under
the One Head ; Holy, because the Holy Spirit dwells in it, and
sanctifies its members ; Catholic, because it is for all nations
and for all times; and Apostolic, because it continues sted-
fastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship.
Q. We learn from the Holy Scripture that in the Church the
evil are mingled with the good. Will it always be so ?
A. No; when our Lord comes again He will cast the evil
out of His Kingdom; will make His faithful servants perfect
both in body and soul ; and will present His whole Church to
Himself without spot and blameless.
Q. What is the office and work of the Church on earth ?
A. The office and work of the Church on earth is to main
tain and teach everywhere the true faith of Christ, and to be
His instrument for conveying grace to men, by the power of
rthe Holy Ghost.
Q. How did our Lord provide for the government and con
tinuance of the Church ?
A. He gave authority to His Apostles to rule the Church,
to minister His Word and Sacraments, and to ordain faithful
men for the continuance of this ministry until His coming
again.
THE CA TECHISM 229
Q. What orders of ministers have there been in the Church
from the Apostles' time ?
A. Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.
Q. What is the office of a Bishop?
A. The office of a Bishop is to be a chief pastor and
ruler of the Church ; to confer Holy Orders ; to administer
Confirmation; and to take chief part in the ministry of the
Word and Sacraments.
Q. What is the office of a Priest ?
A. The office of a Priest is to preach the Word of God; to
baptize ; to celebrate the Holy Communion ; to pronounce
Absolution and Blessing in God's Name ; and to feed the flock
committed by the Bishop to his charge.
Q. What is the office of a Deacon ?
A. The office of a Deacon is to assist the Priest in divine
service, and especially at the Holy Communion ; to baptize in
fants in the absence of the Priest ; to catechise ; to preach, if
authorized by the Bishop ; and to search for the sick and the
poor.
Q. What is required of members of the Church ?
A. To endeavour, by God's help, to fulfil their baptismal
vows ; to make full use of the means of grace ; to remain sted-
fast in the communion of the Church ; and to forward the work
of the Church at home and abroad.
Q. Why is it our duty to belong to the Church of England ?
A. Because the Church of England has inherited and re
tains the doctrine and ministry of the One Catholic and Apos
tolic Church, and is that part of the Church which has been
settled from early times in our country.
NOTE ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
IN ENGLISH
The version of the Ten Commandments in the Catechism,
since 1552 the same as that at the beginning of the Commun-
280 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Ion Service (except in the Preface), is not taken from any
translation of the Bible, but was made for the Prayer Book.
In 1549 there was no Preface ('I am the Lord thy God/ etc.),
and all the longer Commandments were given in an abbre
viated form, the fourth, for instance, being only ' Remember
that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.' In 1552, the words ' The
same which God spake in the xx. chapter of Exodus saying,'
with the full Preface, were prefixed, and * I. 1 was placed before
the First Commandment ; while in the Communion Service an
abbreviated form of the introductory words was given as a
part of the First Commandment, and thus it stands to this day :
* God spake these words, and said : I am the Lord thy God ;
thou shalt have none other gods but me.' The Catechism's
division of the Commandments was also, it is believed, some
thing new in English. The Roman Catholics and the Luther
ans, following St. Augustine, place the Preface apart, make the
prohibition of other gods and of idols the first Commandment,
that of taking the Lord's name in vain the second, and so on,
dividing at last what we call the tenth Commandment into two ;
only the Roman Catholics make the prohibition of coveting
one's neighbour's wife, and the Lutherans that of coveting
his house, the ninth Commandment. The present Hebrew
Bibles make the Preface with our first and second Command
ments the first ' Word ' for in the original they are literally
God's ' Words,' not ' Commandments ' and then follow the
scheme just mentioned, Deuteronomy placing the wife apart
and Exodus the house. The Jewish Talmud makes the Preface
the first ' Word,' puts our first and second Commandments to
gether for the second, and then has the numbering which we
follow. The order of the Catechism, which places the Preface
by itself, and makes the prohibition of other gods the first
Commandment, is that of the Greek Church and of the Swiss
Reformers, and is believed to be that of the ancient Jewish au
thorities. It is well to note how here, as elsewhere, our re
formers passed over the traditional Latin form or use in which
they had been instructed and reverted to the Greek as signify
ing the older learning.
THE CA TECHISM 231
BIBLIOGRAPHY
White (Bishop William), Lectures on the Catechism of the
Protestant Episcopal Church.
Wordsworth (Bishop Charles), Catechesis.
Robinson (Arthur W.), The Church Catechism Explained.
An excellent handbook.
Newbolt (W. C. E.), The Church Catechism, the Christian's
Manual (in Oxford Library of Practical Theology). A full
devotional and practical exposition.
Ken (Bishop Thomas), The Practice of Divine Love, being
an Exposition of the Church Catechism. Devotional, in the
form of prayers.
XI.
THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION
CONFIRMATION, or the Laying-on of the
hands of Apostles or Bishops (or in some cases
of men authorized by them) upon those who have
been baptized, with the prayer that they may
receive the Holy Spirit, has been observed in the
Church from the very earliest times, although it has
been, as one has said, with "almost every possible
variety of practice, belief, and even terminology."
Very soon after the Church had begun its work, St.
Peter and St. John were sent from Jerusalem to lay
hands on those whom Philip the Deacon had baptized
at Samaria; and those on whom they laid hands
received the Holy Spirit (irvevpa ayiov, Acts viii. 14-
19). Some years later, St. Paul laid hands on some
who had just been baptized at Ephesus, and the
Holy Spirit (TO irvev^a TO ayiov, Acts xix. 1-6) came
upon them. It does not seem unreasonable, in the
light of these passages, in which there is no sugges
tion of anything unusual, but rather the reverse, to
suggest that when St. Paul went through Syria and
Cilicia (Acts xv. 41) or through the Galatian country
and Phrygia (xviii. 23) 'strengthening' the churches
and all the disciples, one purpose was that he might
lay hands on those who had 'only been baptized;'
although to translate OT^/D^OW in these passages by
'confirming' in our sense of the word would not be
THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION 233
justified. And again, when he writes to the Romans
(i. n) that he is longing to come to them that he may
impart to them 'some spiritual gift' that they may be
'strengthened ' (%va TI fj^ra8a) ^dpia-pa vjuv Trvev/jLari-
KOV els TO a-TTjpL^Orjvai v/ia<?), it is not unreason
able to think that he had in mind that at Rome,
where no Apostle had been as yet, the baptized con
verts had not received the benefit of laying-on of
hands. At a considerably later day, the author of
the Epistle to the Hebrews names as a part of the
'foundation' or 'the word of the beginning', and in
close connection with 'baptisms,' 'laying-on of
hands,' as something which belongs to all Christian
men at the beginning of their discipleship. Some
thing has been said (see page 206) as to the use of
the words 'unction' and 'seal' in possible connection
with baptism ; it may well be that they refer rather
to the laying-on of hands than to the pouring of
water, to the latter rather than to the earlier part of
what was then considered as normally one rite.
Thus we can well read 2 Corinthians i. 21, 22: "He
who is making us firm (o fteftcuwv) . . . and did
anoint us is God, who also did set a seal on us and
give us the earnest of the Spirit," and Ephesians i.
13: "When ye also became believers in him, ye were
sealed by the Holy Spirit of his promise, who is an
earnest of our inheritance." In fact, when we see
how strongly the post-apostolic Christian writers
spoke of the gift of the Spirit through the laying-on of
hands, and feel sure that they learned of its import-
234 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
ance more or less directly from the Apostles, we are
justified in applying many such passages to the gifts
bestowed by the sacramental ordinance which we call
Confirmation. From the time of Tertullian (about
200) there is no lack of evidence as to the Church's
belief and practice in the matter.
The Latin 'confirmatio' translates the Greek
/Se/&uWt9, and in the Apostolical Constitutions of
the fourth century the laying-on of hands is called
/9e/3aiWt? TT)? opoXoyias, ' the confirming of the con
fession,' meaning God's confirming of our confes
sion; and 'confirmatio' has long been the name
which this ordinance has borne in the West. The
English word 'confirmation' (in this sense) is traced
back to the beginning of the fourteenth century; an
old formula of that time reads: "The bisschop
these wordes seth, Ich signi thee with signe of crosse,
And with the creme of hele (the chrism of health, that
is salvation) confermi." If we remember that 'com
fort' is literally almost the same word as 'confirm,'
we shall see that to our forefathers 'the Holy Ghost
the Comforter' would often suggest 'the Holy Ghost
the Confirmer,' and the reverse.
As was the case with Baptism, so also in Con
firmation, the service was originally very simple,
having in it little if anything more than prayer and
the laying-on of hands; and in contrast with Bap
tism, the ceremonies attendant on Confirmation have
remained few and simple. The service in the Prayer
Book of 1549 closely followed the lines of the Latin
THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION 235
form then in use, with the important exception that
the laying-on of the Bishop's hand was expressly
provided for and that he was not instructed to use
chrism in making the sign of the Cross. The service
began with 'Our help is in the name of the Lord,'
along with the other versicles which we retain ; then
followed the ancient prayer for the seven-fold gifts of
the Spirit (it dates back at least to the beginning of
the eighth century), followed by this, with allusion
to 'sealing' and 'anointing:' "Sign them, O Lord,
and mark them to be thine for ever, by the virtue of
thy holy cross and passion. Confirm and strengthen
them with the inward unction of thy Holy Ghost,
mercifully unto everlasting life. " The Bishop then
made a Cross on the child's forehead and laid his
hand on the head, giving the child's name and say
ing, 'I sign thee with the sign of the Cross and lay
my hands upon thee; in the Name' etc. Then
followed the prayer for the confirmed still in use,
taken from a long prayer of Archbishop Hermann,
and the blessing. It is quite evident that in this
case, as in others, Archbishop Cranmer and the
others were looking back to the New Testament and
providing carefully that there should be no doubt
that the essential act of the service should be that on
which the inspired writers laid stress. Probably the
Roman Bishops in making with their thumbs the
sign of the Cross with chrism on the foreheads of
the candidates kneeling before them, did lay on the
hand, as it is said that some if not most of them do
236 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
to-day, though the rubric in most places do.es not
require it; but it was unscriptural to frame a Service
for Confirmation with no mention of the laying >O n of
the Bishop's hand. It was left for the American
Church in the Book of 1790 to make another change
for complete conformity to the Scripture, and direct
the Bishop to lay his 'hands' upon every candidate
severally. The plural is always used in th( e New
Testament.
In 1552, the sign of the Cross and all reference to
it was omitted, and the present prayer at the iaying-
on of the hand or of hands, "Defend, O Lord t " was
provided. 'Defender' comes near to a translation
from TrapdfcXrjTos, in English * Paraclete,' a ti^le of
the Holy Spirit, which following Wyclif WQ gen
erally translate 'Comforter' in the sense of ' Strength -
ener,' but the word 'defend' is not ordinarily usied in
that sense; and few of us remember that JGod's
'heavenly grace' means His Holy Spirit.
In 1662, the Preface, which had been befor< e that
time a rubric, was made part of the service, ai-id the
ratification of the baptismal vows was introduced.
The use of 'confirm' in both the Preface and the
question has led many to think that this 'confirma-
tion' is that which gives name to the servi ce a
mistake which needs to be carefully corrected i n the
minds of candidates who are brought, or are coming,
'to the Bishop to be confirmed by him.' The Lord's
Prayer and the Collects before the Blessing were also
inserted at that time. The American Church, i n the
THE ORDER OF CONFIRM A TION 237
Book of 1892, made the reading of the Preface dis
cretionary, introduced a presentation of the candi
dates, and also provided, but for discretionary use, a
Lesson from Acts viii.
The venerable Prayer of Confirmation, in its refer
ence to the regeneration and forgiveness of the can
didates words which must refer to the time of their
baptism shows that it was composed when confirma
tion followed close upon the sacrament of baptism.
Of the seven gifts of the Spirit, six are mentioned
in the Hebrew and the English of Isaiah xi. 2, and
all seven in the ancient Greek translation known as
the Septuagint; there is good reason for believing
that all were originally in the Hebrew text. The
first two are intellectual gifts, the second two are
moral, the third two are devotional ; the last is the
key-stone which binds all together in the life.
In the Roman use, in which confirmation is ad
ministered by Bishops and sometimes by abbots or
priests with special licence, the officiant says the
ancient prayer while he holds his arms outstretched
over the candidates ; he then signs each on the fore
head with chrism, generally at the same time (as has
been said above) laying his hand upon the head ; and
then gives each a light touch or blow on the cheek,
reminding him to bear patiently the reproach of
Christ; the confirmation of infants is not practised.
In the Eastern use, the priest who baptizes an infant
immediately anoints him with chrism blessed by the
Bishop, and this is considered a sufficient laying-on
238 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
of hands; here the confirmation of adults is un
known. A form of confirmation is also retained by
the Lutherans and others.
One of the rubrics at the end of the service
reminds us that those confirmed should be urgently
moved to avail themselves without delay of their
privilege of receiving the Lord's Supper. In this
connection it may be wel to refer to the strange
custom in the Church of Rome that children should
receive their first communion before confirmation;
and to call attention to a letter of the late Pope
addressed to the Bishop of Marseilles in 1897,
declaring that this custom is "not in accordance,
either with the ancient and constant institution
of the Church or with the good of the faithful," and
commending the Bishop for changing it. 1
The form of the other rubric in 1549 was, 'And
there shall none be admitted to the Holy Communion,
until such time as he be confirmed;' from 155210
1662 it read, 'And there shall none be admitted to
the Holy Communion, unt such time as he can
say the Catechism and be confirmed.' In 1662, it
was put into the form wh ch it has now in both the
English Book and our own: 'And there shall none be
admitted to the Holy Communion until such time as
he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be con
firmed.' These last words were inserted, without
doubt, at the time of the Restoration, in conse-
Quoted by Bishop Hall, ' Confirmation,' pp. 94, 95.
THE ORDER OF CONFIRM A TION 239
quence of the suspension of the use of the Prayer
Book for fifteen years, to allow the reception of the
Holy Communion by those who could not be con
firmed until a general visitation by the Bishops for
that purpose should be held ; they also served for the
case of churchmen in these colonies, who were left
by the Church of England for a hundred and seventy
years without the ministration of Bishops. The
general meaning of the rubric is clear. It is not so
clear whether it was intended to apply to the case of
what was called in England 'occasional conformity;'
historically, it is certain that it has not been always
so applied.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hall (Bishop A. C. A.), Confirmation (in Oxford Library of
Practical Theology).
Mason (A. J.), The Relation of Confirmation to Baptism. A
book of great learning.
Wirgman (A. T.), The Doctrine of Confirmation considered
in Relation to Holy Baptism. Written in reply to Dr. Mason's
book.
Chase (Bishop F. H.), Confirmation in the Apostolic Age.
XII.
THE SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY
WE learn nothing from the New Testament as
to any distinctively Christian form or cere
mony in Marriage. The ordinance was not of Chris
tian origin, and its essence was recognized as con
sisting in the consent of the parties, under such
restrictions as were placed by the law of nature or
by the laws and customs of the place in which they
lived. It appears that Christians in different parts
of the world were married as others were, only being
careful to use no idolatrous or unworthy ceremonies
and to ask for the blessing of the Bishop or priest.
As far back as we are able to trace marriage cus
toms, we find that those of the Greeks and Romans
differed in principle from those of the Hebrews,
with which latter those of the Germans were partly
in accord. The theory of the former the fact in
early days was that the man stole the woman from
her father's house and took with her what else he
could get; in classic times the bride was carried
veiled from her father's to her husband's home, lifted
over the threshold, and acknowledged by the hus
band in some such words as ' Ubi ego Gains, tu Gaia ;'
and she brought from her father her dowry, as is
still the custom in Latin countries. Among the
Semitic races, as also among the Teutonic, the ancient
THE SOLEMNIZA TION OF MA TRIMONY 241
practice must have been that the man bought his
wife from her father, as may be seen from the story
of the betrothal of Rebekah or the marriage of Leah
and Rachel, or may be read in the 'Germania* of
Tacitus, who tells of the gifts which the husband
brought to the wife, and of the assembling of the
parents and relatives to inspect the presents a cus
tom which remains with us to this day. 'Dower*
('endowment'), the wife's right in her husband's
property, is matter of Teutonic law; 'dowry,' the
wife's contribution to the husband's estate, is matter
of Roman law. We read in early Christian times
of the white dress of the bride, of the veil or
canopy held over the parties, of the joining of hands,
the kiss of peace, and the gift of a ring. Also
after it ceased to be considered pagan the custom
of crowning both bride and bridegroom with crowns
of precious metal or flowers or leaves was permitted;
and this remains in the East to-day as an important
part of the marriage rites. There were two cere
monies at a greater or less interval of time, in each
of which words of pledge were spoken by both
parties in the presence of witnesses the betrothals
and the nuptials. The ring given and received, if
we follow Tacitus, was a symbol of subjection, as if
it were a link of a chain; in his day the German
'braves' wore iron rings, as a badge of inferiority,
until they had killed their man. But Clement of
Alexandria makes it a symbol of equality and trust;
the bridegroom gives the bride a gold ring, says he,
17
242 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
"not for ornament, but that she may with it seal up
what has to be kept safe, as the care of keeping the
house belongs to her." Perhaps there were different
origins of the custom among different nations.
Part, at least, of the formulae for betrothal and mar
riage must have been, as they still are, in the ver
nacular, while in Western Europe the whole of other
services was and is in Latin. As a consequence,
the marriage service of the Prayer Book has kept
antique forms of words, though some have been
dropped and some modernized. The English Book
has omitted 'spousage,' 'for fairer, for fouler* (or like
words), and has changed 'till death us depart' to 'till
death us do part;' and our Book has omitted 'with my
body I thee worship, 1 which was the man's acknowl
edgment of the honor due to the wife, as correlative
to her promise to obey him; but we still have 'I
plight thee, I give thee, my troth,' 'allege' mean
ing 'plead' in court, 'endow' in its sense of granting
legal rights in property, 'pronounce' in the sense of
'proclaim.' The English service follows the Sarum
use pretty closely, enlarging the opening exhortation
with an 'excursus' on the purposes of the ordinance,
prescribing the joining of hands with the proclama
tion of marriage, and after Introit and Collect pro
viding an address to be read 'if there be no sermon.'
Until 1662, the last rubric ordered that 'The new-
married persons, the same day of their marriage, must
receive the Holy Communion;' it has been changed
to read that 'It is convenient' (that is, seemly) 'that
THE SOLEMNIZA TION OF MA TRIMONY 243
the new-married persons should receive the Holy
Communion at the time of their marriage or the first
opportunity after their marriage. '
In our American Book, the service has been much
shortened from the English. A part of what was
left out of the opening exhortation was restored in
1892, but it is still shorter and better than the Eng
lish; and everything after the first blessing In-
troit, prayers, and sermon (which makes the service,
as Captain Cuttle said, end with 'amazement')
was not taken into our Book. But the service still
remains a combination of that for the espousals and
that for the nuptials. The dividing-point is at the
question, 'Who giveth this woman?' when the father
puts his daughter into the hands of the Church, re
linquishing his 'patriot, potestasj that she may be
given to her husband. This 'first service' was of old
said at the entrance of the church, as Chaucer tells
us of the Wife of Bath: 'Housbondes at chirche-
dore she hadde fyve;' and it is now often said at the
entrance to the choir or at the foot of the chancel-
steps, which place indeed may be meant in the
rubric by 'the body of the Church.' l In that case,
after the betrothal, the bridegroom leads the bride to
the rail of the sanctuary for the 'second service.'
The minister should be quite sure that he under
stands the law of the State in which he lives, or in
which he officiates, in regard to marriage, and
1 See note as to the place of the Lord's Table page 165.
244 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
should conform strictly to it, as well as to the
Canon of the Church (Canon 38) which deals with the
subject; and he should also be careful to return to
the State or town authorities the evidence that he
has solemnized the marriage, and to make full entry
of it in the proper Parish Register. It is well to
remember that the publication of Banns is no longer
required with us; and that no clergyman is obliged
by civil or ecclesiastical law to perform any mar
riage, so that it is sometimes his duty to ask ques
tions which are not answered in the licence that is
brought to him. The English Book requires all
marriages to be in a church; our Book permits them
'in some proper house;' both Books provide for
witnesses by the requirement that the parties come
'with their friends and neighbors.' Untold trouble
would be prevented if the clergy, following at least
the spirit of this requirement, would make sure that
the parties presenting themselves are not attempting
to escape from the presence of those who ought
naturally to signify their assent.
The man stands on the right of the woman during
the service, but when the service is ended he 'wor
ships' her by giving her the place at his right (see
Psalm xlv. 10). The exhortation refers to the insti
tution of marriage in Eden, and to its mystical
meaning, to Christ's blessing of marriage at Cana,
and to the commendation of it in the Epistle to the
Hebrews (here, as was long the belief, attributed to
St. Paul), and calls for objections from the congre-
THE SOLEMNIZA TION OF MA TRIM ON Y 245
gation. The parties are then solemnly charged not
to proceed in the service, making as it does a life
long change in their positions before God and man,
if they know of any impediment. 'Lawfully' must
apply to the law of God as well as that of the State ;
'lawful,' at the end, under present circumstances,
seems to refer only to the law of God. 'Allow,' as in
the baptismal service (see page 214), means 'approve.'
Probably no clergyman with us would be ready to
proceed with a service as to the legality of which he
had doubts, on the surety of any one that if he was
acting illegally he should be 'indemnified,' that is
that his surety would bear the amount of fine and
costs to which he might be subjected in case of con
viction; but the rubric frees him from ecclesiastical
censure if he wishes to do so. An impediment
'alleged' is an impediment formally pleaded, as in
court. If an objection is made, which the clergy
man knows to be groundless, or as to the ground
lessness of which he is reasonably satisfied, he is to
proceed. 'M.' in this service, as was noted a few
pages back, is a printer's change for the 'N.' which
should designate both the man and the woman. The
statement that 'M.' and 'N.' stand for 'maritus'
and 'nympha,' husband and bride, is absurd. The
letter stands for the baptismal name; but the best
authority is for using only so much of the baptismal
name as is commonly employed; the late Queen of
England and her consort were married as Victoria
and Albert.
246 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The parties having, in answer to questions, ex
pressed their desire to marry each other, and the
father (or friend representing him or his authority)
having through the priest relinquished to the bride
groom his authority over the bride, they now proceed
to marry each other by the giving of 'troth' (that is
'truth'), the minister causing each to take the
other's hand and dictating the proper form of words.'
The manner of giving the ring is confused in our
Book by the omission of an obsolete requirement
from the rubric. 3 In the English Book it reads: 'The
man shall give unto the woman a ring, laying the
same upon the book, with the accustomed duty to
the priest and clerk. And the minister taking the
ring shall deliver it unto the man,' etc. That is to
say, the man gives the ring to the woman by first
laying it on the clergyman's book that it may have
his blessing, or at least that the act may have his
sanction, and then receiving it from the clergyman
to be put on the woman's hand. To 'pass the ring
3 Some of the ancient forms, with quaint phraseology, are
given in Blunt ; in one of them the bride promises to be
4 honour (or 'bonere') and buxum;' where 'honour' is for
4 bon' or 'bonny/ meaning 'good,' 'gentle/ and 'buxom' is
* bow-som/ that is, 'obedient/ 'complaisant/ from which it
came to mean 'good-natured' and then 'healthy.' An old
writer says that ' God took upon him humble buxomnesse ; '
and the Golden Litany prays Christ to have mercy on us by His
' infinite buxomnes.'
3 We read occasionally of a service with two rings, which
seems abnormal. But Archbishop Hermann provided for the
use of two rings, if the parties could provide them ; and the
(modern) Old Catholics use two rings.
THE SOLEMNIZA TION OF MA TRIMONY 247
around,' as the saying is, is not rubrical, nor has it
any meaning. 4 The rubric of 1549 read: 'The man
shall give unto the woman a ring, and other tokens
of spousage, as gold and silver, laying the same upon
the book,' etc., and the form at giving the ring was:
'With this ring I thee wed; this gold and silver I
thee give; 5 with my body I thee worship; and with
all my worldly goods I thee endow.'
The parties having thus, strictly speaking, mar
ried themselves under the protection of the Church,
the minister bids the congregation to prayer. The
faithful living together of Isaac and Rebecca must
refer to marital faithfulness; Isaac was almost, if not
quite, the only one of the eminent men of the Old
Testament of whom we know that had but one
wife. The formal recognition of the marriage is
made by joining the hands of the parties, and the
formal proclamation (from Hermann's 'Consultation')
follows, with a closing benediction. As has been
suggested more than once, the clergyman pronounces
or publishes that the parties have been duly married,
4 Mr. Pullan gives us an interesting note (pp. 222, 223) on
the wedding ring. The mediaeval English custom, he says,
was to put it on the fourth finger of the right hand, and the
English Roman Catholics followed this custom till the middle
of the eighteenth century. There is in a Sarum rubric an ex
planation that the fourth finger is the ring-finger because a vein
runs from it to the heart.
6 This was probably the pledge of * endowment ' or of ' dower,'
into the actual use of which the wife did not come until her
husband's death. Some older forms had ' all my worldly cathel '
or * cattle,' that is, * chattels.' Compare the Latin 'pecunia '
from 'pecusj a sheep.
248 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
and the service which the Church performs is the
'Solemnization of Matrimony.' 6 The minister's
kissing the bride at the close of the ceremony was
probably the last survival of the kiss of peace at the
beginning of the Communion Office; formerly, he
kissed the bridegroom, and the bridegroom then
kissed the bride.
The bridegroom and bride should kneel for the
final blessing; all others, including their immediate
attendants, should stand during the whole service.
During the late revision of our Prayer Book the
following was proposed for use if the Holy Commun
ion were celebrated at the time of a marriage:
Introit, Psalm cxxviii. [The English Book gives
as an alternative Psalm Ixvii.]
The Collect: Almighty and merciful God, who by
thy power didst create our first parents, and by thy
consecration didst knit them together in holy wed
lock; vouchsafe to send thy blessing upon all who are
joined together in thy holy Name, and so fill them
with thy grace, that obeying thy will, and continuing
always in safety under thy protection, they may
abide in thy love unto their lives' end; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Ephesians v. 22-33.
The Gospel: St. John ii. i-n.
The question is asked, whether a deacon may read
the Marriage Service. The law of the land recog
nizes the deacons of our Church as * Ministers of the
6 Shakespeare makes the priest say : ' And all the ceremony
of this compact, Seal'd in my function, by my testimony.'
THE SOLEMNIZA TION OF MA TRIMONY 249
Gospel,' and permits them to marry; and our service
uses the word 'Minister' throughout, and that inten
tionally, as the English Book has confusedly 'Priest,'
'Curate,' and 'Minister.' But the Benediction is
priestly, and evidently ought not to be said by a
deacon. It would seem, therefore, that a deacon
may use the marriage service, in any place where he
has the Bishop's or priest's authority to minister;
but that he should substitute 'The grace of our
Lord,' or some other prayer, for the Benediction.
It is sometimes said that 'man and wife' in the
service should be 'husband and wife.' But 'man' in
old English often meant 'husband,' as the Latin
'vir* and the Greek avrfp ; and 'wife' often meant a
woman, whether married or not, as still in 'fishwife,'
'housewife,' 'midwife.' In fact the word 'woman'
is 'wiman,' 'wifman,' 'wifeman' (the sound of 'i' is
still preserved in the plural, though spelled 'women').
'Man and wife' is the old monosyllabic way of put
ting what might be 'husband and woman,' 'husband
and wife,' or 'man and woman;' and it is the more
common legal form of words.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bingham (J. F.), Christian Marriage ; The Ceremony, His
tory, and Significance.
Evans (Hugh Davey), The Christian Doctrine of Marriage.
Fulton (John), The Laws of Marriage.
Tyson (S. L.), The Teaching of our Lord as to the Indis-
solubility of Marriage.
Howard (G. E.), The History of Matrimonial Institutions;
3 vols.
Gray (G. Z.), Husband and Wife. A discussion of the de
ceased wife's sister law written from the English point of view.
XIII.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK
THE Visiting of the Sick is a duty of natural
piety; but, like other such duties, it is made a
Christian duty by the example and the words of our
Lord, and it becomes a special duty of the Christian
minister. The only Scriptural suggestion of a cere
mony in connection with such visitation is the
anointing and laying-on of hands in the case of the
Apostles (St. Mark vi. 13, xvi. 18) and the prayer
and anointing by the elders ('presbyters') of which
St. James writes (St. James v. 14, 15). At a com
paratively early date we find provision for prayers
for a sick man, and in mediaeval times the Sarum
Manual provided an elaborate office for a formal visi
tation of the sick, on which our office is based, and
from which indeed it is in considerable part taken.
Thus the 'salutation' of the house, commanded by
the Lord Himself (St. Lukex. 5; St. Matthew x. 12),
was said at the entrance; the antiphon 'Remember
not, Lord,' was said with the Penitential Psalms
which the priest repeated on his way to the house;
in the sick man's room were said the Kyrie, Lord's
Prayer, and versicles, with nine prayers, two of
which we retain; then followed an exhortation to
patience and faith, with an examination of the faith
of the sick man based on the Creed, to charity and
THE VISITA TION OF THE SICK 251
hope, to contrition and repentance, and to the giving
of alms. After his confession of sin, the priest gave
him absolution with the ancient words of the prayer
for reconciliation beginning in our Book 'O most
merciful God.' If Extreme Unction was adminis
tered, Psalm Ixxi. was said, with the antiphon 'O
Saviour of the world,' and the anointing was per
formed with prayers; and then the Holy Communion
was administered to the sick man, if it were possible.
It is evident from this outline of the ancient ser
vice, as indeed from the study of the orm which it
has taken in our own, that the former part was in
tended for a case of serious sickness, and the latter
part for a case of impending death. Indeed it would
almost seem to assume that this would be the only
time in which the minister could be with the sick
person in order to prepare him for the end of his
earthly life. Yet the second prayer and the exhorta
tion express a hope of recovery and of a benefit to be
derived in this life from God's fatherly visitation.
It must have been in the earlier times, as it is
to-day, that the Church meant this office to be in
ordinary cases rather a 'directory' than a prescribed
office (as indeed appears in the case of the exhorta
tion from the words 'or other like'); and it does give
admirable instruction as to the preparation which
any man should be called upon to make for death,
and an admirable example of the serious though
really hopeful way in which the Church bids her
members look on faith and duty and our responsi-
262 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
bility for both, as we pass through life as well as in
the day of judgment. The faithful and devout
clergyman will read other passages of Scripture,
speak of divers matters in different strains, and use
prayers from other parts of the Prayer Book or from
other sources ; but he will find that he rarely passes
far from the suggestions of this service. And both
the visitor and the visited will do well to read it
from time to time, and to meditate upon it; in fact,
it has many wholesome lessons for the well.
The interrogative Creed, which in our Book
stands only here, differs in its wording in several
places (as already noted) from that in Morning and
Evening Prayer. Ordinarily, the clergyman will ask
the sick man to say the Creed with him in some
service.
The long rubric after the Creed contains many
useful suggestions. The laws of our States as to the
inheritance of property are such that there is not
always the same reason as formerly for urging all
persons to make their Wills, and there are many cases
in which it would be an impertinence to do this. 1
But on the other hand, there are many cases in
which a clergyman, in confidential conversation with
persons, may well speak with them of the matter and
urge its importance. While it is the duty of the
minister not to interfere with the lawyer in a matter
1 It should be remembered that, until quite modern times,
matters testamentary came under the jurisdiction of the ecclesi
astical courts.
THE VISITA TION OF THE SICK 253
which belongs distinctly and professionally to the
latter as indeed he must not interfere with the
physician in the physician's sphere of duty it is well
for him to know how to draw a simple Will and to
see that it is legally attested; but he should not,
except under extraordinary circumstances, write for
another person a Will which contains a legacy to the
Church.
The meaning of the rubric beginning 'The Exhor
tation before rehearsed' is that the minister may, as
we say, 'have his talk' with the sick man, before he
begins the service of prayer with 'Remember not,
Lord ;' it seems to suggest that the exhortation
and what goes with it may be confidential, while
the family and others may be present at the
prayers.
The prayer 'O most merciful God,' though called
a 'Collect' is (as has been said) the ancient form of
Reconciliation of a Penitent, and therefore really a
solemn Absolution of the precatory kind. 2 It dates
back to the Gelasian Sacramentary, and has been
used for at least twelve centuries, though in
mediaeval times an indicative form came to be used
with it, or sometimes to displace it. It should be
said only by a priest and by him standing. An
absolution in the indicative form is placed before it
in the English Book, with a rubric to the effect that
it shall be used, if the sick person humbly and
3 As to the three forms or kinds of absolution, see on pages
73> 74-
254 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
heartily desire it, after he has made a special con
fession of some weighty matter with which he feels
his conscience troubled ; and is made the duty of the
priest to move him to such confession if he is thus
troubled. Our Prayer Book has lost nothing by
omitting this mediaeval form and falling back upon
what was for so long 'the principal form of absolu
tion in the Western Church' (Frere's Procter), 'used
long before the other was introduced' (Blunt); and
it must be remembered, besides, that it leads up to
the final absolution in the Communion of the Sick.
The Unction of the Sick, enjoined by St. James,
was for recovery; Extreme Unction (that is, the last
or final unction) came in mediaeval times to be an
anointing of the dying with a view of imparting
spiritual grace. There is no allusion to any anoint
ing of the sick in ante-Nicene writers, 8 but the
office-book of Bishop Serapion of Thmuis in Egypt
(about the year 350) contains a 'prayer in regard to
oil of the sick,' which asks for healing and recovery.
And after anointing came into use again, or at least
became more common, there is no trace before the
eighth century of sick people being anointed for the
remission of their sins, or for the removal of the
'reliquiae' of sin, or to impart to them grace en
abling them to die happily or courageously ; * but in
the ninth and tenth centuries Unction came to be
chiefly regarded as a preparation for death.
8 Warren, Liturgy of Ante-Nicene Church, pp. 161, 162.
4 Puller, Anointing of the Sick, p. 191.
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK 255
In the Sarum use, which was followed in the Book
of 1549, it was not yet provided that the anointing
should be given to none but the dying or that it
should not be repeated, though no doubt it was often
used as unction 'in extremis.' The service in the
first English Book (as already noted) was simple;
the prayer did look forward with great hope to recov
ery, but it also seemed to teach that the use of this
ordinance was for spiritual blessings, forgiveness and
strength against temptation; the anointing was to be
on the forehead and breast only, and not on all organs
of sense as in the Roman use. In 1552 all provision
for unction was omitted, doubtless from the feeling
that as practised it was a "corrupt following of the
Apostles," and not the act of which St. James wrote.
Whether the anointing of the sick with prayer for
recovery may be used with the sanction of the
Bishop as an extra-Prayer-Book service, is a question
beyond the scope of this volume. In the Eastern
Church, it may be added, the rite is practised in its
primitive form, seven priests attending for its
normal ministration.
Our Book has substituted Psalm cxxx., *De pro-
fundis,' for the Psalm Ixxi. of the old Unction and
the present English Book; but we retain the beauti
ful antiphon, a benedictory prayer composed in 1549,
and the Aaronic blessing (Numbers vi. 24), which
was first placed here in 1662.
Of the additional prayers, the first four are in the
English Book, where they were added in 1662; the
256 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Commendatory Prayer, which has for almost every
one some tender associations, was shortened at the
last American revision. The other three are pe
culiar to our book; the first of these, 'O God, whose
days are without end/ is from Bishop Jeremy Taylor
(who died in 1667), and is a fine example of his com
position. None of the others are in the best liturg
ical style, though the next to the last is based on a
prayer of Bishop Taylor's.
For notes on the Communion of the Sick, see
at the end of the Chapter on the Holy Communion,
page 199.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cope (W. H.) and Stretton (Henry), Visitatio Infirmorum.
Puller (F. W.), The Anointing of the Sick in Scripture and
Tradition.
XIV.
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD
THE Burial of the Dead has always been con
sidered an act of natural religion, a 'corporal
deed of mercy.' From the quiet and dignified burial
of Sarah (Genesis xxiii.) to the ceremonious en
tombment of some of the Kings (2 Chronicles xvi.
14) and High Priests (2 Chronicles xxiv. 15, 16),
and from the dirge over Saul and Jonathan (2
Samuel i. 17) to the lament for good King Josiah
(2 Chronicles xxxv. 25), we read of funeral rites
among the Jews of the older time. In the Gospels
we read of but one funeral procession, that of the
son of the widow of Nain, led by the mother, as was
the custom in Galilee; and of but two burials, that
of St. John Baptist and that of Lazarus (St. Mark
vi. 29, St. John xi. 38), besides the burial of our
Lord Himself, which has found mention in both our
Creeds. The Jews made great wailing over their
dead ; and so did the Christians when they carried
Stephen to his burial (Acts viii. 2); but soon we
read of a quieter mourning by the bedside of
Tabitha (Acts ix. 39). The Epistles and the Book
of Revelation have many passages which tell of the
blessedness of those who are sleeping in Christ.
We know little of the ceremonies practised in the
early Church at burials, other than those which were
local customs, except that from an early time the
18
258 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
Eucharist was celebrated with prayers, among which
was the commendation of the departed soul to rest
and peace. The body being carried to the church
soon after deafh, and the burial, except in special
cases, not being long deferred, it became a custom
to say the night services with special psalms, anti-
phons, and lessons, as Vespers, Compline, and
Matins (or Vigils) of the Dead. One of the Psalms
at Vespers was the n6th, the antiphon for which
was the ninth verse, in our version 'I will walk
before the Lord in the land of the living,' but in
Latin 'Placebo Domino in regione vivorum ;' from
which the Vespers of the Dead were known as
'Placebo.' And one of the Psalms at Matins was
the 5th, with an antiphon taken from the eighth
verse, where we read, 'Make thy way plain before
my face,' in Latin ' Dirige in conspectu tuo viam
meam ;' and this gave to the Matins the name of
'DirigeS from which we get the word 'dirge.'
Also, from the 'Officium? or Introit in the service,
' Requiem aeternam dona ets, Domine, et lux per-
petua luceat eis,' Mass for the dead was called
'Requiem.'
No service was in the first English Book changed
as much from the corresponding Latin service as was
that for burial. The old services had become very
long and complicated, and the ancient prayers,
which assumed that the faithful departed were in
peace and asked that they might have rest in the
land of the living and at the last the joys of the
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 259
resurrection, had become prayers that they might be
delivered from the pains of purgatory, which were
described as identical with the pains of hell except
in duration ; so that the reformers not only desired a
briefer service, yet with longer reading of Scripture,
but also felt the necessity of removing some of the
prayers and also of modifying the phraseology of
others which in themselves would not formerly have
been thought objectionable. In 1549, there was a
double service, as now, one to be said at the grave
and one to be said either before or after the other in
the church. They contained all that is in our
present service, except that the psalms were differ
ent, with other prayers which were omitted in 1552
from a fear of mediaeval petitions for the departed.
Also in 1549 there was provision for the celebration
of the Holy Communion, the Introit being Psalm
xlii., the Collect being the prayer which now stands
at the end of the service, 'O merciful God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' with a somewhat
different ending, 1 the Epistle I Thessalonians iv.
13-18, and the Gospel St. John vi. 35-41. Our ser
vice differs little from the English, except that the
Psalms have been abbreviated and the closing
phrases of the committal and of the first prayer have
been changed, the new wording being both in ex
cellent form and with good rhythm.
1 It still has in the English Book as a heading the words
' The Collect.'
260 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
The rubric at the beginning, excluding three
classes of people from burial by this service, dates
from 1662. Unbaptized adults have by their own
decision never been admitted to membership in the
church, whereas of unbaptized infants it may be
said that it has been the Church's wish to baptize
them and that they have never refused it; excom
munication is not practised now, for suspension
from the Holy Communion is not excommunication,
and at the last revision of the Canons all provision
for a possible "deprivation of all privileges of church
membership" was removed from our legislation; and
suicides die in the commission of an extreme crime
against themselves. In this last case, the decision
as to whether a person who has taken his own life
has really and intentionally 'laid violent hands' upon
himself, must (except in very extraordinary circum
stances) be left to the officials of the law, whose duty
it is to make investigation and to publish what they
find to be the facts of the case.
But though a clergyman of the Church may not
bury unbaptized adults or suicides with the Church's
office, and may sometimes find it his duty to decline
to use that office for others (as, for instance, for one
who has died or been killed while committing some
grievous crime), he is not debarred from reading
passages of Scripture and prayers with the family of
such an one in their home and at the grave. A suit
able Psalm at such a time is the 5ist or I43rd; and
a suitable lesson may be taken from Jeremiah xxxi.,
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 261
or from some of the Lord's words of comfort in the
Gospels.
The second rubric implies, as is ordinarily the
case in England except in cities and large towns,
that the church stands in the churchyard, and that,
as was explicitly stated in the first Book, the ser
vice in the church may either precede or follow that
at the grave. The latter may have been sometimes
convenient or necessary in days when few but the
rich were buried in coffins, and the bodies of the
dead were ordinarily wrapped and tied in shrouds, per
haps covered with the parochial pall, which made all
funerals externally alike, and thus carried on a bier.
In either case the 'Sentences' really anthems or
antiphons are normally to be begun at the church
yard gate and repeated by the minister as he goes
'either into the church or towards the grave.' The
exigencies of our cemeteries and of our funeral ar
rangements often require that the words be post
poned until the funeral company is ready to enter
the church or is close to the grave. When the part
of the service assigned to the church is said in the
house, as must often be the case with us, these open
ing anthems should be reserved and read at the
grave; when they have been said at entering the
church, they should not be repeated in the bury ing-
ground. 2
J A note may be made here as to a preliminary service at the
house before the body is carried to the church ; the clergyman
should always hold such a service, if possible, and go with the
262 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
The three opening anthems are words respectively
of faith, of hope, and of resignation. The first was
in the old services the 'antiphon' to Benedictus, and
the second a 'respond' at Matins; the third, really a
double verse, was first provided in 1549. It is to be
regretted that the first passage from Job is not
abbreviated, as in the Latin; partly because the
exact meaning of the middle phrase is very doubtful,
and partly because the word 'worms' is not in the
Hebrew at all; 'they destroy this body' is a way of
saying 'this body be destroyed.'
The portions of Psalms in our Book are not so long
but that both may ordinarily be said, and that to the
profit and comfort of those who are present at the ser
vice. If a distinction is made, Psalm xxxix. is in
some part suitable for a younger person, and Psalm
xc. for one of mature years; but the latter, 'a Prayer
of Moses the man of God,' hardly ought ever to be
omitted. The Lesson deserves careful study, and
reading which' shows that it has been carefully
studied. The service in church will ordinarily be
ended (after a hymn, if it is convenient to have one)
by the Creed and that preferably the Apostles'
Creed and prayers, which should not be too many.
The prayer for persons in affliction will certainly be
family as their pastor to the house of God. The service should
be short, with one or two Psalms such as xxiii. and cxxi., a
short lesson such as Wisdom iii. 1-9 or i Thessalonians iv.
13-18 or Revelation vii. 9-17, and two or three prayers either
from the Prayer Book or from some good manual of devotion.
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 263
used ; at the funeral of a communicant, that at the
end of the visitation of the sick, beginning 'O God,
whose days are without end;' the first and second of
the additional prayers at the end of this service may
be added; and a judicious selection can be made
from the Collects for Easter (at the earlier Commun
ion), the fourth Sunday after Easter, the fourth
Sunday after Trinity, All Saints' Day, the first
Sunday in Advent, 'We humbly beseech thee,' at the
end of the Litany, and others; also, the Collect for
the day, unless it is manifestly inappropriate, may
well be used.
The verses from Job (xiv. i, 2) 'Man that is born
of a woman,' taken from the Vigils of the Dead, and
the wonderful Sequence in three paragraphs, begin
ning 'Media vita' ('In the midst of life we are in
death'), were meant to be repeated while the attend
ants were making ready to lower the body (often
coffinless) into the grave. If possible, they should
be so repeated now, as the rubric directs, that the
minds of the mourners may be drawn away from that
on which their eyes cannot but be fixed to the great
and eternal, though most solemn and awe-inspiring,
truths which are declared in these words. 'Media
Vita,' written as a 'prose' or 'Sequence' to be said
after the Epistle (see page 151), had been taken into
the Sarum Breviary as an antiphon to Nunc Dimittis
during part of Lent ; it is only in the Anglican use
that its words are read in the burial office. They are
wonderfully appropriate, having, as Blunt says, 'a
264 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
solemn magnificence, and at the same time a wailing
prayerfulness, which make them unsurpassable by
any analogous portion of any ritual whatever.' And
including, as they do, the words of the Greek 'Trisa-
gion,' 'Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Undying
One, have mercy on us' (see page 150), they carry our
thoughts through all the range of worship and godly
fear in the Christian Church. The composition of
this sequence is traditionally ascribed to Notker, a
monk of St. Gall in Switzerland, who died in the year
912, and in whom its thought is said to have been
inspired as he watched men building a bridge over a
deep gorge. 3 This tradition cannot be sustained; 4
but the words are none the less impressive, whatever
were the circumstances under which they were
moulded into their present form. In the middle age
this sequence was constantly used; it became a
battle-hymn, and its use was believed to give super
natural powers; so that in 1316 a synod at Cologne
forbade its use except on occasions especially ap
proved by the Bishop.
The committal follows, in which the three-fold
casting of the earth, as is customary with the words
'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' is to be
considered the formal burial. 6 The rubric in the
3 The commentators refer us to the verses of Shakespeare in
spired by the sight of samphire-gatherers on the cliff at Dover,
in King Lear, iv. 6.
4 See Julian's Dictionary of ' Hymnology, sub voce.
6 See the reference on page 261.
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 265
first Book instructed the priest to cast earth upon
the body with the words of committal; in 1552 the
present words 'by some standing by' were substi
tuted. It is probable that the priest began the
burial as directed, and that others filled the grave
while the following anthem was sung. That anthem,
'I heard a voice,' formerly the antiphon to Magnificat
in the service for the dead, carries on the thoughts
in the direction of the grand words of hope and
assured victory with which the committal has ended. 6
The service closes with the Kyrie, the Lord's
Prayer, and one or both of two prayers, somewhat
modified from their English form; the former may
well be kept for the burial of communicants.
The three additional prayers were placed in our
Book at the revision of 1892; the first and the second
are modern; the third is taken from the commemora
tion of the faithful departed in the Communion
Office of the first Book of Edward VI and the
Scottish Office. The closing rubric explains itself;
sometimes by reason of distance or of stress of
weather all of the service, or all except the com
mittal, must be said in the church or in the house
which serves as the church. The form of the com
mittal at sea is made very touching by the use of the
words, 'The sea shall give up her dead.'
In the process of our last revision, it was proposed
6 In the Eastern Church Psalm xxiv. i is sung at the burial :
" The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is ; the compass
of the world, and they that dwell therein."
266 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
tcfprovide a special service for the burial of children,
in the general form of the other service but with
different psalms and lessons and at least modified
prayers. But the service prepared did not commend
itself, and it was felt that all members of the Church,
whatever their age, should have the same form of
burial at the Church's hands, and that there is
sufficient room for needed variations in the service
with the family and in the prayers used after the
Lesson. 7 The careful reader will see that the form
of several phrases in the English Book was changed
for our Book of 1790, in order that they might be
suitable for as many persons as possible ; and in this
our Church was carrying out a principle adopted long
before in England. At the time of death, the
Church casts the mantle of her faith and hope and
charity over all her members who have not utterly
repudiated their membership, and leaves them in the
hands of God against the day of His just and merci
ful judgment.
7 See Bp. Coxe's Christian Ballads, Churchyards^ fourth
stanza.
XV.
OTHER OFFICES
THE CHURCHING OF WOMEN
THIS service of Thanksgiving not of Puri
fication, in any strict sense, though it was so
called in the Sarum Manual and the Book of 1549
follows closely the simple service of former days.
It was meant to lead up to the Holy Communion,
and for that reason has no benedictory prayer at the
end. 'Decently apparelled' meant that, in accord
ance with English custom, she should wear a veil. 1
The 'convenient place' was defined in 1549 to be
'nigh unto the quire door,' and in 1552, 'nigh unto
the place where the Table standeth ;' either the fald
stool or the chancel-rail would seem suitable, in cases
where the Ordinary has given no direction. The
'hymn' or 'cento' from Psalm cxvi. is, according to
our rubric, to be said by the minister and the
woman together, he leading her in the words of
thanksgiving. It was an old custom that with her
offerings the woman brought back to the church the
chrisom put upon her child in baptism, so that after
this it was no longer a 'chrisom child' (see page 209).
The verb 'to church,' in the sense of bringing or
conducting to a church, that one may receive its
rites or enter (anew) into its worship, is of early use.
1 Wheatly, in loco, cites a case in the reign of James I, in
which a woman was excommunicated for contempt in refusing
to wear a veil at her churching.
268 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
It is applied in Scotland to a newly-married couple on
their first attendance in church after the wedding, and
in England the formal attendance of judges at church
on the first Sunday in term is called 'Churching the
Judges. ' It might have been noted before that Con
firmation was sometimes called 'bishoping.'
FORMS OF PRAYER TO BE USED AT SEA
These forms of supplemental devotion were com
posed for the Prayer Book of 1662, and are attributed
to Dr. Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, the
author of a once famous volume of lectures on Con
science, who died in 1663. They displaced a Pres
byterian form of prayer for the Navy, set forth under
the Long Parliament (1640-53). There are prayers
for use in storm and before battle, and thanksgivings
after the quieting of a tempest or the gaining of a
victory ; but the compiler does not seem to have had
in mind the possibilities of a defeat. During our
Civil War, when there was need of special prayers
for the Nation and for the army and navy serving in
its defence, the phrases of these forms of prayer
were largely used, and for this reason they are fixed
in the minds of the older people in our congrega
tions. At the last revision of our Book, the order of
the Psalms and Prayers was much improved.
It may be noted as a liturgical curiosity, that
when copies of the Prayer Book were printed in
England for use in the Confederate States of
America, they were to be printed from plates pre-
OTHER OFFICES 269
pared for the Prayer Book of the Church in the United
States of America, with the omission of the Ratifica
tion and the substitution of 'Confederate' for 'United'
before the words 'States of America.' This was
done on the title-page and in the Prayer for the
President and for Congress ; but either the editors or
the printers forgot to make the change in the prayer
for use on ships of war, so that this retained a peti
tion that the men in service there might be a 'safe
guard unto the United States of America!'
THE VISITATION OF PRISONERS
This office is not in the English Prayer Book, but
was taken into ours from the Irish Book. It was
agreed upon in the Synod of Ireland in 1711, and
ordered by the Council in 1714 to be printed and
annexed to the Book of Common Prayer. It is
framed on the model of the Visitation of the Sick,
and calls for no special notes, except that the rubrics
are wisely suggestive as to the duties of a priest in
dealing with the conscience of a man who has been
guilty of grievous sin. The Collect, Epistle, and
Gospel are to be used in the case of ministration to
a man under sentence of death.
THANKSGIVING-DAY
A note on the history of Thanksgiving-day, now
by custom appointed annually on the last Thursday
of November, will be found on page 58 of this
volume. The service is taken from the Proposed
Book of 1786, and is the only matter for which we
270 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
are indebted to that Book, except the plan of the
Table of Proper Lessons. The last three of the
opening sentences are from the Fourth of July ser
vice in the Proposed Book; and the lessons were
originally the Fourth of July Lessons. The Anthem,
or rather 'cento,' in place of Venite is from Psalm
cxlvii. ; it was formerly from the Bible Version, but
was made to conform to the Prayer Book Version at
the last revision, at which time also the special
Thanksgiving was enlarged to include other na
tional blessings than those pertaining to the fruits of
the earth. The minister may take one of the Selec
tions of Psalms, 'or some other Portion' at his dis
cretion; if the latter clause implies any restriction,
it may be taken to mean the part of the Psalter
appointed for Morning or Evening Prayer on any
day of the month. Permission is given here to sing
the Selection or portion of the Psalms, as it was
(curiously enough) in the Proposed Book.
FAMILY PRAYERS
The Family Prayers, wisely placed in our Prayer
Book of 1790, were composed by Edmund Gibson,
Bishop of London (1720-1748) and had been much
used in the Colonies, over which indeed he held
ecclesiastical jurisdiction by royal patent. They are
said to have been based on Prayers which Arch
bishop Tillotson drew up for the private use of King
William III.
XVI.
THE PSALTER
ENOUGH has been said already, for the pur
poses of this book, as to the history of the use
of the Psalms in the Christian Church and their
place in our Morning and Evening Prayer. Their
division into sixty portions for daily use and full
reading once each month is the same in our Book as
it has been in England since 1549, except that at our
last revision Psalm cxli., an evening Psalm, was
transferred from Morning to Evening Prayer on the
twenty-ninth day of the month.
The Psalter remains in the Prayer Book in the
version from which not only the Psalms but also the
Epistles and Gospels were read from 1549 to 1662
that, namely, of the 'Great Bible,' of which the first
edition was printed in 1539, other editions follow
ing rapidly. The Psalms were not printed in "the
Prayer Book until 1604. When the Lessons began
to be read from the Authorized Version of 1611
cannot now be determined ; it was*'appointed to be
read in churches,' but it is not known on what
authority.
The 'Great Bible' followed pretty closely Cover-
dale's version, which had been printed but four
years before it, with reference, however, to the
original Hebrew and Greek; but it was also in-
272 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
fluenced by Miinster's new Latin Version of the Old
Testament. That it does not closely follow the
Vulgate will be seen from comparing the opening
words of some of the Psalms in this version with
their opening words in Latin as they are given in
the headings. (See for instance, Psalms cix., Ixv.,
Ixxxiii., cxix. part 7). The Psalter in the English
Books does not follow exactly any edition of the Great
Bible, and the printers have in the course of time
made changes in it. In our first Prayer Book of
1790 a few modifications were intentionally made,
as of 'leasing' to 'falsehood' in iv. 2 and to 'lies' in
v. 6, and of 'flittings' to 'wanderings' in Ivi. 8.
In the preparation of the present Standard of 1892,
the text of the Psalter was carefully studied and cor
rected where errors had crept in, so that it is now
far more accurate than that in the English Book
and almost ideally perfect. The Report on the
Standard in an appendix to the Journal of the Gen
eral Convention of 1892 gives many notes of impor
tant and unimportant corrections. At this time the
so-called musical colon in each verse (corresponding
to the Hebrew 'athnach'), which had been omitted
in earlier American Books from Psalms and Canti
cles, was restored.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reference may be made to a few books which will help to a
fuller knowledge and enjoyment of the Psalter.
The translation of the Psalms in the American Revised Ver
sion gives accurately the meaning of the received Hebrew text.
THE PSALTER 273
Dr. S. R. Driver's 'Parallel Psalter' is the Prayer Book Ver
sion of the Psalms and a new Version by a good scholar in
both Hebrew and English, arranged on opposite pages. It is
yery interesting and helpful, and it has two admirable glossa
ries : one of characteristic or otherwise noteworthy expressions
in the Psalms, and the other of archaisms in the Prayer Book
Version.
In this connection, it will be well to call attention, as does
Dr. Driver, to W. Aldis Wright's invaluable 'Bible Word-
Book ' and also to the articles on words so plentifully given in
Hastings's ' Dictionary of the Bible.' The Concordance to the
Prayer Book Psalter in the S. P. C. K. 'Prayer-Book Commen
tary ' has been already noted.
The finest literary version of the Psalms into English is that
by Dr. Horace Howard Furness in the so-called ' Polychrome
Bible.' (Many of the notes in the same volume, by another
hand, may be well ignored).
There are brief notes on each Psalm in Bishop Barry's
Teacher's Prayer Book.' Kirkpatrick's Commentary on the
Psalms (in English) in 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools ' is
excellent and readily available; the Introduction is helpful,
though brief.
One who would like to know a little of the English of earlier
rersions will find in a small volume published by the Clarendon
Press at Oxford the Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesi-
astes, and the Song of Solomon, from a Wycliffite version of
about the year 1381.
G. P. Huntington and H. A. Metcalf's ' The Treasury of the
Psalter ' is a valuable ' aid to the better understanding of the
Psalms,' and a work of much learning and careful labor.
Archbishop William Alexander's * Witness of the Psalms to
Christ and Christianity ' is pleasantly written and interesting.
XVII.
THE ORDINAL
THE services which follow the Psalter are not,
strictly speaking, a part of the Book of Com
mon Prayer; but their titles are placed with the
Table of Contents of the Prayer Book, and the con
ditions of making changes in them are the same as
those of altering or amending the Prayer Book.
They correspond, in fact, to the Pontifical, contain
ing the forms of conferring Holy Orders, for Conse
crating a Church, and for the Institution of a Rector;
and the due administration of Orders is certainly
necessary for the continuance of the Church.
Many of the questions, both interesting and
important, which arise in the study of the Or
dination Services of the Church of England and
our own are fully discussed in works on the Ministry
and on Church Polity. Such are: the interpretation
which the Church in different ages has given to the
terms by which she has designated her ministers;
the stress which she has laid on a succession of her
clergy from the Apostles and on the maintenance of
that succession at the hands of Bishops ; the proof of
the assertion in Article XXXVI, that her present
"Book of Consecration of Bishops and Ordering of
Priests and Deacons" "doth contain all things neces
sary to such Consecration and Ordering, neither
THE ORDINAL 275
hath it anything that of itself is superstitious and
ungodly;" and in particular the maintenance of the
historic validity of her Orders against the latest
form of the attack made upon them from Rome. To
such books, therefore, the student is referred for a
full study of the Ordinal ; it must suffice here to give
a brief historical and liturgical commentary on the
services.
As in ancient times, all Ordinations are minis
tered within the Eucharistic Office, and at such place
in the office that the newly ordained may enter at
once on the duties to which he has been called and
for which authority has been given him. Thus, the
candidates for the diaconate are examined and or
dained after the Epistle, and after ordination one of
them, reads the Gospel; in like manner, the candi
dates for the priesthood are examined and ordained
after the Gospel, and after ordination they say the
Nicene Creed with the congregation; the Bishop-
elect is questioned and ordained after the Creed and
Sermon, and then takes his place with his consecra-
tors for the offering and intercession which leads to
the more solemn part of the Communion Office.
And, again in accordance with ancient custom, the
Litany is said at every ordination, with a special
petition for those who are at the time to be admitted
to any of the sacred Orders. Those to be ordained
are presented to the Bishop by some one already in
Orders, who vouches for their learning and their
character (in the case of a Bishop-elect by two of the
276 THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A YER
Episcopal Order); in the case of candidates for the
diaconate and the priesthood, the people are called
upon to show cause, if cause there be, why they
should not be ordained ; in the case of a Bishop-elect,
testimonials are demanded and read, and a promise
of conformity, with the solemnity of an oath, is
required. An 'impediment' to ordination, as distin
guished from a 'crime,' is the failure to fulfil some
canonical requirement, as that the candidate has not
attained the requisite age, or has not satisfied his
examinations, or has failed to produce the necessary
testimonials.
The English Ordinal was framed in 1550 it was
still 1549 in Old Style less than a year after the
first Prayer Book was published; our own was set
forth in 1792, and the first service said from it was
the consecration of Bishop Claggett of Maryland
(see page 23).
The changes made in the Ordination Services from
1550 to the present day, with their Preface, have
been very few. Until 1662, the 'Veni, Creator
Spiritus' in the Ordering of Priests was sung after
the Gospel ; in that year it was removed to the
place which it now has, corresponding to its position
in the Consecration of Bishops. And from 155010
1662, at the laying-on of hands upon a candidate for
the priesthood or upon a Bishop-elect, there was no
mention of the Order conferred; the form in the one
case being 'Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins
thou dost forgive' etc., and in the other, 'Take the
THE ORDINAL 277
Holy Ghost; and remember that thou stir up' etc.
In our Book, the only change of any importance from
the English was the provision of an alternative form
at the laying-on of hands for the priesthood, of the
same tenor as that provided for the diaconate.
Nothing has been or is put into the hands of the
newly ordained, by the rubrics of these services,
except the New Testament in the case of deacons
and the Bible in the case of priests and Bishops;
save that from 1550 to 1552 the priest received the
chalice or cup with the bread, and the bishop the
pastoral staff as well as the Bible.
A comparison of these services with those which
had been used in early times and in the mediaeval
Church shows that there was little or nothing new in
the Ordinal of 1550, but that it was marked by a
simplicity and directness which were in decided con
trast to the offices as they had come to be used before
that time. It is evident that Archbishop Cranmer
and those who were associated with him, while they
affirmed solemnly that it was their intention that
the historic Orders should be 'continued and
reverently used and esteemed' in the Church of
England, wished to render the services more simple,
to make their essential act prayer with the laying-on
of hands, in accordance with the New Testament
(Acts vi. 6, xiii. 3, xiv. 23), and to free them from
accretions which had disturbed the balance of the
truths expressed in them, and again perhaps more
than anything else to vindicate for the ministry of
278 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
the Word its rightful place in the work of the priest
hood and the episcopate.
The old Roman service was very simple, with
little more than the Scriptural requirements, the
priests from an early day laying on hands with the
Bishop upon those who were advanced to the priest
hood (see i Timothy iv. 14), while the Bishop
uttered words of prayer. From the Gallican use
there came the ceremony of anointing the hands;
and also, introduced by analogy from the service for
the admission of sub-deacons (their office not being a
'holy order'), the presentation of the vessels of min
istry, 'porrectio instrumentorum^ which Pope Eu-
genius IV in 1439 was so f ar left to himself as to
declare the outward and visible sign in the 'sacra
ment' of Orders; and with the chalice and wafer put
into the hands of the priest words were said as to a
power conferred of offering sacrifice to God and cele
brating masses on behalf of the quick and the dead.
Still later, probably from a fear that the primitive
laying-on of hands might be neglected, or from the
knowledge that it was actually omitted, there was
inserted at the very end of the service a provision
that the Bishop should lay his hands on the priests,
who had already had a sort of ordination in three
ways by prayer (originally with the laying-on of
the hands of Bishop and priests), by unction, and by
the delivery of the vessels and say ' Receive the
Holy Ghost' with the Lord's words as to remitting
and retaining sins. The present Roman Pontifical,
THE ORDINAL 279
at least as used in this country, is in the same con
fused condition in regard to the ordination of priests.
Almost at the beginning of the service, after exhor
tations and a brief indirect prayer, the Bishop 'with
out saying any prayer whatsoever,' lays both hands
upon the head of each one. After this all the
priests who are present do the same. Next, the
Bishop and all the priests raise their right hands,
and hold them extended over the candidates while
the Bishop says another indirect prayer which does
not imply that any gift or office is conferred. The
unction of the hands and the presentation of a
chalice with wine and water and a paten with a
wafer, with the words 'Receive power to offer sacri
fice to God and to celebrate mass, as well for the
living as for the dead,' both take place before the
Gospel; and after this those who have been called
'candidates' are now called 'priests,' 'priests who
have been ordained.' They all say the service with
the Bishop, after the presentation of offerings, in
cluding the Words of Consecration. After the
Communion and the ablutions, the 'newly ordained
priests' rehearse the Apostles' Creed; and then as
they kneel before the Bishop he places both hands on
the head of each saying, 'Receive the Holy Ghost;
whose sins thou shalt forgive, they are forgiven
them ; and whose sins thou shalt retain, they are re
tained.' This last ceremony cannot possibly be an
ordination ; for those on whom hands were laid have
already celebrated mass with the Bishop. Evidently
280 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
the 'traditio instrumentorum' is the central point of
the service, even to-day. From the confusion of the
service and the great uncertainty as to what really
was the act of ordination, Cranmer and the other
revisers freed the English Ordinal.
There is no question as to the precise act in it by
which the deacons are ordained priests; and while
until 1662 there was no mention of the order con
ferred at the time of laying-on of hands, neither was
there such mention in the Roman use. If it be said
that in the latter the Bishop did confer power to offer
sacrifice and celebrate mass, so also in the English
office did the Bishop in giving the Bible give *au-
thority to preach the Word of God and to minister
the holy Sacraments' a grant which includes all
that is in the other and much besides. The
mediaeval use of 'Receive the Holy Ghost' was
retained, as seemly and instructive; but that these
words are not necessary is shown by the fact that for
centuries they were nowhere used; and the Ameri
can Church was faithful to primitive custom and
quite within her rights when she gave permission to
substitute another form of words for them, whatever
one may think as to the desirability of employing it.
Thus it may be seen from the purely liturgical
standpoint that it would be more reasonable to con
tend that, in following the teaching of Eugenius IV,
the Church of Rome had lost the succession of the
priesthood, than that in the years from 1550 to 1662
the Church of England failed to continue it.
THE ORDINAL 281
The reason for the insertion of the words in 1662,
'for the office and work of a priest [or of a Bishop]
in the Church of God,' was certainly not that the
revisers at that time felt that there was any doubt as
to the validity of the orders conferred since the first
adoption of the Ordinal. It is much more probable
that they thought it necessary, in the face of the
Presbyterianism which was prevalent and indeed had
had supremacy for a while, to affirm the distinction
in order between a priest (or presbyter) and a
Bishop. On that distinction, indeed, we need to lay
stress, and that not only against the advocates of
parity, who would exalt all presbyters to the episco
pate, but also against the papal claim that Bishops
are of the same order as priests, only endowed witji
certain special authority or 'faculties.'
The carefulness of Bishops Seabury and White as
they prepared the Ordinal for our Church is seen in
the change of a sentence in the form of words in
which, at the consecration of a Bishop, the congrega
tion is bidden to the Litany. In the English Book
it reads, "It is written also in the Acts of the
Apostles that the disciples who were at Antioch did
fast and pray, before they laid hands on Paul and
Barnabas and sent them forth." Now, in the light
of what St. Paul says at the beginning of the Epistle
to the Galatians, it is very doubtful whether the
transaction described in the thirteenth chapter of the
Acts can be called an ordination or designation of
Sts. Paul and Barnabas to the apostolate. For this
282 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
example, therefore, another was substituted in our
Book: "It is written also that the Holy Apostles
prayed before they ordained Matthias to be of the
number of the Twelve ; ' ' though even here there
might be some question as to the word 'ordain.'
The 'Veni, Creator Spiritus' is the only one of
many metrical hymns of the early and mediaeval
Church which was brought over into the offices of
the English Church. 1 It consists in the original of
six four-line stanzas (without the doxology) of what
we call long metre; and its composition has been
ascribed to St. Ambrose of Milan (died 397), to
Pope Gregory the Great (604), to the Emperor
Charles the Great (Charlemagne, 814), and to
Rhabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz (856).
Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology says that
"the hymn is clearly not the work of St. Ambrose
nor of Charles the Great, nor is there sufficient evi
dence to allow us to ascribe it to Gregory or to
Rhabanus Maurus;" so that this, "which has taken
deeper hold of the Western Church than any other
mediaeval hymn, the 'Te Deum' alone excepted,"
must remain anonymous. The first form of the com
mon metre version or paraphrase in sixteen stanzas,
including the doxology, was prepared by Cranmer
(as it is thought) for the Ordinal of 1550; it has
some good phrases, but is diffuse and in places un-
1 It should not be confounded with the * Veni, Sancte Spir
itus.' See Dictionary of Hymnology.
THE ORDINAL 283
rhythmical and lacks the tone of the original. It
was modified into its present form for the revision of
1662, at which time also the brief version in long
metre, even more condensed than the Latin itself,
was inserted as an alternative. This atter was the
work of Dr. John Cosin, Bishop of Durham, who
took a prominent part in preparing the new edition
of the Prayer Book and from whose pen came the
Collects written for that Book. Strangely enough,
neither version retains the word 'Creator,' which is
so striking a title of the Holy Spirit; it is found in
Hymns 380 and 381 of our Hymnal.
The Litany and the Communion Office are
reprinted here, that the Ordinal may be complete;
in these the word 'Bishop' is used throughout for
'Priest' or 'Minister.' What is meant by the addi
tion of 'and Suffrages' to the title of the Litany,
does not appear. In the preceding services the
special petition for those to be ordained is called a
'Suffrage,' but it would certainly seem that it must
be regarded as part of the Litany.
CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH AND
INSTITUTION OF MINISTERS
The two offices which follow are not in the Eng
lish Prayer Book. The Form of Consecration of a
Church or Chapel was taken in 1799 from one
framed by the English Convocation in 1712 (which,
however, lacked full authorization) ; and this in turn
was based on an office prepared by Dr. Lancelot
284 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, for the consecra
tion of a Chapel near Southampton in the year 1620.
The form of 1712 has now been for a long time cus
tomarily used in England. The place of the 'instru
ments of Donation and Endowment' is commonly
taken by a formal request to the Bishop, from the
corporation or authorities of the parish, that he will
consecrate the building and take it under his
spiritual jurisdiction and that of his successors in
office, including also a certificate, in the words of
Canon 45, "that the building and the ground on
which it is erected have been fully paid for, and are
free from lien or other incumbrance, and also that
such building and ground are secured from the
danger of alienation, either in whole or in part,
from those who profess and practise the doctrine,
discipline, and worship of this Church," except
under conditions allowed by the Canon. The read
ing of the Sentence of Consecration is the formal
consecration of the building, and after it the regular
service for the day begins.
The Office of Institution, which from its terms can
only be used for a rector, was drawn up in 1799 at
the request of the Convention of the Diocese of Con
necticut by the Rev. Dr. William Smith of Nor-
walk. 1 It was formally accepted by the Diocesan
1 This Dr. William Smith, a native of Scotland, once minis
ter of Stepney Parish, Maryland, and later principal of the
Episcopal Academy at Cheshire, who died in 1821, must not be
confounded with Dr. William Smith, Provost of the University
THE ORDINAL 285
Convention of Connecticut in 1804, but two years
before that time had been adopted by the Conven
tion of the Diocese of New York. In 1804 it was
also adopted by the General Convention, which four
years later changed its title to the present form,
made its use discretionary, and altered the phrase
ology that it might not seem to be in conflict with the
law of the land. It provides three well-worded pray
ers, to the three Persons of the Trinity, before the
Benediction from Hebrews xiii. 20, 21, and an ex
cellent 'cento' of petitions in the prayer at the end.
It has also some peculiarities. The Holy Commu
nion is here called 'the holy Eucharist,' a name not
applied to it in the Prayer Book, though (as we have
seen) very ancient. The word 'Altar' is also used
many times ; but a careful reading will show that it
probably does not mean the Lord's Table, but the
space enclosed by chancel-rails, as is the Methodist
use of the word to-day. Also the term 'Senior War
den' is used, though Senior and Junior Wardens are
unknown to canonical legislation both in this country
and in England ; the titles seem to have been bor
rowed from the Masonic order. This office of Insti
tution has really no legal value, either civil or
ecclesiastical; but it has an educational and moral
of Pennsylvania and President of the House of Deputies in
General Convention when the Prayer Book was revised, who
died in 1803. Dr. William Smith of Connecticut was a strong
advocate of chanting at a time when chanting was little
practised.
286 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
value; and for that reason might well be often
used.
It does not fall within the scope of this book to
treat of the Articles of Religion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE ORDINAL
Pullan (Leighton), The History of the Book of Common
Prayer (in Oxford Library of Practical Theology}. Chapter
XVIII on the Ordinal is valuable.
Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. The article on Ordina
tion, by Dr. Edwin Hatch, is very full and learned.
See also other dictionaries and encyclopedias.
On the recent Roman Controversy, there is nothing better
than the former part of Chapter VII and Appendix in Mober-
ly's ' Ministerial Priesthood.'
The numerous works on the validity of Anglican Orders need
not be mentioned here ; it is enough to refer to Lowndes
(Arthur) , Vindication of Anglican Orders.
The Rite of Ordination [of Deacons and Priests] according
to the Roman Pontifical, in Latin and English on opposite
pages, edited by J. S. M. Lynch, is published by the Cathedral
Library Association, New York.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
INDEX
Absolution, forms of, 73 ; in
Visitation of Sick, 253 sq.
Administration of Holy Com
munion, forms for, 152,
i58sq.
All Saints' Day, 129.
Alms, 1 80; alms and obla
tions, 182 sq.
Amen, its use, 72 sq.
Allow, 214, 24^.
Altar, 165; in Institution
Office, 285.
Andrewes, Bishop Lancelot,
284.
Articles of Religion, 3, 23,
286.
Athanasian Creed, 92 sqq. ;
declaration de, 95, 96.
Baptism, Ministration of,
(Chap. IX.), 205 sqq. ; an
cient services, 207 ; Pri
vate, 215; Adult, 218;
adult by immersion, 219;
hypothetical, 217, 221 ; dea
con as ministrant, 221.
Benedicite, 81.
Black Rubric, 16.
Breviary, 2; see Chap. III.
Burial of the Dead (Chap.
XIV.), 257 sqq.; service
in house, 261 sq. ., office
for infants, 265 sq.
C
Calendar, 48 sqq.
Catechism (Chap. X.), 223
sqq. ; proposed addition to,
228 sq.
Catechumens, 207.
Chancel, 166.
Charles II., Prayer Book of,
13.
Christmas, 122.
Chrism, use of, in Baptism,
206 ; in Confirmation, 233 ;
see Unction.
Chrisom, 209, 267; chrisom
child, 209 n.
Chrysostom, St., Prayer of,
105.
Churching of Women (in
Chap. XV.), 267 sq.
Coincidence of Holy-days,
130 sqq.
Collect, the word, 114 sqq.
Collects, in daily offices, 87,
88 ; sources of, no sqq.
Collects, Epistles, and Gos
pels (Chap. VI.), 114 sqq. ;
proposed, for Marriage,
248; former, for Burial,
259.
Comes, 118 sq.
Comfortable Words, 186.
Commandments, the Ten,
158, 174 sqq.; in Cate
chism, 229.
Commination, 112.
Communion, Holy, 136; see
Holy Communion.
Communion of the Sick, 199
sqq.
Communion service, postures
in, 169 sqq.
Confirmation (Chap. XL),
232 sqq. ; names in New
Testament, 232 sq. ; mean
ing of ' confirm,' 234, 236 ;
'hands' laid on, 235 sq.;
rubrics at end of office,
238 sq.
288
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Congress, Prayer for, 109.
Consecration, prayer of, 152
sqq. ; see Holy Commun
ion.
Consecration of a Church,
(in Chap. XVI I.), 283 sqq.
Convention, prayer for, 110.
Cosin, Bishop John, 110, 283.
Cranmer, Archbishop, 9, 65,
66, 99, 105, 152 sqq., 157,
208, 277, 282.
Creed, Apostles' and Nicene,
83 ; rubric before former,
84 sqq. ; Athanasian, 92
sqq. ; interrogative, 252 ; in
Holy Communion, 177; in
Baptism, 207,213.
Cross, sign of, in Baptism,
209 sqq. ; in Confirmation,
234 sq.
Cyril of Jerusalem, 223.
D
Daily offices, 63, 66 sqq.
Deacon, as ministrant of
Baptism, 221 ; of Matri
mony, 248 sq.
Dirige, 258.
Divine Liturgy ; see Holy
Communion.
Divine Office, 62, 90.
Dominical Letters ; see Sun
day Letters.
Drake, Sir Francis, 17.
Easter-day, rule for de
termining, 6 1 ; dates of,
60; name, 125.
Edward VI., Prayer Books
of, 8 sq.
Elizabeth, 209; Prayer Book
of, 12.
Ember-days, 57.
Epiphany, 121.
Epistles and Gospels, 119
sqq. ; see Collects ; an
nouncement of, 176 sq.
Eucharist, 136, 285 ; see Holy
Communion.
Eutychians, 143.
Evening Prayer (Chap. III.),
62 sqq. ; rubrics as to use,
69 sq.
Excommunication, 260.
Exhortations ; see in vari
ous offices.
Family Prayers, 370.
G
Gibson, Bishop Edward, 270.
Gloria in excelsis, 76, 150,
158, 193 sqq
Gloria Patri, 76.
Golden Numbers, 49 sq., 53.
Gradual, 151.
Gunning, Bishop Peter, 90.
H
Hermann, Archbishop, 185
209, 212.
Holy Communion, History
of the Office (Chap. VII.),
pp. 135 sqq.; Commentary
on the Office (Chap. VI 1 1.),
163 sqq. ; names, 135 sq. ;
earliest account, 139 ; earli
est liturgy, 141 ; families
of liturgies, 142; English
offices, 151 sqq.; Ameri
can office, 159 sqq.; Scot
tish offices, 1 60 sq. ; set
Administration, Commun
ion of the Sick, Oblation
and Invocation, Order of
the Communion.
Holy-days, in Chap. VI.; stt
Coincidence.
Holy Table, 165; see Lord's
Table.
Holy Week, 124.
Humble Access, Prayer of,
187 sq.
Hymns and Anthems, 46.
INDEX
Intrpits, 172 sqq.
Institution of Ministers (in
Chap. XVII. ), p. 284 sqq.
Invocation ; see Oblation.
Irish Prayer Book, 269.
James, St., Liturgy of, 142.
James I., 217; Prayer Book
of, 13.
Justin Martyr, 139, 206.
L
Laud, Archbishop, 13, 109.
Lawful Minister, 216 sq.
Lay Baptism; see Lawful
Minister.
Lent, 123.
Lessons, Tables of, history,
41 sqq.
Litany (Chap. IV.), 97 sqq.;
of Mamertus, 97, 98; of
1544, 99; analysis of, 102
sqq. ; Litany-days, 106.
Litany, Lesser, 97.
Liturgies, families of, 142
sqq.; comparative tables,
145 sqq.; notes on, 149
sqq.
Liturgy, 137 sq.; see Holy
Communion.
Lord's Prayer, 74 ; in Com
munion Office, 170 sq.
Lord's Supper, 135 ; see Holy
Communion.
Lord's Table, 165 sqq.
M
M. and N., 245.
Mamertus, Bishop of Vi-
enne, 97.
Man and wife, 249.
Manual, 2.
Mark, St., Liturgy of, 143.
Mass, 136 sq.
Matrimony, Solemnization
of (Chap. XI I.), 240 sqq.;
ancient ceremonies, 241 ;
at church door, 243 ; dea
con as ministrant, 248 sq.
Media vita, 263.
Missa fidelium and Missa
catechumenorum, 163.
Missal, 2 ; see Liturgies.
Mixture of cup, 182.
Morning and Evening Pray
er (Chap. III.), 62 sqq.;
rubrics as to use, 69 sq.
Mozarabic Baptismal Office,
209, 210, 212.
Mozarabic Liturgy, 151, 155.
Mysteries, 136.
N
N. or M., 227.
Nestorians, 142.
Non-jurors, 159 sq.
Notices and warnings, 178 sq.
Notker of St. Gall, 264.
Nowell, Alexander, 225.
O
Oblation and Invocation, 23,
144 sqq., 153.
Oblation, First, Oblatio
Primitiarum, 181.
Order of the Communion, 8,
151 sqq.
Ordinal, 23, (Chap. XVII.)
274 sqq.; changes in
offices, 277 sq. ; modern
Roman, 278 sq. ; reason
for changes in 1662, 281.
Ornaments Rubric, 15, 179
sqq.
Overall, Bishop John, 225.
Penitential Office, 112.
Pentecost, 126.
Pie, 3.
Placebo, 258.
Pontifical, 3 ; see Ordinal.
Prayer Book, American, his
tory of, 1 6 sqq.
Prayer Book, English, his-
tory of, 5 sqq.
290
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRA YER
Prayer of Consecration, 188
sq. ; at second Consecra
tion, 192 ; in Visitation of
Sick.
Prayers to be Used at Sea
(in Chap. XV.), 268 sq.
Processional, 2 ; see Chap.
Proper Prefaces, 187.
Prophecy, 151.
Proposed Book, 19 sq., 84.
Psalter (Chap. XVI.), 271
sqq. ; use of, 38, 40 ., 76.
Quignonez, Cardinal, his
Breviary, 65.
Requiem, 258.
Reservation of elements for
Communion, 196 sqq.
Reynolds, Bishop John, 90.
Right side of Lord's Table,
167.
Ring in Matrimony, 241, 246.
S
Sacramentaries, of Leo, Ge-
lasius, Gregory, 1 16.
Saints' Days, 48, 55, 128, 130
sqq. ; see Concurrence.
Seabury, Bishop, consecra
tion, 18; revision of Prayer
Book, 21 sq., 102 ., 278
sq.
Selections of Psalms, sug
gested use, 39.
Sequence, 151.
Services for Sunday, 35.
Smith, Dr. William, of Con
necticut, 284.
Smith, Dr. William, of Phila
delphia, 19.
Special Prayers and Thanks
givings (Chap. V.), 1 08
Sunday Letters, 47.
Syrian Liturgies, 142 sq.
T
Taylor, Bishop Jeremy, in,
256.
Te Deum, 77 sqq.
Ten Commandments, 174
sqq.; see Commandments.
Tersanctus, 150, 187.
Thanksgiving-day, 58, 132 ;
service for, 269 sq.
Title-page, etc., note on, 34.
Transfiguration, 129.
Trisagion, 150, 264; see Ter
sanctus.
Triumphal Hymn, 150, 187.
U
Unction of the Sick, 250,
254 sq., see also Chrism.
V
Veni, Creator Spiritus, 276,
282.
Vestments, 16.
Visitation of Prisoners (in
Chap. XV.), 269.
Visitation of the Sick (Chap.
XIII.), 250 sqq.; absolu
tion in, 253 sq. ; unction
in, 250, 254 sq.; Creed in,
252.
W
Warden, Senior, 285.
Washington, President, 89.
White, Bishop, consecration,
20; revision of Prayer
Book, 19 sqq., 278 sq.
Whitsunday, 126 sqq.
Word and Holy Spirit, 189 sq.
X
Ximenes, Cardinal, 143.
Z
Zante, 142.
BX Hart
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