CONTENTS
           
            I.—THE MATERIAL OF THE PRAYER BOOK, Page 5
            II.—WHAT IS THE PRAYER BOOK? Page 8
            III.—HOW IT GREW, Page 14
            IV.—THE PRAYER BOOK SYSTEM, Page 24
            V.—HOW THE SERVICES ARE TO BE PERFORMED, Page 33
            VI.—CONCLUSION, Page 38
           
            SOME LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF WORSHIP, Page 41
            THE FAMILY TREE OF THE PRAYER BOOK, Page 44

 

CHAPTER I
THE MATERIAL OF THE PRAYER BOOK
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For the men of our race two books stand out above all others. The Bible has, of course, a place by itself; it is the sacred-library of the Christian revelation, and first among the books of the world. But next to it England would place the Book of Common Prayer.

There are, of course, parties in the Church, just as there are parties in the State; but Churchmen of all parties agree in their devotion to the Prayer Book—even those who neglect to carry out many of its directions. Nonconformists also, although they often misunderstand us, take the Prayer Book as part of their heritage, and use it more and more: indeed, in many Nonconformist chapels the service is nowadays almost indistinguishable from that of the Church.

Now the Prayer Book is full of Holy Scripture, and it is the great link which the ordinary Englishman has between our own age and the age when the last book of the Bible was written. It carries on for us the Christian Revelation from the first century to the present day, and it gathers for us gems of Christian prayer and praise from the centuries that lie between.

The "Lesser Litany," for instance (Lord, have mercy upon us), is the Kyrie Eleison which takes us back to the early days when the people of Imperial Rome spoke [5/6] Greek—you will remember that S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans is in Greek; and the great hymn of praise at Holy Communion, Glory be to God on high, or Gloria in Excelsis, comes from the Eastern Church in the period between the first and the fourth centuries. Many of the Collects are of the fifth and sixth centuries, while three of them (Third Sunday in Advent, Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, and Easter Even) are as late as the Restoration and first appeared in 1662.

Take as an example of all this the beginning of the Communion Service:—

1. The Lord's Prayer, given by our Lord Himself, and taken from the Gospel according to S. Matthew.

2. The Collect for Purity. This, with the Lord's Prayer, was in the Sarum Missal as part of the Preparation for Holy Communion before the Reformation. It is found as well in Anglo-Saxon Communion Services of the eighth and ninth centuries; and it is supposed to have been written by S. Gregory the Great, the man who saw the little English slave-children in the marketplace of Rome, and sent S. Augustine to convert their fathers, A.D. 596.

3. The Ten Commandments are from the ancient Jewish Church, ages before the coming of our Lord. The Responses to them contain the Lord, have mercy, which, as we have already seen, comes from the Primitive Church long before S. Gregory.

4. The two Collects for Church and King were composed for the First Prayer Book of 1549, in the time of Edward VI, perhaps by Archbishop Cranmer, who was burnt by Queen Mary. But it had always been the custom to have prayers for the king since Saxon times.

5. The Collect of the Day is generally, as we have seen, an ancient Latin prayer translated from the Sarum Missal by Cranmer or another. Most are from the Communion Service of S. Leo (c. 450), or of Gelasius (c. 480), or of S. Gregory (c. 580). But nineteen [6/7] (including the First and Second Sundays in Advent, Christmas Day, Quinquagesima Sunday, and the First and Second Sundays after Easter) were specially written for the Prayer Book of 1549; and three, as we have seen, were added when our Prayer Book took its present form in 1662.

6. The Epistles are generally from the New Testament, and occasionally from the Old.

7. The Gospels are always from one of the Four Evangelists.

8. The Nicene Creed was originally drawn up at the Council of Nicea, A.D. 325, in the reign of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, when the days of Pagan persecution were over, and the civilized world accepted the Cross.

9. The Sermon in your church belongs, I hope, to the present day, and was composed during last week.

Perhaps we may stop there. The Church Militant Prayer and the Consecration Prayer are mainly from the Sarum Missal. The Exhortations, Confession and Absolution, and Comfortable Words were inserted into the Latin Service in 1548. From the Sarum Missal is also the part that is sung from Sursum Corda ("Lift up your hearts") to the Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy"), as well as the Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory be to God on High"); but these are found also in all the old Liturgies or Communion Services, both those in Greek and those in Latin, and take us back perhaps to Apostolic times: we find, for instance, S. Cyprian (the Bishop of Carthage who was martyred in A.D. 258) mentioning the Sursum Corda, and it was no doubt even then an ancient form. [* The "Sursum Corda" is found in the Canons of Hippolytus, c. A.D. 200. These Canons also give, among other things, the Words of Administration—"This is the Body of Christ" "This is the Blood of Christ."]

CHAPTER II
WHAT IS THE PRAYER BOOK?
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[8] It is now time that we asked ourselves the question, "What precisely is the Prayer Book?"

THE TITLE-PAGE

We generally turn to the title-page and the preface of a book to find out what it is. Let us do the same with the Prayer Book.

The Title-page, to begin with, will prevent our making one very common mistake. The Thirty-nine Articles are not part of the Prayer Book. They are bound up with it, just as hymn-books often are. That is all.

The Title-page tells us that the Prayer Book consists of five things:—

1. Common Prayer, i.e., the "Choir Services," Mattins and Evensong, when something is said.

2. Administration of the Sacraments, e.g., that of the Holy Communion, when something is done.

3. Other Rites and Ceremonies, i.e., the "Occasional Services," when something is said or done sometimes, e.g., the Churching of Women.

4. The Psalter, i.e., the Psalms, which form so large a part of the Choir Services.

5. The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, i.e., the "Ordinal" by which the Church's Ministers are made.

Furthermore, all these services are those of the Church, that is of the whole Catholic Church, arranged specially for English use, according to the Use of the Church of England.

But this English Prayer Book is not the only Service [8/9] Book in the English language. The Episcopal Church in Scotland has a very beautiful Communion Service of its own, called the Scottish Liturgy, which is more like that of the First English Prayer Book than our own. The Anglican Church in America has its own form of the Prayer Book, with a Communion Service very like the Scottish. The Anglican Church in Ireland also has its own Prayer Book, which is slightly different from ours. Perhaps before long Africa, and India, and other places as well, will have Prayer Books of their own.

Thus among English-speaking people there is already a family of Anglican service-books. This is one of the three great liturgical families of modern Christendom, which are:—

(1) The Anglican, (2) The Byzantine, i.e., Greek and Russian, and (3) the Latin, which are used by Roman Catholics. The three together (Anglican, Byzantine, and Roman) include most of the service-books of the Catholic Church. [* There are some minor families, and a complete list would give the following: Eastern (1) Syrian, (2) Egyptian, (3) Persian, (4) Byzantine; Western (5) Roman, (6) Gallican, and (7) Anglican. But for practical purposes 1, 2, and 3 may now be classed with the Byzantine, and 6 with the Roman.]

THE PREFACES

The Title-page, then, declares that it is not any sectarian services that we use, but those of the Church. If you read the Prefaces carefully you will see that great stress is laid on this, and that there are many references to "the whole Catholic Church," and to the "ancient Fathers." These three Prefaces are a great defence of the Catholic system of worship, as maintained throughout the Church in all ages, as against the attacks of Puritans. The Protestant world, as a whole, gave up the Church Services; the English [9/10] Church kept them; and the third Preface ("Of Ceremonies") ends by saying that "we condemn no other nations." Let us, then, refrain from judging either Roman Catholics on the one hand or Protestants on the other, and be content to be loyal to our own Church, and through her to the Church Universal.

THE LECTIONARY

But, if you want to follow the services in church, it is not enough to have a Prayer Book. You also need a Bible, or rather those portions of the Bible which are read in the First and Second Lessons at Mattins and Evensong. These portions form the Lectionary, a word which, like "Lesson," comes from the Latin for "to read." They are specified in the Kalendar with the Table of Lessons; and the Prayer Book and Lectionary are often bound up together and sold as one volume. This forms a complete Service Book, and is most useful to have—especially as it enables Church people to read the daily Mattins and Evensong at home, when they are not able to come to Church, as they are expected to do every day by the Preface Concerning the Service of the Church in the Prayer Book.

The Lectionary, then, provides all faithful members of the Church with a rich store of Bible reading, so that those who come regularly to Church hear all the important parts of the Bible read through every year—or, when they cannot come every day, they can read them at home.

Further, the Lectionary teaches a truth which would save people from the principal religious difficulty of the present day. It is this. Many people, the young especially, have had their faith upset by arguments against the Old Testament. Now the Lectionary shows that the Church has never regarded all the Bible as inspired in precisely the same way, or as [10/11] of exactly equal value. It puts the New Testament first; for that is read through twice a year. Some parts of the Old Testament are also read more than once; most of it is read once, but some parts are omitted altogether. Their place is taken by the wise and beautiful "Apocryphal" books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus and Baruch—the absence of which from the Bibles generally sold is a great loss.

There is yet a further selection in the matter of Bible readings. For the most precious of all are
printed in the Prayer Book itself as the Gospels and Epistles. And even here there is a distinction; for the highest of all, the Gospels which contain the life and words of our Lord, are read with more ceremony than the Epistles: and the people stand up to do them honour, whereas they sit for the Epistle and other Lessons.

TEACHING: THE CHURCH CATECHISM

Even now we have not finished, if we are to mention all that happens when we come in the ordinary way to church. The Church Catechism holds a very special place; for one of its rubrics says that it is to be the text-book of instruction at Evensong on Sundays and Holy-days. The Catechism, then, contains the doctrine which we Church folk have to understand and believe. Not the Thirty-nine Articles, as some people imagine,—you are not obliged to understand them, though they are very good and useful, for no one can understand them without a good deal of knowledge and study. But the Catechism everyone can understand; and that is the religion which, according to the Prayer Book, you must thoroughly know and believe. God grant that it may be understood, and believed, and practised more and more! It is largely because of the teaching of the Catechism that our fellow countrymen have responded [11/12] so readily to the idea of Duty; [* "'Duty' is a word which is specially dear to the ears and hearts of Englishmen. Foreigners have often been struck by its recurrence in dispatches from the leaders of our armies, and in the debates of our Parliament; and have noted the fact as characteristic of our nation. That it is so is beyond doubt largely due to the influence that three centuries of Catechism teaching have exerted upon us."—Arthur W. Robinson, The Church Catechism Explained (Cambridge University Press). p. 67.] and that idea has yet to be pressed till all that the Catechism teaches about it is realized. Indeed, if we tried to practise thoroughly the two "Duties" of the Catechism, there would be no more misery and selfishness and sin in our land.

AUTHORIZED ADDITIONS

Have we finished yet? So far as the Prayer Book goes, Yes. But not so far as the Prayer Book authority goes. For the use of Hymns has been authorized in the Church for the last thousand years—both before and since the Reformation; and, as you know, we could not follow our Sunday Services without a Hymn Book. The hymns we sing belong to every age, and almost every part and party in Christendom, and many are by great and famous men of old time. Some are translations of the "Office Hymns," as they are called, of the old Breviaries. [* One of these Office Hymns is in the Prayer Book, viz., "Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire"—the Veni Creator, two translations of which are given in the Ordering of Priests. Many others are familiar through our Hymnals, for instance, "O Trinity of blessed light" (by S. Ambrose), and "The royal banners forward go."] Again, sometimes Anthems are sung in church; and they are always sung in cathedrals, because of the rubric which says that in such places "here followeth the Anthem." Such anthems are generally prose set to music, but sometimes they are verse and are in fact hymns.

Even now there is one more thing to be said. Sometimes you go to church for a service that is not in the Prayer Book. These Additional Services are very useful; they are important because they give us freedom and [12/13] elasticity, and allow the Church to meet special modern needs. They, too, have always been allowed under proper authority; and thus this use, like that of hymns, is part of the Church system, though it is not in the Prayer Book itself.

CHAPTER III
HOW IT GREW

It would be a long story if I were to tell how our present Prayer Book came to its present form. We should have to begin with the earliest account of a Christian Service, which was sent by the Pagan writer, Pliny, to the Pagan Emperor, Trajan, only about a dozen years after the death of S. John the Evangelist (c. A.D. 112), and which describes the Christians and mentions what we should now call an Early Celebration. Then we should have to describe the different rites that grew up in different parts of the world, from Rome to Constantinople, from Persia to Egypt; we should then have to say something about the services of the Church of Ancient Britain before the Anglo-Saxons came, and of the Anglo-Saxon Church after the coming of S. Augustine, and thus on to the Church in the Middle Ages when our glorious English cathedrals were being built.

THE HOLY COMMUNION
NEARLY EIGHTEEN CENTURIES AGO

Here let us be content with a few instances. We happen to have an account of the Eucharist written by a Christian for the benefit of another Pagan Emperor, Antoninus, about thirty years later than the earliest account mentioned above. It is by S. Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 140), and he describes a Baptism with the Holy Communion following, as well as a Sunday Eucharist.

[15] The service, he tells us, consisted of the following parts:—

(a) Preparation.
Lessons: "The records of the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets."
Sermon: "The President verbally instructs or exhorts us."

(b) Offertory.
Intercessions: "Prayers in common both for ourselves . . . and all others everywhere."
Kiss of Peace: "We salute one another with a kiss when we have concluded the prayers."
Offertory: "Then is brought to the President of the brethren, bread, and a cup of water and wine."

(c) Canon.
Prayer of Consecration: "The President offers up prayers and thanksgivings with all his strength, and the people give their assent by saying Amen."

(d) Communion.
Communion of priest and people: "And there is a distribution and a partaking by every one of the
Eucharistic Elements."
Reservation: "And to those who are not present, they are sent by the hands of the deacons."

FIFTEEN CENTURIES AGO

If we go from the second to the fourth century we reach a time of which we know a great deal more. The Holy Communion in the fourth and fifth centuries consisted of the following main parts:

(a) Preparation.
Lessons, i.e., Lesson (from Old Testament), Epistle, Gospel; Sermon; Dismissal of non-Christians.

(b) Offertory.
[16] Prayers, Kiss of Peace; Offering of Bread and Wine, and other things.

(c) Canon.
"Lift up your hearts," Preface and Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration, Intercessions.

(d) Communion (followed by the Post-Communion).
Communion of priest and people, Thanksgiving, Dismissal of Christians.

HOLY COMMUNION TO-DAY

You see at once how our service to-day consists of the same principal parts. The Intercessions in (c) are now in our Church Militant Prayer, which is part of the Offertory in the English and American Liturgies, though in the Scottish Liturgy it comes in the Canon. There is ancient precedent for both positions; indeed in S. Justin Martyr's service, as we have seen, they were part of the Offertory.

(a) Preparation.
Lord's Prayer, etc., Lesson (Ten Commandments), Collects, Epistle, Gospel; Sermon.

(b) Offertory.
Offering of Bread and Wine, and of Alms, followed by Church Militant Prayer.

(e) Canon.
"Lift up your hearts," Preface and Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration.

(d) Communion (followed by Post-Communion).
Communion of priest and people; Prayer of Oblation or Thanksgiving, Gloria in Excelsis.
Dismissal: ("Shall let them depart with this Blessing").

[17] THE CHOIR SERVICES

All through Christian history the various services were changing and developing, but all the time you would easily recognize them as the same as our present ones. Take, for instance, Mattins and Evensong. In the very earliest ages the Christians had morning and evening prayer, at cock-crow and at lamp-lighting, and they also made a special point of going to church on Saturday evening in order to prepare for Sunday Communion—a most excellent practice and an important part of Sunday observance.

A THOUSAND YEARS AGO

We do not know what these morning and evening prayers consisted of in those very early times; but we know exactly what they were in the eighth century at Rome. And we know also what they were like everywhere in the Middle Ages. It would be rather confusing if I were to give here all the details or were to include the other choir services, [* There were eight choir services in the Middle Ages, besides additional ones for the Blessed Virgin and the Departed, viz.: Mattins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Evensong, and Compline. But towards the end of the Middle Ages the clergy took to joining them together so that they made two services out of the eight, the first six together being called Mattins, and the last two Evensong. Thus they formed a very complicated, lengthy, and confused kind of Morning and Evening Prayer. This was rendered still more burdensome by the addition of the offices of the Blessed Virgin and the Departed, so that often the clergy neglected the services altogether.] more especially as during the Middle Ages a number of little additions were made which caused them to be very complicated and difficult to follow (see p. 20). Let us, then, take Evensong and put the main points in a table as simply as possible. Here is the old service on one side, and on the other the principal additions that were made in the Middle Ages, i.e., about the time when William the Conqueror and his Norman successors were reigning in England.

[18] EVENSONG

The eighth century Service.          
"O God, make speed," etc.    
"Glory be to the Father," etc;     
Psalms.           
Lesson.
Added in the Middle Ages.
Lord's Prayer.
The eighth century Service.
Canticle (Magnificat). "Lord, have mercy," etc.
Lord's Prayer (or on Sundays Collect of Day), etc.
Added in the Middle Ages.
Hymn.

The eighth century Service
"O Lord, show Thy mercy upon us," etc.
Added in the Middle Ages.
Collect of Day and other Collects.

In the First Prayer Book (1549) a second Lesson was added; and the Canticle Nunc Dimittis ("Lord, now lettest thou thy servant") was put after it, together with the Apostles' Creed. Both Nunc Dimittis and Creed were taken from the old choir service of Compline, which had often been treated as part of Evensong, as I have already said on p. 13.

In 1552 the Exhortation "Dearly beloved," and the Confession and Absolution were ordered to be said at the beginning. In 1662 the extra Prayers after the Anthem were printed at the end. So we come to the service of Evensong as we now have it.

MATTINS

I have taken Evensong because it is easier to understand than Mattins. In the Middle Ages Mattins and (at least) Lauds, said together as one service, were often called by the general name of Mattins. Mattins [18/19] included the Venite, etc., and on festivals the Te Deum; Lauds contained the Benedicite and Benedictus. These, with the usual Psalms and Lessons, still form the main part of Mattins as we have it at the present day.

REFORMATION

But how did these changes from the old Latin services to the English Prayer Book come about?

Our services underwent a "reformation" during the hundred years between 1542 and 1662—in other words between the reigns of Henry VIII and Charles II. It was not the first, by any means; for, as we have seen, the service books of the Catholic Church have been altered many times, and have been in many languages. [* Even in the Middle Ages there were differences in the services in different places. The Sarum Use was followed in the great part of England, and was also used in Scotland and in parts of Wales and Ireland; but in parts of the North of England the service-books of the York Use were used; and Hereford also had its own.]

Ours were altered for several reasons, some of which are explained in the Prefaces of the Prayer Book.

In the first place printing had been invented; and besides this, Englishmen all now spoke one language, whereas in former times uneducated people had spoken English dialects which were almost like different languages, while educated people read and wrote in Latin, and for long after the Conquest French had been the language of the aristocracy and of the law-courts in England.

Now, then, at last it was possible to print books, and to print them in English, and so to give everybody who could read a Prayer Book that he could understand.

Furthermore, the old services had become very complicated; so that, as the Preface Concerning the Service says, it was more difficult to find all the different places required for one service than to say the service when they were found.

[20] And, before printing, when written books were difficult to make and very big and expensive, it was impossible to put all the services into one book. So each person who took part in the service had his own. The priest at Communion had a Missal with his part: the deacon had a Gospel-book with his: the sub-deacon had an Epistle-book: the singers had a Grail or Gradual. Other books (Breviaries, etc.) were needed for the choir services; others (Pontificals) for the bishop's services, such as Ordination; others (Manuals) for the Occasional Services; and even Processions were in a separate volume. Thus it was out of the question for the laity to follow the services in a book; all they could do was to have little simplified books of their own, and even these were an expensive luxury.

But now, at last, it was possible to print all these services in one book, if only they were shortened and simplified; and, as the Bible also could be printed, it needed no longer be a rare book, because it was no longer enormously expensive, as it had been when it was all written by hand. So it had become easy to read as much of the Bible as was wanted, because every Church could now possess a copy of the Scriptures. In this way two books, the Bible and the Prayer Book, would supply everybody's need; and everybody who knew his letters could read them for themselves.

Thus the time was ripe. But another cause brought all to a climax. Many people were dissatisfied with the old services not only because they had become complicated and burdensome (p. 19), but because they contained things that were undoubtedly superstitious and untrue. Abuses had crept in. The Pope also had acquired a good deal of power over the English Church. In the reign of Henry VIII the bishops declared in Convocation that the Pope, as a foreign bishop, could have no authority over the Church of England. Thus [20/21] change came with overwhelming force. We call it the Reformation.

At the Reformation the old Latin Services were translated into English, shortened, simplified, and altered where necessary, and printed in one volume—the "Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments."

THE STAGES OF CHANGE

But this did not happen all at once. Here are the principal stages:—

1542. (Henry VIII) Convocation meets to consider the question.

1544. THE LITANY in English brought out.

1548. (Edward VI) The Order of the Communion (consisting of the Exhortation, "Ye that do truly," Confession, Absolution, Comfortable Words, "We do not presume" and the words of Administration) inserted in the Latin Service.

1549. THE FIRST ENGLISH PRAYER BOOK.

1552. A Second Prayer Book published. This was the First Book considerably altered, mainly through the influence of the foreign Reformers. Before it had time to come into use King Edward died and Queen Mary came to the throne and restored the Latin Services.

1559. (Elizabeth) The Third Prayer Book, which was the Second Book improved, and very like our present Prayer Book. It was used throughout Elizabeth's great reign, and was violently attacked by the Puritans.

1604. (James I) The Fourth Prayer Book. There were not many alterations in this, but the concluding part of the Catechism (the section about the Sacraments) was added.

1637. (Charles I) [22] A Prayer Book drawn up for Scotland, but scarcely ever used, though through Scotland it was the parent of the American Liturgy, and it had some influence on the present English Prayer Book also.

1645-1660. (The Commonwealth). From the execution of Charles I to the Restoration the Puritans were in power. They behaved most intolerantly, drove the clergy out of their parishes, forbade even sentences of the Prayer Book to be read in church, and put people in prison even for using the Prayer Book in private houses.

1662. (Charles II) THE PRESENT PRAYER BOOK. After the Restoration the bishops revised the proscribed book, considerably improved it, and produced the Fifth English Prayer Book, which is the one we now use in England. They wrote a new Preface, which now comes first, and is called "The Preface."

Thus the making of our present Prayer Book took just a hundred and twenty years.

Since then, in addition to a great extension of hymn-singing, one change has been made of importance, viz.:—

1871 (Victoria) In this year the old Bible Lessons were altered, and our present Lectionary drawn up.

But there is printed at the end of recently-printed Prayer Books, an additional service which is later still. This is the new Accession Service (Edward VII) which was drawn up in 1902.

THE SCOTTISH LITURGY AND AMERICAN
PRAYER BOOK

In Scotland there was no such gradual reformation as in England; there the Church was all but overthrown [22/23] and the power of the Puritan party was so great that even when the Prayer Book of 1637 was introduced they refused to have it, and drove out the bishops. After the restoration of Charles II the bishops did not dare to bring in a Prayer Book; at the Revolution in 1689 they adhered to the Jacobite political party and in consequence the old Church was disestablished by William of Orange, who established the Presbyterians instead. Persecuted for their political opinions, but free from Puritan interference, the faithful remnant of Churchmen gradually revived the 1637 Communion Service, and some very learned bishops reformed it in accordance with primitive models, and printed in 1764 the beautiful Liturgy now used in many Scottish churches.

When the Church people in America wanted to have a bishop consecrated after the War of Independence, the English bishops were too much afraid of political consequences to do it; but the disestablished Scottish bishops had no such fears, and readily consecrated for them Dr. Samuel Seabury at Aberdeen in 1784. Seabury introduced a liturgy very like the Scottish into his diocese of Connecticut; and when the time came for the American Prayer Book to be drawn up, the Communion Service came to be modelled upon the Scottish form. The American Prayer Book, since that time, has been altered and improved on several occasions, but the service for the Holy Eucharist remains practically the same as when it was compiled in 1790.

CHAPTER IV
THE PRAYER BOOK SYSTEM

[24] The English Church, when she was thus building up during a hundred and twenty years our present Prayer Book, did not shut her eyes to the new ideas of that century of Reformation; she added many features which the spirit of the Reformation demanded, and she also removed many of the old parts, and made one handy book out of what had been a small library. Some people wish that less had been removed, and less added; others wish that the alterations had been greater. People will never all think alike.

CATHOLIC

But it is certain that the English Church was providentially guided to keep the Catholic character of her services. Now nothing is so mistaken as to use the word "Catholic" as if it meant "Roman Catholic." The Prayer Book shows us quite clearly that it is disloyal in a Churchman to do so. The Prayer Book makes us declare solemnly that we believe in the Catholic Church; and this declaration is required of every one who is baptized, for one of the questions asked at Baptism is—"Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church?" And it is noticeable that the word "Protestant" does not occur at all in the Prayer Book, Articles, or Canons, while the word "Catholic" occurs many times. The Prayer Book does not trouble to protest against the Christians of other countries. It takes the more Christian and more dignified course of minding its [24/25] own business, and declaring that "in these our doings we condemn no other nations."

So then, the intention of the English Reformers was to give us services that are Catholic, but not Roman Catholic. At the same time they were not in the least afraid of things because Roman Catholics used them; and thus, as we have seen, a great part of our services is from the Latin, and is the same as Romanists still use to-day. The largest part of the Church Services (including the Psalms and Lessons) is from the Bible, but next to the Bible by far the largest part is from the old Latin Services. Thus the Anglican Reformers were not blinded by prejudice: they saw evils which they tried to mend, but they did not throw away the gold because the purse wanted mending.

THE PURITANS

The Puritans bitterly opposed the Church of England for this reason; they cut off the head of the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Laud), when they got into power; and, as we have seen, they put people in prison for using the Prayer Book even in private.

The whole of the century between Elizabeth's coming to the throne and the Restoration was taken up by this great struggle with the Puritans. They not only attacked our ritual (that is, the services themselves), but they also attacked the ceremonial, that is, the ceremonies with which the services were conducted. They attacked the use of the surplice just as much as they attacked that more ornate vestment, the cope; they refused to use a ring at weddings; they would not have the sign of the cross made even at Baptism; they would not even have the Burial Service, because it is a way of praying for the departed; and they used to put their dead in the earth without a word of prayer.

We cannot but be glad that modern Nonconformists [25/26] have given all this up, and are now fond of copying the Prayer Book, because it proves that our forefathers were right. But we must not forget the fierce opposition under which our Prayer Book took its present form; for this shows that its Catholic character was not due to accident. The Puritans were never tired of pointing out that the Prayer Book was Catholic; and if Archbishop Laud, for instance, had given up what they attacked, he would have saved his life. But the Church authorities would not give it up. They suffered, and the Prayer Book was saved.

EVASION

None the less, there remained a good deal of Puritan feeling in England, and this was helped in the time of the four Georges by a widespread laziness and carelessness on the part of Churchmen. Consequently many important things in the Prayer Book were evaded. People neglected the rubrics and many parts of the services.

Good men protested against this. John Wesley and his brother, in the eighteenth century, founded the Methodists in order to carry out better the Prayer Book system. This may seem strange, since Methodists to-day are Dissenters; but it is true—John and Charles Wesley were very strict Churchmen. Then, in the nineteenth century, there arose the Oxford Movement, as it is called, the great Church Revival which was led by Keble, Pusey, and others; and this led to the Prayer Book being better obeyed. But the neglect and evasion of former years have left very deep marks in the habits of our people; and consequently the system of the Church of England is still very imperfectly carried out. We are improving, but it takes a long time to get straight.

Take as an example of this the practice of fasting. [26/27] Most Church folk still do not fast. Perhaps you do not. Well, the reason is because several generations have grown up that have forgotten all about it. Many people think it "very High Church" to fast. Yet the Salvation Army does it, and has a week of Self-Denial every year. Now, fasting is often mentioned in the New Testament. Our Lord fasted (S. Matt. iv. 2), and we pray on the First Sunday in Lent that we may
use "such abstinence." And our Lord tells us in S. Matt. vi. 16 in what spirit we ought to fast. Now, the Prayer Book gives a Table of Fasting Days after the Kalendar: and the rubric after the Creed at Holy Communion says that the parish priest is to announce every Sunday from the pulpit what Fasts are to be observed during the coming week. How strange, then, that the practice of regular self-denial should have been given up!

This shows that when some people talk about Churchmen being "disloyal" or "lawless," they
often do not know what they are saying. The truth is that nearly everyone is more or less disloyal to the Prayer Book, but not in the way that those critics imagine. Let us not throw stones at other people, but let us try to keep the rules of the Prayer Book better ourselves.

We have not yet recovered from this evasion of the Prayer Book, and therefore we have no right to find fault with others. But we are getting better every year. When we have got quite straight, and have raised ourselves out of our careless habits, the English Church will be such a power in the world as it has never been before.

RESULTS OF EVASION

The Church lost her power because the Prayer Book was neglected. For instance, nothing is more important [27/28] than the religious training of the young. If children are not taught, a nation gradually becomes heathen. This is just what has happened in England. The masses of the people are Christians only in name. They are baptized, married, and buried by the Church, and that is all. Why? Because, instead of being brought up as Christians, their fathers, through many generations, were not taught at all. So bad had been the negligence of the clergy that, at the end of the eighteenth century, a layman started Sunday Schools in order to give the children a better chance of learning about religion: and a little later National Schools were begun. But by that time the working-classes, as a whole, had ceased to be communicants, and so they remain to the present day. And even since Sunday Schools began how little we have succeeded in teaching the faith of the Church!

Well, the first rubric after the Catechism orders the parish priest to teach the Catechism diligently on all Sundays and Holy-days. And the second rubric orders all parents and employers to send the young people to this instruction. This was absolutely disregarded for generations, and that was how the masses of the people lost their religion. Catechising has only been gradually restored in our time, and is by no means established yet. And it will take many generations to recover the lost ground. Religion is like money in this—it is much easier to squander it than to get it back again.

A CHRISTIAN'S LIFE ACCORDING TO THE
PRAYER BOOK

Let us see, then, what the Prayer Book system will be when we have come back into the habit of carrying it out.

The Churchman is helped by the grace of God all through his life, from the cradle to the grave. He is baptized as a little child, and thus brought into the [28/29] Holy Catholic Church and made a member of Christ. As soon as he is old enough to understand, he is taught the Catechism diligently, thoroughly, regularly, from week to week, while his elders sit by and listen—for
they are expected to be present.

When he has come to years of discretion, and is no longer a little child, he is brought to the Bishop to be fortified by Confirmation. After Confirmation he becomes a regular communicant, going to the Lord's Service every Lord's Day, indeed on Holy-days as well as Sundays. [* The Prayer Book provides Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for the red-letter Saints' Days just the same as for Sundays.]

Thus at Baptism he begins his spiritual life, just as he begins his natural life at birth. [* See the 3rd chapter of S. John's Gospel, where our Lord explains this as being "born again."]

At Catechizing he learns about his spiritual life.

At Confirmation he is strengthened in his spiritual life.

At Communion he is given spiritual food to support his spiritual life, just as at ordinary meals he is given common food to support his natural life. [* See the 6th chapter of S. John's Gospel, where our Lord says that except we are fed with the Body of Christ we have "no life," that is no spiritual life, in us.]

If he is married, he comes for the blessing of the Church; and at the end of the Marriage Service a rubric tells the newly-married pair that they ought then, or as soon after as possible, to make their Communion. If there are any children, the mother comes to be Churched; and then the little one is brought to Baptism, and the "Occasional Services" are begun over again for another little Christian.

Lastly, when illness comes, the Church is there with her blessing once more for his Visitation, Absolution, and Communion; and at the end of all she receives his body for the last time within her walls, and commends his soul to God in the Burial of the Dead.

[30] Thus the events in a Christian's life have taken us through a considerable part of the Prayer Book—the part that lies between the Thanksgivings and the Psalter.

"ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE"

Now let us look at the rest of the Prayer Book—the parts that concern the everyday life of the Christian, viz.:—

(1) The Kalendar (including the Lectionary).
(2) The large section from Mattins to the end of the Prayers and Thanksgivings.
(3) The Psalter.

How does the Church of England expect you and me to worship God from day to day? More than we most of us do. The bad habits of many generations have left us far behind this Christian ideal, and often we cannot live up to it if we would. Holy-days, for instance, used to be real holidays, when all the people had a rest; and then it was easier to come to church. But Oliver Cromwell made people work on these days, and took away the people's holidays; and so it has been more difficult to go to church ever since.

Still, most of us could worship God more than we do. We might come to church before work begins, for instance, on Holy-days, and many can often come on ordinary week-days also.

Here, at any rate, is what the Prayer Book expects of us:—

1. Every day of the week. Morning Prayer in the morning and Evening Prayer in the evening, "that the people (by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the church) might continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God." [* The Preface "Concerning the Service of the Church." See also the Order at the end of this Preface; and notice how often the word "daily" comes in the Prayer Book.]

2. Wednesdays and Fridays. [31] The Litany in addition to Mattins and Evensong.

3. Holy-days, i.e., the Saints' Days, etc., "to be observed." The Holy Communion (see the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels provided for these days), and Catechizing, in addition to Mattins and Evensong.

4. Sundays. In addition to the above (Mattins, Litany, Holy Communion—with the special Collect, Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday—Evensong, Catechizing) a Sermon is ordered to be preached on Sunday during the Communion Service by Canon 45.

Some special days are further marked out. The Great Festivals (Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday) have Proper Prefaces at Holy Communion. Ash Wednesday has an extra service of penance called the Commination. Four times a year there are three Ember Days, which have special Collects, so that people may pray for those who are to be ordained on the following Sunday. Other "Prayers and Thanksgivings" are provided for special occasions, notably the beautiful Prayer for ALL Conditions for use on the mornings when there is no Litany, and the Prayer for Parliament for use during the Session; and furthermore, the Athanasian Creed is set down on certain Festivals.

Add to these the Forms of Prayer to be read daily at sea, which come after the Psalter, and the Ordinal (i.e., the Services for the Ordination of Deacons and Priests, and for the Consecration of Bishops), and we have completed our survey of the Prayer Book.

THE IDEAL BEFORE US

Is it not a great ideal of Christian life and worship? Shall we not all be better and stronger men when we take better advantage of our opportunities? Will not the Church of England be indeed a great and noble [31/32] Church when all who belong to her are regular communicants, when the parish church of every place is thronged with devout worshippers day after day, and when the children of England are all thoroughly taught the splendid Doctrine and Duties of the Catechism?

It is a sad and humiliating thought that, while a few centuries ago all Englishmen belonged to the fellowship of the one Church, and all partook of the life of our Lord in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, now England is full of petty divisions and miserable quarrelling, while the masses of the people are not even communicants. They belong to the Church, but they do not understand her, and so they are not faithful to her, and have little real love for Christ in their hearts. We have, therefore, enormous arrears to make up. We must pray more, worship more, teach others more, and thus lead the way, by our own loyalty, to a great revival of Christianity in our land.

Shall we not succeed? Through the neglect of past years the Church has become like a missionary in a strange land. But as we love God more and love our neighbour more, and in this spirit of love and devotion carry out the half-forgotten rules of the Prayer Book, we shall lead the people back from their Babylon, and build again the walls of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER V
HOW THE SERVICES ARE TO BE PERFORMED

In what manner are all these services to be performed to Almighty God? Are they to be in the barest simplicity, like family prayer, or are they to have the added beauty of music, of ceremonial, of ornaments?

Let us take these in order.

1. Music. It is clear that music may be used, although very often services have to be said without it—and this is generally the case in ordinary churches on six out of the seven days. Thus, the rubric before the first hymn of praise in the choir services (the Canticle Venite) runs, "Then shall be said or sung." So, too, you will find in other places, e.g. before the last hymn of praise in the Holy Communion (Gloria in Excelsis), "Then shall be said or sung." Anthems are mentioned in Mattins and Evensong; and, as I have said, the use of hymns has always been authorized.

2. Ceremonial. The title of the Preface Of Ceremonies, Why some be abolished, and some retained, shows that there is ceremonial still retained in the Church. Some ceremonies are ordered by the notes called Rubrics which are scattered all over the Prayer Book, e.g., the procession to the altar in the Marriage Service. Others are ordered by Canons, e.g., bowing at the Name of Jesus is ordered by the 18th Canon of 1603, and bowing towards the holy Table by the 7th Canon of 1640. Other ceremonies are not ordered at all, but are done because of tradition, e.g., standing up to sing the Canticles, or turning to the altar for the Creed. All the old service books left a great deal to custom and tradition, so as not to be cumbered with a number of [33/34] ceremonial directions; and the Prayer Book carried on this sensible method.

3. Ornaments. Services have been a good deal beautified in recent years not only by music but also by what are called Ornaments. Everything used in the services is in legal language an Ornament: the pulpit is an Ornament (even when it is not very ornamental), so is the organ, the font, and the altar, with its frontal and fair linen cloth. These are "Ornaments of the Church." There are also the "Ornaments of the Ministers," such as the surplice and hood. The Prayer Book does not mention many ornaments by name: the alms-bason and the font necessarily occur in rubrics, but the pulpit is not mentioned, nor is the surplice nor any of the Ornaments of the Ministers. Instead of this, we are given a general rubric at the beginning of the Prayer Book, which just says that the old Ornaments are to be continued for all the services. To be more precise, this "Ornaments Rubric" says that the Ornaments both of the Church and of the Ministers, "at all Times of their Ministration" (i.e. at all the services) are to be those which were used "in the Second Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth."

It is clear, then, that in the reign of King Edward VII we are to have the same Ornaments as were used in that of King Edward VI. This is perfectly simple. We find that many of the Ornaments are mentioned in the First Prayer Book of Edward VI (see p. 21), which was drawn up in his second year and used in the third. Here is a list of them from that First English Prayer Book:—

Ornaments of the Church: Bible, Prayer Book, altar, Book of Homilies, alms-bason, corporal, paten, chalice, font, bell, choir-gates, pulpit.

Ornaments of the Ministers: Surplice, hood, cope, [34/35] albe, vestment, tunicle; also the bishop's rochet, his surplice or albe, cope or vestment, and pastoral staff.

But this list from the First Prayer Book is not complete. Other Ornaments which are not mentioned were lawfully used under the First Prayer Book: e.g., the two altar-lights, which the Archbishop of Canterbury's Judgment of 1890 showed to be lawful; or the frontal, which is not mentioned in any of the Prayer Books, but is ordered by the 82nd Canon of 1604; or again the Litany-desk and credence. So, too, with the Ornaments of the Minister: the familiar tippet or black scarf is not mentioned in the First Prayer Book, and we owe it to the same Canons of 1604.

In addition to this, the Ornaments of the most important part of the church, the chancel—such as the furniture of the altar and the chancel screen—are specially safeguarded by another rubric, which comes just before the Ornaments Rubric and orders that "the Chancels shall remain as they have done in times past."

Such are the Ornaments to be used in carrying out the services of the English Church. Some of them were forgotten in the slovenly days of our grandfathers. But they are being everywhere brought back into use. And this is right; for we cannot loyally carry out the Prayer Book services if we neglect the rubric that tells us how they are to be carried out. And, besides, it is right that our services should be beautiful, as are all those which we read about in the Bible. For God has filled creation with lovely things; and thus we know that beauty is part of the mind of God, and that we ought to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness—in holy array. [* Psalm xxix. 2 R.V. margin; Psalms xcvi. 9; cx. 3.]

THE CONGREGATION

But though it is good for our services to be beautiful, it is still more important that they should be full of [35/36] the spirit of prayer. It would be far better for a service to be ugly and deformed than for it to be formal, and cold, and careless, and without love,—just as it would be far better for a man to be deformed and crippled in body than to be without goodness within. It is the inner spirit that matters most. And every person in the congregation can help to make this inner spirit of true worship in church.

I dare say you have noticed that in some churches there is a wonderful feeling of devotion which makes it easier for everyone to pray—there is an atmosphere of prayer about the whole place, and we feel that truly this is the House of God. That is partly due to the reverent way in which the services are conducted, but beneath it all is the great reason that people have learnt to pray in those churches.

It is a great thing to remember that everyone can help to bring this about.

COMMON PRAYER

But prayer is difficult. Yes: like all things that are worth doing it cannot be done without taking trouble. And the first thing is to acquire the habit of following the service, of really joining in all the prayers and praises with our minds and hearts. It is a great help in this if we make a point of saying or singing our part of the service heartily: to join in the singing stirs our hearts, and we should not let our praises be sung for us by others. The services are given us in English in order that we may take a real share in them, following all that is said for us by the ministers, and helping with our own voices to make the people's parts of the service a great united cry of prayer and praise to God.

When it is possible there are several ministers, besides the clerk and other servers, and even when this is not possible the service should not be a duet between the parson and choir, but should be co-operative. The [36/37] ideal is that the officiating priest, the preacher, the readers of the Epistle and Gospel (or of the First and Second Lessons), the choir, and the congregation should each contribute their different parts. Often the priest has to be preacher and reader as well; but that is all the more reason for the congregation to be real-sharers in the service, learning their part of the music so that they can help to make it both hearty and harmonious.

It is not, indeed, difficult to make our Father's house a House of Prayer if we come joyfully—not once a week as a matter of form; but as often as we are able—and if we come with the deliberate intention of praying when we get there—praying, and praising, and giving thanks, and making intercession also for those who are still outside the fellowship of Common Prayer.

For a devout congregation is one of God's magnets. It is always drawing into its fellowship fresh servants of Christ.

CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION

And now we have come to the end of this book. We have seen a little of what the Prayer Book is, where it came from, how we got it, and how we should use it; all these are big subjects about which a great many interesting books have been written, and if these pages make you anxious to read more, I shall be well content. [* Here are some of the more recent books on the subject:—F. Procter and W. H. Frere, "New History of the Book of Common Prayer" (Macmillan, 12s. 6d.); L. Pullan, "The History of the Book of Common Prayer" (Longmans, 5s.); B. Reynolds, "Handbook to the Book of Common Prayer" (Rivingtons, 4s. 6d.); P. Jackson, "The Prayer Book Explained" (Cambridge University Press, 2 Parts, 2s. 6d. each): A. W. Robinson. "The Church Catechism Explained" (Cambridge, 2s. 6d.); and H. O. Wakeman, "Short History of the Church of England" (Rivingtons, is. 6d.).]

The Prayer Book is indeed worth study, and the more one knows about it, the more full of interest do all our services become. How much more interesting are the Psalms and Lessons when we know something about the history and meaning of the Bible! And so also the services to which they belong become a new thing to us as we learn how they were built up, and why they are arranged in a certain order, and where they come from, and what they mean.

We have good reason to be proud of the Prayer Book, and thankful that its treasures were preserved to us through its troublous history in a way that was almost miraculous. This does not mean that we are to think it perfect, or to think all other Prayer Books bad. It is not perfect, and it is not likely to remain forever just as it is now. It is the Fifth English Prayer Book, and as it is an improvement on the Fourth, so some [38/39] day we may see a Sixth Prayer Book that is even
better.

It belongs to one, as we have seen, of three great liturgical families. The Eastern and the Latin families, like the English, have their own special excellences, and they also are capable of improvement. God has inspired His people, in all ages and all parts of the world, to worship Him in many ways. And certainly that inspiration is abundantly manifest in our own services.

No one can realize the excellence of our services so well as those who have travelled much abroad in Western Europe, and have thus been able to compare other churches with our own. There is nothing in Protestant or in Roman Catholic countries like our choir services of Mattins and Evensong which all the people can understand and in which all take part. So it is also with the Holy Communion; good in many ways as the Latin service is for those who can understand it, the ancient congregational character of the Liturgy has been considerably lost, and with that has gone much of the reverence, dignity, and beauty, which we are accustomed to in a properly rendered Eucharist of our own rite.

Certain special excellences our services have. They are simple so that everyone can soon learn to understand and follow them. They are brief, so that they are easily contained in one book. They are extremely comprehensive, and our services come from many different parts of Christendom, while our hymns carry us right up to the present age; yet the services of the Prayer Book are carefully chosen and remain truly Catholic. They are popular, so that everyone can follow them in his mother tongue and join in his own part of the services. And lastly, the Prayer Book is itself a masterpiece of English literature. The Latin of the Latin service books is not the best Latin; the [39/40] Greek of the Greek books is not the best Greek; but the English of the Prayer Book is the best English that has ever been written. Everyone who follows the service in the Prayer Book and the Bible has in his hands the two greatest books that have yet been published in our mother tongue.

 

Some Landmarks in the History of Worship
________

A.D. EMPERORS.

B.C. 27-14 Augustus.

Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A.D. 14-37 Tiberius.

A.D. 29 Holy Communion instituted by Christ.
["Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is shed for many unto remission of sins" (S. Matt. xxvi. 26-28; cf. the other accounts of the Institution in S. Mark xiv. 22-24; S. Luke xxii. 19, 20; and 1 Cor. xi. 23-26 R.V.).]

A.D. 29 Holy Baptism instituted by Christ.
["Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (S. Matt. xxviii. 19 R.V.)]

A.D. 29 The "Breaking of Bread," or Holy Communion, among the Apostles.
["And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts ii. 42; cf. Acts ii. 46, and xx. 7; "upon the first day of the week" R.V.).]

A.D. 29 Other Prayers at fixed hours.
["Now Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour" (Acts iii. 1; cf. Acts ii. 1, 15; x. 3, 9, 30 R.V.)]

A.D. 29 Baptism and Confirmation among the Apostles.
["They were baptized, both men and women. . . . Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 12-17; cf. Acts i. 38, 41; Acts xix. 1-7).]

A.D. 54-68 Nero.

A.D. 57 S. Paul writes to the Corinthians about the Communion.
[1 Cor. x. 16-21; 1 Cor. xi. 18-30. "The Amen",  at the "giving of thanks" or Eucharist is mentioned in 1 Cor. xiv. 16; the Almsgiving "upon the first day of the week" in 1 Cor. xvi. 2.]

A.D. 98-117 Trajan.

A.D. 112 Pliny's letter mentioning an early Celebration.

A.D. 138-161 Antoninus Pius

A.D c. 140 S. Justin Martyr's description of Baptism and Communion.

A.D 193-211 Septimus Severus

A.D. 200 Christianity already established in Great Britain.

A.D. c. 200 Canons of Hippolytus, containing Sursum Corda, etc.

A.D. 258 Martyrdom of S. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage.

A.D. 306-337 Constantine, First Christian Emperor

A.D. 325 Council of Nicea (Nicene Creed). S. Athanasius (Bishop of Alexandria, 326).

A.D. 379-395 Theodosius

A.D. 374 S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, writes hymns.
[S. Ambrose and S Gregory also give their names to Ambrosian and Gregorian music.]

A.D. c. 398 Arcadius, Emperor of the East, Honorius of the West

A.D. 398 S. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, introduces Litanies or out-door processions.]

KINGS OF ENGLAND

A.D. c. 450 Sacramentary of S. Leo, Bishop of Rome.

A.D. 463 Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne, (Rogation Litanies).

A.D. c. 495 Sacramentary of Gelasius, Bishop of Rome.

A.D. c. 495 Sacramentary of S. Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome.

A.D. 596 ca Ethelbert, King of Kent

A.D. 596 Conversion of Anglo-Saxons begun by S. Augustine, First Bishop of Canterbury.

A.D. 680 Athanasian Creed.

A.D. c. 735 The Gospels and Psalms translated into English by the Venerable Bede and others.

A.D. 871-901 Alfred, King of Wessex

A.D. 880 King Alfred translates the Psalms into English.

Most of our cathedrals and old parish churches were built between 1066 (William the Conqueror) and c.1500 (Henry VII).

A.D. 1078 ca William the Conqueror

A.D. 1078 S. Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury.

A.D. 1217 Henry III

A.D. 1217 Richard Poore, Bishop of Salisbury: Sarum Use written down.

A.D. 1380 Richard II

A.D. 1380 Wyclif translates the whole Bible.

A.D. 1476 Edward IV

A.D. 1476 Caxton starts printing in England.

A.D. 1533 Henry VIII

A.D. 1533 English Church rejects Papal supremacy.

A.D. 1544 The Litany in English.

A.D. 1548 Edward VI

A.D. 1548 The "Order of the Communion" in English.

A.D. 1549 The First English Prayer Book.

A.D. 1559 Elizabeth

A.D. 1559 The Third English Prayer Book.

A.D. 1611 James I

A.D. 1611 The Authorized Version of the Bible.

A.D. 1662 Charles II

A.D. 1662 The Present English Prayer Book.

A.D. 1789 (George Washington President USA)

A.D. 1789 The American Prayer Book.

A.D. 1871 Victoria

A.D. 1871 The Present English Lectionary.

[45] NOTES ON THE FAMILY TREE OF THE PRAYER BOOK

1. —The early Roman liturgy is very unlike the other primitive liturgies, and stands very much by itself: it is probably not so old as they are. The earliest Christians in Italy seem to have used a Greek rite which is now lost.

2.—In varying degrees some other modern rites—the Ambrosian or Milanese, used in the north of Italy by over a million people, the Lyons rite and the Braga rite used occasionally in Portugal—partake more or less of Gallican character, though with more or less Roman intermixture.

3.—Although mediaeval non-Roman Western services belonged to the Roman family of liturgies, the ceremonies used with them, and the way they were carried out were as a rule Gallican, (French, Spanish, English, etc.,) and not Roman.

4.—Besides the rites of Milan, Lyons, etc., mentioned above, there are other Christians of the Roman obedience who do not use the Roman missal, viz., those of the older religious orders, Carthusian, Cistercian, Dominican, etc.

5.—The old Latin books of Sarum use were restored for a few years under Queen Mary, 1553-1558.

6.—These Orthodox Eastern liturgies are translated into numerous languages, and used all over Eastern Christendom: they are more primitive in character than any other services now in use.

7.—It will be seen from this table that the modern Scottish liturgy is more immediately connected with those of primitive times than any other Anglican service.

This diagram shows very roughly the origin and relationship of the Prayer Book services and of other service books used elsewhere. The thicker lines show a very close connection or immediate descent, the thinner lines a less close connection, or the descent of a part only.

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