CHAPTER IV.

PRESENT VESTMENTS--CHORAL AND AT THE MASSE.

HE Provincial Constitutions above-mentioned of Archbishops Edmund (1224), and Winchelfey (A.D. 1305), and Gray of York, A.D. 1250, being in full force and effect, as well as the several immemorial ufages as to Vestments of the different Dioceses in Great Britain and Ireland, in the Second and Third Years of Edward the Sixth (whose acceffion took place on the 28th of January, 1547), to wit, on the 15th day of January, 1549, was made and paffed an Act of Parliament, authorizing what is known by the name of the First Prayer Book of King Edward VI. The employment of the same for Divine Service was by the fame Act made compulfory on the following Whitfunday, but not before, which Whitfunday was in the third year of King Edward. By the Rubrics contained in this First Prayer Book :

"Upon the day and at the time appointed for the miniftration of the Holy Communion, the Priest that shall execute the holy ministry, shall put upon him the Vesture appointed for that ministration, that is to say: a white Albe plain, with a Veftment or Cope. And where there be many Priests or Deacons, there so many shall be ready to help the Priest, in the ministration, as fhall be requifite: And fhall have upon them likewise the Vestures appointed for their miniftry, that is to fay, Albes with Tunicles. Then fhall the Clerks fing in English for the Office, or Introit (as they call it), a Pfalm appointed for that day.

Upon Wednesdays and Fridays, the English Litany fhall be faid or fung in all places, after fuch form as is appointed by the King's Majesty's Injunctions or as is or fhall be otherwife appointed by his Highness. And though there be none to communicate with the Prieft, yet thefe days (after the Litany ended), the Prieft fhall put upon him a plain Albe or Surplice, with a Cope, and fay all things at the Altar (appointed to be faid at the celebration of the Lord's Supper), until after the Offertory. And then shall add one or two of the Collects aforewritten, as occafion fhall serve, by his discretion. And then turning him to the people fhall let them depart with the accustomed Bleffing."

"And the fame order fhall be used all other days, whenfoever the people be cuftomably affembled to pray in the Church, and none difpofed to communicate with the Prieft."

At the end of this First Book of Edward, in the edition printed by Edward Whitchurche by Royal authority, March 7, 1549, are "Certain Notes for the more plaine explication and certain confirmation of things contained in this Booke," as follows:

"In the faying or finging of Mattens or Evenfong, Baptizing, or Burying, the Minister in parish Churches and Chapels annexed to the fame shall ufe a Surples, and in all Cathedral Churches and Colledges, Archdeacons, Deans, Provosts, Maisters, Prebendaries, and fellowes being graduates, may use in the Quiere befide their Surpleffes fuch hoods as pertaineth to their feveral degrees; but in all other places every Minifter fhall be at liberty to ufe any Surples or no.

"And whenfoever the Bishop fhall celebrate the Holy Communion in the Church, or execute any other public miniftration, he shall have upon him beside his Rochet a Surples or Albe, and a Cope or Vestment, and also his Paftoral Staff in his hande, or else borne or holden by his Chapleyne."

In conformity with this the 1 Eliz. c. 2, was paffed, by which the use of the Second Prayer Book was established with certain alterations, but it was provided (s. 25), 'That fuch Ornaments of the Church and of the Minifters thereof fhall be retained and be in ufe as was in this Church of England, by authority of Parliament, in the fecond year of King Edward, until other order fhall be taken therein by the authority of the Queen's Majefty, with the advice of her Commiffioners appointed and authorized under the great Seal of England for Causes Ecclefiaftical or of the Metropolitan of this realm.' The Rubric to the new Prayer Book, framed to exprefs the meaning of this provifo, is in these words, 'And here it is to be noted that the Minister at the time of the Communion, and at all times of his miniftration, shall use fuch Ornaments in the Church as were in ufe by authority of Parliament, in the fecond year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth'. Here the term 'Ornaments' is used as covering both the Vestments of the Minifters and the feveral articles used in the fervices. It will be observed that the Rubric does not adopt precifely the language of the Statute, but expresses the fame thing in other words. The Statute fays that 'Such Ornaments of the Church and of the Minifters fhall be retained and be in ufe;' the Rubric, That the minifter fhall ufe fuch Ornaments in the Church.'

The twenty-fixth section further enacted "that if there shall happen any contempt or irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the mifufing the orders appointed in this Book, the Queen's Majefty may by the like advice of the faid Commiffioners or Metropolitan, ordain and publish such further Ceremonies or Rites" (the word "other" is not used) "as may be moft for the advancement of God's glory, the edifying of His

Church, and the due reverence of Chrift's holy Myfteries and Sacra

ments."

By the "Advertisements" of the seventh of Elizabeth, issued 1564 (which however had no legal authority whatever, for they never received the fignature of the Queen, which was neceffary to give them legal validity) the third claufe directs preachers to move the people " to all obedience, as well in obJervation of the orders appointed in the Book of Common Service" (which the reader will remember expreffly directed the Veftments to be worn as in the First Book of King Edward) " and as in the Queen's Majesty's Injunctions (which made no change in this refpect). They then proceed to enjoin that:"In the miniftration of the Holy Communion in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches the principal Minister shall wear a Cope with Gospeller and Epiftoler agreeably, and at all other prayers to be faid at that Communion Table to use no Copes, but Surplices; that the Dean and Prebendaries wear a Surplice and filk hood in the Quire. That every Minister saying any public Prayers, or ministering Sacraments, or other Rites of the Church, fhall wear a comely Surplice with fleeves, to be provided at the charges of the parish," which is in fact a repetition of fome of the orders contained in the Provincial Conftitutions before quoted.

By the Canons of 1603 (in the first year of Jac. I.) "approved, ratified, had, and confirmed by the authority of the Crown and promulgated under the great Seal of England by both Provinces of Canterbury as well as York, to be diligently obferved," by Claufe 14 (the original Latin is given):

Singuli etiam miniftri ftudiofe obfervabunt Inftituta Ritus et Cerimonias omnes quæ predicto libro " (i.e. of Common Prayer) "prafcribuntur tam in Sacris Scripturis legendis ac Precibus recitandis quam in adminiftrandis Sacramentis abfque ulla five materiæ five formæ additione aut diminutione, respectu vel concionis vel alterius caufæ cujufcunque." Thefe, as before shown, enjoined the use of the Veftments appointed in Edward's First Book.

By Canon 17, Provosts and Fellows, Scholars and Students, on Sundays and Festivals and their Vigils, in the time of Divine Service, are to wear Surplices after the Manner and Inftitutions of the English Church, and those who had taken Degrees were to put their Hoods over their Surplices.

By the 24th claufe, in Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches the Holy Supper was to be administered in folemn Feasts by the Bishop if present, or by the Dean, Canon, or Prebendary, the most eminent Minifter present, vested in a decent Cope, and affifted by Readers of the Gofpel and Epistle, according to the admonitions promulgated in the seventh of Elizabeth (viz. the Advertisements).

By the 58th clause, "Every Minifter faying the Public Prayers or miniftering the Sacraments, or other Rites of the Church, fhall wear a decent and comely Surplice with fleeves, to be provided at the charge of the Parish, and any question arise touching the matter, decency, or comeliness thereof, the

if

same shall be decided by the difcretion of the Ordinary. Such Minifters as
are graduates shall wear upon their Surplices at fuch times, fuch hoods as by
the orders of the Universities are agreeable to their Degrees, which no
Minister shall wear (not being a graduate) under pain of fufpenfion. Not-
withstanding it shall be lawful for fuch Minifters as are not graduates, to
wear upon these Surplices, inftead of hoods, fome decent Tippets of black, fo
it be not filk." Thefe Canons have no Parliamentary authority, and it has
been thought by fome that they have been repealed and modified by the
Rubric at the end of the prefent Act of Uniformity, rendering obligatory
the use of such Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof, as
were in the Church of England by authority of Parliament in the fecond
year
of King Edward. This would have been so if these various orders had
been inconfiftent; but they may all be observed together, and fo both are
binding.

On the 5th day of March, 1604, in the first year of King James I., about three weeks after the Prorogation of the Convocation which had enacted the above Canons, a Royal Proclamation was issued, at the head of which was set out the Act of Elizabeth I., and which without any reference to the Canons or Convocation, but reciting the decifions of the Hampton Court Conference "before ourself and our Privy Council, where were afembled many of the greatest Bishops and Prelates of the Realm," declared " that no change should be made in the Public Service of God, neither in the Doctrine, nor in the Forms and Rites which were juftified out of the practice of the Primitive Church; but that fome small things ought rather to be explained than changed;" and further reciting the iffuing of a Commiffion to the Arch bishop of Canterbury and others, "according to the form which the laws of this realm in like cafe prescribe to be used, to make the faid explanation," (i. e. "until further order fhall be therein taken by authority of the Queen's Majesty, with the advice of her Commiffioners appointed and authorized under the great feal of England for caufes Ecclefiaftical, or of the Metropolitan of this Realm," the laft claufe of the Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth I.), required "all Archbishops, Bishops, and all other public minifters, ecclefiaftical and civil, to do their duties in causing the fame Proclamation to be obeyed," &c.

This Prayer-book of James I., fo authorized by Proclamation only, adopts totidem verbis the language of the Rubric of Elizabeth's Prayer-book before mentioned, peremptorily enjoining the use of these Vestments by the Minister in the Church.

The Prayer-book of Charles I. (the laft revifion) repeats and adopts the language of the Statute of Elizabeth, and by authority of an Act of Parliament paffed A.D. 1662, prescribes, "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 retained and be in ufe as were in this Church of

England by authority of Parliament in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI."

As the Judges in the cafe of Wefterton v. Liddell affirmed, "The Rubric in the prefent Prayer-book adopts the language of the Statute of Elizabeth; but they all obviously mean the fame thing, that the fame dresses and the same utenfils or articles which were used under the Prayer-book of Edward the Sixth may ftill be used."

As the ftatute of 25 H. VIII. c. 19, was beyond all queftion in force during the whole of this fecond year of Edward, this laft Rubric, having alfo the authority of Parliament, over-rides all intervening enactments or Canons, and legalizes alfo all that was lawful under the 25th H. VIII. c. 19. (Dwarris on Statutes, 431), as was laid down by Lord Denman, "A positive enactment is not to be restrained by inference; we must act on the maxim, Leges pofteriores priores contrarias abrogant, and a prior Canon, even if it were inconfiftent therewith, which here is not the cafe, cannot prevail or over-ride a subsequent Act of Parliament." As Sir John Coleridge in his "Remarks on the Report of the Judicial Committee " (p. 7), fays "Thefe Veftments are as abfolutely prefcribed by this Rubric as if they were specifically named in it, instead of being only referred to." Gibson (Bishop of London, 1720) in his Codex (London, 1713, p. 200) lays down that the Churchwardens of every parish are bound to provide fuch Vestments for the parochial Clergy as are named in

this Rubric.

Wheatley in his comment on the General Prayer Book (Fol. Clarendon Prefs, 1720, third edition) says:

"The fecond part of this Rubric is concerning the Ornaments of the Church, and the Ministers thereof, at all times of their miniftrations; and to know what they are we must have recourse to the Act of Parliament here mentioned-viz. in the Second Year of King Edward the Sixth, which enacts, &c. So that by this Act we are again referred to the First Common Prayer Book of King Edward the Sixth for the Habits in which Ministers are to officiate, where there are two Rubrics relating to them, one prefcribing what Habits fhall be worn in all public miniftrations whatever; the other relating only to the Habits that are to be used at the Communion, &c."

“These are the ministerial Ornaments enjoined by the present Rubric:-" "And whenfoever the Bishop fhall celebrate the Holy Communion in the Church, or execute any other public miniftration, he fhall have upon him, befides his Rochett, a Surples, or Albe, and a Cope or Vestment, and also his Paftoral-Staffe in his hand, or els borne or holden by his Chapeleyne.'

666

Upon the day and at the tyme appointed for the miniftration of the Holy Communion, the Prieft that shall execute the holy Ministry shall put upon him the Vesture appointed for that miniftration, that is to fay, a whyte Albe plain, with a Vestment or Cope; and where there be many Priests or Deacons, there so many shall be ready to help the Priest in his ministration as