CHAP. II. In the year 1564, before the general introduction of the desk, SECT. II. the daily service was read in the Cathedral of Canterbury from the Communion table, the minister standing on the east of it with his face to the people. This is evident from the following paragraph in the certificate of the cathedral authorities presented to the Archbishop : Posture of the Minister. "The Common Prayer daily through the year, though there be no Communion, is sung at the Communion table standing north and south where the high altar did stand. The Minister, when there is no communion, useth a surplice only, standing on the east side of the table with his face towards the people."* Another paragraph states that "The holy Communion is ministered ordinarily the first Sunday of every month through the year. At what time the table is east and west." It appears from this that the Minister stood between the table and the wall at ordinary services with his face to the people, and that on occasions of Communion which were monthly the table was altered in its position from north and south, or altarwise, to east and west, or table wise." Amongst the articles of inquiry to the clergy in the province of Canterbury, was the following: "1. ... Whether your Minister so turn himself, and stand in such place of your church or chancel as the people may best hear the same."t Amongst Grindal's injunctions to the laity of York, are the following: "2. Item. To the intent that the people may the better hear the morning and evening prayer, when the same by the Minister is said, and be the more edified thereby, we do enjoin that the Churchwardens of every parish, in places as well exempt as non-exempt, at the charges of the parish, shall procure a decent low pulpit to be erected and made in the body of the church out of hand, wherein the minister shall stand with his face towards the people, when he readeth morning and evening prayer; provided always that where the churches are very small, it shall suffice that the minister stand in his accustomed stall in the choir, so that a convenient desk or lectern with a room to turn his face towards the people, be there provided by the said churchwardens at the charges of the parish; the judgment and order whereof, and also the form and order of the pulpit or seat aforesaid in greater churches we do refer unto the Archdeacon of the place or his official; provided also, that the prayers and other service appointed for the ministration of the holy communion be said *Strype's Parker, p. 365. Vol. 1. Oxf. 1821. † Ibid. p. 157. PLACE OF and done at the Communion table, except the Epistle and Gospel, which THE shall be read in the said pulpit or stall, and also the ten commandments PRAYER. when there is no communion." The principle of the rubric of the second book of Edward, though not expressed in the present rubric, is in the Canons.+ The Bishops, acting upon the power vested in them by this rubric, caused a reading-desk to be set up in the body of the Church, and this, at length, became the custom, so that the rubric of the Commination service, introduced in 1661, speaks of "the reading pew." The 14th and 82nd canons supply the principle alluded to above, providing that the prayer shall be said in such place, "as the people may be most edified," and directing a desk to be made. Taking the rubric and the canon together, the case just stands as it did in the latter part of Edward's reign, with the addition of the desk. The Romanizers have appealed to the close of the rubric:"And chancels shall remain as they have done in times past," to justify their innovations, but a more fallacious reason was never given. : The history of the rubric at once throws light upon it. * Ibid. p. 132. Robertson citing the Canon above, that on occasions of communion the table shall so stand that people may best hear, says :-" It is evident that the framers of the Canons did not contemplate the ministers officiating at the table except on occasions of actual communion." "How shall we conform," &c. p. 170, Lon. 1844. Before Laud's time many read the second service from the desk. Laud insisted that the rubric before the Communion service required the service to be read at the table, but the citation of the entire rubric justifies Robertson's observation that the rubric "refers in strictness to times when the table is prepared for celebration," ut supra. The rubric is :-" The table, at the Communion-time having a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the Body of the Church, or in the Chancel, where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said. And the Priest standing at the North-side of the Table shall say the Lord's Prayer, with the Collect following, the people kneeling." This is very different from the rubric of 1549—" The priest standing humbly afore the midst of the Altar shall say the Lord's prayer with this Collect." In 1552 this latter rubric was brought to its present form :-"This circumstance would lead us to presume," says Robertson, "that the later books intend to allow the custom of reading elsewhere," ut supra. Some of the Bishops in the Laudian times required the second service to be read at the holy table, and were charged with innovation. The Puritans had good reason for saying, that “there is no rubric requiring this service at the table." Grand Debate, p. 79. Lon. 1661. Custom, however, and the direction of the Bishops may well regulate the matter. CHAP. II. liturgy was made, this present clause was added to hinder any difference on this head." SECT. II. If this were the case, it might be argued that as the Queen, in some respects, was favourable to the retention of a showy ritual, the above words were designed as a reaction. But Dr. Nicholls has made a great mistake. These words were added not in 1559, but for the first time in 1552. Every one knows that the review of this latter date was progressive in its character. Collier says:-"These unnecessary cavils brought on Bucer's review." Bucer recommended that Bucer recommended that prayers should be said in the place most convenient for hearing. His advice was taken, but as some (not Bucer) were desirous of pulling down chancels, it was directed that chancels should remain as in times past. In this work it is abundantly proved that altars, lights, crucifixes, and crosses on the table, &c. were not to remain. SUMMARY. THE PLACE OF PRAYER. The first book directed the Priest to perform the service in the quire. The second book directed him to minister in such place of the church or chancel, as the people might best hear. The book of 1559, directed the Minister to officiate in the accustomed place, leaving the matter in the hands of the Ordinary. But the Bishops, universally acting upon this authority, directed a reading-desk to be erected in the most convenient place, and the Canons of 1604 require that such a desk shall be set up in every church, in such a position as that the people shall be most edified. Edification is the principle of the Church of England, which, since 1604, by her canon law, in her direction as to the desk, is in advance even of the second book of Edward. CHAP. III. THE ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH AND MINISTER. PART I-ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH. SECT. I.-THE MEANING OF THE RUBRICS. THE Rubrics relating to ornaments were the following in ORNA1549 MENTS OF THE "Upon the day, and at the time appointed for the ministration of the CHURCH. holy Communion, the Priest that shall execute the holy ministry, shall put upon him the vesture appointed for that ministration, that is to say: a white Albe plain, with a vestment or Cope. And where there be many Priests or Deacons, there so many shall be ready to help the Priest, in the ministration, as shall be requisite: And shall have upon them likewise the vestures appointed for their ministry, that is to say, Albes with tunicles. Then shall the Clerks sing in English for the office, or Introit, (as they call it,) a Psalm appointed for that day."* "In the saying or singing of Matins and Evensong, Baptizing and Burying, the minister, in parish churches and chapels annexed to the same, shall use a Surplice. And in all Cathedral Churches and Colleges, the Archdeacons, Deans, Provosts, Masters, Prebendaries, and Fellows, being graduates, may use in the quire, besides their Surplices, such hood as pertaineth to their several degrees, which they have taken in any university within this realm. But in all other places, every minister shall be at liberty to use any surplice or no. It is also seemly that graduates, when they do preach, shall use such hoods as pertaineth to their several degrees. "And whensoever the Bishop shall celebrate the holy communion in the church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon ⚫ him, beside his rochette,† a Surplice or albe, and a cope or vestment, and *Rubric before Communion Service. †The rochet is an episcopal garment, differing from the surplice only in the narrowness of its sleeves. It is worn under the chimere which, before the reign of Elizabeth, was of scarlet colour, but was then changed to black. The albe was a linen garment, fitting close to the body, reaching to the feet, and bound with a girdle. The cope was worn over the albe. It was a silken robe, richly embroidered, open in front, and intended for use in the open air, as well as in the church. The vestment or chasuble is sometimes confounded with the cope. That they were distinct is evident from the rubric in the second book as to "neither vestment nor cope." It is well known in the Church of Rome, and reaches to the feet. It is much in the form of the Roman paenula, which formed a circle, with an opening for the head, and enveloped the body. The chasuble, however, is cut at the sides CHAP. III. also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain."* PART I. Ornaments, The Rubric of 1552, was the following: "And here is to be noted, that the Minister at the time of the communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall use neither Alb, Vestment, nor Cope: but being Archbishop, or Bishop, he shall have and wear a rochet and being a priest or Deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only."t The Rubric of 1559, was the following: "And here it is to be noted that the Minister at the time of the communion, and all other times of his ministration, shall use such ornaments in the Church, as were in use by authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, according to the Act of Parliament set in the beginning of this book."+ The Rubric of 1662, is the following: "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 use, as were in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth."S It will be observed by a comparison of these rubrics that the book of 1549, retained some of the Romish garments, while that of 1552 rejected them. The book of 1559 retained the ornaments of 1549, with an important limitation, "according to the act of Parliament," which gave power to the Queen to take "other order," which, as we shall see, she did. Two important questions were raised in limine, in reference to the rubric as it is now, the one as to the meaning of the word ornaments, the other as to the words "by authority of Parliament," both of which were decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, March 21, 1857, as follows: "Their Lordships, after much consideration, are satisfied that the construction of the rubric which they suggested at the hearing of the case is meaning of its true meaning, and that the word 'ornaments' applies, and in this the word. rubric is confined, to those articles the use of which in the services and ministrations of the Church is prescribed by the Prayer Book of Edward the Sixth." for the arms, leaving a straight piece behind and before. The vestment was richly The tunicle, or dalmatic, of sky blue, in form is similar to the cope, *Notes at end of Book. Rubric at the beginning. † Rubric athe beginning. § Rubric at the beginning. |