7. Rise of various Liturgies. Now in early times the Bishop of each diocese had authority to arrange such services of prayer and thanksgiving'. Hence there arose different Liturgies, marked by peculiar features, though all were based on a common original. Thus we have five Greek Liturgies, of acknowledged antiquity, of which the earliest bears the name of St Clement, while the others are called St James', St Mark's, St Chrysostom's and St Basil's2. We have also the old Roman Liturgy, such as it was used by Popes Leo in A. D. 440, Gelasius in A.D. 492, and Gregory the Great in A.D. 590. There is also the Ambrosian rite (A.D. 374), which was maintained for several centuries in the Church of Milan, and which is still used once a year; and again, there is the Mozarabic3, or the ancient national Liturgy of Spain, which has a groundwork coeval with the introduction of Christianity into that country.

CHAPTER II.

SERVICE-BOOKS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH
CHURCH.

A.D. 590-747.

I. The Gallican Liturgy. Besides the Liturgies already enumerated, special mention ought to be made of the Gallican Liturgy, or that of the Church of France. This ancient Liturgy may be traced with much

1 See Maskell's Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, Preface, p. xxiii.

2 See Guericke's Antiquities, p. 261.

3 The Mostarabes were tribes dwelling in the midst of the Arabians without belonging to them, and consequently the Officium Mostarabicum or Mozarab, would be the Liturgy of the Christians dwelling in the Arabian territory. Guericke, p. 263.

4 "Cum una sit fides, diversæ sunt Ecclesiarum consuetudines, et altera consuetudo missarum est in Romana

probability to very early times, and is supposed to have been compiled from Eastern sources by Cassian1.

2. Used in England. In early times there was a close and intimate connection between the Churches of France and England, and it was probably the Gallican Liturgy, which was used by the early British Church till the end of the sixth century. At that period, however, Christianity in this island had retired before the heathen Saxon invaders, and had found refuge in the wild districts of Wales and Cornwall, in the Scottish Hebrides and in Ireland2.

3. Landing of Augustine. In the year A. D. 597 Augustine landed in the Isle of Thanet, having been sent from Rome as a missionary to the Saxons by Gregory the Great. There is no doubt that he brought with him the ritual which was at that time used at Rome, and that, on his journey through France, where he had stayed some months, he had become acquainted with the Gallican Liturgy.

4. His doubts. Accordingly, when king Ethelbert had been baptized in the old Church of St Martin, in the outskirts of Canterbury, and his example had been followed by many of his subjects, Augustine had much doubt what form of service ought to be adopted by the new converts.

5. Advice of Gregory. In his perplexity, therefore, he resolved to appeal to Gregory and seek from him advice as to the course he ought to pursue. Gregory replied in a wise and catholic spirit:—“You, my brother, are acquainted with the customs of the Roman Church, in which you have been brought up. But it is

ecclesia, altera in Galliarum Ecclesiis tenetur." Greg. Ep. XI. 64.

1 See Palmer's Orig. Liturg. 1. 153; Freeman's Principles of Divine Service, II. 399.

2 See Stillingfleet's Antiquities of the British Churches.

my pleasure that if you have found anything either in the Roman or the Gallican or any other Church, which may be more acceptable to Almighty God, you carefully make choice of the same; and sedulously teach the Church of the Angles, which is at present new in the Faith, whatsoever you can gather from the several Churches. For things are not to be loved for the sake of places, but places for the sake of good things. Select, therefore, from each Church those things that are pious, religious and correct, and when you have made these up into one body, instil this into the minds of the English for their use1."

6. Course adopted by Augustine. Thus advised Augustine followed the principle upon which the Rituals of the Western Churches had been remodelled. He took for his groundwork the Form of Service then used in the South of France, but introduced certain details, which are traced to the Roman Ritual, as arranged by the Popes Gelasius and Gregory.

7. Opposition of the British Church. This Ritual differed from that of the ancient British Churches, which, though much depressed, were far from being extinguished2, and were at issue with the Roman missionaries on several points of discipline and ceremonial observance3. Augustine was strongly prepossessed in favour of the Roman system; the chief of the British Churches held as strongly to their ancient customs; and

1 Bede, H. E. 1. 27. "Non enim pro locis res, sed pro

bonis rebus loca amanda sunt."

2 Bede mentions "septem Brittonum episcopi et plures viri doctissimi." H. E. 11. 2.

Especially the observation of Easter, which the early British Christians, in common with the Irish and Scottish, kept on the same day as the Jewish Passover, the 14th day of the moon, whatever day of the week that might be, while the Roman Church kept it on the Sunday following the full moon happening upon or next after the 21st of March.

thus all hope of communion between the two parties was destroyed1. In the course of time, however, many causes tended to promote the spread and ascendancy of Roman influences, and at length the Council of Cloveshoo (A.D. 747) formally sanctioned the observance of the Roman Ritual3

CHAPTER III.

SERVICE-BOOKS OF THE MEDIEVAL ENGLISH CHURCH.

A.D. 747-1080.

1. Conformity not general. The conformity, however, thus attained had chiefly respect to the time of the observance of festivals, and the use of the Roman or Gregorian chant. Uniformity of Service, as we understand it, did not exist. The reception of the order of the Roman Church was not uniform in all the churches of the country. The bishops did not cease to exercise their power within their several dioceses to order rites and ceremonies; nor did all the churches, still less the monasteries, follow the custom of a cathedral.

2. Varieties of Service-books. These causes tended to promote the introduction of a great variety of Service-books, for there was no printing-press, from which a number of copies could be issued, exactly alike. Each book was written, mostly upon vellum, by the hand of a scribe. He prepared it for the especial use of some particular Church, carefully retained the dis

1 Sce Bede, H.E. II. 2.

2 See Hardwick's Church History, Middle Age, p. 14. 3 "Tertio decimo definitur decreto, ut uno eodemque modo dominicæ dispensationis in cœna sacrosanctæ festivitatis, in omnibus ad eas rite competentibus, id est, in baptismi of ficio, in missarum celebratione, in cantilene modo, celebrentur juxta exemplar quod scriptum de Romana habemus ecclesia." Concil. Cloveshovice, Mansi, XII. 399.

tinctive peculiarities of the diocese, and introduced any varieties of ceremonial which had become the custom of the Church, as for instance, in the parochial festival of the saint to whom the Church was dedicated.

3. Origin of Uses. Hence arose the various USES, mentioned in the original Preface' to the Book of Common Prayer, such as the Salisbury Use, the Hereford Use, the Use of Bangor, of York, of Linc In2. Moreover while these were the principal varieties of Use followed in the parish churches, the several orders of monks, as also the various collegiate institutions3, had their own ritual.

4. The Norman Conquest. After the Norman Conquest, A. D. 1066, Norman ecclesiastics filled the best of the English bishoprics and abbacies. They brought into the country a new style of chanting invented by William of Fescamp, which they endeavoured to force upon the Saxon monks. Amongst others Abbot Thurstan (A.D. 1083) attempted to thrust it upon the monks of Glastonbury. This they strenuously resisted. Thereupon tumult and bloodshed ensued. Armed soldiers drove the monks from the chapter, and slew many of them in the church4.

5. The Use of Sarum. This outrage is supposed 5 to have drawn the attention of Osmund bishop of Salis

1 That is the Second Preface, drawn up in 1549; the first Preface did not appear till the last revision in 1662.

2 Besides these there were other diocesan Uses, such as the Use of Exeter.

3 Thus Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1339), orders the divine office in his newly founded Church of St Mary at Ottery, to be performed by the canons according to the order which he had extracted for them from the Uses of Exeter and Sarum. There was also the Use of St Paul's. See Dugdale's History of St Paul's, p. 24.

4 See Symeon of Durham, Scriptores x. col. 212; also the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

5 See Palmer's Orig. Liturg. pp. 186 sq.