Knox's Description of the Prayer Book. prayer to be delivered from sudden death: the people answering to the end of every clause, either Spare us, good Lord; or else, Good Lord, deliver us; or We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, is thrice repeated. Then, Lord have mercy upon us, thrice; and then the Lord's Prayer, with this prayer also, O Lord, deal not with us after our sins, to the same adjoined: passing over some things lest we should seem to sift all those drosses which remain still among us.' Of the Order of the Lord's Supper it is observed, "The number Communion Office. of three at the least is counted a fit number to communicate; and yet it is permitted (the pestilence or some other common sickness being among the people) the minister alone may communicate with the sick man in his house,' Of the Collect of the day, 'every holyday hath his Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, which fill seventythree great leaves of the book, when the rest fill scarce fifty. For all holydays are now in like use among us as were among the papists, only very few excepted.' The portion following the prayer for the state of the Church militant is described as ‘a long heap and mixture of matters, until they come, after a certain confession of sins, to Lift up your hearts... Now, about the end the Lord's Prayer is used again, the minister saying it aloud, and all the people following; to conclude, they have a giving of thanks in the end, with Glory to God in the highest, as it was used among the papists. . . .' In Baptism the points mentioned are the questions addressed to Baptism. the godfathers, the action of baptism by dipping warily and discreetly, and the making a cross upon the child's forehead. tion. Confirmation is especially obnoxious: 'Afterward, sending away Confirriathe godfathers and godmothers, he chargeth them that they bring the child to be confirmed of the Bishop as soon as he can say the Articles of the Faith, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. And seeing there be many causes, as the book saith, which should move them to the Confirmation of children, this forsooth of all others is the weightiest, that by imposition of hands they may receive strength and defence against all temptations of sin and the assaults of the world and the devil, because that when children come to that age, partly by the frailty of their own flesh, partly by the assaults of the world and the devil, they begin to be in danger. And lest any should think any error to be in this Confirmation, therefore they take a certain pamphlet of a Catechism, which consisteth of the Articles of the Faith, the Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, and all this is despatched in less than two leaves.' G Knox's Description of the The description of their 'manner of marriage' passes over 'many petty ceremonies,' and fixes upon 'these follies,'-—the ring, and the form of words which accompany it. The Lord's Supper, in conMatrimony. nexion with this Service, is objected to. Prayer Book. Conclusion, After a very short mention of the Offices of Visitation of the Sick, Burial, and Thanksgiving of Women, which is ' common with the papists and Jews,' this description of our Prayer Book thus concludes: Other things, not so much shame itself as a certain kind of pity, compelleth me to keep close; in the mean season nothing diminishing the honour due to those reverend men, who partly being hindered by those times, and by the obstinacy and also multitude of adversaries (to whom nothing was ever delightful besides their own corruptions) being as it were overflown, did always in their mind continually, as much as they could, strive to more perfect things.'1 SECT. IV.-PURITAN EDITIONS OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. The dislike of the Prayer Book, which led to scandalous scenes among the English exiles at Frankfort, and which was emphatically expressed by Knox and those who owned his leadership, was increased by the natural results of so bitter a dispute. The noisiest of the malcontents were compelled to leave Frankfort, and carried off with their party the honours of martyrdom for the Protestant faith. Supported by the authority of Calvin, himself a host in a battle of opinion, their ideas of a fitting Christian service became more clearly developed, and were embodied in Knox's Book of Common Order. Hence, when the exiles were able to return to England after the death of Mary, the Genevan faction, or, as we may now begin to call them, the Puritan party, were more prepared to find fault both with the Liturgy and with Episcopacy. And their annoyance must have been great, when the revisal of the Prayer Book at the opening of Elizabeth's reign went in all respects directly contrary to their wishes, sweeping 1 Calvin in his reply says, 'In Anglicana Liturgia, qualem describitis, multas video fuisse tolerabiles ineptias.' Opp. VIII. Epist. et Responsa, p. 98. Hardwick, Reformation, p. 237. 2 This has been reprinted by Dr. Cumming (Lond. 1840), to recommend its re-introduction into the Kirk of Scotland. It appears that the English Prayer Book was used in Scotland by those who allowed the authority of the 'heads of the congregation' from 1557 to 1564; and then Knox's Liturgy was enjoined and used. Pref. p. iv. Heylin, Hist. Ref. 11. 322, note (ed. Eccl. Hist. Soc.). tions of the Prayer Book. away several of the Puritan portions of Edward's Second Book, Puritan Ediand bringing back some of the discarded ceremonies and vestments of earlier times. The law, moreover, would not allow of any Public Service in England, except that which was prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer.1 Accordingly, an attempt seems to have been made to bring the book itself into conformity with their views, not indeed by urging any further authoritative revisal, which was hopeless, but by printing it in a somewhat altered form. A series of such Prayer Books appeared between 1578 and 1640. What we may call the first Puritan edition (1578) varies from the authorized book in the following particulars. It commences with the Table of Proper Lessons, For Morning, For Evening, being put in the place of Mattins, Evensong: Minister is printed throughout for Priest: from the Communion Service the first four rubrics are left out; but the reader is expressly referred for them to the Great Booke of Common Prayer. Private celebration of the Sacraments was discarded; hence the phrase great number was substituted for good number, in the second rubric at the end of the Communion Service: in the Office of Public Baptism, the introductory rubric was omitted, which concludes with allowing children, if necessity so require, to be at all times baptized at home: the whole Service for Private Baptism was omitted: and only the third rubric was retained in the Communion of the Sick. Confirmation, with all the rubrics touching upon it, is omitted, as is also the Service for the Churching of Women. A Calendar was also compiled, rather as an addition to that of the Church than as a substitute for it, each monthly portion being placed under the authorized Calendar. It seems that this was too bold an experiment; or the party could not agree in any uniform practice. Afterwards, we find the book brought into a form much more nearly resembling the original. In 1589, the rubric at the end of Public Baptism, the Service for Private Baptism, that for Churching of Women, and the address before the Catechism, were restored to their places. And in these Services, the word Priest remained unchanged; which may perhaps be regarded as a silent but intelligible sign, that these Services 1 A request was made by some eminent members of foreign churches in behalf of their English friends; but the Queen replied,That it was not with her safety, honour, and credit, to permit diversity of opinions in a kingdom where none but she and her council governed, not own- 157. Variations from the Prayer authorized Book. Puritan Editions of the Prayer Book. were added for apparent conformity, but that the use of them was to be discouraged. A later edition, belonging rather to the next reign, differs from the authorized Book merely by putting, For Morning, For Evening, and Minister, instead of Mattins, Evensong, and Priest; Priest, however, being still unaltered in the Services for Private Baptism and the Churching of Women. In this shape we may suppose that this Prayer Book continued to be printed until 1616, i.e. as long as the Geneva version of the Bible was printed, to which every scriptural quotation had been adjusted. During the next twenty-five years, we find copies of a small size, in which Minister very often stands for Priest, and in which occasionally they are alternated in a most extraordinary manner. These books were always printed by the houses which had the right of printing the Book of Common Prayer, no doubt as part of their exclusive privilege, and usually they were joined to the Geneva Bible: just as some editions of the Bishops' Bible were accompanied by the Prayer Book in its authorized form. It is not certain what was the actual intention, or use made, of these books. They could not be publicly used in the church without risk of penalties; yet even from the size of some editions we cannot say that less than this was aimed at. It is certain also that the Puritans did not conduct their ministration strictly accord ing to the authorized form; and that the Bishops' Bible was not the only Bible used in the Public Service.1 The folio edition of L the Geneva Bible of 1578 (like the folio editions of the Bishops' Bible, 1568 and 1572) has two Psalters in parallel columns,-The translation according to the Ebrewe, and The translation used in Common Prayer; this latter being divided into the portions for Morning and Evening Prayer. This looks like a provision for the Public Service, and seems to give the same character to the altered Prayer Book at the beginning of the volume.2 Bound with the Geneva Bible. SECT. V.-PURITAN SUBSTITUTES FOR THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.3 So early as 1567, the more violent of the Puritans began to separate themselves from the worship of the Church, and to meet 1 Abp. Whitgift's Articles (1584); Cardwell, Doc. Ann. XCIX. 2 Clay, Elizabethan Liturgical Services, Pref. pp. xv.-xix.; Lathbury, Hist. of Convoc. p. 188. 3 See Rev. P. Hall, Reliquiæ Liturgica, vol. 1. Introd. pp. viii xiii.; Lathbury, Hist. of Convoc. pp. 188-192. in private houses, where they had ministers of their own. 'And at these meetings,' says Strype,1 'rejecting wholly the Book of Common Prayer, they used a Book of Prayers framed at Geneva for the congregation of English exiles lately sojourning there; which book had been overseen and allowed by Calvin and the rest of his divines there, and indeed was, for the most part, taken out of the Geneva form.' And again, in the year 1571, 'The Puritans, however they were not allowed to officiate in public, and had their licences (if they had any before) disallowed and annulled, yet did still in their own or other churches, or in private houses, read prayers different from the established Office of Common Prayer; using the Geneva form, or mingling the English Book." In 1574 was published A Full and Plain Declaration of Ecclesiastical Discipline out of the Word of God; and in 1584, A Brief and Plain Declaration concerning the Desires of all those Faithful Ministers that have and do seek for the Discipline and Reformation of the Church of England, was printed in London by Robert Waldegrave. Also, in the same year (1584), A Book of Common Prayer was presented to Parliament 'with the hope of approval and legal sanction,' and beyond this, a hope of its being substituted for the Book of Common Prayer. This book was altered before its publication, so far as regards the acknowledgment of the office and authority of the magistrate in matters of religion:3 for the liberty claimed, and apparently conceded, by the Puritans, in the Book of Discipline, they neither allowed, nor intended to allow, had the Book of Prayer obtained the sanction of the law. Bancroft writes,* 'In the Parliament (27 of her Majesty, as I remember), the Brethren having made another Book, termed, at that time, A Booke of the Forme of Common Prayers, &c., and containing in it the effect of their whole pretended Discipline; the same book was penned altogether statute and law-like, and their petition in the behalf of it was, viz. May it therefore please your Majesty, &c. that it may be enacted, &c. that the Book hereunto annexed, &c. intituled A Booke of the Forme of Common Prayers, Administration of Sacraments, &c. and everything therein contained, may be from henceforth authorized, put in use, and practised throughout all your Majesty's dominions. See here, when they hoped to have attained to their purposes by law, and to Puritan Substitutes for the Frayer Book Private The Book of Discipline. A Book o Prayer presented to Parliament. |