TEE OF LORDS ON REFORM. Proposed changes in Book. COMMIT- in all humility with the prayer which the minister makes THE when he delivers the elements: Cathedral and collegiate CHURCH churches to be bound to celebrate the Holy Communion only once in a month: In the first prayer at Baptism, to change the words, 'didst sanctify the flood of Jordan and Prayer all other waters,' into 'didst sanctify the element of water:' Whether it be not fit to have some discreet rubric made to take away all scandal from signing the sign of the cross upon the infants after baptism: or if it shall seem more expedient to be quite disused, whether this reason should be published, That in ancient liturgies no cross was confined [? consigned] upon the party but where oil also was used; and therefore oil being now omitted, so may also that which was concomitant with it, the sign of the cross: In Private Baptism the rubric mentions that which must not be done, that the minister may dip the child in water being at the point of death: To leave out the words in the rubric of Confirmation, and be undoubtedly saved: To enlarge the Catechism: To take away the times prohibited for marriage: None to marry without a certificate that they are instructed in their Catechism: To alter the words, 'with my body I thee worship,' into 'I give thee power over my body:' To mend the rubric, that new-married persons should receive the Communion the same day of their marriage, by adding or upon the Sunday following, when the Communion is celebrated :' In the Absolution of the Sick, to say, 'I pronounce thee absolved: To compose the Psalm of Thanksgiving of women after childbirth out of proper versicles taken from divers psalms: May not the priest rather read the Communion in the desk, than go up to the pulpit: The rubric in the Commination leaves it doubtful, whether the Liturgy may not be read in divers places in the church: To alter DIREC the words of Burial, 'in sure and certain hope of the THE resurrection to eternal life,' into 'knowing assuredly that TORY. the dead shall rise again:' In the Litany, to put 'grievous proposed sins,' for 'deadly sin.' To mend the imperfections of the ther metre in the singing psalms; and then to add lawful authority to have them publicly sung before and after sermons, and sometimes instead of the hymns of Morning and Evening Prayer1. The deliberations upon these changes and concessions continued until the middle of May (1641), when motions were entertained in the House of Commons2 which evidently showed that no changes in ritual or discipline would pacify opponents who sought the ruin of the Church, and who were rapidly increasing in power. The idea of making these concessions was laid aside as useless; but it was not forgotten by nonconformists that such alterations had once been approved by persons of high name and station in the Church. the Prayer Book. minster As moned. In 1643 (June 12) an Ordinance of Parliament sum- The Westmoned the Westminster Assembly,—a body designed as sembly suma substitute for Convocation, consisting of 30 lay members and 121 divines, 'to be consulted with by the Parliament, for the settlement of the government and Liturgy of the Church of England, and clearing of the doctrine of the said Church from false aspersions and interpretations"." In 1645 (Jan. 3) an Ordinance of Parliament took away The Dithe Book of Common Prayer, and established in its stead stituted for the Directory for the Public Worship of God in the Book, Three Kingdoms.' This was followed (Aug. 23) by 1 Cardwell, Conferences, p. 270. 2 The bill against deans and chapters occasioned a misunderstanding amongst the divines, and broke up the meeting. Collier, Eccles. Hist. VIII. 199. 3 Rushworth, Part III. Vol. II. p. 337. VIII. 248. rectory sub the Prayer THE DIREC under penal another Ordinance for the more effectual putting in TORY. execution the Directory.' Henceforth to use the Book of Common Prayer in any 'public place of worship, or in any private place or family within the kingdom,' was and enforced punishable by a fine of five pounds for the first offence, ties. ten pounds for the second, and for the third by 'one whole year's imprisonment without bail or mainprize :' not to observe the Directory subjected the minister to a fine of forty shillings; while to do or say anything in 'opposition, derogation, or depraving of the said book,' might be punished by a fine of five pounds, or fifty pounds, at the discretion of the magistrate. This history does not require any account of those years of hypocrisy and violence, during which the voice of the Church of England was silenced, and Presbyterianism, after trying to bring a spiritual despotism into every parish and household, was in its turn obliged to yield to Independency, a 'hydra of many heads.' 'Old sects revived, new sects were created, and there ensued a state of distraction and impiety, the natural tendency of which was to break up all minor distinctions, and to divide men into two large classes, one of them anxious to find terms of agreement, in order that religion might not be easily extinguished, and the other indifferent whether any form of religion remained'.' APPENDIX. The Directory. THE DIRECTORY. and Disci AN abridgement of Calvin's Form of Service, or rather of Knox's Book of Common Order, was presented to Parliament, and printed in 1641, and again in 16431; and another adaptation of the same original, somewhat larger than the Middleburgh2, The Service but much shorter than either that of Calvin or Knox, was pre- pline. sented to the Westminster Assembly, and printed in 16443. The The Settled parliamentary divines, however, preferred to issue a work of their Order. own composition. They had denounced the Book of Common Prayer as unfit to lead the devotions of the people; but they then suffered a year to pass by before they attempted to substitute anything in its place. Then came the ordination of Elders and Deacons by an Association of Ministers in London and other chief towns; and then, the preparation of a Book of Service. A committee was appointed to agree upon certain general heads for the direction of the minister in the discharge of his office before the congregation: these, being arranged in London, were sent to Scotland for approbation, and summarily established by ordinance of Parliament, (and denounced by a counter-proclamation from the King,) as the Directory for Public Worship. This was not so much a Form of Devotion, as a Manual of Directions: the minister being allowed a discretion, either to make the most of what was provided for him in the book, or to use his own abilities to supply what he considered needful. A few of the variations, more especially directed against preceding usages, were,—the rejection of the Apocrypha: the dis 1 The Service, Discipline, and Forme of the Common Prayers, and Administration of the Sacraments, used in the English Church of Geneva...1641.' The 2d Edition was called, 'The Reformation of the Discipline and Service of the Church, according to the best Reformed Churches...1643.' P. Hall's Reliquiæ Liturgica, Vol. III. p. 89. 2 See above, p. 84. 3 The Setled Order of ChurchGovernment, Liturgie, and Discipline, for the rooting out of all Popery, Heresie, and Schisme, ac- THE DIRECTORY. Scripture, continuance of Private Baptism; of godfathers and godmothers; of the sign of the cross; of the wedding ring; and of the administration of the Lord's Supper to the Sick at home: the removal of the communion-table into the body of the church; with the preference of a sitting or standing to a kneeling posture. All saints' days were discarded, and all vestments. No Service was appointed for the Burial of the Dead: no Creed was recited, nor the Ten Commandments; though these with the Apostles' Creed were added to the Confession of Faith a year or two afterwards1. This Parliamentarian form of Public Devotion is entitled, Directory for the Public Worship of God, throughout the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Together with an Ordinance of Parliament for the taking away of the Book of Common Prayer, and the Establishing and Observing of this present Directory throughout the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales. It commences with a note 'Of the assembling of the congregation, and their behaviour in the public worship of God. The minister is to begin with prayer, in a short form, for a blessing on the portion of the Word then to be read. All the Canonical Books are to be Reading of read over in order: ordinarily one chapter of each Testament at every meeting. After reading and singing, the minister who is to preach is to endeavour to get his own and his hearers' hearts to be rightly affected with their sins. A long prayer before the sermon. Then follows a long note of the manner and matter of preaching. After sermon follows a prayer of thanksgiving. The Lord's Prayer, as being not only a pattern of prayer, but itself a most comprehensive prayer, is recommended to be used in the prayers of the Church. Baptism. The Administration of the Sacraments; and first of Baptism. It is to be dispensed only by a minister, in the place of Public Worship, and in the face of the congregation, where the people may most conveniently see and hear; and not in the places where fonts in the time of Popery were unfitly and superstitiously placed. The child, after notice given to the minister the day before, is to be presented by the father, or (in case of his necessary absence) by some Christian friend in his place. Before Baptism, the minister 1 See Hall, Reliq. Liturg. Introd. p. xl. Several editions of the Directory appeared during the years 1644, 1645, and 1646. It is reprinted with the Ordinances of Par liament (Jan. 3, 164, and Aug. 23, 1645) in Reliq. Liturg. Vol. III., and in Clay, Book of Common Prayer Illustrated, Append. IX. X. XI. |