SIONAL Prayers to be said every day in the Ember weeks were ОССАadded at the last revision. They are peculiar to the PRAYERS. English Ritual'. The Ember days were called the Fasts of the four Seasons', or, in our Calendar, the Ember days at the four Seasons; and the observance of them with special fasting and prayer was an act of consecration of the four seasons of the year. Being occasions of peculiar solemnity, ordinations were held at these times; and this is the order of our Church in the 31st Canon. The particular days were settled by the Council of Placentia (1095)3 to be the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, after Whitsunday, after the 14th of September (the feast of Holy Cross), and after the 13th of December (St. Lucia). The rubric, however, directs one of the prayers to be said not only on the Ember days, but on every day of the Ember weeks'. The Prayer that may be said after any of the former is as old as the Sacramentary of Gregory'; and in an English form has had a place in the Prymer, as long as that book can be traced, standing with the Collects at the end of the Litany. It was, however, omitted during the reign of Edward VI., but restored in the Litanies at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth (1558 and 1559)'. 1 Palmer, Orig. Lit. I. p. 305. The second of these Prayers was in the Scottish Prayer-Book (1637). 2 From jejunia quatuor temporum the Germans called these seasons quatember; and hence some have derived our term ember. Its supposed derivation from the sprinkling of ashes is without foundation. 3 Can. xiv. Mansi, xx. 806. 4 Of the two prayers, the first is more appropriate to the former part, and the second to the latter part of the week. 5 Greg. Sacr. Orationes pro pec catis. Opp. III. p. 195. Maskell, Mon. Rit. II. p. 107. Deus cui proprium. God, to 7 Above, p. 51. OCCA- Its place is after the Ember Prayers, and not after the PRAYERS. Prayer for all Conditions of Men. SIONAL 6 The Prayer for the High Court of Parliament was composed most probably by Bishop Laud. It first appeared in an Order of Fasting'in 1625, and again in 1628 in a special form of Prayer necessary to be used in these dangerous times of war.' In these early forms it is almost verbally like the present Prayer, only somewhat longer: it also contains the words 'most religious and gracious king',' which have been commonly supposed to have been introduced as a compliment to Charles II. In 1661 the Prayer was inserted in a special form for a Fast-day on the 12th of June, and again in the following January; and at the same time it was placed by the Convocation in the Book of Common Prayer2. The composition of the Prayer for all Conditions of Men has been ascribed to Bishop Sanderson. It was, however, most probably composed by Bishop Gunning, Master of St. John's College, Cambridge. In its original shape it is supposed to have been longer, and to have brought into one prayer the petitions for the King, Royal Family, Clergy, &c., which are scattered through several Collects3. The Convocation, however, retained the Collects; and therefore threw out the corresponding clauses in this general Prayer, without altering the word finally, which seems to be needlessly introduced in so short a form. Before this, no general intercessory prayer 1 Sovereigns are mentioned as εὐσεβέστατοι καὶ πιστότατοι in the Anaphora of St. Basil's Liturgy; Bunsen's Hippolytus, IV. p. 419; Neale, Eastern Church, p. 595. 2 Cardwell, Conferences, p. 233, note; Lathbury, Hist. of Convoc. pp. 301 sq.; Clay, Prayer-Book Illustrated, Pref. p. xxv. The word Dominions was substituted for Kingdoms by an Order of Council of January 1, 1801. 3 See the objections to short collects raised by the Dissenters at the Savoy Conference, Cardwell, Conf. pp. 308, sq.; above, p. 118. occurred in the Service, except on those mornings when OCCA the Litany was said. SIONAL PRAYERS. Praise is an essential part of Divine worship. Hence Thankswe retain, throughout the Service, Doxologies, Psalms, givings. and Canticles. But these do not include that particular thanksgiving for extraordinary deliverances, or indeed for daily mercies, which is due to the Author and Giver of all good things. Hence some particular thanksgivings1 were annexed to the Litany, at the revision of the Prayer-Book after the Hampton Court Conference, by order of James II., under the title of An enlargement of thanksgiving for diverse benefits, by way of explanation'.' These were thanksgivings for Rain, for Fair Weather, for Plenty, for Peace and Victory, and for Deliverance from the Plague in two forms. At the last revision, after the restoration of the Monarchy, another special form of thanksgiving was added, for Restoring Publick Peace at Home. Its language must have been felt to be strikingly appropriate, when read with the restored Common Prayer, after such a period of outrage and sedition. At the same time the Convocation accepted a form of General Thanksgiving, composed by Bishop Reynolds, which rendered the book more perfect 1 'The English ritual, I believe, is the only one which contains special thanksgivings for the mercies of God, others having confined themselves to general expressions of gratitude on all such occasions. It has therefore, in the present case, improved on the ancient customs of the Christian Church, instead of being in any way inconsistent with them: Palmer, Orig. Lit. I. p. 307. See Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 43. 2 See above, pp. 90 sq. 3 Cardwell, Conf. pp. 222 sq. 4"A form of general thanksgiving was prepared and presented by the Bishop of Norwich on the 14th of December. It is frequently stated that the General Thanksgiving was composed by Sanderson; but it is clear from the proceedings of the Upper House that it was prepared by Bishop Reynolds :' Lathbury, Hist. of Convoc. p. 289. See also Cardwell, Conferences, p. 372, note; Joyce, English Synods, p. 716. OCCA- by making the Thanksgivings correspond with the SIONAL PRAYERS. Prayers'. 1 In the American Prayer-Book, the Prayer for all Conditions of Men and the General Thanksgiving are inserted in their place in the Morning and Evening Prayer. The Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings include additional forms, For a Sick Person, for a Sick Child, For a Person or Persons going to Sea, For a Person under Affliction, For Malefactors after Condemna tion, and A Prayer to be used at the Meetings of Convocation; also a Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth, For Recovery from Sickness, and For a Safe Return from Sea. The Prayer for the Parliament becomes, with a slight alteration, A Prayer for Congress. In the Prayers For Fair Weather, and In time of Sickness, the references to the Old Testament are omitted. CHAPTER II. The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; and Proper THIS part of the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI. was entitled, The Introits, Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used at the celebration of the Lord's Supper and Holy Communion through the year: with proper Psalms and Lessons for divers Feasts and days. An Introit, or Psalm to be sung at or before the commencement of the Communion Office, was prefixed to each Collect. These were removed' at the revision in 1552; and the Proper Lessons were placed in the Calendar of Lessons. parts of the Trinity. The Epistles and Gospels are, with few exceptions, the same that had been appointed in the Missal. They The two form two series, which may be distinguished as doctrinal Church-year. and practical. The ecclesiastical year is divided into two parts; the first, from Advent to Trinity, is designed to Advent to commemorate the life of Christ on earth; and the several particulars of His life are celebrated in their order,-His incarnation, nativity, circumcision, manifestation to the Gentiles; His doctrine and miracles, His baptism, fasting, and temptation; His agony, His cross, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension; and the mission of the Holy Ghost: the object of the Epistles and Gospels during this time is to remind us of the benefit which we receive from God the Father, through the mediation 1 As a substitute for the Introit, in cathedrals, the hymn Tersanctus is generally sung by the choir: the practice shows that the appropriate |