John, grant unto thy people the grace of spiritual joys; and direct the minds of all the faithful unto the way of eternal salvation.' Whereas to us this festival is fitly suggestive of obedience and repentance; we pray that as he was 'sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance... we may so follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching, and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake.' The collect in the Latin Breviary for St Bartholomew's day begins thus; Almighty and everlasting God, who hast afforded unto us the reverend and holy joy of this day in the festival of thy blessed apostle St Bartholomew.' This preface has been altered, though the latter part of the collect is retained. Again, the excellent collect for charity used on Quinquagesima Sunday is new; and either a more doctrinal or a more practical bearing has been given to each of the collects for Christmas day, Eastereven, Ash-Wednesday, &c. And generally it. may be observed, that our collects for Saints' days, instead of containing an expression of spiritual joy on the recurrence of the festival, (as is the case in the missal) admonish us of some practical duty, which the example of

each particular saint is calculated to suggest. See especially the collects for St James's, St Matthew's, St Luke's, St Mark's, St John Baptist's, Innocents' day, and the Conversion of St Paul.

3 In the Communion-service, the reading of the ten commandments, and the response after each, are new features. The introit, or psalm at the commencement of the service has been omitted, as well as the Gloria Deo before, and the Gratia Deo after the Gospel, (except in so far as the latter exclamations have been retained by custom.) In like manner the Hosanna formerly said after the trisagion (Holy, holy, holy, &c.) and the Hallelujah, used in various parts of the churchservices, have been discontinued.

4 In the baptismal service the vow of obedience is new; Wilt thou obediently keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life?' The white vesture, formerly worn as a badge of innocence, and the oil of gladness, are no longer appointed to be used in this sacrament; while the sign of the cross, the token of suffering and obedience, is retained.

5 The Commination-service is new.

Since the Reformation a larger share has been given to the service of praise, by the in

troduction, perhaps not strictly canonical, of congregational psalmody. And the general thanksgiving, which was added in 1662, and which now has a place in our daily service, has contributed to give a more eucharistical tone to our public devotions.

A comparison of our English prayers with their Latin originals, some of which have been given in the following pages, will enable us to appreciate the consummate skill and good taste of the translators. Indeed, it is one of the felicities of the Book of Common Prayer, that it was composed in an age remarkable for purity of style and diction. Had the work been executed half a century sooner, it would have been the monument of a period at which the English tongue was not yet fully formed and harmonised; had it been delayed fifty years later, it would hardly have failed to exhibit some of those pedantic conceits which prevailed in the latter part of the Elizabethan age. But having been framed as it was by the graceful and simple taste of Archbishop Cranmer, it is a masterpiece of devotional composition, sublime, comprehensive, fervid, unaffected, marching along with a lofty and varied melody, which has not been surpassed, perhaps hardly equalled, in any prose work of our language,

THE

CHAPTER III.

Revisions of the Prayer Book.

Prayer

VI, Second an- Book of

HE first Prayer Book of Edward though a great departure from the cient ritual, and received with much displeasure on that account by a large portion of the nation, did not satisfy the requirements of the more active and leading spirits of the Reformation. The public mind was now in a state of rapid transition, and ancient usages which were time-honoured and inviolable in one year, were obsolete and ready for extinction in the next. The continental reformers, who were bolder and less circumspect in general than the English, exercised considerable influence in this country; many of them were in correspondence with Cranmer and other chiefs of the movement; and two of the most eminent, Peter Martyr and Bucer, occupied the professorial chairs of theology at Oxford and Cambridge. Two subjects in particular were discussed with no little acrimony, the use of the surplice and other ecclesiastical vestments, and the nature of the elements in the Lord's Supper. Early in 1552 a new edition of the Prayer Book was completed by the

Edward V1.

made in this revision.

same commissioners (as it appears) who had prepared the first; and in the spring of that year it was confirmed by Parliament.

Alterations The first change in this revision occurs at the commencement of the service, in the addition of the introductory part preceding the Lord's Prayer. This is with much reason thought to have been suggested by the similar opening of Calvin's French liturgy1. The service still concluded with the third collect. In the title of the Communion-service the words 'commonly called the mass' were laid aside; and the introits, or psalms sung while the priest went to the communion-table, were discontinued, together with the Hallelujahs and versicles. Some changes were made in the collects. The feast of St Mary Magdalene was omitted. The words of the rubric in the first book, 'the priest standing humbly afore the midst of the altar,' were changed to 'the priest standing at the north side of the altar.' The ten commandments were introduced, probably from Calvin's French liturgy. Prayers for the dead were laid aside, and a significant change was made in the title of the prayer 'for the whole state of Christ's Church,' (which formerly contained a prayer for the dead), by 1 See supra, p. 21.