In the litany the last deprecation was now made to include rebellion and schism, sins from which the nation had lately suffered so severely, as well as sedition, privy conspiracy, &c. In a subsequent petition, the words 'bishops, priests, and deacons,' were used instead of bishops, pastors and ministers of the Church.' In several of the collects, as in one for Good Friday, and in those for the fifth and sixth Sundays after Trinity, and for St Simon and St Jude's day, the word church was substituted for congregation. The last clause respecting the saints departed was added to the prayer for the Church militant. The rubric respecting the undoubted salvation of baptized infants dying before the commission of actual sin was placed after the office of Infant Baptism, to the great discontent of the Nonconformists.

Of the remaining changes the following are the most important. A new preface and calendar of proper lessons were prefixed; to the Evening Service, which had hitherto begun with the Lord's Prayer, was added the introductory part, which had been prefixed to the Morning Prayer in 1552; the Collects for the Ember Weeks, the Prayers for the High Court of Parliament, and for all sorts and conditions of men, the General Thanksgiving, and that

for the Restoration of Peace were added. Several alterations were made in the collects, epistles, and gospels. The rubric with regard to kneeling at the Lord's Supper, which had been inserted in 1552, and removed by Queen Elizabeth, was restored with some alteration. Several changes were made in the occasional offices. The office for the Baptism of such as are of Riper Years, and the Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea, were added. The Preface and some of the new prayers appear to have been written by Bishop Sanderson; the General Thanksgiving by Bishop Reynolds.

So dissatisfied were the Nonconformists with the result of the revision, that a proposal was made on their behalf in the house of Lords for the continuance of the existing Liturgy, and the abandonment of all the corrections made in Convocation.

It is well observed by Dr Cardwell', that 'the revision of Charles II., memorable as a passage of history, is no less instructive as an example. Beginning in a sense of thankfulness that the times of trouble were at an end, in a generous spirit of forgiveness for past sufferings, and in a prevailing disposition to renounce private interests and to include all 1 Conferences, p. 464.

reasonable worshippers within one common ritual, it terminated in a stricter interpretation of religious faith, in more rigorous requirements of ecclesiastical discipline, and in an increased amount of civil disabilities. And this result was probably warranted, and certainly excusable, under the peculiar aspect of the times; but it was owing in a great degree to the rash and intemperate proceedings of the Nonconformists, who had caused the floodgates of inquiry to be thrown open, and were the first to be carried away by the torrent.'

III.

From the year 1662 the Prayer Book has William remained without alteration. As the revolution of 1688 was warmly supported by the dissenters, William III. was not wanting in endeavours to requite their past services, and to secure their good-will for the future. Measures of comprehension and toleration were proposed by him in their behalf, but were counteracted by the circumstances of the times. In the Autumn of 1689 a royal commission was appointed to deliberate generally on ecclesiastical matters, and especially to prepare alterations of the Liturgy and the Canons, with a view to the comprehension of Nonconformists. This commission, consisting

of ten bishops and twenty other divines, included all the most eminent men of the time, among whom we may mention Stillingfleet, Patrick, Tillotson, Hall, and Tenison. They proceeded some way in their work; but the result of their labours was not laid before Convocation, nor suffered to transpire to the public. The downfall of episcopacy in Scotland produced a not unreasonable alarm in the English Church, and made the clergy more than ever suspicious of the Nonconformist body. On the other hand, the Non-jurors, however unpopular their opinions might be, had acquired universal respect by the sacrifices they had made in the maintenance of those opinions; and it was feared, that if any change were made in the Liturgy, they might carry the people along with them in rejecting that change as a schismatical innovation. From these causes the Convocation was indisposed to consider the revision of the Prayer Book; in order, therefore, to avoid a collision with that body, William suspended its deliberations by proroguing it.

CHAPTER IV.

The Preface and Calendar.

HE present Preface was added at the last The Pre

THE

revision in 1661, and is said to have been composed by Dr Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln. It recounts the circumstances under which the revision was commenced, the principles on which it was conducted, and the principal alterations in which it resulted.

The sections which follow 'Concerning the Service of the Church,' &c., form, with some few alterations and additions, the original preface of the Prayer Book, as it was published in 1549. The first treats of the corruptions which in course of time had crept into the old service-books, especially with regard to the reading of Scripture; the second assigns reasons for the abolition of some ceremonies, and the retention of others; the third and fourth appoint the order in which the psalter and the rest of holy Scripture are to be read.

The uncertain stories and legends' for the most part related to the Saints, and were read on Saints' days.

The 'responds' were short anthems introduced in the middle of a Scripture lesson, in

face.