CHAPTER IV.

The Prayer-Book from the Accession of James I. to the Death

YAGE

86

103

The Prayer-Book in the Reign of Charles II. .

APPENDIX.

108

SECT. 1. Attempted Revision in the Reign of William III. 144

2. Offices of the Nonjurors, and of the Scottish Epis-

copal Church

. 160

3. The Prayer-Book, as used by Independent Churches

The Order for Daily Morning and Evening Prayer.

SECT. 1. The Offices of Matins and Vespers from the Sarum

CHAPTER II.

The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; and Proper Lessons for

PAGE

265

The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy

SECT. 1. The Ministration of Public Baptism of Infants . . 361

2. The Ministration of Private Baptism of Children

in Houses

3. The Ministration of Baptism to such as are of Riper

Years

. 376

. 386

CHAPTER V.

The Occasional Offices.

4. The Order for the Visitation, and the Communion

PAGE

APPENDIX I.

The Services for the State Holy-days

APPENDIX II.

A Tabular View of the Morning and Evening Prayer, and of

the Communion Office; and a Table of Dates

INDEX

444

447

455

A HISTORY

OF THE

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

CHAPTER I.

Service-Books of the English Church before the
Reformation.

THE Liturgies of the mediaval Western Church appear
to be derived from two models, the Roman and the
Gallican. The latter retained more features of its
Oriental origin, and is said to have been followed by
the churches of Spain and Britain'. Of the Daily
Offices also, in their earliest forms, the leading charac-
teristics appear to have been the same in the East and
in the West and hence, in the reconstruction of the
Western Ritual, which is supposed to have taken place
about the fifth century, Eastern improvements and
details were received with great facility. The ordinary
service of the British Church in this early period most
probably consisted of psalms, hymns, and canticles, sung
partly at night, partly in the early morning, and again
in the evening; and the change which was introduced
in the seventh century was probably no greater than the
other churches of the West had already experienced3.

1 See Palmer, Antiquities of the English Ritual, Dissertation on Primitive Liturgies,' § vI. Lit. of

Rome, § Ix. Lit. of Gaul, § XI. 从

Lit. of Britain and Ireland.

2 See Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, I. pp. 234 sqq.

B

USES.

USES.

Mission of
Augustine to

Saxons.

At the close of the sixth century, however, the condition of the ancient Church of this country' was most deplorable: the larger portion of the island, afterwards called England, was occupied by tribes of heathen, and the Christians were seeking shelter for their lives and their worship in the wild districts of Wales, Cumberland, and Cornwall.

At this time (597) Augustine, the missionary from the Anglo- Pope Gregory the Great, arrived, doubtless bringing with him the Ritual which was at that time used at Rome. But, in passing through Gaul, where indeed he stayed some months, he became acquainted with the 'Gallican Use.' Accordingly, when he was allowed to found a church in Kent, he hesitated as to the form of service he should appoint under the ecclesiastical circumstances of the country. His own converts might be willing to receive the Roman Use; but within the limits of his archbishopric, as granted by Gregory', there were the ancient British churches in communion with their primate at Caerleon, and numerous Irish missionaries in the north of Scotland who had churches of their converts. What therefore was to be the English Use, since the Gallican customs of saying mass differed from the Roman? Upon this question he sought Gregory's decision, who allowed him to choose either the Roman or the Gallican form, or to select what he thought most suitable from the various forms used in the Catholic Church3. The result was that Augustine

1 See Stillingfleet, Antiquities of the British Churches; Soames, Ang.-Sax. Church, 'Introduction;' Carte, Hist. of England, 1. 183.

2 Beda, Hist. Eccl. 1. 27: 'Brittaniarum omnes episcopos tuæ fraternitati committimus, ut indocti

doceantur, infirmi persuasione roborentur, perversi auctoritate corrigantur.'

3 Beda, Hist. 1. 27: 'II. Interrogatio Augustini. Cum una sit fides, cur sunt ecclesiarum diversæ consuetudines,et altera consuetudo