PRAYER IRELAND. Used in Dublin in 1551. THE two countries': yet it was not until February 6th, 1551, BOOK FOR that an Injunction was sent to the Lord-deputy to have the English Book of Common Prayer read in the Irish churches. Sir Anthony St. Leger immediately summoned the whole clergy, but not as a Convocation2, for the 1st of March, to acquaint them with his Majesty's commands; and after some opposition from the Archbishop of Armagh, and several bishops, a proclamation was issued for carrying the order into effect: and thus the English PrayerBook began to be publicly used on Easter Sunday (March 29), in the cathedral of Christ church, Dublin3. The Second Book of Common Prayer (1552) does not appear to have been ordered for observance in the Irish Church: nor was any attempt made to translate the whole or parts of it into the Irish language. It may be doubted whether it was used beyond the circle of the Lord-Deputy's Court: for the native priests did not understand English; and if adopted by those English clergy, who occupied the larger benefices, it would be as unintelligible to the people as the Latin service which it supplanted. The language, indeed, presented such obstacles, that the proposal was entertained to allow a Latin translation of the Book of Common Prayer to be used in the Irish churches,-a proposal which was actually sanctioned by the Irish Parliament at the com Not trans lated into the Irish language. 1 The Act of Uniformity (2 and 3 Ed. VI. c. 1) ordered the Book of Common Prayer (1549) to be used by all ministers in any cathedral or parishe churche, or other place within this Realme of England, Wales, Calyce, and Marches of the same or other the Kinges Dominions.' Clay, P, B. Illustr. p. 190. 2 Mant, Hist. of the Church of Ireland, II. 158. 3 Stephens, MS. Book of Com. Prayer for Ireland (Eccl. Hist. Soc.), Introd. pp. iii. sq. The title of the Book, which was printed at Dublin, 1551, is, 'The Boke of the common praier and administracion of the Sucramentes, and other rites and ceremonies of the Churche: after the use of the Churche of England.' Ibid. p. v. THE PRAYER IRELAND. mencement of the reign of Elizabeth'. The Irish and the Welsh were left in their ignorance, from the unwill- BOOK FOR ingness of the learned to master their languages. We must conclude that this alone hindered the translation of the reformed Service-book for the use of those countries; since we find that the first Prayer-Book (1549) was translated into French for the use of the king's subjects Translated in Calais and the Channel Islands; and care was taken to amend the translation in 1552, so that the French version should truly represent the English Book of Common Prayer'. 1 The Irish Act of Uniformity (2 Eliz. c. 2) authorized a Latin service in those churches where the priest had not sufficient knowledge of the English tongue: and it now appears (Original Letters and Papers, edited by E. P. Shirley, Lond. 1851, pp. 47, 48) that part of the Prayer-Book had been translated into Latin for this purpose as early as 1551. The translator was a Mr. Smyth, who is said to have received twenty pounds for 2 The First Prayer-Book was into French. INFLU FOREIGN ERS. APPENDIX. Notices of certain foreigners who have been supposed to have influenced the composition or revisal of the Prayer-Book in the reign of Edward VI. 1. CONTINUAL controversies within the English Church have ENCE OF turned upon the comparative merits and authority of the First and Second Prayer-Books of Edward VI. As to their merits, some regard the first Book as still leavened with Popish doctrines and practices: to others the second Book appears the work of foreign influence, and of pertinacious opposition to catholic antiquity1. The question of authority, however it may be historically decided, can be of little moment to those who now use our Prayer-Book, as successively amended, and as fully authorized by Parliament and Convocation in 1662. MELANC- It may be quite certain that the Convocation was not permitted to pass its judgment on the Second Service-Book put forth by authority of parliament in the reign of Edward VI., and for this plain reason, that it would have thrown all possible difficulties in the way of its publication2;' yet this second Book must be regarded as an English book revised by a selected number of English bishops and divines. It may be said that foreigners were consulted about the revisal; and it is true that the opinions of some strangers were asked: but even in the case of such men as Bucer and Martyr, who from their position would naturally be consulted, and on points where alterations agreed with their expressed opinions, it does not appear that those alterations were made in consequence of their influence. Of all the foreigners who were engaged in the work of reformation, Melancthon and Luther had the greatest influence both in the general reformation of the English Church, and in the composition of the English Book of Common Prayer, where it differed from the Mediæval Service-Books. 2. Melancthon was repeatedly invited into England; and it seems probable that his opinion, supported by his character and learning, had great influence on Cranmer's mind. As early as 1 Maskell, Ancient Liturgy, Pref. p. xcvi. 2 Cardwell, Synodalia, Vol. 1. Pref. p. x. INFLU FOREIGN. ERS. March, 1534, he had been invited more than once1; so that the attention of Henry VIII. and Cranmer had been turned towards ENCE OF him, before they proceeded to any doctrinal reformation. The formularies of faith, which were put forth in the reign of Henry, are supposed to have originated in his advice. On the death of Bucer (Mar. 1, 1552), the professorship of divinity at Cambridge Appointed was offered to Melancthon, and after many letters he was at last Divinity at Professor of formally appointed3 (May, 1553). It is perhaps needless to add Cambridge. that he never came into England; and although his presence had been so much desired, it does not appear that he had any influence with regard to the alterations introduced into Edward's Second Prayer-Book. 3. The first Book was largely indebted to Luther, who had Luther. composed a form of Service in 1533, for the use of Brandenburg His Nurem and Nuremberg. This was taken by Melancthon and Bucer as berg Service. their model, when they were invited (1543) by Hermann, Prince Archbishop of Cologne, to draw up a Scriptural form of doctrine and worship for his subjects. This book contained 'directions The 'Consul for the public services and administration of the sacraments, tation of with forms of prayer and a litany; and also expositions of several Archbishop points of faith and duty?? The Litany presents many striking of Cologne. proponenda ecclesiis conscribatur, 7 This work was first published in German in 1543, Simplex Judicium de Reformatione Ecclesiarum Electoratus Coloniensis.' A Latin translation was published at Bonn Hermann, INFLU FOREIGN- affinities with the amended English Litany of 1544. The exENCE OF hortations in the Communion Service (1548 and 1549), and portions of the Baptismal Services, are mainly due to this book, through which the influence of Luther may be traced in our Prayer-Book, where additions, or considerable changes were made in translating the old Latin Services1. MARTIN 4. Martin Bucer arrived in England, at Cranmer's invitation, in April, 1549, and was appointed King's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. His opinion of the First Prayer-Book, which was then in course of publication, he gives in a letter written to the friends whom he had left at Strasburg, on the day after he His opinion reached Lambeth: 'The cause of religion, as far as appertains to of the English the establishment of doctrines and the definition of rites, is Reformation, nearly what could be wished....We hear that some concessions have been made both to a respect for antiquity, and to the and ceremo- infirmity of the present age.... Of the use of vestments, nies retained candles, commemoration of the dead, and chrism, he says, 'They affirm that there is no superstition in these things, and that they are only to be retained for a time....This circumstance greatly refreshed us, that all the services in the churches are read and sung in the vernacular tongue, that the doctrine of justification is purely and soundly taught, and the Eucharist administered according to Christ's ordinance.... In the following year he was required to state his opinion touching any parts of the Prayer-Book which seemed to him to need alteration: and he then again expressed his general satisfaction with it3. He pre in 1549. in 1545, 'Simplex ac pia delibera- appointed either by a free and Christian council, general or national, or else by the states of the Empire of the nation of Germany, gathered together in the Holy Ghost. A second English edition, 'revised by the translator thereof, and amended in many places,' was printed in 1548. 1 See Strype, Cranmer, II. 31 ; Memorials Ed. VI. I. 5; Laurence, Bampt. Lect. p. 377. 2 Orig. Lett. CCXLVIII. 3 Equidem cum primum in hoc regnum venissem, quæ publice dogmata quique ritus in ecclesia essent recepti, videremque eo, num meum possem ministerium his solido consensu adjungere, librum istum sa |