LATE FELLOW OF ST CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, SECOND EDITION. London and Cambridge: 1866. [The right of Translation is reserved.] PREFACE. BX 5145 .P961 1866 I HAVE been frequently urged to give a popular abridgement of my History of the Book of Common Prayer, in a form which should be suited for use in schools, and for general readers. In compliance with these requests I have attempted in the following pages to trace the History of the English Prayer-Book, and to supply to the English reader the general results, which in my larger work are accompanied by more elaborate discussions, and references to authorities, and extracts from the Latin Service-Books of the Middle Ages, which are indispensable to the conscientious clerical student. Recent wide-spread discussions and controversies concerning the Prayer-Book, and proposals for a further revision of its Offices render the present time not inappropriate for the publication of a work like the present. And I trust that my clerical brethren may find it a useful manual to assist their parishioners to a more intelligent use of the Forms of our Common Prayer. The cordial recognition which my larger work has met with, among those whose judgment upon these subjects is valuable, is naturally a source of great satisfaction to the author, and will be a guarantee for the accuracy of the statements given in these pages. |