COMMON PRATER
4a9
COMMON PRATER
frifth statute 17 and 18 Car. 11, c. 6, now preflonred in lie Rolla Office at Dublin. In 184^-55 Mr. Stepliens lIbo pahlished (3 vols. 8vo) the text of tiie B<H>k of 7ontn%an Praytr for the use of tlie Chnrch of Ireland, *Tt>ixi the same manuscript, with an introdaction and lotee** (Eadie, Eock9. Encgdopcedia^ s. v.).
Several attempts have been made to revise the i>ook since 1662 without success. The first was in the rei^^ of William III, ftirthered by Tillotson and Stil- liA^eet, who in 1668 had united with Bates, Manton, uid Baxter in preparing a bill for the ** comprdiension of IMssenters." Failing then and in 1681, the scheme wms resoined after the Revolution, and in 1689 a com- mission was formed to revise the Prayer-book. A number of alterations were suggested, in order, if poe- sible, to gpratify the Dissenters (see the Revised Liturgy of 1689, a blue-book, 1855). Nothing came of the prop- osition« A ftill account of this and other proposed re- visions is given by Procter, Hiit. of the Book o/Com- mof» Prayer (Camb. 1856, 2d edit.). There is now a fjiturgieal JUvieion Society in England, which in its I>eclaraticn ofPrimiples and Obfecte proposes the f<d- lorvring changes : " 1. The Rubric : the word priest to be clianged ; 2. l^e Ordination Service : words abused to tbe purposes of sacerdotal assumption to be altered. 3. Tbe Visitation of the Sick : the absolution to be omitted or qualified. 4. The Baptismal Offices : words asserting tbe spiritual regeneration of each recipient to be altered. 5. The Catechism to be revised. 6. The Bnrial Service : general language to be employ^ in expressing hope for the departed. 7. The Athana- sian Creed : the damnatory clauses to be omitted. 8. Tbe Apocryphal Lessons to be replaced by Scripture. A careful examination of the changes here specified will illustrate the chief aim of this society, which is to bring the Book of Common Prayer into closer conform- ity- frith the written word of God and the principles of the Keformation, by excluding all those expressions vrbich have been assumed to countenance Bomanizing doctrine or practice. It is believed this object will be greatly advanced by the combination of numbers, and the abandonment of desultory for systematic action. All, therefore, who are friendly to the cause of Protest- antism in our Church — all who would gladly see the letter of our formularies, which have been altered for the worse more than once since the Reformation, brought again into harmony with the qnrit of that giorioiis epoch — are invited to co-operate in this work, and to aid the society with their contributions, thefar influence, and, above all, their prayers.*' Four hun- dred and sixty En^^ish clergymen signed a petition in 1860, presented by Lord Ebury, asking for a commis- sion to revise the Book of Common Prayer. On the other band, the clerical declaration against the pro- posed revision received between six and seven thou- sand signatures. See also Fisher, Liturgical Purity our Rightful Inheritance (Lend. 1857, 12mo).
Tbe Nonjuron (q. v.), whose quasl-sepwation from the Church of England lasted from 1688 to 1779, gen- erally used the airthorized Prayer-book, except in the prayer for tbe king. " Dr. H icks, whose example was prohably followed by Jeremy Collier, used the com- munion office in the first book of king Edward YI, which he regarded as more conformable to the ancient practice; but most others continued to use the JSW^luA Prcnfer-iook until the year 1718 (Lathbury's Hittory of the NonjuToiri), The following are the prindpid litnrgies of the Nonjurors : (1.) A Cowummion Office, taken partly from the Primitive Liturgiee, and partly from the first English Reformed Common Prayer-hook : together with Offices for Confirmation and the Visitation of the Sick (London, 1718, 8vo. Reprinted in the fifth volume of Hall*s Fragmenta Liturgica, in 1848, 12mo). From the publication of these offices the Nonjurors were divided into two parties — those who adopted the new, and those who retained the old offices. The ob- solete, not to say superstitious ceremonies, revived in
this new communion office, were four, viz. mixing wap> ter with the wine, prayer for the dead, prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit on the elements, and the prayer of oblation. These were called the usagei^ and those who practised them were called usagert. Three other ceremonies, apart from these usages, are fre- quently reckoned among them, viz. trine immersion at baptism ; chrism, or consecrated oil in confirmation ; and unction at the visitation of the sick (jSbid. vol. i, p. xxxviii). (2.) A Compleat Collection of Devotions, tak- en from the Apostolical ConstituiionSj the Ancient IMur- giesj and the Common Prayer-book of the Church of Eng- land, Part I compreAeiM^ the PubHck Offices of the
Church, Part IIWMethod ofPriwOe Prayer
(London, 1784, 8vo). Part I is reprinted in Hall's Fragmenta Liturgica (Eadie, s. v.).
II. Common Prayer -hooks of Dissenters from the Church of England,— (1,) "The earliest of these is A Books of the Forme of Common Prayers, Administra- tion of the Sacraments, etc,, agreeable to God^s Words and the use of the Reformed Churdkes. This liturgy was printed by Waldegrave at London, without date, and at Middleburg, in Holland, hi 1586, 1587, and 1602. The text of Waldegrave*s edition is reprinted in Hall's Fragmenta Liturgica, voL i ;. and that of the Middle- burg edition, 1586, in his ReHquia Liturgica, vol. i (2.) At the conference held in the Savoy in 1661 be< tween the royal commissioners for reviewing the lit- urgy and the Nonconformists, the office of drawing up certain additional forms was assigned to Baxter, who presented a new form of prayer of his own composi- tion, entitied. The Reformation of the Uturgy as it was presented to the Right Reverend the Bishops^ by the Di- vines appointed by Us Modesties Commission to treat with them ciiout the alteration of it. This form of prayers is now more generally known as the Savoy Liturgy. It haaibeen repeatedly reprinted, and will be found in the fourth volume of Hall's ReUguia lAtwrgiccs, A new edition of The Book of Common Prayer, as amend- ed by the Westminster Divines in 1661, edited by the Rev. Dr. C. W. Shields, was published in Philadelphia (1865). The Savoy Liturgy comprises forms of pray- er for * the ordinary pu\^c worship of the Lord's day ; the order of celebrating the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, and the celebration of the sacrament of baptism ; a short discourse of catechizing, and the approbation of those who are to be admitted to the Lead's Supper; the celebration of matrimony; direc- tions for the vuitation of the sick, and their commun- ion,' with prayers ; ' the order for the burial of the dead, prayer and thanksgiving for particular members of the Church;' a discourse *of pastoral discipline,' with forms of * public confession, absolution, and ex- clusion from the holy communion of the Church.' (8.) William Whiston (q. v.) was deprived of his pro- fossorship as an Arian, and being for a time suspend- ed ftt>m communion with the Church by an act of con- vocation, he formed a religious society at his house in London ifor public worship. There he employed The Liturgy of the Church of England reduced nearer to the primitive standard, humbly proposed to publick consider- ation. This liturgy was first published at London in 1718. Whiston believed the pseudo-Apostolical Con- stitutions to be the genuine work of the apostles, and has made use of th^ in the composition of some of his prayers. (4.) The Book of Common Prayer, Re- formed according to the Plan of the late Dr. Samuel Clarke f or, as it is designated in the pre&tory adver- tisement, The Liturgy ^the Church of England, with the Amendments of Dr, Clarke, and such father Alter- ations as were judged necessary to render it Unexcep- tionable with respect to the Object of Religious Worship, was first published in 1774 by the Rev. Theophilus Lindsay, M. A., who Socinianized the Arian alterations proposed by Dr. Samuel Clarke, rector of St. James's, Westminster. This Prayer-book has subsequently passed through numerous editions. It contains al-