For the Consecration of Churches; or Anniversaries of their Consecration, and for the Reopening of Churches after Restoration. Any of the following may be used : Psalm xxiv. xxvii. xlv. xlvi. xlvii. xlviii. lxxxiv. lxxxvii. c. cxviii. cxxii. cxxxii. cxxxiii. cxxxiv. cl. For the Consecration of Churchyards. For Harvest Festivals. Any of the following may be used :— Psalm lxv. lxvii. lxxxi. ciii. civ. cxxvi. cxxvii. cxxviii. cxliv. cxlv. cxlvii. For School Festivals. Psalm viii. xxiii. xxxiv. cxix. (v. 1 to 17), cxlviii. For Choral Festivals. Psalm xxxiii. xlvii. lxxxi. xcii. xevi. xcviii. cviii. exlii. cxlvii. cl. For Ember Days. Psalm cxxi. cxxii. cxxiii. cxxv. cxxvi. cxxx. cxxxi. cxxxii. cxxxiii. cxxxiv. For Rogation Days. Psalm Ixi. lxii. lxiii. lxiv. lxv. lxvi. lxvii. ciii. civ. cxxvi. cxlvii. III. IV. Psalm cxli. cxlii. cxliii. V. VI. xxii. xl. xlv. IV. Psalm cxi. cxii. cxiii. V. lxxx. lxxxi. For Missionary Services. IX. lvi. lvii. lviii. Psalm xix. lxxii. cxvii. X. lix. lx. lxi. XXIII. CXXV. CXX Also any of the Psalms appointed above for the Festival of the Epiphany. XI. Ixii. lxiii. Ixiv. XII. lxxi. cxxviii. XIII. lxxiii. cxxix. For Diocesan Synods, Visitations, or Ruridecanal Chapters. Psalm lxviii. lxxxiv. lxxxvii. cxxii. cxxxiii. XIV. lxxiv. lxxv. For Annual Festivals of Benefit Societies. Psalm cxii. cxxxiii. cxlv. At Confirmation. XXVII. Psalm cxlvi. cxlvii. Table III.-PROPER LESSONS FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS. First Lesson-1 Chron. xxix., or 1 Kings viii. 22-62. For Reopening of Churches after Restoration. First Lesson-2 Chron. xxxiv. 8-29, or Ezra iii., or Isa. lviii., or Haggai ii. Second Lesson-Luke ii. 25-39, xix. 37; John ii. 13; Eph. ii., or Rev. xxi. For the Consecration of Churchyards. First Lesson-Gen. xxiii., or Job xix., or Isa. xxvi. Second Lesson-John v. 21, or 1 Cor. xv. 35; 2 Cor. iv. 8 to v. 11; 1 Thess. iv. 13; Rev. xx. For Rogation Days. First Lesson-Deut. viii., xxviii. 1-15; 1 Kings viii. 22-53; Prov. iii.; Joel ii. 15. Second Lesson-Matt. vi. 24, vii. 1-13; Luke xviii. 1-15; 2 Cor. v. 1-10; 2 Cor. ix. TABLES AND RULES FOR THE MOVEABLE AND IMMOVEABLE FEASTS, TOGETHER WITH THE DAYS OF FASTING AND ABSTINENCE THROUGH THE WHOLE YEAR. RULES TO KNOW WHEN THE MOVEABLE FEASTS AND HOLYDAYS BEGIN. EASTER DAY, on which the rest depend, is always the First Sunday after the Full Moon which happens upon or next after the Twenty-first Day of March; and if the Full Moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday after. Advent Sunday is always the nearest Sunday to the Feast of S. Andrew, whether before or after. For Thanksgiving after Harvest. First Lesson-Cant. ii. 8; Deut. viii. 7, xxvi. 1-12, xxviii. 1-15, or Deut. xxxii. 7-20, xxxiii. 7; or Isa. xxviii. 23; Hosea ii. 14 to end. Second Lesson-Matt. vii. 1-13, xiii. 24-31; John iv. 31-39, vi. 26-36; 2 Cor. ix. 6; James v. 7-19; Rev. xiv. 14-19. For Missionary Services. First Lesson-Isa. xlix., or lx. lxi. lxiii. lxvi. 5, or Zeph. iii., or Zech. viii. 20 to end of ix. Second Lesson-Eph. iii., Rev. v., or xiv. For Benefit Societies. First Lesson-Deut. xxviii. 1-15. Second Lesson-Rom. xiii. For School Festivals. First Lesson-Job xxviii., Prov. iii. or iv., or Eccles. xii. Second Lesson-Luke ii. 40, or Eph. v. 15 to vi. 21, or 2 Tim. iii. For Visitations, Synods, Ruridecanal Chapters. First Lesson-Isa. lxi., Ezek. iii. 10, or xxxiv. 7; Zech. ix. 9 to end of x.; Mal. ii. 1, 2, iii., iv. Second Lesson-Acts xx. 17, or John x. 1-17, xx. 19-24, xxi. 15-23, or 1 Cor. iii.; 2 Cor. iv. or vi.; Eph. iv. 1-17; 2 Tim. i., or ii., or iii., or iv., to 19; 1 Peter iv. 7 to v. 12, or Rev. ii. or iii. For Choral Festivals. First Lesson-1 Chron. xvi. or part of it, 2 Chron. xxix. 20. THE TABLES AND RULES. These were nearly all of them new insertions at the last revision of the Prayer Book in 1662, and a large portion of them were taken out of Bishop Cosin's Collection of Private Devotions. Previous editions of the Prayer Book contained "an Almanack for thirty-nine years," which was the same as our "Table of Moveable Feasts;" a "Table to find Easter for ever;" the list of days beginning "Septuagesima,” but without Ascension Day, and without any prefix whatever; and a short list of Holydays. The general title, "Tables and Rules, etc., " is in the Durham Book in Bishop Cosin's handwriting: and all the ecclesiastical alterations and insertions appear to have been made by him. The chronological apparatus of the begin. These rules stand exactly as they do in Cosin's Devotions, as published in 1627: except that the day of the month is substituted for the words " 'Equinoctial of the Spring in March." The rule for finding Easter (founded on a decree of the Council of Nicæa) is not quite exactly stated. Instead of "Full Moon" it ought to say, "the 14th day of the Calendar Moon, whether that day be the actual Full Moon or not." In some years (as in 1818, 1845, and 1903) the Full Moon and Easter coincide, and this rule then contradicts the Tables. There is a curious old rough and ready rule for finding Easter contained in a rhyme found in some old Sarum Missals: "In Marche after the first C [or new moon] The thridde sunday full I wis This seems as correct as it is easy to use, e.g. : But the same list that is now in the Prayer Book is found in an Act of Parliament of 1552-53 [5 and 6 Edw. VI. ch. 3, sec. 1] with the exception of the Conversion of St. Paul, St. Barnabas, and "All Angels" in association with St. Michael. The omission of these was probably accidental. All the Feasts in this Table have their own Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and notices of the days will be found in the footnotes appended to these in their proper places. Note, that if any of these Feast Days fall upon a Monday, then the Vigil or Fast Day shall be kept upon the Saturday, and not upon the Sunday next before it. III. The Three Rogation Days, being the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Holy Thursday, or the Ascension of our LORD. IV. All the Fridays in the Year, except Christmas Day. [A SOLEMN DAY, FOR WHICH A PARTICULAR SERVICE IS APPOINTED. The Sixth Day of May, being the Day on which His Majesty began his happy Reign.] 8 The Table of Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Abstinence. This, together with the "certain Solemn Days" (now reduced to one), originally appeared in Cosin's Devotions, and is also written in the margin of the Durham Prayer Book. At the end of the MS. note is written an addition taken from the Devotions, but not eventually printed in the Prayer Book :'By the ecclesiastical laws of this Realm, there be some times in the year wherein Marriages are not usually solemnized; 1 viz. 66 1 Cosin also wrote, "All the Fridays in the year except the twelve days of Christmas." But the first portion of it is to be found in 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 3, secs. 2, 5, and the second portion in 2 and 3 Edw. VI. c. 19, and 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 3. Some notes on the subject of Fasting will be found under the head of Lent; the Ember Days are noticed in connection with Ordination Services, and the Rogation Days in the notes to the Fifth Sunday after Easter. 1 See notes on the Marriage Service. All Festivals have Evens, including Sundays, but only some have Vigils. The Festivals that fall during the seasons of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide have no Vigils, Fridays being the only days of Abstinence in those joyous periods. St. Luke's day is without a Vigil, either because the Evangelist is thought to have died in peace without martyrdom, or because the minor festival of St. Etheldreda occupies the 17th of October. Michaelmas Day is without a Vigil, because the Holy Angels had no day of trial like the Saints before entering into Heaven: and of this the Vigil is a symbolical observance. The use of the words Vigil and Even at the time when the Prayer Book was first translated is illustrated by the following passage from Cranmer's answer to the Devonshire rebels: For as Vigils, otherwise called Watchings, remained in the calendars upon certain saints' evens, because in old times the people watched all those nights; but now these many years those vigils remained in vain in the books, for no man did watch." [STRYPE'S Cranmer, ii. 533.] The Vigil was originally that which its name indicates, a night spent in watching and prayer. The scandals which arose out of these nocturnal Services, however, made it necessary to abolish them [DURAND. vi. 7]; and a fast on the day before was substituted which still retains the name of Vigil. The Vigil is not therefore connected with the Evening Service, but is the day before the Festival to which it belongs; A TABLE TO FIND EASTER DAY, FROM THE PRESENT TIME TILL THE YEAR 2199 INCLUSIVE, ACCORDING TO THE FOREGOING CALENDAR.* THIS Table contains so much of the Calendar as is necessary for the determining of Easter; To find which, look for the Golden Number of the year in the first Column of the Table, against which stands the Day of the Paschal Full Moon; then look in the third Column for the Sunday Letter, next after the day of the Full Moon, and the day of the Month standing against that Sunday Letter is Easter Day. If the Full Moon happens upon a Sunday, then (according to the first rule) the next Sunday after is Easter Day. To find the Golden Number, or Prime, add one to the Year of our Lord, and then divide by 19; the remainder, if any, is the Golden Number; but if nothing remaineth, then 19 is the Golden Number. To find the Dominical or Sunday Letter, according to the Calendar, until the year 2099 inclusive, add to the Year of our Lord its fourth part, omitting fractions; and also the number 6: Divide the sum by 1 7; and if there is no remainder, then A is the 2 Sunday Letter: But if any number remaineth, then the Letter standing against that number in the small annexed Table is the Sunday Letter. For the next following Century, that is, from the 6 year 2100 till the year 2199 inclusive, add to the current year its fourth part, and also the number 5, and then divide by 7, and proceed as in the last Rule. NOTE, That in all Bissextile or Leap Years, the Letter found as above will be the Sunday Letter, from the intercalated day exclusive to the end of the year. and since (according to the accustomed habit of the Church) : Annunciation, Nat. St. John B., SS. Simon and Jude. Conv. St. Paul, St. Luke, All Saints, St. John Evan. are the Rogation Days and all Fridays except a Friday on which Christmas Day occurs. Strictly regarded, these days are to be kept by abstinence from animal food: eggs, cheese. and butter not being included under that designation. The accession of the Sovereign was first observed as a "Solemn Day" in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; but no mention of such a day was made in the Prayer Book until late in the last century. The above notice of the day has not therefore the authority of the Sealed Books, nor of the Act of 1752, but is printed in deference to Royal Proclamations dated June 21, 1837, January 17, 1959, and January 29, 1901. § The Table to find Easter till 2199. This Table takes the place of one entitled "A Table to find Easter Day till the year 1899," which was substituted in 1752 (with the succeeding one) for "a Table to find Easter for ever" which had been printed in previous Prayer Books, but which had been framed on a mistaken supposition respecting the perpetual application of the cycle of Golden Numbers to fixed days of the months. A change in the application of the cycle will be necessary in the year 2200 (provided for by another Table further on), when the above will be superseded for all future calculations. The Golden Numbers and the Sunday Letters are explained in the notes to the General Tables for finding them. These Tables are a solution of a difficulty about the determination of Easter Day, which caused considerable trouble to the Church when astronomy, and consequently chronology, was imperfectly understood. The Nicene Council [A.D. 325] endeavoured to settle this difficulty and the Quartodeciman |