VIII. had desired Archbishop Cranmer "to pen a Form for the alteration of the Mass into a Communion" [STRYPE's Mem. of Cranmer, i. 311, Eccl. Hist. Soc. ed.], and the subject had therefore been under consideration for some time. Accordingly, on November 30, 1547, in its fifth session, "The Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation exhibited, and caused to be read publicly, a form of a certain ordinance delivered by the Most Reverend the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the receiving of the Body of our Lord under both kinds, viz. of bread and wine. To which he himself subscribed and some others." This does not appear to have been the Order of Communion itself, but simply a Resolution that the Cup should be restored to the Laity. Its final adoption was postponed until the next session, December 2nd, when the whole of those who were present, "in number sixty-four, by their mouths did approve the proposition made in the last session, of taking the Lord's Body in both kinds, nullo reclamante." [WILKINS' Concil. iv. 16; STRYPE'S Mem. of Cranmer, ii. 37.] This Act of Convocation was ratified by an Act of Parliament on December 24, 1547 [1 Edw. VI. c. i. § 7], and for a time the Clergy were left to use their own form of words for the administration of the Cup, the Sacrament being still celebrated according to the Sarum Missal. But it was soon found expedient that the principle of a Vernacular Service should be at once applied to the Communion of the Laity, and an "Order of Communion" was prepared in such a form that it could be used in combination with the otherwise unaltered Latin Service after the Communion of the priest. This "Order "—which is printed in the "Appendix to the Liturgy" further on in this volume-did not, of course, contain any form of consecration, but it anticipated some of the rubrical and hortatory parts of the English Communion Service; and there is reason to think that it was constructed by the Bishops and Clergy who were selected from among the members of Convocation for the full review and reconstruction of the Service-books. The new Service thus taking the form of a Canon of Convocation was (according to the settlement of 1534) promulgated by the Crown, this being done by a Proclamation dated March 8, 1548, soon after the rising of Parliament. Until the use of the Prayer Book itself was enforced by law on June 9, 1549, or permitted by law [see page 18] three weeks after its publication, the Holy Eucharist was still celebrated according to the ancient Use of Salisbury, but after May 8, 1548, with the English Form of Administration to the Laity superadded: this period comprehending the whole of the first and second years of Edward VI.'s reign, and four months of his third year; and thus for more than two years and four months the reforming Bishops and Clergy continued to use the ancient words, rites, and ceremonies of the unreformed Missal. [For further particulars, see the "Introduction to the Liturgy."]1 THE PRAYER BOOK OF A.D. 1549. The Committee of Revision had now been considerably enlarged, and since it occupies so important a position in respect to the subsequent history of England, it will be well to give the names of its members as they stood in 1547-48, and in 1549.2 Thomas Cranmer. From the Upper House of Convocation. Henry Holbech (or Randes) . Archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop of Ely [afterwards Lord Chancellor]. There is a curious and unique volume in the Library of the British Museum [Bible, O. T. Pss. C. 25 b.] which was printed about eight months before the Prayer Book of 1549, and which appears to have been intended as a temporary substitute for the Sarum Psalter or Daily Offices. The title of the book is "The Psalter or Boke of the Psalmes, where vnto is added the Litany and certayne other deuout prayers. Set forth wyth the Kynge's moste gracious lycence. Anno Do. M. D. XLVIII. Mensis Julii." The Colophon is "Imprinted at London by me Roger Car for Anthone Smyth dwelling in Paul's church yarde. The contents of this volume are-[1] The Psalms, in Coverdale's version: [2] The seven Canticles of the Sarum Psalter, with the Magnificat, Te Deum, and Quicunque Vult, the Magnificat and Te Deum being in the version of Marshall's Prymer, and the Quicunque Vult in that of Hilsey's Prymer: [3] The Litany of 1544: [4] The Prayer of St. Chrysostom: [5] A prayer for men to say entering into battle: [6] A prayer for the King, the older and longer form of that now in use. The special prayer relating to war suggests that the volume may have been prepared for the Duke of Somerset and his army, to be used during their invasion of Scotland. This list of names is taken from a contemporary entry of a "Parson of Petworth" in a Prayer Book of 1632 which is full of manuscript notes by Bishops Andrewes and Gandy [Bodl. Lib. Rawl. 2411 Heylin makes a quotation from "The Register Book of the Parish of Petworth" which bears upon the subject of the change of service [HEYLIN'S Hist. of Reform. p. 64, fol. ed., i. 132, Eccl. Hist. Soc. ed.], but no information can now be obtained respecting this register. The same list, omitting the name of May, occurs on a printed broadside within the cover of MS. 44 in Cosin's Library, Durham. It is corrected in the handwriting of Bishop Cosin, who adds against Redmayne's name "dubito," and before that of Cox "Deest Decanus Sti Pauli quisquis erat max. opinor. The lives of these and other "compilers" of the Prayer Book were written at some length by Samuel Downes, Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, and were published by an ancestor of the publishers of the present work, Charles Rivington, in 1722. George Day Nicholas Ridley William May John Taylor Simon Heynes Thomas Robertson John Redmayne Bishop of Chichester. Bishop of Westminster. Bishop of Rochester [afterwards of London]. From the Lower House of Convocation, Dean of St. Paul's. Dean of Ch. Ch. and Chanc. of Oxford Univ. [afterwards Bishop of Ely]. Dean of Lincoln [afterwards Bishop of Lincoln], Prolocutor. Archdeacon of Leicester [afterwards Dean of Durham]. In what manner the Convocation of the Province of York was represented is not on record; but from the proceedings of 1661 (which would be founded on strict precedent) there can be no doubt that its co-operation was obtained in some way; and the names of the Archbishop of York and his Suffragans are indeed contained in a list of Bishops who were indirectly or directly mixed up with those above recorded. There can be no doubt also that they acted under a Royal Commission. No records of their meetings are known, but they are found together on one occasion during the progress of their work, namely, on Sunday, September 9, 1548, when Farrar was consecrated Bishop of St. David's by Cranmer, Holbech, and Ridley, in the Chapel of the Archbishop's house at Chertsey. On that day the Archbishop celebrated Mass by the old Office, and used English words of administration: and the Archiepiscopal Register records that "there communicated the Reverend Fathers, Thomas [Goodrich], Bishop of Ely; Thomas [Thirlby], Bishop of Westminster; Henry [Holbech], Bishop of Lincoln; Nicholas [Ridley], Bishop of Rochester; and Farrar, the new Bishop; together with William May, Dean of St. Paul's; Simon Hains, Dean of Exon; Thomas Robertson and John Redman, Professors of Divinity, and others."1 Beyond this happy glimpse of these Divines we know nothing of their movements; nor have any records been discovered which throw any light upon the details of their work. It appears, however, to have occupied them for several months, notwithstanding their previous labours; and there is every mark of deliberation and reverence in the result. The foundation of their work, or rather the quarry out of which they extracted their chief materials, was the Reformed Salisbury Use of 1516 and 1541: but some other books were evidently used by them, and it may be safely concluded that they did not end their labours before they had gone through a large amount of liturgical research. The following list may be taken as fairly representing the principal books which the Committee of Convocation had before them as the materials for their work of revision: The Salisbury Portiforium,2 Missal, Manual, and Pontifical. The York and other Uses.3 The Mozarabic Missal and Breviary.4 The Reformed Breviary of Cardinal Quignonez. 1535-36.5 Simplex ac Pia Deliberatio of Hermann, Archbishop of Cologne. 1545.0 1 STRYPE'S Cranmer, ii. 105, Eccl. Hist. Soc. ed. In his 2 "Breviarium seu Portiforium secundum Morem et Consuetudinem Ecclesiæ Sarisburiensis Anglicanæ." It is called "Salisbury Use" in the Preface of our Prayer Book; and that term, or Sarum Use, is adopted generally for the Breviary, Missal, and other Service-books of the same origin. 3 Referred to in the Prayer Book Preface, as "Hereford Use, the Use of Bangor, York Use, and Lincoln Use." "Missale Mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori, dictum Mozarabes... impressum Toleti jussu D. Francisci Ximenes. 1500." "Breviarium secundum regulam beati Isidori... impressum Toleti jussu D. Francisci Ximenes. 1502." "Breviarium Romanum, ex sacra potissimum Scriptura, et probatis Sanctorum historiis nuper confectum, ac denuo per eundem Authorem accuratius recognitum, eaque diligentia hoc in anno a mendis ita purgatum, ut Momi judicium non pertimescat. Lugduni. 1543. "Simplex ac pia deliberatio de Reformatione Ecclesiarum Electoratus Coloniensis." 7 "A simple and religious consultation of us Hermann by the grace of God Archbishop of Colone and Prince Elector, etc., by what meanes a Christian reformation, and founded in God's worde, Of doctrine, Administration of Divine Sacraments, Of Ceremonies, and the whole cure of soules, and other ecclesiastical ministries, may be begun among men until the lord graunte a better to be appoynted, either by a free and christian counsaile, generall or national, or else by the states of the Empire of the nation of Germany, gathered together in the Holy Ghost. Perused by the translator thereof and amended in many places. 1548. Imprinted at London by Jhon Daye and William Seres dwellynge in Sepulchre's paryshe The Prymer in English of various dates.1 The "Great" Bible.2 How far the Book of Common Prayer was influenced by these works will be shewn in the margin and the footnotes of the following pages. But even a superficial glance at the latter will make it apparent that the new book was, substantially, as it still remains, a condensed reproduction, in English, of those Service-books which had been used in Latin by the Church of England for many centuries before. The Reformation in Germany was in active progress at this time (not having yet lost the impetus given to it by the strong-handed leadership of Luther), and Cranmer had been much in correspondence with Melanchthon and some other German divines during the reign of Henry VIII. But these foreign reformers had scarcely any influence upon the Prayer Book of 1549; and were probably not even consulted during its progress towards completion. Melanchthon and Bucer assisted the Archbishop of Cologne in preparing his "Consultation" (one of the books referred to), and they probably used Luther's version of the ancient Nuremberg offices. But this volume contributed little to our Prayer Book beyond a few clauses in the Litany, and some portions of the Baptismal Service; and it is somewhat doubtful whether in the case of the Litany our English form was not in reality the original of that in Hermann's book. Most likely the latter was translated and brought before Convocation with the hope that it would have much influence; but the Committee of Revision were too wise and too learned in Liturgical matters to attach much importance to it.3 It is, in some respects, unfortunate that we cannot trace the book of 1549 into any further detail during the time when it was in the hands of the Committee. We cannot even form any definite conjecture as to the parts respectively taken by its members in the work before them; nor can one of the original collects which they inserted be traced back to its author. And yet there is some satisfaction in this. The book is not identified with any one name, but is the work of the Church of England by its authorized agents and representatives; and as we reverence the architects of some great cathedral for their work's sake, without perhaps knowing the name of any one of them, or the portions which each one designed, so we look upon the work of those who gave us our first English Book of Common Prayer, admiring its fair proportions, and the skill which put it together, and caring but little to inquire whose was the hand that traced this or that particular compartment of the whole. Although thus unable to trace out the work of each hand in this great undertaking, we can, however, by means of internal evidence, and a comparison with the older formularies, find out the Nature of the changes made in the Services. nature of their labours, and something of the manner in which they went about them. It was made a first principle that everything in the new Prayer Book was to be in English; a principle respecting which, as has been shewn before, there seems to have been not the slightest doubt or hesitation. Their first labour was, then, that of condensing the old services into a form suitable for the object in view, and yet keeping up the spirit and general purpose of the original and ancient worship of the Church. [1] A great step was made in this direction by substituting a Calendar of Lessons referring to the Holy Bible for the Lessons at length as they had been hitherto printed in the Breviary. This made it possible to combine the Breviary [daily services], the Missal [Holy Communion], Epistles and Gospels (etc.), and the Manual [Occasional Offices], in one volume. A precedent for this was offered by a practice which had been adopted in the fifteenth century of printing the Communion Service (though not the Epistles and Gospels) as part of the Breviary. The Marriage Service was also printed in the Missal, which was a precedent for introducing the other services of the Manual into the Prayer Book. [2] The next step towards condensation was the adoption of a less variable system in the daily services, so that the Collect of the day, the Lessons, and the Psalms should be almost the only portions of Mattins and Evensong which needed to be changed from day to day, or week to week. at the signe of the Resurrection, alytle aboue Holbourne Conduit. Cum gratia et privilegio imprimendum solum.' This translation was probably the work of Coverdale. 1 See MASKELL'S Monumenta Ritualia Ecclesiæ Anglicana, vol. ii.; and BURTON'S Three Primers of Henry VIII. 2 "The Byble in Englyshe, that is to saye, the content of all the holy scripture bothe of ye olde and newe testament, truly translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes, by ye dylygent studye of diverse excellent learned men, expert in the forsayde tonges. Printed by Rychard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. 1539." 3 It may be added that Cranmer had married a niece of Osiander, who is said to have prepared the Nuremberg for mularies for Luther, and who was also the original compiler of a Catechism for Nuremberg and Brandenberg, of which that of Justus Jonas is a Latin translation. John à Lasco is said to have had some influence with Cranmer, and he certainly lived with the Archbishop at Lambeth from September to February in the year 1548-49. But the Prayer Book was before Parliament on December 9, 1548, and was before the King in Council previously. It passed the Lords on January 15th, and the Commons on the 21st, 1549. Foreigners were forward in interfering, but their suggestions were civilly put aside at this time. very They are so printed, for example, in Sarum Breviaries of 1499, 1507, 1510, 1514, 1535, 1541; in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries. [3] Lastly, the several hours of Prayer were condensed into two, Mattins and Evensong, with a third added on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in the form of the Litany. The ancient arrangement of the day for Divine Service was as follows: Nocturns or Mattins; a service before daybreak. Lauds; a service at daybreak, quickly following, or even joined on to, Mattins. Prime; a later morning service, about six o'clock. Tierce; a service at nine o'clock. Serts; a service at noon. Nones; a service at three o'clock in the afternoon. Compline; a late evening service, at bedtime. These services were often, if not generally, "accumulated" in the Medieval Church as they are at the present day on the Continent; several being said in succession, just as Mattins, Litany, and the Communion Service have been "accumulated," in modern times, in the Church of England. But the different offices had many parts in common, and this way of using them led to unmeaning repetitions of Versicles and Prayers. This evil was avoided by condensing and amalgamating them, so that repetitions took place only at the distant hours of Morning and Evening. The services of Mattins, Lauds, and Prime, were thus condensed into Mattins; those for Vespers and Compline into Evensong. The three other hours appear (from a table of Psalms given in the Introduction to the Psalter) to have fallen out of public use long before the reformation of our offices; and they were probably regarded as services for monastic and private use only.1 The general result of this process of condensation will be best seen by the following table, in which the course of the ancient Mattins, Lauds, and Prime, is indicated side by side with that of the Mattins of 1549; and in the same manner, Vespers and Compline are set parallel with Evensong. From this comparison it will be clearly seen that the Book of Common Prayer was framed out of the ancient Offices of the Church of England, by consolidation and translation of the latter, the same principles which have been above indicated being also extended to the Communion Service and the Occasional Offices. The details of the changes that were made will be found in the notes under each portion of the Prayer Book in the following pages. When these learned Divines had completed their work, the Prayer Book was submitted to Convocation (which met on November 24, 1548), that it might go forth with the full authority of the Church.1 It was then communicated to the King in Council, and afterwards laid before Parliament on December 9, 1548, that it might be incorporated into an Act of Parliament [2nd and 3rd Edw. VI. cap. 1]. This Act (including the Prayer Book) passed the House of Lords on January 15, and the House of Commons on January 21, 1549. It was the first Act of Uniformity, and it enacted that the Prayer Book should come into use in all churches on the Feast of Whitsunday following, which was June 9, 1549. The Book itself was published on March 7, 1549, thus allowing three months' interval, during which the Clergy and Laity might become acquainted with the new Order of Divine Service. But where it could be procured earlier it was permitted to take it into use three weeks afterwards, and thus, in London churches, it was generally used on Easter-Day, April 21, 1549, The Book of Common Prayer thus set forth with the full authority of Church and State may very fairly be called an expurgated and condensed English Version of the ancient Missal which was used for the celebration of the Holy Communion, the ancient Portiforium or Breviary which was used for the Daily Prayers, and the ancient Manual which was used for the Occasional Services, such as Baptism and Marriage: these ancient or Mediæval Services being themselves elaborated forms of much more primitive ones. The Committee of Revision having followed the directions given to them in 1542 the Medieval books had been "castigated from all feigned legends, superstitious orations, collects, versicles, and responses," the services provided for "all saints which be not mentioned in the Scripture or authentical doctors" were "abolished and put out of the same books," and what was retained was the Service . made out of the Scripture and other authentic doctors." The Seven Daily Offices were condensed into two, the system for the use of Psalms and Lessons was 1 Archbishop Bancroft, who was for many years Chaplain to Cox, Bishop of Ely, one of the Committee of Revision, writes that "the first Liturgy set forth in King Edward's reign was carefully compiled, and confirmed by a Synod.' [COLLIER'S Eccl. Hist. vi. 277.] Archbishop Abbot says that "the more material parts were disputed and debated in the Convocation House by men of both parties." [ABBOT against Hill, p. 104.] Contemporary evidence respecting the confirmation of the Book by Convocation is also found in letters of the King and of the Privy Council. [1] The Privy Council instructed Dr. Hopton, the Princess Mary's Chaplain, to say to her respecting the Prayer Book, "The fault is great in any subject to disallow a law of the King a law of the realm by long study, free disputation, and uniform determination of the whole Clergy, consulted, debated, concluded." [FOXE's Acts and Mon. vi. 8, ed. 1838. ] [2] In the reply of Edward VI. to the demands of the Devonshire rebels the King is made to say, "Whatsoever is [3] The King and Council, writing to Bishop Bonner on July 23, 1549, say, "One uniform Order for Common Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments hath been and is most godly set forth, not only by the common agreement and full assent of the Nobility and Commons of the late session of our late Parliament, but also by the like assent of the Bishops in the same Parliament, and of all other the learned men of this our realm in their Synods and Convocations provincial.' [FOXE's Acts and Mon. v. 726, ed. 1838.] No doubt the Convocation of York co-operated in some way, as on subsequent occasions, with that of Canterbury. |