fountain. That there is any difference at all in these may be attributed probably to three causes: [1] That the Apostles did not limit themselves or others solely to the use of the central and essential portion of the rite; and that while this was substantially kept uniform by them all, each added such prayers as he saw fit. [2] That Liturgies were, to a certain extent, adapted to the circumstances of the various nations among whom they were to be used, by such changes in the non-essential portions, and such additions, as appeared desirable to the Patriarch or Bishop. [3] That as Liturgies were not committed to writing until the end of the second century,1 diversities of expression, and even greater changes, would naturally arise, among the variety of which it would be impossible to recover the exact original, and therefore to estabfish an authoritative uniformity.

It may be added that the lawfulness of an authorized diversity in non-essential rites, when combined with an orthodox uniformity in those which are essential, has always been recognized by the Catholic Church; and that this principle is stated in the 34th Article of Religion of the Church of England.

Of the many Liturgies which are very ancient there are several which undoubtedly belong to the primitive age of Christianity, and from these all others that are known (as has been already said) have evidently branched off. They are the Liturgies which go by the names of St. James, St. Mark, St. Peter, and St. John; the first was the Liturgy of Jerusalem, the second of Alexandria, the third of Rome, and the fourth of Ephesus.3

The Liturgy of St. James, or of Jerusalem, was that used in Palestine and Mesopotamia, the dioceses of both which countries were included within the Patriarchate of Antioch. A singular proof of its primitive antiquity is found in the fact that the Monophysite heretics, who now occupy all these dioceses, use a Syriac Liturgy which they attribute to St. James, and which is nearly identical with that attributed to him by the orthodox, between whom and the Monophysites there has been no intercommunion since the Council of Chalcedon, which was held A.D. 451. Such a coincidence goes far to prove that this Liturgy is at least fourteen centuries old, and also offers some evidence that it was the one in use by the Churches of the Patriarchate of Antioch before the great division which arose out of the Eutychian heresy. The Liturgy of St. James is also mentioned in the 32nd Canon of the Constantinopolitan Council held in Trullo, A.D. 692; and traces of it are to be found in the writings of Fathers who lived or had lived within the Patriarchate of Antioch, and may thus be supposed to have been familiar with its words. Among such are Theodoret, St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom (once a priest of Antioch), and St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, two of whose Catechetical Lectures (preached in the latter half of the fourth century) are expressly on the subject of the Holy Eucharist, and describe the Service minutely. In the Apostolical Constitutions, written in the third century, there is a Liturgy, or synopsis of one, which has been called by the name of St. Clement, but appears to be that of St. James; and with the latter also agrees the description of the celebration of the Eucharist which is given by Justin Martyr, who was a native of Samaria (within the Patriarchate of Antioch), and died about sixty years only after St. John. From this evidence it appears almost certain that the Liturgy of St. James which is used by the Monophysites, and that which is used on the Feast of St. James by the orthodox Church of Jerusalem, are versions of the primitive Liturgy which was used for the celebration

1 This rule was observed from feelings founded on our Lord's words, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine." [Matt. vii. 6.] For the same reason great reserve was used in speaking and writing on the subject of the Holy Eucharist, and hence little can be learned from the Fathers of the first three centuries about the mode in which it was celebrated.

2 See, e.g., ST. GREGORY'S Epistle to St. Augustine, p. 2 of the Historical Introduction.

To these Neale adds that of St. Thaddeus, used in Persia, and also called the "Liturgy of the East."

Justin Martyr describes the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, about A.D. 140, in the following terms: "Upon the day called Sunday we have an assembly of all who live in the towns or in the country, who meet in an appointed place; and the records of the Apostles, or the writings of the Apostles, are read, according as the time will permit. When the reader has ended, then the Bishop (pr;] admonishes and exhorts us in a discourse that we should imitate such good examples. After that we all stand up and pray, and, as we said before, when that prayer is ended bread is offered, and wine and water. Then the Bishop also, according to the authority given him [ör dúvau air), sends up (avarius, comp. missa est] prayers and thanksgivings; and the people end the prayer with him, saying, Amen. After which, distribution is made of the consecrated elements, which are also sent by the hands of the deacons to those who are absent." [JUSTIN MAKT., Apol.j

of the Holy Communion in Judæa and the surrounding countries in the age which immediately followed that of the Apostles. From it St. Basil's Liturgy was derived, and from St. Basil's that of St. Chrysostom, which is the one used at the present day in the Eastern Church, and in Russia.

The Liturgy of St. Mark, or of Alexandria, is known to have been used by the orthodox Churches of North-eastern Africa down to the twelfth century, and is still used in several forms by the Monophysites, who supplanted them. The most authentic form of it is that entitled "The Liturgy of Mark which Cyril perfected," and which is extant in the Coptic, or vernacular language of Egypt, as well as in Greek, in MSS. of very ancient date. This Liturgy is traceable, by a chain of evidence similar to that mentioned in the preceding paragraph, to the second century, to which date it is assigned by Bunsen. Palmer says respecting it, "We can ascertain with considerable certainty the words and expressions of the Alexandrian Liturgy before the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451; and we can trace back its substance and order to a period of far greater antiquity. In fact, there is nothing unreasonable in supposing that the main order and substance of the Alexandrian Liturgy, as used in the fifth century, may have been as old as the Apostolic age, and derived originally from the instructions and appointment of the blessed Evangelist.

7

The Liturgy of St. Peter, or of Rome, is found, substantially as it is used in the Latin Church at the present day, in the Sacramentaries of St. Gregory [A. D. 590], Gelasius [A. D. 491], and St. Leo [A.D. 483], although many additions have been made to it in later times. The Roman Liturgy is attributed to St. Peter by ancient liturgical commentators, who founded their opinion chiefly upon a passage in an Epistle of Innocent, Bishop of Rome in the fifth century, to Decentius, Bishop of Eugubium. But no doubt St. Innocent refers to the "Canon of the Mass" (as it has been called in later ages), that part of the Office which begins with the actual consecration of the Sacrament. There seems no reason to believe that this confident opinion of so eminent a Bishop in the fifth century was otherwise than correct; and like the preceding Liturgies, that of Rome may reasonably be assigned to the age succeeding the Apostles. St. Gregory revised the variable parts of this Liturgy, the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; but the only change which he made in the Ordinary and the Canon was by that addition of a few words which is noticed by the Venerable Bede. [See p. 192, note.] From the Roman Liturgy in its primitive form were derived that used by the Churches of North-western Africa, and the famous Ambrosian Rite which is used in the Church of Milan. Since the time of St. Gregory this Liturgy has been used over a large part of the Western Church, and is now the only one allowed by the See of Rome. The Liturgy of St. John, or of St. Paul, i.e. the Ephesine Liturgy, was the original of that which was used, probably in three various forms, in Spain, France, and England during the earlier ages of Christianity, and the only one besides the Roman which obtained a footing in the Western Church. This appears to have been disused in the dioceses of which Ephesus was the centre, at the time of the Council of Laodicea in Phrygia some time in the fourth century: the nineteenth Canon of that Council giving such directions respecting the celebration of the Holy Communion as shew that it substituted the Liturgy of St. Basil and St. Chryso8tom, which is still used in those dioceses. But, at a much earlier date, missionaries had gone forth from the Church of Ephesus, and had planted the standard of Christianity at Lyons, that city thus becoming the great centre from which the Church spread itself throughout France; and as late as A.D. 177, the Christians of Lyons wrote to the Churches of Asia respecting the martyrdoms which had occurred in that city as to those who represented their mother Church, and had therefore a special sympathy with them. The primitive Liturgy of Ephesus thus became that of France, and, probably by the missionary work of the same apostolic men, of Spain also. This Liturgy continued to be used in the French Church until the time of Charlemagne [A. D. 742-814]. It had received such additions from the hands of Musæus, Sidonius, and St. Hilary of Poictiers, as St. Gregory had made to the Roman rite, but these additions or alterations did not affect

7 "Si instituta ecclesiastica, ut sunt a beatis apostolis tradita, integra vellent servare Domini sacerdotes, nulla diversitas, nulla varietas in ipsis ordinibus et consecrationibus haberetur-quis enim nesciat, aut non adver tat, id quod a principe apostolorum Petro Romanæ Ecclesiæ traditum est...?" (LABBE, Concil. ii. 1245.] Cardinal Bona remarks on a similar passage from St. Isidore's writings. "Hoc de re et substantia, non de verborum tenore et cæremoniis intelligendum est." [BONA, Rer. Liturg. I vii. 5.]

the body of the Liturgy, consisting, as they did, of Introits, Collects, and other portions of the Service belonging to that which precedes the Ordinary and Canon.

The Gallican Liturgy was partly supplanted by the Roman in the time of Pepin, who introduced the Roman chant and psalmody into the Churches of France; and it was altogether superseded by Charlemagne, who obtained the Sacramentary of St. Gregory from Rome, and issued an edict that all priests should celebrate the Holy Sacrament only in the Roman manner. In Spain the same Liturgy had been used in a form called the Mozarabic; but by the influence of Pope Gregory VII., Alphonso VI., King of Castille and Leon, was persuaded to do as Charlemagne had done in France, to abolish the use of the national rite and substitute that of the Roman Church. It was thus wholly discontinued until the beginning of the sixteenth century, when Cardinal Ximenes endowed a college and chapel for the use of it at Toledo, and there it still continues to be used.

The early connection between the Church of France and the Church of England was so close that there can be no reasonable doubt of the same Liturgy having been originally used in both countries. When St. Augustine came to England in A. D. 596, expecting to find it an altogether heathen land, he discovered that there was an ancient and regularlyorganized Church, and that its usages were different in many particulars from those of any Church with which he had been previously acquainted. [See p. 1.] By the advice of St. Gregory he introduced some changes into the Liturgy which he found in use; the changes coming, not directly from the Roman Sacramentary of St. Gregory, but "from a sister rite,

formed in the south of France by the joint action, probably, of St. Leo and Cassian, about two hundred years before [A.D. 420]; having a common basis, indeed, with the Roman Office, but strongly tinctured with Gallican characteristics derived long ago from the East, and probably enriched, at the time, by fresh importations of Oriental usages. "2 Thus the Liturgy of the Church of England after St. Augustine's time became a modified form of the more ancient Gallican, which itself was originally the Liturgy of the Church of Ephesus, owing its germ to St. Paul or St. John. The English Church of St. Augustine's day, and long after, distinctly averred that its customs were derived from the latter Apostle; but in many particulars the work of St. John and St. Paul appears to have traversed the same ground, as it certainly did in the Church of Ephesus, and probably did in the Church of England.

The Liturgy thus derived from the ancient Gallican, and the more recent version of it which had been introduced by Cassian, was again revised by St. Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, in A.D. 1085; and it was the same Liturgy which also formed the basis of the other slightly varying Offices that were used in different dioceses of England, and have come down to us by the names of these dioceses. The Salisbury Liturgy eventually supplanted all the others which were used by the Church of England, and became the principal basis of the vernacular Liturgy which has now been used for more than three hundred years in all the churches of the Anglican communion. 3 The historical particulars thus given respecting the connection between ancient and modern Liturgies may be conveniently reduced into one general view by a tabular form :

§ Structure of Primitive Liturgies.

In all the primitive Liturgies there is a consistency of structure which shews that they were based on one common model, or else on certain fixed principles. They consist of two principal portions, the Pro-Anaphora and Anaphora. The Anaphora, or Oblation, is represented in the Latin Liturgies by the Canon of the Mass, and in our English Office by the part which begins with the versicle, "Lift up your hearts." The Pro-Anaphora is represented by the Ordinary of the Mass, which is all that goes before the Sursum Corda. The general structure of each of these portions of the Liturgy is as follows, the respective portions of the several parts vary. ing, however, in different Liturgies: 1—

The Pro-Anaphora.

The Prefatory Prayer.

The Introit [known by various names].

The Little Entrance, or bringing the book of the Gospels in procession to the Altar.

1 For further details the reader may conveniently consult NEALE'S Introduction to the History of the Holy Eastern Church, 1850; HAMMOND'S Liturgies, Eastern and Western, 1878; and MASKELL'S Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, 3rd ed. 1882.

shew the elaborate character of the ceremonial, and of the responsive part of the primitive Liturgies. These details may all be found in the original languages, and also in Dr. Neale's translation of the Primitive Liturgies; and it is sufficient here to say that the early Christians appear to have had no thought of what is called "simplicity in Divine Worship, their Liturgies exhibiting a complicated structure, much ceremony, and an elaborate symbolism. All of them agree in the above general characteristics, but there are variations in the order of the different parts, the chief of which are represented in the following table :

It will be seen at once that the order of St. John, or the Ephesine Liturgy, is that which is most closely represented by our own Communion Office. The same correspondence between the two may also be traced in several particulars in which the Liturgy of St. John differs from the other two Eastern Liturgies; especially in the provision of varying collects, and proper prefaces, and in the use of the versicle, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord," before the Gospel.

The Liturgy of St. John was handed down (as has been already stated) through the French Church, to which it was conveyed from Ephesus by missionaries, at a period very near to that of the Apostles themselves. The Gallican Liturgy itself is thus described by Palmer: "Germanus informs us that the Liturgy began with an Anthem, followed by Gloria Patri, after which the Deacon proclaimed silence; and a mutual salutation having passed between the priest and people, the hymn Trisagios, in imitation of the Greek rite, was sung, and was followed by Kyrie eleëson, and the song of Zacharias the prophet beginning Benedictus, after which the priest read a collect entitled Post prophetiam, in the Gallican missals. The office so far, though ancient, cannot be traced to the most primitive ages of the Gallican Church, as doubtless the Liturgy originally began with the lessons from Holy Scripture, which I now proceed to consider.

"A lesson from the prophets or Old Testament was first read, then one from the Epistles, which was succeeded by the hymn of the three children, Benedicite, and the Holy Gospel. In later times the book of the Gospels was carried in procession to the pulpit by the Deacon, who was accompanied by seven men bearing lighted tapers, and the choir sung Anthems before and after the Gospel. After the Gospel was ended, the Priest or Bishop preached, and the Deacon made prayers for the people (probably in imitation of the Greek Liturgies, where a litany of the kind occurs after the Gospel), and the Priest recited a collect Post precem.

"Then the Deacon proclaimed to the catechumens to depart, but whether any previous prayers were made for them seems doubtful. Germanus speaks of its being an ancient custom of the Church to pray for catechumens in this place, but his words do not absolutely prove that there were particular prayers for them in the Gallican Church, and no other author refers to the custom, as far as I am aware. The catechumens, and those under penitential discipline, having been dismissed, silence was again enjoined, and an address to the people on the subject of the day, and entitled Prefatio, was recited by the Priest, who then repeated another prayer. The oblations of the people were next received, while the choir sang an offertory anthem, termed sonum by Germanus. The elements were placed on the holy table, and covered with a large and close veil or pall, and in later times the Priest here invoked the blessing of God on the gifts.

"Then the tablets called diptychs, containing the names of

the living and departed saints, were recited, and the Priest made a collect, 'post nomina.' Then followed the salutation and kiss of peace; after which the Priest read the collect, 'ad pacem.' The mystical liturgy now commenced, corresponding to the Eastern 'prosphora,' or 'anaphora,' and the Roman preface and canon. It began with the form sursum corda,' etc., and then followed the preface, or thanksgiving, called 'contestatio,' or 'immolatio,' in which God's benefits to the human race were variously commemorated; and at the proper place the people all joined in singing the hymn Ter

sanctus.

"The thanksgiving then continued in the form called 'post sanctus,' which terminated with the commemoration of our Saviour's deed and words at the institution of this sacrament. Afterwards the Priest recited a collect entitled 'post mys. terium,' or 'post secreta,' probably because the above commemoration was not committed to writing, on account of its being esteemed to have great efficacy in the consecration. The collect, post mysterium,' often contained a verbal oblation of the bread and wine, and an invocation of God to send His Holy Spirit to sanctify them into the sacraments of Christ's body and blood. After this the bread was broken, and the Lord's Prayer repeated by the Priest and people, being introduced and concluded with appropriate prayers, made by the Priest alone.

"The Priest or Bishop then blessed the people, to which they answered, Amen. Communion afterwards took place, during which a psalm or anthem was sung. The Priest repeated a collect of thanksgiving, and the service terminated." [PALMER'S Orig. Liturg. i. 158.]

It was on this rite that the Eucharistic customs of the Church of England were founded, although they were plainly revised and altered at several periods, and in several dioceses; as, for example, by St. Augustine in the seventh century, and St. Osmund in the eleventh.

§ The Mediaeval Liturgy of the Church of England. As, in the early Church throughout the world, there were various forms of the Liturgy, all having a substantial unity, so while England was divided into several distinct districts, by dialect and civil government, the form of Liturgy which was used in various parts of the country was affected by local circumstances; especially as each diocese had the right of adopting (within certain limits) its own particular customs, or use," in Divine Service until the sixteenth century.

Soon after the Conquest, however, about the year 1085, a great liturgical successor of St. Gregory arose in the person of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, of whom we know little beyond the fact that he revised the Breviary and Missal, and brought both into a form which commended itself to a large portion of the Church of England, and even to some foreign dioceses. There were, indeed, independent Breviaries and Missals of York, Hereford, Lincoln, and perhaps other

churches; but those of Salisbury were the most generally used throughout the southern counties, and besides gradually becoming the standard books of English use, were generally adopted in Scotland from the time, it is said, of Edward I. In 1541-42 the Missal as well as other books of the use of Sarum were formally adopted for the whole province of Canterbury by an act of Convocation. Notwithstanding the variations that had so long existed in the ritual customs of different districts and dioceses, it must not be supposed that these variations extended to any essential matters. the contrary, there was a distinct generic identity, which shewed that all were, in reality, local forms of one great national rite, that rite itself being a branch of one great Catholic system; and this was especially the case with the Communion Office or Liturgy.

On

The substance of the Salisbury Liturgy is given in the Appendix to this Introduction, but it is necessary to give some account of it here to shew the manner in which the Church of England celebrated the Holy Communion from A.D. 1080 to A.D. 1549. Many further illustrations of it, and of the other English uses, as well as of the connection between them and our present Communion Office, will be found in the subsequent notes.

The Medieval Liturgy of the Church of England was made up, like all others, of the two great divisions which are called in the Eastern Church the Pro-Anaphora and the Anaphora, and in the Western Church, the Ordinarium and the Canon; the former part ending with the Sanctus, the latter part beginning with the Prayer of Consecration and Oblation.

The first portion of the Ordinary consisted of the hymn "Veni Creator; the Collect," Almighty God, to Whom all hearts be open;" the forty-third Psalm, "Give sentence with me, O God;" the lesser Litany and the Lord's Prayer, all of which were said in the vestry while the Celebrant was putting on his albe, chasuble, etc. The public part of the service began with the "Officium," or Introit, of which many examples are given in the notes to the Epistles and Gospels, and which was sung [in the manner described at p. 247] while the Celebrant and his ministers were going from the vestry to the altar. After this followed the Confession and Absolution, said as at Prime and Compline, and as described in a note at p. 184, the Gospeller and Epistoler taking part with the choir in the alternate form used. This mutual confession of unworthiness was sealed with a kiss of peace given by the Celebrant to the Deacon and Sub-deacon,' and burning incense having been waved before the altar by the former, the Gloria in Excelsis was sung (except at certain seasons) as the solemn commencement of the rite. The Mutual Salutation [see p. 199] was then said, and after that the Collect of the Day, the Epistle and Gospel, and the Nicene Creed. The Gospel was preceded by a procession with singing [the Gradale], somewhat similar to the "little entrance" of the Eastern Church [p. 346], and was generally read (in large

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churches) from the 'Jube" or "pulpit, a desk placed

between the cross and the chancel wall on the rood-loft. The Nicene Creed was followed by the Offertory, the solemn Oblation of the Elements, short supplications that the sacrifice might be acceptable to God for the living and the departed, and certain private prayers of the Celebrant, with which the first part of the service, or Ordinarium, may be said to have ended.

The Canon of the Mass was introduced by the Apostolic versicles, the Proper Preface, and the Tersanctus, which we still use in the same place; and then followed a long prayer, interspersed with many ceremonies, but substantially equivalent to the "Prayer for the Church Militant," the "Consecration Prayer," and the first "Thanksgiving Prayer" of our modern English Liturgy. This will be found given at length in the Appendix to the Communion Office.

The Prayer of Consecration was not immediately followed by the Participation, as in our modern Liturgy, but there was a considerable interval, as in the Primitive Liturgies, which was filled up with other prayers. First came the Lord's Prayer, preceded by a short preface, and followed by a prayer for deliverance from all evil, analogous to the Embolismus of the Eastern Church [p. 185]. Then came the Agnus Dei, sung thrice, in the same manner as it is sung twice in the modern Litany. After the Agnus Dei followed the ceremony of the commixture of the consecrated elements, by placing a portion of the wafer into the chalice, in symbolical signification of the union of natures in our Lord. The Kiss of Peace was then

1 This is peculiar to the Sarum rite, not being found in any other Liturgy in this part of the service.

passed round from the Celebrant by means of his ministers (the Deacon and Sub-deacon, or Epistoler and Gospeller), some private prayers were said by the Celebrant, and afterwards the Prayer of Humble Access.

Here came in the Communion, first of the Celebrant, and then of the other Clergy and of the people, that of the latter being preceded by an exhortation; and, with the exception of a Thanksgiving Prayer and a Post-Communion Collect, this substantially completed the service.

There were, however, some subsequent ceremonies, such as the ablution of the sacred vessels, and of the Celebrants' hands, which are left to tradition and individual devotion in our modern English rite, but which were provided for with minute exactness in the ancient one. During these ceremonies the congregation still remained, and after their conclusion were dismissed by the Deacon saying, Benedicamus Domino, or, Ite, missa est, according to the season.

There is no reason to think that this mode of celebrating the Holy Communion underwent any great changes from the time of St. Osmund until 1549; and indeed it was probably very much the same as had been used in the Church of England even before the time of St. Osmund. Many ceremonies were doubtless introduced during the Middle Ages, and some had probably been added by St. Osmund himself; but these cereinonies affected the Rubrics rather than the substance of the Liturgy, and the Ordinary and Canon were otherwise in the same condition in the sixteenth century that they had been in the eleventh. It must, however, be remembered that numerous additions were made to the variable parts of the Missal [p. 241], special Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, etc., being appointed for particular days and occasions; and it was in these additions that the Reformers found so much which they regarded as inexpedient or superstitious. What the great French liturgical scholar, Guéranger, says respecting the MSS. of the Roman Liturgy was doubtless true, to some extent, of the English, that they had come to be "loaded with gross and even superstitious additions, consisting chiefly of apocryphal histories, unknown and even rejected in the early ages, but which had been afterwards introduced into the Lessons and Anthems, and in votive Masses (which had become superstitiously numerous), barbarous forms, and furtively introduced Benedictions. But these abuses were far more common in the southern countries of Europe than in England; and the most conspicuous innovations connected with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in our own Church were [1] the withdrawal of the Cup from the Laity, and [2] the rare communion of the Laity under any circumstances except at the approach of death.

In respect to the first, it is sufficient to say that although the Eucharist appears to have been always sent to the sick under the form of one element only until 1549, the Laity were certainly accustomed to partake of it in both kinds at church until the twelfth century. Even so late as A.D. 1175 the Convocation of Canterbury forbade the introduction of the novel custom, and it is probable that it did not become common in England until its adoption was ordered by the Council of Constance in 1415. There is no recognition whatever of the administration in one kind in the Liturgy itself, though in an Exhortation used before the Communion of the Laity it is distinctly referred to.

The second custom arose out of that inattention to the ávaλoyla of doctrine which so often leads men to error in practice. The Holy Eucharist being both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament, theologians of the Middle Ages were so intent upon the duty and necessity of the first that they overlooked the duty and necessity of the second; and while the Mass was offered daily in most, if not in all, churches, and in some many times in the day, few except the Clergy ever partook of it more than once or twice in the year, considering that it was sufficient for them to be present while it was being offered.

But this too was an innovation that had found its way into practice without finding any recognition in the Liturgy. Nor can it be said that there was anything in the authorized forms for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist which could have originally given rise, or encouragement, to either practice.

The Reformed Liturgy of the Church of England. The general steps which were taken towards a reconstruction of all the Offices used in Divine Service, and their translation into English, have been traced out in the Historical Introduction, pp. 7-13, and need not be repeated in treating particularly of the Liturgy. Suffice it to say that the abstinence of the Laity from Communion appeared

so great and pressing an evil to the Reformers that they added on an English Office for the Communion of the Laity in both kinds to the ancient Salisbury Liturgy, even before they had finished the preparation of the Prayer Book.1

The general consideration of the Theology of the Sacraments had been committed by Henry VIII. to a Commission of Divines in 1540, and the revision of the Services had also been undertaken about the same time. In 1546, shortly before his death, "the King commanded" Archbishop Craumer "to pen a form for the alteration of the Mass into a Communion."2 On November 30, 1547, 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, etc." 3 This "form of a certain ordinance" was embodied in an Act of Parliament [1 Edward VI. cap. i.] which received the Assent of both Houses on December 20, 1547; but for some time no Liturgical formulary was issued, and the Clergy obeyed the law by adopting their own mode of administration. But on March 8, 1548, an "Order of Communion" was put forth under a Proclamation by the Crown in Council. This proclamation ordered that "the most blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ should from thenceforth be commonly delivered and ministered unto all persons within our realm of England and Ireland, and other of our dominions, under both kinds, that is to say, of bread and wine (except necessity otherwise require), lest every man phantasying and devising a sundry way by himself, in the use of this most blessed Sacrament of unity, there might arise any unseemly and ungodly diversity." The "Order of Communion," thus authorized, and the substance of which is printed in the Appendix to this Introduction, begins with an Exhortation, to be used on the Sunday or Holyday next before the Administration. This Exhortation was reproduced in the Liturgy of 1549, and is identical (except that the last paragraph is omitted) with that now standing first in our present Liturgy. After this came the following Rubric, which explains the use of the Office: "The time of the Communion shall be immediately after that the Priest himself hath received the Sacrament, without the varying of any other rite or ceremony in the Mass (until other order shall be provided), but as heretofore usually the Priest hath done with the Sacrament of the Body, to prepare, bless, and consecrate so much as will serve the people; so it shall continue still after the same manner and form, save that he shall bless and consecrate the biggest chalice, or some fair and convenient cup or cups full of wine with some water put into it; and that day, not drink it up all himself, but taking one only sup or draught, leave the rest upon the altar covered, and turn to them that are disposed to be partakers of the Communion, and shall thus exhort them as followeth." Then follows the Exhortation beginning, Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye that mind," etc., which replaced an older form, previously used in the same place, when the holy Sacrament was administered in one kind only. After this Exhortation the Priest was directed pause awhile, to see if any man will withdraw himself,” and then to say the Invitation, "Ye that do truly," the Confession, the Absolution, the Comfortable Words, and the Prayer of Humble Access, the Communion following immediately after the latter Prayer, "the Peace of God being given in English afterwards, and the Mass concluding in its ancient form.

to "

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From March 8, 1548, until June 9, 1549, the authorized Liturgy of the Church of England consisted, therefore, of the ancient Salisbury Mass, with this "Order of Communion" in English superadded when any of the laity wished to communicate. At the end of that year and a quarter the first complete Book of Common Prayer in English was taken into use, that is, on Whitsunday (June 9), 1549; and it contained a Liturgy formed from the ancient Latin and this recent English Office. The substance of the Liturgy, so

reconstructed and translated, is given in the Appendix to this Introduction; and as the history of the Liturgy is henceforth part of that of the Prayer Book itself, which has been already given in the Historical Introduction, it is unnecessary to go further into it here. The various changes which ensued in 1552, 1559, and 1661 will be shewn in the footnotes.

The consequence of these several changes has been that the Office for the Celebration and Administration of the Holy Communion in the modern Church of England presents a very great apparent deviation from that which was used before the ancient Service-books were reconstructed in English: and there has, in fact, been a greater alteration in this than in any other part of the Prayer Book. But the changes which have taken place at successive times have resulted chiefly in the simplification of the Service, the consolidation of separate portions, the omission of special and particular commemoration of the saints and the departed, and the rearrangement of the Service, such as placing the "Gloria in Excelsis" at the end instead of at the beginning. The Gospels and Epistles remain almost wholly the same as in the Mediæval Missals. Of the Collects three-fourths are the same. The acts and words of Consecration are substantially the same, and so also are the words of Administration. The greatest change of all is that all communicants now receive in both kinds, whereas in the later Medieval Church of England few ever partook of the Cup except the Celebrant.

Notwithstanding, therefore, the apparent diversity between the old and the modern Service, there is, as will be shewn in detail in the Annotations, a substantial and vital identity : and this may be conveniently represented here by the following Table :

Agnus Dei. Prayer of Access.

Thanksgiving. Anthem. Benediction.

人

Commemoration

of

Saints and the de-
parted.

The Lord's Prayer.
Invitation.

Confession and Abso