the Clergy was always in the midst of these temples; and that therefore the custom of the division of churches from chancels, and of the priest's saying service in them, was an insufferable abuse, to be forthwith amended, if the whole kingdom would not be guilty of high treason against GOD.' This was his declamatory censure of the Church's custom in those times concerning chancels and the performance of Divine service there: and he prevailed so far by it, that in the fifth year of King Edward there were many alterations made in the former Service-book, which the Duke of Somerset, the Protector, got to be confirmed in Parliament; among which alterations this was the first, That the morning and evening prayer should be used in such place of the church, chapel, or chancel, and that the minister should so turn him (for before he kneeled or stood, save when he read the Lessons, with his face towards the altar) as the people might best hear. Notwithstanding this condescension, it was then likewise ordered, That if there was any controversy about it, it should be referred to the Ordinary of the place, or his deputy; and that the chancels should still remain as they had done in times past. There arose great contention about this alteration; some kneeling one way and some another, but not removing out of the chancel; others leaving that accustomed place, and performing all their service among the people in the body of the church. For the appeasing of which strife and diversity, it was now thought fit that in our Book, when they came to reduce the English service into the Church again, the rubrick should be corrected, and put into this form wherein we have it: That morning and evening prayer should be used in the place accustomed (that must be before the fifth of Edward, for a year and a half after, which was all the time that the second rubrick lasted, could not beget a custom)—yet referring it to the Bishop to order it otherwise, if he saw cause to do so. But that the priest should here turn himself to the people, (as he is to do after, when he reads the Lessons to them,) they made no order, nor thought fit to continue the former order in that particular...... The accustomed place was the choir, as appears by the first words in the first Book, set forth in the second year of King Edward VI.: The priest, being in the choir, shall begin the morning prayer with a loud voice. But since that time, at the instance of the parishioners, many ordinaries, in most places, have otherwise determined and ordered it, as here they had leave to do. And from hence it was, somewhat after

the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, that the minister had a desk or smaller pulpit set up for him, whereat to read Divine service, and the Lessons in the body of the parish-church; whereas, aforetimes, he performed all his office at his own seat in the chancel.* And so in divers places, where the ordinary did not alter it, he doth still, turning himself towards the people (that be in the body of the church) when he reads the Lessons. The word accustomed was added here on purpose that it might refer to the use of former times, and not to the later alterations that some of the ordinaries and people had made, in or after the fifth year of Edward vi. For the second litany then compiled, hath not this word accustomed put into the rubrick......Nor had the ordinaries any power, neither to alter the accustomed place of morning and evening prayer, but only where there was some controversy about it, what place was most convenient for the reading thereof."-Bishop Cosin's Notes in Nicholls' Commentary, p. 16.

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"The minister readeth the Lesson standing, and turning him so as he may best be heard. Here he is appointed to turn him; therefore, before he reads the Lesson, he is supposed to stand, and to be turned with his face another way. It is a circumstance observable, that in all the services in the old synagogues (from whom the Christian churches at first took their pattern) the reading of the Law and other Scriptures was done by the priest with his face turned to the people as they sat. So did our LORD in the synagogue at Nazareth. (S. Luke iv. 16.) But the prayers were read by him whom they called the Apparitor of the synagogue, (correspondent to the deacon or minister in the Christian Church,) with his back to the

*See Hist. of Pues, 2nd edit. pp. 23, 24. "In King Edward's first Prayerbook the priest is ordered to be in the choir; but Bucer having declared the order an act of high treason against GOD, the injunction in the second places him in such place of the church, chapel, or chancel, as the people may best hear. This declaration of Bucer's and Calvin's makes Juvenal's words seem prophetick:

Quid sentire putas omnes, CALVINE, recenti

De scelere, et Fidei violate crimine?

...... In 1569, Bishop Parkhurst [of the Genevan school,] in his Visitation Articles for the Diocese of Norwich, orders, "That in great churches where all the people cannot conveniently hear their minister, the churchwardens and others, to whom the charge doth belong, shall provide and support a decent and a convenient seat in the body of the church, where the said minister may sit or stand ...... and that in smaller churches there be some convenient seat outside the chanceldoor [Bishop Parkhurst therefore upheld rood-screens] for that purpose."-EDD.

people, and his face to the ark, representing the Majesty and Presence of God. (Maimonides of Prayer, cap. viii. n. 11.) In the Misna he is called, 'He that cometh down from the Ark.' So are (or were) the prayers or litanies used to be read in the Church of England."-Ibid. p. 21.

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"In that part of Divine service which concerns the offering of the people's prayers to ALMIGHTY GOD, it was required of the priest or presbyter......more particularly, That in his reading of the Prayers and Psalms, he turn his face toward the east, and towards the people in the reading of the Lessons or chapters,' as appears plainly by the rubrick which directs him thus, That after the reading of the Psalms, the priest shall read two Lessons distinctly, that the people may hear; the priest that reads the two Lessons standing, and turning himself so as he may best be heard of all such as be present.""-Heylyn's Cyprianus Anglicus, Introd. p. 7.

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1636, 12 Charles I.] "That the minister's reading-desk do not stand with the back toward the chancel, nor too remote or far from it."-Bishop Wren's Orders and Directions, given in the Diocese of Norwich. Cardwell's Documentary Annals, vol. II. p. 205.

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The Ancient Position of the Officiating Minister in Prayer, ridiculed by the Puritans.

1661.] "Secondly, for his posture, besides the windings, turnings, and cringings, his face must be sometimes toward the people, and sometimes his back."-Anatomy of the Common Prayer, by Dwalphintramis, p. 29. 4to. 1661.

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Opposed by the Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference, and confirmed by the Bishops.

1661.] Rubrick. "Then shall the priest or the bishop (being present) stand up, and turning himself to the people, say thus." Exception. "The minister turning himself to the people is most convenient, throughout the whole ministration.”—The Excep tions [of the Presbyterian Divines at the Savoy Conference] against the Book of Common Prayer.

Minister's Turning. "The minister's turning to the people is not most convenient throughout the whole ministration. When he speaks to them, as in Lessons, Absolution, and Benedictions, it is convenient that he turn to them. When he speaks for them to GOD, it is fit that they should all turn another way, as the ancient Church ever did; the reasons of which you may see, Aug. lib. ii. de Ser. Dom. in monte. Answer of the Bishops to the Exceptions of the Ministers. Cardwell's History of Conferences, pp. 320 and 353.

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Practised in many Parish Churches in obedience to the Rubrick, and by the "judicious" Hooker.

"The minister that reads the Lessons standing, and turning himself so as he may be best heard of all such as are present. (Rubr. 2, before Te Deum.) Turning himself so as he may best be heard of all, that is, turning towards the people, whereby it appears that immediately before the Lessons he looked another way from the people, because here he is directed to turn towards them. This was the ancient custom of the Church of England, that the priest who did officiate in all those parts of the service which were directed to the people, turned himself towards them, as in the Absolution. See the Rubrick before the Absolution at the Communion. Then shall the priest, or bishop if present, stand and turning himself to the people, say, &c. So in the Benediction, reading of the Lessons and Holy Commandments: but in those parts of the office which were directed to GOD immediately, as prayers, hymns, lauds, confessions of faith or sins, he turned from the people; and for that purpose in many parish churches of late, the reading-pue had one desk for the Bible, looking towards the people to the body of the church, another for the Prayer-book, looking towards the east, or upper end of the chancel."Bp. Sparrow's Rationale of the Common Prayer, pp. 43, 12mo.'1668. [167]

"The minister is......directed to read [the Lessons] distinctly with an audible voice, and to turn himself so as he may best be heard of all such as are present, which shews that in time of prayer the minister used to look another way; a custom still observed in some parish churches, where the reading-pues have two desks-one for the Bible, looking towards the body of the church to the people, another for the Prayer-book, looking towards the east, or upper end of the

chancel; in conformity to the practice of the Primitive Church.”Wheatly on the Common Prayer, p. 141.

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"The furniture of [Hooker's] church (Drayton-Beauchamp) is much the same as is usually seen in country parishes......The reading-pue,* I observed, has two desks; the one so placed that the minister may look towards the altar in reading the prayers, the other at right angles with it, that he may turn round and face the congregation in reading the Lessons."-Wilkes's Church of England Magazine, vol. III. p. 144. The Book of Fragments, p. 192.

The Font.

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1564.] "Item. That the font be not removed, nor that the curate do baptize in parish churches in any basins, nor in any other form than is already prescribed."-Advertisements of Queen Elizabeth.

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1569.] "Item. Whether your curates or ministers, or any of them, do use to minister the Sacrament of Baptism in basins, or else in the font standing in the place accustomed. And whether the said font be decently kept.”—Archbishop Parker's Visitation Articles.

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1601, 43 Eliz.] "Whether your fonts or baptisteries be removed from the place where they were wont to stand: or whether any persons, leaving the use of them, do christen or baptize in basins, or other vessels not accustomably used in the Church beforetime,

* Many Catholick-minded men, who feel the impossibility of managing a readingpue satisfactorily, are yet unwilling to give it up, because they imagine it authorized by the Church in England. The only rubrick in which it is mentioned is that at the commencement of the Commination-service. Now, without meaning to assert that reading-pue or pulpit are there only two names for one thing, the following examples may prove that it is very possible they may be. In 1571, Abp. Grindal speaks of "the pulpit, where prayers are wont to be said." In his diocese, then, there was no reading-pue except the pulpit. Calamy, in his Abridgement, calls a pulpit placed in the open air, a pue. And Pepys calls the Bishop's throne in old S. Paul's a pue. Is it necessary therefore, on the strength of one doubtful passage in the Prayer-book, to depart not only from Catholick usage, but to neglect the general bent and spirit of the Prayer. book itself?-EDD.