whole nation may as well have the same Liturgy, as each congregation may have a distinct one. And the clergy of a whole nation may as well resolve in a synod, or require by a canon made to that purpose, that the same Liturgy shall be used in every part of the nation, as leave it to the liberty of every particular bishop or minister to choose one for his own diocese or congregation. Nor is such an imposition of a national precomposed Liturgy any greater grievance to the laity, than if each pastor imposed his own precomposed Liturgy or prayer onceived extempore on his respective flock; because every precomposed Liturgy or extempore prayer is as much imposed, and lays as great a restraint upon the laity, as the imposition. of a national Liturgy. Nor, again, is the synod's imposing a national Liturgy any grievance to the clergy; since it is done either by their proper governors alone, or else (especially according to our English constitution) by their proper governors, joined with their own representatives. So that such imposition, being either what they are bound to comply with in point of obedience, or else an act of their own choice, cannot for that reason be any hardship upon them. Since therefore (to draw to a conclusion) this imposition of a national precomposed Liturgy is warranted by the constant practice of all the ancient Jews, our Saviour himself, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians; and since it is a grievance to neither clergy nor laity, but appears quite, on the other hand, as well from their concurrent testimonies, as by our own experience, to be so highly expedient, as that there can be no decent or uniform performance of God's worship without it; our adversaries themselves must allow it to be necessary. And if so, they can no longer justify their separation from the Church of England, upon account of its imposing The Book of Common Prayer, &c. as a national precomposed Liturgy; unless they can shew, that though national precomposed Liturgies in general may be lawful; yet there are some things prescribed in that of the Church of England, which render it unlawful to be complied with: which that they cannot do, is, I hope, (though only occasionally, yet) sufficiently shewn in the following illustration of it. From which I shall now detain the reader no longer than to give him some small account of the original of The Book of Common Prayer, and of those alterations which were afterwards made in it, before it was brought to that perfection in which we now have it. And this I choose to do here, because I know not where more properly to insert such an account. An Appendix to the Introductory Discourse, concerning the Original of the Book of Common Prayer, and the several Alterations which were afterwards made in it. How the Liturgy Reformation. BEFORE the Reformation, the Liturgy was only stood before the in Latin, being a collection of prayers made up partly of some ancient forms used in the primitive Church, and partly of some others of a later original, accommodated to the superstitions which had by various means crept by degrees into the Church of Rome, and from thence derived to other Churches in communion with it; like what we may see in the present Roman Breviary and Missal. And these being established by the laws of the land, and the canons of the Church, no other could publicly be made use of: so that those of the laity, who had not the advantage of a learned education, could not join with them, or be any otherwise edified by them. And besides, they being mixed with addresses to the saints, adoration of the host, images, &c., a great part of the worship was in itself idolatrous and profane. What was done in relation to Liturgical matters in king Henry VIII.'s time. But when the nation in king Henry VIII.'s time was disposed to a reformation, it was thought necessary to correct and amend these offices: and not only have the service of the Church in the English or vulgar tongue, (that men might pray, not with the spirit only, but with the understanding also and that he, who occupied the room of the unlearned, might understand that unto which he was to say Amen; agreeable to the precept of St. Paul;67) but also to abolish and take away all that was idolatrous and superstitious, in order to restore the service of the Church to its primitive purity. For it was not the design of our Reformers (nor indeed ought it to have been) to introduce a new form of worship into the Church, but to correct and amend the old one; and to purge it from those gross corruptions which had gradually crept into it, and so to render the divine service more agreeable to the Scriptures, and to the doctrine and practice of the primitive 671 Cor. xiv. 15, 16. Church in the best and purest ages of Christianity. In which reformation they proceeded gradually, according as they were able. And first, the Convocation 68 appointed a committee, A. D. 1537, to compose a book, which was called, The godly and pious institution of a christen man; containing a declaration of the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Seven Sacraments,69 &c. ; which book was again published A. D. 1540, and 1543, with corrections and alterations, under the title of A necessary doctrine and erudition for any christen man: and as it is expressed in that preface, was set furthe by the King, with the advyse of his Clergy; the Lordes bothe spirituall and temporall, with the nether house of Parliament, having both sene and lyked it very well. Also in the year 1540, a committee of bishops and divines was appointed by king Henry VIII. (at the petition of the Convocation) to reform the rituals and offices of the Church. And what was done by this committee for reforming the offices was reconsidered by the Convocation itself two or three years afterwards, viz. in February, 1542-3. And in the next year the king and his clergy ordered the prayers for processions, and litanies, to be put into English, and to be publicly used. And finally, in the year 1545, the king's Primer came forth, wherein were contained, amongst other things, the Lord's Prayer, Creed, Ten Commandments, Venite, Te Deum, and other hymns and collects in English; and several of them in the same version in which we now use them. And this is all that appears to have been done in relation to liturgical matters in the reign of king Henry VIII. In the year 1547, the first of king Edward VI., December the second, the Convocation 70 declared the opinion, nullo reclamante, that the Communion ought to be administered to all persons under both kinds. Whereupon an Act of Parliament was made ordering the Communion to be so administered. And then a committee of bishops, and other learned divines, was appointed to compose an uniform order of Communion, according to the rules of Scripture, and the use of the primitive Church. In order to this, the com The Book of compiled in the Edward VI. reign of king Common Prayer 68 For what relates to the authority of the Convocation, in this and the two following paragraphs, see Bishop Atterbury's Rights of an English Convocation, 2nd edit., from p. 184 to p. 205. 69 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 52-54. 70 See Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 157, 158. mittee repaired to Windsor Castle, and in that retirement, within a few days, drew up that form which is printed in bishop Sparrow's collection." And this being immediately brought into use the next year, the same persons, being empowered by a new commission, prepare themselves to enter upon a yet nobler work; and in a few months' time finished the whole Liturgy, by drawing up public offices not only for Sundays and Holidays, but for Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Burial of the Dead, and other special occasions; in which the forementioned Office for the Holy Communion was inserted, with many alterations and amendments. And the whole book being so framed, was set forth by the common agreement and full assent both of the Parliament and Convocations provincial; i. e. the two Convocations of the provinces of Canterbury and York. The Committee appointed to compose this Liturgy were, 1. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury; who was the chief promoter of our excellent Reformation; and had a principal hand, not only in compiling the Liturgy, but in all the steps made towards it. He died a martyr to the religion of the Reformation, which principally by his means had been established in the Church of England; being burnt at Oxford in the reign of queen Mary, March 21, 1556. 2. Thomas Goodrich, bishop of Ely. 3. Henry Holbech, alias Randes, bishop of Lincoln. 4. George Day, bishop of Chichester. 5. John Skip, bishop of Hereford. 6. Thomas Thirlby, bishop of Westminster. 7. Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, and afterwards of London. He was esteemed the ablest man of all that advanced the Reformation, for piety, learning, and solidity of judgment. He died a martyr in queen Mary's reign, being burnt at Oxford, October 16, 1555. 8. Dr. William May, dean of St. Paul's, London, and afterwards also master of Queen's College in Cambridge. 9. Dr. John Taylor, dean, afterwards bishop of Lincoln. He was deprived in the beginning of queen Mary's reign, and died soon after. 10. Dr. Simon Heynes, dean of Exeter. 11. Dr. John Redmayne, master of Trinity College in Cambridge, and prebendary of Westminster. 12. Dr. Richard Cox, dean of Christ Church in Oxford, 71 Page 17. almoner and privy-councillor to king Edward VI. He was deprived of all his preferments in queen Mary's reign, and fled to Frankfort; from whence returning in the reign of queen Elizabeth, he was consecrated bishop of Ely. liament. 13. Mr. Thomas Robertson, archdeacon of Leicester. Thus was our excellent Liturgy compiled by And confirmed martyrs and confessors, together with divers by Act of Parother learned bishops and divines; and being revised and approved by the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of both the provinces of Canterbury and York, was then confirmed by the king and the three estates in parliament, A. D. 1548,72 who gave it this just encomium, viz. which at this time BY THE AID OF THE HOLY GHOST, with uniform agreement is of them concluded, set forth, &c. cer and Martyr. But about the end of the year 1550, or the be- But afterwards ginning of 1551, some exceptions were taken at submitted to the some things in this book, which were thought to censure of Busavour too much of superstition. To remove these objections, therefore, archbishop Cranmer proposed to review it; and to this end called in the assistance of Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr, two foreigners, whom he had invited over from the troubles in Germany; who not understanding the English tongue, had Latin versions prepared for them: one Alesse, a Scotch divine, translating it on purpose for the use of Bucer; and Martyr being furnished with the version of Sir John Cheke, who had also formerly translated it into Latin.73 What liberties this encouraged them to take in their censures of the first Liturgy, and ceptions it was how far they were instrumental to the laying reviewed and alaside several very primitive and venerable usages, I shall have properer opportunities of shewing hereafter, when I come to treat of the particulars in the body of the book. It will be sufficient here just to note the most considerable additions and alterations that were then made: some of which must be allowed to be good; as especially the addition of the sentences, exhortation, confession, and absolution, at the beginning of the morning and evening services, which in the first Common Prayer Book began with the Lord's Prayer. The other changes were the removing of some rites and ceremonies retained in the former book; such as the use of oil in Upon whose ex tered. 72 Second and third of Edward VI. chap. i. 73 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 210. |