THE BOOK OF

COMMON PRAYER

AND

ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS

AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE
CHURCH, ACCORDING TO THE USE OF

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

TOGETHER WITH

THE PSALTER OR PSALMS OF DAVID

POINTED AS THEY ARE TO BE SUNG OR SAID IN CHURCHES

AND THE FORM AND MANNER OF MAKING
ORDAINING, AND CONSECRATING OF
BISHOPS, PRIESTS, AND DEACONS

OXFORD
PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMEN CORNER

Cum Privilegio

Draft Revision: corrected February 1923 in
accordance with N.A . 84.

20 copies printed of which this is
No.16

THE

CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK.

1. An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer
2. The Preface
3. Concerning the Service of the Church
4. Concerning Ceremonies, why some be abolished, and others retained
5. The Order how the Psalter is appointed to be read
6. The Order how the rest of the holy Scripture is appointed to be read
7. Table of Proper Psalms for 8undays and Holy-days
8. Table of Lessons
9. The Calendar
10. Tables and Rules for the Feasts and Fasts through the whole Year
11. The Order for Morning Prayer
12. The Order for Evening Prayer
Late Evening Service (Compline)
13. The Creed of Saint Athanasius
14. The Litany
15. A Supplication, which may be used after the Lord's Prayer in the Litany, and at Penitential Seasons and in Times of Trouble
16. Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several Occasions
17. The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to he read at the Ministration of the holy Communion, throughout the Year
18. The Order of the Ministration of the holy Communion
10. The Order of Baptism both Publick and Private
An Alternative Order for Public Baptism
20. The Order of Baptism for those of Riper Years
21. The Catechism
22. The Order of Confirmation
21. The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony
24. The Order for the Visitation of the Sick, and the Communion of the Sick
25. The Order for the Burial of the Dead
An Order which may be Used for the Burial of a Baptized Child
An Order which may be Used when the Prayer Book Service may not be Used
An Order for the Burial of an Unbaptized Child
26. The Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth
27. A Commination, or denouncing of God's anger and judgements against Sinners
28. The Psalter
29. Forms Of Prayer to he used at Sea
30. The Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons
31. Forms of Prayer for the Anniversary of the day of Accession of the Reigning Sovereign

Articles of Religion

title page

This book is the initial draft of the ill-fated 1928 Prayer Book of the Church of England. It is the result of a long process extending back 20 years to revise the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Initially the revision was only to concern rubrics, so as to reduce tensions between the Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic parties of the Church which had, on occasion, resulted in embarrassing trials in secular courts. However, the enormous social upheaval caused by the Great War (World War I) brought about demands for greater changes, both in language and theology. These were largely voiced by Anglo-Catholic clergy who had served as chaplains in the war and in urban slum parishes, and found that the lay-people they encountered had great difficulty relating to the 1662 BCP, and that it had significant limitations. This book was the initial result, and, unfortunately, it largely ignored those who initially fought for changes. This draft resulted in responses for further changes by certain groups: a "Green Book" from strong Anglo-Catholics, an "Orange Book" from moderate Anglo-Catholics, and a "Grey Book" from a more liberal group. Note that Evangelicals had no response; they generally preferred no change in the 1662 book.

The changes in the Draft Book nearly all point in an Anglo-Catholic direction, due to the rise of this group over the previous 80 years. Morning and Evening Prayer are little changed (other than an alternative ending to Evening Prayer), but a Compline service is added - although it wasn't called that. In the Communion service, an oblation is added similar to that in the U. S. BCP, and, in perhaps the most controversial change, Reserved Sacrament is allowed for the first time. An alternative Baptismal rite is added, and also several Burial rites for use in special circumstances.

The 1923 Draft is presented here in two forms. The entire book is available as PDF graphics (as in Google Books and the Internet Archive) with extractable text. This text has not been proofread and undoubtedly contains errors. Additionally, the main services, plus those with significant changes, are presented as HTML text; see the links in the Table of Contents at left.

This book appears as 1923/1 in David Griffiths' Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer.

As PDF graphics:
Collects, Epistles & Gospels (9 MB)
Psalter (8 MB)
All Services (i. e., everything else) (16MB)
The entire book (33MB)