| The Book of Common Prayer | |||||||
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ADDITIONAL NOTES. 1.—VERSIONS OF THE PRAYER BOOK. |
Previous section | |||
| THE 'Order
of the Communion' (March 1548) was sent to Frankfort, as soon as it was
published. There Miles Coverdale translated it into German, and also into
Latin; the Latin copy was sent to Calvin, with some idea that he would
approve and cause it to be printed.1 This,
however, does not seem to have been done. Another translation was made,
and was immediately printed in London.2 The
initials of the translator are 'A. A. S. D. Th.,' which are those of Alexander
Aless, or Alane, a Scotch divine and physician of known reformed opinions
in the time of Henry VIII.,3 who afterwards
translated the entire Prayer Book of 1549. This was published at Leipsic
on January 5, 1551, the same day on which Bucer's Censura was
finished4: the object of the translation
was to make known the progress of the reformed doctrines and practices 'pæne
patriæ ipsius,' among the foreigners with whom he had lived, 'vel
ad exemplum, vel consolationem, vel etiam dolorem aliquorum'; and
it was published at that particular time when a convention to debate upon
ecclesiastical matters was expected to be held under the auspices of the
Emperor Charles V.5 |
Latin Versions. The Order of Communion translated by Coverdale; and by Alexander Aless. The First Prayer Book also. |
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As to the work itself, it cannot be said to come up to those expressions of good faith and of simple honesty as a translation which Aless put forth in his title-page and preface. Some portions, which had been altered in translating from the Missal, are given in their old Latin words (e.g. among the Collects, that for S. Stephen's Day, Second Sunday in Lent, &c.), some clauses are interpolated (e.g. in the Collect for the Purification, the words, 'justusque Simeon mortem non vidit priusquam Christum Domimum videre mereretur'); some phrases are curiously changed (e.g. in the Collect for S. Thomas's Day, 'suffer to be doubtful' is rendered dubitantem confirmasti, and in the Collect for S. Philip and S. James, the words, 'as thou hast taught S. Philip and other the Apostles,' are rendered id quod sancti Apostoli tui Philippus et Jacobus crediderunt et docuerunt) ; and some parts must be called compositions of the translator (e.g. Collect for S. Luke's Day). Similar variations are found in other parts of the book. The opening of the Litany is thus given:
The petition, 'to give to' all nations,' is rendered Ut omnibus Christianis pacem, &c. In the Communion Office, the second Collect for the King is almost entirely
an independent composition: Omnipotens æterne Deus, in cujus
manu corda sunt Regum, qui es humilium consolator, et fidelium fortitudo,
ac protector in te sperantium, da Regi nostro Edvardo sexto ut super omnia,
et in omnibus, te honoret et amet; et studeat servare populo suæ Majestati
commissa pacem, cum omni pietate et honestate, per Christum Dominum nostrum. Then
in the rubric, 'the priest, or he that is appointed, shall read the Epistle,'
is Sacerdos aut subdiaconus; and 'the priest, or one appointed
to read the Gospel,' is Sacerdos aut diaconus. 'The most comfortable
Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ,' is Sacramentum
plenum consolationis, Hoc est, corpus et sanguinem Christi. The whole
sentence beginning, 'And if any man have done wrong to any other, &c.,'
is omitted; it was inserted in 1549, and Aless in this part retained his
translation of the office of 1548. The rubric directing communicants to
'tarry still in the quire . . . the men on the one side, and the women
on the other side,' is rendered,
Tunc communicaturi pervenient in chorum, vel locum
vicinum, viri a dextris, mulieres a sinistris separatim et disjunctim genuJlectant. The
rubric directing the preparation of the elements is, Tunc sacerdos
tot hostias calici aut corporali imponet, i.e., 'so much bread . .
. laying the bread ,upon, the corporas, or else in the paten, or in some
other comely thing prepared for that purpose.' The Absolution widely differs
from the English, which is our present form: Dominus noster Jesus Christus;
qui suam potestatem dedit Ecclesiæ, ut absolvat pœnitentes
a peccatis ipsorum, et reconciliet cœlesti Patri eos, qui suam fiduciam
collocant in Christum, misereatur vestri, &c.: this Aless took
from Hermann's 'Simplex ac pia Deliberatio.'6 The
form 'of words at the delivery of the elements is rendered, Corpus
Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quod traditum est pro te, conservet corpus
tuum, et perducat animam tuam ad vitam æternam.
Sanguis . . . qui pro te effusus est, conservet animam tuam ad vitam æternam. The
second clause of the concluding blessing is omitted, since Aless retained
the short form of his previous version of the office of 1548. In the Office
of Baptism all mention is omitted of the anointing after putting on the
chrysom. |
Variation of Aless's Version from the Prayer Book (1549). | |||
| These notices of the carelessness
of Aless in his version of the Prayer Book of 1549 are more than historical
curiosities. The English Book was much altered, as we have seen, in 1552,
and was again revised at the beginning of Elizabeth's reign. Then it was
advisable that the revised book should appear also in Latin, in accordance
with a privilege reserved to the Universities, in the First Act of Uniformity,
which allowed public service other than the Eucharist to be performed in
Greek, Latin, or Hebrew in the chapels of colleges.7 In
1560 there was issued the Elizabethan
Latin Prayer Book, and prefixed to it were Royal
Letters Patent dated April 6, which gave permission that the whole of the
services, including the Eucharist, might be said in such chapels in Latin,
provision being also made for an English Service and Communion,
at least on festivals. And all ministers were exhorted to use this Latin
form privately on those days on which they did not say the public prayers
in English in their churches.8 |
The Universities and the Latin Service. |
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| The authorship of this Latin
version has been given to WaIter Haddon.9 He
was probably editor, or one of the editors;10 but
the real basis of the work was the old translation of the Prayer Book of
1549 by Aless. And so little care seems to have been taken to bring the
Latin into agreement with the revised English Book, that it has been suspected
that this apparent carelessness was intentional, and that, by means of
this Latin version, the Universities and public schools and the clergy
in their private devotions, would become reconciled to the observances
of the First Book of Edward VI.11 |
Waiter Haddon (1560) follows Aless's version of the Prayer Book (1549). | |||
| The book is entitled, Liber
precum publicarum, seu ministerii Ecciesiasticæ administrationis
Sacramentorum, aliorumque rituum et cæremoniarum in Ecclesia Anglicana.
Cum privilegio Regiæ Majestatis. The letters patent of Elizabeth
stand in the place of the Act of Uniformity. The 'Preface' is Aless's,
with a few verbal corrections of Latinity, and omitting, as not suiting
the intention of the book, the directions for Daily Prayer in the parish
churches, and the permission to clerks to say the Morning and Evening
Prayer privately in any language they understand. The Kalendar has a
name attached to almost every day:12 and
a chapter is added, De anno et partibus ejus. The Athanasian
Creed is placed after Morning Prayer, instead of after Evening Prayer,
which was its position in the English Book. The opening of the Litany
is correctly given. Of the Collects, that for S. Stephen's Day, which
Aless had taken from the Missal, Haddon altered partially, as also that
for S. Mark's Day. In those for the Annunciation, and the 8th and 11th
Sundays after Trinity, Haddon retains Aless' variation from the English.
That for S. Andrew's Day Aless had given rightly enough from his copy;
but a new Collect was substituted in 1552: Haddon's Latin, however, remains
as a transcript from Aless. |
Haddon's Version (1560) compared with Aless's (1549) and with the English Prayer Book (1559). | |||
| In the Communion Office, the
rubric after the Decalogue, 'The Priest standing up, and saying,' is rendered,
Tunc per ministrum, stantem ad sacram mensam, legetur . . . .,
determining the Priest's position by these additional words to be the same
as that directed by the fourth rubric before the Office, ad
mensa septentrionalem partem. The rubric before reading the Epistle
agrees neither with the English, nor with Aless's Latin, but is a translation
of that of 1549: Post has
Collectas, sacerdos, seu quis alius minister ad id
deputatus, legat Epistolam, in loco ad id assignato, et sic incipiat. The
Absolution is taken from Aless, Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui
suam potestatem dedit Ecciesiæ ut
absolvat . . . misereatur vestri . . ., but the words Per
Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum are added, making the conclusion resemble
the English without regard to what has gone before. The proper Prefaces
remain as Aless had taken them from the Missal, without noticing the omissions
or changes of the English; yet, in that for Easter, where Aless has 'Ipse
enim verus est Agnus,' Haddon gives Ipse enim est vere Agnus. |
Communion Service.
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| In the Office of Visitation of
the Sick, the Opening versicle 'Send him help from the holy place,' taken
from the Sarum Ordo, 'Mitte ei Domine auxilium de
sancto,' had been rendered
by Aless 'Mitte et Domine angelum de sanctuario,' which Haddon
retained, adding tun as a correction from the English; a blunder was made
in printing, so that the sentence is, Mitte eum Domine
angelum de sanctuario tuo. In
the exhortation, the words, 'that Almighty. God is the Lord of life and
death,' are rendered as they were by Aless, Christum
esse Dominum mortis et vitæ: and the directions about making
a will, declaring debts, &c.,
are arranged as they stand in Aless' version. The rubric allowing a special
confession is worded so as to direct a private confession: Si ægrotus
sentit suam conscientiam gravatam esse aliqua in re, de illa sacerdoti
privatim confiteatur; still following Aless. The office of 1549, which
Aless translated, ended with a form for anointing, if the sick person desired
it: and after the prayer followed, the words, 'Usquequo
Domine? Psalm
xiii.' Aless omitted all mention of the anointing and the prayer which
was to accompany it when used; and gave in its place his own direction,
'si videtur commodum, dicatur etiam hic Psalmus,
pro usitata ante hæc
tempora unctione. 14. Usquequo Domine,' &c This ceremony
was omitted in 1552, and of course did not appear in the English Book of
1559, yet Haddon concludes his office with Aless's direction, changing,
however, his word 'unctione,' 'si videtur commodum,
dicatur etiam hic Psalmus, pro usitata ante hæc tempora visitatione.
Psalmus xiii.' |
Visitation of the sick. | |||
In the Office of Communion of the Sick, the error of the press, of giving notice postridie, is continued from Aless, and the following rubrics are drawn from the same source: 'Quod si contingat eodem die Cœnam Domini in ecclesia celebrari, tunc sacerdos in cœna tantum Sacramenti servabit, quantum sufficit ægroto: et mox finita cœna [Missa, Aless] una cum aliquot ex his qui intersunt, ibit ad ægrotum, et primo communicabit cum illis [eos, Aless] qui assistunt ægroto [ægro, Aless] et intetfuerunt cœnæ, et postremo cum infirmo [infirmum, Aless]. Sed primo fiat generalis confessio, et absolutio, cum Collecta, ut supra est præscriptum. Sed si infirmus illo die petat Communionem, quo non celebratur cœna, tunc sacerdos in loco decenti, in domo ægroti, celebrabit cœnam. hoc modo.' Oremus. Omnipotens æterne Deus, &c. We cannot help noticing that Haddon has altered Aless's Latinity, and substituted cœna for missa; which shows that the reappearance of this rubric in 1560 was not the mere result of carelessness, but that the attempt was made to give these directions to the clergy for their guidance in administering the Communion to the Sick, at least within the walls of, the colleges. The English Office also merely gives a Collect with its Epistle and Gospel, without any further directions; which leaves the whole matter in an ambiguous position. (See further on this subject below, p. 628.) , If the Service of Visitation and Communion were used at one time, the minister was directed to omit the concluding verse and benediction of the Visitation Service, and to go straight to the Communion: but nothing was said about beginning otherwise than at the commencement of the Communion Office. In this Latin form, however, Haddon still follows Aless, and, by ending his rubric with the words hoc modo, directs the service of private Communion to begin with the proper Collect, and Epistle and Gospel; and then, by adding 'Dominus vobiscum,' and 'Sursum corda; usque ad finem, ut supra dictum est,' directs the Communion Office to be taken up at those words, proceeding to the Preface, Prayer in the name of the Communicants, Prayer of Consecration, Distribution of the Elements, and so on to the end; thereby omitting the Confession and Absolution, which occur in a previous part of the service. In giving this 'direction, Aless had, correctly rendered the service of 1549; but the position of its several parts had been changed, and the same direction in 1560 was without meaning. This part of Haddon's work is a careless transcript of Aless, though the insertion of the above-mentioned rubric cannot have this excuse. In the first of the rubrics at the end of the Office, directing the order
in which those who are present are to receive the Sacrament, Haddon alters
Aless's Latin, and omits the second and fourth rubrics. The second was
perhaps dropped on the plea that the book was intended for learned societies,
whose members did not need the curate's instruction: and possibly, the
fourth, permitting the priest alone to communicate with the sick person
in time of contagious sickness, may have been omitted from a charitable
hope that in such fraternities the sick man would not be quite deserted;
or because the order for communicating the sick with the reserved Sacrament
made such a stipulation less necessary.13 |
Reservation of the Holy Sacrament,
and Private Celebration. |
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The Celebratio cœnæ Domini in funebribus, si amici et vicini defuncti communicare velint, and a service 'In commendationibus Benefactorum,' form an Appendix to the book, opening with a, quotation from S. Augustine (De Civit, Dei, I. 12): 'Curatio funeris, conditio sepulturæ, pompa exequiarum, magis sunt vivorum solatia, quam subsidia mortuorum.' A proper Collect, Epistle and Gospel are appointed for communion at funerals. The Collect is the original form of the present second Collect at the end of the Burial Service; the Epistle, I Thess. iiii. [13-18], and the Gospel, Joan. vi. [37-40). This was transcribed from Aless's version of the Service of 1549. A second Gospel was now added 'vel hoc Evangelium.' Joan. v. [24-29.] The Commemoration Service ran as follows. A form, analogous to it is
still used in college chapels and elsewhere.14 |
Appendix to Haddon's Version,
'Celebratio Cœnæ Domini in funebribus.' |
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'In commendationibus Benefactorum. Ad cujusque termini finem, commendatio fiat fundatoris, aliorumque clarorum virorum, quorum beneficentia Collegium locupletatur. Ejus hœc sit forma. Primum recitetur clara voce Oratio dominica, Pater noster, &c. Deinde recitentur tres Psalmi, 144, 145, 146. Posthæc legatur cap. 44 Ecclesiastici, His finitis sequatur concio, in qua concionator Fundatoris amplissimam munificentiam prædicet : quantus sit literarum usus ostendat: quantis laudibus afficiendi sunt, qui literarum studia beneficentia sua excitent : quantum sit ornamentum Regno doctos viros habere, qui de rebus controversis vere judicare possunt: quanta sit scripturarum laus, et quantum illæ omni humanæ auctoritati antecedant, quanta sit ejus doctrinæ in vulgus utilitas, et quam late pateat: quam egregium et regium sit (cui Deus uniuersæ plebis suæ curam commisit) de multitudine ministrorum verbi laborare, atque hi ut honesti atque eruditi sint, curare: atque alia ejus generis, quæ pii et docti viri cum laude illustrare possint. Hac concione perorata, decantetur, Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel. Ad
extremum hæc
adhibeantur. Oremus. Domine Deus, resurrectio et vita credentium, qui semper es laudandus,
tam in viventibus, quam in defunctis, agimus tibi gratias pro fundatore
nostro N. cæterisque benefactoribus nostris, quorum beneficiis hic
ad pietatem et studia literarum alimur: rogantes, ut nos his donis ad tuam
gloriam recte utentes, una cum illis ad resurrectionis gloriam immortalem
perducamur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.' |
In commen-dationibus Benefactorum, |
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| The object of this Latin Book,
as expressed in Elizabeth's letters patent, authorizing or enjoining its
use, was such as not to require the Occasional services, except those for
the Visitation of the Sick, and Burial. However, it appears that when the
book was first printed, it contained the Occasional Offices, but added
out of their order after the Burial Service; from which we may suppose that
it was at first intended to end the volume at this point. The reason for
this addition is conjectured15 to have
been a clause in the first Irish Act of Uniformity, passed in January of
this year, sanctioning the Latin tongue in places where the common minister
or priest had not the use or knowledge of the .English tongue.16 And
Haddon's Latin version, which had been prepared, and, it may be, printed
for the use of the learned in England, hastily received the addition of
the services of Public and Private Baptism, Confirmation, with the, Catechism,
Matrimony, and Churching of Women, that it might exhibit the necessary
parochial services, for the use of the unlearned in Ireland. In any case,
two editions of the book appear to have been printed in the same year;
one containing these Occasional Offices, and the other with the above-mentioned
Appendix in their place. In both editions, or forms of the edition, the
Commination Service was omitted, although Aless had translated it, and
no reason can be given for this omission. |
The Occasional Services added to Haddon's Version for use in Ireland.
Two editions of Haddon's Version printed in 1560.
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| The discrepancy between this
Latin version and the English Book of Common Prayer was felt at the time.
Strype17 says that in 1568 'most of the
colleges in Cambridge would not tolerate it, as being the Pope's Dreggs';
and that 'some of the Fellowship of Benet College went contemptuously from
the Latin Prayers, the master being the minister then that read the same.'
Whitaker, the Master of S. John's College, in 1569 dedicated a small Prayer
Book in Greek and Latin18 to his uncle,
Dean Nowell, in which he endeavoured to account for this discrepancy, on
the plea that it only arose from the expansion or contraction of the original
in a translation. |
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| In 1571 another Latin version
was published, intentionally made to exhibit a close resemblance to the
English Book in its complete state, with the new Kalendar prepared in 1561.
The Act of Uniformity is prefixed; the Occasional Services are arranged
in their order; and at the end is Munster's translation of the Psalms.19 In
this book the peculiarities of Haddon's version (1560) are avoided; yet
even here we find traces of Aless's original translation, and the postridie notice
of Communion of the Sick, and the Collect for S. Andrew's day (altered
in 1552), remained in Latin according to the form of 1549, through the
whole reign of Elizabeth.20 |
A correct Version published in 1571. | |||
The First Prayer Book (1549) was translated into French for the use of the King's subjects in Calais and the Channel Islands; and care was taken to amend the translation in 1552, so that the French version should still represent the English book of Common Prayer in its altered state.21 The Prayer Book first appeared in Welsh in 1567,22 and in Irish for the first time in 1608.23
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Translated into French. | |||
II.—MUSICAL SERVICES. The only musical book which can claim any sort of official position is a collection printed by John Day in 1560, with the title Certain Notes set forth in foure and three parts to be song, and again in 1565 called Morning and Evening Prayer and Communion, set for the in foure partes to be song in churches. It contains services by Causton, Heath, and Knight, and a collection of Anthems, 'Prayers' &c. by Tallis, Hasylton, R. Johnson, Shepherd and Okeland. The settings of the Communion Service comprise not only Sanctus and Gloria in Excelsis, showing that the bad custom of singing only the first part had not yet come in, but an Offertory sentence as. well. The Venite is set anthem-wise, for Anglican Chants were not yet invented for many years to come and the old Gregorian tones to the Psalms went on almost without a rival to the end of the XVIIth century. |
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III.—BOOKS OF PRIVATE DEVOTION. The old custom of the English Church, in having Books of Private Devotion
for the people, following in a great measure the order of the public
services, but containing also forms of more constant prayer, was still
retained in the early period of the Reformation. |
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| We may consider that there were
two series of reformed Primers. The one derives from that of Henry VIII.
(1545),24 the other from the Edwardine
Primer of 1553. The first was often reprinted with successive alterations,
showing the steady advancement of religious opinion. Edward's first Primer
(1547) was a republication of this;25 so
also was that of 1549, with the Litany as amended for the Book of Common
Prayer by the-omission of the invocations of the Virgin Mary, the angels,
and the patriarchs. Alterations of this sort were ordered by the Act of
Parliament (3 and 4 Edward VI.) 'for the abolishing and putting away of
divers books and images,' which provided that any person might use any
Primers, in English or Latin, set forth by the late king, 'so that the
sentences of Invocation or Prayer to Saints be blotted or clearly put out
of the same.' The edition of 1551 omitted the Hail Mary.' with other questionable
passages, though many strong doctrinal statements still remained. This
was reprinted in 1551, with the addition of the Catechism, and again at
the commencement of Elizabeth's reign in 1559 and subsequently.26 |
Two series of Reformed Primers; one dating from 1545, continued until 1575. | |||
| The Primer of 155327 was
not an improved edition, but rather. new publication, the first of a distinct
series of Primers. 'An order of private prayer for morning and evening,
every day in the week, and so throughout the whole year,' was substituted
for the divisions of prayer according to the seven Canonical Hours; the
prayers were taken from the Book of Common Prayer, with a selection of
Psalms, one or two for each service, and short lessons from Scripture,
or from the Book of Ecclesiasticus; thus forming a course of devotion for
a week. With the seven Hours of Prayer, the ancient Hymns were omitted,
and the Penitential Psalms, as well as the Dirge and the Commendations,
with everything touching upon prayers for the dead, or the efficacy of
the saints' prayers. The Catechism and Graces, and a Preparation for prayer
were placed at the beginning, and a collection of 'Sundry godly prayers
for divers purposes' at the end of the book. This was reprinted in the
reign of Elizabeth several times, and its descendants appeared in the XVIIth,
XVIIIth and XIXth centuries.28 |
The other from the Reformed Primer of 1553. | |||
| These reformed Primers were accompanied
by their more learned counterparts in Latin. When Henry put forth his famous
Primer in 1545, he 'provided the self-same form of praying to be set forth
in Latin also,' to the intent that he would 'be all things to all persons,
and that all parties may at large be satisfied.' The title of the Latin
Book of Private Devotion, which was substituted for the older 'Horæ,'
was, Orarium, seu libellus precationum, per regiam
majestatem et clerum latine editus: 1546. This title was taken for
the Latin Book of Private Prayer, which was compiled at the beginning of
Elizabeth's reign, as companion to the Primer of the older series (1559),
and published in 1560.29 The 'Orarium,'
however, was not a mere version of that Primer. Besides smaller variations,
the, Kalendar is full of names of saints; it has the short Catechism; and
it has not the Dirge and Commendations. |
The 'Orarium' of Hen. VIII.
The 'Orarium' of Elizabeth. |
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| In 1564, or early in 1565, another
Latin book of devotion was published under the title, Preces
privatæ,
in studiosorum gratiam coliectæ et Regia authoritate approbatæ.30
This differs from the preceding 'Orarium' mainly in substituting an order
of Morning and Evening Prayer in the place of devotions for the 'Hours';
still retaining, however, some of the Hymns, Antiphons, Psalms and Lessons
of the 'Orarium.' For instance, the course of Morning Prayer begins with
the Sentences, then follows the Confession, a prayer of Absolution, the
Lord's Prayer, 'Domine, labia mea aperies,' 'Venite,' an Antiphon, the
Hymn 'Jam lucis orto sidere,' three Psalms, an Antiphon, 1st Lesson, concluding
with the clause used at the termination of a lection from the prophets, "Hæc
dicit Dominus, convertimini ad me, et salvi eritis,' and followed by 'Te
Deum' : then the Service passes to Lauds, 'Deus in adjutorium,'
'Gloria Patri,' an Antiphon, 'Jubilate,' 'Benedicite,' 'Laudate Dominum
de cœlis
' (Psalm 149), an Antiphon, 2nd Lesson, the Hymn' Consors paterni luminis,'
'Benectictus,' the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Versicles, Collects, and the Litany.
After a similar course of Evening Prayer, and a short devotion for night,
follow select Psalms, Lessons, and Prayers adapted to the great Festivals,
the seven Psalms, other select Psalms, 'Flores Psalmorum, quos Psalterium
Hieronymi appellant' (selected versicles from the Psalms), Pious Meditations
concerning death and the resurrection, Prayers gathered from Scripture,
'Precationes Piæ variis usibus, temporibus, et person is accommodatæ,'
Graces, and some devotional Poems, or Hymns. This book was reprinted in
1573 with the addition of the 'XV. Psalms or Prayers taken out of Holy
Scripture,' — devotional exercises composed by Fisher, bishop of
Rochester, during his year's imprisonment (1534-5) before his execution, — and
some short sentences from the New Testament, supposed to have been collected
by Sir Thomas More under the same circumstances.31 |
The 'Preces Privatæ.' | |||
Thus there were four series of books prepared for private devotion, and published with the royal authority in the reign of Elizabeth. To these may be added a fifth series of devotional works, published without authority, containing prayers and meditations for sundry occasions: and books of this character gradually displaced those which were formed upon the plan either of the Canonical Hours, or of the Morning and Evening Services of the Prayer Book. They seem to have originated with some compositions of Ludovicus Vives, which were translated by Bradford,32 and Becon's 'Flower of godly Prayers,' and 'Pomander of Prayer.'33 Then at the close of Mary's reign came' The Pomander of Prayer' of 1558, containing among other things Vives's prayers, S. Augustine's Meditations, the XV. Oes and a Marian form of the English Litany, differing from that mentioned above. Then as Elizabethan books of devotion, we have Bull's 'Christian Prayers and Meditations' in 1566,34 in 1569 a considerable volume with the same title, and with illustrations.35 and in 1578 'Christian Prayers and Meditations collected out of the ancient writers,'36 in which Bradford's translations and the 'XV. Oes of S. Bridget' are joined with prayers from Genevan sources and from Knox's 'Book of Common Order. |
Christian Prayers. |
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IV.—'A DESCRIPTiON OF THE LITURGY, OR BOOK OF SERVICE THAT IS USED IN ENGLAND.' (Troubles at Frankfort, pp. xxviii.-xxxiv.)37 Some extracts from this curious description will show how obnoxious
the Prayer Book was to an extreme section of Protestants in the early
years of the Reformation. Their objections were not raised merely against
a few isolated particulars, such as the use of the surplice, or the cross
in baptism, but against the whole genius and structure of the book: it
was to them 'a huge volume of ceremonies' (p. xli.), The description
was drawn in Latin by Knox,38 Whittingham,
and others at Frankfort, and sent to Calvin 'for his judgment therein,'
or for an expression of his known opinion touching the matter in dispute;
which was, whether Knox should minister to the English exiles according
to the Genevan fashion, or whether Dr. Cox and Horne should read the
service in the congregation of their countrymen according to the Book
authorized by the last Edwardine Parliament of England. The objections
therefore apply to the Second Book of Edward VI., or to the Prayer Book
at its greatest distance from Romanism. |
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| After a short summary of the
Daily Prayer, which is given with some fairness, the Litany is thus described:
'Besides, upon every Sabbath-day, Wednesday, and Friday, there is yet in
use certain Suffrages devised of Pope Gregory, which beginneth after this
manner, O God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy upon
us, miserable sinners; O God the Son, Redeemer of the World, &c.:
only leaving out the invocation of saints; otherwise we use a certain conjuring
of God, By the mystery of his incarnation, By his holy nativity and
circumcision, By
his baptism, fasting and temptation, By his agony and bloody sweat, &c.
Yea, it comprehendeth in plain words a prayer to be delivered from sudden
death: the people answering to the end of every clause, either Spare
us, good Lord; or else, Good Lord, deliver us; or We
beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. O Lamb of God, that taketh away the
sins of the world, is thrice,
repeated. Then, Lord have mercy upon us, thrice; and then the Lord's Prayer,
with this prayer also, O Lord, deal not with us after
our sins, to the
same adjoined; passing over some things, lest we should seem to sift all
those drosses which remain still among us.' |
The Litany. | |||
| 'Now the manner of the Supper
is thus. The number of three at the least is counted a fit number to communicate;
and yet it is permitted (the pestilence or some other common sickness being
among the people) the minister alone may communicate with the sick man
in his house.' . . . . 'Every holyday hath his Collect, Epistle, and Gospel,
which fill seventy-five great leaves of the book, when the rest fill scarce
fifty. For all holydays are now in like use among us as were among the
papists, only very few excepted.' The portion following the prayer for
the State of the Church militant is described as 'a long heap and mixture
of matters, until they come, after a certain confession of sins, to Lift
up your hearts . . . Now, about the end the Lord's Prayer is used
again, the minister saying it aloud, and all the people following; to conclude,
they have a giving of thanks in the end, with Glory
to God in the highest, as it was used among the papists. . . .' |
Communion Office. | |||
| In Baptism the points mentioned
are the questions addressed to the godfathers, the action of baptism by
dipping warily and discreetly, and the making a cross upon the child's
forehead. |
Baptism. | |||
| Confirmation is especially obnoxious:
'Afterward, sending away the godfathers and godmothers, he chargeth them
that they bring the child to be confirmed of the Bishop as soon as he can
say the Articles of the Faith, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments,
And seeing there be many causes, as the book saith, which should move them
to the Confirmation of children, this forsooth of all others is the weightiest,
that by imposition of hands they may receive strength and defence against
all temptations of sin and the assaults of the world and the devil, because
that when children come to that age, partly by the frailty of their own
flesh, partly by the assaults of the world and the devil, they begin to
be in danger. And lest any should think any error to be in this Confirmation,
therefore they take a certain pamphlet of a Catechism, which consisteth
of the Articles of the Faith, the Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments,
and all this is despatched in less than two leaves.' |
Confirmation. | |||
| The description of their 'manner
of marriage' passes over 'many petty ceremonies,' and fixes upon 'these
follies,'-the ring, and the form of words which accompany it, the 'kneeling
before the Lord's Table,' and 'being brought to The Lord's Supper.' |
Matrimony. | |||
After a very short mention of the Offices of Visitation of the Sick, Burial, and Thanksgiving of Women, which is 'common with the papists and Jews.' this description of our Prayer Book thus concludes: 'Other things, not so much shame itself as a certain kind of pity, compelleth us to keep close; in the mean season nothing diminishing the honour due to those reverend men, who partly being hindered by those times, and by the obstinacy and also multitude of adversaries (to whom nothing was ever delightful besides their own corruptions) being as it were overflown, did always in their mind continually, as much as they could, strive to more perfect things.'39 |
Conclusion. |
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V.-PURITAN SUBSTITUTES FOR THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.40 So early as 1567, the more violent of the Puritans began to separate
themselves from the worship of the Church, and to meet in private houses,
where they had ministers of their own. 'And at these meetings,' says
Strype,41 'rejecting wholly the Book
of Common Prayer, they used a Book of Prayers framed at Geneva for the
congregation of English exiles lately sojourning there; which book had
been overseen and allowed by Calvin and the rest of his divines there.42 and
indeed was, for the most part, taken out of the Geneva form.' And again,
in the year 1571, 'The Puritans, however they were not allowed to officiate
in public, and had their licences (if they had any before) disallowed
and annulled, yet did still in their own or other churches, or in private
houses, read prayers different from the established Office of Common
Prayer; Using the Geneva form, or mingling the English Book.'43 |
Private Meetings for Worship. |
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| Their services were however to
take more definite shape. The book which in 1584 was presented to Parliament
with the hope of approval and legal. sanction, and of its being substituted
for the Book of Common Prayer, was about the same time printed as A
Booke of the Forme of Common Prayers, Administration of the Sacraments, &c.44
It was altered before its publication, so far as regards the acknowledgment
of the office and authority of the magistrate in matters of religion:45 for
the liberty in worship hitherto claimed, and apparently conceded, by the
Puritans in the Book of Discipline, they had not intended
to allow, had the Forme of Common Prayer obtained the sanction
of the law. |
A Book of Prayer presented to Parliament. | |||
| Bancroft writes,46 In
the Parliament (27 of her Majesty, as I remember), the Brethren having
made another Book, termed, at that time, A Booke of the Forme of Common
Prayers, &c., and containing in it the effect of their whole
pretended Discipline : the same book was penned altogether statute and
law-like, and their, petition in the behalf of it was, viz. May it
therefore please your Majesty, &c.
that it may be enacted, &c. that the Book hereunto annexed, &c.
instituted A Booke of the Forme of Common Prayers, Administration of Sacraments, &c.
and everything theirin contained, may be from henceforth authorized, put
in use, and practise throughout all your Majesty's dominions.' He
further speaks of a second Book, containing many alterations, published
in the next year, and of a third with further alterations within another
year also submitted for authorization by public authority.47 No
doubt it was this third book which Mr. Cope submitted in 1586-1587. The
earliest known edition is that printed in London by Waldegrave, without
date, but doubtless either in 1584, or the early part of 1585; for it was
prohibited by an order of the Star Chamber in June 1585: no other English
edition is known, but an edition, somewhat altered in arrangement, appeared
at Middleburgh (where a company of English merchants resided under the
ministry of Cartwright) in 1586, an exact reprint of this but much neater
in appearance in 1587, and a fresh edition with additions in 1602. |
The Middleburgh Book of Prayer.
|
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The Booke of the Forme of Common Prayers was simply drawn from Knox's Genevan Service-book and his later Scottish book called The Book of Common Order. Behind both lay Calvin's Genevan Liturgy. It had no connexion at all with the English Prayer Book except in so far as it contained one or two portions of the Second Edwardine Prayer Book, which were all that Knox incorporated into his Genevan Service-book.48 |
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VI.—PURITAN EDITIONS OF THE PRAYER BOOK. When war was openly declared by the 'Admonitions to Parliament' and kindred documents between the Puritans and the Catholics in the Church, the former, disappointed of an open victory, set to work to accomplish their end by secret means. They failed to gain for themselves any mitigation of the law, which forbade any Public Service in England except that which was prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer.49 Accordingly an attempt seems to have been made to bring the book itself into conformity with their views, not indeed by urging any further authoritative revision, which was hopeless, but by printing it in a somewhat altered form. A series of such Prayer Books appeared between 1578 and 1640. What we may call the first Puritan edition (Barker, 1578) varies from the authorized book in the following particulars. It commences with the Table of Proper Lessons, 'For Morning,' 'For Evening,' being put in the place of Mattins, Evensong: Minister is printed throughout for Priest: from the Communion Service the first four rubrics are, left out; but the reader is expressly, referred for them, to the Great Booke of Common Prayer. 'Private celebration of the Sacraments was discarded; hence the phrase great number was substituted for good number, in the second rubric at the end of the Communion Service: in the Office of Public Baptism, the introductory rubric was omitted, which concludes with allowing children, if necessity so require, to be at all times baptized at home: the whole service for Private Baptism was omitted: and only the third rubric was retained in the Communion of the Sick. Confirmation, with all the rubrics touching upon it, was omitted, as was also the service for the Churching of Women.50 A Calendar was also compiled, rather as an addition to that of the Church than as a substitute for it, each monthly portion being placed under the authorized Kalendar. It seems that this was too bold an experiment; or the party could not agree in any uniform practice. Afterwards, we find the book brought into a form much more nearly resembling the original. In 1589, the rubric at the end of Public Baptism, the service for Private Baptism, that for Churching of Women, and the address before the Catechism, were restored to their places. And in these services, the word Priest remained unchanged; which may perhaps be regarded as a silent but intelligible sign, that these services were added for apparent conformity, but that the use of them was to be discouraged. A later edition, belonging rather to the next reign, differs from the authorized book merely by putting, For Morning, For Evening, and Minister, instead of Mattins, Evensong, and Priest; Priest, however, remained still unaltered in the services for Private Baptism and the Churching of Women. In this shape we may suppose that this Prayer Book continued to be printed until 1616, i.e. as long as the Geneva version of the Bible was printed, to which every scriptural quotation had been adjusted. During the next twenty-five years, we find copies of a small size, in which Minister very often stands for Priest, and in which occasionally they are alternated in a most extraordinary manner. These books were always printed by the houses which had the right of printing the Book of Common Prayer, no doubt as part of their exclusive privilege, and usually they were joined to the Geneva Bible: just as some editions of the Bishops' Bible were accompanied by the Prayer Book in its authorized form. It is not certain what was the actual intention, or use made, of these books. They could not be publicly used in the church without risk of penalties; yet even from the size of some editions we cannot say that less than this was aimed at. It is certain also that the Puritans did not conduct their ministration strictly according to the authorized form; and that the Bishops' Bible was not the only Bible used in the public service.51 The folio edition of the Geneva Bible of 1578 (like the folio editions of the Bishops Bible, 1568 and 1572) has two Psalters in parallel columns, — The translation according to the Ebrewe, and The translation used in Common Prayer; this latter being divided into the portions for Morning and Evening Prayer. This looks like a provision for the public service, and seems to give the same character to the altered Prayer Book at the beginning of the volume.52
|
Variations from the authorised Prayer Book. |
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Bound with the Geneva Bible.
|
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VII.—ABRIDGED PRAYER BOOKS. The custom of issuing the Prayer Book in an abridged form began as early as August, 1549, when there appeared for the benefit of parish clerks a book containing The Psalter, followed by Mattins and Evensong given fairly fully: then the Litany (placed for the first time in this position) and then 'All that shall apperteigne to the clerks to saie or sing at the ministration of the Communion and when there is no Communion; at Matrimony, Visitation, Burial, Purification and the first day of Lent.'53 This 'Psalter' was the first of a series of such books. At a later date the abridgment was made with the object of binding up
the most necessary parts of the services with the Bible. An edition published
by Cawood in 1560 or 1561 contains, the following parts of the Prayer
Book prefixed to the Bible:- The opening Tables, Kalendar, &c., Morning
and Evening Prayer, the Litany, the Collects throughout the year; and
of the Order for Communion only the Collects for the Queen, the Confession,
the Prayer of humble access, the Thanksgiving, the Blessing and the Collects
to be said after the Offertory when there is no Communion. Some of the
later editions do not include any part of the Communion Service. |
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1 Orig. Lett. xix. Coverdale to Calvin (March 26, 1548). 2 Ordo distributionis sacramenti altaris sub utraque specie et formula confessionis faciendæ in regno Angliæ. Hæc Londini (? Lipsiæ) evulgata sunt octavo die Martii anni MDXLVIII. S Foxe, Acts and Monuments, V. 378. 4 Aless's work appeared with two forms of title, one omitting parts of what was given in the other, thus :— Ordinatio Ecclesiæ, seu Ministerii Ecclesiastici, in [florentissimo] Regno Angliæ, conscripta sermone patrio et in Latinam linnguam [bona fide] conversa, et [ad consolationem Ecclesiarum Christi, ubicunque locorum ac gentium, his tristissimis temporibus,) edita ab Alexandro Alesio, Scoto, [Sacræ Thiologiæ Doctore.) Lipsiæ, M.D.LI.' It was reprinted with the Censura in Bucer's posthumous Scripta Anglicana, p. 370, but was not connected with it, unless, perhaps, it supplied the editor with a suggestion as to the title to be prefixed to the Censura. See Dixon, III. 284. 5 Proemium Alesii, in Bucer's Scripta Anglicana, p. 375. Liturgical
Services of Queen Elizabeth (Parker Soc.), pp. xxiv. and ff. |
Notes Return to text |
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6 See above, p. 28. 7 Gee and Hardy, Documents, LXIX. p. 364. 8 Reprinted in Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth, pp. 299 and ff. and the letters patent in Doc. Ann. L. Doubts have been cast on the genuineness of these letters patent : there is no trace of them in the Public Records, but the book was acknowledged by the Queen as authorized by the Crown in a Commission of Jan. 22, 1562. See Strype's Parker, II. Doc. xv., Dibdin, Reservation (Ed. Franey, 1899), p. 53. 9 Heyiyn, Hist. Ref. 2 Eliz. § 19. 10 Collier, Eccl. Hist. VI. 299. 11 See Clay, Eliz. Liturgical Services, Pref pp. xxi. and ff. The letters patent, however, call the book 'convenientem cum Anglicano nostro publicarum precum libro.' |
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13 L'Estrange justifies this order (Alliance, p. 300), because learned societies would be less prone to error and superstition; as he also justifies the permission to celebrate the Eucharist at funerals (p. 304), because the whole book was compiled for men of discerning spirits. But we can hardly avoid Mr. Clay's observation (Elizabethan Liturg. Services, Pref. p. xxviii.): 'Was this design, or the result of haste and inattention? Did Haddon mean (of course in obedience to command) to prepare a book which should allow of such reservation; or did he merely transcribe what Aless had previously, and correct, given? Many reasons induce us think that, if Haddon was careless (and he cannot be wholly excused) he ever remembered what he was about, and still fulfilled his appointed task.' 14 An English form, which differs slightly from that here given, both
in its materials and their arrangement, was prescribed in 1570 by Elizabeth
for the use of colleges in the University of Cambridge, It will be found
in chap. 50 of' her Statutes, entitled' De ordinationibus, Collegiis
præscriptis.' See also 'the Service appointed
for Obiit Sunday,' Used once in every quartet, in S. George's
Chapel, Windsor, for the Companions of the Most Honourable and Noble
Order of the Garter, in Blunt, Annotated Prayer
Book, p. 302 [p. 484,
ed. 1884]. |
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15 Clay, Eliz. Services, Pref. p. xxiii. note; it is strange in that case that it is not mentioned in the Letters Patent: but the Irish Act clearly contemplates some book, and it was actually in use. See Dwyer, History of Killaloe, p. 67. 16 Above, p. 108; Mant, Hist. of the Church of Ireland, I. 260. 17 Life of Parker, p. 269. 18 'Liber Precum Publicarum Ecclesisæ Anglicanæ in juventutis Græcarum literarum studiosæ gratiam Latine Græceque editus.' Like small, English Prayer Books of period, called 'Psalters,' it contaied only the Morning and Evening Prayers, the Litany, the Catechism, the Collects. Marshall, Latin P. B. of Charles II. p. 43, Clay, Eliz. Services, Pref. p. xxii. 19 Ibid. p. xxxi. 20 Clay, Eliz. Services, Pref. p. xxxii. 'In 1615, if not before, an abridgment of this Latin Prayer Book appeared, entitled Liber Precum Publicarum in usun: Ecclesia Cathedralis Christi, Oxon. It contains the Morning Service, the Athanasian Creed, the Evening Service, the Litany and its Collects, followed by the Psalter: then come four prayers (Pro officio totius Ecclesiæ in communi, Pro Rege, Tempore pestilentiæ, Pro Docilitate, of which the last two were taken from the Preces Privatæ) two graces, a prayer or the sovereign and people, with one for their founder Henry. This, enlarged by the' additional Collects after the Litany, introduced in 1604 and 1662, is still daily used for short Latin prayers during term time.' 21 The first Prayer Book was translated into French by command of Sir Hugh Paulet, governor of Calais. This was corrected by the English revised Book, 'in all the alterations, additions, and omissions thereof,' at the instance of Goodrich, the Bp. of Ely and Lord Chancellor. Strype, Cranmer, II. 251. See Collier. VII. 705. 22 Translation by W. Salesbury and Bp. Richard Davies : Marshall, Latin Prayer Book of Charles II. p. 8. 23 Brit. Mus. Catalogue, ii. 975. Below p. 143. |
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24 See above, p. 33. 25 But simultaneously another edition was published which omitted the invocation of Saints (Nov. 30, 1547). Hoskins, No. 188 and p. 245· 26 Reprinted in Elizabethan Private Prayers (Parker Soc.). (See Clay's introduction for the whole question.) Following Henry's Book, it contains the Prayers for the dead. See Lathbury, Hist. of P. B., p. 65· 27 Printed in Liturgies and Documents of the Reign of Ed. VI. (Parker Soc.), p. 357. 28 See Clay, Elizabethan Private Prayers, Pref, p. ix. An elaborate and detailed classification of all these various books is given by Hoskins in his Primers, extending from p. 235 to p. 308. 29 Reprinted in Elizabethan Private Prayers, pp. 115-208. 30 Ibid. pp. 209-428. |
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31 See Clay, Eliz. Private Prayers, p. 318, note. 32 Bradford, Sermons and Meditations (Parker Soc.), pp. 230-242; and the Latin Prayers of Vives, ib. pp. 572 and ff. 33 Becon, Prayers, &c. (Parker Soc.), pp. 1 and 72. 34 Reprinted for the Parker Society. 35 See Clay's Elizabethan Private Prayers, Pref. pp. xvi. and ff. 36 Printed in Elizabethan Private Prayer; see Pref. p. xxii. 37 'A Brieff discours off the troubles begonne at Frankford in Germany, A. D. 1554. Abowte the Booke off Common Prayer and Ceremonies, &c. M.D.LXXV.' Reprinted, Lond. 1846. 38 Knox's unreserved opinion is given in a Letter to Anna Lock (April
6, 1559): Calendar of State Papers, 'Foreign,'
— Elizabeth, No.
504. His language makes the Frankfort description seem a friendly delineation
of the Prayer Book. |
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39 Calvin in his reply says, 'In Anglicana Liturgia, qualem describitis, multas video fuisse tolerabiles ineptias.' Opp. VIII. Epist. et Responsa, p. 98, Brief Discourse, p. xxxv, 40 See Rev. P. Hall, Reliquiæ Liturgica, vol. I. Introd. pp. viii.- xiii. ; Lathbury, Hist. of Convoc. pp. 188-192. 41 Life of Grindal, ch. xii, p. 114. 42 See above, p. 112 n. 43 Life of Parker, bk, IV. ch. v, p. 325. |
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44 Brit. Mus. Catalogue, II. 983. 45 Bancroft, Survey of Holy Discipline, p.66, and Dangerous Positions, p. 68. 46 Ibid., bk. III. ch. x. pp. 96 and ff. Paget Introduction, p. 253. 47 Sermon preached at Paul's Cross, Feb.9, 1588, in Hickes' Tracts, i. 287. 48 See above pp. 93, 94, 111, 112 and below p. 143. A reprint of the first, or London, edition of this book is in the first volume of the Rev. P. Hall's Fragmenta Liturgica, xi. A collation of the Middleburgh editions of 1586 and 1602 is in the first volume of his Reliquiæ Liturgicæ. 49 A request was made by some eminent members of foreign churches in behalf
of their English, friends; but the Queen replied, 'That it was not with
her safety, honour, and credit, to permit diversity of opinions in a kingdom
where none but she and her council governed, not owning either imperial
or papal powers, as several of the princes and states there did, and were
glad to compound with them.' Strype, Annals, 1. ch. iv. p. 87. Later when
the Emperor made a similar request, she replied in a similar strain, adding
to her prudential reasons that she saw no 'cause why she should grant it,
seeing England embraced not new or strange doctrine, but the same which
Christ commanded, and what the primitive and Catholic Church had received,
and was approved by the ancient fathers.' Ibid. 1. ch. xi. p. 148. |
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50 See Brief Discourse, quoted above, p. 131. 51 Abp. Whitgift's Articles (1584); Cardwell, Doc. Ann. XCIX. 52 Clay, Elizabethan Liturgical Services, Pref, pp. xv.-xix.; Lathbury, Hist. of Convoc. p. 188. 53 Some interesting light is thrown upon the rubrics by this volume: e.g. the Epistle is assigned to the Clerk, but not the Confession, A reprint of it has been issued by the H. Bradshaw Society (vol. xxv., ed. J. W. Legg). |
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