NOTES.
 

TITLE-PAGE.

THE note, “as it was sett downe at first before the change thereof made by ye Archb. of Canterburie, and sent back to Scotland,” is in a different handwriting from the rest of the MS., and from the corrections made upon it. It was written, in all likelihood, after Laud's “Troubles,” and perhaps by one who did not know all the facts as to the compilation of the Book of 1637. Mr. Burton regards it as equivalent to “ the Service Book intended for Scot­land before Laud took the affair into his own hands,” and in this sense it is strictly correct.
 

THE TABLE AND CALENDAR.

    There was no printed table of lessons in Knox's Liturgy, but it was a regulation of the Church “that the Scripture be read in order; that is, that some one Book of the Old or New Testament be begun and orderly read to the end.” —First Book of Discipline.
    The Order for Reading of the Psalms.—The Psalms appear to have been always read in church, with chapters of the Old and New Testaments, by the readers, from the time of the Reformation; and perhaps the mode of reading the psalter introduced into Scotland with the Prayer Book of Edward the Sixth may have been continued for a time after that book was superseded. It is related of Knox that he read through the Psalms monthly, betides chapters of the Old and New Testaments daily. —Cal. iii. 232.
    The Order for Reading the rest of Holy Scripture. —No part of the Apocrypha is introduced, and the Pentateuch is appointed to be read twice in the year. In the Calendar no saints' days are mentioned, although they were printed in Knox's Liturgy at the time, more, however, “for the use of their fairs” than anything else. The anniversaries referring to our Lord are not spoken of as “holy days,” but “days to be kept for commemoration of some special benefits,” and proper psalms and lessons are appointed for them.

 
THE ORDER FOR MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

    Daily public prayer was long continued in the Church of Scotland, as in all the other Reformed Churches. In the First Book of Discipline it is said, “We think it expedient that” (in great towns) “every day there be either sermon or common prayers, with some exercise of reading of Scriptures,” and there is ample evidence that daily service was kept up in all the towns of Scot­land, and in many village churches, till 1645. In the large cities churches were also kept open for private persons to go in and offer up their prayers. The Church has since reduced the public worship of God to as small an amount as has ever been reached in the history of Christendom; and now, in the largest cities, she provides no opportunities of daily social worship for that large number of solitary persons who would prize it as a privilege.
During the century in which daily service was maintained in our churches, the prayers and lessons were read by the readers, who were appointed for this purpose and also to read part of the service on Sundays. After the Reformation they were chiefly old priests, many of whom continued to act as readers in their former parishes; and as they died, schoolmasters, catechists, and precentors, took their place.

MORNING PRAYER.

    The service begins with sentences of Scripture, an exhortation, confession, and absolution, as in the English Prayer Book. This mode of commencing public worship was of Reformed origin, having been taken by the compilers of the English book from two foreign Reformed churches established in England, those of Pollanus and Alasco, and they owed it to Calvin, who had first introduced it into his Strasburg Liturgy.
    Sentences. —Only four of these are given, and one of them is crossed. The last is not in the English Prayer Book, but it was retained in Laud's Liturgy.
    The Exhortation is taken from the English Prayer Book, unchanged, except in the omission of the word lowly, which is erased.
    The Confession. —The heading is from the English Prayer Book as it then stood, the word “all” before kneeling having been added since. Kneeling was the usual posture during prayer in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation till the troubles of the seventeenth century. —(Intro. to Book of Common Prayer, p. lviii. ed. published by Blackwood and Sons, 1868.) This confession is derived partly from the Reformed Liturgies of Pollanus and Alasco; portions of it appear to have been originally suggested by the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
    The Absolution.-The heading as first written in the MS. was the same as in the English Prayer Book from 1603 till 1661, the words “or remission of sins” having been added after the Hampton Court Conference, in deference to the English Puritans. At the revision of the English Liturgy in 1662, “priest” was substituted for” minister,” and a clause was added from Land's Book of 1637. The correction in the MS., “declaration of the,” is in a Protestant direction, and anticipates the words of the American Episcopal Liturgy. The Absolution was to be “pronounced by the minister alone,” a regulation which would have excluded the use of it by the “Readers.” The form is taken from the English Liturgy, the compilers of which took it partly from the books of Alasco and Pollanus, who again had derived it from Calvin's Strasburg Liturgy. “Such a formula is found in several of the Reformed Liturgies,” but ”it was excluded from the Genevan by a scruple.” “There is none of us,” says Calvin, “but must acknowledge it to be very useful, that, after the general confession, some striking promise of Scripture should follow, whereby sinners might be raised to the hopes of pardon and reconciliation. And I would have introduced this custom from the beginning, but some fearing the novelty of it would give offence, I was over easy in yielding to them.” All the Reformed Churches understood Divine service to comprehend the absolution of the faithful, whether formally pronounced or not. See “The Book of Common Prayer, as amended, 1661, by the Westminster Divines,” Philadelphia, Martien, 1864. [This work, by Dr. Shields, gives a vast amount of information as to the relations of the English Presbyterians to the Liturgy, and we have found it very useful.]
    The Lord's Prayer. —This is the point of transition from the Reformed to the more ancient part of the service. In the  English Prayer Book (as in the MS.), the minister said this alone till the revision of 1661-2. The doxology given here, and also in Laud's Book, was not at that time in the English Liturgy; but the Presbyterians objected to this omission at the Savoy Conference, and it was then added. The versicles which follow the Lord's Prayer in the English Book are omitted in this Scottish draft. They were objected to by the English Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference, but were retained with an addition— “The Lord's name be praised,” taken from Laud's Book of 1637.
    Psalm 95. —This Psalm is of very ancient use in divine service. It is said to have been sung first at the commencement of public worship to call the people out of the churchyard, and hence it is called Invitatory. It is somewhat singular that the new translation of the Bible is followed in this Psalm, while in other parts of the Liturgy the Genevan translation is retained.
    Psalms. —Then follow the Psalms for the day, at the end of which is to be said Gloria Patri. In the English Prayer Book, it is appointed to be said at the end of every Psalm; but here it is only to be used once. The English Presbyterians, at the Savoy Conference, objected to its use six times—and sometimes ten—during divine service, and urged that it should only be said once at morning and once at evening Prayer. In Scotland it was always sung at the close of each metrical psalm or part of a psalm. —Book of Com. Order, lxiv. and 248.
    Scripture Lessons. —The practice of reading two chapters, one from the Old and another from the New Testament, appears to have been general in Scotland from the Reformation down. Land's Book has the following rubric: — “And (to the end the people may the better hear), in such places where they do sing, there shall the lessons be sung in a plain tune, after the manner of distinct reading, and likewise the Epistle and Gospel.” In the English Prayer Book, after the first lesson, either the Te Deum or the Benedicite is appointed to be sung, and after the second lesson the Benedictus, or Psalm 100. In Laud's Book the 23d Psalm is substituted for the Benedicite. The English Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference desired “that some Psalm or Scripture Hymn might be appointed instead of that apocryphal.” The Te Deum and the Benedictus, or the Song of Zacharias, were not in the Scottish Psalm Book of the time; and the Psalms to be sung after the lessons in the morning service are not indicated.
    The Creed. —The Creed was appointed to be read in the Book of Common Order, and in the other Reformed Liturgies, at the end of the prayer of intercession, after the Sermon. The versicles that follow in the English Prayer Book are omitted as before, and also the repetition of the Lord's Prayer in this place. The English Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference urged that the Lord's Prayer “may not be enjoined to be so often used in morning and evening service.”
    The Collects. —The first is the same as in the English Prayer Book, and the second is the same as the English third collect for grace, with the addition of a clause. With these collects the English morning service ended till the revision of 1661-2. The five Prayers were then added on the suggestion of Bishop Cosin, who followed in this a rubric of Laud's Book, the usage of which and of the present English form had been anticipated in this draft.
    Prayer for the King's Majesty. —This was given in Knox's Liturgy, in the older form in which it appeared in the primer of King Edward the Sixth, having been introduced into Scotland with the English service after the Reformation.
    A Prayer for the Queen. —This prayer, as stated elsewhere, was in all likelihood prepared about 1629, when the MS. was taken up to London. It is partly borrowed from the Prayer for the Royal Family inserted in the English Prayer Book in 1604—after the, accession of King James.
    A Prayer for the Prince Elector Palatine. —It is probable that this prayer had been remodelled in 1629, as when the Liturgy was drawn up the Elector's troubles had not commenced. He was crowned King of Bohemia November 2, 1619, and it was at the battle of the Weissenberg, fought November 8, 1620, that he lost all. The preface to the Prayer contains a clause “who hast promised to be a Father of thine elect and their seed,” which had belonged to the English Prayer for the Royal Family drawn up in 1604, but it was discontinued in the English Prayer Book in 1627, and “fountain of all goodness” was substituted for it. The reason alleged for the change was that the former clause was not appropriate when the King had no family.
    This prayer is crossed in the MS., and possibly this may have been done by Laud himself, as he struck the names of the Elector and the Princess Elizabeth out of the English Liturgy after 1632. This he justified on the ground that the King had then children of his own who were the nearest heirs to the throne. The Elector had been chief of the Protestant Alliance in Germany, and he and his family had a very warm place in the affections of the Scottish Church then and afterwards. In the Directory for worship, it is enjoined that prayer should be offered, “for the comforting of the afflicted Queen of Bohemia, sister to Our sovereign, and for the restitution and establishment of the illustrious Prince Charles, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, to all his dominions and dignities.” This regard for a family whose descendants were destined to fill the throne, as the nearest Protestant heirs, seems almost prophetic.
    A Prayer for the whole Estate of Christ's Church. —This prayer is in the spirit, and partly in the words, of one with the same title, to be used after sermon, in Knox's Liturgy. The prayer that follows, which may be used instead, is the Prayer for the Church Militant, as it stood in the English Prayer Book from 1604 till 1661, with one or two verbal alterations. The thanksgiving for the faithful departed was not in the English Liturgy during this period, but was inserted in 1661-2. It is given in Laud's Book of 1637.
    It may be mentioned also that the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, which concludes the English Morning Service, was placed there at the last revision, the idea having been taken from Laud's Book.
    The Benediction, —“Us” is given instead of “you.” This was also the case in Knox's Liturgy, which in this point differs from the Book of Geneva. This may have been from the use of King Edward's Liturgy in Scotland having familiarised them with us, or perhaps to meet the case of the service being read by readers. The doctrine of the Church of Scotland is very explicit as to the benediction of the people, in the name of the Lord, being a peculiar function of the ordained ministry, The practice has probably always been for them to say “you,” and for readers in early time, as for licentiates since, to say “us.”

EVENING PRAYER.

    The sentences, exhortation, confession, and absolution, were not printed at the beginning of the form for evening prayer in the English Liturgy before 1662; and though the rubric prefixed to the morning prayer directed them to be read also in the evening, “this was rarely if ever the practice till last revision.” —Blunt's Annot. Prayer Book, p. 30.
    There is a similar direction in this Liturgy, but the evening service begins in a way that shows it was not intended to repeat them. The use of them twice on the same day would scarcely have harmonised with the spirit of the Church at that time.
    The service begins with a verse from the 95th Psalm.
    Prayer. —The prayer that follows is taken verbatim from the Book of Common Order, p. 225. It was retained from the Book of Geneva, the compilers of which took it partly from the evening prayer in Calvin's Liturgy. It was the last prayer in which Knox joined, having been read at family worship in his room an hour before his death.
    Hymns.-The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, which are appointed to be sung after the chapters, have been sung at evening service from very early times. There were metrical versions of both in the old Scottish Psalm Book, entitled, “The Song of blessed Mary, called Magnificat,” and “The Song of Simeon, called Nunc Dimittis.”
    Prayer. —In the prayer which follows the Creed, we have first the English second collect at evening prayer. Then comes a line which has been inserted by a later hand from Calvin's evening prayer, and which connects the second English collect with the third, “for aid against perils,” part of which is given. This again is followed by a sentence or two taken partly from Calvin's evening prayer. The changes are in a Reformed direction, being designed to throw the two collects into one continuous prayer, and also to follow Calvin, and Knox's Liturgy, more closely.
    At this point the evening prayer of the English service ended at that time. In this Liturgy the prayers of intercession are added as in the morning service.

PRAYERS FOR DAYS OF COMMEMORATION.

    A prayer on the day of the Nativity.- This is nearly the same as the Collect for Christmas in the English Prayer Book. “The blessed Virgin Mary” is given instead of “a pure virgin,” and the words “this day,” then in the English Liturgy, are left out. The Presbyterians, at the revision of 1661-2, objected to “this day,” and they were then changed for “as at this time.”
    A prayer on the day of Our Saviour's passion. —The first part resembles the English Collect for the Sunday before Easter, and the latter part is nearly the same as the English Collect for Good Friday.
    A prayer on the day of the Resurrection. —This is partly taken from the English Collects for the first and second Sundays after Easter.
    A prayer on the day of the Ascension. —Taken partly from the English Collect for that day, with a preface from that of the Sunday following.
    A prayer to be said on Whitsunday. —Very much like the English Collect for the day. This is the only festival named in the MS.

SUNDAY SERVICE.

    The reading of the Decalogue. —This was enjoined in all the Reformed Liturgies of the Continent, and it was in imitation of them that the compilers of the English Prayer Book introduced it into their Communion service.
    The responses after the commandments, which are recommended to be repeated as far as the people could be brought to this custom, are taken from the English Prayer Book, the compilers of which enlarged upon a suggestion of Pollanus, who, in his version of the Reformed Liturgy, concluded the reading of the law with a short prayer, that “the Lord would write the law in our hearts by His Spirit.”
    The English Presbyterians in 1661 urged “that instead of those short prayers of the people, intermixed with the several commandments, the minister after the reading of all may conclude with a suitable prayer.” Though these responses were never used in Scotland, it is not uncommon to hear the Decalogue read on a Communion Sunday, with a pause after each commandment.
    Next follows a rubric that, “in place of the first confession appointed to be read on other days, one of thir confessions following, wherewith the people is accustomed,” is “to be used.” In Knox's Liturgy there was a difference made betwixt the prayers to be read on Sundays and on other days, and this is still done in several Reformed Liturgies.
    The first Confession. —This is the ordinary Sunday Confession from Knox's Liturgy, p. 79, verbatim; and is a version of the common confession of the Reformed Churches.
    The second Confession. —This is also taken from Knox, p. 83. It appears first in an edition of 1575, and is a compilation.
    Prayer of Thanksgiving. —The prayer “Honor and Praise,” etc., which, at the discretion of the minister or reader, might be used at the end of the Sunday service, is from the Book of Common Order, and appears to be of pre-Reformation origin. There was no general thanksgiving in the English Prayer Book at that time. The English Presbyterians in 1661 complained that there was “a great defect as to such forms of . . . thanksgiving as are suitable to gospel worship,” and to meet their wishes the “General thanksgiving” now in use was added. It was composed by Reynolds, one of the Presbyterian Commissioners at the Savoy Conference.
    Singing of the 119th Psalm before and after sermon. —Some traces of this custom still exist.

THE ORDER OF THE SUNDAY SERVICE.

    This, according to the Liturgy, would apparently have been as follows:—

    The general practice in the Church of Scotland, as of the other Reformed Churches, was to have the long prayer of Intercession after the sermon; and in this they followed the primitive Church. Apparently a change is recommended in this Liturgy, but it is somewhat doubtful.

OCCASIONAL PRAYERS.

    A prayer against tempests. —This closely resembles the prayer for fair weather in the English Liturgy.
    For rain. —From the English Liturgy.
    In time of dearth and famine. —Nearly the same as the prayer in the English Liturgy.
    In time of any common plague or sickness. —The preface is somewhat like the commencement of the prayer for time of pestilence in Howat's form, the rest is from the English Liturgy.
    In time of war.-From the English Liturgy.
    In time of persecution of the truth. —This is quite Reformed in its spirit, and is taken partly from a prayer, entitled “A complaint of the tyranny used against the saints of God,” in the Book of Common Order, p. 227.
    In time of harvest. —This prayer, probably composed for this Liturgy, was designed for use throughout the whole harvest season, in accordance with a practice, which has always been followed to a considerable extent in the Scottish Church.

 
THANKSGIVINGS.

    For rain. —As in the English Prayer Book since 1604, and so with the thanksgivings that follow.

THE ADVERTISEMENT AS TO THE USE OF AMEN.

    The Reformed favoured no responses on the part of the people except the Amen. This was owing partly at least to the high views which were held as to the ministry; but more ample provision was made than before for the people taking part in the praises of God, and it was intended that they should respond with an audible Amen at the end of all the prayers. That section of the English Church which favoured the Continental Reformation, agreed with the rest of the Reformed Church on this point. The “troubles at Frankfort” in 1554, began by Cox and his friends repeating the responses, which the exiles who had preceded them had given up; and in 1661, when for the last time the voice of that party was heard in the English Church, one of the exceptions taken against the Prayer Book was as follows:— “That the repetitions, and responses of the clerk and people, and the alternate reading of the psalms and hymns, which cause a con­fused murmur in the congregation, whereby what is read is less intelligible, and therefore unedifying, may be omitted: the minister being appointed for the people in all public services appertaining unto God, and the Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, intimating the people's part in public prayer to be only with silence and reverence to attend thereunto, and to declare their consent in the close by saying Amen.”
    It was difficult in Scotland, however, to get the people to say even the Amen, and it is so still, Cowper speaks of the people “accompanying the prayers up to God,” with “sighs and groans,” and such demonstrations appear not to have been uncommon.

BAPTISM.

    In Knox's Liturgy, it is said the child is to be presented by the father and godfather. From the Reformation it had been the custom in Scotland, as in other Reformed countries, to have additional sponsors joined with the parents, a custom which the French Church defended as maintaining “a sweet communion among the faithful by a conjunction of friendship.” After the adoption of the Westminster standards, the custom was continued, but gradually the additional sponsors came to be regarded merely as witnesses.
    The founder of the Brownists, during his visit to Scotland in 1584, made an attack upon the practice before the Session of Edinburgh. He met with no sympathy at that time.
    The first question to those presenting the child corresponds substantially with that in Knox's Liturgy, but has an additional clause.
    The address that follows is from the English Prayer Book, with a slight verbal change.
    The first prayer. —This is made up of portions of the two introductory prayers in the English Prayer Book. In the corresponding prayer in Laud's book, there is the petition, “Sanctify this fountain of Baptism, thou which art the sanctifier of all things.” There is a rubric that the water in the font is to be changed at least twice a month, and this petition is ordered to be used at the first baptism after the water has been changed. This had a Romish look, and gave offence; but a petition for the sanctifying of the water is favoured by the Westminster Directory, and is still in common use in Scotland.
The brief exhortation that follows is from the English Prayer Book, with some verbal alterations; and the compilers of that Liturgy took it from Herman's Book of Cologne.
    The address to the .sponsors also resembles that in the English Prayer Book; “but it is remarkable,” as Mr. Irwin says, “that the clause placed within circumflexes (until he came of age to take it upon himself), which was not introduced into the English Service until the last review in 1662, is inserted here in a different handwriting from that of the rest of the MS.”
    "Also, in the first of the questions which follow, the words in name of this child, which were inserted [in the English Prayer Book] in 1662, are written in the margin of the MS. by the same hand which made the preceding correction.” These corrections are in a Protestant direction, and were not followed in Laud's Book. The English Presbyterians, in 1661, objected to the question as it then stood in the Prayer Book, and the words were added on the suggestion of Bishop Cosin, who had no doubt seen the Scottish MS. Pardovan, giving the doctrine of the Church of Scotland on this point, says, “In the baptismal engagement, the parent or sponsor is in name of the child to renounce the devil,” etc. The last clause of this question, imposing a vow of obedience, had nothing corresponding to it in the English Prayer Book at that time; but at the last revision an additional question was added to that book, on the suggestion of Bishop Cosin, to supply the defect.
    The Creed is directed to be asked by the minister, as in the English Prayer Book, “Do you believe,” etc. This was contrary to the Scottish usage, which was always to make the sponsor repeat the Creed himself. There was a rubric in Knox's Liturgy to this effect— “Then the Father, or in his absence the Godfather, shall rehearse the articles of his faith.” Henderson, in his Government and Order of the Church of Scotland, says, “He that presenteth the child maketh confession of the faith into which the child is to be baptised, and promiseth to bring up the child in that faith, and in the fear of God.”
    The question that follows closely resembles Henderson's words, and was probably in common use, “Will you that this infant be baptised in this faith, and for your own parts promise to bring up this child in the knowledge of the same, if the Lord shall prolong his life?” The form in the English Prayer Book, “ Wilt thou be baptised in this faith?” was always objected to from the days of Bucer by the party that favoured the Continental Reformed, down till the last revision, when they urged that it should be put thus, “'Will you have this child baptised into this faith?”
    The prayer that precedes the baptismal act has a few clauses like those in Knox's Liturgy, but it seems to have been composed for this draft. The phrase, “Grant that what we now do on earth according to thine ordinance may be ratified in heaven,” is still in common use, and forms part of that unwritten Scottish Liturgy which is handed down from generation to generation.
    The rubric as to the baptism is much the same as in Knox's Liturgy. There is no reference to the sign of the cross, which was not in use in Scotland, and which the English Presbyterians wished to be discontinued, or at least made optional. The imposition of it by Laud's Book was one of the things which gave great dissatisfaction.
    The call to thanksgiving and prayer which follows is from the English Prayer Book, the declaration “that this child is regenerate” being omitted.
    The prayer is apparently peculiar to this Liturgy, and scarcely indicates such high views of the ordinance as the corresponding prayer in Knox's Book.
    The exhortation which concludes the service is from the English Liturgy.

CONFIRMATION.

    In Scotland the only confirmation recognised was that of the baptised taking the vows of their baptism upon themselves at their admission to the Lord's Supper. Episcopal confirmation was one of the five articles of the Assembly of Perth, and this service had been prepared accordingly. But this was one of the articles which was not acted upon between 1618 and 1638; nor was Episcopal confirmation at all practised in the Church during the second Prelatic period (1661-1688).
    The first rubric is compiled from two of those which at that time stood in the English Service, the Catechism having formed part of that office till 1662.
    The Catechism that follows is the one that was compiled in accordance with the Act of Assembly 1616: “That a Catechism be made easy, short, and compendious, for instructing the common sort in the articles of religion, which all families shall be subject to have for the better information of their children and servants, who shall be holden to give account thereof in their examination before the communion.”     It was, as stated in our introduction, prepared by Mr. Patrick Galloway, Mr. John Hall, and Mr. John Adamson. The Assembly of Perth, in 1618, passed an Act ratifying “the Catechism allowed at Aberdeen, and printed since with privilege.” It was “formed” as early as February 1618, and Gilbert Dick then received authority to print it. This was confirmed to him by another Act of the Privy Council in June 1619. —Lee's Mem. for Bib. Soc. App. 31-35.
    Wodrow had possession of a copy of the edition of 1619. "I have before me,” he says, in his Life of John Hall (MSS. Glas. Univ.), “a Catechism printed cum privilegio for Gilbert Dick 1619, but whether it is the composition ordered by this Assembly (Aberdeen) I cannot determine . . . . The Catechism begins — ‘Who made man? Ans, God,’ and seems to agree with that in Latin at the end of our old rudiments, said to be formed by Mr. Andrew Simson. But whether the catechism be his I am not certain. The catechism hath added to it scriptural proofs to each answer, the chapter and verse without the words, with prayers and graces for children, and closes with the following brief of the 10 commands. . . . The catechism ... does not fill a sheet in print.” Mr. Irwin, in his account of the Liturgy in the British Magazine, noticed the resemblance of the catechism to the Latin one — Summula Catechisimi, to which Wodrow refers. Simson of Dunbar, the reputed author of it, the father of “famous Mr. Patrick” of Stirling, had been master of the Grammar School of Perth before the Reformation. The Latin catechism has been reprinted by the Wodrow Society, and by Bonar in his Catechisms of the Scottish, Reformation. It is also given in the Latin rudiments still used in Scotland. The catechism in the liturgy closely resembles it, but does not by any means follow it verbatim. From Wodrow's account of the catechism, he saw, there can be no doubt, that it was the same as this of the liturgy, with proofs added.
    There was another catechism closely connected with this one. One of the instructions sent by King James to the Aberdeen Assembly, 1616, was, “that all children and schools shall have, and learn by heart, the catechism entitled God and the .King, which already, by Act of Council, is ordered to be read and taught in all schools.”
    God and the King was a dialogue on the King's supremacy in ecclesiastical matters, as set forth in the oath of allegiance, against Popery on the one hand, and also to some extent against “spiritual independence” views. It was compiled by order of the King, and printed in English and Latin for use in all his dominions. On the 14th of April 1616, he wrote to the Scottish Privy Council about having it introduced into Scotland, and on the 22d of May the Council appointed some of the bishops and others to examine it. On the 6th of June they reported that “the principal heads of it should be drawn up in some catechetic heads and answers,” for use in churches, universities, and schools. —Orig. Lett. ii, 803-5. On the 13th of the month the Council passed an Act declaring it to be “necessary and expedient” that the principal heads of it should be drawn up in the form of question and answer, and the sole right of printing it was confirmed to Mr. James Primrose. —Priv. Coun. Rec., Register House.
    Though no reference is made to it in the printed Acts of the Aberdeen Assembly, it seems that arrangements were made there for having the heads of it put into the catechetical form. The licence to Dick, of February 1618, refers to that Assembly as “ordaining two catechisms to be formed,” and to “ the said two catechisms” as “now formed.” The exclusive right of printing these catechisms is given to Dick.-Lee's Mem. App. 31-35·
    An edition of God and the King had been printed in London in 1616, “to the only use of Mr. James Primrose for the Kingdom of Scotland.” —(Lee's Mem. p. 73.) The change made upon it, and the subsequent licence to Dick, would not be favourable to the sale of the first edition. Hence, perhaps, in the Records of the Town Council of Edinburgh, 7th April 1619, we find what Principal Lee calls “the following curious entry:” — “Ordanis William Dick Thesaurare, for causes and considerations moving thame, to pay Mr. James: Prymrose ane thousand pound, and the same sall be allowit to him in his comptis; and als ordanis the said Wm. Dick, Thesaurare, to ressave from him twa thousand bookis, called God and the King, in Scotis, and fyve hundreth in Latine, and to disperse the same in the colledges and schools to the nichtbors of this brugh, for aught schillings the pece, and to be charget with the price thereof in his comptis.” —Quoted in Lee's Hist. of Ch. of Scot. ii. 363-4.
    Along with the Catechism described above by Wodrow, there was another, both having been printed by Dick as one publication. After the little Catechism, he says, there “follows a method of catechising, consisting of three sheets, It is a substantially clear, judicious draft of questions and answers; and many of the phrases in it are contained in our Assembly's Catechisms. It begins of religion in general. Q. Which is the only way to true happiness? Ans. The true Christian religion. It hath the scripture proofs in their chapters and verses in plenty upon the margin, and there is added to it instructions for the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper, and a prayer and thanksgiving at the communion, and others for families.”     This second Catechism was probably the abstract of God and the King in the form of question and answer, We have made inquiries, without success, for copies of the Catechisms printed by Dick in 1619. There was a Catechism in the possession of the late Principal Lee, discovered by the librarian of the University of Edinburgh, pasted into and forming part of the boards of an old volume, which is supposed by those who saw it to have been a copy of the first described by Wodrow. From a letter of King James to the Privy Council, dated February 9, 1618, with regard to the licence to Dick, it appears that “Andre Hart, Richard Lawsoun, and Edward Catchkin, booksellers in Edinburgh,” had “at their own hand presumed to print and sell diverse copies of the said Catechisms,” allowed at Aberdeen. —Orig. Lett. ii. 817.
    The General Assembly in 1648 discharged a little Catechism, containing “gross errors on the point of universal redemption, and in the number of the sacraments;” and Row speaks of “the Bishops having lately foisted “ these errors “into the Catechism which little children did learn at schools, for which cause the General Assembly” condemned it (Hist. p. 403). This may have been the little Catechism of Aberdeen Assembly modified shortly before 1637.
    The imposition of hands. —The words to be used with this are nearly the same as those given in the English Prayer Book.
    The prayer that follows is also from the English Liturgy. The clauses, “after the example of Thy Holy Apostles,” and to “certify them by this sign of Thy favour, and gracious goodness towards them,” are omitted; omissions which were both urged by the English Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference in 1661. The Lord's Prayer and the Second Collect were not in the English Liturgy till the last revision.
    The Blessing is the same as in the English Book.
    The Rubric, that” none be admitted to the holy communion until such time as he can say the Catechism, and be confirmed,” is from the English Liturgy as it stood before 1661-2, when it was changed in accordance with the Presbyterian exceptions.
    In this service it will be observed that there is no formal confirmation of the baptismal vow, which is the essence of the rite in the Reformed Churches. This had also been wanting in the English Church before the last revision, when it was supplied. But the answers of the Catechism repeated in church before ad­mission to the communion were regarded at that time as involving a ratification of the baptismal engagement.

THE LORD'S SUPPER.

    The First Rubric directs that” tokens” are to be received from the minister the night before. The use of tokens is mentioned very soon after the Reformation, and it has ever since been continued in the Church of Scotland. They have always been used too in the Episcopal congregations of old standing in the north of Scotland. For long after 1688 there were many such usages of the undivided Church of Scotland retained by the Episcopalians, and it might have a good effect if that fact were brought more prominently forward than has been customary of late. The Second Rubric is the same as that of the English Prayer Book at the time; the third also. The Fourth Rubric directs that the table “shall stand in that part of the church which the minister findeth most convenient.” In England the table, during the celebration, was placed in the body of the church, till Laud introduced the great innovation of placing it against the chancel wall. He was the first to introduce chancel rails into the English Church. The English Rubric, however, directing the priest to stand at the north side of the table was not changed, and is irreconcilable with the present practice. In Laud's Scottish Book of 1637 the Rubric stood thus: “The holy table having at the communion time a carpet, and a fair white linen cloth upon it, with other decent furniture meet for the high mysteries there to be celebrated, shall stand at the uppermost part of the chancel or church, where the presbyter, standing at the north side or end thereof, shall say the Lord's Prayer,” etc. The direction that the elements are to be brought forward when the minister “enters into the pulpit,” as given in the MS., was probably in conformity with the practice at that time, though for a long period the custom has been to bring in the elements after the sermon, at the commencement of the communion service proper.
    The next Rubric directs the minister to stand at the side of the table. This is, of course, to be understood of the side farthest from the people, and as equivalent to behind the table, with his face towards them.
    The Introductory Collect is from the English Prayer Book.     The reading of the words of institution, at the commencement of the service, is from the Book of Common Order.
    The Exhortation that follows is from the same source. This has always been regarded as a notable example of binding and loosing by the minister, in the exercise of the power of the keys.
    The Invitation is from the English Prayer Book, with a few verbal changes.
    The Confession is from the same source, and originally from Herman's Book of Cologne.
    The Consecration Prayer, which is joined to the preceding, is partly from the Book of Common Order, but has important additions, made probably by Cowper. The prayer in the Book of Common Order is solely eucharistic, and the anti-prelatic party in the Church were in the habit of complaining that in it there was “not one word of Lord bless the elements or action” (Row's Hist., p. 33 I) ; and they used their liberty in supplying this defect. It is partially supplied here by the petition “Send down, O Lord, Thy blessing upon this Sacrament, that it may be unto us the effectual exhibitive instrument of the Lord Jesus.” The word “exhibit” was then understood as equivalent to “apply; “ and, it was constantly used of the Lord's Supper to set forth the doctrine of the Reformed Church — that the elements are the instruments by which Christ’s body and blood are imparted to the faithful. Thus Cowper says — the elements “are not only signs representing Christ crucified, nor seals confirming our faith in Him, but also effectual instruments of exhibition, whereby the Holy Spirit makes an inward application of Christ crucified to all that are His.” —Works, p. 264.
    The Consecration Prayer concludes with the Lord's Prayer. This was almost universal in the primitive church, and was probably of Apostolic origin. In this the MS. was followed by Laud's Book of 1637. Then follows this Rubric: “The prayer ended, the minister shall repeat the words of the Institution for consecrating the elements, and say." —On the margin, corrected thus — “Then shall the minister pray after this manner, and read the words of the Institution.” The rubric, as first drawn, was in accordance with the Roman and Anglican view, that the words of institution make the Sacrament. The word Consecration was not then used in the English Prayer Book. The Prelatic party in the Church of Scotland at that time, perhaps from the imitation of what was English, and from their adhering verbatim to the Eucharistic Prayer in the Book of Common Order, seem to have held the opinion that the words of institution are the Consecration. —(See Lindsay On Perth Articles, p. 57.) The anti-prelatic party protested against this, and held to the Eastern and primitive doctrine, that the elements are “sanctified by the Word of God and prayer,” as Origen says. —(See Gillespie in his English Popish Ceremonies.) Boston, one of the ablest divines of the Church of Scotland of a later day, says, —“The elements are consecrated by the word of institution, thanksgiving, and prayer.” “The Popish Consecration hits not the mark, for these words, 'This is My Body,' were uttered by our Lord after the Consecration.” —(Serm. on the Lord's Sup.) The Invocation of the Holy Spirit in the Consecration Prayer, was one of the few features of Laud's Book in which it harmonised with the views of the anti-prelatic party in Scotland; and since that time, the Scottish Episcopalians have strongly taken up the same views.
    The marginal correction of this rubric is in the same spirit. The object of it apparently is to avoid the statement which implies that the words of institution are the Consecration.
    The Words of Institution are then introduced in much the same way as in the English Prayer Book.
    The rubrics direct the minister to take the bread and the cup into his hands, as he repeats the words describing these actions. The Book of Common Order directed that there should be a “taking” of the elements before the consecration prayer, in exact imitation of our Lord; and from the Reformation it had been the custom to lift them then. Boston says, “Nothing is more distinctly mentioned than this, Matt. 26.” “It is taken to be consecrated. And this represents the Father's choosing and designing the Son to be Mediator.” So much importance was attached to this “taking” before the prayer of consecration, that when the practice began to be given up among the Seceders towards the end of last century, there were those who insisted upon it as essential, and formed a separate sect, popularly known as “The Lifters.” The last representative of that community died in Ayrshire some forty years ago. When urged to attend a place of worship, on the ground that Christ had promised that the visible Church should never fail, he had his answer ready,­ “There is one old man here, sir.” There can be no doubt that our best divines in former days attached much importance to this action.
    The breaking of the bread is not referred to in the rubrics. In this omission the compilers of the Liturgy had followed the English Prayer Book as it then stood. In the Book of Common Order the minister is directed to break the bread after the consecration prayer, and this usage has always prevailed. There were first the words of institution, secondly the taking, thirdly the consecration prayer, fourthly the commemoration of the Lord's death, and fifthly the communion. Boston says “breaking of the bread” is an essential rite of this sacrament. It signifies the breaking of Christ's body for us, and consequently the shedding of His blood. In the Sacrament there is not a word of pouring out the wine, though no doubt it was done; for the shedding of Christ's blood is sufficiently represented by breaking of his body.” The English Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference complained “that the manner of the consecrating of the elements is not,” in the Prayer Book, “explicit and distinct enough, and that the minister's breaking of the bread is not so much as mentioned.” In the amended Liturgy which they proposed, the different parts are kept distinct; thus — (1) Consecration by the words of institution and prayer; after which the minister is to say, This bread and wine, being set apart and consecrated to this holy use by God's appointment, are now no common bread and wine, but sacra­mentally the body and blood of Christ, (2) Commemoration of sacrifice. —A short prayer; then breaking of the bread, with the words, “The body of Christ was broken for us, and offered once for all to sanctify us: behold the sacrificed Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.” Then the pouring out of the wine, with the words, “We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (3) Communion, preceded by a prayer of access, and given with words of Scripture. At the revision of the English Prayer Book, a rubric was added directing the bread to be broken, but in such a way that it takes place before what, according to that service, is the consecration, so that it is not Christ's body sacramental that is broken, but limply bread, and thus there is no proper commemoration. In all ancient Liturgies the breaking takes place as with us, after the consecration. Cosin, in 1662, proposed that the order of the communion service given in Laud's Book of 1637 should be followed in England.
    There is no mention of the breaking in that book, but it was no doubt meant to be practised, and in a regular way, as the consecration, according to that form, is the invocation. The present Scottish Episcopal office, which is much changed from Laud's Book, has peculiarities as extraordinary as those of the English Prayer Book. The words of institution precede the invocation, and the minister in repeating them not only “takes” the bread, as was the old Scottish custom, but breaks it. This being before the consecration, is no proper commemoration of the death of our Lord. The non-jurors rearranged the service to suit their doctrine, that the sacrifice of Christ “slain upon the Cross “ “was offered at the institution of the Eucharist.” But even such a view does not warrant the “breaking” before the consecration, nor the omission of it afterwards.
    The short address that precedes the communion is a version of sursum corda, similar to the concluding part of the exhortation in Knox's Liturgy.
    The rubric as to the minister receiving, is from the English Prayer Book of the time. Before Perth Articles, the minister first received the bread himself, and then gave it, and so with the cup.
    The words of delivery are nearly the same as those in the English Prayer Book at the time. In Scotland the practice had been to use our Lord's exact words, and the English Presbyterians recommended this at the Savoy Conference.
    The rubric, directing the history of the passion to be read while the people are receiving, is from Knox's Liturgy, and that enjoining the singing of psalms as one company gives way to another, was in accordance with the practice, Henderson, in his “Government and Order,” etc., mentions the 103d or 22d psalm as sung at those times.
    It may be added that the mixed cup was continued in some parts of the north of Scotland till the present century. Boston says, it is “indifferent whether a little mixed with water or unmixed.” There is also abundant evidence that the communion was received fasting by all parties in the church, and this continued to be the practice in some places till within the memory of the present generation.
    The thanksgiving prayer was probably compiled by Cowper.
    The concluding psalm indicated in Knox's Liturgy is the 103d. The Song of Simeon was usually sung in this place by the Reformed.
    The communion service has always been treated by the Reformed Church as part of the complete service of the Lord's day. Hence the omission here and in Knox's Liturgy of the Creed and Prayers of intercession, as being otherwise provided for. In Calvin's form of worship, says the author of Eutaxia, “the several acts of devotion follow in progressive series, commencing with those which are more primary and preparative, and culminating in the highest exercises of adoration and faith.” In this we see also one of the many points of resemblance betwixt the Reformed and the Eastern Church.

THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY.

    The first three rubrics are nearly the same as those in the English Prayer Book at the time.
    At the period when the Liturgy was drawn up, and for long afterwards, marriage was usually celebrated in church, at the morning service on Sundays. Marriage in private houses has never been allowed by the laws of the Church. In the session records of St. Andrews in 1698, and in those of Brechin in 1717, there are notices of people being fined for being married at home instead of in the church.
    The exhortation consists of the address at the beginning, and the portions of Scripture at the end of the English service. Part of this was also in Knox's Liturgy.
    The charge is from Knox's Liturgy, and is also the same as that in the English Prayer Book.
    The taking the congregation to witness is from Knox's Book. The rubric that follows is from the English Prayer Book. The rest of the service is the same as that in the Book of Common Order, except that it has a prayer which is wanting in that form.
    There is no reference to the use of the ring. Though always put upon the finger at the time of the ceremony, the Church objected to its being referred to as part of the religious service. The English Presbyterians and the Reformed abroad held the same view, and in this they followed the Primitive Church.

THE VISITATION OF THE SICK.

    The fact of a special form for this service in all our Liturgies and Directories shows that a very different idea prevailed on this subject from what seems to be common now, when the visit of a minister to the sick is put on much the same footing as a visit from any other christian.
    The exhortation is slightly changed from that in the English Prayer Book.
    The directions to advise the sick person as to the settlement of his affairs, the forgiveness of those who have offended him, liberality to the poor and special confession of any weighty matter, are partly from the same source,
    The prayer that follows is also nearly the same as one in that Book.
    Another prayer is given which is partly taken from that in Knox's Liturgy.
    The confession of sins referred to in the rubric that follows is designed to be ordinary, though there might be nothing special troubling the lick man's conscience, and it would then be usually of a general character.
    The absolution is also designed to be ordinarily used. It is in the indicative form as in the English Prayer Book, but a correction has been made by a different hand, which modifies it. This correction is in harmony with the exceptions of the English Presbyterians in 1601, and 1661, to the English Prayer Book. They believed in absolution though they preferred more primitive forms than those invented in the 12th century. Some of them, however, did not object even to these forms. Dr. Reynolds, the leader of the Puritans at Hampton Court, “on his deathbed earnestly desired absolution in the form prescribed by the rubric, and having received it with imposition of hands by Dr. Holland, expressed his satisfaction in a particular manner." —Collier's Hist. vii. p. 341.
    King James, at Hampton Court, gave expression to a prevalent Scottish opinion, when he said that “God hath given a commission to absolve only in two cases — the one general, the other particular. For the first, all prayer and preaching imported an absolution; as to the second, it was to be applied to those who had repented of scandalous crimes” (Collier, p. 273). The absolution of the sick was usually given only in benediction, prayer, and the authoritative ministry of the word. The author of the Life of Bishop William Forbes, who died in 1634, says, “sacram eucharistiam (extremum viæ viaticum) sibi administrandam curavit, quam sincera peccatorum confessione et sacerdotali absolutione percepit.”
    The prayer of benediction that follows is from the English Prayer Book, with the omission of a clause.
    Private Communion of the Sick.—A rubric is added on this subject, in accordance with the Perth Article of 1618, allowing it. It is related of Bishop Patrick Forbes, a divine of the school of Melville, that he received the communion on his deathbed, but it has never been common in Scotland.

THE MANNER OF BURIAL.

    There was no funeral service in the continental reformed Liturgies after the Reformation, and the Book of Common Order had the same direction as to an exhortation which is given here. With regard to the usage, there are evidences that religious services were kept up at funerals for a time after the Reformation. but they seem to have wholly ceased in the early part of the following century. The Westminster Directory permits an exhortation, and the words of committal (See Book of Com. Or. and Directory, 362), but in many parts of the country there was no religious service at funerals, either at the house, church, or grave, from time immemorial till the present day. But now toasts have gone out and prayers have come in.