Alterations in the Proposed Book adopted by the General Convention at Wilmington, October 11th, 1786.

An Act of the General Convention of Clerical and Lay Deputies of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South Carolina, held at Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, on Wednesday, the 11th of October, 1786.

WHEREAS, at a General Convention of Clerical and Lay Deputies of the Protestant Episcopal Church in sundry of the United States of America, viz., New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, holden at the City of Philadelphia, on the Tuesday before the Feast of St. Michael, in the year of our Lord, 1785, and divers subsequent days, it was agreed and declared, that "The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England," should be continued to be used by this Church, as the same was altered by the said Convention, in a certain instrument of writing, passed by their authority, intituled "Alterations of the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in order to render the same conformable to the American Revolution and the Constitutions of the respective States." And it was further agreed and declared, that the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England, as altered by an instrument of writing passed under the authority of the aforesaid Convention, intituled, "Alterations in the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England, proposed and recommended to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, should be used in this Church, when the same should have been ratified by the Conventions which had respectively sent deputies to the said General Convention." And thereupon the said Convention, anxious to complete their Episcopal system by means of the Church of England, did transcribe and transmit an address to the Most Reverend and Right Reverend the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of the Church of England, earnestly entreating that venerable body to confer the Episcopal character on such persons as should be recommended by this Church in the several States so represented.
    And whereas the Clerical and Lay Deputies of this Church have received the most friendly and affectionate letters, in answer to the said address, from. the said Archbishops and Bishops, opening a fair prospect of the success of their said applications, but at the same time earnestly exhorting this Convention to use their utmost exertions for the removal of certain objections by them made, against some parts of the alterations in the Book of Common Prayer and Rites and Ceremonies of this Church last mentioned. In pursuance whereof, this present General Convention hath been called and is now assembled: and being sincerely desirous to give every satisfaction to their Lordships which will be consistent with the union .and general content of the Church they represent, and declaring their steadfast resolution to maintain the same essential Articles of Faith and Discipline with the Church of England:

Now, therefore, the said Deputies do hereby determine and declare:
    First,— That in the Creed commonly called the Apostles' Creed, these words, "He descended into Hell," shall be and continue a part of that Creed.
    Secondly,— That the Nicene Creed shall also be inserted in the said Book of Common Prayer, immediately after the Apostles' Creed, prefaced with the Rubrick (or this) .
    And whereas,— In consequence of the objections expressed by their Lordships to the alterations in the Book of Common Prayer last mentioned, the Conventions in some of the States represented in this General Convention have suspended the ratification and use of the said Book of Common Prayer, by reason whereof it will be improper that persons to be consecrated or ordained as Bishops, Priests, or Deacons respectively, should subscribe the declaration contained in the Tenth Article of the General Ecclesiastical Constitution, without some modification:
    Therefore it is hereby determined and declared,
    Thirdly,— That the second clause so to be subscribed by a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon of this Church, in any of the States which have not already ratified or used the last-mentioned Book of Common Prayer, shall be in the words following: "And I do solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church, according to the use of the Church of England, as the same is altered by the General Convention, in a certain instrument of writing passed by their authority, intituled, 'Alterations of the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in order to render the same conformable to the American Revolution and the Constitutions of the 'respective States,' until the new Book of Common Prayer, recommended by the General Convention, shall be ratified or used in the State in which I am— (Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, as the case may be) —by the authority of the Convention thereof. And I do further solemnly engage, that when the said New Book of Common Prayer shall be ratified or used by the authority of the Convention in the State for which I am consecrated a Bishop— ( or ordained a Priest or Deacon) —I will conform to the doctrines and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as settled and determined in the last-mentioned Book of Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments, set forth by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States."
    And it is hereby further determined and declared,
    That these words in the Preface to the new proposed Book of Common Prayer, viz., "In the Creed commonly called 'the Apostles' Creed,' one clause is omitted, as being of uncertain meaning, and"— together with the note referred to in that place, be from henceforth no part of the Preface to the said proposed Book of Common Prayer.
    And it is hereby further determined and declared,
    That the Fourth Article of Religion in the new proposed Book of Common Prayer, be altered to render it conformable to the adoption of the Nicene Creed, as follows: "Of the Creeds. The two Creeds, namely, that commonly called the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, ought to be received and believed, because they," etc., etc.

    Done in General Convention, at Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, the day and year first aforesaid.

13.

Alterations in the English Book set forth by Bishop Seabury in Convention at Derby, September, 1786.

[This document, Bp. Seabury's Communion Office, is online elsewhere.]
 

[Document 14 is not present in the text.]

Documents Illustrative of the History of the American Prayer Book
(part 3)

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Alterations proposed by the General Convention of 1826 at the instance of Bishop Hobart.

    The House of Bishops, deeply solicitous to preserve unimpaired the Liturgy of the Church, and yet desirous to remove the reasons alleged from the supposed length of the service, for the omission of some of its parts, and particularly for the omission of that part of the communion office, which is commonly called the Ante-Communion office, do unanimously propose to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, the following resolutions, to be submitted to the several State Conventions, in order to be acted upon at the next General Convention, agreeably to the Eighth Art. of the Constitution.

    1. Resolved,— That in "The Order how the Psalter is appointed to be read," the following be added the fourth paragraph "or any other psalm or psalms, except in those days in which proper psalms are appointed:" so that the whole paragraph will read as follows: "The minister, instead of reading from the Psalter as divided for daily Morning and Evening Prayer may read one of the selections set out by this Church, or any other psalm or psalms, except in those days in which 'proper psalms' are appointed."
    2. Resolved,— That in "The order how the rest of the holy Scripture is appointed to be read," the following be inserted after the fifth paragraph: "The minister may, at his discretion, instead of the entire lessons, read suitable portions thereof, not less than fifteen verses. And on other days than Sundays and holy days, in those places where morning and evening prayer is not daily used, he may read other portions of the Old and New Testaments, instead of the prescribed lessons; it being recommended that, unless circumstances render it inexpedient, on the stated prayer days of Wednesdays and Fridays, the lessons for those days, or for one of the intervening days be read."

    The Bishops in the use of the office of Confirmation, finding that the preface is frequently not suited to the age and character of those who are presented for this holy ordinance, unanimously propose the following resolution:
    3. Resolved,— That after the present preface in the office of Confirmation, the following be inserted, to be used instead of the former, at the discretion of the Bishop: "It appears from holy Scripture, that the Apostles laid their hands on those who were baptized; and this ordinance, styled by the apostle Paul, the 'laying on of hands,' and ranked by him among the principles of the doctrine of Christ, has been retained in the Church, under the name of Confirmation; and is very convenient, and proper to be observed, to the end that persons being sufficiently instructed in what they promised, or what was promised for them in their baptism, and being in other respects, duly qualified, may themselves, with their own mouth and consent, openly before the Church, ratify and confirm the same, and also promise, that by the grace of God, they will evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe such things as they, by their own confession, have assented unto."

    And to correct the injurious misapprehension, as to the meaning of certain terms, in the first collect in the office of Confirmation, the Bishop unanimously propose the following resolution:
    4. Resolved,— That after the first collect in the office of Confirmation, the following be inserted, to be used at the discretion of the Bishop, instead of the first collect, "Almighty and everliving God, who hast vouchsafed, in baptism, to regenerate these thy Servants, by water and the Holy Ghost; thus giving them a title to all the blessings of thy covenant of grace and mercy, in thy Son Jesus Chris~, and now dost graciously confirm unto them, ratifying the promises then made, all their holy privileges; grant unto them, we beseech thee, O Lord, the renewing of the Holy Ghost; strengthen them with the power of this divine Comforter; and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, the spirit of knowledge and true godliness, and fill them, O Lord, with the spirit of thy holy fear, now and forever. Amen.

    And whereas, in the opinion of the Bishops, there is no doubt as to the obligation of ministers to say, on all Sundays and other holy days, that part of the communion office which is commonly called the ante-communion, yet as the practice of some of the clergy is not conformable to this construction of the rubric on this point, the House of Bishops propose the following resolution:
    5. Resolved,— That the following be adopted as a substitute for the first sentence in the rubric, immediately after the communion office:
    "On all Sundays and other holy days, shall be said, all that is appointed at the Communion, unto the end of the Gospel, concluding divine Service, in all cases when there is a Sermon or Communion, and when there is not, with the blessing."

Alterations proposed by the General Convention of 1880.

    Resolved, That the ratification of the Book of Common Prayer be amended so as to read as follows, and that such proposed amendment be made known to the several Diocesan Conventions, in order that it may be adopted in the next General Convention according to Article 8 of the Constitution:

THE RATIFICATION OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

    By the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in General Convention assembled.
    The General Convention of this Church, having heretofore, to wit, on the sixteenth day of October, A. D. 1789, set forth and established a book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, and thereby established the said book and declared it to be the Liturgy of this Church, and required that it be received as such by all the members of the same, and be in use from and after the first day of October, A. D. 1790; the same book is hereby ratified and confirmed, and ordered to be the use of this Church from this time forth.
    But note, however, that on days other than Sunday, Christmas Day, the Epiphany, Ash-Wednesday, Good Friday, and Ascension Day, it shall suffice if the minister begin Morning or Evening Prayer at the General Confession, or the Lord's Prayer preceded by one or more of the sentences appointed at the beginning of Morning and Evening Prayer, and end after the Collect for Grace, or the Collect for Aid against Perils, with 2 Cor. xiii. 14, using so much of the Lessons appointed for the day, and so much of the Psalter, as he shall judge to be for edification.
    And note also, that on any day when Morning and Evening Prayer have been duly said, or are to be said, and upon days other than those first afore mentioned, it shall suffice when need may require, If a Sermon or Lecture be preceded by at least the Lord's Prayer and one or more Collects found in this book, provided that no prayers not set forth in said book, or otherwise authorized by this Church, shall be used before or after such sermon or lecture.
    And note further also, that on any day the Morning Prayer, the Litany, or the Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, may be used as a separate and independent service, provided that no one of these services shall be disused habitually.
 

Journal, pp. 299, 181, 188.