BV 183 .A15 S7 1882 
 Sprott, George W. 1829-1909 
 The worship and offices of 
 the church of Scotland 
 
TIE WOESHIP AND OFFICES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 
 
THE 
 
 WORSHIP AND OFFICES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHUECH OF SCOTLAND 
 
 OB 
 
 THE CELEBRATION OF PUBLIC WORSHIP, 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER 
 
 DIVINE OFFICES, ACCORDING TO THE ORDER 
 
 OF THE CHURCH OP SCOTLAND 
 
 BEING 
 
 Hecturts 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSITIES OF ABERDEEN, 
 GLASGOW, ST ANDREWS, AND EDINBURGH 
 
 BY 
 
 GEOEGE W. SPEOTT, D.D. 
 
 MINISTER OP NORTH BERWICK 
 
 ONE OF THE LECTURERS ON PASTORAL THEOLOGY APPOINTED BY THE 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLXXXII 
 
 All Bights nserved 
 
TO THE 
 
 EEV. WILLIAM MILLIGAN, D.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM IN THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ABERDEEN, CONVENER OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND ON PASTORAL THEOLOGY, 
 
 AND MODERATOR DESIGNATE OF THE 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 WHO, IN A TIME OF UNBELIEF, SCHISM, AND CONFUSION, 
 
 HAS WITNESSED FOR CATHOLIC TRUTH, 
 
 UNITY, AND WORSHIP, 
 
 E^is Falumc 
 
 IS INSCRIBED BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 THE following Lectures are based on the AVest- 
 minster Directories for Public Worship, Ordi- 
 nation, and Church Discipline ; and they treat of 
 the public devotional services which have to be 
 conducted by the clergy of the Scottish Church. 
 Owing to the circumstances in which they were 
 delivered, I thought it advisable not only to avoid 
 disputed questions, such as the use of a Liturgy, 
 the observance of the Christian Year, and the 
 degree in which beauty and splendour are ad- 
 missible or obligatory in Divine Service, but to 
 abstain even from enlarging on the fundamental 
 principles of Christian worship, and to restrict 
 myself to historical details and practical sug- 
 gestions. They are published at the request of 
 many who heard them, and of the Church Service 
 Society ; and I hope they may be of some use, as 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 there has hitherto been no book on the same 
 plan, and mistaken notions on many of the points 
 discussed are prevalent. If the Scottish people, 
 as a rule, have little respect for the authority of 
 the Church from the days of the Apostles till the 
 time of John Knox, they at least pay great defer- 
 ence to the opinions of the Reformers, and of the 
 Westminster Divines; and it is important that 
 they should be able to distinguish betwixt them 
 and the " sectarian conceits " which were imported 
 from England, and which infected the party that 
 was responsible for the Disruption of 1651. 
 
 Apart from original sources, the work to which 
 I have been chiefly indebted is the Directory of 
 Worship, as edited, with Introduction and ^NTotes, 
 by my friend and fellow-labourer in these studies, 
 — the Eev. T. Leishman, D.D., minister of Linton. 
 For permission to make free use of the results of 
 his researches, of which I have largely availed 
 myself, and for many valuable suggestions while 
 this volume has been going through the press, I 
 owe him my warmest thanks. 
 
 G. W. S. 
 
 The Manse, North Berwick, 
 A2Jril 1882. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECT. FAGP: 
 
 I. MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER, ... 1 
 
 Introduction — Law of the Church as to worship 
 — Order of service: 1. Scriptural order — 2, 
 Order of the Primitive Church — 3. Order of the 
 Church of Scotland — Preliminaries to public 
 worship : 1. Private prayer on entering Church 
 — 2. Introductory psalm — 3. Prefacing — The 
 service : 1. Prayer — 2. The psalter and lessons 
 — 3. Psalms and hymns— Reading the line — 
 Chanting — 4. Second prayer — Lord's Prayer — 
 5. Third prayer — 6. Praise — 7. Benediction — 
 Suggestions — Books of reference. 
 
 II. BAPTISM AND THE ADMISSION OF CATE- 
 CHUMENS, 54 
 
 Baptism of infants— Not to he delayed — To be 
 celebrated in Church — The sponsors — The ser- 
 vice : The address — Questions to Sponsors : 1. 
 The Creed— 2. The baptismal engagement — 3. 
 Promises— Prayer— The rite— The blessing— The 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 declaration — Naming the child — Concluding 
 prayer — Baptism of adults — The address — Vows 
 — The blessing— The exhortation — The declara- 
 tion. 
 
 Admission of catechumens — History of the ser- 
 vice — Preparation for — The renewal of baptismal 
 vows — The blessing — Prayer — Exhortation — Im- 
 portance of the service. 
 
 III. THE HOLY COMMUNION, . . . .98 
 
 Frequency of Communion — Preparatory services 
 — Fast Days — The Lord's Supper the normal 
 service of the Lord's Day — Exhortation before 
 Communion — 1. Words of institution — Explana- 
 tion of — 2. Taking the elements — 3. Consecra- 
 tion prayer — Lord's Prayer — 4. Declaration that 
 the consecrated bread and wine are sacramentally 
 the Body and Blood of Christ— 5. Commem- 
 oration and communion — The fraction— The min- 
 ister to partake first — The distribution — Private 
 devotion — Table addresses — Simultaneous com- 
 munion— Singing during the service — 6. Call to 
 Thanksgiving — 7. Post-communion prayer — 8. 
 Concluding hymn — Alms — Thanksgiving service 
 — Scottish Communion seasons. 
 
 IV. THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY THE 
 
 BURIAL OF THE DEAD PUBLIC SOLEMN 
 
 FASTING — DAYS OF PUBLIC THANKS- 
 GIVING, . . . . . .143 
 
 Marriage — Proclamation of banns — Marriage to 
 be celebrated in Church — Formerly on Sundays, 
 during public worship — The service : 1. Exhorta- 
 
CONTEXTS. XI 
 
 tion— 2. Prayer — 3. Vows — Use of tlie ring — 
 Declaration— Marriage blessing — Words of coun- 
 sel — 4. Prayer — 5. Psalm cxxviii. — Greatest care 
 should be taken with the service. 
 
 Yisitation of the Sick. 
 
 Burial of the Dead — Scottish funeral -rites 
 since the Eeformation — The service in the House 
 or in the Church — At the grave — Funeral prayers. 
 
 Public Fasts — Practice of the early Church 
 — Lent — Fasting on Sunday — Scottish usages — 
 Fast-day services. 
 
 Thanksgiving Days — The service in Church 
 — How to spend the rest of the day— Absence of 
 religious festivals in Scotland. 
 
 V. ORDINATION — LICENSING OF PROBATIONERS 
 ADMISSION OF ELDERS — CHURCH DIS- 
 CIPLINE, . . . . . .184 
 
 Power of ordination belongs to Presbyters — The 
 successors of the Apostles — Two orders of the 
 ministry of divine right — viz. , bishop or presby- 
 ter, and deacon — Lawfulness of superintendents 
 — Episcopacy a phase of Presbytery — Opinions of 
 the Pre-Reformation Church — Of the English Re- 
 formers — The English ordinal — Many of the 
 English clergy formerly in Presbyterian orders — 
 Scottish superintendents — Old Celtic Church — 
 "Westminster divines on the necessity of a lineal 
 succession from the Apostles — The succession in 
 Scotland — Scottish clergy bishops in the ecclesi- 
 astical sense — Scottish Episcopal ministers in 
 Presbyterian orders — Importance of subject — 
 Scottish forms of ordination — A fast to be kept 
 — The service — Induction — Old usages. 
 
XU CONTEXTS. 
 
 Licensing probationers —The diaconate — Ad- 
 mission of elders — Formerly elected annually 
 — Elders continued under Episcopacy — West- 
 minster Assembly rejected presbyter theory of 
 the office— Eepresentatives of the laity — Deacons. 
 
 Church discipline : 1. Admonition — 2. Suspen- 
 sion from the Communion— Oath of purgation 
 — 3. Excommunication — Absolution. 
 
 VI, CHURCH ARCHITECTURE INTERNAL AR- 
 RANGEMENTS OF CHURCHES, FITTINGS, AND 
 OTHER REQUISITES FOR DIVINE SERVICE 
 
 LAYING OF A FOUNDATION-STONE, AND 
 
 DEDICATION OF A CHURCH — CONCLUDING 
 OBSERVATIONS, . . . . .227 
 
 Deplorable condition of Scottish Churches— Causes 
 of this — Revival of a better spirit — Different 
 styles of Architecture — Pews — Postures in wor- 
 ship — Arrangements for the administration of the 
 Sacraments — Church plate — Communion elements 
 — Clerical robes— Hoods — Degrees in divinity — 
 Service for the laying of a foundation-stone— 
 Naming of Churches— Celtic Saints — Relative 
 holiness of Churches — Desecration of— Service for 
 the dedication of a Church— Concluding remarks 
 — Degradation of worship — Revival in England ; 
 in Scotland— The Church Service Society— Ne- 
 cessity of the clergy devoting much attention to 
 the subject. 
 
THE WOESHIP AND OFFICES 
 
 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 LECTUEE I. 
 
 MORNING OE EVENING PRAYEE. 
 
 As you have already been informed, I am about 
 to address you on " The Celebration of Public 
 Worship, the Administration of the Sacraments, 
 and other Divine Offices, according to the Order 
 of the Church of Scotland." While desirous of 
 imparting as much historical information on 
 these subjects as possible, my chief aim will be 
 to be helpful to you in your preparation for a 
 department of ministerial duty, which is happily 
 attracting much more attention now than it did 
 for a long period. 
 
 A 
 
2 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 Scripture everywhere shows us the supreme 
 importance of Worship in the sight of God. 
 Under the Old Testament Dispensation it was 
 regulated from Heaven down to the minutest de- 
 tails ; and though in Christian times great liberty 
 is allowed in the manner of conducting Divine 
 Service, the subject is invested with peculiar 
 sacredness because of our membership in Christ, 
 and from the fact that the Holy Ghost has now 
 made the Church His dwelling-place. The glori- 
 fying of God in its public acts of homage and 
 devotion is the highest function of the Church, 
 and adequate provision for this service is one of 
 its most essential requirements. 
 
 In Communions like our own, which have 
 thought fit to prescribe only general directions 
 for the Offices of Worship, those on whom the 
 great responsibility rests of guiding the devotions 
 of the people, and of bringing their sacrifices of 
 praise and prayer into the sacred presence of God, 
 ought at the least to be specially trained for these 
 holy duties, and they should spare no pains to 
 qualify themselves for discharging them in a 
 manner acceptable to Him, who has repeatedly 
 declared that in this matter He is jealous for His 
 own glory. 
 
 I purpose taking up the Public Services of the 
 
MORNIXG OR EVEXIXG PRAYER. 3 
 
 Church in order, and the subject of Lecture to- 
 day will be the Ordinary Worship of the House 
 of God. Before entering upon this, however, it is 
 necessary that I should state shortly 
 
 THE LAW OF THE CHURCH AS TO WORSHIP. 
 
 In 1557 the Scottish Protestant Lords in Coun- 
 cil resolved that " the Common Prayers be read 
 weekly on Sunday and other festival days pub- 
 licly in the parish kirks, with the lessons of the 
 Old and New Testaments, conform to the Order 
 of the Book of Common Prayers." The Liturgy 
 thus authorised was the version of the English 
 Prayer-Book, known as the Second Book of King 
 Edward VL In 1559 the Book of Geneva began 
 to be used ; and after it had been modified and 
 added to by the Eeformers, the General Assembly 
 in 1564 "ordained that every Minister, Exhorter, 
 and Ptcader shall . . . use the Order contained 
 therein in Prayers, Marriage, and ministration of 
 the Sacraments." From that time till 1645 this 
 Liturgy, or Book of Common Order, was of public 
 authority in the Church, was used on Sundays by 
 the Pteaders, and partially by the Clergy, and was 
 read daily at Morning and Evening Prayer in all 
 the towns and in many of the villages of the 
 
4 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 country. In 1645 the Directory of Worship was 
 adopted as part of the uniformity with England, 
 and was sanctioned both by Church and State. 
 It had been drawn up by the English Divines 
 at Westminster with the assistance of Commis- 
 sioners from the Church of Scotland, some of 
 whom regarded it as a minimum in the way of 
 formal service, to which they gave a somewhat 
 reluctant consent. Principal Baillie, whose graphic 
 letters shed so' much light on the proceedings of 
 the Assembly, tells us that he was anxious to 
 retain all the Scottish usages, and that Hender- 
 son was not far from his mind, but that they 
 were overruled by others.^ The Directory was 
 accepted. in Scotland with some qualifications as 
 to the Communion Service, which will afterwards 
 be referred to, and also with the proviso, that the 
 old laws and regulations as to worship were to re- 
 main in force, except in so far as altered by it. 
 
 After the restoration of Episcopacy in 1661, 
 the Scottish Parliament, by the Act Ptescissory, 
 declared the wliole Covenanting Legislation from 
 1640 null and void, and the Directory thus lost 
 its civil sanction. During the " Second Episco- 
 pacy" — from 1661 to 1690 — there was no at- 
 tempt to revive Laud's Liturgy, the introduction 
 1 Letters, vol. ii. p. 258. 
 
MORXING OR EVENING PRAYER. 5 
 
 of which had been the occasion, if not the main 
 cause, of the outbreak in 1637. The new Bishops, 
 as was said, had no wish to ride the ford where 
 their predecessors were drowned, but contented 
 themselves with falling back on the Book of 
 Common Order, and this was now used merely 
 as a Directory. The reading of prayers by the 
 Clergy had fallen into disrepute ; and those 
 Bishops who touched the thorny subject of wor- 
 ship, went no further than to recommend rever- 
 ence in God's House, the reading of large por- 
 tions of Scripture, the use of the Lord's Prayer, 
 Doxology, and Creed ; and daily common prayer 
 in the churches, with reading of Scripture when 
 convenient,^— all which had been usual in the 
 Church since the Eeformation. 
 
 1 See Leighton's Recommendations to the Synod of Dun- 
 blane in 1662 ; Synod Register, pp. 2, 3. There is no rule, 
 however, -without an exception ; and in the Parish of Salton, 
 near Haddington, the English Liturgy was read from 1665 to 
 1669, when Gilbert Burnet, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, 
 was Minister. 
 
 Anderson, Minister of Dumbarton, writes thus in 1714 : 
 "In the late times, before the Revolution, the Episcopal 
 Clergy did not so much as essay to bring in a Liturgy. For 
 many years after the Revolution none of them publicly used 
 any either in their churches or meeting-houses ; and to this 
 day some of the best of them, to my certain knowledge, are 
 against the English Liturgy." — Defence of the Church Govern- 
 ment, &c., of the Presbyterians, p. 10. Eor long after that time 
 the use of the English Liturgy among the Scottish Episco- 
 
6 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 In 1690, when Episcopacy was again abolished, 
 the Scottish Parliament passed an Act ratifying 
 the Westminster Confession of Faith, and restor- 
 ing the Presbyterian Government of tlie Church 
 as it had been settled in 1592 ; but the Act Re- 
 scissory was not repealed, the Covenanting Legis- 
 lation remained under the ban, and the Cliurch 
 was left for the time without a legal order of 
 worship. The Confession of Faith lays down the 
 general principle that God is not to be worshipped 
 in any way not prescribed in the Holy Scrip- 
 ture;^ but this is qualified by another statement, 
 "that there are some circumstances concerning 
 the worship of God . . . which are to be ordered 
 by the light of nature and Christian prudence, 
 according to the general rules of the Word,"^ 
 and there have always been differences of opinion 
 as to what is prescribed and what left free. A 
 further Act of Parliament was passed in 1693, in 
 which it was ordained " that uniformity o^ wor- 
 ship, and of the administration of all public ordi- 
 nances within this Church, be observed by all the 
 ministers and preachers, as the same are at pres- 
 ent performed and allowed therein, or shall be 
 
 palians was discretionary, ami the clergy were in the habit of 
 interpolating long prayers of their own. 
 
 1 Ch. xxi. sec. 1. 2 ch. i. sec. 6. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 7 
 
 hereafter declared by tlie authority of the same." 
 This Statute contemplated the fact that the pro- 
 vision for worship was incomplete, and acknow- 
 ledged the right of the Church to legislate further 
 on the subject. Accordingly, in 1705, the As- 
 sembly " seriously recommended to all ministers 
 and others within this National Church, the due 
 observation of the Directory for the Public Wor- 
 ship of God, approven by the General Assembly, 
 held in the year 1645, Sess. 10." ^ At this period 
 the greatest alarm was felt lest the proposed 
 Union with England should prove destructive of 
 those ecclesiastical principles with which Scottish 
 Nationality was felt to be more than ever iden- 
 tified, and every precaution was taken, both by 
 Church and State, to guard against this danger. 
 In January 1707, Parliament passed an Act estab- 
 lishing and confirming not only the Discipline 
 and Government, but the Worship, of the Church, 
 " to continue, without any alteration to the people 
 of this land, in all succeeding generations ; " and 
 in April of the same year, the Assembly made 
 the law against " Innovations in the Worship of 
 God," to which all the ministers of the Church 
 have still at their ordination to promise obedience. 
 That there were departures from the Directory 
 
 1 Sess. 12, Act X. 
 
8 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 at that time is certain ; but as the Assembly had 
 so recently recommended its observance, it is 
 reasonable to regard the Act of Parliament of 
 1707, which is embodied in the Treaty of Union, 
 as referring to it. Some hold that it refers to the 
 actual vi^orship then in use ; but if this were so, 
 and the law enforced, I suspect that even the 
 advocates of this opinion would think the absence 
 of Hymns, of Scripture-reading, and of the Lord's 
 Prayer, inadequately compensated for by the read- 
 ing of the line by the precentor, and the minister's 
 address to the penitents clad in sackcloth on the 
 stool of repentance. Whether the liberty allowed 
 to the Church, by the Act of 1693, to modify the 
 worship without further sanction of the Legisla- 
 ture is affected by the Treaty of Union, may be 
 questioned ; but it is evident that the Assembly 
 did not consider itself precluded from making 
 further changes, for in 1707 it appointed a Com- 
 mittee to revise the Scriptural Songs, with the 
 view of having them sung in Divine Service, and 
 it sanctioned the Form of Process which provides 
 complete rules for the exercise of discipline, and 
 the devotional acts connected therewith. 
 
 The Westminster Directory, as enjoined in 
 1705, with whatever it did not abrogate of the 
 earlier regulations of the Church, and all special 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 9 
 
 Acts on the subject passed since 1690, may thus 
 be regarded as embodying the law of the Chnrch 
 as to Public Worship. I purpose, accordingly, 
 making the Directory, so far as it goes, the basis 
 of these Lectures. 
 
 JHornmrj or lEbmmrj ^ragcr. 
 
 I now proceed to take up the ordinary service 
 for Morning or Evening Prayer, and shall notice 
 first, the Order, and then the different parts 
 successively. 
 
 THE ORDER OF SERVICE. 
 
 There must be some order in conducting public 
 worship, and it is a matter of great moment that 
 each part of the service should have its due place 
 and proportion, that nothing should be neglected, 
 and that " none of the permanent wants of the 
 soul, and none of the classes for whom the Church 
 ought to pray," should be neglected. The same 
 order should be followed on all ordinary occa- 
 sions ; and when it is necessary to shorten the 
 service, this is best done, not by omitting any 
 mrt, but by shortening all, so as not to destroy 
 its completeness. A fixed order is advantageous 
 to minister and people alike ; it simplifies the 
 
10 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 duties and aids the memory of the one, and it 
 enables the other to join in the service without 
 distraction. 
 
 1. The Scri'ptural Order. — No order is definitely 
 prescribed in the New Testament, though it may 
 indeed be held that the example of our Lord is 
 an express rule for the administration of the Holy 
 Communion, which is the normal service of the 
 Church, and the only one appointed by Him. 
 There are those who hold that the order did not 
 need to be prescribed, inasmuch as it was already 
 foreshadowed for all time in the service of the 
 Tabernacle and the Temple. According to this 
 view, every feature in the IMorning and Evening 
 Service of the Jewish ritual should have its 
 corresponding reality in that worship, in spirit 
 and in truth, which w^e are required to offer in 
 Christian times. The brazen altar and the laver 
 at the door of the Tabernacle show us that 
 "atonement is the ground of all acceptable ser- 
 vice," and that confession of sin and absolution 
 have their proper place at the threshold of every 
 act of worship ; the consuming of the lamb on 
 the brazen altar symbolises the dedicating of our- 
 selves to God when pardoned and reconciled to 
 Him; and so on with the other symbols which 
 are held to foreshadow our meditations on His 
 
MORXIXG OR EVENING PRAYER. H 
 
 Word, our singing His praises with gratitude 
 and joy, our supplications, intercessions, and 
 tlianksgivings.^ Whatever truth there may be 
 in this view, the order thus indicated agrees 
 substantially with that of our own and other 
 branches of the Eeformed Church. Indeed, the 
 most important feature of it — beginning with 
 confession and prayer for pardon — was first in- 
 troduced by Calvin in his Strasburg Liturgy, 
 and the English Eeformers borrowed it from 
 the Service Books used by Eeformed immigrants 
 in England. No ancient Liturgy began with 
 confession, but Calvin substituted this for the 
 private confession and absolution previously in 
 use. 
 
 2. Tlie Order of the Primitive Clutrch. — In the 
 Primitive Church, the order of Daily Morning 
 and Evening Prayer varied considerably in dif- 
 ferent places. In the Sunday service there was 
 substantial agreement, but not without minor 
 variations also. Justin Martyr, about 150, de- 
 scribes the order thus : '* First the memoirs of the 
 Apostles and writings of the Prophets are read ; " 
 then " the president verbally instructs, and exhorts 
 to the imitation of these good things; then all 
 
 1 See 'Readings upon the Liturcry,' and ' "Worship in Spirit 
 and in Truth.' Bosworth : London. 
 
12 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 rise together and pray, and uhen our prayer is 
 ended, bread and wine and water are brought ; " ^ 
 and tlien follows an account of the Communion 
 service. The order is thus referred to in the 
 Apostolic Constitutions : " When you go to prayer 
 after the lessons, and the psalmody, and the in- 
 struction out of the Scriptures." ^ TertuUian 
 also says : " In our Public Assemblies, the Scrip- 
 tures are read, psalms sung, sermons preached, 
 and prayers offered." In some churches, how- 
 ever, psalms were sung before the lessons, and 
 in others intermixed with them.^ A collect for 
 Divine assistance was also sometimes offered 
 before the sermon ; but prayer in the early part 
 of the service was so informal and exceptional as 
 to be seldom noticed in the accounts of primitive 
 worship that have been handed down. After the 
 sermon, which was always concluded with a dox- 
 ology to the Holy Trinity, the common prayers, 
 popularly so called, began. In some of them the 
 catechumens, energumens, candidates for baptism, 
 and penitents, were permitted to join, but they 
 were all dismissed at or before the close of what 
 was called " the service of the catechumens," and 
 then the Communion service was celebrated by 
 
 1 1st Apol., ch. vi. - Book II. sec. 5i. 
 
 3 Bingham's Anticj. , Book XIV. ch. i. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 13 
 
 tlxe faithful. It was usual to preface each part 
 of the service — lessons, sermon, and prayers — 
 with the salutation, " Peace be with you," to 
 which the people responded, " And with thy 
 spirit ; " and the practice was believed to be 
 apostolical.! This service may have been partly 
 modelled on that of the synagogue, but it was 
 specially adapted to those times, when the con- 
 gregations were so mixed, and only the baptized 
 who w^ere in full communion were allowed to 
 remain to the close. 
 
 3. The Order of the Church of Scotland. — The 
 order of worship followed in our Church before 
 1661, while the Directory had both civil and 
 ecclesiastical sanction, as we learn from Eay, 
 the English Naturalist, who paid a visit to Scot- 
 land at that time, and from other authorities, was 
 usually as follows : After an introductory Psalm, 
 which was often sung before the Minister came 
 in, — 1. Prayer ; 2. Eeading the Scriptures ; 3. 
 Praise ; 4. Prayer ; 5. Sermon ; 6. Prayer of In- 
 tercession ; 7. Praise ; 8. the Benediction. This 
 closely resembled the order followed when Knox's 
 Liturgy was used, although then the first part 
 of the service was commonly conducted by the 
 
 1 Apost. Con., Book VIII. cli. 5. In some cases the Apos- 
 tolic Benediction was used instead of " Peace be with you." 
 
U MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 Header.^ Indeed, in many parishes this practice 
 was continued after 1645. The Directory had not 
 had time fully to take root before the country 
 was thrown into anarchy by Cromwell's invasion, 
 and the Church divided into two hostile camps — 
 those of the Kesolutioners and the Protesters. 
 The Eeaders' service was further revived during 
 the Second Episcopacy, and in a mutilated form 
 lingered on till our own day. Within the memory 
 of many still living, both in the South and North, 
 precentors and schoolmasters were in the habit 
 of reading psalms and chapters from the Lectern 
 while the people were assembling, and a few 
 generations earlier, they read also the Belief, 
 Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments.^ The 
 order prevalent from 1645 to 1661 is that now 
 generally followed, except that it has become 
 common to sing after the sermon, and also in 
 
 1 Probably in the post-Apostolic Church the Scriptures were 
 read by the Deacons, but in the third centur}^ the order of 
 Eeaders was instituted, 
 
 2 In 1697 the Session of AVhitekirk "appoints the Precentor 
 to read every Lord's Day the Belief, Lord's Prayer, and 10 
 Commandments."— Kec. The author of the 'Lamp of Loth- 
 ian,' published in 1844, states that the practice of reading 
 Scripture in Church before the [Minister entered still continued 
 in the South Country, and that he had heard it done by the 
 schoolmaster in the Church of Hawick — p. 436. M'Gillivray, 
 in his 'Life of Chrysostom,' says that the practice was kept up 
 in the Highlands till the beginning of this century. 
 
MOENING OR EVENING PEAYER. . 15 
 
 many churches between the lessons, according to 
 a custom of the Primitive Church.^ 
 
 Some of the clergy have recently adopted the 
 practice of introducing the Prayer of Intercession 
 before the sermon. The Directory favours this 
 use, while leaving it an open question ; but the 
 Book of Common Order, like all the Eeformed 
 Liturgies, and those of the Primitive Church, 
 placed the intercessions after the sermon, and this 
 rule has always been generally followed in Scot- 
 lajid. Besides the weight of authority in its 
 favour, there is something in the view that the 
 sermon most naturally follows soon after the 
 reading of the lessons of one of which it was 
 often at first an exposition, and that the order 
 of service should be cumulative, rising in devotion 
 towards the close. Further, the introduction of 
 the intercessions after the sermon keeps the ordin- 
 ary service in harmony with that of a Communion 
 Sunday, and is a testimony, as Calvin meant it to 
 be, for the Lord's Supper as part of the complete 
 service of the House of God. In the English 
 Church there is no fixed rule as to the time when 
 the sermon is to be preached at Morning or 
 Evening Prayer. It is most commonly done near 
 the close of the service, but not unfrequently 
 1 Apost. Con., Book II. ch. 57. 
 
16 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 before the intercessions and thanksgiving. In- 
 deed, in Cathedrals, where the ideal service is to 
 be looked for, the order of worship is often almost 
 the same as that now common in Scotland. 
 
 For the greater part of two centuries, the 
 service of our Church consisted only of praise, 
 prayer, [praise] sermon, prayer, praise, and bene- 
 diction. This mutilated order began during the 
 years of anarchy, and was simply the old service 
 minus the Header's part of it. In our own day 
 the Church has enjoined the restoration of the 
 reading of Holy Scripture, and in its own Book 
 of Prayer provided for those without a ministry, 
 it has deviated from the order long in use, with 
 the avowed object of bringing the services into 
 closer agreement with the recommendations of the 
 Directory. The order given in the Assembly's 
 ' Prayers for Social and Family Worship ; or Aids 
 to Devotion,' is as follows : (after an introductory 
 Psalm) 1. Prayer; 2. Reading of portion of Psalter 
 and Lessons from the Old and New Testaments ; 3. 
 Praise; 4. Prayer and Lord's Prayer; 5. Sermon; 6. 
 Prayer of Intercession; 7. Praise; 8. Benediction. 
 
 As this order has thus been virtually sanc- 
 tioned by the Church, no part of it should be 
 omitted, and if more Psalmody is desired, this 
 may be introduced between the Lessons, as in 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 17 
 
 the first edition of Aids to Devotion, and again, 
 after the Sermon, in accordance with usual prac- 
 tice. 
 
 With these additions the order would stand as 
 follows : — 
 
 [Introductory Psalm.] 
 
 1. Prayer. 
 
 2. Psalter, and Lesson from Old Testament. 
 
 3. Praise. 
 
 4. Lesson from New Testament, 
 
 5. Praise. 
 
 6. Prayer and Lord's Prayer. 
 
 7. Sermon. 
 
 8. Praise. 
 
 9. Prayer of Intercession. 
 
 10. Praise. 
 
 11. Benediction. 
 
 PRELIMINARIES TO PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 Before entering upon the separate parts of 
 Public Worship, there are some preliminaries, 
 properly so called, which deserve notice. 
 
 1. Private Prayer on entering Church. — The 
 Directory is silent on this subject so far as the 
 Minister is concerned ; but while forbidding 
 "adoration," — that is bowing towards the Com- 
 munion Table, which had been common in Eng- 
 land, — it favours the practice on the part of the 
 
 B 
 
18 MOENING OR EVENING PEAYER. 
 
 people by ordering that, " If any, through neces- 
 sity, be hindered from being present at the be- 
 ginning, they ought not when they come into 
 the congregation, to betake themselves to their 
 private devotions, but reverently to compose 
 themselves to join with the assembly in that 
 ordinance of God which is then in hand." This 
 is obviously a case where the exception confirms 
 the rule. George Gillespie, one of the Scottish 
 Commissioners at Westminster, tells us in his 
 Notes on the Assembly, that this regulation was 
 made at the instance of the English Clergy, who 
 said, " This is very necessary for this Church ; for 
 though the Minister be praying, many ignorant 
 people will not join in it till they have said over 
 the Lord's Prayer." ^ With regard to the Min- 
 isters engaging in private prayer, Baillie writes : 
 " Besides the vehemency of the Independents 
 asainst it, there is no such custom used here " — 
 i.e., in England — " by any ; " but he adds, " we in- 
 tend in due time to do the best for it we may." ^ 
 Up till that period the custom had been general 
 in Scotland. There had already, however, been 
 some keen controversy on the subject. After 
 1638, a party arose in the Scottish Church, which 
 sympathised with many of the notions of the 
 1 Notes, p. 102. 2 Baillie, ii. p. 123. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 19 
 
 fanatical sects which then began to flourish in 
 England. This party, which was destined to have 
 a great and disastrous influence, commenced with 
 " scrupling the three nocent ceremonies," as they 
 were called — viz., the Ministers bowing for private 
 devotion, the singing of the Doxology at the end 
 of the Psalms, and the use of the Lord's Prayer. 
 The leading Clergy, such as Henderson, Baillie, 
 and others, "expressed themselves passionately 
 against these conceits;" and the Church, as a 
 w^iole, had such an aversion to them, that the 
 Commission of the Covenanting Assembly of 
 1642 of which the famous Ptobert Douglas was 
 Moderator, threatened with deposition some Min- 
 isters in the South and West, who had given up 
 these laudable customs — gave orders that none 
 should forbear ordinarily to practise them — and 
 issued injunctions to Presbyteries, " to take 
 heed that every one received into the ministry 
 should be free both in their judgment and prac- 
 tice from the foresaid novations." Even before 
 this order was given Presbyteries had begun to 
 " pose " entrants to the Ministry as to these 
 points, and to require them to own the lawful- 
 ness of read prayers,^ which was denied by those 
 
 ^ Thus in 1640, Mr Andro Donaldson "was posed before the 
 Presbytery (of Perth) whether it Avas lawful to read prayers ; 
 
20 MORXIXG OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 " in the sectarian way." So rapid had been the 
 change of sentiment, that within three years the 
 same men who had contended for liberty to use 
 fiee prayer, had to defend the right of using forms 
 of prayer. Instead of the English being induced 
 to adopt the Scottish practice of the Ministers 
 " bowing in the pulpit," as Baillie had hoped, our 
 Assembly, in 1645, recommended that "though a 
 lawful custom in this Kirk," it " be hereafter laid 
 aside for satisfaction of the desire of the reverend 
 divines in the Synod of England, and for uni- 
 formity with that Kirk so much endeared to us." 
 When the Ministers gave up the practice the 
 people followed their example. In our own day 
 the " lawful custom " has been revived ; but it was 
 at first such a startling novelty, that a beadle, 
 seeing the Minister bow, has been known to rush 
 to the pulpit with a glass of water, under the im- 
 pression that he had been taken suddenly ill. 
 
 2. I pass on to the second preliminary — viz., 
 the Introductory Psalm. — The daily service of the 
 Primitive Church, and in some cases the Sunday 
 service, as has already been stated, began with 
 Psalmody. As the Jews sung invitatory Psalms 
 
 because there went a report of him that he disdained reading 
 of prayers altogether." — Pastoral Work in Covenanting Times 
 (Ross), p. 79. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 21 
 
 in ascending the steps of the Temple, the practice 
 was continued by the early Christians as they 
 entered their Assemblies : and it has been par- 
 tially followed by the Eeformed Churches. It is 
 not mentioned in Knox's Liturgy, the Directory, 
 or the English Prayer-Book, though it is not tin- 
 common to sing before the Service in the English 
 Church. Among the Eeformed this first singing 
 has usually been regarded, not as a part of Public 
 Worship, but as a fitting prelude to it. You 
 have a trace of this in the phrase still used by 
 some of the Clergy : " Let us compose our minds 
 
 for the worship of God by singing the Psalm." 
 
 This should be kept in view, and Psalms selected 
 such as the 95th, 100th, and 122d, which do not 
 directly address the Most High, but in which we 
 call upon one another to worship Him, or express 
 our joy at entering His Courts. 
 
 3. There is still another preliminary, which is 
 thus referred to in the Directory : " The congre- 
 gation being assembled, the Minister, after solemn 
 calling on them to the worshipping of the great 
 Name of God, is to begin with prayer." This 
 solemn call to worship was formerly called Pre- 
 facing. You have traces of this in all Liturgies. 
 Thus, the Book of Common Order directs that, 
 when the people are assembled, the Minister 
 
22 MOENING OR EVENIXG PKAYER. 
 
 is to exhort thera diligently to examine them- 
 selves, and to follow in their hearts the tenor of 
 his words ; and in one of the proposed emenda- 
 tions of that Book, you find the following form : 
 " The Minister or Eeader shall say — 
 
 " Come, let ns worship and fall down before 
 the Lord our Maker ; let us try our ways, confess 
 and forsake our sins, and lift up our hearts and 
 hands to God in the heavens, saying : " 
 
 The French and Genevan Liturgies begin with 
 the reading of Chapters and the Decalogue, by a 
 Eeader or Proponent. The Pastor then says : 
 " Our help is in the name of the Lord who hath 
 made heaven and earth. ' Amen.' Brethren, let 
 each of you present himself before the Lord, with 
 confession of his sins and offences, following in 
 heart my words." The text quoted is one of those 
 with which the Pioman Office commences. It 
 was from the Keformed Service on the Continent 
 that the English practice was borrowed of recit- 
 ing passages of Scripture, and founding the call 
 upon them. In Scotland, where, since the middle 
 of the Seventeenth Century, instruction has been/^ 
 amplified at the expense of devotion, an exposi-C 
 tion of the opening Psalm came to be substituted^ 
 for prefacing. This was long highly popular, but 
 too much of anything is sure to be followed by 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 23 
 
 too little, and the solemn call of the Directory is 
 now represented by the short and abrupt phrase 
 — "Let us pray." There are signs of a return 
 to the older practice, but such transitions must 
 always be gradual. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 1. First Prayer. — We come now to the proper 
 commencement of Divine Service — viz., the first 
 prayer, which, according to the usage of our 
 Church, should consist of invocation, confession, 
 petitions for pardon and peace, and supplications 
 for grace. That given in the Directory is little 
 more than an invocation, but it has been the 
 general practice to introduce after this the other 
 topics I have mentioned. There is the same 
 reason for order and proportion in the several 
 parts of each prayer as in the whole service. 
 
 The invocation should be short as in the Direc- 
 tory, and should close with a petition for assist- 
 ance and acceptance in the whole service. It 
 had been a complaint of the English Puritans, 
 that there was nothing of this in the Book of 
 Common Prayer, and this defect was remedied 
 in the Directory. 
 
 The next topic is the confession of sin. As all 
 
24 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 our acts of worship are offered in the communion 
 of the Universal Church, it is proper to confess 
 the sins of the whole family, and this gives a 
 prominent place to Church sins, and the part we 
 have in them. It is an obvious and usual arrange- 
 ment to confess our sins against God, our neigh- 
 bour, and ourselves ; but this is not the time or 
 place for noticing merely individual or personal 
 transgressions. It is further fitting to acknow- 
 ledge that our sins deserve death, as was done of 
 old by the worshippers bringing their sacrifices to 
 the altar ; and as they put their hands on the 
 head of the victim, so should we follow our con- 
 fessions by laying hold upon Christ, as our surety 
 and substitute, and by earnest prayers that, for 
 the sake of His sufferings and merits, our sins 
 may be blotted out. 
 
 And we should pray not only for pardon, but 
 for peace, or the assurance of forgiveness. Calvin 
 held that something of the nature of a general 
 absolution should follow the public confession of 
 sin. " There is none of us," he says, " but must 
 acknowledge it to be very useful, that after the 
 general confession, some striking promise of Scrip- 
 ture should follow, whereby sinners might be 
 raised to the hopes of pardon and reconciliation." ^ 
 
 1 See Eutaxia, p, 21, 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 25 
 
 In several of the Eeformed Liturgies this suf^- 
 gestion was carried out, and from this source came 
 the " comfortable words " of the English Com- 
 munion Office. Absolution, in this sense, is God's 
 answer to our confession. It is quite easy to 
 introduce such verses without breaking the con- 
 tinuity of the prayer, or indeed to introduce those 
 precative forms of absolution which were alone 
 used for many centuries.^ As all true penitents 
 are then in reality forgiven, there should ordi- 
 narily be no renewal of confession during the 
 remainder of the service, unless at the close, 
 when pardon may be asked for its imperfections ; 
 but we should go on to worship God in joy and 
 peace, as His reconciled children. 
 
 As such, it is appropriate for us to consecrate 
 ourselves anew as a living sacrifice to God, and the 
 
 ^ E.g., "Almighty God, who hath given His Son Jesus Christ 
 to be the Sacrifice and Propitiation for the sins of the whole 
 world, grant unto you for His sake full remission and for- 
 giveness; absolve you from all your sins; and vouchsafe to you 
 His Holy Spirit." — Lit, of the Cath. and Apost. Church. 
 
 In ' ' The practice of the Lord's Supper, as used in Berwick 
 by John Knox," after the confession, we have the following 
 direction : "Some notable place of the Evangel, wherein God's 
 mercy is most evidently declared, should then be read, plainly 
 to assure the penitent of full remission of all offences ; and 
 thereafter ought the minister openly to pronounce to such as 
 unfeignedly repent and believe in Jesus Christ, to be absolved 
 from all damnation, and to stand in the favour of God." — Knox 
 and the Church of England (Lorimer), p. 291. 
 
26 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 r(3st of the prayer should consist of supplication for 
 grace, that we may be enabled hereafter to serve 
 Him in newness of life. In prayer for the assist- 
 ance of the Holy Ghost, we should avoid expres- 
 sions which ignore the great fact of Pentecost, when 
 He was sent to earth by our ascended Lord to 
 establish the Church, and to abide with it for ever. 
 The gift of the Comforter " is to be regarded as 
 a perennial fountain, ever sending forth its living 
 waters, or as one continual river, ever flowing 
 from the throne of God ; " but we might as well 
 pray for the Creation of the Universe, or the 
 Incarnation of Christ, as for the Descent of the 
 Holy Spirit in any sense that overlooks His in- 
 dwelling in the Church and all the true members 
 thereof. 
 
 Having offered our petitions in the name of 
 Christ, it is proper to conclude with an ascription 
 of praise to the Ever-blessed Trinity — thus : To 
 Whom, with Thee the Father and the Holy Ghost, 
 be Glory, &c. ; or, And to Thee we ascribe the 
 Glory, to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost, as it was, &c. I have sometimes heard it 
 done in the form in which it is sung : Glory be 
 to the Father, &c. — but this is for praise, not for 
 prayer, and should be avoided. 
 
 2. Reading of Psalms and Scripture Lessons. — 
 
MORNIXG OR EVENING PRAYER. 27 
 
 The next feature of the service is the reading of 
 Holy Scripture. The amount to be read as re- 
 quired by the Directory is, besides a portion of ^ 
 the Psalter, at least one chapter from each Testa- ^ 
 ment. " It is convenient," says the Paibric, "that 
 ordinarily one chapter of each Testament be read 
 at every meeting, and sometimes more, where the 
 chapters be short, or the coherence of matter re- 
 quireth it." It is added, " We commend also the 
 more frequent reading of such Scriptures, as he 
 that readeth shall think best for edification of his 
 hearers, as the Book of Psalms and such like." 
 Gillespie, in his Notes, says : " The Assembly added 
 a direction to read a portion of the Psalms before 
 the chapters," ^ and in the Directory turned into a 
 Liturgy, and published by authority in 1645 for 
 the use of the laity in the absence of a Clergy- 
 man — a copy of which almost unknown work is 
 extant in the British Museum, — it is ordered that 
 " some Psalms and chapters out of both Testa- 
 ments shall be read." These notices not only 
 make the meaning of the Directory plain, but they 
 show the order that should be followed, — psalms 
 first, and then the chapters. This had been the 
 previou.s Scottish custom. We find Archbishop 
 Leighton, who tried hard to revive the old wor- 
 
 1 P. 102. 
 
28 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 ship of the Church in the face of the fanaticism 
 which affected many of those even who submitted 
 to Episcopacy in 1661, earnestly urging the clergy 
 of Dunblane to read both Psalms and two chap- 
 ters at each service.^ 
 
 The Psalter may either be read continuously 
 on Sundays in such portions as to overtake it in 
 a year, or by taking the Psalms for the day, ac- 
 cording to the common monthly division.^ 
 
 As to the selection of lessons, the Directory 
 requires — 1. " That all the Canonical Books be 
 read over in order, that the people may be better 
 acquainted with the whole body of the Scrip- 
 tures;" and 2. " That ordinarily, where the read- 
 ing in either Testament endeth on one Lord's Day, 
 it is to begin the next." A similar recommenda- 
 tion had been given in the First Book of Disci- 
 pline, which, though never law — civil or ecclesias- 
 tical — had always largely influenced the practice 
 of the Church. " We think it most expedient," 
 say the Authors of that Book, " that the Scrip- 
 tures be read in order — that is, that some one 
 Book of the Old or New Testament be begun 
 and orderly read to the end ; and this same we 
 
 1 Synod Register of Dunblane, p. 2. 
 
 - Knox was in the habit of reading through tlie Psalms 
 monthly, with chapters of the Old and New Testaments daily. 
 — Calderwood, Hist., vol. iii. p. 232. 
 
MOENING OR EVENING PRAYER. 29 
 
 judge of preaching, where the Minister for the 
 most part remains in one place ; for this skipping 
 and divagation from place to place of Scripture, 
 be it in reading or be it in preaching, we judge 
 not so profitable to edify the Kirk as the con- 
 tinual following «of one text." 
 
 The practice of selecting chapters at random, 
 or to suit the sermon, is contrary to the regula- 
 tions of our own and of all other Churches. It 
 is apt to result in the reading and re-reading of 
 a few favourite chapters, and tends to make ill- 
 informed and ill-balanced Christians. AVe should 
 read on some plan which contemplates the going 
 through the Books and principal chapters of 
 Scripture in order. This is the aim of all Tables 
 of Lessons. It is best to read at the Morning 
 Service the Historical Books and the Gospels, 
 and in the Evening the Prophetical Books and 
 the Epistles, all in the order of the Canon, but 
 omitting such chapters as are less suitable. In 
 Aids to Devotion you find a very good Table of 
 Sunday Lessons for one year, constructed on this 
 plan, and taken, if I mistake not, from the Lit- 
 urgy of the Pteformed (Dutch) Church in America. 
 I need scarcely add that the Lessons to be read 
 in Church should not only be selected, but care- 
 fully studied beforehand. 
 
30 MOKNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 It is well also to have a suitable and simple 
 form of words for giving out the chapters, such 
 as : " Hearken to the Word of God as it is written 
 in," &c.; or, " The Lesson from the Old Testament, 
 or from the New (as the case may be), is in the 
 
 chapter of at the verse." Whatever 
 
 is superfluous in such formulas is objectionable. 
 
 There is one important prohibition of the 
 Directory which is laid down in absolute terms, 
 and which should never be transgressed : " When 
 the minister shall judge it necessary to expound 
 any part of what is read, let it not be done until 
 the whole chapter or psalm be ended." The 
 practice which is thus forbidden interferes greatly 
 with the devotional reading of Scripture. What 
 is still worse, it helped very much to banish the 
 simple reading of God's Word from His own 
 House. It was the most melancholy feature in 
 the degradation of Scottish worship, that for a h 
 long period the simple reading of Scripture by 
 the minister was everywhere given up, and would 
 not have been tolerated in many parishes. Leigh- 
 ton speaks of " the foolish prejudice and proud 
 disdain" which the Scottish people had already 
 taken in his time against the Scriptures read 
 without " a superadded discourse ; " and later 
 we are told that '' the simple reading of a chapter 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 31 
 
 without note or comment was as great an offence 
 as a precomposed form of prayer." ^ It makes one 
 almost shudder to meet with a passage such as 
 the following in a work on the Pastoral Care, by 
 Dv Alex. Gerard, Professor of Divinity in King's 
 College, Aberdeen, published in 1799 by his son 
 and successor : " Eeadiiig the Scriptures seems to 
 be so necessary and essential a part of Christian 
 worship, that the omission of it is the most faulty 
 defect in the present practice of our Church. 
 Yet so great is the perverseness and weak bigotry 
 of many, that in some places it would almost 
 create a schism to attempt to introduce it, and 
 even the authority of the Directory, framed in 
 the revered ages of the Church, would not be 
 sufficient to secure from blame the person who 
 introduced it. I know nothing, however, which 
 better deserves a man's running the risk of giving 
 offence than restoring the public reading of the 
 Scriptures. In some places it might perhaps be 
 attempted without offence, and there it should be 
 attempted." ^ It is said that an Aberdeenshire 
 clergyman, who was taken to task by his parish- 
 
 1 Memoirs of Dr A. Webster, &c., p. 344. 
 
 2 P. 367. About the same period Principal Hill accounts 
 for and excuses the omission by the spread of education and 
 the fact " that every person has a Bible, which, from his child- 
 hootl, he is taught and exhorted to use." — Institutes, p. 330. 
 
32 MOKNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 ioners for making such an attempt, tried to silence 
 their objections by pointing to the words on the 
 title-page of the Bible, " appointed to be read in 
 churches." I do not know whether he was one 
 of Gerard's students or not, but certain it is that 
 the Synod of Aberdeen has the credit of having 
 taken the first step towards remedying this shame- 
 ful defect. At length, in 1856, the Assembly 
 enjoined all the clergy to read both from the Old 
 and New Testaments at each diet of worship ; and 
 in Aids to Devotion, a portion of the Psalter is 
 prescribed in addition to the two chapters, as 
 required by the Directory. 
 
 3. Psalms and Hymns. — We come next to the 
 Psalms and Hymns of praise which follow tlie 
 Lessons, or are intermixed with them. The sing- 
 ing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs is 
 enjoined as part of the worship of God in the 
 New Testament, and it was the Genevan branch 
 of the Reformation that restored this exercise to 
 its due place in Divine Service. Congregational 
 singing was regarded as the responsive part of the 
 Reformed ritual, and it was nowhere more popular 
 than in Scotland, where the greatest care was 
 taken to make the church music effective and 
 attractive. Besides the Psalter, of which large 
 sections were sung in a great variety of metres, 
 
]\K)RNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 33 
 
 always concluding with the Gloria, the Church 
 provided metrical versions of the Magnificat, the 
 Veni Creator, and other hymns. The new Psalter 
 adopted at Westminster, and which in Scotland 
 superseded the old Psalm -Book, contained no 
 hymns, but the General Assembly of 1647 ap- 
 pointed Zachary Boyd to revise those previously 
 in use, with the view of adding them to the 
 Psalms. This could not be carried out, however, 
 owing to the Disruption of 1651, and the new '^ 
 leaven from the South, which made such rapid _ 
 progress. Some of the English sects held that 
 the sincjjino^ even of the Psalms in metre was 
 unlawful, there being, they said, neither precept 
 nor example for it in Scripture. Others objected - 
 to prescribed praise, as they objected to prescribed " 
 prayer, no doubt quite consistently, and allowed 
 only singing prophets to extemporise such rhap- 
 sodies as came into their disordered brains, while 
 the con2;regation listened in silence to their effu- 
 sions. By some of these sects praise was given 
 up for a long period altogether. In Scotland the 
 force of fanaticism never went so far ; but it was 
 owing to these influences that the party arose 
 which objected to hymns in public worship, 
 though the Apostolic Christians and the Ee- 
 formers were so plainly of a different opinion; 
 c 
 
34 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 and it was to satisfy their Puritanic scruples 
 that the use of the Gloria Patri was given up a 
 few years after the Church had threatened to 
 depose Ministers who discontinued it. In the 
 Assembly of 1649 the subject was discussed, and 
 it would seem that an understanding was come to 
 that the use of it should cease, owing to the im- 
 portunity of the English ; but to the last, Calder- 
 wood the historian, who had spent his youth and 
 manhood in fighting against prelatical innova- 
 tions, and his old age in fighting against those 
 from an opposite quarter, stood out, and that 
 successfully, against a proposal made by the 
 Moderator to lay it aside formally, saying, " Moder- 
 ator, I intreat that the Doxology be not laid aside, 
 for I hope to sing it in heaven." ^ 
 
 From England, too, came the custom of reading / 
 the line, which contributed more than anything V 
 else to the degradation of our Church music. 
 It had previously been the practice in the Eng- 
 lish parish churches,^ and the Directory recom- 
 
 ^ The Doxology Approven, by Mr Edward, Minister at 
 Murroes : p. 70. 
 
 2 " It is a custom generally used in most, if not in all, parish 
 churches of this kingdom [England], as well among Presby- 
 terians as others, that the clerk alone reads aloud every verse, 
 one after another, of the psalm that is sung before and after 
 sermon, and that all the people sing it after him." — Durel ; 
 Government and Worship of God in the Reformed Churches 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 35 
 
 mended its continuance, as a temporary meas- 
 ure, for the benefit of those who were unable 
 to read. Henderson, who was no doubt aware 
 that the Synod of the Reformed Church of France ^ 
 had condemned the practice as unfit and im- 
 proper, objected at Westminster to this feature 
 of Anglicanism, and it was at first extremely 
 unpalatable to the Scots, who looked upon it as 
 an indignity that such a usage should be imposed 
 upon an educated people like them. But it made 
 way, and in course of time came to be regarded ( 
 as a venerable Scottish custom, part of the in- 
 heritance handed down by the Covenanters, — so 
 that, when it was given up, Ministers had to 
 encounter suppressed murmurings, and in many 
 cases open rebellion, A number of Dissenting 
 congregations in different parts of the country 
 owed their origin, not to patronage, nor to un- 
 evangelical preaching in the parish church, but to 
 the introduction of paraphrases and the omission 
 
 beyond tlie Seas, p. 183. The practice still prevails among 
 the Wesleyans, who have preserved a number of usages which 
 have been given up by the Church. 
 
 1 In 1579 the Synod resolved as follows: "The congrega- 
 tions which, when they sing Psalms in their meetings, cause 
 the verses to be said aloud before they are sung, shall be 
 warned to give over such their attempt, as being unfit and 
 improper ; and a censure shall be passed upon those congre- 
 gations which use that custom." — Durel, p. 183. 
 
36 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 of the reading the line ; and others were largely 
 increased from these causes.^ These determined 
 prejudices were carried by emigrants to the ends 
 of the earth. I remember old Scotsmen in tlie 
 Colonies who never entered church, because the 
 line was not read out as they had been accustom- 
 ed to hear it in the Old Country ; and it is not 
 surprising that the character of some of those 
 sticklers furnished an illustration of the principle 
 that straining at gnats prepares and predisposes 
 men for swallowing camels. 
 
 The Psalms and Hymns that follow the Lessons 
 should be outbursts of joy and praise for all God's 
 mercies, and especially for His Word — the treasure 
 of the faith — and all the blessings of the Gospel. 
 / The English Prayer-Book affords fine models in 
 the Te Deum and Benedictus sung after the Old 
 and New Testament Lessons in the morning, and 
 in the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in the 
 evening service ; and happily these grand hymns, 
 of which people never weary, are to be found in 
 our collections, besides many others scarcely less 
 appropriate. It is advantageous to mark in one's 
 Psalter and Hymnal those portions that are suit- 
 able, either as introductory to public worship or 
 for general purposes of praise, and these may be 
 
 1 M'Kerrow's Hist, of the Seces., pp. 16, 60, 79. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 37 
 
 given out successively Sunday after Sunday. 
 One can thus furnisli the greater part of the 
 Psalms and Hymns for choir practice early in 
 the week. Large portions of the Paraphrases and 
 even of the Hymns, beautiful as they may be as ^ 
 poems, should never be sung in Church at all. 
 It is a too rigid rule that would exclude, al- 
 together, compositions fitted to excite devotional 
 feeling, though not addressed to God ; but in our 
 service, where worship is defective, it is best to 
 select, for the most part, Psalms and Hymns of 
 praise or of prayer. 
 
 Chanting. — It greatly lightens and brightens 
 the service when, in addition to these metrical 
 selections, the prose psalms for the day are chanted 
 instead of being read. This is the simplest, and at 
 the same time the most perfect, mode of offering 
 praise. Experience shows that it is universally 
 popular. It delights the humblest class, as well 
 as the most refined, and it would have met the 
 scruples even of those sects which objected to (' 
 metre. Nothing lays hold of a congregation like 
 chanting, or contributes so much to the hearti- 
 ness of a service. In praise the powers of both 
 body and soul are called into requisition, and 
 the outward volume of song, and the inward tide 
 of devotion, act and react on each other. God's 
 
 # 
 
38 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 people of old praised Him with mirth and glad- 
 ness, and rejoiced before Him "with all their 
 might." This is still more requisite in Christian 
 times, when our praises should be a foretaste of 
 the joy of heaven itself; and truly it is not only 
 a good, but a pleasant thing, to celebrate, in this 
 manner, the praises of the Most High.^ 
 
 4. Second Prayer, — We come now to the second 
 prayer, which immediately precedes the sermon. 
 This is a modern restoration. For a long period 
 there were only two prayers in the service, but 
 an intermediate one has now become general, in 
 accordance with the Directory and the old Scottish 
 practice. In some of the Eeformed Liturgies, 
 and in Aids to Devotion, this prayer is one of 
 thanksgiving as well as for illumination. When 
 Knox's Liturgy was in use, the thanksgiving 
 was often offered in the last prayer, after the 
 intercessions, thus crowning and completing the 
 
 1 In the Eastern Churclies, the Jewish practice of singing i 
 responsively or antiphonally seems to have prevailed from the ' 
 days of the Apostles. In the West the singing was nothing 
 but chanting with one voice, till the latter part of the fourth 
 century, when S. Ambrose introduced the Eastern practice -' 
 of singing to each other by turns into the Church of Milan, 
 whence it spread over the rest of Europe. — August. Con., Book 
 ix. chap. 7. 
 
 Another mode of singing sometimes followed, was that of a 
 single person beginning the verse, and the people joining with 
 him in the close. — Apos. Con., Book ii. chap. 57. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 39 
 
 devotions of the congregation. This was in literal 
 conformity with the words of Scripture — supplica- 
 tions, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, 
 — and it brought the ordinary service into close 
 harmony with that of a Communion Sunday ; 
 still, thanksgiving is sufficiently appropriate after 
 the Lessons, which unfold the riches of divine 
 grace; and by introducing it then, the three 
 prayers of the service may be made of nearly 
 equal length. 
 
 In piving thanks, the most natural order is to 
 bless the Lord for all His bounties in nature, 
 providence, and grace. You find excellent models 
 of a General Thanksgiving, in the prayer of the Ke- 
 formed Liturgies, — " God, Thy glory is great," 
 and in that in Knox's Book, beginning, " Honour 
 and Praise be unto Thee." That in the English 
 Prayer-Book is also admirable, and it is interest- 
 ing for us to remember that it was introduced 
 at the request of the English Presbyterians, and 
 was composed by one of their eminent Divines 
 — Eeynolds, who at the Eestoration was offered, 
 and accepted, the Bishopric of Norwich. He did 
 not forget, what should never be forgotten, that 
 there is a jus clivinum upon giving thanks not 
 only for ourselves, but for all men.. 
 
 Next comes the short prayer for illumination, 
 
40 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 in which we ask God for assistance in preaching 
 and hearing His Word, and for His blessing 
 thereon ; and it is now the general practice to 
 introduce here the Lord's Prayer.^ 
 
 The Lord's Prayer. — The restored use of this 
 divine and perfect form is one of the great im- 
 provements of recent years ; and it is encouraging 
 to think that, notwithstanding the aversion with 
 which it was so long regarded, there are few of 
 our people now who would not feel a service de- 
 fective without it. It was enjoined in the Book 
 of Common Order, and was in universal use in 
 Scotland, as in all the countries and ages of 
 Christendom, till about 1640, when those who 
 had imbibed the Sectarian spirit began, in the 
 language of the time, to " scunner it," and to call 
 it a " threedbare prayer." The Directory recom- 
 mended its continued use; but hostility to it 
 spread rapidly among those who called them- 
 selves "the godly party," and in 1649 it was_ 
 given up in the churches of Edinburgh, and soon 
 afterwards throughout the whole country.- Dur- 
 
 ^ In the Book of Common Order and other Reformed Litur- 
 gies, it is introduced at the end of the last prayer. It had the 
 same place in the daily ofl&ces of the Primitive Church, but in 
 the Sunday service it was said before Communion. — Bingham, 
 Book xiii. chap. 11. 
 
 '^ Wodrow's Analecta, vol. i. p. 274. 
 
MOENING OR EVENING PRAYER. 41 
 
 ing Cromwell's usurpation, we read of his troopers 
 preaching in Scottish pulpits, casting the stool of 
 repentance out of the churches, fining Scottish 
 ministers for travelling on Sundays on their way 
 to the General Assembly, interrupting public 
 worship when it was not to their liking, and we 
 may be quite sure that with iron heel they 
 stamped out the Lord's Prayer wherever it at- 
 tempted to raise its head. At the Kestoration \ 
 those who conformed to Episcopacy resumed its 
 use, and it then became a badge of distinction C 
 betwixt them and the Presbyterians, as it had 
 formerly been betwixt Presbyterians and the Sec- 
 taries. After the Eevolution the Episcopalians 
 taunted the Presbyterians with departing from the 
 old usage of the Scottish Church, and disregarding 
 the recommendation of the Directory. They de- 
 fended themselves by saying that they gave the 
 substance of it, and sometimes used it. But there 
 came a time when other ground was taken ; when 
 the use of it was not only denounced by the popu- 
 lace as a rag of Popery, but when grave divines 
 boldly asserted that it was not suitable for Chris- 
 tian devotion. It is extraordinary to find Dr 
 Andrew Thomson, the most distinguished Scot- 
 tish clergyman of his day, and the first to advo- 
 cate the revival of sacred music, preaching in St 
 
42 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 George's, Edinburgh, in a strain hostile to the use 
 of the Lord's Prayer simioliciter^ and justifying its 
 omission from the services of the Church. Had 
 he known that the Presbytery of that city, in 
 1641, three years after the swearing of the Na- 
 tional Covenant, issued a solemn warning against 
 this and other Brownist errors, it is not likely that 
 he would have committed himself to such a posi- 
 tion. The history of the Church at that period 
 has been far too much overlooked. I once asked 
 the late Dr Laing how it was that no life had 
 been written of Eobert Douglas, by far the most 
 prominent man among the Covenanting clergy 
 after the death of Henderson ; and by the tes- 
 timony of all his contemporaries, — Gustavus 
 Adolphus, under whom he had served as chap- 
 lain during the Thirty Years' War, included, — one 
 of the greatest men of his age. He replied that 
 he had often urged the biographer of Knox and 
 Melville to undertake it, but that Douglas's prin- 
 ciples and career did not suit his purposes. Such 
 a biography would exhibit the Eesolutioners and 
 the Protesters in their true colours. The Protest- 
 ers have been honoured for their sufferings at a 
 later period, but the founders of the party were 
 considered neither good Scotsmen nor good Pres- 
 byterians. Many of them were " deep in the in- 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 43 
 
 terests of the Usurper," and they were essentially 
 tainted with Independency. The first Disruption, 
 of the Church lies at their door, and this was the 
 , main cause of the restoration of Episcopacy in 
 m661, with all the miseries that followed. 
 ~^ 5. Third Prayer. — Passing over the sermon, 
 and the act of praise which usually follows, we 
 come next to the third prayer, which consists 
 chiefly of intercession. The Directory tells us " to 
 turn the chief and most useful heads of the ser- 
 mon into some few petitions, and to pray that it 
 may abide in the heart and bring forth fruit." 
 This is natural and fitting ; but we should bear 
 in mind the words " chief heads " and " few peti- 
 tions," and take care not to pray the sermon over ? 
 again. After a sentence or two of this import, 
 we should pass to the intercessions — and here, 
 again, order is the first consideration. A good 
 arrangement is to pray, first, for the Church ; 
 secondly, for kings and all in authority;^ and 
 thirdly, for the afflicted. After this the inter- 
 cessions of a more miscellaneous character may 
 be introduced, as for travellers, sojourners, and 
 strangers; benefactors, friends, and kindred; to 
 
 1 The not uncommon notion that we should intercede first 
 for them in authority, rests on a popular misapprehension of 
 the meaning of 1 Tim., chap, ii., ver. 1 and 2. 
 
44 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 ^vhich may be added thanks for those who have 
 died in the Lord, and are at rest in Paradise. 
 One cannot be too particular, as no class should 
 be neglected, and these varied intercessions are 
 all specially welcome to some who are present. 
 In the second service of the day, our prayers for 
 others are appropriately followed by petitions for 
 mercies, spiritual and temporal, for those who are 
 present, and by asking the divine protection dur- 
 ing the night, and that we may see the morning 
 and the day in joy. And the whole should con- 
 clude with a prayer to God to receive our offer- 
 ings, to accept our service, notwithstanding its 
 imperfections, and to follow it with His blessing.^ 
 
 6. Praise. — The concluding Psalm or Hymn 
 need not have any reference to the sermon. A dis- 
 mission is strictly appropriate; but, apart from 
 this, nothing can be more suitable than a Psalm 
 of thanksgiving, or a Hymn in honour of Christ. 
 
 7. Benediction. — We have now reached the 
 / Benediction, which is God's answer to our wor- 
 ship, and its proper close. In it God's Ministers 
 
 ^ In the Reformed Liturgies and the Book of Common Order 
 this prayer conchides with the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' 
 Creed. " The Creed was not used to be repeated in the daily ^ 
 service till about the middle of the fifth century in the Greek 
 Church, and not till some time after in the Latin Church." — 
 Bingham, Book x. chap. iv. sec, 17. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 45 
 
 put His Name upon the people, and He blesses 
 them. That a blessing is thus imparted from on 
 high/ through the channel of an ordained min- 
 istry, to those whose hearts are open to receive 
 it, is asserted in all the standards that have at 
 any time been of authority in the Church. This 
 was so well understood formerly, and the blessing 
 was so highly valued, that, in order to induce 
 people to come twice to church, it was sometimes 
 not given till the second service. Not only have 
 the old ideas on this subject died out for the most 
 part, but some of the clergy have been known to 
 denounce them as " involving a blasphemous 
 assumption of sacerdotal power." Many minis- 
 ters never bless at all, but use a form such as the 
 following, which includes present and absent, 
 saints departed and saints unborn, and which, 
 but for the sacredness of the subject, would de- 
 serve to be called a rigmarole : " And now may 
 grace, mercy, and peace be with us, and all the 
 Israel of God, here and everywhere, now, hence- 
 forth, and for ever, world without end. Amen." 
 
 There are two perfect forms of Benediction in 
 Scripture — the Priestly in Numbers vi., and the 
 Apostolical in 2 Corinthians xiii. 14. To these 
 may be added another no less scriptural, though 
 a compilation : " The peace of God," &c. 
 
46 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 As the Church declares that it belongs to the 
 Minister's office to bless the people from God 
 under the Gospel, as it did to the Priests under 
 the Law/ those who are unordained only pray for 
 a blessing. Hence the practice, so long rigidly 
 adhered to, of licentiates saying "us," instead of 
 " you," and of their not making use of the sign 
 of blessing — viz., the lifting up of the hands. In 
 the Directory turned into a Liturgy for the use 
 of the laity, this part of the service is headed, 
 " Prayer for a Blessing," which is given as a 
 prayer accordingly. Benediction is so sacred an 
 act, that, at the close of meetings not for worship, 
 it is well always to use the words as a prayer. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 Having gone over the different parts of the 
 service, I shall now offer a few suggestions as to 
 the filling up of the outline thus sketched. To 
 have a fixed order and sequence of topics in our 
 minds, is itself a great help and a great safe- 
 guard. It keeps one from being tossed to and 
 fro like the ship without compass or rudder. 
 Still, order is not enough ; thought and prepara- 
 tion beforehand, as well as a devotional spirit at 
 1 The Form of Church Government. 
 
MOENING OR EVENING PEAYER. 47 
 
 the time, are necessary to the successful filling in 
 of details. "Be not rash with thy mouth, and 
 let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything 
 before God." Such is the command of Scripture ; 
 and it implies that our prayers should be pre- 
 meditated, both as regards thought and expres- 
 sions. This is due to God, to our fellow-wor- 
 shippers, and to ourselves ; for prayer is not an 
 intellectual exercise, and it is not favourable to 
 devotion that we should have to think out at the 
 time what we are to say. It is easy to string 
 together texts of Scripture incorrectly quoted, or 
 to extemporise at random a varied and ceaseless 
 round of pious nonsense, some prominent word 
 in the sentence last uttered suggesting the sen- 
 tence that follows. If variety were one's chief 
 aim, far better no framework at all. A few 
 materials would suffice, and could be presented 
 in new combinations indefinitely, like the bits 
 of coloured glass in a kaleidoscope. But every 
 one who would not be held guilty of careless- 
 ness, I might say of profaneness, in addressing 
 the Most High, will shrink from uttering such 
 effusions. 
 
 1. First, we should keep in mind in our church 
 prayers that we address God as an assembly of 
 Christians, as His children, members of His house- 
 
/ 
 
 48 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 hold and family, and nothing sliould be said in- 
 consistent with this. 
 
 2. As church prayers are common, not private, 
 we should confine ourselves to expressions which 
 are suitable to all. "• Peculiarities are for private, 
 not for public, devotion," and nothing should be 
 said to which every Christian present cannot add, 
 Amen. " We approach God as a society," and we 
 should carefully guard against putting forward 
 mere sentiments of our own, or of a section of the 
 congregation. For example, in times of political 
 strife, when the community is divided as to the 
 policy of Government, one should not imitate the\ 
 rival American chaplains, who are said to have j 
 prayed for and against the measures proposed in ^ 
 Congress. 
 
 3. As the Minister is the mouthpiece of the 
 congregation in their common prayers to God, he 
 should shrink from saying anything with the 
 purpose of conveying instruction or reproof to • 
 them, or of paying them compliments. The 
 oblique attitude in which the Minister, with one 
 eye on heaven and the other upon earth, pretends 
 to address to God, who is the great listener in * 
 His own house, what he really means for the con- 
 crresation, is above all thin^js to be avoided. Even 
 the common practice of intimating in prayer that 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 49 
 
 a stranger is to officiate in the afternoon or even- 
 ing, is of questionable propriety. It reminds one 
 of the story of the revivalist preacher, who was 
 in the habit of praying thus : " And bless Thy 
 humble servant before Thee, who is to preach 
 this afternoon at at — o'clock." 
 
 4. Again, it should be remembered that our 
 petitions, confessions, and thanksgivings are all 
 acts of devotion, to be then and there performed, 
 and not mere purposes to be carried out at some 
 future period; and therefore such phrases as 
 We adore, We repent. We beseech. We praise, 
 should be employed ; and not, We desire to do 
 so, or We would desire, which is a different 
 matter, and leaves the thing undone. This re- 
 minds me of an opposite vice, by no means un- 
 common, that of praying for things past, which is 
 an absurdity, — thus, " May the services of a past 
 Communion season have been blessed to many 
 souls." 
 
 5. Again, we should guard against those mis- 
 quotations, misapplications, and what have been 
 called grotesque groupings of Scripture with 
 which the traditional Liturgy abounds. For 
 misquotations, take the examples, " May they 
 kiss the rod and Him who hath appointed it ; " 
 " Thou inhabitest eternity and the praises there- 
 
50 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 of; " " Be in our midst to bless us and to do us 
 good : " and for misapplications, " Our own hearts 
 condemn us, and Thou art greater than our hearts 
 and knowest all things ; " and again, " May our 
 names be written in the Lamb's Book of Life," — the 
 former of which should be true of no Christian, 
 while the latter is already true of all. Then 
 as a grotesque grouping, there is the well-known 
 and oft-exposed, but still used, specimen, "We 
 come before Thee with our hands on our mouths, 
 and our mouths in the dust, crying out," &c. 
 Equally to be avoided are those accommodations 
 of Scripture metaphors and oriental phrases, which, 
 because of their incongruity with modern life, 
 have become a matter of jest to the thoughtless, 
 such as the following: "We would set up our 
 Ebenezer ;" '-'May his bow long abide in strength;" 
 " May those who tarry at home divide the spoil." 
 
 6. Again, it is desirable that our supplications 
 should as far as possible be divided into distinct 
 paragraphs, so that at the end of each the people 
 may breathe an inaudible Amen, or, " Lord, 
 hear us." ^ 
 
 7. Further, we should always remember the 
 rule of Scripture, " God is in heaven, and thou upon 
 
 1 Formerly the Scottish people accompanied the prayers with 
 ** sighing and groaning." — Bishop Cowper's Works, p. 639. 
 
MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 51 
 
 eartli, therefore let tliy words be few." None of 
 the three prayers should exceed eight or, at the 
 most, ten minutes, if we would avoid the risk of 
 praying people out of a good frame, after we have 
 prayed them into one, as Whitfield blamed a 
 friend for doing. 
 
 8. And lastly, after the Scriptures, and especi- 
 ally the Psalms, which are the great storehouse 
 of devotion, let me recommend you to study 
 Liturgies and the devotional literature of past 
 ages. The Primitive Liturgies are the common 
 heritage of Christendom, and surely the different 
 Churches of the Eeformation should borrow what 
 is good from each other. As has been said, " The 
 sense of communion with past ages, and with 
 contemporaries of other lands and tongues, has 
 something of a heart - raising nature which is 
 altogether or in part wanting in the case of new 
 and as yet unwonted forms." 
 
 These studies can be combined with your 
 private devotions ; and they will not only furnish 
 you with the richest materials for public prayer, 
 but they will educate your taste, and imbue you 
 with a true instinct. 
 
 In the Liturgies we have the purest gems of 
 devotion in the choicest settings ; the grandest 
 and holiest thoughts and aspirations, clothed in 
 
52 MORNING OR EVENING PRAYER. 
 
 the simplest and most beautiful forms. In prayer, 
 more than anywhere else, simplicity is beauty. 
 ISTothing can be more objectionable than the use 
 of tawdry and bombastic phrases, nothing more 
 out of place in our devotions than an oratorical 
 display. 
 
 It is an excellent plan to jot down under the 
 different headings to which they belong — such as 
 "confession," or "thanksgiving" — the materials 
 suitable for public devotion which you meet with 
 in the Bible or Books of Prayer, or which occur 
 to your own minds. Thus stores will rapidly 
 accumulate, which you can without difficulty set 
 in order, and make the basis of your public 
 services. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 
 
 Before concluding, I shall mention a list of 
 books which are useful either as furnishing mate- 
 rials for prayer, or as sources of information on 
 the history of worship in our own and other 
 branches of the Church. 
 
 * Neale's Primitive Liturgies, with Translations. 
 Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church. 
 King's Primitive Church (second part). 
 Ebrard's Reformed Church Books. 
 Liturgies of Geneva, Lausanne, and Neufchatel. 
 Bersier's Liturgy. 
 
MORNING Oil EVENING PEAYER. 53 
 
 Liturgy of the French Protestant Church of Charleston, 
 S.C. (New York). 
 
 Liturgy of the [Dutch] Reformed Church in America. 
 
 Liturgy of the [German] Reformed Church in America. 
 "^ Eutaxia, or the Presbyterian Liturgies (New York). 
 
 The Book of Common Prayer as amended by the West- 
 minster Divines in the Royal Commission of 1661, 
 and in agreement with the Directory for Public 
 Worship of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 States (Philadelphia). 
 
 Hall's Reliquiae Liturgicse. 
 
 Baillie's Letters. 
 
 Prayers for Social and Family Worship, authorised by 
 the Church of Scotland. 
 
 Order of Public Worship, by Dr Robert Lee. 
 
 Book of Common Order (Euchologion). 
 
 Knox's Liturgy and Westminster Directory, edited by 
 Sprott and Leishman. 
 
 Scottish Liturgies of the Reign of James YL Sprott. 
 ^ Chapter on Liturgies in Yan Oosterzee's Practical 
 Theology. 
 
 Liturgy and Offices of the Church (Catholic and 
 Apostolic). 
 
54 
 
 LECTURE 11. 
 
 BAPTISM, AND THE ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 The subjects of Lecture to-day are Baptism, and 
 the Admission of young people to the renewal of 
 their Baptismal vows, and to the participation of 
 the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Baptism, 
 
 I. BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 
 
 The Baptism of Infants falls first to be con- 
 sidered. There can be no question that the form 
 given for that service in the Directory is in sub- 
 stance obligatory, as the General Assembly, so 
 recently as 1870, " earnestly recommended all 
 Ministers to frame their baptismal addresses and 
 exhortations according to the method set forth 
 therein.'' 
 
 1. The first Eubric of the Directory is that 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 55 
 
 " Baptism, as it is not unnecessarily to be delayed, 
 so it is not to be administered in any case by any 
 private person, but by a Minister of Christ called 
 to be tbe Steward of the mysteries of God." 
 The first clause originally required Baptism to be 
 administered on the second Lord's Day at furthest. 
 It had been usual from the days of the Primitive 
 Church, as it still is in the Church of Rome, to 
 baptize children as soon as possible after their 
 birth. 
 
 An African Synod, which met a.d. 254, and 
 at which sixty-six Bishops were present, decided 
 that it was not to be deferred till the eighth day, 
 as some had held, owing to its having taken the 
 place of circumcision. The Eeformers held sim- 
 ilar opinions, and remonstrated against delay 
 as "bringing contempt upon the Church, and 
 upon the whole redemption and Communion of 
 Christ."^ The old custom was continued down 
 to the time of our grandfathers and grandmothers, 
 who, as our old Session Eecords show, w^ere as a 
 rule baptized in Church the first Sunday after 
 they entered the world. The habit of postponing 
 it unnecessarily, which has since become common, 
 is connected with low views of the ordinance, and 
 should not be encouraged. 
 
 ^ Bucer. 
 
,56 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 With regard to the Baptizers, the Confession of 
 Faith also says that "neither sacrament may 
 be dispensed by any but by a Minister of the 
 Word lawfully ordained." i In 1565 the General 
 Assembly acknowledged the validity of Eomish 
 Baptism, and ordered that it was not to be re- 
 peated. This was necessary to the Christian 
 standing of the Eeformers themselves, and is in- 
 volved in the continuity of the Visible Church. 
 Calvin even said that parents, in cases of neces- 
 sity, should present their children to Eomish 
 Priests for Baptism rather than suffer them to 
 remain unbaptized, as that involved an appar- 
 ent contempt for Christianity itself.^ The repeti- 
 tion of Baptism has generally been looked upon 
 as a sacrilegious practice. The Scottish Episco- ^ 
 palians took to it somewhat largely in the case of - 
 Presbyterian converts a quarter of a century ago, ~J 
 forgetful that this was to repudiate the Baptism 
 of their own early Bishops and Clergy, and thus 
 to saw off the branch on which they are perched 
 at a point betwixt them and the tree. Some 
 
 ^ Chap, xxvii. sec. iv. 
 
 2 See Scott's Continuation of Milnev's Church History, 
 voL iii. p. 401. A generation or two ago in some parts of 
 Canada, the Scottish Highlanders, though Protestant, often 
 had their children baptized by Roman Catholic priests in tlie 
 absence of clergymen of their own faith. 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 57 
 
 glaring cases of these converts going a step fur- 
 ther, and receiving another conditional Baptism 
 on their reception into the Church of Eome, ac- 
 cording to a modern practice of that Communion, 
 appear to have had a wholesome efiect upon our 
 Episcopal neighbours. 
 
 2. The second Eubric enjoins that Baptism 
 " shall not be administered in private places or 
 privately, but in the place of Public Worship, 
 and in the face of the Congregation." In Knox's 
 Liturgy it is said that "Sacraments are not to 
 be used in private corners," but are " necessarily \ 
 annexed to God's Word as seals of the same," ^ 
 and that, " therefore, the infant that is to be bap- 
 tized shall be brought to the Church on the day 
 appointed to Common Prayer and Preaching." 
 So strict was the Church at first in this matter, 
 that a Minister of Tranent was suspended, and 
 obliged to make his public repentance, for bajDtiz- 
 ing children in private houses. One of the five 
 Articles of the Perth Assembly of 1618, which / 
 caused so much strife in the Church, for the first 
 time allowed private Baptism, and this only " for 
 a great and necessary cause." King James was 
 bent upon this relaxation of the old law, and one 
 of his smart sayings is recorded in connection 
 with it. A Clergyman, remonstrating against the 
 
58 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 change, asked the King if he thought a child 
 dying unbaptized would be damned. " No," re- 
 plied the British Solomon ; " but if you refuse 
 to baptize a dying child you will." The Perth 
 Articles were not all equally objected to, and if 
 they had been proposed singly instead of en bloc, 
 some of them would have been generally approved 
 of; but they were afterwards all cast out by the 
 Glasgow Assembly of 1638. Our Commissioners 
 at Westminster took a leading part in carrying 
 the rule which enforced public Baptism, a prac- 
 tice then very uncommon in England. Baillie 
 writes : " The abuse was great over all this land. 
 In the greatest Parish in London, scarce one 
 child in a year was brought to the Church for 
 Baptism." In 1690, the first Assembly after the 
 Kevolution passed a very stringent law on the 
 subject, which is still in force. It " discharges the 
 administration of Baptism in private, — that is," 
 it goes on to say, " in any place, or at any time 
 when the congregation is not orderly called to- 
 gether to wait on the dispensing of the Word." 
 This language was probably meant, and at all 
 events was interpreted, to admit of Baptism in a 
 private house, provided intimation was made from 
 the pulpit that Divine Service was to be held in 
 such house, and the people asked to attend. The 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 59 
 
 more conscientious Clergy long strictly adhered 
 to the law thus understood. Boston of Ettrick, 
 one of the ablest divines and most faithful min- 
 isters of the Church, in the early part of last 
 century, says, " I never administered Baptism in 
 a private house without previous intimation to 
 the congregation. In eighteen years no child died 
 unbaptized, through adhering to this rule." And 
 he adds, '-'Glory to a good God for it." If an 
 exception had been clearly made in favour of 
 dying children, as pious Boston evidently wished, 
 the rule might have been kept ; but for want of 
 this, it came gradually to be disregarded, till 
 there were Parish Churches in which no one had 
 been baptized within the memory of any one liv- 
 ing. Stringent laws and lax practices are too apt 
 to go together, and nowhere can this combination 
 have a worse moral effect than in the Church. 
 Apart from this, it can scarcely be doubted that 
 private Baptism, as often administered, has tended 
 to the degradation of divine ordinances, and to 
 the fostering of irreverence in the land. There is 
 something very unchristian, too, in the class dis- 
 tinctions which are often connected with it. No 
 wonder the poor are indignant when they are told 
 that they must bring their children to church, 
 while those in better circumstances get theirs 
 
60 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 baptized at home. Most righteously did the First 
 Book of Discipline say concerning Pastors that 
 "whatsoever they do to the rich in respect of 
 their ministry, the same they are bound to do to 
 the poorest under their charge." It is humiliat- 
 ing[ to think of Church members askinoj the la\YS 
 to be set aside, and distinctions made in their 
 favour in the matter of God's ordinances, because 
 they are a little higher in the social scale than 
 their neighbours. There is only one distinction 
 that should be made, and that for modesty's sake. 
 Illegitimate children may well be baptized, not 
 privately, but in church, before a sufficient num- 
 ber of witnesses, after the congregation is dis- 
 missed. I am well aware of the great difficulties 
 which Ministers meet with in trying to carry out 
 the law of the Church ; but they should persevere 
 in the attempt ; and when obliged to baptize in 
 private, without any good reason, it should be 
 done under protest, and the religious exercises 
 should approach as nearly as possible a complete 
 church service. The Church of England, once a 
 warning to our Fathers, is now a model to us in 
 this respect. So do fashions change, and thus the 
 world goes round. 
 
 The Book of Common Order enjoined that 
 Baptism was to be administered after the sermon, 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 61 
 
 and this has always been the Scottish custom. 
 Henderson, in his Government and Order of the 
 Church of Scotland — a little treatise published 
 in 1641, — says that it was usually administered 
 at the afternoon service, and this is still the 
 common practice in England. 
 
 3. The third Eubric says that " the child is to 
 be presented by the Father, or (in case of his 
 necessary absence) by some Christian friend in 
 his place." The Book of Common Order re- 
 quired the presence not only of the Father, but 
 of a Godfather. In the Scottish, as in all other 
 branches of the Eeformed Church, God-parents 
 were joined with Parents as. sponsors. Thus one 
 of Knox's sons had for Godfather, Whittingham, 
 Dean of Durham ; the other, Coverdale, Bishop 
 of Exeter. The practice was defended as " main- 
 taining a sweet communion among the faithful 
 by a conjunction of friendship," and as a pro- 
 vision for the Christian training of children in 
 case of their parents being removed by death. 
 Opposition to it arose first among the English 
 Sectaries. When Brown, their founder, came to 
 Scotland on a Mission tour in 1584, he " made 
 show," Calderwood tells us, " after an arrogant 
 manner before the Session of the Kirk of Edin- 
 burgh, that he would maintain that witnesses at 
 
62 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 Baptism was not a thing indifferent, but simply 
 evil. But he failed in his probation." ^ The 
 Directory was not understood to exclude addi- 
 tional sponsors, as after its adoption in Scot- 
 land we find Sessions giving instructions as to 
 the number that should accompany the parent. 
 Gradually, however, they came to be regarded 
 merely as witnesses. The Assembly in 1712 
 passed an Act discharging other sponsors than 
 parents when they are communicants; but this 
 Act was directed rather against taking substitutes 
 for them than against the old practice of allowing 
 others in addition. I may mention that in many 
 of our Colonies our Clergy minister to Eeformed 
 Churches of Continental origin, which retain this 
 and other usages which prevailed in Scotland for 
 long after the Eeformation. The Act of 1712 
 also provides that, " if parents be dead, or absent, 
 or grossly ignorant, or under scandal, or contu- 
 macious," another sponsor is to present the child, 
 — a relation if possible ; and that in the case of 
 foundlings the Kirk-Session is to act in this capa- 
 city, so that no children in the land need remain 
 nnbaptized. 
 
 Any child descended, however remotely, from 
 Christian progenitors, was held by the Eeforraers 
 
 ^ Hist., vol. iv. p. 1. 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 63 
 
 and the compilers of our standards to have a 
 right to Baptism, whatever the character of its 
 immediate ancestors, just, as every descendant of 
 Abraham had a right to circumcision ; while as 
 to the children of idolaters and excommunicated 
 persons, they taught that they ought to be bap- 
 tized to competent sponsors. It is quite against 
 the law of the Church — the spirit, if not the letter 
 — and is an absurdity on the face of it, for those 
 who have not accepted their own baptismal cove- 
 nant, to stand as sponsors for children, to say 
 nothing of such enormities as I have known of — 
 persons allowed to act in this capacity who were 
 not themselves baptized. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 To come now to the service. The Directory 
 says the parent or other sponsor is to present the 
 child, " professing his earnest desire that it may 
 be baptized." This does not, of course, mean that 
 he is to make a short address to that effect, but 
 that the Minister is to put a question like that 
 in the Book of Common Order: "Do you here 
 present this child to be baptized, earnestly desir- 
 ing that he may be ingrafted in the mystical body 
 of Jesus Christ ? " and that the sponsor is to give 
 his assent. 
 
64 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 The Address. — The Minister is then "to use 
 some words of instruction touching the institu- 
 tion, nature, use, and ends of this Sacrament." 
 
 He should begin with the words of institution 
 as given in Matthew xxviii. 18-20, and in the 
 instruction should be careful to adhere faithfully 
 to the doctrine of the Church as set forth in her 
 standards. Baptism, which is the only Christian 
 ordinance that vast multitudes are privileged to 
 receive, is, in the lowest view of it, a great cove- 
 nant transaction betwixt the baptized person and 
 the Triune God ; while, according to all the Ee- 
 formed Confessions, though the Visible Church is 
 and always will be a mixed community, both 
 Sacraments are effectual means of salvation ; and 
 the sensible signs employed in them not only 
 signify and seal — i.e., make sure — but api^ly 
 Christ and His benefits to the heirs of salvation. 
 You will find ample material and suitable models 
 for this address in the Book of Common Order, 
 the Directory, and in the Baptismal Forms which 
 were laid before the Assembly in 1871 by the 
 Committee on Aids to Devotion. For a short 
 explanation of the nature of the ordinance, one 
 can hardly do better than take the words of the 
 Shorter or Larger Catechism. 
 
 At the conclusion of this address, the Directory 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. - 65 
 
 says that the Minister is also " to admonish all 
 that are present to look back to their Baptism ; 
 to repent of their sins against their covenant with 
 God ; to stir up their faith ; to improve and make 
 right use of their Baptism, and of the covenant 
 sealed thereby betwixt God and their souls." In 
 the Book of Common Order there is also a para- 
 graph to this effect. This is a feature of the 
 service which has fallen into general disuse, and 
 which ought to be revived. 
 
 The baptismal address may be shortened or 
 lengthened according to circumstances, but no 
 essential ideas should be left out. Straining after 
 variety for variety's sake, or through fear of awak- 
 ening the ignorant prejudices of the people, is 
 altogether needless, and is apt to result in omit- 
 ting things that should be said, and putting in 
 things that should be left out. 
 
 Questions to Sponsors. — The Directory does not 
 prescribe any profession of faith to be exacted of 
 Sponsors. In Scotland they had always been 
 made to rehearse the Creed, as required by the 
 Book of Common Order ; and the Scottish Com- 
 missioners at Westminster earnestly contended for 
 the general adoption of this practice. Failing in 
 this, they urged that questions equivalent should 
 be asked, and assented to. Baillie writes : " The 
 
66 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 Belief in Baptism was never said in England, and 
 tliey would not undergo that yoke ; but we have 
 got the Assembly to agree to equivalent interro- 
 gatories much against the mind of the Indepen- 
 dents." ^ These interrogatories have disappeared 
 from the Directory, and it has been supposed 
 that they were struck out by the House of Com- 
 mons. In Scotland the old custom lingered on 
 for a time. We find Leighton in 1665 earnestly 
 urging the Clergy of his Diocese to cause parents 
 to repeat the Belief at the Baptism of their chil- 
 dren. The practice was then dying out, and the 
 Creed itself was disliked by those who had imbibed 
 the sectarian spirit. Parents had still to make 
 confession of the Faith into which the child was 
 to be baptized, but each Minister imposed what- 
 ever creed he pleased. In 1711 the Assembly 
 enjoined Ministers to baptize the children of 
 Foreign Protestants on their "professing their faith 
 in Christ, and obedience to Him," and " engaging 
 to educate them in the fear of God, and know- 
 ledge of the principles of the Keformed Protestant 
 religion." This liberal Act was meant to protect 
 strangers from the heavy burdens that were im- 
 posed by many of the Clergy upon their own 
 flocks. It had become common to require an 
 1 Letters, voL'ii. p. 258. 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 67 
 
 assent to the Scriptures, the Confession of Faith, 
 the Catechisms (Larger and Shorter), and in some 
 cases to the Solemn League and Covenant. Among 
 the older Dissenters even this was not enough. 
 A Clergyman told me that in Egypt some years 
 ago he was present at the baptism of a child of an 
 Arab Fellah connected with the American Pres- 
 byterian Mission there. This common labourer 
 from the banks of the Nile was obliged to declare 
 his adherence, not only to the above creed, but, 
 in addition, to the Act and Testimony of the 
 Seceders as drawn up in Scotland in such a year, 
 and as amended and accepted in America in an- 
 other. My informant belonged to the straitest sect 
 of our religion, but even he thought that this 
 was rather too much of a good thing. Another 
 friend told me of a case at home of quite a differ- 
 ent sort, where the Minister said to the parent, 
 he had but one question to ask, and it was this 
 — "Was he a saved man ? " His idea, of course, 
 was that the man should be able to give a cate- 
 gorical answer, and that the efficacy of the Sacra- 
 ment depended upon its being in the affirmative. 
 I have myself heard the following form used : " I 
 need not ask you if you believe the Christian 
 faith : your presence here is a sufficient guarantee 
 for that." 
 
68 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 Equally varied and extraordinary are the oUi- 
 gations which are sometimes imposed. Hender- 
 son describes the old Scottish usage thus : " He 
 that presenteth the child promiseth to bring him 
 up in the faith into which he is baptized, and in 
 the fear of God." The Directory also orders that 
 the Minister shall require the Sponsor's solemn 
 promise "to bring up the child in the knowledge 
 of the grounds of the Christian religion, and in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord." But 
 this promise grew in many cases to portentous 
 dimensions. A late eminent Clergyman of our 
 Church used to tell of an incident which he wit- 
 nessed, and which he said filled him with horror. 
 The Minister at a baptism went on imposing bur- 
 dens in the most minute and stringent manner, 
 thus: "And do you promise to have family worship 
 in your house, and that not merely occasionally, 
 but regularly twice a-day ?" and so on, till the poor 
 father turned pale, and staggered as if about to 
 faint. There was a painful pause as he hesitated 
 in ^riving his assent, but in a little he rallied, and 
 swallowed the draught that was presented to his 
 lips. No wonder that one of our Clergymen 
 should have said, " It appears intolerable that in 
 the same Church, and that recognised and estab- 
 lished by law, one Minister shall demand of can- 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 69 
 
 didates for Baptism or the Lord's Supper, a dif- 
 ferent profession of faith from that which another 
 demands/'^ or we may add, impose different 
 obligations. The presiding Minister at an ordina- 
 tion might as well be allowed to impose an ex- 
 temporised profession of faith, and to exact any 
 promises he pleased. Some years ago there was 
 such a strong feeling on this subject that on an 
 Overture from a number of leadinor men in the 
 Church, the Committee on Aids to Devotion was 
 instructed by the General Assembly to " prepare 
 a form consistently with the rules in the Direc- 
 tory, in which the professions and engagements of 
 Christian parents may be expressed." In obedi- 
 ence to their instructions the Committee prepared 
 two forms for Infant, and one for Adult, Baptism. 
 The Assembly approved their diligence, ordered 
 the drafts to be printed, and copies to be sent to 
 all the Ministers of the Church. These forms, to 
 which I have already made reference, you will 
 find in the volume of Assembly Eeports for 1871. 
 In two of these the belief imposed is the Apostles' 
 Creed. 
 
 1. This is in accordance with the practice of the 
 Primitive Church, and of a great part of Christen- 
 dom, and should be followed in all cases. The 
 
 ^ Lee's Reform of the Cliurcli of Scotland, p. 177. 
 
70 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 Creed is but an expansion of the baptismal for- 
 mula, and is the common faith of the Universal 
 Church into which the child is to be baptized. 
 Such a change has come over our countrymen that 
 it would be very difficult to get them now to re- 
 hearse it, as they did for the first century after the 
 Eeformation ; but the next best course is for the 
 Minister to introduce it thus : " Do you receive the 
 Articles of the Christian faith whereof we make 
 our confession, saying, ' I believe in God,' &c.?" 
 
 2. Different views are entertained in the Church 
 as to the engagements which should be entered into 
 by the Sponsor on behalf of the child. Stuart of 
 Pardovan, whose book on the law and practice of 
 the Church, published early in last century, has 
 been the great authority since, and whose attach- 
 ment to Presbytery was above all suspicion, says : 
 "In the baptismal engagement the parent or 
 Sponsor is, in name of the child, to renounce the 
 devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory 
 of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of 
 the flesh." That these views were prevalent at 
 the time, appears also from what are called the 
 Larger Overtures, which are printed with the Acts 
 of Assembly of 1705. These Overtures, the sig- 
 nificance of which has been too much overlooked, 
 were virtually the draft of a new Book of Dis- 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 71 
 
 cipline, on which the leading men of the Church 
 were employed for many years after the Kevolu- 
 tion. They were printed by order of Assembly 
 in 1704, and were sent down to Presbyteries and 
 Synods, who had them long under consideration ; 
 but they were never sanctioned, as a whole, on 
 account of differences of opinion on some of .the 
 many points which they embraced. In them it 
 is said that " young communicants are to be put 
 in mind of their parents' engagements made for 
 them in their baptism." Such ideas did not 
 originate with the indulged Episcopal Clergy, 
 who, though they remained Parish Ministers, did 
 not sit in the Courts of the Church, and had no 
 influence on its legislation. In more modern 
 times both Moderatism and revived Puritanism 
 have agreed in rejecting them, while the latter 
 has even strongly denounced them. This hos- 
 tility finds expression in the Pieport of the 
 Committee on Aids to Devotion, anent Baptis- 
 mal professions and obligations, presented to 
 the Assembly in 1870. 
 
 In the Savoy Liturgy, drawn up by the English 
 Presbyterians at the Eestoration, an attempt is 
 made to reconcile these different views, and pro- 
 bably a form such as the following would satisfy 
 all parties : " Do you dedicate this child unto God 
 
72 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 to be baptized in this faith, and to be thereby 
 engaged to renounce the devil," and so on? 
 No one doubts that the child is thus engaged, 
 though one would scarcely discover it from many 
 baptismal services. Indeed, one test of a rightly 
 constructed service is that the child, and not the 
 Sponsor, figures most prominently in it. 
 
 3. All are at one as to requiring a promise from 
 the Sponsor to train up the child in the doctrines 
 and duties of our holy religion. This should be 
 expressed in general terms, like those which I 
 have already quoted from the Directory. To go 
 into details is to run the risk of involving people 
 in the guilt of breaking vows made to God in the 
 most solemn circumstances. Whatever you do in 
 the matter of imposing creeds and obligations, 
 make them the same to all classes, — high and low, 
 gentle and simple. All are equal in the Church, 
 and to modify a sacramental service, with the 
 view of suiting people of superior rank and in- 
 telligence, is a gross violation of the great law of 
 Christian brotherhood, and, to put it upon lower 
 ground, nothing can be more essentially vulgar. 
 
 In the Eeformed Liturgies it is appropriately 
 added here : " The Lord spare you and your 
 child, and give you grace to fulfil your promise." 
 
 Prayer lefore Baptisjii. — Prayer is then offered 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 73 
 
 to God to sanctify and bless His own ordinance, 
 and to bestow upon the child all the blessings 
 signified by it. For this prayer you will find 
 suitable models in the Book of Common Order, 
 the Directory, and in the volume issued by the 
 Church Service Society. The Directory says that 
 this prayer is "to be joined with the Word of 
 Institution for sanctifying the water to this spir- 
 itual use." The probable meaning is that Our 
 Lord's command should be incorporated with the 
 prayer, thus: "Almighty God, whose dearly be- 
 loved Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, gave command- 
 ment to His apostles that they should go and teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Sou, and of the Holy Ghost, we 
 beseech Thee," &c. The injunction of the Direc- 
 tory to pray for the sanctifying of the water is in 
 accordance with the practice of the Primitive 
 Church. 
 
 I was once present at a baptism when no 
 prayer was offered before the administration of 
 the rite, and, I regret to say, this was not a soli- 
 tary instance of such a serious omission. In a 
 letter which I had recently from a friend, he 
 says: "The last bit of progress I hear of is, that 
 the Minister of last Sunday christened chil- 
 dren in Church without one word of prayer 
 
74 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 before or after ; and when spoken to, said — ' The 
 hymn sung did as well.' Such things," my 
 friend adds, "are a just retribution on the Church 
 for not having something of liturgical form — 
 enough to make such imperfect rites impossible." 
 
 The Rite. — " The Minister is then to demand 
 the name of the child, which, being told him, he 
 is to say, calling the child by his name, ' I bap- 
 tize thee,' &c. As he pronounceth these words 
 he is to baptize the child with water." 
 
 You may have seen, as I have, a Minister first 
 baptize the child, and then after a pause add, 
 " The child's name is M. or K," as if to show his 
 disregard of a custom which has been continued 
 in the Church of God from the days of Abraham, 
 whose name was changed when he received the 
 rite of circumcision. Such novelties indicate 
 both a want of sense and of reverence. It may 
 hardly seem credible, but I was once reproved 
 by a dissatisfied parent for not giving the sur- 
 name as well as the Christian name, and was told 
 that the Minister who had baptized the rest of the 
 family had given them all "baith their names." 
 Some Ministers make free even with the words of 
 Institution, adding " one God " after the name of 
 the Blessed Trinity, and you will find this form 
 even in Ministers' Directories. I remember hear- 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 75 
 
 ing an Elder compliment a young Clergyman for 
 making this addition to Our Lord's words. The 
 worthy man said he liked it, and thought it a 
 great improvement. The Clergyman, who had 
 never thought of the matter before, was naturally 
 somewhat taken aback at such a compliment, and 
 did not repeat what, in his case, was simply a 
 blunder. 
 
 The Directory further recommends ''pouring 
 or sprinkling of the water on the face of the 
 child," as " not only lawful, but sufficient and 
 most expedient." The essential thing is the ap- 
 plication of water to the body, and the quantity 
 does not affect the validity of the sacrament, any 
 more than the quantity of bread and wine par- 
 taken of in the Lord's Supper affects the validity 
 of that ordinance. At the same time, one should 
 not overlook the fact that immersion was the 
 mode practised in the Primitive Church, and that 
 this form of administration symbolises most per- 
 fectly the death and burial of the old nature, and 
 the resurrection of the new. Though pouring or 
 sprinkling is preferred, immersion is not forbidden 
 by the Directory ; and I have known this mode 
 followed by Clergymen of our Church abroad, 
 when requested by persons brought ' up among 
 the Anabaptists, who attached importance to it. 
 
76 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 Trine aspersion, in accordance with the trine im- 
 mersion of the Primitive Church, is practised in 
 the Dutch and some other branches of the Re- 
 formed Church, while in others a free applica- 
 tion of water is enjoined. Some Ministers seem 
 anxious to use no more than the smallest drop ; 
 and, on good authority, I have heard of some who 
 were careful to let this fall, not upon the child's 
 face, but upon its garments. There is a well- 
 known English story of an ultra - evangelical 
 Clergyman, whose proper place would have been 
 among the Quakers, asking a neighbour if he really 
 used water in Baptism, as he himself had long 
 since given up that piece of superstition. Water 
 is of the same importance in the one sacrament 
 as bread and wine are in the other ; and one of 
 the chief characteristics of both is their bodily 
 reference. Baptism, as has been said, takes in- 
 feftment not only of the soul, but of the body for 
 Christ, and this is renewed at each participation 
 of the Holy Communion. If water were put on 
 the dress instead of the face, it would be no 
 Baptism ; and perhaps it was to guard against 
 the possibility of such a thing that the Book of 
 Common Order requires the Minister to lay it on 
 the child's forehead. 
 
 When a number of children are to be baptized 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 77 
 
 together, it is foolish not to respect the old cus- 
 tom of baptizing those of the male sex first, and 
 each according to age. Some absurd prejudices 
 used to be connected with this ; but there is 
 reason in what the old wives will tell you, that 
 " Adam was first formed, then Eve." 
 
 The clause in the Directory, " without any 
 other ceremony," refers to the use of the sign 
 of the Cross. 
 
 The practice of the Minister blessing the child 
 with imposition of hands immediately after the 
 application of the water, is an innovation, I 
 believe, of comparatively recent origin in our 
 Church ; but it is in conformity with Our Lord's 
 example, who took the little children in His 
 arms, and put His hands on them, and blessed 
 them ; and it was a usage of the early Church to 
 which great significance was attached. When it 
 is done, it is important to make use of the Apos- 
 tolic Benediction, on account of the distinct refer- 
 ence to the Holy Ghost, rather than that from 
 lumbers, which is often given. 
 
 It is quite in accordance with old practice, 
 for the Minister, after the Act of Baptism, 
 to make a declaration such as the followino-, 
 which is shortened from that in the Savoy Lit- 
 urgy : " This child is now received by Christ's 
 
78 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 appointment into His Church, and is engaged to 
 confess the faith of Christ crucified, and to con- 
 tinue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto 
 his life's end." 
 
 Concluding Prayer. — The Prayer that follows 
 should embrace the following topics : (1.) Thanks- 
 giving for God's mercy in receiving the child into 
 His household and family, with supplications 
 that its life may be prolonged, that " it may not 
 fall short of or walk contrary to the grace of 
 Baptism," that it may be faithful to its engage- 
 ments, persevere to the end, and finally receive the 
 crown of life. (2.) Prayer for the Sponsors, that 
 they may discharge their obligations aright. (3.) 
 Thanksgiving fur the mother's deliverance in time 
 of trouble. (4.) Prayer for the congregation, that 
 the administration of the Sacrament may be sanc- 
 tified to them, with thanks for our own Baptism, 
 for parents, pastors, and teachers; an acknow- 
 ledgment of our backslidings, with petitions that, 
 as we have been once washed every whit, we may 
 be washed from daily transgressions, and have 
 grace to be faithful to our vows, and to walk 
 in brotherly love, as becometh those who have 
 been baptized by the One Spirit into the one 
 Body. 
 
 This is one of the ways in which, as the Larger 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 79 
 
 Catechism teaches, we are to discharge the much 
 neglected duty of improving our own Baptism. 
 
 These petitions should be followed by the Gen- 
 eral Intercession, and the whole service be con- 
 cluded in the usual way. 
 
 For a post-baptismal Hymn nothing can be 
 more appropriate than the 47th Paraphrase. 
 
 Here I may notice one or two expressions 
 from the traditional Liturgy which ought to be 
 carefully avoided. " Bless the engaging parent " 
 is one of those which affords food for merriment 
 in the streets of Gath and Askelon, especially 
 when the man's appearance is not in his favour. 
 Then, again, the petitions, " Eatify in heaven 
 what in Thy name we do upon earth," and " May 
 his name be written in the Lamb's Book of Life," 
 are suitable for the prayer before Baptism, but 
 not in that after, where one usually hears them. 
 
 BAPTISM OF ADULTS. 
 
 This most solemn service has frequently to be 
 performed in the mission-field, and, I am sorry 
 to say, there is now too often occasion for it at 
 home. 
 
 All the reasons for public Baptism in the case 
 of Infants apply here with equal force, with this 
 
80 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 in addition, that to the Adult himself no such 
 opportunity can again occur of confessing Christ 
 before men. Those who have seen adults pub- 
 licly baptized, and who have witnessed the 
 solemn impression produced on the congregation, 
 cannot but regret the way in which this service 
 is too often performed in this country. At the 
 very least, it should take place in church before a 
 sufficient number of witnesses, if it be impossible, 
 in the present state of things, to get candidates to 
 come before the assembled congregation. 
 
 There is no provision for this service in the 
 Directory, or in the early editions of the Eeformed 
 Liturgies. The Dutch Church, as it was the first 
 to enter the heathen mission-field, was the first 
 to provide such a form, the present excellent ser- 
 vice in its Liturgy having been added in 1604, 
 shortly before it began those noble missionary 
 enterprises in the East, which are now forgotten 
 or condemned as having been too much an affair 
 of the State, but which form one of the bright- 
 est pages in the history of the Eeformed Church 
 at that time. 
 
 The form for Adult Baptism should closely 
 resemble that for the Baptism of Infants, only 
 such changes being made as are absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
HOLY BAPTISM. 81 
 
 Thus, instead of the first question to the Spon- 
 sor, the Minister should ask the candidate " If it 
 is his desire to be baptized, and thereby ingrafted 
 into the Body of Christ." 
 
 The instruction, in so far as it relates to the 
 institution, nature, and ends of Baptism, may be 
 the same in both cases; but at the close there 
 should be a paragraph such as the following, 
 borrowed partly from the Dutch service, and 
 given in the form printed by authority of the 
 Assembly in 1871: "And though the infant 
 children of Christian parents are not to be ex- 
 cluded from this token of the covenant of pro- 
 mise, yet we are not warranted to baptize those 
 of riper years until they profess their faith in 
 Christ and obedience to Him. Forasmuch, then, 
 as you are desirous of receiving the Holy Sacra- 
 ment, it is necessary that you sincerely give 
 answer before God and His Church to the ques- 
 tions I have now to ask." 
 
 The questions which follow in this form are 
 unexceptionable ; and as they have the quasi- 
 sanction of the Church, it is well to ask them 
 verbatim. 
 
 It is in accordance with the practice of our 
 own and other branches of the Eeformed Church, 
 and is both reverent and convenient, that an 
 
 F 
 
82 HOLY BAPTISM. 
 
 adult should kneel during the act of Baptism. 
 From the discussion about kneeling at the Lord's 
 Supper which took place after that gesture was 
 enjoined in 1618, it appears that parents also 
 formerly knelt in presenting their children for 
 Baptism.^ 
 
 The solemn Uessing which follows may appro- 
 priately and conveniently be accompanied with 
 the imposition of hands, as in the case of infants. 
 
 In the declaration which is next made, it should 
 be stated that the person baptized is now ad- 
 mitted to the participation of the Lord's Supper, 
 and to all the privileges of the New Covenant. 
 
 After the post-baptismal prayer a suitable ex- 
 hortation should be given. As there is a close 
 connection between Adult Baptism and the re- 
 newal of the baptismal engagement by Catechu- 
 mens, and as both admit to full communion, 
 the same blessing, prayer, and exhortation, with 
 a few verbal alterations, are suitable for both 
 services. 
 
 In some cases one has a difficulty in knowing 
 whether to baptize young people as infants or 
 as adults. Perhaps, as a general rule, the age 
 of twelve should mark the dividing-line. 
 
 1 Gillespie's Dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies, 
 p. 106. 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 83 
 
 ^timissifln of Catecfjumens. 
 
 We come now to tlie service for the renewal of 
 baptismal vows, and the admission of Catechu- 
 mens to the Lord's Table. There is no more curi- 
 ous history than that of Chrism, out of which the 
 rite of Confirmation is usually regarded as hav- 
 ing arisen. " All learned men," as Bingham says, 
 " who have exactly considered this matter, as well 
 Papists as Protestants, are agreed that this was 
 the ancient and general practice of the Church — 
 to confirm infants as soon as they were baptized." 
 The first Confirmation or Complimentum hap- 
 tismi seems to have consisted of blessing, with 
 imposition of hands, and prayer for the graces of 
 the Holy Spirit. About the beginning of the 
 third century, anointing with oil was introduced 
 to represent the unction from above, and hence 
 the rite came to be called Chrism. In the East- 
 ern Church, which preserves the usages of the 
 early centuries almost unchanged, infants are still 
 anointed immediately, or within a few days, after 
 Baptism, — the Priest being the minister of the 
 rite, not the Bishop, though the oil is now pre- 
 viously consecrated by him. For the first 1300 
 years infant chrism was the practice of the West, 
 
84 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 as well as infant communion, which is still uni- 
 versal in the Eastern Churches. You see from 
 all this how little confirmation has to do with 
 the Apostolic laying on of hands for the im- 
 partation of the miraculous gifts of the Holy 
 Ghost, with which an attempt is sometimes 
 made to connect it. In the Romish Church, 
 Confirmation or Chrism is now administered to 
 children usually when about twelve or four- 
 teen years of age, and not till after they have 
 received their first Communion. Formerly the 
 rite was not accompanied with imposition of 
 hands ; but it would appear that in some coun- 
 tries the Bishop, in addition to the prescribed 
 ceremonies — namely, making the sign of the cross 
 on the forehead with oil, and giving a blow on 
 the cheek, emblematic of the Christian warfare — 
 now lays his hand on the head of each candidate. 
 
 There was no form for the Reception of Cate- 
 chumens in the Book of Corhmon Order, or in 
 the early editions of other Reformed Liturgies— 
 a defect in them which has been since supplied, — 
 but the First Book of Discipline says: "None 
 are to be admitted to this mystery {i.e., the Lord's 
 Supper) who cannot formally say the Lord's 
 Prayer, the Articles of the Belief, nor declare 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 85 
 
 the sum of the Law." There are notices which 
 show that candidates were carefully instructed, 
 and their admission no doubt took place in church 
 at the public examination of the congregation 
 before communion, which was long universal.^ 
 
 Episcopal Confirmation, or Bishopping, as it was 
 called, w^as enjoined by one of the Five Articles 
 of the Perth Assembly ; but it w^as not practised 
 during the next twenty years in which Episcopacy 
 was continued in the Church, nor was there any 
 attempt to introduce it between 1661 and 1688, 
 when that form of Government was reimposed. 
 
 The Scottish Episcopalians did not begin it till 
 last century, and their tendencies being then 
 towards Eastern rather than Anglican usages, 
 some of their Bishops confirmed infants.^ I 
 may mention that Episcopal Confirmation was 
 not introduced into the Channel Islands till 1829, 
 though for more than two centuries the connec- 
 tion of the inhabitants with the French Eeformed 
 Church had given place to union with the Church 
 of England ; and also, ihat a generation ago, in 
 some of our Colonies, Episcopal Presbyters had 
 authority to confirm in the absence of Bishops. 
 
 ^ Sir H. MoncreifF says this practice was kept up in seme 
 parishes in 1818. — Life of Erskine, p. 72, 
 2 Life and Times of Bishop Torry, p. 34. 
 
86 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 There is nothing in the Directory bearing on 
 the reception of Catechumens, and that this has 
 been felt to be a serious omission wherever the 
 Westminster Standards have been received, is 
 evident from the many attempts that have been 
 made to supply what is wanting. A paragraph 
 on the subject was prepared, which it was pro- 
 posed to introduce as a rubric before the form 
 for the administration of the Lord's Supper ; but 
 on all questions affecting the qualifications for 
 Church membership, and the exercise of Chris- 
 tian discipline, the Presbyterians had to encoun- 
 ter the opposition, both of the Independents and 
 the Erastians, and the paragraph, if adopted by 
 the Assembly, was rejected by the House of Com- 
 mons. Henderson describes the Scottish practice 
 as follows : " None are admitted to the Lord's 
 Supper but such as, upon examination, are found 
 to have a competent measure of knowledge in 
 the grounds of the Christian religion and the 
 doctrine of the Sacraments, and are able, accord- 
 ing to the Apostle's commandment, and profess 
 themselves willing, to examine themselves and 
 to renew their covenant made with God in 
 Baptism ; promising to walk as becometh Chris- 
 tians, and to submit themselves to all the ordin- 
 ances of Christ." And we find Leighton, whose 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. Si 
 
 great desire was to restore old Scottish usages, 
 both as a minimum admitting of no reduction, 
 and as less likely to give offence than any Epis- 
 copal ceremonies, urging his Clergy in 1668 to 
 cause young people at their first admission to the 
 Holy Communion, "expressly to declare their 
 belief of the Christian faith into which, in their 
 infancy, they were baptized, and reminding them 
 of that their baptismal vow, and the great en- 
 gagement it lays on them to a holy and Christian 
 life ; to require of them an explicit owning of that 
 vow and engagement, and their solemn promise 
 accordingly to endeavour the observing and per- 
 formance of it in the whole course of their fol- 
 lowing life." ^ 
 
 The section on the Eeception of Catechumens 
 in the Larger Overtures of 1705, to which I have 
 already referred, is as follows : " At the first ad- 
 mission of any to the Lord's Supper, Ministers 
 should put the persons to be admitted in mind of 
 their parents' engagement for them in Baptism, 
 and put them explicitly and personally to renew 
 their baptismal covenant to be the Lord's, and to 
 live unto Him, and serve Him all the days of 
 their lives." In 1706 the Assembly passed an 
 Act of this import, and there has been no legis- 
 
 1 Synod Register, pp. 63, 64. 
 
88 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 lation on the subject since. The Act recom- 
 mends Ministers " to take as strict a trial as can 
 be of such as they admit to the Lord's Supper, 
 especially before their first admission thereto; 
 and that they diligently instruct them particu- 
 larly as to the covenant of grace, and the nature 
 and end of that ordinance, as a seal thereof, and 
 charge upon their consciences the obligations 
 they lie under from their baptismal covenant, and 
 seriously exhort them to renew the same." Dur- 
 ing last century faithful Clergymen attached great 
 importance to such a service, and many of them 
 were in the habit of putting formal questions to 
 the Catechumens, and receiving them with suit- 
 able prayers and exhortations in the presence of 
 the Session, and such of the congregation as chose 
 to remain. Boston moved in the Church Courts 
 with the view of having a form of admission sanc- 
 tioned by authority, but without success. He con- 
 demns the general practice as faulty ; but for himself 
 he tells us that after sermon he '' called in his new 
 communicants, and, before the Session, put them 
 explicitly to consent to the covenant whereof they 
 desired the seal, and that he proposed to them " a 
 series of questions, preserved in his Autobiography, 
 "to which they consented by bowing their heads." ^ 
 
 1 Autobiography, p. 429. 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 89 
 
 And Gerard of Aberdeen, speaking for a differ- 
 ent part of the country, and a different style of 
 churchmanship, after recommending the Clergy, 
 " not only in private, but in as public a manner 
 as they found convenient," to require Catechumens 
 "to make solemn profession of their embracing 
 the Christian faith for themselves, and to vow that 
 they will live suitably to it, renouncing the sins 
 which they have formerly indulged, and promising 
 to live henceforth as becomes Christians," adds, 
 " This is practised by some Ministers with good 
 success, and a very great effect."^ The whole 
 practical system of the Church is based on the 
 baptismal covenant entered by the child, and 
 accepted by the young person, and the acceptance 
 should be as formal and explicit as the engage- 
 ment itself. This has been so generally neglected, 
 that I fear even the idea of it is lost in many 
 cases, and that the results have been very injuri- 
 ous to the interests of the Church, and of religion 
 itself. I have frequently heard members of the 
 Church in different parts of the world speak with 
 dissatisfaction of the way in which they had been 
 prepared for and admitted to the Communion, 
 and of their surprise and disappointment at the 
 absence of those solemnities which they had ex- 
 
 1 Pastoral Care, p. 381. 
 
90 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 pected ill connection with it. Thanks be to God, 
 the better practice, which in some districts never 
 went out, is reviving and extending, and the ad- 
 mission of young communicants is now receiving 
 something of the prominence which is assigned to 
 it in other Eeformed Churches, among whom it is 
 regarded as a matter of great interest, not only to 
 the applicants themselves, and to their families, 
 but to the whole community. The Eeformed 
 Liturgies all contain prescribed forms for the 
 service ; while in several of the offshoots of our 
 own Church in America and the Colonies, the 
 questions to be asked have the sanction of the 
 highest ecclesiastical Courts, and are put in all 
 cases. 
 
 Instruction heforeliand. — It is the Minister's 
 first duty to train the candidates until satisfied 
 as to their religious knowledge. As it is of great 
 importance that Catechumens should be under 
 special instruction for a lengthened period, it is 
 not advisable to admit them more than once or 
 twice a-year, however frequently the Lord's Sup- 
 per may be administered. In Geneva the special 
 instruction lasts for a year, the classes meeting 
 twice a-week. Boys usually enter these classes 
 at the age of sixteen, and girls at fifteen, and they 
 are admitted before the Easter and September 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 91 
 
 Communions. For a long period after the Eefor- 
 mation it was usual to admit young people to the 
 Lord's Supper at an earlier age than is common 
 now, or than we would think advisable. The 
 French Church, which in the days of its glory 
 and prosperity was a standard to the rest of the 
 Eeformed, fixed twelve as the earliest age at 
 which it was suitable to receive them ; and in 
 Scotland we find that James Melville and John 
 Livingstone became communicants about that 
 age, in accordance, apparently, with what was 
 customary among the children of pious families. 
 
 No pains should be spared to impress Catechu- 
 mens with the solemnity of the step they are 
 taking, and the necessity of their giving them- 
 selves wholly and heartily to the Lord. This is 
 the best, and unfortunately almost the only, 
 opportunity which the Clergy now have of per- 
 sonal spiritual dealing with many of those who 
 are under their pastoral care, and a solemn 
 responsibility rests upon them to improve it to 
 the utmost. The influence of a first communion 
 usually tells powerfully for good or for evil 
 throughout life. We ought not, however, to 
 forget that one of the points of difference betwixt 
 the Church and the Sect is, that the former admits 
 to the Lord's Supper on credible evidence of the 
 
92 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 sincerity of the profession made, while the latter 
 professes definitely to separate " the precious from 
 the vile," and only receives those of whose spir- 
 itual regeneration it is certain. Nothing can 
 exceed for strength of language the terms in 
 which the Reformers and our leading Divines of 
 former days denounced this principle of judging 
 the heart. Calvin said it broke up the Church 
 into "little sects of a few hypocrites." Luther 
 said, " May God preserve us from a Church in 
 which there are none but saints " — i.e., which lays 
 claim to absolute purity of communion ; while 
 Rutherford, in discussing the same subject, goes 
 the length of asserting that there might be a true 
 Church without a true Christian in it. 
 
 It is also necessary, especially in these times, 
 when there are so many unbaptized persons in 
 the community, and so much moving to and fro, 
 to make particular inquiries as to the Baptism of 
 the candidates. Not a few cases have occurred 
 within my knowledge where young people were 
 on the verge of being admitted to the Communion 
 without having been baptized, and I have known 
 instances where this has actually taken place. 
 Should such an unfortunate circumstance occur, 
 it would be the Minister's duty to treat as null 
 what had been done in ignorance, and to admin- 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 93 
 
 ister the initiatory rite of Christianity with the 
 least possible delay. Justin Martyr says : " It 
 is not lawful for any one to partake of the sacra- 
 mental food except he be baptized." And in the 
 Apostolic Constitutions it is enjoined that " if 
 any one should be a participator in ignorance, he 
 should be immediately instructed and baptized, 
 that he might not go away a despiser." Yet, to 
 my knowledge, several cases have recently oc- 
 curred where young people who had been admit- 
 ted to the Communion unbaptized, and who after- 
 wards came to their Pastors in much anxiety of 
 mind to ask their advice, were assured by them 
 that Baptism was quite unnecessary in such cir- 
 cumstances; that the greater included the less; 
 and that, being already in the Church, it was 
 absurd that they should go out for the sake of 
 coming in again. I need hardly say that the 
 Church, as a whole, and our own Church through 
 the greater part of its history, would have regarded 
 such advice as subversive of the first principles 
 of Christianity.^ 
 
 The Minister, after instructing the young com- 
 
 ^ The general principle is not affected by the fact that there 
 are one or two cases on record where the early Church, on dis- 
 covering that communicants of long standing had received 
 heretical baptism, the validity of which was doubtful, did not 
 insist on the repetition of the ordinance. 
 
94 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 miinicants, should submit their names to the Ses- 
 sion, and inquire of those whose duty it is to 
 assist him in discipline, whether their character 
 and conduct, so far as known to them, are such 
 as becometh Christians. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 Their formal reception should take place if pos- 
 sible in Church after sermon on the week-day of 
 preparation for the Lord's Supper. This gives 
 them an opportunity of confessing Christ before 
 men, and of receiving the benefit of the united 
 prayers of the congregation, both of which they 
 will esteem high privileges if their hearts are 
 right with God. It is also their public introduc- 
 tion to the congregation, and in this aspect it is 
 alike full of interest to themselves and to those 
 in whose ranks they then take their place. 
 
 Their names having been read out by the 
 Minister, they should come forward, and stand 
 in front of the pulpit or Communion Table. 
 
 Vows. — After a short introduction, referring to 
 the circumstances in which they are placed, and 
 to the service in which they are about to take 
 part, the Minister should ask such questions as 
 the following : — 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 95 
 
 " Whether they believe the Articles of the 
 Christian faith into which they, were baptized? 
 Whether they own and accept their baptismal 
 covenant, consecrating themselves to Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, and promising to submit to all 
 the ordinances of Christ's appointment, and to 
 serve Him in holiness and righteousness all the 
 days of their life?" 
 
 The questions in the form for Adult Baptism 
 printed by authority of the General Assembly, 
 with a few verbal changes, serve for this purpose 
 also. 
 
 When they have given their assent by bowing 
 their heads, or by verbal answer, the Minister 
 should, in the ISTame of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 admit them to the participation of the Lord's 
 Supper, and to all the privileges of the new 
 covenant. 
 
 Tlie Blessing. — This may be accompanied by a 
 solemn blessing, such as the following : " The very 
 God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God 
 your whole spirit, and soul, and body be pre- 
 served blameless unto the coming of Our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." ^ 
 
 ^ Among the Reformed in some countries the Blessing is 
 given with imposition of hands, Calvin, speaking of Confir- 
 mation, says, ' ' This laying on of hands, which is done simply 
 hy way of benediction, I commend, and would like to see re- 
 
96 ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 
 
 Prayer. — The Minister should then commend 
 them to God in prayer, giving thanks on their 
 behalf that they have been spared to own their 
 baptismal covenant, and on behalf of the Church 
 to which He has given the joy of receiving them 
 into full communion; and beseeching Him to 
 forgive all their past sins, graciously to accept 
 them now dedicating themselves to Him, and to 
 shed down upon them the sevenfold gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost, that they may be enabled to fulfil 
 their vows, and remain faithful to the end. 
 
 Exhortation. — A short exhortation, very similar 
 to that given in cases of Adult Baptism, should be 
 added. Suitable materials for these prayers and 
 exhortations are furnished by the Eeformed Litur- 
 gies, and by the Book prepared by the Church 
 Service Society. 
 
 Such a service is fitted to have a most solem- 
 nising effect upon the Catechumens, and upon the 
 still younger members of the congregation who 
 look forward to it as awaiting them in due time ; 
 while it also serves to remind older people of 
 their obligations, and to encourage them by the 
 prospect of help in their Christian labours. 
 
 stored to its pure use in the present day." — Inst,, Book iv. 
 chap. xix. sec. 4. 
 
ADMISSION OF CATECHUMENS. 97 
 
 It is almost certain, too, that if such observ- 
 ances had been common throughout the land in 
 time past, and had been regarded as the rule of 
 the Church, that most unchristian state of things 
 which exists in some parts of the Highlands, 
 where none but a few old people are communi- 
 cants, and where those who have not accepted 
 their own Baptism act as Sponsors for children, 
 could not possibly have arisen. Bunsen some- 
 where says, that in times of irreligion and un- 
 belief Confirmation saved the German Church; 
 and most assuredly the more attention that is 
 paid to the training of Catechumens, and the 
 more solemn their admission to the renewal of 
 their baptismal covenant, the better will it be for 
 the Church, and for religion in our land.^ 
 
 ^ It is now becoming common to give young Communicants 
 First Communion Cards, containing the name of the Church, 
 their own name, and date of admission, with a suitable motto- 
 text which they may recall throughout their whole lives. 
 
98 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 The subject of Lecture to-day is, The Administra- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper, that chief ordinance of 
 the Church, in which, united with Christ in His 
 work of Intercession within the veil, we represent 
 and plead before the Father His Sacrifice once 
 offered on the Cross, make " a spiritual oblation 
 of all possible praise for the same," feed upon Him 
 risen and glorified, and witness for Him before 
 the world. This holiest of services has been cele- 
 brated by the faithful, from age to age, with great 
 delight; and around it the choicest treasures of 
 devotion have been gathered. 
 
 Frequeyicy of Communion. — The Directory says 
 that the " Communion is frequently to be cele- 
 brated," so frequently, it is implied, as to super- 
 sede the necessity of a previous intimation. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 99 
 
 The greatest Protestant Divines have always 
 favoured a more frequent celebration of the Lord's 
 Supper than they have been able to carry out. 
 Calvin says: "AVe ought always to provide that 
 no meeting of the Church is held without . . . 
 the dispensation of the Supper," and that " most 
 assuredly the custom which prescribes Com- 
 munion once a-year is an invention of the devil/' ^ 
 Bucer says : " I could wish that all would com- 
 municate at the Table of the Lord every Lord's 
 Day." It would be easy to multiply testimonies 
 to the same effect. Thus Baxter, who on such 
 subjects may be taken as a fair representative 
 of the English Presbyterians in his time, says : 
 " The Lord's Supper is a part of the settled order 
 for Lord's Day worship, and omitting it maimetli 
 and altereth the worship of the day." There can 
 be no doubt that the Apostolic Church observed 
 it every Sunday ; and that it was regarded as the 
 chief feature of Public Worship, is evident from 
 the expression of Scripture, that the believers came 
 together — not to hear sermons, or offer prayers — 
 but to " break bread." This long continued to be 
 the practice of the Church, and the Primitive 
 Liturgies are simply forms for its administration. 
 There can be little doubt, too, that infrequent 
 
 1 Institutes, Book iv. chap. xvii. sec. 44, 46. 
 
100 THE HOLY COMMUNIOX. 
 
 communion, and the withholding the cup from 
 the laity, had very much to do with the develop- 
 ment of other forms of absolution which have 
 no foundation in Scripture. No feature of the 
 Apostolic Church can be defaced or displaced with- 
 out the danger of its avenging itself in general 
 derangement and disproportion ; and therefore, 
 one should always testify for what is primitive 
 and apostolical, even when obliged to submit to 
 an imperfect order. There is every reason to 
 think that it was meant that Christ's death 
 should be commemorated at a Communion Table 
 as frequently and regularly as it had been fore- 
 shadowed in the sacrifices of the altar during the 
 former dispensation. 
 
 After the Eeformation, the Lord's Supper ap- 
 pears, from a Eubric in the Book of Common 
 Order, to have been celebrated in Scotland at 
 first monthly. In 1562 it was ordered to be 
 observed in the Country at least twice, and in 
 Towns at least four times in the year. This, how- 
 ever, represented much more than two or four 
 annual celebrations, as it was long the custom to 
 have separate administrations on the same day, — 
 the first sometimes as early as five o'clock in the 
 morninfr, — and to continue this for several Sun- 
 days in succession, as is still the practice in 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 101 
 
 Holland. After a time, notwithstanding all in- 
 junctions to the contrary, what Calvin called the 
 invention of the evil one prevailed, and even this 
 low standard was not always reached. During 
 the troubles of the Commonwealth, the Lord's 
 Supper is said to have been neglected for years 
 in many Parishes of the three Kingdoms.^ After 
 the Eestoration there was little or no improve- 
 ment in Scotland. Anderson of Dumbarton 
 states that in his Presbytery it was celebrated 
 three times oftener within the twelve years pre- 
 vious to 1714 than it had been during the twenty- 
 eight years of the Second Episcopacy.^ After the 
 Pievolution, attempts were made to bring the prac- 
 tice of the Church into greater conformity with 
 its own regulations, but they were neither gener- 
 ally successful nor lasting. One section of the 
 Clergy seem to have regarded the Lord's Supper 
 very much in the light of a service, in which 
 Christians made a public profession that they 
 
 1 Durel's Government and Public Worship in the Eeformed 
 Churches beyond the Seas, p. 44. 
 
 ' ' The Blessed Sacrament now wholly out of use in the Par- 
 ish Churches." — Evelyn's Diary, Dec. 18, 1649. 
 
 In July 1655, the Communion was administered in Edin- 
 burgh the first time after an interval of six years. — Nicol's 
 Diary. 
 
 - Defence of the Church Government, &c., of the Presby- 
 terians, p. 318. 
 
102 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 were the people of God, and they naturally enough 
 concluded that it was not necessary to repeat this 
 except at considerable intervals. Others regarded 
 it with such superstitious awe that they shrank 
 from frequent celebration. A story is told of a 
 Clergyman in the North who spent seven years 
 in preaching on the subject, by way of preparing 
 his people for it ; and, after it was over, other 
 seven years in improving it. Scott, in his ' Fasti,' 
 mentions the case of a Clergyman, so late as the 
 early part of this century, who " had never wit- 
 nessed the dispensation of the Communion till he 
 was called to officiate in his ministerial capacity." ^ 
 The best of the Clergy all along mourned over 
 the prevalent disregard of our Lord's last com- 
 mand ; and in 1748 the Synod of Glasgow and 
 Ayr, on the motion of one of the most eminent 
 and faithful Ministers of the time — Dr John 
 Erskine, afterwards of the Greyfriars' Church, 
 Edinburgh, — overtured the Assembly to enjoin 
 that it should be observed four times, at the least, 
 annually in every Parish ; that preparation ser- 
 vices should be held only on one week-day ; and 
 that it should be administered on the same Sun- 
 day in all the Parishes of each Presbytery. After 
 a century and a quarter, we are now approaching 
 
 1 Tart ii. p. 443. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 103 
 
 this standard, and every Clergyman should do his 
 best to reach it. All experience shows that the 
 commemoration of the Lord's death is the most 
 effective preaching of the Cross ; and if the Com- 
 munion conveys spiritual nourishment, and is 
 needful for the increase of holiness, as all Chris- 
 tians believe, infrequent participation must neces- 
 sarily involve loss of grace. It is the general 
 practice of the Eeformed Churches to have it at 
 least quarterly ; and wherever this has been re- 
 stored in our own Country, it is greatly appreci- 
 ated by the most devout members of our flocks. 
 The matter is entirely in the hands of the Clergy, 
 as the Assembly so late as 1878 decided that 
 " The administration of the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper, according to the settled order and 
 practice of this Church, belongs to the Minister 
 of the Parish, subject only to the control of his 
 Presbytery, upon sufficient grounds shown." 
 
 Preparatory Services. — The Directory says that 
 where the Lord's Supper cannot "be frequently 
 administered, it is requisite that public warning 
 be given the Sabbath-day before the administra- 
 tion thereof; and that either then, or on some 
 day of that week, something concerning that ordi- 
 nance, and the due preparation thereunto aud par- 
 ticipation thereof, be taught." From Henderson 
 
(/- 
 
 104 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 we learn that, according to the previous Scottish 
 practice, " The doctrine of preparation was taught 
 the last day of the week, — at least towards the end 
 of the week ; " and in the Act supplementary to 
 the Directory passed by our Assembly in 1645, it 
 is ordered " That there be a service of preparation 
 delivered in the ordinary place of Public Worship 
 ' upon the day immediately preceding the Com- 
 ^f^ munion." This injunction has not been revived 
 since 1690 ; but it is important, as expressing 
 the mind of the Church during the Covenanting 
 period, and it is also in harmony with the prac- 
 tice of the Eeformed Churches. A service of 
 preparation is suitable in all circumstances ; and 
 it affords an opportunity also for the admission 
 of young communicants, and making other pre- 
 liminary arrangements. 
 
 There is no authority for Fast Days before the 
 observance of the Lord's Supper in the legisla- 
 tion of the Church, though the practice of receiv- 
 ing the Communion fasting is almost as old as 
 Christianity, and was common in some parts of 
 Scotland till a generation ago. The extra days — 
 first Monday, and afterwards the Fast Day, with 
 multiplied services — were introduced by the Pro- 
 testers during the anarchy that prevailed in tlie 
 time of the Usurper, and were strongly disap- 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 105 
 
 proved of by the Eesolutioners as " a clear viola- 
 tion of the order unanimously established in the 
 Church," and as occasioning " great animosity and 
 alienation of simple people against their Ministers 
 who would not imitate those irregular courses." ^ 
 It is to be borne in mind, however, that daily 
 prayers in Church, with sermons twice a-week, 
 had previously been common in all the towns 
 and villages, and that it was also usual to assemble 
 the people for examination before the Communion. 
 For this purpose they came to the Church in re- 
 lays during the days of the preceding week. This 
 w^as quite a different thing from the ordinary 
 diets of Catechising throughout the year. It had 
 taken the place of confession before Easter in the 
 Pre-Eeformation Church, and there was a general 
 feeling that unless people underwent this exam- 
 ination they were not to participate in the Com- 
 munion. Calvin, indeed, had been anxious for a 
 private examination, and for a time partially suc- 
 ceeded in carrying it out. " I have often told 
 you," he writes to Farel, "that I should have 
 thought it unwise to abolish confession in our 
 churches, unless the rite which I have lately in- 
 
 ^ For notices of pamphlets by Eesolutioners on this subject, 
 see Dr John Erskine's Dissertation on Frequent Communicat- 
 ing, pp. 310, 311 ; also, Book of Common Order and Directory, 
 by Sprott and Leishman, p. 349. 
 
106 THE HOLY COMMUNIOX. 
 
 troduced be established in its place " — viz., " a 
 personal and private interview with the Pastor 
 previous to each sacramental occasion." ^ 
 
 For a long period after the Eefomiation, a 
 special meeting was also held in our Churches on 
 one of the days of the week preceding the Com- 
 munion, for the removal of offences and the recon- 
 ciliation of Church members who had been at 
 variance. All these extra services have been 
 discontinued. As we have now so few meetings 
 for worship, and as Fast Days before Communion 
 are almost the only public recognition left of 
 Fasting as a divine institution, I see no good 
 reason for giving them up, although better arrange- 
 ments might be made for their observance. Fast 
 Days are only kept before one, or at most two, 
 Communions during the year, and when retained, 
 they render any other day of preparation unneces- 
 sary. On such days both the devotions and the 
 sermon should be strictly appropriate to the oc- 
 casion, and should be helpful to people who are 
 anxious to make a worthy approach to the Holy 
 Table. The practice of Ministers from a distance 
 I)reaching their most popular sermons at such 
 times, without any regard to their suitableness 
 for seasons of penitence and humiliation, has, 
 
 1 See Eutaxia, p. 19. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 107 
 
 I think, had no little to do with emptying our 
 Churches on Fast Days. Here, as in everything 
 else, and most of all in ministerial duty, there is 
 no rule like that of seeking first the kingdom of 
 God and His rigliteousness. 
 
 Belcdion to the ordinary Sunday Service. — The 
 Communion service, according to the Directory, is 
 to follow the Morning Sermon and Prayer. The 
 Westminster Divines, for two days, discussed 
 the question whether the Benediction should be 
 pronounced at the close of the ordinary service, 
 and non-communicants then be dismissed. The 
 Scottish Commissioners defended the custom of 
 their own Church, which was the same as at pre- 
 sent, but no decision was come to. It is very 
 important to follow, as closely as possible, the 
 order of the Primitive Church, according to which 
 the Communion and preceding services were re- 
 garded as ojie, and the whole as the normal wor- 
 ship of the Lord's Day. And as thanksgiving is 
 so prominent a feature of the Communion that 
 it came to be called the Eucharist, and as the 
 Lord's Prayer should be used at the close of the 
 Consecration prayer, it is best to omit both before 
 the sermon, and to retain only the short interven- 
 ing prayer for illumination. This has. the further 
 advanta(:je of shortening the services of a Com- 
 
108 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 mimion Sunday, which were formerly prolonged 
 to a most unedifying length. It is now coming 
 to be felt that devotion, rather than instruction, 
 should be the great feature of such days, and that 
 even the action sermon should be shorter, rather 
 than longer, than other discourses. I need not 
 remark further on the ordinary service, except 
 that special Psalms and Hymns should be chosen, 
 and that all should bear on the great theme with 
 w^hich the hearts of devout communicants are 
 full. Those sacramental Psalms and Paraphrases 
 which have been long in use in particular locali- 
 ties, come to be associated with the most sacred 
 personal and family recollections of the people, 
 and it is wise and edifying to choose them in 
 preference to others not less suitable. 
 
 Exhortation to the Congregation. — Before com- 
 mencing the Communion Service, " the Minister," 
 says the Directory, " shall make a short exhorta- 
 tion," setting forth the inestimable benefits con- 
 ferred by that holy ordinance, the necessity of 
 coming to it with right dispositions, and the dan- 
 ger of partaking unworthily. He is then, in the 
 name of Christ, to warn all those who are living 
 in any sin against their knowledge or conscience, 
 that they presume not to approach the Holy 
 Table ; and on the other hand, he is, in an especial 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 109 
 
 manner, to invite and encourage the truly peni- 
 tent to draw near, assuring them of the richest 
 blessings. 
 
 The compilers of the Directory, when they said 
 shorty meant it. It was their intention that the 
 words indicated by them, which are partly taken 
 from the English Liturgy and the Book of 
 Common Order, should form the basis of a few 
 sentences of instruction, warning, and invitation. 
 In Knox's Book, as in other Eeformed Liturgies, 
 this exhortation formed part of the. address after 
 reading the words of Institution. Calderwood, 
 in the minute description which he has given in 
 the Altarc Damascenum of a Scottish Commun- 
 ion, as observed for the first sixty years after the 
 Eeformation, says, — '' The Minister, when the 
 sermon is finished, reads the words of institution, 
 gives a short exhortation and admonition, then 
 blesses;" but Henderson, writing twenty years 
 later, describes the practice as similar to that pre- 
 scribed by the Directory. This address came to 
 be popularly known as the Fencing of the Table. 
 Under the new spirit which entered the Church 
 in Henderson's time, it soon ceased to be short, 
 the invitation was in a great measure lost sight 
 of, and its most prominent feature came to be a 
 series of debarrations beginning thus: "I debar 
 
110 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 from the Table of the Lord " such and such a class. 
 A number of years ago, when what had been 
 long called the consuetudinary law of the Church 
 began to break down, and when the spirit of in- 
 novation assailed even the written law, some 
 Clergymen discontinued this part of the service 
 altogether. I do not know how far this has 
 gone, but it is not uncommon to hear men say 
 that they fence the Table on the previous Sunday, 
 and that they consider it unreasonable to intro- 
 duce such an exhortation after the communicants 
 have taken their places at the Lord's Table. In 
 point of fact, formerly they never did take their 
 seats till they were invited, in the name of Christ, 
 to do so ; and these Ministers have overlooked 
 the original idea of this address, which was 
 more that of an invitation to the Lord's Table 
 than of a debarration from it. The biographer of 
 an eminent Dissenting Minister gives the follow- 
 incT account of " fencing " the Table : " The his- 
 tory of this unseasonable interruption is simply 
 this, — At the origin of the Secession great multi- 
 tudes left the Established Church who could not 
 obtain the necessary certificates of Church mem- 
 bership, and the resort of the conscientious Seced- 
 in" Pastor was to this practice." ^ If the writer 
 1 Life of Dr Lawson of Selkirk, y. 81. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. HI 
 
 had looked into the Directory, he would not have 
 resorted to this method of making history. 
 
 The exhortation before the Communion was 
 considered of importance by all the Eeformed 
 Churches, both as a warning to the unworthy, 
 and still more as including an invitation, in the 
 name of Christ, to all the faithful to draw near to 
 His Table. Moreover, it was regarded as a notable 
 example of a binding and loosing service ; and 
 hence the warnings and invitations were usually 
 prefaced by our Clergy in former days, with 
 such words as these : " By virtue of the Keys of 
 the Kingdom of Heaven committed to His Min- 
 isters/' &C.1 
 
 The omission of such an exhortation is con- 
 trary to the law and practice of the Church ; and 
 the reasons assigned for it would tend to the 
 cutting down of all religious services, and to a 
 very irreverent mode of celebrating them. Even 
 the modern practice of people taking their seats 
 at the Lord's Table at the commencement of 
 Public Worship is unknown in the other Ee- 
 formed Churches, and would have been consid- 
 ered highly objectionable by our own Church 
 in former days. They should wait till they are 
 
 ^ See, e.g., Spalding's Communion Sermons and Services, 
 p. 192. 
 
112 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 invited by Christ's Ambassador, in His IMaster's 
 name, to do so. 
 
 In the Directory and Knox's Liturgy you will 
 find suitable material for this short preliminary 
 address. The first part of the exhortation in 
 Knox's Book is also given verbatim in the 
 English Prayer -Book; and these memorials of 
 the days when the English Church was con- 
 sidered one with the rest of the Eeformed, have 
 an interest for all who regret the subsequent 
 alienation, and who would rejoice to see it re- 
 moved. 
 
 When tliis exhortation is finished, the Minister 
 gives out a Psalm or Hymn, and intimates that 
 while it is being sung the communion elements 
 will be brought forward, and the first company 
 of communicants will take their places at the 
 Lord's Table. It is also usual for those who do 
 not intend remaining to the close then to retire, 
 and it w^ould be well if it were the custom for 
 all intending communicants to come as near as 
 possible to the Holy Table,^ so as to join the 
 more heartily and unitedly in all the parts of the 
 service. The 35th Paraphrase is commonly 
 
 1 This is the name used in the early Liturgies, and in the 
 Greek Churcli. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNIOX. 113 
 
 sung at tins time, and nothing could be more 
 appropriate. 
 
 ^Tjje Communion ^erbfce. 
 
 1. Wo7rIs of Institutio7i. — Having taken his 
 place at the Holy Table " decently covered," with 
 the communion elements before him, " the bread 
 in comely and convenient vessels," "the wine in 
 large cups," the Minister begins the service by 
 reading the Words of Institution out of the First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter xi., verses 
 23, 24, 25, 26. These words St Paul re- 
 ceived from the Lord Jesus, Who, not content 
 with allowing this Apostle, who had been born 
 out of due time, to receive instruction as to the 
 Sacrament from St Peter or St John, made it 
 the subject of special revelation to him, after He 
 was risen and glorified. Hence the Church has 
 always regarded these as the Words of Institu- 
 tion in their " perfect form," to use an expression 
 of the First Book of Discipline. In Knox's 
 Liturgy the 27th, 28th, and 29 th verses are 
 also ordered to be read. This was because the 
 call to self-examination did not form part of a 
 preliminary address, but followed the AVords of 
 Institution according to that Order. But the 
 
114 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 Directory very properly omits these verses, 
 because they are St Paul's words, not our.Loi^d's, 
 and because they have already been considered 
 in the previous exhortation from the pulpit. 
 
 Explanation of the Words of Institution. — After 
 reading the Words of Institution, " the Minister," 
 says the Directory, " when he seeth requisite, 
 may explain and apply them." Such an address, 
 though optional, is customary, and a few sentences 
 on the topics indicated are highly appropriate. 
 They serve to bring out the most striking and 
 beautiful characteristic of our Communion Ser- 
 vice — viz., that it is so eminently scriptural. Our 
 Lord bids us do as He did. His Ministers are 
 but the instruments He employs to repeat His 
 actions, to pronounce His blessing, and to speak 
 His words, and that form must be the most per- 
 fect which is in most complete accordance with 
 His example. 
 
 2. The first Action. — The first Action is taking 
 the elements to be consecrated. This consists in 
 the Minister's putting his hands on them, or, as 
 was formerly the practice, taking and elevating 
 the cups and the patens, or a part for the whole. 
 In the Book of Common Order, it is said, " Then 
 he taheth bread and giveth thanks." This is not 
 mentioned in the Directory, but great significance 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 115 
 
 was attached to it in our Church, and the old 
 rule was long scrupulously observed. Boston 
 says, " Nothing is more distinctly mentioned than 
 this ; " and he, in common with our older Divines, 
 held that it represented the Father setting apart 
 the Son to the office of Mediator. Lifting, as this 
 Action was called, began to be given up in some 
 of the Churches of Edinburgh about 1740 ; and 
 the innovation infected the Seceders, among whom 
 it gave rise to a violent controversy betwixt 
 Lifters and Antilifters — the former holding the 
 Action essential, the latter regarding it as indif- 
 ferent. The dispute ended in a schism and the 
 formation of a new sect ; but the basis was found 
 too narrow to exist upon, and the Lifters soon 
 disappeared as a separate community. A friend 
 of mine used to tell of a visit which he paid to one 
 of the last representatives of this sect. Having 
 asked him, Why he went to no place of worship ? 
 and Whether he did not think that there was still 
 a Visible Church upon earth ? the venerable con- 
 fessor drew himself up with a mixture of dignity 
 and indignation, and replied, " There's ae auld 
 man here. Sir." Though practically left an open 
 question in the Church, the best school of the 
 Clergy retained the custom on principle, and 
 down almost to our own day, were careful to 
 
116 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 recommend it to young men admitted to the 
 Ministry. Probably a majority of the clergy still 
 adhere to the old practice, simply from the force 
 of example, and some hold the cup and a piece 
 of the bread in their hands during the conse- 
 cration prayer. This was also an old usage, as 
 appears, for example, from the funeral sermon 
 of the celebrated Dr Webster, the leader of the 
 Evangelical party in the last century, in which it 
 is said, " Follow him next to a Communion Table, 
 holding in his hands the sacramental pledges of 
 the broken body and shed blood of the Eedeemer, 
 and by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, 
 setting them apart from a common to a sacred 
 use." This practice is recommended, I may add, 
 in the American revision of our Directory. I 
 have frequently met with clergymen who thought 
 that lifting meant the elevation of the elements 
 after the consecration immediately before distri- 
 bution, and that it was upon that point the con- 
 troversy turned. Some years ago I was present 
 at the Communion in a very old-fashioned Church, 
 where several old-fashioned and decidedly anti- 
 innovating Ministers assisted a young man who 
 had temporary charge of the Parish. When he 
 proceeded to take the elements before the con- 
 secration prayer, having learned the usage from 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 117 
 
 his father, and having never known of any other 
 way, quite a panic seized the venerable assistants, 
 and one of them stopped him, supposing that he 
 had forgotten the prayer, and was about to dis- 
 tribute without it. 
 
 As w^e cannot adhere too closely to our Lord's 
 example, this Action should not be omitted, but 
 it is best not to do more than touch the elements, 
 or raise them for a moment. 
 
 3. Consecration Fraycr. — The Minister then 
 offers the Consecration Prayer, which is so called 
 from one of its most essential features. Accord- 
 ing to our order, this prayer embraces the following- 
 topics, — a profession of our faith; confession of 
 sin and un worthiness, with prayer for pardon and 
 peace; the great thanksgiving; and last of all, the 
 consecration. In the Directory the profession of 
 faith forms the second section of the prayer ; but 
 it is now not uncommon to begin with this, and 
 to use, for the purpose, the Creed, introducing it 
 thus : " With Thy Holy Church throughout all 
 the world we believe in Thee, the Father Almighty, 
 Maker of heaven and earth ; " or, " Strengthen us, 
 Lord, in the Christian Faith, whereof we make 
 confession, saying, I believe," &c. The profession 
 of faith in the Directory, like some other features 
 in that work, is apt to be lost sight of, from not 
 
118 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 being sufficiently emphasised. Indeed, in all our 
 Standards, there is a great deal between the lines, 
 and one requires to know the history of the time 
 and its theological literature to be able to read 
 them aright. 
 
 In our Church, as in other branches of the 
 Eeformed, the repetition of the Creed formed part 
 of the ordinary Sunday Service down till the 
 adoption of the Westminster documents; and 
 " this was not only or mainly meant as a help to 
 the memory of the people, but as a solemn pro- 
 fession of their believing the Articles of the 
 Christian Faith, and a quickening of their affec- 
 tions towards the same." The recital of the Nicene 
 Creed was introduced into the Communion Ser- 
 vice of the Church A.D. 471, and in the Eastern 
 Liturgies it precedes the Eucharistic prayer. 
 
 The prayer that follows should be one of in- 
 tense devotion, and the greatest care should be 
 taken to make it as perfect as possible. That 
 given in Euchologion is a compilation from 
 many sources, but it is based ultimately upon the 
 Eastern Liturgies, like the American (German) 
 Eeformed, and Catholic Apostolic Services, from 
 which it is largely borrowed. It embodies some 
 of the richest materials of Christian devotion, and 
 the arrangement is sufficiently in harmony with 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 119 
 
 our traditional service. It begins with a prayer 
 of access, which is more than becoming in the 
 special approach which we then make to God's 
 presence. 
 
 This is followed by the great thanksgiving for 
 all His bounties in creation, providence, and 
 redemption, which ends, like those of the Eastern 
 Liturgies, with the Trisagion or Seraphic Hymn, 
 "Holy, Holy, Holy." 
 
 Then comes the Invocation of the Holy Ghost, 
 or Prayer of Consecration proper, in which, to 
 follow the words of the Directory, we should 
 " earnestly pray to God, the Father of all mercies 
 and God of all consolation, to vouchsafe His 
 gracious presence, and the effectual working of 
 His Spirit in us : and so to sanctify the elements 
 both of bread and wine, and to bless His own 
 ordinance that we may receive by faith the Body 
 and Blood of Jesus Christ." If the Holy Ghost, 
 by whom the whole body of the Church is 
 governed and sanctified, should be honoured in all 
 acts of worship, this is peculiarly essential in the 
 Holy Communion. Such an invocation, together 
 with the recital of the words of institution, have 
 both been widely regarded in the Christian Church 
 as essential to the consecration of the elements. 
 The Church of Eome has indeed long taught that 
 
120 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 the words of institution alone make the Sacra- 
 ment, but this was not the primitive doctrine. 
 The Greeks maintain that in the Latin Church, 
 as well as in the Eastern, the invocation of the 
 Holy Ghost was formerly considered the principal 
 thing ; that it was, after a time, said in secret, in 
 order that heretics might not learn how to con- 
 secrate, and that it fell out of use in the dark 
 ages. They admit that there are passages in the 
 Fathers which seem to attribute the consecration 
 to the words of institution, but say that these 
 only mean that had not our Lord given command 
 to administer the Communion, there would have 
 been no authority for it, and that it would be no 
 Sacrament at all. 
 
 To the form for the administration of the Lord's 
 Supper in Knox's Liturgy, a note is appended 
 disclaiming the idea that the repetition of the 
 words of institution makes the Sacrament; but 
 that form, like those of the other Eeformed 
 Churches at the time, and like the Church of 
 England Liturgy now, wants a distinct invoca- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit. This defect was prob- 
 ably remedied in practice ; at all events we find 
 the antiprelatic section of the Clergy complaining 
 that in it " there was not one word of Lord bless 
 the elements or action," and there is ample evi- 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 121 
 
 dence that our greatest theologians have held both 
 the invocation and the words of institution to be 
 essential. George Gillespie strongly defended the 
 primitive and Eastern view. The English Pres- 
 byterians complained that in the English Liturgy 
 the manner of consecrating the elements was not 
 explicit and distinct enough. The Confession of 
 Eaith, in harmony with the Directory, asserts that 
 Ministers are " to declare the word of institution, 
 to pray, and bless the elements, and thereby to 
 set them apart from a common to an holy use." 
 Boston says: "The elements are consecrated by 
 the word of institution, thanksgiving, and prayer." 
 " The Popish consecration," he adds, " hits not the 
 mark ; for these words, ' This is My Body,' were 
 uttered by our Lord after the consecration." This 
 part of the service is of cardinal importance ; and 
 though we may not think the grace and blessing 
 of the Sacrament dependent on our using an 
 absolutely correct form of words, it is surely best, 
 as it is easy, to use a form which unites the 
 suffrages of Christendom, and which no one can 
 point to as unsatisfactory or insufficient. 
 
 The Lord's Prayer. — Here, as I have already 
 intimated, the Lord's Prayer should be intro- 
 duced — that perfect form which supplies the 
 defects of our own, and which in the shortest 
 
122 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 compass includes everything for which we ought 
 to pray. St Augustine says, "Almost every 
 Church concludes the Canon with the Lord's 
 Prayer;" and the practice had probably been 
 handed down from the days of the Apostles. 
 The fullest application of the words, "Give us 
 this day our daily bread," is to the bread of life, 
 and they have always been said here with a refer- 
 ence to Christ's body and blood, as exhibited in 
 the Communion to be our meat and drink unto 
 life eternal. 
 
 4. The Declaration. — This finished, the Directory 
 orders " that the Minister is, in a few words, to 
 show that these elements, otherwise common, are 
 now set apart and sanctified to this holy use by 
 the word of institution and prayer." As an 
 illustration of the way in which such Eubrics 
 were meant to be obeyed, I may quote the form 
 of this declaration given in the Savoy Liturgy: 
 " This bread and wine being set apart and con- 
 secrated to this holy use by God's appointment, 
 are now no common bread and wine, but sacra- 
 mentally the body and blood of Christ." Such 
 a declaration is now seldom if ever made. The 
 omission probably dates from the latter half of 
 last century, when there was so much Socinian- 
 ism in the country, and when so many emptied 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 123 
 
 the Sacraments of their true meaning. Not 
 without reason did Edward Irving, in a famous 
 charge which he delivered at an ordination by 
 the Presbytery of London, of which he was at 
 the time Moderator, tell the newly appointed 
 Minister to read nothing that had been written 
 on the Sacraments for the preceding hundred 
 years. Going back beyond that period to a 
 better age, we find Boston writing thus of a 
 Communion Service : " The elements, after con- 
 secration, being declared to be no more common 
 bread and wine, but sacred symbols of the body 
 and blood of Christ, I felt in my spirit a sensible 
 change accordingly. I discerned the sacramental 
 union of the signs and the thing signified, and 
 was thereby let into a view of the mystical union. 
 I saw it, I believed it, and I do believe it this 
 day. I do not remember myself ever to have 
 been so distinct in the view and faith of this 
 glorious mystery. . . . This is the second' 
 time I have most remarkably felt that change 
 on my spirit upon the declaring as above said. 
 May I never omit to declare as said is in the 
 administration of that ordinance."^ There is 
 much to be said for a practice enjoined by the 
 Church, and thus proved by experience to be so 
 
 1 Autobiography, p. 296. 
 
124 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 valuable. The great sin of the Corinthian Church 
 was their not discerning the Lord's Body in the 
 Sacrament ; and with such a warning, communi- 
 cants cannot be too carefully guarded against like 
 irreverence and unbelief.^ 
 
 5. Commemoration and Communion. — " The 
 Minister,'' says the Directory, " is to take the Bread 
 in his hand, and say in these expressions (or other 
 the like used hy Christ or His Apostles upon this 
 occasion ") : — 
 
 " According to the holy institution, command, 
 and example of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 I take this Bread, and having given thanks, break 
 it, and give it unto you. 
 
 " Then the Minister, who is also himself to com- 
 municate, is to hreak the Bread, and give it to the 
 Communicants (saying) : — 
 
 1 The Reformed Doctrine as to the Lord's Supper is no longer 
 held by many of the Evangelical School. Views are prevalent 
 which are more negative than those which Calvin characterised 
 as profane. Some years ago at an Irish Episcopal Synod there 
 was a great outcry against Sacramentarianism, whereupon the 
 Bishop said he would like to hear the views of those present on 
 two statements referring to the Lord's Supper, which he would 
 read. The first was received with exclamations of horror, the 
 second met with the heartiest approbation. "Gentlemen," 
 said his Lordship, * * The extract which you repudiate with so 
 much abhorrence is from the writings of one of our most illus- 
 trious Reformers ; and the latter, which you so enthusiastically 
 applaud, is from the works of that Christ - denying heretic 
 Socinus. " 
 
THE HOLY COxMMUNION. 125 
 
 " Take ye, Eat ye : This is the Body of Christ 
 which is broken for you : Do this in remembrance 
 of Him. 
 
 " In like manner the Minister is to take the 
 Cup, and say : . . . 
 
 " According to the institution, command, and 
 example of our Lord Jesus Christ, I take this 
 Cup, and give it unto you. 
 
 '' Here he giveth it to the Commitnicants (saying) : 
 
 *' This Cup is the New Testament in the Blood 
 of Christ, which is shed for the remission of the 
 sins of many : Drink ye all of it." 
 
 Calderwood describes the old Scottish practice 
 thus : " The blessing or thanksgiving ended, the 
 Minister says — Our Lord, on that night on which 
 He was betrayed, took bread, and gave thanks, 
 as we have already done, and break, as T also now 
 break, and gave to His disciples, saying (then he 
 hands it to those nearest on the right and the 
 left) This is my Body," Szc} 
 
 Gillespie gives the same form with a somewhat 
 important addition. " Besides the common bless- 
 ing of the elements in the beginning of the action," 
 he says ; " we give thanks also in the several 
 actions of distribution, saying after this or the 
 like manner : The Lord Jesus, the same night He 
 1 Altare Damascenuni, pp. 777, 778. 
 
126 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 was betrayed, took bread ; and when He had given 
 thanks, as we also give thanks to God who gave 
 His Son to die for us, brake it," &c.; and with 
 the Cup, ''as we also give thanks to God who 
 gave His Son to shed His blood for us."^ He 
 defends this form as an imitation of the example 
 of Christ, who gave thanks severally, both at the 
 giving of the Bread and the giving of the Cup. 
 
 In Henderson's description of the Communion 
 it is said : " The elements being sanctified by the 
 word and prayer, the Minister sacramentally 
 breaketh the Bread, taketh and eateth himself, and 
 delivereth to the people, . . . saying: Take 
 ye, eat ye ; This is the Body of the Lord which 
 is broken for you : Do it in remembrance of Him. 
 After all at the Table have taken and eaten, the 
 Minister taketh the Cup, and drinking first him- 
 self, he giveth it to the nearest, saying," &c. 
 
 Henderson's form more closely resembles the 
 Directory, in many parts of which his hand 
 
 1 English Popish Ceremonies, p. 200. Gillespie's form im- 
 plies that the Words of Institution are to be recited as a prayer, 
 as is done in all Catholic Liturgies ; and that the showing 
 forth of Christ's death is an act done towards God. " In the 
 Eucharist we unite ourselves with that showing forth of His 
 death which Christ is now making in heaven." This is the 
 central fact of Christian worship ; and it was not overlooked 
 by our older Divines, who were in tlie habit of saying, in their 
 Communion services, " We make the remembrance unto God." 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 127 
 
 appears ; but Calderwood's has always been gen- 
 erally followed. 
 
 The Fraction. — Though the whole service shows 
 forth the Lord's Death, which is the primary end 
 of the ordinance, and though partaking is neces- 
 sary to the commemoration, still it is the Fraction 
 which specially symbolises the sacrifice of the 
 Cross, as the slaying of the victims on the altar 
 had foreshadowed it from the foundation of the 
 world. This, as Boston says, is an essential rite 
 of the Sacrament; and he adds the important 
 remark, that " There is not one word of pouring 
 out the wine, though no doubt it was done, 
 because the shedding of Christ's blood is suffi- 
 ciently represented by the breaking of His Body." 
 It was one of the exceptions formerly taken by 
 the English Presbyterians to the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer, that in it the breaking of the bread 
 was not mentioned. This was added at the last 
 revision, but it is inserted before what, according 
 to that form, is the consecration, so that it is the 
 breaking of bread merely, not of Christ's Sacra- 
 mental Body, and is therefore no proper com- 
 memoration of His death. In a different way 
 the Scottish Episcopal OfiBce, strange to say, 
 after all the attention that was bestowed upon it, 
 has the same fundamental defect. In all ancient 
 
128 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 Liturgies, as in our service, the Fraction follows 
 the consecration. 
 
 After this central Action, the Minister, as in 
 the Primitive Church, is to communicate first. 
 This is implied, rather than stated explicitly, in 
 the Directory; but the old Scottish accounts 
 show that the Minister always partook of each 
 element before distributing it. Of all the inno- 
 vations of the present day — innovations properly 
 so called and not restorations — there is none so 
 extraordinary, and so utterly subversive of all the 
 old ideas of the Church, as the practice in some 
 congregations, where simultaneous communion 
 has been introduced, of Elders giving the ele- 
 ments to the Minister. Such a thiug would 
 certainly have shocked all Eeformed Churchmen 
 in other days. The Minister, as representing his 
 Master, gives to all; and what Elders, acting 
 here in the capacity of Deacons, whose proper 
 work it is,^ do, is at most merely to pass on what 
 has been given. 
 
 In distributing, the Minister should adhere 
 scrupulously to our Lord's words, whether he 
 
 ^ *' When the Bishop or Presbyter has offered, the Deacon 
 distributes to the people not as a Priest, but as one that min- 
 isters to the Priest."— Apost. Const., Book viii. chap. 28. At 
 Alexandria the people were allowed to take the bread from the 
 paten. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 129 
 
 follows the narrative form, which appears to be 
 best, or that of the Directory, and should add 
 nothing of his own, whatever he may take from 
 the Liturgies.^ 
 
 The Scottish Commissioners at Westminster 
 defended the practice of giving the Cup imme- 
 diately, against the Independents, who argued 
 that it should not be given till all had received 
 the Bread. 
 
 It appears, also, that they had some difficulty 
 in preventing the insertion of a clause forbidding 
 private devotion before and after receiving the 
 elements. Baillie tells us that this was regarded 
 by the Church of Scotland as a custom both 
 " lawful and laudable," and that it was " the 
 ordinary practice of most, if not all, pastors and 
 people " he was acquainted with. Our best clergy 
 have always represented the Lord's Table as a 
 place of special request, where we come into the 
 immediate presence of the King ; and the godly 
 in our land have been wont to consider before- 
 hand what mercies and blessings they should ask 
 from their Lord and Saviour when admitted to 
 
 1 Nothing can be meaner or in worse taste than expressions 
 such as the following, which one has heard: " I have much 
 pleasure in putting into your hands," &c. ; " Let no words of 
 mine disturb your meditations." 
 
 I 
 
130 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 His banqiieting-liouse, and to the greatest near- 
 ness to Him out of heaven. 
 
 TaUe Addresses. — In the Directory there is no 
 reference to what are called Table Addresses. 
 The supplementary Act of our Assembly of 1645 
 orders " That there be no reading in the time of 
 communicating, but ... a short exhortation at 
 every Table; that thereafter there be silence 
 during the time of the communicants receiving, 
 except only when the Minister expresses some 
 few short sentences . . . that they may be in- 
 cited and quickened in their meditations in the 
 action." 
 
 Down till that period there had been no address 
 previous to giving the elements to the separate 
 companies ; but while the action of eating and 
 drinking lasted, the Minister either addressed 
 those at the Table, or caused the Eeader to read 
 the history of the Passion, according to the Eu- 
 bric of the Book of Common Order. This was 
 usually read from St John's Gospel, beginning at 
 the 13th chapter ; and when the Table was empty- 
 ing and filling, the 103d or 34th Psalm was 
 sung ; and so " by this intercourse of reading and 
 singing, the people were kept in holy exercises 
 till all had communicated." This was the old 
 Scottish Order — one Table, many companies, and 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 131 
 
 no superfluous addresses. All the descriptions 
 show that there was no speaking except while 
 the eating and drinking lasted. As soon as this 
 was finished, the company rose from the Table, 
 and others took their place at once. The com- 
 municants thus passed on in procession, and no 
 more time was taken up than was absolutely- 
 necessary for their receiving the elements ; but 
 after the Westminster Assembly, our Church en- 
 joined one short address before each distribution. 
 Simultaneous Communion was left an open quesr 
 tion by the Directory, much against the wish of 
 the Scottish Commissioners. The discussion 
 turned on the point whether all were to receive 
 at the Table, or whether the elements might be 
 handed to people sitting in pews around it. The 
 debate was long, and sometimes violent. Baillie 
 says : ''To come out of their pews to a Table they 
 (the English Puritans) deny the necessity of it; 
 we affirm it necessary, and will stand to it." And 
 Henderson, in his speech during the discussion, 
 said : " We, sent from the Church of Scotland, are 
 all of one mind on this point. We can hardly 
 part from it — nay, I may add, we may not pos- 
 sibly part from it." They not only thought sim- 
 ultaneous communion, as then practised by the 
 Independents, very irreverent, but they felt their 
 
132 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 distinctive principles to be involved in the ques- 
 tion, and that to allow the pew system was to fall 
 from Churchism into Sectarianism. On this and 
 other points that divided them from the Inde- 
 pendents, they felt that they were within the 
 lines of organised Christianity, but that, to use 
 the words of a friend, " they were on the outer- 
 most edge of it, and that beyond them there was 
 nothing but a waste howling wilderness." 
 
 Our Assembly, in its Act approving the Direc- 
 tory, settled the question for Scotland, by declar- 
 incr that the clause " sittin<^ about the Table or at 
 it " was not to be " interpreted as if, in the judg- 
 ment of this Kirk, it were indifferent, and free for 
 any of the communicants not to come to and re- 
 ceive at the Table." The innovation of receiving 
 in pews was first introduced about 1825 ; and 
 having been brought to the notice of the Church 
 Courts, the Assembly in that year condemned 
 the practice, and pronounced it to be the law and 
 immemorial usage of this Church " to dispense 
 the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to the people 
 seated at or round a Communion Table or Tables." 
 Notwithstanding this decision, the pew system 
 has latterly become common, and I am told that 
 even receiving in the galleries is not unknown. 
 If the champions of our Church usages in former 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 133 
 
 days were to come to life again, there are few 
 things at which they would stand more aghast 
 than to see the sectarian practice, against which 
 they fought so stout a battle, supplanting the old 
 order in which they gloried. This change is 
 partly to be accounted for by the decay of Church 
 principles, and consequent tendency to Indepen- 
 dency all along the line ; but it was greatly fur- 
 thered by the two long addresses which, till re- 
 cently, were given at each Table. The one short 
 exhortation of the supplementary Act of 1645, 
 itself a novelty, seems to have been all that was 
 usual til] the early part of last century. When 
 we read of men like the father of Principal Car- 
 stairs serving fifteen Tables in succession, it is a 
 relief to find that this did not involve the more 
 than Herculean task of delivering thirty lengthy 
 discourses, but merely a few sentences before 
 each distribution. But in course of time the 
 addresses were doubled or even trebled in num- 
 ber, for in some quarters an extra one was in- 
 serted betwixt the giving of the Bread and the 
 giving of the Cup,^ and they were often drawn 
 out to a great length. The result was that the 
 continuity of the Communion was broken. People 
 began to regard the service at each Table as com- 
 
 1 Briclian's Sermons and Sacramental Addresses, p. 337. 
 
134 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 plete in itself, and to adopt the most unseemly 
 practice of going home after rising from it, with- 
 out waiting to give God thanks, and to join in 
 the great Intercession which follows, and which 
 has always been regarded such an essential feat- 
 ure of the Communion. To retire in this way 
 after receiving the elements w^as forbidden by the 
 old rules of the Church, and is obviously to offer 
 a maimed and imperfect service. 
 
 It appears to me that no arrangement could be 
 more suitable and impressive than that of suc- 
 cessive Tables, with no addresses, except a few 
 words before each distribution, as enjoined by 
 the law of the Church. With more frequent 
 Communions, and, in large congregations, several 
 celebrations on the same day, or even on succes- 
 sive Sundays, according to the old usage, the mat- 
 ter w^ould be further simplified, and less Table 
 accommodation required. 
 
 The supplementary Act of 1645 enjoins, "That, 
 while the Tables are dissolving and filling, there 
 be always singing of some portion of a Psalm, 
 according to the custom." The 103d Psalm is 
 indicated in the Form for the Administration of 
 the Lord's Supper in the Book of Common Order, 
 and it has always been sung at Scottish Com- 
 munions from the time of the Eeformation. The 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 135 
 
 practice of singing during Communion is cer- 
 t>ainly primitive, and probably Apostolic. In tlie 
 Ethiopic Liturgy, which Bunsen regarded as the 
 primitive form, the Eubric after consecration runs 
 thus : " Then they uplift the Hymn of Praise, and 
 the people enter in to receive the medicine of 
 their souls whereby sin is remitted." So in the 
 Apostolical Constitutions ^ it is ordered that the 
 34th Psalm, there called the 33d, shall be sung 
 while the people are partaking. In the Church 
 of England it was the custom in 1621, as appears 
 from Wither's Poems, to sing as the successive 
 companies approached and withdrew from the 
 Table, and this practice is still kept up among the 
 Wesleyans in Canada, and probably elsewhere. 
 
 6. Gall to Thanksgimng. — A call to Thanks- 
 giving naturally follows. Accordingly, the Direc- 
 tory says, " After all have communicated, the Min- 
 ister may, in a few words, put them in mind of the 
 grace of God in Jesus Christ, held forth in the 
 Sacrament, and exhort them to walk worthy of it." 
 A sentence or two of this import was all that was 
 intended, and all that had previously been common 
 in Scotland. Henderson describes the old practice 
 thus : " After the last company hath received, the 
 Minister . . . goeth to the pulpit, where, after 
 
 1 Book viii. chap. xiii. 
 
136 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 a short speech tending to thanksgiving, he doth 
 again solemnly give thanks to God." Till recently 
 it was usual to address the last company after 
 receiving, and for the Pastor then to ascend the 
 pulpit and deliver a long exhortation to the whole 
 body of Communicants, but these innovations of 
 a later period may well be departed from in 
 favour of the simpler order prescribed not only 
 by the Directory, but by the Reformed and the 
 Primitive Liturgies. For models of the one brief 
 address required, I refer you to the Genevan 
 and Dutch Services, and to the still more beauti- 
 ful form given in the Apostolical Constitutions : 
 '' Now we have received the precious Body and 
 the precious Blood of Christ, let us give thanks 
 to Him who has thought us worthy to partake of 
 these holy mysteries, and let us beseech Him that 
 it may not be to us for condemnation, but for sal- 
 vation, and to the acjvantage of soul and body; to 
 the preservation of piety, to the remission of sins, 
 and to the life of the world to come. Let us arise, 
 and, by the grace of Christ, let us dedicate our- 
 selves to God, to the only unbegotten God, and 
 to His Christ." 
 
 7. The Post-Communion Prayer is then offered. 
 The form in the Directory is very short ; the 
 topics indicated being thanksgiving, prayer for 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 137 
 
 pardon for the defects of the service, and for 
 grace to live as becomes those who have received 
 so great pledges of salvation. The prayer in the 
 Book of Common Order is of the same import. 
 In both, Intercession is wanting, because it had 
 been provided for in the earlier part of the service. 
 From Henderson's account, however, we learn that 
 the Minister concluded, as on other Sundays, 
 with petitions for the Church, the Authorities, 
 and the Afflicted. In all the early Liturgies 
 the Intercession precedes the Act of Communion. 
 It is introduced either before the Words of In- 
 stitution, or between them and the Invocation, 
 or between the Invocation and the Lord's Prayer ; 
 but it has long been the practice of our Church 
 to introduce it in the concluding prayer. This 
 is scarcely less appropriate, and indeed our Lord's 
 example may be pled for it, as it was after 
 Supper that He offered the great intercessory 
 prayer recorded in the 17th chapter of St John's 
 Gospel. 
 
 According to our usage, this prayer should 
 embrace the following topics : Thanksgiving for 
 God's grace vouchsafed unto us in the Sacrament, 
 with petitions that we may be enabled to walk 
 worthy of it. The dedication of our souls and 
 bodies anew to the Lord is the proper response 
 
138 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 to Christ's giving Himself a sacrifice for us, and 
 should never be omitted here; then follows the 
 Great Intercession for the Church, for all ranks 
 and conditions of our fellow-men in the Body of 
 Christ, with thanks for the righteous departed, 
 and prayers for the second coming of the Lord. 
 If there is no reference to this great hope, which 
 is so prominently associated with the Communion, 
 the service, as has been said, is essentially defec- 
 tive. The prayer cannot more appropriately close 
 than with aspirations after the fulness of joy 
 that awaits us at His coming, when we shall be 
 like Him, and see Him as He is. 
 
 8. Concluding Hymn. — The Directory makes no 
 mention of a concluding Hymn of Praise, or of 
 the Benediction, but they are obviously taken 
 for granted. For praise we have the example of 
 our Lord and of His Apostles, who sang a Hymn 
 at the close of the first Communion; no doubt 
 the last part of the great Hallel (Ps. 115-118) 
 which, in the Jewish Church, was sung after the 
 fourth cup in the Passover meal. It has been the 
 general custom of the Keformed Churches to sing 
 at this time the Nunc Dimittis, or Song of Simeon, 
 of which we have a version in the 38th Para- 
 phrase, the 8th, 10th, and 11th verses. The 9th 
 verse is an addition to the original text, and, 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNION. 139 
 
 both on this account and because it contains a 
 distinct prayer for death, it is well to omit it. 
 
 The closing Eubric of the Directory is that 
 " the collection for the poor is so to be ordered, 
 that no part of the Public Worship be thereby 
 hindered." This implies that a special Com- 
 munion offeriug should be made. This has been 
 the practice of the Church in all ages, and in 
 Scotland, what is given on these occasions is 
 usually devoted to the poorer brethren whose 
 names are on the Communion Eoll. It is well 
 to give prominence to these "gifts of love" in 
 the intimations made beforehand, so that the 
 speciality of the offering, and the associations con- 
 nected with it, may not be overlooked. After the 
 Eeformation it seems to have been taken as 
 people went to the Table. Thus, in an account 
 of the Communion at Perth in 1580, we read 
 that the celebration took place in the Chancel, 
 which was railed off, and that the people gave 
 their tokens and their alms as they entered.^ It 
 afterwards became more common for the offering 
 to be made as they left the Table. In 1618 the 
 Kirk-Session of Aberdeen ordered that the alms 
 of the Communicants should be taken at their 
 rising from the Table, "according to the form 
 
 ^ Scott's History of the Reformers, p. 191. 
 
140 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 observed by Eeformed Congregations in the South 
 part of the Eealm." ^ This custom is still observed 
 in some parts of Aberdeenshire, and instead of 
 its being abolished, which a new Minister is 
 very likely to attempt, especially if from the 
 South, whence the usage came, it would be better 
 if it could be restored where it has been given 
 up. This could be done easily, and without any 
 interruption of the service, by simply placing an 
 alms-dish at the end of the Table by which the 
 Communicants retire. 
 
 Pardovan remarks that it would be better to 
 demand Tokens of Communicants at their entry 
 to the Table rather than after they are seated. 
 This is a most reasonable suggestion, and it could 
 easily be carried out, and without the loss of time 
 involved in the present practice, by placing a box 
 for the purpose at the end by which they enter. 
 
 The whole service concludes with the Benedic- 
 tion, " before which," as Henderson says, " none 
 are to depart unless in case of necessity." 
 
 From the same authority we learn that the* 
 Communion Services in his time were closed by 
 the Doctrine of Thanksgiving, taught by the 
 Minister on the Sunday afternoon. The Direc- 
 tory is silent on this point, but the supplementary 
 ^ Selections from Records, Spalding Club, p. 86. 
 
THE HOLY COMMUNIOX. 141 
 
 Act of 1645 orders that "there be one sermon of 
 Thanksgiving after the Communion is ended." 
 It is usually said that the Monday Service was 
 introduced after, and as a fruit of, Livingston's 
 celebrated sermon preached at the Kirk of Shotts 
 in 1630, on a Monday following the dispensation 
 of the Communion in that Parish ; but there is 
 no evidence of its having become common till 
 many years later. 
 
 No one who has been familiar with the Scottish 
 Communion Season of a later day can be insensible 
 to its solemnities. In many parts of the country, 
 down to our own time, religious exercises were 
 kept up from Thursday till Monday, and were 
 scarcely regarded as complete till followed by 
 special family devotions. After dinner in the 
 Manse on that day, when the cloth was removed, 
 the Books were usually brought in, prayer offered, 
 and a concluding Hymn of Praise, such as the 
 2d Paraphrase, sung by the assembled guests. 
 All in whose memory these prolonged services 
 are associated with revered Pastors and beloved 
 kindred now with God, must ever think of them 
 with tender and hallowed feelings, and may be 
 disposed to regard the former times as in some 
 respects better than the present. 
 
142 THE HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 Still, the additions to the older practice and 
 rules of the Church, owed their origin to influences 
 which lowered the standard of worship, and were 
 condemned by her greatest and wisest Ministers. 
 For generations they proved an insuperable hin- 
 drance to the frequent celebration of the Lord's 
 Supper ; and as this was certainly a far greater 
 evil than the good they accomplished, we ought 
 not to regret the return that has taken place in 
 our time to a practice still older, and in stricter 
 conformity with the laws of the Church. 
 
143 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY THE BURIAL OP 
 
 THE DEAD PUBLIC SOLEMN FASTING DAYS OF 
 
 PUBLIC THANKSGIVING. 
 
 Following the Order of the Directory, the next 
 Service that falls to be considered is — 
 
 E^t .Sclemnisation of iHatrimons* 
 
 Proclamation of Banns. — The first Eubric on 
 this subject which it is necessary to notice is 
 that enjoining that " Before the solemnising of 
 Marriage between any persons, their purpose of 
 Marriage shall be published by the Minister three 
 several Sabbath Days in the congregation, at the 
 place or places of their most usual and constant 
 abode respectively." The Assembly of 1690 
 passed an Act rigidly enforcing Proclamation on 
 three Sundays, and this continued to be the law 
 
lU THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 of the Church till 1879, subject to the same right 
 of Presbyteries to dispense with Banns in emer- 
 gencies, which Bishops had exercised in Episcopal 
 times. This right was referred to as inherent in 
 Presbyteries by the Glasgow Assembly of 1638. 
 It does not appear that they have ever used their 
 dispensing power since the Ee volution Settle- 
 ment; but we learn from Pardovan that the Act 
 of 1690 was not understood to interfere with it, 
 and all our greatest legal authorities on the law 
 of Marriage acknowledge that they possess it. 
 Instead of conforming to the law — proclamation 
 on three Sundays the rule, with a licence from 
 the Presbytery in exceptional cases — Ministers 
 took the matter into their own hands, and for a 
 long period allowed the three proclamations to 
 be made ordinarily on a single Sunday. The 
 First Book of Discipline says : " That if the per- 
 sons are so known that no suspicion of danger 
 may arise, then the time may be shortened at the 
 discretion of the Minister : " and this is no doubt 
 the foundation of the practice which, notwith- 
 standing rules to the contrary, has generally pre- 
 vailed in the Church when under Presbyterian 
 Government. By a recent Act of Parliament, a 
 secular substitute for Banns has been legalised, 
 and the General Assembly in 1879 authorised 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 145 
 
 Ministers, " if they see fit, to receive, as a valid 
 notice of Marriage, a registrar's certificate." At 
 the same time, it modified the old regulations of 
 the Church, by enacting that " Proclamation of 
 Banns shall, in ordinary cases, be on two separate 
 Sabbaths," instead of three ; and that " it shall be 
 in the power of the Minister to complete the 
 proclamation on a single Sabbath," when he is 
 satisfied that there is no impediment. This Act, 
 like the Directory, requires the Proclamation to 
 be made by the officiating Minister. 
 
 With regard to the persons to be married, the 
 Directory contains some regulations as to age and 
 consent which I pass over ; but as they who 
 " marry should marry in the Lord," I may remark 
 that it is involved in the idea of a Christian 
 marriage, that both parties should be baptized. 
 Formerly the Church ordained that none were 
 to be admitted into that holy estate till they 
 could repeat the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and 
 the Ten Commandments ; and from the Eefor- 
 mation till the times of the Covenant, we read of 
 marriages being postponed by the Clergy till these 
 fundamentals of the Christian Faith were mas- 
 tered by the candidates for connubial bliss. Cer- 
 tainly at that time no Minister would have given 
 the blessing of the Church to those who were not 
 K 
 
146 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 within its pale. I have been in the practice of 
 insisting upon the parties, if unbaptized, prepar- 
 ing for and receiving Baptism, before uniting them 
 in Marriage ; and I have always found that this 
 was not only willingly acceded to, but that it was 
 expected. 
 
 Time and Place of Marriage. — The Directory 
 orders that " The Minister ... is publicly 
 to solemnise Marriage in the place appointed by 
 authority for Public Worship, before a competent 
 number of credible witnesses, at some convenient 
 hour of the day, at any time of the year, except 
 on a day of public humiliation." It is added, 
 " and we advise that it be not on the Lord's 
 Day." 
 
 The Book of Common Order had enjoined that 
 it should take place in Church during Divine 
 Service on Sunday, and the First Book of Dis- 
 cipline also says that Marriage should only be 
 solemnised on Sunday after sermon ; but in 1579 
 the Assembly resolved that the ceremony might 
 be performed on any day of the week, on the 
 understanding apparently, for the Eecords of that 
 period are imperfect, that " preaching should be 
 joined thereto." The practice of marrying in 
 Church on Sundays prevailed, however, for the 
 greater part of a century, and a Marriage pew 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. U7 
 
 was often one of the articles of furniture in 
 Cliurclies when other pews had not yet been 
 erected. Baillie speaks of marrying as one of the 
 ordinary Sunday duties of the Scottish Clergy in 
 his time. The service seems to have been usually 
 performed at the close of the sermon. Thus, Sir 
 Thomas Hope the Lord Advocate, and founder of 
 the Scottish family of that name, mentions in 
 his Diary the marriage of his son in 1638 in 
 the Grey Friars' Church, Edinburgh, " on Sunday 
 immediately after the preaching." After this 
 time, more Puritanic views of the Lord's Day, and 
 perhaps also less sacred and Churchly views of 
 the marriage ceremony, became prevalent; and 
 accordingly we find the Kirk-Session of Edin- 
 burgh forbidding Sunday Marriages in 1641, and 
 that of Glasgow following their example in 1643. 
 The reason alleged for this, however, was not that 
 the practice was objectionable in itself, but that 
 the preparation of the wedding feast involved so 
 much work on the Lord's Day.i At Westminster 
 the extreme Puritans would have allowed Mar- 
 
 ^ On the 1st of January 1635, the Presbytery of Glasgow 
 ordered that the Sabbath be kept from 12 o'clock on Saturday 
 night to 12 on Sunday night. — Register, Maitland Club Mis- 
 cellany, i. p. 67. This change was then generally adopted, 
 and had, no doubt, something to do with the opposition to 
 marriage on Sundays. 
 
148 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATPJMONY. 
 
 riage in private houses, and some of them thought 
 a civil contract sufficient, but Baillie writes : 
 " Thanks be to God, we have gotten the Indepen- 
 dents satisfied, and a unanimous consent of all 
 the Assembly, that Marriage shall be celebrated 
 only by the Minister, and that in the Church, after 
 our fashion." The advice of the Directory, not to 
 marry on Sundays, was often disregarded in Scot- 
 land, as we find references to Sunday Marriages 
 in the Session Eecords many years afterwards ; ^ 
 and in some parts of the country, persons who 
 were married on that day during Divine Service, 
 according to the old custom, are remembered by 
 people still living. In the Church of England the 
 practice is not unknown even at the present day. 
 Down till about 1700 there was no marrying 
 in private houses in Scotland, but this fashion 
 was then introduced among the upper classes. It 
 was not allowed, however, at first, except under 
 penalties, and for man}^ years after that date a 
 very common entry in Session Eecords is that 
 such and such parties were " fined for being 
 married out of Church." Dr Somerville of Jed- 
 burgh, in his Autobiography, says that Marriage 
 in Church was still the rule among the humbler 
 classes in the middle of last century. After that 
 ^ See Notes and Queries, Aug. 1880, p. 144. 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION" OF MATRIMONY. 149 
 
 time the law was generally disregarded, but in 
 some districts it still continued to be observed ; 
 and there are Parishes where, down till the 
 present day, the service has been commonly per- 
 formed in Church. A few years ago when the 
 tide turned, and the old Scottish practice began 
 to be resumed in quarters where it had been for 
 some generations in disuse, it was commented on 
 as an unheard-of innovation, or denounced as an 
 aping of Episcopacy. An English Ladies' News- 
 paper, which devotes much attention to fashion- 
 able Marriages, in chronicling that of a Scottish 
 nobleman which took place not long ago in a 
 private house, stated that " the ceremony was 
 conducted according to the Presbyterian Eorm, 
 which does not admit of celebration in Cliurchy 
 This is but one instance out of many where what 
 were formerly the characteristics of our Church 
 have been relinquished to Episcopacy, and we 
 have fallen into those usages of the Independents 
 from which our Clergy in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury shrank with much more aversion than they 
 did from the ceremonies of the Church of Eng- 
 land. We are now returning to the law and old 
 custom of the Church, and the Clergy should 
 further the movement, both by precept and by 
 example, when they have the opportunity. 
 
150 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 The manner iu which the ceremony has been 
 conducted for generations past has not tended to 
 impress the community at large with its religious 
 character, but has rather lowered its sacred asso- 
 ciations, and this may possibly have contributed, 
 among the lower classes, to a diminished abhor- 
 rence of one of our great national sins. It could 
 scarcely fail to have a wholesome effect, if it were 
 understood that all virtuous Marriages were to be 
 solemnised publicly in God's House, and if those 
 parties were relegated to the Session-room for the 
 ceremony who have to compear there at any rate 
 for purposes of discipline.^ 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 It has often been said that no service is so diffi- 
 cult of construction as a proper form for Marriage, 
 and that none of the Liturgical Offices are in all 
 respects satisfactory. The traditional Scottish ser- 
 vice is a compromise betwixt those given in the 
 Book of Common Order and in the Directory, both 
 of which contain excellent materials. In some 
 points the one is usually followed, in some the 
 
 1 In the Reformed Churches of Bohemia and Moravia, it is 
 ordered that such persons shall "be married in the presence of 
 no more than two witnesses without public ceremonies. " — Cath. 
 Pres. for Sept. 1881, p. 236. 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 151 
 
 other. In practice the order varies, but the fol- 
 lowing seems to be the most natural and com- 
 plete ; and it is most in accordance with the Re- 
 formed Liturgies. 1. Exhortation, concluding with 
 charge as to impediments ; 2. Prayer ; 3. Vows ; 
 4 Declaration and Marriage Blessing ; 5. Prayer ; 
 6. Psalm 128, said or sung; 7= Benediction. 
 
 When the celebration takes place in Church, a 
 Marriage Hymn is usually sung as the Wedding 
 party enter ; and the Bride and Bridegroom take 
 their places in front of the Communion Table — 
 the man on the right hand, and the woman on 
 his left. 
 
 Exhortation. — The address, according to the 
 Rubric of the Directory, should consist of a brief 
 declaration out of the Scripture of " the institu- 
 tion, use, and ends of Marriage," and the duties 
 of husband and wife towards each other. 
 
 On the first point it is proper to speak of its 
 institution in Paradise, its having been honoured 
 by our Lord's presence, gift, and miracle, at Cana 
 in Galilee, its having been commended by St 
 Paul, and consecrated as setting forth the mys- 
 tical union betwixt Christ and His Church ; and 
 then, after a short statement as to its use and 
 ends, to proceed to the mutual duties which it 
 imposes. These cannot be so well declared as in 
 
152 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 the words of Holy Scripture, and it is usual to 
 read here Ephesians v., from the 22d verse to 
 the end. 
 
 The Minister is then solemnly to charge " the 
 persons to he married, before the great God who 
 searcheth all hearts, and to Whom they must give 
 a strict account at the last day, that if either of 
 them know any cause, by precontract or other- 
 wise, why they may not lawfully proceed to 
 Marriage, that they now discover it." In Knox's 
 Liturgy this charge is given in the same words 
 as those in the English Prayer-Book ; and it also 
 requires the Minister, if no impediment be offered, 
 to take those present to witness, and, as in the 
 English Office, to charge them that if any of them 
 know of any lawful impediment to the Marriage, 
 that they declare the same. 
 
 Prayer. — If no such hindrance be alleged, the 
 Minister then engages in prayer. That given in 
 the Directory is admirable so far as it goes. In- 
 deed it would be difficult to find in any service a 
 better form of words than the following: "We earn- 
 estly entreat Thee, Lord, whose presence and 
 favour is the happiness of every condition, and 
 sweetens every relation, to be the portion of these 
 Thy servants, who are now to be joined in the 
 honourable estate of Marriage, and to own and 
 
THE SOLEMNISATIOX OF MATRIMONY. 153 
 
 accept them in Christ : and as Thou hast brought 
 them together by Thy Providence, we beseech 
 Thee to sanctify them by Thy Spirit, giving them 
 a new frame of heart lit for their new estate, 
 enriching them with all grace whereby they may 
 perform the dutie?, enjoy the comforts, undergo 
 the cares, and resist the temptations which accom- 
 pany that condition, as becometh Christians." 
 
 It is well, however, to supplement this with a 
 petition that they may enter upon their solemn 
 vows as in God's sight, and faithfully perform the 
 same according to His Holy Word. 
 
 The Minister is then to cause the Man to take 
 the Woman by the right hand — which may be 
 appropriately done in these words : " As a seal to 
 the solemn vows which you are now about to 
 take, give each other the right hand." 
 
 "Join hands," which one sometimes hears, 
 hardly meets the necessities of the case, and is 
 somewhat wanting in dignity. 
 
 The Voids. — According to the Directory, the 
 Minister is to cause both Man and Woman to 
 repeat the vows which it definitely prescribes. 
 In the Book of Common Order the vows are the 
 same as in the Continental Eeformed Liturgies, 
 and differ from those in the Directory. They are 
 put in the form of a question, and the parties 
 
154 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 answer, " Even so I take her or him before God, 
 and in the presence of this Congregation." It is 
 usual to put the vows of the Directory in this 
 way also, and merely to require the parties to 
 assent, by bowing the head, or in the words, " I 
 do." But it would be much better to adhere 
 strictly to the rule, And to require the words to 
 be repeated, as in oaths taken in Civil Courts. 
 There is no difficulty about this, and it adds to 
 the solemnity of the Service. Ministers neither 
 gain respect for their office nor for the Church, 
 nor do they improve her services, by reducing 
 still further that minimum of form which she has 
 enjoined. In fact, people like a little, and some 
 a good deal, of ceremony on such occasions. It 
 is not only common to dispense with the repeti- 
 tion of the words, but Ministers are sometimes 
 guilty of the grave offence of mutilating them; 
 as, for example, substituting dutiful for ohedient, 
 by the way of making things smoother for the 
 fair sex than Scripture has done. It is worse 
 than bad taste to take sucli liberties. The vows 
 prescribed by the Directory are as nearly perfect 
 as anything of the kind can be, and should in no 
 case be departed from. It is perhaps not un- 
 necessary to mention also, that they require the 
 simple use of the Christian names N or M., 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATKIMONY. 155 
 
 whatever the rank, titles, or age of the happy 
 pair. 
 
 Use of the Bing. — The words of the Directory, 
 " without any further ceremony/' evidently refer 
 to the use of the ring. Notwithstanding this 
 prohibition, it is fast becoming part of the " con- 
 suetudinary" law of the Church to put it on 
 during the service, and the time chosen for this 
 is immediately after the vows have been taken ; 
 just, in fact, when the Directory forbids it. The 
 ring was given in betrothals in the Primitive 
 Church, but its use in the marriage service itself 
 has not been traced higher than the tenth century. 
 Neither in our own nor in any other branch of 
 the Eeformed Church, except the English, was it 
 introduced at first into the service, although, of 
 course, as the ancient and accepted sign of wed- 
 lock, it was always put on afterwards. The main 
 reason for this departure from Pre-Eeformation 
 custom was their disUke of ceremonies during 
 Public Worship (when Marriage was then cele- 
 brated), which were not of divine institution. It 
 was chiefly among the English Puritans, however, 
 that objection to the ring was made a matter of 
 principle, and scruples on the subject seem now 
 to be everywhere dying out. When it is to be 
 given, the simplest method of introducing it is for 
 
loG THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 the Minister to say : " In token of fidelity to these 
 vows the wedding-ring will now be given and 
 received." There is no good reason for his making 
 an announcement such as the following, which was 
 made some time ago at a fashionable Marriage in 
 Church, to the astonishment of the Episcopalians 
 who were present : " The ring may now be given, 
 but it must be distinctly understood that this 
 forms no part of the religious service." 
 
 The Minister is then, " in the face of the Con- 
 gregation, to pronounce them to be Husband and 
 Wife, according to God's Ordinance ; " and it adds 
 to the solenmity, and is in conformity with the 
 best liturgical examples, to make this declaration, 
 " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost." It is usual to add our Lord's 
 own words, as in Knox's Liturgy : " Whom God 
 hath joined together, let not man put asunder." 
 
 A Blessing should then be pronounced upon 
 the newly wedded pair. That given in Knox's 
 Book is as follows : " The Lord sanctify and bless 
 you, the Lord pour the riches of His grace upon 
 you, that ye may please Him, and live together 
 in holy love to your lives' end." 
 
 This is the proper place to introduce any 
 words of counsel which the Minister may wish 
 to address to them, or short sermon, should the 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 157 
 
 old practice revive among us, as in England, 
 of " preaching being joined thereto." The ad- 
 dresses given in the Genevan and other Ee- 
 formed Liturgies are very suitable and touching, 
 as are also some of the Marriage Sermons which 
 you find reported in English religious News- 
 papers. 
 
 Prayer. — The concluding prayer given in the 
 Directory is very short, and there is none at all 
 in Knox's Liturgy, perhaps because the service 
 would be followed by the usual prayer of Inter- 
 cession. It is common, however, in our Church, 
 as in most others, to offer here a prayer of 
 some length. That given in Euchologion is 
 taken partly from the Marriage Service of the 
 Greek Church, which is very rich and beautiful, 
 and partly from the Book of Prayers, compiled 
 by the late Dr Eobert Lee. Though somewhat 
 artificial, it is as suitable as any that I am 
 acquainted with. Either this or the previous 
 prayer should conclude with the Lord's Prayer, 
 without which no public religious service should 
 be regarded as complete. 
 
 Knox's Book, in conformity with the usage of 
 the Continental Churches, directs that at the 
 close of the service the 128th Psalm, or " some 
 other pertaining to the purpose, be sung." Among 
 
158 THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 the Scriptural Chants recently published by the 
 authority of the General Assembly, you find two 
 for the Marriage Service in addition to this Psalm. 
 When there is no music, the Minister should 
 recite it, introducing it thus, as in the Dutch 
 Liturgy : " Hearken now to the promise of God 
 from Psalm 128." The usual Benediction is then 
 pronounced. , 
 
 The greatest care should be taken with the 
 Marriage Service, both because of the danger of 
 erring in matters of taste and propriety, and 
 because Marriage is always a great event in the 
 lives of the parties united, as well as to many of 
 the witnesses, however common it may be for the 
 Minister to tie the knot. People are on their best 
 behaviour at such times, and it brings discredit 
 upon the Church if the religious solemnity is 
 wanting in dignity and propriety. I have heard 
 of some very unfortunate exhibitions on such 
 occasions in the presence of large companies ; and 
 you all know how common it is, or was a few 
 years ago, for members of our Church belonging 
 to the higher classes, to pass by their own Cler- 
 gymen and repair to the Episcopal Chapel for 
 Marriage rites. Attached members of the Church 
 who take this course, so dishonouring to their 
 
THE SOLEMNISATION OF MATRIMONY. 159 
 
 own Clergy and Communion, are in the habit of 
 defending it, on the ground that we have no pre- 
 scribed Marriage Service — that they were at the 
 mercy of the Minister, and did not know what he 
 might say. Certainly there are some things in 
 the English Service which are very far from being 
 in accordance with modern taste, but people will 
 bear the evils they know of rather than risk others, 
 possibly worse, which they know not of. How- 
 ever much we may dislike to hear or read of it, it 
 is perhaps not greatly to be wondered at that the 
 more refined members of the Church shrink from 
 intrusting this delicate piece of duty to the hands 
 of some of the Clergy, and that they prefer being 
 married according to a prescribed form. Soon 
 after my ordination, I was unexpectedly called, 
 for the first time, to unite a happy pair who could 
 brook no delay, as the Steamer which landed me 
 at the place of their residence was, in an hour or 
 two, to carry them off to a distant station. When 
 the ceremony was over, I had grave doubts whether 
 they were married at all or not, and felt no little 
 ashamed at the appearance I had made. On an- 
 other occasion I happened to be present at a 
 Marriage, when the service was performed, in the 
 presence of a large and respectable gathering, 
 by a College friend who had also been recently 
 
160 THE SOLEMNISATIOX OF MATRIMONY. 
 
 ordained. My friend, who was a distinguished 
 student, and who has since risen to professional 
 eminence, floundered hopelessly on that occasion, 
 and lost the thread of his discourse, if he had any 
 to lose. When at length, to my great relief, he 
 came to an end, I turned round, partly to avoid 
 meeting his eye, and partly to hide my diminished 
 head, for I felt anything but reassured by this 
 representation of the Church among strangers. 
 Our host, an Englishman, was standing by, and, 
 apparently somewhat bewildered, said to me, "Ah ! 
 that is the Scottish Marriage Service, is it ? " I 
 was obliged to give a qualified assent, where- 
 upon he said that " he had never heard it before ; " 
 and he certainly looked as if he washed never to 
 hear it again. 
 
 In drawing up a Form — for this is obviously 
 not an occasion for an extemporaneous effusion, 
 however gifted with fluency any of you may be, — 
 it is much the wisest course to take your materials 
 from the Directory, Knox's Book, and other Litur- 
 gical sources, and the less you vary it the better. 
 One Form is surely enough for one Scottish Parish 
 during an incumbency, when, in other parts of the 
 Christian world, the same service satisfies whole 
 nations for many centuries. 
 
THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 161 
 
 Concernmtj Uisitation oi tje ^ick. 
 
 The Visitation of the Sick forms the next sec- 
 tion of the Directory ; but as this is not part of 
 the public service of the Church, it does not fall 
 within the scope of these Lectures. I may merely 
 remark that the introduction of such a service, 
 containing many minute and wise rules, into the 
 Directory (as into all Liturgies), shows the differ- 
 ent ideas which the Church formerly held as to 
 Ministerial Visitation of the Sick from those pre- 
 valent now. It is not uncommon to hear the 
 poor condemned for the peculiar value which 
 many of them still attach to the prayers of an 
 ordained Minister of Christ in times of sickness 
 by those who think it a proof of enlightenment to 
 place such devotions on the same level with their 
 own, or those of other private Christians. Private ' 
 .Christians are often more gifted and more godly 
 than their Pastors ; but as the Compilers of the 
 Directory state in the Form of Church Govern- 
 ment, " It is the office of the Elder — that is, the 
 Pastor — to pray for the sick in private," and that 
 to his prayers " a blessing is specially promised." 
 
 I also take this opportunity of recommending 
 to your notice a very useful work on the Visita- 
 
 L 
 
162 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 tion of tlie Sick, compiled by the Rev. Dr Lees of 
 St Giles', Edinburgh, one of the Clergy who have 
 of late years taken an active interest in the im- 
 provement of the Service of the House of God. 
 This movement will doubtless, in course of time, 
 bear much similar fruit, and add largely to the 
 devotional literature of the Church, which has 
 hitherto been deplorably meagre as compared with 
 its libraries of controversy. 
 
 We pass to the next Section — 
 
 Concernincf Burial of tfje ©eatJ. 
 
 Amonfj all the Eeformed Churches there was 
 at first a feeling against religious services at 
 Funerals, because of the old practice of praying 
 and offering masses for the dead. Though in later 
 times it has often been said that because the Pope 
 prays for the dead, the Scot refuses, at Funerals, 
 to pray for the living, the objection to Funeral 
 Services in our early Reformed Church was not 
 very decided, nor was it universal. Nor is there 
 any foundation whatever for the common asser- 
 tion that it was a principle with our Reformers to 
 do the opposite of what had been done in the 
 Pre-Reformation Church. In the common editions 
 of the First Book of Discipline, it is said that it 
 
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 163 
 
 is "judged best," on account of prevailing super- 
 stition, that there should be neither singing, nor 
 reading (that is, of Scripture or Prayer), nor 
 preaching of sermons at funerals. But in what 
 is considered the most authentic edition of that 
 Book — that given in Knox's Works — a sentence 
 omitted in the common editions is added, which 
 leaves it to particular Churches to use their 
 liberty in the matter ; and there can be no doubt 
 that this formed part of the original copy. Arch- 
 bishop Spottiswoode gives it in his version, and 
 its genuineness is proved by the fact that the 
 Summary of that Book, drawn up for the instruc- 
 tion of Ministers and Eeaders in their office, after 
 repeating the opinion against singing and read- 
 ing, adds : " But this we remit to the judgment 
 of particular Kirks, with advice of the Ministers." 
 The Book of Common Order says that when " the 
 corpse is . . . brought to the grave, . . . the 
 Minister if he be present, and required, goeth to 
 the Church, if it be not far off, and maketh some 
 comfortable exhortation to the people, touching 
 death and the resurrection." This implies that 
 the exhortation might be given at the grave, if the 
 Church was not at hand. At least AVodrow, who 
 did not like the permission, so understood it. " I 
 know not," he says, " how the direction to make 
 
164 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 an exhortation when the corpse is laid in the 
 grave has been inserted in the Book." Among 
 the traces left by the use of the English Prayer- 
 Book for some years by our first Eeformers is a 
 "Form of Burial as used in the Kirk of Mon- 
 trose " about 1580. It consists of a homily on 
 death, a prayer from King Edward's Liturgy, and 
 a funeral hymn, — the whole of which were to be 
 said or sung when the body was brought to the 
 grave. After the Eeformation, it was common to 
 have not only singing and reading, but the preach- 
 ing of sermons at funerals, particularly in the case 
 of eminent men. Thus we find Knox, notwith- 
 standing the part he had in drawing up the First 
 Book of Discipline, preaching at the burial of the 
 Good Eegent ; and many other instances might be 
 mentioned. After a time, however, the practice 
 of singing, reading, and praying at funerals, seems 
 to have fallen into general disuse. In the Liturgy 
 drawn up about 1616, under King James's aus- 
 pices, which was taken partly from the English 
 Prayer -Book and partly from Knox's Liturgy, 
 which it was designed to supersede, it is said 
 " we do not dislike " the reading of Scripture, 
 singing of Psalms, and Prayer, used in some Re- 
 formed Churches, at funerals ; " but our Church, 
 not beina accustomed therewith, doth leave it to 
 
THE BUEIAL OF THE DEAD. 165 
 
 the discretion of the Minister, who, being present 
 at the burial, and required, ought not to refuse 
 to make some comfortable exhortation to the 
 people touching death and resurrection to life." -^ 
 This last clause is taken from Knox's Book. There 
 was a revival of funeral services and sermons before 
 1637, but the Covenant proved fatal to them.^ 
 
 Henderson tells us, in 1641, that there was no 
 religious service at all at funerals — even the ad- 
 dress had disappeared ; and this continued to be 
 the case till a generation ago. There are traces, 
 however, of devotional exercises of what was con- 
 sidered the superstitious order in the house of 
 mournino^ during^ the interval betwixt death and 
 burial. Thus, in 1643, the Aberdeen Town Coun- 
 cil forbade the people to ask the Doctors of the 
 Music School and the Readers to read or sing 
 hereafter at Lykewakes, which had no doubt been 
 the custom down till that time. The practice, 
 still known in many parts of the country, though 
 now dying out, of asking Ministers to be present 
 and conduct a religious service at the cof&ning of 
 the dead, must be of old standing, and is appar- 
 ently a relic of the Lykewake service. 
 
 1 Scottish Liturgies of the Eeign of James VI., p. 89. 
 
 2 See Chambers's Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 
 74, 78, 299. 
 
166 THE BUKIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 The Directory forbids prayer, singing, and read- 
 ing at the house, on the way to the churchyard, 
 or at the grave; but, like Knox's Liturgy, it 
 allows the Minister, if he be present, to deliver 
 an address at the grave : and the records of the 
 discussion on tlie subject show that the Eubric 
 was not meant to forbid the use of such words 
 of committal as " We commit this body to the 
 ground," &c. However, for long after its adoption 
 in Scotland, there was no religious service of any 
 kind at funerals, and even the preacliing of 
 funeral sermons was objected to by an extreme 
 party. Many interesting old customs were con- 
 tinued till last century, some of which are being 
 now revived, — such as strewinc^ the mortcloth 
 with flowers, and the attendance of women at 
 funerals, which was kept up in Scotland after it 
 had ceased in England. One is surprised to find 
 that incense was used at Scottish burials so late 
 as the early part of last century, — not, of course, 
 as a symbol of prayer, but because of its fragrant 
 and purifying properties. Thus, in 1705, the 
 Aberdeen Town Council "appoints that in all 
 time coming the Master of Church Works shall 
 receive from each person who shall burn incense 
 or perfume at the burial of their friends in the 
 Church, £4 Scots ; and in the Churchyard, 40 sliil- 
 
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 167 
 
 lings Scots." ^ All these usages, however, died out 
 in course of time, and a generation or two ago 
 nothing was left but smoking and drinking — and 
 often hard drinking — with many toasts, including 
 sometimes, it is said, before the festivities were 
 over, not only the memory, but the health of the 
 deceased. An eminent Clergyman informed me 
 that at the funeral of one of his clerical neigh- 
 bours, when he was a young man, it was proposed 
 by the members of Presbytery that one of their 
 number should engage in prayer in the house. 
 The son of the deceased, who was himself a 
 Parish Minister, objected, saying that "he would 
 allow no innovations of that kind, but that it 
 should be just an old-fashioned funeral." It is 
 not above fifty years since the first prayer was 
 heard at a funeral among the Puritans of New 
 England, and the same thing may be said of some 
 of the Eeformed Churches on the Continent. 
 About that time prayers came in in Scotland, in 
 the form of a grace and returning of thanks for 
 the refreshments, which previously would seem 
 to have been partaken of unblessed. This was 
 the thin end of the wedge, and now we are back 
 to where our forefathers were in the days of the 
 early Eeformed Church. Toasts are a thing of 
 
 1 Records, p. 333. 
 
168 THE BUEIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 the past, or nearly so — for it is only a few years 
 since I heard a venerable Clergyman at a funeral 
 propose " The memory of the deceased," and 
 " Consolation to the mourners," — and religious 
 exercises have now a place even in the absence 
 of refreshments. 
 
 Though an address at the grave was always 
 legal, prayer and reading of Scripture, whether 
 there or in the house, are, as I have said, forbid- 
 den by the Directory, but the Church has now 
 virtually sanctioned both. 
 
 Service at the grave has long been common in 
 our colonies, and in some of them where I have 
 been, our Clergy, in gown and bands, head the 
 funeral processions on their way to the place of 
 interment. Prayers in the house are now almost 
 universal in this country, and the}^ are becoming 
 common also at the grave. In a Parish in the 
 South with which I am acquainted, a generation 
 ago the Minister, on one occasion, ventured to 
 have a service in the churchyard ; but it created a 
 terrible commotion in that part of the country. 
 The worthy man's Elders all left him, and de- 
 clared that he was going post-haste to Eome. 
 One used to hear stories, in that quarter, of the 
 consumption of enormous quantities of whisky 
 on such occasions, but a prayer at the grave was 
 
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 169 
 
 not to be endured. Some of my own contem- 
 poraries were dealt with by their Presbyteries for 
 introducing the practice, five-and-twenty years 
 ago ; but all opposition to it seems to have 
 ceased, and it is not uncommon for people to 
 request it. Even the singing of Hymns at the 
 grave has been introduced in some cases, in 
 accordance with the practice of the Primitive 
 Church, and the General Assembly has gone the 
 length of providing Chants for the purpose. Surely 
 it is most Christian to make such services expres- 
 sive not only of our sorrow, but of the feelings of 
 joy and triumph which the great hopes of the 
 Gospel inspire, even at the grave's devouring 
 mouth ; and who would not heartily join at such 
 a time in a hymn like that beginning — 
 
 " Jesus lives ! No longer now 
 
 Can thy terrors, Death, appal us " ? 
 
 The idea of asking a grace and returning of 
 thanks still lingers, but is very fast disappearing. 
 I was present some time ago at a funeral, when 
 a chapter was read and a prayer offered by a 
 clergyman seated at one end of the dining-room 
 table, and the same thing repeated by another 
 divine at the other end. The prayers seemed to 
 me to be objectionable, as they consisted mainly 
 of encomiums on the deceased ; and on my saying 
 
170 THE BUPvIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 to a clergyman who was present that I did not 
 like the service, he answered, " No ; it was a 
 great mistake that the cake and wine had not 
 been handed round hetwcen the prayers." That 
 was all my friend saw to find fault with. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 In the House. — In the house or the church, 
 where there is sometimes service, the most suit- 
 able Scriptures to be read are, by common con- 
 sent, the 39th and 90th Psalms, part of the 15th 
 chapter of 1st Corinthians, and the 4th chapter of 
 1st Thessalonians, from the 13th verse to the end. 
 It is advisable to read both a Psalm and part of 
 one of these chapters. 
 
 The prayer which follows should consist of the 
 following topics : An acknowledgment of God's 
 sovereignty, and submission to His will ; peti- 
 tions for consolation to the mourners according 
 to their varying circumstances, and that the 
 bereavement may be sanctified to them, and be a 
 warning to all ; supplications for pardon, accept- 
 ance in, and union with Christ, who is the resur- 
 rection and the life ; for the aids of the Holy 
 Ghost, that we may walk in holiness and right- 
 eousness all our days, and that, living or dying, 
 
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 171 
 
 we may be the Lord's ; thanksgiving for life and 
 immortality brought to light by the Gospel, for 
 the righteous departed, and all God's goodness to 
 them in life and in death ; prayers that their 
 memory may be sanctified to us, and quicken 
 us to holy and righteous living, so that we may 
 meet them again in glory and in joy. And the 
 whole may conclude in some such form as this : 
 "And now be with us as we follow, to the 
 house appointed for all living, the body of our 
 dear brother or sister here departed, — not sorrow- 
 ing as those who have no hope, but believing 
 that, as Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
 also which sleep in Jesus shall God bring with 
 Him." 
 
 At the Gram. — If there be a service at the 
 grave, it should be short, and of a more general 
 character, as it is offered by the whole company, 
 and not merely by mourners and immediate 
 friends. 
 
 After the body has been lowered, the Minister, 
 standing at the head of the grave, may repeat 
 one or two verses of Scripture as to the great 
 victory which Our Lord hath purchased for us 
 by His death and resurrection. Nothing can be 
 more congenial to Christian feeling than this tri- 
 umphant proclamation of immortality made by 
 
172 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 Christ's ambassador in the presence, as it were, 
 of the great destroyer. 
 
 The prayer may begin with the words of com- 
 mittal, thus : " Almighty God, who hast been 
 pleased to call out of this sinful and dying world 
 the soul of our brother here departed, we com- 
 mit his body to the ground, earth to earth, dust 
 to dust, till that great day when earth and sea 
 shall give up their dead, and when the Lord 
 Jesus shall change our vile bodies, and make 
 them like unto His own glorious Body, accord- 
 ing to the mighty working whereby He is able 
 to subdue all things to Himself" This is appro- 
 priately followed by earnest petitions for mercy 
 and grace, that we may be faithful to the end ; by 
 thanksgiving for Christ's victory over death and 
 the grave ; and a prayer for the hastening of His 
 Second Coming, when saints departed shall be 
 raised, and those alive shall be changed, and so 
 shall we ever be with the Lord. And the whole 
 should close with the Benediction. 
 
 Suitable material for the prayers is to be found 
 in those authorised by the General Assembly, 
 in Dr Eobert Lee's Book, Euchologion, the Ee- 
 formed Liturgies, and the English Prayer- Book. 
 
 Let me strongly recommend you, in the prayers, 
 to avoid everything of the nature of a eulogium 
 
THE BUKIAL OF THE DEAD. 173 
 
 of the deceased. Some localities are very mucli 
 more guilty in this respect than others. Prin- 
 cipal Hill says that Ministers, in conducting 
 religious services, usually follow the customs of 
 that part of the country where Providence has 
 cast their lot. Thus it is that an objectionable 
 practice is continued even by those who may not 
 approve of it. I have often heard prayers at 
 funerals which were beautiful pieces of composi- 
 tion, but which should have done duty as part of 
 a funeral sermon, or of an obituary notice in the 
 newspaper. These eulogiums are usually intro- 
 duced thus : " We thank Thee," or " Thou know- 
 est " that he was so and so, or did so and so ; and 
 if any excellence of which the public was not 
 aware is to be touched upon, it is sometimes 
 added, " And as some of us here know very well," 
 he was this or that. " Thou knowest " is a phrase 
 always to be suspected in a prayer, as it too often 
 indicates that what is to follow is to be addressed 
 not to the Most High, but to those who should 
 be presenting their supplications to Him. Com- 
 pliments are also occasionally paid to the surviv- 
 ing members of the family thus : " We thank 
 Thee for," or "Thou knowest their faithfulness 
 and devotion," and so on. And there are people 
 who can hardly help criticising, and drawing 
 
17 4 THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 comparisons as to the ability shown by different 
 Ministers in this department of work. " Clever 
 
 man, Dr ," said a City Lawyer to me ; " I 
 
 had a good deal to do with him in connection 
 with the funerals of old ladies — clients of mine 
 — who were members of his flock. He used to 
 take me aside, and ask me a few questions as to 
 their habits and circumstances, and in the prayer, 
 a few minutes afterwards, he brought in with 
 great skill all that I told him about them." Better 
 no funeral service at all than such eulogiums, at a 
 time when we are brought face to face with the 
 fearful wages of sin, and where all should be hum- 
 bled in the dust before God. It is quite enough, 
 even in the case of the eminently good and great, to 
 give thanks for the Divine o-oodness to them in life 
 and death, and for the holy example which they 
 have left. Anything beyond this should be re- 
 served for the funeral oration or sermon. Except 
 in the matter of personal allusions, I have sel- 
 dom heard anything objectionable in funeral 
 prayers ; but I have often been struck by the 
 want of thanksgiving for the Lord's victory over 
 death, and for the great hope of the resurrection 
 of the dead. The different circumstances of the 
 mourners obviously call for variety in petition 
 for them, and in this matter you will find valu- 
 
PUBLIC FASTING. 175 
 
 able help in the funeral prayers given in the 
 General Assembly's Book. It was a very doubtful 
 compliment that was paid to an old Minister 
 whom I remember, who at a funeral complained 
 to a Parishioner that his memory was failing. 
 " Oh, I dinna think that. Sir," was the reply. 
 " Your memory is just wonderful ; for I heard 
 you gie that same prayer which you gied ns just 
 now, word for word, thirty years ago." There 
 are few occasions in which one feels the value of 
 free prayer more than when called upon to com- 
 mend a bereaved family to the compassion of 
 Our Father in heaven. 
 
 The next two sections of the Directory are on 
 Public Solemn Fasting and The Observation of 
 Days of Public Thanksgiving ; and on each of 
 these subjects I shall offer a few remarks. 
 
 Public Solemn iFastmcj. 
 
 The only fixed Fast of universal obligation in 
 the early Church was at Good Friday, " when the 
 Bridegroom was taken away," and in obedience, 
 as it was supposed, to His command. It usually 
 lasted for forty hours — from 12 o'clock on Fri- 
 day till Sunday morning, when Our Lord rose 
 
176 PUBLIC FASTING. 
 
 from the dead, and the sorrow of His disciples 
 was turned into joy. This was called quadra- 
 gesima, and it grew into the forty days of Lent ; 
 but originally the sole reference was to the period 
 during which Our Lord was under the power of 
 death, and not to His fasting in the wilderness. 
 There were also the partial Fasts of every Wed- 
 nesday and Friday, in remembrance of His be- 
 trayal and sufferings, but these were not obli- 
 gatory ; and Occasional Fasts appointed by the 
 Bishops of particular churches, when circum- 
 stances called for special services of humiliation 
 before God. 
 
 Our Church early took up the position, that to 
 prescribe fixed anniversaries, as Fasts and Festi- 
 vals, was contrary to tlie nature of sorrowing and 
 rejoicing, and interfered with Christian liberty. 
 This was the reason urged for the objections made 
 to the keeping of the great Christian Anniver- 
 saries in common with the rest of the Eeformed 
 Church. It was held that days of Public Fasting 
 or of Thanksgiving should be all occasional, and 
 should be appointed from time to time by the 
 Courts of the Church, or by Civil authority. 
 
 Again, our Church differed from the rest of 
 Christendom as regards fasting on the Lord's Day. 
 Sunday had always been considered a day of 
 
PUBLIC FASTING. 177 
 
 rejoicing, and the primitive Christians thought it 
 sinful to fast upon it, so much so that any of the 
 clergy guilty of this offence were to be deprived ; ^ 
 but our early Assemblies seem to have preferred 
 it for this purpose, because the people could then 
 most conveniently meet for worship. 
 
 In the Book of Common Order you find a trea- 
 tise called " The Order of the General Fast," drawn 
 up by Knox in 1565, at the request of the Assembly. 
 This treatise contains regulations, prayers, psalms, 
 and lessons for a fast of eight days, which was 
 observed by the Church in the spring of that year, 
 and frequently for forty years afterwards. No 
 doubt this looks very like a substitute for Lent, 
 which ceased to be observed religiously at the 
 Eeformation, though for many years after the 
 Privy Council forbade the killing of cattle at that 
 time. The Assembly, in enjoining the observance 
 of this Fast from time to time, usually added that 
 Knox's Order was to be followed. Strict absti- 
 nence from food, and from playing any kind of 
 games, was required on only two days out of the 
 eight, but moderate diet and the laying aside of 
 
 1 " If any one of tlie clergy be found to fast on tlie Lord's Day 
 or on the Sabbath Day, excepting one only (the Saturday before 
 Easter), let him be deprived ; but if he be one of the laity, let 
 him be suspended." — Apost. Con., book viii. sec. 47. 
 
 M 
 
178 PUBLIC FASTING. 
 
 gorgeous apparel was ordered for the rest of the 
 time. In cities and towns the people were en- 
 joined to assemble in Church for special religions 
 exercises twice every day, while the Fast lasted ; 
 in the forenoon, when the Common Prayers were 
 accustomed to be read — and in the afternoon, at 
 three o'clock, or later. There were other annual 
 Fasts at that period, such as those which were 
 always kept at the opening of the General As- 
 sembly in the city where it met. 
 
 The Directory of Worship deals only with 
 National Solemn Fasting, which is necessarily 
 exceptional ; but, as the section on this subject 
 shows, as well as the other Westminster Standards, 
 it was meant that there should be other Fast days 
 throughout the year, appointed by the Church 
 Courts. The Assembly of Divines regularly ob- 
 served monthly fasts for seven years, and these 
 were only finally put a stop to by Cromwell. 
 Fasting, according to their ideas, involved not 
 only abstinence from food, but from rich apparel, 
 ornaments, and suchlike, at other times lawful. 
 For long after this period Fast days were fre- 
 quently appointed by the General Assembly and 
 subordinate Courts of the Church; and in addi- 
 tion, as the biographies of the most godly people 
 in our land show, family and private Fasts were 
 
PUBLIC FASTING. 179 
 
 quite common till a geiieratiou or two ago. But 
 any time is proverbially no time, and all that 
 remains publicly of this exercise is a National 
 Fast at rare intervals, and what are called Fast 
 days before the Communion. Not only so, but 
 some of the Clergy have no scruples in preaching 
 and in publishing sermons directly contrary to 
 the standards of the Church on this subject. The 
 Christian Church in all ages has regarded fasting 
 as a divine institution, connected both with 
 humiliation for sin and with bodily sanctifica- 
 tion ; and perhaps these divines might be better 
 employed in considering whether the general 
 neglect of this exercise has not something to ,do 
 with the prevalence of intemperance and other 
 sins of the flesh, and with the superficial views 
 of repentance which are so common. 
 
 The public religious services on a Fast day 
 should obviously be all of a penitential character. 
 The prayers should consist more largely of con- 
 fession than at other times. Even the thanks- 
 giving should be mingled with acknowledgment 
 of our unworthiness, and with earnest petitions 
 that God's goodness may lead us to deeper peni- 
 tence ; while, as the Directory suggests, in the 
 prayer after sermon it is highly proper that the 
 
180 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING. 
 
 Minister should for liimself and the congregation 
 renounce the sins and shortcomings which they 
 have confessed, and engage themselves to reform 
 whatever is amiss in their conduct. Special 
 Psalms and Chapters bearing upon the great 
 work of the day, such as you will find indicated 
 in Knox's Order of the Fast, and in other Tables of 
 Lessons, should be selected, and the sermon should 
 be a special one in harmony with the occasion. 
 Anything more unseasonable, as I have already 
 said, than a Minister airing some popular dis- 
 course which has nothing to do with penitence or 
 forgiveness, when he and his hearers are pro- 
 fessedly humbling themselves in the dust before 
 God, can hardly be conceived of. Even the old 
 Moderates, who in their confession on Fast days 
 were said not to go much lower than this — " We 
 acknowledge that we have not lived according to 
 the dictates of reason," — had sufficient sense of the 
 fitness of things to preach at such times against 
 prevailing sins, and to reserve their more popular 
 and showy sermons for other occasions. 
 
 Sags of Pubh'c ^Tfjanksrjibintj. 
 
 The next Section deals with Public Worship 
 on Days of Thanksgiving for national mercies, 
 
DAYS OF THANKSGIVING. 181 
 
 such as the restoration of peace and deliverance 
 from plague or pestilence, to which may be added 
 plenteous harvests. The directions for such ser- 
 vices are, that in prefacing, the Minister should 
 give " a word of Exhortation, to stir up the people 
 to the duty for which they are met ; " that after 
 the opening prayer, he should make " some pithy 
 narration of the deliverance obtained, or mercy 
 received ; " that suitable psalms and chapters 
 should be selected, and that prominence should 
 be given to Praise, as "of all other the most 
 proper Ordinance for expressing of joy and thanks- 
 giving ; " that the sermon should be from a text 
 pertinent to the occasion ; and that, in the prayers, 
 solemn thanksgiving should be given to God for 
 all His former mercies, and especially for that 
 one which has called them together. It is also 
 ordered that a special collection should be made 
 for the poor, and it is suggested that the services 
 should be shorter than on other days, and — 
 though very cautiously — that the people should 
 " eat the fat and drink the sweet," and spend the 
 rest of the day in social intercourse and in testi- 
 fication of Christian love and charity one towards 
 another. 
 
 These counsels are all appropriate to our time, 
 though " the pithy narration " is now usually in- 
 
182 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING. 
 
 corporated with the sermon. Days of Thanks- 
 giving are Festivals, not Fasts. This is so little 
 understood in some parts of the country, and 
 religion is so much associated with gloom, that 
 you will hear people speak of a Fast day for 
 a good harvest. Gladness and holy joy should 
 characterise, in a far greater degree than they 
 usually do, our ordinary Public Worship, while 
 the services on a day of thanksgiving should be 
 of an exceptionally bright and cheerful character. 
 The Lessons and Psalms should be appropriate, as 
 far as possible, to the particular mercy for which 
 we give thanks. In many portions of the Church 
 it is usual on such occasions to sing the Te Deum 
 as a special Act of thanksgiving, and happily we 
 can now follow a practice which has been so 
 widely approved. While all the prayers should 
 be full of acknowledgments of God's goodness, 
 it is perliaps best to give the special prayer of 
 thanksgiving after the sermon, when the mercy 
 received has been spoken of at length. The 
 people should be taught that liberality in alms- 
 giving is, like Uie joyful singing of Psalms, 
 one of the proper characteristics of a thanks- 
 giving service ; and also that, when the reli- 
 gious exercises are over, the rest of the day may 
 properly be spent in innocent recreation and 
 
DAYS OF THANKSGIVING. 183 
 
 ill visits to friends and neighbours. Our people 
 have too few holidays, and this is one cause of 
 the desecration of Fast Days. In most other 
 countries, besides New -Year's Day and Christ- 
 mas, there are days of observance in which reli- 
 gious services are combined with rest and relaxa- 
 tion. Even the United States of America, which 
 are so largely dominated by Puritan traditions, 
 have their annual Thanksgiving Day, when the 
 fatted calf is killed ; and this has recently been 
 imitated by the Dominion of Canada. We might, 
 at least, have annually a Harvest Festival in all 
 our Parishes on a week-day, as is universal in 
 England, and also within the bounds of one or 
 two of our own Synods. The subject deserves 
 more attention from the Church than it has yet 
 received. 
 
184 
 
 LECTUEE V. 
 
 ORDINATION— LICENSING OF PROBATIONERS — ADMISSION 
 OF ELDERS — CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 The principal subjects of Lecture to-day are 
 Ordination, and Church Discipline. We are now 
 done with the Directory of Public Worship ; but 
 there are two other Treatises drawn up by the 
 Westminster Assembly, and usually bound up 
 with the Confession of Faith, which guide us 
 in these departments of Ministerial duty — viz., 
 The Form of Church Government, and The 
 Directory for Church Government, Church Cen- 
 sures, and Ordination of Ministers. 
 
 ©rtimation. 
 
 The Form of Presbyterial Church Government, 
 and of Ordination of Ministers, agreed upon by 
 the Synod of Divines, was approved by our Gen- 
 
OKDINATION. 185 
 
 eral Assembly in 1645, and is "mentioned as 
 ratified in several Acts of Parliament" during 
 the Covenanting era. It has not been revived 
 either by Church or State since 1690. At the 
 Eevolution the Scottish Parliament abolished 
 Prelacy, restored the old Government of the 
 Church, as legalised by the Act of 1592, com- 
 monly called the Charter of Presbytery. It is to 
 that Act we have to look for the legal Govern- 
 ment of the Church as an established institution 
 of the Empire, and anything contrary to it is 
 ultra vires. Many of the details, however, are 
 not filled in, and under it the Church enjoys a 
 very large amount of liberty. She can change, 
 for example, the bounds of Presbyteries, limit or 
 extend the representation to the General As- 
 sembly, and could, if she thought fit, revive the 
 order of Visitors or Superintendents, as the As- 
 sembly of 1593 continued these officers under 
 the !f*resbyterian system, — an arrangement which 
 might have been permanent, had it not been for 
 the reaction caused by the persistent attempts of 
 King James to introduce Episcopacy. 
 
 The Civil legislation of 1690 has been supple- 
 mented by various Acts of Assembly bearing 
 upon the Ordination of Ministers and the Govern- 
 ment of the Church ; and as all these Acts have 
 
186 ORDINATION. 
 
 been based upon the Westminster documents, or 
 taken verbatim from them, we may regard them 
 as expressive of the mind of the Church on the 
 subjects of which they treat. The statements of 
 the Confession of Faith with regard to Ministers, 
 are to be read in the light of these documents, 
 — as, for example, when it is said, they must be 
 " lawfully ordained ; " and further, they are in 
 substantial harmony with the Act of 1592. 
 
 As to the doctrine of Ordination, the leading 
 principles of the Westminster Standards are the 
 two following: 1. No man ought to take upon 
 him the office of a Minister of the Gospel until 
 he be lawfully called and ordained thereto by 
 those who, having been set apart themselves to 
 the work of the ministry, have power to set apart 
 others. 2. Every Minister of the Word is to be 
 ordained by imposition of hands, with prayer and 
 fasting. 
 
 THE ORDAINERS. 
 
 With regard to the Ordainers, the Form of 
 Church Government declares that the power of 
 ordination belongs to preaching Presbyters, and 
 this is, of course, a fundamental principle of Pres- 
 byterianism. At the Kevolution Settlement our 
 Church was established on the basis of the Claim 
 
ORDINATION. 187 
 
 of Eight, and specially on the clause of it which 
 asserted that this Church had originally been 
 reformed — not by the laity, nor by Prelates, but 
 by Presbyters — viz., Knox, and other Priests, his 
 coadjutors. The General Assembly in 1695 passed 
 an Act, in which they unanimously declare, that 
 they allow no power to the people, but only in 
 the Pastors of the Church, to ordain Church 
 Officers. And in 1701 the Church revived, or, as 
 Pardovan says, ratified an Act of 1647, directed 
 against the errors of sectarianism and separation, 
 which it describes as spreading like a gangrene, 
 and eating as a canker, and in which all the 
 members of the Church are forbidden to converse 
 with persons tainted with such errors, or to circu- 
 late their books. So late as 1842, the Assembly, 
 while repealing a former Act, prohibiting Min- 
 isters from employing on any occasion to preach, 
 or from holding ministerial communion in any 
 other manner with, persons not qualified to accept 
 a presentation according to the laws of the Church 
 — an Act which excluded all Presbyterian Dis- 
 senters from our pulpits, — enjoined, at the same 
 time, " all Ministers to guard against holding 
 ministerial communion with men who are not 
 duly ordained." 
 
 It is the doctrine of the Church that Presbyters 
 
188 ORDINATION. 
 
 are the successors of the Apostles in all the 
 ordinary functions of the ministry, and this 
 excludes the claim of Prelates to ordain as an 
 order above Presbyters, leaving them only the 
 same power of order as that which belongs to all 
 who are admitted to the Presbyterate. All the 
 Eeformed Churches held that there are only two 
 orders, in the ministry, of divine appointment 
 — those of Bishop or Presbyter, and Deacon. 
 The first of these was instituted by Christ Him- 
 self in commissioning the eleven, and hence we 
 read of no separate institution of this office, as 
 in the case of the Diaconate. When the Apostles 
 originated the Diaconate as recorded in Acts vi., 
 the platform of Church Government was com- 
 plete as to its essential features ; and it may be 
 questioned whether any single Apostle had power 
 to set up a new office. It is fully admitted that 
 there are traces of superintendency in Scripture 
 apart from that of the Apostles, as in the case of 
 Timothy and Titus, and the frank acknowledg- 
 ment of this should be made alike in the interests 
 of truth and of Christian reunion ; but it is held 
 that they and others raised to like posts of enii- 
 nency, whether called Bishops, as in post-apostolic 
 times, or not, no more belonged to an order of 
 the ministry above that of Presbyter, than did the 
 
OEDIXATIOK 189 
 
 Scottisli Superintendents after the Eeformation, or 
 the Moderators of onr Church Courts now.^ Epis- 
 copacy is, in short, according to this view, but a 
 phase of Presbytery ; and there never has, nor 
 can be, any ordination to the ministry except by 
 Presbyters, call them what you will. 
 
 One reason why these views were so prevalent 
 at the Eeformation was, that they had been 
 generally accepted in the Church before. Popes 
 and Keforming Councils had alike committed 
 themselves to the position that a Bishop is by 
 order no more than a Presbyter, and that his 
 pre-eminence is merely of ecclesiastical, not of 
 divine, right. This question was purposely kept 
 open by the Council of Trent, and the old view 
 is still common in the Eoman Catholic Church. 
 
 In England, Bishops took part in the Eeforma- 
 tion, which was not, to any great extent, the case 
 elsewhere, but the English Church was at that time 
 of the same mind on this subject as the rest of the 
 Eeformed. In the Book called ' The Institution 
 of a Christian Man,' which was published in 
 1536, and approved both by the Lords Temporal 
 
 1 The whole Episcopal controversy turns upon the making 
 of Presidents in the Primitive Church. It is a remarkable 
 fact that while the Apostolic Constitutions enjoin the laying 
 on of hands at the ordination of Presbyters, this is omitted in 
 the directions for the making of Bishops. 
 
190 ORDINATION. 
 
 and Spiritual, it is declared that there are only 
 two orders in the ministry of divine appointment, 
 and that the pre-eminence of Bishops was of man. 
 The English ordinal contained nothing to dis- 
 tinguish the order of Bishop from that of Pres- 
 byter, between the Keformation and the time of 
 Charles II., when it was amended ; so that, as has 
 been said, if the former is a superior order, Pro- 
 testant Episcopacy was a hundred years too late 
 in introducing it.^ The Minister of a Parish 
 within the bounds of the Presbytery of Hadding- 
 ton having gone to England, was licensed by 
 Archbishop Grindal in 1582, to celebrate Divine 
 Offices and minister the Sacraments throughout 
 the Province of Canterbury ; and the Licence 
 bears that, " as he was admitted and ordained to 
 sacred orders and the Holy Ministry by the im- 
 position of hands, according to the laudable form 
 and rite of the Eeformed Church of Scotland," 
 the Archbishop approves and ratifies the form 
 of his ordination done in the manner aforesaid. 
 From the Eeformation till the passing of the 
 Act of Uniformity there were " scores, if not 
 
 1 It was the case of Gordon, a Scottish Bishop, who in 1704 
 joined the Church of Eome, which led that Church to give its 
 decision on the question of Anglican Orders. It ordered 
 Gordon to be reordained, as the English form was not valid ; 
 also to be confirmed, as he had not received that rite. 
 
ORDINATION. 191 
 
 hundreds," ^ of Clergymen in the Church of Eng- 
 land who had no ordination except what they 
 had received from Scottish Presbyters, or from 
 the Eeformed Churches on the Continent. 
 
 In Scotland, though several Bishops became 
 Ministers in the Eeformed Church, the Eefor- 
 mation had been mainly achieved by Presbyters, 
 and the sympathy of our forefathers with the 
 Continental Eeformed Churches, disposed them to 
 favour the model of Church Government which 
 they had adopted. Superintendents were, how- 
 ever, admitted at first; and although, on the 
 strength of a clause in the First Book of Disci- 
 pline, it is commonly said that they were not 
 intended to be permanent, this is not borne 
 out by the Eecords of the Assembly, which 
 continued for many years to urge the Govern- 
 ment to provide funds so that they might be 
 planted throughout the whole country. The 
 Superintendent system was regarded as the most 
 effective, and what proved fatal to it was the 
 
 1 Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. p. 303. Durel gives 
 many instances of foreign Reformed Clergy preaching in the 
 Anglo- Gallican Churches, when visiting England. Adrian 
 Sara via. Prebendary of Canterbury, from whom Hooker received 
 Absolution and the Holy Communion on his deathbed, was 
 first a Minister of the Pteformed Church of Holland, and there 
 is not the slightest evidence of his having received Episcopal 
 ordination. 
 
192 ORDINATION. 
 
 subsequent controversy betwixt Prelacy and 
 Presbytery. 
 
 The survival of some of the elements of the 
 old Celtic Church had also a tendency in the 
 direction of Presbytery. In the early Scottish 
 and Irish Churches, the primitive and apostolic 
 practice of consecrating all Presbyters Bishops 
 seems to have prevailed longer than elsewhere, 
 and when a distinction between these offices was 
 introduced, the Bishops had no jurisdiction, but 
 held a very subordinate place under the Presby- 
 ter Abbot of the Celtic Monastery. There were 
 no Parishes nor Diocesan Bishops in Scotland in 
 the days of the Columban Church. The hierar- 
 chy was of only a few centuries' standing at the 
 time of the Eeformation, — the Archbishopric of 
 St Andrews itself only dating from the previous 
 century, so that it had not the same prestige as in 
 other countries. 
 
 But it is of more importance to notice, — what 
 was certainly considered of far greater moment by 
 the compilers of our standards, — the question as to 
 the right or power of the laity to ordain Church 
 officers. Does the principle " non det qui non 
 habet " hold here as in other things ? 
 
 This subject was thoroughly discussed by the 
 Westminster Divines and Scottish Commissioners, 
 
ORDINATION. 193 
 
 and there are no stronger statements to be found 
 anywhere than in their writings — such, for exam- 
 ple, as the " Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici " 
 on the necessity of a succession in the ministry. 
 The fundamental difference betwixt them and 
 the Independents was, that they considered all 
 church power to be vested in the ofi&ce-bearers, not 
 in the body of the Church.^ Further, they held 
 that our Lord's promises were a pledge that the 
 ministry could never fail ; that Ordination makes 
 the Minister as Baptism makes the member of 
 the Church ; that, notwithstanding the corruption 
 of Rome, her Ordination was no less valid than 
 her Baptism, and that if this were not so, the 
 continuity of the Visible Church would be de- 
 stroyed. It was almost one of their common- 
 places, that if a person presumed to minister with- 
 out a valid Ordination, he was to be asked to 
 work a miracle, and if he failed, he was to be 
 rejected as an impostor. Even in their testi- 
 monials of Orders, they were careful to state the 
 doctrine of succession. Take the following as 
 an example : " Forasmuch as the Lord Jesus 
 
 1 Baillie's MS. Lectures on this subject, preserved in the 
 Library of Glasgow University, have the following heading : 
 "A brief refutation of the doctrine of Independency, wherein 
 it is shown that the power of Church Government is in the 
 Church officers, and not in the body of the Church." 
 
 N 
 
194 ORDINATION. 
 
 Christ . . . has judged it meet that there 
 should be a succession of pastors and teachers in 
 His Church even unto the end of the world, . . . 
 and hath deputed the care of the continuation 
 of this ministerial ofi&ce unto such as have been 
 already called thereunto, requiring them to com- 
 mit the things they have received unto faithful 
 men, who shall be able to teach others also : 
 We, the Ministers of Christ ... in the City 
 of York, . . . have upon the 23d day of June 
 1654 proceeded solemnly to set . . . M. N. 
 apart unto the office of a Presbyter and work of 
 the ministry by laying on our hands, with fasting 
 and prayer : By the virtue whereof we do esteem 
 and declare him a lawful Minister of Christ, and 
 hereby recommend him," &c.^ 
 
 But it may be asked. Were they not too late 
 in putting forward these views, or, if the English 
 succession remained unbroken, had not that of 
 Scotland been fatally vitiated ? In books of some 
 repute you will find it stated that Knox derived 
 his sole authority to minister in word and sac- 
 rament from the call of the congregation of St 
 Andrews ; that our Eeformers gave up the laying 
 on of hands; that the early Protestant Clergy were 
 mere laymen ; and that hence, to quote the words 
 
 1 Calamy's Life of Baxter, p. 454. 
 
OEDIXATION. 195 
 
 of an English Ecclesiastical Journal, " The Church 
 of Scotland has not the shadow of a claim to so 
 much as a Presbyterian succession." Many of 
 the English Clergy believe that we are in the 
 same position as the Independents, who have 
 neither the intention nor the power to ordain ; or 
 as the Wesley an Methodists, who do intend it, 
 but who, unfortunately for their intentions, only 
 besfan the form of Ordination in 1836, when all 
 the Presbyters who had taken part in originat- 
 ing that movement were dead, and only lay 
 preachers were left. 
 
 Now our divines in the seventeenth century 
 would not have taken up the position they did, as 
 to a succession in the ministry, if they had not been 
 perfectly certain as to the ground on which they 
 themselves stood. No one questioned the fact of 
 their having such a succession at that time, and 
 their main controversy was with the Sectaries, 
 who condemned their ministry, not because it 
 had not, but because it had been derived through 
 the Church of Eome. It was not at Episcopalians, 
 but at the Presbyterians, then dominant in Eng- 
 land, that Cromwell was hitting when, in 1653, 
 he wrote thus: ''I speak not — I thank God it is 
 far from my heart — for a ministry deriving itself 
 from the Papacy, and pretending to that wliicli is 
 
196 ORDINATION. 
 
 SO much insisted on — succession. The true succes- 
 sion is through the Spirit." ^ 
 
 In Scotland there were some irregularities after 
 the Reformation, as indeed there had been before, 
 but these were not sufficient to break the chain. 
 Kearly all the old Clergy became Reformed as soon 
 as they saw that a change was inevitable. The 
 first Protestant Ministers, with few exceptions, 
 had been Priests, — some of them ecclesiastics of 
 high standing under the previous system. For 
 example, the six Johns who drew up the First 
 Book of Discipline, had all been Priests, and most 
 of them men of mark in the Pre-Reformation 
 Church. The laying on of hands was probably 
 omitted at first in some cases in the setting apart 
 of new Clergy, as it was in the induction of old 
 Priests to the charge of Reformed congregations. 
 But if so, this ceremony was restored while the 
 ranks of the old Clergy remained almost unbroken 
 by death. We read of its being practised in 
 1572, five years after the Church was estab- 
 lished. Archbishop Grindal speaks of it as the 
 laudable custom of the Church at the time of 
 John Morrison's ordination, which took place 
 some years before his reception into the Church 
 of England ; and the Second Book of Discipline, 
 
 ^ Carlyle's Letters of Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 353. 
 
ORDINATION. 197 
 
 drawn up in 1577, asserts it to be necessary. One 
 of the first who wrote in defence of the validity 
 of the Scottish ministry — the illustrious Patrick 
 Forbes of Corse, afterwards Bishop of Aberdeen 
 who was born in 1564 — says that their Eomish 
 adversaries were more than impudent to deny 
 that the Eeformed Clergy had a lawful ordinary 
 calling.^ 
 
 But there is another and conclusive answer to 
 such statements as those I have referred to. In 
 1612 Episcopal ordination was introduced from 
 England. Spottiswoode and others were conse- 
 crated Bishops at Lambeth without reordination, 
 the validity of their previous orders being recog- 
 nised. From that time till 1638 all who were 
 admitted to the ministry were ordained by Bishops 
 of the Spottiswoode line, toitli the assistance of 
 other Fresbyters, as is still the case in the English 
 Church. Any exceptions to this rule were such 
 as that of Dr John Forbes of Corse, perhaps the 
 greatest theologian our Church has ever produced, 
 who, when his father was Bishop of Aberdeen, 
 was ordained by his uncle, the exiled Minister of 
 Alford, and other Presbyters, on the Continent ; 
 but there is no evidence of any one being ordained 
 
 ^ Defence of the LaAvful Calling of the Ministers of Ee- 
 formed Churches : Middleburg, 1614. 
 
198 ORDINATION. 
 
 to the ministry in Scotland during that period 
 without the laying on of Episcopal hands. It 
 is usually stated in the biographies of Samuel 
 Eutherford that he contrived to become Minister 
 of Anwoth in 1627 without Episcopal ordination ; 
 but there seems to be no more foundation for this 
 than there is for the somewhat similar statement 
 in the life of George Gillespie, that on finishing 
 his education for the ministry he could not con- 
 scientiously submit to receive ordination from 
 a Bishop, and accordingly became tutor in the 
 family of the Earl of Cassilis, waiting for better 
 times. He did become Chaplain, first to Lord 
 Kenmure, Eutherford's Patron, and, on his death, 
 to the Earl of Cassilis ; but he seems merely to 
 have been waiting, as many have had to do since, 
 for a presentation to a parish. The records of 
 the Presbytery of Kirkcaldy show that at the 
 time of the great Eevolution of 1637 he had been 
 presented to the parish of AVemyss, and was 
 under trials for ordination prescribed by Arch- 
 bishop Spottiswoode, and that he would have been 
 ordained by him forthwith had not the govern- 
 ment of the Church been changed. His father, 
 " the thundering preacher " of Kirkcaldy, and 
 many relatives, who were among the most distin- 
 guished men on the popular side of the Church 
 
ORDINATION. 199 
 
 — such as the Simsons, and Adamson, Principal 
 of the University of Edinburgh, and an active 
 member of the Glasgow Assembly of 1638 — had 
 all acted on the principle that the existence of 
 Episcopacy, as then in force, was no sufficient 
 ground for schism, — and he was doubtless of the 
 same mind. Thus the great body of the Clergy 
 who reintroduced Presbyterian ordination after 
 1637 were Presbyters who had been Episcopally 
 ordained, and no one disputes the regularity of 
 the succession since. Moreover, they had not 
 been restricted from ordaining by any act of the 
 Church. 
 
 Curiously enough, it is scarcely possible for 
 those who hold that Prelacy, as existing in the 
 English Church, is a higher order of the ministry 
 by divine right, to deny that our Clergy share it 
 in common with the Southern Hierarchy. Several 
 of the Bishops of 1638 remained in the Church as 
 Parish Ministers, and we can point to ordinations 
 after that time when a Bishop was the conse- 
 crator, and when, in his intention and that of the 
 Church, the whole powers of the ministry were 
 conferred. Those thus consecrated Bishops, in 
 the ecclesiastical sense of the word, consecrated 
 others, and the process has been going on ever 
 since. Like the old Catholic and the Moravian 
 
200 ORDINATION. 
 
 Episcopates, this rests, so far as I know, on a 
 single link, — that of Fairley, Bishop of Argyle, 
 afterwards Minister of Lasswade ; but our English 
 friends, who admit the validity of these other 
 successions, cannot on any good grounds deny 
 that our parish Ministers have received authority 
 from an Episcopal source to discharge all the 
 functions of the Christian ministry, — not only to 
 preach the AVord and administer the Sacraments, 
 but to exercise jurisdiction and to ordain.^ 
 
 In 1661, when the State restored Episcopacy, 
 a new bevy of Clergy were despatched to England 
 and consecrated Bishops, and some of them were 
 not only consecrated but reordained, because of 
 the Act of Uniformity, which for the first time 
 made this necessary. On returning to Scotland, 
 they did not reordain others who were raised to 
 the Episcopate, nor the Clergy who during the 
 previous twenty-three years had been ordained by 
 Presbyteries, and who remained on in their Par- 
 ishes, as the great majority did. After the Revo- 
 lution, when a section separated and formed the 
 
 ^ **The Church many times admitted of the ordinations of 
 Bishops that were consecrated only by one or two Bishops." — 
 Bingham, book ii. chap. xi. sec. 5. There Avas no general 
 form of ordination at first. " Every Bishop used such a form 
 as he thought convenient." — Bingham, book ii. chap. xix. 
 sec. 17. 
 
ORDINATION. 201 
 
 Scottish Episcopal Communion, two of the three 
 Bishops who carried on the succession were of 
 this number, and several of the first Clergy who 
 adhered to them had no other than Presbyterian 
 ordination. Indeed both parties at that time 
 generally held the old Eeformed view, — that, 
 whether Episcopacy or Presbytery might be pre- 
 ferable, they were only different ways of mar- 
 shalling officers of the same order. Hence it was 
 that, in 1692, 180 Ministers, in the name of the 
 whole Episcopal Clergy of the North, which was 
 their stronghold, addressed the Assembly, asking 
 admission into the Presbyterian Establishment. 
 Hence, too, the somewhat remarkable statement 
 of Dr Calamy, in his Autobiography. During his 
 visit to Scotland in 1709, he attended the sittings 
 of the General Assembly, and was in the habit of 
 meeting every evening with a company of leading 
 Clergymen from all the Synods of the Church. 
 Not one of them, he tells us, "was for the Jure 
 Bivino of the Presbyterian form of Church Gov- 
 ernment, though they freely submitted to it." ^ 
 
 I have thought it important to put you in pos- 
 session of these facts as to the derivation of our 
 ministry. The subject is one which many of the 
 most learned and devout men of every age have 
 
 ^ Life and Times, vol. ii. p. 153. 
 
202 OEDINATIOX. 
 
 regarded as fundamental, and it is no proof of 
 wisdom or enlightenment to make little of it. 
 On the one hand you have men, like our great 
 divines in former days, declaring that it is a 
 greater presumption for any one to usurp the 
 Gospel ministry than it would have been for a 
 person to have usurped the High Priest's office 
 under the Old Dispensation ; that there is no 
 hope of Christian union, except on the basis of a 
 ministry derived by succession from Apostolic 
 times; and that the lack of any Divine ordinance 
 involves, possibly at least, the loss of grace. On 
 the other hand you have those who attach no 
 value to ordination of any kind. Thus, John 
 Foster tells us that he had been in the uniform 
 habit of ridiculing dissenting ordination. "It 
 carries," he says, " an appearance, ... a sort of 
 pretension of conferring some kind of . . . autho- 
 risation to perform the duties of a Christian 
 Minister. Now my wish would be that every 
 notion and practice of this kind — in short, every- 
 thing sacerdotal and ceremonial — were cleared out 
 of our religious economy. ... In two places where 
 . . . I have sustained the settled ministerial 
 office, I have declined ... all such formality 
 of appointment." ^ He refers to the celebrated 
 
 1 Foster's Life, vol. ii. pp. 109-111. 
 
ORDIXATION. 203 
 
 Eobert Hall as being in the same predicament; 
 but Hall did not go through the ceremony, 
 because the people were opposed to it. When 
 asked, long afterwards, Why he never was or- 
 dained, he replied, " Because, Sir, I was a fool." 
 Sentiments which strike at the root of a Divinely 
 authorised ministry are by no means uncommon, 
 even among those calling themselves Presbyte- 
 rians. I observed some time ago that the follow- 
 ing statement was received at a public meeting 
 in Scotland with immense applause : " I am a 
 determined enemy of sacerdotalism, by which I 
 mean any system which invests any order of men 
 with powers which are not common to the great 
 bulk of mankind." About the same time a Parish 
 Minister was reported to have expressed himself 
 thus, amid the cheers of his auditors : " I dis- 
 dain the title of Clergyman. I am simply a 
 Minister — a servant of the Church. We are in 
 no respect whatever authorised by God more 
 than any other individual member of the Church, 
 from whom immediately we hold our commis- 
 sion." These views and those of the Westmin- 
 ster Divines are wide as the poles asunder. It 
 seems to me evident that either ordination by 
 those already in office is essential to the lawful 
 exercise of the ministry, or that any one can 
 
204 ORDINATION. 
 
 take it upon himself who pleases ; and it would 
 be difficult to exaggerate the importance of the 
 questions involved in accepting one or other of 
 these positions. 
 
 THE FORM OF ORDINATION. 
 
 Turning now to the Form of Ordination, the 
 Directory states that "Every Minister of the 
 Word is to be ordained by Imposition of Hands 
 and Prayer, with Fasting, by those Preaching 
 Presbyters to whom it doth belong." For many 
 years after the Eeformation, the form for admit- 
 ting Superintendents was the basis of the ordi- 
 nary Ordination service. After 1612, the Eng- 
 lish ordinal was often used ; and in 1620, new 
 Forms were introduced by the Bishops, mainly 
 taken from the English Prayer -Book, but con- 
 taining some features of the old Scottish service.^ 
 From 1645 till 1661 the Westminster Directory 
 for Ordination was followed, and it has been 
 practically resumed since 1690. The special 
 Acts founded upon it have been consolidated of 
 late years. The legislation of the Church in this 
 department is, however, less complete than in 
 
 ^ For these Forms see Miscellany of the Wodrow Society, 
 vol. i. p. 597. 
 
ORDINATION. 205 
 
 any other. The service is still to some extent 
 merely traditional. The want of a Directory for 
 ordination with undoubted Church authority is 
 felt all the more that the duty of presiding 
 on such occasions is often settled by rotation. 
 Hence it frequently falls to the youngest man, 
 who, in the case of a translation, may be called 
 upon, after he has been only a few weeks in the 
 ministry, to address solemn counsels on the dis- 
 charge of pastoral duty to a person who was 
 ordained before he was born. This is like a 
 subaltern on the parade-ground counselling a 
 General on the art of war, and is obviously not 
 in strict accordance with the eternal fitness of 
 things. 
 
 In drawing up an Ordination Service, one 
 requires to consult the directions given in the 
 Form of Church Government and the Acts of 
 Assembly passed on the subject since 1690. It 
 is important also to refer to the Larger Overtures 
 of 1705, as they contain a Directory of Ordina- 
 tion based on that of Westminster, and meant as 
 a substitute for it, though never legalised. 
 
 A Fast to he kept. — The Directory enjoins that 
 on the "Day appointed for Ordination ... a 
 solemn Fast shall be kept by the Congregation, 
 
206 ORDINATION. 
 
 that tliey may the more earnestly join in prayer 
 for a blessing upon the ordinance of Christ." And 
 the Second Book of Discipline also mentions 
 fasting as one of the ceremonies of ordination. 
 Henderson, in describing the order of the Church 
 in his time, says that on the day of ordination 
 " a Fast is ordained to be kept." The Larger 
 Overtures, which give the practice in the early 
 part of last century, direct that when intimation 
 of the ordination is made by the Presbytery, the 
 people are at the same time to be told that " the 
 day is to be set apart as a Fast unto the parish;" 
 but it seems there was then a difference of 
 opinion as to "whether that or another day 
 should be the day of the Fast." The intention 
 was that the parishioners were to fast rather 
 than the Presbytery ; at all events, that the fast 
 should end with the public service so far as they 
 were concerned. I remember asking a venerable 
 clergyman at an ordination dinner, Whether we 
 were not transgressing the old laws of the Church 
 in sitting down to a sumptuous repast? "No," 
 was the unhesitating reply — " the Fast is over 
 now." Fasting at ordinations has not been en- 
 joined since the Kevolution; and though common 
 for a time afterwards, in accordance with Scrip- 
 ture and Catholic usage, it has been wholly discon- 
 
ORDINATION. 207 
 
 tinned, except when a Presbytery has to fast 
 involuntarily. I believe that nowadays the 
 solemn service is not only usually followed by 
 a dinner, but crowned with a soiree. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 At the hour for Public Worship the Ministers 
 should enter the church in order, and take their 
 places near the pulpit or Communion Table. In 
 such processions the ancient rule is that the 
 Juniors go first, and the Fathers of the Presby- 
 tery last. It is not seemly for them to enter like 
 a rabble, or with less dignity and decorum than 
 are shown by the Judges of the land when they 
 take their places in a Civil Court. 
 
 The presiding Minister then conducts Public 
 Worship in the usual manner. The sermon, the 
 Directory says, should be on " the office and duty 
 of Ministers of Christ, and how the people ought 
 to receive them for their work's sake." It would 
 be well if this old rule were always strictly ad- 
 hered to, as the occasion is one which affords an 
 excellent opportunity for discussing important 
 subjects which many Ministers do not care to 
 bring before their people at other times, and 
 which are far too much overlooked. 
 
208 ORDINATION. 
 
 Special Psalms and Lessons bearing upon the 
 work of tlie day should also be selected. 
 
 After the sermon, the presiding Minister " nar- 
 rates the cause of the vacancy, and the steps 
 which have been taken in filling it up." This 
 narrative may conclude thus : " All having ac- 
 cordingly been done in this matter as required 
 by the law and usage of the Church, the Pres- 
 bytery will now proceed to ordain the said A. B. 
 to the Holy Ministry, and (if he is also to be 
 inducted) thereafter to receive and admit him 
 
 to the as soon as he shall have answered 
 
 satisfactorily the questions appointed by the 
 Church." 
 
 He then calls upon the candidate, who stands 
 up before the pulpit, and answers the questions 
 prescribed by Act x., 1711. 
 
 These questions are founded on those indicated 
 in the Directory of Ordination, but are much 
 more minute. The only creed imposed by the 
 Westminster order is " Faith in Jesus Christ, and 
 persuasion of the truth of the Keformed religion 
 according to the Scriptures ; " and this must have 
 guided the practice of the Church after 1645. 
 The Questions in the Larger Overtures are inter- 
 mediate betwixt this and those of 1711, and are 
 no doubt such as were asked after the Eevolution. 
 
ORDINATION. 209 
 
 The creed imposed is as follows : " If lie believe 
 the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, 
 and the truths therein contained, to be the Word 
 of God? If he doth own and will adhere to 
 the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this 
 Church founded on and consonant to the Holy 
 Scriptures ? " In other respects the questions 
 are simpler and less rigid than those now pre- 
 scribed. 
 
 Satisfactory answers having been given, a Psalm 
 or Hymn may be sung. By common consent of 
 Christendom, the Yeni Creator, composed by King 
 Eobert II. of France (996-1031), and of which 
 our 54th Hymn is a translation, is peculiarly 
 appropriate at this time. The most suitable ver- 
 sion, which you find in Knox's Psalm-Book, and 
 also in the English Ordination Service, as an 
 alternative to our 54th Hymn, is unfortunately 
 not in our Hymnal. 
 
 Act of Ordination. — The presiding Minister 
 then comes down from the pulpit, and, to use the 
 words of the latest Act on the subject, " by prayer 
 and imposition of hands, in which all the Minis- 
 ters present are to join," " ordains " the candidate, 
 "and sets him apart to the work of the Holy 
 Ministry." In the Larger Overtures it is said 
 the candidate is to kneel, and this has always 
 
 
 
210 ORDINATION. 
 
 been the practice in Scotland as throughout the 
 rest of Christendom. 
 
 The ordination prayer given in the Directory, 
 and also verbatim in the Larger Overtures, is 
 very short, but the topics suggested are all most 
 appropriate. That in Knox's Liturgy is fuller, 
 and may be consulted with advantage. The prayer 
 in Euchologion is based on these and other Re- 
 formed services. The whole ordination service 
 in that volume is the work of the late Principal 
 Campbell of Aberdeen, who from the outset took 
 a deep interest in the Church Service Society, 
 and who, I may take the liberty of saying, was 
 not only one of the most accomplished and 
 learned of Scottish theologians, but was remark- 
 ably distinguished for his familiarity with the 
 early history of the Eeformed Church, and for his 
 sympathy with its true spirit. He was a genuine 
 representative of that Church in its most flourish- 
 ing days, before its glory was tarnished by ration- 
 alism in some countries, and by ultra-puritanism 
 in others. 
 
 The prayer should begin with thanksgiving to 
 God for His great mercy in sending Jesus Christ 
 for our redemption, and specially for that when 
 He had ascended up on high He shed down the 
 Holy Ghost, and gave gifts unto men, Apostles 
 
ORDINATION. 211 
 
 and Prophets,. Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers, 
 that they might, in perpetual succession, feed, 
 and guide, and build up the Church, promising 
 to be with them always till the end of the world. 
 
 The prayer should then proceed in such a form 
 as follows : " We further thank Thee for choosing 
 and inclining this Thy servant to take part in 
 this great work. And as we, in Thy Name, do 
 now ordain him a Presbyter in Thy Church, and 
 commit unto him authority to minister Thy Word 
 and Sacraments, and to discharge all the duties of 
 that Holy office, do Thou, who healest what 
 is infirm, and suppliest what is wanting, receive 
 and strengthen him for Thy service, giving him 
 the unction of the Holy Ghost." ^ 
 
 This should be followed with supplications for 
 all needful gifts and graces, that he may fulfil 
 the work of the ministry in all things, and both 
 save himself and the people committed to his 
 charge. 
 
 It is at the second paragraph, when reference is 
 made to the candidate, and immediately before 
 the solemn moment of ordination, that the pre- 
 
 1 "It was not thouglit necessary to express all or any of the 
 offices of a Presbyter in particular, but only in general to pray 
 for grace to be given to the priest then ordained, whereby he 
 might be enabled to perform them." — Bingham, book ii., 
 chap. XX. sec. 17. 
 
212 ORDINATION. 
 
 siding Minister, and those who assist him, impose 
 hands. One should be especially careful as to 
 the form of words used in this paragraph ; and 
 thoucrh it is sufficient to admit to the office accord- 
 ing to its Divine institution, it is well also to 
 specify its principal duties. 
 
 The Christian Church in all ages has held that 
 several ministers should take part in ordination, 
 and that it is irregular, though not necessarily 
 invalid, when done by a single person. Further, 
 I need hardly remind you that the powers of the 
 office are not conferred by the ordainers, any more 
 than is the grace of Sacraments imparted by those 
 who administer them. The powers of the Chris- 
 tian Ministry were conferred by the Head of the 
 Church once for all, and though coming through 
 appointed channels, they descend from Him upon 
 the person ordained, who is admitted to a partici- 
 pation of them in virtue of the office with which 
 he is regularly invested. 
 
 According to the Larger Overtures, when the 
 prayer is ended, the Minister who moderates in 
 the action is to take the person ordained by the 
 right hand, saying unto him, " We give unto you 
 the right hand of fellowship to take part of the 
 ministry with us ; " and this is the general prac- 
 tice of the Church. In this, as in many other 
 
ORDINATION. 213 
 
 points, Stewart of Pardovan copies these Over- 
 tures verbatim, and he has been the great authority 
 with successive generations of clergy. 
 
 If the person ordained is also to be inducted to 
 a charge, this should be done as a separate act 
 when the minister returns to the pulpit, and in 
 these words : " In the Name of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and by appointment of this Presbytery, 
 I admit you to the pastoral charge of the Parish 
 of , and to all the rights and privileges be- 
 longing thereto." 
 
 Exhortation. — He is then "briefly to exhort 
 him to consider the greatness of his office and 
 work, the danger of negligence both to himself 
 and to his people, the blessing which will accom- 
 pany his faithfulness in this life and that to 
 come; and withal to exhort the people to carry 
 themselves to him as their minister in the Lord." 
 
 Prayer. — He is next " to commend both him 
 and his flock to the grace of God." It is in this 
 prayer that special supplications should be made 
 for the right discharge of their mutual duties, 
 and after this the usual intercession should be 
 offered. 
 
 Praise. — A Psalm or Hymn is then sung, such 
 as the 192d in the Hymnal, and the whole service 
 concludes with the Benediction. 
 
214 ORDINATION. 
 
 In tlie case of the Induction of a Minister 
 already ordained, tlie presiding Presbyter, after 
 reading tlie questions of Act x. 1711, " calls on 
 him to declare his adherence to, and renewal of, 
 the answers formerly given." He then passes at 
 once to the words, " In the Name of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and by appointment of this Presby- 
 tery, I admit you," &c., as before. He then pro- 
 ceeds to the charge and prayer of institution. 
 In a late Act of Assembly on the subject, it is 
 ordered that immediately after the words of ad- 
 mission and before the charge, " the brethren pre- 
 sent shall give him the right hand of fellowship." 
 It is usual and appropriate for them to take him 
 by the hand in token of welcome ; but, as it is 
 pointed out in the Larger Overtures, the expres- 
 sion both of giving him the right hand of fellow- 
 ship and taking him to a part of the ministry, 
 " should be omitted, seeing he was received therein 
 at his ordination." Some of these matters have 
 not been so carefully considered in later enact- 
 ments of Assembly as they were in former days. 
 
 There were various other ceremonies long in 
 use at ordinations and inductions in Presbyterian 
 as well as Episcopal times, which have now gone 
 out of fashion in most if not in all Presbyteries. 
 
ORDINATION. 215 
 
 Thus institution was formerly given by the 
 presiding Presbyter delivering to the newly 
 ordained Pastor the pulpit Bible, and by putting 
 into his hands the key of the Church and the 
 bell-strings. 
 
 This was done at the close of the service, as 
 appears, e.g., from the following extract from the 
 Eecords of the Presbytery of Perth in 1700: " The 
 Moderator having closed the action with prayer 
 and praise, gave the said Mr C. institution by 
 delivering him the Kirk Bible, key of the Kirk 
 doors, and bell-strings ; whereupon Mr C. for his 
 part, and J. B., elder, in name of the rest of the 
 elders and parishioners, asked and took instru- 
 ments in the Clerk's hands." 
 
 It is to be regretted that old customs so full of 
 meaning should have been allowed to fall into 
 desuetude. The giving of the Bible is so appro- 
 priate that it forms an integral part of the ordi- 
 nation service in many branches of the Church ; 
 while the handing of the keys and bell-strings to 
 the new incumbent by the Presbytery, in whose 
 custody they had been during the vacancy, means 
 that they give him full power over them. 
 
 The lawyers have already taken possession of 
 the churchyards on behalf of the Heritors, without 
 any authority, I believe, and some of them are 
 
216 ORDINATION. 
 
 now disposed to put forth a similar claim to the 
 custody of the keys of the Church. They might 
 just as well lay claim to the custody of the keys 
 of the Manse or of the Minister's stable. Such 
 claims would not have been thought of if the old 
 custom of handing the keys to the Minister had 
 always been kept up, as it has been in England. 
 It is not creditable to Presbytery that any 
 ecclesiastical right which it inherited from pre- 
 vious and stronger systems of Church government, 
 should be sacrificed through its remissness. 
 
 It was also formerly the custom for the Heritors 
 and Elders to take the Minister by the hand in 
 token of their concurrence and assent to his ad- 
 mission, immediately after he had received the 
 right hand of fellowship from his Copresbyters ; 
 but the present practice is that they join with 
 the rest of the congregation in doing this at the 
 church-door after the service. It is usual to inti- 
 mate that the people will have this opportunity, 
 but it should not be done as I have sometimes 
 heard it, thus : " As you leave the church you 
 will have an opportunity of giving your Pastor 
 the right hand of fellowship," 
 
LICENSING PEOBATIONERS. 21' 
 
 This can scarcely be considered one of the 
 public services of the Church, as it takes place 
 at an ordinary meeting of Presbytery. The only 
 regulations on the subject are, that after Students 
 of Divinity have completed their trials, the ques- 
 tions prescribed by the Assembly of 1711 are 
 to be put to them, and upon satisfactory answers 
 being given, " the Presbytery are to appoint their 
 Moderator to license them to preach the Gospel." 
 Licentiates were formerly called Expectants, and 
 there is no legislation of any importance with 
 regard to them till after the Eevolution Settle- 
 ment, when the Church enacted that they were 
 only " to preach within the bounds, or by direc- 
 tion of that Presbytery which did license them." 
 It was also " expressly provided and declared that 
 probationers are not to be esteemed by themselves 
 or others to preach by virtue of any pastoral 
 office, but only to make way for their being 
 called to a pastoral charge." It is the practice 
 in Presbyteries for the Moderator to address some 
 counsels to young men when licensed to make 
 trial of their gifts in public ; but prayers are not 
 offered on such occasions. If they were, there 
 
218 ADMISSION OF ELDERS. 
 
 might be some danger of confounding proba- 
 tionership for the ministry with the ministry 
 itself. In many of the Continental Eeformed 
 Churches candidates for the ministry, on com- 
 pleting their trials, are ordained without waiting 
 for their appointment to a charge. Practically 
 our licentiate is a substitute for the preaching 
 Deacon of Episcopal Communions ; and some of 
 the greatest defenders of Presbyterian Church 
 Government have held that the Diaconate is 
 the divinely instituted nursery for the Presby- 
 terate, and was typified by the Levitical order 
 out of which the priesthood was chosen of old. 
 
 ^timission of ISltJcrs. 
 
 The admission of members of Kirk -session 
 takes place during Public Worship on the Lord's 
 Day, but there are no regulations on the subject 
 in the Westminster Standards. 
 
 An order for the election of Elders and Deacons 
 was adopted by the Church in Edinburgh soon 
 after the Eeformation, and in 1582 was approved 
 by the Assembly for general use throughout the 
 Church. The form consisted of a short address, 
 a prayer to be read, ending with the Lord's 
 Prayer, and the rehearsal of the Belief. After 
 
ADMISSION OF ELDERS. 219 
 
 this, part of tlie 103d Psalm, at the 19th verse, 
 was to be sung, and a short exhortation given to 
 those who were elected. At that time, and for 
 long afterwards, indeed in some parts of the 
 country till the early part of last century, elders 
 were usually elected annually, and held office 
 only for a year. The old form was in general 
 use before 1645, and no other was then substi- 
 tuted for it. Elders were continued under both 
 the first and the second Episcopacy, and were, I 
 presume, admitted to ofiice in the same way as 
 when the Church was under Presbyterian Govern- 
 ment. The legislation on the subject after 1690 
 is defective, and the practice has at times been 
 very irregular. In 1863 an Act was passed 
 professedly consolidating, but also in some re- 
 spects supplementing, the previous legislation, 
 and this regulates the present practice of the 
 Church. 
 
 According to it the Minister is to put to the 
 persons chosen for the office certain questions 
 "implied" in previous Acts of Assembly. He is 
 then to set them apart to the eldership by prayer, 
 accompanied with an exhortation to them, and an 
 address to the people. After the congregation is 
 dismissed they are to receive the right hand of 
 fellowship from their brethren in the Session. 
 
220 ADMISSION OF ELDERS. 
 
 The most authoritative statement we have as to 
 the nature of the office is that contained in the 
 Form of Church Government, where they are 
 referred to, not as elders in the New Testament 
 sense of the word, but as "other Church Gov- 
 ernors," and as "officers" whom "Eeformed 
 Churches commonly call Elders." 
 
 The Westminster Assembly definitely rejected 
 what is called the Presbyter theory of the office, 
 and regarded them merely as laymen represent- 
 ing the laity in the government of the Church. 
 
 The old form of 1582 long served not only for 
 the admission of Elders, but of Deacons. There 
 were formerly Deacons in almost every parish, 
 and the Assembly of 1719 recommended all 
 Ministers to appoint them as well as Elders ; 
 but the office is now almost extinct. 
 
 There are no regulations in the Westminster 
 documents or in the Acts of Assembly since the 
 Eevolution, as to the creed to which they have to 
 give their assent, or the mode of their admission. 
 You find all this supplied in some Ministers' 
 Directories, but these services have no higher 
 ecclesiastical authority than that of their com- 
 pilers. 
 
 In these matters the Church cannot be consid- 
 ered fully equipped or completely organised. 
 
CHUECH DISCIPLINE. 221 
 
 Tlie Doctrine, Worship, and, as we shall see, 
 the Discipline set forth in the Westminster 
 standards have all been virtually revived since 
 1690 ; but the Government of the Church rests 
 on a different footing, and there are questions 
 still left open, and defects waiting to be sup- 
 plied. 
 
 29i0cipline, 
 
 I now come to the subject of Church Disci- 
 pline, which formerly imposed very trying public 
 duties upon our Clergy, but from which they 
 have now in a great measure emancipated them- 
 selves. 
 
 There are three treatises on the subject which 
 deserve attention. 1. The Order of Excommuni- 
 cation and of Public Repentance, drawn up by 
 Knox in 1567. This formed part of the old 
 Liturgy, and the Assembly ordered it to be ob- 
 served in all points. 2. The Westminster Direc- 
 tory for Church Censures. 3. The Form of Pro- 
 cess in cases of Scandals and Censures, approved 
 by the General Assembly in 1707, and which still 
 embodies the law of the Church on these subjects. 
 There are also some special Acts passed since the 
 Pievolution, which are still in force. 
 
 In all these treatises public repentance is ex- 
 
222 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 pressly held to be an ordinance of God. This 
 was practised in all parts of the country till a 
 generation ago, and is still kept up in some 
 remote localities. Formerly those under disci- 
 pline had to appear in sackcloth, and sometimes 
 with their heads clipped, and head and feet bare, 
 at the door of the church, or on the stool of 
 repentance, from three to fifty-two Sundays, ac- 
 cording to the heinousness of their offence.-^ The 
 use of the stool and of sackcloth has only dis- 
 appeared in some parts of the country within the 
 last few years. A clerical friend told me that he 
 had seen a penitent in a white sheet in a Caith- 
 ness church shortly before the Disruption ; and 
 another friend, who spent a Sunday in the same 
 county when a boy, only missed a similar spec- 
 tacle by not going to church. And an old par- 
 ishioner of mine in Aberdeenshire, told me she 
 remembered having seen it in her youth. These 
 externals had formed part of the discipline of 
 the Pre-Eeformation Church, and were continued 
 alike under Presbytery and under Episcopacy. 
 In England, public penance and the white sheet 
 were kept up in some parishes till the latter half 
 of last century.^ Not only have they now dis- 
 
 1 See Act of Assembly 1648, sess. 38. 
 
 2 See ' Notes and Queries,' :May 1880, p. 353. 
 
CHUECH DISCIPLINE. 223 
 
 appeared from our Chnrcli, but I am told that, in 
 some of our cities, Sessional discipline has been 
 given up also, and that Ministers content them- 
 selves with dealing with offenders in private. 
 The Form of Process allows great liberty in 
 ordinary cases, but this is certainly to disregard 
 not only the rules but the principles of the 
 Church. 
 
 Without entering minutely into the subject, I 
 shall make some remarks on the three modes of 
 dealing with offenders, which the laws of the 
 Church provide for, and which are still in the 
 main adhered to by the clergy, though the prac- 
 tice differs from the law in some important 
 respects. They are alluded to in the 30th chapter 
 of the Confession of Faith as follows : " For the 
 better attaining of the ends of Church Discipline, 
 the Officers of the Church are to proceed by 
 admonition, suspension from the Sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper for a season, and by excom- 
 munication from the Church, according to the 
 nature of the crime, and demerit of the person." 
 
 1. There is, first, the case of simple admonition 
 before the Session. In this case, offenders ac- 
 knowledge their sin, declare their repentance, 
 and their resolution to sin no more. " This 
 being done," the Minister, " after prayer to God 
 
224 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 for the penitent, is to admonish him to walk 
 circumspectly." 
 
 2. There is next what is called the Lesser Ex- 
 communication or Suspension of Offenders from 
 the benefit of the Holy Communion, till such 
 time as they give satisfactory evidence of repent- 
 ance. In this case the person appearing and 
 confessing his sin is suspended, and is solemnly 
 exhorted to repentance. By laws still in force, 
 but not observed, the names of those who are 
 under this censure are to be publicly read out the 
 Lord's Day immediately preceding that on which 
 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is to be admin- 
 istered.^ When such persons appear again, desir- 
 ing to be restored, the Minister should ask them, 
 If they are truly penitent, and are resolved to live 
 holily in the time to come ? On their answering 
 in the afi&rmative, he is to absolve them from the 
 sentence of suspension, and to restore them, in 
 the Name of Christ, to the participation of the 
 Sacraments. After engaging in prayer on their 
 behalf, he should exhort them to holy and right- 
 eous living for the time to come. 
 
 Those who are not communicants, and who 
 cannot, strictly speaking, be suspended, should 
 be kept under discipline till their admission to 
 
 1 Act ly. of Assembly, 1705. 
 
CHUECH DISCIPLINE. 225 
 
 the Lord's Supper, for which, on professing peni- 
 tence, they should be exhorted to prepare. In 
 connection with this second class of offenders, 
 there are cases, as you find pointed out in the 
 Form of Process, which require to be reported to 
 the Presbytery, and without its consent the Min- 
 ister cannot proceed to Absolution. 
 
 Another case, in which the Minister is only to 
 act under direction of the Presbytery, is in admin- 
 istering the oath of purgation. This peculiarly 
 solemn act is of rare occurrence; but when it 
 takes place, it is due to all parties that it be 
 intimated to the congregation. You will find no 
 forms for these two methods of dealing with 
 offenders, but in some of the Eeformed Liturgies 
 there are directions on the subject. 
 
 3. There is the Greater Excommunication, and 
 the Order of proceeding to Absolution. For these 
 most solemn services there are minute directions, 
 with appropriate prayers, and formulas for the 
 sentences both of Excommunication and of Ab- 
 solution in the Form of Process. These are taken 
 almost verbatim from the Westminster Directory 
 for Church Censures, which has thus been vir- 
 tually sanctioned by the Church. These services 
 are now almost obsolete, the broken-up condition 
 of the Church having made Christian discipline 
 p 
 
226 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 
 
 almost impossible ; but should any one be obliged 
 to perform them, it would have to be done under 
 orders from the Presbytery, in presence of the 
 congregation, and it would be his duty to ad- 
 here strictly to the form of words authorised by 
 the Church, alike in the exhortations, prayers, 
 and sentences. It is not necessary that I should 
 do more than refer you to them, as given in the 
 Form of Process. 
 
227 
 
 LECTUEE yi. 
 
 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE — INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS OF 
 CHURCHES, FITTINGS, AND OTHER REQUISITES FOR 
 DIVINE SERVICE — LAYING OP A FOUNDATION-STONE, 
 AND DEDICATION OF A CHURCH — CONCLUDING OBSER- 
 VATIONS. 
 
 We have now come to the concluding Lecture, 
 and the subjects which are to be noticed to-day 
 are of a somewhat miscellaneous character. I 
 shall make some remarks, first, on Church Archi- 
 tecture, on the internal arrangements of Churches, 
 the fittings, and other , requisites for Divine 
 Service; next, on the Services which are usual at 
 the laying of foundation-stones, and the opening 
 of new Churches ; and shall conclude with some 
 observations on the decline and revival of wor- 
 ship in the Church of Scotland. 
 
228 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Cfjurc!) ^rcjiterture. 
 
 There is no need whatever of my making any 
 apology for discussing the mere externals of 
 Divine Service. They were of sufficient impor- 
 tance to be regulated from heaven under the 
 former dispensation, and whatever their intrinsic 
 importance now in the eyes of Him Who " hath 
 made everything beautiful in His time/' it is cer- 
 tain that we are required to serve Him with our 
 best, and that suitable arrangements for Public 
 Worship have very much to do with order, rever- 
 ence, and heartiness in our devotions. 
 
 Churches are the monuments of a nation's 
 piety. "Who does not feel," as has been said, 
 " that man would be debased if he should erect 
 palaces for himself and barns for the Godhead? " 
 ISTothing tends more to the degradation of wor- 
 ship than dilapidated Churches and the want of 
 those external appliances and instrumentalities 
 which are requisite for order and decency ; and 
 whenever a true revival of religion blesses a 
 community these things receive attention. 
 
 The wretched state of many Parish Churches 
 has affected most unfavourably the character of 
 our worship, and though the Church is not blame- 
 
CHURCH ARCHITECTUEE. 229 
 
 less in this respect, she has been more sinned 
 against than sinning. Indeed, insult has been 
 added to injury, and she has been habitually 
 blamed for a state of things which she has 
 striven earnestly to prevent or remedy. Thus 
 she has often been charged with the destruction 
 of the great Churches which adorned our country 
 at the time of the Eeformation. Not long ago, a 
 Nobleman, who was asked to subscribe towards 
 the erection of a monument to John Knox, sug- 
 gested, somewhat sarcastically, that Melrose, 
 Dryburgh, and other ruined Churches, sufficiently 
 served the purpose. It was perhaps pardonable 
 in his Lordship not to be aware that the great 
 Churches to which he alluded had been destroyed 
 in an English invasion before the Eeformation ; 
 but he should not have forgotten that his own 
 title is associated with a suppressed Eeligious 
 House, and that people who live in glass houses 
 should not throw stones. " What you speak of 
 Mr Knox preaching for the pulling down of 
 Churches," wrote Baillie more than 200 years 
 ago, " is like the rest of your lies. . . . Knox 
 in person . . . went out to save the Monastery 
 of Scoon . . . from all violence. Some few 
 Monasteries and two or three Cathedral Churches 
 were cast down by the idle provocation of some 
 
230 CHUKCH ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 Popisli priests. ... I have not heard that 
 in all our land above three or four Churches were 
 cast down."^ The Monastery at Scoon, I may 
 add, to which Baillie refers, was afterwards pulled 
 down by Lord Scoon to build a house for himself, 
 and a good many more shared a similar fate. 
 
 In so far as Churches were destroyed at the 
 Eeformation it was done either by the neighbour- 
 ing lairds in order that they might the more 
 easily seize the lands that were attached to them, 
 or by the " rascal multitude " (as Knox calls 
 them) much against the will of the Eeformed 
 Clergy. So far from being to blame for the 
 destruction of Churches, they urged, as you find 
 in the First Book of Discipline, that they 
 should be with expedition repaired, "lest that 
 the Word of God and ministration of the Sacra- 
 ments, by unseemliness of the place, come into 
 contempt," and that they should have " such pre- 
 paration within as appertain eth ... to the 
 Majesty of the Word of God." 
 
 The early Assemblies, year after year, protested 
 against their neglected and ruinous condition, 
 and pressed upon the Government the necessity 
 of making provision for their repair and upkeep ; 
 while the Clergy on all hands complained that 
 
 ^ Baillie's Histori. Vindica. of the Church of Scotland, p. 40. 
 
CHURCH AUCHITECTURE. 231 
 
 through the " sacrilegious avarice of Earls, Lords, 
 and Gentlemen," they were " like sheep and cat- 
 tle folds, rather than places for Christian Con- 
 gregations to assemble in." The law at length 
 imposed the obligation of upholding them on 
 those who had got possession of the property 
 which had previously kept them in repair, but 
 it was constantly evaded in spite of the remon- 
 strances of the Clergy. Since then our Churches 
 have been meaner than those of any other country 
 in Christendom. "The dog-kennel at Osbaldis- 
 tone Hall," Sir Walter Scott makes Andrew Fair- 
 service say, " is better than many a House of God 
 in Scotland ; " and certainly in many cases the 
 Gentleman's stable, with its clock-tower, puts the 
 Parish Church to shame. In some parts of the 
 country, within living memory, umbrellas had 
 to be raised in Churches in rainy weather. One 
 of the commonest remarks of strangers visiting 
 Scotland, when they see an old Church with any 
 pretensions to architecture, is, "Of course this 
 was built before the Eeformation." All this is 
 mortifying enough of itself, and it does not 
 improve matters to hear Heritors coolly attribut- 
 ing to the genius of Presbyterianism what is 
 due to their own genius, or to see them leav- 
 ing the Parish Churches because of discomforts, 
 
232 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 and even horrors, which they are bound to 
 remove. 
 
 The Pre-Eeformation Churches, in a more or 
 less dilapidated condition, generally stood till last 
 century. After the Act of Annexation (1587) 
 the chancel was usually taken possession of by 
 the layman who then became the representative 
 of the Kector or Eelisjious House that had been 
 despoiled, a gallery was erected in it, and the 
 place where the high altar stood was appropriated 
 as the family burying - place. A corresponding 
 gallery was put up at the AVest end, and a tran- 
 sept with gallery was thrown out opposite the 
 pulpit. When new Churches had to be built 
 this was the model often followed at first; but 
 in the end of last century, when the population 
 had greatly increased, and many Churches had 
 to be rebuilt, the problem to be solved was how to 
 get the most accommodation at the least expense, 
 and the village mason or carpenter was the pe'rson 
 to whom it was submitted. The result was the 
 erection in many parts of the country of huge 
 square barns with immense galleries, and seats 
 crowded close to the pulpit. In some cases noble 
 Pre-Eeformation Churches, Archidiaconal and 
 Monastic, were pulled down, and the stones used 
 fur erecting " hideous buildings, the very sight of 
 
CHUECH ARCHITECTTJKE. 233 
 
 which is debasing." Dunbar and Morebattle 
 Churches shared this fate, and the Abbey Church 
 of Paisley, since partially restored, was doomed 
 to it, but the Heritors were prevented by the Min- 
 ister from carrying out their scheme. In our own 
 day a new and better spirit has arisen. Many old 
 Churches have been restored, some, such as St 
 Vigeans and that of Biggar, most successfully, and 
 many new ones of a better type have been built. 
 The plans adopted have not, however, always 
 been very satisfactory. The Scottish intellect 
 in such departments is apt to show an excess of 
 vigour, and styles of architecture have been in- 
 vented which were never before heard of. Beauty 
 of outline and proportion, which is the highest 
 style of beauty, has been too little regarded, and 
 much stupid and expensive ornamentation has 
 often been lavished upon misshapen structures, 
 the effect being to remind one of a deformed figure 
 heavily laden with jewellery and rich apparel. 
 The interior of some of these Churches resembles 
 a circus, class-room, or music-hall. If the last, 
 on entering you see a stage or platform, with a 
 reading desk and sofa in place of an ecclesiastical 
 pulpit, while behind there is a huge organ — the 
 principal object in the building, — and you tremble 
 for the Clergyman in front, who reminds you of 
 
234 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 those unfortunate Sepoys who, after the Indian 
 Mutiny, were lashed to the mouths of cannon, 
 and blown into a thousand fragments. Strange 
 devices, too, one sometimes hears of for the ad- 
 ministration of the Sacraments, such as a font on 
 the top of which a board is screwed to do duty 
 as a Table at times of Communion. In these 
 matters the Church should not be allowed to 
 drift at the mercy of such absurd notions as may 
 enter the head of the village carpenter or self- 
 taught architect. It is the business of a Presby- 
 tery, and of every Clergyman in it, to encourage 
 a proper style of ecclesiastical architecture, as the 
 Clergy have done in all ages; and to insist at 
 least upon the internal arrangements of Churches 
 being such as to make the devout and orderly 
 celebration of all the ordinances of religion a 
 possibility. There is nothing in our system incon- 
 sistent with the noblest style of architecture — 
 nothing to prevent our utilising all the parts of a 
 Gothic Cathedral; though perhaps the earliest form 
 of the Christian Church, the Basilica, suits best 
 our worship, the means at our disposal, and our 
 traditions. The finest Eeformed Churches in the 
 world are the old Swiss Cathedrals, such as that 
 of Basel. In Holland there are also many noble 
 and stately cruciform Churches,'the chancel, or head 
 
INTEKNAL ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES. 235 
 
 of the Cross, being used for the Communion, as 
 was the case in Scotland after the Eeformation. 
 
 The parallelogram or simple nave, which is all 
 that we can look for in many parishes, is capable 
 of being treated in a churchly way by devoting 
 the East end to the pulpit. Communion Table, 
 choir seats, organ, and vestry. 
 
 Internal Arrangements of CJurcJes, iFitttngs, antJ 
 fltjer i^equisites for ©ibine ^erbice. 
 
 With regard to the internal arrangements which 
 chiefly affect the worship, I remark — 
 
 1. That the seats should all, as far as possible, 
 face the clergyman. Nothing could be worse, for 
 purposes of worship, than the old-fashioned square 
 pew, which obliged half thQ people to sit with 
 their backs • to the pulpit. The pews should 
 be light, and come as near the open bench as 
 possible. Book-boards are useless, except for 
 sleepers. An open back with a bar across is pre- 
 ferable, and the best place for depositing books is 
 on a shelf under the seat in front. The pews 
 should be uniform, for a distinction betwixt the 
 accommodation for rich and poor in God's House 
 is not merely objectionable, but anti-Christian. 
 This is, in fact, the gold-ring principle which is so 
 
236 INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES. 
 
 emphatically condemned by St James. It is little 
 wonder that we so often hear complaints of the 
 unwillingness of the poor to attend our churches, 
 after they have been taught for centuries that the 
 worst seats, in some out-of-the-way corner, are the 
 proper place for them. 
 
 2. Again, if the posture of kneeling during 
 prayer is to be introduced, the seats should be 
 roomy enough to admit of it. Sitting is, in the 
 highest degree, irreverent, and to revive it is to 
 return to a posture out of which Scottish Pres- 
 byterians were shamed by Episcopalians in the 
 early part of last century. So much is to be said 
 for standing that it would probably be every- 
 where adopted were it not for the trouble of main- 
 taining this position both during praise and 
 prayer ; but, if we except the weak and infirm, 
 there is no good reason why people might not 
 stand at both. The House of God is no place for 
 the indulgence of laziness, and those who are 
 inclined to lounge and take their ease should 
 remember the clergyman, who has to stand when 
 others sit. In the Primitive Cliurch the people 
 stood, not only at prayer and praise, but during 
 the reading of the lessons. Standing at prayer 
 on the Lord's Day, as every one now knows, was 
 universal among the early Christians. It was 
 
INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES. 237 
 
 regarded as symbolical of the Eesurrection of our 
 Lord. It was believed to have been handed down 
 from the Apostles, and so much importance was 
 attached to it that it was even considered sinful 
 to kneel. The 318 Bishops who assembled at the 
 Council of Nice ordered that the standing posture 
 on Sundays, and on the week-days betwixt Easter 
 and Whitsuntide, should everywhere be con- 
 tinued ; and throughout the Eastern Church this 
 rule is still observed. The Scottish custom of 
 standing at prayer was not adopted, however, out 
 of deference to the ancient usage, nor, as is some- 
 times said, because the Eoman Catholics knelt. 
 Kneeling was the usage for nearly a century after 
 the Eeformation, and was enforced by iuj unctions 
 of the Church Courts. This was the practice 
 even during the prayers of the Communion Ser- 
 vice, much as kneeling when receiving the ele- 
 ments was objected to. It was during the irrev- 
 erent time of the Commonwealth that sitting 
 became the fashion. After the restoration of 
 Episcopacy in 1661 this was denounced as inde- 
 cent, and those who conformed introduced stand- 
 ing. The subject is frequently referred to in the 
 pamphlets of the Eevolution period, and from 
 them it is quite clear that the Episcopalians then 
 stood and the Presbyterians sat. Some of the 
 
238 INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT OF CHURCHES. 
 
 former objected to conformity with the Eevolu- 
 tion Church on this, among other grounds — that 
 they might have to give up their more reverent 
 attitude of standing at prayer. It was owing to 
 their denunciation of sitting, and to the fact that 
 the great body of the Episcopalians accepted the 
 Eevolution settlement and continued their custom 
 of standing, that this posture in later times came 
 to be considered a characteristic of Presbytery.^ 
 
 3. Again, a Church should be fully furnished 
 and equipped for all the sacred purposes to which 
 it is devoted, and there should be at least suffi- 
 cient space for the decent celebration of all divine 
 ordinances. At present the pews are often so 
 contiguous to the pulpit that a public Marriage 
 or Baptism is scarcely possible, to say nothing of 
 the want of room and facilities for the Communion 
 and for Ordination. Even the passages are some- 
 times so narrow that two people could not pass 
 in them unless, like mountain goats, one were to 
 lie down and let the other walk over him. These 
 matters deserve attention, not only for the sake 
 of convenience and seemliness, but for still higher 
 reasons. The form of the House was of old pre- 
 scribed by God Himself, and it is impossible to 
 
 ^ See Book of Common Order and Directory, pp. Iviii, 
 lix, 329, 330. 
 
CHUECH PLATE. 239 
 
 avoid impressing -upon the minds of the people 
 views, either wrong or right, of divine truth, and 
 of the relative importance of the different feat- 
 ures of Divine Service, by the way in which our 
 churches are arranged, and by the provision made 
 for the administration of ordinances. 
 
 The rusty iron hoop stuck in the side of the 
 high pulpit to hold the battered pewter basin, 
 to which the parent has to ascend, with his child 
 in his arms, by a staircase used for no other pur- 
 pose, is an appalling and even perilous arrange- 
 ment for Baptism. How mean, too, are the cups 
 which we sometimes see on the Lord's Table ! 
 while the patens and flagons are often such as 
 would not be tolerated in a respectable kitchen. 
 Indeed some parishes have not yet got the length 
 of the pewter flagon, and the black bottle may 
 still be seen, and the popping of corks be heard, 
 at the Holy Table.^ It is strange that people of 
 means so seldom think of presenting the neces- 
 sary equipments for the service of the Lord's 
 House.^ In Holland the Communion plate is 
 
 1 A friend tells me that this was the case also a few years ago 
 in some of the Irish Episcopal churches. 
 
 2 Formerly, many church.es had no Communion Cups at all, 
 but were in the habit of borrowing from their neighbours who 
 were fortunate enough to possess them. A charge of from ten 
 to thirty shillings was made for the use of them. 
 
240 THE COMMUNION ELEMENTS. 
 
 generally of massive silver, and in some cases of 
 solid gold, — the gifts, in many cases, of those 
 whom God had blessed with abundance. Every 
 minister should do his best to have the church in 
 which he officiates provided with, at least, decent 
 Baptismal and Communion vessels; and, if he 
 can do no better, even a few shillings spent in 
 smoothing and electroplating the old ones may 
 effect a great improvement. Let me say, also, that 
 flagons should be procured at all hazards when 
 they are wanting, and that they should be placed 
 on, not under, the Communion Table. 
 
 4. Tlie Communion Elements. — In the North- 
 East of Scotland the Communion bread is usually 
 cut into dice, with the exception of a few pieces for 
 the Minister to break. This saves unnecessary 
 handling, and has the further advantage that one 
 can provide, almost to a single piece, beforehand 
 the quantity required. In the Central Counties it 
 is usual to have slices cut in the loaf — the crust 
 below and thick pieces at the ends being left as 
 a framework. It is not easy under this system 
 to avoid setting apart to a sacramental use much 
 more than is actually required, and indeed some 
 people have the very vulgar and irreverent idea 
 that there should be a sumptuous board — as at 
 Corinth. In Dumfriesshire, and part of Galloway, 
 
THE COMMUNION ELEMENTS. 241 
 
 shortbread is used in many parishes, or at least 
 was so till a few years ago, for I understand the 
 usage is now dying out. This kind of bread was 
 chosen because of its being unleavened. Having 
 held clerical appointments in all the districts 
 where these different usages prevail, I have a 
 decided preference for the Northern custom, or a 
 near approach to it, mainly because there should 
 be as little as possible consecrated beyond what 
 is required.^ 
 
 In some parts of the country it seems to have 
 been the custom formerly reverently to consume 
 in the vestry any of the Bread and Wine left 
 from the Lord's Table. I have met with this 
 practice in quarters where it had been evidently 
 handed down; and indeed the warnings against 
 the superstitious habit of communicants carrying 
 away crumbs in their napkins, which are met 
 with in the writings of our older divines, show 
 that handing over large quantities to the beadle 
 or the poor must have been in their time quite 
 
 1 In Geneva, wafer-cakes continued to be used long after the 
 Eeformatiou. The Oriental Church uses leavened bread ; the 
 Roman, unleavened. The Catholic and Apostolic Church follow 
 the Western use, because "the Holy Eucharist was instituted 
 by Christ in unleavened bread," and because this was "sym- 
 bolical of truths applicable to all times," 
 
242 THE COMMUNION ELEMENTS. 
 
 unknown.^ It has often been said that the Eubric 
 of the English Prayer-Book on this subject has 
 tended greatly to increase reverence among Epis- 
 copalians. Again, it would surely be well if we 
 followed the practice of other countries, Eoman 
 Catholic and Eeformed, in using a wine for the 
 Communion which contains no more spirit than 
 is necessary for its preservation. This would be 
 right in itself, and would meet the views of all 
 reasonable Teetotallers.^ 
 
 ^ "Then go your way . . . not a "bit of this bread in your 
 napkin, as the old superstitious custom of some is, but with 
 Christ Himself" (Spalding's Sermons and Table Addresses, p. 
 200). The custom survived till within the memory of people 
 still living. 
 
 ~ The late Dr Bisset of Bourtie informed me that some of the 
 older clergy whom he knew as a young man, were very par- 
 ticular about continuing the use of the mixed cup which had 
 been handed down to them. The Synod of Aberdeen, during 
 the Covenanting period, attempted to stop this early Christian 
 usage, but without success. In the visitation of parishes, one 
 of the questions put at that time was, "Is your wine for the 
 Holy Communion mixed with water or not ? "—See Davidson's 
 Inverurie, &c.,pp. 308, 311. 
 
 Boston speaks of the usage in a way that leads one to believe 
 that it was common in the South of Scotland also. Had the 
 primitive custom been retained, we would never have heard of 
 the substitutes for wine now proposed. Even if such experi- 
 ments do not desecrate the Sacrament, no one knows where 
 they may end. A friend who has been present at the services 
 of the agents of the London Missionary Society in the Islands 
 of tlie Pacific, tells me that, instead of bread and wine, they 
 make use of yam and cocoa-nut milk ! ! 
 
CLERICAL ROBES. 243 
 
 5. Clerical Robes, — I notice further that he who 
 guides the public devotions of the Church should 
 not only be in his right mind, but be decently 
 and suitably clothed. One obvious advantage of 
 an ofi&cial costume in Church or State is that it 
 " sinks the individual and the man of the passing 
 age," and is a reminder of the authority with 
 which those who wear it are clothed. Apart 
 from the idea of a distinction betwixt the secular 
 and the sacred, there is something in official gar- 
 ments which it is idle for people to ignore. Those 
 who disbelieve in the Christian ministry as an 
 Order are, however, quite consistent in objecting 
 to ecclesiastical robes ; and the eminent Baptist 
 Minister who is said to denounce the Protestant 
 white neckcloth as the last rag of Popery, is no 
 doubt quite right from his point of view. At the 
 Keformation, sacerdotal vestments were given up 
 in the Eeformed Churches, and those which were, 
 properly speaking, Academical, were retained for 
 ecclesiastical purposes. Calvin, and the ministers 
 of the Eeformed Church generally, wore cassocks 
 as their ordinary costume on the streets. 
 
 Calvin mentions, in a letter to Farel, that he 
 had received a rebuff for this from a silly woman, 
 who declaimed against it, saying, " Is it not writ- 
 ten, They shall come to you in long garments ? " 
 
244 CLERICAL ROBES. 
 
 but he says lie left her in despair of convincing 
 such ignorance. The Scottish Eeformers were 
 like their neighbours in this respect ; and the 
 General Assembly did not think it beneath its 
 notice to issue directions as to the dress of the 
 clergy, till King James, who had a taste for cleri- 
 cal tailoring, took the matter into his own hands. 
 In the meetings of Synod and Assembly down 
 till 1638 the clergy wore gown and bands. This 
 was also the custom of the Keformed Churches 
 abroad, as may be seen from engravings of the 
 National Synod of the Keformed Church of France 
 in Quick's Synodicon. It was noticed as a novelty 
 that at the Glasgow Assembly of 1638 very few 
 of the clergy appeared in their gowns, while many 
 of the elders wore swords and daggers. In old 
 pictures of the Covenanting clergy, and of leading 
 divines of the Eevolution, such as Principal Car- 
 stairs, they are represented in gowns and bands, 
 some of which would do no discredit to the most 
 correct ecclesiastical outfitter of the present day. 
 Since 1688 the General Assembly has issued no 
 regulations on the subject of ecclesiastical cos- 
 tume, and nowadays it would probably be thought 
 beneath the dignity of that venerable body to 
 occupy its time with such matters ; but perhaps, 
 after all, we are not so much wiser than the an- 
 
CLERICAL EOBES. 245 
 
 cients. Several of the Synods did, however, deal 
 with the question of vestments after the Eevolu- 
 tion. Thus, in 1696, the Synod of Dumfries en- 
 acted as follows : " This Synod, considering that 
 it is a thing very decent and suitable, so it hath 
 been the practice of ministers in the Kirk for- 
 merly to wear black gowns in the pulpit, and for 
 ordinary to make use of bands, do therefore, by 
 this Act, recommend it to all their brethren 
 within their bounds to keep up that laudable 
 custom, and to study gravity in their apparel and 
 deportment every manner of way." ^ Yet in that 
 same Synod a hundred years afterwards, when the 
 late Dr Wightman, minister of Kirkmahoe, a par- 
 ish close to the town of Dumfries, began to use a 
 gown in the pulpit, there was quite a rebellion in 
 the community, and many left the church, headed 
 by the precentor, who refused to sit and sing 
 under a man clothed with such a Babylonish 
 garment. It is difficult to account for such a 
 change of sentiment in that locality ; but one is 
 constantly reminded in such inquiries as these, 
 that both in the Church at large and in particu- 
 lar parishes, it takes a very short time indeed to 
 make an entirely new tradition. One explanation 
 of the dying out of churchly usages after the 
 
 1 See Chambers's Domestic Annals, voL iii. p. 148. 
 
246 CLERICAL ROBES. 
 
 Eevolution is, that the older Dissenters rejected 
 gowns, paraphrases, hymns, and suchUke, under 
 the mistaken notion that they were walking in 
 the footsteps of the Covenanters of 1638 and 
 1643, when they were really taking a leaf out 
 of the book of the Cromwellian Sectaries; and 
 Church people got infected wdth these historical 
 delusions, and wished to be as faithful and loyal 
 to the past as their worthy neighbours. There 
 are, I believe, still parishes in the land where 
 gowns and bands are entirely unknown, and w^here 
 the introduction of them would raise a storm. 
 
 One should take care that his pulpit robes are 
 of the proper make, and that however plain the 
 material, they are in decent condition. Some of 
 the new-fashioned gowns invented by enterprising 
 clothiers, and of which you see representations in 
 the advertising sheets of our religious publications, 
 transgress old Acts of Assembly, such as that 
 forbidding the use of velvet,^ and are hideous 
 enough to corrupt the taste of the communities 
 into which they are introduced. The old Genevan 
 gown is now best represented by what is called 
 the preacher's gown ^ in the English Church. It 
 indicates a singular disregard of decency and pro- 
 
 ^ Assembly of 1575. 
 
 2 This, however, is disputed. See Harrison on Rubrics. 
 
CLERICAL ROBES. 247 
 
 priety in God's House for a minister to appear in a 
 faded robe all " tattered and torn." I have known 
 men scrupulously careful about their ordinary 
 costume, appear as scarecrows on Sundays, as a 
 testimony against their flocks for not having pre- 
 sented them with a new gown, and as a hint to 
 them to do so without further delay. It would 
 be better to go about the streets in a ragged coat 
 for a similar reason. 
 
 Hoods. — Some clergymen now wear not only 
 gown and band, but the hood of their degree, in 
 church, and on other occasions on which they are 
 called upon to do ministerial duty. This w^as 
 long the English practice, but it is now being 
 given up across the Borders by those who affect 
 sacerdotal vestments. The hood is a purely aca- 
 demical badge. Some leading men of the Cov- 
 enanting period objected to Degrees in Divinity 
 because of their supposed association with Epis- 
 copacy, and this prejudice seems to have blinded 
 them to historical facts. The Church after the 
 Eeformation sanctioned such degrees, and directed 
 that an order should be drawn up for proceeding 
 to them ; but when in the following century the 
 subject was revived with a view to the encourage- 
 ment of learning, it was connected with other 
 innovations, and was denounced as contrary to 
 
248 CLERICAL EOBES. 
 
 the principles of the Church and even to the 
 express command of Scripture. The Hierarchical 
 Doctor, it was said, was the prelate's eldest son, 
 and the text, "Be not ye called Doctors," was held 
 to settle the matter conclusively ; while all the 
 w^hile the Second Book of Discipline, which was 
 the great manifesto of the Antiprelatic section of 
 the Church, made provision for a whole order of 
 office-bearers bearing this appellation. This pre- 
 judice long lingered in the country, especially 
 among those who seceded from the Church. The 
 historian of Knox and Melville had scruples 
 about accepting his degree, and to the last would 
 never use it as a member of Church Courts or 
 when acting in his ministerial capacity. Now 
 we have gone off to the opposite extreme, and 
 " Ministers of all Denominations," as the phrase 
 is, not only accept such degrees when they are 
 offered, but there are some who, if the Universities 
 at home fail to appreciate their merits, are ready 
 to import them for a few dollars from some foun- 
 tain of literary honour in the backwoods of 
 America, which perhaps has no existence save in 
 the fertile brain of the enterprising Yankee, who 
 crosses the Atlantic with his carpet-bag stuffed 
 with parchments, to the sale of which he trusts 
 for defraying the expenses of his European tour. 
 
LAYING OF A FOUNDATION-STONE. 249 
 
 ilagijjg of a jFflitnt(atioit-<%tone anti ©£tiicaticin 
 of a €f)urc!j. 
 
 When Ministers have to perform these occa- 
 sional services they are often at a loss as to the 
 proper course to follow. A young clergyman who 
 goes to represent the Church of Scotland in the 
 capital of one of our Colonies, and who soon after 
 his arrival has to discharge such duties in the 
 presence of the Colonial Dignitaries, who are 
 curious to see how we manage these things in 
 Scotland, is very likely to wish that the liberty 
 allowed him by the Church had been a little less 
 than it is. In the absence of any rules or direc- 
 tion in our Church Books on these subjects, I 
 shall offer some suggestions, founded on the ser- 
 vices used in other Churches, and on the practice 
 of our clergy. 
 
 Hauing of a Jountiatton-^tone. 
 
 When the jpeo2:)le have assembled at the place 
 where the church is to he built, the minister, stand- 
 ing near the Corner-Stone, may say — 
 
 1. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who 
 hath made heaven and earth. 
 
 2. Psalm Ixxxiv. may then be said or sung. 
 
250 LAYING OF A FOUNDATION-STONE. 
 
 3. The minister may then say — Let us pray. 
 {The prayer may he as follows : — ) 
 
 Almighty God, Whom heaven and the heaven 
 of heavens cannot contain, but Who dwellest with 
 humble and contrite hearts, look down in mercy 
 upon us who are here assembled to call upon 
 Thy Holy Name, and to begin a House for Thy 
 Honour and AVorship, the preaching of Thy Word, 
 and the Administration of Thy Sacraments. Par- 
 don, we beseech Thee, all our sins and short- 
 comings, and accept our persons and services for 
 the sake of Thy dear Son. Prosper and bless this 
 work which we have undertaken, that by Thy 
 favour it may promote Thy Glory, and the salva- 
 tion of souls. 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ, be Thou the beginning, 
 the increase, and the ending thereof : Thou Who 
 art the Corner-Stone cut out of the mountain with- 
 out hands ; Who in the beginning didst lay the 
 foundations of the earth, and Who with the 
 Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest 
 ever one God, world without end. Amen. 
 
 Our Father, &c. 
 
 4. One or both of the following Lessons may then 
 he read : Ezra iii. 8-11 ; Rev. xxi. 10, to the end of 
 the chapter. 
 
 5. Psalm cxxvii. may then he said or sung. * 
 
LAYING OF A FOUNDATION-STONE. 251 
 
 6. Laying of Stone. After the usual articles, 
 such as records and coins, ham been dejposited in 
 the cavity prepared for them, the minister {or other 
 person selected for the purp)Ose), assisted ly the 
 builder, shall lay the stone in its place. Then the 
 minister, placing his hand on it, may say — 
 
 In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost, we lay this Corner-Stone of an edi- 
 fice to be here erected under the name of 
 
 Church, and devoted to the worship of Almighty 
 God, agreeably to the principles and usages of the 
 Church of Scotland, 
 
 Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, 
 precious, and he that believeth on Him shall not 
 be confounded. Other foundation can no man 
 lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 
 
 7. Let us pray. {The prayer may be as fol- 
 loivs : — ) 
 
 Lord God Almighty, from Whom cometh 
 down every good and perfect gift, we give Thee 
 hearty thanks for all our friends and benefactors, 
 and for all those through whose charity the walls 
 of this Church are about to arise. Eemember 
 them, Lord, for good, and grant that they and 
 all |vho may contribute to the furtherance of this 
 work may be preserved both in body and in soul, 
 and may be abundantly recompensed by Thee. 
 
252 LAYING or A FOUNDATION-STONE. 
 
 God, Who art the shield and defence of all 
 Thy people, we beseech Thee to keep the builders 
 of this House from all dangers and accidents, and 
 to endue them with wisdom and grace, that they 
 may perform their duties with skill, industry, and 
 faithfulness, and that the work which tlirough 
 Thy mercy hath now been begun, may be brought 
 to a happy end. 
 
 Almighty God, Who hast built Thy Church 
 upon the foundation of the Apostles and Pro- 
 phets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 
 corner-stone, grant us to be joined together in 
 unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may 
 be made an holy temple acceptable unto Thee 
 through the Spirit ; and so be prepared for 
 that eternal city which hath foundations, whose 
 builder and maker is God : All which we ask, 
 &c. 
 
 8. Psalm Ixxxvii. may then he said or sung. 
 
 9. The customary addresses may then he deli- 
 vered. 
 
 10. A collection in aid of the huilding fund may 
 then he taken up. 
 
 11. The7i may he sung a sidtahle hymn. 
 
 12. The Benediction. ^ 
 Should there be a procession, Psalm Ixviii. may 
 
 appropriately be sung in going to the site of the 
 
LAYING OF A FOUNDATION-STONE. 253 
 
 New Church, and Psalm xcvi. or the Te Deum in 
 returning from it. 
 
 The naming of Churches. — The name of a Church 
 is usually given when the Foundation-stone is 
 laid. It need hardly be said that the affixing of 
 the name of a Saint or Martyr to a church does 
 not mean that the church is dedicated to such 
 Saint or Martyr. This would be sacrilege. A 
 church is dedicated to God only ; and if distin- 
 guished by the name of a saint, ancient or mo- 
 dern, this is only for a memorial of his or her 
 virtues and services.^ Our old parish churches 
 usually bore the names either of New Testament 
 saints, or of the early missionaries who planted 
 the Gospel in our land, and who certainly de- 
 serve to be kept in grateful remembrance by us. 
 When these names are forgotten, they can some- 
 times be discovered from the day of the old 
 Parish Fair, which was usually held on the an- 
 niversary of the Parish Saint. In many cases, 
 too, an old well in the neighbourhood bore the 
 name of the local saint ; but high farming and 
 deep draining have in our day proved fatal to 
 many such fountains, which had been held sacred 
 from the time when their waters had been used 
 to baptize the first converts to the faith. Till 
 
 ^ Bingham, book viii. chap. ix. sec. 9. 
 
254 LAYING OF A FOUNDATION-STONE. 
 
 recently, new churches, such as those built fifty 
 years ago in the new town of Edinburgh, and, 
 still later, the Chapels of Ease in Glasgow, were 
 generally named in the same way. At present 
 there appear to be some sectarian influences at 
 work which are hostile to this ancient Christian 
 usage. It may be admissible to call churches 
 after modern worthies, who deserve to be com- 
 memorated, but the saints of former days should 
 have a preference ; and after the Apostles, none 
 have such a strong claim upon us as those early 
 missionaries, who were the means of converting 
 our Pagan forefathers to the faith of Christ. It 
 is surely for us, who hold that S. Columba and 
 his followers maintained a form of Christianity, 
 free in a great measure from Eomish error, and 
 substantially the same as our own, to honour in 
 this way those Celtic missionaries, who, by their 
 self-denying and zealous labours, in little more 
 than a century, not only diffused the light of the 
 Gospel over the hills and valleys of Scotland, but 
 Christianised Northern and Middle England, and 
 penetrated the recesses of heathenism on the 
 Continent of Europe, where their names are still 
 fresh in the memory of grateful populations who 
 never heard of the " Voluntary Controversy " or 
 the " Ten Years' Conflict," but who will take off 
 
DEDICATION OF A CHURCH. 255 
 
 their hats to yon if you tell them that you are 
 of the race of S. Gall or S. Columbanus. 
 
 ©etiicatffln or Consectatuin of a Cfjurcf). 
 
 When a new Church is built, it is the uni- 
 versal custom of Christendom to separate it from 
 common uses, solemnly to set it apart for the 
 Service of God, and to offer special supplications 
 that a blessing may attend the ministration of 
 Word and Sacrament therein. You find forms 
 for such services in several of the Eeformed 
 Liturgies ; and though there are no directions on 
 the subject in our Church Books, a special ser- 
 vice, more or less formal, has, I presume, always 
 been customary in Scotland on such occasions, as 
 is the case at present. One meets with occa- 
 sional notices of the Consecration of Churches 
 during Episcopal times, as, e.g., that of the Grey 
 Friars, Edinburgh, which was consecrated by 
 Archbishop Spottiswoode in 1619 ; ^ but such 
 notices are rare, as few churches were erected 
 or renovated till a later period. 
 
 It is mentioned as one of the characteristics 
 
 1 Johnstone's Hist., MS,, Advocates' Lib., quoted in Do- 
 mestic Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 507. 
 
256 DEDICATION OF A CHUECH. 
 
 of the sectarian party which arose about 1640, 
 that along with their " scunnering " at the Creed, 
 Lord's Prayer, and Doxology, they began to hold 
 Churches in no more reverence than any other 
 buildings. This was the same leaven which led 
 the Quakers at that time to lift up their testi- 
 mony against all "steeple houses ;" but there is 
 nothing in common between such sectarian con- 
 ceits and the genuine spirit of the Eeformed 
 Church. In an Appendix to the Westminster 
 Directory of Worship, it is stated, and most 
 truly, that no places as such are capable of holi- 
 ness ; and that, on the other hand, the Churches 
 were not so polluted by Eomish superstition as 
 to render them unfit for public worship — a fan- 
 atical extreme which it was then necessary to 
 guard against. The record of the debates shows 
 that it was not disputed that Churches have a 
 relative holiness ; and those who do not feel that 
 a House of God is in this sense a more holy 
 place than a Theatre, Music-Hail or Tavern, go 
 against the instincts of mankind, and are want- 
 ing both in common-sense and in that reverence 
 which is the root of religion. In 1863 the 
 General Assembly resolved as follows : " The 
 Assembly called for the overture . . . anent the 
 desecration of churches, which was read by the 
 
DEDICATION OF A CHURCH. 257 
 
 clerk. It was moved and agreed to : That the 
 General Assembly, having taken into considera- 
 tion the overture anent the practice of using 
 churches for social entertainments and other 
 secular purposes, find that, without claiming for 
 these edifices any inherent sacredness, the said 
 practice is unseemly and incongruous, offensive 
 to the feelings of devout worshippers, and calcu- 
 lated to suggest to the congregation on the Lord's 
 Day recollections which are by no means in 
 harmony with the solemn service for which they 
 are assembled, and enjoin all the ministers and 
 Presbyteries of this Church to take all proper 
 means to discourage the said practice." 
 
 Notwithstanding that this injunction is so 
 recent, and that public attention has been fre- 
 quently called to it, there are ministers who 
 disregard both it and the law of the land ; for 
 unquestionably any one who gives the use of 
 his Church for any purpose other than those for 
 which it was built, could be interdicted by the 
 humblest of his parishioners. One is scandalised 
 from time to time by reports in the daily papers 
 of soirees in Churches, at which, as every one 
 knows, one great aim is to produce laughter; of 
 Magic-Lantern Exhibitions, with their comic slides, 
 delighting, no doubt, but in such circumstances 
 
258 DEDICATION OF A CHURCH. 
 
 demoralising, the young ; of Lectures on Wit and 
 Humour, enlivened by the singing of popular 
 songs ; and, worst perhaps of all, of Political 
 Meetings, when the candidate mounts the pulpit 
 and addresses an uproarious audience, amid pro- 
 fane allusions to the sacred services to which the 
 building has been dedicated. If the candidate is 
 an Episcopalian, one has the further mortification 
 of knowing that he would not enter it on such an 
 errand were it not that he does not consider it a 
 church at all. Such exhibitions are humiliating 
 and disgraceful, and do much to increase irrev- 
 erence in the land. Those ministers who have so 
 little regard for the sacred associations of the 
 place where they perform the holiest offices of 
 religion as to allow them, and that, too, in viola- 
 tion of both ecclesiastical and civil law, deserve 
 to be visited with the censures of the Church. 
 
 THE SERVICE. 
 
 The Dedication or Consecration of a New 
 Church usually takes place on a Week-day, 
 though services of a corresponding character may 
 be appropriately continued on the following Sun- 
 day. The service should begin with singing the 
 24th Psalm at the 7th verse. 
 
DEDICATION OF A CHURCH. 259 
 
 The Minister may then give a short exhorta- 
 tion to the following effect : That God has in all 
 ages approved of the acts of His people in erect- 
 ing sanctuaries for His Worship, and that this 
 House, having been built to the honour of His 
 jSTame, they are now met to devote it to its 
 intended use. He should then call upon them 
 to join with him in prayer that God would be 
 graciously pleased to pardon their sins, to accept 
 of their persons, and of this, the work of their 
 hands, and to bless all His ordinances adminis- 
 tered therein. 
 
 Prayer. — After a short invocation appropriate 
 to the occasion, and petitions for pardon and 
 acceptance, he should proceed at once to the 
 Prayer of Dedication, there being a good reason 
 for introducing it as early as possible in the 
 service. He should begin with thanks to God 
 that in His Providence this House has been 
 erected for the worship of His Name, and an 
 acknowledgment that it is of His own His people 
 give unto Him. He should then beseech Him, as 
 they dedicate it to His service, to accept the 
 work of their hands. This should be followed 
 with supplications that God's presence may be 
 in it, and with the assemblies that gather in it for 
 worship ; that the ministers who may be ordained 
 
260 DEDICATION OF A CHUECH. 
 
 or who may officiate in it may be men after His 
 own heart; that His Spirit may be with the 
 preaching of His Word and the administration 
 of His Sacraments ; that the prayers and praises 
 and offerings of His people therein may be accept- 
 ed ; that when in seasons of calamity they hum- 
 ble themselves before Him, He may forgive their 
 sins, deliver them out of their troubles, and turn 
 their sorrow into joy ; and that He may make 
 the Church a centre of blessing to those who wor- 
 ship in it, and to the community in which they 
 dwell. 
 
 Or the prayer may be made more particular, 
 thus : Tor those who are baptized in it, that they 
 may ever remain in the number of His children ; 
 for those who confirm their Baptismal engage- 
 ments, that they may receive the fulness of His 
 grace, and be faithful to their vows ; for those who 
 there show forth the Lord's death, that they may 
 come to His Table with faith, repentance, and 
 charity, and have fellowship and communion 
 with Him ; and for those who are there united in 
 Holy Matrimony, that they may keep their vows 
 and remain in perfect love unto their lives' end. 
 The prayer may conclude thus: "Arise, Lord, 
 into Thy rest, Thou and the Ark of Thy strength. 
 
DEDICATION OF A CHURCH. 261 
 
 All Liturgical prayers for such occasions are 
 versions, adapted to Christian times, of Solomon's 
 prayer at the Dedication of the Temple. 
 
 The service may then be continued according 
 to the usual order, all the parts of it having some 
 reference to the occasion. 
 
 The most suitable Psalms and Lessons to be 
 sung or read are the following : Psalm xxiv., 
 xlviii., Ixxxiv., and cxxxii. ; 1 Kings viii. 22 ; 
 Mark xi. 11 ; 1 Cor. iii. ; Heb. ix. 1-15, or 
 Heb. X. 19-26. 
 
 Before the Second Prayer — that of Thanks- 
 giving — it is appropriate to introduce the Creed 
 thus: "With Thy Holy Church throughout all 
 the world we profess our faith in Thee," &c., or 
 " I believe," &c. Por models of suitable prayers 
 I may refer you to those given in the American 
 (Dutch and German) Eeformed Liturgies, from 
 the latter of which the outline I have given is 
 mainly taken. 
 
 The 190th Hymn — " Christ is made the sure 
 foundation," or the 191st — " Glorious things of 
 thee are spoken," may follow the prayer of Inter- 
 cession ; and the Service should then close, as 
 usual, with the Benediction. 
 
262 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Conclutifng ©bserbations. 
 
 Having gone over the special subjects on which 
 I purposed addressing you, I shall now conclude 
 with a few general observations. 
 
 In Scotland, after the Eeformation, other 
 questions than worship mainly absorbed public 
 attention, and the Church, though Liturgical, 
 w^as less rigidly so than any other, except, per- 
 haps, that of Holland. About the beginning of 
 the seventeenth century both parties in the 
 Church became sensible of defects in the pro- 
 vision made for the devotional services of the 
 sanctuary, and were ready to co-operate in 
 effecting some improvement. But King James's 
 interference with the liberty of the Church, and 
 finally the attempt to supersede the old Liturgy 
 by that of Laud, conspired with other circum- 
 stances to bring on a violent reaction against all 
 churchly forms, and for a long period the pendu- 
 lum swung in that direction. Hence a terrible 
 decline in our worship, a melancholy falling away, 
 not only from the state of things which existed 
 before the adoption of the Westminster Standards, 
 but from the principles and practice of the great 
 Covenanting Divines, tow^ard those sectarian ideas 
 
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 2G3 
 
 and usages wliicli they deprecated as " the reduc- 
 tion of a minimum which admitted of no reduction 
 whatever," and as "the destruction of the Genevan 
 Eeformation, under the pretence of further re- 
 forming it." For nearly a century after the 
 Eeformation there was daily prayer morning and 
 evening in all the principal churches of the 
 country, Baptism and Marriage were reverently 
 celebrated in God's House, and in towns churches 
 were kept open all day for private devotion. 
 Daily Service was given up after the Directory 
 superseded Knox's Liturgy, and artisans soon 
 began to spend the old accustomed time of 
 prayer in the pothouse instead of in the Church, 
 which was "the occasion of much drinking at 
 that season." ^ At the Eestoration in 1660, the 
 Daily Service was restored in many places, and 
 it lingered on in some of the towns for a few 
 years after Presbytery was reintroduced in 1688, 
 but it soon ceased everywhere. 
 
 Not only did it disappear, but gradually, in the 
 course of last century, one of the Sunday services 
 was discontinued also in the majority of parishes, 
 first for a few months in winter, and afterwards 
 for the whole year. This was an arrangement 
 which obviously deprived a large part of the 
 
 ^ Nicol's Diary. 
 
264 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 population of the opportunity of paying their 
 public acts of homage to God once a- week, and 
 at this single service preaching was everything. 
 The Public Worship of God was thus reduced to 
 a minimum never before reached in any Christian 
 country. 
 
 Our danger has indeed been from following 
 England — not, however, the Church of England, 
 but those fanatical sects which sprang up during 
 the Commonwealth. When one goes South now 
 and witnesses the extraordinary revival which 
 has taken place within the last few years among 
 all parties, high and low, while humiliated and 
 wellnigh appalled at the contrast between South 
 and North, it is with mingled feelings he calls 
 to mind the protests of our Fathers against the 
 lax practice of the English Church, and recol- 
 lects that many of the devout and churchly 
 usages of our Southern neighbours were once 
 ours, when they had them not, and that, in short, 
 they have taken our good habits and given us 
 their bad ones. 
 
 In a letter which I had a short time ago from 
 a Scottish friend in England, the writer says : 
 '' In Scotland religion is made a solemn business 
 on Sundays, and then there is no more worship, 
 or very little, till the next Sunday comes round. 
 
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 265 
 
 The service at S. N. which we go to is very 
 
 hearty and bright. Mr is very earnest and 
 
 hardworking ; even with three curates, their time 
 and energies are taxed to the utmost. There are 
 two daily services — one at 5.30 p.m. In addition 
 to that, on Wednesday there is a second evening 
 service and sermon at 7.30. On Thursdays, 
 prayers at 11, followed by the Communion, spe- 
 cially intended for elderly people and invalids, 
 and any who prefer avoiding the long 11 o'clock 
 service on Sundays. On Sundays we have a 
 children's service at 9.30 ; then there is the 
 usual service at 11, evening prayer and sermon 
 at 3, and again evening prayer and sermon at 7. 
 From the 9.30 service all the children belonging 
 to the National Schools ... go direct to the 
 schools connected with the Parish, presided over 
 by one of the curates. School is again held in 
 the National Schoolroom at 3. On Sunday Even- 
 ing there is a Bible-class for working men. On 
 Wednesdays, at 12.15, there is a large gathering 
 of children who attend private schools, and who 
 reside at home, held in church. Every Thursday, 
 at 4, there is a Bible-class for female servants in 
 
 the church; and once a month Mr has a 
 
 class for young communicants. This is only a 
 part of the work done. Our church is crowded : 
 
2G6 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 being free, nearly every available seat is occupied 
 fifteen minutes before the service begins, and 
 many are contented to stand throughout the ser- 
 vice, particularly at this season." 
 
 This is the sort of work that is going on over a 
 great part of England, and I may add that many 
 churches stand open all day for private devotion, 
 with some such notice as the following affixed to 
 the doors : " Whosoever thou art that entereth 
 this Church, leave it not without one prayer to 
 God for thyself and for those who minister and 
 who worship here." Yet forty or fifty years ago 
 — and there is hope for us in this — Churches in 
 England were only open once or twice during the 
 week, and the service was little better than a 
 duet betwixt the parson and the clerk. 
 
 Such an amount of work as is done in many 
 English Parishes would be impossible in Scotland, 
 without a large increase of our clerical staff; and 
 I am only saying what is borne out by the 
 wisdom of ages, when I add that this would be 
 best effected not by the excessive subdivision of 
 parishes, but by the employment of assistants. 
 Experience shows that a population of from five 
 to ten thousand can be much more efficiently 
 worked from one than from several centres, while 
 it is the very genius of Christianity never to 
 
CONCLUDIXG OBSERVATIONS. 267 
 
 divide people into classes when it can by any 
 possibility be avoided. No wonder that Scots- 
 men going South are amazed at the amount of 
 worship and at the tokens of Church Life which 
 they see on all hands, and that, when they return 
 home, they miss the devotions to which they have 
 become accustomed, and find our services too 
 often dreary and depressing. When one has 
 learned to delight in the Worship of God, no 
 mere intellectual treat from the pulpit will ever 
 be accepted as a substitute for it. 
 
 Thanks be to God, there are abundant signs 
 that a revival has begun among us of the kind 
 s^Decially needed, — a revival of worship, and of 
 the reverent observance of Christian ordinances. 
 Evangelical revivals have conferred priceless 
 benefits upon individual souls ; but unless sup- 
 plemented, instead of strengthening the Church, 
 they tend to disintegrate it, and to make every 
 one a church to himself. Nothing keeps Christ- 
 ians in unity save those ordinances which have 
 been appointed for this among other purposes, 
 and nothing is so much needed for their own 
 spiritual wellbeing as an increase of devotion 
 among our people. 
 
 The Church herself initiated the change which 
 is now being everywhere felt, by ordering the 
 
268 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 restoration of the reading of Holy Scripture in 
 Divine Service, by providing a Book of Prayer 
 for her children who are without a ministry in 
 answer to urgent and repeated appeals from her 
 chaplains and missionaries, and by sanctioning 
 the Hymnal, Book of Anthems, and an edition of 
 the Prose Psalms pointed for chanting. The 
 preparation of the Prayer-Book devolved chiefly 
 on the late Professor Crawford of Edinburgh, and 
 its publication marked an important era in the 
 history of Scottish worship. About the same 
 time the late Dr Eobert Lee published his Book 
 of Prayer, to which many of the clergy have 
 been greatly indebted ; and by his speeches in the 
 Assembly did much to enlighten public opinion, 
 and to help forward the movement. Since 1865 
 a considerable number of the clergy have com- 
 bined for the study of the Liturgies, ancient and 
 modern, and for the improvement of the Worship 
 of the Church, in accordance with her old laws 
 and better traditions. Though they met with 
 opposition at first, it is now generally admitted 
 tliat they have done much to restore devotion to 
 its proper place in God's House, and to increase 
 reverence and heartiness in its services. The 
 movement is an essentially conservative one, and 
 within the domain of religion it is almost the 
 
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 269 
 
 only conservative movement that has much hold 
 of our people. Its promoters, by forming them- 
 selves into a Society, have checked the tendency 
 of individuals to introduce inventions of their 
 own, and have kept the Church from drifting into 
 ill-considered changes which rest on no principle, 
 and contribute nothing to hearty and devout 
 worship. Some who sympathised with the move- 
 ment at first merely on aesthetic grounds, have 
 advanced to a higher platform, and have been led 
 to realise more fully than they did before that 
 reverent, hearty, and orderly worship is a main 
 part of the duty which we owe to Him who is 
 our Lord and King, and who claims His rightful 
 tribute from all the gifts which He bestows upon 
 the children of men. 
 
 In conclusion, suffer me to exhort you to pay 
 the greatest attention to this subject. Eightly or 
 wrongly our Church has in this matter "legis- 
 lated for the heroic virtues." With the few 
 general directions she has supplied, she expects 
 every one of her 1200 clergy to perform all the 
 offices of religion not only in a holy and rev- 
 erent manner, but with such simplicity and 
 taste as to be edifying and acceptable to all 
 classes of the community. This can only be 
 realised, if at all, by the universal attention of 
 
270 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 tlie clergy to the subject, and by their spending 
 much time and thought upon it, which, under 
 other systems, can be devoted to other depart- 
 ments of clerical duty. 
 
 Our Church has long had a good reputation for 
 the ability of the sermons preached from her 
 pulpits, and the intelligence of her members. 
 God grant that in the future she may be no less 
 distinguished for the character of her worship 
 and the devotional spirit of her ministers and 
 people. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, Synod of, 32 ; Kirk-ses- 
 sion of, 139; Town Council of, 
 165, 166. 
 
 Act of Annexation, 232. 
 
 Act of Uniformity, 190, 200. 
 
 Act Rescissory, 4, 6. 
 
 Acts of Parliament as to Worship, 
 6,7. 
 
 Adamson, Principal, 199. 
 
 African Synod, 55. 
 
 Alms, 139, 182. 
 
 Altare Damascenum, 109, 125. 
 
 Anderson of Dumbarton, 5, 101. 
 
 Anthems, Book of, 268. 
 
 Anwoth, parish of, 198. 
 
 Baillie, Principal, 4, 18, 19, 20, 65, 
 129, 131, 147, 148, 193, 229. 
 
 Banns, proclamation of, 143. 
 
 Baptism of adults, 79 ; of infants, 
 54 ; private, 57 ; Romish, 56 ; re- 
 petition of, by Scottish Episco- 
 palians, 56 ; of children of foreign 
 Protestants, 66 ; naming of child 
 at, 74 ; by immersion, 75 ; sign of 
 Cross in, 77. 
 
 Baptismal engagements, 70 ; forms 
 by Committee on Aids to Devo- 
 tion, 64, 69, 71, 81. 
 
 Baxter, Richard, 99, 194. 
 
 Benediction, 44, 95. 
 
 Bingham, 12, 40, 44, 83, 200, 211, 
 253. 
 
 Bisset, Rev. Dr, 242. 
 
 Bohemian Church, 150. 
 
 Books of reference, 52. 
 
 Boston, 59, 88, 115, 121, 123, 127, 
 942. 
 
 Bowing in the pulpit, 19. 
 
 Boyd, Zachary, 33. 
 
 Brichan's Sermons, 133, 
 Brownists, 42, 61. 
 Bucer, 55, 99. 
 bunsen, 97, 135. 
 Burial of the dead, 162. 
 Burnet, Bishop, 5. 
 
 Calamy's Autobiography, 201 ; ' Life 
 of Baxter,' 194. 
 
 Calderwood, 28, 34, 61, 109, 125, 
 127. 
 
 Calvin, 11, 15, 24, 56, 92, 95, 99, 
 105, 124, 243. 
 
 Campbell, Principal P. C, 210. 
 
 Carlyle's ' Letters of Cromwell,' 196. 
 
 Carstairs, Principal, 244. 
 
 Catechumens, admission of, 83 ; ser- 
 vice for, 94 ; Act of Assembly on, 
 88. 
 
 ' Catholic Presbyterian,' 150. 
 
 Celtic Church, 192. 
 
 Censures, Directory for Church, 221. 
 
 Ceremonies, the three nocent, 1 9. 
 
 Chambers's ' Domestic Annals of 
 Scotland,' 165, 245. 
 
 Chanting, 37. 
 
 Chants, 158, 169. 
 
 Chrism, S3. 
 
 Church architecture, 228. 
 
 Church Service Society, 268. 
 
 Churches, Reformers did not de- 
 stroy, 229 ; internal arrangements 
 and "^ fittings of, 235; naming of, 
 253 ; consecration of, 255 ; service 
 for, 258. 
 
 Claim of Right, 186. 
 
 Communion, Holy, 98; service, 113 ; 
 preparatory services, 103 ; given 
 up during the Commonwealth, 
 101 ; vessels, 239 ; bread, 240 : 
 
•:^79 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 fraction of, 127; the mixed cup, 
 242 ; minister receives first, 12S ; 
 private devotions at, 129 ; ad- 
 dresses, 130 ; simultaneous, 128, 
 lol ; singing at, 134 ; English 
 office for, 127 ; Scottish Episco- 
 pal do., 127. 
 
 Confirmation, Romish, 84; Episco- 
 pal, 85. 
 
 Consecration of Communion ele- 
 ments, 117 ; Romish and Eastern 
 views of, 120. 
 
 Coverdale, Bishop, 61. 
 
 Cowper, Bishop, works of, 50. 
 
 Cniwford, Protessor, 268. 
 
 Creed, the Apostolic, 44, 65, 66, 69, 
 117, 145 ; Nicene, 118. 
 
 Cromwell, 14, 41, 178, 195, 
 
 Daily service, 5, 263. 
 
 Deacons, 14, 128, 218, 220. 
 
 'Defence of the Lawful Calling of the 
 Ministers of Reformed Churches,' 
 hy Bishop P. Forbes, 197. 
 
 Degrees in Divinity, 247. 
 
 Desecration of churches, resolution 
 of Assembly anent, 256. 
 
 Diaconate, the, 188, 218. 
 
 Directory, the, turned into a Lit- 
 urgy, 27, 46. 
 
 Discipline, Church, 221. 
 
 Dissenting congregations, origin of 
 some, 35. 
 
 Donaldson, Mr Andro, 19. 
 
 Douglas, Robert, 19, 42. 
 
 Dumfries, Synod of, 245. 
 
 Dunbar, church of, 233. 
 
 Durel's 'Government and Worship 
 of God in the Reformed Churches 
 beyond the Seas,' 34, 35, 101, 191. 
 
 Edinburgh, Kirk-session of, 61, 147 ; 
 
 Presbytery of, 42. 
 Edward, minister of Murroes, on 
 
 the Doxology, 34. 
 Elders, admission of, 218 ; formerly 
 
 elected annually, 219; their office, 
 
 220. 
 England, Church of, 60, 135, 189, 
 
 191. 
 Episcopacy, 189, 190, 201. 
 Erskine, Dr John, 85, li2, 105. 
 Eutaxia, 24, 106. 
 Evelyn's Diary, 101. 
 Excommunication, order of, 221 ; 
 
 the Lesser, 224 ; the Greater, 225. 
 Expectants, 217. 
 
 Fairley, Bishop of Argyle, 200. 
 Farel, 105, 243. 
 
 Fast days before Communion, 104 ; 
 private and family fasts, 178 ; 
 public fasting, 175 ; fasting in the 
 primitive Church, 175 ; fasting on 
 Sundays, 176 ; at opening of the 
 Assembly, 178 ; at Westminster, 
 178 ; at ordinations, 205. 
 
 Fencing of tables, 109. 
 
 Forbes, Dr John, 197. 
 
 Form ol process, 8, 221. 
 
 Foster, John 202. 
 
 Foundation-stone of a church, lay- 
 ing of, 249. 
 
 France, Reformed Church of, 35, 91, 
 244. 
 
 Funeral service in the house or 
 church, 170 ; at the grave, 171 ; 
 eulogiums, 172. 
 
 Geneva, 90, 241. 
 
 Gerard, Professor, 31, 89. 
 
 Gillespie, George, 18, 27, 82, 121, 
 125, 198. 
 
 Glasgow, Kirk-session of, 147 ; Pres- 
 bytery of, 147; Synod of, 102. 
 Assembly of 1638, 58, 199. 
 
 Gloria Patri, 19, 33, 34. 
 
 God-parents, 61. 
 
 Good Friday, 175 
 
 Gordon, Bishop, case of, 190. 
 
 Gowns, pulpit, 243 ; Synod of Dum- 
 fries on use of, 245. 
 
 Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, 147; 
 consecration of, 255. 
 
 Grindal, Archbishop, 190, 190. 
 
 Haddington, Presbytery of, 190. 
 Hall, Robert, 2' 3. 
 Harrison on Rubrics, 246. 
 Harvest festivals, 183. 
 Hawick, church of, 14. 
 Henderson, Alexander, 4, 19, 35, 42, 
 
 61, as, 86, lu3, 1U9, 126, 131, 135, 
 
 137, 140, 165, 206. 
 Hill, Principal, 31, 173. 
 ' Historical Vindication of the 
 
 Church of Scotland,' Baillie's, 23i>. 
 Holland, Church of, 75, 80, 191, 262; 
 
 Churches in, 234. 
 Hoods, use of, 247. 
 Hooker, 191. 
 Hope, Sir Thomas, 147. 
 Hymns, use of, 8, 33. 
 
 Incense at funerals, 166. 
 Induction of ministers, 214; giving 
 
 of Bible at, 215. 
 ' Institution of a Christian man,' 189. 
 ' Inverurie and the Earldom of the 
 
 Garioch,' by Dr Davidson, 242. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 273 
 
 Invocation of the Holy Spirit at the 
 
 Communion, 119. 
 Irish Episcopal Synod, 124. 
 Irving, Edward, 123. 
 
 Johnstone's 'Hist. MS.,' 255. 
 
 ' Jus Divinum Miuisterii Evangelici,' 
 
 193. 
 Justin Martyr, 11, 93. 
 
 Keys of church, custody of, 215. 
 Kirkcaldy, Presbytery of, 198. 
 Kneeling at baptism, 81 ; at prayer, 
 
 236. 
 Knox, John, 25, 28, 61, 164, 177, 
 
 187, 194, 229, 230. 
 
 Laing, Dr, 42 
 
 Lamp of Lothian, 14. 
 
 Lasswade, 200. 
 
 Law of Church as to worship, 3. 
 
 Lawson of Selkirk, 110. 
 
 Lee's, Dr Robert, ' Book of Prayer,' 
 
 157, 172, 268 ; ' Reform of the 
 
 Church of Scotland,' 69. 
 Lees' Dr, ' Visitation of the Sick,' 
 
 162. 
 Leighton, Archbishop, 5, 27, 30, 66, 
 
 Lent, 176, 177. 
 
 Lessons, reading of, 26 ; Act of As- 
 sembly on, 32 ; table of, 29 ; forms 
 for giving out, 30 ; comments on, 
 30. 
 
 Lifters and Antilifters, 115. 
 
 Liturgies, Scottish, 165; Eastern, 
 118, 119, 137 ; study of, 51. 
 • Liturgy, Ethiopic, 135 ; of Catholic 
 and Apostolic Church, 25, 118 ; 
 American German Reformed, 118, 
 261; American Dutch Reformed, 
 29, 261 ; Dutch, 80, 158 ; Laud's, 
 4, 262; Savoy, 71, 122; Stras- 
 burg, 11. 
 
 Livingston, John, 91, 141. 
 
 London, 58 ; Presbytery of, 123 ; 
 Missionary Society, 242. 
 
 Lorimer, Professor P. , 25. 
 
 Luther, 92. 
 
 Lykewakes, 165. 
 
 M'Crie, Dr, 42, 248. 
 
 M'Gillivray's ' Life of St Chrysos- 
 tom,' 14. 
 
 M'Kerrow's ' History of the Seces- 
 sion,' 36. 
 
 ' Maitland Club Miscellany,' 147. . 
 
 Marriage, 143; on Sundays, 147; 
 in church, 146, 148 ; service, 150 ; 
 use of ring, 155 ; sermons, 146,157. 
 
 Melrose Abbey, 229. 
 Melville, James, 91. 
 Moncreiff, Sir H., 85. 
 Morebattle, church of, 233. 
 Morrison, John, ordination of, 190, 
 196. 
 
 Neal's ' History of the Puritans,' 191. 
 
 Nice, Council of, 237. 
 
 Nicol's Diary, 101, 263. 
 
 ' Notes and Queries,' 148, 222. 
 
 Oath of purgation, 225. 
 
 Order of public worship, 9. 
 
 ' Order of the General Fast,' 177. * 
 
 Orders, of the ministry. 188 ; testi- 
 monials of, 193 ; Anglican, 190. 
 
 Ordainers. 186. 
 
 Ordinal, English, 190, 204. 
 
 Ordination, 184 ; doctrine of, 186 ; 
 Act of Assembly on, 187; Scot- 
 tish Episcopal, 197 ; by Scottish 
 bishops who conformed to Pres- 
 bj-terv, 199 ; by one bishop, 200 ; 
 Romish, 193 ; form of, 204 ; ser- 
 vice, 207 ; Foster on, 202 ; laying 
 on of hands at, 196, 204. 
 
 Paisley Abbey Church, 233. 
 
 Perth Articles, 57, 58 ; Presbytery 
 of, 19, 215 ; Communion at, 139. 
 
 Postures in worship, 236. 
 
 Praise given up by sectaries, 33. 
 
 Prayer, morning or evening, 9 ; ser- 
 vice at, 23 ; private, on entering 
 church, 17. 
 
 Prefacing, 21. 
 
 Preliminaries to public worship, 
 17. 
 
 Presbyters successors of the Apos- 
 tles, 187. 
 
 Presidents in primitive Church, 
 189. 
 
 Probationers, licensing of, 217. 
 
 Protesters, 14, 42, 104. 
 
 Psalms and hymns, 36 ; reading of 
 psalms before lessons, 27. 
 
 Quakers, 76, 256. 
 
 Questions to sponsors, 65 ; to cate- 
 chumens, 95. 
 Quick's ' Synodicon,' 244. 
 
 Ray's account of Worship in Scot- 
 land, 13. 
 Readers, order of, 14. 
 Readers' service, 14. 
 Reading of line, 34. 
 Reading prayers, 5, 19. 
 ' Readings upon the Liturgy,' 11. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Reordination never practised in 
 Scotland, 200. 
 
 Resolutionprs, 14, 42, 104, 105. 
 
 RejTiolds, Bishop, of Norwich, 39. 
 
 Ring in marriage, 155 ; in betroth- 
 als, 155. 
 
 Robes, clerical, 243. 
 
 Ross's ' Pastoral Work in Covenant- 
 ing Times,' 20. 
 
 Rutherford, S., 92, 198. 
 
 Sacerdotalism, 45, 202. 
 
 Sackcloth, 8, 222. 
 
 Sacraments, doctrine of Church as 
 
 to, 64 ; bodily reference of, 76. 
 ^. Ambrose, 38. 
 
 S. Andrews, 194 ; Archbishopric 
 of, 192 
 
 S. Augustine, 38, 122. 
 
 S. Colnmba, 254. 
 
 S. Columbanus, 255. 
 
 S. Gall, 254. 
 
 8. Vigeans, church of, 233. 
 
 Saravia, Adrian, 191. 
 
 Scoon, monastery of, 229. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 231 
 
 Scott's ' Continuation of Milner's 
 Church History,' 56. 
 
 Scott's ' Fasti," 102. 
 
 Scott's ' History of the Reformers,' 
 139. 
 
 Scottish Episcopal Church, 201. 
 
 Scriptural songs, 8. 
 
 Scripture, reading of, 30 ; Act of 
 Assembly on, 32 ; misquotations 
 of, 50 ; read by schoolmasters, 14. 
 
 Shotts, kirk of, 141. 
 
 Sick, visitation of, 161. 
 
 Singing, at funerals, 164, 169 ; re- 
 sponsive, 38. 
 
 Socinus, 122 ; Socinianism, 124. 
 
 Somerville, Dr, 148. 
 
 Spalding Club, 140. 
 
 Spalding's Communion Services, 
 
 111, 242. 
 Sponsors, 62. 
 Spottiswoode, Archbishop, 163, 197, 
 
 198, 255. 
 Stool of repentance, 41, 222. 
 Stuart of Pardovan, 70, 140, 144, 
 
 212. 
 Succession, ministerial English, 
 
 194 ; Scottish, 194 ; old Catholic, 
 
 199; Moravian, 199. 
 Suggestions, 46. 
 Sunday to be kept from midnight 
 
 to midnight, 147. 
 Superintendents, 185, 188, 191. 
 
 Tertullian, 12. 
 Thanksgiving, days of, 180. 
 Thomson, Dr Andrew, 41. 
 Toasts at funerals, 167, 168. 
 Tokens, 139, 140. 
 Torry, Bishop, 85. 
 Tranent, minister of, 57. 
 Treaty of Union, 8. 
 Trent, Council of, 189. 
 
 Webster, Dr A., Memoirs of, 31. 
 Wemyss, parish of, 198. 
 Wesleyans, 35, 135, 195. 
 Whitekirk, Session of, 14. 
 Whitfield, 51. 
 Whittingham, Dean of, Durham, 
 
 61. 
 Wightman, Dr, 245. 
 Wither's Poems, 135. 
 Wodrow, 163; his 'Analecta,' 40; 
 
 'Wodrow Society Miscellany,' 204 
 'Worship in Spirit and in truth,' 
 
 11. 
 Worship, revival of, in England, 
 
 264 ; in Scotland, 267. 
 
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