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 THE SUBSTANCE OF EVERY THING LITURGICAL IN 
 
 BISHOP SPARROW, MR. L'ESTRANGE, DR. COMBER, DR. NICHOLS, 
 
 AND ALL FORMER RITUALISTS, COMMENTATORS, AND 
 
 OTHERS, UPON THE SAME SUBJECT. 
 
 CHARLES WHEATLY, M.A. 
 
 VIC\R OF BRENT AND FURNEUX PSLRAM IN HERTFORDSHIRE 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 BELL & DALDY, 6, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 
 AND 186, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1867. 
 
FEINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
IU1 
 
 THE PREFACE. 
 
 In a former edition of this book, which was printed in folio, I was 
 at a loss in what manner I was to address the reader ; that is, whe- 
 ther I was to bespeak his candour as to an entire new book, or 
 whether only the continuance of it as to a new edition of an old one. 
 I called it indeed the third edition in the title-page ; though I think 
 I had but little other reason for doing so, than my having twice 
 published a treatise upon the same subject before. For scarce a 
 fifth part of what I then offered to the world was printed from 
 either of the former editions; nor had so much of them as I have 
 mentioned been continued entire, had I foreseen how little I should 
 have confined myself to the rest. But when it first went to the 
 press, I had no other design than to have reprinted it exactly from 
 the second edition ; except that I had yielded to the request of the 
 booksellers, who, being encouraged by the quick sale of two large 
 impressions, in a smaller volume, were willing to run the hazard of 
 one in a larger size. This was all the alteration I proposed : nor 
 did I think of any other, till the introductory discourse, the whole 
 first chapter, and great part of the second, were worked off from the 
 press; which therefore, for the most part, stand just as they did 
 before, and not in the method into which I should have thrown 
 them, had I known from the beginning what alterations I should 
 have made. However, the reader will have no reason to complain ; 
 since though the form would have been different, the arguments 
 notwithstanding must have been much the same : and they sure 
 will appear to a better advantage by standing entire, and in the 
 light they are set by the authors themselves, from whom I have 
 borrowed them, than if they had been broke into comments and 
 notes, and produced in parcels, as the rubrics would have required ; 
 which was the method I afterwards thought fit to pursue.* For 
 
 * I desire that what I have said may he principally understood of the introductory 
 discourse (which is almost verbally transcribed from Dr. Bennet's Brief History of the 
 joint Use of precomposed set Forms of Prayer) and of the three first sections of the se- 
 cond chapter ; for the first of which I am partly obliged to bishop Beveridge's Discourse 
 on The Necessity and Advantage of Public Prayer; for the second to Dr. Cave's Pri- 
 mitive Christianity ; and for the third to Mr. Roberts's excellent Sermon at the Primary 
 Visitation of the late bishop of Exeter at Oakhampton. The two following sections of 
 that chapter are pretty much in the method I afterwards observe 1, and so for the most 
 part is the whole first chapter ; for the first division of which (concerning the Tables 
 and Rules) I must not forget to repeat the acknowledgments I have more than once 
 made to the learned Dr. Brett. 
 
 A 3 
 
 429 
 
IV THE PREFACE. 
 
 when I observed at the close of the second chapter, (which is upon 
 the general rubric concerning The Order for Morning and Evening 
 Prayer,) that I had taken no notice in what part of the Church Di- 
 vine Service should be performed, ( the appointment of which was 
 yet the principal design of the first part of that rubric,) I not only 
 found it necessary to add a new section to supply that defect ; but 
 taking the hint, to examine how I had managed the rubrics in ge- 
 neral, I perceived that I had been equally deficient in most of 
 them ; and that consequently, to make the work truly useful, the 
 like additions would be necessary through the whole. 
 
 The occasion of this defect in the two first editions was owing to 
 a neglect of those parts of our offices in all who had writ upon the 
 Liturgy before me : for as I never, till the third edition, attempted 
 any further than to give the substance and sum of what others had 
 treated of more at large ; it could not be expected, that the epitome, 
 or abridgment, should give more light than the books from whence 
 it was taken supplied. However, as I considered the price of my 
 own book would then be very considerably advanced, I thought it 
 but reasonable to make the purchaser what amends I was able, 
 by putting it into his hands as complete as I could. 
 
 To this end I applied myself, in the first place, to the comparing 
 our Liturgy, as it stands at present, with the first Common Prayer 
 Book of King Edward VI., and with all the reviews that have been 
 taken of it since ; from whence, together with the history of com- 
 piling it, and of the several alterations it has undergone from time 
 to time, I easily foresaw the rubrics would be best illustrated and 
 explained. Nor have I found myself disappointed in the advantage 
 I proposed ; for I do not remember that I nave met with a difficulty 
 through the whole Common Prayer, but what I have been enabled, 
 by this means, in some measure to remove. 
 
 And whilst 1 was upon these searches, it came into my mind, from 
 the extravagant prices which the Old Common Prayer Books have 
 borne of late, that it would not be unacceptable to the curious 
 reader, to note the differences between them : wherever therefore 
 I met with any variations, I have also been diligent to transcribe 
 them at large, and to give the reason of the several changes : 
 another improvement which I thought would be looked upon to be 
 so much the more useful, as it furnished me with occasions of in- 
 quiring into several ancient usages of the Church, and of shewing 
 how far we have advanced to, or gone back from, the primitive 
 standard, since our first Reformation. 
 
 These are the two principal alterations which I observed: and 
 though these perhaps may seem but slight at first mentioning, yet 
 I can assure the reader, that from my first laying the design, I found 
 that, instead of what I had at first undertaken, which was only the 
 supervising a few sheets as they were worked off, I had got an en- 
 tire new work upon my hands, and that I was to prepare for, as 
 well as to correct from, the press. New additions I perceived were 
 necessary to be made almost in every page, and where the old mat- 
 ter was continued, it was to be often transposed, and to be worked 
 
THE PREFACE. V 
 
 up again in different parts of the book. So that neither of my 
 former editions was, from the time above mentioned, of any other 
 use to me in compiling of this, than any of the authors that lay open 
 before me : except that what was scattered in different books, 
 which treat some of them of one thing and some of another, I ge- 
 nerally found ready collected in my own, which therefore for the 
 most part saved me the trouble of new weaving the materials which 
 others had supplied. Not that I took any advantage from hence to 
 spare myself the pains of reading over again the several authors 
 themselves ; for I do not know that there was a single piece on the 
 subject, how inconsiderable soever, but what I gave a fresh review, 
 and with the utmost care, that not a hint should escape me, which I 
 judged would be any ways worth observation. And yet I dare 
 affirm that the whole that I borrowed from all who have writ pro- 
 fessedly upon the Common Prayer, does not amount to near a fourth 
 part of what the following sheets contain. Nor will it seem in- 
 credible, that every thing that is pertinent to my own design, should 
 be reduced into so narrow a compass as I have mentioned; when it 
 is considered that though the authors I made use of were numerous, 
 yet the matters they treat of are generally the same ; that some of 
 them have printed the Liturgy itself, as well as their explanations 
 and comments upon it ; that they are most of them but small ; and 
 that in the two that are voluminous (Dr. Comber and Dr. Nichols) 
 scarce an eighth part of either of them come within the limits I 
 confined myself to. The bulk of the former consists in large Para- 
 phrases and practical Discourses, which I wholly passed by : and if 
 the latter has done nothing in a practical way, yet the repetition of 
 his Paraphrases, where the same forms return in different offices, 
 together with his enlarging upon subjects that a reader would never 
 think to look for in a Comment upon the Common Prayer, have very 
 much contributed to swell his work with materials that I judged 
 might be spared, without any danger of its being thought a defect; 
 especially since the omission of them made room for the enlarging 
 upon other points much more pertinent to the subject of the book ; 
 and which indeed make the principal part of the whole, though 
 most of them are touched upon but lightly, if at all, in any former 
 direct Exposition of the Liturgy. To name all the particulars would 
 be more ostentatious than useful ; and therefore I snail only observe 
 in general, that wherever I knew any point I was to mention, 
 handled more particularly by authors who have made it their 
 principal view, 1 always had recourse to them, and took the 
 liberty of borrowing whatever contributed to the perfecting my 
 scheme. 
 
 In such cases I have generally given notice in the margin to 
 whom I have been beholden ; though there is one thing perhaps in 
 which I have been deficient, and that is, in not using sometimes the 
 ordinary marks of distinction, when I have taken the words as well 
 as the thoughts of my author : for it was always my rule when I 
 could not mend an expression, not to do it an injury by changing 
 it : and yet as I was frequently forced to transpose the order of his 
 sentences, and to blend and mix with them what my own thoughts 
 
VI THE PREFACE. 
 
 supplied, it often came to pass, that when the paragraph was finish- 
 ed, I questioned whether the author, from whom most of it was 
 taken, would acknowledge it to be his own. 
 
 And thus I have given the reader an account, as well of my 
 first attempts on this subject, as of the further progress I made 
 upon it when it came the third time to the press ; which I have 
 done, not so much for the sake of acquainting him with the old 
 editions, as of informing him more distinctly what it is he may look 
 for in the new ones. It will be a needless caution I suppose to 
 add, that I shall stand to nothing that I have said before, any 
 further than it agrees with the contents of the last : the particulars 
 indeed are but few, as far as I can remember, where my notions 
 are changed ; but where they are, it is but common justice to take 
 my sentiments from what I deliver upon maturer judgment ; and 
 not to expect I should always vindicate an error or mistake, be- 
 cause I once advanced it in a juvenile performance. I should 
 have very ill bestowed the pains I took to review my original 
 papers, (which was more a great deal than it cost me at first to 
 collect and compile them ; and which took up as many years as it 
 would have done months, had they been only reprinted as they 
 were before,) if they did not come out with some improvements at 
 last. Not that I am so vain as to think, they are at last without 
 faults and imperfections ; I am sensible there are many ; I can 
 only plead that none willingly escaped me, and that wherever any 
 escaped unwillingly, nobody could have been more industrious to 
 find them. For in order to this, I not only, during the tedious 
 delay that I then created to the press, examined the sheets upon 
 every occasion that called the matter of them fresh to my mind ; 
 but also importuned the assistance and corrections of such learned 
 friends as I knew were in no danger (except from too favourable 
 an indulgence to the author) of overlooking the slightest mistakes. 
 
 And this I take to be the proper place to explain myself in re- 
 lation to one passage particularly which I know has been thought 
 to need the greatest amendment, though I have let it stand with- 
 out making any. And indeed an explanation of it is so much the 
 more needful, as it is not only judged to be indefensible in itself, 
 but also to be inconsistent with what I have said in another part 
 of the book. The passage I mean is concerning the Absolution in 
 the daily Morning and Evening Service, which I have asserted to 
 be "an actual conveyance of pardon, at the very instant of pro- 
 nouncing it, to all that come within the terms proposed."* And 
 again, that it "is more than declarative, that it is truly effect ive; 
 insuring and conveying to the proper subjects thereof the very 
 absolution or remission itself, "f This has been thought by some, 
 from whose judgment I should be very unwilling to differ or recede, 
 not only to carry the point higher than can be maintained, but 
 also to be irreconcilable with my own notions of Absolution, as 
 I have described them upon the office for the Visitation of the Sick, 
 where they are thought to be more consistent with Scripture and 
 
 * Page 115. t Page 119, 120. 
 
THE PREFACE. Vll 
 
 antiquity. I have there endeavoured to shew that there is no 
 " standing authority in the Ministers of the Gospel, to pardon or 
 forgive sins immediately and directly in relation to God, and as to 
 which the censure of the Church had been in no wise concerned." * 
 And again, " that no absolution pronounced by the Church can 
 cleanse or do away our inward guilt, or remit the eternal penalties 
 of sin, which are declared to be due to it by the sentence of God, 
 any further than by the prayers which are appointed to accompany 
 it, and by the use of those ordinances to which it restores us, it 
 may be a means, in the end, of obtaining our pardon from God, 
 himself, and the forgiveness of sin as it relates to him."f These 
 passages, I acknowledge, as they are separated from their contexts, 
 and opposed to one another, seem a little inconsistent and con- 
 fusedly expressed : but if each of them are read in their proper 
 places, and with that distinction of ideas which I had framed to 
 myself when I writ them, I humbly presume they may be easily 
 reconciled, and both of tnem asserted with equal truth. I desire 
 it may be remembered that in the latter place I am speaking of 
 a judicial and unconditional absolution, pronounced by the Min- 
 ister in an indicative form, as of certain advantage to the person 
 that receives it. By this I have supposed the Church never intends 
 to cleanse or do away our inward guilt, but only to exercise an 
 external authority, founded upon the power of the keys; which 
 though it may be absolute, as to the inflicting and remitting the 
 censures of the Church, I could not understand peremptorily to 
 determine the state of the sinner in relation to God. And thus far 
 I have the happiness to have the concurrence of good judges on 
 my side ; *so that it is only in what I assert on the daily absolution, 
 that I have the misfortune not to be accounted so clear. But, 
 with humble submission, I can see nothing there inconsistent with 
 what I have said on the other. The absolution I am speaking of 
 is conditional, pronounced by the Priest in a declarative form, 
 and limited to such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe God's holy 
 Gospel. This indeed I have asserted to be effective, and that it 
 insures and conveys to the proper subjects thereof the very absolu- 
 tion or remission itself: but then I desire it may be remembered 
 that 1 attribute the effect of it not to a judicial, but to a ministerial 
 act in the person who pronounces it: but to such an act however 
 as is founded upon the general tenor of the Gospel, which supposes, 
 if I mistake not, that God always accompanies the ministrations 
 of the Priest, if there be no impediment on the part of the people. 
 And therefore when the Priest, in the name of God, so solemnly 
 declares to a congregation that has been humbly confessing their 
 sins, and importuning the remission of them, that God does ac- 
 tually pardon all that truly repent and unfeignedly believe ; why may 
 not such of them as do repent and believe humbly presume that 
 their pardon is sealed as well as made known by such declar- 
 ation ? 
 
 * Page 442. t Page 443, 
 
Vlll THE PREFACE. 
 
 I am sure this notion gives no encouragement either of presump- 
 tion to the penitent, or of arrogance to the Priest : I have supposed 
 that, to receive any benefit from the form, the person must come 
 within the terms required : and such a one, though the form should 
 have no effect, is allowed notwithstanding to be pardoned and 
 absolved. And the Priest I have asserted to act only ministerially, 
 as the instrument of Providence; that he can neither withhold, 
 nor apply, the absolution as he pleases, nor so much as know upon 
 whom or upon how many it shall take effect ; but that he only 
 pronounces what God commands, whilst God himself ratifies the 
 declaration, and seals the pardon which he proclaims. 
 
 It is true, indeed, it does not appear by the ancient Liturgies, 
 that the primitive Christians had any such absolution to be pro- 
 nounced, as this is, to the congregation in general. But yet, if 
 they had absolutions upon any occasion, and those absolutions 
 were supposed to procure a reconcilement with God, (neither of 
 which, I presume, will be thought to want a proof,) I see no 
 reason why they may not be usefully admitted (as they are with 
 us) into the daily and ordinary service of the Church. For allow- 
 ing that the persons they were formerly used to, were such as had 
 incurred ecclesiastical censure; yet it is confessed that the forms 
 pronounced on those occasions immediately respected the con- 
 science of the sinner, and not the outward regimen of the Church ; 
 that they were instrumental to procure the forgiveness of God, 
 whilst the ecclesiastical bond was declared to be released by an 
 additional ceremony of the imposition of hands.* If then absolu- 
 tions, even in the earliest ages, were thought to be instrumental 
 to procure God's forgiveness to such sins as had deserved ecclesi- 
 astical bonds ; why may they not be allowed as instrumental and 
 proper to procure his forgiveness to sins of daily incursion, though 
 theyinay not be gross enough, or at least enough public, to come 
 within the cognizance of ecclesiastical censures ? If it be urged, 
 that the ancient absolutions were never declarative, but either 
 intercessional, like the prayer that follows the absolution in the 
 office appointed for the Visitation of the Sick, or optative, like the 
 form in our Office of Communion; I think it may be answered, that 
 the effect of the absolution does not at all depend upon the form 
 of it, since the promises of God are either way applied, and it must 
 be the sinner's embracing them with repentance and faith, that 
 must make the application of them effectual to himself. 
 
 I hope this explanation will justify my notions upon the daily 
 absolution, as well as reconcile them with what I have said upon 
 the other. I shall add nothing more in defence of them, than 
 that they seem fully to be countenanced by the form itself, (as 
 I have shewed at large upon the place,) and particularly by the 
 inhibition of Deacons from pronouncing it:f which to me is an 
 argument that our Church designed it for an effect, which it was 
 
 * See Dr. Marshall's Penitential Discipline, page 93, &c. See also the forms of 
 Absolution in his Appendix, numb. 4, 5, 6, 7. t See page 120, &c. 
 
THE PREFACE. IX 
 
 beyond the commission of a Deacon to convey. Not that I would 
 draw an argument from the opinion of our Church, where that 
 opinion seems repugnant to Scripture or antiquity: but where it 
 does not appear to be inconsistent with either, I think her decision 
 should be allowed a due weight. Wherever I have found or bus- 
 
 fected her to differ from one or the other, the reader will observe 
 have not covered or disguised it; but on the contrary perhaps 
 have been too hasty and forward, and too unguarded in my re- 
 marks. But Truth was what I aimed at through my whole under- 
 taking; which therefore I was resolved at any hazard to assert 
 just as it appeared to me. It is not at all indeed unlikely that in 
 so many points as the nature of this work has led me to consider, 
 some things may appear as truths to me, which others, who have 
 better opportunities of inquiring into them, may find to be other- 
 wise : and therefore I can only profess that I have not advanced 
 any thing but what I have believed to be true ; and that if I am 
 any where in an error, I shall be always open to conviction, let 
 the person that attempts it be adversary or friend ; since if truth 
 can be attained to by any means at last, I shall not value from 
 whom or from whence it proceeds : though I cannot but say, the 
 satisfaction will be the greater if it appear on the side which our 
 Church has espoused, notwithstanding the discovery may possibly 
 demand some retractations on my own part, which in such case I 
 shall always be ready to make, and think it a happiness to find 
 myself mistaken. 
 
 In the mean while, I request that where I am allowed to be right, 
 I may not meet with the less favour, because I have shewed my- 
 self fallible ; and particularly I would importune my reverend 
 brethren of the Clergy, (upon whose countenance the success of 
 this work must depend,) that if the Rubrics especially have been 
 any where cleared, and with proper arguments enforced, they 
 would join their assistance to make my endeavours of some service 
 to the Church. For it will be but of very little use to have illus- 
 trated the rule, unless they also concur to make the practice more 
 uniform. And indeed I would hope that a small importunity would 
 be sufficient to prevail with them, when they see what disgrace their 
 compliances have brought both upon the Liturgy and themselves ; 
 since not only the occasional offices are now in several places pros- 
 tituted to the caprice of the people, to be used where, and when, 
 and in what manner they please ; but even the daily and ordinary 
 service is more than the Clergy themselves know how to perform in 
 any Church but their »wn, before they have been informed of the 
 particular custom of the place. 
 
 But I would not presume to dictate to those from whom it would 
 much better become me to learn : and therefore I shall only ob- 
 serve further with regard to the citations I have had occasion to 
 make, that I have but very seldom set down any of them at large, 
 because I was willing to avoid all unnecessary means of swelling 
 the book. Besides, I considered, that though I should cite them 
 ever so distinctly, yet those who understand not the language they 
 
X THE PREFACE. 
 
 were written in, must take my word for the meaning of them at 
 last : and those who are capable of reading the originals, I sup- 
 posed, would turn to the books themselves for any thing they 
 should doubt of, how careful soever I should have been in tran- 
 scribing them ; so that I thought it sufficient to be exact in my 
 references, as to the tome, and page, and marginal letter, and then 
 to insert a general table of the ecclesiastical writers, which should 
 once for all shew the editions that I have used.* The reason of 
 my adding the times when the writers flourished, was, that my less 
 learned reader might gather from thence the antiquity of the se- 
 veral rites and ceremonies I had occasion to treat of, by consulting 
 when those authors lived who are produced in defence of them. 
 
 * If I have any where made use of a different edition, I have taken care to specify 
 it in the citation itself. 
 
AN ALPHABETICAL INDEX 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS CITED IN THIS BOOK 
 
 "WITH THE TIMES WHEN THEY FLOURISHED, AND THE 
 EDITIONS MADE USE OF. 
 
 Alcuin, A. D. 780. De Offic. Divin. Paris. 1610. 
 
 Ambrose, A. D. 371 Opera, ed. Bened. Paris. 1686. 
 
 Arnobius, A. D. 303. Adv. Gentes. Lugd. Bat. 1651. 
 
 Atbanasius, A. D. 326. Opera, ed. Benedict. Paris. 1698. 
 
 Athenagoras, A. D. 177. Legatio by Dechair. Oxon. 1706. 
 
 Augustin, A. D. 396. Opera, ed. Benedict. Paris. 1679. 
 
 Basil the Great, A. D. 370. Opera. Paris. 1638. 
 
 Bernard, A. D. 1115. Opera. Paris. 1640. 
 
 Canons called Apostolical, most of them composed before A. D. 300. By 
 
 Coteler. Antwerp. 1698. 
 Cedrenus, A. D. 1056. Histor. Compend. Paris. 1649. 
 Chrysostom, A. D. 398. Opera, ed. Savil. Eton. 1612. 
 Clemens of -Alexandria, A. D. 192. Opera. Paris. 1629. 
 Clemens of Rome, A. D. 65. Epistolae by "Wotton. Cant. 1718. 
 Codex Theodosianus, A. D. 438. Lugd. 1665. 
 
 Constitutions called Apostolical, about A. D. 450. By Coteler. Antwerp. 1698 
 Cyprian, A. D. 248. Opera by Fell. Oxon. 1682. 
 Cyril of Jerusalem, A. D. 350. Opera by Mills. Oxon. 1703. 
 Dionysius of Alexandria, A. D. 254. Epist. adv. Paul. Sam. Paris. 1610 
 Dionysius, falsely called the Areopagite, A. D. 362. Opera. Paris. 1615. 
 Durandus Mimatensis, A. D. 1286. Rationale. Lugd. 1612. 
 Durantus. De Rit. Eccles. Cath. Rom. 1591. 
 Epiphanius, A. D. 368. Opera. Paris. 1622. 
 Euagrius Scholasticus, A. D. 594. Eccles: Histor. Paris. 1673. 
 Eusebius, A. D. 315. Opera. Paris. 1659. 
 
 Gennadius Massiliens, A. D. 495. De Eccles. Dogmat. Hamb. 1614. 
 Gratian, A. D. 1131. Opera. Paris. 1601. 
 Gregory the Great, A. D. 590. Opera. Paris. 1675. 
 Gregory Nazianzen, A. D. 370. Opera. Paris. 1630. 
 Gregory Nyssen, A. D. 370. Opera. Paris. 1615. 
 Hierom or Jerome, A. D. 378. Opera, edit. Ben. Paris. 1704. 
 Ignatius, A. D. 101. Opera by Smith. Oxon. 1709. 
 Irenjeus, A. D. 167. Adv. Haeres. by Grabe. Oxon. 1702. 
 Isidore Hispalensis, A. D. 595. Opera. Paris. 1601. 
 Isidore Peleusiota, A. D. 412. Opera. Paris. 1638. 
 
 Justin Martyr, A. D. 140. Apol. 1. by Grabe. Oxon. 1700. Opera. Paris. 1615. 
 Lactantius, A. D. 303. Opera by Spark. Oxon. 1684. 
 Micrologus, A. D. 1080. De Eccles. Observ. Paris. 1610. 
 
Xll 
 
 INDEX OF ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. 
 
 Minucius Felix, A. D. 220. Octavius by Davis. Cant. 1712. 
 
 Nicephorus Calistus, A. D. 1333. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1630 
 
 Optatus Milevitanus, A. D. 368. Opera. Paris. 1679. 
 
 Origen, A. D. 230. Opera Latine. Paris. 1604. 
 
 Paulinus, A. D. 420. Lib. contr. Felic. Paris. 1010. 
 
 Paulus Diaconus, A. D. 757. Opera. Paris. 1611. 
 
 Polycarp, A. D. 108. Ep. ad Pbil. by Smith. Oxon. 1709. 
 
 Pontius Diaconus, A. D. 251. Vita S. Cypr. before St. Cyprian's Works 
 
 Oxon. 1682. 
 Proclus, A. D. 434. De Trad. Div. Lit. Paris. 1560. 
 Rufhnus, A. D. 390. In Symbolum at the end of St. Cyprian's Works. 
 Socrates, A. D. 439. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1668. 
 Sozomen, A. D. 440. Eccles. Histor. Paris. 1668. 
 Svnesius, A. D. 410. Opera. Paris. 1631. 
 Tatian, A. D. 172. Orat. ad Gr. by Worth. Oxon. 1700. 
 Tertullian, A. D. 192. Opera by Rigaltius. Paris. 1675. 
 Theodoret, A. D. 423. Opera. Paris. 1642. 
 Theodosins Junior. See Codex Theodosianus. 
 
 Theophilus Antiochen, A. D. 168. Ad Autolyc. by Fell. Oxon. 1684. 
 Theophylact, A. D. 1077. Commentarii. Paris. 1631. 
 
 COUNCILS. 
 
 By Labbee and Cossart, in 15 tomes. Paris. 1671. 
 
 Agathense, A. D. 506. 
 Aurelianense 1, A. D. 511. 
 Bracharense 1, A. D. 563. 
 Calchutense, A. D. 787- 
 Carthaginense 3, A. D. 252. 
 Carthaginense 4, A. D. 253. 
 Constantinop. 2, Gen. A. D. 381. 
 Constant. 6, Gen. See Quini-sextum. 
 Eliberitanum, A. D. 305. 
 Gerundense 1, A. D. 517. 
 Laodicenum, A. D. 367. 
 Milevitan. 1, A. D. 402. 
 
 Neocaesariense, A. D. 315. 
 Nicenum 1, Gen. A. D. 325. 
 Orleance 1. See Aurelianense 1. 
 Placentinum, A. D. 1095. 
 Quini-sextum in Trullo, A. D. 692. 
 Rhemense 2, A. D. 813. 
 Sardicense, A. D. 347. 
 Toletanum 3, A. D. 589. 
 Triburiense, A. D. 895. 
 Trullan. See Quini-sextum, 
 Vasense 1, A. D. 442. 
 Vasense 2, A. D. 529. 
 
A 
 
 NATIONAL ILLUSTRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 
 AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE, 
 
 SHEWING THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF A NATIONAL 
 PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 
 
 Most of the objections urged by the Dissenters against the 
 Church of England, to justify their separation from it, being 
 levelled against its form and manner of divine worship, pre- 
 scribed in the Book of Common Prayer, &c, are, in the 
 following Discourse, answered, as fully as its brevity would 
 permit. So that, though the principal design of this book be 
 to instruct such as are friends to our Church and Liturgy ; 
 yet it is not impossible but that, by the blessing of God, it 
 may in some measure contribute to the undeceiving some that 
 are enemies to both, (such I mean as are disaffected to the 
 former, upon no other account, than a prejudice to the 
 latter ;) especially could we, by first convincing them of the 
 Lawfulness and Necessity of National precomposed Li- 
 turgies in general, prevail with them to take an impartial 
 view of what is here oiiered in behalf of our own. To this 
 end therefore, and to make the following sheets of as general 
 use as I can, I shall, by way of Introduction, endeavour to 
 prove these three things ; viz. 
 
 I. First, That the ancient Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, 
 and the primitive Christians, never joined (as far as we can 
 prove) in any prayers, but precomposed set forms only. 
 
 II. Secondly, That those precomposed set forms, in which 
 they joined, were such as the respective congregations were 
 accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with. 
 
 III. Thirdly, That their practice warrants the imposition 
 of a National precomposed Liturgy. 
 
2 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 
 
 I. First, I am to prove that the ancient Jews, our Sa- 
 viour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, never joined 
 (as far as we can prove) in any prayers, but precomposed set 
 forms only. And this I shall do by shewing, 
 
 1. First, That they did join in precomposed set forms of 
 prayer. 
 
 2. Secondly, That (as far as we can conjecture) they never 
 joined in any other. 
 
 I. First, I shall shew that the ancient Jews, our Saviour, 
 his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, did join in pre- 
 composed set forms of prayer. 
 
 1st, To begin with the Jews, we find that the first piece of 
 solemn worship recorded in Scripture is a hymn of praise, 
 composed by Moses upon the deliverance of the children of 
 Israel from the Egyptians, which was sung by all the con- 
 gregation alternately ; by Moses and the men first, and after- 
 wards by Miriam and the women : l which could not have 
 been done unless it had been a precomposed set form. Again, 
 in the expiation of an uncertain murder, the elders of the city 
 which is next to the slain are expressly commanded to say, 
 and consequently to join in saying, a form of prayer, pre- 
 composed by God himself. 2 And in other places of Scripture 3 
 we meet with several other forms of prayer, precomposed by 
 God, and prescribed by Moses ; which though they were not 
 to be joined in by the whole congregation, are yet sufficient 
 precedents for the use of precomposed set forms. But further, 
 the Scriptures assure us, that David appointed the Levites to 
 stand every morning to thank a?id praise the Lord, and 
 likewise at even,* which rule was observed in the temple 
 afterwards built by Solomon, and restored at the building of 
 the second temple after the captivity. 5 Lastly, the whole 
 book of Psalms were forms of prayer and praise, indited by 
 the Holy Ghost, for the joint use of the congregation ; as 
 appears as well from the titles of several of the Psalms, 6 as 
 from other places of Scripture. 
 
 Innumerable proofs might be brought, both ancient and 
 modern, that the Jews did always worship God by precom- 
 posed set forms : but the world is fully satisfied of this truth, 
 from the concurrent testimonies of Josephus, Philo, Paul 
 
 1 Exod. xv. 1, 20, 21. 2 D eut . xxi. 7, 8. 3 Numb. vi. 22, &c. chap. x. 35, 36. 
 
 Deut. xxvi. 3, 5, &c. ver. 13, &c. * 1 Chron. xxiii. 30. 5 Neh. xii. 44, 45, 46. 
 
 6 See Psal. xlii., xliv., &c. Psal. iv., v., vi., &c. Psal. xcii. 7 1 Chron. xvi. 7. 2 
 
 Chron. xxix. 30. Ezra ill. 10, 11. 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 3 
 
 Fagius, Scaliger, Buxtorf, and Selden in Eutychium. The 
 reader may consult two learned men of our own, viz. Dr. 
 Hammond (who both proves that the Jews used set forms, 
 and that their prayers and praises, &c. were in the same order 
 as our Common Prayer 8 ) and Dr. Lightfoot, who not only 
 asserts they worshipped God by stated forms, but also sets 
 down both the order and method of their hymns and suppli- 
 cations. 9 So that there is no more reason to doubt of their 
 having and using a precomposed settled Liturgy, than of our 
 own having and using the Book of Common Prayer, &c, and 
 of its consisting of precomposed set forms. We shall therefore 
 proceed in the next place to inquire into the practice of our 
 Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians. 
 
 And, 1st, for our Saviour ; there is not the least doubt to 
 be made, but that he continued always in communion with 
 the Jewish Church, and was zealous and exemplary in their 
 public devotions ; and consequently took all opportunities of 
 joining in those precomposed set forms of prayer, which 
 were daily used in the Jewish congregations, as the learned 
 Dr. Lightfoot has largely proved. 10 And we may be sure, 
 that had not our Saviour very constantly attended their 
 public worship, and joined in the devotions of their congre- 
 gations,, the scribes and Pharisees, his bitter and implacable 
 enemies, and great zealots for the temple-service, would 
 doubtless have cast it in his teeth, and reproached him as an 
 ungodly wretch, that despised prayer, &c. But nothing of 
 this nature do we find in the whole New Testament ; and 
 therefore, had we no other grounds than these to go upon, we 
 might safely conclude, that our blessed Saviour was a con- 
 stant attendant on the public service of the Jews, and conse- 
 quently that he joined in precomposed set forms of prayer. 
 
 And, 2ndly, as to the Apostles and our Lord's other dis- 
 ciples, their practice was doubtless the same till our Saviour's 
 ascension ; after which (besides that they did probably still 
 join as before in the Jewish worship, 11 which consisted of pre- 
 composed set forms) it is plain that they used precomposed 
 set forms in their Christian assemblies, during the remainder 
 of their lives. 
 
 As the primitive Christians also did in the following ages : 
 as will appear, 
 
 8 View of the Directory, p. 136, and his Oxford Papers, p. 260, vol. i. 9 Dr. Litfht- 
 foot's Works, vol. i. p. 922, 1)42, 946. "» Ibid. vol. ii. part ii. p. 1036, &c. U See Acts 
 i 5 i. 1. xiii. 15. xvii. 2. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [tntrodfctio», 
 
 1. From their joining in the use of the Lord's prayer. 
 
 2. From their joining in the use of Psalms. 
 
 3. From their joining in the use of divers precomposed set 
 forms of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer and Psalms. 
 
 1. They joined in the use of the Lord's prayer. And this 
 is sufficiently evident from our Saviour's having commanded 
 them so to do : for whatever dispute may be made about the 
 word ovtioq, in St. Matthew vi. 9, which is translated not ex- 
 actly, but paraphrastically, after this manner, but ought 
 with greater accuracy to be rendered so, or thus ; 12 yet if we 
 should grant that our Lord in this place only proposed this 
 prayer as a directory and pattern to make our other prayers 
 by, we should still find afterwards, upon another occasion, 
 viz. when his disciples requested him to teach them to pray, 
 as John had also taught his disciples, he prescribed the use 
 of these very words ; expressly bidding them, When ye pray, 
 say, Our Father.™ I suppose nobody hath so mean an 
 opinion, either of St. John's or our Saviour's disciples, as to 
 think they were ignorant how to pray : therefore it is plain 
 they could mean nothing else by their request, but that Christ 
 would give them this peculiar form, as a badge of their be- 
 longing to him ; according to the custom of the Jewish 
 Doctors, who always taught their disciples a peculiar form to 
 add to their own; 14 so that either our Saviour instructed 
 them to use this very form of words, or else he did not answer 
 the design of their requests. 
 
 But it is objected, that " if our Lord had intended this 
 prayer should be used as a set form, he would not have added 
 the Doxology, when he delivered it at one time, as it is re- 
 corded in St. Matthew, and omit it, when he delivered it 
 upon another occasion, as in St. Luke." 
 
 But to this we answer, That learned men are very much 
 divided in their opinions, concerning the Doxology in St. 
 Matthew ; some thinking it is, and others that it is not, a part 
 of the original text. Whether it be or be not, we need not 
 here dispute, but argue with our adversaries upon either sup- 
 position. 
 
 For, 1st, if they think it is not a part of the original text, 
 
 12 In which signification it is always used in the Septuagint Version of the Bible, 
 as appears by comparing Numb. vi. 23. xxiii. 5. Isa. viii. 11. xxviii. 16. xxx. 15. 
 xxxvii. 33. and some other places, with Numb, xxiii. 16. Isaiah xxx. 12. xxxvii. 21. 
 liii. 3. For in the former texts, outu \e-yet 6 Kvpios, thus saith the Lord, bears the 
 oame signification as rd6e \eyet 6 Kvpios, this saith the Lord, in the latter. u Luke 
 xi. 1, 2, &c. u Dr. Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 158. 
 
iktkudcction.3 A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 5 
 
 then their objection is groundless : for there is nothing found 
 in one Evangelist, but what is also found in the other ; and 
 the form, as to the sense of it, is exactly the same in both : 
 for though one or two expressions may differ, yet the Syriac 
 words, in which we know our Lord delivered it, are equally 
 capable of both translations. 
 
 But, 2ndly, if they think the Doxology is a part of the 
 original text ; we answer, The addition of it is as good an 
 argument against the Lord's prayer being a directory for the 
 matter of prayer, as it can be against its being an established 
 set form of prayer. For we may say, in the language of our 
 adversaries, if Christ had intended his prayer for a directory 
 for the matter of prayer, he would not have given such differ- 
 ent directions, ordering us to add a Doxology to the end of 
 our prayers at one time, and omitting that order at another. 
 If therefore the addition of the Doxology be (as they must 
 grant upon their own principles) no objection against its being 
 a directory for the matter of prayer ; then certainly it is no ob- 
 jection against its being an established set form. For the 
 difference of our prayers will be every whit as great in follow- 
 ing this pattern, by sometimes omitting and sometimes adding 
 a Doxology at the end of our prayers, as it can possibly be, by 
 using the Lord's prayer, sometimes with, and at other times 
 without; the Doxology. The utmost therefore that can be 
 concluded from the Doxology 's being a part of the original 
 text in St. Matthew, is this: That our Lord, though he com- 
 manded the use of the Lord's prayer, does not insist upon the 
 use of the Doxology, but leaves it indifferent ; or at most, 
 orders it to be sometimes used, and sometimes omitted, as our 
 established Church practises. But the other essential parts of 
 the prayer are to be used notwithstanding ; it being very ab- 
 surd to omit the use of the whole, because the latter part of 
 it is not enjoined to be used constantly with the rest. 
 
 But it is further objected, 1st, That, "supposing our Sa- 
 viour did prescribe it as a form; yet it was only for a time, 
 till they should be more fully instructed, and enabled to pray 
 by the assistance of the Holy Ghost." And to urge this with 
 the greater force, they tell us, 2ndly, "That before Christ's 
 ascension, the disciples had asked nothing in his na?ne, 15 
 whereas they were taught, that after his ascension they should 
 offer up all their prayers in his name. 16 Now this prayer, say 
 
 15 John xvi. 24. 16 John xiv. 13. and chap. xvi. 23. 
 
6 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introductioh. 
 
 they, having nothing of his name in it, could not be designed 
 to be used after his ascension." Accordingly they tell us, 
 3rdly, " That though we read in the Acts of the Apostles of 
 several prayers made by the Church, yet we find not any in- 
 timation, that they ever used this form." 17 
 
 Whatever resemblances of truth these objections may seem 
 to carry with them at first sight, if we look narrowly into 
 th'em, we shall find them to be grounded upon principles as 
 dangerous as false. 
 
 For, 1st, If, because our Saviour hath not in express words 
 commanded this form of prayer to be used for ever, we con- 
 clude that it was only prescribed for a time ; we must neces- 
 sarily allow, that whatever Christ hath instituted without 
 limitation of time does not always oblige ; and, consequently, 
 we may declare Christ's institutions to be null without his au- 
 thority ; and at that rate cry down baptism and the Lord's 
 supper for temporary prescriptions, as well as the Lord's 
 prayer. 
 
 In answer to the second objection, we may observe, that to 
 pray in Christ's name, is to pray in his mediation ; depend- 
 ing upon his merits and intercession for the acceptance of our 
 prayers ; and therefore prayers may be offered up in Christ's 
 name, though we do not name him. And as for the Lord's 
 prayer, it is so framed, that it is impossible to offer it up, un- 
 less it be in the name of Christ : for we have no right or title 
 to call God our Father, unless it be through the merits and 
 mediation of Jesus Christ ; who hath made us heirs of God, 
 and Joint-heirs with himself And therefore Christ's not 
 inserting his own name in his prayer, does by no means prove, 
 that he did not design it for a standing form. 
 
 And, 3rdly, as to the objection of the Scriptures not once 
 intimating the use of this prayer, in those places where it 
 speaks of others ; we might answer, that we may as well con- 
 clude from the silence of the Scripture, that the Apostles did 
 not baptize in the name of the Fattier, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost, as that they did not use this prayer ; since they had 
 as strict a command to do the one as the other. But besides, 
 in all those places, except two, 18 there is nothing else men- 
 tioned, but that they prayed ; no mention at all of the words 
 of their prayers ; and therefore there is no reason why we 
 
 17 Chap. i. 24. ii. 42. iv. 24. vi. 6. viii. 15. xii. 12. xiii. 3. xx. 36. 18 Acts i. 24. 
 
 and chap. iv. 24 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 7 
 
 should expect a particular intimation of the Lord's prayer. 
 And as for those prayers mentioned in the aforesaid places, I 
 do not see how they can prove from thence, that they were 
 offered up in the name of Christ. 
 
 But, lastly, it is objected, that " the words of this prayer are 
 improper to be used now ; because therein we pray that God's 
 kingdom may come now, which came many ages since, viz. at 
 our Saviour's ascension into heaven." 
 
 But in answer to this, I think it sufficient to observe, that 
 though the foundations of God's kingdom were laid then, yet 
 it is not yet completed. For since we know that all the world 
 must be converted to Christianity, and the Jews, Turks, and 
 Infidels still make up the far greater part of it, we have as 
 much reason upon this account to pray for the coming of 
 God's kingdom now as ever. And if we consider those parts 
 of the world which have already embraced Christianity, I can- 
 not think it improper to pray, that they may sincerely prac- 
 tise what they believe ; which conduces much more to the 
 advancement of God's kingdom, than a bare profession does 
 without such practice. 
 
 Since therefore, from what has been said, it appears that our 
 Saviour prescribed the Lord's prayer as a standing form, and 
 commanded his Apostles and other disciples to use it as such ; 
 it is not- to be suspected but that they observed this command ; 
 especially since the accounts which we have from antiquity do 
 (though the Scriptures be silent in the matter) fully prove it 
 to have been their constant custom ; as appears by a numer- 
 ous cloud of witnesses, who conspire in attesting this truth : 
 of which I shall only instance in a few. 
 
 And first, Tertullian was, without all doubt, of opinion, that 
 Christ delivered the Lord's prayer, not as a directory only, but 
 as a precomposed set form, to be used by all Christians. For 
 he says, " 19 The Son taught us to pray, Our Father, which art 
 in heaven ; " i. e. he taught us to use the Lord's prayer. And 
 speaking of the same prayer, he says, " 20 Our Lord gave his 
 new disciples of the New Testament a new form of prayer." 
 He calls it, " 20 The prayer appointed by Christ," and " 21 The 
 prayer appointed by Law," (for so the word legitima must be 
 rendered,) and " the ordinary " (i. e. the usual and customary) 
 " prayer which is to be said before our other prayers ; and 
 upon which, as a foundation, our other prayers are to be 
 
 » Adv. Prax. c. 23, p. 514, A. 20 De 0rat< c< i# p< ]2 9, A. 2l Ibid. c. ix. p. 133, B. 
 
$ THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [inthoductioh. 
 
 built : " and tells us, that " 22 the use of it was ordained by our 
 Saviour." 
 
 Next, St. Cyprian 23 tells us, that " Christ himself gave us a 
 form of prayer, and commanded us to use it ; because, when 
 we speak to the Father in the Son's words, we shall be more 
 easily heard; " and that ' <24 there is no prayer more spiritual 
 or true than the Lord's prayer." And therefore he most 
 earnestly 25 exhorts men to the use of it as often as they pray. 
 
 Again, St. Cyril of Jerusalem calls it, " 26 the prayer which 
 Christ gave his disciples, and 27 which God hath taught us." 
 
 About the same time Optatus takes it for granted that it is 
 commanded. 28 
 
 After him, St. Chrysostom calls it, " 29 the prayer enjoined 
 by laws, and brought in by Christ." 
 
 In the same century St. Austin tells us, " 30 that our Saviour 
 gave it to the Apostles, to the intent that they should use it : 
 that he taught it his disciples himself, and by them he taught 
 it us ; that he dictated it to us, as a lawyer would put words 
 in his client's mouth ; that it is necessary for all, i. e. such as 
 all were bound to use ; and that we cannot be God's children, 
 unless we use it." 
 
 Lastly, St. Gregory Nyssen says, " 31 that Christ shewed his 
 disciples how they should pray, by the words of the Lord's 
 prayer." And Theodoret assures us, that " 32 the Lord's 
 prayer is a form of prayer, and that Christ has commanded us 
 to use it." But testimonies of this kind are numberless. 
 
 If therefore the judgment of the ancient Fathers may be re- 
 lied on, who knew the practice of the Apostles much better 
 than we can pretend to do ; we may dare to affirm, that the 
 Apostles did certainly use the Lord's prayer : and if it be 
 granted that they used it, we may reasonably suppose that 
 they joined in the use of it. For, besides that it is very im- 
 probable that a Christian assembly should, in their public de- 
 votions, omit that prayer which was the badge of their dis- 
 cipleship ; the very petitions of the prayer, running all along 
 in the plural number, do evidently shew, that it was primarily 
 designed for the joint use of a congregation. 
 
 That the Christians of the first centuries used it in their 
 
 22 De Orat. c. ix. p. 133, A. » De Orat. Domin. p. 139. 24 Ibid. « ibid. p . 139, 
 140. 28 Catech. Mystag. 5, §. 8, p. 298, lin. 12, &c. « Ibid. §. 15, p. 300, lin. 24. 
 * De Schism. Donatist. 1. 4, p. 88. m Horn. II. in 2 Cor. torn. iii. p. 553, lin. 21, 22. 
 
 30 Ep. 157, torn. ii. col. 543, B. et Serm. 58, torn. v. col. 337, D. E. 31 De Orat. Domin. 
 Orat. 1, torn. i. p. 712, B. 32 Haeret. Fabul. lib. 5, cap. 28, torn. iv. p. 316, B. 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 9 
 
 assemblies, is evident from its being always used in the cele- 
 bration of the Lord's supper, 33 which for some ages was per- 
 formed every day. 34 And St. Austin tells us in express words, 
 that a35 it was said at God's altar every day." So that, with- 
 out enlarging any more, I shall look upon it as sufficiently 
 proved, that the Apostles and primitive Christians did join in 
 the use of the Lord's prayer ; which is one plain argument 
 that they joined in the use of precomposed set forms of prayer. 
 Another argument I shall make use of to prove it, is, 
 
 2. Their joining in the use of Psalms. For we are told, 
 that Paul 36 and Silas, when they were in prison, prayed and 
 sang praises to God. And this we must suppose they did 
 audibly, because the prisoners heard them, and consequently 
 they would have disturbed each other, had they not united in 
 the same prayers and praises. 
 
 Again, St. Paul blames the Corinthians, because, when they 
 came together, every one had a psalm, had a doctrine?' &c. 
 Where we must not suppose that he forbad the use of psalms 
 in public worship, any more than he did the use of doctrines, 
 &c. ; but that he is displeased with them for not having the psalm 
 all together, i. e. for not joining in it; that so the whole con- 
 gregation might attend one and the same part of divine service 
 at the same time. From whence we may conclude, that the 
 use of psalms was a customary thing, and that the Apostle 
 approved of it ; only ordering them to join in the use of them, 
 which we may reasonably suppose they did for the future ; 
 since we find by the Apostle's second Epistle to them, that 
 they reformed their abuses. 
 
 Thus also in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 38 the Apostle ex- 
 horts them to speak to themselves with psalms, and hymns, 
 and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their 
 hearts to the Lord. And he bids the Colossians 39 teach and 
 admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual 
 songs, singing with grace in their hearts to the Lord. From 
 all which texts of Scripture, and several others that might be al- 
 leged, we must necessarily conclude, that joint psalmody was 
 instituted by the Apostles, as a constant part of divine worship. 
 
 And that the primitive Christians continued it, is a thing so 
 notorious, that it seems wholly needless to cite any testimonies 
 
 33 Cyril. Hieros. (as before quoted in note 20 and ri , page foregoing). Hieron. adv. Pelag. 
 lib. 3, cap. 5, torn. ii. p. 596, C August. Epist. 149, torn. ii. col. 505, C ** Cyprian, 
 de Orat. Dom. p. 147. Basil. Epist. 289, torn. iii. p. 279, A. B. 35 Serm. 58, cap. 10, t. 
 v. col. 342, F. 36 Acts xvi. 25. * 7 1 Cor. xiv. 26. 38 chap. v. 19. » Col. iii. 16 
 
10 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OP [introduction. 
 
 to prove it : I shall therefore only point to such places at the 
 bottom of the page, 40 as will sufficiently satisfy any, that will 
 think it worth their while to consult them. 
 
 The practice therefore of the Apostles and primitive Chris- 
 tians, in joining in the use of psalms, is another intimation, 
 that they joined in the use of precomposed set forms of pray- 
 er. For though all psalms be not prayers, because some of 
 them are not spoken to God ; yet it is certain a great part of 
 them are, because they are immediately directed to him ; as is 
 evident, as well from the psalms of David, as from several 
 Christian hymns : 41 and, consequently, the Apostles and pri- 
 mitive Christians, by jointly singing such psalms in their con- 
 gregations, did join in the use of precomposed set forms of 
 prayer. It only remains then that I prove, 
 
 3. That they joined in the use of divers precomposed set 
 forms of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer and psalms. 
 
 And 1st, as to the Apostles, we are told that Peter and John, 
 after they had been threatened, and commanded not to preach 
 the Grospel, went to their own company, and reported all 
 that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And 
 when they heard that, they lift up their voice to God with 
 one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, 42 &c. 
 
 Now in this place we are told, that the whole company lift 
 up their voice with one accord, and said, (i. e. they joined all 
 together with audible voices in using these words,) Lord, thou 
 art God, &c. ; which they could not possibly have done, unless 
 the prayer they used was a precomposed set form. For what- 
 ever may be said in favour of joining mentally, with a prayer 
 conceived extempore ; I suppose nobody will contend, that it 
 is possible for a considerable congregation to join vocally or 
 aloud, as the Apostles and their company are here said to have 
 done, in a prayer so conceived. 
 
 But some may object, that " though it is affirmed, that the 
 whole company lift up their voice, and said the prayer here 
 mentioned ; yet it is possible that one only might do so in 
 the name of all the rest, who joined mentally with him, though 
 not in an audible manner." To this we answer, That the 
 
 40 Plin. Epist. 1. 10, Ep. 97, p. 284. Oxon. 1703. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 5, c. 28, p. 196, 
 A. Just. Mart. Epist. ad Zen. et Seren. p. 509, A. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. 13, §. 3, p. 
 180, lin. 9, &c. Catech. Mystag. 5, §. 17, p. 300, lin. 34, &c. Socr. Hist. Eccl. 1. 2, c. 
 11, p. 89, A. Athanas. ad Marcellin. Epist. §. 27, t. i. par. 2, p. 999, B.— All these, 
 and many others, mention the Church's using psalms in the public assemblies, as a 
 practice that had universally obtained from the times of the Apostles. 41 As St. Am- 
 brose's Te Deum, and the like. 4> Acts iv. 23, 24. 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 1 1 
 
 Scripture never attributes that to a whole congregation or 
 multitude, which is literally true of a single person only, ex- 
 cept in such cases, where the thing related requires the con- 
 sent of the whole multitude, but could not conveniently be 
 performed or done by every one of them in their own persons. 
 But I suppose no one will pretend, either that it was impossi- 
 ble for the Apostles and their company to lift up their voice, 
 and say the prayers recited in the context, or that God could 
 not hear or understand them when speaking all together. 
 
 But that which puts the matter out of all doubt, is the fol- 
 lowing consideration, viz. that the company is not barely said 
 to have lift up their voice, but to have lift it up \_6fiodvfj.ahdv~\ 
 with one accord, or all together ; which adverb is so placed, 
 that it cannot be joined to any other verb than ypav ; and no- 
 thing is more evident, than that this adverb implies and de- 
 notes a conjunction of persons ; and consequently, since it is 
 here applied to all the company, and particularly to that action 
 of theirs, viz. their lifting up their voice ; it is manifest 
 that they did all of them lift up their respective voices, and 
 that they could not be said to have lift up their voices in that 
 sense which this objection supposes, viz. by appointing one 
 person to lift up his single voice for them all. For if they did 
 so, then the historian's words must signify, that the whole 
 congregation lift up their voice together, by appointing one 
 man to lift up his particular voice in conjunction with himself 
 alone ; which is such nonsense, as cannot, without blasphemy, 
 be imputed to an inspired writer. So that it is undeniably 
 plain, that the persons here said to have been present, uttered 
 their prayer all together, and spake all at the same time ; and 
 consequently, that the prayer must be aprecomposed set form. 
 
 If any person should be so extravagant as to imagine, that 
 " the whole congregation was inspired at that very instant with 
 the same words ; and, consequently, that they might all of 
 them break forth at once, and join vocally in the same prayer, 
 though it were not precomposed ;" we need only reply, that 
 this assertion is utterly groundless, having neither any show of 
 reason, nor so much as one example in all history to warrant it. 
 
 But it may perhaps be objected, that " the Apostles and their 
 company could have no notice of this unforeseen accident ; 
 and therefore could not be prepared with such a precomposed 
 set form of thanksgiving ; and that it was uttered so soon 
 after the relation of what had befallen the Apostles, that if it 
 
12 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 
 
 had been composed upon that occasion, it seems impossible 
 that copies of it should have been delivered out for the com- 
 pany to be so far acquainted with it, as immediately to join 
 vocally in it." To which we answer, (1.) That since we have 
 evidently proved, from their joining vocally in it, that it must 
 have been a precomposed set form ; it lies upon our adversa- 
 ries to answer our argument, more than it does upon us to 
 account for this difficulty ; for a difficulty, though it could not 
 be easily accounted for, is by no means sufficient to confront 
 and overthrow a clear demonstration. But, (2.) this difficulty 
 is not so great as it may at first appear : for there is nothing 
 in the whole prayer, but what might properly be used every 
 day by a Christian congregation, so long as the powers of the 
 world were opposing and threatening such as preached the 
 Gospel, and the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost were con- 
 tinued in the Church : so that those who think this prayer to 
 have been conceived and used on that emergency only, and 
 never either before or after, do, in reality, beg the question, 
 and take that for granted which they cannot prove. For the 
 Scripture says nothing like it, nor do the circumstances require 
 it ; and therefore it is very probable that it was a standing 
 form, well known in the Church, and frequently used, as oc- 
 casion offered : and, consequently, upon this occasion, (on 
 which it is manifest it was highly seasonable and proper,) they 
 immediately brake forth, and vocally uttered, and jointly said 
 it, and perhaps added it to their other daily devotions, which, 
 we may very well suppose, they used at the same time, though 
 the historian takes no notice of it. 
 
 There remains still another objection, which may possibly 
 be made, viz. that "the holy Scriptures, when they relate what 
 was spoken, especially by a multitude, do not always give us 
 the very words that were spoken, but only the sense of them ; 
 and accordingly in this instance, perhaps the congregation did 
 not jointly offer up that very prayer, but when they had heard 
 what the Apostles told them, they might all break out at one 
 and the same time into vocal prayer, and every man utter 
 words much to the same sense, though they might not join in 
 one and the same form." But to remove this objection, we 
 need only reflect upon the intolerable confusion such a prac- 
 tice must of necessity cause ; for that they all prayed vocally, 
 has been evidently proved : if therefore they did not join in 
 the same prayer, but offer up every man different words, though 
 
intbodcction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 13 
 
 to the same sense : it must necessarily follow, that the whole 
 company would, instead of uniting in their devotions, inter- 
 rupt and distract each other's prayers. 
 
 How much more reasonable then is it to believe, that the 
 Apostles and their company, who then prayed all together 
 vocally, upon so solemn an occasion, did really use the same 
 prayer, and join in the same words ! And if so, then the ar- 
 gument already offered is a demonstration that they joined in 
 ^precomposed set form of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer 
 arid psalms. 
 
 JAnd that the primitive Christians did very early use pre- 
 composed set forms in their public worship, is evident from 
 /(he names given to their public prayers ; for they are called 
 the common prayers?* constituted prayers,^ and solemn 
 t>rayers. i5 But that which puts the matter out of all doubt, 
 are the Liturgies ascribed to St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. 
 James ; which, though corrupted by later ages, are doubtless 
 of great antiquity. For besides many things which have a 
 strong relish of that age, that of St. James was of great 
 authority in the Church of Jerusalem in St. Cyril's time, 
 who has a comment upon it still extant, 46 which St. Jerome 
 says was writ in his younger years : 47 and it is not probable 
 that St. Cyril would have taken the pains to explain it, unless 
 it had been of general use in the Church ; which we cannot 
 suppose it could have obtained in less than seventy or eighty 
 years. Now St. Cyril was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem either 
 in the year 349 or 351 ; to which office, it is very well known, 
 seldom any were promoted before they were pretty well in 
 years. If therefore he writ his comment upon this Liturgy 
 in his younger years, we cannot possibly date it later than the 
 year 340 ; and then, allowing the Liturgy to have obtained in 
 the Church about eighty years, it necessarily follows that it 
 must have been composed in the year 260, which was not 
 above 160 years after the apostolical age. It is declared by 
 Proclus 48 and the sixth general Council, 49 to be of St. James's 
 own composing. And that there are forms of worship in it 
 as ancient as the Apostles, seems highly probable ; for all the 
 form, Sursum corda, is there, and in St. Cyril's comment 
 
 4:5 Kotvat ei>xai. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 85, p. 124, lin. 28. 44 Efoai ■npo(nax6d<rai. 
 Origen. cont. Cels. 1. 6, p. 312. Aug. Vindel. 1605. ib Preces solennes. Cypr. De 
 
 Laps. p. 132. 4 « Catech. Myst. 5, a p. 295 ad p. 301. 47 Catalog. Scriptor. Ercles. 
 torn. i. p. 317, mm. 123. 48 De Trad. Div. Liturg. ap. Bonain. de Rebus Liturgicis, 
 L 1, c. 9, p. 157. » Can. 32. Concil. torn. vi. col. 1158, B. 
 
14 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction. 
 
 The same is in the Liturgies of Rome and Alexandria, and in 
 the Constitutions of Clemens, 50 which all agree are of great 
 antiquity, though not so early as they pretend ; and St. 
 Cyprian, who was living within an hundred years after the 
 Apostles, makes mention of it as a form then used and re- 
 ceived, 51 which Nicephorus does also of the Trisagium in 
 particular. 52 We do not deny but that these Liturgies may 
 have been interpolated in after-times : but that no more over- 
 throws the antiquity of the groundwork of them, than the 
 large additions to a building prove there was no house before. 
 It is an easy matter to say, that such Liturgies could not be 
 St. James's or St. Mark's, because of such errors or mistakes, 
 and interpolations of things and phrases of later times. But 
 what then ? Is this an argument that there were no ancient 
 Liturgies in the churches of Jerusalem or Alexandria ; when 
 so long since as in Origen's time, 53 we find an entire collect 
 produced by him out of the Alexandrian Liturgy ? And the 
 like may be shewed as to other churches, which by degrees 
 came to have their Liturgies much enlarged by the devout 
 additions of some extraordinary men, who had the care of the 
 several churches afterwards : such as were St. Basil, St. 
 Chrysostom, and others. So that, notwithstanding their in- 
 terpolations, the Liturgies themselves are a plain demonstra- 
 tion of the use of divers precomposed set forms of prayer, 
 besides the Lord's prayer and psalms, even in the first and 
 second centuries. 
 
 And that in Constantine's time the Church used such pre- 
 composed set forms, is evident from Eusebius, who tells us of 
 Constantine's u composing a prayer for the use of his soldiers ; 
 and in the next chapter 55 gives us the words of the prayer; 
 which makes it undeniably plain, that it was a set form of 
 words. If it be said, that " Constantine's composing a form 
 is a plain evidence, that at that time there were no public 
 forms in the Church ; " we answer, that this form was only 
 for his heathen soldiers ; for the story tells us, 56 that he gave 
 his Christian soldiers liberty to go to church. And therefore 
 all that can be gathered from hence is, that the Christian 
 Church had no form of prayers for heathen soldiers ; which is 
 no great wonder, since if they had, it is very unlikely that 
 
 60 L. 8, c. 12, torn. i. p. 345, E. 6I De Orat. Domin. p. 152. 52 Hist. Eccles. 1. 18. 
 c. 53, torn. ii. p. 883, B. 53 Orig. in Jerem. Horn. XIV. vol. i. p. 141, edit. Huet. 
 
 Rothomag. 1668. 54 D e v j ta Constant. 1. 4, c. 19, p. 535, B. " ibid. c. 20, p. 535, C 
 «> Ibid. c. 18, p. 534, D. 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 15 
 
 they would have used it. But that the Church had forms of 
 prayer is evident, because the same author calls the prayers 
 which Constantine used in his court ('EtacXrjaiag Qeov rpoirov, 
 according to the manner of the Church 57 of God) ti^ae ^Qia- 
 povg, authorized prayers ,• which is the same title he gave to 
 that form which he made for his heathen soldiers. 58 And 
 therefore if by the authorized prayers, which he prescribed to 
 the /soldiers, he meant a form of prayer, as it is manifest he 
 di^, then by the authorized prayers which he used in his 
 court, after the manner of the Church of God, he must mean 
 a form of prayers also. And since he had a form of prayers 
 in his court, after the manner of the Church, the Church must 
 necessarily have a form of prayers too. 
 
 It is plain then, that the three first centuries joined in the 
 use of divers precomposed set forms of prayer, besides the 
 Lord's prayer and psalms : after which, (besides the Liturgies 
 of St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, and St. Ambrose,) we have also 
 undeniable testimonies of the same. 59 Gregory Nazianzen says, 
 that " St. Basil composed orders and forms of prayer." 60 And 
 St. Basil himself, reciting the manner of the public service 
 that was used in the monastical oratories of his institution, 
 says, 61 that " nothing was therein done but what was consonant 
 and agreeable to all the churches of God." The Council of 
 Laodicea expressly provides, 62 " that the same Liturgy or form 
 of prayer should be always used, both at the ninth hour, and 
 in the evening." And this canon is taken into the Collection 
 of the Canons of the Catholic Church ; which Collection was 
 established in the fourth general Council of Chalcedon, in the 
 year 451 ; 63 by which establishment the whole Christian Church 
 was obliged to the use of Liturgies, so far as the authority of 
 a general Council extends. 
 
 It were very easy to add many other proofs of the same 
 kind, within the compass of time to which those I have al- 
 ready produced do belong; 64 but the brevity of my design only 
 allows me to mention such as are so obviously plain as to admit 
 of no objections. To descend into the following ages, is not 
 worth my while ; for the greatest enemies to precomposed set 
 forms of prayer do acknowledge, that in the fourth and fifth 
 centuries, and ever after, till the times of the Reformation, 
 
 57 De vita Constant. 1. 4, c. 17, p. 534, A. & Ibid. c. 19, p. 535, B. 59 See St. Chry- 
 sost. Homil. XVIII. in Ep. 2, ad Corinth, torn. iii. p. 647. Concil. Carthag. 3, can. 23, 
 torn. ii. col. 1170. Dc Concil. Milev. 2, can. 12. torn. ii. col. 1540, E. 60 Orat. 20, in 
 Basil. < ;1 Epist. 63, torn. ii. p. 843, D. 6i Can. 18, Concil. torn. i. col. 1500, B 
 *' 3 Can. 1 , Concil. torn. iv. col. 756, B. 61 See Dr. Bennet's History of the joint Use of 
 precomposed set Forms of Prayer, from chap. viii. to chap. xvi. 
 
16 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [intboductiok. 
 
 the joint use of them obtained all over the Christian world. 
 And therefore I shall take it for granted, that what has been 
 already said is abundantly sufficient to prove, that the ancient 
 Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, 
 did join in the use of precomposed set forms of prayer. I 
 shall now proceed to prove, 
 
 2. Secondly, That (as far as we can conjecture) they never 
 joined in any other. And first, that the ancient Jews, our 
 Saviour, and his Apostles, never joined in any other than pre- 
 composed set forms, before our Lord's resurrection, may very 
 well be concluded, from our having no ground to think they 
 ever did. For as he that refuses to believe a matter of fact, 
 when it is attested by a competent number of unexceptionable 
 witnesses, is always thought to act against the dictates of 
 reason ; so does that person act no less against the dictates of 
 reason, who believes a matter of fact without any ground. 
 And what ground can any man believe a matter of fact upon, 
 but the testimony of those, upon whose veracity and judg- 
 ment in the case he may safely rely ? But what testimonies 
 can our adversaries produce in this case ? They cannot pre- 
 tend to any proof (either express or by consequence) within 
 this compass of time, of the joint use of prayers conceived 
 extempore, because there is not the lowest degree of evidence, 
 or so much as a bare probability of it. And therefore they 
 ought of necessity to conclude, that the ancient Jews, our 
 Saviour, and his Apostles, never joined in any other prayers 
 than precomposed set forms, before our Lord's resurrection. 
 It only remains therefore that I show, that there is no reason 
 to suppose that they ever joined in any others afterwards. 
 
 And here as lor our Saviour, we have no particular account 
 of his praying between the time of his resurrection and that of 
 his ascension ; and therefore we can determine nothing of his 
 joining therein. But as for the Apostles and primitive Chris- 
 tians, we may conclude, that they never joined in any other 
 than precomposed set forms after our Lord's resurrection, by 
 the same way of reasoning, as we concluded they never did 
 before his resurrection. For unless our adversaries can bring 
 sufficient authorities, to prove that they joined in the use of 
 prayers conceived extempore, we may very reasonably con- 
 clude they never did. 
 
 I know indeed there are some objections, which our adversa- 
 ries pick up from words of like sound, and, without considering 
 the sense, or how the holy penmen used them, urge them for 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 17 
 
 solid arguments : but these my time will not permit me to ex- 
 amine, nor is it indeed worth my while. I shall only desire it 
 may be considered, that nothing more betrays the badness of 
 a cause, than when groundless suppositions are so zealously 
 opposed to evident truths. 65 
 
 I shall however mention one thing, which is of itself a strong 
 argument, that the Apostles and primitive Christians did never 
 join in any other than precomposed set forms of prayer, viz. 
 The difference between precomposed set forms of prayer, and 
 prayers conceived extempore, is so very great ; and the alter- 
 ation from the joint use of the one, to the joint use of the other, 
 so very remarkable ; that it is utterly impossible to conceive, 
 that if the joint use of extempore prayers had been ever prac- 
 tised by the Apostles and first Christians, it could so soon have 
 been laid aside by every Church in the Christian world ; and 
 yet not the least notice to be taken, no opposition to be made, 
 nor so much as a hint given, either of the time or reasons of 
 its being discontinued, by any of the ancient writers whatso- 
 ever: but that every nation, that has embraced the Christian 
 faith, should, with a perfect harmony, without one single ex- 
 ception, (as far as the most diligent search and information can 
 reach,) from the Apostles' days to as low a period of time as 
 our adversaries can desire, unite and agree in performing their 
 joint worship by the use of precomposed set forms only. Cer- 
 tainly such an unanimous practice of persons, at the greatest 
 distance both of time and place, and not only different, but 
 perfectly opposite in other points of religion, as well as their 
 civil interests, is, as I said, a strong argument, that the joint 
 use of precomposed set forms was fixed by the Apostles in all 
 the churches they planted, and that, by the special providence 
 of God, it has been preserved as remarkably as the Christian 
 sacraments themselves. 
 
 Much more might be added, but that I am satisfied, what has 
 already been said is enough to convince any reasonable and un- 
 prejudiced person ; and to those that are obstinate and biassed 
 it is in vain to say more. I shall therefore proceed to shew, 
 
 II. Secondly, That those precomposed set forms of prayer, 
 in which they joined, were such as the respective congregations 
 were accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with. And 
 upon this I shall endeavour to be very brief, because a little 
 
 65 For further satisfaction see Dr. Bennet's Discourse of the Gift of Prayer, and hi* 
 History of the joint Use of precomposed set Forms of Prayer, chap, xviii. 
 
 e 
 
18 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introductiox. 
 
 reflection upon what has been said will effectually demonstrate 
 its truth. 
 
 And, 1st, as to the practice of the ancient Jews, our Saviour, 
 and his disciples, it cannot be doubted, but that they were ac- 
 customed to, and well acquainted with, those precomposed set 
 forms which are contained in the Scriptures : and as for their 
 other additional prayers, the very same authors, from whom 
 we derive our accounts of them, do unanimously agree in at- 
 testing that they were of constant daily use ; and consequently 
 the Jews, our Saviour, and his disciples, could not but be ac- 
 customed to them, and thoroughly acquainted with them. 
 
 The matter therefore is past all dispute till the Gospel-state 
 commenced ; and even then also it is equally clear and plain. 
 For it has been largely shewed, that the Apostles and primitive 
 Christians did constantly use the Lord's prayer and psalms ; 
 whereby they must necessarily become accustomed to them, 
 and thoroughly acquainted with them. 
 
 But then it is objected, that " their other prayers, which 
 made up a great part of their divine service, were not stinted 
 imposed forms, but such as the ministers themselves composed 
 and made choice of for their own use in public." But this 
 may likewise be answered with very little trouble ; because the 
 same authorities, which prove that they were precomposed set 
 forms, do also prove that the respective congregations were ac- 
 customed to them, and thoroughly acquainted with them. 
 For since the whole congregation did with one accord lift up 
 their voice in an instant, and vocally join in that prayer which 
 is recorded in the fourth chapter of the Acts ; since the public 
 prayers, which the primitive Christians used in the first and 
 second centuries, were called common prayers, constituted 
 •prayers, and solemn prayers ; since the Liturgy of St. James 
 was of general use in the Church of Jerusalem within an hun- 
 dred and sixty years after the apostolical age ; since the Church 
 in Constan tine's time used authorized set forms of prayer ; since 
 the Council of Laodicea expressly provides, that " the same Li- 
 turgy be constantly used both at the ninth hour, and in the 
 evening ;" I say, since these things are true, we may appeal to 
 our adversaries themselves, whether it was possible, in those 
 and the like cases, for the respective congregations to be other- 
 wise than accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with, those 
 precomposed set forms of prayer, in which they joined. 
 
 We own indeed, that, by reason of the ancient Christians 
 
introduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 19 
 
 industriously concealing their mysteries, copies of their offices 
 of joint devotion might not be common. And therefore (ex- 
 cept the Lord's prayer, which the catechumens were taught 
 before their baptism, and the psalms, which they read in their 
 Bibles) none were acquainted with their joint devotions before 
 they were baptized ; but were forced to learn them by con- 
 stant attendance upon them, and by the assistance of their 
 brethren. But the forms, notwithstanding, were well known 
 to the main body of the congregation ; and those very per- 
 sons, who at first were strangers to them, did, as well as 
 others, by frequenting the public assemblies, attain to a per- 
 fect knowledge of them ; because they were daily accustomed 
 to them, and consequently, in a very short time, thoroughly 
 acquainted with them : which was the second thing I was to 
 prove. I come now in the last place to prove, 
 
 III. Thirdly, That the practice of the ancient Jews, our 
 Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, warrants 
 the imposition of a national precomposed Liturgy : and this I 
 shall make appear in the following manner. 
 
 1. Their practice proves that a precomposed Liturgy was 
 constantly imposed upon the laity. For that, without joining 
 in which it was impossible for the laity to hold Church-com- 
 munion, was certainly imposed upon the laity. Now their 
 practice proves that it was impossible for the laity to hold 
 communion with either the Jewish or Christian Church, un- 
 less they joined in a precomposed Liturgy ; because the joint 
 use of a precomposed Liturgy was their particular way of 
 worship : and consequently as many of the laity as held com- 
 munion with them must submit to that way of worship ; and 
 as many as submitted to that way of worship had a precom- 
 posed Liturgy imposed upon them. 
 
 2. Their practice shews that a precomposed Liturgy was 
 imposed on the clergy, i. e. the clergy were obliged to the use 
 of a precomposed Liturgy in their public ministrations. For 
 since the use of such a Liturgy was settled amongst them, it 
 was undoubtedly expected from the respective clergy, that 
 they should practise accordingly. For any one that is in the 
 least versed in antiquity, must know how strict the Church- 
 governors were in those times, and how severely they would 
 animadvert upon such daring innovators, as should offer to set 
 up their own fancies in opposition to a settled rule. So that 
 it is no wonder, if in the first centuries we meet with no law to 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE LAWFULNESS AND NECESSITY OF [introduction 
 
 establish the use of Liturgies ; since those primitive patterns 
 of obedience looked upon themselves to be as much obliged 
 by the custom and practice of the Church, as they could be by 
 the strictest law. But we find that afterwards, when the per- 
 verseness and innovations of the clergy gave occasion, the 
 governors of the Church did, by making canons on purpose, 
 oblige the clergy to the use of precomposed Liturgies ; as 
 may be seen in the eighteenth canon of the Council of Lao- 
 dicea ; which, as I have shewed, enjoined, that " the same 
 Liturgy should be used both at the ninth hour, and in the 
 evening : " which is as plain an imposition of a precomposed 
 Liturgy, as ever was or can be made. Thus also the second 
 council of Mela enjoins, 66 that " such prayers should be used 
 by all, as were approved of in the Council, and that none 
 should be said in the church, but such as had been approved 
 of by the more prudent sort of persons in a synod : " which is 
 another as plain imposition of a precomposed Liturgy as words 
 can express, even upon the clergy. 
 
 But though neither clergy nor laity had been thus obliged, 
 yet one would think that the practice of all the ancient Jews, 
 our blessed Saviour himself, his Apostles, and the whole 
 Christian world, for almost fifteen hundred years together, 
 should be a sufficient precedent for us to follow still. We may 
 be sure, that had they not known the joint use of Liturgies to 
 have been the best way of worshipping God, they would 
 never have practised it : but since they did practise it, we 
 ought in modesty to allow their concurrent judgments to be 
 too great to be withstood by any person or society of men ; 
 and consequently that their practice warrants the imposition 
 of a precomposed Liturgy. 
 
 And if of a precomposed Liturgy, it does for the same 
 reason warrant the imposition of a national precomposed Li- 
 turgy : for it appears, from what has been said upon my second 
 head, that the precomposed Liturgies of both Jews and Chris- 
 tians were such as the respective congregations were ac- 
 customed to, and thoroughly acquainted with ; and therefore 
 their practice warrants the imposition of such a precomposed 
 Liturgy, and consequently of a national precomposed Liturgy. 
 For upon supposition that it is expedient for the congregations 
 to be accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with, the 
 Liturgies which they join in the use of; it is plain that a 
 
 66 As before quoted in notes 59 , 62 , p. 15. 
 
iktroduction.] A NATIONAL PRECOMPOSED LITURGY. 21 
 
 whole nation may as well have the same Liturgy, as each con- 
 gregation may have a distinct one. And the clergy of a whole 
 nation may as well resolve in a synod, or require by a canon 
 made to that purpose, that the same Liturgy shall be used in 
 every part of the nation, as leave it to the liberty of every 
 particular bishop or minister to choose one for his own diocese 
 or congregation. Nor is such an imposition of a national pre- 
 composed Liturgy any greater grievance to the laity, than if 
 each pastor imposed his own precomposed Liturgy or prayer 
 pnceived extempore on his respective flock ; because every 
 precomposed Liturgy or extempore prayer is as much imposed, 
 and lays as great a restraint upon the laity, as the imposition 
 of a national Liturgy. Nor, again, is the synod's imposing a 
 national Liturgy any grievance to the clergy ; since it is done 
 either by their proper governors alone, or else (especially ac- 
 cording to our English constitution) by their proper govern- 
 ors, joined with their own representatives. So that such im- 
 position, being either what they are bound to comply with in 
 point of obedience, or else an act of their own choice, cannot 
 for that reason be any hardship upon them. 
 
 Since therefore (to draw to a conclusion) this imposition of 
 a national precomposed Liturgy is warranted by the constant 
 practice of all the ancient Jews, our Saviour himself, his 
 Apostles, and the primitive Christians ; and since it is a griev- 
 ance to neither clergy nor laity, but appears quite, on the 
 other hand, as well from their concurrent testimonies, as by 
 our own experience, to be so highly expedient, as that there 
 can be no decent or uniform performance of God's worship 
 without it ; our adversaries themselves must allow it to be 
 necessary. 
 
 And if so, they can no longer justify their separation from 
 the Church of England, upon account of its imposing The 
 Book of Common Prayer, &c. as a national precomposed 
 Liturgy ; unless they can shew, that though national precom- 
 posed Liturgies in general may be lawful ; yet there are some 
 things prescribed in that of the Church of England, which 
 render it unlawful to be complied with : which that they can- 
 not do, is, I hope, (though only occasionally, yet) sufficiently 
 shewn in the following illustration of it. From which I shall 
 now detain the reader no longer than to give him some small 
 account of the original of The Book of Common Prayer, and 
 of those alterations which were afterwards made in it, before 
 
22 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 it was brought to that perfection in which we now have it. 
 And this I choose to do here, because I know not where more 
 properly to insert such an account. 
 
 An Appendix to the Introductory Discourse, concerning the 
 Original of the Book of Common Prayer, and the several 
 Alterations which were afterwards made in it. 
 
 How the Liturgy Before the Reformation, the Liturgy was only 
 stood before the in Latin, being a collection of prayers made up 
 leiormation. p ar tly of some ancient forms used in the primitive 
 Church, and partly of some others of a later original, accom- 
 modated to the superstitions which had by various means 
 crept by degrees into the Church of Rome, and from thence 
 derived to other Churches in communion with it ; like what 
 we may see in the present Roman Breviary and Missal. And 
 these being established by the laws of the land, and the canons 
 of the Church, no other could publicly be made use of: so 
 that those of the laity, who had not the advantage of a learned 
 education, could not join with them, or be any otherwise edi- 
 fied by them. And besides, they being mixed with addresses 
 to the saints, adoration of the host, images, &c, a great part 
 of the worship was in itself idolatrous and profane. 
 
 But when the nation in king Henry VIII. 's 
 in^eiation S to° ne ^ me was disposed to a reformation, it was thought 
 Liturgical mat- necessary to correct and amend these offices : and 
 Jy r vin k ' S n tiSr not only have the service of the Church in the 
 English or vulgar tongue, (that men might pray, 
 not with the spirit only, but with the understanding also „• 
 and that he, who occupied the room of the unlearned, might 
 understand that unto which he was to say Amen ,« agree- 
 able to the precept of St. Paul; 67 ) but also to abolish and 
 take away all that was idolatrous and superstitious, in order to 
 restore the service of the Church to its primitive purity. For 
 it was not the design of our Reformers (nor indeed ought it 
 to have been) to introduce a new form of worship into the 
 Church, but to correct and amend the old one ; and to purge 
 it from those gross corruptions which had gradually crept into 
 it, and so to render the divine service more agreeable to the 
 Scriptures, and to the doctrine and practice of the primitive 
 
 67 l Cor. xiv. 15, 16. 
 
iktro: 
 
 introduction.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 23 
 
 Church in the best and purest ages of Christianity. In which 
 reformation they proceeded gradually, according as they were 
 able. 
 
 And first, the Convocation 68 appointed a committee, A. D. 
 1537, to compose a book, which was called, The godly and 
 pious institution of a christen man ; containing a declara- 
 tion of the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Creed, the Ten 
 Commandments, and the Seven Sacraments, 69 &c. ; which book 
 was again published A. D. 1540, and 1543, with corrections 
 and alterations, under the title of A necessary doctrine and 
 erudition for any christen man : and as it is expressed in 
 that preface, was set fur the by the King, with the advyse of 
 his Clergy ; the Lordes bothe spirituall and temporally with 
 the nether house of Parliament, having both sene and lyked 
 it very well. 
 
 Also in the year 1540, a committee of bishops and divines 
 was appointed by king Henry VIII. (at the petition of the 
 Convocation) to reform the rituals and offices of the Church. 
 And what was done by this committee for reforming the 
 offices was reconsidered by the Convocation itself two or 
 three years afterwards, viz. in February, 1542-3. And in the 
 next year the king and his clergy ordered the prayers for 
 processions, and litanies, to be put into English, and to be 
 publicly used. And finally, in the year 1545, the king's 
 Primer came forth, wherein were contained, amongst other 
 things, the Lord's Prayer, Creed, Ten Commandments, Venite, 
 Te Deum, and other hymns and collects in English ; and 
 several of them in the same version in which we now use 
 them. And this is all that appears to have been done in re- 
 lation to liturgical matters in the reign of king Henry VIII. 
 
 In the year 1547, the first of king Edward 
 VI., December the second, the Convocation 70 J^iVrayer 
 declared the opinion, nullo reclamante, that the compiled in the 
 Communion ought to be administered to all per- Edward vif 
 sons under both kinds. Whereupon an Act of 
 Parliament was made ordering the Communion to be so ad- 
 ministered. And then a committee of bishops, and other 
 learned divines, was appointed to compose an uniform order 
 of Communion, according to the rules of Scripture, and the 
 use of the primitive Church. In order to this, the com- 
 
 68 For what relates to the authority of the Convocation, in this and the two following 
 paragraphs, see Bishop Atterbury's Rights of an English Convocation, 2nd edit., from 
 p. 184 to p. 205. 6 " Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 52 — 54. 70 See 
 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, p. 157, 158. 
 
24 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 mittee repaired to Windsor Castle, and in that retirement, 
 within a few days, drew up that form which is printed in 
 bishop Sparrow's collection. 71 And this being immediately 
 brought into use the next year, the same persons, being em- 
 powered by a new commission, prepare themselves to enter 
 upon a yet nobler work ; and in a few months' time finished 
 the whole Liturgy, by drawing up public offices not only for 
 Sundays and Holidays, but for Baptism, Confirmation, Matri- 
 mony, Burial of the Dead, and other special occasions ; in 
 which the forementioned Office for the Holy Communion 
 was inserted, with many alterations and amendments. And 
 the whole book being so framed, was set forth by the common 
 agreement and full assent both of the Parliament and 
 Convocations provincial ; i. e. the two Convocations of the 
 provinces of Canterbury and York. 
 
 The Committee appointed to compose this Liturgy were, 
 
 1. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury ; who was 
 the chief promoter of our excellent Reformation ; and had a 
 principal hand, not only in compiling the Liturgy, but in all 
 the steps made towards it. He died a martyr to the religion 
 of the Reformation, which principally by his means had been 
 established in the Church of England ; being burnt at Oxford 
 in the reign of queen Mary, March 21, 1556. 
 
 2. Thomas Goodrich, bishop of Ely. 
 
 3. Henry Holbech, alias Randes, bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 4. George Day, bishop of Chichester. 
 
 5. John Skip, bishop of Hereford. 
 
 6. Thomas Thirlby, bishop of Westminster. 
 
 7. Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, and afterwards 
 of London. He was esteemed the ablest man of all that ad- 
 vanced the Reformation, for piety, learning, and solidity of 
 judgment. He died a martyr in queen Mary's reign, being 
 burnt at Oxford, October 16, 1555. 
 
 8. Dr. William May, dean of St. Paul's, London, and after- 
 wards also master of Queen's College in Cambridge. 
 
 9. Dr. John Taylor, dean, afterwards bishop of Lincoln. He 
 was deprived in the beginning of queen Mary's reign, and 
 died soon after. 
 
 10. Dr. Simon Heynes, dean of Exeter. 
 
 11. Dr. John Redmayne, master of Trinity College in 
 Cambridge, and prebendary of Westminster. 
 
 12. Dr. Richard Cox, dean of Christ Church in Oxford, 
 
 n Page 17. 
 
introduction.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 25 
 
 almoner and privy-councillor to king Edward VI. He was 
 deprived of all his preferments in queen Mary's reign, and 
 fled to Frankfort ; from whence returning in the reign of 
 queen Elizabeth, he was consecrated bishop of Ely. 
 
 13. Mr. Thomas Robertson, archdeacon of Leicester. 
 
 Thus was our excellent Liturgy compiled by And confirmed 
 martyrs and confessors, together with divers by Act of Par- 
 other learned bishops and divines ; and being re- hament - 
 vised and approved by the archbishops, bishops, and clergy 
 of both the provinces of Canterbury and York, was then con- 
 firmed by the king and the three estates in parliament, A. D. 
 1548, 72 who gave it this just encomium, viz. which at this 
 time BY THE AID OF THE HOLY GHOST, with 
 uniform agreement is of them concluded, set forth, &c. 
 
 But about the end of the year 1550, or the be- „ 
 
 r> iccri a.- a i *. But afterwards 
 
 ginning or 1551, some exceptions were taken at submitted to the 
 some things in this book, which were thought to cen sureof Bu- 
 
 , ° , „ ,.,. m cer and Martyr. 
 
 savour too much of superstition. lo remove 
 these objections, therefore, archbishop Cranmer proposed to 
 review it; and to this end called in the assistance of Martin 
 Bucer and Peter Martyr, two foreigners, whom he had invited 
 over from the troubles in Germany ; who not understanding 
 the English tongue, had Latin versions prepared for them : 
 one Alesse - , a Scotch divine, translating it on purpose for the 
 use of Bucer ; and Martyr being furnished with the version of 
 Sir John Cheke, who had also formerly translated it into La- 
 tin. 73 What liberties this encouraged them to 
 take in their censures of the first Liturgy, and ceptions it was*" 
 how far they were instrumental to the laying reviewed and ai- 
 
 . i ■. J ... , ,, Jo tered. 
 
 aside several very primitive and venerable usages, 
 I shall have properer opportunities of shewing hereafter, when 
 I come to treat of the particulars in the body of the book. It 
 will be sufficient here just to note the most considerable addi- 
 tions and alterations that were then made : some of which 
 must be allowed to be good ; as especially the addition of the 
 sentences, exhortation, confession, and absolution, at the 
 beginning of the morning and evening services, which in the 
 first Common Prayer Book began with the Lord's Prayer. 
 The other changes were the removing of some rites and cere- 
 monies retained in the former book ; such as the use of oil in 
 
 72 Second and third of Edward VI. chap. i. 73 Strype's Memorials of Archbishop 
 Cranmer, p. 210. 
 
26 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 baptism ; the unction of the sick ,- prayers for souls depart- 
 ed, both in the Communion-office, and in that for the burial 
 of the dead ; the leaving out the invocation of the Holy Ghost 
 in the consecration of the Eucharist, and the prayer of obla- 
 tion that was used to follow it ; the omitting the rubric, that 
 ordered mater to be mixed with wine, with several other less 
 material variations. The habits also, that were prescribed by 
 the former book, were ordered by this to be laid aside ; and, 
 lastly, a rubric was added at the end of the Communion-office 
 to explain the reason of kneeling at the Sacrament. The book 
 a d a ain con- t ^ ius rev * se d an( ^ altered was again confirmed 
 finned by Act of in parliament A. D. 1551, who declared, that the 
 Parliament. alterations that were made in it proceeded from 
 Both which Acts curiosity rather than any worthy cause. But 
 aMa r ry. ealedby b °t h this and the former act made in 1548, were 
 repealed in the first year of queen Mary, as not 
 being agreeable to the Romish superstition, which she was 
 resolved to restore. 
 
 But the second But u P on the accession of queen Elizabeth, 
 book of k. Ed- the act of repeal was reversed ; and, in order to 
 Sabiilhed^fthe tne restoring of the English service, several learn- 
 reignof a Eliza- e d divines were appointed to take another review 
 of king Edward's Liturgies, and to frame from 
 them both a book for the use of the Church of England. The 
 names of those who, Mr. Camden 74 says, were employed, are 
 these that follow : 
 
 Dr. Matthew Parker, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 Dr. Richard Cox, afterwards bishop of Ely. 
 
 Dr. May. 
 
 Dr. Bill. 
 
 Dr. James Pilkington, afterwards bishop of Durham. 
 
 Sir Thomas Smith. 
 
 Mr. David Whitehead. 
 
 Mr. Edmund Grindall, afterwards bishop of London, and 
 then archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 To these, Mr. Strype says, 75 were added Dr. Edwin Sandys, 
 afterwards bishop of Worcester, and Mr. Edward Guest, a very 
 learned man, who was afterwards archdeacon of Canterbury, 
 almoner to the queen, and bishop of Rochester, and afterwards 
 of Salisbury. And this last person, Mr. Strype thinks, had 
 the main care of the whole business ; being, as he supposes, re- 
 commended by Parker to supply his absence. It was debated 
 
 * In his History of Q. Elizabeth. » Strype's Annals of Q. Elizabeth, p. S2, S3. 
 
introduction.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 27 
 
 at first, which of the two books of king Edward should be re- 
 ceived ; and secretary Cecil sent several queries to Guest, 
 concerning the reception of some particulars in the first book ; 
 as prayers for the dead, the prayer of consecration, the de- 
 livery of the sacrament into the mouth of the communicant, &c. 76 
 But however, the second book of king Edward was pitched 
 upon as the book to be proposed to the parliament to be 
 established, who accordingly passed and commanded it to be 
 used, with one alteration or addition of certain lessons to 
 he used on every Sunday in the year, and the form of the 
 Litany altered and corrected, and two sentences added in 
 the delivery of the sacrament to the communicants, and 
 none other, or otherwise. 
 
 The alteration in the Litany here mentioned was the leav- 
 ing out a rough expression, viz. from the tyranny of the 
 Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities, which 
 was a part of the last deprecation in both the books of king 
 Edward ; and the adding those words to the first petition for 
 the queen, strengthen in the true worshipping of thee, in 
 righteousness and holiness of life, which were not in before. 
 The two sentences added in the delivery of the sacrament 
 were these, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was 
 given for thee ,• or the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 which was shed for thee ,- preserve thy body and soul to 
 everlasting life: which were taken out of king Edward's first 
 book, and were the whole forms then used : whereas in the 
 second book of that king, these sentences were left out, and 
 in the room of them were used, take, eat, or drink this, with 
 what follows ; but now in queen Elizabeth's book both these 
 forms were united. 
 
 Though, besides these here mentioned, there are some 
 other variations in this book from the second of king Edward, 
 viz. the first rubric, concerning the situation of the chancel 
 and the proper place of reading divine service, was altered ; 
 the habits enjoined by the first book of king Edward, and 
 forbid by the second, were now restored. At the end of the 
 Litany was added a prayer for the queen, and another for the 
 clergy. And lastly, the rubric that was added at the end of 
 the Communion-office, in the second book of king Edward 
 VI., against the notion of our Lord's real and essential pre- 
 sence in the holy Sacrament, was left out of this. For it 
 
 '6 Strype, ut supra. 
 
28 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 being the queen's design to unite the nation in one faith, it 
 was therefore recommended to the divines to see that there 
 should be no definition made against the aforesaid notion, but 
 that it should remain as a speculative opinion not determined, 
 in which every one was left to the freedom of his own mind. 
 And And in this state the Liturgy continued with- 
 
 terationsmadein out any further alteration, till the first year of 
 king Jame?? ° f king James L, when, after the conference at 
 Hampton Court, between that prince with arch- 
 bishop Whitgift of Canterbury, and other bishops and divines, 
 on the one side ; and Dr. Reynolds, with some other Puritans, 
 on the other, there were some forms of thanksgiving added 
 at the end of the Litany, and an addition made to the Cate- 
 chism concerning the sacraments ; the Catechism before that 
 time ending with the answer to that question which immedi- 
 ately follows the Lord's prayer. And in the rubric in the 
 beginning of the Office for private baptism, the words lawful 
 minister were inserted, to prevent mid wives or laymen from 
 presuming to baptize, with one or two more small alterations. 
 
 And the whole ^" nc * m tms state ** continued to the time of 
 book again re- king Charles II., who, immediately after his 
 RestoraUoT the restorat i° n j at the request of several of the 
 Presbyterian ministers, was willing to comply to 
 another review, and therefore issued out a commission, dated 
 March 25, 1661, to empower twelve of the bishops, and 
 twelve of the Presbyterian divines, to consider of the objec- 
 tions raised against the Liturgy, and to make such reasonable 
 and necessary alterations as they should jointly agree upon: 
 nine assistants on each side being added to supply the place 
 of any of the twelve principals who should happen to be ab- 
 sent. The names of them are as follow : 
 
 On the Episcoparian side. 
 Principals. 
 
 On the Presbyterian side. 
 Principals. 
 
 Dr. Fmen, archb. of York. Dr. Reynolds, bp. of Norwich- 
 
 Dr. Shelden, bp. of London. Dr. Tuckney. 
 
 Dr. Cosin, bp. of Durham. 
 Dr. Warner, bp. of Rochester. 
 * Dr. King, bp. of Chichester. 
 
 Dr. Conant. 
 Dr. Spurstow. 
 Dr. Wallis. 
 
 * I do not meet with this name either in the copy of the commission that was 
 printed in 1661, in the account of the proceedings of the Commissioners, or in that 
 copy of it which Dr. Nichols has printed at the end of his preface to his book upon 
 the Common Prayer ; nor in that which Mr. Collier gives us in his Ecclesiastical 
 History." But Mr. Baxter inserts it in the copy of the commission that he has printed 
 a Vol. ii. p. 876. 
 
_KTRODUCTION.] 
 
 BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 
 29 
 
 On the Episcoparian side. 
 
 On the Presbyterian side 
 
 Principals. 
 
 Principals. 
 
 Dr. Henchman, bp. of Sarum. 
 
 Dr. Manton. 
 
 Dr. Morley, bp. of Worcester. 
 
 Mr. Calamy. 
 
 Dr. Sanderson, bp. of Lincoln. 
 
 Mr. Baxter. 
 
 Dr. Laney, bp. of Peterborough. 
 
 Mr. Jackson. 
 
 Dr. Walton, bp. of Chester. 
 
 Mr. Case. 
 
 Dr. Stern, bp. of Carlisle. 
 
 Mr. Clark. 
 
 Dr. Gauden, bp. of Exeter. 
 
 Mr. Newcomen. 
 
 Coadjutors. 
 
 Coadjutors. 
 
 Dr. Earles, dean of Westminster. 
 
 Dr. Horton. 
 
 Dr. Heylin. 
 
 Dr. Jacomb. 
 
 Dr. Hackett. 
 
 Mr. Bates. 
 
 Dr. Barwick. 
 
 Mr. Rawlinson. 
 
 Dr. Gunning. 
 
 Mr. Cooper. 
 
 Dr. Pearson. 
 
 Dr. Lightfoot. 
 
 Dr. Pierce. 
 
 Dr. Collins. 
 
 Dr. Sparrow. 
 
 Dr. Woodbridge. 
 
 Mr. Thorndike. 
 
 Mr. Drake. 
 
 These commissioners had several meetings at the Savoy, 
 but all to very little purpose : the Presbyterians heaping to- 
 gether all the old scruples that the Puritans had for above a 
 hundred years been raising against the Liturgy, and, as if they 
 were not enough, swelling the number of them with many 
 new ones of their own. To these, one and all, they demand 
 compliance-on the Church side, and will hear of no contradic- 
 tion even in the minutest circumstances. But the completest 
 piece of assurance was the behaviour of Baxter, who (though 
 the king's commission gave them no further power, than to 
 compare the Common Prayer Booh with the most ancient 
 Liturgies that had been used in the Church, in the most 
 primitive and purest twies ; requiring them to avoid, as much 
 as possible, all unnecessary alterations of the Forms and Li- 
 turgy wherewith the people were altogether acquainted, and 
 had so long received in the Church of England) would not so 
 much as allow that our Liturgy was capable of amendment, but 
 confidently pretended to compose a new one of his own ; and, 
 without any regard to any other Liturgy whatsoever, either 
 modern or ancient, amassed together a dull, tedious, crude, 
 
 in the narrative of his own life, 6 and Dr. Nichols mentions him in his introduction to 
 his Defence of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England : and there are 
 not twelve principal Commissioners on the Church side without him : and therefore I 
 suppose he was left out of the copy of the commission in 16G1, hy the printer's mistake, 
 and that from thence Dr. Nichols and Mr. Collier might continue the omission. 
 6 Page 303. 
 
30 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 and indigested heap of stuff; which, together with the rest 
 of the commissioners on the Presbyterian side, he had the 
 insolence to offer to the bishops, to be received and estab- 
 lished in the room of the Liturgy. Such usage as this, we 
 may reasonably think, must draw the disdain and contempt 
 of all that were concerned for the Church. So that the con- 
 ference broke up, without any thing done, except that some 
 particular alterations were proposed by the episcopal divines, 
 which, the May following, were considered and agreed to by 
 the whole Clergy in Convocation. The principal of them 
 were, that several lessons in the calendar were changed for 
 others more proper for the days ; the prayers upon particu- 
 lar occasions were disjoined from the Litany, and the two 
 prayers to be used in the Ember-weeks, the prayer for the 
 Parliament, that for all conditions of men, and the general 
 thanksgiving, were added : several of the collects were al- 
 tered, the Epistles and Gospels were taken out of the last 
 translation of the Bible, being read before according to the 
 old translation : the office for baptism of those of riper 
 years, and the forms of prayer to be used at sea, were 
 added. 77 In a word, the whole Liturgy was then brought to 
 that state in which it now stands ; and was unanimously sub- 
 scribed by both houses of Convocation, of both provinces, on 
 Friday, the 20th of December, 1661. And being brought to 
 the house of lords the March following, both houses very 
 readily passed an act for its establishment ; and the earl of 
 Clarendon, then high chancellor of England, was ordered to 
 return the thanks of the lords to the bishops and clergy of 
 both provinces, for the great care and industry shewn in the 
 review of it. 
 
 The compiling Thus have I given a brief historical account 
 of our Liturgy, of the first compiling the Book of Common 
 fc C c'ie d sSicar Prayer, and of the several reviews that were 
 and not a civil afterwards taken of it by our bishops and Con- 
 power, vocations : one end of which was, that so " who- 
 soever will may easily see (as bishop Sparrow shews on a like 
 occasion 78 ) the notorious slander which some of the Roman per- 
 suasion have endeavoured to cast upon our Church, viz. That 
 her reformation hath been altogether lay and parliamentary ." 
 For it appears by the proceedings observed in the reforma- 
 
 77 For a more particular account of what was done in this review, see the Preface to the 
 Common Prayer Book. ? 8 Preface to his collection of Articles, &c, towards the end. 
 
iktroductiok.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 31 
 
 tion of the service of the Church, that this reformation was 
 regularly made by the bishops and clergy in their provincial 
 synods ; the king and parliament only establishing by the 
 civil sanction what was there done by ecclesiastical authority. 
 " It was indeed (as my lord bishop of Sarum has excellently 
 well observed 79 ) confirmed by the authority of parliament, 
 and there was good reason to desire that, to give it the force 
 of a law ; but the authority of [the book and] those changes 
 is wholly to be derived from the Convocation, who only con- 
 sulted about them and made them. And the parliament did 
 take that care in the enacting them, that might shew they did 
 only add the force of a law to them : for in passing them it 
 was ordered, that the Book of Common Prayer and Ordina- 
 tion should only be read over, (and even that was carried 
 upon some debate ; for many, as I have been told, moved 
 that the book should be added to the act, as it was sent to 
 the parliament from the Convocation, without ever reading 
 it ; but that seemed indecent and too implicit to others,) and 
 there was no change made in a tittle by parliament. So that 
 they only enacted by a law what the Convocation had done." 
 And therefore, as his lordship says in another place, 80 " As it 
 were a great scandal on the first general councils to say, that 
 they had no authority for what they did, but what they de- 
 rived from the civil power ; so is it no less unjust to say, 
 because the parliament empowered (I suppose his lordship 
 means approved) some persons to draw up forms for the 
 more pure administration of the sacraments, and enacted that 
 these only should be lawfully used in this realm, which is the 
 civil sanction ; that therefore these persons had no other 
 authority for what they did. Was it ever heard of that the 
 civil sanction, which only makes any constitution to have the 
 force of a law, gives it any other authority than a civil one ? 
 The prelates and other divines, that compiled [these forms], 
 did it by virtue of the authority they had from Christ, as 
 pastors of his Church ; which did empower them to teach the 
 people the pure word of God, and to administer the sacra- 
 ments, and to perform all holy functions, according to the 
 Scripture, the practice of the primitive Church, and the rules 
 of expediency and reason ; and this they ought to have done, 
 though the civil power had opposed it : in which case their 
 duty had been to have submitted to whatever severities and 
 
 to Vindication of Ordinations of the Church of England, p. 53, 54. 80 p. 74, 75. 
 
32 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 persecutions they might have been put to for the name of 
 Christ, or the truth of his gospel. But on the other hand, 
 when it pleased God to turn the hearts of those which had 
 the chief power, to set forward this good work ; then they 
 did, as they ought, with all thankfulness acknowledge so 
 great a blessing, and accept and improve the authority of the 
 civil power, for adding the sanction of a law to the reforma- 
 tion, in all the parts and branches of it. So by the authority 
 they derived from Christ, and the warrant they had by the 
 Scripture and the primitive Church, these prelates and di- 
 vines made those alterations and changes in the ordinal; 
 and the king and the parliament, who are vested with the 
 supreme legislative power, added their authority to them, to 
 make them obligatory on the subjects." These excellent 
 words of this right reverend prelate are a full and complete 
 answer to the Komanists' cavil of the lay original of our 
 Liturgy. And I cannot but wonder, that others, who have 
 wrote exceeding well on the Common Prayer Book, have not 
 been careful to obviate this objection ; but have indeed rather 
 given occasion for it, by intimating as if the Book of Common 
 Prayer had been compiled by some persons only by virtue 
 and authority of the king's commission : whereas it was in- 
 deed a committee of the two houses of Convocation, and the 
 book was revised and authorized by the whole synod, and in 
 a synodical way, before it received the civil sanction from 
 the king and parliament. 
 
 And for this reason I have given a true account of this 
 matter, that others who are led away by Erastian principles, 
 and think that the civil magistrate only has authority in mat- 
 ters of religion, may be convinced that this is not agreeable 
 to the doctrine of our Church ; who declares in her twentieth 
 article, that the Church (that is, the ecclesiastical governors, 
 the bishops and their presbyters ; for there may be a Church 
 where there is no Christian civil magistrate) hath power to 
 decree rites and ceremonies and authority in matters of 
 faith: and affirms again in the thirty-seventh article, that 
 where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the chief govern- 
 ment, we give not to our Princes the ministering either of 
 God's word, or of the Sacraments ; but that only preroga- 
 tive, which we see to have been given always to all godly 
 Princes in holy Scripture by God himself; that is, that 
 they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their 
 
ion.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 33 
 
 charge by God, whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal, 
 and restrain with the CIVIL sword the stubborn and evil 
 doers. Our Liturgy was therefore first established by the 
 Convocations or provincial Synods of the realm, and thereby 
 became obligatory in faro conscientice ; and was then con- 
 firmed and ratified by the supreme magistrate in parliament, 
 and so also became obligatory in foro civili. It has therefore 
 all authority both ecclesiastical and civil. As it is established 
 by ecclesiastical authority, those who separate themselves 
 and set up another form of worship are schismatics ; and 
 consequently are guilty of a damnable sin, which no tolera- 
 tion granted by the civil magistrate can authorize or justify. 
 But as it is settled by act of parliament, the separating from 
 it is only an offence against the state ; and as such may be 
 pardoned by the state. The act of toleration therefore (as it 
 is called) has freed the Dissenters from being offenders 
 against the state, notwithstanding their separation from the 
 worship prescribed by the Liturgy : but it by no means ex- 
 cuses or can excuse them from the schism they have made 
 in the Church ; they are still guilty of that sin, and will be so 
 as long as they separate, notwithstanding any temporal au- 
 thority to indemnify them. 
 
 And here I designed to have put an end to the Introduc- 
 tion ; but having in the first part of it vindicated the use of 
 Liturgies in general, and in this Appendix given an historical 
 account of our own ; I think I cannot more properly conclude 
 the whole than with Dr. Comber's excellent and just en- 
 comium of the latter ; by which the reader will, I doubt not, 
 be very well entertained, and perhaps be rendered more in- 
 quisitive after those excellencies and beauties which are here 
 mentioned, and which it is one chief design of the following 
 treatise to shew. In hopes of this, therefore, I shall here 
 transcribe the very words of the reverend and learned author. 
 
 "Though all churches in the world," saith 
 he, 81 " have, and ever had forms of prayer; yet ^SrLHurgy. 
 none was ever blessed with so comprehensive, 
 so exact, and so inoffensive a composure as ours : which is 
 so judiciously contrived, that the wisest may exercise at once 
 their knowledge and devotion; and yet so plain, that the 
 most ignorant may pray with understanding : so full, that 
 nothing is omitted which is fit to be asked in public ; and so 
 
 •* Dr. Comber's preface, p. 4, of the folio edition 
 D 
 
34 OF THE ORIGINAL OF THE [appendix to 
 
 particular, that it compriseth most things which we would ask 
 in private ; and yet so short, as not to tire any that hath true 
 devotion : its doctrine is pure and primitive ; its ceremonies 
 so few and innocent, that most of the Christian world agree in 
 them : its method is exact and natural ; its language signifi- 
 cant and perspicuous; most of the words and phrases being 
 taken out of the holy Scriptures, and the rest are the expres- 
 sions of the first and purest ages ; so that whoever takes ex- 
 ception at these must quarrel with the language of the Holy 
 Ghost, and fall out with the Church in her greatest innocence ; 
 and in the opinion of the most impartial and excellent 
 Grotius, (who was no member of, nor had any obligation to, 
 this Church,) the English Liturgy comes so near to the 
 primitive pattern, that none of the Reformed Churches can 
 compare with it. 82 
 
 " And if any thing external be needful to recommend that 
 which is so glorious within ,- we may add that the compilers 
 were [most of them] men of great piety and learning ; [and 
 several of them] either martyrs or confessors upon the resti- 
 tution of Popery ; which as it declares their piety, so doth the 
 judicious digesting of these prayers evidence their learning. 
 For therein a scholar may discern close logic, pleasing rheto- 
 ric, pure divinity, and the very marrow of the ancient doc- 
 trine and discipline ; and yet all made so familiar, that the 
 unlearned may safely say Amen. 83 
 
 " Lastly, all these excellencies have obtained that universal 
 reputation which these prayers enjoy in all the world : so that 
 they are most deservedly admired by the Eastern Churches, 
 and had in great esteem by the most eminent Protestants be- 
 yond sea, 84 who are the most impartial judges that can be de- 
 sired. In short, this Liturgy is honoured by all but the Ro- 
 manist, whose interest it opposeth, and the Dissenters, whose 
 prejudices will not let them see its lustre. Whence it is that 
 they call that, which the Papists hate because it is Protestant, 
 superstitious and popish. But when we consider that the 
 best things in a bad world have the most enemies, as it doth 
 not lessen its worth, so it must not abate our esteem, because 
 it hath malicious and misguided adversaries. 
 
 " How endless it is to dispute with these, the little success 
 of the best arguments, managed by the wisest men, do too 
 sadly testify : wherefore we shall endeavour to convince the 
 
 88 Grotius Ep. ad Boet. M 1 Cor. xiv. 16. 84 g ee Durel's Defence of the Liturgy. 
 
introduction.] BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 35 
 
 enemies, by assisting the friends of our Church devotions : 
 and by drawing the veil which the ignorance and indevotion 
 of some, and the passion and prejudice of others, have cast 
 over them, represent the Liturgy in its true and native lustre : 
 which is so lovely and ravishing, that, like the purest beauties, 
 it needs no supplement of art and dressing, but conquers by 
 its own attractions, and wins the affections of all but those who 
 do not see it clearly. This will be sufficient to shew, that 
 whoever desires no more than to worship God with zeal and 
 knowledge, spirit and truth, purity and sincerity, may do it 
 by these devout forms. And to this end may the God of 
 peace give us all meek hearts, quiet spirits, and devout affec- 
 tions ; and free us from all sloth and prejudice, that we may 
 have full churches, frequent prayers, and fervent charity; 
 that uniting in our prayers here, we may all join in his praises 
 hereafter, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 THE END OF THE INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OP THE 
 
 . TABLES, RULES, AND CALENDAR. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rule for finding Easter. 
 
 The proper Lessons and Psalms being spoken to at large 
 in other parts of this treatise, there is no need to say any thing 
 particularly concerning the Tables that appoint them. I shall 
 therefore pass them by, and begin with the Rule 
 for finding Easter,- which stands thus in all Rul £/ r ndin "' 
 Books of Common Prayer printed in or since the 
 year 1752 : Easter -day is always the first Sunday after the 
 full Moon, which happens upon or next after the twenty- 
 
 1 In this edition, after the example of all others published since the year 1752, this 
 chapter is printed with the alterations necessary to adapt it to the new Calendar, Ta- 
 bles, and Rules, which were ordered to be prefixed to all future editions of the Book 
 of Common Prayer, by the Act 24 Geo. II., entitled, An Act for regulating the com- 
 menccment of the year ; and for correcting the calendar. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. [chap. I. 
 
 first day of March ,- and if the fall Moon happens upon 
 Sunday, Easter-day is the Sunday after. 
 Upon what occa- §• %' To shew upon what occasion the rule 
 sion this rule was framed, it is to be observed, that in the first 
 rame . a g eg Q £ Christianity there arose a great difference 
 between the churches of Asia and other churches, about the 
 day whereon Easter ought to be celebrated. 
 Easter differently The churches of Asia kept their Easter upon 
 observed by dif- the same day on which the Jews celebrated their 
 
 ferent churches. p assoyer? yiz< upQn the f ourteenth day of their 
 
 first month Nisan (which month began at the new moon next 
 to the vernal 2 equinox) ; and this they did upon what day of 
 the week soever it fell ; and were from thence called Quarto- 
 decimans, or such as kept Easter upon the fourteenth day 
 after the 4>aeri£, or appearance of the moon : whereas the other 
 churches, especially those of the West, did not follow this 
 custom, but kept their Easter on the Sunday following the 
 Jewish passover ; partly the more to honour the day, and partly 
 to distinguish between Jews and Christians. Both sides plead- 
 ed apostolical tradition : these latter pretending to derive their 
 practice from St. Peter and St. Paul ; whilst the others, viz. 
 the Asiatics, said they imitated the example of St. John. 3 
 
 This difference for a considerable time con- 
 ^rywhe^ob- tinned with a great deal of Christian charity and 
 served on the forbearance ; but at length became the occasion 
 c a unci?of b Nice! °f great bustles in the Church ; which grew to 
 such a height at last, that Constantine thought it 
 time to use his interest and authority to allay the heat of the 
 opposite parties, and to bring them to a uniformity of practice. 
 To which end he got a canon to be passed in the great general 
 Council of Nice, " That every where the great feast of Easter 
 should be observed upon one and the same day ; and that not 
 on the day of the Jewish passover, but, as had been generally 
 observed, upon the Sunday afterwards." And 4 that this dis- 
 pute might never arise again, these paschal canons were then 
 also established, viz. 
 _^_ , , 1. "That the twenty-first day of March shall 
 
 The Paschal , . -, . J * J 
 
 canons passed in be accounted the vernal equinox. 
 Nice^ 01 " 1011 ° f 2 - "That the ful1 moon happening upon or 
 
 next after the twenty-first day of March, shall be 
 taken for the full moon of Nisan. 
 
 3 Josephus, Antiq. Judaic, lib. 3. cap. 10. 3 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 5, c. 23, 24, p. 193 
 Sic. Vide et 1. 4, c. 14. * Eusebius in Vita Constant. 1. 3. c. 18. 
 
fart r.J OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 37 
 
 3. " That the Lord's day next following that full moon be 
 Easter-day. 
 
 4. " But if the full moon happen upon a Sunday, Easter-, 
 day shall be the Sunday after." 
 
 §. 3. Agreeable to these is the Rule for find- The moons t0 be 
 ing Easter, which we are now discoursing of. But found out by the 
 here we must observe, that the Fathers of the ° en um er ' 
 next century ordered the new and full moons to be found out 
 by the cycle of the moon, consisting of nineteen years, invent- 
 ed by Meton the Athenian, 5 and from its great usefulness in 
 ascertaining the moon's age, as it was thought for ever, was 
 called the Golden Number ; and was for some time usually 
 written in letters of gold. By this cycle, I say, the Fathers 
 of the next century ordered the moon's age to be found out ; 
 which they thought a certain way, since at the end of nine- 
 teen years the moon returns to have her changes on the same 
 day of the solar year and month, whereon they happened nine 
 teen years before. For which reason the cycle was some time 
 afterwards placed in the calendar, in the first column of every 
 month, in such manner as that every number of the cycle 
 should stand against those days in each month, on which the 
 new moons should happen in that year of the cycle. But 
 now it is to be noted, that though at the end of every nine- 
 teen years the moon changes on the very same days of the 
 solar months, on which it changed nineteen years before ; yet 
 the change happens about an hour and half sooner every nine- 
 teen years than in the former ; which, in the time that the 
 Golden Number stood in the calendar, had made an alter- 
 ation of about five days. 
 
 §.4. By this means it happened that Easter Easter was kept 
 was kept sometimes sooner and sometimes later sometimes sooner 
 than the rule seemed to direct, and the Fathers Ster than™! 8 
 of the Nicene Council intended. For it is very rule seems to 
 manifest that they designed that the first full 
 moon after the vernal equinox should be the paschal full 
 moon : (for otherwise they knew that the resurrection of our 
 blessed Lord could not be commemorated at the time it 
 happened :) but then, for want of better skill in astronomy in 
 those times, they confined the equinox to the twenty-first of 
 March ; whereas it hath since been discovered not only that 
 the moon's cycle of nineteen years complete was too long, but 
 also that the Julian solar year, which they reckoned by, ex 
 
 5 Blondel's Roman Calendar, part I. lib. 2, c. 5. 
 
33 
 
 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 
 
 [CHAP. I, 
 
 ceeds the true solar one by about eleven minutes every year ; 
 which had brought the equinoxes forward eleven or twelve 
 days from the time of the Nicene Council. Hence it must 
 often have happened, that the first full moon after the twenty- 
 first of March hath been different from the first full moon 
 after the vernal equinox ; and that they who have observed 
 Easter according to the letter of the Nicene canons, and the 
 rule for finding the paschal full moon by the Golden Number 
 as placed soon after in the calendar, have not always observed 
 it according to the intent of those Fathers. But yet as soon 
 as ever the canons were passed, the whole catholic £!hurch 
 was very strict in adhering to them ; and so tender of the au- 
 thority of them, that about two hundred years after the 
 Nicene Council this following table was drawn up by Diony- 
 sius Exiguus, a Roman ; wherein are ex- 
 pressed all those days on which the first 
 full moons after the twenty-first of March 
 happen in all the nineteen years of the lunar 
 cycle : which was so well approved of, that, 
 by the Council of Chalcedon holden a little 
 after, it was agreed that the Sunday next 
 following the Paschal Limits answering the 
 Golden Numbers, as they are expressed in 
 this table, should be Easter-day ; and that 
 whosoever celebrated Easter on any other 
 day should be accounted an heretic. 
 
 According to this table was Easter ob- 
 served from the year of Christ 534, or 
 thereabouts, till the year 1582 : at which 
 time pope Gregory XIII. reformed the 
 calendar, and brought back the vernal 
 equinox to the twenty-first of March. So 
 that the Roman Church keeping their Easter 
 from that time on the first Sunday after the 
 first full moon next after the twenty-first of 
 March, observed it exactly according to the use of the primi- 
 tive Church. And in the year 1752, the like reformation was 
 made in our calendar, by ordering the third day of September 
 in that year to be called the fourteenth, thereby suppressing 
 eleven intermediate days, and bringing back the vernal 
 equinox to the twenty-first of March, as it was at the time of 
 the Nicene Council. 
 
 The Paschal Limits 
 
 answering the Gold- 
 
 en Numbers, accord- 
 
 ing to the Julian ac- 
 
 count. 
 
 
 Golden 
 
 The Paschal 
 
 Numb. 
 
 Limits. 
 
 1 
 
 April 5. 
 
 2 
 
 March 25. 
 
 3 
 
 April 13. 
 
 4 
 
 April 2. 
 
 5 
 
 March 22. 
 
 6 
 
 April 10. 
 
 7 
 
 March 30. 
 
 8 
 
 April 18. 
 
 9 
 
 April 7. 
 
 10 
 
 March 27. 
 
 11 
 
 April 15. 
 
 12 
 
 April 4. 
 
 13 
 
 March 24. 
 
 w 
 
 April 12. 
 
 15 
 
 April 1. 
 
 16 
 
 March 21. 
 
 17 
 
 April 9. 
 
 18 
 
 March 29. 
 
 19 
 
 April 17. 
 
PAE.T i.] OF THE TABLES AND RULES 39 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Tables for finding Eastei 
 
 After the Rule for finding Easter is inserted an account 
 when the rest of the movable feasts and holy-days begin ,• 
 and after that follow certain tables relating to the feasts and 
 vigils that are to be observed in the Church of England,, and 
 other days of fasting or abstinence, with an account of certain 
 solemn days for which particular services are appointed. But 
 these, and every thing relating to them, I shall have a more 
 convenient opportunity to treat of hereafter ; and therefore 
 shall pass on now to the Tables for finding Easter. 
 
 When the Nicene Council had settled the true The Wshop of 
 time for keeping Easter in the method set down Alexandria was 
 in the first section of this chapter, the bishop of toiivetfoK^ 
 Alexandria (for the Egyptians at that time ex- Easter-day to 
 
 11 j • , i x , i j p \ other Churches. 
 
 celled in the knowledge of astronomy) was ap- 
 pointed to give notice of Easter-day to the pope and other 
 patriarchs, to be notified by them to the metropolitans, and by 
 them again to all other bishops. 6 But this injunction could 
 be but temporary : for length of time must needs make such 
 alteration in the state of affairs, as must render any such 
 method of notifying the time of Easter impracticable. And 
 therefore this was observed no longer than till a Cycle or 
 course of all the variations which might happen in regard to 
 Easter-day might be settled. 
 
 §. 2. Hereupon the computists applied them- 
 selves to frame such a Cycle: and the vernal ^d^^ 9 
 equinox being fixed by the Council of Nice, and 
 Easter-day by them also appointed to be always the first Sun- 
 day after the first full moon next after the vernal equinox ; 
 they had nothing to do, but to calculate all the revolutions of 
 the moon and of the days of the week, and inquire, whether, 
 after a certain number of years, the new moons, and conse- 
 quently the full moons, did not fall out, not only on the same 
 days of the solar year, (for that they do after every nineteen 
 years,) but also on the same days of the week on which they 
 happened before, and in the same ordinary course. Because, 
 by calculating a table for such a number of years, they might 
 find Easter for ever; viz. by beginning again at the end of 
 the last year, and going round as it were in a circle. 
 
 ' See Pope Leo's Epistle to the Emperor Marcianus, Epist. 64 
 
40 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. [chap, x, 
 
 And first a Cycle was framed at Rome for 
 lhe year e s.° f 84 eighty -f our years, and generally received in the 
 Western Church; it being thought that in that 
 space of time the changes of the moon would return to the 
 same days both of the week and year in such manner as they 
 had done before. 7 During the time that Easter was kept ac- 
 cording to this Cycle, Britain was separated from the Roman 
 empire, and the British churches for some time after that 
 separation continued to keep their Easter by this table of 
 eighty-four years. But soon after that separation, the Church 
 of Rome and several others discovered great deficiencies in 
 this account, and therefore left it for another, which was more 
 perfect : not but that also had its defects, though it has been 
 continued ever since in the Greek Church, and some others ; 
 and till very lately in our own. 8 
 
 The cycle of 532 The Cycle I mean was drawn up about the 
 years, or vktori- year 457, by Victorius or Victorinus, a native 
 an peno . Q £ Aquitain, an eminent mathematician : who, 
 
 observing that the Cycle of the Sunday letter consisted of 
 twenty-eight years, and consequently that the clays of the 
 week have a complete revolution, and begin and go on again 
 every twenty-eight years, just in the same order that they did 
 twenty-eight years before, and that the Cycle of the Moon re- 
 turned to have her changes on the same days of the solar year 
 and month, whereon they happened nineteen years before, 
 but not on the same days of the week : Victorius, I say, hav- 
 ing observed this, and endeavouring to compose a Cycle, 
 which should contain all the changes of the days of the week, 
 and of the moon also, (which was necessary to find Easter for 
 ever ;) he multiplied these two Cycles of nineteen and twenty- 
 eight together, and from thence composed his period of five 
 hundred and thirty-two years, from him ever after called the 
 Victorian period. And in this time he supposed the new 
 moons would fall out on the same days both of the month 
 and week, on which they happened before, and in the same 
 orderly course. So that this day (be it what day it will) is 
 
 7 See the bishop of Worcester's Historical Account of Church-government, p. 67, and 
 Bede Hist. 1. 5, c. 22, in fin. 8 This alteration of the Cycle to find Easter was the 
 cause that the Britons, who kept to the old account, differed from the Romans in the 
 time of celebrating this festival. For though both kept it on a Sunday, according to 
 the rule of the Council of Nice ; yet they differed as to the particular Sunday. This 
 upon the coming in of Augustin the monk, first archbishop of Canterbury, caused some 
 contests in this island, of which Bede gives a large account, [Hist. Eccl. 1. 3, c. 25, 1. 5, 
 c. 22,] where it may be seen that the Britons never were Quartodecimans, as some 
 have imagined them to be. 
 
part i.] OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 41 
 
 the same day of the year, month, moon, and week, that it was 
 five hundred and thirty-two years ago, or will be five hun- 
 dred and thirty-two years hence ; i. e. if this calculation has 
 no defect in it, as it was then thought to have none, or so 
 little as would make no considerable variation. And when 
 the first full moon after the vernal equinox, or March 21, hap- 
 pens on the same day both of the month and week, as it did any 
 year before ; Easter-day must also fall on the same day on 
 which it happened that year : so that Easter, according to 
 this computation, must go through all its variations in five 
 hundred and thirty-two years ; forasmuch as the moon and 
 the days of the week have all their variations in that space. 
 
 §. 3. This calculation was thought to come Th5s Cycle estab . 
 much nearer to the truth (as indeed it did) than Hshed by the 
 the former table of eighty-four years : for which Church - 
 reason it was generally followed in a little time. And the 
 fourth Council of Orleans, A. D. 541, decreed, that 9 "the 
 feast of Eastei should be celebrated every year according to 
 the table of Victorius ; and that the day whereon it is to be 
 celebrated every year should be declared by the bishop in the 
 time of divine service on the feast of Epiphany." However 
 in a little time it was thought more convenient 
 to adapt these tables to the calendar, so that adapfe^tTthe 8 
 every one, who had a book of the divine offices calendar in the 
 wherein- this calendar was placed, might know 
 the day whereon Easter should be kept, without any further 
 information. 
 
 But the whole table being of too great a T he occasion of 
 length to be inserted into one book of divine the Golden 
 offices, it was found more advisable to place the m Xai r Letters°' 
 Golden Number, or Cycle of the moon, in the JheSiSnd 6 ? ta 
 first column of the calendar, and the Dominical 
 Letters in another column ; in such manner that the Golden 
 Number should point out the new moons in every month : 
 by which means it would be easy to find out the fourteenth 
 day of the Easter moon, or the first full moon after the 
 twenty-first day of March, and then, by the Dominical Letter 
 following that day, to be assured of the day whereon Easter 
 must be kept. 
 
 §. 4. And from these two columns was drawn The table to find 
 up a Table to find Easter for ever ; that so at any Easter for evei 
 
 » Can. I. Concil. torn. v. col. 381, E. 
 
42 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. [chap. i. 
 
 erroneous. New time, by only knowing the Golden Number and 
 ta esto ndit ^g Dominical Letter, it might be seen at one 
 view (without any trouble or computation) what 
 day Easter would happen on in any year required. But that 
 table being founded on this erroneous supposition, viz. that 
 the Golden Numbers, as fixed in the calendar, would for ever 
 shew the day of the new moon in every month, which they 
 have long since failed to do, it is laid aside, and others sub- 
 stituted in its place, whereby to find the paschal full moon 
 and Easter-day till the year 1900 ; when the Golden Numbers 
 must be shifted (according to the tables prepared for that 
 purpose 10 ) to make them continue to answer the ends for 
 which they stand in the tables and calendar. But it does not 
 fall within our present design to consider tables which are 
 calculated for so distant a time. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Golden Number. 
 
 I pass on now to the Table of movable feasts 
 
 dumber- 6 " f or ffly- two years, where it may be expected I 
 
 should speak of three things therein mentioned, 
 
 viz. the Golden Number, the Epact, and the Dominical Letter; 
 
 and of these the first that offers itself is the Golden Number: 
 
 of this, therefore, in the first place. 
 
 b wh m i §* ^" ^ n ^ ^ S ' as we nave already hinted, 
 
 vented, andwny was invented long before our Saviour's nativity 
 ™!,™i Gol f en by Meton the Athenian, from whence it was 
 
 .Number, &c. <? _ _ ■_ , „ ' ,„ . . 
 
 styled the Metonic Cycle; till afterwards it 
 changed its name, being either from its great usefulness in 
 ascertaining the moon's age, or else from its being written in 
 letters of gold, called the Golden Number; though sometimes, 
 for the first of these reasons, it is called the Cycle of the Moon. 
 §. 3. The occasion of this Cycle was this : It 
 it. and how" C having been observed that at the end of nineteen 
 Sifdar int0 the vears the moon returned to have her changes on 
 
 the same days of the solar year and month 
 whereon they happened nineteen years before ; it was thought 
 that by the use of a cycle, consisting of nineteen numbers, 
 the time of the new moons every year might be found out, 
 without the help of astronomical tables, after tLia manner : 
 viz. they observed on what day of each calendar month the 
 new moon fell in each year of the cycle, and to the said days 
 
 10 See the four last tables in the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
PART I.] 
 
 OF THE TABLES AND RULES 
 
 43 
 
 they set respectively the number of the said year. And after 
 this method they went through all the nineteen years of the 
 cycle, as may be seen in the calendar of most Common 
 Prayer Books printed before the year 1752. 
 
 §. 4. And by this method the new moon could m now order _ 
 be found with accuracy enough at the time of ed to be left out 
 the Nicene Council, forasmuch as the Golden <>'«» calendar. 
 Number did then shew the day (i. e. the Nuchthemeron) upon 
 which the new moon fell out. And hereupon is founded the 
 rule of the Nicene Council for finding Easter, as has been al- 
 ready shewed. But here it is to be observed, that the cycle 
 of the moon is less than nineteen Julian years, by one hour, 
 twenty-seven minutes, and almost thirty- 
 two seconds : whence it comes to pass, that 
 although the new moons fall again upon 
 the same days as they did nineteen years 
 before, yet they foil not on the same hour 
 of the day, or Nuchthemeron, but one hour, 
 twenty-seven minutes, and almost thirty- 
 two seconds sooner. And this difference 
 arising in about three hundred and twelve 
 years to a whole day ; it must follow that 
 the new moon, after every three hundred 
 and twelve years, would fall a whole day (or 
 Nuchthemeron) sooner. So that for this 
 reason the new moons were found to fall 
 about four days and a half sooner now 
 than the Golden Numbers indicated. And 
 though this might have been rectified for 
 the present, by shifting the Golden Numbers 
 to the days on which the astronomical new 
 moons now happen ; yet it has been or- 
 dered by the late Act for correcting the 
 Calendar, that the column of Golden 
 Numbers, as they were prefixed to the respective days of all 
 the months in the calendar, shall be left out in all future 
 editions of the Book of Common Prayer. And accordingly 
 the Golden Numbers have now no place in the calendar but 
 against the twenty-first of March and the eighteenth of 
 April,* and some of the intermediate days, where they stand 
 
 * The twenty-first of March and the eighteenth of April are properly the paschal limits, 
 because the full moon by which Easter is governed must not fall before the former or 
 
 The Paschal Limits 
 
 answering the Gold- 
 
 en Numbers, accord- 
 
 ing to the new ac- 
 
 count. 
 
 
 Golden 
 
 The Paschal 
 
 Numb. 
 
 Limits. 
 
 1 
 
 April 13. 
 
 2 
 
 April 2. 
 
 3 
 
 March 22. 
 
 4 
 
 April 10. 
 
 5 
 
 March 30. 
 
 6 
 
 April 18. 
 
 7 
 
 April 7. 
 
 8 
 
 March 27. 
 
 9 
 
 April 15. 
 
 10 
 
 April 4. 
 
 11 
 
 March 24. 
 
 12 
 
 April 12. 
 
 13 
 
 April 1. 
 
 14 
 
 March 21. 
 
 15 
 
 April 9. 
 
 16 
 
 March 29. 
 
 17 
 
 April 17. 
 
 18 
 
 April 6. 
 
 19 
 
 March 26. 
 
44 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. [chap. l. 
 
 only as the paschal terms, (for a limited time, 11 ) shewing the 
 days of the full moons, by which Easter is to be governed 
 through all the several years of the moon's cycle ; as is ex- 
 pressed in the table annexed. 
 
 To find the §' **• * s ^ a ^ ac ^ no more on tn i s head, than 
 
 Golden Number to shew how we may find the Golden Number 
 of any year. for any year. And this is done by adding one 12 
 to the given year of Christ, and then dividing the sum by 
 nineteen. If after the division nothing remains over, then 
 the Golden Number is nineteen ; but if any number remains 
 over, then the said remainder is the Golden Number for that 
 year. For instance, I would know the Golden Number for 
 the year 1758, which by this method I find to be 11 ; for 
 1758 and 1 (i. e. 1759) being divided by 19, there will re- 
 main 11. And thus much for the cycle of the moon. 
 
 Sect. IV .—Of the Epacts. 
 The Lunar Year consists of twelve lunar 
 howcompS. months, i. e. of twelve months, consisting of 
 about twenty-nine days and a half each. In 
 which space of time the moon returns to her conjunction 
 with the sun ; that is, from one new moon to the next new 
 moon are very near twenty-nine days and a half. But, to 
 avoid fractions, the computists allow thirty days to one moon, 
 and twenty-nine to another : so that in twelve moons six are 
 computed to have thirty days each, and the other six but 
 twenty -nine days each. Thus beginning the year with March, 
 (for that was the ancient custom,) they allowed thirty days 
 for the moon in March, and twenty-nine for that in April ; 
 and thirty again for May, and twenty-nine for June, &c. 
 according to the old verses : 
 
 Impar luna pari, par fiet in impare mense ; 
 In quo completur mensi lunatio detur. 
 
 For the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh months, 
 which are called impares menses, or unequal months, have 
 their moons according to computation of thirty days each, 
 which are therefore called pares luna, or equal moons ; but 
 
 after the latter day : so that March the twenty-second is the earliest day, and April the 
 twenty-fifth (which, if the eighteenth should be full moon and a Sunday, will be the 
 Sunday following) the latest day upon which Easter can fall. And upon this is framed 
 the Table of the movable feasts according to the several days that Easter can possibly 
 fall upon. 
 
 11 Till the year 1899 inclusive. 12 The reason of adding one is, because the aera of 
 
 Christ began in the second year of the cycle. 
 
fart i.] OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 45 
 
 the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth months, 
 which are called pares menses, or equal months, have their 
 moons but twenty-nine days each, which are called impares 
 luncE, or unequal moons. 
 
 §. 2. Now these twelve months of thirtv and 
 twenty-nine days alternate, making up but'three Th ? h e C Ep 1 a ° c " < of 
 hundred and fifty-four days in all ; the whole lunar 
 year must consequently be eleven days shorter than the solar 
 year, which consists of three hundred and sixty-five days. So 
 that supposing the new moon to be on the first day of March 
 in any year; in the next year the new moon will happen 
 eleven days before the first of March, viz. on February 
 eighteen. Therefore, to know the age of the moon on the 
 first of March that year, we add an Epact, i. e. an intercalar 
 number of eleven days ; the lunar month being that year 
 eleven days before the solar. Then again, at the end of the 
 next year, the new moon will fall eleven days sooner than it 
 did at the end of the foregoing year, viz. on February the 
 seventh ; for which reason we add eleven days more for the 
 Epact of the next year, which makes it twenty-two. The 
 year after this the moon will again fall short of the time 
 whereon it happened in the foregoing year eleven days more ; 
 which being added to twenty-two, the Epact of the year past, 
 the whole will make thirty-three, that is, one whole moon and 
 three days over ; so that in that year we compute thirteen 
 moons, viz. twelve common moons of thirty and twenty-nine 
 days alternate, and an intercalar one of thirty days ; and take 
 the odd three days for the Epact of the next year, and then 
 proceed in the same manner again, by adding eleven at the 
 end of every year : always observing, when the number rises 
 above thirty, to add an intercalar moon to that year, and to 
 retain the remaining number for the Epact of the next. 
 
 §.3. Thus have we ^ nineteen Epacts, an- H ow the Epacts 
 swering to the Golden Numbers, and following answer to the 
 one another in course, by the adding of eleven Go . lden Number - 
 days every year in the following manner; 11. 22. 33. 14. 25. 
 36. 17. 28. 39. 20. 31. 12. 23. 34. 15. 26. 37. 18. 29. In 
 which cycle of Epacts, as I have noted them in the numbers 
 33. 36. 39. 31. 34. 37. the figures that have a dot or tittle 
 over them are not put as belonging to the Epact ; but only 
 denote that in those years there is an intercalar or thirteenth 
 
46 
 
 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 
 
 [CHAP. I. 
 
 A Table of Epacts. 
 
 Golden 
 
 Old 
 
 New 
 
 Numb. 
 
 Style. 
 
 Style. 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 •7 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 ] 
 
 13 
 
 23 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 26 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 26 
 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 7 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 18 
 
 month of thirty days added to the year 
 before ; but the Epacts for those years are 
 3. 6. 9. 1. 4. 7. And after the Epact oi 
 29, (which makes the last intercalar month,) 
 the cycle begins again at 11. But this is so 
 only in the Julian account ; for according to 
 the new reckoning, though the years of the 
 Golden Number agree, the Epacts are dif- 
 ferent ; as may be seen by the adjoining 
 table, in which both are exhibited in one 
 view. 
 
 §. 4. The readiest way to 
 
 How Ep a c? dthe find the Julian E P act is b y 
 
 the Golden Number; for if 
 the Golden Number be 3, or a number to 
 be divided by 3, the Epact is the same. If 
 it be any other number, as 4, 5, 7, or 8, 
 consider how many numbers it is more than 
 the last number to be divided by 3, and 
 add so many times 1 1 to it, casting away 30 as often as there 
 is occasion, and it gives the Epact. And the Julian Epact 
 being known, it is easy from thence to find the Epact accord- 
 ing to the New Style : namely, if the Julian Epact be greater 
 than 11, subtract 11 from it; if less than 11, add 30 to it, 
 and from that sum subtract 11, and the remainder will be the 
 Epact required. Or in still fewer words, the difference of the 
 Epacts of the Old Style from the New is equal to the number 
 of days taken away from the Old. 
 
 The use of the §• **• By the Epact we discover the true as- 
 Epact to find the tronomical moons very near, i. e. within a day 
 moons age. QVer Qr un( j er? w hi cn ma y b e sufficient for com- 
 mon use, and no cycle can be found nearer. The method of 
 doing which is this : if we would know how old the moon is 
 on any day of a month, we must add unto that day the Epact, 
 and as many days more as there are months from March to 
 that month inclusive; 14 which if it be less than 30, shews 
 the moon's age ; if it be greater, subtract 30 from it, and the 
 age of the moon remaineth ; i. e. whatever number remains 
 after the whole has been divided by 30, so many days old is 
 
 14 The reason of which is, because the Epact increaseth every year eleven days, 
 which being almost one day for every month, therefore we add the number of the month 
 from March inclusive. But this is to be understood only of the months that follow 
 March, and not those that go before it. 
 
part I.] OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 47 
 
 the moon : if nothing remains, the moon changes that day. 
 Thus for instance, if we would know what the age of the 
 moon will he the second of November in the year 1758, we 
 must inquire after this manner : the Epact for that year is 20 ; 
 to 20 therefore we must add 2, the day of the month, and 
 nine more, the number of the month inclusive from March ; 
 which three numbers being added together, make up the 
 number 31 ; from which if we subtract 30 (the moon having 
 so many days in November, that being an unequal month) 
 there will remain 1, which will appear to be the age of the 
 moon on that day. 
 
 §. 6. The reason why the Epacts shew the 
 moon's age truer than the Golden Number did, S£ X° ™ p ™?. 
 
 i i 4~*\ i i VT i i • rv i oiicw me moon s 
 
 is because the Golden Number being affixed to age truer than 
 the calendar could not be removed to other Number. 6 " 
 days than those against which they stood, unless 
 by public authority. But the Epacts not being so affixed, 
 have been changed from time to time by the computists, as 
 they saw occasion to make such alterations, in order to make 
 their computations agreeable to the course of the moon in the 
 heavens. For though in the space of nineteen years the 
 moon returns to have her conjunction with the sun on the 
 same days ; yet those conjunctions fall out about an hour and 
 a half earlier in the succeeding nineteen years than they did 
 in the foregoing ; which, as has been calculated, makes a whole 
 day's difference in a little more than three hundred and twelve 
 years. Therefore the computists have once in a little more 
 than that time changed the old course of the Epacts, and 
 substituted another in its room : to which cause it is owing 
 that they still notify the new moons to us according to the 
 real conjunction of the luminaries in the heavens, and have 
 not failed us, as the Golden Numbers have done. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Cycle of the Dominical Letters, commonly 
 called the Cycle of the Sun. 
 
 The Cycle of the Sun is very improperly so T he cycle of the 
 called, since it relates not to the course of the sun improperly 
 Sun, but to the course of the Dominical or Sun- so called ' 
 day letter, and ought therefore to be called the Cycle of the 
 Sunday Letter. 
 
 §. 2. The use of the cycle arises from the 
 custom of assigning in the calendar to each day The cyci? the 
 of the week one of the first seven letters of the 
 
48 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. [chap. t. 
 
 alphabet : A being always affixed to January the first, what- 
 ever day of the week it be ; B to January the second, C to 
 January the third, and so in order, G to January the seventh. 
 After which the same letters are repeated again : A being af- 
 fixed to January the eighth, and so on. According to this 
 method, there being fifty-two weeks in a year, the said letters 
 are repeated fifty-two times in the calendar. And were there 
 just fifty-two weeks, the letter G would belong to the last 
 day of the year, as the letter A does to the first ; and conse- 
 quently that letter which was at first constituted the Sunday 
 letter (and the same is to be understood of the other days of 
 the week) would always have been so ; and there would have 
 been no change of the Sunday letter. But one year consist- 
 ing of fifty-two weeks and an odd day over ; hence it comes to 
 pass that the letter A belongs to the last, as well as to the first 
 day of every year. For although every leap-year consists of 
 three hundred and sixty-six days, i. e. of two days over fifty- 
 two weeks, yet it is not usual to add a letter more, viz. B, at 
 the end of the year; but instead thereof to repeat the letter 
 C, which stands against February the twenty-eighth, and 
 affix it again to the intercalated day, February the twenty- 
 ninth. 15 By which means the said seven letters of the alphabet 
 remain affixed to the same days of a leap-year as of a com- 
 mon year, through all the whole calendar both before and 
 after. The letter A then thus always belonging to the last day 
 of the old year, and first of the new, it thence comes to pass, 
 that there is a change made as to the Sunday letter in a 
 16 backward order; i. e. supposing G to be the Sunday letter 
 one year, F will be so the next, and so on. 
 
 §.3. Now were there but this single change, 
 of the Sunday^ Sunday would be denoted by each of the seven 
 mon years e an°da ^ etters every seven years, and so the cycle of the 
 double one in Sunday letter would consist of no more than 
 leap-years. seven years. But now there being in every 
 
 fourtn or leap-year two days above fifty-two weeks ; hence it 
 comes to pass that there is every such year a double change 
 made as to the Sunday letter. For as the odd single day 
 above fifty-two weeks in a common year, makes the first 
 
 15 In the common almanacks the letter F is set against the twenty-fourth and twenty- 
 fifth, the twenty-fourth having been formerly accounted the intercalary day : but our 
 Church at present seems to make the twenty-ninth of February the intercalated day, as 
 shall be shewed hereafter, when I treat of the time of keeping St. Matthias's day. 
 
 16 Bede expressed the retrograde order of the Dominical Letter in this verse : 
 
 G randia F rendet E quus, D um C emit B elliger A arma. 
 
PAET I.] 
 
 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 
 
 49 
 
 Sunday in January to shift from that which was the Sunday 
 letter in the foregoing year, to the next letter to it in a back- 
 ward order ; so a day being intercalated every leap-year at the 
 end of February, and the letter C being affixed to the twenty- 
 ninth, as well as to the twenty-eighth day of that month, does 
 also make the first Sunday in March to shift from that which 
 was the Sunday letter in February, to the next letter to it in 
 a retrograde order. So that if in a leap-year F be the Sunday 
 letter for January and February, E will be the Sunday letter 
 for all the rest of the year, and D for the year following. By 
 reason of which double change in every fourth 
 or leap-year, it comes to pass that the cycle of coi\lhtsoI° e 
 the Sunday letter consists of four times seven twenty-eight 
 
 J . , i-i years. 
 
 years, 1. e. it does not proceed in the same 
 
 course it did before, till after twenty-eight years : but after 
 
 that number of years, its course or 
 
 order is the same as it was before. 
 
 §.4. To find out the How to find the 
 Sunday letter for any year Dominical 
 of the Julian cycle, we etter * 
 must do thus : to the year of our Lord 
 we must add 9, (for the aera of Christ 
 began in the tenth year of the cycle,) 
 and then divide the sum by 28. If 
 any of the dividend remains, the said 
 remainder shews the year of the cycle 
 sought; if nothing remains of the 
 dividend, then it is the last or twenty- 
 eighth year of the cycle. And the 
 Dominical Letter according to the 
 New Style is at present, and will be 
 for some years to come, the third in 
 a backward order of the letters from 
 the Julian : 17 as may be seen by the 
 annexed table of the Julian cycle of 
 the Sun, and of the corresponding 
 Sunday letters in the new account. 
 
 For it is to be observed with respect 
 to these two tables or cycles, that the 
 former or Julian table would serve for 
 ever,- but that the latter will serve 
 
 17 Till the year 1800, when it will be the second. 
 
 A TABLE of the Cycle of 
 
 
 the Sun. 
 
 
 
 Julian 
 
 
 Domin. 
 
 Year of 
 
 Domi- 
 
 Year of 
 
 Letters 
 
 the 
 
 nical 
 
 our 
 
 New 
 
 Cycle. 
 
 Letters. 
 
 Lord. 
 
 Style. 
 
 1 
 
 GF 
 
 1756 
 
 DC 
 
 2 
 
 E 
 
 1757 
 
 B 
 
 3 
 
 D 
 
 1758 
 
 A 
 
 4 
 
 c 
 
 1759 
 
 G 
 
 5 
 
 B A 
 
 1760 
 
 FE 
 
 6 
 
 G 
 
 1761 
 
 D 
 
 7 
 
 F 
 
 1762 
 
 C 
 
 8 
 
 E 
 
 1763 
 
 B 
 
 9 
 
 DC 
 
 1764 
 
 AG 
 
 10 
 
 B 
 
 1765 
 
 F 
 
 11 
 
 A 
 
 1766 
 
 E 
 
 12 
 
 G 
 
 1767 
 
 D 
 
 13 
 
 FE 
 
 1768 
 
 CB 
 
 14 
 
 D 
 
 1769 
 
 A 
 
 15 
 
 c 
 
 1770 
 
 G 
 
 16 
 
 B 
 
 1771 
 
 F 
 
 17 
 
 AG 
 
 1772 
 
 ED 
 
 18 
 
 F 
 
 1773 
 
 C 
 
 19 
 
 E 
 
 1774 
 
 B 
 
 20 
 
 D 
 
 1775 
 
 A 
 
 21 
 
 CB 
 
 1776 
 
 GF 
 
 22 
 
 A 
 
 1777 
 
 E 
 
 23 
 
 G 
 
 1778 
 
 D 
 
 24 
 
 F 
 
 1779 
 
 C 
 
 25 
 
 ED 
 
 1780 
 
 BA 
 
 26 
 
 C 
 
 1781 
 
 G 
 
 27 
 
 B 
 
 1782 
 
 F 
 
 1 28 
 
 A 
 
 1783 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 
 
 [chap. 
 
 only for the present century:™ to explain the reason of this 
 we must take notice again, that as the Julian solar year has 
 been found to be too long by about three quarters of an hour 
 in four years, or a whole day in about one hundred and thirty- 
 three years, or three days in four hundred years ; it hath been 
 contrived to suppress three days in every four hundred years ; 
 which is ordered to be done by making only those hundredth 
 years of our Lord, which may be divided into even hundreds 
 by 4, to be bissextile or leap years ; and all other hundredth 
 years which cannot be so divided, (which are also leap-years 
 in the Julian account,) to be deemed common years. In con- 
 sequence of which the year of our Lord 1800, not being 
 divisible into even hundreds by 4, will be a common year 
 with only one Sunday letter ; and as the like will happen 
 three times in every four hundred years, it will require a table 
 of four hundred years to shew all the changes of the Dominical 
 Letters that can happen according to the new account. 19 
 
 A GENEKAL TABLE, 
 
 { 
 
 i 
 ■{ 
 
 A G 
 
 F.E.D. 
 
 C B 
 
 A.G.F. 
 
 E D 
 
 C. B.A. 
 
 G F 
 
 E.D.C. 
 
 B A 
 
 G.F.E. 
 
 D C 
 
 B.A.G. 
 
 F E 
 
 D.C.B. 
 
 1584 
 
 88 
 
 92 
 
 96 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1600 
 28 
 56 
 84 
 
 4 
 32 
 60 
 
 88 
 
 8 
 
 36 
 64 
 92 
 
 1612 
 40 
 68 
 96 
 
 16 
 44 
 72 
 
 20 
 48 
 76 
 
 24 
 52 
 80 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1704 
 32 
 60 
 88 
 
 1708 
 36 
 64 
 92 
 
 12 
 40 
 68 
 96 
 
 16 
 44 
 72 
 
 20 
 48 
 76 
 
 24 
 52 
 80 
 
 28 
 56 
 
 84 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1804 
 32 
 60 
 
 88 
 
 8 
 36 
 64 
 92 
 
 12 
 
 40 
 68 
 96 
 
 16 
 44 
 72 
 
 20 
 48 
 76 
 
 24 
 52 
 
 80 
 
 28 
 56 
 
 84 
 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 56 
 84 
 
 1904 
 32 
 60 
 88 
 
 8 
 36 
 64 
 92 
 
 12 
 40 
 68 
 96 
 
 16 
 44 
 
 72 
 
 20 
 48 
 76 
 
 24 
 
 52 
 80 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2000 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Shewing, by inspec- 
 tion, all the Domin- 
 ical Letters that 
 have been since the 
 correction of the 
 Julian Calendar by 
 pope Gregory XIII., 
 which took place 
 from the ides of Oct. 
 1582, or that can 
 occur in any future 
 times. 
 
 13 See a rule to find the Sunday letter New Style, both for this century and the next, 
 m the table for finding Easter-day till 1899. » The editors have been favoured with 
 a copy of such a table, drawn up by W. Rivet, of the Inner Temple, Esq., which tbey 
 have printed, believing it will be acceptable to the reader. 
 
PA*T I.] OF THE TABLES AND RULES. 51 
 
 By the Julian calendar the Dominical Letters for the year 
 1580 were C B, for 1581 A, and for 1582 (the second year 
 after bissextile) the letter G. Consequently as October in that 
 year began on a Monday, the fourth of that month must be 
 Thursday ; and the next natural day, which was reckoned the 
 fifteenth {ten days being then dropped) was Friday ; the six- 
 teenth nominal day of course was Saturday, and Sunday falling 
 on the seventeenth, the Dominical Letter then changed to C : 
 and from that day all subsequent Dominical Letters take their 
 revolutions. 
 
 On this plan the foregoing table was formed ; wherein ob- 
 serve, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900, are not particularly ex- 
 pressed, they being accounted as common years, that have 
 but one Dominical Letter each; viz. c for 1700, e for 1800, 
 and g for 1900. All the years expressed in the table are bis- 
 sextile, or leap-years, and have two Dominical Letters placed 
 at the head of their respective columns ; as for the years 1600, 
 1628, 1656, and 1684, the Dominical Letters were B A, and 
 so of the rest. 
 
 The letters for the first, second, and third years after every 
 bissextile, are the three single letters placed under the dou- 
 ble letters, in the same column with the bissextile they imme- 
 diately follow. For example, as the Dominical Letters for 
 1600 were B A, so the Dominical Letter for 1601 was g, for 
 1602 f," and for 1603 e. So for 1796 the Dominical Letters 
 will be C B ; consequently 1797, 1798, and 1799, must have 
 a, g, and f : and the letter for 1800 (which is to be account- 
 ed a common year) will be e ; therefore 1801, 1802, and 1803, 
 must have the subsequent letters d, c, and b ; and then 1804, 
 being bissextile, will come under the letters A G : and from 
 thence every fourth year will be leap-year to 1896 inclusive. 
 
 The Dominical Letters of each century expressed in the ta- 
 ble, will be the same again after a revolution of four hundred 
 years ; wherefore, if you divide any given hundredth year by 
 4, and nothing remains, it is a bissextile hundred ; and the 
 whole century from thence will have the same letters through- 
 out as the seventeenth century, beginning from 1600. If one 
 remains, it will be governed by the eighteenth century ; if two, 
 by the nineteenth ; and if three, by the twentieth century, 
 
 beginning from 1900. 
 
 examples. 
 
 If the Dominical Letter for 2484 be required, divide 24 by 
 e 2 
 
52 OF THE TABLES AND RULES. [chap. i. 
 
 4, and nothing will remain ; therefore look in the seventeenth 
 century for 1684, and you will find it under B A, which must 
 be the Dominical Letters for the year required. 
 
 So for the year 8562 : let 85 be divided by 4, and the re- 
 mainder will be 1 ; wherefore the Dominical Letter may be 
 found in the eighteenth century, being the same as for 1762, 
 viz. c. 
 
 If it be required to know the Dominical Letter for the year 
 5400 ; divide 54 by 4, and the remainder will be 2, denoting 
 it to be the second after a bissextile hundred, and consequent- 
 ly the given year must have the same letter as the year 1800; 
 from which the nineteenth century begins, viz. e, the fourth 
 single letter after the bissextile year 1796. 
 
 Lastly, if the Dominical Letter for 3503 be required ; as 
 35 divided by 4 leaves 3, it will be the same with 1903, which 
 will be found to be d by counting from 1896, the bissextile 
 next preceding it; as 1900 will be a common year. 
 
 And since, after dividing the hundreds in any given year of 
 our Lord by 4, there will remain either 0, 1,2, or 3, so any 
 question of this kind will be resolved by finding in the table 
 the Sunday Letter or Letters of the corresponding year in 
 such of the four centuries, as is analogous to that of the ques- 
 tion proposed. 
 
 PART II. 
 OF THE CALENDAR. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. Having said what I thought requisite in order to ex- 
 plain the Tables and Rules before and after the Calendar, I 
 The columns of sna U n o w proceed to treat, in as little compass 
 days of the as I can, of the Calendar itself. It consists of 
 
 several columns ; concerning the first of which, 
 as it only shews the days of the month in their numerical 
 order, I need say nothing; and of the second, which contains 
 the letters of the alphabet affixed to the several days of every 
 week, I have already said as much in the former part of this 
 chapter as was necessary to shew the use and design of their 
 being placed here. 
 
VART ii.] OF THE CALENDAR 53 
 
 II. The third column (as printed in the larger 
 Common Prayer Books) has the Calends, ^lend™ ' 
 Nones, and Ides, which was the method of 
 computation used by the old Romans and primitive Christians, 
 instead of the days of the month, and is still useful to those 
 who read either ecclesiastical or profane history. But this 
 way of computation being now grown into disuse ; and this 
 column being also omitted in most small editions of the 
 Common Prayer Book, (though without authority,) there is 
 no need that I should enter into the particulars of it. 
 
 III. Neither is there occasion that I should 
 
 say any thing here concerning the four last co- ^g^™ 118 of 
 lumns of the calendar, which contain the Course 
 of Lessons for morning and evening prayer for ordinary days 
 throughout the year ; since the course of lessons both for 
 ordinary days and Sundays, &c. will come under consider- 
 ation in a more proper place hereafter. 
 
 IV. So that nothing remains to be treated of 
 
 here, but the Column of Holy -days; and as T %$£$£ of 
 many of these too as are observed by the Church 
 of England, I shall speak to in the fifth chapter. But then 
 as to the Popish Holy-days retained in orfr calendar, I shall 
 have no fairer opportunity of treating of them than in this 
 place. And therefore, since some small account of these 
 has been desired by some persons, I shall here insert it, to 
 gratify their curiosity. 
 
 Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in general. 
 
 The reasons why the names of these Saints-days reasons wh 
 and Holy-days were resumed into the calendar the e popL°h S hoiy^ 
 are various. Some of them being retained upon ? a y s are retained 
 
 T • l • i n in our calendar. 
 
 account of our Courts of Justice, which usually 
 make their returns on these days, or else upon the days be- 
 fore or after them, which are called in the writs, Vigil. Fest. 
 or Crast., as in Vigil. Martin ; Fest. Martin ; Crast. Martin t 
 and the like. Others are probably kept in the calendar for 
 the sake of such tradesmen, handicraftsmen, and others, as 
 are wont to celebrate the memory of their tutelar Saints ; as 
 the Welshmen do of St. David, the Shoemakers of St. Cris- 
 pin, &c. And again, churches being in several places dedi- 
 cated to some or other of these Saints, it has been the usual 
 custom in such places to have Wakes or Fairs kept upon 
 
54 OF THE CALENDAR. [chap, i 
 
 those days ; so that the people would probably be displeased, 
 if, either in this, or the former case, their favourite Saint's 
 name should be left out of the calendar. Besides, the his- 
 tories which were writ before the Reformation do frequently 
 speak of transactions happening upon such a holy-day, or 
 about such a time, without mentioning the month ; relating 
 one thing to be done at Lammas -tide, and another about 
 Martinmas, &c, so that were these names quite left out of 
 the calendar, we might be at a loss to know when several of 
 these transactions happened. But for this and the foregoing 
 reasons our second reformers under queen Elizabeth (though 
 all those days had been omitted in both books of king Edward 
 VI. excepting St. George's Day, Lammas Day, St. Laurence, 
 and St. Clement, which were in his second book) thought 
 convenient to restore the names of them to the calendar, 
 
 though not with any regard of being kept holy 
 But ho iy kept h y the Church. For this they thought prudent 
 
 to forbid, as well upon the account of the great 
 inconveniency brought into the Church in the times of Popery, 
 by the observation of such a number of holy-days, to the 
 great prejudice of labouring and trading men ; as by reason 
 that many of those Saints they then commemorated were 
 oftentimes men of none of the best characters. Besides, the 
 history of these Saints, and the accounts they gave of the 
 other holy-days, were frequently found to be feigned and 
 fabulous. For which reason, I suppose, the generality of my 
 readers would excuse my giving them or myself any further 
 trouble upon this head : but being sensible that there are 
 some people who are particularly desirous of this sort of in- 
 formation, I shall for their sakes subjoin a short account of 
 every one of these holy-days as they lie in their order; but 
 must first bespeak my reader not to think that I endeavour 
 to impose all these stories upon him as truths ; but to remem- 
 ber that I have already given him warning that a great part 
 of the account will be feigned and fabulous. And therefore 
 I presume he will excuse my burdening him with testi- 
 monies; since though I could bring testimonies for every 
 thing I shall say, yet I cannot promise that they will be con- 
 vincing. But, however, I promise to invent nothing of my 
 own, nor to set down any thing but what some or other of the 
 blind Romanists superstitiously believe, 
 
»a*t it.] OF THE CALENDAR. 55 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in January. 
 
 Luoian (to whose memory the eighth day of January 8# 
 this month was dedicated) is said by some to have Lucian, confess- 
 been a disciple of St. Peter, and to have been orandmart y r - 
 sent by him with St. Dennys into France, where, for preach- 
 ing the Gospel, he suffered martyrdom. Though others relate 
 that he was a learned presbyter of Antioch, well versed in the 
 Hebrew tongue, taking a great deal of pains in comparing and 
 amending the copies of the Bible. Being long exercised in 
 the sacred discipline, he was brought to the city of the Nico- 
 medians, when the emperor Galerius Maximianus was there ; 
 and having recited an apology for the Christian religion which 
 he had composed, before the governor of the city, he was cast 
 into prison ; and having endured incredible tortures, was put 
 to death. 20 
 
 §. 2. Hilary, bishop of Poictiers in France, 13 Hilaryi 
 (commemorated on the thirteenth of this month,) bishop and' con- 
 was a great champion of the catholic doctrine fessor ' 
 against the Arians ; for which he was persecuted by their par- 
 ty, and banished into Phrygia about the year 356, where, 
 after much pains taken in the controversy, and many troubles 
 underwent, he died about the year 367. 
 
 §. 3. Prisca, a Roman lady, commemorated 18 Prisca Ro 
 on the eighteenth, was early converted to Chris- man virgin and 
 tianity ; but refusing to abjure her religion, and martyr - 
 to offer sacrifices when she was commanded, was horribly tor- 
 tured, and afterwards beheaded under the emperor Claudius, 
 A.D. 47. 
 
 §. 4. Fabian was bishop of Rome about four- 20 Pabian 
 teen years, viz. from A. D. 239 to 253, and suf- bishop and 'mar- 
 fered martyrdom under the emperor Decius. 
 
 §. 5. Agnes, a young Roman lady of a noble 2 \. Agnes, 
 family, suffered martyrdom in the tenth general Roman virgin 
 persecution under the emperor Diocletian, A. D. an maryr- 
 306. She was by the wicked cruelty of the judge condemned 
 to be debauched in a public stew before her execution ; but 
 was miraculously preserved by lightning and thunder from 
 heaven. She underwent her persecution with wonderful rea- 
 diness, and though the executioner hacked and hewed her 
 body most unmercifully with the sword, yet she bore it with 
 
 » Euseb. Histor. Eccl. 1. ix. c. 6, p. 351, C, 
 
56 OF THE CALENDAR. [chap. I. 
 
 incredible constancy, singing hymns all the time, though she 
 was then no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. 
 
 About eight days after her execution, her parents going to 
 lament and pray at her tomb, where they continued watching 
 all night, it is reported that there appeared unto them a vision 
 of angels, arrayed with glittering and glorious garments; 
 among whom they saw their own daughter appareled after the 
 why painted same manner, and a lamb standing by her as 
 with a iamb by white as snow ; (which is the reason why the 
 her Bide. painters picture her with a lamb by her side.) 
 
 Ever after which time the Roman ladies went every year (as 
 they still do) to offer and present her on this day the two best 
 and purest white lambs they could procure. These they offered 
 at St. Agnes's altar, (as they call it,) and from thence the pope 
 gives orders to have them put into the choicest pasture about 
 the city, till the time of sheep-shearing come ; at which sea- 
 son they are dipt, and the wool is hallowed, whereof a fine 
 white cloth is spun and woven, and consecrated every year by 
 The original tne P°P e himself, for the palls which he useth to 
 of archbishops' send to every archbishop; and which till they 
 palls ' have purchased at a most extravagant price, they 
 
 cannot exercise any metropolitical jurisdiction. 
 22. Vincent, a §• & Vincent, a deacon of the church in 
 deacon of Spain Spain, was born at Oscard, now Huezza, a town 
 in Arragon. He was instructed in divinity by 
 Valerius, bishop of Saragossa ; but, by reason of an impedi- 
 ment in his speech, never took upon him the office of preach- 
 ing. He suffered martyrdom in the Diocletian persecution 
 about the year 303, being laid all along upon burning coals, 
 and, after his body was broiled there, thrown upon heaps of 
 broken tiles. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in February. 
 
 February 3. Blassius was bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, 
 
 Biassius, bishop reported to have been a man of great miracles 
 and martyr. an( j p 0wer ^ p Ut to (3 ea th in the same city by 
 Agricolaus the president, under Diocletian the emperor, in 
 the year 289. His name is not put down in some editions 
 of the Common Prayer Book, but it occurs in the mos< 
 authentic. 
 
 5.A ga tha,aSici- §• 2 - 4gatha, a virgin honourably born in 
 Han virgin and Sicily, suffered martyrdom under Decius the 
 martyr " emperor at Catanea. Being very beautiful, 
 
part ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. 57 
 
 Quintianus, the praetor or governor of the province, was 
 enamoured with her : but not being able to work his ill de- 
 sign upon her, ordered her to be scourged, and then im- 
 prisoned, for not worshipping the heathen gods. After which, 
 she, still persisting constant in the faith, was put upon the 
 rack, burnt with hot irons, and had her breast cut off. And 
 then being remanded back to prison, she had several divine 
 comforts afforded her : but the praetor sending for her again, 
 being half-dead, she prayed to God to receive her soul ; with 
 which petition she immediately expired ; it being the fifth of 
 February, A. D. 253. 
 
 §. 3. Valentine was an ancient presbyter of 14 valentine, 
 the Church ; he suffered martyrdom under Clau- bishop and 
 dius at Rome. Being delivered into the custody martyr - 
 of one Asterius, he wrought a miracle upon his daughter ; 
 whom, being blind, he restored to sight ; by which means he 
 converted the whole family to Christianity, who all of them 
 afterwards suffered for their religion. Valentine, after a 
 year's imprisonment at Rome, was beheaded in the Flaminian- 
 way about the year 271, and was enrolled among the martyrs 
 of the Church ; his day being established before the times of 
 Gregory the Great. He was a man of most admirable parts, 
 and so famous for his love and charity, that the The original of 
 custom of choosing Valentines upon his festival choosing vaien- 
 ( which is still practised) took its rise from thence. tmes ' 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in March. 
 
 David, to whose memory the first of this March L David> 
 month was formerly dedicated, was descended archbishop of 
 from the royal family of the Britons, being uncle Menevia - 
 to the great king Arthur, and son of Xantus prince of Wales, 
 by one Melearia, a nun. He was a man very learned and 
 eloquent, and of incredible austerity in his life and conversa- 
 tion. By his diligence Pelagianism was quite rooted out, 
 and many earnest professors of the same converted unto the 
 truth. He was made bishop of Caerleon in Wales, which see 
 he afterwards removed to Menevia ; from him ever since 
 called St. David's. He sat long, viz. sixty-five years, and 
 (having built twelve monasteries in the country thereabouts) 
 died in the year 642 : being, as Bale writes out of the British 
 histories, a hundred and forty-six years old. He was buried 
 in his own cathedral church, and canonized by Pope Calixtus 
 
58 OF THE CALENDAR. [chap, i 
 
 II. about five hundred years afterwards. Many things are 
 reported of him incredible ; as that his death was foretold 
 thirty years beforehand ; and that he was always attended by 
 angels, who kept him company ; that he bestowed upon the 
 waters of Bath that extraordinary heat they have; and that 
 whilst he was once preaching to a great multitude of people 
 at Brony, the ground swelled under his feet into a little hill ; 
 with several other such stories not worth* rehearsing. 
 2 Cedde or §• ^" @ e dde was » m tne absence of Wilfride, 
 
 ctiad, bishop of archbishop of York, who was gone to Paris for 
 Lichfield. consecration, and gave no hopes of a speedy 
 
 return, enforced by Egfrid king of Northumberland to accept 
 of that see. But Wilfride being returned, Cedde was per- 
 suaded by Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, to resign the 
 see to him : after which for some time he lived a monastical 
 life at Leastingeag ; till, by the means of the same Theodorus, 
 he was made bishop of Lichfield, under Wolfhere, king of 
 Mercia, whom he is said to have converted. He died March 
 2, A. D. 672. 
 
 7.Perpetua,a §• 3 - Perpetua was a lady of quality, who 
 
 Mauritanian suffered martyrdom in Mauritania, under the 
 martyr. emperor Severus, about the year 205. She is 
 
 often very honourably mentioned by Tertullian and St. 
 Austin ; the last of whom lets us know that the day of her 
 martyrdom was settled into a holy-day in his time; and re- 
 marks of her, that she gave suck to a young child at the time 
 of her sufferings. 
 
 §. 4. Gregory the Great, who stands next in 
 GreatTbShop of the calendar, was descended from noble parents. 
 Rome and con- jj e ver y ear jy addicted himself to study and 
 piety, giving all his estate to the building and 
 maintaining of religious houses. He was consecrated pope 
 about the year 590, but vigorously opposed the title of uni- 
 versal bishop (which the bishops of Constantinople did then, 
 and the bishops of Rome do now assume) as blasphemous, 
 antichristian, and diabolical. Among other his glorious and 
 Christian deeds, his memory was annually celebrated here in 
 England, for his devout charity to our nation, in sending 
 Austin the monk, with forty other missionaries, to convert the 
 Saxons, (who had testified their desire to embrace Christi- 
 anity,) which in a short time they happily achieved. Having 
 held the popedom fourteen years, he died about the year 
 
part ii.] • OF THE CALENDAR. 59 
 
 604, leaving many learned books behind him, which are still 
 extant. 
 
 S. 5. Edward was descended from the West 1Q v . m , 
 Saxon kings, and the son ot king Edgar, who king of the west 
 first reduced the heptarchy into one kingdom : Saxons - 
 after whose death, in the year 975, this Edward succeeded to 
 the crown at twelve years of age, but did not enjoy it above 
 two or three years. For paying a visit to Elfride his mother- 
 in-law at Corfe-castle, in Dorsetshire, he was by her order 
 stabbed in the back, (whilst he was drinking a cup of wine, # 
 to make way for her son Etheldred, his half-brother. His 
 favour to the monks made his barbarous murder to be esteemeu 
 a martyrdom ; the day of which was appointed to be kept 
 festival by pope Innocent IV. A. D. 1245. 
 
 §. 6. Benedict was born in Norcia, a town in 
 Italy, of an honourable family. Being much 2L S dict ' 
 given to devotion, he set up an order of monks, 
 which bears his name, about the year 529. He was very re- 
 markable for his mortification; and the monks of" his own 
 order relate, that he would often roll himself in a heap of 
 briers to check any carnal desires that he found to arise in 
 himself. St. Gregory 21 tells us of a very famous miracle 
 wrought upon his account, viz. That the Goths, when they 
 invaded Italy, came to burn his cell ; and being set on fire, it 
 burnt round him in a circle, not doing him the least hurt : at 
 which the Goths being enraged, threw him into a hot oven, 
 stopping it up close ; but coming the next day, they found him 
 safe, neither his flesh scorched, nor his clothes singed. He 
 died on the twenty-first of March, A. D. 542. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in April. 
 
 Richard, surnamed de Wiche, from a place April 3. Richard, 
 so called in Worcestershire, where he was born, bishop of chi- 
 was brought up at the universities of Oxford 
 and Paris. Being come to man's estate, he travelled to Bono- 
 nia ; where having studied the canon law seven years, he be- 
 came public reader of the same. Being returned home, he 
 was, in the vacancy of the see of Chichester, chosen bishop 
 by that chapter; which the king opposing, (he having nomin- 
 ated another,) Richard appealed to Rome, and had his election 
 confirmed by the pope, who consecrated him also at Lyons, 
 
 21 Greg. Dial. lib. iii. 
 
60 i OF THE CALENDAR. [chap. i. 
 
 in the year 1245. He was very much reverenced for his 
 great learning and diligent preaching, but especially for his 
 integrity of life and conversation. Strange miracles are told 
 of him : as that, by his blessing, he increased a single loaf of 
 bread to satisfy the hunger of three thousand poor people : 
 and that in his extreme old age, whilst he was celebrating the 
 eucharist, he fell down with the chalice in his hand, but the 
 wine was miraculously preserved from falling to the ground. 
 About seven or eight years after his death, he was canonized 
 for a saint by pope Urban IV. A. D. 1261. 
 
 §. 2. St. Ambrose was born about the year 
 bishop b of Miian. 34 °- His father was praetorian praefect of Gaul, 
 in whose palace St. Ambrose was educated. It 
 is reported, that in his infancy a swarm of bees settled upon 
 his cradle; which was a prognostication, as was supposed, of 
 his future eloquence. After his father's death, he went with 
 his mother to Rome, where he studied the laws, practised as 
 an advocate, and was made governor of Milan and the neigh- 
 bouring cities. Upon the death of Auxentius, bishop of 
 Milan, there being a great contest in the election of a new 
 bishop, this good father, in an excellent speech, exhorted 
 them to peace and unanimity ; which so moved the affections 
 of the people, that they immediately forgot the competitors 
 whom they were so zealous for before, and unanimously de- 
 clared that they would have their governor for their bishop. 
 Who, after several endeavours by flight and other artifices to 
 avoid that burden, was at last compelled to yield to the 
 importunities of the people, and to be consecrated bishop. 
 From which time he gave all his money to pious uses, and set- 
 tled the reversion of his estate upon the Church. He governed 
 that see with great piety and vigilance for more than twenty 
 years, and died in the year 396, being about fifty-seven years 
 old : having first converted St. Augustin to the faith; at whose 
 baptism he is said miraculously to have composed that divine 
 hymn, so well known in the Church by the name of Te Deum. 
 19. Aiphege, §• 3 - Alphege was an Englishman of a roost 
 
 archbishop of holy and austere life, which was the more admir- 
 anterbury. a ^ e m hi m? because he was born of great pa- 
 rentage, and began that course of life in his younger years. 
 He was first abbot of Bath, then bishop of Winchester, in the 
 \ear 984, and twelve years afterwards archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. But in the year 1012, the Danes being disappointed 
 
part n.] OF THE CALENDAR. 61 
 
 of a certain tribute which they claimed as due to them, they 
 fell upon Canterbury, and spoiled and burnt both the city and 
 church : nine parts in ten of the people they put to the sword ; 
 and after seven months miserable imprisonment, stoned the 
 good archbishop to death at Greenwich ; who was thereupon 
 canonized for a saint and martyr, and had the nineteenth of 
 April allowed him as his festival. 
 
 §. 4. St. George, the famous patron of the 
 English nation, was born in Cappadocia, andsuf- Georgejmartyr. 
 fered for the sake of his religion, A. D. 290, un- 
 der the emperor Diocletian, (in whose army he had before 
 been a colonel,) being supposed to have been the person that 
 pulled down the edict against the Christians, which Diocle- 
 tian had caused to be affixed upon the church doors. 22 The 
 legends relate several strange stories of him, which are so 
 common, they need not here be related : I shall only give a 
 short account how he came to be so much esteemed of in 
 England. 
 
 When Robert duke of Normandy, son to Wil- How he came t0 
 liam the Conqueror, was prosecuting his victories be patron of the 
 against the Turks, and laying siege to the famous En & llsh - 
 city of Antioch, which was like to be relieved by a mighty 
 army of the Saracens ; St. George appeared with an innumer- 
 able army coming down from the hills all in white, with a red 
 cross in his banner, to reinforce the Christians ; which occa- 
 sioned the infidel army to fly, and the Christians to possess 
 themselves of the town. This story made St. George extra- 
 ordinary famous in those times, and to be esteemed a patron, 
 not only of the English, but of Christianity itself. Not but 
 that St. George was a considerable saint before this, having 
 had a church dedicated to him by Justinian the emperor. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in May. 
 
 The third of this month is celebrated as a fes- May 3 Inven . 
 tival by the Church of Rome, in memory of the tionoftne 
 Invention of the Cross, which is said to be owing cross ' 
 to this occasion. Helena, the mother of Constantine the 
 Great, being admonished in a dream to search for the cross 
 of Christ at Jerusalem, took a journey thither with that in- 
 tent : and having employed labourers to dig at Golgotha, after 
 opening the ground very deep, (for vast heaps of rubbish had 
 
 «* See Lactantius de Mortibus Persecutorum. 
 
62 OF THE CALENDAR. [chap. X 
 
 purposely been thrown there by the spiteful Jews or hea- 
 thens,) she found three crosses, which she presently conclud- 
 ed were the crosses of our Saviour and the two thieves who 
 were crucified with him. But being at a loss to know which 
 was the cross of Christ, she ordered them all three to be ap- 
 plied to a dead person. Two of them, the story says, had no 
 effect ; but the third raised the carcass to life, which was an 
 evident sign to Helena, that that was the cross she looked for. 
 As soon as this was known, every one was for getting a piece 
 of the cross ; insomuch that in Paulinus's time (who being a 
 scholar of St. Ambrose, and bishop of Nola, nourished about 
 the year 420) there was much more of the relics of the cross, 
 than there was of the original wood. Whereupon that father 
 says, " it was miraculously increased ; it very kindly afforded 
 wood to men's importunate desires, without any loss of its 
 substance." 
 
 6 st John §• ^" ^he s ^ xt ^ °f tn * s montn was anciently 
 
 Evang. ante dedicated to the memory of St. John the evan- 
 Port. Lat. gelist's miraculous deliverance from the persecu- 
 
 tion of Domitian : to whom being accused as an eminent as- 
 serter of atheism and impiety, and a public subverter of the 
 religion of the empire, he was sent for to Rome, where he was 
 treated with all the cruelty that could be expected from so 
 bloody and barbarous a prince ; for he was immediately put 
 into a caldron of boiling oil, or rather oil set on fire, before 
 the gate called Porta Latina, in the presence of the senate. 
 But his Master and Lord, who favoured him when on earth 
 above all the Apostles, so succoured him here, that he felt no 
 harm from the most violent rage ; but, as if he had been only 
 anointed, like the athletae of old, he came out more vigorous 
 and active than before : the same divine Providence that 
 secured the three children in the fiery furnace, bringing the 
 holy man safe out of this, one would think, inevitable destruc- 
 tion ; and so vouchsafing him the honour of martyrdom, with- 
 out his enduring the torments of it. 
 
 19 Dunstan §• & Dunstan, of whom we are next to speak, 
 
 archbishop of was well extracted, being related to king Athel- 
 canterbury. gtaru Qq wa s very well skilled in most of the li- 
 beral arts, and among the rest in refining metals and forging 
 them ; which being qualifications much above the genius of 
 the age he lived in, first gained him the name of a conjurer, 
 and then of a saint. He was certainly a very honest man, 
 
part ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. 63 
 
 and never feared to reprove vice in any of the kings of the 
 West Saxons, of whom he was confessor to four successively. 
 But the monks (to whom he was a very great friend, applying 
 all his endeavours to enrich them and their monasteries) have 
 filled his life with several nonsensical stories : such as are, his 
 making himself a cell at Glastenburg all of iron at his own 
 forge ; his harp playing of itself, without a hand ; his taking 
 a she-devil, who tempted him to lewdness under the shape ot 
 a fine lady, by the nose with a pair of red-hot tongs ; and 
 several other such ridiculous relations not worth repeating. 
 He was promoted by king Edgar, first to the bishopric of 
 Worcester, soon after to London, and two years after that to 
 Canterbury ; where, having sat twenty-seven years, he died 
 May 19, A. D. 988. 
 
 §. 4. Augustin was the person we have al- 26 Au stin 
 ready mentioned, as sent by pope Gregory the first archbishop 
 Great to convert the Saxons, from whence he of Canterbur y- 
 got the name of the apostle of the English. Whilst he was 
 over here, he was made archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 596. 
 He had a contest with the monks of Bangor, about submis- 
 sion to the see of Rome, who refused any subjection but to 
 God, and the bishop of Caerleon. Soon after this difference, 
 Ethelfride, a pagan king of Northumberland, invaded Wales, 
 and slaughtered a hundred and fifty of these monks, who came 
 in a quiet manner to mediate a peace : which massacre is by 
 some writers (but without just grounds) imputed to the in- 
 stigation of Austin, in revenge for their opposition to him. 
 After he had sat some time in the see of Canterbury, he de- 
 ceased the twenty-sixth of May, about the year 610. 
 
 §. 5. Bede was born at Yarrow, in North- 
 umberland, A. D. 673, and afterwards well 27 * Be3e raWe 
 educated in Greek and Latin studies, in which 
 he made a proficiency beyond most of his age. He is author 
 of several learned philosophical and mathematical tracts, as 
 also of comments upon the Scripture : but his most valuable 
 piece is his Ecclesiastical History of the Saxons. Being a 
 monk, he studied in his cell ; where spending more hours, and 
 to better purpose, than the monks were wont to do, a report 
 was raised that he never went out of it. However, he would 
 not leave it for preferment at Rome, which the pope had often 
 invited him to. 
 
64 OF THE CALENDAR [chap. i. 
 
 how be got the His learning and piety gained him the sur- 
 name of Vener- name of Venerable. Though the common story 
 able ' which goes about that title's being given him, 
 
 is this : his scholars having a mind to fix a rhyming title 
 upon his tombstone, as was the custom in those times, the 
 poet wrote, 
 
 HAC SUNT IN FOSSA, 
 BED^E OSSA. 
 
 Placing the word ossa at the latter end of the verse for the 
 rhyme, but not being able to think of any proper epithet that 
 would stand before it. The monk being tired in this per- 
 plexity to no purpose, fell asleep ; but when he awaked, he 
 found his verse filled up by an angelic hand, standing thus in 
 fair letters upon the tomb : 
 
 HAC SUNT IN FOSSA, 
 BEDiE VENERABILIS OSSA. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy -days in June. 
 
 Nicomede was scholar to St. Peter, and was 
 
 mede, a, Roman discovered to be a Christian by his honourably 
 
 martyr™ 1 burying one Felicula, a martyr. He was beat 
 
 to death with leaden plummets for the sake of 
 
 his religion, in the reign of Domitian. 
 
 5. Boniface, w- §• ^* Boniface was a Saxon presbyter, born 
 shop of Ments, in England, and at first called Winfrid. He was 
 and martyr. gen j. a m i ss j onarv by p p e Gregory II. into 
 
 Germany, where he converted several countries, and from 
 thence got the name of the apostle of Germany. He was 
 made bishop of Ments in the year 745. He was one of the 
 most considerable men of his time, (most ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters going through his hands, as appears by his letters,) and 
 was also a great friend and admirer of Bede. Carrying on his 
 conversions in Frisia, he was killed by the barbarous people 
 near Utrecht, A. D. 755. 
 
 §. 3. St. Alban was the first Christian martyr 
 
 17 'martfr ban ' in this island, about the middle of the third 
 
 century. He was converted to Christianity by 
 
 "me Amphialus, a priest of Caerleon in Wales, who, flying 
 
 from persecution into England, was hospitably entertained 
 
 by St. Alban at Verulam, in Hertfordshire, now called from 
 
part ir.] OF THE CALENDAR. 65 
 
 him St. Albans. When, by reason of a strict search made 
 for Amphialus, St. Alban could entertain him safe no longer, 
 he dressed him in his own clothes, and by that means gained 
 him an opportunity of escaping. But this being soon found 
 out, exposed St. Alban to the fury of the pagans ; who sum- 
 moning him to do sacrifice to their gods, and he refusing, 
 they first miserably tormented him, and then put him to 
 death. The monks have fathered several miracles upon him, 
 which it is not worth while here to relate. 
 
 §. 4. Edward king of the West Saxons being o 
 barbarously murdered by his mother-in-law, was of Edward, Ving 
 first buried at Warham without any solemnity; of the West 
 but after three years was carried by duke Al- 
 ferus to the minister of Shaftesbury, and there interred with 
 great pomp. To the memory of which the twentieth of June 
 has been since dedicated. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in July. 
 
 About the year 1338 there was a terrible Jul 2 Visita . 
 schism in the Church of Rome between two tion of tnebiess- 
 anti-popes, Urban VI. and Clement VII., the «* virgin Mary, 
 first chosen by the Italian, the other by the French faction 
 among the cardinals. Upon this several great disorders 
 happened. To avert which for the future, pope Urban in- 
 stituted a feast to the memory of that famous journey, which 
 the mother of our Lord took into the mountains of Judaea, 
 to visit the mother of St. John the Baptist ; that by this 
 means the intercession of the blessed Virgin might be obtained 
 for the removal of those evils. The same festival was con- 
 firmed by the decree of Boniface IX., though it was not 
 universally observed until the Council of Basil : by decree of 
 which Council in their forty-third session, upon July 1, 1441, 
 it was ordered that this holy-day, called the Visitation of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, should be celebrated in all Christian 
 churches, that "she being honoured with this solemnity, 
 might reconcile her Son by her intercession, who is now 
 angry for the sins of men ; and that she might grant peace 
 and unity among the faithful." 
 
 §. 2. St. Martin was born in Pannonia, and 
 for some time lived the life of a soldier, but at f st.Marttn, 
 last took orders, and was made bishop of Tours Jgjjjjp and C0Q - 
 in France. He was very diligent in breaking 
 
 F 
 
66 OF THE CALENDAR. [cea*. X. 
 
 down the heathen images and altars, which weie standing in 
 his time. He died in the year 400, after he had sat bishop 
 twenty-six years. The French had formerly such an esteem 
 for his memory, that they carried his helmet with them into 
 their wars, either as an ensign to encourage them to bravery, 
 or else as a sort of charm to procure them victory. His 
 feast-day is celebrated on the eleventh of November. The 
 fourth of this month is dedicated only to the memory of the 
 translating or removing of his body from the place where it 
 was buried, to a more noble and magnificent tomb ; which 
 was performed by Perpetuus, one of his successors in the see 
 of Tours. 
 
 §.3. Swithun was first a monk, and after- 
 bishop 1 ot 'win- wards a prior, of the convent of Winchester. 
 Sted"' trans " Upon the death of Helinstan bishop of that see, 
 by the favour of king Ethelwolph, he was pro- 
 moted to succeed him in that bishopric, A. D. 852, and con- 
 tinued in it eleven years, to his death. He would not be 
 buried within the church, as the bishops then generally were, 
 but in the cemetery, or churchyard. Many miracles being 
 reported to be done at his grave, there was a chapel built 
 over it ; and a solemn translation made in honour of him, 
 which in the popish times was celebrated on the fifteenth 
 of July. 
 
 20. Margaret, §• 4 - Margaret was born at Antioch, being 
 
 virgin and mar- the daughter of an heathen priest. Olybius, 
 tyr at Antioch. p resio - ent f the East under the Romans, had an 
 inclination to marry her; but finding she was a Christian, 
 deferred it till he could persuade her to renounce her re- 
 ligion. But not being able to accomplish his design, he first 
 put her to unmerciful torments, and then beheaded her. She 
 has the same office among the papists, as Lucina has among 
 the heathens ; viz. to assist women in labour. Her holy-day 
 is very ancient, not only in the Roman, but also in the Greek 
 Church, who celebrate her memory under the name of Marina. 
 She suffered in the year 278. 
 
 22. saint Mary §• 5. By the first Common Prayer Book of 
 Magdalene. ki n g Edward VI., the twenty-second of July 
 was dedicated to the memory of St. Mary Magdalene. 
 The Epistle and I n tne service for the day, Prov. xxxi. 10, to 
 Gospel. the end, was appointed for the Epistle ; and the 
 
 Gospel was taken out of St. Luke vii. 36, to the end. But 
 
part ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. 67 
 
 upon a stricter inquiry, it appearing dubious to our reformers, 
 as it doth still to many learned men, whether the woman 
 mentioned in the scripture that was appointed for the Gospel, 
 were Mary Magdalene or not ; they thought it more proper 
 to discontinue the festival. However, as I have mentioned 
 the other parts of the service, I will also give the reader the 
 Collect that was appointed, which he will observe was very 
 apt and suitable to the Gospel. 
 
 Merciful Father, give us grace that we never 
 presume to sin through the example of any 
 creature : but if it shall chance us at any time to offend thy 
 divine Majesty, that tlien we may truly repent and lament 
 the same, after tJie example of Mary Magdalene, and by a 
 lively faith obtain remission of all our sins, through the only 
 merits of thy Son our Saviour Christ. Amen. 
 
 §. 6. St. Ann was the mother of the blessed 
 Virgin Mary and the wife of Joachim her father, mothertothe"' 
 An ancient piece of the sacred genealogy, set Messed virgin 
 down formerly by Hippolitus the martyr, is pre- 
 served in Nicephorus. 23 " There were three sisters of Beth- 
 lehem, daughters of Matthan the priest and Mary his wife, 
 under the reign of Cleopatra and Casopares king of Persia, 
 before the reign of Herod, the son of Antipater : the eldest 
 was Mary, the second was Sobe, the youngest's name was Ann. 
 The eldest being married in Bethlehem, had for daughter 
 Salome the midwife : Sobe the second likewise married in 
 Bethlehem, and was the mother of Elizabeth ; last of all the 
 third married in Galilee, and brought forth Mary the mother 
 of Christ." 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in August. 
 
 The first day of this month is commonly called 
 Lammas-day, though in the Roman Church it is -J^^S.^. 
 generally known by the name of the feast of St. 
 Peter in the fetters, being the day of the commemoration 
 of St. Peter's imprisonment. For Eudoxia, the wife of The- 
 odosius the emperor, having made a journey to Jerusalem, 
 was there presented with the fetters which St. Peter was 
 loaded with in prison : which she presented to the pope, who 
 afterwards laid them up in a church built by Theodosius in 
 honour of St. Peter. Eudoxia, in the mean time, having ob- 
 
 33 Niceph. lib. ii. cap. 3, vol. i. p. 136, A. 
 F 2 
 
68 OF THE CALENDAR. Jchap. I. 
 
 served that the first of August was celebrated in memory of 
 Augustus Caesar, (who had on that day been saluted Augustus, 
 and had upon that account given occasion to the changing of 
 the name of the month from Sextilis to August,) she thought 
 it not reasonable that a holy-day should be kept in memory 
 of a heathen prince, which would better become that of a 
 godly martyr ; and therefore obtained a decree of the em- 
 peror, that this day for the future should be kept holy in 
 remembrance of St. Peter's bonds. 
 
 The reason of its being called Lammas-day, 
 some think was a fond conceit the popish people 
 had, that St. Peter was patron of the Lambs, from our Sa- 
 viour's words to him, Feed my lambs. Upon which account 
 they thought the mass of this day very beneficial to make 
 their lambs thrive. Though Somner's account of it is more 
 rational and easy, viz. that it is derived from the old Saxon 
 £>lapmaerr&, i. e. Loaf-mass, it having been the custom of the 
 Saxons to offer on that day an oblation of loaves made of 
 new wheat, as the first-fruits of their new corn. 
 
 §.2. The festival of our Lord's transfigura- 
 tion of^Lord. tl0n m tne mount is very ancient. In the Church 
 of Rome indeed it is but of late standing, being 
 instituted by pope Calixtus in the year 1455; but in the 
 Greek Church it was observed long before. 
 
 §. 3. The seventh of August was formerly 
 ? ' Na Tus? f Je " dedicated to the memory of Afra, a courtezan of 
 Crete ; who being converted to Christianity by 
 Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, suffered martyrdom, and was 
 commemorated on this day : how it came afterwards to be 
 dedicated to the name of Jesus, I do not find. 
 10 Saint Lau- §' ^' ^" Laurence was Dv birth a Spaniard, and 
 rence, archdea- treasurer of the Church at Rome, being deacon to 
 n?artJr R ° me ' and Sixtus the P°P e ab out the year 259. When his 
 bishop was haled to death by the soldiers of Va- 
 lerian the emperor, St. Laurence would not leave him, but 
 followed him to the place of execution, expostulating with 
 him all the way, " father, where do you go without your 
 son ? You never were wont to offer sacrifice without me." 
 Soon after which, occasion being taken against him by the 
 greedy pagans, for not delivering up the church-treasury, 
 which they thought was in his custody, he was laid upon a 
 gridiron, and broiled over a fire : at which time he behaved 
 
part ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. QQ 
 
 himself with so much courage and resolution, as to cry out to his 
 tormentors, that " he was rather comforted than tormented ;" 
 bidding them withal "turn him on the other side, for that was 
 broiled enough." His martyrdom was so much esteemed in after- 
 times, that Pulcheria the empress built a temple to his honour, 
 which was either rebuilt or enlarged by Justinian. Here was 
 the gridiron on which he suffered laid up, where (if we may 
 believe St. Gregory the Great, who was too credulous in such 
 kind of matters) it became famous for many miracles. 
 
 §. 5. St. Augustin was born at Togaste, a town 
 in Numidia in Africa, in the year 354. He ap- Shop ofmppo".' 
 plied himself at first only to human learning, such 
 as poetry and plays, rhetoric and philosophy ; being professor 
 at Rome first, and afterwards at Milan. At the last of these 
 places St. Ambrose became acquainted with him, who instruct- 
 ed him in divinity, and set him right as to some wrong notions 
 which he had imbibed. He returned into Africa about the 
 year 388, and three years afterwards was chosen bishop of 
 Hippo. He was a great and judicious divine, and the most 
 voluminous writer of all the Fathers. He died in the year 430, 
 at seventy-seven years of age. 
 
 §. 6. The twenty-ninth of this month, as Du- 29 Beheadin 
 randus says, was formerly called Festum collec- of Saint John 
 tionis *SV Jolian. Baptistce, or the feast of gather- Ba P tist - 
 ing up St. John the Baptist's Relics ; and afterwards by cor- 
 ruption, Festum decollationis, the feast of his beheading. For 
 the occasion of the honours done to this saint are said to be 
 some miraculous cures performed by his relics in the fourth 
 century : for which reason Julian the Apostate ordered them 
 to be burnt, but some of them were privately reserved. His 
 head was found after this, in the emperor Valens's time, and 
 reposited as a precious relic in a church at Constantinople. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in 
 September. 
 
 Giles, or JEgidius, was one who was born at Sept x GileS) 
 Athens, and came into France, A.D. 715, having abbot and con- 
 first disposed of his patrimony to charitable uses. essor ' 
 He lived two years with Caesarius bishop of Aries, and after- 
 wards took to an hermitical life, till he was made abbot of an 
 abbey at Nismes, which the king, who had found him in his 
 
70 OF THE CALENDAR. [c^av. i. 
 
 cell by chance as he was hunting, and was pleased with his 
 sanctity, built for his sake. He died in the year 795. 
 7. Eunurchus §• ^- Eunurchus, otherwise called Evortius, 
 
 bishop of or-' was bishop of Orleans in France, being present 
 leans - at the Council of Valentia, A. D. 375. The cir- 
 
 cumstances of his election to this see were very strange. Be- 
 ing sent by the Church of Heme into France, about redeeming 
 some captives, at the time when the people of Orleans were 
 in the heat of an election of a bishop ; a dove lighted upon 
 his head, which he could not, without great difficulty, drive 
 away. The people observing this, took it for a sign of his great 
 sanctity, and immediately thought of choosing him bishop : 
 but not being willing to proceed to election, till they were as- 
 sured that the lighting of the dove was by the immediate di- 
 rection of Providence, they prayed to God that, if he in his 
 goodness designed him for their bishop, the same dove might 
 light upon him again, which immediately happening after their 
 prayers, he was chosen bishop by the unanimous suffrages of 
 the whole city. Besides this, several other miracles are attri- 
 buted to him ; as the quenching a fire in the city by his pray- 
 ers ; his directing the digging of the foundation of a church, 
 in such a place, where the workmen found a pot of gold, almost 
 sufficient to defray the charges of the building : his converting 
 seven thousand infidels to Christianity within the space of three 
 days : and lastly, for foretelling his own death, and in a sort of 
 prophetical manner naming Arianus for his successor. 
 8 Nativity of §• ^ ^ ne e ig ntn of this month is dedicated to 
 
 the blessed vir- the memory of the blessed Virgin's nativity, a 
 gm Mary. consort of angels having been heard in the air to 
 
 solemnize that day as her birthday. Upon which account the 
 day itself was not only kept holy in after-ages ; but it was also 
 honoured by pope Innocent IV. with an octave, A. D. 1244, 
 and by Gregory XI. with a vigil in the year 1 370. 
 
 §. 4. The fourteenth of this month is called 
 H ' H day " cross " Holy -cross -day, a festival deriving its beginning 
 about the year 615, on this occasion : Cosroes 
 king of Persia having plundered Jerusalem, (after having 
 made great ravages in other parts of the Christian world,) 
 took away from thence a great piece of the cross, which 
 Helena had left there : and, at the times of his mirth, made 
 sport with that and the Holy Trinity. Heraclius the emperor 
 giving him battle, defeated the enemy, and recovered the 
 
fart ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. 71 
 
 cross : but bringing it back with triumph to Jerusalem, he 
 found the gates shut against him, and heard a voice from 
 heaven, which told him, that the King of kings did not enter 
 into that city in so stately a manner, but meek and lowly, and 
 riding upon an ass. With that the emperor dismounted from 
 his horse, and went into the city not only afoot, but bare- 
 footed, and carrying the wood of the cross himself. Which 
 honour done to the cross gave rise to this festival. 
 
 §. 5. Lambert was bishop of Utrecht in the 17 Lambert 
 time of king Pepin I. But reproving the king's bishop and 
 grandson for his lewd amours, he was, by the mart y r - 
 contrivance of one of his concubines, barbarously murdered. 
 Being canonized, he at first only obtained a commemoration 
 in the calendar; till Robert bishop of Leeds in a general 
 chapter of the Cistercian order procured a solemn feast to 
 his honour, A. D. 1240. 
 
 §. 6. St. Cyprian was by birth an African, of 
 
 of 
 
 a good family and education. Before his con- pr i a n, bishop 
 version he tausrht rhetoric ; but by the persua- Carthage, and 
 sion of one Caecilius, a priest, (from whom he 
 had his surname,) he became a Christian. And giving all his 
 substance to the poor, he was elected bishop of Carthage in 
 the year 248. He behaved himself with great prudence in 
 the Decian persecution, persuading the people to constancy 
 and perseverance : which so enraged the heathen, that they 
 made proclamation for his discovery in the open theatre. He 
 suffered martyrdom September 14, A. D. 258, under Valeri- 
 anus and Gallienus, having foretold that storm long before, 
 and disposed his flock to bear it accordingly. 
 
 But the Cyprian in the Roman calendar cele- 
 brated on this day, as appears by the Roman the^om™" 
 Breviary, is not the same with St. Cyprian of g n 1 t en e 1 r a s r n differ ' 
 Carthage, but another Cyprian of Antioch, who 
 of a conjurer was made a Christian, and afterwards a deacon 
 and a martyr. He happened to be in love with one Justina, 
 a beautiful young Christian ; whom trying, without success, 
 to debauch, he consulted the Devil upon the matter, who 
 frankly declared he had no power over good Christians. 
 Cyprian, not pleased with this answer of the Devil, quitted 
 his service, and turned Christian. But as soon as it was 
 known, both he and Justina were accused before the heathen 
 governor, who condemned them to be fried in a frying-pan 
 
72 OF THE CALENDAR. [chap. X. 
 
 with pitch and fat, in order to force them to renounce their 
 religion, which they notwithstanding with constancy persisted 
 in. After their tortures they were beheaded, and their bodies 
 thrown away unburied, till a kind mariner took them up, and 
 conveyed them to Rome, where they were deposited in the 
 church of Constantine. They were martyred in the year 272. 
 §. 7. St. Jerome was the son of one Eusebius, 
 romefpriest'con- born in a town called Stridon, in the confines of 
 fessor, and doc- Pannonia and Dalmatia. Being a lad of pregnant 
 parts, he was sent to Rome to learn rhetoric un- 
 der Donatus and Victorinus, two famous Latin critics. There 
 he got to be secretary to Pope Damasus, and was afterwards 
 baptized. He studied divinity with the principal divines of 
 that age, viz. Gregory Nazianzen, Epiphanius, and Didymus. 
 And to perfect his qualifications this way, he learned the He- 
 brew tongue from one Barraban a Jew. He spent most of 
 his time in a monastery at Bethlehem, in great retirement and 
 hard study ; where he translated the Bible. He died in the 
 year 422, being fourscore years old. 
 
 Sect. X. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy -days in October. 
 
 October i. Re- Remigius was born at Landen, where he kept 
 migius, bishop himself so close to his studies, that he was sup- 
 posed to have led a monastic life. After the 
 death of Bennadius, he was chosen bishop of Rhemes, for 
 his extraordinary learning and piety. He converted to 
 Christianity king Clodoveus, and good part of his kingdom ; 
 for which reason he is by some esteemed the apostle of 
 France. After he had held his bishopric seventy-four 
 years, he died at ninety-six years of age, A. D. 535. The 
 cruse which he made use of is preserved in France to this 
 day, their kings being usually anointed out of it at their 
 coronation. 
 
 §.2. Faith, a young woman so called, was 
 5 ' andm'artyf ™ born at Pais de Gavre in France. She suffered 
 martyrdom and very cruel torments under the 
 presidentship of Dacianus, about the year 290. 
 9. Saint Denys §• 3. St. Denys, or Dionysius the Areopagite, 
 Areop. bishop wa s converted to Christianity by St. Paul, as is 
 maryr. recorded in the seventeenth of the Acts. He 
 was at first one of the judges of the famous court of the Are- 
 opagus, but was afterwards made bishop of Athens, where he 
 
pakt II.] OF THE CALENDAR. 73 
 
 suffered martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel. There are 
 several books which bear his name ; but they seem all of them 
 to have been the product of the sixth century. He is claimed 
 by the French as their tutelar saint, by reason that, as they 
 say, he was the first that preached the Gospel to them. But 
 it is plain that Christianity was not preached in that nation till 
 long after St. Dionysius's death. Among several foolish and 
 incoherent stories, which they relate of him, this is one : that, 
 after several grievous torments undergone, he was beheaded 
 by Fescennius, the Roman governor at Paris ; at which time he 
 took up his head, after it was severed from his body, and 
 walked two miles with it in his hands, to a place called the 
 Martyr's-hill, and there laid down to rest. 
 
 S. 4. The thirteenth of this month is dedicated ., _, ... 
 
 3 „ . . _ ., !.«>>.- , 13 - Translation 
 
 to the memory of king Edward the Confessor s of king Edward 
 translation. He was the youngest son of king tlle Confessor - 
 Ethelred ; but, all his elder brothers being dead, or fled away, 
 he came to the crown of England in the year 1042. His 
 principal excellency was his gathering together a body of all 
 the most useful laws, which had been made by the Saxon and 
 Danish kings. The name of Confessor is supposed to have 
 been given him by the pope, for settling what was then called 
 Rome-scot ; but is now better known by the name of Peter- 
 pence. . The monks have attributed so many miracles to him, 
 that even his vestments are by them reputed holy. His crown, 
 chair, staff, spurs, &c, are still made use of in the corona- 
 tion of our English kings. 
 
 §. 5. Etheldred was daughter of Anna, a king 
 of the East- Angles, who was first married to one ' virgin" ' 
 Tonbert, a great lord in Lincolnshire, &c, and 
 after him to king Egfrid about the year 671, with both which 
 husbands she still continued a virgin, upon pretence of great 
 sanctity. And staying at court twelve years, and continuing 
 this moroseness, she got leave to depart to Coldingham abbey, 
 where she was a nun under Ebba, the daughter of king Ethel- 
 frida, who was abbess. Afterward she built an abbey at Ely, 
 which she was abbess of herself, and there died and was 
 buried, being recorded to posterity by the name of St. Audry. 
 
 §. 6. Crispinus and Crispianus were brethren, 
 and born at Rome : from whence they travelled ^iSj?™' 
 to Soissons in France, about the year 303, in 
 order to propagate the Christian religion. But because they 
 v/ould not be chargeable to others for their maintenance* 
 
74 OF THE CALENDAR. [ckap. i. 
 
 they exercised the trade of shoemakers. But the governor 
 of the town discovering them to be Christians, ordered them 
 to be beheaded about the year 303. From which time the 
 shoemakers made choice of them for their tutelar saints. 
 
 Sect. XI. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in 
 November. 
 
 The second of this month is called All-Souls 
 Souis day. day, being observed in the Church of Home up- 
 on this occasion. A monk having visited Jeru- 
 salem, and passing through Sicily as he returned home, had 
 a mind to see mount iEtna, which is continually belching out 
 fire and smoke, and upon that account by some thought to be 
 the mouth of hell. Being there, he heard the devils within 
 complain, that many departed souls were taken out of their 
 hands by the prayers of the Cluniac monks. This, when he 
 came home, he related to his abbot Odilo, as a true story ; 
 who thereupon appointed the second of November to be 
 annually kept in his monastery, and prayers to be made there 
 for all departed souls : and in a little time afterwards the 
 monks got it to be made a general holy-day by the appoint- 
 ment of the pope ; till in ours and other reformed churches 
 it was deservedly abrogated. 
 
 §. 2. Leonard was born at Le Nans, a town 
 6 ' Le fe n ssor! C ° n " m France, bred up in divinity under Remigius 
 bishop of Rhemes, and afterwards made bishop 
 of Limosin. He obtained of king Clodoveus a favour, that 
 all prisoners whom he went to see should be set free. And 
 therefore whenever he heard of any persons being prisoners 
 for the sake of religion, or any other good cause, he presently 
 procured their liberty this way. But the monks have improved 
 this story, telling us, that if any one in prison had called upon 
 his name, his fetters would immediately drop off, and the 
 prison doors fly open : insomuch that many came from far 
 countries, brought their fetters and chains, which had fallen 
 off by his intercession, and presented them before him in 
 token of gratitude. He died in the year 500, and has always 
 been implored by prisoners as their saint. 
 ,, _ . „ . S. 3. St. Martin's account has already been 
 
 11. Saint Martin, . a T , . J 
 
 bishop and con- given on J uly 4. 
 
 fessor - §. 4. Britius, or St. Brice, was successor to St. 
 
 13 '6hop. ius,bi " Martin in the bishopric of Tours. About the 
 
 year 432, a great trouble befell him: for his 
 
*aRT ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. 75 
 
 laundress proving with child, the uncharitable people of the 
 town fathered it upon Brice. After the child was born, the 
 censures of the people increased, who were then ready to stone 
 their bishop. But the bishop having ordered the infant to be 
 brought to him, adjured him by Jesus the son of the living 
 God, to tell him whose child he was. The child being then 
 but thirty days old, replied, "You are not my father." But 
 this was so far from mending matters with Brice, that it made 
 them much worse ; the people now accusing him of sorcery 
 likewise. At last, being driven out of the city, he appealed 
 to Rome, and, after a seven years' suit, got his bishopric again. 
 The story is told of him by Gregory Turonensis, his successor 
 in his see at Tours. 
 
 §. 5. Machutus, otherwise called Maclovius y 
 was a bishop in Bretagne in France, of that place 15, £jop tUS ' 
 which is from him called St. Maloes. He lived 
 about the year 500, and was famous for many miracles, if the 
 acts concerning him may be credited. 
 
 §. 6. Hugh was born in a city of Burgundy, 
 called Gratianopolis. He was first a regular ^'SSBtsSS^ 
 canon, and afterwards a Carthusian monk. Be- 
 ing very famous for his extraordinary abstinence and austerity 
 of life, king Henry II. having built a house for Carthusian 
 monks at Witteham in Somersetshire, sent over Reginald bi- 
 shop of Bath to invite this holy man to accept the place of the 
 prior of this new foundation. Hugh, after a great many en- 
 treaties, assented, and came over with the bishop, and was by 
 the same king made bishop of Lincoln : where he gained an 
 immortal name for his well governing that see, and new build- 
 ing the cathedral from the foundation. In the year 1200, 
 upon his return from Carthusia, the chief and original house 
 of their order, (whither he had made a voyage,) he fell sick 
 of a quartan ague at London, and there died on November 
 the seventeenth. His body was presently conveyed to Lin- 
 coln, and happening to be brought thither when John king of 
 England and William king of Scots had an interview there, 
 the two kings, out of respect to his sanctity, assisted by some 
 of their lords, took him upon their shoulders, and carried him 
 to the cathedral. In the year 1220, he was canonized at 
 Rome : and his body being taken up October 7, 1282, was 
 placed in a silver shrine. The monks have ascribed several 
 miracles to him, which I shall omit for brevity, and only set 
 
76 OF THE CALENDAR. [chap. i. 
 
 down one story which is credibly related of him, viz. that 
 coming to Godstow, a house of nuns near Oxford, and seeing 
 a hearse in the middle of the choir covered with silk, and ta- 
 pers burning about it, (it being then, as it is still in some parts 
 of England, a custom to have such monuments in the church 
 for some time after the burial of persons of distinction,) he 
 asked who was buried there ; and being informed that it was 
 Fair Rosamond, the concubine of king Henry II., who had 
 that honour done her for having obtained a great many favours 
 of the king for that house, he immediately commanded her 
 body to be digged up, and to be buried in the churchyard, 
 saying it was a place a great deal too good for a harlot, and 
 therefore he would have her removed, as an example to terrify 
 other women from such a wicked and filthy kind of life. 
 20 Edmund §• ^ • Edmund was a king of the East- Angles, 
 
 king and mar- who, being assaulted by the Danes (after their ir- 
 tyr ' ruption into England) for their possession of his 
 
 country, and not being able to hold out against them, offered 
 his own person, if they would spare his subjects. But the 
 Danes having got him under their power, endeavoured to 
 make him renounce his religion : which he refusing to do, 
 they first beat him with bats, then scourged him with whips, 
 and afterwards binding him to a stake, shot him to death with 
 their arrows. His body was buried in a town where Sigebert, 
 one of his predecessors, had built a church ; and where after- 
 wards (in honour of this name) another was built more spa- 
 cious, and the name of the town, upon that occasion, called 
 St. Edmund's Bury. 
 
 22. Cecilia §• *. Ccecffia was a Roman lady who, refusing 
 
 virgin and mar- to renounce her religion when required, was 
 >T * thrown into a furnace of boiling water, and scald- 
 
 ed to death : though others say she was stifled by shutting out 
 the air of a bath, which was a death sometimes inflicted upon 
 women of quality who were criminals. She lived in the year 
 225. 
 
 §. 9. St. Clement I. was a Roman by birth, 
 i 3 ;bisno C p le o7 ent and one of the first bishops of that place : which 
 Rome, and mar- se e he held, according to the best accounts, from 
 the year 64 or 65 to the year 81, or thereabouts ; 
 and during which time he was most undoubtedly author of one, 
 and is supposed to have been of two, very excellent epistle?, 
 the first of which was so much esteemed of by the primitive 
 
r*RT ii.] OF THE CALENDAR. 77 
 
 Christians, as that for some time it was read in the churches for 
 canonical scripture. 24 He was for the sake of his religion first 
 condemned to hew stones in the mines ; and afterwards, hav- 
 ing an anchor tied about his neck, was drowned in the sea. 
 §.10. St. Catherine was born at Alexandria, 25 Cathe rine 
 and bred up to letters. About the year 305 she virgin and mar- 
 was converted to Christianity, which she after- tyr ' 
 wards professed with great courage and constancy ; openly 
 rebuking the heathen for offering sacrifice to their idols, and 
 upbraiding the cruelty of Maxentius the emperor to his face. 
 She was condemned to suffer death in a very unusual manner, 
 viz. by rolling a wheel stuck round with iron spikes, or the 
 points of swords, over her body. 
 
 Sect. XII. — Of the Romish Saints-days and Holy-days in 
 December. 
 
 Nicolas was born at Patara, a city of Lycia, Dec . 6 . Nicolas, 
 and was afterwards, in the time of Constantine bishop of Myra ' 
 the Great, made bishop of Myra. He was re- in Lycia " 
 markable for his great charity ; as a proof of which this instance 
 may serve. Understanding that three young women, daughters 
 of a person who had fell to decay, were tempted to take lewd 
 courses for a maintenance, he secretly conveyed a sum of 
 money to their father's house, sufficient to enable him to pro- 
 vide for them in a virtuous way. 
 
 §. 2. The feast of the Conception of the Virgin 8> Conception of 
 Mary was instituted by Anselm, archbishop of the blessed vir- 
 Canterbury, upon occasion of William the Con- gmMary - 
 queror's fleet being in a storm, and afterwards coming safe to 
 shore. But the Council of Oxford, held in the year 1222, left 
 people at liberty whether they would observe it or not. But 
 it had before this given rise to the question ventilated so 
 warmly in the Roman Church, concerning .he Virgin Mary's 
 immaculate conception ; which was first started by Peter 
 Lombard about the year 1160. 
 
 §. 3. Lucy was a young lady of Syracuse, who, 
 being courted by a gentleman, but preferring a ^'JStmuljr?* 
 religious single life before marriage, gave all her 
 fortune away to the poor, in order to stop his further appli- 
 cations. But the young man, enraged at this, accused her 
 to Paschasius, the heathen judge, for professing Christianity . 
 
 34 Cave's Historia Literaria 
 
7& OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [cba*. n 
 
 who thereupon ordered her to be sent to the stews : but she 
 struggling with the officers who were to carry her, was, after a 
 great deal of barbarous usage, killed by them. She lived in 
 the year 305. 
 
 §. 4. The sixteenth of December is called O 
 16. o sapientia. g a ^ en ii a ^ f rom t h e beginning of an anthem in 
 
 the Latin service, which used to be sung in the church (for 
 the honour of Christ's advent) from this day till Christmas Eve. 
 S. 5. Silvester succeeded Miltiades in the pa- 
 Stap^SL* P»ey of Rome, A. D. 314. He is said to have 
 been the author of several rites and ceremonies 
 of the Romish Church, as of asylums, unctions, palls, cor- 
 porals, mitres, &c. He died in the year 334. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Having done with the Tables, Rules, and Calendar, I should 
 now proceed in order to the daily Morning and Evening Ser- 
 vice : but the First Rubric, relating to that service, making 
 mention of several things which deserve a particular consider- 
 ation, and which must necessarily be treated of some where or 
 other ; I think this the properest place to do it in, and shall 
 therefore take the opportunity of this rubric to treat of them 
 in a distinct chapter by themselves. 
 
 The Rubric runs thus : 
 % The ORDER for MORNING and EVENING PRAYER, 
 
 daily to be said and used throughout the year. 
 The Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accus- 
 tomed place of the church, chapel, or chancel ; except it shall 
 be otherwise determined by the ordinary of the place ; and 
 the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past. 
 And here it is to be noted, that such ornaments of the church, 
 and the ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, 
 shall be retained and be in use, as were in this Church of 
 England, by the authority of parliament, in the second year 
 of the reign of king Edward the Sixth, 
 
sect, i.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 79 
 
 These are the words of the rubric, and from thence I shall 
 lake occasion to treat of these four things, viz. 
 
 I. The prescribed times of public prayer ; Morning and 
 Evening. 
 
 II. The place where it is to be used ; in the accustomed 
 place of the church, chapel, or chancel. 
 
 III. The Minister, or person officiating. 
 
 IV. The Ornaments used in the church by the minister. 
 Of all which in their order. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the prescribed Times of Public Prayer. 
 
 Man, consisting of soul and body, cannot al- The necessity of 
 ways be actually engaged in the immediate tSsforthe^er- 
 service of God, that being the privilege of an- formance of Di- 
 gels and souls freed from the fetters of mor- yine worship, 
 tality. So long as we are here, we must worship God with 
 respect to our present state ; and therefore must of necessity 
 have some definite and particular time to do it in. Now that 
 men might not be left in an uncertainty in a matter of so great 
 importance, people of all ages and nations have been guided 
 by the very dictates of nature, not only to appoint some cer- 
 tain seasons to celebrate their more solemn parts of religion, 
 (of which more hereafter,) but also to set apart daily some 
 portion of time for the performance of divine worship. To 
 his peculiar people the Jews God himself ap- why the Jewish 
 pointed their set times of public devotion ; com- sacrifices were 
 
 r ,. , ,— \ 777-T • offered at the 
 
 manding them to offer up two lambs daily, one in third and ninth 
 the morning, and the other at even, 1 which we hours - 
 find, from other places of Scripture, 2 were at their third and 
 ninth hours, which answer to our nine and three ; that so 
 those burnt offerings, being types of the great sacrifice which 
 Christ the Lamb of God was to offer up for the sins of the 
 world, might be sacrificed at the same hours wherein his death 
 was begun and finished. For about the third hour, or nine 
 in the morning, he was delivered to Pilate, accused, examined, 
 and condemned to die; 3 about the sixth hour, or noon, this 
 Lamb of God was laid upon the altar of the cross ; 4 and at 
 the ninth hour, or three in the afternoon, yielded up the 
 ghost. 5 And though the Levitical law expired together with 
 
 i Exod. xxix. 39. Numh. xxviii. 4. 2 Acts ii. 15, and chap. iii. 1. 3 Matt, 
 
 xxvii. 1—26. * John xix. 14. 5 Matt, xxvii. 46, 50. 
 
80 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. II. 
 
 . our Saviour ; yet the public worship of God must 
 
 christians ob- still have some certain times set apart for the per- 
 nouiiVf^rayS 6 f° rmance of it : an d accordingly all Christian 
 for the same churches have been used to have their public de- 
 reason, votions performed daily morning or evening. 
 The Apostles and primitive Christians continued to observe 
 the same hours of prayer with the Jews, as might easily be 
 shewn from the records of the ancient Church. 6 But the 
 Why not enjoin- Church of England cannot be so happy as to ap- 
 ed by the church point any set hours when either morning or even- 
 of England. ^^ p ra y er ^aW be said : because now people are 
 grown so cold and indifferent in their devotions, they would 
 be too apt to excuse their absenting from the public worship, 
 from the inconveniency of the time : and therefore she hath 
 only taken care to enjoin that public prayers be read every 
 morning and evening daily throughout the year ; that so all 
 her members may have opportunity of joining in public wor- 
 ship twice at least every day. But to make the duty as prac- 
 ticable and easy both to the minister and people as possible, 
 she hath left the determination of the particular hours to the 
 ministers that officiate ; who, considering every one his own 
 and his people's circumstances, may appoint such hours for 
 morning and evening prayer, as they shall judge to be most 
 proper and convenient. 
 Ail priests and §• 2. But if it be in places where congregations 
 
 them" rained CEn ^ e naC *> anC ^ t ^ W curate °f ^ parish be at 
 
 eveningTe'rvice, home, and not otherwise reasonably hindered, 
 o a eni ; auhurch s ^ e ex P ects or enjoins that he say the same in the 
 or privately in ' parish church or chapel where he ministereth, 
 their families. an ^ cause a oe u to be tolled thereunto, a con- 
 venient time before lie begin, that the people may come to hear 
 God's word, and to pray with him. But if, for want of a 
 congregation, or on some other account, he cannot conveni- 
 ently read them in the church ; he is then bound to say them 
 in the family where he lives : for by the same rubric, all 
 priests and deacons are to say daily the morning and evening 
 prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, 
 or some other urgent cause. 1 Of which cause, if it be fre- 
 quently pretended, the Scotch Common Prayer requires that 
 
 6 Constit. Apost. 1. 8, c. 34. Tertull. de Jejun. c. 10. Cypr. de Orat. Domin Basil, 
 in Reg. fus. Disp. Int. 37. Hieron. in Dan. 6. Rup. de Divin. Offic. 1. 1, c. 5. 7 Tl* 
 Rubric at the end of the preface concerning the Service of the Church. 
 
skc*. II.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 81 
 
 they make the bishop of the diocese, or the bishop of the pro- 
 vince, the judge and allower. The occasion of our rubric was 
 probably a rule in the Roman Church, by which, even before 
 the Reformation and the Council of Trent, the clergy were 
 obliged to recite what they call the canonical hours, (i. e. the 
 offices in the Breviary for the several hours of day and night,) 
 either publicly in a church or chapel, or privately by them- 
 selves. But our reformers not approving the priests perform- 
 ing by themselves what ought to be the united devotions of 
 many ; and yet not being willing wholly to discharge tho 
 clergy from a constant repetition of their prayers, thought fit 
 to discontinue these solitary devotions ; but at the same time 
 ordered, that if a congregation at church could not be had, the 
 public service, both for morning and evening, should be re- 
 cited in the family where the minister resided. Though, ac- 
 cording to the first book of king Edward, this is not meant 
 that any man shall be bound to the saying of it, but such as 
 from time to time in cathedral and collegiate churches, par- 
 ish churches, and chapels to tlie same annexed, shall serve tlie 
 congregation. Though these words in that book immediately 
 follow the first part of the rubric which relates to the language 
 in which the service is to be said ; the two other paragraphs 
 discoursed of in this section, being the first inserted in the 
 book that was published in 1552. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of Churches ; or places set apart for the perform- 
 ance of Divine Worship. 
 
 The public worship of God, being to be per- The necessity of 
 formed by the joint concurrence of several {Jt^^KJfor 
 people, does not only require a place conve- tlie P ubli t c w °r- 
 niently capacious for all that assemble together to s p ° 
 perform that worship ; but there must be also some deter- 
 minate and fixed place appointed, that so all who belong to 
 the same congregation may know whither they may repair 
 and meet one another. This reason put even The universal 
 the heathens, who were guided by the light of practice of the 
 nature, upon erecting public places for the hon- heathens - 
 our of their gods, and for their own conveniency, in meeting 
 together to pay their religious services and devotions. And 
 the patriarchs, by the same light of nature, and the guidance 
 of God's holy Spirit, had altars, 8 mountains, 9 and groves, 10 for 
 
 • Gen. xii. 7, 8. » Gen. xxii. 2. " Gen. xxi. 33. 
 
 O 
 
82 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. ii. 
 
 Jewg that purpose. In the wilderness, where the 
 
 Israelites themselves had no settled habitation, 
 they had, by God's command, a moving tabernacle. 11 And 
 as soon as they should be fixed in the land of promise, God 
 appointed a temple to be built at Jerusalem, 12 which David 
 intended, 13 and Solomon performed. 14 And after that was 
 demolished, another was built in the room of it; 15 which 
 A Christ himself owned for his house of prayer, 16 
 
 and which both he and his Apostles frequented 
 as well as the synagogues. And that the Apostles after him 
 had churches fixed, and appropriate places for the joint per- 
 formance of divine worship, will be beyond all dispute, if we 
 take but a short survey of the first ages of Christianity. In 
 the sacred writings we find more than probable footsteps of 
 some determinate places for their solemn conventions, and 
 peculiar only to that use. Of this nature was that birepuov, or 
 upper room, into which the Apostles and disciples (after their 
 return from our Saviour's ascension) went up, as into a place 
 commonly known, and separate to divine use. 17 Such a one, 
 if not the same, was that one place wherein they were all as- 
 sembled with one accord upon the day of Pentecost, when 
 the Holy Ghost visibly came down upon them. 18 And this 
 the rather, because the multitude (and they too strangers of 
 every nation under heaven) came so readily to the place upon 
 the first rumour of so strange an accident; which could 
 hardly have been, had it not been commonly known to be 
 the place where the Christians used to meet together. And 
 this very learned men take to be the meaning of the forty- 
 sixth verse of the second chapter of the Acts : They con- 
 tinued daily with one accord in tlie temple, and breaking 
 bread, fear' olkov, (not, as we render it, from house to house, 
 but) at home, as it is in the margin, or in the house, they eat 
 their meat with gladness of heart ; i. e. when they had per- 
 formed their daily devotions at the temple, at the accustomed 
 hours of prayer, they used to return home to this upper room, 
 there to celebrate the holy eucharist, and then go to their 
 ordinary meals. And Mr. Gregory proves that the upper 
 rooms, so often mentioned in Scripture, were places in that 
 part of the house which was highest from the ground, set 
 apart by the Jews as well as Christians for the performance of 
 
 11 Exod. xxv. &c. 12 Deut. xii. 10, 11. 13 1 Chron. xvii. 1. 2. chap. xxii. 7. 
 
 chap, xxviii. 2. M 1 Kings vi. 15 Ezra iii. 8, &c. 16 Matt. xxi. 13. 17 Actsi. 13. 
 18 Acts ii. 1. 
 
tECT. n.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 83 
 
 public worship and devotions. 19 However, this interpretation 
 of the text seems to be clear and unforced, and the more 
 probable, because it follows the mention of their assembling 
 together in that one place on the day of Pentecost, which 
 room is also called by the same name of house, at the second 
 verse of that chapter. And it is not at all unlikely, but that, 
 when the first believers sold their houses and lands, and laid 
 the money at the apostles' feet, to supply the necessities of the 
 Church ; some of them might give their houses (at least some 
 eminent room in them) for the Church to meet in, and to per- 
 form their sacred duties. Which also may be the reason why 
 the Apostle so often salutes such and such a person, and the 
 Church in his house,- 20 which seems clearly to intimate, that 
 in such or such a house (probably in the virepwov, or upper 
 room of it) was the constant and solemn convention of the 
 Christians of that place for their joint celebration of divine 
 worship. For that this salutation is not used merely because 
 their families were Christians, appears from other salutations 
 of the same Apostle, where Aristobulus and Narcissus, &c. are 
 saluted with their household. 21 And this will be further cleared 
 by that famous passage of St. Paul, 22 where taxing the Co- 
 rinthians for their irreverence and abuse of the Lord's sup- 
 per, one greedily eating before another, and some of them even 
 to excess ; What ! says he, have you not houses to eat and 
 drink in ? or despise ye the church of God ? Where, that by 
 church is not meant the assembly meeting, but the place in 
 which they used to assemble, is evident partly from what went 
 before, (for their coming together in the church™ is explained 
 by their coming together into one placed plainly arguing that 
 the Apostle meant not the persons, but the place?) partly from 
 the opposition which he makes between the church and their 
 own private houses : if they must have such irregular banquets, 
 they had houses of their own, where it was much fitter to have 
 their ordinary repasts, than in that place which was set apart 
 for the common exercises of religion, and therefore not to be 
 dishonoured by such extravagant and intemperate feastings, 
 which was no less than despising it. For which reason he 
 enjoins them in the close of the chapter, that if any man hun- 
 ger, he should eat at home. And in this sense was this text 
 always understood by the ancient Fathers. 25 
 
 » Observations upon Scripture, chap. 23. 20 Rom. xvi. 3, 5. 1 Cor. xvi. 19. Col. 
 
 iv. 15. Philem. ver. 1,2. *i Rom. xvi. 10. 11, 14. 2 Tim. iv. 19. 2 * 1 Cor. xi. 22. 
 •* 1 Cor. xi. 18. » 1 Cor. xi. 20. * August. Quaest. 57, in Leviticum, torn. iii. 
 
 a 2 
 
$4 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [CHA*. n. 
 
 Thus stood the case during the times of the 
 Al aSK? Apostles : as for the ages after them, we find that 
 the primitive Christians had their fixed and de- 
 finite places of worship, especially in the second century ; as, 
 had we no other evidence, might be made good from the 
 testimony of the author of that dialogue in Lucian, (if not 
 Lucian himself,) who expressly mentions that house or room 
 wherein the Christians were wont to assemble together. 26 
 And Justin Martyr expressly affirms, that " upon Sunday all 
 Christians (whether in town or country) used to assemble to- 
 gether in one place;" 27 which could hardly have been done, 
 had not that place been fixed and settled. The same we find 
 afterwards in several places of Tertullian, who speaks " of their 
 coming into the church and house of God ,-" 2S which he else- 
 where 29 calls the house of our Dove, i. e. of the Holy Spirit; 
 and there describes the very form and fashion of it. And in 
 another place, 30 speaking of their going into the water to be 
 baptized, he tells us, " They were wont first to go into the 
 church, to make their solemn renunciation before the bishop." 
 About this time, in the reign of Alexander Severus, the em- 
 peror, (who began his reign about the year 222,) the heathen 
 historian tells us, 31 that when there was a contest between the 
 Christians and vintners about a certain public place, which the 
 Christians had challenged for theirs ; the emperor gave the 
 cause for the Christians against the vintners, saying, " It was 
 much better that God should be worshipped there any ways, 
 than that the vintners should possess it." If it be said, that 
 " the heathens of those times generally accused the Christians 
 for having no temples, and charged it upon them as a piece of 
 atheism and impiety ; and that the Christian apologists did not 
 deny it ;" the answer depends upon the notion they had of a 
 temple ; by which the Gentiles understood the places devoted 
 to their gods, and wherein the deities were enclosed and shut 
 up ; places adorned with statues and images, with fine altars 
 and ornaments. 32 And for such temples as these, they freely 
 confessed they neither had nor ought to have any, for the 
 True God did not (as the heathens supposed theirs did) dwell 
 
 col. 516, F. Basil. Moral. Reg. 30, c. 1, torn. ii. p. 437, A. Chrysost. in 1 Cor. xi. 22. 
 Horn. 27, torn. iii. p. 419, lin. 40. Theodoret. in eundem locum, torn. iii. p. 175, A. 
 
 * Philopatr. vol. ii. p. 776. Amstelod. 1687. ™ Apol. 1. §. 87, p. 131. « De 
 
 Idol. c. 7, p. 88, D. 2j Adv. Valentin, c. 3, p. 251, B. so D e Corona Milit. c. 3, p. 
 102, A. 31 Ml. Lamprid. in Vita Alex. Sever, c. 49, apud Hist. August. Scriptor. p. 
 575. Lugd. Batav. 1661. * Minutius Felix, c. 10, p. 61. Arnob. adv. Gentes, ad in- 
 Uium 1. 6, p. 189, &c. Lactant. Institut. 1. 2, c. 2, u )1S 
 
sect. «.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 8& 
 
 in temples made with hands ; he neither needed, nor could 
 possibly be honoured by them : and therefore they purposely 
 abstained from the word temple, which is not used by any 
 Christian writer for the place of the Christian assemblies, for 
 the best part of the first three hundred years. But then those 
 very writers, who deny that Christians had any temples, do at 
 the same time acknowledge that they had their meeting places 
 for divine worship ; their conventicida, as Arnobius calls 
 them, 33 when he complains of their being furiously demolished 
 by their enemies. 
 
 §. 2. It cannot be thought that in the first ages, Their churches 
 while the flames of persecution raged, the Chris- sumptuous and 
 tian churches should be very stately and magnifi- ma s nificent - 
 cent : it were sufficient if they were such as the condition of 
 those times would bear ; their splendour increasing according 
 to the entertainment Christianity met withal in the world ; 
 till, the empire becoming Christian, their temples rose up into 
 grandeur and stateliness : as, amongst others, may appear by 
 the particular description which Eusebius gives of the church 
 of Tyre, 34 and of that which Constantine built at Constantino- 
 ple in honour of the Apostles : 35 both which, the historian tells 
 us, were incomparably sumptuous and magnificent. 
 
 §. 3. I shall not undertake to describe at large 
 the several parts and dimensions of their churches, The th° e r m. ° f 
 (which varied according to the different times and 
 ages,) but only briefly reflect upon such as were most common 
 and remarkable, and are still retained amongst us. For the 
 form and fashion of their churches, it was for the most part 
 oblong, to keep the better correspondence with the fashion of 
 a ship ; the common notion and metaphor by which the Church 
 was wont to be represented, to remind us that we are tossed 
 up and down in the world, as upon a stormy and tempestuous 
 sea, and that out of the Church there is no safe passage to 
 heaven, the country we all hope to arrive at. It was always 
 divided into two principal parts, viz. the nave or body of the 
 church, and the sacrarium, since called chancel, 
 from its being divided from the body of the church ^^"SSa. 
 by neat rails, called in Latin cancelli. The nave 
 was common to all the people, and represented the visible 
 world ; the chancel was peculiar to the priests and sacred 
 
 33 Arnobius adv. Gentes, ad finem 1. 4, p. 152. 34 Eccks. Histor. 1. 10, c. 4, p. 377 
 3i De Vita Const, lib. 4, c. 58, 59, p. 555. 
 
86 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap, n 
 
 persons, and typified heaven : for which reason they always 
 stood at the east end of the church, towards 
 the V east St e nd of which part of the world they paid a more than 
 the church, and ordinary reverence in their worship ; wherein, 
 Clemens Alexandrinus 36 tells us, they had respect 
 to Christ ; for as the east is the birth and womb of the natural 
 day, from whence the sun (the fountain of all sensible light) 
 does arise and spring ; so Christ, the true Sun of Righteous- 
 ness, who arose upon the world with the light of truth, when 
 it sat in the darkness of error and ignorance, is in Scripture 37 
 styled the East : and therefore since we must in our prayers 
 turn our faces toward some quarter, it is fittest it should be 
 towards the east ; especially since it is probable, even from 
 Scripture itself, that the majesty and glory of God is in a pe- 
 culiar manner in that part of the heavens, and that the throne 
 of Christ and the splendour of his humanity has its residence 
 there. 38 In this chancel always stood the altar or communion 
 table : which none were allowed to approach, but such as were 
 in holy orders, unless it were the Greek emperors at Constan- 
 tinople, who were allowed to go up to the table to make their 
 offerings, but were immediately to return back again. 39 
 
 §. 4. But though the Christians of those times 
 ages forbiddenTn spared no convenient cost in founding and adorn- 
 the primitive ing public places for the worship of God ; yet 
 
 Church. ,, & r fi4.x •** • 
 
 they were careful not to run into a too curious 
 and over-nice superstition. No images were worshipped, or 
 so much as used, in churches for at least four hundred years 
 after Christ : and therefore certainly, might things be carried 
 by a fair and impartial trial of antiquity, the dispute about this 
 point would soon be at an end. Nothing can be more clear 
 than that the Christians were frequently challenged by the 
 heathens for having no images nor statues in their churches, 
 and that the Christian apologists never denied it, but indus- 
 triously defended themselves against the charge, and rejected 
 the very thoughts of any such thing with contempt and scorn ; 
 as might be abundantly shewn from Tertullian, Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus, Origen, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius. 
 But I shall only cite one of them, and that is Origen, who, 
 
 36 Strom. 1. 7, p. 724, C 37 In Zechariah iii. 8, and chap. vi. 12, the Messiah is 
 
 called the BRANCH ; and in Luke i. 78, the DAY-SPRING ; in all which places the 
 original words signify the EAST, and are so rendered in all other versions of the Bible. 
 :iS See Mr. Gregory's Notes and Observations upon Scripture, chap. 18, p. 71, &c. and p. 
 4, 5, of his preface, with some other parts of his works printed at London, 1665. 
 39 Concil. Trull, can. 69, torn. vi. col. 1174, B. 
 
sect, ii.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 87 
 
 amongst other things, plainly tells his adversary (who had 
 objected this to the Christians) that the images, that were to 
 be dedicated to God, were not to be carved by the hands of 
 artists, but to be formed and fashioned in us by the word of 
 God ; viz. the virtues of justice and temperance, of wisdom 
 and piety, &c, that conform us to the image of his only Son. 
 " These," says he, " are the only statues formed in our minds ; 
 and by which alone we are persuaded it is fit to do honour to 
 ' him, who is the image of the invisible God, the prototype and 
 archetypal pattern of all such images." 40 Had Christians then 
 given adoration to them, or but set them up in their places of 
 worship, with what face can we suppose they could have told 
 the world, that they so much abhorred them ? But more than 
 this, the Council of Illiberis, that was held in Spain some time 
 before Constantine, expressly provides against them ; decree- 
 ing, 41 that " no pictures ought to be in the church, nor that 
 any thing that is worshipped and adored should be painted 
 upon the walls : " words too clear to be evaded by the little 
 shifts and glosses which the expositors of that canon would 
 put upon it. The first use of statues and pictures in the 
 churches was merely historical, or to add some beauty and 
 ornament to the place, which after-ages improved into super- 
 stition and idolatry. The first we meet with upon good au- 
 thority, is no older than the times of Epiphanius, and then too 
 met with no very welcome entertainment ; as may appear from 
 Epiphanius's own Epistle to John, then Bishop of Jerusalem : 42 
 where he says, that coming to Anablatha, a village in Pales- 
 tine, and going into a church to pray, he espied a curtain 
 hanging over the door, whereupon was painted the image of 
 Christ, or of some saint ; which when he had looked upon, 
 and saw the image of a man hanging up in the church, con- 
 trary to the authority of the holy Scriptures, he presently rent 
 it, and ordered the churchwardens to make use of it as a wind- 
 ing-sheet for some poor man's burying. This instance is so 
 home, that the patrons of image-worship are at a loss what to 
 say to it, and after all are forced to cry out against it as sup- 
 posititious : though the famous Du Pin, who is himself of the 
 Romish communion, and doctor of the Sorbon, allows it to be 
 genuine, and owns that one reason of its being called in ques- 
 tion, is because it makes so much against that doctrine. 43 
 
 «° Contr. Cels. 1. 8, part 2, p. 521, E. « Can. 36, torn. i. col. 974. « Epiphan. 
 torn. ii. p. 317. « Hist, of Ecclesiast. Writers, vol. ii. p. 236. 
 
88 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. ii. 
 
 More might be produced to this purpose : but by this, I hope, 
 it is clear enough, that the primitive Christians, as they 
 thought it sufficient to pray to God without making their ad- 
 dresses to saints and angels, so they accounted their churches 
 fine enough without pictures and images to adorn them. 
 
 §.5. And though these afterwards crept in 
 churches rlqui- again, and became the occasion of idolatry in the 
 she and neces- times of popery ; yet our Church at the Reform- 
 ation not only forbad the worshipping them, 
 but also quite removed them ; as thinking them too false a 
 beauty for the house of God. But though she would not let 
 religion be dressed in the habit of a wanton, yet she did not 
 deny her that of a matron : she would have her modest in her 
 garb, but withal comely and clean ; and therefore still allowed 
 her enough, not only to protect her from shame and con- 
 tempt, but to draw her some respect and reverence too. And 
 no man surely can complain, that the ornaments now made 
 use of in our churches are too many or too expensive. Good 
 men would rather wish that more care was taken of them, 
 than there generally seems to be. For sure a decency in this 
 regard is conformable to every man's sense, who professes to 
 retain any reverence for God and religion. The magnificence 
 of the first Jewish temple was very acceptable to God ; u and 
 the too sparing contributions of the people towards the second 
 was what he severely reproved : 45 from whence we may at 
 least infer, that it is by no means agreeable to the Divine 
 Majesty, that we turn pious clowns and slovens, by running 
 into the contrary extreme, and worshipping the Lord, not in 
 the beauty, but in the dirt and deformity of holiness. Far 
 from us be all ornaments misbecoming the worship of a Spirit, 
 or the gravity of a church ; but surely it hath a very ill aspect 
 for men to be so sordidly frugal, as to think that well enough in 
 God's house, which they could not endure even in the mean- 
 est offices of their own. But to return to my first design, 
 churches to be §• 6. When churches are built, they ought to 
 
 formai'dedicS' * ^ ave a greater value and esteem derived upon 
 tion of them to them by some peculiar consecration : for it is not 
 enough barely to devote them to the public ser- 
 vices of religion, unless they are also set apart with the solemn 
 rites of a formal dedication. For by these solemnities the 
 founders surrender all the right they have in them to God, 
 
 1 Kings ix. 3. * 5 Haggai i. and ii. 
 
sect. II.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 
 
 and make God himself the sole owner of them. And formerly, 
 whoever gave any lands or endowments to the service of God, 
 gave it in a formal writing, sealed and witnessed, (as is now 
 usual between man and man,) the tender of the gift being 
 made upon the altar, by the donor on his knees. The an- 
 tiquity of such dedications is evident, from its being an uni- 
 versal custom amongst Jews and Gentiles : and it is observ- 
 able that amongst the former, at the consecration of both the 
 tabernacle and temple, it pleased the Almighty to give a 
 manifest sign that he then took possession of them. 46 When 
 it was first taken up by Christians is not easy to determine ; 
 though there are no footsteps of any such thing to be met 
 with, in any approved writer, till the reign of Constantine ; in 
 whose time, Christianity being become more prosperous and 
 flourishing, churches were every where erected and repaired ; 
 and no sooner were so, but, as Eusebius tells us, 47 they were 
 solemnly consecrated, and the dedications celebrated with 
 great festivity and rejoicing. The rites and ceremonies used 
 upon these occasions (as we find in the same author 48 ) were a 
 great confluence of bishops and strangers from all parts, the 
 performance of divine offices, singing of hymns and psalms, 
 reading and expounding the Scriptures, sermons and orations, 
 receiving the holy sacrament, prayers and thanksgivings, 
 liberal alms bestowed on the poor, and great gifts given to the 
 church; and, in short, mighty expressions of mutual love 
 and kindness and universal rejoicing with one another. And 
 these dedications were always constantly com- 
 memorated from that time forward once a year, C ountry ? wakes. 
 and solemnized with great pomp, and much con- 
 fluence of people ; the solemnity usually lasting eight days 
 together : 49 a custom observed with us till the twenty-eighth 
 year of Henry VIII. , when, by a decree of convocation con- 
 firmed by that king, the feast of dedication was ordered to be 
 celebrated in all places throughout England on one and the 
 same day, viz. on the first Sunday of October.™ Whether 
 that feast be continued now in any parts of the kingdom, I 
 cannot tell ; for as to the wakes which are still observed in 
 many country villages, and generally upon the next Sunday 
 that follows the saint's day whose name the church bears, I 
 take them to be the remains of the old church holidays, which 
 
 * Exod. xl. 34. 1 Kings viii. 10, 11. « Hist. Eccl. 1. 10, c. 3, p. 370. * 8 Ibid. 
 
 et de Vita Const. 1. 4, c. 42, 43, p. 546, &c. « 9 Niceph. Cal. Hist. Ecci. 1. 8, c. 50, torn, 
 i. p. 653, B. so g ee Bp . Gibson's Codex, p. 276. 
 
90 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. IX. 
 
 were feasts kept in memory of the saints to whose honour the 
 churches were dedicated, and who were therefore called the 
 
 patrons of the churches. 51 For though all 
 gels or saints churches were dedicated to none but God, as 
 churches appears by the grammatical construction of the 
 
 word church, which signifies nothing else but 
 the Lord's house ; 52 yet at their consecration they were gener- 
 ally distinguished by the name of some angel or saint ; chiefly 
 that the people, by frequently mentioning them, might be ex- 
 cited to imitate the virtues for which they had been eminent ; 
 and also that those holy saints themselves might by that means 
 be kept in remembrance. 
 
 Great res ect §• "• Though I have already been so long up- 
 
 end reverence on this head, yet I cannot conclude it, till I have 
 churches bythe 0Dserve d what respect and reverence those primi- 
 primitive Chris- tive Christians used to shew in the church, as the 
 
 solemn place of worship, and where God did 
 more peculiarly manifest his presence. And this we find to 
 have been very great. " They came into the church (saith 
 St. Chrysostom 53 ) as into the palace of the great King, with 
 fear and trembling ; " upon which account he there presses 
 the highest modesty and gravity upon them. Before their 
 going into the church they used to wash, at least their hands, 
 as Tertullian probably intimates, 54 and Chrysostom expressly 
 tells us, 55 carrying themselves while they were there with the 
 profoundest silence and devotion. Nay, so great was the 
 reverence they bore to the church, that the emperors them- 
 selves, (who otherwise never went without their guard about 
 them,) when they went into the church, used to lay down 
 their arms, to leave their guard behind them, and to put off 
 their crowns ; reckoning that the less ostentation they made 
 of power and greatness there, the more firmly the imperial 
 majesty would be entailed upon them. 56 Examples, one would 
 think, sufficient to excite us to use all such outward testimo- 
 nies of respect as are enjoined by the Church, and established 
 by the custom of the age we live in, as marks of honour and 
 reverence : a duty recommended by Solomon, who charges us 
 to look to our feet, when we go into the house of God ; 57 be- 
 
 51 See the constitution of Simon Islip, 1362, in Bishop Gibson, p. 280, or in Mr. John 
 son's Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws. 52 From Kupmidi (which signifies the Lord',* 
 house) comes Kyre, and by adding letters of aspiration, Chyrch or Church. 53 In Ep. 
 ad Hebr. c. ix. Horn. 15, torn. iv. p. 515, lin. ult. M De Oratione, c. 11, p. 133, C 
 
 55 In Johan. 13, Horn. 72, torn. ii. p. 861, lin. 23. M Codex Theodos. lib. 9, tit. 45, 
 
 leg. 4, torn. iii. p. 363. 5? Eccles. v. 1. 
 
SBCT. in.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 9] 
 
 ing an allusion in particular to the rite of pulling off the shoes 
 used by the Jews, and other nations of the East, when they 
 came into sacred places; 58 and is as binding upon us to look 
 to ourselves by uncovering our heads, and giving all other ex- 
 ternal testimonies of reverence and devotion. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Ministers, or persons officiating in Divine 
 Service. 
 
 Another thing mentioned in this rubric are The necessity of 
 the Ministers ,- by whom we are to understand a divine commis- 
 
 . ' j sion to qualify a 
 
 those who, being taken from among men, are or- person for any 
 dainedfor men, in things pertaining to God,- an pr v e e d.° ffice ' 
 honour which no man taketh to himself, but he that 
 is called of God, as was Aaron ,- 59 for the ministerial office is of 
 so high a nature, that nothing but a divine commission can quali- 
 fy any person for the execution of it. The minis- First from the 
 ters of religion are the representatives of God Al- dignity of the of- 
 mighty : they are to publish his laws, and to pass ce ltse ' 
 his pardons, and to preside in his worship. God has committed 
 to them the keys of the kingdom of heaven,- and whosesoever 
 sins they remit, they shall be remitted ,- whosesoever sins they 
 retain, they shall be retained. They are the stewards of the 
 mysteries of God, and the dispensers of his holy word and sa- 
 craments : in a word, they are the ambassadors of heaven : 
 and on their ministrations the assistances of the Holy Spirit 
 and all the graces of a good life depend. All these characters 
 and powers are ascribed to them in Scripture ; and consequent- 
 ly do sufficiently demonstrate the dignity of their office, and 
 are a plain argument that none but God himself can give them 
 their commission. For who dares, without the express orders 
 of Heaven, undertake an office which includes so many and 
 such great particulars ? Should any one take upon him the 
 character of an ambassador ; should he offer terms of peace 
 to enemies, pretend to naturalize foreigners, and grant par- 
 dons, without a commission from the supreme magistrate ; as 
 all his acts would be null and void, so he would be highly 
 criminal, and liable to the severest punishment. The applica- 
 tion is so easy, that the very heathens would never venture to 
 officiate in religious matters, without a supposed inspiration 
 from heaven, or a previous initiation by those, whom they 
 thought intrusted by the Deity for that purpose. 
 
 58 Exod. iii. 5. Josh. v. 15. »• Heb. v. 1, 4. 
 
92 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [CHAP, n 
 
 .. , Among the Jews none could approach the pre- 
 
 Secondly, from -© , - ■ , " . , r 
 
 the constant sence ot God but such as were particularly ap- 
 Jews. ice0fthe P ointed by him. When God instituted offerings 
 and sacrifices, and the other positive parts of his 
 worship, he at the same time set apart a peculiar order of men 
 to be the administrators of them. So that the persons who 
 were to minister were equally of divine institution with the 
 ministrations themselves. Thus Aaron and his sons, and the 
 Levites, were consecrated by the express command of God to 
 Moses, 60 and had all of them their distinct commissions from 
 heaven : and no less than death was the penalty of invading 
 their office. 61 Nay, God was more than ordinary jealous of 
 this honour, and vindicated it even at the expense of several 
 miracles. Thus, when Korah and his company (though Le- 
 vites, and consequently nearer to the Lord in holy matters 
 than the rest of the congregation) usurped the priest's office ; 
 God Almighty miraculously destroyed both them and their as- 
 sociates : and their censers were ordered to be beaten into 
 broad plates, and fixed on the altar, to be everlasting monu- 
 ments of their sacrilege, and a caution to all the children of 
 Israel, that none should presume to offer incense before the 
 Lord but the seed of Aaron, who alone were commissioned to 
 this office. 62 So also Uzzah was by the immediate hand of 
 God struck dead on the spot for touching the ark, though he 
 did it out of zeal to hinder it from falling ; to shew that no 
 pretence of doing God service can justify meddling in holy 
 things. 63 Saul, for offering sacrifice, (though he thought him- 
 self under a necessity of doing so,) lost his kingdom; 64 and 
 king Uzziah, attempting to burn incense before the Lord, was 
 judicially smitten with leprosy, and so excluded for ever after, 
 not only from all sacred, but even civil society. 65 A plain ar- 
 gument, that the sacerdotal is not included in the regal office, 
 nor derived from thence, but that, on the contrary, it is of a 
 distinct nature and institution. 
 
 And, as St. Jerome rightly observes, 65 " What Aaron and 
 his sons and the Levites were in the temple ; such are the 
 bishops, presbyters, and deacons in the Christian church." 
 These are appointed by God, as those were ; and therefore it 
 can be no less sacrilege to usurp their office. Nay, it must 
 be far greater ; because the honour of the ministry rises in 
 proportion to the dignity of their ministration ; and therefore 
 
 *° Lev. viii. Numb. iii. 5, &c. 6I Numb. iii. 10, and xviii. 7. 6 * Numb. xvi. 
 
 63 2 Sam. vi. 6,7. <* 1 Sam. xiii. to 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, &c. « Sub fine Epis- 
 tclae ad Evagrium. 
 
kct. in.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 93 
 
 as it cannot be denied, but that realities are more valuable 
 than types, and that heaven is better than the land of Canaan ; 
 so the sacraments of the Gospel are certainly to be preferred 
 before all the offerings and expiations of the law. 
 
 And if we would but consider our Saviour's Thirdly, from 
 example, we should find that, though he wanted the example of 
 no gift to qualify him for this office, as having our avioun 
 the divine nature inseparably united to his human, and giving 
 sufficient evidence of his abilities, when but twelve years old ; 
 and though the necessities of mankind called loudly for such 
 an instructor, yet he would not enter upon his office till he 
 was externally commissioned thereto by the visible descent of 
 the Holy Ghost upon him, and by an audible voice from 
 heaven, proclaiming him to be the Messiah, when he was 
 about thirty years old. All the former part of his life he spent 
 in a private capacity ; doubtless to teach us, that no internal 
 qualifications, no good end nor intention, can warrant a man's 
 exercising any holy function, without a divine commission. 
 
 And we may observe that, though our Saviour Fourthly, from 
 had many followers, yet none of them presumed the practice of 
 
 r L • c i.i~ the Apostles. 
 
 to preach, or baptize, or perform any other sa- * 
 
 cred office, till they were particularly commissioned by him. 
 He first ordained twelve, that they might be with him ; and 
 that he might send tliem forth to preach, and to have power 
 to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils ; 67 and afterwards 
 the other seventy, which went out upon a like errand, were 
 especially appointed by him. 68 So likewise, after his resur- 
 rection, when he advanced the eleven to be Apostles, he did 
 it in a most solemn manner : first breathing on them, and com- 
 municating to them the Holy Ghost ; and then, after he had as- 
 sured them of his own authority, he gave them the power of the 
 keys, and authority to exercise all the holy offices in the Chris- 
 tian Church, and to convey the same authority to others ; 
 promising them that he would be always with them and their 
 successors, even to the end of the world; and ratify and con- 
 firm what was done in his name, and agreeable to this com- 
 mission. From whence it is plain, that it was our Saviour's 
 express will and intention, that all those, who are ministers in 
 his Church, should either mediately or immediately derive 
 their authority from him. And accordingly we may observe, 
 that, in the beginning of Christianity, all those who officiated 
 
 • Mark iii. 14, 15. ° 8 Luke x. 1. 
 
94 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC [CHAP. It 
 
 in divine matters received their commission either from Christ 
 himself, or from apostolical hands, and very commonly from 
 both. The seven deacons were constituted by the Apostles ; 69 
 and St. Paul and St. Barnabas ordained elders in every church 
 which they planted. 70 The other Apostles used the same 
 method, as did also their successors after them, as is suffi- 
 ciently evident from Scripture and antiquity ; which abund- 
 antly proves the necessity of a divine commission, in order 
 to the being a minister in the Christian Church. 
 
 The necessity of §' 2 ' If lt be asked >. who ma y be tr uly Said to 
 
 episcopal ordina- have this divine commission ? we need not doubt 
 tlon ' to affirm, that none but those who are ordained 
 
 by such as we now commonly call bishops, can have any au- 
 thority to minister in the Christian Church. For that the power 
 of ordination is solely lodged in that order, shall be proved 
 from the institution of our Saviour, and the constant practice 
 of the Apostles. That the power of ordination lodged in the 
 Apostles was of divine institution, I suppose no one will ques- 
 tion, who reads these words of our Saviour to them, after his 
 resurrection ; As my Father sent me, so send I you ,- 71 and 
 Lo, lam with you always, even unto the end of the world: rz 
 from whence it is evident, first, That it was by a divine com- 
 mission, that our Saviour ordained or sent his Apostles. Se- 
 condly, That, by virtue of the same commission, the Apostles 
 were at that time empowered to ordain or send others. And, 
 thirdly, That this commission to ordain was always to continue 
 in the Christian Church, and to remain in such hands as the 
 Apostles should convey it to. From whence it naturally fol- 
 lows, that whoever has a power to ordain, must derive it from 
 the commission which our Saviour received from God, and 
 gave to his Apostles, and was by them conveyed to their suc- 
 cessors. The only way then to know in whose hands this 
 commission is now lodged, is to inquire what persons were 
 appointed by the Apostles to succeed them in this office. Now 
 
 it is plain to any one who will read the Scripture 
 orders set apart without prejudice, that there were three distinct 
 to the ministry orders of ministers in the Christian Church, in 
 
 the Apostles' days, which were designed to con- 
 tinue to the end of the world. For besides those two which 
 our adversaries allow, viz. deacons, and presbyters or elders, 
 'which latter are also sometimes called bishops,) we read of 
 
 Acts vi. 6. 70 Acts xiv. 23. « John xx. 21. ^ Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
sect. m.J OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 95 
 
 another order, which were superior to, and had authority over, 
 both these: such as were the Apostles, and Timothy and 
 Titus, and others. For it is plain from the epistles St. Paul 
 wrote to the two last mentioned, that they presided over the 
 presbyters. They had power to enforce them to their duty, 
 to receive accusations against them, and judicially to pass 
 sentence upon them : which abundantly proves their supe- 
 riority. And several others were constituted by the Apostles 
 to the same office : such were St. James surnamed the Just, 
 and Epaphroditus, who were termed Apostles or bishops by all 
 antiquity : such doubtless were those whom St. Paul calls 
 Apostles of the Churches, and joins with Titus: 73 and such 
 also were those Angels of the Churches, mentioned in the 
 book of the Revelation. 
 
 Some indeed have been pleased to tell us, that " these 
 were extraordinary officers, and so of temporary institution 
 only." But this is said without any ground or plausible pre- 
 tence. That they were sometimes sent upon extraordinary 
 messages, and had a power, upon an occasion, to do extra- 
 ordinary things, such as miracles, Sec, is very true : but then 
 the same is to be said of the other orders as well as this. 
 Philip was only a deacon, and yet God employed him in 
 several extraordinary matters. And working of miracles was 
 so common in the beginning of Christianity, that ordinary 
 Christians were frequently endued with this power. 74 So that, 
 if this were an argument for the temporary institution of one 
 order, it must be so too for all the rest ; which they, who 
 make the objection, dare not say, and therefore acknowledge 
 there is no force in it. 
 
 But they further urge, that " Timothy was an evangelist ; 
 because St. Paul bids him do the work of an evangelist" 7b 
 But to this we answer, that an evangelist was no distinct 
 officer at any time in the Christian Church. For the proper 
 notion of an evangelist in the Acts and St. Paul's Epistles is, 
 one who was eminently qualified to preach the Gospel, and 
 had taken great pains therein. Thus Philip was called an 
 evangelist, 76 who was no more than a deacon ; and could 
 only preach and baptize, and had not the power of laying on 
 of hands, which Timothy had : and therefore the office of 
 Philip was far inferior to that of Timothy. Whence it is 
 
 » 2 Cor. viii. 23. " 4 Mark xvi. 17, 18. Acta x. 4G, and xix. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 10, 28. 
 
 f> % Tim. iv. 5. 76 Acts xxi. 8. 
 
96 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [CHAP. II. 
 
 evident, that allowing Timothy to be an evangelist, yet his 
 power over presbyters did not accrue to him upon that ac- 
 count. Nor does Timothy's being an evangelist prove the 
 office of ruling and ordaining presbyters to be peculiar to an 
 evangelist, any more than Philip's being called an evangelist 
 proves the office of preaching and baptizing to be so. 
 
 From what has been said therefore it plainly appears, that 
 there were three distinct orders set apart to the ministry by 
 the Apostles. Our next inquiry then is, to how many, or to 
 which of these, the power of ordination was committed. 
 Now that the lowest order (viz. that of deacons) had not this 
 power, is by all confessed : and that the highest order (of 
 which Timothy and Titus were) had it, we are assured by the 
 express testimony of St. Paul. The only ques- 
 neverufvesYed 6 ti° n tnen ls > whether the second order (viz. that 
 with the power f presbyters) was ever invested with this power. 
 
 of ordination. m , r ~, J .' c .. - . * , 
 
 1 he affirmative of which question can never be 
 proved from Scripture or antiquity. For, 
 
 First, It is frivolous to argue from the community of names, 
 to the sameness of office. For any reasonable man will grant, 
 that the words bishop and presbyter being promiscuously used, 
 and mere presbyters being frequently called bishops in Scrip- 
 ture, does not prove, that therefore all the powers, which be- 
 long to those we now call bishops, were ever lodged in those 
 presbyters. The only method, then, to prove that the power 
 of ordination belongs to presbyters, is to shew, that whoever 
 were in Scripture called by the name of presbyters or bishops 
 were invested with that power: which can never be done. 
 For if presbyters or elders had the power of ordination lodged 
 in them, for what reasons can we suppose that St. Paul should 
 leave Titus in Crete on purpose to ordain elders in every city, 
 (as he tells him he did, 77 ) when we know that that island had 
 been converted to Christianity long before Titus came thither; 
 and therefore doubtless had many presbyters among them, to 
 preach and administer the sacraments to the inhabitants ? Nor, 
 
 Secondly, Can this be proved from that often quoted pas- 
 sage, 78 where St. Paul exhorts Timothy not to neglect the gift 
 that was in him, which was given him by prophecy, with the 
 laying on of the hands of the presbytery. For, allowing that 
 Timothy's ordination is here spoken of, (which yet many learn- 
 ed men have questioned,) it is manifest that the Apostles 
 
 " Titus i. 5. w 1 Tim. iv 14. 
 
OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 97 
 
 themselves were often called by the name of presbyters. And 
 so the presbyters here mentioned may very probably be the 
 Apostles. We are sure that St. Paul was one of them, and that 
 he ascribes the whole of Timothy's ordination to his own lay- 
 ing on of hands: 79 and therefore the utmost that can be de- 
 duced from this text is this, viz. That one or more of such as 
 were mere presbyters might lay on their hands in concurrence 
 with him, to testify their consent and approbation ; as is the 
 custom at this day in the ordination of a presbyter, and has 
 been sometimes done at the consecration of a bishop. 80 Nor, 
 Thirdly, Can it be inferred from any of the charges or di- 
 rections given by St. Paul in his epistles to either bishops or 
 presbyters, that they had ever any thing like the power of or- 
 dination : which makes it more than probable, that wherever 
 the word bishop is found in Scripture, as applied to an eccle- 
 siastical officer after our Saviour, the middle order is always 
 meant. 81 For though the Apostles are sometimes called pres- 
 byters and deacons, yet they are never called bishops. Their 
 office is once indeed called kiriaKoirrj, i. e. a bishopric: 82 but 
 wherever we meet with ettIokottoi, i. e. bishops, either in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, or the Epistles, we may very well un- 
 derstand the middle order, which we now call presbyters. 
 And as for those whom we now call bishops, they were, in the 
 first age of the Church, styled Apostles. For so St. Paul, 
 speaking to the Philippians concerning Epaphroditus, 83 calls 
 him his brother and companion in labour, vfi&v U cnroffToXov, 
 but your apostle ; (for so the word ought to be rendered, and 
 not messenger, as in our translation ;) an office which it is 
 probable St. Paul ordained him to, when he sent him with 
 this Epistle ; for which reason, he charges them to receive him 
 in the Lord with all gladness, and to hold such in reputa- 
 tion. u And Epaphroditus is accordingly, by all antiquity, 
 reckoned the first bishop of Philippi. So that the apostolical 
 office was not temporary, but designed to continue in the 
 Church of Christ. And therefore the Apostles took care to 
 ordain some to succeed them, who were at first called by the 
 same name, though they afterwards in modesty declined so 
 high a title ; as is expressly affirmed by Theodoret, who tells 
 
 79 2 Tim. i. 6. so yid. Bevereg. in Can. Apost. 1, p. 11, ad fin. col. 2. 81 And 
 therefore in the Syriac version of the New Testament, the word knia/ioiro? is usually 
 rendered by presbyter, and eTrtcrKonn by presbyteratus. Vide Bevereg. in Can. Apost. 
 2. p. 13, col. 1. 8 2 Acts i. 20. » a Chap. ii. 25. See also 2 Cor. viii. 23. Gal. i. 19. 
 in both which places, by the original word awoc-roXoi, are to be understood those we 
 now call bishops. M Phil. ii. 29. 
 
 H 
 
9b OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. n. 
 
 us, 85 " That formerly the same persons were called both pres- 
 byters and bishops ; and those now called bishops were then 
 called Apostles : but in process of time the name of Apostle 
 was left to those Apostles strictly so called, and the name of 
 bishops ascribed to all the rest." And Pacianus, a writer in 
 the fourth century, affirms the same thing. 86 So that granting 
 mere presbyters to be Scripture bishops, which some have so 
 earnestly contended for ; yet nothing can from thence be in- 
 ferred, to prove them to have equal power with those we now 
 call bishops, who are successors of a higher order. 
 
 And to what has been said, we might, for further proof, add 
 the joint testimony of all Christians for near fifteen hundred 
 years together ; and challenge our adversaries to produce one 
 instance of a valid ordination by presbyters in all that time. 
 It seems therefore very strange, that, if presbyters ever had 
 the power of ordination, they should so tamely give up their 
 right, without any complaint, or so much as leaving any thing 
 upon record, to witness their original authority to after ages. 
 In short, we have as much reason to believe that the power 
 of ordination is appropriated to those we now call bishops, as 
 we have to believe the necessary continuance of any one posi- 
 tive ordinance in the Gospel. 
 
 And now, (to sum up all that has been said in a few words,) 
 a commission to ordain was given to none but the Apostles, 
 and their successors. And to extend it to any inferior order, 
 is without warrant in Scripture or antiquity. For every com- 
 mission is naturally exclusive of all persons, except those to 
 whom it is given. So that, since it does not appear, that the 
 commission to ordain, which the Apostles received from our 
 Saviour, was ever granted to any but such as must be acknow- 
 ledged to be of a superior order to that of presbyters, which 
 superior order is the same with that of those we now call 
 bishops; therefore it follows, that no others have any pre- 
 tence thereunto ; and consequently none but such as are 
 ordained by bishops can have any title to minister in the 
 Christian Church. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Ministerial Ornaments. 
 
 what ornaments ^he secon( l P art of this rubric is concerning 
 
 are meant in the the ornaments of the church, and the ministers 
 
 thereof at all times of their ministrations: 
 
 85 In 1 Tim. iii. 1. torn. iii. p. 473, D. *•> Pacian. Episc. Barcelonens. ad SempTo* 
 nianum de Catholico Nomine. Ep. 1. apud Bibliothec. S. S. Patrum torn. iii. col. 431. 
 Paris. 1589 
 
;ct. in.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 99 
 
 and to know what they are, we must have recourse to the 
 Act of Parliament here mentioned, viz. in the second year of 
 the reign of Icing Edward the Sixth ,• which enacts, That 
 all and singular ministers t in any cathedral or parish 
 church, 8fc, shall, after the feast of Pentecost next coming, 
 he bounden to say the mattens, evening song, Sfc, and the 
 administration of the sacraments, and all the common and 
 open prayer, in such order and form as is mentioned in the 
 said book, (viz. first book of Edward VI.) and not other or 
 otherwise. So that by this Act we are again referred to the 
 first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. for the habits 
 in which ministers are to officiate ; where there are two ru- 
 brics relating to them, one prescribing what habits shall be 
 worn in all public ministrations whatsoever, the other relating 
 only to the habits that are to be used at the Communion. 
 The first is in the last leaf of the book, and runs thus : 
 
 In the saying or singing of mattens, or even-song, baptizing 
 and burying, the minister in parish churches and chapels an- 
 nexed to the same shall use a surplice. And in all cathedral 
 churches and colleges, archdeacons, deans, provosts, masters, 
 prebendaries, and fellows, being graduates, may use in the 
 choir, besides their surplices, such hoods as pertain to their 
 several degrees which they have holden in any university 
 within this realm, but in all other places every minister shall 
 be at liberty to use any surplice or no. It is also seemly that 
 graduates, when they do preach, should use such hoods as per- 
 taineth to their several degrees. 
 
 And whenever the bishop shall celebrate the holy Commu- 
 nion in the church, or execute any other public ministration ; 
 he shall have upon him, beside his rochette, a surplice, or alb, 
 and a cope," or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his 
 hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain. 
 
 The other rubric that relates to the habits that are to be 
 worn by the minister at the Communion, is at the beginning 
 of that office, and runs thus : 
 
 Upon the day, and at the time appointed for the ministra- 
 tion of the holy Communion, the priest that shall execute the 
 holy ministry, shall put upon kirn the vesture appointed for 
 that ministration, that is to say, a white alb plain, with a 
 vestment or cope. And where there be many priests or 
 deacons, there so many shall be ready to help the priest in the 
 
 h 2 
 
100 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. li. 
 
 ministration, as shall be requisite. And shall have upon them 
 likewise the vestures appointed for the ministry, that is to say, 
 albes with tunicles. 
 
 These are the ministerial ornaments enjoined by our pre- 
 sent rubric. But because the surplice is of the most general 
 use, and what is most frequently objected against; I shall 
 therefore speak more largely of that, and only give a short 
 account of the rest. 
 
 I. As to the name of surplice, which comes 
 whyso KdSd. fr° m ^ e Latin super pelliceum, I can give no 
 better account of it, than what I can put to- 
 gether from Durand, who tells us it was so called, because 
 anciently this garment was put super tunicas pellicas de pel- 
 libus mortuorum animalium factas, upon leathern coats, 
 made of the hides of dead beasts ; symbolically to represent 
 that the offence of our first parents, which brought us under 
 a necessity of wearing garments of skin, was now hid and 
 covered by the grace of Christ, and that therefore we are 
 clothed with the emblem of innocence. 87 But whencesoever 
 came the name, the thing certainly is good. 
 The antiquity, For & & be thought necessary for princes and 
 lawfulness, and magistrates to wear distinct habits, in the ex- 
 ecencyofit. ecution of their public offices, to preserve an 
 awful respect to their royalty and justice ; there is the same 
 reason for a different habit when God's ambassadors publicly 
 officiate. And accordingly we find that, under the Law, the 
 Jewish priests were, by God's own appointment, to wear de- 
 cent sacred vestments at all times ; 88 but at the time of public 
 service, they were to have, besides those ordinary garments, 
 a white linen ephod* 9 From the Jews it is probable the 
 Egyptians learned this custom to wear no other garments but 
 only of white linen, looking on that to be the fittest, as being 
 the purest covering for those that attended on divine service. 90 
 And Philostratus tells us, that the Brachmans, or Indian priests, 
 wore the same sort of garments for the same reasons. 91 From 
 so divine an original and spreading a practice, the ancient 
 Christians brought them into use for the greater decency and 
 solemnity of divine service. St. Jerome at one and the same 
 time proves its ancient use, and reproves the needless scruples 
 
 87 Durand Rational. 1. 3, c. 1, numb. 10, 11, 12. 88 Exod. xxviii. and xxix. 
 
 89 Exod. xxviii. 4. 1 Sam. ii. 18. 90 Apul. in Apol. part 1, p. 64. Paris. 1635. VM. 
 Hieron. in Ezek. xliv. 17, torn. iv. p. 476, D. « Philostr. Vit. Apol. Tyan. L 3, c. 1 5. 
 
 p. 106. Lipsiee 1709. 
 
sect, iv.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 101 
 
 of such as oppose it. " What offence," saith he, " can it be 
 to God, for a bishop or priest, &c. to proceed to the com- 
 munion in a white garment ? " 92 The antiquity of it in the 
 Eastern Church appears from Gregory Nazianzen, who ad- 
 viseth the priests to purity, because " a little spot is soon seen 
 in a white garment." 93 And it is very probable that it was 
 used in the Western Church in the time of S. Cyprian ; for 
 Pontius, in his account of that Father's martyrdom, says, that 
 " there was a bench by chance covered with a white linen 
 cloth, so that at his passion he seemed to have some of the en- 
 signs of the episcopal honour." 94 From whence we may gather, 
 that a white garment was used by the clergy in those times. 
 
 §. 2. The colour of it is very suitable ; for it 
 aptly represents the innocence and righteousness T ^y °ihite° f % 
 wherewith God's ministers ought to be clothed. 95 
 And it is observable, that the Ancient of Days 96 is represent- 
 ed as having garments white as snow ; and that when our 
 Saviour was transfigured, his raiment was white as the light ,- 97 
 and that whenever angels have appeared to men, they have 
 always been clothed in white apparel. 98 
 
 §. 3. The substance of it is linen, for woollen 
 would be thought ridiculous, and silk would w ^™ n adeof 
 scarce be afforded : and we may observe, that 
 under the Jewish dispensation God himself ordered that 
 the priests should not gird themselves with anything that 
 caused sweat ; 99 to signify the purity of heart that ought 
 to be in those that were set apart to the performance of 
 divine service ; for which reason the Jewish ephods were 
 linen, 100 as were also most of the other garments which the 
 priests wore during their ministrations. 1 The Levites also 
 that were singers were arrayed in white linen, 2 and the armies 
 that followed the Lamb were clothed in fine linen ; 3 and to 
 the Lamb's wife was granted, that she should be arrayed in 
 fine linen white and clean ; for the fine linen is, i. e. repre- 
 sents, the righteousness of saints} 
 
 §. 4. As for the shape of it, it is a thing so The shape of it . 
 perfectly indifferent, that it admits of no dispute. 
 The present mode is certainly grave and convenient, and, in 
 
 " Adv. Pelag. 1. 1, c. 9, torn. ii. p. 565, F. G. 93 Orat. 31, torn. i. p. 504, A. »* Pont. 
 Diac. in Vita S. Cyprian, p. 9, praefix. operibus Cyprian. 95 Psalm cxxxii. 9. 
 
 96 Daniel \ii. 9. w Matt. xvii. 2. «* Matt, xxviii. 3. Mark xvi. 5. Acts i. 10. 
 
 Rev. vi. 11. vii. 9. xv. 6. xix. 8, 14. *> Ezek. xliv. 18. lou 1 Sam. ii. 18. » Lev. 
 yv\. 4. Ezek. xliv. 17, 18. * 2 Cliron. v. 12. 3 Rev. xix. 14. 4 Rev. xix. 8. 
 
102 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap, ii 
 
 the opinion of Durand, significant ; who observes, that as the 
 garments used by the Jewish priesthood were girt tight about 
 them, to signify the bondage of the law ; so the looseness of 
 the surplices, used by the Christian priests, signifies \he free- 
 dom of the gospel. 5 
 
 §. 5. But neither its significancy nor decency 
 ° bJ swered S an " w iH protect it from objections : for first, some 
 tell us, " it is a rag of popery : " an objection 
 that proves nothing but the ignorance of those that make it : 
 for white garments (let them be called what they will) were of 
 use amongst the most primitive Christians. Nor need our 
 adversaries do the Church of Rome a greater kindness, or 
 wound the protestant religion more deeply, than by granting 
 that white garments and popery are of the same antiquity. 
 
 They tell us, secondly, that " it has been abused by the 
 papists to superstitious and idolatrous uses." But to this we 
 answer, That it is not the priest's using a surplice, that either 
 makes their worship idolatrous or superstitious, or increases 
 the idolatry or superstition of it. For the worship of the Ro- 
 man Church is idolatrous and superstitious, whether the priest 
 be clothed in white, or black, or any other colour. All there- 
 fore that our adversaries can mean is this, viz. that the sur- 
 plice has been worn by the papists, when they have practised 
 idolatry and superstition : and this we grant : but then it does 
 not follow, that a surplice of itself is either unlawful or inex- 
 pedient. For white garments had, in this sense, been abused 
 to superstitious and idolatrous uses, before Daniel represented 
 God himself as wearing such garments ; and before our 
 Saviour wore them ; and before the angels and saints were 
 represented as clothed with them ; and before they became 
 the ministerial ornaments of the primitive times. But surely, 
 if such an abuse made them unlawful or inexpedient, it can- 
 not be conceived, that the primitive Church, and the inspired 
 writers, nay, God himself, would so plainly countenance 
 them. 
 
 II. Next to the surplice, that which is of most 
 
 Of the hood. r • it i L-l*! c J- • 
 
 frequent use m the celebration of divine service 
 is the hood, or the habit denoting the degree which the person 
 officiating has taken in the university. This in Latin is called 
 caputium or cucullus ; though of the two names the latter 
 seems to be the more proper and ancient. For the cucullus 
 
 5 Rational Divin. Offic. 1. 3, c. 3, numb. 3, fol. 67. 
 
sect. TV.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 103 
 
 was a habit among the ancient Romans, being a 
 
 coarse covering for the head, broad at one end By ^J™ first 
 
 for the head to go in, and then lessening gradually 
 
 till it ended in a point. 6 
 
 §. 2. From the Romans the use of it was taken 
 up by the old monks and ascetics ; who, as soon ^Jonks^&c? 116 
 as they began in the church, made choice of this 
 habit as suitable to that strict reservedness which they pro- 
 fessed. For when this was drawn over their faces, it at once 
 prevented them from gazing at others, or being stared at 
 themselves. And as the several orders of monks grew up, 
 there was hardly any one of them but had the hood or cowl, 
 only a little varied in the cut or fashion of it. But generally 
 it was contrived so, that in cold or wet weather it might be a 
 covering to the head ; or at other times, when they pleased, 
 they might let it fall back behind them, hanging upon their 
 neck by the lower end, after the same manner as it now is 
 generally used with us. 
 
 §. 3. After this it came to be used by the ^v used in 
 several members of cathedral churches and col- cathedrals and 
 leges, though they were not allowed to have the universities - 
 same sort of hoods as the monks. And from these the uni- 
 versities took the use of it, to denote the difference of degrees 
 among their members ; varying the materials, colour, and 
 fashion of it, according to the degree of the person that wears 
 it. And that these academical honours (which always entitle 
 those they are conferred upon to the greater respect and esteem 
 of the people) might be known abroad as well as in the univer- 
 sities; the Church enjoins (both by this rubric and her 
 canons 7 ) that every minister, who is a graduate, shall wear 
 his proper hood during the time of divine service, but forbid- 
 ding all that are not graduates to wear it, under pain of sus- 
 pension ; allowing them, in the room of it, to wear upon their 
 surplices some decent tippet of black, so it be not silk. 8 
 
 III. The next ministerial ornament the rubric of the rochette 
 above cited enjoins is the rochette, a linen habit 
 peculiar to the bishop, and worn under what we call the chi- 
 mere. The author of the acts of St. Cyprian's martyrdom says, 
 that the Father went to his execution in his pontifical habit ; 9 
 but whether this seems probable, I shall leave the reader to 
 
 H Martial, lib. 5, Epigr. 14, lin. 6. Juvenal. Sat. 8, v. 145. ? Can. 17, 25, 58. 
 
 » Can. 58. 9 Vid. Baronius's Annals, ann. 26], §. 40, 41 
 
104 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. ii. 
 
 judge : however, it is certain the use of it is ancient, it being 
 described by Bede in the seventh century. 10 In the follow- 
 ing ages the bishops were obliged, by the canon law, to wear 
 their rochettes whenever they appeared in public : u which 
 practice was constantly kept up in England till the Reforma- 
 tion ; but since that time the bishops have not used to wear 
 them at any place out of the Church, except in the parliament 
 house, and there always with the chimere, or up- 
 per robe, to which the lawn sleeves are generally 
 sewed ; which before and after the Reformation, till queen 
 Elizabeth's time, was always of scarlet silk; but bishop 
 Hooper scrupling first at the robe itself, and then at the colour 
 of it, as too light and gay for the episcopal gravity, it was 
 changed for a chimere of black satin. 1 ' 2 
 
 IV. The other things prescribed and enjoined 
 by the forementioned rubrics (though now grown 
 
 obsolete and out of use) are the alb, the cope, the tunicle, 
 and the pastoral staff. The alb was a very ancient habit worn 
 by ministers in the administration of the communion, and 
 appears by the description given of it by Durand, 13 to have 
 been a kind of linen garment, made fit and close to the body 
 like a cassock, tied round the middle with a girdle, or sash, 
 with the sleeves either plain like the sleeves of a cassock, or 
 else gathered close at the hands like a shirt sleeve ; being 
 made in that fashion, I suppose, for the conveniency of the 
 minister, and to prevent his being hindered in the consecra- 
 tion and delivery of the elements, by its being too large and 
 open. They were formerly embroidered with various colours, 
 and adorned with fringes ; u but these our Church does not 
 admit of, though it still enjoins a white alb plain. 
 
 V. Over this alb, the priest that shall execute 
 ° f t ? r e wpe? aent * he hol V ministry, (i. e. consecrate the elements,) 
 
 is to wear a vestment or cope; 15 which the bishop 
 also is to have upon him when he executes any public minis- 
 tration. This answers to the colobium used by the Latin, and 
 the aaKKOQ used by the Greek Church. It was at first a com- 
 mon habit, being a coat without sleeves, but afterwards used 
 as a church vestment, only made very rich by embroidery and 
 the like. The Greeks say it was taken up in memory of that 
 
 10 Bede de Tabernac. citat. ab Almario, in Biblioth. Patr. 1. 10, p. 389. u De- 
 
 cretal. 1. 3, tit. 1, cap. 15. 12 See Hody's History of Convocat. p. 141. " Durand 
 Rational, lib. 3, cap. 3, fol. 67. See also Dr. Watts, in his Glossary at the end of his 
 edition of Matthew Paris. w Durand, ut supra. 15 See also Can. 24. 
 
sect, iv.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 105 
 
 mock robe which was put upon our Saviour. How true this 
 may be I shall not inquire, but only observe, that it seems 
 prescribed to none but the bishop, and the priest that conse- 
 crates the elements at the sacrament. Thus the n , 
 
 _ , „ /-« ■» • i i Copes, when and 
 
 twenty-fourth canon of our Church only orders, by whom to be 
 that the principal minister (when the holy com- AVorn- 
 munionis administered in all cathedral and collegiate churches) 
 use a decent cope, and be assisted with an epistler and gos- 
 peler agreeably, according to the advertisements published, 
 anno 7 Elizabeth.se : which advertisements order, that at all 
 other prayers no copes be used, but surplices.™ 
 
 VI. The priests and deacons that assist the 
 minister in the distribution of the elements, in- 0f the tumcle - 
 stead of copes, are to wear tunicles, which Durand 17 describes 
 to have been a silk sky-coloured coat made in the shape of a 
 cope. 
 
 VII. The pastoral staff (though now grown 
 
 out of use) is yet another thing expressly enjoined * staff.* ™ 
 by the above-cited rubric. It is peculiar indeed 
 to the bishop alone, but expressly ordered to be used by him, 
 as an ensign of his office, at all public administrations. It was 
 made in the shape of a shepherd's crook, and was for many 
 ages, even till after the Reformation, 18 constantly given to the 
 bishop at his consecration, to denote that he was then consti- 
 tuted a -shepherd over the flock of Christ. 19 
 
 These are the ministerial ornaments and habits These habits, &c. 
 enjoined by our present rubric, in conformity to offensive to Cai- 
 the first practice of our Church immediately after 
 the Reformation ; though at that time they were so very offen- 
 sive to Calvin and Bucer, that the one in his letters to the 
 Protector, and the other in his censure of the English Liturgy, 
 which he sent to archbishop Cranmer, urged very vehemently 
 to have them abolished ; not thinking it tolerable to have any 
 thing in common with the papists, but esteeming every thing 
 idolatrous that was derived from them. 
 
 However, they made shift to accomplish the And disconti 
 end they aimed at, in procuring a further reform nue d in the se- 
 of our Liturgy : for in the review that was made ^Jj yj k of Ed ' 
 of it in the fifth of Edward VI., amongst other 
 ceremonies and usages, these rubrics were left out, and the 
 following one put in their place, viz. 
 
 16 Bp. Sparrow's Collection, p. 125. « Rational. 1. 3, c. 10, fol. 73. 18 See the 
 first ordinal, compiled A. D. 1549. 19 Durand, 1. 3, c. 15, fol. 77, &c. 
 
106 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. It. 
 
 And here it is to be noted, that the minister, at the time of 
 the Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall 
 use neither alb, vestment, or cope ; but being archbishop or 
 bishop, he shall have and wear a rochette ; and being a priest 
 or deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only. 20 
 
 But restored ^ ut m tne next rev i ew under queen Elizabeth, 
 
 again by queen the old rubrics were again brought into authority, 
 Elizabeth. an( j g0 h ave continued ever since ; being estab- 
 
 lished by the Act of Uniformity that passed soon after the 
 Restoration. 
 
 VIII. I must observe still further, that among 
 upon the S Sf?ar. other ornaments of the church then in use, there 
 
 were two lights enjoined by the injunctions of 
 king Edward VI. (which injunctions were also ratified by the 
 act of parliament here mentioned) to be set upon the altar, as 
 a significant ceremony to represent the light which Christ's 
 Gospel brought into the world. And this too was ordered by 
 the very same injunction which prohibited all other lights and 
 tapers, that used to be superstitiously set before images or 
 shrines, 21 &c. And these lights, used time out of mind in the 
 Church, are still continued in most, if not all, cathedral and 
 collegiate churches and chapels, so often as divine service is 
 performed by candle-light ; and ought also, by this rubric, to 
 be used in all parish churches and chapels at the same times. 
 
 IX. To this section we might also refer the 
 Sentfen^ne'd. pulpit-cloth, cushions, coverings for the altar, &c, 
 
 and all other ornaments used in the church, and 
 prescribed by the first book of king Edward VI. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the place appointed for the reading of Morning 
 
 and Evening Prayer. 
 of the place The reader may observe, that, in the second 
 
 rnd^evSg^ section f this chapter, I have only treated of 
 prayer is to be churches in general, and the necessity of having 
 said " appropriate places for the performance of divine 
 
 worship, and have not taken any notice of the particular place 
 in the church where morning and evening prayer is to be used- 
 The appointment of which was yet the chief design of the 
 ah divine ser- ^ rst P art °f our Present rubric. For in the first 
 vice performed at book of king Edward VI. all the rubric relating 
 
 first in the choir. . .1 • . . i , , 1 1 t? 
 
 to this matter was only one at the beginning or 
 
 80 Rubric before the beginning of Morning Prayer, in the second Common Prayei 
 Book of king Edward VI. M Sparrow's Collection, p. 2, 3. 
 
sect, iv.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. 107 
 
 morning prayer, which ordered the priest, being in the choir, 
 to begin, rvith a loud voice, the Lord's Prayer, called the 
 Pater-noster, with which the morning and evening service 
 then began. So that then it was the custom for the minister 
 to perform divine service (i. e. morning and evening prayer, 
 as well as the communion-office) at the upper end of the choir 
 near the altar ; towards which, whether standing or kneeling, 
 he always turned his face in the prayers ; though whilst he 
 was reading the lessons he turned to the people. This practice cla . 
 Against this, Bucer, by the direction of Calvin, moured against 
 most grievously declaimed ; urging, that " it was b y Bucer - 
 a most antichristian practice for the priest to say prayers only 
 in the choir, as a place peculiar to the clergy, and not in the 
 body of the church among the people, who had as much right 
 to divine worship as the clergy themselves." He therefore 
 strenuously insisted, " that the reading divine service in the 
 chancel was an insufferable abuse, and ought immediately to 
 be amended, if the whole nation would not be guilty of high 
 treason against God." 22 This terrible outcry And altered 
 (however senseless and trifling) prevailed so far, upon his com- 
 that when the Common Prayer Book was altered plainl - 
 in the fifth year of king Edward, this following rubric was 
 placed in the room of the old one ; viz. The Morning and 
 Evening Prayer shall be used in such places of the church, 
 chapel, or chancel, and the minister shall turn him, as the 
 people may best liear. And if there be any controversy 
 therein, the matter shall be referred to the ordinary, and he 
 or his deputy shall appoint the placer 1 
 
 This alteration caused great contentions, some ^^ caused 
 kneeling one way, some another, though still great conten- 
 keeping in the chancel : whilst others left the tlons ' 
 accustomed place, and performed all the services in the body 
 of the church amongst the people. For the appeasing of this 
 strife and diversity, it was thought fit, when the English ser- 
 vice was again brought into the church, at the accession of 
 queen Elizabeth to the throne, that the rubric custom 
 
 should be corrected, and put into the same form was again restor- 
 in which we now have it ; viz. That the Morning f™^iS£?l 
 and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accus- 
 tomed place oftlie church, chapel, or chancel ; by which for 
 
 22 Vide Bucer, Cens. c. 1, p. 457. « Rubric before the beginning of Morning 
 
 Prayer, in the second book of king Edward. 
 
108 OF THE FIRST RUBRIC. [chap. ii. 
 
 the generality must be meant the choir or chancel, which was 
 the accustomed place before the second Common Prayer 
 Book of king Edward. For it cannot be supposed, that this 
 second book, which lasted only one year and a half, could 
 establish a custom. However, a dispensing power was left 
 to the ordinary, who might determine it otherwise, if he saw 
 just cause. 
 
 The original of Pursuant to this rubric, the morning and 
 reading pews or evening service was again, as formerly, read in 
 the chancel or choir. But because in some 
 churches the too great distance of the chancel from the body 
 of the church, occasioned sometimes by the interposition of a 
 belfry, hindered the minister from being heard distinctly by 
 the people ; therefore the bishops, at the solicitations of their 
 inferior clergy, allowed them in several places to supersede 
 their former practice, and to have desks, or reading pews, in 
 the body of the church, where they might, with more ease to 
 themselves, and greater convenience to the people, perform 
 the daily morning and evening service. Which dispensation, 
 begun at first by some few ordinaries, and recommended by 
 them to others, grew by degrees to be more general, till at 
 last it came to be an universal practice : insomuch that the 
 convocation, in the beginning of king James the First's reign, 
 ordered, that in every church there should be a convenient 
 seat made for the minister to read service in. 24. And this 
 being almost threescore years before the restoration of king 
 Charles II., (at which time the last review of the Common 
 Prayer was made,) it is very probable, that when they con- 
 tinued this rubric, they intended the desk or reading pew 
 should be understood by the accustomed place for reading 
 prayers. And what makes this the more likely, is a rubric 
 at the beginning of the communion, which expressly mentions 
 a reading pew, and seems to suppose one in every church. 
 It is true, indeed, another rubric at the beginning of the 
 Communion-office (which orders the table, at the communion- 
 time^ to stand in the body of the church or chancel, where 
 morning and evening prayer are appointed to be said) 
 seems to have an eye to the old practice of reading prayers in 
 the choir. But this rubric being the same that we have in 
 king Edward's second Common Prayer Book, may perhaps 
 have slipt into the present book through the inadvertency of 
 
 « See Canon 82. 
 
sect, v.] OF THE FIRST RUBRIC 109 
 
 the reviewers, who might not probably just then consider, 
 that custom had shifted the place for the performance of the 
 daily service into another part of the church. Though were 
 it certain that this rubric was continued in the last review, to 
 authorize the old way of reading the prayers in the choir, in 
 such places as had still retained that custom ; yet since the 
 ordinaries have a dispensing power, and they have approved 
 of the alteration that has been made in the introducing of 
 desks ; it seems as regular now to perform divine service in 
 them, as it was formerly to do it in the chancel or choir. 
 
 §. 2. The occasion of the latter part of this 
 rubric relating to chancels, was also another of main °ls they re " 
 Bucer's cavils ; who in his censure of our Liturgy, £ ave don< r in 
 in the same place that he complains of the read- 
 ing prayers in the choir, inveighs as vehemently against the 
 separation of the choir from the body of the church. This too 
 he calls " an antichristian practice, tending only to gain too 
 great reverence to the clergy, who would hereby seem nearer 
 related to God than the laity. That in ancient times churches 
 were built in a round form, and not in a long one like ours, 
 and that the place for the clergy was always in the middle ; 
 and that therefore our division of the chancels from the 
 churches was another article of treason against God." This 
 objection,, discovering an equal share of ignorance and ill- 
 nature, seems to have obtained no greater regard than the 
 raillery deserved. For in the review of the Liturgy of the 
 fifth of king Edward, instead of an order to pull down the 
 chancels, as undoubtedly this mighty reformer expected, a 
 clause was added at the end of the first rubric to prevent any 
 alteration, expressly enjoining, that the chancels should re- 
 main as they had done in times past. There was afterwards 
 indeed a greater occasion for the continuance of this rubric ; 
 when a tumultuous rabble, encouraged by the complaints that 
 they had found had been made by this same Bucer, and his 
 director Calvin, 25 proceeded to demolish both chancels and 
 altars, pulling down the rails and frames that divided them 
 from the rest of the church, and divesting them of all the 
 
 *> Mr. Calvin (who was hefore thought by some to have offered his assistance too 
 officiously for carrying on the Reformation in England, and who with relation to our 
 Church had used some very hard expressions, not so well becoming the mouth of a 
 divine) warns Martin Bucer, in a letter he sent to him just before his coming into 
 England, against being the author or approver of middle counsels : by which words he 
 
 tlainly strikes at the moderation observed in the English Reformation. — Dr. Nichols's 
 utroduction to his Defence of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England. 
 
1 10 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. HI. 
 
 ornaments that but seemed to intimate them to be more than 
 ordinary sacred. But this will fall more directly under my 
 consideration hereafter, when I come to treat of the situation 
 of the altar, to which the rubric in the beginning of the com- 
 munion-office will lead me. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE ORDER FOR MORNING AND EVENING 
 PRAYER DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 That the primitive Christians, besides their 
 was^n^d^iy 6 solemn service on Sundays, had public prayers 
 service in the every morning and evening daily , has already 
 church! 6 Deen hinted upon a former occasion : l but a 
 
 learned gentleman is of the opinion, that this 
 must be restrained to times of peace ; and that during the 
 time of public persecution they were forced to confine their 
 religious meetings to the Lord's day only. 2 And it is certain 
 that Pliny 3 and Justin Martyr, 4 who both describe the manner 
 of the Christian worship, do neither of them make mention 
 of any assembly for public worship on any other day : so that 
 their silence is a negative argument that in their time there 
 was no such assembly, unless perhaps some distinction may 
 be made between the general assembly of both city and 
 country on the Lord's day, and the particular assemblies of 
 the city Christians (who had better opportunities to meet) on 
 other days : which distinction we often meet with in the fol- 
 lowing ages, when Christianity was come to its maturity and 
 perfection. However, it was not long after Justin Martyr's 
 time, before we are sure that the Church observed the cus- 
 tom of meeting solemnly on Wednesdays and Fridays, to 
 celebrate the communion, and to perform the same service as 
 on the Lord's day itself, unless perhaps the sermon was 
 wanting. 5 The same also might be shewed from as early 
 authorities in relation to the festivals of their martyrs and the 
 
 1 Chap. 2, Sect. 1 , p. 80, 81. 2 Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book 13, ch. 9, sect. L 
 
 vol. v. p. 281, &c. 3 L. 10, ep.97. 4 Apol. 1, c. 87, p. 131, and c. 89, p. 132. 
 * Tertul. de Orat c. 14. 
 
introduction.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. Ill 
 
 whole fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide. 6 ISor need 
 we look down many years lower, before we meet with express 
 testimony of their meeting every day for the public worship 
 of God. For St. Cyprian tells us, that in his time it was 
 customary to receive the holy eucharist every day : a plain 
 demonstration that they had every day public assemblies, 
 since we know the eucharist was never consecrated but in 
 such open and public assemblies of the Church. 7 
 
 S. 2. That these daily devotions consisted of m , M 
 
 3 11 • The order of 
 
 an evening as well as a morning service, even their morning 
 from St. Cyprian's time, the learned author I and evening 
 
 *■ ■■ «■ service. 
 
 just now referred to 8 endeavours to prove. 
 However, in a century or two afterwards, the case is plain ; 
 for the author of the Constitutions not only speaks of it, but 
 gives us the order of both the services. 9 The morning ser- 
 vice, as there described, began with the sixty-third, which 
 was therefore called the morning psalm. Immediately after 
 which followed the prayers for the catechumens, for those 
 that were possessed, for the candidates for baptism, and the 
 penitents, which made the general service on the Lord's day, 
 and which were partly performed by the deacon's Trpofffwvrjcrig, 
 or bidding of prayer, something like our present Litany, but 
 only directed to the people, and instructing them for what 
 and for whom they were to offer their petitions ; and partly 
 by the bishop's invocation over them, pronounced as they 
 bowed down to receive his blessing before their dismission. 
 After these were dismissed, followed prayers for the peace of 
 the whole world, and for all orders of men in the Church, 
 with which the communion-service was begun on the Lord's 
 day ; and at which none but those who had a right to com- 
 municate were allowed to be present. After this followed 
 another short bidding prayer for peace and prosperity the en- 
 suing day ; which was immediately succeeded by the bishop's 
 commendatory prayer, or morning thanksgiving ; 10 which 
 being ended, the deacon bid them bow their heads, and re- 
 ceive the bishop's solemn benediction ; which after they had 
 done, he dismissed the congregation with the usual form, De- 
 part in peace: the word for dismissing every Church assembly. 
 This is the order of the morning service, as described by 
 
 « Tertul. de Idololat. c. 14, de Coron. Mil. c. 3. 7 Cypr. de Orat. Domin. p. 147. 
 8 Bingham, ut supra, §. 7. p. 302. 9 Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 37. » ^i/ XapiaT ia 'Op0 p ,w, 
 Const. 1. 6, c. 38. 
 
112 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, m 
 
 the Constitutions ; to which the evening service, as there also 
 set down, is in most things conformable. The prayers for 
 the catechumens, the possessed, the candidates for baptism, 
 and the penitents, were all the same ; so also were those for 
 the peace of the world, and the whole state of the Catholic 
 Church. So that all the difference between them was this, 
 viz that they used the hundred and forty-first psalm at even- 
 ing instead of the sixty-third, which they used in the morning ; 
 and instead of the bidding prayer for peace and prosperity, 
 and the bishop's commendatory prayer in the morning ser- 
 vice, two others were used in the afternoon more proper to 
 the evening, and which for that reason were called the 
 evening bidding prayer, and the evening thanksgiving. The 
 bishop's benediction, too, at the conclusion of the whole, 
 was different from that which was used in the forenoon : but 
 excepting in these two or three particulars, both services 
 were one and the same ; and in the evening, as well as the 
 morning, the congregation was dismissed with the constant 
 form pronounced by the deacon, Depart in peace. The 
 reader, that is curious to see more of these forms, may consult 
 the learned Mr. Bingham, who transcribes most of them at 
 large, and compares the several parts of them with the memo- 
 rials and accounts that are left us by other ancient writers of 
 the Church : in which place he also takes occasion to shew, 
 that though in the form in the Constitutions there is but one 
 psalm appointed either at morning or evening ; 3'et from other 
 rituals it is plain, that it was customary in most places to re- 
 cite several of the psalms, and to mix lessons along with them, 
 both out of the Old Testament and the New, for the edifica- 
 tion of the people. 11 But this is what I have not room to do 
 here ; and indeed there is the less occasion, as it will come in 
 my way to speak of these points more largely hereafter, as the 
 order of the service I am now entering upon will lead me. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Sentences. 
 
 Why placed at Prayer requires so much attention and seren- 
 the beginning of ity of mind, that it can never be well performed 
 without some preceding preparation : for which 
 reason, when the Jews enter into their synagogues to pray, 
 they remain silent for some time, and meditate before whom 
 they stand : 12 and the Christian priest, in the primitive ages, 
 
 11 See Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, vol. v. book 13, chap. 11, 12. * 2 Buxtorf. Synag. 
 Judaic, cap. 10, p. 194. Basil. 1661. 
 
sect. ii. in.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 113 
 
 prepared the people's hearts to prayer by a devout preface. 13 
 The first book of king Edward indeed begins with the Lord's 
 prayer : but when they came to review it afterwards, and to 
 make alterations, they thought that too abrupt a beginning, and 
 therefore prefixed these sentences, with the following exhort- 
 ation, confession, and absolution, as a proper introduction, to 
 bring the souls of the congregation to a spiritual frame, and to 
 prepare them for the great duty they are just entering upon. 
 The sentences are gathered out of Scripture, that so we may 
 not dare to disobey them ; since they come from the mouth of 
 that God whom we address ourselves to in our prayers, and who 
 may justly reject our petitions, if we hearken not to his word. 
 
 §.2. As to the choice of them, the reverend 
 compilers of our Liturgy have selected such as The t hem? ° f 
 are the most plain and the most likely to bring all 
 sorts of sinners to repentance. There are variety of disposi- 
 tions, and the same man is not always in the same temper. 
 For which reason they have collected several, and left it to 
 the discretion of him that ministereth, to use such one or more 
 of them every day, as he shall judge agreeable to his own, or 
 his people's circumstances. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Exhortation. 
 
 The design of the exhortation is to apply and 
 set home the preceding sentences, and to direct thT^xh^Sion. 
 us how to perform the following confession. It 
 collects the necessity of it from the word of God ; and when 
 it hath convinced us of that, it instructeth us in the right man- 
 ner, and then invites us to that necessary duty, for which it 
 hath so well prepared us. And for our greater encouragement, 
 the minister (who is God's ambassador) offers to accompany 
 us to the throne of grace, knowing his Master will be glad to 
 see him with so many penitents in his retinue. And he 
 promises that he will put words in our mouths, and speak with 
 us and for us ; only we must express the humility of our 
 minds by the lowliness of our bodies, and declare our assent 
 to every sentence by repeating it reverently after him. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Confession. 
 
 The holy Scriptures assure us, that sin unre- The confession, 
 pented of hinders the success of our prayers; 14 why placed at the 
 
 w Cypr. de Orat. Dom. p. 152. " Isa. i. 15. John ix. 31. 
 
114 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. in. 
 
 beginning of the and therefore such as would pray effectually have 
 prayers. always begun with confession ; 15 to the end that, 
 
 their guilt being removed by penitential acknowledgments, 
 there might no bar be left to God's grace and mercy. For 
 which reason the Church hath placed this confession at the 
 beginning of the service, for the wlwle congregation to re- 
 peat after the minister, that so we may first be witnesses of 
 each other's confession, before we unite in the following ser- 
 vice. And this, as we learn from St. Basil, is consonant to 
 the practice of the primitive Christians ; " who (he tells us) 
 in all churches, immediately upon their entering into the house 
 of prayer, made confession of their sins to God, with much 
 sorrow, concern, and tears, every man pronouncing his own 
 confession with his own mouth." 16 
 
 §.2. As to the form itself, it is blamed by 
 A answered° a our sectaries for being too general: and yet it 
 is so particular, as to contain all that can be ex- 
 pressed. It begins with an acknowledgment of our original 
 corruption in the wicked devices and desires of our Jiearts, 
 and then descends to actual guilt, which it divides into sins 
 of omission and commission, under which two heads all sins 
 whatever must necessarily be reduced. So that every single 
 person, who makes this general confession with his lips, may 
 at the same time mentally unfold the plague of his own heart, 
 his particular sins, whatever they be, as effectually to God, 
 who searches the heart, as if he enumerated them in the most 
 ample form. And indeed had this form been more particular 
 or express, it would not so well have answered the end for 
 which it was designed : for a common confession ought to be 
 so contrived, that every person present may truly speak it as 
 his own case; whereas a confession drawn up according to 
 the mind of the objectors, would be but little less than an in- 
 quisition, forcing those that join in it to accuse and condemn 
 themselves of those sins daily, which perhaps they never 
 committed in their lives. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Absolution. 
 The congregation being now humbled by the 
 H °usedhere bly preceding confession, may justly be supposed to 
 stand in need of consolation. And therefore 
 
 15 Ezra \y, 5, 6. Dan. ix. 4, 5. 16 Basil, ad Clerum Neocaesariens. Ep. 63. torn. ii. 
 &43, D. 
 
sect, iv.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 115 
 
 since God has committed to his ambassadors the ministry of 
 reconciliation™ they can never more seasonably exercise it 
 than now. For this reason the priest immediately rises from 
 his knees, and standing up, as with authority, declares and 
 pronounces for their comfort and support, that God, who de- 
 sires not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn 
 from his wickedness and live, pardoneth and absoheth all 
 them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy 
 Gospel. 
 
 §. 2. Now whether this be only a declaration 
 of the condition, or terms, whereupon God is 0fw h /eff e e c " efit 
 willing to pardon sinners ; or whether it be an 
 actual conveyance of pardon, at the very instant of pro- 
 nouncing it, to all that come within the terms proposed, is a 
 question that is often the subject of dispute. With the ut- 
 most deference therefore to the judgment of those who are 
 of a different opinion, I beg leave to declare for the last of 
 these senses : not that I ascribe any judicial power or au- 
 thority to the priest to determine the case of a. private man, 
 so as to apply God's pardon or forgiveness directly to the 
 conscience of any particular or definite sinner ; (my notion 
 as to this will be seen hereafter ; 18 ) nor do I suppose that the 
 priest, when he pronounces this form, can apply the benefit 
 of it to whom he pleases ; or that he so much as knows upon 
 whomj or upon how many, it shall take effect ; but all that I 
 contend for is only this, viz. that since the priest has the 
 ministry of reconciliation 19 committed to him by God, and 
 hath both power and commandment (as it is expressed in 
 this form) to declare and pronounce to his people, being 
 penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins ,• there-- 
 fore, when he does, by virtue of this power and command- 
 ment, declare and pronounce such absolution and remission 
 regularly in the congregation ; those in the congregation that 
 truly repent and unfeignedly believe God's holy Gospel, 
 (though the priest does not know who or how many they are 
 that do so,) have yet their pardon conveyed and sealed to 
 them at that very instant through his ministration ; it being 
 the ordinary method of God with his Church, to commu- 
 nicate his blessings through the ministry of the priest. 
 
 " 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. w See chap. 2, concerning the Order for the Visitation of the 
 
 Sick, sect. 5. For the consistency of my notions in both these places, I must beg the 
 reader to turn at the same time to what I have said in the preface. > 9 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. 
 
 i 2 
 
116 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 I am sensible that this is carrying the point higher than 
 many that have delivered their judgments before me. Even 
 the learned translator of St. Cyprian's works, who contends 
 that this is an authoritative form, yet explains himself to 
 mean nothing more by authoritative, than that it is " an act 
 of office warranted by God, and pursuant to the commission 
 which the priest hath received for publishing authoritatively 
 the terms of pardon at large and in general, and then for pro- 
 nouncing by the same authority, that when those terms are 
 fulfilled, the pardon is granted." 20 But this explanation 
 seems only to make it an authoritative declaration, and not 
 to suppose (as, with submission to this gentleman, I take both 
 the rubric and form to imply) that it is an effective form, 
 conveying as well as declaring a pardon to those that are duly 
 qualified to receive it. My reasons for this I shall have 
 another occasion to give immediately : for though what this 
 learned gentleman asserts does not come up to my notion of 
 the form ; yet it is a great deal more than another learned 
 author is willing to allow ; who does not seem to think the 
 form to be authoritative in any sense at all, or that there is 
 any need of a commission to pronounce it. For " it may be 
 asked," saith the Rev. Dr. Bennet upon this place, " whether 
 a mere deacon may pronounce this form of absolution : and 
 to this," saith he, " I answer, that in my judgment he may." 
 The reason that he gives for it is, that he cannot but think it 
 manifest, that this form of absolution is only declaratory : that 
 it is only saying, That all penitent sinners are pardoned by God 
 upon their repentance : and consequently that a mere deacon 
 has as much authority to speak every part of this form, as he 
 has to say, When the wicked man turneth away from his 
 wickedness, &c, which is the first of the sentences appointed 
 to be read before morning prayer : nay, that a mere deacon 
 has as much authority to pronounce this form, as he has to 
 preach a sermon about repentance. And that therefore it 
 seems to be a vulgar mistake, which makes the deacons devi- 
 ate from their rule, and omit either the whole, or else a part 
 of this form, or perhaps exchange it for a collect taken out of 
 some other part of the Liturgy." 21 
 
 Desi ned b the ^ ut now > w ^ su l> m ission to tne learned 
 Church to be doctor, I beg leave to observe, that this form is 
 
 20 See Dr. Marshal's preface to his translation of St. Cyprian. Sl Dr. Bennet on 
 
 the Common Prayer, p. 27. 
 
sect, iv.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 1 \J 
 
 expressly called by the rubric, The Absolution more than de- 
 ar Remission of Sins. It is not called a De- clarative - 
 claration of Absolution, as one would think it should have 
 been, if it had been designed for no more ; but it is positively 
 and emphatically called THE Absolution, to denote that it is 
 really an absolution of sins to those that are entitled to it by 
 repentance and faith. 
 
 Again, the terms used to express the priest's delivering or 
 declaring it, is a very solemn one : it is to be pronounced 
 (saith the rubric) by the priest alone. A word which signifies 
 much more than merely to make known, or declare a thing ; 
 for the Latin pronuncio, from whence it is taken, signifies 
 properly to pronounce or give sentence : and therefore the 
 word pronounced, here used, must signify that this is a sen- 
 tence of absolution or remission of sins, to be authoritatively 
 uttered by one who has received commission from God. 
 
 But further, if the repeating this Absolution be no more 
 than saying, That all penitent sinners are pardoned by God 
 upon their repentance, as the learned doctor affirms ; I can- 
 not conceive to what end it should be placed just after the 
 Confession ; for as much as this, the doctor himself tells us, 
 is said before it, viz. in the first of the sentences appointed to 
 be read before morning or evening prayer, When the wicked 
 man turneth away from his wickedness, &c, and there I 
 think indeed more properly : for such a declaration may be a 
 great encouragement to draw men to confession and repent- 
 ance ; but after they have confessed and repented, the use of 
 it, I think, is not so great. It is indeed a comfort to us to 
 know that God will pardon us upon our repentance : but then 
 it must be supposed that the hope of this pardon is one chief 
 ground of our repentance ; and therefore it cannot be imagin- 
 ed that the Church should tell us that after the Confession, 
 which it is necessary we should know before it, as being the 
 principal motive we have to confess. 
 
 All that I know can be said against this (though the doctor 
 indeed does not urge so much) is, that " after the minister has 
 declared the absolution and remission of the people's sins, he 
 goes on to exhort them to pray and beseech God to grant 
 them true repentance, &c, which repentance is necessary, it 
 may be said, beforehand, in order to their pardon ; because 
 God pardoneth and absolveth none but those who truly re- 
 pent. And therefore since the minister here exhorts the peo- 
 
118 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 pie to pray for repentance after he has pronounced the abso- 
 lution and remission of their sins ; it may be thought that the 
 absolution does not convey a pardon, but only promises them 
 one upon their repentance." But in answer to this, we may 
 grant in the first place, that one part of repentance, viz. the 
 acknowledging and confessing of our sins, must be performed 
 before we are pardoned ; since, unless we acknowledge that 
 we have transgressed God's laws, we do not own that we 
 stand in need of his pardon. And for this reason the Church 
 orders the people to make their confession, before she directs 
 the priest to pronounce the Absolution. But then there are 
 two other parts of repentance, which are as necessary after 
 our sins are forgiven us, as they are before ; and they are 
 contrition and amendment of life : for first, contrition (by 
 which I mean the lamenting or looking back with sorrow upon 
 our sins) is certainly necessary even after they are forgiven 
 us : since to be pleased with the remembrance of them, would 
 be (as far as lies in our power) to act those sins over again, 
 and consequently, though God himself should at any time have 
 declared them pardoned with his own mouth, yet such repe- 
 tition of them would render even that absolution ineffectual. 
 And, secondly, as to endeavours after amendment of life, if 
 there be any difference, they are certainly more necessary 
 after our former sins are forgiven than before ; because God's 
 mercy in pardoning us is a new obligation upon us to live 
 well, and is what will enhance our guilt, if we offend after- 
 wards. And therefore our being pardoned ought to make us 
 pray the more vehemently for repentance, and God's holy 
 Spirit; lest, if we should return to our sins again, a worse 
 thing should happen unto us. From all which it appears, that 
 though repentance be a necessary disposition to pardon, so as 
 that neither God will, nor man can, absolve those that are 
 impenitent ; yet, in some parts of it, it is a necessary conse- 
 quent of pardon, insomuch as that he who is pardoned ought 
 still to repent, as well as he who seeks a pardon : and if so, then 
 the praying for repentance after the minister has declared a 
 pardon, is no argument that such declaration does not convey 
 a pardon. 
 
 But, secondly, the design of the Church in this place is, not 
 only to exhort the congregation to repentance, by declaring 
 to them that God will forgive and pardon their sins when they 
 shall repent, but also to convey an instant pardon from God, by 
 
sect, iv.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. \\Q 
 
 the mouth of the priest, to as many as do, at that time, truly 
 repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel,- seems evident 
 from the former part of the Absolution, where the priest reads 
 his commission before he executes his authority. For this 
 part would be wholly needless, if no more was intended by 
 the Absolution than what Dr. Bennet tells us, viz. " a bare 
 declaration, that all penitent sinners are pardoned by God upon 
 their repentance ; " for since, as he himself confesses, there is 
 no more contained in such a declaration than what is implied 
 in the first of the sentences before morning prayer, it will be 
 very difficult to account why the Church should usher it in 
 with so solemn a proclamation of what power and command- 
 ment God has given to his ministers. But since the Church 
 has directed the priest to make known to the people, that God 
 has given power and commandment to his ministers to de- 
 clare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolu- 
 tion and remission of their sins ; it is very reasonable to sup- 
 pose that, when in the next words the priest declares that 
 God pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and 
 unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel, he does, in the intent of 
 the Church, exercise that power, and obey that commandment, 
 which God has given him. 
 
 But, lastly, the persons to whom this absolution must be 
 pronounced, is another convincing proof that it is more than 
 merely declarative. For if it implied no more than that all 
 sinners are pardoned by God upon their repentance ; it might 
 as well be pronounced to such as continue in their sins, as to 
 those that have repented of them : nay, it would be more pro- 
 per and advantageous to be pronounced to the former than 
 to the latter ; because, as I have observed, such a declaration 
 might be a great inducement to forward their conversion. 
 But yet we see that this form is not to be pronounced to such 
 as the Church desires should repent, but to those who have 
 repented. The absolution and remission of sins, which the 
 priest here declares and pronounces from God, is declared 
 and pronounced to his people being penitent, i. e. to those 
 who are penitent at the very time of pronouncing the absolu- 
 tion. For as to those who are impenitent, the priest is not 
 here said to have any power or commandment relating to 
 them : they are quite left out, as persons not fit or proper to 
 have this commission executed in their behalf. From all 
 which it is plain, that this absolution is more than declarative, 
 
120 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. iit. 
 
 that it is truly effective ; insuring and conveying to the proper 
 subjects thereof the very absolution or remission itself. It is 
 as much a bringing of God's pardon to the penitent member 
 of Christ's Church, and as effectual to his present benefit, as 
 an authorized messenger bringing a pardon from his sovereign 
 to a condemned penitent criminal, is effectual to his present 
 pardon and release from the before appointed punishment. 
 
 It is indeed drawn up in a declarative form ; and consider- 
 ing it is to be pronounced to a mixed congregation, it could 
 not well have been drawn up in any other. For the minister, 
 not knowing who are sincere, and who are feigned penitents, 
 is not allowed to prostitute so sacred an ordinance amongst 
 the good and bad promiscuously ; but is directed to assure 
 those only of a pardon who truly repent, and unfeignedly 
 believe God's holy Gospel. But then to these, as may be 
 gathered from what has been said, I take it to be as full and 
 effective an absolution as any that can be given. 
 
 Not to be pro- §• ^' And ^ s0 ' tnen tne °L Uest i° n tne learned 
 
 nounced by a doctor here introduces, must receive a different 
 deacon. answer from what he has given it. For deacons 
 
 were never commissioned by the Church to give absolution in 
 any of its forms : and therefore when a deacon omits the whole 
 or part of this form, he does not deviate from his rule, as the 
 doctor asserts, but prudently declines to use an authority which 
 he never received ; and which he is expressly forbid to use in 
 this place by the rubric prefixed, which orders the Absolution 
 to be pronounced by the priest alone. I am very readily in- 
 clined to acknowledge with the doctor, that the word alone 
 was designed to serve as a directory to the people, not to re- 
 peat the words after the minister, as they had been directed to 
 do in the preceding Confession ; but silently to attend till the 
 priest has pronounced it, and then, by a hearty and fervent 
 Amen, to testify their faith in the benefits conveyed by it. 
 But then as to what the doctor goes on to assert, that " the 
 word priest does in this place signify, not one that is in priest's 
 orders, as we generally speak, but any minister that officiates, 
 whether priest or deacon ;" I think I have very good reason 
 to dissent from him. For the signification of a word is cer- 
 tainly to be best learnt from the persons that impose it. Now 
 though it be true that in king Edward's second Common 
 Prayer Book, (which was the first that had the Absolution in 
 it,) and in all the other books till the restoration of king 
 
MCANING AND EVENING PRAYER. 121 
 
 Charles, the word in the rubric was minister, and not priest ; 
 yet in the review that followed immediately after the Restora- 
 tion, priest was inserted in the room of minister, and that 
 with a full and direct design to exclude deacons from being 
 meant by it. For at the Savoy Conference, the presbyterian 
 divines (that were appointed by the king to treat with the 
 bishops about the alterations that were to be made in the Com- 
 mon Prayer) had desired that, as the word minister was used 
 in the Absolution, and in divers other places ; it 
 might also be used throughout the whole book, SSJSffunSJ- 
 instead of the word priest? 2. But to this the stood exclusive of 
 bishop's answer was very peremptory and full, 
 viz. It is not reasonable that the word minister should he 
 only used in the Liturgy : for since some parts of the Li- 
 turgy may he performed by a deacon, others by none under 
 the order of a priest, viz. Absolution, Consecration ; it is Jit 
 that some such word as priest should be used for those offices, 
 and not minister, which signifies at large every one that mi- 
 nisters in the holy office, of what order soever he be? z And 
 agreeable to this answer, when they came to make the neces- 
 sary alterations in the Liturgy, they not only refused to change 
 priest for minister, but also threw out the word minister, and 
 put priest in the room of it, even in this rubric before the 
 Absolution. So that it is undeniably plain, that by this rubric 
 deacons are expressly forbid to pronounce this form ; since 
 the word priest in this place (if interpreted according to the 
 intent of those that inserted it) is expressly limited to one in 
 vriesfs orders, and does not comprehend any minister that 
 officiates, whether priest or deacon, as Dr. Bennet asserts. I 
 therefore could wish that the doctor would take some decent 
 opportunity to withdraw that countenance, which I know some 
 deacons are apt to take from his opinion, which has much 
 contributed to the spreading of a practice which was seldom 
 or never known before. The doctor indeed, in the conclusion 
 of the whole, declares that " he is far from desiring any per- 
 son to be determined by him : and entreats the deacons to 
 consult their ordinaries, and to follow their directions, which 
 
 25 See the exceptions against the Book of Common Prayer, §.11, p. 6, in a quarto 
 treatise, entitled, An Account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners of both 
 Persuasions, appointed by his sacred Majesty, according to Letters Patent, for the Re- 
 view of the Book of Common Prayer, &c. London, printed in the year 1661 ; and in 
 Mr. Baxter's Narrative, p. 318. Zi See the papers that passed between the commis- 
 sioners appointed by his Majesty for the alteration of the Common Prayer, (annexed 
 to the aforesaid account,) p. 57, 58. 
 
122 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, m. 
 
 in such disputable matters (as these) are the best rule of con- 
 science." But as to this it should be considered, that the 
 rubric being established by act of parliament, the ordinaries 
 themselves (whom the doctor advises the deacons to consult 
 about it) have no power to authorize them to use this form, 
 any otherwise than by giving them priest's orders : since their 
 authority reaches no further than to doubtful cases, 24 and this, 
 1 think, appears now to be a clear one. 
 
 The priest to §• ^* ^ ne P r i est i s required to pronounce the 
 
 stand, and the Absolution standing, because it is an act of his 
 people to kneel. authority in declaring the will of God, whose 
 ambassador he is. But the people are to continue kneeling, 
 in token of that humility and reverence with which they ought 
 to receive the joyful news of a pardon from God. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Rubric after the Absolution. 
 
 Immediately after the Absolution in the morning service, 
 follows this general rubric : 
 
 ^f The people shall answer here, and at the end of all other 
 prayers, Amen. 
 
 The word here enjoined to be used is origin- 
 Al ^nile\ at tt ally Hebrew, and signifies the same in English 
 as So be it. But the word itself has been retained 
 in all languages, to express the assent of the person that pro- 
 nounces it, to that to which he returns it as an answer. As it 
 is used in the Common Prayer Book, it bears different signi- 
 fications, according to the different forms to which it is an- 
 nexed. At the end of prayers and collects, it is addressed to 
 God, and signifies, " So be it, Lord, as in our prayers we 
 have expressed." But at the end of Exhortations, Absolu- 
 tions, and Creeds, it is addressed to the priest, and then the 
 meaning of it is either, " So be it, this is our sense and mean- 
 ing: " or, " So be it, we entirely assent to and approve of what 
 has been said." 
 
 Howregardedhy . §• 2 - When this assent was given by the primi- 
 the primitive tive Christians at their public offices, they pro- 
 nounced it so heartily that St. Jerome compares 
 it to thunder: " They echo out the Amen," saith he, " like a 
 thunder-clap : " 25 and Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, that " at 
 the last acclamations of their prayers, they raised themselves 
 
 84 See the preface concerning the Service of the Church. 25 Hieron. in 2 Procem. 
 Com. in Galat. 
 
sect, vi.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 123 
 
 upon their tip-toes, (for on Sundays and on all days between 
 Easter and Whitsuntide they prayed standing,) as if they de- 
 sired that that word should carry up their bodies as well as 
 their souls to heaven." 26 
 
 §. 3. In our present Common Prayer Book it 
 is observable, that the Amen is sometimes printed someSshiRo- 
 in one character and sometimes in another. The man and some- 
 reason of which I take to be this : at the end of 
 all the collects and prayers, which the priest is to repeat or 
 say alone, it is printed in Italic, a different character from the 
 prayers themselves, to denote, I suppose, that the minister is 
 to stop at the end of the prayer, and to leave the Amen for 
 the people to respond : but at the end of the Lord's Prayer, 
 Confessions, Creeds, &c, and wheresoever the people are to 
 join aloud with the minister, as if taught and instructed by him 
 what to say, there it is printed in Roman, i. e. in the same cha- 
 racter with the Confessions and Creeds themselves, as a hint to 
 the minister that he is still to go on, and by pronouncing the 
 Amen himself, to direct the people to do the same, and so to 
 set their seal at last to what they had been before pronouncing. 
 
 §. 4. By the people being directed by this ru- Tnepeoplenot 
 brie to answer Amen at tlie end of the prayers, to repeat the 
 they might easily perceive that they are expected prayers aloud - 
 to $>e silent in the prayers themselves, and only to go along 
 with the minister in their minds. For the minister is the ap- 
 pointed intercessor for the people, and consequently it is his 
 office to offer up their prayers and praises in their behalf: in- 
 somuch that the people have nothing more to do than to at- 
 tend to what he says, and to declare their assent by an Amen 
 at last, without disturbing those that are near them by mut- 
 tering over the collects in a confused manner, as is practised 
 by too many in most congregations, contrary to common 
 sense, as well as decency and good manners. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 What hath hitherto been done is, for the most Lord . s Prayer) 
 part, rather a preparation to prayer, than prayer how proper at' 
 itself: but now we begin with the Lord's Prayer, thebe s inmn ^ 
 with which the office itself began in the first book of king 
 Edward VI. But our reformers at the review of it (as has 
 already been observed) thought it proper to add what now 
 
 «« Stromat. 1. 7. 
 
124 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, hi 
 
 precedes it, as judging it perhaps not so decent to call God 
 Our Father, before we repent of cur disobedience against him. 
 The necessity of using it I have already proved ; 27 and shall 
 now only observe, that its being drawn up by our glorious 
 Advocate, who knew both his Father's sufficiency and our 
 wants, may assure us, that it contains every thing fit for us to 
 ask, or his Father to grant. For which cause it is, and ought 
 to be, added to all our forms and offices to make up their de- 
 fects, and to recommend them to our heavenly Father ; who, 
 if he cannot deny us when we ask in his Son's name, can 
 much less do so when we speak in his words also. 28 
 
 §. 2. The Doxology was appointed by the last 
 why?o°metS's review to be used in this place, partly, I suppose, 
 used, and some- because many copies of St. Matthew have it, and 
 
 the Greek Fathers expound it ; and partly, be- 
 cause the office here is a matter of praise, it being used im- 
 mediately after the Absolution. But since St. Luke leaves it 
 out, and some copies of St. Matthew, and most of the Latin 
 Fathers ; therefore we also omit it in some places, where the 
 offices are not direct acts of thanksgiving. 
 
 §. 3. Here, and wherever else this prayer is 
 pea e tthe P Lord's e " useo o tne whole congregation is to join with the 
 Prayer aloud minister in an audible voice ; partly that people 
 with the minis- jg norant iy educated may the sooner learn it ; *nd 
 
 partly to signify how boldly we may approach 
 the Father, when we address him with the Son's words. 
 Though till the last review there was no such direction ; it 
 having been the custom till then, for the minister to say the 
 Lord's prayer alone, in most of the offices, and for the people 
 only to answer at the end of it, by way of response, Deliver 
 us from evil. And the better to prepare and give them no- 
 tice of what they were to do, the minister was used to elevate 
 and raise his voice, when he came to the petition, Lead us 
 not into temptation, just as it is done still in the Roman 
 Church, where the priest always pronounces the conclusion 
 of every prayer with a voice louder than ordinary, that the 
 people may know when to join their Amen. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the Responses. 
 
 The design of It was a very ancient practice of the Jews to 
 the responses. rec i te their public hymns and prayers by course: 
 
 27 Introduction, p. 3, 4, &c. ** Cyprian, de Orat. p. 139, 140. 
 
our 
 
 mouth shall, &c. 
 
 sect, vii.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 125 
 
 and many of the Fathers assure us, that the primitive Chris- 
 tians imitated them therein : so that there is no old Liturgy 
 wherein there are not such short and devout sentences as 
 these, which, from the people's answering the priests, are 
 called responses. The design of them is, by a grateful va- 
 riety, to quicken the people's devotions, and engage their at- 
 tention : for since they have their share of duty, they must ex- 
 pect till their turn come, and prepare for the next response : 
 whereas, when the minister does all, the people naturally grow 
 sleepy and heedless, as if they were wholly unconcerned. 
 
 §. 2. The responses here enjoined consist of 
 prayers and praises: the first, O Lord, open thou, ax^' open 
 thou our lips, and our mouth shall shew forth R - And 
 thy praise, are very frequent in ancient Litur- 
 gies, particularly in those of St. James and St. Chrysostom, 
 and are fitly placed here with respect to those sins we lately 
 confessed : for they are part of David's penitential psalm, 29 
 who looked on his guilt so long, till the grief, shame, and fear, 
 which followed thereupon, had almost sealed up his lips, and 
 made him speechless ; so that he could not praise God as he 
 desired, unless it pleased him, by speaking peace to his soul, 
 to remove those terrors, and then his lips would be opened, 
 and his mouth ready to praise God. And if we were as sens- 
 ible of our guilt as we ought to be, it will be needful for us 
 to beg such evidences of our pardon, as may free us from the 
 terrors which seal up our lips, and then we shall be fit to 
 praise God heartily in the following psalms. 
 
 §. 3. The words that follow, viz. God, make 
 speed to save us ; O Lord, make haste to help S p e ed, &c.' m 
 us, are of ancient use in the Western Church. £ s ? e L &c d ' make 
 When with David we look back to the innumer- 
 able evils which have taken hold of us, we cry to God to save 
 us speedily from them by his mercy ; and when we look for- 
 ward to the duties we are about to do, we pray as earnestly, 
 in the words of the same Psalmist, 30 that he will make haste 
 to help us by his grace ; without which we can do no accept- 
 able service. 
 
 §. 4. And now having good confidence that 
 our pardon is granted ; like David, 31 we turn our the Father, &c. 
 petitions into praises : standing up to denote the ^- As it was in the 
 elevation of our hearts, and giving glory to the 
 
 » Psalm li. 15. s° Psalm lxx. 1, 31 p sa lm vi. 9. cxxx. 7. 
 
126 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. in. 
 
 whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the hopes 
 we entertain. 
 
 In the primitive times almost every Father had his own 
 Doxologies, which they expressed as they had occasion in 
 their own phrases and terms ; ascribing glory and honour, &c. 
 sometimes to the Father only, and sometimes only to the Son ,• 
 sometimes to the Father through the Son, and sometimes to 
 the Father with the Son; sometimes to the Spirit jointly 
 with both, and sometimes through or in the Spirit to either ; 
 sometimes through the Son to the Father with the Holy 
 Ghost, and sometimes to the Father and Holy Ghost with 
 the Son. For they all knew that there were three distinct, 
 but undivided Persons, in one eternal and infinite essence ; 
 and therefore whilst they rendered glory from this principle 
 of faith, whatever the form of Doxology was, the meaning and 
 design of it was always the same. But when the Arians be- 
 gan to wrest some of these general expressions in countenance 
 and vindication of their impious opinions, and to fix chiefly 
 upon that form, which was the most capable of being abused 
 to an heretical sense, viz. Glory to the Father, by the Son, in 
 the Holy GJwst ; this and the other forms grew generally into 
 disuse , atirl that which ascribes glory to the Holy Ghost, as 
 well as to the Father and the Son, from that time became the 
 standing form of the Church. So that the Doxology we meet 
 with in the ancient Liturgies is generally thus : Glory be to 
 the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and 
 ever, world without end : and so it continues still in the offices 
 of the Greek Church: but the Western Church soon after- 
 wards added the words, As it was in tlie beginning, not only 
 to oppose the poison of the Arians, who said, there was a 
 beginning of time before Christ had any beginning, but also 
 to declare that this was the primitive form, and the old ortho- 
 dox way of praising God. 32 
 „ - . .. §.5. Having now concluded our penitential 
 
 zr praise ve the • 
 
 Lord. if.The office, we begin the office of praises; as an in- 
 L rais s d name be traduction to which the priest exhorts us to 
 Praise the Lord: the people, to shew their 
 readiness to join with him, immediately reply, let the Lord's 
 name be praised ; though this answer of the people was first 
 added to the Scotch Liturgy, and then to our own, at the last 
 review. 
 
 32 Concil. Vasens. c. 3, torn. ii. col. 727, E. 
 
sect, viii.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 127 
 
 The first of these versicles, viz. Praise ye the 
 Lord, is no other than the English of Hallelujah ; of JJ^* 116 * 
 a word so sacred, that St. John retains it, 33 and 
 St. Austin saith the Church scrupled to translate it ; H a word 
 appointed to be used in all the Liturgies I ever met with : in 
 some of them upon all days in the year except those of fast- 
 ing and humiliation ; but in others only upon Sundays and 
 the fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide, in token of 
 the joy we express for Christ's resurrection. 35 In our own 
 Church, notwithstanding we repeat the sense of it every day 
 in English ; yet the word itself was retained in the first book 
 of king Edward VI., where it was appointed to be used im- 
 mediately after the versicles here mentioned,/rom Easter to 
 Trinity Sunday. How it came to be left out afterwards I 
 cannot tell ; except it was because those who had the care of 
 altering our Liturgy, thought the repetition of the word itself 
 was needless, since the sense of it was implied in the forego- 
 ing versicles : though the Church always took it for something 
 more than a bare repetition of Praise ye the Lord. For in 
 those words the minister calls only upon the congregation to 
 praise God ; whereas in this he was thought to invite the holy 
 angels also to join with the congregation, and to second our 
 praises below with their divine Hallelujahs above. 
 
 §. 6. Some have objected against the dividing 
 of our prayers into such small parts and versi- 0bj s ^ered. an " 
 cles : but to this we answer, That though there 
 be an alteration and division in the utterance, yet the prayer 
 is but one continued form. For though the Church requires 
 that the minister speak one portion, and the people the other ; 
 yet both the minister and the people ought mentally to offer 
 up and speak to God, what is vocally offered up and spoken 
 by each of them respectively. 
 
 Sect. YIII.— Of the Ninety-fifth Psalm. 
 
 The matter of this psalm shews it was designed 
 at first for the public service ; on the feast of ta- The SJ 8 ? x " 
 bernacles, as some, 35 or on the Sabbath-day, as 
 others think ; 37 but St. Paul judges it fit for every day, while 
 it is called to-day™ and so it has been used in all the Chris- 
 
 33 Rev. xix. 1, 3, 4, 6, &c. 3* De Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. 11, torn. iii. col. 
 25, B. » August. Ep. 119, ad Jan. cap. 15, et 17. Isidor. de Eccl. Offic. lib. i. c. 13. 
 • v > Grotius in Psalm xcv. 37 Calvin in Psalm xcv. M Heb. iii. 7, 15. 
 
128 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 tian world ; as the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil 
 witness for the Greek Church, the testimony of St. Augustin 
 for the African, 39 and all its ancient offices and capitulars for 
 the Western. St. Ambrose saith, that it was the use of the 
 Church in his time to begin their service with it : 40 for which 
 reason in the Latin services it is called the Invitatory Psalm ; 
 it being always sung with a strong and loud voice, to hasten 
 those people into the church, who were in the cemetery or 
 churchyard, or any other adjacent parts, waiting for the be- 
 ginning of prayers : 41 agreeable to which practice, in the first 
 book of king Edward it is ordered to be said, or sung, with- 
 out any (i. e. I suppose without any other) invitatory. 
 
 §. 2. Our reformers very fitly placed it here 
 Why piace. n thlS as a P ro P er preparatory to the following psalms, 
 lessons, and collects. For it exhorts us, first, to 
 praise God, shewing us in what manner and for what reasons 
 we ought to do it ; 42 secondly, it exhorts us to pray to him, 
 shewing us also the manner and reasons. 43 Lastly, it exhorts 
 us to hear God's word speedily and willingly, 44 giving us a 
 caution to beware of hardening our hearts, by an instance of 
 the sad event which happened to the Jews on that account, 45 
 whose sin and punishment are set before us, that we may not 
 destroy our souls, by despising and distrusting God's word as 
 they did. 46 For which warning we bless the holy Trinity, 
 saying, Glory be to the Father, &c. 
 
 Sect. IX.— Of the Psalms. 
 
 And now, if we have performed the foregoing parts of the 
 Liturgy as we ought, we shall be fitly disposed to 
 
 Sy fonoTAlxt 7 sin g the Psalms of David with his own s P irit - For 
 ali that hath been done hitherto was to tune our 
 hearts, that we may say, God, our hearts are ready, we will 
 sing and give praised For having confessed humbly, begged 
 forgiveness earnestly, and received the news of our absolution 
 thankfully; we shall be naturally filled with contrition and 
 lowliness, and with desires of breathing up our souls to heaven. 
 And this, St. Basil tells us, 48 was a rite that in his time had 
 obtained among all the Churches of God : " After the Confes- 
 sion," saith he, " the people rise from prayer, and proceed to 
 
 30 Serm. 176, de Verb. Apost. c. 1, torn. v. col. 839, E. *° Serm. de Deip. 41 Durand. 
 de Divin. Offic. Rational. 1. 5, c. 3, numb. 11, fol. 227. « Ver. 1—5. « Ver. 6, 7. 
 "Ver. 8. « ver. 8— 11. « Ver. 10, 11. *7 Psalm cviii. 1. *s Basil, Ep. 63, 
 torn, ii p. 843. 
 
sect, ix.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 129 
 
 psalmody, dividing themselves into two parts, and singing by 
 turns." For the performance of which we can have no greater 
 or properer assistance than the Book of Psalms, which is a 
 collection of prayers and praises indited by the Holy Spirit, 
 composed by devout men on various occasions, and so suited 
 to public worship, that they are used by Jews as well as Chris- 
 tians. And though the several parties of Christians differ in 
 many other things ; yet in this they all agree. They contain 
 variety of devotions, agreeable to all degrees and conditions 
 of men ; insomuch that, without much difficulty, every man 
 may, either directly or by way of accommodation, apply most 
 of them to his own case. 
 
 §. 2. For which cause the Church useth these Usedoft enerthan 
 oftcner than any other part of Scripture. Nor any other part of 
 can she herein be accused of novelty : since it is Scn P ture - 
 certain the temple-service consisted chiefly of forms taken out 
 of the Psalms; 49 and the prayers of the modern Jews also 
 are mostly gathered from thence. 50 The Christians undoubt- 
 edly used them in their public service in the times of the 
 Apostles; 51 and in the following ages they were repeated so 
 often at the church, that the meanest Christians could rehearse 
 them by heart at their ordinary work. 52 
 
 §. 3. But now it is objected, that " it cannot Whether ail the 
 reasonably be supposed that all the members of mixed congrega- 
 mixed congregations can be fit to use some ex- us"™me P ex P res y 
 pressions in the Psalms, so as to make them their sums in the 
 own words ; because very few have attained to Psalms - 
 such a degree of piety and goodness as David and the other 
 Psalmists make profession of: and that therefore the Book of 
 Psalms is not now a proper part of divine service." 
 
 To which it is answered : That so long as men continue in 
 a wicked course of life, they are not only unfit for the use of 
 the Psalms, but of any other devotions : they are not only 
 incapable of applying such passages in the Psalms to their own 
 persons ; but they cannot so much as repeat a penitential 
 Psalm, or even the confession of sins in the Liturgy, in a 
 proper and agreeable manner : since he that does this as he 
 ought, must do it with resolutions of amendment. But then 
 as to those who have sincerely repented, and in earnest begun 
 
 *> 1 Chron. xvi. 1—37. xxv. 1,2. 50 Bnxtorf. Synag. Judaic, cap. 10. 51 1 Cor, 
 xiv. 26. Col. iii. 16. James v. 13. 52 Vid. Chrys. Horn. 6, de Pceniten. torn. v. col 
 741, D. in a Latin edition printed at Paris, 1588. 
 
 K 
 
130 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, hi 
 
 a virtuous course of life ; no reason can be given why they 
 may not unite their hearts and voices with the Church, in re- 
 hearsing these Psalms. For we may very aptly take a great 
 part of the Psalter as the address of the whole Church to 
 Almighty God ; and then no doubt but every sincere member 
 of this body may perform his part in this pious consort. Every 
 true Christian may, and must say, that the Church, whereof 
 he professes himself a member, is all glorious within, (i. e. 
 adorned with all manner of inward graces and excellences,) 
 though no Christian that is humble will presume to say so of 
 himself. Perhaps the very best men do not think such ele- 
 vated expressions fit to be applied to their single lives, or per- 
 sonal performances : but yet any sincere Christian may very 
 well join in the public use of these parts of the Psalter, when 
 he considers that what he says, or sings, is the voice of the 
 Church universal ; and that, as he has but a small share of 
 those virtues and perfections, which are the ornament of the 
 Church, the body of Christ ; so his tongue is but one, amongst 
 those innumerable choirs of Christians throughout the world. 
 And there is no reason to doubt but that David did in some 
 Psalms speak as the representative of the Church, as in others 
 he expresses himself in the person of Christ : and therefore a 
 devout man may also as well use these Psalms in his closet as 
 in the church ; if so be he consider himself, notwithstanding 
 his retirement, as one of that large and vast body, who serve 
 and worship God, according to these forms, night and day. 
 But to return : 
 
 §. 4. The custom of singing or repeating the 
 bourse? b7 P sa l ms alternately, or verse by verse, seems to 
 be as old as Christianity itself. Nor is there 
 any question to be made but that the Christians received it 
 from the Jews ; for it is plain that several of the Psalms, 
 which were composed for the public use of the temple, were 
 written in amoebceick, or alternate verse.™ To which way of 
 singing used in the temple, it is probable the vision of Isaiah 
 alluded, which he saw of the seraphim crying one to another, 
 Holy, holy, holy, &c. 54 That it was the constant practice of 
 the Church in the time of St. Basil, we have his own testi- 
 mony : for he writes, 55 that the people in his time, u rising 
 before it was light, went to the house of prayer, and there, 
 
 53 As the cxivth and cxviiith, &c. 5 * Isaiah viii. 3. 55 E p< a d Clerum Neocass. 
 Ep. 63, torn. ii. p. 843, D. Vide et Const. Ap. 1. ii. c. 57. 
 
sect, ix.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 131 
 
 in great agony of soul, and incessant showers of tears, made 
 confession of their sins to God : and then rising from their 
 prayers, proceeded to singing of psalms, dividing themselves 
 into two parts, and singing by turns." Ever since which time 
 it has been thought so reasonable and decent, as to be uni- 
 versally practised. What Theodoret writes, 56 that Flavianus 
 and Diodorus were the first that ordered the Psalms of David 
 to be sung alternately at Antioch, seems not to be meant of 
 the first institution of this custom, but only of the restoring 
 of it, or else of the appointing some more convenient way of 
 doing it. Isidore says, 57 that St. Ambrose was the first that 
 introduced this custom among the Latins ; but this too must 
 be understood only in relation to some alterations that were 
 then made ; for pope Caelestine, as we read in his life, applied 
 the Psalms to be sung alternately at the celebration of the 
 eucharist. This practice, so primitive and devout, our Church 
 (though there is no particular rubric to enjoin it) still con- 
 tinues in her service either by singing, as in our cathedral 
 worship ; or by saying, as in the parochial. For in the former, 
 when one side of the choir sing to the other, they both pro- 
 voke and relieve each other's devotion : they provoke it (as 
 Tertullian 58 remarks) by a holy contention, and relieve it by 
 a mutual supply and change ; for which reasons, in the paro- 
 chial service, the reading of the Psalms is also divided be- 
 tween the minister and the people. And indeed did not the 
 congregation bear their part, to what end does the minister 
 exhort them to praise the Lord? or what becomes of their 
 promise, that their mouths shall shew forth his praise ? To 
 what end again is the invitatory (O come, let us sing unto the 
 Lord, &c.) placed before the Psalms, if the people are to have 
 no share in praising him in the Psalms that follow ? 
 §. 5. Nor does the use of musical instruments 
 
 • S n t ill i. Musical instru- 
 
 mthe singing of psalms appear to be less ancient ments used in 
 than the custom itself of singing them. The first singing of 
 Psalm we read of was sung to a timbrel, viz. ps 
 that which Moses and Miriam sang after the deliverance of 
 the children of Israel from Egypt. 59 And afterwards at Jeru- 
 salem, when the temple was built, musical instruments were 
 constantly used at their public services. 60 Most of David's 
 
 so Hist. Eccl. 1. ii. c. 24. »' Isidor. de Offic. 1. i. c. 7. 58 Sonant inter duos psalmi 
 et hymni, et mutuo provocant quis mel.us Deo suo cantet : Talia Christus videns et 
 audiens gaudet. Tert. ad Uxor, ad finem, 1. 2, p. 172, B. 59 Exod. xv. 20. 
 
 6° 2 Sam. vi. 5. 1 Chron. xv. 16. 2 Chron. v. 12. and xxix. 25. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 Psalms, we see by the titles of them, were committed to 
 masters of music to be set to various tunes : and in the hun- 
 dred and fiftieth Psalm especially, the prophet calls upon 
 the people to prepare their different kinds of instruments 
 wherewith to praise the Lord. And this has been the con- 
 stant practice of the Church, in most ages, as well since as 
 before the coming of Christ. 61 
 
 When organs were first brought into use, is 
 0rS ch n u S rches din not clearly known : but we find it recorded that 
 about the year 766, Constantius Copronymus, 
 emperor of Constantinople, sent a present of an organ to king 
 Pepin of France : 62 and it is certain that the use of them has 
 been very common now for several hundred of years ; Durand 
 mentioning them several times in his book, but giving no inti- 
 mation of their novelty in divine service. 
 
 The psalms to §' 6 ' When We re P eat the P SalmS and h y mnS 
 
 be repeated we stand ; that, by the erection of our bodies, 
 standing. we ma y eX p ress j- ue elevation or lifting up of our 
 
 souls to God. Though another reason of our standing is, be- 
 cause some parts of them are directed to God, and others are 
 not : as therefore it would be very improper to kneel at those 
 parts which are not directed to him ; so it would be very in- 
 decent to sit, when we repeat those that are. And therefore 
 because both these parts, viz. those which are and those which 
 are not directed to God, are so frequently altered, and mingled 
 one with another, that the most suitable posture for each of 
 them cannot always be used, standing is prescribed as a pos- 
 ture which best suits both together ; which is also consonant 
 to the practice of the Jewish Church recorded in the Scrip- 
 ture. For we read, 63 that while the priests and Levites were 
 offering up praises to God, all Israel stood. And we learn 
 from the ritualists of the Christian Church, 64 that when they 
 came to the Psalms, they always shewed the affection of their 
 souls by this posture of their bodies. 
 
 §.7. At the end of every Psalm, and of every 
 
 repeSS auS? P art °f the hundred and nineteenth Psalm™ 
 
 end of an the and all the Hymns, (except the Te Deum ; 
 
 hymns. an which, because it is nothing else almost but the 
 
 Gloria Patri enlarged, hath not this doxologj 
 
 61 Basil, in Psalm, i. torn. i. p. 126, B. Euseb. Histor. Eccles. lib. 2, c. 17, p. 57, C. 
 Dionys. Areop. de Eccles. Hier. c. 3, p. 89, D. Isid. Peleus. 1. 1, Ep. 90, p. 29, A. 
 
 62 Aventin. Annal. Bojorum, 1. 3, f. 300, as cited in Mr. Gregory's Posthumous Works 
 p. 49. «*3 2 Chron. vii. 6. 64 vide Amal. Fort. lib. 3, cap. 3. Durand. Rational, lib. 
 5, cap. 1. 65 gee the order how the Psalter is appointed to be read. 
 

 sect, ix.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 133 
 
 annexed,) we repeat Glory be to the Father, &c, a custom 
 which Durandus would have us believe was instituted by 
 Pope Damasus, at the request of St. Jerome ; G6 but for this 
 there appears to be but little foundation. In the Eastern 
 Churches they never used this glorification, but only at the 
 end of the last Psalm, which they called their Antiphona, or 
 Allelujah, as being one of those Psalms which had the Alle- 
 lujah prefixed to it f but in France, and several other of the 
 Western Churches, it was used at the end of every Psalm ; 68 
 which is still continued with us, to signify that we believe 
 that the same God is worshipped by Christians as by Jews; 
 the same God that is glorified in the Psalms, having been 
 from the beginning Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as well as 
 now. So that the Gloria Patri is not any real addition to the 
 Psalms, but is only used as a necessary expedient to turn the 
 Jewish Psalms into Christian Hymns, and fit them for the use 
 of the Church now, as they were before for the use of the 
 synagogue. 
 
 § 8. The present division of the Book of The course oh . 
 Psalms into several portions (whereby two separ- served in reading 
 ate portions are affixed to each day, and the circle tlie Psalms - 
 of the whole to the circuit of the month) seems to be more 
 commodious and proper than any method that had been used 
 before. For the division of them into seven portions, called 
 nocturns, which took up the whole once a week, (as practised 
 in the Latin Church,) seemed too long and tedious. And the 
 division of them into twenty portions, to be read over in so 
 many days, (as in the Greek Church,) though less tedious, is 
 too uncertain, every portion perpetually shifting its day: 
 whereas in our Church, each portion being constantly fixed to 
 the same day of the month, (except there be proper Psalms 
 appointed for that day, as all the former Common Prayer 
 Books expressed it,) the whole course is rendered certain and 
 immovable : and being divided into threescore different por- 
 tions, (i. e. one for every morning, and one for every even- 
 ing service,) none of them can be thought too tedious or 
 burdensome. In all the old Common Prayer Books indeed, 
 because January and March have one day above the number 
 of thirty, (which, as concerning this purpose, was appointed 
 to every month,) and February, which is placed between them 
 
 66 Durand. Rational. 1. 5, c. 2, n. 17, fol. 214. w Cassian. Institut. 1. 2, c. 8. Strabo 
 de Reb. Eccles. c. 25. CB Cassian. ut supra. 
 
134 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 both, hath only twenty-eight days * it was ordered, that Feb- 
 ruary should borrow of eitlier of the months {of January 
 and March) one day : and so tlie Psalter which was read in 
 February began at the last day of January and ended the 
 first day of March. And to know what Psalms were to be 
 read every day, there was (pursuant to another rubric) a 
 column added in the calendar, to shew the number that was 
 appointed for the Psalms ; and another table, where the same 
 number being found, shewed what Psalms were to be read at 
 morning and evening prayer. But this being found to be 
 troublesome and needless, it was ordered, first in the Scotch 
 Liturgy and then in our own, that in February the Psalter 
 should be read only to the twenty -eighth or twenty -ninth day 
 of the month. And January and March were inserted into 
 the rubric, which before ordered that in May, and the rest of 
 the months that had one and thirty days apiece, the same 
 Psalms should be read the last day of the said months, 
 which were read the day before : so that the Psalter may 
 begin again the first day of the next month ensuing. 
 
 §. 9. The Psalms we use in our daily service 
 
 be^ed^cco?.!- are llot taken 0ut ° f eithe1 ' ° f the tW0 last tranS " 
 
 ing to the trans- lations of the Bible, but out of the great English 
 g a reat n B"bie he Bible, translated by William Tyndal and Miles 
 Coverdale, and revised by archbishop Cranmer: 
 for when the Common Prayer was compiled in 1548, neither 
 of the two last translations were extant. 
 
 It is true indeed, that at the last review the Epistles and 
 Gospels were taken out of the new translation : and the Les- 
 sons too, since that time, have been read out of king James 
 the First's Bible. But in relation to the Psalms it was noted, 
 that the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews, and 
 the translation of the great English Bible set forth and used 
 in the time of king Henry the Eighth, and king Edward the 
 Sixth. 69 The reason of the continuance of which order is 
 the plainness and smoothness of this translation : for the He- 
 braisms being not so much retained in this as in the late trans- 
 lations, the verses run much more musical and fitter for devo- 
 tion. Though, as the old rubric informs us, this translation, 
 from tlie ninth Psalm unto the hundred and forty-eighth 
 Psalm, doth vary in numbers from tlie common Latin trans- 
 lation. 
 
 69 See the order how the Psalter is appointed to he read. 
 
SECT, x.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 135 
 
 Sect. X. — Of the Lessons. 
 Our hearts being now raised up to God in _ T 
 
 , , . .» . ■ r The Lessons, 
 
 praising and admiring him m the t/salms ; we are why they follow 
 in a fit temper and disposition to hear what he the Psalms - 
 shall speak to us by his word. And thus too a respite or 
 intermission is given to the bent of our minds : for whereas 
 they were required to be active in the Psalms, it is sufficient 
 if in the Lessons they hold themselves attentive. And there- 
 fore now follow two chapters of the Bible, one out of the Old 
 Testament, the other out of the New, to shew the harmony 
 between the Law and the Gospel : for what is the Law, but the 
 Gospel foreshewed ? what the Gospel, but the Law fulfilled? 
 That which lies in the Old Testament, as under a shadow, is 
 in the New brought out into the open sun : things there pre- 
 figured are here performed. And for this reason the first 
 Lesson is taken out of the Old Testament, the second out of 
 the New, that so the minds of the hearers may be gradually 
 led from darker revelations to clearer views, and prepared by 
 the vails of the Law to bear the light breaking forth in the 
 Gospel. 
 
 §. 2. And here it may not be amiss to observe 
 the great antiquity of joining the reading of The L a e n s t s Xs tyof 
 Scriptures to the public devotions of the Church. 
 Justin- Martyr says, " It was a custom in his time to read 
 Lessons out of the Prophets and Apostles in the assembly of 
 the faithful." 70 And the Council of Laodicea, held in the 
 beginning of the fourth century, ordered " Lessons to be min- 
 gled with the Psalms." 71 And Cassian tells us, that " It was 
 the constant custom of all the Christians throughout Egypt to 
 have two Lessons, one out of the Old Testament, another out 
 of the New, read immediately after the Psalms ; a practice/' he 
 says, " so ancient, that it cannot be known whether it was 
 founded upon any human institution." 72 Nor has this prac- 
 tice been peculiar to the Christians only, but constantly used 
 also by the Jews : who divided the books of Moses into as 
 many portions as there are weeks in the year ; that so, one of 
 those portions being read over every sabbath-day, the whole 
 might be read through every year. 73 And to this answers that 
 expression of St. James, 74 that Moses was read in the syna- 
 
 ?» Apol. 1, cap. 87, p. 131. 7I Can. 17, Concil. torn. i. col. 1500, B. ™ Cassian 
 de Inst. Mon. lib. 2, cap. 4. 73 See Ainsworth on Gen. vi. 9. 74 Acts xv. 21. 
 
136 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. iii u 
 
 gogues every sabbath-day. And that to this portion of the Law 
 they added a Lesson out of the Prophets, we may gather from 
 the thirteenth of the Acts, where we find it mentioned that the 
 Law and the Prophets were both read in a synagogue where 
 St. Paul was present, 75 and that the Prophets were read at 
 Jerusalem every sabbath-day.™ 
 T , A ,.. §. 3. For the choice of these Lessons and their 
 
 I he order of the y » /S» i i j« *y» 
 
 first Lessons for order, the Church observes a d liferent course, 
 ordinary days. ;p or t h e first Lessons on ordinary days she ob- 
 serves only this ; to begin at the beginning of the year with 
 Genesis, and so to continue on till all the books of the Old 
 Testament are read over ; only omitting the Chronicles (which 
 are for the most part the same with the books of Samuel and 
 Kings, which have been read before) and other particular 
 chapters in other books, which are left out, either for the same 
 reason, or else because they contain genealogies, names of 
 persons or places, or some other matter less profitable for 
 ordinary hearers. 
 
 The Song of Solomon, or the book of Canti- 
 ^whyomitted?' cles > is wholl y omitted ; because, if not spiritu- 
 ally understood, (which very few people are 
 capable of doing, especially so as to put a tolerably clear sense 
 upon it,) it is not proper for a mixed congregation. The 
 Jews ordered that none should read it till they were thirty 
 years old, for an obvious reason, which too plainly holds 
 amongst us. 
 
 Very many chapters of Ezekiel are omitted, 
 EZ omrtted. hy upon account of the mystical visions in which 
 they are wrapt up. Why some others are omitted 
 does not so plainly appear, though doubtless the compilers of 
 our Liturgy thought there was sufficient reason for it. 
 Isaiah, why re- After all the canonical books of the Old Tes- 
 served'tothe tament are read through, (except Isaiah, which 
 being the most evangelical prophet, and con- 
 taining the clearest prophecies of Christ, is not read in the 
 order it stands in the Bible, but reserved to be read a little 
 before, and in Advent, to prepare in us a true faith in the 
 mystery of Christ's incarnation and birth, the commemora- 
 tion of which at that time draws nigh ;) after all the rest, I 
 say, to supply the remaining part of the year, several books of 
 
 75 Acts xiii. 15. ™ Ver. 27. See also Prideaux's Connexion, vol. ii. p. 172, 25L 
 
 Oxf. edit. 1838. 
 
 n v 
 
 *,L- ?*+£' &e\ 
 
«ect. x.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 137 
 
 the Apocrypha are appointed to be read, which, 
 though not canonical, have yet been allowed, by bo P oks?i?po a nwhat 
 the judgment of the Church for many ages past, j££ ^"sons 5 " 1 
 to be ecclesiastical and good, nearest to divine 
 of any writings in the world. For which reason the books of 
 Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith, and the Maccabees, 
 were recommended by the Council of Carthage 77 to be pub- 
 licly read in the church. And Kuffinus testifies, 78 that they 
 were all in use in his time, though not with an authority equal 
 to that of the canonical books. And that the same respect 
 was paid to them in latter ages, Isidore Hispalensis 79 and Ra- 
 banus Maurus 80 both affirm. 
 
 In conformity to so general a practice, the Church of Eng- 
 land still continues the use of these books in her public ser- 
 vice ; though not with any design to lessen the authority of 
 canonical Scripture, which she expressly affirms to be the 
 only rule of faith : declaring, 81 that the Church doth read the 
 other books for example of life and instruction of manners, 
 but yet doth not apply them to establish any doctrine. Nor is 
 there any one Sunday in the whole year, that has any of its 
 Lessons taken out of the Apocrypha. For as the greatest 
 assemblies of Christians are upon those days, it is wisely or- 
 dered that they should then be instructed out of the undis- 
 puted word of God. And even on the week-days, the second 
 Lessons are constantly taken out of canonical Scripture, which 
 one would think should be enough to silence our adversaries ; 
 especially as there is more canonical Scripture read in our 
 churches in any two months (even though we should except 
 the Psalms, Epistles, and Gospels) than is in a whole year in 
 the largest of their meetings. But to return : 
 
 §. 4. The course of the first Lessons appointed 
 for Sundays is different from that which is or- ^ J™^? 8 
 dained for the week-days. For from Advent 
 Sunday to Septuagesima Sunday, some particular chapters out 
 of Isaiah are appointed, for the aforesaid reason. But upon 
 Septuagesima Sunday Genesis is begun ; because then begins 
 the time of penance and mortification, to which Genesis suits 
 best, as treating of the original of our misery by the fall of 
 Adam, and of God's severe judgment upon the world for sin. 
 For which reason the reading of this book was affixed to Lent, 
 
 " Cap. 27. ™ Ruffin. in Symb. 79 De Eccles. Offic. lib. 1, c. 11. 80 De Instit. 
 Eccles. 1. 2, c. 53. »» In ber sixth Article. 
 
138 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 even in the primitive ages of the Church. 82 Then are read for- 
 ward the books as they lie in order; not all the books, but 
 (because more people can attend the public worship of God 
 upon Sundays than upon other days) such particular chapters 
 are selected, as are judged most edifying to all that are pre- 
 sent. And if any Sunday be (as some call it) a privileged 
 day, i. e. if it hath the history of it expressed in Scripture, 
 such as Easter-day, Whitsunday, &c, then are peculiar and 
 proper Lessons appointed. 
 
 §. 5. Upon saints-days another order is ob- 
 ?or e sain S ts L d e ays nS served : for upon them the Church appoints Les- 
 sons out of the moral books, such as Proverbs, 
 Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom, which, containing 
 excellent instructions of life and conversation, are fit to be 
 read upon the days of saints, whose exemplary lives and deaths 
 are the causes of the Church's solemn commemoration of them, 
 and commendation of them to us. 
 
 §. 6. Other holy-days, such as Christmas- 
 ° r days! h ° ly " day, Circumcision, Epiphany, &c, have proper 
 and peculiar Lessons appointed suitable to the 
 occasions, as shall be shewn hereafter, when I speak of those 
 several days. I shall only observe here, that there have been 
 proper Lessons appointed on all holy-days, as well saints-days 
 as others, ever since St. Austin's time : 83 though perhaps they 
 were not reduced into an exact order till the time of Musaeus, 
 a famous priest of Massilia, who lived about the year 480. 
 Of whom Gennadius writes, that he particularly applied him- 
 self, at the request of St. Venerius, a bishop, to choose out 
 proper Lessons for all the festivals in the year. 84 
 
 §. 7. As for the second Lessons, the Church ob- 
 secon^Lessons! serves the same course upon Sundays as she doth 
 upon week-days ; reading the Gospels and Acts 
 f)f the Apostles in the morning, and the Epistles at evening, in 
 the same order they stand in the New Testament ; except up- 
 on saints-days and holy-days, when such Lessons are appointed, 
 as either explain the mystery, relate the history, or apply the 
 example to us. 
 
 The Revelation §• 8 - Tne Revelation is wholly omitted, except 
 omitted, and the first and last chapters (which are read upon 
 why * the day of St. John the Evangelist, who was 
 
 82 Chrysost. torn. i. Horn. 7, p. 106, et torn. ii. Horn. 1, p. 10, edit. Paris, 1609. 
 °s August, in Prooem. Ep. Johan. 84 Gennadius de Viris illustrious, cap. 79. , 
 
sect, x.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 139 
 
 the author) and part of the nineteenth chapter (which con- 
 taining the praises and adoration paid to God by the angels 
 and saints in heaven, is very properly appointed to be read on 
 the festival of All-Saints). But, except upon these occasions, 
 none of this book is read openly in the church for Lessons, by 
 reason of its obscurity, which renders it unintelligible to 
 meaner capacities. 
 
 §. 9. And thus we see, by the prudence of the The antiquity 
 Church, the Old Testament is read over once, and usefulness of 
 and the New thrice (i. e. excepting some less this method - 
 useful parts of both) in the space of a year, conformable to the 
 practice of the ancient Fathers : who (as our reformers tell us 86 ) 
 so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible, or the greatest 
 part thereof \ shoidd be read over once every year : intending 
 thereby that the clergy, and especially such as were ministers 
 in the congregation, shoidd (by often reading and meditating 
 in God's word) be stirred up to godliness themselves, and be 
 more able to exhort others by wholesome doctrine, and to con- 
 fute them that were adversaries to the truth : and further, that 
 the people (by daily hearing the holy Scriptures read in the 
 church) might continually profit more and more in the know- 
 ledge of God, and be more inflamed with the love of his true 
 religion. Whereas in the Church of Rome this godly and de- 
 cent order was so altered, broken, and neglected, by planting 
 in uncertain stories and legends* with multitudes of responds,^ 
 verses,\ vain repetitions, commemorations,^ and synodals ;|| 
 
 « 6 In the preface concerning the service of the Church. 
 
 * Uncertain stories and legends.} By these are to be understood those le- Legends, 
 gendary stories, which the Roman breviaries appoint to be read on their saints- *^ theJ 
 days : which being almost as numerous as the days in the year, there is hardly 
 a day free from having idle tales mixed in its service. Nor is this remarkable 
 only in their Lessons upon their modern saints ; but even the stories of the 
 Apostles are so scandalously blended with monkish fictions, that all wise and 
 conscientious Christians must nauseate and abominate their service. 
 
 + Responds.] A respond is a short anthem, interrupting the middle of a Responds, 
 chapter, which is not to proceed till the anthem is done. The long responses *£*£ they 
 are used at the close of the Lessons. 
 
 X Verses.] By the verses here mentioned are to be understood either the v ? ri f 8> 
 versicle that follows the respond in the breviary, or else those hymns which what- 
 are proper to every Sunday and holy-day ; which (except some few) are a 
 parcel of despicable monkish Latin verses, composed in the most illiterate 
 ages of Christianity. 
 
 § Commemorations.] Commemorations are the mixing the service of some Comme- 
 holy-day of lesser note, with the service of a Sunday or holy-day of greater ™£at ns ' 
 eminency, on which the less holy-day happens to fall. In which case it is 
 appointed by the ninth general rule in the breviarv, that only the hymns, 
 verses, &c, and some other part of the service of the lesser holy-day, be an- 
 nexed to that of the greater. 
 
 || Synodals.] These were the publication or recital of the provincial con- Synodals, 
 Btitutions in the parish-churches. For after the conclusion of every provincial J^ 7 
 
140 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 that, commonly, when any book of the Bible was begun, after 
 three or four chapters were read out, all the rest were unread. 
 And in this sort the book of Isaiah was begun in Advent, and 
 the book of Genesis in Septuagesima ; but they were only be- 
 gun, and never read through : after like sort were other books 
 of holy Scripture used. Moreover, the number and hardness 
 of the rules called the Pie,* and the manifold changings of the 
 service, was the cause, that to turn the book only was so hard 
 and intricate a matter, that many times there was more busi- 
 ness to find out what should be read, than to read it when it 
 was found out. 
 
 These inconveniences therefore considered, here is set forth 
 such an order, whereby the same shall be redressed. And for 
 a readiness in this matter, here is drawn out a calendar for 
 that purpose, which is plain and easy to be understood ; ivhere- 
 in (so much as may be) the reading of holy Scripture is so set 
 forth, that all things should be done in order, without breaking 
 one piece from another. For this cause be cut off anthems, 
 responds, invitatories, and such like things, as did break the 
 continual course of the reading of the Scripture. 
 
 Yet, because there is no remedy but that of necessity, there 
 must be some rules ; therefore certain rules are here set forth, 
 which as they are few in number, so they are plain and easy 
 to be understood. So that here you have an order for prayer, 
 and for the reading of the holy Scripture, much agreeable to 
 the mind and purpose of the old Fathers, and a great deal more 
 profitable and commodious than that which of late was used. 
 It is more profitable, because here are left out many things, 
 whereof some are untrue, some uncertain, some vain and su- 
 perstitious ; and nothing is ordained to be read, but the very 
 pure word of God, the holy Scriptures, or that which is agree- 
 
 synod, the canons thereof were to he read in the churches, and the tenor of 
 
 them to he declared and made known to the people ; and some of them to be 
 
 annually repeated on certain Sundays in the year. 87 
 
 Pie, why # pie.] The word pie some suppose derives its name from -nivaZ , which 
 
 ■o called. ^ Q ree }- S SO metimes use for table or index : though others think these tables 
 
 or indexes were called the pie, from the parti-coloured letters whereof they 
 
 consisted ; the initial and some other remarkable letters and words being 
 
 done in red, and the rest all in black. And upon this account, when they 
 
 Pica let- translate it into Latin, they call it pica. From whence it is supposed, that 
 
 whence°so w hen printing came in use, those letters which were of a moderate size (i. e. 
 
 called. about the bigness of those in these comments and tables) were called pica 
 
 letters. 8 8 
 
 87 See Dr. Nichols in his notes on the word synodals in the preface concerning the service of the Church. 
 88 See Dr. Nichols, as above, upon the word pie. 
 
sect, x.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 141 
 
 able to the same ; and that, in such a language and order, as 
 is most easy and plain for the understanding both of the readers 
 and hearers : it is also more commodious, both for the short- 
 ness thereof, and for the plainness of the order, and for that 
 the rules be few and easy. 
 
 §. 10. The Scripture being the word of God, and so a de- 
 claration of his will ; the reading of it or making it known to 
 the people is an act of authority, and therefore 
 the minister that reads the Lessons is to stand. ^leSSef 
 And because it is an office directed to the congre- 
 gation, by all the former Common Prayer Books it was ordered, 
 that {to the end the people may the belter hear) in such places 
 where 1 hey do sing, there shall the Lessons be sung in a plain 
 tune, after the manner of distinct reading . and likewise the 
 Epistle and the Gospel. But that rubric is now left out, and 
 the minister is only directed to read distinctly with an audi- 
 ble voice, and to turn himself so as he may best be heard of 
 all such as are present : which shews, that in time of prayer 
 the minister used to look another way ; a custom still observed 
 in some parish-churches, where the reading pews 
 have two desks ; one for the Bible, looking to- ^f^S^ 
 wards the body of the church to the people ; 
 another for the Prayer Book, looking towards the east or up- 
 per end of the chancel ; in conformity to the practice of the 
 primitive Church, which, as I have already observed, 89 paid a 
 more than ordinary reverence in their worship towards the east. 
 
 §. 1 1 . Before every Lesson the minister is direct- 
 ed to give notice to the people what chapter he ^LesSS &c. 
 reads, by saying, Here beginneth such a chapter, 
 or verse of such a chapter of such a book : that so the people, 
 if they have their Bibles with them, may, by looking over them, 
 be the more attentive. The care of the primitive Church in 
 this case was very remarkable. Before the Lesson began, the 
 deacon first stood up, calling out aloud, Let us listen, my 
 brethren ; and then he that read invited his audience to atten- 
 tion, by introducing the Lesson with these words : Thus saith 
 the Lord. 90 After every Lesson the minister with us is also 
 directed to give notice that it is finished, by saying, Here endeth 
 the first or second Lesson; which is the form now prescribed 
 instead of the old one, Here endeth such a chapter of such a 
 book, which were the words enjoined by all our former Liturgies. 
 
 89 Page 86. 90 Chrysost. in Act. 9, Horn. 19. 
 
142 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 §. 12. As for the people, there is no posture 
 T1 the P peo U p r i e e. of prescribed for them ; but in former times they 
 always stood, to shew their reverence. It is 
 recorded of the Jews in the book of Nehemiah, 91 that when 
 Ezra opened the book of the law, in the sight of the people, 
 all the people stood up. And in the first ages of Christianity 
 those only were permitted to sit, who by reason of old age, or 
 some other infirmity, were not able to stand throughout the 
 whole time of divine service. 92 And it is very observable, 
 that another ceremony used by the Christians of those times, 
 before the reading of the Lessons, was the washing their 
 hands, 93 a ceremony said to be still used by the Turks, before 
 they touch their Alcoran, who also write thereupon, Let no 
 unclean person touch this .* 94 which should excite us at least 
 to prepare ourselves in such a manner, as may fit us to hear 
 the word of God, and to express such outward reverence, as 
 may testify a due regard to its author. 
 
 Sect. XI. — Of the Hymns in general. 
 
 The use of hymns among Christians isundoubt- 
 The hymns. ity ° f edl J as °* d ™ the times of the Apostles : 95 and 
 
 we learn, both from the observation of St. Au- 
 gustin 96 and from the canons of the Church, 97 that hymns and 
 psalms were intermingled with the Lessons, that so by variety 
 the people might be secured against weariness and distraction. 
 The reasonable- §• 2. But besides antiquity, reason calls for 
 ness of them after this interposition of hymns, in respect to the 
 
 great benefit we may receive from the word of 
 God : for if we daily bless him for our ordinary meat and 
 drink, how much more are we bound to glorify him for the 
 food of our souls ? 
 
 When first added. §* 3 \ Tliat We ma ? not tnere f ore want forms 
 
 of praise proper for the occasion, the Church 
 hath provided us with two after each Lesson, both in the 
 morning and evening service ; leaving it to the discretion of 
 him that ministereth, to use those which he thinks most con- 
 venient and suitable : though in the first Common Prayer 
 Book of king Edward VI. there was only one provided for a 
 
 91 Chap. viii. 5. 92 August. Serm. 300, in Append, ad torn. v. col. 504, B. 
 
 93 Chrys. Horn. 53, in Joan. torn. ii. p. 776, lin. 3, 4. M Mr. Gregory's Pref. to his 
 Notes and Observations upon Scripture, p. 3. 9d Matt. xxvi. 30. Col. v. 16. James 
 
 v. 13. 96 Serm. 176, torn. v. col. 839, D. 97 Concil. Laod. Can. 17, Concil. torn, i, 
 
 col. 1500, B. 
 
sect, xu ] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 143 
 
 Lesson ; the hundredth, the ninety-eighth, and the sixty- 
 seventh psalms not being added till 1552. The Te Deum 
 and the Benedicite indeed were both in the first book ; but 
 not for choice, but to be used one at one time of the year, and 
 the other at another, as the next section will shew. 
 
 Sect. XII. — Of the Hymns after the first Lessons. 
 Having heard the holy precepts and useful 
 examples, the comfortable promises and just S?first £ssom! 
 threatenings, contained in the first Lesson, we im- 
 mediately break out into praising God for illuminating our 
 minds, for quickening our affections, for reviving our hopes, 
 for awakening our sloth, and for confirming our resolutions. 
 
 I. For our supply and assistance in which The Te Deum 
 reasonable duty, the Church has provided us two and Benedicite, 
 ancient hymns; the one called Te Deum, from w y socalled - 
 the first words of it in Latin, {Te Deum laudamus, We praise 
 thee, O God ,-) the other Benedicite, for the same reason, the 
 beginning of it in Latin being Benedicite omnia opera Do- 
 mini Domino ; or, all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the 
 Lord. The former of these is now most frequently used, and 
 the latter only upon some particular occasions. 
 
 §. 2. The first (as it is generally believed) was 
 composed by St. Ambrose for the baptism of St. "%£$§££ 
 Augustin : " since which time it has ever been 
 held in the greatest esteem, and daily repeated in the church : 
 so that it is now of above thirteen hundred years standing. 
 The hymn itself is rational and majestic, and in all particulars 
 worthy of the spouse of Christ; being above all the compo- 
 sures of men uninspired, fittest for the tongues of men and 
 angels. 
 
 II. The other was an ancient hymn in the 
 
 Jewish Church, and adopted into the public de- Sf e * h or sSn| d Jf 
 votions of the Christians from the most early the three Chfl- 
 times. St. Cyprian quotes it as part of the holy qul ^ 
 Scriptures : " in which opinion he is seconded by 
 Ruffinus, who very severely inveighs against St. Jerome for 
 doubting of its divine authority; and informs us, that it was 
 used in the Church long before his time, who himself lived 
 
 »8 St. Greg. lib. 3, Dial. cap. 4, mentions Dacius bishop of Milan, A. D. 560, who, in 
 the first book of the Chronicles writ by him, gives an account of this. See also St. 
 Bennet Reg. cap. 11. " De Orat. Dom. p. 142. 
 
144 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 A. D. 390. 100 And when afterwards it was left out by some 
 that performed divine service, the fourth Council of Toledo, 
 in the year 633, commanded it to be used, and excommuni- 
 cated the priests that omitted it. 1 Our Church indeed does 
 not receive it for canonical Scripture, because it is not to be 
 found in the Hebrew, nor was allowed in the Jewish canon ; 
 but it is notwithstanding an exact paraphrase of the hundred 
 and forty-eightn psalm, and so like it in words and sense, that 
 whoever despiseth this, reproacheth that part of the canonical 
 writings. 
 
 §. 2. As to the subject of it, it is an elegant 
 
 The subject of it. ° *. n i~t J* ix 1 • • * 
 
 summons to all God s works to praise him ; inti- 
 mating that they all set out his glory, and invite us, who have 
 the benefit of them, to join with these three children (to 
 whom so great and wonderful a deliverance was given) in 
 praising and magnifying the Lord for ever. 
 
 §. 3. So that when we would glorify God for 
 ^be use5? r t0 ms wor ks, which is one main end of the Lord's 
 
 day; or when the Lesson treats of the creation, 
 or sets before us the wonderful works of God in any of his 
 creatures, or the use he makes of them either ordinary or 
 miraculous for the good of the Church ; this hymn may very 
 seasonably be used. Though in the first Common Prayer 
 Book of king Edward VI., Te Deum was appointed daily 
 throughout the year, except in Lent, all the which time, in 
 the place of Te Deum, Benedicite was to be used. So that, 
 as I have already observed, they were not originally inserted 
 for choice ; but to be used at different parts of the year. But 
 when the second book came out with double hymns for the 
 other Lessons ; these also were left indifferent at the discre- 
 tion of the minister, and the words, Or this Canticle, inserted 
 before the hymn we are now speaking of. 
 
 III. After the first Lesson at evening prayer* 
 
 Of the Masmifi- , , i u • . j u ,-{? ? ^ 
 
 cat, or the song two other hymns are appointed, both of them 
 ViSh b if sed taken out of canonical Scripture : the first is the 
 ary ' song of the blessed Virgin, called the Magnificat, 
 from its first word in Latin. It is the first hymn recorded in 
 the New Testament, and, from its ancient use among the 
 primitive Christians, has been continued in the offices of the 
 Reformed Churches abroad, 2 as well as in ours. 
 
 100 Ruffin. 1. 2, adv. Hieron. » Can. 14, Concil. torn. v. col. 1710, C D. 2 Se* 
 
 D'lrell's View of the Reformed Churches, page 3S. 
 
sect. xin.J MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 1-15 
 
 For as the Holy Virgin, when she reflected upon the pro- 
 mises of the Old Testament, now about to be fulfilled in the 
 mysterious conception and happy birth, of which God had de- 
 signed her to be the instrument, expressed her joy in this 
 form ; so we, when we hear in the Lessons like examples of 
 his mercy, and are told of those prophecies and promises 
 which were then fulfilled, may not improperly rejoice with 
 her in the same words, as having a proportionable share of 
 interest in the same blessing. 
 
 IV. But when the first Lesson treats of some 
 great and temporal deliverance granted to the eighth Sm 
 peculiar people of God, we have the ninety- 
 eighth psalm for variety ; which, though made on occasion o£ n 
 some of David's victories, may yet be very properly applied 
 to ourselves, who, being God's adopted children, are a spirit- 
 ual Israel, and therefore have all imaginable reason to bless 
 God for the same, and to call upon the whole creation to join 
 with us in thanksgiving. This was one of those which, I have 
 already observed, was first added to king Edward's second 
 Common Prayer. 
 
 Sect. XIII. — Of the Hymns after the second Lessons. 
 
 Having expressed our thankfulness to God in 
 one of the above-mentioned hymns for the light 2conT Lesson? 6 
 and instruction we have received from the first 
 Lesson ; we are fitly disposed to hear the clearer revelations 
 exhibited to us in the second. 
 
 I. As to the second Lesson in the morning, it 0f the Be nedic- 
 is always taken out either of the Gospels or the tus, or song of 
 Acts ; which contain an historical account of the Zacharias - 
 great work of our redemption : and therefore as the angel, 
 that first published the glad tidings of salvation, was joined 
 by a multitude of the heavenly host, who all brake forth in 
 praises to God ; so when the same tidings are rehearsed by 
 the priest, both he and the people immediately join their mu- 
 tual gratulations, praising God, and saying, Blessed be the 
 Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his 
 people ; and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the 
 house of his servant David, &c; being the hymn that was com- 
 posed by gcod old Zacharias, at the circumcision of his son, 
 St. John the Baptist, 3 and containing a thanksgiving to God 
 
 » Luke i. 57. 
 L 
 
146 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, hi. 
 
 for the incarnation of our Saviour, and for those unspeakable 
 mercies which (though they were not then fully completed) 
 were quickly afterwards the subject of the whole Church's 
 praises. 
 
 II. For variety the hundredth psalm was also 
 ° fth pSm dredth appointed by king Edward's second book, in 
 
 which all lands and nations are invited and call- 
 ed upon to serve the Lord with gladness, and come before 
 his presence with a song, for his exceeding grace, mercy, and 
 truth, which are so eminently set forth in the Gospels. 
 
 III. After the second Lesson at evening, which 
 ° f th mSis nC Di " is always out of the Epistles, the Song of Simeon, 
 
 called Nunc Dimittis, is most commonly used. 
 The author of it is supposed to have been he whom the Jews 
 call Simeon the Just, son to the famous Rabbi Hillel, 4 a man 
 of eminent integrity, and one who opposed the then common 
 opinion of the Messiah's temporal kingdom. The occasion of 
 his composing it was his meeting Christ in the temple, when he 
 came to be presented there, wherein God fulfilled his promise 
 to him, that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ. 5 
 And though we cannot see our Saviour with our bodily eyes, 
 as he did, yet he is by the writings of the Apostles daily pre- 
 sented to the eyes of our faith : and therefore if we were much 
 concerned for heaven, and as loose from the love of the world 
 as old Simeon was, and we ought to be ; we might, upon the 
 view of Christ in his holy word, be daily ready to sing this 
 hymn, which is taken into the services of all Christian Churches 
 in the world, Greek, Roman, and Reformed, and was formerly 
 very frequently sung by saints and martyrs a little before their 
 deaths. 
 
 IV. Instead of it sometimes the sixty-seventh 
 ^enthpsafm. 6 " psalm is used, (being one of those that was intro- 
 duced in king Edward's second Liturgy,) which 
 
 being a prayer of David for the coming of the Gospel, is a pro- 
 per form wherein to express our desires for the further pro- 
 pagation of it. 
 
 N. B. It ought to be noted, that both the sixty-seventh and 
 hundredth psalms, being inserted in the Common Prayer 
 Books in the ordinary version, ought so to be used, and not to 
 be sung in Sternhold and Hopkins, or any other metre, as is 
 
 * Vid. Scultet. Exercit. Evang. 1. 1, c. 61, and Lightfoot's Harmony on the place. 
 5 Luke ii. 26. 
 
sect, xiv.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 147 
 
 now the custom in too many churches, to the jostling out of 
 the psalms themselves, expressly contrary to the design of the 
 rubric : which, if not prevented, may in time make way for 
 further innovations and gross irregularities. 
 
 Sect. XIV. — Of the Apostles' Creed. 
 
 Though the Scriptures be a perfect revelation The Creed 
 of all divine truths necessary to salvation ; yet 
 the fundamental articles of our faith are so dispersed there, 
 that it was thought necessary to collect out of those sacred 
 writings one plain and short summary of fundamental doctrines, 
 which might easily be understood and remembered by all 
 Christians. 
 
 §. 2. This summary, from the first word in Whyso called . 
 Latin, Credo, is commonly called the Creed ,• Why called sym- 
 though in Latin it is called Symbolum, for which bolum - 
 several reasons are given : as, first, that it is an allusion to 
 the custom of several persons meeting together to eat of one 
 common supper, whither every one brings something for his 
 share to make up that common meal, which from hence was 
 called Symbolum, from the Greek word avfi(3a\\eLv, which sig- 
 nifies to throw or cast together : even so, say some, 6 the Apos- 
 tles met together, and each one put or threw in his article to 
 compose this symbol. 
 
 Another signification of the word is fetched from military 
 affairs, where it is used to denote those marks, signs, or watch- 
 words, &c, whereby the soldiers of an army distinguished and 
 knew each other: in like manner, as some think, 7 by this 
 Creed the true soldiers of Jesus Christ were distinguished from 
 all others, and discerned from those who were only false and 
 hypocritical pretenders. 
 
 But the most natural signification of the word seems to be 
 derived from the pagan symbols, which were secret marks, 
 words, or tokens communicated at the time of initiation, or a 
 little before, unto those who were consecrated or entered into 
 their reserved or hidden rites, and to none else ; by the de- 
 claration, manifestation, or pronunciation whereof, those more 
 devout idolaters knew each other, and were with all freedom 
 and liberty of access admitted to their more intimate mysteries, 
 i. e. to the secret worship and rites of that God, whose sym- 
 
 « Ruffin. Expos, in Symb. Apost. ad calcem Cyprian. Oper.pag. 17. Cassian. de In- 
 carn. Dom. 1. 6, c. 3, pag. 1046, Atrebat. 1628. ' Ruffin. ut supra. Maxim. Tauri- 
 nens. Homil. in Symbol, ap Biblioth. Vet. Patr. Colon. Agrippin. 1618, torn. v. pag. 39. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 0F THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 bols they had received : from whence the multitude in general 
 were kept out and excluded : which said symbols those who 
 had received them were obliged carefully to conceal, and not, 
 on any account whatsoever, to divulge or reveal. 8 And for 
 the same reasons the Apostles' Creed is thought by some to 
 have been termed a symbol, because it was studiously con- 
 cealed from the pagan world, and not revealed to the cate- 
 chumens themselves, till just before their baptism or initiation 
 in the Christian mysteries ; when it was delivered to them as 
 that secret note, mark, or token, by which the faithful in all 
 parts of the world might, without any danger, make them- 
 selves known to one another. 9 
 
 §. 3. That the whole Creed, as we now use it, 
 The antiquity of was d rawn U p by the Apostles themselves, can 
 
 hardly be proved : but that the greatest part of 
 it was derived from the very days of the Apostles, is evident 
 from the testimonies of the most ancient writers; 10 particu- 
 larly of St. Ignatius, in whose epistles most of its articles are 
 to be found : though there are some reasons to believe, that 
 some few of them, viz. that of the descent into hell, the com- 
 munion of saints, and the life everlasting, were not added till 
 some time after, in opposition to some gross errors and here- 
 sies that sprang Up in the Church. But the whole form, as it 
 now stands in our Liturgy, is to be found in the works of St. 
 Ambrose and Ruffinus. 11 
 
 §. 4. It is true indeed the primitive Christians, 
 d2d n pubiiciy b y reason tnev always concealed this and their 
 
 other mysteries, did not in their assemblies pub- 
 licly recite the Creed, except at the times of baptism ; which, 
 unless in cases of necessity, were only at Easter and Whitsun- 
 tide. From whence it came to pass, that the constant repeat- 
 ing of the Creed in the church was not introduced till five 
 hundred years after Christ : about which time Petrus Gna- 
 pheus, bishop of Antioch, prescribed the constant recital of 
 the Creed at the public administration of divine service. 12 
 
 The place of the §\ 5 ' The P laCe ° f lt " ° Ur Litur gy ma y be 
 
 Creed in the Li- considered with respect both to what goes before, 
 turgy - and what comes after it. That which goes be- 
 
 fore it are the Lessons taken out of the word of God : for faith 
 
 8 See instances of these symbols in the lord chief-justice King's Critical History of 
 the Creed, chap. 1, p. 11, &c. 9 See this proved by the same author, p. 20, &c 
 
 10 Vid. Irenaeum, contr. Haeres. 1. 1, c. 2, p. 44. Tertull. de Virg. veland. c. 1, p. 175 
 A. De Praescript. Haereticor. c. 13, p. 206, D. " In their Expositions upon it. 
 
 " Theodor. Lector. Histor. Eccles. p. 563, C. 
 
sect, xiv.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 149 
 
 comes by hearing ,- 13 and therefore when we have heard God's 
 word, it is fit we should profess our belief of it, thereby set- 
 ting our seals (as it were) to the truth of God, u especially to 
 such articles as the chapters now read to us have confirmed. 
 What follows the Creed are the prayers which are grounded 
 upon it : for we cannot call on him in whom we have not be- 
 lieved.™ And therefore since we are to pray to God the 
 Father, in the name of the Son, by the assistance of the Holy 
 Ghost, for remission of sins, and a joyful resurrection ; we 
 first declare that we believe in God the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, and that there is remission here, and a resurrec- 
 tion to life hereafter, for all true members of the Catholic 
 Church ; and then we may be said to pray in faith. 
 
 §. 6. Both minister and people are appointed Toberepeated 
 to repeat this Creed ; because it is the profession by the whole 
 of every person present, and ought for that rea- con s re g atlon - 
 son to be made by every one in his own person ; the more 
 expressly to declare their belief of it to each other, and con- 
 sequently to the whole Christian world, with whom they 
 maintain communion. 
 
 §. 7. It is to be repeated standing, to signify 
 
 l *• 4. J 4. *i • *u J c Standing. 
 
 our resolution to stand up stoutly m the defence 
 of it. And in Poland and Lithuania the nobles used formerly 
 to draw their swords, in token that, if need were, they would 
 defend and seal the truth of it with their blood. 16 
 
 §. 8. When we repeat it, it is customary to 
 turn towards the east, that so whilst we are making Awards tiL east* 
 profession of our faith in the blessed Trinity, we 
 may look towards that quarter of the heavens where God is 
 supposed to have his peculiar residence of glory. 17 
 
 §. 9. When we come to the second article in Reveren ce to be 
 this Creed, in which the name of Jesus is men- made at the name 
 tioned, the whole congregation makes obeisance, 
 which the Church (in regard to that passage of St. Paul, That 
 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow 18 ) expressly en- 
 joins in her eighteenth canon : ordering, that when in time 
 of divine service the Lord Jesus shall be mentioned, due and 
 lowly reverence shall be done by all persons present, as it 
 has been accustomed ; testifying by these outward ceremonies 
 and gestures tlieir inward humility, Christian resolution, and 
 
 13 Rom. x. 17. " John iii. 33. 1S Rom. x. 14. 16 See Durell's View, &c. 
 
 •ect. 1, §. 24, page 37. JO See Mr. Gregory, as quoted in note 38 , p. 86. * 8 Phil. ii. 10. 
 
150 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 due acknowledgment that the Lord Jesus Christ, the true 
 eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in 
 whom, alone all the mercies, graces, and promises of God to 
 mankind for this life, and the life to come, are fully and 
 wholly comprised. 
 
 Sect. XV. — Of St. Athanasius's Creed. 
 
 The creed of Whether this Creed was composed by Atha- 
 
 saint Athana- nasius or not, is matter of dispute : in the rubric 
 S1U8, before it, as enlarged at the review, it is only said 
 
 to be commonly called the Creed of St. Athanasius: but we 
 are certain that it has been received as a treasure of ines- 
 timable price both by the Greek and Latin Churches for al- 
 most a thousand years. 
 
 The scruple §• 2 - As to tne matter of it, it condemns all 
 
 which some ancient and modern heresies, and is the sum of 
 make against it. aU orthodox divinity. And therefore if any 
 scruple at the denying salvation to such as do not believe 
 these articles ; let them remember, that such as hold any of 
 those fundamental heresies are condemned in Scripture : 19 
 from whence it was a primitive custom, after a confession of 
 the orthodox faith, to pass an anathema against all that denied 
 it. But however, for the ease and satisfaction of some people 
 who have a notion that this Creed requires every person to 
 assent to, or believe, every verse in it on pain of damnation ; 
 and who therefore (because there are several things in it which 
 they cannot comprehend) scruple to repeat it for fear they 
 should anathematize or condemn themselves ; I desire to offer 
 what follows to their consideration, viz. That howsoever plain 
 and agreeable to reason every verse in this Creed may be ; 
 yet we are not required, by the words of the Creed, to believe 
 the whole on pain of damnation. For all that is required of 
 us as necessary to salvation, is, that before all things we hold 
 the catholic faith .- and the catholic faith is by the third and 
 fourth verses explained to be this, that we worship one God 
 in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity : neither confounding the 
 persons, nor dividing the substance. This therefore is de- 
 clared necessary to be believed : but all that follows from 
 hence to the twenty-sixth verse, is only brought as a proof 
 and illustration of it; and therefore requires our assent no 
 more than a sermon does, which is made to prove or illustrate 
 
 » 1 John ii. 22, 23. v. 10. 2 Pet. ii. 1. 
 
sect, xvi.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 151 
 
 a text. The text, we know, is the word of God, and therefore 
 necessary to be believed : but no person is, for that reason, 
 bound to believe every particular of the sermon deduced from 
 it, upon pain of damnation, though every tittle of it may be 
 true. The same I take it to be in this Creed : the belief of 
 the catholic faith before mentioned, the Scripture makes ne- 
 cessary to salvation, and therefore we must believe it: but 
 there is no such necessity laid upon us to believe the illustra- 
 tion that is there given of it, nor does the Creed itself require 
 it : for it goes on in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses 
 in these words, So that in all things as is aforesaid, the Unity 
 in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped : he 
 therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity. 
 Where it plainly passes off from that illustration, and returns 
 back to the fourth and fifth verses, requiring only our belief 
 of the catholic faith, as there expressed, as necessary to sal- 
 vation, viz. that One God or Unity in Trinity and Trinity in 
 Unity is to be worshipped. All the rest of the Creed, from 
 the twenty-seventh verse to the end, relates to our Saviour's 
 incarnation ; which indeed is another essential part of our 
 faith, and as necessary to be believed as the former : but that 
 being expressed in such plain terms as none, I suppose, scru- 
 ple, I need not enlarge any further. 
 
 §. 3. The reasons why this Creed is appointed 
 to be said upon those days specified in the rubric, those S days°men 
 are, because some of them are more proper for *j^ r e .£ in the 
 this confession of faith, which, being of all others 
 the most express concerning the Trinity, is for that reason 
 appointed on Christmas -day, Epiphany, Easter-day, Ascen- 
 sion-day, JVliit-Sunday , and Trinity Sunday ; which were 
 all the days that were appointed for it by the first book of 
 king Edward : but in his second book it was also enjoined on 
 Saint Matthias, and some other saints-days, that so it might 
 be repeated once in every month. 
 
 Sect. XVI. — Of the Versicles before the LoroVs Prayer. 
 
 The congregation having now their consciences The good order 
 absolved from sin, their affections warmed with and method of 
 thanksgiving, their understandings enlightened 
 by the word, and their faith strengthened by a public profes- 
 sion, enter solemnly in the next place upon the remaining 
 part of divine worship, viz. supplication and prayer, that is, 
 
152 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well 
 for the body as the soul. 
 
 §. 2. But because they are not able to do this 
 Pr 'wifhyou dbe without God's help, therefore the minister first 
 
 blesses them with The Lord be with you ; which, 
 it must be observed too, is a very proper salutation in this place, 
 viz. after a public and solemn profession of their faith. For St. 
 John forbids us to say to any heretic, God speed ; 20 and the 
 primitive Christians were never allowed to salute any that 
 were excommunicated. 21 But when the minister hath heard 
 the whole congregation rehearse the Creed, and seen, by 
 their standing up at it, a testimony of their assent to it ; he 
 can now salute them as brethren and members of the Church. 
 But because he is their representative and mouth to God, they 
 
 return his salutation, immediately replying, And 
 Am thy si>irit With mit h thy s P irit ■' both which sentences are taken 
 
 out of holy Scripture, 23 and together with that 
 salutation, Peace be with you, (which was generally used by 
 the bishop, instead of The Lord be with you, 2Z ) have been of 
 very early use in the Church, 24 especially in the eastern part 
 of it, to which, as an ancient Council says, 25 they were de- 
 livered down by the Apostles themselves : and it is observ- 
 able that they always denoted (as here) a transition from one 
 part of the divine service to another. 
 __. _ §. 3. In the heathen sacrifices there was al- 
 
 Jfr. Let us pray. u . TT . , , . , . , . -, 
 
 ways one to cry, Hoc agite, or to bid them mind 
 what they were about. And in all the old Christian Liturgies 
 the deacon was wont to call often upon the people, IktevCjq 
 Stride/lev, Let us pray earnestly ; and then again, kKreviarepov, 
 more earnestly. And the same vehemence and earnest de- 
 votion does our Church call for in these words, Let us pray ; 
 warning us thereby to lay aside all wandering thoughts, and 
 to attend to the great work we are about ; for though the 
 minister only speaks most of the words, yet our affections 
 must go along with every petition, and sign them all at last 
 with an hearty Amen. 
 
 §. 4. But being unclean, like the lepers re- 
 meicy upon a us. corded by St. Luke, 26 before we come to address 
 
 ourselves to God, we begin to cry, Lord have 
 
 80 2 John 10, 11. 2i Capital. Carol. Ma?. 1. 5, c. 42. ™ Ruth ii. 4. 2 Thess. iii. 
 
 16. 2 Tim. iv. 22. Gal. vi. 18. 23 Durand. Rational, lib. 4, c. 14, §. 7, fol. 111. 
 
 2i Chrys. in Coloss. 1, Horn. 3, torn. 4, p. 107, lin. 3, &c. Isid. Peleus. 1. 1, Ep. 122, p. 
 44, A. 25 Concil. Bracar. 2, cap. 3, torn. v. col. 740, B. 26 Luke xvii. 12, 13. 
 
sect, xvn.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 153 
 
 mercy on us ; lest, if we should unworthily call him Our 
 Father, he upbraid us as he did the Jews, If I be a father, 
 where is mine honour? 21 And it is to be observed, that the 
 Church hath such an awful reverence for the Lord's Prayer, 
 that she seldom suffers it to be used without some preceding 
 preparation. In the beginning of the morning and evening 
 service we are prepared by the confession of our sins, and the 
 absolution of the priest ; and very commonly in other places 
 by this short litany : whereby we are taught first to bewail 
 our un worthiness, and pray for mercy ; and then with an 
 humble boldness to look up to heaven, and call God Our 
 Father, and beg further blessings of him. 
 
 As to the original of this form, it is taken out of the Psalms, 28 
 where it is sometimes repeated twice together ; to which the 
 Christian Church hath added a third, viz. Christ have mercy 
 upon us, that so it might be a short litany or supplication to 
 every person in the blessed Trinity : we have offended each 
 person, and are to pray to each, and therefore we beg help 
 from them all. 
 
 It is of great antiquity both in the Eastern and Western 
 Churches ; and an old Council orders it to be used there times 
 a day in the public service. 29 And we are inibrmed that 
 Constantinople was delivered from an earthquake by the peo- 
 ple going barefoot in procession and using this short litany. 30 
 
 N. B: The clerk and people are here to take The clerk and 
 notice not to repeat the last of these versicles, people not to re- 
 viz. Lord have mercy upon us, after the minister. Ecyu/w^w 
 In the end of the Litany indeed they ought to g" the min- 
 do it, because there they are directed to say all 
 the three versicles distinctly after him ; each of them being re- 
 peated in the Common Prayer Book, viz. first in a Roman 
 letter for the priest, and then in an Italic, which denotes the 
 people's response. But in the daily morning and evening ser- 
 vice, in the office for solemnization of matrimony, in those 
 for the visitation of the sick, for the burial of the dead, for 
 the churching of women, and in the commination, where 
 these versicles are single, and only the second printed in an 
 Italic character, there they are to be repeated alternately, and 
 not by way of repetition : so that none but the second versi- 
 cle, viz. Christ have mercy upon us, comes to the people's 
 turn, the first and last belonging to the minister. 
 
 * Mai. i. 6. 28 Psalm vi. 2. li. 1. cxxiii. 3. » Concil. Vasens. 2, Can. 3, torn, 
 iv. col. 1680, C 3° Paul. Diacon. 1. 16, c. 24. 
 
154 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, in 
 
 Sect. XVIL— Of the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 The Lord's ^ HE twister, clerk, and people, being pre- 
 
 Prayer, why re- pared in the manner that we have described 
 peated. above, are now again to say the Lord's Prayer 
 
 with a loud voice. Por this consecrates and makes way for 
 all the rest, and is therefore now again repeated. By which 
 repetition we have this further advantage, that if we did not put 
 up any petition of it with fervency enough before, we may make 
 amends for it now, by asking that with a doubled earnestness. 
 §. 2. By the clerks in this rubric (which was 
 Snded by h t°hem. first inserted in the second book of king Edward) 
 I suppose were meant such persons as were ap- 
 pointed at the beginning of the Reformation, to attend the in- 
 cumbent in his performance of the offices ; and such as are 
 still in some cathedral and collegiate churches, which have 
 lay-clerks (as they are called, being not always ordained) to 
 look out the Lessons, name the anthem, set the Psalms, and the 
 like : 31 of which sort I take our parish clerks to be, though we 
 have now seldom more than one to a church. 
 
 Sect. XVIII. — Of the Ver sides after the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 Before the minister begins to pray alone for 
 
 the people, they are to join with him (according 
 
 to the primitive way of praying) in some short versicles and 
 
 responsals taken chiefly out of the Psalms, and containing the 
 
 sum of all the following collects. 
 
 To the first, O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us, — and grant 
 us thy salvation™ answers the Sunday collect, which gener- 
 ally contains petitions for mercy and salvation. To the second, 
 O Lord, save the king, — and mercifully hear us when we 
 call upon thee™ answer the prayers for the king and royal 
 family. To the third, Endue thy ministers with righteous- 
 ness, — and make thy chosen people joyful ,- 34 and the fourth, 
 Lord, save thy people, — and bless thine inheritance ; 35 an- 
 swers the collect for the clergy and people. To the fifth, 
 Give peace in our time, O Lord, — because there is none other 
 that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God, 35 answer the daily 
 collects for peace : and to the last, O God, make clean our 
 hearts within us, and take not thy Holy Spirit from us, zi 
 answer the daily collects for grace. 
 
 31 See the Clergyman's Vade Mecum, p. 202, 203. 32 p sa lni lxxxv. 7. 33 Psalm 
 xx. verse the last, according to the Greek translation. si Psalm cxxxii. 9. x Psalm 
 xxviii. 9. so i chron. xxii. 9. 37 p sa lm ii. 10 11. 
 
sect, xix.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 155 
 
 §. 2. Against two of these versicles it is ob- 
 jected, that the Church enjoins us to pray to God ^wSed™ 
 to give peace in our time, for this odd reason, 
 viz. because there is none other that jighteth for us but only 
 God. But to this we answer, that the Church by these words 
 does by no means imply, that the only reason of our desiring 
 peace, is because we have none other to fight for us, save God 
 alone ; as if we could be well enough content to be engaged 
 in war, had we any other to fight for us, besides God : but 
 they are a more full declaration and acknowledgment of that 
 forlorn condition we are in, who are not able to help ourselves, 
 and who cannot depend upon man for help ; which we confess 
 and lay before Almighty God, to excite the greater compas- 
 sion in his divine Majesty. And thus the Psalmist cries out 
 to God, Be not far from me, for trouble is near ,• for there 
 is none to help?* 
 
 §. 3. The rubric which orders the priest to 
 stand up to say these versicles, (which was first isteris to^tand 
 added in 1552,) I imagine to have been founded up^t these ver- 
 upon the practice of the priests in the Romish 
 Church. For it is a custom there for the priest, at all the 
 long prayers, to kneel before the altar, and mutter them over 
 softly by himself: but whenever he comes to any versicles 
 where the people are to make their responses, he rises up and 
 turns himself to them, in order to be heard : which custom 
 the compilers of our Liturgy might probably have in their eye, 
 when they ordered the minister to stand up in this place. 
 
 Sect. XIX. — Of the Collects and Prayers in general. 
 
 Before we come to speak of each of the fol- Theprayer8iWhy 
 lowing prayers in particular, it may not be amiss divided into so 
 to observe one thing concerning them in general, ma t ^ short co1 " 
 viz. the reason why they are not carried on in one 
 continued discourse, but divided into many short collects, 
 such as is that which our Lord himself composed. And that 
 might be one reason why our Church so ordered it, viz. that 
 so she might follow the example of our Lord, who best knew 
 what kind of prayers were fittest for us to use. And indeed 
 we cannot but find, by our own experience, how difficult it is 
 to keep our minds long intent upon any thing, much more up- 
 on so great things as the object and subject of our prayers ; 
 and that, do what we can, we are still liable to wanderings and 
 
 98 Psalm xx ii. 11. 
 
156 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap. hi. 
 
 distractions : so that there is a kind of necessity to break off 
 sometimes, that our thoughts, being respited for a while, may 
 with more ease be fixed again, as it is necessary they should, 
 so long as we are actually praying to the Supreme Being of 
 the world. 
 
 But besides, in order to the performing our devotions 
 aright to the most high God, it is necessary that our souls 
 should be possessed all along with due apprehensions of his 
 greatness and glory. To which purpose our short prayers 
 contribute very much. For every one of them beginning 
 with some of the attributes or perfections of God, and so sug- 
 gesting to us right apprehensions of him at first, it is easy to 
 preserve them in our minds during the space of a short prayer, 
 which in a long one would be too apt to scatter and vanish away. 
 
 But one of the principal reasons why our public devotions 
 are and should be divided into short collects, is this : our 
 blessed Saviour, we know, hath often told us, that whatsoever 
 we ask the Father in his name he will give it us ,- 39 and so 
 hath directed us in all our prayers to make use of his name, 
 and to ask nothing but upon the account of his merit and 
 mediation for us : upon which all our hopes and expectations 
 from God do wholly depend. For this reason therefore (as it 
 always was, so also now) it cannot but be judged necessary, that 
 the name of Christ be frequently inserted in our prayers, that 
 so we may lift up our hearts unto him, and rest our faith upon 
 him, for the obtaining those good things we pray for. And 
 therefore whatsoever it be which we ask of God, we presently 
 add, through Jesus Christ our Lord, or something to that 
 effect; and so ask nothing but according to our Lord's direc- 
 tion, i. e. in his name. And this is the reason that makes our 
 prayers so short : for take away the conclusion of every collect 
 or prayer, and they may be joined all together, and be made 
 but as one continued prayer. But would not this tend to 
 make us forgetful that we are to offer up our prayers in the 
 name of Christ, by taking away that which refresheth our 
 memory ? 
 
 §. 2. The reason why these prayers are so often 
 ^oUe<S ed called collects is differently represented. Some 
 ritualists think, because the word collect is some- 
 times used both in the vulgar Latin Bible, 40 and by the an- 
 cient Fathers, 41 to denote the gathering together of the people 
 
 39 John xiv. 13, and xvi. 24. *o Dj es Collectae, Lev. xxiii. 36. Collectionem, 
 
 Heb. x. 25. *i Collectum celebrare. Passim apud Patres. 
 
seci. xx.J MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 157 
 
 into religious assemblies ; that therefore the prayers are called 
 collects, as being repeated when the people are collected to- 
 gether. 43 Others think they are so named upon account of 
 their comprehensive brevity ; the minister collecting into short 
 forms the petitions of the people, which had before been di- 
 vided between him and them by versicles and responses : 43 
 and for this reason God is desired in some of them to hear the 
 prayers and supplications of ' tlie people. Though I think it 
 is very probable that the collects for the Sundays and Holy- 
 days bear that name, upon account that a great many of them 
 are very evidently collected out of the Epistles and Gospels. 
 
 Sect. XX. — Of the three Collects at Morning and Evening Prayer. 
 
 The next thing to be taken notice of is the The rubric after 
 rubric that follows the versicles after the Lord's the Lord's 
 prayer in the morning service, viz. prayer. 
 
 % Then shall follow three Collects : the first of the Day, which 
 shall be the same that is appointed at the Communion ; the 
 second for Peace ; the third for Grace to live well. And 
 the two last Collects shall never alter, but daily be said at 
 Morning Prayer throughout all the year, as followeth ; all 
 kneeling. 
 
 There is much the same rubric in the evening service ; only 
 whereas the third collect for the morning is entitled , for grace 
 to live well; the title of that for the evening is, for aid against 
 all perils, 
 
 I. The first of these collects, viz. that of the 
 
 day, to be the same that is appointed at the 0f 't^Sy?* for 
 communion, will fall under my particular con- 
 sideration, when I come to treat of the several Sundays and 
 Holy-days, which will naturally lead me to take notice of the 
 several collects that belong to them. 
 
 II. The second collector peace, both for the 
 
 t • i r J Of the collect for 
 
 morning and evening service, are, word tor word, peace> 
 translated out of the Sacramentary of St. Gre- 
 gory ; each of them being suited to the office it is assigned to. 
 In that which we use in the beginning of the day, when we 
 are going to engage ourselves in various affairs, and to con- 
 verse with the world, we pray for outward peace, and desire 
 to be preserved from the injuries, affronts, and wicked de- 
 
 *> A populi collectione, Collectae appellari cceperunt. Alcuinus. 
 
 43 Saoerdos omnium petitiones compendiosa brevitate colligit. Walafrid. Strabo. 
 
158 OF THE ORDER FOR [cha*. tii 
 
 signs of men. But in that for the evening we ask for inward 
 tranquillity, requesting^/br that peace which the world cannot 
 give, as springing only from the testimony of a good con- 
 science : that so each of us may with David be enabled to say, 
 / will lay me down in peace, and take my rest ; having our 
 hearts as easy as our heads, and our sleep sweet and quiet. 
 
 III. The third collects, both at morning and 
 ° f for grace CtS evening, are framed out of the Greek euchologion. 
 That in the morning service, for grace, is very 
 proper to be used in the beginning of the day, when we are 
 probably going to be exposed to various dangers and tempta- 
 tions. Nor is the other, for aid against all perils, 
 ga^nst°aiiperns. * ess seasonable at night ; for being then in dan- 
 ger of the terrors of darkness, we by this form 
 commend ourselves into the hands of that God, who neither 
 slumbers nor sleeps, and with whom darkness and light are 
 both alike. 
 
 Sect. XXL— Of the Anthem. 
 
 After the aforesaid collects, as well at morn- 
 em. j^ prayer as at evening, the rubric orders, that 
 in choirs and places where they sing, here followeth the an- 
 them ; the original of which is probably derived 
 JndSS&ty. from the very first Christians. For Pliny has 
 recorded that it was the custom in his time to 
 meet upon a fixed day before light, and to sing a hymn, in 
 parts or by turns, to Christ, as God : 44 which expression can 
 hardly have any other sense put upon it, than that they sung 
 in an antiphonical way. Socrates indeed attributes the rise of 
 them to St. Ignatius, who, when he had heard the angels in 
 heaven singing and answering one another in hymns to God, 
 ordered that, in the church of Antioch, psalms of praise should 
 be composed and set to music, and sung in parts by the choir 
 in the time of divine service ; 45 which, from the manner of 
 singing them, were called dvrt'0wva, antiphons, or anthems, 
 i. e. hymns sung in parts, or by course. This practice was 
 soon imitated by the whole Church, and has universally ob- 
 tained ever since. 
 
 §. 2. The reason of its being ordered in this 
 Why h°er b e! SUng P lace is P artlv perhaps for the relief of the con- 
 gregation, who, if they have joined with due fer- 
 
 " Plin. Epist. 1. 10, Ep. 97, p. 284. edit. Oxon. 1703. « Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 6, 
 cap. 8, p. 313, D. 
 
sect, xxu.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 159 
 
 vour in the foregoing parts of the office, may now be thought 
 to be something weary ; and partly, I suppose, to make a 
 division in the service, the former part of it being performed 
 in behalf of ourselves, and that which follows being mostly 
 intercessional. 
 
 §. 3. And therefore since it is now grown a „,, . _ 
 
 s , i i , • & i Thls th e proper 
 
 custom, in a great many churches, to sing a psalm place for singing 
 in metre in the middle of the service ; I cannot P salms - 
 see why it would not be more proper here, than just after the 
 second Lesson, where a hymn is purposely provided by the 
 Church to follow it. I have already showed the irregularity of 
 singing the hymn itself in metre : and to sing a different psalm 
 between the Lesson and the psalm appointed, is no less irregu- 
 lar. And therefore certainly this must be the most proper place 
 for singing, (if there must be singing before the service is end- 
 ed,) since ft seems much more timely and conformable to the 
 rubric, and moreover does honour to the singing-psalms them- 
 selves, by making them supply the place of anthems. 
 
 Sect. XXII. — Of the Prayer for the King. 
 We have been hitherto only praying for our- 
 selves ; but since we are commanded to pray for Th ?teklng f ° r 
 all men?* we now proceed, in obedience to that 
 command, to pray for the whole Church ; and in the first 
 place for the king, whom, under Christ, we acknowledge to 
 be the supreme governor of this part of it to which we belong. 
 And since the supreme King of all the world is God, by whom 
 all mortal kings reign ; and since his authority sets them up, 
 and his power only can defend them ; therefore all mankind, 
 as it were by common consent, have agreed to pray to God for 
 their rulers. The heathens offered sacrifices, prayers, and 
 vows for their welfare : and the Jews (as we may see by the 
 Psalms 47 ) always made their prayers for the king a part of 
 their public devotion. And all the ancient Fathers, Liturgies, 
 and Councils fully evidence, that the same was done daily by 
 Christians : and this not only for those that encouraged them, 
 but even for such as opposed them, and were enemies to the 
 faith. Afterwards indeed, when the emperors became Chris- 
 tian, they particularly named them in their offices, with titles 
 expressing the dearest affection, and most honourable respect; 
 and prayed for them in as loyal and as hearty terms as are in- 
 
 *« 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. * 7 Psalm xx. and lxxii 
 
160 OF THE ORDER FOR [chap, iit, 
 
 eluded in the prayer we are now speaking of: which is taken 
 almost verbatim out of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, but 
 was not inserted in our Liturgy till the reign of queen Eliza- 
 beth ; when our reformers observing that, by the 
 ^inou/servi^ Liturgies of king Edward, the queen could not 
 be prayed for, but upon those days when either 
 the Litany or Communion-office was to be used, they found 
 it necessary to add a form, to supply the defect of the daily 
 service. 
 
 Sect. XXIII. — Of the Prayer for the Royal Family. 
 
 The ra erf r There is as near an alliance between this and 
 the royal the former prayer, as between the persons for 
 
 family. whom they are made. And we may observe that 
 
 the Persian emperor Darius desired the Jewish priests to pray 
 not only for the king, but his sons too ; 48 and tne Romans 
 prayed for the heirs of the empire, as well as the emperor 
 himself. 49 The primitive Christians prayed also for the im- 
 perial family; 50 and the canons of old Councils both at home 
 
 and abroad enjoin the same. 51 In our own Church 
 W o h ur n irturgy t0 indeed there was no mention made of the royal 
 
 family till the reign of king James I., because 
 after the Reformation no protestant prince had children till 
 he came to the throne. But at his accession, this prayer was 
 immediately added ; except that the beginning of it, when it 
 was first inserted, was, Almighty God, which hast promised 
 to be a father of thine elect, and of their seed .• but this, I 
 suppose, being thought to savour a little of Calvinism, was 
 altered about the year 1632 or 33, when (Frederic the prince 
 elector palatine, the lady Elizabeth his wife, with their 
 'princely issue, being left out) these words were changed into, 
 Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness. 
 
 Sect. XXIY. — Of the Prayer for the Clergy and People. 
 
 The prayer for Having thus made our supplications for our 
 the clergy and temporal governors, that under them we may 
 people. kave all those outward blessings which will make 
 
 our lives comfortable here ; we proceed, in the next place, 
 to pray for our spiritual guides, that with them we may re- 
 ceive all those graces and inward blessings which will make 
 
 * 8 Ezra vi. 10. « Tacit. Annal. 1. 4. »" Liturg. S. Basil. M Excerpt. Egherti, 
 Can. 7, Sperm, torn. i. p. 259. Concil. Rheraens. 2, Can. 40, torn. vii. col. 1285, C 
 
sect, xxv.] MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. 161 
 
 our souls happy hereafter. We are members of the Church 
 as well as of the State, and therefore we must pray for the 
 prosperity of both, since they mutually defend and support 
 each other. That we might not want a form 
 therefore suitable and good, this prayer was add- ^^Jed** 
 ed in queen Elizabeth's Common Prayer Book, 
 out of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, in conformity to the 
 practice of the ancient Church, which always had prayers for 
 the clergy and people. 53 
 
 §. 2. And because to gather a Church at first 
 out of infidels, and then to protect it continually w h ETSrk 
 from its enemies, is an act of as great power, and est 8 reat mar - 
 a greater miracle of love than to create the world ; 
 therefore in the preface of this prayer we may properly ad- 
 dress ourselves to God, as to him who alone worketh great 
 marvels : though it is not improbable that those words might 
 be added with a view to the miraculous descent of the Holy 
 Ghost upon the twelve Apostles on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 §. 3. Bv the word curates in this prayer, are 
 meant all" that are intrusted with the cure or Cur t a h t e e J ; b ^ ho 
 care of souls, whether they be the incumbents 
 themselves, who from that cure were anciently called curates ; 
 or those whom we now more generally call so, from assisting 
 incumbents in their said cure. 
 
 Sect. XXV. — Of the Prayer of St. Chrysostom. 
 Where ancient Liturgies afforded proper pray- 
 ers, the compilers of ours rather chose to retain S J ch^ostom. • 
 them than make new ones : and therefore as 
 some are taken from the Western offices, so is this from the 
 Eastern ; where it is daily used, with very little difference, in 
 the Liturgies both of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom; the last 
 of which was the undoubted author of it. It is inserted in- 
 deed in the middle of their Liturgies ; but in ours, I think 
 more properly, at the conclusion. Eor it is fit, that, in the 
 close of our prayers, we should first reflect on all those great 
 and necessary requests we have made, and then not only re- 
 new our desires that God may grant them, but also stir up 
 our hearts to hope he will. To which end we address our- 
 selves in this prayer to the second Person in the glorious 
 
 »• Synes. Ep. 11, p. 173, B. Excerpt. Egberti, Can. 8, Spelm. torn. i. p. 229. Condi. 
 Calchuthens. Can. 10, torn. vi. col. 1816, A. 
 
 M 
 
162 MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER. [chap. in. 
 
 Trinity, our blessed Saviour, and remind him of the gracious 
 promise he made to us when on earth, that where two or 
 three are gathered together in his name, he would be there in 
 the midst of them ,- 53 and therefore if we can but prevail with 
 him to hear our desires and petitions, we know that the pow- 
 er of his intercession with God is so great, that we need not 
 doubt but we shall obtain them. But however, since it may 
 happen that we may have asked some things which he may 
 not think convenient for us ; we do not peremptorily desire 
 that he would give us all we have prayed for, but submit our 
 prayers to his heavenly will ; and only request that he woidd 
 fulfil our desires and petitions as may be most expedient for 
 us : begging nothing positively, but what we are sure we can- 
 not be too importunate for, viz. in this world knowledge of 
 his truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. This 
 we may ask peremptorily, without fear of arrogance or pre- 
 sumption ; and yet this is all we really stand in need of. 
 
 §. 2. Neither this nor the following benedic- 
 ^dded^* t° r y prayer is at the end of either the morning 
 or evening service, in any of the old Common 
 Prayer Books; which all of them conclude with the third 
 collect. But the prayer of St. Chrysostom is at the end of 
 the Litany, from the very first book of king Edward ; and 
 the benedictory prayer from that of queen Elizabeth ; and 
 there also stood the prayers for the king, the royal family, 
 for the clergy and people, till the last review. And I suppose, 
 though not printed, they were always used, as now, at the 
 conclusion of the daily service. For after the third collect, 
 the Scotch Liturgy directs, that they shall follow the prayer 
 for the king's Majesty, with the rest of the prayers at the end 
 of the Litany to the benediction. 
 
 Sect. XXVI.— Of 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 
 
 2 Cor xiii 14 ^ HE wn(He ser vice being thus finished, the 
 minister closes it with that benedictory prayer 
 of St. Paul, with which he concludes most of his Epistles : a 
 form of blessing which the Holy Spirit seems, by the repeated 
 use of it, to have delivered to the Church to be used instead 
 of that old Jewish form, with which the priest under the law 
 dismissed the congregation. 54 The reason of its being changed 
 was undoubtedly owing to the new revelation made of the 
 
 « Matt, xviii. 20. 5 * Numb. vi. 23, &c. 
 
introduction.] OF THE LITANY. 163 
 
 three Persons in the Godhead. For otherwise the Jews both 
 worshipped and blessed in the name of the same God as the 
 Christians ; only their devotions had respect chiefly to the 
 Unity of the Godhead, whereas ours comprehend also the 
 Trinity of Persons. 
 
 §. 2. I must not forget to observe, that the form AT . „ 
 
 i_ ° j • j -I [-, Not a blessing. 
 
 here used in our daily service is rather a prayer 
 than a blessing ; since there is no alteration either of person or 
 posture prescribed to the minister, but he is directed to pro- 
 nounce it kneeling, and to include himself as well as the people. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 OF THE LITANY. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 After the order for the morning and evening The si g nification 
 prayer in our present Liturgy, as well as in all of the word 
 the old ones, stands the confession of our Chris- ltany ' 
 tian faith, commonly called the Creed of Athanasius, 1 which 
 hath already been spoken to : and then followeth the Litany 
 or general supplication to be sung or said after morning pray- 
 er, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at all 
 other times when it shall be commanded by the ordinary. 
 The word Litany, as it is explained by our present Liturgy, 
 signifies a general supplication ; and so it is used by the most 
 ancient heathens, viz. "for an earnest supplication to the gods 
 made in time of adverse fortune ; 2 and in the same sense it 
 is used in the Christian Church, viz. for a supplication and 
 common intercession to God, when his wrath lies heavy upon 
 us." 3 Such a kind of supplication was the fifty-first psalm, 
 which may be called David's litany. Such was that litany of 
 God's appointing in Joel, 4 where, in a general assembly, the 
 priests were to weep between the porch and the altar, and to 
 say, Spare thy people, O Lord : (in allusion to which place, 
 
 1 The words commonly called the Creed of Athanasius were added at the Restora- 
 tion. 2 IloWa be /cat airiivbav \pvcrew 54nai Andvevev. Hom. II. ¥. *<Acot Atrzvtve 
 roKna? MrjTiv avu.<ppdcra<rOai. Hesiod. Theog. s Anavela cW ea-ri irapaKXrjais wpoe 
 Oeov, Kai tKea-ia—di bpihv eirt<J>toon4vnv. Symeon. Thessal. Opusc. de Haeret. 
 
 4 Joel ii. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 OF THE LITANY. [chap iv. 
 
 our Litany, retaining also the same words, is enjoined, by the 
 royal injunctions still in force, 5 to be said or sung in the midst 
 Why sung in the °^ tne cnurcn » a ^ a low desk before the chancel 
 midst of the door, anciently called the failed stool. 6 ) And 
 such was that litany of our Saviour, 7 which he 
 thrice repeated with strong crying and tears. 8 
 
 The antiquity of §• 2 « As . for the f ™ in which the Y ™ e n0W 
 
 litanies in this made, viz. in short requests by the priests, to 
 which the people all answer, it appears to be very 
 ancient ; for St. Basil tells us, that litanies were read in the 
 church of Neocsesarea, between Gregory Thaumaturgus's time 
 and his own. 9 And St. Ambrose hath left a form of litany, 
 which bears his name, agreeing in many things with this of 
 ours. For when miraculous gifts began to cease, they wrote 
 down several of those forms, which were the original of our 
 modern office. 
 
 §. 3. About the year 400 they began to be used 
 Llt procession. in m procession, the people walking barefoot, and 
 saying them with great devotion ; by which means, 
 it is said, several countries were delivered from great calami- 
 ties. 10 About the year 600, Gregory the Great, out of all the 
 litanies extant, composed that famous sevenfold litany, 11 by 
 which Rome was delivered from a grievous mortality ; 12 which 
 hath been a pattern to all the Western Churches since ; and 
 to which ours comes nearer than that in the present Roman 
 Missal, wherein later popes had put in the invocation of saints, 
 which our reformers have justly expunged. But here we must 
 observe, that litanies were of use before processions, and re- 
 mained when they were taken away. For those processional 
 litanies having occasioned much scandal, it was decreed "that 
 the litanies should for the future only be used within the walls 
 of the church ; " 13 and so they are used amongst us to this day. 
 
 Whysaidonsun- . §• 4 - In the Coraraon Prayer Book of 1549, 
 days, Wednes- (i. e. in the first book of king Edward,) the Litany 
 days.andFridays. wag pi ace( j between the communion office, and 
 
 5 Injunctions of Edward VI. and of queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1559, in bishop Sparrow's 
 Collect, p. 8 and 72. 6 See a note of bishop Andrews, in Dr. Nichols's Additional 
 Notes, p. 22, col. 1. 7 Luke xxii. 44. 8 Heb. v. 7. 9 Basil. Ep. 63, ad Neocaesar. 
 10 Vid. Niceph. Hist. 1. 14, c. 3, torn. ii. p. 443, A. n It was called Litania septi- 
 
 formis, or the sevenfold litany, because he ordered the Church to make their procession 
 in seven classes : viz. first the clergy, then the laymen, next the monks, after the vir- 
 gins, then the married women, next the widows, last of all the poor and the children. 
 Vide Greg. lib. 11, Ep. 2, and Strabo de Offic. Eccles. c. 28. ™ Paul. Diac. 1. 18, et 
 Balaeus in Vit. Greg. 13 Concil. Coloniens. 
 
introduction .] OF THE LITANY. lf?5 
 
 the office for baptism, with this single title, The Letany u and 
 Suffrages, and without any rubric either before or after it. 
 But at the end of the communion office the first rubric began 
 thus : Upon Wednesdays and Fridays the English Litany 
 shall be said or sung in all places, after such form as is ap- 
 pointed by the King's Majesty's Injunctions .- or as it shall be 
 otherwise appointed by his Highness. What this form was I 
 shall mention presently from the Injunctions themselves : but 
 first I must observe, that Wednesdays and Fridays are here only 
 mentioned, which were the ancient fasting-days of the primi- 
 tive Church : 15 the death of Christ being designed on the 
 Wednesday, when he was sold by Judas, and accomplished 
 on the Friday, when he died on the cross. 16 As to Sunday, 
 I find no direction relating to it ; though I conclude from two 
 other rubrics, which dispense with the use of it on some par- 
 ticular Sundays, that it was generally used on all the rest. For 
 among the notes of explication at the end of that book, the 
 two last allow that upon Christmas-day, Easter-day, the As- 
 cension-day, Whit-Sunday, and the feast of Trinity, may be 
 used any part of holy Scripture, hereafter to be certainly 
 limited and appointed instead of the Litany. And that if there 
 be a sermon, or for other great cause, the curate by his discre- 
 tion may leave out the Litany, the Gloria in Excelsis, the 
 Creed) the Homily, and the Exhortation to the Communion. 
 But in the review of the Common Prayer in 1552, the Litany 
 was placed where it stands at this time, with direction at the 
 beginning, that it should be used on Sundays, Wednesdays, 
 and Fridays ; and at other times when it shall be commanded 
 by the ordinary. And the order for Sunday has continued 
 ever since ; I suppose partly because there is then the greatest 
 assembly to join in so important a supplication, and partly 
 that no day might seem to have a more solemn office than the 
 Lord's day. 
 
 §.5. The particular time of the day when what time of the 
 it is to be said seems now different from what it day it is to be 
 was formerly : in king Edward's and queen Eli- 
 zabeth's time, it seems it was used as preparatory to the second 
 service. For by their Injunctions 17 it was ordered, that im- 
 mediately before high mass, or the time of communion of 
 
 *• So the word was spelt in all the old Common Prayer Books. 15 Clem. Alex. 
 Strom. 7, c. 744, B. Tertul. de Jejun. c. 2, p. 545, A. Epiphan. adv. Haeres. 1. 3, torn. 
 L p. 910, B. 16 Petrus Alexandrinus, ap. Albaspinaeum, 1. i. Obs. 16, p. 35, col. 1, E. 
 17 Sparn w's Collections, p. 8, 72. 
 
166 OF THE LITANY. [chap. iy. 
 
 the sacrament, the priests with others of the quire should 
 kneel in the midst of the church, and sing or say plainly and 
 distinctly the Litany which is set forth in English, with all 
 the suffrages following . And even long afterwards it was a 
 custom in several churches to toll a bell whilst the Litany was 
 reading, to give notice to the people that the communion 
 service was coming on. 18 And indeed till the last review in 
 1661 the Litany was designed to be a distinct service by itself, 
 and to be used some time after the morning prayer was over ; 
 as may be gathered from the rubric before the commination 
 in all the old Common Prayer Books, which orders, that after 
 morning prayer, the people being called together by the ring- 
 ing of a bell, and assembled in the church, the English Litany 
 shall be said after the accustomed manner. This custom, as 
 I am informed, is still observed in some cathedrals and cha- 
 pels : 19 though now, for the most part, it is made one office 
 with the morning prayer; it being ordered by the rubric 
 before the prayer for the king, to be read after the third col- 
 lect for grace, instead of the intercession al prayers in the 
 daily service. Which order seems to have been formed from 
 the rubric before the litany in the Scotch Common Prayer 
 Book, which I have transcribed in the margin. 20 And ac- 
 cordingly we find that, as the aforementioned rubric before 
 the commination office is now altered, both the morning 
 prayer and Litany are there supposed to be read at one and 
 the same time. 
 
 one out of every §• 6. By the fifteenth canon above mentioned, 
 family to attend whenever tlje Litany is read, every householder 
 the Litany. dwelling within half a mile of the church, is to 
 come or send one at the least of his household fit to join with 
 the minister in prayers. 
 
 §. 7. The posture, which the minister is to 
 The SieeL er t0 llse m savm g tne Litany, is not prescribed in 
 any present rubric, except that, as it is now a 
 part of the morning service for the days above mentioned, it is 
 included in the rubric at the end of the suffrages after the 
 second Lord's prayer, which orders all to kneel in that place, 
 after which there is no direction for standing. And the In- 
 
 18 Heylin's Antidot. Lincoln, cap. 10, sect. 3, p. 59. 19 As at Worcester Cathedral 
 and Merton College in Oxford, where morning prayer is read at six or seven, and the 
 Litany at ten. 20 Here followeth the Litany to be used after the third collect at 
 
 morning prayer, called the collect for grace, upon Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 
 and at other times, when it shall he commanded by the Ordinary, and without the 
 omission of any part of the other daily service of the Church on those days. 
 
introduction.] OF THE LITANY. 167 
 
 junctions of king Edward and queen Elizabeth both appoint, 
 that the priests, with others of the choir, shall kneel in the 
 midst of T the church, and sing or say plainly and distinctly 
 tlie Litany, which is set forth in English, with all the suf- 
 frages following, to the intent the people may hear and an- 
 swer, &c. 21 As to the posture of the people, nothing need to 
 be said in relation to that, because whenever the priest kneels, 
 they are always to do the same. 
 
 §. 8. The singing of this office by laymen, as 
 practised in several cathedrals and colleges, is ofSn^gthe 7 
 certainly very unjustifiable, and deservedly gives litany by lay- 
 ofFence to all such as are zealous for regularity 
 and decency in divine worship. And therefore (since it is 
 plainly a practice against the express rules of our Church, 
 crept in partly through the indevout laziness of minor canons 
 and others, whose duty it is to perform that solemn office ; 
 and partly through the shameful negligence of those who can 
 and ought to correct whatever they see amiss in such matters) 
 it cannot surely be thought impertinent, if I take hold of this 
 opportunity to express my concern at so irreligious a custom. 
 And to shew that I am not singular in my complaint, I shall 
 here transcribe the words of the learned Dr. Bennet, who 
 hath some time since, upon a like occasion, very severely, but 
 with a great deal of decency, inveighed against this practice ; 
 though I cannot learn that he has yet been so fortunate as to 
 obtain much reformation. 
 
 " I think myself obliged (saith he 22 ) to take notice of a 
 most scandalous practice, which prevails in many such con- 
 gregations, as ought to be fit precedents for the whole kingdom 
 to follow. It is this ; that laymen, and very often young boys 
 of eighteen or nineteen years of age, are not only permitted, 
 but obliged to perform this office, which is one of the most 
 solemn parts of divine service, even though many priests and 
 deacons are at the same time present. 
 
 " Those persons upon whom it must be charged, and in 
 whose power it is to rectify it, cannot but know that this 
 practice is illegal, as well as abominable in itself, and a flat 
 contradiction to all primitive order. And one would think, 
 when the nation swarms with such as ridicule, oppose, and 
 deny the distinction of clergy and laity ; those who possess 
 
 21 See Bishop Sparrow, as in page 165, note 17 . m Upon the Common Prayer, 
 
 page 94. 
 
168 OF THE LITANY. [chap. iv. 
 
 some of the largest and most honourable preferments in the 
 Church, should be ashamed to betray her into the hands of 
 her professed enemies, and to put arguments into their mouths, 
 and declare by their actions that they think any layman what- 
 soever as truly authorized to minister in holy things as those 
 who are regularly ordained. Besides, with what face can 
 those persons blame the dissenting teachers for officiating 
 without episcopal ordination, when they themselves do not 
 only allow of but require the same thing? " 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Invocation. 
 We have a divine command to call upon God 
 
 The invocation. £qj , ^^ ^ ^ tjme of trouble; 28 and all the 
 
 litanies I have seen begin with this solemn word, Kvpie eXerjaop, 
 Lord have mercy upon us. So that this invocation is the sum 
 of the whole Litany, being a particular address for mercy, first 
 to each person in the glorious Trinity, and then to them all 
 together. The address being urged by two motives, viz. first, 
 because we are miserable ; and secondly, because we are 
 sinners: upon both which accounts we extremely need mercy. 
 Whyrepeatedby §• 2 - The desi g n of the people's repeating 
 the whole con- these whole verses after the minister is, that 
 every one may first crave to be heard in his own 
 words : which when they have obtained, they may leave it to 
 the priest to set forth all their needs to Almighty God, pro- 
 vided that they declare their assent to every petition as he 
 delivers it. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Deprecations. 
 Having opened the way by the preceding invo- 
 The tions? Ca ' cat i° n > we now begin to ask : and because deli- 
 verance from evil is the first step to felicity, we 
 begin with these deprecations for removing it. Both the 
 Eastern and Western Church begin their litanies after the same 
 manner, 24 theirs as well as ours being a paraphrase upon that 
 petition in the Lord's prayer, deliver us from evil. 
 
 §. 2. But because our requests ought to as- 
 
 T1 ofthem.° d cend by degrees; before we ask for a perfect 
 
 deliverance, we beg the mercy of forbearance. 
 
 For we confess we have sinned with our fathers, and that 
 
 therefore God may justly punish us, not only for our own 
 
 » James v. 13. 2* Liturg. S. Chrysos. et S. Basil.— Miss. sec. Us. Sarisb. 
 
SECT. II.] OF THE LITANY. 169 
 
 sins, but for theirs also, which we have made our own by 
 imitation : for which reason we beg of him not to remember, 
 or take vengeance of us for them, especially since he has him- 
 self so dearly purchased our pardon with his own most 
 precious blood. But however if we cannot obtain to be 
 wholly spared, but that he may see it good for us to be a 
 little under chastisement ; then we beg his correction may be 
 short, and soon removed, and that he would not be angry 
 with us for ever. 
 
 And the sum of all that we pray against being deliverance 
 from the evils of sin and punishment, we begin the next pe- 
 tition with two general words which comprehend both : for 
 evil and mischief signify wickedness and misery : and as the 
 first is caused by the crafts and assaults of the Devil, so the 
 second is brought upon us by the just wrath of God here, and 
 completed by everlasting damnation hereafter : and therefore 
 we desire to be delivered both from sin and the punishment 
 of it ; as well from the causes that lead to it, as the conse- 
 quences that follow it. 
 
 After we have thus prayed against sin and misery in general, 
 we descend regularly to the particulars, reckoning divers 
 kinds of the most notorious sins, some of which have their 
 seat in the heart or mind, and others in the body. And first 
 we begin against those of the heart, where all sins begin, and 
 there recount first the sins concerning ourselves : and, se- 
 condly, those concerning our neighbours. Of the former sort 
 are blindness of heart, (which we place in the front as the 
 cause of all the rest,) and pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy, 
 which are united together in this deprecation, as vices which 
 generally accompany one another. Of the other sort are 
 envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness ,• in which 
 words are comprehended all. those sins which we do, or can, 
 commit against our neighbour in our hearts. 
 
 From the heart sin spreads further into the life and actions, 
 and thither our Litany now pursues it, beginning with that 
 which St. Paul reckons first among the works of the flesh, 25 
 but which is notwithstanding the boldest and most barefaced 
 sin in this lewd age, viz. fornication, which is not to be re- 
 strained to the defiling of single persons, but comprehends 
 under it all acts of uncleanness whatsoever. But though this 
 be a deadly sin, yet it is not the only one, and therefore we 
 
 25 Gal. v. 19. 
 
170 OF THE LITANY. [chap. iv. 
 
 pray to be delivered from all other deadly si?zs ; 
 D Tt d sIgnmeI hat bv which we understand not such as are deadly 
 by way of distinction, or as they stand in opposi- 
 tion to venial sins, (for there are no sins venial in their own 
 nature,) but such as are those which David calls presumptu- 
 ous, and begs particular preservation from, 26 or those which 
 are most heinous and crying above others. For though every 
 sin deserves damnation in its own nature, yet we know that 
 the infinite goodness of God will not inflict it for every sin. 
 But then there are some sins so exceeding great, that they are 
 inconsistent even with the gospel-clemency, and immediately 
 render a man obnoxious to the wrath of God, and in danger 
 of eternal damnation. And these are they which we pray 
 against, together with all other sins, which we are apt to fall 
 into through the deceits of our three great enemies, which we 
 renounced in baptism, the world, the flesh, and the Devil. 
 
 When the cause is removed, there are hopes the conse- 
 quences may be prevented : and therefore, after we have pe- 
 titioned against all sin, we may regularly pray against all those 
 judgments with which God generally scourges those who of- 
 fend him; whether they are such as fall upon whole na- 
 tions and kingdoms, and either come immediately from the 
 hand of God, as lightning and tempest, plague, pestilence, 
 and famine: or else are inflicted by the hands of wicked 
 men, as his instruments, as battle and murder : or whether 
 they are such as fall upon particular persons only, as sudden 
 Why we pray death ; such as happens sometimes by violence, 
 against sudden as by stabbing, burning, drowning, or the like ; 
 or else on a sudden, and in a moment's time, 
 without any warning or apparent cause. And though both 
 these kinds of death may sometimes happen to very good 
 men, yet if we consider that by such means we may leave our 
 relations without comfort, and our affairs unsettled ; and may 
 ourselves be deprived of the preparative ordinances for 
 death, and have no time to fit our souls for our great ac- 
 count ; prudence as well as humility will teach us to pray 
 against them. 
 
 Having thus deprecated those evils which might endanger 
 our lives, we proceed next to pray against such as would de- 
 prive us of our peace and truth : as well those which are 
 levelled at the state, as is all sedition, privy conspiracy, and 
 
 26 Psalm xix. 13. 
 
iect. ii.] OF THE LITANY. 171 
 
 rebellion? 1 as those which portend the ruin of the Church, as 
 all false doctiine, heresy, and schism. 21 And then we con- 
 clude with the last and worst of God's judgments, which he 
 generally inflicts upon those whom neither private nor public 
 calamities will reform, viz. hardness of heart, and contempt 
 of his word and commandment: for when people amend not 
 upon those punishments which are inflicted upon their estates 
 and persons, upon the Church and State ; then the patience of 
 God is tired out, and he withdraws his grace, and gives them 
 up to a reprobate sense, the usual prologue to destruction and 
 damnation, from which deplorable state, good Lord deliver us. 
 
 And now to be delivered from all these great and grievous 
 evils, is a mercy so very desirable, that it ought to be begged 
 by the most importunate kind of supplication imaginable ; and 
 such are the two next petitions, which the Latins call Obse- 
 crations, in which the Church beseeches our dear Redeemer 
 to deliver us from all the evils we have been praying against, 
 by the mystery of his holy incarnation, &c, i. e. she lays be- 
 fore our Lord all his former mercies to us expressed in his 
 incarnation, nativity, circumcision, baptism, and in every 
 thing else which he has done and suffered for us ; and offers 
 these considerations to move him to grant our requests, and 
 to deliver us from those evils. 
 
 And. though we are always either under or near some evil, 
 for which reason it is never unseasonable to pray for deliver- 
 ance; yet there are some particular times when we stand in 
 more especial need of the divine help : and they are either 
 during our lives, or at our deaths. During our lives we par- 
 ticularly want the divine assistance, first in all times of tribu- 
 lation, when we are usually tempted to murmuring, impatience, 
 sadness, despair, and the like; and these we pray against now, 
 before the evil day comes : not that God would deliver us 
 from all such times, which would be an unlawful request ; but 
 that he would support us under them whenever he shall 
 )lease to inflict them. The other part of our lives which we 
 pray to be delivered in, is all time of our wealth, i. e. of our 
 welfare and prosperity, which are rather more dangerous than 
 our time of adversity : all kinds of prosperity, especially plenty 
 
 27 Rebellion, schism.] Both these words were added in the review after the restora- 
 tion of king Charles II., to deprecate for the future the like subversion of Church and 
 State to what they had then so lately felt. After privy conspiracy in both Common 
 Prayer Books of king Edward VI. followed, from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome 
 %nd all his detestable enormities : hut this has ever since been omitted. 
 
172 OF THE LITANY [chap, iv 
 
 and abundance, being exceedingly apt to increase our pride, 
 to inflame our lusts, to multiply our sins, and in a word, to 
 make us forget God, and grow careless of our souls. And 
 therefore we had need to pray that in all such times God would 
 be pleased to deliver us. But whether we spend our days in 
 prosperity or adversity, they must all end in death, in the 
 hour of which the Devil is always most active, and we least 
 able to resist him. Our pains are grievous, and our fears 
 many, and the danger great of falling into impatience, de- 
 spair, or security : and therefore we constantly pray for de- 
 liverance in that important hour, which if God grant us, we 
 have but one request more, and that is, that he would also 
 deliver us in the day of judgment ; which is the last time a 
 man is capable of deliverance, since if we be not delivered 
 then, we are left to perish eternally. How fervently there- 
 fore ought we to pray for ourselves all our life long, as St. 
 Paul prayed for Onesiphorus, 28 that the Lord would grant 
 unto us that we may find mercy of the Lord in that day! 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Intercessions. 
 If the institution of God be required to make 
 Th sions! rces ~ tn ^ s P art °f our Litany necessary, we have his 
 positive command by St. Paul, to make inter- 
 cession for all men ,- 29 and if the consent of the universal 
 Church can add any thing to its esteem, it is evident that this 
 kind of prayer is in all the Liturgies in the world, and that 
 every one of the petitions we are now going to discourse of are 
 taken from the best and oldest litanies extant. All therefore 
 that will be necessary here, is to shew the admirable method 
 and order of these intercessions, which are so exact, curious, 
 and natural, that every degree of men follow in their due 
 place ; and, at the same time, so comprehensive, that we can 
 think of no sorts of persons but who are enumerated, and for 
 whom all those things are asked which all and every of them 
 stand in need of. 
 
 §. 2. But because it may seem presumptuous for 
 ^L?of h t°hem d us t0 P ra y for others, who are unworthy to pray 
 for ourselves, before we begin, we acknowledge 
 that we are sinners : but yet, if we are penitent, we know our 
 prayers will be acceptable : and therefore in humble confi- 
 dence of his mercy, and in obedience to his command, 
 
 28 2Tim.i. 18. 89 1 Tim.iL 1. 
 
skct. in.] OF THE LITANY. 173 
 
 We sinners do beseech him to hear us in these our interces- 
 sions, which we offer up, first, for the holy Church universal, 
 the common mother of all Christians, as thinking ourselves 
 more concerned for the good of the whole, than of any par- 
 ticular part. After this, we pray for our own Church, to 
 which, next the catholic Church, we owe the greatest observ- 
 ance and duty ; and therein, in the first place, for the princi- 
 pal members of it, in whose welfare the peace of the Church 
 chiefly consists : such as is the king, whom, because he is the 
 supreme governor of the Church in his dominions, and so the 
 greatest security upon earth to the true religion, we pray for 
 in the three next petitions, that he may be orthodox, pious, and 
 prosperous. 30 And though at present we may be happy under 
 him ; yet because his crown doth not render him immortal, 
 and the security of the government ordinarily depends upon 
 the royal family, we pray in the next place for them, (and 
 particularly for the heir apparent,) that they may be supplied 
 with all spiritual blessings, and preserved from all plots and 
 dangers. 31 
 
 The Jews and Gentiles always reckoned their chief priests 
 to be next in dignity to the king ; 32 and all ancient Liturgies 
 pray for the clergy immediately after the royal family, as be- 
 ing the most considerable members of the Christian Church, 
 distinguished here into those three apostolical orders of bi- 
 shops, priests, and deacons ; though in all former Common 
 Prayer Books they were called the bishops, pastors, and min- 
 isters of tlie Church, except in the Scotch Liturgy, which for 
 pastors had presbyters. 
 
 Next to these follow those who are eminent in the state, viz. 
 the lords of the council and all the nobility, who by reason of 
 their dignity and trust have need of our particular prayers, and 
 were always prayed for in the old Liturgies, by the title of 
 the whole palace. 
 
 After we have prayed for all the nobility in general, we pray 
 for such of the nobility and gentry as are magistrates, or more 
 inferior governors of the people, according to the example of 
 the primitive Christians, and in obedience to the positive com- 
 mand of St. Paul, who enjoins us to pray for all that are in 
 autlwrity?* 
 
 30 In king Edward's Liturgies the first petition for the king was only this : That it 
 may please thee to keep Edward the Sixth, thy servant, our king and*governor. 
 
 3 i This petition was not added till king James the First's time, for a reason given in 
 the section upon the prayer for the royal family in the daily service. 
 
 3 2 Alex, ab Alex. 1. 2, c. 8. » 1 Tim. ii. 2. 
 
174 OF THE LITANY. [chap. iv. 
 
 After these we pray for all the people, i. e. all the commons 
 of the land, who are the most numerous, though the least 
 eminent ; and unless they be safe and happy, the governors 
 themselves cannot be prosperous, the diseases of the members 
 being a trouble to the head also. 
 
 And though we may be allowed to pray for our own nation 
 first, yet our prayers must extend to all mankind ; and there- 
 fore in the next place we pray for the whole world, in the 
 very words of ancient Liturgies, viz. that all nations may have 
 unity at home among themselves, peace with one another, and 
 concord, i. e. amity, commerce, and leagues. 
 
 Having thus prayed for temporal blessings both for ourselves 
 and others, it is time now to look inward, and to consider what 
 is wanting for our souls ; and therefore we now proceed to 
 pray for spiritual blessings, such as virtue and goodness. And, 
 first, we pray that the principles of it may be planted in our 
 hearts, viz. the love and dread of God, and then that the prac- 
 tice of it may be seen in our lives, by our diligent living after 
 his commandments. 
 
 But though we receive grace, yet if we do not improve it, 
 we shall be in danger of losing it again ; and therefore having 
 in the fomer petition desired that we might become good, we 
 subjoin this that we may grow better : begging increase of 
 grace, and also that we may use proper means thereunto, such 
 as is the meekly hearing God's word, &c. 
 
 From praying for the sanctification and improvement of 
 those within the Church, we become solicitous for the conver- 
 sion of those that are without it ; being desirous that all should 
 be brought into the way of truth who have erred or are de- 
 ceived. 
 
 But though those without the Church are the most miser- 
 able, yet those within are not yet so happy as not to need our 
 prayers ; some of them standing in need of strength, and 
 others of comfort : these blessings therefore we now ask for 
 those that want them. 
 
 Having thus considered the souls of men, we go on next to 
 such things as concern their bodies, and to pray for all the 
 afflicted in general ; begging of God to succour all that are in 
 danger, by preventing the mischief that is falling upon them ; 
 to help those that are in necessity, by giving them those bless- 
 ings they want ; and to comfort all that are in tribulation, by 
 supporting them under it, and delivering them out of it. 
 
 And because the circumstances of some of these hinder them 
 
sect, in.] OF THE LITANY. 175 
 
 from being present to pray for themselves ; we particularly 
 remember them, since they more especially stand in need of 
 our prayers, such as are all that travel by land or by water, 
 and the rest mentioned in that petition. 
 
 There are other afflicted persons who are unable to help 
 themselves, such as are fatherless children and widows, who 
 are too often destitute of earthly friends ; and such as are de- 
 solate of maintenance and lodging ; or are oppressed by the 
 false and cruel dealings of wicked and powerful men ; and 
 therefore these also we particularly recommend to God, and 
 beg of him to defend and provide for them. 
 
 And after this large catalogue of sufferers as well in spi- 
 ritual as temporal things ; lest any should be passed who are 
 already under or in danger of any affliction, we pray next that 
 God would have mercy upon all men. 
 
 And then, to shew we have no reserve or exception in our 
 charity or devotions, we pray particularly for our enemies, 
 persecutors, and slanderers ; who we desire may be partakers 
 of all the blessings we have been praying for, and that God 
 would moreover forgive them, and turn their hearts. 
 
 After we have thus prayed, first for ourselves and then for 
 others, we proceed to pray for them and ourselves together : 
 begging, first, whatsoever is necessary for the sustenance of 
 our bodies, comprehended here under the fruits of the earth. 
 
 And then, in the next petition, asking for all things neces- 
 sary to our souls, in order to bring them to eternal happiness, 
 viz. true repentance, forgiveness of all our sins, &c, and 
 amendment of life. Which last petition is very proper for a 
 conclusion. For we know that if we do not amend our lives, 
 all these intercessions will signify nothing,' because God will 
 not hear impenitent sinners. We therefore earnestly beg re- 
 pentance and amendment of life, that so all our preceding re- 
 quests may not miscarry. 
 
 And now having presented so many excellent supplications 
 to the throne of grace ; if we should conclude them here, and 
 leave them abruptly, it would look as if we were not much 
 concerned whether they were received or not : and therefore 
 the Church has appointed us to pursue them still with vigorous 
 importunities, and redoubled entreaties. And for this reason 
 we now call upon our Saviour, whom we have all this while 
 been praying to, and beseech him by his divinity, as he is the 
 Son of God, and consequently abundantly able to help us in 
 
176 OF THE LITANY. [chap, iv 
 
 all these things, that he would hear us : and then afterwards 
 invocate him by his humanity, beseeching him by his suffer- 
 ings for us, when he became the Lamb of God, and was sacri- 
 ficed to take away the sins of the world, that he would grant 
 us an interest in that peace, which he then made with God, 
 and the peace of conscience following thereupon ; and that he 
 would have mercy upon us, and take away our sins, so as to 
 deliver us from guilt and punishment. And lastly, we beg of 
 him, as he is the Lord Christ, our anointed Mediator, to hear us, 
 and favour us with a gracious answer to all these intercessions. 
 Finally, that our conclusion may be suitable to our begin- 
 ning, we close up all with an address to the whole Trinity, 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for that mercy which we have 
 been begging in so many particulars : this one word compre- 
 hends them all, and therefore these three sentences are the 
 epitome of the whole Litany ; and considering how often and 
 how many ways we need mercy, we can never ask it too often. 
 But of these see more in the former chapter, sect. xvi. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Supplications. 
 
 The original of r ^ HE following part of this Litany we call the 
 the suppika- supplications, which were first collected, and put 
 into this form, when the barbarous nations first 
 began to overrun the empire, about six hundred years after 
 Christ : but considering the troubles of the Church militant, 
 and the many enemies it always hath in this world, this part 
 of the Litany is no less suitable than the former at all times 
 whatsoever. 
 
 §. 2. We begin with the Lord's prayer, of 
 prayer? S which we have spoke before, 34 and need only ob- 
 serve here, that the ancients annexed it to every 
 office, to shew both their esteem of that, and their mean 
 opinion of their own composures, which receive life and value 
 from this divine form. 
 
 §. 3. After this, we proceed to beg deliver- 
 deai not^&c. ance from our troubles : but because our con- 
 sciences presently suggest, that our iniquities 
 deserve much greater, and that therefore we cannot expect to 
 be delivered, since we suffer so justly ; we are 
 warofus^&c. 16 " P u ^ m mind that God doth not deal with us after 
 our sins, nor reward us according to our ini- 
 
 34 Chap. iii. sect. vi. page 123. 
 
sect, iv.l OF THE LITANY. 177 
 
 quities. 35 And therefore we turn these very words into sup- 
 plication, and thereby clear his justice in punishing us, but 
 apply to his mercy to proportion his chastisements according 
 to our ability of bearing, and not according to the desert of 
 our offences. 
 
 §. 4. The way being thus prepared, the priest The prayer 
 now begins to pray for the people alone : but lest against persecu- 
 they should think their duty at an end, as soon tlon ' 
 as the responses are over, he enjoins them to accompany him in 
 their hearts still by that ancient form Let us pray .- 36 and 
 then proceeds to the prayer against persecution, which is col- 
 lected partly out of the Scripture, and partly out of the primi- 
 tive forms, and is still to be found entire among the offices of 
 the Western Church, with the title, For tribulation of heart. , 37 
 
 It is not concluded with Amen, to shew that Am OLord 
 the same request is continued in another form : arise, &c. for'thy 
 and what the priest begged before alone, all the names sake ' 
 people join to ask in the following alternate supplications 
 taken from the Psalms. 38 When our enemies are rising against 
 us to destroy us, we desire that God will arise and help us, 
 not for any worthiness in ourselves, but for his name's sake, 
 that he may make his power to be known. 29 
 
 §. 5. Whilst the people are praying thus earn- 
 estly, the priest, to quicken their faith by another have^fard, &c. 
 divine sentence, 40 commemorates the great trou- 
 bles, adversities, and persecutions, which God hath delivered 
 his Church from in all ages : and since he is the same Lord, 
 and we have the same occasion, this is laid down as the ground 
 of our future hope. 
 
 For the wonderful relations which we have heard with our 
 ears, and our fathers have declared unto us, of God's res- 
 cuing this particular Church at first from popery, and of his 
 delivering and preserving it ever since from faction and su- 
 perstition, from so many secret seditions and open rebellions, 
 fully assure us that his arm is not shortened. 
 
 And therefore the people again say, O Lord, Ans Lord 
 arise, help us, and deliver us for thine honour ; arise, &c. for' 
 which is no vain repetition, but a testimony that thine honour - 
 
 35 Psalm ciii. 10. 36 Let us pray.] In ancient Liturgies these words often served 
 as a mark of transition from one sort of prayer to another, viz. from what the Latins 
 call preces, to what they term orationes: thepreces were those alternate petitions which 
 passed conjointly between the priest and people; the orationes were those that were 
 laid by the priest alone, the people only answering Amen. 37 Miss. Sarisb. 
 
 3» Psalm xliv. 26, and lxxix. 9. » Psalm cvi. 8. *° Psalm xliv. 1. 
 
 N 
 
i78 OF THE LITANY. [chap. iv. 
 
 they are convinced they did wisely to ask of this God (who 
 hath done so great things for his people in all ages) now to 
 arise and help ; that so the honour he hath gotten by the 
 wonders of his mercy may be renewed and confirmed by this 
 new act of his power and goodness. 
 
 §. 6. To this is added the Doxologyin imita- 
 
 G FaTher, fee. 1 " 6 tion ° f David > who would often > in the vei 7 midst 
 
 of his complaints, out of a firm persuasion that 
 God would hear him, suddenly break out into an act of praise. 41 
 And thus we, having the same God to pray to, in the midst of 
 our mournful supplications, do not only look back on former 
 blessings with joy and comfort, but forward also on the mer- 
 cies we now pray for : and though we have not yet received 
 them, yet we praise him for them beforehand, and doubt not, 
 but that, as he was glorified in the beginning for past mercies, 
 so he ought to be no?v for the present, and shall be hereafter 
 for future blessings. 
 
 §. 7. But though the faithful do firmly believe, 
 Th r e pSIn3l ng that they shall be delivered at the last, and do at 
 present rejoice in hopes thereof; yet because it is 
 probable their afflictions may be continued for a while for a trial 
 of their patience, and the exercise of their other graces ; for 
 that reason we continue to pray for support in the mean time, 
 and beg of Christ to defend us from our enemies, and to look 
 graciously upon our afflictions ; pitifully to behold the sor- 
 rows of our hearts, and mercifully to forgive our sins, which 
 are the cause of them. 
 
 And this we know he will do, if our prayers be accepted ; 
 and therefore we beg of him favourably with mercy to hear 
 them, and do beseech him, as he assumed our nature, and 
 became the Son of David, (whereby he took on him our in- 
 firmities, and became acquainted with our griefs,) to have 
 mercy upon us. 
 
 And because the hearing of our prayers in the time of dis- 
 tress is so desirable a mercy, that we cannot ask it too fer- 
 vently nor too often ; we therefore redouble our cries, and 
 beg of him as he is Christ, our anointed Lord and Saviour, 
 that he would vouchsafe to hear us now, and whenever we 
 cry to him for relief in our troubles. And, to shew we rely 
 on no other helper, we conclude these supplications with Da- 
 vid's words in a like case, 42 O Lord, let thy mercy be shewed 
 
 41 Psalm vi. 8. and xxii. 22, &c. a Psalm xxxiii. 21. 
 
bect. v.] OF THE LITANY. 179 
 
 upon us, as we do put our trust in thee. To him, and to him 
 only, we have applied ourselves ; and as we have no other 
 hope but in him, so we may expect that this hope shall be ful- 
 filled, and that we shall certainly be delivered in his due time. 
 §. 8. The whole congregation having thus ad- The prayer for 
 dressed the Son ; the priest now calls upon us to sanctifying our 
 make our application to the Father (who knows troubles - 
 as well what we suffer as what we can bear) in a most fervent 
 form of address, composed at first by St. Gregory above one 
 thousand one hundred years ago, 43 but afterwards corrupted 
 by the Romish Church, by the addition of the intercession of 
 saints, 44 which our reformers have left out, not only restoring, 
 but improving the form. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and 
 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 
 The Litany, as I have already observed, was 
 formerly a distinct service by itself, and was used saint P Chrysos- 
 generally after morning prayer was over ; and t0 3 and 2 Cor - 
 then these two final prayers belonged particu- 
 larly to this service. But it being now used almost every 
 where with the morning prayer, these latter collects being 
 omitted there (after some occasional prayers, which shall be 
 spoken of next) come in here ; and how fit they are for this 
 place may be seen by what is said of them already. 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF THE OCCASIONAL PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the six first Occasional Prayers. 
 
 The usual calamities which afflict the world 
 are so exactly enumerated in the preceding Li- 2>n5 Prayen! 
 tany, and the common necessities of mankind so 
 orderly set down there ; that there seems to be no need of 
 any additional prayers to complete so perfect an office. But 
 yet because the variety of the particulars allows them but a 
 bare mention in that comprehensive form ; the Church hath 
 thought good to enlarge our petitions in some instances, be. 
 
 43 Sacram. S. Greg. torn. ii. col. 1535, B. «* Miss. Sarisb. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 OF THE OCCASIONAL PRAYERS [app. to chap. it. 
 
 cause there are some evils so universal and grievous, that it is 
 necessary they should be deprecated with a peculiar impor- 
 tunity ; and some mercies so exceeding needful at some times, 
 that it is not satisfactory enough to include our desires of them 
 among our general requests ; but very requisite that we should 
 more solemnly petition for them in forms proper to the seve- 
 ral occasions. Thus it seems to have been among the Jews : 
 for that famous prayer which Solomon made at the dedication 
 of the temple, 45 supposes that special prayers would be made 
 there in times of war, drought, pestilence, and famine. And 
 the light of nature taught the Gentiles, on such extraordinary 
 occasions, to make extraordinary addresses to their gods. 48 
 Nor are Christians to be thought less mindful of their own 
 necessities. The Greek Church hath full and proper offices 
 for times of drought and famine, of war and tumults, of pes- 
 tilence and mortality, and upon occasion of earthquakes also, 
 a judgment very frequent there, but more seldom in this part 
 of the world. In the Western Missals there is a Collect, and 
 an Epistle and Gospel, with some responses upon every one 
 of these subjects, seldom indeed agreeing with any of our 
 forms, which are the shortest of all ; being not designed for a 
 complete office, but appointed to be joined to the Litany, or 
 Morning and Evening Prayer, every day while the occasion 
 requires it; that so, according to the laws of Charles the 
 Great, "in times of famine, plague, and war, the mercy of 
 God may be immediately implored, without staying for the 
 king's edict." 47 
 
 §. 2. The two first of these prayers, viz. those 
 ' for rain and for fair weather, are placed after the 
 six collects at the end of the communion office, in the first book 
 of king Edward VI. The other four were added afterwards 
 to his second book, in which they were all six placed, as now, 
 at the end of the Litany. But in the old Common Prayer 
 Book of queen Elizabeth and king James I., the second of the 
 prayers in the time of dearth and famine was omitted, and 
 not inserted again till the restoration of king Charles II. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Prayers in the Ember- Weeks. 
 
 The Prayers in The ordination of ministers is a matter of so 
 
 the Ember- great concern to all degrees of men, that it has 
 
 ever been done with great solemnity : and by 
 
 *'■< 1 Kings viii. 33, 35, 37. « Lactant. Inst. 1. 2, c. 1, p. 115. « Capitular, lib. 1 , c. 118. 
 
sect, in.] AND THANKSGIVINGS. 181 
 
 the thirty-first canon of the Church it is appointed, That no 
 deacons and ministers he made and ordained, but only upon 
 the Sundays immediately following jejunia quatuor temporum, 
 commonly called Ember- Weeks. And since the whole nation 
 is obliged, at these times, to extraordinary prayer and fasting ; 
 the Church hath provided two forms upon the occasion, of 
 which the first is most proper to be used before the candidates 
 have passed their examination, and the other afterwards. 
 They were both added to our Common Prayer 
 Book at the last review ; though the second oc- 
 curs in the Scotch Liturgy, just before the prayer of St. Chry- 
 sostom, at the end of the Litany. 
 
 As to the original, antiquity, and reason of these four em- 
 ber-fasts, and the fixing the ordination of ministers at those 
 times, I shall take occasion to speak hereafter ; and shall only 
 observe further in this place, that it is a mistake in those who 
 imagine that these prayers are only to be used upon the three 
 ember-days, i. e. upon the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 
 in every ember- week ; the rubric expressing as plain as words 
 can do, that one of them is to be said everyday in the ember- 
 weeks, i. e. beginning (as it is expressed in the Scotch Litur- 
 gy) on the Sunday before the day of ordination. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Prayer that may be said after any of the former. 
 
 This prayer was first added in queen Eliza- 
 beth's Common Prayer Book, and not by order 
 of king James I., as Dr. Nichols affirms. When it was first 
 inserted, it was placed just after the prayer in the time of any 
 common plague or sickness, (that being then the last of the 
 prayers upon particular occasions,) but at the review after the 
 Restoration, the two prayers for the ember- weeks were inserted 
 just after that, and the collect we are speaking of ordered to 
 be placed immediately after those prayers. The printers indeed 
 set it in the place where it now usually stands, viz. between 
 the prayers for all conditions of men and the general thanks- 
 giving ,- but the commissioners obliged them to strike it out, 
 and print a new leaf, wherein it should stand just before the 
 prayer for the parliament. But notwithstanding 
 this, in all the following impressions, this order aii7he g edition S m 
 was again neglected, and the prayer that we are of the Common 
 speaking of has, in all editions ever since, been 
 continued in the same place, viz. just after the prayer for all 
 
182 OF THE OCCASIONAL PRAYERS [app. to chap. IV. 
 
 conditions of men. But as no edition of the Common Prayer 
 is authorized by act of parliament, but such as is exactly con- 
 formable to the Sealed Books ; 48 we cannot justify ourselves 
 in using it after that prayer, since the Sealed Books assign it 
 a quite different place. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Prayer for the High Court of Parliament. 
 
 The prayer for Though the ancient monarchs of this king- 
 the high court of dom, Saxons and Normans, coming in by con 
 parliament. quest, governed according to their own will at 
 first ; yet in after times they chose themselves a great coun- 
 cil of their bishops and barons, and at last freely condescend- 
 ed to let the people choose persons to represent them : so 
 that we have now had parliaments for above four hundred 
 years, consisting of bishops and barons to represent the clergy 
 and nobility, and of knights and burgesses to represent the 
 commons. But these being never summoned but when the 
 king or queen desires their advice, de arduis regni negotiis, 
 and they having at such times great affairs under their debate, 
 and happy opportunities to do both their prince and country 
 service ; it is fit they should have the people's prayers for 
 their success. And accordingly we find not only that the 
 primitive Christians prayed for the Roman senate, 49 but that 
 even the Gentiles offered sacrifices in behalf of their public 
 councils, which were always held in some sacred place. 50 In 
 conformity therefore to so ancient and universal a practice, this 
 prayer for our own parliament was added at the last review. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Prayer for all Conditions of Men. 
 
 Before the addition of this prayer, which was 
 ^dded^ made but at the last review, the Church had no 
 general intercession for all conditions of men, 
 except on those days upon which the Litany was appointed. 
 For which reason this collect was then drawn up, to supply 
 the want of that office upon ordinary days ; and therefore it is 
 ordered by the rubric to be used at such times, when the 
 Litany is not appointed to be said: consonant to which it is 
 whether to he now ' * believe, a universal practice, and a very 
 used in the after- reasonable one, I think, to read this prayer every 
 noons. evening, as well as on such mornings as the Li- 
 
 48 To understand what is meant hy the Sealed Books, see a clause toward the end of 
 the Act of Uniformity. 49 Tertull. Apologet. *° Al. ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 4, c, 
 
 11. Aul. Gell. 1. 14, c. 7. 
 
sect, vi.] AND THANKSGIVINGS. 183 
 
 tany is not said : though Dr. Bisse informs us, 51 that " bishop 
 Gunning, the supposed author of it, in the college whereof he 
 was head, suffered it not to be read in the afternoon, because 
 the Litany was never read then, the place of which it was sup- 
 posed to supply." I know this form has been generally 
 ascribed to bishop Sanderson : but the above-mentioned gen- 
 tleman assures me, that it is a tradition at St. John's in 
 Cambridge, that bishop Gunning, who was for some time 
 master there, was the author, and that in his time it was the 
 practice of the college not to read it in the afternoon. And 
 I have heard elsewhere, that it was originally drawn up much 
 longer than it is now, and that the throwing out a great part 
 of it, which consisted of petitions for the king, the royal 
 family, clergy, &c, who are prayed for in the other collects, 
 was the occasion why the word finally comes in so soon in 
 so short a prayer. It is not improbable, that the bishop 
 might have designed to comprehend all the intercessional col- 
 lects in one : but that the others who were commissioned for 
 the same affair, might think it better to retain the old forms, 
 and so only to take as much of bishop Gunning's as was not 
 comprehended in the rest. 
 
 §. 2. There being a particular clause pro- 
 vided in this prayer, to be said when any desire thevfcitation' 
 the prayers of the congregation, it is needless as 0ffice not to be 
 well as irregular to use any collects out of the 
 Visitation Office upon these occasions ; as some are accustom- 
 ed to do, without observing the impropriety they are guilty of 
 in using those forms in the public congregations, which are 
 drawn up to be used in private, and run in terms that suppose 
 the sick person to be present. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Thanksgivings. 
 
 Pkaise is one of the most essential parts of 
 God's worship, by which not only all the Christian ofthSksgivSlg. 
 world, but the Jews and Gentiles also paid their 
 homage to the Divine Majesty ; as might be shewed by innu- 
 merable testimonies : and indeed considering how many 
 blessings we daily receive from God, and that he expects no- 
 thing else from us in return but the easy tribute of love and 
 gratitude, (a duty that no one can want leisure or ability to 
 perform,) it is certain no excuse can be made for the omission 
 
 61 Beauty of Holiness in the Common Prayer, p. 97, in the notes. 
 
184 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 of it. It is pleasant in the performance, 52 and profitable in 
 the event ; for it engages our great Benefactor to continue 
 the mercies we have, and as well inclines him to give, as fits 
 us to receive more. 53 
 
 These forms of §• ^- Therefore for the performance of this 
 thanksgiving, duty the reverend compilers of our Liturgy had 
 when added. ap p i n ted the Hallelujah, the Gloria Patri, and 
 the daily psalms and hymns. But because some thought that 
 we did not praise God so particularly as we ought to have 
 done upon extraordinary occasions, some particular thanks- 
 givings upon deliverance from drought, rain, famine, war, 
 tumults, and pestilence, were added in the time of king James 
 I. And to give more satisfaction still, by removing all shadows 
 of defect from our Liturgy, there was one general thanks- 
 giving added to the last review for daily use, drawn up (as it 
 is said) by bishop Sanderson, and so admirably composed, 
 that it is fit to be said by all men who would give God thanks 
 for common blessings, and yet peculiarly provided with a proper 
 clause for those who, having received some eminent personal 
 mercy, desire to offer up their public praise : a duty which 
 none, that have had the prayers of the Church, should ever 
 omit after their recovery, lest they incur the reprehension 
 given by our Saviour to the ungrateful lepers recorded in the 
 Gospel, Were there not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine . ?45 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, 
 
 AND THEIR SEVERAL 
 
 COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 
 
 THE INTPtODUCTION. 
 
 THE Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used {at the 
 celebration of the Lord's Supper, and Holy Communion, 
 as it was said in all the old Common Prayer Books) through- 
 out the year, standing next in order in the Common Prayer 
 Book, come now to be treated of: but because they are sel- 
 dom used but upon Sundays and Holy-days, it is necessary 
 
 52 Psalm cxlvii. 1. 53 Psalm lxvii. 5,6, 7. M Luke xvii. 17. 
 
introd.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 185 
 
 something should be premised concerning the reasons and 
 original of the more solemn observation of those days in ge- 
 neral. And first, 
 
 I. — Of Sundays in general. 
 
 One day in seven seems from the very beginning 0ne , . se _ 
 to have been sanctified by God, 1 and commanded ven, why kept 
 to be set apart for the exercise of religious duties. holy " 
 All the mysteries of it perhaps are beyond our comprehension : 
 but to be sure one design of it was that men, by thus sancti- 
 fying the seventh day, after they had spent six in labour, 
 might shew themselves to be worshippers of that God only, 
 who rested the seventh day, after he had finished the heavens 
 and the earth in six. 
 
 §. 2. The reasons why the Jews were com- Saturday) why 
 manded to observe the Seventh-day, or Satur- the Jewish sab- 
 day y in particular for their Sabbath, were pecu- bath * 
 liar and proper to themselves : it was on this day God had 
 delivered them from their Egyptian bondage, and over- 
 whelmed Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea : so that no 
 day could be more properly set apart to celebrate the mercies 
 and goodness of God, than that, on which he himself chose to 
 confer upon them the greatest blessing they enjoyed. 
 
 §. 3. But the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt Sunday why 
 by the ministry of Moses, was only intended for observed by the 
 a type and pledge of a spiritual deliverance which Chnstians - 
 was to come by Christ : their Canaan also was no more than 
 a type of that heavenly Canaan, which the redeemed by Christ 
 do look for. Since therefore the shadow is made void by the 
 coming of the substance, the relation is changed ; and God is 
 no more to be worshipped and believed in, as a God foreshew- 
 ing and assuring by types, but as a God who hath performed 
 the substance of what he promised. The Christians indeed, 
 as well as the Jews, are to observe the moral equity of the 
 fourth commandment, and, after six days spent in their own 
 works, are to sanctify the seventh : but in the designation of 
 the particular day, they may and ought to differ. For if the 
 Jews were to sanctify the seventh day, only because they had 
 on that day a temporal deliverance as a pledge of a spiritual 
 one ; the Christians surely have much greater reasons to sanc- 
 tify the first, since on that very day God redeemed us from 
 
 1 Genesis ii. 3. 
 
186 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 this spiritual thraldom, by raising Jesus Christ our Lord from 
 the dead, and begetting us, instead of an earthly Canaan, to 
 an inheritance incorruptible in the heavens. And accord- 
 ingly we have the concurrent testimonies both of Scripture 2 
 and antiquity, 3 that the first day of the week, or Sunday, 
 hath ever been the stated and solemn time of the Christians 
 meeting for their public worship and service. 
 
 §. 4. In the East indeed, where the Gospel 
 andhow oServ- chiefly prevailed among the Jews, who retained 
 ed by the Eastern a great reverence for the Mosaic rites, the Church 
 thought fit to indulge the humour of the Judaiz- 
 ing Christians so far as to observe the Saturday as a festival 
 day of devotions, and thereon to meet for the exercise of re- 
 ligious duties : as is plain from several passages of the ancients. 4 
 But however, to prevent giving any offence to others, they 
 openly declared, that they observed it in a Christian way, and 
 not as a Jewish Sabbath. 5 And this custom was so far from 
 being universal, that at the same time all over the West, ex- 
 cept at Milan in Italy, 6 Saturday was kept as a fast, 7 (as being 
 the day on which our Lord lay dead in the grave,) and is still, 
 for the same reason, appointed for one of the fast-days in the 
 ember-weeks by the Church of England ; which, in imitation 
 both of the Eastern and Western Churches, always reserves 
 to the Sunday the more solemn acts of public worship and 
 devotion. 
 
 II.— Of our Saviour's Holy-days in general. 
 
 Our saviour's But Des ides the weekly return of Sunday, 
 
 Holy-days in (whereon we celebrate God's goodness and mer- 
 generai. c j eg get fo^ m our crea tion and redemption in 
 
 general,) the Church hath set apart some days yearly for the 
 more particular remembrance of some special acts and pas- 
 sages of our Lord in the redemption of mankind ; such as are 
 his incarnation and nativity, circumcision, manifestation to the 
 Gentiles, presentation in tlie temple ,« his fasting, passion, re- 
 surrection, and ascension,- the sending of the Holy Ghost, and 
 
 2 Acts ii. I. xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 10. 3 S. Barnab. §. 15. Ignat. ad Mag- 
 nes. §. 9, p. 23. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 89, p. 132. Tert. de Coron. Mil. cap. 3, p. 102, 
 A Plin. 1. 10, Epist. 97. Orig. in Exod. xv. Horn. 7, torn. i. p. 49, F. et alibi. 
 
 4 Athanas. Homil. de Sement. torn. ii. p. 60, A. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 8, p. 312, 
 D. Concil. Laod. Can. 16, 51, t. i. col. 1500, B. et 1505, B. & Athanas. ut supra. 
 
 Concil. Laod. Can. 29, torn. i. col. 1501, C. « Paulin. in Vita Ambr. 7 Innocentii 
 primi Epist. ad Decent. Eugubin. c. 4. Concil. tom. ii. col. 1246, D. Concil. Elib. 
 Can. 26, tom. i. col. 973, D; 
 
INTROD.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 187 
 
 the manifestation of the sacred Trinity. That the observation 
 of such days is requisite, is evident from the practice both of 
 Jews and Gentiles : nature taught the one, 8 and God the other, 
 that the celebration of solemn festivals was a part of the public 
 exercise of religion. Besides the feasts of the passover, of 
 weeks, and of tabernacles, which were all of divine appoint- 
 ment, the Jews celebrated some of their own institution, viz. 
 the feast ofpurim 9 and the dedication of the temple,™ the lat- 
 ter of which even our blessed Saviour himself honoured with 
 his presence. 11 
 
 §. 2 But these festivals being instituted in Christians not t0 
 remembrance of some signal mercies granted in observe Jewish 
 particular to the Jews ; the Christians, who were feasts ' 
 chiefly converted from the heathen world, were no more 
 obliged to observe them, than they were concerned in the 
 mercies thereon commemorated. And this is the reason that 
 when the Judaizing Christians would have imposed upon the 
 Galatians the observation of the Jewish festivals, as necessary 
 to salvation ; St. Paul looked upon it as a thing so criminal, 
 that he was afraid the labour he had bestowed upon them to 
 set them at liberty in the freedom of the Gospel had been in 
 vain : n not that he thought the observation of festivals was a 
 thing in itself unlawful, but because they thought themselves 
 still obliged by the law to observe those days and times, 
 which, being only shadows of things to come, were made 
 void by the coming of the substance. 
 
 §.3. As to the celebration of Christian festi- 
 vals, they thought themselves as much obliged V ai r s, S how eaSy 
 to observe them as the Jews were to observe observed in the 
 theirs. They had received greater benefits, and 
 therefore it would have been the highest degree of ingratitude 
 to have been less zealous in commemorating them. And ac- 
 cordingly we find that in the very infancy of Christianity some 
 certain days were yearly set apart, to commemorate the re- 
 surrection and ascension of Christ, the coming of the Holy 
 Ghost, &c, and to glorify God by an humble and grateful ac- 
 knowledgment of these mercies granted to them at those 
 times. Which laudable and religious custom so soon prevailed 
 over the universal Church, that in five hundred years after 
 our Saviour, we meet with them distinguished by the same 
 
 8 Plat, de Legibus, lib. 2, torn. ii. p. 653, D. ab Hen. Steph. Paris. 1578. » Esther 
 Ix. w 1 Maccab. iv. 59. " John x. 22. « Gal. iv. 10, 11. 
 
188 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V. 
 
 names we now call them by; such as Epiphany, Ascension- 
 day, Whit- Sunday, &c, and appointed to be observed on those 
 days on which the Church of England now observes them. 13 
 
 III. — Of Saints-days in general. 
 
 But besides the more solemn festivals, where- 
 obsCTvecTbyttie on they were wont to celebrate the mysteries of 
 primitive Chris- their redemption, the primitive Christians had 
 
 tlclIlS 
 
 their memoriae martyrum, or certain days set 
 apart yearly in commemoration of the great heroes of the 
 Christian religion, the blessed Apostles and martyrs, who had 
 attested the truth of these mysteries with their blood : at 
 whose graves they constantly met once a year, to celebrate 
 their virtues, and to bless God for their exemplary lives and 
 glorious deaths ; as well to the intent that others might be en- 
 couraged to the same patience and fortitude, as also that vir- 
 tue, even in this world, might not wholly lose its reward : a 
 practice doubtless very ancient, and probably founded upon 
 that exhortation to the Hebrews, to remember those who had 
 had the ride over them, and who had spoken unto them the 
 word of God, and had sealed it with their blood. 14 In which 
 place the author of that Epistle is thought chiefly to hint at 
 the martyrdom of St. James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, 
 who, not long before, had laid down his life for the testimony 
 of Jesus. And we find that those who were eyewitnesses of 
 the sufferings of St. Ignatius, published the day of his mar- 
 tyrdom, that the Church of Antioch might meet together at 
 that time to celebrate the memory of such a valiant combatant 
 and martyr of Christ. 15 After this we read of the Church of 
 Smyrna's giving an account of St. Polycarp's martyrdom, 
 (which was A. D. 147, 16 ) and of the place where they had en- 
 tombed his bones, and withal professing that they would as- 
 semble in that place, and celebrate the birthday of his mar- 
 tyrdom with joy and gladness. 17 (Where we may observe, 
 by the way, that the days of the martyrs' deaths were called 
 their birthdays „• because they looked upon those as the days 
 of their nativity, whereon they were freed from the pains and 
 sorrows of a troublesome world, and born again to the joys 
 and happiness of an endless life.) These solemnities, as we 
 
 13 Const. Apost. 1. 5, c. 13.— 1. 8, c. 33. u Heb. xiii. 7. * 5 Act. Mart. Ignat 
 
 §. 7, p. 52. is Pearson. Dissertat. Chronologic, part. 2, a cap. 14 ad 20. 17 Ec 
 
 cles. Smyrn. Epist. de Mart S Polycarp. §. 18, p. 73, et Euseb. Histor. Eccl. 1. 4, c. 15 
 p. 135, A. B. 
 
INTROD.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 189 
 
 learn from Tertullian, 18 were yearly celebrated, and were 
 afterwards observed with so much care and strictness, that it 
 was thought profaneness to be absent from the Christian as- 
 semblies upon those occasions. 19 
 
 IV. — Of the Festivals observed by the Church of England. 
 The following ages were as forward as those 
 we have already spoken of, in celebrating the the church of 
 festivals of the martyrs and holy men of their England ob- 
 time. Insomuch that at the last the observation 
 of holy-days became both superstitious and troublesome ; a 
 number of dead men's names, not over-eminent in their lives 
 either for sense or morals, crowding the calendar, and jostling 
 out the festivals of the first saints and martyrs. But at the 
 reformation of the Church, all these modern martyrs were 
 thrown aside, and no festivals retained in the calendar as days 
 of obligation, but such as were dedicated to the honour of 
 Christ, &c, or to the memory of those that were famous in 
 the Gospels. Such as were, in the first place, the twelve 
 Apostles, who being constant attendants on our Lord, and ad- 
 vanced by him to that high order, have each of them a day 
 assigned to their memory. St. John the Baptist and St. Ste- 
 phen have the same honour done to them ; the first because 
 he was Christ's forerunner ; the other upon account of his 
 being the first martyr. St. Paul and St. Barnabas* are com- 
 
 18 De Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. * 9 Euseb. de Vit. Const. 1. 4, c. 23, p. 536, C 
 Basil. Ep. 336, torn. in. p. 228, E. 
 
 * St. Paul and St. Barnabas were neither of them inserted in the table 
 of holy-days prefixed to the calendar, till the Scotch Liturgy was compiled, f£ Barnabas 
 from whence they were taken into our own at the last review ; nor were why not fori 
 they reckoned up among the days that were appointed by the act, in the m "*y *" t . he 
 fifth and sixth year of king Edward VI.,» to be observed as holy-days; Jg£ ofhoiy- 
 though it is there expressly enacted, that no other day but what is therein 
 mentioned shall be kept, or commanded to be kept, holy. However, the names of each 
 of them were inserted in the calendar itself, and proper services were appointed for 
 them in all the Common Prayer Books that have been since the Reformation. And 
 in the first book of king Edward they are both red-letter holy-days : though in the 
 second book (in which the other holy-days are also printed in red letters) the Conversion 
 of St. Paul is put down in black, and St. Barnabas is omitted. But this last seems to 
 have been done through the carelessness of the printer, and not through design ; proper 
 second Lessons being added in the calendar against the day. The reason of their being 
 left out of the table of holy-days, was, because if they fell upon any week day, they 
 were not to be observed as days of obligation, or by ceasing from labour, nor to be bid 
 in the church. Their proper offices might be used, so they were not used solemnly, nor 
 by ringing to the same, after the manner used on high-holy-days. The reason why 
 these were not high-holy-days, I suppose, was, because the Conversion of St. Paul did 
 always, and St. Barnabas did often, fall in term-time ; during which time and the time 
 of harvest, i. e. from the first of July to the twenty-ninth of September, it was ordained 
 in convocation by the authority of king Henry VIII. in 1536, that no days should be 
 observed as holy-days, except the feasts of the Apostles, of our blessed Lady, and St. 
 George, and such feasts as the king's judges did not use to sit in judgment in West- 
 minster-hall 2I The days in the terms in which the judges did not use to sit were the 
 
 »'J Cliau. 111. al See Sparrow's Collect, p. 167, 168. and Heylin'g Miscellaneous Tracts, p. 1 
 
190 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND Lchap. v. 
 
 memorated upon account of their extraordinary call : St. 
 Mark and St. Luke, for the service they did Christianity by 
 their Gospels ; the Holy Innocents, because they are the first 
 that suffered upon our Saviour's account, as also for the 
 greater solemnity of Christmas, the birth of Christ being the 
 occasion of their death. The memory of all other pious per- 
 sons is celebrated together upon the festival of All-Saints : and 
 that the people may know what benefits Christians receive by 
 the ministry of angels, the feast of St. Michael and all Angels 
 is for that reason solemnly observed in the Church. 
 
 §. 2. Designing to treat in this chapter of all 
 2?7es S them! these days separately, in the order that they lie 
 in the Common Prayer Book, I shall say nothing 
 further of them in this place ; but only shall observe in 
 general, that they were constantly observed in the Church of 
 England, from the time of the Reformation till the late rebel- 
 lion, when it could not be expected that any thing that carried 
 an air of religion or antiquity could bear up against such an 
 irresistible inundation of impiety and confusion. But at the 
 Restoration our holy-days were again revived, together with 
 our ancient Liturgy, which appoints proper Collects, Epistles, 
 and Gospels for each of them ; and orders the curate to 
 declare unto the people, on the Sunday before, what holy-days 
 or fasting-days are in the week following to be observed. 22 
 And the preface to the Act of Uniformity intimates it to be 
 schismatical to refuse to come to church on those days. And 
 by the first of Elizabeth, which is declared by the Uniformity- 
 Act to be in full force, all persons, having no lawful or rea- 
 sonable excuse to be absent, are obliged to resort to their parish- 
 church on holy -days, as well as Sundays, and there to abide or- 
 derly and soberly during the time of divine service, upon pain or 
 punishment by the censures of the Church, and also upon pain 
 of twelve pence for every offence, to be levied by distress. 
 
 §. 3. In relation to the concurrence of two 
 
 of C hoiyTay n s ? e holy-days together, we have no directions either 
 
 in the rubric or elsewhere, which must give 
 
 place, or which of the two services must be used. According 
 
 feasts of the Ascension, of St. John Baptist, of All-Saints, and of the Purification. By 
 the feasts of the Apostles I suppose the twelve only were meant . and therefore St. 
 Paul and St. Barnabas were excluded. But as they are inserted now in the table of 
 holy-days, which, with the whole Liturgy, is confirmed by the Act of Uniformity, they 
 are both of them days of equal obligation with the rest. 
 
 82 Rubric after the Nicene Creed, 
 
I5TR0D.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 191 
 
 to what I can gather from the rubrics in the Roman Breviary 
 and Missal, (which are very intricate and difficult,) it is the 
 custom of that Church, when two holy-days come together, 
 that the office for one only be read, and that the office for the 
 other be transferred to the next day ; excepting that some 
 commemoration of the transferred holy-day be made upon the 
 first day, by reading the hymns, verses, &c, which belong to 
 the holy-day that is transferred. But our Liturgy has made 
 no such provision. For this reason some ministers, when a 
 holy-day happens upon a Sunday, take no notice of the holy- 
 day, (except that sometimes they are forced to use the second 
 Lesson for snch holy-day, there being a gap in the column of 
 second Lessons in the calendar,) but use the service appointed 
 for the Sunday ; alleging that the holy-day, which is of human 
 institution, should give way to the Sunday, which is allowed to 
 be of divine. But this is an argument which I think not 
 satisfactory : for though the observation of Sunday be of di- 
 vine institution, yet the service we use on it is of human ap- 
 pointment. Nor is there any thing in the services appointed 
 to be used on the ordinary Sundays, that is more peculiar to, 
 or tends to the greater solemnity of the Sunday, than any of 
 the services appointed for the holy-days. What slight there- 
 fore do we shew to our Lord's institution, if when we meet on 
 the day -that he has set apart for the worship of himself, we 
 particularly praise him for the eminent virtues that shined 
 forth in some saint, whose memory that day happens to bring 
 to our mind ? Such praises are so agreeable to the duty of the 
 day, that I cannot but esteem the general practice to be pre- 
 ferable, which is, to make the lesser holy-day give way to the 
 greater; as an ordinary Sunday, for instance, to a saint's day ; 
 a saint's day to one of our Lord's festivals ; and a lesser fes- 
 tival of our Lord to a greater : except that some, if the first 
 Lesson for the holy-day be out of the Apocrypha, will join 
 the first Lesson of the Sunday to the holy-day service : as 
 observing that the Church, by always appointing canonical 
 Scripture upon Sundays, seems to countenance their use of a 
 canonical Lesson even upon a holy-day, that has a proper one 
 appointed out of the Apocrypha, if that holy-day shall happen 
 upon a Sunday. But what if the Annunciation should happen 
 in Passion-week; or either that or St. Mark upon Easter- 
 Monday or Tuesday ? or what if St. Barnabas should fall upon 
 Whit-Monday or Tuesday? or what if St. Andrew and Advent- 
 Sunday both come together ? In any of these concurrences I 
 
192 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 do not doubt but the service would be differently performed 
 in different Churches. And therefore I take this to be a case 
 in which the bishops ought to be consulted, they having a 
 power vested in them to appease all diversity, (if any arise,) 
 and to resolve all doubt concerning the manner how to under- 
 stand, do, and execute the things contained in the Book of 
 Common Prayer.™ 
 
 V. — Of the Vigils or Eve. 
 
 In the primitive times it was the custom to 
 Vlgi caiild. y S ° P ass g reat P art °f the night that preceded certain 
 holy-days in religious exercises and devotion ; 
 and this even in those places which were set apart for the 
 public worship of God. And these exercises, from their be- 
 ing performed in the night-time, came to be called mgilice, 
 vigils or watchings. 
 
 §.2. As to the original of this practice, some 
 The t°h1n? al ° f are inclined to found it upon the several texts of 
 Scripture literally understood, where watching is 
 enjoined as well as prayer ; particularly upon the conclusion 
 our Saviour draws from the parable of the ten virgins : Watch 
 therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wlierein 
 the Son of man cometh.™ But others, with greater probabi- 
 lity, have imputed the rise of these night-watches to the ne- 
 cessity which Christians were under of meeting in the night, 
 and before day, for the exercise of their public devotions, by 
 reason of the malice and persecution of their enemies, who 
 endeavoured the destruction of all that appeared to be Chris- 
 tians. 25 And when this first occasion ceased, by the Christians 
 having liberty given them to perform their devotions in a more 
 public manner, they still continued these night-watches before 
 certain festivals, in order to prepare their minds for a due 
 observation of the ensuing solemnity. 26 But afterwards, when 
 these night-meetings came to be so far abused, that no care 
 could prevent several disorders and irregularities, the Church 
 thought fit to abolish them : so that the nightly watchings 
 were laid aside, and the fasts only retained, but still keeping 
 the former name of vigils. 27 
 
 23 See the preface concerning the service of the Church: 2 * Matt. xxv. 13. 
 
 25 See John xx. 19. Acts xii. 12, and xx. 7. Tertull. de Coron. c. 3. Plin. Lih. 10. 
 Ep. 97. 2s Tert. ad Uxor. lib. 2. Euseb. de Vit. Const, lib. 4. Hieron. ad Ripar. 
 
 adv. Vigilantmm. 27 It seems the vigil upon All-hallows day at night was kept by 
 watching, and ringing of bells all night long, till the year 1545, when king Henry VIII 
 wrote to Cranrner to abolish it. Collier's History, vol. ii. p 208. 
 
iktrod.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 193 
 
 §. 3. The festivals that have these vigils as- 
 signed to them by the Church of England 28 are, ™ v? g t? ls 
 the Nativity of our Lord, the Purification of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin, 
 Easter-day, Ascension-day, Pentecost, St. Matthias, St. John 
 Baptist, St. Peter, St. James, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, 
 St. Simon and St. Jude, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, and All- 
 Saints. The reason why the other holy-days have 
 no vigils before them, is, because they generally ^nVwhy" *' 
 happen either between Christmas and the Purifi- 
 cation or between Easter and Whitsuntide ; which were always 
 esteemed such seasons of joy, that the Church did not think 
 fit to intermingle them with any days of fasting and humilia- 
 tion. They that fall between Christmas and the Purification, 
 are the feasts of St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the 
 Holy Innocents, the Circumcision, and the Conversion of St. 
 Paul. 29 The others that may happen between Easter and 
 Whitsuntide, are St. Mark, St. Philip and St. James, and St. 
 Barnabas. It is true, indeed, the festival of our Lord's as- 
 cension, which is always ten days before Whit-Sunday, has a 
 vigil before it : but it may be worth inquiring, whether there 
 was any vigil prefixed to it before the institution of the roga- 
 tion-fasts, which were appointed upon the three days that 
 precede this festival. There are two holy-days not yet named, 
 that have no vigils, though they do not happen in either of the 
 above-mentioned seasons : the one is in September, viz. the 
 feast of St. Michael and All Angels; the other in October, 
 viz. the festival of St. Luke. Upon the first of these, one 
 reason for the institution of vigils ceaseth, which was to con- 
 form us to the example of the saints we commemorate, and to 
 remind us that they passed through sufferings and mortifica- 
 tions before they entered into the joy of their Master ; whereas 
 those ministering spirits, for whose protection and assistance we 
 return God thanks on that day, were at first created in full pos- 
 session of bliss. The reason why the latter, viz. St. Luke, has 
 no vigil, is because the eve of that saint was formerly itself a 
 celebrated holy-day in the Church of England, viz. the feast 
 of St. Etheldred: but that reason being now removed, I sup- 
 
 28 See the table of the vigils, &c, before the calendar, which was first inserted at the 
 ast review. Though the days before these several festivals were marked for fasts in 
 the calendar in all the Common Prayer Books, except king Edward's. ™ The day 
 oefore the Conversion of St. Paul is marked for a fast in the Scotch Liturgy. 
 
 O 
 
194 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 pose every one is left to his own liberty, as to his private de- 
 votions, whether he will observe the eve as a vigil or not. 
 
 §. 3. All Sundays in the year being appointed 
 The vigil of a by the Church to be observed as festivals, no 
 
 feast upon a * . . . 
 
 Monday to be vigil is allowed to be kept upon any ot those 
 thSurday" da JS : there being a particular rubric to order. 
 
 that if any of the feast-days that have a vigil 
 fall upon a Monday, then the vigil or fast-day shall be 
 kept upon the Saturday, not upon the Sunday next before it.™ 
 But from hence a query anseth, viz. on which evening service 
 the collect for the festival is to be used : the rubric indeed 
 relating to this matter seems to be worded very plain, viz. 
 whether the That the collect appointed for every Sunday, or 
 collect of a Mon- for any holy-day that hath a vigil or eve, shall 
 b^ufedupon'the be said at the evening service next before; 21 
 Saturday or Sun- but then this rubric seems to suppose that the 
 
 day before is the vigil or eve ; and makes no 
 provision in case the festival falls upon the Monday, when we 
 are directed by the rubric above cited to keep the vigil or fast 
 upon the Saturday. Here then we are left at an uncertainty, 
 nor can we get any light by comparing our present Liturgy 
 with any former Common Prayer Book, because both these 
 rubrics, together with the tables of vigils or eves, were first 
 added at the last review. According to Mr. Johnson, indeed, 
 who imagines that the collect for the festival is appointed to 
 be used upon the evening before, because then the holy-day 
 properly begins, we ought to read the collect upon the Sunday 
 evening, though the vigil be kept upon the Saturday. For he 
 observes, 32 that "the Church of England has divided her 
 nights and days according to the scriptural, not the civil ac- 
 count : and that though our civil day begins from midnight, 
 yet our ecclesiastical day begins at six in the evening. And 
 therefore the collect for the Sunday is to be read on what in 
 our civil account is called Saturday evening, and the collect 
 of. every greater festival at evening prayer next before. The 
 proper time for vespers or even-song is six of the clock, and 
 from that time the religious day begins : therefore where even- 
 ing prayer is ready at its proper season, the collect for the 
 Purification may well be used as the rubric directs, on what 
 they cali the foregoing evening, notwithstanding those words, 
 
 30 See the rubric at the bottom of the table of vigils. 3I See the rubric before the 
 Collect for the first Sunday in Advent. »» Clergyman's Vade Mecum, c. 22, page 210. 
 
iictkod.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 195 
 
 Thy only Son ivas this day presented in the temple." But 
 against this supposition lie two objections : the one is, that 
 there are very few churches which begin prayers after six in 
 the evening, which Mr. Johnson affirms to be the proper time 
 for vespers or even-song : though if they did, the same diffi- 
 culty would occur what collect we must use at evening prayer 
 upon the festival itself, for then, according to Mr. Johnson, 
 another day begins. But further, if the day begins at six of 
 the clock on the evening before, then the collect of every 
 festival ought to be used on the foregoing evening ; whereas 
 the rubric only orders, that the collects for Sundays, and such 
 holy-days as have vigils and eves, be said at the preceding 
 evening service, and consequently supposes that the collects 
 of such festivals as have no vigils are only to be used upon the 
 festivals themselves.* From whence too we may observe by 
 the way, it is a mistake in those who use the collects of all 
 
 * Mr. Johnson has been pleased to reply to this, that " it is so certain that six is the 
 hour of even-song, that no man Mill dispute it who is not a perfect stranger to things 
 of this nature." ; * 3 That it was so formerly, whilst the old canonical hours of prayer 
 were strictly observed, I readily allow. But that it is so still, I was not aware : for 1 
 own myself to be so much a stranger to things of this nature, as to have been hitherto 
 of the opinion (though I shall be glad to alter it, wnen I shall be better informed) that, 
 upon reducing the seven offices into two,* 4 » ia. Matins and Even-Song, or Morning and 
 Evening Prayer, as we now generally call them, there were no hours fixed for the say- 
 ing of either. The same learned gentleman says further in the same place, that " they 
 who terminate the feasts within certain minutes, and because six is the hour of ves- 
 pers will allow no latitude, have never considered that in the Scripture language (which 
 is the best guide in this matter) what is expressed by the evening, and going down oj 
 the sun, in one text, (Deut. xvi. 6,) is called the time between the two evenings in an- 
 other (Exod. xii. 6). And the time of the evening sacrifice is expressed by this last 
 phrase (Numb, xxviii. 4). And it is notorious that t)>is was any time between the 
 ninth and twelfth according to them, the third and sixth with us." These texts of 
 Scripture I have seen before ; and have since considered how far they help Mr. John- 
 son's argument. But I cannot see yet that they prove any more than that they who 
 began the day punctually at. six one evening, ended it as punctually at six the next. 
 But that the Church of England divides her nights and days according to the scrip- 
 tural, and not the civil account, is his assertion, and not mine. To him it is clear, but 
 not to me, that feasts are to be kept from even-song to even-song inclusively/ 15 That 
 the festival day is not past till even-song is ended, I willingly grant : but that the fes- 
 tival begins at even-song before, wants, I think, a better proof. That the collect for a 
 holy-day that hath a vigil or eve, is to be said at the evening service next before, the 
 rubric appoints : but that the evening before is therefore part of the festival, I know 
 not how to reconcile with another rubric that calls the eve or vigil a fast. 31 ' 1 I rather 
 take it, that the evenings before such festivals as have vigils are designed by the 
 Church to be preparations to the festivals, rather than parts of them ; and therefore I 
 know not what Mr. Johnson means when he tells us, " that holy-days which begin not 
 till morning prayer are not perfect feasts, but were deemed to be of inferior rank by 
 them that had the ordering of these matters." When he gives us his authority for 
 what he asserts, I shall readily submit : but till then I shall be of the opinion, that 
 some festivals which have not vigils are as perfect feasts as some others which have : 
 and that their not having vigils assigned them, was not because they are of inferior 
 rank, but for the other reasons that I have given above. 
 
 »s See Mr. Johnson's Addenda to his Clergyman's Vade Mecum, at the end of tits two cases, pago.i ion, 
 107. ** See Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiastical Law*, A. D. 740, 28, and 957, 19. 38 Addenda ut auuxa. >* Si* 
 the rubric at the end of the table of vigils. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 holy-days whatsoever upon the evening before. I know in- 
 deed it may be urged against this last observation, that the 
 Collect of the Nativity is directed by another rubric to be 
 said continually from Christmas-day unto New-Year's- 
 Eve ; and what makes this objection the stronger, is, that be- 
 fore the last review of the Liturgy, the Christmas collect was 
 to be said until New-Year's-Day. The changing Day there- 
 fore for Eve looks something remarkable ; and as if they pur- 
 posely designed that the collect of the Circumcision should 
 be used on the evening before, and that the collect of the 
 Nativity should be then left off: the Church always speaking 
 exclusive of the time or place it mentions in any such direc- 
 tions. What answer to make to this, I own I am at a loss. 
 The best I can think of is, that New-Year's-Eve being the 
 common name given to the last day of the year, the person 
 that altered the rubric might imagine, that the feast of the 
 circumcision had really an eve belonging to it. But whatever 
 might be the occasion of the alteration, I think it can be 
 urged no otherwise against what I have said, than as a single 
 exception from a general rule. 
 
 §. 4. Now I am speaking of this, I shall ob- 
 cSfects C not to be serve one thing more ; and that is, that whenever 
 used on holy- the collect of a Sunday or holy-day is read at the 
 days, or their eV ening service before, the weekly collect that 
 had been in course must be omitted and give 
 place. And the same rule, as I take it, should be observed 
 upon the holy-day itself, upon which no other collect ought 
 to be used, but the proper one for the day. For the rubric, 
 at the end of the order how the rest of the service is appoint- 
 ed to be read, directs, that the collect, Sfc. for the Sunday 
 shall serve all the week after, where it is not otherrvise or- 
 dered ,- which supposes, that in some places it is otherwise 
 ordered, which must be (as it was worded in all the old Com- 
 mon Prayer Books) when there falls some feast that hath its 
 proper, i. e. when any day falls that hath a proper or peculiar 
 collect, &c. to itself: upon which occasions the rubric plainly 
 supposes, that the collect for the Sunday shall be left out and 
 omitted : the Church never designing to use two collects at 
 once, except within the octaves of Christmas, and during Ad- 
 vent and Lent; when, for the greater solemnity of those 
 solemn seasons, she particularly orders the collects of the prin- 
 cipal days to be used continually after the ordinary collects. 
 
:ktrod.] their collects, epistles, and gospels. 197 
 
 VI. — Of Days of Fasting or Abstinence in general. 
 
 That Fasting or Abstinence from our usual Fastin{?> how an . 
 sustenance is a proper means to express sorrow cient and uni- 
 and grief, and a fit method to dispose our minds versal a duty ' 
 towards the consideration of any thing that is serious, nature 
 seems to suggest: and therefore all nations, from ancient 
 times, have used fasting as a part of repentance, and as a 
 means to avert the anger of God. This is plain in the case of 
 the Ninevites, 37 whose notion of fasting, to appease the wrath 
 of God, seems to have been common to them with the rest of 
 mankind. In the Old Testament, besides the examples of 
 private fasting by David, 38 and Daniel, 39 and others ; we have 
 instances of public fasts observed by the whole nation of the 
 Jews at once upon solemn occasions. 40 It is true, indeed, in 
 the New Testament we find no positive precept, that expressly 
 requires and commands us to fast : but our Saviour mentions 
 fasting with almsgiving and prayer, which are unquestionable 
 duties ; and the directions he gave concerning the performance 
 of it sufficiently suppose its necessity. And he himself was 
 pleased, before he entered upon his ministry, to give us an 
 extraordinary example in his own person, by fasting forty days 
 and forty nights. 41 Pie excused indeed his disciples from fast- 
 ing, so long as he, the Bridegroom, was with them ; because 
 that being a time of joy and gladness, it would be an improper 
 season for tokens of sorrow : but then he intimates at the same 
 time, that though it was not fit for them then, it would yet be 
 their duty hereafter : for the dags, says he, will come, when 
 the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall 
 fast.** And accordingly we find, that after his ascension, the 
 duty of fasting was not only recommended, 43 but practised by 
 the Apostles, as any one may see by the texts of Scripture 
 referred to in the margin. 44 After the Apostles, we find the 
 primitive Christians very constant and regular in the observa- 
 tion both of their annual and weekly fasts. Their weekly 
 fasts were kept on Wednesdays and Fridays, because on the 
 one our Lord was betrayed, on the other crucified. The chief 
 of their annual fasts was that of Lent, which they observed 
 by way of preparation for their feast of Easter. 
 
 ^ Jonah iii. 5. »» p sa l m Ixix. 10. S9 Daniel ix. 3. *° See Lev. xxiii. 26, &c. 
 2 Chron. xx. 3. Ezra viii. 21. Jer. xxxvi. 9. Zech. viii. 19. Joel i. 14. « Matt. iv. 2. 
 « Matt. ix. 15. « i cor. vii. 5. ** Acts xiii. 2, and xiv. 23, 1 Cor. ix. 27. 2 Cor. 
 ri. 5. and xi. 27. 
 
198 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 ^ ,, .. S. 2. Their manner of observing these fasts 
 
 Days of fasting, o K » . . . . » 
 
 how observed by was very strict ; it being their general custom to 
 chdsuans!^ abstain from all food, till the public devotion of 
 the Church was over : which was about three of 
 the clock in the afternoon, though in the time of Lent they 
 were not to eat till six in the evening ; and even then they 
 forbore both flesh and wine, the greater part of them feeding 
 only upon herbs or pulse, with a little bread. Some used the 
 dry diet, as nuts and almonds, and such like fruit, whilst 
 others fed only upon bread and water. 
 „ „ , • S. 3. In the Church of Rome, fasting and ab- 
 
 Fasting and ab- . «-> , . „ , . . 7 , , . .». ° j 
 
 stinence.nowdis- stinence admit or a distinction, and different days 
 churchofiiome? are appointed for each of them. On their days 
 of fasting, they are allowed but one meal in four 
 and twenty hours : but on days of abstinence, provided they 
 abstain from flesh, and make but a moderate meal, they are 
 What days ap- indulged in a collation at night. The times by 
 pointed for the one them set apart for the first are, all Lent except 
 and the other. Sundays, the ember-days, the vigils of the more 
 solemn feasts, and all Fridays, except those that fall within 
 the twelve days of Christmas, and between Easter and the 
 Ascension. Their days of abstinence are, all the Sundays in 
 Lent, St. Mark's day, if it does not fall into Easter-week, the 
 three Rogation-days, all Saturdays throughout the year, with 
 the Fridays before excepted, unless either happen to be Christ- 
 _. ... . . mas-day. The reason why they observe St. Mark 
 
 St. Mark, why -i /> i ■ • J <> i • 
 
 observed as a day as a day or abstinence is, as we learn trom their 
 USSSS^ own books, in imitation of St. Mark's disciples, 
 the first Christians of Alexandria, who, under this 
 saint's conduct, were eminent for their great prayer, abstinence, 
 and sobriety. They further tell us, that St. Gregory the Great, 
 the Apostle of England, first set apart this day for abstinence 
 and public prayer, as an acknowledgment of the divine mercy 
 in putting a stop to a mortality in his time at Rome. 43 
 
 No distinction §* ^* ^ ^° 110t t ^ lat tne Church °f England 
 
 made in the makes any difference between days of fasting and 
 land'either^e-" da y s of abstinence : it is true, in the title of the 
 tween days of table of vigils, &c. she mentions fasts and days 
 of S abs g tinence, a or °f abstinence separately ; but when she comes 
 between any dif- to enumerate the particulars, she calls them all 
 food! m s ° days of fasting or abstinence, without distin- 
 
 4i See their Practical Catechism upon the Sundays, Feasts, and Fasts, pages 186, 187. 
 
jntrod.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 199 
 
 guishing between the one and the other. Nor does she 
 any where point out to us what food is proper for such 
 times or seasons, or seem to place any part of religion in ab- 
 staining from any particular kinds of meat. It is true, by 
 a statute still in force, 46 flesh is prohibited on fast-days : but 
 this is declared to be for a political reason, viz. for the increase 
 of cattle, and for the encouragement of fishery and navigation. 
 Not but that the statute allows that abstinence is serviceable 
 to virtue, and helps to subdue the body to the mind : but the 
 distinction of clean and unclean meats determined, it says, with 
 the Mosaic law ; and therefore it sets forth, that days and 
 meats are in themselves all of the same nature and quality as 
 to moral consideration, one not having any inherent holiness 
 above the other. And for this reason it is that our Church, 
 as I have said, no where makes any difference in the kinds of 
 meat : but, as far as she determines, she seems to recommend 
 an entire abstinence from all manner of food till the time 
 of fasting be over ; declaring in her Homilies, 47 that fasting 
 {by the decree of the six hundred and thirty Fathers, assembled 
 at the Council of Chalcedon, which was one of the four first 
 general Councils, who grounded their determination upon the 
 sacred Scriptures, and long -continued usage or practice both of 
 the prophets and other godly persons before the coming of 
 Christ; and also of the apostles and other devout men in the 
 New Testament) is a withholding of meat, drink, and all na- 
 tural food from the body, for the determined time of fasting. 
 
 §. 5. The times she sets apart as proper for this 
 duty are such as she finds have been observed ^J^eVSasfs" 
 with fasting and abstinence by the earliest ages 
 of the Church ; which, besides the vigils above mentioned, 
 are the forty days of Lent, the ember-days at the four seasons, 
 the three rogation-days, and all Fridays in the year, except 
 Christmas-day. 
 
 §. 6. Every one of these seasons (except the 
 Friday-fast only) will come in turn to be J/rveTa^faS" 
 spoken to hereafter ; and therefore I shall waive 
 saying any thing further to them here ; and shall only observe 
 of Friday in particular, that it was always observed by the 
 primitive Christians as a day of fasting, who thought it very 
 proper to humble themselves on the same day weekly, on 
 
 <« In the second and third of king Edward VI. c. 19. * 7 See the first part of the 
 •ermon of Fasting. 
 
200 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. t. 
 
 which the blessed Jesus humbled himself once, even to the 
 death of the cross, for us miserable sinners. 
 
 VII. — Of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels in general. 
 
 How the church All * ne °^ a y s aD0Ve mentioned, as well fasts 
 of England ob- as festivals, the Church of England still requires 
 serves these days. ug to b serve) m suc } 1 manner as may answer the 
 
 end for which they were appointed. To this end she always 
 enlarges her ordinary devotions, adding particular Lessons on 
 most of them, proper Psalms on some, and the Communion 
 Office on all. The proper Lessons and Psalms I shall take 
 notice of, when I come to treat of the particular days on which 
 they are appointed : but because there are a Collect, Epistle, 
 and Gospel appointed for every Sunday and holy-day through- 
 out the year ; it is requisite I should first speak of them in 
 general, and shew their antiquity as well as their suitableness 
 to the days they belong to. And first of their antiquity. 
 
 The antiquity, . §• 2 - That most °. f our coll ? cts are very an- 
 &c. of the col- cient, appears by their conformity to the Epistles 
 lects * and Gospels, which are thought to have been se- 
 
 lected by St. Jerome, and put into the Lectionary by him : 
 for which reason many believe that the collects also were first 
 framed by him. It is certain that Gelasius, who was bishop 
 of Rome A. D. 492, ranged the collects, which were then 
 used, into order, and added some new ones of his own; 48 
 which office was again corrected by pope Gregory the Great 
 in the year 600, whose Sacramentary contains most of the 
 collects we now use. But our reformers observing that some 
 of these collects were afterwards corrupted by superstitious 
 alterations and additions, and that others were quite left out 
 of the Roman Missals, and entire new ones, relating to their 
 present innovations, added in their room ; they therefore ex- 
 amined every collect strictly, and where they found any of 
 them corrupted, there they corrected them ; where any 
 new ones had been inserted, they restored the old ones ; 
 and lastly, at the Restoration, every collect was again re- 
 viewed, when whatsoever was deficient was supplied, and all 
 that was but improperly expressed, rectified. The several 
 alterations both then and at the Reformation shall be noted 
 hereafter in their proper places : in the mean while I shall pro- 
 ceed to give the like general account of the Epistles and Gospels. 
 
 48 See Dr. Comber's History of Liturgies, part ii. §. 14, p. 68. 
 
introd.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 201 
 
 8. 3. I have already hinted, that they are ,™ ,. u . 
 
 i 3 i i i J n l ii ot Tne antiquity of 
 
 thought to have been at first selected by St. Je- the Epistles and 
 rome, and put into the Lectionary by him. It is Gos P els - 
 certain that they were very anciently appropriated to the days 
 whereon we now read them ; since they are not only of ge- 
 neral use throughout the whole Western Church, but are also 
 commented upon in the homilies of several ancient Fathers, 
 which are said to have been preached upon those very days, 
 to which these portions of Scripture are now affixed. So that 
 they have most of them belonged to the same Sundays and 
 holy-days we now use them on, for above twelve hundred 
 years ; as I might easily shew also from several authorities. 49 
 
 §. 4. In all the old Common Prayer Books, 
 except the Scotch one, the Epistles and Gospels ^^rUfe?" 
 were taken out of the Great Bible, neither of the 
 two last translations being extant when the Common Prayer 
 was first compiled. But in regard of the many defects which 
 were observed in that version, and upon the petition of the 
 presbyterian commissioners at the Savoy conference, the com- 
 missioners on the Church side concluded that all the Epistles 
 and Gospels should be used, according to the last translation. 50 
 
 §. 5. The other variations that have been made 
 in them, at and since the Reformation, shall be Thei method. and 
 taken notice of as I go along : I shall only observe 
 further in this place, in relation to them in general, in what 
 admirable order and method they are appointed, and what 
 special relation they bear to the several days whereon they 
 are read. 
 
 The whole year is distinguished into two parts : the design 
 of the first being to commemorate Christ's living amongst us ; 
 the other to instruct us to live after his example. The former 
 takes in the whole time from Advent to Trinity -Sunday ; for 
 the latter are all the Sundays from Trinity to Advent. The 
 first part being conversant about the life of our Saviour, and 
 the mysteries of his divine dispensation : therefore beginning 
 at Advent, we first celebrate his incarnation in general, and 
 after that in their order the several particulars of it : such as 
 were his nativity, circumcision, and manifestation to the Gen- 
 tiles ; his doctrine and miracles, his baptism, fasting, and 
 temptation ; his agony and bloody sweat ; his cross and pas- 
 
 «» Vid. Liturg. S. Jacob. S. Clem. S. Basil, Walefrid. Strab. de Reb. Eccl. c. 22. 
 60 Account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners, 1661, p. 15, or in Baxter's 
 Narrative, p. 318, and the Papers that passed between the Commissioners, p. 129. 
 
202 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 sion ; his precious death and burial ,• his glorious resurrection 
 and ascension; and his sending the Holy Ghost to comfort us. 
 During all this time the chief end and design of the Epistles 
 and Gospels is to make us remember with thankful hearts 
 what unspeakable benefits we receive from the Father, first by 
 his Son, and then by his Holy Spirit ; for which we very aptly 
 end this part of the year with giving praise and glory to the 
 whole blessed Trinity. 
 
 The second part of the year, (which comprehends all the 
 whole time from Trinity -Sunday to Advent,) I observed, is 
 to instruct us to lead our lives after our Lord's example. For 
 having in the first part of the year learned the mysteries of our 
 religion, we are in the second to practise what is agreeable to 
 the same. For it concerns us, not only to know that we have 
 no other foundation of our religion, than Christ Jesus our 
 Lord ; but further also to build upon this foundation such a 
 life as he requires of us. And therefore as the first part ends 
 with Pentecost, whereon we commemorate a new law given us 
 in our hearts ; so the second is to begin with the practice of 
 that law : for which reason such Epistles and Gospels are ap- 
 pointed, as may most easily and plainly instruct and lead us 
 in the true paths of Christianity ; that so those who are rege- 
 nerated by Christ, and initiated in his faith, may know what 
 virtues to follow, and what vices to eschew. 
 
 The Collect E- §• ®' This * ta ^ e to ^ e a P ro P er place to speak 
 pistie, and bos- to the rubric which directs, that the Collect, 
 dayX l«vf u fw Epistle, and Gospel appointed for the Sunday 
 the 'week after- shall serve all tlie week after, where it is not in 
 this book otherwise ordered. 51 The principal 
 occasion of which provision, I suppose, was a rubric at the 
 end of the Communion Office, in the first book of king Edward 
 VI., which ordered, that upon Wednesdays and Fridays, 
 though there were none to communicate with the priest, yet 
 {after the Litany ended) the priest should put upon him a plain 
 alb, or surplice, with a cope, and say all things at the altar 
 {appointed to be said at the celebration of the Lord's Supper) 
 until after the offertory. — And that the same order should be 
 used all other days, whensoever the people accustomably assem- 
 bled to pray in the church, and none disposed to communicate 
 with him. But though this custom be now laid aside, yet the 
 
 51 See the last rubric in the Order how the rest of the holy Scripture is appointed to be 
 read. 
 
introd.] THEIR COLLECTS. EPISTLES AND GOSPELS. 203 
 
 direction above mentioned is still of use to us, if cither at a 
 marriage, or at the churching of a woman, (at both which 
 times a communion is prescribed by the rubric as convenient,) 
 or upon any other such like occasion, the sacrament be admin- 
 istered: at which times we are ordered by the rubric I am 
 speaking of, to use the same Collect, Epistle, and Gospel as 
 were used the Sunday before, wliere it is not otherwise ordered 
 in this hook. Before the last review it was said, Except some ho . 
 except there fall some feast that hath its proper, ly-day happens in 
 i. e. except there fall some holy-day in the week thcweek - 
 which has a Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of its own; or, as it 
 is worded in the Scotch Liturgy, except there fall some feast 
 that hath its proper Collect, Epistle, and Gospel ; as it is on 
 Ash- Wednesday, and on every day in the holy week next 
 before the Pasch or Easter ; in which case the Sunday Col- 
 lect, Epistle, and Gospel are to give place to the proper Col- 
 lect, Epistle, and Gospel for that day. And this to be sure is 
 part of what is intended by the rubric, as it stands now. 
 Though the design I suppose of altering the last words into, 
 where it is not in this hook otherwise ordered, 
 was for a direction also at such times as a new 2.Mo™begins. 
 season begins between one Sunday and another, 
 as it happens upon Ash- Wednesday and Ascension-day. In 
 which. case the services of those days being placed between 
 the services for the Sundays immediately before and after; I 
 take that to be an order that the Collect, &c. for the fore- 
 going Sunday shall be then left off, and the Collect, &c. for 
 the holy-day shall succeed as the service for the remaining 
 part of the week. Which is exactly agreeable to an express 
 rubric after the Gospel for Ash-Wednesday in the Scotch 
 Liturgy, which enjoins that from Ash- Wednesday to the first 
 Sunday in Lent shall be used the same Collect, Epistle, and 
 Gospel, which were used on Ash- Wednesday. 
 
 §. 7. In the first Common Prayer Book of king 
 Edward VI. there were two Collects, Epistles, n ions7Jnneriy at 
 and Gospels appointed for Christmas-day and ^ 8 g™ a8and 
 Easter-day, one to be used at the first com- 
 munion, the other at the second : for the churches not afford- 
 ing room enough upon those high festivals for all to com- 
 municate at once that were willing to come ; therefore the 
 sacrament was ordered to be repeated, and a different service 
 appointed for each solemnity. As to a double Double commu . 
 communion, the practice is ancient: for we mid nionionthe 
 
204 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 name day an an- that pope Leo, writing to Dioscorus, bishop of 
 prac Alexandria, advised, that where the churches 
 
 were too small to admit all that were desirous to communicate 
 at Once, the priests should administer two or three commu- 
 nions in one day, that so they who could not get room to offer 
 themselves the first time, might have an opportunity of doing 
 it afterwards. Convinced by this authority, Bucer afterwards 
 retracted an exception he had made against having two com- 
 munions in one day ; 52 though in the second review of the 
 Liturgy under king Edward, one of these services was laid 
 aside, not, I suppose, with intent to forbid a repetition of the 
 sacrament, if the minister should see occasion to administer it 
 twice, but only that, as the congregation at each time is sup- 
 posed to be different, therefore the same service should be 
 used for both. 
 
 VIII. — Of Introits in general. 
 
 I should now proceed to give the reasons of the choice of 
 the several Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and to shew their 
 suitableness to the days they belong to. But because to do 
 this it is necessary I should shew what particular blessings the 
 Church commemorates at those several times on which they 
 are prescribed ; I shall descend to particulars, and first give a 
 short account of the several Sundays and holy-days, as they 
 stand in order, and then shew how these portions of Scripture 
 are to be applied to the day. 
 
 introits, what But nrst I snau ta ^ 5e this opportunity to ob- 
 
 they were, and serve, that in the first Common Prayer Book of 
 howancient. king Edward yi., before every Collect, Epistle, 
 
 and Gospel, there is a Psalm printed, which contains some- 
 thing prophetical of the evangelical history used upon each 
 Sunday and holy-day, or in some way or other proper to the 
 day ; which, from its being sung or said while the priest made 
 his entrance within the rails of the altar, was called Introitus 
 or Introits But in the second edition of king Edward's book 
 
 52 Script. Anglican, p. 465, et 495. 
 53 The Introits for every Sunday and holy-day throughout the year. 
 
 1 Sunday in Advent . 
 
 2 
 
 Psa 
 
 lm\ 
 
 120 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 98 
 
 8 
 52 
 11 
 79 
 
 Sunday after Christmas-day . 
 Circumcision . . ". 
 Epiphany . 
 1 Sunday after Epiphany . 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1} 
 
 Septuagesima Sunday . 
 Sexagesima . . , 
 
 Psalm 121 
 . 122 
 
 3 
 4 . 
 
 
 
 96 
 13 
 
 Christmas-day. 
 nion . 
 
 At the first commu- 
 At the second com- 
 
 angelist . . . 
 
 14 
 
 . 15 
 2 
 
 . 20 
 
 23 
 . 24 
 
 munion . 
 St. Stephen 
 St. John the E\ 
 Innocents'-day 
 
SECT. I.] 
 
 THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 
 
 205 
 
 it was laid aside ; though the reason they had for doing so is 
 not easily assigned. For it is very certain that the use of In- 
 troits to begin the Communion Office was not only unexcep- 
 tionable, but of great antiquity in the Church : Durand prov- 
 ing that they were taken into divine service before the time 
 of St. Jerome. 54 And it is plain that they would still have 
 been very useful, since the want of them is forced to be sup- 
 plied by the singing of anthems in cathedrals, and part of a 
 psalm in metre in parish churches. And therefore I cannot 
 but think, it would have been much more decent for us to 
 have been guided by the Church what psalms to have used in 
 that intermediate time, than to stand to the direction of every 
 illiterate parish clerk, who too often has neither judgment to 
 choose a psalm proper to the occasion, nor skill to sing it so 
 as to assist devotion. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Sundays in Advent 
 Foe. the greater solemnity of the three princi- AdventSunaa , s 
 pal holy-days, Christmas-day, Easter-day, and 
 
 Quinquagesima Sunday . 
 Ash-Wednesday 
 1 Sunday in Lent . 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 .... 
 
 Psalm 26 
 6 
 32 
 
 . 130 
 
 Sunday next before Easter 
 
 Good Friday 
 
 Easter-even 
 
 Easter-day. At the first communion 
 ■ At the second commu- 
 
 nion 
 Monday in Easter-week 
 Tuesday in Easter-week 
 I Sunday after Easter 
 2 
 
 3 .... 
 
 4 . . . 
 
 Ascension-day .... 
 Sunday after Ascension-day 
 
 Whit-Sunday 
 
 Monday in Whitsun-week 
 Tuesday in Whitsun-week . 
 
 Trinity Sunday 
 
 1 Sunday after Trinity . 'part 1 
 
 2 2 
 
 3 3 
 
 4 4 
 
 .5 5 
 
 Psalm 119 
 1 1 Sunday after Trinity part 1 1 
 
 12 12 
 
 13 13 
 
 14 14 
 
 15 15 
 
 16 16 
 
 17 17 
 
 18 13 
 
 19 19 
 
 20 20 
 
 21 21 
 
 22 22 
 
 23 124 
 
 24 125 
 
 25 127 
 
 St. Andrew 129 
 
 St. Thomas 128 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul . . .138 
 Purification of the blessed Virgin 
 
 Mary 134 
 
 St. Matthias 140 
 
 Annunciation 131 
 
 St. Mark 141 
 
 St. Philip and St. James . . .133 
 
 St. Barnabas 142 
 
 St. John the Baptist . . . .143 
 
 St. Peter 144 
 
 St. Mary Magdalene .... 146 
 
 St. James 148 
 
 St. Bartholomew . . . .115 
 
 St. Matthew 117 
 
 St. Michael and All Angels . . 113 
 St. Luke the Evangelist . . 137 
 St. Simon and St. Jude . . . 150 
 All Saints 149 
 
 « De Hit. Eccl. 1. 7, c. 1 1 . 
 
206 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. ▼. 
 
 WTiit- Sunday, the Church hath appointed certain days to attend 
 them : some to go before, and others to come after them. 
 ..„ „ . Before Christmas are appointed four Advent 
 
 Why so called. 07 n-11 1 -1 • pi 
 
 Sundays, so called, because the design 01 them 
 is to prepare us for a religious commemoration of the Adoent, 
 
 or coming of Christ in the flesh. The Roman 
 The antiquity of ritualists would have the celebration of this holy 
 
 season to be apostolical, and that it was instituted 
 by St. Peter. 55 But the precise time of its institution is not so 
 easily to be determined : though it certainly had its beginning 
 before the year 450, because Maximus Taurinensis, who lived 
 >,*„<>„* c ™™c about that time, writ a homily upon it. And it 
 
 Advent sermons . ' J tr 
 
 formerly preach- is to be observed, that for the more strict and 
 ed * religious observation of this season, courses of 
 
 sermons were formerly preached in several cathedrals on Wed- 
 nesdays and Fridays, as it is now the usual practice in Lent. 56 
 And we find by the Salisbury Missal, that before the Reform- 
 ation there was a Special Epistle and Gospel relating to 
 Christ's Advent, appointed for those days during all that time, 
 c 11 ct §' ^ ne Collects f° r tne fi rst an d second Sun- 
 
 days in Advent were made new in 1549, being 
 first inserted in the first book of king Edward VI. That for 
 the third Sunday was added at the Restoration in the room of 
 a very short one not so suitable to the time.* The Collect 
 for the fourth Sunday is the same with what we meet with in 
 the most ancient offices, except that in some of them it is ap- 
 pointed for the first Sunday. f 
 
 The Epistles and Gospels appointed on these 
 ^Go^peis™ 1 days are all vei 7 ancient and very proper to the 
 time : they assure us of the truth of Christ's first 
 coming; 57 and, as a proper means to bring our lives to a con- 
 formity with the end and design of it, they recommend to us 
 the considerations of his second coming, when he will execute 
 vengeance on all those that obey not his Gospel. 58 
 ixn. .v nu u §• 3. It is worth observing in this place, that 
 
 Why the Church .0 , O r » 
 
 begins her year it is the peculiar computation or the Church, to 
 
 * The old Collect was this : " Lord, we beseech thee, give ear to our prayers, and by 
 thy gracious visitation lighten the darkness of our hearts, by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 Amen" t The words " through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord " were first 
 
 added in the Scotch Liturgy. 
 
 55 Durand. Rational. 1. 6, c. 2, numb. 2, fol. 255. 56 See Dr. Greenvil's Sermon, 
 
 preached in the cathedral of Durham, upon the revival of the ancient and laudable prac- 
 tice of that and some other cathedrals, in havim,' sermons on Wednesdays and Fridays 
 in Advent and Lent. Quarto, 1686. M Epistle and Gospel for Sunday 1. Epistle 
 for Sunday 2. Gospel for Sunday 3. Epistle and Gospel for Sunday 4. ^ Gospel 
 
 for Sunday 2 and 3. 
 
sect n.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 207 
 
 begin her year, and to renew the annual course of at Advent. 
 her service, at this time of Adcent, therein differing from all 
 other accounts of time whatsoever. The reason of which is, 
 because she does not number her days, or measure her sea- 
 sons, so much by the motion of the sun, as by the course of 
 our Saviour : beginning and counting on her year with him, 
 who being the true Sun of Righteousness, began now to rise 
 upon the world, and, as the day-star on high, to enlighten 
 them that sat in spiritual darkness. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Ember-Weeks. 
 
 The first season of the ember-days falling after 
 the third Sunday in Advent, I shall take this op- The K! al ° f 
 portunity to speak a word or two of them ; which 
 are certain days set apart for the consecrating to God the four 
 seasons of the year, and for the imploring his blessing by fast- 
 ing and prayer, upon the ordinations performed in the Church 
 at those times : in conformity to the practice of the Apostles, 
 who, when they separated persons for the work of the minis- 
 try, prayed and fasted, before they laid on their hands. 59 It 
 is true, at the first planting of the Gospel, orders were confer- 
 red at any time, as there was occasion : but as soon as the 
 Church was settled, the ordination of ministers was affixed to 
 certain set times, which was the first original of these four 
 weeks of fasting. 
 
 S. 2. They are called ember-weehs (as some ._ . 
 
 i • i \ *• /-^ i i • i « i • Why so called. 
 
 think) from a German word which imports absti- 
 nence : though others are of the opinion that they are so called, 
 because it was customary among the ancients to express their 
 humiliation at those seasons of fasting, by sprinkling ashes 
 upon their heads, or sitting on them ; and when they broke 
 their fasts on such days to eat only cakes baked upon embers, 
 which were therefore called ember-bread. But the most pro- 
 bable conjecture is that of Dr. Mareschal, who derives it from 
 a Saxon word, importing a circuit or course; so that these 
 fasts being not occasional, but returning every year in certain 
 courses, may properly be said to be ember-days, i. e. fasts 
 in course.™ 
 
 §. 3. They were formerly observed in several 
 churches with some varietv, 61 but were at last observed, 
 settled by the Council of Placentia, A. D. 1095, 
 
 M Acts xiii. ?,. 60 i n his observations upon the Saxon Gospels, pages 528, 529. 
 
 *! See the answers of Ecbright upon question 16, In Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, 
 A. D. 734. 
 
208 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 to be the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first 
 Sunday in Lent, after Whit-Sunday, after the fourteenth of 
 September, which was then observed as the feast of holy- 
 cross, and the thirteenth of December, which was then also 
 observed in remembrance of St. Lucy. 63 
 
 why ordinations §• 4 - The reasons wn y the ordinations of minis- 
 are fixed to these ters are fixed to these set times of fasting are these : 
 times * first, that as all men's souls are concerned in the 
 
 ordaining a fit clergy, so all may join in fasting and prayer for 
 a blessing upon it : secondly, that both bishops and candi- 
 dates, knowing the time, may prepare themselves for this great 
 work : thirdly, that no vacancy may remain long unsupplied : 
 lastly, that the people, knowing the times, may, if they please, 
 be present, either to approve the choice made by the bishop, 
 or to object against those whom they know to be unworthy ; 
 which primitive privilege is still reserved to the people in this 
 well-constituted Church. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of Christmas-day. 
 
 How early ob- Though the learned in most ages have dif- 
 
 served in the fered concerning the day and month of our 
 
 Saviour's nativity, yet we are certain that the 
 festival was very early observed in the primitive Church. And 
 if the day was mistaken, yet the matter of the mistake being 
 of no greater moment than the false calculation of a day ; it 
 will certainly be very pardonable in those who perform the 
 business of the festival, with as much piety and devotion as 
 they could do, if they certainly knew the time. 
 
 §. 2. And that no one may want an opportunity 
 The thed V ay? f ° r to celebrate so great a festival with a suitable 
 
 solemnity, the Church both excites and assists our 
 devotion, by an admirable frame of office fitted to the day. 
 In the first Lessons 63 she reads to us the clearest prophecies 
 of Christ's coming in the flesh ; and in the second Lessons, 64 
 Epistle, and Gospel, shews us the completion of those prophe- 
 cies, by giving us the entire history of it. In the collect she 
 teaches us to pray, that we may be partakers of the benefit of 
 his birth, and in the proper psalms she sets us to our duty of 
 praising and glorifying God for his incomprehensible mystery. 
 The collect Epis- ^ ne Epistle and Gospel are the same that 
 tie, and Gospel, were used in the most ancient Liturgies ; but 
 
 68 Concil. torn. x. col. 502, B. ra Isa. ix. to ver. 8. chap. vii. ver. 10 to ver. 17. 
 64 Luke ii. to ver. 15. Tit. iii. ver. 4 to ver. 9. 
 
sect, in.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 209 
 
 the Collect was made new in 1549. In the first book of 
 king Edward VI. they are appointed for the second commu- 
 nion, which I suppose was the principal one : since the first 
 was probably more early in the morning, for the benefit of 
 servants, and others who could not attend at the usual time. 
 The Collect for the first communion was different from what 
 we now use,* as were also the Epistle and Gospel ; the Epistle 
 beginning Tit. ii. ver. 11, to the end ; the Gospel, Luke ii. to 
 ver. 15, the last of which we now read for the second Lesson 
 in the morning service. 
 
 §. 3. The Psalms for the morning are Psalms The Psalms 
 xix. xlv. lxxxv. The xixth was chiefly designed 
 to give glory to God for all his works of power and excel- 
 lence : the beginning of it, viz. The heavens declare the glory 
 of God, &c, is extraordinarily applicable to the day : for at the 
 birth of Christ a new star appeared, which declared his glory 
 and deity so plainly, that it fetched wise men from the East 
 to come and worship him. The following verses all set forth 
 God's goodness, in giving so excellent a rule of life to men, 
 and in warning us of the great danger of presumptuous sins. 
 The xlvth Psalm is thought to be an epithalamium, or mar- 
 riage-song, upon the nuptials of Solomon and the king of 
 Egypt's daughter ; but it is mystically, and in a most eminent 
 sense, applicable to the union between Christ and his Church. 
 The lxxxvth Psalm was principally set for the birth of Christ ; 
 and so the primitive Christians understood it ; and therefore 
 chose it as a part of their office for this day, as being proper 
 and pertinent to the matter of the feast. The prophet indeed 
 speaks of it as a thing past, but that is no more than what is 
 usual in all prophecies : for by speaking of things after that 
 manner, they signified their prophecies should as surely come 
 to pass, as if what they had foretold had already happened. 65 
 
 The evening Psalms are Psalms lxxxix. ex. exxxii. The 
 lxxxixth is a commemoration of the mercies performed and 
 promised to be continued to David and his posterity to the 
 end of the world. The greatest of which mercies, viz. the 
 birth of the Messiah, the Church this day celebrates ; and 
 therefore appoints this psalm to excite us to thanksgiving for 
 
 * The Collect for the first communion in king Edward's first hook was this : " God, 
 •which makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus 
 Christ ; grant, that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure 
 confidence behold him, when he shall come to be our Judge, who liveth and reigneth," 
 &c. <* Acts ii. 30, 31. 
 
 * P 
 
210 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V. 
 
 such an inestimable mercy, by shewing us how only the bare 
 promise of it, so many ages since, wrought upon the saints of 
 those times. The cxth Psalm is a prophecy of the exaltation 
 of the Messiah to his regal and sacerdotal office ; 66 both which 
 are by him exercised at the right hand of the Father, and set- 
 tled on him as a reward of his humiliation and passion. 67 The 
 cxxxiind Psalm seems to have been at first composed by So- 
 lomon upon the building of the temple (part of it being used 
 in his prayer at the dedication of it). 68 It recounts David's 
 care of the ark, and his desire to build God a temple, and 
 God's promises thereupon made to him and his posterity, of 
 setting his seed upon the throne till the coming of Christ. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the days of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Innocents. 
 That the observation of these days is ancient, 
 The a them Ulty ° f we nave ^e testimonies of several very ancient 
 writers, 69 who all assure us that they were cele- 
 brated in the primitive times. 
 , T „ . , S. 2. The placing of them immediately after 
 
 Why observed n .«', , , r ° . . . J , 
 
 immediately af- Christmas-day was to intimate, as is supposed, 
 da^S^the tnat none are thought fitter attendants on Christ's 
 order they are nativity, than those blessed martyrs, who have 
 placed. not scrU pi ec i t j av d own their temporal lives for 
 
 him, from whose incarnation and birth they received life 
 eternal. And accordingly we may observe, that as there are 
 three kinds of martyrdom ; the first both in will and in deed, 
 which is the highest ; the second in will, but not in deed ; the 
 third in deed, but not in will ; so the Church commemorates 
 these martyrs in the same order : St. Stephen first, who suf- 
 fered death both in will and in deed ; St. John the Evangel- 
 ist next, who suffered martyrdom in will, but not in deed, 
 being miraculously delivered out of a caldron of burning oil, 
 into which he was put before Port Latin in Rome; 70 the holy 
 Innocents last, who suffered in deed, but not in will ; for 
 though they were not sensible upon what account they suffer- 
 ed, yet it is certain that they suffered for the sake of Christ; 
 since it was upon the account of his birth that their lives were 
 taken away. And besides, wheresoever their story shall be 
 told, the cause also of their deaths will be declared and made 
 
 66 Matt. xxii. 44. Acts ii. 34. 1 Cor. xv. 25. Heb. i. 13. 67 Phil. ii. 8, 9. 
 
 68 2 Chron. vi. 41, 42. <» Orig. Horn. 3, in Divers, part. 2, p. 282, G. Aug. in Natal. 
 Steph. Martyris, Serm. 314, torn. v. col. 1260, B. Chrys. in S. Stephanum, Orat. 135, 
 136, torn. v. p. 864, &c. et alibi. ™ Tert. de Praasc. Hser. c. 36, p. 215, A. 
 
ssct. iv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 211 
 
 known : for which reason they cannot be denied, even in the 
 most proper sense, to be true martyrs or witnesses of Christ. 
 
 Mr. L'Estrange n imagines another reason for the order of 
 these days. He supposes St. Stephen is commemorated first, 
 as being the first martyr for Christianity : that St. John has 
 the second place, as being the disciple which Jesus loved : and 
 that the Innocents are commemorated next, because their 
 slaughter was the first considerable consequence of our Sa- 
 viour's birth. To this he adds another conjecture, viz. " That 
 martyrdom, love, and innocence are first to be magnified, as 
 wherein Christ is most honoured." 
 
 8. 3. The Collects for the days of St. Stephen ««,-„« , 
 
 <3 *- , 1 Their Collects, 
 
 and the holy Innocents were made new at the Epistles, and 
 Restoration ; and that for St. John was somewhat Go3 P els - 
 altered.* But the Epistles and Gospels for all these days are 
 the same that we meet with in the oldest offices ; excepting 
 that the Epistle for St. John was first inserted at the Re- 
 formation, instead of a Lesson out of the xxvth of Ecclesi- 
 asticus. 
 
 The reasons of their choice are very plain. On St. Ste- 
 phen's day the Epistle gives us an account of his martyrdom, 
 and the Gospel assures us, that his blood, and the blood of all 
 those that have suffered for the name of Christ, shall be re- 
 quired at the hands of those that shed it. On St. John's day 
 both the Epistle and the Gospel are taken out of his own writ- 
 ings, and very aptly answer to one another : the Epistle con- 
 tains St. John's testimony of Christ, and the Gospel Christ's 
 testimony of St. John : the Gospel seems applicable to the 
 day, as it commemorates this evangelist ; but the Epistle 
 seems to be chosen upon account of its being an attendant 
 upon the preceding more solemn festival. On the Innocents' 
 day the Gospel contains the history of the bloody massacre 
 committed by Herod ; and for the Epistle is read part of the 
 xivth chapter of the Revelation, shewing the glorious state of 
 those and the like innocents in heaven. 
 
 * The old Collect for St. Stephen's day was this : " Grant us, O Lord, to learn to love 
 our enemies by the example of thy martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his persecu- 
 tors to thee, which livest and reignest," &c. 
 
 In the Collect for St. John's day, after the words, " Evangelist Saint John," followed, 
 " may attain to thy everlasting gifts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." 
 
 The Collect for Innocents' day was as follows : " Almighty God, whose praise this day 
 
 the young innocents thy witnesses have confessed and shewed forth, not in speaking but 
 
 in dying ; mortify and kill all vices in us, that in our conversation or life we may express 
 
 thy faith, which with our tongues we do confess, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." 
 
 " Alliance of Divine Offices, p, 137. Lond. 1690. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Sunday after Christmas-day, 
 
 It was a custom among the primitive Chris- 
 0ct obseS erly tians to. observe the Octave, or eighth day after 
 their principal feasts, with great solemnity, (the 
 reasons whereof shall be given in speaking of the particular 
 prefaces in the Communion Office hereafter;) and upon every 
 day between the feast and the Octave, as also upon the Octave 
 itself, they used to repeat some part of that service which was 
 performed upon the feast itself. In imitation of which religious 
 custom, this day generally falling within the Octave of Christ- 
 mas-day, the Collect then used is repeated now; and the 
 Epistle and Gospel still set forth the mysteries of our redemp- 
 tion by the birth of Christ. Before the Reformation, instead 
 of the present Gospel, was read Luke ii. ver. 33 to ver. 41. 
 But then the first of St. Matthew was appointed, which is still 
 retained ; excepting that the first seventeen verses, relating 
 to our Saviour's genealogy, were left out at the Restoration. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Circumcision. 
 
 This feast is celebrated by the Church, to 
 ^hisfeast commemorate the active obedience of Jesus 
 Christ in fulfilling all righteousness, which is one 
 branch of the meritorious cause of our redemption ; and by 
 that means abrogating the severe injunctions of the Mosaical 
 establishment, and putting us under the easier terms of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 §.2; The observation of this feast is not of 
 The antiquity of very great antiquity : the first mention of it un- 
 der this title is in Ivo Carnotensis, who lived 
 about the year 1090, a little before St. Bernard, which latter 
 has also a sermon upon it. In Isidore, and other more early 
 writers, it is mentioned under the name of the Octave of Christ- 
 mas. The reason why it was not then observed as the feast 
 of the circumcision, was probably because it fell upon the 
 calends of January, which was celebrated among the heathens 
 with so much disorder and revellings, and other tokens of 
 idolatry, that St. Chrysostom calls it ioprfiv dia/3o\tjo)v, the 
 Devil 's festival. For which reason the sixth general Council 
 absolutely forbade the observation of it among Christians. 72 
 
 « Concil. Trull. Can. 62. 
 
sect, vii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 213 
 
 §. 3. The proper services are all very suitable The Lessons 
 to the day. The first Lesson for the morning Epistle, and' 
 gives an account of the institution of circum- Gos P el - 
 cision ; and the Gospel, of the circumcision of Christ : the 
 first Lesson at evening, and the second Lessons and Epistle, 
 all tend to the same end, viz. that since the circumcision of 
 the flesh is now abrogated, God hath no respect of persons, 
 nor requires any more of us than the circumcision of the heart. 
 The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day were all first in- 
 serted in 1549. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the Epiphany. 
 
 The word Epiphany in Greek signifies Mani- 
 festation, and was at first used both for Christ- ^^Sel**' 
 mas-day, when Christ was manifested in the flesh, 
 and for this day, (to which it is now more properly appropri- 
 ated,) when he was manifested by a star to the Gentiles : from 
 which identity of the word, some have concluded that the 
 feasts of Christmas-day and the Epiphany were one and the 
 same : but that they were two different feasts, observed upon 
 two several days, is plain from many of the Fathers. 73 
 
 But besides this common and more usual name, 
 we find .two other titles given to it by the an- ^^nt! 
 cients, viz. ra uyia tywra™ the day of the Holy 
 Lights; and ra Qeo<pav£ia, the Theophany, or Manifestation of 
 God. 15 The first name was given it, as being the day whereon 
 they commemorated the baptism of Christ, who from that 
 time became a light to those that sat in darkness : upon which 
 account this day was as solemn for baptizing the catechumens 
 among the Latins, as Easter and Whitsuntide among the 
 Greeks. And for the greater solemnity of so high a festival, 
 it was the custom to adorn the public churches with a great 
 number of lights and tapers, when they came to perform the 
 service of the day. The reason of the other name is very 
 plain, the feast being instituted in commemoration of the first 
 manifestations of our Saviour's divinity. 
 
 §. 2. The principal design of the Church's ce- The feast of it 
 lebrating this feast, is to shew our gratitude to to what end in- 
 God, in manifesting the Gospel to the Gentile stituted - 
 world, and vouchsafing to them equal privileges with the Jews, 
 
 " Aug. Serm. 102, torn. v. col. 914, F. Greg. Naz. in S. Lum. Orat. 39, torn. i. p. 624, 
 *c. et alii. ?* Greg. Naz. in Sanct. Lum. » Epiph. Orat. in Ascens. Domini. 
 
214 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 who had been all along his peculiar people ; the first instance 
 of which divine favour was in declaring the birth of Christ to 
 the wise men of the East. 
 
 Three manifesto .§• 3 ' But > in all > there are three g reat manifest- 
 
 tions of Christ ations of our Saviour commemorated on this day ; 
 
 commemorated. ^ ^^ gt Chrysostom tellg ug? happened Oil 
 
 the same day, though not in the same year : the first of which 
 was what I just now mentioned, viz. his manifestation by a 
 star, which conducted the wise men to come and worship him, 
 which we commemorate in the Collect and Gospel. The se- 
 The Lessons, cond manifestation was that of the glorious Trinity 
 collect, Epistle, at his baptism, mentioned in the second Lesson 
 at morning prayer. The second Lesson at even- 
 ing service contains the third, which was the manifestation of 
 the glory and divinity of Christ, by his miraculous turning 
 water into wine. The first Lesson contains prophecies of the 
 increase of the Church by the abundant access of the Gentiles, 
 of which the Epistle contains the completion, giving an ac- 
 count of the mystery of the Gospel's being revealed to them. 
 The Collect and Gospel for this day are the same that were 
 used in the ancient offices ; but the Epistle was inserted at the 
 first compiling of our Liturgy, instead of part of the lxth of 
 Isaiah, which is now read for the first Lesson in the morning.* 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of the Sundays after the Epiphany. 
 
 The design of the From Christmas to Epiphany, the Church's 
 Epistles and design in all her proper services, is to set forth 
 the humanity of our Saviour, and to manifest him 
 in the flesh : but from the Epiphany to Septuagesima Sunday 
 (especially in the four following Sundays) she endeavours to 
 manifest his divinity, by recounting to us in the Gospels some 
 of his first miracles and manifestations of his Deity. The de- 
 sign of the Epistles is to excite us to imitate Christ as far as 
 we can, and to manifest ourselves his disciples by a constant 
 practice of all Christian virtues. 
 
 The collects E- §• ^* ^ ne Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for 
 pisties, and Gos- the five first Sundays after the Epiphany, are all 
 pels the same as in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, 
 
 * In the Common Prayer Books of king James, and down to the Restoration, Isaiah 
 the xlth was by mistake (as I presume) set down for the morning first Lesson, instead 
 of the lxth, from whence the same error is continued in some of our present books. 
 The lxth chapter was undoubtedly designed, being in all the books of king Edward, 
 queen Elizabeth, the Scotch Liturgy, and the Sealed Book, at the Restoration. And in 
 those books of king James, where the xlth chapter first appears in the table of the Les- 
 sons appointed for Holy -days, the lxth chapter stands against the day in the calendar. 
 
beci. ix.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 215 
 
 except that the Collect for the fourth Sunday was a little 
 amended at the Restoration,* and that before the Reformation 
 the Epistle for that day was the same with the Epistle for the 
 first Sunday in Advent. 
 
 The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the sixth Sunday were 
 all added at the last review ; till when, if there happened to 
 be six Sundays after the Epiphany, the Collect, Epistle, and 
 Gospel for the fifth Sunday were repeated : though in the 
 Salisbury Missal the service of the third Sunday is ordered to 
 be used upon such an occasion. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of Septuagesima, Sexagesimal and Quinquage- 
 sima Sundays. 
 
 Among the several reasons given for the names 
 of these Sundays, the most probable seems to be y so 
 this : the first Sunday in Lent, being forty days before Eas- 
 ter, was for that reason called Quadragesima Sunday, which 
 in Latin signifies forty ; and fifty being the next round num- 
 ber above forty, as sixty is to fifty, and seventy to sixty ; 
 therefore the Sunday immediately preceding Quadragesima 
 Sunday, being further from Easter than that was, was called 
 Quinquagesima (or fifty) Sunday, which is also fifty days in- 
 clusive before Easter : and the two foregoing Sundays, being 
 still further distant, were for the same reason called Sexa- 
 gesima and Septuagesima (sixty and seventy) Sundays. 
 
 §. 2. The observation of these days and the 
 weeks following appear to be as ancient as the The fhemT ° f 
 times of Gregory the Great. The design of them 
 is to call us back from our Christmas feasting and joy, in or- 
 der to prepare ourselves for fasting and humiliation in the 
 approaching time of Lent; from thinking of the manner of 
 Christ's coming into the world, to reflect upon the cause of 
 it, viz. our own sins and miseries ; that so being convinced 01 
 the reasonableness of punishing and mortifying ourselves for 
 our sins, we may the more strictly and religiously apply our- 
 selves to those duties when the proper time for them comes. 
 Some of the more devout Christians observed the whole 
 time, from the first of these Sundays to Easter, as a season 
 of humiliation and fasting ; though the generality of the peo- 
 ple did not begin their fasts till Ash-Wednesday. 
 
 • The old Collect was this : " O God, which knowest us to be set in the midst of so 
 many and great dangers, that for man's frailness we cannot always stand uprightly : 
 grant to us the health of body and soul, that all those things which we suffer for sin, by 
 tty help we may well pass and overcome, through Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
216 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V. 
 
 The Collects §• ^' ^ ne Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for 
 
 Epistles, and these days are all the same as in the ancient Li- 
 Gospeis. turgies, excepting only the Collect for Quinqua- 
 
 gesima Sunday, which was made new, A. D. 1549. They are 
 all of them plainly suitable to the times. The Epistles are all 
 three taken out of St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians : the 
 two first persuade us to acts of mortification and penance, by 
 proposing to us St. Paul's example : but because all bodily ex- 
 ercises without charity profit us nothing ; therefore the Church, 
 in the Epistle for Quinquagesima Sunday, recommends charity 
 to us, as a necessary foundation for all our other acts of religion. 
 The design of the Gospels is much the same with that of 
 the Epistles : that for Septuagesima Sunday tells us, by way 
 of parable, that all that expect to be rewarded hereafter, must 
 perform these religious duties now ; and to all those who have 
 been so idle as to neglect their duties all their lifetime hither- 
 to, it affords comfort, by assuring them, they may still entitle 
 themselves to a reward, if they will now set about them with 
 diligence and sincerity. The Gospel for Sexagesima Sunday, 
 in another parable, admonishes us to be careful and circum- 
 spect in the performance of our duty, since there is scarce one 
 in four who profess religion, that brings forth fruit to perfec- 
 tion. And, lastly, the Gospel for Quinquagesima Sunday 
 shews us how we are to perform these duties ; advising us by 
 the example of the blind beggar to add faith to our charity, 
 and to continue incessant in our prayers, and not to despair 
 of the acceptance of them, because we are not immediately 
 heard, but to cry so much the more, Jesus, thou Son of Da- 
 vid, have mercy on us. 
 
 §. 4. The Tuesday after Quinquagesima Sun- 
 ^h^aSed!' da > T is generally called Shrove-Tuesday ; a name 
 given it from the old Saxon words, shrive, shrift, 
 or shrove, which in that language signifies to confess ; it be- 
 ing a constant custom amongst the Roman Catholics to con- 
 fess their sins on that day, in order to receive the blessed Sa- 
 crament, and thereby qualify themselves for a more religious 
 observation of the holy time of Lent immediately ensuing. 
 But this in process of time was turned into a custom of invita- 
 tions, and their taking their leave of flesh and other dainties ; 
 and afterwards, by degrees, into sports and merriments, which 
 still in that Church make up the whole business of the car- 
 nival. 
 
■KCT. X.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS; 217 
 
 Sect. X. — Of the Forty days in Lent. 
 
 Though it ought to be the constant endeavour The necessity of 
 of a Christian to observe his duty at all times, some set time for 
 and to have always a great regard to what God humiliation - 
 requires of him ; yet, considering the great corruption of the 
 world, and the frailty of our nature, and how often we trans- 
 gress the bounds of our duty, and how backward we are to 
 cross our fleshly appetites, it is very expedient we should 
 have some solemn season appointed for the examining our 
 lives, and the exercise of repentance. 
 
 §. 2. And accordingly we find that, from the 
 very first ages of Christianity, it was customary The J|? ^ mty 
 for the Christians to set apart some time for mor- 
 tification and self-denial, to prepare themselves for the feast 
 of Easter. Irenaeus, who lived but ninety years from the 
 death of St. John, and conversed familiarly with St. Polycarp, 
 as Polycarp had with St. John, has happened to let us know, 
 though incidentally, that as it was observed in his time, so it 
 was in that of his predecessors. 76 
 
 §. 3. As to its original, the present lord bishop Its ori j. 
 of Bath and Wells, in his learned Discourse con- 
 cerning Lent, has shewed, by very probable arguments, that 
 the Christian Lent took its rise from the Jewish preparation 
 to their yearly expiation. He likewise proves out of their own 
 writers, that the Jews began their solemn humiliation forty 
 days before the expiation. Wherefore the primitive Chris- 
 tians, following their example, set up this fast at the beginning 
 of Christianity, as a proper preparative for the commemoration 
 of the great expiation of the sins of the whole world. 
 
 §. 4. It is true indeed, as to the length of it, 
 the Christian Lent was observed with great variety J r a v r e d U al y fi S. 
 at first : some fasting only one day, some two, 
 some more, and some for forty days together, i. e. if Eusebius 
 be rightly understood by the learned Dr. Grabe : if not, we 
 must reduce the forty days to an entire abstinence of forty 
 hours only, according to Valesius ; 77 from which number of 
 hours some think it is most probable this fast was first called 
 reaaapaKocTTi], or quadragesima ; as beginning about twelve on 
 Friday, (the time of our Saviour's falling under the power of 
 
 '6 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 24, p. 192, D. " Vid. Euseb. ut supra, et Vales, et 
 
 Bevereg. in loc. p. 247, edit. Reading. 
 
218 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 death,) and continuing till Sunday morning, the time of his 
 rising again from the dead. But afterwards it was enlarged to 
 a longer time, drawn out into more days, and then weeks, till 
 it was at last fixed to forty days ; which number seems very 
 anciently to have been appropriated to repentance and humili- 
 ation. For not to reckon up the forty days in which God 
 drowned the world, 78 or the forty years in which the children 
 of Israel did penance in the wilderness, 79 or the forty stripes 
 by which malefactors were to be corrected ; 80 whoever con- 
 siders that Moses did, not once only, fast this number of 
 days, 81 that Elias also fasted in the wilderness the same space 
 of time, 82 that the Ninevites had precisely as many days al- 
 lowed for their repentance, 83 and that our blessed Saviour him- 
 self, when he was pleased to fast, observed the same length of 
 time : 6i whoever, I say, considers these things, cannot but 
 think that this number of days is very suitable to extraordi- 
 nary humiliation. 
 ,„, „ , T . S. 5. It receives its name from the time of the 
 
 W hy called Lent. * , . . , _. . - 
 
 year wherein it is observed ; Lent, in the old 
 Saxon language, signifying Spring, being now used to signify 
 
 this spring fast, which always begins so that it 
 m Easter. d at ma y enc ^ at Easter '■> to remind us of our Saviour's 
 
 sufferings, which ended at his resurrection. 
 How observed by §\ 6 ' £> urin g thi s whole season, they were used 
 the primitive to give the most public testimonies of sorrow and 
 chnstians. repentance, and to shew the greatest signs of 
 
 humiliation that can be imagined : no marriages were allowed 
 of, nor any thing that might give the least occasion to mirth 
 or cheerfulness ; 85 insomuch that they would not celebrate the 
 memories of the Apostles or martyrs, that happened within 
 this time, upon the ordinary week-days, but transferred the 
 commemoration of them to the Saturdays or Sundays. 86 For 
 the Eastern Christians, as I have already observed, 87 celebrated 
 Saturday as well as Sunday as a day of festival devotions. But 
 except on those two days, even the holy eucharist was not 
 consecrated during the whole time of Lent, that being an act, 
 as those Fathers thought, more suitable and proper for a fes- 
 tival than a fast. 88 On those days indeed they consecrated 
 enough to supply the communions of each day ? till either 
 
 78 Gen. vii. 4. ?» Numb. xiv. 34. 80 Deut. xxv. 3. 8 i Deut. ix. 9, 18, 25. 
 88 1 Kings xix. 8. S3 Jonah iii. 4. « Matt. iv. 2. 85 Concil. Laod. Can. 52, 
 
 tom.i. col. 1505, C. 86 Concil. Laod. Can. 51. 87 Page 186. 88 ibid. Can. 4a 
 
8ICT. xi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 219 
 
 Saturday or Sunday returned again. For though the sacra- 
 ment was not consecrated on the ordinary week-days, yet it 
 was customary to receive it every day ; and therefore to those 
 that came to communicate upon any of those days, they ad- 
 ministered out of what the Greeks call the 7rpo//yia<xyu£va, the 
 Latins prcesanctificata, both which words signify the same 
 thing, viz. the bread and wine that were ready consecrated. 
 
 Nor was the demeanour of the primitive Christians at home 
 less strict and austere than their discipline at church ; they lay 
 in sackcloth and ashes, and took no care of their garb or dress ; 
 they used no other food but what was necessary to preserve 
 life ; 89 some abstaining from flesh and wine ; others, especially 
 the Greeks, forbearing all fish likewise as well as flesh : some 
 contented themselves with eggs and fruits; others forbore both, 
 and lived upon bread, herbs, and roots : but all agreed in this, 
 viz. that whereas at other seasons their fasts continued but till 
 three in the afternoon, they would not on any day in Lent eat 
 till the evening, 90 and then such food as was least delicate. 91 
 
 Sect. XI. — Of Ash- Wednesday, or the first day of Lent, 
 The first day of Lent had formerly two names, 
 one of which was Caput Jejunii, the Head of the ^J^dayf"" 
 Fast; the other, Dies Cinerum, Ash- Wednes- 
 day. The first compellation was given because Lent began 
 on that day ; for since it was never the custom of the Church 
 to fast on Sundays, (whereon we commemorate so great a 
 blessing as our Saviour's resurrection,) therefore we begin 
 Lent on this day, to supply the room of those Sundays. For 
 if you deduct out of the six weeks of Lent the six Sundays, 
 there will remain but thirty-six fasting-days, to which these four 
 of this week being added, make up the exact number of forty. 
 
 §. 2. The name of Ash-Wednesday proceeded 
 from a custom in the ancient discipline, which W w e dnesday. Sh 
 began very early to be exercised on this day ; an 
 account whereof we have in Gratian 92 as follows : 
 
 On the first day of Lent the penitents were to present them- 
 selves before the bishop clothed with sackcloth, with naked 
 feet, and eyes turned to the ground : and this was to be done 
 in the presence of the principal of the clergy of the diocese, who 
 
 w Tertull. de Poenit. passim. »° Basil. Horn. 1, de Jejun. et Prudent. Hymn, ante 
 Cibum. 9 * Epiphan. Expos. Fid. Cathol. c. 22, torn. i. p. 1105, B.C. »* 1 Part 
 
 Deer. Dist. 50, c. 64, torn. i. p. 331. 
 
220 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap, v 
 
 were to judge of the sincerity of their repentance. These in- 
 troduced them into the church, where the bishop, all in tears, 
 and the rest of the clergy, repeated the seven penitential 
 psalms. Then rising from prayers, they threw ashes upon 
 them, and covered their heads with sackcloth ; and then with 
 mournful sighs declared to them that as Adam was thrown out 
 of Paradise, so they must be thrown out of the Church. 
 Then the bishop commanded the officers to turn them out of 
 the church-doors ; and all the clergy followed after, repeating 
 that curse upon Adam, In tlie sweat of thy brow shalt thou 
 eat thy bread. The like penance was inflicted upon them the 
 next time the Sacrament was administered, which was the 
 Sunday following. And all this was done to the end that the 
 penitents, observing how great a disorder the Church was in by 
 reason of their crimes, should not lightly esteem of penance. 
 How observed §• 3 - Though this discipline was severe, yet the 
 
 by the church of many good consequences of it shewed it worthy 
 the imitation of all Churches in succeeding ages ; 
 and ours in particular heartily bewails the want of it : but till 
 she can be so happy as to succeed in discharging those obli- 
 gations she lies under to restore it, she supplies that want, by 
 adding to her ordinary service a very proper and suitable office 
 called the Commination, which shall be treated of hereafter in 
 its turn. 
 
 §. 4. In the ordinary morning and evening 
 service, instead of the Psalms for the day, are 
 appointed six of David's penitential Psalms, (the seventh be- 
 ing used in the office of Commination :) concerning which we 
 need only observe, that they are the very forms wherein that 
 royal prophet expressed his repentance, and were all composed 
 by him in times of affliction, and contain supplications and 
 prayers to be delivered from all temporal and spiritual ene- 
 mies ; and have, for this reason, been very much esteemed of 
 in the Church in all ages, 93 and were always thought proper to 
 be used in times of humiliation and repentance. 
 The Collect §• 5. The Collect for this day was made new at 
 
 Epistle, and the compiling of the Liturgy ; the Epistle and 
 Gospel. Gospel were taken out of the old offices. For 
 
 the former is read part of Joel, which, together with the latter, 
 cautions us to be very careful, that, whilst we seem to be ready 
 at all external signs of sorrow, we be not void of internal con- 
 trition. 
 
 93 Greg. Mag. Comment, in 7 Psal. Poen. torn. iii. col. 369, &c. 
 
sect, xii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 221 
 
 §. 6. There are no proper Lessons appointed no Lessons ap 
 for this day, which I presume proceeded from an pointed, 
 omission of the compilers. 
 
 Sect. XII. — Of the Sundays in Lent 
 
 .Though the Church allows us to interrupt our The Collect8 
 fasts on the Sundays in Lent, by reason of the Epistles, and 
 eminency of those days ; yet, lest the pleasant- Gos P els « 
 ness of those intervals should entice us to a discontinuance of 
 our mortification and abstinence in the returning week-days, 
 when we ought to renew it with the greater zeal, she takes care 
 to remind us of the duties we have undertaken, and therefore 
 in the Epistles (which were continued from the old Missals) 
 sets before us the obligations we lie under of returning to our 
 acts of self-denial and humiliation. But because all this with- 
 out charity is nothing worth, the Gospels (which are of the 
 same antiquity) are designed to excite us to the exercise of that 
 great duty in all its branches, by proposing to us the example 
 of our great Lord and Master, the blessed Jesus, who not only 
 fasted and withstood the greatest temptations of doing evil in 
 his own person, 94 but went about seeking opportunities of do- 
 ing good to others ; healing the sick, 95 feeding the hungry, 96 
 blessing those that cursed him, 97 and doing good to those that 
 despitefully used him : 98 in all which actions we are, at this 
 time especially, bound to imitate him. The Collects, as well 
 as the Epistles and Gospels, for all these Sundays, are the 
 same that we meet with in the old offices, excepting that the 
 first was made new at the Reformation, and the last is, in the 
 Liturgy of St. Ambrose, appointed for Good-Friday. 
 
 §. 2. The Sundays in Lent are by our own 
 Church, as well as the Greek, generally termed ^how^imed^ 
 by their number, being called the first, second, 
 and third Sunday, &c. in Lent ; but the three last are some- 
 times distinguished by particular names of their own : the 
 fourth, for instance, is with us generally called 
 Midlent- Sunday ; though bishop Sparrow, and 
 some others, term it Dominica Refectionis, the Sunday of 
 Refreshment : the reason of which, I suppose, is the Gospel 
 for the day, which treats of our Saviour's miraculously feeding 
 five thousand ; or else perhaps the first Lesson in the morning, 
 which gives us the story of Joseph's entertaining his brethren. 
 
 •* Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent. 95 p r the second. 9 fi For the third. 
 to For the fourth. •« For the fifth. 
 
222 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V. 
 
 The probable rise ^nd tne appointment of these Scriptures upon 
 of Midienting or this day might probably give the first rise to a 
 fothenng. custom still retained in many parts of England, 
 
 and well known by the name of Midienting or Mothering. 
 „ . e . The fifth Sunday in Lent is, by the Latins 
 
 Passion-Sunday. ... _ ,.- 7 .. _ . ' •'_ . , 
 
 especially, often called P assion- Sunday ; though 
 I think that would be a more proper name for the Sunday fol- 
 lowing : but the reason, I suppose, why that title is thrown 
 back to this, is because the Sunday next before Easter is 
 „ . , generally called Palm-Sunday, in commemora- 
 
 Palm-Sunday. o. J . . , ? » . - 
 
 tion ot our saviour s triumphal entry into Jeru- 
 salem, when the multitude that attended him strewed palm- 
 branches in his way :" in remembrance of which palms were 
 used to be borne here with us upon this day till the second 
 year of king Edward VI. 100 
 
 Sect. XIII. — Of the Passion - Week. 
 
 Passion-Week ^ HE f onowm g week was by some looked upon 
 as a distinct time of fasting from the foregoing 
 Lent, and as instituted upon different accounts : that being 
 observed in imitation of our Saviour's fasting, &c, as has been 
 already observed ; this in commemoration of his sufferings and 
 passion, which were then completed. 1 But by others it was 
 only accounted a continuation of the same fast in a stricter 
 degree : it being generally called the great week, 2 not because 
 it had more hours or days in it than any other week, but be- 
 cause in this week was transacted an affair of the greatest im- 
 portance to the happiness of man, and actions truly great were 
 performed to secure his salvation : death was conquered, the 
 devil's tyranny was abolished, the partition-wall betwixt Jew 
 and Gentile was broken down, and God and man were recon- 
 ciled. 3 It was also called the holy-week, from 
 week^an^how 7 " those devout exercises which Christians employed 
 formerly ob- themselves in upon this occasion. They applied 
 themselves to prayer, both in public and private, 
 to hearing and reading God's holy word, and exercising a most 
 solemn repentance for those sins which crucified the Lord of 
 life. They observed the whole week with great strictness of 
 
 w Isid. Hispal. de Offic. Eccl. lib. 1, cap. 27. *>o Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 241. 
 1 Anastasius Antiochenus (qui vivit 655) in Coteleri Notis in Const. Apostol. 1. 5, c. 13, 
 torn. i. p. 316, edit. Cleric. Antw. 1698, et Matthaeus Monachus ibid. * Vide Vales, 
 in Euseb. 1. 5, c. 24, p. 247, col. 2, edit. Reading. » Clays. Horn. 30, in Gen. xL 1 
 torn. i. p. 235. 
 
sect, s .1.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 223 
 
 fasting and humiliation ; some fasting three days together ; 
 some four ; and others, who could bear it, the whole six ; be- 
 ginning on Monday morning, and not eating any thing again 
 till cock-crowing on the Sunday morning following. And se- 
 veral of the Christian emperors, to shew what veneration they 
 had for this holy season, caused all lawsuits to cease, and tri- 
 bunal doors to be shut, and prisoners to be set free ; 4 thereby 
 imitating their great Lord and Master, who by his death at 
 this time delivered us from the prison and chains of sin. 
 
 §. 2. The Church of England uses all the H ow observed by 
 means she can. to retain this decent and pious the church of 
 custom, and hath made sufficient provision for En ^ and - 
 the exercise of the devotion of her members in public ; call- 
 ing us every day this week to meditate upon our Lord's suf- 
 ferings, and collecting in the Lessons, Epistles, and Gospels, 
 most of those portions of Scripture that relate to this tragical 
 subject, to increase our humiliation by the consideration of 
 our Saviour's ; to the end that with penitent hearts, and firm 
 resolution of dying likewise to sin, we may attend our Saviour 
 through the several stages of his bitter passion. 
 
 8. 3. Our reformers did not much confine them- „, „ , 
 
 i , „ , , „ , . . , The Gospels. 
 
 selves to the Gospels appointed for this week by 
 the ancient offices ; but thought, as there was time enough to 
 admit of it, it would be most regular and useful to read all the 
 four Evangelists' accounts of our Saviour's passion, as they 
 stand in order. To this end they have ordered St. Matthew's 
 account on the Sunday, appointing the xxvith chapter for the 
 second Lesson, and the xxviith, as far as relates to his crucifix- 
 ion, for the Gospel.* On Monday and Tuesday is read the 
 story as by St. Mark ; on Wednesday and Thursday that by 
 St. Luke,f and on Good-Friday. the xviiith of St. John is ap- 
 pointed for the second Lesson, and the xixth for the Gospel.J 
 
 The Epistles also that are now appointed are E istle8 
 more suitable to the season, than those that were 
 found in older offices. 
 
 As for the Collect, the same that is used on the 
 Sunday before is appointed (as indeed a very pro- 
 
 And Collect. 
 
 * Both the xxvith and xxviith chapters were read for the Gospel on the Sunday before 
 Easter till the last review, and the xxviith was continued to the end of the 56th verse. 
 
 t The xvth of St. Mark, which was the Gospel for Tuesday, and Luke xxiii., which 
 was appointed for Wednesday, were in all former books read throughout. 
 
 X Both the chapters of St. John were appointed for the Gospel in the former books. 
 * Cod. Theod. lib. 9, tit. 35, de Quaestione 4, torn. iii. p. 252. 
 
224 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 per one) to be used on the four days following till Good-Fri- 
 day : on which day it is also appointed in the Liturgy of St. 
 Ambrose, though in other offices it is found, as with us, upon 
 the Sunday before. 
 
 Sect. XIV. — Of the Thursday before Easter. 
 
 Maundy-Thurs- This day is called {Dies Ma?idati) Mandate or 
 day, why so call- Maundy- Thursday, from the commandment 
 
 which our Saviour gave his Apostles to com- 
 memorate the Sacrament of his Supper, which he this day in- 
 stituted after the celebration of the Passover ; and which was, 
 for that reason, generally received in the evening of the day : 6 
 or, as others think, from that new commandment which he 
 gave them to love one another, after he had washed their feet, 
 in token of the love he bore to them, as is recorded in the 
 second Lesson at morning prayer. 
 
 §. 2. The Gospel for this day is suitable to the 
 Epistl pei! d G ° S " time ' as treating of our Saviour's passion ; but 
 
 the Epistle is something different, containing an 
 account of the institution of the Lord's Supper : the constant 
 celebration of which on this day, both in the morning and in 
 the evening, after supper, 6 in commemoration of its being first 
 instituted at that time, rendered that portion of Scripture very 
 suitable to the day. 
 
 The form of re- §• ^* ® n tn ^ s ^ a y tne Penitents, that were put 
 conciiing Peni- out of the church upon Ash-Wednesday, were 
 received again into the church, partly that they 
 might be partakers of the holy Communion, and partly in re- 
 membrance of our Lord's being on this day apprehended and 
 bound, in order to work our deliverance and freedom. 7 
 
 The form of reconciling Penitents was this : the bishop went 
 out to the doors of the church where the Penitents lay pros- 
 trate upon the earth, and thrice, in the name of Christ, called 
 them, Come, come, come, ye children, hearken to me ,- I will 
 teach you the fear of the Lord. Then, after he had prayed 
 for them, and admonished them, he reconciled them, and 
 brought them into the church. The Penitents thus received, 
 trimmed their heads and beards, and laying off their peniten- 
 tial weeds, reclothed themselves in decent apparel. 8 
 
 * Concil. Carthag. 3, Can. 29. Codex. Can. Eccles. Afric. Can. 41. « Concil. Car- 
 thag. 3, Can. 29. Codex Can. Eccles. Afric. Can. 41. Concil. Trul. Can. 29. Aug. ad 
 Jan. Ep. 118. 7 Innocent. Epist. tit citat. ab Ivo, part. 15, cap. 40, et a Barchardo, 
 1. 18, c. 18. » Capit. 1. 7, c. 143. 
 
Why so called. 
 
 sect, xv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 225 
 
 §. 4. It may not be amiss to observe, that the The chl]rch . 
 church-doors used to be all set open on this day, doors always set 
 to signify that penitent sinners, coming from open on this day ' 
 north or south, or any part of the world, should be received 
 to mercy, and the Church's favour. 
 
 Sect. XV.— Of Good-Friday. 
 
 This day received its name from the blessed 
 effects of our Saviour's sufferings, which are the 
 ground of all our joy, and from those unspeakable good things 
 he hath purchased for us by his death, whereby the blessed 
 Jesus made expiation for the sins of the whole world, and, by 
 the shedding his own blood, obtained eternal redemption for 
 us. Among the Saxons it was called Long-Friday ,- 9 but for 
 what reasons (excepting for the long fastings and offices they 
 then used) does not appear. 
 
 §. 2. The Commemoration of our Saviour's 
 sufferings hath been kept from the very first age Why J fest Ved as 
 of Christianity, 10 and was always observed as a 
 day of the strictest fasting and humiliation ; not that the grief 
 and affliction they then expressed did arise from the loss they 
 sustained, but from a sense of the guilt of the sins of the 
 whole world, which drew upon our blessed Redeemer that 
 painful and shameful death of the Cross. 
 
 §. 3. The Gospel for this day (besides its com- The Gospel, why 
 ing in course) is properly taken out of St. John taken out of 
 rather than any other Evangelist, because he was Sauit John * 
 the only one that was present at the passion, and stood by the 
 cross while others fled : and therefore, the passion being as it 
 were represented before our eyes, his testimony is read who 
 saw it himself, and from whose example we may learn not to 
 be ashamed or afraid of the cross of Christ. 11 — The E istle 
 The Epistle proves from the insufficiency of the 
 Jewish sacrifices, that they only typified a more sufficient 
 one, which the Son of God did as on this day offer up, and by 
 one oblation of himself then made upon the cross, completed 
 all the other sacrifices, (which were only shadows of this,) and 
 made full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. In 
 imitation of which Divine and infinite love, the The Colkct 
 Church endeavours to shew her charity to bo 
 
 9 See the thirty-seventh Canon of Elfric in Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, A. D. 
 657. lo Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 2, cap. 17, p. 57, B. Aqost. Const. 1. 5,c. 13. 
 11 Rupertua de Ofiiciis Divinis 1. 6 c. 8. 
 
226 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 boundless and unlimited, by praying in one of the proper Col- 
 lects, that the effects of Christ's death may be as universal 
 as the design of it, viz. that it may tend to the salvation of 
 all, Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics.* 
 
 §. 4. How suitable the proper psalms are to 
 sa ms. ^ e ^ a ^ ^ k v j ous t an y one that rea d s them 
 
 with a due attention : they were all composed by David in 
 times of the greatest calamity and distress, and do most of 
 them belong mystically to the crucifixion of our Saviour; 
 especially the twenty-second, which is the first for the morn- 
 ing, which was in several passages literally fulfilled by his 
 sufferings, and either part of it, or all, recited by him upon 
 the cross. 12 And for that reason (as St. Austin tells us) 13 was 
 always used upon that day by the African Church. 
 
 §. 5. The first Lesson for the morning is 
 Genesis xxii., containing an account of Abra- 
 ham's readiness to offer up his son ; thereby typifying that 
 perfect oblation which was this day made by the Son of God : 
 which was thought so proper a Lesson for this occasion, that 
 the Church used it upon this day in St. Austin's time. 14 The 
 second Lesson is St. John xviii., which needs no explana- 
 tion. The first Lesson for the evening 15 contains a clear pro- 
 phecy of the passion of Christ, and of the benefits which the 
 Church thereby receives. The second Lesson 16 exhorts us to 
 patience under afflictions, from the example of Christ, who 
 suffered so much for us. 
 
 Sect. XVI.— Of Easter-eve. 
 
 How observed in This -^ ve was m tne anc i ent Church celebrated 
 the primitive with more than ordinary devotions, with solemn 
 watchings, with multitudes of lighted torches 
 both in their churches and their own private houses, and 
 with a general resort and confluence of all ranks of people. 17 
 At Constantinople it was observed with most magnificent 
 illuminations, not only within the Church, but without. All 
 over the city lighted torches were set up, or rather pillars of 
 wax, which gloriously turned the night into day. 18 All which 
 was designed as a forerunner of that great light, even the 
 
 * In the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward, the first of the Collects for this 
 day is appointed to be used at matins only ; the other two at the Communion. 
 
 12 See Matt, xxvii. 35, 43, 46. * 3 Aug. in Psalm, xxi. in Praefat. Serm. 2. 
 
 u August. Serm. de Temp. 71. 15 Isaiah liii. 16 1 Peter ii. 17 Greg. Naz. 
 
 Orat. 42, torn. i. p. 676, D. 18 Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. 4, cap. 22, p. 536, A. B. 
 
sect, xvn.] TttfciK COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 227 
 
 Sun of Righteousness, which the next day arose upon the 
 world. 
 
 As the day was kept as a strict fast, so the vigil continued 
 at least till midnight, the congregation not being dismissed till 
 that time ; 19 it being a tradition of the Church, that our Sa- 
 viour rose a little after midnight : but in the East the vigil 
 lasted till cock-crowing ; the time being spent in reading the 
 Law and the Prophets, in expounding the holy Scriptures, 
 and in baptizing the catechumens. 20 
 
 §. 2. Such decent solemnities would in these H ow observed by 
 days be looked upon as popish and antichristian : the church of 
 for which reason, since they are only indifferent En s land - 
 (though innocent) ceremonies, the Church of England hath 
 laid them aside : but for the exercise of the devotions of her 
 true sons, she retains as much of the primitive discipline as 
 she can ; advising us to fast in private, and calling us together 
 in public, to meditate upon our Saviour's death, burial, and 
 descent into hell : which article of our faith the public service 
 of the Church this day confirms, the Gospel 
 treating of Christ's body lying in the grave, the ^fj^ 
 Epistle of his soul's descent into hell. It is true, 
 the Epistle is by some people otherwise interpreted : but the 
 other parts of it are, notwithstanding, very proper for Easter- 
 eve ; the former part of it exciting us to suffer cheerfully, 
 even though for well doing, after the example of Christ, who, 
 as at this time, had once suffered for sins, the just for the un- 
 just ; the latter part shewing us the end and efficacy of bap- 
 tism, which was always, in the primitive Church, administered 
 to the catechumens on this day. 
 
 §. 3. Till the Scotch Liturgy was compiled, 
 there was no particular Collect lor this day ; those 
 for Good-Friday, I suppose, were repeated : and that which 
 was appointed in the Scotch Liturgy was different from our 
 present one, which I shall therefore give the reader below.* 
 
 Sect. XVII.— Of Easter-day. 
 Having now, as it were, with the Apostles and 
 first believers, stood mournfully by the cross on 
 
 » O most gracious God, look upon us in mercy, and grant that as we are baptized 
 into the death of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ; so by our true and hearty repent- 
 ance all our sins may be buried with him, and we not fear the grave : that as Christ was 
 raised up from the dead by the glory of thee, O Father, so we also may walk in newness 
 of life, but our sins never be able to rise in judgment against us, and that for the merit. 
 »f Jesus Christ, that died, was buried, and rose again for us. Amen. 
 
 l ' J Const. Apost. lib. 5, cap. 18. * Const. Apost. lib. 5, cap. 14, 17, 18. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap v. 
 
 Good-Friday, and on the day following been again over- 
 whelmed with grief, for the loss of the Bridegroom ; the 
 Church this day, upon the first notice of his resurrection from 
 the grave, calls upon us, with a becoming and holy transport, 
 to turn our heaviness into joy, to put off our sackcloth, and 
 gird ourselves with gladness. 
 
 when first ob- §• ^. ^hat m anc * ^ rom the times of the Apos- 
 served, and why ties, there has been always observed an anniver- 
 sary festival in memory of Christ's resurrection, 
 (which from the old Saxon word oster, signifying to rise, we 
 call Easter-dag, or the day of the resurrection ,- or, as others 
 think, from one of the Saxon goddesses called Easter, which 
 they always worshipped at this time of the year,) no man can 
 doubt, that hath any insight into the affairs of the ancient 
 Church : in those purer times, the only dispute being not about 
 the thing, but the particular time when the festival was to be 
 kept. But of this I have said enough before. 21 
 
 S. 3. As for the manner of observing it, we 
 
 I he anthems in- /» S .-, . .. ■, . ■, ,, ° r. 
 
 stead of the Ve- hnd that it was always accounted the queen, or 
 wh e f XU ototed "' highest of festivals, and celebrated with the 
 greatest solemnity. 22 In the primitive times the 
 Christians of all Churches on this day used this morning sa- 
 lutation, Christ is risen ; to which those who were saluted 
 answered, Christ is risen indeed ; or else thus, and hath ap- 
 peared unto Simon , <23 a custom still retained in the Greek 
 Church. 24 And our Church, supposing us as eager of the joy- 
 ful news as they were, is loath to withhold from us long the 
 pleasure of expressing it ; and therefore, as soon as the Abso- 
 lution is pronounced, and we are thereby rendered fit for re- 
 joicing, she begins her office of praise with anthems proper to 
 the day, encouraging her members to call upon one another 
 to keep the feast .- for that Christ our Passover is sacrificed 
 for us, and is also risen from tlie dead, and become the first- 
 fruits of them that slept, &c.* 
 
 * The first of these sentences was added at the last review: the second (which was 
 the first in king Edward's first Common Prayer) was concluded with two Allelujahs, 
 and the next with one. After which was inserted as follows : 
 
 " The Priest. Shew forth to all nations the glory of God. 
 
 " The Answer. And among all people Ms wonderful works. 
 
 " Let us pray. 
 
 " O God, who for our redemption didst give thine only-begotten Son to the death of 
 
 the cross ; and, by his glorious resurrection, hast delivered us from the power of our 
 
 enemy ; grant us so to die daily from sin, that we may evermore live with him in the 
 
 joy of his Resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 n See page 36, &c. ^ Greg. Naz. Orat. 42, torn. i. p. 676, C » L u lc e xxiv. 34. 
 *" Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 32. 
 
Kct. xvri.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 229 
 
 §. 4. The Psalms for the morning are Psalm ii. 
 lvii. cxi. The first of which was composed by e sa s " 
 David, upon his being triumphantly settled in his kingdom, 
 after some short opposition made by his enemies : but it is also 
 (as the Jews themselves confess) a prophetical representation 
 of Christ's inauguration to his regal and sacerdotal offices ; 
 who after he had been violently opposed, and even crucified 
 by his adversaries, was raised from the dead, by the power of 
 his Father, and exalted to (hose great offices in the successful 
 exercise whereof our salvation consists. The lviith Psalm was 
 occasioned by David's being delivered from Saul, by whom he 
 was pursued after he had been so merciful to him in the cave, 
 when he had it in his power to destroy him ; and, in a mystical 
 sense, contains Christ's triumph over death and hell. The last 
 Psalm for the morning is a thanksgiving to God for all the 
 marvellous works of our redemption, of which the resurrection 
 of Christ is the chief; and therefore, though the Psalm does 
 not peculiarly belong to the day, yet it is very suitable to the 
 business of it. 
 
 The Psalms for evening prayer are cxiii. cxi v. cxviii. The 
 cxiiith was designed to set forth, in several particulars, the ad- 
 mirable providence of God, which being never more discernible 
 than in the great work of our redemption, this Psalm can never 
 be more seasonably recited. The cxivth Psalm is a thanks- 
 giving for the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt ; which being 
 a type of our deliverance from death and hell, makes this 
 Psalm very proper for this day. The last Psalm for the day 
 is the cxviiith, which is supposed to have been composed at 
 first upon account of the undisturbed peace of David's king- 
 dom, after the ark was brought into Jerusalem : but it was 
 secondarily intended for our Saviour's resurrection, to which 
 we find it applied both by St. Matthew and St. Luke. 25 
 
 §. 5. The first Lessons for the morning and The Lessons, 
 evening service contain an account of the Pass- collect, Epistle, 
 over, and of the Israelites' deliverance out of an ospe ' 
 Egypt, both very suitable to the day : for by their Passover 
 Christ our Passover was prefigured ; and the deliverance of 
 the Israelites out of Egypt, and the drowning of Pharaoh and 
 his host in the Red Sea, was a type of our deliverance from 
 death and sin, which is done away by our being baptized with 
 water into Christ. The Gospel and the second Lesson for the 
 
 » Matt. xxi. 42. Acts iv. 11. 
 
230 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 evening give us the full evidence of Christ's resurrection ; and 
 the Epistle and the second Lesson for the morning teach us 
 what use we must make of it. 
 
 The Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are all very old : in the 
 first book of king Edward they are appointed for the first com- 
 munion ; for I have observed, 26 that upon the great feasts they 
 had then two communions, and a distinct service at each. 
 For the second communion they had the same Collect which 
 we now use upon the first Sunday after Easter. The Epistle 
 for that service was 1 Cor. v. 6, to ver. 9; the Gospel was 
 Mark xvi. to ver. 9. 
 
 Sect. XVIII. — Of the Monday and Tuesday in Easter- Week. 
 
 Among the primitive Christians this queen of 
 
 The whole time f eas t s as those Fathers called it, was so highly 
 
 between Easter J^ » ", . ! /. n, i °, * 
 
 and Whitsuntide esteemed, that it was solemnized nity days to- 
 formeriyob- get h e r, even from Easter to Whitsuntide ; 27 and 
 this so strictly in the Spanish Church, that even 
 the rogations were amongst them deferred by an order of 
 council till Whitsuntide was over ; - 8 during which whole time 
 baptism was conferred, all fasts were suspended and counted 
 unlawful, they prayed standing, (as they were wont to do every 
 Lord's day in token of joy,) thereby making every one of 
 those days in a manner equal to Sunday. As devotion abated, 
 this feast was shortened ; yet long after Tertullian, even to 
 Gratian's time and downwards, the whole weeks of Easter and 
 Whitsuntide were reckoned as holy-days. 29 And in our own 
 Church, though she hath appointed Epistles and Gospels for 
 the Monday and Tuesday only of this week, which contain 
 full evidences of our Saviour's resurrection ; * yet she makes 
 provision for the solemn observation of the whole week, by 
 appointing a preface suitable to the season for eight days to- 
 gether in the office of Communion. 
 
 Easter-week §• ^* ^he occasion of this week's solemnity was 
 
 why so solemnly principally intended for the expressing our joy 
 observed. j. Qr QUr L orc p s resurrection. But among the an- 
 
 cients there was another peculiar reason for the more solemn 
 
 * Formerly three days were appointed as holy-days at Easter and Whitsuntide, 3 ' and 
 then it is probable that the Wednesday also had an Epistle and Gospel. 
 
 » Page 206. 27 Tert. de Jejuniis, c. 14, p. 552, B. De Idol. c. 14, p. 94, B. De 
 
 Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. Concil. Nicen. Can. 20, torn. ii. col. 37. & Concil. Ge- 
 
 rundens, Can. 2. Strabo de Offie. Eceles. 1. 2, c. 34. 8° Gratian de Consecrat. Dist. 
 
 3, c. 1, p. 2421. 3° See archbishop Islep's Constitution in Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Laws, and his note upon it, A. D. 1362, 3. 
 
sect, xviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 231 
 
 observation of this week. For except in cases of necessity 
 they administered baptism at no other times than Easter and 
 Whitsuntide ; at Easter, in memory of Christ's death and re- 
 surrection, (correspondent to which are the two parts of the 
 Christian life represented in baptism, dying unto sin, and ris- 
 ing again unto newness of life ;) and at Whitsuntide, in me- 
 mory of the Apostles being then baptized withHhe Holy Ghost 
 and with fire, and of their having themselves at that time 
 baptized three thousand souls; 31 this communication of the 
 Holy Ghost to the Apostles being in some measure represented 
 and conveyed by baptism. After these times, they made it 
 part of their festivity the week following to congratulate the 
 access of a new Christian progeny : the new-baptized coming 
 each day to church in white garments, with lights before 
 them, in token that they had now laid aside their works of 
 darkness, and were become the children of light, and had 
 made a resolution to lead a new, innocent, and unspotted life. 32 
 At church, thanksgivings and prayers were made for them, and 
 those that were at years of discretion (for in those times many 
 such came in from heathenism) were instructed in the princi- 
 ples and ways of Christianity : but afterwards, when most of 
 the baptized were infants, and so not capable of such solemni- 
 ties, this custom was altered, and baptism administered at all 
 times of the year, as at the beginning of Christianity. 
 §. 3. The first Lesson for Monday morning 33 „,. T 
 
 ° , /-it, t it l- The Lessons. 
 
 treats about God s sending the Israelites manna 
 or bread from heaven, which was a type of our blessed Saviour, 
 who was the bread of life that came dorvn from heaven, of 
 which whosoever eateth hath eternal life. The first Lesson 
 for Monday evening 34 contains the history of the vanquishing 
 the Amalekites, by the holding up of Moses's hands ; by which 
 posture he put himself into the form of a cross, and exactly 
 typified the victory which Christians obtain over their spiritual 
 enemies by the cross of Christ. The smiting also of the rock, 
 out of which came water, (mentioned in the same chapter,) is 
 another type of our Saviour : for as the water flowing from 
 the rock quenched the Israelites' thirst ; so our Saviour, smit- 
 ten upon the cross, gave forth that living water, of which who- 
 soever drinketh shall never thirst™ The second Lessons 36 
 contain full testimonies of our Saviour's resurrection ; that for 
 
 « Acts ii. 41. 32 Ambr. de Initiand. c. 7, torn. iv. col. 348. 3* Exod. xvi. 
 34 Exod. xvii. ss i Cor. x. 4. 30 Matt, xxviii. and Acts iii. 
 
232 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND (chap. v . 
 
 the morning giving an historical account of it ; the other for 
 the evening containing a relation of a lame man being restored 
 to his feet, through faith in the name of Christ, which was an 
 undeniable proof that he was then alive. 
 
 The first Lesson for Tuesday morning 37 contains the Ten 
 Commandments, which were communicated to the people 
 from God by the ministry of Moses, wherein he prefigured 
 our Saviour, who was to be a prophet like unto him, 38 i. e. who 
 was to bring down a new law from heaven, and more perfectly 
 to reveal the divine will to man. The first Lesson at even- 
 ing 39 represents Moses interceding with God for the children 
 of Israel, for whom (rather than God should impute to them 
 their sins) he desired even to die, and be blotted out of the 
 book of life ; thereby also typifying Christ, who died and was 
 made a curse for us. i0 The second Lesson for the morning 41 
 is a further evidence of our Saviour's resurrection ; and that for 
 the evening 42 proves, by his resurrection, the necessity of ours. 
 
 The Epistles and Gospels for these days are the same as in 
 old offices ; but the Collect for Tuesday, till the last review, 
 was what we novv use on the Sunday after, being the same 
 that in king Edward's first Common Prayer Book was ap- 
 pointed for the second communion on Easter-day. 
 
 Sect. XIX. — Of the Sundays after Easter. 
 
 Upon the octave, or first Sunday after Easter- 
 LoW soraiied. Why day, ** vvas a custom of the ancients to repeat 
 some part of the solemnity which was used upon 
 Easter-day : from whence this Sunday took the name of Low- 
 Sunday, being celebrated as a feast, though of a lower de- 
 gree than Easter-day itself. In Latin it is called 
 iSca a in e Aibis" Dominica in Albis, or rather post Albas, (sc. de- 
 positas,) as some ritualists call it, i. e. the Sun- 
 day of putting off the chrysorns ,• because those that were 
 baptized on Easter-eve, on this day laid aside those white 
 robes or chrysorns which were put upon them at their bap- 
 tism, and which were now laid up in the churches, that they 
 might be produced as evidences against them, if they should 
 afterwards violate or deny that faith which they had professed 
 in their baptism. And we may still observe, that the Epistle 
 seems to be the remains of such a solemnity ; for it contains 
 
 37 Exod. xx. 38 Deut. xviii. 15. ™ Exod. xxxii. <° Gal. iii. IS. 
 41 Luke xxiv. to ver. 13. *» 1 Cor. xv. 
 
sect, xx.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 233 
 
 an exhortation to new-baptized persons, that are born of God, 
 to labour to overcome the world, which at their baptism they 
 had resolved to do. Both that and the Gospel were used 
 very anciently upon this day : but in all the old books, ex- 
 cept the first of king Edward, the Collect for Easter-day was 
 ordered to be repeated ; but at the last review, the Collect 
 prescribed in that first book was again inserted on this day ; 
 it being the same which was originally appointed for the second 
 communion on Easter-day itself, which was then also used on 
 the Tuesday following. 
 
 §. 2. As for the other Sundays after Easter, 
 we have already observed, that they were all Sfs^es^and 
 spent in joyful commemorations of our Saviour's Gospels for the 
 resurrection, and the promise of the Comforter ; SuJiJSSf* 
 and accordingly we find, that both those grand 
 occasions of joy and exultation are the principal subjects of 
 all the Gospels from Easter to Whitsuntide. But, lest our joy 
 should grow presumptuous and luxuriant, (joy being always 
 apt to exceed,) the Epistles for the same time exhort us to 
 the practice of such duties as are answerable to the profession 
 of Christians ; admonishing us to believe in Christ, to rise from 
 the death of sin, to be penitent, loving, meek, charitable, &c, 
 having. our blessed Lord himself for our example, and the 
 promise of his Spirit for our strength, comfort, and guide. 
 
 The Collect for the second Sunday was made new in 1549, 
 and that for the fourth was corrected in the beginning of it* 
 at the last review : but the other Collects are very old, as are 
 all the Epistles and Gospels, which are very suitable to the 
 season ; especially the Gospel for the fifth Sunday, which 
 seems to be allotted to that day upon two accounts : first, be- 
 cause it foretells our Saviour's ascension, which the Church 
 commemorates on the Thursday following ; and, secondly, be- 
 cause it is applicable to the rogations, which were performed 
 on the three following days, of which therefore we shall sub- 
 join a short account. 
 
 Sect. XX. — Of the Rogation-days. 
 
 About the middle of the fifth century, Ma- Roga ti on _day S , 
 mercus, bishop of Vienne, upon the prospect of when first ob- ' 
 some particular calamities that threatened his served - 
 
 * The old beginning of it was, " Almighty God, which dost make the mind* of ail 
 faithful men to be of one will, Grant," &c. 
 
234 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [CHAP. * 
 
 diocese, appointed that extraordinary prayers and supplica. 
 tions should he offered up with fasting to God, for averting 
 those impendent evils, upon the three days immediately pre- 
 ceding the day of our Lord's ascension; 43 from which sup- 
 plications (which the Greeks call Litanies, but 
 An ?ai7<3cL so the Latins Rogations) these days have ever since 
 been called Rogation-days. For some few years 
 after, this example was followed by Sidonius, bishop of Cler- 
 mont, (though he indeed hints that Mamercus was rather the 
 restorer than the inventor of the rogations, 44 ) and in the be- 
 ginning of the sixth century the first Council of Orleans ap- 
 pointed that they should be yearly observed. 45 
 
 §. 2. In these fasts the Church had a regard, 
 Sek^StutLn. not oni y to P re P ar e our minds to celebrate our 
 Saviour's ascension after a devout manner ; but 
 also, by fervent prayer and humiliation to appease God's 
 wrath, and deprecate his displeasure, that so he might avert 
 those judgments which the sins of the nation deserved ; that he 
 might be pleased to bless the fruits with which the earth is at 
 this time covered, and not pour upon us those scourges of his 
 wrath, pestilence and war, which ordinarily begin in this season. 
 why continued §• 3. At the Reformation, when all processions 
 at the Reform- were abolished by reason of the abuse of them, 
 yet for retaining the perambulation of the cir- 
 cuits of parishes, it was ordered, " That the people shall once 
 a year at the time accustomed, with the Curate and substan- 
 tial men of the parish, walk about the parishes, as they were 
 accustomed, and at their return to church make their common 
 prayers. Provided that the Curate, in the said common per- 
 ambulations, used heretofore in the days of rogations, at cer- 
 tain convenient places, shall admonish the people to give 
 thanks to God, in the beholding of God's benefits, for the in- 
 crease and abundance of his fruits upon the face of the earth, 
 with the saying of the hundred and fourth Psalm, Benedic, 
 anima mea, &c. At which time also the same Minister shall 
 inculcate this and such like sentences, Cursed be he which 
 translateth the bounds and doles of his neighbour, or such 
 other order of prayer as shall be hereafter appointed." 46 No 
 
 43 Aviti archiepiscopi Vien. A. D. 490. Homil. in Bihliotheca SS. Patrum. Paris. 
 1575, torn. vii. col. 338. And from him Greg. Turonensis, 1. 2, c. 34, apud Histor. 
 Francor. Scriptores, Paris. 1636. torn. i. p. 289, A. 44 Sidon. 1. 5, Ep. 14. 4a Con- 
 cil. Aurel. Can. 27, torn. iv. col. 1408, D. E. 46 Injunction of queen Elizabeth, 18, 
 19, in bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 73. 
 
sect, xxi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 235 
 
 such prayers indeed have been since published ; but there is 
 a homily appointed, which is divided into four parts ; the three 
 first to be used upon the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 
 and the fourth upon the day when the parish make their pro- 
 cession. 
 
 Sect. XXI. — Of Ascension-day. 
 
 Forty days after his resurrection, our blessed Ascensi 
 Saviour publicly ascended with our human nature 
 into heaven, and presented it to God, who placed it at his 
 own right hand, and by the reception of those first-fruits sanc- 
 tified the whole race of mankind. As a thankful acknowledg- 
 ment of which great and mysterious act of our redemption, 
 the Church hath from the beginning of Christianity set apart 
 this day for its commemoration ; 47 and for the greater solemn- 
 ity of it, our Church in particular hath selected such peculiar 
 offices as are suitable to the occasion ; as may be seen by a 
 short view of the particulars. 
 
 §. 2. Instead of the ordinary Psalms for the 
 morning, are appointed the viiith, xvth, xxist; 
 and for the afternoon, the xxivth, xlviith, cviiith. The viiith 
 Psalm was at first designed by David for the magnifying God 
 for his wonderful creation of the world, and for his goodness 
 to mankind, in appointing him to be Lord of so great a work : 
 but in a prophetical sense, it sets forth his more admirable 
 mercy to men, in exalting our human nature above all crea- 
 tures in the world, which was eminently completed in our 
 Saviour's assumption of the flesh, and ascending with it to 
 heaven, and reigning in it there. The xvth Psalm shews how 
 justly our Saviour ascended tlw holy hill, the highest heavens, 
 of which Mount Sion was a type : since he was the only per- 
 son that had all the qualifications which that Psalm mentions, 
 and which we must endeavour to attain, if ever we de- 
 sire to follow him to those blessed mansions. The xxist, or 
 last Psalm for the morning, was plainly fulfilled in our Sa- 
 viour's ascension, when he put all his enemies to flight, and was 
 exalted in his own strength, when he entered into everlasting 
 felicity, and had a crown of pure gold set upon his head. 
 
 The first Psalm for the evening service is the xxivth, com- 
 posed by David upon the bringing the ark into the house 
 which he had prepared for it in Mount Sion. And as that 
 
 47 St. Chiysos. in Diem, Orat 87 torn. v. p. 595. Const. Apost. 1. 5, c. 18. 
 
236 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V 
 
 was a type of Christ's ascension into heaven, so is this Psalm 
 a prophecy of that exaltation likewise, and alludes so very 
 plainly to it, that Theodore says, it was actually sung at his 
 ascension by a choir of angels that attended him. 48 The next 
 is the xlviith, which was an exhortation to the Jews to bless God 
 for his power and mercy in subduing the heathen nations about 
 them ; but is mystically applied to the Christian Church, 
 which it exhorts to rejoice and sing praise, because God is 
 gone up with a merry noise, and the Lord with the sound of 
 the trump : who being now very high exalted, defends his 
 Church as with a shield ; subduing his enemies, and Joining 
 the princes of the people to his inheritance. In the cviiith 
 Psalm, the prophet awakens himself and his instruments of 
 music to give thanks to God among the people, for setting 
 himself above the heavens, and his glory above all the earth; 
 which was most literally fulfilled this day in his ascension 
 into heaven, and sitting down at the right hand of God. 
 
 §. 3. In the first Lesson for the morning 49 
 
 is recorded Moses's going up to the mount to 
 receive the law from God to deliver it to the Jews, which 
 was the type of our Saviour's ascension into heaven, to send 
 down a new law, the law of faith. The first Lesson at even- 
 ing 50 contains the history of Elijah's being taken up into 
 heaven, and of his conferring at that time a double portion 
 of his spirit on Elisha ; which exactly prefigured our Saviour, 
 who, after he was ascended, sent down the fulness of his 
 Spirit upon his Apostles and disciples. The second Lessons 51 
 
 are plainly suitable to the day ; as are also the 
 ^ndGo^peL 6 ' Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, which are the same 
 
 as we meet with in the oldest offices. 
 
 Sect. XXII. — Of the Sunday after Ascension-day. 
 
 Expectation- During this week the Apostles continued in 
 
 week, why so earnest prayer and expectation of the Comforter, 
 called. whom our Saviour had promised to send them, 
 
 from whence it is sometimes called Expectation-week. The 
 The collect Collect for this day was a little altered at the 
 Epistle, and Reformation, but the Epistle and Gospel are the 
 Gospel. S ame that were used of old. The Gospel con- 
 
 tains the promise of the Comforter, who is the Spirit of 
 
 «■ In Psalm xxiv. « Deut. x. so 2 Kings ii. 
 
 51 Luke xxiv. 44, and Eph. iv. tc rer. 17. 
 
sect, xxiii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 23/ 
 
 truth ; and the Epistle exhorts every one to make sucn use 
 of those gifts which the Holy Spirit shall bestow upon them, 
 as becomes good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 
 
 Sect. XXIIL— Of Wliit-Sunday. 
 
 The feast of Pentecost was of great eminency 
 among the Jews, in memory of the Law's being Sient U fes5v£? 
 delivered on Mount Sinai at that time ; and of 
 no less note among the Christians, for the Holy Ghost's de- 
 scending the very same day upon the Apostles and other 
 Christians in the visible appearance of fiery tongues, and of 
 those miraculous powers that were then conferred upon them. 
 It was observed with the same respect to Easter, as the Jewish 
 Pentecost was to their Passover, viz. (as the word imports) 
 just fifty days afterwards. Some conclude, from St. Paul's 
 earnest desire of being at Jerusalem at this time, 52 that the 
 observation of it as a Christian festival is as old as the Apos- 
 tles : but whatever St. Paul's design was, we are assured that 
 it hath been universally observed from the very first ages of 
 Christianity. 53 
 
 §. 2. It was styled Whit-Sunday, partly be- Wh Ued 
 cause of those vast diffusions of light and know- 
 ledge which were then shed upon the Apostles in order to the 
 enlightening of the world ; but principally from the white 
 garments, which they that were baptized at this time put on, 
 of which we have already given a particular account. 54 Though 
 Mr. Hamon L'Estrange conjectures that it is derived from 
 the French word huict, which signifies eight, and then Whit- 
 Sunday will be Huict-Sunday , i. e. the Eighth Sunday, viz. 
 from Easter : and to make his opinion the more probable, he 
 observes, that the octave of any feast is in the Latin called 
 utas, which he derives from the French word huictas. 55 In a 
 Latin letter I have by me of the famous Gerard Langbain, I 
 find another account of the original of this word, which he 
 says he met with accidentally in a Bodleian Manuscript. He 
 observes from thence, that it was a custom among our ances- 
 tors upon this day, to give all the milk of their ewes and kine 
 to the poor for the love of God, in order to qualify themselves 
 to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost : which milk being then 
 
 52 Acts xx. 16. m vid. Just. Mart. Qusest. et Respons. ad Orthodox. 115. Tert. d« 
 Idol. c. 14, p. 94, B. De Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. Orig. adv. Cels. 1. 8, par. 2, p. 528, 
 L. in Numer. 31. Horn. 25, par. 1, p. 169, A. 5 * Sect, xviii. §. 2, and sect. xix. J. 1. 
 *5 See his Annotations upon Whit-Sunday, in his Alliance of Divine Offices. 
 
238 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 (as it is still in some counties) called white meat, &c, therefore 
 this day from that custom took the name of Whit-Sunday. * 
 The Psalms §* ^* ^e proper Psalms for the morning ser- 
 
 vice are Psalms xlviii. lxviii. The xlviiith is an 
 hymn in honour of Jerusalem, as particularly chosen for the 
 place of God's worship, and for that reason defended by his 
 more immediate care from all invasions of enemies. It is also 
 a form of thanksgiving to God for his mercy, in permitting 
 men to meet in his solemn service, and so in the mystical 
 sense is an acknowledgment of his glorious mercies afforded 
 to the Church of Christians under the Gospel, and conse- 
 quently very suitable to this day, whereon we commemorate 
 the greatest mercy that ever was vouchsafed to any Church 
 in the world, viz. the immediate inspiration of the Apostles 
 by the Holy Ghost, at which all that saw it marvelled ; and 
 though many that were astonished were east down, yet 
 through the assistance of the same Spirit the Church was 
 that very day augmented by the access of three thousand 
 souls. 56 The other Psalm for the morning is the lxviiith, 
 sung at first in commemoration of the great deliverance af- 
 forded to the Israelites, and of the judgments inflicted on 
 their enemies; and contains a prophetical description of the 
 ascension of Christ, who went up on high, and led captivity 
 captive, and received gifts for men ; which benefits he soon 
 after, as on this day, poured upon the Apostles, at which time 
 
 * The letter I have is in manuscript, hut seems to be a transcript of a printed letter 
 of Langbain, dated from Oxford on Whitsun-eve, 1650, and writ in answer to a friend 
 that had inquired of him the original of the word Whitsuntide ; in which, after he had 
 hinted at some other opinions, he gives the above-mentioned account in the following 
 words : " Sed cum ex variantibus Vulgi Sermonibus nihil certi hac in re pronunciari 
 possit, necesse est uevwuev oizep k<ruev ; atque adhuc liberum cuivis conjectandi relin- 
 quatur arbitrium. Licebit ideo quod (dum in Bodleiand nostra omne genus Manu- 
 scripts Codices pervolvo) casumihi obvenerit, hie subjicere. Extat illic MS. hoc titulo, 
 de Solennitatibus Sanctorum feriandis. Author est anonymus, qui de Festo Pente- 
 costes agens, haec habet : ' Judaei quatuor praecipua celebrant Solemnia ; Pascha, Pente- 
 costen, Scenopegiam, Encaenia. Nos autem duo de illis celebramus, Pascha et Pente- 
 costen, sed alia ratione. Illi celebrant Pentecosten, quia tunc Legem perceperunt : 
 nos autem ideo, quia tunc Spiritus Sanctus missus est Discipulis. Illi susceperunt 
 Tabulis lapideis extrinsecus scripta ad designandam eorum duritiem, quoniam usque 
 spiritualem intellectum literae non pertingebant : Sed Spiritus Sanctus datus est sep- 
 tuaginta duobus Discipulis in corde, digito Dei spiritualem intellectum intus dedicante. 
 Ideoque Dies intellectus dicitur Witsonenday, vel item Vitsonienday ; quia Praedeces 
 sores nostri omne Lac Ovium et Vaccarum suarum solebant dare pauperibus illo die, 
 pro Dei amore, ut puriores efficerentur ad recipiendum donum Spiritus SanctL' Quo- 
 rum, fere ad Verbum, consentit Manuscriptus alter hoc titulo, Doctrina quomodo 
 Curatus possit Sanctorum vitas per annum populo denunciare. Et certe quod de Lacte 
 Vaccarum refert, illud percognitum habeo in agro Hamtoniensi (an et alibi nescio) 
 decimas Lacticiniorum venire vulgo sub hoc nomine, The Whites of Kine ; apud Lei- 
 cestrenses etiam Lacticinia vulgariter dicuntur Whitemeat." 
 56 Acts ii. 41. 
 
sect, xxiv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 239 
 
 the earth shook, and the heavens dropped at the presence of 
 God ,- who sent (as it were) a gracious rain upon his inherit- 
 ance, and refreshed it when it was weary ; and when the 
 Lord gave the word, great was the company of the preachers. 
 
 The Psalms for the evening are Psalms civ. cxlv. The 
 civth is an elegant and pious meditation on the power and 
 wisdom of God, in making and preserving all the creatures 
 of the world. It is used on this day, because some verses are 
 very applicable to the subject of it : for we herein celebrate 
 the miraculous works of the Holy Ghost, who made the clouds 
 his chariot, and walked upon the wings of the wind : the 
 earth, at first, trembled at the look of him ; but it was after- 
 wards renewed by his breath, and filled with the fruits of his 
 works. The cxlvth Psalm is a form of solemn thanksgiving 
 to God, descanting on all his glorious attributes, very proper 
 for this day, whereon we declare the power of the third Per- 
 son of the glorious Trinity, and talk of his worship, his glory, 
 his praise and wondrous works ,• we speak of the might of 
 his marvellous acts, and tell of his greatness. 
 
 §. 4. The first Lesson for the morning 57 con- The Lessons 
 tains the law of the Jewish Pentecost, or Feast Epistle, and' 
 of JVeeks, which was a type of ours : for as the ospe ' 
 law was .at this time given to the Jews from Mount Sinai, so 
 also the Christians upon this day received the new evangelical 
 law from heaven, by the administration of the Holy Ghost. 
 The first Lesson for the evening 58 is a prophecy of the con- 
 version of the Gentiles to the kingdom of Christ, through 
 the inspiration of the Apostles by the Spirit of God ; the 
 completion of which prophecy is recorded in both the second 
 Lessons, 59 but especially in the portion of Scripture for the 
 Epistle, which contains a particular description of the first 
 wonderful descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, who 
 were assembled together in one place, in expectation of that 
 blessed Spirit, according to the promise of our Saviour men- 
 tioned in the Gospel, which, together with the Collect and 
 Epistle, were taken from the old Liturgies. 
 
 Sect. XXIV. — Of the Monday and Tuesday in JVJiitsun-iveek. 
 
 The Whitsun-week was not entirely festival whitsun-week 
 like that of Easter; the Wednesday, Thursday, how formerly ' 
 and Friday being observed as fasts, and days of observed - 
 
 41 Deut. xvi. to ver. 18. & Isaiah xi. 59 Acts x. ver. 34, and chap. xix. to ver. 21. 
 
240 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. T, 
 
 humiliation and supplication for a blessing upon the work of 
 ordination, (which was usually on the next Sunday, ^n imita- 
 tion of the apostolical practice mentioned Acts xiii. 3. 60 But 
 the Monday and Tuesday were observed after the same man- 
 ner and for the same reasons as in the Easter- week : * so that 
 what has been said concerning the observation of them, may 
 suffice for these ; wherefore I shall forbear all repetitions, and 
 proceed immediately to their proper services. 
 The Collects §• ^" ^ ne Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for 
 
 Epistles, and both these days are ancient : both the Epistles 
 Gospels. are concern j n g the baptism of converts, (this 
 
 being, as we have already noted, one of the more solemn times 
 appointed for baptism,) and concerning their receiving of the 
 Holy Ghost by the hands of the Apostles, (this being also a 
 time for confirmation, which was always performed by the 
 imposition of hands.) The Gospel for Monday seems to 
 have been allotted for the instruction of the new-baptized ; 
 teaching them to believe in Christ, and to become the chil- 
 dren of light. The Gospel for Tuesday seems to be appoint- 
 ed, as it is one of the ember or ordination weeks ; the design 
 of it being to put a difference between those who are lawfully 
 appointed and ordained to the ministry, and those who without 
 any commission arrogate to themselves that sacred office. 
 The Lessons §• ^' ^e nrst Lesson for Monday morning 62 
 
 is a history of the confusion of tongues at Babel, 
 whereby the Church reminds us, that as the confusion of 
 tongues spread idolatry through the world, and made men 
 lose the knowledge of God and true religion ; so God pro- 
 vided by the gift of tongues to repair the knowledge of him- 
 self, and lay the foundation of a new religion. In the first 
 Lesson for Monday evening 63 is recorded the resting of God's 
 Spirit upon the seventy elders of Israel, to enable them to ease 
 Moses of part of his burden in governing that numerous peo- 
 ple ; which exactly prefigured the descent of the same Holy 
 Spirit at this time upon the Apostles and others, to the same 
 end, viz. that the care of all the churches might not lie upon 
 one single person : and accordingly the second Lessons for 
 this day 64 instruct us that these spiritual gifts, of whatever sort 
 they be, are all given to profit withal, and therefore must 
 
 * The Wednesday -was also observed formerly in England as a festival. 6 * 
 60 Athanas. Apolog. de Fuga sua, §. 6, torn. i. p. 323, C Concil. Gerund. Can. 2, torn, 
 iv. col. 15G8, A. 61 See Mr. Johnson, as cited in pages 195, 225. 62 Gen. xi. to 
 
 var. 10. 63 Numb. xi. ver. 16. e4 1 Cor. xii. and chap. xiv. 26. 
 
sict. xxv.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 241 
 
 be all made use of to edification, as to their true and pro- 
 per end. 
 
 The first Lesson for Tuesday morning 65 contains the in- 
 spiration of Saul and his messengers by the Spirit of God ; and 
 that at evening 66 is a prophecy of Moses, how God would in 
 after-times deal with the Jews upon their repentance. The 
 morning second Lesson 67 forbids us to quench the Spirit of 
 God, or to despise the prophecies , uttered by it : but because 
 there are many false prophets gone into the world, the second 
 Lesson for the afternoon 68 warns us not to believe all teach- 
 ers who boast of the Spirit, but to try them by the rules of the 
 catholic faith. 
 
 Sect. XXV.— Of Trinity Sunday. 
 
 In all the ancient Liturgies we find that this 
 day was looked upon only as an octave of Pente- 0f ho ^ t a e ncicnt 
 cost ; the observation of it as the feast of the 
 Trinity being of a later date : for since the praises of the 
 Trinity were every day celebrated in the doxology, hymns, 
 and creeds ; therefore the Church thought there was no need 
 to set apart one particular day for that which was done on 
 each. 69 But afterwards when the Arians, and such like here- 
 tics, were spread over the world, and had vented their blas- 
 phemies against this divine mystery, the wisdom of the 
 Church thought it convenient, that though the blessed Trinity 
 was daily commemorated in its public offices of devotion, yet 
 it should be the more solemn subject of one particular day's 
 meditation. So that from the time of pope Alexander III., if 
 not before, the festival of the holy Trinity was observed in 
 some Churches on the Sunday after Pentecost, in others on 
 the Sunday next before Advent; Until in the year 1305, it 
 was made an established feast, as it stands in our present ca- 
 lendar, by Benedict XIII. 70 
 
 §. 2. The reason why this day was chosen as Whyobserved 
 most seasonable for this solemnity, was because the Sunday after 
 our Lord had no sooner ascended into heaven, WhltSunda y- 
 and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Church, but there 
 ensued the full knowledge of the glorious and incomprehensi- 
 ble Trinity, which before that time was not so clearly known. 
 
 05 1 Sam. xix. ver. 18. C8 Deut. xxx. 67 1 Thess. v. ver. 12, to ver. 24. 
 
 w 1 John iv. to ver. 14. 6» Decretal. Greg. ix. 1. 2, tit. 9, c. 2, col. 596. Paris. 1601. 
 
 * See Alexander's Decretal. 1. 2, tit. 9, c. 2, as cited hy Mr. Johnson in his Ecclesi- 
 astical Laws, A. D. 1268, 35. Though I suppose for 1305, Mr. Johnson meant 1405, for 
 Benedict XIII. was not chosen pope till 1394. 
 
 B 
 
242 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [cha*. . 
 
 The Church therefore having dedicated the foregoing solemn 
 festivals to the honour of each several person by himself, 
 thereby celebrating the Unity in Trinity ; it was thought 
 highly seasonable to conclude those solemnities, by adding to 
 them one festival more to the honour and glory of the whole 
 Trinity together, therein celebrating the Trinity in Unity. 
 But in the Greek Church, the Monday in Whitsun-week is 
 set apart for this purpose, the Sunday following being with 
 them the festival of All-Saints. 71 
 
 8. 3. This mystery was not clearly delivered to 
 
 The Lessons. .i° T u ±u u • i jj 
 
 the J ews, because they, being always surrounded 
 by idolatrous nations, would have easily mistaken it for a doc- 
 trine of plurality of Gods : but yet it was not so much hidden 
 in those times, but that any one with a spiritual eye might 
 have discerned some glimmerings of it dispersed through the 
 Old Testament. The first chapter in the Bible seems to set 
 forth three Persons in the Godhead ; for besides the Spirit 
 of God which moved upon the waters, ver. 2, we find the 
 great Creator (at the 26th verse) consulting with others about 
 the greatest work of his creation, the making of man, of which 
 we may be assured the Word or Son of God was one, since 
 all things were made by him, and without him was not any 
 thing made that was made." 17. So that those two verses fully 
 pointing out to us the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, make 
 this a very proper Lesson for the solemnity of the day. The 
 reason of the choice of the other first Lesson is as obvious: 73 
 it records the appearance of the great Jehovah to Abraham, 
 whom the patriarch acknowledges to be the Judge of all tJie 
 earth ,• and who therefore, by vouchsafing to appear with two 
 others in his company, might design to represent to him the 
 Trinity of Persons. But this sacred mystery is no where so 
 plainly manifested as in the second Lesson for the morning, 74 
 which at one and the same time relates the baptism of the 
 Son, the voice of the Father, and the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost : which though they are (as appears from this chapter) 
 three distinct Persons in number, yet the second Lesson at 
 evening 75 shews they are but one in essence. 
 
 §. 4. The Epistle and Gospel are the same 
 Epistl pei! d G ° S " tnat m anc i ent services were assigned for the oc- 
 tave of Whit-Sunday : the Gospel especially seems 
 to be very proper to the season, as being the last day of the 
 
 71 Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 34. * John i. 3. t 3 Genesis xviii 
 •* Matthew iii, 75 1 John v. 
 
sect, xxvi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 24,5 
 
 more solemn time of baptism ; though they are neither of 
 them improper to the day, as it is Trinity Sunday : for in both 
 the Epistle and Gospel are mentioned the three Persons of the 
 blessed Trinity ; and that noted hymn of the angels in heaven, 
 mentioned in the portion of Scripture appointed for the Epis- 
 tle, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, seems of itself to 
 be a sufficient manifestation of three Persons, and but one God. 
 The Collect is plainly adapted to this day, as it is Trinity Sun- 
 day ; though this too is the same as in the office of Sarum. 
 
 Sect. XXVI. — Of the Sundays from Trinity Sunday to Advent. 
 In the annual course of the Gospels for Sun- ,-• „ , , 
 
 , ii-iT i i • n ii Tne Gospels for 
 
 days and holy-days, the chiet matter and sub- the Sundays after 
 stance of the four Evangelists is collected in Tnmt y- 
 such order as the Church thinks most convenient to make the 
 deepest impression upon the congregation. The whole time 
 from Advent to Trinity Sunday is chiefly taken up in com- 
 memorating the principal acts of Providence in the great work 
 of our redemption ; and therefore such portions of Scripture 
 are appointed to be read, as are thought most suitable to the 
 several solemnities, and most likely to enlighten our under- 
 standing, and confirm our faith in the mysteries we celebrate. 
 But from Trinity Sunday to Advent, the Gospels are not chosen 
 as peculiarly proper to this or that Sunday, (for that could 
 only be observed in the greater festivals,) but such passages 
 are selected out of the Evangelists as are proper for our medi- 
 tation at all times, and may singularly conduce to the making 
 us good Christians : such as are the holy doctrine, deeds, and 
 miracles of the blessed Jesus, who always went about doing 
 good, and whom the Church always proposes to our imitation. 
 
 §. 2. The Epistles tend to the same end, being 
 frequent exhortations to fin uninterrupted prac- theSunJaysafter 
 tice of all Christian virtues : they are all of them Trinity in ge- 
 taken out of St. Paul's Epistles, and observe the 
 very order both of Epistles and chapters in which they stand 
 in the New Testament, except those for the five first Sundays, 
 that for the eighteenth, and the last for the twenty-fifth. 
 
 Those for the five first Sundays are all (except 
 that for the fourth) taken out of St. John and St. For s*£™. flrst 
 Peter ; for which reason they are placed first, that 
 they might not afterwards interrupt the order of those taken 
 out of St. Paul. 
 
 r 2 
 
244 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. 
 
 For the variation of the Epistle for the eigh- 
 tSn'th'iunday. teenth Sunday another reason may be given, which 
 is this : It was an ancient custom of the Church 
 in the Ember-weeks, to have proper services on the Wednes- 
 days and Fridays, but especially on the Saturdays ; when, after 
 a long continuance in prayer and fasting, they performed the 
 solemnities of the Ordination either late on Saturday evening, 
 (which was then always looked upon as part of the Lord's day,) 
 or else early on the morning following ; for which reason, and 
 because they might be wearied with their prayers and fasting 
 on the Saturdays, the Sundays following had no public services, 
 . but were called Dominicce vacantes, i. e. vacant 
 Senclso'caS: Sundays. But afterwards, when they thought it 
 not convenient to let a Sunday pass without any 
 solemn service, they despatched the Ordination sooner on Sa- 
 turdays, and performed the solemn service of the Church as 
 at other times on the Sundays. But these Sundays, having 
 no particular service of their own, for some time borrowed of 
 some other days, till they had proper ones fixed pertinent to 
 the occasion. So that this eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 
 often happening to be one of these vacant Sundays, had at the 
 same time a particular Epistle and Gospel allotted to it, in 
 some measure suitable to the solemnity of the time. For the 
 Epistle hints at the necessity there is of spiritual teachers, and 
 mentions such qualifications as are specially requisite to those 
 that are ordained, as the being enriched with all utterance, 
 and in all knowledge, and being behind in no good gift. The 
 Gospel treats of our Saviour's silencing the most learned of the 
 Jews by his questions and answers ; thereby also shewing how 
 his ministers ought to be qualified, viz. able to speak a word 
 in due season, to give a reason of their faith, and to convince, 
 or at least to confute, all those that are of heterodox opinions. 
 The last Sunday, whose Epistle varies from the 
 ^fthlundTy. 7 ' order of the rest, is the twenty-fifth, for which 
 the reason is manifest: for this Sunday being 
 looked upon as a kind of preparation or forerunner to Advent, 
 as Advent is to Christmas, an Epistle was chosen, not accord- 
 ing to the former method, but such a one as so clearly fore- 
 told the coming of our Saviour, that it was afterwards applied 
 to him by the common people, as appears by an instance men- 
 tioned in the Gospel for the same day ; for when they saw the 
 miracle that Jesus did, they said, This is of a truth that Pro- 
 
skct. xxvi.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 245 
 
 phet that should come into the world. And it was probably 
 tor the sake of this text, that this portion of Scripture (which 
 has before been appointed for the Gospel on the fourth Sun- 
 day in Lent) is here repeated ; viz. because they thought this 
 inference of the multitude a fit preparation for the approach- 
 ing season of Advent : for which reason, in the rubric follow- 
 ing this Gospel, we see it is ordered, (according to an old 
 rule of Micrologus, an ancient ritualist,) that if there are 
 either more or fewer Sundays between Trinity Sunday 
 and Advent, the services must be so ordered, that this last 
 Collect, Epistle, and Gospel be always used upon tlie Sun- 
 day next before Advent „•* i. e. if there be fewer Sundays, the 
 overplus is to be omitted : but if there be more, the service 
 of some of those Sundays, that were omitted after the Epiph- 
 any, are to be taken in to supply so many as are wanting ; 
 but which of those services the rubric does not say. And for 
 that reason there is generally a diversity in the practice : some 
 reading on those occasions the services next in course to 
 what had been used at the Epiphany before ; and others, at 
 the same time, reading the last, or two last, accordingly as one 
 or both of them are wanting. The last of these practices I 
 think to be preferable : partly upon the account, that when 
 there is an overplus of Sundays after Trinity one year, there 
 is generally a pretty full number after Epiphany the next ; so 
 that if any of the services for the early Sundays after Epiph- 
 any are taken in to supply those that are wanting after Trinity, 
 the same services will come in turn to be read again pretty 
 soon : but the chief reason why I think the latter services 
 should be used, is, because the service that is appointed for 
 the last Sunday after Epiphany, is a more suitable preparation 
 for the season that is approaching, and makes way for the 
 service for the last Sunday after Trinity, as that does for the 
 services appointed for Advent. 
 
 §. 3. All the Collects for these Sundays, to- _. „ .. ; 
 
 S •ii-n-i -i/-« ^ J i The Collects. 
 
 getlier with the Epistles and Gospels, are taken 
 
 * There was nothing of this ruhric in the Common Prayer Book of 1549. And in all 
 the other old books, except the Scotch, it was only this : " If there be any more Sun- 
 days before Advent Sunday, to supply the same shall be taken the service of some of 
 those Sundays that were omitted between the Epiphany and Septuagesima." To this, 
 in the Scotch Liturgy, was added further as follows : " but the same shall follow the 
 twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity. And if there be fewer Sundays than twenty-five 
 before Advent, then shall the twenty-third or twenty-fourth, or both, be omitted : so 
 that the twenty-fifth shall never either alter or be left out, but be always used immedi- 
 ately before Advent-Sunday, to which the Epistle and Uoawol of that do expressly relate." 
 
246 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. v. 
 
 out of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, excepting that some 
 of the Collects were a little corrected and smoothed at the last 
 review. I do not think it necessary to trouble the reader with 
 the variations that only amend the expression : but those that 
 make any alteration in the sense, he may perhaps desire to 
 have in the margin.* 
 
 Sect. XXVII. — Of the Immovable Feasts in general. 
 
 These festivals are all of them fixed to set days, 
 themselves in* and so could not be conveniently placed among 
 PraveTfi 11 ^ those we have already treated of, because (they 
 
 having all of them, except those from Christmas- 
 day to Epiphany, a dependence upon Easter, which varies 
 every year) they happen sometimes sooner, and sometimes 
 later. So that if the movable and immovable had been placed 
 together, it must of necessity have caused a confusion of the 
 order which they ought to be placed in; for prevention of 
 which, the fixed holy-days are placed by themselves, in the 
 same order in which they stand in the calendar. 
 
 §. 2. They are most of them set apart in com- 
 T appo£ted. d memoration of the Apostles and first martyrs; 
 
 concerning the reason and manner of which so- 
 lemnity, I have already spoken in general, page 189, &c, which 
 may suffice without descending to particulars : so that now I 
 shall only make a few observations on some of them, which 
 may not perhaps seem wholly impertinent. 
 
 * In all former Common Prayer Books, the Collects for the following Sundays were 
 expressed as follows. 
 
 For the second Sunday : " Lord, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy 
 holy name : for thou never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up 
 in thy stedfast love : Grant this," &c. 
 
 In that for the third, the words, " and comforted in all danger and adversities," were 
 added in the last review. 
 
 The Collect for the eighth began thus : " God, whose providence is never deceived, 
 we humbly beseech thee," &c, as in our present Liturgy. 
 
 In that for the ninth, " that we, which cannot be without thee, may by thee be able 
 to live," &c. 
 
 In that for the eleventh, " Give unto us abundantly thy grace, that we running to 
 thy promises, may be made partakers," &c. 
 
 On the twelfth it ended thus : " and giving us that, that our prayer dare not pre- 
 sume to ask, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 In the Collect for the fifteenth, the words, "from all things hurtful," were added 
 in 1661. 
 
 In the sixteenth, the word " Congregation " was changed for " Church." 
 
 The beginning of the eighteenth was thus : " Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy peo- 
 ple grace to avoid the infections of the Devil, and with pure hearts," &c. 
 
 In the nineteenth, " Grant that the working of thy mercy may in all things," &c. 
 
 In the twentieth, instead of" may cheerfully " it was formerly "may with free hearts, 
 &c. And 
 
 In the twenty-fourth, instead of " absolve " it was formerly " assoil." 
 
SECT, xxviit.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 247 
 
 Sect. XXVIII. — Particular Observations on some of the 
 Immovable Feasts. 
 
 Concerning St. Andrew we may observe, that st#Andrew > s dayi 
 as he was the first that found the Messiah, 76 and why observed 
 the first that brought others to him, 77 so the first ' 
 Church, for his greater honour, commemorates him first in 
 her anniversary course of holy-days, and places his festival at 
 the beginning of Advent, as the most proper to bring the news 
 of our Saviour's coming. 
 
 §. 2. St. Thomas's day seems to be placed st . ThomaS) why 
 next, not because he was the second that be- commemorated 
 lieved Jesus to be the Messiah, but the last that next ' 
 believed his resurrection : which though he was at first the 
 most doubtful, yet he had afterwards the greatest evidence ot 
 its truth ; which the Church recommends to our meditation at 
 this season, as a fit preparative to our Lord's Nativity. For 
 unless we believe with St. Thomas, that the same Jesus, whose 
 birth we immediately afterwards commemorate, is the very 
 Christ, our Lord and our God ,• neither his birth, death, nor 
 resurrection will avail us any thing. 
 
 §. 3. St. Paul is not commemorated as the 
 other Apostles are, by his death or martyrdom ; commemorated 
 but by his conversion ; because as it was won- tyjj is conver - 
 derful in itself, so it was highly beneficial to the 
 Church of Christ. For while other Apostles had their par- 
 ticular provinces, he had the care of all the churcJies ; and by 
 his indefatigable labours contributed very much to the propa- 
 gation of the Gospel throughout the world. 
 
 §. 4. Whereas some churches keep four holy- The p ur ifi cat ion 
 days in memory of the blessed Virgin, viz. the and Annunda- 
 Nativity, the Annunciation, the Purification, and tlon ' 
 the Assumption ; our Church keeps only two, viz. the An- 
 nunciation and Purification ; which, though they may have 
 some relation to the blessed Virgin, do yet more peculiarly 
 belong to our Saviour. The Annunciation hath a peculiar re- 
 spect to his Incarnation, who being the eternal Word of the 
 Father, was at this time made flesh : the Purification is prin- 
 cipally observed in memory of our Lord's being made mani- 
 fest in the flesh, when he was presented in the temple. 
 
 On the Purification the ancient Christians used abundance 
 
 » John i. 88. W Verse 42 
 
248 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap, v 
 
 of lights both in their churches and processions, 
 whenc e e™o S canId. in remembrance (as it is supposed) of our bless- 
 ed Saviour's being this day declared by old Si- 
 meon to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, &c, which portion 
 of Scripture is for that reason appointed for the Gospel for 
 the day. A practice continued with us in England till the 
 second year of king Edward VI., when bishop Cranmer forbad 
 it by order of the Privy Council. 78 And from this custom I 
 suppose it was, that this day first took the name of Candle- 
 mas-day. 
 
 st. Matthias's §* 5 ' St Matthias ' s da y being generally dif- 
 
 day, on what day ferently observed in leap-years, viz. by some on 
 kap e - y °ear! rVed ** the twent y-f° urth > and by others on the twenty- 
 fifth of February ; I think it not amiss to state 
 the case in as few words as I can. And to do it clearly, I 
 must begin with the ancient Julian year, which is known to 
 have consisted of three hundred sixty-five days and almost 
 six hours : but because of the inconvenience of inserting six 
 hours at the end of every year, they were ordered to be re- 
 served to the end of four years, when they came to a whole 
 day, and then to be inserted at the twenty-fourth of February. 
 For the old Roman year ended at February the twenty-third, 
 and the old intercalary month was always inserted at that 
 time.* And because the intercalary days (according to the 
 method of the Egyptians) were never accounted any part of 
 the month or year, but only an appendix to them, 80 therefore 
 the Romans in the Julian year accounted the twenty-third 
 day of February, i. e. the sixth of the calends of March, two 
 days together, which is the reason that in our calendar, leap- 
 Leap-year, y ear * s ca U e d Bissextile, or the year in which 
 whence called the sixth of the calends of March came twice 
 over. Now we in England having been very an- 
 ciently subjects of the Roman empire, received the Julian 
 account; and agreeable to the method of the Romans, our 
 parliament, in the twenty-first year of king Henry III., A. D. 
 1236, passed an act, that in every leap-year the additional day, 
 and the day next going before, should be accounted but for 
 
 * This shews Mr. Johnson's mistake in correcting Dr. Wallis for affirming the 
 twenty-fourth to be the intercalary day. For certainly the day which follows the 
 twenty-third, if counted for any day, must be called the twenty-fourth. 79 
 
 78 Collier's History, vol. ii. page 241. 79 Addenda to the Clergyman's Vade Me- 
 
 cum, at the end of his two cases, pages 108, 109. so Cato in Tit. Dig. §. 98, expressly 
 says of the practice of the Romans, Mensem intercalarem addititium esse, omnesque 
 ejus dies pro momento temporis observandos. 
 
sect, xxviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 249 
 
 one day. Now the additional day being inserted, as I have 
 observed, between the sixth and seventh of the calends of 
 March, i. e. between the twenty-fourth and twenty-third day 
 of February;* it follows, that, according to the Roman way 
 of reckoning, (who reckoned the calends backwards from the 
 first day of the month,) the day which, in our way of reckoning, 
 was in ordinary years the twenty-fourth of February, would 
 in leap-years be the twenty-fifth. And consequently St. Mat- 
 thias being fixed on that day, which in ordinary years was the 
 twenty-fourth, must in every leap-year be observed upon 
 what in our account we call the twenty-fifth ; though in the 
 Roman way of reckoning both in common years and leap- 
 years, it is kept the same day, viz. the sixth day inclusive 
 before the first day of March. And this is according to the 
 known rule, as old as Durand's time at least. 
 
 Bissextum Sextte Martis tenuere Calenclae : 
 Posteriore Die celebrantur Festa Mathiae. 
 
 And agreeable to this rule stood the rubric in relation to the 
 intercalary day, in all the Missals, Breviaries, &c. to the Re- 
 formation, directing also that in leap-years, St. Matthias's 
 day should be always kept upon the twenty-fifth of Fe- 
 bruary, which is still the order and practice in the Church of 
 Rome. Rut in both the Common Prayer Books of king Ed- 
 ward VI. that old rubric was altered, and the following one 
 put in its room. 
 
 » Here again Mr. Johnson endeavours to correct Dr. Wallis, when he himself is 
 mistaken. His words are these : " Dr. Wallis says, that the intercalary day is between 
 the sixth and seventh calends of March. He certainly meant between the sixth and 
 fifth. It is absurd to suppose that the first six calends, which is February the twenty- 
 fourth, should be Bissextus, and the twenty-fifth simply Sextus. Prima Sextus must 
 of necessity precede Bissextus. And Bissextus is but another word for the intercalary 
 day. The mistake seems to have arisen from the Doctor's forgetting that the compu- 
 tation of the calends is retrogradous." sl I desire Mr. Johnson to think again, and then 
 to recollect who it is that is forgetful of this retrograde computation. He rightly in- 
 deed observes that Prima Sextus must of necessity precede Bissextus : but which, I 
 would ask, is the Prima Sextus ? that which stands next to the fifth of the calends, or 
 that which stands a day further off? Now the fifth calend of March being February 
 the twenty-fifth, and the calends being to be computed in a backward order, (as Mr. 
 Johnson well observes,) I would ask again, whether February the twenty-fourth is not 
 the Primo Sextus? and consequently whether the day before that (i. e. in order of time) 
 be not the Bissextus or intercalary day ; and whether the intercalary day be not (as 
 Dr. Wallis asserts) between the sixth and seventh calends of March, or between the 
 twenty-fourth and twenty-third of February, though indeed, as we now reckon, it can- 
 not be called any other than the twenty-fourth ? So that queen Elizabeth's reformers 
 were not mistaken in thinking the twenty-fourth the intercalary day, as Mr. Johnson 
 asserts. And therefore he himself must lay claim to the excuse he has made in the 
 same page for Dr. Wailis, who now, it seems, has no need of it, viz. that " the hap- 
 piest memories, with the greatest knowledge, cannot secure men against such lapses." 
 , to the Clergyman's Vade Mecum, at the end of his two cases, pages 108, 109. 
 
250 OF THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. V. 
 
 This is also to be noted, concerning the leap-years, that the 
 twenty-fifth day of February, which in leap-years is counted 
 for two days, shall in those two days alter neither Psalm nor 
 Lesson : but the same Psalms and Lessons which be said the 
 first day shall serve also for the second day. 
 
 This Dr. Nichols and others think to be a mistake in our re- 
 formers ; and that they were not apprized which was properly 
 the intercalary day : but I cannot imagine so many great men 
 to be ignorant both of the rubrics and practice of their own 
 Church. I therefore suppose that this alteration was made 
 with design, that there might be no confusion in the observa- 
 tion of the holy-day ; but that it should be kept on the twenty- 
 fourth in leap-years as well as others. However, when queen 
 Elizabeth's Common Prayer was compiled, it was thought 
 proper to return to the old practice and rule ; and accordingly 
 in that book the rubric was thus altered. 
 
 When the years of our Lord (i. e. when the number of 
 years from the birth of Christ) may be divided into four even 
 parts, which is every fourth year, then tlie Sunday letter leap- 
 eth ;* and that year the Psalms and Lessons, which serve for 
 the twenty-third day of February, shall be read again tlie 
 day following , except it be Sunday, which hath proper Les- 
 sons from the Old Testament appointed in the table to serve 
 to that purpose. 
 
 Now according to this rubric St. Matthias's day must again 
 be kept in leap-years, as it used to be, viz. not on the twenty- 
 fourth day of February, which was looked upon in this rubric 
 to be the intercalary day ; but on the day following, which we 
 call the twenty-fifth. For if the Lessons for the twenty-third 
 were also to be read upon the twenty-fourth in leap-years, 
 then that day could not be St. Matthias. For the first Les- 
 sons appointed for St. Matthias were Wisdom xix. and Ecclus. 
 i., whereas the first Lessons for the twenty-third of February 
 were at that time the ivth and vth of Deuteronomy. And thus 
 stood the rubric till the restoration of king Charles ; when the 
 revisers of our Liturgy observing, I suppose, that the twenty- 
 ninth of February was in our civil computation generally 
 looked upon as the intercalary day ; they thought that it 
 would be more uniform, and that it would prevent more mis- 
 takes in the reading of the Common Prayer, to make it so also 
 in the ecclesiastical computation. For which reason the afore- 
 
 • Hence every such fourth year receives the name of Leap-year. 
 
sect, xxviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 251 
 
 said rubric was then left out, and a twenty-ninth day added to 
 February, which has Lessons of its own appointed, and till 
 which day the Sunday or Dominical letter is not changed : 
 but whereas F used to be doubled at the twenty-fourth and 
 twenty-fifth days, C, which is the Dominical letter for the 
 twenty-eighth day, or else D, which is that for the first of 
 March, is now supposed to be repeated on the twenty-ninth, 
 notwithstanding Mr. Johnson, without giving any reason, ani- 
 madverts upon me for saying so : 82 though he himself had 
 formerly asserted February the twenty-ninth to be the modern 
 intercalary day ; *" 3 and that, as I take it, upon better grounds 
 than he now shews for retracting his opinion. So that there 
 being now no other variation of the days, than that a day is 
 added at the end of the month, St. Matthias's day must conse- 
 quently be always observed on the twenty-fourth day, i. e. as 
 well in leap-years as others. But notwithstanding the case is 
 so clear in itself, yet some almanack-makers, still following the 
 old custom of placing St. Matthias's day in leap-years on the 
 twenty-fifth, and not on the twenty-fourth of February, are the 
 occasion of that day's being still variously observed in such 
 years. For which reason, on February the fifth, A. D. 1683, 
 archbishop Sancroft (who was himself one of the reviewers of 
 the Liturgy, and was principally concerned in revising the 
 calendar, and whose knowledge in that sort of teaming excel- 
 led 84 ) published an injunction or order, requiring all Parsons, 
 Vicars, and Curates, to take notice, that the feast of St. 
 Matthias is to be celebrated (not upon the twenty-fifth of 
 February, as the common almanacks boldly and erroneously 
 set it, but) upon the twenty fourth of February for ever, 
 rvlietherii be leap-year or not, as the Calendar in the Liturgy, 
 confirmed by Act of Uniformity, appoints and enjoins. 
 
 Dr. Wallis indeed informs us, that " the archbishop (upon 
 Seeing a letter drawn up by him upon the subject, and upon 
 discourse with others to the same purpose) seemed well satis- 
 feed that it was his mistake ; and presumes that if he had 
 continued archbishop to another leap-year, and in good cir- 
 cumstances, he would have reversed his former orders, and di- 
 rected the almanacks to be printed as formerly." But this I 
 conceive to be only a mere presumption of the doctor's. 85 The 
 
 82 Addenda, ut supra. 83 Clergyman's Vade Mecum, vol. i. p. 207. M See Mr. 
 Walton's Life of Bishop Sanderson. » 5 Advertisement to his Treatise concerning St. 
 Matthias's day, &c, page 2. 
 
252 OF THE SUNDAYS AND KOLY-DAYS, AND [chap. t. 
 
 archbishop perhaps might think he had deviated from the an- 
 cient rule : though indeed from Micrologus, 86 who lived about 
 the year 1080, (two hundred years before Durand, who is the 
 first that I can find to mention the contrary practice,) it ap- 
 pears, the ancient custom was to keep St. Matthias, as our pre- 
 sent Liturgy now enjoins, even in leap-years, upon the twenty- 
 fourth. However, let the ancient custom have been what it will, 
 since the archbishop's leaving out the rubric and altering the 
 calendar was confirmed by the king, both in convocation and 
 parliament, it was not in his power to make any alteration 
 without the consent of the same authority. 
 
 §. 6. Upon the day of St. Philip and St. James, 
 
 S st P Jame a s nd til1 tne last review > tne Church read the eighth 
 chapter of the Acts for the morning second Les- 
 son, therein commemorating St. Philip the deacon ; but now 
 in the room of that she appoints part of the first chapter of St. 
 John, and commemorates only St. Philip the Apostle, and St. 
 James the brother of our Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem, 
 who wrote the Epistle that bears that name, part of which is 
 appointed for the Epistle for the day. The other St. James, 
 the son of Zebedee, for distinction sake surnamed the Great, 
 (either by reason of his age or stature,) hath another day pe- 
 culiar to himself in July. 
 
 st John the Bap- * §• ^ ' ^ t * J° nn Baptist's Nativity is celebrated 
 tist's Nativity, by reason of the wonderful circumstances of it, 
 why celebrated. and on account of the gre at joy it brought to all 
 
 those who expected the Messiah. There was formerly another 
 day (viz. August 29) set apart in commemoration of his be- 
 heading. But now the Church celebrates both his nativity and 
 death on one and the same day ; whereon though his myste- 
 rious birth is principally solemnized, yet the chief passages of 
 his life and death are severally recorded in the portions of 
 Scripture appointed for the day. 
 
 §. 8. I would observe upon the Gospel ap- 
 tiie e GospeifJr°st. pointed for the festival of St. Bartholomew, 67 that 
 Bartholomew's t ^ e p ara u e i place to it in St. Matthew is appointed 
 to be read on St. James's day : and then indeed 
 more properly, it being occasioned by the request of Zebe- 
 dee's children, of which James was one. With submission, 
 
 88 In Bissextili Anno Nativitatem S. Matthias Apostoli columus in ilia Die, quae Vi- 
 giliam ejus proxime sequitur, non in altera, quae propter Bissextum eo Anno in eodem 
 Calendario iteratur. Microlog. de Ecclesiast. Observat. c. 47, apud Bibliothec. Patrum, 
 torn. x. p. 159. Paris. 1654. 87 Luke xxii. 24—31. 
 
«ect. xxviii.] THEIR COLLECTS, EPISTLES, AND GOSPELS. 253 
 
 therefore, I should think, that a more suitable Gospel for the 
 festival of St. Bartholomew would be John i. 43, to the end, 
 which is the history of Nathanael's coming to our Saviour, who 
 is generally allowed to be the same with Bartholomew. The 
 occasion why that passage in St. Luke was affixed to this day 
 was a conceit that St. Bartholomew's noble descent was the 
 occasion of the strife that is there recorded. 88 But if this re- 
 late to the same dispute which is mentioned by two other of 
 the evangelists, viz. St. Matthew and St. Mark, it is plain that 
 it was owing to another cause. 
 
 §. 9. One day in the year the Church sets apart 
 to express her thankfulness to God for the many ^-An^uJ 1 " 1 
 benefits it hath received by the ministry of holy 
 angels. And because St. Michael is recorded in Scripture as 
 an angel of great power and dignity, and as presiding and 
 watching over the Church of God with a particular vigilance 
 and application, 89 and triumphing over the devil, 90 it therefore 
 bears his name. 
 
 §. 10. The feast of All-Saints is not of very [ nts&a 
 
 great antiquity in the Church. About the year 
 of our Lord 610, the pantheon, or temple dedicated to all the 
 gods, at the desire of Boniface IV., bishop of Koine, was taken 
 from the heathens by Phocas the emperor, and dedicated to 
 the honour of all martyrs. Hence came the original of All 
 Saints, which was then celebrated upon the first of May : af- 
 terwards, by an order of Gregory IV., it was removed to the 
 first of November, A. D. 834, where it hath stood ever since. 
 And our reformers having laid aside the celebration of a great 
 many martyrs' days, which had grown too numerous and cum- 
 bersome to the Church, thought fit to retain this day, where- 
 on the Church, by a general commemoration, returns her 
 thanks to God for them all. 
 
 §.11. The Lessons, Collects, Epistles, and Gos- The Lessons 
 pels * for all these and the other holy-days, are collects, Epis- 
 either such as bear a particular relation to the tles ' and Gos P els - 
 subject of the festival, or are at least suitable to the season, as 
 containing excellent instructions for holy and exemplary lives, 
 it being (as I have already noted, page 189, &c.) the design 
 
 * In all the old Common Prayer Books, the Epistle for the Purification was ordered 
 to be " the same that was appointed for the Sunday," and the Gospel for the same day 
 ended in the middle of the twenty-seventh verse of the chapter, whereas now it is con- 
 tinued to the end of the fortieth. 
 
 88 Petrus de Natalibus in Catalogo Sanctorum, 1. 7, c. 103. 89 Dan. x. 13. 
 
 *> Jude 9. Rev. xii. 7. 
 
254 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 of the Church to excite us to emulate those blessed saints, by 
 setting their examples so often before us. They are most of 
 them taken from ancient Liturgies, but some were (for good 
 reasons) altered and changed at the Reformation.* 
 
 It would not have been foreign to the design of these sheets, 
 to have added in this place a short account of the lives of the 
 Apostles and other saints, commemorated by our Church : but 
 considering that this is done in several other books already 
 published, I shall waive the doing it in this, being not willing 
 to swell the bulk of it with any thing that is better supplied 
 by other hands. If the reader be as yet destitute of any thing 
 of this nature, he cannot better provide himself than with the 
 late learned and most excellent Mr. Nelson's Companion for 
 the Festivals and Fasts : in which he may not only satisfy his 
 curiosity as to the remains we have in history concerning 
 those blessed saints, whose virtues we commemorate ; but he 
 will also be supplied with proper meditations and devotions 
 for each day : a book which, next to the Bible and Common 
 Prayer, and the Whole Duty of Man, I would heartily re- 
 commend as the most useful one I know, to all sincere mem- 
 bers of the Church of England. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 
 LORD'S SUPPER,f OR HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 Whatever benefits we now enjoy, or hope here- 
 Th Eldiarist f . the after t0 receive from Almighty God, they are all 
 purchased by the death, and must be obtained 
 
 * The present Collect for St. Andrew's day was first inserted in the second hook of 
 king Edward VI. That which was in his first book was this that follows : " Almighty 
 God, which hast given snch grace to thy Apostle St. Andrew, that he counted the sharp 
 and painful death of the cross to be an high honour and great glory ; grant us to take 
 and esteem all troubles and adversities which shall come unto us for thy sake, as things 
 profitable for us towards the obtaining of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord ." 
 
 The Collect for the Conversion of St. Paul in all the old books was this : " God, which 
 hast taught all the world through the preaching of thy blessed Apostle. St. Paul, grant, 
 we beseech thee, that we, which have his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may 
 follow and fulfil the holy doctrine that he taught, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 In the Collect for the festival of St. Philip and St. James, after " the way, the truth, 
 and the life," in the same books followed, " as thou hast taught St. Philip and other 
 the Apostles, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 t The title of this Office in the first book of king Edward was, " The Supper of th« 
 Lord, and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Maw." 
 
introd.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 255 
 
 through the intercession of the holy Jesus. We are therefore 
 not only taught to mention his name continually in our pray- 
 ers ; but are also commanded, by visible signs, to represent 
 and set forth to his heavenly Father his all-sufficient and me- 
 ritorious death and sacrifice, as a more powerful way of inter- 
 ceding and obtaining the divine acceptance. So that what 
 we more compendiously express in that general conclusion of 
 our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, we more fully 
 and forcibly represent in the celebration of the holy eucharist : 
 wherein we intercede on earth, in conjunction with the great 
 intercession of our High Priest in heaven, and plead in the 
 virtue and merits of the same sacrifice here which he is con- 
 tinually urging for us there. And because of this near alli- 
 ance between praying and communicating, we find the eu- 
 charist was always, in the purest ages of the Church, a daily 
 part of the Common Prayer. And therefore, though the 
 shameful neglect of religion with us has made the imitation 
 of this example to be rather wished for than expected ; yet it 
 shews us, what excellent reason our Church had to annex so 
 much of this office to the usual service on all solemn days. 
 
 §. 2. As to the primitive and original form of 
 administration, since it does not appear that our formSSmtate- 
 Saviour- prescribed any particular method, most tration different 
 Churches took the liberty to compose Liturgies 
 for themselves ; which perhaps being only the forms used by 
 the founders of each Church, a little altered and enlarged, 
 were, in honour of those founders, distinguished by their 
 names. For thus the Liturgies of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and 
 Rome, have been always called St. James's, St. Mark's, and 
 St. Clement's. But, however, none of these being received as 
 of divine institution; therefore St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, 
 St. Ambrose and St. Gregory, in after-ages, each of them 
 composed a Liturgy of their own. And so the excellent com- 
 pilers of our Common Prayer, following their example, no 
 otherwise confined themselves to the Liturgies that were be- 
 fore them, than out of them all to extract an office for them- 
 selves : and which indeed they performed with so exact a 
 judgment and happy success, that it is hard to determine whe- 
 ther they more endeavoured the advancement of devotion, or 
 the imitation of pure antiquity. 
 
 But Bucer being called in (as I have observed elsewhere) 
 to give his opinion of it, this momentous and principal office 
 
256 OF THE ORDEIt FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 of our Liturgy had the misfortune to suffer very great alter- 
 ations. Some amendment in the method it might possibly 
 have borne ; but the practice of foreign churches, and not 
 primitive Liturgies, being always with him the standard of 
 reformation, the most ancient forms and primitive rites were 
 forced to give way to modern fancies. It is true, some of 
 these were again restored at the last review ; but it is still 
 much lamented by learned men, that some other additions 
 were not made at that time, that so every thing might have 
 been restored which was proper or decent, as well as every 
 thing left out that was superstitious or offensive. 
 „, „ . 5. 3. What these particulars are, shall be 
 
 The Communion , 3 . n • i • ^ T i 
 
 Office designed shewn hereafter in their proper places. In the 
 
 Sffere U n S t e ?ime a mean time l sha11 here observe, that the office 
 from morning originally was designed to be distinct, and to be 
 prayer. introduced with the Litany, as I have observed 
 
 before, 1 and consequently to be used at a different time from 
 morning prayer : for in all the Common Prayer Books before 
 the last, so many as intended to be partakers of the holy 
 Communion, were to signify their names to the Curate over- 
 night, or else in the morning before the beginning of morn- 
 ing prayer or immediately after. The design of which rubric 
 was partly that the Minister (by this means knowing the 
 number of his communicants) might the better judge how to 
 provide the elements of bread and wine sufficient for the 
 occasion ; but chiefly (as appears from the following rubrics) 
 that he might have time to inform himself of the parties who 
 intended to receive, that so if there were any among them not 
 duly qualified, he might persuade them to abstain of their 
 own accords ; or, if they obstinately offered themselves, ab- 
 solutely reject them. Now the rubric supposing, that this 
 might be done immediately after morning prayer, as well as 
 before it began, we must necessarily infer, that there was 
 sufficient time designed to be allowed between the two ser- 
 vices, for the Curate not only to provide the elements, but 
 also to confer with and advise his communicants. I know 
 indeed that Alesse, in his translation of the Liturgy for the 
 use of Bucer, applies the word after to the beginning of 
 morning prayer, translating the rubric (though without either 
 reason or authority) after this manner : Quotquot cupiunt 
 participes fieri sacrce Communionis, indicabunt nomina sua 
 
 i See pages 165, 166. 
 
sect. I.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 257 
 
 Pastori pridie, aut mane, priusquam inchoentur Matutinee^ 
 vel immediate post principium : which another Latin trans- 
 lation, published in queen Elizabeth's time, expresses plainer, 
 vel immediate post principium matutinarum precum. But 
 how is it possible that the Curate could either take their 
 names, or confer with those that came, whilst he was other- 
 wise employed in reading morning prayers? The words 
 immediately after, therefore, must plainly refer to the ending 
 of morning prayers ; after which, those who had not offered 
 themselves before, were required to come and signify their 
 names, that so the Curate might know what sort of persons 
 he should have to communicate with him, before he pro- 
 ceeded to the Communion Office. This rubric indeed was 
 altered at the last review ; so that now all that intend to com- 
 municate are required to signify their names at least some 
 time the day before. But then the design of this alteration 
 was not that both offices should be united in one, but that the 
 Curate might have a more competent time to inquire of, and 
 consult with, those that offered themselves to communicate. 2 
 The offices are still as distinct as ever, and ought still to be 
 read at different times. A custom which bishop Overal says 
 was observed in his time in York and Chichester; 3 and the 
 same practice, Mr. Johnson tells us, prevailed at Canterbury 
 long since the Restoration, as it did very lately, if it does not 
 still, at the cathedral of Worcester. 4 It is certain that the 
 Communion Office still every where retains the old name of 
 the Second Service ; and bishop Overal, just now mentioned, 
 imputes it to the negligence of Ministers, and the carelessness 
 of people, that they are ever huddled together into one office. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Communion Office. 
 
 From what has been said just now above, the 
 design of the first rubric sufficiently appears, viz. SSSsters t T be 
 That the Curate, by knowing, at least some time judges of the fit- 
 the day before, the names of all that intend to communicants. 
 be partakers of the holy Communion, may judge 
 what quantity of bread and wine will be sufficient, and also 
 may have time enough to learn, whether those that offer 
 themselves to the Communion are fit to receive. For, 
 
 » See the account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners, 1661, p. 15, and the 
 Papers that passed between the Commissioners, p. 129. 3 See Dr. Nichols's addi- 
 
 tional Notes, p. 36. *■ Clergyman's Vade Mecum, p. 12, third edition. 
 
258 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 §. 2. If any of those be an open or notorious 
 have'power to* 4 ev ^ H ver > or have done any wrong to his neigh- 
 repel scandalous hours by word or deed, so that the congregation 
 be thereby offended; the Curate, having knoiv- 
 ledge thereof shall call him and advertise him, that in any 
 wise he presume not to come to the Lord's table until he hath 
 openly declared himself to have truly repented, and amended 
 his former naughty life, that the congregation may thereby be 
 satisfied, which before were offended ; and that he hath re- 
 compensed the parties to whom he hath done wrong, or at least 
 declare himself to be in full purpose so to do, as soon as he 
 conveniently may. 
 
 The same order shall the Curate use with those between whom 
 he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign ; not suffering them to 
 be 'partakers of the Lord's table, until he know them to be re- 
 conciled. And if any one of the parties so at variance be con- 
 tent to forgive, from the bottom of his heart, all that the other 
 hath trespassed against him, and to make amends for that he 
 himself hath offended ; and the other party will not be persuad- 
 ed to a godly unity, but remain still in his frowardness and 
 malice; the Minister in that case ought to admit the penitent 
 person to the holy Communion, and not him that is obstinate. 
 
 Now here we must distinguish between absolutely repelling 
 and shutting out any one from the Communion, as by a judi- 
 cial act, and only suspending him for a time, till the Minister 
 has opportunity to send his case to the Ordinary. The first 
 of these is what the rubric cannot be understood to imply : 
 for by the laws of the land, both ecclesiastical and civil, none 
 are to be shut out from this Sacrament, but such as are noto- 
 rious delinquents, and none are notorious but such as the sen- 
 tence of the law hath, either upon their own confession, or 
 full conviction, declared so to be. And this is conformable 
 both to the Imperial Edict, and the practice of the Church, 
 as long ago as St. Austin. The first hath this established law : 
 " We prohibit all, both bishops and presbyters, from shutting 
 out any one from the Communion, before some just cause be 
 shewn for which the holy canons require it to be done." 3 
 And as to the ancient usage, St. Austin speaks very plain ; 
 "We cannot," saith he, "repel any man from the Communion, 
 unless he has freely confessed his offence, or hath been ac- 
 
 5 Novel. 123, c. 11, Collat. 9, Tit. 15, c. 11. 
 
*ECT. I.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 259 
 
 cused and convicted in some ecclesiastical consistory or se- 
 cular court." 
 
 But now all this plainly refers to the power of secluding from 
 the Communion judicially and with authority ; whereas the 
 design of this rubric is only to enable the Curate to refuse to 
 administer to any of his congregation (of whose ill life and 
 behaviour he has received sudden notice) till he can have 
 opportunity of laying his case before the Ordinary. For by a 
 clause, added at the last review, it is provided, That every 
 Minister, so repelling any, as is specified in this, or the next 
 precedent paragraph of this rubric, shall be obliged to give 
 an account of the same to the Ordinary, within fourteen days 
 after at the farthest, and the Ordinary is to proceed against 
 the offending person according to the canon. The hundred 
 and ninth canon, I suppose, is meant, which requires the Or- 
 dinary to punish all such notorious offenders by the severity 
 of the laws, and not to admit them to the Communion till they 
 be reformed. 
 
 But here I know it may be objected, that the persons, whom 
 the Curate is by this rubric empowered to repel, are declared 
 to be such as are notorious evil livers, and that I have already 
 allowed that none are notorious but such as the sentence of 
 the law has declared so to be. But to this I answer, that no- 
 toriety in this place is taken in a lower degree ; the rubric 
 using the words open and notorious for the same thing, and 
 explaining those to be notorious by whom the congregation is 
 offended. That it cannot mean those whom the law has de- 
 clared to be notorious, is plain, because such are supposed to 
 be already shut out from the Communion, and consequently the 
 Curate must himself have received notice from his Ordinary 
 not to admit them : whereas the persons, whom the rubric 
 provides against, are such as the Ordinary is supposed not yet 
 to have heard of, whom therefore it requires the Curate to 
 send him notice of, in order that he may proceed against them 
 according to law; and whom, in the mean while, the Curate 
 is empowered by this rubric (which is itself a law, being 
 established by the Act of Uniformity) to refuse the Commu . 
 nion, if, after due admonition to keep away, he obstinately 
 offers himself to receive : insomuch that no damage from any 
 prior law can accrue to him from a conscientious execution of 
 the latter. And that this is no novel or unnecessary power is 
 plain from the practice of the ancient Church ; in which though 
 
 s 2 
 
260 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 all open offenders, as soon as known, were put under censure, 
 yet if before censure they offered themselves at the Commu- 
 nion, they were repelled. This is evident from St. Chrysos- 
 tom, 6 who does not more earnestly press the duty, than he 
 does plainly assert the authority of the sacerdotal power to 
 effect it. " Let no Judas," saith he, " no lover of money be 
 present at this table ; he that is not Christ's disciple, let him 
 depart from it. Let no inhuman, no cruel person, no un- 
 compassionate man, or unchaste, come hither. I speak this 
 to you that administer, as well as to those that partake : 
 for it is necessary I speak these things to you, that you 
 may take great care, and use your utmost diligence to dis- 
 tribute these offerings aright. For no small punishment 
 hangeth over your heads, if knowing any man to be wicked, 
 you suffer him to be partaker of this table ; for his blood 
 shall be required at your hands. Wherefore, if he be a ge- 
 neral, or a provincial governor, or the emperor himself, that 
 cometh unworthily, forbid him and keep him off; thy power 
 is greater than his. If any such get to the table, reject him 
 without fear. If thou darest not remove him, tell it me ; I 
 will not suffer it, I will yield my life rather than the Lord's 
 body to any unworthy person : and suffer my own blood to be 
 shed, before I will grant that sacred blood to any but to him 
 that is worthy." 
 
 But here again it has been objected, that " all persons, be- 
 fore they are admitted into any office, are obliged by our laws 
 to receive the sacrament as a qualification ; and consequently 
 that the Minister is obliged by the same laws, to admit any 
 person that offers himself upon this occasion, to the holy 
 Communion, however unfit he may have rendered himself by 
 his life and actions." But in answer to this, it must be con- 
 sidered, that the power which Christ himself invested his 
 Church with, of admitting persons into her communion, and 
 excluding them from it, is what no human laws can deprive 
 her of. And therefore when the laws require men to receive 
 this holy Sacrament to qualify themselves for offices, they al- 
 ways suppose that they must first qualify themselves accord- 
 ing to the holy laws of the Church, which are founded on those 
 of the Gospel. So that it would be a very great injury to our 
 legislators (as being a very uncharitable opinion of them) to 
 imagine, that if an unbaptized, or excommunicate person, a 
 deist, or notorious sinner, should happen to obtain an office, 
 
 « Chrysost. Horn. S3, in Matt. xxvi. 
 
sect. I.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 261 
 
 that they intend to oblige the Church to admit persons, under 
 these bad dispositions, to be partakers of the blessed Eucharist. 
 
 The primitive Church was so cautious in this respect, that 
 even persons in the highest stations were rejected, if they of- 
 fered themselves unworthily. Of which we have a remarkable 
 instance in the case of the emperor Theodosius, whom St. 
 Ambrose boldly and openly refused, upon the commission of 
 a barbarous crime. The story being worth the reader's notice, 
 I shall therefore give it in a few words. There being a sedition 
 among the people of Thessalonica, the emperor ordered the 
 guard to fall on them in heat, who in that hurry and confusion 
 destroyed several thousands of these poor wretches. Soon 
 after which, he coming to Milan, was going to offer himself at 
 St. Ambrose's church to receive the Communion. But the 
 good bishop (when he heard of it) met him courageously at 
 the church doors, and obliged him to return, and first repent 
 himself of his crime. " With what eyes," saith he, " can you 
 behold the temple of him who is the common Lord of all ? 
 With what feet can you tread this holy place ? How can you 
 put out those hands to receive the blessed elements, which are 
 yet reeking with innocent blood ? How can you take the pre- 
 cious blood into that mouth, which gave out such barbarous 
 and bloody orders? Depart therefore, and take heed that you 
 do not increase your first crime by a second. Submit your- 
 self to the bond which the Lord of the world has been pleased 
 to bind you with, which is only medicinal, and intended to 
 work your cure." 7 This repulse the emperor acquiesced in, 
 and offered himself no more to those holy rites, till he had in 
 tears repented of the sad effects of his hasty anger. I have 
 chosen to give this instance, because it is what the Church of 
 England has thought fit to record in her Homilies, and to 
 mention with marks of approbation and applause. 8 
 
 But besides persons excommunicated, and ... 
 
 . . • -i i i Other persons 
 
 those above mentioned, there are other persons, disqualified from 
 by the laws of our Church, disabled from com- S^SSSSfti 
 municating : such as are of course all schismatics, 
 to whom no, Minister, when he celebrateth the Communion, 
 is wittingly to administer the same, under pain of suspension. 9 
 But of these too, unless they have been legally convicted, the 
 Minister who repels them is obliged upon complaint, or being 
 
 ? Theod. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5. 8 j n the second part of the Homily of the Right Use of 
 the Church. » Can. 27. 
 
262 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 required by the Ordinary, to signify the cause thereof unto 
 hinty and therein to obey his order and direction.™ And fur- 
 ther, by a rubric at the end of the Order of Confirmation, 
 
 none are to be admitted to the holy Communion, 
 perS firmed t - c ° n " unt ^ such time as he be confirmed, or be ready 
 
 and desirous to be confirmed. The like provision 
 is made by our Provincial Constitutions, which allow none to 
 communicate (unless at the point of death) but such as are 
 confirmed, or at least have a reasonable impediment for not 
 being confirmed : u and the Glossary allows no impediment to 
 be reasonable, but the want of a bishop near the place. And 
 and strangers l astl y» au strangers from other parishes ; the Min- 
 from other ister is by the canons 12 required to forbid and 
 
 parishes. iQ remit such home to their own parish churches 
 
 and ministers, there to receive the Communion with the rest 
 of their neighbours. 
 
 $. 3. The last rubric concerning the covering 
 
 Rubric 4. Con- 8 •. ,• r -i r\ • 7 i i a j. 
 
 ceming the situ- and situatio?i ot the Communion table, was first 
 munion^b? 111 " ac ^ed m l ^ e secon d Common Prayer Book of 
 king Edward VI., there being no other rubric 
 in his first book than this, The priest, standing humbly afore 
 the middes of the altar, shall saie the Lord's Prayer, &c* 
 For altar was the name by which the holy board was con- 
 stantly distinguished for the first three hundred years after 
 Christ ; during all which time it does not appear that it was 
 above once called table, and that was in a letter of Dionysius 
 of Alexandria to Xystus of Rome. And when in the fourth 
 century Athanasius called it a table, he thought himself obliged 
 to explain the word, and to let the reader know that by table 
 
 * In the first book of king Edward also, before this rubric, there was another in- 
 serted in relation to the habits which the Ministers were to wear at the Communion, 
 which I have already given in page 99, &c, to which was annexed this that follows, 
 " Then shall the Clerks sing in English for the Office or Introit (as they call it) a Psalm 
 appointed for that day." The Introits also I have already spoke to in page 204. Though 
 I do not know how to reconcile this order for singing it before the Minister begins the 
 office, with another rubric which staiids in the same book immediately after the prayer, 
 "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open," &c, which orders, "that the Priest 
 then shall say a Psalm appointed for the Introit : which Psalm ended, the Priest" was 
 also then "to say, or else the Clerks were to sing, III Lord have mercy upon us, 
 III Christ have mercy upon us, III Lord have mercy upon us." 
 
 Then the Priest standing at God's board was to begin, " Glory be to God on high." 
 
 The Clerks, " And in earth peace, good-will towards men:" and so on to the end of 
 the hymn in our present Post-Communion-joffice. 
 
 Then the Priest was to turn him to the people, and say, " The Lord be with you." 
 
 Answer. " And with thy spirit." 
 
 The Priest. " Let us pray." 
 
 And then came the Collect for the day, and one of the Collects for the king. 
 
 10 Can. 27. U Prov. Linw. cap. de sacr. Unct. « Can. 28. 
 
sect, i.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 263 
 
 he meant altar, that being then the constant and familiar 
 name. 13 Afterwards indeed both names came to be promiscu- 
 ously used ; the one having respect to the oblation of the eu- 
 charist, the other to the participation : but it was always placed 
 altar-wise in the most sacred part of the Church, and fenced 
 in with rails to secure it from irreverence and disrespect. 
 
 But at the beginning of the Reformation, an unhappy dis- 
 pute arose, viz. whether those tables of the altar-fashion, 
 which had been used in the popish times, and on which masses 
 had been celebrated, should still be continued : this point was 
 first started by bishop Hooper, who, in a sermon before the 
 king in the fourth year of his reign, declared, " That it would 
 do well, that it might please the magistrate, to turn altars into 
 tables, according to the first institution of Christ; to take 
 away the false persuasion of the people, which they have of 
 sacrifice, to be done upon the altars ; for as long (says he) as 
 altars remain, both the ignorant people and the ignorant and 
 evil persuaded priest will always dream of sacrifice." 1 * This 
 occasioned not only a couple of letters from the king and 
 council, one of which was sent to all the bishops, and the 
 other to Ridley, bishop of London ; (in both which they were 
 required to pull down the altars ;) but also that, when the Li- 
 turgy was reviewed in 1551, the abovesaid rubric was altered, 
 and in the room of it the present one was inserted, viz. The 
 table having at the Communion time a fair white linen cloth 
 upon it, shall stand in the body of the church, or in the chan- 
 cel, where morning and evening prayer are appointed to be 
 said. And the priest standing at the north side of the table, 
 shall say the Lord's Prayer with tlie Collect following. 
 But this did not put an end to the controversy ; another dis- 
 pute arising, viz. whether the table placed in the room of the 
 altar ought to stand altar-wise, i. e. in the same place and 
 situation as the altar formerly stood ? This was the occasion 
 that in some churches the tables were placed in the middle 
 of the chancels, in others at the east part thereof next to the 
 wall; some again placing it endwise, and others placing it at 
 length. 15 Bishop Ridley endeavoured to compromise this 
 matter, and therefore, in St. Paul's cathedral, suffered the 
 table to stand in the place of the old altar ; but beating down 
 the wainscot partition behind, laid all the choir open to the 
 
 w See all this proved in Mr. Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, &c, chap. ii. sect. 3, vol. 
 i. p. 300, &c. i* See Heylin's Antidot. Lincoln, page 105. * 5 Huggard's Display 
 
 of Protestants, p. 81, printed anno 1556, as cited in Heylin's Antidot. Lincoln, p. 50- 
 
264 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 
 
 east, leaving the table then to stand in the middle of the 
 chancel, 16 which indeed was more agreeable to the primitive 
 custom. 17 Under this diversity of usage, things went on till 
 the death of king Edward ; when queen Mary coming to the 
 throne, altars were again restored wherever they had been 
 demolished : but her reign proving short, and queen Elizabeth 
 succeeding her, the people, (just got free again from the ty- 
 ranny of popery,) through a mistaken zeal, fell in a tumultuous 
 manner to the pulling down of altars : though indeed this hap- 
 pened for the generality only in private churches, they not 
 being meddled with in any of the queen's palaces, and in but 
 very few of the cathedrals. And as soon as the queen was 
 sensible of what had happened in other places, she put out an 
 injunction 18 to restrain the fury of the people, declaring it to 
 be no matter of great moment, whether there were altars or 
 tables, so that the Sacrament was duly and reverently ad- 
 ministered t but ordering, that where an altar was taken down, 
 a holy table should be decently made, and set in the place 
 where the altar stood, and there commonly covered as thereto 
 belonged, and as should be appointed by tlie visitor, and so to 
 stand, saving when the communion of the Sacrament was to 
 be distributed ; at which time the same was to be placed in 
 good sort within the chancel, as thereby the Minister might 
 be more conveniently heard of tlie communicants in his prayer 
 and ministration, and the communicants also more conveni- 
 ently and in more number communicate with the said Min- 
 ister. And after the Communion done, from time to time 
 the same holy table was to be placed where it stood before. 
 Now it is plain from this injunction, as well as from the 
 eighty-second canon of the Church, (which is almost verbatim 
 the same,) that there is no obligation arising from this rubric 
 to move the table at the time of the Communion, unless the 
 people cannot otherwise conveniently hear and communicate. 
 The injunction declares, that the holy table is to be set in the 
 same place where the altar stood, which every one knows was 
 at the east end of the chancel. And when both the injunc- 
 tion and canon speak of its being moved at the time of the 
 Communion, it supposes that the Minister could not other- 
 wise be heard : the interposition of a belfry between the 
 chancel and body of the church (as I have already observed, 
 
 16 Acts and Monuments, part ii. p. 700. ,7 See Bingham's Antiquities, 1. 8, c. 6, 
 
 §.11. 18 See the Injunction in Bisnop Sparrow's Collection, p. 84. 
 
sect. I.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 265 
 
 p. 108, &c.) hindering the Minister in some churches from 
 being heard by the people, if he continued in the chancel. So 
 that we are not under any obligation to move the table, unless 
 necessity requires. But whenever the churches are built so 
 as the Minister can be heard, and conveniently administer 
 the Sacrament at the place where the table usually stands, he 
 is rather obliged to administer in the chancel, as appears from 
 the rubric before the Commandments, as also from that before 
 the Absolution, by both which rubrics the Priest is directed 
 to turn himself to the people. From whence I argue, that if 
 the table be in the middle of tlie church, and the people con- 
 sequently round about the Minister, the Minister cannot turn 
 himself to the people any more at one time than another. 
 Whereas if the table be close to the east wall, the Minister 
 stands on the north side, and looks southward, and conse- 
 quently, by looking westward, turns himself to the people. 
 
 §. 4. Wherever it be placed, the Priest is ob- The ^ why 
 liged to stand at the north side, {or end thereof, to stand at the 
 as the Scotch Liturgy expresses it ; which also or- JJJJJJ side of the 
 ders, that it shall stand at the uppermost part 
 of the chancel or church,) the design of which is, that the 
 Priest may be the better seen and heard ; which, as our altars 
 are now placed, he cannot be but at the north or south side. 
 And therefore the north side being the right hand or upper 
 side of the altar, is certainly the most proper for the officiating 
 Priest, that so the assisting Minister (if there be one) may not 
 be obliged to stand above him. And bishop Beveridge has 
 shewn that wherever, in the ancient Liturgies, the Minister is 
 directed to stand before the altar, the north side of it is always 
 meant. 19 
 
 §.5. The covering of the altar with a fair The table to be 
 white linen cloth, at the time of the celebration covered with a 
 
 m ,x t t\ ct •'•*_• i.' 20 linen cloth. 
 
 of the Lord s Supper, was a primitive practice, " 
 enjoined at first, and retained ever since for its decency. In 
 the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, 21 this covering is called 
 palla altaris, the pall of the altar ; to distinguish it, I suppose, 
 from the corporis palla, or the cloth that was thrown over the 
 consecrated elements. And the Scotch Liturgy orders, that 
 the holy table at the Communion time should have a carpet, 
 and a fair white linen cloth upon it, with other decent furni- 
 
 19 Bev. Pandect, vol. ii. p. 76, §. 15. See also Renaudotius's Liturgies, torn. ii. p. 
 24. 2 <> Optat. Milev. 1. 6, p. 113. Hieron. in Ep. ad Nepotianum. 21 In Ord. Diac. 
 
266 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 ture, meet for the high mysteries there to be celebrated. And 
 by our own canons, 22 at all other times, when divine service is 
 performed, it is to be covered with a carpet of silk, or rather 
 decent stuff, thought meet by the Ordinary of the place, if 
 any question be made of it ; which rvas originally designed 
 for the clean keeping of the said [white linen] cloth .- 23 though 
 the chief use of it now is for ornament and decency. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Lor oVs Prayer. 
 
 Why used at the There can be no fitter beginning for this sacred 
 beginning of the ordinance, which so peculiarly challengeth Christ 
 for its author, than that divine prayer which owes 
 its original to the same person, and which St. Jerome tells us, 24 
 Christ taught his Apostles, on purpose that they should use it 
 at the holy Communion. To which the primitive Fathers 
 thought it so peculiarly adapted, that they generally expounded 
 that petition, Give us this day our daily bread, of the body of 
 Christ, the bread of life, which in those times they daily re- 
 ceived for the nourishment of their souls. 25 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Collect for Purity. 
 
 Why used before ^ s tne P eo pl e were to De purified before the 
 the Command- first publication of the law, 20 so must we have 
 clean hearts before we be fit to hear it ; lest, if 
 our minds be impure sin take occasion by the commandment 
 to stir up concupiscence : 27 for prevention of which, when the 
 Commandments were added in the second book of king Ed- 
 ward, it was thought proper that this form should immediately 
 precede them : not but that the form itself was in our first Li- 
 turgy, and, as far as appears, in the oldest offices of the West- 
 ern Church. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Ten* Commandments. 
 
 These divine precepts of the moral law as much 
 How aptly placed ^jge Christians as they did the Jews : we vowed 
 to keep them at our baptism, and we renew that 
 vow at every Communion : and therefore it is very fit we 
 should hear them often, and especially at those times when we 
 are going to make fresh engagements to observe them. Upon 
 
 22 Can. 82. 23 See an order of queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1561, in Heylin's Antidot. 
 
 Lincoln, p. 45. ** Hieron. adv. Pelag. 1. 3, c. 5, torn. ii. p. 596, C. 25 Tert. de 
 
 Orat. Dom. c. 6, p. 131, D. 132, A. Cyprian, in Orat. Dom. p. 146, 147. ™ Exod. 
 
 xix. 14. a? K om . V ii. s. 
 
sect, v.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 267 
 
 which account, since we are to confess all our sins before we 
 come to this blessed Sacrament of pardon, the Church pru- 
 dently directs the Minister, now standing in the most holy 
 place, to turn himself to the people,* and from thence, like 
 another Moses from Mount Sinai, to convey God's laws to 
 them, by rehearsing distinctly all the Ten Commandments » 
 by which, as in a glass, they may discover all their offences, 
 and, still kneeling, may, after every Commandment, ask God 
 mercy for their transgression thereof (i. e. as the Scotch Li- 
 turgy expresses it, of every duty therein, either according to 
 the letter, or to the mystical importance of the said Com- 
 mandment) for the time past, and grace to keep the same for 
 the time to come.f 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the two Collects for the King. 
 
 St. Paul seems to command that we should 
 pray for kings in all our prayers: 29 and in the n f,£ £ e *? ** 
 primitive Church they always supplicated for their 
 princes at the time of the celebration of the holy Eucharist; 59 
 where, by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ's death commemor- 
 ated, those great requests might be likely to prevail. 
 
 §. 2. In our Liturgy these prayers do not (as Why placed next 
 in the Roman Missal) disturb the prayer of Con- after the Com- 
 secration, but, as the office is now compiled, are mandments - 
 more conveniently placed here : the king is custos utriusque 
 tabulce, defender of both tables of the law, and therefore we 
 properly pray for him just after the Commandments. Nor do 
 our prayers for him less aptly precede the daily Collect : since 
 when we have prayed for outward prosperity to the Church, 
 the consequent of the king's welfare, we may very seasonably 
 in the Collect pray for inward grace, to make it completely 
 happy. J For variety here are two prayers, but they both tend 
 to the same end, and only differ a little in the form. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel. 
 It is evident, that long before the dividing the of the Collect, 
 Bible into chapters and verses, it was the custom &c< 
 
 * This direction of " turning to the people " was first added in the Scotch Liturgy. 
 
 + These latter words, " for the time past," &c, were added at the last review : thoug'n 
 indeed no part of the rubric, nor of the Commandments themselves, were in the first 
 book of king Edward VI., nor, as far as I can find, in any ancient Liturgy. 
 
 X In all the former Common Prayer Books, except the Scotch, it seems as if the Col- 
 lect for the day was used before that for the king. For the old rubric was this : " Then 
 shall follow the Collect for the day, with one of these two Collects following for the king." 
 
 28 1 Tim. ii. 1,2. » Liturg. S. Jacob. S. Chrys. S. Bas. Vide Euseb. de Vita Con- 
 stant. 1. 4, c. 45, p. 549. 
 
268 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. VI. 
 
 both of the Greek and Latin Churches to read some select 
 portions of the plainest and most practical parts of the New 
 Testament, first for the Epistle, and then for the Gospel, at 
 the celebration of the holy Eucharist, 30 in imitation perhaps of 
 the Jewish mode of reading the history of the Passover before 
 the eating of the paschal lamb. 31 
 
 §. 2. As for the antiquity, matter, and suitable- 
 ^read SS" - ness of the several Collects, Epistles, and Gos- 
 pels, I have already spoken at large. I shall on- 
 ly make this one remark more, that as our Saviour's disciples 
 went before his face to every city and place, whither he him- 
 self would come ,- 33 so here the Epistle, as the word of the 
 servant, is read first, that it may be as a harbinger to the Gos- 
 pel, to which the last place and greatest honour is reserved, 
 as being the word of their great Master. And for this reason 
 I suppose it was ordered by the advertisements published in the 
 seventh year of queen Elizabeth, 33 and by the twenty-fourth 
 of our present canons, that the principal Minister, at the 
 Epistierand celebration of the Communion, should be as- 
 Gospeier.why sisted with a Gospeler and Epistler agreea- 
 
 appointed. Uy . j Q ^ Qne Minister to read the Epistle 
 
 and another to read the Gospel, as is still generally the cus- 
 tom in cathedral churches ; which was also provided for by 
 the rubrics in king Edward's first book, which orders that the 
 priest, or he that is appointed, shall read the Epistle in a place 
 assigned for that purpose, (which from the modern practice 
 I take to be on the south side of the table ;) and that immedi- 
 ately after the Epistle ended, the priest, or one appointed, 
 (which, as appears from the next rubric, might be a deacon,) 
 shall read the Gospel. 
 
 §.3. The custom of saying Glory be to tliee, O 
 ^aytn C g US Sy f be Lord, when the Minister was about to read the 
 to thee, o Lord, holy Gospel, and of singing Hallelujah, or saying, 
 tlquuy what an " Thanks be to God for his holy Gospel, when he 
 had concluded it, is as old as St. Chrysostom ; 34 
 but we have no authority for it in our present Liturgy. The 
 first indeed was enjoined by king Edward's first Common 
 Prayer Book, and so the custom has continued ever since ; 
 and I do not find how it came to be left out of the rubric after- 
 wards. It certainly could have nothing objected against it, 
 and therefore it is restored in the Scotch Liturgy ; which also 
 
 90 Just. Mart. Ap. 1, Clem. Const. Apost. lib. 2, c. 56, 57. 3i Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. 
 *» Luke x. 1. 33 In Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 124, 125. » Liturg. S. Chrys. 
 
sect, vii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 269 
 
 ordered, that, when the Presbyter shall say, So endeth the 
 holy Gospel, the people shall answer, Thanks be to thee, O 
 Lord. In our own Common Prayer Book the Priest has no 
 direction to say, The Gospel is ended ; the reason of which 
 some imagine to be, because it is still continued in the Creed 
 that followeth. 
 
 §.4. In St. Augustine's time the people always standing up at 
 stood when the Lessons were read, to shew their the Gospel, why 
 reverence to God's holy word : 35 but afterwards, commanded - 
 when this was thought too great a burden, they were allowed 
 to sit down at the Lessons, and were only obliged to stand 
 (as our present order, which was first inserted in the Scotch 
 Common Prayer Book, now enjoins us) at the reading of the 
 Gospel, 36 which always contains something that our Lord 
 did, spoke, or suffered in his own person. By which gesture 
 they shewed they had a greater respect to the Son of God 
 himself, than they had to any other inspired person, though 
 speaking the word of God, and by God's authority. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the Nicene Creed. 
 
 As the Apostles' Creed is placed immediately why placed after 
 after the daily Lessons, so is this after the Epis- the Epistle and 
 tie and Gospel : both of them being founded ospe ' 
 upon the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. As therefore 
 in the foregoing portions of Scripture we believe with our heart 
 to righteousness, so in the Creed that follows, we confess with 
 our mouth to salvation. 
 
 %. 2. This is commonly called the Nicene . . ,.„ 
 
 - > ° 71 ._. J i/^ii An account of it. 
 
 Creed, as being, for the greatest part, the Creed 
 that was drawn up by the first general Council of Nice, in the 
 year 325, but enlarged by a fuller explication of some articles 
 about the year 381, especially in relation to the divinity and 
 procession of the Holy Ghost, in order to a more particular 
 confutation and suppression of the Arian and Macedonian 
 heresy. For which reason it was enjoined by the third Coun- 
 cil of Toledo to be recited by all the people in Spain before 
 the Sacrament, to shew that they were all free from heresy, 
 and in the strictest league of union with the catholic Church. 37 
 And since in this sacrament we are to renew our baptismal 
 vow, (one branch of which was, that we would believe all the 
 
 *> Augustin. Serm. 300, in Append, ad torn. v. col. 504, B. 30 Const. Ap. 1. 2, c. 56. 
 Niceph. 1. 9, c. 18. Isid. Pelus. 1. 1, Ep. 136. Soz. 1. 7, c. 19. 37 Can. 2, torn. v. col. 
 1009, E. 
 
270 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi, 
 
 Articles of the Christian faith,) it is very requisite that, be- 
 fore we be admitted, we should declare that we stand firm in 
 the belief of those articles. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of the Rubric after the Nicene Creed. 
 
 After the Creed follows a rubric of directions, 
 The rSons°. f di " instructing the Priest what he is to publish, or 
 make known to the people. I do not find any- 
 such rubric in the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward 
 VI. ; and in all the rest, quite down to the Restoration, a de- 
 claration of the holy-days only was ordered to be made after 
 the Sermon or Homily was ended. 
 
 Why the Curate §• 2 ' Tnis is the first tnin & 0Ur ruDric men " 
 
 is to bid holy- tions now, viz. that the Curate shall declare 
 days * unto the people what holy-days or fasting -days 
 
 are in the week following to be observed. The first reason 
 of which was, lest the people should observe any such days 
 as had been formerly kept, but were laid aside at the Reforma- 
 tion : and therefore the Bishops inquired in their visitations, 
 whether any of their Curates bid any otlier days than were 
 appointed by the new calendar ? % This danger is now pretty 
 well over ; there being no great fear of the people's observing 
 superstitious holy-days. But there is still as much reason for 
 keeping up the rubric, since now they are run into a contrary 
 extreme, and, instead of observing too many holy-days, regard 
 none; which makes it fit that the Curate should discharge his 
 duty, by telling them beforehand, what holy-days will happen, 
 and then leaving it upon his people to answer for the neglect, 
 if they are passed over without due regard. 
 
 When to give §• ^ m ^ n( ^ ^ ien a ^ s0 (if occasion be) shall 
 
 notice of the notice be given of the Communion: though by 
 communion. anot her rubric, just before the first exhortation, 
 this is supposed to be done after sermon. For there it is or- 
 dered, that when the Minister giveth warning for the celebra- 
 tion of the holy Communion, (which he shall always do upon 
 the Sunday, or some holy -day immediately preceding^) after the 
 Sermon or Homily ended, he shall read the exhortation follow- 
 ing. The occasion of this difference was the placing of this 
 rubric of directions, at the last review, before the rubric con- 
 cerning the Sermon or Homily. For by all the old Common 
 Prayer Books, immediately after the Nicene Creed, the Sermon 
 
 38 Archbishop Grindal, Art. VIII., 157(5, for the whole province. 
 
sect, ix.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 271 
 
 was ordered ; and then after that the Curate was to declare 
 unto the people, lohether there were any holy -days or fasting- 
 days in the week following, and earnestly to exhort them to 
 remember the poor, by reading one or more of the sentences, 
 as he thought most convenient by his discretion. This was the 
 whole of that rubric then. All the remaining part was added 
 at the Restoration, as was also the rubric above cited just be- 
 fore the exhortation. Now it is plain by that rubric, that the 
 warning to the Communion was intended to be given after the 
 Sermon ; and therefore I should have imagined that there was 
 no design to have changed the places of the two rubrics here, 
 but only to have added some other directions concerning the 
 proclaiming or publishing things in the church : and that con- 
 sequently the placing of them in the order they now stand, might 
 have been owing to the printer's, or some other mistake ; but 
 that I observe in the next rubric the priest is ordered to re- 
 turn to the Lord's table, which supposes that he has been in 
 the pulpit since he was at the table before ; and therefore in- 
 clines me to believe that the rubrics were transposed with 
 design ; and that the intent of the revisers was, that when 
 there was nothing in the Sermon itself preparatory to the 
 Communion, both this and the other rubric should be com- 
 plied with, viz. by giving warning in this place, that there 
 will be a Communion on such a day, and then reading the 
 exhortation after Sermon is ended. 
 
 §. 4. At this time also briefs, citations, and ex- mat thi to 
 communications are to be read. But nothing is to fee published, and 
 be proclaimed or published in the church, during w a no • 
 the time of divine service, but by the Minister : nor by him any 
 thing but what is prescribed in the rules of the Common Prayer 
 Book, or enjoined by the King, or by the Ordinary of the place. 
 All this was undoubtedly added, to prevent the custom, that 
 still too much prevails in some country churches, of publish- 
 ing the most frivolous, unbefitting, and even ridiculous things 
 in the face of the congregation. 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of the Sermon. 
 Sermons have been appointed from the be- 
 ginning of Christianity, 39 to be used upon all anddSgn^nt. 
 Sundays and holy-days, but especially when the 
 
 39 Const. Ap. 1. 8, c. 5. Augustin. de Civ. Dei, 1. 22, c. 8. Concil. Vasense 1, Can. 
 9, torn. iii. col. 1459, A. Concil. 6, Constant. Can. 19, torn. vi. col. 1151, C. 
 
272 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 
 
 Lord's Supper was to be administered. For by a pious and 
 practical discourse suited to the holy Communion, the minds 
 of the hearers are put into a devout frame, and made much 
 fitter for the succeeding mysteries. 
 
 Formerly per- §• ^" ^his P rovmce indeed, in ancient times, 
 
 formed by bi- was generally undertaken by the bishops, who at 
 shops. £ rgt vomn tarily, and afterwards by injunction, 
 
 preached every Sunday, unless hindered by sickness : 40 but 
 however, in the absence of the bishop, this duty was perform- 
 ed by presbyters, and by his permission in his presence. 41 
 
 §. 3. The reason of its being ordered here, is 
 Why^ordered b ecause the first design of them was to explain 
 some part of the foregoing Epistle and Gospel, 42 
 in imitation of that practice of the Jews mentioned in Nehe- 
 miah viii. 8. "For which reason they were formerly called 
 Postillis, {quasi post ilia, sc. Evangelia,) because they fol- 
 lowed the Gospel. 
 n „., „ ... 8. 4. The Homilies mentioned in the rubric, 
 
 Of the Homilies. o . 
 
 are two books ot plain sermons, (tor so the word 
 signifies,) set out by public authority, one whereof is to be 
 read upon any Sunday or holy-day, when there is no sermon. 
 The first volume of them was set out in the beginning of king 
 Edward VI. 's reign, having been composed (as it is thought) 
 by archbishop Cranmer, bishop Ridley, and Latimer, at the 
 beginning of the Reformation, when a competent number of 
 Ministers, of sufficient abilities to preach in a public congre- 
 gation, was not to be found. The second volume was set out 
 in queen Elizabeth's time, by order of Convocation, A. D. 
 1563. And that this is not at all contrary to the practice of 
 the ancient Church, is evident from the testimony of Sixtus 
 Sinensis, who, in the fourth book of his Library, saith, " That 
 our countryman Alcuinus collected and reduced into order, 
 by the command of Charles the Great, the homilies of the 
 most famous doctors of the Church upon the Gospels, which 
 were read in churches all the year round." He says they 
 were all in number 209 : but where that work lies hid, is not 
 known. \ 
 
 Bidding of pray- §• 5 - l designed in this place to have added a 
 ers enjoined by paragraph concerning the form of Bidding of 
 the church. Prayers, which the Church enjoins, by the fifty- 
 
 « Can. 19, Trull. Mogun. cap. 25. 4l Possid. in Vit. August. « Vid. August. 
 Sermones de Temp. 
 
sect, x.] THE LORL'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 273 
 
 fifth canon, to be used by every Minister before his Sermon, 
 Lecture, or Homily : and from thence to have taken occa- 
 sion to have hinted at the irregularity and ill consequences of 
 the Petitionary Form, which is now the general practice. But 
 finding it necessary to be more particular than I at first fore- 
 saw, if I proposed to give any tolerable satisfaction ; the design 
 immediately swelled into too large a compass to be inserted in 
 a work of so general a nature. For this reason I have chosen 
 to publish it in a little treatise by itself: by which means too 
 I hope it will be more known, than if it had only been treated 
 of in a few pages here. For the sake of those who may be 
 desirous to look into the question, I have inserted the title at 
 the bottom of the page, 43 not without hopes that my sincere 
 endeavours may contribute a little to put a stop to the custom 
 of praying in the pulpit, which the reader will there see has 
 once been attended with fatal consequences, and which has 
 been discountenanced and prohibited almost in every reign, 
 since the Reformation, by our governors and superiors both in 
 Church and State. 
 
 Sect. X. — Of the Offertory, or Sentences, and the Rubrics thatfolloiv. 
 
 After the confession of our faith in the Ni- 
 cene Creed, or else after the improvement of it £*£*%*. 
 in the Sermon or Homily, follows the exercise of 
 our charity, without which our faith would be dead} 4. The 
 first way of expressing which, is by dedicating some part of 
 what God has given us to his use and service, which is fre- 
 quently and strictly commanded in the Gospel, hath the best 
 examples for it, and the largest rewards promised to it ; being 
 instead of all the vast oblations and costly sacrifices which the 
 Jews did always join with their prayers, and the only charge- 
 able duty to which Christians are obliged. It is, in a word, 
 so necessary to recommend our prayers, that St. Paul pre- 
 scribes, 45 and the ancient Church, in Justin Martyr's time, 
 used to have collections every Sunday. 46 
 
 However, when we receive the Sacrament, it is by no means 
 
 ** Bidding of Prayer before Sermon, no mark of disaffection to the present govern- 
 ment : or, an historical vindication of the fifty-fifth canon. Shewing that the form of 
 Bidding Prayers has been prescribed and enjoined ever since the Refonnation, and 
 constantly practised by the greatest divines of our Church ; and that it has been lately 
 enforced both by his present Majesty, and our right reverend diocesan the lord bishop 
 of London. By Charles Wheatly, M. A., Lecturer of Saint Mildred's in the Poultry. 
 London: printed for A. Bettcsworth, at the Red Lion, and M. Smith, at Bishop Beve- 
 ridsre's Head in Pater-noster Row. Price 1*. ** James ii. 1 7. ** 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. 
 46 Just. Martyr. Apol. 1, c. 88, p. 132. 
 
 X 
 
274 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 
 
 to be omitted. When the Jews came before the Lord at the 
 solemn feasts, they were not allowed to appear empty ,- but 
 every man was required to give as he was able, according to 
 the blessing of the Lord, which he had given him.* 1 And our 
 Saviour (with respect, no doubt, to the holy table, as Mr. 
 Mede excellently proves 48 ) supposes that we should never 
 come to the altar without a gift, 1 * but always imitate his prac- 
 tice, whose custom of giving alms at the passover made his 
 disciples mistake his words to him that bare the bag. 50 And 
 it is very probable that at the time of receiving the Sacrament 
 were all those large donations of houses, lands, and money 
 made. 51 For when those first converts were all united to 
 Christ and one another in this feast of love, their very souls 
 were mingled ; they cheerfully renounced their property, and 
 easily distributed their goods among those to whom they had 
 given their hearts before. None (of ability) were allowed to 
 receive without giving something ; 52 and to reject any man's 
 offering, was to deny him a share in the benefit of those com- 
 fortable mysteries. 53 
 
 §. 2. Wherefore, to stir us up more effectually 
 Th SentSes the to i mitat e their pious example, as soon as the 
 Sermon or Homily is ended, the Priest is direct- 
 ed to return to the Lord's Table, and begin the Offertory, 
 saying one or more of the sentences following, as he thinketh 
 most convenient in his discretion, i. e. according to the length 
 or shorttiess of the time that the people are offering, as it was 
 worded in king Edward's first Common Prayer, and from 
 thence in the Scotch one.* These are in the place of the an- 
 tiphona or anthem which we find in the old Liturgies after 
 the Gospel, and which, from their being sung whilst the peo- 
 ple made their oblations at the altar, were called 
 why caned offer- ff ertory * The sentences which our Church 
 has here selected for that purpose are such as 
 contain instructions, injunctions, and exhortations to this 
 great duty ; setting before us the necessity of performing it, 
 
 * In the Scotch Liturgy, Matt. v. 16. Matt. vii. 12. Luke xix. 8. Galat. vi. 10. 1 Tim. 
 vi. 7. 1 John iii. 17. with all that follows in our hook, are omitted : and Gen. iv. 3, to the 
 middle of the 5th verse, Exod. xxv. 2. Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 1 Chron. xxix. 10, 11, and part 
 of the 12th, 14th, and the 17th verses ; Psalm xcvi. 8. Matt. xii. 41, 42, 43, 44, are added. 
 
 47 Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 48 Mr. Mede of the Altar or holy Table, sect. 2, p. 390. 
 
 43 Matt. v. 23, 24. w> John xiii. 29. &i Acts ii. 44, 45, 46. '■>* Cyprian, de Oper. 
 et Eleemos. p. 203, &c. 53 Concil. Elib. Can. 28, torn. i. col. 973, E. Concil. Carthag. 
 4, Can. 93, 94, torn. ii. col. 1207, B. M Vide Menard, in Greg. Sacrament, p. 582, Pa- 
 ris. 16.42. Vide et Mabillon de Liturgia Gallicana, p. 8, Paris. 1685. 
 
sect, x.] THE LORD'S SUrPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 275 
 
 and the manner of doing it. Some of them (viz. those from 
 the sixth to the tenth inclusively, unless the ninth be except- 
 ed) respect the clergy. And it was with an eye, Alms and other 
 I suppose, to this difference, that in the last re- devotions, how 
 view there was a distinction made in the rubric distin s uished - 
 that follows these sentences, between the alms for the poor, 
 and the other devotions of the people. In the old Common 
 Prayer there was only mention made of the latter of these, 
 viz. the devotions of the people, by which alms for the poor 
 were then meant, as appears from its being then ordered to 
 be put into the poor man's box. But then the clergy were 
 included in other words, which ordered, that upon the offer- 
 in g-days appointed, every man and woman should pay to the 
 Curate the due and accustomed offerings. But of this I 
 shall have occasion to say more, when I come to treat of the 
 rubrics at the end of this office. I shall only observe further 
 here, that the words alms for the poor being added at the 
 last review, by which undoubtedly must be understood all 
 that is given for their relief; it is plain, that by the other de- 
 votions of the people is now intended something distinct from 
 the said alms. And if so, then the offerings for the clergy, or 
 their share in the collections, must certainly be meant, as is 
 plain from the design of the above-mentioned sentences, which 
 have a direct and immediate regard to them. It is well known, 
 that in the primitive times the clergy had a liberal mainten- 
 ance out of what the people offered upon these occasions. 55 
 Now, indeed, whilst they have a stated and legal income, the 
 money collected at these times is generally appropriated to the 
 poor : not but that where the stated income of a parish is not 
 sufficient to maintain the clergy belonging to the Church, 
 they have still a right to claim their share in these offerings. 
 
 II. Whilst these sentences are in reading, 
 the deacons, church-wardens, or other fit per- By ™5e C 1 te t d. be 
 sons, are to receive the alms for the poor, and 
 other devotions of the people.™ The deacons are the most 
 proper persons for this business, it being the very office for 
 which their order was instituted. 57 And for this reason the 
 Scotch Liturgy does not allow the church- 
 wardens to do it, but at such times when there A mannS** 
 are no deacons pn^esent* It is now indeed grown 
 
 * Whilst the presbyter distinctly pronounceth some or all of these sentences for the 
 * Cypr. Ep. 34, 36. & Rubric after tr Sentences. 57 Acts vL 
 
 T 2 
 
276 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [ckap. vi 
 
 a custom with us for the church-wardens to perform this office, 
 viz. to gather the alms and devotions of the congregation, 
 which, by all the books before the Scotch Liturgy, they were 
 ordered, as I have observed, to put into the poor marts box ; 
 not, I presume, into that fixed in the church, but into a little 
 box which the church-wardens or some other proper persons 
 carried about with them in their hands, as is still the custom 
 at the Temple church in London. Now indeed they are or- 
 dered to make use of a decent basin to be provided by the 
 priest for that purpose. With which, in most places, espe- 
 cially here in town, they go to the several seats and pews of 
 the congregation. Though in other places they collect at the 
 entrance into the chancel, where the people make their offer- 
 ings as they draw towards the altar. This last way seems the 
 most conformable to the practice of the primitive Church, which, 
 in pursuance of a text delivered by our Saviour, 58 ordered that 
 the people should come up to the rails of the altar, and there 
 make their offerings to the priest. 59 
 
 And with an eye, I suppose, to this practice, the deacons, 
 or church-wardens, or whosoever they be that collect the 
 alms and other devotions of the people, are ordered by the 
 present rubric to bring it reverently to the priest (as in their 
 name) who is humbly to present and place it upon the holy 
 table;* in conformity to the practice of the ancient Jews, 
 who, when they brought their gifts and sacrifices to the 
 temple, offered them to God by the hands of the priest. 
 
 III. Jlnd if there be a Communion, the priest 
 
 Jtoe^wSnand * s t ^ len °^ s0 to P^ ace upon the table so much 
 bv whom to be bread and wine as he shall think su-fficient. 
 
 placed on the mich rubri(J bemg ad(kd tQ Qur Qwn LJ tur g V 
 
 at the same time with the word oblations, in 
 the prayer following, (i. e. at the last review,) it is clearly 
 evident, as bishop Patrick has observed, 60 that by that word 
 are to be understood the elements of bread and wine, which 
 the priest is to offer solemnly to God, as an acknowledgment 
 of his sovereignty over his creatures, and that from thence- 
 
 offertory, the deacon, or (if no such be present) one of the church-wardens, shall receive 
 the devotions of the people there present in a basin provided for that purpose. Scotch 
 Liturgy. * 
 
 * In the Scotch Liturgy, " And when all have offered, he shall reverently bring the 
 basin with the oblations therein, and deliver it to the presbyter, who shall humbly 
 present it before the Lord, and set it upon the holy table." 
 
 58 Matt. v. 23. 59 Greg. Naz. in Laud. Basilii, Orat. 20, torn. i. Theodoret. do 
 
 Theodosio. oo Christian Sacrifice, p. 77. 
 
sect, x.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 277 
 
 forth they might become properly and peculiarly his. Tor in 
 all the Jewish sacrifices, of which the people were partakers, 
 the viands or materials of the feast were first made God's by 
 a solemn oblation, and then afterwards eaten by the commu- 
 nicants, not as man's, but as God's provision ; who, by thus 
 entertaining them at his own table, declared himself recon- 
 ciled and again in covenant with them. And therefore our 
 blessed Saviour, when he instituted the new sacrifice of his 
 own body and blood, first gave thanks and blessed the ele- 
 ments, i. e. offered them up to God as Lord of the creatures, 
 as the most ancient Fathers expound that passage : who, for 
 that reason, whenever they celebrated the holy eucharist, 
 always offered the bread and wine for the Communion to 
 God, upon the altar, by this, or some such short ejaculation, 
 Lord, we offer thee thy own, out of what thou hast boun- 
 tifully given us. ei After which they received them, as it were, 
 from him again, in order to convert them into the sacred 
 banquet of the body and blood of his dear Son. 63 In the an- 
 cient Church, they had generally a side-table near the altar, 
 upon which the elements were laid till the first part of the 
 Communion service was over, at which the catechumens were 
 allowed to be present ; but when they were gone, the ele- 
 ments were removed and placed upon the holy altar itself, 
 with a solemn prayer. 63 Now though we have no side-table 
 authorized by our Church, yet in the first Common Prayer of 
 king Edward VI. the priest himself was ordered in this place 
 to set both the bread and wine upon the altar :* but at the 
 review in 1551, this and several other such ancient usages 
 were thrown out, I suppose, at the instance of Bucer and 
 Martyr. After which the Scotch Liturgy was the first where- 
 in we find it restored : but there the presbyter is directed to 
 offer up and place the bread and wine prepared for the Sacra- 
 ment upon the Lord's table, that it may be ready for that service. 
 And Mr. Mede, having observed our own Liturgy to be de- 
 fective in this particular, 64 was probably the occasion, that, in 
 
 * The whole ruhric in king Edward's first hook was this : " Then shall the Minister 
 take so much hread and wine as shall suffice for the persons appointed to receive the 
 holy Communion, laying the bread upon the corporas, or else in the paten, or in some 
 other comely thing prepared for that purpose : and putting the wine into the chalice, or 
 else in some fair and convenient cup, prepared for thatuse, (if the chalice will not serve,) 
 putting thereto a little pure and clean water ; and setting both the bread and wine 
 upon the altar," &c. 
 
 61 See St. Chrysostom's and other Liturgies. « 2 See this proved in Mr. Mede's 
 
 Christian Sacrifice, c. 8, p. 372, &c. « Lit. Chrys. «* Mr. Mede, as above, p. 375, 376. 
 
278 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 the review of it after the Restoration, this primitive practice 
 was restored, and the bread and wine ordered by the rubric to 
 be set solemnly upon the table by the Priest himself. From 
 whence it appears, that the placing the elements upon the 
 Lord's table, before the beginning of morning prayer, by the 
 hands of a clerk or sexton, (as is now the general practice,) 
 is a profane and shameful breach of the aforesaid rubric ; and 
 consequently that it is the duty of every Minister to prevent 
 it for the future, and reverently to place the bread and wine 
 himself upon the table, immediately after he has placed on 
 the alms. 
 
 Mixing water IV « In the ™ bric l haVe £ iven ' ° ut ° f kin S 
 
 with the wine, a Edward's first Liturgy, the Minister, when he 
 $£%?]MtM* P llt tne wine into the chalice, was directed by the 
 sent'iai to the rubric to put thereto a little pure and clean wa- 
 ter. This was ordered in conformity to a very 
 ancient and primitive practice, and with an eye perhaps to our 
 Saviour's institution. For the wine among the Jews being 
 very strong, it was generally their custom, as at their ordinary 
 meals, so also at the passover, to qualify it with water : G5 and 
 therefore, since the cup which our Saviour blessed was proba- 
 bly one of those which were prepared for that feast, 66 some 
 have concluded that, at the time of the institution, he made 
 use of wine in which water had been mixed. But of this they 
 can produce no certainty of proof. For though it is allowed 
 that the Jews often mingled their wine, yet it does not appear 
 that they always did so, or thought it necessary. For Dr. 
 Lightfoot observes, that he that drank pure wine performed 
 his duty ,- 67 and Buxtorf adds further, that it was indifferent 
 whether it was mixed or not, and that they drank it sometimes 
 one way and sometimes the other : 68 so that we must not af- 
 firm that our Saviour's cup was certainly mixed, before we are 
 assured whether the wine which he had prepared for his last 
 passover was so. Our Saviour intimates, that what he had 
 delivered to his Apostles was the fruit of the vine ,- 69 and Dr. 
 Lightfoot observes, from the Babylonish Talmud, that this was 
 a term which the Jews used in their blessing for wine mixed 
 with water, to distinguish it from pure wine, which they called 
 
 65 R. Ob. de Bartenora, et Maimonides in Mishnam, de Benedict, cap. 7, sect. 5. 
 
 66 Dr. Lightfoot's Temple-Service, vol. i. p. 966, and bishop Hooper of Lent, part 2, 
 cbap. 3. 67 Lightfoot, ut supra, p. G91, et Hor. Hebr. in Matt. xxvi. 27, vol. ii. p. 160. 
 (;s De Primae Ccenae Ritibus et Forma, sect. 20, as cited by Mr. Drake in his Latin Ser- 
 mon. Il9 Matt. xxvi. 29. 
 
sect, x.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 279 
 
 the fruit of the tree."' But now, not to insist upon the ab- 
 surdity of calling it the fruit of the vine, from its being mixed 
 with water, which makes it less the fruit of the vine than it 
 was in its purity ; it is plain that this expression, wherever we 
 meet with it in other places of Scripture, is used to denote the 
 pure product of the tree. 71 From whence we may be assured, 
 that in the time of our Saviour, no such distinction as this had 
 obtained : nor indeed does the Mishna itself allow of it : for 
 the determination of the wise men is, that wine is to be called 
 the fruit of the vine, as well before the mixture as after it. 72 
 And the reason why they give it a particular blessing, calling 
 it the fruit of the vine, instead of the fruit of the tree, is not 
 upon the account of its being mixed with water, but because 
 the vine is more excellent than any tree besides. 73 And if this 
 distinction fail, I do not know that there is so much as a hint 
 given in Scripture, from whence we may judge whether the 
 wine used by our Saviour was mixed or not ; which yet we 
 might reasonably expect to have found, if our Lord had de- 
 signed the mixture as essential. Though were it ever so clear, 
 that the cup was mixed ; yet if it does not also appear that it 
 was mixed with design, our Saviour's practice would no more 
 oblige us to mix it now, than it would that we should conse- 
 crate unleavened bread. For it is certain that our Saviour, at 
 the time of institution, used unleavened bread : 74 and yet since 
 the reason of his doing so was, because there was no other at 
 that time in the house ; our Church thinks it sufficient, in her 
 present rubric, to prescribe such bread as is usual to be eaten. 
 Consequently since he made use of wine that was mixed, only 
 because he found it ready prepared, or at most because the 
 strength of the wine used in that country required it ; there- 
 fore our Church thinks it not necessary to mix it with us, be- 
 cause we ordinarily drink it pure. But I say this upon sup- 
 position that it could be clearly proved that the cup which our 
 Saviour used was mixed ; whereas I have shewn that there is 
 no intimation in Scripture about it. Nor do any of the first 
 Fathers assert or mention it. Origen (who is the first that 
 speaks either one way or the other) says, that our Saviour 
 administered in wine unmixed, 75 which he would not sure have 
 
 ™ Hor. Hebr. ut supra. 71 Isa. xxxii. 12. Hab. iii. 17. Zech. viii. 12. secundum 
 
 LXX. Mark xii. 2. Luke xx. 10. Vide et Vorstium de Hebraismis N. T. c. 23. 
 
 » Tract, de Benedict, cap. 7, sect. 5, vid. et R. Ob. de Bartenora, ac Maimon. in locum. 
 " Ibid. cap. 6, vide et Surenhus. et R. Ob. de Bart, in locum. 7 * Exod. xii. 15, 19. 
 Matt. xxvi. 17. Mark xvi. 12. Luke xxii. 7. 7S Horn. 12, in Hieremiam. 
 
280 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 done, had there been any certain tradition, or so much as a 
 general opinion, to the contrary. We do not indeed deny, but 
 that, before his time, the mixture was the general practice of 
 the Church : 76 but then it is no where said, that this was done 
 in conformity to our Saviour's institution ; but since the same 
 wine, perhaps, that was prepared for the Communion, served 
 also for the love-feasts, (which, in the first ages of the Church, 
 were always held at the same time, 77 ) water might be mixed 
 with it, for what we know, to prevent those disorders, which, 
 even in the Apostles' time, were apt to arise from their drink- 
 ing of it to excess : 78 or possibly it might be instituted as an 
 emblem of the indissoluble union between Christ and his 
 Church, as St. Cyprian explains it ; 79 or, lastly, (as is asserted 
 by some other of the ancients,) to be more expressive and sig- 
 nificant of that blood and water which flowed from our Sa- 
 viour's side, when he was pierced upon the cross. 80 St. Cy- 
 prian indeed pleads strenuously for the mixture, and urges it 
 from the practice and example of our Lord ; 81 but then it is to 
 be observed, that he is arguing against those who used water 
 alone, (for fear the heathens should discover them by the 
 smell of the wine,) and therefore might insist upon the mix- 
 ture as necessary, because otherwise the wine was the part 
 that was wanting ; which he plainly enough allows to be the 
 only essential in the cup, when he asserts that wine alone 
 would be better than pure water. 82 For if both of them were 
 essential, neither of them could be said to be better than the 
 other. And for the same reason it is, that some other Fathers 
 and Councils enjoin the mixture so strictly, viz. because the 
 Encratites and others, who looked upon wine and flesh to be 
 forbidden, would administer the cup in the sacrament of tha 
 eucharist, with pure water alone. 83 Though it is true the 
 Armenians, who administered in pure wine alone, are equally 
 condemned by the Council in Trullo, 84 who produce the au- 
 thority of St. James's and St. Basil's Liturgies against them : 
 to which may be added, the Liturgies under the name of St. 
 
 76 Just. Mart. Apol. 1, cap. 85, p. 125, 128. Iren. 1. 4, cap. 57, p. 357, et 1. 5, cap. 2, p. 
 397. Clem. Alex. Paedag. 1. 2, cap. 2. 77 1 Cor. xi. Jude 12. Ignat. ad Smyrn. §. 8. 
 p. 5. Clem. Alex. Paedag. 1. 2, cap. 1. Tertull. Apol. cap. 39. Const. Ap. 1. 2, cap. 28. 
 78 1 Cor. xi. 79 Ad Caecil. Ep. 63, p. 148, &c. 8| Ambros. de Sacr. 1. 5, cap. 1. 
 
 Gennad. de Eccles. Dogm. c. 75. Theophylact. in Johan. xix. 34. Martin Bracar. 
 Collect. Canon, cap. 55. 81 Cypr. ut supra. 82 Sacramentum rei illius admonere et 
 instruere nos debet, ut in sacrificiis Dominicis Vinum potius offeramus. Ibid. 
 
 83 Epiphan. Haer. 46, torn. i. p. 392. Aug. de Haeres. cap. 64. Theodoret. de Fabuli* 
 Haereticor. 1. 1, c. 20, torn. 4, p. 208. 84 Can. 32, torn. 6, col. 1156, 1157. 
 
sect, xi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 281 
 
 Mark and St. Chrysostom, and that which is contained in th . 
 eighth book of the Constitution. 83 And indeed it must b<; 
 confessed, that the mixture has, in all ages, been the general 
 practice, and for that reason was enjoined, as has been noted 
 above, to be continued in our own Church, by the first re-i 
 formers. And though in the next review the order for it waii 
 omitted, yet the practice of it was continued in the king's! 
 chapel royal, all the time that bishop Andrews was dean ol 
 it ; 86 who also in the form that he drew up for the consecration 
 of a church, See, expressly directs and orders it to be used. 8 '' 
 How it came to be neglected in the review of our Liturgy in 
 king Edward's reign, I have not yet been able to discover. I 
 am apt to suspect that it was thrown out upon some objection 
 of Calvin or Bucer, who were no friends to any practice for 
 its being ancient and catholic, if it did not happen to suit with 
 their fancy or humour. But whatever may have been the 
 cause of laying it aside, since there is no reason to believe it 
 essential ; and since every Church has liberty to determine 
 for herself in things not essential ; it must be an argument 
 sure of a very indiscreet and over-hasty zeal, to urge the 
 omission of it as a ground for separation. 
 
 Sect. XI. — Of the Prayer for the whole State of Christ's Church. 
 The alms, and devotions, and oblations of the 
 people being now presented to God, and placed H u^d E? 3 ' 
 before him upon the holy table ; it is a proper 
 time to proceed to the exercise of another branch of our 
 charity, I mean that of intercession. Our alms perhaps are 
 confined to a few indigent neighbours ; but our prayers may 
 extend to all mankind, by recommending them all to the 
 mercies of God, who is able to supply and relieve them all. 
 Nor can we at anytime hope to intercede more effectually for 
 the whole Church of God, than just when we are about to 
 represent and shew forth to the divine Majesty that meritori- 
 ous sacrifice, by virtue whereof our great High Priest did 
 once redeem us, and for ever continues to intercede for us in 
 heaven. For which reason we find that the ancient and 
 primitive Christians, whenever they celebrated these holy 
 mysteries, used a form of intercession for the whole catholic 
 
 85 Cap. 12. 8r > See the primitive Rule of Reformation, according to the first Li- 
 
 turgy of king Edward VI., page 20, printed in quarto, 1688. 87 Sparrow's Collection, 
 395, 396. 
 
282 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 Church. 88 But there is this difference between our practice 
 and theirs, that whereas we use it immediately after the placing 
 the elements upon the table ; it is in all the ancient Litur- 
 gies, except in St. Mark's and the Ethiopian, deferred till 
 after the consecration. 
 
 ir ■ 8. 2. In the primitive Church too their prayers 
 
 Prayers for the " £ -, , , . . , k < 
 
 dead an ancient were more extensive, and took in the dead as 
 and catholic we i} as tne living: not that they had any notion 
 
 practice. _ . , o * , • • j 
 
 of the Romish purgatory, or so much as imagined 
 chat those whom they prayed for were racked or tormented 
 with any temporary pain. There were some of the ancients, 
 it is true, who believed (and it seems to have been the cur- 
 rent opinion from Origen downwards) that the trial we shall 
 undergo at the last great day will be a state of purgation ; 
 which they imagined to consist of a probational fire, through 
 which all must pass, (even the prophets and apostles, and the 
 Virgin Mary herself not excepted,) and which shall differently 
 affect us, as we shall be differently prepared : 89 and upon this 
 perhaps some of them might found the prayers they used for 
 the departed saints. Others again believed that Christ should 
 reign a thousand years upon earth, before the final day of 
 judgment ; and also supposed that the saints should rise to 
 enjoy and partake of this happy state, before the general re- 
 surrection of the dead : 90 and therefore they prayed for the 
 souls of the deceased, that they might not only rest in peace 
 for the present, but also obtain part in the first resurrection/' 
 However they all agreed in this, that the interval between 
 death and the end of the world is a state of expectation and 
 imperfect bliss, in which the souls of the righteous wait for 
 the completion and perfection of their happiness at the con- 
 summation of all things : and therefore, whilst they were 
 praying for the catholic Church, they thought it not improper 
 
 83 Chrys. Liturg. et Horn. 52, in Eustath. et Horn. 26, in Mat. et Horn. 37, in Act. et 
 de Sacerdot. 1. 6, c. 4. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 5, n. 6. Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 12. 
 
 8B Origen. in Exod. xv. Horn. 6, et in Psalm xxxvi. Horn. 3. Lactant. Institut. 1. 7, 
 c. 21, p. 653. Basil, in Isa. iv. 4, torn. i. p. 932. Greg. Nyss. de Mortuis Orat. torn, 
 iii. p. 638. Greg. Naz. Orat. 39, torn. i. p. 636. Amhros. Enarrat. in Psalm xxxvi. 
 §. 26, torn. i. col. 789, 790, et in Psalm cxviii. Serm. 3, §. 14 — 17, torn. i. col. 997, 998, 
 et Serm. 20, col. 1225, 1226, edit. Benedict. Paris. 1686. Hieron. in Mai. iii. torn. iii. 
 col. 1825, et 1. 1, adv. Pelag. torn. iv. col. 502, edit. Benedict. Paris. 1704. Aug. Re- 
 spons. ad Quaest. 1. Dulcit. torn. vi. col. 121, 126, 128, et Enchirid. de Fide, Spe, et 
 Charitate, cap. 67, 6S, 69, in torn. eod. col. 221, 222, et de Civ. Dei, 1. 20, c. 25, torn, 
 vii. col. 609, edit. Benedict. Paris. 1685. Consule etiam Estium in 1 Cor. iii. 13. 
 
 90 St. Barnabas, c. 15. Just. Mart. Trypho, p. 306, &c. Irenaeus, 1. 5, c. 30, 31, 32, 
 &c. Tertull. adv. Marcion. 1. 3, c. 24. Lactant. Institut. 1. 7, c. 14, 15, 24, &c. 
 
 91 Tertull. de Monogam. c. 10. Ambros. de Obitu Valentin, ad finem, et in Psalm i. 
 
sect, xi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 283 
 
 to add a petition in behalf of that larger and better part of it 
 which had gone before them, that they might all together at- 
 tain a blessed and glorious resurrection, and be brought at 
 last to a perfect fruition of happiness in heaven. 9 * By this 
 means they testified their love and respect to the dead, de- 
 clared their belief in the communion of saints, and kept up in 
 themselves a lively sense of the soul's immortality. And with 
 this intent a petition for the deceased was continued by our 
 reformers, in this very prayer of which we are now discours- 
 ing, in the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. 
 But this, with a larger thanksgiving for the examples of the 
 saints,* than what we now use, was left out of the second book, 
 upon the exceptions of Bucer 93 and Calvin, 94 and the words, 
 militant here on earth, were added to the exhortation, Let us 
 way for the whole state of Christ's Church, in order to limit 
 the prayer to the living only. The substance of the thanks- 
 giving indeed was added again afterwards, first to the Scotch 
 Liturgy, and then to our own at the last review : though that 
 in the Scotch Liturgy \ keeps closest to the words in the first 
 
 » In the Common Prayer of 1549, the words, "all Christian Kings, Princes, and 
 Governors," were not inserted, nor the words, " and especially to this Congregation 
 here present." But after the petition for those that are " in trouble, sorrow, need, sick- 
 ness, or any other adversity," the prayer went on thus : " And especially we commend 
 unto thy merciful goodness, the Congregation which is here assembled in thy name, to 
 celebrate the commemoration of the most glorious death of thy Son. And here we do 
 give unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks, for the wonderful grace and virtue 
 declared in all thy Saints, from the beginning of the world, and chiefly in the glorious 
 and most blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and 
 in the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, whose examples (O Lord) and 
 stedl'astness in thy faith, and keeping thy holy Commandments, grant us to follow. We 
 commend unto thy mercy, O Lord, all other thy servants which are departed hence 
 from us, with the sign of faith, and now do rest in the sleep of peace : Grant unto them, 
 we beseech thee, thy mercy and everlasting peace, and that at the day of the general 
 Resurrection, we and all they which be of the mystical body of thy Son, may altogether 
 be set on his right hand, and hear that his most joyful voice, Come unto me, O ye that 
 he blessed of my Father, and possess the kingdom which is prepared for you from the 
 beginning of the world. Grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Medi- 
 ator and Advocate." 
 
 t " And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace, that with meek heart and 
 due reverence, they may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee When 
 in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. [And we commend commu-" 
 especially unto thy merciful goodness the congregation which is here assem- n ion, theso 
 bled in thy name, to celebrate the commemoration of the most precious death words thai 
 of thy Son, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.]" Then the petition for all in ad- f" c a ?£to 
 versity : after which as follows: " And we also bless thy holy name for all beieftout 
 those thy servants, who having finished their course in faith do now rest from 
 
 92 Tertull. ut supra, et de Coron. Mil. c. 3, 4, et Exhortat. ad Castitat. c. 11. Cypr. Ep. 
 1, et 55. Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. 4, c. 71. Arnob. adv. Gentes sub fine, 1. 4. Cyril. 
 Catech. Mystag. 5. Ambros. ut supra. Epiphan. Haer. 75. Aerian. n. 7. Chrysost. de 
 Sacerdot. lib. 6, cap. 4, et in Moral. Horn. 3, in Ep. ad Philip, et Horn. 41, in 1 Cor. 
 Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis gerenda, c. 4, et Confess. 1. 9, c. 13, et Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 
 41, 42, 43. 93 Script. Anglican, p. 467, 468. fl * Epistola ad Bucerum, as cited in 
 A Coal from the Altar, page 38. 
 
284 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 book of king Edward. And though the direct petition for the 
 faithful departed \s still discontinued, yet, were it not for the 
 restriction of the words, militant here on earth, they might be 
 supposed to be implied in our present form, when we beg of 
 God that we with them may be partakers of his heavenly 
 kingdom. 
 
 Sect. XII. — Of the Exhortations on the Sunday or Holy-day 
 
 before the Communion. 
 
 . Great mysteries ought to be ushered in with 
 
 necessary to the the solemnities of a great preparation : God gave 
 
 receiving the Sa- the Israelites three days' warning of his design to 
 
 publish the Law, 95 and ordered their festivals to 
 be proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet some time before. 96 
 The Paschal Lamb (the type of Christ in this sacrament) was 
 to be chosen and kept by them four days, to put them in mind 
 of preparing for the celebration of the passover : 97 and Chris- 
 tians, having more and higher duties to do in order to this holy 
 feast, ought not to have less time or shorter warning. Where- 
 fore, as good Hezekiah published, by particular expresses, his 
 intended passover long before ; 98 so hath our Church prudently 
 ordered timely notice to be given, that none might pretend to 
 stay away out of ignorance of the time, or unfitness for the 
 duty, but that all might come, and with due preparation. 
 
 §. 2. The ancient Church indeed had no such 
 no ExhortetfoS exhortations : for their daily, or at least weekly 
 ci " ie j primitive communions, made it known that there was then 
 
 no solemn assembly of Christians without it ; and 
 every one (not under censure) was expected to communicate. 
 But now, when the time is somewhat uncertain, and our long 
 omissions have made some of us ignorant, and others forget- 
 ful of this duty ; most of us unwilling, and all of us more or 
 less indisposed for it ; it was thought both prudent and ne- 
 cessary to provide these exhortations, to be read wlien the 
 Minister gives warning of tlie Communion, which he is always 
 
 their labours. And we yield unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks for the won- 
 derful grace and virtue declared in all thy servants, who have been the choice vessels 
 of thy grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations : most humbly be- 
 seeching thee, that we may have grace to follow the example of their stedfastness in 
 thy faith, and obedience to thy holy Commandments, that at the day of the general Re- 
 surrection, we, and all they which are of the mystical body of thy Son, may be set on 
 his right hand, and hear that his most joyful voice, Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
 herit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Grant this, O 
 Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen." 
 
 95 Exod.xix. 15. 9 6 Lev. xxv. 9. Numb. x. 2. 97 Exod. xii. 3, 6. ss 2 Chron. xxx. 
 
sect, xii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 285 
 
 to do, upon the Sunday or some Holy -day immediately pre- 
 ceding. 
 
 §.3. As to the composures themselves, they The usefulness 
 are so extraordinary suitable, that if every com- of these com- 
 municant would duly weigh and consider them, P osures - 
 they would be no small help towards a due preparation. The 
 first contains proper exhortations and instructions how to pre- 
 pare ourselves : the latter is more urgent, and applicable to 
 those who generally turn their backs upon those holy myste- 
 ries, and shews the danger of those vain and frivolous excuses 
 which men frequently make for their staying away. For 
 which reason it is appointed by the rubric to be used instead 
 of the former, whenever the Minister shall observe that the 
 people are negligent to come,* 
 
 * In the Common Prayer of 154!), only the first of these exhortations was inserted, 
 and that pretty different from our present one in words, though much the same in 
 sense : it was a little enlarged towards the conclusion in relation to auricular and se- 
 cret confessions, which I shall have another occasion to take notice of hereafter." And 
 in that book it was designed, as now, to be read on some day before the Communion 
 to which the people were to be exhorted. The second exhortation was not added till 
 1552. And then it was appointed to be used at the Communion-time (immediately after 
 the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church) " at certain times when the Curate 
 should see the people negligent to come to the holy Communion." And therefore it be- 
 gan, " We be come together at this time (dearly beloved brethren) to feed at the Lord's 
 Supper ; unto the which, in God's behalf, I bid you all that are here present," and so 
 on as in the present form, till after the words — " how severe punishment hangeth over 
 your heads for the same" — it went on thus, to reprove a custom, which it seems then 
 prevailed, of some people's standing gazing in the church (whilst others communicated) 
 without receiving. " And whereas ye offend God so sore in refusing this holy banquet, 
 I admonish, exhort, and beseech you, that unto this unkindness ye will not add any 
 more. Which thing ye shall do, if ye stand by as gazers and lookers on them that com- 
 municate, and be not partakers of the same yourselves. For what thing can this be 
 accounted else, than a further contempt and unkindness unto God ? Truly it is a great 
 unthankfulness to say, Nay, when ye be called ; but the fault is much greater when 
 men stand by, and yet will neither eat nor drink the holy Communion with others. I 
 pray you, what can this be else, but even to have the mysteries of Christ in derision i 
 It is said unto all, Take ye and eat ; take and drink ye all of this ; do this in remem- 
 brance of me. With what face then, or with "what countenance shall ye hear these 
 words ? What will this be else but a neglecting, a despising and mocking of the testa- 
 ment of Christ ? Wherefore rather than ye should do so, depart ye hence, and give 
 place to them that be godly disposed. But when you depart, I beseech you, ponder 
 with yourselves from whence ye depart. Ye depart from the Lord's table, ye depart 
 from your brethren, and from the banquet of most heavenly food. These things if ye 
 earnestly consider, ye shall by God's grace return to a better mind ; for the obtaining 
 whereof we shall make our humble petitions while we shall receive the holy Commu- 
 nion." And thus stood this form till the restoration of king Charles II., during all 
 which time that which is in our present book the first exhortation, stood the second in 
 the old books, as being " sometimes also to be said at the discretion of the Curate." 
 But in 16G2, they were both somewhat altered and transposed, and adapted to be used 
 upon a Sunday or Holy-day before the Communion, which occasioned the first sentence 
 to that which is at present our first exhortation to be then added. Though indeed 
 they are now all of them so altered in the expression, and transposed in their order, 
 that the more curious reader, that thinks the difference worth examining, must look 
 into the originals ; there being no way of giving him an exact account of them here, 
 but by transcribing them at length, which will take up more room than I know how 
 to allow. 
 
 »» Chap. xi. Sect. iv. » 
 
286 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi, 
 
 h w this rubric §* ^' -^ ow tne ruD nc that orders these exhort- 
 is to be reconciled ations to be read after tlie Sermon or Homily 
 SeNice^creed ** ended, may be reconciled to the rubric that 
 orders the Minister to give notice of the Commu- 
 nion before Sermon, I have already shewed upon that place. 
 
 Sect. XIII. — Of the Exhortation at the Communion. 
 
 Thedesi n of it ^ HE f° rmer exhortations are designed to in- 
 crease the numbers of the communicants, and 
 this to rectify their dispositions ; that so they may be not only 
 many but good. In the ancient Greek Church, besides all 
 other preparatory matters, when the congregation were all 
 placed in order to receive the Sacrament ; the Priest, even 
 then standing on the steps to be seen of all, stretched out his 
 hand, and lifted up his voice in the midst of that profound 
 silence, inviting the worthy, and warning the unworthy to for- 
 bear.* 100 Which if it were necessary in those blessed days, 
 how much more requisite is it in our looser age, wherein men 
 have learned to trample upon Church discipline, and to come 
 out of fashion at set times, whether they be prepared or not ! 
 Every one hopes to pass in the crowd ; but knowing the terror 
 of the Lord, though the people have been exhorted before, and 
 though they are now come with a purpose of communicating, 
 and are even conveniently placed for the receiving of the holy 
 Sacrament, yet the Priest again exhorts them in the words of 
 St. Paul, diligently to try aiid examine themselves before they 
 presume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup, &c.f 
 
 * Agreeably to which the clause in the first of our present exhortations, " Therefore 
 if any of you be a blasphemer of God," &c, to the words, " body and soul," was in all 
 the former books inserted in this exhortation, between the words " sundry kinds of 
 death," and — " judge therefore yourselves," &c. And in the first English Communion 
 Office published in the year 1547, the same clause was still more aptly appointed to be 
 said after this exhortation, " to them which were ready to take the Sacrament. After 
 which the Priest was to pause a while to see if any man would withdraw himself: (and 
 if he perceived any so to do, he was then to commune with him privately at convenient 
 leisure, and see whether he could with good exhortation bring him to grace.) After a 
 little pause, the Priest was to say, Ye that do truly," &C. 1 
 
 t In all the books between the first of king Edward and our present one, this ex- 
 hortation was to be added to one of the others, which, as I have shewed in the pre- 
 ceding note, were, during all that time, appointed to be used upon the day of Commu- 
 nion. But in king Edward's first book the rubric ordered this immediately to follow 
 the Sermon or Homily, i. e. " if the people were not exhorted "in the said Sermon or 
 Homily itself " to the worthy receiving of the holy Sacrament : " and that too only 
 where Communions were not frequent : for by the rubric that immediately follows the 
 exhortation in the same book, it is allowed, that " in cathedral churches or other places 
 where there is daily Communion, it shall be sufficient to read this exhortation above 
 written once in a month : and that in parish churches, upon the week-days, it may be 
 left unsaid." 
 100 Chrysost. Horn. 27, in ix. ad Hebr. torn. iv. p. 524, 529. i Sparrow's Collection, p. 22. 
 
sect, xiv.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 287 
 
 §. 2. The ordering that the communicants TheCommuni 
 shall be conveniently placed for the receiving of cants wben-and 
 the holy Sacrament, before the Minister reads how to be conve- 
 
 , J* , mently placed. 
 
 the exhortation, seems to have an eye to an old 
 custom, still retained in some country churches, where the 
 communicants kneel down in rows one behind another, and 
 there continue till the Minister comes to them. In the first 
 Common Prayer of king Edward, it is thus ordered, just after 
 the Offertory or Sentences : Then so many as shall be par- 
 takers of the holy Communion shall tarry still in the choir, 
 the men on the one side, and the women on the other side ; 
 where it may be remarked, that the separating the men from 
 the women, and allotting to each sex a distinct place, was 
 what was very strictly observed in the primitive Church. 2 
 
 Sect. XIV. — Of the Invitation. 
 
 The feast being now ready, and the guests pre- The d of fc 
 pared with due instruction, the Priest (who is 
 the steward of those mysteries) invites them to draw near ; 
 thereby putting them in mind, that they are now invited into 
 Christ's more special presence, to sit down with him at his 
 own table : (and therefore I think it would be more proper if 
 all the communicants were, at these words, to come from the 
 more remote parts of the Church as near to the Lord's table 
 as they could.) But then he adviseth them, in the words of 
 the primitive Liturgies, 3 (i. e. according to our present book,) 
 to draw near with faith, without which all their bodily ap- 
 proaches will avail them nothing, it being only by faith that 
 they can really draw near to Christ, and take this holy Sacra- 
 ment to their comfort. But seeing they cannot exercise their 
 faith as they ought, until they haVe heartily confessed and re- 
 pented of their sins ; therefore he further calls upon them to 
 make their humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneel- 
 ing upon their knees* 
 
 Sect. XV. — Of the Confession. 
 Besides the private confession of the closet, 
 and that made to the Priest in cases of great Jnu^S place! 
 doubt, there was anciently a general prayer for 
 forgiveness and mercy in the public service of the Church, used 
 
 * In king Edward's first book, it was — " to Almighty God, and to his holy Church 
 here gathered together in his name, meekly kneeling," &c. In all the other old ones— 
 " to Almighty God, before the congregation here gathered together in his holy name," &e. 
 
 8 Const. Apost. 1. 2, c. 57. 3 Me-rci (p6(iov ko.1 nicreuis iz^ooiXOt-re. Liturg. S 
 
 Chrys. et S. Jacob 
 
288 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 by all the communicants when they were come to the altar. 4 
 And since Christ's sufferings are here commemorated, it is 
 very reasonable we should confess our sins which were the 
 causes of them : and since we hope to have our pardon sealed, 
 we ought first with shame and sorrow to own our transgres- 
 sions, for his honour who so freely forgives them : which the 
 congregation here does in words so apposite and pathetical, 
 that if their repentance be answerable to the form, it is im- 
 possible it should ever be more hearty and sincere.* 
 
 Sect. XVI. — Of the Absolution. 
 ™ nAM ..t+««* When the discipline of the ancient Church 
 
 x ne necessity 01 f i ■ . 
 
 it before the sa- was in force, no notorious offender could escape 
 crament. ^ Q censures that his sin deserved : nor was he 
 
 admitted to the Sacrament without a public and solemn ab- 
 solution upon his repentance. But this godly discipline being 
 now every where laid aside, (to the great detriment of the 
 Church,) it is so much the more necessary to supply it by a 
 general Confession and Absolution : of which see more upon 
 the morning and evening service. 
 
 §. 2. As to this particular form, it shall suffice 
 Whyi J) S iace nthiS t0 note, that it is in imitation of that ancient form 
 of blessing recorded, Numb. vi. 24, &c. • And 
 since it is certain that there is such a power vested in the 
 Ministers of the Gospel, as to support the spirit of a dejected 
 penitent, by assuring him of a pardon in the name of God; 
 there can be no fitter opportunity to exercise it than now, viz. 
 when so many humbled sinners are kneeling before him, and 
 begging forgiveness at his hands : which therefore thus com- 
 ing accordingly from a person commissionated by Christ for 
 this end, ought to be received with faith and gratitude, since 
 it is the only way to quiet people's consciences, now revela- 
 tions are ceased. 
 
 Sect. XVII. — Of the Sentences of Scripture. 
 
 The advantage ^ T * s so necessary for every one that would 
 of them in this receive comfort and benefit by this blessed Sa- 
 place " crament, to have a lively faith, and a mind freed 
 
 * In all the Common Prayer Books " this general Confession -was to be made in the 
 name of all those that were minded to receive the Holy Communion, either by one of 
 !hem, or by one of the Ministers, or by the Priest himself:" but by the Scotch Liturgy 
 it was confined "to the Presbyter himself, or the Deacon," and from thence by our 
 own (upon the exception of the Presbyterians at the last review) " to one of the Min- 
 isters, both he and all the people humbly kneeling upon their knees." 
 
 * Chrys. Horn. 18. in 2 Cor. viii. torn. iii. p. 647, lin. 12, &c. 
 
sect xvin.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 289 
 
 from unreasonable fears ; that the Church, lest any should 
 doubt of the validity of the foregoing Absolution, hath subjoin- 
 ed these Sentences ; which are the very promises on which it is 
 grounded, and so overflowing with sweet and powerful com- 
 forts, that if duly considered they will satisfy the most fearful 
 souls, heal the most broken hearts, and utterly banish the 
 blackest clouds of sorrow and despair. 
 
 Sect. XVIII. — Of the Lauds and Anthem. 
 
 After we have exercised our charity, repent- 
 ance, and faith, the next part of the office is The ■gJE** ol 
 thanksgiving, which is so considerable a part of 
 our present duty, that it hath given name to the whole, and 
 caused it to be called the Eucharist or Sacrifice of Praise. 
 And here we begin with the Lauds and Anthem, which, toge- 
 ther with most of the remaining part of the office, are purely 
 primitive, near as old as Christianity itself, being to be found 
 almost verbatim amongst the ancient writers. 5 Having there- 
 fore exercised our faith upon the foregoing sentences, and so 
 got above this world, we are now ready to go into the other, 
 and to join with the glorified saints and angels, in praising 
 and adoring that God who hath done so great things for us. 
 In order to this, the Minister calls upon us to 
 lift up our hearts, viz. by a most quick and Pr ' ^m y ° Ur 
 lively faith in the most high God, the supreme 
 Governor of the whole world, which being ready to do, we 
 immediately answer, We lift them up unto the 
 Lord; and so casting off all thoughts oftheworld, £^^ 
 turn our minds to God alone. 
 
 §. 2. And our hearts being now all elevated together, and 
 in a right posture to celebrate the praises of God, the Minis^ 
 ter invites us all to join with him in doing it, pr Let ive 
 saying, Let us give thanks unto our Lord God: thanks, &c. 
 which the people having consented to and ap- Ans. it is meet 
 proved of, by saying, It is meet and right so to and nght ' &c ' 
 do ; he turns himself to the Lord's table, and acknowledge 
 eth to the divine Majesty there specially present, 
 that It is very meet, right, and our bounden F mll™8cc* y 
 duty, that we should at all times, and in all 
 places, give thanks, &c. 
 
 • Const. Apost. 1. 8. 12. Liturg. S. Jacob. S. Ch,rysost. S. Basil. —Cyril. Catech, 
 Mystag. 5. 
 
290 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap vt. 
 
 §. 3. But this, in the primitive Church, was 
 givfng e aiways S " only the introduction to the evxapivria, properly 
 U8 .ed in the pri- s0 called, which was a great and long thanks- 
 
 mitive Church. .. «. /-« j u n i? • n 
 
 giving to God for all his mercies or creation, 
 providence, and redemption, from whence the whole service 
 took the name of eucharist or thanksgiving. For in all the 
 ancient Liturgies, as soon as ever the aforesaid words were 
 pronounced, there was immediately subjoined a commemora- 
 tion of all that God had done for man from the foundation of 
 the world, and more particularly in the great and wonderful 
 mystery of our redemption. And in some part or other of 
 this solemn glorification, was always included the trisagion or 
 seraphical hymn that follows next in our own Liturgy ; which 
 was sung, as with us, by the Minister and whole congregation 
 jointly,* after which the Minister again went on alone to 
 finish the thanksgiving. We have no where else indeed so 
 long a thanksgiving as that in the Constitutions ; 6 but the 
 length of this is no argument against its antiquity. For Justin 
 Martyr, when he describes the Christian rites and mysteries, 
 says, that " as soon as the common prayers were ended, and 
 they had saluted one another with a kiss, bread and wine 
 was brought to him who presided over the brethren, who re- 
 ceiving them, gave praise and glory to the Father of all things, 
 through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and 
 make ei/xaptoriav ettl 7roXv, a very long thanksgiving, for the 
 blessings which he bestowed upon them." 7 Afterwards indeed. 
 as devotion grew cold, this long doxology was contracted ; 
 but still so that the two greatest blessings of God, i. e. the 
 creation and redemption by Christ, together with the words 
 of institution, were always set forth, and thanks given to God 
 for these things. And this is supposed to have been accord- 
 ing to our Saviour's own example. For the Jews at the Pass- 
 over constantly commemorated their redemption from Egypt, 
 their settlement in the good land which they then possessed, 
 and all the other blessings which God had bestowed upon 
 them : 8 and therefore it is not to be doubted but that as our 
 Saviour imitated the ceremonies of the Jews in so many other 
 
 * This is only to be understood of the latter part of it, where it begins with Holy, 
 holy, holy, &c., where the chorus came in ; the former part of it being only pronounced 
 by the Minister himself; and so it was used in our own Church during the lime of 
 king Edward's first Liturgy. 
 
 e L. 8, c. 12. * Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 86, p. 125, 126. Vide et Cyril. Catech. 
 
 Mystag. 5, n. 5 8 vide Fagium in Deut. viii. 
 
sect, xix.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 291 
 
 particulars of this holy Sacrament; so also, when he gave 
 thanks? he used a form to the same purpose ; only adding a 
 thanksgiving for the redemption of the world by his sufferings 
 and death, which was probably what he ordered his Apostles 
 to perform, when he commanded them to do this in remem- 
 brance of him, and to shew forth his death till lie come. 10 
 And accordingly we find, that all the ancient Liturgies have 
 an eucharistical prayer, agreeable in all points to that de- 
 scribed by Justin Martyr, (excepting in its length, to which 
 that in the Constitutions only comes up,) setting forth the mer- 
 cies of God in our creation and redemption, and particularly 
 in the death and resurrection of his Son. The Roman Missal, 
 I believe, was the first that omitted it ; and the omission of it 
 there might perhaps be the occasion of its not being taken 
 notice of when our own Liturgy was compiled. For the more 
 solemn festivals indeed there are some short prefaces provided 
 to commemorate the particular mercies of each season : but 
 upon ordinary occasions (as our Liturgy stands now) we have 
 no other thanksgiving than what these lauds contain. 
 
 Sect. XIX. — Of the Trisagium. 
 
 The Minister now looking upon himself and Therefore with 
 the rest' of the congregation as Communicants angels and arch- 
 with the Church triumphant ; and all of us ap- a "£ els - 
 prehending ourselves, by faith, as in the midst of that blessed 
 society; we join with them in singing forth the praises of 
 the most high God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, saying, 
 Therefore with angels, and archangels, and with all the com- 
 pany of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, ever- 
 more praising thee, and saying^ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
 of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory, \_Hosanna in 
 the highest, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,*~\ 
 Glory be to thee, Lord most high. 
 
 §. 2. That the angels were present at the per- 
 formance of divine mysteries, hath been the ^"beprSenfat 
 opinion of both Heathens and Christians ; u and the performance 
 that they are especially present at the Lord's Jj£ ivine myste ' 
 Supper, is generally received. 12 For since Jesus 
 
 * The words thus enclosed [ ] were only in the first hook of king Edward. 
 » Matt. xxvi. 2G. Mark xiv.23. Luke xxii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 24. ^ 10 Luke xxii. 19. 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 25. H Aaiuovas tniaKoirous Oeiayv tep&v, Ka'i nvajrip'ncv bpftaarw, esse di« 
 
 cit Plutarch, lib. de Orac. Angelo Orationis adhuc adstante. Tertull. de Orat. c. 12, p 
 134, B. 18 Chrys. in Ephes. i. Horn. 3, torn. iii. p. 778, 1. 30, 31. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 
 
 by his death hath united heaven and earth, it is fit that, in 
 this commemoration of his passion, we should begin to unite 
 our voices with the heavenly choir, with whom we hope to 
 praise him to all eternity. For which end the Christians of 
 the very first ages took this hymn into their office for the Sa- 
 crament, 13 being of divine original, 14 and from the word holy 
 thrice repeated in it, called by the Greeks Tpiaayiov, the Tri- 
 sagium, or Thrice Holy. 
 
 Sect. XX. — Of the proper Prefaces. 
 
 why to be re- On tne g reater festivals there are proper pre- 
 
 peated eight days faces appointed, which are also to be repeated, 
 in case there be a Communion, for seven days 
 after the festivals themselves,* (excepting that for Whit-Sun- 
 day, which is to be repeated only six days after, because 
 Trinity-Sunday, which is the seventh, hath a preface peculiar 
 to itself;) to the end that the mercies may be the better re- 
 membered by often repetition, and also that all the people 
 (who in most places cannot communicate all in one day) may 
 have other opportunities, within those eight days, to join in 
 praising God for such great blessings. 
 
 ■ §.2. The reason of the Church's lengthening 
 
 va^why length- out these high feasts for several days, is plain : 
 I verai da s° r **" ^ e su bj ect - matter of them is of so high a nature, 
 and so nearly concerns our salvation, that one 
 day would be too little to meditate upon them, and praise 
 God for them as we ought. A bodily deliverance may justly 
 require one day of thanksgiving and joy : but the deliveranc 
 of the soul by the blessings commemorated on those times, 
 deserves a much longer time of praise and acknowledgment. 
 Since therefore it would be injurious to Christians to have 
 their joy and thankfulness for such mercies confined to one 
 day; the Church, upon the times when these unspeakable 
 blessings were wrought for us, invites us, by her most season- 
 able commands and counsels, to fill our hearts with joy and 
 thankfulness, and let them overflow eight days together. 
 
 §. 3. The reason of their being fixed to eight 
 
 ^hfdays? days, * s taken from the practice of the Jews, 
 
 who by God's appointment observed their greater 
 
 festivals, some of them for seven, and one, viz. the feast o| 
 
 * In king Edward's first book they were only appointed for the days themselves. 
 " 3 See the note in page 291. l * Isa. vi. 3. 
 
sect, xxi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 293 
 
 Tabernacles, for eight days. 15 And therefore the primitive 
 Church, thinking that the observation of Christian festivals 
 (of which the Jewish feasts were only types and shadows) 
 ought not to come short of them, lengthened out their higher 
 feasts to eight days. 
 
 Though others give a quite different and mystical reason, 
 viz. that as the octave or eighth day signifies Eternity, (our 
 whole lives being but the repetition or revolution of seven 
 days;) so the Church, by commanding us to observe these great 
 feasts for eight days, (upon the last of which especially, great 
 part of the solemnity is repeated which was used upon the first,) 
 seems to hint to us, that if we continue the seven days of this 
 mortal life in a due and constant service and worship of God ; 
 we shall, upon the eighth day of eternity, return to the first 
 happy state we were created in. 
 
 §. 4. But whatever the rise of this custom was, 
 we are assured that the whole eight days were The pr e s £s fthe 
 very solemnly observed : on which they had al- 
 ways some proper preface relating to the peculiar mercy of 
 the feast they celebrated ; to the end that all, who received at 
 any of those times, should, besides the general praises offered 
 up for ajl God's mercies, make a special memorial proper to 
 the festival. 
 
 §.5. In the Roman Church they had ten of 
 them, 16 but our reformers have only retained five The ;££*■ of 
 of the most ancient ; all which (except that for 
 Trinity-Sunday, retained by reason of the great mystery it ce- 
 lebrates) are concerning the principal acts of our Redemption, 
 viz. the Nativity, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Saviour, 
 and of his sending the Holy Ghost to comfort us. 
 
 Sect. XXL— Of the Address. 
 The nearer we approach to these holy myste- 
 ries, the greater reverence we ought to express; it i e n P th£ n piace. 
 for since it is out of God's mere grace and good- 
 ness, that we have the honour to approach his table ; it is at 
 least our duty to acknowledge it to be a free and undeserved 
 favour, agreeing rather to the mercy of the giver, than to the 
 
 i* Leviticus xxiii. 36. w Viz. For Low-Sunday, for Ascension-day, for Pentecost, 
 for Christmas-day, for the Apparition of our Lord, for the Apostles, for the Holy Trin- 
 ity, for the Cross, for the Lent-Fast, and for the Blessed Virgin. Johnson's Ecclesias- 
 tical Laws, A. D. 1175, 14. Though I do not know what should he meant hy the Appa. 
 rition of our Lord except it he his Epiphany, or else his Transfiguration. 
 
294 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 deserts of the receivers. And therefore, lest our exultations 
 should savour of too much confidence, we now allay them with 
 this act of humility, which the Priest offers up in the name of 
 all them that receive the Communion ,• therein excusing his 
 own and the people's unworthiness, in words taken from the 
 most ancient Liturgies. 
 
 §. 2. In the Scotch Common Prayer this Ad- 
 communion-of- 16 dress is ordered to be said just before the Min 
 fice in the Scotch ister receives : and in the same place it stands 
 in the first Liturgy of king Edward. Though 
 the whole Communion-office in king Edward's first book is so 
 very different, as to the order of it, from what it is now, that 
 there can be no shewing how it stood then, but by a particu- 
 lar detail, which I shall therefore give in the margin.* The 
 Scotch Liturgy is something different from this,f though either 
 of them I take to be in a more primitive method than our own. 
 
 Sect. XXII. — Of the Prayer of Consecration. 
 The ancient Greeks and Romans would not taste of their 
 
 * The beginning of the Communion-office in king Edward's first book, as far as to 
 the Collect lor the king, I have already given in page 262. After which it proceeds in 
 this order. The Epistle ; the Gospel ; the Nicene Creed ; then the Exhortation to he 
 used at the time of the Communion ; and after that stands the Exhortation to be used 
 on some day before : then the Sentences ; the Lauds, Anthem, and Prefaces ; the Prayer 
 for " the whole State of Christ's Church," with the Prayer of Consecration ; the Prayer 
 of Oblation, (of which hereafter ;) the Lord's Prayer, with this introduction, " As our Sa- 
 viour Christ hath commanded and taught us, we are bound to say, our Father." After 
 which the Priest was to say, " The peace of the Lord be always with you :" the Clerks, 
 " And with thy spirit." Then the Priest, " Christ our Paschal Lamb is offered for us, 
 once for all, when he bare our sins in his body on the Cross ; for he is the very Lamb of 
 God that taketh away the sins of the world : wherefore let us keep a joyful and holy 
 feast with the Lord." Then came the Invitation, the Confession, the Absolution, with 
 the comfortable Sentences out of Scripture : after those the Prayer of Address j imme- 
 diately after which the Minister received, and distributed to the Congregation. And 
 during the Communion time the Clerks were to sing, beginning as soon as the Priest 
 received, " O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy upon 
 us : O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Grant us thy peace." When 
 the Communion was ended, the Clerks were to sing the Post-Communion , which con- 
 sisted of the following Sentences of Scripture, which were to be "said or sung, every 
 day one," viz. Matt. xvi. 24. xxiv. 13. Luke i. 68, 74, 75. xii. 43, 46, 47. John iv. 23. v. 
 14. viii. 31, 32. xii. 36. xiv. 21. xv. 7. Rom. viii. 31, 32, 33, 34. xiii. 12. 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. 
 \ii. 16, 17. vi. 20. Ephes. v. 1, 2. This done, the Salutation passed between the Minister 
 Mid the People, " The Lord be with you. And with thy spirit." And then the Minis- 
 ter concluded the office with the second prayer in our present Post-Communion and the 
 blessing. How these several forms, or the rubrics that belong to them, differ from the 
 forms that we use now, I must shew as I am treating upon the several particulars. I 
 only set down the order of them here, to give the reader a general view of the whole. 
 
 t In the Scotch Liturgy, after the prayer of Consecration follows immediately a pray- 
 er of Oblation, (which is the same with the first prayer that follows the Lord's Prayer 
 in our Post-Communion, beginning, "O Lord and heavenly Father," &c, but intro- 
 duced with a proper introduction, which shall be given by and by.) After this prayer of 
 Oblation follows the Lord's Prayer ; then comes the Address, and then the Priest re- 
 ceives and administers. After all have communicated is said the prayer, " Almighty 
 and everliving God," &c, and so on as in ours. 
 
SKcr. xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 295 
 
 ordinary meat and drink till they had hallowed 
 it by giving the first parts of it to their gods : " The a JJ^ uit y ot 
 the Jews would not eat of their sacrifice till 
 Samuel came to bless it : 1S and the primitive Christians al- 
 ways began their common meals with a solemn prayer for a 
 blessing : 19 a custom so universal, that it is certainly a part of 
 natural religion : how much more then ought we to expect 
 the prayers of the Priest over this mysterious food of our 
 souls, before we eat of it ! especially since our Saviour him- 
 self did not deliver this bread and wine until he had conse- 
 crated them by blessing them, and giving thanks." So that 
 this prayer is the most ancient and essential part of the whole 
 Communion-office ; and there are some who believe that the 
 Apostles themselves, after a suitable introduction, used the 
 latter part of it, from those words, who in the same night? 1 
 &c, and it is certain that no Liturgy in the world hath altered 
 that particular. 
 
 §. 2. But besides this, there was always in- A prayer for the 
 serted in the primitive forms, a particular pe- descent of the 
 tition for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon ^ajj uledb?" 
 the Sacramental Elements, which was also con- the primitive 
 tinued-in the first Liturgy of king Edward VI., 
 in very express and open terms. Hear us, merciful Fa- 
 ther, we beseech thee, and with thy Holy Spirit and Word 
 vouchsafe to bl-\-ess and sanc-\-tify these thy gifts and crea- 
 tures of Bread and Wine, that they may be unto tis the Body 
 and Blood of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ, who 
 in the same night, &c. This, upon the scruples of Bucer, 
 (whom I am sorry I have so often occasion to name,) was 
 left out at the review in the fifth of king Edward ; and the 
 following sentence, which he was pleased to allow of, inserted 
 in its stead ; viz. Hear us, merciful Father, we most humbly 
 beseech thee, and grant that we receiving these thy creatures of 
 Bread and Wine, according to thy Son our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ's holy Institution, in remembrance of his Death and Pas- 
 sion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood, who 
 in the same night, &c. In these words, it is true, the sense of 
 the former is still implied, and consequently by these the 
 Elements are now consecrated, and so become the Body and 
 Blood of our Saviour Christ. 
 
 M Alex, ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. v. c. 21. 18 1 Samuel ix. 13. w Tert. Apol. 
 
 c. 39, p. 32, B. «° Matt. xxvi. 26. 1 Cor. xi. 24. ^ Alcuin. de Divin. Offlc. c. 3$>. 
 
296 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 In the rubric indeed, after the form of Ad- 
 JttrUnitJd^hJ ministration, the Church seems to suppose that 
 C h° n Ei cration ° f ^ ie Consecration is made by the words of Insti- 
 tution : for there it says, that if the consecrated 
 Bread and Wine he all spent before all have communicated, 
 the Priest is to consecrate more according to the form before 
 'prescribed ; beginning at [Our Saviour Christ in the same 
 night, he.'] for the blessing of the Bread : and at [Likewise 
 after supper, &c] for the blessing of the Cup. This rubric 
 was added in the last review : but to what end, unless to save 
 the Minister some time, does not appear. But what is very 
 remarkable is, that it was taken from the Scotch Liturgy, 
 which expressly calls the words of Institution the words of 
 Consecration ;* though the compilers of it had restored the 
 sentence that had been thrown out of king Edward's second 
 Common Prayer, and united it with the clause in our pre- 
 sent Liturgy,f imagining, one would think, that the Ele- 
 ments were not consecrated without them. For though all 
 Churches in the world have, through all ages, used the 
 words of Institution at the time of Consecration ; yet none, I 
 believe, except the Church of Rome, ever before attributed 
 the Consecration to the bare pronouncing of those words 
 only : that was always attributed, by the most ancient Fathers, 
 to the prayer of the Church. 23 The Lutherans and Calvinists 
 indeed both agree with the Papists, that the Consecration is 
 made by the bare repeating the words of Institution; 23 the 
 reason perhaps of which is because the words of Institution are 
 the only words recorded by the Evangelists and St. Paul, as 
 spoken by our Saviour when he administered to his disciples. 
 
 * "To the end there may be little left, he that officiates is required to consecrate 
 with the least, and then if there be want, the words of Consecration may be repeated 
 again, over more, either Bread or Wine : the Presbyter beginning at these words in 
 the Prayer of Consecration, (Our Saviour in the night that he was betrayed, &c.)" 
 Scotch Liturgy, in the fifth rubric at the end of the Communion-office. 
 
 t " Hear us, O merciful Father, we most humbly beseech thee, and of thy Almighty 
 goodness vouchsafe so to bless and sanctify with thy Word and Holy Spirit these thy 
 gifts and creatures of Bread and Wine, that they may be usto us the Body and Blood 
 of thy most dearly beloved Son ; so that we receiving them according to thy Son our 
 Saviour's holy Institution, in remembrance of his Death and Passion, may be par- 
 takers of the same his most precious Body and Blood; who in the night," &c. Scotch 
 Liturgy. 
 
 28 Iqv hi evxn<: — evxapt(yrt]OetcTav rpo<priv. Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 86, p. 129. Upo<r 
 afouevou? aprovt f-trOtouev <rS)na yevouevov? dia tt]v evxwv. Orig. contra Cels. lib. 8. 
 See also Constit. Apost. 1. 8, c. 12. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. Mystag. 3. p. 289. Optat. 
 adv. Parmen. lib 6. Basil, de Spir. Sanct. c. 27. Chrysost. Homil in Ooemeterii 
 Appellationem. August, de Trinitat. 1. 3, c. 4. » See their Book of lleformation 
 of Doctrine, Administration of their Sacraments, &c. printed at London, by John 
 Day, 1547. 
 
«ect. xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 297 
 
 But then it should be considered, that it is plain enough that 
 our Saviour used other words upon the same occasion, though 
 the very words are not recorded : for the Evangelists tell us, 
 that he gave thanks and blessed the Bread and Wine : and 
 this sure must have been done in other words than those 
 which he spoke at the delivery of them to his disciples : for 
 blessing and thanksgiving must be performed by some words 
 that are addressed to God, and not by any words directed to 
 men : and therefore the words which our Saviour spake to 
 his disciples could not be the whole Consecration of the Ele- 
 ments, but rather a declaration of the effect which was pro- 
 duced by his consecrating or blessing them. And therefore I 
 humbly presume, that if the Minister should at the Consecra- 
 tion of fresh Elements, after the others are spent, repeat again 
 the whole form of Consecration, or at least from those words, 
 Hear us, merciful Father, &c, he would answer the end 
 of the rubric, which seems only to require the latter part of 
 the form from those words, who in the same nighty &c. be al- 
 ways used at such Consecration. 
 
 And this is certainly a very essential part of the service. For 
 during the repetition of these words, the Priest performs to 
 God the representative sacrifice of the death and passion of 
 his Son. By taking the bread into his hands, and breaking 
 it, he makes a memorial to him of our Saviour's body, broken 
 upon the cross ; and by exhibiting the wine, he reminds him 
 of his blood there shed for the sins of the world ; and by laying 
 his hands upon each of them at the same time that he repeats 
 those words, Take, eat, this is my body, &c, and Drink ye all 
 of this, &c, he signifies and acknowledges that this comme- 
 moration of Christ's sacrifice so made to God, is a means in- 
 stituted by Christ himself to convey to the communicants the 
 benefits of his death and passion, viz. the pardon of our sins, 
 and God's grace and favour for the time to come. 
 For this reason we find, that it was always the bread arer " 
 practice of the ancients, in consecrating the Eu- ^^JEn- 
 charist, to break the bread, (after our Saviour's cient church in 
 example,) to represent his passion and cruci- E^St." 8 * 116 
 fixion. 24 The Roman Church indeed, instead of 
 breaking the bread for the communicants to partake of it, only 
 breaks a single wafer into three parts, (of which no one par- 
 si See this proved in Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, hook 15, chap. 3, vol. vi. page 
 713, &c. 
 
298 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 takes,) for the sake of retaining a shadow at least of the ancient 
 custom. They acknowledge, it is true, that this is an altera- 
 tion from the primitive practice : but then they urge that they 
 had good reasons for making it, viz. lest in breaking the 
 bread some danger might happen of scattering or losing some 
 of the crumbs or particles ; 25 as if Christ himself could not 
 have foreseen what dangers might happen, or have given as 
 prudent orders as the pope, concerning his own institution. 
 
 "Very judiciously, therefore, did our good re- 
 cross n L^th h er he f° rmers (though they ordered these words before 
 ceremony that rehearsed to be said, turning still to the altar, 
 auh^sameSme. foUhout any elevation or shewing the sacrament 
 to the people, 26 yet) restore these other ceremo- 
 nies to avoid superstition: and yet this very restoration of 
 them is charged as superstitious by Bucer ; 27 who therefore 
 objects to them, and prevails for the leaving them all out, as 
 well as the above-mentioned petition for the descent of the 
 Holy Ghost, together with the crossings that were then also 
 used during the pronunciation of the said petition. The tak- 
 ing of the Bread and the Cup into the hands, has indeed 
 since been restored, viz. first to the Scotch Liturgy, and then 
 to our own, even at the request of the Presbyterians, at the 
 last review. 28 But the signing of them with the cross has ever 
 since been discontinued : though I do not know that there is 
 an ancient Liturgy in being, but what shews that this sign was 
 always made use of in some part or other of the office of Com- 
 munion. 29 Such a number of crossings indeed as the Roman 
 Missal enjoins, renders the service theatrical ; and are not to 
 be met with in any other Liturgy : but one or two we always 
 find ; so much having been thought proper, on this solemn 
 occasion, to testify that we are not ashamed of the Cross of 
 Christ, and that the solemn service we are then about is per- 
 formed in honour of a crucified Saviour. And therefore as 
 the Church of England has thought fit to retain this ceremony 
 in the ministration of one of her Sacraments, I see not why 
 she should lay it aside in the ministration of the other. For 
 that may very well be applied to it in the ministration of the 
 Eucharist, which the Church herself has declared of the Cross 
 
 »s Salmero. Tract. 30. in Act. Ap. Chamier. de Euch. 1. 7, c. 11, n. 26, p. 384. 
 
 26 Rubric after the prayer of Consecration in the first hook of king Edw. VI. 
 
 87 Censur. apud Script. Anglican, p. 472. ■* See the Proceedings of the Commis- 
 sioners, &c. p. 18, and the Reply, p. 130. 29 Vide et Chrysostom. Demonstrat. Quod 
 Christus sit Deus, c. 9, et Aug. Horn. 118, in Johan. 
 
sect, xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 299 
 
 in Baptism, viz. That it was held in the primitive Church as 
 well by the Greeks as the Latins, with one consent, and great 
 \ applause : at what time, if any had opposed themselves against 
 it, they would certainly have been censured as enemies of the 
 name of the Cross, and consequently of Christ's merits, the sign 
 whereof they could no better endure. 20 
 
 §. 3. But besides this, our Liturgy at that time Theprayerof 0b - 
 suffered a more material alteration : the prayer lation mangled 
 of Oblation, which by the first bo6k of king Ed- and dis P laced - 
 ward was ordered to be used after the prayer of Consecration, 
 (and which has since been restored to the Scotch Common 
 Prayer,*) being half laid aside, and the rest of it thrown into 
 an improper place; as being enjoined to be said by our pre- 
 sent rubric, in that part of the office which is to be used after 
 the people have communicated ; whereas it was always the 
 practice of the primitive Christians to use it during the act 
 of Consecration. For the holy Eucharist was, from the very 
 first institution, esteemed and received as a proper sacrifice, 
 and solemnly offered to God upon the altar, before it was re- 
 ceived and partaken of by the communicants. 31 In conformity 
 whereunto, it was bishop Overall's practice to use the first 
 prayer -in the Post-Communion office between the Consecra- 
 tion and the Administering, 32 even when it was otherwise 
 ordered by the public Liturgy. 
 
 §. 4. In the beginning of this prayer, instead A vanous read . 
 of those words, one oblation of himself once ing in this 
 offered, which are now printed in most Common P ra y er - 
 Prayer Books : I have seen some that read own oblation of 
 himself once offered ,- and so, among others, does Dr. Nichols 
 give it us, in his edition of it, which he says he corrected 
 from a sealed book ; though in several sealed books which 
 
 * In the first hook of king Edward, and in the Scotch Liturgy, the first prayer in 
 our Post-Communion is ordered immediately to follow the prayer of Consecration with 
 this beginning : " Wherefore, O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the Institution 
 of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we thy humble servants do cele- 
 brate and make here before thy divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, the memorial 
 which thy Son hath willed us to make; having in remembrance his blessed Passion, 
 mighty Resurrection, and glorious Ascension, rendering unto thee most hearty thanks 
 for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same : entirely desiring thy fa- 
 therly goodness," &c, as the first prayer goes on in our Post-Communion. And in 
 king Edward's book, towards the end of the same prayer, after the words, " Our bound- 
 en duty and service," it follows thus : " and command these our prayers and suppli- 
 cations, by the ministry of thy holy angels, to be brought up into thy holy tabernacle, 
 before the sight of thy divine Majesty, not weighing our merits," &c. 
 
 3° Can. ?0, A. D. 1603. 31 The reader may see the subject exhausted to the utmost 
 satisfaction, by the learned and reverend Mr. Johnson, in his treatise on the Unbloody 
 Sacrifice and Altar. 3 * See Dr. Nichols's addit. Notes, p. 49. 
 
300 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vx. 
 
 I have collated myself, I have always found it one, as it is 
 generally in the common books. However, the words, as 
 they are, are not a tautology, (as some object,) but very copi- 
 ous and elegant, and alluding to that portion of Scripture in 
 Hebrews x. where the one oblation of Christ is opposed to the 
 many kinds of sacrifices under the law, and the once offered 
 to the repetition of those sacrifices. 
 
 §. 5. Dr. Nichols, in his note upon this prayer, 
 rtanda"thfs r to nas d envere d his opinion, that it ought to be said 
 prayer, and in the by the Minister upon his knees ; and the reason 
 Son office? U " ne gives for it is, because it is a prayer. But that 
 reason would hold for kneeling at several other 
 prayers both in this and in other offices, which yet the rubric 
 directs shall be used standing. As to this prayer indeed, the 
 rubric does not mention any posture that the Minister shall 
 be in at the saying it : for as to those words, standing before 
 the table, I am of opinion, that they only relate to the posture 
 of the Minister whilst he is ordering the elements ; though 
 in the Old Common Prayer Book it is very plain that they 
 referred to the posture in which the Minister was to say the 
 prayer ; the rubric then being no more than this, Then the 
 Minister standing up, shall say as followeth. The rubric in 
 the Scotch Liturgy is something larger, but, as I shall shew 
 in the next paragraph, directly orders the Priest to stand. 
 But as the rubric is now enlarged, the construction shews that 
 the word standing must refer to another thing. However, 
 since the rubric, before the additions to it, was so very express 
 for the Minister's standing at the Consecration ; I think it is 
 very probable, that if they who made those additions had in- 
 tended any alteration of the posture, they would certainly have 
 expressed it. For Ministers that had been always used to 
 stand when they consecrated, could never imagine that the 
 new rubric directed them to kneel, when there was not one 
 word of kneeling, but an express direction for standing, at the 
 ordering of the elements, without any following prescription 
 for kneeling at this prayer, even in this new rubric. And I 
 take it for granted, that whenever the Church does not direct 
 the Minister to kneel, it supposes him to stand. Though Dr. 
 Nichols will not allow of this ; " because," he says, " there is 
 not one rubric which obliges the Minister to kneel in all the 
 Post-Communion service ; and yet he does not know any one 
 that has contended for the posture of standing in the perform- 
 
sect, xxii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 301 
 
 ance of that part of the service." What the doctor has known, 
 I cannot tell : but I can affirm the direct contrary, that I never 
 knew one that contended for the posture of kneeling in the 
 performance of that part of the service. But if any have done 
 so, I am apt to think that they act contrary to the intention of 
 the Church. For that she supposes the Minister to stand dur- 
 ing that part of the service, I think is plain from her not order- 
 ing him to stand up whilst he gives the blessing, which she 
 certainly would have done, if she had supposed him to have 
 been kneeling before. And indeed in most parts of the whole 
 Communion-office the Priest is directed to stand. In the be- 
 ginning of the office he is ordered to say the Lord's Prayer, 
 with the Collect following, standing ; and so he is to con- 
 tinue whilst he repeats the Commandments : then follows one 
 of the two Collects for the king, the Priest standing as before. 
 Whilst he says the prayer for the whole state of Christ's 
 Church, there is no posture mentioned : but since both the 
 sentences before it, and the exhortation (at the time of Com- 
 munion) after it, are without doubt to be said standing, and 
 yet no mention made that there shall be any change of posture 
 during all that time ; it seems very evident that the Church 
 designed that prayer to be said standing. At the general con- 
 fession indeed it is very fit that the Minister should kneel, and 
 therefore he is there directed to do so. And though anyone 
 knows in reason that he should stand at the absolution, yet 
 that too is particularly mentioned in the rubric. From thence 
 again to the address, before the prayer of Consecration, that 
 being all an act of praise, he is to stand: but there again he 
 is directed to kneel : but then at the end of it he is ordered to 
 stand up, and, after the ordering of the bread and wine, to say 
 the prayer of consecration, without any direction to kneel. 
 Nor indeed would that be a proper posture for him whilst he 
 is performing an act of authority, as the consecrating the ele- 
 ments must be allowed to be. Nor is he from hence to the 
 end of the office to kneel any more, except just during the 
 time of his own receiving. So that through the whole office 
 he is ordered to kneel but three times, viz. at the general con- 
 fession, the prayer of address, and at his receiving the ele- 
 ments : which being three places where there least wants a 
 rubric to direct him to kneel, (since, if there was no such 
 rubric, a Minister would of his own accord kneel down at those 
 times,) and yet there being an express direction at each of 
 
302 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 those places for him to kneel ; it is very evident, that where 
 the rubric gives no such direction, the Minister is always to 
 stand. 
 
 §. 6. If it be asked whether the Priest is to 
 Pries?beS e say sa ^ tms P raver standing before the table, or at 
 this prayer stand- the north-end of it ; I answer, at the north-end 
 Star: ^ the * ^ : f° r > according to the rules of grammar, the 
 participle standing must refer to the verb order- 
 ed, and not to the verb say. So that whilst the Priest is or- 
 dering the bread and wine, he is to stand before the table : 
 but when he says the prayer, he is to stand so as that he may 
 with the more readiness and deeeney break the bread be/ore 
 the people, which must be on the north-side. For if he stood 
 before the table, his body would hinder the people from see- 
 ing : so that he must not stand there : and consequently he 
 must stand on the north-side ; there being, in our present ru- 
 bric, no other place mentioned for performing any part of this 
 office. In the Romish Church indeed they always stand be- 
 fore the altar during the time of consecration ; in order to 
 prevent the people from being eye-witnesses of their operation 
 in working their pretended miracle : and in the Greek Church 
 they shut the chancel door, or at least draw a veil or curtain 
 before it, I suppose, upon the same account. 33 But our 
 Church, that pretends no such miracle, enjoins, we see, the di- 
 rect contrary to this, by ordering the Priest so to order the 
 bread and wine, that he may with the more readiness and 
 decency break the bread, and take the cup into his hands, be- 
 fore the people. And with this view, it is probable, the Scotch 
 Liturgy ordered, that during the time of consecration the 
 presbyter should stand at such a part of the holy table, where 
 he may with the more ease and decency use both his hands. 
 
 Sect. XXIII. — Of the Form of Administration. 
 
 The holy symbols being thus consecrated, the 
 mentsto btie- communicants must not rudely take every one 
 Kveredby the his own part ; because God, who is the master of 
 Smunican?.' 11 the feast, hath provided stewards to divide to 
 every one their portion. Some persons indeed 
 have disliked the Minister's delivering the holy elements to 
 each communicant ; pretending that it is contrary to the prac- 
 tice of our Saviour, who bid the Apostles take the cup and di- 
 
 33 Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 135. 
 
sect, xxin.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 303 
 
 vide it among themselves. u But one would think that any 
 one that reads the context would perceive that this passage 
 does not relate to the eucharist, but to the paschal supper; 
 since it appears so evidently from the nineteenth and twenti- 
 eth verses of the same chapter, that the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper was not instituted till after that cup was drank. 
 But as to the manner of his delivering the Sacrament, the 
 Scriptures are wholly silent ; and consequently we have no 
 other means to judge what it was, but by the practice of the 
 first Christians, who doubtless, as far as was convenient and 
 requisite, imitated our Saviour in this as well as they did in 
 other things : and therefore since it was the general practice 
 among them for the Minister to deliver the elements to each 
 communicant, we have as much authority and reason as can 
 be desired to continue that practice still. 
 
 §. 2. The Minister therefore that celebrateth 
 is first to receive the communion in both kinds Fir c s 1 t e rJ y the 
 himself ; then to proceed to deliver the same to 
 the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner, (i. e. in 
 both kinds,) if any be present, (that they may help the chiej 
 Minister, as the old Common Prayer has it, or him that cele- 
 brateth, as it is in the Scotch Liturgy,) and after 
 that to the people also in order. And this is con- n people. 
 sonant to the practice of the primitive Church, 
 in which it was always the custom for the clergy to commu- 
 nicate within the rails of the altar, and before the Sacrament 
 was delivered to the people. 35 
 
 §. 3. The rubric further directs, that the Com- . ndg 
 
 munion must be delivered both to the clergy 
 and laity into their hands ? which was the most primitive and 
 ancient way of receiving. 36 In St. Cyril's time they received 
 it into the hollow of their right hand, holding their left hand 
 under their right in the form of a cross. 37 And in some few 
 ages afterwards, some indiscreet persons pretending greater 
 reverence to the elements, as if they were defiled with their 
 hands, put themselves to the charges of providing little saucers 
 or plates of gold to receive the bread, until they were forbid- 
 den by the sixth general Council. 38 Another abuse the Church 
 of Rome brought in, where the Priest puts it into the people's 
 
 »* Luke xxii. 17. 33 Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 13. Concil. Laod. Can. 19. Concil. Tolet. 
 4, Can. 17. * Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 43, p. 245, B. Chrys. in Ephes. i. Horn. 3, 
 
 torn. iii. p. 778, lin. 16. u Cyril. Catech. Myst. 5, § 18, p. 300. ** Can. 103, torn. yi. 
 col. 1186, A. 
 
304 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 mouths, lest a crumb should fall aside ; which custom was 
 also retained in the first book of king Edward VI., though a 
 different reason was there alleged ; the rubric ordering that 
 although it be read in ancient writers that the people many 
 years past, received at the Priest's hands, the Sacrament of the 
 Body of Christ in their own hands, and no commandment of 
 Christ to the contrary ; yet forasmuch as they many times con- 
 veyed the same secretly away, kept it with them, and diversely 
 abused it to superstition and wickedness : lest any such thing 
 hereafter should be attempted, and that an uniformity might be 
 used throughout the tvhole realm, it was thought convenient the 
 people shoidd commonly receive the Sacrament of Christ's 
 Body in their mouths, at the Priest's hand.™ But however 
 Bucer censuring it, as savouring too much of an unlawful 
 honour done to the elements, 40 it was discontinued at the next 
 review, when the old primitive way of delivering it into the 
 people's hands was ordered in the room of it. 
 
 §. 4. The communicants are enjoined, whilst 
 probabiyre- S tnev receive this blessed Sacrament, to be all 
 ceived in a pos- m eekly kneeling. What posture the Apostles 
 
 ture of adoration. ■ a •- • • L • i i 
 
 received it in, is uncertain ; but we may proba- 
 bly conjecture that they received it in a posture of adoration. 
 For it is plain that our Saviour blessed and gave thanks both 
 for the bread and wine ; and prayers and thanksgivings, we 
 all know, were always offered up to God in a posture of ador- 
 ation : and therefore we may very safely conclude that our 
 blessed Saviour, who was always remarkable for outward re- 
 verence in devotion, gave thanks for the bread and wine in 
 an adoring posture. 
 
 Now it is very well known that it was a rule with the Jews 
 to eat of the passover to satiety : and therefore, since they 
 had already satisfied hunger, they cannot be supposed to have 
 eaten or drank so much of the holy eucharist as that they 
 needed repose while they did it : and since, as we have al- 
 ready hinted, they rose from their seats to bless the bread, it 
 Cannot be imagined, that, without any reason, they would re- 
 solve to sit down again during the moment of eating it ; and 
 then, though they rose immediately a second time at the bless- 
 ing which was performed before the delivery of the cup, 
 that they immediately sat down again to taste the wine, as if 
 
 89 See the last rubric at the end of the Communion-office in kiDg Edward's fust book. 
 *° Script. Anglican, p. 462. 
 
sect, xxm.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 305 
 
 they could neither eat nor drink the smallest quantity without 
 sitting. 
 
 This indeed does not amount to a demonstration, but is yet 
 a very probable conjecture ; and shews how groundlessly they 
 argue, who, from the Apostles eating the passover sitting or 
 leaning upon the leftside, (which was the table-gesture among 
 those nations,) conclude, that they ate the eucharist in the 
 same posture, because it was celebrated at the same time. 
 
 But besides, we may observe that the passover The ex ]e of 
 itself was, at the first institution of it, command- the Apostles does 
 ed to be eaten standing and in haste? 1 to express not bind us * 
 the haste they were in to be delivered out of their slavery and 
 bondage : but afterwards, when they were settled in the Land 
 of Promise, they ate it in a quite contrary posture, viz. sitting ', 
 or lying down to it, as to a feast, to signify they were then at 
 rest, and in possession of the land. And with this custom 
 (though we do not find any where that it was ever commanded, 
 or so much as warranted by God) did our blessed Saviour 
 comply, and therefore doubtless thought that the alteration of 
 the circumstances was a justifiable reason for changing the 
 ceremonies. But was it ever so certain that a table-gesture 
 was used at the institution of the Eucharist, yet it is very rea- 
 sonable, since the circumstances of our blessed Saviour are 
 now different from what they were at the institution, that our 
 outward demeanour should also vary. The posture which 
 might then be suitable in the Apostles is not now suitable in 
 us : while he was corporally present with them, and they con- 
 versed with him as man, without any awful dread upon them, 
 which was due to him as the Lord of heaven and earth, no 
 wonder if they did use a table-posture : but then their fami- 
 liarity ought to be no precedent for us, who worship him in 
 his glory, and converse with him in the Sacrament, as he is 
 spiritually present ; and who therefore would be very irreverent 
 to approach him in any other posture than that of adoration. 
 
 As to the punctual time when the posture of 
 kneeling first began, it is hard to determine; but ^ J^™* 
 we are assured that it hath obtained in the West- 
 ern Church above twelve hundred years ; and though an- 
 ciently they stood in the East, 42 yet it was with fear and 
 trembling, with silence and downcast eyes, bowing themselves 
 in the posture of worship and adoration.** 
 
 <> Exod, xii, 11. « Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 7, c. 9, p. 255, B. 
 
 « Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 5, §. 19, p. 301. 
 X 
 
306 OP THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. Vi. 
 
 But it is now the custom of the Greek, Ro- 
 H %ractIce Sal a man > Lutheran, and most Churches in the world, 
 
 to receive kneeling .- nor do any scruple it, but 
 they who study pretences to palliate the most unjustifiable 
 separation, or designed neglect of this most sacred ordinance. 
 The o e re- ^ n ^ ^ * s wortri observing, that they who at 
 
 ceives the Sacra- other times cry out so much against the Church 
 ment sitting. f England for retaining several ceremonies, 
 which, though indifferent in themselves, they say become un- 
 lawful by being abused by superstition and popery, can, in this 
 more solemn and material ceremony, agree even with the pope 
 himself, (who receives sitting,) rather than not differ from the 
 best and purest Church in the world. 44 
 
 Nor may I pass by unobserved that the posture 
 Si int n rodu y ced h ° m of sitting was first brought into the Church by the 
 
 Arians ; who stubbornly denying the divinity of 
 our Saviour, thought it no robbery to be equal with him, and 
 to sit down with him at his table ; for which reason it was 
 justly banished the reformed Church in Poland, by a general 
 synod, A. D. 1583. And it is the pope's opinion of his being 
 St. Peter's successor, and Christ's vicegerent, which prompts 
 him to use such familiarity with his Lord. 45 
 
 §.5. As for the words of Administration ; the 
 Th wS™ ° f fir st part of them, viz. The Body, or Tlie Blood 
 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, was the only form used 
 in St. Ambrose's time at the delivery of the Bread and Wine, 46 
 to which the receivers answered, Amenf' both to express their 
 desire that it might be Christ's body and blood unto them, 
 and their firm belief that it was so. The next words, pre- 
 serve thy body and soul unto everlasting life, were added by 
 St. Gregory : 48 and these with the former were all that were 
 to be used at the delivery of the elements, during the first 
 Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. But these words, 
 I suppose, being thought at that time to savour too much of 
 the real presenile in the Sacrament, which was a doctrine that 
 then was thought to imply too much of transubstantiation to 
 be believed; they were therefore left out of the second book, 
 and the following words prescribed in the room of them, Take 
 and eat this, &c, or Drink this, &c, as in the latter part of 
 our present forms. But these on the other side reducing the 
 
 44 Durand. Rational. 1. 4, c. 54, numb. 5. 45 Durand. ibid. 46 Ambr. de Saci. 
 1. 4, c. 5, torn. iv. col. 368, G. 4 ~ Liturg. Clement. Basil. JEthiopic. Cyril. Catech. 
 
 Mystag. 5, §. 18. *** Vide Durand. de Rit. Eccles. Cathol. '.. 2, c. 55, numb. 16, p. 287. 
 
sect, xxiii.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 307 
 
 Sacrament to a bare eating and drinking in remembrance of 
 the death and passion of our Lord ; they were in a little time 
 as much disliked as the former. And therefore upon queen 
 Elizabeth's accession to the throne, (whose design and endea- 
 vour was to unite the nation as much as she could in one 
 doctrine and faith,) both these forms were enjoined to be used 
 (as we have them still) to please both parties. Though in the 
 Scotch Liturgy the last clause was again thrown out, and the 
 former only (which was prescribed by the first book) retained, 
 with a direction to the receiver to say Amen: which is un- 
 doubtedly the most agreeable to the primitive practice, and to 
 the true notion of the Eucharist. 
 
 §. 6. Where there are two or more Ministers Communionin 
 present, it is the custom for the chief Minister, or one kind ex- 
 ibr him that consecrates, to administer only the amined - 
 body, and for another to follow and administer the cup. 
 Agreeable to an old rubric in king Edward's first Liturgy, 
 which orders, that if there be a Deacon or other Priest, then 
 shall he follow with the chalice : and as the Priest ministereth 
 the Sacrament of the Body, so shall he {for more expedition) 
 minister the Sacrament of the Blood, in form before ivritten. 
 For our Church does not (with the Roman Church) rob the 
 people of half the Sacrament, but administers to the laity as 
 well as the clergy under both kinds. The Romanists indeed 
 pretend that Christ administered under both kinds only to the 
 Apostles, whom he had made priests just before, and gave no 
 command that it should be so received by the laity. But we 
 would ask whether the Apostles were not all that were then 
 present ? If they were, in what capacity did they receive it ? 
 how did they receive the bread before the Hoc facite, {Do 
 this,) as priests, or as laymen ? It is ridiculous to suppose 
 those words changed their capacity: though if we should al- 
 low they did, yet it would only relate to consecrating, and not 
 to receiving. But if Christ only gave it to the Apostles as 
 priests, it must necessarily follow, that the people are not at 
 all concerned in one kind or other ; but that each kind was 
 intended only for priests. Eor if the people are concerned, 
 how came they to be so ? Where is there any command, but 
 what refers to the first institution ? So that it had been much 
 more plausible, according to this answer, to exclude the peo- 
 ple wholly, than to admit them to one kind, and to debar 
 them of the other. 
 
 x2 
 
308 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi 
 
 Not so, say they, because Christ himself administered the 
 Sacrament to some of his disciples under one kind only. 49 But 
 to make out this we require, first, that it be proved that 
 Christ did then administer the Sacrament; or, secondly, if he 
 did, that the cup was not implied; since breaking of bread, 
 when taken for an ordinary meal in Scripture, does not ex- 
 clude drinking at it. 
 
 When we appeal to the practice of the primitive ages, they 
 leave us : and the most impartial of them will allow that the 
 custom of communicating under one kind only, as is now used 
 in the Church of Rome, was unknown to the world for a thou- 
 sand years after Christ. 50 In some cases (it is true) they dip- 
 ped the bread in the wine, as in the case of baptized infants, 
 (to whom they administered the Eucharist in those primitive 
 times,) and of very weak, dying persons, who could not other- 
 wise have swallowed the bread ; and also that by this means 
 they might keep the Sacrament at home against all emergent 
 occasions. And this probably might in time make the way 
 easier for introducing the Sacrament under the kind of bread 
 only. 
 
 §. 7. When all have communicated, the Minis- 
 Oft ?r e pa ii P0ral ter is dire cted to return to the Lord's Table, and 
 reverently place upon it what remaiyieth of the 
 consecrated elements, covering the same ivith a fair linen cloth ,- 
 which by the ancient writers and the Scotch Liturgy (in which 
 this rubric first appeared) is called the Corporal, from its 
 being spread over the Body or consecrated Bread, 51 and some- 
 times the Pall, 52 I suppose for the same reason. The insti- 
 tution of it is ascribed to Eusebius, bishop of Borne, who lived 
 about the year 300. 53 And that it was of common use in the 
 Church in the fifth century, is evident from the testimony of 
 Isidore Peleusiota, who also observes that the design of using 
 it was to represent the body of our Saviour being wrapped in 
 fine linen by Joseph of Arimathea. 54 
 
 Sect. XXIV.— Of the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 It is rudeness in manners to depart from a 
 oftheconciud- f r i eno V s house so soon as the table is removed, 
 
 mg devotions. , . . ... • c 
 
 and an act of irreligion to rise from our common 
 
 49 Luke xxiv. 30. 50 Secundum antiquam Ecclesiae consuetudinem, omnes tarn 
 
 corpori quam sanguini communicabant : quod etiam adhuc in quibusdam Ecclesiis 
 8ervatur. Aquin. in Johan. vi. bl Alcuir.. de Offic. Divin. 5 2 Rad. Tungr. de 
 
 Can. Obs. 53 vid. Gratian. de Const. Dist. 2. ^ Isid. Peleus. Ep. 123. 
 
sect, xxv.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 309 
 
 meals without prayer and thanksgiving : how much more ab- 
 surd and indecent then would it be for us to depart abruptly 
 from the Lord's Table ! Our Saviour himself concluded his 
 last Supper with a hymn, 55 (supposed to be the Paschal Hal- 
 lelujah,) in imitation of which all Churches have finished this 
 feast with solemn forms of prayer and thanksgiving. 
 
 §. 2. The Lord's Prayer is placed first, and 
 cannot indeed be any where used more properly : Prayer^hy 
 for having now received Christ in our hearts, used first afteT 
 it is fit the first words we speak should be his : 
 as if not only we, but Christ lived and spake in us. "We 
 know that to as many as receive Christ, he gives power to be- 
 come the sons of God™ so that we may now all with one heart 
 and one voice address ourselves cheerfully to God, and very 
 properly call him, Our Father, &c. 
 
 §. 3. The Doxology is here annexed, because 
 all these devotions are designed for an act of ^^ecP' 
 praise, for the benefits received in the holy Sa- 
 crament. 
 
 Sect. XXV. — Of the first Prayer after the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 I have already observed, that in the first . , 
 Common Prayer of king Edward VI. and in that 
 drawn up for the Church of Scotland, this first prayer in the 
 Post-Communion was, with a proper introduction, ordered to 
 be used immediately after the prayer of Consecration : not 
 but that what remains of it is very proper to be used after 
 communicating. For St. Paul beseeches us, by the mercies 
 of God, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and ac- 
 ceptable to God, as our reasonable service? 1 And the Fathers 
 esteemed it one great part of this office to dedicate ourselves 
 to God. For since Christ hath put us in mind of his infinite 
 love in giving himself for us, and in this Sacrament hath given 
 himself to us ; and since we have chosen him for our Lord, 
 and solemnly vowed to be his servants ; it is very just and 
 reasonable, that we should also give up ourselves wholly to 
 him in such a manner as this form directs us. 
 
 Sect. XXVI. — Of the second Prayer after the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 When we communicate often, it may be very . 
 
 grateful, and sometimes very helpful to our de- 
 
 " Matt. xxvi. 30. <* John i. 12. W Rom. xii. 1. 
 
310 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 votions, to vary the form : for which cause the Church hath 
 supplied us with another prayer ; which, being more full of 
 praises and acknowledgments, will be most suitable when our 
 minds have a joyful sense of the benefits received in this Sa- 
 crament : as the former, consisting chiefly of vows and reso- 
 lutions, is most proper to be used when we would express our 
 love and duty. 
 
 Sect. XXVII. — Of the Gloria in Excelsis, or the Angelic Hymn. 
 To conclude this office with an hymn, is so 
 G o7wgh t ) °&? d direct an imitation of our Saviour's practice, 58 
 that it hath ever been observed in all Churches 
 and ages. And though the forms may differ, yet this is as 
 ancient as any now extant. The former part of it is of an 
 heavenly original, being sung by angels at our Saviour's nati- 
 vity; 59 and was from thence transcribed into the oriental 
 Liturgies, especially St. James's, where it is thrice repeated. 
 The latter part of it is ascribed to Telesphorus about the year 
 of Christ 139; and the whole hymn, with very little differ- 
 ence, is to be found in the Apostolical Constitutions, 60 and was 
 established to be used in the Church-service by the fourth 
 Council of Toledo about a thousand years ago. 61 In the pre- 
 sent Roman Missal it stands in the beginning of this office, as 
 it does also in the first Common Prayer of king Edward VI., 
 where it immediately follows the Collect for Purity ; though 
 it is now, I think, placed much more properly at the close of 
 the Communion, when every devout communicant being full 
 of gratitude, and longing for an opportunity to pour out his 
 soul in the praises of God, cannot have a more solemn and 
 compact form of words to do it in than this. In the Greek 
 Church it makes a constant part of the morning devotions, as 
 well upon ordinary days, as upon Sundays and holy-days ; 
 only with this difference, that upon ordinary days it is only 
 ready whereas upon more solemn times it is appointed to be 
 
 sung. 63 
 
 Sect. XXVIIL— Of the final Blessing. 
 
 The people were always dismissed from this 
 
 T GoSr&c.° f ordinance by a solemn blessing pronounced by 
 
 the Bishop if present, or, in his absence, by the 
 
 58 Matt. xxvi. 30. 59 Luke ii. 14. eo Lib. vii. cap. 48. oi Can. 13. torn. v. 
 
 col. 1710, A. ea Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 224. 
 
sect, xxix.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 311 
 
 Priest: 63 and none were allowed to depart till this was given 
 by the one or the other. 64 
 
 The form here used is taken chiefly from the words of 
 Scripture : the first part of it from Philippians iv. 7, and the 
 latter part being no other than a Christian paraphrase upon 
 Numbers vi. 24, &c. 
 
 Sect. XXIX. — Of the additional Prayers. 
 Lest there should be any thing left unasked in 
 
 prayers. 
 
 this excellent office, the Church hath added six ° 
 
 Collects more to be used at the Minister's discre- 
 tion : concerning which it will be sufficient to observe, that 
 they are plain and comprehensive, and almost every sentence 
 of them taken out of the Bible, and are as proper to be joined 
 to any other office as this. For which reason the rubric al- 
 lows them to be said as often as occasion shall serve, after the 
 Collects either of Morning or Evening Prayer, Communion or 
 Litany, by the discretion of the Minister. 
 
 When they are added to the Communion-office The rubric before 
 on Sundays and holy-days that have no Commu- these Collects, 
 nion, they are ordered to be said after the offer- cSed with the° n " 
 tory : from whence some have imagined that the first rubric after 
 Prayer for the Church militant is part of the iem ' 
 offertory ; because in the first rubric, at the end of the whole 
 office, that prayer, on such days, is always to be used, and 
 then one or more of these Collects are to follow. But that 
 the offertory only signifies the sentences that are read whilst 
 the alms and other devotions of the people are collecting, I 
 have already had occasion to mention. 65 To reconcile this 
 difference, therefore, the reader must observe, that by the 
 first book of king Edward VI. the prayer for Christ's Church 
 was never to be read but when there was a Communion. So 
 that then if there was no Communion, these Collects were 
 properly ordered to be said after the offertory. But the Com- 
 munion-office being afterwards thrown into a different form, 
 the prayer for the Church militant was added to that part of 
 the service, which was ordered to be read on Sundays and 
 other holy-days that had no Communion, without altering the 
 rubric of which I am now speaking. And this is that which 
 makes the rubrics a little inconsistent. However the differ- 
 
 63 Concil. Agath. Can. 30, torn. iv. col. 1388, B. «* Cone. Agath. Can. 47, torn. iv. 
 rol. 1391, A. « See page 274. 
 
312 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 ence is not much. For the Collects are still to be said after 
 the offertory, though not immediately after, as formerly, the 
 prayer for the Church militant coming in between. 
 
 Sect. XXX. — Of the Rubrics after the Communion. 
 t. ., r In the primitive Church, while Christians con- 
 
 Daily Commu- . . r * . 
 
 nions in the pri- tmued in their strength of faith and devotion, 
 mitive church, ^ose who were qualified generally communicated 
 once every day ; 66 which custom continued till after St. Au- 
 gustine's time : 67 but afterward, when charity grew cold, and 
 devotion faint, this custom was broke off ; and they fell from 
 every day to Sundays and holy-days only, and thence at Anti- 
 och to once a year and no more. 68 
 
 In regard of this neglect, canons were made by 
 Christmas, East- severa i Councils to oblige men to receive three 
 
 er, and Whitsun- . P 
 
 tide, why pre- times a year at least, viz. at Christmas, faster, 
 rommunSL /. and Whitsuntide, (probably in conformity to the 
 ancient Jews, who were commanded by God him- 
 self to appear before the Lord at the three great feasts that 
 correspond to these ; viz. in the feast of unleavened Bread, 
 and in the. feast of JVeelis, and in the feast of Taberna- 
 cles ; 69 ) and those that neglected to communicate at those 
 seasons were censured and anathematized. 70 
 
 At the Reformation our Church took all the 
 
 The care of the , i -, . .<• ■, , r 
 
 church about care she could to reconcile her members to ire- 
 frequent Com- q U ent Communion. And therefore in the first 
 Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. it 
 was ordered that upon Wednesdays and Fridays, though there 
 were none to communicate with the Priest, yet (after the Litany 
 ended) the Priest should put upon him a plain alb or surplice, 
 with a cope, and say all things at the altar, {appointed to be 
 said at the celebration of the Lord's Supper,) until after the 
 offertory. — And the same order was to be used all other days, 
 whensoever the people were accustomably assembled to pray in 
 the Church, and none were disposed to communicate with the 
 Priest. From whence it appears they took it for granted, that 
 there would always be a sufficient number of communicants 
 upon every Sunday and holy-day at the least ; so that they 
 
 66 Cypr. de Orat. Dom. p. 147. Basil. Epist. 289, torn. iii. p. 279, A. B. 67 Aug. 
 
 Ep. 98, torn. ii. col. 267, E. Ep. 54, torn. ii. col. 124, C. es Ambr. de Sacram. 1. 5, 
 
 c. 4, torn. iv. col. 371, K. But see this and the foregoing particulars proved at large in 
 Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book xv. c. 9. 69 Deut. xvi. 26. 70 Concil. Agath. 
 
 Can. 18, torn. iv. col. 1386, C. But see more in Mr. Bingham, as before* 
 
sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 313 
 
 could not so much as suppose there would be no Communion 
 upon any of those days. But it seems they feared that upon 
 other days there might sometimes be none to communicate 
 with the Priest, and so no Communion : and therefore they 
 ordered, that if it should so happen for a whole week to- 
 gether, yet nevertheless upon Wednesdays and Fridays in 
 every week so much should be used of the Communion-ser- 
 vice as is before limited. But afterwards, as piety grew 
 colder and colder, the Sacrament began to be more and more 
 neglected, and by degrees quite laid aside on the ordinary 
 week-days. And then the Church did not think 
 
 • • , n ii • • Rubric 1. Part of 
 
 it convenient to appoint any ot this service upon the Communion- 
 any other days than Sundays and holy-days. But °^™*° b s e **** 
 upon those days she still requires that {although an^hoiy-day, ^ 
 there he no Communion, yet) all shall be said though there be 
 
 . . 7 AC • -77 no Communion. 
 
 that is appointed at the Communion, until the 
 end of the general prayer, [for the whole state of Christ's 
 Church militant here on earth,] together with one or more of 
 the Collects at the end of the Communion-ojfice, concluding 
 with the blessing* 
 
 One reason of which order seems to be, that 
 the Church may still shew her readiness to ad- 
 minister the Sacrament upon these days ; and so that it is not 
 hers nor the Minister's, but the people's fault, if it be not ad- 
 ministered. For the Minister, in obedience to the Church's 
 order, goes up to the Lord's table, and there begins the ser- 
 vice appointed for the Communion ; and goes on as far as he 
 can, till he come to the actual celebration of it : and if he stop 
 there, it is only because there are none, or not a sufficient 
 number of persons, to communicate with him. For if there 
 were, he is there ready to consecrate and administer it to them. 
 And therefore if there be no Communion on any Sunday or 
 holy-day in the year, the people only are to be blamed. The 
 Church hath done her part in ordering it, and the Minister his 
 in observing that order ; and if the people would do theirs 
 too, the holy Communion would be constantly celebrated in 
 
 * In all the books between king Edward's first and our present one, it was said only, 
 "upon the holy-days, if there be no Communion," &c, which supposed that 5 upon the 
 Sundays there would be a Communion. Upon the holy-days too this office is to be said 
 " to the end of the Homily concluding with the prayer (for the whole state, &c.) and 
 one or more of the Collects before rehearsed, as occasion should serve." Which shews 
 that it was then the design of the Church, that upon all holy-days there should be a 
 Homily at least, if not a Sermon. And though that direction be left out now, yet still 
 it may be implied ; since the rubric that enjoins the Homily or Sermon comes within 
 that part of the service which is here ordered to be used. 
 
314 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. iv. 
 
 every parish church in England, on every Sunday and holy- 
 day throughout the year. But though this may hold in some 
 places, yet I cannot say it will in all ; especially in populous 
 towns and cities ; where my charity obliges me to believe, that 
 if the Ministers would but make the experiment, they would 
 find that they should never want a sufficient number of com- 
 municants, whenever they themselves should be ready to ad- 
 minister the Sacrament. And even in other places it were to be 
 wished, that the Elements were placed ready upon the table 
 on all Sundays and holy-days : for then the people could not 
 help being put in mind of what the Church looks upon as their 
 duty at those times ; and I persuade myself, that the Minister 
 would generally find a number sufficient ready to communi- 
 cate with him. 
 
 But another reason why so much of this service is ordered 
 to be read, though there be no Communion, is because there 
 are several particular things in that part of it, which ought 
 to be read as well to those who do not communicate, as to 
 those who do. As, first, the Decalogue, or Ten Command- 
 ments, of Almighty God, the supreme Lawgiver of the world, 
 which it is requisite the people should often hear and be put 
 in mind of, especially upon those days which are immediately 
 dedicated to his service. Secondly, the Collects, Epistles, and 
 Gospels, proper to all Sundays and holy-days, without which 
 those festivals could not be distinguished either from one an- 
 other, or even from ordinary days, nor consequently celebrated 
 so as to answer the end of their institution. Thirdly, the Ni- 
 cene Creed, wherein the divinity of our blessed Saviour is 
 asserted and declared, and therefore very proper to be used 
 on those days which are kept in memory of him and of his 
 holy Apostles, by whom that doctrine, together with our whole 
 religion grounded upon it, was planted and propagated in the 
 world. Fourthly, the offertory, or select sentences of Scrip- 
 ture, one or more of which are to be read, to stir up the con- 
 gregation to offer unto God something of what he hath given 
 them, as an acknowledgment that they receive from him all 
 they have; which, howsoever it be now neglected, the people 
 ought to be put in mind of at least every Lord's day. 71 Fifthly, 
 the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church militant 
 here on earth, in which we should all join as fellow members 
 of the same body, especially upon the great festivals of the 
 
 71 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 
 
sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 315 
 
 year, which are generally celebrated by the whole Church we 
 pray for. Most of these things made up the Missa Catechu- 
 menorum of the ancient Church, i. e. that part of the service 
 at which the catechumens, who were not admitted to the re- 
 ception of the Eucharist, were allowed to be present. 72 And 
 in our own congregations, when there is a Communion, those 
 who do not communicate never depart till the end of the Ni- 
 cene Creed, for the abovesaid reasons : which shews, that there 
 is nothing in that part of the service but what may very pro- 
 perly be used upon any Sunday and holy-day when there is no 
 Communion. Nor is this a practice of our own Church alone, 
 but such as is warranted both by Greeks and Latins. Socrates 
 tells us, 73 that in Alexandria, upon Wednesdays and Fridays, 
 the Scriptures were read and expounded by their teachers, 
 and all things were done in the Communion, but only conse- 
 crating the mysteries. And as for the Latin Church, Duran- 
 dus gives direction how the Communion-service might be read 
 without any Communion. 74 
 
 §. 2. I have supposed in one of the former para- 
 graphs, that this part of the Communion-office offic^VeVaki 
 (though there be no Communion) is yet always at the altar, 
 read at the Communion-table or altar. I know n ^ communfon. e 
 indeed it is very frequently performed in the desk. 
 But I think the very reason why the Church appoints so much 
 of this office upon the Sundays and other holy-days, though 
 there be no Communion, is also a reason why it should be said 
 at the altar. For the Minister's reading the office till he can 
 go no further for want of communicants, I have observed, was 
 designed in order to draw communicants to the table. And 
 therefore is it not fit that the Minister himself should be 
 ready at the place, whither he himself is inviting others ? For 
 this reason, in the first book of king Edward, the rubric above 
 cited ordered expressly that it should be said at the altar. 
 Bucer indeed thought this tended too much towards creating 
 in people's minds superstitious notions of the Mass ; 75 and in 
 the second book of king Edward, which was modelled accord- 
 ing to his directions, those words were left out. Though it is 
 not improbable that as the word altar was thrown out every 
 where else in this office, so it might be left out of this rubric 
 upon dislike of the name ; without any intention to alter the 
 
 w See Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, 1. 14. ™ Socrat. Hist. 1. 5, c. 21. » DurancL 
 Rational. 1. 4, c. 1, num. 23, fol. 90. » Buceri Censura, p. 458. 
 
316 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap, vi, 
 
 place where this part of the service on such days should be 
 said. And indeed I cannot understand how this alteration 
 could give any authority for the using any part of this office at 
 any other place than the Lord's table ; so long as there was 
 another rubric at the beginning of it, which still ordered that 
 the Priest should stand at the north side of tlie table, and 
 there say the Lord's Prayer with what follows, without any 
 allowance or permission to say it any where else when there 
 was no Communion. It is certain that our bishops still appre- 
 hended, that it was to be said there ; since several of them, 
 in their visitations, enjoined the Ministers to read it at the holy 
 table ; and there, Mr. Hooker tells us, it was in his time com- 
 monly read. 76 And that the Episcopal Commissioners appoint- 
 ed to review the Liturgy at the Restoration of king Charles II. 
 supposed and intended it should continue to be performed 
 there, appears from the Account of the Proceedings of the 
 Commissioners of both per suasions. The Puritans had desired, 
 " That the Ministers should not be required to rehearse any 
 part of the Liturgy at the Communion table, save only those 
 parts which properly belong to the Lord's Supper ; and that at 
 such times only when the said holy Supper is administered." 77 
 How this was received by the Episcopal Ministers, may be ga- 
 thered from the Puritans' reply. "You grant not," say they, 
 "that the Communion-service be read in the desk when there 
 is no Communion : but in the late form, (i. e. I suppose some 
 occasional form that was then published,) instead thereof it is 
 enjoined to be done at the table, (though there be no rubric in 
 the Common Prayer Book requiring it.") 78 Now from hence 
 I think it is plain, that they, who were commissioned to review 
 the Liturgy, designed that this office should be always read at 
 the altar, though they did not add any new rubric to order it, 
 because, I suppose, they thought the general rubric above 
 mentioned sufficient. 
 
 $.3. But to return to the care of our Church 
 
 The care of our . *> . . ,, _ ~. . 
 
 church ahout in relation to frequency or Communions : how 
 mirnion 4 C ° m " zealous she is still to bring her members to com- 
 municate oftener than she can obtain, is apparent 
 Rubric 4. f rom h er enjoining, that in Cathedral and Col- 
 legiate Churches and Colleges, where there are many Priests 
 
 7i Ecclesiastical Polity, 1. 5, §. 30. 77 See the Exceptions against the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer, page 6. 78 See the Preface to the Papers that passed between the 
 Commissioners. 
 
sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 317 
 
 and Deacons, they shall all receive the Communion with the 
 Priest every Sunday at least, except they have a reasonable 
 cause to the contrary ; and from her further re- 
 quiring every Parishioner in general to communi- 
 cate at the least three times in the year, of which Easter to be 
 one ;* because at that time Christ our Passover was sacrificed 
 for us, and by his death (which we commemorate in this Sa- 
 crament) obtained for us everlasting life. 
 
 §. 4. Every one may communicate as much Rubric2 3 
 oftener as he pleases : the Church only puts in solitary Masses 
 this precaution, that there shall be no celebration not allowed of - 
 of the Lords Supper, except there be a convenient number to 
 communicate with the Priest, according to his discretion. And 
 if there be not above twenty persons in the Parish of discretion 
 to receive the Communion, yet there shall be no Communion, 
 except four (or three at the least) communicate with the Priest. 
 And this is to prevent the solitary masses which had been in- 
 troduced by the Church of Rome, where the Priest says mass, 
 and receives the Sacrament himself, though there be none to 
 communicate with him : which our Church disallows, not per- 
 mitting the Priest to consecrate the elements, unless he has 
 three at least to communicate with him, because our Saviour 
 seems to require three to make up a congregation. 79 
 
 8. 5. The fifth rubric is designed to take away 
 
 11 3 Ll t i • i Rubric 5. The 
 
 all those scruples which over-conscientious peo- Bread, whether 
 pie used to make about the Bread and Wine, to be leavened or 
 
 \ i t-> i j • 'lxi unleavened. 
 
 As to the Bread, some made it essential to the 
 Sacrament to have leavened, others unleavened ; each side, 
 in that, as well as in other matters of as small moment, super- 
 stitiously making an indifferent thing a matter of conscience. 
 
 • The rubric that related to the frequency of Communion in king Edward's first book 
 was this : " Also that the receiving the Sacrament of the blessed Body and Blood of 
 Christ, may be most agreeable to the institution thereof, and to the usage of the primi- 
 tive Church ; in all cathedral and collegiate churches, there shall always some commu- 
 nicate with the Priest that ministereth. And that the same may be also observed every 
 where abroad in the country ; some one at the least of that house in every parish, to which 
 by course, after the ordinance herein made, it appertained to offer for the charges of 
 the Communion, or some other, which they shall provide to offer for them, shall re- 
 ceive the holy Communion with the Priest : the which may be the better done, for that 
 they know before when their course cometh, and may therefore dispose themselves to 
 the worthy receiving of the Sacrament. And with him or them who doth so offer the 
 charges of the Communion, all other who be then godly disposed thereunto, shall like- 
 wise receive the Communion. And by this means the Minister, having always some 
 to communicate with him, may accordingly solemnize so high and holy mysteries, with 
 all the suffrages and due order appointed for the same. And the Priest on the week- 
 days shall forbear to celebrate the Communion, except he have some that will com- 
 municate with him." 
 
 w Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
318 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 Our Saviour doubtless used such bread as was ready at hand : 
 and therefore this Sacrament being instituted immediately 
 after the celebration of the passover, at which they were nei- 
 ther to eat leavened bread, nor so much as to have any in 
 their houses, upon pain of being cut off from Israel, 80 does 
 perfectly demonstrate that he used that which was unleavened. 
 But this perhaps was only upon the account of the passover, 
 when no other but unleavened bread could be used by the 
 Jews. After his resurrection he probably celebrated (if he 
 celebrated at all) in leavened bread, and such as was in com- 
 mon use at all other times, except the time of the passover. 
 And that the primitive Church always used common bread, 
 appears, in that the elements for the holy Eucharist were al- 
 ways taken out of the people's oblations of Bread and Wine, 
 which doubtless were such as they themselves used upon 
 other occasions. But when these oblations began to be left 
 off about the eleventh or twelfth century, the Clergy were 
 forced to provide the elements themselves ; and they, under 
 pretence of decency and respect, brought it from leavened to 
 unleavened, and from a loaf of common bread, that might be 
 broken, to a nice wafer, formed in the figure of a denarius, or 
 penny, to represent, as some imagine, the thirty pence for 
 which our Saviour was sold. And then also the people, in- 
 stead of offering a loaf, as formerly, were ordered to offer a 
 penny ; which was either to be given to the poor, or to be 
 expended upon something belonging to the sacrifice of the 
 altar. 81 However, this abuse was complained of by some dis- 
 cerning and judicious men, as soon as it began. But when 
 once introduced, it was so generally approved, that it was not 
 easy to lay it aside. For even after the Reformation, king 
 Edward's first book enjoins these unleavened wafers to be 
 used, though with a little alteration indeed in relation to their 
 size. The whole rubric, as it stood then, runs thus : For 
 avoiding all matters and occasions of dissension, it is meet that 
 the Bread prepared for the Communion be made, through all 
 this realm, after one sort and fashion ; that is to say, unlea- 
 vened and round, as it was afore, but without all manner of 
 print, and something more large and thicker than it was, so 
 that it may be aptly divided in diverse pieces : and every one 
 shall be divided in two pieces at the least, or more, by the dis- 
 
 80 Exod. xii. 15, 19. S1 See all these particulars proved in Bona de Rebus Litur- 
 gicis, 1. 1, c. 23, §. 11, and in Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, 1. 15, c. 2, §. 5, 6 
 
sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 319 
 
 cretion of the Minister, and so distributed. And men must 
 not think less to be received in part than in the whole, but in 
 each of them the whole body of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 The bread, I suppose, was ordered to be round, in imita- 
 tion of the wafers that had been used both in the Greek and 
 Roman Church ever since the eleventh century : 82 upon 
 which was stamped the figure either of a Crucifix or the Holy 
 Lamb. But in the rubric above, it is ordered to be made 
 without all manner of print, and something more large and 
 thicker than it was ; the custom before being to make it 
 small, about the size of a penny, to represent, as some ima- 
 gine, the thirty pence for which our Lord was sold. 83 These 
 superstitions the Reformation had laid aside ; but the rubric 
 above mentioned still affording matter for scruple, it was al- 
 tered at the review in the fifth of king Edward, when, in his 
 second book, this rubric was inserted in the room of it : And 
 to take away the superstition which any person hath, or might 
 have, in the Bread and Wine, it shall suffice that the Bread 
 be such as is usually to be eaten at the table with other meats, 
 but the best and purest wheat-bread that conveniently may be 
 gotten. And the same rubric, with some little difference, is 
 still continued in our present Liturgy. Though, by the In- 
 junctions of queen Elizabeth, wafer-bread seems Wafer . Bread eT1 . 
 to have been again enjoined: for among some joined by queen 
 orders, at the end of those Injunctions, this was Ehzabeth - 
 one : Where also it was in the time of king Edward the 
 Sixth used to have the Sacramental Bread of common fine 
 bread ; it is ordered, for the more reverence to be given to these 
 holy mysteries, being the Sacraments of the Body and Blood 
 of our Saviour Jesus Christ, that the said Sacramental Bread 
 be made and formed plain, without any figure thereupon, of 
 the same fineness and fashion, round, though somewhat bigger 
 in compass and thickness, as the usual Bread and Wafer, 
 heretofore named singing -cakes, which served for the use of 
 private Mass.* 4, Though bishop Cosin observes upon our 
 present rubric, that " It is not here commanded that no un- 
 leavened or wafer-bread be used ; but it is only said, that the 
 other bread may suffice. So that though there was no ne- 
 cessity, yet there was a liberty still reserved of using wafer- 
 
 8 ' Bertoldus Constantiensis de Ordine Romano. Durand. Rational. 1. 4, c. 30, n. 8. 
 ** Honorii Gemma Aniime, 1. 1, c. 66, apud Bonam, and in Bingham, 1. 15, c. 2, §. f, 
 •* See bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 84, 85. 
 
320 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vi. 
 
 bread, which was used in diverse Churches of the kingdom, 
 and Westminster for one, till the seventeenth of king Charles." 85 
 And allowed ^ or wn ^ cn reason perhaps, though the Scotch 
 by the Scotch Liturgy continues the rubric that was first in- 
 Liturgy. serted in the fifth year of king Edward ; yet a 
 
 parenthesis is inserted, to shew that the use of wafer-bread is 
 lawful ; {though it be lawful to have wafer-bread) it shall 
 suffice, and so on, as in the rubric of our own Liturgy. 
 
 §. 6. Another thing about which there might 
 remainder of the he dissension, is, how the Elements that remain 
 Elements how should be disposed of afterwards, and therefore 
 ispose o . .^. provided by another rubric, that if any of 
 the Bread and Wine remain unconsecrated, the Curate shall 
 have it to his own use.*> For though it hath not been actually 
 consecrated, yet by its being dedicated and offered to God, it 
 ceases to be common, and therefore properly belongs to the 
 Minister as God's steward. 
 
 But if any remain of that which was consecrated, it shall 
 not be carried out of the church, but the Priest, and such other 
 of the communicants as he shall then call unto him, shall im- 
 mediately after the blessing, reverently eat and drink the same.\ 
 In the primitive Church, whatever of the consecrated Ele- 
 ments were left after all had communicated, were either 
 reserved by the Priest to be administered to infirm persons 
 in cases of exigency, that they might not die without re- 
 ceiving the blessed Sacrament ; 86 or else were sent about to 
 absent friends, as pledges and tokens of love and agreement 
 in the unity of the same faith. 87 But this custom being 
 abused, was afterwards prohibited by the Council of Laodi- 
 cea, 88 and then the remains began to be divided among the 
 Clergy ; 89 and sometimes the other communicants were al- 
 lowed to partake with them, 90 as is now usual in our Church, 
 where care is taken to prevent the superstitious reservation 
 of them formerly practised by the Papists. However, it would 
 be convenient if the Scotch rubric were observed, by which, 
 to the end there may be little left, he that officiates is required 
 to consecrate with the least. 
 
 * First added in king Edward's second book. 
 
 + Added first to the Scotch Liturgy, and then to our own at the last review. 
 85 See Dr. Nichols's additional Notes, page 54. 86 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 44 
 
 p. 246, C Excerpt. Egbert. 22. Concil. torn. vi. col. 1588. 8 ? Just. Mart. Apol. 1. c. 
 
 85, p. 127, 128. Euseb. Hist. Eccles.l. 5,c. 24, p. 193, B. 88 Can. 14, torn. i. col. 150, 
 A. 89 Const. Apost. 1. 8, c. 31. •» Theophil. Alex. Can. 7, ap. Bevereg. Pandect. 
 
 Canon. Apost. &c. torn. ii. p. 572, F. 
 
sect, xxx.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 321 
 
 §. 7. The seventh rubric is a direction how R . 
 the Bread and JFine shall be provided. How Bread and wine, 
 they were provided in the primitive Church I Sci be pr ° 
 have already shewed. Afterwards it seems it was 
 the custom for every house in the parish to provide in their 
 turns the holy Loaf, (under which name I suppose were com- 
 prehended both the Elements of Bread and Wine ;) and the 
 good Man and good Woman that provided were particularly 
 remembered in the prayers of the Church. 91 But by the first 
 book of king Edward, the care of providing was thrown upon 
 the Pastors and Curates, who were obliged continually to find, 
 at their costs and charges in their cures, sufficient Bread and 
 Wine for the holy Communion, as oft as their parishioners 
 should be disposed for their spiritual comfort to receive the 
 same. But then it was ordered, that, in recompense of such 
 costs and charges, the parishioners of every parish should offer 
 every Sunday, at the time of the offertory, the just value and 
 price of the holy Loaf, (with all such money and other things 
 as were wont to be offered with the same,) to the use of the 
 Pastors and Curates, and that in such order and course as 
 they were wont to find, and pay the said holy Loaf And in 
 Chapels annexed, where the people had not been accustomed to 
 pay any holy Bread, there they were either to mahe some 
 charitable provision for the bearing of the charges of the Com- 
 munion ; or else {for receiving of the same) resort to the par- 
 ish church. But now, since, from this method of providing, 
 several unforeseen inconveniences might, and most probably 
 did, arise, either from the negligence, or obstinacy, or poverty 
 of the parishioners ; it was therefore afterwards ordered, that 
 the Bread and Wine for the Communion should be provided 
 by the Curate and the Churchwardens, at the charges of the 
 parish ; and that the parish should be discharged of such sums 
 of money, or other duties which hitherto they have paid for the 
 same, by order of their houses every Sunday. And this is the 
 method the Church still uses ; the former part of this rubric 
 being continued in our present Communion-office, though the 
 latter part was left out, as having reference to a custom which 
 had for a long while been forgotten. 
 
 §. 8. The next rubric, as far as it concerns the Rubric 8 EcclQ> 
 duty of communicating, has already been taken siasticai duties 
 
 91 See L'Estrange's Alliance, p. 172. 
 Y 
 
322 OF THE ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF [chap. vr. 
 
 what, and when no tice of. But the chief design of it is to settle 
 the payment of Ecclesiastical Duties. For it is 
 hereby ordered, that yearly at Easter every parishioner shall 
 reckon with his Parson, Vicar, or Curate, or his or their deputy 
 or deputies, and pay to them or him all ecclesiastical duties, 
 accustomably due, and then at that time to be paid* What 
 are the duties here mentioned is a matter of doubt : bishop 
 Stillingfleet supposes them to be a composition for personal 
 tithes, (i. e. the tenth part of every one's clear gains,) due at 
 that time ; 92 but the present bishop of Lincoln imagines them 
 to be partly such duties or oblations as were not immediately 
 annexed to any particular office ; and partly a composition for 
 the holy Loaf, which the Communicants were to bring and 
 offer, and which is therefore to be answered at Easter, be- 
 cause at that festival every person was, even by the rubric, 
 bound to communicate. 93 They both perhaps may have judged 
 right : for by an act of parliament in the second and third of 
 Edward VI. such personal tithes are to be paid yearly at or 
 before the feast of Easter, and also all lawful and accustomary 
 offerings, which had not been paid at the usual offering days, 9i 
 are to be paid for at Easter next following. 
 
 £. 9. The last rubric is concerning the dis- 
 
 The money <-> . _ . . , ~ & 
 
 given at the posal ot the money given at the Communion, 
 
 b?dL p r o / se h d of. t0 and was not added tiU the last review ; but to 
 prevent all occasion of disagreement, it was then 
 ordered, that after the divine service ended, the money given at 
 the offertory shall be disposed of to such pious and charitable 
 uses as the Minister and Churchwardens shall think fit; where- 
 in if they disagree it shall be disposed of as the Ordinary shall 
 
 * The rubric in king Edward's first book was this : " Furthermore, every man and 
 woman to be bound to hear and be at the Divine Service in the parish church where 
 they may be resident, and there with devout prayer, or godly silence and meditation, 
 to occupy themselves: there to pay their duties, to communicate once in the year at 
 the least ; and there to receive and take all other sacraments and rites in this book ap- 
 pointed. And whosoever willingly upon no just cause doth absent themselves, or doth 
 ungodly in the parish church occupy themselves ; upon proof thereof, by the ecclesias- 
 tical laws of the realm to be excommunicated, or suffer other punishment, as shall to 
 the ecclesiastical judge (according to his discretion) seem convenient." In all the other 
 old books it began thus : " And note, every parishioner shall communicate at the least 
 three times in the year, of which Easter to be one ; and shall also receive the sacra- 
 ments and other rites according to the order in this book appointed." The word sacra- 
 ments I suppose is used here in a large sense, for the other ordinances of Confirmation, 
 Matrimony, &c, which were all called sacraments before, and for some time after the 
 Reformation. 
 
 92 Uishop Stillingfleet's Ecclesiastical Cases, page 252. 53 Bishop Gibson's Codex, 
 vol. ii. p. 740. 9 * The usual offering-days at first were Christmas, Easter, Whitsun- 
 tide, and the feast of the dedication of the parish-church : but by an act of Henry VIII. 
 A, D. 153G, they were changed to Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas. 
 
sect, xxxi.] THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR HOLY COMMUNION. 323 
 
 appoint. The hint was taken from the Scotch Liturgy, in 
 which immediately after the blessing this rubric follows : 
 After the divine service ended, that which was offered shall be 
 divided in the presence of the Presbyter and the Church- 
 wardens, whereof one half shall be to the use of the Presbyter, 
 to provide him books of holy divinity ; the other half shall be 
 faithfully kept and employed on some pious or charitable use, 
 for the decent furnishing of that church, or the public relief of 
 their poor, at the discretion of the Presbyter and Church- 
 wardens. 
 
 Sect. XXXI. — Of the Protestation. 
 
 At the end of the whole office is added a Pro- 
 testation concerning the gesture of kneeling at the The Sn! esta 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and explaining 
 the Church's notion of the presence of Christ's Body and 
 Blood in the same. This was first added in the second book 
 of king Edward, in order to disclaim any Adoration to be in- 
 tended by that ceremony either unto the Sacramental Bread 
 or Wine there bodily received, or unto any real and essential 
 presence there being, of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood. 
 But upon queen Elizabeth's accession this was laid aside. Eor 
 it being the queen's design (as I have already observed more 
 than once) to unite the nation as much as she could in one 
 faith ; it was therefore recommended to the divines, to see 
 that there should be no definition made against the aforesaid 
 notion, but that it should remain as a speculative opinion not 
 determined, but in which every one might be left to the free- 
 dom of his own mind. And being thus left out, it appears no 
 more in any of our Common Prayers till the last review : at 
 which time it was again added, with some little amendment of 
 the expression and transposal of the sentences ; but exactly 
 the same throughout as to the sense ; excepting that the words 
 real and essential Presence were thought proper to be changed 
 for corporal Presence. For a real Presence of the Body 
 and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is what our Church fre- 
 quently asserts in this very office of Communion, in her Arti- 
 cles, in her Homilies, and her Catechism : particularly in the 
 two latter, in the first of which she tells us, Thus much tve 
 must be sure to hold, that in the Supper of the Lord there is 
 no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing 
 absent; — but the Communion of the Body and Blood of the 
 
 y 2 
 
324 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 Lord in a marvellous incorporation, which by the operation of 
 the Holy Ghost — is through faith wrought in the souls of the 
 faithful, &c., 95 who therefore (as she further instructs us in the 
 Catechism) verily and indeed take and receive the Body and 
 Blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. This is the doctrine of 
 our Church in relation to the real Presence in the Sacrament, 
 entirely different from the doctrine of Transubstantiation, 
 which she here, as well as elsewhere, 96 disclaims : a doctrine 
 which requires so many ridiculous absurdities and notorious 
 contradictions to support it, that it is needless to offer any 
 confutation of it, in a Church which allows her members the 
 use of their senses, reason, Scripture, and antiquity. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF THE MINISTRATION OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF 
 INFANTS, TO BE USED IN THE CHURCH. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Having now gone through the constant offices of the Church, 
 I come, in the next place, to those which are only to be used 
 as there is occasion. And of these the office of Baptism, be- 
 ing the first that can regularly be administered, (as being the 
 first good office that is done to us when we are born,) is there- 
 fore properly set first. In order to treat of which in the same 
 method I have observed hitherto, it will be necessary, in the 
 first place, to say something of the Sacrament itself. 
 
 §. 1 . W^ater therefore (which is the matter of 
 wL a terus g edby h aii ft) hath s0 natural a property of cleansing, that it 
 nations as a sym- hath been made the symbol of purification by all 
 tion 0fpurmca ~ nations, and used with that signification in the 
 rites of all religions. 1 The heathens used divers 
 kinds of baptism to expiate their crimes ; 2 and the Jews bap- 
 tize such as are admitted proselytes at large ; 3 and when any 
 of those nations turn Jews, who are already circumcised, they 
 receive them by baptism only : with which ceremony also 
 
 95 First part of the Homily concerning the Sacrament. *><s Article XXVIII. and 
 
 Homilies. ' Tovdap ayvitet. Plut. Quaest. Rom. 2 Tert. de Bapt. c. 5, p. 225, D. 
 et 226, A. 3 See this proved in Bishop Hooper's Discourse on Lent, part ii. chap. 2. 
 <:. 2, p. 159; and in Dr. Wall on Infant-Baptism. Introduction, §. 1, 2, 
 
introduction.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 325 
 
 they purified such heathen women as were taken in marriage 
 by Jewish husbands. And this is that universal, plain, and 
 easy rite, which our Lord Jesus adopted to be a mystery in 
 his religion, and the sacrament of admission into the Christian 
 Church. 4 
 
 §. 2. Nor can any thing better represent Re- 
 generation or New Birth, which our Saviour H °N e VMrth. sa 
 requires of us before we can become Christians, 5 
 than washing with water. For as that is the first office done 
 unto us after our natural births, in order to cleanse us from 
 the pollutions of the womb; so when we are admitted into 
 the Church, we are first baptized, (whereby the Holy Ghost 
 cleanses us from the pollutions of our sins, and renews us unto 
 God, 7 ) and so become, as it were, spiritual infants, and enter 
 into a new life and being, which before we had not. For this 
 reason, when the Jews baptized any of their proselytes, they 
 called it their New Birth, Regeneration, or being born again. 8 
 And therefore when our Saviour used this phrase to Nicode- 
 mus, he wondered that he, being a master in Israel, should 
 not understand him. And even among the Greeks this was 
 thought to have such virtue and efficacy, as to give new life 
 as it were to those who were esteemed religiously dead. For 
 if any one that was living was reported to be deceased, and 
 had funeral solemnities performed upon his account ; he was 
 afterwards, upon his return, abominated of all men, as a per- 
 son unlucky and profane, banished and excluded from all hu- 
 man conversation, and not so much as admitted to be present 
 in the temples, or at the sacrifices of their gods, till he was 
 born again, as it were, by being washed like a child from the 
 womb : a custom founded upon the direction of the oracle at 
 Delphos. For one Aristinus falling under this misfortune, 
 and consulting Apollo to know how he might be freed from 
 it, his priestess Pythia returned him this answer : 
 
 "Oo-ffa Trip kv Xex^orcri yvvfi TiKTOvera TtKiiTai, 
 TauTa 7rdX.iv TtKicravTa Qvelv fiaicdpzacri Qtolcri. 
 
 What women do, when one in childbed lies, 
 That do again ; so may'st thou sacrifice. 
 
 Aristinus rightly apprehending what the oracle meant, offered 
 himself to women as one newly brought forth, to be washed 
 again with water. And from this example it grew a custom 
 
 * Matt, xxiii. 19. » John iii. 3—7. « Ezek. xvi. 4. ' Tit. iii. 5. a See 
 Dr. Wall on Infant-Baptism, Introduction, §. 6. 
 
326 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap, til 
 
 among the Greeks, when the like calamity befell any man, to 
 expiate and purify him after this manner. 9 And thus in the 
 Christian Church, by our Saviour's institution and appoint- 
 ment, those who are dead to God through sin, are born again 
 by the washing of Regeneration, and renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost. 10 And how proper (by the way) mater is to typify the 
 Holy Ghost, may be seen by consulting several texts of Scrip- 
 ture, where Water and the Blessed Spirit are mentioned as 
 corresponding one to another. 11 
 
 Milk, honey, and T nat tne primitive Christians had this notion 
 salt, 'and white of baptism, I think may very fairly be asserted 
 cfentiy n giVen to fr° m those other rites which they anciently used 
 the new-bap- in the celebration of this mystery : such as were 
 the giving the new-baptized milk and honey, and 
 salt, which were all given to infants new-born ; 12 and the put- 
 ting upon them white garments, to resemble the swaddling 
 spoken of by Ezekiel. 13 
 
 All these, the ancient Fathers tell us, were done 
 
 For what reason. , • -o j • •• < » • •» j • 
 
 to signny and represent spiritual birth and in- 
 fancy, and out of reference to what was done at the natural 
 birth of children. 14 And therefore who can doubt but that 
 the principal rite of washing with water (and the only one 
 indeed ordained by our blessed Saviour) was chosen by him 
 for this same reason, to be the sacrament of our initiation ; 
 and that those who brought in the other rites above mentioned, 
 
 did so conceive of it, and for that reason took in 
 W Sued C . 0n " those imitations ? In some Churches indeed they 
 
 have now for a long time been discontinued ; for 
 they being only used as emblems to signify that the persons 
 were become as new-born babes, they were left off at such 
 times, when, whole nations becoming Christians, there were 
 hardly any other baptisms than of babes in a proper sense, 
 who needed no such representations to signify their infancy. 
 
 §. 3. As to the form of baptism, our Saviour 
 Thef °Sn°. fBap " onlv instituted the essential parts of it, viz. that 
 
 it should be performed by a proper Minister, 
 with water, in the name oftlie Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 15 
 But as for the rites and circumstances of the administration 
 of it, he left them to the determination of the Apostles and 
 
 9 Plutarch. Quest. Romanae. 10 Tit. iii. 5. » Isa. xliv. 3. John iv. 14. John 
 
 vii. 37, 38, 39. 12 Isa. vii. 15. Ezek. xvi. 4. I3 Ezek. xvi. 6. " Barnabas, c. 6. 
 Tertul. de Bapt. c. 6, et contra Marcion. 1. i. c. 14. Hieron. adv. Luciferianos. Cyril. 
 Catech. Mystag. 4. ** Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
introduction.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 327 
 
 the Church. Yet without doubt a. form of baptism was very 
 early agreed upon, because almost all Churches in the world 
 do administer it much after the same manner. The latter 
 ages indeed had made some superfluous additions; but our 
 reformers removed them, and restored this office to a nearer 
 resemblance of the ancient model, than any other Church can 
 shew. We have now three several offices in our Liturgy, viz. 
 one for Public Baptism of Infants in the Church, another for 
 Private Baptism of Children in Houses, and a third for such 
 as are of Riper Years, and able to answer for themselves. 
 
 The first is what is now most commonly used ; for there be- 
 ing but very few adult persons, who now come over to the 
 Church, infants are generally the persons that are baptized : 
 and they being appointed to be brought to church, except in 
 danger of death, the public form of baptism is there ordered to 
 be used. Of this therefore I propose to treat in order at large, 
 and only to take notice of those particulars in the others 
 which differ from this. 
 
 §. 4. And the office we are now upon being 
 appointed for infants, it will be proper to premise In justiS! 1Sm 
 a few general hints in relation to baptizing them. 
 For that reason I shall here observe, that as baptism was ap- 
 pointed for the same end that circumcision was, and did suc- 
 ceed in the place of it ; it is reasonable it should be admin- 
 istered to the same kinds of persons. For since God 
 commanded infants to be circumcised, 16 it is not to be doubted 
 but that he would also have them to be baptized. Nor is it 
 necessary that Christ should particularly mention children in 
 his commission : " it is sufficient that he did not except 
 them : for that supposeth he . intended no alteration in this 
 particular, but that children should be initiated into the Chris- 
 tian as well as into the Jewish religion. And indeed if we 
 consider the custom of the Jews at that time, it is impossible 
 but that the Apostles, to whom he delivered his commission, 
 must necessarily understand him as speaking of children, as 
 well as of grown or adult persons. For it is well known that the 
 Jews baptized, as well as circumcised, all prose- Acustomamong 
 lytes of the nations or Gentiles that were con- the Jews to bap- 
 verted to their religion. And if any of those tize infants * 
 converts had infant children then born to them, they also 
 were, at their father's desire, both circumcised and baptized, 
 if males ; or if females, only baptized, and so admitted as 
 
 16 Gen. xvii. 12 17 Matt, xxviii. 18. 
 
328 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 proselytes. The child's inability to declare or promise for 
 himself was not looked upon as a bar against his reception 
 into the covenant : but the desire of the father to dedicate 
 him to God, was accounted available and sufficient to justify 
 his admission.* Nor does the ceremony of baptism appear to 
 have been used amongst the Jews upon such extraordinary- 
 occasions only ; but it seems rather to have been an ordinary 
 rite constantly administered by them, as well to their own as 
 to the children of proselytes ; for the Mishna prescribes the 
 solemn washing, as well as the circumcision of the child, 
 which I know not how to interpret, if it is not to be under- 
 stood of a Baptismal Washing. 18 
 
 VT ■ . . This therefore being the constant practice of 
 that respect in- the Jews, and our Saviour in his commission 
 saviour by ° ur making no exception, but bidding his Apostles go 
 
 and disciple all nations , baptizing them, &c, 
 I think that is a sufficient argument to prove, that he intend- 
 ed no alteration in the objects of Baptism, but only to exalt 
 the action of baptizing to a nobler purpose, and a larger use. 
 For when a commission is given in so few words, and there is 
 no express direction what they should do with the infants of 
 those who become disciples ; the natural and obvious inter- 
 pretation is, that they must do in that matter as they and the 
 Church in which they lived had always used to do. And we 
 may assure ourselves, that had the Apostles left children out 
 of the covenant, and not received them as members of the 
 Church ; the Jews, who took such care that their children 
 should not want their own sacrament of initiation, would cer- 
 tainly have urged this as a great objection against the Chris- 
 tian religion. But we do not read of any such objection ever 
 made, and therefore we may depend upon it, that the Apostles 
 gave them no room for it. 
 
 It is true indeed, it has been often objected to 
 S^Ne^Tesi- us > tnat tne Scriptures make no express mention 
 ment no argu- of the Baptism of Infants ; to which we might re- 
 rnfanS^sm. ply, were the objection true, that neither do the 
 
 Scriptures make any express mention of the alter- 
 
 * This is only to he understood of such children as were born before their parents 
 tnemselves were baptized : for all the children that were born to them afterwards, they 
 reckoned were clean by their birth, as being born of parents that were cleansed from 
 the polluted state of heathenism, and were in the covenant of Abraham, and so natural 
 Jews.™ 
 
 18 Misna de Sabbato, c. 19, §. 19. Vide et R. Obadiah de Bartenora, et Maimon. in 
 loc. 19 See this, and what is said above, proved at large in Dr. Wall's Introduction to 
 his History of Infant-Baptism. 
 
introduction.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 329 
 
 ation of the Sabbath : and yet I believe there are but few of 
 those who are of a different opinion from us, in the point be- 
 fore us, but who think the observation of the first day of the 
 week is sufficiently authorized from the New Testament : and 
 yet this is not more clearly implied than the other. We read 
 in several places of whole households being baptized,™ with- 
 out any exception of their infants or children. Now it is very 
 unlikely that there should be so many households without 
 children ; and therefore, since none such are excepted, we 
 may conclude that they were baptized as well as the rest of 
 the family : only the Baptism of adult persons being more for 
 the honour of the Christian religion, the holy writers chose 
 only to name the chief persons baptized, thinking it sufficient 
 to include their children and servants under the general terms 
 of all theirs, or their households. And what 
 makes it still more probable that children were the^JewTesta- 
 really included in these terms is, that the Scrip- ment makes as 
 tures no where mention the deferring the Baptism XeAntipaSo- 
 of any Christian's child, or the putting it off till b 22gJ t J^ 8a ' 
 he came to years of discretion. An argument 
 that surely may as justly be urged against the adversaries to 
 Infant- Baptism, as the silence of the Scriptures is against us. 
 But it seems this objection of the silence of the i n f ant .Baptism 
 Scriptures is not true. For the learned Dr. proved from the 
 Wall has sufficiently rescued a passage in the New Testament - 
 New Testament from the gloss of the moderns ; and shewed, 
 both by comparing it with other texts in Scripture, and from 
 the interpretation of the ancients, that it cannot fairly be un- 
 derstood in any other sense than of the Baptism of Infants. 
 The passage I mean is a text in St. Paul's first Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, 21 Else were your children unclean, but now are 
 they holy : on which he shews from several places of the Old 
 Testament, 22 (i. e. from the original itexts, and the intepret- 
 ation given of them by the learned Jews,) that to sanctify or 
 make holy, was a common expression among the Jews for 
 baptizing or washing.™ It is also plain from the New Testa- 
 ment, that the same expression is twice used by this same 
 Apostle in this same sense, viz. once in the Epistle from 
 whence this text is taken, 24 and once again in his Epistle to 
 
 20 Acts xvi. 15, 33. I Cor.i. 16. « Chap. vii. 14. » Exod. xix. 10. Levit. vi. 
 
 27. 2 Sam. xi. 4. 23 £> r . Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part i. chap. 11, §. 11. 
 
 * 1 Cor.vi. 11. 
 
330 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 the Ephesians. 25 He also refers to a learned author to shew, 
 that it was a common phrase with the ancients, to say that an 
 infant or other person was sanctified or made holy, when they 
 meant that he was baptized. 26 Some instances of which he 
 also gives himself, as they come in his way upon other occa- 
 sions. 27 And it is certain, that this sense of this place in St. 
 Paul very much illustrates what goes before. The Apostle 
 was directing, that if any man or woman had a husband or 
 wife that did not believe, they should not separate or part, if 
 the unbelieving person was still willing to cohabit ; the reason 
 of which he says is, because the unbelieving husband is sancti- 
 fied, or, (as it is in the Greek, and as all commentators agree 
 it should be translated,) an unbelieving husband has been 
 sanctified by the wife ; i. e. it has often come to pass, that an 
 unbelieving husband has been brought to the faith, and so to 
 Baptism, by his wife ; and an unbelieving wife has, in the same 
 sense, been sanctified by her husband. As a proof of which 
 he observes in the close, Else would your children be un- 
 clean, but now are they holy ; i. e. if it were not so, or if the 
 wickedness or infidelity of the unbelieving party did usually 
 prevail, the children of such would generally be keft unbap- 
 tized, and so be unclean : but now, by the grace of God, we 
 see a contrary effect ; for they are generally baptized, and so 
 become sanctified or holy. This exposition (as Dr. Wall ob- 
 serves) is so much the more probable, because there has been 
 no other sense of those words yet given by expositors, but 
 what is liable to much dispute : and that sense especially, 
 which is given by our adversaries, (viz. of Legitimacy in op- 
 position to Bastardy,) seems the most forced and far-fetched 
 of all. 
 
 But though we could not be able to produce 
 ^oved^om'Se from Scripture any express mention of the Bap- 
 writings of the tism of Infants; yet when we descend to the 
 the S rs. anCient Fa " writers of the next succeeding ages, we have all 
 their testimonies unanimous on our side. And 
 surely they must be allowed to be competent witnesses of 
 what was done by the Apostles themselves. They could tell 
 whether themselves or their fathers were baptized in their 
 infancy, or whether it was the Apostles' doctrine or advice to 
 
 25 Eph. v. 26. 26 Mr. Walker's Modest Plea for Infant-Baptism, chap. 29. 
 27 Dr. Wall, ut supra, and chap. 15, §. 2, chap. 18, §. 4, and chap. 19, §. 19. See also 
 his Defence of his History against Mr. Gale, p. 363, &c. 
 
introduction.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 331 
 
 stay till they were grown up to years of maturity. But now 
 in none of these do we meet with any thing that favours the 
 opinion of our adversaries, but almost in all of them a direct 
 confutation of their errors. In some of them we have express 
 and direct mention of the practice of the Church in baptizing 
 Infants ; and even in those in whose way it does not come to 
 say any thing as to the age when Baptism should be adminis- 
 tered, we have frequent sentences from whence it may be in- 
 ferred by way of implication. St. Clement, in the Apostles' 
 time, speaks of Original Sin as affecting Infants : 28 if so, then 
 Baptism is necessary to wash it away. Justin Martyr affirms, 
 that Baptism is to us in the stead of Circumcision ; 29 from 
 whence we may fairly conclude, that it ought to be ad- 
 ministered to the same kinds of persons. In another place, 30 
 he mentions several persons who were discipled (or made 
 disciples) to Christ whilst children .• which plainly intimates, 
 that children may be made disciples, and consequently may 
 be baptized. For the only objection of the Antipaedobaptists 
 against Infant-Baptism, is their incapacity of being made dis- 
 ciples. Now here they may perceive that, if Justin rightly 
 understood the word, children may be disciples. And it is 
 worth observing, that the persons he here speaks of are said 
 to be sixty and seventy years old : and therefore if they were 
 discipled and baptized when children, it follows they must be 
 baptized even in the days of the Apostles. But to proceed : 
 Irenaeus, who lived but a little after Justin, reckons Infants 
 among those who were born again to God. 31 A phrase which, 
 in most ecclesiastical writers, and especially in Irenaeus, is 
 generally used to signify that Regeneration, which is the 
 effect of Baptism. 32 And that this must be the sense of the 
 word here is plain, because Infants are not capable of being 
 born again in any other sense. Tertullian again, a few years 
 after him, speaks of Infant-Baptism as the general practice of 
 his time ; though by the heretical notions which it is probable 
 he had then imbibed, he thought the deferring of it was more 
 profitable. 33 In the next century, Origen, in several places, 
 expressly assures us that Infants were baptized by the usage of 
 the Church.^ And lastly, about the year 250, (which was but 
 
 S3 Clem. Rom. Eph. i. ad Cor. cap. xvii. w Dialog, cum Tryph. p. 59, ed. Steph. 
 so Just. Martyr. Apol. 1, prope ab initio. 31 Omnes enim venit per semetipsum sal- 
 vare: omnes inquam qui per eum renascuntur in Deum; Infantes et Parvulos, et 
 Pueros, et Juvenes, et Seniores. Irenaeus adv. Hares. 1. 2, c. 39. 3i See this proved 
 at large in Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part i. chap. 3. & Tertull. de Bapt. 
 c. 18. 3* Orig. Horn. 8, in Lev. xii. xiii. part i. p. 90. Horn. 14, in Luc. ii. part ii. 
 
 p. 142, L. 
 
332 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 150 years after the Apostles,) St. Cyprian, with sixty-six 
 bishops in council with him, declared all unanimously, that 
 none were to be hindered from Baptism and the grace of 
 God : " Which rule," saith he, " as it holds for all, so we 
 think it more especially to be observed in reference to Infants, 
 and persons newly born." 35 * The same might be shewn 
 from all the other Fathers of the three first centuries, who all 
 speak of it as a doctrine, settled and established from the be- 
 ginning of Christianity, without once questioning or opposing 
 it ; which certainly they would have done in some or other 
 of their works, had they known it to have been an innovation, 
 contrary to the doctrine or practice of the Apostles. 
 
 But I have already been too long upon a single particular, 
 and must therefore refer the more inquisitive reader to the 
 learned labours of an eminent divine, 36 who has exhausted the 
 subject to the satisfaction and honour of the English Church. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Offices. 
 
 I. It appeareth by ancient writers, (as was 
 femformer^" expressed in the rubric till the last review,) 
 administered that the Sacrament of Baptism in the old time 
 andVLtsuSde. was not commonly ministered but at two times 
 in the year, at Easter and at Whitsuntide : at 
 Easter, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection, of which 
 baptism is a figure ; 37 and at Whitsuntide, in remembrance of 
 the three thousand souls baptized by the Apostles at that 
 time. 38 For this reason in the Western Church, all that were 
 born after Easter were kept until Whit-Sunday ; and all that 
 were born after Whit-Sunday were reserved until next Easter : 
 unless some imminent danger of death hastened the adminis- 
 tration of it before. 39 Though in the Eastern Church, the 
 feast of Epiphany was also assigned for the administration of 
 this Sacrament, in memory of our Saviour's being, as it is 
 supposed, baptized upon that day. 40 And about the eighth or 
 ninth century, the time for solemn baptism was enlarged even 
 in the Latin Church, all Churches being moved by reason of 
 the thing, to administer baptism (as at first) at all times of the 
 year. 41 
 
 * This consultation was held, not to decide whether Infants were to he baptized, 
 (that they took for granted,) but whether they might regularly he baptized before the 
 eighth day. Upon which the resolution of the whole Council was formed, that Baptism 
 is to be denied to none that is born. 
 
 35 Cypr. Ep. 64, p. 158. 35 Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism. ™ Rom. vi. 4. 
 39 Acts ii. 41. 39 Beatus Renanus in Tertull. de Coron. Milit. 40 Greg. Naz. 
 
 Orat. 40, vol. i. p. 54, A. 41 See this proved in Dr. Nichols's note {h) upon this rubric. 
 
sect. I.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 333 
 
 But yet though the custom above mentioned 
 be now grown out of use, and (as the old rubric terednowonly 
 goes on) cannot, for many considerations^ be JJJ ) 2" 1 Sl | l " d J /8 
 well restored again ; it is thought good to follow 
 tlie same, as near as conveniently may be. And therefore 
 our present rubric still orders, that the people be admonished, 
 that it is most convenient that baptism should not be adminis- 
 tered but upon Sundays and other holy-days, when the most 
 number of people come together: as well for that the congrega- 
 tion there present may testify the receiving of them that be 
 newly baptized into the number of Christ's Church ; as also 
 because in the baptism, of infants every man present may be 
 put in remembrance of his own profession made to God in his 
 baptism. For this cause also it is further declared expedient, 
 that baptism be administered in the vulgar tongue. Neverthe- 
 less (if necessity so require) children may be bap- 
 tized upon any other day, or (as it was worded E of e Je<Sslty? 8 
 in the old Common Prayers) children may at all 
 times be baptized at home ,- or lastly, as it was expressed in the 
 first book of king Edward, either at Church or else at home. 
 
 §. 2. But then it is to be observed, that if the 
 
 r • i , , l , • . The irregularity 
 
 occasion be so urgent as to require baptism at and scandal of ad- 
 home, the- Church has provided a particular office ^ inist ^ ng Bap " 
 for the administration of it : which directs, that 
 the essential parts of the sacrament be administered immedi- 
 ately in private ; but defers the performance of the other 
 solemnities till the child can be brought into the church. As 
 to the office we are now upon, it is by no means to be used in 
 any place but the church. It is ordered to be said at the font, 
 in the middle of the morning or evening prayer, and all along 
 supposes a congregation to be present ; and particularly in one 
 of the addresses which the Priest is to use, it is very absurd 
 for him to tell the godfathers and godmothers in a chamber, 
 that they have brought the child thither to be baptized, when 
 he himself is brought thither to baptize it. It is still more 
 absurd for him in such a place to use that expression, Grant 
 that whosoever is here dedicated to thee by our office and min- 
 istry, See. For he knows that the word here cannot be ap- 
 plicable to the place he is in : nor yet has he any authority to 
 omit or alter the form. 
 
 If we look back into the practice of the primitive Church, 
 we shall find that the place where this solemn act was per- 
 
334 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vn. 
 
 formed was at first indeed unlimited : In any place wliere 
 there was water, as Justin Martyr tells us; 42 in ponds or 
 lakes, in springs or rivers, as Tertullian speaks ; 43 but always 
 as near as might be to the place of their public assemblies. 
 For it was never (except upon extraordinary occasions) done 
 without the presence of the congregation. A rule the primi- 
 tive Christians so zealously kept to, that the Trullan Council 
 does not allow this holy sacrament to be administered even in 
 chapels that were appropriate or private, but only in the public 
 or parish churches ; punishing the persons offending, if clergy, 
 with deposition ; if laity, with excommunication. 44 
 
 In our own Church indeed, since our unhappy confusions, 
 this office hath been very frequently made use of in private ; 
 and some Ministers have thought themselves, to prevent the 
 greater mischief of separation, necessitated to comply with 
 the obstinacy of the greater and more powerful of their 
 parishioners : who, for their ease or humour, or for the con- 
 venience of a more splendid and pompous christening, re- 
 solving to have their children baptized at home, if their own 
 Minister refuse it, will get some other to do it. 
 
 But such persons ought calmly to consider how contrary to 
 reason and the plain design of the institution of this sacra- 
 ment, this perverse custom, and their obstinate persisting in 
 it, is. For what is the end of that sacred ordinance, but to 
 initiate the person into the Church of Christ, and to entitle 
 him to the privileges of it ? And where can there be a better 
 representation of that society, than in a congregation assem- 
 bled after the most solemn and conspicuous manner for the 
 worship of God, and for the testifying of their communion in 
 it ? Where can the profession be more properly made before 
 such admission ; where the stipulation given, where the pro- 
 mise to undertake the duties of a Christian, but in such an 
 assembly of Christians ? How then can all this be done in 
 confusion and precipitance, without any timely notice or pre- 
 paration, in private, in the corner of a bed-chamber, parlour, 
 or kitchen, (where I have known it to be administered,) and 
 there perhaps out of a basin, or pipkin, a tea-cup, or a punch- 
 bowl, (as the excellent Dr. Wall with indignation observes, 45 ) 
 and in the presence of only two or three, or scarce so many 
 as may be called a congregation ? The ordinance is certainly 
 
 42 Apol. 1, c. 79, p. 516, lin. 8, 9. « De Bapt. c. 4, p. 225, C. « Can. 59, torn. in. 
 col. 1170, A. « See Dr. Wall against Mr. Gale, p. 405. 
 
«bct. I.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 335 
 
 public ; public in the nature and end of it, and therefore such 
 ought the celebration of it to be ; the neglect whereof is the 
 less excusable, because it is so easily remedied. 
 
 II. The next rubric (which was added at the 
 last review) is concerning the godfathers and ^nai 2 and T an e - 
 godmothers. The use of which in the Christian tiquttyof godfa- 
 Church was derived from the Jews, as well as the Sew? S ° d " 
 initiation of infants itself. 46 And it is by some 
 believed that the witnesses mentioned by Isaiah at the naming 
 of his son,® were of the same nature with these sureties. 48 
 
 S. 2. In the primitive Church they were so _ 
 
 i iL j. •* • 4. a xu .- n .i • The use of them. 
 
 early, that it is not easy to fix the time ot their 
 beginning. Some of the most ancient Fathers make men- 
 tion of them, 49 and through all the successive ages afterwards 
 we find the use of them continued, without any scruple or in- 
 terruption, till the Anabaptists, and other Puritans of late 
 years, raised some idle clamours against them. Some of these 
 I shall have a proper place to speak to hereafter. In the mean 
 while I desire to observe in general, that since the laws of all 
 nations (because infants cannot speak for themselves) have 
 allowed them guardians to contract for them in secular mat- 
 ters ; which contracts, if they be fair and beneficial, the in- 
 fants mu'st make good when they come to age ; it cannot, one 
 would think, be unreasonable for the Church to allow them 
 spiritual guardians, to promise those things in their name, 
 without which they cannot obtain salvation. And this too, 
 at the same time, gives security to the Church, 
 that the children shall not apostatize, from sureties, 'wit* 
 whence they are called sureties ; provides mon- "esses, and god- 
 itors to every Christian, to remind them of the 
 vow which they made in their presence, from whence they are 
 called witnesses ; and better represents the new birth, by 
 giving the infants new and spiritual relations, whence they are 
 termed godfathers and godmothers. 
 
 §. 3. How long the Church has fixed the num- 
 ber of these sureties, I cannot tell : but by a con- Then ;^ Iot 
 stitution of Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 A. D. 1236, 50 and in a synod held at Worcester, A. D. 1240, 51 
 
 *6 See this proved in Dr. Lightfoot, vol ii. p. 119. « Isaiah viii. 2. tt Vid. 
 
 Jun. et Tremel. in locum. 49 npoo-cpepov-rtss Just. Mart, ad Orthodoxos. 'Ava3oxoi, 
 Dionys. Areop. Eccles. Hier. c. 2, p. 77, B. C Sponsores, Tert. de Bapt. c. 18, p. 231, C. 
 Fidejussores, Augustin. Serm. 168, in Append, ad torn. v. col. 329, C. 5J Bp. Gib- 
 
 son's Codex, vol. i. p. 439, " Synod. Wigorn. cap. 5, apud. Concil. per Labile, torn. 
 xi. par. i, col. 575, C. 
 
336 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 I find the same provision made as is now required by our ru- 
 bric, viz. That there should be for every male child that is to 
 be baptized, two godfathers and one godmother, and for every 
 female one godfather and two godmothers. 
 
 §. 4. By the twenty-ninth canon of our Church, 
 SnsYpSsons no P areni & io oe admitted to answer as godfa- 
 to be admitted tlier for his own child. 52 For the parents are 
 |odmShers and already engaged under such strict bonds, both by 
 
 nature and religion, to take care of their chil- 
 dren's education, that the Church does not think she can 
 lay them under greater : but still makes provision, that if, 
 notwithstanding these obligations, the parents should be 
 negligent, or if it should please God to take them to him- 
 self before their children be grown up ; there yet may be 
 others, upon whom it shall lie to see that the children do not 
 want due instructions, by means of such carelessness, or death 
 of their parents. And for a further prevention of people's 
 entering upon this charge, before they are capable of under- 
 standing the trust they take upon themselves, it is further 
 provided by the above-mentioned canon, that no person be 
 admitted godfather or godmother, before the said person so un- 
 dertaking hath received the holy Communion. 
 
 . III. When there are children to be baptized, 
 
 the parents shall give knowledge thereof over 
 night, or in the morning, before the beginning of Morning 
 Prayer, to the Curate. And then the godfathers and godmo- 
 thers, and the people with the children must be ready at the font* 
 
 so called, I suppose, because Baptism, at the be- 
 Fon caikTd. y S ° ginning of Christianity, was performed in springs 
 
 or fountains. They were at first built near the 
 church, then in the church-porch, and afterwards (as it is now 
 
 usual amongst us) placed in the church itself, but 
 
 thXwe a r°eid a of st ^ keeping the lower end, to intimate that Bap- 
 
 the church. tism is the entrance into the mystical Church. 
 
 Formerly very In the primitive times we meet with them very 
 
 large. large and capacious, not only that they might 
 
 * " Must be ready at the church-door." So the first book of king Edward, which also 
 orders in the last rubric at the end of the Office, that " if the number of children to be 
 baptized, and the multitude of people present be so great that they cannot conveniently 
 stand at the church-door, then let them stand within the church in some convenient 
 place, nigh unto the church-door ; and there all things to be said and done appointed to 
 be said and done at the church-door." 
 
 52 See also Queen Elizabeth's Advertisements, A. D. 1564, in Bishop Sparrow's Col- 
 lection, page 125. 
 
sect, ii.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 337 
 
 comport with the general customs of those times, viz. of per- 
 sons being immersed or put under water ; but also because 
 the stated times of Baptism returning so seldom, great num- 
 bers were usually baptized at the same time. In the middle 
 of them was always a partition ; the one part for men, the other 
 for women ; that so, by being baptized asunder, they might 
 avoid giving offence and scandal. But immersion being now 
 too generally discontinued, they have shrunk into little small 
 fonts, scarce bigger than mortars, and only employed to hold 
 less basins with water, though this last be expressly contrary 
 to an ancient advertisement of our Church. 53 It is still indeed 
 required that there be a font in every church 
 made of stone z 54 because, saith Durand, 65 the m S? eof 
 water that typified Baptism in the wilderness 
 flowed from a rock, 56 and because Christ, who gave forth the 
 living water, is in Scripture called the Corner-atone and the 
 Bock. 
 
 §.2. At this font the children, &c, are to be 
 ready, either immediately after tlie last Lesson at ^performed 7 tC 
 morning prayer, or else immediately after the £ fter * e second 
 last Lesson at evening prayer, as the Curate by 
 his discretion shall appoint. The reason of which I take to 
 be, because by that time the whole congregation is supposed 
 to be assembled ; which shews the irregularity (which prevails 
 much in some churches) of putting off christenings till the 
 whole service is over, and so reducing them (by the departing 
 of the congregation) to almost private baptism. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the preparative Prayers and Exhortations, to 
 be used before the Administration of Baptism, 
 
 I. The people with the children, being ready, 
 and the Priest coming to the font, {which is then The fi t [o n . ques " 
 to be filled with pure water,) as our present ru- 
 bric directs, and standing there, is, in the first place, to ask, 
 WTiether the child has been already baptized or no ? The 
 reason of which is, because Baptism is never to be repeated : 
 for as there is but one Lord and one Faith, so there is but 
 one Baptism.™ And in the primitive Church, those that 
 stood up so earnestly for rebaptizing those who had been bap- 
 
 m See the Advertisements of Queen Elizabeth, A. D. 1564, in Bishop Sparrow, p. 125. 
 •* Canon XVIII. «* Rational. Div. Offic. 1. 6, c. 82, num. 25, fol. 364. M Exod. 
 xvii. 6. " Eph. iv. 5 
 
338 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 tized by heretics, did not look upon that as a second Baptism, 
 but esteemed that which had been conferred by heretics as 
 invalid ; seeing heretics, being out of the Church, could not 
 give what they had not. 58 And others, rather than repeat 
 that sacrament, allowed even that Baptism to be valid which 
 was administered by heretics, if it appeared that it had been 
 performed in the name of tlie Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Glwst. 
 
 II. If the Minister be answered, that the child 
 The tion.° rta " natn not keen baptized, he then begins the so- 
 lemnity with an exhortation to prayer ; for there 
 
 being a mutual covenant in this sacrament between God and 
 man, so vast a disproportion between the parties, and so great 
 a condescension on the part of the Almighty, (who designs 
 only our advantage by it, and is moved by nothing but his 
 own free grace to agree to it,) it is very reasonable the whole 
 solemnity should be begun with an humble address to God. 
 
 III. For which purpose follow two prayers : 
 wo prayers. .^ ^ e £ rst ^ wn i cn we commemorate how God 
 
 did typify this salvation, which he now gives by Baptism, in 
 saving Noah and his family by water, 59 and by carrying the 
 Israelites safe through the lied Sea, m as also how Christ him- 
 self, by being baptized, sanctified water to tlie mystical wash- 
 ing away of sin ; and upon these grounds, we pray that God 
 by his Spirit will wash and sanctify this child that he may 
 be delivered from his wrath, received into tlie ark of his 
 Church, and so filled with grace as to live holily here, and 
 happily hereafter.* 
 
 In the second prayer, to express our earnestness and im- 
 portunity, we again renew our address, requesting, first, That 
 this child may be pardoned and regenerated ; and, secondly, 
 That it may be adopted and accepted by Almighty God. 
 
 §. 2. Between these two prayers in king Ed- 
 
 SThipersons^ WaI " d ' S firSt Litur gJ> th . e Priest WaS to ask the 
 
 baptized in the name of the child of its godfathers and god- 
 
 church! 6 mothers, and then to make a cross upon its 
 
 forehead and breast, saying, 
 
 N. Receive the sign of tlie holy cross both in thy forehead 
 
 and in thy breast, in token that thou shalt not be ashamed to 
 
 * The first prayer in king Edward's book was a little differently expressed; but to 
 the same sense, the language only being afterwards amended. 
 
 58 Tret, de Bapt. c. 15, p. 230, B. Cyprian. Hist. Concil. Carthag. p. 220, &c. Apost. 
 Const. 1. 6, c. 15. Cyril. Hieros. Prsef. §. 4,. p. 6. m 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. eo i Cor. x. 2. 
 
sect. II.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 339 
 
 confess thy faith in Christ crucified ; and so on, as in our 
 own form, only speaking all along to the child. This is now 
 done only upon the forehead, and reserved till after the child 
 is baptized : though it is manifest there were anciently in the 
 primitive Church two several signings with the cross : viz. one 
 before Baptism, 61 as was ordered by our first Liturgy ; and the 
 other after it, which was used with Unction at the time of Con- 
 firmation, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. 
 Why the crossing which we now retain is ordered after Bap- 
 tism, will be shewn when I come to that part of the service. 
 
 §. 3. After the second of these prayers, in the Exorcising> an 
 first Liturgy of king Edward, follows a form of ancient practice 
 exorcism, which I have printed in the margin,* m Ba P tlsm - 
 which was founded upon a custom that obtained in the ancient 
 ages of the Church, to exorcise the person baptized, or to cast 
 the Devil out of him, who was supposed to have taken pos- 
 session of the catechumen in his unregenerate state. And it 
 cannot be denied but that possessions by evil spirits were 
 very frequent before the spreading of the Gospel, when we 
 read that many of them were ejected through the name of 
 Christ. But the use of exorcism, as an ordinary rite in the 
 administration of Baptism, cannot well be proved from any 
 earlier authors than the fourth century, when it was taken in 
 to denote that persons, before they were regenerate by Bap- 
 tism, were under the kingdom of darkness, and held by the 
 power of sin and the Devil. 62 But it being urged by Bucer, 
 in his censure of the Liturgy, that this exorcism was originally 
 used to none but demoniacs, and that it was uncharitable to 
 imagine that all were demoniacs who came to Baptism; 63 it 
 was thought prudent by our reformers to leave it out of the 
 Liturgy, when they took a review of it in the fifth and sixth 
 of king Edward. But to proceed in our own office. 
 
 IV. The people standing up, (which shews ,_ _ 
 
 ,, . .1 r ± t i "I a ^ c The Gospel, how 
 
 that they were to kneel at the two foregoing properly chose. 
 
 * Then let the Priest, looking upon the children, say, 
 
 I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, that thou come out and depart from these infants, whom our Lord Jesus 
 Christ hath vouchsafed to call to his holy Baptism, to he made members of his body, 
 and of his holy congregation. Therefore, thou cursed spirit, remember thy sentence, 
 remember thy judgment, remember the day to be at hand, wherein thou shalt burn in 
 fire everlasting, prepared for thee and thy angels. And presume not hereafter to ex- 
 ercise any tyranny towards these infants, whom Christ hath bought with his precious 
 blood, and by this his holy Baptism calleth to be of his flock. 
 
 61 Ambr. de iis qui initiantur, c. 4. August, de Symbolo, 1. 2, c. 1. 6S Greg. Naz 
 Orat. 40. Cyril. Hieros. in Praef. ad Catech. 6 3 Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 480. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap, vix, 
 
 prayers,) the Minister, in the next place, is to read to them 
 a portion out of the Gospel of St. Mark.* Which, though 
 anciently applied to the sacrament of Baptism, 64 has been 
 censured by some as improper for this place ; because the 
 children there mentioned were not brought to be baptized. 
 But if people would but consider upon what account the Gos- 
 pel is placed here, I cannot think but they would retract so 
 impertinent a charge. In the making of a covenant, the ex- 
 press consent of both parties is required : and therefore the 
 covenant of Baptism being now to be made, between Al- 
 mighty God and the child to be baptized ; it is reasonable, 
 that, before the sureties engage in behalf of the infant, they 
 should have some comfortable assurances that God on his part 
 will be pleased to consent to and make good the agreement. 
 For their satisfaction, therefore, the Priest, who is God's am- 
 bassador, produces a warrant from Scripture, (the declaration 
 of his will,) whereby it appears that God is willing to receive 
 infants into his favour, and hath by Jesus Christ declared 
 them capable of that grace and glory, which on God's part are 
 promised in this baptismal covenant : wherefore the sureties 
 need not fear to make the stipulation on their part, since they 
 have God's own word that there is no impediment in children 
 to make them incapable of receiving that which he hath 
 promised, and will surely perform. 
 
 An Exn taf n From all which premises, the Church, in a 
 brief exhortation that follows, concludes, that 
 the sureties may cheerfully promise that which belongs to 
 their part, since God by his Son hath given sufficient security 
 that his part shall be accomplished. But this being the 
 overflowings of God's pure mercy and goodness, and not 
 owing to any merits or deserts in us, it is fit it should be ac- 
 knowledged in an humble manner. 
 
 V. And therefore next follows a thanksgiv- 
 TheThanksgiv- in g | for Qm own CfcH to the knowledge of, and 
 
 faith in God, which we are put in mind of by 
 this fresh occasion : and wherein we also beg of God to give 
 
 * In the first book of king Edward, the Priest was to say, " The Lord be with you." 
 The people were to answer, " And with thy spirit." And then followed the Gospel. 
 
 + In the Common Prayer of 1549, the conclusion of this exhortation was thus : " Let 
 us faithfully and devoutly give thanks unto him, and say the prayer which the Lord 
 himself taught : and in declaration of our faith, let us also recite the articles contained 
 in our Creed." Then the Minister, with the godfathers and godmothers and people 
 present, were first to say the Lord's Prayer, and then the Creed. After which followed 
 the Thanksgiving. 
 
 « Tert. de Baptismo, c. 18, p. 231. 
 
rect. ii.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 341 
 
 a new instance of his goodness, by giving his holy Spirit to 
 the infant now to be baptized, that so it may be born again, 
 and made a?i heir of everlasting salvation. 
 
 §. 2. After this thanksgiving in king Edward's An old ceremonv 
 first Liturgy, the Priest was to take one of the in king Edward's 
 children by the right hand, the other being flrstbook - 
 brought after him ; and coming into the church toward the 
 font (for all the former part of the service was then said at 
 the church-door) he was to say, The Lord vouchsafe to re- 
 ceive you into his holy household, and to keep and govern 
 you always in the same, that you may have everlasting life. 
 Amen. 
 
 VI. And now no doubt remaining but that 
 
 God is ready and willing to perform his part of Covenant! 
 the covenant, so soon as the child shall promise 
 on his ; the Priest addresses himself to the godfathers and 
 godmothers to promise for him, and from them takes security 
 that the infant shall observe the conditions that are required 
 of him. And in this there is nothing strange or new ; nothing 
 which is not used almost in every contract. By an old law of 
 the Romans, all magistrates were obliged, within five days 
 after admission to their office, to take an oath to observe 
 the laws. Now it happened that C. Valerius Flaccus was 
 chosen edile, or overseer of the public buildings. But he be- 
 ing before Flamen Dialis, or Jupiter's high priest, could not 
 be admitted by the Romans to swear ; their laws supposing 
 that so sacred a person would voluntarily do what an oath 
 would oblige him to. C. Valerius however desired that his 
 brother, as his proxy, might be sworn in his stead : to this 
 the commons agreed, and passed an act that it should be all 
 the same as if the edile had sworn himself. 65 Much after the 
 same manner, whenever kings are crowned in their infancy, 
 some of the nobility, deputed to represent them, take the 
 usual oaths. The same do ambassadors for their principals 
 at the ratifying of leagues or articles ; and guardians for their 
 minors, who are bound by the law to stand to what is con- 
 tracted for them. Since then all nations and orders of men 
 act by this method, why should it be charged as a fault upon 
 the Church, that she admits infants to baptism, by sponsors 
 undertaking for them ? 
 
 VII. Having thus justified the reasonableness The stipulation 
 of a vicarious stipulation, let us now proceed to to be made by 
 
 « Livii, lib. 31, c. 50. 
 
342 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 question and consider the form that is here used. It is drawn 
 up all along by way of question and answer, 
 which seems to have been the method even in the days of the 
 Apostles : for St. Peter calls baptism the answer of a good 
 conscience ; m and in the primitive Church, queries were al- 
 ways put to the persons baptized, which persons at age an- 
 swered themselves, and children by their representatives, 67 
 who are therefore to answer in the first person, (as the advo- 
 cate speaks in the person of the client,) / renounce, &c, 
 because the contract is properly made with the child. 
 
 §. 2. For which reason, in the first book of 
 In the chiT ° f king Edward, the priest is ordered to demand 
 of the child these several questions proposed ; 
 and in our present Liturgy, though the Minister directs him- 
 self to the godfathers and godmothers, yet he speaks by them 
 to the child, as is manifestly apparent from the third question : 
 and consequently the child is supposed to return the several 
 answers which are made by the godfathers, &c, and to pro- 
 mise by those that are his sureties (as the above preface ex- 
 presses it) that he will renounce the Devil and all his works, 
 and constantly believe God's holy word, and obediently keep 
 his Commandments. 
 
 §. 3. The queries proposed are four, of which 
 
 A thequeries? f the last was added at the Restoration; there 
 being but three of them in any of the former 
 books, though in the first of king Edward they are broken 
 into eight. They being all of them exceedingly suitable and 
 proper, I think it not amiss to take notice of them severally. 
 l §. 4. First, then, when we enter into covenant 
 
 with God, we must have the same friends and ene- 
 mies as he hath ; especially when the same that are enemies 
 to him are also enemies to our salvation. And therefore, 
 since children are by nature the slaves of the Devil, and, 
 though they have not yet been actually in his service, will 
 nevertheless be apt to be drawn into it, by the pomps and 
 glory of the world, and the carnal desires of the flesh ; it is 
 necessary to secure them for God betimes, and to engage them 
 to take all these for their enemies, since whoso loveth them 
 cannot love God. 68 
 
 §. 5. Secondly, faith is a necessary qualifica- 
 Query 2. ^..^ £ or ^^ - sm . 69 an( j therefore before Philip 
 
 ee 1 Peter Hi. 21. 67 Tertull. de Bapt. c. 18, p. 231, C. et S. August. Epist. 98, Com. 
 2, col. 267, F. 68 i j hn ii. 15. ea Mark xvi. 16. 
 
sect, it.] OF PUPLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 343 
 
 would baptize the eunuch, he asked him, if lie believed with 
 all his heart ; and received his answer that he believed Jesus 
 to be the Son of God. 1 * From which remarkable precedent 
 the Church hath ever since demanded of all those who enter 
 into the Christian profession, if they believe all the Articles 
 which are implied in that profession: and this was either 
 done by way of question and answer, 71 or else the party bap- 
 tized (if of age) was made to repeat the whole Creed. 72 
 
 §. 6. But thirdly, it is not only necessary that 
 the party to be baptized do believe the Christian 
 faith ; but he must also desire to be joined to that society by 
 the solemn rite of initiation : wherefore the child is further 
 demanded, whetlier he will be baptized in this faith ; because 
 God will have no unwilling servants, nor ought men to be 
 compelled by violence to religion. And yet the Christian re- 
 ligion is so reasonable and profitable, both as to this world 
 and the next, that the godfathers may very well presume to 
 answer for the child, that this is his desire : since if the child 
 could understand the excellency of this religion, and speak its 
 mind, it would without doubt be ready to make the same reply. 
 
 §. 7. Lastly, St. Paul tells us, they that are 
 baptized must walk in newness of life: 13 for 
 which reason the child is demanded, fourthly, If he will keep 
 God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same 
 all the days of his life? For since he now takes Christ for his 
 Lord and Master, and lists himself under his banner, it is fit 
 he should vow, in the words of this sacrament, to observe 
 the commands of his general. Wherefore as he promised to 
 forsake all evil before, so now he must engage to do all that is 
 good, without which he cannot be admitted into the Chris- 
 tian Church. 
 
 §. 8. I cannot conclude this section till I have This baptismal 
 observed, that this whole stipulation is so exactly vow very primi- 
 conformable to that which was used in the pri- tlve ' 
 mitive Church, that it cannot be unpleasant to compare them 
 together. All that were to be baptized were brought to the 
 entrance of the baptistery or font, and standing with their faces 
 towards the west, (which being directly opposite to the east, 
 the place of light, did symbolically represent the prince of 
 darkness, whom they were to renounce,) were commanded to 
 
 w Acts viii. 37. 'i Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 2, §. 4, p. 285. Ambr. de Sacr. 1. 2, c. 
 7, torn. vi. col. 360, K. » Aug. Serm. 58, in Matt. vi. torn. v. col. 337, D. E. 
 »» Rom. vi. 4. 
 
344 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 stretch out their hands as it were in defiance of him ; and then 
 the bishop asked them every one, " Dost thou renounce the 
 Devil and all his works, powers, and service ? " To which each 
 party answered, " I do renounce them." — " Dost thou re- 
 nounce the world, and all its pomps and vanities ? " Answer, 
 "I do renounce them." 74 In the next place they made an 
 open confession of their faith, the bishop asking, " Dost thou 
 believe in God the Father Almighty, &c, in Jesus Christ his 
 only Son our Lord, who, &c. Dost thou believe in the Holy 
 Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, and in one baptism of re- 
 pentance for remission of sins, and the life everlasting ? " To 
 all which each party answered, " I do believe ; " as our Church 
 still requires in this office. 75 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Administration of Baptism. 
 
 The prayer for *• The contract being now made, it is fit the 
 the sanctification Minister should more peculiarly intercede with 
 God for grace to perform it ; and therefore, in 
 the next place, he offers up four short petitions for the child's 
 sanctification. Most of our commentators upon the Common 
 Prayer think, that they were added to supply the place of the 
 old Exorcisms. But it is certain they were placed in the first 
 book of king Edward with no such intent. For by that (as I 
 have observed) a form of Exorcism was to be used over every 
 child that was brought to be baptized : whereas these petitions 
 were only to be used at such times as the water in the font 
 was to be changed and consecrated, which was not then order- 
 ed to be done above once a month. For which reason the 
 form for consecrating it did not, as now, make a part of the 
 public office for baptism, but was placed by itself, at the end 
 of the office for the administration of it in private, (i. e. at the 
 end of the whole ; for there was no office then for the baptism 
 of such as are of riper years.) 
 
 And for the con- The f° rm tnat was used then was something 
 secration of the different from what we use now. It was intro- 
 duced with a prayer, that was afterwards left out 
 at the second review.* And these petitions that are still re- 
 
 * " O most merciful God our Saviour Jesu Christ, who hast ordained the element of 
 water for the regeneration of thy faithful people, upon whom, being baptized in the 
 
 7i Const. Apost. 1. 7, c. 41. Dion. Areop. de Eccles. Hier. c. 2, p. 77, D. Ambr. de 
 Init. c. 2, torn. iv. col. 343, K. De Sacrament. 1. 1, c. 2, torn. iv. col. 354, A. ? 5 Const 
 Apost. 1. 7, c. 41. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 2, §. 4, p. 285. Ambr. de Sacram. 1. 2, c. 7 
 torn. iv. col. 360, K. 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 345 
 
 tained, ran then in the plural number, and the future tense, 
 in the behalf of all that should be baptized till the water 
 should be changed again. And this is the reason that the last 
 of these petitions still runs in general terms, it being con- 
 tinued word for word from the old form. Between the two 
 last also were four other petitions inserted, which are now 
 omitted.* And after all (the usual salutation intervening, 
 viz. The Lord he with you, And with thy spirit) followed 
 the prayer, which we still retain for the consecration of the 
 water. There is some little difference in it towards the con- 
 clusion, because the water being sanctified by the first prayer 
 above mentioned, there was no occasion to repeat the conse- 
 cration in this ; for which reason the words then, and in all 
 the books to the last review, ran in this form : Regard, we 
 beseech thee, the supplications of thy congregation, and grant 
 that all thy servants, which shall be baptized in this water, 
 prepared for the ministration of thy holy Sacrament, [which 
 we here bless and dedicate in thy name to this spiritual wash- 
 ing, f] may receive the fulness of thy grace ; and so on. 
 
 Of this form Bucer, in his Censure, 76 could by no means 
 approve. Such blessings and consecrations of things inanimate 
 tends strangely (he tells us) to create in people's minds terrible 
 notions of magic or conjuration. He allows such consecra- 
 tions indeed to be very ancient, but however they are not to 
 be found in the word of God. At the second reformation 
 therefore, the Common Prayer Book comes out with all that 
 relates directly to the consecration of the water omitted. The 
 
 river of Jordan, the Holy Ghost came down in the likeness of a dove ; send down, we 
 beseech thee, the same thy Holy Spirit to assist us, and to be present at this our invo- 
 cation of thy holy name : sanctify this fountain of baptism, thou that art the sanctifler 
 of all things, that by the power of thy word, all those that shall be baptized therein, 
 may be spirituallylregenerated, and made the children of everlasting adoption. Amen." 
 This was the first prayer for the consecrating of the water in the first Common Prayer. 
 From whence these words, " Sanctify this fountain of baptism, thou that art the sanc- 
 tifler of all things," were taken by the compilers of the Scotch form, and inserted within 
 crotchets [ ] in the first prayer at the beginning of the office after the words—*' mys- 
 tical washing away of sin ; " against which was added a direction in the margin — That 
 " the water in the font should be changed twice in the month at least. And before any 
 child should be baptized in the water so changed, the Presbyter or Minister should say 
 at the font the words thus enclosed [ ]." 
 
 * Whosoever shall confess thee, O Lord, recognise him also in thy kingdom. Amen. 
 
 Grant that all sin and vice here may be so extinct, that they never have power to 
 reign in thy servants. Amen. 
 
 Grant that whosoever here shall begin to bi of thy flock, may evermore continue in 
 the same. Amen. 
 
 Grant that all they which for thy sake, in this life, do deny and forsake themselves, 
 may win and purchase thee, O Lord, which art everlasting treasure. Amen. 
 
 t The words thus enclosed [ ] are only in the Scotch Liturgy. 
 76 Script. Anglican, p. 481. 
 
346 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap, vii 
 
 first prayer above mentioned was left out entirely, and the last 
 purged from those words, prepared for the ministration of the 
 holy Sacrament. And thus the form continued till the last 
 review, when a clause was again added to invocate the Spirit, 
 to sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin. 
 Now by this is meant, not that the water contracts any new 
 quality in its nature or essence, by such consecration ; but 
 only that it is sanctified or made holy in its use, and separated 
 from common to sacred purposes. In order to which, though 
 the primitive Christians believed, as well as we do, that water 
 in general was sufficiently sanctified by the baptism of our 
 Saviour in the river Jordan ; 77 yet when any particular water 
 was at any time used in the administration of baptism, they 
 were always careful to consecrate it first by a solemn invoca- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit. 78 
 
 II. All things being thus prepared for the bap- 
 ^Ba^tfsSj 6 " tism of the child > the Minister is now to take it 
 into his hands, and to ask the godfathers and 
 godmothers to name it. For the Christian name being given 
 as a badge that we belong to Christ, we cannot more properly 
 take it upon us, than when we are enlisted under his banner. 
 We bring one name into the world with us, which we derive 
 from our parents, and which serves to remind us of our ori- 
 ginal guilt, and that we are born in sin : but this new name is 
 given us at our baptism, to remind us of our new birth, when, 
 being washed in the laver of regeneration, we are thereby 
 cleansed from our natural impurities, and become in a manner 
 new creatures, and solemnly dedicate ourselves to God. So 
 that the naming of children at this time hath been thought by 
 many to import something more than ordinary, and to carry 
 with it a mysterious signification. We find something like it 
 even among the heathens : for the Romans had a custom of 
 naming their children on the day of their lustration, (i. e. when 
 they were cleansed and washed from their natural pollution,) 
 which was therefore called Dies nominalis. And the Greeks 
 also, when they carried their infants, a little after their birth, 
 about the fire, (which was their ceremony of dedicating or 
 consecrating them to their gods,) were used at the same time 
 to give them their names. 
 
 77 Ignat. ad Ephes. §. 18. Greg. Naz. Eir-ra VeveOX. See aiso St. Jerome and St. Am- 
 brose. ? 8 Cyprian. Ep. 70, p. 190. Arnbr. de Sacram. 1. 2, c. 5, torn. iv. col. 359, K. 
 Basil, de Spir. Sanct. c. 27, torn. ii. p. 211, A. 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 347 
 
 And that the Jews named their children at the time of cir- 
 cumcision, the holy Scriptures, 79 as well as their own writers, 
 expressly tell us. And though the rite itself of circumcision 
 was changed into that of baptism by our Saviour, yet he made 
 no alteration as to the time and custom of giving the name, 
 but left that to continue under the new, as he had found it 
 under the old dispensation. Accordingly we find this time 
 assigned and used to this purpose ever since : the Christians 
 continuing from the earliest ages to name their children at the 
 time of baptism. And even people of riper years commonly 
 changed their name, (as Saul, saith St. Ambrose, 80 at that time 
 changed his name to Paul,) especially if the name they had 
 before was taken from any idol or false god. For „ + , 
 
 . . J . . o Heathen or wan- 
 
 the Nicene Council forbids the giving of heathen ton names pro- 
 names to Christians, and recommends the giving hlblted - 
 the name of some apostle or saint : 81 not that there is any for- 
 tune or merit in the name itself, but that, by such means, the 
 party might be stirred up to imitate the example of that holy 
 person whose name he bears. And by a provincial constitu- 
 tion of our own Church, made by archbishop Peccham, A. D. 
 1281, it is provided, that no wanton names be given to chil- 
 dren ; or if they be, that they be changed at Confirmation. 83 
 
 §. 2. As to the appointment of the name, it Tobe . en b 
 may be pitched upon by the relations, (as we the godfathers, 
 may see has been the custom of old:) 83 but the andwh y- 
 rubric directs that it be dictated by the godfathers and god- 
 mothers. For this being the token of our new birth, it is fit 
 it should be given by those who undertake for our Christian- 
 ity, and engage that we shall be bred up and live like Chris- 
 tians ; which being confirmed by the custom and authority of 
 the Church in all ages, is abundantly enough to justify the 
 practice, and satisfy us of the reasonableness of it. 
 
 III. After the name is thus given, the Priest 
 (if the godfathers, $c. certify him that the child ^aptTsm! 5 " 
 may well endure it) is to dip it in the water dis- 
 creetly and warily ; which was in all probability the way by 
 which our Saviour, and for certain was the usual and ordinary 
 way by which the primitive Christians did receive their bap- 
 tism. 84 And it must be allowed that by dipping, the ends and 
 
 ™ Gen. xxi. 3, 4. Luke i. 59, 60, and chap. ii. 21. 8 ° In Dominic. Prim. Quadrag. 
 Serm. 2, Ordine 31, torn. v. col. 43, K. 81 Vid. Canon. Arabic. Can. 30, torn. ii. col. 
 209, E. 8S See bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 440. See also Camden's Remains. 
 
 w Ruth iv. 1 7. Luke i. 59. »* Acts viii. 28. Rom. vi. 3, 4. Col. ii. 12. Const. Apost. 1. 3, 
 c. 17. Barnabas, c. 11, p. 70, edit. Oxon. 1685. Tert. de Bapt. c. 4, et de Orat. c. 11. 
 
348 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 effects of baptism are more significantly express- 
 immersion or j c .* • ., ° . v l 
 
 dipping most ed ; for as in immersion there are three several 
 primitive and ac t s v iz. the putting the person under water, his 
 
 significant. , . J. , * ° X , , . 
 
 abiding there tor some time, and his rising up 
 again ; so by these were represented Christ's death, burial, 
 and resurrection ; and in conformity thereunto (as the Apos- 
 tle plainly shews 85 ) our dying unto sin, the destruction of its 
 But the ends of P ower ? an0 ^ our resurrection to newness of life, 
 baptism answer- Though indeed affusion is not wholly without its 
 ed by affusion, signification, or entirely inexpressive of the end 
 of baptism. For as the immersing or dipping the body of the 
 baptized represents the burial of a dead person under ground ; 
 so also the affusion or pouring water upon the party answers 
 to the covering or throwing earth upon the deceased. So 
 that both ceremonies agree in this, that they figure a death 
 and burial unto sin .• and therefore though immersion be the 
 most significant ceremony of the two, yet it is not so neces- 
 sary but that affusion in some cases may supply the room of 
 it. For since baptism is only an external rite, representing 
 an internal and spiritual action, such an act is sufficient, as 
 fully represents to us the institution of baptism ; the divine 
 grace which is thereby conferred, being not measured by the 
 quantity of water used in the administration of it. It is true, 
 dipping and affusion are two different acts ; but yet the word 
 baptize implies them both : it being used frequently in Scrip- 
 ture to denote not only such washing as is performed by dip- 
 ping, but also such as is performed by pouring or rubbing 
 water upon the thing or person washed. 86 And therefore 
 when the Jews baptized their children, in order to circum- 
 cision, it seems to have been indifferent with them, whether 
 
 it was done by immersion or affusion. 87 And 
 ™ C us^dti?on e " that the Primitive Christians understood it in this 
 some occasions latitude, is plain, from their administering this 
 chrUtian S mitlVe no ty sacrament in the case of sickness, haste, 
 
 want of water, or the like, by affusion, or pour- 
 ing water upon the face. Thus the jailor and his family, who 
 were baptized by St. Paul in haste, the same hour of the night 
 that they were converted and believed, 88 are reasonably sup- 
 posed to have been baptized by affusion : since it can hardly 
 be thought that at such an exigency they had water sufficient 
 
 85 Rom. vi. 3, 4. S( 5 See Mark vii. 4, and Luke xi. 38, in the Greek, and Heb. ix. 
 10, also in the Greek, compared with Numbers viii. 7, and xix. 18, 19. ST Mischna 
 de Sabbato, c. 19, §. 3. <* Acts xvi. 33 ; 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 349 
 
 at hand to be immersed in. The same may be said concern- 
 ing Basilides, who, Eusebius tells us, was baptized by some 
 brethren in prison. 89 For the strict custody under which Chris- 
 tian prisoners were kept, (their tyrannical jailors hardly allow- 
 ing them necessaries for life, much less such conveniences as 
 they desired for their religion,) makes it more than probable 
 that this must have been done by affusion only of some small 
 quantity of water. And that baptism in this way was no un- 
 heard-of practice before this, may be gathered from Tertullian, 
 who, speaking of a person of uncertain repentance offering him- 
 self to be baptized, asks, Who would help him to one single 
 sprinkling of water . ?90 The Acts also of St. Laurence, who 
 suffered martyrdom about the same time as St. Cyprian, tell 
 us how one of the soldiers that were to be his executioners, 
 being converted, brought a pitcher of water for St. Laurence 
 to baptize him with. And lastly, St. Cyprian, being consulted 
 by one Magnus, in reference to the validity of clinick baptism, 
 (i. e. such as was administered to sick persons on their beds 
 by aspersion or sprinkling,) not only allows, but pleads for it 
 at large, both from the nature of the sacrament, and design of 
 the institution. 91 It is true, such persons as were so baptized, 
 were not' ordinarily capable of being admitted to any office 
 in the Church ; 92 but then the reason of this, as is intimated 
 by the Council of Neocaesarea, was not that they thought this 
 manner of baptism was less effectual than the other, but be- 
 cause such a person's coming to the faith was not voluntary, 
 but of necessity. And therefore it was provided by the same 
 Council, that if the diligence and faith of a person so baptized 
 did afterwards prove commendable, or if the scarcity of others, 
 fit for the holy offices, did by any means require it, a clinick 
 Christian might be admitted into holy orders. 93 However, 
 except upon extraordinary occasions, baptism was seldom, or 
 perhaps never, administered for the four first centuries, but 
 by immersion or dipping. Nor is aspersion or sprinkling or- 
 dinarily used, to this day, in any country that was never sub- 
 ject to the pope. 94 And among those that submitted to his 
 authority, England was the last place where it was received. 95 
 Though it has never obtained so far as to be enjoined, dipping 
 
 89 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 5. 9 ° Quis enim tibi, tam infidae Pcenitentiae Viro, 
 
 asperginem unam cujuslibet Aquae commodabit ? Tertull. de Pcenitentia, c. 6. 9l Cypr. 
 Ep. 69, ad Magnum, p. 185, &c. ™ Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 6, c. 43. ** Concil. 
 
 Neocaes. Can. 12. 9 * See this proved in Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part 
 ii. chap. 9, §. 2. »* Dr. Wall, ibid. 
 
350 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap, vu, 
 
 having been always prescribed by the rubric. The Salisbury 
 Missal, printed in 1530, (the last that was in force before the 
 Reformation,) expressly requires and orders dipping. And 
 in the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI., the 
 Priest's general order is to dip it in the water, so it be dis- 
 creetly and warily done ; the rubric only allowing, if the child 
 be weak, that then it shall suffice to pour water upon it. Nor 
 was there any alteration made in the following books, except 
 the leaving out the order to dip it thrice, which was prescribed 
 by the first book. 
 tt„™ , ff „ cim nr However, it being allowed to weak children 
 
 How affusion or 7 o 
 
 sprinkling first (though strong enough to be brought to church) 
 came in practice. tQ be baptized by affusion ; many fond ladies at 
 first, and then by degrees the common people, would persuade 
 the Minister that their children were too tender for dipping. 
 But what principally tended to confirm this practice was, that 
 several of our English divines flying into Germany and Switzer- 
 land, &c. during the bloody reign of queen Mary, and return- 
 ing home when queen Elizabeth came to the crown, brought 
 back with them a great love and zeal to the customs of those 
 Protestant Churches beyond sea, where they had been shel- 
 tered and received. And consequently having observed that 
 in Geneva, and some other places, baptism was ordered to be 
 performed by affusion, 96 they thought they could not do the 
 Church of England a greater piece of service, than to intro- 
 duce a practice dictated by so great an oracle as Calvin. So 
 that in the latter times of queen Elizabeth, and during the 
 reigns of king James and king Charles I., there were but very 
 few children dipped in the font. And therefore when the 
 questions and answers in relation to the sacraments were first 
 inserted at the end of the Catechism, upon the accession of 
 king James I. to the throne, the answer to the question, What 
 is the outward visible sign or form in baptism ? was this that 
 follows : Water, 7vherein the person baptized is dipped, or 
 sprinkled with it in the name of the Father, &c. And after- 
 wards, when the Directory was put out by the Parliament, 
 affusion (to those who could submit to their ordinance) began 
 to have a shew of establishment ; it being declared not only 
 lawful, but sufficient and most expedient that children should 
 be baptized, by pouring or sprinkling of water on the face. 
 
 98 See Calvin's Institutes, 1. 4, c. 15, §. 19, and Tractat. Theolog. Catechismus, p. 57 
 ed. Bezae, 1576. 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 351 
 
 And as it were for the further prevention of immersion or 
 dipping, it was particularly provided that baptism should not 
 be administered in the places where fonts, in the time of 
 popery, were unfitly and super stitiously placed. And accord- 
 ingly (which was equal to the rest of their reformation) they 
 changed the font into a basin : which being brought to the 
 Minister in his reading desk, and the child being held below 
 him, he dipped in his fingers, and so took up water enough 
 just to let a drop or two fall on the child's face. 97 These re- 
 formers, it seems, could not recollect that fonts to baptize in 
 had been long used before the times of popery, and that they 
 had no where been discontinued from the beginning of Christi- 
 anity, but in such places where the pope had gained authority. 
 But our divines at the Restoration, understanding a little bet- 
 ter the sense of Scripture and antiquity, again restored the 
 order for immersion ; however, for prevention of any danger 
 to the child, the Priest is advised to be first certified tliat it 
 will well endure it. So that the difference between the old 
 rubric, and what it is now, is only this : As it stood before, 
 the Priest was to dip, unless there was an averment or allega- 
 tion of weakness ; as it stands now, he is not to dip, unless 
 there be* an averment or certifying of strength, sufficient to 
 endure it. 
 
 This order, one would think, should be the most unexcep- 
 tionable of any that could be given ; it keeping as close to 
 the primitive rule for baptism, as the coldness of our region 
 and the tenderness wherewith infants are now used, will some- 
 times admit. Though Sir John Ployer, in a discourse on cold 
 baths, hath shewn, from the nature of our bodies, from the 
 rules of medicine, from modern experience, and from ancient 
 history, that nothing would tend more to the preservation of 
 a child's health, than dipping it in Baptism. However, the 
 parents not caring to make the experiment, take so much the 
 advantage of the reference that is made to their judgments 
 concerning the strength of their children, as never to certify 
 they may well endure dipping. It is true, indeed, the ques- 
 tion is now seldom asked ; because the child is always brought 
 in such a dress, as shews that there is no intention that it 
 should be dipped. For whilst dipping in the font continued 
 in fashion, they brought the child in such sort of clothing, as 
 might be taken off and put on again without any hinderance or 
 
 97 See Dr. Wall's History of Infant-Baptism, part ii. chap. 9, p. 403. Oxf. edit. 
 
352 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. VII. 
 
 trouble. But since the Church not only permits, but requires 
 dipping, where it is certified the child may well endure it ; 
 and consequently since the Minister is always ready to dip, 
 whensoever it is duly required of him ; it is very hard that 
 any should urge the not dipping or immersing, as a plea for 
 separation. 
 
 Trine immersion , §• 2 - , Bu * to P™ceed : by king Edward's first 
 an ancient prac- book, the Minister is to dip the child m the wa- 
 tlce " ter thrice ; first dipping the right side ,- secondly, 
 
 the left side ,♦ the third time, dipping the face toward the 
 font. This was the general practice of the primitive Church, 
 viz. to dip the person thrice, i. e. once at the name of each 
 Person in the Trinity, the more fully to express that sacred 
 mystery. 98 Though some later writers say this was done to re- 
 present the death, burial, and resurrection of our Saviour, to- 
 gether with his three days' continuance in the grave." St. 
 Austin joins both these reasons together, as a double mystery 
 of this ancient rite, as he is cited by Gratian to this purpose. 100 
 Several of the Fathers, that make mention of this custom, own, 
 that there is no command for it in Scripture : but then they 
 speak of it as brought into use by the Apostles ;* and therefore 
 the fiftieth of the Canons that are called Apostolical, deposes 
 any Bishop or Presbyter that administers Baptism without it. 
 But afterwards, when the Arians made a wick- 
 ^tinuel? 011 e & advantage of this custom, by persuading the 
 people that it was used to denote that the Persons 
 in the Trinity were three distinct substances ; it first became 
 a custom, 2 and then a law, 3 in the Spanish Church, only to use 
 one single immersion ; because that would express the Unity 
 of the Godhead, while the Trinity of Persons would be suf- 
 ficiently denoted by the person's being baptized in the name 
 of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. However, in other 
 parts of the Church, trine immersion most commonly prevailed, 
 as it does in the Greek Church to this very day. 4 Upon what 
 account it was omitted in the second book of king Edward, I 
 do not find : but there being no order in the room of it to con- 
 
 °8 Tertull. adv. Prax. c. 26, p. 516, A. et de Coron. Mil. c. 3. Basil, de Sp. Sanct. c. 
 27. Hieron. adv. Lucif. c. 4. Hierar. Eccles. c. 2. Ambros. de Sacram. 1. 2, c. 7. Can. 
 Ap. 50, Bas. 92, Leo. IX. S9 Greg. Nyss. de Bapt. Christi, torn. iii. p. 3, 72. Cyril. 
 
 Catech. Mystag. 2, n. 4. Leo, Ep.4, ad Epis. Siculos, c. 3. wo Aug. Horn. 3, apud 
 
 Gratian. de Consecrat. Dist. 4. c. 78. ' Tertull. de Coron. Mil. c. 3, p. 102, A. Cyril. 
 Catech. Mystag. 2, §. 4, page 286, B. Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. 1. 6, c. 26, p. 673, D. Hieron. 
 adv. Lucif. 2 Concil. Constant. Can. 7. Greg. Epist. ad Leandrum, Reg. 1. I, c. 41. 
 3 Concil. Tolet. 4, Can. 6, torn. v. col. 1706. * See Sir Paul Rycaut and Dr. Smith's 
 Accounts of the Greek Church. 
 
SKcr. Iil.l OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 353 
 
 fine the Minister to a single immersion, I presume it is left to 
 his judgment and discretion to use which he pleases. 
 
 IV. When the Priest dips or pours water upon 
 
 the child, he is to .say, (calling the child by its The W o°r™° f 
 name,) N. I baptize thee, which was always the 
 form of the Western Church. The Eastern Church useth a 
 little variation, Let N. be baptized, &c., 5 or else, The servant 
 of God, such a one is baptized, &c. ;° but the sense is much the 
 same : however, in the next words, viz. in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, all orthodox 
 Christians did ever agree ; because they are of Christ's own 
 appointment, and for that reason unalterable. Wherefore, 
 when the heretics presumed to vary from this form, they were 
 censured by the Church, and those baptisms declared null, 
 which were not administered in the name of the Father, So?i, 
 and Holy Ghost. Some indeed took liberty to mingle a pa- 
 raphrase with them, baptizing in the name of the Father who 
 sent, of the Son that came, and of the Holy Ghost that wit- 
 nessed ,- 7 but our reformers thought it more prudent to pre- 
 serve our Lord's own words entire, without addition or di- 
 minution. 
 
 Now by baptizing in the name of three Persons, is not only 
 meant that it is done by the commission and authority of 
 God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; but also that we are 
 baptized into the faith of the holy Trinity ; and are received 
 into that society of men, who are distinguished from all false 
 professions in the worlds by believing in three Persons and 
 one God. 
 
 V. By the first Common Prayer of king Ed- 
 ward, after the child was thus baptized, the god- fure^hrisom! 
 
 fathers and godmothers were to lay their hinds 
 upon it, and the Minister was to put upon him his white ves- 
 ture, commonly called the chrisom, and to say, 
 
 Take this white vesture as a token of the innocency, which, 
 by Gods grace, in this holy Sacrament of Baptism <.,is given un- 
 to thee, and for a sign whereby thou art admonished so long 
 as thou livest, to give thyself to innocence of living, that after 
 this transitory life thou mayest be partaker of the life everlast- 
 ing. Amen. 
 
 This was a relic of an ancient custom I have _ Tr Bn _. 
 
 /» lit • Q i • Why so called. 
 
 formerly had occasion to mention : 8 the intention 
 
 5 See the Euchologion. « See Sir Paul Rvcaut and Dr. Smith's Accounts of the 
 
 Greek Church. » Const. Ap. 1. 7, c. 22. 8 See page 232, sect. 19, 
 
 2 A 
 
354 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 and design of it is sufficiently expressed in the form above 
 cited : I therefore need only observe further, that it receives 
 its name from the chrism or ointment with which the child 
 was anointed when the chrisom was put on. 
 TT . VI. For by the same book of king Edward, as 
 
 Unction prescrib- *i_ t> • * i_ j i R. r 
 
 ed by the first soon as the Friest had pronounced the foregoing 
 wa°rd vi" ingEd ~ f° rm ' ne was to an °i nt the infant upon the head, 
 saying, 
 Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 hath regenerated thee by water and the Holy Ghost, and hath 
 given unto thee remission of all thy sins ; he vouchsafe to anoint 
 thee with the unction of his Holy Spirit, and bring thee to the 
 inheritance of everlasting life. Amen. 
 
 Whether the compilers of king Edward's Li- 
 unction belonged turgy designed this as a continuance of the unc- 
 to Baptism or ^ion fa^ anciently made a part of the office of 
 
 Confirmation. _ . J . ■ r t . . . , ■ 
 
 Baptism ; or or the unction which, though fre- 
 quently used at the same time with Baptism, was yet rather a 
 ceremony belonging to Confirmation, is not clearly to be dis- 
 covered. According to the best of my judgment, I take it 
 rather to be the latter ; for the unction that was an immedi- 
 ate ceremony of Baptism, was always applied as soon as the 
 party to be baptized was unclothed, and before his entrance 
 into the water : 9 whereas the unction enjoined by king Ed- 
 ward's Liturgy is ordered to be applied after the child is 
 thoroughly baptized. For this reason, I suppose, it was con- 
 tinued as a relic of the unction which the Priest used to per- 
 form preparatory to Confirmation. And what makes my 
 opinion the more probable is, that in the old office for Con- 
 firmation, in that book, there is no order for the Bishop to 
 anoint those whom he confirms ; which yet it is not to be ima- 
 gined our reformers (who shewed such regard to all primi- 
 tive customs) would by any means have omitted, if they had 
 not known that the ceremony of unction had been performed 
 before. But to help the reader to a clear notion in this matter, 
 it will be necessary to give him some little light into the an- 
 cient practice in relation to both these unctions. 
 
 He must know then, that the unction that was 
 distinguishedln use d before baptism, was only with pure oil, 10 
 Ch pr j* itive w i tn which the party was anointed just before he 
 
 entered the water, to signify that he was now 
 
 9 Constit. Apost. lib. 7, cap. 23. Quaest. ad Orthodox. 137. Eccl. Hlerarch. 1. 2. 
 10 See the authorities cited in the foregoing note. 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 355 
 
 becoming a champion for Christ, and was entering upon a 
 state of conflict and contention against the allurements of the 
 world : in allusion to the custom of the old wrestlers or ath- 
 letes, who were always anointed against their solemn games, in 
 order to render them more supple and active, and that their 
 antagonists might take the less advantage and hold of them. 11 
 This was commonly called the unction of the mystical oil: 
 whereas the unction wherewith the party was anointed after 
 baptism, was called the unction or chrism, being performed 
 with a mixed or compound unguent, and applied by the Bi- 
 shop at the time of the imposition of his hands, partly to 
 express the baptism with fire, of which oil, we know, is a 
 proper material, partly to signify the invisible unction of the 
 Holy Spirit, 13 and partly to denote that the person so anointed 
 is admitted to the privileges of Christianity, which are de- 
 scribed by the Apostle to be a chosen generation, a royal 
 'priesthood, an holy nation, &c., 13 in the designation to which 
 office anointing was generally used as a symbol. And this 
 account Tertullian favours, 14 where, speaking of the unction 
 that followed baptism, he tells us it was derived from the an- 
 cient, i. e. the Jewish discipline, where the Priests were wont 
 to be anointed to their office. 
 
 But further, the anointing in Baptism might be performed 
 by either a deacon or deaconess ; 15 whereas the chrism that 
 belonged to confirmation could not at first be ordinarily ap- 
 plied by any under the order of a Bishop. Afterwards indeed, 
 when Christianity began to spread far and wide, so that Bi- 
 shops could not be procured upon every extraordinary emer- 
 gency, the Bishops found it necessary to give liberty to the 
 Presbyters to anoint those whom they baptized, in cases of 
 extremity : that so, if a Bishop could not be sent for in con- 
 venient time, a sick member of the Church might not depart 
 wholly deprived of all those spiritual assistances which Con- 
 firmation was to supply. However, the privilege of making and 
 consecrating the holy unguent, and the rite of laying on of 
 hands, they still reserved to themselves ; and only took care 
 to supply their Presbyters with a due quantity of chrism, that 
 they might not be without it upon any necessity. 10 And this, 
 
 « Chrys. Horn. 8, in Ep. ad Coloss. Ambros. de Sacram. 1. 1, c. 2. « 2 Cor. i. 21, 
 22. 1 John ii. 20, 27. 13 1 Peter ii. 9. " Tertul. de Bapt. c. 7. 15 Const. Apost, 
 1. 3, c. 15, 16. io Concil. Arausican. Can. 1. Concil. Carthag. 4, Can. 36. Concil. 
 
 Toletan. 1, Can. 20. But see this proved more at large in Dr. Hammond de Confirma- 
 tione, cap. 2, sect. 3, 4, and Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, hook 12, chap. 2, 1 vol. royal 
 «*vn, page 547, &c 
 
 2 a 2 
 
356 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 though at first indulged only upon occasion, came in a little 
 time afterwards to be the general practice : insomuch that for 
 the Presbyter to anoint in baptism became the ordinary me- 
 thod ; and the Bishop, when he confirmed, had nothing to do 
 but to impose his hands, except by chance now and then to 
 apply the chrism to a person that by accident had missed of 
 it in his baptism. 17 
 
 And this I take to be the unction intended in the form we 
 are now speaking of, as well for the reasons above mentioned, 
 as because this, of the two, appears to have been the most* 
 ancient and universal, and so the most likely to be retained by 
 our reformers. Bucer indeed prevailed for the leaving out 
 the use both of this and the chrisom at the next review ; not 
 because he did not think them of sufficient antiquity or stand- 
 ing, or of good use and edification enough where they were 
 duly observed ; but because he thought they carried more 
 shew of regard and reverence to the mysteries of our religion 
 than men really retained ; and that consequently they tended 
 to cherish superstition in the minds of the people, rather than 
 religion and true godliness. 18 
 
 The reception of .^ But t0 r f U ™ to OUT Own office : the 
 
 the child into the child, being now baptized, is become a member 
 Church. of the christian Church, into which the Minister 
 
 (as a steward of God's family) doth solemnly receive it ; and. 
 for the clearer manifestation that it now belongs to Christ, 
 solemnly signs it in the forehead with the sign of the cross. 
 The anti uit ^ or tne better understanding of which primitive 
 and meaning of ceremony, we may observe, that it was an an- 
 Cross gn ° f the c i en ^ r i te f° r Piasters and generals, to mark the 
 foreheads or hands of their servants and soldiers 
 with their names or marks, that it might be known to whom 
 they did belong ; and to this custom the angel in the Revela- 
 tion is thought to allude ; 19 Hurt not the earth, &c, till we 
 have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads : thus 
 again, 20 the retinue of the Lamb are said to have his Father's 
 name written in their foreheads. And thus, lastly, in the 
 same chapter, as Christ's flock carried his mark on their 
 foreheads, so did his great adversary the beast sign his serv- 
 ants there also : 21 If any man shall receive the mark of the 
 beast in his forehead, or in his hand, &c. Now that the 
 
 17 Concil. Araus. Can. 1. 18 Bucer. Script. Angl. p. 478. 19 Chap, vii, vet. S. 
 «o Chap. xiv. 1. 2l Verse 9. 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 357 
 
 Christian Church might hold some analogy with those sacred 
 applications, she conceived it a most significant ceremony in 
 Baptism, (which is our first admission into the Christian pro- 
 fession,) that all her children should be signed with the cross 
 on their foreheads, signifying thereby their consignment up 
 to Christ; whence it is often called by the ancient Fathers, 
 the Lord's signet, and Christ's seal. 
 
 And it is worth observing, that this mark or sign seems 
 to have been appropriated from the very beginning to some 
 great mystery : the Israelites could overcome the Amalekites 
 no longer than Moses by stretching out his arms continued in 
 the form of a cross ; 22 which undoubtedly prefigured that our 
 salvation was to be obtained through the means of the cross : 
 as was also further signified by God's commanding a cross (for 
 that Grotius supposes to be the mark understood) to be set 
 upon those who should be saved from a common destruction. 23 
 
 But to come nearer ; when our blessed Redeemer had expi- 
 ated the sins of the world upon the cross, the primitive disci- 
 ples of his religion (who, as Minucius Felix affirms, did not 
 worship the cross) did yet assume that figure as the badge of 
 Christianity : and long before material crosses were in use, 
 Tertullian tells us, that "upon every motion, at their going out 
 or coming in, at dressing, at their going to bath, or to meals, 
 or to bed, or whatever their employment or occasions called 
 them to, they were wont [frontem crucis signaculo terere\ to 
 mark, or (as the word signifies) to wear out their foreheads 
 with the sign of the cross ; adding, that this was a practice 
 which tradition had introduced, custom had confirmed, and 
 which the present generation received upon the credit of that 
 which went before them." 24 It is pretended indeed by our 
 adversaries, that this is only an authority for the use of this 
 sign upon ordinary occasions, and gives no countenance for 
 using it in Baptism. Suppose we should grant this ; it would yet 
 help to shew from some other passages in the same author, 
 that the same sign was also used upon religious accounts. 
 Thus, in his book concerning the resurrection of the fiesh, 
 shewing how instrumental the body is to the salvation of the 
 soul, he has this expression : " The flesh is washed that the 
 soul may be cleansed ; the flesh is anointed that the soul may 
 be consecrated ; the flesh is signed that the soul may be for 
 
 m Exod. xvii. 11, 12, 13. « Ezek. ix. 4. ** Tert. de Coron. Mil. c. 3, pag. 102, 
 A. B. 
 
358 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 titled ; the flesh is overshadowed by the imposition of hands, 
 that the sonl may be enlightened by the Spirit of God ; the 
 flesh is fed on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul may 
 receive nourishment or fatness from God." 25 Thus again, in 
 another place, shewing how the Devil mimicked the holy sa- 
 craments in the heathen mysteries ; " He baptizeth some," 
 saith he, " as his faithful believers ; he promises them forgive- 
 ness of their sins after baptism, and so initiates them to Mithra, 
 and there he signs his soldiers in their foreheads" &e. 26 Now 
 here is plainly mention made of signing or marking the fleshy 
 and signing too in the forehead, even in the celebration of re- 
 ligious mysteries ; and we know no sign they so religiously es- 
 teemed, but what Tertullian had in the other place mentioned, 
 viz. the sign of the cross. I will not indeed be certain, but 
 that the signing in both these places may refer to the cross 
 which was made upon the forehead, when they were anointed 
 in confirmation : but still this proves that crossing on the fore- 
 head was used upon religious as well as ordinary occasions ; 
 that it was used particularly at Confirmation, and therefore it 
 is highly paobable it was used also in Baptism : since they who 
 used it upon every slight occasion, and made it a constant part 
 of the solemnity in one ofhce, would not omit or leave it out 
 in another, where the use of it was full as proper and signifi- 
 cant. We have gained so much therefore from Tertullian's 
 authority, that the use of the cross, even in religious offices, 
 was, in his time, a known rite of Christianity. This will gain 
 an easier belief to a passage among the works of Origen, where 
 there is express mention of some, who were signed with the 
 cross at their baptism™ and better explain what is meant by 
 St. Cyprian, when he tells us, that " those who obtain mercy 
 of the Lord are signed on their foreheads"™ and that " the 
 forehead of a Christian is sanctified with the sign of God." 29 
 But further, in Lactantius, we find that Christians are describ- 
 ed by those that have been marked upon the forehead with 
 a cross.™ Again, St. Basil tells us, that " an ecclesiastical con- 
 stitution had prevailed from the Apostles' days, that those who 
 
 25 Caro abluitur, ut anima emaculetur ; caro unguitur, ut anima consecretur; caro 
 signatur, ut et anima muniatur; caro manus impositione adumbratur, ut et anima 
 Spiritu illuminetur ; caro Corpore et Sanguine Christi vescitur, ut et anima de Dec 
 saginetur. Tertull. de Resurrect. Carnis, c. 8. 26 Tinguit et ipse quosdam, utique 
 credentes et fideles suos ; expiationem delictorum de Lavacro repromittit, et sic adhuc 
 initiat Mithrae. Signat illic in frontibus milites suos. Tertull. de Praescr. adv. Heere- 
 tic. c. 40. » Horn. 2, in Ps. xxxviii. par. 1, p. 299. » De Unit. Eccles. p. 116. 
 
 *» De Laps. p. 122. «" Lib. iv. c. 26. 
 
sect, in.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 359 
 
 believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ should be sign- 
 ed with the sign of the cross.'' 31 St. Chrysostom again makes 
 it the glory of Christians, that " they carry in their foreheads 
 the sign of the cross."™ And lastly St. Austin, speaking to 
 one who was going to be baptized, tells him, 33 that he was 
 " that day to be signed with the sign of the cross, with which 
 all Christians were signed" (i. e. at their baptism.) 
 
 I need not surely (after this long detail) instance in the writ- 
 ings of any other of the Fathers, who frequently used being 
 signed in the forehead for being baptized. I shall only add 
 this remark; that the first Christian emperor, Constantine the 
 Great, had his directions from heaven to make the cross the 
 great banner in his wars with this motto on it, 'Ev Tovry vUa, 
 By this sign thou shalt overcome.^ And sure we cannot sup- 
 pose that our blessed Lord would, by so immediate a revela- 
 tion, countenance such a rite as this already used in the Church, 
 if he had resented it before as superstitious and unwarrantable. 
 And we may add, that we ought not to be too petulant against 
 that which the Holy Spirit has sometimes signalized by very 
 renowned miracles; as those who consult the ecclesiastical 
 histories of the best authority cannot but be convinced. In a 
 word, .when any are received into the society of our religion, it 
 is as lawful to declare it by a sign as by words. And surely 
 there is no signature so universally known to be the mark of 
 a Christian as that of the cross, which makes St. Paul put the 
 cross for Christianity itself; 35 the belief of a crucified Saviour 
 being the proper article of the Christian faith, distinguishing 
 the professors of it from all other kinds of religion in the world. 
 
 §. 2. There were anciently indeed, in the pri- The CrosS) why 
 mitive Church, two several signings or markings made after Bap- 
 with the cross, viz. one before Baptism, as was tlsm " 
 ordered by the first Liturgy of king Edward, as I have already 
 observed in page 338 ; the other afterwards, which was used 
 at Confirmation, and which (as I shall shew hereafter) was also 
 prescribed by the same book of king Edward. 
 
 In a word, the Cross in Baptism, till of late years, has been 
 so inoffensive to the most scrupulous minds, that even Bucer 
 could find nothing indecent in it, if it was used and applied 
 with a pure mind. He only disapproved of directing the form 
 
 31 De Sp. Sanct. c. 27, torn. ii. p. 210, D. 32 Chrys. in Psalm ex. »3 Aug. de 
 Catech. Rudibus, c. 20. « Euseb. de Vita Constant. 1. i. c. 28, 29, p. 422. * 1 Cor. 
 L 17,18. Gal. v. 11. Phil. iii. 18. 
 
360 OF THE MINISTRATION [chap. vii. 
 
 that was used at the imposing of it, to the child itself, who 
 could not understand it. For which reason he wished it might 
 be turned into a Prayer. 36 The reviewers of our Liturgy did 
 not indeed exactly comply with him ; but however they have 
 ordered the form to be spoken to the congregation, and fur- 
 ther, to remove all manner of scruple, have deferred the sign- 
 ing with it till after the child is baptized, that so none may 
 charge us with making the ceremony essential to Baptism, 
 which is now finished before the Cross is made, and which is 
 esteemed, in case of extremity, not at all deficient, where it is 
 celebrated without it. 
 
 §. 3. The forehead is the seat of blushing and 
 
 ^thefbr e d heaT n shame » for which reason the child is to be signed 
 with the Cross on that part of him, in token that 
 hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ 
 crucified, Sfc. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the concluding Exhortations and Prayers . 
 
 I. The holy rite being thus finished, it is not 
 The tion.° rta " decent to turn our backs upon G od immediately, 
 
 but that we should complete the solemnity by 
 thanksgiving and prayer : and therefore, that we may do both 
 these with due understanding, the Minister teaches us, in a 
 serious exhortation, what must be the subjects of our praises 
 and petitions. 
 
 II. And since (as we have already hinted) 37 the 
 T prayerf S Lord's Prayer was prescribed by our Saviour to 
 
 his disciples as a badge of their belonging to him ; 
 it can never be more reasonable or proper to use it than now, 
 when a new member and disciple is admitted into his Church. 
 And therefore, whereas, in other offices, this prayer is gener- 
 ally placed in the beginning, it is here reserved till after the 
 child is baptized, and received solemnly into the Church; 
 when we can more properly call God Our Father, with respect 
 to the Infant, who is now by Baptism made a member of 
 fhrist, and more peculiarly adopted a child of God. And this 
 is exactly conformable to the primitive Church : for the Cate- 
 chumens were never allowed to use this prayer, till they had 
 first made themselves sons by Regeneration in the waters of 
 Baptism. 38 For which reason, this prayer is frequently, by 
 
 38 Buceri Script. Anglican, p. 479. 37 Introduction, p. 4. ss Chrys. Horn. 2, in 
 2 Cor. torn. iii. p. 553, lin. 21, 22. Aug. Horn. 29, de Verb. Apost. et Serin. 59, c. 1, torn. 
 v. col. 343, D. et Serin. 65, c. 1, col. 119, C in Append, ad torn. v. 
 
sect, iv.] OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 361 
 
 the ancient writers, called The Prayer of the Regenerate, or 
 Believers, as being, properly speaking, their privilege and 
 birthright. 39 
 
 III. After this follows a Prayer wherein we first 
 
 give God thanks for affording this child the be- The Collect ' 
 nefits of Baptism ; and then pray for his grace to assist it in 
 the whole course of its life.* 
 
 IV. And lastly, because nothing tends more 
 
 directly to the securing of holiness and religion ^twSfShers 
 than a conscientious performance of this vow of 
 Baptism, here are added endeavours to our prayers for the 
 fulfilling thereof. In the first ages, when those of discretion 
 were baptized, the Applications were directed to the persons 
 themselves, (as they now are in our office of Baptism for those 
 of riper years .-) but since children are now most commonly 
 the subjects of Baptism, who are not capable of admoni- 
 tion, here is a serious and earnest exhortation made to the 
 sureties. 
 
 §. 2. Which, if it be well considered, will 
 shew how base it is for any to undertake this f choos^St 
 trust merely in compliment ; how absurd to put persons for sure- 
 little children (whose bond is not good in hu- 
 man courts) upon this weighty office ; and also how ridiculous 
 for those who have taken this duty upon them, to think they 
 can shake off this charge again, and assign it over to the 
 parents. But yet this is frequently the custom of this licen- 
 tious age, and the chief occasion of many people's falling into 
 evil principles and wicked practices, which might easily be 
 prevented, if the sureties would do their duty, and labour to 
 fit their god-children for Confirmation, and bring them to it ; 
 which therefore the Minister is in the last place to advertise 
 the sureties of:f for till the child by this means enters the 
 bond in his own name, the sureties must answer for all mis- 
 carriages through their neglect ; whereas as soon as the child 
 is confirmed, the sureties are freed from that danger, and dis- 
 charged from all but the duty of charity. 
 
 * Note, that this prayer, with the foregoing exhortation and Lord's Prayer, were first 
 added to the second book of king Edward ; his first book ordering the application to the 
 godfathers, &c, to be used as soon as the child was baptized. 
 
 t In all the former books this advertisement concerning Confirmation was only a 
 rubric directing the Minister to command that the children be brought to the Bishop, 
 &c. But in the last review it was turned into a form to be spoken to the people. 
 
 39 Evx>7 w/o-Ttov. Chrys. Horn. 10, in Coloss. torn. iv. p. 142, lin. 41. Oratio Fidelium, 
 August. Enchirid. c. 71 
 
362 OF THE MINISTRATION [app. t. to chap. vii. 
 
 The office being thus ended, the first Common Prayer 
 piously adds, And so let the congregation depart in the name 
 of the Lord. 
 
 APPENDIX I. TO CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF THE MINISTRATION OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN 
 IN HOUSES.* 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Office. 
 
 In this and the following office, I am only to 
 Th ° tion° dUC " ta ^ e not i ce °f sucn particulars, as are different 
 from the Order for Public Baptism of Infants. 
 Where either of these therefore agree with the former, I must 
 refer my reader to the foregoing chapter, designing this and 
 the following Appendix only for such things as I have had 
 no opportunity of mentioning before. 
 
 §.1. The first rubric requires, that the Curates 
 tism not to be of every Parish shall often admonish the people, 
 long deferred. t j mt t ^ ey de j> er not fa Baptism of their children 
 
 longer than the first or second Sunday next after their birth, 
 or other holy-day falling between, unless upon a great and 
 reasonable cause to be approved by the Curate. 
 Rubric 2. Not §• 2. And that also they shall warn them, that, 
 to be adminis- without like great cause and necessity, they pro- 
 except in cases cure not their children to be baptized at home in 
 of necessity. their houses. But when need shall compel them 
 so to do, then Baptism shall be administered on this fashion. 
 
 The moderation of our Church in this respect, is exactly 
 conformable to the ancient practice of the primitive Chris- 
 tians ; who (though in ordinary cases they would never admit 
 that Baptism should be administered without the presence of 
 the congregation) yet had so great a care that none should 
 die unbaptized, that in danger of death they allowed such 
 persons, as had not gone through all their preparations, to be 
 baptized at home : but laying an obligation upon them to an- 
 swer more fully, if God restored them. 1 
 
 * The title of this office in both books of king Edward and that of queen Elizabeth 
 was this : Of them that be baptized in private houses, in time of necessity. To which 
 were added upon king James's accession the following words : by the Minister of the 
 parish, or any other lawful Minister that can be procured. And so it continued till the 
 Restoration, when it was altered into the title that stands above. 
 
 * Concil. Laodicen. Can. 47, torn. i. col. 1505, A. 
 
sect, ii.] OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 363 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the proper Minister of Private Baptism. 
 
 When necessity requires that Baptism be pri- 
 vately administered, the Minister of the Parish, i^nt^Sx^ 
 or (in his absence) some other laivful Minister is church at the 
 to be procured. This is an order which was not tton. 0rma " 
 made till after the Conference at Hampton Court, 
 upon the accession of king James I. to the throne. In both 
 Common Prayer Books of king Edward, and in that of queen 
 Elizabeth, the rubric was only this : First, let them that be 
 present call upon God for his grace, and say the Lord's Prayei t 
 if the time will suffer ; and then one of them shall name the 
 child, and dip him in the water, or pour water upon him, say- 
 ing these ivords, N. / baptize thee, &c. Now this, it is plain 
 from the writings and letters of our first reformers, was ori- 
 ginally designed to commission lay-persons to baptize in cases 
 of necessity : being founded upon an error which our reform- 
 ers had imbibed in the Bomish Church, concerning the im- 
 possibility of salvation without the sacrament of Baptism : 
 which therefore being in their opinion so absolutely necessary, 
 they chose should be administered by anybody that was 
 present, -in cases of extremity, rather than any should die 
 without it. 
 
 But afterwards, when they came to have clearer ■ 
 
 , , M * j ii But afterwards 
 
 notions of the sacraments, and perceived how prohibited by 
 absurd it was to confine the mercies of God to £ oth - llo " t j" of 
 outward means ; and especially to consider that 
 the salvation of the child might be as safe in God's mercy, with- 
 out any baptism, as with one performed by persons not duly 
 commissioned to administer it; when the governors of our 
 Church, I say, came to be convinced of this, they thought it 
 proper to explain the rubric above mentioned, in such a man- 
 ner as should exclude any private person from administering 
 of Baptism. Accordingly, when some articles were passed 
 by both houses of Convocation, in the year 1575, the Arch- 
 bishop and Bishops (who had power and authority in their 
 several dioceses to resolve all doubts concerning the manner 
 how to understand, do, and execute the things contained in 
 the Book of Common Prayer) 2 unanimously resolved, that 
 even Private Baptism, in case of necessity, was only to be 
 administered by a lawful Minister or Deacon ; and that all 
 
 2 See the Preface concerning the Service of the Church. 
 
364 OF THE MINISTRATION [app. i. to chap, vii 
 
 other persons should be inhibited to intermeddle with the 
 ministering of Baptism privately, as being no part of their vo- 
 cation.* Bishop Gibson tells us, this article was not published 
 in the printed copy ; but whether on the same account that 
 the fifteenth article was left out, (which was, that Marriage 
 might be solemnized at any time of the year, provided the 
 banns were duly published, and no impediment objected,) viz. 
 because disapproved by the crown, he cannot certainly tell : 4 
 but it seems by the account that Mr. Collier gives us, as if it 
 was published ; for after all the articles, he only remarks from 
 the Journal of the Convocation, that the queen refused to 
 assent to the last article, (i. e. the fifteenth above mentioned,) 
 for which reason, saith he, it was not published with the rest, 5 
 which seems plainly to imply that all the rest were published. 
 However, whether it was published or not, the bare publish- 
 ing of it in writing in every parish-church of every diocese in 
 the province of Canterbury, by order of the Bishops, who had 
 undoubted authority to explain the rubric, was sufficient to 
 restrain the sense of the rubric in such a manner as should 
 inhibit all persons not ordained from presuming to intermeddle 
 with the administering of Baptism. But besides this, Mr. 
 Collier tells us, that notwithstanding none but the Archbishop 
 and Bishops are mentioned for their concurrence in these 
 articles, yet in the Archbishop's mandate for the publication, 
 they are said to be agreed, settled, and subscribed by both 
 houses of Convocation. 6 So that from this time, notwith- 
 standing the rubric might continue in the same words, it is 
 certain it gave no licence or permission to lay-persons to bap- 
 tize. On the contrary, the Bishops, in their visitations, cen- 
 sured the practice, and declared that the rubric inferred no 
 such latitude. 7 
 
 * This article being very remarkable, ,1 shall here set it down in the words of the 
 record. 
 
 " Twelfthly, And whereas some ambiguity and doubt has arisen amongst divers, by 
 what persons Private Baptism is to be administered ; forasmuch as by the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer allowed by statute, the Bishop of the diocess is to expound and resolve all 
 such doubts as shall arise concerning the manner how to understand, do, and execute 
 the things contained in the said book; it is now by the said Archbishop and Bishops 
 expounded and resolved, and every of them doth expound and resolve, that the said 
 Private Baptism, in case of necessity, is only to be administered by a lawful Minister 
 or Deacon, called to be present for that purpose, and by none other. And that every 
 Bishop in his diocess shall take order, that this exposition of the said doubt shall be 
 published in writing before the first day of May next coming, in every parish church 
 of his diocess in this province ; and thereby all other persons shall be inhibited to in- 
 termeddle with the ministry of Baptism privately, it being no part of their vocation. 3 
 
 3 Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 447, and Mr. Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 552. 
 
 + See his Codex as before. 5 Mr. Collier's Ecclesiastical History, as before. 6 Ibid, 
 and page 551. ' See Bishop Barlow's Account of the Conference at Hampton Court. 
 
sect. II.] OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 365 
 
 However, upon the accession of king James I. to the throne, 
 the matter was again debated in the Hampton-Court Confer- 
 ence; 8 the result of which was, that instead of these words, 
 Let tliem that be present call upon God, &c, the rubric should 
 be, Let the lawful Minister, and them that be present, &c. 
 And instead of what follows, viz. Then one of them shall name, 
 the child, and dip him in the water, or pour water upon him, 
 saying ; it was ordered that, tlie child being named by some 
 one that is present, the said lawful Minister shall dip it in 
 water, &c* And thus the rubric stood till the review at the 
 Restoration, when it only underwent some small variation ; 
 the Minister of the parish being first named as the most proper 
 person to be sent for, if not out of the way ; but in his ab- 
 sence, any other lawful Minister is to be called in that can 
 be procured. The Church only provides that none but a 
 Minister, or one duly ordained, presume to intermeddle in 
 it : well knowing that the persons, by whom baptism is to be 
 administered, are plainly as positive a part of the institution, 
 as any thing else relating to that ordinance ; and consequently 
 that the power of administering it must belong to those only 
 whom Christ hath authorized by the institution. It is true, 
 there are some few of the primitive writers, who allow laymen 
 to baptize in case of necessity: 9 but there are more and ear- 
 lier of the Fathers, who disallow that practice: 10 and, upon 
 mature consideration of the several passages, it will generally 
 be found that these latter, for the most part, speak the judg- 
 ment of the Church, whilst the former only deliver their pri- 
 vate opinion. And therefore certainly it is a great presump- 
 tion for an unordained person to invade the ministerial office 
 without any warrant. What sufficient plea the Church of 
 Rome can pretend, for suffering even midwives to perform 
 this sacred rite, I am wholly ignorant. For as to the pretence 
 of the child's danger, we may be sure that its salvation may 
 be as safe in God's mercy without any baptism, as with such 
 a one as he has neither commanded nor made any promises 
 
 * The second rubric that I have given above in page 362, was also then altered ; the 
 old one being worded thus : " And also they shall warn them that, without great cause 
 and necessity, they baptize not children at home in their houses : and when great need 
 ehall compel them so to do, that then they minister it on this fashion." 
 
 s Ibid, or Collier's History, vol. ii. p. 675. *> Tertull. de Bapt. c. 17, p. 231, A. 
 
 Concil. Elib. Can. 38. Hieron. Dial. Adv. Lucifer, c. 4. 10 Ignat. ad Smyr. §. 8. 
 
 Const. Ap. 1. 8, c. 46. Cyprian, et Firmilian. apud Basil. Ep. ad Amphiloch. c. 1. Vide 
 et Cyprian. Ep. 76, et Concil. Carthag. inter Cypriani Opera. Hillarii, alias Ambros. 
 .Com. in Ephes. 4. Basil, ut supra. Chrysost. Horn. 61, torn. vii. p. 423. Vide et Bal- 
 ismom. in Can. 19. Concil. Sardicens. ap. Bevereg. Annot. in Can. Apost. p. 201. 
 
366 OF THE MINISTRATION [app. i. to chap. yti. 
 
 to : so that where God gives no opportunity of having baptism 
 administered by a person duly commissioned, it seems much 
 better to leave it undone. 
 
 If it be asked, whether baptism, when performed by an 
 unordained person, be, in the sense of our Church, valid and 
 effectual? I answer, that, according to the best judgment 
 we can form from her public acts and offices, it is not. For 
 she not only supposes, 11 that a child will die unbaptized, if the 
 regular Minister does not come time enough to baptize it : 
 but in the above-said determination of the Bishops and Con- 
 vocation, she expressly declares, that even in cases of necessity 
 baptism is only to be administered by a lawful Minister or 
 Deacon, and directly inhibits all other persons from inter- 
 meddling with it, though ever so privately, as being no part 
 of their vocation : a plain intimation that no baptism, but what 
 is administered by persons duly ordained, is valid or effectual. 
 For if baptism administered by persons not ordained be valid 
 and sufficient to convey the benefits of it, why should such 
 persons be prohibited to administer it in cases of real neces- 
 sity, when a regular Minister cannot be procured ? It would 
 surely be better for the child to have it from any hand, if any 
 hand could give it, than that it should die without the ad- 
 vantage of it. Our Church therefore, by prohibiting all from 
 intermeddling in baptism but a lawful Minister, plainly hints, 
 that when baptism is administered by any others, it conveys no 
 benefit or advantage to the child, but only brings upon those 
 who pretend to administer it, the guilt of usurping a sacred 
 office : and consequently that persons so pretendedly baptized 
 (if they live to be sensible of their state and condition) are to 
 apply to their lawful Minister or Bishop for that holy sacra- 
 ment, of which they only received a profanation before. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Service to be performed at the Ministration 
 of Private Baptism. 
 Having said what I thought was necessary in relation to 
 the Minister of Private Baptism, I have nothing to do now 
 but to run through the office, and to shew how well it is 
 adapted for the ministration of it. 
 
 what prayers to First then, the Minister of the parish, (or, in 
 tw^L'S* X? hi s absence, any other lawful Minister that can 
 
 Baptism oi the , \ \ •,! ,1 i . 
 
 child. be procured,) with them that are present, is to t 
 
 M Canon LXIX. 
 
sect, in.] OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. 367 
 
 call upon God, and say the Lord's Prayer, and so many of 
 the Collects appointed to be said before in the form of Public 
 Baptism, as the time and present exigence will suffer. 
 
 And here I humbly presume to give a hint to my brethren, 
 that the Prayer appointed for the Consecration of the Water 
 be never omitted. For besides the propriety of this prayer to 
 beg a blessing upon the administration in general, I have al- 
 ready shewed how necessary a part of the office of Baptism the 
 primitive Christians esteemed the Consecration of the Water. 
 
 §. 2. And here it is to be noted, that by a pro- 
 vincial constitution of our own Church, made in vessd fofwhich 
 the year 1236, (the twenty-sixth of Henry III.,) the child is bap- 
 which is still in force, neither water nor vessel, dfspo'sed > of. t ° be 
 that has been used in the administration of Pri- 
 vate Baptism, is afterwards to be applied to common uses. 
 But, out of reverence to the sacrament, the water is to be 
 poured into the fire, or else to be carried to the Church, to 
 be put to the water in the baptistery or font : and the vessel 
 also is to be burnt, or else to be appropriated to the use of the 
 Church, 12 perhaps for the washing of the church-linen, as Mr. 
 Lin wood supposes. 13 The latter of which orders, if I am not 
 misinformed, the late good bishop Beveridge obliged his 
 parishioners to comply with, whilst he was Minister of St. Pe- 
 ter's in Cornhill. And as to the former, it is certainly very 
 unseemly, that water once blessed in so solemn a manner, and 
 used and applied to so sacred a purpose, should either be put 
 to common use, or thrown away irreverently into the kennel 
 or sink. And I wonder our Church has made no provision, 
 how the water used in the font at church should be disposed of. 
 In the Greek Church particular care is taken, that it never be 
 thrown into the street like common water, but poured into a 
 hollow place under the altar, (called Qakaoalhiov or Xwvelov,) 
 where it is soaked into the earth, or finds a passage. 14 
 
 §. 3. But to return : the Minister having used The child to be 
 as many of the Collects appointed to be said in baptized by ai- 
 the form of Public Baptism, as the time and pre- fusion only> 
 sent exigence will suffer; the child being then named by 
 some one that is present, the Minister is to pour water upon 
 it. All the old Common Prayers say, he shall either dip it in 
 water, or pour water upon it : but Baptism in private being 
 
 12 Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 435, and Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, 1236. 10. 
 13 As cited by Mr. Johnson, ibid. " Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. Hi. 
 
368 OF THE MINISTRATION Tapp. i. to chap, til 
 
 never allowed but when the child is weak, the rubric was pro- 
 perly altered at the last review, and the order for dipping left 
 out ; it being not to be supposed that the child in its sickness 
 should be able to endure it. 
 
 The thanksgiv- §• \ After the child is baptized, it is further 
 ing after Bap- ordered by our present Liturgy, that, all kneel- 
 tlsm " ing down, the Minister shall give thanks unto 
 
 God, in part of the form that is appointed to be used after 
 the administration of Public Baptism : and so the service at 
 that time is concluded. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Service to be performed when the Child is 
 brought to Church. 
 
 a . . . Though it is not to be doubted but that a child 
 
 Such pnvate - . f . . . , . , 
 
 Baptism to be baptized in the manner above mentioned, is law- 
 congregatb^af- / M % ano ^ sufficiently baptized, and ought not to 
 terwards by the be baptized again ; yet nevertheless, if the child, 
 which is after this sort baptized, do afterwards 
 live, it is expedient (saith the rubric) that it be brought into 
 the church, to the intent* that if the Minister of the same parish 
 did himself baptize the child, the congregation may be certified 
 of the true form of Baptism by him privately before used : in 
 which case he is to certify them, that according to the due and 
 prescribed order of the Church, at such a time, and in such a 
 place, before diverse witnesses he baptized this child. 
 or else to be ex- §• 2. But if the child were baptized by any 
 aminedandin- other lawful Minister, then the Minister of the 
 fore the con'gre- parish where the child was born or christened, is 
 gation. i0 exam { ne an d try whether the child be lawfully 
 
 baptized or no : in which case, if those that bring any child to 
 the Church do ansiver that the same child is already baptized; 
 then the Minister is to examine them further, by whom and in 
 whose presence it was baptized, and whether it was baptized 
 with water, and in the name of the Trinity, which are always 
 to be esteemed essential parts of the sacrament.f And if the 
 
 * In king Edward's and queen Elizabeth's books, the former part of this and the 
 latter part of the next rubric were joined together, and made but one between them : 
 " to the intent that the Priest may examine and try whether the child," &c. All be- 
 tween was first added in king James's book after the conference at Hampton-Court, 
 except that the particular form of certification, in case that the Minister of the same 
 parish baptized it himself, was inserted at. the Restoration. 
 
 + In the Common Prayers of king Edward and queen Elizabeth there were two 
 questions asked, which are now omitted, viz. " Whether they called upon God for grace 
 and succour in that necessity?" And "Whether they thought the child to be law- 
 
sect, iv.] OF PRIVATE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. £69 
 
 Minister shall find by the answer of such as bring the child, 
 that all things were done as they ought to be. he is not to 
 christen the child again, but to receive him as one of the flock 
 of true Christian people. 
 
 §. 3. Which (after he has certified the people 
 that all was well done, and declared the benefits A det ^ f the 
 which the child has received by virtue of its 
 Baptism) he is directed to do in much the same form as is 
 appointed for Public Baptism. He reads the Gospel there 
 appointed, and the exhortation that follows it.* After which 
 he repeats the Lord's Prayer, and the Collect that in the office 
 for Public Baptism follows the exhortation. Then demanding 
 the name of the child, he proceeds to examine the godfathers 
 and godmothers, whether in the name of the child, they re- 
 nounce the devil and all his works, &c, whether they believe 
 all the articles of the Christian faith, and whether they will 
 obediently keep God's will and commandments, &c. For though 
 the child was baptized without godfathers at first, (when, being 
 more likely to die than to live, there seemed no occasion for 
 any to undertake for its future behaviour ;) yet if it lives and 
 is brought to church, it is fit there should be some to give 
 security that it shall be well educated and instructed. As 
 soon as this is done, therefore, the child is received into the 
 congregation of Christ's flock, and is signed with the sign 
 of the cross. After which the service concludes with the 
 Thanksgiving and Exhortation that close the office for Public 
 Baptism. 
 
 fully and perfectly baptized ?" Which latter question was also continued quite down 
 to the Restoration. The words, " And because some things essential to the sacrament 
 may happen to be omitted through fear or haste in such times of extremity," &c, were 
 first added to king James's book, at which time the alteration was made to restrain 
 Lay-Baptism, even in cases of extremity : and therefore these words cannot be urged 
 to prove that the Church does not hold that the commission of the administrator, as 
 well as the matter and form, is of the essence of Baptism. 
 
 • The Exhortation in this Office, as well as in the former, in all the old books, ends 
 with the repetition of the Lord's Prayer and Creed, after which also in the same books 
 immediately follow the questions to the godfathers and godmothers ; and then the 
 prayer, " Almighty and everlasting God," &c. (which in our present book stands before 
 those questions.) This prayer being ended, the Priest was also formerly to use the 
 Exhortation, " Forasmuch as this child," &c, and so forth as in Public Baptism ; which 
 last words I believe only referred to the charge that was then to be given to the god- 
 fathers, &c. to see the child confirmed, as is directed at the end of the Public Office of 
 Baptism ; though upon leaving out those words in our present form of Private Baptism, 
 the Minister is not directed to give any such charge. The form of receiving the child 
 into the congregation, and signing it with the Cross, with the short exhortation and 
 prayer that follow it in our present books, do not seem to have been then used. But 
 the first book of king Edward, after the form of stipulation, orders the chrisom to 
 be put upon the child, and the form to be used which I have already given upon the 
 former Office. 15 
 
 W Page 353. 
 2 B 
 
370 OF THE MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM [app. ii. to chap, vil 
 
 §.4. After all there is a provision made, that 
 proceeding if this if they which bring the infant to church, do make 
 ?oubtfS be suc ^ 1 uncerta ^ n answers to the Priest's questions, 
 as that it cannot appear that the child was bap- 
 tized with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost, (zuhich are essential parts of baptism ;) 
 then the Priest is to baptize it in the form before appointed for 
 Public Baptism of Infants ; saving that, at the dipping of the 
 child in the font, he is to use this form of words, If thou art 
 not already baptized, N. I baptize thee, &c. 
 
 APPENDIX II. TO CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OF THE MINISTRATION OF BAPTISM TO SUCH AS ARE OF RIPER 
 YEARS, AND ABLE TO ANSWER FOR THEMSELVES. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This office not ^ E ^ a( ^ no °^ ce m our Liturgy for the bap- 
 
 added till the last tism of persons of riper years till the last review. 
 For though in the infancy of Christianity adult 
 persons were generally the subjects of baptism ; yet after the 
 several nations that have been converted were become Chris- 
 tian, baptism was always administered to children. So that 
 when the Liturgy of the Church of England was first com- 
 piled, an office for adult persons was not so necessary. But 
 by the growth of Anabaptism and Quakerism, during the grand 
 rebellion, the want of such an office was plainly perceived. 
 For which reason the Commissioners appointed to review the 
 Common Prayer drew up this which I am now going to make 
 some remarks upon, which is very useful for the baptizing of 
 natives in our plantations, when they shall be converted to 
 the faith, and of such unhappy children of those licentious 
 sectaries I just now named, as shall come to be sensible of 
 the errors of their parents. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of some Particulars in this Form ivhich differ 
 from the others. 
 When any such persons as are of riper years 
 
 A. tv6ck s notice . . . *^ . -* *^ 
 
 of their Baptism are to be baptized, timely notice is to be given to 
 
 BisLpS^hy! the Bishop, or whom he shall appoint for that 
 
 purpose, a week before at the least, by the parents, 
 
 or some other discreet persons ; that so due care may be taken 
 
asm. I.] TO SUCH AS ARE OF RIPER YEARS. 371 
 
 for their examination, whether they be sufficiently instructed in 
 the 'principles of the Christian religion; and that they may be 
 exhorted to prepare themselves with prayers and fasting for the 
 receiving of this holy sacrament, which was always strictly en- 
 joined to those that were baptized in the primitive Church. 1 
 
 §.2. And if [they shall be found Jit, the Min- TheformofB ap 
 ister is to baptize them in the same manner and tism appointed 1 
 order as is appointed before the Baptism of In- forthe ° cc ^°n. 
 fants ; except that the Gospel is concerning our Saviour's 
 discourse with Nicodemus touching the necessity of baptism, 
 which is followed by an exhortation suitable and proper. 
 Again, the persons to be baptized being able to make the 
 profession that is requisite, in their own persons, the Minister 
 is ordered to put the questions to them. There are god- 
 fathers and godmothers indeed appointed to be present, but 
 they are only appointed as witnesses of the engagement, and 
 undertake no more than to remind them hereafter of the vow 
 and profession which they made in their presence, and to call 
 upon them to be diligent in instructing themselves in God's 
 word, fee, the chief part of the charge being delivered at 
 last by the Priest to the persons that are baptized. 
 
 §. 3.- It is convenient that every person thus 
 baptized shoidd be confirmed by the Bishop, so tizeTto be con- 
 soon after his baptism as conveniently may be, ^ rme J M S0011 as 
 that so he may be admitted to the holy Communion. 
 
 §. 4. If any persons not baptized in their in- p 
 fancy shall be brought to be baptized before they their infancy and 
 come to years of discretion to answer for them- t£n*4ith^h*i 
 selves, it may suffice to use the Office for Public formt beb:<i>- 
 Baptism of Infants, or (in case of extreme 
 danger) the office for Private Baptism, only changing the 
 word Infant for Child or Person, as occasion requires. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 OF THE CATECHISM. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 Since children, in their baptism, engage to re- JjL'SfS^, 
 
 , , '.. , ,-. * . r * . °i v • chism is placed 
 
 nounce the devil and all his works, to believe in next. 
 
 i Just. Mart. Apol. 1, c. 79, p. 116. Tertull. de Bapt. c. 20, p. 232, B. 
 2 B 2 
 
372 OF THE CATECHISM. [chap. vnr. 
 
 God, and serve him ; it is fit that they be taught, so soon 
 as they are able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and 
 profession they have made. Accordingly after the offices 
 appointed for baptism, follows A Catechism, that is to sat/, 
 An Instruction, to be learned of every person, before he 
 be brought to be confirmed by the Bishop. 
 
 And this (i. e. the catechising or instructing of 
 vhlrinstTtutioni children and others in the principles of religion) 
 a ? d tice Versal * s f° un d e d upon the institution of God himself, 1 
 
 and is agreeable to the best examples in Scrip- & 
 ture. 2 As to the Jews, Josephus tells us, that they were above 
 all things careful that their children might be instructed in 
 the law : • to which end they had in every village a person 
 called the instructor of babes, (to which St. Paul seems to 
 allude, 4 ) whose business it was (as we may gather from Bux- 
 torf 5 ) to teach children the law till they were ten years of age, 
 and from thence till they were fifteen, to instruct them in the 
 Talmud. Grotius tells us, 6 that at thirteen they were brought 
 to the house of God in order to be publicly examined ; and, 
 being approved, were then declared to be children of the pre- 
 cept, i. e. they were obliged to keep the law, and were from 
 thenceforth answerable for their own sins. And whereas our 
 Saviour submitted himself to this examination when he was 
 but twelve years old, (for that Grotius supposes was the end 
 of his staying behind at Jerusalem, and offering himself to the 
 doctors in the temple ;) it was by reason of his extraordinary 
 qualifications and genius, which (to speak in the Jews' own 
 language) ran before the command. 
 
 From the Jews this custom was delivered down to the 
 Christians, who had in every church a peculiar officer, called 
 a catechist,' 1 whose office it was to instruct the catechumens in 
 the fundamentals of religion, in some places for two whole 
 years together, 8 besides the more solemn catechising of them 
 during the forty days of Lent, preparatory to their baptism at 
 Easter. 9 
 
 §. 2. There was indeed some difference be- 
 chSdren^r^con- tween the persons who were catechised then, and 
 verts, as proper those whom we instruct now. For then the 
 
 1 Deut. vi. 7. xxxi. 11, 12. Prov. xxii. 6. John xxi. 15, 16. Ephes. vi. 4. 2 Gen. 
 
 xviii. 19. Luke i. 4. Acts xviii. 25. Rom. ii. 18. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 3 Joseph. Antiq. 1. 
 
 4. c. 8. •» Rom. ii. 20. 5 Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic, c. 7. 6 In Luc. ii. ver. 42. 
 
 T Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 10, p. 275. A. 1. 6, c. 3, 12, 20. 8 Concil. Elib. Can. 42, torn, 
 i. col. 975, B. 9 Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 1. 
 
sect. I.] OF THE CATECHISM. 373 
 
 catechumens were generally such as were come after Baptism as 
 to years of discretion ; but, having been born of before * 
 heathen parents, were not yet baptized. So that they catechis- 
 ed them before their baptism, as we also do those who are not 
 baptized till they come to riper years. But as to the children 
 of believing parents, it is certain that, as they were baptized 
 in infancy, they could not then, any more than now, be ad- 
 mitted Catechumens till after baptism. Nor is there any ne- 
 cessity of doing it before, if so be we take care that due 
 instruction be given them, so soon as they are capable of re- 
 ceiving it. For our Saviour himself in that commission to his 
 apostles, Go ye, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, 
 &.c. — teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have 
 commanded you, 10 seems to intimate that converts may first 
 be entered into his Church by baptism, and afterwards instruct- 
 ed in the fundamentals of their religion. And indeed we read, 
 that when St. Basil was baptized, the Bishop kept him in his 
 house some time afterwards, that he might instruct him in the 
 things pertaining to eternal life. 11 And a learned writer af- 
 firms, that all baptized persons in the primitive times (although 
 they had been catechised before) were yet wont to stay seve- 
 ral days after their baptism, to be more fully catechised in all 
 things necessary to salvation. 12 And therefore there is much 
 more reason for us to catechise children after baptism, who 
 are naturally incapable of being instructed beforehand. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Form and Contents of the Catechism. 
 As to the form of our Catechism, it is drawn __ _ , . . 
 
 ^ . , ' . The Catechism 
 
 up after the primitive manner byway of question drawn up by way 
 and answer: so Philip catechised the Eunuch, 13 ^ e e J ion and 
 and so the persons to be baptized were cate- 
 chised in the first ages, as I have already shewn in discours- 
 ing of the antiquity of the baptismal vow. 14 And indeed the 
 very word Catechism implies as much ; the ori- The word Cate- 
 ginal Karrixio, from whence it is derived, being chism, what it 
 a compound of r/x&, which signifies an echo, or Slgn 
 repeated sound. So that a Catechism is no more than an in- 
 struction first taught and instilled into a person, and then re- 
 peated upon the catechist's examination. 
 
 §. 2. As to the contents of our Catechism, it is not a large 
 
 10 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. « S. Amphilochius in Vit. S. Basil. » Vicecomes de 
 antiquis Ritibus Baptismi, lib. 5, cap. 53. « Acts viii. 37. " Page 342, 343. 
 
374 OF THE CATECHISM. [chap. vnr. 
 
 system or body of divinity, to puzzle the heads of 
 The Contents of yQUn ^ beginners; but only a short and full ex- 
 
 plication of the baptismal vow. The primitive 
 Catechism indeed (i. e. all that the catechumens were to learn 
 by heart before their Baptism and Confirmation) consisted of 
 no more than the Renunciation, or the repetition of the Bap- 
 tismal Vow, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer ,• and these 
 together with the Ten Commandments, at the Reformation, 
 were the whole of ours. But it being afterwards thought de- 
 fective as to the doctrine of the Sacraments, (which in the 
 primitive times were more largely explained to baptized per- 
 sons, 15 ) king James I. appointed the Bishops to add a short 
 and plain explanation of them, which was done accordingly in 
 that excellent form we see ;* being penned by bishop Overal, 
 then dean of St. Paul's, and allowed by the Bishops. 16 So that 
 now (in the opinion of the best judges) it excels ail Catechisms 
 that ever were in the world ; being so short that the youngest 
 children may learn it by heart ; and yet so full, that it contains 
 all things necessary to be known in order to salvation. 
 
 In this also its excellency is very discernible, viz. that as all 
 persons are baptized not into any particular Church, but into 
 the Catholic Church of Christ ; so here they are not taught 
 the opinion of this or any other particular Church or people, 
 but what the whole body of Christians all the world over agree 
 in. If it may any where seem to be otherwise, it is in the 
 doctrine of the Sacraments : but even this is here worded with 
 so much caution and temper, as not to contradict any other 
 particular Church ; but so as that all sorts of Christians, when 
 they have duly considered it, may subscribe to every thing 
 that is here taught or delivered. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Rubrics after the Catechism,. 
 
 Rubric i. Cate- The tmies now appointed for catechising of 
 chism how often children, are Sundays and Holy-days. Though 
 to be performed, bishop Cosin observes, this is no injunction for 
 
 * In alt the books from king James's time (when these questions and answers con- 
 cerning the sacrament were first inserted) to the last review, the answer to the question 
 concerning the "outward visible sign or form in baptism," was something different from 
 what it is now, which, with the reason of it, I have already given in page 350. The 
 answer also to the question, " Why infants are baptized," &c, was then alittle difficult- 
 ly, and more obscurely expressed, viz. " Yes, they do perform them by their sureties, 
 who promise and vow them both in their names, which, when they come to age, them- 
 selves are bound to perforin." 
 
 15 Vide S. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 16 Conference at Hampton Court, p. 43, and 
 
 Dr. Nichols's addit. Notes, p. 5S. 
 
 
sect, ii.] OF THE CATECHISM. 375 
 
 doing it every Sunday and holy-day, but only as often as 
 need requires, according to the largeness or number of chil- 
 dren in the parish. 17 And it is true, that by the first book of 
 king Edward VI. it was not required to be done above once 
 in six weeks. But Bucer, observing that this was too seldom, 
 and that in several churches in Germany there was catechis- 
 ing three times a week, urged, in his censure upon this rubric, 
 that the Minister should be required to catechise on every 
 holy-day.™ Upon this exception indeed the rubric was alter- 
 ed, but expressed notwithstanding in indefinite terms. So 
 that bishop Cosin was of the opinion, 19 that no obligation 
 could be urged from hence, that the Minister should perform 
 it on all Sundays and holy-days. And indeed by the Injunc- 
 tions of queen Elizabeth, it was only required upon every 
 Holy-day and every second Sunday (i. e. I suppose every 
 Sunday) in the year; 20 though it is plainly the design of the 
 present rubric, that it should be done as often as occasion re- 
 quires, i. e. so long as there are any in the parish who are ca- 
 pable of instruction, and yet have not learned their Catechism. 
 And therefore, in many large parishes, where the inhabitants 
 are numerous, the Minister thinks himself obliged to catechise 
 every Sunday ; whilst in parishes less populous, a few Sun- 
 days in the year are sufficient to the purpose ; and therefore 
 in such places the duty of Catechism is reserved till Lent, in 
 imitation of an old custom in the primitive Church, which, as 
 I have already observed, had their more solemn Catechisms 
 during that season. But now how to reconcile the fifty-ninth 
 canon to this exposition of the rubric, I own I am at a loss : 
 for that requires every Parson, Vicar, or Curate, upon every 
 Sunday and Holy-day, to teach and instruct the youth and 
 ignorant persons of his parish, in the Catechism set forth in 
 the Book of Common Prayer ; and this too upon pain of a 
 sharp reproof upon the first complaint, of suspension upon 
 the second, and of excommunication till he be reformed upon 
 the third. 
 
 §. 2. The part of the service where this is to whytobeper- 
 come in, is after the second Lesson at Evening formed after the 
 Prayer: though in all the Common Prayer second Lesson - 
 Books till the last review, it was ordered to be done half an 
 hour before Even-Song, i. e. (as the fifty-ninth canon ex- 
 
 M See Dr. Nichols's addit. Notes, p. 58. 18 Script. Anglican, p. 485. w \ n Dr. 
 Nichols, ibid. 2" Injunction 44, in bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 79. 
 
376 OF THE CATECHISM. [chap. vm. 
 
 plains it,) the Minister should for half an hour, or more, before 
 Evening Prayer, examine and instruct the youth and ignorant 
 persons of his parish in the Church Catechism. I suppose 
 the reason of the alteration was, that Catechism being per- 
 formed in the midst of divine service, the elder persons, as 
 well as the younger, might receive benefit by the Minister's 
 expositions, and that the presence of parents and masters 
 might be an encouragement to the children and servants to a 
 diligent performance of their duty herein. 
 Rubric 2 The §• ^' ^ke P ersons appointed to be instructed 
 
 persons to be in this Catechism, are so many of the parish 
 catechised, who. smt untQ fc m ^ as t j ie Minister shall think con- 
 venient : which the next rubric supposes to be all children, 
 servants, and apprentices, which have not learned it. In 
 king Edward's first Common Prayer Book, those only were to 
 be sent, who were not yet confirmed. But because many 
 were then confirmed young, at least before they could under- 
 stand their Catechism, though they might repeat the words of 
 it, Bucer desired that they might still be catechised, till the 
 Curate should think them sufficiently instructed; 21 upon 
 which motion the words were somewhat altered in the next 
 review. 
 
 What care to be §• *• ^e care °^ sen ^ m g ^ eir children and 
 taken by parents servants is by the same rubric laid upon their 
 and masters, &c. p atherSf Mothers, Mistresses, and Dames, who 
 are to cause them to come to Church at the time appointed, 
 and obediently to hear, and be ordered by the Curate, until 
 such time as they have learned all that is here appointed for 
 them to learn. The same is required by the fifty-ninth canon 
 of our Church, which further orders, that if any of these neg- 
 lect their duties, as the one sort in not causing them to come, 
 and the other in refusing to learn as aforesaid ,• they are to 
 be suspended by the Ordinary, i. e. from the Communion, I 
 suppose, {if they be not children,) and if they so persist by 
 the space of a month, they are to be excommunicated. And 
 by the canons of 1571, every Minister was yearly, within 
 twenty days after Easter, to present to the Bishop, &e. the 
 names of all those in his parish, which had not sent their chil- 
 dren or servants at the times appointed. And to enforce this, 
 it was one of the articles which was exhibited, in order to be 
 admitted by authority, that he, whose child at ten years old or 
 
 21 Buceri Script. Anglican, p. 485. 
 
istkodvction.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 377 
 
 upwards, or his servant at fourteen or upwards, could not say 
 the Catechism, should pay ten shillings to the poor's box. 23 
 
 The two next rubrics, relating more immediately to the 
 Order for Confirmation, will come more properly to be treated 
 of in the next chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I have already observed, 1 that it was a custom of the Jews to 
 bring their children, at the age of thirteen years, to be pub- 
 licly examined before the congregation, and to make a solemn 
 promise that they would from thenceforward engage them- 
 selves faithfully to observe the law of Moses, and so be ac- 
 countable for their own sins : after which engagement followed 
 the prayers of the congregation, that God would bless and en- 
 able them to make good their promise. And from this cus- 
 tom among the Jews, the rite of Confirmation is thought by 
 some to have been deduced. And indeed that there is some 
 correspondence between them, is obvious and plain. But 
 still I must assert, that the use of Confirmation The ri t e f Con- 
 in the Christian Church is owing to a much firmation of di- 
 more divine original ; even to the example and vhle institution - 
 institution of our blessed Lord, who is the head and pattern, in 
 all things, to the Church. For we read, that after the baptism 
 of Jesus in the river of Jordan, when he was come up out of 
 the water, and was praying on the shore, the Holy Ghost 
 descended upon him : 2 which represented and prefigured (as 
 some ancient Fathers tell us 3 ) that we also, after our baptism, 
 must receive the ministration of the Holy Spirit. And in- 
 deed, all that came to St. John to be baptized were referred 
 to a future baptism of the Holy Ghost for their completion 
 and perfection. I indeed, saith he, baptize you with water 
 unto repentance : but he that cometh after me shall baptize 
 you with tlie Holy Ghost and with Jire. 4, And this was so 
 
 22 Strype's History of the Reformation, Appendix 2, page 1, and bishop Gibson's 
 Codex, page 453. 
 
 i In page 372. 2 Matt. iii. 16. Luke iii. 21. » Optat. contr. Donatist. Cyril. Ca- 
 tech. 3. Vid. et Hilar. Chrysost. et Theophylact. in Matt. iii. 16. * Matt. iii. 11. 
 
378 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap, ix 
 
 necessary to confirm and establish them in the Gospel dis- 
 pensation, that our Saviour, just before his ascension, leaves a 
 charge to his Apostles, who had before received the baptism 
 of water, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, till 
 they had received the baptism of the Spirit, and were endued 
 with power from on high. 5 For John truty, saith he, bap- 
 tized with water: but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
 Ghost not many days hence. 6 Accordingly, on the day of 
 Pentecost, they were all visibly confirmed and filed with the 
 Holy Ghost, who descended from heaven, and sat upon each 
 of them under the appearance of cloven tongues like as of fire? 
 §. 2. Hence then we see, that the institution 
 
 0f pr P a°ctke. Cal °^ tn ^ s r * te was no ty anc * di vme - As to tne prac- 
 tice of it, we may observe, that the Apostles, 
 having received the Spirit, as is above mentioned, immediately 
 knew to what use it was given them, viz. not to be confined 
 to their own persons or college, but to be imparted by them 
 to the whole Church of God. For the Spirit itself was to 
 teach them all things, and to bring all things to their remem- 
 brance? And therefore to be sure it taught and reminded 
 them, that the gifts and graces, which they themselves re- 
 ceived by it, were equally necessary to all Christians whatever. 
 Accordingly, as soon as they heard that the Samaritans had 
 been converted and baptized by Philip, they sent two of their 
 number, Peter and John, to lay their hands on them, that 
 they might receive the Holy Ghost: 9 a plain argument, that 
 neither baptism alone, nor the person that administered it, was 
 able to convey the Holy Ghost : since if either the Holy 
 Ghost were a consequence of baptism, or if Philip had power 
 to communicate him by any other ministration, the Apostles 
 would not have come from Jerusalem on purpose to have 
 confirmed them. The same may be argued from a like oc- 
 currence to the disciples at Ephesus : upon whom, after they 
 had baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Apostle St. 
 Paul laid his hands, and then the Holy Ghost came on them.- 10 
 which shews, that the receiving of the Holy Ghost was not 
 the consequence of their being baptized, but of the Apostle's 
 laying on his hands ; and that laying on of hands was ne- 
 cessary to perfect and complete the Ephesians, even after they 
 had received the sacrament of Baptism. 
 
 5 Luke xxiv. 49. Acts i. 4. 6 Acts i. 5. " Acts ii. 1 — 5. s j ] m x iv. 16. 
 
 9 Acts viii. 14, &c. 10 Acts xix. 5, 6. 
 
introduction.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 379 
 
 §. 3. It is true, the ministration of this rite at 
 first was frequently attended with miraculous JiSSt^iS*" 
 powers. But so also we read was prayer and miraculous pow- 
 preaching, which yet no one ever thought to be KS? 
 only temporary ordinances. To fancy therefore signed only for a 
 that the invocation of the Holy Spirit, with im- n an?e. rary ° r " 
 position of hands, was to cease when the extra- 
 ordinary effects of it failed, is too groundless a supposition to 
 be put in the balance against the weight of so sacred and posi- 
 tive an institution. In the infancy of the Church these visi- 
 ble effects upon those that believed were necessary to bring 
 over others to the faith : but when whole nations turned Chris- 
 tian, this occasion ceased ; and therefore the Holy Ghost does 
 not now continue to empower us to work them. But still the 
 ordinary gifts and graces, which are useful and necessary to 
 complete a Christian, are nevertheless the fruits and effects of 
 this holy rite. And these are by much the more valuable 
 benefits. To cast out the devil of lust, or to throw down the 
 pride of Lucifer ; to beat down Satan under our feet, or to 
 triumph over our spiritual enemies ; to cure a diseased soul, 
 or to keep unharmed from the assaults of a temptation, or the 
 infection of an ill example ; is much more advantageous and 
 beneficial to us, than the power of working the greatest mi- 
 racles. 
 
 Though neither are we to believe that these Administered by 
 extraordinary effects did always attend even the Apostles, not 
 those upon whom the Apostles laid their hands : sak^of n^eVtJL 
 All did not speak with tongues, nor all work ordinary, as of its 
 
 7 ^11 r» i 77 ordinary effects. 
 
 miracles ,- though, as far as we can learn, all 
 were confirmed. Nor did the Apostles minister this rite so 
 much for the sake of imparting miraculous powers, as to the 
 end that their converts might be endued with such aid from 
 the Holy Ghost, as might enable them to persevere in their 
 Christian profession. This may be gathered from those se- 
 veral texts, in which St. Paul intimates that all Christians in 
 general have been thus confirmed ; but in which he implies at 
 the same time, that graces and not miracles were the end of 
 their Confirmation. Thus he supposes both the Corinthians 
 and Ephesians to have been all partakers of this holy rite, and 
 plainly intimates, that the happy effects of it were being stablish- 
 ed in Christ, being anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit 
 of promise, and having an earnest of their inheritance, and an 
 
380 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 earnest of the Spirit in their hearts} 1 And that all these 
 expressions refer to Confirmation is evident, as well from 
 comparing them together, as from the concurring testimonies 
 of several ancient Fathers. 12 
 
 But what has been esteemed the clearest evi- 
 standhf^aSd* dence, that the rite of Confirmation was a per- 
 perpetuai ordi- petual institution of equal use and service in all 
 ages of the Church, is that passage of St. Paul in 
 his Epistle to the Hebrews, 13 where he mentions the doctrine 
 of laying on of hands, as well as the doctrine of baptism, 
 among the fundamentals of religion. Which words have 
 been constantly interpreted by writers of all ages, of that im- 
 position or laying on of hands, which was used by the Apos- 
 tles in confirming the baptized. Insomuch that this single 
 text of St. Paul is, even in Calvin's opinion, 14 abundantly suf- 
 ficient to prove Confirmation to be of apostolical institution. 
 Though I think what has been said proves it of a higher de- 
 rivation. And, indeed, from these very words of the Apostle, 
 it not only appears to be a lasting ministry, (because no part 
 of the Christian doctrine can be changed or abolished,) but 
 hence also we may infer it to be of divine institution : since, 
 if it were not, St. Paul would seem guilty of teaching for doc- 
 trines the commandments of men : which not being to be sup- 
 posed, it must follow that this doctrine of imposition of hands 
 is holy and divine. 
 
 Practised by the §• 4 * ^e Scripture then, by these evidences 
 church in all of its usefulness to all Christians in general, 
 ages * proves that this rite had a further view than the 
 
 miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. And the history of the 
 Church, by testifying the continuance of it in all times and 
 places, after these gifts of the Spirit ceased, shews that it has 
 ever been received and used as a perpetual and standing or- 
 dinance of Christianity. I think I need not produce my 
 authorities for this ; because, I believe, no one doubts of the 
 universality of the practice. However, because some may 
 have a mind to be convinced by their own searches, I have, 
 for their readier satisfaction, pointed out some places in the 
 margin, 15 which will soon convince those that have leisure and 
 
 11 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. Eph. i. 13. and chap. iv. 30. 12 See the old commentators upon 
 the several texts. 13 Heb. vi. 3. 14 Calvin in locum. 1 5 Theoph. Antioch. p. 
 33. Tertull. de Bapt. c. 8, p. 226, D. de Resurrect. Cam. c. 8, p. 330, C. Clem. Alex. 
 Quis Dives salvabitur? versus finem, p. 113, edit. Oxon. 1683. Orig. Horn. 7, in Ezek. 
 Dionys. Areop. Eccl. Hier. c. 2, et 4. Cyprian. Ep. 70, et 73. Euseb. 1. 6, c. 43, p. 244, 
 
introduction.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 381 
 
 opportunity to turn to them, that the ancient Fathers were so 
 far from thinking Confirmation an obsolete solemnity, that 
 they esteemed it a necessary means of salvation, which none 
 that were advanced to years of discretion could neglect with- 
 out the utmost hazard to their souls. 
 
 §. 5. For though they justly allowed, that 
 Baptism alone was sufficient to save a person 0f w {Je ne fi S t e and 
 that died immediately after it ; yet those that 
 lived, they affirmed, had need of further grace, which Con- 
 firmation was necessary to convey. Agreeably whereunto, 
 when our own Church declares that Baptism is sufficient to 
 salvation, she speaks only of children that die before they com- 
 mit actual sin, or (as it was worded in the first book of king 
 Edward) depart out of this life in their infancy. To such in- 
 deed (as all our former Common Prayer Books affirm) no man 
 may think that any detriment shall come by deferring of their 
 Confirmation. But when children come to that age, that 
 •partly by the frailty of their own flesh, partly by the assaults 
 of the world and the devil, they begin to be in danger to fall 
 into sundry kinds of sin, they declare, that it is most meet that 
 Confirmation be ministered to those that be baptized, that, by 
 imposition of hands and prayer, they may receive strength and 
 defence against all temptations to sin, and the assaults of the 
 world and the devil. For though the Baptism of Water 
 washes away our former guilt, yet that alone cannot prevent 
 the return of sin. It is true indeed, by the sacrament of 
 Baptism we are made heirs of God, and admitted and re- 
 ceived into the inheritance of sons : but still, till we receive 
 the rite of Confirmation, we are but babes in Christ in the 
 literal sense ; we are merely infants, that can do nothing, not 
 able to resist the least violence or opposition, but lie exposed 
 to every assault, and in danger of being foiled by every 
 temptation. Baptism conveys the Holy Ghost only as the 
 spirit or principle of life ; it is by Confirmation he becomes 
 to us the Spirit of strength, and enables us to stir and move 
 ourselves. When we are baptized, we are only listed under 
 the banner of Christ, marked for his soldiers, and sworn to be 
 faithful ; and not till Confirmation equipped for the battle, or 
 
 C. D. Nicepb.1.6, c. 3. Melcbiad. Ep. ad Episc. Hispan. Optat.contr.Donatist. Cyril. 
 Catech. Mystag. 3. Greg. Naz. Adhortat. ad S. Lavacrum. Theodoret. et Theophylact. 
 in c. 1, ad Ephes. Ilievon. adv. Lucifer. Ambr. lib. de Initiand. c. 7, torn. Iv. col. 340, 
 A. et de Sacr. 1. 3, c. 2, torn. iv. col. 363, H. Concil. Elib. Can. 77, torn. i. col. 978, E. 
 Concil. Laod. Can. 48, torn. i. col. 1505, A. 
 
382 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 furnished with arms to withstand the enemy. It is then also 
 that we are sealed with the Lord's signature, marked, as it 
 were, for God's sheep, and so secured from being stolen by 
 robbers. 
 
 This was the language of the primitive Fathers, which they 
 supported by the example both of our Saviour and his Apos- 
 tles. Our Lord himself, they observe, did not enter into the 
 wilderness, the place of temptation, before he was prepared 
 for it by the descent of the Spirit. And the Apostles, though 
 endued with baptismal grace, and though cheered and en- 
 couraged with their Master's presence, were timorous and 
 fearful, not daring to stand the least shock or trial, till 
 strengthened and confirmed by the Holy Ghost : but from 
 that instant we find they were fearless and undaunted, not to 
 be moved or shaken from their faith by any apprehensions 
 either of prisons or death. 
 
 §. 6. From this instance of the Apostles we 
 
 unnJcTssaryV ma Y also infer » tnat tne want of tne rite > of 
 
 receiving of the which we are now discoursing, is by no means 
 supplied, as some have imagined, by the ministry 
 of the holy Eucharist. This had been given to the Apostles 
 by our Lord himself ; and yet we see their Confirmation was 
 not afterwards the less necessary. It is true, by the ministry 
 of the holy Eucharist, the Spirit of ghostly strength is con- 
 veyed ; and therefore in the times of primitive devotion, this 
 blessed Sacrament was daily administered, that those who 
 would be safe against their spiritual enemies, might from 
 hence be armed with fresh supplies of the divine assistance. 
 But still we must remember that the principal design of the 
 holy Eucharist is to renew the work of preceding rites, to re- 
 pair the breaches that the enemy has made, and to supply 
 fresh forces where the old ones fail. For this reason the Sa- 
 crament of the Eucharist is to be often repeated, whereas 
 Baptism and Confirmation is but once administered. But 
 now this shews that Confirmation (in the regular and ordinary 
 administration of it) is as much required to go before the 
 Eucharist, as Baptism is to precede either that or Confirma- 
 tion. Upon which account (as I have already observed 16 ) our 
 Church admits none to the Communion before Confirmation, 
 unless necessity requires it. And indeed it may as well be 
 imagined, that because the Eucharist conveys remission of 
 
sect. I.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 383 
 
 sins, it therefore may supply the want of Baptism, as that be- 
 cause it conveys ghostly strength, therefore there is no need 
 of Confirmation after it. Or again, the Eucharist itself may as 
 well be omitted, because prayer has the promise of whatever is 
 asked, as Confirmation be rendered useless or unnecessary, 
 because the Eucharist will supply us with grace. The Spirit 
 of God comes which way he pleases ; but yet, if we expect 
 his grace or blessing, we must ask for and seek it by those 
 ways and means which he himself has thought fit to appoint 
 8. 7. But lastly, as Baptism is now for the most w „ . 
 
 o . , •/' . r • • i i ' • • « Necessary to con- 
 
 part administered to infants, this holy rite is at- firm the benefits 
 
 terwards necessary to confirm to them the bene- of Ba P tlsm - 
 fits of that holy Sacrament. For though the charity of the 
 Church accepts of sureties in behalf of infants, which are not 
 in a condition to contract for themselves; yet when they ar- 
 rive at years of discretion, she expects them to take the cove- 
 nant upon themselves, as their own act and deed : which is 
 one of the considerations for which the Church declares Con- 
 firmation to be very convenient to be observed: viz. to the end 
 that children being now come to the years of discretion, and 
 having learned what their godfathers and godmothers promised 
 for them in Baptism, they may therefore with their own mouth 
 and consent openly before the Church ratify and confirm the 
 same, and also promise that, by the grace of God, they will 
 evermore endeavour themselves faithfully to observe such things 
 as they by their own confessions have assented unto. 11 And 
 indeed they who refuse in their own persons to ratify the vow 
 which was made in their name, renounce in effect all the be- 
 nefits and advantages, to which the contract of their sureties 
 had before entitled them. 
 
 Having thus said what I thought convenient concerning the 
 institution, the necessity and end of Confirmation, the manner 
 and order of administering it by the ancients should be spoken 
 to in the next place. But this may be done to better advan- 
 tage, by comparing our own and the ancient offices together. 
 And therefore the further particulars shall be taken into con- 
 sideration, as the office itself shall lead and direct me. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics before the Office. 
 Two of the rubrics, which relate to this office, are printed 
 at the end of the Catechism, which, till the last review, was 
 
 tt Preface to the Office ; or part of the rubric before the Catechism in the old books. 
 
384 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 rather a part of the order of Confirmation, than an office by 
 itself; it being inserted between the rubrics relating to Con- 
 firmation, and the order for the administration of it. 
 Rubric 1. The *• The former of these rubrics is, in the first 
 
 age of persons to place, concerning the age of the persons to be 
 be confirmed. con fi rme d, which it determines shall be as soon 
 as children are come to a competent age, and can say, in their 
 mother-tongue, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten 
 Commandments, and also can answer to the other questions of 
 the Catechism. In the primitive Church indeed, such persons 
 as were baptized in the presence of the Bishop, were immedi- 
 ately presented to him in order for Confirmation. 18 Nor was 
 this only true with respect to adult persons, but also with re- 
 gard to infants, who, if a Bishop was present, were frequently 
 confirmed immediately upon their Baptism ; as may be shew- 
 ed from direct testimonies of the ancients, as well as from that 
 known usage or custom, of giving the holy Eucharist to in- 
 fants, which ordinarily presupposes their confirmation. 19 The 
 same is practised by the Greek Church to this day. 20 And in 
 our own Church indeed, those who are baptized after they 
 are come to years of discretion, are to be confirmed by 
 the Bishop as soon after their baptism as conveniently may 
 be. 21 But in relation to children, their Confirmation is defer- 
 red, and with a great deal of reason, till they come to a com- 
 petent age, and can say the Catechism. For it being required 
 that at Confirmation they renew the vow that was made for 
 them at their baptism, and ratify the same in their own persons; 
 it is fit they should know and understand the nature of the 
 obligation, before they bind themselves under it. Nor can 
 any detriment arise to a child, by deferring its Confirmation 
 to such an age ; because, as our Church has declared, (on 
 purpose to satisfy people that are scrupulous in this very mat- 
 ter,) it is certain by God's word, that children which are bap- 
 tized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly 
 saved? 1 Their original sin is done away by Baptism, and they 
 are confirmed and secured by death itself from any future guilt ; 
 so that no danger can ensue, if their Confirmation be deferred 
 till such time as it can be of use. 
 
 18 Tertull. de Bapt. c. 7, 8. Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 3, n. 1. Const. Ap. 1. 7, c. 43, 
 44. Amphiloch. in Vit. Basil, c. 5. Dionys. Eccl. Hier. c. 2. Ambros. de Sacram. 1. 
 3, c. 2. Optat. 1. 4, p. 81. u See both these points proved in Mr. Bingham's Anti- 
 
 quities of the Christian Church, book 12, chap. 1, 1 vol. royal 8vo, p. 543, &c. 20 See 
 Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 116. 21 See the first rubric at the end of 
 the Office for Baptism of Persons of Riper Years. & Rubric at the end of the Office 
 for Public Baptism of Infants. 
 
sect, i.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 385 
 
 Bucer indeed (who generally runs into extremes) finds fault 
 with our Church for administering it too soon ; and would 
 have none admitted to this holy rite till such time as they have 
 had an opportunity of giving sufficient testimonies of their 
 faith and desire of living to God by their life and conversa- 
 tion. 23 But we have already shewed, that the enabling persons 
 to give such testimonies of their faith and practice is the end 
 of Confirmation ; and therefore surely Confirmation is to be 
 administered, to assist them in manifesting their faith and prac- 
 tice, and not to be deferred till they are already manifested. 
 For this reason it is very evidently the design of our Church, 
 that children be confirmed before they have opportunities of 
 being acquainted with sin ; that so the Holy Spirit may take 
 early possession of their youthful hearts, and prevent those 
 sins to which, without his assistance, the very tenderness of 
 their age would be apt to expose them. It is highly expedi- 
 ent, that those who are confirmed should be old enough to 
 understand the nature and advantages of the rite they are ad- 
 mitted to, and the obligations it lays upon them : and if they 
 are duly apprized of this, they are deemed by our Church 
 qualified enough. For they that are capable of this know- 
 ledge, are yet at years to discern between good and evil : and 
 therefore that must be the proper time to secure them, by the 
 invocation of the Spirit, in the paths of virtue. Accordingly, 
 it was declared by the rubric prefixed to the order for Con- 
 firmation, in all the Common Prayer Books before the last 
 review, That forasmuch as Confirmation is ministered to them 
 that be baptized, that by imposition of hands and prayer they 
 may receive strength and defence against all temptations to sin, 
 and the assaults of the world and the devil ; it is most meet to 
 be ministered when children come to that age, that partly by 
 the frailty of their own flesh, partly by the assaults of the 
 world and the devil, they begin to be in danger to fall into sun- 
 dry kinds of sin. The reason why this was not continued at 
 the review in 1661, was not because the Church had altered 
 her mind, but because the foregoing part of the rubric was 
 changed into a proper preface, with which the office is now 
 introduced. 
 
 • \ 2 'J h ? "^ thhlg menti0ned in this rubric > Bishops the only 
 
 is the Minister of Confirmation, who, it declares, Ministers of c<m- 
 must be a Bishop ,- consonant to the first ex- firmation - 
 
 23 Buceri Censura, apud Script. Anglican, p. 482, 483, 
 2 c 
 
386 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 amples we read of it in the Acts, or proceedings of the Apos- 
 tles themselves. For Peter and John were sent by them 
 from Jerusalem to confirm the Samaritans, though Philip had 
 been there to convert and baptize them : * which plainly 
 shews, that the office was beyond a deacon's province, and 
 limited indeed to the highest order of the Church. For which 
 reason the honour of dispensing this holy ordinance was al- 
 ways reserved to the ministry of Bishops. 25 
 
 I have had occasion indeed to shew that the administering 
 the chrism, or the unction which was used as a part of Con- 
 firmation, was often, for certain reasons, allowed to Presby- 
 ters. 26 But even in such cases I have observed, that the right 
 of consecrating the unction, and of imposing the hands, were 
 both very strictly reserved to the Bishop. A few instances 
 indeed may be produced of Presbyters, and even Deacons, 
 being allowed to perforin this office. 27 But then it was by a 
 special licence or commission from the Bishop, and in cases, 
 for the most part, of some great extremity or danger. Though 
 indeed the allowing this in any case whatever seems very 
 much to run counter to the general practice and sense of the 
 Church, which at all times and places very religiously looked 
 upon the imposition of hands, as the peculiar and incom- 
 municable prerogative of Bishops. 
 
 But then as the Bishops have the sole honour, 
 fore°todo h itoft e en" so nave tnev a ^ so tne whole charge of this in- 
 stitution. And since it must be wholly omitted, 
 if they do not perform it, the Church hath enjoined the fre- 
 quent administration of it by those reverend fathers. In 
 former ages (as our Church declares 2S ) this holy action has 
 been accustomed to be performed in the Bishop's Visitation 
 every third year : for which reason she wills and appoints, 
 that every Bishop or his Suffragan, in his accustomed Visita- 
 tion, do in his own person carefully observe the said custom. 
 And if in that year, by reason of some infirmity, he be not able 
 personally to visit, then he shall not omit the execution of that 
 duty of Confirmation the next year after, as he may conveni- 
 ently : though the Reformatio Legum (as cited by bishop 
 
 84 Acts viii. 14, &c. 25 Cvprian. Ep. 73, ad Jubaian. p ?32. Firmil. Ep. 75, ap. 
 
 Cypr. p. 221. Vide et Cyprian." in Append, p. 25, et 26. Condi. Elib. Can. 38, et 77. 
 Innocent. Ep. 1, ad Decent. Amor, in Ep. ad Hebr. vi. 2, torn. iii. col. 633, F. Dionys. 
 Areop. Eccl. Hier. c. 5, p. 117, B. Hieron. contr. Lncifer. c. 4. Gelas. Ep. 9, ad Episc. 
 Euseb. 1. 6, c. 43. Aug. de Trin. 1. 15, c. 2G. 25 See page 355. 27 See instances of 
 this in Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book 12, •:. 2, sect. 4, 5, 1 vol. royal Svo, p. 551. 
 
 *» In the LXth Canon. 
 
sect, i.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 3»/ 
 
 Gibson 29 ) seems to appoint, that Confirmation be administered 
 every year. 
 
 £. 3. The remaining part of this rubric is con- . ., 4 . 
 
 • ^i jr. m &r j ,1 i-v A godfather or 
 
 cermngthe godfather or godmother, which every godmother neces. 
 one that is confirmed is obliged to have as a aSn at Confirm " 
 witness of their confirmation. Dr. Nichols tells 
 us, that " our wise reformers, because there was not the like 
 reason for them as there was before the Reformation, and be- 
 cause it gave the parents an unnecessary trouble in procuring 
 them, have laid that usage aside." 30 But one would wonder 
 how the doctor should be so much mistaken, immediately 
 after he must have printed and corrected this very rubric ; 
 and at the same time that, to account for the alteration, he 
 cites the rubric immediately following. Nor can any reason 
 be given, why the doctor should so freely charge the providing 
 these godfathers as an unnecessary trouble. They are cer- 
 tainly as useful at the confirmation of a youth, as they are at 
 the baptism of a person that is adult. In both cases they are 
 witnesses of the engagements, which the persons so baptized 
 or confirmed lay themselves under ; and consequently, will 
 be proper and continual monitors to check or reclaim them, 
 should they at any time hereafter be tempted to abandon the 
 interest of Christ, and take part with his enemies. And for 
 the prevention of any one's entering upon this trust, who will 
 not be careful to discharge the duty of it, the Church pro- 
 vides, that no person be admitted godfather or godmother to 
 any Child at Christening or Confirmation before the said per- 
 son so undertaking hath received the holy Communion? 1 
 II. The next rubric relates to the care which 
 
 j/l /t a. r • i • i. i. The Minister to 
 
 the Curate of every parish is to use preparatory pre pare his pa- 
 to Confirmation, who, whensoever the Bishop rishioners for 
 
 _ _ . 7 ' ' t. 7 7 77 7 Confirmation. 
 
 shall give knowledge jor children to be brought 
 unto him for their Confirmation, is either to bring or send in 
 writing, with his hand subscribed thereunto, the names of ah 
 such persons within his parish, as he shall think fit to be pre- 
 sented to the Bishop to be confirmed. And by the sixty-first 
 canon he is further enjoined to use his best endeavour to pre- 
 pare and make able, and likewise to procure as many as he 
 can, to be then brought; though he is also to take especial 
 care that none be presented, but such as can render an account 
 
 » Codex Juris Ecclesiast. Tit. 19, cap. 2, vol. i. p. 454. 30 See his note (d) upon 
 the rubric before Confirmation. 3I Canon XIX. 
 
 2 C 2 
 
388 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 of their faith, according to the Catechism. When they are 
 brought, if the Bishop approve of them, he is to confirm them 
 in manner following. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the preparatory part of the Office. 
 
 I. Upon the day appointed, all that are to be 
 T and i p S refare. 1C then confirmed, being placed and standing in or- 
 der before the Bishop, he (or some other Minis- 
 ter appointed by him) is to read the preface, with which the 
 office begins, and which, as I have already hinted, was only a 
 rubric in all the old Common Prayer Books ; but at the last 
 review was changed into a preface, to be directed to those that 
 shall offer themselves to be confirmed ; that so the Church 
 might be sure they are apprized of the qualifications that are 
 requisite to this holy ordinance, and of the solemn engage- 
 ments under which they are going to enter themselves by it. 
 
 II. The end of Confirmation being thus made 
 The 2n S e wer 0nand known, the Bishop in the next place, by a so- 
 lemn question, (which was added at the last re- 
 view,) demands of the candidates an assurance that they will 
 comply with it : asking them, in the presence of God and the 
 congregation, whether they will renew their baptismal vow, and 
 ratify the same in their own persons, &c. To this every one 
 to be confirmed, as a token of his assent, is audibly to an- 
 swer, I do. 
 
 III. After this follow two or three short ver- 
 ^responses. s i c ^ es or responses betwixt the Bishop and the 
 
 congregation, with which the order of Confirma- 
 tion in all the old Common Prayer Books used to begin. 
 They are a proper preparation to the following solemnity, are 
 often used in ancient Liturgies, and are taken out of the Book 
 of Psalms : 32 though the last of them has been varied since the 
 first book of king Edward, in which, in the room of it, was the 
 usual salutation of, The Lord be with you: And with thy spirit. 
 
 IV. The Bishop and people having thus joined 
 their requests, the Bishop, in the next place, pro- 
 ceeds alone to collect their petitions into a continued form ; 
 in which he prays that God, who had vouchsafed to regenerate 
 the persons who now come to be confirmed, by Water and 
 the Holy Ghost, and had given unto them forgiveness of all 
 their sins, would now strengthen them with the Holy Ghost 
 
 32 Psalm cxxiv. 8. cxiii. 2. cii. 1. 
 
sect, in.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 389 
 
 the Comforter, and daily increase in them the gifts of grace, 
 viz. the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are tran- 
 scribed into this prayer from the old Greek and Latin trans- 
 lations of Isaiah xi. 2, and which were repeated in the very 
 same words in the office of Confirmation, as long ago as St. 
 Ambrose's time: 33 from whence, and the Greek Liturgy, 34 
 this whole prayer is almost verbatim transcribed. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Solemnity of Confirmation. 
 
 The preparatory part of this office being now 
 finished, and all of them in order kneeling be- hSdsanessen- 
 fore the Bishop, (which is a suitable posture for tiai rite in con- 
 those that are to receive so great a blessing,) the rma 10n * 
 Bishop is to lay his hand upon the head of every one severally. 
 This is one of the most ancient ceremonies in the world ; and 
 has always been used to determine the blessing pronounced 
 to those particular persons on whom the hands are laid ; and 
 to import that the persons, who thus lay on their hands, act 
 and bless by divine authority. Thus Jacob blessed Ephraim 
 and Manasses, not as a parent only, but as a prophet : 35 Mo- 
 ses laid his hands on Joshua, by express command from God, 
 and as supreme Minister over his people : 36 and thus our 
 blessed Lord, whilst in the state of humiliation, laid his hands 
 upon little children, 37 and those that were sick with divers 
 diseases, 38 to bless and heal them. When indeed our Saviour 
 gave the Spirit to his Apostles just before his ascension, he 
 acted by a power paramount and inherent. He gave of his 
 own, and therefore dispensed it with authority ; for he breath- 
 ed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.™ But now 
 this would have been absurd in any that acted by appointment 
 or delegation : and the Apostles, from so ancient a custom 
 and universal a practice, continued the rite of imposition of 
 hands for communicating the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, 
 which was so constantly and regularly observed by them, that 
 St. Paul calls the whole office laying on of hands ,- 40 a name 
 which is usually retained amongst the Latin Fathers ; Confirm- 
 ation being never administered for many centuries afterwards, 
 in any part of the Church, without this ceremony. 
 
 It was the custom indeed, in some places, for 
 the Bishop to lay both his hands across upon the cneekused in- 
 
 33 Ambr. de Initiand. c. 7, torn. iv. col. 349, A. de Sacram. 1. 3, c. 2, torn. iv. col. 363, H 
 «* Euchol. Graec. p. 355, Offic. S. Bapt. « Gen. xlviii. 14. M Numb, xxvii. 18 
 37 att. xix. 13. Mark x. 16. ss Luke iv. 40. ™ John xx. 22. *° Heb. vi. 2. 
 
390 . OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 ch ad h fR ythe neac * °f tne P ar ty confirmed, in allusion to our 
 Saviour's death upon the Cross, in whom we be- 
 lieve, and from whom we receive the Holy Ghost. But in 
 no Church whatever was the imposition of hands omitted or 
 discontinued till the Church of Rome of late years laid it 
 aside, and now uses in the stead of it to give the person con- 
 firmed a little blow on tlie cheek, to remind him that for the 
 future he must be prepared to undergo any injury or affront 
 for the name of Jesus. 41 But, notwithstanding this, the Ro- 
 manists themselves seem to be apprehensive, that imposition 
 of hands is essential to this office. For whenever they are 
 charged with laying it aside, they endeavour to defend them- 
 selves by pleading, that hands are imposed, when the person 
 is hit on the cheek, or when the ointment is applied to him. 42 
 But every body must see through the ridiculousness of this, 
 since the hands are no otherwise concerned in either of these 
 ceremonies, than as they cannot be performed without them. 
 For this reason our Church, at the Reformation, wisely dis- 
 continued the blow on the cheek, and restored the ancient and 
 apostolical use of laying on of Jtands. 
 
 Prayer another §• %' ^ ut tnou g n tne l avm g On of hands is a 
 
 essential to Con- token that the Bishops act in this office by divine 
 authority ; yet at the same time, they sue to hea- 
 ven for the blessing they bestow, in humble acknowledgment 
 that the precious gifts hereby conferred are not the effect of 
 their own power and holiness, but of the abundant mercy and 
 favour of Him who is the only fountain of all goodness and 
 grace. Under a due sense of this, even the Apostles them- 
 selves, when they laid their hands upon the Samaritans, prayed 
 that they might receive the Holy Ghost. 43 And after their 
 example do their successors with us pray, that the person on 
 whom they lay their hands may be defended with the heavenly 
 grace of God, and continue his for ever, and daily increase in 
 his holy Spirit more and more, until he come into his everlast- 
 ing kingdom. Amen. 
 
 This form indeed is very different from what was appointed 
 to be used by the first book of king Edward VI., in which 
 immediately after the prayer, beginning, Almighty and ever- 
 lasting God, the Minister was to use the following words : 
 
 Sign them, Lord, and mark them to be thine for ever, 
 
 41 Vide Catechismum ad Parochos de Confirmationis Sacramento, par. 2, p. 174, 8vo. 
 Lugdun. 1636. « Sirmondus Ant. 2, par. 1, c. 7, et Tho. Walden. lib. 2, c. 13. 
 « Acts viii. 15. 
 
sect, in.] OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 391 
 
 by the virtue of thy holy Cross and Passion. Confirm and 
 strengthen them with the inivard Unction of the Holy Gfizst, 
 mercifully unto everlasting life. Amen. 
 
 Then the Bishop was to cross them on the forehead, and 
 lay his hand upon their heads, saying, 
 
 N. / sign thee with the sign of the Cross, and lay mine hand 
 upon thee ; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost. Amen. 
 
 These forms were certainly much more conformable to 
 those that were used in the primitive Church, than that which 
 we have now. What was the occasion of changing them, I 
 do not find : though it is probable the first might be laid 
 aside, because it referred to the ancient ceremony of anoint- 
 ing, which was discontinued at the Reformation, except the 
 Unction, that was ordered by the first Liturgy to be used at 
 Baptism, was accounted preparatory to Confirmation, which 
 I have already shewed 44 to be not unlikely. But however, in 
 the second book of king Edward, the ceremony of anointing 
 was thrown entirely aside, even out of the office of Baptism : 
 and therefore it is probable they threw out this form at the 
 same time, which indeed, if it had continued after the Unction 
 was totally removed, would only have looked like the ruins 
 of an ancient superstructure. 
 
 §. 3. It must indeed be owned in behalf of m ^ 
 ., . . , The use of Unc- 
 
 this ceremony, that it was very ancient and very tion in confirma- 
 significant. Some contend that it was practised JjJJ SJSoSc e 
 by the Apostles, and interpret the texts of Scrip- 
 ture referred to in the margin, 45 of a material unction adminis- 
 tered in Confirmation. But those texts have been better 
 judged to mean a spiritual unction of the Holy Ghost, by 
 which persons were in those days anointed or consecrated to 
 the office of the ministry. 46 However, it is certain, that within 
 a very few years after the Apostles, the holy Fathers used to 
 apply Oil and Balm to those that were confirmed, as an ex- 
 ternal sign of this inward unction of the Holy Spirit, and to 
 represent the Baptism of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost 
 with fire, of which oil we know is the properest material. 
 Theophilus Antiochenus, 47 who lived and flourished within 
 seventy years of the Apostle St. John, and many others of the 
 ancientest Fathers, 48 speak of it as a rite long established and 
 
 4 * Page 354. « 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. 1 John ii. 20, 27. « See Mr. Stebbing's 
 
 Clagget, p. 80, &c. « Ad Autolychum, p. 33, edit. Oxon. 1684. « Tertull. de Res. 
 Cam. c. 8. Orig. Horn. 7, in Ezek. Cyprian. Ep. 70, 73. 
 
392 OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. [chap. ix. 
 
 used ; insomuch that it is to discover from them, whether it 
 was of apostolical practice or not. I need not shew that the 
 use of it was continued in all parts of the Church, through 
 every century, quite down to the Reformation : for this may 
 be gathered from the very names by which they have always 
 chose to distinguish this office, viz. the Anointing or Chrism, 
 the same name which the Greek Church also uses for it till 
 this day, as keeping religiously to the primitive usage. 49 
 
 §. 4. Another ancient ceremony retained by 
 A of1h ecr e oss gn our Church at the first Reformation, (as appears 
 by the rubric which I have cited above,) was 
 the sign of the Cross. This was used (as I have already ob- 
 served) by the primitive Christians, upon all occasions ; and 
 therefore we may assure ourselves, they would not omit it in 
 so solemn an action as in that of Confirmation. Tertullian 50 
 is clear for the use of it in his time ; and in after-ages testi- 
 monies are so numerous, that it is endless to cite them. I 
 shall therefore only observe, that the name Consignation 
 (which was another name by which, it is well known, the La- 
 tin writers distinguish Confirmation) seems to have taken its 
 rise from this ceremony of signing the person, at the time of 
 Confirmation, with the sign of the Cross. And from hence 
 too, it is probable, it is sometimes called ^typayiQ by the 
 Greeks, a name which they generally use to denote the sign 
 of the Cross. 
 
 But now neither this nor the unction having any text of 
 Scripture that is clear on their side ; and since it cannot be 
 made to appear that either of them was practised or used by 
 the Apostles ; we may reasonably suppose that they were taken 
 up at first by the authority and discretion of every Church for 
 itself; and that therefore every Church has liberty, as to her- 
 self, to lay them aside, since nothing appears essential to the 
 office, but what we find the Apostles used, viz. Prayer ac- 
 companied with Imposition of Hands. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the concluding Devotions. 
 
 I. After the persons were all confirmed, it 
 
 LordTprayer! d was usual for the Bishop, in the primitive Church, 
 
 to salute them With peace, to denote that peace 
 
 (both temporal and eternal) was the happy fruit of the Holy 
 
 49 Sir Paul Rycaut's State of the Greek Church, p. 171, and Dr. Smith's Account of 
 the same, p. 117. *» Tertull. de Res. Carn. c. 1, et de Preescript. c. 40. 
 
sect, iv OF THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 393 
 
 Ghost conferred and received in this solemnity. Accordingly, 
 in king Edward's first Common Prayer Book, the Bishop, 
 immediately after he had laid his hands upon all that were 
 brought and presented to him, was to say, The peace of the 
 Lord abide with you ; to which the answer returned was, 
 And with thy spirit. What offence this was capable of giv- 
 ing I cannot discover ; but it is certain that it was thrown out 
 when Bucer revised it : though at the last review, soon after 
 the Restoration, the usual salutation of, The Lord be with you, 
 And with thy spirit, was added in the room of it, together 
 with, Let us pray, and the Lord's Prayer, which should not 
 be left out of any office, especially where it comes in so pro- 
 perly ; and therefore (all kneeling down) the Bishop is here 
 directed to add it. 
 
 II. After this, the Bishop, in the next place, The Co]]ect 
 prays that what he has done may not be an empty 
 
 and insignificant sign. And this he does with so noble a mix- 
 ture of humility and faith, as well agrees with the purest times. 
 Depending upon the faith and promise of God, he knows that 
 the graces he has now been conferring are as sure a conse- 
 quence, of the office he has performed, as if he had in himself 
 a power to give them. But still he considers from whom 
 these gifts and graces come, and who alone can preserve and 
 secure them ; and therefore, under a due sense of this, he 
 makes his humble supplications, that, as he has now laid his 
 hands upon these people (after the example of the Apostles) to 
 certify them thereby of God's favour and gracious goodness 
 towards them ; the fatherly hand of God may be over them, 
 his Holy Spirit be ever with them, and so lead them in the 
 knowledge and obedience of his word, that in the end they may 
 obtain everlasting life. 
 
 III. And because the ancients believed Con- 
 firmation to be a preservation both of body and T *co5ect d 
 soul, 51 an additional collect was added at the 
 Restoration, from those that are placed at the end of the 
 Communion-office, that God would direct, sanctify, and go- 
 vern, both our soids and bodies in the ways of his laws, and 
 in the works of his commandments, &c. 
 
 IV. A blessing concludes all offices ; and 
 therefore one ought more especially to end this, 
 
 The blessing. 
 »» 
 
 w Cyril. Catech. Mystag. 3, §. 5, p. 291. 
 
394 OF THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 it being as it were an epitome of the whole administration, 
 which is but one continued and solemn benediction. 
 
 After all is added a rubric, that none be ad- 
 mitted to the holy Communion, until such time 
 as he be confirmed, or be ready and desirous to be confirmed. 
 This is exactly conformable to the practice of the primitive 
 Church, which always ordered that Confirmation should pre- 
 cede the Eucharist, except there was extraordinary cause to 
 the contrary : such as was the case of clinick baptism, of the 
 absence of a Bishop, or the like; in which cases the Eucharist 
 is allowed before Confirmation. The like provision (as I 
 have already observed 52 ) is made by our own provincial Con- 
 stitutions, as well as the rubric which is now before us, which 
 admit none to communicate, unless in danger of death, but 
 such as are confirmed, or at least have a reasonable impedi- 
 ment for not being confirmed. 53 And the glossary allows no 
 impediment to be reasonable, but the want of a Bishop near 
 the place. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF 
 MATRIMONY. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 That this holy state was instituted by God, is 
 vSStution. evident from the two first chapters in the Bible : l 
 
 whence it came to pass, that amongst all the 
 descendants from our first parents, the numerous inhabitants 
 of the different nations in the world, there has been some re- 
 ligious way of entering into this state, in consequence and 
 testimony of this divine institution. Among Christians espe- 
 cially, from the very first ages of the Church, those that have 
 been married have been always joined together in a solemn 
 manner by an ecclesiastical person. 2 And by several Canons 
 of our own Church, it is declared to be no less than prosti- 
 
 52 Page 262. « Provinc. Lindw. Cap. de Sacr. Unct. J Gen. i. 28, and ii. 18 
 
 24. 2 ignat. Ep. ad Polycarp. §. 5, pag. 9. Tertull. ad Uxor. 1. 2, cult. p. 171, et 
 
 de Pudicitia, c. 4, p. 557, B. Eucharist. Ep. 1, ad Episc. Afric. Concil. torn. i. col. 534 
 B. C Carthag. Concil. 4, Can. 13, torn. ii. col. 1201, A. B. 
 
sect. i.J SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 395 
 
 tuting one's daughter, to give her in marriage without the 
 blessing of the Priests. 3 Insomuch that some commentators 
 of no small character interpret those words of Saint Paul, 
 of marrying in the Lord , 4 of marrying according to the form 
 and order prescribed by the Apostles. But I think those 
 words are more naturally to be understood of marrying one 
 of the same faith ; as by the dead that die in the Lord, 5 are 
 undoubtedly to be understood, those that die in the faith of 
 Christ. However, it is certain, that both in the Greek and 
 Latin Churches, 6 offices were drawn up in the most early 
 times for the religious celebration of this holy ordinance ; 
 but being afterwards mixed with superstitious rites, our re- 
 formers thought fit to lay them aside, and to draw up a form 
 more decent and grave, and more agreeable to the usage of 
 the primitive Church. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics concerning the Banns. 
 
 I. Before any can be lawfully married to- Rubric j 
 gether, the Banns are directed to be published Banns, what the 
 in the Church, i. e. public proclamation (for so word signifies " 
 the word signifies) must be made to the congregation, con- 
 cerning the design of the parties that intend to come together. 
 This care of the Church to prevent clandestine marriage is, 
 as far as we can find, as old as Christianity itself. Wh r mA 
 For Tertullian tells us, that in his time all mar- often to be pub- 
 riages were accounted clandestine, that were not lished - 
 published beforehand in the Church, and were in danger of 
 being judged adultery and fornication. 7 And by several an- 
 cient constitutions of our own Church, it was ordered, that 
 none should be married before notice should be given of it in 
 the public congregation on three several Sundays or holy- 
 days. 8 And so it was also ordered by the rubric prefixed to 
 the form of Solemnization of Matrimony in the book of Com- 
 mon Prayer, viz. that the banns of all that are to be married 
 together be published in the church three several Sundays or 
 holy-days, in time of divine service ; unto which was added at 
 the last review, immediately before tlie sentences for the offer- 
 tory ; but it is ordered by a late act of parliament,* that all 
 
 » Statute 26 George II., " To prevent clandestine marriages," which should be care- 
 fully perused by every parochial Clergyman. 
 
 8 Concil. Winton. A. D. 1076. Constitut. Richardi Episc. Sar. ann. 1217. Spelm. 
 torn. ii. * 1 Cor. vii. 39. a R ev . x i v . 13. Severiuus Binius in Can. 13. Con- 
 cil. Carthag. 4, ejusque Sequax Franciscus Longus a Cariolano, et alii. 7 Tertull. 
 de Pudicitia, cap. 4. » See Bishop Gibson's Codex, Tit. 22, cap. 6, p. 510, and John, 
 ion's Ecclesiastical Laws, 1200, 11, 1322, 7, 1328, 8. 
 
396 OF THE FORM OF [chap, x. 
 
 banns of matrimony shall be published upon three Sundays 
 preceding the solemnization of marriage, immediately after the 
 second Lesson. 
 
 The poverty of §• 2. The design of the Church in publishing 
 the parties, or these banns, is to be satisfied whether there be 
 settTed°in the g any just cause or impediment why the parties, so 
 are C asked r< n they as ^ ec *> should not be joined together in matri- 
 reason for prohi- mony. What are allowed for lawful impedi- 
 bitmg the banns. men t S) j sna n have occasion to shew in the next 
 section. In the mean while I shall here observe, that the 
 Curate is not to stop his proceeding, because any peevish or 
 pragmatical person, without just reason or authority, pretends 
 to forbid him ; as is the case sometimes, when the church- 
 wardens, or other officers of the parish, presume to forbid the 
 publication of the banns because the parties are poor, and so 
 like to create a charge to the parish ; or because the man is 
 not perhaps an inhabitant, according to the laws made for the 
 settlement of the poor. But poverty is no more an impedi- 
 ment of marriage than wealth ; and the kingdom can as little 
 subsist without the poor, as it can without the rich. And as 
 to the pretence of the man's not being an inhabitant of the 
 parish, it is certain, that by the canon law a traveller is a 
 parishioner of every church he comes to. 9 The Minister 
 where he is, is to visit him if sick, to perform the offices to 
 him while living, and to bury him when dead : and no other 
 Clergyman can regularly perform any divine office to such a 
 person, so long as he continues within the said parish. In 
 short, he is a parishioner in all respects, except that he is not 
 liable to be kept by the parish, if he falls into poverty. Nor 
 does the bidding of banns alter his condition in that respect : 
 for in that, it is not considered where the person has a legal 
 settlement, but where he dwells or lives at present. And the 
 spiritual courts acted by this rule (if by any) when they grant- 
 ed a licence to a man to be married, that had not been four 
 and twenty hours within their jurisdiction ; and write him in 
 the licence, seaman of that port or parish where he landed 
 last, or where perhaps he lodged the night before. 
 
 §. 3. The penalty incurred for marrying any 
 MinisteTwL^ 4 persons (without a faculty or licence) before the 
 marries without banns have been thus duly published, is, by the 
 
 licence or banns. -, / ~ i , i_ j i j x u • 
 
 canons of our Church, declared to be suspension 
 for three years. 10 Nor is there any exemption allowed to 
 
 9 Lyndwood, 1. 3 1. 15, c. Altissimus, v. Peregrinantes. iJ Canon LXII 
 
SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 397 
 
 any churches or chapels, under colour of any peculiar liberty 
 or privilege. The prohibition is the same in one place as in 
 another. Marry where they will, the canons inflict the same 
 penalty upon the Minister ; " who, by an act of parliament 
 made in the tenth year of queen Anne, 12 shall, besides his sus- 
 pension, forfeit one hundred pounds for every offence ; or if 
 he be a prisoner in any private gaol, he shall be removed to 
 the county gaol, charged in execution with the aforesaid 
 penalty, and with all the causes of his former imprisonment. 
 And whatever gaoler shall permit such marriages to be solemn- 
 ized in his prison, shall, for every such offence, forfeit also 
 the sum of one hundred pounds. And by the Act 26 George 
 II. before mentioned, the person who shall solemnize matri- 
 mony in any other place than a church or public chapel, or 
 without publication of banns, or licence, is deemed guilty of 
 felony, and is to be transported for fourteen years, and the 
 marriage declared to be null and void. 
 
 t4. The ecclesiastical courts would have us 
 elieve, that a licence is necessary, even after ^m^proMbS. 
 the banns have been duly published, to empower 
 us to marry during such times as are said to be prohibited ; 13 
 and this they found upon an old popish canon law, which they 
 pretend was established among other popish canons and de- 
 cretals, by a statute 25 Henry VIII. But now it is certain 
 that the times prohibited by the pope's canon law are not the 
 same that are pretended to be prohibited here in England ; 
 or if they were, the statute declares, that the popish canons 
 and decretals are of force only so far forth as they have been 
 received by sufferance, consent, or custom. 14 Now there is 
 no canon nor custom of this realm, that prohibits marriages 
 to be solemnized at any time : but on the contrary, our rubric, 
 which is confirmed by act of parliament, (and which is there- 
 fore as much a law of this realm as any can be,) requires no 
 more than that the banns be published in the church three 
 several Sundays in the time of divine service ; and then, if no 
 impediment be alleged, gives the parties, so asked, leave to 
 be married, without so much as intimating that they must 
 wait till marriage comes in. As to the authority of Lyndwood 
 and some other such pleas offered by the gentlemen of the 
 
 11 Canon LXIII. 12 10 Annae, cap. 19, in an act, entitled, An Act for laying se 
 
 veral Duties, &c. ,3 Viz. From Advent-Sunday to the Octave of the Epiphany in 
 elusive ; from Septuagesima-Sunday till the Sunday after Easter inclusive ; and from 
 the first of the Rogation-days (i. e. the Monday before Ascension-day) till the day be 
 fore Trinity-Sunday inclusive. w Chap. 21. 
 
398 OF THE FOKM OF £ohap. x. 
 
 spiritual courts, the reader, that desires further satisfaction, 
 may consult two learned authors upon this point, 15 who plainly 
 enough shew, that the chief motive of their insisting upon 
 licences as necessary within these pretended prohibited times, 
 is because marrying by banns is a hinderance to their fees. 
 Though not de- ^ * s true m d ee d, ** na th been an ancient cus- 
 cent at some sea- torn of the primitive Church to prohibit persons 
 sons. £ rom en tering upon their nuptials in solemn 
 
 times, which are set apart for fasting and prayer, and other 
 exercises of extraordinary devotion. Thus the Council of 
 Laodicea forbids all marriages in the time of Lent, 16 and 
 several other canons add other times, in which matrimony was 
 not to be solemnized : which seems to be grounded upon the 
 command of God, 17 the counsel of Saint Paul, 18 and the prac- 
 tice of the sober part of mankind. 19 For even those who have 
 wives ought, at such times, to be as those who have none ; 
 and therefore those who have none ought not then to change 
 their condition. Besides, there is so great a contrariety be- 
 tween the seriousness that ought to attend the days of solemn 
 religion, and the mirth that is expected at a marriage-feast, 
 that it is not convenient they should meet together, lest we 
 either violate religion, or disoblige our friends. This con- 
 sideration so far prevailed even with the ancient Romans, that 
 they would not permit those days that were dedicated to acts 
 of religion, to be hindered or violated by nuptial celebrations. 20 
 And Christians, one would think, should not be less observers 
 of decency, than infidels or heathens. For which reason \\ 
 would not be amiss, I humbly presume, if a prohibition was 
 made, that no persons should be married during the more so- 
 lemn seasons, either by licence or banns. But to prohibit 
 marriage by banns, and admit of it by licence, seems not to 
 be calculated for the increase of religion, but purely for the 
 sake of enhancing the fees. 
 
 II. If the persons that are to be married 
 marriage' to be & dwell in diverse parishes, the banns must be 
 solemnized in asked in both parishes, and the Curate of the 
 
 one of the . , . * \ J 7 
 
 churches where one parish is not to solemnize matrimony oe- 
 
 pubSed Were tw ^ xt them, witlwut a certificate of the banns 
 
 being thrice asked from the Curate of the other 
 
 15 See Dr. Brett's Letters, entitled, Some Considerations on the Times wherein Mar 
 riage is said to be prohibited ; and Mr. Johnson's Clergyman's Vade Mecum, c. 21. 
 16 Can. 52, torn. i. col. 1505, C » Exod. xix. 15. Joel ii. 16. ,s 1 Cor. vii. 5. 
 
 19 1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5. tj Macnb. Saturn. 1. 1, c. 15, p. 2G2, Lugd. Bat. 1670. 
 
SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 399 
 
 paiish. This seems to suppose what both the ancient and 
 modern canons enjoin, viz. that marriage shall always be so- 
 lemnized in the church or chapel where one of the parties 
 dwelleth. And by our own canons, whatever Minister mar- 
 ries them any where else, incurs the same penalty as for a 
 clandestine marriage. 21 Nor is even a licence allowed to dis- 
 pense with him for doing it. 22 And the late act for prevent- 
 ing clandestine marriages expressly requires, that, in all cases 
 where banns have been published, the marriage be solemn- 
 ized in one of the churches where such publication had been 
 made, and in no other place whatsoever ; and that no licence 
 shall be granted to solemnize any marriage in any other church 
 than that which belongeth to the parish, within which one of 
 the parties to be married hath dwelt for four weeks immedi- 
 ately preceding. Formerly it was a custom, that marriage 
 should be performed in no other church but that to which the 
 woman belonged as a parishioner: 23 and the ecclesiastical law 
 allowed a fee due to the Curate of that church, whether she 
 was married there or not ; which was generally reserved for 
 him in the words of the licence : but those words have been 
 omitted in licences granted since the Act 26 George II. took 
 place, which gives no preference to the woman's parish. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Rubric before the Preface 
 
 For better security against clandestine mar- The canonical 
 riages, the Church orders that all marriages be hours of ceiebrat- 
 celebrated in the day-time: for those that mean ^ n y fmatri " 
 honourably need not fly the light. By the sixty- 
 second canon they are ordered to be performed in time of 
 divine service,- but that practice is now almost, by universal 
 consent, laid aside and discontinued : and the rubric only men- 
 tions the day and time appointed, which the aforesaid canon 
 expressly requires to be between the hours of eight and twelve 
 in the forenoon: and though even a licence be granted, these 
 hours are not dispensed with j 24 * for it is supposed that per- 
 sons will be serious in the morning. And indeed formerly it 
 
 * The archbishop of Canterbury, in virtue, I suppose, of the old legantine power, 
 claims a privilege of granting licences for persons to be married, qwlibet loco aut 
 tempore honesto; i. e. in any decent time or place. A privilege which I cannot but 
 humbly conceive his Grace would be very backward of using, were he apprized what 
 indecencies generally attend it. 
 
 N. B. This is expressly reserved to the archbishop, by statute 20 George II. 
 « Canon LXII. & Canon CII. M Clergyman's Vade Mecum, c. 21, p. 188. 
 
 »« Canon CII. 
 
400 OF THE FORM OF [chap, x, 
 
 was required that the bridegroom and bride should be fasting 
 when they made their matrimonial vow ; 25 by which means 
 they were secured from being made incapable by drink, of 
 acting decently and discreetly in so weighty an afFair. 
 
 §. 2. At the day and time appointed, the per- 
 the^churdTthe sons to be married are directed to come into the 
 solemnized t0 be ^°^ °f ^ ie church. The custom formerly was 
 for the couple, who were to enter upon this holy 
 state, to be placed at the church-door, where the Priest was 
 used to join their hands, and perform the greatest part of the 
 matrimonial office. 26 It was here the husband endowed his 
 wife with the portion or dowry before contracted for, which 
 was therefore called Dos ad ostium ecclesice, The dowry at t7ie 
 church-door. 21 But at the Reformation the rubric was altered, 
 and the whole office ordered to be performed within the 
 church, where the congregation might afford more witnesses 
 of the fact. 
 
 And since God himself doth join those that are lawfully 
 married, certainly the house of God is the fittest place wherein 
 to make this religious covenant. And therefore, by the an- 
 cient canons of this Church, the celebration of matrimony in 
 taverns, or other unhallowed places, is expressly forbidden r 28 
 and the office is commanded to be performed in the church, 
 not only to prevent all clandestine marriages, but also that 
 the sacredness of the place may strike the greater reverence 
 into the minds of the married couple, while they remember they 
 make this holy vow in the place of God's peculiar presence. 
 Who to be pre- §• ^* ^ ne P ersons to De married (saith the ru- 
 sentattheso- brie) are to come into the church with their 
 lemnization. friends and neighbours, i. e. their relations and 
 acquaintance, who ought to attend on this solemnity, to testify 
 their consent to it, and to join with the minister in prayers for 
 a blessing on it. Though it may not be improbable, but that 
 by the friends here mentioned may be understood such as 
 Paranymphs, or t ^ ie anc i ents use & to call paranymphs, or bnde- 
 Bridemen, their men : some traces of which custom we find to 
 antiquity. ^ e ag Q ^ ag fa e days of Samson, whose wife .s 
 
 25 Synod. Winton. anno 1308. Spelman, torn. i. p. 448. 
 
 26 See the old Manuals, and Seidell's Uxor Ebraica, 1. 2, c. 27, p. 203. And from 
 hence Chaucer, an old poet in the reign of Edward III., in his Wife of Bath : 
 
 " She -was a worthy woman all her live, 
 Husbands at the church-door had she five." 
 
 27 See the Manuals, and Selden, as above. 28 Synod. Winton. ut supra. Synod. 
 Exon. anno 1287, Can. 7. Spelm. torn. ii. Concil. Lond. anno 1200, ibid. 
 
■BCT. III.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 401 
 
 said to have been delivered to his companion, who in the 
 Septuagint version is called Ninety wyoe, or brideman. 29 And 
 that bridemen were in use among the Jews in our Saviour's 
 time, is clear from St. John iii. 29. From the Jews the cus- 
 tom was received by the Christians, who used it at first rather 
 as a civil custom, and something that added to the solemnity 
 of the occasion, than as a religious rite ; though it was after- 
 wards countenanced so far as to be made a necessary part of 
 the sacred solemnity. 30 An account of this custom as it pre- 
 vailed here in the time of king Henry VIII. may be seen in 
 Polydore Virgil. 31 Some remains of it are still left among us ; 
 but as to countenancing or discountenancing it, our Church 
 has left it (as in itself) a thing indifferent. 
 
 §. 4. The remaining part of this rubric (which 
 was added to the foregoing part at the Restor- Startle? 
 ation) is concerning the position of the parties, 
 whom it orders to stand, the man on the right hand, and the 
 woman on the left, i. e. the man on the right hand of the wo- 
 man, and the woman on the left hand of the man, as it is 
 worded in the Salisbury Manual. The reason that is there 
 given for it is a very weak one, viz. because the rib out of 
 which the woman was formed was taken out of the left side 
 of Adam. The true reason to be sure is, because the right 
 hand is the most honourable place ; which is therefore both 
 by the Latin and Greek, and all Christian Churches, assigned 
 to the man, as being the head of the wife. 32 The Jews are the 
 only persons that I ever heard acted otherwise, who place 
 the woman on the right hand of her husband, in allusion to 
 that expression in the forty-fifth Psalm, jit thy right hand 
 did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, & c. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Preface and Charge, and the several Im- 
 pediments to Matrimony. 
 
 To prevent the vain and loose mirth which is The preface, or 
 too frequent at these solemnities, the office is general exh'ort- 
 begun with a grave and awful preface, which re- 
 presents the action we are about, to be of so divine an origin- 
 al, of so high a nature, and of such infinite concernment to all 
 mankind, that they are not only vain and imprudent, but even 
 
 89 Judges xiv. 20, according to the Alexandrian copy, published by Dr. Grahe. 
 
 30 Eucharist. Ep. ad Episc. Afric. Concil. torn. i. col. 543, C. Concil. Carthag. 4, cap. 
 13, torn. ii. col. 1201, A. 31 De Invent. Rerum, 1. 1, c. 4, as cited by Selden in hig 
 Uxor Ebraica, page 205. 32 Manual. Sarisb. fol. 26. Eucholog. Offic. Sponsal. p. 380. 
 
 2 D 
 
402 OF THE FORM OF [chip. x. 
 
 void of shame, who will not lay aside their levity, and be com- 
 posed upon so serious and solemn an occasion. And to pre- 
 vent any misfortune which the two parties might rashly or 
 perhaps inconsiderately run into by means of their marriage, 
 the Minister charges the congregation, If they know any just 
 cause why they may not he lawfully joined together, that 
 they do now declare it, before this holy bond be tied, since 
 afterwards their discovering of it will tend perhaps more to 
 the prejudice than to the relief of the parties. 
 The char e ^* "^ u ^ tllou g a others are first called upon to 
 
 discover the impediments (if any such be known) 
 as being most likely to reveal them ; yet the parties them- 
 selves are charged, in the next place, as being most concern- 
 ed, to declare them. Since, should there afterwards appear 
 any just impediment to their marriage, they must either ne- 
 cessarily live together in a perpetual sin, or be separated for 
 ever by an eternal divorce. Besides which, by a provincial 
 canon of our Church under archbishop Stratford, in the year 
 1342, (the sixteenth of Edward III.,) if the parties that marry 
 are conscious of any impediment, they incur excommunica- 
 tion ipso facto . 33 
 
 III. The impediments which they are solemnly 
 ^rSrhnony! 3 charged to reveal, are those, I suppose, which 
 
 are specified in the hundred and second canon 
 of our Church; viz. 1. a preceding marriage or contract, or 
 any controversy or suit depending upon the same ; 2. consaiu 
 guinity or affinity ,• and, 3. want of the consent of their pa- 
 rents or guardians. 
 
 l. a preceding §• *■ The ^ rst 1S & preceding marriage or con- 
 marriage or con- tract : for God made but one wife for Adam, 
 
 and rather connived at polygamy in after-ages 
 than allowed it. Under the Gospel dispensation it is abso- 
 lutely forbidden. 34 And this, I think, on one side, is gener- 
 ally allowed. Nobody contends that the same woman may 
 have plurality of husbands, and the New Testament is ex,. 
 pressly against it: 35 but then we have libertines enough 
 (though libertines, by the way, that often think one wife too 
 many) who pretend that there is no prohibition against se- 
 veral ; and yet the New Testament, if we duly attend to it, is 
 as full and as clear against this as the former. Our Saviour 
 
 '■ a See Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. p. 494, or in Mr. Johnson, 1343, 11. »» Matt 
 x\x. 5, 9. Rom. vii. 3. 1 Cor. vii. 2. » Rom. vii. 2, 3. 1 Cor. vii. 39. 
 
sect, in.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 403 
 
 himself has expressly declared, that whosoever shallput away 
 his wife, and shall marry another, committeth adultery™ If 
 then it be adultery for a man to marry a second woman, after 
 he has put away the first, would it be ever the less adultery 
 to marry a second whilst he retains the first ? Again, when 
 St. Paul enjoins every man, for the avoiding fornication, to 
 ham his own wife, or (as the words ought to be translated) 
 a wife of his own* 1 he also enjoins that every woman have 
 her own husband, or (as these words ought also to be render- 
 ed) a husband peculiar to herself™* So that polygamy is 
 no more allowed to the husband than to the wife. And there- 
 fore if either of the parties that offer themselves to be married 
 have a husband or wife living, this latter marriage is null and 
 void, and they live in as manifest adultery as they would have 
 done, though they had not been joined. Nay, if either of 
 them be but contracted to another, the impediment is the same. 
 For though such a contract be not properly marriage, yet it is 
 so effective and binding, that unless they voluntarily release 
 each other, it is adultery for either of them to marry any body 
 else. Hence by the Levitical law it was death for any one to de- 
 file anotner man's spouse ; 41 and the holy Virgin is called Jo- 
 seph's wife, though she was only contracted to him. 42 Upon this 
 account, marriages that have been made after any such con- 
 tract have always been judged null and void. In our own 
 land indeed, in king Henry the Eighth's time, an Act of Par- 
 liament was made, that marriages, when solemnized and after- 
 wards consummated, should stand good notwithstanding any 
 former precontract that had not been consummated. 43 But 
 this was only done to gratify the king; and therefore, as soon 
 as king Edward VI. succeeded him, the aforesaid Act was re- 
 pealed, and the ecclesiastical judges were again empowered to 
 give sentence in favour of such precontract, and to require 
 
 * The words in the original, are tKao-Tn tov Ibtov avbpa hxer<o, which any one that knows 
 Greek will acknowledge to be imperfectly translated in our English Bibles. For as 
 Dr. Wall 39 very well observes, when Aristotle says, 'Ibiov tovto to!? avtipwTrotv, nobody 
 would render it, Men have this of their own; but, This is proper or peculiar to men : 
 so again when he says, 6 6e fidrpaxos ISiav *?x« « th* •yA<~><nmi/, 40 it would not reach the 
 sense to say, that frogs make their own noise, but that frogs make a noise peculiar to 
 themselves ; i. e. such a noise as no other creatures make. When therefore St. Paul 
 uses the same phrase here, which is so emphatical and express, our English translation 
 does not come up to his meaning, when it only says, Let every icoman have her own 
 husband; since the words plainly signify, that every woman should have a husband 
 that should be proper ox peculiar to herself; a husband in such sense her own, as not 
 to be the husband of any one else. 
 
 36 Matt. xix. 9. Mark x. 11. Luke xvi. 18. 37 "Enaaro? th* kavrov ywaiita hx&tot- 
 3 8 1 Cor. vii. 2. «■ History of Infant Baptism, p. i. c. 8, §. 5. <» Ibid. « Deut. 
 xx. 23, 24. «* Matt. i. 20. « 32. Henry VIII. c. 38. 
 
 2 I) 2 
 
404 OF THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 that matrimony should be solemnized and consummated be- 
 tween the persons so contracted, notwithstanding that one of 
 them might have been actually married to, and have had issue 
 by, another person. 44 But it hath been again enacted by statute 
 26 George II., that for the future no suit shall be had in any ec- 
 clesiastical court to compel a celebration of marriage in facie 
 ecclesice, by reason of any contract of matrimony whatsoever. 
 §. 2. The second impediment, which the canon 
 2 ' C o°r n affli§ty? lty specifies, is consanguinity or affinity, i. e. when 
 the parties are related to each other within the 
 degrees prohibited as to marriage by the laws of God, and ex- 
 pressed in a table drawn up by archbishop Parker, and set 
 forth by authority in the year of our Lord 1563. 45 This table 
 
 What de ees * S n0W Ver y f reo 1 uent ly printed at the end of Com- 
 are expressly mon Prayer Books, and therefore I need not 
 enumerate the degrees within which marriage is 
 forbid. But however, it may not be amiss to observe, that 
 several degrees are expressed in the table, which are not men- 
 tioned particularly in the eighteenth of Leviticus, which is the 
 And what by place upon which the table is founded. But then 
 parity of reason, they may be inferred from it by parity of reason, 
 implied. -p 0Y that passage in Leviticus only mentions those 
 
 relations evidently and expressly, which may help us to dis- 
 cover the like differences and degrees. So that for the right 
 understanding of the eighteenth of Leviticus, and to bring it 
 to an agreement with the table in our Common Prayer Books, 
 we must observe two particular rules for our direction : viz. 
 1. That the same prohibitions that are made to one sex are 
 undoubtedly understood and implied as to the other ; and, 2. 
 That a man and his wife are accounted one flesh : (so that 
 whoever is related to one of them by means of consanguinity 
 is in the same degree related to the other by means of affinity .- 
 insomuch that the husband is so much forbid to marry with 
 his wife's relations, and the wife with her husband's, within 
 the degrees prohibited, as either of them are to marry with 
 their own.) Thus, for instance ; though marrying a wife's 
 sister be not expressly forbid in the eighteenth of Leviticus, 
 y«?t by parity of reason it is virtually implied. For when God 
 there commands 46 that a man shall not marry his brother's 
 wife, which is the same as forbidding the woman to be mar- 
 ried to her husband's brother ; it follows of course, that a man 
 is also forbid to marry his wife's sister. For between one man 
 
 ** 2 Edward VI. 45 Canon XCIX « Verse 16 
 
skct. m.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 405 
 
 and two sisters, and one woman and two brothers, is the same 
 analogy and proportion. Accordingly, this was always forbid 
 under severe penalties by the primitive Church, 47 and has been 
 declared unlawful by our own. 48 Thus again, though we are 
 not forbid in terms to marry the daughter of a wife's sister ; 
 yet, by the like parity of reason, the same is implied in the pro- 
 hibition of marrying one's father's brother's wife* 9 which is the 
 same as to forbid the being married to a husband's brother's son. 
 For between a man and his wife's niece is the same relation 
 as between a woman and her husband's nephew ; and there- 
 fore these also have been declared incapable of marrying by 
 our courts of judicature. 50 And if this be granted, it can much 
 less be doubted, whether the like rule, from parity of reason, 
 doth not forbid the uncle to marry his niece ; which, though 
 not expressly forbidden, is to be sure virtually prohibited in 
 the precept that forbids the nephew to marry his aunt. 51 Nor 
 is it of any moment to allege, that the first is a more favourable 
 case, because the natural superiority is preserved ; since the 
 parity of degree (which is the proper rule of judging) is the 
 very same in both. 
 
 Nor do these rules hold only in lawful mar- 
 riages, but are equally binding in unlawful con- ^eltauni'awfui 
 junctions : for by the same law that a man may conjunctions, as 
 not marry his father's wife, he ought not to take Sagel™ mar ~ 
 his father's concubine ; and as the woman may 
 not be married to her daughter's husband, so neither may she 
 be married to one by whom her daughter has been abused. 52 
 Nor are bastard children any more at liberty to 
 marry within the degrees of the Levitical law, ^"ta^Sren, 
 than those that are legitimate. In this case legi- as between those 
 timacy or illegitimacy makes no difference ; for mat e are kgltl 
 if it did, a mother might marry her bastard son, 
 which is shocking to think of. 53 
 
 The reasons why these prohibitions are made 
 are easily to be accounted for : for, first, the mar- ^prohibition, 
 riage of parents or grandfathers with their chil- 
 dren or grandchildren (setting aside the disproportion in time 
 of age) is directly repugnant to the order of nature, which 
 
 « 7 Can. Apostol. 18, et Concil. Elib. * 8 See Bishop Gibson's Codex, vol. i. page 
 
 498. See also the Canons of 1571, in Bishop Sparrow, page 240. 49 Verse 14. 
 
 50 See Bishop Gibson, ibid. 51 Verse 12, 14. 52 See the Reformatio Legum, as 
 cited by Bishop Gibson, page 499. b3 See Bishop Gibson, ibid, and Bishop Parker's 
 Admonition in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 260. 
 
406* OF THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 hath assigned several duties and offices essential to each rela- 
 tion, that would thereby be inverted and overthrown. To 
 which we may add the inconsistency, absurdity, and mon- 
 strousness of the relations to be begotten, if such prohibition 
 were not absolute and unlimited. Much the same may be 
 said in the next place, as to the marriage of uncles and aunts 
 with their nephews and nieces. And, lastly, as to the mar- 
 riage of brothers with sisters ; the natural familiarities be- 
 tween equal relations, so suitable in years and temper, would 
 produce intolerable effects in those who always converse to- 
 gether, if they were not prohibited matrimonial union. Upon 
 Such marriages tnese accounts, even among heathens, these mar- 
 why called in- riages were accounted unlawful and forbidden, 
 and were condemned under the name and title of 
 incest, which signifies an inauspicious conjunction, made sine 
 cesto Veneris, without the cest or girdle of Venus. For that 
 goddess being not supposed to be present at such unchaste and 
 dishonest marriages, the bride was not bound with her girdle 
 as was usual, and therefore the marriage was called incestuous. 6 * 
 And by the ninety-sixth canon of our own Church, such mar- 
 riages are also to be judged incestuous and unlawful, and con- 
 sequently are to be dissolved as void from the beginning, and 
 the parties so married are to be separated by course of law. 
 
 From an observation of the above-mentioned passage in 
 Scripture, as well as from the table at the end of our Common 
 Prayer Books, we may perceive that it is only a vulgar mis- 
 take, which some have entertained, that second 
 hibitedmarnage. cousins may not marry, though first cousins 
 may ; it plainly appearing that no cousins what- 
 soever, whether in the first, or second, or third descent, are 
 prohibited marriage, either by the laws of God or of the land. 
 The more ancient prohibition indeed of the Canon Law was 
 to the seventh generation : and the same was formerly the 
 law of the Church of England, as appears by the canons of 
 two different Councils. 55 But in the fourth Council of Lateran, 
 which was held A. D. 1215, the prohibition was reduced to 
 the fourth degree, 56 as appears not only by a statute in the 
 thirty-second of Henry VIII., 57 but also by the frequent dis- 
 pensations for the fourth degree, (and no further,) which we 
 
 54 Lactantius Statii Scholiastes ad 2 Thebaid. v. 283, ut citat. in Fabri Thesauro, in 
 vocem Cestus. &* Of London and Westminster, as cited by Bishop Gibson in his 
 
 Codex p. 497. «o See Bishop Gibson as before. » Chap. 38. 
 
sect, in.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 407 
 
 meet with in our ecclesiastical records, as granted by special 
 authority from Rome. But now this was only for the increase 
 and augmentation of the Pope's revenue, who always took care 
 to be well paid for his licence or dispensation. And therefore, 
 at the Reformation, when we got free from our bondage and 
 subjection to him, no marriages were prohibited but within 
 the third degree, which are expressly prohibited by the laws 
 of God, as well as by the dictates of right reason, and which 
 therefore no power or authority can dispense with. But now 
 none that we call cousins are within the third degree of kin- 
 dred ; evenfrst cousins, or cousin-germans, are four removes 
 distant. For to know their relation we must reckon through 
 the grandfather, the common parent, from whence both parties 
 are descended. Now reckoning thus between the children of 
 two brothers, or of two sisters, or of a brother and sister, we 
 must necessarily measure four degrees. For from a man to 
 his father or mother is one degree ; to his grandfather two ; 
 then down to his uncle or aunt three; and, lastly, to the 
 daughter of his uncle or aunt, who is his cousin-german, four. 
 This is exemplified in the margin, where A is the 
 grandfather, B and C the children, and D and E a 
 
 the grandchildren or first cousins, who are dis- b c 
 
 posed to marry. Now from D to B is one re- D ^ 
 
 move, to A a second, to C a third, and to E a 
 fourth. And I have already observed, that there is no in- 
 stance in the eighteenth of Leviticus of any prohibition in the 
 fourth degree. It is to be noted indeed, as archbishop Parker 
 tells us, 58 that marriages in the direct line, i. e. between 
 children and their grandfathers, though ever so distant, are 
 prohibited and forbid. For a father has a paternal right over 
 ten generations, could he live to see them in a direct line, 
 (his old age requiring respect and reverence, as often in- 
 creased as the name of father comes between him and them.) 
 And so uncles and aunts, since they are quasi parentes, in the 
 place of fathers and mothers, must have the greater respect, 
 by how much the name of uncle and aunt comes between 
 them and their nephews and nieces. So that it would seem 
 more absurd for a great uncle to marry his niece, than for an 
 immediate uncle to marry his. Though we are told, that 
 where the case in the spiritual court was, that one had married 
 the wife of his great uncle, (which, by the foregoing rule, 
 
 68 In Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 260. 
 
408 OF THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 that makes the case the same in affinity as consanguinity, is 
 as near a relation as a great aunt by blood,) it was declared 
 not to be within the Levitical degrees, and therefore a prohi- 
 bition was granted to the process. 59 
 
 3. Want of Pa- §* ^' ^ ne ^ivd impediment to the solemniza- 
 rents,' or Guard- tion of marriage between the parties that offer 
 ians' consent. themselves, is the want of the consent of their 
 parents or guardians. But this by the hundredth canon 
 seems only to be an impediment, when the persons to be 
 married are under the age of twenty-one years complete, 
 whom, by the sixty-second canon, no Minister is to marry, 
 whether by banns or licence, before their parents or go- 
 vernors have signified their consent, though persons in widow- 
 hood are by the hundred and fourth canon particularly 
 excepted. 60 The holy Scriptures, in several instances, inform 
 us of this paternal right. 61 And the usual phrases of giving 
 a daughter in marriage, and taking a wife to a son, plainly 
 imply, that the consent of the parents is necessary in the 
 marriage of their children. If we inquire into the practice of 
 the heathens, we shall find them so severe upon the violation 
 of this right, as to declare the marriage to be null, and the 
 children to be bastards. 63 And the ancient canon-law of the 
 Greek Church accounts all children that marry without their 
 parents' consent, whilst they are under their power, to be no 
 better than fornicators. 63 The Church of England hath ever 
 taken all imaginable care beforehand to prevent such mar- 
 riages, by requiring the oaths of sufficient witnesses, in case 
 of a licence, that such consent was obtained ; ** and by the 
 Act 26 George II. it is declared that all marriages solemnized 
 by licence, where either of the parties, not being a widower or 
 widow, shall be under the age of twenty-one years, which shall 
 be had without the consent of parents or guardians, shall be 
 absolutely null and void. And where there is no licence, the 
 Church orders the publication of the banns, as has already 
 been shewed, that so the parents may have notice and time to 
 forbid it ; and now finally charges the parties themselves, in 
 the most serious and solemn manner that is possible, that 
 they confess it is an impediment, if they want their superiors' 
 consent. 
 
 59 See Bishop Gibson's Codex, p. 409. 60 See also the Canons of 1597, in Sparrow 
 page 249. 6l Genesis xxiv. xxix. xxxiv. 4. Judges xiv. 2. 62 Apul. Metamorph. 
 1. 6, Dig. lib. 23, tit. 2, et lib. 1, tit. 5, §. 11. <» S. Basil, ad Amphiloch. Can. 38, et 
 
 40. Matth. Blaster. Syntag. Lit. T. c. 8, apud Bevereg. torn. ii. <* Canon CIII. 
 
sect, iv.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 409 
 
 IV. If any of the impediments above men- 
 tioned are alleged, and the person that declares Rubl jh^ge! the 
 it will be bound and sufficient sureties with him 
 to the parties, or else put in a caution (to the full value of such 
 charges as the persons to be married do thereby sustain) to 
 prove his allegation ; then the solemnization must be deferrea 
 until such time as the truth be tried. But if no impediment be 
 alleged, the Curate is to proceed in manner and form as the 
 next section will declare. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Espousals. 
 
 I. The solemnization of matrimony being a 
 formal compact, it is requisite, in the first place, JSJiSfSmSJt! 
 that the mutual consent of the parties be asked, 
 which is so essentially necessary, that the marriage is not 
 good without it. And therefore we find that Rebekah's friends 
 asked her consent before they sent her away to Isaac. 65 And 
 in the firmest kind of marriage among the Romans, which 
 they called coemption, the parties themselves mutually asked 
 this of each other. 66 This therefore being so momentous a 
 custom, is. for that reason taken into the Christian offices : 
 only among Christians the question is proposed by the Priest, 
 that so the declaration may be the more solemn, as being 
 made in the immediate presence of God, and to his deputed 
 Minister. 
 
 The man therefore is asked, Whether he will have this 
 woman to his wedded wife ; and the woman, Whether she 
 will have this man to her wedded husband, to live together 
 after God's ordinance in the holy state of matrimony. And 
 that they may the better know what are the conditions of this 
 state, the Minister enumerates the duties which each of them 
 by this covenant will be bound to perform. 
 
 §. 2. The man, for instance, is obliged, in the 
 first place, to love his wife, which is the principal The 5^ and ' 8 
 duty required by St. Paul, 67 and is here men- 
 tioned first, because if the man hath this affection, he will 
 perform with delight all the other duties ; it being no burden 
 to do good offices to those whom we heartily and sincerely 
 love. 2. He must comfort her, which is the same that St. 
 Paul expresses by cherishing™ and implies here, that the hus- 
 band must support his wife under all the infirmities and sor- 
 
 « Gen. xxiv. 58. M Boeth. Comment, in Topic. Ciceron. p. 157. Venet. 1583. Alex. 
 ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 2, c. 5. 67 Ephes. v. 25. «. Ephes. v. 29. 
 
410 OF THE FORM O? [chap, x 
 
 rows, to which the tenderness of her sex often makes her 
 liable. 3. He is to honour her, which is also directly com- 
 manded by St. Peter : 69 for though the wife, as he says, be 
 the weaker vessel, yet she must not be despised, for those un- 
 avoidable weaknesses which God has been pleased to annex 
 to her constitution, but rather respected for her usefulness to 
 the man's comfortable being.* 4. He must keep her in sick- 
 ness and health, which in St. Paul's phrase is to nourish? or 
 to afford her all necessaries in every condition. Lastly, he 
 must consent to be faithful to her, and forsaking all other, 
 keep himself only to her so long as tliey both shall live ; 7l 
 which is added to prevent those three mischievous and fatal 
 destroyers of marriage, adultery, polygamy, and divorce. 
 
 §. 3. There is no difference in the duties, nor 
 ewes uty. conse q uen t]y m th e terms of the covenant be- 
 tween a man and his wife ; except that the woman is obliged 
 to obey and serve her husband. Nor is this a difference of 
 our own devising, but is expressly ordered by God himself, 
 who, in those places of Scripture where he enjoins husbands 
 to love their wives, commands the wives to be subject and 
 obedient to their husbands. 72 The rules also of society make 
 it necessary ; for equality, saith St. Chrysostom, 73 breeds con- 
 tention, and one of the two must be superior, or else both 
 would strive perpetually for the dominion. Wherefore the 
 laws of God, and the wisdom of all nations, hath given the 
 superiority to the husband. Among the Romans, the wife 
 was obliged by law to be subject to her husband, and to call 
 him lord; u but then they had a peculiar magistrate to take 
 care that the men did not abuse this power, but that they 
 should rule over their wives with gentleness and tenderness. 75 
 Wherefore women may and ought to pay all that obedience 
 which the Gospel requires of them : nor have they any reason 
 (especially with us) to complain with Medea, that they are 
 sold for slaves with their own money™ because there is really 
 no slavery in obedience which springs from love, and is paid 
 
 * If the Greek of this verse was differently pointed, the foundation of the " honour" 
 to be given unto the " wives " would not be their weakness, but their being coheirs with 
 their husbands of "the grace of life;" which seems to make the Apostle's meaning 
 clearer. " Likewise ye husbands dwell with your wives according to knowledge, the 
 female being the weaker vessel, giving them honour, as being heirs together of the 
 grace of life." 
 
 e» 1 Peter iii. 7. ™ Ephes. v. 29. « Mai. ii. 15, 16. 1 Cor. vii. 10. n Ephes. 
 v. 22, 24. Col. iii. 18. Tit. ii. 5. 1 Peter iii. 1,5. * In 1 Cor. xi. 3. « Ulpian. L. 
 alia 14, D. solut. Matrimon. Et L. ea qu?e 57, D. de Donat. inter Virum et Ux. itera- 
 que Servius ad 1. 4, iEneid. 75 Cicero de Repub. lib. 4. 76 Eurip. in Medea. 
 
sect, iv.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 411 
 
 in respect to the nobler sex, and in requital for that protec- 
 tion which the weaker sex both needs and enjoys in the state 
 of matrimony. So that it is not only an impious contempt of 
 divine authority, but egregious pride and folly, for any woman 
 to refuse either to promise or pay this obedience ; which is 
 her chief advantage, if she hath wisdom to understand, or 
 skill to manage it right. 
 
 §. 4. The whole matter being thus proposed 
 to each party, they should each of them seriously T Jh e a JJJ i e r 8 of 
 weigh and consider it. And if they like this state 
 of life, and the duties annexed to it ; if they neither of them 
 have any objection against the person of the other, but are 
 persuaded they can each of them love the other, and that for 
 ever, in all conditions of life ; let each of them answer as the 
 Church directs them, i" will,- which are the proper words that 
 oblige in compacts, 77 but which can never lay a more solemn 
 obligation than when they are pronounced upon this occasion. 
 For if we start back after speaking them here, we shall have 
 as many witnesses of the falsehood, as there are persons pre- 
 sent at the solemnity, viz. God and his angels, the Minister 
 and the congregation : and therefore in regard to so venerable 
 an assembly, let them here be pronounced with all deliberate 
 gravity, and for ever made good with all possible sincerity. 
 
 §. 5. This solemn declaration of the parties' E8pou8al8( what 
 consent seems to be the remains of the old form they were for- 
 of Espousals, which was different and distinct mcrly * 
 from the office of Marriage, and which was often performed 
 some weeks, or months, or perhaps years before; 78 and, as 
 Florentinus defines them, were no more than the promise of 
 future marriage ,- 79 which however they thought was not pro- 
 per to be left to be made in private, as a mere civil contract ; 
 and therefore they ordered that it should be solemnly made 
 in the presence of a Minister, who should use prayers and 
 blessings suitable to the occasion. And hence it is that, in 
 the Greek Church, there are to be seen to this day two dif- 
 ferent offices, viz. the one of Espousals, and the other of 
 Marriage.™ But it oftentimes happening that the deferring 
 the marriage caused the parties espoused to break their en- 
 gagement, Leo Philosophus, an emperor of the East, com- 
 manded by an edict, that the Espousals and Marriage should 
 
 " Justinian. Institut. 1. 3, de Verb. Oblig. Tit. 10. n Carol. Mag. Leg. 1. 1, c. 163. 
 70 Florentin. 1. 1, D. de Sponsal. »o vide Euchologion. 
 
412 OF THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 be both performed on the same day. 81 Some attempts indeed 
 were made by Alexius Comnenus to restore the old custom 
 of having some time intervene between them. 82 But it does 
 not appear that he succeeded in his attempts ; for Goar tells 
 us, (and the present Greek rubric hints as much, 83 ) that the 
 usual custom of the modern Greeks is to use both offices at 
 the same time. And it is probable that in the West, as well 
 as in the East, the custom of celebrating the Espousals and 
 Nuptials at the same time did long obtain, and at last occasion 
 both offices to be united in one. So that this declaration is 
 the remains of the ancient office of the Espousals, and the 
 following stipulation the Marriage properly so called. Ac- 
 cordingly the declaration is made in the future 
 A piie h d°now. P " tense > b y which Espousals used to be made; 84 
 whereas the stipulation runs in the present tense, 
 which is necessary to make and confirm a marriage. 85 Besides, 
 the declaration is made without any ceremony, simply and 
 directly like the ancient Espousals; 86 whereas the mutual 
 stipulation is accompanied with divers significant rites, such 
 as the delivering the woman into the hands of the man, joining 
 their hands, and the like, which are the known and proper 
 ceremonies of marriage. And indeed that the declaration is 
 not properly a circumstance of the marriage, is plain from the 
 Minister's asking, after it is made, Who giveth the woman to 
 he married to the man? For that evidently implies that she 
 is even yet in the power of another, and consequently that 
 she is still to be married to the man. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Solemnization of the Marriage. 
 
 The solemn^- L The two P arti f s h ? vin g n P w declared their 
 tion of the mar- consent to take each other for husband and wife, 
 nage * and having solemnly engaged that they will each 
 
 of them observe the duties which God has annexed to that 
 state ; they proceed, in the next place, to the immediate cele- 
 bration of the Marriage itself, which is introduced with a very 
 The father or ancient and significant ceremony ; I mean, the 
 friend to give the father's or friend's giving the woman in mar- 
 woman. riage. The antiquity of which rite is evident from 
 
 81 Leo Philos. Imp. Novel. 74. 82 Alex. Comnen. Novel, de Sponsal. 1. 2, Jur. 
 
 Orient. 83 El uev jSouXovrai €v r avTip <TTe<j>ava>6rivat. Rubric, ante Offlc. Coronat. 
 
 Eucholog. p. 385. 8 * Decret. Greg. 1. 4, de Sponsal. et Matrimon. tit. 1, c. 15. Pet. 
 Lombard. 1. 4, dist. 28. 85 Constit. Richard. Ep. Sarum. apud Spelman. Concil. 
 
 torn. ii. A. D. 1217. 86 Franc. Hotman. de Sponsal. p. 375. 
 
sect, v.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 413 
 
 the phrase so often used in Scripture, of giving a daughter 
 to wife : 87 and the universality of it appears from its being 
 used both by heathens and Christians in all ages. 88 The 
 foundation of the practice seems to be a care of the female 
 sex, who are always supposed to be under the tuition of a 
 father or guardian, whose consent is necessary to make their 
 acts valid. 89 And therefore before the Minister proceeds to 
 the Marriage, he asks, Who gives the woman to he married 
 to the man ? Which shews too, by the way, that the woman 
 does not seek a husband, but is given to one by her parents 
 or friends, whose commands in this affair she seems rather to 
 follow than her own inclinations. 90 For which cause, among 
 the nuptial rites of the old Romans, the bride was to be taken 
 by a kind of violence from her mother's knees ; 91 and when she 
 came to her husband's house, she was not to go in willingly, 
 but was to be carried in by force ; 92 which, like this ceremony 
 of ours, very well suited with the modesty of her sex. 
 
 §. 2. But besides this, there is a further mean- 
 ing intended by the Church : for it is to be ob- A t^eclw^ 
 served, that the woman is to be given not to the 
 man but to the Minister ; for the rubric orders, that the 
 Minister shall receive her at her father's or friend's hands ; 
 which signifies, to be sure, that the father resigns her up to 
 God, and that it is God who, by his Priest, now gives her in 
 marriage, and who provides a wife for the man, as he did at 
 first for Adam. 93 
 
 II. Accordingly the Minister, who has now the Joining of right 
 disposal of her, delivers her into the possession hands an ancient 
 of the man, as he afterwards does the man into ceremon y- 
 the possession of the woman, by causing each of them to take 
 the other by the right hand. 'The joining of hands naturally 
 signifies contracting a friendship, and making a covenant : 94 
 and the right hand especially was esteemed so sacred, that 
 Cicero calls it the witness of our faith ,- 95 and therefore the 
 joining of these being used in all covenants, no wonder it 
 should be observed in the solemn one of marriage. Accord- 
 s' Gen. xxix. 19. xxxiv. 16. Josh. xv. 16. 1 Sam. xvii. 25. xviii. 17. Psal. lxxviii. 
 63. Luke xvii. 27. 1 Cor. vii. 38. 88 Cic. Orat. pro Flac. Apul. Apol. 2. Prsescr. Aug. 
 de Genes, ad lit. 1. 11, c. 41, torn. iii. par. 1, col. 295, C 89 See Hooker's Ecclesi- 
 
 astical Polity, 1.5, §. 73. *J Ambros. de Abraham. 1. l,c. 9, torn. i. col. 201, 1. 
 
 91 Virg. jEneid. 10, ver. 79. ** Plut. Qusest. Rom. torn. ii. p. 271, C D. Francof. 
 
 1620. 9i Genesis ii. 23. <>« 2 Kings x. 15. Prov. xi. 21. » Dextraequae fidei 
 
 testes esse solebant. Cicero. See also Virgil. En. dextra, fidesque. See also Alex, ab 
 Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 2, c. 19. 
 
414 OP THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 ingly we find it has been used, upon this occasion, by Hea- 
 thens, 96 Jews, 97 and Christians in all ages. 98 
 
 III. The Minister therefore having thus join- 
 The p ™i l a t t \ 1 a n . sti " ed their right hands, causes them, in the next 
 place, to give their troth, by a mutual stipulation. 
 And as our lawyers tell us, that in a deed of conveyance four 
 things are necessary, viz. 1. The Premises, containing the 
 names of the person, and of the thing to be conveyed ; 2. The 
 Habendum and Tenendum ; 3. The Limitations ; and, 4. The 
 Sealing.- 99 so here the compact seems to be drawn up ex- 
 actly answerable to these four rules. For, first, each party 
 name themselves, and specifying the other, as the individual 
 person whom they have chose, declare the end for which they 
 take, viz. to be wedded husband and wife. Secondly, The 
 manner of taking is expressed in those ancient words, to have- 
 and to hold, which are words (saith Littleton) 100 of such im- 
 portance, that no conveyance can be made without them : 
 and therefore they ought not to be omitted here, because the 
 man and the woman are now to put themselves into the power 
 and possession of each other : insomuch that after this stipu- 
 lation the wife liath not power of her own body, but the hus- 
 band ,• and likewise the husband hath not power of his own 
 body, but the wife. 1 Thirdly, the time of entering upon, and 
 the time of enjoying, the possession conveyed, is here ex- 
 pressly declared. It is to begin immediately from the nup- 
 tial day, and to continue during their mutual lives, From this 
 day forward — till death us do part. And lest any incon- 
 veniences appearing afterwards should be alleged for the break- 
 ing this sacred contract, here is added a protestation, that the 
 obligation shall continue in full force, notwithstanding any fu- 
 ture unexpected changes. They are to have and to hold for 
 better for worse, in respect of their mind and manners ; for 
 richer for poorer, in respect of their estate ; and whether in 
 sickness or in health, in respect of their body. Now all these 
 are added to prevent the scandalous liberties of divorce, which 
 was practised upon every trifling occasion among Jews and 
 Romans : 3 insomuch that one of their rabbies had impiously 
 affirmed it to be sufficient for divorce, if another woman was 
 
 06 Alex, ab Alex. 1. 2, c. 5. Xenophon. Cyropaed. 1. 8. Servius in Virgil. Mn. 4, ver. 
 104. »7 Tobit vii. 13. » Greg. Naz. Ep. 57, ad Anys. *» Lord Coke on Little- 
 ton's Tenures, c. 1. 10 ° A aver et tener, Littl. c. 1, p. 1. Lord Coke on Littleton's 
 Tenures, c 1. M Cor. vii. 4. 2 Matt. xix. 3. 
 
sect, v.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 415 
 
 better liked oy the man. 3 But this being so contrary to the 
 nature of marriage, it is necessary it should be removed from 
 all Christian societies : which cannot be more effectually done 
 than by a particular recital at the time of marriage, of all the 
 cases which may be pretended as the causes of a future dis- 
 like. And to prevent any objection, I suppose, that might 
 afterwards be imagined from either party's declining in their 
 comeliness or beauty, the York Manual, that was used in the 
 northern parts of England before the Reformation, had an ad- 
 dition of the words, for fairer for fouler, (for it must be ob- 
 served, that this mutual stipulation was always in English 
 amongst our English papists, even when all the office besides 
 was in Latin,) which Mr. Selden translates, sive pulchrior 
 fueris, sice invenustior .- 4 i.e. whether thou shalt be more 
 or less handsome or comely. In all these conditions the en- 
 gagement is the same, viz. the man is to love and to cherish 
 his wife, and the woman to love, cherish, and to obey her 
 husband ; i. e. each of them must have the same regard for 
 the other, and pay those duties which I have already shewed 
 to be necessary and indispensable, whatsoever accidental va- 
 rieties may "happen. In the old Salisbury Manual, (that was 
 used in the southern parts of England in the times of popery, 
 as I have observed the York Manual was in the northern,) in- 
 stead of the woman's stipulating to love, cherish, and to obey 
 her husband, she engaged to be bonair and buxum in bedde 
 and at borde : and so in the York Manual the Minister, in 
 asking the woman's consent, instead of demanding of her, 
 whether she would serve and obey her husband, asked her, 
 whether she would be buxum to him. Erom whence we 
 may observe, that whatever meaning those words have been 
 perverted to since, they originally signified no more than to 
 be meek and obedient. Accordingly, meek and obedient are 
 added in the margin of the Manual, to explain them ; and so 
 they are interpreted in the Saxon dictionaries, agreeably to 
 which they are translated by Mr. Selden, Ero officiosa ac 
 obediens? But to return to our present form : the next par- 
 ticular is the rule by which the compact is made, viz. accord- 
 ing to God's holy ordinance. The words before the Reform- 
 ation were, if holy Church it woll ordainc, 6 i. e. I suppose, if 
 
 3 Rabbi Akiba, as cited by Dr. Comber on the Common Prayer, folio edition, p. 66? 
 * Seld. Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, p. 197. & Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, p. 194. 
 
 6 See the old Manuals, and Selden, ut supra, p. 194. 
 
416 OF THE FORM OF [chap. X. 
 
 there be no ecclesiastical law to the contrary. But I think 
 the modern words are better : which may either be referred 
 to every part of the present stipulation, so as to imply that all 
 the branches thereof are agreeable to the divine institution ; 
 or else they may be peculiarly applied to the two last clauses, 
 that each of the parties will love and cherish, &c. the other 
 till death part tliem / which, I have shewed, is according to 
 the ordinance of God. Lastly, here is the ratification of all 
 the former particulars in the ancient form, and thereto I plight, 
 (as the man says ;) or, (as the woman,) I give thee my troth ; 
 i. e. for the performance of all that has been said, each of 
 them lays their faith or truth to pledge : as much as if they 
 had said, If I perform not the covenant I have made, let me 
 forfeit my credit, and never be counted just, or honest, or 
 faithful more. 
 
 The ring the re- ^ ' ^ ut Des ^ es tne invisible pledge of our 
 mains of the old fidelity, the man is also obliged to deliver a visi- 
 
 coemption. Ue pledge . which the ^^ directg ghaU be & 
 
 ring ,• which, by the first Common Prayer Book of king Ed- 
 ward VI., was to be accompanied with other tokens of spousage, 
 as gold or silver. This lets us into the meaning and design 
 of the ring, and intimates it to be the remains of an ancient 
 custom, whereby it was usual for the man to purchase the 
 woman, laying down for the price of her a certain sum of 
 money, 7 or else performing certain articles or conditions, 
 which the father of the damsel would accept of as an equiva- 
 lent. 8 Among the Romans this was called coemption or pur- 
 chasing, and was accounted the firmest kind of marriage which 
 they had ; and from them was delivered down amongst the 
 western Christians, by whom the custom is still preserved in 
 the ring ; 9 which is given as a pledge, or in part of payment of 
 the dowry that the woman is to be entitled to by the marriage ; 
 and by the acceptance of which the woman, at the same time, 
 declares herself content, and in return espouses or makes 
 over herself to the man. Accordingly in the old Manual for 
 the use of Salisbury, before the Minister proceeds to the mar- 
 riage, he is directed to ask the woman's dowry, viz. the tokens 
 of spousage : and by these tokens of spousage are to be under- 
 stood rings, or money, or some other things to be given to the 
 woman by the man ; which said giving is called subarration, 
 
 7 Gen. xxxiv. 12. Exod. xxii. 17. Deut. xxii. 29. 8 Gen. xxix. 18,27, 30. 1 Sam. 
 xvii. 25. and chap, xviii. 17, 25. » Selden. Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 25, page 183, 184. 
 
sect, v.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 417 
 
 (i. e. wedding or covenanting,) especially when it is done by 
 the giving of a ring. 
 
 The reason why a ring was pitched upon for wearing™, 
 the pledge, rather than any thing else, I suppose, ther than any 
 was, because anciently the ring was a seal, by thin & else - 
 which all orders were signed, and things of value secured ; 10 
 and therefore the delivery of it was a sign that the person, to 
 whom it was given, was admitted into the highest friendship 
 and trust. 11 For which reason it was adopted as a ceremony 
 in marriage, to denote that the wife, in consideration of her 
 being espoused to the man, was admitted as a sharer in her 
 husband's counsels, and a joint partner in his honour and 
 estate : and therefore we find that not only the ring, but the 
 keys also were in former times delivered to her at the mar- 
 riage. 12 That the ring was in use amongst the old Romans, we 
 have several undoubted testimonies. 13 And that the use of it 
 was not owing to any superstition amongst them, we have the 
 authority of Tertullian, a very ancient Father of the Christian 
 Church. 14 Pliny indeed tells us, that in his time the Romans 
 used an iron ring, without any jewel : 15 but Tertullian hints, 
 that in the former ages it was a ring of gold ,- 16 
 which being the nobler and purer metal, and con- y a g0 one ' 
 tinuing longer uncorrupted, was thought to intimate the gener- 
 ous, sincere, and durable affection which ought to be between 
 the married parties. 17 As to the form of it, be- 
 ing round (which was the most perfect of all J^lSroJSS 1 . 
 figures, and was used by the ancients as the hie- 
 roglyphic of eternity) was understood to imply, that the con- 
 jugal love should never have an end. 18 
 
 But these seem only allegorical significations ; 
 the use of it, we have seen, was instituted at first ^"iv"rsa" rit" d 
 to imply something more ; viz. that the woman, 
 in consideration of a certain dowry contracted for by the man, 
 of which the ring is delivered as an earnest and pledge, 
 espouses and makes over herself to him as his wife. With this 
 signification it has been used by Christians in all ages, and all 
 parts of the Church : 19 and for the same intent it is prescribed 
 
 m Gen.xxxviii. 18. Esther Hi. 10, 12. 1 Maccah. vL 15. » Gen. xli. 42. 
 
 w Ant. Hotman. de Vet. Rit. Nuptiar. c. 25. « Juvenal. Sat. vi. ver. 26, 27. 
 
 Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. 3, c. 1. Tertull. Apol. c. 6, p. 7, A. m De Idol. c. 16. » Plin. 
 ut supra. 18 Apol. c. 6, page 7, A. 17 Sealig. Poet. 1. 3, c. 100. ,8 Scalig. ib. 
 
 Isid. de Divin. Offic. 1. 2, c. 15. Vide et Rationalia Divin. Offic. 19 Clem. Alex. 
 
 Paedag. 1. 3, c. 1 1, p. 245, C. Ambr. 1. 14, Ep. 34. Isidor. Hyspal. Etymol. 1. 19, c. 32 
 p. 268, et de Offic. Eccl. 1. 2, c. 19, p. 608, col. 2, C. et D. 
 
 2 £ 
 
418 OF THE FORM OF [chap. X 
 
 by our own, as is evident from the words which are spoken at 
 the delivery of it, and from the prayer which follows immedi- 
 ately after ; where the giving and receiving it is called a token 
 and pledge of the vow and covenant betwixt them made. The 
 same is practised by the modern Jews, 20 who it is not likely 
 would have taken up the custom in imitation of the Christians, 
 and who therefore probably received it from their forefathers. 
 Good reason therefore had our judicious reformers to retain 
 a rite so ancient and universal, and which even Bucer himself 
 (who, one would think, was as scrupulous as any man need 
 to be) thought fit to approve of as decent and proper. 21 
 
 §. 2. Before the ring may be given to the 
 W thebook?° n woman > trie man must lay & upon tfie book, with 
 
 the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk. 
 And the Priest taking the ring shall deliver it unto the man, 
 intimating, to be sure, that it is our duty to offer up all we 
 have to God as the true proprietor, before we use them our- 
 selves ; and to receive them as from his hand, to be employed 
 towards his glory. 
 
 §. 3. When the man espouses his wife with 
 th?fourth U finger **j he is to put it upon the fourth finger of her 
 of the woman's left hand. The reason of this, the rubric of the 
 
 Salisbury Manual says, is because from thence 
 there proceeds a particular vein to the heart. This indeed is 
 now contradicted by experience : but several eminent authors, 
 as well Gentiles as Christians, as well physicians as divines, 
 were formerly of this opinion ; and therefore they thought 
 this finger the properest to bear this pledge of love, that from 
 thence it might be conveyed, as it were, to the heart. 22 How- 
 ever, the moral may safely be retained, viz. that the husband 
 hereby expresses the dearest love to his spouse, which ought 
 to reach her heart, and engage her affections to him again. 
 If we should add the other reason of placing the ring upon 
 this finger, viz. its being the least active finger of the hand 
 least used, upon which therefore the ring may be always in 
 view, and yet least subject to be worn out ; this also may 
 teach us, that the two parties should carefully cherish each 
 other's love, that so it may endure and last for ever. 
 
 2 " Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic, c. 39, p. 633, and Ockley's History of the present Jews, p 
 170, 171. 2i Bucer. Censur. p. 488. & Alex, ab Alex. Gen. Dier. 1. 2, c. 19. Ap- 
 
 pian. in lib. Egypt, et ex eo. Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic. 1. 10, c. 10. Isidor. Hyspal. in 
 locis supra citatis, Durand. Rational. 1. 3, c. 14. Atreius Capit. in Macrob. Saturn. 
 1. 7, c. 13. Levinus Lemn. et Forrestus ap. Brown. 
 
sect, v.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 419 
 
 §. 4. The man holding the ring therefore 
 upon this finger, being taught by the Priest, and Th p J^d ex ~ 
 speaking to his wife, he assures her, that this is 
 a visible pledge that he now takes her to his wedded wife : 
 With this ring I thee wed, or make a covenant 
 with thee, (for so the word signifies, 23 ) that all Wit t hee wed? ' 
 the rights and privileges of a lawful wife do from 
 this instant belong to thee. After these words, in the first 
 book of king Edward VI. followed, This gold and silver I 
 tliee give ; at the repeating of which words it was customary 
 to give the woman a purse of money, as livery and seisin of 
 their estate : but this was left out of the second book, pro- 
 bably because it was more than some people could perform. 
 Besides, by what has been said, it appears that the design of 
 it is fully enough answered by the delivery of the ring. 
 
 The man therefore having wedded her with 
 the ring, in the next words proceeds to assign ™g worshfp- 1 
 over the rights accruing to her thereby. The 
 first of these is honour, and therefore he immediately adds, 
 With my body I thee worship ,- i. e. with my body I thee 
 honour ; for so the word signifies in this place ; and so Mr. 
 Selden, 24 and before him Martin Bucer, 25 who lived at the 
 time when our Liturgy was compiled, have translated it. The 
 design of it is to express that the woman, by virtue of this 
 marriage, has a share in all the titles and honours which are 
 due or belong to the person of her husband. 26 It is true the 
 modern sense of the word is somewhat different : for which 
 reason I find that at the review of our Liturgy, after the re- 
 storation of king Charles II., worship was promised to be 
 changed for honour. 21 How the alteration came to be omitted 
 I cannot discover : but so long as the old word is explained 
 in the sense that I have given of it, one would think no ob- 
 jection could be urged against the using it. 
 
 But to proceed : the second right accruing to And with a]1 my 
 the wife by virtue of her marriage is mainten- worldly goods i 
 ance ; and therefore the husband adds in the thee endow " 
 next place, With all my worldly goods I thee endow. And 
 those that retain the old custom of giving the woman gold 
 and silver, take the opportunity of these words to deliver to 
 
 *3 See the Saxon dictionaries. u Corporemeo te dignor. Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, 
 p. 206. 25 Cum meo corpore te honoro. Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 443. • 
 
 2r > Hooker's Ecclesiast. Polity, 1. 5, §. 73. * 7 See the Papers that passed between 
 the Commissioners, &c, page ult. 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 OF THE FORM OF ICHAP. X. 
 
 her a purse. But I have shewed that formerly other words 
 were provided for the doing of this : and the design of the 
 words I am now speaking of is not so much to invest the 
 woman with a right to all her husband's goods, as to declare 
 that by marriage she has acquired such right. For from the 
 very instant of their making the mutual stipulation, the wo- 
 man has a right to sue for a maintenance during the life of her 
 husband, should he be so brutish as to deny it ; and after his 
 decease, is entitled to a third, or perhaps a larger share (ac- 
 cording to the laws of the place where she lives) in all her 
 husband's goods and chattels, and may further demand what 
 the law calls her quarentine, which is lodging and mainten- 
 ance in his best mansion-house for forty days after his death. 28 
 Nor is this either a new or an unreasonable privilege ; for it 
 was a law of Romulus, the first king of the Romans, that the 
 wedded wife who was married to a man according to the 
 sacred laws, was to have all that he had in common with him- 
 self. 29 And the same is affirmed long after by Cicero, viz. 
 that they ought to have one house, and all things common. 30 
 For this reason the Roman laws would not allow of donations 
 to be made between a man and his wife, because they were to 
 enjoy their estates in common ; 31 which community of goods 
 they also expressed by offering the vtitejire and water at her 
 first coming into her husband's house, and by that usual ex- 
 pression, Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia, Where you are master, I 
 am mistress. 32 Nor did this only continue during his life : for 
 the laws of Rome appointed the wife to be the sole heir, when 
 her husband died without issue ; and if he left children, she 
 was at least to have a child's part, and to be reckoned as a 
 daughter. 33 Only it is to be noted, that during the husband's 
 life, the wife has no power to alienate or dispose of any thing 
 without her husband's consent, but only to enjoy and use it as 
 there is occasion. The same privileges undoubtedly belong 
 to the wives of Christians ; and indeed reason determines very 
 strongly on their side. The woman assigns all that she is 
 possessed of to her husband at the marriage ; and what less 
 can the man do in return of such kindness, and in compens- 
 ation for what he enjoys by her, than invest her with the en- 
 joyment of what is his ? Even the barbarous Gauls were used 
 
 83 Selden, Uxor. Ebraic. 1. 2, c. 27, p. 202. 89 Dion. Halicarn. 1. 2. 30 Offic. 1. 1. 
 81 Pliit L. do Prsecept. Connub. » Ant. Hotman. de Vet. Rit. Nupt. c. 18. « Dion 
 Halicarn. 1. 2„ Ulpian. Fragra. tit. ??. §. sui Haeredes. Aul. Gel. 1. 18, c. 6. 
 
ect. v.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 421 
 
 to give as much out of their own estates as they received in 
 portion with their wives, and out of those two sums to make 
 provision for the woman, if she survived the man. 34 And 
 surely Christians should not come behind the heathens in such 
 reasonable duties, it being unjust and unworthy to suffer any 
 person to sustain damage by their kindness, where we are able 
 to requite them. 
 
 But to conclude : the last part of these words, 
 In tlie name of the Father, and of the Son, and JhVrtthe™ &£ 
 of the Holy Ghost, Amen, are a solemn confirm- 
 ation of the engagement here made, being an invocation of the 
 sacred Trinity as witness to this compact, who will therefore 
 undoubtedly revenge the perjury on those who break it. 
 
 V. And now the covenant being finished, it is The 
 very requisite we should desire a blessing on it ; 
 
 for even the heathens looked upon their marriage-covenant as 
 inauspicious, if it were not accompanied with a sacrifice. 35 And 
 therefore Christians sure can do no less than call upon the di- 
 vine Majesty upon the like occasion. For this reason, the 
 man leaving the ring upon the fourth finger of the woman's 
 left hand, and both of them kneeling down, the Minister begs 
 for them the blessing of God, that they may always perform 
 and keep the covenant which they have now been making.* 
 
 VI. And as it was an ancient custom among Theratificat - n 
 the Romans, and other heathens, for masters to 
 
 ratify the marriages of their servants ; so, since we profess to 
 be the servants of God, it is necessary that he should confirm 
 our contract. To which end the Priest, who is his representa- 
 tive, joining the right hands of the married persons together, 
 declares, in the words of our blessed Lord, 36 that they are 
 joined by God, and that therefore no human power can 
 separate them : those whom God hath joined together, let no 
 man put asunder. 
 
 VII. And now the holy covenant being firmly 
 
 made, it ought to be duly published and pro- The P ubhcation - 
 claimed : and therefore the Minister, in the next place, speak- 
 ing unto the people, and recapitulating all that has been done 
 between them, makes proclamation that the marriage is legal 
 
 * In this prayer, as it stood in king Edward's first Liturgy, there was a parenthesis, 
 I suppose alluding to the ring, which was afterwards left out, viz. " That as Isaac and 
 Rehekah (after bracelets and jewels of gold given of the one to the other for tokens of 
 their matrimony) lived faithfully together ; so these persons," &c. 
 
 3 * Caesar, de Bell. Gallic, lib. 6. 35 Ant. Hotman. de Vet. Rit. Nupt. c. 29, apud 
 Graevii Thesaur. Antiq. Roman, torn. viii. col. 1141, C *s Matt. xix. 6. 
 
422 OF THE FORM OF [chap. x. 
 
 and valid, and pronounces that they be man and wife toge- 
 ther, in the name, and by the authority, of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 VIII. With a blessing from whom, this part 
 *smg. Q £ t ^ e office is in the next place concluded. For 
 the covenant being made by the authority of God, the institu- 
 tion being his, the method his, and he being the author, wit- 
 ness, and ratifier of this contract ; what could be added more 
 properly at the conclusion, than a solemn benediction from 
 that holy, blessed, and undivided Trinity, who is so many 
 ways engaged to bless it ? 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Introits, or Psalms. 
 
 The marriage-covenant being now completed, 
 W Lor!? s g t abie the tlie Minister and clerks (of whom I have taken 
 occasion to speak before 37 ) are to go to the 
 Lord's table. For by all the Common Prayer Books till the 
 last review, the new-married persons were obliged to receive 
 the holy Communion the same day of their marriage. 38 Our 
 present rubric indeed does not insist upon this ; for what rea- 
 son it does not, I shall shew by and by. 39 But it still declares 
 it is convenient they should do so ; and therefore, that they 
 may not omit it for want of being reminded, they are ordered 
 to accompany the Minister and the clerks to the Lord's table. 
 
 §. 2. And whilst they are going, either the 
 
 A psalm, why to •»,? . . , 7 J . if if J 
 
 be said whilst Minister or clerks are to say or sing a proper 
 going to the psalm, which was appointed, I suppose, instead 
 
 Lord's table. *a .* . . . x , . \ r , , ' . r S , , in 
 
 or the introit, which, I have already shewed, ° 
 was a psalm some way or other proper to the day, and said or 
 sung whilst the Priest was going to the altar. 
 
 §. 3. And it is certain that psalms are very fit 
 XTsoEnity? to atten ^ a marriage solemnity, which was ever 
 
 reputed a time of joy, and generally attended 
 with songs and music. Solomon's spouse was brought to 
 him with joy and gladness; 41 and in the nuptials of the Gen- 
 tiles, nothing was more usual than minstrels and musical in- 
 struments, songs to Hymen, Epithalamiums, and Fescennine 
 verses. 43 But these being expressions of a looser mirth than 
 becometh Christians, the Church hath hallowed our joy, by 
 choosing holy psalms for the exercise and expression of it, in 
 
 37 See pages 153, 154. ^ See the Rubric at the end of the office, in the old Com- 
 mon Prayer Books. & In the last section. 40 Page 204. 41 Psalm xlv. 15, 16. 
 ** Terent. Adelph. act. 5, seen. 7. Vide et Brisson. de Ritu Nuptiar. p. 83, et p. 90, 91. 
 
sect, vii.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 423 
 
 obedience to the precept of the Apostle St. James, who, when 
 we are merry, bids us sing psalms.® 
 
 §. 4. There are two appointed in this place for 
 
 • . i , ,i n • n j -u ■ Psalm cxxviii. 
 
 variety : but the first is generally used, as being 
 more proper for the occasion, being thought by some to have 
 been drawn up for an Epithalamium or marriage song, 44 and 
 for that reason taken into the marriage office by all Christians 
 in the world. 45 
 
 §. 5. The other is proper to be used some- 
 times, when the age of the parties perhaps, not 
 giving a prospect of the blessings mentioned in the foregoing 
 psalm, renders that not so suitable to the occasion. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the Supplications and Prayers to be used at 
 the LoraVs Table. 
 
 I. The Minister b^ing got into the choir, and 
 
 the man and the woman kneeling before the ^t^l^iSi 
 Lord's table, the Priest, before he proceeds to 
 the office for the Communion, (which I have already hinted 
 was the design of their coming hither,) offers up some fur- 
 ther prayers and supplications for a blessing upon the parties. 
 These are introduced with the ancient form, Lord have mercy 
 upon us, &c. To which is immediately subjoined the Lord's 
 Prayer, which sanctifies and makes way for all the rest. And 
 being thus prepared, we proceed to some supplications chosen 
 out of the Psalms, 46 and put into the form of versicles and re- 
 sponses, that all the company may shew their love and affec- 
 tion to their friends, by publicly joining in these short petitions 
 for them. 
 
 II. After these follow three prayers to be used 
 
 by the Minister alone; the first being a prayer The three pray- 
 for spiritual blessings ; * the second for the tem- 
 poral blessing of children, which is the chief end of marriage, 
 and which is the blessing that God pronounced at first to 
 Adam and Eve, 47 and which all mankind hath ever since wish- 
 ed to new-married persons, 48 ! and which is therefore always 
 
 * In the first of these prayers, instead of the words — " And as thou didst send thy 
 blessing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort ; " in the Common Prayer of 
 1549, the expression was — " And as thou didst send thy angel Raphael to Tobie and 
 Sarah the daughter of Raguel, to their great comfort :" but this alluding to an apocry- 
 phal instance, it was, at the review in 1551, better changed for a canonical one. 
 
 t In all the former books this was a hearty prayer for a long life to the new-married 
 
 * s James v. 13. ** Vide Mull, et Muse, in Ps. cxxviii. * 5 Vide Eucholog. Offic. 
 Coron. p. 386, et Manual. Sarisb. Ord. Sponsal. fol. 39. 46 Ps. lxxxvi. 2. xx. 2. lxi 
 3. lxi. 1. « Gen. i. 28. * 8 Gen. xxiv. 60. Ruth iv. 11, 12. 
 
424 OF THE FORM OF [chap, x 
 
 to be asked at the solemnization of a marriage, except the 
 advanced age of the persons makes our prayers unlikely to 
 prevail, in which case our rubric has therefore ordered it to 
 be omitted. The last prayer is made for the accomplishing of 
 those duties which are aptly signified and implied by marriage. 
 III. Last of all there is added a blessing, the 
 e essmg. worc | s Q f wmcn have an evident respect to the 
 prayer immediately foregoing ; which was offered up upon 
 such excellent grounds, and with so very great a probability 
 of success, that the Priest may boldly venture to pronounce 
 and insure it to the parties, if they are but duly prepared to 
 receive it. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of the Exhortation. 
 
 The communion In a11 the old Common Prayer Books (i. e. till 
 Service to begin the last review) the rubric before this Exhorta- 
 here ' tion was worded thus : 
 
 ^f Then [shall begin the Communion. And*~\ after the 
 Gospel shall be said a Sermon, wherein ordinarily (so oft as 
 there is any marriage) the office of a man and wife shall be 
 declared, according to holy Scripture ; or, if there be no Sermon, 
 the Minister shall read this that followeth. 
 
 Why the rubric was altered, shall be shewn in the next sec- 
 tion. In the mean while I shall observe, that if the married 
 persons are disposed to communicate, the office for the Com- 
 munion must still begin immediately after the forementioned 
 blessing. And after the Gospel and Nicene Creed, if there 
 be no Sermon declaring the duties of man and wife, the Ex- 
 hortation here appointed is to be read instead of it. 
 
 §. 2. For the married persons having mutually 
 T1 Exhortat?on he engaged to live together according to God's holy 
 ordinance, i. e. according to those laws which he 
 has ordained in his word ; it is very necessary they should 
 hear and know what those laws are which they have engaged 
 to perform. It was God's own command, that the kings of 
 
 couple, the latter petition requesting, " that they might live together so long in godly 
 love and honesty, that they might see their children's children, unto the third and 
 fourth generation, to God's praise and honour," &c. In the following prayer also one 
 of the petitions was a little differently expressed, viz. " And also that this woman may 
 be loving and amiable to her husband as Rachel, wise as Rebecca, faithful and obedient 
 as Sarah : and in all quietness," &c. 
 
 * In the first book of king Edward the words between the crotchets [ ] were not 
 inserted : but the design was the same, the Gospel being ordered upon account of the 
 Communion, which was also enjoined by the last rubric of that book as well as of 
 the rest. 
 
iect. ix.] SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY. 425 
 
 Israel should have a copy of the law delivered to them at their 
 coronation; 49 and there is the same reason to give this ab- 
 stract to those that have taken upon themselves the state of 
 matrimony. For which reason, instead of the Epistle and 
 Gospel used in the offices of the Greek and Roman Churches, 50 
 here is a full collection of the duties of both parties, drawn 
 from the Epistles of two great Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 in imitation of the practice of the primitive Church, which, 
 always after the celebration of a marriage, exhorted the parties 
 to keep their matrimonial vow inviolate. 51 
 
 Sect. IX. — Of the last Rubric. 
 
 At the end of the whole office is added a ru- How tWg rubric 
 brie, declaring, that it is convenient that the new- was worded 
 married persons should receive the holy Commu- ormer y * 
 nion at the time of their marriage, or at the first opportunity 
 after their marriage. In all the former Common Prayer Books 
 this rubric was more positive, fixing and appointing the day 
 of marriage for the time of communicating. The new-married 
 persons, the same day of their marriage, must receive the holy 
 Communion. And it was upon this account, as I have already 
 observed, that the latter part of the office was ordered to be 
 performed at the Lord's table, and that the Communion should 
 be begun immediately after the blessing. 
 
 The occasion of the alteration was an exception that was 
 made against this rubric by the Dissenting Ministers, at the 
 Conference at the Savoy. They objected, that " this either 
 enforced all such, as were unfit for the Sacrament, to forbear 
 marriage, contrary to Scripture, which approves the marriage 
 of all men ; or else compelled all that should marry to come 
 to the Lord's table, though never so unprepared. And for 
 this reason, they desired the rubrics relating to the Commu- 
 nion might be omitted ; and the rather, because that marriage- 
 festivals are too often accompanied with such divertisements, 
 as are unsuitable to those Christian duties, which ought to be 
 before, and follow after, the receiving of that holy Sacra- 
 ment." 52 To this the Episcopal Ministers answered, " That 
 this rubric enforced none to forbear marriage, but presumed 
 (as well it might) that all persons marriageable ought to be 
 also fit to receive the holy Sacrament. And marriage being 
 
 « Deut. xvii. 18, 19. 2 Kings xi. 12. *> Vide Eucholog. et Missal. «» Aug. de 
 Civ. Dei, 1. 1, c. 27. m See an Account of the Proceedings of the Commissioners of 
 both Persuasions, &c. p. 29. London, printed in 4to. 1661. 
 
426 OF THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY, [chap. x. 
 
 so solemn a covenant of God, they that undertook it in the 
 fear of God, would not stick to seal it by receiving the holy 
 Communion, and accordingly prepare themselves for it ; and 
 therefore it would have been more Christian to have desired 
 that those licentious festivities might be suppressed, and the 
 Communion more generally used by those that married, of 
 which the happiness would be greater than could easily be 
 expressed." 53 For which they quote that passage in Tertul- 
 lian, Unde sufficiam ad enarrandam felicitatern ejus Matri- 
 monii, quod Ecclesia conciliate et conformant Oblatio ? w 
 
 This was an answer which the Presbyterians knew not how 
 to get over ; and therefore, as usual, they only return an un- 
 mannerly reply. However, to oblige them, the rubric is 
 altered, and persons are not now expressly required to com- 
 municate at their marriage, but only reminded that it is con- 
 venient so to do. 
 _. . i But no serious person surely will think the 
 
 The advantage of ~ . , r J . . , , 
 
 communicating Communion less proper or requisite, because the 
 ™-!l ay of Church has left it more to their discretion. As 
 to the objection of these Puritans, that "mar- 
 riage-festivals are too often accompanied with such divertise- 
 ments as are unsuitable to the Sacrament;" a sober man 
 would be apt to think, that this should rather be a reason why 
 the Sacrament should be joined to this office, viz. that the 
 reverence of this holy institution might banish those vain and 
 wicked revels from Christian marriages. And certainly since 
 one must be spared, it is much better to part with a licen- 
 tious custom, than a religious duty. The passage of Ter- 
 tullian, cited above, shews what opinion the primitive Church 
 had of a marriage so decently solemnized ; and no office, I be- 
 lieve, but the Geneva Order, 55 ever forbad, nor no Christians, 
 I believe, but the English Puritans, ever found fault with, the 
 administering of the Eucharist upon the wedding-day : and 
 neither of these, I dare say, will influence the good disposi- 
 tions of considerate men. The sober and serious will still 
 believe, that when this holy Sacrament attends the Nuptials, 
 the office will be esteemed more sacred and venerable, the 
 persons will act more considerately and gravely, and the mar- 
 riage-vow receive new strength from its being confirmed by 
 so solemn an engagement. 
 
 53 See the Papers that passed between the Commissioners, &c. p. 122. 5 * Tertull. 
 
 ad Uxor.l. 2, c. 8, p. 171, D. 55 Ordin. Eccles. Genev. 134. 
 
INTRODUCTIOK.] THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 427 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 OF THE ORDER FOR THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 In a world so full of casualties as this we live in, ., . f •. . 
 
 ..... j j , , • Why this office is 
 
 in which sickness and even death sometimes in- pi ace d next to 
 terrupts the marriage solemnities, it should be that of matri- 
 no matter of surprise that this melancholy office 
 is placed immediately after that of matrimony. The eastern 
 emperors thought it not unsuitable to choose the stone for 
 their sepulchre on the day of their coronation. 1 And it would 
 not a little tend to temper and moderate the exuberant joys 
 which sometimes attend the festivities of marriage, if by cast- 
 ing an eye on the following form, we should call to mind, 
 that the next and longer scene may be calamitous. 
 
 §. 2. It is certain that no age nor sex, no state visiting the sick 
 nor condition, can secure us from sickness; and adutyincum- 
 therefore, as no man should forget that it will, one en upon 
 day or other, come to be his own lot ; so should all men take 
 care to comfort those who at present lie under this calamity. 
 So that this is a duty which all Christians are obliged to, and 
 to which great promises are annexed, 8 and which was there- 
 fore always esteemed, by the ancient Fathers of the Church, 
 to be one of the most solemn exercises of religion. 3 
 
 §. 3. The Clergy more especially are expressly 
 required to perform this duty by a divine com- ^gg^? 011 
 mand. For though private friends may pray for 
 us, and with us, yet we can by no means place such confidence 
 in their prayers, as we may in those that are sent to heaven in 
 our behalf 1 , by such as are peculiarly commissioned to offer 
 them. For this reason it is enjoined by Saint James, 4 that 
 if any be sick, they call for the elders of the Church. From 
 whence we may observe that the care of sending 
 for the Minister is left to the sick. For the Priest ^°™ ^ g c r f 
 himself, it is very probable, may never have heard 
 of his sickness; or, if he has, may not be so good a judge 
 when his visit will be seasonable, or when the party is best 
 able to join with him. 
 
 • Dionys. Carthus. de 4. Noviss. Art. 14. * Matt. xxv. 44, 45. Heb. xiii. 3. 
 
 James i. 27. Ecclus. vii. 35. STertull. de Cult. Fcera. 1. 2, c. 11, p. 159, C * James 
 T. 14. 15. 
 
428 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. XI. 
 
 §. 4. For this reason it is ordered by the ru- 
 ^AheirScSiess^ brie, that wlien any person is sick, notice shall 
 
 be given thereof to the Minister of the parish : 
 i. e. not when the person is just expiring, (as is too often the 
 case,) but when the distemper or disease first discovers its 
 approach. To put it off to the last scene of life, is to defei 
 the office till it can do no good. For when the distemper is 
 grown past recovery, to pray for his restoration is only to 
 mock the Almighty : and what spiritual advantage can be 
 proposed or expected from the Minister's assistance, to one who 
 is unable to do any thing for himself? For this reason it is the 
 advice of the wise man, that in the time of our sickness we take 
 care of our souls in the first place, and then afterwards give 
 place to the physician. 5 And among the ancient constitutions 
 of this Church, a strict charge is laid upon the bodily phy- 
 sicians, that, when they are at any time called to the sick, they 
 do before all things persuade them to send for the physician oj 
 souls, that, when care is taken for the sick maris spirit, they 
 may more successfully proceed to the remedies of external 
 medicines.* 
 
 §. 5. It is the sick person's duty therefore to 
 ^ithoufdeify. S* ve tne Minister notice, and the Minister's to go 
 
 when notice is given : for by the sixty-seventh 
 canon of the Church, it is ordered, that when any person is 
 dangerously sick in any parish, the Minister or Curate (hav- 
 ing knowledge thereof) shall resort unto him or her (if the dis~ 
 ease be not known, or probably suspected to be infectious) to 
 instruct and comfort them in their distress, according to the 
 order of the Communion Book, if he be no Preacher ; or if he 
 be a Preacher, then as he shall think most needful and con- 
 Wh th th M* ven ^ ent ' Which last words evidently allow a 
 nister be confin- preaching Minister (that is, a Minister who is 
 ed^tottie present li cen sed to preach) the liberty of using either this 
 
 order, or any other, as he shall see convenient. 
 And it is certain that the order prescribed by the Common 
 Prayer Book is very deficient in several cases. For which 
 reason bishop Andrews and others have drawn up offices to 
 supply the defect ; though it may be questioned, whether, by 
 the Act for the Uniformity of public prayers, we be not re- 
 strained from private forms. At least it were to be wished 
 
 s Ecclus. xxxvii. 9, 10, 11, 12. 6 Constit. Richard. Episc. Sarum. A. D. 1217. 
 
 apud Spelm. Concil. torn. ii. 
 
sect. i. ii.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 429 
 
 that some more copious office was provided by authority, 
 which might tajte in the various conditions of the sick, for 
 which they that confine themselves to the present order are 
 often at a loss. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Salutation. 
 
 The minister of the parish coming into the sick „_ _ , 
 
 , , r jj r*T *12 l The Salutation. 
 
 man s house, is to say, Peace be to tins house, 
 and to all that dwell in it .• which is the same salutation that 
 our Saviour commanded his Apostles to use to every house 
 into which they should enter. 7 And (which is particular to 
 our purpose) one main part of the Apostles' errand was to 
 heal the sick* We know indeed the Apostles worked mira- 
 culous cures : however, when the gift was ceased, the saluta- 
 tion remained ; which therefore we use to this very day in 
 visiting the sick, since we still go on the same charitable ac- 
 count, though not endued with the same power. And the 
 8enseof the words is very suitable : for peace signifies all out- 
 ward blessings, though, when used in salutations, it generally 
 imports health. For which reason, in Joseph's inquiry 9 after 
 the health of his father, though the Hebrew text expresses it, 
 Is there peace to your fatlier? our translation renders it, Is 
 your fatlier well ? to which the Septuagint reading also ex- 
 actly corresponds, viz. Is your father in health ? When 
 therefore a family is visited with sickness or distress, what 
 better salutation can we use than this, viz. that they may all 
 have peace, i. e. health and prosperity ? And as the apos- 
 tolical salutation was not a mere compliment, but a real bene- 
 diction to those that were worthy ; 10 so shall this of ours pre- 
 vail for what we ask to that house which is prepared to 
 receive it. For which reason the family should receive it with 
 thankfulness and faith, and welcome with joy the ambassador 
 of heaven, who in the time of their calamity comes with 
 health and salvation to their dwelling. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Supplications and Prayers. 
 I. When the Minister is come into the sick 
 man's presence, he is to begin the Supplications, ^edfomeriy. 
 By the first book of king Edward, these were in- 
 troduced with the hundred and forty-third Psalm; which, 
 upon whatever occasion it was composed, is very proper and 
 
 ' Luke x. 5. 8 Ver. 9. 9 Genesis xliii. 27. "> Luke x. 6. 
 
430 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 
 
 applicable to any state of affliction. But at the next review 
 
 this Psalm was left out, and the office has ever since begun 
 
 with the sentence out of the Litany. For the 
 
 ^ftlTSr Litan y bein S desi g ne d ^r the averting of evil, 
 and the proper office for a state of affliction, would 
 have been very proper to be used here entirely, but that it is 
 supposed the sick man cannot attend so long. For which 
 reason there is only one sentence taken out of the whole, to 
 deprecate both our own and the iniquities of our forefathers, 
 which so long as God remembers, his holiness and justice will 
 oblige him to punish us more and more. And because all of us 
 equally deserve to be afflicted, as well as the person for whom 
 we are going to pray, therefore all that are present join to say 
 both for themselves and him, Spare us, good Lord. 
 
 II. And as all that came to Jesus for help 
 L °uJon a us, 1 &c r . cy use d to cry, Lord have mercy upon us ; " so do 
 
 we here, on the like occasion, supplicate and be- 
 seech the whole Trinity for mercy, in that ancient form of 
 which we have already spoken. 12 
 
 III. When we have thus prayed against evil, 
 T Prayerf' s we proceed to petition for those good things 
 
 which the sick man's condition makes him stand 
 in need of. And that our prayers may be the more prevail- 
 ing, they are introduced as usual with the Prayer of our 
 Lord, which is more particularly proper here, as being very 
 suitable to a state of trouble. 
 
 IV. This is followed by some short Responses, 
 and^ponses. m wrncn au tnat are present are to join with the 
 
 Priest in behalf of the sick, who will doubtless be 
 refreshed by the charity and devotion of so many supplicants, 
 with united requests, petitioning the throne of grace for hirn.* 
 
 V. After this the Minister proceeds to collect 
 The first Collect. ^ re q Uests f the people into a short prayer ; 
 wherein he begs, that whilst the sickness remains, it may be 
 made easy to bear, by the comforts of divine grace continually 
 bestowed upon the person that suffers. 
 
 The second Col- VL And then > in another prayer, he proceeds 
 lect. further to beg that the correction may be sancti- 
 
 * The places of the Psalms, whence they are taken, have already been shewed upon 
 the office of Matrimony : 13 here is only one added for the preservation of the sick from 
 the malice of the devil, which is taken from Psalm lxxxix. 23, according to the old 
 Latin translation. 
 
 " Matt. ix. 27. xv. 22. xvii. 15. xx. 30, 31. * 2 Page 152, 153. 13 Page 423. 
 
The first part. 
 
 sect, iii.l VISITATION OF THE SICK. 431 
 
 fied, so that, whether it end in life or death, it may turn to 
 his advantage. 
 
 5. 2. This last prayer was shorter before the „ ... 
 
 . «■» i-i i i How thls prayer 
 
 last review: how it ran then may be seen in the was worded 
 margin,* where the instances borrowed from the fonnerl y- 
 Roman offices, being examples of miraculous cures which are 
 not now to be expected, were prudently left out, and supplied 
 with some other more suitable petitions; which must be al- 
 lowed to be a good improvement of the form. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Exhortation. 
 
 It is a part of the Minister's office to exhort, 
 as well as to pray for their people, and that not 
 only in time of health, but also in sickness : u for then they 
 stand in most need of directions, and are then most likely to 
 follow wholesome advice. The Church therefore, being un- 
 willing to lose so likely an opportunity of doing good, when 
 the sufferings of the patient make him tender and tractable, 
 hath drawn up a proper and pious Exhortation, to improve 
 that happy temper for his soul's salvation. The form here 
 prescribed exactly agrees with the heads of Exhortation, 
 which the Priest was ordered to use to the sick by an ancient 
 Council above eight hundred years ago. 15 It consists first of 
 Instructions, concerning the author of afflictions, the ends for 
 which they are sent, the manner how we are to bear them, 
 and the benefits of improving them. And here, if the person 
 be very sick, the Curate may end his Exhortation. 
 
 But if his distemper will allow him to proceed, _ . 
 
 .i -»«- • , r i . , i A - i • i. The second part. 
 
 the Minister is to admonish and stir him up to 
 the practice of those virtues which are now especially needful : 
 such as, in the first place, is patience ; since, till his mind is 
 made calm, it is vain to press him either to faith or repentance. 
 For which reason this second part of the Exhortation we are 
 speaking of endeavours to cheer up the spirits of the sick, by 
 proper arguments, precepts, and examples. 
 
 * After the words — " grieved with sickness," it ran thus : " Visit him, O Lord, as 
 thou didst visit Peter's wife's mother, and the captain's servant. [And as thou pre- 
 servedst Tobie and Sarah by thy angel from danger ;] so visit and restore unto this sick 
 person his former health, (if it be thy will,) or else give him grace so to take thy visita- 
 tion, that after this painful life ended, he may dwell with thee in life everlasting. 
 Amen." But note, the clause within the crotchets [] concerning Tobie and Sarah, 
 was only in the first book of king Edward, which also omitted the words " visit and," 
 and instead of " visitation " read " correction." 
 
 14 1 Thess. v. It. 2 Tim. iv. 2. ,5 Concil. Nannetens. c. 4, apud Binium, torn. iii. 
 par. 2, pag. 131. 
 
432 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap, xi, 
 
 And now, being in hopes that his mind is com- 
 Th of e theTick! ion P osed > the Minister proceeds to give him such 
 advice as is proper for one that is preparing for 
 death. And since at his Baptism he made a solemn vow to 
 God, which he promised to keep all the days of his life ; it is 
 fit he should examine, now the end of his life may probably 
 draw near, how he has performed and discharged that promise. 
 And because one part of his vow was, to believe all the Arti- 
 cles of the Christian faith, therefore the Priest particularly 
 inquires into the sick man's belief. For to doubt of or deny 
 any of these articles, is declared to be a dangerous and damn- 
 able state. It is to forsake the faith into which he was bap- 
 tized : and what else is this but to cut himself off from all the 
 privileges and advantages to which his baptism entitled him ? 
 For which reason it is necessary that our brother should shew 
 that he has kept this faith entire, that so we may be satisfied 
 that he dies a sound member of the Catholic Church, out of 
 which no salvation can ordinarily be obtained. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Examination and Exhortation according 
 to the direction in the Rubric. 
 
 The discretional ^ HE f° rmer Exhortation agrees to all sick per- 
 examination of sons in general, and is therefore prescribed in 
 t e sick person. a get f orm j} ut s i nce the cases and tempers of 
 
 men in sickness are very different, the Church leaves it to 
 the discretion of the Minister who visits, to assist and direct 
 them in other matters, as he sees the particular case requires. 
 She only prescribes the heads of Examination, and leaves the 
 management and expression to the prudence of the Minister, 
 since no form could possibly be contrived, that should suit all 
 the variety of circumstances that happen. 
 
 §. 1. The first direction given (which was 
 ^ptn/anS? "*" added at the last review) is, that the Minister 
 shall examine whether he repent him truly of 
 his sins. For it is very certain that all have sinned, 16 and 
 consequently that all have need of repentance ; and therefore 
 before the Minister can give the sick man comfort upon any 
 good grounds, it is fit that he should be satisfied of the truth 
 of his repentance. 
 
 §. 2. In the next place he is to examine, 
 2 charity!" 8 Whether he be in charity with all the world, ex- 
 horting him to forgive, from the bottom of his 
 
 ** Rom. iii. 23. 
 

 sect. IT.] VISITATION OF THE SICK 433 
 
 hearty all persons that have offended him. For there is not 
 any duty more enforced in the Gospel, than that of brotherly 
 reconciliation, or forgiving of injuries, which even in the 
 prayer that our Lord has taught us is made the condition of 
 God's forgiving us. The example therefore of our Lord and 
 his first martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for their murderers, 
 at the very instant of their death, should always be considered 
 upon these occasions. Father, forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do ; w and, Lord, lay not this sin to their 
 charge™ which were their dying words, should always be ours. 
 For sure it is high time for men to forget their resentments 
 against their neighbours, when they are just going to answer for 
 their own misdoings : especially when we are taught so plainly 
 by our Saviour, that unless we have compassion on our fellow, 
 servants, our Lord will exact from us all that we owe to him, 
 and will deliver us over to the tormentors till we shall have 
 paid what is due. 19 
 
 But besides the sick person's forgiving those that have of- 
 fended him, if he has offended any other, he must ask them for- 
 giveness ; and where he hath done injury or wrong to any man, 
 he must also make amends to the uttermost of his power. For 
 he who refuses to do this is not a penitent for the injury he 
 has done, but would certainly do more, if he had time and 
 opportunity ; and therefore he can expect nothing but con- 
 demnation from that Judge, who knows the tendency and 
 temper of his mind. Our Lord, we know, did not receive 
 Zaccheeus into the number of his followers or disciples, till he 
 had made profession of his willingness to restore : 20 who then 
 can expect to be received into his kingdom, that refuses so 
 necessary a part of justice ? Since therefore the sick person 
 may now, for what he knows, be going to appear before the 
 Judge of all the world, from whom he that doth wrong shall 
 receive for the wrong which he hath done, without respect of 
 persons ; 21 how much doth it concern him to agree with his 
 adversary while he is yet in the way with him, lest afterwards 
 the adversary deliver him to the judge, and the judge deliver 
 him to the officer, and so he be cast into prison, from whence 
 he shall by no means come out till he has paid the uttermost 
 farthing.™ So necessary is it even for those who but suspect 
 themselves of any wrongful deed, to judge and examine them- 
 
 " Luke xxiii. 34. w Acts vii. 60. » Matt, xviii. 23, &c. a> Luke xix. 8. 
 
 tl Col. Hi. 25. » Matt. v. 25, 26. 
 
 2F 
 
434 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xr. 
 
 selves with all possible strictness, and by public acknowledg- 
 ments and tender of satisfaction to declare their unfeigned 
 and hearty repentance. 
 
 §.3. After the exercise of these two branches 
 hortS US to seSTe of charity, should follow the third, viz. that of 
 his worldly af- giving to the poor : but before the sick man be 
 
 fairs ; ° i i 1 • j i 1 i 1 j 
 
 exhorted to this, it is necessary that he should 
 know what is his own to give. For which reason, if he has 
 not before disposed of his goods, he is then to be admonished to 
 make his will, and to declare his debts, what he oweth and ivhat 
 is owing unto him, for the better discharging of his conscience, 
 and the quietness of his executors. And though the making 
 of a will be a secular matter, which does not relate to those 
 spiritual concerns which the Minister comes to the sick man 
 about ; yet since the affairs of intestates are generally left in 
 so confused a manner, that strifes and contests are often the 
 result, it is very prudently enjoined by our Church, that the 
 Minister should remind them of settling their affairs. Men 
 indeed should often be put in remembrance, to take order for 
 tlie settling of their temporal estates whilst they are in health : 
 for no man is sure but that he may be taken off suddenly, 
 without having time to perform it ; or though he may be seiz- 
 ed with a lingering disease, yet it may be such a one as may 
 incapacitate him from doing it. Or supposing the best, that 
 he may have timely notice or warning of his death, and his 
 understanding hold good and perfect to the last ; yet sure it 
 must be a disturbance to a dying man, to have those moments 
 taken up in ordering and disposing of his worldly affairs, which 
 ought to be employed in preparing him for eternity. However, 
 if our carelessness has deferred it till then, it must by no means 
 be omitted now. We must not leave our friends and relations 
 involved in endless suits and contentions ; none of our family 
 must be left unprovided for, through our neglect of assigning 
 their portion ; nor must our creditors be defrauded of their 
 just demands, for want of our clearing or declaring our debts. 
 If in any of these cases our last act be unjust, we leave a blot 
 upon our name in this world, and can expect nothing but a 
 sad doom in the next. 
 
 For this reason the Church makes it a part of 
 done before ay th* the Minister's care. And by an ancient constitu- 
 
 hS ni S e eM f ns tion made in the y ear 1236 ' p eo P le were forDid 
 
 to make their Wills without the presence of the 
 
SBCT. TV.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 435 
 
 Parish-Priest, as they desired that their Wills might be fulfil- 
 led. 23 However, if the Minister think this a matter of too 
 secular a nature to be mingled with his discourses concerning 
 his spiritual concerns, he is allowed to manage and despatch 
 this first before he begins the holy office. • For that is the in- 
 tent of the following rubric, which allows, that tlie words be- 
 fore rehearsed maybe said before tlie Minister begin his pray- 
 er, as he shall see cause. Which, if compared with king 
 Edward's Common Prayer Books, plainly refers to the man's 
 disposal of his goods ; against which part of the direction the 
 contents of this rubric are printed in the margin.* 
 
 §. 4. The man's affairs being now settled, and 
 his circumstances known, the Minister, in the A ?J SJpoor. 61 * 1 
 next place, is not to omit earnestly to move him, 
 if he be of ability, to be liberal to the poor. By the old canon 
 law every one was obliged to leave such a proportion of his 
 goods or estate to charitable uses, as he bequeathed to each of 
 his children. 24 This moiety, which belongeth to the Church, 
 was laid up by the Bishop for the maintenance of the Clergy, 
 the repair of the fabric, and the like. But we are only enjoin- 
 ed to put the rich in mind of the poor, that out of the abund- 
 ance which they are going to leave, they should bestow some 
 liberal largess on them. And indeed, of all our treasures, that 
 alone which we thus dispose of is laid up in store for ourselves. 
 Our good works are our only movables that shall follow us to 
 the grave : and therefore there is no time more seasonable 
 for them than sickness, when we are preparing to be gone. 
 
 §. 5. Besides the Examination and Exhorta- 
 tion above mentioned, the sick person is further J * fel^S^ 
 to be moved to make a special confession of his 
 sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty 
 matters ; i. e. I suppose, if he has committed any sin for 
 which the censure of the Church ought to be inflicted, or 
 else if he is perplexed concerning the nature, or some nice 
 circumstances of his crime. It was upon the former of these 
 cases, that private confession seems at first to have been ap- 
 pointed ; for in the early ages of the Church, when the public 
 humiliation of scandalous offenders was observed to be at- 
 tended with some great advantages, many persons of zeal 
 would not only rank themselves in the class of public penitents 
 
 * This may be done before the Minister begin his prayers, as he shall see cause. 
 23 See Mr. Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, A. D. 1236, 29. 24 Decret. Par. 2, Cam. 
 13, Qu. 2. 
 
 2 f 2 
 
436 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xt.. 
 
 for sins done in secret, but would even solemnly confess be • 
 fore the congregation the particular crime, for which they 
 desired to make satisfaction, by submitting to penance. Now 
 though it was fit that what had been openly committed in the 
 face of the world should be openly retracted, that so the 
 scandal might be removed ; yet it might often happen, that 
 in the case of secret sins, it would be better that the particu- 
 lars should be kept concealed. For this reason a Penitentiary, 
 or Confessor, was early appointed in every diocese, to whom 
 persons in doubt should resort, and consult with him, what 
 on the one hand might be fit for publication, and what on the 
 other would be better kept secret. So that though public 
 
 penance was still generally assigned for grievous 
 fession^n the° n " offences that were privately committed ; yet the 
 primitive person that confessed did not always make a 
 
 public declaration of the fact, for which they 
 appeared in the rank of penitents. The congregation to be 
 sure knew that something had been committed which de- 
 served that correction : but what the thing was, they were no 
 otherwise acquainted with, than as the Penitentiary should 
 advise or forbid the discovery. This is the best conjecture 
 we are able to make concerning the rise of the Penitentiary's 
 office ; though we have some footsteps of private and secret 
 confessions before we read of any stated confessor. For 
 Origen, who lived at the beginning of the third century, 
 speaks of private confessions as the received usage in his 
 time, and only advises the choice of a person that was fit to 
 be trusted. 25 And St. Cyprian, that lived much about the 
 same time, commends the zeal of those that laid open even 
 their thoughts and intentions of offering sacrifice to idols 
 (though they had not yet proceeded to the fact) with grief 
 and sincerity before the Priest. 26 And much the same advice 
 is given by others, who mention private confession as a 
 general and well-known practice, and only caution the peni- 
 tents to choose such persons to consult with, as will be care- 
 ful and tender of their reputation and safety. 27 And it was 
 an imprudent direction of the penitentiaries at Constanti- 
 nople, for the public confession of a sin which had been 
 better concealed, that caused Nectarius, who was then bishop 
 
 2S Origen. in Psal. xxxvii. Horn. 2. 25 Cypr. de Laps. 27 Greg. Nyssen. contra 
 Eunom. Orat. 11, torn. ii. p. 705, de Poenit. torn. ii. p. 175, 176. Paulin. in Vit. An:bros 
 Basil. Regulae Breviores, p. 614. Interrogat. 229, torn. ii. Lucian. in Paraen. sive Li 
 bell, ad Poenit. Hieron. in Matt. xvi. 
 
sect, iv.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 437 
 
 of that city, to abolish the office, and to strike the name of 
 Penitentiary out of the ecclesiastical roll. 23 It appears indeed 
 from St. Chrysostom, 29 that the public discipline of the 
 Church was the same after this accident as it was before : 
 only the confession of secret sins, which gave no scandal, was 
 left from that time to the discretion and conscience of those 
 who had committed them ; who should judge for themselves, 
 whether they should resort to, or abstain from, the holy Com- 
 munion. Not but that they were at liberty, after the abolish- 
 ing of this office, as much as they were before, to use the ad- 
 vice of a ghostly counsellor, if they found themselves in want 
 of it : but then there was no peculiar officer, whose distinct 
 business it should be to receive such applications ; but every 
 one was left to choose a confessor for himself, in whom he 
 might safely confide. 30 And how far even this came to be 
 afterwards abused, is too well known to need any proof: but 
 no argument sure can be drawn, that because a practice has 
 been abused, it should therefore cease to be used. The 
 abuses of it should be reformed, but not the practice discon- 
 tinued. 
 
 And therefore the Church of England at the H ow far enjoined 
 Reformation, in the particular now before us, by the church of 
 freed it from all the encroachments with which En s land - 
 the Church of Rome had embarrassed it, and reduced con- 
 fession to its primitive plan. She neither calls it a sacrament, 
 nor requires it to be used as universally necessary : but be- 
 cause it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Com- 
 munion, but with a full trust in God's mercy, and ivith a quiet 
 conscience ; she therefore advises, that if there be any who is 
 not able to quiet his own conscience, but requireth further com- 
 fort or counsel, he should come to his own, or some other discreet 
 and learned Minister of God's word, and open his grief, that, 
 by the ministry of God's holy word, he may receive the benefit 
 of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the 
 quieting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple and 
 doubtfulness? 1 Here we see there is nothing arbitrarily pre- 
 scribed, but every one is left to his own discretion : all that 
 was absolutely enjoined, was only a mutual forbearance and 
 peace ; for the security of which a clause was added in the 
 
 28 Socrat. Hist. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 19, et Soz. 1. 7, c. 17. » In Ep. ad Innocent, et in 
 
 Ep. ad Hebrae. Horn. 4, et in 2 Cor. Horn. 4, et 18, et in Ephes. Horn. 3. 30 See all 
 
 these particulars more largely treated of in Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline, chap. 
 2, part 1, §. 1. 3I See the conclusion of the first Exhortation to the holy Communion. 
 
438 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap xi 
 
 first book of king Edward, requiring such as shall be satisfied 
 ivith a general confession, not to be offended with them that do 
 use, to their further satisfying, the auricular and secret confes- 
 sion to the Priest: nor those also which think needful and con- 
 venient, for the quietness of their own consciences, particularly 
 to open their sins to the Priest, to be offended with them that are 
 satisfied with their humble confessions to God, and the general 
 confession to the Church. But in all things to follow and keep 
 the rule of charity, and every man to be satisfied ivith his own 
 conscience, not judging other men's minds or consciences ; 
 whereas he hath no warrant of God's word to the same. 
 What could have been added more judiciously than this, to 
 temper, on the one hand, the rigours of those who were too 
 apt at that time to insist upon confession as always absolutely 
 necessary to salvation ; and to prevent, on the other hand, a 
 carelessness in those who, being prejudiced against the abuse, 
 were apt indiscriminately to reject the thing, as at no time 
 needful or useful to a penitent ? So that we may still, I pre- 
 sume, wish, very consistently with the determination of our 
 Church, that our people would apply themselves, oftener than 
 they do, to their spiritual physicians, even in the time of their 
 health ; since it is much to be feared, they are wounded 
 oftener than they complain, and yet, through aversion to dis- 
 closing their sore, suffer it to gangrene, for want of their help 
 who should work the cure. 
 
 But present ease is not the only benefit the 
 advantages^it 3 penitent may expect from his confessor's aid: 
 he will be better assisted in the regulation of his 
 life ; and when his last conflict shall make its approach, the 
 holy man, being no stranger to the state of his soul, will be 
 better prepared to guide and conduct it through all difficulties 
 that may oppose. However, if we have neglected to com- 
 municate our doubts and scruples in our health, we have more 
 need of following the Apostle's advice when we are sick, viz. 
 to call for the elders of the Church, and to confess our faults 
 in order to engage their fervent prayers? 2 For this reason, 
 though our Church leaves it in a manner to every one's dis- 
 cretion, in the time of health, whether they will be satisfied 
 with a general confession to God and the Church ; yet when 
 they are sick, she thinks it proper that they be moved to make 
 a special confession of their sins to the Priest, if they feel 
 
 32 James v. 14, 16. 
 
sect, v.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 439 
 
 their consciences troubled with any weighty matter. For 
 how will he be able to satisfy their doubts, if he be not let 
 into the particulars of their case ? Or with what assurance 
 can he absolve them, or admit them to the peace and com- 
 munion of the Church, before he is apprized how far they 
 have deserved its censure and bonds ? If then they are de- 
 sirous of the following consolations which the Church has 
 provided for their quiet and ease, it is fit they should first 
 declare and make known what burden it is, from which they 
 want to be freed. How far the Church can assist or relieve 
 them, or what consolations they are which she administers, 
 the Absolution here prescribed will lead us to consider; 
 which, with the Collect that follows, shall make the subject 
 of the next section. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Absolution and the Collect following. 
 
 After the sick person has made a special con- 
 fession of his sins, as has been mentioned above, Th absXti°on! he 
 the Priest is to absolve him, if he humbly and 
 heartily desire it, after this sort : 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to 
 absolve all sinners, who truly repent and believe in him, of his 
 great mercy forgive thee thine offences : and by his authority 
 committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 
 
 Now whether the Church designs, by this form, geemg ■ 
 that the Priest shall directly convey God's pardon respect™ I cen- 
 to the conscience of the sinner, for his sins and JJjJSc? the 
 offences committed against him ; or whether that 
 he shall only remit the censures of the Church, and continue 
 him in the privilege of Church-communion, which he may be 
 supposed to have forfeited by the sins he has confessed, is 
 thought by some not to be clearly or determinately expressed. 
 But if we look forward to the Collect immediately after to be 
 used, it looks as if the Church did only intend the remission 
 of ecclesiastical censures and bonds. For in that prayer the 
 penitent is said still most earnestly to desire pardon and for- 
 giveness : which surely there would be no occasion to do, if 
 he had been actually pardoned and forgiven by God, by vir- 
 tue of the absolution pronounced before. Again, the Priest 
 offers a special request, that God would preserve and con- 
 tinue him in the unity of the Church ; which seems to sup- 
 
440 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap, xx 
 
 pose, that the foregoing Absolution had been pronounced in 
 order to restore him to its peace. And therefore since the 
 form will bear this sense, without straining or putting any 
 force upon the words, I hope it will be no offence to interpret 
 them so, as is most consistent with the original commission 
 given by our Lord, and the exercise of it in the purest ages of 
 the Church. 
 «_ f §. 2. Now it is plain that the authority first 
 
 What power • -i . o -n •« in -t ■ 
 
 given to the promised to bt. reter, 3 and afterwards in com- 
 SavYo°ur. by ° ur mon to a11 the Apostles, 34 was a power of admit- 
 ting to, or excluding from, Church-communion : 
 for it # is expressed by the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
 Now the kingdom of heaven being, in the Scriptural sense, 
 the Church of Christ, of which heaven is the metropolis or 
 principal part ; and the keys (which are a token or ensign of 
 power) being also used in Scripture to denote the conferring 
 of authority to some chief officer in a family, to take in and 
 exclude from it whom he should judge convenient ; 35 it must 
 follow, that by the keys of the kingdom of heaven must be 
 meant a power of admitting into, and shutting out of, the 
 Christian Church. Accordingly the exercise of this power is 
 called binding and loosing, which were terms used by the 
 Jews, to signify the same things with what we now express 
 by excommunicating and absolving.™ And our Saviour gives 
 in charge, that whosoever is thus bound should be looked 
 upon by his disciples as a lieathen man and apublican ,« which 
 seems naturally to import, that from a state of communion 
 with the Christian Church, he should be reduced into the 
 state of heathens, and such other profligate men, who were 
 not admitted into their places of worship, nor so much as re- 
 ceived into common conversation. 37 
 
 St. John indeed tells us, that our Saviour, after his resur- 
 rection, and when he seemed to be giving his final commission, 
 endued his Apostles with a power expressed by the terms of 
 remitting and retaining sins.™ But now it is the opinion of 
 Dr. Hammond, 39 and from him of a late author of not inferior 
 judgment, 40 that this passage has much the same signification 
 
 33 Matt. xvi. 19. 3* Matt, xviii. 18. 35 Isa. xxii. 22. Rev. iii. 7, and xx. 1, 2, 3. 
 36 Vide Selden. de Synod, veter. Ebraeor. 1. 1, c. 7, et Morin. de Administrat. Pcenitent. 
 1. 4, c. 23. 37 Matt.ix. 11. Actsxi. 3. xxi.28. Gal. ii. 12. 38 j h n xx. 23. 
 
 sa See his notes upon the text. *° Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline of the Pri- 
 mitive Church, p. 12, 13. See also Bishop Potter's Discourse of Church-government 
 ch. 5, page 345, &c, where the bishop gives the same interpretation of this text with Di 
 Hammond. 
 
«ect. v.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 441 
 
 with the former, and that the terms in St. John, of retaining 
 and remitting, are equivalent to those in St. Matthew, of 
 binding and loosing. They only observe that retaining is 
 more emphatical than binding, and that it signifies properly 
 to keep bound, and the word remit refers to sin as a debt, 
 whereas the word loose refers to it as a bond or chain. And 
 if this be the sense of the words in St. John, then it is plain 
 that this commission, as well as the former in St. Matthew, 
 confers only a power of excommunicating and absolving ; 
 and consequently that no authority can be urged from hence 
 for the applying of God's pardon to the conscience of a sin- 
 ner, or for absolving him any otherwise than from the cen- 
 sures of the Church. 
 
 And indeed that these words give no power to us, in the 
 present state of the Church, to forgive or remit sins in the 
 name of God, so as immediately to restore the person ab- 
 solved to his favour and grace, I humbly presume to join my 
 opinion with theirs. But yet, with due submission, I cannot 
 forbear thinking, that such a power was intended to be given 
 by them to the Apostles. For I observe, that wherever else in 
 the New Testament we meet with the word a<pirmi, (which we 
 render remit in the text,) applied to sins, as it is here, it is 
 constantly used to express the remission and forgiveness of 
 them, or the entire putting them away ; and therefore the use 
 of the same terms, in the text I am speaking of, inclines me to 
 interpret the commission there given, of a power to remit 
 sins, even in relation to God ; insomuch that those sins which 
 the Apostles should declare forgiven by virtue of this com- 
 mission, should be actually forgiven by God himself, so as to 
 be imputed no more. Not that I believe this power extended 
 to the remitting all sins indiscriminately, and in whomsoever 
 they pleased : but only that when some temporal calamity or 
 disease had been inflicted upon a man as a punishment for his 
 sins, the Apostles, if inwardly moved by the Spirit, had power 
 to declare that his sins were forgiven, and as a testimony 
 thereof to remove his calamity. That which inclines me to 
 put this sense upon these words is my observing, that when 
 our Saviour vouchsafed to heal the paralytic, he first pro- 
 nounced that his sins were forgiven him .« 41 and that when St. 
 James also is speaking of a sick man's being raised by the 
 prayer of faith, from his bodily disease, he adds, that if he 
 
 M Matt. ix. 2, &c. 
 
442 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 
 
 had committed any sins, (which were the cause of it,) they 
 also should be forgiven him.* 2 Now from hence I would in- 
 fer, that the power of healing diseases, and the power of re- 
 mitting sins, were generally consequent one of the other. 
 And therefore since it is evident that the Apostles and others, 
 in the first ages of the Church, could heal diseases, it seems 
 not unlikely that they did it by virtue of a power that was in- 
 vested in them of forgiving sins. And consequently, if they 
 had a power of forgiving sins, that power must be conferred 
 upon them by this commission in St. John, where our Saviour 
 sends them with the same plenitude of power with which he 
 himself was sent of the Father, and explains that power by 
 the express and open terms of remitting and retaining sins. 
 And if this be the sense of this text in St. John, then it is 
 only to be interpreted of an extraordinary power which ac- 
 companied the inflicting, or continuing, or removing diseases, 
 (as the occasion required,) which our Saviour thought fit, for 
 the readier progress of the Gospel, to intrust with the Apos- 
 tles and first preachers of Christianity. 
 
 §. 3. However, that these words were never 
 Sts^fMcom-" understood by the primitive Christians to imply 
 munication and a standing authority in the Ministers of the Gos- 
 pel, to pardon or forgive sins immediately and 
 directly in relation to God, and as to which the censure of the 
 Church had been in no wise concerned, I think may fairly be 
 urged from there being no mention made, in any of the an- 
 cient Fathers, that any such authority was ever pretended to 
 by any Church whatever, for a great many centuries after 
 Christ. And therefore, if they relate to any standing author- 
 ity, which was designed to continue through all ages of the 
 Church, they must necessarily be interpreted in the above- 
 mentioned sense ; which makes them equivalent to the texts 
 in St. Matthew, which, I have already shewed, have an evi- 
 dent relation to excommunicating and absolving, or to the in- 
 flicting and removing Church-censures. Not that the favour 
 or displeasure of God is wholly unconcerned in these acts of 
 the Church ; for the contrary of this is evidently declared by 
 our Lord himself: whatsoever, saith he, ye shall bind on 
 earth, shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall 
 loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven .• which must at least 
 imply, that whatever sentence shall be duly passed by the go- 
 
 43 James v. 14, 15. 
 
sect, v.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 443 
 
 vernors of the Church, shall be ratified by him whom they 
 represent ; insomuch that whosoever is, by virtue of such sen- 
 tence, cut off from the Church, not only loses the benefit of 
 Church-communion, (which is ordinarily the necessary means 
 of salvation,) but will also, if he dies in a state of impenitence, 
 be looked upon by God to have forfeited all the privileges of 
 his baptism, and consequently to be as much without the pale 
 of the Church, as if he had never been admitted into it. Nay, 
 further, though even an innocent man should, through wrong 
 information, or some other mischance, be unjustly excom- 
 municated, he must, with due respect and submission to the 
 authority, plead his innocence, and use all proper means that 
 offer, to bring his judges to a sense of their mistake. And if, 
 after all, his sentence is, for want of opportunities to clear 
 himself, ratified and confirmed, he is obliged to acquiesce in 
 it : for should he, upon such occasion, behave himself unduti- 
 fully to the ministers of Christ, he will undoubtedly incur the 
 same sentence in heaven, which the courts on earth would 
 pass on those who should offer to abuse and revile their 
 judges; i. e. he will be condemned for his disobedience to 
 them, let him be ever so innocent as to the crime laid to his 
 charge. So that though a man may have committed no real 
 offence against God, yet if he falls under the censure of the 
 Church, it will be imputed to him as a sin even by God him- 
 self, if he does not obtain, or by all due humiliation endeavour 
 to obtain, her absolution and forgiveness. And for this reason 
 the absolution of the Church ought always to be sued for with 
 prayers and tears, whenever we have done any thing that may 
 give her offence. And therefore all I aim at is only to shew, 
 that it does not appear from this text in St. John, nor from 
 any of the others that have been spoken to above, that any ab- 
 solution pronounced by the Church can cleanse or do away our 
 inward guilt, or remit the eternal penalties of sin, which are 
 declared to be due to it by the sentence of God, any further 
 than by the prayers which are appointed to accompany it, and 
 by the use of those ordinances to which it restores us, it may 
 be a means, in the end, of obtaining our pardon from God 
 himself, and the forgiveness of our sin as it relates to him. 
 
 §. 4. And this, upon inquiry, we shall find to 
 be all that the Church laid claim to for divers T1 |e power of Ab- 
 
 o n -n •/» i i « i solution, in what 
 
 ages after our Saviour, i or if we look into her sense exercised 
 practice for the first four centuries, we shall always church P . rimitive 
 find absolution co-relative to public discipline. 
 
444 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xt. 
 
 The peace of the Church was never ordinarily given but to 
 such as were under its censures before ; nor was any loosed, 
 or had his sins remitted, but who had before been bound, or 
 had his sins retained. It is true, at such times, prayers were 
 always used, for the obtaining to the penitent the forgiveness 
 of God, and for restoring him again to his favour and grace. 
 And indeed it does not appear, that in those primitive ages 
 there was any other ceremony used, at the instant of re-admit- 
 ting a penitent to the peace of the Church, than intercessions 
 and prayers offered to God on his behalf, together with the 
 imposition of the Bishop's hands ; which, by the way too, 
 were all along applied to him throughout the whole course of 
 his penitential separation : so that this sin was gradually ex- 
 piated by the deprecations of the Minister, during the whole 
 time of his being under the state of penance ; and was then 
 judged to be fully expiated, when the term of his sentence 
 was quite expired, and he had for the last time received the 
 imposition of hands, upon which he was immediately rein- 
 stated in all the privileges of full communion. 43 In some time 
 after the optative form was gradually introduced, and mixed 
 with the precatory, much as it is in the form of absolution 
 used by our own Church in the office of Communion. 44 But 
 as to the indicative form, it does not appear to have been 
 generally introduced till about the middle of the twelfth cen- 
 tury ; and then it was made use of only to reconcile the pe- 
 nitent to the Church, whilst the deprecatory was what was 
 supposed to procure his pardon from God. 45 Within a cen- 
 tury afterwards, indeed, it was a ruled case in the Church, 
 that such as received the confession of penitents should, by 
 an indicative form, absolve them from their sins : 46 and the 
 Priests were supposed to have a power invested in them, to 
 release a sinner from the wrath of God, purely by pronouncing 
 this form over him. 
 
 But I have already observed, that as to the pardon of God, 
 and applying it directly to the sinner's conscience, the power 
 of the Priest is only ministerial ; and therefore one would 
 think that, in the exercise of that power, the form should be 
 rather precatory than peremptory. But in restoring a man to 
 the peace of the Church, (which he may appear by his confes- 
 sion to have forfeited, though sentence was never denounced 
 
 43 See Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline, p. 84, &c. 4 * See this proved by Dr. 
 
 Marshal, in his Penitential Discipline, chap. 3, §. 4. 45 See Dr. Marshal, as before. 
 *6 See the Constitution of Othobon, A. D. 1268, in Bishoj Gibson's Codex, Tit. 21, cap. 
 i. p. 487. 
 
sect, v.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 445 
 
 against him,) there the form may decently enough be absolute 
 and indicative : for the Minister in this case has a judicial 
 authority, and so is at liberty to use fuller terms. 
 
 g. 5. And that the form of absolution of which ^ intended 
 we are now discoursing, is only designed to remit by the present 
 to the penitent the censures that might be due form# 
 from the Church to his sins, may not only be inferred from 
 the expressions I have already taken notice of in the Collect 
 that is appointed to be used immediately after it, 47 but may 
 also further be argued from the end and design for which that 
 Collect was originally composed. For in the Penitential of 
 Ecbert, who was archbishop of York in the middle of the 
 eighth century, the reader may find this very prayer, with a 
 very little variation, to have been one of the ancient formula- 
 ries for clinical absolution i 48 for even in the primitive Church, 
 absolution was granted to a sick-bed penitent, though neither 
 excommunication nor penance had preceded before. Penance 
 indeed was in such cases assigned him, and he stood bound, 
 upon his recovery, to comply with the conditions upon which 
 it was granted him, and to perform it publicly in the face of 
 the Church : but since he was not at present in such a state 
 or capacity, he was by no means whatever to be denied a 
 reconciliation, but was admitted to the one, upon a presump- 
 tion that, if he lived, he would perform the other. 49 And as 
 this was the ancient usage of the Church, and as our own 
 Church has made choice of a form that was used upon these 
 occasions, to be used to a penitent in the same circumstances ; 
 why may we not suppose that her design was to accommo- 
 date, as far as she could, our modern office to the ancient 
 ones ? If the Minister that visits will use his endeavours, he 
 may certainly bring it very near : for he may assign the party 
 that confesses to him, certain penitential mortifications to be 
 undergone by him, as soon as he recovers and is able, though 
 they be not publicly submitted to in the face of the congrega- 
 tion : and he may insist with him, that he shall give some 
 proof of his repentance, before he offers to receive the Com- 
 munion in the Church. And if the penitent promises to sub- 
 mit to these conditions, the Minister may proceed, with a 
 great deal of hope and satisfaction to himself, and with a great 
 deal of comfort and advantage to the penitent, to reconcile 
 
 * 7 See page 439. 48 See the form in Dr. Marshal's Appendix to his Penitential Di» 
 cipline, p. 54. *> See Dr. Marshal's Penitential Discipline, p. 104, &c. 
 
446 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 
 
 him to the Church in the absolution itself, and to intercede 
 with, and to recommend him to the throne of grace in the 
 prayer that follows. And if this too were done before a few 
 chosen serious witnesses, it would still bear a nearer resem- 
 blance to the ancient practice. For Tertullian observes, that 
 the Church may subsist in a few of her members ,- 50 and our 
 Saviour has promised, that where two or three are gathered 
 together in his name, he will be there in the midst of them, 51 
 and (which to our purpose is somewhat remarkable) that 
 promise follows close after the power he had just before been 
 promising to his disciples of binding and loosing. 62 
 
 Private Absoiu- §• 6 - % the first book of kin g Edward VI. 
 tion formerly en- the same form of Absolution was ordered to be 
 joined. use( 2 fa qH private confessions : i. e. I suppose, 
 
 whenever any person, whose conscience was troubled and 
 grieved in any thing lacking comfort or counsel, should (as it 
 was then worded in the Exhortation to the Communion) come 
 to some discreet and learned Priest taught in the law of God, 
 and confess and open his sin and grief secretly ; that he might 
 receive such ghostly counsel, advice, and comfort, that his con- 
 science might be relieved, and that of him (as of the Minister 
 of God and of the Church) he might receive comfort and ab- 
 solution, to the satisfaction of his mind, and avoiding of all 
 scruple and doubtfulness. But in the review of the Common 
 Prayer, in the fifth year of that prince, our reformers (observ- 
 ing, as I suppose, that this form of Absolution was not very 
 ancient, and that persons might place too much confidence and 
 security in it, as thinking that the bare pronouncing it over 
 them cleansed them from their inward pollution and guilt, and 
 entirely remitted their sins before God) left out that rubric in 
 the office appointed for the Visitation of the Sick, and in the 
 Exhortation to the Communion mentioned above, somewhat 
 altered the expressions, to shew that the benefit of Absolution 
 (of Absolution, I presume, from inward guilt) was not to be 
 received by the pronouncing of any form, but by a due ap- 
 plication and ministry of God's holy word. 5 * So that all that 
 the Minister seems here empowered to transact, in order to 
 quiet the conscience of a person that applies to him for ad- 
 vice, is only to judge by the outward signs and fruits of his 
 repentance, whether his conversion be real and sincere ; and 
 
 50 Tertull. de Poenit. c. 10. 5I Matt, xviii. 20. M See Dr. Marshal, as before 
 pp. 219, 220. " John xv. 3. 2 Cor, v. 19. 
 
sect, vi.] VISITATION OF THE SICK, 447 
 
 if upon examination it appears to be so, he is then to comfort 
 him, with an assurance that his sins are remitted even in the 
 court of heaven, and that he is restored to the grace and fa- 
 vour of Christ. But then this he is to deliver, not absolutely, 
 but conditionally ; i. e. upon the presumption that his repent- 
 ance is as sincere as he represents it. He must by no means 
 pronounce it as a final judge ; because Christ alone can dis- 
 cern whether his conversion be feigned or real ; and conse- 
 quently he only can absolutely determine the state of the man 
 towards God. 
 
 §. 7. As to the form of Absolution, of which _ 
 
 ,. . - / , , The present form 
 
 we are now discoursing, a parenthesis was add- nottobepro- 
 ed at the last review, to intimate, that this is not EayVSJS* 
 to be used even over the sick, unless he humbly 
 and heartily desire it. For it is fit a man should shew an 
 earnest desire, and a due sense of so great a benefit, before it 
 is offered him. And then if he be rightly instructed in the 
 end and design of it, and the form itself be applied with that 
 prudence and caution above described, the use of it surely 
 may not only tend to the good of the penitent, but may also 
 prove of singular service and advantage to the Church. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of the Psalm and Blessings. 
 
 I. After the sick person is absolved by the 
 Church, and recommended to the pardon and ^Jt'jJSJ?" 
 grace of God, the Minister is directed to use in 
 
 his behalf the Seventy-first Psalm ; which is so very apt and 
 proper to express the sick man's desires and wants, and at 
 the same time to exercise his faith, to inflame his love, to 
 uphold his patience, and revive his hope, that not only our 
 own, but the eastern, 51 western, 55 and most Churches in the 
 world, agree in the choice of it for this office. At the review 
 at the Restoration indeed the five last verses were left out 
 of our own, as supposing the person restored to his former 
 state and prosperity, and so not being suitable to be used 
 over one whose case is languishing and dangerous. 
 
 II. And now to take leave with a valedictory 
 Blessing ; as it is very fit and decent at all times, Sesshlgs! 
 so it is necessary, when we depart from a friend, 
 
 whose case is such as that perhaps we may see his face no 
 more. For this reason the office is concluded with three 
 
 M Eucholog. p. 418,419. " Manual. Sarisb.fol. 37. 
 
448 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xl. 
 
 solemn blessings ; the first of which is an address to God the 
 Son, the second to the Father, and the third (which was 
 added at the last review) to the holy and undivided Trinity : 
 and all assist to procure to the patient the greatest blessings 
 he can need or desire. 
 
 Sect. VII. — Of the Unction prescribed hy the first Common Prayer 
 Book of king Edward VI. 
 
 Unction of the After the second of the aforesaid blessings, 
 sick prescribed i. e. at the end of the ordinary office for the 
 rn y on he pr fi ayer Com " Visitation of the Sick in king Edward's first 
 Book of king Liturgy, If the sick person desired to be anointed, 
 the Priest was to anoint him upon the forehead 
 or breast only, making the sign of the Cross, saying thus : 
 
 As with this visible oil thy body outwardly is anointed, so 
 our heavenly Father, Almighty God, grant of his infinite good- 
 ness, that thy soul inwardly may be anointed with the Holy 
 Ghost, who is the Spirit of all strength, comfort, relief, and 
 gladness. And vouchsafe for his great mercy (if it be his 
 blessed will) to restore unto thee thy bodily health and strength 
 to serve him ; and send thee release of all thy pains, troubles, 
 and diseases, both in body and mind. And howsoever his 
 goodness (by his divine and unsearchable providence) shall dis- 
 pose of thee, toe his unworthy Ministers and Servants humbly 
 beseech the eternal Majesty, to do with thee according to the 
 multitude of his innumerable mercies, and to pardon thee all 
 thy sins and offences committed by all thy bodily senses, pas- 
 sions, and carnal affections ; who also vouchsafe mercifully 
 to grant unto thee ghostly strength, by his Holy Spirit, to with- 
 stand and overcome all temptations and assaults of thine ad- 
 versary, that in no wise he prevail against thee, but that thou 
 mayest have perfect victory and triumph against the devil, sin, 
 and death, through Christ, our Lord; who by his death hath 
 overcome the Prince of death, and with the Father and the 
 Holy Ghost evermore liveth and reigneth God, world without 
 end. Amen. 
 
 After this followed the thirteenth Psalm, How long wilt 
 thou forget me, Lord ? &c. 
 
 This seems to have been the remains of both the ancient 
 and popish unction of the sick; which I shall shew by and by 
 differed one from the other, as well as it will appear they both 
 did from the primitive. But to give the reader a distinct view 
 
sect, vn.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 449 
 
 of the case, it will be necessary to begin from the famous 
 passage in St. James, upon which they were each of them 
 founded and built. Now in the last chapter of that Epistle, 
 among several other instructions which the Apostle was giving 
 to the Jewish converts, this, it seems, was one, viz. that if 
 any was sick among them, he should call for the elders of the 
 Church, who should pray over him, anointing him with oil in 
 the name of the Lord: the effect of which he declared would 
 be that the prayer of faith should save the sick, and the 
 Lord should raise him up ; and if he had committed sins, they 
 should be forgiven him. 56 This is the place on which those 
 that contend for the unction of the sick (whether popish or 
 ancient) lay all their stress, urging it as a standing precept of 
 St. James, which was to continue in force through all ages of 
 Christianity. 
 
 §. 2. But now if we compare these words with 
 the context, together with the primitive practice SJ^sin the 
 of the Church, it will evidently appear, that they healing the sick ; 
 were only designed as a temporary institution, an wiy " 
 proper to the time in which the Apostle lived, and suited as 
 well to an ancient practice of the Jews, as to a miraculous 
 dispensation which was then vouchsafed by the Holy Ghost, 
 to the first believers of the Gospel. For that the Apostles 
 and others, in the first ages of the Church, were endued with 
 several extraordinary gifts, almost every page in the New 
 Testament declares : and that the power of healing, or mira- 
 culously recovering sick persons from their diseases, was one 
 of these gifts, is also too evident to need any proof. 57 It is 
 sufficient therefore to note, that though these operations were 
 effected wholly by virtue of that power with which the Apos- 
 tles and others at that time were endued, (insomuch that we 
 read of some that were healed by the bare speaking of a word,™ 
 of others that were cured by handkerchiefs, or aprons,™ and 
 of others again that were recovered by the imposition of 
 hands,™ or by the mere shadow of an Apostle as he was pass- 
 ing by ; G1 ) yet since it was customary for the Jews to apply oil 
 to the sick, as an ordinary medicine to heal their diseases ; 62 
 therefore the Apostles, in working the cures upon those of their 
 own nation, did often make use of the same application. For 
 
 * James v. 14, 15. •» See 1 Cor. xii. 9, 28, 30. & 8 Acts ix. 34. * 9 Acts xix. 
 11, 12. oo Mark xvi. 18. Acts xxviii. 8. « Acts v. 15, 16. «■ See Dr. Light- 
 
 foot's Works, vol. i. page 333 ; and upon Mark vi. 13, vol. ii. page 343. 
 
 2 o 
 
450 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 
 
 thus we are told, that when the twelve were sent forth by our 
 Lord with power, they anointed with oil many that were sick, 
 and healed them. 63 Not that they used oil, as having any 
 natural force in it to procure the effect ; but only as a symbol 
 or sign of a miraculous recovery ; for that the virtue, which 
 attended the unction used by the Apostles, was supernatural, 
 and derived from him who sent them, was plain enough from 
 hence, that the same means, which at other times were at best 
 but of doubtful success, always produced a certain cure when 
 applied by them. 
 
 why prescribed §• 3 - Anointing of the sick therefore being 
 by st. James, and customary among the Jews, and such anointing, 
 m what sense. wnen performed by those that were endued with 
 the gift of healing, being attended with extraordinary and 
 miraculous cures, it was very natural for St. James, when he 
 was writing to the twelve tribes which were scattered abroad** 
 and giving them instructions for the behaviour of the sick, to 
 advise them to send for the elders of the Church, and to com- 
 mit the application of the oil to them. Not that he promised 
 that the ordinary use of it should always produce such a mira- 
 culous effect ; but only that since the elders of the Church 
 were the persons on whom the gift of healing was generally 
 bestowed, the happiest event from the anointing with oil might 
 reasonably be expected when it was done by them. And in- 
 deed that the Apostle gave this advice upon supposition that 
 their following it would often be attended with miraculous 
 cures, is plain from the words in the following verse, where 
 he says, that the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 
 Lord shall raise him up. Now faith, we know, is often used in 
 Scripture for an inward persuasion, that one should be enabled 
 by God to do a miracle ; 65 and therefore the prayer of faith 
 must be a prayer accompanied with such a persuasion. Con- 
 sequently the meaning of St. James, when he says, the prayer 
 of faith shall save the sick, must be, that when the anointing 
 with oil, which he directs the elders to perform, should be 
 attended or accompanied with the prayer of faith, it should 
 save or recover the sick from his disease, and prevail with the 
 Lord to raise him up. For it is not to be supposed, that they 
 who were endued with this gift, could exercise or exert it 
 upon whom they pleased ; but only that when they knew, by 
 
 «» Mark vi. 7, 13. N James i. 1. <* Matt. xvii. 20. xxi. 21. Mark xi.23. Luke 
 xvii. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 9, and xiii. 2. 
 
sect, vii.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 451 
 
 the impulse of the Spirit, that the Lord designed to save any 
 j erson whom they were called upon to anoint, they prayed to 
 him with full assurance of success, and the sick was accord- 
 ingly restored to health. And this being done generally to 
 those on whom sickness had been inflicted as a chastisement 
 for some sins which they had committed, (which was a very 
 common case in the beginning of the Church, 66 ) therefore it is 
 added, that if he have committed sins, tliey should he for- 
 given him ; i. e. not only his affliction or disease should be 
 removed, but his sins, which were the cause of it, should also 
 be taken away. 
 
 But further, that the prayer of faith, to which the Apostle 
 here attributes the recovery of the sick, is a prayer offered up 
 by the extraordinary impulse of the Spirit, may be gathered 
 from what he adds by way of confirmation at the sixteenth 
 verse, viz. that the inspired prayer of a righteous man avail- 
 eth much : for so the word ivepyovfjiivrj is often used to sig- 
 nify, and so the context shews it ought to be translated in this 
 place. For that the prayers of Elijah (which the Apostle 
 brings for an example in the two following verses) were 
 prayers of faith in the sense mentioned above, is plain from 
 the history of that prophet in the first Book of Kings ; for as 
 we know from St. James, that he prayed that it might not rain, 
 and again that it might rain ; so we know by that history, that 
 he expressly and absolutely foretold to Ahab both the one 
 and the other. 67 And this too being an instance of the preva- 
 lency of prayer, in producing of strange and sudden events, 
 shews clearly what was meant by the Apostle in this place, 
 whenhe says, that the inspired prayer of a righteous man 
 availeth much, viz. that it avails to the procuring temporal 
 effects of a strange, and surprising, and wonderful nature. 
 
 I am sensible that, in this interpretation of St. James, I differ 
 in one point from several of the most eminent divines of our 
 Church : and that is, in supposing the unction here mentioned 
 was to be applied indifferently towards all that were sick : 
 whereas Dr. Clagget, 68 Dr. Bennet, 69 and others, are of 
 opinion that it was not to be used to any but those on whom 
 the elders were assured the gift of healing should take place. 
 What inclines me to give a different interpretation of this 
 
 «> See 1 Cor. xi. 30, 31, 32. and John v. 15. " 1 Kings xvii. 1. and xviii. 1, 41. 
 fis See his Discourse of Extreme Unction, pages 14, 26, 27. w Confutation of 
 
 Popery, p. 307. 
 
 2 G 2 
 
452 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xi. 
 
 passage, is the fourteenth verse, which seems to be expressed 
 in very general terms. Is any sick among you ? let him call 
 for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, 
 anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. This seems, 
 I say, to imply, that all that were sick were to send for the 
 elders of the Church ; that the elders of the Church were to 
 pray over all that sent for them ; and that they were to anoint 
 with oil all whom they prayed over ; and consequently that 
 they were to anoint all in general that were sick. The following 
 verse indeed, which is concerning tlie prayer of faith, must 
 necessarily be restrained to those only who were to be mira- 
 culously healed : for I have shewed, that the prayer of faith 
 was a prayer accompanied with a persuasion that the sick 
 should recover ; and therefore such a prayer could never be 
 used, but over such as the Lord had designed to raise. So 
 that though, I suppose, what the Apostle said of unction was 
 a general direction to all that were sick ; yet I do not under- 
 stand him to promise any cure by it, but when it should be ac- 
 companied with the prayer of faith. Nor yet do I believe that 
 this direction was intended to oblige any other branches, or 
 distant ages of the Church ; but rather that it was designed as 
 a temporary institution suited to the custom of anointing the 
 sick, which I have observed was, at that time, the ordinary 
 practice of the Jews ; and which the Apostle did not concern 
 himself either to abolish or confirm ; but only to require, that 
 if the use of it was continued among the converts to Christi- 
 anity, it should always be performed, not by Jewish, as for- 
 merly, but by Christian elders or priests. But now this, when 
 the Jewish economy ceased, was no longer of use to the Chris- 
 tian Church. Most of those who afterwards came over to 
 Christianity were infidels or heathens : who having no such 
 rite amongst them in the state they were in before, did not 
 think that they were obliged, by this direction of St. James, 
 to take it up when they were Christians. 
 
 §. 4. Accordingly, if we search into the an- 
 w^iseffSie cient writers of the Church, we shall never find 
 primitive anv mention of anointing, but when it was used 
 
 as a rite of the gift of healing. As the gift of 
 healing indeed was frequent for several ages after the Apos- 
 tles ; so we grant that the unction was often made use of to 
 denote the miraculousness of the cure: 70 but then as an or- 
 
 70 Tertull. ad Scap. c. 4. Hieron. in Vita Hilarionis. Sulpit. Sever, in Vita Mart. 
 
sect, vii.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 453 
 
 dinary rite, used in the Visitation of the Sick, there is not a hint 
 of it to be met with for above six hundred years after Christ : 
 though it is well known that the Christian writers, within that 
 compass of time, discourse very frequently and plainly con- 
 cerning the sacraments and rites of the Church. Nay, further, 
 though the manner and circumstances of the deaths of many 
 holy persons within those centuries are described ; yet there is 
 not the least intimation any where to be met with that so 
 much as one of them was anointed. 
 
 §. 5. About the seventh century, it is true, the 
 anointing of all sick persons whatsoever began to wards usecfb" 
 take place : the chief inducement to which seems th ^ ancient 
 to have been the observation of those cures by 
 anointing that were wrought by such as had the gift of heal- 
 ing. And indeed, if we look back into the history of those 
 times, we shall find that very small inducements were suffi- 
 cient to dispose men to seek for temporary relief, from things 
 that were consecrated to the uses of religion, especially when 
 there were some notable examples of success. And thus in 
 the case before us, the gift of miraculously healing with oil 
 being not yet quite ceased, 71 the Christians in this century, 
 that laboured under any calamity or disease, chose rather to 
 seek for relief and recovery by the use and application of the 
 holy oil,- than by any other means. And as this too seemed 
 to be countenanced by the text in St. James, and also to ex- 
 press the reposing greater confidence in God than in the force 
 of natural remedies, it therefore passed off with the less op- 
 position. So that from this time the anointing was not only 
 of those who were to be healed of their diseases by the prayer 
 of faith, but of all sick persons in general, who were anointed 
 of course, in bare hopes of receiving by it some bodily relief. 72 
 And perhaps some casual cures which sometimes followed 
 this unction, but which yet might have happened without any 
 unction at all, did not a little contribute to support the re- 
 putation of it. 
 
 §. 6. However, in after-ages another use of it Howabusedby 
 was discovered ; for when they began to be con- the church of 
 vinced that it did no good to the body, they con- Rorae " 
 
 c. 15. August, de Civitat. Dei, 1. 22, c. 8. Vide et Rosweid. in Vit. Patrum, pag. 211, 
 343, 451, &c. Vide et Dallaeum de Extrema Unctione, p. 85, 86, 87. et Baron. A. C 
 63, n. 4. n See Dr. Clagget of Extreme Unction, pages 94, 95. ™ Vide Menardi 
 Not. in Sacram. Gregorii, p. 341. See also the Defence of the Exposition of the Order 
 of the Church of England, p. 45, &c. 
 
454 OF THE ORDER FOR i/E [chap, xl 
 
 eluded that at least it must have a wonderful virtue towards 
 the saving of the soul : so that about the twelfth century it 
 was improved into what it is now in the Church of Rome, and 
 applied, not for the recovery of bodily health, but to cleanse 
 the soul from its sins, and to prepare it for the next life. For 
 this reason it was not now used as before, to those of whose 
 recovery they had any reasonable hopes, but to those only 
 who were looked upon to be at the point of departure. Nor 
 was the unction applied to those parts of the body which were 
 the seat of the disease ; but to the eyes, ears, and nostrils, to 
 the mouth, hands, and feet, and lastly to the reins, as the se- 
 veral seats of sin. And this is the unction which to this day 
 is practised by the Church of Rome ; having been first pub- 
 licly owned by Eugenius IV. at the close of the Florentine 
 Synod, to be the fifth sacrament ; and then, in the next age, 
 being established by the Council of Trent under the severest 
 anathemas or curses.* 3 But this only relates to the Church of 
 Rome ; for though the Greek Church hath in some things 
 been guilty of modern innovations ; yet their unction is ap- 
 parently that unction which began in the seventh age after 
 Christ. 74 So that the practice of the Greeks has some anti- 
 quity to plead ; whereas that of the Church of Rome came in 
 but lately in comparison, and may almost be called an inven- 
 tion of yesterday. 
 
 How far counte- §• 7' ^ 0T ta ^ s reason » when our reformers came 
 nancedatthe to draw up an office for the Visitation of the 
 Reformation. g ick) ag the y h a( j some reas0I)S to induce them 
 
 not to lay aside the rite of anointing entirely ; yet they 
 changed it from the popish to that of the ancients. It is true, 
 in the prayer which they appointed to be used, there is a pe- 
 tition for the pardon of all the sins and offences committed 
 by the bodily senses, passions, and carnal affections of the 
 patient : but this is so worded, as not to have any necessary 
 reference to the oil ; which may well enough be understood 
 to be applied to the sick, in order to restore to him his bodily 
 health and strength. Besides, the unction here allowed could 
 not be called extreme, because it might be ministered to any 
 that were sick : nor yet was it to be applied to all the organs 
 of sense, but only to the forehead or breast of the patient. 
 But, in short, and once for all, the unction in that book was 
 
 73 Vide Canones et Decreta Concil. Trident. Sess. 14. 7i Vide Simeon. Thessalonic. 
 in Arcud. de Extr. Unct. c. 7, sect. His ita, &c. Vid. et Eucholog. per Goar. p. 408, &c. 
 
sect, viii.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 455 
 
 not so much as enjoined or prescribed, but only indulged to 
 such as might probably, in the infancy of the Reformation, be 
 uneasy without it: for the rubric does not order nor suppose 
 any unction, unless the sick person himself desire it : and 
 therefore when Bucer found fault with it in his Censure, 75 it 
 was entirely discontinued in the second book of king Edward. 
 And indeed if that reformer had never attempted any worse 
 amendments, he had betrayed less want of learning, and done 
 more service to the Church. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of the Occasional Prayers. 
 
 There is so much variety in the state of sick- How , ieedflll 
 ness, that it is impossible one form, though it and when first 
 were ever so complete, should be contrived to added * 
 fit all particular occasions. As to those whose distemper lies 
 chiefly in the body, and who are of an age that is capable of 
 comfort and advice, and have also their senses and under- 
 standings entire, and faculties and time enough to exercise all 
 the forementioned duties of religion ; the former office is very 
 suitable and proper. But there are singular cases which re- 
 quire peculiar prayers, and more indeed than it is easy to pro- 
 vide for in any stated forms : however, there are four which 
 our Church took notice of at the last review, and for which 
 therefore she hath provided four suitable prayers. 
 
 1. The first of these is for a sick child: in 
 which case, as the fondness and love of the pa- The si K a S d for a 
 rents will direct them to use all human means for 
 its recovery; so Christianity should instruct them to turn the 
 violence of their passion into fervent addresses to Almighty 
 God to help it. He gave it at first, and He only can preserve 
 it : and it was the trust of the Shunamite in his power to save, 
 that encouraged her to apply herself to the prophet Elisha, 
 even when her son was actually dead, which procured for her 
 a success as wonderful as her faith. 76 And though when Jairus 
 went to Jesus for his dying child, the disease proved swifter 
 than his utmost haste ; yet our Lord rewarded the faith of 
 the parent with the restoration of the daughter's life. 77 Such 
 miracles indeed we must not now expect : but yet, if we seek 
 the prayers of the Church with due humility and faith, there 
 is no doubt but they will assist very much in the cure ; and 
 that if any means can move God to spare them, this will. 
 
 75 Bucer, page 489. Tfi 2 Kings iv. " Matt. ix. 
 
456 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap, xi 
 
 II. The second of these prayers is for a sick 
 Sckp P e r reJ"when pe™on, when there appear eth small hope of 
 there appeared recovery. For when the disease hath almost got 
 co\?ry!° pe ° " tne victory of the sick, it is not to be expected 
 
 that the man should do much on his part for the 
 bettering of his future state. And therefore since (it is to be 
 hoped) he hath already gone through the preparatory exer- 
 cises of patience and submission, of faith and repentance, of 
 thankfulness and charity ; but is now rendered incapable of 
 any other office ; the Minister must take care that at least he 
 do not want such further benefits as the Church has provided 
 for him in this excellent form : which is also very proper to 
 be used, when any sudden disease puts a man beyond all hopes 
 of recovery at the first assault ; or when any, though visited 
 with a lingering disease, have yet wretchedly deferred to send 
 for a Minister, till there is as little to be done for the pro- 
 curing their salvation, as there is for the restoring of their 
 bodily health. However, since they are now incapable of 
 those other comforts and advantages which this office directs, 
 it is fit we should do all that possibly we can, and that is to 
 pray for them heartily in this form, the only means left in 
 such an emergency. 
 
 III. The third is a Commendatory Prayer 
 Sy PrayTr e fo d r a a f or a sick person at the point of departure : for 
 sick person at we know that wlien the dust returns to the earth 
 parture"' ° e as it was, the spirit returns unto God that gave 
 
 it : 78 and therefore our Saviour himself, when he 
 was expiring on the cross, cries out to his Father, Into thy 
 hands I commend my spirit.' 9 And that we are to imitate 
 his holy example, is evident from the practice of his first 
 martyr St. Stephen, who also at his death commended his soul 
 into the hands of his Redeemer. 80 Accordingly the succeed- 
 ing ages of the Church always observed the same religious 
 rite : bl and indeed it is unlikely that any one should omit it, 
 who believes, as they did, that every one that dies before he 
 can reach the seat of bliss, must pass through the dominion 
 of evil spirits, who are ready, to be sure, to snatch at and seize 
 all unhappy souls who approach their territories, without a 
 guard of holy angels to preserve them from their power, and 
 to conduct them safe to a place of repose. 82 For this reason, 
 
 78 Eccles. xii. 7. " 9 Luke xxii. 46. 80 Acts vii. 59. 81 Hieron. in Psal. xxx. 
 »2 Vide Just. Mart. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 333. Compare also Eph. ii. 2, and vi. 12, with 
 Luke xvi. 22. 
 
ȣct. Tin.] VISITATION OF THE SICK. 457 
 
 because there are but few, who, at the instant of departure, are 
 able to implore this protection for themselves ; therefore our 
 Church, in imitation of the saints of former ages, 83 calls in the 
 Minister, and others who are at hand, to assist their brother 
 in his last extremity. In order to this she directs, that when 
 any is passing out of this Hfe, a bell shall be 
 tolled, and the Minister shall not tlien be slack ^i^SSX^"' 
 to do his last duty. 84. The passing-bail indeed 
 is now generally disused, and only the short peal continued, 
 which the canon orders to be rung after the party's death. 
 But the former was certainly of much more use, to give no- 
 tice to all within the sound of it, to put up their last and most 
 affectionate prayers for their dying neighbour, and to help 
 their friend in those extremities which themselves must as- 
 suredly one day feel. However, if their prayers are wanted, 
 it is more requisite that the Minister should be more diligent 
 in his, who should therefore constantly be sent for, when these 
 agonies approach, that so, by the use of this excellent com- 
 posure, he may assist the dying soul in its flight to God, and 
 alarm the living by such an example of mortality. 
 
 IV. The fourth and last of these prayers is for 
 persons troubled in mind or conscience. For JJSonTtrouCied 
 when any become melancholy through bodily in m ™ d and in 
 distempers, or by evil principles are troubled 
 with dismal and false apprehensions of God, or are too much 
 disturbed in their inward peace and quiet, through a dreadful 
 sense of their former sins ; it is fit that the spiritual physician 
 should be called, that he may discreetly apply the promises of 
 God, and endeavour to obtain his consolation and mercy for 
 the dejected penitent's deplorable state : to which purpose the 
 prayer that is here provided, is very pertinent and useful. 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XI. 
 OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the General Rubric. 
 
 Forasmuch as mortal men be subject to many The „ eneral ru _ 
 sudden perils, diseases, and sicknesses, and ever brie for communi- 
 uncertain what time they shall depart out of this cating the sick 
 life ; therefore to the intent they may be always in a readiness 
 
 « Possidon. in Vita August, c. 31. <" Canon LXVII. 
 
458 OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. [app. to chap, xi 
 
 to die, whensoever it shall please Almighty God to call them, 
 the Curates are diligently from time to time {but especially in 
 the time of pestilence, or other infectious sickness) to exhort the 
 parishioners to the often receiving of the holy Communion of 
 the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, when it shall be 
 publicly administered in the Church ; that so doing they may, 
 in case of sudden visitation, have the less cause to be disquieted 
 for lack of the same. • But if the sick person be not able to 
 come to the Church, and yet is desirous to receive the Commu- 
 nion in his house, then he must give timely notice to the Curate ; 
 who, in such a case, is here directed to celebrate and admin- 
 Agreeabie to the * ster ^is holy Sacrament to him ; which is ex- 
 practice of the actly conformable to the most early practice of 
 primitive church. the primitive Church: for there is nothing more 
 frequently mentioned by the ancient writers than the care of 
 the Church to distribute the Eucharist to all dying persons 
 that were capable of receiving it. They esteemed it the great- 
 est unhappiness that could be, for any one to die before he 
 had been supplied with this 'E^o&oi', or Viaticum, (as the an- 
 cient canons 85 frequently call it,) i. e. the necessary prepara- 
 tion or provision for the road, for those that are going to their 
 eternal home. For this reason even those who were under 
 the censures of the Church, and were suspended from the 
 Eucharist in the time of their health, were yet allowed to com- 
 municate, if any danger of death surprised them, before they 
 had finished their stated penance. 86 Nay, about the fifth cen- 
 tury this was carried so high, that some were for forcing the 
 elements into the mouths of those that were dead : but this 
 was soon censured by several Councils, which ordered that 
 practice to be discontinued. 87 However, the care of the 
 Church to communicate the sick has been equally the same in 
 all ages. And indeed that she looks upon this not only as con- 
 venient, but as highly necessary, may be gathered from the dis- 
 pensation that she grants with the canons, purely to secure it. 
 §.2. For though administering the Commu- 
 cratimfof thTeie- nion in private houses be forbid by the canons of 
 aEea h ° W far 1603, 88 as well as by those of ancient times, 89 un- 
 der the severest penalties ; yet there is an excep- 
 
 85 Concil. Nicen. l,Can. 13. Concil. Araus. 1, Can. S. Concil. Agathens. Can. 11. 
 86 Vide Canones citat. in not. (q) et Greg. Nyss. Ep. ad Letoium Melitens. Can. 5, torn. 
 1. p. 953, A. 87 Concil. Carthag. 3, Can. 2. Concil. Trull. Can. 83. » 8 Canon 
 
 LXXI. » Concil. Trull. Can. 31. 
 
sect. I.] OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 459 
 
 tion made in the case of sickness : upon which occasion, both 
 the canons above mentioned, and this present rubric, allow 
 the Curate (having a convenient place in the sick man's house, 
 with all things necessary so prepared, that he may reverently 
 minister) there to celebrate the holy Communion. This indul- 
 gence was rare in the primitive Church : however, some in- 
 stances may be produced, even from thence, of private conse- 
 crations upon great emergencies. 90 But, generally speaking, 
 it was usual for the Ministers to reserve some part of the ele- 
 ments that had been consecrated before, in the church, to be 
 always in a readiness upon such like occasions. 91 Agreeably to 
 which in this very rubric (as it was worded in king Edward's 
 first Common Prayer) it was ordered, that if the same day (on 
 which the person was to be visited) there ivas a celebration of 
 the holy Communion in the church, then the Priest was to re- 
 serve (at the open Communion) so much of the Sacrament of 
 the Body and Blood, as would serve the sick person, and so 
 many as were to communicate with him, (if there were any:) 
 and so soon as he conveniently coidd, after the open Communion 
 ended in the church, he was to go and minister the same, &c. 
 But then this reservation was not allowed, unless there was a 
 Communion at the church on the same day on which the sick 
 person was to be visited : for by another rubric it was ordered, 
 that if the day were not appointed for the open Communion in 
 the church, then (upon convenient warning given) the Curate 
 was to go and visit the sick person afore noon : and having a 
 convenient place in the sick man's house (where he might re- 
 verently celebrate) with all things necessary for the same, and 
 not beinc/ otherwise letted with the public service, or any other 
 just impediment, there to celebrate the holy Communion. And 
 even the elements that were consecrated thus privately were 
 to be reserved, if there was any occasion to administer the 
 sacrament again that day. For so it was ordered by a third 
 rubric of this office in the same book, that if there were any 
 more sick persons to be visited the same day that the Curate 
 celebrated in any sick man's house ; then the Curate was there 
 to reserve so much of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood, 
 as would serve the other sick persons, and such as were ap- 
 pointed to communicate with them, (if there were any,) and 
 immediately to carry it and minister it unto them. So that 
 
 *° See Bingham's Antiquities, book xv. chap. 4, §. 10. 91 Bingham, ibid. §. 9 and 11 , 
 
460 OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. [app. to chap. XI. 
 
 from all these rubrics compared together, we may observe, 
 first, that though anciently it was usual for the Ministers to 
 reserve some part of the consecrated elements, either in the 
 church or at their houses, to be always in a readiness for any 
 that should want to receive, before the time came to conse- 
 crate again; 92 yet after the Reformation it was never allowed 
 to reserve them longer than that day on which they were con- 
 secrated, nor indeed to reserve them at all, unless the Curate 
 knew beforehand that some sick person was that day to be 
 visited. We may therefore, secondly, suppose, that it was not 
 the design of our reformers to attribute more power or effi- 
 cacy to the sacrament, when it was consecrated in the church, 
 than it had when it was consecrated in a private house ; but 
 rather that the sick, by partaking of the elements which had 
 been consecrated elsewhere, and of which his fellow-parish- 
 ioners or neighbours had been partakers before him, might 
 join as it were in the same Communion with the rest of the 
 congregation, though his present infirmity hindered him from 
 attending the public service of the church. And this, it seems, 
 was generally the motive why the sacrament was sent about 
 to one another in the primitive Church. 93 Nor do I find that 
 Bucer had any objection to it in his Censure upon our Liturgy. 
 However, in the second book of king Edward VI. all these 
 rubrics, as far as they relate to the reservation, were laid aside. 
 Though in a Latin translation of the Common Prayer Book, 
 which was put out by authority in the second year of queen 
 Elizabeth, for the use of the universities and the colleges of 
 Winchester and Eton, the rubric for the reservation is inserted 
 at large. The reason of this difference might probably be 
 this, viz. that the reservation having been abused by some 
 ignorant and superstitious people, just after the Reformation, 
 was the cause why it was discontinued in the English Com- 
 mon Prayer Book : but the Latin Book being designed for 
 the use of learned societies, the reservation might safely enough 
 be trusted with them, upon a presumption that they, who en- 
 joyed so much light, would be the less liable to abuse it to 
 error and superstition. Though it is not unlikely that this 
 might be indulged those learned bodies, in order to recon- 
 cile them the easier to reformation : for it was the design 
 of queen Elizabeth (as I have more than once observed) to 
 contrive the Liturgy so, as to oblige as many of each party 
 
 »2 See Mr. Bingham, as before, §.11. " See Mr. Bingham, as before, §. 8. 
 
ssct. i.] OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 461 
 
 as she could. However (except in this Latin translation of it) 
 there has been no mention of the reservation in any of the 
 Common Prayer Books since the first of king Edward. But 
 the rubric has constantly enjoined the holy Communion to be 
 celebrated, on such occasion, in the sick man's house. 
 
 §. 3. When the sick person desires to receive Timely notice to 
 the Communion in his house, he must give time- be given to the 
 ly notice to the Curate ,• which ought to be some Curate - 
 time over-night, or else early in the morning of the same day, 
 as it was expressed in this rubric in all the Common Prayer 
 Books till the last review : since otherwise the Curate, through 
 other necessary avocations, may, for want of such notice, be 
 out of the way at the time that he is wanted. 
 
 §. 4. When the sick person gives notice, he is 
 also to signify how many there are to commu- a^7e™tTLm- 
 nicate with him ; which was ordered (as appears tunicate with 
 by the first Common Prayer) that the Minister 
 might know how much of the sacred elements to reserve. It 
 is also plain by the first and last of those rubrics, which I have 
 above transcribed out of that book, that the Minister was al- 
 lowed, in all cases of sickness, to communicate alone with the 
 sick man, if there were none else to receive with him. For 
 they order him to reserve so much of the Sacrament as shall 
 serve the sick person, and so many as shall communicate with 
 him, {if there be any i) which plainly supposes that, if there 
 were none, he was only to reserve enough for himself and the 
 sick man. And so in the rubric relating to the manner of the 
 Minister's distributing ; he was first to receive the Commu- 
 nion himself, then to minister to those that were appointed to 
 communicate with the sick, (if there were any,) and then to 
 the sick person. However, it followed in that rubric, that the 
 sick person should always desire some, either of his own house, 
 or else of his neighbours, to receive the holy Communion with 
 him ; for that would be to him a singular great comfort, and 
 of their -part a great token of charity. But at the second re- 
 view, these parentheses were all thrown out, and in all our 
 Common Prayers ever since till the Restoration, a good num- 
 ber was required by this general rubric to receive the Com- 
 munion with the sick person, without determining what num- 
 ber should be esteemed a good one. But the Scotch Common 
 Prayer is a little more explicit, and orders a sufficient number, 
 at least two or three ; and from thence, I suppose, our own 
 
462 OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. [app. ro chap. xr. 
 
 rubric, at the Restoration, ordered that there should be three \ 
 ?r two at the least, i. e. at least three, including the sick, to 
 communicate with the Minister, which is the same number 
 that is required to a Communion in the Church. 94 However, 
 at the same time that such a number was required in all ordi- 
 nary sicknesses, (i. e. in the fifth year of king Edward,) there 
 was a rubric added at the end of this office, (which has con- 
 tinued ever since,) that in the time of the plague, sweat, or 
 such other like contagious times of sickness or diseases, when 
 none of the parish or neighbours can be gotten to communicate 
 with the sick in their houses, for fear of the infection, upon 
 special request of the diseased, the Minister alone may commu- 
 nicate with him. But this is only indulged in such extra- 
 ordinary cases ; for in other ordinary diseases, lack of company 
 to receive with tlie sick person is mentioned as a just impedi- 
 ment why the Sacrament should not be administered to him. 95 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the form of Administering. 
 
 ti.- r,owt The Curate having a convenient place in the 
 
 The Collect, P , -r 
 
 Epistle, and sick man s house, with all things necessary so pre- 
 Gospel. pared, that he may reverently minister, he was 
 
 by the first Common Prayer to introduce the office with the 
 hundred and seventeenth Psalm, which was instead of the in- 
 troit, and then to use the short Litany, Lord have mercy upon 
 us, &c, with the usual salutation, The Lord be with you, &c. 
 But introits now being laid aside, he is to begin immediately 
 with the Collect, that is very proper to the occasion, which is 
 followed by two passages of Scripture for an Epistle and 
 Gospel, which evidently tend to comfort and deliver the sick 
 man from the fears which he may be too apt to entertain. 
 How much of the 4f ier fvkich he is to proceed, according to the 
 communion- form before prescribed for the holy Communion, 
 office to be used. oeginning at these words [ Y e that do truly, &c] 
 
 §. 2. And if the sick person is visited, and re- 
 vfsYtSn-office 6 ceiveth the holy Communion all at one time; 
 bl^mS 6 may t ^ ien fc ^ e driest, for more expedition, is to cut off 
 the form of Visitation at the Psalm, [In thee, O 
 Lord, have I put my trust;] i. e. when he comes to that 
 Psalm, he is not to use it, but to go straight to the Commu- 
 nion. 
 
 9 * See the third rubric after the Communion-office. 9 » See the third rubric at the 
 end of the Communion of the Sick. 
 
iect. ii.] OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK. 463 
 
 §. 3. At the time of the distribution of the holy 
 Sacrament, the Priest is first to receive the Com- theMintatwisto 
 munio?i himself, and after to minister unto them deliv e* the eie- 
 that are appointed to communicate with the sick, 
 and last of all to the sick person. The Minister, we know, is 
 always to receive the Communion himself, before he proceeds 
 to deliver it to others : but the reason perhaps why the sick 
 man is to receive last, may be, because those who communi- 
 cate with him, through fear of some contagion, or the noisome- 
 ness i f his disease, may be afraid to drink out of the same cup 
 after him. 
 
 §. 4. Lastly, because it may happen sometimes 
 that a sick person, who desires to receive the JruVuonTfor ™~ 
 Communion, may yet, by some casualty, be hin- those who have 
 dered from doing it ; therefore here is a rubric lu?S™* y 
 added for their comfort, and to remove all fears 
 that may arise on such occasions : by which the Curate is di- 
 rected, that if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, 
 or for want of giving warning in due time, or for lack of com- 
 pany to receive with him, or by any other just impediment, do 
 not receive the Sacrament of Christ's body and blood, he is to 
 instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, and 
 steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon 
 the cross for him, and shed his blood for his redemption, earn- 
 estly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him 
 hearty thajiks therefore, he doth eat and drink the body and 
 blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's health, al- 
 though he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth. For 
 the means, whereby we partake of the benefits of this Sacra- 
 ment, is a lively faith : and therefore as our Church asserts in 
 her Articles 96 that the wicked, and such as be void of a lively 
 faith, although they do carnally and visibly press ivith their 
 teeth (as St. Augustine saith) the sacrament of the body and 
 blood of Christ ; yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ, 
 but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the sign and 
 sacrament of so great a thing ; so here she declares, that if a 
 sick man be hindered by any just impediment from receiving 
 the sacrament of Christ's body and blood ; yet by faith and 
 repentance, and by mentally laying hold of the benefits ob- 
 tained for him by Christ, he doth eat and drink the body and 
 
 '•'« Article XXIX. 
 
464 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xn. 
 
 blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his souTs health, al- 
 though he do not receive the sacrament with his mouth. 
 
 §. 5. The last rubric, which is concerning the 
 ie ast ru nc |^j n j s | ;er ' s communicating alone with the sick 
 person, in times of contagious sickness, has already been 
 spoken to in §. 4, of the foregoing section. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 OF THE ORDER FOR THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The care of dead * F a ^ our P ra y ers an ^ endeavours for our friend 
 bodies an act of prove unavailable for the continuance of his life, 
 religion. we mus t; w ith patience submit to the will of God, 
 
 to whom the issues of life and death belong : and therefore, 
 after recommending his soul to God, which immediately upon 
 its dissolution returns to him, it is fit we should decently dis- 
 pose of his body, which is left to our management and care. 
 Not that the dead are any thing the better for the honours 
 which we perform to their corpses, (for we know that several 
 of the ancient philosophers cared not whether they were bu- 
 ried or not ; l and the ancient martyrs of the Christian Church 
 despised their persecutors for threatening them with the want of 
 a grave.) But those who survive could never endure that the 
 shame of nature should lie exposed, nor see the bodies of those 
 they loved become a prey to birds and beasts. 2 For these 
 reasons the very heathens called it a divine institution, 3 and a 
 law of the immortal gods. 4 And the Romans especially had a 
 peculiar deity to preside over this affair. 5 The Athenians 
 were so strict, that they would not admit any to be magis- 
 trates, who had not taken care of their parents' sepulture; 6 
 and beheaded one of their generals after he had gotten a vic- 
 tory, for throwing the dead bodies of the slain, in a tempest, 
 into the sea. 7 And Plutarch relates, that before they engaged 
 with the Persians, they took a solemn oath, that if they were 
 conquerors, they would bury their foes ; this being a privilege 
 
 1 Plato in Phaed. 182. Cicer. Tusculan. Quaest. 2 See 2 Sam. xx. 10, and Lactant. 
 1. 6. 3 Isocrat. Panath. 4 Eurip. in Supplic. Sophocl. in Antigon. 5 Plut. 
 
 Vit. Numae. 6 Xenoph. Rer. Memorabil. p. 587. ' Valer. Max. 1. 9, c. 8. 
 
introduction.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 465 
 
 which even an enemy hath a right to, as being a debt which 
 is owing to humanity. 
 
 §. 2. It is true indeed, the manner of funerals 
 has varied according to the different customs of oS^^Sed. 
 several countries ; but all civilized nations have 
 ever agreed in performing some funeral rites or other. The 
 most ancient manner was by burying them in the 
 earth; which is indeed so natural, that some Jy Z bu r y ™ e gi mes 
 brutes have been observed, by mere instinct, to which was the 
 bury their dead with wonderful care. 8 The SnatuSl; 
 body, we know, was formed of the dust at first, 
 and therefore it is fit it should return to the earth as it was ; 9 
 insomuch that some heathens have, by the light of reason, 
 called burying in the earth, the being hid in our mother's lap, 
 and the being covered with lier skirt. 10 And that interment, 
 or enclosing the dead body in the grave, was used anciently 
 by the Egyptians and other nations of the East, is plain from 
 the account we have of their embalming, and from their 
 mummies, which are frequently found to this day whole and 
 entire, though some of them have lain above three thousand 
 years in their graves. That the same practice of burying was 
 used by the patriarchs, and their successors the Jews, we have 
 abundant testimony from the most ancient records in the 
 world, the books of Moses ; by which we find that their 
 funerals were performed, and their sepulchres provided with 
 an officious piety : u and that it was usual for parents to take 
 an oath of their children (which they religiously performed) 
 that they should bury them with their fathers, and carry their 
 bones with them, whenever they quitted their land where 
 they were. 12 In succeeding ages indeed it be- 
 came a custom in some places to burn the bodies A b y S hu™h!g? S 
 of the dead ; which was owing partly to a fear 
 that some injury might be offered them if they were only 
 buried, by digging their corpses again out of their graves ; 
 and partly to a conceit, that the souls of those that were 
 burnt were carried up by the flames to heaven. 13 
 
 §. 3. But though other nations sometimes used Burying always 
 interment, and sometimes burning, yet the Jews used by Jews 
 confined themselves to the former alone. There and Christians - 
 
 8 Orig. in Cels. 1.4. jElian. Hist. Animal. 5, 49. » See Gen. iii. 19. Eccles. xii. 7 
 l ° See the Notes upon Grotius de Veritat. Relig. Christian. 1. i. §. 26, p. 40, edit. Cler. 
 Ainstel. 1709. » Gen. xxiii. 4. xxv. 9. xxxv. 29. xlix. 31. ]2 Gen. xlvii. 29, 30, 
 31. xlviii. 29 to 33. 1. 25, 26. Exod. xiii. 19. See also Josh. xxiv. 32. Acts vii. 16. Heb. 
 xi. 22. ™ Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 7, c. 54. 
 
 2 H 
 
466 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 is a place or two indeed in our translation of the Old Testa- 
 ment, 14 which might lead us to imagine that the rite of 
 burning was also used by them sometimes. But upon con- 
 sulting the original texts, and the customs of the Jews, it 
 does not appear that the burnings there mentioned were any 
 thing more than the burning of odours and spices about their 
 bodies, which was an honour they usually performed to their 
 kings. 15 So that, notwithstanding these texts, we may safely 
 enough conclude, that interment or burying was the only rite 
 with them ; as it was also in after times with the Christian 
 Church. For wherever paganism was extirpated, the custom 
 of burning was disused ; and the first natural way of laying 
 up the bodies of the deceased entire in the grave, obtained in 
 the room of it. 
 A1 S. 4. And this has always been done with such 
 
 Always per- <5 . J . 
 
 formed with due solemnity, as is proper to the occasion. Ibome- 
 soiemnity. times indeed it has been attended with an ex- 
 
 pensive pomp, that is unseemly and extravagant. But this 
 is no reason why we should not give all the expressions of a 
 decent respect to the memory of those whom God takes from 
 us. The description of the persons who interred our Saviour, 
 the enumeration of their virtues, and the everlasting com- 
 mendation of her who spent three hundred pennyworth of 
 spikenard to anoint his body to the burial, have always been 
 thought sufficient grounds and encouragements for the careful 
 and decent sepulture of Christians. And indeed, if the regard 
 due to a human soul rendered some respect to the dead a 
 principle that manifested itself to the common sense of 
 heathens, shall we think that less care is due to the bodies of 
 Christians, who once entertained a more glorious inhabitant, 
 and were living temples of the Holy Ghost ? 16 to bodies which 
 were consecrated to the service of God ; which bore their 
 part in the duties of religion ; fought the good fight of faith 
 and patience, self-denial and mortification ; and underwent 
 the fatigue of many hardships and afflictions for the sake of 
 piety and virtue ? to bodies which, we believe, shall one day 
 be awakened again from their sleep of death ; have all their 
 scattered particles of dust summoned together into their due 
 order, and he fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, 11 as 
 being made partakers of the same glory with their immortal 
 
 i* 1 Sam. xxxi. 12. Amos vi. 10. 15 See 2 Chron. xvi. 14. xxi. 19. Jer. xxxiv. 5. 
 
 « I Cor. vi. 19. 17 Phil. iii. 21. See also 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44. 
 
sect. I.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 467 
 
 souls, as once they were of the same sufferings and good 
 works? Surely bodies so honoured here, and to be so glori- 
 fied hereafter, and which too we own even in the state of 
 death to be under the care of a divine providence and protec- 
 tion, are not to be exposed and despised by us as unworthy 
 of our regard. Moved by these considerations, the primitive 
 Christians, though they made no use of ointments whilst they 
 lived, yet they did not think the most precious too costly to 
 be used about the dead. 18 And yet this was so far from being 
 reproached with superstition, that it is ever reported as a laud- 
 able custom, and such as had something in it so engaging, 
 so agreeable to the notions of civilized nature, as to have a 
 very considerable influence upon the Heathens, who observed 
 and admired it; it becoming instrumental in the disposing them 
 to a favourable opinion at first, and afterwards to the em- 
 bracing of the Christian religion, where these decencies and 
 tender regards to deceased friends and good people were so 
 constantly, so carefully, and so religiously practised. 19 
 
 §. 5. To say exactly what was the Primitive 
 Office or Form at the committing a Christian to ***$$$£"* 
 the ground, is a difficult matter : but we are sure 
 that Psalms were a principal part of it, from the concurrent 
 testimonies of ancient writers. 20 Not but that these were ac- 
 companied with suitable prayers for the restitution of the de- 
 ceased, with praises of those virtues which they were eminent 
 for whilst living, and with ample recommendations of their 
 good example to those who survived. And how agreeable 
 our present office is to this, will be best seen by taking a dis- 
 tinct view of its particulars, which I shall now proceed to do 
 in the same order that they lie. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the first Rubric. 
 
 Though all persons are, for decency, and some Christian burial 
 other of the reasons that have been mentioned denied to some 
 above, to be put under ground ; yet it appears sort8 of P ersons - 
 by the rubric, (which was prefixed to this office at the last re- 
 view,) as well as by the canons of the ancient Church, that 
 
 w Minut. Felix, c. 12, p. 69. Arnob. 1. 5. Clem. Alex. Psedagog. 1. 2, c. 8, p. 17G, A. 
 19 This was observed by Julian the Apostate, who, writing to an idolatrous high-priest, 
 put him in mind of those things by which he thought the Christians gained upon the 
 world, and recommends them to the practice of the heathen priests, viz. the gravity of 
 their carriage, their kindness to strangers, and their care for the burial of the dead. 
 Epist. 40. ad Arsatium. *> Const. Ap. 1. fi, c. 30, p. 351. 359. Chrys. Horn. 4, in Ep. 
 ad llebr. torn. iv. p. 453, lin. 35. Concil. Tolet. 3, Can. 12, torn. v. col. 1014, D. 
 
 2 h 2 
 
468 OF THE ORDER FOR THE Ichap. xii. 
 
 some are not capable of Christian burial. Here it is to 
 be noted, that the office ensuing is not to be used for any that 
 die unbaptized or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands 
 upon themselves. 
 .... . I. The prohibiting the Burial-office to be used 
 
 As, first, to such * . o 
 
 as die unbap- for any or these, is exactly agreeable to the an- 
 tlzed " cient practice of the Church. For, first, in re- 
 
 lation to such as die unbaptized, the first Council of Bracara, 
 which was held A. D. 563, determines, that there should be no 
 oblations or commemorations made for tliem, neither should 
 the office of singing be used at their funerals. 2 ^ Not that the 
 Church determines any thing concerning the future state of 
 those that depart before they are admitted to baptism : but 
 since they have not been received within the pale of the Church, 
 we cannot properly use an office at their funeral, which all 
 along supposes the person that is buried to have died in her 
 communion. 
 
 whether ersons §' ^" Whether this office is to be used over 
 baptized P by S °the such as have been baptized by the dissenters or 
 hereexciuded sectaries, who have no regular commission for 
 the administering of the sacraments, has been a 
 subject of dispute ; people generally determining on one side 
 or the other, according to their different sentiments of the va- 
 lidity or invalidity of such disputed baptisms. But I think that 
 for determining the question before us, there is no occasion 
 to enter into the merits of that cause : for whether the bap- 
 tisms among the dissenters be valid or not, I do not appre- 
 hend that it lies upon us to take notice of any baptisms, except 
 they are to be proved by the registers of the Church. Unless 
 therefore we ourselves betray our own rights, by registering 
 spurious among the genuine baptisms, persons baptized among 
 the dissenters can have no just claim to the use of this office. 
 For the rubric expressly declares, that it is not to be used for 
 any that die unbaptized: but all persons are supposed to die 
 unbaptized, but those whose baptisms the registers own : and 
 therefore the registers not owning dissenting baptisms, those 
 that die with such baptisms must be supposed to die unbap- 
 tized. But indeed the best way to put an end to this contro- 
 versy, is to desire those that have separate places of worship, 
 to have separate places for burial too ; or at least to be con- 
 
 41 Concil. Bracar. 1, Can. 17, torn v. col. 841, C. 
 
sect, i.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 469 
 
 tent to put their dead into the ground, without requiring the 
 prayers of a Minister, whose assistance in every thing but in 
 this and marriage they neglect and despise. 
 
 II The next persons to whom the Church Secondly) to such 
 here denies the office of burial, are those that die as die excommu- 
 excommunicate ; i. e. those who die excommuni- mcate- 
 cated with the greater excommunication, as it is expressed by 
 the sixty-eighth canon. And to such as these Christian burial 
 has ever been denied by the Catholic Church. 22 The intent 
 of which penalty is to bring the excommunicate to seek the 
 absolution and peace of the Church, for the health of his soul, 
 before he leaves the world ; and if not, to declare him cut off 
 from the body of Christ, and by this mark of infamy to dis- 
 tinguish him from an obedient and regular Christian. 
 
 §. 2. The learned Mr. Johnson is of opinion, 23 
 that persons notoriously guilty of any of those facto excomm P u-° 
 crimes, for which excommunication ipso facto ^manTrom 1 ™ 16 
 is decreed against them by the canons of our christian burial, 
 Church, 24 are really excommunicated, though Jp^unced 6 
 they be not particularly by name published or 
 declared to be so ; and that therefore a Minister may refuse 
 to bury them, if they die in this condition, and no one be able 
 to testify of their repentance. To confirm which, he observes 
 from the canonists, that it is a sufficient denunciation, if it 
 come to the knowledge of the person excommunicated : 25 so 
 that the Curate, who has taken care that his parishioners who 
 are guilty of those crimes be made sensible that they are ex- 
 communicated by canon, seems to be under no obligation to 
 bury them when they are dead. And yet this learned gentle- 
 man observes just before, 26 that the judges have declared that 
 excommunication takes no effect as to the common law, till it 
 be denounced by the Ordinary and Curate of the place where 
 the offender lives. He also refers to Lyndwood, 27 to shew, 
 that if the fact be not notorious or evident beyond exception, 
 then it must be proved, and the sentence passed in the ecclesi- 
 astical court, before the criminal be taken for excommunicated 
 inforo Ecclesice. Now certainly before he be taken for ex- 
 communicated he is not to be denied Christian burial, which 
 
 « Synes. Ep. 58, p. 203, A. Concil. Bracar. 1, Can. 16, torn. v. col. 841, E. Decretal. 
 1. 3. Tit. 39, c. 12, et 1. 5. Tit. 53, c. 5. *» See Clergyman's Vade Mecum, p. 185, 
 
 of the fifth edition. ** See Canon II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. XII. 
 
 ** Lyndw. in Gloss. 1. 3, T. 28, c. Seculi Principes v. Excommunicato 26 Ibid. p. 
 1S8. * L. 1, T. 2, Gloss, vers, finem. 
 
470 OF THE ORDER FOR THE Tchap. xzr. 
 
 is treating him as excommunicated. It is true, Mr. Johnson 
 is here speaking of a case where the fact is not notorious ; but 
 then he goes on to prove from the same author, 28 that though 
 the fact be notorious, yet the offender must be publicly de- 
 clared excommunicated, before it can be criminal for other 
 persons to converse with him. From whence I would infer, 
 that so long as he is allowed the conversation of Christians, he 
 may also be indulged with a Christian burial. But he further 
 observes from the same place in Lyndwood, that when the 
 fact is notorious, the Curate of the parish may denounce the 
 excommunication, without any special order from his superior. 
 If so, then nobody, I suppose, will deny, that, when the Curate 
 has denounced it, he is to be refused the use of this office of 
 burial by the injunction of the canon, 29 and the rubric before 
 us. But the greatest difficulty is in what he asserts in the fol- 
 lowing paragraph, viz. That the offender is to be deemed ex- 
 communicate, before such publication is made ; which he 
 founds upon supposition, that if it were otherwise, there would 
 be no difference between Constitutio Sententice latce, and 
 Constitutio Sententice ferendce. But, with submission to this 
 gentleman, I can conceive a difference between these consti- 
 tutions, without deeming an offender excommunicate before 
 publication is made. For Constitutio Sententice latce may 
 signify, that the criminal, as soon as ever he is convicted and 
 found guilty of the crime alleged against him, incurs the 
 penalty inflicted by the canon, without any further sentence 
 pronounced, than a declaration that he actually is and has 
 been under the censure of the said canon : whereas Consti- 
 tutio Sententice ferendce may require not only that the cri- 
 minal should be convicted, but also that after his conviction 
 the sentence should be pronounced solemnly and in form, not- 
 withstanding the canon may expressly declare what the pun- 
 ishment shall be. And this I take to be the sense in which 
 Lyndwood and other lawyers understand it, whom certainly 
 we must allow to be the best judges in the case. And this 
 will explain what Mr. Johnson observes the canonists say, viz. 
 that Excommunicato ipso facto is Excommunicato facta 
 nullo minis terio Iwminis interveniente ; that an ipso facto ex- 
 communication is an excommunication that takes effect with- 
 out the intervention of any man's ministry. For whenever a 
 canon says, that a criminal is ipso facto excommunicated, the 
 
 28 Lyndw. I. 3, T. 28, vers, finem. » Canon LXVIII. 
 
sect, i.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 471 
 
 excommunication takes place as soon as he is tried, and found 
 guilty of the crime, without any one's pronouncing any other 
 sentence upon him, than that, by virtue of his crime, he is, 
 and has been excommunicated by the canon ; and that not 
 only from the time that he is proved convict, but from the 
 very time that he committed the fault : insomuch that all 
 the advantages, penalties, and forfeitures that may be taken 
 and demanded of a person excommunicated, may be taken 
 and demanded of such a person quite back to the time when 
 he committed the fact, for which he is now declared excom- 
 municate. But still, though a criminal becomes liable to this 
 censure from the very instant he commits the crime ; yet he 
 cannot legally be proceeded against, nor treated as excommu- 
 nicate, before he is actually convicted and declared so to be. 
 It is true the canonists suppose that a man may and ought to 
 shun the company of one, whom he knows to have incurred 
 excommunication ; but private conversation is what any one 
 may withhold from whomsoever he pleases, and what therefore 
 a man ought to withhold from such a one as he knows, or be- 
 lieves, he is able to convict of having incurred a greater 
 penalty. But this does not affect the question between Mr. 
 Johnson and me. The question between us is about denying 
 a man the sacraments and public offices of the Church, which 
 the canonists 30 assert every man may claim, till it appears 
 legally that he has forfeited his right to them. And therefore 
 (which is the principal point here concerned) no man can be 
 refused Christian burial, however subject he may have ren- 
 dered himself to an ipso facto excommunication, unless he 
 has been formally tried and convicted, and actually pronounced 
 and declared excommunicate, and no man is able to testify of 
 his repentance. By this clause in the canon, 31 indeed, one 
 would be apt to imagine, that if any were able to testify of his 
 repentance, the man has a right to Christian burial, though 
 his sentence was not reversed : and to some such testimonies 
 perhaps it might be owing, that since the Reformation, as well 
 as before, commissions have been granted not only to bury 
 persons who died excommunicate, but in some cases to absolve 
 them, in order to Christian burial. 32 But the rubric speaks 
 indefinitely of all that die excommunicate, and so seems to 
 include all whose sentence was not reversed in their lifetime, 
 
 *> Deer. Par. 2, Caus. 6, Quaest. 2, c. 3, verb, placuit. 31 Canon LXVIII. 
 
 ■ See Bishop Gibson's Codex, Tit. 23, cap. 2, p. 540. 
 
472 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 without supposing any benefit to be obtained by an absolution 
 
 afterwards. 
 
 ,_ . „ III. The last persons mentioned in the rubric 
 
 Thirdly, to such j • • o i 7 »■•■»« 
 
 as lay violent we are discoursing or, are such as have (aid vio- 
 hands upon \ en i hands upon themselves ; to whom all Chris- 
 tian Churches, as we]l as our own, have ever 
 denied the use of this office. 33 And indeed none have been 
 so justly and so universally deprived of that natural right which 
 all men seem to have in a grave, as those who break this 
 great law of nature, the law of self-preservation. Such as 
 these were forbid both by Jews and Heathens to be put under 
 ground, that their naked bodies might lie exposed to public 
 view. 34 And the indignity which (if I mistake not) our own 
 laws enjoin to the bodies of those that murder themselves, viz. 
 that they shall be buried in the high- way, and have a stake 
 drove through them, though it is something more modest, yet 
 is not less severe. 
 
 Whether a per- §• 2 - This indignity indeed is to be only offered 
 son that kills to those who lay violent hands on themselves, 
 noncompofmfn- whilst they are of sound sense and mind : for they 
 tis, be excluded who are deprived of reason or understanding can- 
 y is ru nc. nQ j. contract any guilt, and therefore it would be 
 unreasonable to inflict upon them any penalty. But then it 
 may be questioned, whether even these are not exempted from 
 having this office said over them ; since neither the rubric nor 
 our old ecclesiastical laws 35 make any exception in favour of 
 those who may kill themselves in distraction, and since the 
 office is in several parts of it improper for such a case. As to 
 the coroner's warrant, I take that to be no more than a cer- 
 tificate that the body is not demanded by the law, and that 
 therefore the relations may dispose of it as they please. For 
 I cannot apprehend that the coroner is to determine the sense 
 of a rubric, or to prescribe to the Minister when Christian 
 burial is to be used. The scandalous practice of them and 
 their inquests, notwithstanding the strictness of their oath, in 
 almost constantly returning every one they sit upon to be non 
 compos mentis, (though the very circumstances of their mur- 
 dering themselves are frequently a proof of the soundness of 
 their senses,) sufficiently shew how much their verdict is to be 
 
 33 Vide Concil. Bracar. 1, Can. 16, ut supra, L. L. Edgari, c. 15, in Can. de modo 
 imponendi Poenitentiam. Concil. torn. ix. col. 690, B. 34 Joseph. Bell. Judaic. 1. 3, 
 c. 14. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 36, c. 15. Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic. 1. 15, c. 10. Servius in ^Eneid. 
 !2. * See Mr. Johnson, A. D. 740, 96, in the CCCC MS. and 963, 24. 
 
sect, u.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 473 
 
 depended on. It is not very difficult indeed to account for 
 this : we need only to be informed, that if a man be found 
 felo de se, all he was possessed of devolves to the king, to be 
 disposed of by the lord almoner, according to his discretion : 
 and no fee being allowed out of this to the coroner, it is no 
 wonder that the verdict is generally for the heirs, from whom 
 a gratuity is seldom wanting. They plead indeed, that it is 
 hard to give away the subsistence of a family : but these gen- 
 tlemen should remember, that they are not sworn to be cha- 
 ritable, but to be just ; that their business is to inquire, not 
 what is convenient and proper to be done with that which is 
 forfeited, but how the person came by his death ; whether by 
 another or himself; if by himself, whether he was felo de sc\ 
 or non compos mentis. As the coroner indeed summons whom 
 he pleases on the jury, and then delivers to them what charge 
 he pleases, it is easy enough for him to influence their judg- 
 ments, and to instil a general supposition, that a self-murderer 
 must needs be mad, since no one would kill himself, unless he 
 were out of his senses. But the jury should consider, that if 
 the case were so, it would be to no purpose for the law to ap- 
 point so formal an inquiry. For, according to this supposi- 
 tion, such inquiry must be vain and impertinent, since the 
 fact itself would be evidence sufficient. It is true indeed, 
 there may be a moral madness, i. e. a misapplication of the 
 understanding, in all self-murderers : but this sort of madness 
 does not come under the cognizance of a jury ; the question 
 with them being, not whether the understanding was misap- 
 plied^ but whether there was any understanding at all. In 
 short, the best rule for a jury to guide themselves by in such 
 a case, is to judge whether the signs of madness, that are now 
 pretended, would avail to acquit the same person of murder- 
 ing another man : if not, there is. no reason why they should 
 be urged as a plea for acquitting him of murdering himself. 
 But this is a little wide from my subject : however, it may be 
 of use to shew, what little heed is to be given to a coroner's 
 warrant, and that there is no reason, because a coroner pros- 
 titutes his oath, that the clergy should be so complaisant as to 
 prostitute their office. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the second Rubric. 
 
 Before the burial a short peal is to be rung, 36 A pe aitoberun ? 
 to give the relations and neighbours notice of the before the Burial. 
 
 » Canon LXVII. 
 
474 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 time, and to call them to pay their last attendance to their 
 deceased friend. 
 
 §. 2. The time generally appointed for this is 
 Th funem e is for ^ ate m tne evening, from whence the bearers had 
 the name of vespillones. And as death is a sleep, 
 and the grave a resting-place, the night is not improper for 
 these solemnities. The primitive Christians indeed, by reason 
 of their persecutions, were obliged to bury their dead in the 
 night ; but when afterwards they were delivered from these 
 apprehensions, they voluntarily retained their old custom ; 
 only making use of lighted torches, (which we still continue,) 
 as well, I suppose, for convenience, as to express their hope of 
 the departed's being gone into the regions of light. 37 
 
 §. 3. The friends and relations being assembled 
 t^pToTessTonf together, the body is brought forth, and 'in some 
 places is still, as anciently it was every where, 
 laid upon the shoulders of some of the most intimate friends 
 of the deceased : 38 though there have generally been some 
 particular bearers appointed for this office, who were called 
 by the Greeks Kottiwvtsq, or Ko7riarcu, 39 and vespillones by the 
 Latins, for the reasons before named. The body being in a 
 readiness, and moving towards the church, the chief mourn- 
 ers first, and then all the company follow it in order, intimat- 
 ing that all of them must shortly follow their deceased friend 
 in the same path of death. 40 
 
 §. 4. But to express their hopes that their 
 g^venaSeTS. fri ena " is not l° st for ever, each person in the com- 
 pany usually bears in his hand a sprig of rose- 
 mary ; a custom which seems to have taken its rise from a prac- 
 tice among the heathens, of a quite different import. For they 
 having no thoughts of a future resurrection, but believing that 
 the bodies of those that were dead would for ever lie in the 
 grave, made use of cypress at their funerals, which is a tree 
 that being once cut never revives, but dies away. 41 But 
 Christians, on the other side, having better hopes, and know- 
 ing that this very body of their friend, which they are now 
 going solemnly to commit to the grave, shall one day rise 
 again, and be reunited to his soul, instead of cypress, distri- 
 
 3* Chrys. Horn. 4, in Hebr. torn. iv. p. 453, lin. 34, et Horn. 116. Greg. Nyss. in Vit. 
 S. Macrinse in Append, p. 201, B. Hieron. Ep. 27, de Paula, c. 13. 3S Greg. Naz. 
 
 Orat. 20, torn. i. p. 371, C Greg. Nyss. et Hieron. ut supra. 39 Epist. ad Antiochen. 
 Ignat. adscripta, p. 88, edit. Voss. Lond. 1680. Epiphan. Compend. Doctr. Fid. Cathol. 
 40 Euchol. Graec. per Goar. p. 526. Alex, ib Alex. 1. 3, c. 7. Donat. in Terent. Andr. 
 act. 1, seen. 1, p. 20. « Plin. 1. 16, c. 33, et Serv. in ^Eneid. 3, v. 70. See also Ken- 
 net's Roman Antiquities, p. 343. 
 
ses*. ll.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 475 
 
 bute rosemary to the company, which (being always green, 
 and nourishing the more for being cropt, and of which a sprig 
 only being set in the ground will sprout up immediately, and 
 branch into a tree) is more proper to express this confidence 
 and trust; 42 a custom not unlike that practised by the Jews, 
 who, as they went with a corpse to the grave, plucked up 
 every one a handful of grass, to denote that their brother was 
 but so cropt off, and should again spring up in his proper 
 season. 43 
 
 §. 5. The corpse having been brought in this 
 manner or procession to the entrance of the ckjrk^t^meet 
 churchyard, or to the church-stile, (as it was the corpse at the 
 expressed in king Edward's first book,) the cSS^rl the 
 Priest in his surplice^ and the Clerks, of whom 
 I have spoken before, 45 are ordered by the rubric there to 
 meet it ; so that the attendance of the Minister at the house 
 of the deceased, and his accompanying it all the way from 
 thence, is a mere voluntary respect, which he is at liberty to 
 pay or refuse as he pleases. For, as it was expressed in the 
 Injunctions of king Edward VI., Forasmuch as Priests be 
 public Ministers of the Church, and upon the holy -days ought 
 to apply themselves to the common administration of the whole 
 parish ; they are not bound to go to women lying in child-bed, 
 except in time of dangerous sickness, and not to fetch any corpse 
 before it be brought to the churchyard.* 6 And so by our present 
 canons, 47 the corpse must be brought to the church or church- 
 yard, and convenient warning too must be given the Minister 
 beforehand, or else there is no penalty lies upon him for either 
 delaying or refusing to bury it. 
 
 §. 6. But the corpse being capable of Christian And t0 g0 before 
 burial, and having been brought in due form, it to the church 
 and after due notice given, to the entrance of or grave * 
 the churchyard ; there the Minister must meet it** and, as the 
 present rubric further directs, go before it either into the church, 
 or towards the grave ; i. e. (if I rightly understand the words) 
 if the corpse be to be buried within the church, he shall go 
 directly thither ; but if in the churchyard, he may first go to 
 
 « Durand. Rational. Divin. Offic. 1. 7, c. 35, num. 38, fol. 457. * 3 See Mr. Gre- 
 gory's Sermon on the Resurrection, among his Posthumous Works, p. 70, and Leo Mo- 
 dena's Rites of the present Jews, published by Mr. Ockley, page 228. « See chap. 2, 
 sect. 4, p. 102. *» See page 154. * 6 Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 11. * 7 See 
 Canon LXVIII. 48 Under pain of suspension from his ministry by the space of 
 
 three months. See Canon LXVIII. 
 
476 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 the grave : 49 for now, according to the general custom, every 
 one is at liberty to be buried in which he pleases, 
 in what places ^nd indeed all nations whatsoever, Jews, Hea- 
 the dead were thens, and Christians, have ever had solemn 
 used to be buned. pi aces set a p ar t f or this use ; but in permitting 
 their dead to be buried either in or near their places of wor- 
 ship, the Christians differ from both the former. For the 
 Jews being forbid to touch or come near any dead body, and 
 it being declared that they who did so were denied, had al- 
 ways their sepulchres without the city : 50 and from them it is 
 probable the Greeks and Romans derived, not only the notion 
 of being polluted by a dead corpse, but the law also of bury- 
 ing without the walls. 51 For this reason the Christians, so 
 long as the law was in force throughout the Eoman empire, 
 were obliged, in compliance with it, to bury their dead with- 
 out the gates of the city : 52 a custom which prevailed here in 
 England till about the middle of the eighth century, when 
 archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury obtained a dispensation 
 from the pope for making churchyards within the walls. 53 
 However, that the Christians did not do this out of any belief 
 that the body of a dead Christian denied the place or persons 
 near it, may be inferred from their consecrating their old 
 places of burial into places of divine worship, and by build- 
 ing their churches, as soon as they had liberty, over some or 
 other of the martyrs' graves. 54 After churches were built, 
 indeed, they suffered no body to be buried in them ; but had 
 distinct places contiguous to them appropriated to this use, 
 which, from the metaphor of sleep, by which death in Scrip- 
 ture is often described, were called Koifijjrrjpia, i. e. cemeteries, 
 or sleeping -places. The first that we read of, as buried any 
 where else, was Constantine the Great, to whom it was in- 
 dulged, as a singular honour, to be buried in the church- 
 porch. 55 Nor were any of the Eastern emperors, for several 
 centuries afterwards, admitted to be buried any nearer to the 
 church ; for several canons had been made against allowing 
 of this to any person, of what dignity soever: 56 and even in 
 our own Church we find, that in the end of the seventh cen- 
 tury, an archbishop of Canterbury had not been buried within 
 
 49 See more of this below, in sect. IV. 60 See Luke vii. 12. 61 L. L. 12, Tabul. 
 ut in Alex, ab Alex. 1. 3, c. 2. 52 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 10. Vide et Baron. Annal. 
 torn. ii. ad ann. 130. 53 See Godwin's Life of Cuthbert. 5 * Chrys. torn. v. Horn. 3. 
 55 Chrys. Horn. 26, in 2 Cor. torn. iii. page 687. Callisth. Hist. Eccl. 1. 14, c. 58, torn 
 ii. page 582, B. « Concil. Bracar. Can, 18, torn, v col. 842. Concil. Nannetenj 
 
 c. 6, et Concil. Tribmr. Can. 17. 
 
sect, in.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 477 
 
 the church, but that the porch was full with six of his prede- 
 cessors that had been buried there before. 57 By a canon made 
 in king Edgar's reign, about the middle of the tenth century, 
 " no man was allowed to be buried in the church, unless it 
 were known that he had so pleased God in his lifetime, as to 
 be worthy of such a burying-place ; " M though above a hundred 
 years afterwards we meet with another canon, made at a 
 council at Winchester, that seems again to prohibit all corpses 
 whatsoever, without any exception, from being buried in 
 churches. 59 But in later times, every one, that could pay for 
 the honour, has been generally allowed it ; but since all can- 
 not purchase it, nor the churches contain all, there is a ne- 
 cessity of providing some other conveniences for this use. 
 And this has generally been done, as I observed before, 
 by enclosing some of the ground round the church, for a 
 burying-place, or churchyard ; that so, as the faithful are 
 going to the house of prayer, they may be brought to a fit 
 temper and disposition of mind, by a prospect of the graves 
 and monuments of their friends : nothing being more apt to 
 raise our devotion, than serious thoughts upon death and 
 mortality. I need not say now whether the church or church- 
 yard be the most ancient and proper place for burial ; nor 
 have I any thing left to say further on this head, than that 
 in whichever the grave is, the Priest is to go before, and to 
 lead the company thither, and to conduct, and introduce, as 
 it were, the corpse of the deceased into its house of rest. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Sentences to be used ingoing to the Church, 
 
 or the Grave. 
 Since the following a dear and beloved friend _. „ . 
 
 . , ° , ,, The Sentences. 
 
 to the grave must naturally raise in us some 
 melancholy and concern, the Church calls in the aids of re- 
 ligion to raise and cheer our dejected hearts. It was with 
 this design that pious antiquity carried out their dead with 
 hymns of triumph, as conquerors that had gloriously finished 
 their course, and were now going to receive their crown 
 of victory. 60 To this end again were those hallelujahs 
 sung of old, as they went to the grave ; 61 a custom still 
 retained in many parts of this nation, where they divert the 
 grief of the friends and mourners by singing psalms from the 
 house to the very entrance of the churchyard. And here the 
 
 57 See Bishop Godwin's Life of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury. 5s Mr. John- 
 son's Laws, 9(30, 29. 59 Ibid. 1071, 9. M Chrys. llom. 4, in Ep. ad Hebr. 
 61 Ilieron. ad Eustoch. Ep. 27, et ad Oceanum, En. 30. 
 
478 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 holy man comes forth to meet us, and immediately salutes us 
 with the gospel of peace. And indeed whither should we go 
 for consolations on this occasion, but to that storehouse of 
 comfort, which is furnished with remedies for every grief? 
 
 I. He begins with the words which were 
 o nxi.- , . S p k en a £ fi rst by t ne blessed Jesus, as he was 
 
 going towards the grave of a beloved friend, with intent to 
 comfort a pious mourner ; words so proper to the occasion, 
 that they have been used in the Burial-office of almost all 
 Churches whatever. 62 Poor Martha's affection and sorrow for 
 her brother had almost swallowed up her faith in Jesus, and 
 it is not unusual for the same passions still to prevail to the 
 same excessive degree : but our Lord here comforts both her 
 and us, by reminding us of his omnipotence, and absolute 
 power to raise the dead, and restore them to life, as well in a 
 natural as a spiritual sense. If then we can recover but the 
 exercise of our faith, we shall be much more at ease ; as re- 
 membering that the soul of our deceased friend, though parted 
 from his body, is still alive, and that even his corpse, which 
 we follow, shall live again as soon as ever Christ shall call it. 
 
 II. As a noble example of the exercise of that 
 Job xi 27. 25, 26, faith* which the foregoing sentence was designed 
 
 to raise in us, Job is proposed to us in this that 
 follows. And surely if he, who lived among the Gentiles so 
 long before the revelation of Christianity, could sustain his 
 spirit with the hopes of a resurrection ; it will be no small re- 
 proach to us, who have fuller and better assurances of it, to 
 be slower in our belief of this article than he. The old trans- 
 lation of these verses in Job, (which was retained in our office 
 till the last review, when from the Scotch Liturgy it was 
 changed for the new one,) as it was more agreeable to the 
 ancient versions and the sense of the Fathers, so was it more 
 applicable to the present occasion. The words, as they stood 
 then, ran as follow : I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
 I shall rise out of the earth in the last day, and shall be covered 
 again with my skin, and shall see God in my flesh ; yea, and 
 I myself shall behold him,, not with other, but with these same 
 eyes. Thus the Fathers read it, and accordingly explained it 
 of a particular resurrection of this very body. 63 And in this 
 sense it is an admirable consolation to all that mourn for the 
 
 68 Aug. Verb. Apost. Serm. 35. Durand. Rational. 1. 7, c. 35. Eucholog. Offic. 
 Exequ. pag. 527. 63 Chrys. et Hieron. in loc. Aug. de Civ. Dei, 22, 29, et Serm. 
 
 2, de Nat. Dom. 
 
sect, in.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 479 
 
 loss of friends, viz. to believe with holy Job, that the same 
 person we are now laying in the earth, there to crumble and 
 moulder into dust, shall in due time, by the power of God, 
 arise from his grave, and live again. We lose indeed the sight 
 of him for a season, but we know that Jesus our Redeemer 
 liveth, who will in due time raise us all from the dust, when 
 both our friend and we shall all behold him, and even know 
 and distinguish each other again with these very eyes. 
 
 III. The next grace to be exercised at this 
 time is patience, which, upon these occasions, is J Tl JJijY' 2 7 i. and 
 often violently assaulted by worldly consider- 
 ations : for when we reflect on our own loss in being deprived 
 of a friend ; or descend lower, to reflect upon the comforts of 
 the world which he hath left behind him, our passions are apt 
 to overflow. But here a third sentence comes in to allay both 
 these griefs. We have lost, perhaps, a tender, dear, and use- 
 ful friend : but what then r we brought no friends with us into 
 the world, nor can we carry them out from hence. They 
 were given us by God, who can raise up others in their stead ; 
 and they are taken away by him, to wean our affections from 
 any thing here. We should therefore rather bless the Giver 
 for the time we have enjoyed them, than murmur at his 
 taking them, after he has lent them us so long. 
 
 Again, as to our friend, it is true, he is going naked to the 
 grave : but alas ! he goes no otherwise than he came : for 
 (saith the Wise Man) as he came forth of his mother's womb, 
 naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing 
 of his labour, which he may carry away in his ha?id. 65 He 
 shall carry nothing away with him (saith the Psalmist) when 
 he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him. m Whatever he 
 had, or possessed here, was only useful to him so long as he 
 stayed : where is the misfortune then, if, upon removing from 
 hence, he leaves that behind him, which will be of no service 
 to him in the place he is going to ? Whilst he was engaged on 
 this stage of the world, God furnished him with a habit suit- 
 able to the part which he expected him to perform : shall any 
 of us therefore think it strange, that the actor is undressed 
 when his part is done ? In a word, let us consider ourselves 
 under what character we please, there is still the same reason 
 to join with the holy penmen in these noble reflections ; We 
 brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry 
 
 « Eccl. 5. 18. « Psalm xlix. 17. 
 
480 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap, xti 
 
 nothing out ; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
 blessed be the name of the Lord. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Of the Psalms and Lessons. 
 
 Psalms always THOUGH joy at the first glance, may Seem Un- 
 
 used at Christian suitable to a funeral solemnity; yet, upon due 
 funerals. reflection, we shall be of another opinion. The 
 
 wiser sort of heathens bury their dead with expressions of 
 joy, lamenting themselves for staying behind, whilst their 
 friend is gone to be immortalized above. 67 And that hymns 
 and psalms were always used upon the like occasions by the 
 primitive Christians, is abundantly testified by the ancient 
 writers. 63 In the Greek Church the order is much the same 
 as in ours, viz. that when they come into the church, the body 
 shall be set down in the lower end thereof and then they shah 
 begin the ninetieth psalm. 69 This, together with the thirty- 
 ninth, are what our own Church uses on this occasion ; both 
 which will appear, upon a little reflection, to be exactly 
 agreeable to this solemnity. 
 
 §. 1. The thirty-ninth Psalm is supposed to 
 Psalm xxxix. ^ ave k een com p OSeo > by David, upon Joab's re- 
 proaching him for his public grief for Absalom's death ; and 
 is of use in this place, to direct and comfort those that mourn, 
 to check all loud and unseemly complaints, and to turn them 
 into prayers and devout meditations. 
 
 §. 2. The other was composed by Moses in 
 Psalm xc. the w ji ( j erilesSj upon ^e d eat h f t h a t vast mul- 
 titude, who, for their murmuring and infidelity, were sen- 
 tenced to leave their carcasses in the wilderness ; and who ac- 
 cordingly wasted by little and little before they came into the 
 land of Canaan. Upon this the prophet breaks forth into 
 these religious meditations, not accusing the divine provi- 
 dence, but applying all to the best advantage ; shewing us 
 withal what thoughts we should entertain, when we have the 
 prospect of a funeral before our eyes ; viz. that we should re- 
 flect upon, and consider our own lot, and endeavour to apply 
 the instance of mortality now before us, to the bettering and 
 improving of our own condition. 
 
 In the first book of king Edward, instead of the Psalms of 
 
 e^ Porphvr. de Abst. 1. 4, §. 18. Polydor. Virg. de Invent. 1. 6, c. 10. 68 Hieron. 
 
 de Morte Fabiolae. Chrys. Ep. iv. in Ep. ad Hebr. Anton, in Fun. Paul. Erem. apud 
 Kieron. « Eucholog. Offic. Exeq. 526. 
 
sect, iv.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 481 
 
 which we have now been speaking, there were three others 
 appointed, viz. the cxvith, the cxxxixth, and cxlvith. And 
 when they were left out at the next review, there were no 
 other whatever ordered in the room of them, till these were 
 inserted at king Charles's restoration. 
 
 II. After the Psalms out of the Old Testament, _. , nn 
 
 p i -vt p • ^ ne Lesson. 
 
 follows the proper Lesson out ot the JN ew : lor since 
 the faith of the resurrection is not only the principal article of a 
 Christian's belief, but also the article which chiefly concerns us 
 on this occasion, (as well to allay our sorrow for the party de- 
 ceased, as to prepare us freely to follow him when God shall call 
 us ;) therefore the Church has chosen here the fullest account 
 of the resurrection of the dead that the whole Scripture affords ; 
 that article being here so strongly proved, so plainly described, 
 and so pertinently applied, that nothing could have been more 
 suitable to the present purpose ; for which reason we find it 
 has always been used in this office of the Church. 70 
 
 §. 2. The Psalms and Lesson in king Edward's 
 first Liturgy are followed by some other suf- l£tf!?$2* 
 frages (which I have printed in the margin *) in sense used to 
 behalf of the deceased; how far, and in what commonPrayer. 
 sense, prayers for the dead were used by the 
 
 * The Lesson ended, then shall the Priest say 
 Lord have mercy upon us. 
 Christ have mercy upon us. 
 Lord have mercy upon us. 
 Our Father which art in heaven, &c. 
 And lead us not into temptation. 
 Answ. But deliver us from evil. Amen. 
 Priest. Enter not (O Lord) into judgment with thy servant. 
 Answ. For in thy sight no living creature shall be justified. 
 Priest. From the gates of hell, 
 Answ. Deliver their souls, O Lord. 
 Priest. I believe to see the goodness of the Lord, 
 Answ. In the land of the living. 
 Priest. O Lord, graciously hear my prayer, 
 Answ. And let my cry come unto thee. 
 Let us pray. 
 O Lord, with whom do live the spirits of them that be dead ; and in whom the souls 
 of them that be elected, after they be delivered from the burden of the flesh, be in joy 
 and felicity : Grant unto this thy servant, that the sins which he hath committed in this 
 world be not imputed unto him, but that he, escaping the gates of hell, and pains of 
 eternal darkness, may ever dwell in the regions of light, with Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
 cob, in the place where there is no weeping, sorrow, nor heaviness: and ^ when that 
 dreadful day of the general resurrection shall come, make him to rise also with the just 
 and righteous ; and receive this body again to glory, then made pure and incorruptible : 
 set him on the right hand of thy Son Jesus Christ, among thy holy and elect, that then 
 he may hear with them these most sweet and comfortable words : Come to me, ye blessed 
 of my Father, possess the kingdom which hath been prepared for you from the begin- 
 ning of the world. Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus 
 Christ our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. 
 
 W Durand. Rational. 1. 7, c. 35. Man. Sarisb. fol. 107. 
 2 i 
 
482 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 primitive Church, I have already had occasion to shew. 71 And 
 how different the prayers for departed souls, in our first Com- 
 mon Prayer Books, were from those which the Church of 
 Rome makes use of, and how inconsistent with their doctrine 
 of Purgatory, may be gathered from the paragraph which I 
 there transcribed out of the old prayer for the whole state of 
 Christ's (Jhurch ; and will further appear from this prayer in 
 the Burial-office, which I have here inserted, as well as from 
 others which I shall have occasion to transcribe by and by. 
 All therefore I shall say in reference to them here, shall be 
 only to note once for all, that whatever in that book related 
 directly and immediately to the dead was all thrown out of the 
 second Liturgy, at the instance of Calvin and his old friend 
 Bucer. There was one clause indeed permitted to stand till 
 the last review, viz. in the prayer that immediately follows the 
 Lord's Prayer, in which, till then, we prayed, that, we with 
 this our brother, and all other departed in the true faith of 
 God's liolyname, might have our perfect consummation and 
 bliss, &c. Nor did the Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference 
 make any other objection against this clause, than what they 
 did in general against all that expressed any assurance of the 
 deceased party's happiness, which they did not think proper 
 to be said indifferently over all that died. 72 However, upon 
 the review of the Common Prayer afterwards, these words 
 were left out. Not but that the sentence, as it is still left 
 standing, may well enough be understood to imply the dead 
 as well as the living : for we pray (as it is now) that we, with 
 all those that are departed in the true faith of God's holy 
 name, may hate our perfect consummation and bliss ; which 
 is not barely a supposition, that all those who are so departed 
 will have their perfect consummation and bliss ; but a prayer 
 also that they may have it, viz. that we with them, and they 
 with us, may be made perfect together, both in body and soul, 
 in the eternal and everlasting glory of God. For "though 
 (saith bishop Cosin upon this very prayer) the souls of the 
 faithful be in joy and felicity ; yet because they are not in 
 such a degree of that joy and felicity, as that they can never 
 receive no more than they have already ; therefore in the 
 latter part here of this our prayer, we beseech God to give 
 them a full and perfect consummation of bliss both in body 
 
 rt Sea ch. VI. §. XI. p. 283. 72 See their Exceptions against the Book of Common 
 Prayer, page 31, 4to, 16ol, or in Baxter's Narrative of his own Life, page 332. 
 
sect, tv.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 483 
 
 and soul, in his eternal kingdom of glory, which is yet to 
 come. And whatsoever the effect and fruit of this prayer 
 will be, though it be uncertain ; yet hereby we shew that 
 charity which we owe to all those that are fellow-servants 
 with us to Christ ; and in this regard our prayers cannot 
 be condemned, being neither impious nor unfit for those 
 that profess the Christian religion. For in like manner, 
 if I should make a prayer to God for my father or mother, 
 for my brother or sister, for my son or daughter, or any other 
 friend of mine who were travelling in a journey, beseeching 
 him that he would prosper them in their way, and keep them 
 from all danger and sickness, till they should safely and hap- 
 pily arrive at their journey's end, and the place where they 
 desire to be ; although at the same time, when I prayed this 
 for them, peradventure they be arrived at the place already 
 (which I knew not) with all safety, and met with no danger 
 or diseases by the way, whereby all my prayer is prevented ; 
 yet the solicitude and charity, in the mean while, that I had 
 for them, cannot be justly or charitably reprehended by any 
 others." 73 Much to the same purpose just before : " Although 
 (saith he) it cannot be exactly and distinctly declared what 
 benefit the dead receive by these prayers which the living 
 make for them : yet if there be nothing else, there is this at 
 least in it, that hereby is declared the communion and con- 
 junction which we have still with one another, as members of 
 the same body whereof Christ is the head." 74 So also before 
 him bishop Overal, in his notes upon this same place : " The 
 Puritans (saith he) think that here is prayer for the dead 
 allowed and practised by the Church of England ; and so 
 think I : but we are not both in one mind for censuring the 
 Church for so doing. They say it is popish and superstitious , 
 I for my part esteem it pious and Christian. The body lies 
 dead in the grave, but by Christ's power and God's goodness 
 shall men be raised up again ; and the benefit is so great, 
 that sure it is worth the praying for; because then we may 
 pray for what we ourselves or our deceased brethren as yet 
 have not, therefore doth the Church pray for the perfect con- 
 summation of bliss, both in soul and body, to be given to our 
 brethren departed. We believe the resurrection; yet may 
 pray for it as we do for God's kingdom to come. Besides, 
 prayer for the dead cannot be denied but to have been uni- 
 
 73 See the Additional Notes to Dr. Nichols on the Common Prayer, p. C5. M Ibid. p. 65 
 
 2 i 2 
 
 
484 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xit. 
 
 versally used of all Christians in the ancientest and purest 
 state of the Church, and by the Greek Fathers, who never ad- 
 mitted any purgatory, no more than we do, and yet pray for 
 the dead notwithstanding. What though their souls be in 
 bliss already ? they may have a greater degree of bliss by our 
 prayers : and when their bodies come to be raised, and joined 
 to their souls again, they shall be sure of a better state. Our 
 prayers for them then will not be in vain, were it but for that 
 alone." 75 But to return. 
 
 §. 3. By the first Common Prayer, both the 
 LessonfwheUier Psalms and Lesson, with the suffrages above 
 omitted^ mentioned, were to be said in the church either 
 
 before or after the burial of the corpse. But 
 from that time to the restoration of king Charles, the Lesson 
 (for I have observed during all that time there were no 
 Psalms) was appointed to be read wherever the grave was, 
 whether in the church, or churchyard, immediately after the 
 sentence taken out of the Revelation. But the Presbyterians 
 objecting that this exposed both Minister and people to many 
 inconveniences, by standing in the air, 76 there was a rubric 
 added at the last review, which orders, that the Psalms and 
 Lesson shall be said after they are come into the church : so 
 that now, I suppose, it is again left to the Minister's discretion 
 (as it was in the rubric of the first book of king Edward) 
 whether he will read them before or after the burial of the 
 corpse. For the second rubric at the beginning of the office 
 permits him to go to the church or to the grave, i. e. to either 
 of them directly, which he pleases : nor is there any further 
 direction, that if he goes into the church, it shall be before 
 he goes to the grave : but only that after tliey are come into 
 tlie church, one or both of the Psalms shall be read with the 
 Lesson that follows ; and when they come to the grave, the 
 rest of the devotions that are to be used. 
 
 I know some are of opinion, that the design of the rubrics, 
 as they are worded now, is to give liberty to the Minister to 
 go immediately to the £rave, and so wholly to omit the Les- 
 son and Psalms : but if that were the design of them, one 
 would have expected some hint that they might be omitted ; 
 whereas the expression in the rubric, after they are come into 
 the ch?irch, seems to suppose that either first or last they will 
 
 75 See the Additional Notes to Dr. Nichols on the Common Prayer, p. 64. 
 76 See Exceptions, as before. 
 
sect, v.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 485 
 
 come thither. I am therefore rather inclined to think, that 
 the meaning of leaving the rubric so dubious is, that if the 
 Minister go directly into the church, the grave being there, 
 he should use the Psalms and Lesson before the burial : but 
 if the grave be without the church, he may first go thither to 
 bury the corpse, and then afterwards, to prevent any incon- 
 veniency from the air, proceed to the church itself, to read 
 the Psalms and Lesson, according to the rubric in the first 
 Common Prayer. For I do not know any instance in the 
 whole Liturgy besides, where the Minister is at liberty to leave 
 out so considerable a part of an office, when it is so proper to 
 be used. But I only give this as my private opinion : for I 
 know it belongs to a much higher authority to appease diver- 
 sity, and to resolve doubts concerning the manner how to un- 
 derstand, do, and execute the things contained in this book. 11 
 
 Sect. V. — Of the Devotions and Solemnity to be used at the Grave. 
 
 I. When the body is stript of all but its grave- 
 attire, and is just going to be put into the ground, Th * t S^grave? 
 it is most like to make the deepest impression 
 
 upon us, and to strike us with the most serious apprehensions 
 of our mortality. This happy opportunity the Church is un- 
 willing to lose ; and therefore, whilst we are in such good dis- 
 positions of mind, she presents us with a noble strain of 
 devotion, consisting of a meditation on the shortness, and 
 misery, and uncertainty of life, together with an acknowledg- 
 ment of our dependence on God, whom yet we have dis- 
 obliged and offended with our sins. However, we presume 
 to fly to him for succour, and beg of him to preserve us from 
 eternal death hereafter, and to support us under the pains of 
 temporal death here. 
 
 II. Next after this follows the solemn inter- 
 ment: immediately before which the Gentiles Th e f £S5iy? ve 
 took their leave of their deceased friends, by bid- 
 ding them Farewell for ever. 16 And the ancient Christians 
 used to give a parting kiss of charity, just as the body was 
 about to be put into the grave, to declare their affection, and 
 evidence that he died in the unity and peace of the Church, 79 
 a custom still retained in the Greek Church, 80 and in some of 
 the northern parts of England. 
 
 "" See the Preface concerning the Service of the Church. w Virg. ^En. 11, v. 97. 
 
 Alex, ab Alex. 1. 3, c. 7. 7 » Dionys. Areop. c. 7, p. 150, A. Durand. Rational. 1. 7 
 8. 35. so Eucholog. p. 535. 
 
486 OF TP E ORDER FOR THE [chap, xn, 
 
 The position of §• 2. As for the posture or position of the 
 the corpse in the corpse in the grave, it hath been alwa} ? s a custom 
 to bury them with their feet eastward, and their 
 face upwards, that so at the resurrection they may be ready 
 to meet Christ, who is expected from the east, and that they 
 may be in a posture of prayer as soon as they are raised. 81 
 The throwing §• 3 - The casting earth upon the body was 
 
 earth upon the esteemed an act of piety by the very heathens ; 83 
 y * insomuch that to find a body unburied, and leave 
 
 it uncovered, was judged amongst them a great crime. 83 In 
 the Greek Church this has been accounted so essential to the 
 solemnity, that it is ordered to be done by the Priest himself. 84 
 And the same was enjoined by our own rubric in the first 
 Common Prayer of king Edward VI. But in our present Li- 
 turgy it is only ordered that it shall be cast upon the body by 
 some standing by : and so it is generally left to one of the 
 bearers, or sexton, who, according to Horace's description, 85 
 gives three casts of earth upon the body or coffin, whilst the 
 Priest pronounces the solemn form which explains the cere- 
 mony, viz. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 
 
 §. 4. And indeed the whole form of words, 
 words. ° f which the Priest is to use whilst the ceremony is 
 performed, is very pertinent and significant.* 
 The phrase of committed his body to the ground, implies, 
 that we deliver it into safe custody, and into such hands as 
 will faithfully restore it again. We do not cast it away as a 
 lost and perished carcass ; but carefully lay it in the ground, 
 as having in it a seed of eternity, and in sure and certain 
 hope of the resurrection to eternal life : not that we believe 
 that every one we bury shall rise again to joy and felicity, or 
 profess this sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the 
 person that is now interred. It is not his resurrection, but 
 the resurrection, that is here expressed ; nor do we go on to 
 mention the change of his body, in the singular number, but 
 of our vile body, which comprehends the bodies of Christians 
 in general. That this is the sense and meaning of the words, 
 may be shewn from the other parallel form which the Church 
 
 * In the first Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. the beginning was different 
 from what it is now — " Then the Priest, casting earth upon the corpse, shall say, I 
 commend thy soul to God the Father Almighty, and thy body to the ground, earth to 
 earth," &c. 
 
 «ii Durand. ut supra. 82 ^lian. Var. Hist. 1. 5, c. 14. 8 3 Horat. 1. 1, Od. 28, 
 
 v. 36. 8 * Goar. Eucholog. Offic. Exeq. p. 538. 85 Injecto ter pulvere. Horat. 
 
 ut supra. 
 
sect, v.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 487 
 
 has appointed to be used at the burial of the dead at sea* 
 And this being a principal article of our faith, it is highly 
 reasonable that we should publicly acknowledge and declare 
 our steadfastness in it, when we lay the body of any Christian 
 in the grave. 
 
 III. After the foregoing form follows a conso- The Sentence 
 latory sentence from Rev. xiv. 3, to be said by out of the iteve- 
 the Priest alone, or to be sung by him and the latlon * 
 Clerks together. The propriety of it to the present solemnity 
 occasioned its being used in the Western Church many centu- 
 ries ago. 86 It is a special revelation that was made to St. John, 
 and ordered to be recorded for ever by him, to be a perpetual 
 consolation in relation to the state of departed saints. For 
 since Jesus hath now conquered death,/h?m henceforth bless- 
 ed are the dead which die in the Lord. They are no more 
 to be lamented, but to be the subjects of our joy. The Spirit 
 assures us that they rest from their labours, their work is done, 
 their warfare accomplished, and now they enjoy crowns of vic- 
 tory as the rewards of their pains. 
 
 IV. But though the deceased rest from their 
 labours, yet we are in the midst of ours : and Grayer? s 
 therefore in the next place we proceed to pray 
 
 for our own salvation, and the consummation of our own hap- 
 piness, beginning first (as in most other offices) with the lesser 
 Litany and Lord's Prayer. 
 
 V. After this follow two other Prayers ; in each The 
 of which there is such a noble mixture of acts of 
 
 faith and hope concerning the state of our deceased friend, 
 and of prayers and petitions for our happiness with him, as, 
 being duly attended to, will effectually pacify that unnecessary 
 grief, which is pernicious to ourselves without benefiting the 
 deceased ; and will turn our thoughts to a due care of our 
 own souls, in order to our meeting again, with infinitely more 
 joy, than we now part with sorrow and grief. 
 
 5.2. Against the last of these prayers it is often „ 
 
 t v , o r j Hope of the par- 
 
 objected that we make declaration or hope that ty's salvation, 
 all we bury are saved. In order to appease the 5SS«SSa t iiS" 
 scruples about which, as far as the nature of the 
 
 • We therefore commit his hody to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for 
 the resurrection of the body (when the sea shall give up her dead) and the life of the 
 world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who at his coming shall change our vile 
 body, &c. 
 
 8 « Durand Rational. 1. 7, c. 35. Man. Sarisb. fol. 137, &c. 
 
488 OF THE ORDER FOR THE [chap. xii. 
 
 expression will bear, we desire it may be considered, that 
 there are very different degrees of hope, the lowest of which 
 is but one remove from despair. Now there are but very few 
 with whom we are concerned, that die in a state so utterly 
 desperate, as that we may positively affirm they are damned ; 
 which yet we might do, did we absolutely and entirely despair 
 of their salvation. It remains, therefore, that we must have 
 some, though very faint hopes of their salvation : and this 
 seems sufficient to warrant this declaration, especially if it be 
 pronounced as faintly as the hope itself is entertained. How- 
 ever, it must be confessed, that it is very plain, from the whole 
 tenor of this office, that the compilers of it, presuming upon 
 a due exercise of discipline, never supposed that any would 
 be offered to Christian burial, who had not led Christian lives. 
 But since iniquity hath so far prevailed over the discipline of 
 the Church, that schismatics, heretics, and all manner of vi- 
 cious livers, escape its censures, this gloss seems the best that 
 our present circumstances will admit of. And if it be not 
 satisfactory, there seems to be no other remedy left, than that 
 our governors should leave us to a discretionary use of these 
 expressions, either till they be altered by public authority, or, 
 which is much rather to be wished, till discipline be so vigor- 
 ously exercised, that there be no offence in the use of them. 
 „ ,' x, , $.3. The prayer, against which this objection 
 
 Celebration of . ° 3 . . r J ' ° L ~t t> t»i 
 
 the communion is made, is in our present Common Prayer .Book 
 mert" a^ouited ca ^ ec * the Collect : the reason of which is, because 
 in king Edward's first book, at the end of the 
 Burial-office, there is an order for the celebration of the holy 
 Communion when there is a burial of the dead. The forty- 
 second Psalm is appointed for the introit. The prayer I am 
 now speaking of, with a little alteration at the end, which I 
 shall give by and by, stands there for the Collect ; 1 Thess. 
 iv. 13 to the end, is ordered for the Epistle ; and for the Gos- 
 pel, St. John vi. 37 to 48. 
 
 Receiving the Eucharist at funerals is not without prece- 
 dents in the ancient Church. 87 Bishop Cosin was of opinion, 
 that " the design of it was to declare, that the dead person de- 
 parted out of this life in the public faith and unity of the Ca- 
 tholic Church of Christ. From whence, saith he, we learn, 
 
 87 Vide Concil. Carthag. Can. 44, ap. Bevereg. Pandect. Can. vol. i. p. 567, et vol. ii. 
 p. 207. Aug. de Funere Matris suae Monicas, Lib. Confess. 9, c. 12, et Possid. de 
 Morte et Funere August, in ejusdem Vita. 
 
sbct. Y.] BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 489 
 
 what the reason was, that Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, 
 so much desired to be remembered at the altar after her death, 
 which was not (as the fond and ignorant sort of people among 
 the new Roman Catholics imagine) to fetch her soul so much 
 the sooner out of purgatory, (for the papal purgatory fire was 
 not then kindled or known ;) but partly to testify her faithful 
 departure in the religion and communion among all other good 
 Christians ; and partly to have praise and thanksgivings render- 
 ed to Almighty God, for her happy departure out of this world 
 to a better ; and partly also, that by the prayers of the Church, 
 made at the celebration of the holy Eucharist, and by virtue 
 of Christ's death and sacrifice therein commemorated, she 
 might obtain a joyful resurrection of her body out of the 
 grave, and have her perfect consummation of glory, both in 
 body and soul, in God's everlasting kingdom." 88 " Innocent 
 (saith Mr. L'Estrange) was this rite, whilst it preserved its 
 first intent : but it degenerating from its original purity, by 
 masses and dirges sung for the souls of the dead, wisely was 
 it done of our second Reformers, to remove not only the evils 
 themselves of such heterodox opinions, but even the occasions 
 of them also, viz. the Communion used at Burials." 89 Which 
 being so evident as to matter of fact, (for the second book of 
 king Edward was published without it,) it may seem some- 
 thing strange, how it came to be reprinted in the Latin trans- 
 lation of queen Elizabeth's Common Prayer Book, in the 
 second year of her reign. That this was not a translation of 
 a private pen not licensed by authority, and so the effect of 
 mistake, or a clandestine practice, (as bishop Sparrow conjec- 
 tures, 90 ) is plain from its being done by the command of the 
 queen, and by her recommendation of it to the two Univer- 
 sities, and to the colleges of Winchester and Eton : and par- 
 ticularly by the express words of her Majesty's proclamation, 
 wherein she declares, that some things peculiar at the funerals 
 of Christians she had added and commanded to he used, the 
 Act for Uniformity, set forth in the first year of her reign, to 
 the contrary notwithstanding^ Perhaps it might have been 
 ordered for the same reason that I have supposed the reserv- 
 
 88 See Bishop Cosin's Note upon this Collect, in Dr. Nichol's Mlitional Notes, p. fi5. 
 As also another Note of Bishop Overal's to the same purpose, in the same place. 
 w Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 303. 9 " See the Bishop's Answer to some Liturgical 
 Demands, at the end of his Rationale on the Common Prayer, §. 10. 9 i Peculiaria 
 quaedam in Christianorum Funeribus et Exequiis decantanda adjungi praecipimus, 
 Statuto de Ritu Publicarum Precum, anno primo Regni nostri promulgate, in con- 
 trarium non obstante. Bisho*> S nrow's r«U*-tion, p. 202. 
 
490 OF THE ORDER FOR THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. [chap. xti. 
 
 ation of the elements was allowed, or indulged to those learned 
 societies by the same book, 92 viz. because they were in less 
 danger of abusing it, and it might contribute to reconcile them 
 the easier to the Reformation. 
 
 I have already hinted that the close of the prayer, which is 
 called the Collect in our present office, was different, as it 
 stood in the first Common Prayer, from what it is now. The 
 present conclusion of it was taken from the end of another 
 prayer, which was then in this office ; but of which the be- 
 ginning has ever since been left out : but the best way to give 
 the reader a clear notion of it, is to transcribe the prayers at 
 the bottom of the page, whither therefore I refer him.* 
 
 §. 4. The blessing was added at the end of the 
 essmg. whQig fl^ ce a t the last review, of which enough 
 has been said in other places. 
 
 §. 5. The whole solemnity is concluded with 
 another peal, which the same canon 93 orders 
 after the Burial, that appoints one before it. 
 
 * After the sentence, " I heard a voice from heaven," &c. followed, 
 " Let us pray. 
 
 " We commend into thy hands of mercy, (most merciful Father,) the soul of this our 
 brother departed, N. And his body we commit to the earth, beseeching thine infinite 
 goodness to give us grace to live in thy fear and love, and to die in thy favour : that 
 when the judgment shall come, which thou hast committed to thy well-beloved Son, 
 both this our brother, and we, may be found acceptable in thy sight, and receive that 
 blessing which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear 
 thee, saying, Come ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for 
 you before the beginning of the world. Grant this, merciful Father, for the honour of 
 Jesus Christ our only Saviour, Mediator, and Advocate, Amen. 
 " This Prayer shall also be added. 
 
 " Almighty God, we give thee hearty thanks for this thy servant, whom thou hast 
 delivered from the miseries of this wretched world, from the body of death, and all 
 temptation ; and, as we trust, has brought his soul, which he committed into thy holy 
 hands, into sure consolation and rest. Grant, we beseech thee, that, at the day of 
 judgment, his soul and all the souls of thy elect, departed out of this life, may with us, 
 and we with them, fully receive thy promises, and be made perfect altogether, through 
 the glorious resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 These were the two prayers which were then used instead of the Prayers that are 
 used at present : the last of which was then the Collect appointed for the Communion- 
 office, except that instead of the latter part of it, which we see was the conclusion of 
 another form in king Edward's book, it ended thus : 
 
 " And that, at the general resurrection in the last day, both we and this our brother 
 departed, receiving again our bodies, and rising again in thy most gracious favour, 
 may, with all thy elect saints, obtain eternal joy. Grant this, O Lord God, by the 
 means of our Advocate Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and 
 reigneth one God for ever. Amen." 
 
 »* See Appendix to chap. XI. sect. I. §. 2, page 459. 93 Canon LXVII. 
 
introd.] THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 491 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN AFTER 
 
 CHILDBIRTH, COMMONLY CALLED THE 
 
 CHURCHING OF WOMEN. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 One would think that, after an office for the . daft 
 
 Burial of the Dead, no other should be expect- the office C for the 
 
 Buria' 
 Dead. 
 
 ed ; and yet we see here another rises to our B 
 
 view, which the Church has appointed for the use 
 of such women as have been safe delivered from the great 
 pain and peril of childbirth, and which she has placed in her 
 Liturgy after the office foregoing, to intimate, as it were, that 
 such a woman's recovery is next to a revival or resurrection 
 from the dead. For indeed the birtty of man is so truly won- 
 derful, that it seems to be designed as a standing demonstra- 
 tion of the omnipotence of God. And therefore that the 
 frequency of it may not diminish our admiration, the Church 
 orders a public and solemn acknowledgment to be made on 
 every such occasion by the woman on whom the miracle is 
 wrought : who still feels the bruise of our first parent's fall, 
 and labours under the curse which Eve then entailed upon 
 her whole sex. 
 
 5. 2. As to the original of this custom, it is not „,, ...... 
 
 .Vji^ii? i ™ • • The original of it. 
 
 to be doubted, but that as many other Christian 
 usages received their rise from other parts of the Jewish eco- 
 nomy, so did this from the rite of Purification, which is en- 
 joined so particularly in the twelfth chapter of Leviticus. 
 Not that we observe it by virtue of that precept, which we 
 grant to have been ceremonial, and so not now of any force ; 
 but because we apprehend some moral duty to have been im- 
 plied in it by way of analogy, which must be obligatory upon 
 all, even when the ceremony is ceased. The uncleanness of 
 the woman, the set number of days she is to abstain from the 
 tabernacle, and the sacrifices she was to offer when she first 
 came abroad, are rites wholly abolished, and what we noways 
 regard : but then the open and solemn acknowledgment of 
 God's goodness in delivering the mother, and increasing the 
 number of mankind, is a duty that will oblige to the end of 
 
492 OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN [chap. xm. 
 
 the world. And therefore though the mother be now no 
 longer obliged to offer the material sacrifices of the law, yet 
 she is nevertheless bound to offer the evangelical sacrifice of 
 praise. She is still publicly to acknowledge the blessing 
 vouchsafed her, and to profess her sense of the fresh obliga- 
 tion it lays her under to obedience. Nor indeed may the 
 Church be so reasonably supposed to have taken up this rite 
 from the practice of the Jews, as she may be, that she began 
 it in imitation of the blessed Virgin, who though she was ra- 
 ther sanctified than defiled by the birth of our Lord, and so 
 had no need of Purification from any uncleanness, whether 
 legal or moral, yet wisely and humbly submitted to this rite, 
 and offered her praise, together with her blessed Son, in the 
 temple. 1 And that from hence this usage was derived among 
 Christians, seems probable, not only from its being so univer- 
 sal and ancient, that the beginning of it can hardly any where 
 be found : 2 but also from the practice of the Eastern Church, 
 where the mother still brings the child along with her, and 
 presents it to God on her churching-day. 3 The Priest indeed 
 is there said to purify them : and in our first Common Prayer, 
 this office with us was entitled The Order of the Purification 
 of Women, But that neither of these terms implied, that the 
 woman had contracted any uncleanness in her state of child- 
 bearing, may not only be inferred from the silence of the of- 
 fices both in the Greek Church and ours in relation to any 
 uncleanness ; but is also further evident from the ancient laws 
 relating to this practice, which by no means ground it upon any 
 impurity, from which the woman stands in need to be purged. 4 
 And therefore, when our own Liturgy came to be reviewed, to 
 prevent all misconstructions that might be put upon the word, 
 the title was altered, and the office named (as it is still in our 
 present Common Prayer Book) The Thanksgiving of Women 
 after Childbirth, commoiily called The Churching of Women. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubric before the Office. 
 
 The woman to be ^ N tne Greek Church, the time for performing 
 churched at the this office is limited to be on the fortieth dag ,- 5 
 
 1 Vide Chrysost. et Theophylact. in Luc. ii. 22. * Vide Dionys. Alexandr. Can. 2, 
 apud Bevereg. Concil. torn. ii. pag. 4. Novel. Const. Leon. Aug. Novel. 17, ap. Balsam, 
 in loc. Dionysii ap. Bever. ut supra. Can. Pcenitent. Greg. 3, cap. SO, Biblioth. Patr. 
 torn. vi. Honorius Colitar. 1. 1, c. 146, ut citat. ap. Goar. in Eucholog. See also Pope 
 Gregory's Answer to the Eighth Question of Augustin the Monk, in Mr. Johnson, 
 A. D. 601,8, §. 2. 3 Vide Simeon. Thessalonic. in Not. ad Eucholog. 4 Sea 
 
 the places cited above, note *• Thessalonic. ut supra. 
 
skct. I.] AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 493 
 
 and therefore the office with them is called, The usual time after 
 Prayer for a woman forty days after child- the dehver y- 
 bearing* But in the West the time was never strictly deter- 
 mined, as will appear from the Salisbury Manual, which was 
 of use here in England before the Keformation, where the old 
 rubric runs thus : Note, That women after childbirth may 
 come to church, and, giving thanks, be purified whenever they 
 will, and they are not guilty of any sin in so doing : neither is 
 the entrance of the church to be denied them, lest we turn their 
 punishment into a crime ; but if, out of reverence, they will 
 abstain for some time, their devotion is not to be disallowed. 1 
 And as this was consonant to the ancient canons of the Church, 
 in relation to this affair, so is it agreeable to our present ru- 
 bric ; which does not pretend to limit the day when the woman 
 shall be churched, but only supposes that she will come at 
 the usual time after Jier delivery. The usual time is now 
 about a month : for the woman's weakness will seldom permit 
 her coming sooner. And if she be not able to come so soon, 
 she is allowed to stay a longer time ; the Church not expect- 
 ing her to return her thanks for a blessing before it is received. 
 
 §. 2. It is only required that whenever she The office t0 ^ 
 does it, she shall come into the church. And always perform- 
 this is enjoined, first, for the honour of God, ed in the cburch - 
 whose marvellous works in the formation of the child, and 
 the preservation of the woman, ought publicly to be owned, 
 that so others may learn to put their trust in him. Secondly, 
 that the whole congregation may have a fit opportunity for 
 praising God for the too much forgotten mercy of their birth. 
 And, thirdly, that the woman may in the proper place own the 
 mercy now vouchsafed her, of being restored to the happy pri- 
 vilege of worshipping God in the congregation of his saints. 
 
 How great therefore is the absurdity which The absurdity of 
 some would introduce of stifling their acknow- being churched 
 ledgments in private houses, and of giving thanks at home ' 
 for their recovery and enlargement in no other place than 
 that of their confinement and restraint ! a practice which is 
 inconsistent with the very name of this office, which is called 
 The Churching of Women, and which consequently implies 
 a ridiculous solecism of being churched at home. Nor is it 
 any thing more consistent with the end and devotions pre- 
 
 « Eucholog. p. 324. 7 Manual Sarisb. Rubric, post Officium Benedict. Mulier. 
 
 4 »ost part. p. 37, b. 
 
494 OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN [chap. xiii. 
 
 scribed by this office, than it is with the name of it. For with 
 what decency or propriety can the woman pretend to pay her 
 vows in the presence of all God's people, in the courts of the 
 Lord's house, when she is only assuming state in a bedcham- 
 ber or parlour, and perhaps only accompanied with her mid- 
 wife or nurse ? To give thanks therefore at home (for by no 
 means call it churching) is not only an act of disobedience to 
 the Church, but a high affront to Almighty God ; whose mercy 
 they scorn to acknowledge in a church, and think it honour 
 enough done him, if he is summoned by his Priest to wait on 
 them at their houses, and to take what thanks they will vouch- 
 safe him there. But methinks a Minister, who has any re- 
 gard for his character, and considers the honour of the Lord 
 he serves, should disdain such a servile compliance and sub- 
 mission, and abhor the betraying his Master's dignity. Here 
 can be no pretence of danger in the case, should the woman 
 prove obstinate, upon the Priest's refusal, (which Ministers 
 are apt to urge for their excuse, when they are prevailed upon 
 to give public baptism in private ;) nor is the decision of a 
 Council wanting to instruct him (if he has any doubts upon 
 account of the woman's ill health) that he is not to perform 
 this office at home, though she be really so weak as not to be 
 able to come to church. b For if she be not able to come to 
 church, let her stay till she is ; God does not require any 
 thanks for a mercy before he has vouchsafed it : but if she 
 comes as soon as her strength permits, she discharges her 
 obligations both to him and the Church. 
 The woman to §• ^* W nen the woman comes to this office, 
 
 be decently ap- the rubric (as it was altered at the last review) 
 pareiied. directs that she be decently apparelled, i. e. as 
 
 the custom and order was formerly, with a white covering, or 
 veil. And we find that as late as in the reign of 
 Vei meriy f ° r " king J ame s I., an order was made by the chancel- 
 lor of Norwich, that every woman who came to 
 be churched should come thus apparelled ; an order it seems 
 so well founded upon the practice of the Church, that a woman 
 refusing to conform with it was excommunicated for contempt. 
 And though she prayed a prohibition, and alleged in her de- 
 fence, that such order was not warranted by any custom or 
 canon of the Church of England, yet she got no relief; for 
 the judges desiring the opinion of the archbishop of Canter- 
 
 8 Concil. 3, Mediol. cap. 5, ap. Binium, torn. iv. par. 2, p. 417, edit. Col. Agrip. 16ia. 
 
sect. I.] AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 495 
 
 bury ; and he, together with several other bishops, whom he 
 convened to consult upon it, certifying that it was the ancient 
 usage of the Church of England for women to come veiled, 
 who came to be churched ; a prohibition was recused her. 9 
 But that custom having now for some time been discontinued, 
 long enough I suppose to make it obsolete, I take the decency 
 of the woman's apparel to be left entirely to her own dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 §. 4. The woman being come into the church 
 decently apparelled, must there kneel down in 
 some convenient place, as has been accustomed. To know 
 where that is, it is necessary that we look back into the Old 
 Common Prayer Books. King Edward's first Liturgy says, 
 in some convenient place, nigh unto the quire-door, which is 
 still rendered plainer by all the other Common Prayer Books 
 from that time till this present one, which say it must be nigh 
 unto the place where the Table standeth, i. e. to be sure, at 
 the rails of the Communion Table, or where she is to kneel if 
 she receives the Communion, which the last rubric of this 
 office declares it is convenient she should do, if there be any 
 Communion in the church at that time. And that this same 
 place is meant by our present rubric, which orders her to 
 kneel in some convenient place, as lias been accustomed, is 
 evident, because we see that was the accustomed and appoint- 
 ed place, when these words were put in. It is true, the Pres- 
 byterians, at the Conference in the Savoy, objected against the 
 rubric as it was worded then : And in regard that the woman's 
 kneeling near the table was in many churches inconvenient, 
 they desired that those words might be left out ; and that the 
 Minister might perform that service in the desk or pulpit. w 
 And it is also true, that these words were accordingly left out, 
 and the rubric altered thus, viz. that the woman should kneel 
 in some convenient place, as has been accustomed, or as the 
 Ordinary shall direct. But yet it is plain, that wherever the 
 Ordinary does not otherwise direct, the woman is still to 
 kneel in the accustomed place. And that the accustomed 
 place, till the last review, was nigh unto the place where the 
 table standeth, I have shewed before. And that no alteration 
 was then designed, is further evident beyond contradiction, 
 from the answer which the Bishops and the other Episcopal 
 
 9 Bishop Gibson's Codex, tit. 18, cap. 12, p. 451. 10 Proceedings of the Commit 
 sioners, &c, p. 37, quarto, 1661. 
 
196 OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN [chap. xiii. 
 
 Commissioners gave to the aforesaid exception of the Pres- 
 byterians, viz. It is fit that the woman performing especial 
 service of thanksgiving should have a special place, where she 
 may be perspicuous to the whole congregation ; and near the 
 holy Table, in ragard of the offering she is there to make. 
 They need not fear Popery in this, since in the Church oj 
 Rome she is to kneel at the church-door. 11 So that the reason, 
 I presume, of their altering the rubric was not to give the 
 Ordinary a general power to change the accustomed place, 
 where there was no occasion ; but because in some places the 
 churches were so inconveniently built, that by the interposi- 
 tion of a belfry between the church and the chancel (as I have 
 observed elsewhere 1 '") the Minister could not be heard out of 
 the chancel into the church ; therefore the Ordinary should, 
 in such cases, have power or authority to allow the woman to 
 be churched in some other place. Just as I have shewed he 
 has power, 13 in the same case, to order the Morning and Even- 
 ing Prayer to be read where he pleases. But where there is no 
 such impediment, or at least where the Ordinary has not other- 
 wise enjoined, there to be sure this office is to be performed, 
 even by virtue of this rubric, at the Communion Table or Altar, 
 in what part of §• **• In what part of the service this office is 
 the service to be to come in, the rubric does not say : but by some 
 performed. j d Articles of Visitation, which the bishops used 
 
 to make the subject of their inquiry, it appears to have been 
 used just before the Communion-office: 14 and no one, I be- 
 lieve, will deny, that it is more regular there, than when it 
 interrupts the ordinary service, as it does when it is used 
 either just before or just after the general Thanksgivi7ig • or 
 than when it is performed in the midst of the hurry and noise 
 of the people's going out of church, as it is when it is deferred 
 till the whole service is done. All the difficulty that lies 
 against confining it to be used just before the Communion- 
 office is, that no woman could then be churched but on a Sun- 
 day or a holy-day, when that office is to be read. But to this 
 it may be answered, that if she could not, the inconvenience 
 would not be great : and therefore since most of the other oc- 
 casional offices of the Church are supposed to be performed 
 on Sundays and holy-days, why should not this ? If I judge 
 
 11 Proceedings of the Commissioners, &c.,p. 128, quarto, 1661. ,2 Chap. II. sect. 
 
 V. p. 108. i» Ibid. i4 Bishop of Norwich's Articles, 1536, as cited in the Addi- 
 
 tional Notes of Dr. Nichols, p. 66. 
 
sect, u.] AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 497 
 
 right from the rubric at the end of this office, it is so sup- 
 posed ; for it is there said, that if tliere he a Communion, it 
 is convenient that the woman receive it. Now there can 
 never be a Communion, but when the Communion-office is 
 read ; and therefore since the Church supposes there may be 
 a Communion when the woman is churched, she seems to 
 make no doubt but that she will come to be churched on some 
 Sunday or holy-day when that office is appointed ; though if 
 she come upon an ordinary week-day, the Communion may 
 be administered if she desires to receive, and then she may be 
 churched regularly at the holy Table, before the Communion- 
 office begins. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Devotions. 
 
 I. It is a common defect in all other Liturgies, 
 that they have no prefaces to introduce the several 
 
 offices, and to prepare the parties concerned to do their duties 
 with understanding. But it is the peculiar care of the Church 
 of England to instruct us how to do every duty, as well as to 
 assist us in the doing it. Hence the daily prayers begin with 
 an exhortation, as do most of the other offices of the Church. 
 Even this short one is not without a suitable preface directed 
 to the woman, whereby the Priest first excites her to a thank- 
 ful acknowledgment for the mercy she has received, and then 
 directs her in what words to perform it. 
 
 II. The Psalm appointed on this occasion, in 
 
 all the Common Prayer Books till the last re- Saim cxxi! 
 view, was the cxxist,* which with the cxxviiith 
 was also prescribed by the office used in the Church of Rome. 
 But neither of these is so very apt to the case, as those are 
 which we have now. The first of which, though composed 
 by David upon his recovery from some dangerous sickness, 
 is yet, by leaving out a verse or two, which makes mention 
 of the other sex, easily enough applicable to the case of a 
 woman, who comes to give her thanks for so great a deliver- 
 ance. 
 
 §. 2. The other more regards the birth of the Psalmcxxvii 
 child, and is very seasonable to be used when- 
 ever it is living, to excite the parents to the greater thankful- 
 ness. And as the first is most proper, when we respect the 
 pain and peril which the mother has gone through, so the last 
 
 * The Scotch Liturgy orders the cxxist, or the xxviith. 
 2 K 
 
498 OF THE THANKSGIVING OF WOMEN [chap, xm, 
 
 ought to be used when an heir is born, or a child bestowed on 
 those who wanted and desired one. Nor may it less aptly be 
 used when those of meaner condition are churched : for by 
 enlarging on the blessings of a numerous family, it obviates 
 the too common murmurings of those wretches who think 
 themselves oppressed by such an increase. 
 
 The woman to §* *** ^^ k ere ty ^ wav tne woman should 
 
 repeat after the observe, that she is to say the following Psalm 
 SbSvdc? an of Thanksgiving, i. e. she is to repeat it with an 
 audible voice, as she does the daily confession, 
 after the Minister. For the Psalm is properly applicable to 
 her alone ; and the Minister reads it, not upon his own ac- 
 count, but only to instruct and lead the woman, by going be- 
 fore her, and, as it were, putting into her mouth what words 
 she must say. 
 
 The Lord's ^* The Psalm being over, the Minister gives 
 
 Prayer, and Re- notice that another part of duty, viz. prayer, is 
 sponses. beginning : in which by the usual form, Let us 
 
 pray, he calls upon the whole congregation to join : and that 
 the address may be humble, it is begun with the short Litany, 
 Lord have mercy upon us, &c. That it may also be effectual, 
 it is continued in the Lord's Prayer, (to which the Doxology 
 was added at the last review, by reason of its being an office of 
 thanksgiving :) and that all may bear a part, two or three short 
 Responses are added for the woman's safety and defence. 15 
 
 The Pra er ^' ^ U ^ at ^ aSt tne wno ^ e office is closed with 
 
 a short and pious Collect, consisting of a devout 
 mixture of prayer and praise, so peculiarly suited to the 
 present occasion, that it needs no enlargement to shew its 
 propriety.* 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the last Rubric. 
 The office being thus devoutly performed, the 
 
 The woman for- i • • .• <\ . .i 7 
 
 meriy to offer her rubric gives notice, that the woman who comes 
 chrisom, and fa gi ve ] ier thanks must offer accustomed offer- 
 ings. By the first Common Prayer of king Ed- 
 ward VI. the woman that was purified was to offer her 
 chrisom and other accustomed offerings. And by a rubric in 
 the same book, at the end of the public office of Baptism, the 
 Minister was to command, at the time of baptism, that the 
 
 * In all former books, the Collect began thus : " O Almighty God, which hast de- 
 livered this woman," &c. 
 
 1 5 Psalm lxxxvi. 2. lxi. 3. lxii. I. 
 
sect, in.] AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 499 
 
 chrisom be brought to the church, and delivered to the Priests, 
 after the accustomed manner, at the purification of the mother 
 of every child. The chrisom, I have formerly had occasion to 
 shew, 16 was a white vesture or garment, which was put upon 
 the child at the time of its baptism, as a token of innocency, 
 and which took its name from the chrism or ointment, with 
 which the child was anointed when the chrisom was put on. 
 These, I have observed, it was the custom anciently for the 
 new-baptized to appear in at church during the solemn time 
 for baptism, to shew their resolution of leading an innocent 
 and unspotted life for the future, and then to put them off, and 
 to deliver them to be laid up, in order to be produced, as evi- 
 dences against them, should they afterwards violate or deny 
 that faith which they had then professed. 17 And this, I sup- 
 pose, was the design of our own Church at the beginning of 
 the Reformation, in ordering the woman to offer the chrisom 
 when she came to be churched. For if the child happened to 
 die before, then it seems she was excused from offering it ; 
 and indeed there was then no occasion to demand it, since it 
 would be of no use to the Church when the child was dead. 
 And therefore in such case it was customary to wrap the child 
 in it when it was buried, in the nature of a ThewordChri . 
 shroud. 18 And from this practice I suppose the soms in the 
 name of chrisoms had its rise in the weekly bills wneSSid its 
 of mortality, which we may still observe among rise, and what it 
 the casualties and diseases : though it is not now s 10U Slgm y * 
 used to denote children that die between the time of their 
 baptism and their mother's being churched, as it originally 
 signified ; but, through the ignorance of parish clerks, and 
 those that make the report, is put for children that die before 
 they are baptized, and so are not capable of Christian burial. 
 §. 2. But to return to the rubric. The Li- Accustomed of . 
 turgy having been altered in the fifth year of ferings, what 
 king Edward, the use of the chrisom at the bap- they are ' 
 tism of the child was then discontinued ; and in consequence 
 thereto, the order for the woman's offering it at her church- 
 ing was then left out : so that now she is directed only to offer 
 accustomed offerings* i. e. those offerings which were cus- 
 
 * In the Scotch Liturgy the order for offerings is entirely left out ; the whole of the 
 rubric being this that follows : " The woman that conieth to give her thanks, it is con- 
 venient that she receive the holy Communion, if there be any at that time." 
 
 16 See chap. VII. sect. III. p. 353, 354. « See chap. V. sect. XVIII. XIX. page 
 
 231, &c. is Gregory's Posthumous Works, chap. xxii. p. 108. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
500 OF THE COMMINATION. [chap. xit. 
 
 tomary besides the chrisom, and which, when the chrisom 
 was in use, was distinguished in the rubric by other accustom- 
 ed offerings. By which undoubtedly is to be understood 
 some offering to the Minister who performs the office, not 
 under the notion of a fee or reward, but of something set 
 apart as a tribute or acknowledgment due to God, who is 
 pleased to declare himself honoured or robbed according as 
 such offerings are paid or withheld. 19 We see under the law, 
 that every woman who came to be purified after childbearing, 
 was required to bring something that put her to an expense i 21 
 even the poorest among them was not wholly excused, but 
 obliged to do something, though it were but small. And 
 though neither the kind nor the value of the expense be now 
 prescribed ; yet sure the expense itself should not covetously 
 be saved : a woman that comes with any thankfulness or gra- 
 titude should scorn to offer what David disdained, viz. of tliat 
 which costs nothing. And indeed with what sincerity or truth 
 can she say, as she is directed to do in one of the Psalms, 1 
 will pay my vows now in the presence of all his people, if at 
 the same time she designs no voluntary offering which vows 
 were always understood to imply ? 
 
 §. 3. But, besides the accustomed offering to 
 receive°Se n com- the Minister, the woman is to make a yet much 
 munion, if there better and greater offering, viz. an offering of 
 herself, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sa- 
 crifice to God. For the rubric declares, that if there be a 
 Communion, it is convenient that she receive the holy Com- 
 munion ; that being the most solemn way of praising God for 
 him by whom she received both the present, and all other 
 God's mercies towards her : and a means also to bind herself 
 more strictly to spend those days in his service, which, by this 
 late deliverance, he hath added to her life. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 OF THE COMMINATION. 
 
 The occasion 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 The preface which the Church has prefixed to 
 and design of this office will supply the room of an introduc- 
 this office. i\ox\. It informs us, that in the primitive Church 
 
 19 Malachi iii. 8. 2° Leviticus xii. 6, &c. 
 
introduction] OF THE COMMINATION. 501 
 
 there was a godly discipline ; that at the beginning of Lent, 
 such persons who stood convicted of notorious sins were put to 
 open penance, and punished in this ivorld, that their souls 
 might be saved in the day of the Lord; and that others, ad- 
 monished by their example, might be the more afraid to offend. 
 How and in what manner this discipline was inflicted, I have 
 formerly had occasion to shew ; l so that I have nothing fur- 
 ther to observe in this place, than that it was anciently exer- 
 cised in our own as well as in foreign churches. 2 But in lat- 
 ter ages, during the corruption of the Church of Rome, this 
 godly discipline degenerated into a formal and customary 
 confession upon Ash-lFednesdays, used by all persons indif- 
 ferently, whether penitents or not, from whom no other testi- 
 mony of their repentance was required, than that they should 
 submit to the empty ceremony of sprinkling ashes upon their 
 heads. But this our wise reformers prudently laid aside as a 
 mere shadow or show ; and not without hearty grief and con- 
 cern, that the long continuance of the abominable corruptions 
 of the Romish Church, in their formal confessions and pre- 
 tended absolutions, in their sale of indulgences, and their sor- 
 did commutations of penance for money, had let the people 
 loose from those primitive bands of discipline, which tended 
 really to their amendment, but to which, through the rigour 
 and severity it enjoins, they found it impracticable to reduce 
 them again. However, since they could not do what they 
 desired, they desired to do as much as they could : and there- 
 fore till the said discipline may be restored again, (which is 
 rather to be wished than expected in these licentious times,) 
 they have endeavoured to supply it as well as they were able, 
 by appointing an office to be used at this season, called A 
 Commination, or denouncing of God's anger and judgments 
 against sinners : that so the people being apprized of God's 
 wrath and indignation against their wickedness and sins, may 
 not be encouraged, through the want of discipline in the 
 Church, to follow and pursue them : but be moved by the 
 terror of the dreadful judgments of God, to supply that disci- 
 pline to themselves, by severely judging and condemning 
 themselves, and so to avoid being judged and condemned at 
 the tribunal of God. 
 
 §. 2. But besides the first day of Lent, on How oi ten, and 
 
 1 Chap. V. sect. XI. §. 2, p. 219, 220. 2 Canones R. Edgar. A. D. 967, ap. Spelm. 
 lom. i. p. 460. 
 
502 OF THE COMMINATION. [chap. xiv. 
 
 upon what occa- which it is expressly enjoined, it is also supposed 
 
 sions to be used. ^ thg t ^ Q of ifc tQ be uged af Q(ker H mes ^ as fl^ 
 
 Ordinary shall direct. This was occasioned by the observa 
 tion of Bucer: for it was originally ordered upon Ash-Wed- 
 nesdays only ; and therefore in the first Common Prayer 
 Book it had no other title but The first day of Lent, com- 
 monly called Ash-Wednesday. But Bucer approving of the 
 office, and not seeing reason why it should be confined to one 
 day, and not used oftener, at least four times a year, 3 the title 
 of it was altered when it came to be reviewed ; from which 
 time it was called A Commination against Sinners, with cer- 
 tain Prayers to be used diverse times in tJie Year. How 
 often, or at what particular times, we do not find prescribed ; 
 except that bishop Cosin informs us, from the Visitation Arti- 
 cles of archbishop Grindal for the province of Canterbury in 
 the year 1576, that it was appointed three times a year; viz. 
 on one of the three Sundays next before Easter, on one of the 
 two Sundays next before Pentecost, and on one of the two 
 Sundays next before Christmas ; 4 i. e. I suppose the office 
 was appointed yearly to be used on these three days, as well 
 as on Ash- Wednesday. For that Ash- Wednesday was then 
 the solemn day of all, and on which this office was never to 
 be omitted, may be gathered from the Preface, which is drawn 
 up for the peculiar use of that day. And accordingly we find 
 that in the Scotch Common Prayer a clause was added, that 
 it was to be used especially on the first day of Lent, com- 
 monly called Ash-Wednesday. However, in our own Li- 
 turgy, the title stood as above till the last review, when a 
 clause was added for the sake of explaining the word Com- 
 mination ; and the appointing of the times, on which it should 
 be used, left to the discretion of the Bishop, or the Ordinary. 
 So that the whole title, as it stands now, runs thus : A Com- 
 mination, or Denouncing of God's Anger and Judgments 
 against Sinners, with certain prayers to be used on the first 
 day of Lent, and at other times, as the Ordinary shall ap- 
 point. The Ordinaries indeed seldom or never make use of 
 the power here given them, except that sometimes they ap- 
 point part of the office, viz. from the fifty-first Psalm to the 
 end, to be used upon solemn days of fasting and humiliation. 
 But as to the whole office, it is never used entirely but upon the 
 day mentioned in the title of it, viz. The first day o/*Lent. 
 
 8 Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 491. * See Dr. Nichols's Additional Notes, p. 66. 
 
sict. I.] OF THE COMMINATION. 503 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubric before the Office. 
 
 This rubric was, in all our former Common Thisofficet obe 
 Prayer Books, expressed a little differently from said after the Li- 
 what it is now: After Morning Prayer, the tan y ended - 
 People being called together by the ringing of a Bell, and 
 assembled in the Church, the English Litany shall be said after 
 the accustomed manner ; which ended, the Priest shall go into 
 the pulpit, and say thus, [the People sitting and attending with 
 reverence.*^ This I have formerly had occasion to shew was 
 owing to the Litany's being a distinct service by itself, and so 
 used sometimes after Morning Prayer was over. 5 But it now 
 being made one office with the Morning Prayer, and so both 
 of them read at one and the same time, the rubric only directs, 
 that after Morning Prayer, the Litany ended according to 
 the accustomed manner, this office shall ensue ; i. e. after the 
 whole Litany has been concluded as usual, with The general 
 Thanksgiving, the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, and The Grace 
 of our Lord, &c, and not (as I have observed some to bring it 
 in) immediately after the Collect, We humbly beseech thee, O 
 Father, &c. For till the three forementioned prayers have 
 all of them been used, the Litany is not ended according to 
 the accustomed manner. For the Thanksgiving being to be 
 used before the two final prayers of the Litany, 
 must certainly make a part of the Litany. And ™^i™ y ^ e . n 
 if the prayer of St. Chrysostom, and The Grace 
 of our Lord, &c, be the two final prayers of that office, then 
 sure this office cannot be concluded without them. But what 
 I think clearly puts this matter out of doubt, are four words 
 that immediately follow The Grace of our Lord, &c, viz. Here 
 endeth the Litany } from whence, one would think, any man 
 might conclude that it is not ended before. 
 
 §. 2. The name of a reading -pew was never To be said in the 
 mentioned in our Liturgy till the last review, (the reading-pew or 
 reason of which I have largely given before ; c ) for pulpit ' 
 by this rubric, till the Restoration, the Priest was to go into 
 the pulpit, and say the following Preface and Exhortation. 
 And indeed that is a place not improper for the office, since 
 the Denouncing of God's Judgments is as it were preaching 
 of his word. And it is certain that the pulpit was at first de- 
 
 • The words within the crotchets [ ] were only in the Scotch Liturgy. 
 See chap. IV. Introduction, §. V. p. 166. « See chap. II. sect. V. page 108, &c 
 
504 OF THE COMMINATION. [chap. xiv. 
 
 signed, not only for preaching, but for any thing else that 
 tended to the edification of the people. There the Lord's 
 Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, were for- 
 merly appointed to be read to the people in English on every 
 holy-day in the year, when there was no Sermon to hinder it : 7 
 and there also at the beginning of the Reformation, whilst the 
 Romish Mass was continued till the English Liturgy could be 
 prepared, the Epistle and Gospel for the day, with a Lesson 
 out of the New Testament in the morning, and another out of 
 the Old Testament in the afternoon, was read to the people in 
 the English tongue. 8 However, reading-pews having been 
 generally brought into use before the Restoration, it was not 
 then thought proper to confine the use of this office any longer 
 to the pulpit, but to allow it to be said as the Minister should 
 think proper, either there or in the reading-pew. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Preface, Denunciation, or Application. 
 I. To bring the minds of the congregation into 
 a serious composure, the office is introduced with 
 a grave and solemn preface ; by which the Church informs 
 them, in the first place, of the ancient discipline, and then pro- 
 poses to them the best means to supply it. The ancient dis- 
 cipline, she tells them, was to put those to open shame, who 
 by any notorious sins had given public scandal and offence. 
 By which means both the souls of those that sinned were often 
 rescued from damnation, and others also, being admonished 
 by their example, were deterred from incurring the same dan- 
 ger or punishment. But as this discipline is now lost through 
 the degeneracy of the times, and even beyond retrieval as 
 affairs stand now, she proposes that the congregation would 
 supply it to themselves, by hearing the curses which God has 
 denounced against impenitent sinners ; by which means, as in 
 a glass, each one will be able to discern his own sins, and the 
 curses he is exposed to ; the serious prospect of which will be 
 apt to awaken them from their thoughtlessness and security, 
 and to put them upon flying from such imminent danger, by 
 having recourse to a speedy repentance. 
 The snt c ^* ^e original of repeating the curses, in the 
 
 manner we now use them, was a positive and 
 divine institution, which twice enjoined it by Moses, 9 and in 
 
 7 Injunctions of king Edward VI. in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 3, and Injun c 
 tions of queen Elizabeth, ibid. p. 68. s King Edward's Injunctions, ibid, page 7, 8 
 8 Deut. xi. 29, and chap, xxvii. 
 
sect. II.] OF THE COMMINATION. 505 
 
 obedience to which we find Joshua afterwards most religiously 
 observed it. 10 And Josephus also reckons it amongst those 
 things which the Jews always used to perform. 11 And though 
 the circumstances in the Jewish manner of reciting these 
 curses were purely ceremonial, yet doubtless the end for which 
 this duty was prescribed was truly moral. For to publish the 
 equity and truth of God, and to profess our belief that his 
 laws are righteous, and the sanctions thereof just and certain, 
 is an excellent means of glorifying God, and a proper method 
 for converting of sinners. So that it cannot be unfit for the 
 Gospel-times, nor at all unsuitable to our Christian worship ; 
 especially when the necessities of the Church require the sin- 
 ner should be warned and brought to repentance. Christ in- 
 deed hath taken away the curse of the Law, by being himself 
 made a curse for us ,- 12 but this is only with respect to those 
 that truly repent ; for as to all others the curse stands in full 
 force still. It is therefore fit, that all should declare their be- 
 lief of the truth and reasonableness of these curses : the good 
 man, to own what his sins had deserved, and to acknowledge 
 his obligation to our Lord for redeeming him ; the bad man, 
 to awaken him from his security and ease, and to bring him 
 to repentance before it be too late. 
 
 §. 2. 'For this reason all the people, as those A , . 
 
 °, , , c xr •> Amen, what it 
 
 sentences are read, are to answer and say, at signifies at the 
 the end of each of them, Amen. The end of ^ ce ^ these sen * 
 which is not that the people should curse them- 
 selves and their neighbours, as some have foolishly imagined ; 
 but only that they should acknowledge they have deserved a 
 curse. For it is not here said, Cursed be he, or may he be 
 cursed : but, Cursed is he, or he is cursed, that is guilty of 
 any of these sins. And consequently any one that answers 
 Amen, does not signify his desire, that the thing may be so, 
 as he does when he says Amen to a prayer ; but only signifies 
 his assent to the truth of what is affirmed, as he does when 
 he says Amen to the Creed. It is used in this place in no other 
 sense than it is in several parts of the New Testament, where 
 it is translated Verily, and signifies no more than Verily it is 
 true. The man that says it, verily believes that idolaters, and 
 all those other kinds of sinners that are mentioned in these 
 sentences, are all exposed to the curse of God ; and his be- 
 lieving this is the cause of his repentance, and begging pardon 
 
 w Joshua viii. 33 " Antiq. 1. 4, c. ult. 12 Gal. iii. 13. 
 
506 OF THE COMMINATION. [chap. xiv. 
 
 for his sins ; since he must be a desperate sinner indeed, that 
 will not fly from such vices, for which he affirms with his own 
 mouth so great and heavy a judgment to be due. In short, 
 these curses, and the answers that are made to them, are like 
 our Saviour's woes in the Gospel ; not the causes or procurers 
 of the evil they denounce ; but compassionate predictions of 
 it in order to prevent it. And one would indeed think, when 
 we consider that this manner of answering was originally ap- 
 pointed by God himself, people should be cautious how they 
 charge it with being a wicked or foolish institution. But to 
 proceed. 
 
 The a lication ^1- Having heard to what sins the curse of 
 God is due, the Church has too much reason to 
 conclude, that we are all of us guilty of more or fewer of 
 them, and consequently all of us in danger of God's wrath, 
 except we repent. To excite us therefore to so necessary a 
 duty, that so we may escape those dreadful judgments, she 
 hath collected a pious and pathetical discourse, to set home 
 the foregoing denunciations to our conscience. It is all of 
 it gathered from the holy Scriptures, that it may be more 
 regarded, as coming directly from the word of God ; and is 
 so methodical and apt to the occasion, that the fault must be 
 in the hearers, if the delivery of it be not attended with a 
 happy effect. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Penitential Devotions, 
 
 Psalm li k After so serious and rational a discourse, 
 
 the Church may justly suppose that we are all 
 resolved to repent ; and therefore, to assist us in so necessary 
 a duty, she hath prepared such penitential devotions, as will 
 be very suitable to our pious resolutions : and that they may 
 be said with a greater humiliation and reverence, all the 
 people are to kneel upon their knees, and the Priests and 
 Clerks to kneel in tlie place where they are accustomed to 
 say the Litany. IZ And here they are to begin with David's 
 Litany, viz. Psalm li., the most solemn and penitential one 
 of all that he composed. 
 
 II. After this follow the lesser Litany, the 
 TheL e r" d &c Pray " Lord ' s Prayer, and Suffrages, of which we have 
 
 often spoken before. 
 The first Collect III. And because the Minister may know it to 
 
 13 See chap. IV. page 165. 
 
sect, til] OF THE COMBINATION. 507 
 
 be time to bind up the wounds of true penitents, he in the next 
 place addresses himself solemnly to God for their pardon 
 and forgiveness. 
 
 IV. And knowing also that now he cannot 
 
 well be too importunate, he subjoins a second The se f e ™ d Co1 " 
 Collect to the first; the more pathetically to 
 press our most merciful Father, by phrases well suited to the 
 desires of penitents, and mostly selected from holy Scripture. 
 
 V. And the people being now prepared and 
 
 revived by these importunate addresses, are al- The p n e c "tion. sup " 
 lowed to open their lips for themselves, and to 
 plead for their own pardon in so moving a form, that if it be 
 presented with a suitable devotion, it cannot miss of prevail- 
 ing ; but will admirably fit them for 
 
 VI. The following blessing,* which, being to 
 
 be pronounced in the name of God, is taken e essing ' 
 from a form of his own prescribing : u so that all who are 
 prepared to receive its benefit must numbly kneel, and firmly 
 believe that he who prescribed it will be sure to confirm it to 
 their infinite advantage and endless comfort. 
 
 THE PSALMS OF DAVID 
 
 Follow in our Common Prayer Book, next after the Com- 
 mination : but of these I have formerly said as much as, I 
 think, the nature of this work requires : 15 I have therefore no 
 occasion to say any thing of them here, nor do I apprehend 
 that there is any need for my enlarging upon the 
 
 FORMS OF PRAYER TO BE USED AT SEA ; 
 
 Which were first added at the last review, but not designed 
 for a complete office, nor comprised in any particular method ; 
 but are all of them (except the two first alone, which are daily 
 to he used in his Majesty's navy) occasional forms, to be used 
 as the circumstances of their affairs require ; and are so very 
 well adapted to their several occasions, that any one that ob- 
 serves them will see their suitableness without any illustration. 
 
 * Added at the last review. 
 i« Numbers vi. 24. la Chap. III. sect. IX. p. 128, &c. 
 
508 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap. xv. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE FIFTH 
 OF NOVEMBER. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The occasions and reasons of the observation of this and the 
 following days are so well known to all that have any know- 
 ledge in the affairs of this nation, that it would be needless to 
 repeat the several histories of them here. 
 
 And the suitableness of the prayers appointed on these oc- 
 casions is so apparent of itself, that I think nothing further 
 needful, even in relation to the offices, than to give a short 
 account of the Hymns, and Psalms, and Lessons, and of the 
 Epistles and Gospels, by shewing in what sense they are ap- 
 plicable to their days. And in treating of them I shall con- 
 sider our present forms only, without noting how they differ 
 or vary from the former, except where there is something re- 
 markable in the alteration. For the Common Prayers that 
 were printed before the Revolution (at which time the chief 
 of the alterations in these were made) being as yet in many 
 hands, it is easy for the readers to turn to and observe them, 
 without my swelling these sheets with them here. I shall 
 therefore immediately begin with the present office for the 
 Fifth of November. 
 
 Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel. 
 
 I. Instead of the ordinary sentences before 
 the exhortation, are three verses taken out of 
 
 the hundred and third psalm, 1 declaring the long-suffering 
 and goodness of God, the short continuance of his anger, and 
 his mercy in not dealing with us according to our sins : all of 
 them attributes we cannot help reflecting on, when we look 
 back on the signal mercies of this day. 
 
 II. And the hymn that is appointed instead of 
 The hymn. ^ y en ^ e Exultemus is so methodically put to- 
 gether, that it seems, as it stands in this place, to be an entire 
 psalm composed on purpose for the day. It begins with an 
 act of praise to God for his gracious nature and providence 
 over us, 2 and then particularly commemorates our enemies' 
 
 i Verse 8, 9, 10. * Verse 1, 2. 
 
introduction.] THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER. 509 
 
 attempts, and how providentially they were entrapped in the 
 works of their own hands : 3 upon this it breaks out into an 
 humble acknowledgment of the power,and wisdom, and justice 
 of God, 4 and at last concludes with a prayer for the Governor 
 whom he hath set over us, and a promise of fidelity to God 
 for the future. The whole was added in the second year of 
 king William and queen Mary, when this office was very much 
 altered and enlarged, upon the account of the Revolution. At 
 which time also the foregoing sentences were inserted in the 
 room of others that had been used till then. 5 
 
 III. The proper psalms are Psalm lxiv. cxxiv. 
 
 cxxv. The lxivth was a prayer which David SSSbSv! 
 made for deliverance from his enemies, when 
 they were secretly plotting and conspiring against him ; but 
 which he foretold should be signally disappointed through 
 their own untoward contrivance and device. 
 
 $. 2. The cxxivth Psalm is an acknowledgment ,, . 
 
 v% j» j xi i /> i Psalm cxxiv. 
 
 oi (jrod s assistance, and a thankful commemora- 
 tion of the deliverance wrought by him. It was occasioned, 
 as some think, by the victory in Rephaim, 6 or, as others, by 
 David's deliverance from Absalom : though all agree it was 
 composed on the account of some signal deliverance from some 
 potent enemy. 
 
 §. 3. The cxxvth declares the safety of those pgalm cxxv 
 who firmly adhere to God, without seeking to any 
 irregular means for attaining it. It is appointed on this day, 
 to remind us of the providential care of God in frustrating the 
 designs of the enemies of our Church, even before they were 
 sensible of their being so much as in danger from them. Till 
 the second year of king William and queen Mary, the cxxixth 
 Psalm was used instead of this, and the xxxvth was used first of 
 all, which is now discontinued. 
 
 IV. The proper Lessons are 2 Samuel xxii. and 
 
 Acts xxiii. The first is David's psalm of praise, 7 J^*T*' 
 composed upon his deliverance from the hands 
 of his enemies, especially of Saul, who sought, by murdering 
 him, to cut off the succession God had entailed on his family. 
 The words are so applicable to the present occasion, that they 
 explain themselves to an attentive hearer. 
 
 §. 2. The history contained in the second Les- _. 
 
 ° . , V , 1 he second. 
 
 son agrees with the treason commemorated on 
 
 3 Verse 2, 3. 4, 5, 6. * Verse 7, 8. 5 viz. Psalm li. 9. Jer. x. 24. Luke xx. 18 
 19. o 2 Sam. v. 17, &c. ' Psalm xviii. 
 
510 OP THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap, xvi 
 
 this day in some particulars, but falls short of it in others. 
 There we find a crew of desperate zealots enraged at St. Paul, 
 for persuading them to reform the corrupt traditions of their 
 forefathers, and binding themselves in a bloody vow to murder 
 him as he went to the hall of judgment. Thus far the stories 
 agree • but in what is behind they widely differ. St. Paul was 
 only a private man, and their fellow-subject, and so they aimed 
 at a single sacrifice to their fury and rage ; whereas the conspi- 
 rators concerned in the story of this day aimed at their own 
 indulgent sovereign, and the whole nation in representative ; 
 seeming to copy after Caligula's wish, viz. that all the people 
 of Rome might have but one neck, that so he might cut them 
 off at a stroke. As the whole Scripture therefore affords no 
 parallel of such cruel and bloodthirsty men, we must be con- 
 tent with an instance something like it, though in a far lower 
 degree. 
 
 V. The Epistle 8 is designed to remind the peo- 
 The GoipeL and P le of their allegiance to their sovereign: the 
 Gospel, 9 which was appointed in the second year 
 of king William, instead of the story of Judas betraying his 
 Master, 10 which for some good reasons, I suppose, was then 
 thought proper to be discontinued, is intended to correct the 
 unruly effects of mistaken zeal for our religion ; shewing us 
 that our faith, be it ever so true, cannot warrant us to perse- 
 cute or destroy those of different persuasions. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 OP THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE THIRTIETH 
 OF JANUARY. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics. 
 
 It having never been the practice of the Catho- 
 lic Church, nor indeed of any part of it, except 
 the Roman, and that which has too many marks of its parent, 
 the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, 1 to allow of humiliation 
 or fasting on Sundays, which are appointed for duties of a 
 The first different nature ; it is ordered, that If this day 
 shall happe?i to be Sunday, this form of prayer 
 
 8 Rom. xiii. 1 — S 9 Luke ix. 51 — 57. ,0 Matt, xxvii. 1 — IZ. 1 Clergyman's 
 Vade Mecum, p. 1S2. 
 
■ect. ii.] THE THIRTIETH OF JANUARY. 511 
 
 shall be used, and the fast kept the next day following. And 
 upon the Lord's day next before the day to be kept, (i. e. on 
 whatever day of the week it shall happen,) at Morning Prayer, 
 immediately after the Nicene Creed, notice shall be given for 
 the due observation of the said day. 
 
 II. As to the service of this day, (like that ap- The gecond 
 pointed for the fifth of November,) it is to be the 
 same with the usual office for holy -days in all things, except 
 where it is in this office otherwise appointed ; i. e. the ordi- 
 nary Morning and Evening Service, and Office for the Commu- 
 nion, are to be said as usual, except where any thing in either 
 of these services is to be added to, or to be used in the room 
 of, the ordinary service for the day ; as the Collects, for in- 
 stance, and the several prayers appointed on these occasions, 
 are to be used either instead of, or besides, the prayers daily 
 in use ; and the Hymn, Psalms, and Lessons, the Epistle and 
 Gospel, instead of those in ordinary course. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, 
 and Gospel. 
 
 I. The office is introduced with some of the mv 
 
 , i. nyr • n 9 Tne sentences. 
 
 usual sentences at Morning Prayer. 9 
 
 II. The hymn, instead of the xcvth Psalm, was 
 drawn up in the reign of king James II., when a 
 
 review was taken, and several alterations made in this office. 
 And whoever looks into king Charles's book, must acknow- 
 ledge the old hymn not to be near so fine as the new one, 
 which is as solemn a composure, and as pertinent to the oc- 
 casion, as can be imagined or contrived. 
 
 III. The proper psalms appointed for the 
 morning are Psalms ix. x. xi. The viith was ori- ^aE^i™ 8 ' 
 ginally prefixed to them all, but that was after- 
 wards discontinued. The first of those that are now appoint- 
 ed, was wrote upon Goliath's death, and was designed for 
 David's victory over the Philistines : and though the chief 
 end of this day's solemnity is to bewail our sins, which were 
 the occasion of the late bloody and dismal times ; yet when 
 we recollect how happily we were at last delivered from them, 
 and how remarkably God's justice was executed on the ene- 
 mies of our David, we cannot forbear intermingling a thanks- 
 giving to praise the divine Majesty for so wonderful a work. 
 
 8 Dan. ix. 9, 10. Jer. x. 24. Psal. cxliii. 2. 
 
512 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap. xvi. 
 
 Psalm x §* ^' ^ e x ^ n ^ sa ^ m ' wanting a title, was by 
 
 the Hebrews anciently, and by the Vulgar Latin 
 is still, joined to the former : but though it be on a like sub- 
 ject, yet there is a plain difference between them. The ixth 
 Psalm speaks of Pagan enemies, whose cruelty was ended 
 some time before, and is therefore fuller of praises ; whereas 
 this psalm speaks of domestic foes, who still acted unjustly, 
 and so abounds more with prayers and complaints proper to 
 be used on this day. 
 
 . §.3. The xith Psalm is a declaration of David's 
 
 full confidence and trust in God, in despite of all 
 discouragements, and is very applicable to our royal martyr 
 under his sufferings. 
 
 The first Lesson * ^e ** rst Lesson for the morning is 2 
 
 Samuel i. There is no parallel for this inhuman 
 and barbarous murder of a good and pious king by his own 
 subjects in all the Old Testament: and therefore the Church 
 is content to read the history of David's justice and vengeance 
 upon the Amalekite, that accused himself of killing king Saul, 
 though at his own request, to ease him of his pain ; and of 
 David's own decent mourning for his sovereign, notwithstand- 
 ing he had been always his mortal enemy, had apostatized 
 from God, and was forsaken by Heaven. How much more 
 reason then had our state to punish those impious rebels, who 
 murdered the best of kings, only for adhering to the best of 
 religions ; and also to set apart a day of humiliation for fast- 
 ing and prayer, and to draw up a mournful office for the oc- 
 casion, after the example of David in the Lesson ! 
 
 §. 2. As for the second Lesson, it is no other 
 Th Le S s e S o°n nd than that appointed by the Church in the ordi- 
 nary course, to be read on the thirtieth of Janu- 
 ary. 3 For by a signal providence the bloody rebels chose that 
 day for murdering their king, on which the history of our 
 Saviour's sufferings was appointed to be read as a Lesson for 
 the day. The blessed martyr had forgot that it came in the 
 ordinary course ; and therefore when bishop Juxon (who read 
 the morning office immediately before his martyrdom) named 
 this chapter, the good prince asked him, if he had singled it 
 out as fit for the occasion ; and when he was informed it was 
 the Lesson for the day, could not without a sensible compla- 
 cency and joy admire how suitably it concurred with his cir- 
 
 3 Matt, xxvii. to the end. 
 
sect, xi.] THE THIRTIETH OF JANUARY. 513 
 
 cumstances : betrayed by some, denied by others, and despised 
 by the rest of his seeming friends, who left him to the impla- 
 cable malice of his barbarous enemies ; who treated him with 
 the same contempt and ingratitude, outrage and cruelty, with 
 which the Jews treated their King and Saviour ; while he fol- 
 lowed the steps of his great Master in meekness and patience, 
 piety to God, and charity to men, and at last praying for his 
 murderers. 
 
 V. The Epistle i shews the duty which Chris- 
 tians owe to magistrates: the Gospel 5 severely The l^ 6 and 
 and justly upbraids those unparalleled rebels, 
 
 who were the villanous projectors of this day's tragedy. It 
 calls to our mind the care and diligence of the poor good 
 king, who, when he had omitted nothing for the quiet and 
 safety of his kingdoms, had the misfortune to commit the ad- 
 ministration of the government into such hands, as made use 
 of the power he had intrusted with them, to deny him the 
 rights and prerogatives of his crown ; rejecting his commis- 
 sioners, slaying his servants, seizing his crown, murdering his 
 person, banishing his heir, and usurping his kingdom. 
 
 VI. The Psalms for the evening service are TheP8almgfor 
 different now from what they were when the the evening. 
 office was composed; 6 at present they are the Psalmlxxix - 
 lxxixth, xcivth, and lxxxvth. The lxxixth Psalm contains a 
 lively description of the miseries of Jerusalem, upon the sack- 
 ing of it by the king of Babylon ; and is very applicable to 
 our sad condition during the rebellion : only the Jews suffered 
 by heathens, we by men whose behaviour was worse than 
 heathenish, while they called themselves Christians. 
 
 S. 2. The xcivth Psalm is a prayer to God, 
 
 S n i .■' .. r \t i t -ii Psalm xciv. 
 
 and a confident assurance m him, that he will 
 
 dissipate the attempts of wicked men, and uphold the righteous. 
 
 §. 3. The lxxxvth Psalm is appointed with re- 
 spect to that happy change at the Restoration, 
 and is for that reason placed out of its usual order; it contain- 
 ing an acknowledgment of God's mercy in delivering the land 
 from those sad calamities, and a prayer for a continuance of 
 it in prosperity hereafter. 
 
 VII. For the first Lesson is appointed a choice 
 
 „ . •,. » i» i_ • i_ 7 • t The first Lesson 
 
 of two chapters for variety : one 01 which 7 is Je- 
 
 * 1 Peter ii. 13—23. * Matt. xxi. 33—42. « Viz. Psalm xxxviii. lxiv. and 
 
 cxliii. 7 Jeremiah xii. 
 
 2l 
 
514 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap. xvii. 
 
 remiah's complaint to God of great mischiefs done in Church 
 and State by false prophets and tyrannical rulers, with God's 
 answer, giving the reason of his permitting it, and threatening 
 withal, in due time, to punish the authors of these mischiefs, 
 and to deliver the righteous. 
 
 §. 2. The other is out of Daniel, 8 being an excellent prayer, 
 which that holy man used on a day that he had set apart to 
 solemn humiliation, fasting, and repentance ; wherein he so 
 effectually bewailed the sins and sufferings of God's people, 
 that he prevailed with God to restore them to their liberty, 
 and to the exercise of their religion. Which justly reminds 
 us of the prayers and penitence of devout men under those 
 usurpers, which at last had the same effect with us. 
 
 §. 3. The second Lesson 9 sets before us the 
 T1 Lesson nd ^ tn an0 - P at; i ence of the holy martyrs, whom St. 
 Paul records, and is very proper as a commemor- 
 ation of our royal martyr's sufferings and faith, and an ex- 
 hortation to us to imitate them, whensoever it shall please 
 God to require it of us. In the old Gallican Liturgy this was 
 the proper Lesson for the festival of any martyr. 10 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE TWENTY- 
 NINTH OF MAY 
 
 Sect. I. — Of the Rubrics. 
 
 To the end (saith the Act of Parliament, by 
 which this day is appointed) that all persons 
 may be put in mind of their duty thereon, and be better pre- 
 pared to discharge the same with that piety and devotion as 
 The Act to be becomes them; the Act of Parliament made in 
 tote a ?v d en°for e tJie twe (f f ^ and confirmed in the thirteenth year 
 the observation of king Charles the Second, for the observation 
 ot the day. f the twenty-ninth day of May yearly, as a day 
 
 of public thanksgiving, is to be read publicly in all churches at 
 Morning Prayer, immediately after the Nicene Creed, on the 
 Lord's day next before every such twenty-ninth of May, and. 
 
 s Daniel ix. 1—22. » Heb. xi. 32, to chap. xii. 7. i« Vide Mabillon, Lit. 
 
 Gallic. 1. 2, p. 1G0. 
 
sect. I.] THE TWENTY-NINTH OF MAY. 515 
 
 notice to be given for the due observation of the said day. So 
 also the Act for the observation of the Fifth of November is 
 appointed to be read, by that Act itself, publicly in the church 
 after Morning Prayer or preaching on the said day. 
 
 And yet it is remarkable, that though both By what autnor _ 
 these Acts, together with the Act for the thirtieth ity these offices 
 of January, appoint these several days to be so- areen J° med - 
 lemnly observed, and both suppose and enact that proper 
 prayers and praises shall be used on those days ; yet not one 
 of them provides for or establishes any office for the use of 
 either one or other of the said days : nor have our kings, by 
 whose order and directions alone these several offices are 
 printed and annexed to the Book of Common Prayer, and ap- 
 pointed to be used on their respective days, any power or au- 
 thority invested in them by king Charles II. 's Act of Uni- 
 formity, to establish or enjoin any other form than what is 
 provided in the Book of Common Prayer, or to do any thing 
 else in relation to that book, than to alter and change from 
 time to time the names of the king, queen, and royal progeny. 
 So that it might be very well questioned, whether these, or 
 any other occasional offices put out by the same order, could 
 safely be used, were it not for the general connivance, or 
 rather concurrence of the two other parts of the legislative 
 authority, the lords and commons, who, if sitting, are always 
 present at the performance of such offices, and frequently ad- 
 dress the king to order them. 1 
 
 II. The second rubric has already been spoken 
 to in the foregoing chapter : but because this Actions for read- 
 festival falls in such a time of the year, as that ing this office 
 it often happens to concur with some other great Jay" ° ther h ° ly " 
 holy-day, which has a proper service appointed 
 for itself; therefore here is a third rubric of directions in this 
 case, that whenever such concurrence shall happen, the pre- 
 ference shall be given to that other holy-day, and so much of 
 this office as interferes with the service proper for that day 
 shall be omitted. Thus, for instance, it is said in the rubric, 
 If this day shall happen to be Ascension-day, or Whit-Sun- 
 day, the Collects of this office (i. e. all the prayers of it, for 
 all prayers are called Collects both in the rubrics of this and 
 all other offices) are to be added to the office of those festivals 
 in their proper places : — and the rest of this office shall be 
 
 ' See this proved at large by Mr. Johnson in his Case of Occasional Days and Prayers. 
 2 L 2 
 
516 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap. xvn. 
 
 omitted ; i. e. the Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel, because 
 both those days have proper Psalms, Lessons, Epistles, and 
 Gospels of their own. And that only the portions of Scripture 
 appointed for this day are to be omitted upon this occasion, 
 is plain, because if this day happens to be Monday or Tues- 
 day in Whitsun-week, or Trinity-Sunday, (which have no 
 proper Psalms,) then the proper Psalms here appointed for 
 this day, instead of those of ordinary course, shall be also 
 used. And because none of the days mentioned in the rubric 
 have any peculiar hymn instead of the Venite Exultemus, ' 
 therefore the rubric orders, that, what festival soever shall 
 happen to fall upon this solemn day of thanksgiving, the 
 following hymn, appointed instead of Venite Exultemus, 
 shall be constantly used. The only question then remaining 
 is, whether the Litany ought to be used if this day happens 
 to be Ascension-day, or Monday or Tuesday in Whitsun- 
 week, (for upon Whit-Sunday and Trinity- Sunday it is used 
 of course.) And to this, I think, the answer is plain, viz. 
 That the Litany does not interfere with any part of the service 
 appointed for any of those days ; and therefore it should be 
 read (as it is enjoined by this office) for the greater solemnity 
 of this day. Besides, whatever festival happens to fall upon 
 this day, tlie collects of this office are to be added to the office 
 of such festival in their proper places : now one of the collects 
 or prayers of this office is to be said in the end of the Litany, 
 after the collect, We humbly beseech tliee, O Father, &cc. 
 Unless therefore the Litany be read, and that collect used, 
 one of the collects of this office cannot be added in its proper 
 place. But one would think there should be no room for any 
 doubt in this matter, when it is said so expressly in the rubric, 
 that the Litany shall always this day be used ■ to imply, un- 
 doubtedly, that though it happen upon a day on which other- 
 wise the Litany is not to be used, yet it shall be added on 
 purpose on this occasion. 
 
 Sect. II. — Of the Sentences, Hymns, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, 
 and Gospel. 
 
 I. For the sentences are appointed one of the 
 
 The Sentence*. , ^ r /■• 
 
 ordinary sentences at morning service, (being 
 Daniel's confession of his people's transgression, and of God's 
 mercy notwithstanding, 2 ) and an additional one out of the 
 
 2 Daniel ix, 9, 10. 
 
sect. II.] THE TWENTY-NINTH OF MAY. 517 
 
 Book of Lamentations, 3 ascribing our preservation wholly to 
 the mercy and compassion of God. 
 
 II. The following hymn, which was new drawn 
 
 i • x tt » • .1 o The hymn. 
 
 up in king James II. s reign, in the room 01 
 
 another that had been used before, is sufficiently plain and 
 
 applicable to the day, without any comment. 
 
 III. The proper Psalms, till king James's 
 
 reign, were the xxth, xxist, lxxxvth, and cxviiith. p^^ cxSv. 
 But now they are the cxxivth, cxxvith, cxxixth, 
 and cxviiith. The first of these hath been already spoken to 
 in the office for the Fifth of November. It may very properly 
 be repeated here ; since the papists and sectaries, like Sam- 
 son's foxes, though they look contrary ways, do yet both join 
 in carrying fire to destroy us : their end is the same, though 
 the method be different. 
 
 §. 2. The cxxvith Psalm celebrates the deli- 
 verance of the Israelites out of their captivity, MmcKV1, 
 which was so sudden and unexpected, that they who saw it 
 thought themselves in a dream, and could scarce be per- 
 suaded that the thing was real : which may exactly be applied 
 to the strange and miraculous turn of affairs at the happy 
 Restoration ; which was so surprising, that those who saw it 
 were in such an ecstasy of joy and wonder, that they were 
 almost afraid that their senses deceived them. 
 
 §. 3. The cxxixth Psalm is a reflection upon 
 the endeavours of our enemies to destroy us, and 
 an acknowledgment of God's continual help in delivering us ; 
 and concludes with a curse denounced upon the enemies of 
 the Church. 
 
 §. 4. The cxviiith Psalm was composed origin- 
 ally for David's coronation after God had brought 
 him from his exile through many troubles, and had settled 
 him safely on his throne in peace. It is set last, because it 
 peculiarly relates to the last scene of the Restoration, the 
 crowning of king Charles II. 
 
 IV. The first Lesson 4 is almost an exact paral- ^ M T 
 
 , , j .,• i n. \ i The first Lesson. 
 
 lei to our own case, describing how, alter Absa- 
 lom's death, (whereby the rebellion was happily ended,) the 
 people unanimously resolved to bring back their lawful king 
 David, and sent an honourable message to him in his exile, to 
 invite him home ; and how also upon this he returned, not 
 
 s Chap.,iii. 22. 4 2 Samuel xix. 9. 
 
518 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap. xvn. 
 
 only without any opposition, but by the general consent, and 
 to the great satisfaction of all his subjects ; his people con- 
 tending which part of them should shew themselves most for- 
 ward and joyful upon so happy an occasion. 
 
 §. 2. But if any new practices make it necessary to reflect 
 upon that faction and sedition which began the rebellion, 
 Numbers xvi. was added by king James, to be used instead of 
 the former, where the example of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram 
 sets out the greatness of their sin, and the severity of their 
 punishment, who delight in opposing their lawful governors. 
 §. 3. The second Lesson, which is now the 
 T Less e o C n nd Epistle of Saint Jude, (but which was Romans 
 xiii. till king James's reign,) foretells the coming 
 of false teachers in the last days, and describes their hypo- 
 crisy in pretending to sanctity, while their lives are notoriously 
 evil ; remarking particularly their railing at those in authority, 
 and prophesying falsely for a reward, and containing at the 
 same time a prophecy of their fall : and as the character of 
 these was exactly answered by some in those sad times ; so 
 also was their prophecy soon after fulfilled to their ruin and 
 destruction, to warn others to beware of such pretenders. 
 
 VI. The Epistle 5 (except the two first verses) 
 
 The Go P s S d eand * s tne same with tnat for Januar y 30 > command- 
 ing us to be subject to the king as supreme. 
 But, lest we should doubt who our king is, the Gospel gives 
 us a token to know him by, viz. he whose image and super- 
 scription our tribute-money bears. For coining of money is 
 as certain a mark of sovereignty, as the making of laws, or 
 the power of the sword. Wherever therefore that mark is 
 found, there tribute and the rights of sovereignty are due. 
 For this reason our Saviour, to answer the question proposed 
 to him, (viz. whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Ccesar 
 or not?) does not examine into Caesar's right, nor how he 
 came by his sovereign power ; but all the foundation he thinks 
 necessary to proceed upon, is this of Caesar's image and su- 
 perscription, i. e. the current coin of the country. For this 
 was a proof that Caesar, at that time, was actually possessed 
 of the supreme power in Judea, and that even the Jews, who 
 used his money, acknowledged as much : an answer so plain, 
 that the Pharisees were ashamed of the question they had 
 proposed, and went away without making a reply. For they 
 
 5 1 Peter ii. 11— 18. 
 
sect, ii.] THE TWENTY-NINTH OF MAY. 519 
 
 no more dared to deny that Caesar was king, than they thought 
 that Jesus dared either to own or deny the lawfulness of pay- 
 ing tribute to him. But one necessarily infers the other. For 
 " since peace (saith the historian 6 ) cannot be secured without 
 forces, nor forces raised without pay, nor pay had without 
 taxes or tribute ; " it follows that tribute must necessarily be 
 paid to the person actually governing, so long as he governs, 
 in consideration of the safety and protection we enjoy by him, 
 whosoever he be that is possessed of the government. 
 
 I know how injurious this doctrine hath been represented 
 to rightful princes in distress from usurping powers. But I 
 never yet saw it proved, that Providence is confined always 
 to maintain the same family on the throne ; or that, when an- 
 other is raised up in the room of it, we are not obliged to em- 
 brace or submit to such a change in the government, accord- 
 ing as it is ordained for a blessing or a scourge. However, 
 to waive that argument at present, it is sufficient to say here, 
 that, supposing subjects to act upon the principles that are 
 here laid down, no rightful prince will ever be dispossessed. 
 And sure it will be hard to charge those consequences upon 
 the explanation of any Scripture, which can never happen till 
 men have acted in direct opposition to the text so explained. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER DRAWN UP FOR THE 
 
 FIRST OF AUGUST ; AND NOW TO BE USED 
 
 ON THE TWENTIETH OF JUNE. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As the godly Christian emperors in ancient times, so it appears 
 that our most religious princes since the Reformation, have 
 always caused the days of their inaugurations to be publicly 
 celebrated by all their subjects with prayers and thanksgivings 
 to Almighty God} And to the end that this day might be 
 duly celebrated, we find that particular forms of prayer have 
 
 6 Nee quies gentium sine armis,nec armasine stipendiis, nee stipendia sine tributis 
 haberi possunt. Tacitus apud Grotium in Matt. xxii. 20. 1 See Can. 2, 1640, in 
 
 Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 349, and king James II.'s Order for the Service on 
 the sixth of February. 
 
520 OF THE FORM OF PRAYER FOR [chap, xviii. 
 
 been appointed by authority, at least ever since the reign of 
 king Charles I. for that day on purpose. 2 It is true, after the 
 death of that prince, this pious custom received a long and dole- 
 ful interruption, upon occasion of his murder, which changed the 
 day, on which king Charles the Second succeeded to the crown, 
 into a day of sorrow and fasting? And indeed a great part of 
 the duty of that day, and the devotions proper to it, were per- 
 formed in the service for the twenty-ninth of May. However, 
 upon king James II. 's accession, the former laudable and re- 
 ligious practice was immediately revived ; a form of prayer 
 and thanksgiving having been composed by the bishops for this 
 purpose, in many things agreeing with this we now use. But 
 in the reign of king William, the Inauguration festival was 
 again disused: and it must be owned there was so much the 
 less occasion for it during his reign, as there were large ad- 
 ditions made to the form of thanksgiving appointed for the 
 Fifth of November, to commemorate his arrival, which hap- 
 pened on that day. However, when our late glorious and 
 pious queen Anne succeeded to the throne, there was fresh 
 occasion to revive the festival. And therefore the day was 
 again ordered to be observed, and a form of prayer with thanks- 
 giving drawn up, part of it being taken from king James's 
 office, and part of it being composed entirely new; and is, 
 altogether, the same (except the first Lesson) with the present 
 office, which comes now in order to be explained. 
 
 Of the Sentences, Hymn, Psalms, Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel. 
 
 I. The rubrics are the same as in the foregoing 
 en ences. Q ^ ces . an( j so ^ Q Sentences are the first that 
 
 need to be considered : and of these it is sufficient to say, 
 that the first is a proper introduction to the duties we are now 
 going to perform, 4 and that the other is one of the ordinary 
 sentences at morning service, 5 and inserted here, in order to 
 prepare us for the following confession. 
 
 II. The Hymn is an abridgment of a much 
 ymn. i on g er one fa^ was appointed in the office drawn 
 
 up for king James II. However this, as it stands, is as proper 
 to the occasion, containing suitable petitions and praises for 
 the king. 
 
 8 See Can. 2. 1640, in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, page 349, and king James II.'s 
 Order for the Service on the sixth of February. 3 Ibid. * 1 Tim. ii. 1—3. 
 
 5 1 John i. 8, 9. 
 
chap. xviii.J THE TWENTIETH OF JUNE. 521 
 
 III. The proper Psalms are Psalm xx. xxi. ci. ThePsalms 
 The xxth is a Psalm of David, wherein the people Psalm xx. ' 
 are taught to pray for his good success. 
 
 §. 2. The xxist was originally composed upon 
 the same account for which we now make choice 
 of it, viz. to be a form of public prayer, to be used in the con- 
 gregation for God's blessing on the prince. 
 
 §. 3. The cist Psalm is a resolution that David „ , 
 
 ", . , „ -, . . Psalm ci. 
 
 made to be a strict observer ot piety and justice 
 both in his private and public conduct, and is appointed here 
 to remind us, that whoever desires God's blessing upon his 
 person and government, must diligently attend to discounten- 
 ance impiety, and to nourish true religion and virtue. In the 
 room of this Psalm, in king James's office, were appointed the 
 lxxxvth and the cxviiith ; but they being both chose with an 
 eye to the exile, which that prince underwent with his royal 
 brother, were, in the office for queen Anne, more properly 
 changed. 
 
 IV. The first Lesson in queen Anne's time was 
 Proverbs viii. 13, to the end : but now the first T The L fir S st nS ' 
 of Joshua is again appointed, which was the Les- 
 son for this office when it was put out by king James. Now 
 indeed only the first ten verses are appointed, which contain 
 the history of God's setting up Joshua to succeed Moses in 
 the government of the Israelites, with the instructions that he 
 gave him upon that occasion. Why the latter part was not 
 continued as well as the former, I do not see ; since certainly 
 some part of it is as applicable as the former to the case of his 
 present Majesty, it going on with the story of Joshua's passing 
 with the Israelites over Jordan, to take possession of the land 
 which God had given him. 
 
 §. 2. The second Lesson is appointed upon Thesecond 
 account of that part of it which is read for the 
 Epistle on November 5, of which what I have there said may 
 suffice. 
 
 V. The Epistle and Gospel are the same with 
 
 chose appointed on the twenty-ninth of May, and The Gospei e and 
 have already been spoken to in my discourse on 
 that office. 
 
 6 Romans xiii. 
 
TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED 
 AND EXPLAINED. 
 
 Genesis xliii. 27. 
 Exodus xvii. 11, 12, 13. 
 Leviticus xviii. 12 — 16. 
 Judges xiv. 20. . 
 1 Samuel xxxi. 12. 
 Ecclesiastes v. 1. 
 Ezekiel ix. 4. 
 Amos vi. 10. 
 Zechariah iii. 8. 
 
 vi. 12. 
 
 St. Matthew iii. 11, 16. 
 
 v. 23, 24. 
 
 vi. 9. 
 
 10. . 
 
 ix. 2. 
 
 xvi. 19. 
 
 xviii. 18. 
 
 xix. 9. . 
 
 xxvi. 26. 
 
 29. 
 
 St. Mark x. 11. 
 xiv. 23. 
 
 St. Luke i. 78. 
 
 iii. 21. 
 
 xi. 2. 
 
 xvi. 18. 
 
 xxii. 19. 
 
 St. John iii. 3—7. 
 
 Page 
 
 429 
 357 
 404 
 401 
 466 
 90 
 357 
 466 
 86 
 ib. 
 
 377 
 
 274 
 
 ^» 
 
 7 
 
 441 
 
 440 
 
 ib. 
 
 402 
 
 295 
 
 278 
 
 403 
 
 297 
 
 86 
 
 377 
 
 7 
 
 403 
 
 297 
 
 325 
 
 St. John xiv. 13. . 
 
 xvi. 23, 24. . 
 
 xx. 23. . 
 
 Acts i. 5. . 
 
 ii. 46. . 
 
 iv. 23, 24. . 
 
 Romans ii. 20. 
 
 xvi. 3, 5, 10, 11, 
 
 1 Corinthians vii. 2. 
 14. 
 
 xi. 22. 
 
 24,25. 
 
 xvi. 19. 
 
 2 Corinthians i. 21, 22. 
 
 viii. 23. 
 
 Galatians i. 19. 
 Ephesians i. 13. 
 
 iv. 30. 
 
 Philippians ii. 25. 
 Colossians iv. 15. 
 
 1 Timothy iv. 14. 
 
 2 Timothy iv. 5. 
 
 19. 
 
 Philemon 1, 2. 
 Hebrews xiii. 7. 
 James v. 14, 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 1 Peter iii. 7. 
 1 John ii. 20, 27. 
 
 14 
 
 Page 
 
 5 
 
 ib. 
 
 440 
 
 378 
 
 82 
 
 10 
 
 372 
 
 83 
 
 402 
 
 329 
 
 . 83 
 
 297 
 
 . 83 
 
 3S0, 391 
 
 97 
 
 . ib. 
 
 380 
 
 . ib. 
 
 97 
 
 . 83 
 
 96 
 
 . 95 
 
 . 83 
 
 . ib. 
 
 188 
 
 442, 449 
 
 451 
 
 410 
 
 301 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absolution, the power of it, in -what sense 
 given by our Saviour to the Church, 440. 
 the internal effects of it, 442. in what 
 sense exercised in the primitive Church, 
 443. how far abused by the Church of 
 Rome, 453. in what sense exercised by 
 the Church of England, 439, 446. 
 
 in the morning and evening service, 
 
 how seasonably used there, 114. of what 
 benefit or effect, 115. designed by the 
 Church to be more than declarative, ib. 
 not to be pronounced by a deacon, 120. 
 
 in the office for the visitation of the 
 
 sick, seems only to respect the censures 
 of the Church, 439. what intended by 
 the form, 445. not to be pronounced un- 
 less heartily desired, 447. See also the 
 preface, vi. &c. 
 
 Abstinence, how distinguished from fast- 
 ing by the Church of Rome, 198. what 
 days appointed for the one and the other, 
 ib. no distinction made in the Church 
 of England, either between days of fast- 
 ing and days of abstinence, or between 
 any different kinds of food, 198, 199. ab- 
 stinence from flesh on fish-days enjoined 
 by act of parliament, 199. entire absti- 
 nence recommended by the Church of 
 England on fast-days, ib. 
 
 Advent, why so called, 206. the antiquity 
 of it, ib. Advent sermons formerly 
 preached, ib. why the Church begins 
 her year at Advent, 207. 
 
 Affinity. See Consanguinity. 
 
 Affusion in baptism, answers the end of it, 
 348. used sometimes by the primitive 
 Christians, ib. how it first came into 
 practice, 350. affusion only to be used 
 when the child is sick, 368. 
 
 Agatha, a Sicilian virgin and martyr ; 
 some account of her, 56. 
 
 Agnes, a Roman virgin and martyr ; some 
 account of her, 55. why painted with a 
 lamb by her side, 56. 
 
 Alb, what, by whom, and when to be 
 worn, 104. 
 
 St. Alban, a martyr ; some account of him, 
 64. 
 
 All-Saints day, for what reason observed, 
 190, 253. the service for it, ib. 
 
 All-Souls day, what day so called, and 
 why, 74. 
 
 Alms, how to be distinguished from the 
 
 other devotions of the people, in the ru- 
 bric after the offertory, 275. by whom, 
 and in what manner to be collected, ib. 
 
 Almsgiving at the Sacrament, a necessary 
 duty, 273. 
 
 Alphege, archbishop of Canterbury ; some 
 account of him, 60. 
 
 Altar, in what part of the Church it former- 
 ly stood, 86. none were allowed to ap- 
 proach it but priests, ib. a dispute about 
 it at the Reformation, 263. how it ought 
 to stand, both in the Communion-time, 
 and out of it, 264. why the priest must 
 stand on the north side of it, 265. to be 
 covered with a fair linen cloth at the 
 time of Communion, ib. 
 
 Ambrose, bishop of Milan ; some account 
 of him, 60. 
 
 Amen, what it signifies, 122. how regarded 
 by the primitive Christians, ib. why 
 printed sometimes in Roman and some- 
 times in Italic, 123. in what sense it is 
 used at the end of the curses in the 
 Commination, 505. 
 
 St. Andrew's day, why observed first in 
 the course of holy-days, and at the be- 
 ginning of Advent, 247. 
 
 Angels, thought to be present at the per- 
 formance of divine mysteries, 291. 
 
 St. Ann, mother to the blessed Virgin 
 Mary ; some account of her, 67. 
 
 Anthems, the original and antiquity of 
 them, 158. why to be sung between the 
 third collect and the prayer for the 
 king, ib. 
 
 Annunciation, the feast of it, 247. 
 
 Apocrypha, when, and upon what account 
 appointed for Lessons, 137. 
 
 Apostles, others besides the twelve so 
 called, 95. their office not designed to 
 be temporary, ib. 
 
 their days, why observed as festivals, 
 
 189. 
 
 Ascension-day, how early observed, 235. 
 the service of that day explained, ib. 
 
 Ash-Wednesday, why Lent begins on that 
 day, 219. why so called, ib. the discipline 
 of the ancient Church on that day, ib. 
 how the Church of England supplies it, 
 220. the service for it, ib. 
 
 St. Athanasius's Creed. See Creed of 
 Athanasius. 
 
 August 1, a form of prayer for it, 519. 
 
524 
 
 Augustin, first archbishop of Canterbury ; 
 some account of him, 63. 
 
 St. Augustin, bishop of Hippo ; some ac- 
 count of him, 69. 
 
 Banns, what the word signifies, 395. why, 
 and how often to be published, t'6. the 
 poverty of the parties, or their not being 
 settled in the place where they are asked, 
 no reason for prohibiting the banns, 396. 
 the penalty of a minister that marries 
 without licence or banns, ib. 
 
 Baptism, how it typifies a new birth, 325. 
 formerly administered only at Easter and 
 Whitsuntide, and why, 231, 332. to be 
 administered now only on Sundays and 
 holy-days, except in cases of necessity, 
 333. the irregularity and scandal of ad- 
 ministering public baptism at home, ib. 
 why to be performed after the second 
 Lesson, 337. persons dying without it not 
 capable of Christian burial, 468. 
 
 of infants, practised by the Jews, 327. 
 
 no alteration intended by our Saviour, 
 ib. express testimony for it in the New 
 Testament, 329. proved from the writ- 
 ings of the most ancient Fathers, 330. 
 
 by laymen. See Lay Baptism. 
 
 St. Barnabas, his day, why not formerly in 
 the table of holy-days, 189. 
 
 St. Bartholomew, a remark upon the Gos- 
 pel appointed for his day, 252. 
 
 Bede, some account of him, 63. how he got 
 the name of Venerable, 64. 
 
 Benedict, an abbot ; some account of him, 
 59. 
 
 Bidding of prayer before sermon enjoined 
 by the Church ever since the Reforma- 
 tion, 272. the contrary practice attended 
 with fatal consequences, 273. 
 
 Birth-days, the days of the martyrdom of 
 the ancient Christians, so called, and 
 why, 188. 
 
 Bishops were called apostles in the first age 
 of the Church, 97. those called bishops 
 in Scripture were probably no more than 
 presbyters, ib. See Ministry. 
 
 Bissextile, leap-years, whence so called, 
 248. 
 
 Blassius, bishop and martyr; some ac- 
 count of him, 56. 
 
 Boniface, bishop of Mentz, and martyr; 
 some account of him, 64. 
 
 Bread in the Sacrament, whether it should 
 be leavened or unleavened, 317. 
 
 Bread and wine for the Communion, when 
 and by whom to be placed on the table, 
 276. how and by whom to be provided, 
 321. the remainder after the Commu- 
 nion, how to be disposed of, 320. 
 
 Breaking the bread, a ceremony always 
 used by the ancient Church in conse- 
 crating the Eucharist, 297. 
 
 Bridemen, their antiquity, 400. 
 
 Britius, or St. Brice; some account of 
 him, 74. 
 
 Burial, Christian, the ancient form of it, 
 
 467. to what sort of persons denied, t'6 
 the time when performed, 474. the man- 
 ner of procession at funerals, t'6. rose- 
 mary, why given at funerals, ib. the 
 priest to meet the corpse in his surplice, 
 475. and to go before it to the church or 
 grave, ib. in what places the dead were 
 buried formerly, 476. the ancient solemn- 
 ity of taking leave of the dead body, 
 485. the position of the corpse in the 
 grave, 186. the throwing earth upon the 
 body, ib. a communion at funerals for- 
 merly appointed, and why, 488. 
 
 Cascilia, virgin and martyr ; some account 
 of her, 76. 
 
 Calends, the column of them, 53. 
 
 Candlemas-day, whence so called, 247, 248. 
 
 Canonical hours for celebrating marriage, 
 399. 
 
 Catechising, what the word signifies, 373. 
 of divine institution and universal prac- 
 tice, 372. as proper after baptism as be- 
 fore, 373. how often to be performed, 374. 
 why after the second Lesson, 375. who to 
 be catechised, 376. what care to be taken 
 by parents and masters, ib. 
 
 Catherine, virgin and martyr; some ac- 
 count of her, 77. 
 
 Cedde, or Chad, bishop of Lichfield ; some 
 account of him, 58. 
 
 Chancels, why so called, 85. always stood 
 at the east end of the church, 86. how to 
 remain as they have done in times past, 
 109. 
 
 Chimere, a bishop's habit, 104. 
 
 Choir, all divine service performed there at 
 first, 106. till clamoured against by Bu- 
 cer, 107. and altered upon his complaint, 
 t'6. which caused great contentions, t'6. 
 till the old custom was revived by queen 
 Elizabeth, t'6. 
 
 Chrisom used anciently in baptism, 353. 
 why so called, t'6. was formerly offered 
 by the woman at her churching, 498. 
 what the word should signify in the 
 weekly bills, 499. See White Garments. 
 
 Christmas-day, how early observed in the 
 Church, 208. the service for it explained, 
 t'6. why a prescribed time for communi- 
 cating, 312. 
 
 St. Chrysostom, his prayer, 161. when first 
 added, 162. 
 
 Chronicles, (the books of,) why not read for 
 Lessons, 136. 
 
 Churches, the necessity of hav ing appro- 
 priate places for public worship, 81. the 
 universal practice of Heathens, Jews, 
 Apostles, and primitive Christians, SI, 82. 
 the churches of the ancient Christians 
 sumptuous and magnificent, 85. the form 
 of them, t'6. decency in churches requi- 
 site and necessary, 88. to be consecrated 
 by a solemn dedication of them to God, 
 t'6. called by the names of angels and 
 saints, 90. great reverence shewn in 
 them by the primitive Christians, t'6. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 525 
 
 Church holy-days, what days so called, and 
 why, 89. 
 
 Churching of Women. See Thanksgiving 
 of Women after Childbirth. 
 
 Circumcision, (the feast of,) the design of 
 it, 212. the antiquity of it, ib. the service 
 for it, 213. 
 
 St. Clement, bishop of Rome, and martyr; 
 some account of him, 76. 
 
 Clergy and people, the prayer for them, 
 when first added, 160, 161. 
 
 Clerks, who intended by them, 154. 
 
 Collects, why the prayers are divided into 
 so many short collects, 155. why so call- 
 ed, 156. whether the collect for a Monday 
 festival is to be used on the Saturday or 
 the Sunday evening, 194. the week-day 
 collects not to be used on holy-days or 
 their eves, 196. the antiquity of the col- 
 lects for the Sundays and holy-days, 200. 
 
 Comber, Dr., his character of our Liturgy, 
 33. 
 
 Commemorations, what they were, 139. 
 
 Commination, the occasion and design of 
 the office, 500. how often and upon what 
 occasions to be used, 501, 502. to be said 
 after the Litany ended, 503. to be said 
 in the reading-pew or pulpit, ib. the 
 design of the curses in this office, 504. 
 Amen, what it signifies at the end of 
 every curse, 505. 
 
 Common Prayer Book, compiled in the 
 reign of king Edward VI., 23. and con- 
 firmed by actof parliament, 25. but after- 
 wards submitted to the censure of Bu- 
 cer and Martyr, ib. upon Whose excep- 
 tions it was reviewed and altered, Of. and 
 again confirmed by act of parliament, 
 26. both which acts were repealed by 
 queen Mary, ib. but the second book of 
 king Edward, with some few alterations, 
 again established in the reign of queen 
 Elizabeth, ib. some other alterations 
 made in it in the reign of king James I., 
 28. and the whole book again reviewed 
 after the Restoration, Of. the names of 
 the commissioners, and the manner of 
 their proceeding, 26. compiled by an ec- 
 clesiastical, not a civil authority, 30. a 
 character of it from Dr. Comber, 33. See 
 Liturgy of the Church of England. 
 
 Communicants, the Ministers to be judges 
 of their fitness for the communion, 257. 
 and have power to repel scandalous of- 
 fenders, 258. when and how the commu- 
 nicants are to be conveniently placed at 
 the communion, 287. 
 
 Communion, in what time of divine service 
 notice of it is to be given, 270. not to be 
 administered to scandalous offenders, 
 258. nor to schismatics, 261. nor to persons 
 not confirmed, 262. nor to strangers from 
 other parishes, ib. when the Minister is 
 to give notice of it, 270. the care of the 
 Church about frequent communions, 
 312, 316. 
 
 Double communions on the same day, an 
 ancient practice, 203, 204. 
 
 Communion in one kind examined, 307. 
 
 Communion service, designed to be used at 
 a different time from morning prayer, 
 256. the order of it in king Edward's 
 first Book, and the Scotch Common 
 Prayer, 297. why to be said on all Sun- 
 days and holy-days, 313. to be said at 
 the altar, though there be no commu- 
 nion, and why, 315. 
 
 Communion of the sick, agreeable to the 
 practice of the primitive Church, 458. 
 timely notice to be given to the Curate, 
 461. how many required to communicate 
 with the sick, ib. where the sick is hin- 
 dered from communicating, he is to sup- 
 ply it by faith, 463. 
 
 Communion table, how properly called an 
 altar, 262. See Altar. 
 
 Confession, in the morning and evening 
 prayer, why placed at the beginning, 
 114. an objection against it answered, 
 ib. 
 
 (private,) the state of it in the primi- 
 tive Church, 436. how far enjoined by 
 the Church of England, 437. the benefits 
 and advantages of it, 438. 
 
 Confirmation, a necessary qualification for 
 the communion, 262. of divine institu- 
 tion, 377. of apostolical practice, 378. its 
 being attended at first with miraculous 
 powers no argument that it was designed 
 only for a temporary ordinance, 379. ad- 
 ministered by the Apostles not so much 
 for the sake of its extraordinary, as of 
 its ordinary effects, to. designed for a 
 standing and perpetual ordinance, 380. 
 practised by the Church in all ages, ib. 
 of what use and benefit, 381. not render- 
 ed unnecessary by the receiving the eu- 
 charist, 382. necessary to confirm the 
 benefits of baptism, 383. at what age 
 persons are to be confirmed, 384. to be 
 administered only by bishops, 385. a god- 
 father or godmother necessary to be 
 witness of it, 387. imposition of hands 
 an essential rite in it, 389. but a blow 
 on the cheek used instead of it by the 
 Church of Rome, 389, 390. prayer an- 
 other essential to it, 390. unction in con- 
 firmation, primitive and catholic, 391. as 
 also the sign of the cross, 392. 
 
 Consanguinity, or affinity, what degrees of 
 either expressly forbid to marry, 404. 
 and what by parity of reason implied, ib. 
 the case the same in unlawful conjunc- 
 tions as in lawful marriages, 405. and 
 between bastard children, as between 
 those that are legitimate, ib. the reasons 
 of the prohibition, ib. such marriages, 
 why called incestuous, 406. 
 Consecration of Churches. See Cliurches. 
 
 of the elements in the Eucharist, al- 
 ways attributed 'to the invocation of the 
 Holy Ghost, 296, &c. 
 
526 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Consecration of the water in baptism, an- 
 cient and decent, 345. 
 
 Cope, what sort of habit, 104. by whom 
 and when to be worn, 105. 
 
 Coroner's warrant, no rule for giving Chris- 
 tian burial to persons who lay violent 
 hands upon themselves, 472. 
 
 Corporal, or linen cloth, thrown over the 
 consecrated elements at the commu- 
 nion, 308. 
 
 Cousins, no cousins prohibited marriage, 
 406. why not, 407. 
 
 Creed, (the Apostles',) why called Creed, 
 147. why called Symbolum, ib. the anti- 
 quity of it, 148. when first recited pub- 
 licly, ib. why placed between the Lessons 
 and prayers, 148, 149. to be repeated by 
 the whole congregation, why, 149. to be 
 repeated standing, why, ib. why with 
 their faces towards the east, ib. 
 
 (of St. Athanasius,) the scruple which 
 
 some make against it answered, 150. 
 why used on the days mentioned in the 
 rubric, 151. 
 
 (Nicene,) why placed next after the 
 
 Epistle and Gospel, 269. an account of 
 it, ib. 
 
 Crispin, martyr ; some account of him, 73. 
 
 Cross, (invention of the,) what day so call- 
 ed, and why, 61. 
 
 in baptism, used twice by the primi- 
 tive Christians, 338. the antiquity and 
 meaning of it, 356. why made after bap- 
 tism, 359. why made upon the forehead, 
 360. 
 
 in the consecration of the Eucharist, 
 
 an ancient and general practice, 297. 
 
 in Confirmation, ancient and catho- 
 lic, 392. 
 
 Curates, who meant by them in the prayer 
 for the clergy and people, 161. 
 
 Cycle of the moon. See Golden Num- 
 ber. 
 
 of the sun ; the Sunday letter impro- 
 perly called the cycle of the sun, 47. the 
 use of it, ib. why it consists of twenty- 
 eight years, 49. how to find the domini- 
 cal letter, ib. 
 
 St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and mar- 
 tyr, 71. the Cyprian in the Roman ca- 
 lendar a different person, ib. 
 
 David, archbishop of Menevia, afterwards 
 called St. David's ; some account of him, 
 57. 
 
 Days, one in seven, why kept holy, 185. 
 
 Deacons not to pronounce absolution, 120. 
 
 Dead, praying for them, an ancient and 
 catholic practice, 282. inconsistent with 
 the doctrine of purgatory, ib. in what 
 e.ense used in king Edward's Common 
 Prayer, 4S1. how far implied in our pre- 
 sent Liturgy, 482. 
 Dead bodies, the care of them an act of 
 religion, 464. the reasons of that care, 
 ib. 
 Deadly sin, what it signifies, 170. 
 
 Dedication of churches, the feast of it, on 
 what day to be observed in England. 
 See Churches. 
 
 Denys the Areopagite ; some account of 
 him, 72. 
 
 Desks, or reading-pews, the original of 
 them, 108. 
 
 Dipping in baptism. See Immersion. 
 
 Doctrine and Erudition (necessary) for 
 any Christian Man, a book with that ti- 
 tle put out by king Henry VIII., 23. 
 
 Dominica in Albis, what Sunday so called 
 and why, 232. 
 
 Dominical letter. See Cycle of the Sun- 
 day Letter. 
 
 Doxology, {For thine is the kingdom, &c.,) 
 its being added by St. Matthew, and 
 omitted by St. Luke, no objection to the 
 Lord's Prayer being a form, 4. why 
 sometimes added in the Liturgy, and 
 sometimes omitted, 124. 
 
 {Glory be to the Father, &c.,) cor- 
 rupted by the Arians, and for that rea- 
 son enlarged by the Church, 126. used 
 at the end of all the psalms and hymns, 
 and why, 132, 133. 
 
 St. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury; 
 some account of him, 62. 
 
 Duties, Ecclesiastical, what, and when to 
 be paid, 321, 322. 
 
 East, why the primitive Christians turned 
 that way in their worship, 86. why 
 chancels stand at the east end of the 
 church, ib. why people turn their faces 
 that way when they say the Creed, 149. 
 why people are buried with their feet 
 towards the east, 486. 
 
 Easter, the rule for finding it, 35. upon 
 what occasion it was framed, 36. Eas- 
 ter differently observed in different 
 Churches, ib. ordered to be every where 
 observed on the same day by the Council 
 of Nice, ib. the paschal canons passed in 
 that Council, ib. the new and full moons 
 ordered to be found by the golden num- 
 bers, 37. Easter by that means was kept 
 sometimes too soon, and sometimes too 
 late, ib. the paschal limits answering the 
 golden numbers, 38. cycles and tables 
 invented to find Easter for ever, 39. 
 found to be erroneous, 42. 
 
 Easter-day, when first observed, and why 
 so called, 228. the anthems instead of 
 the Venite Exultemus, why appointed, 
 ib. the rest of the service for it explain- 
 ed, 229. why a prescribed time for com- 
 municating, 230. the whole time be- 
 tween Easter and "Whitsuntide formerly 
 observed, ib. the week after Easter how 
 observed formerly, and why, 231. the 
 Sundays after Easter, their services how 
 proper, 232. 
 
 Easter-eve, how observed in the primitive 
 Church, 226. how observed by the 
 Church of England, 227. the service for 
 it, ib. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 527 
 
 Edmund, king and martyr ; some account 
 of him, 76. 
 
 Edward the Confessor, his translation, 73. 
 
 king of the West Saxons ; some ac- 
 count of him, 59. his translation, another 
 festival formerly observed, 65. 
 
 Elements in the Eucharist, consecrated by 
 our Saviour with a solemn blessing, 297. 
 the form and manner of administering 
 them to the communicants, 303. private 
 consecration of them how far allowed, 
 458. See Bread and Wine. 
 
 Ember-weeks, what they were, and why so 
 called, 207. at what seasons observed, 
 t'6. why ordinations are affixed to those 
 times, 208. the prayers to be used at 
 those times, when first added, 181. 
 
 Epact, the occasion of it, 45. how it an- 
 swers the golden number, t'6. how to 
 find it, 46. the use of it in finding the 
 moon's age, t'6. why it shews the moon's 
 age truer than the golden number, 47. 
 
 Epiphany, what the word signifies, 213. 
 used formerly for Christmas-day, ib. the 
 ancient names of it, ib. the service for it, 
 214. the services for the Sundays after 
 the Epiphany, t'6. the feast of it, to what 
 end instituted, 215. 
 
 Epistler and gospeller, why appointed, 268. 
 
 Epistles for Sundays and holy-days, the 
 antiquity of them, 201. in what version 
 they are used, to. their order and me- 
 thod, t'6. the suitableness of them to the 
 several days-, t'6. why the Epistles are 
 read before the Gospels, 26S. 
 
 Erudition for any Christian Man. See 
 Doctrine. 
 
 Espousals, what they were formerly, 411. 
 how supplied now, 412. 
 
 Etheldred, virgin ; some account of her, 73. 
 
 Evangelist, not a distinct officer by him- 
 self, 95. 
 
 Eucharist, the virtue of it, 254. whence so 
 called, 289. See Communion Service. 
 
 Eves, why called vigils, 192. the original 
 of them, ib. which festivals have eves, 
 and which not, and why, 193. the eve of 
 a festival that falls upon a Monday, to 
 be observed on the Saturday, 194. 
 
 Eunurchus, bishop of Orleans ; some ac- 
 count of him, 70. 
 
 Excommunication, the internal effects of 
 it 442. an ipso facto excommunication, 
 how it differs from an ordinary one, 470. 
 persons dying excommunicate not capa- 
 ble of Christian burial, 469. whether a 
 person that incurs an ipso facto excom- 
 munication can be refused Christian 
 burial before sentence is pronounced, 
 471. 
 
 Exhortations to the Communion, why 
 there were none in the primitive Litur- 
 gies, 284. the usefulness of those in our 
 office, 285. 
 Exorcising in baptism, an ancient prac- 
 tice, 339. 
 
 Expectation week, what week so called, 
 and why, 236. 
 
 Ezekiel, why some part of it is not read 
 for Lessons, 136. 
 
 Fabian, bishop and martyr ; some account 
 of him, 55. 
 
 Faith, virgin and martyr ; some account 
 of her, 72. 
 
 Fasting, how ancient and universal a duty, 
 197. how distinguished from abstinence 
 in the Church of Rome, 198. what days 
 appointed for one and the other, ib. 
 whether distinguished in our own 
 Church, 198, 199. days of fasting, how 
 observed by the primitive Christians, 
 198. 
 
 Festivals, how requisite to be observed, 
 
 187. Jewish festivals not to be observed 
 by Christians, »6. Christian festivals, 
 how early observed, t'6. in what manner 
 observed by the primitive Christians, 
 
 188. what and how observed by the 
 Church of England, 189. why the Curate 
 is to bid them, t'6. what to be done in 
 the concurrence of holy-days, t'6. and 
 why lengthened out for several days, 
 292. why fixed to eight days, t'6. 
 
 Forms of prayer, a full vindication of the 
 joint use of precomposed set forms of 
 prayer, 2. 
 
 Fonts, why so called, 336. why generally 
 placed at the lower end of the church, 
 t'6. formerly very large, t'6. why made of 
 stone, 337. 
 
 Friday, why observed as a fast day, 199. 
 
 Full moon. See Easter. See Epact. 
 
 Funerals, variously performed, 465. some- 
 times by burying, which was the most 
 ancient and natural, ib. sometimes by 
 burning, ib. always performed with due 
 solemnity, 466. See Burial of the Dead. 
 See Dead Persons. 
 
 Genesis, why appointed to be read in 
 Lent, 137. 
 
 St. George, martyr ; some account of him, 
 61. how he came to be patron of the 
 English, ib. 
 
 Giles, abbot and confessor ; some account 
 of him, 69. 
 
 Glory be to the Father, &c. See Doxology. 
 
 Godfathers and godmothers, the original, 
 antiquity, and use of them, 335. the 
 number of them, t'6. whence called 
 sureties and witnesses, ib. the qualifica- 
 tions required in them, 336. no parents 
 to be admitted, t'6. nor persons that 
 have not received the Communion, ib. 
 the reasonableness of admitting a vica- 
 rious stipulation, 341. why the god- 
 fathers or godmothers are to name the 
 child, 346. the ill practice of choosing 
 unfit persons to this office, 361. a god 
 father or godmother required at Con 
 firmation, 337. 
 
 Golden number, by whom invented, and 
 why so called, 42. the occasion of it, and 
 
528 
 
 1XDEX. 
 
 how brought into the calendar, ib. why 
 now left out of the calendar, 43. how to 
 find the golden number ol any year, 44. 
 
 Good-Friday, why so called, 225. why ob- 
 served as a fast, ib. the Gospel for it, 
 why taken out of St. John, ib. the rest 
 of the service for it, ib. 
 
 Gospels for the Sundays and holy-days, 
 the antiquity of them, 201. in what ver- 
 sion they are used, ib. their order and 
 method, ib. the suitableness of them to 
 the several days, 202. standing up at the 
 Gospel, why enjoined, 269. 
 
 Gospeller and epistler, why appointed, 2G8. 
 
 Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, and 
 confessor ; some account of him, 58. 
 
 Habits for the Minister. See Ornaments. 
 
 Hallelujah, how anciently and universally 
 used, 127. 
 
 Hilary, bishop and confessor ; some ac- 
 count of him, 55. 
 
 Holy-cross-day; what day so called, and 
 why, 70. 
 
 Holy-days, (popish,) why retained in ou» 
 calendar, 53. See Festivals. 
 
 Homilies of the Church of England, by 
 whom composed, and when, 272. 
 
 Honey, milk, and salt, why given an- 
 ciently to the new baptized, 326. why 
 discontinued, ib. 
 
 Hood, by whom first used, 102. why used 
 by the monks, 103. why used in cathe- 
 drals and universities, ib. 
 
 Hours, the third and ninth the times of 
 the Jewish sacrifice, and why, 79. the 
 same hours observed for prayer by the 
 primitive Christians, 80. why not en- 
 joined by the Church of England, ib. 
 
 canonical, for celebrating marriage, 
 
 399. 
 
 Hugh, bishop of Lincoln; some account 
 of him, 75. 
 
 Hymns, the antiquity of them, 142. why 
 used after the Lessons, ib. when first 
 added, ib. 
 
 January 30, a form of prayer for it, 510. 
 
 St. Jerome, priest, confessor, and doctor ; 
 some account of him, 72. 
 
 Jesus, reverence to be made at the name 
 of Jesus, 149. 
 
 Images, the use of them forbid in the pri- 
 mitive Church, 86. a remarkable in- 
 stance of it, 87. 
 
 Immersion, or dipping in baptism, most 
 primitive and significant, 348. See Ef- 
 fusion. See Trine Immersion. 
 
 Immovable feasts, why placed by them- 
 selves in the Common Prayer Book, 246. 
 observations on some of them, ib. 
 
 Impediments to marriage, what, 402, &c. 
 
 Imposition of hands essential to Confirm- 
 ation, 389. a blow on the cheek used in- 
 stead of it by the Church of Rome, 389, 
 390. 
 
 Incestuous marriages, what marriages so 
 called, and why, 400. 
 
 Tufant baptism. See Baptism of Infants. 
 
 Innocents'-day, why observed, 190. why 
 observed presently after Christmas-day, 
 210. the service for it explained, 211. 
 
 Institutions (godly and pious) of a Chris- 
 tian Man, a book with that title put out 
 by king Henry VIII., 23. 
 
 Introits, what they were, and how ancient, 
 204. the introits for every Sunday and 
 holy-day throughout the year, ib. 
 
 Invention of the Cross, a day so called, 
 and why, 61. 
 
 St. John Baptist, his day why observed, 
 189. why commemorated by his nativity, 
 252. his beheading, what day so called, 
 69. 
 
 St. John Evangelist, why commemorated 
 at Christmas, 210. the service for his 
 day, how proper, 211. 
 
 ante Port. Lat., what day so called, 
 
 and why, 62. 
 
 Isaiah, why reserved to be read in Ad- 
 vent, 136. 
 
 June 20, a form of prayer for it, 519. 
 
 Kalendar, (or Calendar,) 52. 
 
 Kneeling, the Sacrament to be received 
 kneeling, 304. the Apostles probably re- 
 ceived it in a posture of adoration, ib. 
 though their posture does not bind us, 
 305. when kneeling first began, ib. how 
 universal and reasonable a practice, 306. 
 the protestation concerning it, 323. the 
 Minister, why sometimes to stand and 
 sometimes to kneel, 155. 
 
 Lambert, bishop and martyr; some ac- 
 count of him, 71. 
 
 Lammas-day, what day so called, and why, 
 67. 
 
 St. Laurence, archdeacon of Rome, and 
 martyr ; some account of him, 68. 
 
 Lawn sleeves, a bishop's habit, 104. 
 
 Lay -baptism, allowed by our Church at the 
 first Reformation, 363. but afterwards 
 prohibited by both houses of convoca- 
 tion, ib. whether valid or effectual in the 
 sense of our Church, 365. 
 
 Leap-years, whence called Bissextile, 248. 
 
 Legends, what they were, 139. 
 
 Lent, the original and antiquity of it, 217. 
 variously observed at first, ib. why li- 
 mited to forty days, 218. why so called, 
 ib. why to end at Easter, ib. how ob- 
 served by the primitive Christians, ib. 
 the Sundays in Lent, the services ap- 
 pointed for them, 221. how they are 
 named, ib. 
 
 Leonard, confessor ; some account of him, 
 74. 
 
 Lessons, why they follow the Psalms, 135. 
 the antiquity of them, ib. the order of 
 the first Lessons for ordinary days, 136. 
 why some books of the Old Testament 
 are not read, to. Isaiah, why reserved 
 for Advent, ib. the first Lessons for 
 Sundays, 137. Genesis, why read in 
 Lent, "ib. first Lessons for saints' days 
 
INDEX. 
 
 529 
 
 138. for holy-days, ib. the order of the 
 second Lessons, ib. the Revelation, why 
 not read, ib. what posture the Minister 
 and people ought to be in when the Les- 
 sons are reading, 142. 
 
 Let us pray, often used, and why, 152. 
 
 Licence, the penalty of a Minister that 
 marries without licence or banns, 396. 
 
 Lights upon the altar enjoined by the ru- 
 bric, 106. 
 
 Litany, what the word signifies, 163. why 
 sung in the middle of the choir, 164. the 
 original of them in this form, ib. used 
 formerly in processions, ib. on what days 
 to be used, and why, 165. at what time 
 of the day, ib. one out of every family 
 in the parish to be present at it, 166. 
 the irregularity of singing it by laymen, 
 167. the method and order of it, 168, &c. 
 when properly ended, 503. 
 
 Liturgy, the lawfulness and necessity of a 
 national precomposed one, 1, &c. 
 
 Liturgy of the Church of England, how it 
 stood before the Reformation, 22. what 
 was done in relation to it in king Henry 
 VIIL's reign, ib. See Common Prayer 
 Book. 
 
 Lord be loith you, &c, why placed between 
 the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, 152. 
 
 Lord have mercy upon us, &c, the anti- 
 quity and use of this form, 152, 153. why 
 placed before the Lord's Prayer, ib. the 
 clerk and people not to repeat it a second 
 time after the Minister, ib. 
 
 Lord's Prayer, prescribed by our Saviour 
 for the constant use of his Church, 4. 
 objections against it answered, ib. &c. 
 always used by the primitive Church, 7. 
 why used in all offices, and generally at 
 the beginning, 123. why repeated aloud 
 by the whole congregation, 124. why 
 repeated more than once in an office, ib. 
 
 Lord's Supper, daily received by the pri- 
 mitive Church, 312. the care of the 
 Church in administering it to persons in 
 danger of death, 458. See Communion 
 Service. 
 
 Low-Sunday, what day so called, and why, 
 232. the service for it, 233. 
 
 St. Lucian, confessor and martyr; some 
 account of him, 55. 
 
 Lucy, virgin and martyr ; some account of 
 her, 77. 
 
 St. Luke, his day, why observed, 190. 
 
 Lunar year, how computed, 44. 
 
 Machutus, bishop ; some account of him, 
 75. 
 
 Margaret, virgin and martyr at Antioch ; 
 some account of her, 66. 
 
 St. Mark, his day, why observed, 190. 
 why observed as a day of abstinence by 
 the Church of Rome, 198. 
 
 Marriage, a divine institution, 394. must 
 
 be performed by a lawful Minister, ib. 
 
 not before banns be published on three 
 
 Sundays, or licence obtained, 395. at no 
 
 2 M 
 
 time prohibited, 397. though not decent 
 at some seasons, 398. to be solemnized 
 in one of the churches where banns were 
 published, ib. to be performed between 
 the hours of eight and twelve in the 
 morning, 399. in what part of the church 
 to be solemnized, 400. who to be present 
 at the solemnization, ib. the man, why 
 to stand at the right hand of the woman, 
 401. the impediments to marriage, what 
 they be, 402. no cousins prohibited mar- 
 riage, 406. the mutual consent of the 
 parties to be asked, 409. the husband's 
 duty, ib. the wife's duty, 410. the father 
 or friend why to give the woman, 412. 
 and the Minister why to receive her, 413. 
 their right hands why to be joined, 
 ib. the mutual stipulation explained at 
 large, 414. the meaning of the ring. See 
 Ming. The married persons ought to 
 receive the Sacrament, 425. the advan- 
 tage of communicating on the day of 
 marriage, ib. 
 
 St. Martyn, bishop and confessor ; his 
 translation, 65. 
 
 Martyrs, the days of their death, why ob- 
 served, and why called their birth -days, 
 188. 
 
 Mary Magdalene, why her festival is dis- 
 continued, 66. 
 
 the Virgin, her visitation, on what 
 
 day formerly commemorated, 65. her 
 nativity, on what day formerly comme- 
 morated, 70. her conception, on what day 
 formerly commemorated, 77. 
 
 Matrimony. See Marriage. 
 
 Masses, solitary, not allowed of by the 
 Church of England, 317. 
 
 St. Matthias's day, on what day to be ob- 
 served in leap-years, 248. 
 
 Maundy Thursday, why so called, 224. 
 the Epistle, why concerning the insti- 
 tution of the Lord's Supper, id. the prac- 
 tice of the primitive Church on this day, 
 ib. the church -doors why set open on 
 this day, 225. 
 
 May 29, a form of prayer for it, 514. 
 
 St. Michael and All Angels, why observed, 
 190. St. Michael, why particularly com- 
 memorated, 253. 
 
 Middle state, the ancient notion concern- 
 ing it, 282. 
 
 Midlenting, or mothering, the rise of that 
 custom, 222. 
 
 Milk, honey, and salt, why given ancient- 
 ly to the new baptized, 326. why discon- 
 tinued, ib. 
 
 Millennium, the notion of it very primi- 
 tive, 282. 
 
 Ministers, sometimes to stand, and some- 
 times to kneel, why, 155. 
 
 Ministry, the necessity of a divine commis- 
 sion to qualify a person for the ministry, 
 91, &c. the necessity of episcopal ordina- 
 tion, 94. three distinct orders set apirt 
 by the Apostles to the ministry, 95. 
 
530 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Money given at the offertory, how and 
 when to be disposed of, 322. 
 
 Moon. See Easter. See Epact. See 
 Golden Number. 
 
 Morning and evening prayer to be said 
 daily, either openly or privately, bj 
 every priest and deacon, 80. the form 
 and order of it in the primitive Church, 
 110. 
 
 Mothering. See Midlenting. 
 
 Musical instruments used in singing of 
 Psalms, 131. 
 
 Name given to children at baptism, why, 
 346. heathen and wanton names pro- 
 hibited, 347. to be given by the god- 
 fathers or godmothers, and why, ib. 
 
 Name of Jesus, what day so called, 68. 
 
 New Moon, how to find it by the golden 
 number in the calendar, 43. See Epact. 
 See Easter. See Golden Number. 
 
 Nicene Creed. See Creed, Nicene. 
 
 Nicolas, bishop of Myra in Lycia; some 
 account of him, 77. 
 
 Nicomede, a Roman priest and martyr ; 
 some account of him, 64. 
 
 November 5, a form of prayer for it, 508. 
 
 Oblation of the Eucharist after consecra- 
 tion, always practised by the ancients, 
 298. our present prayer of oblation man- 
 gled and displaced, 299. 
 
 Octaves, or the eight days after the prin- 
 cipal feasts, how formerly observed, 212. 
 for what reason, 293. 
 
 Offertory, the sentences in the commu- 
 nion office so called, and why, 275. 
 
 Orders of the Ministers, three distinct 
 ones set apart by the Apostles, 94. 
 
 Ordination, by a bishop, the necessity of 
 it, 94. presbyters never invested with it, 
 96. at what seasons performed, 208. 
 
 Organs, the antiquity of them, 132. 
 
 Ornaments, or habits, enjoined to be worn 
 by the Ministers, and in the church, 98. 
 offensive to Bucer and Calvin, 105. dis- 
 continued in the second book of king 
 Edward, ib. but restored again by queen 
 Elizabeth, 106. 
 
 O Sapientia, what day so called, and why, 
 78. 
 
 Pall at the communion. See Corporal. 
 
 Palla Altaris, and Palla Corporis, what, 
 and how distinguished, 265. 
 
 Palls worn by archbishops, the original of 
 them, 56. 
 
 Palm-Sunday, why so called, 222. 
 
 Paranymphs, or bridemen, their antiquity, 
 400. 
 
 Parents, not allowed to stand godfathers 
 or godmothers for their own children, 
 336. the want of their consent an im- 
 pediment to their children's marriage, 
 !08. 
 
 Parliament, the prayer for it, when first 
 added, 182. 
 
 Passing-bell, why formerly ordered to be 
 rung, 457. 
 
 Passion-Sunday, what Sunday so called, 
 and why, 222. 
 
 Passion-week, why called the great week, 
 and the holy week, 222. how formerly 
 observed, ib. how observed by the 
 Church of England, 223. the services 
 appointed for it, ib. 
 
 Pastoral staff, an account of it, 105. 
 
 St. Paul, his day, why not formerly in the 
 table of holy-days, 189. why commemo- 
 rated by his conversion, 247. 
 
 A Peal to be rung before and after every 
 burial, 473, 490. 
 
 Penitents, the form of driving them out 
 of the church on Ash-Wednesday, 220. 
 the form of reconciling them on Maun- 
 dy Thursday, 224. 
 
 Perpetua, a Mauritanian martyr ; some 
 account of her, 58. 
 
 St. Philip, whether the Apostle or deacon, 
 commemorated by our Church, 252. 
 
 Pie, why so called, 140. 
 
 Pica letters, why so called, ib. 
 
 Places, the necessity of having appropri- 
 ate places for the public worship of God, 
 81. 
 
 Polygamy forbid by the New Testament, 
 402. 
 
 Pope receives the Sacrament sitting, 306. 
 
 Postils, sermons formerly so called, and 
 why, 272. 
 
 Prayers, not to be repeated by the people 
 aloud, 123. why divided into short Col- 
 lects, 155. essential to Confirmation, 390. 
 
 Preceding marriage, an impediment to 
 marriage, 402. 
 
 Presbyters were never invested with the 
 power of ordination, 96. the same per- 
 sons called both presbyters and bishops 
 in the New Testament, 97. 
 
 Primer of king Henry VIII., some account 
 of it, 23. 
 
 Prisca, Roman virgin and martyr ; some 
 account of her, 55. 
 
 Processions, what sort of them allowed in 
 England, 234. 
 
 Psalms used by the Apostles and primitive 
 Christians, 9, 130. why they follow the 
 Confession and Absolution, &c, 128. 
 why used oftener than any other part of 
 Scripture, 129. whether all the members 
 in a mixed congregation may properly 
 use some expressions in the Psalms, ib. 
 why sung or said by course, 130. by 
 whom first set to music, 131. why to be 
 repeated standing, 132. the course ob- 
 served in reading them, 133. to be used 
 after the translation in the Old Bible, 
 134. which the proper place for singing 
 psalms, 159. 
 
 Publication of what things to be made in 
 churches, and by whom, 271. . 
 
 Purgatorial fire, how far held by some an- 
 cient Fathers, 282. 
 
 Purification, the feast of it, 247. why call- 
 ed Candlemas-day, 248. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 531 
 
 Quinquagesima Sunday. See Septua- 
 gesima. 
 
 Reading pews or desks, the original of 
 them, 108. to have two desks, 141. 
 
 Real presence in the Sacrament, the no- 
 tion of it explained, 323. 
 
 Remigius, bishop of Rhemes ; some ac- 
 count of him, 72. 
 
 Responds, what they were, 139. 
 
 Responses, the design of them, 124. 
 
 Revelation (the book of) why not read for 
 Lessons, 138. 
 
 Richard, bishop of Chichester ; some ac- 
 count of him, 59. 
 
 Ring in marriage, the remains of the old 
 coemption, 416. why made use of rather 
 than any thing else, 417. why a gold 
 one, ib. what intimated by its round- 
 ness, ib. the use of it ancient and uni- 
 versal, ib. why laid upon the book, 418. 
 why put upon the fourth finger of the 
 woman's left hand, ib. the words at the 
 delivery of it explained at large, 419, 
 &c. 
 
 Rochette, what habit so called, 103. the 
 antiquity and use of it, 104. 
 
 Rogation-days, when first observed, 233. 
 why so called, 234. the design of their 
 institution, ib. why continued at the 
 Reformation, ib. deferred by the Spa- 
 niards till after Whitsuntide, and why, 
 230. 
 
 Romish Saints. See Saints'-days. 
 
 Rosemary, why given at funerals, 474. 
 
 Royal family, the prayer for them, when 
 first added to our Liturgy, 160. 
 
 Rule for finding Easter. See Easter. 
 
 Sacrament to be received kneeling. See 
 Kneeling. 
 
 Sacrifices (Jewish) why offered at the third 
 and ninth hours, 79. 
 
 Saints'-days, how observed in the primi- 
 tive Church, 188. how observed by the 
 Church of England, 189. the days of 
 saints' deaths, why called their birth- 
 days, 188. 
 
 Romish, 53, &c. 
 
 Salt, milk, and honey, why given formerly 
 to the new baptized, 326. why discon- 
 tinued, ib. 
 
 Saturday, why the Jewish Sabbath, 185. 
 why and how observed by the Eastern 
 Christians, 186. 
 
 Schismatics, not to be admitted to the 
 Communion, 261. 
 
 Self-murderers, not capable of Christian 
 burial, 472. whether those that kill 
 themselves in distraction are excluded 
 by the rubric, ib. 
 
 Sermon, the antiquity and design of it, 
 
 271. anciently performed by the bishop, 
 
 272. why called postil, ib. 
 Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinqua- 
 gesima Sundays, why so called, 215. the 
 design of them, and how observed for- 
 merly, ib. their services, 216. 
 
 Shrove-Tuesday, why so called, 216. 
 
 Sick. See Visiting of the Sick. 
 
 Silvester, bishop of Rome ; some account 
 of him, 78. 
 
 Singing Psalms, which the proper place 
 for them, 159. 
 
 Sitting at the Sacrament practised by the 
 pope and the dissenters, 306. by whom 
 first introduced, ib. 
 
 Solitary masses or communions, not allow- 
 ed of by the Church of England, 317. 
 
 Song of Solomon, why not read for Lessons, 
 136. 
 
 Spousage, what are the proper tokens of 
 it, 416. 
 
 St. Stephen, St. John, and Innocents, 
 their days, the antiquity of them, 210. 
 why observed immediately after Christ- 
 mas day, and in the order they are placed, 
 ib. their service explained, 211. 
 
 Strangers from other parishes not to be 
 admitted to the communion, 262. 
 
 Sudden death, why we pray against it, 
 170. 
 
 Sunday, why observed by the Christians, 
 185. 
 
 Sunday letter, perpetual table to find it 
 by, 51. See Cycle of the Sun. 
 
 Surplice, why so called, 100. the antiquity, 
 lawfulness, and decency of it, ib. why 
 white, 101. why made of linen, ib. the 
 shape of it, and why made loose, 101, 
 102. objections against it answered, ib. 
 
 St. Swithun, bishop of Winchester, his 
 translation, 66. 
 
 Symbolum, the Creed, why so called, 147. 
 
 Synodals, what they were, 139. 
 
 Tables, rules, and calendar, 35. tables for 
 finding Easter, 38. the bishop of Alex- 
 andria first appointed to give notice of 
 Easter-day to other Churches, 39. cycles 
 afterwards drawn up, ib. the cycle of 
 eighty-four years, 40. the cycle of five 
 hundred and thirty-two years, or Victo- 
 rian period, ib. the last cycle established 
 bythe Church 41. and afterwards adapt- 
 ed to the calendar, ib. which was the 
 occasion of placing the golden numbers 
 and dominical letters in the calendar, 
 ib. See Easter. 
 
 Thanksgiving, the great duty of it, 183. 
 the forms when, and upon what account 
 they were added, 184. 
 
 A large Thanksgiving always used at the 
 celebration of the Communion in the 
 primitive Church, 289. thanksgiving of 
 women after childbirth, why placed after 
 the office for the burial of the dead, 491. 
 the original and reasonableness of it, ib. 
 the time when they must do it, 492. the 
 place for doing it, 493. to perform this 
 office in private houses very absurd, ib. 
 the woman to be decently apparelled, 
 494. in what part of the church she is to 
 kneel, 495. in what part of the service 
 she is to be churched, 496. the woman 
 
532 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 formerly to offer her chrisom, 498. what 
 the accustomed offerings are now, 499. 
 the woman to receive the Communion 
 if there he one, 500. 
 
 St. Thomas, why commemorated immedi- 
 ately before Christmas, 247. 
 
 Times, the necessity of setting apart set 
 times for the performance of divine wor- 
 ship, 79. See Hours. 
 
 Transfiguration of our Lord, what day so 
 called, 68. 
 
 Trine immersion, formerly used in bap- 
 tism, 352. why discontinued, ib. 
 
 Trinity Sunday, why not of very early 
 date, 241. why observed the Sunday 
 after Whit-Sunday, ib. the service for 
 it, 242. 
 
 Trinity, Sundays after, the Collects, Epis- 
 tles, and Gospels, 243. 
 
 Tunicle, an account of it, 105. 
 
 Valentine, bishop and martyr, some ac- 
 count of him, 57. the original of choosing 
 valentines, ib. 
 
 Veils used formerly by women when they 
 were churched, 494. 
 
 Venite exultemus, why used just before 
 the Psalms, 127. 
 
 Verses, what they were, 1 39. 
 
 Vessels used in private baptism to hold 
 the water, how to be disposed of, 367. 
 
 Vestments. See Cope. 
 
 Victorian period, 40. 
 
 Vincent, deacon of Spain, and martyr, 
 some account of him, 56. 
 
 Vigils, why so called, 192. See Eves. 
 
 Violent hands. See Self -Murderers. 
 
 Visitation of the blessed Virgin, what day 
 so called, 65. 
 
 of the sick, why the office for it is 
 
 placed next to that of matrimony, 427. 
 
 Visiting of the sick, a duty incumbent 
 upon all, 427. especially upon the clergy, 
 ib. whom the sick are to send for, ib. 
 and at the beginning of their sickness, 
 428. who are to go without delay, ib. 
 
 whether the Minister be confined to the 
 order in the Common Prayer Book, ib. 
 
 Unction in baptism prescribed by the first 
 book of king Edward VI., 354. whether 
 it belonged to baptism or confirmation, 
 ib. how they were distinguished in the 
 primitive Church, ib. 
 
 in Confirmation, primitive and catho- 
 lic, 391. 
 
 of the sick, prescribed by the first 
 
 book of king Edward VI., 448. used by 
 the Apostles in order to healing, 449. 
 why and in what sense prescribed by 
 St. James, 450. how used by the primi- 
 tive Church, 452. how by the ancient 
 Church, 453. how abused by the Church 
 of Rome, ib. how far countenanced at 
 the Reformation, 454. 
 
 Vow in baptism, very primitive, 343. 
 
 Wafer-bread used formerly in the Eucha- 
 rist, and why, 319. enjoined by queen 
 Elizabeth, ib. and allowed by the Scotch 
 Liturgy, 320. 
 
 Wakes in country parishes, the original of 
 them, 89. 
 
 Wishing with water, used by all nations 
 as a symbol of purification, 324. how it 
 typifies a new birth, 325. 
 
 Water mixed with the eucharistical wine 
 by the primitive Christians, 278. not 
 essential to the Sacrament, ib. 
 
 used in private baptisms, how to be 
 
 disposed of, 367. 
 
 White garments given anciently to the 
 new baptized, 231. for what reason, 326. 
 See Chrisom. 
 
 Whit-Sunday, how anciently observed, 237. 
 why so called, ib. the service for it, 239. 
 why a prescribed time for communi- 
 cating, 312. 
 
 Whitsun-week, how observed formerly, 
 239. 
 
 Who alone workest great marvel*, what 
 meant by that expression, 161. 
 
 Year, lunar, how computed, 44. 
 
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