THE CHURCH'S BOOKS.
(2) THE PRAYER BOOK.
We now come to the second of the Church's books selected for
discussion--the Prayer Book.
The English Prayer Book is the local presentment of the Church's
Liturgies for the English people.
Each part of the Church has its own Liturgy, differing in detail,
language, form; but all teaching the same faith, all based upon the
same rule laid down by Gregory for Augustine's guidance.[1] Thus,
there is the Liturgy of St. James, the Liturgy of St. John,[2] the
Liturgy of St. Mark, and others. A National Church is within her
rights when she compiles a Liturgy for National Use, provided that it
is in harmony with the basic Liturgies of the Undivided Church. She
has {41} as much right to her local "Use," with its rules and ritual,
as a local post office has to its own local regulations, provided it
does not infringe any universal rule of the General Post Office. For
example, a National Church has a perfect right to say in what language
her Liturgy shall be used. When the English Prayer Book orders her
Liturgy to be said in "the vulgar,"[3] or common, "tongue" of the
people, she is not infringing, but exercising a local right which
belongs to her as part of the Church Universal. This is what the
English Church has done in the English Prayer Book.
It is this Prayer Book that we are now to consider.
We will try to review, or get a bird's-eye view of it as a whole,
rather than attempt to go into detail. And, as the best reviewer is
the one who lets a book tell its own story, and reads the author's
meaning out of it rather than his own theories into it, we will let the
book, as far as possible, speak for itself.
Now, in reviewing a book, the reviewer will probably look at three
things: the title, the preface, the contents.
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(I) THE TITLE.
"_The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and
other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the
Church of England._"
Here are three clear statements: (1) it is "The Book of Common Prayer
"; (2) it is the local "directory" for the "_Administration_ of the
Sacraments of the Church," i.e. of the Universal Church; (3) this
directory is called the "Use of the Church of England". Think of each
statement in turn.
(1) _It is "The Book of Common Prayer"_.--"Common Prayer"[4] was the
name given to public worship in the middle of the sixteenth century.
The Book of Common Prayer is the volume in which the various services
were gathered together for common use. It is many books in one book.
As the Bible is one book made up of sixty-six books, so the Prayer Book
is one book made up of six books. These books, revised and abbreviated
for English "Use," were:--
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(1) The Pontifical.
(2) The Missal.
(3) The Gospels.
(4) The Gradual.
(5) The Breviary.
(6) The Manual.
Before the invention of printing, these books were written in
manuscript, and were too heavy to carry about bound together in one
volume. Each, therefore, was carried by the user separately. Thus,
when the Bishop, or _Pontifex_, was ordaining or confirming, he carried
with him a separate book containing the offices for Ordination and
Confirmation; and, because it contained the offices used by the Bishop,
or _Pontiff_, it was called the _Pontifical_. When a priest wished to
celebrate the Holy Eucharist, he used a separate book called "The
Missal" (from the Latin _Missa_, a Mass[5]). When, in the Eucharist,
the deacon read the Gospel for the day, he read it from a separate book
called "The Gospels". When he {44} went in procession to read it, the
choir sang scriptural phrases out of a separate book called "The
Gradual" (from the Latin _gradus_, a step), because they were sung in
_gradibus_, i.e. upon the steps of the pulpit, or rood-loft, from which
the Gospel was read. When the clergy said their offices at certain
fixed "Hours," they used a separate book called "The Breviary" (from
the Latin _brevis_, short), because it contained the brief, or short,
writings which constituted the office, out of which our English Matins
and Evensong were practically formed. When services for such as needed
Baptism, Matrimony, Unction, Burial, were required, some light book
that could easily be carried _in the hand_ was used, and this was
called "The Manual" (from the Latin _manus_, a hand).
These six books, written in Latin, were, in 1549, shortened, and, with
various alterations, translated into English, bound in one volume,
which is called "The Book of Common Prayer".
Alterations, some good and some bad, have from time to time been
adopted, and revisions made; but the Prayer Book is now the same in
substance as it always has been--a faithful reproduction, in all
essentials, of the worship and {45} teaching of the Undivided Church.
As we all know, a further revision is now contemplated. All agree that
it is needed; all would like to amend the Prayer Book in one direction
or another; but there is a sharp contention as to whether this is the
time for revision, and what line the revision should take. The nature
of the last attempted revision, in the reign of William III,[6] will
make the liturgical student profoundly grateful that that proposed
revision was rejected, and will suggest infinite caution before
entrusting a new revision to any but proved experts, and liturgical
specialists.[7]
Whatever changes are made, they should, at least, be based on two
principles--permanence and progress. The essence of progress is
loyalty to the past. Nothing should be touched that is a permanent
part of the Ancient Office Books; nothing should be omitted, or added,
that is outside the teaching of the Universal Church. For the
immediate present, we would ask that the {46} Prayer Book should be
left untouched, but that an Appendix, consisting of many unauthorized
services now in use, should be "put forth by authority," i.e. by the
sanction of the Bishops.
(2) _The Administration of the Sacraments of the Church_.--The
Sacraments are the treasures of the whole Church; the way in which they
may be "administered" is left to the decision of that part of the
Church in which they are administered. Take, once again, the question
of language. One part of the Church has as much right to administer
the Sacraments in English as another part has to administer them in
Latin, or another part in Greek. For instance, the words, "This is My
Body" in the English Liturgy are quite as near to the original as "_Hoc
est Corpus Meum_" is in the Latin Liturgy. Each Church has a right to
make its own regulations for its own people.
So with "rites and ceremonies". Provided the essence of the Sacrament
is not touched, the addition or omission of particular rites and
ceremonies does not affect the validity of the Sacrament. For, the
title of the Prayer Book carefully distinguishes between "The Church"
and "The Church of England," "the _Sacraments_" and the
"_administration_ of the Sacraments". It is for {47} _administrative
purposes_ that there is an English "Use," i.e. an English method of
administering the Sacraments of the Universal Church. It is this use
which the title-page calls:--
(3) _The Use of the Church of England_.--This "Use" may vary at
different times, and even in different dioceses. We read of one "Use"
in the Diocese of York; another in the Diocese of Sarum, or Salisbury;
another in the Diocese of Hereford; another in the Diocese of Bangor;
and so on. Indeed, there were so many different Uses at one time that,
for the sake of unity, one Use was substituted for many; and that Use,
sufficient in all essentials, is found in our "Book of Common Prayer ".
(II) THE PREFACE.
It was written, in 1661, by Bishop Sanderson, and amended by the Upper
House of Convocation.
What, we ask, do these preface-writers say about the book to which they
gave their _imprimatur_?
First, they state their position. They have no intention whatever of
writing a new book. Their aim is to adapt old books to new needs.
{48} Adaptation, not invention, is their aim. Four times in their
short Preface they refer us to "the ancient Fathers" as their guides.
Next, they state their object. Two dangers, they tell us, have to be
avoided. In compiling a Liturgy from Ancient Sources, one danger will
be that of "too much stiffness in _refusing_" new matter--i.e. letting
a love of permanence spoil progress: another, and opposite danger, will
be "too much easiness in _admitting_" any variation--i.e. letting a
love of progress spoil permanence. They will try to avoid both
dangers. "It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England to keep the
mean between the two extremes," when either extreme runs away from the
"faith once delivered to the Saints ".
Another object they had in view was to give a prominent place to Holy
Scripture. "So that here," they say, "you have an Order for Prayer,
and for the reading of the Holy Scriptures, much agreeable to the mind
and purpose of _the old Fathers_."
Next, they deal with the principles which underlie all ritualism. In
speaking "of Ceremonies, why some be abolished and some {49} retained,"
they lay it down that, "although the keeping or admitting of a
Ceremony, in itself considered, is but a small thing, yet the wilful
and contemptuous transgression and breaking of a Common Order and
discipline is no small offence before God". Then, in a golden
sentence, they add: "Whereas the minds of men are so diverse that some
think it a great matter of conscience to depart from a piece of the
least of their ceremonies, they be so addicted to their old customs;
and, again, on the other side, some be so new-fangled that they would
innovate all things, and so despise the old, that nothing can like
them, but that is new: it was thought expedient, not so much to have
respect how to please and satisfy either of these parties, as _how to
please God_, and profit them both".
Finally, whilst wishing to ease men from the oppressive burden of a
multitude of ceremonies, "whereof St. Augustine, in his time,
complained," they assert the right of each Church to make its own
ritual-rules (in conformity with the rules of the whole Church),
provided that it imposes them on no one else. "And in these our doings
we condemn no other nations, nor prescribe anything but to our own
people only; for we think it {50} convenient that every country should
use such ceremonies as they shall think best."
It is necessary to call attention to all this, because few Church
people seem to know anything about the intentions, objects, and
principles of the compilers, as stated by themselves in the Prayer Book
Preface.
(III) THE CONTENTS.
These a reviewer might briefly deal with under three heads--Doctrine,
Discipline, and Devotion.
_Doctrine._
The importance of this cannot be exaggerated. The English Prayer Book
is, for the ordinary Churchman, a standard of authority when
theological doctors differ. The _Prayer Book_ is the Court of Appeal
from the pulpit--just as the Undivided Church is the final Court of
Appeal from the Prayer Book. Many a man is honestly puzzled and
worried at the charge so frequently levelled at the Church of England,
that one preacher flatly contradicts another, and that what is taught
as truth in one church is denied as heresy in another. This is, of
course, by no {51} means peculiar to the Church of England, but it is
none the less a loss to the unity of Christendom.
The whole mischief arises from treating the individual preacher as if
he were the Book of Common Prayer. It is to the Prayer Book, not to
the Pulpit, that we must go to prove what is taught. For instance, I
go into one church, and I hear one preacher deny the doctrine of
Baptismal Regeneration; I go into another, and I hear the same doctrine
taught as the very essence of The Faith. I ask, in despair, what does
the Church of England teach? which teacher am I to believe? What is
the answer? It is this. I am not bound to believe either teacher,
until I have tested his utterances by some authorized book. This book
is the Prayer Book. What does the Church of England Prayer Book--not
this or that preacher--say is the teaching of the Church of England?
In the case quoted, this is the Prayer Book answer: "Seeing now, dearly
beloved brethren, that _this child is regenerate_".[8] Here is
something clear, crisp, definite. It is the authorized expression of
the belief of the Church of England in common with the whole Catholic
Church.
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Or, I hear two sermons on conversion. In one, conversion is almost
sneered at, or, at least, apologized for; in another, it is taught with
all the fervour of a personal experience. What am I to believe? What
does the Church of England teach about it? What does the Prayer Book
say? Open it at the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, or at the
third Collect for Good Friday, and you will hear a trumpet which gives
no uncertain sound.
Or, I am wondering and worried about Confession and Absolution. What
does the Church of England teach about them? One preacher says one
thing, one another. But what is the Church of England's authoritative
utterance on the subject? Open your Prayer Book, and you will see: you
will find that, with the rest of the Christian Church, she provides for
both, in public and in private, for the strong, and for the sick.
This, at least, is the view an honest onlooker will take of our
position. A common-sense Nonconformist minister, wishing to teach his
people and to get at facts, studies the English Prayer Book. This is
his conclusion: "Free Churchmen," he writes, "dissent from much of the
teaching of the Book of Common Prayer. In {53} the service of Baptism,
expressions are used which naturally lead persons to regard it as a
means of salvation. God is asked to 'sanctify this water to the
mystical washing away of sin'. After Baptism, God is thanked for
having 'regenerated the child with His Holy Spirit'. It is called the
'laver of regeneration,' by which the child, being born in sin, is
received into the number of God's children. In the Catechism, the
child is taught to say of Baptism, 'wherein I was made the child of
God'. It is said to be 'generally necessary to salvation,' and the
rubric declares that children who are baptized, and die before they
commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved'."[9] What could be a fairer
statement of the Prayer-Book teaching? And he goes on: "In the
visitation of the sick, if the sick person makes a confession of his
sins, and 'if he heartily and humbly desire it,' the Priest is bidden
to absolve him. The form of Absolution is '... I absolve thee from all
thy sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost'. In the Ordination Service, the Bishop confers the power of
Absolution upon the Priest." Nothing could be fairer. It is precisely
what the Church {54} of England _does_ teach in her authorized
formularies which Archbishop Cranmer gathered together from the old
Service-books of the ancient Church of England.
The pulpit passes: the Prayer Book remains.
_Discipline._
The Prayer Book deals with principles, rather than with details--though
details have their place. It is a book of discipline, "as well for the
body as the soul". It disciplines the body for the sake of the soul;
it disciplines the soul for the sake of the body. Now it tightens, now
it relaxes, the human bow. For example, in the _Table of Feasts and
Fasts_, it lays down one principle which underlies all bodily and
spiritual discipline--the need of training to obtain self-control. The
_principle_ laid down is that I am to discipline myself at stated times
and seasons, in order that I may not be undisciplined at any times or
seasons. I am to rejoice as a duty on certain days, that I may live in
the joy of the Redeemed on other days. Feasts and Fasts have a
meaning, and I cannot deliberately ignore the Prayer-Book Table without
suffering loss.
It is the same with the rubrical directions as to {55} ritual. I am
ordered to stand when praising, to kneel when praying. The underlying
_principle_ is that I am not to do things in my own way, without regard
to others, but to do them in an orderly way, and as one of many. I am
learning to sink the individual in the society. So with the directions
as to vestments--whether they are the Eucharistic vestments, ordered by
the "Ornaments Rubric," or the preacher's Geneva gown not ordered
anywhere. The _principle_ laid down is, special things for special
occasions; all else is a matter of degree. One form of Ceremonial will
appeal to one temperament, a different form to another. "I like a
grand Ceremonial," writes Dr. Bright, "and I own that Lights and
Vestments give me real pleasure. But then I should be absurd if I
expected that everybody else, who had the same faith as myself, should
necessarily have the same feeling as to the form of its
expression."[10] From the subjective and disciplinary point of view,
the mark of the Cross must be stamped on many of our own likes and
dislikes, both in going without, and in bearing with, ceremonial,
especially in small towns and villages where there is only one church.
The principle {56} which says, "You shan't have it because I don't like
it," or, "You shall have it because I do like it," leads to all sorts
of confusion. As Dr. Liddon says: "When men know what the revelation
of God in His Blessed Son really is, all else follows in due
time--reverence on one side and charity on the other".[11]
_Devotion._
Reading the Prayer Book as it stands, from Matins to the Consecration
of an Archbishop, no reviewer could miss its devotional beauty. It is,
perhaps, a misfortune that the most beautiful Office of the Christian
Church, the Eucharistic Office, should come in the middle, instead of
at the beginning, of our Prayer Book, first in order as first in
importance. Its character, though capable of much enrichment, reminds
us of how much devotional beauty the Prayer Book has from ancient
sources. In our jealous zeal for more beauty we are, perhaps, apt to
underrate much that we already possess. God won't give us more than we
have until we have learnt to value that which we possess.
It is impossible, in the time that remains, to {57} do more than
emphasize one special form of beauty in "The Book of Common
Prayer"--The Collects. The Prayer-Book Collects are pictures of
beauty. Only compare a modern collect with the Prayer-Book Collects,
and you will see the difference without much looking.
Learn to value the Prayer Book. From birth to death it provides, as we
shall see, special offices, and special prayers for the main events of
our lives, though many minor events are still unprovided for.
[1] See p. 13.
[2] Possibly, the origin of the British Liturgy revised by St.
Augustine, and of the present Liturgy of the English Church.
[3] From _vulgus_, a crowd.
[4] Cf. Acts iv. 24, "They lifted up their voices _with one accord_".
[5] The word _Mass_, which has caused such storms of controversy,
originally meant a _dismissal_ of the congregation. It is found in
words such as Christ-mas (i.e. a short name for the Eucharist on the
Feast of the Nativity), Candle-mas, Martin-mas, Michael-mas, and so on.
[6] This was published _in extenso_ in a Blue Book, issued by the
Government on 2 June, 1854.
[7] It is difficult to see how any revision could obtain legal
sanction, even if prepared by Convocation, save by an Act of Parliament
after free discussion by the present House of Commons.
[8] Public Baptism of Infants.
[9] "The Folkestone Baptist," June, 1899.
[10] "Letters and Memoirs of William Bright," p. 143.
[11] "Life and Letters of H. P. Liddon," p. 329.
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