In the Church of England the practice has been less consistent. The
first Prayer-book of Edward VI. directed two lights to be placed on the
altar. This direction was omitted in the second Prayer-book; but the
"Ornaments Rubric" of Queen Elizabeth's Prayer-book seemed again to make
them obligatory. The question of how far this did so is a much-disputed
one and is connected with the whole problem of the meaning and scope of
the rubric (see VESTMENTS). An equal uncertainty reigns with regard to
the actual usage of the Church of England from the Reformation onwards.
Lighted candles certainly continued to decorate the holy table in Queen
Elizabeth's chapel, to the scandal of Protestant zealots. They also seem
to have been retained, at least for a while, in certain cathedral and
collegiate churches. There is, however, no mention of ceremonial candles
in the detailed account of the services of the Church of England given
by William Harrison (_Description of England_, 1570); and the attitude
of the Church towards their use, until the ritualistic movement of the
17th century, would seem to be authoritatively expressed in the _Third
Part of the Sermon against Peril of Idolatry_, which quotes with
approval the views of Lactantius and compares "our Candle Religion"
with the "Gentiles Idolators." This pronouncement, indeed, though it
certainly condemns the use of ceremonial lights in most of its later
developments, and especially the conception of them as votive offerings
whether to God or to the saints, does not necessarily exclude, though it
undoubtedly discourages, their purely symbolical use.[20] In this
connexion it is worth pointing out that the homily against idolatry was
reprinted, without alteration and by the king's authority, long after
altar lights had been restored under the influence of the high church
party supreme at court. Illegal under the Act of Uniformity they seem
never to have been. The use of "wax lights and tapers" formed one of the
indictments brought by P. Smart, a Puritan prebendary of Durham, against
Dr Burgoyne, Cosin and others for setting up "superstitious ceremonies"
in the cathedral "contrary to the Act of Uniformity." The indictments
were dismissed in 1628 by Sir James Whitelocke, chief justice of Chester
and a judge of the King's Bench, and in 1629 by Sir Henry Yelverton, a
judge of Common Pleas and himself a strong Puritan (see _Hierurgia
Anglicana_, ii pp. 230 seq.). The use of ceremonial lights was among the
indictments in the impeachment of Laud and other bishops by the House of
Commons, but these were not based on the Act of Uniformity. From the
Restoration onwards the use of ceremonial lights, though far from
universal, was not unusual in cathedrals and collegiate churches.[21] It
was not, however, till the ritual revival of the 19th century that their
use was at all widely extended in parish churches. The growing custom
met with fierce opposition; the law was appealed to, and in 1872 the
Privy Council declared altar lights to be illegal (_Martin_ v.
_Mackonochie_). This judgment, founded as was afterwards admitted on
insufficient knowledge, produced no effect; and, in the absence of any
authoritative pronouncement, advantage was taken of the ambiguous
language of the Ornaments Rubric to introduce into many churches
practically the whole ceremonial use of lights as practised in the
pre-Reformation Church. The matter was again raised in the case of _Read
and others_ v. _the Bishop of Lincoln_ (see LINCOLN JUDGMENT), one of
the counts of the indictment being that the bishop had, during the
celebration of Holy Communion, allowed two candles to be alight on a
shelf or retable behind the communion table when they were not necessary
for giving light. The archbishop of Canterbury, in whose court the case
was heard (1889), decided that the mere presence of two candles on the
table, burning during the service but lit before it began, was lawful
under the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI. and had never been made
unlawful. On the case being appealed to the Privy Council, this
particular indictment was dismissed on the ground that the vicar, not
the bishop, was responsible for the presence of the lights, the general
question of the legality of altar lights being discreetly left open.
The custom of placing lighted candles round the bodies of the dead,
especially when "lying in state," has never wholly died out in
Protestant countries, though their significance has long been lost sight
of.[22] In the 18th century, moreover, it was still customary in England
to accompany a funeral with lighted tapers. Picart (_op. cit._ 1737)
gives a plate representing a funeral cortège preceded and accompanied by
boys, each carrying four lighted candles in a branched candlestick.
There seems to be no record of candles having been carried in other
processions in England since the Reformation. The usage in this respect
in some "ritualistic" churches is a revival of pre-Reformation
ceremonial.
See the article "Lucerna," by J. Toutain in Daremberg and Saglio's
_Dict. des antiquités grecques et romaines_ (Paris, 1904); J.
Marquardt, "Römische Privatalterthümer" (vol. v. of Becker's _Röm.
Alterthümer_), ii. 238-301; article "Cièrges et lampes," in the Abbé
J. A. Martigny's _Dict. des Antiquités Chrétiennes_ (Paris, 1865); the
articles "Lichter" and "Koimetarien" (pp. 834 seq.) in Herzog-Hauck's
_Realencyklopädie_ (3rd ed., Leipzig. 1901); the article "Licht" in
Wetzer and Welte's _Kirchenlexikon_ (Freiburg-i.-B., 1882-1901), an
excellent exposition of the symbolism from the Catholic point of view,
also "Kerze" and "Lichter"; W. Smith and S. Cheetham, _Dict. of Chr.
Antiquities_ (London, 1875-1880), i. 939 seq.; in all these numerous
further references will be found. See also Mühlbauer, _Gesch. u.
Bedeutung der Wachslichter bei den kirchlichen Funktionen_ (Augsburg,
1874); V. Thalhofer, _Handbuch der Katholischen Liturgik_
(Freiburg-i.-B., 1887), i. 666 seq.; and, for the post-Reformation use
in the Church of England, _Hierurgia Anglicana_, new ed. by Vernon
Staley (London, 1903). (W. A. P.)