Chap. II. prefsly ordered to be used by him, as an enfign of his office, at all public administrations. It was made in the fhape of a Shepherd's Crook, and was for many ages, even till after the Reformation+2, conftantly given to the Bishop at his confecration, to denote that he was then constituted a Shepherd over the flock of Chrift 43. Thefe habits, &c. offenfive to Bucer. These are the ministerial ornaments and habits enjoined by our present rubric, in conformity to the first practice Calvin and of our church immediately after the Reformation; though at that time they were fo very offenfive to Calvin and Bucer, that the one in his letters to the Protector, and the other in his cenfure of the English Liturgy, which he fent to Archbishop Cranmer, urged very vehemently to have them abolished; not thinking it tolerable to have any thing in common with the Papifts, but esteeming every thing idolatrous that was derived from them. And difcon the second However, they made fhift to accomplish the end they tinued in aimed at, in procuring a farther reform of our Liturgy: book of Ed- for in the review that was made 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. ward VI. And here it is to be noted, that the minifter, at the time of the Communion, and at all other times in his miniftration, shall ufe neither Alb, Veftment, or Cope; but being Archbishop or Bishop, he shall have and wear a Rochette; and being a Prieft or Deacon, he shall have and wear a Surplice only44. But in the next review under Queen Elizabeth, the old again by Q. rubrics were again brought into authority, and fo have Elizabeth. continued ever fince; being established by the Act of Uniformity that paffed foon after the Restoration. But reftored Of the the altar. VIII. I must observe still farther, that among other orlights upon naments of the church then in use, there were two lights enjoined by the injunctions of King Edward VI. (which injunctions were alfo ratified by the Act of Parliament here mentioned) to be fet upon the altar, as a fignificant ceremony to reprefent the light which Chrift's Gospel brought into the world. And this too was ordered by the very fame injunction, which prohibited all other lights and tapers, that used to be fuperftitiously set before images or fhrines 45 &c. And thefe lights, used time out of mind in the church, are ftill continued in moft, if not all, cathedral and collegiate churches and chapels, so often as 42 See the firft ordinal, compiled 43 Durand, l. 3. c. 15. fol. 77. &c. morning prayer, in the fecond Common Prayer-Book of King Edward VI. 45 Sparrow's Collection, p. 2, 3. divine fervice is performed by candle-light; and ought Sect. V. alfo, by this rubric, to be used in all parish churches and chapels at the fame times. IX. To this fection we might alfo refer the Pulpit- Church orCloth, Cushions, Coverings for the Altar, &c. and all naments other ornaments ufed 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. enjoined. and even ing prayer formed at firft in THE reader may obferve, that, in the second section of the of this chapter, I have only treated of churches in place where general, and the neceffity of having appropriate places for morning the performance of divine worship, and have not taken any notice of the particular place in the church, where is to be Morning and Evening Prayer is to be used. The appoint- said. ment of which was yet the chief defign of the first part of our prefent rubric. For in the first book of King Edward All divine VI. all the rubric relating to this matter was only one at fervice perthe beginning of Morning Prayer, which ordered the form the Prieft, being in the Choir, to begin, with a loud voice, the choir. Lord's Prayer, called the Pater-nofter, with which the Morning and Evening Service then began. So that then it was the custom for the minifter to perform divine fervice (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 Leffons, he turned to the people. Againft this Bucer, by the direction of Calvin, moft This pracgrievously declaimed; urging, that "it was a most anti- tice cla"chriftian practice for the Prieft to fay prayers only in the moured againft by "choir, as a place peculiar to the clergy, and not in the Bucer. "body of the church among the people, who had as "much right to divine worthip as the clergy themselves." He therefore ftrenuously infifted, "that the reading divine "service in the chancel was an infufferable abuse, and ought immediately to be amended, if the whole nation "would not be guilty of high treafon against God 46." This terrible outcry (however fenfeless and trifling) pre- And altered vailed fo far, that when the Common Prayer-Book was upon his altered in the fifth year of King Edward, this following complaint. rubric was placed in the room of the old one; viz. The Chap. II. Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in fuch places of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel, and the Minifter fhall turn him, as the people may best hear. And if there be any controverfy therein, the matter fhall be referred to the ordinary, and he or his deputy shall appoint the place". Which caufed great contentions. This alteration caufed great contentions, fome kneeling one way, fome another, though ftill keeping in the chancel: whilft others left the accustomed place, and performed all the fervices in the body of the church amongst the people. For the appeafing of this ftrife and diverfity, it was thought fit, when the English service was again Till the old brought into the church, at the acceffion of Queen Elizacuftom was beth to the throne, that the rubric fhould be corrected, again reftored in and put into the fame form in which we now have it; the reign of viz. That the Morning and the Evening Prayer shall be used Q. Eliza- in the accustomed place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel; by beth. The origi ing-Pews, which for 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 fuppofed, that this fecond book, which lasted only one year and a half, could establish a cuftom. However, a difpenfing power was left to the ordinary, who might determine it otherwise, if he faw just cause. Pursuant to this rubric, the morning and evening fernal of Read-vice was again, as formerly, read in the chancel or choir. or Desks. But because in fome churches the too great distance of the chancel from the body of the church, occafioned fometimes by the interpofition of a belfry, hindered the minister from being heard diftinctly by the people; therefore the Bishops, at the folicitations of their inferior Clergy, allowed them in feveral places to fuperfede 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 fervice. Which difpenfation, begun at firft by fome few ordinaries, and recommended by them to others, grew by degrees to be more general, till at last it came to be an univerfal practice: infomuch that the convocation, in the beginning of King James I's reign, ordered, that in every church there should be a convenient feat made for the minifter to read service in 48. And this being almoft threefcore years before the Reftoration of K. Charles II. (at which time the last review of 47 Rubric before the beginning of morning prayer, in the second book of King Edward. the the Common Prayer was made,) it is very probable, that Sect. V. when they continued 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 exprefsly mentions a Reading-Pew, and feems to fuppofe 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 ftand in the body of the Church or Chancel, where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be faid) feems to have an eye to the old practice of reading prayers in the choir. But this rubric being the fame that we have in King Edward's fecond Common Prayer-Book, may perhaps have flipt into the present book through the inadvertency of the reviewers, who might not probably just then confider, that cuftom had shifted the place for the performance of the daily fervice 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 fuch places as had ftill retained that custom; yet fince the ordinaries have a difpenfing 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 fervice in them, as it was formerly to do it in the chancel or choir. 66 they have §. 2. The occafion of the latter part of this rubric relat-Chancels to ing to chancels, was also another of Bucer's cavils; who, remain as in his cenfure of our Liturgy, in the fame place that he done in complains of the reading prayers in the choir, inveighs as times paft. vehemently against the feparation 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 feem 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 divifion of the chancels "from the churches, was another article of treason against "God." This objection discovering an equal fhare of ignorance and ill-nature, feems 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, exprefsly enjoining, Chap. II. enjoining, that the chancels fhould remain as they had done in times paft. There was afterwards indeed a greater occafion for the continuance of this rubric; when a tumultuous rabble, encouraged by the complaints that they had found had been made by this fame Bucer, and his director Calvin, proceeded to demolish both chancels and altars, pulling down the rails and frames that divided them from the reft of the church, and divefting them of all the ornaments that but seemed to intimate them to be more than ordinary facred. But this will fall more directly under my confideration hereafter, when I come to treat of the fituation of the altar, to which the rubric in the beginning of the Communion-office will lead me. Whether any daily CHA P. III. Of the ORDER for MORNING and EVENING The INTRODUCTION. THAT the primitive chriftians, befides their folemn there was fervice on Sundays, had public prayers every Mornfervice in ing and Evening, daily, has already been hinted upon a the primi- former occafion50: but a learned gentleman is of the opitive church. nion, that this must be restrained to times of peace; and that during the time of public perfecution they were forced to confine their religious meetings to the Lord's day only1. And it is certain that Pliny 2 and Justin Martyr, 53 who both defcribe the manner of the christian worship, do neither of them make mention of any affembly for public worship on any other day: fo that their 49 Mr. Calvin (who was before thought by fome to have offered his affiftance too officioufly for carrying on the Reformation in England, and who with relation to our church had used fome very hard expreffions, not fo well becoming the mouth of a divine) warns Martin Bucer, in a letter he tent to him juft before his coming into England, against being the Author or Approver of middle Counfels: by which words he plainly ftrikes at the moderation obferved in the Englifh Reformation.-Dr. Nichols's Introduction to his defence of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England. 50 Chap. 2. fect. 1. p. 80, 81. 51 Mr. Bingham's Antiquities, book 13. ch. 9. fect. 1. vol. v. p. 281. &c. 52 L. 10. Ep. 97. 53 Apol. 1. c. 87. p. 131. and c. 89. p. 132. filence |