The Reform of the liturgy in England began in 1540 under the leadership of Thomas Cranmer. The Book of Common Prayer was revised again in 1552, and a final revision was completed in 1662. The service below is from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Introduction
Soon after Henry VIII’s break with the papacy, efforts toward liturgical reform began to gain momentum in England. It was not until 1549, however, after Edward VI had ascended the throne, that the first comprehensive reformed liturgy was issued. The principles upon which this book was based were spelled out in the order called on in the old service books and in the Act of Uniformity for the first revision of The Book of Common Prayer. These documents state that the first Book of Common Prayer was (1) “grounded upon the Holy Scripture,” (2) “agreeable to the order of the primitive [i.e., early] church,” (3) designed to be unifying to the realm, and (4) intended for the edification of the people. Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was its chief architect. In compiling the book, he made use of various sources, including writings of early church fathers, English reformation formularies, German church orders, Quinones’s revised breviary, Eastern liturgies, Gallican rites, and various uses of the medieval Roman rite.
The 1549 book was not well received. It was too conservative for some, too radical for others, and too open to diverse interpretations to encourage uniformity. The Clerk’s Book, published that same year, contained some revisions. Marbeck’s [Merbeck’s] commissioned musical setting contained further changes. The rubrics were widely disregarded. It was too radical for the Devonshire rebels, for such bishops as Bonner, Thirlby, and Gardiner, and for priests who continued the use of old service books or who “counterfeited Masses.” On the other hand, it did not go far enough in its revisions to satisfy the Norfolk rebels, or continental reformers such as Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr who had come to England and had been given positions of prominence in the universities, or the Anabaptists, or some of the clergy and bishops such as Hooper and Knox.
The second Book of Common Prayer (1552) is sometimes spoken of as a radical plot foisted upon the people. It was, in fact, in many ways a compromise and an effort to arrive at a middle way or via media. With Mary’s accession to the throne and the restoration of Roman Catholicism and the medieval Sarum use in England, religious exiles carried the 1552 book to the continent where it was revised by the exiles in Frankfurt and Geneva. After the accession of Elizabeth, with the return of the exiles, pressure mounted for the establishment of a liturgy more closely akin to those of the continental reformers. However, the 1552 book was again imposed with only a few changes. When James VI of Scotland came to the throne as James I of England, he was confronted by Puritans with the Millenary Petition, which called for a number of changes in the rites and ceremonies of the church. The resultant Hampton Court Conference (1604) made few concessions. At the time of the Restoration, despite efforts of Puritans to force more radical change on the one hand and of Laudians (followers of Archbishop Laud, who attempted to force the return of high churchmanship and ritual catholicity on the nation) on the other, relatively few changes were made in the 1662 revision.
The Architectural Setting. The first Book of Common Prayer assumed a style of architecture in which the nave and chancel were divided by a screen. The congregation would occupy the nave for the daily offices and the Ante-Communion (the liturgy of the Word portion of the eucharistic rite) and, at the offertory, move into the chancel to place their alms in the “poore menes boxe.” Those who would receive Communion remained in the chancel, where the celebrant, “standing humbly afore the middes of the Altar,” would proceed with the rite. For the use of the nave for liturgies of the Word and the chancel for the liturgy of the sacrament, there was precedent among both Lutherans and Calvinists on the continent.
In Lent 1550, John Hooper, preaching before the court, expressed a wish that the magistrates “turn the altars into tables.” On St. Barnabas’s Day, June 11, a table was set up in place of the high altar at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and that summer Bishop Ridley exhorted the clergy and wardens to set up an “honest table” in each church in the diocese. In November the council commanded each bishop to give orders that altars be taken down and tables set up instead. The tables were normally placed in the midst of the chancel with their long sides parallel to the north and south walls. The 1552 Book of Common Prayer consistently referred to it as a “table” or as “God’s board,” not once calling it an “altar.” The priest was to stand “at the north side” and the congregation to gather around. The Elizabethan settlement called for the table, with a cover of “silk, buckram or other such like,” to stand in the place of the old altar except when the communion is to be celebrated. These “carpets” varied in color; there was no attempt to follow a color sequence. Some more affluent churches had different frontals for festal and ordinary use, and some had black for use in Lent or on occasions of national mourning. For celebrations of the Eucharist, the table was to be covered with a fair linen cloth (reaching down almost to the floor on all four sides) and to stand in the midst of the chancel or in the body of the church if the chancel could not accommodate the communicants. In many places, the table stayed at all times in the midst of the chancel because of the inconvenience of moving it or because of theological considerations. In some churches seating for the communicants was provided on two, three, or all four sides of the chancel. A tablet containing the Decalogue was to be put up on the east wall over the table. Often the tablet(s) contained the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer as well. Altar rails came into use early in the seventeenth century. Originally the rails were not used for the administration of communion but for the protection of the costly hangings and to keep the table from being used as a desk, or as a repository for hats, or for other profane purposes. In some cases, the new rails surrounded the table in the midst of the chancel, but generally, they extended across the chancel to protect the altar when it was placed at the east end, either altar-wise or table-wise. Eventually, communicants would begin to kneel at the rails for the receiving of communion. In exceptional circumstances, candles were placed on the table, but normally nothing was placed on the table except the books, vessels, and elements necessary for a eucharistic celebration.
Fonts were typically made of stone, set near the door, and large enough for the immersion of infants, though those of puritan persuasion sometimes used a basin and substituted pouring or sprinkling for immersion.
Occupying an important position in the nave, typically against the north wall, was a triple-decked pulpit, which was often enhanced by hangings and by cushions for the books. On the lowest level was the desk for the clerk, a lay assistant who led the people in their responses and, if there was no choir, in the metrical psalms and hymns. Behind this, on a higher level, was the desk for the officiant, at which he read the daily offices and typically the Ante-Communion. On a yet higher level was the pulpit for the preaching of sermons. In some churches, a pew near the pulpit was designated as the “churching pew” for use at the rite then called “The Churching of Women,” more recently the “Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth.”
In the churches of the period, the pews in the nave were generally arranged in such a way that most people faced the pulpit. In parish churches where there was a choir, it generally occupied a gallery in the west end or over the rood screen. Smaller churches often had instead a “singers’ pew,” typically in the west end. If we can judge by later practice, the congregation often turned to face the choir during psalms, hymns, or anthems.
The Vestments. The first Book of Common Prayer (1549) had designated that for the Eucharist the celebrant wear “a white Albe plain, with a vestement [chasuble] or Cope,” and that assisting priests or deacons were to wear “Albes with tunacles.” For other rites, the clergy were to wear a surplice. The use of a hood with the surplice was recommended for preaching and for general use by the clergy in cathedral or collegiate churches. A bishop, when celebrating the Eucharist or executing “any other publique minystracyon shall have upon hym, besyde his rochette, a Surples or albe, and a cope or vestment, and also his pastorall staffe.” The 1550 ordination rites specified that a candidate for ordination as a deacon or priest be vested in a “a playne Albe,” and that a candidate for ordination as a bishop and the presenting bishops be vested in “Surples and Cope.” The ordination rites had been out only a day or two when Hooper, who was soon thereafter nominated to the bishopric at Gloucester, preached before the king denouncing the vestments.
In the 1552 Book of Common Prayer, a rubric preceding Morning Prayer dealt with vesture: “And here is to be noted, that the minister at the tyme of the Comunion and all other tymes in his ministracion, shall use neither albe, vestment, nor cope: but being archbishop or bishop, he shall have and wear a rochet; and being a preest or deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice onely.” Exiles on the continent during Mary’s reign rejected the use of the surplice.
The 1559 revision replaced the 1552 rubric on vestments with one which reads: “And here is to be noted, that the Minister at the tyme of the comunion and at all other tymes in his ministracion, shall use such ornamentes in the church, as were in use by aucthoritie of parliament in the second yere of the reygne of king Edeard the VI.” The rubric was apparently designed to restore the use of eucharistic vestments, but it did not have that effect. Archbishop Parker’s “Advertisements” of 1566 simply ordered the use of a cope by the celebrant, the gospeller, and the epistoler at celebrations of the Eucharist in cathedral and collegiate churches, and of a surplice and hood at other services and for preaching. In other churches, the minister was to wear the surplice for all rites. These regulations were not universally followed. In many places a black gown was worn for preaching and often for presiding or assisting at the services.
Ceremonial Actions. The 1549 Book of Common Prayer prescribed little ceremonial. In the eucharistic prayer, the celebrant was to make signs of the cross over the bread and wine during the epiclesis and to take the bread and the cup in his hands at the Institution Narrative. Baptism included a signation, vesting with the “Crisome,” and an anointing. The marriage rite included the giving of a ring and specified a sign of the cross with each of the two blessings. Visitation of the Sick provided for an optional anointing. Though few ceremonial actions were required, the only rubric that explicitly forbade an old action was printed immediately after the Institution Narrative: “These wordes before rehersed are to be saied, turning still to the Altar, without any eleuacion or shewing the Sacrament to the people.” Among the “Notes” at the end of the book is one which reads, “As touching, kneeling, crossing, holding up handes, knocking upon the brest, and other gestures: they may be used or left as every mans deuocion serueth without blame.” Though some priests were accused of “counterfeiting Masse” rather than using the book in the way in which it was intended to be used, many found the retention of even these few required ceremonial actions objectionable.
The 1552 book dropped all indications for the use of the sign of the cross except for the signation in baptism, all directions for any manual acts in the eucharistic prayer, and all references to anointing. The 1549 book had not specified the posture for receiving Communion, and in some places people received while seated. The 1552 book specified kneeling as the posture, but explained in a rubric that this did not imply “anye reall and essencial presence there beeying of Christ’s naturall fleshe and bloude.” The 1559 revision dropped this rubric but retained the direction to kneel. The 1549 book had retained the use of wafers which were to be put in the communicants’ mouths by the priest. The 1552 book allowed use of bread “such, as is usuall to bee eaten at the Table wyth other meates,” and this was to be put into the communicants’ hands rather than their mouths. Provisions regarding ceremonial actions were not changed in the 1559 revision, but the Royal Injunctions published that year directed that “whensoever the name of Jesus shall be in any lesson, sermon, or otherwise in the church pronounced, that due reverence be made.”
Among the issues raised in the Millenary Petition presented to King James, April 1603, were the use of the signation in baptism and the ring in the marriage rite and bowing at the name of Jesus.
A committee appointed by the House of Lords in 1641 listed “innovations” that had arisen. These pointed to some of the changes in practice among those of the so-called Laudian school. Among the “innovations” were turning the table altar-wise and calling it an altar, bowing toward the table, putting candlesticks on it, compelling communicants to receive at the rails, turning east for the creed and prayers, offering of bread and wine by the hand of the churchwardens or others “before the consecration,” standing for the hymns (canticles) and the Gloria Patri, and carrying children from baptism to the table, “there to offer them up to God.”
The Music. There is evidence that in some places plainsong settings and polyphonic settings for the old Latin texts were adapted for the new English texts at the time of or even before the appearance of the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549. In The booke of Common praier noted [London, 1550] John Marbeck [Merbecke], organist at the royal chapel at Windsor, provided simple music, one note per syllable, partly adapted from plainsong and partly original, for almost all of the texts of the daily offices, the eucharistic rite, and the burial rites. When the 1552 revision appeared, Marbeck’s settings fell out of use because of changes in the texts. The rubrics of the 1552 book allowed for the singing of certain portions of the rites “in a plain tune after the manner of distinct reading.”
Clement Marot had produced metrical versions of psalms which were sung to popular tunes in the French court. This was imitated in England. Thomas Sternhold began to translate the Psalms, generally in “Ballad Metre” or “Common Metre.” Nineteen of these were published in 1547. After Sternold’s death, John Hopkins in 1549 published this collection with an additional eighteen metrical versions by Sternhold and seven of his own. There is no evidence, however, that these were used in liturgical services prior to the accession of Mary and the suppression of the Book of Common Prayer.
Congregations of English people in exile during the reign of Mary published revised and expanded versions of the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter, with tunes from German and French sources, including tunes now commonly known as psalm 42, old 100th, old 112th [vater unser], old 113th, old 124th, old 134th [st. michael], commandments, le cantique de simeon [nunc dimittis], and erhalt uns, herr, and with other tunes apparently never before published (for example, old 148th). These congregations in exile, following the examples of continental churches, began to make use of metrical versions of the Psalms and other liturgical texts in the services.
Elizabeth’s Royal Injunctions of 1559 allowed a hymn at the beginning and end of services. In 1562 The Whole Booke of Psalmes, collected into Englysh metre was first printed. This Psalter, which continued to be published into the nineteenth century, contained metrical versions of Sternhold and Hopkins or others of every psalm and of several Prayer Book texts (the Veni Creator, the canticles, the Lord’s Prayer, the Decalogue, the Athanasian and Apostles’ Creeds). It also contained several hymns, including two which were translations from German. From 1566 the title page described these metrical psalms and hymns as being allowed before and after sermons as well as before and after the daily offices. One of the hymns (124 lines in length) was for use at the time of the ministration of Communion.
During the reigns of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, plainsong, anthems, and new polyphonic service music was used by choirs in cathedrals, royal chapels, college chapels, and a few parish churches with endowed choirs. The music in the typical parish church, however, was largely confined to the metrical psalms and hymns of the Sternhold and Hopkins psalter. With a few tunes repeated, a proper tune was appointed for each text—sixty-seven tunes in the fullest edition (1570). In the typical parish church, the psalms and hymns were normally led by a clerk without the benefit of a choir or any instrument. They were apparently sung at a fast clip and with a pronounced rhythm, for they were derided by some as “Genevan jigs.”
Later in the reign of Elizabeth, the fashion turned toward slower singing and shorter tunes. Among tunes that are still in use, Windsor and Southwell were apparently first printed in Damon’s 1579 edition of the psalter. East’s (Est’s, Este’s) 1592 version introduced several new tunes, including Cheshire and Winchester old. Ravenscroft’s 1621 edition was the first to print with the texts of the Sternhold and Hopkins psalter some tunes from the Scottish psalters, including Dundee, martyrs, st. david’s, and york, as well as a tune from Archbishop Matthew Parker’s Psalter, the eighth tune [‘tallis’ canon]. Ravenscroft also introduced other tunes, including Bristol, Durham, Manchester, and old 104th.
The Rites. The prayer books called for Morning and Evening Prayer to be said daily by all priests and deacons. A minister in charge of a parish was to say them in the church or chapel, after having tolled a bell “that suche as be disposed maye come to heare Goddes worde, and to praie with hymn.” The attendance of all in the parish was expected on Sundays and major holy days. On Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Morning Prayer was followed by the Litany, and on Sundays and major holy days, by Ante-Communion, if not the whole of the eucharistic rite.
Early in the reign of Elizabeth, the singing of a metrical psalm or hymn was allowed before the beginning of Morning Prayer. The 1552 revision directed Morning Prayer to begin with a penitential section (for which there was precedent in Calvinistic liturgies), which consisted of a scriptural sentence and an exhortation calling to repentance, a general confession lined out by the minister (for which the congregation was to kneel), and a declaration of forgiveness to which the people were to respond “Amen.”
The elements which followed the opening penitential section were mostly derived from the old rites of Matins, Lauds, and Prime. The minister was to say “wyth a loude voyce” the shorter form of the Lord’s Prayer. A short series of versicles and responses which incorporated the Gloria Patri introduced the psalmody. Psalm 95 (Venite) was to be said or sung daily except on Easter Day itself when two brief anthems from the New Testament (Romans 6:9–11 and 1 Corinthians 15:20–22) were to be used instead. The Venite was to be followed by a selection from the Psalms. Proper psalms were appointed for Christmas Day, Easter Day, Ascension Day, and Whitsunday (Pentecost). The Prayer Book provided a table that divided the psalms between Morning and Evening Prayer over the period of a month. As opposed to the medieval systems, this meant that even those who came to church only on Sundays would be exposed to the whole psalter every seven months, but particular psalms might come up at very inappropriate times (Psalms 144–150 on Ash Wednesday or the First Sunday in Lent, for example, or Psalms 50–55 on a festal day such as Epiphany, Trinity Sunday, or All Saints).
In some places, the Psalms were sung to plainsong tones, sometimes with a fauxbourdon, from which Anglican chant evolved early in the seventeenth century. The Psalter was not bound with the early prayer books, and in most places, the Psalms appointed would have been read by the minister or the clerk, or the minister and the clerk would have alternated verse by verse (if we can judge by the printing of alternate verses in italics or in a different font in some of the Elizabethan special forms). Each psalm was followed by the Gloria Patri.
The Psalms were followed by the reading or singing “in a plain tune after the maner of distinct reading,” of a chapter from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. To assure that the Old Testament “except certain bokes and chapiters, whiche be least edifyeng” would be read once each year, the lectionary was arranged according to the civil calendar rather than the church year. Depending upon the date of Easter, post-resurrection material from John and Acts might be read in Lent, or the account of the Passion in Eastern season. A particularly weak point of the system was that those who attended church only on Sundays and Holy Days would often get lessons from the Old Testament which made little sense out of context. At the 1559 revision, proper Old Testament lessons were appointed for the Sundays and Holy Days, but proper New Testament lessons were provided for only three Sundays: Easter, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. The chapter from the Old Testament might be read by either the minister or the clerk; that from the New Testament was apparently normally read by the minister.
The chapter from the Old Testament was followed by the saying or singing of one or the other of two canticles, Te Deum or Benedicite omnia opera. Since the alternative canticle was from the Apocrypha its use was avoided by those of Puritan persuasion. The chapter from the New Testament was followed by either the Song of Zechariah (Benedictus) or Psalm 100 (Jubilate Deo). Those of Puritan persuasion favored the Jubilate Deo, believing that it was not proper for others to appropriate the singing of the Song of Zechariah (or the Songs of Mary or of Simeon, the first of the alternatives that followed the lessons at Evening Prayer). The appointed place for baptism was between the New Testament lesson and the canticle which followed.
On major feasts and on certain saints’ days, the Athanasian Creed would be said or sung immediately after the canticle following the second lesson. On most days, however, the canticle would be followed immediately by the Apostles’ Creed, which was to be said by all, standing. The creed was followed by the Kyrie and the short form of the Lord’s Prayer, said by all, kneeling. The minister was then to resume a standing position for versicles and responses and three collects, the collect of the day and two that were said daily throughout the year, a collect for peace and a collect for grace. Where there was a choir, an anthem often followed this third collect. In other places, a metrical psalm or hymn may have been sung.
On Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Morning Prayer was followed by the Litany, said kneeling. This may have been followed by an anthem or a metrical psalm or hymn. This is the point in the Sunday morning service at which women would have been “churched” and couples would have been married.
Cranmer’s ideal was communion every Sunday and Holy Day, but he did not approve of a Eucharist at which only the priest received. There had to be a “good noumbere” to receive with the priest, “And yf there be not above twentie persons in the Parishe of discretion to receive the communion: Yet there shal be no Communion, excepte foure, or three at the least communicate wiyth the Prieste.” Persons not used to receiving more than once a year, and then typically from the reserved sacrament immediately after private confession, did not immediately embrace frequent communions. In many parishes, there was a celebration once a month or even less frequently, yet to keep the ideal of every Sunday communion before the people the Ante-communion was to be said every Sunday.
Text:
THE EUCHARISTIC RITE OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, 1662
[The Eucharist would be immediately preceded by Morning Prayer and Litany]
PSALM 100 [Tate and Brady] (Tune: old hundredth):
With one consent let all the earth
To God their cheerful voices raise;
Glad homage pay with awful mirth,
And sing before him songs of praise.
Convinc’d that he is God alone
From whom both we and all proceed;
We, whom he chooses for his own,
The flock that he vouchsafes to feed.
O enter then his temple gate,
Thence to his courts devoutly press,
And still your grateful hymns repeat,
And still his Name with praises bless.
For he’s the Lord, supremely good,
His mercy is for ever sure:
His truth, which always firmly stood,
To endless ages shall endure.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (Priest alone; the people kneeling):
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
But deliver us from evil. Amen.
COLLECT (Priest):
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Despite the fact that the prayer book directed that Ante-communion begin with the priest standing at the north side of the table, it seems typically to have been read from the same place as Morning Prayer. The priest alone said the short form of the Lord’s Prayer, followed by a prayer that later came to be known as the Collect for Purity, elements that had been part of the priest’s private preparation in late medieval rites and the 1549 prayer book.
THE DECALOGUE (Priest: the people, still kneeling, respond after each commandment):
God spake these words, and said; I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins to the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and show mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his Name in vain.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and allowed it.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt do no murder.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt not steal.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt not bear witness against thy neighbour.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee.
PRAYER FOR THE RULER [one of two alternatives] (Priest):
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, we are taught by thy holy Word, that the hearts of Kings are in thy rule and governance, and that thou dost dispose and turn them as it seemeth best to thy godly wisdom: We humbly beseech thee so to dispose and govern the heart of (N.), thy servant, our King and Governour, that, in all his thoughts, words, and works, he may ever seek thy honour and glory, and study to persevere thy people committed to his charge, in wealth, peace, and godliness: Grant this, O merciful Father, for thy dear Son’s sake, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE COLLECT OF THE DAY [Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany] (Priest):
O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE EPISTLE (Priest):
The Epistle is written in the thirteenth Chapter of Romans beginning at the first Verse.
THE GOSPEL (Priest, the people standing):
The holy Gospel is written in the eighth Chapter of Saint Matthew, beginning at the twenty-third Verse.
THE NICENE CREED
Commentary: The ninefold Kyrie of Western medieval rites and the 1549 prayer book, from 1552 on, was replaced by the recitation by the priest of the Ten Commandments. For this the priest and people knelt. The people responded after the first nine, “Lord, haue mercye upon us, and encline our hearts to kepe this lawe,” and after the tenth, “Lord haue mercye upon us, and write al these thy lawes in our hearts, we beseche thee.” The priest then stood to say the collect of the day and one or the other of two prayers for the monarch. Cranmer had only slightly modified the Epistle and Gospel lectionary of the Sarum Missal. Both lessons were read by the priest, one immediately after the other, apparently typically from the middle level of the pulpit. The Gospel was followed immediately by the Nicene Creed. It was not until the 1662 revision that the people were directed to stand for the Gospel and creed.
Text:
HYMN
SERMON OR HOMILY
Psalm 117
Commentary: The Sternhold and Hopkins metrical psalter provided a forty-line hymn, “A Prayer to the Holy Ghost, To be sung before the Sermon.” Selections from the metrical psalms were probably often used instead. The Elizabethan Injunctions provided a bidding prayer for use before sermons. If there was no sermon, the priest was directed to read one of the official homilies. These homilies were written to promote and explain the changes in liturgy and theology that the Reformation had brought. The sermon was often followed by a metrical psalm.
Text:
ANNOUNCEMENT OF HOLY DAYS AND FASTING DAYS WITHIN THE FOLLOWING WEEK, AND OTHER AUTHORIZED ANNOUNCEMENTS.
OFFERINGS FOR THE POOR AND OTHER OFFERINGS [gathered by the Deacons, Churchwardens, or others and brought to the Priest who is to “present and place” them upon the holy Table; while the offerings are being received, the Priest reads sentences from the Scriptures]:
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven [Matt. 5:16].
Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon the earth; where the rust and moth doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal [Matt. 6:19–20].
Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them; for this is the Law and the Prophets [Matt. 7:12].
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven [Matt. 7:21].
Zaccheus stood forth, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have done any wrong to any man, I restore four-fold [Luke 19:8].
Who goeth a warfare at any time of his own cost? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [1 Cor. 9:7].
If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your worldly things? [1 Cor. 9:11].
THE PLACING UPON THE TABLE OF THE BREAD AND WINE BY THE PRIEST
Commentary: After the sermon the priest was to remind the people of the holy days and fasting days in the week following. The priest initiated the presentation of alms (and other offerings on occasion) by reading one or more of a series of scriptural sentences, most of which were exhortations to give to the poor or to support the ministers. Apparently in many places, the minister continued reading the sentences until the people had finished placing their offerings in plates held by the wardens or others, who stood near the entrance to the chancel which contained the poor box into which they would then deposit the offerings. In other places, however, after a sentence or two had been said, an anthem may have been sung or the metrical psalm or hymn that was allowed after the sermon. The 1549 prayer book had directed that the bread and wine be placed on the table at this point, and that direction was restored in 1662. The intervening prayer books said nothing about when this was to be done. The old practice may have continued in many places, but in most places apparently the bread and wine were placed on the altar by the clerk before the rite and covered with a second large linen table cloth, presenting an appearance which reminded people of some suppers prepared beforehand in private homes.
Text:
PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH (Priest):
Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth.
Almighty and ever-living God, who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make prayers, and supplications, and to give thanks, for all men; We humbly beseech thee most mercifully [to accept our alms and oblations] and to receive these our prayers, which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty; beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love. We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governours; and specially thy Servant (N.), our King; that under him we may be godly and quietly governed: And grant unto his whole Council, and to all that are put in authority under him, that they may truly and indifferently minister justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of thy true religion, and virtue. Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops and Curates, that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments: And to all thy people give thy heavenly grace; and especially to this congregation here present; that, with meek heart and due reverence, they may hear, and receive thy holy Word; truly service thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life. And we most humbly beseech thee of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succor all them, who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity. And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom: grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
Commentary: After the offerings came a general intercession, partly derived from Latin and German sources, a prayer “for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth.” If there was to be no celebration of the Eucharist, the rite ended with one or more of five collects printed after the rite, and possibly a metrical psalm or hymn.
Text:
EXHORTATION (Priest).
Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye that mind to come to the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, must consider how Saint Paul exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves, before they presume to eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup. For as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy Sacrament; (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us;) so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. For then we are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour; we eat and drink our own damnation, not considering the Lord’s Body; we kindle God’s wrath against us; we provoke him to plague us with diverse diseases, and sundry kinds of death. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent you truly for your sins past; have a lively and steadfast faith in Christ our Saviour; amend your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men; so shall ye be meet partakers of these holy mysteries. And above all things, ye must give most humble and hearty thanks to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both God and man; who did humble himself, even to the death upon the Cross, for us, miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; that he might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. And to the end that we should alway remember the exceeding great love of our Master, and only Saviour, Jesus Christ, thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by his precious blood-shedding he hath obtained to us; he hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of his love, and for a continual remembrance of his death, to our great and endless comfort. To him therefore, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, let us give (as we are most bounden) continual thanks; submitting ourselves wholly to his holy will and pleasure, and studying to serve him in true holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Amen.
Commentary: If there was to be a celebration of Communion, the priest was to say one or more of three lengthy exhortions. The first, the work of Peter Martyr, was for use if the people are “negligent to come to the holy Communion.” The second was designed for those with troubled consciences and points to the option of private confession. The third, always to be said, is a warning against unworthy reception of the sacrament. The last two exhortations, and the penitential order which follows, are largely dependent upon the Consultation, the German Church Order of Hermann von Wied, Archbishop of Cologne, the liturgical portion of which was prepared by Martin Bucer.
Text:
INVITATION (Priest):
Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort; and make you humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling upon your knees.
GENERAL CONFESSION [All kneel, and the General Confession is then said “in the name of all”]:
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please thee In newness of life, To the honour and glory of thy Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
ABSOLUTION (Priest, standing):
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him; Have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him.
Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you [Matt. 11:28].
So God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life [John 3:16].
Hear also what Saint Paul saith.
This is true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners [1 Tim. 1:15].
Hear also what Saint John saith.
If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins [1 John 2:1–2].
Commentary: The penitential section which followed the exhortation consisted of a bidding to confession, a general confession, an absolution, and four scriptural sentences which came to be known as the Comfortable Words. Apparently in many places from 1552, the clergy and people entered the chancel at the end of the bidding, “Drawe nere and take this holy Sacramente to youre comfort,” though in other places they may have entered the chancel at the time of the offering, as was directed in the first Book of Common Prayer. At the point at which those planning to receive communion entered the chancel, the others probably left the church. The communicants were instructed to kneel for the general confession, which was said by one of the communicants or by one of the ministers “in the name of all.” If we can judge by some eighteenth century manuals, the people remained kneeling for the absolution but then stood for the Comfortable Words.
Text:
Lift up your hearts;
Answer: We lift them up unto the Lord.
Priest: Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
Answer: It is meet and right so to do.
Priest: It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God.
[Preface of Epiphany]
Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee, O Lord most High. Amen.
Priest: (kneeling) We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.
THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION (Priest, standing):
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death, until his coming again; Hear us, O 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 passion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood: who, in the same night that he was betrayed, [Here the Priest is to take the Paten into his hands] took Bread; and, when he had given thanks, [And here to break the Bread] he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat, [And here to lay his hand upon all the Bread] this is my Body which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise after supper he [Here he is to take the Cup into his hand] took the Cup; and, when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for this [And here to lay his hand upon every vessel (be it Chalice or Flagon) in which there is any Wine to be consecrated] is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins: Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me. Amen.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENT (the people kneel to receive):
The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life, Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.
The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.
(The Priest covers what remains with a linen cloth.)
HYMN
Commentary: The traditional sursum corda (the “Lift up your hearts”) dialogue introduced the Preface and Sanctus. Proper Prefaces were provided for insertion at Christmas, Easter, and Ascension [and from 1552, their octaves], for Whitsunday (Pentecost) [and from 1552, the six days following], and for Trinity Sunday. From 1552 the Preface was followed by a prayer later called the Prayer of Humble Access, which had served in the 1548 Order of the Communion and in the 1549 prayer book as a pre-Communion devotion. For this prayer, the priest was to kneel. There is no direction to this effect, but later practice would lead one to believe that the priest, when he stood back up, normally removed the second tablecloth which covered the elements which had been prepared. The form which followed, later referred to as the Prayer of Consecration, begins with a section with no precedent in historic eucharistic prayers but is dependent on Reformation formularies concerning the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross and the Eucharist as a “perpetuall memorye of that his precious death.” This was followed by a petition for worthy reception. Epicletic elements in the 1549 petition had been edited out in 1552. This petition led into the Institution Narrative. There were no directions in the prayer book concerning manual actions, but the priest probably continued to take the bread and the cup into his hands, as he had been directed to do in the 1549 book and would be directed to do in the 1662 book. If we can judge from altar practice, he probably broke the bread for distribution at the words “he brake it.” Late Western medieval eucharistic piety had been based on adoration of the sacrament at the Institution Narrative, which had come to be seen as the moment of consecration. The 1549 prayer book had attempted to substitute a piety centered in the communal receiving of the sacrament for a eucharistic piety centered in seeing the consecration of the sacrament. The 1552 and subsequent books placed the act of receiving right at what in the late middle ages had been the ultimate point of devotion. Through much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the priest administered communion by moving among the people kneeling in the chancel. To each person he said a sentence of administration. From 1559 the sentence consisted of two parts. The first half of each sentence was the sentence of administration in the 1548 Order of the Communion and the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. It was a Lutheran amplification of an earlier form, “The body (bloud) of our Lorde Jesus Christe whiche was geuen (shed) for thee, and be thankefull.” The second half expressed a reformed understanding of the real presence of Christ, stressing that it was “in your hearts” and not “with your teeth” that one feeds on Christ by faith. For the receiving of communion, the people were to kneel, though in some places they sat or stood instead. During the time of the ministration of communion, or after people had begun to receive at the rails as “tables” were moving to and from the rail, portions of “A Thanksgiving after the receiving of the Lord’s Supper” from the Sternhold and Hopkins psalter, or some other metrical hymn or psalm, may have been sung.
Text:
THE LORD’S PRAYER (the people repeating every petition after the priest):
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.
PRAYER [One of two alternatives] (Priest):
O Lord and heavenly Father, we thy humble servants entirely desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion. And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that all we, who are partakers of this holy Communion, may be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly benediction. And although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus Christ our Lord; by whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS (Priest):
Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
O Lord, the only begotten Son Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.
For thou only art holy; thou only are the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
THE BLESSING (Priest):
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen.
[The people having departed, the clergy (assisted by others, if necessary) consume what remains without carrying it from the building.]
Commentary: After the people had received Communion, the priest was to line out the Lord’s Prayer (until 1662, the shorter form) with the people repeating each petition after him. He was then to say one or the other of two prayers. The first was an abridged form of the final paragraph of the 1549 eucharistic prayer, later commonly called the “self-oblation.” This form contained phrases from the Roman canon, the liturgy of St. Basil, Hermann’s Consultation, and a quotation from Romans 12:1. The second was a revised form of the fixed post-communion prayer of the 1549 book which replaced the proper post-communion prayers of the medieval rites, many of which contained theological sentiments unacceptable to Cranmer.
The rite concluded with the Gloria in Excelsis and the blessing. The Gloria in Excelsis was moved to this position in 1552, possibly because Calvinistic rites normally followed communion with a metrical psalm in imitation of the hymn sung after the Last Supper (Mark 14:26). Early Lutheran liturgical books concluded rites with blessings, and one dependent on Hermann’s Consultation was provided in the 1548 Order of the Communion and the Book of Common Prayer. After the blessing, a metrical psalm or hymn may have been sung.
Conclusion
The 1549 Book of Common Prayer did not specify what was to be done with elements that remained after the administration of communion except that (following some German Lutheran precedents) on the day of a celebration they might be used for the Communion of the Sick. The 1552 revision specified that “yf any of the bread or wine remayne, the Curate [i.e., the person in charge of the cure] shal have it to hys owne use.” It was not until the 1662 revision that what remained was to be consumed by the priest and other communicants and not taken out of the church.
Through the authorization of this eucharistic liturgy, a basic pattern of Anglican worship was established in the mid-sixteenth century which would not be radically altered until the Victorian period.