This post is an interruption of the previous series, but one done for the sake of timeliness… As there is interest in the 1789 Book of Common Prayer on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, here is an equally interesting liturgy that did not make it into the 1789 book: A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the inestimable Blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty to be used yearly on the 4th day of July, unless it happen to be on Sunday, and then on the Day following.
I’m going to break this post into two parts. First, a presentation and discussion of the liturgy itself; second, a recounting of the context of its creation and its reception—realizing that the 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer was the only American BCP to be submitted to the English bishops for their approval of its contents.
For the inestimable Blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty; to be used yearly Fourth Day of July, unless it happen to be on Sunday, and then on following.
¶ The Service shall be as usual, except where it is hereby otherwise appointed.
[My commentary] This is the liturgy for the 4th of July unless the 4th is a Sunday–in that case it will occur on the 5th. So, in terms of precedent, Independence Day ranks lower than a Sunday and is to be transferred to the Monday if the 4th is a Sunday.
Furthermore, the following materials are intended to be fit within the usual daily structure. This is important, because it packs in several assumptions that—for the sake of our own day—need to be made explicit. The key thing is that the materials provided assume that the complete liturgy will consist of 1) Morning Prayer which contained 2) The Litany packed inside of it (!), and 3) The Communion Service (with or without actual consecration of the Eucharist; in fact, it’s probably intended as an ante-communion service only as the Eucharist was rarely celebrated in those days).
Thus, the Morning Prayer materials are placed first, and then the materials for the Communion Service.
¶ Among the Sentences at Morning Prayer shall be the following:
THe Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting Arms. Deut. 33. 27. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine: also his heavens shall drop down dew. Verse 28. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people favoured by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy Excellency. Verse 29. The Lord hath been mindful of us, and he shall bless us; he shall bless them that fear him, both small and great. Psalm 115. 12, 13. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men. Psalm 107.21.
[My commentary] The MP rubrics direct that the minister shall read “some of the following sentences of Scripture”; this adds a few more into the mix to be chosen and read at the minister’s discretion.
¶ Instead of “O come let us sing, &c.,” the following Hymn shall be said or sung.
MY Song shall be alway of the loving kindness of the Lord : with my Mouth ever be shewing his Truth from one generation to another. Psal. 89. 1. The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous Works : that they ought to be had in remembrance. Psal. 111. 4. Who can express the noble Acts of the Lord : or shew forth all his praise? Psal. 106. 2. The works of the Lord are great : sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. Psal. 111.2. For he will not alway be chiding : neither keepeth he his anger forever. Psal. 103.9. He hath not dealt with us after our sins : nor rewarded us according to our wickedness. Verse 10. For look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth : so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Verse 11. Yea, like as a father pitieth his own children : even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him. Verse 11. Thou, O God, hast proved us; thou also hast tried us, like as silver is tried. Psal. 66.9. Thou didst remember us in our low estate, and redeem us from our enemies for thy mercy endureth forever. Psal. 136. 23, 24.
[My commentary] This is one of the interesting features of the 1786 book: on various occasions it prefers to replace the opening Venite with a proper cento, a hymn created by taking select verses from a variety of psalms and assembling them into a new creation for that specific day. Given the multitude of references, it looks very much like the preceding optional Opening Sentences, but is intended to be read through fully. If I were preparing this for congregational use, I would take the references out of the text and either put them at the end or explain them in a different part of the bulletin.
¶ Then shall be said or sung the Psalm; which shall be the same as is appointed for the 23d Day, Part 2.
¶ The first Lesson shall be, Deut. 8; and the second Lesson shall be, [1] Thess. 5. 12 to 24.
[My commentary] I have corrected the first text rubric, as it missed which day was to be used. The psalms of this BCP are deserve their own study, because they take the idea of the cento to the extreme! Each day is split into Part I and Part II, the first customarily being used at Morning Prayer, the second at Evening Prayer. Unlike the classical prayer book division, this is not a continuous movement through all of the psalms, but working with an assemblage of materials. Day 23 provides a perfect example of what I mean: Part I is a mash-up of Psalms 116, 117 & 105 while Part II (the one directed here) is “From Psalm 118.” The text is 118:1-9, 13-29.
Like the BCPs from 1549-1662, the readings from the Daily Office are printed according to the civil—not liturgical—calendar. By the 1662 book, this was supplemented by two other tables, one providing materials for Sundays and the second for the static holydays. As in the 1662, that calendar at the front of the book contains blanks when a proper lesson is appointed somewhere else. In the calendar, July 4 is marked as “Religious & Civil Liberty,” the two morning readings are blank, and the two evening readings continue in course from the day before. Thus, the two readings here (Deuteronomy chapter 8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 are proper for the day.
¶ A thanksgiving for the day, to be said after the general thanksgiving.
OGod, whose Name is excellent in all the earth, and thy glory above the heavens, who as on this day didst inspire and direct the hearts of our delegates in Congress, to lay the perpetual foundations of peace, liberty, and safety; we bless and adore thy glorious Majesty, for this thy loving kindness and providence. And we humbly pray that the devout sense of this signal mercy may renew and increase in us a spirit of love and thankfulness to thee its only author, a spirit of peaceable submission to the laws and government of our country, and a spirit of fervent zeal for our holy religion, which thou hast preserved and secured to us and our posterity. May we improve these inestimable blessing for the advancement of religion, liberty, and science throughout this land, till the wilderness and solitary place be glad through us, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. This we beg through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
[My commentary] I corrected the text’s “inspire the direct” to “inspire and direct” following the printed page.
Here we’re jumping to the end of Morning Prayer, past the Litany & Supplication which is embedded in Morning Prayer, to the General Thanksgiving which comes at the Litany & Supplication’s conclusion. So, this prayer falls between the General Thanksgiving and the Prayer of St. Chrysostom.
We now silently move to the Communion Office; no warning of this movement is provided—the text assumes that you know what’s going on.
¶ The Collect: to be used instead of that for the Day.
ALmighty God, who hast in all ages shewed forth thy power and mercy in the wonderful preservation of thy church, and in the protection of every nation and people professing thy holy and eternal Truth, and putting their sure trust in thee; We yield thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for all thy public mercies, and more especially for that signal and wonderful manifestation of thy providence which we commemorate this day; Wherefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name be ascribed all honor and glory, in all churches of the Saints, from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[My commentary] Why, yes, we are in a period of very wordy and prolix prayers, thanks for noticing… The same thing occurs in the new collects created for the (proposed) English1689 BCP. It never uses a couple of words where several phrases could be inserted.
The one thing I’ll mention is that while the 4th of July prayer in the 1979 BCP is criticized for coming from an implicitly White and privileged perspective, this prayer does not fall into that trap nor is it an overtly nationalistic prayer calling on “the protection of every nation and people professing thy holy and eternal Truth.” More on that later…
¶ The Epistle. Philip. 4. 4.
REjoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
¶ The Gospel. St. John 8.31.
THen said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
[My commentary] These two readings then round off the service. Again, these are the proper lessons for the Communion Service. After this is simply a dividing line and the text continues into the Thanksgiving/Harvest liturgy.
The Context and Reception of the 4th of July Liturgy
William White goes into quite some detail on the concerns around this liturgy and does not mince words:
The next material question, to the best of the recollection retained, was a motion from framing a service for the fourth of July. This was the most injudicious step taken by the convention. Could they not have foreseen, that every clergyman, whose political principles interfered with the appointment, would be under a strong temptation to cry down the intended book, if it were only to get rid of the offensive holiday? Beside this point of prudence, was it not the dictate of moderation, to avoid the introducing of extraneous matter of difference of opinion, in a Church that was to be built up?
Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, p. 104
What White is getting at is that many of the clergy of the Protest Episcopal Church had been loyalists during the Revolution. A number of them had fled to Canada, while others had actively work with the British Army. In fact, Samuel Seabury was a chaplain to British troops and continued to draw a pension from the British government after the war (a point of some contention later on!).
Would the inclusion of such a liturgy threaten to fracture the new church body at the moment of its very composition?
After a few more rhetorical flourishes in the vein of those above, White continues:
This was one of the few occasions on which the author used the privilege reserved by him on his acceptance of the presidency, to deliver his opinion. To his great surprise, [105] there was but one gentleman—and he a professed friend to American independence—who spoke on the same side of the question; and there were very few, if any, who voted with the two speakers against the measure. . . . What must further seem not a little extraordinary, the service was principally arranged and the prayer alluded to was composed, by a reverend gentleman, (Dr. Smith) who had written and acted against the declaration of independence, and was unfavourably looked upon by the supporters of it, during the whole revolutionary war.
Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, pp. 104-5
To White’s surprise, the gathered assembly was quite sanguine about the whole matter.
Furthermore, when the Proposed Book was sent off to England for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and a number of diocesan bishops to approve it, they had several issues regarding the creeds and changes to the articles, but none whatsoever to the 4th of July liturgy.
So—if the liturgy seems oddly lacking in a certain kind of patriotic spirit that we might think normal for national celebrations, it’s well to remember these circumstances:
Many of the Episcopal Clergy had supported the British side in the Revolution
There were concerns that introducing such a contentious topic might end both the proposed prayer book and the process of church formation
Much depended on the Archbishops agreeing that the Protestant Episcopal Church truly shared the faith of the Church of England and antagonizing them could to great harm
However, none of these negative consequences came to pass. It is significant, though, that no such liturgy appeared in the 1789 Book of Common Prayer, nor the 1892. Indeed, the next occurrence of an Independence Day liturgy did not appear until that radical and revisionist book, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
[Disclaimer: As most folks here know, I am a New Testament scholar by training and a patristist/medievalist by inclination. I do not claim to be an authority on colonial America or the early Republic. I have perused some key second sources and primary sources on this matter, chiefly the early Journals of the General Conventions and the reminiscences of Bp. William White. So—caveat lector.]
Churchmen (as Anglicans were then known) were found in most of the American Colonies before the Revolution with a greater concentration in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies. Although present in the North, the Congregationalist churches were stronger there. Nine of the 13 colonies had established state churches receiving support from taxpayers; they break down as follows:
Anglican
Puritan/Congregationalist
None
Virginia
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Maryland
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
North Carolina
New Hampshire
Delaware
South Carolina
New Jersey
Georgia
New York
State Churches in the Colonies
After the Battle of Yorktown at the end of 1781, it became clear to all that the Colonies were going to win their independence from the British Crown. Dr. William White, a leading Churchman of Pennsylvania, began writing regarding what the Protestant Episcopal Church would look like at the conclusion of the war and under the new regime. The Treaty of Paris concluded hostilities and opened the way for “what came next” in September of 1783.
Now, do recall that the period between 1781 and 1789 as the era of ACPU—the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union—which created a bond amongst the fledgling states with a relatively weak federal government. The Constitution would not appear until1789. This is important, because in these first years of organization, states held a stronger sense of their own autonomy and jurisdiction than they would later.
With the coming and eventual ending of the Revolution and the political thoughts thereof, changes occurred with respect to the state-funded churches. New York and North Carolina abolished the state establishment of their churches in 1777 and 1776 respectively. Six states continued to fund churches with taxpayer funds within the ACPU era and beyond; these break down into two groups—those who continued to fund a single denomination, and those who enabled taxpayers to direct funds to any Protestant Church:
State
Denomination
Disestablished
Massachusetts
Congregationalist
1833
Connecticut
Congregationalist
1818
New Hampshire
Congregationalist
1819
South Carolina
Christian Protestant religion
1790
Georgia
Protestant
1798
Maryland
Christian religion
1810
Six Established State Churches under ACPU
Virginia suspended its support of the Anglican Church early in the Revolutionary War, but legislators fought in the 1780’s whether there should be a tax supporting all Christian churches. Jefferson and Madison succeeded in passing a religious liberty law in 1786 that official separated Church and State.
The reason why all of this matters to us in talking about the 1789 Communion Office is twofold: first, it provides a clearer sense of the general religious character of the new states; second, it sheds light on a dynamic that was to impact the prayer book—bishops.
Bishops were a divisive issue in early America (which came as a surprise to me!), and the strongest opponents of bishops were not even Churchmen. The reason for this opposition makes a lot more sense if we consider the British context; in England, bishops automatically became members of the House of Lords—the upper chamber of legislative assembly. Following that model, would Protestant Episcopal bishops automatically become members of the state senate for any states that had an established church? This is why William White’s writings from 1782 initially suggested that bishops might not be needed in a post-Revolutionary Anglican church.
Despite these external discussions, the Churchmen in America began to assemble themselves in 1784. Some clergy from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania assembled in May, 1784 and called for a larger convention in October of that year. This convention convened in New York City, passed some basic organizational principles and called for an even larger convention the next year to be held in Philadelphia. A key article of those organizational principles was article 4:
4. That the said church shall maintain the doctrines of the Gospel, as now held by the Church of England; and shall adhere to the liturgy of the said church, as far as shall be consistent with the American revolution, and the constitutions of the respective states .
Journals of the General Conventions, ii
Thus, the official liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church remained the 1662 Book of Common Prayer with as-yet unspecified alterations to make it amenable to the American context.
The called Convention would assemble in Philadelphia in September-October, 1785 and take up the major questions of the church, chief among them, the necessary alterations that would result in the Proposed Prayer Book of 1786 to which we shall turn in the next post.
Let’s do a recap of how the first two English prayer books came about, because they set up the two fundamental structural choices offered to Anglicans regarding the shape of the Communion Office.
Henry VIII came to the throne of a Catholic England in 1509; the most common liturgy of the day was the Latin-language Sarum Rite although other Latin uses were also used around the kingdom.
The rise of the New Learning in Europe had many people in many countries questioning many things including the nature of the Church and State.
Martin Luther started an enduring Protestant movement on the Continent with the posting of his 95 Theses in 1517; Jean Calvin broke with the Roman Church around 1530, bringing his ideas to the Continental reformation.
Henry was against both of these and wrote against Luther’s views on the sacraments, receiving the title “Defender of the Faith” from the Pope, still a title held by English monarchs.
In 1532, Henry VII made a structural break with the Roman Church, but was very conservative liturgically and theologically. In the 1540’s he declared the official liturgical books of the Church of England to be the Latin Sarum Missal and Breviary along with a bilingual Latin/English Primer.
Yes, the first official liturgies of the Church of England were in Latin…
On the death of Henry, his son Edward the 6th came to the throne under the influence of very protestant regents.
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer led a committee of bishops, both traditional and protestant in the production the first English liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer, in 1549. The basis of this book was liturgical work that Cranmer had done under Henry VIII and followed Henry’s traditional beliefs. As a result, this first Communion Office with in the 1549 BCP was a very traditional one, closely following the Sarum Rite but with a number of Lutheran leaning changes.
Due to criticism from Martin Bucer, Peter the Martyr, other Calvinist reformers and English protestants who didn’t feel that the first prayer book had gone far enough, Cranmer and a different group of English bishops produced a second effort three years later incorporating a variety of Calvinist revisions to the Communion Office and other portions of the prayer book.
The differences between these two initial books set up the two options that Anglicans would build from in the succeeding centuries:
Comparing the Contents
In order to get the clearest possible sense of what these two options contained with reference to the Communion Office and how they compared with what came before, here’s a line-up of the major liturgical elements of the Communion Office of the Latin Sarum Rite, the 1549 BCP and the 1552 BCP:
The color-coding here identifies the placement of elements in the traditional pattern in blue and protestant placements in yellow.
The wild thing here is that Cranmer did not substantially change the words of the service. While he did add a number of things, the text remained mostly the same. But he moved key elements around that had important theological ramifications.
The single biggest change in the experience of the 1552 Communion Office is that the reception of the elements come immediately after the Institution Narrative. So, after a vestigial Invocation (that I can’t call a true Invocation of the Holy Spirit on the gifts) and the Words of Institution, the bread (having been broken within the Words of Institution) and wine are then distributed to the people. The Oblation and rest of the Canon could be said after the reception or else the Post-Communion Prayer could be said.
The Lord’s Prayer was moved after the reception of the elements, not before, lest anyone think that the “daily bread” being requested was the Eucharist. The Prayer of Humble Access was moved to the very beginning and prayed by the priest alone so that it would be said before the reception of the elements but separated from it.
Finally, the Gloria in excelsis was moved to the very end of the service. I don’t recall reading any good reasons why this was done, but I have my own theories. One of Calvin’s challenges with the traditional Communion Office was his concern about the actual location of the Body of Christ. Christ had ascended, and was therefore in heaven. Thus, he interpreted the phrase “Lift up your hearts” to mean, spiritually ascend into heaven where Christ is.
Now, in the theological logic of the traditional rite, the congregation’s entire worship is conducted within the presence of the whole heavenly host—and a primary signal for that is opening with one of the classic songs of the angels: the Gloria in excelsis. The other angelic hymn is the Sanctus which takes place in the Communion Office after the opening dialogue to “Lift up your hearts,” and after the invocation to join with all the hosts of heaven. My read is that the Gloria in excelsis was moved to the end of the rite in service of Calvin’s notion that the congregation is not in a heavenly place until that spiritual ascent that begins with the Communion Office’s opening dialogue.
Making the Choice
Mary I suppressed the1552 Book of Common Prayer when she returned England back to the Roman fold. When her sister Elizabeth made the Church of England separate again, the rite of the 1552 book was mostly restored. A few pieces of verbiage from the 1549 book were put back in, but structurally, it followed 1552.
Even after the English Civil Wars and their suppression of the Book of Common Prayer in favor of the much more Calvinist Directory for the Public Worship of God, the Restoration of the monarchy brought back in the prayer book that would become the official liturgy of the British Empire as it spread across the world, the 1662 BCP. By looking at its contents in comparison to the first two books, it’s clear to see what happened:
The structure of the 1552 Communion Office proved decisive and this Calvinist arrangement is what the Colonists would have used from the first English foundations in America through the American Revolution.
Having discussed the two discontinuities that a present Episcopal worshipper would experience encountering the 1789 Communion Office, it’s time to point out the continuity–and it’s a pretty obvious one. As a commenter here noted when I posted the texts, it’s amazing how close the common content is between these two prayer books separated by almost 200 years.
The text of Rite I is substantially the same as the contents of the 1789 rite. Yes, there are some minor differences in phrasing or wording, but for the most part I could rely on my memory of Rite I to supply the texts I needed to say.
There’s not a whole lot left to say on this point.
Except, maybe, that an investigation like this reveals how different the Rite II material is from Rite I and the prayers we had been using for some 500 years. I’m all in favor of liturgical scholarship and liturgical advance, but I do feel like we lost something of our Anglican heritage in relegating our primary means of continuity to Rite I and not having even one prayer in Rite II partaking of a modernized and updated form of the classical Anglican rite.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—if we want a focus on baptismal ecclesiology you can’t get more of it than the language of us abiding in Christ and him in us which has been stripped from our current rites along with the notion of self-oblation.
Now we’ll turn to the past for a bit and look at the sources of the 1789 Communion Office. The title of the presentation these posts are based on was “The 1789 Communion Office: A Surprising Liturgy Now and Then.” We’ve covered the “Now” part; now we’ll turn to why an early American congregation would have found this so surprising.
The second discontinuity experienced in the 1789 Communion Office for a worshipper familiar with the current prayer book is twofold; first, there a quite a number of elements placed in a different order from the present, and second, there are a few insertions we don’t have within our current rites. It’s easiest to present these changes in a chart:
By orienting the main liturgical elements by means of some common standard pieces, you can see where the dislocations occur. As you can see, both the 1928 and the 1979 American BCPs shift the service elements as both received input from successive waves of liturgical studies and theological shifts within the Anglican Communion and the Ecumenical Movement. I often remark that a lot of modern Episcopalians consider the 1928 BCP to be a very traditional book based on its use by traditionalists inside and outside of the Episcopal Church. However, it changed things in a number of ways and was fairly radical within the family of American BCPs. There is no doubt, however, that the 1979 BCP did bring some major changes driven by the Liturgical Renewal Movement and its ecumenical insistence on a return to 4th century ideals.
Here’s a version of the above chart that clearly marks the changes and when they appeared:
The first moving block shifts the Prayers of the People, the Exhortation, and the Confession & Absolution after the Offertory, functionally shifting it outside of the Communion Office proper. This movement elevates these prayers to be their own section, and, through juxtaposition, makes them a response to the readings and sermon within the Service of the Word
The second moving block–accomplished in the 1928 BCP–was the collecting of both the Lord’s Prayer and the Prayer of Humble Access after the Consecratory Canon and immediately before the Reception of the elements. This is an important theological change which I am going to put off describing because it will make much more sense when we get to our discussion of the sources of the 1789 BCP–so put a pin in that for the moment.
The third moving block is the yeeting of the Gloria in excelsis back to the beginning of the service. This current placement conforms to the classical place of the Gloria and, I suggest, undoes a key Calvinist theologically motivated structural move. Again, more on this in a later post.
There are a few new items that do not make this chart, focused as it is on the Communion Service Proper. The initial Lord’s Prayer will be a surprise to everyone, but the Ten Commandments will only surprise Rite II congregants as Rite I retains the option to use this in our present book. This is then followed by Christ’s Summary of the Law which is the Rite I either/or with the Decalogue. The concluding prayer to follow both the laws and commandments does not appear in our prayer book in either rite.
Within the Communion Office itself the main new item will be the Exhortation to Communion. There are three different Exhortations in the 1789 BCP: the first to be read the week before the Eucharist will be celebrated and warning the congregants who wish to receive to prepare themselves, the second to be used if the congregation is negligent in receiving the Eucharist, and the third–the one included in my post containing the text of the office–for use in the service where the Eucharist is being celebrated. For reference, large parishes would usually celebrate the Eucharist on the first Sunday of each Month and on Festivals (Christmas & Easter), smaller and country parishes would usually celebrate in quarterly, but there were regional variations that impacted this as well. Laity were expected to receive a minimum of 3 times a year. The 1928 BCP retained these three Exhortations, but moved them after the service as an optional item.
For most modern worshippers experiencing the 1789 service, the Exhortation will be a new experience. However it may not be or need not be… Our current book has an Exhortation on page 316-7 that can serve as a lead-in to Confession & Absolution with either the Penitential Office at the start of a service or in its traditional place between the Prayers of the People and the Confession & Absolution. (I will say, that I’ve never experienced it in all of my years of church-going though.)
So–that’s the second discontinuity between the 1789 Communion Office and the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, a reordering of elements and the inclusion of unfamiliar liturgical elements (even those that are retained though rarely used in the present book).
From the perspective of a present-day Episcopal worshipper, the experience of the 1789 Communion Office presents two discontinuities with modern practice, and one key continuity.
Today we’ll take a look at the first discontinuity: the Feel. I break this down into three main headings, the different visual setting, the different ceremonial action, and the different participants. Clearly, this is the discontinuity that it is hardest to express through the media of writing and reading. In the talk, we’d just experienced the liturgy together; reading this, you’ll have to try to imagine it… (We did try to record it, but apparently the recording stopped halfway through.)
All three of these headings (visual, ceremonial, and participants) need to be discussed together because they all relate to two particular points of rupture that we’re on the far side of now: The Cambridge/Camden Movement and Vatican II.
If you’re a church nerd, you probably know about the Oxford Movement which was a theological renewal movement in the Church of England that began in the mid 1800’s; only the nerdiest of the church nerds are familiar with the Cambridge/Camden movement which took and ran with the theological points of the Oxford Movement and turned them into sound, stone, and movement. If you think a church should look like a Gothic Revival building with stone and stained glass and all, these are the people who made the Gothic Revival happen!
The other thing they did was to look into the English Church’s past for the music and vestments and ritual that had been thrown out at the Reformation and also looked ecumenically towards what was going on in the Roman Catholic Church. What we see, hear, and expect in a modern Episcopal Church was largely shaped by these folks. A proper Hanoverian-period church looked a lot more like this:
This satirical print by William Hogarth entitled “The Sleeping Congregation” was originally published in 1736, but was enhanced and reprinted in 1762 with the helpful additions of a couple of warts to the preacher and more cracks in the walls. Hogarth communicates a number of things visually that connect to the Feel of the service I’m trying to get across.
First, notice what is and isn’t shown. The right half of the image is dominated by the giant double-decker pulpit. Where’s the altar? No idea–it’s not visible here. The sleeping congregation in the box pews fills the left; there’s no organ, no choir, no suggestion of music at all.
Second, the sleeping congregation and the two non-sleeping ministers says something else about the experience–there’s not a lot of congregational participation and a lot of talking by the ministers. One of the things I noticed when Fr. Eric and I did our first run-through and again at the liturgy itself is how little he sat; he was constantly standing or kneeling because he was the one doing the vast majority of the talking. Many of the items now said corporately were said by the priest alone like the initial Lord’s Prayer (which our congregation joined in on out of habit!) and even the Prayer of Humble Access which the priest prays aloud on behalf of all.
Then there’s the role of the clerk whose principle reason for being is to respond to the priest. In fact, that’s the reason why the clerk exists. The role of liturgical clerk came to prominence at the Reformation to overcome two major problems: lack of literacy and a dearth of prayer books. In 16th century England in a small country parish, it could not be taken for granted that the congregation who gathered had prayer books or could even read them if they had them. Thus, the clerk was the one layman who the clergy could be certain would be present, possessed a prayer book, and was literate. The clerk would read the congregational parts with the idea that the congregation would learn their lines through repetition and could eventually join in with what the clerk was saying.
The clerk was also responsible for leading the singing, knowing the tunes, and which tunes went with which metrical psalms and hymns as there was no printed music in the early hymnals. In fact, I suspect that this 1790 printing may have been used by the clerk at Trinity Church, New York, because the hymnal in the back is notated by meter and tunes; this page identifies the Psalm 51 paraphrase as being in Long Meter (LM) and customarily sung to Southwell (used in #641 of the ’82 Hymnal), the paraphrase of Psalm 52 is Common Meter (CM) and sung to St. David. And, yes, that’s why there’s an index of tune names on pages 949-53 in the back of the ’82 Hymnal even today. (Indeed, some hymnals even contain a metrical index that lists tune names by their meter so you can see which tunes match with which meter as did the green Lutheran Book of Worship with which I grew up.) Thus, the clerk can not only serve in the role of the congregation, but organ and choir as well!
You may have an experience of this if you have attended Choral Mattins or Choral Evensong. The choir takes the place of the clerk which is why all of the responses are sung by the choir, not the congregation. Indeed, a full Choral Evensong can be performed without a congregation present at all–and that’s not a bug, it’s a feature! This is why cathedrals and other large churches in England had paid choirs: so the full required round of Mattins and Evensong could take place regardless of whether a lay congregation was present or not. It’s a hold-over from the originally monastic concept that the community as a whole would provide for the proper worshipping of God to function even if the individual members of the congregation could not be physically present–a communal notion of community worship rather than an individualized one.
However–back to Hogarth and his print–it could also lead to what he pictures here… If you look carefully you can see that the priest’s prayer book is open to the (misquoted) Comfortable Words: “Come unto me, all ye that Labour and are Heavy Laden, and I will give you Rest. St. Matt. xi.28.” (Hogarth gives the KJV while the prayer book uses a modified “I will refresh you” found in none of the English Bibles of the time.) Indeed, a congregation was not required to say, sing, or do anything, merely to be present. (Remember, analogously, the old Roman obligation was to “hear” Mass not to participate or receive!) The hero of the Sarum Revival, Walter Frere, was still complaining about this tendency in his 1905 Principles of Religious Ceremonial where he encourages participation saying, “Liturgical worship must be co-operative and corporate… A good deal is needed to get rid of the false idea of the duet of parson and clerk, or parson and choir, or even parson and congregation.”
Third, notice the visual vocabulary of the space. The ministers would normally wear a surplice over their cassocks of Eucharist was being celebrated; apparently it was not on this occasion. Without that garment, the preaching tabs are the only signal that this was not a courtroom or some other governmental affair as the bewigged parson could easily be a judge or magistrate. The art on the walls is equally secular with a coat of arms in the lozenge shape in the balcony and a very large, mostly obscured, Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom on the church wall, supported by the cherub. The stained glass window as well holds the (political) Cross of St. George. The only apparently religious image is the rather ambiguous glowing triangle that may or may not represent the Trinity. (Hogarth himself was a Deist and a Freemason, and it could easily be a Masonic symbol as much as a religious one!) This is a visual comment on the theological principle of Erastianism, the idea of secular supremacy over the church which would become a major concern of the early Oxford Movement.
Finally, Hogarth is definitely taking a jab at the morals and complacency of both clergy and congregation. The clerk is quite obviously eyeing the rather exposed bosom of the young lady by him. She does have a prayer book, but you’ll see it is open to the marriage service, indicating that her mind was certainly elsewhere than on the present service. While biblical verses inscribed on pulpits are quite common, the verse on this one is not one of the usual: “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Galatians 4:11.” Much of Hogarth’s art was satirical moralizing, often portraying biting commentary on the state of English society particularly around rampant drinking and sexual immorality (and Methodism). The implication here is that the spiritual and ethical formation taking place is…lacking.
Between the Cambridge/Camden Movement and the ecumenical Liturgical Renewal Movement that culminated in Vatican II and a whole spate of new Protestant liturgies in the ’60’s and ’70’s–like our current prayer book–even Broad Church Episcopalians are quite sanguine about things like altar candles, chasubles, signs of the cross, and other liturgical gestures that were seen as rampant Romanism in earlier ages. Even practices we take for granted like standing communion stations are borrowed from Roman Catholic practice due to the ecumenical rapprochement of our present age.
So–this is the first main discontinuity, the very stripped-down Protestant aesthetic and clergy-heavy content creating the Feel of the experience.
In order to talk about the 1789 Communion Office, we’ve got to get familiar with it. I’ll offer a set of introductory comments here, then put in the full text afterward. If you’d like to use this office or have a copy for reference in another medium, I’ll include two different versions in Microsoft Word:
Standard caveats apply: For the base text I used the Chad Wohler’s HTML edition that I checked against the First Standard edition printed in 1793. The hymn included is from the unattributed hymnal (but of course it’s Tate & Brady) bound into the Hall & Sellers first printed edition from 1790 (pp. 208-9 in the very back). I added some items in brackets, particularly in terms of people and action; you’ll see that we went with a North-side celebration following the plain sense of the text. I also added two lines where the clerk introduces the Gloria in excelsis and the hymn using the standard form of introduction recommended in The Parish-clerk’s Guide from 1709. I can’t guarantee that it is 100% error-free, but I certainly did my best!
One note on this… I was concerned that there was an error in the form of the Confession because it was lacking the phrases “there is no health in us” and “miserable offenders.” This led into a rabbit-hole deep-dive where I discovered that there are two different textual traditions of the Confession–one for the Communion Office and a different one for Morning & Evening Prayer. In short, the original form without the two phrases appears in the Communion Office of the 1549 BCP; 1552 book added those two phrases when the Confession was appended to the start of the Daily Office, but never added it into the Communion Office. As far as I can tell, the first time these phrases got into the Communion Office itself was the American 1892 BCP!
Furthermore, as I warned the congregation ahead of the liturgy itself and as I re-iterated at the beginning of my talk, my great specialties in the history of the prayer book are the times before and after this edition! As a catholic-minded Anglican, I consider this book and its predecessors as part of our “protestant phase” where the Anglican Churches openly embraced a more Calvinist perspective on liturgy and ceremonial–and I have not put in nearly the time and effort on understand and reconstructing that ceremonial as much as I have the catholic versions. Thus, I can’t claim that our ceremonial reconstruction was error-free, but it was based on solid research. (As always, the more you learn, the more you realize just how much you don’t know!!)
Ceremonial Choices
As our ceremonial North Star, we leaned into its protestant character wherever possible. Thus, as indicated above, we went with a North-side celebration as described in the initial rubrics where the priest stands at the north, short end, of the altar with his right side to the people where they can see, side on, what he is doing with the bread and wine in the consecration.
When I say “we,” I’m referring to our two ministers, the priest and the clerk. The priest was the wonderful Rev. Eric Bailey; the role of the clerk was taken by me. No acolytes, of course! With no candles, acolytes didn’t start showing up in Episcopal churches until after the middle of the 19th century. Rather, the clerk was an essential minister. A lay position, the clerk had two main roles: to say the parts that the people were supposed to say and to start (or do) the singing of the psalms and hymns. More on the clerk to come…
17th cent. Pulpit from Frenze, Norfolk; photo by Simon Knott
In terms of the space, we had no altar candles, no frontals, and only a fair linen on the altar. Lacking a classic double-decker pulpit, we used two chair & prie dieu combos on each side of the chancel, facing one another choir-style. (Had we had a double-decker pulpit, the priest would have occupied the top position with the clerk below.) The priest officiated from the chancel until we reached the Communion proper whence he ascended into the sanctuary.
Because we did a North-side celebration, we realized that using a South-side credence table didn’t make much sense so we moved a small table to the North end of the sanctuary for the vessels before the priest moved them to the altar. No water was needed as neither a lavabo nor mingling of water with the wine were done. Our only intentional anachronism was using wafer bread instead of a loaf of fine wheat bread.
We also distributed communion by tables, filling the altar rail, distributing the elements silently, then the priest dismissing the whole group with the words of administration. (Well, sort of… We hadn’t walked through this and so while the priest had the Bread words to hand, I didn’t have the Cup words so we left these out. Had we thought through this better, he would have said both sentences.)
Manual gestures were stripped to the bare minimum. No bowing during the Sanctus, Gloria, or Creed. No signs of the cross at any point. We did bow to the altar when we entered and left, the priest performed the manual actions as described in the consecration (and we did have to practice breaking the bread during the words of Consecration a couple of times!). The only manual action retained was the bowing of the head at the name of Jesus. While I usually only see this now in High Church or Anglo-Catholic establishments, it is famously the only physical action required in canon law, added in 1604. I noted a reference to this practice in The Parish-clerk’s Guide linked above indicated that a century later it was still a recommended practice among the lay ministers of the Church of England.
The 1789 American Communion Office
The ORDER for the
ADMINISTRATION of the LORD’s SUPPER,
or, HOLY COMMUNION.
(Book of Common Prayer, 1789)
¶If among those who come to be partakers of the Holy Communion, the Minister shall know any to be an open and notorious evil liver, or to have done any wrong to his neighbours by word or deed, so that the Congregation be hereby offended; he shall advertise him, that he presume not to come to the Lord’s Table, until he have openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former evil life, that the Congregation may thereby be satisfied; and that he hath recompensed the parties to whom he hath done wrong; or at least declare himself to be in full purpose so to do, as soon as he conveniently may.
¶The same order shall the Minister use with those, betwixt whom be perceiveth malice and hatred to reign; not suffering them to be partakers of the Lord’s Table, until he know them to be reconciled. And if one of the parties, so at variance, be content to forgive from the bottom of his heart all that the other hath trespassed against him, and to make amends for that wherein he himself hath offended; and the other party will not be persuaded to a godly unity, but remain still in his forwardness and malice; the Minister in that case ought to admit the penitent person to the Holy Communion, and not him that is obstinate. Provided, that every Minister so repelling any, as is herein specified, shall be obliged to give an account of the same to the Ordinary, as soon as conveniently may be.
¶The Table, at the Communion-time having a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the Chancel. And the Minister, standing at the north side of the Table, or where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said, shall say the Lord’s Prayer and the Collect following, the People kneeling; but the Lord’s Prayer may be omitted, if Morning Prayer hath been said immediately before.
[Minister alone]
OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. [All] Amen.
The Collect.
ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts are 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. [All] Amen.
¶Then shall the Minister, turning to the People, rehearse distinctly the TEN COMMANDMENTS, and the People, still kneeling, shall, after every Commandment, ask God mercy for their transgressions for the time past, and grace to keep the law for the time to come as followeth.
Minister.
GOD spake these words and said; I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing 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 of 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.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. 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.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. 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 hallowed it.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt do no murder.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not steal.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. 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.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee.
¶ Then the Minister may say,
Hear also what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.
THOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Let us pray.
Almighty Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to direct, sanctify, and govern, both our hearts and bodies, in the ways of thy laws, and in the works of thy commandments that through thy most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
[All] Amen.
¶ Then shall be said the Collect of the Day.
[Collect of the Day goes here]
[All] Amen.
[The People shall sit]
¶And immediately after the Collect the Minister shall read the Epistle,
The Epistle is written in the ___ Chapter of _____ beginning at the _____nth Verse.
[Epistle of the Day goes here]
¶And the Epistle ended, he shall say,
Here endeth the Epistle.
¶Then shall he read the Gospel (the People all standing up) saying,
The Holy Gospel is written in the ____th Chapter of The Gospel according to St. ____, beginning at the ____Verse.
[Gospel of the Day goes here]
¶ Here the People shall say,
Glory be to thee, O Lord.
¶ Then [all still standing] shall be read [by all] the Apostles’, or Nicene Creed; unless one of them hath been read immediately before in the Morning Service.
I BELIEVE in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God; Begotten, not made; Being of one substance with the Father; By Whom all things were made: Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man: And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried: And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures: And ascended into Heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of Life Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins: And I look for the Resurrection of the dead: And the Life of the world to come. Amen.
[The People shall sit]
¶ Then the Minister shall declare into the People what Holy-days, or Fastingdays, are in the week following to be observed and (if occasion be) shall Notice be given of the Communion, and of the Banns of Matrimony, and other matters to be published.
¶ Then shall follow the sermon.
[Sermon goes here]
¶After which the Minister, when there is a Communion, shall return to the Lord’s Table, and begin the Offertory, saying one or more of these Sentences following, as he thinketh most convenient.
LET your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. St. Matt. v. 16.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth; where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; where neither moth nor rust corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. St. Matt. vi. 19, 20.
Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, even so do to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets. St. Matt. vii. 12.
Not every one 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. St. Matt. vii. 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 fourfold. St. Luke xix. 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. ix. 7.
If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your worldly things? 1 Cor. ix. 11.
Do ye not know, that they who minister about holy things live of the sacrifice; and they who wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord also ordained, that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14.
He that soweth little shall reap little; and he that soweth plenteously shall reap plenteously. Let every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. 2 Cor. ix. 6, 7.
Let him that is taught in the Word minister unto him that teacheth, in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap. Gal. vi. 6, 7
While we have time, let us do good unto all men; and especially unto them that are of the household of faith. Gal. vi. 10.
Godliness is great riches, if a man be content with that he hath: for we brought nothing into this world, neither may we carry any thing out. 1 Tim. vi. 6, 7.
Charge them who are rich in this world, that they be ready to give, and glad to distribute; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may attain eternal life. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18, 19.
God is not unrighteous, that he will forget your works and labour that proceedeth of love which love ye have showed for his Name’s sake, who have ministered unto the saints, and yet do minister. Heb. vi 10.
To do good and to distribute forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Heb. xiii. 16.
Whoso hath this world’s good and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 1 St. John iii. 17.
Give alms of thy goods, and never turn thy face from any poor man; and then the face of the Lord not be turned away from thee. Tobit iv. 7.
Be merciful after thy power. If thou hast much, give plenteously; if thou hast little, do thy diligence gladly to give of that little: for so gatherest thou thyself a good reward in the day of necessity. Tobit iv. 8,9.
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and look, what he layeth out, it shall be paid him again. Prov. xix. 17.
Blessed be the man that provideth for the sick and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble. Psalm xli. 1.
¶ Whilst these Sentences are in reading, the Deacons, Church-wardens, or other fit persons appointed for that purpose shall receive the Alms for the Poor, and other Devotions of the People, in a decent Basin to be provided by the Parish for that purpose, and reverently bring it to the Priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon the Holy Table.
¶ And the Priest shall then place upon the Table so much Bread and Wine as he shall think sufficient. After which done, he shall say,
Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant.
[All shall kneel]
ALMIGHTY and everliving 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 those who 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, so to direct and dispose the hearts of all Christian Rulers, that they may truly and impartially administer 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 other Ministers, 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 serving 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 succour all those 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.
[All] Amen.
[The People shall sit]
¶ At the time of the Celebration of the Communion, the Priest shall say the Exhortation.
DEARLY beloved in the Lord, ye who 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; so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent ye 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 those 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 always 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 for 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.
[All] Amen.
¶ Then shall the Priest say to those who come to receive the Holy Communion,
YE who do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, 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 your humble confession to Almighty God, devoutly kneeling.
¶ Then shall this general Confession be made, by the Priest and all those who are minded to receive the Holy Communion, humbly kneeling.
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.
¶ Then shall the Priest (the Bishop, if he be present) stand up, and turning to the People, say,
ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who 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.
¶ Then shall the Priest say,
Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all who truly turn to him.
COME unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. St. Matt. xi.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. St. John iii. 16.
Hear also what Saint Paul saith.
This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Tim. i. 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 St. John ii. 1, 2.
¶ After which the Priest shall proceed, saying,
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.
¶ Then shall the Priest turn to the Lord’s Table, and say,
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.
¶ Then shall follow the Proper Preface, according to the time, if there be any specially appointed; or else immediately shall be said or sung by the Priest and People,
THEREFORE with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name evermore praising thee and saying:
[Said or Sung according to Merbecke] Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory: Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High. Amen.
¶ Then shall the Priest, kneeling down at the Lord’s Table, say, in the name of all those who shall receive the Communion, this Prayer following.
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. [All] Amen.
¶ Then the Priest standing before the Table, hath so ordered the Bread and Wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the Bread before the People, and take the cup into his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth.
ALL glory be to Thee Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that Thou, 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 and sacrifice, until His coming again:
For in the night in which He was betrayed,
(a) He took Bread, and when He had given thanks
Here the priest is to take the paten into his hands.
(b) He brake it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take, eat,
And here to break the Bread.
(c) this is my Body, which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise after supper,
And here to lay his hands upon all the bread
(d) He took the Cup; and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for
Here he is to take the cup into his hands
(e) this 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.
And here he is to lay his hands upon every vessel in which there is any wine to be consecrated.
The Oblation
THEREFORE, O Lord and heavenly Father according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we, thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; rendering unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same.
The Invocation
And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us; and, of thy almighty goodness, vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy Word and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine; that we, receiving them 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. And we earnestly 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 living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee, that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in them, and they in him. And although we are 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.
[All] Amen.
¶ Here shall be sung a Hymn, or part of a Hymn, from the Selection for the Feasts and Fasts, &c.
Clerk: Let us sing to the Praise and Glory of God Hymn X to the tune of Rockingham.
HYMN X
For the Holy Communion
MY God, and is thy Table spread,
and does thy Cup with Love o’erflow?
Thither be all thy Children led,
and let them thy sweet Mercies know.
Hail, sacred Feast, which Jesus makes!
rich Banquet of his Flesh and Blood!
Thrice happy he, who here partakes
that sacred Stream, that heav’nly Food!
Why are its Dainties all in vain
before unwilling hearts displayed?
Was not for you the Victim slain?
are you forbid the Children’s Bread?
O let thy Table honour’d be,
and furnish’d well with joyful Guests;
And may each Soul Salvation see,
that here its holy Pledges tastes!
Drawn by thy quick’ning Grace, O Lord!
in countless Numbers let them come,
And gather from their Father’s Board,
the Bread that lives beyond the Tomb!
Nor let thy spreading Gospel rest,
till through the World thy Truth has run,
Till with this Bread all Men be blest,
who see the Light, or feel the Sun!
¶ Then shall the Priest first receive the Communion in both kinds himself and proceed to deliver the same to the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in like manner (if any be present) and, after that, to the People also in order, into their hands all devoutly kneeling. And when he delivereth the Bread he shall say,
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.
¶ And the Minister who delivereth the Cup shall say,
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.
¶ If the consecrated Bread or Wine be spent before all have communicated, the Priest is to consecrate more according to the Form before prescribed; beginning at — All glory be to thee, Almighty God and ending with these words — partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood.
¶ When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord’s Table and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, covering the same with a fair linen cloth.
¶ Then shall the Minister say the Lord’s Prayer, the People repeating after him every Petition.
Minister: OUR Father, who art in heaven,
People: OUR Father, who art in heaven,
Minister: Hallowed be thy Name.
People: Hallowed be thy Name.
Minister: Thy kingdom come.
People: Thy kingdom come.
Minister: Thy will be done on earth
People: Thy will be done on earth
Minister: As it is in heaven.
People: As it is in heaven.
Minister: Give us this day our daily bread.
People: Give us this day our daily bread.
Minister: And forgive us our trespasses,
People: And forgive us our trespasses,
Minister: As we forgive those who trespass against us.
People: As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Minister: And lead us not into temptation;
People: And lead us not into temptation;
Minister: But deliver us from evil:
People: But deliver us from evil:
Minister: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
People: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
[All] Amen.
¶ After shall be said as followeth.
ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost vouchsafe to feed us who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom, by the merits of the most precious death and passion of thy dear Son. And we most humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end.
[All] Amen.
¶ Then shall be said or sung, all standing Gloria in excelsis; or some proper Hymn from the Selection.
Clerk: Let us sing to the Praise and Glory of God the Gloria in excelsis of Merbecke.
GLORY be to God on high, and on 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 art the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in glory of God the Father. Amen.
¶ Then the Priest (the bishop if he be present) shall let them depart with this blessing.
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.
[All] Amen.
¶ And if any of the consecrated Bread and Wine remain after the Communion it shall not be carried out of the Church; but the Minister and other Communicants shall, immediately after the Blessing, reverently eat and drink the same.
A friend was asking me the other day which volume of the 9-volume set would be the best to look into the background of the Baptismal Covenant. He had thought maybe Volume 1—perfectly understandably—as PBS I is about Baptism. But no! It turns out the first inklings of what we know today as the Baptismal Covenant doesn’t actually appear until PBS 26, the revision of the Trial Use PBS 18. (Furthermore, even the explication of PBS 26 in its very large supplement only contains the phrase “Baptismal Covenant” once; it wasn’t as nearly big then as it is now…)
In light of that, I thought it might be helpful to provide my guide to what’s in the various volumes and which ones you might be interested in for various purposes. In what follows, I will be relying quite a bit on the introductions I wrote to the 9 volumes, but I’ll be adding other thoughts and tidbits as well.
The Series as a Whole
The Prayer Book Studies (PBS) series documents the 26-year process of study and conversation that led to the adoption of the American 1979 Book of Common Prayer. It falls broadly into two parts, distinguished by the use of Roman numerals and Arabic numerals. PBS I-XVII were published by the members of the Standing Liturgical Commission between 1950 and 1966 to communicate research and draft liturgies leading towards a revision process; PBS 18-29 were published by the various drafting committees between 1970 and 1976 once the revision process was formally begun and the earlier drafts were being transformed into new usable liturgies leading up to the adoption of the new prayer book in 1979. Finally, PBS 30 and its commentary were an addition in 1989 to discuss inclusive and expansive language for God for further liturgical efforts.
The First Series, Part I (PBS I-XIV)
These fourteen studies that appeared in ten publications (four volumes contain two studies) systematically explore all of the liturgical materials within the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, incorporating scholarly research alongside input from clergy and congregations, concluding each study with a sample liturgy based on the study and reflection of the Commission.
Each of these fourteen studies begin with an identical preface laying out the guiding principles: to objectively and impartially inform the broader church on the principles and issues involved in the revision of each portion, not for the benefit of one theological party but to the education of all.
The overwhelming impression of these documents is of a committee, anchored by Bayard Jones, Morton Stone, and Massey Shepherd, Jr.–the professors of the leading Episcopal seminaries of the day–that accomplished its work in a careful and thorough fashion. A great deal of thought, discussion, and argument has gone into these materials. The results are careful and fairly conservative modifications, assuming a retention of the “traditional” Elizabethan/Jacobean idiom of the English Prayer Book and the King James Bible.
I’ve got a post in process about what I call the “American 1960 BCP”—what the prayer book would have looked like if we had received the prayer book as envisioned by the end of this comprehensive survey of the 1928 book. Spoiler: it would have been a relatively conservative update of the 1928 with some interesting catholic additions and retaining a certain Anglican identity lost in the triumph of the Liturgical Renewal Movement especially post-Vatican II…
The initial study on Christian initiation specifically identifies Baptism and Confirmation as the two rites that have raised the largest numbers of suggestions and criticisms received by the commission. Not only were there complaints about the structure and intent of the baptismal liturgy, but even then the purpose and ecumenical implications of Confirmation were hotly debated.
This study provides the basic template that will be followed in many of the successive works: an historical survey incorporating the latest liturgical thought on the matter, a discussion of the principles of revision based on that historical and liturgical work, and a revised text of the rite for study and reflection–but not use. That last point is important; there was no mechanism for trial use at this time, so the liturgies could only be read and debated rather than fully experienced.
The historical survey here focuses mostly on the baptismal material in the Apostolic Constitutions. The rest is a brief drive-by of the medieval evolution, basically putting the separation of Baptism and Confirmation at the feet of the Scholastics, Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas in particular.
The second study focuses on the Eucharistic lectionary, considering the purposes of the seasons of the Church Year, then proposing a slightly amended version of the 1928 lectionary. At all points, keeping step with the contemporary Roman Catholic lectionary is kept in view. Of interest as well is a final section that advocates for largely retaining the historical text of the King James Bible except for certain words where the sense is no longer the same. In these cases, substitutes from the Revised Version are being considered–but no changed texts are included here.
PBS III
This third study on the Visitation of the Sick recommends a complete shift away from the rites of earlier prayer books and radically revamps the tone, structure, and intent of the rite. This study gives a first glimpse into what “radical” revision might look like, the boundaries of what “radical” might encompass, and the attention to earlier rites and patterns even when proposing something “radical.” It also represents a path not taken, as none of the forms here appear in the revised prayer book.
PBS IV
Weighing in at a whopping 360 pages, this fourth study on the Eucharist contains ten times more words than either PBS I or III. The first part, “The History of the Liturgy” rehearses the history of the Eucharistic rite from the New Testament to the present, incorporating the latest liturgical scholarship on the matter. A great deal of attention is given to the transition from the Latin Sarum Mass to the first Book of Common Prayer, comparing the texts section by section. From that point, each English prayer book is discussed including the Non Jurors and Scottish liturgies that would contribute to the American branch Each American book is then discussed in turn. Finally all Anglican revisions from 1928 to 1952 receive discussion.
The second part, “Proposals for the Revision of the Liturgy,” begins with General Considerations that are then implemented as every portion of the liturgy is discussed in detail, concluding with the proposed rite itself. The resulting rite is very similar–but not identical–to the current Prayer II of the Rite One Eucharist.
If your interest is in the history of the Eucharistic liturgy—especially the relationship between Cranmer’s 1549 and the Sarum Missal—I highly recommend getting ahold of this. This section presents a very thorough look from the earliest recoverable materials through the Anglican books—English, obviously, but also the changes in other bodies of the Anglican Communion up to the early 1950’s.
This first study on the Litany follows the typical pattern with a historical survey, principles of revision, and a revised rite. It’s quite brief. The version of the Great Litany here contains some minor tweaks in terms of phrases and individual words and is substantially that found in the revised prayer book. It also includes a Byzantine-derived “Litany of St. Chrysostom” not included in the revised book.
PBS VI/VII
This second study on the Morning and Evening Prayer betrays by its brevity that it is a very modest revision of the 1928 rites. A few new canticles have been added, but psalms are still offered as alternates in Evening Prayer, and the concluding collects are largely those of former editions. The lectionary is not addressed at all.
The third study on the Penitential Office is a revision of the old Commination, a liturgy of repentance originally derived from the Sarum Ash Wednesday liturgy. While bound with the previous study, it does not pertain to the Daily Office. Here the commission is thinking through the sin and repentance from a mid-century psychological perspective. While little, if any, of this material ultimately appears in the revised prayer book, this study is helpful in illuminating their initial thinking around a modern approach to penitence.
PBS VIII
The other study not pertaining to the Daily Office in this volume, the fourth study contains initial work on the Ordinal: the making of deacons, priests, and bishops. Another conservative revision, it takes great pains to point out that the essential structure and intent of the rite is in no way changed. Thus, the shadow of Roman concerns regarding the efficacy of Anglican orders still lies upon this effort as well as implications for relations with other Anglican churches.
PBS IX
By far the largest study in this volume (although only half the size of PBS IV on the Eucharist), the fifth and final study tackles the Calendar and, in particular, the question of the liturgical celebration of sanctity. While there is the usual survey of historical materials and recent efforts across the Anglican Communion, it is noteworthy that in exploring historical and contemporary sanctoral calendars there is very little theological discussion of sanctity and how the notion of sanctity connects to Anglican theology as a whole. Thus–in my subjective opinion–the seeds for the ongoing controversy around the prayer book’s sanctoral calendar were sown here with the recommendation of such a calendar, but with no clear theology of sanctity to underpin it.
I find myself coming back to this study again and again when thinking about and writing on saints and sanctity in the Anglican Communion/Episcopal Church. If you have an interest in the Sanctoral Calendar, understandings and misunderstandings of it, this one is not to be missed!
The studies contained in this volume, PBS X-XV, hit the first major seam in the series. The first five studies (X-XIV) mostly deal with the pastoral offices, with the exception of PBS XII which takes on the collects of the Church Year, and should be seen within the broader context of PBS I-XIV. These fourteen studies that appeared in ten publications (four volumes contain two studies) systematically explore all of the liturgical materials within the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, incorporating scholarly research alongside input from clergy and congregations, concluding each study with a sample liturgy based on the study and reflection of the Commission.
The final study, PBS XV, is not–properly–a study of any particular liturgy. Rather, it is a plea directly from the Standing Liturgical Commission to the delegates of the 1961 General Convention for the adoption of the category of “trial use” in order that the liturgies produced by the Commission could be experienced by worshipping congregations and be tested in actual practice rather than in theoretical read-throughs.
PBS X/XI
This first study on Marriage is a now-typical gentle revision of the 1928 rite, primarily concerned with altering rubrics and words that have changed meaning. Other changes, like both rings now being blessed before either are given, are relatively minor.
The second study revising the former rite of the Churching of Women makes some major changes. Here the original prayer book logic for the rite–removing the ritual taint of childbirth from a new mother–is rejected and the rite is rethought and restructured as a communal thanksgiving for the birth of a child.Like the studies on the Visitation of the Sick (PBS III) and the Penitential Office (PBS VII), this study demonstrates the way the revisers reinterpreted a rite no longer in step with modern beliefs and attitudes.
PBS XII
Far and away the longest study in this volume, the third study picks up where PBS IX on the sanctoral calendar left off. Taking the list of recommended feasts and fast from there, this study provides the liturgical materials in terms of Epistles, Gospels, and collects for their Eucharistic celebration. The new groupings of saints such as Pastors, Missionaries, Theologians, etc. are first found here, and most saints share collects with a small group of like-minded souls (biographical collects having been explicitly rejected).
Propers for some weekdays of Lent are also given here, appointing Epistles and Gospels for Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There is no sense yet of a dropping of the Pre-Lenten season.
PBS XIII/XIV
The fourth study on Burial is remarkably terse in its initial material. There is only the briefest sketch of historical development, and barely a nod to the principles of revision. The vast majority of the content is simply the revised rites which are lightly amended from their 1928 models.
The fifth study on the Institution of a Rector contains much more historical detail than Burial, as well as principles of revision. There are few revisions from the 1928 rite, with the exception of one alteration that already points a to a key shift in Episcopal public worship: whereas the institution in the 1928 rite could occur in the context of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, or Eucharist, this revised rite requires the celebration of the Eucharist by the newly instituted rector.
PBS XV
The fifth and final “study” in this volume is not a true liturgical study, but rather a plea to the delegates of the 1961 General Convention. It is a study in that it rehearses the history and failures of American prayer book revision based on the lapses of parliamentary procedure; it notes that the 1928 book was passed over a period of fifteen years and five successive conventions before all parts were ratified twice by both houses and that only because the 1925 convention halted all new business until the prayer book matters were completed! Indeed, a resolution to initiate a formal process of prayer book revision was passed by the House of Deputies in 1958, but never taken up by the House of Bishops. Rather than making the same mistake or worse, this study calls for new solutions to old problems, chiefly the designation of “trial use.”
These studies bring to an end the First Series–those studies designated with Roman numerals. They sit in an interesting place between what has come before and what will come after. These studies revisit ground already trod in the first series. Returning to them now is significant because two major shifts have occurred since the original studies were written.
First, the plea of PBS XV succeeded: the change to Article X of the Canons allowing “trial use” passed overwhelmingly by voice vote in the 1961 General Convention (before the publication of PBS XVI) and a second time in the 1964 General Convention (before the publication of PBS XVII). Thus, both of these are written looking forward to or actually receiving the benefits of trial use in actual worshipping congregations.
Second, these studies appeared in the context of the greatest ecclesiastical shift of the 20th century, the Roman Catholic reforms of Vatican II that took place between 1962 and 1965. For the first time in a millennium and a half, the Roman Catholic Mass was revised along 4th century lines and made available in vernacular languages; for the first time, Roman Catholic and Episcopal laity could compare the liturgies of their co-religionists and discover their similarities.
However, with these publications, the Episcopal Church had not yet turned the corner to full revision; that would not come until the 1967 General Convention. Thus, these two studies are the last words of academically inclined theoretical study. From the publication of PBS I-XV–that is, from 1950 to 1961–the membership of the Standing Liturgical Commission consisted of 20 people, 4 of whom remained in key roles the entire time. The time from 1961 to 1966 added 7 new people to that number. In other words, the First Series was governed by disciplined academic and ecclesiastical control that emphasized a cautious and reverent approach to the materials. What will come next will be a radical expansion of voices and authors at the same time that tight deadlines and turnarounds will be demanded from those crafting the new liturgies.
PBS XVI
This first study on the Calendar draws together the calendrical contents of PBS IX and XII into a usable form. The initial portion describes changes that have occurred within other Anglican Calendars as well as sanctoral changes wrought at Vatican II and their impact on the developing Episcopal Calendar. The proposed material presents the 12-month Calendar of observances, then the Collects, Epistles,and Gospels for the Fasts starting with the Ember Days of Advent and all Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, the Rogation Days and the Summer and Fall Ember days. After the Fasts come the Lesser Feasts, starting with Channing More Williams on December 2nd through the Church Year until Clement on November 23rd. From there it takes on the Common of Saints, followed by the Propers for Special Occasions.
This proposed material would be accepted for trial use at the 1963 General Convention and would be published in 1964 as the first Lesser Feasts & Fasts.
This also brings us to our new shape of the Church Year with a dropping of the Pre-Lent section, but without the Triduum liturgies.
PBS XVII
Where there was not much change in the sanctoral material from the previous Studies, quite a bit was needed for this second study on the Eucharist. Indeed, this volume is explicitly framed as a report on PBS IV. Over 150 responses from groups large and small had been received by the time the drafting of this new study began in 1960–six years before its eventual publication. By that point it had become clear that a mere revision of the rite of PBS IV would not be acceptable, and that work would need to begin again from the ground up. In addition to offering critiques of PBS IV, the study also discusses changes due to Vatican II and includes a selection of consecration prayers from worldwide liturgical efforts through the 1950’s and 60’s.
Further changes in later studies would demonstrate that this proposed prayer, too, would be found lacking in several important respects.
Conclusion
I hope this has been helpful; if so, I’ll do a similar post on the Second Series (PBS 18-30)!
At long last, the full Prayer Book Studies series is finished and available!!
This has been a very long time in coming.
For those unfamiliar with this material, here’s the blurb I wrote to describe them:
The creation of the landmark 1979 American Book of Common Prayer was the fruit of nearly four decades of discussion within the Episcopal Church. Prayer Book Studies is a series of official reports by the Church’s Standing Liturgical Commission that were published irregularly over the course of that period, representing the work of the committees deliberating over and drafting the materials that would eventually become the 1979 revision. These reports provide an extraordinary window into the work of leading liturgical scholars during an age characterized by huge transformation in the fields of liturgy. Long out of print and unavailable, these reports, collected in nine volumes, are an invaluable resource for liturgical scholars and clergy.
I originally conceived of this project in early 2018. After some initial discussions and wrangling, an editor I knew at Church Publishing and I hashed out a plan for me to digitize the 29+ soft-cover/pamphlets that constitute the publications leading up to the publication of the Draft Proposed Book of Common Prayer in 1976 before its final ratification as the new American 1979 Book of Common Prayer. She insisted I add in the two later volumes from the late ’80’s I had not been aware of, and so we did.
The fundamental concept was a “diplomatic” edition of the primary source documents. In this context, “diplomatic” means an edition that replicates the format and contents of the original as closely as possible in its new form. Thus typos in the original, changes in formatting between volumes, and such would all be preserved. The idea is that whomever is looking at the new edition will essentially receive the same visual information from the page as an original viewer. This meant after scanning in all of the volumes, doing the OCR work to convert images to text, proofreading it all, and applying html code to structure the result, I also added styling markup to reflect the original as closely as possible.
We put out the First Series, volumes I-XVII, that contained the background academic work before Prayer Book Revision was formally engaged by General Convention as an e-book in January 2020. I’d hoped to get the Second Series, volumes 18-30, finished fairly soon after, but then COVID hit. That completely stalled my progress for a whole variety of reasons including four different job changes in just a few years.
Once things stablized, I got back to it—albeit slowly—and finally got everything finished last year. I reached out to the editors I’d worked with before with the finished draft: no response. Turns out they’d both moved on.
After a bit of emailing around, I was hooked up with some new editors. I had to explain the whole project again–what it is, what I had done, why it was important, etc. I received a heart-stopping reponse that began, “Well, we’ve looked things over… And we’ve decided to go in a different direction…” To my shock, they’d decided not just to do an e-book but also softback and hardback editions!
As great as this was, it did cause a few issues, mostly relating to the original goal of a diplomatic edition. All of the formatting was standardized which caused issues around headings and levels of headings across the 40-year spread of the series; the restoration of footnotes also changed things as I had marked editorial notes differently based on the original formatting of each volume. This didn’t get fully worked out, so you’ll notice a shift in how these appear as you go through the volumes!
All in all, we ended up dividing the full series into 9 separate volumes, with new (and brief) introductions for each. When they initally told me the projected pricing I flipped out; the paperback and digital prices were the same. The whole point of this project was to get these works back into the hands of anyone who wanted them! So, I pushed back and we were able to get the digital price dropped.
Now, at long last, I’m happy to present the new complete edition of the Prayer Book Studies! They’re all listed separately on Amazon, so here’s a link to the first one.
(I’ve also advocated for topical collections that would gather the Eucharist stuff in one volume; the Initiation stuff, the Daily Office stuff, etc.; let me know if that would be something you’d like to see so I can report back interest in that option too!)
Well, I have to start by apologizing for the state of the breviary recently… Since I moved it here to the WordPress platform, I’ve been relying on periodic updates to the date table to tell it what day it is rather than calculating it programmatically from the date of Easter as on the old site. What that means is, when I get bogged down and behind, sometimes that table doesn’t get updated and as a result there are no readings, collects, etc…
So—that’s why the start of Advent has been a little rough. Not bugs–it’s me. But at least I do have a reason.
As some of you know, one of my passion projects for quite a while has been a digital edition of the Prayer Book Studies series. These are the thick blue pamphlets where the Standing Liturgical Commission began presenting their research and ideas for what would eventually become the 1979 American Book of Common Prayer. If you truly want to understand this prayer book, what scholarship and sources went into creating it, the logic behind it, the paths not taken—all of these things can be found in these little blue books.
If you can find the little blue books…
And that’s the challenge. If you’re persistent and lucky in trawling the secondhand book sites, you can accumulate quite a number of them until you might be able to acquire a full set. And even then, you may well be the only person in your diocese who has a full set.
With all the discussion of prayer book revision, with all the discussion of writing new liturgies, I wanted to give these resources a wider circulation so that people interested in both appreciating and creating Episcopal liturgy would have a deeper understanding of it. It’s quite humbling to look at the pedigree of some of the collects of our prayer book—the direct sources, the additional sources consulted for tweaking, the deliberation over placement of clauses; it’s a whole different ballgame from jotting down a prayer on your way into the sanctuary following the acclamation/petition/result/doxology model. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but there’s a gravity, a weight of experience and years, behind so many of our prayers. It’s good for those who wish to create replacements or supplements to have a full understanding of that pedigree of prayer and access to the sources that nourished and nurtured the liturgists of former days.
In any case, I released the First Series of Prayer Book Studies as a digital resource through Church Publishing before COVID hit. It took me a little longer to get the Second Series together. But I finally did. On submitting the second part, I found a whole new editorial team at Church Publishing who decided to go a different way with it.
Yes, it’ll be a digital resources as I originally intended, but they’ve also decided to release it in both paperback and hardback! So–I’m on an extremely tight deadline to get the page proofs back in order for everything to get to the printer on time. It turns out that in printed form the whole collection together—First Series and Second Series—will span nine volumes. And I’m currently editing Volume 6…and they’re due back before the end of the week…
And that’s why the breviary has been glitching the last few days. (It ought to be good up until Christmas, but I do need to go back and remind it about the Ember Days.)
So—the glitches should stop now for the rest of Advent, and I need to get back to proofing.
