the occasion and local force of the passage. It has often been with great reluctance, that the prescribed limits of a small work have been adhered to, in transcribing for it from the Sacred Volume of Inspiration.

The Extracts from the Book of COMMON PRAYER * will be acceptable to those who wish

* During the dawn of the Reformation, in the latter years of Henry VIII., no circumstance tended more to open the eyes of men to the necessity of extricating themselves from the spiritual darkness, in which the Roman Church involved her sons, than the permission which was granted them to understand the prayers which were offered in public worship on their behalf, and which had hitherto been intelligible only to the learned. By the persuasion, as may be supposed, of those of the Clergy, who inclined to Protestantism, and especially of Cranmer, some books of religious instruction, which will be mentioned hereafter, directly opposed to the worst doctrinal corruptions of Popery, were sent forth; but besides them, and indeed before them, the king allowed to be published, under the royal authority, a book, called the King's Primer, containing translations from the Latin Rituals of a great part of the matter which forms the foundation of the Book of Common Prayer. Of this Primer, Strype, (Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, B. I. xxiv.) when enumerating the books prohibited by Bishop Bonner, as heretical, in 1542, mentions, "The Preface made in the English Primers, by Marshal. This Marshal was he, I suppose, whose Christian name was Cuthbert, and was D.D. and Archdeacon of Nottingham, and died about 1549. At this book I will stop a little, being a book of eminence and remark in those times; and that hath such a strain of truth and serious piety in it, that it seems very probable, that the Archbishop had a considerable hand in it, and procured the publication

to render themselves familiar with the language and principles of the most excellent of Liturgical compositions; and cannot fail to give solid satis

of it, Cum privilegii Regali. It was styled, A Goodly Primer, or Book of Prayers, and called The King's Primer. I speak of the second edition, which was about the year 1535. It began with an admonition to the reader, containing very sharp and severe reflections upon the Popish devotions, and praying to saints." He then gives its contents.

......

Immediately upon the accession of Edward VI. more decided steps were taken to secure to the country the inestimable benefit of public service, of a reasonable and spiritual nature, and in the English language. In the Convocation in 1547, Strype says, (Mem. of Cranmer, B. II. ch. iv.) that "the Archbishop bore the great sway By his means, also, another great thing, moved in the Convocation, was now ratified, and made a law by this Parliament: which was, for the administration of the Communion under both kinds throughout the kingdom of England and Ireland. And upon this, the King appointed certain grave and learned Bishops, and others, to assemble at Windsor Castle, there to treat and confer together; and to conclude upon, and set forth, one perfect and uniform order of Communion, according to the rules of Scripture, and the use of the primitive Church. And this being framed, it was enjoined to be used throughout the realm, by a proclamation, and all required to receive it with due reverence.

This led the way to the compilation of the first Liturgy, which was entrusted to the same commissioners, was in the course of a few months completed, was approved by Convocation, and published, by order of the King and the Parliament, in 1549. "The Common Prayer Book, and Administration of the Sacraments, by the great care and study of the Archbishop, was now (in 1549, says

faction to all who will take the trouble of comparing it with Scripture, and with the avowed opinions of those great and good men who were

Strype,) finished and settled by Act of Parliament: which would not go down with a great many." In consequence of this opposition, "the good Archbishop thought it now time to interfere in this thing, and to obtain from the Privy Council somewhat to confirm the Book of Common Prayer. So there was in December 25, a general Letter drawn up to all the Bishops of England," for the purpose of explaining it, and enforcing its use.

Some objections, however, having been made to parts of this Liturgy, and to some of the Rubrics, a revision of it took place. Some important additions and alterations were made; the Introits, and some ceremonies which were deemed too Papistical were omitted. This second Liturgy of Edward VI. was also ratified by Parliament, and published in 1552.

In the year 1559, very shortly after the accession of Elizabeth, and the re-establishment of the Protestant religion, another review was made of the two Liturgies of Edward VI.; the second of which, with some few alterations, (see L'Estrange on Liturgies,) was adopted, as the authorized Book of Common Prayer.

When James I. came to the throne, an attempt was made to effect a great change in the character and principles of the Liturgy, but the result of a Conference held at Hampton Court, in 1603, between a certain number of Bishops and Divines on the one side, and of the Puritan party on the other, in presence of the King, was, that very little addition, and still less alteration were considered expedient. The exposition of the Sacraments, at the end of the Catechism, was the most material addition.

In the year 1661, upon the Restoration of Charles II., the King was induced to order a commission to meet, for the purpose of considering the reasonableness of certain

its chief compilers. Nothing is omitted which bears upon the question under discussion; and it is to be observed, that when the name only of a service, or of a certain part of it, is mentioned (in capital, or italic letter) without appending any particular passages, it is meant that the whole of that service, or part, is applicable to the subject, but, for the sake of brevity, is not transcribed. It has been considered by the Author of great importance, that he should furnish an analysis of the Liturgy, classing its constituent exceptions taken to the established Liturgy, which had remained unaltered since 1603,-being suspended only during the Commonwealth. These commissioners, consisting of twelve bishops, with nine assistants, on one side, and an equal number of the dissentient party on the other, met at the Savoy, and after much discussion, some few alterations and additions were agreed to; the chief of which latter was, the Office for Adult Baptism. The Liturgy so corrected was approved by Convocation, and in the same year was confirmed, by Act of Parliament, and ordered for public use in 1662. Since this date no alteration whatever has taken place in the authorized Book of Common Prayer. The Acts of Uniformity of the first of Elizabeth, and the fourteenth of Charles II., still prefixed to the book, are not only authentic memorials of the piety and learning, by means of which it has gradually acquired its present perfect state, and of the sanc tions by which it has become the established Formulary of the Church of England; but also of the prudent caution and zealous attachment of the first men in Church and State; which have, at different periods, frustrated every attempt to make unnecessary innovations in the phraseology, or to change the tone and tenour of its, doctrines.

parts under the several heads of Faith and Practice treated of in this work; as such an abstract may tend to direct the attention of those who are not accustomed to regard it carefully, to its many excellencies and beauties, and induce them to look on it in the light in which it richly deserves to be placed,-not only as the best manual of devotion, whether public or private,—but as the best guide in speculative or practical matters of religion, to which, next after their Bible, they can possibly apply. It will be found, upon examination, that by far the greater number of the prayers, thanksgivings, and praises, comprised in the service of the Church; and especially the Collects, which of themselves alone contain a body of divinity; together with a large portion of the Offices, and particularly of the Sacramental Forms, have been introduced in illustration of the Summary: and it has been done under the conviction, that the space assigned them could not be more beneficially occupied.

Of the XXXIX ARTICLES of RELIGION *, which form the Standard of Doctrine in the

* Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer, B. II. ch. xxviii.

"Our Archbishop, and certain of the Bishops, and other Divines, but whom, by name, I find not, were this year chiefly busied in composing and preparing a Book of Articles of Religion; which was to contain what should be publickly owned as the sum of the doctrine of the Church of England. This the Archbishop had long before this bore in his mind, as excellently serviceable for the creating of a concord and quietness among men, and