Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/158

 154 COMMON PRAYER tants, of whom the most eminent were Peter Martyr, Martin Bucer, and John a Lasco, who had come to England after the accession of Edward VI., and made their way to important posts. Calvin also urged upon the protector Somerset the necessity of pushing the reforma- tion in England further than it had gone. The court yielded to these influences, and the young king declared himself in favor of a more tho- rough revision of the prayer book. Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, one of the framers of the first book, was induced to give his con- sent to the undertaking, and another commit- tee of divines, who are conjectured to have been the same who prepared the ordinal of 1550, undertook the preparation of a second prayer book, which was duly ratified by par- liament, and came into use on All Saints' day, 1552. This is substantially the "Book of Common Prayer " in use at the present day. The difference between this book and that of 1549 consists chiefly in the following particu- lars : To the offices of matins and even song, which began with the Lord's prayer, were prefixed the sentences, exhortations, confession, and absolution. In the communion service the ten commandments were added, the title of the prayer "for the whole state of Christ's church " was changed to that of a prayer " for the whole state of Christ's church militant here on earth," and the commendation of the de- parted to divine mercy was omitted. In the prayer of consecration the invocation of the Holy Spirit to sanctify the elements was omit- ted, and in the administration of the elements a different form of words was used. In the office of baptism the practices of exorcism, anointing, putting on the chrisome, and trine immersion, prescribed in the first book, were abolished in the second. In the burial service the prayers for the dead were changed into thanksgiving, and the service for Ash Wednes- day was entitled "A Commination against Sinners." Certain changes were also made in the vestments of the clergy. A few months after this book came into use Edward VI. died, and the first parliament of his successor, Mary, by an act passed in October, 1553, re- stored the services to the condition in which they were in the last year of Henry VIII. In November, 1558, Elizabeth succeeded to the throne; and early in April, 1559, the second book of Edward VI. was restored to use, with certain slight modifications, prominent among which was the omission of the litany clause, " from the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities." The "orna- ments " of the church and the ministers which had been in use under the first book of Edward VI., but had been curtailed by the second, were also restored. The prayer book thus modified, of which a Latin version was also published, was at length acquiesced in by the great body of the English people, and, accord- ing to Sir Edward Coke, was even approved by Pope Pius IV., who offered to give it his full sanction " so as her majesty would acknowledge to receive it from the pope, and by his allow- ance.'' This statement of Coke's, however, is not accepted as authentic by Catholic authori- ties. With the exception of a revision of the calendar, no further changes were made in the prayer book until the accession of James I. in 1603. The Puritan or nonconformist party had meanwhile gathered strength, and soon after the arrival of the new sovereign in London they pre- sented to him a petition in favor of a further re- vision and purification of the liturgy. The result was the so-called Hampton Court conference, participated in by eminent clergy of the estab- lished church and of the nonconformist bodies, and which met on Jan. 14, 1604, in presence of the king and the privy council. The king considered the demands of the Puritans unten- able, and broke up the conference on the third day ; but under the clause of the act of unifor- mity by which Elizabeth had authorized a re- vision of the calendar, he directed a few changes to be made in the prayer book, of which the most important seem to have been the questions and answers concerning the sacraments sub- joined to the catechism, and the restriction of the administration of baptism to regularly or- dained ministers. With the triumph of parlia- ment in the reign of Charles I. the opponents of the prayer book succeeded in 1 645 in getting it entirely suppressed, and for fifteen years it passed almost out of sight. The restoration of the royal family brought it again into favor, and subsequent to July, 1660, as Evelyn records, it was publicly used in the churches. In March, 1661, Charles II. summoned a number of di- vines, representing equally the established church and the nonconformists, to meet in London and review the " liturgy of the church of England, contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and by law established." This assem- bly, called from its place of meeting the " Sa- voy conference," was the last official attempt to reconcile the differences of opinion between the advocates and the opponents of the prayer book. Its sessions extended from April 15 to July 24, 1661, and were barren of any practi- cal result. A strong reaction had taken place in favor of the church party, and the noncon- formists, though represented by such men as Baxter and Calamy, were not sufficiently uni- ted in their plan of opposition to accomplish their object. Baxter even drew up a substi- tute for the prayer book, which failed to meet the approval of his friends. The work of re- vision was then committed to the convocations of the provinces of Canterbury and York, by which a number of slight changes were made, which seem to have been in the opposite di- rection from that desired by the nonconfor- mists. A service was also provided for the baptism of those of riper years, and a form of prayer to be used at sea. The prayer book thus revised, together with an act for unifor- mity of public worship, was approved by par- liament in 1662, and went into immediate use.