hardly knows how he can forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things rather than mere words. It is part of the national mind, and the anchor of national seriousness. Nay, it is worshipped with a positive idolatry, in extenuation of whose grotesque fanaticism its intrinsic beauty pleads availingly with the man of letters and the scholar. The memory of the dead passes into it. The potent traditions of childhood are stereotyped in its phrases. The power of all the griefs and trials of a man is hidden beneath its words. It is the representative of his best moments; and all that there has been about him of soft, and gentle, and pure, and penitent, and good, speaks to him forever out of his English Bible. It is his sacred thing, which doubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled. It has been to him all along as the silent, but oh, how intelligible voice of his guardian angel; and in the length and breadth of the land there is not a Protestant, with one spark of religiousness about him, whose spiritual biography is not in his Saxon Bible."— F. W. Faber, quoted with commendation in the Dublin Review, June, 1853. (Catholic.)

"The peculiar genius, if such a word may be permitted, which breathes through it, the mingled tenderness and majesty, the Saxon simplicity, the preternatural grandeur, unequalled, unapproached, in the attempted improvements of modern scholars, all are here, and bear the impress of the mind of one man, and that man William Tyndale." -J. A. Froude, Hist. Eng. (Protestant.)

II. THE ENGLISH PRAYER-BOOK.

Another of the great treasures of English literature is the Book of Common Prayer according to the Use of the Church of England. As a specimen of English it is unequalled by anything that the language contains, except the English Version of the Bible.

Its High Rank. When we consider the influence which the continual and reverent use of such a book, for more than ten generations, must have had upon the language, the opinions, the feelings, and the conduct of a great people, it is impossible not to concede that it holds a foremost rank among the treasures of the language.

A Growth, rather than a Work. — Like the English Version of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer was not the work of any one man, or set of men, nor was it produced at one time, but was rather a slow and silent growth - the work of many noble minds through successive ages.

Earlier Forms. - The greater part of the substance of this book existed previously in Latin, and is traceable to a remote antiquity. It is with its English dress only that the present treatise is concerned. Some portions of the service had been translated into English for the use of the people one hundred and fifty years at least before the preparation of the Prayer-Book in its present form. This earlier book of service, existing with variations in different dioceses, and under different reigns, but having a substantial uniformity, was called The Prymer.

The Prymer.-Some obscurity rests upon the history of this book. It is referred to familiarly in the records of the time, as something generally known, just as we now refer to the Prayer-Book. It is mentioned as The Prymer in English, The Prymer both in English and Latin, This Prymer of Salisbury Use, and often simply as The Prymer. Thus the Duchess of Gloucester, in her will, 1399, leaves to her daughter "a book with the Psalter, Prymer, and other devotions;" and the author of Piers Plowman, not later certainly than 1365, says:

"The lomes [looms] that ich labor with,

And lyfode [livelihood] deserve,

Ys Pater Noster and my Prymer."

Origin of the Prymer. It is highly probable that the word was originally derived from some small manuals, which were spread among the people, of the first and chief lessons of religious belief and practice. These may have been so called, not only because they were the lessons of children, but because they were equally necessary for all men to learn. Springing from some such early manuals, of things necessary for all men to know and to do, the Prymer passed on from age to age, gradually collecting, now an office, and then a prayer, at one time the penitential psalms, at another the litany, at another the dirge, until at last it arrived at the state in which, with little further alteration, it remained during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a known book, authorized by the Church, and familiar to the people.

always

Extant Copies. According to Maskell (Monumenta Ritualia, Vol. 2: xxxv.), there are only eight manuscript copies extant of the old English Prymer, two of which were in his possession, and have since become the property of the British Museum. One of these, the oldest and most perfect, is determined by internal evidence to be not later than 1410, and it probably is somewhat earlier. Procter assigns it to the year 1400, and Blunt calls it "The Prymer of the Fourteenth Century." Mr. Maskell carefully printed this Prymer from the original manuscript then in his possession. The extracts which will be given are taken from Maskell.

Contents of the Prymer.-This old English Prymer contains the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Litany, and many other equally familiar portions of the present service.

The Prymer clearly formed the basis for a large part of the present Prayer-Book.

NOTE. The New England Primer, of the early colonial times, containing the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and sundry other brief summaries of doctrine and forms of devotion, seems to have been a far-off echo of this old English Prymer of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries.

The English Reformers, in preparing the Book of Common Prayer, had two things especially in view, first to have the service entirely in English, and secondly to have it uniform in all parts of the kingdom, instead of having, as before, different service-books in the different dioceses.

The First Step. - A Committee of Convocation was appointed for this purpose in 1542, under the sanction of Henry VIII. The committee made some progress in the work, but were prevented by the jealousy of the King from carrying it to completion.

The Prayer-Book of 1549. - On the accession of Edward VI. the subject was revived, and a new Commission was appointed, consisting of Archbishop Cranmer, six Bishops, and six clergy of the Lower House of Convocation. This commission proceeded with due deliberation, and having completed their labors, presented the Book of Common Prayer to the King, to be by him laid before Parliament. The book, after some discussion, was accepted by Parliament, and an Act of Uni-formity was passed, making its use obligatory. This book, first issued in 1549, is called The First Prayer-Book of Edward VI.

The Prayer-Book of 1552. — In the following year another commission was appointed by the King, consisting of Cranmer and a number of divines, to give a revision of the first book. This revision was some time in hand. The Archbishop and his coadjutors are reported from time to time as at work upon it. The book, as revised by them, was reported to Parliament, adopted, and issued, in 1552, and is known as The Second Prayer-Book of Edward VI.

During the succeeding reign, that of Mary, this book, of course, was laid aside.

The Prayer-Book of 1559. — On the accession of Elizabeth, when the reformed religion was reinstated, the Prayer-Book was subject to a further and final revision, and was adopted in its present form in 1559. There was, however, an additional collection of Prayers and Thanksgivings upon Several Occasions, appended to the Morning and Evening Prayer, in 1662.

The General Result. From this slight sketch of its history, it will be seen that the English Book of Common Prayer was formed in the main out of materials previously existing, partly in English, partly in Latín, in the service-books of the various dioceses, many of them traceable to a remote antiquity; that, as before stated, it was not the work of any one man, or set of men, though, as will presently be shown, traces of particular workmen may be found here and there, but was the slow and steady outgrowth of time, as it is a noble expression of a great, God-fearing race.

Authorship. Of the clear traces which exist of the part performed by particular workmen in this time-honored edifice, the following facts are of interest.

The Prayer "For All Conditions of Men" was composed by Peter Gunning, D. D., 1613-1684, Master of Corpus Christi, and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and afterwards Bishop successively of Chichester and Ely.

The first of the Ember Collects, for those who are about to be admitted to Holy Orders, is supposed to be the composition of John Cosin, D. D., Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, afterwards Bishop of Durham, noticed elsewhere in this volume.

The Prayer for the High Court of Parliament was composed by Archbishop Laud. The General Thanksgiving was composed or compiled by Edward Reynolds, D. D., Vice Chancellor of Oxford, and afterwards Bishop of Norwich, noticed elsewhere in this volume.

The Litany. In regard to the composition of the Litany, the most impressive part, perhaps, of the whole book, no complete information exists. The outline of such a service is found in the Latin service-books and the Prymer already mentioned. But the Litany, as it now stands, besides being a noble rendering of such portions of the old litanies as were retained, contains a large portion, nearly one-half, of matter not found in any of the old service-books used in England. This new portion in part originated with the compilers, and in part was adopted by them from the Latin Litany prepared by Luther. Among the new petitions introduced in the Litany is that beginning with the words, "That it may please Thee to give to all thy people increase of grace," etc., and the three petitions immediately following it. That most touching petition, "That it may please thee to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows, and all that are desolate and oppressed," and the two equally beautiful petitions immediately following it, are taken from Luther.*

Improvements upon the Older Versions. — As evidence of the kind of literary work performed by the compilers, in the case of those prayers which had already been translated into early English, the reader may compare the present Collect at Evening Prayer, “O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed," etc., with the form of the Prymer Version of the same in the copy in the possession of Mr. Maskell, "God, of whom ben hooli desiris, rigt councels, and just werkis, gyve to thy servantis pees that the world may not geve, that in oure hertis gouun to thi commaundementis, and the drede of enemyes putt awei, oure tymes be pesible thurg thi defendyng. Bi oure lord jesu crist, thi sone, that with thee lyveth and regneth in the unite of the hooly goost god, bi alle worldis of worldis. So be it."

The Creed. The Creed, as given in the old Prymer, is in these words: "I bileve in god, fadir almygti, makere of hevene and of erthe; and in jesu crist the sone of him, oure lord, oon aloone; which is conceyved of the hooli gost; born of marie maiden; suffride passioun undir pounce pílat; crucified, deed, and biried, he wente doun to hellis; the thrídde day he roos agen fro deede; he steig to hevenes; he sittith on the rigt syde of god the fadir almygti; thenus he is to come for to deme the quyke and deede. I bileve in the hooli goost; feith of hooli chirche: comunynge of seyntis; forgyvenesse of synnes; agenrising of fleish, and everlastinge lyf. So be it."

46

The Lord's Prayer. — The Prymer version of the Lord's Prayer is as follows: Oure fadir, that art in hevenes, halewid be thi name; thy rewme come to thee; be thi wille do as in hevene and in erthe; oure eche daies breed gyve us to day; and forgyve us our dettis, as and we forgeven to oure dettouris; and ne lede us into temptacioun; but delyvere us fro yvel. So be it."

The Prayer of St. Chrysostom.—The beautiful Prayer of St. Chrysostom, at

"Ut pupillos et viduas protegere et providere digneris;

"Ut cunctis hominibus misereri digneris;

Ut hostibus, persecutoribus, et calumniatoribus nostris ignoscere, et eos convertere digneris."-Luther.

the close of the Morning and Evening Service, was first brought into use, in modern European works of devotion, by Cranmer and his coadjutors in the preliminary revision of 1544. The translation is a masterpiece of composition, as any scholar may see at a glance, who will take the trouble to compare it with the original.*

The Te Deum.-Like skill is shown in the rendering of the venerable Latin hymn known as the Te Deum. What words could express more appropriately or more beautifully the force of the original, than is done in such words and phrases as the following:

...proclamant,

Per singulos dies benedicimus te,
Judex crederis esse venturus,
Tu devicto aculeo mortis,
Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,

...do cry aloud.

Day by day we magnify thee.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets.

III. THE SHORTER CATECHISM.

Another document worthy of mention among the literary treasures of the language is The Shorter Catechism prepared by the Assembly of Divines who met at Westminster in 1643.

The Westminster Assembly. This famous Assembly was nearly six years in session, having been convened July 1, 1643, and having adjourned finally February 22, 1649. It contained many of the choicest spirits of the Presbyterian element in both England and Scotland.

Works of the Assembly. All the documents which they put forth, The Solemn League and Covenant, The Confession of Faith, The Directory for Public Worship, The Form of Church Government and Discipline, and The Catechisms, are remarkable as mere literary productions. But none of them are to be compared in this respect with that known as The Shorter Catechism.

As a mere specimen of exact verbal expression, there probably has been nothing superior to the Shorter Catechism since the days of Aristotle.

Its Position. To the entire body of English-speaking Presbyterians all over the world, and to the great majority of Congregationalists also, this wonderful summary of Christian doctrine has formed a part of the household treasures of the race. By long-established custom it has

* Ο τὰς κοινὰς ταύτας καὶ συμφώνους ἡμῖν χαρισάμενος προσευχάς, καὶ δύο και τρισὶ συμφωνοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου τὰς αἰτήσεις παρέχειν ἐπαγγειλάμενος· αὐτὸς καὶ νῦν τῶν δούλων σου τὰ αἰτήματα πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον πλήρωσον, χωρηγῶν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ παρόντι αἰῶνι τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν σῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι ζωὴν αἰώνιον χαριζόμενος.