CHAPTER 1

AN EXTRAORDINARY BOOK

When you put pen to paper, you expect your written word to endure long enough tocarry out its intended purpose. That may be only a matter of minutes or hoursfor some minor note or message. It may be a matter of days or years forsomething more permanent. Thomas Cranmer who was Archbishop of Canterbury duringthe reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI never dreamed that the fruit of his penwould differ from that pattern. He certainly did not foresee that the Book ofCommon Prayer which he and a few colleagues compiled and which first appeared inMarch 1549 would still be in use over 400 years later. He could not haveimagined that its phrases and services would become so embedded in the minds ofEnglish-speaking folk around the globe that the celebration of life's milestoneevents—baptism, marriage, burial—would naturally be expressed in hisvenerable words.

This extraordinary piece of liturgical history deserves to be rehearsed andknown for it belongs to all of us regardless of our ecclesiastical affiliation.

Here, then, is the story of that 440 years in the life of the Book of CommonPrayer. There have been eight times through the centuries when this venerablebook of worship and devotion might have been retired to a dusty shelf andforgotten. But instead, it was revised, updated, and with renewed vitality leadsa new generation of worshippers into God's presence.

CHAPTER 2

THE FIRST ENGLISH PRAYER BOOKS, 1549 AND 1552

The first Book of Common Prayer was published in March, 1549, and has come to beknown as the First Book of Edward VI, the King of England at the time. It wasnot the work of one man, although Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury underHenry VIII and Edward VI, is certainly the mastermind behind it.

There were several conditions which interacted and resulted in the creation ofthat 1549 Book. The first of these was the fact that the Roman Church ofCranmer's day functioned with at least six different liturgical books which hadbeen in regular use in the West since the eleventh, possibly the ninthcentury—the Missale which contained the Canon of the Mass; the Breviarium,which contained the Daily Offices or Hour Services; the Processionale, litanieswhich were used in procession; the Manuale, containing the occasional officesneeded by a presbyter (Baptism through Burial); the Pontyicale, rites conductedby a bishop; and the Ordinale, rules for the conduct of rites. These books werenot universally the same; local usage dictated their contents. And there waswidespread discontent with the medieval services.

There was also the renewal of scholarship in the Renaissance and a rediscoveryof the Bible. These were the parents of an attitude of mind called "the NewLearning." One indication of this "New Learning" which contributed towardsubsequent liturgical reform was William Tyndale's translation of the NewTestament in 1524.

In England two political events accelerated the momentum of liturgical reform.The first was that the attitude toward Lutheranism on the continent began tochange, starting about 1532-34, the time when Henry VIII decided to break withRome. The momentum of this changing attitude toward liturgical reform isreflected in the cascade of publications during the decade and a half between1534 and the Act of Uniformity of 1549. Marion Hatchett lists 18 documents ofvarious kinds which influenced the creation of that Prayer Book.

During those same years the Bible was also caught up in the vortex of liturgicalchange. One of the ironies and also one of the indications of how fast eventswere moving is seen in what happened to Tyndale and his New Testament. Whencopies of his work, which was printed in Cologne in 1525, reached England,Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII sent messengers to track him down and capturehim, but he escaped to the continent, where in 1535 he was arrested. In 1536, hewas executed at the stake. Only one year after Tyndale had died for translatingthe New Testament into English, editions of the Sarum Primer appeared by orderof Edward Lee, Archbishop of York, with the liturgical Epistles and Gospels inEnglish. The translation was Tyndale's.

Epistles and Gospels in English were just a beginning. Within ayear—1538—English Bibles were placed in every church by order ofCromwell, the King's Vicar-General. The order cautioned that they "might beread, only without noise, or disturbance of any public service, and without anydisputation or exposition" In 1539, the Crown issued the Great Bible. It was thework of Miles Coverdale, who leaned heavily on the martyred Tyndale'stranslation. By 1543, the Convocation of Canterbury, the assembly of bishops andclergy, had authorized the reading of "one chapter in English withoutexposition" after the Te Deum and Magnificat. This increasingly widespreadsubstitution of English for Latin Scriptures opened the way for a similar changein the prayers.

So, as Percy Dearmer observes, the lectern from which the Bible is read remindsus of the first stage of reform which ultimately produced the Prayer Book.

The second political event which accelerated momentum toward liturgical reformoccurred in 1544, Emperor Charles V of Spain sought the help of Henry VIII inforcing France to make peace. This gave new impetus to liturgical change in twoways. The first was that Henry ordered processions to be said or sung throughoutthe province of Canterbury—a normal practice in times of emergency. Thisoccasioned the first Litany in English, and it was full of phrases which laterappeared in the Prayer Book. (So the Litany desk reminds us of the next stage ofliturgical reform.) The second was that the determination of Catholic Charles Vto subdue the Protestants on the continent caused a number of prominentcontinental divines to flee to England from persecution at home. Notable amongthese scholars were Peter Martyr (in December, 1547) and Martin Bucer (in April,1549). Cranmer, the liturgical scholar, encouraged this influx of learned men.They arrived too late to influence the 1549 Book, but they certainly contributedtoward the revision in 1552.

Although all of these factors and pressures were moving the church closer tosignificant liturgical change, nothing further happened during the closing yearsof Henry's reign. There was some experimentation with services in English butthat was all.

Henry died in 1546; Edward VI came to the throne in January, 1547. He was a boyof eleven years and was being brought up in the "New Learning." His religiousinclinations were supported by the protector, Somerset, and the rest of theCouncil. So experimentation with services in English began almost immediately.In the spring of 1549, Compline, Matins, the Mass, and Evensong were said inEnglish in London, and the service on the anniversary of Henry VIII's death wassung in English at Westminster Abbey. These were probably early, perhapsexperimental, drafts of the first Prayer Book services.

The work of compiling the first Prayer Book got underway officially whenConvocation appointed a committee consisting of Archbishop Cranmer and certainof "the most learned and discreet bishops, and other learned men" to "considerand ponder a uniform, quiet, and godly order." This committee of six bishops andsix learned men met with the Archbishop at Chertsey Abbey on September 9, 1548.Four of them represented the "Old Learning," two were moderates, and the restfavored the "New Learning." Their discussions lasted only three weeks, "afterwhich the New Order was delivered to the king at Windsor."

The committee was supposedly unanimously in favor of the proposed Book, but inthe debate in the House of Lords, it was evident that they were not, and whenthe final vote was taken Day, Skip, and Robertson, Bishops of Chichester,Hereford, and Westminster respectively, voted against it. Moreover, because thecommittee worked with such speed, they were no doubt working from a previouslyprepared draft. Cranmer had done a great deal of work on drafts of Matins andEvensong which were already in print. The traditional Epistles and Gospels andthe Litany were already in English. "The Order of Communion," which Parliamenthad authorized for use in March, 1548, needed little revision. Cranmer had beenat work on the services of Baptism and Matrimony. And various primers had Burialservices which pointed the way. The principal issue was the Canon of the Mass.

In December, 1548, the Houses of Parliament considered the first Prayer Book,and on January 21, 1549, they passed the Act of Uniformity making it theofficial Prayer Book of the realm. The bishops in the House of Lords voted 10 to8 for it. What action Convocation took is unknown (the records of Convocation inthis reign are incomplete). On January 23, the king wrote to Bishop Bonnerasserting that the Book was "set forth not only by the common agreement and fullassent of the nobility and commons of the last session of the late Parliamentbut also by the like consent of the bishops in the same Parliament and of allother learned men of this realm in their synods and convocations provincial"June 9, 1549, was the date fixed by the Act for the Book to be in useeverywhere.

That first Book is described by Percy Dearmer as "an English simplification,condensation, and reform of the old Latin services, done with great care andreverence and in a genuine desire to remove the degeneracy of the Medieval ritesby a return to antiquity." It went on sale on Thursday, March 7, for 2shillings in paperback, 3 shillings 4 pence for hard cover. It was first used in"divers parishes in London" on the first Sunday in Lent, March 10. By Whitsunday(June 9), when it was to be in general use, the price had risen to 2 shillings 2pence for paperback and 4 shillings for hard cover.

The book was entitled THE BOOKE OF THE COMMON PRAYER AND ADMINISTRATION OF THESACRAMENTES, AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCHE AFTER THE USE OF THECHURCHE OF ENGLAND. That long title is saying that the book covers servicespreviously contained in the Breviary, the Missal, the Processional, and theManual. The Pontifical section was added about a year later.

Were you to leaf through the 1549 Book, here are some details which might catchyour eye:

* Matins (sometimes spelled Mattyns or Mattins) and Evensong both begin with theLord's Prayer and versicles. The sequence of each service is the familiar one.The first lesson is followed by the Te Deum or Benedicite omnia opera and thesecond by the Benedictus. In Evensong, the canticles are the Magnificat and Nuncdimittis. The Apostles' Creed is only indicated by a rubric. The AthanasianCreed is to be "sung or said" six times a year—Christmas, Epiphany,Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. There is no mention of theCreed in Evensong. Each service ends with the Third Collect. These two servicessimplify the devotions previously found in the Breviary. Matins is a combiningof medieval Matins, Lauds, and Prime. Evensong combines Vespers and Compline.The "little hours" of Terce, Sext, and None are discarded. The pattern of twolessons is a break with the traditional three lessons.

* The title, "The Supper of the Lorde and the Holy Communion, commonly called theMasse," suggests the sources. "The Supper of the Lorde" is the title ArchbishopHermann of Cologne (1536) used for the service. "The Masse" is both the medievaland Lutheran name for it. "The Holy Communion" is a vernacular name now for thefirst time applied to the whole service. The structure of the service is basedclosely on the medieval form. This is the order:

The Lord's Prayer
Collect for Purity ("Almighty God unto whom all hearts are open ...")
Introit Psalm
Kyrie
Gloria in excelsis
Collect of the day
Prayers for the King
Epistle
Gospel
Nicene Creed
Sermon and/or an Exhortation
Offertory
Sursum Corda—"Lift up your hearts"
SanctusThe Canon, beginning with the prayer for the whole state of Christ's church and ending with the Lord's Prayer
The Peace ("The Peace of the Lord be always with you") "Christ our Pascall lambe is offered for us ..."
The Invitation ("Ye who do truly and earnestly repent ...")
General Confession
Absolution
Comfortable Words
Prayer of Humble Access ("We do not presume to come ...") Communion ("In the Communion tyme the Clarkes
shall syng" the Agnus Dei)
Postcommunion Thanksgiving
"The Peace of God ..."

The rubrics contain directives that those who intend to commune sit "in thequire, or in some convenient place nigh the quire, the men on the one side, andthe women on the other side." They further direct that there be "Communion inboth kindes," that the wafers are to be "without all manner of print" and beplaced in the people's mouths, and that "all must attend weekly, but needcommunicate but once a year." There is a significant departure from the medievalLatin rite in the Prayer of Consecration. The Latin rite had no invocation ofthe Holy Spirit. The Latin rite accented the centrality of the words ofinstitution in the Middle Ages by such new ceremonies as the Elevation of theHost. Cranmer corrected this straying from tradition by inserting the invocationof the Holy Spirit from Eastern practice (mainly the Eastern Liturgy of SaintBasil). He inserted the words, "with thy Holy Spirit and Word vouchsafe to blessand sanctify these thy gifts of the bread and wine," before the words ofinstitution. In that way he attempted to bring together Eastern and Westernideas.

* The Litany is the same as the 1547 revision of Cranmer's 1544 Litany.

* The services here are those which in varying degrees were based on theManuale— Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Visitation of the Sick, Burial,Purification, and Commination (the Ash Wednesday service). In Baptism, the childis dipped "discretly and warely" in the water three times. If, however, thechild is weak, "it shall suffice to powre water upon it." The water is orderedto be changed once a month (imagine the dusty scum and sediment!) and new waterblessed. The catechism is included along with the Confirmation service. Here isthe reason both for its placement and for its contents: "All the Reformers laidgreat stress on education, and particularly on religious education ... TheirCatechisms were not usually connected with Confirmation, but were intended tocover the whole field of doctrine." Cranmer's aim was different. He confinedhimself to the requirements of godparents at the end of the Baptismal service,namely, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. It was the dutyof godparents to teach their godchildren these formulas, and by ancienttradition the children could not be confirmed until they could repeat them.

* At the end of the book are two appendices with self-explanatory titles: "OfCeremonies" and "Certain Notes." The former states that excess of ceremonies iswrong; meaningful ceremonies are profitable; so "some be abolished and someretained." It does not detail which ceremonies. "Certain Notes" states that theminister shall wear a surplice for Matins, Evensong, Baptism, and Burial. Butthis is modified. The surplice is not an absolute requirement save in collegesand cathedrals and for archdeacons, deans, provosts, and the like. A countryvicar is at liberty to use a surplice or not. The Litany, Matrimony, Churching,and Ash Wednesday are not mentioned, but as each of these is normally followedby the Communion, it may be assumed that the Mass vestments will be worn forthem also. The bishop always wears a rochet and carries his pastoral staff,unless it is held by his chaplain; but no mitre is mentioned. The Communionservice is conceived as essentially musical, and the "clerks" who lead thesinging are directed to stay throughout the service even if they are notintending to commune. (The musical setting of John Merbecke, a minor canon ofWindsor, came out in 1550.)

* The Ordinal was not a part of the 1549 Book. It was prepared the next year,published in March, 1551, and was annexed to the 1552 Book.

With Parliament's Act of Uniformity in January, 1549, and the actual use of theBook beginning in March of that year, the good ship Book of Common Prayer waslaunched on its stormy voyage and as of now has logged some 440 years. Duringthat time it has been overhauled and refitted for service eight times. For eachof those eight times, as well as for the issuing of this first Book, theoccasion has been one of joy or anguish, relief or disgust, pride or dismay,dedication or revolt. In 1549, such strong feelings as these poured over theBook almost before the ink was dry.