BOOK OF COMMON

book of common, but a brief description may be added here of the liturgies of other reformed churches. _the liturgy of the scottish episcopal church._--this liturgy in nearly its present form was compiled by scottish bishops in 1636 and imposed--or, to speak more accurately, attempted to be imposed--upon the scottish people by the royal authority of charles i. in 1637. the prelates chiefly concerned in it were spottiswood, bishop of glasgow; maxwell, bishop of ross; wedderburn, bishop of dunblane; and forbes, bishop of edinburgh. their work was approved and revised by certain members of the english episcopate, especially laud, archbishop of canterbury; juxon, bishop of london; and wren, bishop of ely. this liturgy has met with varied fortune and has passed through several editions. the present scottish office dates from 1764. it is now used as an alternative form with the english communion office in the scottish episcopal church. the general arrangements of its parts approximates more closely to that of the first book of edward vi. than to the present anglican book of common prayer. among its noteworthy features are (a) the retention in its integrity and in its primitive position after the words of institution of the invocation of the holy spirit. that invocation runs thus: "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 they may become the body and blood of thy most dearly beloved son" (edit. 1764). this kind of petition thus placed is found in the eastern but not in the roman or anglican liturgies. (b) the reservation of the sacrament is permitted, by traditional usage, for the purpose of communicating the absent or the sick. (c) the minimum number of communicants is fixed at one or two instead of three or four. for fuller information see bishop j. dowden, _the annotated scottish communion service_ (edinburgh, 1884). _american liturgy._--the prayer book of "the protestant episcopal church" in america was adopted by the general convention of the american church in 1789. it is substantially the same as the english book of common prayer, but among important variations we may name the following: (a) the arrangement and wording of the order for holy communion rather resembles that of the scottish than that of the english liturgy, especially in the position of the oblation and invocation immediately after the words of institution. (b) the magnificat, nunc dimittis and greater part of benedictus were disused; but these were reinstated among the changes made in the prayer book in 1892. (c) ten selections of psalms are appointed for use as alternatives for the psalms of the day. (d) _gloria in excelsis_ is allowed as a substitute for _gloria patri_ at the end of the psalms at morning and evening prayer. in addition to these there are many more both important and unimportant variations from the english book of common prayer. _the irish prayer book._--the prayer book in use in the irish portion of the united church of england and ireland was the anglican book of common prayer, but after the disestablishment of the irish church several changes were introduced into it by a synod held at dublin in 1870. these changes included such important points as: (a) the excision of all lessons from the apocrypha, (b) of the rubric ordering the recitation of the athanasian creed, (c) of the rubric ordering the vestments of the second year of edward vi., (d) of the form of absolution in the office for the visitation of the sick, (e) the addition to the catechism of a question and answer bringing out more clearly the spiritual character of the real presence. _the presbyterian church._--the presbyterian churches of scotland at present possess no liturgy properly so called. certain general rules for the conduct of divine service are contained in the "directory for the public worship of god" agreed upon by the assembly of divines at westminster, with the assistance of commissioners from the church of scotland, approved and established by an act of the general assembly, and by an act of parliament, both in 1645. in 1554 john knox had drawn up an order of liturgy closely modelled on the genevan pattern for the use of the english congregation to which he was then ministering at frankfort. on his return to scotland this form of liturgy was adopted by an act of the general assembly in 1560 and became the established form of worship in the presbyterian church until the year 1645, when the directory of public worship took its place. herein regulations are laid down for the conduct of public worship, for the reading of scripture and for extempore prayer before and after the sermon, and in the administration of the sacrament of baptism and the lord's supper, for the solemnization of marriage, visitation of the sick and burial of the dead, for the observance of days of public fasting and public thanksgiving, together with a form of ordination and a directory for family worship. in all these cases, though the general terms of the prayer are frequently indicated, the wording of it is left to the discretion of the minister, with these exceptions: at the act of baptism this formula must be used--"i baptize thee in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost"; and for the lord's supper these forms are suggested, but with liberty to the minister to use "other the like, used by christ or his apostles upon this occasion"--"according to the holy institution, command, and example of our blessed saviour, jesus christ, i take this bread, and having given thanks, break it, and give it unto you. take ye, eat ye; this is the body of christ which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of him." and again "according to the institution, command and example of our lord jesus christ, i take this cup and give it unto you; this cup is the new testament in the blood of christ, which is shed for the remission of the sins of many; drink ye all of it." there is also an unvarying form of words directed to be used before the minister by the man to the woman, and by the woman to the man in the case of the solemnization of matrimony. the form of words on all other occasions, including ordination, is left to the discretion of the officiating minister or of the presbytery. _european protestant churches. the calvinistic churches._--rather more of the liturgical element in the shape of a set form of words enters into the service of the french and german calvinistic protestants. the sunday morning service as drawn up by calvin was to open with a portion of holy scripture and the recitation of the ten commandments. afterwards the minister, inviting the people to accompany him, proceeded to a confession of sins and supplication for grace. then one of the psalms of david was sung. then came the sermon, prefaced by an extempore prayer and concluding with the lord's prayer, creed and benediction. the communion service began with an exhortation leading up to the apostles' creed; then followed a long exhortation, after which the bread and wine were distributed to the people, who advanced in reverence and order, while a psalm was being sung, or a suitable passage of scripture was being read. after all had communicated a set form of thanksgiving was said by the minister. then the song of simeon was sung by the congregation, who were then dismissed with the blessing. this form of service has been modified in various ways from time to time, but it remains substantially the type of service in use among the reformed calvinistic churches of germany, switzerland and france. _the lutheran church._--luther was far more conservative than the rest of the protestant reformers and his conservatism appeared nowhere more than in the service-books which he drew up for the use of the church which bears his name. in 1523 he published a treatise _of the order of the service in the congregation_ and in 1526 he published the _german mass_. except that the vernacular was substituted for the latin language, the old framework and order of the roman missal were closely followed, beginning with the confiteor, introit, kyrie eleison, still always sung in greek, gloria in excelsis, &c. the text of this and other lutheran services is given in _agende fur christliche gemeinden des lutherischen bekenntnisses_ (nordlingen, 1853). at the same time luther was tolerant and expressed a hope that different portions of the lutheran church would from time to time make such changes or adaptations in the order of service as might be found convenient. the lutheran churches of northern europe have not been slow to avail themselves of this advice and permission. most of them have drawn up liturgies for themselves, sometimes following very closely, sometimes differing considerably from the original service composed by luther himself. in 1822, on the union of the lutheran and reformed (calvinistic) churches of prussia, a new liturgy was published at berlin. it is used in its entirety in the chapel royal, but great liberty as to its use was allowed to the parochical clergy, and considerable variations of text appear in the more recent editions of this service-book. the church of the new jerusalem (swedenborgians) and the catholic apostolic church (irvingites) and other protestant bodies have drawn up liturgies for themselves, but they are hardly of sufficient historical importance to be described at length here. the old catholics, lastly, published a _rituale_ in 1875 containing the occasional offices for baptism, matrimony, burial, &c., and a form for reception of holy communion, in the german language. this latter is for use in the otherwise unaltered service of the mass, corresponding in purpose to the order of communion in english published the 8th of march 1548 and in use till whitsunday 1549. (f. e. w.)