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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un aaul clichA, 11 eat f ilmA A partir de I'angle aupArieur gauche, de geuche A droite, et de haut en baa, en prenent le nombre d'imegea nAceasaire. Lea diagrammes auivanta illuatrent le mAthode. y errata Id to nt ne pelure. i9on A n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 B H- THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, THE AMERICAN PRAYER BOOK, AND She Sbm |^evi!6iio»j( SINCE 1874, IN ENGLAND, IRELAND AND THE UNITED STATES. BY A STNODSMAN. HART & RAWLINSON, 5 KING STREET WEST, 1881. Au /^>H.^ /I • '^ 7 - "2 S' \ ^/63v- '#!?■ MiUa r.> . % Charles the Second professed to be a Protestant, but is believed to have been secretiy reconciled to the Church of . Rome before the Restoration, and although, when in good , health, the so-called " Merry Monarch " treated all religion with contempt and disregard, still, in seasons of depression or ill health, he was a Roman Catholic at heart, and in his last moments he received the sacraments from a Roman Catholic Priest. It is an undoubted fact that, after he ascended the throne, he was a pensioner of the King of France, and that he entered into a secret alliance with him for the purpose of restoring the Roman Catholic religion in England. Our Prayer Book was revised in his reign, and has not been altered by ourselves since that time. King Charles was notoriously as irreligious and disso- lute a monarch as ever sat on the English throne, and yet the Revisors added a prayer for "ov/r most religious Kvng." The ruling spirits of the Revision Committee were Shel- don, Bishop of London, and the following year Archbishop of Canterbury, Gunning, Bishop of Chichester, and Mor- ley, Bishop of Winchester, who was suspended in 1667. Burnet says of Ai'chbishop Sheldon tha^t "he seemed not to have a deep sense of religion, if any at all, and - spoke of it commonly as an engine of government and as a matter of policy^ Burnet was an eminent divine and, per- haps for fear of being considered uncharitable, does not tell the whole truth, for Pepys shows that this Archbi&iiop of y Canterbury was as unchaste as his royal master. I dare not repeat Pepys* words, which can be found in his Diary (London, 1858) vol. iii., p. 207. Of Gunning, Calamy says, " he stuck at nothing, " and Burnet says that " he was much set on reconciling us v/ith Popery in some points," and both writers agree that Mor- ley was extremely passionate, very obstinate, and unwil- ling to yield to anything that might look like moderation. And these tools of Charles the Second were the con- trolling spirits of the Commission who framed the Prayer Book which we are still using in this year 1881. All the clergy were called upon to subscribe to this book, but upwards of two thousand^ad conscience enough to refuse to do so, and were driven from their pulpits ! ! ! cc^s Toronto. /u^ tf^^jiJL, /£^«^*>tY*y <0 ^^"^^^ X ^ •V^ €n ^"^^Cti/Xm - ^ C/ V*' ^ 0^ '»'■»■« € . < -^ v.<2 Ctf'i "**>■ ') mmm dare )iary and v/ith Mor- iwil- tion. con- •ayer )Ook, jh to • • **^ il i C^e §0oK of €ommon IPrager* EXTRACT FROM PREFACE. " It is but reasonable, that upon weighty and impor- tant considerations, according to the various exigency of times and occasions, such changes and alterations should be made therein as to those that are in the place of authority should from time to time seem either necessary or expedient." This preface was added in 1662. Even then — ^the Fifth Revision — ^they allowed that another might be ne- cessary, and yet we are still afraid to attempt it. I.— Lessons Pboper for ^Ioly Days. 1. Why use the Roman terms " Mattins " and " Even- song"? 2. Annunciation of Our Lady. Who is Our Lady ? Romanists call the Blesssed Virgin the Queen of Heaven, and also Our Lady, and if Ritualists wish to teach our children the worship of the Virgin, they have only to turn to this page and prove by the Prayer Book that she is truly Our Lady. ^L. »»-ui^<><.*< tii * ../^«hA/ erv » ^, god, and was therefore worshipped with fire. In Egypt he was called On. Joseph married a dausfhter of the priest of On. This festive-^ was celebrated with fire ; and in the sixth century, when the Roman Church found the people would not give up their sacred sea-' ^ son, they incorporated it in their calendar, and to make it suit Christians and pagans alike, as JoJ n in Latin is Johannes, they called the 24th June th' itival of Johannes, so that while the Christians Woai suppose they were honouring St. John, the pagans were still wor- shipping their old god Oannes. Fires to St. John are still made in Ireland and Brittany on that night, and in Asia Minor the Yezidis also celebrate it in the same man- ner to Tammuz, whom they call Shems, as he was an- ciently called in Yemen. Even in Peru the Aztecs had a grand festival at the period of the summer solstice,. when all fires were extinguished and lighted again with the holy fire obtained from the priests, and at the end of De- cember they had a similar festival which lasted for thir- teen days, and probably ended, as our Christmas formerly did on Twelfth night. 4. Holy Cross Day. Was the Roman gibbet on which our Lord was tortured, liolyl St. Paul considered it an accursed tree (Gal. iii. 13). He gloried in the Doctrine OF THE Cross — ^not in the cross of wood. i^: ^c*-L.-'i^%yH Ct^^ ---A .£ THE BOOK OF COMMON £,jhH 5. All Saints' Day. This (November Ist) must have been a night sacred in Rome to Tammuz in some of his Roman forms, which the Roman Church changed to All Saints' Day. The Phoenicians sometimes called Tammuz simply by his title of Baal, which means Lord, and adored him also as Baal Samen, Lord of Heaven, and in Ireland he was worshipped under the same name, Beuil Samhan, and the night of the first of November was called in Erse Oid- che Samhna, the night of Samhan, and in Gaelic, Sam- huinn. All heathen m3rthology arose in Babylon before the dis- persion of races, and lik the older festivals agree in date in Europe and Asia, China, Japan, South America, and, undoubtedly, also in Africa, where they certainly had the cross of Tammuz; for as the British Druids made crosses of oak trees (the tree sacred to Jupiter), so, also, it is said that the natives of the Shangalla, in Abyssinia, make crosses of the trees. It was Humboldt, I think, who first pointed out that Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican god of rain, was represented wearing a white garment covered with red crosses. Martin, in his History of the Western Isles (London, 1716) says of the island of Harris, " There is a stone in the form of a cross, about five feet high, called the Water Cross, for the natives had a custom of erecting this sort of cross to -procure rain, and when they had got enough they ^aid it flat on- the ground." In the London Graphic, of September 27th, 1879, is an engraving from Central Africa, of some sticks about the If a T 1^1 SIZ th( are of *^^^/ J/ ^ . THE BOOK OP COMMON PRAYEll. size of walking canes, with cross-pieces tied on just below the top, standing erect in small earthen mounds. They are described simply as " Charms erected in the vicinity of the towns and villages to attract rain ! " Here in Mexico, Scotland and Central Africa, we have a corrupted legend of Noah, in whose time it rained forty days and forty nights. He was deified after death, and in the Babylonian mysteries was called the twice-born, as having lived in two worlds, both before and after the flood. He was the same as Janus with his two faces, one old and the other young, to signify as it were his having lived both in the old world and in the new. Janus is 0^ r^t t-i 1- -* identified with Cannes, the Man of the Sea, or sacred Man- fish, who is only another form of the Sanscrit Indra, the king of the gods and god of rain. The cross was the sym- bol of this deified rain god, because he was only another aspect of Tammuz. Da vies (" British Druids ") identifies Noah with Bacchus, and Hislop (" Two Babylons") says that Tammuz was worshipped as the incarnation of Noah who floated for so many days on the water, that he^ight well be called the man of the sea. w^-^oo-^-tn***^ Bacchu^was the same as the Egyptian Osiris, who was murdere(L According lo Plutarch, hio coffin was committed to the deep, and i4 floated on the waters. It was on the 17th day of the month Athyr,. which was the second month after the autumnal equinox, and he remained in his floating coffin (or ark) a whole year, until he was resus- citated by the prayers of his wife Isis. It is wonderful that history could be so fearfully cor- 10 TtlE BOOK Ot* COMMON PRAYfiR. rupted, but it e»ty tends to prove the truth of the Bible narrative, where we read in Genesis, that " in the second month, in the seventeenth day o£ the month .... Noah entered into the ark," where he remained a whole year. 6. Christmas. — Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest of Eng- lish philosophers, and better still, a Christian philosopher, says, " The times of the Birth and Passion of Christ, with such like niceties, being not material to religion, were little regarded by Christjans^of the first age," and Scaliger says, " To determine the true date of Christ's birth belongs to Qod alone, not man." No one can tell, even the season of the year, much less the day in which < our Lord was bom, but it was not in the winter, for shepherds do not remain in the fields at night in the winter, and that the climate has not changed is clear, or our Lord would not have said, "Pray ye, that your flight be not in the winter." f The earliest allusion to Christmas is that of Clement of Alexandria, who died in 220, and he says there are some who overcuriously assign, not only the year but even the day of the birth of our Saviour, which they say was on the 28th year of Augustus, on the 26th day of Pachon (May 20). And the followers of Basilides celebrate the day of His baptism, which they say was in the 15th year of Tiberius, on the 15th of Tubi, but some say it was the 11th (January 10 or 6). Further, some say that He was bom on the 24th or 26th of Pharmuti (Apr. 21 or 22). Clement's language shows conclusively that the day was not generally recognised in his time. -; t^K" . ^j^. ^ JS.^ .t j-mjo ^•^^'^-vyi'n.*-} cc.^«dc^ rf*-tr>»-. J^^S-v^ mC^-f^^tm^.yt %^ ^'^w^ \4^ *^*-.-«*>l^ t>S2v^^ rr?- ut 1 believe no other Pro- testant Church) still continue the practice, although it was condemned by some of the early Councils as savouring too much of paganism. ' r?* nAi^v •u-^«wi' Guinness (Approaching End of the Age) concludes that of all the conjectures the most probable is that our Lord was bom about the time of the autumnal equinox (Sep- tember), at the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Epiphany was probably first celebrated soon after the time of Origei^.Circumcision, Ascension, and Advent, in the fourth century. The Purification of the Virgin Mftry was instituted about A.D. 640, in lieu of the heathen feast of Juno februata, held on the 1st of February which the pagan Romans celebrated with torches and candles to her honour ; but the Pope ordered that, instead thereof, they should go to the churches and ofier up the candles to the Virgin. It was therefore called Candle Mass or Can- dlemas. The same day was consecrated in Scandinavia to Balder, son of Odin, or Woden, and candles and torches were lit up in the houses and fires made on the moun- tains. Odin is the same as Adon, Ad-On, The Lord Sun, or Adonis, and Jerome tells us that Adonis and Tam- 'muz were identical. In M' dco he was worshipped as Wodan or Votan, and they had also a god called Tamu, and a day named after Wodan exactly as we ourselves TRINITY SUNDAY. (To tlie Editor of The Globe. ) Sir, — We are still among the Sundays after Trinity, and, as usual at this season, have been reminded in the pulpits and papers that Trinity Sunday is a day established by the Church, and moreover, that it was done as a solemn protest against Arianism, which does not appear very probable, for we believe it is a fact that the Arian controversy subsided one or two centuries before Trinity Sunday was instituted, and was only revived again by Servetus in 1531. But Churchmen ignore the words of St. Paul, " Prove all things," preferring, on the contrary, to read history through Romish spectacles, and are therefore perfectly satisfied on being told that the Church founded this or that feast or fast (Is there not too much feasting and fasting ?) without being aho at the same time reminded of what very few seem to reflect upon, that the Church of those dark ages was neither more nor lesH than the Pope, or some lesser bishop, or a Synod or Council (and the Council of Lerida, Hometimes nuoted as prohibiting marriages in Lent— but the supposed canon is spurious — con- sisted of nine members only), or sometimes even one of the laity, aa an Emperor or King, and that at the Reformation the Church of England was but partially reformed, and therefore still retains many of the Romish Church seasons, among which may be classed St. Barnabac' day, which we have lately celebrated, for no one knows either the day or the year that he was born or died. Nothing whatever is known about this apostle except what is recorded in the New Testament, the last date being about A.D. 50, (I. Corinthians), from which time there is a gap for over four centuries, until A. D. 478, when there was a dispute between Peter of Antioch and Anthemius of Cyprus, as to which should hold the see of Cyprus, which was craftily settled by Anthemius, who professed to have found the body of Barnabas, whereupon the Emperor Zeno ^ *-«y .B'^ ^■•*'«j Iv-^ ^■^^ 7< A ^•w^ ,1^*^ ¥#9^ decided in iiis favour and the 11th of June was con- secrated to the saint, and to this present vear, 1882, the Pr(v08taiit(!) Church of Enpfland 'con- siders the above day sacred to Barnabas, because, forsooth, it was si, declared by the Church, i.e., a Greek Emperor in vhe fifth century ! TJie Reformed Episcopal Churches in En{?land as well as those of the United States and Canada have dropped all saints' days from their prayer books. The church which instituted Trinity Sunday was Pope Gregory IV., oh his ascending the papal chair in 828, and the church by which it is said to have been introduced in England was the haughty archbishop Thomas a Becket, about A. D. Il62; but according to Binghant it was not generally established in the R. C. Chiirch before the begining of the fifteenth century, or only a century before it was adopted by the PiUglish Church of the Reformation ! As thp Arian controversy was past and for- gotten, it might be asked if the Pope acted wisely in reviving it, by establishing a special feast, as if it was still a matter of doubt ; and moreover as it was the blessed Trinity who declared every seventh day to be holy, was the Pope justified in declaring one of those days to be more sacred than the others to the same holy Trinity ? ' The Athanasian Creed is still read on this day. It wa«> written when the principles of toleration were i\ot understood, and when it was thought that false doctrine was to be extirpated by perse- cution and excluded by vehemence of denuncia- tion, and is unintellisrible to most people, bicause it was drawn up for the purpose of contradicting and excluding certain heretical opinions which were current in the fifth century. The Americans most wisely left it out of their Prayer Book a century ago, in part because of its minute definitions, and still more because of its th ree damnatory clauses. In the Irish Prayer Book the riibric making it obligatory to be read on certain days has been omitted. In the Prayer Book of the English Revision Society, and in that of the Re- formed Church of England, the obligatory rubric and the damnatory clauses have been excluded, and in the Prayer Books both of tho Reformed Episcopal Church of the United States and of Ca- nada tne Athanasian Creed has been entirely omitted, and it is time that the Protestant part of the Church of l^mgland should follow the example of some of the above churches. Three centuries ago the Puritans protested against saints' days, the cross in baptism, bowing in the creed, the surplice, etc., and many left tho Church and became NonctmformistH— »,s tliey were called — because they would not conform to our Charles II. Prayer Book. In tho Church we have still the two old parties — Hi(;h and Low. And here I must be pardoned for adding that the Bishop of Toronto was in error in implying that the latter is a modern party term, for Dr. Short, Bishop of St. Asaph, says, " The declaration of open war between the High and Low Church parties may be considered to have taken place in 15()(>," In his first charge the Bishop of Toronto said, " There is a party term which we have heard too often of late. I utterly repudiate it as offensive. I regard it and its opposite as calculated to rouse bitterness and strife. While glorying in the name of Evangeli- cal Churchman, in the true sense which I have attempted to define, I should resent it as oppro- brious to be stigmatized a Low Churchman. The latter term, however, appe irs to have been used in contradistinction to that ])art of the Church of Charles II., the head of whom, Arch- l)ishop Sheldon, a Hi^h Churchmnn, was as im- moral a man as his Royal master. Pepys, in his Diary, says in 1061. when com- plaining of the fearful depravity of the Court, " And the clergy so high, thai all people that I ineet do protest against their practice. " In 1698, according to Mountfield's " Puritans," the terms High and Low Churchmen seem to have been well understood. It is evident, there- fore, that the term Low Churchman is a distinc- tive name only, not opprobrious, wl jh has been in use for two centuries at least, aiid a name of which no one need be ashamed. V' l]- 'Wl VERAX. Toronto, June 23rd, 18S2. /' /T«»y->^ Z'*"*/'^ ^' 6«a: )^ inihe e Nativit ^ 'V in 607, Tammi dedicai dedical and sti Panth( gods, a differ May,l change oightli Con of the as be Virgi as n< Visiti until comB vi^c elect) muni whic Ti to Bed I J.J^-'i'^ f "V r\^' i-Pt'-^ ^(^ .ivy.^^i^K THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, 13 Tne A anuncx ation of the Virgin Mary was instituted in the seventh oeiitury, on a day sacred to Cybele. The Nativity of the Virgin Maxy, AJD. 695. All Saints* Day r^ ^ in 607, in lieu of the festival to all the gods (of whom yx'^ Tammuz was the chief), to whoinU separate temple was dedicated in Rome. This was transformed into a church dedicat-ed to All the Martyrs, and still.before the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, or Sept. 8, Si. Bemard^condemneq this '^X'/ as novel, hetefo3ox, luaa imauttor&d. Eastly, tne ^ ' Visitation of the Bk^ed Virgin, which was not instituted until 1378, by Pope Urban VI., the pope with whom commenced the Great Schism. The cardinals were di- vided, two conclaves were held, and while the one elected Urban the other elected Clement. Each excom- municate^ the other, and which was the true pope and which the anti-pope is still undetermined. Trinity Sunday. The observance of this day is said to have been established in England by Archbishop Becket, about A.D. 1162^ ^^ 4 ^ ** ^U m< ^^ i I !■' 14 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. (,' a'.'i) Lent was lixed at thirty-six days about the year 130, not by the Apostles for they were all dead, but by the Boman Church, and the number was gradually raised to forty and appears to have been settled at that number by Pope Fv^lix III, A.D., 487. Irenaeus, who died about the year 202, mentions the number forty, but while he is generally believed to refer to the number of hours between our Lord's death and resurrection, there are some who think he meant as many days. This will probably always be a matter of dispute. Even when the number was settled by Pope Felix it was not generally accepted, and in Scotland the four additional days were not recog- nized until as late as the end of the eleventh century. There is no authority in the New Testament for Chris- tians to fast, and the reference to fasting is an interpola- tion in no less than four places. The 21st verse of the I7th chapter of Matthew is an interpolation. In Mark ix, 29, the words " and fasting " ; and I Cor. vii, 6, "fasting and" are interpolations, and in Acts x, 30. Dean Alford translates it "I was until this hour keeping the ninth hour of prayer," omitting "was fasting." Dean Hook thinks Lent originated from regard to those words of our Redeemer, " the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast," but did not our Lord mean that His disciples would then feel like David when he said " my heart is wither- ed and smitten like grass so that / forget to eat my bread." He knew that they would mourn, and did not enjoin upon them to fast, but promised t( send them the * i ''f-tk t "Lf /^ /5U rr ^ ^*iiV,^— i-**^'^^^^^*-^-*^ A^ASU\r^^>^ ■I /e^ \ »"? ■■Jtm'r- ; c/^ *--*-^^r^^:-*-^:^.c>/jaw*M^ V ^ ^ I' w "'> ♦In a for his 1 •^t>vO /vt'i^<'« "'^ THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER. 15 ^:r !'.<«*>-' Comforter. As there is a special service for the first day of Lent this will be again referred to under Commination. The Ember Days were not instituted until the year 813, and we still consider these the only proper seasons ^^^ for ordaining ministers, because, forsooth, the Roman /9w/d^ Church so ordered in the ninth century, and the Irish A- ^^^. Church have retained these days, " In accordance (as they "^"^ o<^*^ say in the Canons) with the ancient custom of the Church " — ^which means, the Roman Church of the Dark Ages. Are we never to escape from her toils ? Rogation Days. These litanical, processional and fast- ing days w;ere instituted in the year 460, by Mamercus, Bishop of Yienne in France, and were probably derived from the heathen feast of the Terminalia. Processions were abolished at the Reformation, and there are no pray- ers or litanies in the Prayer Book for this season, although the name remains in the Tables. Prayers for Rogation Sunday were, however, adopted at the Provincial Synod last year. The first step! Will the next be an order for the ante-Reformation Processions ? St. Michael and all Angels. The date of this festival is uncertain. It seems to have been instituted about A.D. 500, and tb a r a e nn bo btttTStttoaoubt^S feat it was origin- ally a heathen feast, for it is an old custom in England to eat roast goose on Michaelmas Day, and although this is only first mentioned in 1471,* still it has probably been in existence as long as that of eating wild boar at Christ- *In a charter of 10 Edw. iv, a tenant binds himself to furnish one goose fit for his lord's dinner on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. .ri; A i>\r«u* ^a*,^.^;^*::^ ^tt>%j^jQ/^x/4-cyx^/f^ (^cyt-eatu^ ^^-w^"^ cc^ "'"^Qie Christian Pasch seems to have been amalgamated with the heathen feast of Astarte, and to have retained her name in England (Easter) and in Germany (Oster), for the heathen goddess called Ast^rf(th in the Bible was styled Ishtar in Nineveh, and Ostara, Eostre, or Eostur, in Old and Anglo-Saxon. She was also called the Syrian Venus, and to her we are indebted for the Easter Egg, for she was fabled to have been hatched out of an egg, and the British Druids wore an egg, probably made of crystal, set in gold around their necks^ Ostrich eggs were an- ciently suspended in the Egyptian and Greek temples, and are still suspended in Mahommedan mosques. The Hindoos have a mystic egg, as well as the Japanese and the Chinese. It is also found on Mexican monuments, and it all springs from the one root, Babylon, "which hath made all the earth drunken," for all heathen mythology arose there from corrupted traditions of a primitive J^: » t \f 4<.... ^ f/^uo A u I C^L. i L ^^ I, -- ' -'" ' ■ " ■iii-i .. . —— ,,111 _^ ^it->,/w '^^«c^ *^;X»*v. 0±*^ ^ ' - -^^^ z^'^w-f^^-uie '>*^4-w<^ a^4u.^^o^^ <9l^«.M.^/iC^4^ <^ X^ '^^^ y 18 ( Tu '\A- in th Pascl . ^ Whit and g fifth (!!): no la tJioug\ Ufeo^ that j some i establ withi her na for thi styled in 01c Venus she w theB] set in cientlj and ai Hindo the a and it made 8 arose >^; THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAIER. 19 revelation and was carried to all parts of the world at the Confusion of Tongues. The gathering of people in Baby- lonia at that time must have been far beyond our concept tion did we not know that they considered themselves numerous enough and powerful enough to scale the heavens. Even the hot cross buns of Good Friday are Pagan, and were made and marked with the cross of Tammuz, and called " feouTi," ages before the Christian era. Then they weit offered to Tammuz .and eaten by the priests. Now we eat them ourselves. Two were discovered in Herculaneum. The wafer used in the Roman Mass is identical with the thin round cake called KoUyris which they formerly offered to Astarte. "The women*. . . make cakes to the Queen of Heaven."— Jere. vii. 18. The Christian Easter originally extended over fifteen days, of which Easter Sunday was the central point, and a special solemnity of Easter Eve was kindling the holy fire and from it all other fires were rekindled.* The Roman Church still re-light their candles at Easter, and the Greek Church to this day kindle the Holy Fire at Jerusalem at the same time. When Astarte's season commenced is, I presume, iiow unknown, but it probably began or ended on the 1st of May, as on that day fires were lighted on the mountains * It must be remembered that friction matches have only been invented about forty years, previous to which time fires were never put out at night, but covered with ashes and the embers were raked out and rekindled>in the morning. ♦^Vi^^fc-V'^-^ -N J ^ ^>xe.*-w-o-*c«-^^j^ ^^^5,^ THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER. 23 A. ^7 in the year 460, on account of some local troubles, and are first mentioned in England A.D. 747. At the Refor- mation prayers for this season were abolished, and there are none in the Prayer Book, but tlie seed remained in the Calendar, and only last year (1880,) at tho Provinci al v/,' S ynod in Montrea l, prayers for this French bishop's in- //" stitution - iynro ndfrri i nfl vrm frti ! Were St. Paul to ap- pear again among us, would he not say, " I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain ? " The Synod also adopted a Form for the Consecration of ji Churches, for none has ever been authorized in England ^ by Convocation or Parliament, the majority having pro- ^' ^^ bably agreed with many of our best Churchmen in believ- ing that God does not confer peculiar sanctity on mere material structures. The Forms generally used in Eng- land have never been sanctioned by the proper authority. The late Archbishop Whately never used a Consecration service. He attended formally to accept the building, and to complete the legal documents by which it was set apart for the service of Almighty God, but that was all. Hely Smith says : " A place is not necessarily hallowed . ground because man says it shall be." ^ When the Al- mighty made the earth He said it was very good, but we , think it must be made still better by consecration before we can be buried in it. There are no consecrated ceme- taries on the ocean, however, and what then becomes of those who are buried at sea ? There is no Shekinah now, and therefore no Holy of Holies, althpugh there are spme who would have us con- ,s ;i It ( u^- <: THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYEB. •7^ sider the Chancel as such.. Our churches do not resemble the Temple, but rather the Synagogue. "^ The next move, I presume, will be to adopt a form of ** Deconsecration," but the Provincial Synod only meets every third year, and, in the meanwhile, they must take a lesson from the Bishop of Western New York, who, when he lately deconsecrated a Church, probably borrowed a service from the Church of Rome, for I do not believe there Is any such form in his own Church. And then, when our Churches become too shabby or old-fashioned to suit our refined tasces, we can deconsecrate them, and dedi- cate new and more gorgeous ones to that God who dwell- eth not in temples made with hands, and fill the windows with paintings of lovely men and wofnen (whom our chil- dren, if not we ourselves, soon learn to look upon with a feeling akin to reverence), and cover the walls with goljj and colours, to that God who is not worshipped with men's hands, for St. Paul is all but obsolete now and we are wiser in our generation. Our Reformers condemned paintings on walls and windows^ but who regards them or their Homily on the Peril of Idolatry and Superfluous Decking of Churches, in these aesthetic days ? They un- doubtedly thought that man's excessive ornamentation of God's House was a disfigurement instead of a beauty ; and of our public worship Bishop Horsley wisely remarked that " it should be simple without meanness, dignified without pageantry." The Synod also, while apparently professing to follow the Law of Moses, but, of course, in reality following Ro- *^ /^ /Cn>^. ^u-^ t/^<;*2- V^my$-Wi^i»^%jk.' Gc ^ ' \ %% f >^^\ Z \ cto/c;9G;L^ €v^gje^, w^u^s^X^m^LieJ ,-JUue.yc t'^rS^us^ ^•^ ^ a^»nC-Xr/g*> /^ *:4^fc24fc- '-^^^ yy«lbl. v >^A^4X..«««_ ^--n^iu^A^jc M^ ^«<« *%jt.^A -^eJ^t^J^c '^'i^AA «r»vw «'tM>^ •'^^^^ ^C***^ «5 C^ ^C«uyv«. «»^ <9^^ THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYEB. 25 man Catholic tradition, decided to present a Memorial to the Executive against the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, The Law only forbade marrying the sister during the wife's lifetime — " Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister to vex her ... in her lifetime." (Lev. xviii. 18.) CaijL anything be plainer — in her lifetime — to vex her ? She cannot be vexed when she is in her coflSn. ,?■ r V. Morning and Evening Prayer. 1. Priest. In the Revision under Charles II. "priest" was suDstituted for " pastor,' and " deacon " for "minister." Should not this be re-revised? Minister alone is sufficient. v,'^„ «- /*'V^ 2. The Absolution. The Rubric in the Revised Prayer Book is " The Absolution or Declaration concern- ing the Remission." It has been proposed to change our Rubric to "A Declaration that God pardoneth penitent sinners, to be read by the Minister." 3. Venite. The four last verses have a special refer- ence to the Jews, and do not apply to us. They are omitted in the American Prayer Book, and two other verses are substituted. 4 Te Deum. In the American Prayer Book our Lord is not called "honourable," but "adorable," and another verse reads, " Thou didst humble Thyself to be born of a Virgin,*' u 9S THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 5. Benedicite. Why should we iDvoke "Spirits and Souls," and pray to three dead men ? The Druids, it is true, believed that the souls of the dead were as angels guardians of the living; but is that Christian doctrine ? One might almost think so when hearing a whole congregation in the so- called " Hymn to the Angels," beseeching the angels to " Sing us sweet fragments of the songs above." I am wrong, however, in using the word " whole," for there must be some in every con- gregation who sing vdth understanding, and who do not, therefore, join in such hymns. This can- ticle, which is taken from the uncancnical Apo- crypha, is omitted in the Revised Praj er Book of the Prayer Book Revision Society, of which Lord Ebury is president, and also in the Reformed Epis- copal, and no wonder, for as an invocation to in- animate things it is unsuited to congregational wor- ship, for if not sung with understanding, it had better not be sung at all. 6. Benedictus. The American Church only retained the first four verses. Zacharias foretold what would be his son's destiny, and we cannot read the ac- count too often. The child grew up, performed his work, and died, and why should we sing to that child, as if his work was unperformed, when that child died, a man grown, 1,800 years ago ? The " Magnificat" was also expunged from the Ameri- can Praver Book, r< THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 27 9. 7. The Creed. In the Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book the words " He descended into hell " are omitted, although in the Rubric permission is given to any Churches to insert those words, or, as in the Ameri- can Prayer Book, " He went into the place of de- parted spirits." 8. A Prayer for the Clergy and People. It is said the word " curates " was used for fear we might be supposed to be praying for the clergy of other denominations ! In the American Prayer Book this is "Bishops and other clergy." The Athanasian Creed. The Americans left *^^^out^j^^^^^^^ of their Prayer Book niiiety years agq,^ ^^^^^^ilZlh^ Irish Prayer BookfSG^ as m the Revised Praye^^^ '**Ccf ' Book, the Rubric and three objectionable sentences <^«-e-*-u« are omitted, besides which the public use of it mcu,Ji^t^ Ireland has been discontinued. It is entirely omit-*^^"'^'^ ' ted in the Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book. aCo^oi^^ /fe^ <«^^— «-^ /^ VI. The LiTANYf-^^**-^ ^ "^?i*n^ "^y^ 1. From fornication and all other deadly sins. If there are deadly sins, there must be also venial sins ! In all time of our wealth. In the American Prayer Book, instead of wealth, it is " prosperity." Why should we praj- especially for the Nobility ? 4 VIT. A Prayer for the High Court of Parliament. The Sovereign is styled " most religious." This was a revision of the time of Charles II. Was it not mockery i ^ eJLa. JL; ^'^U'.^ e-.j2co ^ ^^ w^<^ ^'4^&.viv^^»iy^^^ '^ ^C^ C4n^,*^^4^ 28 THE BOOK OF COMMON PKAYER. to pray for him and George IV. as "most religious?" George III/s own Prayer Book is still preserved. With his own hand he erased these words, and inserted " a most miserable sinner." VIII. The Communion. Z. Offertory Sentences. Omit those from the Apocrypha. ^. Prayer for Christ's Church militant. The Eubric orders that if there are " no alms " nor " oblations " those words shall be left out unsaid. Some of the Ritualistic Dissenters make use of this to endea- vour to educate the people up to their ideas of a sacrifice by leaving out only " alms " and retaining " oblations," thus leading the unlearned and igno- rant to suppose that the bread and wine are oblac tions or sacrifices. In the Revised Prayer Book the words are " alms and contributions," and in the Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book " alms " alone, /^fivViLl^t n--T^ " oblations " being expunged." The word " obla- ^ ^fe^tyjt^. tions " in this prayer applied originally to the offer- ings on four specified Holy-Days, which were in- tended as a supply for the necessities of the minis- ter, as an increase of his stipend, while the " alms" were always devoted to the poor. ^ "When the Minister givetli warning — For " mystery " read "ordinance" or "supper." In the Revised Prayer Book it is "ordinance," and in the Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book "supper." There is no THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 29 " mystery " in the bread and wine except to those who ignorantlj" believe that it is changed to flesh and blood. In Doddridge's beautiful hymn, the words " Rich banquet," etc., are changed in the English book called the Bishop of London's Hymn Book to " Memorial of His flesh and blood." For " damnation " read " condemnation." Omit " the benefit of absolution together with." i Dearly beloved in the Lord. Omit "we provoke Him to plague us," etc., and alter the words " dam- nation " and " mystery." 6, Rubric for the Absolution. Change to " Then shall the Minister stand up and say." And change the " you " in the Prayer to " us " and the "your " into " our." "y. We do not presume. Alter as follows :~" Grant us so spiritually to eat and so spiritually to drink . . . . . %. In the Consecration Prayer Rubric, omit " of Conse- cration," and omit the five marginal rubrics. Our Saviour did not bless the bread and wine. He gave thanks. In the Second Book of Edward there was no provision for placing the hand on the paten and chalice. This was added during the time of Charles II., who died a Roman Catholic. In tLo Revised Prayer Book it is not called a Prayer of Consecration and the marginal ' Rubrics are omitted. fl. The next. Restore the Rubric as it was in the Book % i r 30 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. ( of 1552. " Then shall the Minister first receive . *. . . . and then proceed to deliver the same to the other Ministers (that they may help the chief Minister) and after that, etc.," the clause in brackets showing that no exaltation of the clergy was intended ; and that it is necessary to restore this clause is evident, fis in some Churches they already administer the Communion to the choir before the congregation, because the surpliced choir are considered assistants of the priesthood^ and therefore a superior caste to the laity. The Ritualistic policy from the beginning was to do everything by degrees, and one of their first moves was in building ne\y or restoring old churches to do away with the organ loft and bring the choir into the chancel, and many Evangelicals unwittingly followed their exam- ple. The next, when the people were sufficiently edu- cated was to weed out the women, leaving only men and boys. The male choir were then robed in- surplices when they became at once assistants to the priesthood. It must be remembered that the great aim of Ritualism is the Elevation of the Priesthood ! They also turned the Reading-Pew sideways as was' first done in the Laudian period. The Priest party then pretended that when the Minister was praying he was speaking to Qod, and should therefore turn and face Him, and in reading and preaching he was addressing the peo- ple, and should therefore then turn and face them. As if God was not equally present everywhere I (1^ bd Bo on /i^L^ J^^AkmjUl*. ■^^■^1 c. ^lM-t.j/^irv»~ , THE BOOK OP COMMON PRAYER. 31 They also re-introduced the Lecterns which were un- necessary when the desk was in its proper position, for what reason is there in moving from one place to another to conduct different parts of our Protestant service ? They also removed the Font from its proper place near the pulpit, to the door, t^st^^-^^ /^ ^^o»wib a eaaad,»aM d <^ ^uuBJKfkmije veiy severe. During their month of Kama- zan the Turks abstain not only from eating but also from drinking and smoking from daybreak until sunset, and as their months are lunar, Ramazan falls in different seasons of the year, so that while in winter the day is only about twelve hours long, in summer it is about sixteen. In warm weather this fast is very severe, the abstinence from drink- ing being most painfully felt, and it is fatal to numerous persons in a weak state of health. Invalids, travellers, and soldiers in time of war, are not obliged to keep this fast. Let those members of our Church who, while they pre- tend to disapprove entirely of the Roman Catholic method of fasting, still think it meritorious to give up a few cigars or glasses of beer, or cakes and sugar, compare their " bod- ily exercise " with that of the Turks who cannot even moisten their lips with a drop of cold water for sixteen hours of a hot summer day — and this for a whole month —for if Heaven is to be gained by fasting, the foliowei-s of the false prophet will be there before them ! 38 THE 300K OF COMMON PRAYER. Smoking excepted, fasting in the Christian Church in the fifth century seems to have resembled that of the Turks* as we learn from the decree of the Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, that fasting is a withholding of meat, drink and all natural food from the body for the determined time of fasting. 1)\A,^^ *^ We all know what the Romish fast is, but the Greek fast A^^, is much more strict. The French author, EdmonJ About, L u ^ gives a very good account of it. He passed two Lents in ' Greece, one in the city and one in the country. I myself read his work there, on my second visit to that country, soon after it was published, and believe it to be a faithful picture. He says, " I know of nothing more fit for irrita- ting the disposition than the Greek Lent. They not only deprive themselves of meat, but they interdict themselves the use of butter, eggs, sugar, and often of fish. They only eat bread, caviar, and herbs seasoned with oil. In- deed, Lent sets the mind of all on fire, and makes all the political and religious passions to effervesce." " It will be believed that, if the Greeks restrict them- selves to such a severe diet, it is not for the pleasure only of eating mouldy olives ; it is especially to gain heaven. But the odds are, that Lent sends more people down be- low than to heaven ; so much does it make them commit sins of envy. I have never seen a Greek eating olives without hearing him say, * Won't I just eat meat on Eas- ter Day! *^' " During the holy week . . . Our host, the awog'- nostis in the Island of iEgina, used to repeat to me every THE BOOK OP COMMON PRATER. 39 in rks' Ion, md of day, at his meals, * You shall see how I will drink wine on the dav of the hHlliant ! how I will dance ! how I will get drunk ! how I will fall flat as a pig, with my face on the ground ! ' This man was naturally sober, and without Lhe fast he perhaps would never have got drunk at all." " It is with these pious thoughts that the people and the clergy abridge the length of the fast. ThejT think they do enough for their salvation in interdicting themselves forbidden meats ; anc they imagine that the auhmiaaion of the stomach dispenses them fron that of the heart." It is the same in Russia where they have a proverb, " Heaven can only be reduced by famine." There are some, of course, who keep the fasts strictly, but another French author, Lacroix, says, " As to the rich, they buy the right of living during the fast the same as they do the rest of the year. When they are obliged to conform to the rules of the Church, they fast by eating the most deli- cate fish, vegetables raised in hot-houses, and nourishing fruits ripened by the heat of stoves." Before Easter every one must coljbss and receive abso- lution, and the following is one way that it is done. Prof. Morley, of University College, London, in his "Sketches of Russian Life", says, of a servant who asked leave to go to Church, and was told that he could not be spared. " But I must go : this is the last day of confessing. I will be back in a few minutes." " How can you manage to con- fess all your year's sins in a few minutes ? " " Your hon- our, if I only had five kopecks the priest would keep me a long time ; but I have a rouble, and that will get me 40 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. through in five minutes ; I know how to do." " Off the fellow went and retumed in less than half an hour with all his spiritual accounts squared. " The English custom, since the Reformatioo, of eating fish on the old Romish fast days arose from political rea- sons only. As the people were no longer obliged to eat fish on certain days the demand fell off, and for fear that the fishery, the principal nursery for the navy, should fall into decay, by a Statute of 5 Elizabeth, 5, none were al- lowed to eat meat on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, without a license, but by the same Act it was declared to be a mere political law, for the increase of cattle, and for the encouragement of fishermen and marinerd,andnotfor any superstition to be maintained in the choice of meats. It was the opinion of that early Ritualist, the learned Durandus, that the first observation of Lent began from a superstitious, unwarrantable, and indeed profane conceit of imitating our Saviour's abstinence ; but Hislop shows that the forty days was directly borrowed from Babylon, being part of the annual festival of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing ; and that this was one of the cases where Rome, to conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, pursuing its usual policy, contrived to amalgamate its own anniversary with that of the Pagans. Our doctrine is a strange one, that we must fast during a certain forty days and then put on our new dresses at Easter and commence a fresh score for eleven months, to be wiped off again at the next Lent — ^but what if the An- gel of death come in the meanwhile ? i Ft t.. j'C-t the rith THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 41 old proverb is " At Easter let your clothes be new Or else be sure you will it rue." and it is a sorrowful fact that with many churchmen this may almost be called a settled belief ; but, as The Rock p said lately, " Is there any season in which a true Chris- . J tian may safely entertain other than 'penitential thoughts ? f * What man is he that liveth .^id sinneth not ? * And if our love of worldliness and dissipation revive at Easter I ^ tide, what the better shall we be for our enforced peni > ( tence during Lent ? " ^ c| St. Paul never commanded us to fast. What he did '\\ i say, however, was, " In everything, hy prayer and sup- plication with thanksgiving let your requests be made ^ known unto God." cy Fasting, as a religious exercise, is referred to three times j only in the Psalms, but holy rejoicing wo^q than forty ;:^ times. St. James admonishes those who are in affliction* ^ but does not tell them to fast. " Is any among you afflic- ted? let him pray. Is any among you merry ? let him sing psalms;" and St. Paul says, "Bejoice in the Lord al- way ; and again I say, rejoice." Lent is not a Scriptural season, but a Church season, a Roman Church season, derived not from Holy Scripture, I but from the Roman Churchy eut^ ^{ Our Articles say that whatsoever is not read in Holy 4 •4 I Scripture, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required ^ ^ of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the ^ J Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. ^ It cannot be proved by Holv Scripture that Christians 1 ^g i I t^h>j24yt^«,i'>rJ^.r^p^€^0€^ y>vW A^^*y*'-^ I ^iAfity t t4 ^ :a ^, \ ^«, tt-jk ^WI ^^ 'Tyi t a 'utf^-~' • 1 44 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER. , I Every conceivable form of the Romish image of the Cross is given, but, does he dare to tell us that it is the pagan initial and symbol of Tammuz, adopted as the Cross, by the Romish Church, to draw the heathen into the Church by leading them to think there was but little difference between the two religions ? Iii so doing, how- ever, they broke the Second Commandment by adopting an image, as if the doctrine alone was insufficient but must be represented by an idol. Does he even mention the name of Tammuz, although he is referred to in Eze- kiel ? The Chi rho monogram (X P ; in English Chr.) is also pre-christian. This could not be entirely overlooked, nor Liddell and Scott's statement that it stood for Chronos! Chronos was the Greek name of Saturn, who was only another aspect of Tammuz. Under " Money," Smith gives some examples of the pre-christian T and X P, without, however, connecting them with Tammuz ; neither are we told that, in Egypt, the Chi rho was the monogram of Osiris, as the Sun was called at Abydos, and was also a sign of Jupiter Ammon who, as well as Chronos was also the Sun. Sanchoniathon says, the Phoenicians supposed the Sun to be the only Qod, calling him Beelsamin, which name among them signifies Lord of Heaven, but among the Greeks, Zeus or Jupiter. At the dispersion they all carried away with them faint reminiscences of one only God, as well as of a Trinity,^ * And the triangle (single or double) is found in the ruined temples of Nineveh, Egypt and Mexico. It was the symbol of Bacchus, and in Egypt the black bull Apis had a white triangle on his forehead. It is the symbol oCthe Hindu god Siva, and also of Vishnu ; and in Nepaul is the symbol of ner Bod BidJ oril jecj ma| hoi in Cdi THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 45 ►f the is the ,s the n into little how- [>pting it but ention nEze- Chr.) ooked, ironos! IS only h gives ithout, are we ram of 3 also a ras also ipposed ., which among [i them rinity,* bemples of in Egypt le Bjrmbol lymbol of and although they multiplied their gods as the Romish Church afterwards multiplied her saints, still their wise men held that they were originally aU one. In fact it is expressly so declared in the Orphic hymns. But Heathen Mythology is all mystery — confusion worse confounded. In Egypt Osiris is not only the hus- band of Isis, but also her father, brother and son ; i£nd, moreover, he is the son of Horus, his own child, by Isis !f We read in our Classical Dictionaries that Bacchus, Adonis, Silenus, Friapus and the Satyrs were all men, and Vesta, Rhea, Ceres, Proserpine and Themis were women ; but Porphyry tells us they were all one and the same. Bhava, the Sun god. The Jews, who, since the fall of Babylon, have re- jected idolatrous worship, have, however, still a superstitious regard for it ; and Christians forgetting the Second Commandment and the words of Isaiah " To whom then wiU ye liken €k>d ? or, what likeness will yecompare unto Him ?" place it in their churches, especially in Christmas decorations, f The same as Easter. She was the Egyptian Queen of Heaven, and the Lotus, or water lily, was sacred to her. In Pagan Rome the lily was sacred to Queen Juno ; with the Roman Catholics it is sacred to their Queen of Heaven ; and yet, in Protestant Churches we find it in carvings, > in ground-glass windows, in carpets, in Sunday-school banners, and the like. Some may say ours is the Lily of France, but the case is not im- proved thereby, for it was probably adopted as the Arms of France, to show that France was placed under the protection of the Virgin ; and this appears still more likely when we remember that the supporters were two angels. There are some who think the lilies were adopted as a pun upon the King's name,2oj/«in Romance signifying both Louis and lily. Perhaps both rea- sons were taken into consideration. We had a Sunday-school celebration here, not long since, and when I saw Protestant children carrying lily ban- ners through the public streets, I felt confident that we were confirming Roman Catholics in their faith by leading them to believe that we also con- sider the Virgin as our patron Saint. Is the Second Commandment obsolete, or is it not clear enough ? All likenesses of any kind whatever, whether of ob- jects animate or inanimate for thb dsi of beuoion are idols I I say inani- mate, for rude stones have often been worshipped, and to this day the Ma- homedans kiss the black stone of the Kaaba. Read Deut. iv. Five times in that one chapter does Moses warn us against similitudes ! n 46 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Arnobius says that in praying the heathen often said " Oh Baal, whether thou be a god or goddess, hear ud," and in the Orphic Hymns they sang to the universal Zeus, " Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female." They prayed to Baal Jupiter (Jupiter Belus), to Baal Apollo (Apollo Belenus), to Baal of Tyre (Baal Tsur), to Bfial of Tarsuo (Baal Tars) and innumerable others, for Bacchus was called the many "named. As for Astaite, the consort of Tammuz and Queen of Heaven, who was the same as the great Diana of the Ephesians, she was called Myrionyma, the goddess with ten thousand names, and have not we licr prototype still ? In the Roman Church they have Our Lady of Loretto, Our Lady of Mount Olivet, Our Lady of the Passion, Our Lady of the Annunciation, and for the rest their name is Legion. A few years ago the favourite was Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, but at present I believe that Our Lady of Lourdes is still the fashionable Queen of Heaven, although nearly eclipsed a few months sinc^* by the Irish Lady who seems to have subsided sinqe the late troubles in that unfortunate isle. And what have we ? It must not be forgotten that the second tim>e the blessed Virgin's name is mentioned in our Prayer Book she is called " Our Lady." Such is therefore her proper designation according to the Prayer Book, We have then : — Our Lady of the Annunciation (or Cybele). March 26, Our Lady of the Purification (or Juno). Feb. 2. Our Lady of the Visitation. July 2. coi fot ^^ in THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER. 47 Our Lady of the Nativity. Sept. 8. Our Lady of the Conception. Dec. 8. In the Revised Prayer Book they have retained the Annunciation and the P urifica tion (which they call The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, having dropped the rest of the title), although what can he proved is that the first was instituted in the seventh century on a day ob- served in Pagan Rome in honour of Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods, and the other was instituted about A. D. 626 (some say A. D. 540), in lieu of the feast of Juno, — ^and what can never he proved is when our Lord was presented in the Temple, and when the angel Gabriel made the announcement to the blessed Virgin. As it may appear strange to hear of Pagan Rome at so late a period I must add here that about A. T). 400, there were temples in Rome to Jupiter, Saturn, Cybele and several others, and many of the old religious ceremonies and festivals continued to be observed. One century later (A.D. 500) an edict was passed condemning to death those found sacrificing according to the pagan rites, but a certain toleration was practised at Rome where the relig- ion was long cherished. At Rouen, in France, there were temples to Jupiter* Apollo and Mercury still in use in the seventh century and in 689 a statue of Diana war worshipped at the court of Dagobert ILy Even as late as 794 Charlemagne found it necessary to publish an edict ordering sacr6d groves and trees to be cut down — but we still place them in our churches at Christmas ! X ^ 7/f 48 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. a/^ -C'^- I Wfc ^e told in Smith's Diet* that praying towards ihe East was adopted from its commencement " in accordance with the very wise rule which accepted all that wad good and pure in the religious system it came to supplant." If praying thus was " good and pure " Ezekiel must have been mistaken when he tells us it was pointed out to him as an abomination. Whom then must we believe — ^the Spirit who spoke to Ezekiel, or Messrs. Smith and Cheet- ham ? It was worshipping the Sun in the East, and in another part of the work (which is not free from contra- dictions) Dr. Smith allows that it was probably in the first instance derived from Persian notions of sun wor- ship. Those who pi-ay towards the East must believe that the Almighty is localized in one particular comer of the Heavens,and their God then' differs from our Omnipre- sent God, who is present to all and present eveiywhere. Under " Fisherman " we have an engraving|[su]^poled to represent the " divine or apostolic fisher," but under " Ichthys " it is called a monster ! This can only be styled " gross ignorance," for instiead of representing our Divine Lord, or even a monster, the engraving of a man robed in the skir. of a fish represents On or Oannes, the Man of the Sea, or the Fish God, who was worshipped by the Philistines under the very name of the Fish On— Dag-on — and how many of our bishops are there who are aware that they still retain a relic of this On, for the mitre is the fish's head with the mouth open.* Even in Peru they had their Fish-god called Teocipactli, and they had one .^Iso in Mexico. , * The Fish-god is also engraved in Layard^nly be ing our ^aman les, bhe >ped by hOn— vho are for bhe Even in ad bhey If bhe mysbery of iniquiby abounded even in Sb. Paul's bime, whab words shall we find bo describe ib only a few years laber. So crazy were bhey for symbols bhab dis* covering bhe firsb lebbers of Jesus Chrisb Son of God bhe Saviour, in Greek, were Ichbhys, bhe Greek for " fish," bhey adopbed bhe fish as a symbol of bhe person of our Divine Lord, albhough by so doing bhey placed him on a level nob only wibh Dagon bub wibh bheir own old Roman god Bacchus, who we leam from Hesychius was some- bimes called Bacchus Ichbhys ! Before we blame bhem, however, ib will be well bo re- flecb bhab we ourselves address bhab Lord and Masbor as " Lighb ! " If ib is seemly bo address Chrisb Jesus as Lighb (Lead kindl)' Lighb), why may we nob also pray " Vine bend down bo us," " O Door open unbo us ? " ^ .2l^±v^ Afber bhis digression leb me conbinue wibh^y'^^^Sj^ i^CiTl^IXI? XL The Psalms OF David. iri^:::^^fr^^ In bhe Reformed Episcopal Prayer Book bhis is " The Psalber : selected from bhe Psalms of David " — and is nob bhis an improvemenb, for whab is more painful bhan bo hear a minisber reading and bhe people responding bo bhe fearful curses of bhe 109bh Psalm ? If anybhing can be worse ib is when bhe Psalms are sung, bo hear a choir singing like parrobs : Leb his children be fabherless, and his wife a widow. Leb his children be vagabonds, and beg bheir bread. Leb bhere be no man bo piby him, nor bo have compassion on his fabherless children. ^ruC> *^^ /;>;<» * / /L* >U3^ *^ W^Hltf.. t^y^ /«-^ ^ 4fej,«w ^*]f* * * ^"y^yf^ Vj£^yU- % V*'' -^^—^-^ -^'^t^ , J THB BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. ers not to lay too much stress upon them, for, excepting the First Council of Nice, probably not one was spotless. Gregory Nazianzen, himself a Bishop, and held iii such esteem that he was canonized, said of the Second Great Council (a.d. 381), " The Bishops were low-born and illi- terate peasants, blacksmiths, deserters from the army or reeking from the holds of ships, time-servers and flatter- ers of the great and pretended devotees who have neither intellect nor faith." The third was the Council of Ephe- sus, A.D. 431. About two hundred Bishops attended, two of whom could not write, and their names, " Elias eo quod nesciam literaa " (as a school-boy would say, " Because I do not know my letters "), and " Gajumas, propterea quod literas ignorem" were signed for them by others ! The Emperor had to send a guard of soldiers to maintain peace among them. In 449, another Council was held in Ephe- sus and several of the Bishops confessed to subscribing through others, as they could not write. They so abused - the Arcbbishqp Flavian, kicking and stamping upon him, that he died a few days after. This was called the Rob- bers' Synod, and is not one of the Councils which we re- cognize. The next, which we do recognize, was held at Chalcedon, A.D. 461. Professor Eobertson, Canon of Can- terbury, in his "History of the Christian Church " (Lon- don, 1867), describing the continual bursts of tumult at this Synod, says, " The description of the scene might re- call to our mind the tempest of modem republican assem- blies, rather than the ideal which we might have natur- ally formed of the Church's greatest general council/' i C ■ 3 1 THE "BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER And yet how often " Councils " are quoted as authorities. The only reason against marrying in Lent is that it was forbidden by a Council. That Synod was held at Laodi- cea about A.D. 371, and was not even a general one, and yet a provincial Synod has been allowed to dictate to the whole Christian world. Bowing, in the Creed, is said to be founded on the de- cree of one of these sapient Councils, while others con- ceive it is in accordance with Philippians ii. 9, " At the name," &c., but this verse, correctly translated, is^ " In i the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bend" signi- fying that we should tnoA^e our prayers through Him. Kv^i' i-l" ^Tf^'f V V k #k In 585, the second Council of MScon enacted that if a layman on horseback met a mounted clerk (or man in holy orders) he should uncover his head ; if the clerk was on foot, the laynian should dismount and salute him, under pain of being susfpended from communion during the Bishop's pleasure. Socrates alleges that he has intermingled the history of the wars of those times, as a relief to the reader, that he may not be continually detained with the ambitious contentions of the Bishops, and their plots and counter- plots against each other. And all these Synodsuen were Bishops, of whom a " Cowley Father " told us lately that if all the Archbishops and Bishops were to die, there would no longer be any connexion between earth' and heaven ! These men must have been in theiii day the "connecting links," for they fj^^j? were all of the Apostolic succession. Chrysostom deposea.i'^ uc ^ X& 6>ifc*,^*^ ^^y4rw»^^ (da.jdJt i^'^«*^^ ^«-^^ '7't?' if^ i'K^C'U.uPo 54 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. in one day six Bishops, all of whom confessed they had bought their bishoprics and then sold the right of ordina- tion, to re-imburse themselves — ^but we are not told that all their ordinations were also cancelled. It may be said, this occurred many centuries ago, but turn we then to later times. In the Roman Church, children have often been made Bishops, that their families might enjoy the revenues. , Benedict IX. (a.d. 1033) became Pope of Rome at the Rge of twelve, although some writers claim that he was eighteen ; Leo X. (Pope in 1513) was made an archbishop at the age of eleven, but a child of five years was made Archbishop of Rheims — ^and we are expected to believe that this very young gentleman was a successor of the Apostles ! This much is certain, that were a similar case to occur now, and the young gentleman should join our . Church he would, according to the Prayer Book, have to be received without any fresh ordination or consecration, for, to our shame be it spoken, since the time of Charles the Second we still recognize Roman Catholic ordination, as may be seen in my remarks on the Ordinal, and at the "S* same time igi^ore all the Churches of what we call the 5 VilPSRPd Reformation ^^ ^^O?o • -^«^ a^S^Lr^,*;^.^^^' A*^-^^3 4 ^'Queen Elizabeth made a captain of a ship-of-war Bishop *^^ ^ of Cork in 1683. From his quarter-deck he stepped at *K^^ once into the episcopal throne. (Did St. Paul have 8'^^*3^ but Captain William Lyon, Royal Navy, was a devout^'^J^T^ •nan and made a very good Bishop, although it is said ha^.^^^ «t never preache^but^e^grmm,^ ^^ /^^/e.:^^*:^ 4 / i it. A«'^^ lad la- lat mt ^-^"-cs: ^"•^V^ifc^ C^U^it^ t^-t^^U^ri^ «c-*.Ji/»-^-e^<^^ A.£-'/<^>''^^^.iu ^cr ,. gr D ^%-7^tE^ in one di ^^rrvj^-^j^,^ ^ ^ ^..*.w#-. bought t' *«'»-• A-.>-6y . -^t^^'i'^iw^-Svg^^ U all their -— ^ J ji ' A J ^ It ma} turn we In the Bishops, Benedict age of ti eighteen at the ag Archbish that this Apostles to occur Church 1 be receiv for, to ot the Seco) as may l^ *"^ same tin]^4^<<-y*:::;, /6/U-^n*i<^r/ X^ blessed J ^ ^ Seen of Cork once int throne ?) «^l/v— ^a-^0^/^e-«A^ A^ ti^u^^^e^^ rnerp iTTio- pioui mat ireiraar ever oraair )CI,^^*vq" but Captain William Lyon, Royal Navy, was a devout^^J^f^ man and made a very good Bishop, although it is said hftij^^ < n^yerpmchedbjaone^jjrmsiS:^^ ^"T"'^*;^^ A«^ imn _ ^^^ ^^THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 55 ^^-^^^^ ^.^r~ -^-wv We all remember when •» Bishop, immediately after his consecration, paid his "wire-puller " by appointing him Dean and Rector of the Cathedral, contrary to distinct pledge§ that the people should make their own selection, the Vestry, not wishing to keep the Cathedral doors for- ever locked, were compelled to reduce the pew rents (from which the stipend and other church expenses were paid) to one dollar per pew, so that the Very Reverend " wire- puller " found it advisable to retire, but the Bishop still livw, and is he respected, or is he even oSitlocriZ -be re- specttd ? All this may be called very plain language (I intend it to be so) — uncharitable, will in many cases be the mild- est term used, but is it not the truth, and why should that forever be " hushed up " % Even I have not said all, but when we are told from the pulpit that without Bishops we cannot reach heaven, and find that there are some that believe such doctrine, it is necessary to show both sides of the question. »^«^ ^«u^^ — J^K^'^t*. /t^j' m^% t^-^ ^ A-^ ^, ^6 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.' H,-**' The Bishop of Quebec and six of his city clergy (men of the same Apostolic succession as the above-mentioned Bishop and his intriguing Dean) have just refused to meet the non-Episcopal clergy of that city on a Temperance platform ! Two of his clergy, to their honour be it said, refused to sign the protest. It appears that some will never remember that at the time of the Reformation) Protestant ministers of Scotland or the Continent could hold livings in our Church, and it was only in the time of Charles the Second that the " Episcopal clause " was added to the Ordinal, the effect of which is that while all Protestant non-Episcopal clergy are excluded, our professedly Protestant Church is ready to receive with open arms not only a Romish priest, but even any ignorant Greek, Coptic or Marohite priest, be- cause Episcopally ordained ! ! ! The following license was granted by one of the Reform- ers, Archbishop Grindall, to a Scotch Presbyterian minis- ter, and the words which I have italicised, " in like cases, " prove that it was the prevailing custom to grant such au- thority. The Church of Scotland was then Presbyterian, and no Bishop Episcopally ordained then held officewin that country : " William Aubrey, Doctor of Laws, legally exercising the office of Vicar-General in Spiritual, and of Chief Functionary of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to our be- loved in Christ, John Morrison, M.A., born in the King- dom of Scotland, eternal health in the Lord. Whereas, we have heard on credible testimony that you, ♦•■ >'^. ..^v' THE BOOK OF COMMON PRATER. 57 ■ ■ the aforesaid John Morrison, about five years past, in the town of Garvet, in the County of Lothian, in the King- dom of Scotland, was admitted and ordained to Holy Or- ders and the sacred ministry, by the imposition of hands, according to the laudable form and rite of the Reformed Church of Scotland ; and whereas, the said congregation of that County of Lothian i s conformable to the ortho - dox faith and pure religion now received, and by public authority est ablish <*.d in the real m of England ; we there- fore approving and ratifying, as far as in us lies, and by the right we may, the form of your ordination and ad- vancement to this function alone in the manner aforesaid, grant and impart to you in the Lord, with all good will, as far as in us lies and by right we may, and with the consent and mandate of the most reverent Father in Chiist, Edmund, by Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan, to us signified, license and faculty in these orders by you taken, to celebrate Divine offices, to administer the Sacra- ments, and purely and sincerely preach the word of God, either in the Latin or vulgar tongue, according to the tal- ents, which God hath given you. In Testimony Whereof we have caused the seal which we use in like cases to be affixed to these presents. Given the sixth day of April, 1582. " It would be folly to suppose that Bishop Williams and his men should take counsel by the above. The ministers of the Reformation are now few and far between, and too many of our Churches are served by priests of the Chilrch of Charies the Second, iS THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. Egyptian travellers may remember the naked Church- men (priests and monks of the Coptic Church) at Gebel Tayr, who swim to the boats to beg.* Are not these rev- erend gentlemen the equals of the supercilious priests who are afraid of soiling their robes by coming in contact with Presbyterians or Methodists on the "Jommittee of a Tem- perance Society, for they are all of the same Apostolical, Tactual, Episcopal succeission, having received Episcopal ordination ? If thep*j Coptic priests chose to join our Church, would they not have to be admitted without re- ordination ? I close these remarks without referring to the Articles principally because there are but few who read them. We must *take the Prayer Book itself ^ as it reads, and what is it then ? In the last seven years there have been three revisions ; in England, Ireland and the United States. Had we moved in the matter the Reformed Episcopalians would not have left us. Are we waiting for another secession 1 Numbers are still leaving us, some, following the teach' ing of the Prayer Book, for the Church of Rome where the worship of Our Lady, the observance of Fasts and the like are real and not nominal (or as they may well say neglected), as with us, others for Protestant churches.. Aiany even for the Reformed Episcopal Church which it will not do to treat lightly for already, in only seven years, * Sir j/*rederick Henniker visited the convent in 1822. He says they commenced baking for us, " not having time to wait, the chief priest offered me a stale but substantial bun, having Coptic characters and crosses on it ; tl)is is sacramental bread." v^^-^x**^ (U.^..,uk. ^oZ¥^ *,.^ ^>v-u2ii /^kL. < •cu*^ THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 59 they have ten bishops and about one hundred cleigy and ten thousand communicants, and the number would prob- ably have been greater had their revision been more per- fect. One example may ^office. With Lent they retained also Ash-Wednesday, thus showing the day to be in their estimation a Holy-Day, which, however, it certainly is Tiot, for it was only declared to be so in the Dark Ages by a Pope of Rome ! If the day was worthy of being re- tained why did not they (and we ourselves) retain also the ceremony fiom which its name was derived, or at least as much as is still practised in the Roman Church, and the Form of Prayers commencing : " Vouchsafe to + bless and -|- sanctify these ashes," etc., and why do not their bishops (and ours) cross the people on the forehead with ashes on Ash-Wednesday ? They (and we) have now the ash-day without the ashes. They have wisely expuHged the Table of Rules in which we are told what Feasts and Fasts we must observe. As our Table gives no further information, however, dckjs it not naturally follow that for instructions we must go to the Church of Rome, from whom w^ received the Tables ? Every spring our ministers, as in duty bound, give us Lenten sermons, and teU us that now is the Season of our Humiliation, and the Prayer Book and some of the clergy inculcate Fasting as well. And what does it all imply — that, in this season of forty days, we must by "bodily ex- ercise" work out our own salvation, and when Easter comes, what then — why, of course, the rest of the year is ours I r-' ft*^) h- IV*' y"^,. ^' ^-^ ^ ^ C ^ m ^^d^ *-w^ /^^ ^^ i^^^/C.^ '^-^^v^^**,^ 60 THE BOOK OP COMMON PRAYER. The question may be asked, how are we profited by this "bodily exercise"? Does it wipe off "old oqofcs " and entitle us to priestly absolution, or do we expect by it to obtain an " Indulgence" for. eleven months to come ? Less than two centuries after our Lord's death Tertul- lian protested against what we now call Easter. In less than two centuries more Jerome protested against obliga- toi^'^ fasts. Soon after Cassian tells us the observance of the forty days had no existence so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate, and Socrates said that neither our Saviour nor his Apostles enjoined us to keep what we now call Easter, and that the Apos- tles had no thought of appointing festival days, hut of promoting A life of hlamelessness and piety. Let me close ^ith an extract from Mosheim's Ecclesias- tical History : *^ Both Jews and Heathens were accustomed to a vast variety of pompous and magnificent ceremonies in their religious service. And as they considered these rites an essehtial pai*t of religion, it was but natural that they should behold with indifference, and even with contempt, the simplicity of the CJhristian worship, which was desti- tute of those idle ceremonies that rendered their services so specious and striking. To remove then, in some mea- sure, this prejudice against Christianity, the bishops thought it necessary to increase the number of rites and ceremonies, and thus to render the public worship more striking to the outward senses." " A remarkable passage in the life of Gregory, surnam- ed Thaumaturgus, that is, The Wonder- Worker, will illus- cAi v^ •^^ ^^m-^ ^<€>w > Jo%^ Ct^^^tt\„^4\^ '^"C^ . ac^^di '^'^- 9-m^*^ ^LaAv«^ ^-^-^^CCC^ THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 61 dby trate this point in the clearest manner. The passage is as follows: 'When Gregory perceived that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry on account of the pleasures and sensual gratincations which they enjoyed at the Pagan festivals, hajpanted them a permission to indulge themselves in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, hoping that, in process of time, they would return, of their own accord, to a more virtuous and regular course of lifer There is no sort of doubt but that, by this permission, Gregory allowed the Christians to dance, sport, and feast at the tombs of the martyrs, upon their respective festivals, and to do every- thing which the Pagans were accustomed to do in their temnles, during the feasts celebrated in honour of their god?" It must be remembered that in the primitive Church every bishop had the right to form his own liturgy and creed, and to settle at pleasure his own tiyne and ttwde of celebrating the religious festivals, and Socrates assigns this as the principal cause of the endless controversies in the Church, respecting the observance of Easter and other festivals. This right seems to have obtained in England until as late as the time of Archbishop Becket. Will it be believed that in the city of London the^ at one time fasted on St. Mark's Day on one side of the street while they did not on the other, because forsooth my Lord of London had ordered the day to be observed and my Lord of Canterbury had not ? In Pilkington's work entitled the " Bumynge 1^ 62 THE BOOlt OF COMMON iRAYER. of Paules Church," 1663, *» wl: '• Although Ambrose saye that the churche kn«r ve u fastinge day betwixt Easter and Whitsonday, yet oesid . ^anye fastes in the Rogation week, our wise popes of late yeares have devysed a monstrous fast on St. Mark^ paye. All other fastinge dales are on the holy day even, only Sainte Marke must have his day fasted. Tell us a reason why, so that you will not be laughen at. We knowe wel ynough your reason of Tho. Beket, and think you are ashamed of it : tell us where it was decreed by the Church or Generall Counsell. Tell us also, if ye can, why the one side of the strete in Cheapeside fastes that daye, being in London diocesse, e*nd the other side, beinge of Canterbury diocesse, fastes not? and so in other townes moe. Could not Becket's holynes reache over the strete or would he not ? If he coulde not, he is not so mighty a Saint as ye make hym.***' This St. Mark's Day is one of our Saint's Days. What Roman Prelate settled the date for us ? Was it " St. Thomas of Canterbury ? " The Roman Catholics and ourselves commemorate him on the 25th April, but the 11th Jan. was assigned to him by the Greeks, and Sept. 23rd by the. Coptic Church, and as he undoubtedly resided in Alexandria and is said to have been martyred there, it v/ould appear most likely, if the true date had been preserved by any (which is exceedingly doubtful), that the last is the day of his " natalis." Bishop Gregory Thaumaturgus, who died about the year 270, " hoped that in process of time they would return to a * Brand's " Popular Antiquities." ^ ^ s/1^^^^ C3e<^U^i^.^ THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 6S more virtuous and regular course of life." The time was long in England, however, for only three centuries ago the Feast of Christmas was still kept up for thirteen days until Twelfth Day, like the old Saturnalia " with such excess^ of meats and drinks, in all kinds of inordinate bankettin^ and revell, resembling the feasts which the Gentiles us . 1 to keep in the honor of their drunken god Bacchus ; wherein all kinds of beastlie lust and sensual voluptuous- ness was put in use."* These revelries were presided 7er by Lords of Misrule in the same manner as in Pagan Rome one of the servants was made Lord of the house- hold during the same Saturnalia. And this lasted until the middle of the seventeenth century, and would probably have been continued until now had it not been for th'3 Puritans in whose time (A. D. 1644) Christmas was abolished by Act of Parliament ! Let not the reader be shocked, for the Scotch Church gave up Christmas, and their Abbot of Unreason, as they called the master of the revels, a century previous, and they have held their ground unto this day. How long is our sleep to last ? 1?* I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot- " " One word more. There are somie who seem to think that Spiritual and Evangelical Religion can best be ad- vanced within the Church of England by withdrawing from her in a solemn protest against error. I cannot see * " HoUinshead's Chronicles," London, 1670. 64 THE BOOK OF COMIfOH PItAYEIt. it SO. Should \re not rather imitate our Lord. He taught in the temple and He cleansed it. That temple was as corrupt as ever our Church could be, and His foreseeing eye saw how vain would all attempts at reformation prove, yet He taught in it and cleansed it, not once but twice."* * Rev. Talbot Greaves, London Church Asapciation Tract, No. XIX. BY THE SAME AUTHOR : THE IMAGE OF THE CROSS AND [tjj^ts 0ti Si^e S''^^^ IN THE Christian Church and in Heathen Temples before the Christian Era, e^eiaUy in the British Isles. TOOBTHBB WITH The History of the Triangle, the Dove, Floral Decoratums, the Easter Egg, and other Heathen Symbols. TOBONTO, 1879. ie taught le was as foreseeing jformation ) once but No. XIX. ROSS Ihristian Era, yns, the Easter ^U W't^ /^"^ P-u^e:^ t-t^te^/ :up^i«/^ ■ ^ ♦wirf ti^t~^^