Of the alterations presented in the report of the Committee to this Convention of 1889, but which were not adopted, the following are the most important:—

In Morning Prayer: The versicle and response, " O God make speed to save us. Answ. O Lord make haste to help us;" ;" The original form of the Venite as an alternative for the form now in Morning Prayer; The change of certain clauses of the Te Deum, so that they would read thus: "When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb."1 "Make them to be rewarded with thy Saints in glory everlasting." "O Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us; 1 The addition to the rubric before Benedicite of the following, That when the Benedicite is sung, it shall not be necessary to repeat the words, Praise him and magnify him forever, at the end of every verse;" The substitution of the words, "the good estate of the Catholic Church," for the words, "thy holy Church universal;" in the prayer for all Conditions of Men.

"But note,

In Evening Prayer: The versicle "O God make speed," etc., with its response.'

In the Litany: The substitution of the words "From fornication and all other deadly sin," for the words, " From all inordinate and sinful affections."

In the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings: The addition of An Intercession for those who labour in the Gospel, and a Thanksgiving For a Safe Return from Voyage or Travel.

In the Propers of the Communion Office: The alteration of the Collect for St. John Evangelist in order to conform it to the reading of the English Book; A Collect Epistle and Gospel for Funerals; A Col lect, Epistle and Gospel for Ecclesiastical Conventions.

In the Order of Communion: The response "Thanks be to thee, O Lord," after the Gospel; The change of the rubric before the Offertory so that it would read, "Then shall follow the Sermon. After which, the Minister, when there is a Communion, shall return to the Lord's Table and say, Let us make our offerings to the Lord with reverence and godly fear. Then shall he begin the Offertory," etc.; The omission of the word "militant" from the clause "Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church militant;" The substitution of the words "And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants, who having finished their course,' etc., from the Scotch Liturgy of 1637, for the words "And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life," etc.; The addition of the following rubric after the Prayers for the Church Militant, "Here the Priest shall pause for a space, in order that such as are so minded may withdraw; The removal of the prayer "We do not presume," etc., to a place after the Prayer of Consecration; The substitution of the words, "whosoever shall be partakers" for "we and all others who shall be partakers" in the Prayer of Consecration. The addition of the following rubric at the end of the Communion Office, "¶There shall be no Celebration of the Lord's Supper, except there be some to Communicate with the Priest."

In the Order of Confirmation: The addition of three questions and 1 From the English Book. 2 This prayer, after a significant alteration had been made in it, was inserted in the Burial Office by the Conventions of 1889 and 1892.

answers for the renewal of the baptismal vows; The omission of the word "confirming" from the Bishop's question, "Do ye here," etc.; An alternative form for administering Confirmation; viz.: "¶Or else all of them kneeling before the Bishop, he shall make a Cross on the forehead and lay his hands upon the head of every one severally, saying, I sign thee with the sign of the Cross, and lay mine hands upon thee, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Confirm, O Lord, this thy Child [or this thy Servant] with thy heavenly grace: that he may continue," etc.

In the Communion of the Sick: The substitution of the word Priest for Minister in the first, second, fourth, and fifth rubrics at the end of this office as it stands in the Standard of 1871.

In the Burial of the Dead: The substitution of the 39th and 90th Psalms in their integrity as in the English Book, instead of the present forms.

The Book of Offices laid before the Convention of 1889, but with regard to which no action was taken, consisted of 1. A Short Office for Sundry Occasions. 2. An Office for the last hour of the Day. 3. An Office of Intercession for Unity. 4. An Office for the Fourth of July and for Special Days of Thanksgiving. 5. An Office for Special Days of Fasting. 6. An Office for Harvest Home. 7. A Penitential Office for Lent. 8. A Commemoration of the Passion. 9. A Litany for Missions. 10. A Litany of the Christian Life. 11. Prayers for Sundry Occasions.

General Convention of 1892.

The Convention of 1892 met in Baltimore. On the second day of the session the alterations in the Prayer Book proposed in 1889 were taken up and continued the order of the day until disposed of. Of the fifty-two propositions proposed forty-three were adopted, most of them with little or no debate. No action was taken upon the Book of Offices the consideration of which had been postponed at the previous Convention, and a proposition of the House of Deputies to appoint a Commission to prepare a Book of Offices, and to report the same in 1895 was negatived by the House of Bishops. The Committee appointed to prepare a Standard Book of Common Prayer presented a report drawn up, it is believed, by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart, and the evident result of long and careful study. This report will be found printed in the Journal as an Appendix, and will always be an invaluable and indispensable part of the apparatus criticus for the study of the text of the Prayer Book.2 Along with their report the Committee proposed the passage of a canon, (which was adopted,) providing that the Standard Book should be no longer an edition, but one volume "Set forth by the General Convention of this Church in the year 1892, and authenticated by the signatures of the presiding officers and secretaries of the two Houses of General Convention, and by the

Journal, pp. 272, 333, 110, 345.

2 In this connection, the student is also referred to the report of the Editing Committee of the Standard of 1822, printed in the Journal of 1821, and also to the Rev. Dr. T. W. Coit's elaborate and scholarly examination of the text of the Prayer Book made to the Convention of 1844, and printed in the Journal of 1868. The report of the Committee which prepared the Standard of 1871 is also worthy of study.

signatures of the members of the Joint Committee charged with the duty of preparing and submitting to the Convention a Standard Book of Common Prayer of this Church." It was further provided, that "No copy or edition of the Book of Common Prayer shall be made, printed, published, or used as of authority in this Church unless it contain the authorization of the Custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer, certifying that he or some person appointed by him has compared the said copy or edition with the said Standard or a certified copy thereof, and that it conforms thereto." Hitherto the imprimatur of the Bishop of the diocese had sufficed to authorize an edition of the Prayer Book.

Since 1811 the eighth article of the Constitution of General Convention providing for the making of alterations in the Prayer Book, has read, "No alteration or addition shall be made in the Book of Common Prayer, or other offices of the Church, or the Articles of Religion,' unless the same shall be proposed in our General Convention, and by a resolve thereof made known to the Convention of every diocese, and adopted at the subsequent General Convention." It was now proposed to the dioceses to amend this by substituting after the words "Articles of Religion," the following: "unless the same shall be first proposed in one General Convention, by the vote of a majority of the whole number of Bishops entitled to seats in the House of Bishops, and by the vote of a majority of all the dioceses entitled to representation in the House of Deputies, and by a resolve of the General Convention made known to the Convention of every diocese, and adopted at the subsequent General Convention in the same manner in which it was proposed.' This amendment to the constitution will come up for final action in 1895.

The following are the alterations proposed in 1889 but rejected by the Convention in 1892:

In the Table of Proper Psalms: The substitution of the 64th for the 69th Psalm among the propers of Good Friday:

In the Litany: The alteration of one of the suffrages so that it would read, "From fire and flood; from earthquake, lightning, and tempest; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death.'

In the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings: The addition of a prayer For a Person or Persons, on a Journey; The modification of the thanksgiving For a Safe Return from Sea, so as to make it a thanksgiving For a Safe Return from Voyage or Travel.

In the offices of Baptism: The substitution of an interrogative form of the Creed for the question, "Dost thou believe all the Articles," etc. In the Form of Matrimony: A special Collect, Epistle and Gospel. In the Visitation of the Sick: The addition of A Prayer for Patience under Suffering.

In the Burial Office: Two additional sentences of Scripture, viz., St. Luke xviii. 16, and Rev. vii. 16, 17.

In the Offices of Ordination: The omission of the words, after Morning Prayer is ended, from the first rubric in each office.

1 The words " or the Articles of Religion" were not added until 1829.

2 There is an exception to this rule in the case of the Lectionary which may be amended by one Convention. 3 This form was the same as that proposed in the Book Annexed of 1883 for the Visitation of the Sick. Vide p. xliii.

All the other alterations proposed in 1889 were adopted and made part of the Prayer Book. The work of revision having been thus concluded, the Joint Committee presented in both Houses on the sixth day of the session a copy of the Prayer Book as amended, which was "accepted as the correct text of the Book of Common Prayer of this Church, with the Offices and Articles." And the Committee was "instructed to cause to be printed on vellum a corresponding book, which book, after having been duly authenticated, shall be by them delivered to the Custodian for careful preservation according to the provisions of the canon."1 Within a few months afterward editions of the Prayer Book bearing the certificate of the Custodian had been published and were in the hands of the people.

Standard Prayer Book of 1892.

It was intended to close this volume with a critical examination of the Standard of 1892, but it has been found that this would require many pages. It may perhaps suffice to note that, besides the alterations and additions made by the General Convention in accordance with the eighth article of the Constitution, the Committee have introduced "a great number of less notable but scarcely less important changes," as corrections of errors or improvements. Attention is drawn to the most important of these changes in the footnotes of the pages which follow. It should also be noted that the method followed in the use of red ink is unprecedented in liturgical printing, and, while adopting some of the eccentricities of Collingwood's rubricated edition (Oxford, 1840), introduces others which have been hitherto unknown. It would seem to have been forgotten that Italic type is the modern substitute for rubrication, and therefore when the rubrics are printed in red, Roman letters are used and not Italics. It has also been overlooked that by custom black ink is introduced into the body of a rubricated rubric for quotations from the text, and not for titles. Thus for example, in the rubric after the second Absolution of Morning Prayer, "Lord's Prayer" would be in red ink; but if the rubric read, "Then the Minister shall kneel, and say Our Father," the last two words would be printed in black ink as being a quotation. The criticism of novelty is also applicable to the method of typographical arrangement adopted in a number of places.

It would seem necessary however to consider two points a little in detail. The names of the deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament are printed in Italics in the Tables of Lessons. This is a departure from the use of the Anglican Church for all time, and (as the Committee in its report observes) it does not appear from the Journal of 1883 that such change was directed by even the vote of both Houses of one General Convention. It also would seem that, while it never passed the Lower House at all, it did not even pass the Upper House by a constitutional vote (Art. 8 of the Constitution). Moreover had it done so, it is gravely doubtful whether such a change would have been a mere amendment of the Lectionary, but not rather a new method of printing certain pages of the Prayer Book introduced, it would seem, for doctrinal reasons, and as such requiring the action of two consecutive General Conventions with specific notice to the diocesan Conventions in the interim that it was proposed to make such an alteration.

1 Journal, pp. 45, 251, 285.

2 Rev. C. H. Hutchins, D. D., in Alterations and Additions in the look of Common Prayer, p. 65.

The only other matter to which the reader's attention is directed in this place is the reading of the word hands instead of hand in the rubric before the words, "Defend, O Lord," etc., in the Confirmation service. On this point we simply state the facts. The word is in the singular in the Gelasian Sacramentary' from which our rubric probably came. It is in the singular in the first and second Prayer Book of Edward VI., 1549, and 1552; so also in Queen Elizabeth's Book, 1559, and in the Latin Prayer Book of 1560; so in King James's Book, 1603; and in the Prayer Book of the Savoy, 1662. It is in the singular in the Proposed Book, the American Prayer Book of 1790, in the edition of 1791, and in Bishop Claggett's edition of 1815, and in every Prayer Book of the Church of England to-day. The plural, hands, first appeared in the Standard of 1793, a book which, from the Journal it is evident, was issued merely to correct misprints and not to make any changes whatever, as Bishop White also expressly tells us." As a matter of fact it is a very faulty edition with many original printer's errors, some of which have been corrected from time to time as such, but this misprint has been continued in Prayer Books generally, except in the edition of Bishop Claggett, where as has been already noted it is corrected to hand.

Conclusion.

Over one hundred years have gone by since the first American Prayer Book was set forth by the Convention of 1789. Its history, which we have rapidly reviewed, if it teaches anything, demonstrates the strong hold conservatism has within the Church. And nothing has brought out more clearly this characteristic spirit than the revision just completed. In the Convention of 1883 the Joint Committee on the Prayer Book proposed no less than two hundred and fourteen distinct alterations. Two hundred and twelve alterations were adopted by that Convention and proposed to the dioceses. But when after three years of consideration it came time to take final action on these proposed changes, only ninety-eight were adopted. In 1886 the small number of eighteen alterations were proposed, and adopted in 1889. Forty-nine alterations were proposed by the Convention of 1889, forty-five of which were adopted in 1892. When we come to estimate the results of the work of revision, extending as it did over twelve years, we find the following. Besides the many merely verbal changes, most of them made in accordance with the reading of the English Book, or for the sake of rubrical relaxation, there have been added to the Prayer Book (1) Diverse passages of Scripture in the shape of Sentences, Epistles, Gospels, and one Lesson; (2) Part of the section entitled "Concerning the Service of the Church; (3) New Tables for finding Easter; (4) The feast of the Transfiguration; (5) The words, " Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God;" (7) The Evangelical canticles; (8) Four versicles with their responses in Evening Prayer; (9) An additional suffrage in the Litany; (10) Ten new Prayers; (11) A Penitential

1" Ad consignandum [Episcopus] imponit eis manum in his verbis," ratori, Liturgia Romana Vetus, T. I.)

2

Memoirs, p 190.

(Ma

3 Strictly only nine, as the thanksgiving For a Child's Recovery from Sickness is only a modification of The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth.