Ritual Conformity Part 6

THE TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

88. If there be any more Sundays before Advent-Sunday, the Service of some of those Sundays that were omitted after the Epiphany shall be taken in to supply so many as are here wanting. And if there be fewer, the overplus may be omitted: Provided that this last Collect, Epistle, and Gospel shall always be used upon the Sunday next before Advent.

If there be twenty-six Sundays after Trinity, the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, should be used on the twenty-fifth Sunday. If there be twenty-seven Sundays, the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany should be used on the twenty-fifth Sunday, and the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, on the Twenty-sixth Sunday.

THE ORDER OF THE

ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER,

OR

HOLY COMMUNION.

89. So many as intend to be partakers of the holy Communion shall signify their names to the Curate, at least some time the day before.

90. And if any of those be an open and notorious evil liver, or have done any wrong to his neighbours by word or deed, so that the Congregation be thereby offended; the Curate, having knowledge thereof, shall call him and advertise him, that in any wise he presume not to come to the Lord's Table, until he hath openly declared himself to have truly repented and amended his former naughty life, that the Congregation may thereby be satisfied, which before were offended; and that he hath recompensed the parties, to whom he hath done wrong; or at least declare himself to be in full purpose so to do, as soon as he conveniently may.

91. The same order shall the Curate use with those betwixt whom he perceiveth malice and hatred to reign; not suffering them to be partakers of the Lord's Table, until he know them to be reconciled.

And if one of the parties so at variance be content to forgive from the bottom of his heart all that the other hath trespa.s.sed against him, and to make amends for that he himself hath offended; and the other party will not be persuaded to a G.o.dly unity, but remain still in his frowardness and malice: the Minister in that case ought to admit the penitent person to the holy Communion, and not him that is obstinate. Provided that every Minister so repelling any, as is specified in this, or the next precedent Paragraph of this Rubrick, shall be obliged to give an account of the same to the Ordinary within fourteen days after at the farthest. And the Ordinary shall proceed against the offending person according to the Canon.

The object of this rubric, when introduced in 1549, was to provide some corrective of the lax practice of the un-reformed Church in admission of unworthy persons to Communion. In this view, the Curate should be informed of the names of intending Communicants, in order that he may deal with the cases of scandal referred to in the second paragraph, and with the cases of enmity referred to in the third. The main reason of the Church's action herein is the danger of profanation of the Lord's Table by the presence of unworthy Communicants. A second reason is the danger of injury to the consciences of the congregation by wounding their sense of corporate responsibility for individual wrong-doing. A third is the spiritual interest of the offenders themselves, viz., in the words quoted with approval by Hooker (Eccl. Pol. vi. 4-15), "not to strike them with the mortal wound of excommunication, but to stay them rather from running desperately headlong into their own harm, and not to sever from Holy Communion any but such as are either found culpable by their own confession, or have been convicted in some public Court." The mode of the Curate's action was intended by the rubric to be admonition previous and private.

The first paragraph indicates the duty of the people, not of the Curate, giving him the opportunity of admonition, but throwing upon them the responsibility of the decision whether or no to present themselves.

The rubric does not empower or ent.i.tle the Curate to repel any at the time of Communion, on the _mere_ ground of their not having previously signified their names to him. For there is no means provided for receiving their names, or for making any due enquiry; nor is any penalty imposed upon the Curate for communicating people who have not signified their names, nor on the persons who present themselves without having done so. The reference to the Ordinary was added in 1662. The object is to set him in motion as the proper person to take legal proceedings against an offender, and effectually repel one who cannot be repelled by the Curate's weapons of persuasion and admonition.

The precautions of this rubric against communicating unworthily are not very effective, and it must be observed that the 26th, 27th, and 28th Canons extend the Curate's duty in this respect much farther than the rubric, but without giving him any power, which would be recognised by a _secular_ Court, of conscientiously performing his duty therein.

92. The Table, at the Communion-time having a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the Body of the Church, or in the Chancel, where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said.

The word 'fair,' applied to the white linen cloth in the fourth paragraph of this rubric, means 'beautiful,' and does not exclude adornment with embroidery.

The words 'upon it' require the cloth to lie upon the Mensa, or upper surface of the Table, but do not require the whole Table to be covered or enveloped therewith. The linen cloth is to be laid upon the covering described in Canon 82 as 'a carpet of silk or other decent stuff.'

Bishop Cosin states that "among the Ornaments of the Church that were then (i.e. in the second year of Edward VI.) in use, the setting of two lights upon the Communion Table or Altar was one appointed by the King's Injunctions, set forth about that time, and mentioned or ratified by the Act of Parliament here named (2 & 3 Edw. VI. cap. I)." If it be contended that Bishop Cosin is wrong in his opinion that the Injunctions were obligatory, we are thrown back upon the universal custom of the Catholic Church, which undoubtedly required lights to be used on the Altar for the office of Holy Communion.

93. And the Priest standing at the North-side of the Table shall say the Lord's Prayer, with the Collect following, the people kneeling.

One Priest only is here spoken of as celebrating: there is no authority for a change of the celebrant in the course of the Service; and only extraordinary contingencies of the gravest kind were anciently regarded as sufficient cause for such a change.

Special provision is made for exceptions to this principle, in the p.r.o.nouncing the Absolution by the Bishop, if officially present, and for the making the General Confession 'by one of the Ministers.'

The Epistle and Gospel are also permitted to be read by a.s.sistant Ministers, in accordance with customary usage recognised in the 24th Canon. The a.s.sistance of other Clergy may also be required for administration of the Elements.

Lay a.s.sistants are not mentioned in this rubric, but the principle of a.s.sistance to the 'princ.i.p.al Minister' being recognized in the twenty-fourth Canon, there can be no objection to the ancient practice of employing clerks or choristers for other purposes than singing.

The term 'north side,' whatever was its origin (possibly the re-arrangements consequent on the transposition of the Gloria in Excelsis), acquired a meaning during the changes made in the subst.i.tution of Moveable Tables for fixed Altars about the year 1552, which determines its interpretation to exclude the north end. In those churches where the Table was placed with its long sides north and south, the Priest moved with the table, and stood at the same part of it as he had stood in the use of it as an altar, that is, at the centre of one of the long sides, though he no longer faced the same part of the Church, and now looked to the south instead of the east. But when Archbishop Laud pressed the restoration of the table to its ancient position,--a restoration which has become universal,--the question at once arose as to the position of the celebrant, and some of the High Church clergy placed themselves at the north end of the table placed 'altarwise,' alleging that they were in this manner conforming to the rubric. They were at once met with the reply that 'side' and 'end' were not convertible terms, and it was urged that the rubric could not be complied with at all, unless the table were set with its long sides north and south. It is thus clear that the use of the end was disputed from the first, and treated as an untenable innovation. Now that the altars are universally placed so that only one of the long sides is accessible, the rubric can only be literally complied with by the celebrant standing at the northern portion of that side.

It seems, however, absurd that when the altar is restored to its place, the Priest should not be restored to his. It is further to be noted that the regarding the word 'north' rather than the word 'side,' and the placing the Priest at the north end of the altar, has the disadvantage of making the practice of the English Church unlike that of all the rest of Christendom. For all the ancient historical Churches place the celebrant in front of the altar, while the Protestant sects, even those that seat the communicants round the table, place the Minister at the centre of a side, and not at one end.

There is no direction for the Celebrant to kneel on reaching the altar, and it is contrary to general Catholic usage to do so. Any private prayers he may use then, he should say standing.

It should be remembered that the service is for the congregation, not for the Priest alone, and therefore they ought not to be detained for his personal convenience. He has not the same liberty of private devotion as the individual members of the congregation, and should carefully restrain his private devotions so as to be as short as is consistent with reverence.

It is the clear intention of the Prayer-Book that the Lord's Prayer and the whole office should be said deliberately, and sufficiently loud for the congregation to hear distinctly, so as to follow it readily. Moreover, the words of the Liturgy form an integral part of the whole sacrificial action. They are included in the oblation of praise and thanksgiving; and, consequently, to hurry, or mutter them is, so far, to bring a blemished offering to G.o.d.

There is no direction for loudness of voice, but the words of the office should be, as was anciently ordered, "roundly and distinctly p.r.o.nounced."[d]

94. Then shall the Priest, turning to the people, rehea.r.s.e distinctly all the TEN COMMANDMENTS; and the people still kneeling shall, after every Commandment, ask G.o.d mercy for their transgression thereof for the time past, and grace to keep the same for the time to come, as followeth.

The Commandments were first introduced in 1552, and no rubric can be more express than this against their omission. Such omission involves also the loss of the _Kyrie_, an ancient and valuable feature of the Liturgy.

The Commandments are to be rehea.r.s.ed 'turning to the people,'

implying that the Priest was not standing so before.

95. Then shall follow one of these two Collects for the Queen, the Priest standing as before, and saying, Let us pray, &c. The words 'standing as before' mean standing in the position in which the Priest was before he turned to the people to rehea.r.s.e the Commandments, viz. facing eastward.

96. Then shall be said the Collect of the Day.

97. And immediately after the Collect the Priest shall read the Epistle, saying, _The Epistle_ [or, _The portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle_] _is written in the------Chapter of------beginning at the------Verse_. And the Epistle ended, he shall say, _Here endeth the Epistle_. Then shall he read the Gospel, (the people all standing up) saying, _The holy Gospel is written in the------Chapter of------beginning at the------Verse_.

98. And the Gospel ended, shall be sung or said the Creed following, the people still standing, as before.

If more collects than the collect or collects of the day be used, they must be taken from the six collects at the end of the Communion Office. If a collect be used in commemoration besides the collect of the day at Morning and Evening Prayer, it should also be used in the Communion Service.

The practice of the people sitting during the reading of the Epistle, though not prescribed in the rubric, may be justified by ancient English custom.

The custom of singing or saying, 'Glory be to Thee, O Lord,' before the Gospel, has been continued from ancient times, and was specially ordered in the First Prayer-Book of Edward VI. Bishop Cosin thinks that it was afterwards left out by the printers' negligence. It seems very doubtful whether ancient authority will support the saying 'Thanks be to Thee, O Lord,' or equivalent words, at the end of the Gospel, though these words were inserted in the Scottish Office.

No directions are given as to the place where the Epistle and Gospel are to be read, but one very ancient usage is, that the former is to be read at the south, the latter at the north, of the sanctuary.

From whatever part of Scripture the Epistle is taken, the words 'here endeth the Epistle' are always to be said at the end of it.

In singing or saying the Creed, it is advisable, when there are clerks, to follow the direction of the Prayer-Book of 1549, and that the Priest should sing or say alone the words 'I believe in one G.o.d,' the clerks and congregation taking up the Creed with him after those words. On bowing at the Holy Name of JESUS, the same remark may be made as on the occurrence of the Name in the Apostles'

Creed.

The clergy and congregation sometimes incline the head and body at the words 'And was Incarnate.' According to ancient English custom, the inclination should be maintained until the words 'for us.' But such custom furnishes no precedent for prostration, or such exaggerated marks of reverence.

99. Then the Curate shall declare unto the people what Holy-days, or Fasting-days, are in the Week following to be observed.

This direction refers to the table of moveable and immoveable feasts together with days of fasting and abstinence, in the calendar.

And then also (if occasion be) shall notice be given of the Communion; and the Banns of Matrimony published; and Briefs, Citations, and Excommunications read. And nothing shall be proclaimed or published in the Church, during the time of Divine Service, but by the Minister: nor by him any thing, but what is prescribed in the Rules of this Book, or enjoined by the Queen, or by the Ordinary of the place.

This rubric fixes the place in the service at which notice should be given of Holy Communion, when the occasion requires. It does not authorize the use in this place of the exhortations which are directed to be used 'after the sermon or homily ended.'

The object of the Church in the publication of Banns being publicity, it was directed to be made at a time when most people were likely to be in church, such as shortly before the Sermon. There is some divergence between this rubric and that at the beginning of the Service for the Solemnization of Matrimony, where the Banns are directed to be published 'immediately before the sentences for the Offertory,' i.e. after the sermon, instead of before it; and the time of publication of Banns is extended, by Stat. IV. George IV., c. 76, to the time of evening service, immediately after the 2nd lesson, if there shall be no morning service.[e] It may be doubted whether a publication of Banns on Holy-days would now suffice for a legal publication, as this last-mentioned act names Sundays only.

The order for reading briefs, &c., indicates this to be the proper time for reading notices from the Bishop of intended confirmations, &c., and may perhaps be extended to cover and protect from the prohibition which follows, the announcement of dedication, harvest, and other local festivals.