of Common prayer or Divine service as appeareth by the ancient Liturgies of the Greek and Latine Churches This was done as for other great causes so likewise for retaining an uniformity in Gods worship a thing most beseeming them that are of one and the same profession For by the form that is kept in the outward worship of God men commonly judge of Religion If in that there be a diversity strait they are apt to conceive the Religion to be diverse Wherefore it were to be wished that the whole Church of Christ were one as well in form of publick worship as in doctrine And that as it hath but one Lord and one Faith so it had but one heart and one mouth This would prevent many schismes and divisions and serve much to the preserving of unity But since that cannot be hoped for in the whole Catholick Christian Church yet at least in the Churches that are under the protection of one Soveraigne Prince the same ought to be endeavoured It was not the least part of our late Soveraigne King JAMES of blessed memory his care to work this uniformity in all his Dominions but while he was about to do it it pleased God to translate him to a better kingdome His Majestie that now raigneth and long may he raigne over us in all happinesse not suffering his Fathers good purpose to fall to the ground but treading the same path with the like zeal and pious affection gave order soon after his coming to the Crown for the framing of a Book of Common prayer like unto that which is received in the Churches of England and Ireland for the use of this Church After many lets and hindrances the same cometh now to be published to the good we trust of all Gods people and the increase of true piety and sincere devotion amongst them But as there is nothing how good and warrantable soever in it self against which some will not except so it may be that exceptions will be taken against this good and most pious work and perhaps none more pressed then that we have followed the Service book of England But we should desire them that shall take this exception to consider that being as we are by Gods mercie of one true profession and otherwise united by many bonds it had not been fitting to vary much from theirs our especially coming forth after theirs seeing the disturbers of the Church both here and there should by our differences if they had been great taken occasion to work more trouble Therefore did we think meet to adhere to their form even in the festivals and some other rites not as yet received nor observed in our Church rather then by omitting them to give the Adversary to think that we disliked any part of their service Our first Reformers were of the same minde with us as appeareth by the ordinance they made that in all the Parishes of this Realm the Common-prayer should be read weekly on Suâ—daies and other Festival dayes with the Lessons of the old and new Testament conform to the order of the book of Common prayer meaning that of England for it is known that divers years after we had no other order for common prayer This is recorded to have been the first head concluded in a frequent Councel of the Lords and Barons professing Christ Jesus We keep the words of the history Religion was not then placed in rites and gestures nor men taken with the fancie of extemporary prayers Sure the publick worship of God in his Church being the most solemn action of us his poor creatures here below ought to be performed by a Liturgie advisedly set and framed and not according to the sudden and various fancies of men This shall suffice for the present to have said The God of mercy confirm our hearts in his truth and preserve us alike from prophanenesse and superstition Amen Of Ceremonies why some be abolished and some reteined OF such Ceremonies as be used in the Church and have had their beginning by the institution of man some at the first were of godly entent and purpose devised and yet at length turned to vanity and superstition some entred into the Church by undiscreet devotion and such a zeal as was without knowledge and for because they were winked at in the beginning they grew daily to more and more abuses which not only for their unprofitablenesse but also because they have much blinded the people and obscured the glory of God are worthy to be cut away and clean rejected Other there be which although they have been devised by man yet is it thought good to reserve them still as well for a decent order in the Church for the which they were first devised as because they pertein to edification whereunto all things done in the Church as the Apostle teacheth ought to be referred And although the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it selfe considered is but a small thing yet the wilfull and contemptuous transgression and breaking of a common order and discipline is no small offence before God Let all things be done among you saith Saint Paul in a seemly and due order The appointment of the which order pertaineth not to private men therefore no man ought to take in hand nor presume to appoint or alter any publick or common order in Christs Church except he be lawfully called and authorized thereunto And whereas in this our time the mindes of men are so divers that some think it a great matter of conscience to depart from a piece of the least of their Ceremonies they be so addicted to their old customes and again on the other side some be so new fangled that they would innovate all things and so despise the old that nothing can like them but that is new It was thought expedient not so much to have respect how to please and satisfie either of these parties as how to please God and profit them both And yet lest any man should be offended whom good reason might satisfie here be certain causes rendred why some of the accustomed Ceremonies be put away and some reteined and kept still Some are put away because the great excesse and multitude of them hath so increased in these latter dayes that the burden of them was intollerable whereof Saint Augustine in his time complained that they were growen to such a number that the state of a Christian people was in worse case concerning the matter then were the Jews And he counselled that such yoke and burden should be taken away as time would serve quietly to do it But what would saint Augustine have said if he had seen the ceremonies of late dayes used among us whereunto the multitude used in his time was not to be compared This our excessive multitude of ceremonies was so great and many of them so dark that they did more confound and darken then declare and set forth Christs benefits unto us And besides this Christs Gospel
Testament of more edification it shall be well done of Ministers Ecclesiastical to spend their time to consider of such Chapters before hand which mutation being restrain'd to the Old Testament alone administers probable occasion of conjecture that our Church thereby intended an allowance of declining Apocryphal Lessons on holy-dayes that the history of the Saints might be the better complcated by some expresse Chapters of the New Testament which will be the lesse controverted if it be withal observed that in the sense of our Church the ancient model of both the Canonical and Apocryphal books passe under the complexed notion of the Old Testament That they are at all permitted by our Church is accounted by her adversaries grande nefas and yet they are not ignorant that as Canonical Scripture they are not read that in the Primitive Church they as also Clemens his Epistles to the Corinthians were read that the Belgick Church in her confession grants they may lawfully be read That their own Sermons have as little of the spirit either of infallibility or Sanctification as those books That exclusive Parenthesis of the Directory But none of those which are commonly called Apocrypha had been I must confesse a prudent I say not a necessary Order had the edification of the people been better provided for by certain Lessons of the Canon succenturiated according to the Order of the Scotish Liturgy in their stead but when I perceive not onely a liberty given but a requisitenesse commended by the same Directory in the reading of very many Chapters not onely lesse but not at all edifying to a popular Auditory such are some Chapters in Genesis in Leviticus very many some in the Chronicles c. which are required to be read in their order then will they have just cause to wish either those Apocryphals postliminiated again or others of the Canon to succeed them whereby the Congregation might receive better instruction Nothing can almost be so plainly set forth but doubts may rise It is a rule in the Law Lex positiva non omnia cogitat plura enim sunt negotia quam vocabula Positive Law cannot fore-cast and prevent all questions there being more matters then words to declare them upon which consideration fit it is there should be a power in reserve for the stating of emergent doubts in whom can this power more prud ently be lodged then in Bishops the spiritual Governours of our Church whose experience and discretion must be valued above the rate of ordinary Pastors Ecclesiae salus in summi sacer dotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes The safety of the Church depends upon the dignity of the Chief Priest to whom unlesse a power be given matchlesse and supereminent above all others there will be soon as many Schismes as Priests But though the Power decretory and deciding be reposed in the Bishop yet it is not indefinite but limited to a non-repugnancy to any thing contained in this Book In the English tongue The work of reformation was not more glorious then difficult being to enterprise upon such habits as many hundred of years continuance seemed to render insuperable so that if it went slowly on at first and got ground but by inches the grand opposition it found is sufficient to excuse it A work it was not for artificers to undertake not for a giddy multitude to order not for any beneath the very Supream Magistrate to meddle with a work it was fit onely for a King and therefore could not be begun until it found a King fit for the work Such a King at length appeared Henry the eight a King of great courage and withal of prudence The first onset he gave in order to this work was the bringing God Almighty and his people acquainted by causing them to understand each other for whilst the people spake to God and he to them they knew not what they did not understand each other nor he them because he onely understands the language of the heart not the babling of the lips for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what vocal words are to us the same is the cogitation of our hearts to God not they him because they understood the Romish Religion better then the Romish tongue therefore to redresse this very great mischief to their souls this Kings first care is to render Divine offices a in tongue their native English familiar to them But this he effected not all at once but by degrees and first he begins with the great essentials of Religion the Pater Noster Creed and Decalogue these were imparted to them in the English tongue by his injunctions Anno 1536. then he proceeded to the communication of the sacred Scripture to them by a Translation of his own authorising Anno 1540. But as yet the publick Service was kept lockt up from them to indulge them therefore his Royal favour in this particular also he caused an extract to be drawn out of the Latin Service containing many of the best and most edifying Prayers which with the Litany all translated into the vulgar tongue under the title of his Primer by injunction bearing date the sixth of May 37. of his Reign he published for the good of his Subjects But King Henry dying not long after he left what he had begun to be compleated by his Son Edward This Prince zealously devoted to the service of Gods Church plied him as fast as the perplexity of the work and little time he lived would well permit The Bible which I told you before King Henry had commended to the use of his people not long after upon reason of State he was enforced to withdraw from them again and the restauration of it was King Edwards first endeavour by injunctions dated July the last 1547. confirming also the use of the other things as Pater Noster Creed Decalogue Primer and Litany But nothing was done yet in reference to the Sacrament of the Altar as they called it then whereof the Clergy had extended and extorted the moity the Cup from the people therefore ful restitution was made in the next and first Parliament to such as did in both kindes desire it And because slender benefit this Act of Grace was like to prove as long as in the service proper to it they understood not a syllable for the Reformation formerly made had not proceeded to the Communion office this consideration drew on another peece of Reformation viz. the forming and collecting of an office in the vulgar tongue sutable to that great ordinance and this was done by the Bishops and others convened by the Kings command at Windsor passing under the Title of The order of the Communion which was a breviate and summary of neer resemblance to that we now have and was published March the 8. 1548. But this was onely an
and then finde the same number in this table and upon that number shall you see what Psalmes shall be said at Morning and Evening prayer And wher the Cxix Psalm is divided into xxii portions and is overlong to be read at one time it is so ordered that at one time shall not be read above four or five of the said portions as you shall perceive to be noted in this table following And here is also to be noted that in this table and in all other parts of the service where any psalms are appointed the number is expressed after the great english Bible which from the ix psalm unto the Cxlviij psalm following the division of the Hebrewes doth vary in numbers from the common Latine translation The Table for the order of the Psalms to be said at Morning and Evening Prayer Dayes of the moneth Psalmes for Morning prayer Psalmes for Evening prayer    i i. ii iii iiii v. vi vii viii ii ix x. xi xii xiii xiiii iii xv xvi xvii xviii iiii xix xx xxi xxii xxiii v xxiiii xxv xxvi xxvii xxviii xxix vi xxx xxxi xxxii xxxiii xxxi i. vii xxxv xxxvi xxxvii viii xxxviii xxxix xl xli xlii xliii ix xliiii xlv xlvi xlvii xlviii xlix x l. li. lii liii liiii lv xi lvi lvii lviii lix lx lxi xii lxil lxiii lxiiii lxv lxvi lxvii xiii lxviii lxix lxx xiiii lxxi lxxii lxxiii lxxiiii xv xxv lxxvi lxxvii lxxviii xvi lxxix lxxx lxxxi lxxxii lxxxiii lxxxiiii lxxxv xvii lxxxvi lxxxvii lxxxviii lxxxix xviii xc xci xcii xciii xciiii xix xcv xcvi xcvii xcviii xcix C. ci xx cii ciii ciiii xxi cv cvi xxii cvii. cviii cix xxiii cx cxi cxii cxiii cxi â—c cxv xxiiii cxvi cxvii cxviii cxix Jude iiii xxv Jude v. Jude iiii xxvi Jude v. Jude iiii xxvii cxx cxxi cxxii cxxiii cxxiiii cxxv cxxiv cxxvii cxxviii cxxix cxxx cxxxi xxviii cxxxii cxxxiii cxxxiiii cxxxv cxxxvi cxxxvii cxxxviii xxix cxxxix cxl cxli. cxxli cxliii xxx cxliii cxlv cxlvi cxlvii cxlviii cxlix xl The order how the rest of holy Scripture beside the Psalter is appointed to be read THE old Testament is appointed for the first Lessons at Morning and Evening prayer and shall be read through every yeer once except certain Books and Chapters which be least edifying and might be best spared and therefore be left unread The New Testament is appointed for the se-second Lessons at Morning and Evening prayer and shall be read over orderly every yeer thrice beside the Epistles and Gospels Except the Apocalips out of the which there be onely certain Lessons appointed upon divers proper feasts And to know what Lessons shall be read every day Finde the day of the Moneth in the Kalender following and there ye shall perceive the Books and Chapters that shall be read for the Lessons both at Morning and Evening Prayer And here is to be noted that whensoever there be any proper Psalmes or Lessons appointd for the Sundayes or for any feast moveable or unmoveable Then The Psalms end Lessons appointed in the Kalender shall be omitted for that time Ye must note also that the Collect Epistle and Gospel appointed for the Sunday shall serve all the week after except there fall some feast that hath his proper Common Prayer 1. and 2. B. of Edw. 6. When the years of our Lord may be be divided into four even parts which is every fourth year then the Sunday-letter leapeth and that year the Psalmes and Lessons which serve for the xxiii day of February shall be read again the day following except it be Sunday which hath proper Lessons of the old Testament appointed in the table serving for that purpose This is also to be noted concerning the leap yeer that the 25. day of February which in leap year is counted for two dayes alter neither Psalm nor Lesson but the same Psalmes and Lessons which be said the first day shall also serve for the second Also wheresoever the beginning of any Lesson Epistle or Gospel is not expressed there ye must begin at the beginning of the Chapter And wheresoever is not expressed how far shall be read there shall you read to the end of the Chapter Item so oft as the first Chapter of Saint Matthew is read either for Lesson or Gospel ye shall begin the same at The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise c. And the third Chapter of Saint Lukes Gospel shall be read unto So that he was supposed to be the son of Joseph Proper Lessons to be read for the first Lessons both at Morning and Evening Prayer on the Sundayes throughout the year and for some also the second Lessons  Mattens Evensong Lent Mattens Evensong Sundayes of Advent   i. Sunday Gen. xix Gen. xxii    ii xxvii xxxiiii The first Esai i. Esai ii iii. xxxix xlii ii v. xxiiii iiii xliii xlv iii. xxv xxvi v. Exod. iii. Exod. v. iiii xxx xxxii vi ix x.    Easter day   Sundayes after Christmas   i. Leasson Exod. xii Exod. xiiii    ii Lesson Rom. vi Acts. ii    Sundayes after Easter   The first xxxvii xxxviii    ii xli xliii The first Num. xvi Num. xxii    ii xxiii xxv    iii. Diut iiii Deut. v.    iiii vi vii Sundayes after the Epiphanie   v. viii ix The first xliii xlvi Sunday after Assention day Deut. xii Deut. xiii ii li. liii    iii. lv lvi    iiii lvii iviii Whitsunday   v. lix lxiiii i. Lesson Deut. xvi Wisd. i. Septuagesi Gen. i. Gen. ii ii Lesson Acts. x. Acts xix     Then Peter opened his mouth c. It fortuned when Apollo went to Corinth c. unto After these things Sexagesima iii. vi    Quinquage ix xii    Trinity Sunday Mattens Evensong Sundayes after Trinitie Mattens Evensong i. Lesson Gen. xviii Josue i. xii x xvii ii Lesson Matth. iii.  xiii xix xxiii Sundayes after Trinity   xiiii Jere. v. Jere. xxii    xv xxxv xxxvi The first Josue x. Josu xxiii       xvi Ezech. ii Ezech. xiiii ii Judic iiii Judic v.       xvii xvi xviii iii. i King ii i King iii.       xviii xx xxiiii iiii xii xiii       xix Dan. iii. Dan. vi v. xv xvi       xx Joel ii Miche vi vi ii King xii ii King xxi       xxi Abacuc ii Proverb i. vii xxii xxiiii       xxii Proverb ii iii viii 3 King xiii 3 King xvii       xxiii xi xii ix xviii xix      Â
heard the book of Job read unto you at its solemn office and peculiar time And a little after sequente die speaking of good-Fryday Lectus est de more liber Joniae the next day according to the old wont was read the book of Jonas his convert St. Aust. to the same purpose Nunc interposita est solemnitas sanctarum dierum quibus certas ex Evangelio lectiones oportet in Ecclesia tractari quae ita sunt annuae ut aliae esse non possunt Now is the Solemnity of the holydayes meaning Easter wherein set Lessons out of the Gospel are ordered to be read which are so determined and limited as they can be no other And elsewhere intercesserunt ut omitteremus textum hujus Epistolae quaedam pro diebus festis solemnia lectionum quae non potuerunt nisi legi Solemn Lessons appointed for festival dayes which must not be left unread interposed and caused me to omit a while the text of this Epistle The Contents of the Chapters were devised as helpful indexes to facilitate the more speedy finding out of the most remarkable passages being onely serviceable for private use For which reason from the tenth Chapter of the Prov. to the twenty fift there are no contents prefixt these Chapters being not as the other written in method or upon a set subject but occasionally uttered at several times and observed by Solomons Courtiers who committed them to writing as they occurred to their memories And before every Lesson the Minister shall say thus The Primitive Custome in this particular was surpassing edifying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Deacon stood up proclaiming aloud Listen my Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the Reader begins to read first inviting his audience to attention by saying these words Thus saith the Lord. After the first Lesson shall follow Te Deum This order of intermixing Hymnes and Psalmes with Lessons is made in pursuance of that excellent Canon of Laodicea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not meet to sing the Psalmes in a continued course in the Church but to interpose a Lesson between evey Psalm So ordered saith Balsamon that this might be as a rest in musick and after that the congregation to sing again that the service might not be thought tedious and therefore he Con's that Councel many thanks for so discreet a Canon Indeed Breve videbitur tempus quod tantis operum varietatibus occupatur The variety of such changes is an excellent disposing of the time in such imployments Nothing is certainly more delightful not onely to the outward senses of the Body but even to the very soul it self then variety this it is which calls up in her her former vigor and vivacity this that makes her shake off her former lassitude embracing every new object with a most greedy desire every change is as it were an unbending of the minde the very heathen Orator found it so Stilus lectione requiescit ipsius lectionis taedium vicibus levatur The stile is refresht by reading and reading it self is much relieved by interchanges The observation of this Rule in other relations hath been motive all sufficient to Gods people in all ages to frame their Divine service so Mosaick of so many peeces so commodiously disposed to rescue each other from tediousnesse as upon every transition and passage from one Duty to another the spirit may still reserve an appetite whence it is that Consessions prayers Doxologies Psalms Lessons c. are assigned their proper vicissitudes and divide the time alloted for such sacred perfomances so as the soul may attend every motion of them Te Deum laudamus This hymn passeth up and down as the Composition of St Ambrose and St. Augustine joyntly upon occasion of St. Augustines conversion and Baptisme by St. Ambrose But the very learned Primate of Armagh produceth two very ancient M. S. S. wherein it is ascribed to Nicetius and from Monardus proveth that it is not mentioned by any ancient Author before St. Bennet betook himself to a monastick life which was about the year 500 who speaks of it in his Canonical Rules or Benedictine Office in whose time one Nicetius a Bishop lived and perhaps the same to whom it is ascribed But be he the Author or be he not the frame is so excellently modelled as the Church of human structure could not enjoyn a better and indeed the structure 't is alone that is human the materials being divine and of sacred derivation as for the avoiding of prolixity I have noted in the Margin Or Benedicite This is called the Hymne of the three children the first mention I finde of it in antiquity is in the fourth councel of Toledo Anno 634. which saith Ecclesia Catholica per totum Orbem diffusa celebrat the Catholick Church spread over all the Earth doth sing it and that juxta antiquam consuetudinem agreeable to the ancient custom Benedictus This hymn with Nunc dimittis and Magnificat are faulted because being made upon occasion of particular benefits they are not applicable to all To which it is answered that these hymns are not absolutely commanded but being joyned with others the rule of our Church is precisely this or that leaving in the minister a power to make his own election Again this Argument hath the same force and edge against Davids Psalms many of which were composed upon private emergences and seem as incommodious for publick concernments which yet we dare not upon that account proscribe out of the service of the Church Nor may I pretermit the Canon of the Belgick Church established by the Synod of Dort Hymni Mariae Zachariae Simeonis cantabuntur the Hymns of Mary Zachary Sime on shall be sung Then shall be said the Creed The Creed neither this nor any other was never any part of the Liturgy or publick office either in the Greek or in the Latine Church until nigh upon 600. years after Christ the onely and constant use thereof in publick was the prescribing it as the great Lesson for the Catechumens to learn and rehearse in Publick in order to their Baptisme So for this Creed Ruffinus tells us it was the Roman mode qui gratiam Baptismi suscepturi sunt fidelium populo audiente symbolum reddunt They who are about to receive the grace of Baptism rehearse the Creed in the hearing of all the faithful And being himself about to expound upon it he first premiseth that he intends to tie himself to the order and form quem in Aquileiensi Ecclesia per lavacri gratiam suscâ—pimus which in the Church of Aquileia we received when we were admitted to the laver of Regeneration So for the Hiero solymitan Creed Cyril his Catecheses are explications upon it for the instruction of the Carechumens so for the Nicene or rather the Constantinopolitan Creed Epiphanius tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every Catechumen who intended
Some not all some of the old Ceremonies not of those late innovations of the Church of Rome but of those Ceremonies which antidate the Popish Masse hundreds of yeers It is a very pittiful one that trite and false Objection That our Liturgy hath its rise and Original from the masse-Masse-Book ask why because say they all that is in our Liturgy is in the Masse-Book directly false The beginning of morning Prayer Sentences Exhortation Confession Absolution all to the Lords Prayer several Collects in the Litany the rehearsal of the Decalogue and divers Collects belonging to the Communion service are no where to be found either in the Masse-Book or any other Popish service So the All is false But admit all our Liturgy were to be found in the Masse Book that is no evidence it hath its Original from thence not onely the Lords prayer and Book of Psalms but the greatest and most edifying part of Canonical Scripture is there to be found as well as our Liturgy why do we not therefore ascribe its Original to the Masse-Book and upon that very score renounce it Nay if our Book was a compliance with the Papists as the late Assembly have urged against it assuredly it ill sorted with the Prudence of such Divines to present the world with their own establishment under a title borrowed expressly from the Papists their Directory being the same both name and thing with the Directorium Sacerdotum in the Romish Church Such shall have no just cause with the Ceremonies received to be offended Another great exception against our Liturgy is the scandal it hath given to many That some have taken offence there at there is no dispute it shall be granted that they have taken it justly and upon due consideration we deny against all opponents Nor is scandal alone sufficient of it self to cause abolition Quamvis quod obtruditur scandalum asserat quia tamen verbo dei per se non repugnat concedi poâ—est saith the great Legislator of the other side Although that which is enjoyned doth bring some scandal with it yet if it be not of it self against the word of God it may be yeelded to Agreeable to Calvins Doctrine Geneva acteth Nous scavons quelle occasion de Scandal plusieurs ont prins du changement que nous avous fait en cest vne droit we know well enough that many have taken occasion of scandal at the changes we have made in this subject so she in her Rubrick before the Communion And fully perswaded I am the abolishers of the Liturgy of this Church cannot but have the same sense of many scandalised by the change of the Liturgy into a Directory I must professe my self of those many to be one upon a solemn day summon'd we are by a bell to Church thither we come what to do to offer up our prayers and prayses in the Congregation it may be and it may not be so for such prayers may scarce be reputed ours whereof as we know not a syllable before-hand what they are so when they are uttered we often hear but little understand lesse and in our judgements consent to least of all told we are by considerable persons engaged in this change that the imposition of set forms was introduced into the Primitive Church as a defensive b against the Arrian and Pelagian Hereticks which did convey their poyson in their set forms of Prayers and hymnes if so never times required the practise of set Prayers upon that consideration more then these never was the poyson of hetorodox opinions more ingredient into the publick prayers of the Church then now where one decryes the Deity of Christ and his mediatorship by making no applications to him nor to God by him Another sets him up too high by omitting of confession of sins as impertinent in those who are planted into Christ and being so as he conceiveth sin not at all if nothing of unsound belief be uttered yet how frequent is the venting of several passions upon the private interest of mens factious ingagement even so far as many have preferred their Petitions to God for the destruction of the very Presbyterial Government whereof Mr. Edwards giveth several instances Who can not justly be offended at such mis-carriages in so holy a duty Far be it from me to charge the generality of our new ministery with these blemishes confesse I must and will many very many of them are excellently qualified and endowed with gifts proper for this sacred duty and do exercise those gifts to the great edification of their congregations but in the mean time if such miscarriages have actually happened already or may so hereafter through the violent passions of other men mis-principled may it not justly be judged a matter of scandal and offence to such as have a due value for that holy ordinance and consequently may not those worthier men be conceived guilty of the crime through whose misprovidence these errours have come to passe How much better were an amicable compliance on both sides by prescribing set forms for the desk and allowing conceived prayer for the Pulpit so that neither may professe and engrosse the whole service to it self but share and divide it by a friendly agreement untill such an award shall be made by those who assume the power of Arbitration in this affair slender hopes have I to see much of either order or edification in the service of our Church The Table and Kalender Expressing the Psalms and and Lessons to be said at Morning and evening prayer throughout the yeer except certain proper feasts as the rules following more plainly declare The order how the Psalter is appointed to be read CHAP. II. Common Prayer Scotch Liturgy The Psalter shall be read through once every moneth And because that some months be longer then some other be it is thought good to make them even by this means The Psalter shall be read through once every month save February and in that month so far as the Psalms are appointed for 28 or 29 dayes in tht leap year TO every moneth shall be appointed as concerning this purpose just xxx dayes And because January and March hath one day above the said number and Februarie which is placed between them both hath onely xxviii dayes February shall borow of either of the monthes of January and March one day And so the Psalter which shall be read in February must begin at the last day of January and end the first day of March. And whereas Scotch Littur many monthes have c. May July August October and December have xxxi dayes a peece it is ordered that the same Psalms shall be read the last day of the said moneths which were read the day before so that the Psalter may begin again the first day of the next monethes ensuing Now to know what Psalms shall be read every day Look in the kalender the number that is appointed for the Psalmes