Sunday 1st August, 2010
The Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Lammas Day
Holy Communion
The altar at the Church of St Paul, Hammoon, Dorset. © Trish Steel, Geograph. Used under licence. |
The apostles did as Christ commanded,
in afterwards hallowing bread and wine for housel in his remembrance. In like manner their
after-comers and all priests, at Christ's behest, hallow bread and wine for housel, in his
name, with the apostolic blessing.
Aelfric of Eynsham, ca. 955-1020. |
See also
Sermon extracts on Holy Communion
Prayers of Preparation
Various prayers for Holy Communion
Diary entries on Holy Communion
The Order of Holy Communion on this website is more than the text of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It includes suggested hymns and choral music; sample devotional prayers from the 17th and 18th centuries; and a number of footnotes showing how the "Holy Sacrament of the Altar" was celebrated and understood by some of our leading Bishops and Divines.
A Prayer On Entering A Church1
ALMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people render thee true and laudable service, grant that I may join the prayers and praises of thy holy church with reverence and devotion, hear thy word with attention, and obediently follow the same; that I may be now and ever acceptable in thy sight, through my Redeemer and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
On The Morning You Intend To Communicate
O MOST gracious and eternal Lord God, thou hast called all who are weary and heavy laden to come unto thee, by faith and repentance, and thou wilt refresh them. Encouraged by thy gracious invitation, may I approach thy heavenly table, not trusting in my own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies; and although I am not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs that fall from thy table, yet since it is thy property always to have mercy: Forgive my want of a due preparation, and accept of my sincere desire to perform, an acceptable service unto thee. Clothe me with the wedding garment, even the graces of the gospel. Possess my soul with a lively faith, with humility, obedience, devout affections, and with charity, that I may be a worthy partaker of those holy mysteries, to my great and endless comfort: Grant this, O heavenly Father, if it be thy blessed will, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
—Thomas Bisse (1675-1731), "Guide To The Altar".
An Opening Organ Voluntary
Andante con moto in D flat | ||||
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Bridge: Six Organ Pieces: Andante con moto in D-Flat
An Opening Hymn2
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Or this. Psalm 43 Judica Me3
GIVE sentence with me,
O God, and defend my cause against the un'godly
' people :
O deliver me from the de'ceitful and ' wicked ' man.
2. For thou art
the God of my strength, why hast thou '
put me ' from thee : and why go I so
heavily, ' while the ' enemy op'presseth me?
3. O send out thy light and thy
truth, that ' they may ' lead me :
and bring me unto thy holy ' hill, and ' to thy
' dwelling.
4. And that I may go unto the altar of God, even unto the God of
my
' joy and ' gladness :
and upon the harp I will give thanks unto ' thee, O
' God, my ' God.
5. Why art thou so heavy, '
O my ' soul : and why art thou ' so
dis'quieted with'in me?
6. O put thy '
trust in ' God : for I will yet give
him
thanks, which is the help of my ' countenance, ' and my ' God.
Glory be to the Father, and ' to the ' Son :
and ' to the ' Holy ' Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ' ever ' shall be :
world without ' end. ' A'men.
Or this. Veni Creator Spiritus4
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The Lord's Prayer
The Table5 at the Communion time having a fair white linen cloth upon it6, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the Chancel, where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said7. And the Priest8 standing at the north side of the Table9 shall say the Lord's Prayer, with the Collect following, the people kneeling10.
OUR FatherRom 8:14-17 Gal 4:1-7, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.Lev 23:32 Ez 36:22-23 Rom 2:17-24 Thy kingdom come.Lk 11:20 Mk 1:14 1 Cor 11:26 Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven.Mk 14:35-36 Give us this day our daily bread.Jn 6:56-58 And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against usMk 11:25 Mt 18:21. And lead us not into temptation,1 Cor 10:13 Jas 1:12-15 But deliver us from evil.Gal 1:3-4
The Collect
ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts be open,Rom 8:26-27 Lk 2:34 all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid;Mt 6:7-8 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,Ps 51:10-12 that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name;Ps 34:1-3 through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Ten Commandments
Then shall the Priest, turning to the people,11 rehearse distinctly all the TEN COMMANDMENTS;12 and the people still kneeling shall, after every Commandment, ask God mercy for their transgression thereof for the time past, and grace to keep the same for the time to come,13 as followeth.
O ETERNAL GOD, who dwellest not in Temples made with hands, the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain thee; and yet thou art pleased to manifest thy presence amongst the sons of men with special issues of thy favour and benediction; make my body and soul to be a temple pure and holy; apt for the entertainments of the holy JESUS; and for the habitation of the holy Spirit.
—Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667).
See also this series of Ten Meditations on the Commandments by William Vickers (d. 1719).
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Minister.
GOD spake these words, and said;
I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us,14 and incline our hearts15 to keep
this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not make to thyself
any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in
the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.
Acts 19:23-41
Art. XXII
Thou shalt not bow down to
them, nor worship them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God
Ps 78:58
1 Cor 10:22
Jas 4:5, and visit the
sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of
them that hate me, and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me, and keep
my commandments
Jn 14:15
1 Jn 3:21-22.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our
hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not take the Name of
the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh
his Name in vain.
Mt 5:33-37
Art. XXXIX
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our
hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Remember that thou keep holy the
Sabbath-day Mk 2:23-3:6
Sunday Observance.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no
manner of work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy
maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and
rested the seventh day Gen 1:1-2:3
Col 1:15-20:
wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed
it.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to
keep this law.
Minister. Honour thy father and thy mother;
that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Eph 6:1-4
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep
this law.
Minister. Thou shalt do no murder.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep
this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Mt 19:3-9
1 Cor 7:10-16
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep
this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not steal.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep
this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline
our hearts to keep this law.
Minister. Thou shalt not covet
Rom 7:7-11
thy
neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,
Mt 5:27-28
nor his servant,
nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our
hearts,
Jer 31:31-34
Ezek 36:26-27
2 Cor 3:1-6
we beseech thee.
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Percy Whitlock (1903-1946), Rochester Cathedral Choir |
Kyrie Eleison
Ed.— Since the 19th century, it has been unofficially accepted that the ancient Kyrie Eleison ('Lord have mercy') be sung at the conclusion of the Commandments.
Lord have mercy upon us
Christ have mercy upon us
Lord have mercy upon us.
Alternatively, the following passage was set by Stanford and other 19th-20th century Anglican composers. This followed the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637.
Priest. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Hear O Israel, The Lord our God
is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There
is none other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the Prophets.
Answer. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.
A Collect for the Queen
Then shall follow one of these two Collects for the Queen16, the Priest standing as before17, and saying,
Let us pray.
ALMIGHTY God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and power infinite: Have mercy upon the whole Church; and so rule the heart of thy chosen servant ELIZABETH, our Queen and Governor, that she (knowing whose Minister she is) may above all things seek thy honour and glory; and that we, and all her subjects (duly considering whose authority she hath) may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey her, in thee, and for thee, according to thy blessed Word and ordinance; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Or,
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, we are taught by thy Holy Word, that the hearts of Kings are in thy rule and governance, and that thou dost dispose and turn them as it seemeth best to thy godly wisdom: We humbly beseech thee so to dispose and govern the heart of ELIZABETH thy Servant, our Queen and Governor, that, in all her thoughts, words, and works, she may ever seek thy honour and glory, and study to preserve thy people committed to her charge, in wealth, peace, and godliness: Grant this, O merciful Father, for thy dear Son's sake, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Back to top of pageThe Collect Of The Day
Then shall be said the Collect of the Day.
A Collect for The Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Footnotes
1 "Entering a church". It is not a small thing to enter a church.
O THEN, when thou settest thy foot over the threshold of God's temple, tremble to think who is there: lift up thine awful eyes, and bow thine humble knees, and raise up thy devout and faithful soul to a religious reverence and fear of those mighty and majestical spirits that are there; and of that great God of spirits, whose both they and thou art: and study in all thy carriage to be approved of so glorious witnesses and overseers: that so at the last those blessed spirits, with whom we have had an invisible conversation here, may carry up our departing souls into the heaven of heavens, into the presence of that infinite and incomprehensibly glorious God, both theirs and ours; there to live and reign with them in the participation of their unconceivable bliss and glory: to the fruition whereof he that hath ordained us graciously bring us, by the mediation and for the sake of his blessed Son Jesus: To whom with thee, O Father of Heaven, and thy Coeternal Spirit, Three Persons in One God, be given all praise, honour, immortality, now and for ever.
It is proper to give a small bow of the head towards the altar on entering and leaving a church, as the memorial of God's presence, even when there is no liturgy.
NOW if places became holy at the presence of an Angell, as it did in Josuahs case to whom the captaine of the Lords Host appeared, and in Jacobs case at Bethel, and in all the old Law, for God alwayes appeared by Angells, shall not the Christian Altar be most holy where is present the blessed Body and bloud of the Sonne of God? I [Aye] but, what when the Sacrament is Gone? The relation is there still, and it is but a relative Sanctity we speake of, it is appointed for his Tabernacle, it is consecrate to that end, and the destination of man, the presence of the Sonne of God, the appointing it to a most holy end, the employment in a most sacred worke, and the presence of Angels (which, as S. Peter saith, desire to looke into these mysteryes,) if all this be not enough to make a thing most holy, there is no difference, nor can be any in the world betweene Sacred and prophane.
2 "An Opening Hymn". Although this hymn is not specified in the Book of Common Prayer itself, Queen Elizabeth I's Injunctions No. 49 directs that a hymn may be sung at the start of Morning and Evening Prayer, but there is no mention of the Communion. It was, nevertheless, usual to sing an anthem or psalm at this point, from antiquity until the 1552 BCP, and the practice was popular even after it was no longer required by the rubrics.
IT was an ancient Custom in the Church, to be traced up as high [i.e. as far back as] as the third Century, to sing an Anthem in this place, called the lntroit; because while this was singing, the Priest made his Introit, that is, entrance within the Septum or rail of the Altar: Which Introit was usually a Psalm suited to the day or solemnity. And this Custom was ordered in the first Book of Edw. 6. [1549] and tho' omitted in the Rubrick of the second Book [1552], yet it has been and is still continued down in our Cathedral Churches, and in Quires and places where they sing. Now in many Parish Churches, instead of this Anthem is commonly sung a Psalm.
3 "Psalm 43". Psalm 43 was read at the start of the Sarum Mass prior to the Reformation, but only by the priest and servers. It makes an ideal Introit Psalm for the whole congregation, thereby stressing the doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers". It was placed here in the 1928 "Proposed" Book of Common Prayer, narrowly defeated in the House of Commons.
4 "Veni Creator Spiritus". Though not specified in the Prayer Book, a Psalm Introit or Anthem was common in parishes after the Reformation (see the note on "Introit" above). This particular hymn, Come, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire, is a metrical translation by Bishop John Cosin of Durham, of the hymn that always opened the Sarum Mass. It is also to be found in the Prayer Book's services for Ordination.
5 "Table". From the restoration of the Protestant monarchy under Elizabeth I (1558) onwards, it was held that the words "altar" and "table" were equally satisfactory. We see them used interchangeably in the Bible e.g. Mal 1:7.
IT may be called an altar, and so the doctors call it in many places; but there is no propitiatory sacrifice, but only Christ.
NB Latimer holds that Christ the sacrificial offering is present on the altar, but is not sacrificed anew.
BOTH are fit names for that holy thing; for the holy Eucharist, being considered as a sacrifice, in the representation of the breaking of the bread, and pouring forth the cup, doing that to the holy symbols, which was done to Christ's body and blood, and so shewing forth and commemorating the Lord's death, and offering upon it the same sacrifice that was offered upon the cross, (or rather the commemoration of that sacrifice,) may fitly be called an altar, which again is as fitly called an holy table, the Eucharist being considered as a sacrament, which is nothing else but a distribution and application of the sacrifice to the several receivers.
Anciently, Christian altars were made of stone or more commonly (as in the Orthodox Church) wood. There is consequently no theological significance whatsoever in the material used. Find more on altars in the Sermons section, especially Bishop Overall (1560-1619).
6 The "fair linen cloth" is not the only altar-dress permitted. The Elizabethan injunctions and countless Episcopal visitations insist on rich 'carpet' frontals. Queen Elizabeth kept a silver cross on the table in her own chapel.
THE Altar furnished with rich plate, two fair gilt candlesticks with tapers in them, and a massy [i.e. heavy] crucifix of silver in the midst thereof.
According to the Rubric before Morning and Evening Prayer in the 1662 Prayer Book, the ornaments of the church and the altar are to be restored to those in use before the 1552 Prayer Book which Swiss Reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551) helped to compose.
AND here it is to be noted, that such Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof at all times of their Ministration, shall be retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament, in the Second Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth.
In keeping with this practice, it is normal to have two candles on the altar (six is a later Roman convention), together with cushions on which to place the Prayer Book etc., and patens and chalices of silver or gold.
LET the outward carriage of God's sacred affairs be, what may be, suitable to that pure and dreadful Majesty, whose they are. Let his now neglected houses be decently repaired, neatly kept, reverently regarded, for the Owner's sake; and inviolably reserved for those sacred uses, to which they are dedicated. Let his holy table be comely spread; and attended with awful devotion. Let them be clean, both within and without, that bear the vessels of the Lord. Let the maintenance of his altar be free, liberal, cheerful. Let God's chair, the pulpit, be climbed into by his chosen servants, with trembling and gravity. Briefly, let his whole service and worship be celebrated, with all holy reverence. This is the way, to the acceptation of God, and to honour with men.
7 "Chancel". The Chancel is a part of the church which is separated from the rest by a fence (cancellis). The Prayer Book forbids rearranging the interior of a church, directing, "And the Chancels shall remain as in times past".
AND the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past. That is, distinguished from the body of the church by a frame of open-work, and furnished with a row of chairs or stools on either side [i.e. the choirstalls]; and if there were formerly any steps up to the place where the altar or table stood, that they should be suffered to continue so still, and not to be taken down and laid level with the lower ground, as lately they have been by violence and disorder, contrary to law and custom.
The altar/table will normally be positioned here. However, it is not always practicable to celebrate communion in the chancel, as it is a small area which, in some of our great Cathedrals, is almost completely enclosed by the choirstalls and organ. When the larger area is used, the table may be set up at the chancel gates.
... AND that the Holy Table in every church be decently made, and set in the place, where the altar stood, and there commonly covered, as thereto belongeth, and as shall be appointed by the visitors, and so to stand, saving when the communion of the sacrament is to be distributed; at which time the same shall be so placed in good sort within the chancel, as whereby the minister may be more conveniently heard of the communicants in his prayer and ministration, and the communicants also more conveniently, and in more number communicate with the said minister. And after the communion done, from time to time the same holy table to be placed where it stood before.
Nevertheless, the right place for the altar, when the size of congregation permits it, is in the sanctuary within the chancel, not the nave. Archbishop Parker's notes on the Injunctions explained:
THAT the table be removed out of the choir into the body of the church, before the chancel door; where either the choir seemeth to be too little, or at great feasts of receivings. And at the end of the communion to be set up again, according to the Injunctions.
We should be wary of moving the altar unnecessarily. By moving the altar into the nave, you lose some wonderfully rich symbolism. You'd want to have a very, very good reason to do so.
THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper being the highest mystery in all our religion, as representing the death of the Son of God to us, hence that place where this Sacrament is administered was always made and reputed the highest place in the church. And therefore, also, it was wont to be separated from the rest of the church by a screen or partition of network, in Latin cancellis and that so generally, that from thence the place itself is called the Chancel. That this was anciently observed in the building of all considerable churches within a few centuries after the Apostles themselves, even in the days of Constantine the Great, as well as in all ages since; I could easily demonstrate from the records of those times. ... It may be sufficient to observe at present, that the chancel in our Christian churches was always looked upon as answerable to the Holy of Holies in the Temple; which, you know, was separated from the sanctuary or body of the Temple, by the command of God Himself.
THE whole Church is a type of heaven; Gen. xxviii. 17, the house of God is heaven upon earth; the nave represents the visible or lowest heaven or paradise; the lights shining aloft represent the bright stars; the circling roof, the firmament; the Priests within the choir beginning the divine hymns, represent the first order of angels that stand before God; the Deacons, with the readers and singers orderly succeeding, the middle order or choir of heaven; the whole company of true believers joining with the Priests and Deacons in heart and affection, saying Amen to the divine hymns and prayers, and so inviting and alluring the mercy of God, resemble the lowest rank of angels, with whom no profane heretic, or unclean notorious sinner, is suffered to assemble; for, "what fellowship hath light with darkness?"
Thus the whole Church typifies heaven, but the chancel, parted and separated from the nave or body of the church, so as that it cannot be seen into by those that are there, typifies the invisible heaven, or things above the heaven, not to be seen by the eye of flesh.
Finally, note that this occasional "nave altar" still sees the priest celebrate facing east.
8 "Priest". The word "priest" is a corruption of "presbyter". There is some controversy, over the sense in which "priest" implies offering a sacrifice. It is important to understand that at no point is Christ offered in the Eucharist. However, the priest offers in the name of the church a commemoration (or remembrance or memorial) of Christ's sacrifice.
AS Christ offered up Himself once for all, a full and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, so did He institute and command a memory of this sacrifice in a Sacrament, even till His coming again. For at and in the Eucharist we offer up to God three sacrifices: one by the priest only; that is the commemorative sacrifice of Christ's death, represented in bread broken and wine poured out; another by the priest and the people jointly, and that is the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for all the benefits and graces we receive by the precious death of Christ; the third by every particular man for himself only, and that is the sacrifice of every man's body and soul, to serve Him in both all the rest of his life for this blessing thus bestowed on him.
THROUGHOUT all the writings of the ancient fathers we see that the words which were do continue; the only differ ence is, that whereas before they had a literal, they now have a metaphorical, use, and are so many notes of remembrance unto us, that what they did signify in the letter is accomplished in the truth.
OTHERWHILES the Church of England calleth those that are presbyters by the name of priests, and those that are deacons by the name of Levites; nor can there be any just exception against these appellations, which are given them only by analogy and allusion to the priests and Levites of the Old Testament. And there is a clear place of Scripture for it, Isa. Ixvi. 20, Adducent ex omnibus gentibus munus Domino, &c. Atque etiam ex iis adsumam in sacerdotes et in Levitas, ait Dominus, the prophet speaking there of the religious service that was to be done under the New Testament. So doth the apostle accommodate the name of circumcision to the sacrament of Baptism, Col. ii. 11, and the name of the passover or sacrifice to the Eucharist; (" Christ our passover is offered for us, let us therefore keep our feast;" that is, our Eucharist). And the name of altar to the table of the Lord, Heb. xiii., " We have an altar." And the name of oblations and sacrifices to the giving of alms.
You can find a large collection of quotations illustrating this in the Sermons section.
In regard to clerical dress, the 1549 Prayer Book enacted:
AND whensoever the Bushop shall celebrate the holye communion in the churche, or execute any other publique minystracyon, he shall have upon hym, besyde his rochette, a Surples or albe, and a cope or vestment, and also his pastorall staffe in his hande, or elles borne or holden by his chapeleyne.
Little specific information is given. It indicates, however, that the vestments and utensils of the Church of England Eucharist should be those long used in the English Church (see Vestments), though they will not be excessive or regarded as possessing almost magical properties.
9 "North side". At the close of the reign of King Edward VI, Swiss Reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551) demanded that the communion table be moved from its customary position against the eastern wall of the church into the middle of the chancel. Then he turned the table through 90°, with the short end pointing down the nave, and demanded that priests celebrate standing at the long left hand side of the table as the congregation sees it, apparently (1) to help project the voice more clearly, and (2) to get away from the idea that the priest is offering a sacrifice to God in the name of the congregation.
After a frenzy of vandalism, Elizabeth I returned altars and tables to their traditional English position.
IT is ordered ... that the Holy Table in every church be decently made, and set in the place, where the altar stood, and there commonly covered, as thereto belongeth.
What Bucer intended was effectively abolished, because the table was now "altar-wise" again.
The 20th century liturgiologist Percy Dearmer noted in his Parson's Handbook that the Lincoln Judgment of 1890 decreed that a priest must celebrate facing east, standing at the long side of an altar-wise table, with his back to the congregation. At the start of the service, however, it is however appropriate to stand somewhat to the left, to deliver the Lord's Prayer and the Collect "Almighty God, to whom all hearts &c" (this was in fact the pre-Reformation way, e.g. in Westminster Abbey). After the Reformation, the Lincoln Bishops noted, beginning "at the left horn of the altar" was known from at least 1674.
And according to the 1559 and 1662 BCPs themselves, the chancels of the Church of England were not to be changed from their traditional format in the English Church.
THE Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accustomed Place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel; except it shall be otherwise determined by the Ordinary of the Place. And the Chancels shalt remain as they have done in times past.
Bishop Anthony Sparrow dedicated a whole chapter of his Rationale On The Book Of Common Prayer to this, concluding:
THIS may shew sufficiently the respect they [the ancients] had to the altar; first, the epithets they gave it, calling it the divine, the dreadful altar; secondly, their bowing and adoring that way, turning their faces that way in their public prayers, as towards the chiefest and highest place of the church; lastly, placing it aloft in all their churches at the upper end, the east. For so both Socrates and Nicephorus tell us, the altar was placed ad orientem, "at the east," in all Christian churches, except in Antiochia Syriae, in Antioch. And so they stood at the east in the church of England till Queen Elizabeth's time, when some of them were taken down indeed, upon what grounds I dispute not; but wheresoever the altars were taken down, the holy tables, which is all one, were set up in the place where the altars stood by the Queen's Injunctions, and so they continued in most cathedral churches; and so ought to have continued in all; for that was enjoined by Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions, forbidden by no after law that I know, but rather confirmed by this Rubric, "For THE CHANCELS ARE TO REMAIN AS IN TIMES PAST."
— Bishop Anthony Sparrow (1612-1685). A Rationale On The Book Of Common Prayer. Of Chancels, Altars, Fashion Of Churches."
10 "Kneeling". According to the Revd Thomas Bisse (1675-1731), Chancellor of Hereford Cathedral,
KNEELING at prayer, standing at praise, and sitting while the lessons are read, and at hearing the sermon, are ceremonies so obviously fitting and proper, that more than to suggest them would be needless. O come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker
11 "Turning to the People". When the priest is praying to God, he faces east. When he is addressing the congregation, he faces west, towards them.
THEN shall the priest of Bishop, if present, stand, and turning himself to the peole, say, &c. So in the benediction, reading of the lessons, and holy commandments: but in those parts of the office which were directed to God immediately, as prayers, hymns, lauds, confessions of faith, or sins, he turned from the people; and for that purpose in many parish churches of late, the reading pew had one desk for the Bible, looking towards the people to the body of the Church, another for the prayerbook looking towards the east or upper end of the chancel. And very reasonable was this usage; for when the people were spoken to, it was fit to look towards them; but when God was spoken to, it was fit to turn from the people.
—
For more on facing east, see these extracts.
12 "Ten Commandments". The Ten Commandments remain binding on Christians in terms of their moral obligations. The moral law is eternal (cf. Rom 7:12; Mt 5:17-20; Mk 10:17-19).
However, the Temple worship has been retired, because it was a shadow of Christ's death on the cross, which has wholly superseded it (Heb 10:1-14).
Likewise, the economic, criminal and civil regulations of the Law are no longer binding on Christians (Acts 15:1-31; Gal 3:21-4:7).
ALTHOUGH the law given from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, do not bind Christian men,Heb 10v11-18 Acts 15v19-21 nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth;Acts 15v23-29 yet, notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.Mt 19v16-17 1 Cor 6v12.
THE ritual or ceremonial law, delivered by Moses to the children of Israel, containing all the injunctions and ordinances which related to the old sacrifices and service of the temple, our Lord did indeed come to destroy, to dissolve, and utterly abolish. ... But the moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he did not take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which "stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven."
AS he is a Prophet, ye are bound to listen to his words, to sit meekly, as Mary did, at his feet, to follow after the example of his perfections; as he is a Priest and a sacrifice, ye are bound to call to mind his precious blood-shedding, to weep over his cross, to receive him by faith in all those holy ordinances which he hath appointed. As he is a King, let us remember to obey all his commandments, to bring before him the homage and tribute of a free will offering of thankful, loyal hearts, and pure bodies, to be his soldiers and subjects, to fight under his banners against sin, the world, and the devil.
13 "Grace". It is axiomatic for Anglicanism that it is impossible to turn from sin to a life of virtue without God's grace.
THE condition of man after the fall of AdamGen 3v8-19 is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God.Rom 7v18-24 Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God,Heb 11v6 without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.Rom 8v27-28.
Though set free from the curse of the law, we are not free to behave as we please. On the contrary: we are now more able to keep the moral law. The New Covenant promised by God through Jeremiah and of which the Eucharist is the memorial in bread and wine, is a promise to write the law in our hearts (Jer 31:31-34; 1 Cor 11:23-26). In the Lord's Supper, God melts our hard hearts, pours into them the grace and fruits of the sacrifice of Christ, and we respond to his love with our love.
SUCH is the true faith that the scripture doth so much commend; the which, when it seeth and considereth what God hath done for us is also moved through continual assistance of the Spirit of God to serve and please him, to keep his favour, to fear his displeasure, to continue his obedient children, showing thankfulness again by observing or keeping his commandments and that freely, for true love chiefly and not for dread of punishment or love of temporal reward, considering how clearly without our deservings we have received his mercy and pardon freely.
14 "Lord, have mercy upon us". This is a translation of the Greek Κύριε ελέησον ("kyrie eleison"), "Lord have mercy". In the Sarum Use, the Kyrie eleison accompanied a General Confession at the start of the Mass, and was in simple threefold form (each line would be sung three times):
KYRIE eleison
Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison
This rather bare Kyrie was probably a relic of the ancient litany or ektenia, a series of petitions with the response "Lord have mercy" which is still found at the start of the Greek liturgy. In the reformed Anglican tradition, the Litany was restored, and appointed to be said immediately before the Communion Service on Sundays.
Instead of this, choirs of the Sarum Use would often expand ("trope") the Kyrie with additional texts, e.g.
LORD Almighty Father unbegotten, on us wretched ones have mercy.
Lord Who hast redeemed Thine handiwork by Thine own Son, have mercy.
Lord Adonai blot out our sins, and on Thy people have mercy.
CHRIST the splendour of the Father's glory and the image of His substance, have mercy.
Christ Who didst save the world at the Father's bidding, have mercy.
Christ, Salvation of men and eternal life of angels, have mercy.
LORD, the Spirit the Paraclete, Bestower of pardon, have mercy.
Lord, Fountain of mercy, sevenfold in grace, have mercy.
Lord, most gracious Pardoner, proceeding from Both, most bounteous Bestower of Spiritual gifts, have mercy.
These troped texts were unregulated, and rather invited accusations of importing alien notions; many included praises of and petitions to the Virgin Mary which the Reformers regarded as inappropriate. The very real danger of heterodoxy was admitted by Rome too, and troping was banned by Rome at the Council of Trent (1545-1563).
The Prayer Book compilers essentially "troped" the Kyrie using the Ten Commandments.
15 "Incline our hearts". The very core of the Christian gospel, which is also the pinnacle of the Lord's Supper, is the New Covenant in Christ's blood: that God has renewed his Covenant with Israel, such that the Law will be written not on tablets of stone, but on the heart (Jer 31:31-34; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
The Ten Commandments can be kept in the manner that truly pleases God, only by those in whom he has put his Holy Spirit; and for daily increase of this grace he also urges us to pray persistently.
THE condition of man after the fall of AdamGen 3v8-19 is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God.Rom 7v18-24 Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God,Heb 11v6 without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.Rom 8v27-28
See this extract from Richard Baxter's The Divine Life, in which he amasses Scriptural proofs against the "unthankful opinion" that our conversions come by our own efforts. His remarks are echoed by John Wesley:
WE believe, that in the moment Adam fell, he had no freedom of will left; but that God, when of his own free-grace he gave the promise of a Saviour to him and his posterity, graciously restored to mankind a liberty and power to accept of proffered salvation. And, in all this, man's boasting is excluded; the whole of that which is good in him, even from the first motion of his will, being of grace and not of nature.
CONCERNING justification, we believe that all good Christians have true inherent justice, though not perfect, according to a perfection of degrees, as gold is true gold, though it be mixed with some dross. We believe that this inherent justice and sanctity doth make them truly just and holy. But if the word 'Justification' be taken in sensu forensi, for the acquittal of a man of former guilt, to make an offender just in the eye of the law, as it is opposed to 'Condemnation', "It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" - then it is not our inherent righteousness that justifieth us in this sense, but the free grace of God for the merits of Jesus Christ.
"WHAT think we of Christ?" Do we feel that his gospel, — the atonement it reveals, the covenant it offers, the promises of grace which it conveys, — afford us exactly that comfort which our hearts are in need of, and our condition requires? This it will do, in proportion as we understand the holiness of God, the weakness of our own hearts, and the solemnity of the judgment which is to come. We find ourselves stained with the guilt of sin; but "the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin."
We are not sufficient of ourselves to do any thing as of ourselves; but he has engaged to "work in us both to will and to do." We are justly condemned as transgressors against the divine law; but "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." We are "born in sin, and children of wrath;" but he is revealed to us under the title of Saviour. And we receive him as such. We receive him as the author and finisher of our faith; we look to him as the guide and helper of our course; and we welcome him, as "made unto us by God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
16 "The Queen". The Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The title initially used was "Head", but this obscured the fact that Christ is the Head of any Church. Like the Army, the Church is loyal to the Queen, and not to the Government of the day.
The Queen takes an oath to uphold the Church of England "by law established", while the Church promises to by governed by her. You can read her Oath as made at her Coronation on June 2nd, 1953 at the Royal Family website.
Neither the Queen nor her ministers of State and Church have any power to force the Church of England to do anything contrary to Scripture.
IT is, then, at the present moment one main duty of the English Church to recall to the mind of her own members, and so to the minds of others, that there is an authority committed to her which is fundamentally independent of the functions and authority of the State; that, in the last issue, the duty of teaching and guarding the principles of Christian doctrine, discipline, and worship, was committed by Christ to one divine society, the Church; and not to that other divine society, with separate functions, the State.
With the advent of secular democratic government in the United Kingdom, this role for the Queen has been increasingly compromised. The advent of semi-democratic Church government in the General Synod has simply made everything worse. There has never been a more important time to pray for her.
17 "Standing as before". That is to say, facing East for the purposes of prayer, and at the left or north horn of the Lord's table.
