THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH, ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE United States of America: TOGETHER WITH THE 'PSALTER OR PSALMS OF DAVID. NEW YORK: LIARY NEW YORK BIBLE AND COMMON PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY Printed at the Protestant Episcopal Press ST to deciso New York, June 1, 1832 I DO HEREBY CERTIFY, that this edition of the Common Prayer Book, Book of Offices, &c., (having been compared with the standard books, and cor. rected by the same,) is permitted to be published as an edition duly compared and corrected by a suitable person appointed for that purpose, as the canon directo. BENJAMIN T. ONDERDONK, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the State of New-York. Page Page of Common Prayer, .. 41 to such as are of Riper is appointed to be read, . 7 17 A Catechism; that is to say, Scripture, to be read at 118 The Order of Confirmation, Prayer throughout the those that are baptized and come to years of discretion, 138 6 The Calendar, ..... 10/19 The form of Solemnization of Moveable and Immoveable 20 The Order for the Visitation days of Fasting and Absti. 21 The Communion of the Sick, 146 nence throughout the year, 1622 The Order for the Burial of ... 17|23 The Thanksgiving of Women 9 The Order får Daily Morn: after Child birth, common. 10 The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, ..:.:: 2724 Forms of Prayer to be used upon several occasions, to 25 A Form of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners, , 156 prayers of Morning and 26 A Form of Prayer and Evening Service, ... 35 Thanksgiving to Almighty 12 The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used through. " earth and all the other 13 The Order for the Administra tion of the Lord's Supper, 27 Forms of Prayer to be used or Holy Communion," : . 115 in Families, . .... 163 14 The Ministration of Public | 28 Selections of Psalms, to be used in the church, . 125 for the Day, at the discre. 15 The Ministration of Private I tion of the Minister, . . 166 praised before the Asions, to TAB RATIFICATION OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. By the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Convention, this 16th Day of October, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. THIS Convention having in their present Session, set forth A Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, do hereby establish the said book : And they declare it to be the Liturgy of this Church: And require, that it be received as such by all the members of the same: And this book shall be in use from and after the first day of October, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety. It is a most invaluable part of that blessed liberty wherewith CHRIST hath made us free, that in his worship, different forms and usages may withont offence be allowed, provided the substance of the faith be kept entire ; and that, in every Church, what cannot be clearly determined to belong to Doctrine must be referred to Discipline; and therefore, by common consent and authority, may be altered, abridged, enlarged, amended, or otherwise disposed of, as may seem most convenient for the edification of the people, "according to the various exigencies of times and occasions." The Church of England, to which the Protestant Episcopal Church in these States is indebted, under God, for her first foundation and a long continuance of nursing care and protection, hath, in the Preface of her Book of Comnion Prayer, laid it down as a rule, that “The Particular Forms of Divine Worship, and the Rites and Ceremonias appointed to be used therein, being things in their own nature indifferent and alterable, and so acknow. ledged, it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important considerations, according to the various exigencies of tiines and occasions, such changes and alterations should be made therein, as to those who are in places of authority should, from time to time, seem either necessary or expedient." The same Church hath not only in her Preface, but likewise in her Articles and Homilies, declared the necessity and expediency of occasional alterations and amendments in her Forms of Public Worship; and we find accordingly, that, seeking to “keep the happy mean between too much stiffness in refusing, and too much eusiness in admitting variations in things once advisedly established, she hath, in the reign of several princes, since the first compiling of her Liturgy in the time of Edward the Sixth, upon just and weighty considerations her thereunto moving, yielded to make such alterations in sume particulars, as in their respective times were thought convenient; yet so as that the main body and essential parts of the same (as well in the chiefest materials, as in the frame and order thereof) have still been continued firm and unshaken.' Her general aiın in these different Reviews and Alterations hath been, as she further declares in her said Preface, "to do that which, aocording to her best understanding, might most tend to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church ; the procuring of reverence, and the exciting of piety and devotion in the worship of God; and, finally, the cutting off occasion, from them that seek occasion, of cavil or quarrel against her Liturgy." And although, according to her judgment, there be not "any thing in it contrary to the Word of God, or to sound doctrine, or which a godly man may not with a good conscience use and submit unto, or which is not fairly ( 5 ) |