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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Presbyterian Worship, by Robert Johnston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Presbyterian Worship
+       Its Spirit, Method and History
+
+Author: Robert Johnston
+
+Release Date: December 14, 2009 [EBook #30675]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+
+
+ITS SPIRIT
+
+  METHOD AND
+
+    HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+BY
+
+ROBERT JOHNSTON, D.D.,
+
+London.
+
+
+
+
+TORONTO;
+
+THE PUBLISHERS' SYNDICATE, LIMITED.
+
+
+1901
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+The worship of the sanctuary is a living subject of discussion and
+practice in the Presbyterian Churches of the world at large, and,
+within late years, in that of the Canadian Dominion.  Many earnest
+minds are approaching the study of the subject from various
+standpoints, each worthy of attentive consideration.  One regards it
+from the dogmatic position of scriptural precedent, or from the larger
+one of Christian principle; the aesthetic mind comes to it with visions
+of order and beauty; the practical, with his view of the Church's needs
+in mission fields and in mixed congregations.  There is room in the
+discussion for the largest statement of lawful opinion, founded on
+conviction of absolute right, and on Christian expediency, and for the
+exercise of abundant charity.
+
+Dr. Johnston gives no uncertain sound on the subject.  To his mind the
+duty of the Church, first and last, is to preserve spirituality of
+worship, and to discountenance everything that may tend to interfere
+with the same.  But, while this spirit pervades his work, his method is
+historical, and thus preeminently fair and impartial in statement. The
+presentation of the argument in concrete or historical form invests it
+with an interest which could hardly be commanded by either dogmatic or
+practical methods, while it excludes neither.
+
+Dr. Johnston brings to his task ripe scholarship, including extensive
+knowledge of Church history and ecclesiology, his proficiency in which
+he has recently vindicated in such a manner as to leave no room for
+doubt. To this he adds the teaching of pastoral experience in mission
+fields, prior to his ordination, and, since then, in large and
+influential congregations; and, to crown the whole, heartfelt devotion
+to the Church of his fathers, and unswerving personal loyalty to its
+King and Head.
+
+With adoring thanks to the great Teacher of us all, who rewards
+professors in their declining years with the affectionate regard of
+their whilom best students, now become wise and strong men in the
+Church's service, I cordially commend to all who may read these words,
+this outcome of Dr. Johnston's Christian erudition and conscientious
+literary labor.
+
+(signature of John Campbell)
+
+PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE,
+
+MONTREAL, March, 1901.
+
+
+
+
+TO ONE WHO LOVED
+
+THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH,
+
+AND WORSHIPS NOW
+
+IN THE CITY WHEREIN IS NO TEMPLE--
+
+MY MOTHER.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE LAW AND THE LIBERTY OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE AGE OF KNOX: THE FORMATIVE PERIOD OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+KNOX'S BOOK OF COMMON ORDER.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A DIET OF PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE TIME OF KNOX
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE PERIOD OF CONTROVERSY
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY AND THE DIRECTORY OF WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+LEGISLATION CONCERNING PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO
+  THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP OUTSIDE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MODERN MOVEMENTS IN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES RESPECTING PUBLIC WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+"Inward truth of heart alone, is what the Lord requires.  Exercises
+superadded are to be approved, so far as they are subservient to Truth,
+useful incitements, or marks of profession to attest our faith to men.
+Nor do we reject things tending to the preservation of Order and
+Discipline.  But when consciences are put under fetters, and bound by
+religious obligations, in matters in which God willed them to be free,
+then must we boldly protest in order that the worship of God be not
+vitiated by human fictions."--CALVIN.
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+The purpose in the following pages is a simple one.  It is to discover
+the trend of thought in connection with Public Worship within the
+Presbyterian Church, particularly in Scotland, during the course of her
+history since the Reformation.  The spirit of the Church in her
+stirring and formative periods, especially if that spirit is a constant
+one, is pregnant with instruction.  Such a constant spirit is readily
+discovered by a study of the attitude of the Presbyterian Church
+towards the subject of Public Worship during the course of her history,
+and to the writer it seems very evident that that spirit indicates an
+increasing suspicion of liturgical forms in Worship, and a growing
+confidence in, and desire for, the liberty of untrammeled approach to
+God.
+
+Whether this spirit be the best or not, it is not the purpose of these
+pages to discuss.  The great principle of the liberty of the Church in
+matters of detail, is fully recognized, a principle ever to be
+sedulously guarded, but an appeal is made to the record of history for
+its evidence as to the historic attitude of the Presbyterian Church, on
+a question which to-day is claiming the earnest attention of those who
+desire for that Church fidelity to her Lord and efficiency in His work.
+
+My indebtedness in the study of this subject to Dr. McCrie's Cunningham
+Lectures on "Scottish Presbyterian Worship," Brown's "Life of John
+Knox," Sprott's "Scottish Liturgies" and Baird's "Eutaxia," as well as
+to various Histories of the Reformation in Scotland, and for American
+Church History to Moore's and Alexander's valuable digests, I gladly
+and with gratitude acknowledge.  An abundant and increasing literature
+upon the subject of Public Worship is an encouraging sign of the
+attention which the Church is giving to a matter so vital to its best
+life.
+
+R. J.
+
+ST. ANDREW'S MANSE,
+  LONDON, January, 1901.
+
+
+
+
+The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+
+
+"While it is admitted that there is a form of government prescribed or
+instituted in the New Testament, so far as its general principles or
+features are concerned, there is a wide discretion allowed us by God in
+matters of detail, which no man or set of men, which neither civil
+magistrates nor ecclesiastical rulers can take from us."--HODGE.
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+"The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and
+New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and
+enjoy Him."--WESTMINSTER CATECHISM.
+
+
+The Church of Christ, as a divine communion, exists in the world for a
+definite and appointed purpose.  This purpose may be declared to be
+twofold, and may be described by the terms "Witness" and "Worship."
+
+It is the evident design of God that the visible Church should bear
+witness to His existence and character, to His revelation and
+providence, and to His grace towards mankind, manifested in His Son,
+Jesus Christ.  To Israel God said, "Ye are my witnesses," and to His
+disciples forming the nucleus of the New Testament Church, the risen
+Saviour said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."
+
+Side by side with this evident end of the Church's existence is the
+other one of Worship.  Not only from the individual heart does God
+require ascriptions of praise and expressions of confidence, but from
+the organized congregation of His people, He desires to hear the voice
+of adoration, contrition, and supplication.  The cultivation of such
+worship, and the offering of it in a manner acceptable to God, is a
+work worthy of the Church's most earnest care.
+
+It is to be expected, therefore, that in the Word of God there shall be
+found the principles of a cultus which, possessing Divine authority,
+shall carry with it the assurance of its sufficiency for the ends aimed
+at, and of its suitability to the requirements of the Church in every
+age.  That the word of God contains such principles clearly indicated,
+the Presbyterian Church has always maintained, teaching uniformly and
+emphatically that Holy Scripture contains all that is necessary for the
+guidance of the Church, as well in matters of Polity and Worship, as in
+those of Doctrine.  Divine worship, therefore, neither in its constant
+elements nor in its methods, is a matter of mere human device, nor is
+the Church at liberty to devise or to adopt aught that is not
+explicitly stated or implicitly contained in the Word of God for her
+guidance.
+
+The essential parts of worship we are at no loss to discover, clearly
+indicated as they are in the history of the Apostolic Church.  Praise
+and Prayer, with the reading and exposition of Scripture, together with
+the celebration of the Sacraments, are repeatedly referred to as those
+exercises in which the early Christians engaged.  With such worship,
+though in more elaborate form, the Church had always been familiar, for
+as Christianity itself was in so many respects the fruit and outcome of
+Judaism, the expansion, into principles of world-wide and perpetual
+application, of truths that had hitherto been national and local, so
+its worship and organization were, in large measure, the adaptation of
+familiar forms to those simpler and more comprehensive ones of the New
+Testament Church.  Throughout the successive periods of Israel's
+history, marked by patriarch, psalmist, and prophet, Divine worship had
+grown from simple sacrifice at a family altar to an elaborate
+temple-ritual, in which praise and prayer and the reading of the Law
+occupied a prominent place; to this were added in later times the
+exposition of the Law and the reading of the Prophets.  This service,
+elaborate with magnificent and imposing forms, continued in connection
+with the Temple worship down to the time of our Saviour, while in the
+Synagogue a simpler service, combining all the essential parts of the
+former with the exception of sacrifice, was developed during the period
+subsequent to the Babylonian captivity, when, as is generally conceded,
+the Synagogue with its service had its origin.  Apart then from the
+ritual connected with sacrifice, which was wholly typical, the temple
+service and the simpler worship of the Synagogue were identical in
+their different parts, although differing widely in form.
+
+Now, just as Christianity was itself not a substitute for the Jewish
+religion but a development and enlargement of it, so Christian worship
+was an outgrowth, with larger meaning and broader application, of the
+worship of God which for centuries had been conducted among the Jews.
+It continued to comprise the essential elements of prayer and praise,
+together with the reading and exposition of the Divine message, a
+message which was enlarged in Apostolic times by the record concerning
+the Christ who had come, and by the inspired writings of the Apostles
+of our Lord to the Church which they had been commissioned to plant and
+foster, while associated with these was the administration of the
+Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.  It has always been
+maintained by the Presbyterian Church, that of these different elements
+of worship, none should be neglected, inasmuch as all of them have
+Divine sanction, and that to these nothing should be added, inasmuch as
+any addition made, could possess human sanction only, and would be a
+transgression of the principle that Scripture and Scripture alone
+contains authority for the government and practice of the Church of
+Jesus Christ.
+
+It follows that in the arrangement and adjustment of each of these
+various parts of worship, in their due relation to each other, and in
+the determination of the methods that shall prevail in their
+performance, the Church must be governed by an appreciation of the
+purpose for which they have been established, and of the ends which
+they are expected to serve.  The object of public worship must ever be
+kept in view, and no forms, however attractive, are to be admitted by
+which that object may be hidden or obscured: on the other hand, order
+and seemliness demand a due attention, and it is an error, only less
+mischievous than the former, to have regard to the spirit of worship
+alone, and thus to neglect whatever suitable forms and methods may best
+secure the orderly and appropriate performance of its every part.
+
+The most commonly recognized purpose of public worship is the
+cultivation of the spiritual life of the worshipper, and this is
+attained by the employment of means intended to bring the soul into an
+attitude of response to its Lord.  It follows then that matters of
+form, attitude, and order in worship, should be so arranged and
+regulated that they may serve as aids to the securing of this end, and
+that nothing should be permitted which may in any way interfere with
+the development of this spirit of response on the part of those so
+engaged.  And when it is remembered how small a matter may interfere
+with the worship of a congregation, and how easily disturbed and
+distracted the hearts of men are by untoward circumstances or
+conditions, it will be seen that not only the forms of worship demand
+attention, but that the order of its different parts, the attitude of
+the worshippers, and all matters of detail are worthy of careful
+thought and of earnest consideration.  But Christian worship has an
+altruistic aim also, and is intended to serve as a witness before the
+world to those fundamental truths professed by the Christian Church.
+With this end in view, it is evident that its forms should be such as
+shall most clearly and effectively set forth before the eyes of
+beholders, those truths and principles which the Church holds as
+essential to Christian faith and practice.  To obscure such a public
+declaration of Christian belief, by hiding these truths beneath an
+elaborate adornment that disguises or completely conceals them, is to
+be faithless to the commission of Jesus Christ to be a witness unto Him
+before the world; to neglect such witness-bearing, or by carelessness
+or inattention to detail, to render it in a manner so ineffective as to
+disparage the truth in the eyes of beholders, is to be none the less
+unfaithful to that great commission.
+
+With the twofold purpose of worship clearly kept in view as the
+foundation for any discussion of this subject, it is also to be
+remembered that the Church of Christ is left free by her Divine King
+and Head, so to order matters of detail, under the guidance of the
+Spirit of Truth, and in harmony with the principles laid down in
+Scripture, as may in accordance with varying ages and circumstances
+seem best for the attainment of the ends desired.  While Christian
+worship in its essential parts is prescribed by Scripture, the Church
+is free to amplify or develop these general outlines, provided only
+that all be in harmony with the spirit of Revelation.  It is very
+evident that new conditions of a progressive civilization, the spirit
+of the times, or the particular circumstances of a community, may make
+desirable a modification of a particular method of worship long
+practised; it is for the Church, relying ever on the guidance of the
+Spirit of Truth, to determine how such modification may, without
+violation to the spirit of Scripture, be made.  For this reason it can
+never be binding upon the Church to accept as final, the particular
+methods of worship used and found suitable by men of another age or
+another land; while such may be accepted as valuable for suggestions
+contained, and as indicating the spirit that controlled good and great
+men of another time, yet the Church can only accept them (in loyalty to
+the Spirit Who abides in her, and Who is hers in every age) in so far
+as they prove themselves suitable to present times and conditions.  The
+present possession by the Church, of the Holy Spirit as a guide into
+all truth, according to the promise of Christ to His disciples, is a
+doctrine that no branch of the Church would readily surrender, and her
+right, under that guidance, to seek the good of the body of Christ on
+lines which, while consistent with the principles of Scripture, commend
+themselves to her as more suitable to present conditions than former
+methods, this right is one which she can part with only at the risk of
+endangering her usefulness to her own age.
+
+To Presbyterians, therefore, thankful as they are for an historic past
+that has in it so much to arouse gratitude to God and loyalty to the
+Church they love, the citing of the practice of their forefathers in
+Reformation times, or even that of the early fathers of the Church, can
+never be a final argument for the acceptance of any particular method
+in worship.  Believing in a Church in which the Spirit of God as truly
+governs and guides to-day as He did in Reformation or post-Apostolic
+times, and in a Christian liberty of which neither the practice nor
+legislation of holy men of the past can deprive them, they rightly
+refuse to surrender their liberty or to retire from their
+responsibility.
+
+In the best and truest sense the Presbyterian Church is Apostolic, and
+her spiritual succession from the Apostles she cherishes with an
+unfaltering confidence.  While rejecting the ritual theory of the
+Church, she has never been careless of the true succession of faith and
+doctrine and practice from the time of the Apostles to the present day,
+a succession to which she lays a not unworthy claim; and, claiming
+loyalty to Apostolic doctrine, polity and practice, she has ever been
+jealous in asserting her Divine right, as an Apostolic Church, to the
+controlling presence and guiding wisdom of the Holy Spirit of God.
+Under the guidance of that Spirit she has ever claimed, and still
+claims, the right of administering the government and directing the
+worship which, in their essential principles, are set forth in
+Scripture, neither superciliously regarding herself in any age as
+independent of those who have gone before, and so disregarding the
+legislation and practice of the fathers, nor, on the other hand,
+slavishly accepting such legislation and practice as binding upon the
+Church for all time, and as excluding for ever any progress or change.
+That spirit, at once of independence as regards man, and of dependence
+as regards God, has characterized Presbyterianism in its most vigorous
+and progressive periods; by that spirit must it still be characterized
+if, in succeeding ages, the work allotted to it is to be faithfully and
+well performed.
+
+If then the Church of one age is so independent of those who in other
+times have served her, it may be asked of what interest is her past
+history to us of to-day, and of what benefit to us is a knowledge of
+the legislation and practice of the Church in other periods of her
+progress?  Of much value in every way is such knowledge.  Those periods
+in particular, in which the Church has made notable progress, and in
+which her life has evidently been characterized by much of the Holy
+Spirit's presence and power, may well be studied, as times when those
+in authority were, indeed, led to wise measures, and guided to those
+methods of administration and practice, which by their success approved
+themselves as enjoying the Divine favor; the lamp of experience is one
+which wise men will never treat with indifference.  In studying the
+Reformation period, therefore, a period marked by special activity and
+progress within the Presbyterian Church, we do so, not so much to
+discover forms which we may adopt and imitate, as to discover the
+spirit which moved the leaders in the Church of that day, and the
+principles which governed them in formulating those regulations, and in
+adopting those practices, which proved suitable and successful in their
+own age.  To emulate the spirit of brave and wise men of the past is
+the part of wisdom, to imitate their methods may be the extreme of
+folly.
+
+Another result, and one equally desirable, will be attained by a study
+of Presbyterian practice from Reformation times onward.  It will
+transpire, as we follow the history of public worship, by what paths we
+have arrived at our present position, and we shall discover whether
+that position is the result of diligent and careful search after those
+methods most in accord with Scripture principles, and so best suited to
+the different periods through which in her progress the Church has
+passed, or whether it is due to a temporary neglect of such principles,
+and a disregard of the changing necessities of different ages.  We
+shall discover, in a word, whether we have advanced, in dependence upon
+the Spirit of God and in recognition of our responsibilities, or
+whether we have retrograded through self-trust and indifference.
+
+
+
+
+The Age of Knox: the Formative Period of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+
+
+"Among the great personages of the past it would be difficult to name
+one who in the same degree has vitalized and dominated the collective
+energies of his countrymen."--BROWN'S LIFE OF KNOX.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+The Age of Knox: the Formative Period of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+
+It was in the year 1560 that the Reformed religion was officially
+recognized by the Estates of the Realm of Scotland, as the faith of the
+nation.  This recognition consisted in the adoption by Parliament of
+the first Scottish Confession, a formula drawn up by Knox and his
+brethren at Parliament's request, and formally approved by that body as
+"wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of
+God's Word."  This year may, therefore, be regarded as the year of the
+birth of the Church of Scotland, although previous to it the Reformed
+faith had been preached, and its worship practised, in many parts of
+the land where nobles and barons, who had themselves adopted it, held
+individual or united sway.
+
+A glance at the condition of affairs in Scotland in the years
+immediately prior to this event will be instructive.  In 1557, as a
+result of Knox's rebuke of the Scottish nobles for their hesitancy in
+forwarding the Reformed faith, the "Confederation of the Lords of the
+Congregation" was formed, and its members subscribed to the first of
+the five Covenants that played so important a part in the religious
+history of Scotland.  In this Covenant, those subscribing bound
+themselves to "maintain and further the blessed Word of God and His
+congregation and to renounce the congregation of Satan with all the
+superstitions, abominations and idolatry thereof."  To the general
+declaration were appended two particular resolutions, in which was
+expressed a determination to further the preaching of the Word, in the
+meantime, in private houses, and to insist on the use of King Edward's
+Prayer Book in parishes under the control of subscribers to the
+Covenant.  By these same Protestant lords and commoners the first
+official order, authorizing for their own parishes a form of Reformed
+worship in Scotland, was issued in these terms:--
+
+
+"It is ordained that the Common Prayers be read weekly on Sunday, and
+other festival days, publicly in the parish Kirks with the lessons of
+the Old and New Testaments conform to the order of the Book of Common
+Prayer."
+
+
+It is generally conceded, and the judgment is supported by the
+references to it in Scottish history, that this Book of Common Prayer
+thus authorized was the second Book of King Edward the Sixth.
+
+From the year 1557 until the arrival of Knox in Scotland in 1559 this
+was the Book commonly used in parishes where the Reformed religion
+prevailed.  It disappeared, however, as so much else of a foreign
+character disappeared, in the course of the national Reformation,
+giving place to the Book prepared by Knox and then commonly known as
+"The Book of Our Common Order" but now frequently referred to as
+"Knox's Liturgy."  This was originally the work of Knox and four
+associate reformers living in exile in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and the
+history of its origin is interesting.  It had been required of the
+English refugees living at Frankfort, as a condition of their being
+allowed to use for worship the French church of that town, that they
+should adopt the Order of Worship of the French Reformed Church.  To
+this requirement the majority agreed, but, some objecting, it was
+finally determined that five of their number, of whom Knox was one,
+should draw up a new order of service.  This work, undertaken in 1554,
+was duly accomplished, but when completed it failed to find acceptance
+at the hands of those who had proposed it.  The draft of the new book
+was therefore laid aside until 1556, and was then published for the use
+of the church at Geneva, of which Knox in the meantime had become the
+minister.
+
+There is in connection with this Book, and the debates and disturbances
+attending its preparation, one instructive fact that should not be
+forgotten.  The English Prayer Book provided for responses by the
+people and included the Litany, to both of which the French Reformed
+Church objected, in accordance with the well-known opinions of their
+great leader Calvin, who held, as did also his disciple Knox, that in
+praise alone should the congregation audibly join in public worship.
+Among the English refugees were some who desired the privilege of
+responding in public worship according to the English fashion, and it
+was the persistence in this matter of Cox, afterwards Bishop of Ely,
+and of some of his co-patriots, that led to Knox's removal to Geneva,
+and to the publication there of the Book of Geneva as an order for
+public worship in the English congregation to which he ministered.  It
+is important that this should be remembered, for in speaking of the
+Book of Common Order as "Knox's Liturgy," and thus giving to it a name
+by which it was never known in Knox's day, an impression has prevailed,
+and is still prevalent, that the book provided a form of worship
+liturgical in character, with a responsive service, while the fact is
+that Knox made no provision for even so much as the saying of "Amen" by
+the people, their part in prayer being the silent following in their
+hearts of the petitions uttered by the reader or the preacher for the
+day.
+
+The first official recognition of this book in Scotland was in 1562,
+when an order of the General Assembly required that it should be
+uniformly used in the administration of the Sacraments, solemnization
+of marriage and burial of the dead.  At this time it was still in its
+Genevan form, and was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of
+the Sacraments, etc., used in the English congregation at Geneva; and
+approved by the famous and Godly-learned man, M. John Calvin."  Two
+years later, in 1564, a Scottish edition appeared, in which were
+additional prayers with the complete copy of the Psalter, and in this
+year the General Assembly ordained that:
+
+
+"Every Minister, Exhorter and Reader shall have one of the Psalm Books
+lately printed in Edinborough, and use the order contained therein in
+Prayers, Marriage and Ministration of the Sacraments."
+
+
+This book was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the
+Sacraments, etc., used in the English Church at Geneva approved and
+received by the Church of Scotland, whereunto besides that was in the
+former books are also added sundry other Prayers with the whole Psalms
+of David in English Metre."  As the Psalms occupied by far the greater
+part of the book it came to be commonly known as "The Psalm Book," and
+as such, with frequent additions, among which were several hymns and
+doxologies, it continued to be the recognized Book of Common Order of
+the Scottish Church down to the time of the Westminster Assembly.  It
+cannot be claimed, however, that this book ever secured a firm or
+lasting hold upon the affections of the Scottish people in general.
+Its authority was ecclesiastical only, inasmuch as the Estates of the
+Realm never gave to it the official sanction which they had repeatedly
+granted to King Edward's Prayer Book.  One reason for this evident want
+of popularity may have been that, except in its Psalter department and
+in some of its minor parts, it was a book for the clergy only and not
+for the people.  Even the Psalms in those days passed through new
+editions so rapidly, and were subjected to such serious changes, that
+they never obtained the place in the affections of the people that
+later versions have secured, and by 1645 The Book of Common Order
+appears to have fallen into such comparative neglect that no strong
+resistance was made to its abolition in favor of the Directory of
+Worship.
+
+That it was held in esteem by the clergy, although not so revered as to
+be looked upon as incapable of improvement, appears from the fact that
+in 1601 a proposal was made to revise it, together with the confession
+of faith, which had been prepared by Knox.  This work was committed to
+Alexander Henderson, the renowned minister of Leuchars and the valiant
+leader of the Church of Scotland in her resistance against the tyranny
+of Charles the First and his minister, Laud.  The revision, however,
+was never accomplished, Henderson confessing, according to the
+historian, Baillie, that he could not take upon him "either to
+determine some points controverted, or to set down other forms of
+prayer than we have in our Psalm Book, penned by our great and divine
+reformer."
+
+A book which held for so long a time its place of authority in the
+Scottish Church, and which embodied during so important a period the
+law of the Church concerning worship, deserves particular study at the
+hands of those who are interested in the history of this important
+subject, but inasmuch as the form of worship alone is under discussion,
+it will be necessary to refer only to those parts of it which bear on
+this phase of the Church's practice.  Before doing so, however, it will
+be instructive to notice what is too frequently overlooked, that the
+adoption of Knox's Book of Common Order by the Scottish Church
+indicates even in that age a desire for forms of worship less
+liturgical than those which were employed by other parts of the
+Reformed Church.  It is to be remembered that those parishes in which
+the Reformed religion prevailed had been accustomed to the use of the
+English Book of Common Prayer with responsive services for the people,
+and with prayers from which the minister was not supposed to deviate.
+This Book was set aside, and in its place was adopted an Order of
+worship in no part of which provision was made for responses, and in
+all of whose prayers the minister was not only allowed freedom, but was
+encouraged to exercise the same.  Such action on the part of men
+accustomed to make changes only after careful deliberation, clearly
+indicates an intelligent choice of a non-liturgical service as opposed
+to one of the opposite character.
+
+More than this, the Scottish Book of Common Order is marked by an even
+greater freedom from prescribed forms than is Calvin's original Book of
+Geneva from which Knox copied so largely.  For while both of them
+agreed in avoiding a responsive service, Knox seems to have been even
+less than Calvin in sympathy with prescribed forms of prayer from which
+no deviation was to be allowed.  There is nothing to indicate that Knox
+would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in Calvin's letter to
+the Protector Somerset, in which he says: "As to what concerns a form
+of prayer and ecclesiastical rites, I highly approve of it, that there
+be a certain form from which the ministers be not allowed to vary....
+Therefore there ought to be a stated form of prayer and administration
+of the Sacraments."  The form of Church prayers, as originally prepared
+by Calvin in keeping with his sentiments above expressed, do not
+provide for any variation in certain parts of the service.  The
+Scottish Book of Common Order, however, allows, in its every part, for
+the operation of the free Spirit of God, and for other prayers to be
+offered by the minister than those there suggested.
+
+At this period of its history, therefore, we find the Church of
+Scotland more pronounced than any other section of the Reformed Church
+in its desire for freedom from prescribed forms in the worship of God.
+Indeed, we are probably not in error in judging that in different
+circumstances, with an educated ministry in the Church and those
+appointed as leaders of worship who had received training for that
+important work, Knox would have felt even such a book as that which he
+prepared, to be both unnecessary and undesirable.
+
+
+
+
+Knox's Book of Common Order.
+
+
+
+"The Book of Common Order is best described as a discretionary
+liturgy."--SPROTT.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+Knox's Book of Common Order.
+
+The Book of Common Order makes no reference to the reading of Scripture
+as a part of public worship, nor does it, after the fashion of many
+similar books, contain a table of Scriptures to be read during the
+year.  This omission however, is amended by an ordinance found in the
+First Book of Discipline prepared by Knox in 1561, and adopted by the
+General Assembly of that year, by which it is declared to be:
+
+
+"A thing most expedient and necessary that every Kirk have a Bible in
+English, and that the people be commanded to convene and hear the plain
+reading and interpretation of the Scripture as the Kirk shall appoint."
+
+
+It was further enjoined by the same authority and at the same time that:
+
+
+"Each Book of the Bible should be begun and read through in order to
+the end, and that there should be no skipping and divigation from place
+to place of Scripture, be it in reading or be it in preaching."
+
+
+It is evident, therefore, that it was the purpose of Knox that the
+whole of Holy Scripture should be publicly read for edification, and
+that it should be read as God's message to men and not as an exercise
+subordinate to the preaching, or intended merely to throw light upon
+the subject of the discourse.
+
+In connection with the reading of Scripture and of the Prayers, mention
+is made, in this same Book of Discipline, of an Order of Church
+officers who filled an important place in the Church of that time.  It
+was ordained that where "no ministers could be had presently" the
+Common Prayers and Scriptures should be read by the most suitable
+persons that could be selected.  These suitable persons came to be
+known as "Readers," and they form a distinct class of ecclesiastical
+officers in the Reformation Church of Scotland.  The need of such an
+Order was evident, for the Church found great difficulty in securing
+men of the requisite gifts and graces for the office of the ministry.
+The Readers therefore, formed an important and numerous order in the
+Church for many years, numbering at one time no less than seven
+hundred, while at the same time there was less than half that number of
+ordained ministers.  These men were not allowed to preach or to
+administer the sacraments, and they formed only a temporary order
+required by the exigencies of the times, as is evident from the fact
+that the General Assembly of 1581, in the hope that all parishes would
+soon be supplied with ordained ministers, forbade any further
+appointment of Readers.
+
+In the mind of Knox, these men were the successors to the _lectors_ of
+the early Church, and corresponded in Scotland to the _docteurs_ of the
+Swiss Reformed Church, a Church whose organization he regarded as but
+little less than perfect.  Although they conducted a part of the
+service in parishes where ministers regularly preached, yet in the
+original idea of the office the intention was that they should conduct
+public worship, in its departments of prayer and praise and reading of
+the Scriptures, only in parishes where a minister could not be secured.
+It is necessary to understand their office and their position in the
+Church, inasmuch as the existence of such an order has a bearing upon
+our appreciation of the form of public worship at this time adopted in
+Scotland.
+
+In the exercise of public prayer the greatest freedom was granted the
+minister by the Book of Common Order.  Calvin had prescribed a form of
+confession, the uniform use of which he required, but the general
+confession with which the service of the Book of Common Order opened,
+was governed by this rubric:
+
+
+"When the congregation is assembled at the hour appointed, the Minister
+useth this confession, _or like in effect_, exhorting the people
+diligently to examine themselves, following in their hearts the tenor
+of his words."
+
+
+Similar liberty was also allowed the minister in the prayer which
+followed the singing of the Psalms and preceded the sermon; the rubric
+governing this directed that:
+
+
+"This done, the people sing a Psalm all together in a plain tune; which
+ended, the Minister prayeth for the assistance of God's Holy Spirit _as
+the same shall move his heart_, and so proceedeth to the sermon, using
+after the sermon this prayer following, _or such like_."
+
+
+And finally, as governing the whole order of worship, it is added:
+
+
+"It shall not be necessary for the Minister daily to repeat all these
+things before mentioned, but, beginning with some manner of confession,
+to proceed to the sermon, which ended _he either useth the prayer for
+all estates before mentioned or else prayeth as the Spirit of God shall
+move his heart_, framing the same according to the time and matter
+which he hath entreated of.  And if there shall be at any time any
+present plague, famine, pestilence, war, or such like, which be evident
+tokens of God's wrath, as it is our part to acknowledge our sins to be
+the occasion thereof, so are we appointed by the Scriptures to give
+ourselves to mourning, fasting and prayer as the means to turn away
+God's heavy displeasure.  Therefore it shall be convenient that the
+Minister at such time do not only admonish the people thereof, but also
+use some Form of Prayer, according as the present necessity requireth,
+to the which he may appoint, by a common consent, some several day
+after the sermon, weekly to be observed."
+
+
+The liberty allowed to the minister in this so important part of public
+worship is evident, and although many prayers are added as suitable for
+particular times and occasions, and some, which are described as of
+common use under certain circumstances and by particular churches, yet
+none of them are prescribed as the _only_ prayers proper for any
+particular season or occasion.
+
+Even in the administration of the Lord's Supper, the directions which
+accompany the prayer which precedes the distribution of the bread and
+wine allows a similar latitude to the Minister.
+
+
+"Then he taketh bread and giveth thanks, either in these words
+following _or like in effect_."
+
+
+The student of the life of the great Scottish Reformer does not need to
+be told that the framer of the Book of Common Order was not himself
+bound by any particular form of prayer in public worship.  On the
+occasion of his memorable sermon after the death of the Regent Moray,
+his prayer at its close was the passionate outburst of a burdened soul,
+impossible to one restricted by prescribed forms, while his prayer,
+which is still preserved, on the occasion of a national thanksgiving,
+is an illustration of the perhaps not excellent way in which, in this
+exercise, he was accustomed to combine devotion and practical politics;
+a part of it ran thus:
+
+"And seeing that nothing is more odious in Thy presence, O Lord, than
+is ingratitude and violation of an oath and covenant made in Thy Name:
+and seeing that Thou hast made our confederates of England the
+instruments by whom we are now set at liberty, to whom we in Thy Name
+have promised mutual faith again; let us never fall to that unkindness,
+O Lord, that either we declare ourselves unthankful unto them, or
+profaners of Thy Holy Name."
+
+It is not surprising that one who allowed himself such liberty in
+public prayer should lay no binding forms upon his brethren in the
+ministry.
+
+It remains only to be said, with regard to the restrictions of the Book
+of Common Order, that so far from providing any fixed form of prayer
+for uniform, use, even the Lord's Prayer was not imposed in any part of
+public worship.  It is added, together with the Creed, to the form of
+prayer called "A Prayer for the Whole Estate of Christ's Church," but
+this prayer is governed by the general rubric already quoted, which
+permits such variation as the minister, moved by the Spirit of God,
+shall deem desirable.  There is nothing to show that it was expected
+that the Lord's Prayer should be used as an invariable part of public
+worship.
+
+With these facts before us, whatever our judgment may be of the wisdom
+of Knox and of the Church of his day in the matter of a regulated
+service, we cannot close our eyes to the evident conclusion that the
+Reformer was wholly opposed to the bondage of form in prayer.  In this
+part of public worship he claimed for himself, and exercised under the
+guidance of the Spirit of God, the greatest freedom; and consistent
+with this position he never sought to impose as a part of regular
+public worship, the repetition by the minister of even that form of
+prayer which of all others has for its use Divine authority.  To
+whatever in worship the Book of Common Order may lend its countenance,
+it assuredly gives no support to the imposition upon worshippers of
+prescribed forms of prayer.
+
+Side by side with that part of public worship already considered there
+has always been associated the exercise of Praise.
+
+Although the Scottish Church conformed most closely to the Churches of
+France and Switzerland, yet it was impossible that it should not, to
+some degree, be influenced by the spirit of the German Reformation.
+This influence was especially marked in that which was a special
+characteristic of the German Church, a love for sacred song and a
+delight in the same on the part of the people.
+
+The Book of Common Order contained, as has been mentioned, in its early
+editions, the complete Psalter, and to this were added, subsequently, a
+few Scripture Hymns, together with the Doxology _Gloria Patri_ in
+different metres, so that it could be sung at the end of every Psalm.
+This Doxology appears in Hart's edition of the Book of Common Order of
+1611, in six different metres, under the general head of "Conclusions,"
+and was evidently used regularly at the close of the Psalms sung in
+public worship.  It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth
+century that there began to arise criticisms of the custom of singing
+the Doxology, and it would, therefore, appear that during the formative
+period of the Scottish Church, which we are considering, it was
+regularly used, and occasioned no objection and aroused no opposition.
+The Hymns which were printed with the Psalter were few in number, and
+were chiefly free paraphrases of sections of Scripture.  They are "The
+Ten Commandments," "The Lord's Prayer," "_Veni Creator_," "The Song of
+Simeon called _Nunc Dimittis_," "The Twelve Articles of the Christian
+Faith," and "The Song of Blessed Marie called _Magnificat_."  The
+purpose of the Hymns appears to have been the memorizing of Scripture
+and important doctrinal truths, and there is no evidence that they were
+employed in public worship, although a place was not denied them in the
+Book of Common Order; in the Order for Public Worship mention is made
+of Psalms only, and in all the accounts, which have come down to us in
+correspondence or history, of the public services of that time, the
+people are invariably spoken of as joining in a Psalm, while even in
+the public processions, which were common on occasions of national
+rejoicing or thanksgiving, Psalms only are mentioned as being sung by
+the people.
+
+The singing was usually led by the Reader, but there is occasional
+mention in the records of the time of the "Uptaker" of the Psalms, who
+evidently performed the duties of a Precentor.
+
+The Sacraments.--In the Confession of Faith, which forms the first part
+of the Book of Common Order, it is clearly stated that there are two
+Sacraments only in the Christian Church, and that these are Baptism and
+The Lord's Supper.  No subject in connection with the practice of the
+Church created more discussion in Reformation times than the methods
+which were to be followed in the administration of the Sacraments.  The
+spirit of the Scottish reformers is indicated in the following
+sentence, which governed this matter:
+
+
+"Neither must we in the administration of these Sacraments follow man's
+fancy, but as Christ himself hath ordained so must they be ministered,
+and by such as by ordinary vocation are thereunto called."
+
+
+In accordance with this general regulation the Book of Common Order
+prescribes in detail "The Manner of the Administration of the Lord's
+Supper."
+
+The words of the opening rubric are as follows:
+
+
+"The day when the Lord's Supper is ministered, which is commonly used
+once a month, or so oft as the Congregation shall think expedient, the
+Minister useth to say as follows:"
+
+
+Here follow the words of institution of the Supper from St. Paul's
+Epistle to the Corinthians, after which is added an exhortation in
+which flagrant sinners are warned not to draw near to the holy table,
+and timid saints are encouraged in wise and helpful words to approach
+with repentance and faith.  This is the address which in later times
+came to be known as "Fencing the Table."  There are no words to
+indicate that any variation from the prescribed address was encouraged.
+
+The address being finished
+
+
+"The Minister comes down from the Pulpit and sitteth at the Table,
+every man and woman in likewise taking their place as occasion best
+serveth: Then he taketh Bread and giveth thanks either in these words
+following or _like in effect_."
+
+
+This prayer is wholly one of praise and thanksgiving, there being an
+evident purpose in the omission of any invocation of the Holy Spirit
+and of words that might be regarded as a consecration of the bread and
+wine, and in the strict adherence to the example of our Lord, Who,
+"when He had given thanks, took bread."
+
+The manner of communing is then described:
+
+
+"This done, the Minister breaketh the bread and delivereth it to the
+people, to distribute and divide the same among themselves, according
+to our Saviour Christ's commandment, and likewise giveth the cup:
+During the which time some place of the Scriptures is read which doth
+lively set forth the death of Christ, to the intent that our eyes and
+senses may not only be occupied in these outward signs of bread and
+wine, which are called the visible word, but that our hearts and minds
+also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lord's death, which
+is by this Holy Sacrament represented.  And after this action is done
+he giveth thanks, saying:"
+
+
+The prayer of thanksgiving which follows is the only one in connection
+with this service for which no alternative was allowed the minister.
+An appropriate Psalm of thanksgiving followed the prayer, the Blessing
+was invoked and the congregation dispersed.
+
+The Communion, as is evident from the rubric quoted above, was received
+while the congregation was seated, and this practice the Presbyterians
+adhered to and defended as against the Episcopal practice of kneeling
+at this service, regarding the latter attitude as liable to be
+interpreted as a rendering to the Sacrament of homage and adoration
+which should be reserved for God alone.
+
+The service, it is evident, was marked by simplicity and by in almost
+total absence of prescribed form.  In a note "to the reader," the
+author of the Book of Common Order explains that the object throughout
+is to set forth simply and effectively those signs which Christ hath
+ordained "to our spiritual use and comfort."
+
+How often this Sacrament was to be observed was left to the judgment of
+individual congregations, but frequent celebration was recommended.
+Calvin thought it proper that the Lord's Supper should be celebrated
+monthly, but finding the people opposed to such frequent celebration he
+considered it unwise to insist upon his own views.  With his opinions
+on this matter, those of Knox were quite in harmony.
+
+The Sacrament of Baptism was likewise characterized in its
+administration by similar simplicity, and yet it is evident that, in
+this more than in any other part of public worship, the minister was
+restricted to the forms provided both in prayer and in address.
+
+The rubrics which govern the two prayers of the service and the address
+to the parents, make no mention of alternate or similar forms being
+permitted.  In this the Book of Common Order differs from the Book of
+Geneva, which allowed the minister liberty in these parts of the
+service.  There would seem, therefore, to be an evident intention on
+the part of the Scottish reformers in thus departing from their custom
+in other parts of worship.  It may be that inasmuch as Baptism is the
+Sacrament of admission into the Church, it was deemed advisable that
+for the instruction of those seeking membership therein, either for
+themselves or for their children, the form of sound doctrine set forth
+at such a time should not be varied even in the manner of statement.
+
+The Sacrament was administered in the Church "on the day appointed to
+Common Prayer and preaching," instruction being given that the child
+should there be accompanied by the father and godfather; Knox himself
+had, as godfather to one of his sons, Whittingham, who had been his
+chief assistant in compiling the Book of Common Order, and who had also
+been his helper and fellow-worker at Geneva.  The opinion of the Swiss
+reformers, as well as that of their Scotch followers, was in favor of
+the presence of sponsors in addition to the parents at the baptism of
+children.  The parent having professed his desire to have his child
+baptized in the Christian faith, was addressed by the minister, and
+called upon to profess his own faith and his purpose to instruct his
+child in the same.  Having repeated the Creed, the minister proceeded
+to expound the same as setting forth the sum of Christian doctrine, a
+prescribed prayer followed, the child was baptized, and the prayer of
+thanksgiving, also prescribed, closed the service.
+
+The Book of Common Order required that marriages should be celebrated
+in the Church and on the Lord's Day:
+
+
+"The parties assemble at the beginning of the sermon and the Minister
+at time convenient saith as followeth:"
+
+
+In the forms of exhortation and admonition to the contracting parties
+no liberty to vary the address is allowed the minister, but in the one
+prayer which formed a part of the service, viz., the blessing at the
+close of the ceremony it is ordered:
+
+
+"The Minister commendeth them to God in this _or such like sort_."
+
+
+The service ended with the singing of an appropriate Psalm.
+
+In the service for burial of the dead it was ordered by the First Book
+of Discipline that neither singing, prayer, nor preaching should be
+engaged in, and this "on account of prevailing superstition."  In this
+matter, however, permission was granted to congregations to use their
+discretion; Knox, we know, preached a sermon after the burial of the
+Regent Moray, and the directions in the Book of Common Order clearly
+leave much to be determined by the circumstances of the case:
+
+
+"The corpse is reverently brought to the grave accompanied with the
+Congregation without any further ceremonies: which being buried, the
+Minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the Church, if it be
+not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people
+touching death and resurrection; then blesseth the people and so
+dismisseth them."
+
+
+This is but one of many instances that show that the early reformers
+accorded to the Church, in matters not absolutely essential to the
+preservation of sound doctrine and Scriptural practice, the greatest
+liberty.  With regard to the administration of the Sacraments and the
+public worship of God, they laid down well-defined regulations and
+outlines to which conformity was required; in matters that might be
+looked upon as simply edifying and profitable, liberty was allowed to
+ministers and congregations to determine according to their discretion,
+as Knox himself declared with respect to exercises of worship at
+burials:
+
+
+"We are not so precise but that we are content that particular Kirks
+use them in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same
+as they will answer to God and Assembly of the Universal Kirk gathered
+within the realm."
+
+
+We have thus presented in brief outline the contents of the Book of
+Common Order, commonly used in Scotland from 1562 to 1645, in so far as
+its regulations refer to public worship and the administration of the
+Sacraments.  The book is itself so simple and clear in its statements
+that it is not difficult to discover the spirit of its compilers, and
+their understanding of what was required for the seemly and Scriptural
+observance of the different parts of Divine worship.  The results of
+our survey may be summed up in a few words.
+
+The Scottish Church gave a prominent place to prayer, to the reading of
+Holy Scripture, and to praise, in the public worship of God on the
+Lord's Day.  Not in any sense do these exercises seem to have been
+regarded as subordinate in importance to the preaching of the Word; the
+congregations assembled for Divine worship, of which preaching was one
+important part.  But even where there was no preaching, the people
+nevertheless came together for Divine worship, in which they were led,
+in the absence of any minister, by persons duly appointed for that
+purpose.
+
+The service in public worship was not in any of its departments a
+responsive one.  The only audible part shared by the people was in the
+praise; they did not respond in prayer even to the extent of uttering
+an audible "Amen," nor did they join audibly in any general confession,
+in a declaration of faith as contained in the Apostles' Creed or in any
+other formulary, nor did they even repeat with the minister the Lord's
+Prayer when that model of prayer given by Christ to His disciples was
+used in public worship.
+
+Liberty under the guidance of the Holy Spirit marked the minister's use
+of the forms provided, and the privilege of extempore prayer was
+sacredly guarded, the example of Knox, as well as his precept,
+encouraging his brethren in the ministry to cultivate free and
+unrestricted prayer to God.  In this matter the Church declared her
+belief in the Holy Ghost and in His presence with her, believing that
+those who were divinely called to the work of the ministry were by the
+Spirit of God duly equipped for the performance of the important duties
+of that office.  Although forms of prayer were provided, these appear
+to have been intended mainly for the use of the Readers, who were not
+duly ordained to the ministerial office, and for the guidance of
+ministers, but IN NO PART OF PUBLIC WORSHIP APART FROM THE SACRAMENTS
+WAS THE MINISTER CONFINED TO THE USE OF PRESCRIBED FORMS.  Even the
+Readers enjoyed a degree of liberty in this matter, a liberty which
+they exercised, as is evident from an Order of Assembly passed in the
+reign of James forbidding Readers to offer extemporary prayers, but
+requiring them to use the forms prescribed.
+
+Lastly, in the administration of the Sacraments honor was put upon them
+by the care that was observed in their public, reverent and frequent
+observance.  Simplicity marked all the service connected with these
+holy ordinances, while, at the same time, whatever might appear to
+unduly exalt them to an unscriptural position in the thoughts of men,
+was carefully avoided, as well in the prayers and exhortations used as
+in the manner of administration.  The Sacraments were regarded as helps
+to the spiritual life of God's elect, as "medicine for the spiritually
+sick," and were never represented as holy mysteries into which only
+certain of God's children should penetrate.
+
+If these conclusions are just, it is very evident that those who to-day
+advocate the introduction into Presbyterian worship of responses and
+prescribed forms can find no support for such a practice, however they
+might limit it, in Knox's Book of Common Order, or in the practice of
+our Scottish ancestors in this so virile and vigorous period of the
+Church's history.  Just as little support, too, can those find who
+would impose upon the ministry of the Church the use of set forms from
+which no deviation is to be allowed either in the conduct of public
+worship or in the administration of the Sacraments.  The most that can
+be argued from this ancient regulation of worship, which is much more
+accurately described as a Directory rather than as a Liturgy, is the
+desirability of a uniform order of service for the whole Church, of a
+due proportion of attention to each part of worship, and of the
+conformity by all ministers to a uniform method in the administration
+of the Sacraments.  The Book of Common Order clearly indicates the
+conviction of the Scottish reformers that all things in connection with
+the worship of God should be done "in seemly form and according to
+order," and it quite as clearly indicates their purpose to acknowledge
+and rely upon the operation of the free Spirit of God, in the exercise
+of that worship and in the performance of the public ordinances in the
+sanctuary.
+
+
+
+
+A Diet of Public Worship in the Time of Knox.
+
+
+
+"What I have been to my country, albeit this unthankful age will not
+know, yet the ages to come will be compelled to bear witness to the
+truth."--JOHN KNOX.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+A Diet of Public Worship in the Time of Knox.
+
+A diet of worship on a Sabbath day in Scotland in the days of Knox, or
+in the period immediately succeeding his death, had for the people of
+that time a profound interest.  It was a period of storm and upheaval,
+and the Church, with its worship and teaching, was the centre around
+which, in large measure, the struggles of the age gathered; and
+although for us these struggles are simple history, and the subjects of
+debate are, many of them, forever laid aside, still it is of interest
+to learn how a service in connection with the public worship of the day
+proceeded in this formative period of Presbyterian practice, when order
+and method were less matters of indifference than they are now.
+
+Happily we are not left without abundant material for forming an
+accurate picture of a Sabbath-day service at that time, for in addition
+to the explicit directions contained in the Book of Common Order, there
+have come down to us descriptions of public worship by participants
+therein.
+
+As early as seven o'clock a bell was rung to warn the people of the
+approach of the hour of worship, and this was followed an hour later by
+another bell, which summoned the congregation to the place of prayer.
+It was a congregation of all classes, for in Scotland the Reformed
+doctrine made its way among the great and the lowly alike.  Writing in
+1641, a refutation of the charge made in England against the Scotch
+that they "had no certain rule or direction for their public worship,
+but that every man, following his extemporary fancy, did preach or pray
+what seemed good in his own eyes," Alexander Henderson thus describes
+in his reply the congregation in a Scotch Church: "When so many of all
+sorts, men and women, masters and servants, young and old, as shall
+meet together, are assembled, the public worship beginneth."  In the
+early days of Presbyterianism the rich and the poor met together,
+realizing that the Lord was the Maker of them both.
+
+The congregation assembled in a Church building that was plain in its
+interior, the plainness being emphasized, and at times rendered
+unsightly, by reason of the removal of the statues and pictures which
+in pre-Reformation times had decorated the walls and pillars.  The
+building was, however, as required by the Book of Discipline, rendered
+comfortable and suitable for purposes of worship.  It was ordered,
+"lest that the Word of God and ministration of the Sacraments by
+unseemliness of the place come into contempt," there should be made
+"such preparation within as appertaineth as well to the majesty of the
+Word of God as unto the ease and commodity of the people."  Such wise
+words indicate on the part of our Scottish ancestors an appreciation in
+their day of what is all too often even in these happier and more
+enlightened times, forgotten--the importance of having a Church
+building in keeping with the greatness of the cause to which it has
+been dedicated, and at the same time suitable and convenient for the
+purposes of public worship.  The narrowness which would forbid beauty
+and artistic decoration and the pride which would sacrifice comfort and
+convenience for the sake of appearance, were both avoided.  At one end
+of the building stood a pulpit, beside it, or within it, a basin or
+font for use in the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, and in
+the part where formerly the altar had stood, tables were placed for use
+in the observance of the Lord's Supper; at the end of the Church
+opposite to the pulpit was placed a stool of repentance, an article
+frequently in use in an age when Church discipline was vigorously
+administered.  Pews were as yet unknown; some churches had permanent
+desks or benches, to be occupied by men holding public positions, or by
+prominent members of influential guilds, the rest of the people stood
+throughout the service, or sat upon stools which they brought with them
+to the Church.
+
+The members of the congregation on entering the Church were expected to
+engage reverently in silent prayer, and at the hour appointed, the
+Reader from his desk called upon all present to join in the Public
+Worship of God; he then proceeded to read the Prayer prescribed in the
+Book of Common Order, or, if he so desired, to offer one similar
+thereto in intent; in either case the prayer was a general confession,
+and was followed by a Psalm or Psalms announced by the Reader and sung
+by the whole congregation and ending with the _Gloria Patri_.  Next
+came the reading of the Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments, the
+reading being continuous through whatever books had been selected.
+This ended that part of public worship which was conducted by the
+Reader, and occupied in all about one hour.
+
+On the second ringing of the bell, the minister entered the pulpit,
+knelt in silent devotion, and then led the people in prayer "as the
+Spirit moved his heart;" this finished, he proceeded to the sermon, to
+which the people listened either standing or sitting, as opportunity
+afforded, with their heads covered, and occasionally, if moved thereto,
+giving vent to their feelings by expressions of applause or
+disapproval.  After the sermon the minister led the congregation in
+prayer for blessing upon the Word preached and for the general estate
+of Christ's Church: if the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed were
+employed in the service (but this was optional with the minister) they
+were repeated by the minister alone at the close of this prayer, and
+embodied in it; a Psalm was sung by the congregation and the
+Benediction was pronounced, or rather, the Blessing was invoked, for
+the petitions were framed as supplications: "The grace of the Lord
+Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be
+with us all: So be it."
+
+Such was the course of an ordinary diet of worship.  If a marriage was
+to be celebrated the parties presented themselves in Church before the
+sermon; the ceremony having been performed, the parties remained,
+according to regulation, until the close of the public worship.  If the
+Sacrament of Baptism was to be administered the infant was presented
+for the ordinance at the close of the sermon by the father, who was
+attended by one or more sponsors.  When the Lord's Supper was observed
+(which in some congregations was monthly) the tables were spread in
+that part of the Church which had formerly been the chancel, and as
+many communicants as could conveniently do so sat down together with
+the minister.  These, when the tables had been served, gave place to
+others.
+
+The services throughout were marked by simplicity, reverence and
+freedom from strict and unbending forms; liberty characterized their
+every part, and room was left for the exercise of the guiding Spirit of
+God, in a measure not enjoyed by Churches tied to the use of a
+prescribed worship; at the same time there was a recognized order and a
+reverent devotion in all parts of the worship which many non-liturgical
+Churches of this day may well covet.  It was a service simple yet
+impressive, voluntary yet orderly, regulated and yet untrammeled.
+
+
+
+
+The Period of Controversy, 1614-1645.
+
+
+
+"They were splintered and torn, but no power could bend or melt them.
+They dwelt, as pious men are apt to dwell, in suffering and sorrow on
+the all-disposing power of Providence.  Their burden grew lighter as
+they considered that God had so determined that they should bear
+it."--FROUDE.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+The Period of Controversy, 1614-1645.
+
+The years from 1603, the date of James the Sixth's ascent to the united
+thrones of England and Scotland, until 1645 the year of the Westminster
+Assembly, cover one of the most exciting and interesting periods in
+Scottish history.  Especially is this period of interest to the student
+of Scottish Church history, because of the influences both direct and
+indirect which the struggles of that time had upon the development of
+the character and practice of the Presbyterian Church.
+
+The Book of Common Order had received the authority of the General
+Assembly sitting in Edinburgh in 1564, and for nearly fifty years from
+that date it was the unchallenged directory for worship and usage in
+the Scottish Church.  Its use, though not universal, was general, and
+it was uniformly referred to, as well in civil as in ecclesiastical
+courts, as comprising for the Church the law respecting public worship.
+
+The first mention of any desire to modify or amend this book occurs in
+1601, in the records of the General Assembly, when a motion was made
+respecting an improved version of the Bible, a revision of the Psalter
+and an amendment of "sundry prayers in the Psalm-Book which should be
+altered in respect they are not convenient for the time."  The
+Assembly, however, declined to amend the prayers already in the Book,
+or to delete any of them, but ordained that:
+
+
+"If any brother would have any prayers added, which are meet for the
+time.... the same first to be tried and allowed by the Assembly."
+
+
+The motion thus proposed, and the action of the General Assembly
+regarding it, is of interest in that it seems plainly to indicate that
+whatever desire there was for change, this desire was not the result of
+a movement in favor of a fuller liturgical service, nor on the other
+hand, of one which had for its object the entire removal of the form of
+worship at that time in use.  To this form, commonly employed, no
+objection was offered, but owing to changing times and circumstances,
+it was regarded as desirable that the matter contained in the suggested
+forms of prayer should be so modified as to make them more applicable
+to the conditions of the age.
+
+James the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne of the united kingdoms
+in 1603, and many of his Presbyterian subjects cherished the hope that
+his influence would be exerted to conform the practice and worship of
+the Church of England to that of other Reformed Churches.  In this hope
+they were destined to severe disappointment, as it very soon became
+evident that the aim of the royal theologian was to reduce to the forms
+and methods of Episcopacy, those of all the Churches within his realm.
+In considering the subject of Presbyterian worship it will not be
+necessary to enter fully into the history of the civil struggle between
+the Church of Scotland and the Stuart Kings except in those phases of
+it which affected the worship of the Church; as these, however, are so
+closely interwoven with questions of government it will be impossible
+always to avoid reference to the latter or to keep the two absolutely
+distinct.
+
+In 1606 it was decided by the Scottish Parliament that the King was
+"absolute, Prince, Judge and Governor over all persons, estates, and
+causes, both spiritual and temporal, within the realm."  Four years
+later the General Assembly, composed of commissioners named by the
+King, met at Glasgow and issued a decree to the effect that the right
+of calling General Assemblies of the Church belonged to the Crown.
+This, among other acts of this Assembly, was ratified by the Parliament
+of 1612, and James, having thus secured the position in the Church
+which he coveted, proceeded in his endeavors to mould it, as well in
+its worship as in its government and doctrine, to his own views.
+
+The Church of Scotland was not allowed to remain long in ignorance of
+the King's purpose.  Early in 1614 a royal order was sent to the
+northern kingdom requiring all ministers to celebrate Holy Communion on
+Easter Day, the 24th of April, and this was followed in 1616 by a
+proposal from the King to the General Assembly that "a liturgy and form
+of divine service should be prepared" for the use of the Scottish
+Church.  The Assembly (formed as indicated above) with ready
+acquiescence heartily thanked His Majesty for his royal care of the
+Church and ordained:
+
+
+"That a uniform order of Liturgy or divine service be set down to be
+read in all Kirks on the ordinary days of prayer and every Sabbath day
+before the sermon, to the end the common people may be acquainted
+therewith, and by custom may learn to serve God rightly.  And to this
+intent the Assembly has appointed ... to revise the Book of Common
+Prayer contained in the Psalm Book, and to set down a common form of
+ordinary service to be used in all times hereafter."
+
+
+The work thus authorized of revising the Book of Common Order was at
+once undertaken by those appointed thereto, but although a draft was
+made and much labor was expended upon it during a term of several
+years, the book in its revised form was never introduced into the
+Scottish Church.  By the time it had received its final revision at the
+hands of the King and his Scotch advisors in London, such events had
+transpired, and such a spirit of opposition had been aroused in
+Scotland by other measures, that it was deemed wise to withhold it, and
+the death of James occurring in 1625, while it was still unpublished,
+the book in its revised form was retained by Spottiswoode, Bishop of
+St. Andrew's, and appears to have been forgotten for years, even by its
+most active promoters.  From correspondence in the time of Charles
+First, however, it appears that James had not relinquished his aim of
+imposing the new book upon the Scottish Church, and it is probable that
+his death alone prevented the attempt being made to carry out his
+cherished purpose.
+
+Much of the voluminous correspondence, which at this time passed
+between James and the leaders of the Scottish Church, is still extant
+and it serves to indicate some of the anticipated changes in the forms
+of worship.
+
+In the regular worship appointed for the Lord's Day there was to be
+introduced a liturgy which was to be used before the sermon; the Ten
+Commandments were to be read, and after each of them the people were to
+be instructed to respond, or, as the rubric directed:
+
+
+"After every Commandment they ask mercy of God for their transgression
+of the same in this manner,--Lord have mercy upon us and incline our
+hearts to keep this law."
+
+
+There was also an evident purpose to leave less to the discretion of
+the minister, and to restrict him more closely to the use of provided
+forms in prayer, as well as to regulate more particularly the reading
+of the Scriptures.  A table of Scripture lessons was to be prepared
+showing the passages proper to be read on each day; prayers were also
+provided for worship upon saints' days and festivals, in the use of
+which there was to be no option, and the privilege of extempore prayer
+in any part of public worship was to be taken from the minister, in
+large measure if not entirely.  That this intention was cherished seems
+evident from a discussion in which Spottiswoode engaged with one Hog,
+minister at Dysart.  Hog had defended an action complained of, by
+saying that his prayer on the occasion referred to had been in
+conformity with Knox's Book of Common Order; in reply Spottiswoode
+declared that "In a short time that Book of Discipline would be
+discharged and ministers tied to set forms."
+
+The Book was regarded by all as a compromise between the Book of Common
+Order and the English Prayer Book, and appears to have excited no
+enthusiasm, even among its promoters; it was too subversive of Scottish
+custom to please those who were loyal to the old usage, and it was not
+sufficiently liturgical to suit James and his like-minded counsellors.
+
+It has been stated that the transpiring of certain events had delayed
+the publication of this Liturgy; these events were connected with the
+historic "Articles of Perth."  These "Articles" were orders, first of
+the General Assembly of 1618, sitting at Perth and acting under royal
+instruction, and afterwards of the Parliament which confirmed them in
+1621, enjoining
+
+Kneeling at the Communion;
+
+Private Communion in cases of sickness;
+
+Private Baptism "upon a great and reasonable cause;"
+
+Episcopal Confirmation;
+
+The observance of the festivals of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Day,
+Ascension Day and Whitsunday.
+
+The Five Articles were passed in Assembly in spite of vigorous
+opposition on the part of a minority that, nevertheless, represented
+the most intense feeling of a very large section of the Scottish
+people.  The first of these Five Articles, that were subversive of so
+much for which the reformers had struggled and had at last secured,
+reëstablished a practice that could only be regarded by the Church as
+Romish in its tendency, and wholly unscriptural.  It excited the most
+violent opposition, and secured for itself, even after its approval by
+Parliament, determined resistance on the part of the people.
+
+Previous to this, in 1617, James had by his childish flaunting of the
+service of the Church of England in the face of the Scottish subjects,
+on the occasion of his visit to Edinburgh, estranged the sympathies of
+many who had previously been not unkindly disposed toward his projects,
+and aroused among the people in general, a deeper and more widespread
+opposition to his scheme of reform than had hitherto made itself
+manifest.  Some months before his visit he had given orders for the
+re-fitting of the Royal Chapel at Holyrood, and for the introduction of
+an organ, the preparation of stalls for choristers, and the setting up
+within the Chapel of statues of the Apostles and Evangelists.  The
+organ and choristers the Scotch could abide, but the proposal of
+"images" aroused such an outburst of opposition on the part of the
+people that James, being advised of it, made a happy excuse of the
+statues not being yet ready, and withdrew his order for the forwarding
+of them to Scotland.  The services in Holyrood Chapel, however, during
+the visit of His Majesty to Edinburgh, were all after the Episcopal
+form, "with singing of choristers, surplices, and playing on organs,"
+and when a clergyman of the Church of England officiated at the
+celebration of the Lord's Supper, the majority of those present
+received it kneeling.  All this, as may be imagined, had its effect
+upon James's Scottish subjects, but that effect was the opposite of
+what he had hoped for.  Instead of inspiring a love for an elaborate
+liturgy, or developing a sympathy between the two kingdoms in matters
+of worship, the result was to antagonize the spirit of the Scots, as
+well against the proposed changes as against the King, who, with
+childish pleasure in what he deemed proper, sought to enforce his will
+upon the conscience of the people from whom he had sprung, and among
+whom he had been educated.  The loyalty of the Scots to the Stuarts is
+proverbial, but though ready to die for their king, to acknowledge him
+as lord of the conscience they could not be persuaded.  A spirit of
+opposition stronger than that which had before existed was developed
+against any liturgy in Church worship, and the seeds were sown which
+were afterwards to bear fruit in the harvest of the Revolution of 1688.
+This opposition, it may be argued, was not the outcome of a calm
+consideration of the questions involved, but was an indirect result of
+the national anger at the attempt of the King to coerce the consciences
+of his subjects.  In any event, so strong was the opposition to any
+change in the religious worship of the land, that James ceased his
+active endeavors to carry out his will, and in a message to his
+Scottish subjects in 1624 assured them of his desire "by gentle and
+fair means rather to reclaim them from their unsettled and
+evil-grounded opinions, nor by severity and rigor of justice to inflict
+that punishment which their misbehavior and contempt merits."
+
+We now come to a period marked by a still more vigorous assault upon
+the liberties of the Church of Scotland, and by a correspondingly
+vigorous opposition thereto on the part of the Scottish people.
+William Laud, who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, began to
+exert his influence upon the religious life of both England and
+Scotland during the closing years of James's reign, but it was in the
+reign of Charles the First, who succeeded his father in 1625, that he
+came before the world in his sudden and so unfortunate greatness.
+History has left but little doubt in the mind of the careful student
+that Laud's deliberate purpose and persistent influence, both in
+England and in Scotland, were towards a revival of Romanism within the
+Church of which he was a prelate, or at least towards the creation of a
+high Anglicanism which would differ but little from the Romish system.
+Adroitly, and frequently concealing his real purpose, he labored to
+this end, and it is not too much to say that the vigorous and, at last,
+successful opposition to his plans in Scotland, saved the English
+Church from radical changes which it is clear he was prepared to
+introduce in the southern Kingdom when his desires for Scotland had
+been effected.  England owes to Scotland the preservation of her
+Protestantism on two occasions: first, in the days of Knox, when the
+work of the sturdy Reformer prevented what must have taken place had a
+Catholic Scotland been prepared to join with Spain in the overthrow of
+Protestant England, and again when Scottish opposition effectively
+nipped in the bud Laud's plans for a Romish movement in both Kingdoms.
+
+The history of the movement under Laud it is only possible briefly to
+summarize.  In 1629 Charles revived the subject, to which his father
+had devoted so much attention, of an improved service in the Church of
+Scotland, and wrote to the Scottish Bishops ordering them to press
+forward the matter of an improved liturgy with all earnestness.  As a
+result, the draft of the Book of Common Prayer prepared in the reign of
+James was again brought to light and forwarded to Charles, and this
+would probably have been accepted and authorized for use but for Laud's
+influence.  It however was too bald and simple to suit the ritualistic
+Archbishop, who persuaded the King that it would be entirely preferable
+to introduce into Scotland the English Prayer Book without change.
+Correspondence upon the matter was continued until 1633, when Charles,
+accompanied by Laud, visited Scotland for the purpose of being crowned,
+and also "to finish the important business of the Liturgy."
+
+During his stay in Scotland Charles followed the example of his father
+in parading before the people upon every possible occasion the ritual
+of the Church of England, conduct on his part which served only to stir
+up further and more deeply-seated opposition.  Soon after his return to
+England he dispatched instructions to the Scottish Bishops requiring
+them to decide upon a form of liturgy and to proceed with its
+preparation.  His message was in these terms:
+
+
+"Considering that there is nothing more defective in that Church than
+the want of a Book of Common Prayer and uniform service to be kept in
+all the Churches thereof ... we are hereby pleased to authorize you ...
+to condescend upon a form of Church service to be used therein."
+
+
+Such a form was accordingly prepared, forwarded to London for the
+King's approval, and, after revision by Laud, who was commanded by His
+Majesty to give to the Bishops of Scotland his best assistance in this
+work, it was duly published in 1637, and ordered to be read in all
+Churches of Scotland on the 23rd of July of that year.  The book
+appeared, stamped with the royal approval, elaborately illuminated and
+illustrated, and bearing this title, "The Book of Common Prayer and
+Administration of the Sacraments, and other parts of Divine Service,
+for the use of the Church of Scotland."  A royal order accompanied it,
+in which civil authorities were enjoined to
+
+
+"Command and charge all our subjects, both ecclesiastical and civil, to
+conform themselves to the public form of worship, which is the only
+form of worship which we (having taken counsel of our clergy) think fit
+to be used in God's public worship in this our kingdom."
+
+
+The introduction of this Service Book, as it was called, into public
+worship in St. Giles, Edinburgh, on the day appointed, was the signal
+for an outburst of popular indignation that was as fire to the heather
+in the land.  On that occasion the Archbishop of St. Andrew's was
+present with the Bishop of Edinburgh, but when the Dean rose to read
+the new service, even the presence of such dignitaries was not
+sufficient to restrain the pent-up feelings of the congregation.  Such
+a clamor arose as made it impossible for the Dean to proceed, books and
+other missiles were freely thrown, and a stool, hurled by the
+traditional Jenny Geddes, narrowly missed the Dean's head, whereupon
+that dignitary fled precipitately, followed by the more forcible than
+elegant ejaculation of the wrathful woman, "Out thou false thief; dost
+thou say mass at my lug?"  The riot in Edinburgh was the signal for
+similar manifestations of popular feeling throughout the land, the
+national spirit was aroused, and the stately fabric which Charles and
+Laud, supported by a prelatic party in Scotland, had been laboriously
+rearing for years, was overthrown in a day.
+
+This feeling of opposition on the part of the people to the
+introduction of a liturgy into the Church of Scotland, found due and
+official expression in the following year.  The General Assembly
+meeting at Glasgow repudiated Laud's Liturgy and appealed repeatedly to
+the Book of Common Order as containing the Law of the Church respecting
+worship.  In his eloquent closing address the Moderator, Alexander
+Henderson, said: "and now we are quit of the Service Book, which was a
+book of service and slavery indeed, the Book of Canons which tied us in
+spiritual bondage, the Book of Ordination which was a yoke put upon the
+necks of faithful ministers, and the High Commission which was a guard
+to keep us all under that slavery."  The people also in formal manner
+expressed their mind on the matter and in the Solemn League and
+Covenant, signed in Gray friars Churchyard, asserted their purpose to
+defend, even unto death, the true religion, and to "labor by all means
+lawful to recover the purity and liberty of the Gospel as it was
+established and professed before the late innovations."  Charles at
+first determined upon extreme measures, and preparations were made to
+force "the stubborn Kirk of Scotland to bow," but wiser measures
+prevailed, and the desires of the Church of Scotland were for the time
+granted.
+
+The Book of Common Order, thus reaffirmed as the law of the Church
+respecting worship, continued in use during the years following the
+Glasgow Assembly of 1638, years which for Scotland were comparatively
+peaceful, by reason of the troubles fast thickening around the English
+throne.
+
+This interesting chapter of Scottish history which we have thus briefly
+reviewed, is of value to us in the present discussion only in so far
+as, from the facts presented, we are able to understand the spirit that
+characterized the Church of Scotland at this period, and the principles
+that guided them in their attitude toward the subject of public
+worship.  What this spirit and those principles were it is not
+difficult to discover.  The facts themselves are plain; not only did
+the Church in its regularly constituted courts oppose the introduction
+of new forms and the elaboration of the Church service, but the people
+resisted by every means in their power, and at last went the length of
+resisting by force of arms, the attempt to impose upon them the new
+Service Book.
+
+It is asserted that the chief, if not the only cause of this resistance
+was, first, an element of patriotism which in Scotland opposed
+uniformly any measure which seemed to subordinate the national customs
+to those of England, and secondly, the righteous and conscientious
+objection of Presbyterians to having imposed upon them by any external
+authority, a form of worship and Church government which their own
+ecclesiastical authorities had not approved, and which they themselves
+had not voluntarily accepted.  The objection, in a word, is said to
+have been not to a liturgy as such, but to a _foreign_ liturgy and to
+one _imposed_.
+
+It cannot be denied that these were important elements in the
+opposition of the Scottish people to the projects of Charles.  Many of
+them, for one or other of these reasons, opposed the King's command,
+who had no conscientious scruples with regard either to the form or
+substance of Laud's liturgy.  Too much is claimed, however, when the
+assertion is made that there was no real objection among the people to
+the introduction of an elaborated service such as that which was
+proposed.  The liberty of free prayer so dear to the Scottish reformers
+was, if not entirely denied, largely encroached upon; a responsive
+service, to which, in common with the great leaders of Geneva, Knox and
+Melville had been so uniformly opposed, was introduced; and
+particularly in the service for the administration of the Sacrament of
+the Lord's Supper, forms of words were employed which seemed to teach
+doctrines rejected by the reformers.  Here then was abundant ground for
+opposition to Laud's liturgy when judged on its merits, and this ground
+the stern theologians of that day were not likely to overlook.
+
+Nor is it to be forgotten that in the many supplications which from
+time to time were presented to the King both from Church and State
+against the introduction of the Service Book, the anti-English plea
+never found a place, but uniformly, reference was made in strong terms
+to the unscriptural form of worship suggested for adoption by the
+Scottish people, together with a protest against the arrogant
+imposition upon them of a form of service not desired.  Persistently in
+these supplications the subscribers expressed their desire that there
+should be no change in the form of worship to which they had been
+accustomed, and prayed for a continuance of the liberty hitherto
+enjoyed.  In a complaint laid before the Privy Council the Service Book
+and Canons are described as "containing the seeds of divers
+superstitions, idolatry and false doctrine," and as being "subversive
+of the discipline established in the Church."  The Earl of Rothes in an
+address spoke thus: "Who pressed that form of service contrary to the
+laws of God and this kingdom?  Who dared in their conventicles contrive
+a form of God's public worship contrary to that established by the
+general consent of this Church and State?"  And that the _form_ of
+worship ever held a prominent place in the discussions of the time,
+appears from a letter supposed to have been written by Alexander
+Henderson, in which he defends the Presbyterian Church against a charge
+of disorder and neglect of seemly procedure in worship; he says, "The
+form of prayers, administration of the Sacraments, etc., which are set
+down before their Psalm Book, and to which the ministers are to conform
+themselves, is a sufficient witness; for although they be not tied to
+set forms and words, yet are they not left at random, but for
+testifying their consent and keeping unity they have their Directory
+and prescribed Order."
+
+While it is true, therefore, that the high-handed conduct of the King
+in forcing upon an unwilling people a form of service already
+distasteful because of its foreign associations, was doubtless an
+important element in arousing the vigorous opposition with which it was
+met, nevertheless, there is abundant evidence to show that apart from
+any such consideration, the spirit of the Church of Scotland was
+entirely hostile to the introduction of further forms, to the
+elaboration of their simple service, and to the imposition upon their
+ministers of prescribed prayers from which in public worship they would
+not be allowed to depart.
+
+
+
+
+The Westminster Assembly and the Directory of Worship.
+
+
+
+If the Assembly's Directory increased liberty, it also augmented
+responsibility.  If it took away the support of set and prescribed
+forms on which the indolent might lean and even sleep, this was done to
+the avowed intent that those who conducted public services might the
+more industriously prepare for them; and thereunto the more diligently
+stir up the gifts of God within them.--REV. EUGENE DANIEL.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+The Westminster Assembly and the Directory of Worship.
+
+Prior to the year 1638 the Church of Scotland, in its struggle to
+preserve its form of worship, had to contend with the advocates of
+prelacy and ritualism, but now opposition to the established practice
+arose from another quarter.
+
+In connection with every great reform there are apt to arise
+extravagant movements, the promoters of which see only one side of
+confessedly important truths, and so carry to undue excess some phase
+of reform which, in properly balanced measure, would have been
+righteous and desirable.  So it was in the period of the Reformation.
+Among the several sectaries which had their origin in the Reformed
+Church was a company called Brownists, an extreme section of the
+Independents, who took their name from their founder, one Robert
+Browne, an Englishman and a preacher, although a rejecter of ordination
+and a protester against the necessity of any official license for the
+work of the ministry.  It was a part of their creed to object to any
+regulation of public worship, and even to many of the simplest
+ceremonies which had hitherto been retained by the Reformed Churches.
+In Scotland they opposed, as they had done elsewhere, all reading of
+prayers, and, in particular, the kneeling of the minister for private
+devotions on entering the pulpit, the repeating of the Lord's Prayer in
+any part of the public service, and the singing of the _Gloria Patri_
+at the end of the Psalm.  The movement, let it be said, although it
+took an extreme form, had its spring in the deep disgust and shame felt
+by many pious souls at the laxity and formality which characterized
+religious life in England during the earlier part of the Stuart period.
+
+The unwise policy of Charles in seeking to force upon the Scottish
+Church a liturgical service, had produced in the minds of many its
+natural result, creating extreme views in opposition to all prescribed
+forms of worship.  The Brownists, therefore, found in Scotland a large
+following, and a rapidly increasing section of the Church began
+gradually to depart even from the forms and suggestions of the Book of
+Common Order, and to adopt a still less restricted form of service.
+Against these irregularities the General Assemblies of 1639 and 1640
+legislated, and yet in such terms as seem to indicate that already the
+mind of the Church at large was being prepared for change.  It was
+ordained by the first of the Assemblies referred to that
+
+
+"No novation in worship should be suddenly enacted, but that Synods,
+Presbyteries and Kirks should be advised with before the Assembly
+should authorize any change."
+
+
+The desire for greater freedom in worship continued to increase, until
+in 1643 the General Assembly appointed a committee with instructions to
+prepare, and have in readiness for the next Assembly, a Directory for
+Divine Worship in the Church of Scotland.  This was a distinct
+concession to that section of the Church which was opposed to even the
+simplest forms of an optional liturgy.  The work, however, was
+superseded by a similar undertaking on a larger scale, in virtue of an
+invitation from the members of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster
+to the Church of Scotland to join with them in the preparation, among
+other standards, of a Directory of Worship for the use of the Churches
+of both England and Scotland.  The invitation was accepted with
+readiness, and "certain ministers of good word, and representative
+elders highly approved of by their brethren," were elected to represent
+the Scottish Church in this great work.  These men were Baillie,
+Henderson, Rutherford, Gillespie and Douglas, ministers, with Johnston,
+of Warriston, and Lords Cassilis and Maitland as lay representatives;
+Argyle, Balmerinoch and Loudon were afterwards added.  The work was
+duly prosecuted at Westminster, and, although the Scotch Commissioners
+with reluctance relinquished their Book of Common Order, yet for the
+sake of the uniformity in worship which they hoped to see established
+throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, they joined heartily in the
+work, and carried it when completed to the Assembly of the Church of
+Scotland, by which it was duly examined, slightly amended in the
+directions concerning baptism and marriage, and finally, unanimously
+approved in all its parts, and adopted.  The terms in which the
+Assembly expressed its approval of this work are unreserved:
+
+
+"The General Assembly, having most seriously considered, revised and
+examined the Directory aforementioned, after several public readings of
+it, after much deliberation, both publicly and in private committees,
+after full liberty given to all to object against it, and earnest
+invitations of all who have any scruples about it, to make known the
+same, that they might be satisfied, doth unanimously, and without a
+contrary voice, agree to and approve the following Directory in all the
+heads thereof, together with the preface set before it; and doth
+require, decern and ordain that, according to the plain tenor and
+meaning thereof and the intent of the preface, it be carefully and
+uniformly observed and practised by all the ministers and others within
+this Kingdom whom it doth concern."
+
+
+The Scottish Parliament likewise gave its approval of the Directory,
+which was accordingly in due time prepared for publication, and issued
+under the title, "A Directory for the Public Worship of God throughout
+the three kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland; with an Act of the
+General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland for establishing and observing
+this present Directory;" and thus the Westminster Directory became the
+primary authority on matters of worship and administration of the
+Sacraments within the Church of Scotland.
+
+Its use, however, during the years immediately following its adoption
+appears to have been by no means general, many still adhering to the
+method of the Book of Common Order, others inclining towards an even
+greater freedom than seemed to them to be permitted by the Directory.
+These latter belonged to that section of the Church afterwards known as
+Protesters, and whose opposition to the use of the Lord's Prayer and
+the Creed, as well ay to prescribed forms of prayer, was most
+pronounced.  Events soon occurred which exerted a strong influence in
+favor of absolute liberty in worship, and which effectively
+strengthened the Protesters in the position which they had assumed.
+
+In 1651 there took place at Scone the unhappy crowning of Charles the
+Second by the Scots.  This act placed Scotland in open opposition to
+Cromwell, and as a result the land was brought under his iron-handed
+rule during the remaining years of the Protectorate.  The effect of
+this on the worship of the Church was to introduce into Scotland the
+methods of worship approved by the Independents, to whom those parties
+in Scotland which were opposed to all prescribed forms or regulation of
+worship, now attached themselves.  Worship after the Presbyterian form
+was not disallowed, but the preachers of Cromwell's army, with the
+approval of an increasing party in the Scottish Church, forced
+themselves into the pulpits of the land and conducted worship in a
+manner approved of by themselves.  In these services preaching occupied
+the most prominent place, and to worship, as such, but scant attention
+was given, so that in 1653 the ministers of the city of Edinburgh,
+finding complaints among the people that in the services of the Sabbath
+day there was no reading of Scripture nor singing of Psalms, took steps
+to have these parts of worship resumed.  While the public worship of
+the Church of Scotland during the period of the Commonwealth cannot be
+said to have had any general uniformity, it is evident that the
+influence of Independency upon it was toward the curtailment of form
+and the granting of absolute liberty to every preacher to conduct
+worship in whatever way seemed good to himself.  It was the swing of
+the pendulum to the opposite extreme from the enforced order of Laud's
+Liturgy.  It is doubtful if this erratic period would have left any
+permanent effect upon the religious life and worship of Scotland, had
+it not been for the formation of a party in sympathy with the political
+principles of the Protector.  This party, being forced into political
+opposition to the supporters of royalty, naturally found themselves,
+through their associations, prejudiced in favor of the religious
+principles and practices of those with whom they stood allied in the
+state; and thus it was that a strong party favoring absolute liberty in
+matters of worship arose in the Scottish Church.
+
+The restoration of Charles the Second in 1660 brought with it the
+disavowal on his part of the Covenant to which he had subscribed, and
+the open rejection of the Presbyterian principles to which he had been
+so readily loyal in the day of his distress.  Episcopacy was restored
+as the form of Church government for Scotland, and bishops were
+consecrated; but it was left to time and the gradual power of imitation
+to secure the introduction of a ritual into the worship of the Church.
+Charles the Second and his minion, Sharp, did not deem it wise to
+undertake a work in which Charles the First and Laud had so signally
+failed, the work of imposing a ritual of worship upon the Scottish
+Church; Episcopal government had been imposed, Episcopal worship it was
+hoped would follow.  In both of his aims, however, though sought by
+such different methods, Charles was doomed to disappointment.  As
+impotent as was the royal command, though backed by every form of
+deprivation of right and of cruel persecution, to secure the acceptance
+by Scotland of an Episcopal Church, so impotent was the service,
+conducted by royal hirelings and conforming curates, to inspire the
+people with any love for formal worship.  It was, further, in
+comparatively few of the Churches of Scotland that any attempt was made
+to introduce the service of the English Prayer Book.  In the now
+Episcopal Churches of the land, a form of worship which gave a place to
+the Lord's Prayer, the Gloria Patri, the Apostles' Creed, and the
+Decalogue, was regarded as satisfactory.  Public worship, therefore, at
+this time may be said to have been simply a return to the method
+suggested, but not required, in the time of Knox; but even these
+historic Scottish forms, by reason of their association with an
+enforced Episcopacy, became increasingly distasteful to that large body
+of the Scots who refused to conform to the Church by law established,
+and who, as a result, were driven to the moors and the hill-sides,
+there to worship God as conscience prompted.
+
+The Protesters, the party to which the majority of the Covenanters
+belonged, had always been opposed to anything savoring of ritual in
+worship.  But their opposition was intensified and deepened during the
+twenty-eight years of the "killing time," as they saw the worship of
+the party from which their persecutors arose, characterized chiefly by
+the acceptance of those forms against which they had entered their
+protest in former days.  Even in the case of those whose consciences
+permitted them to conform to the established religion of the land and
+to wait on the ministry of the conforming clergy, there was developed,
+through sympathy with their persecuted countrymen, hunted on the hills
+and tracked to their hiding places like quarry, a suspicion of even the
+forms of a religion that permitted such cruelties.  And thus it was
+that when the deliverer alike for England and Scotland arrived from the
+"hollow land," where behind their dykes the conquerors of the Spaniards
+had won for themselves the privilege of religious liberty, Scotland was
+prepared to join in the welcome given to William of Orange, and to hail
+with delight the prospect of a restored Presbyterianism and its
+inherent liberty.  Most heartily, therefore, was it that the leaders in
+Scotland, alike in Church and State, subscribed to the request
+presented to William, "That Presbyterian government be restored and
+re-established as it was at the beginning of our Reformation from
+Popery, and renewed in the year 1638, continuing until 1660."
+
+
+
+
+Legislation concerning Public Worship in the Period subsequent to the
+Revolution of 1688.
+
+
+
+"Religion shall rise from its ruins; and its oppressed state at present
+should not only excite us to pray, but encourage us to hope, for its
+speedy revival."--DR. WITHERSPOON.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+Legislation concerning Public Worship in the Period subsequent to the
+Revolution of 1688.
+
+In 1689 the first Parliament under William and Mary was held, and their
+Majesties promised to establish by law "that form of Church government
+which is most agreeable to the inclinations of the people."  In
+accordance with this promise the Confession of Faith, adopted in 1645,
+was in the following year declared to be for Scotland "the public and
+avowed confession of this Church," and an Order was issued summoning a
+General Assembly, the first since the forcible dissolution of the
+Assembly of 1653 by Cromwell's dragoons.  No Act was passed at this
+time concerning public worship, nor was the authority of the Directory
+affirmed, but, whether by intention or through neglect, it was left to
+the Church to adjust matters pertaining to this subject, without formal
+instruction from Parliament.  Considering, however, that the
+controlling party in the Church was the one that had suffered
+persecution, and whose well-known feelings on the subject of worship
+had been intensified by long and severe suffering, it is not to be
+wondered at if the changes and adjustments effected in church worship
+and discipline should in large measure bear the stamp of their extreme
+opinions.  So far as legislation is concerned, however, moderation and
+fairness marked all the proceedings of the Church, for in the Assembly
+of 1690, which was largely composed of those whose sympathies were with
+the Protesters, no action whatever was taken for the regulation of
+public worship, the only Act having any reference thereto being one
+which forbade private administration of the Sacraments.  But although
+the form of worship was not affected by legislation, it is evident from
+contemporary writings that the spirit of the Protesters survived, and
+exerted itself in fostering, in many parts of the land, a sentiment
+even more hostile to everything that might savor of even the simplest
+ritual.
+
+The references of the Assemblies that followed the Revolution show that
+the Directory of Worship as adopted by the Westminster Divines, and
+afterwards by the Church and Parliament of Scotland, was at this time
+regarded as the authority in matters of worship, and it was to worship,
+as so regulated, that the Act of 1693 referred.  This Act pertaining to
+"The Uniformity of Worship" ordained:
+
+
+"That uniformity of worship and of the administration of all public
+ordinances within this Church be observed by all the said ministers and
+preachers as the same are at present performed and allowed therein, or
+shall be hereafter declared by the authority of the same, and that no
+minister or preacher be admitted or continued hereafter unless that he
+subscribe to observe, and do actually observe, the aforesaid
+uniformity."
+
+
+The General Assembly, in the following year, in accordance with this
+civil legislation, prepared a form for subscription in which the
+subscribing minister promised to "observe uniformity of worship and of
+the administration of all public ordinances within this Church, as the
+same are at present performed and allowed."  In the same year reference
+is made in an "Act anent Lecturing" to the "Custom introduced and
+established by the Directory."
+
+It is evident, therefore, that at this period the Directory was
+regarded by the Church as the authority, and the only authority, in
+matters pertaining to worship.  In spite of Acts requiring uniformity,
+however, there were still within the Church those who sought to
+introduce changes, some of these desiring the introduction of an
+imposed ritual, others regarding absolute congregational liberty in
+matters of worship as desirable.  As a result of divergent views and
+practices there was passed by the Assembly of 1697 the Barrier Act, for
+the purpose of
+
+
+"Preventing any sudden alteration or innovation or other prejudice to
+the Church in either doctrine or worship or discipline or government
+thereof, now happily established."
+
+
+This was the formal and particular enactment of the principle laid down
+two generations earlier, when in 1639 the Church, disturbed by the
+Brownists, had ordained that "no novation in worship should be suddenly
+enacted."
+
+One other Act of Assembly in this period must be quoted as showing the
+feeling in Scotland at this time with regard to ritual in the Church.
+It resulted from a determined effort on the part of some Episcopalians
+to introduce, wherever possible, the English Book of Common Prayer into
+the services of the Church in Scotland.  The Assembly accordingly
+enacted that:
+
+
+"The purity of religion and particularly of Divine Worship ... is a
+signal blessing to the Church of God-- ... and that any attempts made
+for the introduction of innovations in the worship of God therein have
+been of fatal and dangerous consequence ... that such innovations are
+dangerous to this Church and manifestly contrary to our known principle
+(which is, that nothing is to be admitted in the worship of God but
+what is prescribed in the Holy Scripture) and against the good and
+laudable laws made since the late happy Revolution for establishing and
+securing the same in her doctrine, worship, discipline and government."
+Therefore the Church required "all the ministers of this Church ... to
+represent to their people the evil thereof and seriously to exhort them
+to beware of them, and to deal with all such as do or practise the same
+in order to their recovery and reformation."
+
+
+The above enactment leaves no room for doubt as to the opinion
+prevailing in the Church of Scotland at the beginning of the eighteenth
+century respecting ritual in the public worship of God.  At the same
+time it is very evident that a desire prevailed in the Church for a
+seemly and uniform order of service in public worship and an Act of the
+Assembly of 1705
+
+
+"Seriously recommends to all ministers and others within this national
+Church the due observance of the Directory for public worship of God
+approven by the General Assembly held in the year 1645."
+
+
+This deliverance may be taken as representing the spirit of all
+legislation of the Church respecting worship up to the middle of the
+present century.  Whenever, in response to overtures from subordinate
+courts, or inspired by special requirements of the times, deliverances
+concerning any part of worship were prepared by the Assembly, they
+uniformly directed the Church to the observance of the regulation of
+this department of Divine service as provided for in the Westminster
+Directory.
+
+It cannot be claimed, however, that due regard was accorded the
+Directory throughout the whole Church.  The last half of the eighteenth
+century was a time of spiritual coldness in Scotland; not only did
+evangelical piety languish but there existed at the same time a
+corresponding want of interest in the worship of the Church.  Praise
+was neglected, and little effort was made to secure suitable singing of
+the Psalms; at times the reading of Scripture was entirely omitted,
+prayers were brief and meagre, the sermon was regarded as in itself
+sufficient for the whole service, and all other parts of public worship
+were looked upon either as preliminaries or subordinate exercises, not
+calling for any particular preparation or attention.  It was a time
+when spiritual life was low, and the outward expression of that life
+exhibited a corresponding want of vigor.  The evil, therefore, from
+which the Church suffered at this period was not an excess of attention
+to worship, but a neglect of it; not a too great elaboration of forms,
+but an almost total disregard of them, even of such as are helpful to
+the development of the spiritual life of the worshipper.  And thus it
+came to pass that the struggle of more than a century against the use
+of prescribed forms of worship resulted in a condition more extreme
+than had been either anticipated or desired, for not only were such
+forms abandoned, but worship itself was neglected and disregarded.
+
+In reviewing the period subsequent to the rejection of Laud's Liturgy
+and up to the time of the First Secession within the Church of
+Scotland, some features that mark the general trend of the spirit of
+Presbyterianism with regard to worship are clearly manifest.
+
+First, in the rapid growth of the sect of the Brownists and their
+sympathizers, a growth that had been rendered the easier by the
+arbitrary acts of Charles and Laud in a preceding period, we find a
+clear indication of the spread of opinions strongly opposed to the use
+of prescribed forms of prayer and, indeed, of any ritual in the
+exercises of public worship.  It may be urged, as has already been
+remarked, that this opposition was not the result of an unprejudiced
+consideration of the subject on its merits, but that it was rather an
+outcome of the spirit which had been aroused by the persecutions
+through which the Stuarts had endeavored to force a ritual upon the
+Church of Scotland.  This may be granted, and yet it is not to be
+forgotten that many of those who held these views were among the
+excellent of their age, men who did not hesitate to bear persecution
+and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ for conscience' sake,
+and who, while doubtless influenced by the sentiments of those who
+stood to them either in the relation of friends or foes, were not men
+to allow prejudice to blind both reason and conscience alike.  They had
+found a ritualistic worship associated with practices which they could
+not but judge to be ungodly and unjust, and engaged in by men who made
+much of form, but little of truth and charity and justice.  It is not
+surprising, therefore, that in their desire for a revived spiritual
+life in the Church they should consider such a life to be most
+effectively forwarded by a departure from those forms that had been
+associated with the decay of true religion in their midst.
+
+But, in the second place, this sentiment in favor of absolute freedom
+from form was not confined to sectaries or their sympathizers in the
+Church, it made itself manifest among the leaders of religion in the
+land and in the Church courts.  The proposal of the General Assembly of
+1643 to prepare a Directory of Worship, and the subsequent action of
+the Scottish Church in uniting with the Westminster Divines in the
+preparation of that Directory, clearly indicate that the Church had
+changed its attitude since the day in which the Assembly refused to
+alter any of the prayers in the Book of Common Order.  The adoption of
+the Directory by the Scottish Church was in a measure an endorsation of
+the views of those who were opposed to the use of prescribed forms, and
+while it is true that the Scotch Commissioners would have preferred the
+retention of parts of the Book of Common Order, it is surely
+instructive that even these men were prepared to abandon all forms for
+worship and to accept simply a regulative Directory.  The enthusiastic
+endorsation accorded the Directory, both by Parliament and by the
+Assembly, is a further indication that the spirit of the Church of
+Scotland had undergone whatever slight change was necessary to make it
+favorable to a simple regulation of public worship, unhampered by
+anything that had even the appearance of a ritual.
+
+The introduction of the Directory into Scotland, it is true, effected a
+very slight change in the method of conducting public worship.  Indeed,
+a comparison of the order of service as laid down in the Directory with
+that prescribed by the Book of Common Order shows the order of Worship
+to be the same in both.  And thus it was that Baillie, in addressing
+the Assembly, and expressing his satisfaction at what had been
+accomplished, declared it to be a most remarkable distinction "that the
+practice of the Church of Scotland set down in a most wholesome, pious
+and prudent Directory, should come in the place of a Liturgy in all the
+three Dominions."  By the adoption of the Directory all the substance
+of the worship of the Church of Scotland was retained with the order
+likewise of its different parts, but the suggested forms were
+surrendered, and even prayers, which owing to the circumstances of an
+earlier age had been retained and submitted for discretional use, were
+laid aside.  No mention was made in the Directory of the use of the
+Gloria, nor did the creed find a place either in public worship or in
+the administration of the Sacraments, but the Lord's Prayer was
+mentioned as being "not only a pattern of prayer, but itself a
+comprehensive prayer," and a recommendation was accordingly made that
+it should be "used in the prayers of the Church."
+
+It is evident, therefore, that the spirit of the Presbyterian Church
+was still strongly in favor of worship regulated in its order and
+providing for all the different spiritual exercises authorized by
+Scripture, but which at the same time should be free from any imposed
+forms from which worshippers should not be allowed to deviate.  Of the
+opinion of the Church of Scotland at this time on the dire effects
+produced by the use of a ritual in the cultivation of formality among
+the people, and in the encouragement of a lifeless ministry in the
+Church, there can be no question, as the adoption of the terms of the
+preface to the Directory clearly shows.  With the experience of the
+English Church of that age before them as an object lesson of the evil
+effects of ritualistic worship, the Presbyterian Church was not
+unwilling to abandon the use of all imposed forms, and to give itself
+rather to the cultivation and development of a truly spiritual worship.
+
+And finally, the spirit thus planted and fostered in Scotland, was
+intensified during the persecutions which followed the restoration of
+Charles the Second.  So firmly was this opposition to an imposed form
+of worship implanted in the hearts of Presbyterians that, alike at the
+Revolution and again at the time when the terms from the "Act of Union"
+between England and Scotland were under consideration the most earnest
+representations were made, to the end that there should be no change in
+the worship of the Scottish Church, but that the freedom in this
+matter, so prized and so dearly won, should be secured to the people of
+Scotland.
+
+The Church of Scotland then, it may safely be said, moved ever in the
+direction of securing greater liberty in worship, rather than towards
+an increase of ritual and an imposition of form.  Every succeeding
+period in her history, whether we judge from the general spirit
+characterizing the people or from the official acts of the Parliament
+and the Church, shows a growing distaste for a liturgical worship and
+an increasing appreciation of liberty in all matters pertaining to the
+approach of the soul to God.  The Church of Scotland rejected, on the
+one hand, the extreme positions of sectaries who condemned alike a
+combined system of Church government, the celebration of marriage in
+the Church, the use in worship of the Lord's Prayer and all regulations
+even of the order of Divine worship, and on the other hand it resisted
+successfully the strongest Anglican influences which would have
+deprived it of the liberty it prized and would have circumscribed that
+liberty by a ritual.  It retained dignity and order, while it rejected
+both the license of extravagance and the bondage of form.
+
+
+
+
+Presbyterian Worship Outside of the Established Church of Scotland.
+
+
+
+Whether they were right or wrong ... no man of fairness will fail to
+allow that the record of the Seceders all through the period of
+decadence was a noble one, a record of splendid service to the cause of
+Christ and the historic Church of Scotland.--M'CRIE.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+Presbyterian Worship Outside of the Established Church of Scotland.
+
+No review of Presbyterian Worship would be complete which failed to
+consider the spirit which has characterized those large sections of the
+Church which exist in Scotland outside of the Establishment, and those
+also which have been planted and fostered in the New World.
+
+In 1733 the first Secession Church was formed, when Ebenezer Erskine,
+William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, protesting
+against what they regarded as the unjust treatment accorded them by the
+prevailing party in the Church, were declared to be no longer members
+of the Church of Scotland.  This Secession Church enjoyed a rapid
+growth, and soon came to form a very influential section in the
+Presbyterianism of the land.  Its principles and practices with regard
+to worship show that same suspicion of a ritual and partiality for a
+free form of worship which has always characterized the Presbyterian
+Church in the days of her greatest vigor.  In 1736 this Church
+published its judicial testimony, in which it declared its loyalty to
+the Directory of Worship as the same was approved by the Assembly of
+1645.  Some years later one section of this Church, known as the
+Antiburgher, published a condemnation of the corruptions of worship as
+witnessed in England and Wales, and at a subsequent period a further
+manifesto, in which the reading by ministers of their sermons in the
+public ministry of the Word was condemned, as was also "the conduct of
+those adult persons who, in ordinary circumstances, either in public,
+in private, or in secret, restrict themselves to set forms of prayer,
+whether these be read or repeated."  The same manifesto, in a part
+treating of Psalmody, claimed for the Psalms Divine authority, as
+suitable for the service of praise, in the Christian as well as in the
+Old Testament dispensation, but acknowledged that, in addition to
+these, "others contained in the New Testament itself may be sung in the
+ordinance of Praise."
+
+Similar to this position was that of the United Associate Synod, which,
+formed in 1820, published, seven years later, its views on the subject
+of worship.  It condemned "the conduct of adult persons who restricted
+themselves to set forms of prayer, whether read or whether repeated;"
+it acknowledged also that other parts of Scripture besides the Psalms
+were suitable for praise, and, with regard to the use of the Lord's
+Prayer in public worship, a matter which had caused much discussion
+within the Church in earlier times, it asserted that:
+
+
+"As Scripture Doxologies and the Divinely-approved petition of saints
+may be warrantably adopted in our devotional exercises, both public and
+personal, so may the Lord's Prayer be used by itself or in connection
+with other supplications."
+
+
+Other manifestos were published from time to time by different bodies
+as separations or unions took place, for the early part of the past
+century was a period of frequent divisions and of more happy unions.
+But while differences existed with regard to the use of paraphrases and
+human hymns in the service of praise, on the general subject of
+simplicity of worship and absence of prescribed forms, the manifestos
+previous to the middle of the century were a unit.  As late indeed as
+1872, in a deliverance of the United Presbyterian Church upon the
+subject of instrumental music in public worship, this jealousy of
+simplicity in worship hitherto enjoyed is evident.  To a consideration
+of that subject this Church had been led by the example of the
+Established Church in securing to its congregations liberty of action
+in the matter.  The United Presbyterian Synod, in a deliverance in
+which it declined to pronounce judgment upon the introduction of
+instrumental music in Divine service, proceeded to urge upon the courts
+of the Church, and upon individual ministers, the duty of guarding
+anxiously the simplicity of worship in the sanctuary.  Not until recent
+years has any considerable section of the Presbyterian Church shown a
+tendency to return to the bondage of a ritual.
+
+The views of the bodies above referred to will be differently estimated
+by different men.  Some will be inclined to regard the Secessionists as
+narrow in spirit and severe in their simplicity, and as often failing
+to exhibit a due regard for the beauty of holiness that should
+characterize Divine worship.  It will surely, however, indicate on the
+part of those who read their history a want of appreciation if they
+fail to recognize the sturdy spiritual life which, forming, as it ever
+does, the truest foundation for right views of religion, marked these
+men of whom an eminent leader in the religious life of Scotland has
+said "they stood for Truth and Light in days when the battle went sore
+against them both; and as long as Truth and Light are maintained in
+Scotland it will not be forgotten that a great share of the honor of
+having carried them safe through some of our darkest days, was given by
+God to the Seceders."
+
+The period of the disruption in Scotland was one of such struggle
+concerning great and fundamental principles of Church government, that
+the Free Church, during the first quarter of a century of its existence
+as a separate communion, had little time to devote to a consideration
+of the subject of worship; with the work of organization at home, and
+afterwards in seeking to carry forward evangelization abroad it was
+fully occupied.  It was for the Free Church, as also for the
+Established Church, a period of revival and of new life, and at such a
+time men think but little of form and method, finding spiritual
+satisfaction in the voluntary and spontaneous worship which such an
+occasion develops.  The practice, however, of the Free Church in
+worship, and its uniform tendency, was decidedly un-liturgical; freedom
+from prescribed forms in prayer and an absence of ritual marked its
+services during the half-century of its existence as a separate
+communion.  So emphatic was its devotion to absolute liberty on the
+part of the worshippers that it was the last of the great Presbyterian
+bodies in Scotland to take any steps towards a further control of
+public worship other than that which is provided in the Directory.
+
+About the year 1885 the Presbyterian Churches of England and of
+Australia appointed committees to consider the matter of a uniform
+order and method of public worship, and these in each case devoted
+their efforts to the revision of the Westminster Directory, and in
+neither has anything more liturgical been suggested than the repetition
+of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer by the people.  The orders of
+service recommended are more lengthy than that of the Westminster
+Directory, but are similar in their general character.  The hesitation
+shown in accepting even such slight changes as were suggested and the
+vigorous debates which resulted, furnish abundant evidence that the
+spirit of both of these Churches is still strong in favor of voluntary
+and untrammeled worship.
+
+It is but right that in reviewing public worship outside of the
+Established Church, reference should be made to the practice of those
+large sections of the Presbyterian Church which, originating in
+Scotland, have grown strong in other lands.
+
+The Presbyterian Church of the United States of America has exhibited
+in the main the same spirit that has characterized Presbyterian bodies
+across the sea.  In 1788 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia adopted
+among other symbols the Westminster Directory for the Worship of God,
+abbreviating it somewhat, but changing its instructions in no material
+respect.  There has been but little legislation by this Church
+concerning this subject.  In 1874 the General Assembly declared the
+practice of a responsive service in the public worship of the sanctuary
+to be without warrant in the New Testament, and to be unwise and
+impolitic in view of its inevitable tendency to destroy uniformity in
+the form already accepted.  It further urged upon sessions of Churches
+to preserve in act and spirit the simplicity indicated in the
+Directory.  This judgment of the American Church with regard to the
+influence of a liturgy in public worship is not materially different
+from that of the framers of the Directory as it is set forth in their
+strongly-worded preface.  In 1876 the Assembly declined to send down to
+presbyteries an overture declaring that responsive readings are a
+permissible part of worship in the sanctuary, although it declined at
+the same time to recommend sessions to make the question a subject of
+Church discipline.  Six years afterwards it again refused to "prepare
+and publish a Book of Forms for public and social worship and for
+special occasions which shall be the authorized service-book of the
+Church to be used whenever a prescribed formula may be desired;" the
+reason given for such refusal, however, was the inexpediency of such a
+step in view of "the liberty that belongs to each minister to avail
+himself of the Calvinistic or other ancient devotional forms of the
+Reformed Churches, so far as may seem to him for edification."  This
+explanation clearly indicates that, while the American Church is in
+sympathy with the necessity on the part of ministers, of a due and
+orderly discharge of all public services, yet it is unwilling to lay
+itself open to the charge of even suggesting the imposition of forms
+upon the Church for use on stated occasions.  An optional liturgy has
+not been without its advocates among the leaders in this influential
+section of the Church.  Such eminent and wise men as Drs. Charles and
+A. A. Hodge and Dr. Ashbel Green confessed themselves as in favor of
+the introduction of such forms for optional use, and Dr. Baird in his
+"Eutaxia" and other writers have argued vigorously from the example of
+sister churches of the continent of Europe for a return to the practice
+which they regarded as historically Presbyterian.  As yet, however, the
+Church has preferred liberty to even suggested restriction.
+
+The results in this Church, it cannot be denied, are not all that could
+be desired.  The Directory is but little studied by ministers, and has
+by many been practically set aside.  Frequently each congregation in
+the matter of worship is a law unto itself.  Responsive readings have
+been introduced in some places, and choir responses after prayer in
+others; in some congregations the people join in the repetition of the
+Creed and the Lord's Prayer, while in others neither of these is heard;
+in one the collection has become a formal offertory; in another it
+affords an opportunity for the rendition of a musical selection by the
+choir.  Worship in this great Church is at the present time
+characterized by the absence of a desirable uniformity, which it was
+one evident purpose of the Directory to secure, and in some of its
+congregations by the use of symbolism that occasionally becomes
+extravagant, and which is calculated to appeal entirely to the
+imagination, the result frequently being a service not attaining to
+that dignity which an authorized liturgy fosters, while it sacrifices
+that simplicity in which Presbyterians have been accustomed to glory.
+
+The United Presbyterian Church in America, the result of so many happy
+unions, has always regarded simplicity in worship as an end earnestly
+to be desired, and worthy of all serious effort to secure.  Its
+influence has, therefore, been uniformly in favor of that avoidance of
+forms against which the Seceders of Scotland, whom it represents on
+this continent, so often protested.
+
+The Presbyterian Church, South--that Church whose history has been
+characterized by a loyalty so unswerving to the doctrinal standards of
+Presbyterianism, by a spirit so wisely aggressive in evangelistic and
+missionary effort, and by a ministry so scholarly and eloquent, has, in
+the matter of public worship, shown as constant a fidelity to the
+Westminster Directory as in doctrine it has shown to the Confession of
+Faith.  There have been attempts made to introduce changes looking
+towards the adoption of optional liturgical forms, but these have been
+few, and they have been rejected in such a way as to leave no room for
+doubt as to the mind of the Church in this matter.
+
+The Directory has been ably revised, but it still remains a Directory,
+suggestive and eminently suitable to present requirements of the
+Church.  Serious and persevering attention has been given to the praise
+service, and no less than three Hymnals have received and now enjoy the
+Church's _imprimatur_.  Public worship in Divine service has retained a
+much greater uniformity among the Presbyterians of the Southern States
+than among their brethren in the North, and there has been less
+yielding to the popular demand for those features in worship that
+appeal to the imagination, and which so often serve to entertain rather
+than to edify.
+
+The Presbyterian Church in Canada, owing to the ties that bind it to
+the Churches of the Old Land, has closely followed their practice, and
+its method in worship has been characterized by a similar spirit.  No
+authoritative or mandatory formulas have been imposed upon it, nor does
+it seem likely that such would be received should they be proposed.
+Reverence and dignity have in general characterized its public
+services, and yet in recent years those changes which have gradually
+been introduced into the worship of the Church in that part of the
+American Republic lying contiguous to the Dominion have made their
+appearance in Presbyterian worship in Canada.  The chief result has
+been, as in that Church also, an unfortunate want of uniformity in this
+part of divine service.  There has always been a constant and due
+regard paid to all parts of worship provided for in the Directory, and
+the neglect of any of these parts cannot be seriously charged against
+any considerable part of the Church, but congregations have frequently
+considered themselves at liberty to change their order and to vary them
+as circumstances seem to demand.  It is this feature as much as any
+that has in recent years led to an agitation for the improvement of
+public worship, and that is calling the earnest attention of the Church
+to a matter of supreme importance.
+
+Until very recently then, all branches of the Presbyterian Church in
+the British Empire and those bodies in the United States whose
+standards have been those of Westminster, have refused to recognize the
+need for any other formula of worship than that, or such as that,
+provided in the Directory.  And where any considerable desire for
+change and improvement has been found, it has expressed itself usually
+as favorable to a revised Directory rather than as desirous of the
+adoption by the Church of a liturgy, however simple.
+
+Those great sections of the Church which have been most active in the
+work of Home and Foreign Evangelization, a work that has especially
+claimed attention during this century, have found the simple worship of
+our fathers well suited to the cultivation of the spiritual life that
+must of necessity lie behind all such efforts, and to the development
+of the reverent and devotional spirit so characteristic of an
+aggressive Christianity.  The Church has been true to the traditions
+and principles so loyally maintained in the days of her heroic
+struggles in the past, and along these lines she has found in her
+public worship blessing and inspiration for her peaceful toils, even as
+our fathers in their day found in similar worship strength and revived
+courage with which to meet their difficulties and to endure persecution.
+
+
+
+
+Modern Movements in Presbyterian Churches Respecting Public Worship.
+
+
+
+"All who desire to manifest an intelligent appreciation of what is
+distinctive in Presbyterian ritual would do well to guard against
+attaching undue importance, or adhering too tenaciously, to details of
+a past or present usage, as if these constituted the essentials from
+which there must never be the smallest deviation, of which there may
+never be the slightest modification or adaptation to altered
+acquirements and circumstances."--McCRIE.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+Modern Movements in Presbyterian Churches Respecting Public Worship.
+
+The earliest indication of any general desire in Scotland for a more
+elaborate service than that in general use in the Church at the time of
+the Revolution was seen in the proposal to enlarge the Psalmody and to
+improve the Service of Praise.  As early as 1713 the General Assembly
+of the Church of Scotland called the attention of congregations to the
+necessity that existed for a more decent performance of the public
+praise of God, in a recommendation that was exceedingly desirable and
+necessary if the accounts of the service of praise at that time are to
+be believed.  This was followed, not long afterward, by the
+introduction of paraphrases, styled "Songs of Scripture," and later of
+hymns, and finally of instrumental music.  In this matter of the
+improvement of worship in the department of praise, the Secession
+Churches in several cases were more forward than the Established
+Church, the revived interest in religion and worship which had been in
+a measure the cause of their existence lending itself to such measures.
+In all sections of the Church the conflict concerning praise in worship
+was for a long period prosecuted with an energy that frequently arose
+to bitterness.  The vexed questions of hymn-singing and the use of
+instruments in Churches being settled, there followed, or perhaps it
+may be said there arose out of these, the further question of the
+elaboration and improvement of other parts of worship.
+
+In 1858 the Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended to
+congregations that were without a minister, the use in worship of a
+book prepared by its authority, in which were embodied the prayers of
+the Book of Common Order, together with much material from the
+Directory of Worship.  This action on the part of the Church was
+regarded by some as indicating the existence of a spirit which
+warranted the formation of "The Church Service Society."  This Society
+was formed by certain ministers of the Established Church who were
+strongly impressed with the desirability of the adoption by the Church
+of certain authorized forms of prayer for public worship, and of the
+use of prescribed forms in the administration of the Sacraments.  By
+the publication of its constitution, in which it announced its object
+as "The Study of the Liturgies ancient and modern of the Christian
+Church, with a view to the preparation and ultimate publication of
+certain forms of prayer for public worship, and services for the
+administration of the Sacraments, the celebration of Marriage, the
+Burial of the Dead," etc., it very early aroused vigorous opposition on
+the part of many who saw in its organization an evident intention to
+introduce into the Church a liturgical service.  Such a purpose the
+Society emphatically disavowed, and insisted that there was no desire
+on the part of its members to encroach upon the simplicity of
+Presbyterian worship, but claimed rather the desire to redeem the same
+from lifelessness and lack of a devotional spirit with which they
+declared it is so likely to be characterized.  So effectively have the
+fears of those who first uttered their objections been allayed, that
+the Society is said to comprise in its membership, at the present time,
+more than one-third of the ordained ministers of the Established
+Church.  The results of this Society's labors have been published in a
+volume which is now in its seventh edition.  It is a book of more than
+400 pages, and is entitled, "Euchologion--A Book of Common Order."  Its
+contents seem to harmonize more with the views which were charged
+against the originators of the Society at its commencement than with
+the defence which was put forward in its behalf at that time.  Although
+widely used it has no official sanction of the Church, and, therefore,
+it is not necessary to enter into any close analysis of its contents.
+Briefly, however, it may be said, it is a liturgy much more closely
+approximating to the English Book of Common Prayer than to Knox's Book
+of Common Order, or to the ritual of any of the Reformed Churches of
+the Continent, with which its projectors declare themselves to be more
+in sympathy than with the Episcopal Communion of England.
+
+The first part comprises, in addition to prescribed daily Scripture
+readings and readings for every Sunday of the year, the Order of Divine
+Service for morning and evening for the five several Sundays of the
+month; in this Order are contained special forms of prayer, responses
+to be used by the congregation, the Lord's Prayer, to be repeated by
+minister and congregation together, and the Apostles' Creed, which is
+to be either said or sung.
+
+In the second part, which contains "additional materials for daily and
+other services," the first place is given to the Litany, which is an
+exact transcript of that of the Church of England with the exception of
+a change in one petition, rendered necessary by the difference in the
+forms of government in the two Churches.  A number of "prayers for
+special graces," "collects" and "prayers for special seasons" and
+"additional forms of service" are added.  The "prayers for special
+seasons" have regard to "our Lord's advent," "the Incarnation," "Palm
+Sunday," "the descent of the Holy Ghost," etc.
+
+The last section of the book provides forms of service for the
+administration of the Sacraments, visitation of the sick, marriage,
+burial, ordination, etc.  In the form for the visitation of the sick a
+responsive service is provided, as also in the order for Holy
+Communion.  On the whole it is probably not too much to assert that
+"Euchologion--a Book of Common Order," issued by the Church Service
+Society, is decidedly more liturgical in form than was the unfortunate
+Laud's Liturgy, which raised against itself and its projectors such a
+vigorous protest on the part of the Church of Scotland.
+
+Following the organization of the Society referred to, came one in
+connection with the United Presbyterian Church called "The United
+Presbyterian Devotional Association," having for its object "to promote
+the edifying conduct of the devotional services of the Church."  This
+Society declares its willingness to profit from the worship of other
+Churches besides the Presbyterian, but at the same time asserts its
+loyalty to the principles and history of Presbyterianism.  The forms
+published in its book, "Presbyterian Forms of Service," are not
+intended to be used liturgically, but the purpose is that they should
+furnish examples and serve as illustrations of the reverent and seemly
+conduct of public worship.
+
+The latest book to be issued on these lines is "A New Directory for the
+Public Worship of God"; this name is further enlarged by the following
+description, which provides a sufficient index to its contents:
+"Founded on the Book of Common Order (1560-64) and the Westminster
+Directory (1643-45) and prepared by the Public Worship Association in
+Connection with the Free Church of Scotland."
+
+This book follows in general the form and method of the Directory,
+carefully avoiding the provision of even an optional liturgy.  The form
+which it has assumed, that of a simple Directory of Worship, was
+adopted after long discussion in the "Association" on these four
+questions, "The desirableness of an optional liturgy as distinguished
+from a Directory of Public Worship;" "The Desirableness of a Responsive
+Service," such a service to include the use by the people with the
+minister of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Beatitudes, the
+Commandments, etc.; "The desirableness of the Collect form of prayer
+and of Responses in general," and "The desirableness of the celebration
+of the Christian year."
+
+After long and exhaustive debate on the above questions the book has
+been issued in its present form as a simple Directory of Worship,
+responses and the celebration of the Christian year and even an
+optional liturgy having been rejected as undesirable.  Orders of
+service are suggested, as well for public worship as for the
+administration of the Sacraments and for special services, and
+suggestions at great length are offered concerning what should find a
+place in the prayers of Invocation, Thanksgiving, Confession, Petition,
+Intercession and Illumination.  A few historic prayers of eminent
+saints of God are included as examples, and large quotations are made
+for the same purpose from Knox's Book of Common Order and from
+Hermann's "Consultation," and from this last source "A Litany for
+Special Days of Prayer" is added in an Appendix.  If the Euchologion
+indicates a strong tendency on the part of the "Church Service Society"
+towards the introduction of a responsive and liturgical service into
+public worship, the New Directory of Public Worship indicates just as
+strongly a tendency within the "Public Worship Association" to avoid
+the introduction of even optional forms and to retain the simplicity
+that has for three centuries characterized Presbyterian worship.
+
+The attempts to revise the Directory of Worship in order to modify and
+adapt it to present-day requirements made recently by the Presbyterian
+Church of England, and by the Federated Churches of Australia and
+Tasmania, have already been referred to.  That these Churches have
+confined their efforts to a revision of the Directory, and have in this
+asserted their approval of a Directory of Worship rather than of a
+liturgy, is in itself an instructive fact.
+
+In the revised Directory of the Presbyterian Church of England some
+changes are made in the direction of securing for the people a larger
+part in audible worship.  The repetition of the Creed is permitted, and
+where used is to be repeated by the minister and people together; it is
+recommended as seemly that the people after every prayer should audibly
+say Amen, and the Lord's Prayer, which should be uniformly used, is to
+be said by all.
+
+The work of revision by the Churches of Australia and Tasmania
+introduces fewer changes.  In the administration of "The Lord's Supper"
+it is recommended that at the close of the Consecration Prayer the
+minister recite the "Apostles Creed" as a brief summary of Christian
+Faith, and when the Lord's Prayer is used, as advised before or after
+the prayer of intercession, the people may be invited to join audibly
+or to add _Amen_.
+
+Worthy of more extended notice than the limits of this chapter will
+permit is "The Book of Church Order" of the Presbyterian Church in the
+United States.  As early as 1864 a proposal was made in Assembly to
+revise the Westminster Directory of Worship for the purpose not only of
+rendering it more suitable to the requirements of the time, but in
+order also to so modify and improve it as to increase its
+suggestiveness and helpfulness to ministers.  The work was undertaken
+by a committee appointed in 1879, and in 1894 this committee presented
+its formal report, which was adopted, and the revised Directory was
+ordered to be published.  It contains sixteen chapters, treating of all
+the matters treated in the original Directory, and containing in
+addition suggestive chapters on "Sabbath Schools," "Prayer Meetings,"
+"Secret and Family Worship," and "The Admission of Persons to Sealing
+Ordinances."
+
+Respecting the public reading of Holy Scripture the revised Directory
+declares it to be "a part of the public worship of God," and that "it
+ought to be performed by the minister or some other authorized person."
+Of public prayer, after indicating its different parts, and suggesting
+the place that it should occupy in the service, the mind of the Church
+is thus expressed: "But we think it necessary to observe that, although
+we do not approve, as is well known, of confining ministers to set or
+fixed forms of prayer for public worship, yet it is the indispensable
+duty of every minister, previously to his entering on his office, to
+prepare and qualify himself for this part of his duty, as well as for
+preaching."  In the chapters on the administration of baptism and the
+Lord's Supper particular directions are given, and questions suitable
+to be asked of the parents of children presented for baptism are
+suggested, while in the directions for the admission of persons to
+sealing ordinances, an important distinction is drawn between the
+reception of baptized children of the Church and that of those who, on
+confession of their faith, are at that time first received.  To the
+Directory there are added optional forms for use at a marriage service
+and at a funeral service.  The book is not elaborate, and may be
+thought by many to be far from comprehensive as a Directory, but it is
+suggestive and helpful, and, while true to the principles of
+Presbyterian worship, it gives no evidence of disregard for the beauty
+and appropriateness that should characterize the public services of the
+Church.  Among books of Church order it is well worth study by those
+who desire in worship to combine simplicity with dignity.
+
+It is evident from these recent and simultaneous movements in so many
+branches of the Presbyterian Church, that there exists a feeling on the
+part of many that there is need of improvement in the important
+department of worship in our public services.  It is probable that
+there will be found few to deny this, or to confess absolute
+satisfaction with the worship of the Church to-day.  The question on
+which many will hold widely divergent opinions is as to the means to be
+adopted for its improvement.  Some there are, as in the Church Service
+Society, who advocate a prescribed liturgy for at least certain parts
+of public worship; others, who desire a liturgy, but who are content to
+leave to congregations or to ministers freedom to use it or to
+disregard it; still others are loyal to the spirit of the age which
+produced the Westminster Directory, while they are at the same time
+willing to revise that work, which was found so serviceable to the
+Church for so long a period, and so to render it more suitable to the
+demands of our own age.
+
+If a judgment may be formed from the movements that have just been
+reviewed, it is probable that at least for some time to come, the
+Presbyterian Church will continue to walk in the paths that have become
+familiar through long usage.  The age, it is true, is past when
+dictation on this matter, either favoring or condemning a liturgy,
+would be suffered; and, therefore, it is to be expected that
+congregations will exercise liberty in the matter.  Yet, so far as the
+general sentiment of the Church is concerned, a sentiment that will
+doubtless from time to time find expression in official declarations,
+it appears evident that the preponderating feeling is still strongly in
+favor of a voluntary worship, unrestricted even by suggested forms.
+
+
+
+
+Conclusion.
+
+
+
+"A constant form is a certain way to bring the soul to a cold,
+insensible, formal worship."--BAXTER.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+Conclusion.
+
+The foregoing brief review of public worship within those influential
+sections of the Presbyterian Church whose attitude on this question has
+been examined, affords a sufficient ground for the assertion that those
+bodies have shown, until recently, a uniform and steadily growing
+suspicion of a liturgical service, even in its most modified form.
+
+The Book of Common Order, the first official service book adopted by
+the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the regulation of
+its worship, marked a distinct advance towards a freer form and greater
+liberty on the part of the minister in conducting Divine service.  As
+compared not only with the English Prayer Book of the time, which was
+used in Reformed parishes in Scotland, but even with Calvin's order of
+worship, which had been so generally adopted by the Reformed Churches
+on the Continent, this Book of Common Order was characterized by a
+spirit of larger liberty in worship and less reliance upon forms either
+suggested or imposed.
+
+In the period of struggle through which the Church of Scotland passed
+in the reigns of James the First and Charles the First, the conflicts,
+civil and religious, only served, so far as they had any effect upon
+the views of the Church concerning worship, to strengthen the already
+strong opposition to prescribed forms of prayer and to ritualistic
+observances.  Accordingly, when it was proposed to substitute for the
+Book of Common Order a Directory, in which there should appear no
+prescribed forms for any part of public worship, the Scotch Assembly
+gave a ready assent to the proposal, and, although some words of regret
+at parting with an historic symbol were spoken at that time by leaders
+in the Scottish Church, they were only such as it was natural to expect
+should be spoken in view of the strong attachment for that symbol
+fostered by its use during many years, but they were not such as
+indicate that those who so spoke felt themselves called upon to
+surrender any principle in laying aside the order to which they had
+been so long accustomed.  Indeed the hearty and cheerful adoption by
+the Scottish Assembly of the strongly worded preface to the Westminster
+Directory, exposing as it does so vigorously the weakness as well as
+the dangers resulting from the use of a liturgy in public worship,
+plainly indicates that in the judgment of the Church of that day the
+use of liturgical forms was not only not helpful, but was positively
+perilous, as well to the best interests of the congregation as to the
+most efficient service of the minister.
+
+Again in a third epoch of the Church's history, in the days following
+the "killing time," and marked by the succession to the throne of
+William of Orange, and later by the union of England and Scotland, the
+Presbyterian Church of the latter country not only reasserted her
+loyalty to the principles of liberty in worship which she had so long
+defended, but she also succeeded in having secured to her by
+legislation, freedom from the imposition of ritualistic forms.
+
+It is at least allowable to assert that the leaders in the Scottish
+Church in the days of the Westminster Assembly and at the beginning of
+the eighteenth century, regarded the perfect liberty in worship allowed
+by the Directory not only as scriptural, but as suitable for the
+attainment of the great ends of public worship, for on no other grounds
+would they have consented to its adoption in Scotland.  And if
+Presbyterians of to-day desire to imitate the spirit and methods of
+their ancestors, it is reasonable that they should study the example of
+the men of the second Reformation.  There is good ground for claiming
+that in no period of the Church's history did it give evidence of a
+deeper spiritual life and a more aggressive energy than in the age in
+which those heroic spirits lived.  The leaders in that day also, such
+men as Henderson, Gillespie, Rutherford and Baillie, understood the
+spirit of Presbyterianism and the need of the Church quite as fully as
+did any leaders of either an earlier or a later day.  It is not to be
+forgotten that, in an age that produced men whose names must never be
+omitted when the roll of Scotland's greatest sons is called, the
+Presbyterian Church stood firmly for absolute liberty in worship from
+prescribed forms.
+
+It should, therefore, be considered by those who would have the Church
+return to the bondage of forms or even to their optional use, that they
+are advocating not a return to the practice of any former period in
+which the Church was free to exercise its own desire in this matter,
+but rather that they are urging her to a course that will be wholly
+antagonistic to the spirit of Presbyterianism as indicated by the trend
+of its practice during a stirring and eventful history of three hundred
+years.  The spirit of Presbyterian worship has been consistently and
+persistently non-liturgical and anti-ritualistic, and to advocate the
+adoption of liturgy and ritual to-day is to depart completely from that
+historic attitude.
+
+A few words on the subject of liturgies in general may not
+inappropriately close this sketch of the history of Presbyterian
+worship since the Reformation.
+
+It is now generally acknowledged that the introduction of liturgies
+into the worship of the Christian Church was not earlier than the
+latter part of the fourth century.  Not until the presbyter had become
+a priest, and worship had degenerated into a function, did liturgies
+find a place in Christian service.  Even the earliest Oriental
+liturgies were sacramentaries, the Christian sacrifice being the
+central object around which the entire service gathered.  So long as
+the life of the Church was strong, and in its strength found delight in
+a freedom of approach to God, so long the Apostolic practice was
+followed and worship was unrestricted and simple.
+
+During the middle ages, as religion became ever more formal and less
+spiritual, as the priesthood deteriorated intellectually and
+spiritually, liturgies flourished; and it is not too much to assert
+that just in proportion to the growth of the liturgical service in any
+Church, in that proportion the power of its ministry has declined.
+Indeed the whole history of liturgies in their origin, development, and
+effects, should make the Church that rejoices in freedom from their
+binding forms most careful ere submitting in any degree to their
+paralyzing influence.
+
+It is argued in favor of the introduction of forms of prayer that their
+use would tend to the more orderly and dignified conducting of public
+worship by the minister.  It is not a difficult matter to take
+exception to methods to which we have long been accustomed, and to
+compare these, sometimes to their disadvantage, with ideal conditions.
+As a matter of fact, however, it may in all fairness be asked, does
+disorder or irreverence characterize Presbyterian worship in general,
+or indeed to any noticeable extent?  Whatever lovers of another system,
+within our own Church, may say, it cannot be denied that the impression
+in the minds of men of all denominations (an impression that has not
+gained strength without cause) is that, compared with the worship of
+any other denomination, that of the Presbyterian Church is
+characterized by reverence, dignity and order.  The conduct of any
+average congregation in the Presbyterian Church, and the heartiness
+with which its members join in every part of public worship will appear
+at no disadvantage when compared with that of a congregation
+worshipping with a ritual.  Whatever other blessings a liturgy may
+secure for those devoted to its use, it has never been able to develop
+in the Churches where it is employed a spirit and conduct in public
+worship as reverent and devotional, and at the same time so marked by
+understanding, as that which has uniformly characterized the
+Presbyterian Church, and that Church would have to gain very much in
+other directions to compensate for the opening of the door to the
+formal and careless repetition of holy words so often associated with
+the use of a liturgy.
+
+It is further argued that congregations would, with the aid of a
+liturgy, be enabled to take both a more lively and a more intelligent
+part in public prayer than they can possibly do when endeavoring to
+follow a minister who uses extempore prayer only.  This argument must
+appear to be of considerable weight to those only who forget how
+lifeless and unmeaning a mere form of words, with which the lips have
+grown familiar, can become.  Paley frankly admitted, when treating of
+this matter, that "the perpetual repetition of the same form of words
+produces weariness and inattentiveness in the congregation."  There is
+a danger that by carelessness in considering the needs of the
+worshippers, and by diffusiveness, the minister may render the service
+of prayer far less helpful than it should be to those whom it is his
+privilege to lead to the throne of grace; but the cure for this is not
+to be found in the introduction of stereotyped forms, which in the
+nature of the case cannot be suitable for all occasions, but in a due
+recognition by the minister of the greatness of the duty which he
+assumes in speaking to God for the people.  Such a recognition will
+lead him to seek that preparation of heart and mind necessary for its
+helpful performance, nor will his consciousness of the need of help,
+other than man can give, go unrecognized by the Father of Spirits, Who
+in this matter also sends not His servants at their own charges.
+
+As to the unity in prayer so much desired, true prayer is "in the
+Spirit," and earnest worshippers have a right to expect that their
+hearts will be united by that Spirit at the throne of grace, so that
+"with one accord" they may present their petitions and claim the
+promise to those who are thus agreed.  This is the true unity and
+uniformity which Christians are bound to seek, and any mere mechanical
+uniformity of words, apart from this, is but the outward trappings of
+form which are much more liable to satisfy the careless worshipper than
+to inspire in him any thought of the need of a more real approach to
+God.
+
+Lastly, it is urged that the responsive reading of the Scriptures would
+prove an aid to the intelligent understanding of them, and that the
+repetition of the Creed or other such formulary of doctrine would serve
+to preserve the Church in the soundness of the faith.
+
+The refutation of the first statement is to be found in many
+congregations where the practice has been tried, and in Sabbath Schools
+in which the custom now prevails.  Many there are who will not read,
+others who cannot, and these fail entirely to profit from the
+unintelligible hum of a number of voices reading in what is often
+anything but harmony either of sound or time; and those who do read,
+frequently fail to receive that clear impression of the truth that
+should result from the effective and sympathetic reading of an entire
+passage.  Without dwelling on the question whether the reading of the
+Scriptures is to be regarded as properly a ministerial act or not, on
+the simple ground of efficiency, responsive reading in large and
+constantly-changing congregations must frequently, if not generally,
+prove a failure.
+
+As regards the repetition of the Creed by the congregation, it is
+certainly a question open for discussion whether or not the frequent
+repetition of a formulary of doctrine is a safeguard to the faith of
+the Church.  In this matter also we are not without the light of
+experience and history; the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland and
+America, which have never adopted any such practice, have certainly a
+record with respect to soundness in the faith which compares favorably
+with that of Churches which have for ages adopted this as a custom in
+their worship.  It would not be difficult to mention Churches in which
+the repetition of a formulary of doctrine has long been an established
+question, and in which it is not apparent that the practice has
+successfully served as a safeguard to doctrine.  Comparisons are
+odious, and we do not desire to institute them, but as wise men we
+should surely be guided by the light which history and experience in
+the past throws forward upon the pathway that we are to travel.
+
+The Presbyterian Church has a history which may with reason cause all
+her children to thank God and take courage as they look forward on
+greater works than those of past days yet to be accomplished.  Her past
+is rich in noble deeds, valiant testimonies and stirring struggles for
+the truth, and through it all she pressed forward rejoicing in a
+liberty which is inseparable from the principles of Presbyterianism,
+and one product of which has ever been an unwillingness to be trammeled
+by forms in her approach to God.  That history is such as need cause no
+Presbyterian to blush when it is related side by aide with that of any
+other Church; surely they must be bold souls who would propose to
+introduce a radical change into the genius of Presbyterianism, or to
+relinquish principles which have led to such success, for others that
+have yet to show an equal vitality and vigor.
+
+Our free and untrammeled worship demands from the worshipper his best;
+it brings him face to face with his God, and forbids him to rest in any
+mere repetition of a familiar form; it requires of the minister a
+preparation of both mind and soul, and challenges him to spiritual
+conflict which he dare not refuse, while in addition to all this its
+very freedom renders it adaptable to all the varying circumstances in
+which in a land like our own the worship of God must be conducted.  It
+is suitable alike to the stately city church and to the humble cabin of
+the settler, or to the mission house of the far West; wherever men
+assemble for worship it affords the possibility for seemly, orderly and
+reverent procedure.  Is there any other form of worship suggested for
+which as much can be said?
+
+As long as the ministers of the Presbyterian Church are men of God,
+recognizing His call to the sacred office of the ministry, and
+believing that those whom He calls He equips with needed grace and
+gifts for their work, so long will they be able to lead the
+congregations to which they minister in worship that shall be at once
+honoring to God and a help to the spiritual life of the people: when
+they cease to be such men forms may become, not only expedient, but
+essential.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Presbyterian Worship, by Robert Johnston
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+              margin-right: 10%; }
+
+</STYLE>
+
+</HEAD>
+
+<BODY>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Presbyterian Worship, by Robert Johnston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Presbyterian Worship
+       Its Spirit, Method and History
+
+Author: Robert Johnston
+
+Release Date: December 14, 2009 [EBook #30675]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H1 ALIGN="center">
+PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+</H1>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+ITS SPIRIT<BR>
+METHOD AND<BR>
+HISTORY<BR>
+</H2>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+BY
+</H4>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+ROBERT JOHNSTON, D.D.,
+</H3>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+London.
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H4 ALIGN="center">
+TORONTO;
+<BR>
+THE PUBLISHERS' SYNDICATE, LIMITED.
+<BR><BR>
+1901
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="intro"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+INTRODUCTION.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The worship of the sanctuary is a living subject of discussion and
+practice in the Presbyterian Churches of the world at large, and,
+within late years, in that of the Canadian Dominion.  Many earnest
+minds are approaching the study of the subject from various
+standpoints, each worthy of attentive consideration.  One regards it
+from the dogmatic position of scriptural precedent, or from the larger
+one of Christian principle; the aesthetic mind comes to it with visions
+of order and beauty; the practical, with his view of the Church's needs
+in mission fields and in mixed congregations.  There is room in the
+discussion for the largest statement of lawful opinion, founded on
+conviction of absolute right, and on Christian expediency, and for the
+exercise of abundant charity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dr. Johnston gives no uncertain sound on the subject.  To his mind the
+duty of the Church, first and last, is to preserve spirituality of
+worship, and to discountenance everything that may tend to interfere
+with the same.  But, while this spirit pervades his work, his method is
+historical, and thus preeminently fair and impartial in statement. The
+presentation of the argument in concrete or historical form invests it
+with an interest which could hardly be commanded by either dogmatic or
+practical methods, while it excludes neither.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Dr. Johnston brings to his task ripe scholarship, including extensive
+knowledge of Church history and ecclesiology, his proficiency in which
+he has recently vindicated in such a manner as to leave no room for
+doubt. To this he adds the teaching of pastoral experience in mission
+fields, prior to his ordination, and, since then, in large and
+influential congregations; and, to crown the whole, heartfelt devotion
+to the Church of his fathers, and unswerving personal loyalty to its
+King and Head.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With adoring thanks to the great Teacher of us all, who rewards
+professors in their declining years with the affectionate regard of
+their whilom best students, now become wise and strong men in the
+Church's service, I cordially commend to all who may read these words,
+this outcome of Dr. Johnston's Christian erudition and conscientious
+literary labor.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+(signature of John Campbell)
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE,
+<BR>
+MONTREAL, March, 1901.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+TO ONE WHO LOVED
+<BR>
+THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH,
+<BR>
+AND WORSHIPS NOW
+<BR>
+IN THE CITY WHEREIN IS NO TEMPLE&mdash;
+<BR>
+MY MOTHER.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H2 ALIGN="center">
+CONTENTS.
+</H2>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+THE LAW AND THE LIBERTY OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+THE AGE OF KNOX: THE FORMATIVE PERIOD OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+KNOX'S BOOK OF COMMON ORDER.
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+A DIET OF PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE TIME OF KNOX
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+THE PERIOD OF CONTROVERSY
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY AND THE DIRECTORY OF WORSHIP
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+LEGISLATION CONCERNING PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO
+THE REVOLUTION<BR>
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP OUTSIDE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+MODERN MOVEMENTS IN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES RESPECTING PUBLIC WORSHIP
+</H4>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X.</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4 CLASS="contents">
+CONCLUSION
+</H4>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Inward truth of heart alone, is what the Lord requires.  Exercises
+superadded are to be approved, so far as they are subservient to Truth,
+useful incitements, or marks of profession to attest our faith to men.
+Nor do we reject things tending to the preservation of Order and
+Discipline.  But when consciences are put under fetters, and bound by
+religious obligations, in matters in which God willed them to be free,
+then must we boldly protest in order that the worship of God be not
+vitiated by human fictions."&mdash;CALVIN.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+PREFATORY NOTE.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The purpose in the following pages is a simple one.  It is to discover
+the trend of thought in connection with Public Worship within the
+Presbyterian Church, particularly in Scotland, during the course of her
+history since the Reformation.  The spirit of the Church in her
+stirring and formative periods, especially if that spirit is a constant
+one, is pregnant with instruction.  Such a constant spirit is readily
+discovered by a study of the attitude of the Presbyterian Church
+towards the subject of Public Worship during the course of her history,
+and to the writer it seems very evident that that spirit indicates an
+increasing suspicion of liturgical forms in Worship, and a growing
+confidence in, and desire for, the liberty of untrammeled approach to
+God.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Whether this spirit be the best or not, it is not the purpose of these
+pages to discuss.  The great principle of the liberty of the Church in
+matters of detail, is fully recognized, a principle ever to be
+sedulously guarded, but an appeal is made to the record of history for
+its evidence as to the historic attitude of the Presbyterian Church, on
+a question which to-day is claiming the earnest attention of those who
+desire for that Church fidelity to her Lord and efficiency in His work.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+My indebtedness in the study of this subject to Dr. McCrie's Cunningham
+Lectures on "Scottish Presbyterian Worship," Brown's "Life of John
+Knox," Sprott's "Scottish Liturgies" and Baird's "Eutaxia," as well as
+to various Histories of the Reformation in Scotland, and for American
+Church History to Moore's and Alexander's valuable digests, I gladly
+and with gratitude acknowledge.  An abundant and increasing literature
+upon the subject of Public Worship is an encouraging sign of the
+attention which the Church is giving to a matter so vital to its best
+life.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+R. J.
+</P>
+
+<P CLASS="noindent">
+ST. ANDREW'S MANSE,<BR>
+LONDON, January, 1901.<BR>
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap01"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"While it is admitted that there is a form of government prescribed or
+instituted in the New Testament, so far as its general principles or
+features are concerned, there is a wide discretion allowed us by God in
+matters of detail, which no man or set of men, which neither civil
+magistrates nor ecclesiastical rulers can take from us."&mdash;HODGE.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter I.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<P CLASS="intro">
+"The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and
+New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and
+enjoy Him."&mdash;WESTMINSTER CATECHISM.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The Church of Christ, as a divine communion, exists in the world for a
+definite and appointed purpose.  This purpose may be declared to be
+twofold, and may be described by the terms "Witness" and "Worship."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is the evident design of God that the visible Church should bear
+witness to His existence and character, to His revelation and
+providence, and to His grace towards mankind, manifested in His Son,
+Jesus Christ.  To Israel God said, "Ye are my witnesses," and to His
+disciples forming the nucleus of the New Testament Church, the risen
+Saviour said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Side by side with this evident end of the Church's existence is the
+other one of Worship.  Not only from the individual heart does God
+require ascriptions of praise and expressions of confidence, but from
+the organized congregation of His people, He desires to hear the voice
+of adoration, contrition, and supplication.  The cultivation of such
+worship, and the offering of it in a manner acceptable to God, is a
+work worthy of the Church's most earnest care.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is to be expected, therefore, that in the Word of God there shall be
+found the principles of a cultus which, possessing Divine authority,
+shall carry with it the assurance of its sufficiency for the ends aimed
+at, and of its suitability to the requirements of the Church in every
+age.  That the word of God contains such principles clearly indicated,
+the Presbyterian Church has always maintained, teaching uniformly and
+emphatically that Holy Scripture contains all that is necessary for the
+guidance of the Church, as well in matters of Polity and Worship, as in
+those of Doctrine.  Divine worship, therefore, neither in its constant
+elements nor in its methods, is a matter of mere human device, nor is
+the Church at liberty to devise or to adopt aught that is not
+explicitly stated or implicitly contained in the Word of God for her
+guidance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The essential parts of worship we are at no loss to discover, clearly
+indicated as they are in the history of the Apostolic Church.  Praise
+and Prayer, with the reading and exposition of Scripture, together with
+the celebration of the Sacraments, are repeatedly referred to as those
+exercises in which the early Christians engaged.  With such worship,
+though in more elaborate form, the Church had always been familiar, for
+as Christianity itself was in so many respects the fruit and outcome of
+Judaism, the expansion, into principles of world-wide and perpetual
+application, of truths that had hitherto been national and local, so
+its worship and organization were, in large measure, the adaptation of
+familiar forms to those simpler and more comprehensive ones of the New
+Testament Church.  Throughout the successive periods of Israel's
+history, marked by patriarch, psalmist, and prophet, Divine worship had
+grown from simple sacrifice at a family altar to an elaborate
+temple-ritual, in which praise and prayer and the reading of the Law
+occupied a prominent place; to this were added in later times the
+exposition of the Law and the reading of the Prophets.  This service,
+elaborate with magnificent and imposing forms, continued in connection
+with the Temple worship down to the time of our Saviour, while in the
+Synagogue a simpler service, combining all the essential parts of the
+former with the exception of sacrifice, was developed during the period
+subsequent to the Babylonian captivity, when, as is generally conceded,
+the Synagogue with its service had its origin.  Apart then from the
+ritual connected with sacrifice, which was wholly typical, the temple
+service and the simpler worship of the Synagogue were identical in
+their different parts, although differing widely in form.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Now, just as Christianity was itself not a substitute for the Jewish
+religion but a development and enlargement of it, so Christian worship
+was an outgrowth, with larger meaning and broader application, of the
+worship of God which for centuries had been conducted among the Jews.
+It continued to comprise the essential elements of prayer and praise,
+together with the reading and exposition of the Divine message, a
+message which was enlarged in Apostolic times by the record concerning
+the Christ who had come, and by the inspired writings of the Apostles
+of our Lord to the Church which they had been commissioned to plant and
+foster, while associated with these was the administration of the
+Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.  It has always been
+maintained by the Presbyterian Church, that of these different elements
+of worship, none should be neglected, inasmuch as all of them have
+Divine sanction, and that to these nothing should be added, inasmuch as
+any addition made, could possess human sanction only, and would be a
+transgression of the principle that Scripture and Scripture alone
+contains authority for the government and practice of the Church of
+Jesus Christ.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It follows that in the arrangement and adjustment of each of these
+various parts of worship, in their due relation to each other, and in
+the determination of the methods that shall prevail in their
+performance, the Church must be governed by an appreciation of the
+purpose for which they have been established, and of the ends which
+they are expected to serve.  The object of public worship must ever be
+kept in view, and no forms, however attractive, are to be admitted by
+which that object may be hidden or obscured: on the other hand, order
+and seemliness demand a due attention, and it is an error, only less
+mischievous than the former, to have regard to the spirit of worship
+alone, and thus to neglect whatever suitable forms and methods may best
+secure the orderly and appropriate performance of its every part.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The most commonly recognized purpose of public worship is the
+cultivation of the spiritual life of the worshipper, and this is
+attained by the employment of means intended to bring the soul into an
+attitude of response to its Lord.  It follows then that matters of
+form, attitude, and order in worship, should be so arranged and
+regulated that they may serve as aids to the securing of this end, and
+that nothing should be permitted which may in any way interfere with
+the development of this spirit of response on the part of those so
+engaged.  And when it is remembered how small a matter may interfere
+with the worship of a congregation, and how easily disturbed and
+distracted the hearts of men are by untoward circumstances or
+conditions, it will be seen that not only the forms of worship demand
+attention, but that the order of its different parts, the attitude of
+the worshippers, and all matters of detail are worthy of careful
+thought and of earnest consideration.  But Christian worship has an
+altruistic aim also, and is intended to serve as a witness before the
+world to those fundamental truths professed by the Christian Church.
+With this end in view, it is evident that its forms should be such as
+shall most clearly and effectively set forth before the eyes of
+beholders, those truths and principles which the Church holds as
+essential to Christian faith and practice.  To obscure such a public
+declaration of Christian belief, by hiding these truths beneath an
+elaborate adornment that disguises or completely conceals them, is to
+be faithless to the commission of Jesus Christ to be a witness unto Him
+before the world; to neglect such witness-bearing, or by carelessness
+or inattention to detail, to render it in a manner so ineffective as to
+disparage the truth in the eyes of beholders, is to be none the less
+unfaithful to that great commission.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With the twofold purpose of worship clearly kept in view as the
+foundation for any discussion of this subject, it is also to be
+remembered that the Church of Christ is left free by her Divine King
+and Head, so to order matters of detail, under the guidance of the
+Spirit of Truth, and in harmony with the principles laid down in
+Scripture, as may in accordance with varying ages and circumstances
+seem best for the attainment of the ends desired.  While Christian
+worship in its essential parts is prescribed by Scripture, the Church
+is free to amplify or develop these general outlines, provided only
+that all be in harmony with the spirit of Revelation.  It is very
+evident that new conditions of a progressive civilization, the spirit
+of the times, or the particular circumstances of a community, may make
+desirable a modification of a particular method of worship long
+practised; it is for the Church, relying ever on the guidance of the
+Spirit of Truth, to determine how such modification may, without
+violation to the spirit of Scripture, be made.  For this reason it can
+never be binding upon the Church to accept as final, the particular
+methods of worship used and found suitable by men of another age or
+another land; while such may be accepted as valuable for suggestions
+contained, and as indicating the spirit that controlled good and great
+men of another time, yet the Church can only accept them (in loyalty to
+the Spirit Who abides in her, and Who is hers in every age) in so far
+as they prove themselves suitable to present times and conditions.  The
+present possession by the Church, of the Holy Spirit as a guide into
+all truth, according to the promise of Christ to His disciples, is a
+doctrine that no branch of the Church would readily surrender, and her
+right, under that guidance, to seek the good of the body of Christ on
+lines which, while consistent with the principles of Scripture, commend
+themselves to her as more suitable to present conditions than former
+methods, this right is one which she can part with only at the risk of
+endangering her usefulness to her own age.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+To Presbyterians, therefore, thankful as they are for an historic past
+that has in it so much to arouse gratitude to God and loyalty to the
+Church they love, the citing of the practice of their forefathers in
+Reformation times, or even that of the early fathers of the Church, can
+never be a final argument for the acceptance of any particular method
+in worship.  Believing in a Church in which the Spirit of God as truly
+governs and guides to-day as He did in Reformation or post-Apostolic
+times, and in a Christian liberty of which neither the practice nor
+legislation of holy men of the past can deprive them, they rightly
+refuse to surrender their liberty or to retire from their
+responsibility.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the best and truest sense the Presbyterian Church is Apostolic, and
+her spiritual succession from the Apostles she cherishes with an
+unfaltering confidence.  While rejecting the ritual theory of the
+Church, she has never been careless of the true succession of faith and
+doctrine and practice from the time of the Apostles to the present day,
+a succession to which she lays a not unworthy claim; and, claiming
+loyalty to Apostolic doctrine, polity and practice, she has ever been
+jealous in asserting her Divine right, as an Apostolic Church, to the
+controlling presence and guiding wisdom of the Holy Spirit of God.
+Under the guidance of that Spirit she has ever claimed, and still
+claims, the right of administering the government and directing the
+worship which, in their essential principles, are set forth in
+Scripture, neither superciliously regarding herself in any age as
+independent of those who have gone before, and so disregarding the
+legislation and practice of the fathers, nor, on the other hand,
+slavishly accepting such legislation and practice as binding upon the
+Church for all time, and as excluding for ever any progress or change.
+That spirit, at once of independence as regards man, and of dependence
+as regards God, has characterized Presbyterianism in its most vigorous
+and progressive periods; by that spirit must it still be characterized
+if, in succeeding ages, the work allotted to it is to be faithfully and
+well performed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If then the Church of one age is so independent of those who in other
+times have served her, it may be asked of what interest is her past
+history to us of to-day, and of what benefit to us is a knowledge of
+the legislation and practice of the Church in other periods of her
+progress?  Of much value in every way is such knowledge.  Those periods
+in particular, in which the Church has made notable progress, and in
+which her life has evidently been characterized by much of the Holy
+Spirit's presence and power, may well be studied, as times when those
+in authority were, indeed, led to wise measures, and guided to those
+methods of administration and practice, which by their success approved
+themselves as enjoying the Divine favor; the lamp of experience is one
+which wise men will never treat with indifference.  In studying the
+Reformation period, therefore, a period marked by special activity and
+progress within the Presbyterian Church, we do so, not so much to
+discover forms which we may adopt and imitate, as to discover the
+spirit which moved the leaders in the Church of that day, and the
+principles which governed them in formulating those regulations, and in
+adopting those practices, which proved suitable and successful in their
+own age.  To emulate the spirit of brave and wise men of the past is
+the part of wisdom, to imitate their methods may be the extreme of
+folly.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Another result, and one equally desirable, will be attained by a study
+of Presbyterian practice from Reformation times onward.  It will
+transpire, as we follow the history of public worship, by what paths we
+have arrived at our present position, and we shall discover whether
+that position is the result of diligent and careful search after those
+methods most in accord with Scripture principles, and so best suited to
+the different periods through which in her progress the Church has
+passed, or whether it is due to a temporary neglect of such principles,
+and a disregard of the changing necessities of different ages.  We
+shall discover, in a word, whether we have advanced, in dependence upon
+the Spirit of God and in recognition of our responsibilities, or
+whether we have retrograded through self-trust and indifference.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap02"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Age of Knox: the Formative Period of Presbyterian Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Among the great personages of the past it would be difficult to name
+one who in the same degree has vitalized and dominated the collective
+energies of his countrymen."&mdash;BROWN'S LIFE OF KNOX.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter II.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Age of Knox: the Formative Period of Presbyterian Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+It was in the year 1560 that the Reformed religion was officially
+recognized by the Estates of the Realm of Scotland, as the faith of the
+nation.  This recognition consisted in the adoption by Parliament of
+the first Scottish Confession, a formula drawn up by Knox and his
+brethren at Parliament's request, and formally approved by that body as
+"wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of
+God's Word."  This year may, therefore, be regarded as the year of the
+birth of the Church of Scotland, although previous to it the Reformed
+faith had been preached, and its worship practised, in many parts of
+the land where nobles and barons, who had themselves adopted it, held
+individual or united sway.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A glance at the condition of affairs in Scotland in the years
+immediately prior to this event will be instructive.  In 1557, as a
+result of Knox's rebuke of the Scottish nobles for their hesitancy in
+forwarding the Reformed faith, the "Confederation of the Lords of the
+Congregation" was formed, and its members subscribed to the first of
+the five Covenants that played so important a part in the religious
+history of Scotland.  In this Covenant, those subscribing bound
+themselves to "maintain and further the blessed Word of God and His
+congregation and to renounce the congregation of Satan with all the
+superstitions, abominations and idolatry thereof."  To the general
+declaration were appended two particular resolutions, in which was
+expressed a determination to further the preaching of the Word, in the
+meantime, in private houses, and to insist on the use of King Edward's
+Prayer Book in parishes under the control of subscribers to the
+Covenant.  By these same Protestant lords and commoners the first
+official order, authorizing for their own parishes a form of Reformed
+worship in Scotland, was issued in these terms:&mdash;
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"It is ordained that the Common Prayers be read weekly on Sunday, and
+other festival days, publicly in the parish Kirks with the lessons of
+the Old and New Testaments conform to the order of the Book of Common
+Prayer."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+It is generally conceded, and the judgment is supported by the
+references to it in Scottish history, that this Book of Common Prayer
+thus authorized was the second Book of King Edward the Sixth.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+From the year 1557 until the arrival of Knox in Scotland in 1559 this
+was the Book commonly used in parishes where the Reformed religion
+prevailed.  It disappeared, however, as so much else of a foreign
+character disappeared, in the course of the national Reformation,
+giving place to the Book prepared by Knox and then commonly known as
+"The Book of Our Common Order" but now frequently referred to as
+"Knox's Liturgy."  This was originally the work of Knox and four
+associate reformers living in exile in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and the
+history of its origin is interesting.  It had been required of the
+English refugees living at Frankfort, as a condition of their being
+allowed to use for worship the French church of that town, that they
+should adopt the Order of Worship of the French Reformed Church.  To
+this requirement the majority agreed, but, some objecting, it was
+finally determined that five of their number, of whom Knox was one,
+should draw up a new order of service.  This work, undertaken in 1554,
+was duly accomplished, but when completed it failed to find acceptance
+at the hands of those who had proposed it.  The draft of the new book
+was therefore laid aside until 1556, and was then published for the use
+of the church at Geneva, of which Knox in the meantime had become the
+minister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+There is in connection with this Book, and the debates and disturbances
+attending its preparation, one instructive fact that should not be
+forgotten.  The English Prayer Book provided for responses by the
+people and included the Litany, to both of which the French Reformed
+Church objected, in accordance with the well-known opinions of their
+great leader Calvin, who held, as did also his disciple Knox, that in
+praise alone should the congregation audibly join in public worship.
+Among the English refugees were some who desired the privilege of
+responding in public worship according to the English fashion, and it
+was the persistence in this matter of Cox, afterwards Bishop of Ely,
+and of some of his co-patriots, that led to Knox's removal to Geneva,
+and to the publication there of the Book of Geneva as an order for
+public worship in the English congregation to which he ministered.  It
+is important that this should be remembered, for in speaking of the
+Book of Common Order as "Knox's Liturgy," and thus giving to it a name
+by which it was never known in Knox's day, an impression has prevailed,
+and is still prevalent, that the book provided a form of worship
+liturgical in character, with a responsive service, while the fact is
+that Knox made no provision for even so much as the saying of "Amen" by
+the people, their part in prayer being the silent following in their
+hearts of the petitions uttered by the reader or the preacher for the
+day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first official recognition of this book in Scotland was in 1562,
+when an order of the General Assembly required that it should be
+uniformly used in the administration of the Sacraments, solemnization
+of marriage and burial of the dead.  At this time it was still in its
+Genevan form, and was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of
+the Sacraments, etc., used in the English congregation at Geneva; and
+approved by the famous and Godly-learned man, M. John Calvin."  Two
+years later, in 1564, a Scottish edition appeared, in which were
+additional prayers with the complete copy of the Psalter, and in this
+year the General Assembly ordained that:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Every Minister, Exhorter and Reader shall have one of the Psalm Books
+lately printed in Edinborough, and use the order contained therein in
+Prayers, Marriage and Ministration of the Sacraments."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+This book was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the
+Sacraments, etc., used in the English Church at Geneva approved and
+received by the Church of Scotland, whereunto besides that was in the
+former books are also added sundry other Prayers with the whole Psalms
+of David in English Metre."  As the Psalms occupied by far the greater
+part of the book it came to be commonly known as "The Psalm Book," and
+as such, with frequent additions, among which were several hymns and
+doxologies, it continued to be the recognized Book of Common Order of
+the Scottish Church down to the time of the Westminster Assembly.  It
+cannot be claimed, however, that this book ever secured a firm or
+lasting hold upon the affections of the Scottish people in general.
+Its authority was ecclesiastical only, inasmuch as the Estates of the
+Realm never gave to it the official sanction which they had repeatedly
+granted to King Edward's Prayer Book.  One reason for this evident want
+of popularity may have been that, except in its Psalter department and
+in some of its minor parts, it was a book for the clergy only and not
+for the people.  Even the Psalms in those days passed through new
+editions so rapidly, and were subjected to such serious changes, that
+they never obtained the place in the affections of the people that
+later versions have secured, and by 1645 The Book of Common Order
+appears to have fallen into such comparative neglect that no strong
+resistance was made to its abolition in favor of the Directory of
+Worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+That it was held in esteem by the clergy, although not so revered as to
+be looked upon as incapable of improvement, appears from the fact that
+in 1601 a proposal was made to revise it, together with the confession
+of faith, which had been prepared by Knox.  This work was committed to
+Alexander Henderson, the renowned minister of Leuchars and the valiant
+leader of the Church of Scotland in her resistance against the tyranny
+of Charles the First and his minister, Laud.  The revision, however,
+was never accomplished, Henderson confessing, according to the
+historian, Baillie, that he could not take upon him "either to
+determine some points controverted, or to set down other forms of
+prayer than we have in our Psalm Book, penned by our great and divine
+reformer."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A book which held for so long a time its place of authority in the
+Scottish Church, and which embodied during so important a period the
+law of the Church concerning worship, deserves particular study at the
+hands of those who are interested in the history of this important
+subject, but inasmuch as the form of worship alone is under discussion,
+it will be necessary to refer only to those parts of it which bear on
+this phase of the Church's practice.  Before doing so, however, it will
+be instructive to notice what is too frequently overlooked, that the
+adoption of Knox's Book of Common Order by the Scottish Church
+indicates even in that age a desire for forms of worship less
+liturgical than those which were employed by other parts of the
+Reformed Church.  It is to be remembered that those parishes in which
+the Reformed religion prevailed had been accustomed to the use of the
+English Book of Common Prayer with responsive services for the people,
+and with prayers from which the minister was not supposed to deviate.
+This Book was set aside, and in its place was adopted an Order of
+worship in no part of which provision was made for responses, and in
+all of whose prayers the minister was not only allowed freedom, but was
+encouraged to exercise the same.  Such action on the part of men
+accustomed to make changes only after careful deliberation, clearly
+indicates an intelligent choice of a non-liturgical service as opposed
+to one of the opposite character.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+More than this, the Scottish Book of Common Order is marked by an even
+greater freedom from prescribed forms than is Calvin's original Book of
+Geneva from which Knox copied so largely.  For while both of them
+agreed in avoiding a responsive service, Knox seems to have been even
+less than Calvin in sympathy with prescribed forms of prayer from which
+no deviation was to be allowed.  There is nothing to indicate that Knox
+would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in Calvin's letter to
+the Protector Somerset, in which he says: "As to what concerns a form
+of prayer and ecclesiastical rites, I highly approve of it, that there
+be a certain form from which the ministers be not allowed to vary....
+Therefore there ought to be a stated form of prayer and administration
+of the Sacraments."  The form of Church prayers, as originally prepared
+by Calvin in keeping with his sentiments above expressed, do not
+provide for any variation in certain parts of the service.  The
+Scottish Book of Common Order, however, allows, in its every part, for
+the operation of the free Spirit of God, and for other prayers to be
+offered by the minister than those there suggested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+At this period of its history, therefore, we find the Church of
+Scotland more pronounced than any other section of the Reformed Church
+in its desire for freedom from prescribed forms in the worship of God.
+Indeed, we are probably not in error in judging that in different
+circumstances, with an educated ministry in the Church and those
+appointed as leaders of worship who had received training for that
+important work, Knox would have felt even such a book as that which he
+prepared, to be both unnecessary and undesirable.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap03"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Knox's Book of Common Order.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The Book of Common Order is best described as a discretionary
+liturgy."&mdash;SPROTT.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter III.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Knox's Book of Common Order.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The Book of Common Order makes no reference to the reading of Scripture
+as a part of public worship, nor does it, after the fashion of many
+similar books, contain a table of Scriptures to be read during the
+year.  This omission however, is amended by an ordinance found in the
+First Book of Discipline prepared by Knox in 1561, and adopted by the
+General Assembly of that year, by which it is declared to be:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"A thing most expedient and necessary that every Kirk have a Bible in
+English, and that the people be commanded to convene and hear the plain
+reading and interpretation of the Scripture as the Kirk shall appoint."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+It was further enjoined by the same authority and at the same time that:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Each Book of the Bible should be begun and read through in order to
+the end, and that there should be no skipping and divigation from place
+to place of Scripture, be it in reading or be it in preaching."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+It is evident, therefore, that it was the purpose of Knox that the
+whole of Holy Scripture should be publicly read for edification, and
+that it should be read as God's message to men and not as an exercise
+subordinate to the preaching, or intended merely to throw light upon
+the subject of the discourse.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In connection with the reading of Scripture and of the Prayers, mention
+is made, in this same Book of Discipline, of an Order of Church
+officers who filled an important place in the Church of that time.  It
+was ordained that where "no ministers could be had presently" the
+Common Prayers and Scriptures should be read by the most suitable
+persons that could be selected.  These suitable persons came to be
+known as "Readers," and they form a distinct class of ecclesiastical
+officers in the Reformation Church of Scotland.  The need of such an
+Order was evident, for the Church found great difficulty in securing
+men of the requisite gifts and graces for the office of the ministry.
+The Readers therefore, formed an important and numerous order in the
+Church for many years, numbering at one time no less than seven
+hundred, while at the same time there was less than half that number of
+ordained ministers.  These men were not allowed to preach or to
+administer the sacraments, and they formed only a temporary order
+required by the exigencies of the times, as is evident from the fact
+that the General Assembly of 1581, in the hope that all parishes would
+soon be supplied with ordained ministers, forbade any further
+appointment of Readers.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the mind of Knox, these men were the successors to the <I>lectors</I> of
+the early Church, and corresponded in Scotland to the <I>docteurs</I> of the
+Swiss Reformed Church, a Church whose organization he regarded as but
+little less than perfect.  Although they conducted a part of the
+service in parishes where ministers regularly preached, yet in the
+original idea of the office the intention was that they should conduct
+public worship, in its departments of prayer and praise and reading of
+the Scriptures, only in parishes where a minister could not be secured.
+It is necessary to understand their office and their position in the
+Church, inasmuch as the existence of such an order has a bearing upon
+our appreciation of the form of public worship at this time adopted in
+Scotland.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the exercise of public prayer the greatest freedom was granted the
+minister by the Book of Common Order.  Calvin had prescribed a form of
+confession, the uniform use of which he required, but the general
+confession with which the service of the Book of Common Order opened,
+was governed by this rubric:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"When the congregation is assembled at the hour appointed, the Minister
+useth this confession, <I>or like in effect</I>, exhorting the people
+diligently to examine themselves, following in their hearts the tenor
+of his words."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Similar liberty was also allowed the minister in the prayer which
+followed the singing of the Psalms and preceded the sermon; the rubric
+governing this directed that:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"This done, the people sing a Psalm all together in a plain tune; which
+ended, the Minister prayeth for the assistance of God's Holy Spirit <I>as
+the same shall move his heart</I>, and so proceedeth to the sermon, using
+after the sermon this prayer following, <I>or such like</I>."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+And finally, as governing the whole order of worship, it is added:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"It shall not be necessary for the Minister daily to repeat all these
+things before mentioned, but, beginning with some manner of confession,
+to proceed to the sermon, which ended <I>he either useth the prayer for
+all estates before mentioned or else prayeth as the Spirit of God shall
+move his heart</I>, framing the same according to the time and matter
+which he hath entreated of.  And if there shall be at any time any
+present plague, famine, pestilence, war, or such like, which be evident
+tokens of God's wrath, as it is our part to acknowledge our sins to be
+the occasion thereof, so are we appointed by the Scriptures to give
+ourselves to mourning, fasting and prayer as the means to turn away
+God's heavy displeasure.  Therefore it shall be convenient that the
+Minister at such time do not only admonish the people thereof, but also
+use some Form of Prayer, according as the present necessity requireth,
+to the which he may appoint, by a common consent, some several day
+after the sermon, weekly to be observed."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The liberty allowed to the minister in this so important part of public
+worship is evident, and although many prayers are added as suitable for
+particular times and occasions, and some, which are described as of
+common use under certain circumstances and by particular churches, yet
+none of them are prescribed as the <I>only</I> prayers proper for any
+particular season or occasion.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Even in the administration of the Lord's Supper, the directions which
+accompany the prayer which precedes the distribution of the bread and
+wine allows a similar latitude to the Minister.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Then he taketh bread and giveth thanks, either in these words
+following <I>or like in effect</I>."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The student of the life of the great Scottish Reformer does not need to
+be told that the framer of the Book of Common Order was not himself
+bound by any particular form of prayer in public worship.  On the
+occasion of his memorable sermon after the death of the Regent Moray,
+his prayer at its close was the passionate outburst of a burdened soul,
+impossible to one restricted by prescribed forms, while his prayer,
+which is still preserved, on the occasion of a national thanksgiving,
+is an illustration of the perhaps not excellent way in which, in this
+exercise, he was accustomed to combine devotion and practical politics;
+a part of it ran thus:
+</P>
+
+<P>
+"And seeing that nothing is more odious in Thy presence, O Lord, than
+is ingratitude and violation of an oath and covenant made in Thy Name:
+and seeing that Thou hast made our confederates of England the
+instruments by whom we are now set at liberty, to whom we in Thy Name
+have promised mutual faith again; let us never fall to that unkindness,
+O Lord, that either we declare ourselves unthankful unto them, or
+profaners of Thy Holy Name."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is not surprising that one who allowed himself such liberty in
+public prayer should lay no binding forms upon his brethren in the
+ministry.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It remains only to be said, with regard to the restrictions of the Book
+of Common Order, that so far from providing any fixed form of prayer
+for uniform, use, even the Lord's Prayer was not imposed in any part of
+public worship.  It is added, together with the Creed, to the form of
+prayer called "A Prayer for the Whole Estate of Christ's Church," but
+this prayer is governed by the general rubric already quoted, which
+permits such variation as the minister, moved by the Spirit of God,
+shall deem desirable.  There is nothing to show that it was expected
+that the Lord's Prayer should be used as an invariable part of public
+worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+With these facts before us, whatever our judgment may be of the wisdom
+of Knox and of the Church of his day in the matter of a regulated
+service, we cannot close our eyes to the evident conclusion that the
+Reformer was wholly opposed to the bondage of form in prayer.  In this
+part of public worship he claimed for himself, and exercised under the
+guidance of the Spirit of God, the greatest freedom; and consistent
+with this position he never sought to impose as a part of regular
+public worship, the repetition by the minister of even that form of
+prayer which of all others has for its use Divine authority.  To
+whatever in worship the Book of Common Order may lend its countenance,
+it assuredly gives no support to the imposition upon worshippers of
+prescribed forms of prayer.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Side by side with that part of public worship already considered there
+has always been associated the exercise of Praise.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Although the Scottish Church conformed most closely to the Churches of
+France and Switzerland, yet it was impossible that it should not, to
+some degree, be influenced by the spirit of the German Reformation.
+This influence was especially marked in that which was a special
+characteristic of the German Church, a love for sacred song and a
+delight in the same on the part of the people.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Book of Common Order contained, as has been mentioned, in its early
+editions, the complete Psalter, and to this were added, subsequently, a
+few Scripture Hymns, together with the Doxology <I>Gloria Patri</I> in
+different metres, so that it could be sung at the end of every Psalm.
+This Doxology appears in Hart's edition of the Book of Common Order of
+1611, in six different metres, under the general head of "Conclusions,"
+and was evidently used regularly at the close of the Psalms sung in
+public worship.  It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth
+century that there began to arise criticisms of the custom of singing
+the Doxology, and it would, therefore, appear that during the formative
+period of the Scottish Church, which we are considering, it was
+regularly used, and occasioned no objection and aroused no opposition.
+The Hymns which were printed with the Psalter were few in number, and
+were chiefly free paraphrases of sections of Scripture.  They are "The
+Ten Commandments," "The Lord's Prayer," "<I>Veni Creator</I>," "The Song of
+Simeon called <I>Nunc Dimittis</I>," "The Twelve Articles of the Christian
+Faith," and "The Song of Blessed Marie called <I>Magnificat</I>."  The
+purpose of the Hymns appears to have been the memorizing of Scripture
+and important doctrinal truths, and there is no evidence that they were
+employed in public worship, although a place was not denied them in the
+Book of Common Order; in the Order for Public Worship mention is made
+of Psalms only, and in all the accounts, which have come down to us in
+correspondence or history, of the public services of that time, the
+people are invariably spoken of as joining in a Psalm, while even in
+the public processions, which were common on occasions of national
+rejoicing or thanksgiving, Psalms only are mentioned as being sung by
+the people.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The singing was usually led by the Reader, but there is occasional
+mention in the records of the time of the "Uptaker" of the Psalms, who
+evidently performed the duties of a Precentor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Sacraments.&mdash;In the Confession of Faith, which forms the first part
+of the Book of Common Order, it is clearly stated that there are two
+Sacraments only in the Christian Church, and that these are Baptism and
+The Lord's Supper.  No subject in connection with the practice of the
+Church created more discussion in Reformation times than the methods
+which were to be followed in the administration of the Sacraments.  The
+spirit of the Scottish reformers is indicated in the following
+sentence, which governed this matter:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Neither must we in the administration of these Sacraments follow man's
+fancy, but as Christ himself hath ordained so must they be ministered,
+and by such as by ordinary vocation are thereunto called."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+In accordance with this general regulation the Book of Common Order
+prescribes in detail "The Manner of the Administration of the Lord's
+Supper."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The words of the opening rubric are as follows:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The day when the Lord's Supper is ministered, which is commonly used
+once a month, or so oft as the Congregation shall think expedient, the
+Minister useth to say as follows:"
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Here follow the words of institution of the Supper from St. Paul's
+Epistle to the Corinthians, after which is added an exhortation in
+which flagrant sinners are warned not to draw near to the holy table,
+and timid saints are encouraged in wise and helpful words to approach
+with repentance and faith.  This is the address which in later times
+came to be known as "Fencing the Table."  There are no words to
+indicate that any variation from the prescribed address was encouraged.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The address being finished
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The Minister comes down from the Pulpit and sitteth at the Table,
+every man and woman in likewise taking their place as occasion best
+serveth: Then he taketh Bread and giveth thanks either in these words
+following or <I>like in effect</I>."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+This prayer is wholly one of praise and thanksgiving, there being an
+evident purpose in the omission of any invocation of the Holy Spirit
+and of words that might be regarded as a consecration of the bread and
+wine, and in the strict adherence to the example of our Lord, Who,
+"when He had given thanks, took bread."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The manner of communing is then described:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"This done, the Minister breaketh the bread and delivereth it to the
+people, to distribute and divide the same among themselves, according
+to our Saviour Christ's commandment, and likewise giveth the cup:
+During the which time some place of the Scriptures is read which doth
+lively set forth the death of Christ, to the intent that our eyes and
+senses may not only be occupied in these outward signs of bread and
+wine, which are called the visible word, but that our hearts and minds
+also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lord's death, which
+is by this Holy Sacrament represented.  And after this action is done
+he giveth thanks, saying:"
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The prayer of thanksgiving which follows is the only one in connection
+with this service for which no alternative was allowed the minister.
+An appropriate Psalm of thanksgiving followed the prayer, the Blessing
+was invoked and the congregation dispersed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Communion, as is evident from the rubric quoted above, was received
+while the congregation was seated, and this practice the Presbyterians
+adhered to and defended as against the Episcopal practice of kneeling
+at this service, regarding the latter attitude as liable to be
+interpreted as a rendering to the Sacrament of homage and adoration
+which should be reserved for God alone.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The service, it is evident, was marked by simplicity and by in almost
+total absence of prescribed form.  In a note "to the reader," the
+author of the Book of Common Order explains that the object throughout
+is to set forth simply and effectively those signs which Christ hath
+ordained "to our spiritual use and comfort."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+How often this Sacrament was to be observed was left to the judgment of
+individual congregations, but frequent celebration was recommended.
+Calvin thought it proper that the Lord's Supper should be celebrated
+monthly, but finding the people opposed to such frequent celebration he
+considered it unwise to insist upon his own views.  With his opinions
+on this matter, those of Knox were quite in harmony.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Sacrament of Baptism was likewise characterized in its
+administration by similar simplicity, and yet it is evident that, in
+this more than in any other part of public worship, the minister was
+restricted to the forms provided both in prayer and in address.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The rubrics which govern the two prayers of the service and the address
+to the parents, make no mention of alternate or similar forms being
+permitted.  In this the Book of Common Order differs from the Book of
+Geneva, which allowed the minister liberty in these parts of the
+service.  There would seem, therefore, to be an evident intention on
+the part of the Scottish reformers in thus departing from their custom
+in other parts of worship.  It may be that inasmuch as Baptism is the
+Sacrament of admission into the Church, it was deemed advisable that
+for the instruction of those seeking membership therein, either for
+themselves or for their children, the form of sound doctrine set forth
+at such a time should not be varied even in the manner of statement.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Sacrament was administered in the Church "on the day appointed to
+Common Prayer and preaching," instruction being given that the child
+should there be accompanied by the father and godfather; Knox himself
+had, as godfather to one of his sons, Whittingham, who had been his
+chief assistant in compiling the Book of Common Order, and who had also
+been his helper and fellow-worker at Geneva.  The opinion of the Swiss
+reformers, as well as that of their Scotch followers, was in favor of
+the presence of sponsors in addition to the parents at the baptism of
+children.  The parent having professed his desire to have his child
+baptized in the Christian faith, was addressed by the minister, and
+called upon to profess his own faith and his purpose to instruct his
+child in the same.  Having repeated the Creed, the minister proceeded
+to expound the same as setting forth the sum of Christian doctrine, a
+prescribed prayer followed, the child was baptized, and the prayer of
+thanksgiving, also prescribed, closed the service.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Book of Common Order required that marriages should be celebrated
+in the Church and on the Lord's Day:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The parties assemble at the beginning of the sermon and the Minister
+at time convenient saith as followeth:"
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+In the forms of exhortation and admonition to the contracting parties
+no liberty to vary the address is allowed the minister, but in the one
+prayer which formed a part of the service, viz., the blessing at the
+close of the ceremony it is ordered:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The Minister commendeth them to God in this <I>or such like sort</I>."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The service ended with the singing of an appropriate Psalm.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the service for burial of the dead it was ordered by the First Book
+of Discipline that neither singing, prayer, nor preaching should be
+engaged in, and this "on account of prevailing superstition."  In this
+matter, however, permission was granted to congregations to use their
+discretion; Knox, we know, preached a sermon after the burial of the
+Regent Moray, and the directions in the Book of Common Order clearly
+leave much to be determined by the circumstances of the case:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The corpse is reverently brought to the grave accompanied with the
+Congregation without any further ceremonies: which being buried, the
+Minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the Church, if it be
+not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people
+touching death and resurrection; then blesseth the people and so
+dismisseth them."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+This is but one of many instances that show that the early reformers
+accorded to the Church, in matters not absolutely essential to the
+preservation of sound doctrine and Scriptural practice, the greatest
+liberty.  With regard to the administration of the Sacraments and the
+public worship of God, they laid down well-defined regulations and
+outlines to which conformity was required; in matters that might be
+looked upon as simply edifying and profitable, liberty was allowed to
+ministers and congregations to determine according to their discretion,
+as Knox himself declared with respect to exercises of worship at
+burials:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"We are not so precise but that we are content that particular Kirks
+use them in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same
+as they will answer to God and Assembly of the Universal Kirk gathered
+within the realm."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+We have thus presented in brief outline the contents of the Book of
+Common Order, commonly used in Scotland from 1562 to 1645, in so far as
+its regulations refer to public worship and the administration of the
+Sacraments.  The book is itself so simple and clear in its statements
+that it is not difficult to discover the spirit of its compilers, and
+their understanding of what was required for the seemly and Scriptural
+observance of the different parts of Divine worship.  The results of
+our survey may be summed up in a few words.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Scottish Church gave a prominent place to prayer, to the reading of
+Holy Scripture, and to praise, in the public worship of God on the
+Lord's Day.  Not in any sense do these exercises seem to have been
+regarded as subordinate in importance to the preaching of the Word; the
+congregations assembled for Divine worship, of which preaching was one
+important part.  But even where there was no preaching, the people
+nevertheless came together for Divine worship, in which they were led,
+in the absence of any minister, by persons duly appointed for that
+purpose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The service in public worship was not in any of its departments a
+responsive one.  The only audible part shared by the people was in the
+praise; they did not respond in prayer even to the extent of uttering
+an audible "Amen," nor did they join audibly in any general confession,
+in a declaration of faith as contained in the Apostles' Creed or in any
+other formulary, nor did they even repeat with the minister the Lord's
+Prayer when that model of prayer given by Christ to His disciples was
+used in public worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Liberty under the guidance of the Holy Spirit marked the minister's use
+of the forms provided, and the privilege of extempore prayer was
+sacredly guarded, the example of Knox, as well as his precept,
+encouraging his brethren in the ministry to cultivate free and
+unrestricted prayer to God.  In this matter the Church declared her
+belief in the Holy Ghost and in His presence with her, believing that
+those who were divinely called to the work of the ministry were by the
+Spirit of God duly equipped for the performance of the important duties
+of that office.  Although forms of prayer were provided, these appear
+to have been intended mainly for the use of the Readers, who were not
+duly ordained to the ministerial office, and for the guidance of
+ministers, but IN NO PART OF PUBLIC WORSHIP APART FROM THE SACRAMENTS
+WAS THE MINISTER CONFINED TO THE USE OF PRESCRIBED FORMS.  Even the
+Readers enjoyed a degree of liberty in this matter, a liberty which
+they exercised, as is evident from an Order of Assembly passed in the
+reign of James forbidding Readers to offer extemporary prayers, but
+requiring them to use the forms prescribed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lastly, in the administration of the Sacraments honor was put upon them
+by the care that was observed in their public, reverent and frequent
+observance.  Simplicity marked all the service connected with these
+holy ordinances, while, at the same time, whatever might appear to
+unduly exalt them to an unscriptural position in the thoughts of men,
+was carefully avoided, as well in the prayers and exhortations used as
+in the manner of administration.  The Sacraments were regarded as helps
+to the spiritual life of God's elect, as "medicine for the spiritually
+sick," and were never represented as holy mysteries into which only
+certain of God's children should penetrate.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If these conclusions are just, it is very evident that those who to-day
+advocate the introduction into Presbyterian worship of responses and
+prescribed forms can find no support for such a practice, however they
+might limit it, in Knox's Book of Common Order, or in the practice of
+our Scottish ancestors in this so virile and vigorous period of the
+Church's history.  Just as little support, too, can those find who
+would impose upon the ministry of the Church the use of set forms from
+which no deviation is to be allowed either in the conduct of public
+worship or in the administration of the Sacraments.  The most that can
+be argued from this ancient regulation of worship, which is much more
+accurately described as a Directory rather than as a Liturgy, is the
+desirability of a uniform order of service for the whole Church, of a
+due proportion of attention to each part of worship, and of the
+conformity by all ministers to a uniform method in the administration
+of the Sacraments.  The Book of Common Order clearly indicates the
+conviction of the Scottish reformers that all things in connection with
+the worship of God should be done "in seemly form and according to
+order," and it quite as clearly indicates their purpose to acknowledge
+and rely upon the operation of the free Spirit of God, in the exercise
+of that worship and in the performance of the public ordinances in the
+sanctuary.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap04"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+A Diet of Public Worship in the Time of Knox.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"What I have been to my country, albeit this unthankful age will not
+know, yet the ages to come will be compelled to bear witness to the
+truth."&mdash;JOHN KNOX.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter IV.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+A Diet of Public Worship in the Time of Knox.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+A diet of worship on a Sabbath day in Scotland in the days of Knox, or
+in the period immediately succeeding his death, had for the people of
+that time a profound interest.  It was a period of storm and upheaval,
+and the Church, with its worship and teaching, was the centre around
+which, in large measure, the struggles of the age gathered; and
+although for us these struggles are simple history, and the subjects of
+debate are, many of them, forever laid aside, still it is of interest
+to learn how a service in connection with the public worship of the day
+proceeded in this formative period of Presbyterian practice, when order
+and method were less matters of indifference than they are now.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Happily we are not left without abundant material for forming an
+accurate picture of a Sabbath-day service at that time, for in addition
+to the explicit directions contained in the Book of Common Order, there
+have come down to us descriptions of public worship by participants
+therein.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As early as seven o'clock a bell was rung to warn the people of the
+approach of the hour of worship, and this was followed an hour later by
+another bell, which summoned the congregation to the place of prayer.
+It was a congregation of all classes, for in Scotland the Reformed
+doctrine made its way among the great and the lowly alike.  Writing in
+1641, a refutation of the charge made in England against the Scotch
+that they "had no certain rule or direction for their public worship,
+but that every man, following his extemporary fancy, did preach or pray
+what seemed good in his own eyes," Alexander Henderson thus describes
+in his reply the congregation in a Scotch Church: "When so many of all
+sorts, men and women, masters and servants, young and old, as shall
+meet together, are assembled, the public worship beginneth."  In the
+early days of Presbyterianism the rich and the poor met together,
+realizing that the Lord was the Maker of them both.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The congregation assembled in a Church building that was plain in its
+interior, the plainness being emphasized, and at times rendered
+unsightly, by reason of the removal of the statues and pictures which
+in pre-Reformation times had decorated the walls and pillars.  The
+building was, however, as required by the Book of Discipline, rendered
+comfortable and suitable for purposes of worship.  It was ordered,
+"lest that the Word of God and ministration of the Sacraments by
+unseemliness of the place come into contempt," there should be made
+"such preparation within as appertaineth as well to the majesty of the
+Word of God as unto the ease and commodity of the people."  Such wise
+words indicate on the part of our Scottish ancestors an appreciation in
+their day of what is all too often even in these happier and more
+enlightened times, forgotten&mdash;the importance of having a Church
+building in keeping with the greatness of the cause to which it has
+been dedicated, and at the same time suitable and convenient for the
+purposes of public worship.  The narrowness which would forbid beauty
+and artistic decoration and the pride which would sacrifice comfort and
+convenience for the sake of appearance, were both avoided.  At one end
+of the building stood a pulpit, beside it, or within it, a basin or
+font for use in the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, and in
+the part where formerly the altar had stood, tables were placed for use
+in the observance of the Lord's Supper; at the end of the Church
+opposite to the pulpit was placed a stool of repentance, an article
+frequently in use in an age when Church discipline was vigorously
+administered.  Pews were as yet unknown; some churches had permanent
+desks or benches, to be occupied by men holding public positions, or by
+prominent members of influential guilds, the rest of the people stood
+throughout the service, or sat upon stools which they brought with them
+to the Church.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The members of the congregation on entering the Church were expected to
+engage reverently in silent prayer, and at the hour appointed, the
+Reader from his desk called upon all present to join in the Public
+Worship of God; he then proceeded to read the Prayer prescribed in the
+Book of Common Order, or, if he so desired, to offer one similar
+thereto in intent; in either case the prayer was a general confession,
+and was followed by a Psalm or Psalms announced by the Reader and sung
+by the whole congregation and ending with the <I>Gloria Patri</I>.  Next
+came the reading of the Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments, the
+reading being continuous through whatever books had been selected.
+This ended that part of public worship which was conducted by the
+Reader, and occupied in all about one hour.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+On the second ringing of the bell, the minister entered the pulpit,
+knelt in silent devotion, and then led the people in prayer "as the
+Spirit moved his heart;" this finished, he proceeded to the sermon, to
+which the people listened either standing or sitting, as opportunity
+afforded, with their heads covered, and occasionally, if moved thereto,
+giving vent to their feelings by expressions of applause or
+disapproval.  After the sermon the minister led the congregation in
+prayer for blessing upon the Word preached and for the general estate
+of Christ's Church: if the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed were
+employed in the service (but this was optional with the minister) they
+were repeated by the minister alone at the close of this prayer, and
+embodied in it; a Psalm was sung by the congregation and the
+Benediction was pronounced, or rather, the Blessing was invoked, for
+the petitions were framed as supplications: "The grace of the Lord
+Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be
+with us all: So be it."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Such was the course of an ordinary diet of worship.  If a marriage was
+to be celebrated the parties presented themselves in Church before the
+sermon; the ceremony having been performed, the parties remained,
+according to regulation, until the close of the public worship.  If the
+Sacrament of Baptism was to be administered the infant was presented
+for the ordinance at the close of the sermon by the father, who was
+attended by one or more sponsors.  When the Lord's Supper was observed
+(which in some congregations was monthly) the tables were spread in
+that part of the Church which had formerly been the chancel, and as
+many communicants as could conveniently do so sat down together with
+the minister.  These, when the tables had been served, gave place to
+others.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The services throughout were marked by simplicity, reverence and
+freedom from strict and unbending forms; liberty characterized their
+every part, and room was left for the exercise of the guiding Spirit of
+God, in a measure not enjoyed by Churches tied to the use of a
+prescribed worship; at the same time there was a recognized order and a
+reverent devotion in all parts of the worship which many non-liturgical
+Churches of this day may well covet.  It was a service simple yet
+impressive, voluntary yet orderly, regulated and yet untrammeled.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap05"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Period of Controversy, 1614-1645.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"They were splintered and torn, but no power could bend or melt them.
+They dwelt, as pious men are apt to dwell, in suffering and sorrow on
+the all-disposing power of Providence.  Their burden grew lighter as
+they considered that God had so determined that they should bear
+it."&mdash;FROUDE.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter V.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Period of Controversy, 1614-1645.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The years from 1603, the date of James the Sixth's ascent to the united
+thrones of England and Scotland, until 1645 the year of the Westminster
+Assembly, cover one of the most exciting and interesting periods in
+Scottish history.  Especially is this period of interest to the student
+of Scottish Church history, because of the influences both direct and
+indirect which the struggles of that time had upon the development of
+the character and practice of the Presbyterian Church.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Book of Common Order had received the authority of the General
+Assembly sitting in Edinburgh in 1564, and for nearly fifty years from
+that date it was the unchallenged directory for worship and usage in
+the Scottish Church.  Its use, though not universal, was general, and
+it was uniformly referred to, as well in civil as in ecclesiastical
+courts, as comprising for the Church the law respecting public worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first mention of any desire to modify or amend this book occurs in
+1601, in the records of the General Assembly, when a motion was made
+respecting an improved version of the Bible, a revision of the Psalter
+and an amendment of "sundry prayers in the Psalm-Book which should be
+altered in respect they are not convenient for the time."  The
+Assembly, however, declined to amend the prayers already in the Book,
+or to delete any of them, but ordained that:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"If any brother would have any prayers added, which are meet for the
+time.... the same first to be tried and allowed by the Assembly."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The motion thus proposed, and the action of the General Assembly
+regarding it, is of interest in that it seems plainly to indicate that
+whatever desire there was for change, this desire was not the result of
+a movement in favor of a fuller liturgical service, nor on the other
+hand, of one which had for its object the entire removal of the form of
+worship at that time in use.  To this form, commonly employed, no
+objection was offered, but owing to changing times and circumstances,
+it was regarded as desirable that the matter contained in the suggested
+forms of prayer should be so modified as to make them more applicable
+to the conditions of the age.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+James the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne of the united kingdoms
+in 1603, and many of his Presbyterian subjects cherished the hope that
+his influence would be exerted to conform the practice and worship of
+the Church of England to that of other Reformed Churches.  In this hope
+they were destined to severe disappointment, as it very soon became
+evident that the aim of the royal theologian was to reduce to the forms
+and methods of Episcopacy, those of all the Churches within his realm.
+In considering the subject of Presbyterian worship it will not be
+necessary to enter fully into the history of the civil struggle between
+the Church of Scotland and the Stuart Kings except in those phases of
+it which affected the worship of the Church; as these, however, are so
+closely interwoven with questions of government it will be impossible
+always to avoid reference to the latter or to keep the two absolutely
+distinct.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1606 it was decided by the Scottish Parliament that the King was
+"absolute, Prince, Judge and Governor over all persons, estates, and
+causes, both spiritual and temporal, within the realm."  Four years
+later the General Assembly, composed of commissioners named by the
+King, met at Glasgow and issued a decree to the effect that the right
+of calling General Assemblies of the Church belonged to the Crown.
+This, among other acts of this Assembly, was ratified by the Parliament
+of 1612, and James, having thus secured the position in the Church
+which he coveted, proceeded in his endeavors to mould it, as well in
+its worship as in its government and doctrine, to his own views.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Church of Scotland was not allowed to remain long in ignorance of
+the King's purpose.  Early in 1614 a royal order was sent to the
+northern kingdom requiring all ministers to celebrate Holy Communion on
+Easter Day, the 24th of April, and this was followed in 1616 by a
+proposal from the King to the General Assembly that "a liturgy and form
+of divine service should be prepared" for the use of the Scottish
+Church.  The Assembly (formed as indicated above) with ready
+acquiescence heartily thanked His Majesty for his royal care of the
+Church and ordained:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"That a uniform order of Liturgy or divine service be set down to be
+read in all Kirks on the ordinary days of prayer and every Sabbath day
+before the sermon, to the end the common people may be acquainted
+therewith, and by custom may learn to serve God rightly.  And to this
+intent the Assembly has appointed ... to revise the Book of Common
+Prayer contained in the Psalm Book, and to set down a common form of
+ordinary service to be used in all times hereafter."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The work thus authorized of revising the Book of Common Order was at
+once undertaken by those appointed thereto, but although a draft was
+made and much labor was expended upon it during a term of several
+years, the book in its revised form was never introduced into the
+Scottish Church.  By the time it had received its final revision at the
+hands of the King and his Scotch advisors in London, such events had
+transpired, and such a spirit of opposition had been aroused in
+Scotland by other measures, that it was deemed wise to withhold it, and
+the death of James occurring in 1625, while it was still unpublished,
+the book in its revised form was retained by Spottiswoode, Bishop of
+St. Andrew's, and appears to have been forgotten for years, even by its
+most active promoters.  From correspondence in the time of Charles
+First, however, it appears that James had not relinquished his aim of
+imposing the new book upon the Scottish Church, and it is probable that
+his death alone prevented the attempt being made to carry out his
+cherished purpose.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Much of the voluminous correspondence, which at this time passed
+between James and the leaders of the Scottish Church, is still extant
+and it serves to indicate some of the anticipated changes in the forms
+of worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the regular worship appointed for the Lord's Day there was to be
+introduced a liturgy which was to be used before the sermon; the Ten
+Commandments were to be read, and after each of them the people were to
+be instructed to respond, or, as the rubric directed:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"After every Commandment they ask mercy of God for their transgression
+of the same in this manner,&mdash;Lord have mercy upon us and incline our
+hearts to keep this law."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+There was also an evident purpose to leave less to the discretion of
+the minister, and to restrict him more closely to the use of provided
+forms in prayer, as well as to regulate more particularly the reading
+of the Scriptures.  A table of Scripture lessons was to be prepared
+showing the passages proper to be read on each day; prayers were also
+provided for worship upon saints' days and festivals, in the use of
+which there was to be no option, and the privilege of extempore prayer
+in any part of public worship was to be taken from the minister, in
+large measure if not entirely.  That this intention was cherished seems
+evident from a discussion in which Spottiswoode engaged with one Hog,
+minister at Dysart.  Hog had defended an action complained of, by
+saying that his prayer on the occasion referred to had been in
+conformity with Knox's Book of Common Order; in reply Spottiswoode
+declared that "In a short time that Book of Discipline would be
+discharged and ministers tied to set forms."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Book was regarded by all as a compromise between the Book of Common
+Order and the English Prayer Book, and appears to have excited no
+enthusiasm, even among its promoters; it was too subversive of Scottish
+custom to please those who were loyal to the old usage, and it was not
+sufficiently liturgical to suit James and his like-minded counsellors.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It has been stated that the transpiring of certain events had delayed
+the publication of this Liturgy; these events were connected with the
+historic "Articles of Perth."  These "Articles" were orders, first of
+the General Assembly of 1618, sitting at Perth and acting under royal
+instruction, and afterwards of the Parliament which confirmed them in
+1621, enjoining
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Kneeling at the Communion;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Private Communion in cases of sickness;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Private Baptism "upon a great and reasonable cause;"
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Episcopal Confirmation;
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The observance of the festivals of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Day,
+Ascension Day and Whitsunday.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Five Articles were passed in Assembly in spite of vigorous
+opposition on the part of a minority that, nevertheless, represented
+the most intense feeling of a very large section of the Scottish
+people.  The first of these Five Articles, that were subversive of so
+much for which the reformers had struggled and had at last secured,
+reëstablished a practice that could only be regarded by the Church as
+Romish in its tendency, and wholly unscriptural.  It excited the most
+violent opposition, and secured for itself, even after its approval by
+Parliament, determined resistance on the part of the people.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Previous to this, in 1617, James had by his childish flaunting of the
+service of the Church of England in the face of the Scottish subjects,
+on the occasion of his visit to Edinburgh, estranged the sympathies of
+many who had previously been not unkindly disposed toward his projects,
+and aroused among the people in general, a deeper and more widespread
+opposition to his scheme of reform than had hitherto made itself
+manifest.  Some months before his visit he had given orders for the
+re-fitting of the Royal Chapel at Holyrood, and for the introduction of
+an organ, the preparation of stalls for choristers, and the setting up
+within the Chapel of statues of the Apostles and Evangelists.  The
+organ and choristers the Scotch could abide, but the proposal of
+"images" aroused such an outburst of opposition on the part of the
+people that James, being advised of it, made a happy excuse of the
+statues not being yet ready, and withdrew his order for the forwarding
+of them to Scotland.  The services in Holyrood Chapel, however, during
+the visit of His Majesty to Edinburgh, were all after the Episcopal
+form, "with singing of choristers, surplices, and playing on organs,"
+and when a clergyman of the Church of England officiated at the
+celebration of the Lord's Supper, the majority of those present
+received it kneeling.  All this, as may be imagined, had its effect
+upon James's Scottish subjects, but that effect was the opposite of
+what he had hoped for.  Instead of inspiring a love for an elaborate
+liturgy, or developing a sympathy between the two kingdoms in matters
+of worship, the result was to antagonize the spirit of the Scots, as
+well against the proposed changes as against the King, who, with
+childish pleasure in what he deemed proper, sought to enforce his will
+upon the conscience of the people from whom he had sprung, and among
+whom he had been educated.  The loyalty of the Scots to the Stuarts is
+proverbial, but though ready to die for their king, to acknowledge him
+as lord of the conscience they could not be persuaded.  A spirit of
+opposition stronger than that which had before existed was developed
+against any liturgy in Church worship, and the seeds were sown which
+were afterwards to bear fruit in the harvest of the Revolution of 1688.
+This opposition, it may be argued, was not the outcome of a calm
+consideration of the questions involved, but was an indirect result of
+the national anger at the attempt of the King to coerce the consciences
+of his subjects.  In any event, so strong was the opposition to any
+change in the religious worship of the land, that James ceased his
+active endeavors to carry out his will, and in a message to his
+Scottish subjects in 1624 assured them of his desire "by gentle and
+fair means rather to reclaim them from their unsettled and
+evil-grounded opinions, nor by severity and rigor of justice to inflict
+that punishment which their misbehavior and contempt merits."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+We now come to a period marked by a still more vigorous assault upon
+the liberties of the Church of Scotland, and by a correspondingly
+vigorous opposition thereto on the part of the Scottish people.
+William Laud, who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, began to
+exert his influence upon the religious life of both England and
+Scotland during the closing years of James's reign, but it was in the
+reign of Charles the First, who succeeded his father in 1625, that he
+came before the world in his sudden and so unfortunate greatness.
+History has left but little doubt in the mind of the careful student
+that Laud's deliberate purpose and persistent influence, both in
+England and in Scotland, were towards a revival of Romanism within the
+Church of which he was a prelate, or at least towards the creation of a
+high Anglicanism which would differ but little from the Romish system.
+Adroitly, and frequently concealing his real purpose, he labored to
+this end, and it is not too much to say that the vigorous and, at last,
+successful opposition to his plans in Scotland, saved the English
+Church from radical changes which it is clear he was prepared to
+introduce in the southern Kingdom when his desires for Scotland had
+been effected.  England owes to Scotland the preservation of her
+Protestantism on two occasions: first, in the days of Knox, when the
+work of the sturdy Reformer prevented what must have taken place had a
+Catholic Scotland been prepared to join with Spain in the overthrow of
+Protestant England, and again when Scottish opposition effectively
+nipped in the bud Laud's plans for a Romish movement in both Kingdoms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The history of the movement under Laud it is only possible briefly to
+summarize.  In 1629 Charles revived the subject, to which his father
+had devoted so much attention, of an improved service in the Church of
+Scotland, and wrote to the Scottish Bishops ordering them to press
+forward the matter of an improved liturgy with all earnestness.  As a
+result, the draft of the Book of Common Prayer prepared in the reign of
+James was again brought to light and forwarded to Charles, and this
+would probably have been accepted and authorized for use but for Laud's
+influence.  It however was too bald and simple to suit the ritualistic
+Archbishop, who persuaded the King that it would be entirely preferable
+to introduce into Scotland the English Prayer Book without change.
+Correspondence upon the matter was continued until 1633, when Charles,
+accompanied by Laud, visited Scotland for the purpose of being crowned,
+and also "to finish the important business of the Liturgy."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During his stay in Scotland Charles followed the example of his father
+in parading before the people upon every possible occasion the ritual
+of the Church of England, conduct on his part which served only to stir
+up further and more deeply-seated opposition.  Soon after his return to
+England he dispatched instructions to the Scottish Bishops requiring
+them to decide upon a form of liturgy and to proceed with its
+preparation.  His message was in these terms:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Considering that there is nothing more defective in that Church than
+the want of a Book of Common Prayer and uniform service to be kept in
+all the Churches thereof ... we are hereby pleased to authorize you ...
+to condescend upon a form of Church service to be used therein."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Such a form was accordingly prepared, forwarded to London for the
+King's approval, and, after revision by Laud, who was commanded by His
+Majesty to give to the Bishops of Scotland his best assistance in this
+work, it was duly published in 1637, and ordered to be read in all
+Churches of Scotland on the 23rd of July of that year.  The book
+appeared, stamped with the royal approval, elaborately illuminated and
+illustrated, and bearing this title, "The Book of Common Prayer and
+Administration of the Sacraments, and other parts of Divine Service,
+for the use of the Church of Scotland."  A royal order accompanied it,
+in which civil authorities were enjoined to
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Command and charge all our subjects, both ecclesiastical and civil, to
+conform themselves to the public form of worship, which is the only
+form of worship which we (having taken counsel of our clergy) think fit
+to be used in God's public worship in this our kingdom."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The introduction of this Service Book, as it was called, into public
+worship in St. Giles, Edinburgh, on the day appointed, was the signal
+for an outburst of popular indignation that was as fire to the heather
+in the land.  On that occasion the Archbishop of St. Andrew's was
+present with the Bishop of Edinburgh, but when the Dean rose to read
+the new service, even the presence of such dignitaries was not
+sufficient to restrain the pent-up feelings of the congregation.  Such
+a clamor arose as made it impossible for the Dean to proceed, books and
+other missiles were freely thrown, and a stool, hurled by the
+traditional Jenny Geddes, narrowly missed the Dean's head, whereupon
+that dignitary fled precipitately, followed by the more forcible than
+elegant ejaculation of the wrathful woman, "Out thou false thief; dost
+thou say mass at my lug?"  The riot in Edinburgh was the signal for
+similar manifestations of popular feeling throughout the land, the
+national spirit was aroused, and the stately fabric which Charles and
+Laud, supported by a prelatic party in Scotland, had been laboriously
+rearing for years, was overthrown in a day.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This feeling of opposition on the part of the people to the
+introduction of a liturgy into the Church of Scotland, found due and
+official expression in the following year.  The General Assembly
+meeting at Glasgow repudiated Laud's Liturgy and appealed repeatedly to
+the Book of Common Order as containing the Law of the Church respecting
+worship.  In his eloquent closing address the Moderator, Alexander
+Henderson, said: "and now we are quit of the Service Book, which was a
+book of service and slavery indeed, the Book of Canons which tied us in
+spiritual bondage, the Book of Ordination which was a yoke put upon the
+necks of faithful ministers, and the High Commission which was a guard
+to keep us all under that slavery."  The people also in formal manner
+expressed their mind on the matter and in the Solemn League and
+Covenant, signed in Gray friars Churchyard, asserted their purpose to
+defend, even unto death, the true religion, and to "labor by all means
+lawful to recover the purity and liberty of the Gospel as it was
+established and professed before the late innovations."  Charles at
+first determined upon extreme measures, and preparations were made to
+force "the stubborn Kirk of Scotland to bow," but wiser measures
+prevailed, and the desires of the Church of Scotland were for the time
+granted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Book of Common Order, thus reaffirmed as the law of the Church
+respecting worship, continued in use during the years following the
+Glasgow Assembly of 1638, years which for Scotland were comparatively
+peaceful, by reason of the troubles fast thickening around the English
+throne.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This interesting chapter of Scottish history which we have thus briefly
+reviewed, is of value to us in the present discussion only in so far
+as, from the facts presented, we are able to understand the spirit that
+characterized the Church of Scotland at this period, and the principles
+that guided them in their attitude toward the subject of public
+worship.  What this spirit and those principles were it is not
+difficult to discover.  The facts themselves are plain; not only did
+the Church in its regularly constituted courts oppose the introduction
+of new forms and the elaboration of the Church service, but the people
+resisted by every means in their power, and at last went the length of
+resisting by force of arms, the attempt to impose upon them the new
+Service Book.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is asserted that the chief, if not the only cause of this resistance
+was, first, an element of patriotism which in Scotland opposed
+uniformly any measure which seemed to subordinate the national customs
+to those of England, and secondly, the righteous and conscientious
+objection of Presbyterians to having imposed upon them by any external
+authority, a form of worship and Church government which their own
+ecclesiastical authorities had not approved, and which they themselves
+had not voluntarily accepted.  The objection, in a word, is said to
+have been not to a liturgy as such, but to a <I>foreign</I> liturgy and to
+one <I>imposed</I>.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It cannot be denied that these were important elements in the
+opposition of the Scottish people to the projects of Charles.  Many of
+them, for one or other of these reasons, opposed the King's command,
+who had no conscientious scruples with regard either to the form or
+substance of Laud's liturgy.  Too much is claimed, however, when the
+assertion is made that there was no real objection among the people to
+the introduction of an elaborated service such as that which was
+proposed.  The liberty of free prayer so dear to the Scottish reformers
+was, if not entirely denied, largely encroached upon; a responsive
+service, to which, in common with the great leaders of Geneva, Knox and
+Melville had been so uniformly opposed, was introduced; and
+particularly in the service for the administration of the Sacrament of
+the Lord's Supper, forms of words were employed which seemed to teach
+doctrines rejected by the reformers.  Here then was abundant ground for
+opposition to Laud's liturgy when judged on its merits, and this ground
+the stern theologians of that day were not likely to overlook.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Nor is it to be forgotten that in the many supplications which from
+time to time were presented to the King both from Church and State
+against the introduction of the Service Book, the anti-English plea
+never found a place, but uniformly, reference was made in strong terms
+to the unscriptural form of worship suggested for adoption by the
+Scottish people, together with a protest against the arrogant
+imposition upon them of a form of service not desired.  Persistently in
+these supplications the subscribers expressed their desire that there
+should be no change in the form of worship to which they had been
+accustomed, and prayed for a continuance of the liberty hitherto
+enjoyed.  In a complaint laid before the Privy Council the Service Book
+and Canons are described as "containing the seeds of divers
+superstitions, idolatry and false doctrine," and as being "subversive
+of the discipline established in the Church."  The Earl of Rothes in an
+address spoke thus: "Who pressed that form of service contrary to the
+laws of God and this kingdom?  Who dared in their conventicles contrive
+a form of God's public worship contrary to that established by the
+general consent of this Church and State?"  And that the <I>form</I> of
+worship ever held a prominent place in the discussions of the time,
+appears from a letter supposed to have been written by Alexander
+Henderson, in which he defends the Presbyterian Church against a charge
+of disorder and neglect of seemly procedure in worship; he says, "The
+form of prayers, administration of the Sacraments, etc., which are set
+down before their Psalm Book, and to which the ministers are to conform
+themselves, is a sufficient witness; for although they be not tied to
+set forms and words, yet are they not left at random, but for
+testifying their consent and keeping unity they have their Directory
+and prescribed Order."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+While it is true, therefore, that the high-handed conduct of the King
+in forcing upon an unwilling people a form of service already
+distasteful because of its foreign associations, was doubtless an
+important element in arousing the vigorous opposition with which it was
+met, nevertheless, there is abundant evidence to show that apart from
+any such consideration, the spirit of the Church of Scotland was
+entirely hostile to the introduction of further forms, to the
+elaboration of their simple service, and to the imposition upon their
+ministers of prescribed prayers from which in public worship they would
+not be allowed to depart.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap06"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Westminster Assembly and the Directory of Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+If the Assembly's Directory increased liberty, it also augmented
+responsibility.  If it took away the support of set and prescribed
+forms on which the indolent might lean and even sleep, this was done to
+the avowed intent that those who conducted public services might the
+more industriously prepare for them; and thereunto the more diligently
+stir up the gifts of God within them.&mdash;REV. EUGENE DANIEL.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter VI.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+The Westminster Assembly and the Directory of Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+Prior to the year 1638 the Church of Scotland, in its struggle to
+preserve its form of worship, had to contend with the advocates of
+prelacy and ritualism, but now opposition to the established practice
+arose from another quarter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In connection with every great reform there are apt to arise
+extravagant movements, the promoters of which see only one side of
+confessedly important truths, and so carry to undue excess some phase
+of reform which, in properly balanced measure, would have been
+righteous and desirable.  So it was in the period of the Reformation.
+Among the several sectaries which had their origin in the Reformed
+Church was a company called Brownists, an extreme section of the
+Independents, who took their name from their founder, one Robert
+Browne, an Englishman and a preacher, although a rejecter of ordination
+and a protester against the necessity of any official license for the
+work of the ministry.  It was a part of their creed to object to any
+regulation of public worship, and even to many of the simplest
+ceremonies which had hitherto been retained by the Reformed Churches.
+In Scotland they opposed, as they had done elsewhere, all reading of
+prayers, and, in particular, the kneeling of the minister for private
+devotions on entering the pulpit, the repeating of the Lord's Prayer in
+any part of the public service, and the singing of the <I>Gloria Patri</I>
+at the end of the Psalm.  The movement, let it be said, although it
+took an extreme form, had its spring in the deep disgust and shame felt
+by many pious souls at the laxity and formality which characterized
+religious life in England during the earlier part of the Stuart period.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The unwise policy of Charles in seeking to force upon the Scottish
+Church a liturgical service, had produced in the minds of many its
+natural result, creating extreme views in opposition to all prescribed
+forms of worship.  The Brownists, therefore, found in Scotland a large
+following, and a rapidly increasing section of the Church began
+gradually to depart even from the forms and suggestions of the Book of
+Common Order, and to adopt a still less restricted form of service.
+Against these irregularities the General Assemblies of 1639 and 1640
+legislated, and yet in such terms as seem to indicate that already the
+mind of the Church at large was being prepared for change.  It was
+ordained by the first of the Assemblies referred to that
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"No novation in worship should be suddenly enacted, but that Synods,
+Presbyteries and Kirks should be advised with before the Assembly
+should authorize any change."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The desire for greater freedom in worship continued to increase, until
+in 1643 the General Assembly appointed a committee with instructions to
+prepare, and have in readiness for the next Assembly, a Directory for
+Divine Worship in the Church of Scotland.  This was a distinct
+concession to that section of the Church which was opposed to even the
+simplest forms of an optional liturgy.  The work, however, was
+superseded by a similar undertaking on a larger scale, in virtue of an
+invitation from the members of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster
+to the Church of Scotland to join with them in the preparation, among
+other standards, of a Directory of Worship for the use of the Churches
+of both England and Scotland.  The invitation was accepted with
+readiness, and "certain ministers of good word, and representative
+elders highly approved of by their brethren," were elected to represent
+the Scottish Church in this great work.  These men were Baillie,
+Henderson, Rutherford, Gillespie and Douglas, ministers, with Johnston,
+of Warriston, and Lords Cassilis and Maitland as lay representatives;
+Argyle, Balmerinoch and Loudon were afterwards added.  The work was
+duly prosecuted at Westminster, and, although the Scotch Commissioners
+with reluctance relinquished their Book of Common Order, yet for the
+sake of the uniformity in worship which they hoped to see established
+throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, they joined heartily in the
+work, and carried it when completed to the Assembly of the Church of
+Scotland, by which it was duly examined, slightly amended in the
+directions concerning baptism and marriage, and finally, unanimously
+approved in all its parts, and adopted.  The terms in which the
+Assembly expressed its approval of this work are unreserved:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The General Assembly, having most seriously considered, revised and
+examined the Directory aforementioned, after several public readings of
+it, after much deliberation, both publicly and in private committees,
+after full liberty given to all to object against it, and earnest
+invitations of all who have any scruples about it, to make known the
+same, that they might be satisfied, doth unanimously, and without a
+contrary voice, agree to and approve the following Directory in all the
+heads thereof, together with the preface set before it; and doth
+require, decern and ordain that, according to the plain tenor and
+meaning thereof and the intent of the preface, it be carefully and
+uniformly observed and practised by all the ministers and others within
+this Kingdom whom it doth concern."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The Scottish Parliament likewise gave its approval of the Directory,
+which was accordingly in due time prepared for publication, and issued
+under the title, "A Directory for the Public Worship of God throughout
+the three kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland; with an Act of the
+General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland for establishing and observing
+this present Directory;" and thus the Westminster Directory became the
+primary authority on matters of worship and administration of the
+Sacraments within the Church of Scotland.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Its use, however, during the years immediately following its adoption
+appears to have been by no means general, many still adhering to the
+method of the Book of Common Order, others inclining towards an even
+greater freedom than seemed to them to be permitted by the Directory.
+These latter belonged to that section of the Church afterwards known as
+Protesters, and whose opposition to the use of the Lord's Prayer and
+the Creed, as well ay to prescribed forms of prayer, was most
+pronounced.  Events soon occurred which exerted a strong influence in
+favor of absolute liberty in worship, and which effectively
+strengthened the Protesters in the position which they had assumed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1651 there took place at Scone the unhappy crowning of Charles the
+Second by the Scots.  This act placed Scotland in open opposition to
+Cromwell, and as a result the land was brought under his iron-handed
+rule during the remaining years of the Protectorate.  The effect of
+this on the worship of the Church was to introduce into Scotland the
+methods of worship approved by the Independents, to whom those parties
+in Scotland which were opposed to all prescribed forms or regulation of
+worship, now attached themselves.  Worship after the Presbyterian form
+was not disallowed, but the preachers of Cromwell's army, with the
+approval of an increasing party in the Scottish Church, forced
+themselves into the pulpits of the land and conducted worship in a
+manner approved of by themselves.  In these services preaching occupied
+the most prominent place, and to worship, as such, but scant attention
+was given, so that in 1653 the ministers of the city of Edinburgh,
+finding complaints among the people that in the services of the Sabbath
+day there was no reading of Scripture nor singing of Psalms, took steps
+to have these parts of worship resumed.  While the public worship of
+the Church of Scotland during the period of the Commonwealth cannot be
+said to have had any general uniformity, it is evident that the
+influence of Independency upon it was toward the curtailment of form
+and the granting of absolute liberty to every preacher to conduct
+worship in whatever way seemed good to himself.  It was the swing of
+the pendulum to the opposite extreme from the enforced order of Laud's
+Liturgy.  It is doubtful if this erratic period would have left any
+permanent effect upon the religious life and worship of Scotland, had
+it not been for the formation of a party in sympathy with the political
+principles of the Protector.  This party, being forced into political
+opposition to the supporters of royalty, naturally found themselves,
+through their associations, prejudiced in favor of the religious
+principles and practices of those with whom they stood allied in the
+state; and thus it was that a strong party favoring absolute liberty in
+matters of worship arose in the Scottish Church.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The restoration of Charles the Second in 1660 brought with it the
+disavowal on his part of the Covenant to which he had subscribed, and
+the open rejection of the Presbyterian principles to which he had been
+so readily loyal in the day of his distress.  Episcopacy was restored
+as the form of Church government for Scotland, and bishops were
+consecrated; but it was left to time and the gradual power of imitation
+to secure the introduction of a ritual into the worship of the Church.
+Charles the Second and his minion, Sharp, did not deem it wise to
+undertake a work in which Charles the First and Laud had so signally
+failed, the work of imposing a ritual of worship upon the Scottish
+Church; Episcopal government had been imposed, Episcopal worship it was
+hoped would follow.  In both of his aims, however, though sought by
+such different methods, Charles was doomed to disappointment.  As
+impotent as was the royal command, though backed by every form of
+deprivation of right and of cruel persecution, to secure the acceptance
+by Scotland of an Episcopal Church, so impotent was the service,
+conducted by royal hirelings and conforming curates, to inspire the
+people with any love for formal worship.  It was, further, in
+comparatively few of the Churches of Scotland that any attempt was made
+to introduce the service of the English Prayer Book.  In the now
+Episcopal Churches of the land, a form of worship which gave a place to
+the Lord's Prayer, the Gloria Patri, the Apostles' Creed, and the
+Decalogue, was regarded as satisfactory.  Public worship, therefore, at
+this time may be said to have been simply a return to the method
+suggested, but not required, in the time of Knox; but even these
+historic Scottish forms, by reason of their association with an
+enforced Episcopacy, became increasingly distasteful to that large body
+of the Scots who refused to conform to the Church by law established,
+and who, as a result, were driven to the moors and the hill-sides,
+there to worship God as conscience prompted.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Protesters, the party to which the majority of the Covenanters
+belonged, had always been opposed to anything savoring of ritual in
+worship.  But their opposition was intensified and deepened during the
+twenty-eight years of the "killing time," as they saw the worship of
+the party from which their persecutors arose, characterized chiefly by
+the acceptance of those forms against which they had entered their
+protest in former days.  Even in the case of those whose consciences
+permitted them to conform to the established religion of the land and
+to wait on the ministry of the conforming clergy, there was developed,
+through sympathy with their persecuted countrymen, hunted on the hills
+and tracked to their hiding places like quarry, a suspicion of even the
+forms of a religion that permitted such cruelties.  And thus it was
+that when the deliverer alike for England and Scotland arrived from the
+"hollow land," where behind their dykes the conquerors of the Spaniards
+had won for themselves the privilege of religious liberty, Scotland was
+prepared to join in the welcome given to William of Orange, and to hail
+with delight the prospect of a restored Presbyterianism and its
+inherent liberty.  Most heartily, therefore, was it that the leaders in
+Scotland, alike in Church and State, subscribed to the request
+presented to William, "That Presbyterian government be restored and
+re-established as it was at the beginning of our Reformation from
+Popery, and renewed in the year 1638, continuing until 1660."
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap07"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Legislation concerning Public Worship in the Period<BR>
+subsequent to the Revolution of 1688.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Religion shall rise from its ruins; and its oppressed state at present
+should not only excite us to pray, but encourage us to hope, for its
+speedy revival."&mdash;DR. WITHERSPOON.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter VII.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Legislation concerning Public Worship in the Period<BR>
+subsequent to the Revolution of 1688.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+In 1689 the first Parliament under William and Mary was held, and their
+Majesties promised to establish by law "that form of Church government
+which is most agreeable to the inclinations of the people."  In
+accordance with this promise the Confession of Faith, adopted in 1645,
+was in the following year declared to be for Scotland "the public and
+avowed confession of this Church," and an Order was issued summoning a
+General Assembly, the first since the forcible dissolution of the
+Assembly of 1653 by Cromwell's dragoons.  No Act was passed at this
+time concerning public worship, nor was the authority of the Directory
+affirmed, but, whether by intention or through neglect, it was left to
+the Church to adjust matters pertaining to this subject, without formal
+instruction from Parliament.  Considering, however, that the
+controlling party in the Church was the one that had suffered
+persecution, and whose well-known feelings on the subject of worship
+had been intensified by long and severe suffering, it is not to be
+wondered at if the changes and adjustments effected in church worship
+and discipline should in large measure bear the stamp of their extreme
+opinions.  So far as legislation is concerned, however, moderation and
+fairness marked all the proceedings of the Church, for in the Assembly
+of 1690, which was largely composed of those whose sympathies were with
+the Protesters, no action whatever was taken for the regulation of
+public worship, the only Act having any reference thereto being one
+which forbade private administration of the Sacraments.  But although
+the form of worship was not affected by legislation, it is evident from
+contemporary writings that the spirit of the Protesters survived, and
+exerted itself in fostering, in many parts of the land, a sentiment
+even more hostile to everything that might savor of even the simplest
+ritual.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The references of the Assemblies that followed the Revolution show that
+the Directory of Worship as adopted by the Westminster Divines, and
+afterwards by the Church and Parliament of Scotland, was at this time
+regarded as the authority in matters of worship, and it was to worship,
+as so regulated, that the Act of 1693 referred.  This Act pertaining to
+"The Uniformity of Worship" ordained:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"That uniformity of worship and of the administration of all public
+ordinances within this Church be observed by all the said ministers and
+preachers as the same are at present performed and allowed therein, or
+shall be hereafter declared by the authority of the same, and that no
+minister or preacher be admitted or continued hereafter unless that he
+subscribe to observe, and do actually observe, the aforesaid
+uniformity."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The General Assembly, in the following year, in accordance with this
+civil legislation, prepared a form for subscription in which the
+subscribing minister promised to "observe uniformity of worship and of
+the administration of all public ordinances within this Church, as the
+same are at present performed and allowed."  In the same year reference
+is made in an "Act anent Lecturing" to the "Custom introduced and
+established by the Directory."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is evident, therefore, that at this period the Directory was
+regarded by the Church as the authority, and the only authority, in
+matters pertaining to worship.  In spite of Acts requiring uniformity,
+however, there were still within the Church those who sought to
+introduce changes, some of these desiring the introduction of an
+imposed ritual, others regarding absolute congregational liberty in
+matters of worship as desirable.  As a result of divergent views and
+practices there was passed by the Assembly of 1697 the Barrier Act, for
+the purpose of
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Preventing any sudden alteration or innovation or other prejudice to
+the Church in either doctrine or worship or discipline or government
+thereof, now happily established."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+This was the formal and particular enactment of the principle laid down
+two generations earlier, when in 1639 the Church, disturbed by the
+Brownists, had ordained that "no novation in worship should be suddenly
+enacted."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+One other Act of Assembly in this period must be quoted as showing the
+feeling in Scotland at this time with regard to ritual in the Church.
+It resulted from a determined effort on the part of some Episcopalians
+to introduce, wherever possible, the English Book of Common Prayer into
+the services of the Church in Scotland.  The Assembly accordingly
+enacted that:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"The purity of religion and particularly of Divine Worship ... is a
+signal blessing to the Church of God&mdash; ... and that any attempts made
+for the introduction of innovations in the worship of God therein have
+been of fatal and dangerous consequence ... that such innovations are
+dangerous to this Church and manifestly contrary to our known principle
+(which is, that nothing is to be admitted in the worship of God but
+what is prescribed in the Holy Scripture) and against the good and
+laudable laws made since the late happy Revolution for establishing and
+securing the same in her doctrine, worship, discipline and government."
+Therefore the Church required "all the ministers of this Church ... to
+represent to their people the evil thereof and seriously to exhort them
+to beware of them, and to deal with all such as do or practise the same
+in order to their recovery and reformation."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+The above enactment leaves no room for doubt as to the opinion
+prevailing in the Church of Scotland at the beginning of the eighteenth
+century respecting ritual in the public worship of God.  At the same
+time it is very evident that a desire prevailed in the Church for a
+seemly and uniform order of service in public worship and an Act of the
+Assembly of 1705
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"Seriously recommends to all ministers and others within this national
+Church the due observance of the Directory for public worship of God
+approven by the General Assembly held in the year 1645."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+This deliverance may be taken as representing the spirit of all
+legislation of the Church respecting worship up to the middle of the
+present century.  Whenever, in response to overtures from subordinate
+courts, or inspired by special requirements of the times, deliverances
+concerning any part of worship were prepared by the Assembly, they
+uniformly directed the Church to the observance of the regulation of
+this department of Divine service as provided for in the Westminster
+Directory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It cannot be claimed, however, that due regard was accorded the
+Directory throughout the whole Church.  The last half of the eighteenth
+century was a time of spiritual coldness in Scotland; not only did
+evangelical piety languish but there existed at the same time a
+corresponding want of interest in the worship of the Church.  Praise
+was neglected, and little effort was made to secure suitable singing of
+the Psalms; at times the reading of Scripture was entirely omitted,
+prayers were brief and meagre, the sermon was regarded as in itself
+sufficient for the whole service, and all other parts of public worship
+were looked upon either as preliminaries or subordinate exercises, not
+calling for any particular preparation or attention.  It was a time
+when spiritual life was low, and the outward expression of that life
+exhibited a corresponding want of vigor.  The evil, therefore, from
+which the Church suffered at this period was not an excess of attention
+to worship, but a neglect of it; not a too great elaboration of forms,
+but an almost total disregard of them, even of such as are helpful to
+the development of the spiritual life of the worshipper.  And thus it
+came to pass that the struggle of more than a century against the use
+of prescribed forms of worship resulted in a condition more extreme
+than had been either anticipated or desired, for not only were such
+forms abandoned, but worship itself was neglected and disregarded.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In reviewing the period subsequent to the rejection of Laud's Liturgy
+and up to the time of the First Secession within the Church of
+Scotland, some features that mark the general trend of the spirit of
+Presbyterianism with regard to worship are clearly manifest.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+First, in the rapid growth of the sect of the Brownists and their
+sympathizers, a growth that had been rendered the easier by the
+arbitrary acts of Charles and Laud in a preceding period, we find a
+clear indication of the spread of opinions strongly opposed to the use
+of prescribed forms of prayer and, indeed, of any ritual in the
+exercises of public worship.  It may be urged, as has already been
+remarked, that this opposition was not the result of an unprejudiced
+consideration of the subject on its merits, but that it was rather an
+outcome of the spirit which had been aroused by the persecutions
+through which the Stuarts had endeavored to force a ritual upon the
+Church of Scotland.  This may be granted, and yet it is not to be
+forgotten that many of those who held these views were among the
+excellent of their age, men who did not hesitate to bear persecution
+and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ for conscience' sake,
+and who, while doubtless influenced by the sentiments of those who
+stood to them either in the relation of friends or foes, were not men
+to allow prejudice to blind both reason and conscience alike.  They had
+found a ritualistic worship associated with practices which they could
+not but judge to be ungodly and unjust, and engaged in by men who made
+much of form, but little of truth and charity and justice.  It is not
+surprising, therefore, that in their desire for a revived spiritual
+life in the Church they should consider such a life to be most
+effectively forwarded by a departure from those forms that had been
+associated with the decay of true religion in their midst.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+But, in the second place, this sentiment in favor of absolute freedom
+from form was not confined to sectaries or their sympathizers in the
+Church, it made itself manifest among the leaders of religion in the
+land and in the Church courts.  The proposal of the General Assembly of
+1643 to prepare a Directory of Worship, and the subsequent action of
+the Scottish Church in uniting with the Westminster Divines in the
+preparation of that Directory, clearly indicate that the Church had
+changed its attitude since the day in which the Assembly refused to
+alter any of the prayers in the Book of Common Order.  The adoption of
+the Directory by the Scottish Church was in a measure an endorsation of
+the views of those who were opposed to the use of prescribed forms, and
+while it is true that the Scotch Commissioners would have preferred the
+retention of parts of the Book of Common Order, it is surely
+instructive that even these men were prepared to abandon all forms for
+worship and to accept simply a regulative Directory.  The enthusiastic
+endorsation accorded the Directory, both by Parliament and by the
+Assembly, is a further indication that the spirit of the Church of
+Scotland had undergone whatever slight change was necessary to make it
+favorable to a simple regulation of public worship, unhampered by
+anything that had even the appearance of a ritual.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The introduction of the Directory into Scotland, it is true, effected a
+very slight change in the method of conducting public worship.  Indeed,
+a comparison of the order of service as laid down in the Directory with
+that prescribed by the Book of Common Order shows the order of Worship
+to be the same in both.  And thus it was that Baillie, in addressing
+the Assembly, and expressing his satisfaction at what had been
+accomplished, declared it to be a most remarkable distinction "that the
+practice of the Church of Scotland set down in a most wholesome, pious
+and prudent Directory, should come in the place of a Liturgy in all the
+three Dominions."  By the adoption of the Directory all the substance
+of the worship of the Church of Scotland was retained with the order
+likewise of its different parts, but the suggested forms were
+surrendered, and even prayers, which owing to the circumstances of an
+earlier age had been retained and submitted for discretional use, were
+laid aside.  No mention was made in the Directory of the use of the
+Gloria, nor did the creed find a place either in public worship or in
+the administration of the Sacraments, but the Lord's Prayer was
+mentioned as being "not only a pattern of prayer, but itself a
+comprehensive prayer," and a recommendation was accordingly made that
+it should be "used in the prayers of the Church."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is evident, therefore, that the spirit of the Presbyterian Church
+was still strongly in favor of worship regulated in its order and
+providing for all the different spiritual exercises authorized by
+Scripture, but which at the same time should be free from any imposed
+forms from which worshippers should not be allowed to deviate.  Of the
+opinion of the Church of Scotland at this time on the dire effects
+produced by the use of a ritual in the cultivation of formality among
+the people, and in the encouragement of a lifeless ministry in the
+Church, there can be no question, as the adoption of the terms of the
+preface to the Directory clearly shows.  With the experience of the
+English Church of that age before them as an object lesson of the evil
+effects of ritualistic worship, the Presbyterian Church was not
+unwilling to abandon the use of all imposed forms, and to give itself
+rather to the cultivation and development of a truly spiritual worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+And finally, the spirit thus planted and fostered in Scotland, was
+intensified during the persecutions which followed the restoration of
+Charles the Second.  So firmly was this opposition to an imposed form
+of worship implanted in the hearts of Presbyterians that, alike at the
+Revolution and again at the time when the terms from the "Act of Union"
+between England and Scotland were under consideration the most earnest
+representations were made, to the end that there should be no change in
+the worship of the Scottish Church, but that the freedom in this
+matter, so prized and so dearly won, should be secured to the people of
+Scotland.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Church of Scotland then, it may safely be said, moved ever in the
+direction of securing greater liberty in worship, rather than towards
+an increase of ritual and an imposition of form.  Every succeeding
+period in her history, whether we judge from the general spirit
+characterizing the people or from the official acts of the Parliament
+and the Church, shows a growing distaste for a liturgical worship and
+an increasing appreciation of liberty in all matters pertaining to the
+approach of the soul to God.  The Church of Scotland rejected, on the
+one hand, the extreme positions of sectaries who condemned alike a
+combined system of Church government, the celebration of marriage in
+the Church, the use in worship of the Lord's Prayer and all regulations
+even of the order of Divine worship, and on the other hand it resisted
+successfully the strongest Anglican influences which would have
+deprived it of the liberty it prized and would have circumscribed that
+liberty by a ritual.  It retained dignity and order, while it rejected
+both the license of extravagance and the bondage of form.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap08"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Presbyterian Worship Outside of the<BR>
+Established Church of Scotland.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+Whether they were right or wrong ... no man of fairness will fail to
+allow that the record of the Seceders all through the period of
+decadence was a noble one, a record of splendid service to the cause of
+Christ and the historic Church of Scotland.&mdash;M'CRIE.
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter VIII.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Presbyterian Worship Outside of the<BR>
+Established Church of Scotland.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+No review of Presbyterian Worship would be complete which failed to
+consider the spirit which has characterized those large sections of the
+Church which exist in Scotland outside of the Establishment, and those
+also which have been planted and fostered in the New World.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1733 the first Secession Church was formed, when Ebenezer Erskine,
+William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, protesting
+against what they regarded as the unjust treatment accorded them by the
+prevailing party in the Church, were declared to be no longer members
+of the Church of Scotland.  This Secession Church enjoyed a rapid
+growth, and soon came to form a very influential section in the
+Presbyterianism of the land.  Its principles and practices with regard
+to worship show that same suspicion of a ritual and partiality for a
+free form of worship which has always characterized the Presbyterian
+Church in the days of her greatest vigor.  In 1736 this Church
+published its judicial testimony, in which it declared its loyalty to
+the Directory of Worship as the same was approved by the Assembly of
+1645.  Some years later one section of this Church, known as the
+Antiburgher, published a condemnation of the corruptions of worship as
+witnessed in England and Wales, and at a subsequent period a further
+manifesto, in which the reading by ministers of their sermons in the
+public ministry of the Word was condemned, as was also "the conduct of
+those adult persons who, in ordinary circumstances, either in public,
+in private, or in secret, restrict themselves to set forms of prayer,
+whether these be read or repeated."  The same manifesto, in a part
+treating of Psalmody, claimed for the Psalms Divine authority, as
+suitable for the service of praise, in the Christian as well as in the
+Old Testament dispensation, but acknowledged that, in addition to
+these, "others contained in the New Testament itself may be sung in the
+ordinance of Praise."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Similar to this position was that of the United Associate Synod, which,
+formed in 1820, published, seven years later, its views on the subject
+of worship.  It condemned "the conduct of adult persons who restricted
+themselves to set forms of prayer, whether read or whether repeated;"
+it acknowledged also that other parts of Scripture besides the Psalms
+were suitable for praise, and, with regard to the use of the Lord's
+Prayer in public worship, a matter which had caused much discussion
+within the Church in earlier times, it asserted that:
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"As Scripture Doxologies and the Divinely-approved petition of saints
+may be warrantably adopted in our devotional exercises, both public and
+personal, so may the Lord's Prayer be used by itself or in connection
+with other supplications."
+</P>
+
+<BR>
+
+<P>
+Other manifestos were published from time to time by different bodies
+as separations or unions took place, for the early part of the past
+century was a period of frequent divisions and of more happy unions.
+But while differences existed with regard to the use of paraphrases and
+human hymns in the service of praise, on the general subject of
+simplicity of worship and absence of prescribed forms, the manifestos
+previous to the middle of the century were a unit.  As late indeed as
+1872, in a deliverance of the United Presbyterian Church upon the
+subject of instrumental music in public worship, this jealousy of
+simplicity in worship hitherto enjoyed is evident.  To a consideration
+of that subject this Church had been led by the example of the
+Established Church in securing to its congregations liberty of action
+in the matter.  The United Presbyterian Synod, in a deliverance in
+which it declined to pronounce judgment upon the introduction of
+instrumental music in Divine service, proceeded to urge upon the courts
+of the Church, and upon individual ministers, the duty of guarding
+anxiously the simplicity of worship in the sanctuary.  Not until recent
+years has any considerable section of the Presbyterian Church shown a
+tendency to return to the bondage of a ritual.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The views of the bodies above referred to will be differently estimated
+by different men.  Some will be inclined to regard the Secessionists as
+narrow in spirit and severe in their simplicity, and as often failing
+to exhibit a due regard for the beauty of holiness that should
+characterize Divine worship.  It will surely, however, indicate on the
+part of those who read their history a want of appreciation if they
+fail to recognize the sturdy spiritual life which, forming, as it ever
+does, the truest foundation for right views of religion, marked these
+men of whom an eminent leader in the religious life of Scotland has
+said "they stood for Truth and Light in days when the battle went sore
+against them both; and as long as Truth and Light are maintained in
+Scotland it will not be forgotten that a great share of the honor of
+having carried them safe through some of our darkest days, was given by
+God to the Seceders."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The period of the disruption in Scotland was one of such struggle
+concerning great and fundamental principles of Church government, that
+the Free Church, during the first quarter of a century of its existence
+as a separate communion, had little time to devote to a consideration
+of the subject of worship; with the work of organization at home, and
+afterwards in seeking to carry forward evangelization abroad it was
+fully occupied.  It was for the Free Church, as also for the
+Established Church, a period of revival and of new life, and at such a
+time men think but little of form and method, finding spiritual
+satisfaction in the voluntary and spontaneous worship which such an
+occasion develops.  The practice, however, of the Free Church in
+worship, and its uniform tendency, was decidedly un-liturgical; freedom
+from prescribed forms in prayer and an absence of ritual marked its
+services during the half-century of its existence as a separate
+communion.  So emphatic was its devotion to absolute liberty on the
+part of the worshippers that it was the last of the great Presbyterian
+bodies in Scotland to take any steps towards a further control of
+public worship other than that which is provided in the Directory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+About the year 1885 the Presbyterian Churches of England and of
+Australia appointed committees to consider the matter of a uniform
+order and method of public worship, and these in each case devoted
+their efforts to the revision of the Westminster Directory, and in
+neither has anything more liturgical been suggested than the repetition
+of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer by the people.  The orders of
+service recommended are more lengthy than that of the Westminster
+Directory, but are similar in their general character.  The hesitation
+shown in accepting even such slight changes as were suggested and the
+vigorous debates which resulted, furnish abundant evidence that the
+spirit of both of these Churches is still strong in favor of voluntary
+and untrammeled worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is but right that in reviewing public worship outside of the
+Established Church, reference should be made to the practice of those
+large sections of the Presbyterian Church which, originating in
+Scotland, have grown strong in other lands.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Presbyterian Church of the United States of America has exhibited
+in the main the same spirit that has characterized Presbyterian bodies
+across the sea.  In 1788 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia adopted
+among other symbols the Westminster Directory for the Worship of God,
+abbreviating it somewhat, but changing its instructions in no material
+respect.  There has been but little legislation by this Church
+concerning this subject.  In 1874 the General Assembly declared the
+practice of a responsive service in the public worship of the sanctuary
+to be without warrant in the New Testament, and to be unwise and
+impolitic in view of its inevitable tendency to destroy uniformity in
+the form already accepted.  It further urged upon sessions of Churches
+to preserve in act and spirit the simplicity indicated in the
+Directory.  This judgment of the American Church with regard to the
+influence of a liturgy in public worship is not materially different
+from that of the framers of the Directory as it is set forth in their
+strongly-worded preface.  In 1876 the Assembly declined to send down to
+presbyteries an overture declaring that responsive readings are a
+permissible part of worship in the sanctuary, although it declined at
+the same time to recommend sessions to make the question a subject of
+Church discipline.  Six years afterwards it again refused to "prepare
+and publish a Book of Forms for public and social worship and for
+special occasions which shall be the authorized service-book of the
+Church to be used whenever a prescribed formula may be desired;" the
+reason given for such refusal, however, was the inexpediency of such a
+step in view of "the liberty that belongs to each minister to avail
+himself of the Calvinistic or other ancient devotional forms of the
+Reformed Churches, so far as may seem to him for edification."  This
+explanation clearly indicates that, while the American Church is in
+sympathy with the necessity on the part of ministers, of a due and
+orderly discharge of all public services, yet it is unwilling to lay
+itself open to the charge of even suggesting the imposition of forms
+upon the Church for use on stated occasions.  An optional liturgy has
+not been without its advocates among the leaders in this influential
+section of the Church.  Such eminent and wise men as Drs. Charles and
+A. A. Hodge and Dr. Ashbel Green confessed themselves as in favor of
+the introduction of such forms for optional use, and Dr. Baird in his
+"Eutaxia" and other writers have argued vigorously from the example of
+sister churches of the continent of Europe for a return to the practice
+which they regarded as historically Presbyterian.  As yet, however, the
+Church has preferred liberty to even suggested restriction.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The results in this Church, it cannot be denied, are not all that could
+be desired.  The Directory is but little studied by ministers, and has
+by many been practically set aside.  Frequently each congregation in
+the matter of worship is a law unto itself.  Responsive readings have
+been introduced in some places, and choir responses after prayer in
+others; in some congregations the people join in the repetition of the
+Creed and the Lord's Prayer, while in others neither of these is heard;
+in one the collection has become a formal offertory; in another it
+affords an opportunity for the rendition of a musical selection by the
+choir.  Worship in this great Church is at the present time
+characterized by the absence of a desirable uniformity, which it was
+one evident purpose of the Directory to secure, and in some of its
+congregations by the use of symbolism that occasionally becomes
+extravagant, and which is calculated to appeal entirely to the
+imagination, the result frequently being a service not attaining to
+that dignity which an authorized liturgy fosters, while it sacrifices
+that simplicity in which Presbyterians have been accustomed to glory.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The United Presbyterian Church in America, the result of so many happy
+unions, has always regarded simplicity in worship as an end earnestly
+to be desired, and worthy of all serious effort to secure.  Its
+influence has, therefore, been uniformly in favor of that avoidance of
+forms against which the Seceders of Scotland, whom it represents on
+this continent, so often protested.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Presbyterian Church, South&mdash;that Church whose history has been
+characterized by a loyalty so unswerving to the doctrinal standards of
+Presbyterianism, by a spirit so wisely aggressive in evangelistic and
+missionary effort, and by a ministry so scholarly and eloquent, has, in
+the matter of public worship, shown as constant a fidelity to the
+Westminster Directory as in doctrine it has shown to the Confession of
+Faith.  There have been attempts made to introduce changes looking
+towards the adoption of optional liturgical forms, but these have been
+few, and they have been rejected in such a way as to leave no room for
+doubt as to the mind of the Church in this matter.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Directory has been ably revised, but it still remains a Directory,
+suggestive and eminently suitable to present requirements of the
+Church.  Serious and persevering attention has been given to the praise
+service, and no less than three Hymnals have received and now enjoy the
+Church's <I>imprimatur</I>.  Public worship in Divine service has retained a
+much greater uniformity among the Presbyterians of the Southern States
+than among their brethren in the North, and there has been less
+yielding to the popular demand for those features in worship that
+appeal to the imagination, and which so often serve to entertain rather
+than to edify.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Presbyterian Church in Canada, owing to the ties that bind it to
+the Churches of the Old Land, has closely followed their practice, and
+its method in worship has been characterized by a similar spirit.  No
+authoritative or mandatory formulas have been imposed upon it, nor does
+it seem likely that such would be received should they be proposed.
+Reverence and dignity have in general characterized its public
+services, and yet in recent years those changes which have gradually
+been introduced into the worship of the Church in that part of the
+American Republic lying contiguous to the Dominion have made their
+appearance in Presbyterian worship in Canada.  The chief result has
+been, as in that Church also, an unfortunate want of uniformity in this
+part of divine service.  There has always been a constant and due
+regard paid to all parts of worship provided for in the Directory, and
+the neglect of any of these parts cannot be seriously charged against
+any considerable part of the Church, but congregations have frequently
+considered themselves at liberty to change their order and to vary them
+as circumstances seem to demand.  It is this feature as much as any
+that has in recent years led to an agitation for the improvement of
+public worship, and that is calling the earnest attention of the Church
+to a matter of supreme importance.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Until very recently then, all branches of the Presbyterian Church in
+the British Empire and those bodies in the United States whose
+standards have been those of Westminster, have refused to recognize the
+need for any other formula of worship than that, or such as that,
+provided in the Directory.  And where any considerable desire for
+change and improvement has been found, it has expressed itself usually
+as favorable to a revised Directory rather than as desirous of the
+adoption by the Church of a liturgy, however simple.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Those great sections of the Church which have been most active in the
+work of Home and Foreign Evangelization, a work that has especially
+claimed attention during this century, have found the simple worship of
+our fathers well suited to the cultivation of the spiritual life that
+must of necessity lie behind all such efforts, and to the development
+of the reverent and devotional spirit so characteristic of an
+aggressive Christianity.  The Church has been true to the traditions
+and principles so loyally maintained in the days of her heroic
+struggles in the past, and along these lines she has found in her
+public worship blessing and inspiration for her peaceful toils, even as
+our fathers in their day found in similar worship strength and revived
+courage with which to meet their difficulties and to endure persecution.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap09"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Modern Movements in Presbyterian Churches<BR>
+Respecting Public Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"All who desire to manifest an intelligent appreciation of what is
+distinctive in Presbyterian ritual would do well to guard against
+attaching undue importance, or adhering too tenaciously, to details of
+a past or present usage, as if these constituted the essentials from
+which there must never be the smallest deviation, of which there may
+never be the slightest modification or adaptation to altered
+acquirements and circumstances."&mdash;McCRIE.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter IX.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Modern Movements in Presbyterian Churches<BR>
+Respecting Public Worship.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The earliest indication of any general desire in Scotland for a more
+elaborate service than that in general use in the Church at the time of
+the Revolution was seen in the proposal to enlarge the Psalmody and to
+improve the Service of Praise.  As early as 1713 the General Assembly
+of the Church of Scotland called the attention of congregations to the
+necessity that existed for a more decent performance of the public
+praise of God, in a recommendation that was exceedingly desirable and
+necessary if the accounts of the service of praise at that time are to
+be believed.  This was followed, not long afterward, by the
+introduction of paraphrases, styled "Songs of Scripture," and later of
+hymns, and finally of instrumental music.  In this matter of the
+improvement of worship in the department of praise, the Secession
+Churches in several cases were more forward than the Established
+Church, the revived interest in religion and worship which had been in
+a measure the cause of their existence lending itself to such measures.
+In all sections of the Church the conflict concerning praise in worship
+was for a long period prosecuted with an energy that frequently arose
+to bitterness.  The vexed questions of hymn-singing and the use of
+instruments in Churches being settled, there followed, or perhaps it
+may be said there arose out of these, the further question of the
+elaboration and improvement of other parts of worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In 1858 the Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended to
+congregations that were without a minister, the use in worship of a
+book prepared by its authority, in which were embodied the prayers of
+the Book of Common Order, together with much material from the
+Directory of Worship.  This action on the part of the Church was
+regarded by some as indicating the existence of a spirit which
+warranted the formation of "The Church Service Society."  This Society
+was formed by certain ministers of the Established Church who were
+strongly impressed with the desirability of the adoption by the Church
+of certain authorized forms of prayer for public worship, and of the
+use of prescribed forms in the administration of the Sacraments.  By
+the publication of its constitution, in which it announced its object
+as "The Study of the Liturgies ancient and modern of the Christian
+Church, with a view to the preparation and ultimate publication of
+certain forms of prayer for public worship, and services for the
+administration of the Sacraments, the celebration of Marriage, the
+Burial of the Dead," etc., it very early aroused vigorous opposition on
+the part of many who saw in its organization an evident intention to
+introduce into the Church a liturgical service.  Such a purpose the
+Society emphatically disavowed, and insisted that there was no desire
+on the part of its members to encroach upon the simplicity of
+Presbyterian worship, but claimed rather the desire to redeem the same
+from lifelessness and lack of a devotional spirit with which they
+declared it is so likely to be characterized.  So effectively have the
+fears of those who first uttered their objections been allayed, that
+the Society is said to comprise in its membership, at the present time,
+more than one-third of the ordained ministers of the Established
+Church.  The results of this Society's labors have been published in a
+volume which is now in its seventh edition.  It is a book of more than
+400 pages, and is entitled, "Euchologion&mdash;A Book of Common Order."  Its
+contents seem to harmonize more with the views which were charged
+against the originators of the Society at its commencement than with
+the defence which was put forward in its behalf at that time.  Although
+widely used it has no official sanction of the Church, and, therefore,
+it is not necessary to enter into any close analysis of its contents.
+Briefly, however, it may be said, it is a liturgy much more closely
+approximating to the English Book of Common Prayer than to Knox's Book
+of Common Order, or to the ritual of any of the Reformed Churches of
+the Continent, with which its projectors declare themselves to be more
+in sympathy than with the Episcopal Communion of England.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The first part comprises, in addition to prescribed daily Scripture
+readings and readings for every Sunday of the year, the Order of Divine
+Service for morning and evening for the five several Sundays of the
+month; in this Order are contained special forms of prayer, responses
+to be used by the congregation, the Lord's Prayer, to be repeated by
+minister and congregation together, and the Apostles' Creed, which is
+to be either said or sung.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the second part, which contains "additional materials for daily and
+other services," the first place is given to the Litany, which is an
+exact transcript of that of the Church of England with the exception of
+a change in one petition, rendered necessary by the difference in the
+forms of government in the two Churches.  A number of "prayers for
+special graces," "collects" and "prayers for special seasons" and
+"additional forms of service" are added.  The "prayers for special
+seasons" have regard to "our Lord's advent," "the Incarnation," "Palm
+Sunday," "the descent of the Holy Ghost," etc.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The last section of the book provides forms of service for the
+administration of the Sacraments, visitation of the sick, marriage,
+burial, ordination, etc.  In the form for the visitation of the sick a
+responsive service is provided, as also in the order for Holy
+Communion.  On the whole it is probably not too much to assert that
+"Euchologion&mdash;a Book of Common Order," issued by the Church Service
+Society, is decidedly more liturgical in form than was the unfortunate
+Laud's Liturgy, which raised against itself and its projectors such a
+vigorous protest on the part of the Church of Scotland.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Following the organization of the Society referred to, came one in
+connection with the United Presbyterian Church called "The United
+Presbyterian Devotional Association," having for its object "to promote
+the edifying conduct of the devotional services of the Church."  This
+Society declares its willingness to profit from the worship of other
+Churches besides the Presbyterian, but at the same time asserts its
+loyalty to the principles and history of Presbyterianism.  The forms
+published in its book, "Presbyterian Forms of Service," are not
+intended to be used liturgically, but the purpose is that they should
+furnish examples and serve as illustrations of the reverent and seemly
+conduct of public worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The latest book to be issued on these lines is "A New Directory for the
+Public Worship of God"; this name is further enlarged by the following
+description, which provides a sufficient index to its contents:
+"Founded on the Book of Common Order (1560-64) and the Westminster
+Directory (1643-45) and prepared by the Public Worship Association in
+Connection with the Free Church of Scotland."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+This book follows in general the form and method of the Directory,
+carefully avoiding the provision of even an optional liturgy.  The form
+which it has assumed, that of a simple Directory of Worship, was
+adopted after long discussion in the "Association" on these four
+questions, "The desirableness of an optional liturgy as distinguished
+from a Directory of Public Worship;" "The Desirableness of a Responsive
+Service," such a service to include the use by the people with the
+minister of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Beatitudes, the
+Commandments, etc.; "The desirableness of the Collect form of prayer
+and of Responses in general," and "The desirableness of the celebration
+of the Christian year."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+After long and exhaustive debate on the above questions the book has
+been issued in its present form as a simple Directory of Worship,
+responses and the celebration of the Christian year and even an
+optional liturgy having been rejected as undesirable.  Orders of
+service are suggested, as well for public worship as for the
+administration of the Sacraments and for special services, and
+suggestions at great length are offered concerning what should find a
+place in the prayers of Invocation, Thanksgiving, Confession, Petition,
+Intercession and Illumination.  A few historic prayers of eminent
+saints of God are included as examples, and large quotations are made
+for the same purpose from Knox's Book of Common Order and from
+Hermann's "Consultation," and from this last source "A Litany for
+Special Days of Prayer" is added in an Appendix.  If the Euchologion
+indicates a strong tendency on the part of the "Church Service Society"
+towards the introduction of a responsive and liturgical service into
+public worship, the New Directory of Public Worship indicates just as
+strongly a tendency within the "Public Worship Association" to avoid
+the introduction of even optional forms and to retain the simplicity
+that has for three centuries characterized Presbyterian worship.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The attempts to revise the Directory of Worship in order to modify and
+adapt it to present-day requirements made recently by the Presbyterian
+Church of England, and by the Federated Churches of Australia and
+Tasmania, have already been referred to.  That these Churches have
+confined their efforts to a revision of the Directory, and have in this
+asserted their approval of a Directory of Worship rather than of a
+liturgy, is in itself an instructive fact.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the revised Directory of the Presbyterian Church of England some
+changes are made in the direction of securing for the people a larger
+part in audible worship.  The repetition of the Creed is permitted, and
+where used is to be repeated by the minister and people together; it is
+recommended as seemly that the people after every prayer should audibly
+say Amen, and the Lord's Prayer, which should be uniformly used, is to
+be said by all.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The work of revision by the Churches of Australia and Tasmania
+introduces fewer changes.  In the administration of "The Lord's Supper"
+it is recommended that at the close of the Consecration Prayer the
+minister recite the "Apostles Creed" as a brief summary of Christian
+Faith, and when the Lord's Prayer is used, as advised before or after
+the prayer of intercession, the people may be invited to join audibly
+or to add <I>Amen</I>.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Worthy of more extended notice than the limits of this chapter will
+permit is "The Book of Church Order" of the Presbyterian Church in the
+United States.  As early as 1864 a proposal was made in Assembly to
+revise the Westminster Directory of Worship for the purpose not only of
+rendering it more suitable to the requirements of the time, but in
+order also to so modify and improve it as to increase its
+suggestiveness and helpfulness to ministers.  The work was undertaken
+by a committee appointed in 1879, and in 1894 this committee presented
+its formal report, which was adopted, and the revised Directory was
+ordered to be published.  It contains sixteen chapters, treating of all
+the matters treated in the original Directory, and containing in
+addition suggestive chapters on "Sabbath Schools," "Prayer Meetings,"
+"Secret and Family Worship," and "The Admission of Persons to Sealing
+Ordinances."
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Respecting the public reading of Holy Scripture the revised Directory
+declares it to be "a part of the public worship of God," and that "it
+ought to be performed by the minister or some other authorized person."
+Of public prayer, after indicating its different parts, and suggesting
+the place that it should occupy in the service, the mind of the Church
+is thus expressed: "But we think it necessary to observe that, although
+we do not approve, as is well known, of confining ministers to set or
+fixed forms of prayer for public worship, yet it is the indispensable
+duty of every minister, previously to his entering on his office, to
+prepare and qualify himself for this part of his duty, as well as for
+preaching."  In the chapters on the administration of baptism and the
+Lord's Supper particular directions are given, and questions suitable
+to be asked of the parents of children presented for baptism are
+suggested, while in the directions for the admission of persons to
+sealing ordinances, an important distinction is drawn between the
+reception of baptized children of the Church and that of those who, on
+confession of their faith, are at that time first received.  To the
+Directory there are added optional forms for use at a marriage service
+and at a funeral service.  The book is not elaborate, and may be
+thought by many to be far from comprehensive as a Directory, but it is
+suggestive and helpful, and, while true to the principles of
+Presbyterian worship, it gives no evidence of disregard for the beauty
+and appropriateness that should characterize the public services of the
+Church.  Among books of Church order it is well worth study by those
+who desire in worship to combine simplicity with dignity.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is evident from these recent and simultaneous movements in so many
+branches of the Presbyterian Church, that there exists a feeling on the
+part of many that there is need of improvement in the important
+department of worship in our public services.  It is probable that
+there will be found few to deny this, or to confess absolute
+satisfaction with the worship of the Church to-day.  The question on
+which many will hold widely divergent opinions is as to the means to be
+adopted for its improvement.  Some there are, as in the Church Service
+Society, who advocate a prescribed liturgy for at least certain parts
+of public worship; others, who desire a liturgy, but who are content to
+leave to congregations or to ministers freedom to use it or to
+disregard it; still others are loyal to the spirit of the age which
+produced the Westminster Directory, while they are at the same time
+willing to revise that work, which was found so serviceable to the
+Church for so long a period, and so to render it more suitable to the
+demands of our own age.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+If a judgment may be formed from the movements that have just been
+reviewed, it is probable that at least for some time to come, the
+Presbyterian Church will continue to walk in the paths that have become
+familiar through long usage.  The age, it is true, is past when
+dictation on this matter, either favoring or condemning a liturgy,
+would be suffered; and, therefore, it is to be expected that
+congregations will exercise liberty in the matter.  Yet, so far as the
+general sentiment of the Church is concerned, a sentiment that will
+doubtless from time to time find expression in official declarations,
+it appears evident that the preponderating feeling is still strongly in
+favor of a voluntary worship, unrestricted even by suggested forms.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR>
+
+<A NAME="chap10"></A>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Conclusion.
+</H3>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<P CLASS="quote">
+"A constant form is a certain way to bring the soul to a cold,
+insensible, formal worship."&mdash;BAXTER.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Chapter X.
+</H3>
+
+<H3 ALIGN="center">
+Conclusion.
+</H3>
+
+<P>
+The foregoing brief review of public worship within those influential
+sections of the Presbyterian Church whose attitude on this question has
+been examined, affords a sufficient ground for the assertion that those
+bodies have shown, until recently, a uniform and steadily growing
+suspicion of a liturgical service, even in its most modified form.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Book of Common Order, the first official service book adopted by
+the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the regulation of
+its worship, marked a distinct advance towards a freer form and greater
+liberty on the part of the minister in conducting Divine service.  As
+compared not only with the English Prayer Book of the time, which was
+used in Reformed parishes in Scotland, but even with Calvin's order of
+worship, which had been so generally adopted by the Reformed Churches
+on the Continent, this Book of Common Order was characterized by a
+spirit of larger liberty in worship and less reliance upon forms either
+suggested or imposed.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+In the period of struggle through which the Church of Scotland passed
+in the reigns of James the First and Charles the First, the conflicts,
+civil and religious, only served, so far as they had any effect upon
+the views of the Church concerning worship, to strengthen the already
+strong opposition to prescribed forms of prayer and to ritualistic
+observances.  Accordingly, when it was proposed to substitute for the
+Book of Common Order a Directory, in which there should appear no
+prescribed forms for any part of public worship, the Scotch Assembly
+gave a ready assent to the proposal, and, although some words of regret
+at parting with an historic symbol were spoken at that time by leaders
+in the Scottish Church, they were only such as it was natural to expect
+should be spoken in view of the strong attachment for that symbol
+fostered by its use during many years, but they were not such as
+indicate that those who so spoke felt themselves called upon to
+surrender any principle in laying aside the order to which they had
+been so long accustomed.  Indeed the hearty and cheerful adoption by
+the Scottish Assembly of the strongly worded preface to the Westminster
+Directory, exposing as it does so vigorously the weakness as well as
+the dangers resulting from the use of a liturgy in public worship,
+plainly indicates that in the judgment of the Church of that day the
+use of liturgical forms was not only not helpful, but was positively
+perilous, as well to the best interests of the congregation as to the
+most efficient service of the minister.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Again in a third epoch of the Church's history, in the days following
+the "killing time," and marked by the succession to the throne of
+William of Orange, and later by the union of England and Scotland, the
+Presbyterian Church of the latter country not only reasserted her
+loyalty to the principles of liberty in worship which she had so long
+defended, but she also succeeded in having secured to her by
+legislation, freedom from the imposition of ritualistic forms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is at least allowable to assert that the leaders in the Scottish
+Church in the days of the Westminster Assembly and at the beginning of
+the eighteenth century, regarded the perfect liberty in worship allowed
+by the Directory not only as scriptural, but as suitable for the
+attainment of the great ends of public worship, for on no other grounds
+would they have consented to its adoption in Scotland.  And if
+Presbyterians of to-day desire to imitate the spirit and methods of
+their ancestors, it is reasonable that they should study the example of
+the men of the second Reformation.  There is good ground for claiming
+that in no period of the Church's history did it give evidence of a
+deeper spiritual life and a more aggressive energy than in the age in
+which those heroic spirits lived.  The leaders in that day also, such
+men as Henderson, Gillespie, Rutherford and Baillie, understood the
+spirit of Presbyterianism and the need of the Church quite as fully as
+did any leaders of either an earlier or a later day.  It is not to be
+forgotten that, in an age that produced men whose names must never be
+omitted when the roll of Scotland's greatest sons is called, the
+Presbyterian Church stood firmly for absolute liberty in worship from
+prescribed forms.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It should, therefore, be considered by those who would have the Church
+return to the bondage of forms or even to their optional use, that they
+are advocating not a return to the practice of any former period in
+which the Church was free to exercise its own desire in this matter,
+but rather that they are urging her to a course that will be wholly
+antagonistic to the spirit of Presbyterianism as indicated by the trend
+of its practice during a stirring and eventful history of three hundred
+years.  The spirit of Presbyterian worship has been consistently and
+persistently non-liturgical and anti-ritualistic, and to advocate the
+adoption of liturgy and ritual to-day is to depart completely from that
+historic attitude.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+A few words on the subject of liturgies in general may not
+inappropriately close this sketch of the history of Presbyterian
+worship since the Reformation.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is now generally acknowledged that the introduction of liturgies
+into the worship of the Christian Church was not earlier than the
+latter part of the fourth century.  Not until the presbyter had become
+a priest, and worship had degenerated into a function, did liturgies
+find a place in Christian service.  Even the earliest Oriental
+liturgies were sacramentaries, the Christian sacrifice being the
+central object around which the entire service gathered.  So long as
+the life of the Church was strong, and in its strength found delight in
+a freedom of approach to God, so long the Apostolic practice was
+followed and worship was unrestricted and simple.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+During the middle ages, as religion became ever more formal and less
+spiritual, as the priesthood deteriorated intellectually and
+spiritually, liturgies flourished; and it is not too much to assert
+that just in proportion to the growth of the liturgical service in any
+Church, in that proportion the power of its ministry has declined.
+Indeed the whole history of liturgies in their origin, development, and
+effects, should make the Church that rejoices in freedom from their
+binding forms most careful ere submitting in any degree to their
+paralyzing influence.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is argued in favor of the introduction of forms of prayer that their
+use would tend to the more orderly and dignified conducting of public
+worship by the minister.  It is not a difficult matter to take
+exception to methods to which we have long been accustomed, and to
+compare these, sometimes to their disadvantage, with ideal conditions.
+As a matter of fact, however, it may in all fairness be asked, does
+disorder or irreverence characterize Presbyterian worship in general,
+or indeed to any noticeable extent?  Whatever lovers of another system,
+within our own Church, may say, it cannot be denied that the impression
+in the minds of men of all denominations (an impression that has not
+gained strength without cause) is that, compared with the worship of
+any other denomination, that of the Presbyterian Church is
+characterized by reverence, dignity and order.  The conduct of any
+average congregation in the Presbyterian Church, and the heartiness
+with which its members join in every part of public worship will appear
+at no disadvantage when compared with that of a congregation
+worshipping with a ritual.  Whatever other blessings a liturgy may
+secure for those devoted to its use, it has never been able to develop
+in the Churches where it is employed a spirit and conduct in public
+worship as reverent and devotional, and at the same time so marked by
+understanding, as that which has uniformly characterized the
+Presbyterian Church, and that Church would have to gain very much in
+other directions to compensate for the opening of the door to the
+formal and careless repetition of holy words so often associated with
+the use of a liturgy.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+It is further argued that congregations would, with the aid of a
+liturgy, be enabled to take both a more lively and a more intelligent
+part in public prayer than they can possibly do when endeavoring to
+follow a minister who uses extempore prayer only.  This argument must
+appear to be of considerable weight to those only who forget how
+lifeless and unmeaning a mere form of words, with which the lips have
+grown familiar, can become.  Paley frankly admitted, when treating of
+this matter, that "the perpetual repetition of the same form of words
+produces weariness and inattentiveness in the congregation."  There is
+a danger that by carelessness in considering the needs of the
+worshippers, and by diffusiveness, the minister may render the service
+of prayer far less helpful than it should be to those whom it is his
+privilege to lead to the throne of grace; but the cure for this is not
+to be found in the introduction of stereotyped forms, which in the
+nature of the case cannot be suitable for all occasions, but in a due
+recognition by the minister of the greatness of the duty which he
+assumes in speaking to God for the people.  Such a recognition will
+lead him to seek that preparation of heart and mind necessary for its
+helpful performance, nor will his consciousness of the need of help,
+other than man can give, go unrecognized by the Father of Spirits, Who
+in this matter also sends not His servants at their own charges.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As to the unity in prayer so much desired, true prayer is "in the
+Spirit," and earnest worshippers have a right to expect that their
+hearts will be united by that Spirit at the throne of grace, so that
+"with one accord" they may present their petitions and claim the
+promise to those who are thus agreed.  This is the true unity and
+uniformity which Christians are bound to seek, and any mere mechanical
+uniformity of words, apart from this, is but the outward trappings of
+form which are much more liable to satisfy the careless worshipper than
+to inspire in him any thought of the need of a more real approach to
+God.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Lastly, it is urged that the responsive reading of the Scriptures would
+prove an aid to the intelligent understanding of them, and that the
+repetition of the Creed or other such formulary of doctrine would serve
+to preserve the Church in the soundness of the faith.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The refutation of the first statement is to be found in many
+congregations where the practice has been tried, and in Sabbath Schools
+in which the custom now prevails.  Many there are who will not read,
+others who cannot, and these fail entirely to profit from the
+unintelligible hum of a number of voices reading in what is often
+anything but harmony either of sound or time; and those who do read,
+frequently fail to receive that clear impression of the truth that
+should result from the effective and sympathetic reading of an entire
+passage.  Without dwelling on the question whether the reading of the
+Scriptures is to be regarded as properly a ministerial act or not, on
+the simple ground of efficiency, responsive reading in large and
+constantly-changing congregations must frequently, if not generally,
+prove a failure.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As regards the repetition of the Creed by the congregation, it is
+certainly a question open for discussion whether or not the frequent
+repetition of a formulary of doctrine is a safeguard to the faith of
+the Church.  In this matter also we are not without the light of
+experience and history; the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland and
+America, which have never adopted any such practice, have certainly a
+record with respect to soundness in the faith which compares favorably
+with that of Churches which have for ages adopted this as a custom in
+their worship.  It would not be difficult to mention Churches in which
+the repetition of a formulary of doctrine has long been an established
+question, and in which it is not apparent that the practice has
+successfully served as a safeguard to doctrine.  Comparisons are
+odious, and we do not desire to institute them, but as wise men we
+should surely be guided by the light which history and experience in
+the past throws forward upon the pathway that we are to travel.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+The Presbyterian Church has a history which may with reason cause all
+her children to thank God and take courage as they look forward on
+greater works than those of past days yet to be accomplished.  Her past
+is rich in noble deeds, valiant testimonies and stirring struggles for
+the truth, and through it all she pressed forward rejoicing in a
+liberty which is inseparable from the principles of Presbyterianism,
+and one product of which has ever been an unwillingness to be trammeled
+by forms in her approach to God.  That history is such as need cause no
+Presbyterian to blush when it is related side by aide with that of any
+other Church; surely they must be bold souls who would propose to
+introduce a radical change into the genius of Presbyterianism, or to
+relinquish principles which have led to such success, for others that
+have yet to show an equal vitality and vigor.
+</P>
+
+<P>
+Our free and untrammeled worship demands from the worshipper his best;
+it brings him face to face with his God, and forbids him to rest in any
+mere repetition of a familiar form; it requires of the minister a
+preparation of both mind and soul, and challenges him to spiritual
+conflict which he dare not refuse, while in addition to all this its
+very freedom renders it adaptable to all the varying circumstances in
+which in a land like our own the worship of God must be conducted.  It
+is suitable alike to the stately city church and to the humble cabin of
+the settler, or to the mission house of the far West; wherever men
+assemble for worship it affords the possibility for seemly, orderly and
+reverent procedure.  Is there any other form of worship suggested for
+which as much can be said?
+</P>
+
+<P>
+As long as the ministers of the Presbyterian Church are men of God,
+recognizing His call to the sacred office of the ministry, and
+believing that those whom He calls He equips with needed grace and
+gifts for their work, so long will they be able to lead the
+congregations to which they minister in worship that shall be at once
+honoring to God and a help to the spiritual life of the people: when
+they cease to be such men forms may become, not only expedient, but
+essential.
+</P>
+
+<BR><BR><BR><BR>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Presbyterian Worship, by Robert Johnston
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diff --git a/30675.txt b/30675.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8e49f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/30675.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3367 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Presbyterian Worship, by Robert Johnston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Presbyterian Worship
+       Its Spirit, Method and History
+
+Author: Robert Johnston
+
+Release Date: December 14, 2009 [EBook #30675]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+
+
+ITS SPIRIT
+
+  METHOD AND
+
+    HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+BY
+
+ROBERT JOHNSTON, D.D.,
+
+London.
+
+
+
+
+TORONTO;
+
+THE PUBLISHERS' SYNDICATE, LIMITED.
+
+
+1901
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+The worship of the sanctuary is a living subject of discussion and
+practice in the Presbyterian Churches of the world at large, and,
+within late years, in that of the Canadian Dominion.  Many earnest
+minds are approaching the study of the subject from various
+standpoints, each worthy of attentive consideration.  One regards it
+from the dogmatic position of scriptural precedent, or from the larger
+one of Christian principle; the aesthetic mind comes to it with visions
+of order and beauty; the practical, with his view of the Church's needs
+in mission fields and in mixed congregations.  There is room in the
+discussion for the largest statement of lawful opinion, founded on
+conviction of absolute right, and on Christian expediency, and for the
+exercise of abundant charity.
+
+Dr. Johnston gives no uncertain sound on the subject.  To his mind the
+duty of the Church, first and last, is to preserve spirituality of
+worship, and to discountenance everything that may tend to interfere
+with the same.  But, while this spirit pervades his work, his method is
+historical, and thus preeminently fair and impartial in statement. The
+presentation of the argument in concrete or historical form invests it
+with an interest which could hardly be commanded by either dogmatic or
+practical methods, while it excludes neither.
+
+Dr. Johnston brings to his task ripe scholarship, including extensive
+knowledge of Church history and ecclesiology, his proficiency in which
+he has recently vindicated in such a manner as to leave no room for
+doubt. To this he adds the teaching of pastoral experience in mission
+fields, prior to his ordination, and, since then, in large and
+influential congregations; and, to crown the whole, heartfelt devotion
+to the Church of his fathers, and unswerving personal loyalty to its
+King and Head.
+
+With adoring thanks to the great Teacher of us all, who rewards
+professors in their declining years with the affectionate regard of
+their whilom best students, now become wise and strong men in the
+Church's service, I cordially commend to all who may read these words,
+this outcome of Dr. Johnston's Christian erudition and conscientious
+literary labor.
+
+(signature of John Campbell)
+
+PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE,
+
+MONTREAL, March, 1901.
+
+
+
+
+TO ONE WHO LOVED
+
+THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH,
+
+AND WORSHIPS NOW
+
+IN THE CITY WHEREIN IS NO TEMPLE--
+
+MY MOTHER.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE LAW AND THE LIBERTY OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE AGE OF KNOX: THE FORMATIVE PERIOD OF PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+KNOX'S BOOK OF COMMON ORDER.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A DIET OF PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE TIME OF KNOX
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE PERIOD OF CONTROVERSY
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY AND THE DIRECTORY OF WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+LEGISLATION CONCERNING PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO
+  THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP OUTSIDE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MODERN MOVEMENTS IN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES RESPECTING PUBLIC WORSHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+"Inward truth of heart alone, is what the Lord requires.  Exercises
+superadded are to be approved, so far as they are subservient to Truth,
+useful incitements, or marks of profession to attest our faith to men.
+Nor do we reject things tending to the preservation of Order and
+Discipline.  But when consciences are put under fetters, and bound by
+religious obligations, in matters in which God willed them to be free,
+then must we boldly protest in order that the worship of God be not
+vitiated by human fictions."--CALVIN.
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+The purpose in the following pages is a simple one.  It is to discover
+the trend of thought in connection with Public Worship within the
+Presbyterian Church, particularly in Scotland, during the course of her
+history since the Reformation.  The spirit of the Church in her
+stirring and formative periods, especially if that spirit is a constant
+one, is pregnant with instruction.  Such a constant spirit is readily
+discovered by a study of the attitude of the Presbyterian Church
+towards the subject of Public Worship during the course of her history,
+and to the writer it seems very evident that that spirit indicates an
+increasing suspicion of liturgical forms in Worship, and a growing
+confidence in, and desire for, the liberty of untrammeled approach to
+God.
+
+Whether this spirit be the best or not, it is not the purpose of these
+pages to discuss.  The great principle of the liberty of the Church in
+matters of detail, is fully recognized, a principle ever to be
+sedulously guarded, but an appeal is made to the record of history for
+its evidence as to the historic attitude of the Presbyterian Church, on
+a question which to-day is claiming the earnest attention of those who
+desire for that Church fidelity to her Lord and efficiency in His work.
+
+My indebtedness in the study of this subject to Dr. McCrie's Cunningham
+Lectures on "Scottish Presbyterian Worship," Brown's "Life of John
+Knox," Sprott's "Scottish Liturgies" and Baird's "Eutaxia," as well as
+to various Histories of the Reformation in Scotland, and for American
+Church History to Moore's and Alexander's valuable digests, I gladly
+and with gratitude acknowledge.  An abundant and increasing literature
+upon the subject of Public Worship is an encouraging sign of the
+attention which the Church is giving to a matter so vital to its best
+life.
+
+R. J.
+
+ST. ANDREW'S MANSE,
+  LONDON, January, 1901.
+
+
+
+
+The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+
+
+"While it is admitted that there is a form of government prescribed or
+instituted in the New Testament, so far as its general principles or
+features are concerned, there is a wide discretion allowed us by God in
+matters of detail, which no man or set of men, which neither civil
+magistrates nor ecclesiastical rulers can take from us."--HODGE.
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+"The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and
+New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and
+enjoy Him."--WESTMINSTER CATECHISM.
+
+
+The Church of Christ, as a divine communion, exists in the world for a
+definite and appointed purpose.  This purpose may be declared to be
+twofold, and may be described by the terms "Witness" and "Worship."
+
+It is the evident design of God that the visible Church should bear
+witness to His existence and character, to His revelation and
+providence, and to His grace towards mankind, manifested in His Son,
+Jesus Christ.  To Israel God said, "Ye are my witnesses," and to His
+disciples forming the nucleus of the New Testament Church, the risen
+Saviour said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."
+
+Side by side with this evident end of the Church's existence is the
+other one of Worship.  Not only from the individual heart does God
+require ascriptions of praise and expressions of confidence, but from
+the organized congregation of His people, He desires to hear the voice
+of adoration, contrition, and supplication.  The cultivation of such
+worship, and the offering of it in a manner acceptable to God, is a
+work worthy of the Church's most earnest care.
+
+It is to be expected, therefore, that in the Word of God there shall be
+found the principles of a cultus which, possessing Divine authority,
+shall carry with it the assurance of its sufficiency for the ends aimed
+at, and of its suitability to the requirements of the Church in every
+age.  That the word of God contains such principles clearly indicated,
+the Presbyterian Church has always maintained, teaching uniformly and
+emphatically that Holy Scripture contains all that is necessary for the
+guidance of the Church, as well in matters of Polity and Worship, as in
+those of Doctrine.  Divine worship, therefore, neither in its constant
+elements nor in its methods, is a matter of mere human device, nor is
+the Church at liberty to devise or to adopt aught that is not
+explicitly stated or implicitly contained in the Word of God for her
+guidance.
+
+The essential parts of worship we are at no loss to discover, clearly
+indicated as they are in the history of the Apostolic Church.  Praise
+and Prayer, with the reading and exposition of Scripture, together with
+the celebration of the Sacraments, are repeatedly referred to as those
+exercises in which the early Christians engaged.  With such worship,
+though in more elaborate form, the Church had always been familiar, for
+as Christianity itself was in so many respects the fruit and outcome of
+Judaism, the expansion, into principles of world-wide and perpetual
+application, of truths that had hitherto been national and local, so
+its worship and organization were, in large measure, the adaptation of
+familiar forms to those simpler and more comprehensive ones of the New
+Testament Church.  Throughout the successive periods of Israel's
+history, marked by patriarch, psalmist, and prophet, Divine worship had
+grown from simple sacrifice at a family altar to an elaborate
+temple-ritual, in which praise and prayer and the reading of the Law
+occupied a prominent place; to this were added in later times the
+exposition of the Law and the reading of the Prophets.  This service,
+elaborate with magnificent and imposing forms, continued in connection
+with the Temple worship down to the time of our Saviour, while in the
+Synagogue a simpler service, combining all the essential parts of the
+former with the exception of sacrifice, was developed during the period
+subsequent to the Babylonian captivity, when, as is generally conceded,
+the Synagogue with its service had its origin.  Apart then from the
+ritual connected with sacrifice, which was wholly typical, the temple
+service and the simpler worship of the Synagogue were identical in
+their different parts, although differing widely in form.
+
+Now, just as Christianity was itself not a substitute for the Jewish
+religion but a development and enlargement of it, so Christian worship
+was an outgrowth, with larger meaning and broader application, of the
+worship of God which for centuries had been conducted among the Jews.
+It continued to comprise the essential elements of prayer and praise,
+together with the reading and exposition of the Divine message, a
+message which was enlarged in Apostolic times by the record concerning
+the Christ who had come, and by the inspired writings of the Apostles
+of our Lord to the Church which they had been commissioned to plant and
+foster, while associated with these was the administration of the
+Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.  It has always been
+maintained by the Presbyterian Church, that of these different elements
+of worship, none should be neglected, inasmuch as all of them have
+Divine sanction, and that to these nothing should be added, inasmuch as
+any addition made, could possess human sanction only, and would be a
+transgression of the principle that Scripture and Scripture alone
+contains authority for the government and practice of the Church of
+Jesus Christ.
+
+It follows that in the arrangement and adjustment of each of these
+various parts of worship, in their due relation to each other, and in
+the determination of the methods that shall prevail in their
+performance, the Church must be governed by an appreciation of the
+purpose for which they have been established, and of the ends which
+they are expected to serve.  The object of public worship must ever be
+kept in view, and no forms, however attractive, are to be admitted by
+which that object may be hidden or obscured: on the other hand, order
+and seemliness demand a due attention, and it is an error, only less
+mischievous than the former, to have regard to the spirit of worship
+alone, and thus to neglect whatever suitable forms and methods may best
+secure the orderly and appropriate performance of its every part.
+
+The most commonly recognized purpose of public worship is the
+cultivation of the spiritual life of the worshipper, and this is
+attained by the employment of means intended to bring the soul into an
+attitude of response to its Lord.  It follows then that matters of
+form, attitude, and order in worship, should be so arranged and
+regulated that they may serve as aids to the securing of this end, and
+that nothing should be permitted which may in any way interfere with
+the development of this spirit of response on the part of those so
+engaged.  And when it is remembered how small a matter may interfere
+with the worship of a congregation, and how easily disturbed and
+distracted the hearts of men are by untoward circumstances or
+conditions, it will be seen that not only the forms of worship demand
+attention, but that the order of its different parts, the attitude of
+the worshippers, and all matters of detail are worthy of careful
+thought and of earnest consideration.  But Christian worship has an
+altruistic aim also, and is intended to serve as a witness before the
+world to those fundamental truths professed by the Christian Church.
+With this end in view, it is evident that its forms should be such as
+shall most clearly and effectively set forth before the eyes of
+beholders, those truths and principles which the Church holds as
+essential to Christian faith and practice.  To obscure such a public
+declaration of Christian belief, by hiding these truths beneath an
+elaborate adornment that disguises or completely conceals them, is to
+be faithless to the commission of Jesus Christ to be a witness unto Him
+before the world; to neglect such witness-bearing, or by carelessness
+or inattention to detail, to render it in a manner so ineffective as to
+disparage the truth in the eyes of beholders, is to be none the less
+unfaithful to that great commission.
+
+With the twofold purpose of worship clearly kept in view as the
+foundation for any discussion of this subject, it is also to be
+remembered that the Church of Christ is left free by her Divine King
+and Head, so to order matters of detail, under the guidance of the
+Spirit of Truth, and in harmony with the principles laid down in
+Scripture, as may in accordance with varying ages and circumstances
+seem best for the attainment of the ends desired.  While Christian
+worship in its essential parts is prescribed by Scripture, the Church
+is free to amplify or develop these general outlines, provided only
+that all be in harmony with the spirit of Revelation.  It is very
+evident that new conditions of a progressive civilization, the spirit
+of the times, or the particular circumstances of a community, may make
+desirable a modification of a particular method of worship long
+practised; it is for the Church, relying ever on the guidance of the
+Spirit of Truth, to determine how such modification may, without
+violation to the spirit of Scripture, be made.  For this reason it can
+never be binding upon the Church to accept as final, the particular
+methods of worship used and found suitable by men of another age or
+another land; while such may be accepted as valuable for suggestions
+contained, and as indicating the spirit that controlled good and great
+men of another time, yet the Church can only accept them (in loyalty to
+the Spirit Who abides in her, and Who is hers in every age) in so far
+as they prove themselves suitable to present times and conditions.  The
+present possession by the Church, of the Holy Spirit as a guide into
+all truth, according to the promise of Christ to His disciples, is a
+doctrine that no branch of the Church would readily surrender, and her
+right, under that guidance, to seek the good of the body of Christ on
+lines which, while consistent with the principles of Scripture, commend
+themselves to her as more suitable to present conditions than former
+methods, this right is one which she can part with only at the risk of
+endangering her usefulness to her own age.
+
+To Presbyterians, therefore, thankful as they are for an historic past
+that has in it so much to arouse gratitude to God and loyalty to the
+Church they love, the citing of the practice of their forefathers in
+Reformation times, or even that of the early fathers of the Church, can
+never be a final argument for the acceptance of any particular method
+in worship.  Believing in a Church in which the Spirit of God as truly
+governs and guides to-day as He did in Reformation or post-Apostolic
+times, and in a Christian liberty of which neither the practice nor
+legislation of holy men of the past can deprive them, they rightly
+refuse to surrender their liberty or to retire from their
+responsibility.
+
+In the best and truest sense the Presbyterian Church is Apostolic, and
+her spiritual succession from the Apostles she cherishes with an
+unfaltering confidence.  While rejecting the ritual theory of the
+Church, she has never been careless of the true succession of faith and
+doctrine and practice from the time of the Apostles to the present day,
+a succession to which she lays a not unworthy claim; and, claiming
+loyalty to Apostolic doctrine, polity and practice, she has ever been
+jealous in asserting her Divine right, as an Apostolic Church, to the
+controlling presence and guiding wisdom of the Holy Spirit of God.
+Under the guidance of that Spirit she has ever claimed, and still
+claims, the right of administering the government and directing the
+worship which, in their essential principles, are set forth in
+Scripture, neither superciliously regarding herself in any age as
+independent of those who have gone before, and so disregarding the
+legislation and practice of the fathers, nor, on the other hand,
+slavishly accepting such legislation and practice as binding upon the
+Church for all time, and as excluding for ever any progress or change.
+That spirit, at once of independence as regards man, and of dependence
+as regards God, has characterized Presbyterianism in its most vigorous
+and progressive periods; by that spirit must it still be characterized
+if, in succeeding ages, the work allotted to it is to be faithfully and
+well performed.
+
+If then the Church of one age is so independent of those who in other
+times have served her, it may be asked of what interest is her past
+history to us of to-day, and of what benefit to us is a knowledge of
+the legislation and practice of the Church in other periods of her
+progress?  Of much value in every way is such knowledge.  Those periods
+in particular, in which the Church has made notable progress, and in
+which her life has evidently been characterized by much of the Holy
+Spirit's presence and power, may well be studied, as times when those
+in authority were, indeed, led to wise measures, and guided to those
+methods of administration and practice, which by their success approved
+themselves as enjoying the Divine favor; the lamp of experience is one
+which wise men will never treat with indifference.  In studying the
+Reformation period, therefore, a period marked by special activity and
+progress within the Presbyterian Church, we do so, not so much to
+discover forms which we may adopt and imitate, as to discover the
+spirit which moved the leaders in the Church of that day, and the
+principles which governed them in formulating those regulations, and in
+adopting those practices, which proved suitable and successful in their
+own age.  To emulate the spirit of brave and wise men of the past is
+the part of wisdom, to imitate their methods may be the extreme of
+folly.
+
+Another result, and one equally desirable, will be attained by a study
+of Presbyterian practice from Reformation times onward.  It will
+transpire, as we follow the history of public worship, by what paths we
+have arrived at our present position, and we shall discover whether
+that position is the result of diligent and careful search after those
+methods most in accord with Scripture principles, and so best suited to
+the different periods through which in her progress the Church has
+passed, or whether it is due to a temporary neglect of such principles,
+and a disregard of the changing necessities of different ages.  We
+shall discover, in a word, whether we have advanced, in dependence upon
+the Spirit of God and in recognition of our responsibilities, or
+whether we have retrograded through self-trust and indifference.
+
+
+
+
+The Age of Knox: the Formative Period of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+
+
+"Among the great personages of the past it would be difficult to name
+one who in the same degree has vitalized and dominated the collective
+energies of his countrymen."--BROWN'S LIFE OF KNOX.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+The Age of Knox: the Formative Period of Presbyterian Worship.
+
+
+It was in the year 1560 that the Reformed religion was officially
+recognized by the Estates of the Realm of Scotland, as the faith of the
+nation.  This recognition consisted in the adoption by Parliament of
+the first Scottish Confession, a formula drawn up by Knox and his
+brethren at Parliament's request, and formally approved by that body as
+"wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of
+God's Word."  This year may, therefore, be regarded as the year of the
+birth of the Church of Scotland, although previous to it the Reformed
+faith had been preached, and its worship practised, in many parts of
+the land where nobles and barons, who had themselves adopted it, held
+individual or united sway.
+
+A glance at the condition of affairs in Scotland in the years
+immediately prior to this event will be instructive.  In 1557, as a
+result of Knox's rebuke of the Scottish nobles for their hesitancy in
+forwarding the Reformed faith, the "Confederation of the Lords of the
+Congregation" was formed, and its members subscribed to the first of
+the five Covenants that played so important a part in the religious
+history of Scotland.  In this Covenant, those subscribing bound
+themselves to "maintain and further the blessed Word of God and His
+congregation and to renounce the congregation of Satan with all the
+superstitions, abominations and idolatry thereof."  To the general
+declaration were appended two particular resolutions, in which was
+expressed a determination to further the preaching of the Word, in the
+meantime, in private houses, and to insist on the use of King Edward's
+Prayer Book in parishes under the control of subscribers to the
+Covenant.  By these same Protestant lords and commoners the first
+official order, authorizing for their own parishes a form of Reformed
+worship in Scotland, was issued in these terms:--
+
+
+"It is ordained that the Common Prayers be read weekly on Sunday, and
+other festival days, publicly in the parish Kirks with the lessons of
+the Old and New Testaments conform to the order of the Book of Common
+Prayer."
+
+
+It is generally conceded, and the judgment is supported by the
+references to it in Scottish history, that this Book of Common Prayer
+thus authorized was the second Book of King Edward the Sixth.
+
+From the year 1557 until the arrival of Knox in Scotland in 1559 this
+was the Book commonly used in parishes where the Reformed religion
+prevailed.  It disappeared, however, as so much else of a foreign
+character disappeared, in the course of the national Reformation,
+giving place to the Book prepared by Knox and then commonly known as
+"The Book of Our Common Order" but now frequently referred to as
+"Knox's Liturgy."  This was originally the work of Knox and four
+associate reformers living in exile in Frankfort-on-the-Main, and the
+history of its origin is interesting.  It had been required of the
+English refugees living at Frankfort, as a condition of their being
+allowed to use for worship the French church of that town, that they
+should adopt the Order of Worship of the French Reformed Church.  To
+this requirement the majority agreed, but, some objecting, it was
+finally determined that five of their number, of whom Knox was one,
+should draw up a new order of service.  This work, undertaken in 1554,
+was duly accomplished, but when completed it failed to find acceptance
+at the hands of those who had proposed it.  The draft of the new book
+was therefore laid aside until 1556, and was then published for the use
+of the church at Geneva, of which Knox in the meantime had become the
+minister.
+
+There is in connection with this Book, and the debates and disturbances
+attending its preparation, one instructive fact that should not be
+forgotten.  The English Prayer Book provided for responses by the
+people and included the Litany, to both of which the French Reformed
+Church objected, in accordance with the well-known opinions of their
+great leader Calvin, who held, as did also his disciple Knox, that in
+praise alone should the congregation audibly join in public worship.
+Among the English refugees were some who desired the privilege of
+responding in public worship according to the English fashion, and it
+was the persistence in this matter of Cox, afterwards Bishop of Ely,
+and of some of his co-patriots, that led to Knox's removal to Geneva,
+and to the publication there of the Book of Geneva as an order for
+public worship in the English congregation to which he ministered.  It
+is important that this should be remembered, for in speaking of the
+Book of Common Order as "Knox's Liturgy," and thus giving to it a name
+by which it was never known in Knox's day, an impression has prevailed,
+and is still prevalent, that the book provided a form of worship
+liturgical in character, with a responsive service, while the fact is
+that Knox made no provision for even so much as the saying of "Amen" by
+the people, their part in prayer being the silent following in their
+hearts of the petitions uttered by the reader or the preacher for the
+day.
+
+The first official recognition of this book in Scotland was in 1562,
+when an order of the General Assembly required that it should be
+uniformly used in the administration of the Sacraments, solemnization
+of marriage and burial of the dead.  At this time it was still in its
+Genevan form, and was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of
+the Sacraments, etc., used in the English congregation at Geneva; and
+approved by the famous and Godly-learned man, M. John Calvin."  Two
+years later, in 1564, a Scottish edition appeared, in which were
+additional prayers with the complete copy of the Psalter, and in this
+year the General Assembly ordained that:
+
+
+"Every Minister, Exhorter and Reader shall have one of the Psalm Books
+lately printed in Edinborough, and use the order contained therein in
+Prayers, Marriage and Ministration of the Sacraments."
+
+
+This book was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the
+Sacraments, etc., used in the English Church at Geneva approved and
+received by the Church of Scotland, whereunto besides that was in the
+former books are also added sundry other Prayers with the whole Psalms
+of David in English Metre."  As the Psalms occupied by far the greater
+part of the book it came to be commonly known as "The Psalm Book," and
+as such, with frequent additions, among which were several hymns and
+doxologies, it continued to be the recognized Book of Common Order of
+the Scottish Church down to the time of the Westminster Assembly.  It
+cannot be claimed, however, that this book ever secured a firm or
+lasting hold upon the affections of the Scottish people in general.
+Its authority was ecclesiastical only, inasmuch as the Estates of the
+Realm never gave to it the official sanction which they had repeatedly
+granted to King Edward's Prayer Book.  One reason for this evident want
+of popularity may have been that, except in its Psalter department and
+in some of its minor parts, it was a book for the clergy only and not
+for the people.  Even the Psalms in those days passed through new
+editions so rapidly, and were subjected to such serious changes, that
+they never obtained the place in the affections of the people that
+later versions have secured, and by 1645 The Book of Common Order
+appears to have fallen into such comparative neglect that no strong
+resistance was made to its abolition in favor of the Directory of
+Worship.
+
+That it was held in esteem by the clergy, although not so revered as to
+be looked upon as incapable of improvement, appears from the fact that
+in 1601 a proposal was made to revise it, together with the confession
+of faith, which had been prepared by Knox.  This work was committed to
+Alexander Henderson, the renowned minister of Leuchars and the valiant
+leader of the Church of Scotland in her resistance against the tyranny
+of Charles the First and his minister, Laud.  The revision, however,
+was never accomplished, Henderson confessing, according to the
+historian, Baillie, that he could not take upon him "either to
+determine some points controverted, or to set down other forms of
+prayer than we have in our Psalm Book, penned by our great and divine
+reformer."
+
+A book which held for so long a time its place of authority in the
+Scottish Church, and which embodied during so important a period the
+law of the Church concerning worship, deserves particular study at the
+hands of those who are interested in the history of this important
+subject, but inasmuch as the form of worship alone is under discussion,
+it will be necessary to refer only to those parts of it which bear on
+this phase of the Church's practice.  Before doing so, however, it will
+be instructive to notice what is too frequently overlooked, that the
+adoption of Knox's Book of Common Order by the Scottish Church
+indicates even in that age a desire for forms of worship less
+liturgical than those which were employed by other parts of the
+Reformed Church.  It is to be remembered that those parishes in which
+the Reformed religion prevailed had been accustomed to the use of the
+English Book of Common Prayer with responsive services for the people,
+and with prayers from which the minister was not supposed to deviate.
+This Book was set aside, and in its place was adopted an Order of
+worship in no part of which provision was made for responses, and in
+all of whose prayers the minister was not only allowed freedom, but was
+encouraged to exercise the same.  Such action on the part of men
+accustomed to make changes only after careful deliberation, clearly
+indicates an intelligent choice of a non-liturgical service as opposed
+to one of the opposite character.
+
+More than this, the Scottish Book of Common Order is marked by an even
+greater freedom from prescribed forms than is Calvin's original Book of
+Geneva from which Knox copied so largely.  For while both of them
+agreed in avoiding a responsive service, Knox seems to have been even
+less than Calvin in sympathy with prescribed forms of prayer from which
+no deviation was to be allowed.  There is nothing to indicate that Knox
+would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in Calvin's letter to
+the Protector Somerset, in which he says: "As to what concerns a form
+of prayer and ecclesiastical rites, I highly approve of it, that there
+be a certain form from which the ministers be not allowed to vary....
+Therefore there ought to be a stated form of prayer and administration
+of the Sacraments."  The form of Church prayers, as originally prepared
+by Calvin in keeping with his sentiments above expressed, do not
+provide for any variation in certain parts of the service.  The
+Scottish Book of Common Order, however, allows, in its every part, for
+the operation of the free Spirit of God, and for other prayers to be
+offered by the minister than those there suggested.
+
+At this period of its history, therefore, we find the Church of
+Scotland more pronounced than any other section of the Reformed Church
+in its desire for freedom from prescribed forms in the worship of God.
+Indeed, we are probably not in error in judging that in different
+circumstances, with an educated ministry in the Church and those
+appointed as leaders of worship who had received training for that
+important work, Knox would have felt even such a book as that which he
+prepared, to be both unnecessary and undesirable.
+
+
+
+
+Knox's Book of Common Order.
+
+
+
+"The Book of Common Order is best described as a discretionary
+liturgy."--SPROTT.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+Knox's Book of Common Order.
+
+The Book of Common Order makes no reference to the reading of Scripture
+as a part of public worship, nor does it, after the fashion of many
+similar books, contain a table of Scriptures to be read during the
+year.  This omission however, is amended by an ordinance found in the
+First Book of Discipline prepared by Knox in 1561, and adopted by the
+General Assembly of that year, by which it is declared to be:
+
+
+"A thing most expedient and necessary that every Kirk have a Bible in
+English, and that the people be commanded to convene and hear the plain
+reading and interpretation of the Scripture as the Kirk shall appoint."
+
+
+It was further enjoined by the same authority and at the same time that:
+
+
+"Each Book of the Bible should be begun and read through in order to
+the end, and that there should be no skipping and divigation from place
+to place of Scripture, be it in reading or be it in preaching."
+
+
+It is evident, therefore, that it was the purpose of Knox that the
+whole of Holy Scripture should be publicly read for edification, and
+that it should be read as God's message to men and not as an exercise
+subordinate to the preaching, or intended merely to throw light upon
+the subject of the discourse.
+
+In connection with the reading of Scripture and of the Prayers, mention
+is made, in this same Book of Discipline, of an Order of Church
+officers who filled an important place in the Church of that time.  It
+was ordained that where "no ministers could be had presently" the
+Common Prayers and Scriptures should be read by the most suitable
+persons that could be selected.  These suitable persons came to be
+known as "Readers," and they form a distinct class of ecclesiastical
+officers in the Reformation Church of Scotland.  The need of such an
+Order was evident, for the Church found great difficulty in securing
+men of the requisite gifts and graces for the office of the ministry.
+The Readers therefore, formed an important and numerous order in the
+Church for many years, numbering at one time no less than seven
+hundred, while at the same time there was less than half that number of
+ordained ministers.  These men were not allowed to preach or to
+administer the sacraments, and they formed only a temporary order
+required by the exigencies of the times, as is evident from the fact
+that the General Assembly of 1581, in the hope that all parishes would
+soon be supplied with ordained ministers, forbade any further
+appointment of Readers.
+
+In the mind of Knox, these men were the successors to the _lectors_ of
+the early Church, and corresponded in Scotland to the _docteurs_ of the
+Swiss Reformed Church, a Church whose organization he regarded as but
+little less than perfect.  Although they conducted a part of the
+service in parishes where ministers regularly preached, yet in the
+original idea of the office the intention was that they should conduct
+public worship, in its departments of prayer and praise and reading of
+the Scriptures, only in parishes where a minister could not be secured.
+It is necessary to understand their office and their position in the
+Church, inasmuch as the existence of such an order has a bearing upon
+our appreciation of the form of public worship at this time adopted in
+Scotland.
+
+In the exercise of public prayer the greatest freedom was granted the
+minister by the Book of Common Order.  Calvin had prescribed a form of
+confession, the uniform use of which he required, but the general
+confession with which the service of the Book of Common Order opened,
+was governed by this rubric:
+
+
+"When the congregation is assembled at the hour appointed, the Minister
+useth this confession, _or like in effect_, exhorting the people
+diligently to examine themselves, following in their hearts the tenor
+of his words."
+
+
+Similar liberty was also allowed the minister in the prayer which
+followed the singing of the Psalms and preceded the sermon; the rubric
+governing this directed that:
+
+
+"This done, the people sing a Psalm all together in a plain tune; which
+ended, the Minister prayeth for the assistance of God's Holy Spirit _as
+the same shall move his heart_, and so proceedeth to the sermon, using
+after the sermon this prayer following, _or such like_."
+
+
+And finally, as governing the whole order of worship, it is added:
+
+
+"It shall not be necessary for the Minister daily to repeat all these
+things before mentioned, but, beginning with some manner of confession,
+to proceed to the sermon, which ended _he either useth the prayer for
+all estates before mentioned or else prayeth as the Spirit of God shall
+move his heart_, framing the same according to the time and matter
+which he hath entreated of.  And if there shall be at any time any
+present plague, famine, pestilence, war, or such like, which be evident
+tokens of God's wrath, as it is our part to acknowledge our sins to be
+the occasion thereof, so are we appointed by the Scriptures to give
+ourselves to mourning, fasting and prayer as the means to turn away
+God's heavy displeasure.  Therefore it shall be convenient that the
+Minister at such time do not only admonish the people thereof, but also
+use some Form of Prayer, according as the present necessity requireth,
+to the which he may appoint, by a common consent, some several day
+after the sermon, weekly to be observed."
+
+
+The liberty allowed to the minister in this so important part of public
+worship is evident, and although many prayers are added as suitable for
+particular times and occasions, and some, which are described as of
+common use under certain circumstances and by particular churches, yet
+none of them are prescribed as the _only_ prayers proper for any
+particular season or occasion.
+
+Even in the administration of the Lord's Supper, the directions which
+accompany the prayer which precedes the distribution of the bread and
+wine allows a similar latitude to the Minister.
+
+
+"Then he taketh bread and giveth thanks, either in these words
+following _or like in effect_."
+
+
+The student of the life of the great Scottish Reformer does not need to
+be told that the framer of the Book of Common Order was not himself
+bound by any particular form of prayer in public worship.  On the
+occasion of his memorable sermon after the death of the Regent Moray,
+his prayer at its close was the passionate outburst of a burdened soul,
+impossible to one restricted by prescribed forms, while his prayer,
+which is still preserved, on the occasion of a national thanksgiving,
+is an illustration of the perhaps not excellent way in which, in this
+exercise, he was accustomed to combine devotion and practical politics;
+a part of it ran thus:
+
+"And seeing that nothing is more odious in Thy presence, O Lord, than
+is ingratitude and violation of an oath and covenant made in Thy Name:
+and seeing that Thou hast made our confederates of England the
+instruments by whom we are now set at liberty, to whom we in Thy Name
+have promised mutual faith again; let us never fall to that unkindness,
+O Lord, that either we declare ourselves unthankful unto them, or
+profaners of Thy Holy Name."
+
+It is not surprising that one who allowed himself such liberty in
+public prayer should lay no binding forms upon his brethren in the
+ministry.
+
+It remains only to be said, with regard to the restrictions of the Book
+of Common Order, that so far from providing any fixed form of prayer
+for uniform, use, even the Lord's Prayer was not imposed in any part of
+public worship.  It is added, together with the Creed, to the form of
+prayer called "A Prayer for the Whole Estate of Christ's Church," but
+this prayer is governed by the general rubric already quoted, which
+permits such variation as the minister, moved by the Spirit of God,
+shall deem desirable.  There is nothing to show that it was expected
+that the Lord's Prayer should be used as an invariable part of public
+worship.
+
+With these facts before us, whatever our judgment may be of the wisdom
+of Knox and of the Church of his day in the matter of a regulated
+service, we cannot close our eyes to the evident conclusion that the
+Reformer was wholly opposed to the bondage of form in prayer.  In this
+part of public worship he claimed for himself, and exercised under the
+guidance of the Spirit of God, the greatest freedom; and consistent
+with this position he never sought to impose as a part of regular
+public worship, the repetition by the minister of even that form of
+prayer which of all others has for its use Divine authority.  To
+whatever in worship the Book of Common Order may lend its countenance,
+it assuredly gives no support to the imposition upon worshippers of
+prescribed forms of prayer.
+
+Side by side with that part of public worship already considered there
+has always been associated the exercise of Praise.
+
+Although the Scottish Church conformed most closely to the Churches of
+France and Switzerland, yet it was impossible that it should not, to
+some degree, be influenced by the spirit of the German Reformation.
+This influence was especially marked in that which was a special
+characteristic of the German Church, a love for sacred song and a
+delight in the same on the part of the people.
+
+The Book of Common Order contained, as has been mentioned, in its early
+editions, the complete Psalter, and to this were added, subsequently, a
+few Scripture Hymns, together with the Doxology _Gloria Patri_ in
+different metres, so that it could be sung at the end of every Psalm.
+This Doxology appears in Hart's edition of the Book of Common Order of
+1611, in six different metres, under the general head of "Conclusions,"
+and was evidently used regularly at the close of the Psalms sung in
+public worship.  It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth
+century that there began to arise criticisms of the custom of singing
+the Doxology, and it would, therefore, appear that during the formative
+period of the Scottish Church, which we are considering, it was
+regularly used, and occasioned no objection and aroused no opposition.
+The Hymns which were printed with the Psalter were few in number, and
+were chiefly free paraphrases of sections of Scripture.  They are "The
+Ten Commandments," "The Lord's Prayer," "_Veni Creator_," "The Song of
+Simeon called _Nunc Dimittis_," "The Twelve Articles of the Christian
+Faith," and "The Song of Blessed Marie called _Magnificat_."  The
+purpose of the Hymns appears to have been the memorizing of Scripture
+and important doctrinal truths, and there is no evidence that they were
+employed in public worship, although a place was not denied them in the
+Book of Common Order; in the Order for Public Worship mention is made
+of Psalms only, and in all the accounts, which have come down to us in
+correspondence or history, of the public services of that time, the
+people are invariably spoken of as joining in a Psalm, while even in
+the public processions, which were common on occasions of national
+rejoicing or thanksgiving, Psalms only are mentioned as being sung by
+the people.
+
+The singing was usually led by the Reader, but there is occasional
+mention in the records of the time of the "Uptaker" of the Psalms, who
+evidently performed the duties of a Precentor.
+
+The Sacraments.--In the Confession of Faith, which forms the first part
+of the Book of Common Order, it is clearly stated that there are two
+Sacraments only in the Christian Church, and that these are Baptism and
+The Lord's Supper.  No subject in connection with the practice of the
+Church created more discussion in Reformation times than the methods
+which were to be followed in the administration of the Sacraments.  The
+spirit of the Scottish reformers is indicated in the following
+sentence, which governed this matter:
+
+
+"Neither must we in the administration of these Sacraments follow man's
+fancy, but as Christ himself hath ordained so must they be ministered,
+and by such as by ordinary vocation are thereunto called."
+
+
+In accordance with this general regulation the Book of Common Order
+prescribes in detail "The Manner of the Administration of the Lord's
+Supper."
+
+The words of the opening rubric are as follows:
+
+
+"The day when the Lord's Supper is ministered, which is commonly used
+once a month, or so oft as the Congregation shall think expedient, the
+Minister useth to say as follows:"
+
+
+Here follow the words of institution of the Supper from St. Paul's
+Epistle to the Corinthians, after which is added an exhortation in
+which flagrant sinners are warned not to draw near to the holy table,
+and timid saints are encouraged in wise and helpful words to approach
+with repentance and faith.  This is the address which in later times
+came to be known as "Fencing the Table."  There are no words to
+indicate that any variation from the prescribed address was encouraged.
+
+The address being finished
+
+
+"The Minister comes down from the Pulpit and sitteth at the Table,
+every man and woman in likewise taking their place as occasion best
+serveth: Then he taketh Bread and giveth thanks either in these words
+following or _like in effect_."
+
+
+This prayer is wholly one of praise and thanksgiving, there being an
+evident purpose in the omission of any invocation of the Holy Spirit
+and of words that might be regarded as a consecration of the bread and
+wine, and in the strict adherence to the example of our Lord, Who,
+"when He had given thanks, took bread."
+
+The manner of communing is then described:
+
+
+"This done, the Minister breaketh the bread and delivereth it to the
+people, to distribute and divide the same among themselves, according
+to our Saviour Christ's commandment, and likewise giveth the cup:
+During the which time some place of the Scriptures is read which doth
+lively set forth the death of Christ, to the intent that our eyes and
+senses may not only be occupied in these outward signs of bread and
+wine, which are called the visible word, but that our hearts and minds
+also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lord's death, which
+is by this Holy Sacrament represented.  And after this action is done
+he giveth thanks, saying:"
+
+
+The prayer of thanksgiving which follows is the only one in connection
+with this service for which no alternative was allowed the minister.
+An appropriate Psalm of thanksgiving followed the prayer, the Blessing
+was invoked and the congregation dispersed.
+
+The Communion, as is evident from the rubric quoted above, was received
+while the congregation was seated, and this practice the Presbyterians
+adhered to and defended as against the Episcopal practice of kneeling
+at this service, regarding the latter attitude as liable to be
+interpreted as a rendering to the Sacrament of homage and adoration
+which should be reserved for God alone.
+
+The service, it is evident, was marked by simplicity and by in almost
+total absence of prescribed form.  In a note "to the reader," the
+author of the Book of Common Order explains that the object throughout
+is to set forth simply and effectively those signs which Christ hath
+ordained "to our spiritual use and comfort."
+
+How often this Sacrament was to be observed was left to the judgment of
+individual congregations, but frequent celebration was recommended.
+Calvin thought it proper that the Lord's Supper should be celebrated
+monthly, but finding the people opposed to such frequent celebration he
+considered it unwise to insist upon his own views.  With his opinions
+on this matter, those of Knox were quite in harmony.
+
+The Sacrament of Baptism was likewise characterized in its
+administration by similar simplicity, and yet it is evident that, in
+this more than in any other part of public worship, the minister was
+restricted to the forms provided both in prayer and in address.
+
+The rubrics which govern the two prayers of the service and the address
+to the parents, make no mention of alternate or similar forms being
+permitted.  In this the Book of Common Order differs from the Book of
+Geneva, which allowed the minister liberty in these parts of the
+service.  There would seem, therefore, to be an evident intention on
+the part of the Scottish reformers in thus departing from their custom
+in other parts of worship.  It may be that inasmuch as Baptism is the
+Sacrament of admission into the Church, it was deemed advisable that
+for the instruction of those seeking membership therein, either for
+themselves or for their children, the form of sound doctrine set forth
+at such a time should not be varied even in the manner of statement.
+
+The Sacrament was administered in the Church "on the day appointed to
+Common Prayer and preaching," instruction being given that the child
+should there be accompanied by the father and godfather; Knox himself
+had, as godfather to one of his sons, Whittingham, who had been his
+chief assistant in compiling the Book of Common Order, and who had also
+been his helper and fellow-worker at Geneva.  The opinion of the Swiss
+reformers, as well as that of their Scotch followers, was in favor of
+the presence of sponsors in addition to the parents at the baptism of
+children.  The parent having professed his desire to have his child
+baptized in the Christian faith, was addressed by the minister, and
+called upon to profess his own faith and his purpose to instruct his
+child in the same.  Having repeated the Creed, the minister proceeded
+to expound the same as setting forth the sum of Christian doctrine, a
+prescribed prayer followed, the child was baptized, and the prayer of
+thanksgiving, also prescribed, closed the service.
+
+The Book of Common Order required that marriages should be celebrated
+in the Church and on the Lord's Day:
+
+
+"The parties assemble at the beginning of the sermon and the Minister
+at time convenient saith as followeth:"
+
+
+In the forms of exhortation and admonition to the contracting parties
+no liberty to vary the address is allowed the minister, but in the one
+prayer which formed a part of the service, viz., the blessing at the
+close of the ceremony it is ordered:
+
+
+"The Minister commendeth them to God in this _or such like sort_."
+
+
+The service ended with the singing of an appropriate Psalm.
+
+In the service for burial of the dead it was ordered by the First Book
+of Discipline that neither singing, prayer, nor preaching should be
+engaged in, and this "on account of prevailing superstition."  In this
+matter, however, permission was granted to congregations to use their
+discretion; Knox, we know, preached a sermon after the burial of the
+Regent Moray, and the directions in the Book of Common Order clearly
+leave much to be determined by the circumstances of the case:
+
+
+"The corpse is reverently brought to the grave accompanied with the
+Congregation without any further ceremonies: which being buried, the
+Minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the Church, if it be
+not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people
+touching death and resurrection; then blesseth the people and so
+dismisseth them."
+
+
+This is but one of many instances that show that the early reformers
+accorded to the Church, in matters not absolutely essential to the
+preservation of sound doctrine and Scriptural practice, the greatest
+liberty.  With regard to the administration of the Sacraments and the
+public worship of God, they laid down well-defined regulations and
+outlines to which conformity was required; in matters that might be
+looked upon as simply edifying and profitable, liberty was allowed to
+ministers and congregations to determine according to their discretion,
+as Knox himself declared with respect to exercises of worship at
+burials:
+
+
+"We are not so precise but that we are content that particular Kirks
+use them in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same
+as they will answer to God and Assembly of the Universal Kirk gathered
+within the realm."
+
+
+We have thus presented in brief outline the contents of the Book of
+Common Order, commonly used in Scotland from 1562 to 1645, in so far as
+its regulations refer to public worship and the administration of the
+Sacraments.  The book is itself so simple and clear in its statements
+that it is not difficult to discover the spirit of its compilers, and
+their understanding of what was required for the seemly and Scriptural
+observance of the different parts of Divine worship.  The results of
+our survey may be summed up in a few words.
+
+The Scottish Church gave a prominent place to prayer, to the reading of
+Holy Scripture, and to praise, in the public worship of God on the
+Lord's Day.  Not in any sense do these exercises seem to have been
+regarded as subordinate in importance to the preaching of the Word; the
+congregations assembled for Divine worship, of which preaching was one
+important part.  But even where there was no preaching, the people
+nevertheless came together for Divine worship, in which they were led,
+in the absence of any minister, by persons duly appointed for that
+purpose.
+
+The service in public worship was not in any of its departments a
+responsive one.  The only audible part shared by the people was in the
+praise; they did not respond in prayer even to the extent of uttering
+an audible "Amen," nor did they join audibly in any general confession,
+in a declaration of faith as contained in the Apostles' Creed or in any
+other formulary, nor did they even repeat with the minister the Lord's
+Prayer when that model of prayer given by Christ to His disciples was
+used in public worship.
+
+Liberty under the guidance of the Holy Spirit marked the minister's use
+of the forms provided, and the privilege of extempore prayer was
+sacredly guarded, the example of Knox, as well as his precept,
+encouraging his brethren in the ministry to cultivate free and
+unrestricted prayer to God.  In this matter the Church declared her
+belief in the Holy Ghost and in His presence with her, believing that
+those who were divinely called to the work of the ministry were by the
+Spirit of God duly equipped for the performance of the important duties
+of that office.  Although forms of prayer were provided, these appear
+to have been intended mainly for the use of the Readers, who were not
+duly ordained to the ministerial office, and for the guidance of
+ministers, but IN NO PART OF PUBLIC WORSHIP APART FROM THE SACRAMENTS
+WAS THE MINISTER CONFINED TO THE USE OF PRESCRIBED FORMS.  Even the
+Readers enjoyed a degree of liberty in this matter, a liberty which
+they exercised, as is evident from an Order of Assembly passed in the
+reign of James forbidding Readers to offer extemporary prayers, but
+requiring them to use the forms prescribed.
+
+Lastly, in the administration of the Sacraments honor was put upon them
+by the care that was observed in their public, reverent and frequent
+observance.  Simplicity marked all the service connected with these
+holy ordinances, while, at the same time, whatever might appear to
+unduly exalt them to an unscriptural position in the thoughts of men,
+was carefully avoided, as well in the prayers and exhortations used as
+in the manner of administration.  The Sacraments were regarded as helps
+to the spiritual life of God's elect, as "medicine for the spiritually
+sick," and were never represented as holy mysteries into which only
+certain of God's children should penetrate.
+
+If these conclusions are just, it is very evident that those who to-day
+advocate the introduction into Presbyterian worship of responses and
+prescribed forms can find no support for such a practice, however they
+might limit it, in Knox's Book of Common Order, or in the practice of
+our Scottish ancestors in this so virile and vigorous period of the
+Church's history.  Just as little support, too, can those find who
+would impose upon the ministry of the Church the use of set forms from
+which no deviation is to be allowed either in the conduct of public
+worship or in the administration of the Sacraments.  The most that can
+be argued from this ancient regulation of worship, which is much more
+accurately described as a Directory rather than as a Liturgy, is the
+desirability of a uniform order of service for the whole Church, of a
+due proportion of attention to each part of worship, and of the
+conformity by all ministers to a uniform method in the administration
+of the Sacraments.  The Book of Common Order clearly indicates the
+conviction of the Scottish reformers that all things in connection with
+the worship of God should be done "in seemly form and according to
+order," and it quite as clearly indicates their purpose to acknowledge
+and rely upon the operation of the free Spirit of God, in the exercise
+of that worship and in the performance of the public ordinances in the
+sanctuary.
+
+
+
+
+A Diet of Public Worship in the Time of Knox.
+
+
+
+"What I have been to my country, albeit this unthankful age will not
+know, yet the ages to come will be compelled to bear witness to the
+truth."--JOHN KNOX.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+A Diet of Public Worship in the Time of Knox.
+
+A diet of worship on a Sabbath day in Scotland in the days of Knox, or
+in the period immediately succeeding his death, had for the people of
+that time a profound interest.  It was a period of storm and upheaval,
+and the Church, with its worship and teaching, was the centre around
+which, in large measure, the struggles of the age gathered; and
+although for us these struggles are simple history, and the subjects of
+debate are, many of them, forever laid aside, still it is of interest
+to learn how a service in connection with the public worship of the day
+proceeded in this formative period of Presbyterian practice, when order
+and method were less matters of indifference than they are now.
+
+Happily we are not left without abundant material for forming an
+accurate picture of a Sabbath-day service at that time, for in addition
+to the explicit directions contained in the Book of Common Order, there
+have come down to us descriptions of public worship by participants
+therein.
+
+As early as seven o'clock a bell was rung to warn the people of the
+approach of the hour of worship, and this was followed an hour later by
+another bell, which summoned the congregation to the place of prayer.
+It was a congregation of all classes, for in Scotland the Reformed
+doctrine made its way among the great and the lowly alike.  Writing in
+1641, a refutation of the charge made in England against the Scotch
+that they "had no certain rule or direction for their public worship,
+but that every man, following his extemporary fancy, did preach or pray
+what seemed good in his own eyes," Alexander Henderson thus describes
+in his reply the congregation in a Scotch Church: "When so many of all
+sorts, men and women, masters and servants, young and old, as shall
+meet together, are assembled, the public worship beginneth."  In the
+early days of Presbyterianism the rich and the poor met together,
+realizing that the Lord was the Maker of them both.
+
+The congregation assembled in a Church building that was plain in its
+interior, the plainness being emphasized, and at times rendered
+unsightly, by reason of the removal of the statues and pictures which
+in pre-Reformation times had decorated the walls and pillars.  The
+building was, however, as required by the Book of Discipline, rendered
+comfortable and suitable for purposes of worship.  It was ordered,
+"lest that the Word of God and ministration of the Sacraments by
+unseemliness of the place come into contempt," there should be made
+"such preparation within as appertaineth as well to the majesty of the
+Word of God as unto the ease and commodity of the people."  Such wise
+words indicate on the part of our Scottish ancestors an appreciation in
+their day of what is all too often even in these happier and more
+enlightened times, forgotten--the importance of having a Church
+building in keeping with the greatness of the cause to which it has
+been dedicated, and at the same time suitable and convenient for the
+purposes of public worship.  The narrowness which would forbid beauty
+and artistic decoration and the pride which would sacrifice comfort and
+convenience for the sake of appearance, were both avoided.  At one end
+of the building stood a pulpit, beside it, or within it, a basin or
+font for use in the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, and in
+the part where formerly the altar had stood, tables were placed for use
+in the observance of the Lord's Supper; at the end of the Church
+opposite to the pulpit was placed a stool of repentance, an article
+frequently in use in an age when Church discipline was vigorously
+administered.  Pews were as yet unknown; some churches had permanent
+desks or benches, to be occupied by men holding public positions, or by
+prominent members of influential guilds, the rest of the people stood
+throughout the service, or sat upon stools which they brought with them
+to the Church.
+
+The members of the congregation on entering the Church were expected to
+engage reverently in silent prayer, and at the hour appointed, the
+Reader from his desk called upon all present to join in the Public
+Worship of God; he then proceeded to read the Prayer prescribed in the
+Book of Common Order, or, if he so desired, to offer one similar
+thereto in intent; in either case the prayer was a general confession,
+and was followed by a Psalm or Psalms announced by the Reader and sung
+by the whole congregation and ending with the _Gloria Patri_.  Next
+came the reading of the Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments, the
+reading being continuous through whatever books had been selected.
+This ended that part of public worship which was conducted by the
+Reader, and occupied in all about one hour.
+
+On the second ringing of the bell, the minister entered the pulpit,
+knelt in silent devotion, and then led the people in prayer "as the
+Spirit moved his heart;" this finished, he proceeded to the sermon, to
+which the people listened either standing or sitting, as opportunity
+afforded, with their heads covered, and occasionally, if moved thereto,
+giving vent to their feelings by expressions of applause or
+disapproval.  After the sermon the minister led the congregation in
+prayer for blessing upon the Word preached and for the general estate
+of Christ's Church: if the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed were
+employed in the service (but this was optional with the minister) they
+were repeated by the minister alone at the close of this prayer, and
+embodied in it; a Psalm was sung by the congregation and the
+Benediction was pronounced, or rather, the Blessing was invoked, for
+the petitions were framed as supplications: "The grace of the Lord
+Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be
+with us all: So be it."
+
+Such was the course of an ordinary diet of worship.  If a marriage was
+to be celebrated the parties presented themselves in Church before the
+sermon; the ceremony having been performed, the parties remained,
+according to regulation, until the close of the public worship.  If the
+Sacrament of Baptism was to be administered the infant was presented
+for the ordinance at the close of the sermon by the father, who was
+attended by one or more sponsors.  When the Lord's Supper was observed
+(which in some congregations was monthly) the tables were spread in
+that part of the Church which had formerly been the chancel, and as
+many communicants as could conveniently do so sat down together with
+the minister.  These, when the tables had been served, gave place to
+others.
+
+The services throughout were marked by simplicity, reverence and
+freedom from strict and unbending forms; liberty characterized their
+every part, and room was left for the exercise of the guiding Spirit of
+God, in a measure not enjoyed by Churches tied to the use of a
+prescribed worship; at the same time there was a recognized order and a
+reverent devotion in all parts of the worship which many non-liturgical
+Churches of this day may well covet.  It was a service simple yet
+impressive, voluntary yet orderly, regulated and yet untrammeled.
+
+
+
+
+The Period of Controversy, 1614-1645.
+
+
+
+"They were splintered and torn, but no power could bend or melt them.
+They dwelt, as pious men are apt to dwell, in suffering and sorrow on
+the all-disposing power of Providence.  Their burden grew lighter as
+they considered that God had so determined that they should bear
+it."--FROUDE.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+The Period of Controversy, 1614-1645.
+
+The years from 1603, the date of James the Sixth's ascent to the united
+thrones of England and Scotland, until 1645 the year of the Westminster
+Assembly, cover one of the most exciting and interesting periods in
+Scottish history.  Especially is this period of interest to the student
+of Scottish Church history, because of the influences both direct and
+indirect which the struggles of that time had upon the development of
+the character and practice of the Presbyterian Church.
+
+The Book of Common Order had received the authority of the General
+Assembly sitting in Edinburgh in 1564, and for nearly fifty years from
+that date it was the unchallenged directory for worship and usage in
+the Scottish Church.  Its use, though not universal, was general, and
+it was uniformly referred to, as well in civil as in ecclesiastical
+courts, as comprising for the Church the law respecting public worship.
+
+The first mention of any desire to modify or amend this book occurs in
+1601, in the records of the General Assembly, when a motion was made
+respecting an improved version of the Bible, a revision of the Psalter
+and an amendment of "sundry prayers in the Psalm-Book which should be
+altered in respect they are not convenient for the time."  The
+Assembly, however, declined to amend the prayers already in the Book,
+or to delete any of them, but ordained that:
+
+
+"If any brother would have any prayers added, which are meet for the
+time.... the same first to be tried and allowed by the Assembly."
+
+
+The motion thus proposed, and the action of the General Assembly
+regarding it, is of interest in that it seems plainly to indicate that
+whatever desire there was for change, this desire was not the result of
+a movement in favor of a fuller liturgical service, nor on the other
+hand, of one which had for its object the entire removal of the form of
+worship at that time in use.  To this form, commonly employed, no
+objection was offered, but owing to changing times and circumstances,
+it was regarded as desirable that the matter contained in the suggested
+forms of prayer should be so modified as to make them more applicable
+to the conditions of the age.
+
+James the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne of the united kingdoms
+in 1603, and many of his Presbyterian subjects cherished the hope that
+his influence would be exerted to conform the practice and worship of
+the Church of England to that of other Reformed Churches.  In this hope
+they were destined to severe disappointment, as it very soon became
+evident that the aim of the royal theologian was to reduce to the forms
+and methods of Episcopacy, those of all the Churches within his realm.
+In considering the subject of Presbyterian worship it will not be
+necessary to enter fully into the history of the civil struggle between
+the Church of Scotland and the Stuart Kings except in those phases of
+it which affected the worship of the Church; as these, however, are so
+closely interwoven with questions of government it will be impossible
+always to avoid reference to the latter or to keep the two absolutely
+distinct.
+
+In 1606 it was decided by the Scottish Parliament that the King was
+"absolute, Prince, Judge and Governor over all persons, estates, and
+causes, both spiritual and temporal, within the realm."  Four years
+later the General Assembly, composed of commissioners named by the
+King, met at Glasgow and issued a decree to the effect that the right
+of calling General Assemblies of the Church belonged to the Crown.
+This, among other acts of this Assembly, was ratified by the Parliament
+of 1612, and James, having thus secured the position in the Church
+which he coveted, proceeded in his endeavors to mould it, as well in
+its worship as in its government and doctrine, to his own views.
+
+The Church of Scotland was not allowed to remain long in ignorance of
+the King's purpose.  Early in 1614 a royal order was sent to the
+northern kingdom requiring all ministers to celebrate Holy Communion on
+Easter Day, the 24th of April, and this was followed in 1616 by a
+proposal from the King to the General Assembly that "a liturgy and form
+of divine service should be prepared" for the use of the Scottish
+Church.  The Assembly (formed as indicated above) with ready
+acquiescence heartily thanked His Majesty for his royal care of the
+Church and ordained:
+
+
+"That a uniform order of Liturgy or divine service be set down to be
+read in all Kirks on the ordinary days of prayer and every Sabbath day
+before the sermon, to the end the common people may be acquainted
+therewith, and by custom may learn to serve God rightly.  And to this
+intent the Assembly has appointed ... to revise the Book of Common
+Prayer contained in the Psalm Book, and to set down a common form of
+ordinary service to be used in all times hereafter."
+
+
+The work thus authorized of revising the Book of Common Order was at
+once undertaken by those appointed thereto, but although a draft was
+made and much labor was expended upon it during a term of several
+years, the book in its revised form was never introduced into the
+Scottish Church.  By the time it had received its final revision at the
+hands of the King and his Scotch advisors in London, such events had
+transpired, and such a spirit of opposition had been aroused in
+Scotland by other measures, that it was deemed wise to withhold it, and
+the death of James occurring in 1625, while it was still unpublished,
+the book in its revised form was retained by Spottiswoode, Bishop of
+St. Andrew's, and appears to have been forgotten for years, even by its
+most active promoters.  From correspondence in the time of Charles
+First, however, it appears that James had not relinquished his aim of
+imposing the new book upon the Scottish Church, and it is probable that
+his death alone prevented the attempt being made to carry out his
+cherished purpose.
+
+Much of the voluminous correspondence, which at this time passed
+between James and the leaders of the Scottish Church, is still extant
+and it serves to indicate some of the anticipated changes in the forms
+of worship.
+
+In the regular worship appointed for the Lord's Day there was to be
+introduced a liturgy which was to be used before the sermon; the Ten
+Commandments were to be read, and after each of them the people were to
+be instructed to respond, or, as the rubric directed:
+
+
+"After every Commandment they ask mercy of God for their transgression
+of the same in this manner,--Lord have mercy upon us and incline our
+hearts to keep this law."
+
+
+There was also an evident purpose to leave less to the discretion of
+the minister, and to restrict him more closely to the use of provided
+forms in prayer, as well as to regulate more particularly the reading
+of the Scriptures.  A table of Scripture lessons was to be prepared
+showing the passages proper to be read on each day; prayers were also
+provided for worship upon saints' days and festivals, in the use of
+which there was to be no option, and the privilege of extempore prayer
+in any part of public worship was to be taken from the minister, in
+large measure if not entirely.  That this intention was cherished seems
+evident from a discussion in which Spottiswoode engaged with one Hog,
+minister at Dysart.  Hog had defended an action complained of, by
+saying that his prayer on the occasion referred to had been in
+conformity with Knox's Book of Common Order; in reply Spottiswoode
+declared that "In a short time that Book of Discipline would be
+discharged and ministers tied to set forms."
+
+The Book was regarded by all as a compromise between the Book of Common
+Order and the English Prayer Book, and appears to have excited no
+enthusiasm, even among its promoters; it was too subversive of Scottish
+custom to please those who were loyal to the old usage, and it was not
+sufficiently liturgical to suit James and his like-minded counsellors.
+
+It has been stated that the transpiring of certain events had delayed
+the publication of this Liturgy; these events were connected with the
+historic "Articles of Perth."  These "Articles" were orders, first of
+the General Assembly of 1618, sitting at Perth and acting under royal
+instruction, and afterwards of the Parliament which confirmed them in
+1621, enjoining
+
+Kneeling at the Communion;
+
+Private Communion in cases of sickness;
+
+Private Baptism "upon a great and reasonable cause;"
+
+Episcopal Confirmation;
+
+The observance of the festivals of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Day,
+Ascension Day and Whitsunday.
+
+The Five Articles were passed in Assembly in spite of vigorous
+opposition on the part of a minority that, nevertheless, represented
+the most intense feeling of a very large section of the Scottish
+people.  The first of these Five Articles, that were subversive of so
+much for which the reformers had struggled and had at last secured,
+reestablished a practice that could only be regarded by the Church as
+Romish in its tendency, and wholly unscriptural.  It excited the most
+violent opposition, and secured for itself, even after its approval by
+Parliament, determined resistance on the part of the people.
+
+Previous to this, in 1617, James had by his childish flaunting of the
+service of the Church of England in the face of the Scottish subjects,
+on the occasion of his visit to Edinburgh, estranged the sympathies of
+many who had previously been not unkindly disposed toward his projects,
+and aroused among the people in general, a deeper and more widespread
+opposition to his scheme of reform than had hitherto made itself
+manifest.  Some months before his visit he had given orders for the
+re-fitting of the Royal Chapel at Holyrood, and for the introduction of
+an organ, the preparation of stalls for choristers, and the setting up
+within the Chapel of statues of the Apostles and Evangelists.  The
+organ and choristers the Scotch could abide, but the proposal of
+"images" aroused such an outburst of opposition on the part of the
+people that James, being advised of it, made a happy excuse of the
+statues not being yet ready, and withdrew his order for the forwarding
+of them to Scotland.  The services in Holyrood Chapel, however, during
+the visit of His Majesty to Edinburgh, were all after the Episcopal
+form, "with singing of choristers, surplices, and playing on organs,"
+and when a clergyman of the Church of England officiated at the
+celebration of the Lord's Supper, the majority of those present
+received it kneeling.  All this, as may be imagined, had its effect
+upon James's Scottish subjects, but that effect was the opposite of
+what he had hoped for.  Instead of inspiring a love for an elaborate
+liturgy, or developing a sympathy between the two kingdoms in matters
+of worship, the result was to antagonize the spirit of the Scots, as
+well against the proposed changes as against the King, who, with
+childish pleasure in what he deemed proper, sought to enforce his will
+upon the conscience of the people from whom he had sprung, and among
+whom he had been educated.  The loyalty of the Scots to the Stuarts is
+proverbial, but though ready to die for their king, to acknowledge him
+as lord of the conscience they could not be persuaded.  A spirit of
+opposition stronger than that which had before existed was developed
+against any liturgy in Church worship, and the seeds were sown which
+were afterwards to bear fruit in the harvest of the Revolution of 1688.
+This opposition, it may be argued, was not the outcome of a calm
+consideration of the questions involved, but was an indirect result of
+the national anger at the attempt of the King to coerce the consciences
+of his subjects.  In any event, so strong was the opposition to any
+change in the religious worship of the land, that James ceased his
+active endeavors to carry out his will, and in a message to his
+Scottish subjects in 1624 assured them of his desire "by gentle and
+fair means rather to reclaim them from their unsettled and
+evil-grounded opinions, nor by severity and rigor of justice to inflict
+that punishment which their misbehavior and contempt merits."
+
+We now come to a period marked by a still more vigorous assault upon
+the liberties of the Church of Scotland, and by a correspondingly
+vigorous opposition thereto on the part of the Scottish people.
+William Laud, who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, began to
+exert his influence upon the religious life of both England and
+Scotland during the closing years of James's reign, but it was in the
+reign of Charles the First, who succeeded his father in 1625, that he
+came before the world in his sudden and so unfortunate greatness.
+History has left but little doubt in the mind of the careful student
+that Laud's deliberate purpose and persistent influence, both in
+England and in Scotland, were towards a revival of Romanism within the
+Church of which he was a prelate, or at least towards the creation of a
+high Anglicanism which would differ but little from the Romish system.
+Adroitly, and frequently concealing his real purpose, he labored to
+this end, and it is not too much to say that the vigorous and, at last,
+successful opposition to his plans in Scotland, saved the English
+Church from radical changes which it is clear he was prepared to
+introduce in the southern Kingdom when his desires for Scotland had
+been effected.  England owes to Scotland the preservation of her
+Protestantism on two occasions: first, in the days of Knox, when the
+work of the sturdy Reformer prevented what must have taken place had a
+Catholic Scotland been prepared to join with Spain in the overthrow of
+Protestant England, and again when Scottish opposition effectively
+nipped in the bud Laud's plans for a Romish movement in both Kingdoms.
+
+The history of the movement under Laud it is only possible briefly to
+summarize.  In 1629 Charles revived the subject, to which his father
+had devoted so much attention, of an improved service in the Church of
+Scotland, and wrote to the Scottish Bishops ordering them to press
+forward the matter of an improved liturgy with all earnestness.  As a
+result, the draft of the Book of Common Prayer prepared in the reign of
+James was again brought to light and forwarded to Charles, and this
+would probably have been accepted and authorized for use but for Laud's
+influence.  It however was too bald and simple to suit the ritualistic
+Archbishop, who persuaded the King that it would be entirely preferable
+to introduce into Scotland the English Prayer Book without change.
+Correspondence upon the matter was continued until 1633, when Charles,
+accompanied by Laud, visited Scotland for the purpose of being crowned,
+and also "to finish the important business of the Liturgy."
+
+During his stay in Scotland Charles followed the example of his father
+in parading before the people upon every possible occasion the ritual
+of the Church of England, conduct on his part which served only to stir
+up further and more deeply-seated opposition.  Soon after his return to
+England he dispatched instructions to the Scottish Bishops requiring
+them to decide upon a form of liturgy and to proceed with its
+preparation.  His message was in these terms:
+
+
+"Considering that there is nothing more defective in that Church than
+the want of a Book of Common Prayer and uniform service to be kept in
+all the Churches thereof ... we are hereby pleased to authorize you ...
+to condescend upon a form of Church service to be used therein."
+
+
+Such a form was accordingly prepared, forwarded to London for the
+King's approval, and, after revision by Laud, who was commanded by His
+Majesty to give to the Bishops of Scotland his best assistance in this
+work, it was duly published in 1637, and ordered to be read in all
+Churches of Scotland on the 23rd of July of that year.  The book
+appeared, stamped with the royal approval, elaborately illuminated and
+illustrated, and bearing this title, "The Book of Common Prayer and
+Administration of the Sacraments, and other parts of Divine Service,
+for the use of the Church of Scotland."  A royal order accompanied it,
+in which civil authorities were enjoined to
+
+
+"Command and charge all our subjects, both ecclesiastical and civil, to
+conform themselves to the public form of worship, which is the only
+form of worship which we (having taken counsel of our clergy) think fit
+to be used in God's public worship in this our kingdom."
+
+
+The introduction of this Service Book, as it was called, into public
+worship in St. Giles, Edinburgh, on the day appointed, was the signal
+for an outburst of popular indignation that was as fire to the heather
+in the land.  On that occasion the Archbishop of St. Andrew's was
+present with the Bishop of Edinburgh, but when the Dean rose to read
+the new service, even the presence of such dignitaries was not
+sufficient to restrain the pent-up feelings of the congregation.  Such
+a clamor arose as made it impossible for the Dean to proceed, books and
+other missiles were freely thrown, and a stool, hurled by the
+traditional Jenny Geddes, narrowly missed the Dean's head, whereupon
+that dignitary fled precipitately, followed by the more forcible than
+elegant ejaculation of the wrathful woman, "Out thou false thief; dost
+thou say mass at my lug?"  The riot in Edinburgh was the signal for
+similar manifestations of popular feeling throughout the land, the
+national spirit was aroused, and the stately fabric which Charles and
+Laud, supported by a prelatic party in Scotland, had been laboriously
+rearing for years, was overthrown in a day.
+
+This feeling of opposition on the part of the people to the
+introduction of a liturgy into the Church of Scotland, found due and
+official expression in the following year.  The General Assembly
+meeting at Glasgow repudiated Laud's Liturgy and appealed repeatedly to
+the Book of Common Order as containing the Law of the Church respecting
+worship.  In his eloquent closing address the Moderator, Alexander
+Henderson, said: "and now we are quit of the Service Book, which was a
+book of service and slavery indeed, the Book of Canons which tied us in
+spiritual bondage, the Book of Ordination which was a yoke put upon the
+necks of faithful ministers, and the High Commission which was a guard
+to keep us all under that slavery."  The people also in formal manner
+expressed their mind on the matter and in the Solemn League and
+Covenant, signed in Gray friars Churchyard, asserted their purpose to
+defend, even unto death, the true religion, and to "labor by all means
+lawful to recover the purity and liberty of the Gospel as it was
+established and professed before the late innovations."  Charles at
+first determined upon extreme measures, and preparations were made to
+force "the stubborn Kirk of Scotland to bow," but wiser measures
+prevailed, and the desires of the Church of Scotland were for the time
+granted.
+
+The Book of Common Order, thus reaffirmed as the law of the Church
+respecting worship, continued in use during the years following the
+Glasgow Assembly of 1638, years which for Scotland were comparatively
+peaceful, by reason of the troubles fast thickening around the English
+throne.
+
+This interesting chapter of Scottish history which we have thus briefly
+reviewed, is of value to us in the present discussion only in so far
+as, from the facts presented, we are able to understand the spirit that
+characterized the Church of Scotland at this period, and the principles
+that guided them in their attitude toward the subject of public
+worship.  What this spirit and those principles were it is not
+difficult to discover.  The facts themselves are plain; not only did
+the Church in its regularly constituted courts oppose the introduction
+of new forms and the elaboration of the Church service, but the people
+resisted by every means in their power, and at last went the length of
+resisting by force of arms, the attempt to impose upon them the new
+Service Book.
+
+It is asserted that the chief, if not the only cause of this resistance
+was, first, an element of patriotism which in Scotland opposed
+uniformly any measure which seemed to subordinate the national customs
+to those of England, and secondly, the righteous and conscientious
+objection of Presbyterians to having imposed upon them by any external
+authority, a form of worship and Church government which their own
+ecclesiastical authorities had not approved, and which they themselves
+had not voluntarily accepted.  The objection, in a word, is said to
+have been not to a liturgy as such, but to a _foreign_ liturgy and to
+one _imposed_.
+
+It cannot be denied that these were important elements in the
+opposition of the Scottish people to the projects of Charles.  Many of
+them, for one or other of these reasons, opposed the King's command,
+who had no conscientious scruples with regard either to the form or
+substance of Laud's liturgy.  Too much is claimed, however, when the
+assertion is made that there was no real objection among the people to
+the introduction of an elaborated service such as that which was
+proposed.  The liberty of free prayer so dear to the Scottish reformers
+was, if not entirely denied, largely encroached upon; a responsive
+service, to which, in common with the great leaders of Geneva, Knox and
+Melville had been so uniformly opposed, was introduced; and
+particularly in the service for the administration of the Sacrament of
+the Lord's Supper, forms of words were employed which seemed to teach
+doctrines rejected by the reformers.  Here then was abundant ground for
+opposition to Laud's liturgy when judged on its merits, and this ground
+the stern theologians of that day were not likely to overlook.
+
+Nor is it to be forgotten that in the many supplications which from
+time to time were presented to the King both from Church and State
+against the introduction of the Service Book, the anti-English plea
+never found a place, but uniformly, reference was made in strong terms
+to the unscriptural form of worship suggested for adoption by the
+Scottish people, together with a protest against the arrogant
+imposition upon them of a form of service not desired.  Persistently in
+these supplications the subscribers expressed their desire that there
+should be no change in the form of worship to which they had been
+accustomed, and prayed for a continuance of the liberty hitherto
+enjoyed.  In a complaint laid before the Privy Council the Service Book
+and Canons are described as "containing the seeds of divers
+superstitions, idolatry and false doctrine," and as being "subversive
+of the discipline established in the Church."  The Earl of Rothes in an
+address spoke thus: "Who pressed that form of service contrary to the
+laws of God and this kingdom?  Who dared in their conventicles contrive
+a form of God's public worship contrary to that established by the
+general consent of this Church and State?"  And that the _form_ of
+worship ever held a prominent place in the discussions of the time,
+appears from a letter supposed to have been written by Alexander
+Henderson, in which he defends the Presbyterian Church against a charge
+of disorder and neglect of seemly procedure in worship; he says, "The
+form of prayers, administration of the Sacraments, etc., which are set
+down before their Psalm Book, and to which the ministers are to conform
+themselves, is a sufficient witness; for although they be not tied to
+set forms and words, yet are they not left at random, but for
+testifying their consent and keeping unity they have their Directory
+and prescribed Order."
+
+While it is true, therefore, that the high-handed conduct of the King
+in forcing upon an unwilling people a form of service already
+distasteful because of its foreign associations, was doubtless an
+important element in arousing the vigorous opposition with which it was
+met, nevertheless, there is abundant evidence to show that apart from
+any such consideration, the spirit of the Church of Scotland was
+entirely hostile to the introduction of further forms, to the
+elaboration of their simple service, and to the imposition upon their
+ministers of prescribed prayers from which in public worship they would
+not be allowed to depart.
+
+
+
+
+The Westminster Assembly and the Directory of Worship.
+
+
+
+If the Assembly's Directory increased liberty, it also augmented
+responsibility.  If it took away the support of set and prescribed
+forms on which the indolent might lean and even sleep, this was done to
+the avowed intent that those who conducted public services might the
+more industriously prepare for them; and thereunto the more diligently
+stir up the gifts of God within them.--REV. EUGENE DANIEL.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+The Westminster Assembly and the Directory of Worship.
+
+Prior to the year 1638 the Church of Scotland, in its struggle to
+preserve its form of worship, had to contend with the advocates of
+prelacy and ritualism, but now opposition to the established practice
+arose from another quarter.
+
+In connection with every great reform there are apt to arise
+extravagant movements, the promoters of which see only one side of
+confessedly important truths, and so carry to undue excess some phase
+of reform which, in properly balanced measure, would have been
+righteous and desirable.  So it was in the period of the Reformation.
+Among the several sectaries which had their origin in the Reformed
+Church was a company called Brownists, an extreme section of the
+Independents, who took their name from their founder, one Robert
+Browne, an Englishman and a preacher, although a rejecter of ordination
+and a protester against the necessity of any official license for the
+work of the ministry.  It was a part of their creed to object to any
+regulation of public worship, and even to many of the simplest
+ceremonies which had hitherto been retained by the Reformed Churches.
+In Scotland they opposed, as they had done elsewhere, all reading of
+prayers, and, in particular, the kneeling of the minister for private
+devotions on entering the pulpit, the repeating of the Lord's Prayer in
+any part of the public service, and the singing of the _Gloria Patri_
+at the end of the Psalm.  The movement, let it be said, although it
+took an extreme form, had its spring in the deep disgust and shame felt
+by many pious souls at the laxity and formality which characterized
+religious life in England during the earlier part of the Stuart period.
+
+The unwise policy of Charles in seeking to force upon the Scottish
+Church a liturgical service, had produced in the minds of many its
+natural result, creating extreme views in opposition to all prescribed
+forms of worship.  The Brownists, therefore, found in Scotland a large
+following, and a rapidly increasing section of the Church began
+gradually to depart even from the forms and suggestions of the Book of
+Common Order, and to adopt a still less restricted form of service.
+Against these irregularities the General Assemblies of 1639 and 1640
+legislated, and yet in such terms as seem to indicate that already the
+mind of the Church at large was being prepared for change.  It was
+ordained by the first of the Assemblies referred to that
+
+
+"No novation in worship should be suddenly enacted, but that Synods,
+Presbyteries and Kirks should be advised with before the Assembly
+should authorize any change."
+
+
+The desire for greater freedom in worship continued to increase, until
+in 1643 the General Assembly appointed a committee with instructions to
+prepare, and have in readiness for the next Assembly, a Directory for
+Divine Worship in the Church of Scotland.  This was a distinct
+concession to that section of the Church which was opposed to even the
+simplest forms of an optional liturgy.  The work, however, was
+superseded by a similar undertaking on a larger scale, in virtue of an
+invitation from the members of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster
+to the Church of Scotland to join with them in the preparation, among
+other standards, of a Directory of Worship for the use of the Churches
+of both England and Scotland.  The invitation was accepted with
+readiness, and "certain ministers of good word, and representative
+elders highly approved of by their brethren," were elected to represent
+the Scottish Church in this great work.  These men were Baillie,
+Henderson, Rutherford, Gillespie and Douglas, ministers, with Johnston,
+of Warriston, and Lords Cassilis and Maitland as lay representatives;
+Argyle, Balmerinoch and Loudon were afterwards added.  The work was
+duly prosecuted at Westminster, and, although the Scotch Commissioners
+with reluctance relinquished their Book of Common Order, yet for the
+sake of the uniformity in worship which they hoped to see established
+throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, they joined heartily in the
+work, and carried it when completed to the Assembly of the Church of
+Scotland, by which it was duly examined, slightly amended in the
+directions concerning baptism and marriage, and finally, unanimously
+approved in all its parts, and adopted.  The terms in which the
+Assembly expressed its approval of this work are unreserved:
+
+
+"The General Assembly, having most seriously considered, revised and
+examined the Directory aforementioned, after several public readings of
+it, after much deliberation, both publicly and in private committees,
+after full liberty given to all to object against it, and earnest
+invitations of all who have any scruples about it, to make known the
+same, that they might be satisfied, doth unanimously, and without a
+contrary voice, agree to and approve the following Directory in all the
+heads thereof, together with the preface set before it; and doth
+require, decern and ordain that, according to the plain tenor and
+meaning thereof and the intent of the preface, it be carefully and
+uniformly observed and practised by all the ministers and others within
+this Kingdom whom it doth concern."
+
+
+The Scottish Parliament likewise gave its approval of the Directory,
+which was accordingly in due time prepared for publication, and issued
+under the title, "A Directory for the Public Worship of God throughout
+the three kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland; with an Act of the
+General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland for establishing and observing
+this present Directory;" and thus the Westminster Directory became the
+primary authority on matters of worship and administration of the
+Sacraments within the Church of Scotland.
+
+Its use, however, during the years immediately following its adoption
+appears to have been by no means general, many still adhering to the
+method of the Book of Common Order, others inclining towards an even
+greater freedom than seemed to them to be permitted by the Directory.
+These latter belonged to that section of the Church afterwards known as
+Protesters, and whose opposition to the use of the Lord's Prayer and
+the Creed, as well ay to prescribed forms of prayer, was most
+pronounced.  Events soon occurred which exerted a strong influence in
+favor of absolute liberty in worship, and which effectively
+strengthened the Protesters in the position which they had assumed.
+
+In 1651 there took place at Scone the unhappy crowning of Charles the
+Second by the Scots.  This act placed Scotland in open opposition to
+Cromwell, and as a result the land was brought under his iron-handed
+rule during the remaining years of the Protectorate.  The effect of
+this on the worship of the Church was to introduce into Scotland the
+methods of worship approved by the Independents, to whom those parties
+in Scotland which were opposed to all prescribed forms or regulation of
+worship, now attached themselves.  Worship after the Presbyterian form
+was not disallowed, but the preachers of Cromwell's army, with the
+approval of an increasing party in the Scottish Church, forced
+themselves into the pulpits of the land and conducted worship in a
+manner approved of by themselves.  In these services preaching occupied
+the most prominent place, and to worship, as such, but scant attention
+was given, so that in 1653 the ministers of the city of Edinburgh,
+finding complaints among the people that in the services of the Sabbath
+day there was no reading of Scripture nor singing of Psalms, took steps
+to have these parts of worship resumed.  While the public worship of
+the Church of Scotland during the period of the Commonwealth cannot be
+said to have had any general uniformity, it is evident that the
+influence of Independency upon it was toward the curtailment of form
+and the granting of absolute liberty to every preacher to conduct
+worship in whatever way seemed good to himself.  It was the swing of
+the pendulum to the opposite extreme from the enforced order of Laud's
+Liturgy.  It is doubtful if this erratic period would have left any
+permanent effect upon the religious life and worship of Scotland, had
+it not been for the formation of a party in sympathy with the political
+principles of the Protector.  This party, being forced into political
+opposition to the supporters of royalty, naturally found themselves,
+through their associations, prejudiced in favor of the religious
+principles and practices of those with whom they stood allied in the
+state; and thus it was that a strong party favoring absolute liberty in
+matters of worship arose in the Scottish Church.
+
+The restoration of Charles the Second in 1660 brought with it the
+disavowal on his part of the Covenant to which he had subscribed, and
+the open rejection of the Presbyterian principles to which he had been
+so readily loyal in the day of his distress.  Episcopacy was restored
+as the form of Church government for Scotland, and bishops were
+consecrated; but it was left to time and the gradual power of imitation
+to secure the introduction of a ritual into the worship of the Church.
+Charles the Second and his minion, Sharp, did not deem it wise to
+undertake a work in which Charles the First and Laud had so signally
+failed, the work of imposing a ritual of worship upon the Scottish
+Church; Episcopal government had been imposed, Episcopal worship it was
+hoped would follow.  In both of his aims, however, though sought by
+such different methods, Charles was doomed to disappointment.  As
+impotent as was the royal command, though backed by every form of
+deprivation of right and of cruel persecution, to secure the acceptance
+by Scotland of an Episcopal Church, so impotent was the service,
+conducted by royal hirelings and conforming curates, to inspire the
+people with any love for formal worship.  It was, further, in
+comparatively few of the Churches of Scotland that any attempt was made
+to introduce the service of the English Prayer Book.  In the now
+Episcopal Churches of the land, a form of worship which gave a place to
+the Lord's Prayer, the Gloria Patri, the Apostles' Creed, and the
+Decalogue, was regarded as satisfactory.  Public worship, therefore, at
+this time may be said to have been simply a return to the method
+suggested, but not required, in the time of Knox; but even these
+historic Scottish forms, by reason of their association with an
+enforced Episcopacy, became increasingly distasteful to that large body
+of the Scots who refused to conform to the Church by law established,
+and who, as a result, were driven to the moors and the hill-sides,
+there to worship God as conscience prompted.
+
+The Protesters, the party to which the majority of the Covenanters
+belonged, had always been opposed to anything savoring of ritual in
+worship.  But their opposition was intensified and deepened during the
+twenty-eight years of the "killing time," as they saw the worship of
+the party from which their persecutors arose, characterized chiefly by
+the acceptance of those forms against which they had entered their
+protest in former days.  Even in the case of those whose consciences
+permitted them to conform to the established religion of the land and
+to wait on the ministry of the conforming clergy, there was developed,
+through sympathy with their persecuted countrymen, hunted on the hills
+and tracked to their hiding places like quarry, a suspicion of even the
+forms of a religion that permitted such cruelties.  And thus it was
+that when the deliverer alike for England and Scotland arrived from the
+"hollow land," where behind their dykes the conquerors of the Spaniards
+had won for themselves the privilege of religious liberty, Scotland was
+prepared to join in the welcome given to William of Orange, and to hail
+with delight the prospect of a restored Presbyterianism and its
+inherent liberty.  Most heartily, therefore, was it that the leaders in
+Scotland, alike in Church and State, subscribed to the request
+presented to William, "That Presbyterian government be restored and
+re-established as it was at the beginning of our Reformation from
+Popery, and renewed in the year 1638, continuing until 1660."
+
+
+
+
+Legislation concerning Public Worship in the Period subsequent to the
+Revolution of 1688.
+
+
+
+"Religion shall rise from its ruins; and its oppressed state at present
+should not only excite us to pray, but encourage us to hope, for its
+speedy revival."--DR. WITHERSPOON.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+Legislation concerning Public Worship in the Period subsequent to the
+Revolution of 1688.
+
+In 1689 the first Parliament under William and Mary was held, and their
+Majesties promised to establish by law "that form of Church government
+which is most agreeable to the inclinations of the people."  In
+accordance with this promise the Confession of Faith, adopted in 1645,
+was in the following year declared to be for Scotland "the public and
+avowed confession of this Church," and an Order was issued summoning a
+General Assembly, the first since the forcible dissolution of the
+Assembly of 1653 by Cromwell's dragoons.  No Act was passed at this
+time concerning public worship, nor was the authority of the Directory
+affirmed, but, whether by intention or through neglect, it was left to
+the Church to adjust matters pertaining to this subject, without formal
+instruction from Parliament.  Considering, however, that the
+controlling party in the Church was the one that had suffered
+persecution, and whose well-known feelings on the subject of worship
+had been intensified by long and severe suffering, it is not to be
+wondered at if the changes and adjustments effected in church worship
+and discipline should in large measure bear the stamp of their extreme
+opinions.  So far as legislation is concerned, however, moderation and
+fairness marked all the proceedings of the Church, for in the Assembly
+of 1690, which was largely composed of those whose sympathies were with
+the Protesters, no action whatever was taken for the regulation of
+public worship, the only Act having any reference thereto being one
+which forbade private administration of the Sacraments.  But although
+the form of worship was not affected by legislation, it is evident from
+contemporary writings that the spirit of the Protesters survived, and
+exerted itself in fostering, in many parts of the land, a sentiment
+even more hostile to everything that might savor of even the simplest
+ritual.
+
+The references of the Assemblies that followed the Revolution show that
+the Directory of Worship as adopted by the Westminster Divines, and
+afterwards by the Church and Parliament of Scotland, was at this time
+regarded as the authority in matters of worship, and it was to worship,
+as so regulated, that the Act of 1693 referred.  This Act pertaining to
+"The Uniformity of Worship" ordained:
+
+
+"That uniformity of worship and of the administration of all public
+ordinances within this Church be observed by all the said ministers and
+preachers as the same are at present performed and allowed therein, or
+shall be hereafter declared by the authority of the same, and that no
+minister or preacher be admitted or continued hereafter unless that he
+subscribe to observe, and do actually observe, the aforesaid
+uniformity."
+
+
+The General Assembly, in the following year, in accordance with this
+civil legislation, prepared a form for subscription in which the
+subscribing minister promised to "observe uniformity of worship and of
+the administration of all public ordinances within this Church, as the
+same are at present performed and allowed."  In the same year reference
+is made in an "Act anent Lecturing" to the "Custom introduced and
+established by the Directory."
+
+It is evident, therefore, that at this period the Directory was
+regarded by the Church as the authority, and the only authority, in
+matters pertaining to worship.  In spite of Acts requiring uniformity,
+however, there were still within the Church those who sought to
+introduce changes, some of these desiring the introduction of an
+imposed ritual, others regarding absolute congregational liberty in
+matters of worship as desirable.  As a result of divergent views and
+practices there was passed by the Assembly of 1697 the Barrier Act, for
+the purpose of
+
+
+"Preventing any sudden alteration or innovation or other prejudice to
+the Church in either doctrine or worship or discipline or government
+thereof, now happily established."
+
+
+This was the formal and particular enactment of the principle laid down
+two generations earlier, when in 1639 the Church, disturbed by the
+Brownists, had ordained that "no novation in worship should be suddenly
+enacted."
+
+One other Act of Assembly in this period must be quoted as showing the
+feeling in Scotland at this time with regard to ritual in the Church.
+It resulted from a determined effort on the part of some Episcopalians
+to introduce, wherever possible, the English Book of Common Prayer into
+the services of the Church in Scotland.  The Assembly accordingly
+enacted that:
+
+
+"The purity of religion and particularly of Divine Worship ... is a
+signal blessing to the Church of God-- ... and that any attempts made
+for the introduction of innovations in the worship of God therein have
+been of fatal and dangerous consequence ... that such innovations are
+dangerous to this Church and manifestly contrary to our known principle
+(which is, that nothing is to be admitted in the worship of God but
+what is prescribed in the Holy Scripture) and against the good and
+laudable laws made since the late happy Revolution for establishing and
+securing the same in her doctrine, worship, discipline and government."
+Therefore the Church required "all the ministers of this Church ... to
+represent to their people the evil thereof and seriously to exhort them
+to beware of them, and to deal with all such as do or practise the same
+in order to their recovery and reformation."
+
+
+The above enactment leaves no room for doubt as to the opinion
+prevailing in the Church of Scotland at the beginning of the eighteenth
+century respecting ritual in the public worship of God.  At the same
+time it is very evident that a desire prevailed in the Church for a
+seemly and uniform order of service in public worship and an Act of the
+Assembly of 1705
+
+
+"Seriously recommends to all ministers and others within this national
+Church the due observance of the Directory for public worship of God
+approven by the General Assembly held in the year 1645."
+
+
+This deliverance may be taken as representing the spirit of all
+legislation of the Church respecting worship up to the middle of the
+present century.  Whenever, in response to overtures from subordinate
+courts, or inspired by special requirements of the times, deliverances
+concerning any part of worship were prepared by the Assembly, they
+uniformly directed the Church to the observance of the regulation of
+this department of Divine service as provided for in the Westminster
+Directory.
+
+It cannot be claimed, however, that due regard was accorded the
+Directory throughout the whole Church.  The last half of the eighteenth
+century was a time of spiritual coldness in Scotland; not only did
+evangelical piety languish but there existed at the same time a
+corresponding want of interest in the worship of the Church.  Praise
+was neglected, and little effort was made to secure suitable singing of
+the Psalms; at times the reading of Scripture was entirely omitted,
+prayers were brief and meagre, the sermon was regarded as in itself
+sufficient for the whole service, and all other parts of public worship
+were looked upon either as preliminaries or subordinate exercises, not
+calling for any particular preparation or attention.  It was a time
+when spiritual life was low, and the outward expression of that life
+exhibited a corresponding want of vigor.  The evil, therefore, from
+which the Church suffered at this period was not an excess of attention
+to worship, but a neglect of it; not a too great elaboration of forms,
+but an almost total disregard of them, even of such as are helpful to
+the development of the spiritual life of the worshipper.  And thus it
+came to pass that the struggle of more than a century against the use
+of prescribed forms of worship resulted in a condition more extreme
+than had been either anticipated or desired, for not only were such
+forms abandoned, but worship itself was neglected and disregarded.
+
+In reviewing the period subsequent to the rejection of Laud's Liturgy
+and up to the time of the First Secession within the Church of
+Scotland, some features that mark the general trend of the spirit of
+Presbyterianism with regard to worship are clearly manifest.
+
+First, in the rapid growth of the sect of the Brownists and their
+sympathizers, a growth that had been rendered the easier by the
+arbitrary acts of Charles and Laud in a preceding period, we find a
+clear indication of the spread of opinions strongly opposed to the use
+of prescribed forms of prayer and, indeed, of any ritual in the
+exercises of public worship.  It may be urged, as has already been
+remarked, that this opposition was not the result of an unprejudiced
+consideration of the subject on its merits, but that it was rather an
+outcome of the spirit which had been aroused by the persecutions
+through which the Stuarts had endeavored to force a ritual upon the
+Church of Scotland.  This may be granted, and yet it is not to be
+forgotten that many of those who held these views were among the
+excellent of their age, men who did not hesitate to bear persecution
+and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ for conscience' sake,
+and who, while doubtless influenced by the sentiments of those who
+stood to them either in the relation of friends or foes, were not men
+to allow prejudice to blind both reason and conscience alike.  They had
+found a ritualistic worship associated with practices which they could
+not but judge to be ungodly and unjust, and engaged in by men who made
+much of form, but little of truth and charity and justice.  It is not
+surprising, therefore, that in their desire for a revived spiritual
+life in the Church they should consider such a life to be most
+effectively forwarded by a departure from those forms that had been
+associated with the decay of true religion in their midst.
+
+But, in the second place, this sentiment in favor of absolute freedom
+from form was not confined to sectaries or their sympathizers in the
+Church, it made itself manifest among the leaders of religion in the
+land and in the Church courts.  The proposal of the General Assembly of
+1643 to prepare a Directory of Worship, and the subsequent action of
+the Scottish Church in uniting with the Westminster Divines in the
+preparation of that Directory, clearly indicate that the Church had
+changed its attitude since the day in which the Assembly refused to
+alter any of the prayers in the Book of Common Order.  The adoption of
+the Directory by the Scottish Church was in a measure an endorsation of
+the views of those who were opposed to the use of prescribed forms, and
+while it is true that the Scotch Commissioners would have preferred the
+retention of parts of the Book of Common Order, it is surely
+instructive that even these men were prepared to abandon all forms for
+worship and to accept simply a regulative Directory.  The enthusiastic
+endorsation accorded the Directory, both by Parliament and by the
+Assembly, is a further indication that the spirit of the Church of
+Scotland had undergone whatever slight change was necessary to make it
+favorable to a simple regulation of public worship, unhampered by
+anything that had even the appearance of a ritual.
+
+The introduction of the Directory into Scotland, it is true, effected a
+very slight change in the method of conducting public worship.  Indeed,
+a comparison of the order of service as laid down in the Directory with
+that prescribed by the Book of Common Order shows the order of Worship
+to be the same in both.  And thus it was that Baillie, in addressing
+the Assembly, and expressing his satisfaction at what had been
+accomplished, declared it to be a most remarkable distinction "that the
+practice of the Church of Scotland set down in a most wholesome, pious
+and prudent Directory, should come in the place of a Liturgy in all the
+three Dominions."  By the adoption of the Directory all the substance
+of the worship of the Church of Scotland was retained with the order
+likewise of its different parts, but the suggested forms were
+surrendered, and even prayers, which owing to the circumstances of an
+earlier age had been retained and submitted for discretional use, were
+laid aside.  No mention was made in the Directory of the use of the
+Gloria, nor did the creed find a place either in public worship or in
+the administration of the Sacraments, but the Lord's Prayer was
+mentioned as being "not only a pattern of prayer, but itself a
+comprehensive prayer," and a recommendation was accordingly made that
+it should be "used in the prayers of the Church."
+
+It is evident, therefore, that the spirit of the Presbyterian Church
+was still strongly in favor of worship regulated in its order and
+providing for all the different spiritual exercises authorized by
+Scripture, but which at the same time should be free from any imposed
+forms from which worshippers should not be allowed to deviate.  Of the
+opinion of the Church of Scotland at this time on the dire effects
+produced by the use of a ritual in the cultivation of formality among
+the people, and in the encouragement of a lifeless ministry in the
+Church, there can be no question, as the adoption of the terms of the
+preface to the Directory clearly shows.  With the experience of the
+English Church of that age before them as an object lesson of the evil
+effects of ritualistic worship, the Presbyterian Church was not
+unwilling to abandon the use of all imposed forms, and to give itself
+rather to the cultivation and development of a truly spiritual worship.
+
+And finally, the spirit thus planted and fostered in Scotland, was
+intensified during the persecutions which followed the restoration of
+Charles the Second.  So firmly was this opposition to an imposed form
+of worship implanted in the hearts of Presbyterians that, alike at the
+Revolution and again at the time when the terms from the "Act of Union"
+between England and Scotland were under consideration the most earnest
+representations were made, to the end that there should be no change in
+the worship of the Scottish Church, but that the freedom in this
+matter, so prized and so dearly won, should be secured to the people of
+Scotland.
+
+The Church of Scotland then, it may safely be said, moved ever in the
+direction of securing greater liberty in worship, rather than towards
+an increase of ritual and an imposition of form.  Every succeeding
+period in her history, whether we judge from the general spirit
+characterizing the people or from the official acts of the Parliament
+and the Church, shows a growing distaste for a liturgical worship and
+an increasing appreciation of liberty in all matters pertaining to the
+approach of the soul to God.  The Church of Scotland rejected, on the
+one hand, the extreme positions of sectaries who condemned alike a
+combined system of Church government, the celebration of marriage in
+the Church, the use in worship of the Lord's Prayer and all regulations
+even of the order of Divine worship, and on the other hand it resisted
+successfully the strongest Anglican influences which would have
+deprived it of the liberty it prized and would have circumscribed that
+liberty by a ritual.  It retained dignity and order, while it rejected
+both the license of extravagance and the bondage of form.
+
+
+
+
+Presbyterian Worship Outside of the Established Church of Scotland.
+
+
+
+Whether they were right or wrong ... no man of fairness will fail to
+allow that the record of the Seceders all through the period of
+decadence was a noble one, a record of splendid service to the cause of
+Christ and the historic Church of Scotland.--M'CRIE.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+Presbyterian Worship Outside of the Established Church of Scotland.
+
+No review of Presbyterian Worship would be complete which failed to
+consider the spirit which has characterized those large sections of the
+Church which exist in Scotland outside of the Establishment, and those
+also which have been planted and fostered in the New World.
+
+In 1733 the first Secession Church was formed, when Ebenezer Erskine,
+William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher, protesting
+against what they regarded as the unjust treatment accorded them by the
+prevailing party in the Church, were declared to be no longer members
+of the Church of Scotland.  This Secession Church enjoyed a rapid
+growth, and soon came to form a very influential section in the
+Presbyterianism of the land.  Its principles and practices with regard
+to worship show that same suspicion of a ritual and partiality for a
+free form of worship which has always characterized the Presbyterian
+Church in the days of her greatest vigor.  In 1736 this Church
+published its judicial testimony, in which it declared its loyalty to
+the Directory of Worship as the same was approved by the Assembly of
+1645.  Some years later one section of this Church, known as the
+Antiburgher, published a condemnation of the corruptions of worship as
+witnessed in England and Wales, and at a subsequent period a further
+manifesto, in which the reading by ministers of their sermons in the
+public ministry of the Word was condemned, as was also "the conduct of
+those adult persons who, in ordinary circumstances, either in public,
+in private, or in secret, restrict themselves to set forms of prayer,
+whether these be read or repeated."  The same manifesto, in a part
+treating of Psalmody, claimed for the Psalms Divine authority, as
+suitable for the service of praise, in the Christian as well as in the
+Old Testament dispensation, but acknowledged that, in addition to
+these, "others contained in the New Testament itself may be sung in the
+ordinance of Praise."
+
+Similar to this position was that of the United Associate Synod, which,
+formed in 1820, published, seven years later, its views on the subject
+of worship.  It condemned "the conduct of adult persons who restricted
+themselves to set forms of prayer, whether read or whether repeated;"
+it acknowledged also that other parts of Scripture besides the Psalms
+were suitable for praise, and, with regard to the use of the Lord's
+Prayer in public worship, a matter which had caused much discussion
+within the Church in earlier times, it asserted that:
+
+
+"As Scripture Doxologies and the Divinely-approved petition of saints
+may be warrantably adopted in our devotional exercises, both public and
+personal, so may the Lord's Prayer be used by itself or in connection
+with other supplications."
+
+
+Other manifestos were published from time to time by different bodies
+as separations or unions took place, for the early part of the past
+century was a period of frequent divisions and of more happy unions.
+But while differences existed with regard to the use of paraphrases and
+human hymns in the service of praise, on the general subject of
+simplicity of worship and absence of prescribed forms, the manifestos
+previous to the middle of the century were a unit.  As late indeed as
+1872, in a deliverance of the United Presbyterian Church upon the
+subject of instrumental music in public worship, this jealousy of
+simplicity in worship hitherto enjoyed is evident.  To a consideration
+of that subject this Church had been led by the example of the
+Established Church in securing to its congregations liberty of action
+in the matter.  The United Presbyterian Synod, in a deliverance in
+which it declined to pronounce judgment upon the introduction of
+instrumental music in Divine service, proceeded to urge upon the courts
+of the Church, and upon individual ministers, the duty of guarding
+anxiously the simplicity of worship in the sanctuary.  Not until recent
+years has any considerable section of the Presbyterian Church shown a
+tendency to return to the bondage of a ritual.
+
+The views of the bodies above referred to will be differently estimated
+by different men.  Some will be inclined to regard the Secessionists as
+narrow in spirit and severe in their simplicity, and as often failing
+to exhibit a due regard for the beauty of holiness that should
+characterize Divine worship.  It will surely, however, indicate on the
+part of those who read their history a want of appreciation if they
+fail to recognize the sturdy spiritual life which, forming, as it ever
+does, the truest foundation for right views of religion, marked these
+men of whom an eminent leader in the religious life of Scotland has
+said "they stood for Truth and Light in days when the battle went sore
+against them both; and as long as Truth and Light are maintained in
+Scotland it will not be forgotten that a great share of the honor of
+having carried them safe through some of our darkest days, was given by
+God to the Seceders."
+
+The period of the disruption in Scotland was one of such struggle
+concerning great and fundamental principles of Church government, that
+the Free Church, during the first quarter of a century of its existence
+as a separate communion, had little time to devote to a consideration
+of the subject of worship; with the work of organization at home, and
+afterwards in seeking to carry forward evangelization abroad it was
+fully occupied.  It was for the Free Church, as also for the
+Established Church, a period of revival and of new life, and at such a
+time men think but little of form and method, finding spiritual
+satisfaction in the voluntary and spontaneous worship which such an
+occasion develops.  The practice, however, of the Free Church in
+worship, and its uniform tendency, was decidedly un-liturgical; freedom
+from prescribed forms in prayer and an absence of ritual marked its
+services during the half-century of its existence as a separate
+communion.  So emphatic was its devotion to absolute liberty on the
+part of the worshippers that it was the last of the great Presbyterian
+bodies in Scotland to take any steps towards a further control of
+public worship other than that which is provided in the Directory.
+
+About the year 1885 the Presbyterian Churches of England and of
+Australia appointed committees to consider the matter of a uniform
+order and method of public worship, and these in each case devoted
+their efforts to the revision of the Westminster Directory, and in
+neither has anything more liturgical been suggested than the repetition
+of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer by the people.  The orders of
+service recommended are more lengthy than that of the Westminster
+Directory, but are similar in their general character.  The hesitation
+shown in accepting even such slight changes as were suggested and the
+vigorous debates which resulted, furnish abundant evidence that the
+spirit of both of these Churches is still strong in favor of voluntary
+and untrammeled worship.
+
+It is but right that in reviewing public worship outside of the
+Established Church, reference should be made to the practice of those
+large sections of the Presbyterian Church which, originating in
+Scotland, have grown strong in other lands.
+
+The Presbyterian Church of the United States of America has exhibited
+in the main the same spirit that has characterized Presbyterian bodies
+across the sea.  In 1788 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia adopted
+among other symbols the Westminster Directory for the Worship of God,
+abbreviating it somewhat, but changing its instructions in no material
+respect.  There has been but little legislation by this Church
+concerning this subject.  In 1874 the General Assembly declared the
+practice of a responsive service in the public worship of the sanctuary
+to be without warrant in the New Testament, and to be unwise and
+impolitic in view of its inevitable tendency to destroy uniformity in
+the form already accepted.  It further urged upon sessions of Churches
+to preserve in act and spirit the simplicity indicated in the
+Directory.  This judgment of the American Church with regard to the
+influence of a liturgy in public worship is not materially different
+from that of the framers of the Directory as it is set forth in their
+strongly-worded preface.  In 1876 the Assembly declined to send down to
+presbyteries an overture declaring that responsive readings are a
+permissible part of worship in the sanctuary, although it declined at
+the same time to recommend sessions to make the question a subject of
+Church discipline.  Six years afterwards it again refused to "prepare
+and publish a Book of Forms for public and social worship and for
+special occasions which shall be the authorized service-book of the
+Church to be used whenever a prescribed formula may be desired;" the
+reason given for such refusal, however, was the inexpediency of such a
+step in view of "the liberty that belongs to each minister to avail
+himself of the Calvinistic or other ancient devotional forms of the
+Reformed Churches, so far as may seem to him for edification."  This
+explanation clearly indicates that, while the American Church is in
+sympathy with the necessity on the part of ministers, of a due and
+orderly discharge of all public services, yet it is unwilling to lay
+itself open to the charge of even suggesting the imposition of forms
+upon the Church for use on stated occasions.  An optional liturgy has
+not been without its advocates among the leaders in this influential
+section of the Church.  Such eminent and wise men as Drs. Charles and
+A. A. Hodge and Dr. Ashbel Green confessed themselves as in favor of
+the introduction of such forms for optional use, and Dr. Baird in his
+"Eutaxia" and other writers have argued vigorously from the example of
+sister churches of the continent of Europe for a return to the practice
+which they regarded as historically Presbyterian.  As yet, however, the
+Church has preferred liberty to even suggested restriction.
+
+The results in this Church, it cannot be denied, are not all that could
+be desired.  The Directory is but little studied by ministers, and has
+by many been practically set aside.  Frequently each congregation in
+the matter of worship is a law unto itself.  Responsive readings have
+been introduced in some places, and choir responses after prayer in
+others; in some congregations the people join in the repetition of the
+Creed and the Lord's Prayer, while in others neither of these is heard;
+in one the collection has become a formal offertory; in another it
+affords an opportunity for the rendition of a musical selection by the
+choir.  Worship in this great Church is at the present time
+characterized by the absence of a desirable uniformity, which it was
+one evident purpose of the Directory to secure, and in some of its
+congregations by the use of symbolism that occasionally becomes
+extravagant, and which is calculated to appeal entirely to the
+imagination, the result frequently being a service not attaining to
+that dignity which an authorized liturgy fosters, while it sacrifices
+that simplicity in which Presbyterians have been accustomed to glory.
+
+The United Presbyterian Church in America, the result of so many happy
+unions, has always regarded simplicity in worship as an end earnestly
+to be desired, and worthy of all serious effort to secure.  Its
+influence has, therefore, been uniformly in favor of that avoidance of
+forms against which the Seceders of Scotland, whom it represents on
+this continent, so often protested.
+
+The Presbyterian Church, South--that Church whose history has been
+characterized by a loyalty so unswerving to the doctrinal standards of
+Presbyterianism, by a spirit so wisely aggressive in evangelistic and
+missionary effort, and by a ministry so scholarly and eloquent, has, in
+the matter of public worship, shown as constant a fidelity to the
+Westminster Directory as in doctrine it has shown to the Confession of
+Faith.  There have been attempts made to introduce changes looking
+towards the adoption of optional liturgical forms, but these have been
+few, and they have been rejected in such a way as to leave no room for
+doubt as to the mind of the Church in this matter.
+
+The Directory has been ably revised, but it still remains a Directory,
+suggestive and eminently suitable to present requirements of the
+Church.  Serious and persevering attention has been given to the praise
+service, and no less than three Hymnals have received and now enjoy the
+Church's _imprimatur_.  Public worship in Divine service has retained a
+much greater uniformity among the Presbyterians of the Southern States
+than among their brethren in the North, and there has been less
+yielding to the popular demand for those features in worship that
+appeal to the imagination, and which so often serve to entertain rather
+than to edify.
+
+The Presbyterian Church in Canada, owing to the ties that bind it to
+the Churches of the Old Land, has closely followed their practice, and
+its method in worship has been characterized by a similar spirit.  No
+authoritative or mandatory formulas have been imposed upon it, nor does
+it seem likely that such would be received should they be proposed.
+Reverence and dignity have in general characterized its public
+services, and yet in recent years those changes which have gradually
+been introduced into the worship of the Church in that part of the
+American Republic lying contiguous to the Dominion have made their
+appearance in Presbyterian worship in Canada.  The chief result has
+been, as in that Church also, an unfortunate want of uniformity in this
+part of divine service.  There has always been a constant and due
+regard paid to all parts of worship provided for in the Directory, and
+the neglect of any of these parts cannot be seriously charged against
+any considerable part of the Church, but congregations have frequently
+considered themselves at liberty to change their order and to vary them
+as circumstances seem to demand.  It is this feature as much as any
+that has in recent years led to an agitation for the improvement of
+public worship, and that is calling the earnest attention of the Church
+to a matter of supreme importance.
+
+Until very recently then, all branches of the Presbyterian Church in
+the British Empire and those bodies in the United States whose
+standards have been those of Westminster, have refused to recognize the
+need for any other formula of worship than that, or such as that,
+provided in the Directory.  And where any considerable desire for
+change and improvement has been found, it has expressed itself usually
+as favorable to a revised Directory rather than as desirous of the
+adoption by the Church of a liturgy, however simple.
+
+Those great sections of the Church which have been most active in the
+work of Home and Foreign Evangelization, a work that has especially
+claimed attention during this century, have found the simple worship of
+our fathers well suited to the cultivation of the spiritual life that
+must of necessity lie behind all such efforts, and to the development
+of the reverent and devotional spirit so characteristic of an
+aggressive Christianity.  The Church has been true to the traditions
+and principles so loyally maintained in the days of her heroic
+struggles in the past, and along these lines she has found in her
+public worship blessing and inspiration for her peaceful toils, even as
+our fathers in their day found in similar worship strength and revived
+courage with which to meet their difficulties and to endure persecution.
+
+
+
+
+Modern Movements in Presbyterian Churches Respecting Public Worship.
+
+
+
+"All who desire to manifest an intelligent appreciation of what is
+distinctive in Presbyterian ritual would do well to guard against
+attaching undue importance, or adhering too tenaciously, to details of
+a past or present usage, as if these constituted the essentials from
+which there must never be the smallest deviation, of which there may
+never be the slightest modification or adaptation to altered
+acquirements and circumstances."--McCRIE.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+Modern Movements in Presbyterian Churches Respecting Public Worship.
+
+The earliest indication of any general desire in Scotland for a more
+elaborate service than that in general use in the Church at the time of
+the Revolution was seen in the proposal to enlarge the Psalmody and to
+improve the Service of Praise.  As early as 1713 the General Assembly
+of the Church of Scotland called the attention of congregations to the
+necessity that existed for a more decent performance of the public
+praise of God, in a recommendation that was exceedingly desirable and
+necessary if the accounts of the service of praise at that time are to
+be believed.  This was followed, not long afterward, by the
+introduction of paraphrases, styled "Songs of Scripture," and later of
+hymns, and finally of instrumental music.  In this matter of the
+improvement of worship in the department of praise, the Secession
+Churches in several cases were more forward than the Established
+Church, the revived interest in religion and worship which had been in
+a measure the cause of their existence lending itself to such measures.
+In all sections of the Church the conflict concerning praise in worship
+was for a long period prosecuted with an energy that frequently arose
+to bitterness.  The vexed questions of hymn-singing and the use of
+instruments in Churches being settled, there followed, or perhaps it
+may be said there arose out of these, the further question of the
+elaboration and improvement of other parts of worship.
+
+In 1858 the Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended to
+congregations that were without a minister, the use in worship of a
+book prepared by its authority, in which were embodied the prayers of
+the Book of Common Order, together with much material from the
+Directory of Worship.  This action on the part of the Church was
+regarded by some as indicating the existence of a spirit which
+warranted the formation of "The Church Service Society."  This Society
+was formed by certain ministers of the Established Church who were
+strongly impressed with the desirability of the adoption by the Church
+of certain authorized forms of prayer for public worship, and of the
+use of prescribed forms in the administration of the Sacraments.  By
+the publication of its constitution, in which it announced its object
+as "The Study of the Liturgies ancient and modern of the Christian
+Church, with a view to the preparation and ultimate publication of
+certain forms of prayer for public worship, and services for the
+administration of the Sacraments, the celebration of Marriage, the
+Burial of the Dead," etc., it very early aroused vigorous opposition on
+the part of many who saw in its organization an evident intention to
+introduce into the Church a liturgical service.  Such a purpose the
+Society emphatically disavowed, and insisted that there was no desire
+on the part of its members to encroach upon the simplicity of
+Presbyterian worship, but claimed rather the desire to redeem the same
+from lifelessness and lack of a devotional spirit with which they
+declared it is so likely to be characterized.  So effectively have the
+fears of those who first uttered their objections been allayed, that
+the Society is said to comprise in its membership, at the present time,
+more than one-third of the ordained ministers of the Established
+Church.  The results of this Society's labors have been published in a
+volume which is now in its seventh edition.  It is a book of more than
+400 pages, and is entitled, "Euchologion--A Book of Common Order."  Its
+contents seem to harmonize more with the views which were charged
+against the originators of the Society at its commencement than with
+the defence which was put forward in its behalf at that time.  Although
+widely used it has no official sanction of the Church, and, therefore,
+it is not necessary to enter into any close analysis of its contents.
+Briefly, however, it may be said, it is a liturgy much more closely
+approximating to the English Book of Common Prayer than to Knox's Book
+of Common Order, or to the ritual of any of the Reformed Churches of
+the Continent, with which its projectors declare themselves to be more
+in sympathy than with the Episcopal Communion of England.
+
+The first part comprises, in addition to prescribed daily Scripture
+readings and readings for every Sunday of the year, the Order of Divine
+Service for morning and evening for the five several Sundays of the
+month; in this Order are contained special forms of prayer, responses
+to be used by the congregation, the Lord's Prayer, to be repeated by
+minister and congregation together, and the Apostles' Creed, which is
+to be either said or sung.
+
+In the second part, which contains "additional materials for daily and
+other services," the first place is given to the Litany, which is an
+exact transcript of that of the Church of England with the exception of
+a change in one petition, rendered necessary by the difference in the
+forms of government in the two Churches.  A number of "prayers for
+special graces," "collects" and "prayers for special seasons" and
+"additional forms of service" are added.  The "prayers for special
+seasons" have regard to "our Lord's advent," "the Incarnation," "Palm
+Sunday," "the descent of the Holy Ghost," etc.
+
+The last section of the book provides forms of service for the
+administration of the Sacraments, visitation of the sick, marriage,
+burial, ordination, etc.  In the form for the visitation of the sick a
+responsive service is provided, as also in the order for Holy
+Communion.  On the whole it is probably not too much to assert that
+"Euchologion--a Book of Common Order," issued by the Church Service
+Society, is decidedly more liturgical in form than was the unfortunate
+Laud's Liturgy, which raised against itself and its projectors such a
+vigorous protest on the part of the Church of Scotland.
+
+Following the organization of the Society referred to, came one in
+connection with the United Presbyterian Church called "The United
+Presbyterian Devotional Association," having for its object "to promote
+the edifying conduct of the devotional services of the Church."  This
+Society declares its willingness to profit from the worship of other
+Churches besides the Presbyterian, but at the same time asserts its
+loyalty to the principles and history of Presbyterianism.  The forms
+published in its book, "Presbyterian Forms of Service," are not
+intended to be used liturgically, but the purpose is that they should
+furnish examples and serve as illustrations of the reverent and seemly
+conduct of public worship.
+
+The latest book to be issued on these lines is "A New Directory for the
+Public Worship of God"; this name is further enlarged by the following
+description, which provides a sufficient index to its contents:
+"Founded on the Book of Common Order (1560-64) and the Westminster
+Directory (1643-45) and prepared by the Public Worship Association in
+Connection with the Free Church of Scotland."
+
+This book follows in general the form and method of the Directory,
+carefully avoiding the provision of even an optional liturgy.  The form
+which it has assumed, that of a simple Directory of Worship, was
+adopted after long discussion in the "Association" on these four
+questions, "The desirableness of an optional liturgy as distinguished
+from a Directory of Public Worship;" "The Desirableness of a Responsive
+Service," such a service to include the use by the people with the
+minister of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Beatitudes, the
+Commandments, etc.; "The desirableness of the Collect form of prayer
+and of Responses in general," and "The desirableness of the celebration
+of the Christian year."
+
+After long and exhaustive debate on the above questions the book has
+been issued in its present form as a simple Directory of Worship,
+responses and the celebration of the Christian year and even an
+optional liturgy having been rejected as undesirable.  Orders of
+service are suggested, as well for public worship as for the
+administration of the Sacraments and for special services, and
+suggestions at great length are offered concerning what should find a
+place in the prayers of Invocation, Thanksgiving, Confession, Petition,
+Intercession and Illumination.  A few historic prayers of eminent
+saints of God are included as examples, and large quotations are made
+for the same purpose from Knox's Book of Common Order and from
+Hermann's "Consultation," and from this last source "A Litany for
+Special Days of Prayer" is added in an Appendix.  If the Euchologion
+indicates a strong tendency on the part of the "Church Service Society"
+towards the introduction of a responsive and liturgical service into
+public worship, the New Directory of Public Worship indicates just as
+strongly a tendency within the "Public Worship Association" to avoid
+the introduction of even optional forms and to retain the simplicity
+that has for three centuries characterized Presbyterian worship.
+
+The attempts to revise the Directory of Worship in order to modify and
+adapt it to present-day requirements made recently by the Presbyterian
+Church of England, and by the Federated Churches of Australia and
+Tasmania, have already been referred to.  That these Churches have
+confined their efforts to a revision of the Directory, and have in this
+asserted their approval of a Directory of Worship rather than of a
+liturgy, is in itself an instructive fact.
+
+In the revised Directory of the Presbyterian Church of England some
+changes are made in the direction of securing for the people a larger
+part in audible worship.  The repetition of the Creed is permitted, and
+where used is to be repeated by the minister and people together; it is
+recommended as seemly that the people after every prayer should audibly
+say Amen, and the Lord's Prayer, which should be uniformly used, is to
+be said by all.
+
+The work of revision by the Churches of Australia and Tasmania
+introduces fewer changes.  In the administration of "The Lord's Supper"
+it is recommended that at the close of the Consecration Prayer the
+minister recite the "Apostles Creed" as a brief summary of Christian
+Faith, and when the Lord's Prayer is used, as advised before or after
+the prayer of intercession, the people may be invited to join audibly
+or to add _Amen_.
+
+Worthy of more extended notice than the limits of this chapter will
+permit is "The Book of Church Order" of the Presbyterian Church in the
+United States.  As early as 1864 a proposal was made in Assembly to
+revise the Westminster Directory of Worship for the purpose not only of
+rendering it more suitable to the requirements of the time, but in
+order also to so modify and improve it as to increase its
+suggestiveness and helpfulness to ministers.  The work was undertaken
+by a committee appointed in 1879, and in 1894 this committee presented
+its formal report, which was adopted, and the revised Directory was
+ordered to be published.  It contains sixteen chapters, treating of all
+the matters treated in the original Directory, and containing in
+addition suggestive chapters on "Sabbath Schools," "Prayer Meetings,"
+"Secret and Family Worship," and "The Admission of Persons to Sealing
+Ordinances."
+
+Respecting the public reading of Holy Scripture the revised Directory
+declares it to be "a part of the public worship of God," and that "it
+ought to be performed by the minister or some other authorized person."
+Of public prayer, after indicating its different parts, and suggesting
+the place that it should occupy in the service, the mind of the Church
+is thus expressed: "But we think it necessary to observe that, although
+we do not approve, as is well known, of confining ministers to set or
+fixed forms of prayer for public worship, yet it is the indispensable
+duty of every minister, previously to his entering on his office, to
+prepare and qualify himself for this part of his duty, as well as for
+preaching."  In the chapters on the administration of baptism and the
+Lord's Supper particular directions are given, and questions suitable
+to be asked of the parents of children presented for baptism are
+suggested, while in the directions for the admission of persons to
+sealing ordinances, an important distinction is drawn between the
+reception of baptized children of the Church and that of those who, on
+confession of their faith, are at that time first received.  To the
+Directory there are added optional forms for use at a marriage service
+and at a funeral service.  The book is not elaborate, and may be
+thought by many to be far from comprehensive as a Directory, but it is
+suggestive and helpful, and, while true to the principles of
+Presbyterian worship, it gives no evidence of disregard for the beauty
+and appropriateness that should characterize the public services of the
+Church.  Among books of Church order it is well worth study by those
+who desire in worship to combine simplicity with dignity.
+
+It is evident from these recent and simultaneous movements in so many
+branches of the Presbyterian Church, that there exists a feeling on the
+part of many that there is need of improvement in the important
+department of worship in our public services.  It is probable that
+there will be found few to deny this, or to confess absolute
+satisfaction with the worship of the Church to-day.  The question on
+which many will hold widely divergent opinions is as to the means to be
+adopted for its improvement.  Some there are, as in the Church Service
+Society, who advocate a prescribed liturgy for at least certain parts
+of public worship; others, who desire a liturgy, but who are content to
+leave to congregations or to ministers freedom to use it or to
+disregard it; still others are loyal to the spirit of the age which
+produced the Westminster Directory, while they are at the same time
+willing to revise that work, which was found so serviceable to the
+Church for so long a period, and so to render it more suitable to the
+demands of our own age.
+
+If a judgment may be formed from the movements that have just been
+reviewed, it is probable that at least for some time to come, the
+Presbyterian Church will continue to walk in the paths that have become
+familiar through long usage.  The age, it is true, is past when
+dictation on this matter, either favoring or condemning a liturgy,
+would be suffered; and, therefore, it is to be expected that
+congregations will exercise liberty in the matter.  Yet, so far as the
+general sentiment of the Church is concerned, a sentiment that will
+doubtless from time to time find expression in official declarations,
+it appears evident that the preponderating feeling is still strongly in
+favor of a voluntary worship, unrestricted even by suggested forms.
+
+
+
+
+Conclusion.
+
+
+
+"A constant form is a certain way to bring the soul to a cold,
+insensible, formal worship."--BAXTER.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+Conclusion.
+
+The foregoing brief review of public worship within those influential
+sections of the Presbyterian Church whose attitude on this question has
+been examined, affords a sufficient ground for the assertion that those
+bodies have shown, until recently, a uniform and steadily growing
+suspicion of a liturgical service, even in its most modified form.
+
+The Book of Common Order, the first official service book adopted by
+the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the regulation of
+its worship, marked a distinct advance towards a freer form and greater
+liberty on the part of the minister in conducting Divine service.  As
+compared not only with the English Prayer Book of the time, which was
+used in Reformed parishes in Scotland, but even with Calvin's order of
+worship, which had been so generally adopted by the Reformed Churches
+on the Continent, this Book of Common Order was characterized by a
+spirit of larger liberty in worship and less reliance upon forms either
+suggested or imposed.
+
+In the period of struggle through which the Church of Scotland passed
+in the reigns of James the First and Charles the First, the conflicts,
+civil and religious, only served, so far as they had any effect upon
+the views of the Church concerning worship, to strengthen the already
+strong opposition to prescribed forms of prayer and to ritualistic
+observances.  Accordingly, when it was proposed to substitute for the
+Book of Common Order a Directory, in which there should appear no
+prescribed forms for any part of public worship, the Scotch Assembly
+gave a ready assent to the proposal, and, although some words of regret
+at parting with an historic symbol were spoken at that time by leaders
+in the Scottish Church, they were only such as it was natural to expect
+should be spoken in view of the strong attachment for that symbol
+fostered by its use during many years, but they were not such as
+indicate that those who so spoke felt themselves called upon to
+surrender any principle in laying aside the order to which they had
+been so long accustomed.  Indeed the hearty and cheerful adoption by
+the Scottish Assembly of the strongly worded preface to the Westminster
+Directory, exposing as it does so vigorously the weakness as well as
+the dangers resulting from the use of a liturgy in public worship,
+plainly indicates that in the judgment of the Church of that day the
+use of liturgical forms was not only not helpful, but was positively
+perilous, as well to the best interests of the congregation as to the
+most efficient service of the minister.
+
+Again in a third epoch of the Church's history, in the days following
+the "killing time," and marked by the succession to the throne of
+William of Orange, and later by the union of England and Scotland, the
+Presbyterian Church of the latter country not only reasserted her
+loyalty to the principles of liberty in worship which she had so long
+defended, but she also succeeded in having secured to her by
+legislation, freedom from the imposition of ritualistic forms.
+
+It is at least allowable to assert that the leaders in the Scottish
+Church in the days of the Westminster Assembly and at the beginning of
+the eighteenth century, regarded the perfect liberty in worship allowed
+by the Directory not only as scriptural, but as suitable for the
+attainment of the great ends of public worship, for on no other grounds
+would they have consented to its adoption in Scotland.  And if
+Presbyterians of to-day desire to imitate the spirit and methods of
+their ancestors, it is reasonable that they should study the example of
+the men of the second Reformation.  There is good ground for claiming
+that in no period of the Church's history did it give evidence of a
+deeper spiritual life and a more aggressive energy than in the age in
+which those heroic spirits lived.  The leaders in that day also, such
+men as Henderson, Gillespie, Rutherford and Baillie, understood the
+spirit of Presbyterianism and the need of the Church quite as fully as
+did any leaders of either an earlier or a later day.  It is not to be
+forgotten that, in an age that produced men whose names must never be
+omitted when the roll of Scotland's greatest sons is called, the
+Presbyterian Church stood firmly for absolute liberty in worship from
+prescribed forms.
+
+It should, therefore, be considered by those who would have the Church
+return to the bondage of forms or even to their optional use, that they
+are advocating not a return to the practice of any former period in
+which the Church was free to exercise its own desire in this matter,
+but rather that they are urging her to a course that will be wholly
+antagonistic to the spirit of Presbyterianism as indicated by the trend
+of its practice during a stirring and eventful history of three hundred
+years.  The spirit of Presbyterian worship has been consistently and
+persistently non-liturgical and anti-ritualistic, and to advocate the
+adoption of liturgy and ritual to-day is to depart completely from that
+historic attitude.
+
+A few words on the subject of liturgies in general may not
+inappropriately close this sketch of the history of Presbyterian
+worship since the Reformation.
+
+It is now generally acknowledged that the introduction of liturgies
+into the worship of the Christian Church was not earlier than the
+latter part of the fourth century.  Not until the presbyter had become
+a priest, and worship had degenerated into a function, did liturgies
+find a place in Christian service.  Even the earliest Oriental
+liturgies were sacramentaries, the Christian sacrifice being the
+central object around which the entire service gathered.  So long as
+the life of the Church was strong, and in its strength found delight in
+a freedom of approach to God, so long the Apostolic practice was
+followed and worship was unrestricted and simple.
+
+During the middle ages, as religion became ever more formal and less
+spiritual, as the priesthood deteriorated intellectually and
+spiritually, liturgies flourished; and it is not too much to assert
+that just in proportion to the growth of the liturgical service in any
+Church, in that proportion the power of its ministry has declined.
+Indeed the whole history of liturgies in their origin, development, and
+effects, should make the Church that rejoices in freedom from their
+binding forms most careful ere submitting in any degree to their
+paralyzing influence.
+
+It is argued in favor of the introduction of forms of prayer that their
+use would tend to the more orderly and dignified conducting of public
+worship by the minister.  It is not a difficult matter to take
+exception to methods to which we have long been accustomed, and to
+compare these, sometimes to their disadvantage, with ideal conditions.
+As a matter of fact, however, it may in all fairness be asked, does
+disorder or irreverence characterize Presbyterian worship in general,
+or indeed to any noticeable extent?  Whatever lovers of another system,
+within our own Church, may say, it cannot be denied that the impression
+in the minds of men of all denominations (an impression that has not
+gained strength without cause) is that, compared with the worship of
+any other denomination, that of the Presbyterian Church is
+characterized by reverence, dignity and order.  The conduct of any
+average congregation in the Presbyterian Church, and the heartiness
+with which its members join in every part of public worship will appear
+at no disadvantage when compared with that of a congregation
+worshipping with a ritual.  Whatever other blessings a liturgy may
+secure for those devoted to its use, it has never been able to develop
+in the Churches where it is employed a spirit and conduct in public
+worship as reverent and devotional, and at the same time so marked by
+understanding, as that which has uniformly characterized the
+Presbyterian Church, and that Church would have to gain very much in
+other directions to compensate for the opening of the door to the
+formal and careless repetition of holy words so often associated with
+the use of a liturgy.
+
+It is further argued that congregations would, with the aid of a
+liturgy, be enabled to take both a more lively and a more intelligent
+part in public prayer than they can possibly do when endeavoring to
+follow a minister who uses extempore prayer only.  This argument must
+appear to be of considerable weight to those only who forget how
+lifeless and unmeaning a mere form of words, with which the lips have
+grown familiar, can become.  Paley frankly admitted, when treating of
+this matter, that "the perpetual repetition of the same form of words
+produces weariness and inattentiveness in the congregation."  There is
+a danger that by carelessness in considering the needs of the
+worshippers, and by diffusiveness, the minister may render the service
+of prayer far less helpful than it should be to those whom it is his
+privilege to lead to the throne of grace; but the cure for this is not
+to be found in the introduction of stereotyped forms, which in the
+nature of the case cannot be suitable for all occasions, but in a due
+recognition by the minister of the greatness of the duty which he
+assumes in speaking to God for the people.  Such a recognition will
+lead him to seek that preparation of heart and mind necessary for its
+helpful performance, nor will his consciousness of the need of help,
+other than man can give, go unrecognized by the Father of Spirits, Who
+in this matter also sends not His servants at their own charges.
+
+As to the unity in prayer so much desired, true prayer is "in the
+Spirit," and earnest worshippers have a right to expect that their
+hearts will be united by that Spirit at the throne of grace, so that
+"with one accord" they may present their petitions and claim the
+promise to those who are thus agreed.  This is the true unity and
+uniformity which Christians are bound to seek, and any mere mechanical
+uniformity of words, apart from this, is but the outward trappings of
+form which are much more liable to satisfy the careless worshipper than
+to inspire in him any thought of the need of a more real approach to
+God.
+
+Lastly, it is urged that the responsive reading of the Scriptures would
+prove an aid to the intelligent understanding of them, and that the
+repetition of the Creed or other such formulary of doctrine would serve
+to preserve the Church in the soundness of the faith.
+
+The refutation of the first statement is to be found in many
+congregations where the practice has been tried, and in Sabbath Schools
+in which the custom now prevails.  Many there are who will not read,
+others who cannot, and these fail entirely to profit from the
+unintelligible hum of a number of voices reading in what is often
+anything but harmony either of sound or time; and those who do read,
+frequently fail to receive that clear impression of the truth that
+should result from the effective and sympathetic reading of an entire
+passage.  Without dwelling on the question whether the reading of the
+Scriptures is to be regarded as properly a ministerial act or not, on
+the simple ground of efficiency, responsive reading in large and
+constantly-changing congregations must frequently, if not generally,
+prove a failure.
+
+As regards the repetition of the Creed by the congregation, it is
+certainly a question open for discussion whether or not the frequent
+repetition of a formulary of doctrine is a safeguard to the faith of
+the Church.  In this matter also we are not without the light of
+experience and history; the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland and
+America, which have never adopted any such practice, have certainly a
+record with respect to soundness in the faith which compares favorably
+with that of Churches which have for ages adopted this as a custom in
+their worship.  It would not be difficult to mention Churches in which
+the repetition of a formulary of doctrine has long been an established
+question, and in which it is not apparent that the practice has
+successfully served as a safeguard to doctrine.  Comparisons are
+odious, and we do not desire to institute them, but as wise men we
+should surely be guided by the light which history and experience in
+the past throws forward upon the pathway that we are to travel.
+
+The Presbyterian Church has a history which may with reason cause all
+her children to thank God and take courage as they look forward on
+greater works than those of past days yet to be accomplished.  Her past
+is rich in noble deeds, valiant testimonies and stirring struggles for
+the truth, and through it all she pressed forward rejoicing in a
+liberty which is inseparable from the principles of Presbyterianism,
+and one product of which has ever been an unwillingness to be trammeled
+by forms in her approach to God.  That history is such as need cause no
+Presbyterian to blush when it is related side by aide with that of any
+other Church; surely they must be bold souls who would propose to
+introduce a radical change into the genius of Presbyterianism, or to
+relinquish principles which have led to such success, for others that
+have yet to show an equal vitality and vigor.
+
+Our free and untrammeled worship demands from the worshipper his best;
+it brings him face to face with his God, and forbids him to rest in any
+mere repetition of a familiar form; it requires of the minister a
+preparation of both mind and soul, and challenges him to spiritual
+conflict which he dare not refuse, while in addition to all this its
+very freedom renders it adaptable to all the varying circumstances in
+which in a land like our own the worship of God must be conducted.  It
+is suitable alike to the stately city church and to the humble cabin of
+the settler, or to the mission house of the far West; wherever men
+assemble for worship it affords the possibility for seemly, orderly and
+reverent procedure.  Is there any other form of worship suggested for
+which as much can be said?
+
+As long as the ministers of the Presbyterian Church are men of God,
+recognizing His call to the sacred office of the ministry, and
+believing that those whom He calls He equips with needed grace and
+gifts for their work, so long will they be able to lead the
+congregations to which they minister in worship that shall be at once
+honoring to God and a help to the spiritual life of the people: when
+they cease to be such men forms may become, not only expedient, but
+essential.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Presbyterian Worship, by Robert Johnston
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