NEW-YORK:
Published from the Stereotype Plates of the Auxiliary New-York Biblo

and Common Prayer Book Society, and to be had at their Depository,
Protestant Episcopal Press Buildings, No. 46 Lumber-Street, in rear
of Trinity Church.

PRINTED AT THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL PREES,

No. 46 Lumber St.

1629.

New York, July 2, 1826 I Do herehy certify, that this Edition of the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, &c., (having been compared with a standard Book, and corrected by the same,) is permitted to be published, as an Edition duly compared and corrected by a suitable Person appointed for that purpose, as the Canon directs.

JOHN HENRY HOBART, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church

in the State of New York.

of a. C.

ed.
5-16-41 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

1 The Ratification of the Book of that are baptized, and come to

Common Prayer.

Year's of Discretion.

2 The Preface.

19 The Form of Solemnization of

3 The Order how the Psalter is Matrimony.

appointed to be read.

20 The Order for the Visitation of

4 The Order how the rest of the the Sick.

Holy Scripture is appointed to 21 The Communion of the Sick.

be lead.

22 The Order for the Burial of the

5 Tables of Lessons of Holy Scrip- Dead.

ture, to be read at Morning and 23 The Thanksgiving of Women

Evening Prayer throughout the after Child-Birin, commonly call.

Year.

ed, The Churching of Women.

6 The Calendar.

24 Fornis uf Prayer to be used at

7 Tables and Rules for the Move- Sea.

able and Immoveable Feasts, 10-25 A Form of Prayer for the Visit-

gether with the Days of Fasting ation of Prisoners.

and Abstinence throughout the 26 A form of Prayer and Thanks.

Year.

giving to Almighty God, for the

8Tables for finding the Holy-Days. Fruits of the Earth, and all the

9 The Order for Daily Morning other Blessings of his mercitul

Prayer.

Providence.

10 The Order for Daily Evening 27 Fornis of Prayer to be used in

Prayer.

Families.

11 Payers and Thariksgivings up-28 Selections of Psalms, to be used

on several Occasious, lo he used instead of the Psalms for the

before the two final Prayers of Day, at the Discretion of the Mi.

Morning and Evening Service. nister.

12 The Collects, Epistles, and Gos- 29 The l'salter, or Psalms of David.

pels, to be used througbout the 50 Articles of Religion, as establishi.

Year.

ed by the Bishops, the Clergy,

13 The Oirler for the Administra- and Laity of the Protestant Epis-

tion of the Lord's Supper, or llo- copal Church in the United States

ly Coromunion.

of America, in Convention, on

14 The Ministration of Public Bap- the twelfih Day of September,

tism of Infants, to be used in the in the Year of our Lord 1801.

Church.

31 The Form and Manner of Ma-

15 The Ministration Private king, Oraining, and Consecra-

Baptism of Children in Houses. Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.

16 The Ministration of Baptism to 52 The Litany and Suflirages.

such a3 are of Riper Years, and 33 The Order for the Administra.

able to answer for themselves. tion of the Lorrl's Supper, or Hua

17 Catechism ; that is to say, an ly Communion.

Instruction to be learned by eve- 34 The Form of Consccration of a

ry Person before be be brought Church or Chapel.

to be confirmed by the Bishop. 35 An Oflice of Institution of Mi.

18 The Order of Confirmation, or nisters into Parishes or Churches.

Laying on of Hands upon those

THE

RATIFICATION

OF THE

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER.

By the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Con, vention, this 16th Day of October, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

THIS Convention having in their present Session, set of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, do hereby establish the said Book: And they declare it to be the Liturgy of this Church; and require, that it be received as such by all the Members of the same: And this Book shall be in Use from and after the first Day of October, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety.

4

,

is a most invaluable part of that blessed liberty wherewith Christ

huth nude us free, that in his worship, different forms and usages may without offence be allowed, provided the substance of the faithi bo kept entire ; and that, in every Church, what cannot be clearly determined to belong to Doctrine must be referred to Discipline; and there. fore, by common consent and authority, may be altered, abridged, en. largeri, amended, or otherwise disposed of, as may seem most conveni. ent for the edification of the people, "according to the various exigencics of times and occasions."

The Church of England, to which the Protestant Episcopal Church in these States is indebied, under GOD, for her first foundation and & long continuance of nursing care and protection, bath, in the Preface of her Book of Common Prayer, laid it down as a Rule, that “The Particular Forms of Divine Worship, and the Rites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein, being things in their own nature indiffer. ent and alterable, and so acknowledge, it is but reasonable that, upon weighty and important considerations, according to the various exigencies of times and occasions, such changes and alterations should be made therein, as to those who are in places of authority should, from time to time, seem either necessary or expedient."

The same Church hath not only in her Preface, but likewise in her Articles and Homilies, declared the necessity and expediency of occasional alterations and amendments in her Fornis of Public Worship; and we find accordingly, that, seeking to “keep the happy mean be tween too much stiffness in refusing, and too much easiness in admit. ting variations in things once advisedly established, she hath, in the reign of several Princes, since the first compiling of her Liturgy in the time of Edward the Sixth, upon just and weighty considerations her thereunto moving, yielded to make such alterations in some particulars, as in their respective times were thought convenient; yet so as that the main body and essential parts of the same (as well in the chiefest materials, as in the frame and order thereof) have still been continued firm and unshaken.”

Her general aim in these different Reviews and Alterations hath been, as she further declares in her said Preface, “to do that which, ac. cording to her best understanding, might must terd to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church ; the procuring of reverence, and the exciting ot piety and devotion in the worship of God; and, fiually, the cutting off occasion, from them that seek occasion, of cavil or quarrel against her Liturgy.” And although, according to her judgment, there be not“ any thing in it contrary to the Word of God, or to sound doc. tiine, or which a golly man may not with a good conscience use and submit unto, or which is not fairly defensible, if allowed such just and favourable construction, as, in common equity, ought to be allowed to all human writings;" yet upon the principles already laid down, it cannot but be supposed, that turther alteration would in time be found ex.