108 The HIS T 0 R Y of the PuRITANs. VoL. II. K. Charlesi.pocrypba is rejeCl:ed; private and lay baptifm, with the ufe of god-fathers ~) and god-mothers, and the fign of the crofs, are difcontinued. In the fa– crament of the lord's fupper no mention is made of private communion or adminiftring it to the fic!L The altar with rails is changed into ~ communion tabie, to be placed in the body of the church, about which the people might fhnd or fit, kneeling not being thought fo proper a pof. ture. The prefbytcrians were for giving the power of the keys into the hands of the mini)lers and elders, as the independents were, to the whole brotherhood; but Lightfoot, Se/den, Co!eman, and others, were for an o– pen communion, to whom the parliament were moll: inclinable, for all they would yield was, that the minifler immediate&• bifore the communion jhould warn in the name qfChrijl, all Juch as are ignorant, Jcandalous, pro~ phane, or that live in any fin or rjfence agai'!fl their k1zo7vledge or confcience, that they prejume not to come to that holy table, jhewing them, that he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to hin?felf. The prohibition of marriage in lent, and the ufe of the ring, is laid afide, In the vifitation of the fick, no mention is made of private confeffion, or authoritative abfolution. No fervice is appointed for the burial oj the dead. All particular veftments for priefts or minifters, and alL faints days are difcarded, It has been reckoned a confiderable omiilion, that the diClar. Vol. reCl:ory does not enjoin reading the apoflles creed and the ten commandments; 11. p. 5 88. lord C!arendon reports, that when this was obferved in private converf.'l– tion at the treaty of Uxbridge, the earl of Pembroke faid, he was forry for the omiilion, but that upon a debate in the houfe of commons, it was carried in the negative by eight or nine voices. Which made many fmile (fays his lordfhip ;) but the jefl will be loft, when the reader is informed, that the queftion in the houfe was not, whether the creed fhould be re– ceived or rejeCl:ed, but whether it fhould be printed with the direElory .for worjhip; it being apprehended more proper for a conf1Jion oj' faith; and accordingly the creed and ten commandments were added to the aj: flmblies confejfion; publifhed a year or two forwards. The ordinance for eftablifhing the direElory repeals and makes void the aCl:s of Edward VI. 11nd queen Elizabetb, by which the old liturgy was eftablifhed, and for– bids the ufe of it within any church, chapel, or place of public worfhip in Englandor Wah, appointing the u{e of the direElory in its room ; and thus it continued till the reiteration of king Charles I I. when the conftitu– tion being r.eftored, the old liturgy took place again, the ordinance for its repeal having never obtained the royal affent. Tbefoccifs of It was a confiderable time before this great revolution in the form of i;. public worfhip took place over the whole kingdom. In fome parts of the country the church-wardens could not procure a direElory, and in o– thers they defpifed it, and continued the old common-prayer-boo.~; fome 2 would.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=