![Directory for Public Worship](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Directory_for_Public_Worship.jpg)
The ''Directory for Public Worship'' (known in Scotland as the ''Westminster Directory'') is a liturgical manual produced by the
Westminster Assembly in 1644 to replace the ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
''. Approved by the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
in 1644 and the
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...
in 1645, the ''Directory'' is part of the
Westminster Standards
The Westminster Standards is a collective name for the documents drawn up by the Westminster Assembly (1643–49). These include the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Westminster Larger Catechism, the Directo ...
, together with the
Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...
, the
Westminster Shorter Catechism, the
Westminster Larger Catechism
The Westminster Larger Catechism, along with the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is a central catechism of Calvinists in the English tradition throughout the world.
History
In 1643 when the Long Parliament of England called the Westminster Assem ...
, and the
Form of Church Government.
Origins
The movement against the ''Book of Common Prayer'', partly inspired by the English Parliament, had come to a head with the submission of the
Root and Branch
The Root and Branch Petition was a petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640. The petition had been signed by 15,000 Londoners and was presented to the English Parliament by a crowd of 1,500. The petition called on Parliamen ...
petition of 1640, which demanded "that the said government (i.e.
episcopal system) with all its dependencies, roots and branches be abolished." Among the "branches" was the Book of Common Prayer, which was said to be a "Liturgy for the most part framed out of the
Romish Breviary, Rituals,
ndMass Book."
Thus in 1641, an abridgment of
John Knox
John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Born in Giffordgat ...
's ''
Book of Common Order'' was presented to the
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
. In 1644, another adaptation of the same original was presented to the Westminster Assembly and printed. However, the parliamentary divines resolved to produce their own book, and set up a committee which was to agree on a set of instructions for ministers in charge of congregations—not a fixed form of devotion, but a manual of directions. While the English ''Book of Common Prayer'' had early use in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, it is a fixed liturgy, providing a range of fixed prayers and detailed tables of fixed lessons. It is therefore not easy to compare it with the ''Directory''. However, the ''Directory'' does very much follow the ''Book of Common Order'' used in Scotland from 1564, which derived from Knox’s ''Forme of Prayers'' used in the English Congregation in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
. This book affords discretion in the wording of the prayers and no fixed lectionary.
The ''Directory'' was produced by a parliamentary subcommittee among the Westminster divines. The chair of the subcommittee was
Stephen Marshall. Other members included
Thomas Young,
Herbert Palmer Herbert Palmer may refer to:
*Herbert Palmer (Puritan) (1601–1647), Puritan writer
* Herbert James Palmer (1851–1939), Canadian politician, Premier of Prince Edward Island
*Herbert Richmond Palmer (1877–1958), British colonial governor
*Herb ...
, and
Charles Herle. Representing the
Independents were
Philip Nye and
Thomas Goodwin, and representing the Scottish
Presbyterians
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
were
Alexander Henderson,
Robert Baillie
Robert Baillie (30 April 16021662) was a Church of Scotland minister who became famous as an author and a propagandist for the Covenanters. ,
George Gillespie
George Gillespie (21 January 1613 – 17 December 1648) was a Scottish theologian.
His father was John Gillespie, minister of Kirkcaldy. He studied at St Andrews University, and is said to have graduated M.A. 1629, though the date is pro ...
, and
Samuel Rutherford
Samuel Rutherford (also Rutherfurd or Rutherfoord; – 29 March 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian who wrote widely read letters, sermons, devotional and scholastic works. As a political theorist, he is known for "L ...
. The text appears to be in the style of Nye's writing.
Contents
The ''Directory'' was something like an agenda, but it was also something of a handbook of pastoral practice containing a lengthy section on visiting the sick, and a detailed section on preaching. The book reflected the compilers' belief in the
regulative principle of worship, which holds that only what is mandated by explicit Scripture, whether by explicit command, precept or example or by
good and necessary consequence The phrase good and necessary consequence was used more commonly several centuries ago to express the idea which would today fall under the general heading of logic; that is, to reason validly by logical deduction or better, deductive reasoning.
...
can be deduced from Scripture was warranted in the public worship of
God.
The ''Directory'' lays down a structure of worship centered on the reading of
Scripture. The canonical scriptures are to be read in order, a chapter of each testament at a time, after which there was a long prescribed prayer and then the minister was to preach to the effect that "his own and his hearers' hearts
reto be rightly affected with their sins."
Baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
was to be administered at this same service using a
baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism.
Aspersion and affusion fonts
The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...
which the people could see and where they could hear, rather than hitherto where fonts had often been placed at the entrance of the church. A long instruction preceded the administration of the rite which, among other things, made the point that baptism is not so necessary that the child would be damned or the parents guilty if it were not administered, on the grounds that the children of the faithful "are Christians and
federally holy before baptism." There was to be prayer that the inward
baptism of the Spirit would be joined with the outward baptism of water.
![A Scottish Sacrament](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/A_Scottish_Sacrament.jpg)
Communion was to take place after the morning sermon, and was to be celebrated often, though the ''Directory'' does not specify precisely how often; to the Scots, quarterly or half-yearly was sufficient, but some English
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
churches observed monthly, while most
Anglicans only practiced communion once a year. Those wishing to receive communion were to sit "about" or "at" the
communion table
Communion table or Lord's table are terms used by many Protestant churches—particularly from Reformed, Baptist and low church Anglican and Methodist bodies—for the table used for preparation of Holy Communion (a sacrament also called the '' ...
. The disjunctive words "about" and "at" were a compromise between the Scottish view of the necessity of sitting around a table and a common view in England that partaking in the pews was in order. The
words of institution from the
Gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
of
Mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
,
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
, and
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
, or from
Paul's
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author ...
, were an essential part of the celebration. These were followed by a prayer of thanksgiving to God "to vouchsafe his gracious presence, and the effectual working of his Spirit in us; and so to sanctify these elements, both of bread and wine, and to bless his own ordinance, that we may receive by faith the body and blood of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
crucified for us, and so feed upon him that he may be one with us, and we with him, and that he may live in us and we in him and to him, who hath loved us and given himself for us." The bread was then to be
broken and shared and the wine also. The collection of
alms
Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...
for the poor was to be organised so that it in no way hindered the service.
Marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
involved the consent of the parties, publication of intention, and a religious service in a place of public worship on any day of the year, but preferably not the
Lord's Day. It consisted of prayer, an explanation of the origin and purpose of marriage, an enquiry as to if there is any impediment, the exchange of vows, the pronouncement that the couple be husband and wife, and a closing prayer. A register of marriages was to be kept.
The ''Directory'' made no provision for
burial
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
services, on the grounds that burial services had inspired superstitious practices. It did, however, permit "civil respects or deferences" at the burial, "appropriate to the rank and condition of the party deceased," to put the friends of the deceased in mind of their duty to improve the occasion.
Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond (18 August 1605 – 25 April 1660) was an English churchman, who supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War.
Early life
He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the youngest son of John Hammond (c. 155 ...
, later Chaplain to Charles I, advanced six objections to the ''Directory'' in his 1645 work, ''A View of the New Directory and a Vindication of the Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England''. Hammond wrote that the ''Directory'' avoids (1) a prescribed form or liturgy, (2) outward or bodily worship, (3) uniformity in worship, (4) congregants participating through responses in prayers,
hymns, and readings, (5) the division of prayers into several collects or portions, and (6) ceremonies such as kneeling in
communion, the cross in baptism, and the ring in marriage. In respect of (1) this has been covered already. In respect of (2), doting on ceremonies and outward gestures (e.g. bowing to the east) was indeed avoided. As for (3), it was intended that there be uniformity in the parts of worship though not the words, while in regard to (4) and (5) the ''Directory'' is not so opposite as Hammond suggests although it does not seem very positive on singing. In regard to (6), kneeling in communion and the cross in baptism had been matters of long and significant controversy between the parties in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
.
Hammond then noted sixteen items avoided in the ''Directory'' which are more particularly related to the parts of the service:
(1) pronouncing of
absolution, (2) the necessity of singing psalms and other hymns of the church, (3) the use of the
doxology, (4) the use of the ancient
creeds
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
, (5) the frequent use of the
Lord’s Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
and prayers for the King, (6) saints days and the
liturgical year
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
, (7) the reading of the
commandments
Commandment may refer to:
* The Ten Commandments
* One of the 613 mitzvot of Judaism
* The Great Commandment
* The New Commandment
The New Commandment is a term used in Christianity to describe Jesus's commandment to "love one another" which, ac ...
and associated prayers, (8) the order of the
offertory
The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar.
A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...
, (9) private baptism, (10) a prescribed
catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
(although this was covered by the later Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms), (11)
confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
, (12) solemnities of burial for the sake of the living, (13) thanksgiving after childbirth, (14)
communion for the sick, (15) The Commination service at the beginning of
Lent
Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...
, (16) the observation of Lent,
Rogation days
Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity. They are observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The so-called ''major'' rogation is held on 25 April; the ''minor'' rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday ...
and the
Ember weeks. Several of these items (1-5,7,10) had use in other
Reformed
Reform is beneficial change
Reform may also refer to:
Media
* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
*''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
churches, but the major items did not.
Use by the Church of England
In some areas of England, notably in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, Presbyterian
classes (presbyteries) were set up in 1646 and operated until the
Restoration of Charles II
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...
in 1660. Although by no means universally adopted even within these areas, there is good evidence to show that many of these parishes both bought and used the ''Directory''. It was probably also used in parishes with
Congregationalist, or Independent, ministers. However, those parishes that did adopt the ''Directory'' were in the minority, and the ''Book of Common Prayer'' continued in use secretly across much of the country, particularly in relation to funerals. It is clear that the ''Directory'' was deeply unpopular with the majority of the population, and some of the best evidence for its use can be deduced from negative reactions to it, in particular the dramatically reduced baptism rate in those parishes where the ''Directory'' was adopted.
Use by the Church of Scotland
The
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland adopted the ''Westminster Directory'' during that Assembly's 10 Session on 3 February 1645. In adopting the text of the ''Directory'', however, the Assembly provided several clarifications and provisions and later, during Session 14 on February 7, 1645, it provided even further clarifications for application within the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
. The adopting acts, therefore, attempted to keep intact those traditions and practices of the Scottish church where they differed from those of some English churches, whether Puritan or Independent, so long as these differences proved no offense to those English churches. Such differences in implementation included, for instance, the Scots coming forward to sit around the communion table, retaining the use of the ''
epiklesis,'' the singing of a
psalm while tables dismissed and came forward, the distribution of bread and wine by communicants among themselves, and "a sermon of Thanksgiving" after communion. The ''Westminster Directory'' did, however, have the effect of suppressing the Scottish "Reader's Service" and of eliminating the practice of ministers bowing in the pulpit to pray prior to the sermon.
[ Sprott, George Washington, ''The worship and offices of the church of Scotland'' (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1882) and Chapell, Bryan, ''Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009).]
Bibliography
*W. A. Shaw, ''A History of the English Church during the Civil War and under the Commonwealth 1640-1660'', 2 vols., (London, 1900)
*F. Procter, ''A New History of the Book of Common Prayer'', rev. W. H. Frere, (Macmillan: London, 1919)
*
Judith Maltby
Judith Diane Maltby (born 1957) is an American-born Anglican priest and historian, who specialises in post-Reformation church history and the history of early modern Britain. She has been the chaplain and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxfo ...
, ''Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England'', (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1998)
*
John Morrill, ‘The Church in England 1642-9’, in ''Reactions to the English Civil War'', ed. John Morrill, (Macmillan: Basingstoke, 1982), pp 89–114, reprinted in John Morrill, ''The Nature of the English Revolution'', (Longman: London, 1993)
*Christopher Durston, ‘Puritan Rule and the Failure of Cultural Revolution, 1645-1660’, in ''The Culture of English Puritanism'', 1560–1700, ed. Christopher Durston and Jacqueline Eales, (Macmillan: Basingstoke, 1996), p 210-233
*''Minutes of the Manchester Presbyterian Classis'', ed. W A Shaw, 3 vols., Chetham Society, new series, 20, 22 & 24 (1890-1)
Note
# The
full name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known, ...
of the book was ''A Directory for Public Worship of God throughout the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Together with an Ordinance of Parliament for the taking away of the Book of Common Prayer, and the Establishing and Observing of this Present Directory throughout the Kingdom of England and the Dominion of Wales.'' The
full name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known, ...
of the 1645 Scottish Act was CHARLES I. Parl. 3. Sess. An ACT of the PARLIAMENT of the KINGDOM of SCOTLAND, approving and establishing the DIRECTORY for Publick Worship. AT EDINBURGH, February 6, 1645
References
External links
* Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660
An Ordinance for taking away the Book of Common Prayer, and for establishing and putting in execution of the Directory for the publique worship of God.Text of the Directory appended to an ordinance of the Parliament of England, 4 January 1645.
{{Anglican liturgical books
1645 works
17th-century Christian texts
Calvinist texts
Christian prayer books
Congregationalism
English Reformation
History of the Church of England
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Westminster Assembly
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