Lutheran movement in england during the reigns of henry VIII. And edward VI

CHAPTER XIX. THE COMMUNION SERVICE OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH.

The Order of March 1548. First Exhortation traced to Cassel Order of 1539. Second, from Volprecht of Nürnberg, 1524. Idea of the Admonition from the Cassel Order. Prayer of Confession from the Cologne Order. Absolution compared with that of Cologne, in parallel columns. Origin of the Formula of Distribution. Expansion of this in 1549. Later Calvinistic Modifications. Hilles’ Testimony of 1549.

The death of Henry, and the accession of Edward, at length gave Crumwell the opportunity to carry out his plans of a thorough reform of the liturgical and doctrinal formulas. After giving his first attention, in lack of a ministry properly trained in purity of doctrine, to the preparation of “Homilies,” to furnish the churches with sound preaching, and, of a Catechism, for the instruction of children, he began the reformation of the Communion Service. For this purpose, a commission of bishops assembled in January, 1548; and early in March, the results of their deliberations were published, that the formula might be introduced the succeeding Easter. It was a mere temporary provision to supplement the Latin Mass; but has left its impression upon the service afterwards provided. It begins with an exhortation to be made by the minister, “the next Sunday, or holy day or at the least one day before he shall minister the communion.” This exhortation is constructed after the model of the first exhortation in the Reformation of Cologne, which, in turn, was taken from the Cassel Order of 1539. The second exhortation, the third in the Book of Common Prayer, was constructed after the model of the second in the Reformation of Cologne, which is the Nürnberg Exhortation of Volprecht (1524). Then [[@Page:242]]followed a warning: “If any man here be an open blasphemer, an advouterer, in malice or envy, or any other notable crime,” etc, which follows the idea of the conclusion of the Cassel Exhortation, where the offences against each commandment are briefly enumerated, and those guilty of such sins, and impenitent, are urged not to come to communion. The prayer of confession is an adaptation of that in the Reformation of Cologne, as contained in the order given above. The “Absolution” is a free rendering of the Reformation of Cologne.

Unser lieber Herre Jesu hat seiner Kirchen den hohen trost verlassen, das er seinen dieneren betbhlen hatt, allen denen, welche ihre sünden leidt sindt, im glauben und vertrauen, und sich zu besseren begehren die sünd zuverzeihen, etc.

Our blessed Lord, who hath left power to his Church, to absolve penitent sinners from their sins, and to restore to the grace of the Heavenly Father such as truly believe in Christ, etc.

The “comfortable words” are taken from the same source, where, however, they precede the Absolution. “The prayer of humble access” seems to have been derived from another source. The formula of distribution adopts from the Nürnberg formula, the clauses “which was given for thee,” “which was shed for thee,” etc., unknown to the Mass, Roman and Sarum. This addition was in accordance with Luther’s declaration in the Small Catechism, that the words “given and shed for you,” were besides the bodily eating and drinking the principal parts of the Sacrament, and with the prescription of the Reformation of Cologne that “ministers should always admonish the people with great earnestness to lay to heart the words given for you, ‘shed for you for the remisssion of sins.’” In other respects the formula resembles that of Schw.-Hal. (Brentz) of 1543: “The body of our Lord Christ, preserve thee unto everlasting life. The blood of our Lord Christ cleanse thee from all thy sins. Amen;” the English formula of 1548 being: “The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body unto everlasting life. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy soul to everlasting life.” [[@Page:243]]

This form was expanded into that of the Book of Common Prayer of 1549, where the Communion Service takes the following form:

1. Collect for Purity. (From Sar. and Rom. Missals.) 2. Kyrie. 3. Gloria in Excelsis. 4. Salutation and Response. 5. Collect for day, with one for the King. 6. Epistle. 7. Gospel. 8. Nicene Creed. 9. Exhortation (based on Volprecht’s). 10. Passages of Scripture, instead of Offertory, 11. Salutation and Response. 12. Sursum Corda. 13. Preface. 14. Sanctus. 15. Prayer of Consecration, including words of institution (modelled after Sarum, and also following, in part, Cassel and Cologne), closing with the Lord’s Prayer. 16. Pax. 17. Christ our Paschal Lamb, is offered up, etc. 18. Invitation. 19. Confession (Cologne). 20. Absolution (Cologne). 21. Comfortable Words (Cologne). 22. Prayer of Humble Access (Eastern). 23. Distribution, during which the Agnus Dei is sung. 24. Scripture passages after Communion. 25. Salutation. 26. Prayer of Thanksgiving from the Brandenburg-Nürnberg Order.

Brandenburg- Nürnberg, 1533.	1st Edward, 1549.
O Almechtiger ewiger Gott, wir sagen deiner Götlichen miltigkeit lob und danck, das du uns mil dem haylsamen flaysch und blut, deines aynigen Suns Jesu Christi, unsers Hernn gespeyst und getrenckt hat, etc.	Almighty and everlasting God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou hast vouchsafed to feed us in these holy Mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, etc.

The increasing influence of Calvinism is shown in 1552 by the insertion of the Ten Commandments, probably as Procter supposes from the formula of Pollanus, but having the precedent of the Lutheran Order of Frankfort, 1530, and the change of the words of distribution into “Take and eat this, in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving.” “Drink this, in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.” In 1559 both formulas were combined. In 1552 the Lord’s Prayer was transferred to the post-communion service, and the Gloria in Excelsis placed after the Brandenburg-Nürnberg Thanksgiving Collect. [[@Page:244]]

It is certainly not remarkable that in June 1549, four days before the first Book of Edward appeared, Hilles wrote to Bullinger concerning the “Order of Communion:” “We have a uniform communion of the eucharist throughout the entire realm, yet after the manner of the Nürnberg churches and some of the Saxons. The bishops and magistrates, present no obstruction to the Lutherans.”²⁶⁹ The most un-Lutheran part is the Consecratory Prayer, where prayer for saints, and other Romanizing elements still remain, the formula of Cologne being followed only in its beginning. [[@Page:245]]