The American Spectator : Common Prayer, Uncommon Beauty

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High Spirits

Common Prayer, Uncommon Beauty

By Jonathan Aitken from the February 2012 issue

The magnificent Book of Common Prayer has been going strong for 350 years.

Last year, this column and the world celebrated the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. This year brings the 350th birthday of another magnificent monument of early modern English—the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (BCP). All who savor the riches of our common linguistic heritage should rejoice in its commemoration. For the BCP's combination of spiritual wisdom and literary beauty gives it a following far beyond the ecclesiastical frontiers of Anglicanism, Episcopalianism, and the Church of England that originally commissioned it.

The BCP was the creation of Thomas Cranmer, a Tudor statesman blessed with a genius for the writing of prose bordering on poetry. A court favorite of King Henry VIII, who made him Archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer compiled the various prayers, collects, and orders of worship that eventually emerged as the 1662 prayer book. However, before it could be published in its final form its principal author was burned at the stake for his Reformist sympathies during a period of Catholic repression.

Although these power struggles have long since been forgotten, Cranmer's majestic command of the English language lives on. In the words of his leading biographer, Diarmaid MacCulloch: "Millions who have never heard of Cranmer or of the muddled heroism of his death have echoes of his words in their minds."

These echoes of Cranmer's gift for language ring down the centuries because he had a perfect ear for cadences that are both beautiful and eternal. He wanted "a mere ploughboy" to be able to remember the BCP's most powerful phrases. He did not hesitate to borrow from the finest spiritual writers of his time such as Miles Coverdale, an early translator of the Psalms, and Archbishop Reynolds, who authored the prayer of General Thanksgiving. Yet the most sparkling gems of the BCP were Cranmer's own compositions such as:

We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done. And we have done those things which we ought not to have done. And there is no health in us. (General Confession)

Or:

Lighten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night. (Collect for Evening Prayer)

In my own love of the rhythms and resonance of such prayers I am conscious that I may be one of a dwindling band of English old fogeys. My familiarity with Cranmer's language dates back to the 1950s, when hardly any form of liturgy other than the BCP was used in Britain's schools and churches—as had been the case for the previous 300 years. But in the last half-century, evangelicals and modernists have elbowed out the BCP, replacing it with liturgical practices whose flexibility is all too often equaled by its banality.

American worshippers of various denominations may find the arguments for and against the BCP to be an esoteric British debate between the cult of quaintness and the pressures of political correctness. Yet excellence is excellence whatever the current fashion, and Cranmer's words, like Shakespeare's, have survived because they are "not of an age, but for all time.

A recent reminder of the BCP's timelessness was provided last year by the global reaction to the royal wedding when Prince William and Catherine Middleton chose Cranmer's "Solemnization of Matrimony" liturgy for their marriage service in Westminster Abbey.

As a result a worldwide television audience in excess of 1.5 billion listened to ancient yet spine-tingling spiritual phrases such as:

To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health till death us do part.

And:

With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.

Such sentiments are light years removed from the current practices of pre-nuptial agreements and quickie divorces. The promises are couched in a solemnity of language that heightens the commitment.

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About the Author

Jonathan Aitken, The American Spectator's High Spirits columnist, is most recently author of John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway Books). His biographies include Charles W. Colson: A Life Redeemed (Doubleday) and Nixon: A Life, now available in a new paperback edition (Regnery).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment

R.A.Shackles| 2.20.12 @ 7:46AM

This review is beautiful. I am grateful to you for publishing it, as you night imagine as my having once been President of the Prayer Book Society. Jonathan Aitkin is not alone!

Mick Lee| 2.20.12 @ 8:02AM

The Lutheran liturgy up to the 1970's adoption of the "green hymnal" heavily borrowed the language of the Common Book of Prayer. It embraced some of the most grand, profound, and spiritual words in the English language. It was a sad day when the Lutheran Church decided to pass on to what it called more "updated" expressions for "today's" men and women in the pews. This was said to be done for what turned out to be the unrealized promise of drawing more people to the church. The opposite happened. But our divines will never admit it.

SpearWolf| 2.20.12 @ 8:10AM

Right Mick. I can remember visiting an Episcopal church and being amazed at the similarity of language between their liturgy and mine (Lutheran).
Incidentally, I am one who left the Lutheran church when the leadership crammed the new, modernized (and vastly inferior) liturgy down our throats.

Jim| 2.20.12 @ 8:05AM

"Going strong?" Given the collapse of the Church of England and it's associated churches, "going strong" seems a strange descriptive choice. Just where are Cranmer's words going strong?

Ryan| 2.20.12 @ 8:25AM

The words are. The Anglican church isn't.

Lawrence| 2.20.12 @ 10:06AM

It is still going strong in America in the Prayer Book of the Reformed Episcopal Church where it is the main Holy Communion service (the 1928 being alternate) and as the stated basis for the theology of the Anglican Church in North America as well as for the GAFCON group representing by far the vast majority of Anglicans on the planet (over 55 million). And I believe if you want this service in England the Free Church of England still provides it as well.

Paul Windels| 2.20.12 @ 8:32AM

Thanks for publishing this. It's good to know that there are some people out there who appreciate some of the greatest prose ever written in the English language. Cranmer's collects and prayers are remarkable, and the pathetic attempts to edit them by modern theologians prove nothing except what pedantic imbeciles those theologians are.

There are some significant theological differences between the 1662 book and Cranmer's prayer books of 1549 and 1552, especially with respect to the treatment of Holy Communion. Cranmer's service was much more in line with the Articles of Religion, whereas 1662 injected more of an ambiguity as to how Communion was to be viewed, which the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church used as license to drift towards Catholicism on those issues. In the US, by contrast, the Protestant Episcopal Church of America stayed closer to Cranmer, 1552, and the Articles until the philistines of the early 1970's robbed us of our Prayer Book, our Bible, and our Hymnal. As President Reagan said of his prior membership in the Democratic Party, I didn't leave the Episcopal Church, it left me and the better part of its congregation.

Tenn Slim| 2.20.12 @ 9:14AM

One of the Frozen Chosen here. Weaned, confirmed and followed these BCP prayers across the Globe.
Entered a Marianas Island Episcopal church in the early 1960s. The familiar rythmns and prayers were just like the Home Parish, far across the Pacific.
Like my old Aunt said, " I favor the Bible that St Paul carried, BCP KJV..."
end
Semper Fi

calvin| 2.20.12 @ 10:47AM

Slim; we prefer the name Presbyterian; it has such a lovely sound. Strange in these times to be criticized for holding on to a tradition built on the backs of the martyrs. That is what happens when you try to find a middle way, I guess.

calvin| 2.20.12 @ 10:48AM

Andrew B| 2.20.12 @ 9:48AM

Growing up in the pre-1978 Episcopal Church, I always loved the BCP. Among its other riches, I will always be thankful to the Book of Common Prayer for giving me a love for beautiful language. Where else, growing up in Baby Boomer suburbia, would I encounter "travails" , "manifest", "devices and desires" and other such glorious language? And oh, to once again stand in a church where my fellow worshippers and I bewail our manifold sins and wickedness! You won't find THAT anymore. Sic transit.

Stormzeye| 2.20.12 @ 10:02AM

"We are not fit to gather up the crumbs underneath thy table." How wonderful a thing to say in approaching the sacrament of Communion. My love for the Episcopal Church was based upon my love of the cadence and rhythm of the liturgy. I miss it all since the banality of the "reformers" have destroyed, temporarily I hope, the beauty of Cranmer's language with their fraudulent pursuit of gender neutrality and inclusiveness.

Quartermaster| 2.20.12 @ 10:47AM

A minor error - Cranmer could not have substituted anything from the KJV for Coverdale. Cranmer was murdered in 1556 and the KJV was published in 1611. Informative article. It's sad to see the Episcopals go down the heretical drain, however. It used to be a decent denomination.

Paul Windels| 2.20.12 @ 5:53PM

I think Mr. Aitkin is refering to the 1662 BCP, not Cranmer's here. The 1662 BCP was a revision from the Elizabethan BCP and reflected a not insubstantial divergence from Cranmer's 1549 and 1552 BCPs, especially 1552 which prohibited any form of special treatment of the communion bread and wine and in fact provides that the curate gets any leftovers "to his own use."

The 1662 BCP used biblical texts from King James, but kept the Coverdale Psalter ("The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing") whereas Cranmer's BCPs used Coverdale, who had borrowed in turn from Tyndale.

C Smith| 2.20.12 @ 11:51AM

Although Thomas Cromwell was allegedly a reformer, he perpetuated many Roman abominations: veneration of saints, image and Virgin Mary warship, purgatory, prayer for the dead, and misrepresentation of Christ's body in the Eucharist. He also perpetuated the protestant abomination of the Divine Right of Kings as well as the cult of Calvinism. His greatest sin was to attempt to eclipse the Word of God "the Bible," the only source of salvation, with his book of "common" prayer.

Gretchen| 2.20.12 @ 7:12PM

Thomas CROMWELL was certainly more than merely an "alleged reformer," who most certainly DID NOT perpetuate "Roman abominations." Surely you mean Thomal CRANMER!.

C Smith| 2.21.12 @ 1:11AM

Yes, I met write Thomas Cranmer.

TomRath| 2.20.12 @ 10:25PM

It's not "warship", Smitty, it's "veneration"... and it's been part of the Church since long before it was centered in Rome.

Your Excellency| 2.20.12 @ 12:32PM

More Protestant propaganda. The Anglican Church is dead ,get over it dude.

Evelyn| 2.20.12 @ 1:27PM

This essay brings back a painful memory.

I believe it was 1973. I was a high-school sophomore. The family attended church where the "updated" Book of Common Prayer was being used for the first time.

When we had to "Pass the Peace," I remember exchanging sheepish grins with my parents. It was the last time we attended church. That abomination plus our priest's loud liberalism was more than enough for my father. Pass this, guys!

Dave Williams| 2.20.12 @ 2:12PM

Great poetry, yes. Great ethical sentiments to live a worthy, moral, dignified life, yes. Metaphysics....not so much. How can thinking, scientifically literate adults really believe that there's a superior power who knows all, sees all, and judges our souls after death? (And mind you, that last clause is based on a premise which ALL available evidence contradicts.) Sad, sad, sad, that humans who have split the atom and put a man on the moon still feel compelled to follow the folktales of a bunch of ignorant Bronze Age desert goatherds...

JohnM| 2.20.12 @ 2:54PM

It's all about Faith, brother.

BSJY| 2.20.12 @ 3:13PM

Whence cometh morality, dignity, and thinking? If empirical evidence is necessary for any belief, do you have some split atoms or moondust on your shelf, or are you just believing those things happened because somebody told you so? Perhaps the goatherds were not so ignorant; perhaps Hayek's Nobel Prize acceptance speech would be a good read for you. ("The Pretense of Knowledge")

TomRath| 2.20.12 @ 4:05PM

Right on, Dave.

There can't possibly exist a being, or person, so great and glorious your mind can't wrap itself around and (apologies to Eliot) "formulate".

The proof of this statement is the very fact that you're unable to "formulate" this being.

Good luck with that, Nimrod.

Nick| 2.20.12 @ 7:43PM

"How can thinking, [blah, blah, blah....]"

Because, obviously, we are smarter than you, Dave.

sotto voce| 2.21.12 @ 9:03PM

Thinking, scientifically literate adults could not exist without a superior intelligent power who knows all, sees all and judges our souls after death.

Drek| 2.20.12 @ 2:13PM

Is the rite for the Royal Navy's burial at sea from the Book of Common Prayer.

I always found that rite haunting, solemn, utterly appropriate. "We commend his body unto the deep...when the sea shall give up her dead...."

Does anybody know?

RMBruton| 2.21.12 @ 7:34PM

Drek,
You are correct, the Burial at Sea is directly from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Bob Brooke| 2.20.12 @ 2:30PM

If you are not near to a church of the Anglican Communion in North American (ACNA) or the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC, a member of ACNA), you may not be aware that the BCP, both 1662 and 1928 continues to breathe out its beautiful style and cadence in our land. Perhaps the Anglican liturgy that so stirred the world is not so prevalent as in the early part of the twentieth century: What traditional, moral and needed civilized habit is? But our treasured liturgy, and the prayer book that carried her, is still here, if you but look: "Lift up your hearts! We lift them to the Lord."

PJ| 2.20.12 @ 2:35PM

There have been a group of Anglicans/Episcopalians who have been in dialog w/the Catholic Church for many yrs. There goal was to seek a union w/Rome while keeping many of their Anglican traditions. Success was achieved in England last yr & in the USA this yr. The BCP will still be used in their liturgy including some updates that would be in sync w/Catholic doctrine. I as a Catholic hope to 1 day participate in such a liturgy, to hear the beauty of the BCP's prayers prayed in public.

Ed| 2.20.12 @ 3:28PM

If you ever visit Colonial Williamsburg, be sure to see the Bruton Parish Espiscopal Church, it is a unique experience. We took part in a mid-day prayer service that read from The Book of Common Prayer. This is the church that most of the Virginia Founders worshiped at when they were in town for the House of Burgesses sessions. It is open to the public, and you do not need to have a Colonial Williamsburg ticket to enter the church and its grounds.

Morley| 2.20.12 @ 5:15PM

The 1928 BCP is still going strong in two churches of my intimate acquaintance - St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit and St. Michael the Archangel of Matthews, North Carolina. Every Sunday the living beauty of the 1928 prayer book and the 1940 hymnal are there to uplift and inspire any who care to walk through the door of either of these houses of worship.

Paul| 2.20.12 @ 6:08PM

I do not presume to come to this Thy table trusting in my own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. I am not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table. But Thou are the same God whose property is always to have mercy. Grant me, therefore, to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink His Blood, that my sinful body may be made clean by His Body and my soul washed pure with His most Precious Blood; that I may evermore dwell in Him and He in me.

I have written this from memory, so forgive any errors. I am Roman Catholic now, and have been for many years. But there is no prayer of humble access in the Roman Mass that comes close to the beauty and power of the BCP one.

"I am not worthy to receive you, O Lord, but only say the word and I shall be healed." is quite lovely and surely Biblical, but it just lacks the utter sublimity of the Prayer of Humble Access of the Book of Common Prayer Mass.

Gretchen| 2.20.12 @ 7:25PM

There is something VERY similar to the "I am not worthy . . . .' but the second part is "but only say the word and MY SOUL shall be healed."

TomRath| 2.20.12 @ 10:27PM

Been to Mass lately, Paul? We don't say simply "I am not worthy to receive you" anymore...

Drek| 2.20.12 @ 9:49PM

That line has been changed.

It now reads, which is more reflective of the Gospel, "I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

POST American| 2.20.12 @ 10:48PM

The BCP is a beautifully written, sublimely
'crafted' work.

NOT to be confused with the spiritually
immediate, urgently alive TRUTH of God.

---STICK with Bunyan's works ---and
John Gill's commentaries.

Lue-Yee Tsang| 2.22.12 @ 11:30AM

Surely the BCP, though not written by God, is not inferior to John Gill’s commentaries or The Pilgrim’s Progress in presenting the truth of holy Scripture.

Balthazar| 2.21.12 @ 1:08AM

If you believe in living by the Bible, and presenting a biblical countenance, you should enjoy this. If you have the courage to watch it to the very end.
http://youtu.be/S1-ip47WYWc

Balthazar| 2.21.12 @ 1:12AM

http://youtu.be/Hi-V_ilJu0w

Now enjoy this superpac ad. And if you believe for ONE SECOND that Jesus Christ would NOT turn the other cheek seven times seventy times, then you ignoroid, are NOT a Christian.

Chris| 2.21.12 @ 12:55PM

I applaud the review offered by Mr Aitken on behalf of the book of common prayer. I might just offer another reason why archbishop Cranmer did not chose the KJV of the psalter for the 1662 BCP: he was in fact dead before the KJV or the 1662 BCP were created. Otherwise an interesting set of remarks.

Lue-Yee Tsang| 2.22.12 @ 11:20AM

Truth. It would, indeed, be quite strange for Cranmer to have died past the age of 100.

marcia| 2.21.12 @ 1:24PM

Growing up in what was then called "The Methodist Episcopal " church, We used the sentences from the BCP as part of the holy communion service. I can still recite them from memory and still do (under my breath) when at holy communion.
I have my old Methodist hymnal and wish my church would go back to the its real hymns instead of the insipid "Praise songs"that are now part of the service.

Donald Philip Veitch| 2.21.12 @ 7:10PM

Mr. Aitken:

Thank you for the article, reminiscences, and even sorrows over our liturgical losses. Nevertheless, the old 1662 BCP still is used privately. The 1979 BCP has some traces of the old, but isn't the same. What passes for worship these days is, well, you know.

I would add that Mariners' Anglican Church, Detroit, retains the 1928 BCP as well as the Cathedral tradition in music. It's about as good as it gets.

Regards.

RMBruton| 2.21.12 @ 7:31PM

Today I spoke with a gentleman in London who has just retired from active ministry in the C of E. He was one of the last Rectors who continued to use only the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as well as the Authorized Version of Scripture. He remarked that those who have felt the need to modernize both the service and language have got it wrong, and i agree with him. I continue to use only the 1662 BCP in both my private and public worship and there are no bishops in North America, claiming to be Anglican, who support its use. Thank you for posting your article.
Rev'd Richard M Bruton
Christ Church, Woolmarket
Biloxi, MS

POST American| 2.22.12 @ 12:02AM

---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------

--Putting aside this '90's Show' side op--

AS we lurch toward war with Iran,
and criminalization of the King James
Version right here (SEE ACLU)
seems time for one and ALLLL
to print out that Albert Pike-Mazzini
letter (available online).

Written in the late 1800's it laid out
the plan for 3 world wars to destroy
the old (ie REAL) cultures.

"the destruction of ALL that was."

The first 2 for Europe ---and the last
to be sort of a grand finale showdown
of the monothesisms (Judaism/Islam/Chrsitianity).

All 3 are to be thereby discredited
and eliminated as a world state worshipping
GIA relligion is brought forward.

Surely Rockefeller's 'Lucis' (from Lucifer)
Trust boys are working on this.

Remember BTW, the 3 monotheisms
DO share one IMPORTANT feature
---they ALLLL unequivocally
condemn USURY.

An extraordinary common ground afterall.

SO strange NO ONE examines this?
--brings it into play?

----$$$$$$O VERY $$$$trange. . .

R Bayly| 5.11.12 @ 7:33AM

Mr Aitken has a somewhat odd historical narrative here. Bishop Reynolds was not alive when Cranmer was writing. His General Thanksgiving was written for the 1661 revision of the prayer book and kept in the 1662 version familiar today. Although some claim his prayer was based on a private prayer of Queen Elizabeth it seems unlikely that she wrote this when she was young enough to have known Cranmer. Too drift into an imaginative dream that she based her private prayer book on prayers penned for her by Cranmer is a delightful concept, possibly worth developing by a historical novelist, but with no historical foundation.