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General Conventions of 1832 and 1835 there was substituted for these words our present rubric, which bids the Priest to stand "at the right side of the Table." This "right side" of our American Prayer Book was intended to indicate the same relative position as the "north side" of the English Prayer Book; the change being made simply for the sake of those churches which were not orientated. It will be in order then to ascertain what position is indicated by the "north side." In the Prayer Book of 1549, the Priest was directed to say the Lord's Prayer and Collect for Purity "standing humbly afore the midst of the altar." Whether this meant below the steps of the altar, or on the same level with the altar, is by no means clear. In 1552 the Tables were very generally brought down into the choir or body of the church and set lengthwise, with their ends east and west, and the rubric was accordingly. changed to adapt it to the changed position of the Table, the Priest being directed to stand at the "north side of the Table," that is, the long side towards the north, so that the Priest's right side would be towards the congregation; and as there were no steps, he would necessarily be on the same level as the Table. Under the influence of the Caroline divines, the Tables were in very many places restored to their old position in the sanctuary, and set altar-wise with their ends north and south, the rubric remaining unchanged. The HighChurch clergy, however, with their characteristic and compromising caution, did not dare to take up the same relative position to the Table which they had occupied when it stood down in the choir, or body of the church,

1 Bp. White, Memoirs, and Bp. Benj. T. Onderdonk, Annual Address in 1835.

but in order apparently to comply with the letter of the rubric, and so avoid the cavils of the Puritans, hit upon the expedient of standing at the north end. The very general adoption of this position afterward, gave to it a seemingly authoritative sanction. Curiously enough, it afterwards was adopted by the Low-Church party, the successors of the Puritans, and what was originally but a high-church shift, was strenuously insisted upon as the only true interpretation of the rubric!2

Another interpretation has been given. By the words, "north side," it is said, that the north part of the front of the altar is referred to, or that part which is generally spoken of as the Gospel side. It will be seen at once, from what has been already said, that this interpretation is without support from the history of the origin of the rubric. We may, however, quote the judgment of Archbishop Benson upon this point, not because it has the slightest legislative authority for us, but because it is valuable as the result of a long and patient historical inquiry into the whole question. Of this interpretation the Archbishop says, that it "can be regarded only as an accommodation of the letter of the rubric to the present position of the Table." "Arguments, nevertheless, which attempt to show in the words of the Responsive Plea of the Lord Bishop that 'the northern part of the front' is 'the north side of the Table as directed by the rubric' if that means that the rubric was intended to enjoin that particular position, are held by the court to be inconsistent with the continuous history of the rubric."

Both of these interpretations ignore the fact that the

See Scudamore, Notitia Eucharistica, 2d ed. p 188, and the Judgment of Archbishop Benson in Read and others v. Bp. of Lincoln.

rubric when framed in 1552 contemplated the Tables standing with their ends east and west, and so by the term "north side" manifestly meant the long side of the Table towards the north. Our altars have been universally returned to their old position, and now stand with their ends north and south, so that the "north" or "right side," at which the rubric directs the Priest to stand, is now the front, or the side towards the west. No particular part of this side, whether the Gospel corner, or the midst, or the Epistle corner, is specified as the place at which the Lord's Prayer and the Collect for Purity are to be said; but reference to the ancient ritual usages of the Church teaches us, that the Mass proper was always begun at the Epistle corner, called the dextrum cornu. Such was the rule of Sarum and all the other English Uses, and such is the rule of the Roman missal. By standing, therefore, in front of the altar facing east, the Priest will be in the relative position to the altar intended by the rubric, and by occupying the Epistle corner of the front at the beginning of the Mass, he will also be following the ancient custom of the whole West.

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III. OF ANNOUNCING THE EPISTLE AND GOSPEL.

The rubric directing the mode of announcing the Epistle makes provision for announcing the beginning of the Epistle and for nothing more. There is no precedent for inserting after the word "The Epistle" a notice of the Sunday or other day which is being kept; nor does the rubric direct the announcing of the con

So called in the Sarum missal, but the Roman missal, which determines the right and left side from the arms of the crucifix, speaks of the Epistle side as the sinistrum cornu.

cluding part of an Epistle when taken from another chapter, as is the case on Saint James' Day.

The rubric is very definite and there can be no doubt as to how the Epistle should be announced in accordance with its directions. The Epistle for Advent Sunday would be announced thus: "The Epistle is written in the Thirteenth Chapter of the Romans, beginning at the eighth Verse." The Epistle for Saint Stephen's Day would be announced as, "The portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle is written in the Seventh Chapter of the Acts, beginning at the fifty-fifth Verse."

When the Epistle has been announced as "The portion of Scripture," etc., some say at the end, "Here endeth the portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistle." This is a clear violation of the rubric, which gives no such direction, but bids the one who reads to say in every case, "Here endeth the Epistle." It is but seldom that the Gospel is announced as prescribed by its rubric. Some say: "The Holy Gospel is written in the Chapter of the Holy Gospel (or beginning," etc.; others say:

Gospel) according to

"The Holy Gospel is written in the Chapter of that of beginning," etc. These additional words. are quite unnecessary. The blank after "Chapter of" ought simply to be filled in with the name of the Evangelist printed in the title to the appointed Gospel. Thus, for example, the Gospel for Advent Sunday would be announced in this way: "The Holy Gospel is written in the twenty-first Chapter of Saint Matthew, beginning at the first Verse."

On the Sunday after Ascension Day, it is indicated, that part of the Gospel is taken from the fifteenth

chapter of Saint John, and part from the Sixteenth chapter. The same remark applies here as was made in speaking of the Epistle. The rubric gives direction for announcing the beginning of the appointed Gospel and makes no provision for giving notice of its conclusion. And, therefore, this Gospel ought to be announced after the manner of the other Gospels, without the addition of any words to those provided for in the rubric.

IV. OF GENUFLECTING IN THE CREED.

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We have been told that the custom of genuflecting in the Nicene Creed at the words, "And was incarnate, etc., is Roman, and was quite unknown in England. That it was practised under the Roman rite there is no doubt; but that fact would not have constituted an objection, in the minds of English churchmen of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to its being observed by them also. Quite the contrary, it would have been regarded as a good reason for its introduction. Accordingly, Bishop Grandisson of Exeter, in the fourteenth century directs that those in choir "ad altare se inclinent vel potius genuflectent more ecclesiæ Romanæ cum dicitur hec clausa est, et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Et statim stent dicendo, Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, quia Judei irrisorie tunc genuflexerunt." At Syon Monastery all were required to kneel until the words, "And the third day," etc. In some places they prostrated themselves to the ground; thus, for example, we have the following direction: "At the word, 'At

1 Reynolds, Ordinale Exon. xix, p. 1, fol. 9 dorso.

Aungier. History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery. 1840, p. 337.

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