COMMON PRAYER, AHD ADMIKISTRATIOH OF THE SACRAMENTS, AKD OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH, ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TOGETHER WITH THE PSALTER, OB, PSALMS OF DAVID. STEREOTYPE EDITION. . BALTIMORE: New-York, Sept. 9, 18171 DO herehy certify, that this Edition of the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, kc. (having been compared with a standard Book, and corrected hy the same) is permitted to be published as an Edition duly compared and corrected hy a suitable Person appointed for that purpose, as the Canon directs. JOHN HENRY HOBART, Biihop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Few-York. TABLE OF CONTENTS. I The Ratification of the Book of Common Prayer. 3 The Order how the Psalter is i * The Order how the rest of the J Tables of Lessons of Holy t Tables for finding the Holy- 10 The Order for Daily Evening 11 Prayers and Thanksgivings up- I! The Collects, Epistles, and it The Ministration of Public IS The Ministration of Pri- 16 The Ministration of Baptism 17 A Catechism; that is to say, an instruction to be learned 18 The Order of Confirmation, or 20 The Order for the Visitationirf 22 The Order for the Burial of 24 Forms of Prayer to be used at 25 A Form of Prayer for the Vi- 26 A Form of Prayer and Thanks- giving to Almighty God, for 28 Selections of Psalms, to be 29 The Psalter, or Psalms of Da- THE RATIFICATION OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. By the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Convention, this 16/A Day of October, in the Year of our Lard one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. i"PHIS Convention, having in their present Session, set forth A •*■ Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Riles and Ceremonies of the Church, do herehy establish the said Book: And they declare it to be the Liturgy of this Church; and require, that it be received as such hy all the Members of the same: And this Book shall be in Use from and after the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety. n is a most invaluable part of that blessed liberty wherewith Chrht hath made us free, that in his worship, different forms ud usages niay without offence be allowed, provided the substance af the Faith he kept entire; and that, in every Church, what cantotbe clearly determined to belong to Doctrine must be referred Hi Discipline; and therefore, hy common consent and authority, uy be altered, abridged, enlarged, amended, or otherwise disposed of, as may seem most convenient for the edification of the people, 'according to the various exigencies of times and occasion.' The Church of England, to which the Protestant Episcopal Church in these States is indehted, under GOD, for her first foisidation and a long continuance of nursing care and protection, hath, m the Preface of her Book of Common Prayer, laid it down as a Rule, that 'The particular Forms of Divine Worship, and the Bites and Ceremonies appointed to be used therein, being things is their own nature indifferent and alterable, and so acknowledged, it is but reasonable that, upon weighty and important considerations, according to the various exigencies of times and occasions, socb changes and alterations should be made therein, as to those who are in places of authority should, from time to time, seem either necessary or expedient.' The same Church hath not only in her Preface, but likewise in her Articles and Homilies, declared the necessity and expediency of occasional alterations and amendments in her Forms of Public Worship ; and we find accordingly, that, seeking 'to keep the happy mean between too much stiffness in refusing, and too much easiness in admitting variations in things once advisedly established, she hath, in the reign of several Princes, since the first compiling of her Liturgy in the time of Edward the Sixth, upon just and "eighty considerations her thereunto moving, yielded to make such alterations in some particulars, as in their respective times were thought convenient ; yet so as that the main hody and essenlisl parts"of the same (as well in the chiefest materials, as in the fmme and order thereof) have still been continued firm and mistaken.' Her general aim in these different Reviews and Alterations hath been, as she further declares in her said Preface, 'to do that which, according to her best understanding, might most tend to the preservation of peace and unity in the Church; the procuring of reverence, and the exciting of piety and devotion in the worship of God; and, finally, the cutting off occasion, from them that seek occasion, of cavil or quarrel against her Liturgy.' And although, according to her judgment, there be not 'any thing in i! contrary to the Word of God, or to sound doctrine, or which a |