The practice of the clergy of the eighteenth century in regard to Divine Service, that is to say Matins and Evensong, was exceedingly lax. There seems to have been little or no idea of a daily service. Just as the Eucharist was but seldom celebrated, so the Divine Service seems only to have been used upon Sundays. The ordinary Sunday service of the days of persecution seems to have been as often as not of a very loose and unfixed type with extempore prayers, much like the services of the days of the second episcopacy in the last half of the seventeenth century. Where it was not of this character it was taken from the Book of Common Prayer, or it would be better perhaps to say that the services in the Book of Common Prayer were drawn upon for it. Very early in the eighteenth century the Prayer Book was introduced into several churches, but on the other hand the unliturgical type of morning and evening service lingered on in the north even after the Scottish liturgy had come into regular use.

As early as 1709, Maxwell, the minister of Tealing in Forfarshire, wrote to Wodrow the historian, "Matters seem to grow worse and worse. The English service continues with us, and the liturgy is in great vogue and esteem, especially among our gentry, who seem to be disposed to receive anything that is against the Established Church, her doctrine, worship, and government." Wodrow replied, "Besides the attempts that are made in giving the sacrament privately, and almost in articulo mortis, and the baptising with the cross after the English fashion⁽¹⁾."

The nonjuring liturgists and theologians of the early part of the eighteenth century certainly understood the principles underlying the ancient choir services of the Church. Dr. Hickes's Devotions in the Ancient Way of Offices, which passed through several editions, is sufficient evidence of this, not to speak of the forms for morning and evening prayer drawn up by Drs. Rattray and Deacon, and prefixed to their liturgies. But the fact remains that we have at present no evidence of the introduction of such forms as these into the Scottish congregations. The truth seems to be that the controversies regarding the Usages which centred round the sacraments, took up so large a share of attention that no one seems to have thought much about improving or regulating the ordinary morning and evening services. The more liturgically minded of the eighteenth century clergy appear to have contented themselves with drawing upon the English Prayer Book when they wanted a fixed form⁽²⁾. So that at the close of the eighteenth century we find the Matins and Evensong of the Prayer Book in general use, but individual clergy taking considerable liberty in making rather trifling modifications of them.

We are fortunate enough to possess the interesting account of the service as conducted in 1795 at Longside by the famous John Skinner of Linshart ("Tullochgorum.") The writer is John Ramsey of Ochtertyre, a Presbyterian. Speaking of Skinner he wrote:—

He was perhaps the last of his brethren who formed themselves upon the model of Episcopal ministers before the Revolution. Having no affinity or resemblance to the English clergy of those times, either in their sermons or discipline, they had, it is believed, all the good qualities of their Presbyterian brethren without the crotchets of the high-fliers. Be that as it may, he preached forty minutes every Lord's day; and what is not so common in his Church, made no use of papers …. Like the parochial clergy in Episcopal times, he had a session of twelve elders, who assisted him in visiting the rich, taking care of the poor, and exercising Church discipline, which last does not entirely accord with the Presbyterian form of process …. For a number of years his stipend did not exceed three hundred merks a year; and in 1745 it amounted to little more than thirty pounds sterling, which was very small, considering the numbers and abilities of his adherents.

The architecture of his chapel, which stands hard by the manse, is equally primitive and unadorned, having the appearance of a vast barn shaped like a cross. It is thatched and so low in the roof as not to admit of lofts or galleries. It is tolerably well seated, and will contain more than a thousand people. The altar is very plain, being a square seat immediately below a very humble pulpit.

[In 1795] I saw what I knew would shortly be seen no more—viz., an old-fashioned Episcopal clergyman, who did not affect to tread in the steps of his English brethren, between whom and the parochial ministers of Scotland before the Revolution there was little similitude. The first thing that struck me was the strongly marked faces of the people, which betokened not only sense and sharpness, but also a serious frame of mind. In point of mode and plainness, their dress reminded me of that of our country-people more than forty years ago, bonnets and party-coloured plaids being frequent. To my great surprise the service began with a psalm taken from the Assembly's version, which, he said, was more intelligible to a country congregation than Tait and Brady's. This, with the precentor's tone and style of singing, made me fancy myself in a Presbyterian church, till the reading of the liturgy dispelled the illusion. That and the Litany were read by Mr. Cuming, his grandson and assistant, he himself officiating only in the Communion service. Some of the prayers and collects were not to be found in the Book of Common Prayer, being either taken from the Scottish Service book or composed by himself. The precentor sang the anthems in a style that would have astonished and offended an English ear accustomed to good singing; gut the devout appearance of the people more than compensated for any defects in their music. At a particular part of the service, the elders arose from their seats and collected the offering, while the congregation sang a hymn …. The service being finished, the venerable old man gave us a sermon⁽³⁾.

The legislation and the practice of the earlier part of the nineteenth century were all in the direction of greater strictness in adhering to the forms in the Prayer Book. It would be impossible to write a better sketch of that legislation than the outline given by the present Dean of Edinburgh in An Inquiry into the legal force which the rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer possess in the Scottish Church, Edinburgh, St. Giles Printing Co., 1895) where he says:—

At the beginning of the present century, as is well known, it was the custom of the clergy of our Church (especially in the north), while using the Prayer Book forms for morning and evening prayer, to vary the wording and to insert in parts of the service prayers of their own composition and selection⁽⁴⁾.

In the performance of the occasional offices they adhered still less closely, if at all, to the Prayer Book. This was especially the case in the solemnisation of matrimony and the administration of baptism. An occasional reference in the baptismal register of Old Saint Paul's, Edinburgh, to a baptism as having been performed per liturgiam shows that the Prayer Book office for baptism was by no means invariably followed even when the sacrament was administered in Church. In the celebration of the Eucharist the Scottish Communion Office, in one or other of its forms, was in general use among the old non-juring congregations; the English office the invariable use of the "qualified" chapels which had united themselves with the Church after the Laurencekirk Convocation of 1804.

Such was the condition of things previous to the meeting of the first General Synod in 1811. The Canons which that Synod enacted aimed, among other things, at securing greater uniformity in the mode of conducting the public service of the Church. To that end, presbyters and deacons were ordered to "adhere strictly to the words of the English Liturgy in the morning and evening service, unless where, for obvious reasons, resulting from the difference between a legal establishment and toleration, the Bishop shall authorise any deviations." (Canon XVI.) In baptising they were allowed to select from the Prayer Book form "such parts of the office as are essentially necessary to the due administration of the sacrament (Canon XIX). In solemnising matrimony they were tied to the Prayer Book only so far as to use "what tends to secure the formal consent of the parties," and were apparently left to judge for themselves what prayers—whether taken from the Prayer Book or not—were "suitable" for use on the occasion (Canon XXII.). In the celebration of the Eucharist, whether by the Scottish or the English office, "no alteration nor interpolation whatever" was allowed (Canon XV). All the clergy, however, were enjoined (Canon XVIII), in giving intimation of and preparing for the infrequent communions of those days, "to pay attention to the spirit and design of the rubrics prefixed to the order for the administration of the Lord's Supper in the Book of Common Prayer.

It should be noted, however, that the Bishops had previously drawn up a similar Canon to that last referred to, and in even more stringent terms. The Episcopal Synod in 1809 agreed upon six Canons, which all the Bishops signed. The fifth of them ran: "That they (the clergy) attend strictly to the rubrics prefixed to the Communion Office." I do not know if these so-called Canons were ever promulgated; but I hazard the conjecture that the object aimed at in this one was to insure the maintenance of what is commonly called Church discipline.

It is certain, from other features of the Code of Canons of 1811, that the wholesale acceptance of the rubrics of the Prayer Book was never so much as contemplated at that time. The Canon (XIV) regulating the times for Divine service makes no reference to the holy days of the Prayer Book calendar; the clergy are simply required to attend to the celebration of Divine service "on the sacred solemnities" of Sunday, and "such other holy days as have been usually observed by the Episcopal Church in this part of the United Kingdom"; while in place of accepting itself to giving—in the appendix to the Code of Canons—a recommendation to the clergy to wear the surplice in reading prayers and administering the sacraments, on the ground that "white seems to be a much more proper dress for the ministers of the Prince of Peace and Purity than black, if propriety can be attached to any colour."

This quaint synodical recommendation of a clerical vestment stood unchanged in the next Code of Canons, which was enacted by the General Synod of 1828. And in that Code there is no material alteration made on any of the provisions I have noted in the Code of 1811, save that bishops as well as presbyters and deacons are tied down to strict adherence to the words of the liturgy at morning and evening service; that no departure is allowed from the form prescribed for use at public baptism (except in cases of extreme danger); that (apparently by carelessness in drafting) the clergy are relieved from the obligation to use any prayers whatever at weddings; and that the anniversaries of the Saviour's birth, crucifixion, and ascension are specified as being one with Sundays specially days of obligation.

We come next to the General Synod of 1838. There again there are very few material alterations made upon the position as laid down in 1811. Still the original Canons with regard to the Scottish Communion Office and the giving intimation of and preparing for Communion remain in force; still the direction stands to pay heed to the spirit and design of the rubrics pre-fixed to the Communion Office in the Prayer Book; the Canons relating to the observance of holy days and the administration of baptism are—so far as our present inquiry is concerned— re-enacted in the Code of 1882; and the only changes to be noted are these—first, "a direction that in the solemnisation of matrimony such prayers only shall be used as are contained in the form prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer" (Canon XXII); and secondly, three important new provisions in the Canon (XXVIII) "on the uniformity to be observed in public worship," viz.:—(a) this reference to rubrics, "in the performance of morning and evening service the words and rubrical directions of the English Liturgy shall be strictly adhered to": (b) a clause forbidding the clergy "to officiate or preach in any place publicly without using the liturgy at all"; and (c) another clause prescribing that "in publicly reading prayers and administering the sacraments, the surplice shall be used as the proper sacerdotal vestment."

The paper in Bishop John Skinner's hand which is quoted by the Dean will be found in full in Appendix IV. It would seem to have been written in answer to Bishop Gleig's first charge delivered to the Brechin clergy in August, 1809, although it never was published.

A good deal more about the variations from the Book of Common Prayer which were customary in Aberdeen about a hundred years ago will be found in the description of the services in Saint Andrew's, Aberdeen, from the Wagstaff Case, which has been printed as Appendix V.

These variations are nearly all due to the Book of Common Prayer being only gradually adopted during the eighteenth century, and the freedom with which the clergy had adapted the services to the circumstances in which they were placed. In the services with proper lessons before and after an occasion on which the Holy Communion was celebrated, we have a survival of the seventeenth century customs, of puritan or continental protestant origin, which were also practised by Presbyterians.

With respect to the non-use of the Athanasian Creed, it would seem that there was a great hesitation in introducing the use of a document of a highly technical character teeming with difficult theological terms. The speculative theology of the eighteenth century under the influence of Hutchinsonianism questioned the orthodoxy of certain of its expressions. As early as 1637 Scottish theologians had considered the English translation capable of improvement, and in the ill-fated Prayer Book of that date the text of the creed appeared with two notable emendations. References to it in the seventeenth and in the early part of the eighteenth century are scanty. It does not seem to have been a matter of contention. It had been accepted as one of the three creeds in the Second Helvetic Confession which the General Assembly adopted in 1566; the puritan divine Samuel Rutherford spoke of it as "what every man ought to believe;" the "Savoy Liturgy" of the English Presbyterians after the Restoration provided it as an alternative to the other two creeds⁽⁵⁾. But the fact that it is not used in the services of the Eastern Orthodox Church⁽⁶⁾ may perhaps have made the non-jurors of the school of Campbell and Gadderar hesitate to introduce it. They probably knew that, although included in the Euchologion, it is not used in the public services of the Eastern Church. At any rate there seems no definite evidence of its introduction in the Scottish services of the first half of the eighteenth century, and when the Prayer Book matins and evensong came to be followed with a fair amount of strictness, the wave of Hutchinsonianism had not spent its force. Probably Bishop John Skinner of Aberdeen expresses what had been the general feeling when, writing in 1810, he says:—

"As that doctrine [i.e., of Christ and the Apostles] is sufficiently exhibited in these two Creeds [i.e., the Apostles' and the Nicene] considered as public Confessions of our Christian faith there seems to be the less reason for our using as such what is commonly called the Creed of Saint Athanasius, part of which has been considered by the generality of English divines as a kind of comment upon the doctrine of the Trinity, and though intended as part of an illustration of that doctrine, may yet be far from being so clear to the comprehension of Christians, in general, as to entitle it to be repeated by them as part of their public worship. Therefore on account of the scruples entertained about it by many well disposed members of our Church, I have always declined making any public use of the Athanasian Creed, though I consider the doctrine of it, when properly understood, to be perfectly sound and orthodox." (Appendix IV page 157.)"

An interesting custom at Saint Andrew's, Aberdeen, recorded in the Wagstaff Case (Appendix V) was that of using the Litany on Christmas Day, on whatever day of the week that festival occurred.

In a letter from Bishop Abernethy Drummond to Bishop Watson of Dunkeld, dated 18 May 1792, the former writes, "In reading the prayers at home, I greatly curtail the service. I use the Lord's prayer but twice; one creed, one blessing at one diet of worship; and the doxology, three or at most four times; particularly, I use it only at the end of the last Psalm, however many may be read⁽⁷⁾."

Although such variations from the Prayer Book order as have just been described have long been a thing of the past, several noteworthy customs in connection with Divine Service have been handed down by tradition in most of the older congregations.

Respecting Lochlee the Rev. W. Presslie writes:—"At one time, not very long ago the usual Morning Service began by the clergyman giving out two or three verses of a psalm to be sung, and after the blessing the precentor and choir sang another psalm of their own selection, very often the 134^th, called 'the Dismissal.'"

The Gloria at the end of each psalm was recited as versicle and response, as if it were part of the psalms⁽⁸⁾: if the psalm had an odd number of verses the congregation said the first verse of the Gloria, and the officiant the second, the congregation beginning the next psalm. It was usual to incline at the beginning of the Gloria⁽⁹⁾.

In a letter on "old customs in the Scottish Church" in the Scottish Guardian of 24^th September 1880, and signed "Ergadiensis," the writer states that at the Gloria all bowed or bent the head, and at the absolution the reverence was very marked, all bending their heads. He goes on to say that the clergy turned towards the altar at the Apostles' Creed, and that at Laurencekirk, at the conclusion of the service each one bowed to the altar when leaving the seat or pew.

The Rev. George Sutherland informs the writer that at Ellon long ago he was told that it was formerly the custom for old women from the Bernie district to curtsey at the words "O come let us worship and fall down" in the Venite at Matins.

Mr. J. E. Vaux⁽¹⁰⁾, referring to a writer in Notes and Queries, says that "It was formerly the custom for the dean and canons at Durham to kneel down in their stalls when these words were sung⁽¹¹⁾. Dean Cornwallis, Dr Durell, and Dr Prosser used to do this. Their immediate successors only bowed, and then the custom disappeared entirely. At Saint John's, Edinburgh, about 1846, the whole congregation knelt at the words cited above, and the well known chant, Purcell in G, was changed into the minor key for that verse only. The late Canon Humble of Saint Ninian's, Perth, told me that throughout Scotland old people frequently bow or courtesy when the come to the verse referred to above. I fancy that it was mainly a north country custom, for amongst all the instances I have collected, only one relates to the south of England." Mr. Vaux then quotes a case at Thorverton, Devon, in 1854.

Benedicite and Jubilate were usually substituted for Te Deum and Benedictus at Matins in Advent and Lent; likewise Cantate and Deus misereatur for Magnificat and Nunc dimittis respectively, at Evensong. Benedicite was also used upon Septuagesima Sunday (not on Sexagesima and Quinquagesima); upon Trinity Sunday; and upon the 19^th Sunday after Trinity⁽¹²⁾, when the story of the Three Children was read in the first lesson. Very often it was broken off after the 2^nd verse, O ye Angels etc., and resumed at the 26^th, O ye Children of Men etc. At Fraserburgh it was said as far as the 26^th verse, and the rest was sung. Sometimes the last verse also was omitted, although not on the 19^th Sunday after Trinity.

The book from which the Lessons were read was often left open somewhere in the Book of Isaiah as being the evangelical prophet, and this throughout the week; and in like manner the altar book was left open at the Gospel for the day.

When the Lord's Prayer⁽¹³⁾, the Decalogue, or the Benedictus, Magnificat, or Nunc Dimittis occurred in the Lesson, most of the old congregations were accustomed to rise up and stand while it was being read. This was also done for the words "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men" at the end of the Second Lesson at Matins of Christmas Day. In most of the Buchan churches the people stood for the words, "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" in the First Lesson at Matins of Christmas Day. Almost everywhere it was usual to stand for the words, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" in the Epistle on Trinity Sunday, and in many places they stood for the words "Amen; Blessing and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honour, and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen," in the Epistle on All Saints' Day. At Cuminestown the custom is for the people to stand at the words, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" in the First Lesson at Matins on Trinity Sunday. Latterly at Peterhead they stood when the Lord's Prayer or Ten Commandments occurred in the Lessons, but not on the other occasions just mentioned.

In Notes and Queries, vol. ix., 1854, p. 367, is the following communication. It is signed "Henry Stephens."

"The congregation of the English Episcopal Chapel at Dundee stood during the reading of the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Song of Angels at the birth of Christ, when these occur in the order of morning Lessons. This congregation joined that of the Scottish Episcopalians several years ago, and whether the practice is continued in the present congregation I cannot say.

In Saint Paul's Chapel, Edinburgh, York Place, the congregation stood at the reading of the Ten Commandments in the Fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, and they chant, 'Glory be to thee, O God,' on the giving out of the Gospel, and 'Thanks be to thee, O God,' &c., after the reading of it. In the Communion they sit during the reading of the Exhortation, 'Dearly Beloved in the Lord;' and it is but very lately that they have stood when repeating 'Glory be to God on high,' &c. in the Post Communion."

---

1.. ^i. Wodrow's Correspondence, I, 79-84. Cf. Pages 243, 254, 390.

2. ^ii. In 1770 Dr Abernathy Drummon wrote of the Scottish clergy, "clergymen who every day use the morning and evening service of the English Prayer Book, and the offices for baptism, confirmation, matrimony, visitation of the sick, etc., occasionally." The Rebuffer Rebuffed; or, A Vindication of the Remarks on the Second Part of Principles political and religious, and of several MS. Letters sent to the Reverent Mr Sievright anno 1767 [by Dr Abernethy Drummond] Edinburgh 1770, page 48

3. ^iii. Scotland and Scotsmen in the eighteenth century from the MSS. Of John Ramsay, Esq., of Ochtertyre, ed. Alex. Allardyce, Edinburgh, 1881, vol. i. Pp. 527-541

4. ^iv. A friend has recently found and sent to me a paper in Bishop John Skinner's handwriting, dated August, 1810, in which the Bishop enumerates the variations which he himself had been accustomed to introduce. Some of them are supremely sensible - e.g., he substitutes words "understanded of the people" for archaic or misleading expressions as "impartially administer justice" for "indifferently minister justice, " "Bishops and Pastors" for "Bishops and Curates"; and so on. Again, he considers it more proper in the third Collect at Matins to read that "God has brought us to the light of this day," then "to the beginning" of it, in view of the hour at which Matins generally was said. So in the third Collect for Evensong - a service which, as he remarks, is often concluded early in the afternoon - he prayed to be defended "from all perils, accidents, and dangers of the ensuing night and of all our time"; adding these last words, he explained, so as "to comprehend the sense which some have put on the words this night as if they meant all this night of life - i.e., all our present life." Others of his alterations reflect the circumstances of the Church's life in the preceding century. In the Litany it was customary to commend "exiles" as well as "prisoners and captives" to the Divine pity, and the Bishop justifies his observance of the practise by arguing with more ingenuousness than convincing force that to go on praying for exiles shows that there was no occasion for suspecting that the sole object of the petition had been the exiled royal family and their adherents. Again, because, to use his own words, "our poor Church has to struggle with such a good Lord to disappoint their designs as well as "to turn their hearts." And as the days were still remembered when assembled congregations of Episcopalians were by no means sure when or where they might meet together again, the Bishop continues to insert in the General Thanksgiving, in grateful recognition of the security now enjoyed, a clause which had been used in the times when penal laws were enforced - thanking God "for this opportunity of assembling to Thy worship and praise." These are only a few out of many variations he mentions. There seem to have been no portions of the ordinary offices which he was in the habit of omitting, save the Athanasian Creed, "on account of the scruples that were entertained about it by many well disposed members of the Church," and for a like reason he considers the use of the Commination Service on Ash Wednesday inexpedient. [Dean of Edinburgh's note.]

5. ^v. See The Book of Common Prayer …. For the use of the Church of Scotland 1637, ed. Professor James Cooper, Church Service Society, 1904, page 242

6. ^vi. On the acceptance of this Creed by the Eastern Churches as a doctrinal standard see The Popular Use of the Athanasian Creed, by Dr. J. Wickham Legg, 2^nd edition, London, Longmans and Co., 1910

7. ^vii. An Episode in the History of the Scotch Office in The Panoply, ed. G. H. Forbes, Burntisland, 1863-9, volume iii, page 187

8. ^viii. There seems to be no Western authority for the priest and people saying the Gloria Patri all together, or for the choir singing it "full." The Gloria Patri is properly a Versicle and Response, and is treated as such by the Book of Common Prayer, which is explicit upon the point: -

Here all standing up the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost.
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

9. ^ix. See Wilkins, Concilia Magnæ Britannia iii, p. 20 AD 1420, also H. Bradshaw, Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral, ii, p. 333, and The Mirroure of our Lady, p. 82, "ye begyn … enclynynge to praise the blyssed trynyte. & say Gloria Patri," for much earlier instances of this.

10. ^x. Church Folk Lore, page 37.

11. ^xi. Notes and Queries, 4^th Series, vii, p. 280

12. ^xii. The 21^st since the introduction of the "revised" lectionary of 1871.

13. ^xiii. Standing at the Lord's Prayer was a common tradition in many parts of England, e.g., Rochester, Bristol, and Norwich Cathedrals. At Exeter Cathedral it is said that the congregation used to kneel. See Notes and Queries ix, 1854, pp. 127, 257, 567.

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