y of the Psalter, and in this
year the General Assembly ordained that:

"Every Minister, Exhorter and Reader shall have one of the Psalm Books
lately printed in Edinborough, and use the order contained therein in
Prayers, Marriage and Ministration of the Sacraments."

This book was called "The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the
Sacraments, etc., used in the English Church at Geneva approved and
received by the Church of Scotland, whereunto besides that was in the
former books are also added sundry other Prayers with the whole Psalms
of David in English Metre." As the Psalms occupied by far the greater
part of the book it came to be commonly known as "The Psalm Book," and
as such, with frequent additions, among which were several hymns and
doxologies, it continued to be the recognized Book of Common Order of
the Scottish Church down to the time of the Westminster Assembly. It
cannot be claimed, however, that this book ever secured a firm or
lasting hold upon the affections of the Scottish people in general.
Its authority was ecclesiastical only, inasmuch as the Estates of the
Realm never gave to it the official sanction which they had repeatedly
granted to King Edward's Prayer Book. One reason for this evident want
of popularity may have been that, except in its Psalter department and
in some of its minor parts, it was a book for the clergy only and not
for the people. Even the Psalms in those days passed through new
editions so rapidly, and were subjected to such serious changes, that
they never obtained the place in the affections of the people that
later versions have secured, and by 1645 The Book of Common Order
appears to have fallen into such comparative neglect that no strong
resistance was made to its abolition in favor of the Directory of
Worship.

That it was held in esteem by the clergy, although not so revered as to
be looked upon as incapable of improvement, appears from the fact that
in 1601 a proposal was made to revise it, together with the confession
of faith, which had been prepared by Knox. This work was committed to
Alexander Henderson, the renowned minister of Leuchars and the valiant
leader of the Church of Scotland in her resistance against the tyranny
of Charles the First and his minister, Laud. The revision, however,
was never accomplished, Henderson confessing, according to the
historian, Baillie, that he could not take upon him "either to
determine some points controverted, or