cerned with is the
devotional primer of the times just previous to the Reformation.
This, as a rule, contained prayers, the Belief, the Ave Maria, a
litany of some sort, the Ten Commandments, and whatever else there
might be that in the mind of the compiler came under the head of
"things which a Christian ought to know." There were three of
these primers set forth during the reign of Henry the Eighth, one
in 1535, one in 1539, and one in 1545. During the space that
intervened between the publication of the second and that of the
third of these primers, appeared "The Litany and Suffrages," a
formulary compiled, as is generally believed, by Cranmer, the then
Archbishop of Canterbury, and in substance identical with the Litany
we use to-day. This Litany of 1544 has been properly described as
"the precursor and first instalment of the English Book of Common
Prayer." It was the nucleus or centre of crystallization about
which the other constituent portions of our manual of worship
were destined to be grouped. A quaint exhortation was prefixed to
this Litany, in which it was said to have been set forth "because
the not understanding the prayers and suffrages formerly used
caused that the people came but slackly to the processions."
Besides the primers and the Litany, there were printed in Henry's
reign various editions of a book of Epistles and Gospels in English.
There was also published a Psalter in Latin and English.

All this looked rather to the edification of individual Christians
in their private devotional life than to the public worship of the
Church, but we are not to suppose that meanwhile the larger
interests of the whole body were forgotten. So early as in the
year 1542, Convocation, which according to the Anglican theory
stands toward the Church in the same attitude that Parliament holds
to the State, appointed a Committee of Eight to review and correct
the existing service-books. We know very little as to the proceedings
of this committee, but that something was done, and a real impulse
given to liturgical revision, is evidenced by the fact that at a
meeting of Convocation held soon after King Henry's death a
resolution prevailed "That the books of the Bishops and others who
by the command of the Convocation have labored in examining,
reforming, and publishing the divine service, may be produced
and laid before the examination of this house."

The next important step in the process we are studying was the
p