, rather than _The Proposed
Book_, the real basis of revision. It did so, and as a result we
have what has served us so well during the first century of our
national life--the _Book of Common Prayer and Administration of
the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church
according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
United States of America_. The points wherein the American Prayer
Book differs from the Prayer Book of the Church of England are too
numerous to be catalogued in full. "They will appear," says the
Preface (a composition borrowed, by the way, almost wholly from
_The Proposed Book_), "and, it is to be hoped, the reasons of them
also, upon a comparison of this with the Book of Common Prayer of
the Church of England."

The most important differences are the following: The permissive
use of "Selections of Psalms in place of the Psalms appointed for
the day of the month." This was doubtless suggested by the wholesale
transformation of the Psalter in _The Proposed Book_ into a series
of selections.

The permitted shortening of the Litany is an American feature.

A number of the special prayers, as, for example, the prayer for a
sick person, that for persons going to sea, the thanksgivings for a
recovery and for a safe return, all these are peculiar to the
American use. Extensive alterations were made in the Marriage
Service and certain greatly needed ones in the Burial Office.
The two most noteworthy differences, however, are the omission
from our Prayer Book of the so-called Athanasian Creed, and the
insertion in it of that part of the Consecration Prayer in the
Communion Office known as the Invocation. The engrafting of this
latter feature we owe to the influence of Bishop Seabury, who by
this addition not only assimilated the language of our liturgy more
closely to that of the ancient formularies of the Oriental Church,
but also insured our being kept reminded of the truly spiritual
character of Holy Communion. "It is the spirit that quickeneth,"
this Invocation seems to say; "the flesh profiteth nothing." Quite
in line with this was the alteration made at the same time in the
language of the Catechism. "The Body and Blood of Christ," says the
English Book, "which are verily and indeed taken and received by
the faithful in the Lord's Supper."

"The Body and Blood of Christ," says the American Book, "which are
spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's
Supper."