I.'s time they had often become joined, as a concession to the
later hours that were gradually gaining ground, or, as Heylin expressed
it, 'because of the sloth of the people.' But 'long after the
Restoration' the distinction was maintained in some places, as in the
Cathedrals of Canterbury and Worcester. And throughout the last century,
'Second Service' was a name in common general use for the Communion
office.[1141]

Bull, Sherlock, Beveridge, and other Anglican divines, who belong more
to the seventeenth than to the eighteenth century, had expressed much
concern at the unfrequency of celebrations of the Eucharist as compared
with a former age. Our Reformers, they said, had regarded it as an
ordinary part of Christian worship.[1142] In the first Prayer-book of
Edward VI. there had been express directions relating to a daily
administration, not only in cathedrals, but in parish churches. But now,
said Beveridge, people have so departed from primitive usage that they
think once a week is too often.[1143] It had come to be monthly or
perhaps quarterly. The Puritans, with the idea that the solemnity of the
rite was enhanced by its recurring after comparatively lengthened
intervals, discouraged frequent communions, and many Low Churchmen of
the next generation held the same opinion.[1144] In the country,
quarterly communions had become the general rule. The number of
communicants had also very much diminished. No doubt this was owing in
great measure to the general laxity which followed upon the Restoration.
But the cause already mentioned contributed to keep away even religious
people. It must be also remembered that, during the period of the
Reformation, and for some time after, stated attendance at the Holy
Communion was regarded not only as a religious duty, but as an ordinary
sign of membership in the National Church, and of attachment to its
principles. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, although the
odious sacramental test was yet to survive for many a long year, that
feeling had very generally passed away, and was being gradually
superseded in many minds by an opposite idea that this Sacrament was not
so much a help to Christian living, as a badge, from which many
excellent people shrunk, of decided religious profession. With the rise
of the religious societies there was a change for the better. The High
Church movement of Queen Anne's time, regarded in its worthiest form and
among its best representatives