ys Fleetwood, of many congregations who stared and stood amazed at 'Ye
shall pray.'[1196] In Queen Anne's time it became very general,[1197]
being quite in accord with the High Church sentiment which had then
strongly set in. A political bias also was suspected. Not, perhaps,
without reason; for it was a time when political prepossessions which
could not openly be declared found vent in all kinds of byways. After
the Revolution, while the title of the new sovereign was not yet secure,
the Clergy were specially enjoined, that however else they might vary
their prayer or exhortation to prayer before the sermon, they were in
any case to mention the King by name. It was said--whether in sarcasm or
as a grave reality--that the semi-Jacobite parsons, of whom there were
many, found satisfaction in discovering a mode by which they could 'show
at once their duty and their disgust'[1198] in a manner unexceptionally
accordant with the law and with the Canon. 'Ye are bidden to pray,' or,
as a certain Dr. M---- always worded it, 'Ye must pray,[1199] did not
necessarily imply much heart in fulfilling the injunction by which the
people were called upon to pray for their new lords. But, curiously
enough, when George I. came to the throne, the political gloss attached
to 'the Bidding' became reversed. In the royal directions to the
archbishops, the canonical form, with the royal titles included, was
strictly enjoined;[1200] and consequently not those who used, but those
who neglected it, ran a risk of being set down as having Jacobite
proclivities. It had, however, never been really popular, and few
objected to its gradual disuse. Ever since the Revolution, it had
introduced into a portion of the public worship far too decided an
element of political feeling. The objection was the greater, because the
liberty of variation had given it a certain personal character. If the
preacher did not keep strictly to the words of the Canon, he could
scarcely avoid making it appear, by the names omitted or inserted, what
might be his political, his ecclesiastical, or his academical opinions.
Those, again, whose respect for dignities was in excess--a foible to
which the age was prone--would go through a list of titles, illustrious,
right reverend, and right honourable,[1201] which ill accorded with a
time of prayer. Before the middle of the century, except in university
churches or on formal occasions, the Canon became generally obsolete,
and the sermon