INTENSIDAD DE USO

Skinner begins by quoting Wheatly, the eighteenth century Prayer Book commentator and liturgical scholar, commenting on the practice of the Church of England, ‘There is a difference between the practice of the Church of England and theirs [the primitive Christians], that whereas we use the form of intercession immediately after placing the elements upon the table; it is in all the ancient Liturgies, except St. Mark’s and the Ætheopian, deferred till after the consecration*’. But he continues stating the practice of the Scottish Episcopal Church. ‘For this reason is it, that the prayer for the “whole state of Christ’s Church” occupies the place which it is found to occupy in the

Scottish Communion office, primitive practice being the invariable rule and guide of its compilers’.553

Skinner does not primarily focus on the wider intercessory character of the Prayer, but he does briefly mention the theological rationale for placing the intercessory prayer for the Church after the Consecration, that it is prayer ‘for the whole catholic Church’.554It is the theological rationale that is the significant issue. The reason (as discussed above) that the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church comes after the Prayer of Consecration and before the Lord’s Prayer is that by commemoration, offering the death of Christ to the Father, the Presbyter pleads the benefits and blessings accruing to the faithful communicants, and those for whom they pray. It is the place of intercession, for which the basis is the redemption won by the shedding of Christ’s blood. The position also follows the precedent of the ancient Greek liturgies, which was a conspicuous element in shaping the Scottish liturgy of 1764. It is in this regard that Skinner directs virtually the whole of his discussion to the issue of prayer for the faithful departed, as he says, ‘The doctrine maintained by the primitive Christians on the subject of the “whole state of Christ’s Church” was…that it embraced not only the faithful on earth, but also thefaithful departed’.555

The Scottish version of the prayer is identical to the English, except that it includes a petition for the faithful departed and a long paragraph of thanksgiving for ‘saints, who have been the choice vessels of thy grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations’. The petition for the departed asks, ‘And we also bless thy holy name for all thy servants, who having finished their course in faith do now rest from their labours’. The subject of prayer for the departed was [and remains] a matter of controversy in the Church of England. It appears to have been have been a part of Scottish Episcopalian thought, (for there has never been any controversy over the matter) from the time of Bishop William Forbes.556

553_{Ibid., p. 135. (*Wheatley’sA Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of}

England, 1722, cit. in loco.)

554

Ibid., p. 135.

555_{Ibid., p. 135.}

Skinner uses his discussion to align himself with influential English writers agreeable to prayer for the departed, principally Wheatly, Jeremy Taylor, and Thorndike. He depends, as Bishop Rattray did, on 2 Timothy 1. 18, ‘…may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day—and you know well the service he rendered at Ephesus’. However, the particular reason that intercession in the Scottish Liturgy is placed after the Consecration is not just to pray for the departed at that point, but to quote Rattray, ‘Then the priest maketh intercession, in virtue of the this Sacrifice thus offered up in commemoration of, and in union with the one great personal Sacrifice of Christ, for the whole Catholic Church, and pleadeth the merits of this one Sacrifice in behalf of all estates and conditions of men in it offering this memorial thereof, not for the living only but for the dead also…’.557To some degree the issue for prayer of the dead is, if not a separate issue, at least a subsidiary one. Skinner does not here, as he often does, draw attention in the footnotes to Rattray’sAncient Liturgy.

Skinner’s theology of the ‘middle state’ or ‘intermediate state’, is the usual Episcopalian doctrine, that the final and ultimate blessedness is reserved for the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day, when all of the redeemed are invited to enter the Kingdom of God, ‘Come ye blessed of my father, and inherit the kingdom

prepared for you from the foundation of the world’. (St. Matt. 25. 34). Between physical death and the resurrection of the dead, the Christian soul, sundered from the body, remains alive in Christ, free from further sin, in a state of preparation for ‘That Day’. They can pray for us, and we for them, towards the final consummation in Christ. Turning to Wheatly again, Skinner produces a quotation that not only succinctly sums up the doctrine, ‘…the interval between death and the end of the world, is a state of imperfect expectation and bliss, in which the souls of the righteous wait for the completion and perfection of their happiness at the consummation of all things’, but also explains praying for the departed as part of the intercessions which follow the Prayer of Oblation and theEpiclesis, ‘…while they were praying for the Catholic Church, they thought it not improper to ask a petition in behalf of that larger and better part of it which had gone before them, that they might altogether attain a

blessed and glorious resurrection, and be brought at last to a perfect fruition of happiness in heaven’.558

Then shall the Presbyter say,

As our Saviour hath commanded and taught us, we are bold to say, ‘Our Father’, &c.

The placing of the Lord’s Prayer immediately after the Consecration Prayer stands in marked contrast to the 1662 eucharistic rite, where it is part of the post-communion thanksgiving. The particular reason that Skinner articulates for the Scottish place for the Lord’s Prayer is the petition, ‘give us this day our daily bread’, ‘being invariably by the ancients referred to thesupersubstantial bread, αρτον επιουσιον, of the

Eucharist’.559None of the earlier Scottish writers, John Forbes of Corse, William Forbes, James Sibbald, Henry Scougal, or Thomas Rattray, make specific comment about the placement of the Lord’s Prayer. However, from the Liturgy in the 1637 Prayer Book, the liturgical tradition of the Scots Episcopalians has been to follow the practice of the ancient liturgies and place the Lord’s Prayer immediately following the Consecration prayer. All three of the Scottish liturgies, 1637, Rattray’sORDER, and 1764 all follow that practice. One might well assume that for the Scots writers the clear example of the ancient liturgies was sufficient rationale in itself.

Then the Presbyter shall say to them, that come to receive the Holy Communion, this invitation.

Ye that do truly &c.

Skinner makes the interesting comparison between the exclamation of the priest after

the Lord’s Prayer in the Greek Liturgies, ‘Τά άγια τοις άγίοις’, ‘Holy Things for Holy

Persons!’ and the short exhortation, ‘Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins…’. ‘For it was the never failing practice of the Primitive Church to give both an invitation and a warning when the eucharistic sacrifice was offered, and the bread and the cup about to be dispensed, in the following concise terms, “Holy Things for Holy persons.” The mysteries being made holy by the word of God and prayer, the people were admonished to become holy and devout, that they might be duly disposed to receive them…Chrysostom says, “We do not exhort men to destroy themselves by

558_{Ibid., p. 136. (Wheatly’sillustration for the whole state of Christ’s church.)} 559_{Ibid., p. 146.}

rash approaches, but to come with fear and purity of heart”’.560The inspiration for placing the Invitation, General Confession, Absolution and Comfortable Words, following the Lord’s Prayer is the 1549 Liturgy. Donaldson suggests that Wedderburn desired to follow the order of the 1549 Liturgy with regard to the position of the Invitation, General Confession, Absolution, and Comfortable Words after the Lord’s Prayer in the 1637 Liturgy, but the suggestion was rejected.561In both the English Communion office (1552 and all subsequent revisions) and in the Scottish 1637 Liturgy, the Invitation, General Confession, etc. precede the Prayer of Consecration; they, do not follow it. The point that Skinner makes further suggests that not only the influence of Bishop Rattray’sORDERon the shaping of the 1764 Scottish Liturgy, but also that there was an appreciation of the of the Greek liturgical tradition generally. Skinner’s comparison between ‘Holy Things’ and the Invitation,

Confession and Absolution in the Scottish Liturgy is perceptive and accurate. Such a comparison is made by no one else.

In the third section of Skinner’s work, ‘Private Devotions at Holy Communion’, Skinner includes private ‘responses’ to the Comfortable Words. These devotions were apparently widely used by the laity at the Eucharist.

Come unto me, &c.

‘Refresh, O Lord, thy servant, wearied with the burden of sin’.

God so loved the world, &c.

‘Lord, I believe in thy son Jesus Christ—O let this faith purify me from all iniquity’.

This is a faithful saying, &c.

‘I embrace with thankfulness that salvation which Jesus has brought into the world’.

‘If any man sin, &c.

‘Intercede for me, O blessed Jesus, that my sins may be pardoned, through the powerful merits of thy propitiating death’.562

When all have communicated, he that celebrates shall go to the Lord’s table, and cover with a fair linen cloth, that which remaineth of the consecrated elements.

560

Ibid., p. 148.

561_{Donaldson, Gordon, op. cit., p. 51.} 562_{Skinner, John., op. cit., p. 35.}

Skinner suggests that this rubric was ‘first enjoined in the authorised Scotch Office’. This may suggest Scottish practice at the holy Table, at least among some. He mentions the first known use of thepallorcorporal. ‘The introduction of it has been described in Eusebius, who was Bishop of Rome in the fourth century. We know that in the year 412 it was in use, form the following remarkable words of Isadore

Peleusiota, “the fine linen cloth which is stretched over the holy gifts, represents the good office of Joseph of Arimathea”’.563There does not appear to be very much direct evidence as to actual practice in the celebration of Holy Communion. Rattray includes such a direction in his ORDER, ‘When all have communicated, what remaineth of the consecrated Elements shall be reverently placed upon the Altar, and covered with a fair linen Cloth.’564But this he must have taken from the 1637 Liturgy, since the Liturgy of St. James contains no such direction. The rubric in the 1637 Scottish Liturgy, very similar to the two above, is, ‘When all have communicated, he that celebrates shall go the Lord’s table, and cover with a fair linen cloth, or corporal, that which remaineth of the consecrated elements, and then say this collect as

followeth’.565