ORATORY, THE. A Church and Service carried on by John Henley (16924756). Henley began to deliver " orations " at an Oratory in Newport Market. In 1726 we find him established at an Oratory in Clare Market, London. In the same year The Oratory was planned, and on Sunday, July the 3rd, 1726, it was opened. The Oratory, he claimed, was an Ecclesiastical Institution. It was a Church. But it was more than this, for it was an Academy of the Sciences and Languages as well. As a Church, we are told, its principles are three. 1. In belief, a liberty of conscience from all secular restraints. 2. In morality, the religion of nature, of which •revela tion, in this respect, is only declarative. 3. In historical, or revealed religion, that of the primitive Church, in the first ages. Its view is impartially to examine the pleas of all religions, proposing that as the truest standard and centre of union. The Service of the Oratory is (1) in the model, primitive, (2) in the language, entirely scriptural. But sometimes the Primitive Liturgies shall be performed. Persons who have been eminent in, or great patrons of, arts and literature, if they have been virtuous, or penitents, shall he commemorated. As to the religious instruction. (1) In the sermons, it shall be performed with the most exact composition, speaking. and action. (2) Both in the sermons and lectures, it shall take in the whole circle of divinity, regularly, faith fully, clearly, and elegantly represented. In the morning, a sermon will be delivered; in the evening, a lecture will be read : the former on some part of practical theology; the latter, on the critical, historical, speculative, or literary parts of it. A special " Primitive Liturgy " was prepared for the use of the Oratory. It had eighteen Rubrics. 1. Let the Reading of the Liturgy be always performed according to the laws of speaking and action established in the Oratory, founded on a just impression in the mind and heart of the Reader, and a ready com mand and memory of the whole Service; the voice and gesture varying, as the thing requires. 2. Let all the Sermons and Orations be delivered according to the same rules of speaking and action. 3. Let the Lectures and Readings be read with distinctness and propriety in the speaking and address. 4. Let the Prayer before Sermon be (very short, and) entirely left to the discretion of the Preacher. 5. Let the Members of the Oratory form
an Amicable Society, for mutual defence and convenience. 6. Let the Rules of the Primitive Church be observed in all things, as far as the prejudices of the world and the circumstances of things will allow. 7. Let nothing con trary to the Laws of the Realm be said or done in the Oratory. S. Let the Sermons and Lectures be a com plete and regular course of Practical and Primitive Theology, in all its branches. 9. Ou the Lord's-day, between Easter and Pentecost, let all pray standing: let all stand, when any part of the Gospel is read. 10. Feasts are all Lord's-days, all Sabbath-days or Satur days; Easter-day, its Octave; the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost; Ascension, and Pentecost: besides the Feast of the Nativity, and Days of the Apostles, etc.. of later institution. 11. The Men and Women are to sit separate in the Public Assemblies. 12. The Fasts are Passion-Week, especially Friday and Saturday, till day break; all Wednesdays and Fridays (except between Easter and Pentecost) and the five middle Days before Passion-Week, till the ninth hour. or till evening. Alms, Devotion, Abstinence from Flesh and Wine, etc., are essential to Fasting. 13. The Litany should be said at noon, on Wednesdays and Fridays. 14. Let the Psalmody be before Prayers, and before and after Sermon, and before the Third Service at the Altar : one, two, three, or four verses, or more, as the Institutor directs. Let the Psalmodist say, To the Praise of God, let us sing a part of the — Psalm, verse the —, etc. 15. Let any eminent Preacher, properly recommended, be admitted to preach in the Oratory, and to use his own method of Prayer before Sermon, the Common Prayers not being always in themselves essential. 16. Let the Ostieries [door-keepers] perform their duty; taking care that the avenue to the seat-door be properly guarded. and no disturbance arise in the time of Service. 17. Let all things be done decently, and in order : and the Laws of the Land, which favour Religious Assemblies publicly authorized, be strictly put in execution. 18. Let Primi tive Antiquity be the constant search of the Oratory: and its prevailing maxims be gradually opened. settled, and put in practice. See Peter Hall; and the D.N.B.