LITURGY (from the Greek Xemoupyra, which originally signified at Athens " certain public functions or duties to which the citizens were personally liable ") is a form of public devotion, and more particularly the Office of Common Prayer used in our own church. In the Greek or Constantinopolitan church three Liturgies are in use, those of Basil, Chrysostom, and the Liturgy of the Prsesanctified. In the Romish church the Liturgy is divided into several books or offices, as the breviary, the ceremoniale, or office peculiar to the pope; the missal, or office of the mass; the pontificale, directing the functions of the bishops ; and the rituale, or pastorale, for the guidance of the simple priests. The Spanish is better known by the name of the 3lozarabie Liturgy. The Ambrosian Liturgy is that more particularly in use in the church of Milan. In France the church of St. Martin at Tours bad a breviary of its own, which was neither the Roman nor that of Tours ; and the same difference obtained at St. Quintin and in other Gallican churches.
At the Reformation all the Protestant churches on the continent, without a single exception, introduced Liturgies for the more uniform celebration of divine service.
Previous to the Reformation of the Church of England the service was performed in Latin, and different Liturgies were used with us, also, in different parts of the kingdom. The cathedrals of York, Lincoln, Ilereford, and Bangor, and even Aberdeen in Scotland, had their respective uses ; but no cathedral had such a variety of service books for its use as Sarum. " Use " was another name for the Ordi nale, or complete service of the church of Salisbury, instituted by bishop Osmund in 1077. It was also named the Consuetudinary ; and in Knighton's and Hieden's time it obtained almost all over England, Wales, and Ireland. The whole province of Canterbury adopted it, and in right of it the bishop of Salisbury was precentor in the college of bishops whenever the archbishop of Canterbury performed divine service. (Lyndwood, ' Provinc. de ferns' c. ult.) The publication of king Henry the Eighth's Primer' in 1535, in the vernacular tongue, was one of the first steps in the reformation of doctrine and worship in the Church of England. It was followed in 1537 by ' The Godly and Pious Institution of a Christian Man,' con taining a declaration of the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, &c., republished with corrections and alterations in 1540 and 1543. In 1545 a second came out ; and in 1547, let Edward VI.,archbishop Cranmer, bishop Ridley, with eleven other' bishope and eminent divines, were commissioned by the king in council to compile a Liturgy in the English language free from the erroneous doctrines by which the Latin Liturgies of the church, while unreformed, had been distinguished. This was confirmed by parliament in 1548, and published in 1549. In 1551 it was slightly revised, and again confirmed in parliament ; but both this and the former act of 154S were repealed on the 1st of Mary, as not agreeable to the principles of the Romish Church, which she was about to restore. Upon the accession of Elizabeth the act of repeal was reversed; several learned divines, headed by archbishop Parker, were appointed to make another review of King Edward's Liturgies, when the restoration of the second book of King Edward VI. was determined upon, and finally confirmed by parliament. The Act received the royal assent April 29th, 1559. In the 1st of James I., after the conference at Hampton Court between that prince with Archbishop Whitgift and other bishops and divines on one side, and Dr. Reynolds, with some other puritans on the other, a few slight alterations were introduced, the chief of which consisted in adding some forms of Thanksgiving at the end of the Litany, and an addition to the Catechism concerning the sacraments ; and in the rubric in the beginning of the office for private baptism the words " lawful minister " were inserted to prevent midwives or laymen from presuming to baptise. Charles I. made some slight alterations also, by his sole authority. Under the Commonwealth the use of the Liturgy was generally discontinued. Charles II., in 1661, issued a commission to
empower twelve bishops and as many Presbyterian divines to consider of the objections raised ....a:at the Liturgy, and to make such reason able and necessary alterations as they should jointly agree upon ; nine assistants ou each side being added to supply the place of any of the twelve principals who should happen to be absent. On the episcopal side were Dr. Fruen, archbishop of York, Dr. Sheldon, bishop of London, Dr. Cosin, bishop of Durham, Dr. Warner, bishop of Chichester, Dr. Henchman, bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Morley, bishop of Worcester, Dr. Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Laney, bishop of Peterborough, Dr. Walton, bishop of Chester, Dr. Stern, bishop of Carlisle, and Dr. Gauden, bishop of Exeter. On the Presbyterian side were Dr. Reynolds, bishop of Norwich, Dr. Tuckney, Dr. Conant, Dr. Spurstow, Dr. Wallis, Dr. Manton, Mr. Calamy, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Case, Mr. Clark, Mr. Neweomen. The coadjutors on the Episcopal side were Dr. Earlee, dean of Westminster, Dr. Heylin, Dr. Hackett, Dr. Barwick, Dr. Gunning, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Pierce, Dr. Sparrow, and Mr. Thornlike. Those on the Presbyterian side, Dr. Horton, Dr. Jacomb, Mr. Bates, Mr. Ilawlinson, Mr. Cooper, Dr. Lightfoot, Dr. Celina, Dr. Woodbridge, Mr. Drake. These commissioners held several meetings at the Savoy, but to little purpose. The king's commission gave them no further power than to " compare the Common-Prayer Book with the most ancient Liturgies that had been used in the church in the most primi tive and purest times ;" and required them "to avoid as much as possible all unnecessary alterations of the forms and Liturgy wherewith the people were altogether acquainted, and had so long received in the Church of England." The Presbyterians, however, would not allow that the Liturgy was capable of amendment, and Baxter had prepared and offered one of his own to be substituted in its room. The Con ference at length broke up without anything being done, except that some particular alterations were proposed by the Episcopal divines, which in the May following were considered and agreed to by the whole clergy in convocation. The principal of them were, that several lessons in the Calendar were changed fur others more proper for the days; the prayers for particular occasions were disjoined from the Liturgy, and the two prayers to be used in the Ember-week, the prayer for the parliament, that for all conditions of men, and the general Thanks giving were added ; several of the Collects were altered; the Epistles and Gospels were taken out of the last translation of the Bible, being read before according to the old translation; but the older version of the Psalms was retained ; the office for baptism of those of riper years, and the Forme of Prayer to be used at sea, were added. In a word, the whole Liturgy was then brought to that state in which it now stands ; and was unanimously subscribed by both houses of convocation of both provinces on Friday, 20th of December, 1661 ; and being brought to the House of Lords the March following, both Houses passed an Act for its establishment ; the Earl of Clarendon, then lord chan cellor, was ordered to return the thanks of the lords to the bishops and clergy of both provinces for the great care and industry shown in the review of it ; and it received the king's assent on May 19, 1662.
Among what are called the Additional Manuscripts in the British Museum is An Apparatus of Materials,' in forty-five volumes, being a collection of notes and observations on the Liturgy, and various other subjects connected With the offices of the church, by a clergyman of the Church of England, who directed them to be deposited in that institution, but that his name should remain unknown. These volumes were-deposited in the British Museum in 1791.
Within the last few years several attempts have been made, but hitherto successfully opposed by the heads of the church, to obtain a revision of the Liturgy, the objections stated to it being that it is too long, and has too many repetitions, for one service, to which others add that particular parts require alteration or modification.