ever since the Revolution in 1688. And therefore it appears that non jurors are not singular in maintaining these notions."[1]
It is a most singular circumstance, that in a Form of Prayer for the 30th of January, published by royal authority in 1661, there is a prayer for the dead. The Form had only the authority of the crown, and the particular prayer was omitted in the authorized Service in 1662; but still it is remarkable, that it should have been introduced. The prayer is as follows, as quoted by Campbell:
"And we beseech thee to give us all grace to remember and provide for our latter end, by a careful, studious imitation of this thy blessed saint and martyr, and all other thy saints and martyrs that have gone before us, that we may be made worthy to receive benefit by their prayers, which they in communion with thy Church Catholic offer up unto thee for that part of it here militant, and yet in fight with and danger from the flesh: that following the blessed steps of their holy lives and deaths, we may also shew forth the light of a good example: for the glory of thy name, the conversion of our enemies, and the improvement of those generations we shall shortly leave behind us, and with all those that have borne the
- ↑ Campbell, p. 175. To specify all the works in this controversy would be perhaps impossible. Collier, Brett, and their supporters deemed the Usages essential; and in consequence the term Essentialists was applied to them, to distinguish them from those who adhered to the Liturgy in its unaltered state. In 1719, a pamphlet was published, in which the term Essentialist was adopted: "A Dialogue in Vindication of our present Liturgy and Service; between Timothy a Churchman and Thomas an Essentialist." This was directed against Thomas Deacon, at that time a young man, who had just published his work on Purgatory, in which the Usages are defended.
