in Westminster wished a place of worship at their own doors, they received church accommodation from Oliver Cromwell. Thus the seed of liturgical disputes was sown, though unintentionally; for, at the Restoration, Charles II. would not allow a church for this West End congregation, unless it adopted the Anglican worship (all the older congregations, however, being tolerated in worshipping according to their home usages).
It will be remembered that Archbishop Laud attempted to force upon some of the refugees' churches a translation of the English liturgy into the French language. There was such an authorized translation from the date of the English Reformation, for the use of our sovereigns' French-speaking subjects.[1] In 1552 a new edition was contemplated to correspond with “the English new one, in all the alterations, additions, and omissions thereof.” This revision was committed “to a learned Frenchman who was a Doctor of Divinity,” under the direction of the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Thomas Goodrick, who was both Bishop of Ely and Lord Chancellor. A petition was presented to Cecil on the part of a refugee printer, that he might receive a patent for printing and publishing the new French Prayer-Book for the use of the Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. Cecil wrote to Cranmer to ascertain the necessary facts; and the Archbishop reported, first, that the first edition had been translated by command of Sir Hugh Poulet, Governor of Calais, and revised by competent persons, under the direction of the Lord Chancellor; and secondly, that, in his opinion, “the commodity that might arise by printing of the book was meet to come to them who had already taken the pains in translating the same.” The refugee printer was therefore not employed, but it was printed and published in 1553. And this was the French Prayer-Book which Archbishop Laud had in view.
After 1660, the French-speaking Englishman, Dr Durel, followed out the desires of King Charles II. as to the worship of the Westminster French Church by undertaking a new translation. And the King, on the 6th October 1662, issued a Proclamation that henceforth Dr Durel’s Version of the Book of Common Prayer should be used throughout Jersey, Guernsey, and the adjacent islands, as also in the French Church of the Savoy, and all other French Churches in the English Dominions which have conformed or shall hereafter conform to the Church of England — that is to say, as soon as the book has been printed with the approbation required by law, The License was obtained in the following year, dated from the Bishop of London’s Chambers in the Savoy, 6th April 1663.[2] This translation is an exact reproduction of the English Prayer-book, including the prefaces, “It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England,” &c, &c. The translation falls below the original in some respects, for instance, “Dearly Beloved Brethren” is rendered “Très-chers Frères;” and “our most religious and gracious king” becomes “notre Roi très-pieux et très-debonnaire.” The Psalter however is taken from “la version de la Bible des Eglises Reformées de France et de Genève.” This Prayer-Book was adopted by the Westminster Congregation, which was thenceforth accommodated within the Savoy Palace in the Strand. In the pulpit, before giving out his text, the preacher offered up a prayer, one of the petitions being for le très-reverend Père en Dieu, Gilbert, Seigneur Evéque de ce Diocese. The pasteurs and anciens retained their consistorial powers; but the congregation was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, as a judge to hear complaints from any quarter, and appeals from themselves.
I have said that the liturgical controversy arose from this Savoy Chapel affair. When the King’s terms were made known, Pasteur Hierosme (alias Jerome) advised submission, declaring that any debate or delay would be wrong in the circumstances[3] — alluding probably to the strong current in favour of liturgical uniformity which had set in. The reasons amounted to one, namely, that it could not be helped. And the nervous pasteur prevailed with the congregation accordingly. Though the result pleased Dr Durel, he was dissatisfied with the reasoning; and accordingly he published a book to prove that the Calvinistic ritual of the French Church was as liturgical as the worship of the Church of England, and that the ceremonies of the two churches were identical. This, however, was not the logic of facts. The pretext for his statements as to a French Liturgy was a small printed collection of Prayers (appended to Clement Marot’s Psalms), out of which the officiating pasteurs might, if they chose, read one or more prayers during public worship.
- ↑ Strype’s “Life of Cramner,” Book ii., chap. 33, — also Appendix of Documents, Nos. 54 and 106, — from which it appears that the offer of the French Refugee was simply to print the French Prayer-Book, and not (as Strype says) to translate the Prayer-Book into French.
- ↑ Hane Gallicam domini Joannis Durelli Liturgiae Anglicana: versionem perlegi, camque per omnia cum Originali Anglico concordem me reperisse profiteor. Geor. Stradling, S.T.P., Rev. in Christo Pat. Gilb. Episc. Lond. a sac. domesticis. Ex AEd. Sabaud. Aprile 6, 1663.
- ↑ Apologae des Puritains d’Angleterre, &c., 1663 [a book winch I have already described], page 123, &c.
