Editing Book of Common Prayer (section)

===1662 prayer book===
{{main|Book of Common Prayer (1662)}}
[[File:Book of Common Prayer (1662).jpg|thumb|Title page of the 1662 Prayer Book]]
The 1662 Prayer Book was printed two years after the restoration of the monarchy, following the [[Savoy Conference]] between representative [[Presbyterians]] and twelve bishops which was convened by royal warrant to "advise upon and review the ''Book of Common Prayer''".{{sfn|Procter|Frere|1965| p=169, 170}} Attempts by the Presbyterians, led by [[Richard Baxter]], to gain approval for an alternative service book failed. Their major objections (exceptions) were: firstly, that it was improper for lay people to take any vocal part in prayer (as in the Litany or Lord's Prayer), other than to say "amen"; secondly, that no set prayer should exclude the option of an extempore alternative from the minister; thirdly, that the minister should have the option to omit part of the set liturgy at his discretion; fourthly, that short [[collect]]s should be replaced by longer prayers and exhortations; and fifthly, that all surviving "Catholic" ceremonial should be removed.{{sfn|Harrison|Sansom|1982| p=53}} The intent behind these suggested changes was to achieve a greater correspondence between liturgy and Scripture. The bishops gave a frosty reply. They declared that liturgy could not be circumscribed by Scripture, but rightfully included those matters which were "generally received in the Catholic church." They rejected extempore prayer as apt to be filled with "idle, impertinent, ridiculous, sometimes seditious, impious and blasphemous expressions." The notion that the Prayer Book was defective because it dealt in generalisations brought the crisp response that such expressions were "the perfection of the liturgy".{{sfn|Thompson|1961|p=378}}

The Savoy Conference ended in disagreement late in July 1661, but the initiative in prayer book revision had already passed to the [[Convocation of the English Clergy|Convocations]] and from there to Parliament.{{sfn|Procter|Frere|1965| p=192f}} The Convocations made some 600 changes, mostly of details, which were "far from partisan or extreme".{{sfn|Spurr|1991|p=40}}  However, Edwards states that more of the changes suggested by high Anglicans were implemented (though by no means all){{Sfn|Edwards|1983| p=312}} and Spurr comments that (except in the case of the Ordinal) the suggestions of the "Laudians" ([[John Cosin|Cosin]] and [[Matthew Wren]]) were not taken up possibly due to the influence of moderates such as Sanderson and Reynolds. For example, the inclusion in the intercessions of the Communion rite of prayer for the dead was proposed and rejected. The introduction of "Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here in earth" remained unaltered and only a thanksgiving for those "departed this life in thy faith and fear" was inserted to introduce the petition that the congregation might be "given grace so to follow their good examples that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom". Griffith Thomas commented that the retention of the words "militant here in earth" defines the scope of this petition: we pray for ourselves, we thank God for them, and adduces collateral evidence to this end.{{sfn|Griffith Thomas|1963|pp=508–521}} Secondly, an attempt was made to restore the [[Offertory]]. This was achieved by the insertion of the words "and oblations" into the prayer for the Church and the revision of the rubric so as to require the monetary offerings to be brought to the table (instead of being put in the poor box) and the bread and wine placed upon the table. Previously it had not been clear when and how bread and wine got onto the altar. The so-called "manual acts", whereby the priest took the bread and the cup during the prayer of consecration, which had been deleted in 1552, were restored; and an "amen" was inserted after the words of institution and before communion, hence separating the connections between consecration and communion which Cranmer had tried to make. After communion, the unused but consecrated bread and wine were to be reverently consumed in church rather than being taken away for the priest's own use. By such subtle means were Cranmer's purposes further confused, leaving it for generations to argue over the precise theology of the rite. One change made that constituted a concession to the Presbyterian Exceptions, was the updating and re-insertion of the so-called "[[Black Rubric]]", which had been removed in 1559. This now declared that kneeling in order to receive communion did not imply adoration of the species of the Eucharist nor "to any Corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood"&nbsp;– which, according to the rubric, were in heaven, not here.

While intended to create unity, the division established under the Commonwealth and the licence given by the Directory for Public Worship were not easily passed by. Unable to accept the new book, 936 ministers were deprived during the [[Great Ejection]].{{sfn| Spurr| 1991| p=43}}{{efn|name=Widely varying}} The actual language of the 1662 revision was little changed from that of Cranmer. With two exceptions, some words and phrases which had become archaic were modernised; secondly, the readings for the [[epistle]] and [[gospel]] at Holy Communion, which had been set out in full since 1549, were now set to the text of the 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible. The [[Psalter]], which had not been printed in the 1549, 1552 or 1559 books&nbsp;– was in 1662 provided in [[Miles Coverdale]]'s translation from the [[Great Bible]] of 1538.

It was this edition which was to be the official ''Book of Common Prayer'' during the growth of the British Empire and, as a result, has been a great influence on the prayer books of Anglican churches worldwide, [[Liturgy|liturgies]] of other denominations in English, and of the English people and language as a whole.