Page:History of the Nonjurors.djvu/510

 

CHAPTER XI.

 

Offices of Nonjurors.—Communion Office.—Deacon's Collection.—Its Departures from the Book of Common Prayer.—Differences between the Separatists and the Regular Body.—Reflections.—Neglect of Certain Rubrics traced to the Latitudinarian Spirit of the Revolution, and to the Practices of the Nonjurors.—The Rubrics Considered.—Obedience in General.—Lessons.—Mutilations.—Omissions.—Neglected Rubrics.—Surplice.—Prayer for Church Militant.—Offertory.—Conduct of the Objectors to the Rubrics.—Conclusion.

 

f the principles on which the Nonjurors separated from the National Church, as well as of their internal divisions, an account has been given in the previous chapters: but some further particulars, relative to the Offices used by the two sections, after the second separation in 1733, or 1734, are necessary to complete the history of the body. From a preceding page, it will be seen, that Hickes usually administered the Lord's Supper according to the Form in King Edward's first Liturgy: but this practice was by no means common until the discussions arose respecting the Usages, the Nonjurors previously adhering to the Book of Common Prayer, in all its Offices, rejecting only the name of the reigning Sovereign. This is particularly mentioned by Bennet in 1716; so that the majority did not follow the example of Hickes. After the new Communion Office had been adopted by one section in