Page:VCH London 1.djvu/448

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A HISTORY OF LONDON of High Churchmanship,^^* and gradually tell into disuse in parish churches ; as early as 1696 an extempore prayer had taken its place at the Temple.'^* The behaviour of the congregation was doubtless affected at the end of the 17th century by the disuse of church services under Puritan government. A broadsheet issued in 1667° gave instructions as to kneeling at prayers and the communion services, and standing for the Gospel and Gloria, an admoni- tion which referred to the custom usual to the 19th century of sitting during the recitation of the Psalms.^ Few clergymen had the courage or the desire to teach their congregations as did Sacheverell's curate at St. Andrew's Holborn,to stand up at the Gloria and the reading of the second lesson when taken from a Gospel.^ As the century advanced, so general was the custom of sitting rather than kneeling that in 1804 Bishop Porteus addressed a strongly-worded admonition to his clergy.*^* The habit of bowing to the altar and at the name of Jesus, usual in 1667, was regarded in 17 18 as the mark of a High Churchman,* and gradually died out, though still regarded as laudable by some Whigs in the middle of the i8th century.'" But apart from ritual observances, the manners of the congregation would not be con- sidered decorous at the present day.* Swift sarcastically described the church as a meeting-place where business of all kinds might be furthered, and asked the question, ' Whether churches are not dormitories of the living as well as of the dead.' '" To Vanbrugh and Addison the congregation at St. James's Westminster"' and other fashionable churches seemed chiefly concerned with their dress and love affairs ; and ' loud answers and devout convulsions ' on the one hand, and ' a devout giggle and inviting glance' on the other, were alike deprecated by Halifax.^ The effects of the long years of Puritan government on church life in London were nowhere more distinctly seen than in the use of the sacraments. In spite of the revival in Queen Anne's reign and the urgings of divines '" and religious societies, celebrations of the Eucharist were infrequent compared with other services. The prevalent belief that in primitive times the Holy Communion was celebrated daily had no effect on the Church, though it led to the formation of the schismatic societies at St. Giles' Cripplegate and William Henley's Oratory.'*' At most London churches from 1692 to 1714 there was a monthly celebration ; '*^ in 1692 the service was held every week at AUhallows Barking, St. Andrew's Holborn, St. Peter's Cornhill, St. James's Westminster, St. Giles' Cripplegate, St. Vedast alias Foster, St. Swithin's, and St. Michael Wood Street.'*' By 1711 the last four churches had dropped out, and their places had been taken by St. Stephen Coleman Street, St. Chris- topher le Stocks, and St. Sepulchre's, where there was a celebration on each '" Principles of Low-Church-Men, p. vii. '" Evelyn, Diary, 26 Apr. 1696. "" Anthony Sadler, Schema sacrum in ordine adordinem Ecclesiae Anglicanae ceremoniarum. "' Park, loc. cit. "' Letter to an Inhabitant of the Parish of St. Andrew's Holborn about new Ceremonies in the Church (2nd ed.), 3. "' Porteus, IVorks, vi, 367. "' Principles of Low-Church-Men, p. viii. "* Letter from a Gentleman. "' Overton, Life in Engl. Ch. 1660-1714, pp. 182-3. "' Swift, JVorks (ed. Scott), ix, 237. "' Vanbrugh, Relapse, Act ii, sc. i. "' Ladfs New Tear's Gift, in Foxcroft, Life of Halifax, ii, 388. '* S, Wesley, Pious Communicant ; Gibson, Sacrament of the Lord's Supper explained, 4.

  • " St. PauFs Ecclesioloffcal Soc. Trans, vi, 9, 11.

'" An Account of the Places and Times of Morning Prayer (B.M. Pressmark 491, k, 4, no. 1 1); Archidiacon- atus Lond. ; Paterson, Pietas Lond. '" An Account, &c. 360