THE TEACHER'S PRAYER BOOK: BEING The Book of Common Prayer, WITH INTRODUCTIONS, ANALYSES, AND NOTES, BY ALFRED BARRY, D.D., D.C.L., Principal of King's College, London; Canon of Westminster; 13933.£.28 PREFACE. IN the Introductions and Notes to the TEACHER'S PRAYER BOOK I have endeavoured to keep strictly to the object indicated by the title; and without any pretensions to original research or exhaustive treatment, to supply to all, and especially to those who have to give religious teaching, some knowledge of the origin, the principles, and the substance of the Prayer Book, which they are continually using, and which perhaps through that very familiarity is apt to be imperfectly understood. I have therefore not thought it necessary to encumber its pages and embarrass its readers with quotations from authorities, although I have made free use of the many excellent works, ancient and modern, on the Prayer Book itself, and on Christian Antiquities, which are now within the reach of the student, and have embodied in the book the results of the study and teaching of some years. I have also had the advantage of being allowed to submit the sheets to the supervision of my friend and colleague, Archdeacon Cheetham, whom I have to thank for many valuable corrections and suggestions, although I must not lay on him any responsibility for all that is written here. On the many controverted subjects which have necessarily presented themselves, while I have not attempted to conceal my own opinion, I have desired, as far as possible, to fix the attention of my readers mainly on what is historically certain, or is plainly expressed, in the words of the Prayer Book, and on all other points to give them, not so much my own judgment as sufficient, materials for forming a judgment of their own. Having done this as thoroughly and as tersely as I could, I now send the book in the earnest hope and prayer that it may conduce to the serious and intelligent use of the Prayer Book, which has been for centuries the treasure of English devotion, and which, alike by its substance and by its tone, has largely determined the history of the Church of England and of English Christians. KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, August 3, 1882. A. B. |