NOTE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

This fresh issue of the Priest's Prayer Book has been thoroughly revised and widely expanded, in accordance with much valuable counsel given to the Editors, and with the increasing needs of the Church in the present day. Many Offices, Collects, and Hymns have been added, and no pains have been spared to bring the work fairly abreast of the requirements of the clergy.

But whereas former revisions of the volume merely aimed at filling up with greater completeness the voids in the private ministrations of the Parish Priest, it has been thought expedient to go somewhat further in this one, and to provide for certain public occasions, for which no authorized formularies exist. The Office for the Burial of Children is the most salient example of the kind.

Two reasons have induced the Editors to adopt this change of plan. On the one hand, the Priest's Prayer Book has obtained a recognized position in many parts of the Anglican Communion where the Act of Uniformity is not binding, and it seems reasonable to provide for such places. On the other, the recent revision of the Lectionary shows that further changes in the Common Prayer Book are by no means distant or improbable, and the new Offices here presented may perhaps serve in some degree to indicate the direction in which an increasing number of practical men, both amongst the Clergy and Laity, are desiring addition and improvement in our authorized formularies.

By far the most important feature, however, in this Fourth Edition, is the brief Pontifical which has been added for the use of the Episcopate. It has been most carefully drawn up, like the earlier portion, from a great variety of old Service-Books of the Syriac, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and English Churches, with such modifications, as appear to be called for by the peculiar ciroumstances of our Communion and time.

There has been, in truth, till the appearance of this purely tentative issue, no provision made amongst us during three centuries for the ministrations of Bishops, except the Ordinal and the Confirmation Office in the Book of Common Prayer, and, outside of it, the meagre and undignified form in general use for the Consecration of Churches and Cemeteries, by no means adequate for its proposed object, and drawn up in an age unfamiliar with liturgical studies.

Some few Offices in this Pontifical are superfluous in England, as, for example, those for the Confirmation and Enthroning of Bishops, as there is a fixed legal form for the one ceremony amongst us, and a traditional use for the other in every Cathedral. But America and the Colonies have no authoritative services for the purpose, and it is hoped that those here given, based on ancient examples, may prove useful.

To the Bishops and theologians who have been good enough to ex

amine and revise the proofs of the Pontifical, and to other Prelates and Divines who in various ways have given their assistance, more particularly in the compilation of the list of theological works which will be found at the close of the Volume, the Editors proffer their sincere and grateful acknowledgments.

The List, though drawn up with much care and after consultation with many learned persons, makes no claim to exhaustiveness either in its categories or in the books classified under each head, but aims at giving in a compendious and eclectic fashion the ablest and most useful books on each subject, without regard to their origin or to the special bias of their authors; and it is hoped that in this wise it will not merely facilitate the studies of individual Clergymen, but will serve in some measure as a guide in the formation of Diocesan Libraries at a distance from England, where bibliographical information is difficult to obtain. It appears at present unavoidably in a somewhat rough and tentative state, but the Editors trust that they may be enabled to present it in an improved and corrected form at some future time.

LONDON, Feast of the Transfiguration, 1870.

NOTE TO THE FIFTH EDITION.

In this revised issue of the Priest's Prayer Book the following additions and improvements have been made. The order of the matter has been rearranged to allow of the book being divided, so as to group all the Offices in most frequent demand in the first part; seventy more Collects, twenty more Scripture Readings, Offices for the Installation of Deans and Canons, and for the delegation of a Missionary, have been introduced; a table of Collects, Epistles, Gospels, and Post-Communions for special occasions has been drawn up; and the Bibliotheca Sacerdotalis has been doubled in extent, as well as arranged more conveniently for reference, so as to serve better than before its primary object of guiding the choice of books for diocesan libraries in the Colonial Churches. LONDON, August, 1876.

NOTE TO THE SIXTH EDITION.

In the present reissue of the Priest's Prayer Book, besides careful revision in several places, the following additions have been made; Office for Admitting a Server; Benediction of a Parish or Mission Room; Benediction of a Civil Marriage; Benediction of a single Grave; Benediction of an Organ; and Admission of a Deaconess. The Bibliotheca Sacerdotalis has been largely expanded, and some further rearrangement of the volume, to admit of its being conveniently divided into two parts, has been adopted.

LONDON, Conversion of S. Paul, 1884.

ADMONITIO SUMMI SACERDOTIS CHRISTI JESU,

AD SACERDOTES ET CLERICOS.