Book of Common Prayer (Unitarian)
Clarke, a Semi-Arian and Subordinationist, viewed the doctrine of the Trinity as theologically unsound and saw the 1662 prayer book's inclusion of elements like the Athanasian Creed as perpetuating these errors.
Theophilus Lindsey would build upon Clarke's work after receiving a copy of the changes, publishing his own series of Unitarian prayer books from 1774 onward.
Lindsey's Essex Street Chapel in London, the first Unitarian church in England, utilized these prayer books for worship.
The King's Chapel prayer book, currently in its ninth edition as first published in 1986, remains that congregation's standard liturgical text.
Inspired by Stephens, William Whiston forwarded his own more unorthodox revisions in 1713, part of a trend that saw such proposals increasingly alter the Anglican prayer book in accordance with Arian and Unitarians theologies.
[1][note 1] However, a set of Unitarian prayer book revisions by Samuel Clarke which were edited and published after his death by Theophilus Lindsey would heavily influence over a third of all English Dissenters liturgies for 80 years.
[note 2] This book contained Clarke's theology and prescribed a new rule for prayer based on the notion Jesus Christ derives his powers as savior from the Father.
However, Clarke deviated from Whiston's embrace of the Apostolic Constitutions and favoured changes that did not substantially alter the prayer book's patterns while still expressing an Arian theology.
After Caroline became queen in 1727, Clarke intended to request she push his nomination as a bishop, a position that would allow him to formally revise the prayer book.
Lindsey was so impressed with Clarke's work that he intended to introduce the changes to his congregation at Catterick, but ultimately decided against such action as he believed they would in violation of his vows to the Church of England.
[20] Lindsey's prayer book was utilized by the Dissenter congregation he founded at Essex Street Chapel—the first formally Unitarian church in England—from its first service on 17 April 1774 onward.
[26] However, some Unitarian liturgies like John Prior Estlin's 1814 General Prayer-Book were derived from the 1662 prayer book independent of Lindsey's work.
[32][note 5] As the American Revolutionary War escalated, King's Chapel's Loyalist Anglican minister and much of its congregation fled with the British Army when it evacuated Boston in 1776.
The Anglicans who remained permitted members of the Old South Church congregation to use King's Chapel, with the two groups celebrating separately at alternating times in the day.
"[50][note 9] The 1785 prayer book's preface held that "no Christian, it is supposed, can take offence at, or find his conscience wounded" by the King's Chapel liturgy, and that "the Trinitarian, the Unitarian, the Calvinist, and the Arminian will read nothing in it which can give him any reasonable umbrage.
Greenwood oversaw three revisions between 1828 and 1841, which sought to improve the prayer book's private devotional functionality and introduced over 100 hymns to the psalter.
According to historian David Ney, Cranmer hoped his prayer book would grant the English people "a robustly Trinitarian worship which immersed them in the full counsel of the Word of God".
[67] Cranmer drew upon both the medieval Sarum Use and contemporary Lutheran and Calvinist forms in developing the liturgies contained within the Anglican prayer book.
[71] Clarke's 1724 manuscript of alterations to the 1662 prayer book were generally Unitarian and Nontrinitarian, with all Trinitarian formulae modified or removed.
[75] Clarke first proposed his alterations to the baptism office in 1712, leaving the sign of the cross as an option and introducing the 1689 Liturgy of Comprehension's permission that parents might serve as sponsors.
[91] Freeman's 1785 preface acknowledges that "great assistance hath been derived from the Judicious corrections of the Reverend Mr. Lindsey" and his prayer book revised according to "the truly pious and justly celebrated Doctor Samuel Clarke".
Freeman, writing to Lindsey in 1786, described that "Some defects and improprieties" were retained so that the King's Chapel congregation might "omit the most objectionable parts of the old service, the Athanasian prayers."
According to King Chapel minister Carl Scovel, Freeman's 1785 liturgy appears "quite traditional" to the modern eye, with the Sunday offices and lectionary largely similar to those of the 1662 prayer book.
[101] In the same edition, Brown introduced the Didache—a previously lost early Christian text rediscovered in 1900–to the prayer book, though Scovel believed this addition was never used during King's Chapel services.
Most of the 1662 prayer book's language was retained, but the revising committee made "modest changes" to remove male generic terms.
[104] While few ministers followed Lindsey in resigning from the Church of England, many shared his theology and considered his 1774 prayer book a modernization of the 1662 liturgy.
[105] Through the 19th century, new editions of Lindsey's prayer book and derivatives were printed, with the Athanasian Creed remaining their primary objection.
[111] While Wesley never said whether he read Lindsey's prayer book, the 1784 Sunday Service contained many parallels with the 1774 revision,[112] including omitting a confirmation rite.
[113] After approving the 1785 liturgy, members of King's Chapel held a measure of expectation that other American Anglican congregations would follow their lead in issuing their own revised prayer books.
[118] The adoption of Freeman's liturgy at King Chapel spurred White to privately acknowledged the King's Chapel congregation's actions as irregular, with White defending Trinitarian orthodoxy but also admitting his own desires that the Episcopal Church's revised prayer book remove non-scriptural doctrines and creeds.
