Directory for Public Worship

However, the Directory does very much follow the Book of Common Order used in Scotland from 1564, which derived from Knox’s Forme of Prayers used in the English Congregation in Geneva.

The canonical scriptures are to be read in order, a chapter of each testament at a time, after which there was a long prescribed prayer and then the minister was to preach to the effect that "his own and his hearers' hearts [are] to be rightly affected with their sins."

The words of institution from the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, or from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, were an essential part of the celebration.

These were followed by a prayer of thanksgiving to God "to vouchsafe his gracious presence, and the effectual working of his Spirit in us; and so to sanctify these elements, both of bread and wine, and to bless his own ordinance, that we may receive by faith the body and blood of Jesus Christ crucified for us, and so feed upon him that he may be one with us, and we with him, and that he may live in us and we in him and to him, who hath loved us and given himself for us."

As for (3), it was intended that there be uniformity in the parts of worship though not the words, while in regard to (4) and (5) the Directory is not so opposite as Hammond suggests although it does not seem very positive on singing.

In regard to (6), kneeling in communion and the cross in baptism had been matters of long and significant controversy between the parties in the Church of England.

Hammond then noted sixteen items avoided in the Directory which are more particularly related to the parts of the service: (1) pronouncing of absolution, (2) the necessity of singing psalms and other hymns of the church, (3) the use of the doxology, (4) the use of the ancient creeds, (5) the frequent use of the Lord’s Prayer and prayers for the King, (6) saints days and the liturgical year, (7) the reading of the commandments and associated prayers, (8) the order of the offertory, (9) private baptism, (10) a prescribed catechism (although this was covered by the later Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms), (11) confirmation, (12) solemnities of burial for the sake of the living, (13) thanksgiving after childbirth, (14) communion for the sick, (15) The Commination service at the beginning of Lent, (16) the observation of Lent, Rogation days and the Ember weeks.

In some areas of England, notably in London and Lancashire, Presbyterian classes (presbyteries) were set up in 1646 and operated until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.

However, those parishes that did adopt the Directory were in the minority, and the Book of Common Prayer continued in use secretly across much of the country, particularly in relation to funerals.

The Westminster Directory did, however, have the effect of suppressing the Scottish "Reader's Service" and of eliminating the practice of ministers bowing in the pulpit to pray prior to the sermon.