The Liturgy and Ritual of the Ante-Nicene Church

About this book

It has been attempted to put together in this volume all that is known abour the liturgy and ritual of the Ante-Nicene Church, so far as such knowledge can be gathered (1) from Holy Scripture; (2) from ecclesiastical writings prior to A.D. 325; (3) from scanty surviving liturgical remains; and (4) from a few other sources, e.g. inscriptions, etc. A chapter has been added dealing with the interesting but difficult question as to how far the worship and ritual of the Christian Church are of Jewish origin, or are modified by Jewish or other non-Christian influence. It is hoped that from the material accumulated in the following pages, an answer may be found to the important question, "How far does the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England retain or reflect primitive usage, both absolutely as regards itself, and relatively, in comparision with the service-books of other parts of Christendom? - Introduction.