The Proposed Prayer Book of 1786 was the first effort of the U. S. Episcopal Church to produce its own Book of Common Prayer, a process which was necessitated by the separation of that church from the Church of England caused by the Revolutionary War. Although the Book was authorized in nearly every state, it was the result of a convention of only a portion of the American Church. Its publication received much resistance, with many believing it deviated too much from its predecessor, the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer. Accordingly, its life was relatively short, being replaced by a formally authorized Prayer Book in 1790.
We are presenting this electronic version of the U. S. 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer in hopes that it will prove useful and instructive to the Church. Parishes might find it useful in recreating historical services, for example, to celebrate the anniversary of the parish. Others might find it instructive to compare the changes, additions, and deletions, which have taken place in the various versions of the Book of Common Prayer.
These pages use Style Sheets to give an appearance as close as possible to the original. While it is best if you use a browser which supports Style Sheets (MS Internet Explorer 3 or 4, or Netscape 4), the text will still be quite ledgible on older browsers. As an aid to readability, the old-style lower case "s" (which looked like an "f") has been replaced by its modern equivalent. In all other ways we have attempted to keep the appearance as close to the original as possible.
T H E
CONTENTS of this B O O K.
1 THE Preface.
2
Tables
of the Moveable and Immoveable Feasts, and of the Days of Fasting and Abstinence through
the whole Year.
3 Tables
of Lessons of Holy Scripture, to be read at Morning and Evening Prayer, throughout the
Year.
4 Tables
for finding the Holy-Days.
5 The
Order for Daily Morning Prayer. [Includes
the Litany]
6 The
Order for Daily Evening Prayer.
7 Prayers and Thanksgivings upon several Occasions,
to be used before the two final Prayers of Morning and Evening Service.
8 Collects that may be said after the
Collects of Morning or Evening Prayer, or Communion, at the Discretion of the Minister.
9 The
Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy
Communion.
10 The
Collects, Epistles, and Gospels to be used throughout the Year .
11 The
Ministration of Public Baptism of Infants, to be used in
the Church.
12 The
Ministration of Private Baptism of Children
in Houses.
13 The
Ministration of Baptism to such as are of riper
Years, and able to answer for themselves.
14 A
Catechism; that is to say, an Instruction to be learned by every Person before he be
brought to be confirmed by the Bishop.
15 The
Order of Confirmation, or laying on of Hands upon
those who are baptised, and come to Years of Discretion.
16 The
Form of Solemnization of Matrimony.
17 The
Order for the Visitation of the Sick.
18 The Communion of the Sick.
19 A Form
of Prayer for the Visitation of Prisoners.
20 The
Order for the Burial of the Dead.
21 Forms
of Prayer to be used at Sea.
22 A form
of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the inestimable Blessings of Religious and
Civil Liberty; to be used yearly on the Fourth Day of
July, unless it happen to be on Sunday, and then on the Day following.
23 A Form
of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for the Fruits of the Earth and all the other
Blessings of his merciful Providence; to be used yearly on the first Thursday in November.
24
Articles of Religion.
25 The
Psalter: selected from the Psalms of David.
26 Psalms
fitted to the Tunes used in Churches, selected from the Psalms of David; Portions of which
are to be sung at suitable Times in Divine Service, according to the Discretion of the
Minister.
27 Hymns
suited to the Feasts and Fasts of the Church, and other Occasions of Public Worship; to be
used at the Discretion of the Minister.
All the above files
in WordPerfect 6.0 format, compressed (size=66K )
The author is greatly indebted to the Rev. Thomas Rightmyer for providing a copy of the book.
Any comments, suggestions, corrections, etc., should be addressed to the author, Charles Wohlers.
Return to Book of Common Prayer Home Page
Updated: 26 Nov. 1997.