THE Revised Prayer-Book OF THE REFORMED SPANISH CHURCH, [As Authorised by the Synod of that Church, May, 1889]. Translated by R. S. C. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE MOST REV. LORD PLUNKET, D.D., ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. DUBLIN: ALEX. THOM & Co. (LTD.), PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS THE QUEEN'S PRINTING OFFICE. LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK: 1889. 764.9 Rel. Sp INTRODUCTION TO TRANSLATION.* BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. OBJECT OF THIS TRANSLATION. WE are presented in these pages with an English version of the Revised Prayer-Book now used in all the congregations of the Reformed Spanish Church. A translation of the Prayer-Book originally adopted by the Synod of that Church in 1881 was published some seven years ago. But the changes which have been since made--and which were confirmed, in Synod, during the present year (1889)—are so considerable, that for the sake of those who take an interest in such questions it has been deemed advisable to issue this fresh version of the Book as it now stands. SPANISH PRAYER BOOK OF 1881, AND ITS REVISION. That these Formularies have been much improved by the work of revision, no one who compares the two Books together can for a moment question. The earlier Book had no doubt its merits. But it would have been unreasonable to expect that the first efforts of a reformed community just escaped from the darkness of superstition, and still smarting under the lash of a cruel intolerance, should be altogether faultless. It was not so with our own Church under similar circumstances. The successive revisions that paved the way for our present Prayer Book show how necessary. it * This Preface contains the substance of some introductory remarks prefixed to the Translation of the Prayer Book of 1881, together with such additional matter as has been called for by the subsequent revision of that Book. P.D. |