Archbishop Cranmer was a scholar. He was deeply read in the Fathers and was a liturgist, one of the first, who had studied all the available material of the time. He had been experimenting in revision of the Church Services especially of the choir offices long before he was called upon to head a committee “to prepare the first Prayer Book of Edward VI. The work of that committee was based on Cranmer’s long study of liturgies. How wide that study was is shown by the books in his library. How sound were the principles on which his committee worked are proved by the way in which their work has stood the test of use and time so that the greater part of it is still the backbone of our Prayer Books in the Anglican Communion. Subsequent revisions have each added something of value which has become permanent. Even the abortive revision of 1552 made changes which we have come to value and should now be unwilling to give up. Most of these we take for granted and are unaware that they originated in the revision of 1552. But one of the disadvantages of all the later revisions until recent times has been that they were carried out in a hurry, and in the heat of controversy. The revision of 1662 was the form of the Prayer Book used in the North American colonies. After the revolution it was revised for use in the United States. In Canada a very slight revision took place in 1918. Party spirit was keen, and it was not possible for the revisers to attempt the revision of the Communion Office. In 1943 the General Synod, the chief governing body of the Church, decided that the work of revision should again be taken in hand. A large Committee consisting of all the Bishops and about an equal number of priests and laymen was appointed. Out of this Committee a much smaller Central Sub-Committee was appointed to do the actual drafting and to bring suggested revisions before the large Committee about once a year. The Central Committee appointed small subcommittees to help with the drafting of individual services. These small groups were not confined to members of the Revision Committee but drew upon the wisdom and scholarship of the Church at large.

During the 1930s there grew up in more than one part of Canada personal friendships between men of different schools of thought in the Church. This led to mutual appreciation of different points of view, and to the melting away of suspicion and prejudice. It did not mean agreement on all points. The large Committee and also the Central Committee contained men of different points of view fairly representative of the Canadian Church. The Chairman was Bishop Hallam of Saskatoon, later an Assistant Bishop of Huron. He was a scholar of the Evangelical school, a real scholar, deeply read in those fields of theology which bear upon Liturgies. He was a great gentleman and a man of such wide sympathy that he could not be confined to any party. He was a very strong churchman who while not interested in matters of ceremonial would never tolerate any departure from the orthodox teaching of the Church whether on the Trinity or Incarnation, or on the Sacraments and Holy Orders. His saintly and calm attitude conveyed itself to the Committee over its first twelve years of work so that after his death this spirit was maintained during the rest of the sixteen years.

The rules by which the Committee worked were so strict as to make impossible the making of any change on a narrow majority. We had to attain a common mind before a change could be made, and in all very important matters we waited until we could make the change unanimously or at least nem con. A two-thirds majority was required in the Central Committee before a change could be proposed, and it had to stand up under a second consideration at a subsequent meeting. Only then could it be sent to the large Committee which would accept or reject it. Proposals rejected at earlier meetings were sometimes brought forward again at a later time and adopted. There was no adopting of compromises which satisfied neither side.

The meetings were carried out in an atmosphere of prayer. At our very important gatherings we would stay together for a week with daily Mattins and Eucharist early, then a morning of work, Litany or noonday prayers, an afternoon of work, Evensong, work in the evening and then Compline.

This enabled us to try out some of our proposals in actual use in worship.

We reported to General Synod at each of its sessions. We invited and received thousands of criticisms and suggestions all of which we considered. In 1955 we presented a full report in the form of a Draft Prayer Book. This was given general approval by the Synod and was returned to us for tidying up. Two questions had arisen in Synod, one on the Prayer of Consecration, the other on prayers for the departed. Many more letters were received. We went over our work again carefully. We made a small change in the Prayer of Consecration, but we retained all the prayers for the departed. They were all optional in any case. We rewrote the rubrics in plain English.

A second Draft Book was presented to General Synod in 1959. We had allowed two full days for its debate by this body of about 300. The spirit of worship surrounds our General Synods. Most of the members are at Mattins and Eucharist together each morning at 7. Archbishop Carrington, who was the Chairman of the large Committee since Bishop Hallam’s death, was acting Primate. He prepared the way for the consideration of the Prayer Book in a masterly Charge to the Synod on its first day. When the matter came up Bishop Clark of Edmonton, the chairman of the Central Committee presented the report and Draft Book in a brief but profound address. Before the matter could be debated, a member of Synod asked permission to move an amendment. It turned out to be a motion that we do not debate the Book but adopt it as it is presented, because the Synod is too large a body to deal with such detailed work, and we have confidence in the Committee, and have had the Book in our hands long enough to know its contents. Another member at once seconded this, and there was a roar of approval from the Synod which amounted to adoption of the Book by acclamation. It was with difficulty that the Committee persuaded the House to wait so that a few mistakes and misprints could be noted before the vote was put. It is doubtful whether any such large Synod of Anglicans has ever before adopted a revision of the Prayer Book with such unanimity.

What sort of revision is that which the General Synod of Canada adopted so enthusiastically? The Preface to the Book says “The aim throughout has been to set forth an order which the people may use with understanding and which is agreeable with Holy Scripture and the usage of the primitive Church.” “When the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Church in Canada assembled for the first General Synod in 1893, they made a Solemn Declaration of the faith in which they met together. It is in that faith that this Book of Common Prayer is offered to the Church, in the hope that those who use it may become more truly what they already are, the People of God, those who in Christ are the New Creation which finds its joy in adoration of the Creator and Redeemer of all.” Then follows the Solemn Declaration which says “We declare this Church to be … an integral portion of the One Body of Christ composed of Churches which, united under the one Divine Head and in the fellowship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, hold the One Faith revealed in Holy Writ, and defined in the Creeds as maintained by the undivided primitive Church in the undisputed Oecumenical Councils; receive the same Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as containing all things necessary to salvation; teach the same Word of God; partake of the same divinely ordained Sacraments, through the Ministry of the same Apostolic Orders; and worship one God and Father through the same Lord Jesus Christ, by the same Holy and Divine Spirit who is given to them that believe to guide them into all truth.”

Fr. McCausland, S.SJ.E. in an excellent pamphlet “A Plain Guide to the Revised Prayer Book,” sums matters up “The new book is not a museum piece to show our Anglican heritage, it is “THE NEW LIFE” . . . Above all the Breath of the Spirit of Love hovers over the whole book. Because we by-passed Mediaeval and Reformation controversies, because we were true to our documentary terms of reference, and because we had love for the Brethren, the Holy Spirit was enabled to pour forth upon the twentieth General Synod, the richness of His Grace and give us unity of purpose because we had unity of Faith an essential Practice THE LIVING WORD within THE LIVING LITURGY makes THE LIVING CHURCH.”

—Cowley, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, 1960, pp. 11-14.