Directory of Public Worship

The Directory for Public Worship (known in Scotland as the Westminster Directory) is a liturgical manual produced by the Westminster Assembly in 1644 to replace the Book of Common Prayer. Approved by the Parliament of England in 1644 and the Parliament of Scotland in 1645, the Directory is part of the Westminster Standards, together with the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Form of Church Government. Origins The movement against the Book of Common Prayer, partly inspired by the English Parliament, had come to a head with the submission of the Root and Branch petition of 1640, which demanded "that the said government (i.e. episcopal system) with all its dependencies, roots and branches be abolished." Among the "branches" was the Book of Common Prayer, which was said to be a "Liturgy for the most part framed out of the Romish Breviary, Rituals, [and] Mass Book." Thus in 1641, an abridgment of John Knox's Book of Common Order was presented to the Long Parliament. In 1644, another adaptation of the same original was presented to the Westminster Assembly and printed. However, the parliamentary divines resolved to produce their own book, and set up a committee which was to agree on a set of instructions for ministers in charge of congregations—not a fixed form of devotion, but a manual of directions. While the English Book of Common Prayer had early use in Scotland, it is a fixed liturgy, providing a range of fixed prayers and detailed tables of fixed lessons. It is therefore not easy to compare it with the Directory. 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. This book affords discretion in the wording of the prayers and no fixed lectionary. The Directory was produced by a parliamentary subcommittee among the Westminster divines. The chair of the subcommittee was Stephen Marshall. Other members included Thomas Young, Herbert Palmer, and Charles Herle. Representing the Independents were Philip Nye and Thomas Goodwin, and representing the Scottish Presbyterians were Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, George Gillespie, and Samuel Rutherford. The text appears to be in the style of Nye's writing.