The Rubrics After The Collects

The amendment of rubrics in this part of the Services, which was

effected in 1662, completed the directions for continuing the Service

after the Collects. Until that time, the prayers for the Sovereign,

for the Royal Family, and for the Clergy and People, were printed after

the Prayer, We humbly beseech thee, in the Litany; and were followed

by the second of our Ember Week prayers, and the Prayer of S.

Chrysostom. Bu it was plain that the Services were not to end with

the Third Collect: for, at the end of the Communion Service, six

Collects were printed, as they still are, with the provision that they

may be said "after the Collects" of Morning and Evening Prayer.

Moreover, the inclusion, in the Preces, of prayers for the Sovereign

and for the Clergy implied that Collects for {131} them would follow.

We may infer that these Services used to end much as they do now. It

was therefore a useful improvement to make the rubrics complete, and to

print the prayers in this place. Perhaps the six Collects after the

Communion Service would be more used, if they had, at the same time,

been printed with the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings.



At the same time, a Rubric was inserted here providing for an Anthem,

or musical prayer, to be sung (in places where there are singers),

between the Three Collects and the other Prayers.