COMPLINE

or COMPLETORIUM, was, before the Reformation, the last service of the day. This hour of prayer was first appointed by the celebrated abbot Benedict, in the sixth century. The Church of England, at the revision of our offices in the reign of Edward the Sixth, only prescribed public worship in the morning and the evening; and in making this regulation she was perfectly justified: for though it is the duty of Christians to pray continually, yet the precise times and seasons of prayer, termed canonical hours, do not rest on any Divine command; nor have they ever been pronounced binding on all Churches by any general council: neither has there been any uniformity in the practice of the Christian Church in this respect. Besides this, the Churches of the Alexandrian patriarchate, which were founded by the holy evangelist Mark, only appointed two public a emblies in the day; and no more were customary, even in the monasteries of Egypt, the rest of the day being left for private and voluntary prayer and meditation. Thus also the Church of England left her clergy and people to follow in private the injunction of the apostle, to “pray without ceasing;” for, as John Ca ian observes, a voluntary gift of praise and prayer is even more acceptable to God than those duties which are compelled by the canons; and, certainly, the Church of England did not intend that her children should offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving only in the morning and evening when she appointed those seasons for public worship. Indeed, we find that a book of private devotion, containing offices for several hours of prayer, and entitled the “Horarium,” was published by royal authority, A. D. 1560, from which Dr. Cosin, bishop of Durham, chiefly derived his “Collection of Private Devotion,” . The office of Even say, or Evening Prayer, is a judicious abridgment of the office of Even say and Compline , as formerly used by the English Church.— Palmer.