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This chapter examines the clergy's core task of leading worship in their parishes. It explores the evidence about Sunday services, about how frequently they were held, the manner in which they were conducted, the conscientiousness or not of the clergy, the frequency of weekday services, and the frequency and manner of celebrating Holy Communion. The extent of the participation of lay people in conducting worship is examined, especially in terms of music, in choirs, and the attitude of the clergy to this. The observation of Church fasts and festivals is examined, as well as the involvement of clergy in communal celebrations, such as fairs and friendly societies. The role of the clergy in churchings, baptisms, and weddings, including ‘clandestine marriage’, involving more or less serious legal irregularities in conducting a marriage, is investigated.

This chapter examines the practice of the rites of baptism, confirmation, and Holy Communion in churches of the Anglican Communion. Anglican churches regulate the administration of these rites by means of provisions on celebration, preparation, admission, and exclusion and they are subject to the oversight of the diocesan bishop. Most church laws are consistent with the resolutions of the Lambeth Conference. One of the most radical juridical readjustments in church law on initiation was the admission of the unconfirmed to the Holy Communion.

The chapter shows how itinerant preaching served to extend and nurture the work of the Connexion, where the initiative came from in opening new areas of work, how itinerancy was organised (including Lady Huntingdon’s personal role in this), and the source of funds for building chapels and running the Connexion. All the main reformed denominations were represented within the Connexion’s congregations; socially they appear to have consisted principally of artisans and small tradesmen. Ministry was supplied by students of Lady Huntingdon’s college, by Anglican clergymen, and occasionally by other established preachers. Other aspects of the Connexion discussed in this chapter include: instances of violent opposition; growing pressure for ministers to settle with congregations; sources of authority within congregations; the development of religious societies within the Connexion; pressures for regular Communion services; the use of the Anglican Prayer Book; the development of the Connexion’s own hymn book; the religious instruction of children; and the number, size, and catchment areas of congregations.

Chapter 3 discusses the ways in which the gospel message has been expressed in a variety of churches that were related to or influenced by the Reformation of the sixteenth century (including Anglican churches). The chapter shows that in these churches the gospel message has been transmitted in three ways: through creeds and other doctrinal statements; through the Protestant understanding of the unity of the scriptures which focuses on the message about Jesus Christ; and through varied forms of worship including preaching, the celebration of the eucharist (the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion), and the use of hymns.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is a revised recension of a liturgical text, first issued in 1549, which was at once an engine and a product of the English Reformation. This chapter situates the original Prayer Book in that context, and offers a detailed examination of its most contested text: the Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion. This service was heavily revised in 1552, and the revisions shed light on the intentions of the revisers and the meaning of the revised text, which remains largely the same in the final revision of 1662. Among the theological issues involved were justification by faith, the presence of Christ, the nature of a sacrament, and the purpose of the eucharistic liturgy in a reformed church. This chapter also considers, more briefly, the revisions of other services that were made in 1552.

Thomas Cranmer took down Catholicism's hegemony over English society by using the powers of his position to encourage the Protestant faith. Cranmer was martyred because of his support for justification and Holy Communion sola fide. Cranmer gave the English people a liturgy that articulates aspirations of the human spirit with rhetoric and clarity; he was then named the founding father of Anglicanism as a theological balance. Cranmer was firm toward evangelicals who threatened his actions on reform; in spite of the pressures he experienced, he always found himself able to forgive his enemies. The foundation of Cranmer's faith relied on this commitment to love his enemies since he believed that this was necessary for salvation. Throughout Cranmer's writings, emphasis for God's love for the unworthy was a common theme.

“Divine Service” is a name for the most frequently performed act of public worship that is prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. Most of this chapter examines the texts of the three liturgical offices in which Divine Service has consisted on Sundays: Morning Prayer (or Mattins), the Litany (or General Supplication), and the beginning of Holy Communion (or the Lord’s Supper), as these would take place on one specific day. Evening Prayer (or Evensong), which is a separate part of Divine Service, is also described. In the course of the discussion the chapter introduces a number of basic terms used throughout the book.

This chapter explains that silver was used at the altar because of its divine connotations, and its use in the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion further instructed people that silver was the right material to use in rituals. If Anglican infant baptism thus served the emotional needs of parents of ill or dead children, Anglican baptism was, in other ways, in tension with the prerogatives of the gentry family. Silver's signification of divinity was in no way in tension with its signification of worldly status and hierarchy. When Baptists, Quakers, and Anglicans criticized one another's baptismal practices, the disagreement was about more than a single ceremony. It was a disagreement about the relationship of the Christian to the world, and about the shape of Christian life. For elite Anglicans reading the Virginia Gazette article, clothing also created community, expressed religious sensibility, and featured in significant Christian rituals.

This chapter underscores Columbus's religious side, which must have influenced the role of religious activity at La Isabela. In fact, the events at La Isabela were conditioned by the inextricably connected concerns of religion, defense, and personal honor. Archaeological and architectural evidence suggests, for example, that the church was one of the first and most hastily constructed public buildings in the town, probably owing to the perceived urgency of having a sanctuary in which to hold Mass. Nearly all of La Isabela's chroniclers made note of the first Mass in America, but little is mentioned after that about religious observances in the town. Presumably the daily, weekly, and annual rounds of Catholic Mass, Holy Communion, confession, and prayers were maintained, at least initially.