prayers

This little volume is William Barlay's attempt to bring the Book of Common Prayer's weekly collects to life by writing his own prayers to accompany the collects. He also writes prayers for the major holy and saints days. I used this volume on and off as an aid to my own prayer, and found it moderately useful. The concerns of the Prayer Book collects are overwhelmingly theological and ecclesiastical. The concerns of Barlay's prayers are heavily moral and ethical, perhaps to add balance to the emphasis of the Prayer Book. At times his prayers seem to bear little relation to the content of the collect in question, and so seem a little forced. There is no doubt that Barclay was an accomplished writer, and this shows in his prayers, which he notes can be adapted for public use. A little more emphasis on God as well as man might have endeared this book to me a little more. It should be noted that the book also shows its age: Barclay's language is very early to mid-20th century. The collects themselves are, of course, in the language of 1549, not the revised language found in its 20th century revisions and successors published since this book.