The Book of Common Prayer is one of the two great literary and devotional gifts to the world from Anglicanism (the King James Bible is the other). This book is the source of many of the common phrases used in everyday English, even today ( for better for worse, for richer for poorer from the marriage ceremony is a phrase that everyone knows, even if they have no idea where it came from).
The first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, under Henry VIII and his son, Edward VI. Cranmer was a real master of the English language, and in translating the various worship materials from Latin into English for inclusion in the Book of Common Prayer, he showed a tremendous skill in the use of symbolic language that is rarely matched.
The Book of Common Prayer has been revised numerous times to adapt it to various situations such as bringing it to the United States, which is not a kingdom, and to include prayers for many special purposes. Up through the 1928 edition, the revisions have remained true to the original intent of the Book, and their similarities are very apparent. There have been later revisions, but these have departed widely from the original intent, and such books should no longer be called by the same title.
A few examples show some of the special aspects of this book:
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being illumined by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou those O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou those who are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life. To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.