Laud's draft of a new form of service
based on the English prayer book led to riots in Edinburgh and to
general discontent in the country. The General Assembly of Glasgow in
1638 abjured Laud's book and took its stand again by the Book of Common
Order, an act repeated by the assembly of 1639, which also demurred
against innovations proposed by the English separatists, who objected
altogether to liturgical forms, and in particular to the Lord's Prayer,
the _Gloria Patri_ and the minister kneeling for private devotion in the
pulpit. An Aberdeen printer named Raban was publicly censured for having
on his own authority shortened one of the prayers. The following years
witnessed a counter attempt to introduce the Scottish liturgy into
England, especially for those who in the southern kingdom were inclined
to Presbyterianism. This effort culminated in the Westminster Assembly
of divines which met in 1643, at which six commissioners from the Church
of Scotland were present, and joined in the task of drawing up a Common
Confession, Catechism and Directory for the three kingdoms. The
commissioners reported to the General Assembly of 1644 that this Common
Directory "is so begun ... that we could not think upon any particular
Directory for our own Kirk." The General Assembly of 1645 after careful
study approved the new order. An act of Assembly on the 3rd of February
and an act of parliament on the 6th of February ordered its use in every
church, and henceforth, though there was no act setting aside the "Book
of Common Order," the Westminster Directory was of primary authority.
The Directory was meant simply to make known "the general heads, the
sense and scope of the Prayers and other parts of Public Worship," and
if need be, "to give a help and furniture." The act of parliament
recognizing the Directory was annulled at the Restoration and the book
has never since been acknowledged by a civil authority in Scotland. But
General Assemblies have frequently recommended its use, and worship in
Presbyterian churches is largely conducted on the lines of the
Westminster Assembly's Directory.

The modern _Book of Common Order_ or _Euchologion_ is a compilation
drawn from various sources and issued by the Church Service Society, an
organization which endeavours to promote liturgical usages within the
Established Church of Scotland.

COMMONPLACE, a translation of the Gr. [Greek: koivos topos], i.e. a
passage or argument appropriate t