HEAR MY PRAYER
Hymns and Anthems

While hymns of one kind or another, songs of praise, have for centuries had their place in Christian worship, whether as part of the liturgy or in a more popular form, both hymn and anthem took on a new complexion with the religious changes of the sixteenth century. In England these changes were reflected in the The Booke of the Common Prayer of 1549, issued in the early reign of Edward VI, who had been strongly influenced by his Protestant tutors and guardians. As in the Catholic Counter-Reformation, attempts were made to simplify church music, for the better understanding of the people, but music always retained some place in the worship of what was now the Church of England, amid all the confusing changes that were taking place. The brief reign of Queen Mary, with a return of allegiance to Rome, did much to save church music that might otherwise have suffered under an increasingly Calvinistic government, and on th