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Title: The Prayer Book Explained
Author: Percival Jackson
Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21351]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRAYER BOOK EXPLAINED ***
Produced by Al Haines
THE PRAYER BOOK EXPLAINED
BY THE
REV. PERCIVAL JACKSON, M.A.,
JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
PART I.
THE DAILY OFFICES AND THE LITANY.
CAMBRIDGE:
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
1901
"_The book requireth but orderly reading._"
HOOKER, v. xxxi. 3.
{v}
PREFACE.
To those who believe in One Holy Catholic Church wherein dwelleth the
Holy Spirit, it will always be difficult to distrust the Service Book
of any Branch of it. The old claim made at Jerusalem with regard to
the vexed questions of the Church's infancy, _It seemed good to the
Holy Ghost, and to us_ (Acts xv. 28), rested not on the presence there
of the good and wise, on the prudence or self-sacrifice of those who
had hazarded their lives for the Name, but on the reality of the Lord's
promised Presence. Not because there were Apostles there, but because
those there were the Catholic and Apostolic Church, they asked and
received the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
It was a living and lasting Presence, touching with saving grace the
treatment of such questions as the observance of Mosaic precepts, {vi}
the eating of bought meat, as well as Purity of Life. We cannot doubt,
then, that many Services which have been criticised on afterthoughts
were essentially constructed in accordance with the Faith once for all
delivered to the Church.
To renounce this conviction with regard to our own Church of England is
to surrender its inheritance. Men of various tastes may prefer diverse
rites: reasonable sequence may suggest one method, and glowing impulse
another, fear of misunderstanding a third; but that which has seemed
good to the Holy Ghost and His Temple, the Church, demands that we
shall endeavour to believe it to be good, and use it in the temper of
faith.
The critical spirit, as we now use criticism, is not the spirit of
worship. For the spirit of worship is moved by Faith--Faith supremely
in God, but also faith in the words which we use, and in the people
with whom we use them.
Thus the truest cure for Doubt is Worship. If my faith in a friend
weakens I must go to see him, to speak with him, to restore our mutual
{vii} confidence and love. In like manner, if my faith in God through
Christ weakens, I must go to Him, speak with Him, seek a return of the
old confidence and love.
In the belief that God is calling us to know Him more perfectly by the
Worship which we offer in heart and life, and in the confidence that
our Branch of the Church has the guidance of the Indwelling Spirit,
this book is dedicated to His glory.
P. J.
May 1901.
{ix}
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Extempore Worship and Forms of Worship . . . . . . . . . . 1
Variations of words and phrases:
_a._ Variety of Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
_b._ Variety in Singing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --
_c._ Variations in the component parts . . . . . . . . 4
CHAPTER II.
Origin of Morning and Evening Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Day Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
General Scheme of the Day Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Names and Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CHAPTER III.
The Model--The Lord's Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
_a._ Two kinds of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
_b._ Praise and Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
_c._ Intention and Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
_d._ The Key-note of Prayer and Praise . . . . . . . . 16
_e._ Forms of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
_f._ Worship-Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
_Table of Worship Forms_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
_Appendix A. Hooker on the use of Worship-Forms_ . . . . 22
CHAPTER IV.
Morning and Evening Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The two headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Map of the two Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, Absolution . . . . . . 29
Rubrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Duplication of Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
CHAPTER V. PRAISE I.
The Psalms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
The first Lord's Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Ladder of Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --
Versicles and Psalms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Psalms in Daily Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
CHAPTER VI. PRAISE II.
The Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
A. The Study of the Bible a help to worship:
The Old Testament--1. Its agreement with the New . . . 48
2. Its teachings . . . . . . . . . --
3. Its 3 parts--(_a_) The Law,
(_b_) The Psalms, (_c_) The
Prophets . . . . . . . . . . . --
The New Testament--4. Its 3 parts--(_a_) The History,
(_b_) The Epistles, (_c_) The
Revelation . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Apocrypha-- 5. Its place in the Prayer Book . . 51
B. Lessons and Lectionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --
Jewish Lectionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Early Christian Lectionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Our own Lectionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
_Appendix B. Justin Martyr's description of Holy_
_Baptism and Holy Communion_ . . . . . . . . 58
CHAPTER VII. PRAISE III.
Hymns in the Daily Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Day Hour Hymns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --
The Canticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
_Map of the Lessons and their Canticles_ . . . . . . . . . 64
CHAPTER VIII. PRAISE IV.
Te Deum Laudamus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Latin original. Its three stanzas . . . . . . . . . . 66
Notes on the words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Note on the Doxology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
CHAPTER IX. PRAISE V.
The Canticles, continued . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Magnificat, Benedicite, Cantate Domino . . . . . . . . . . 77
Canticles which follow the Second Lesson: . . . . . . . . 82
Benedictus, Nunc dimittis, Jubilate Deo, Deus misereatur . 83
CHAPTER X. PRAISE VI.
The Creeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Apostles' Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Uses of Creeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
History of the Apostles' Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Creeds in the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Primitive Creeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Close of the Praise Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
CHAPTER XI.
Reason, History, and Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
I. About God, _a._ What Reason has to say . . . . . . . . 101
_b._ What the Bible Revelation has to say . 104
II. About Jesus Christ, _a._ What the outside world said . 106
_b._ What the Bible says . . . . . 107
III. About the Holy Ghost. What the Bible says . . . . . . 111
CHAPTER XII.
Excursus on The 'Athanasian' Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
CHAPTER XIII.
The Service of Prayer. I. Preces and Collects . . . . . . 127
Worship-Forms in the Prayer Service . . . . . . . . . . . 128
The Prayer Service Rubrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
A. Preces, 132; B. Collects, 134; C. The other Prayers . . 142
CHAPTER XIV.
The Service of Prayer. II. Anthems . . . . . . . . . . . 146
_a._ Simple Anthems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Example. Advent setting of Venite . . . . . . . . . . --
_b._ Compound Anthems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Example. The Easter Anthems in their original form . . --
Praise and Prayer Anthems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Hymns as Anthems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
CHAPTER XV.
The Service of Prayer. III. The Litany . . . . . . . . . 153
Ancient Litanies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Rogation Litanies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Structure of the Litany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
i. Our cry to Christ, 159. ii. Our cry to the Father, 170.
iii. Appeal for help, 171. iv. Pressing anxieties of
the moment, 172. v. Final Commendation of our
prayers to Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
_Appendix C. Lessons in the Day Hours_ . . . . . . . . . . 173
_Appendix D. Pliny's Letter to Trajan_ . . . . . . . . . . 174
_Appendix E. The addition of Filioque_ . . . . . . . . . 176
_Appendix F. Greek origin of Litanies_ . . . . . . . . . . 177
_Tables of Dates_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
{1}
CHAPTER I.
EXTEMPORE WORSHIP AND FORMS OF WORSHIP.
There is no such special merit in monotony as to require that the
worship of God should be conducted wholly in one method rather than in
several. Rather it must be acknowledged that there is merit in variety
if it be subjected to dignity and order. For a certain measure of
variety arrests and engages the attention of the worshippers and
sustains their interest.
VARIATIONS OF WORDS AND PHRASES. Much has been said from time to time
concerning Extempore Prayers and Extempore Praise, as opposed to those
which are more carefully prepared and agreed upon.
The discussion has been somewhat confused by the misuse of the word
Extempore. Prior to the invention of Printing every one who had to
conduct Services was required to know them by heart, so as to be able
to say them without book. The fact that he used no book did not make
the prayers extempore. In like manner one who is about to conduct the
prayers of a Congregation may carefully prepare his subjects, phrases,
and words, so as to avoid disorder in the subjects and unfitness in the
words. His prayers in that case are not strictly extempore.
{2}
If however he determines to leave the order of subjects and the choice
of words and phrases to the impulse of the moment, his thoughts may
travel too fast, or too slowly, or too irregularly for the essential
result: for the blessing which Christ promised is to those who _unite_
in worship. (S. Matth. xviii. 19, 20.)
When a few people gather together with the same difficulties,
temptations, dangers, sins, successes, a truly extempore prayer may be
made by one of them without creating any discord of desire amongst the
rest: but as soon as the congregation begins to include men and women
of different occupations, tempers, ideas, talents--if moreover the
persons for whom intercessions should be made are widely scattered and
very variously employed--it becomes necessary to supplement by careful
preparation the impulses of any one who leads the worship of a
congregation. There is also great advantage in choosing the best
phrases for expressing and including the worship of all.
We cannot doubt that the earliest prayers of the Collect form had local
colouring; but those which have survived for our use are so expressed
as to include many local applications, and a very great variety of
circumstances.
Further, it will be clear that an extempore prayer may be part of a
form of Service, just as much as a printed prayer. If the Service is
composed of, The short Prayer, a Lesson, the long Prayer, the Sermon
and several Hymns at fixed, or unfixed, places, the Service is a form.
The description of the Holy Communion in the time immediately after the
death of S. John the Evangelist (Justin Martyr, _Apology_ i. 65-67, {3}
see p. 58) shows us a form which provided for the essentials of such a
service, with prayers, praises, lessons, offertory, Consecration,
Communion, in order, although he who conducted the Service had a
certain amount of liberty in using parts of it.
We may assume then that forms are good, and that it is good to have
preparation and order and chosen phrases. The next question is how to
provide for that Variety which shall sustain interest and engage the
mind of the worshipper in the great business of his Service.
We may consider Variety of method, Variety of singing, and Variations
in the component parts of the Service.
(_a_) Variety of Method. The worshippers are divided into two or more
parties who take up their parts alternately, or together. It is
evident that such a division may be made in many ways. Those which
have been adopted in former times have resulted in the survival of five
Varieties for general Congregations [see chap. III. f.].
(_b_) Variety in Singing. There were of old four methods of singing
the Psalms:
1. Direct or Choral. 2. Antiphonal. 3. Responsorial. 4. Continuous.
1. The _Direct_ or Choral Singing was done by the whole choir:
2. The _Antiphonal_ by the two halves of the choir alternately:
3. The _Responsorial_ by the Priest and choir alternately:
4. The _Continuous_ by the Priest alone.
{4}
A careful study of the Rubrics will show that great liberty is allowed
in the Prayer Book in respect to the singing.
There is a Rubric in the Morning Service which prescribes the manner of
saying or singing Gloria Patri, viz. that it is to be Responsorial.
The order is that after the Morning and Evening Canticles _As it was in
the beginning_, &c. is to be an answer to _Glory be to the Father_, &c.
And this order may be found also after the Versicles of Mattins and
Evensong, _O Lord, open thou our lips_. It might be inferred from this
that the Psalms and Canticles were intended to be sung in the same way.
But it is more likely that it was designed to continue an ancient
freedom of choice which is now represented in our custom of using the
Antiphonal Method when we sing, and the Responsorial when we say them.
The division of Gloria Patri into two verses was, no doubt, intended in
any case. The Prayer Book does not recommend the fourth method; many
rubrics indicate that the congregation should take a substantial share
in the services with voice and heart.
(_c_) Variations in the Component Parts of Services.
1. Praise and Prayer.
2. Variations;
from Service to Service,
" Day to Day,
" Week to Week,
" Morning to Evening,
" Season to Season.
{5}
CHAPTER II.
ORIGIN OF MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER.
The Services in the Prayer Book may be roughly classed as (1) those
which are used every week: and (2) those which are used more rarely.
The principal service is the Holy Communion; which is provided with a
special Collect, Epistle and Gospel for each week, and for Holy Days of
special importance as being connected with the Lord's life on earth, or
with His immediate disciples.
The weekly Collection, enjoined by S. Paul in the churches of Galatia
and Corinth (1 Cor. xvi. 2), suggests that the Holy Communion was from
the first the usual Sunday Service. And this is confirmed when we find
S. Paul making a rapid journey from Greece to Jerusalem (Acts xx. 16),
but waiting seven days at Troas so as to be with the disciples there
upon the _first day of the week, when they came together to break
bread_ (Acts xx. 6, 7): cf. also a similar sojourn at Tyre on the same
voyage (Acts xxi. 4). But the Holy Communion was not the only regular
Service. Peter and John went to the Temple (Acts iii. 1) _at the hour
of prayer, being the ninth hour_. _Peter went up upon the housetop to
pray_ (Acts x. 9) _about the sixth hour_.
{6}
Cornelius saw the vision _about the ninth hour_ (Acts x. 3). _They
were all together in one place_ (Acts ii. 1) upon the day of
Pentecost--and it was _the third hour of the day_ (Acts ii. 15). These
hours may have been suggested to them as Christians by the solemn
scenes of the crucifixion of our Lord (S. Mark xv. 25, 33, &c.)[1].
The constant sense of responsibility and danger tended, of course, to
the frequent assembling for united prayer. It was natural to adopt
some such method as that in Psalm lv. 17, evening, morning and noon
(cf. Daniel vi. 10).
To these were added others: in the 3rd century for example we hear of
one at dawn and one at sunset: the former, being especially a praise
service, came to be known as _Lauds_ or _Mattin-lauds_; the latter was
soon called _Vespers_ (vesper=evening).
In the 4th century we hear of two more, making up the _seven times a
day_ of Psalm cxix. 164. During this growth of daily services there is
sometimes a {7} doubt whether the night Service is included in the
reckoning: but eventually we find for the daytime Mattin-lauds, Prime,
Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline.
The precise time of each is not defined by its name. If Mattins (i.e.
Lauds) was not finished when Prime was due, these two Services were
united.
But the office for Terce might be said at the 2nd hour or at the 3rd:
and in like manner Sext belonged to any of the three hours before 12;
and None to the three hours between 12 and 3.
Thus the day was divided into portions of three hours each: each
portion had its own Service, named from its close, but said at a
variable time according to the appointment of the Ordinary[2]. The
tendency was to appoint an early part of the three hours for the
Service; and this is visible in the word 'noon,' if it is true that 12
o'clock is so named from the custom of saying None at that time.
_Compline_ (completorium) is so called from its completing the services
of the day.
It will be noted that many of the names of Church Officers and many
other terms having a technical Church meaning are Greek in their
derivation. Archangel, Angel, Bishop, Priest, Deacon, Church,
Ecclesiastical, Apostle, Prophet, Martyr, Baptism, Epistle,
Evangelical, are instances of this; and many languages show by these
and other terms that Christian Churches derive much of their
organization from times and places where the Greek tongue was prevalent.
{8}
It might be thought perhaps that the Latin derivation of the names of
the Day Hour services would imply a more local and a Western Source for
these Hours of Prayer. But some of them are, as we have shown, very
early in their origin, and indeed there is evidence from books that
something of the same order was very early observed in the Eastern
parts of Christendom also.
This frequency of Services had a great charm for men who lived together
and worked together in communities, with no great distance between
their work and their Church, and who were able to fit their day's tasks
and necessary meals to the intervals between the Services.
It was not so suitable for mixed occupations or for isolated houses:
and as populations increased, it became evident that a less frequent
assembly would be more conducive to united worship.
GENERAL SCHEME OF THE DAY HOURS.
We will not enter into the minute differences of structure which are
found in one or other of the Day Hours. The following list will show
the order of a Service which is nearly identical with each of them.:
Our Father, &c.
Versicles.
Hymn.
Several Psalms divided into portions by
_Glorias_ and _Antiphons_.
{9}
Several Lessons divided by Responses.
Canticles.
Lesser Litany. Our Father, &c.
Versicles.
Creed.
Versicles.
Confession.
Collects.
Thus they followed the general division of worship into Praise and
Prayer. By enlarging one portion and diminishing another a special
character was given to certain Services. Thus Lauds was made joyful by
having many psalms.
The chief Lessons from the Bible were read in the Mattins Service when
it was said before Lauds. The union of those two Services resulted in
the omission of many of the Psalms. (See Preface "Concerning the
Service of the Church" in our Prayer Book.)
The Day Hour Services were not precisely alike even in their outline:
but they had a certain similarity which suggested the plan which has
been adopted in the Morning and Evening Services of the Book of Common
Prayer.
There were always two parts,--Praise: and Prayer.
[3]Each of these parts began with the Lord's Prayer. The Praise part
always had something of the nature of Psalms and Lessons: the Prayers
always had Collects. The Praises had Praise-versicles and the Prayers
had Prayer-versicles. Also as time went on Litanies became usual for
special days of the week.
{10}
It was easy therefore to recast the seven Services in the shape which
they now have.
_Praise_. The Lord's Prayer.
Versicles.
Psalms.
Lessons.
Creed.
_Prayers_. The Lord's Prayer.
Versicles.
Collects.
Thanksgivings.
NAMES AND TITLES.
The Services of our Church were translated into English in 1549. Many
alterations were made at that time.
The seven Day Hours were combined into two Services--Mattins and
Evensong: the Holy Communion Service was assimilated in some respects
to Eastern Liturgies: the rules of variation for days and seasons were
simplified: interruptions were avoided by the omission of many Verses
and Responds, Antiphons, &c.: better provision was made for continuous
reading of Holy Scripture.
The change from Latin, which had once been a commonly-spoken language,
to the language spoken in England is the alteration which produced the
greatest effect upon congregational worship, and the smallest amount of
difference in the worship itself: for if you understood both languages
it would not matter to you which of them you used.
{11}
The Latin prayers had been known by their first words. Just as we now
know a prayer as _Our Father_, or a doxology as _Glory be to the
Father_, so formerly they were known as _Pater Noster_, and _Gloria
Patri_. Some of these titles have survived. _Credo_ (_I believe_) has
been shortened into _Creed_. We use as a Creed the Hymn _Quicunque
vult_ (Whosoever will). The Canticles still are known by their first
words in Latin, _Te Deum, Benedicite_, &c., and so is the 95th Psalm,
_Venite, exultemus Domino_.
The _Lesser Litany_ is a name given to the three petitions,
_Lord, have mercy upon us._
_Christ, have mercy upon us._
_Lord, have mercy upon us._
They are used before the Lord's Prayer as an Invocation of the Holy
Trinity.
We proceed to examine the foundation of this order in worship.
The model bequeathed to us by Our Lord is known to us as _The Lord's
Prayer_, often called "_Our Father_" from the first words.
[1] Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horis:
Matutina legat Christum qui crimina purgat.
Prima replet sputis. Causam dat Tertia mortis.
Sexta cruci nectit. Latus ejus Nona bipertit.
Vespera deponit. Tumulo Completa reponit;
which may be translated:
Seven are the hours at which we sing and pray;
Mattins for Christ who takes our sins away,
Prime shows Him mocked, and Terce says why He died.
Sext shows His Cross, and None His pierced side.
Vespers His taking down commemorates,
And Compline how they buried Him relates.
Thus day by day we sing and pray Christ and Him crucified.
[2] The Ordinary, i.e. the Ordinary judge in such matters, viz. the
Bishop.
[3] See p. 16.
{12}
CHAPTER III.
THE MODEL.
THE LORD'S PRAYER.
"After this manner therefore pray ye." S. Matth. vi. 9.
The pronouns used in the Lord's Prayer are 'Thy,' 'us,' 'our.' It is
the voice of a people speaking to God. Even in private we may not pray
for self alone; we must include our friends, neighbours, and all others.
For this reason the Lord's Prayer is singularly adapted to the services
of a congregation. Its petitions are short and direct, and therefore
easily thought by every one at the same moment. This is an important
point, because unity of intention is the essence of congregational
worship. (S. Matth. xviii. 19, 20.)
Notice the order of the pronouns in the seven petitions:
( Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy. ( Thy Kingdom come.
( Thy Will be done.
( Give us this day our daily bread.
( Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
Us, our. ( them that trespass against us.
( Lead us not into temptation.
( Deliver us from evil.
{13}
There are, it appears, two motives which prompt a man to worship God.
One of these is God; Man himself is the other.
a. Two Kinds of Worship.
Worship means 'worthiness,' and thence 'regarding anyone as worthy.'
For this reason a magistrate is called 'his worship'; and a guild or
company is called 'worshipful.' In the Marriage Service the man says
to his wife "I thee worship" because he sets her before all else. In
Wyclif's Bible (S. Matth. xix. 19) we find "Worschipe thi fadir and thi
moder." In old days _any act of mind or body acknowledging the
worthiness of another was an Act of Worship_. In later days the word
'Worship' has been limited.
_Limitation_ 1. Since God alone is perfectly worthy, worship is now
ascribed usually to God alone: _any act of mind or body acknowledging
the worthiness of God may still be called an Act of Worship_. For
instance, in Col. iii. 17-iv. 1, the duties of mankind in daily life
are set forth as a constant acknowledgment of the presence of God. The
repetition of the word (_kurios_) meaning 'Lord' and 'master'--10 times
in 10 verses--falls on the ear like a peal of bells, calling us to make
daily life an unbroken Worship of God.
_Limitation_ 2. We ought not to forget that life is all one piece; and
that the word Worship should describe what we do and say outside our
prayers, as well as what we say and think in prayer and praise. The
word is, however, more commonly limited to words and thoughts. These
two limitations lead us {14} to a second definition of worship as
_words and thoughts which acknowledge the worthiness of God_. We have
nearly abandoned the word as describing the honour paid by one creature
to another, and but rarely use it of acts of the body.
God is always the object of Worship: but the subject of worship is
two-fold--we may speak of ourselves or we may speak of our God. When
we chiefly think of God in worship we call it Praise: when we chiefly
think of ourselves we call it Prayer.
These are then the two kinds of Worship--Praise and Prayer. It is
evident that the Lord's Prayer teaches us to put Praise in the higher
place.
b. Praise and Prayer.
Praise. There are two ways in which respect is paid to a man, viz. (1)
Outspoken praise, (2) Deference to his words. In like manner we praise
God (1) by dwelling with joy and gladness on His perfections; and (2)
by listening with reverence to His Word.
Prayer, on the other hand, is that kind of worship which acknowledges
God as the Source of all our help. Our needs are necessarily in our
minds when we pray. We think of them in order to ask Him to help us;
and we think of them again when we thank Him for the help which we have
already had.
Thanksgiving might be coupled with Praise because its aim is to glorify
God: but as its motive is the thought of human wants which have been
already supplied, Thanksgiving is placed with the Prayers, which also
relate to human wants.
{15}
We must therefore expect to find in Worship;
I. Praise. (1) Declaration of God's excellence.
(2) Attention to His Word.
II. Prayer (3) Petitions for grace and help.
(4) Thanksgivings for grace and help.
c. Intention and Setting.
The same words may serve for Praise and for Prayer. The plainest
meaning of "Hallowed be Thy Name" is Praise to God. But it may be also
a Prayer to Him to cause His Name to be hallowed. If we have no reason
to the contrary, we shall use the Lord's Prayer as an act of Praise and
Prayer--Praise in its first three petitions, Prayer in its last four.
If, however, we want to ask Him to cause His Name to be hallowed and
His Kingdom to come and His Will to be done, we can turn it all into a
prayer.
This direction of our minds into a certain channel is called
'Intention'.
We have already said that Unity of Intention is the essence of
congregational worship. Hence the Intention must be the same in all
the worshippers if they use words suitable for both Praise and Prayer.
If one is saying "Hallowed be Thy Name" and thinking chiefly of God's
holiness, his Intention will be different from that of a neighbour who
is thinking chiefly of the wickedness of sin. We need some agreement,
that our intention may be the same.
This agreement might have been left to the knowledge of those who take
part in the Service. They might have been expected to learn what the
intention is, at each place when the Lord's Prayer is said. Or it
might {16} have been stated in a Rubric, or direction, at the head of
the Prayer. Neither of these methods is adopted in the Book of Common
Prayer. Instead of them, the Prayer itself is so arranged as to
proclaim the Intention.
When it is to be used for Praise, the words "_for thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory, for ever and ever_" are placed at the end:
when it is to be used for Prayer, the Lesser Litany "_Lord have mercy
upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us_" is placed
at the beginning.
It is convenient to call this the 'setting'.
When the Lord's Prayer is 'set' for Praise, every petition in it is to
be said with that _intention_. We shall then unite in praising God for
the glory of His holy Name, the majesty of His Kingdom, the power of
His Will, and also as the Giver, the Forgiver, the Leader and
Deliverer. The thought of our weaknesses will be as much as possible
left out, that we may rejoice in the perfections of God.
In like manner, when the Lord's Prayer is 'set' for Prayer, the thought
of human wants will be present in every petition. We have great need
to pray that God will cause His Name to be hallowed, His Kingdom to
come, and His Will to be done, on earth as in heaven, as well as to ask
Him for the necessaries of life, the forgiveness of sins, guidance, and
deliverance from evil.
d. The key-note of Prayer and Praise.
"When ye pray, say, Our Father, &c." S. Luke xi. 2.
We can now understand why the Lord's Prayer is used twice in the same
Service. The Praises begin with it and the Prayers begin with it. The
setting of {17} the Lord's Prayer will always proclaim what kind of
Service is beginning[1]. Thus the Lord's Prayer is made to strike the
key-note of the Service, or part of a Service, to which it is prefixed.
e. Forms of Worship.
We have seen that Unity of Intention is necessary to congregational
worship. When a few people, animated by the same sentiments, are drawn
together by one motive, and incur the same dangers, it matters little
whether they use a form of worship or not. Whatever words are used in
their name, their unity of intention is secured by the fact that they
have no diversity of desires.
If the small body becomes a large one and times grow peaceful,
diversity of desires will destroy unity of worship unless they adopt a
form.
Forms of worship should, if possible, unite the most diverse features
of character, occupation, danger, trial, suffering, joy, &c. in the
expressions of Praise or Prayer which are common to them all. Local
colouring and personal references are admissible only when they arouse
a common emotion. The Lord's Prayer {18} is in this, as in other
respects, an ideal Form of Worship.
Christian Worship began amongst people who were already accustomed to
Forms. The Jews had Psalms for Worship (1 Chron. xvi. 4-43), and two
Lessons in their Synagogue Service (Acts xv. 21, First Lesson: Acts
xiii. 27, Second Lesson). The two Lessons were followed by the
Exhorter (Acts xiii. 15; St Luke iv. 16, 17).
The word _Amen_, being Hebrew, gives further evidence of the derivation
of the first Christian forms from the Synagogue Services, with, of
course, a Christian character infused into them (1 Cor. xiv. 15, 16;
cf. Deut. xxvii. 15-26).
Amen, as a Hebrew adjective, means _firm, faithful_; and, as an adverb,
_verily_, or, as the Catechism explains it, _so be it_. "Its proper
place is where one person confirms the words of another, and adds his
wish for success to the other's vows and predictions" (Gesenius). Each
of the first four Books of the Psalms ends with it--see Psalms xli.,
lxxii., lxxxix., cvi.
For some time the first Christians were able to resort to the Temple
and Synagogues, and both worship and teach there (Acts ii. 46, iii. 1,
3, 8, 11, v. 12, 21, 25, 42: xiii. 5, 14, xiv. 1, xvii. 1, 2, xix. 8).
They were joined by a number of the Priests (Acts vi. 7) whose help in
arranging the services would bring a considerable influence in the same
direction. At Ephesus (Acts xix. 9) a division arose in the Synagogue,
causing S. Paul and the Christian disciples to remove into a school.
At Corinth, for a similar {19} reason, they set up the Christian
worship in the next house to the Synagogue, and the Ruler of the
Synagogue went with them (Acts xviii. 7, 8). It is not very surprising
that under these circumstances they derived some of their forms of
Worship from the Synagogue.
Forms assist the mind to take its due part in the worship which we
offer to the Almighty. Worship is offered with body, mind and spirit.
If one of these encroaches on the others, their share is in danger. If
the tongue and the knees and the hands are too much engaged in it, the
mind grows weary or idle. If the mind is too busily employed, the
spirit has a diminished share, or the body is indolent. It is
necessary to provide occupation for the mind, but not to occupy it in
following great mental efforts for which it is unprepared. If the mind
is unprepared, it no sooner reaches one point than it has to follow the
speaker to another; and thereby the spirit loses its power of speeding
the utterance to the throne of God.
f. Worship-Forms.
(See Table, p. 21. Cf. Chap. I, p. 3.)
We find that, in the Services, shares are distributed to the
worshippers in five different ways, which may be called Worship-forms.
The Table on p. 21 should be carefully studied. Hooker's description
of them (E. P. v. xxxix. 1) is a little difficult to make out; but it
will be found to verify our table. (See Appendix A, pp. 22, 23.)
{20}
Walter Travers was Reader at the Temple Church in London, when (1585)
Richard Hooker was appointed to be Master of the Temple. Travers had
been a friend and favourite of Thomas Cartwright, a severe critic of
the Order and Discipline of the Church of England. Travers took up the
criticisms, and so attacked Hooker that the latter in self-defence
wrote his Books on _The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_ (1592), wherein
he replies to Cartwright's and Travers' criticisms.
The Worship-forms have been in use for so long that it is scarcely
possible to discuss their origin. The traces of them in the Bible are
interesting:
1. Amen. 1 Cor. xiv. 16; Rev. xxii. 20.
2. Responsorial or Interjectional. S. Luke ii. 13, 14.
3. Anthem. Exodus xv. 21; Isaiah vi. 3.
4. Litany.
5. Preceded. Exodus xxiv. 7, xix. 7, 8, xx. 18-21.
The Prayer Book furnishes examples of Praise and Prayer in each Form,
excepting the Litany Form, which is used only for Prayer. But there is
no reason why that also should not be used for Praise: the 136th Psalm
will show how this might be done.
{21}
THE FIVE KINDS OF WORSHIP FORMS
(See Hooker, _Eccl. Pol._ v. xxxix. 1.)
Examples-- Examples--
Prayer Praise
1. The Minister AMEN form The Collects Prayer of
offers and the Consecration
People endorse in Holy
it Communion (see
1 Cor. xiv. 16)
2. Minister and Responsorial, Hymn at Sursum Corda
People pursue or Ordination of in Holy
different lines INTERJECTIONAL Priests Communion
interrupting form Preces before Versicles
one another Collects before
Psalms
3. The Congregation Antiphonal, "From our The Psalms
form two or ANTHEM enemies, &c." in Mattins
companies which form --8 verses in and
reply to one the Litany Evensong
another
4. The Minister LITANY The main body
names the subject form of the Litany
and the People
offer the prayer
(or praise)
5. A portion of PRECEDED The Lesson and
Holy Scripture prayer or Commandments Canticle
is read and the praise in Holy
prayer or praise Communion
completes it as
an Act of Worship
{22}
APPENDIX A.
Cartwright, attacking the Prayer Book, 1572 or later, wrote--
"For the singing of Psalms by course and side after side, although it
be very ancient yet it is not commendable, and so much the more to be
suspected for that the Devil hath gone about to get it so great
authority, partly by deriving it from Ignatius' time, and partly in
making the world believe that this came from heaven, and that the
Angels were heard to sing after this sort," &c.
To this Hooker (_Eccl. Polity_, v. xxxix. 1) replies--
"And if the prophet David did think that the very meeting of men
together and their accompanying one another to the House of God should
make the bond of their love insoluble, and tie them in a league of
inviolable amity (Ps. lv. 14); how much more may we judge it reasonable
to hope that the like effects may grow _in each of the people towards
other_, in them [Sidenote: Anthem] all towards their pastor, and in
their pastor towards every of them, between whom there daily and
interchangeably pass, in the hearing of God Himself, and in the
presence of His holy Angels, so many heavenly acclamations,
exultations, provocations, petitions, songs of {23} comfort, psalms of
praise and thanksgiving: in all which [Sidenote: Amen] particulars, as
when _the pastor maketh their suits and they with one voice testify a
general assent thereunto; or when he joyfully beginneth, and they with
like alacrity follow_, dividing [Sidenote: Interjection] between them
the sentences wherewith they strive which shall most show his own and
stir up others' zeal, to the glory of that God whose name they magnify;
[Sidenote: Litany] or _when he proposeth unto God their necessities,
and they their own requests for relief in every of them; or when he
lifteth up his voice like a trumpet_ to proclaim unto them the laws
[Sidenote: Preceded] of God, _they adjoining_, though not as Israel did
by way of generality, a cheerful promise, 'All that the Lord hath
commanded we will do,' yet that which God doth no less approve, that
which savoureth more of meekness, that which testifieth rather a
feeling knowledge of our common imbecility, _unto the several branches
thereof several lowly and humble requests_ for grace at the merciful
hands of God to perform the thing which is commanded; or when they wish
reciprocally each other's ghostly happiness, or when he by exhortation
raiseth them up, and they by protestation of their readiness declare he
speaketh not in vain unto them; these interlocutory forms of speech,
what are they else, but most effectual, partly testifications, and
partly inflammations, of all piety?"
[1] There are two or three apparent exceptions which on examination
prove the rule. At the beginning of the Communion Service the
intention is so plain and the _Lord have mercy_ is repeated so often
with the Commandments, that it is left out before the Lord's Prayer.
At Baptism and Confirmation there is no setting, probably because the
Thanksgiving close of those services has the character of both Praise
and Prayer: and this certainly is the effect of the double setting in
the Churching Service.
{24}
CHAPTER IV.
MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER.
It must not be supposed that these Services were composed suddenly in
their present shape. They are indeed formed on the pattern given by
the Lord's Prayer; and they make use of the methods which we have
described--Intention, Setting, Key-note, Worship-forms--which have
always been the methods used by the Church as far back as we have any
evidence. But from time to time alterations have been made in the
details. The Lord's Prayer has, for example, been used as a key-note
for Praise without its Doxology; or Confession has been placed amongst
the Prayers; or Psalms have been more used, and Lessons less used. In
spite of such variations, the general principles may be traced in all
Church Services; and much interesting study may be spent on the
comparison of our Services with those which preceded them.
We have already said something (Chap. II.) about this, and when we
study these two Services in detail, it is very important to remember
that they grew out of the older Services. The daily Psalms and Lessons
{25} might be rearranged, the number of versicles increased or
diminished, the rule about varying the saying of a Creed, or an
Alleluia, might be altered: but it is the same pattern with the same
methods of worship now, as it was when the Services were all said in
Latin and when each Diocese in this country had some differences from
all the other Dioceses.
We will now proceed to consider these two Services in their details.
THE ORDER FOR
MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER,
DAILY TO BE SAID AND USED THROUGHOUT
THE YEAR.
_The Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in the accustomed Place
of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel: except it shall be otherwise
determined by the Ordinary of the Place. And the Chancels shall remain
as they have done in times past._
_And here is to be noted, that such ornaments of the Church, and of the
Ministers thereof, at all times of their Ministration, shall be
retained, and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by the
authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward
the Sixth._
The importance of the above heading has been lost sight of, through the
manner of its printing. In most Prayer Books it will be found on a
page by itself or at the foot of a Table of the Golden Numbers. It is
really the heading of a chapter which contains both {26} Morning and
Evening Service. Until the last Revision of the Book in 1662, the
chapter containing Morning and Evening Prayer was closed after the
Athanasian Creed with a Rubric _Thus endeth the Order of Morning and
Evening Prayer throughout the whole Year_. Although that Rubric has
been omitted, this heading includes both Services in one Chapter.
EVENING PRAYER] This part of the chapter, prior to 1662, was not
printed out in full; only the variations from Morning Prayer were set
forth.
DAILY TO BE SAID AND USED] See Preface--_And all Priests and Deacons
are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer, either privately or
openly . . . the Curate . . . shall say the same in the Parish Church
or Chapel where he ministereth_.
ornaments of the Church] The Canons of 1604 order a number of things
to be provided at the charges of the parish, which may be included
under this head, such as Communion Table, Pulpit, Reading-desk, Font,
Alms-chest, Alms-basin, Vessels for Holy Communion, Bible, Common
Prayer Book, Book of Homilies, Parchment Register Book and Coffer. It
would not be easy to make a complete list of things authorised by this
Rubric and elsewhere.
and of the Ministers thereof] The discussion of the meaning of the
Ornaments of the Ministers belongs chiefly to the Communion Service.
There has been no question that for Morning and Evening Service a
Surplice and Hood are ordered to be worn.
the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth] The reference
is to the {27} statute of the year 1548-9, whereby the first (English)
Revision was enabled to be enforced by law. Edward VI.'s reign began
on Jan. 29, 1547. This statute passed the House of Lords on Jan. 15th,
1548-9, and is referred to in the statute of 1552 as belonging to the
second year of King Edward VI., although the session lasted into his
third year.
THE ORDER FOR MORNING PRAYER, DAILY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
This fresh heading is necessary because the former included the Order
for Evening Service. Morning and Evening Prayer (called also Mattins
and Evensong: see Table of Proper Lessons) are two divisions of the
same chapter.
These two Services are very much alike. The map on the next page shows
their construction.
An examination of this map will show that the plan of the Lord's Prayer
is closely followed. There are two parts and an introduction. Of the
two parts Praise comes first, as in the Lord's Prayer.
Each of the two parts begins with the Lord's Prayer, which is arranged
with a setting so as to mark the character of what follows.
Every piece of the Praise portion is set with a Praise-Termination, or
Doxology: and this portion includes both kinds of Praise, viz.
Outspoken Praise, and Reverent Hearing of God's Word. In like manner
the Prayer portion includes the two kinds of Prayer, viz. Petition for
the wants of men, and Thanksgiving for what they have received.
{28}
Thus these two Services are formed in obedience to the rule that we are
to take the Lord's Prayer as our model (S. Matth. vi. 9).
INTRODUCTION.
TEXT and SERMON on Confession.
The act of CONFESSION.
GOD'S ANSWER to Confession.
PRAISE.
_Praise-terminations_
THE LORD'S PRAYER . . . . . . Thine is the kingdom.
( 1. Interjected Verses )
PSALMS ( 2. xcv. (at Mattins) ) Gloria Patri.
( 3. Special, i.--cl. (as )
( appointed) )
LESSONS ( 1. Old Testament . . . Canticle 1 or 2,
( 2. New Testament . . . Canticle 3 or 4.
THE APOSTLES' CREED . . . . . . Amen.
PRAYER.
THE LORD'S PRAYER.
PRECES or Interjected Verses anticipating the Collects.
( 1. for spiritual needs,
COLLECTS ( ANTHEM or Choral Prayer uniting the
( two kinds of Collect,
( 2. for physical needs and earthly relations.
{29}
In 1552 the Introductory portion was prefixed. _Confession_, which
formerly occurred in the Prayers, had been omitted in 1549. It now
forms the Introduction.
The reason for this beginning is set forth in a short sermon which is
usually known as the _Exhortation_, and has, like other sermons, a
Text, commonly known as a _Sentence_ (see Rubric at the head of the
Sentences). This is in accordance with very ancient custom[1], and
with the very natural sense that man must receive permission before he
approaches God.
God's answer to Confession is The _Absolution_ or _Remission_ of Sins.
As an illustration of this we may think of Esther, when she went to
make her petition of the King (Esther iv. 2, v. 1-3). The King
extending his sceptre gave her permission to speak.
The Sentences
are 11 verses, chosen, 5 from the Psalms, 4 from the Prophets, 2 from
the Gospels, 1 from the Epistles. They represent either man's cry to
God (Nos. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10) or God's call to man (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 8, 11) or
both (No. 6).
{30}
The Exhortation.
_The Scripture moveth us_] The Sentences supply 11 such places, but
there are many more to be found in the Bible. The word "moveth" has
the same meaning as when a resolution is moved at a meeting.
_When we assemble and meet together_ in Church] Four reasons are
given, viz. the four great occupations of Worship, without regard to
their order in the Service. We have already pointed out that
_Thanksgiving_ and _Prayer_ spring from the sense of man's wants and
his dependence on God; and that the _Reading of God's Word_ in these
Services is not for study but for _Praise_. We shall therefore find
the Thanksgiving after the Prayers, and the Lessons (or Lections) of
Holy Scripture amongst the Praises.
The Confession.
The capital letters indicate that this was to be, as it were, dictated
to the people, sentence by sentence: and the Rubric implies the same.
It will be remembered that books were scarce when this Rubric was
prepared. Literal obedience to it is often very impressive, and a real
addition to the solemnity of the act. On ordinary occasions in some
Churches, the Minister leads the Confession without the formal
separation of each clause from the next.
The expressions, used here to acknowledge the wickedness of sin and the
defects of human life, will seem to be excessive whenever we are making
light of {31} our faults. But in proportion as we realise the
perfection of God's holiness, we shall find them suitable to every
shade of defect and sin.
The comprehensive humility of this Confession is designed to include
both modified faults and grave offences--whether by commission,
omission or indolence. The full acknowledgment of the different forms
of sin is followed by prayer for mercy and recovery, relying upon the
promises declared in Jesus Christ.
The Absolution.
As God's answer to Confession, this is pronounced by God's own
messenger. The messenger must have full credentials; i.e. a Deacon
must not say the Absolution.
Both here and in the Confession, the _Titles and Attributes_ of God
should be noticed. His power and mercy were made the grounds of our
appeal to Him. His mercy and authority are now made the grounds of His
answer. The fulness of the declaration of them gives emphasis to the
declaration of pardon which follows.
We find four parts in the Confession and the same parts in the
Absolution, viz.
1. The Title and Attributes of God.
2. The substantial part, i.e. Confession or Absolution.
3. The prayer which is founded thereon.
4. The appeal through our Lord.
{32}
Rubrics.
Before the invention of printing (15th century), the directions in Law
Manuscripts had been written in red, in order to distinguish them from
the Statutes. This distinction had been made also in Service Books and
it has been continued to our own time. But every sheet which contains
both black and red letters requires to be twice passed over a printing
press. Hence, for cheap books, italics are used instead of red letters
to distinguish the directions from the prayers, &c. The directions are
called Rubrics (from Lat. _ruber_=red) whether the distinction is made
by the colour or the type.
The rubrics about the Confession and the Absolution were in 1662 made
more clear. The habit had grown up in some churches for the Priest to
say the Absolution kneeling. The word _all_ was therefore inserted in
the rubric about Confession, and the words _standing, the people still
kneeling_ were added to the rubric about Absolution. Thus _all
kneeling_ includes the minister.
This Introductory Part of the Service was composed for the Revision of
1552, and was then printed only in the Morning Service, with a rubric
ordering it to be used _at the beginning of Morning Prayer, and
likewise of Evening Prayer_. In 1662 it was first printed out in full
in the Evening Service, and the rubric was altered to agree therewith.
_Simplification of rubrics_. One aim of the Revisers was simplicity of
rules. As they sought Variety of worship without excess, so they
desired Order of {33} worship without complexity of regulations.
Anyone, looking casually over the Prayer Books of the Sarum and other
Uses before 1549, will be struck at once by the redness of many of the
pages. This redness indicates rubrics, and helps us to realise what is
meant in the Prayer Book Preface (Concerning the Service of the Church,
Section 2) by _the number and hardness of the rules called the Pie, and
the manifold changings of the Service_[2].
In order to provide for the many occasions when a difference was to be
made, rubrics had been multiplied and inserted at the places to which
they applied. The Revisers (1) collected as many as possible at the
beginning of each Service, or at the end; and (2) reduced the number of
rubrics thus collected together, by reducing the number of variations
which were to be provided for.
Duplication of Phrases.
It has often been noticed that pairs of words having nearly the same
meaning frequently occur in the Prayer Book. This doubling of an idea
may be called 'Duplication'.
Duplication is of two kinds: either the words coupled together are so
nearly identical in meaning that one is but a repetition of the other;
or else the {34} second word shows an advance upon the first. The
former kind may be called 'parallel duplication' and is used for
emphasis: the latter kind may be called 'progressive duplication',
because it is used to represent the living idea which advances even
while it is being uttered. Instances of both abound in this part of
the Service, as well as in the Collects and other prayers which we
shall notice later on.
Examples of Duplication.
1. _Exhortation_.
Parallel. _goodness_ and _mercy_.
_assemble_ and _meet together_.
Progressive.
( _acknowledge_ . . . . . suggesting reluctance.
( _confess_ . . . . . . . " willingness.
( _sins_ . . . . . . . . . the outward act.
( _wickedness_ . . . . . . the inward fault.
( _dissemble_ . . . . . . pretend they are not there.
( _cloke_ . . . . . . . . cover them up.
( _requisite_ . . . . . . what we should like.
( _necessary_ . . . . . . what we must have.
( _pray_ . . . . . . . . . ask earnestly.
( _beseech_ . . . . . . . " more earnestly.
( humble, lowly ( attitude with regard ) Distrust
( ( to the past ) of Self.
(
( penitent ( attitude with regard ) Shame for
( ( to the present ) sin.
(
( obedient ( attitude with regard ) Resolution
( ( to the future ) to leave
( ) the sin.
{35}
2. _Confession_.
Parallel. _erred_ and _strayed_.
Progressive.
( _device_ . . . . . . . . . . an act of the mind.
( _desire_ . . . . . . . . . . an act of the heart.
( _left undone_ . . . . . . . Omission.
( _done_ (wrongly) . . . . . . Commission.
Cf. _sins, negligences and ignorances_ Litany.
( _spare_ . . . . . . . . . . with regard to the past.
( _restore_ . . . . . . . . . " " " the future.
( _godly_ . . . . . . . . . . duty to God.
( _righteous_ . . . . . . . . " " man.
( _sober_ . . . . . . . . . . " " self.
3. _Absolution_.
Parallel. _declare_ and _pronounce_.
_truly_ (with truth), _unfeignedly_ (without pretence).
Progressive.
( _death_ . . . . . . . . . . Life is something more than
( _turn and live_ . . . . . . the absence of death.
( _power_ . . The Priest . . may pronounce.
( _commandment_ . . must "
( _Absolution_ . . . . . . . . unloosing.
( _Remission_ . . . . . . . . putting away.
( _pardoneth_ . . . . . . . . (Fr. _pardonner_) God forgiveth.
( _absolveth_ . . . . . . . . (Lat. _absolvo_) God looseth the
sinner.
( _repent_ . . . . . . . . . . looking at Self.
( _believe_ . . . . . . . . . " " God.
{36}
( _pure_ . . . . . . . . . . . absence of evil.
( _holy_ . . . . . . . . . . . presence of good.
( _repentance_ . . . . . that our present lives may
( please God.
( _God's Holy Spirit_ " our remaining lives
( may please Him.
It will be clear that if we keep from sin repentance is more intimately
connected with our present lives than with the future. Yet both
repentance and the gift of the Holy Spirit are required for life now
and hereafter.
[1] S. Basil, _ad Clerum Neoc. Ep._ 63, Tom. 2, 843 D, quoted by
Wheatley, says that "the primitive Christians in all Churches,
immediately upon their entering into the House of Prayer, made a
confession of their sins to God with much sorrow and concern and tears,
every man pronouncing his own confession with his own mouth."
So Ezra (ix. 5, 6, &c.) and Daniel (ix. 1-19) approached God with
Confession.
[2] The Pie. Three explanations are offered of this word. (1)
_pi_=the first letter of the word _pinax_ _a chart_, i.e. the Table of
Lessons, &c. (2) Pie,--as in magpie, piebald,--from the two colours of
the page. (3) Litera picata--the pitch-coloured letter--which began
each several order in the rules.
The title of the Sarum Breviary makes Pie equivalent to Breviary or
Portiforium. The most attractive derivation is that which associates
it with the Greek word for a chart or map.
{37}
CHAPTER V.
PRAISE.
I. The Psalms.
Every part of the Praise portion of the Service has a
Praise-Termination. We have already seen that the "intention" of the
Lord's Prayer is marked for praise by a Termination, viz. _for thine is
the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever_.
This praise-termination belongs to the Lord's Prayer, and is not used
for anything else. In like manner, other forms of praise have their
own terminations. Thus Psalms and Lessons are used for praise and have
praise-terminations.
When a Psalm is used for praise, its termination is _Glory be to the
father_, &c.
When a Lesson is used for praise, its termination is a Canticle--i.e.
one of the Bible songs of praise (from the Latin _canticulum_, a little
song, a sonnet).
When the Creed is used for praise, since nothing can be added to the
facts of God's Being and Work except the will to recite them devoutly,
its praise-termination is _Amen_.
{38}
The first Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer may be regarded as a brief summary of the acts of
worship which come after it. Much care is required in order to use its
familiar words with due devotion. When it is used, as here, for
Praise, the following may be taken as examples of the thoughts which
should accompany its several phrases.
Our Father, God is Love.
Which art in heaven, God is a spirit.
Hallowed be Thy Name, God's Holiness.
Thy Kingdom come, God's Power.
Thy Will be done, God's Perfectness.
In earth as it is in heaven, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty.
Give us this day our daily Every good gift is from
bread, above.
Forgive us our trespasses, The mercy of the Lord
is from everlasting to
everlasting.
Lead us not into temptation, Thou art about my path
and about my bed.
Deliver us from evil, With power He commandeth
the unclean spirits, &c.
The Ladder of Praise.
The various parts of the Praise portion of the Service are not
repetitions of the same ideas. We {39} have first, in the Psalms, the
simpler thoughts about God. The First Lesson, taken from the Old
Testament, advances to higher or more complex thoughts in Praise of
Him. The next stage is reached in the Second Lesson; and the Apostles'
Creed crowns the whole. Thus a _Ladder_ of praise is made whereby we
climb up to the thought of God in His Perfect Being, which is the very
essence of Real Worship.
The first steps in this ladder are made by the use of the Book of
Psalms, which is divided into sections for these daily Services, and so
arranged that they supply different Psalms for 30 mornings and 30
evenings. If there are 31 days in the month, those for the 30th day
are repeated on the 31st: in February, the (29th and) 30th are omitted.
There are many words which originally meant a Song, but in course of
time have come to mean a special kind of song, or the music which
belongs to a song. Thus _Cantus_, a song, gives us _Chant_, the music
of a psalm verse; and _Canticle_, a psalm after a Lesson. _psalmos_, a
song, gives us _psalm_, a hymn, but not metrical, _hymnos_, a song,
gives us _hymn_, a song in metre.
Versicles and Psalms.
Before the Psalms begin there is an injunction to praise the Lord
exchanged between the Minister and the People. Four other Versicles
and Gloria Patri are interposed after the Lord's Prayer--all in the
form of Verse and Respond.
{40} Ps. li. 15 is the Psalmist's grateful cry when his sin was
forgiven and his praises began to break forth.
Ps. lxx. 1 supplies the second couplet.
The _Gloria Patri_ follows these Psalm verses.
The Venite exultemus Domino, briefly called _Venite_, is the 95th
Psalm. The Rubric provides that it is to be said every day, but not
twice on the 19th day[1]. It is the first of the Morning Psalms, and
formerly was sung with an Anthem (see Chapter XIII.) which was known as
the Invitatory, and varied with the Season.
Antiphonal, i.e. alternate, singing dates from the services described
in 1 Chronicles vi. 31-33, 39, 44, from which it appears that there
were three choirs of singers--one in the centre, and one on either
hand. Thus the interchange of replies from either side and a chorus of
all the voices were provided, 1 Chron. xvi. 7-9 makes it clear that the
Psalms were sung, as indeed the word Psalm (from Gr. _psallo_, I sing)
implies. See also Neh. xii. 24.
The Authorised Version (A.V.) of the Bible is a translation made at the
beginning of James I.'s reign, after the Hampton Court Conference (Jan.
1604). It was published in 1611 with a title-page stating that it was
"appointed to be read in churches." There is, however, no evidence of
any formal adoption of it until the statement made in the Preface of
the {41} Prayer Book (1662) that "such portions of Holy Scripture as
are inserted into the Liturgy," "in the Epistles and Gospels
especially, and in sundry other places . . . are now ordered to be read
according to the last Translation." It is evident that this "last
Translation" is the Version of 1611: for the Epistles and Gospels are
quoted from it in the Prayer Book of 1662. The Translation of 1611,
then, is that from which are to be taken "such portions of Holy
Scripture as are inserted into the Liturgy." This appears to be the
_general_ rule of the Prayer Book of 1662. But that Prayer Book gives
authority to various exceptions. The most notable of these is the
provision, in a footnote to _The order how the Psalter is appointed to
be read_, "that the Psalter followeth the division of the Hebrews and
the translation of the great English Bible, set forth and used in the
time of King Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth."
If it be asked why the words of the Psalms should be sung as in the
Great Bible when other translations have superseded it for Lessons,
there is an easy answer. Books were not cheap or common in the 16th
and 17th centuries. Many people had sung them so often as to know them
by heart. A comparison of the Bible and Prayer Book translations will
show that there was no large gain to be set against the loss of
congregational worship which must have resulted from changes. The
Bishops' Bible supplanted the Great Bible in 1568, and the Authorised
Version was made in 1611. Both in 1604 and in 1662 the Revisers
decided to retain the Version of 1539-40 (the Great Bible) so far as
the Psalms and Canticles {42} were sung in the Churches. This is
plainly not an oversight in 1662, for the Revisers altered the words of
the note in the Preface, without changing the sense.
Psalms in Daily Services.
The Preface, "Concerning the Service of the Church," states that "the
ancient Fathers have divided the Psalms into seven portions, whereof
every one was called a Nocturn," and that "the same was . . . ordained
. . . of a good purpose and for a great advancement of godliness"; but
"of late time a few of them have been daily said and the rest utterly
omitted." A writer of the ninth century says that S. Jerome, at the
bidding of the Pope on the request of Theodosius, arranged the Psalms
for the Services of day and night in order to avoid the confusion
arising from variety of uses[2]. S. Ambrose was a contemporary of S.
Jerome but died more than 20 years before him. There are considerable
differences between the plan which S. Ambrose gave to his diocese of
Milan, and the plan which we may believe was generally given at the
same time to the Churches of the rest of Western Europe. But they are
similar in many respects. In both, a division was made between the
first 109 psalms,--which were mainly allotted to the night services,
i.e. to those which were afterwards called Mattins,--and the rest which
were mainly allotted to the Evening Service (Vespers). We suppose that
the division, mentioned in the {43} Preface, "into seven portions"
refers to those 109 Psalms.
Of these 109, 18 were used at other Services, leaving 91 for Mattins,
viz. 19 on Sunday and 12 each for the week days. The Ambrosian
arrangement of them was for a fortnight.
The Greek Church divides the whole Book into 20 portions and takes
them, two portions at Mattins and one at Vespers, beginning on Saturday
night, omitting Sunday Vespers, and taking, on Friday, the 19th, 20th
and 18th portions.
Thus we see that a weekly singing of the Book of Psalms is derived from
a very ancient time, when the division of the Eastern and Western
Churches of Europe had not occurred.
The Sarum order, which we suppose was that which is referred to in the
Preface as having been "corrupted" by omissions, had the 109 Psalms
allotted to Mattins, as above described. For Vespers, there were five
each day from cx.-cxlvii., omitting the 118th and 119th, 134th, 143rd
and, as explained below[3], reckoning the 147th as two. All these were
taken in order as they stand in the Bible. Those which were left out
were allotted to other Services, as, for instance, iv. to Compline,
lxiii. to Lauds, &c., &c. Psalm cxix. was to be said through every
day, 32 verses at Prime, and 48 verses each, at Terce, Sext and None.
{44}
Lauds was the great Praise Service of the day, and had a very beautiful
arrangement of its Psalms which always ended with one of the O.T. hymns
followed by Psalms cxlviii.-cl. The O.T. hymns on the seven days of
the week were _Benedicite_: Isaiah xii.: Isaiah xxxviii. 10-20: 1 Sam.
ii. 1-10: Exodus xv. 1-19: Hab. iii.: Deut. xxxii. 1-43.
The beauty of many of these arrangements is undeniable: but they were
rather intricate; and in practice they broke down.
Our revisers retained the underlying principles. By spreading the
course over 30 days they made it possible to use it all. They retained
the 95th Psalm as the first Psalm of every day; and also the principle
of having two daily Services at which Psalms occupied an important
place.
There are Special Psalms for six days in the year--the four great
Festivals, Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Whitsun Day, and the two
great prayer-days, Ash-Wednesday and Good Friday. The Preface explains
that these Special Psalms are to be sung instead of the ordinary Psalms
on those days; and authorises the use of Special Psalms approved by the
Ordinary on other days.
In using the Book of Psalms as a book of worship we must remember what
was said of the _Intention_ of our minds in respect to parts of the
Services. There are many Psalms which supply us with the best Prayers
in trouble, penitence or any anxiety. But when using them in these
Services our Intention is not Prayer but Praise, and the thought of God
must inspire our devotions.
{45}
It will often help us if we remember that God's Righteousness is
infinite, as well as His Mercy. It is impossible for man in his
present state to reconcile perfect Righteousness and perfect Mercy: for
Righteousness will have nothing to do with sin, while Mercy forgives
it. These two characteristics of God are revealed to us through Christ
in Whom Righteousness and Peace are united; cf. Ps. lxxxv.
The Psalms, composed by various people at different times, very
frequently are the utterances of men in trouble: and they often sketch
the thoughts or actions of the Ideal Man, in one or other of the four
characters which answer to God's Righteousness and God's Mercy. For,
in response to God's Righteousness, man must be (1) perfectly
_penitent_, and (2) in imitation of God, must _detest sin_: in
imitation of God, (3) he must be perfectly _forgiving_, and in response
to God's mercy, (4) he must have _trust and peace_. The Psalmists
exhibit human nature at its best, but it is human nature all the
time--human nature finding God and associating itself with the Ideal
Man.
Thus the Psalms often rise to the conception of the Messiah; and, even
when that is not their thought, they proceed from other thoughts to
Rest in God and Praise of His Holy Name.
The most difficult Psalms for worship are those which regard sin with
horror, but express the horror without mercy. Man is unable to hold
the two qualities of Righteousness and Mercy simultaneously. We find
it difficult in these days to detest sin because we are learning the
quality of mercy.
{46}
Much of the poetic force of these songs depends on the local incidents
of Israel's history and the scenery of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
While we use the words, we must also use our imaginations to transfer
the great thoughts to our own experience: for those local colours are
the clothing of thoughts which belong to all men in their relation to
God.
Over all these endeavours to use the Psalms properly in the Praise part
of our Services, the ruling idea is that which we have already stated,
viz. that God in these things is to be glorified.
[1] A practice is found, in some churches, of singing this Psalm on
Sundays but not when it is read in the ordinary course of the Psalms.
We believe that this is due to a misinterpretation of the Rubric.
There is just as much reason for singing it on the 19th as on any other
day.
[2] _Dict. of Chr. Antiq_. "Psalmody." H. J. Hotham.
[3] The "division of the Hebrews" (see Note in Preface on the Order of
the Psalter) is followed in our Prayer Book and Bible. The Septuagint
and Vulgate unite Psalms ix. and x. and divide cxlvii. into two psalms,
viz. _vv._ 1-11, _vv._ 12-20.
{47}
CHAPTER VI.
PRAISE.
II. The Lessons.
A. The Study of the Bible a help to worship.
The Bible is read in Church as an incentive to the praise of God. It
supplies thoughts of God which are then offered up to Him, as Praise,
in the words of the Canticles. It is therefore necessary that we
should _understand_ the Bible Lessons as well as our abilities will
allow, and that we should _endeavour_ to find in those Lessons
everything which will inspire us to honour and love God.
There are two distinct requirements. A book may help us to
_understand_, but the _endeavour_ to find God in the Bible depends on
ourselves: our Lord has described it in the words _He that hath ears to
hear let him hear_.
In order to understand the Bible when we hear it read, we should study
it at home. Some elementary aids to the study of it may be useful
here; for further help we shall want books specially prepared for that
{48} purpose, such as the Cambridge Companion to the Bible and The
Cambridge Bible for Schools, &c.
1. The Old Testament and the New Testament agree together: they have
the same principles of morality, worship and doctrine. God's guidance
of the writers is seen in this--the Old Testament, written at different
times in the centuries before our Lord was Born, was such that the
Gospel of the Revelation in Jesus was able to fit into it. As S.
Augustine says,
"Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet,
Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet."
See also Article VII.
2. The failure of man to live well is shown in the Old Testament.
Though he had favourable conditions and a holy law of life, a pure
system of worship, and the discipline of warning and correction, the
Israelite failed. Hence the Old Testament continually teaches (_a_)
that God governs, (_b_) that man needs a Saviour.
3. The Old Testament consists of 3 parts (_a_) the Law and History,
(_b_) the Psalms and Proverbs, (_c_) the Prophets.
(_a_) The Law and History part includes the books from Genesis to
Esther, and relates the progress of the people of God from its
separation as a family and its growth to be an important nation, to the
downfall of its independence, and its partial recovery. The writers
were a succession of prophets, who continually point to the hand of God
in the events which they record.
(_b_) The Psalms and Proverbs part includes the books from Job to the
Song of Solomon, and contains {49} many Hymns of prayer and praise;
also discussions of deep problems of human nature and our relation to
God (Job and Ecclesiastes); together with other things which stir us to
a life of goodness and worship.
(_c_) The Prophets are not arranged in order of time at which they
lived. The four Books which come first are called the Four Greater
Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel: and are followed by the
Twelve Lesser Prophets. To find the place in the Lesser Prophets it is
sufficient to remember Hosea, Joel, Amos as the three which are placed
first; and Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi as the three prophets after
the Captivity, and therefore placed last. Isaiah should be read with
parts of Kings and Chronicles, and Haggai and Zechariah with the Books
of Ezra and Nehemiah; and others in like manner according to their
period.
4. The New Testament consists of 3 parts--(_a_) The History, (_b_) The
Epistles, (_c_) The Revelation of St John.
(_a_) _S. Luke's_ History is in two volumes--the Gospel, which recounts
our Lord's Life from His Birth to His Ascension (note here the number
of His Parables): and the Acts of the Apostles, which continues the
history from His Ascension to the (first) imprisonment of S. Paul at
Rome. _S. Matthew's_ Gospel corresponds to S. Luke's Gospel,
recounting our Lord's Life from His Birth, with many of His sayings
about the Kingdom of Heaven, and especially the Sermon on the Mount.
_S. Mark's_ Gospel is similar to the two former. It recounts
particularly the details of the various scenes of our Lord's Life, {50}
and shows how frequently He retired for meditation,--"a living picture
of a living man[1]." _S. John's_ Gospel, written long after the
others, shows the three witnesses--the spirit and the water and the
blood--that bear record that Jesus is the Son of God (1 S. John v. 8).
(_b_) The Epistles are not in chronological order. S. Paul's Epistles
are placed first, then S. James, S. Peter, S. John and S. Jude. Of S.
Paul's Epistles, those to Churches come before those to Timothy, Titus
and Philemon. Of his Epistles to Churches, the order in the Bible is
Rom., Cor., Cor., Gal., Ephes., Philip., Col., Thess., Thess. They fit
into the History in the following groups: (I) Acts xvii.,--1 and 2
Thess,, (II) Acts xix. 22 to xx.,--1 and 2 Cor., Gal., Romans, (III)
Acts xxviii.,--Philip., Col., Ephes., Philemon, (IV) _after_ the
imprisonment described in Acts xxviii.,--1 and 2 Tim. and Titus. The
Epistles to Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon (a Colossian Christian)
seem to have been sent by the same messenger. The Epistle to the
Hebrews may have been written by S. Paul; but, as that is doubtful, it
has been placed after those which are surely his. The Epistles which
follow are called "General," because they are addressed to Christians
scattered about in various countries. S. James and S. Peter have many
references to the Sermon on the Mount. S. John dwells upon Love as the
foundation upon which a Christian builds his life--the Love which God
has shown us, and the Love which we have for Him and for one another.
{51}
(c) The Revelation of S. John, written perhaps before the time when
Jerusalem was besieged (A.D. 68-69), carries our thoughts away from the
glories of the Jerusalem which was about to be destroyed, to the New
Jerusalem and its glories, in Jesus Christ and His Church.
5. The Apocrypha supplies First Lessons for 21 days between Oct. 27 and
Nov. 18; and also for the evenings of Innocents' Day and S. Luke's Day.
Article VI. quotes S. Jerome's description of the Apocrypha, where he
says "the other books the Church doth read for example of life and
instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any
doctrine."
These notes will, we hope, prompt the reader to make a study of the
Bible not only for the guidance of his life, but also for the amendment
of the offering which he makes to God in the Services of the Church.
B. Lessons and Lectionaries.
Acts xv. 21. "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach
him, being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath Day." The reference is
to the Mosaic regulations which were to a certain extent to be observed
by all Christians, out of consideration for those Christians who were
also Jews: _be sure that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is the
life_ was a precept which would create a difficulty in a Jewish
Christian's mind if a Gentile Christian disregarded it. Similarly as
to meats offered to idols (cf. 1 Cor. viii. 10-13).
There was then in the Synagogues of the first century a "First Lesson"
from the Law.
{52} Acts xiii. 27. "The voices of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath Day." There was then in the Synagogues a "Second Lesson" from
the Prophets.
Acts xiii. 15. "After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the
rulers of the Synagogue sent unto (Paul and his companions), saying, Ye
men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people,
say on."
The passage selected from the Law was associated with a passage
selected from the Prophets--there was a Lectionary for Sabbath
Services. The present Jewish Lectionary associates Isaiah i. 1-28 with
Deut. i. 1-iii. 22 as the Lessons for the Sabbath of Temple
Desolation[2].
In S. Paul's Exhortation which followed (_vv._ 16-41) there are, in
_vv._ 17-19, three words rarely found in the Bible, but of their rare
use one ("exalted") is found in Is. i. 2, and the others in Deut. i.
31, 38 ("suffered their manners" and "gave for an inheritance").
The reference, in _v._ 20, to "judges" is also to be noted in
connection with Is. i. 26. Bengel reasons that we may safely conclude
that the two Lections on that day were those which we have just
mentioned as associated together in the present Jewish Lectionary[3].
S. Luke iv. 15-20. Jesus . . . taught in their Synagogues--came to
Nazareth--"entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the
sabbath day, and stood {53} up for to read. And there was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Esaias." It appears from what follows
(_vv._ 17-20) that the Lord read Isaiah lxi. 1, 2, either instead of
the appointed passage from Isaiah, or after He had read the appointed
passage. For Isaiah lxi. does not now appear in the Jewish Lectionary,
and we know no reason for its omission now, if it was included before.
In any case what He said about it, He said as the Exhorter[4]. They
divided the Law into 53 or 54 portions, and read the whole of them
between one Feast of Tabernacles and the next, whether the Sabbaths
were 50 or more. Each portion was divided into seven parts, read by
seven different Readers (a Priest and a Levite being the first two).
This Lesson apparently stood alone until in B.C. 163 Antiochus
Epiphanes forbade the use of the Pentateuch. Lessons from the Prophets
were used instead, and were not discontinued when the use of the
Pentateuch was restored. Thus arose a practice of having a First
Lesson from the Law, which they called Parascha (or, _Division_), and a
Second Lesson from the Prophets, called Haphtarah (or, _Conclusion_).
The word _Holy_ was said before and after the First Lesson and a
Doxology before and after the Second Lesson--an arrangement similar to
our own. We may, indeed, believe that we derived from the Jews this
and other uses of our Services. For we read in Acts vi. 7 that a great
company of the priests were obedient to the faith, and {54} in Acts
xviii. 7, 8 that at Corinth, when they ceased to be able to go to the
Synagogue, the ruler of the Synagogue himself went with them to the
worship and teaching which they carried on in a house hard by. It
would not be surprising, then, if the worship thus begun was arranged
after the old pattern to which they were all accustomed. For there
are, not a few, proofs in the Acts of the Apostles that in those early
days they attended the Services of the Temple at Jerusalem, and of the
Synagogues in other places.
Justin Martyr[5], writing in defence of Christianity to the Emperor of
Rome, describes the Holy Communion Service of his time as comprising
two Lessons--one from the Prophets and the other from the Apostles,
i.e., we suppose, the Gospels; a stage nearer to the two New Testament
Lessons which are read at the Communion now. The use of an Old
Testament and a New Testament Lesson at Daily Prayers may be a survival
of the intermediate stage as described by Justin.
A Lectionary is a Table of Lessons arranged for a year. Our Table of
Epistles and Gospels is derived from one which has been attributed to
S. Jerome. The Sermons of his age show that there were stated Lessons
for particular days[6]. Moreover, certain variations in the
manuscripts of the New Testament are explained by the early use of
books in {55} which the Lessons for the days were written out in
full[7], called Lectionaries or Evangelistaria.
The principle which governs our own Lectionary is that the Bible shall
be read through[8]. The books are taken in order, beginning with
Genesis, S. Matthew, and Acts on January 2, and going straight on, with
two exceptions. First exception: Isaiah's clear prophecies of Messiah
are deferred to Nov. 18 &c., so as to be read in Advent. Second
exception: Revelation is read in the latter half of December.
The effect of beginning the New Testament in two places on Jan. 2 is
that it is read twice through in the year--once at Morning Prayer and
once at Evening Prayer.
For Sundays a different arrangement is made with regard to the Old
Testament. The Sunday year begins with Advent, which is the season
occupying twenty-eight days before Christmas. Selections from Isaiah
are read on these four Sundays, on Christmas Day, and on the four or
five Sundays which usually follow Christmas before Septuagesima. At
Septuagesima we are anticipating Lent and the Passion: Genesis
therefore supplies the Lessons, followed by Exodus at Passion-tide, and
the other books in regular course.
To this brief description we may add that Proper Lessons, specially
chosen from Old and New Testament, are appointed for special Sundays
and special {56} Holy Days. These take the place of those which appear
in the regular list for the same days. If two special days coincide,
the minister may read the Lessons of either, except that, on Advent
Sunday, Easter Day, Whitsunday and Trinity Sunday, the Lessons for
those days are to be read.
The principles of this arrangement have been in use since 1549;
alterations in its details were made in 1559, 1604, and 1871.
In 1559 the Apocrypha was appointed for many of the Saints' Days, which
nevertheless were left with their Old Testament Lessons in the
Calendar. Thus these latter were invariably unread.
In 1604 this defect of the Calendar was corrected by moving the Lessons
forward to make room for the Proper Lessons, and omitting some few of
those which "might best be spared."
Until 1871 the New Testament was read through _thrice_ in the year, the
Lessons being usually whole chapters. And the Gospels were always
Morning Lessons, and the Epistles and Acts always Evening Lessons.
Revelation was almost altogether omitted.
From 1604 till 1871 the First Lessons from Sept. 28 until Nov. 23 were
from the Apocrypha--eight weeks. The Apocrypha Lessons continue now
only from Oct. 27 to Nov. 18.
The principle of selection has in all these changes been recognised;
but always subordinate to a larger principle of reading in Church the
whole Bible. Prior to 1871 the two Books of Chronicles were not read,
being regarded as sufficiently represented by the corresponding
chapters from the Books of the Kings. In {57} 1871 eighteen Lessons
from the Chronicles were introduced in place of the corresponding
passages in the Kings.
We shall find in the next chapter that all these Lessons in Church are
to be thought of in connection with their attendant Canticles--so that
a Lesson and its Canticle form an act of Praise: "as after one angel
had published the Gospel (S. Luke ii. 10-12) a multitude joined with
him in praising God, so when one minister hath read the Gospel, all the
people glorify God" (S. Luke ii. 13, 14)[9].
Rubric. _Then shall be read distinctly_, &c.] The words of this
rubric were altered to some extent in 1662, the only notable change
being the alteration of "The minister that readeth" to "He that
readeth." The object of the change seems to be that one who is not
'the minister' may read the Lessons. The minister is still directed to
declare where they begin and end.
He is to turn himself so as to be heard: and Canon 80 requires the
churchwardens to provide a "Bible of the largest volume." A desk or
Lectern is therefore implied as one of the 'Ornaments of the Church.'
It is usually assumed that the Congregation sits during the Lessons
except when the Gospel is read in the Communion. Probably there were
not seats for them when the rubrics were drawn up: custom has
authorised their addition to the list of 'ornaments.' The movable
seats, bequeathed by incumbents to their successors or others as they
thought fit, are not recognised by any words in the Prayer Book.
{58}
APPENDIX B.
JUSTIN MARTYR, _Apol._ I. 61-67.
61. * * * We bring them where there is water; and after the same
manner of regeneration as we also were regenerated ourselves, they are
regenerated; for, in the Name of God, the Father and Lord of all
things, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, they
then receive the washing of water: for, indeed, Christ also said,
_Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven_. * * * *
65. But after thus washing him who has professed, and given his assent,
we bring him to those who are called brethren; where they are assembled
together, to offer prayers in common both for ourselves, and for the
person who has received illumination, and all others everywhere, with
all our hearts, that we might be vouchsafed, now we have learnt the
truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the
commandments, that we may obtain everlasting Salvation. We salute one
another with a kiss when we have concluded the prayers: then is brought
to the President of the brethren, bread, and a cup of water and wine,
which he receives; and offers up praise and glory to the Father of all
things, through the Name of His Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and he
returns thanks at length, for our being vouchsafed these things by Him.
[Here follows a brief description of this special Eucharist after a
Baptism which we omit in order to give the longer description below.]
{59}
67. * * * And on the day which is called Sunday, there is an assembly
in the same place of all who live in cities, or in country districts;
and the records of the Apostles, or the writings of the Prophets, are
read as long as we have time. Then the Reader concludes: and the
President verbally instructs, and exhorts us, to the imitation of these
excellent things: then, we all together rise and offer up our prayers;
and, as I said before, when we have concluded our prayer, bread is
brought, and wine, and water; and the President, in like manner, offers
up prayers, and thanksgivings, with all his strength; and the people
give their assent by saying Amen: and there is a distribution, and a
partaking by every one, of the eucharistic elements (_ton
eucharistethenton_); and to those who are not present, they are sent by
the hands of the deacons * * *.
_Library of the Fathers. S. Justin's Works._
[Antoninus Pius, to whom Justin addressed his two Defences, was Emperor
of Rome from 138 to 161. The first of the two is that from which the
above quotation is taken: its date has been placed as early as A.D.
139, and as late as A.D. 150. Justin's Martyrdom has been dated A.D.
166. His description of Services refers therefore to the 50 years
which followed the death of S. John the Apostle.]
[1] Cambridge Companion.
[2] Speaker's Commentary on Isaiah, Appendix A.
[3] _etropophorese_ and _etrophophorese_. These two rare Greek words
differ from one another by a single letter which is _p_ in one and _ph_
in the other. The former has the best MS. authority: the latter ('bore
as a nurse') is probably right. But, in either case, S. Paul must have
had the Deut. passage in his thoughts.
[4] See Reland's _Hebrew Antiquities_.
[5] See Appendix B, p. 58.
[6] Thus S. Chrysostom regards Genesis as belonging to Lent, and
preached a homily to explain why the Acts are read in public between
Easter and Whitsunday. He also advises that the Saturday and Sunday
Lessons should be privately read during the previous week.
[7] Thus a few MSS. read "The end is enough" in S. Mark xiv. 41; "the
end" having been placed in a Book of Lessons, after the word "(It) is
enough," because the Lesson ended there. See Prebendary Scrivener's
Art. in _Dict. of Christian Antiq._ s.v. Lectionary.
[8] See Appendix C.
[9] S. Ambrose quoted by Hook, _Ch. Dict._ s.v. Hymn.
{60}
CHAPTER VII.
PRAISE.
III. Hymns in the Daily Services.
We are about to explain how Hymns are attached to Lessons for purposes
of worship. It will be well therefore to consider what a Hymn is, and
how we arrived at the present arrangement. We will defer to the
chapter on Anthems the consideration of those Hymns that may be
described as Prayers set to music. Many Psalms may be described in
this way, and in the Commination the 51st Psalm is used as a Prayer
(see the Rubric there). But if our intention be Praise, most of those
Prayer-psalms lend themselves to Praise, and are so used in this
Service before the Lessons, as we have just seen. In like manner
metrical Hymns are to be found in our Hymn-books which are in their
plain sense prayers rather than praises.
In the Day Hour Services we find metrical Hymns--at Lauds, Vespers and
Compline after the Bible "Chapter," and, at the other Services, before
the Psalms. They were in Latin, and some of them have been translated
and are known to us in our Hymn-books.
{61}
Of the Office Hymns well known in modern Hymn-books, _Now that the
daylight fills the sky is a good example_.
We have, moreover, in the Prayer Book itself, two translations of the
Hymn _Veni, Creator Spiritus_ formerly sung at Lauds throughout Whitsun
week.
The longer form of it, more a paraphrase than a translation, appeared
in the Ordination Services in 1550; the shorter translation, which is
so well known, in a Book of Devotions made by John Cosin in 1627, where
are found also translations of other Day Hour Hymns, the book being
designed from the Breviary.
When in 1661 Cosin had become Bishop of Durham and was taking a leading
part in the last revision of the Prayer-Book, his translation of _Veni,
Creator Spiritus_ was placed before the older paraphrase in the
Ordination Services.
It is interesting to compare the Day Hour Hymns with the translations
which are to be found in Hymn-books.
In _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, the following examples are found:--1, 9,
10, 11, 14, 15, 38, 45, 47, 55, 75, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 96, 97, 125,
128, 144, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 430, 483, 509, 622. The renderings
are not equally close; but they give a good idea of the place in
worship which they occupied in the Day Hours. They will be found to
dwell on the thoughts of praise to God called forth (_a_) by the
sunshine and the beauties of nature, (_b_) by the work of the Holy
Spirit. When the Hymn followed the Capitulum, a Canticle came next.
The Capitulum, or Little Chapter, was one or two verses from the Bible
specially {62} chosen for the day; and the Hymn was directly connected
in subject with it.
Thus, at Lauds on Whitsunday, the Capitulum was, _When the Day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place_
(Acts ii. 1), and the Hymn which followed immediately was _Come, Holy
Ghost_ (H. A. and M. 157); and _Benedictus_, which came next, had an
Antiphon, _Receive ye the Holy Ghost_, &c. (S. John xx. 22, 23).
These beautiful combinations show us that the Canticle after a Lesson
is designed to respond to the message of the Lesson, and to make with
it an act of Praise. We must dismiss from our minds all idea that our
Services were put together in a zigzag fashion, introducing something
different as soon as any Psalm or Lesson has been said. The
Service-makers valued variety of expression and method within
reasonable limits; but the Service itself proceeds from point to point
in a regulated progress. When the metrical Hymns were struck out, the
Canticles and the Lessons were left united together.
The Canticles.
The word Canticle means "little song" or "little chant," just as
versicle means "little verse," and particle "little part."
It has long been used to signify the Hymns from the Old and New
Testaments which were introduced into the Christian Services.
It will be seen that these Bible hymns are affixed {63} to the Lessons.
They are commonly known by the words with which they begin in Latin:
thus
_Te Deum laudamus_=Thee God we praise.
_Benedicite, omnia Opera_--Bless ye, O all Works.
_Benedictus_=Blessed.
_Jubilate_=O be joyful.
_Magnificat_ (_mea anima_)=(My soul) doth magnify.
_Cantate Domino_=O sing unto the Lord.
_Nunc dimittis_=Now thou lettest depart.
_Deus misereatur_=God be merciful.
The 1st and 2nd chapters of S. Luke supply three of these; viz.
Magnificat, Benedictus, and Nunc dimittis. The Psalms supply three,
viz. Jubilate (100th), Cantate Domino (98th), and Deus misereatur
(67th).
_Benedicite, omnia, Opera_ is part of the Hymn given in the Apocrypha
as sung by Shadrach (Ananias), Meshach (Misael), and Abed-nego
(Azarias), when they walked in the burning fiery furnace.
_Te Deum laudamus_ is a very ancient Latin Hymn which may have been
already very old when it became associated with the name of S. Ambrose,
Bishop of Milan (375-397). We show its Bible origins in Chapter VIII.
The Canticles have been sung in the Services for many centuries.
_Benedictus_ and _Benedicite_ are found in the Holy Communion
Service--supposed to date about 600--of the Gallican Church; in the Day
Hours _Benedictus_ was sung at Lauds; _Magnificat_ at Vespers; _Nunc
dimittis_ at Compline; _Te Deum_ at Mattin-Lauds; _Benedicite_ and
_Jubilate_ at Lauds on Sundays.
{64}
The rearrangement of the Day Hours in 1549 gave an opportunity to
associate the Canticles more closely with the Lessons.
We show in another chapter the connection which exists between the
Lessons of the Old and New Testaments, and the alternative Canticles
provided for each, both at Morning and Evening Prayer.
Meanwhile it will be well to learn the following table.
MAP OF THE LESSONS AND THEIR CANTICLES.
Character of the Lesson Mattins Evensong
O. T. Creation and Providence Benedicite Cantate*
Need of Redemption Te Deum Magnificat
laudamus
N. T. The Coming of Christ Benedictus Nunc dimittis
The Spread of the Gospel Jubilate* Deus
misereatur*
* Added in 1552.
* * * * * * * *
THE TE DEUM PRINTED SO AS TO SHOW ITS STRUCTURE.
[Transcriber's note: In the original book, each of the following 13
items was printed on a single line. In this e-book, they have been
split at a logical point, usually a colon (:).]
1. TE Deum[1] laudamus, TE Dominum confitemur:
TE Aeternum Patrem[1] omnis terra veneratur.
2. TIBI omnes angeli, TIBI caeli et universae potestates:
TIBI Cherubim et Seraphim[2] incessabili voce proclamant.
3. SANCTUS SANCTUS SANCTUS DOMINUS DEUS SABAOTH[2]:
PLENI SUNT CAELI ET TERRA MAJESTATIS GLORIAE TUAE[2].
4. TE gloriosus Apostolorum chorus, TE Prophetarum laudabilis numerus:
TE Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
5. TE per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur ecclesia:
Patrem immensae majestatis.
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium.
Sanctum quoque Paracletum Spiritum.
6. TU Rex gloriae, Christe: TU Patris sempiternus es Filius.
7. TU ad liberandum suscepturus hominem non horruisti Virginis uterum:
TU devicto mortis aculeo aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
8. TU ad dexteram Dei sede(n)s in gloria Patris:
Judex crederis esse venturus.
9. TE ergo quaesumus famulis tuis subveni quos pretioso
sanguine redemisti:
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria munerari.
10. Salvum fac populum tuum Domine et benedic haereditati tuae[3]:
et rege eos et extolle illos usque in aeternum[3].
11. PER SINGULOS DIES BENEDICIMUS TE[4]:
ET LAUDAMUS NOMEN TUUM IN SAECULUM ET SAECULUM SAECULI[4].
12. Dignare Domine die isto sine peccato nos custodire:
miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri[5].
13. Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos quemadmodum
speravimus in TE[6]:
in TE Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum[7].
[1] Isaiah ix. 6.
[2] Isaiah vi. 3, cf. Rev. iv. 8.
[3] Psalm xxviii. 9.
[4] Psalm cxlv. 2.
[5] Psalm cxxiii. 3.
[6] Psalm xxxiii. 22.
[7] Psalm xxxi. 1 and lxxi. 1.
_Note_. Some readers will at first sight be afraid of the Latin form
of the Te Deum. It is however so important to the clear understanding
of this beautiful Hymn that we hope they will piece together the
English words and their Latin equivalents.
The task will not be really difficult, for most of the words are almost
English already.
It will not surprise them to find that _Tu_ is Thou, and _Te_ Thee,
that _Tibi_ is To Thee, and _Dominum_ Lord, and so on. We think that
most of the words will be understood by any one who is familiar with
the English.
_Aculeo_, in line 7, means _sting_, and _crederis esse venturus_ means
_Thou-art-believed to-be about-to-come_.
_To face_ p. 65]
* * * * * * * *
{65}
CHAPTER VIII.
PRAISE.
IV. Te Deum laudamus.
This ancient Latin Hymn of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ has
in many Service-books been attributed to S. Ambrose and S. Augustine.
One of the stories is that they sang it in alternate verses when the
latter was baptized by the former, A.D. 386. We shall presently show
that it is composed on a very elaborate plan, and is very far from
being an extempore Hymn. Its earlier verses are founded on expressions
in Isaiah (vi. 3, ix. 6).
Its concluding part has not always been in the form which has become
familiar to us: in its present shape it may be regarded as the survival
of the best of the different forms. The verses of this part as they
now stand are obviously taken chiefly from the Psalms (xxviii. 9, cxlv.
2, cxxiii. 3, xxxvi. 22, xxxi. 1 or lxxi. 1).
The following lines of an early morning hymn, found in the Alexandrine
MS. of the Bible, are very similar to the verses which we have numbered
11 and 12:
"Day by day will I bless Thee and praise Thy name for ever, and for
ever and ever. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin."
{66} There is a sentence in S. Cyprian also (_De Mortalitate_, p. 166,
ed. Fell) quoted in the notes in illustration of line 4, which must
have been borrowed from the Te Deum, or lent to it.
It is not easy to determine whether an elaborate composition of this
description, designed evidently for worship, is more likely to lend or
to borrow any particular phrase. The Psalm verses, and verses &c. from
Isaiah, are evidently borrowed by the Hymn. Perhaps this suggests that
the composer was likely to have borrowed, rather than lent, the other
passages. On the other hand, a Hymn founded on Scripture, carefully
composed, and well known in worship, is precisely the source most
likely to be quoted in other Hymns and in books.
We said that _Te Deum_ is a Hymn of the Incarnation, and that it is an
elaborate composition.
It is necessary to examine these points at some length. And first we
must get rid of the modern way of printing it out in 29 verses. Many
of them are half-verses quoted from the Psalms and Isaiah: and when we
have begun to restore these with their colons, we find that the other
verses answer to the same treatment. In short, most of the verses
should be read two together with a colon to separate them for singing
purposes. Having thus restored the Hymn to its original lines, we find
that it consists of 13 verses in 3 Stanzas, the first and third having
five lines each, and the middle Stanza having three lines. The three
lines of the Middle Stanza correspond to the three divisions of our
Saviour's Existence--(1) before He was made Man--(2) when He {67} lived
on Earth--(3) after His Ascension (see the Latin Form). The Saviour's
Existence, from the Eternal Beginning on to the Eternal Future, is the
central thought of the Hymn. The dual form of each line in this Middle
Stanza proves it to be a separate Stanza. The Incarnation is its
theme--The Incarnation and its Antecedents and Consequences.
Tu Rex . . . . . . . . . . Tu Filius . . . . . .
Tu non horruisti . . . . . Tu aperuisti . . . .
Tu in gloria . . . . . . . Judex venturus . . .
The prominent place, in each line, of the pronoun Tu--Thou--is here to
be noticed. It is characteristic of this middle Stanza that each of
the three phases of the Saviour's existence is expressed by _two_
thoughts which are included in one line. The pronoun Tu introduces
each of the thoughts in each line, except the last of the three. The
completeness of the summary of the Lord's Existence is a strong
argument for treating these three lines as a Stanza: and the use of the
pronoun _Tu_ confirms the argument.
For turning to the First Stanza, we find each line has _three_
thoughts. The prominent word in the first line is TE--Thee--and occurs
three times. Similarly in the second line TIBI--to Thee: and in the
fourth line TE. The last line of this Stanza varies, it is true, as
the last line of the middle Stanza does, but retaining a triple
thought, viz. the Holy Trinity. The third line has the Ter-Sanctus.
Thus the 1st Stanza, by its form, is separated from the 2nd Stanza, and
the 2nd from the 3rd in like manner.
For, in the Third Stanza although TE is still {68} prominent as the
first word, it is very sparingly introduced afterwards--once in the
11th line, and twice in the 13th. Here again we notice a variation
with the object of marking the Stanza's last line, for in the last line
TE occurs twice. The word _Domine_ supplants Te in the 10th and 12th
lines, and appears with Te twice in the 13th line.
The elaborate arrangement of the Hymn has been exhibited so as to
eliminate the notion of an extempore composition. Its method however
is worthy of some further consideration.
It will be evident that it proceeds on the idea of a centre thought in
each Stanza, with thoughts balanced on each side. Thus in the 1st
Stanza the centre thought (line 3 Latin Version) is the praise of
Heaven and Earth (Isaiah vi. 3), addressed to Christ (see S. John xii.
41) by the Seraphim. The Choirs of Heaven are mentioned in the 2nd
line, and those of earth in the 4th. The 5th line recurs to some of
the thoughts of the 1st and the 3rd lines. Thus the 1st and 5th, the
2nd and 4th lines are balanced about the Song of Praise which forms the
middle line.
So again, in the and Stanza, the centre thought is our Lord's Earthly
Life with His Eternal Pre-existence on one side and His Eternal Glory
now and hereafter on the other.
And further, the centre thought of the 3rd Stanza is the Praise
expressed in the 11th line, _Day by day we magnify Thee, and we worship
Thy name ever world without end_. This line corresponds to the 3rd
line, the Ter-Sanctus, which is the centre of the 1st Stanza. The
first and third Stanzas are hereby made {69} to balance one another
around the middle Stanza, both in the number of their lines and the
plan of their arrangement.
Noting now that the plan and method of the Hymn are governed by the
centre line and the centre thought in all the respects to which we have
referred, we cannot fail to notice afresh that the Redeemer's Earthly
Life is the centre thought of the whole Hymn--the centre line of the
centre Stanza around which everything is grouped.
The division of the Hymn into Stanzas is, we suppose, conclusively
proved. We may further infer that the Te and Tibi of Stanza i. are
addressed to the same Person as the Tu of Stanza ii. and the Te of
Stanza iii. i.e. to Christ. Stanzas ii. and iii. are evidently so
addressed, and Stanza i. could not, we think, have made the pronouns so
prominent without having the same reference.
It may however be objected that lines 1, 3, and 5 cannot be addressed
to Christ. A little consideration will show that they can.
(_a_) _Te Deum laudamus_ may be translated _we praise thee O God_. But
the more obvious translation is _we praise Thee as God_, especially as
it comes with _we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord_. The two Latin
phrases are exactly parallel, so that if it is to be _We praise Thee, O
God_, it should also be _we acknowledge Thee O Lord_.
Now the acknowledgement of the Godhead and Lordship of Christ was very
likely to be stated in an early Hymn, far more than the acknowledgement
that God is God. The Titles--God, Lord, Father {70} everlasting--which
are here acknowledged, appear to be suggested by Isaiah ix. 6. For
there _the Lord of Hosts which is wonderful in counsel_ (Isaiah xxviii.
29) is expressed as _Wonderful, Counsellor_, and is followed by _The
Mighty God, The Everlasting Father_. It is a passage acknowledged to
refer to Christ, who is therefore recognised as Lord of Hosts (being
wonderful in Counsel), Mighty God, Everlasting Father.
(_b_) _Line_ 3. S. John (xii. 39-41), referring to our Saviour's
rejection, quotes Isaiah vi. and adds _These things said Isaiah when he
saw His glory, and spake of Him_. This reference to Isaiah's vision,
when he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and heard the Seraphim sing
the Ter-Sanctus, will be a sufficient justification of the use of line
3 in an address to Christ.
(_c_) _Line_ 5. As to the inclusion of the three Persons of the
blessed Trinity in a doxology at the close of this Stanza, it is quite
usual in Christian Hymns of all ages to guard the thought of the
equality of the Persons of the Godhead by means of a doxology. As an
instance we may quote _Conditor alme siderum_ (_Hymns A. and M._ 45).
The position of the doxology in this Canticle should be noticed. We
know of no other instance of its being placed at the close of the
first, or anywhere but at the close of the last, Stanza. The reason
for this variation seems to be that the last Stanza here has to some
extent the nature of a prayer.
The following Greek hymn, attributed to St Basil, was printed by
Archdeacon France in _Preces Veterum {71} cum Hymnis Coaevis_ as of the
2nd, or at latest the 3rd, century:
_phos ilaron agias doxes
athanatou patros
ouraniou agiou makaros
iesou Christe
elthontes epi tou eliou dusin
idontes phos esperinon
umnoumen
patera kai uion kai agion pneuma theou
axios ei en kairois umneiothai
phonais osiais
uie theou zoen o didous
dio o kosmos se doxazei_
AMHN.
Keble's well-known translation (_Hail, Gladdening Light_) is to be
found in _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, No. 18, as well as in _Lyra
Apostolica_. The transition in the address from Christ to the Holy
Trinity, and back again, presented no difficulty: rather it is a very
suitable recognition of the Divine nature of Jesus.
Te Deum is evidently a Latin composition, and the exact meaning of its
words and phrases must be sought in the Latin form of it.
Some various readings and translations may be worthy of notice.
1. Te Deum, 'Thee as God.'
_Aeternum Patrem_ is substituted for the Vulgate reading, _Patrem
futuri saeculi_.
The English Bible accepts it as the best rendering of the Hebrew in
Isaiah ix. 6, but R.V. gives _Father {72} of Eternity_ in the margin.
The thought of Christ as Father to us is to be found in Isaiah viii.
18, quoted in Heb. ii. 13, where the writer is showing the complete
human nature of Christ.
4. _Prophetarum laudabilis numerus_. Cyprian (_De Mortalitate_) has
the words "There the glorious company of the apostles, there the
fellowship (_numerus_) of exulting prophets, there the innumerable
crowd of martyrs." It will perhaps be questionable whether
_laudabilis_ should not be taken as equivalent to _exulting_--full of
praise (to God) rather than _worthy of being praised_.
_Candidatus_ is 'white-robed'; 'noble' would be _candidus_.
_Venerandum_, trans. 'honorable,' is to be understood as 'deserving to
be reverenced.'
5. _Immensae_. Here translated _infinite_, in the Creed of S.
Athanasius _incomprehensible_. Literally _unmeasured_.
7. _Ad liberandum_, 'to set (him) free.'
_Suscepturus hominem_, 'when about to take man,' i.e. human nature.
8. _Sedens_, 'sitting,' is the reading in two MSS., and would agree
with the absence of the second _Tu_ in this line. _Sedes_ means 'Thou
sittest.'
_Crederis esse venturus_, 'art believed to be about to come.'
9. _Numerari_ or _munerari_. In the Old English character it is
sometimes difficult to distinguish where the seven strokes of the
letters _mun_ are to be divided into letters. A MS. at Exeter looks
more like _m u n_, which is the reading of the two Irish MSS. referred
to {73} above, and the reading of my own black letter Breviary (1524).
Heb. xi. 6 has the thought that God rewards a man who loves Him. Cf.
also Jer. xxxi. 16, 'thy work shall be rewarded'[1].
The word _numerari_ means 'to be counted, enrolled in a _numerus_ or
fellowship.' Cf. _Prophetarum numerus_, above.
12. _Die isto_, translated _this day_. It may be thought that the
reference is to 'that day' as in 2 Tim. i. 12, 18, iv. 8, viz. the
Judgment Day. Several of these lines would favour that reference.
13. "Lighten" is used in the Prayer Book in two senses, both derived
from Anglo-Saxon words,--to illuminate, as in the 3rd Evening Collect,
_Lighten our darkness_, and in the Ordination Hymn, _Lighten with
celestial fire_:--but here, to "alight" or come down, cf. Deut. xix. 5;
Gen. xxiv. 64 and xxviii. 11; 2 Kings v. 21 and x. 15, &c.
_Non confundar in aeternum_. This might more obviously be translated,
"I shall not be confounded for ever." It is not inconsistent with the
prayerful tone of this Stanza, that most of its lines express more hope
than fear. That the closing words should be at once humble and
confident would suit well with the character of this Hymn of praise.
On the other hand the words themselves are borrowed from two Psalms
(xxxi. 1 and lxxi. 1), where they must be rendered as a prayer. It is
therefore {74} preferable to take them here in the same sense. Latin
scholars know that the use of _non_ with the imperative occurs
elsewhere, being apparently regarded as though compounded with it.
Note on the Doxology in Te Deum.
_Te Deum_ is the only one of the Psalms and Canticles which is not
provided with _Gloria Patri_ at the end of it.
The obvious reason for this exception is that it is the only one which
contains a _Gloria Patri_ in the middle of it.
We have already said that an ascription of Praise to the Holy Trinity
is in this case more appropriate at the end of the first Stanza than at
the end of the third, because the third Stanza has a prayerful
character introduced into its words of praise.
The steps by which the doxology grew in _Te Deum_ may be conjectured.
The sentence which was required in the fifth line to complete the
ascription of Praise to Christ would be an acknowledgement of His
Sonship. For such an acknowledgement has not yet occurred. Using the
words of the Hymn, we should expect
Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur ecclesia
Patris venerandum verum unigenitum Filium.
Here the Father and the Son are mentioned. The addition of the words
Sanctum quoque paracletum spiritum,
and of epithets to express the majesty of the Father {75} would
complete the sentence and express the equality of the Persons.
Te per orbem sancta confitetur ecclesia
Patris immensae majestatis
Venerandum verum unigenitum filium,
Sanctum quoque paracletum spiritum.
But the two genitives, _Patris, majestatis_, suggest the accusative
_Patrem_; and already the addition of _Spiritum_ has suggested the
inclusion, under _Te_, of the Three Persons.
[1] The word 'reward' is frequently to be found in the English Bible
where the Vulgate has _reddo_.
{76}
CHAPTER IX.
PRAISE.
V. The Canticles continued.
The position which the _Te Deum _occupies in the morning is that of
Respond of the whole people to the message of the Old Testament. We
have found that the _Te Deum_ is a Hymn of the Incarnation; hence it is
especially appropriate as a Respond to those Old Testament Lessons
which contain, or imply, the promise of the Saviour's Birth and Work on
Earth. Gen. iii., Isaiah viii., Malachi iii. may be taken as examples:
but there are very many which relate the doings of men in such a way as
to leave the hearers waiting and wishing for the adoption which comes
to us through Christ.
Some of them set forth the facts which show our miserable state without
Christ. Others contain predictions of the life which He came on Earth
to lead. Thus the Christian worshipper seeing the Christ wanted,
promised, foretold, or the world waiting, groaning in pain, suffering,
responds to such Lessons with this Hymn of the Incarnation.
{77}
In the evening the place is occupied by another Hymn of the
Incarnation--_Magnificat_ (doth magnify)--the Song of the Blessed
Virgin when the Birth of the Saviour was assuredly promised to her.
The Blessed Mother's words of greeting to the promise and assurance are
very sacred, and may be regarded as the most suitable possible for any
human being very near the Lord. The words of Isaiah, _Unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given_ will often come to the worshipper's
mind, when he uses her words to express his praise after the 1st Lesson.
Sometimes however the connection of the Old Testament Lesson with the
Incarnation may with advantage be omitted in favour of another line of
thought and praise.
Lessons which declare the great acts of Creation, Providence, and
Government by God sometimes contain but remote reference to the
Redeeming work of Christ: and for such Lessons another Canticle is
provided, viz. _Benedicte omnia Opera_ (_Bless ye all works_) for the
morning, and _Cantate Domino_ (_O sing unto the Lord_) for the evening.
Magnificat.
Jesus is known to us as the Son of Man: hence His people can use the
words of the Blessed Virgin. When she looked forward to His coming,
she used words which we can say after reading the Old Testament
promises of a Saviour who should come into the world.
{78}
1. _God my Saviour_. This is the meaning of the name _Jesus_. The
names Jesus and John were given designedly: naturally, therefore, they
supply leading thoughts to the two Hymns which are especially
associated with our Lord's Birth, and the birth of His forerunner (cf.
Benedictus throughout, but especially _vv._ 4, 5, 6).
5. The name, John, suggests God's _mercy_.
7. The name, Mary, may have prompted the word _exalted_.
9. In this verse we can trace Zacharias=_God hath remembered_;
John=_God's mercy_; and Elizabeth=_God's oath_.
The Song of Hannah in 1 Sam. ii. exhibits many points of similarity and
contrast, when compared with this Hymn.
Benedicite.
The Canticle _Benedicite omnia Opera_ is so called from Latin words
meaning _Bless ye, all Works_.
Our Services were translated from the Latin Services used in our Church
for centuries before 1549: for Latin was the common language of
civilised Europe.
_Benedicite_ shares with other Canticles and with many parts of the
Services the custom of being known by its first words in the Latin
books.
We said that _Te Deum laudamus_ not only had its name from the Latin
Service Books, but is of Latin origin whether composed by Hilary of
Arles, Hilary of Poictiers, or Ambrose and Augustine. But
_Benedicite_, {79} though it has now a Latin name, is of Greek origin.
It is a translation of part of the Greek additions to the Book of
Daniel. In Daniel iii. the 23rd verse records how the Three Children
of Israel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (i. 6), having come to great
office in Babylon (ii. 49), and refused to fall down and worship the
golden image of Nebuchadnezzar (iii. 18), were cast into the midst of
the burning fiery furnace. The 24th verse proceeds thus:
"Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste," and
told his counsellors that he saw four men walking in the fire without
hurt.
At this point, between verses 23 and 24, there is a sort of pause in
the action. It might be filled up by a mark indicating that some short
time elapses. The Greek Version inserts 68 verses: consisting of a
prayer of Azariah (Abed-nego), a few verses of narrative, and 40 verses
of praise including the 32 verses which have been sung in the Church
Services of many countries and many centuries.
The Hymn calls upon all God's creatures to worship Him--collectively in
the first verse, afterwards in groups.
First group. Heavenly powers.
Second group. Earthly powers.
Third group. Earth and its component parts.
Fourth group. Men.
Notice first the leading verse of each group: 2. Angels--9. Winds
(_spiritus_)--18. Earth--26. Children of men. The classification in
the groups is evidently influenced by the 1st chapter of Genesis. In
_v._ 4 the Waters above the firmament (Gen. i. 7) are {80} divided from
the Wells, Seas, Floods of _vv._ 21, 22. The former appear here as
Heavenly Powers, the latter as creatures of God in the Earth.
The Showers and Dew of _v._ 8 are regarded as coming from Heaven. They
appear therefore in group 1, but in its last verse, so that the
transition is easy to the earthly powers amongst which they might have
been placed.
The second group includes the forces of Nature which more distinctly
surround us on earth. There is some uncertainty in the various
versions of this section. The Prayer Book, following, as usual, the
Great Bible of 1539, has Dews and Frosts in _v._ 10, meaning probably
Dews and Hoar Frosts. The Bible (A.V.) has Hoar Frosts coupled with
Snows. It has Fire and Heat and also, in some Versions, Cold and Heat,
but omits Winter and Summer. Sometimes there is contrast in the
couples and sometimes the forces coupled together are of the same sort.
In group 3, Earth is called up first as including the rest, which
progress from that which does not move to that which does, ranging
through the inanimate moving things, such as budding things and water,
and the animate creation, such as move in the sea, the air and, whether
wild or tame, upon the earth.
Group 4 begins, like group 3, with an inclusive term "Children of Men":
and proceeds through Israel, as God's People, and Israel's Priests, as
God's special choice, to those who really serve God whether in this
life or after it; concluding with the specially present service of the
holy and humble, and, in particular, Ananias, Azarias, and Misael.
{81}
All these Creatures of God's hand, whether animate or inanimate, or the
Forces which are behind both, are challenged to praise their Maker.
They are called up in twos and threes, a great army, representing all
the visible and invisible hosts of Heaven and Earth.
In connection with this Hymn we should read Gen. i., Psalm civ., and
Psalm cxlviii.
Cantate Domino.
Passing now to the corresponding Canticle at Evensong, we find _Cantate
Domino_, the 98th Psalm, which, though much briefer, and nearly free
from elaborate detail, makes the same acknowledgement of the Almighty
Maker, and calls upon His creatures to praise Him in their various
orders in very similar fashion. Here however the climax is reversed.
Beginning with human beings and God's mercy to them, and notably to
Israel, we pass on to the sea, the world, the floods, the hills and all
the inhabitants, returning at the end to the people and God's justice
and judgment.
In both these Canticles, the thought is present that those, who do what
God designs that they should do, are thereby praising Him. Hills, and
valleys, and seas, are thought of as if they were human beings: they
rejoice, and sing, and clap their hands, when ungrudgingly and with all
the beauty and generosity of their best nature they carry out the Will
of God. When man does the like, of his own will and in his {82} own
place, he also sings, and makes great the praise of God.
_v._ 2. _With his own right hand, and with his holy arm_. Several
passages in Isaiah (li. 9, lii. 10, lix. 16, lxiii. 5) use this figure
to represent God's invincible might.
Other phrases of Isaiah (lii. 7-10) are to be traced in this Psalm.
_The Lord the King_, "Thy God reigneth": _declared his salvation_,
"publisheth salvation": _all the ends of the world have seen the
salvation of our God, "all the ends of the earth shall see the
salvation of our God_." _O sing unto the Lord . . . let the hills be
joyful_, "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places."
CANTICLES WHICH FOLLOW THE SECOND LESSON.
We have seen that the Gospel is frequently hidden[1] in the Old
Testament Lessons. The unfolding of this hidden thought comes by
natural sequence in the Second Lessons. They are chosen from the
Gospels, which tell the History of our Lord's Earthly Life, or from the
other parts of the New Testament, which carry on the History from His
Ascension. The Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of the Gospel
History, and the Epistles form a book of correspondence commenting on
the first, or illustrating the second, volume. Lessons from the
Gospels are records of the Gospel Spring-time, Lessons from the {83}
Epistles and the Acts are records of the Summer; the Revelation of S.
John carries us on to the Autumn, or Harvest time. To adopt a
different metaphor, one kind of Second Lessons are chapters from the
Wars of our Leader, another kind are chapters from the Wars of His
lieutenants. There is in the one kind the Gospel thought, pure and
simple; in the other kind there is the Missionary thought.
Since the Lessons have place in the Services as parts of an Act of
Praise, we must always consider each Lesson in combination with its
attendant Canticle. We saw that the First Lesson, when combined with
the Respond of the Congregation in _Te Deum_, is an Act of Praise to
God, for His Promise of Salvation by His Son. In like manner the
Second Lesson, when combined with its Responding Canticle, may be an
Act of Praise to God, for the Coming of the Saviour, or for the Spread
of the Gospel. We must therefore now discuss the connection between
the Second Lessons and their attendant Canticles.
_Benedictus_ and _Nunc dimittis_ praise God for the Coming of His
Son--_Jubilate Deo_ and _Deus misereatur_ praise Him for the Spread of
the Gospel.
Benedictus.
_Benedictus_ is the Hymn of Zacharias upon the first beginning of the
actual Coming of Messiah. "The horn of salvation was virtually raised
up when the Incarnation became an accomplished fact" (Godet). The
birth of S. John the Baptist was foretold to his father Zacharias, and
the name by which he was to be {84} called. Zacharias showed his faith
in the Angel's message by giving him this name--John--which means
_God's mercy_. _Benedictus_ is a Hymn upon that name. There is a
Psalm, well-known, we are to suppose, to Zacharias, upon the same
theme. It is number cvi. in our Bible. From it a very large
proportion of the leading words of this Hymn are taken. _Blessed be
the Lord God of Israel_ (_v._ 48), _visited_ (_v._ 4), _redeemed_ (_v._
10), _salvation_ (_v._ 4), _spake_ (_v._ 2), _since the world began_
(_v._ 48), _from our enemies--from the hands of all that hate us_
(_vv._ 10, 41), mercy (_vv._ 1, 7), remember, remember the covenant
(_vv._ 4, 7, 45), _being delivered_ (_v._ 43), _righteousness_ (_v._
3), _all the days of our life_ (=at all times, _v._ 3). Some of these
come twice in the Hymn, or in the Psalm, and leave comparatively few
leading words unaccounted for.
There are, however, two verses in the Hymn which require further
notice. The word _anatole_ is translated _dayspring_ in the last
couplet, because it is treated here as giving light to those who sit in
darkness. But in Zech. iii. and vi. it is used of Joshua the son of
Zerubbabel and translated _Branch_. The thought of Joshua the High
Priest as prefiguring Jesus our High Priest suggested the idea of the
Branch, but its other meaning suggested the star of the East ushering
in the day.
Distinguish between the Zacharias who speaks and the Zechariah of the
Old Testament, the prophet whose words he uses. Note that Joshua and
Jesus are the same word, and that the prophet's words about Joshua are
used by John's father about Jesus. {85} Also there are references to
Psalm cxxxii., where _vv._ 1 and 11 mention God's remembrance and God's
oath, and _v._ 17 has the _horn_ of David and _I will make to
flourish_, using a word akin to the word for _dayspring_ (_exanatelo_,
_anatole_).
_v._ 2. _A mighty salvation_. In S. Luke (A.V.) horn of salvation: see
Psalm xviii. 2. The horn is used as the symbol of strength.
_v._ 6. The oath is in Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18, _By myself have I
sworn--that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven--and in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed_. It is explained (Gal. iii. 16)
that Abraham's seed is Christ: in Him all nations are blessed. _And if
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise_ (Gal. iii. 29). Thus the oath to multiply Abraham's seed is
fulfilled in the increase of the Christian Family.
_v._ 9. _Thou, child_,=John the Baptist.
_The Highest_=God Almighty.
_v._ 10. St John Baptist was to give people knowledge of Jesus--the
Saviour.
_v._ 11. The Dayspring is Jesus. The word for dayspring in Greek means
"springing up," and is translated _Branch_ in Zech. iii. 8 and vi. 12,
and Jer. xxiii. 5.
_v._ 12. Read Isaiah ix. 2 (_to give light_, &c.) and Isaiah xlix.
9-11 (_to guide_, &c.). Also 2 Pet. i. 19 and Rev. xxi. 23 and xxii.
16.
It will be noticed that although the occasion was the Birth of John,
yet his father's Hymn is directed to the Coming of Jesus. Jesus is the
Dayspring or {86} Branch--John is to be the herald of the Saviour. Not
till the 9th verse does the father address his infant son: his mind is
turning upon the greater Birth which was to come six months later.
In verses 5, 6 and 7 there is a complex reference to the birth of
Christ's forerunner. By a play on the names Zacharias, Elizabeth and
John he sings that _God's remembrance_ was wedded to _God's oath_, and
thence was born _God's mercy_: for as we said above the 'text' of the
Hymn is John--God's mercy.
This Hymn may be called a Hymn of the Advent; whatever is read in the
Gospels as the Second Lesson will be sure to excite, in those who
listen, Praise to God for the Advent of His Son.
Nunc Dimittis.
The Evening Service is supplied with a different Hymn of the Advent for
its Second Lesson--that of the aged Simeon, when, having waited through
his long life for it, he was blessed at last with the sight of the
Infant Jesus. Holding Him in his arms when He was brought to the
Temple, he used these words of praise. God was letting him depart in
peace: notice the words _Thou lettest_: it is not the imperative,
praying for release; but the indicative, praising God for His mercy.
The other chief thoughts of this short Hymn are that Jesus is God's
_Salvation--before the face of all people--a Light to Gentiles--and the
glory of Israel_. Comparing these with the Hymn of Zacharias, we shall
be struck with the correspondence of two very different compositions.
{87}
_Lighten_: not as in Te Deum 'to come upon,' but as in 3rd Collect at
Evening Service, 'to give light.'
_Gentiles--Israel_: making up together the whole human race.
Jubilate Deo.
It is scarcely necessary at this time to show that the 100th Psalm is
suitable as a Canticle after a Missionary Lesson; for it seems to be
assumed that the Old Hundredth, in its metrical form, is an integral
and necessary part of a Missionary meeting. "In its breadth and
simplicity it is fit for all occasions of access of the redeemed to
God, and naturally it has become (both in its original form and its
metrical rendering) the regular hymn of unmixed thanksgiving in the
Church of Christ. It is in _vv._ 1, 2 an invitation to joy, because we
know that we are God's people[2]."
This Psalm was formerly used at Lauds on Sundays.
1. We claim the whole earth for God,
2. Because He is God,
because He made us,
and because He protects us.
4. The wide extent of His mercy is made the ground of praise and
thanksgiving at this place in the Service, because the spread of the
Gospel has been called to mind by the Second Lesson.
{88}
Deus Misereatur.
Ps. lxvii., styled by Dr Kay The Spiritual Harvest-Home Song of Israel,
is to be applied by us to the Harvesting of Missionaries, when set
before our minds in the Second Lesson. It especially refers to the
gathering-in of the Gentiles ('all nations'), and extends the threefold
blessing of Num. vi. 24-26 to them; see _vv._ 1, 6, 7. Cf. the
description which is placed at the head of this Psalm in the Bible, _A
prayer for the enlargement of God's kingdom--to the joy of the
people--and the increase of God's blessings_.
In the Sarum Use it was a special Sunday Psalm at Lauds (see p. 44);
together with Psalm 63, it followed _Jubilate Deo_ and preceded
_Benedicite_.
[1] Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet,
Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet.
[2] Bishop Barry.
{89}
CHAPTER X.
PRAISE.
VI. The Creeds.
The discussions which arose upon the Revelation of Himself, which God
gave in His Son Jesus Christ, were carried on between people who lived
far apart round the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nature of Almighty God could not possibly be easily understood by
man. We might as well expect a horse to understand the nature of man.
When a man tries to make a horse understand kindness, he is often
disappointed with the lower nature which seems unable to appreciate it:
but he perseveres, and expects some response to his efforts.
In like manner we may believe that God expects us to respond when He
reveals something of His own Nature to us.
Assuming that He is perfectly Wise, we must own that what He tells us
about Himself it is good for us to believe, and to try to understand.
The Revelation is itself a claim upon our Worship. We start with a
grain of Faith: that is, we believe that there is a Revelation--an
unveiling of the mystery of God's Being.
{90}
It was necessary that argument should just fail to prove this; because
it is God's Will that men should be equal before Him: the man who can
argue very cleverly was not designed to have an advantage over the
stupid or ignorant man in their dealings with God. The meaning of our
Lord's words, _The poor have the Gospel preached to them_, is not to be
confined to poverty in money and clothes: the man who is poor in
opportunities, learning, intellect, can _believe_ if he makes the
needful effort: the intellectual man who is poor in humility has also
to make an effort, and to endeavour to believe. They and all others
are made equal when God makes His Claim upon them. Moreover, the
difficulties of Faith are in proportion to the Aids to Faith. There is
no compulsion of Reason, any more than there is compulsion of
Authority, or of Imprisonment. We are all free; we all have
difficulties; and we all have the call of God to Believe in Him.
Reason is one of God's best gifts. Reason shows nothing _contrary_ to
Faith, when the balance comes to be struck. The Intellectual argument
is with us all, and is slightly in favour of Belief. But Faith is the
atmosphere in which we must move, if we are to see the Invisible God.
Revelation, then, appeals to Faith, and is not opposed to Reason. The
Summary of Revelation which is found in the Christian Creeds is
compiled from the Bible. Reason is incapable of assuring us that God
has a Son, and equally incapable of assuring us that He has not a Son.
The Revelation assures us that He has a Son: and Reason cannot, in the
{91} nature of things, contradict that assurance. Reasoning can tell
us, and does tell us, that the Epistles (say) of St Paul to the
Galatians, Romans, and Corinthians were written, as they claim, by St
Paul; that the Gospels and other New Testament books are compositions
of the first century; that Christianity was accepted as true by
multitudes of the people of that century, and so on. But the
acceptance of the Faith was then, and still is, left to your choice--a
choice whether you will listen to God's Call to be His faithful son, or
reject it.
The Apostles' Creed.
The Apostles' Creed is a summary of those things which the Bible tells
us of God's Being. There can be no higher act of the soul of man than
to dwell Upon the Being and Attributes of God. It is a great step
upwards, to purify one's _life_ from evil. But plainly it is a further
and higher step, to purify the _soul_: for the man who refuses to _do_
evil is not so far on as the man who refuses to _feel_ and _think_
evil. It is however possible for him to reject evil only because it is
bad for himself. A life of selfishness may be wonderfully free from
the doing of evil. The Revelation in Jesus Christ is the Revelation of
God as the highest Aim, and of the Unselfish Life as the path to God.
A summary of what God has told us of His Being is most perfect for use
in Worship, when it is most free from discussion. A courtier is most
courtly when he is freest from doubts and suspicions of his king. {92}
The presence of discussion in a creed implies that there has been a
doubt.
The Apostles' Creed has no discussion in its clauses, and has been
called "The loving outburst of a loyal heart." (Harvey Goodwin.) It is
therefore the Creed of Worship and Praise.
The Nicene Creed is the Creed of Self-Examination. Discussion is
implied in some of its clauses.
The Athanasian Creed is a Guide to Thought concerning the nature of
God. It appeared on the scene at the close of many controversies--when
the Church had debated the various explanations of Revelation which had
been proposed, and was prepared to declare what God's children may
reverently say and think of their Father in Heaven. [See Chapter on
the Athanasian Creed.]
"I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy Name because of
thy lovingkindness and truth: for thou hast magnified thy Name and thy
Word above all things" (Ps. cxxxviii. 2). When used in Church Services
a Creed must always be regarded mainly as an Act of Praise to God.
The most evident characteristic of a Creed is that it says what we know
of God by His Revelation of Himself in the Bible.
Now, that which speaks of God must of necessity be a declaration of His
Worthiness--an Act of Worship.
We have already defined Praise as that kind of Worship wherein we think
of God, and not of ourselves.
Forasmuch as a Creed contains, chiefly or entirely, {93} the
proclamation of God's Nature and Being, it is the form in Worship which
is most entirely Praise.
The Apostles' Creed is so placed in the Morning and Evening Prayer as
to be the highest of several kinds of Praise.
The Psalms have a considerable mixture of thoughts of man, and of human
dependence on God.
The Old Testament Lesson, with its Respond, draws from Man's History
the joyful thoughts of God's mercy.
The New Testament Lesson, with its Respond, carries our Praise a degree
nearer to Perfect Peace and Joy in the Goodness of God through Christ.
The Apostles' Creed entirely omits the human element that we may
rejoice in God's Existence.
Other uses of Creeds. Creeds have been used for various purposes,
which may be classed as follows:
(_a_) Symbolum, or Examination.
(_b_) Self-Examination.
(_c_) Guide to Thought and Basis of Argument.
(_d_) Praise or Worship.
(_a_) In order to understand the word _Symbolum_, from which a Creed is
often called a Symbol, we must go back to the days when, for
persecution's sake, and lest they should unnecessarily cause their own
deaths, Christians met in secret, and required pass-words that they
might know one another.
To be admitted freely to the Christian assemblies a man had to know the
Creed as his pass-word (symbolum); which at Milan, and in other
Churches, was taught to the Catechumens, some three weeks before
Easter, and not written down. They recited it a {94} week later, and
then were taught the Lord's Prayer, in the time of S. Augustine. On
Easter Eve they recited it again, and were baptized. This use of the
Creed survives in the Baptism Services.
(_b_) Whereas we believe most firmly those things which we most
frequently remember, it is needful that we remember frequently the
Articles of the Creed. Hence Self-Examination requires not only the
consideration of our Conduct, but also the examination of our Faith.
In the Visitation of the Sick, and in Holy Communion, the Creeds are
used for Self-Examination.
(_c_) Since other thoughts are built up on those which we have about
God, it is usual amongst Christians to use the Articles of the Creed as
a Guide to what they are to think about themselves, and about the
World, and about the Evil and Good which are in the World. Their
arguments with one another rest upon the Creeds which are acknowledged
amongst them.
(_d_) But apart from all inferences and arguments, the facts about
God's Existence call forth from the heart of man joyful praise and
adoring worship.
The name by which God is declared to His People in Exodus is I AM. The
thoughts by which we too come nearest to Him are thoughts which declare
what HE IS. Thus the Apostles' Creed in Morning and Evening Prayer is
a Hymn of Praise.
History of the Apostles' Creed.
The similarity of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, as they
stand in the Prayer Book, {95} suggests the reflection that disputes
about the Human and Divine Natures of Jesus caused the enlargement of
those parts which refer to Him: and that similar enlargements were
caused by disputes about the Holy Spirit, and even about the Father.
We cannot certainly say that the Apostles' Creed _as it now stands_ is
older than the Nicene Creed. But we know that Eusebius brought to the
Nicene Council (A.D. 325) a form simpler than the Nicene Creed; and
that briefer forms were used in the second century by Tertullian (A.D.
200) and Irenaeus (A.D. 170).
Having already considered the various uses of a Creed, we are prepared
to acknowledge that something of the sort was a necessity from the
beginning. Justin Martyr's writings, about the middle of the 2nd
century, record the arguments about the Existence of God, and of Jesus
Christ, which had influenced him and others for many years, inducing
them to live and die for the Faith. (See Just. M. _Apol._ and _Dial.
Trypho, passim_.)
The death of S. John the Apostle must have occurred during Justin's
lifetime. We are led therefore to examine the Bible for traces of a
Creed. The following are some of the passages which supply an answer
to our examination.
Eph. iv. 1-6:
One Body--One SPIRIT--one Hope of our calling.
One Faith--One LORD--one Baptism.
One God and FATHER of all,--above all, through all, in all.
Col. i. 4-22 is an exposition of Faith in God through Christ, with a
reference to the Holy Spirit: {96} but especially concerning the Being
of Christ, who is declared to be
_v._ 15. The Son fully and perfectly.
_v._ 16. By whom all things were made.
_v._ 17. Before all things.
_v._ 18. Begotten before all worlds.
_v._ 19. In whom by the will of the Father all the fulness dwelleth.
_v._ 20-22. Who died for our Redemption and Reconciliation.
1 Cor. xv. 3-8. References by a preacher to what he has taught to any
whole congregation must, almost of necessity, be references to what he
was in the habit of teaching. The articles _mentioned_ here are part
of S. Paul's Creed, viz. the articles which he is about to use as the
basis of an argument about Resurrection.
Acts xix. 2, 3. The ignorance about the Holy Spirit displayed by the
12 men at Ephesus revealed to S. Paul that they had not been baptized
as Christians; for (S. Matth. xxviii. 19) that would have involved
Teaching about the Holy Trinity.
Acts viii. 37. This verse, though not now believed to be part of the
original text, was so believed by Irenaeus (A.D. 170).
It therefore shows us that a confession of faith at Baptism was (1)
expected in Irenaeus' time, (2) expected by someone much earlier, who
being accustomed to it, wrote it in the margin, or between the lines of
a copy of the Acts.
2 Tim. i. 13, 14. The form of sound words was a good deposit which
Timothy was to hold fast.
{97}
There are other passages which contain references to the Holy Trinity:
suggesting that the earliest Christians, when thinking of the Godhead,
were prone to include the Three Persons, as we by reason of our Creeds
are also disposed to do. Thus our investigation leads us to suppose
that a Creed was early used as a Basis of Teaching, and as a Password
at Baptism: that it soon settled down into a form very like the
Apostles' Creed: that in A.D. 325 the controversy about our Lord's
Divine Nature led to the expansion of those Articles which referred to
Him.
To these we may add that in 381 the Council of Chalcedon expanded the
Article _I believe in the Holy Ghost_, or formally adopted an expansion
which had become usual: and so gave to the Nicene Creed the form which
it now has.
It is difficult to say exactly where the Apostles' Creed is most likely
to have come as a link in the historic chain.
A comparison may be usefully made between:
THE APOSTLES' CREED AND THE CREED OF IRENAEUS (A.D. 170).
I believe in God the Father I believe in one God
Almighty, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth: Who made heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only And in one Jesus Christ the
Son our Lord, Son of God,
Who was conceived by the Who was made flesh.
Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, And (I believe) in His Suffering,
{98}
Was crucified, dead, and
buried:
He descended into hell;
The Third day he rose again And in His Rising from the
from the dead; dead,
He ascended into heaven, and And in His Ascension in the
flesh,
Sitteth on the right hand of
God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to And in His Coming from
judge the quick and the heaven that he may execute
dead. just judgment on all.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; And in the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of Sins;
The Resurrection of the Body, And that Christ shall come
from heaven to raise up all
flesh . . . and to adjudge the
impious and unjust . . . to
Eternal fire and to give to
the just and holy immortality
And the life everlasting. and eternal life.
The Articles of the Creed rest upon the proper understanding of what
God has revealed to us of Himself. The Bible is the record of His
Revelation. The references in Chapter xi. are amongst the vast number
of such passages which might be adduced.
The days mentioned in the rubric as days on which the _Confession of
our Christian Faith, commonly {99} called The Creed of Saint
Athanasius_, is to be _sung or said at Morning Prayer, instead of the
Apostles' Creed_, are 13. Four of these days are in the Easter and
Ascension groups of days; when the doctrine of our Lord's Divine and
Human Natures is most taught. The other nine days are chosen so as to
fall, one in each of the nine months, between June and February. So
the Praise Service ends, with the Highest Thoughts of God and His Being.
The Lord be with you.
_Answer_. And with thy spirit.] This may be taken as the mutual
salutation of Minister and People at the close of the Praise Service.
It is therefore to be said before they kneel. In the Confirmation
Service, the Laying-on of Hands is concluded with the same words.
Compare the close of our Lord's words to the Apostles, S. Matth.
xxviii. 20: S. John xiv. 27: and the close of S. Paul's Epistles
without exception; also, close of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 Peter,
3 John, and Rev. In the Old English Services (Sarum Use), it closed
the Preces. In 1549 it was entirely omitted there, but replaced as it
now stands, when, in 1552, the Creed was taken out of the Prayers, and
placed immediately after the Canticles.
Let us pray.] This is the signal for kneeling, and commencing the
prayers.
{100}
CHAPTER XI.
REASON, HISTORY, AND REVELATION.
It may be said with truth that the Bible is a book which reads History,
and the perplexities of Man, in the light of one great postulate, viz.
that there is a God. The natural sequences, which are now partially
explained by scientific discoveries, are in the Bible attributed to
God's guidance: and of course there is no contradiction between the
two. Science explains something of the ways of God's working: from it
we learn something of His principles, and also of His methods: when we
are surest of scientific laws, we are then confronted with the
assumption that there is, or that there is not, a God. The Bible is
the Book of Faith--Faith that there is a God. But, since it interprets
History, it plainly recognises History, as one of God's Lesson Books.
Also, since it appeals to Reason, and is consistent with Reason, it
recognises Reason, as another of the Lesson Books. In the present
chapter we indicate some of the Lessons to be learnt in these three
Books of God.
Much has been written, especially in recent times, showing the
marvellous working of what we call, at one time, the Laws of Nature,
and at another time, Laws of God. There is infinite interest, to a
thoughtful {101} mind, in the reading of Bell _On the Hand_, Argyll's
_Reign of Law_, Maury's _Physical Geography of the Sea_, even when
further discovery has improved upon their explanations. It must always
be remembered that God has given us Reason and Knowledge, as well as
Faith. Reason leads us to the threshold of Heaven, and Faith admits us
to the Presence. History assures us that Jesus Christ lived in Judaea,
founded Christianity as a Kingdom not of this world, and transformed
the Kingdoms of this world: Faith admits us to Personal Communion with
Him through the Holy Spirit.
I. (a) What Reason has to say about God.
The Athanasian Creed distinguishes between the teaching of the
Catholick Religion and the teaching of the Christian Verity. A
moment's thought shows that many who do not hold the Christian Verity,
i.e. the Truth as revealed in Christ, do nevertheless hold the Truth as
to the Unity of God. For amongst those who believe in The One God are
Jews, Turks and many Hereticks, besides those Agnostics whose
hesitation, about accepting the Revelation in Christ, is united to a
readiness to believe in God. The Belief in One God therefore is more
Universal than the Belief in the Holy Trinity. The word Catholick is
used _within_ the Church of those who hold the doctrine of the Church.
But it may be also used in a more general sense of those who hold the
supreme Truth of Godhead.
In order to illustrate the evidence which has been used concerning this
prime article of the Christian Faith, we might refer to many
interesting books. The {102} following argument is attributed to
Socrates by Xenophon (Mem. 1. iv.).
"We admire great poets--great dramatists--great sculptors and painters:
which is more worthy of admiration--he who makes images without mind
and motion, or he who makes things which live and move and act?
"The latter, if he makes them of purpose. Then purpose is shown by the
obvious usefulness of things: men from the beginning have had the
benefit of senses suited to their environment--eyes to see what is
visible, ears to hear what is audible. Smells are of use because we
have noses; things that we eat are sweet or bitter or agreeable in the
mouth, because we have palates. Then again the eye is a delicate
organ, but is fitted with an eyelid to keep guard over it, eye-lashes
to strain off small particles, eyebrows to carry the sweat away from
it. Further, the ear receives sounds but is never overfull of them:
front teeth are adapted to cutting, back teeth to grinding: the mouth
is near the eyes and nose, which watch over what goes in: these and
other arrangements indicate a Maker, who adapts the organs to their
uses, and has a wise and loving design. Parents love their children
naturally, and naturally people want to live, and dislike death. Hence
the Maker shows that He has a design, and that His design is that His
Creatures shall live.
"Moreover, we have a certain amount of matter, a certain amount of
moisture, while there is a vast amount of those things elsewhere:
similarly we have a certain amount of intelligence. Why then should we
suppose that intelligence is the only thing which {103} is an
exception--the only thing of which we have the whole? why suppose that
all these adaptations have been made, so wonderfully, without a
controlling mind?
"You say you would believe it if you could see the controlling Creator?
But you believe in the existence of your own mind without seeing it: on
that principle, you ought to say that all you do yourself is done by
chance.
"The next question is whether God is too great to require our service?
The answer is that God has shown a special kindness to men, as compared
with other animals. Their upright walk, their possession of hands,
their articulate voices, their superior minds, their powers of
self-protection--and the adaptation of these powers and qualities to
one another, constituting an altogether higher existence--all these
show a special kindness in a wise Creator who has all the qualities and
powers in a far higher degree. By serving one another we learn to know
our friends; by asking advice we find who are wise: so if we make trial
of God, we shall find that He is All-seeing, All-present, and Watchful
over all." This argument does not enter upon the question whether
there is one God or more; but it deals with the previous question of
Godhead; and with all that is implied in 'Maker of Heaven and Earth'.
It must also be observed that (assuming the notion of many Gods to be
excluded, and that our Belief is to be either in One God, or in no
God), the argument of Socrates has gone far towards the Bible
conception of God's Being. Cf. Article 1.
{104}
(_b_) What the Bible Revelation says about God.
Reasoning of the kind which Socrates used comes near to proof. But it
can never actually prove the existence of God. The mind of man is so
constituted that it dislikes the notion of Laws without a Lawgiver.
Evolution is a law which is found to hold in many cases, and is often
assumed, with much probability, to hold in other cases. And it is a
Law which exhibits the most beautiful adjustments in its working. We
naturally are impelled to ask further back for the maker of this Law.
The Revelation which is written in the Bible, and which has been held
true from distant ages by good men, is a Revelation which appeals to a
higher quality in man than even his intellect. It appeals to his
_faith_. The Bible evidence of God's existence is consistent with
reason, and grounded on _faith_.
We should be able to find many texts which state God's existence, His
Unity, His Omnipotence, His Omniscience. We prefer however to refer
the student to whole Books and long passages: such, for instance, as
the training of Israel to worship God--the awe and reverence which
appear in all the language about God--the consistent Holiness of His
character as presented in all the Books. From the first words of the
Bible, _In the beginning God created_, to its last chapter (Rev. xxi.
5), _Behold I make all things new_, it is a Revelation of the Creator.
The following may be remembered:
Deut. iv. (35) 39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy
heart, that the LORD he is God in {105} heaven above, and upon the
earth beneath: there is none else. 1 Kings viii. (Solomon's Prayer).
Isaiah xl. 12-31, xlv. Job xxxviii-xli.
The argument of Socrates pointed to a Creator who loves men. The Bible
declares God to be a Loving Father. Deut. xxxii. 6. Is not he thy
father that bought thee? Deut. i. 31. The LORD thy God bare thee, as
a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went. Acts xvii.
22-31. S. Paul at Athens. _vv._ 24-28. The God that made the world .
. . made of one every nation . . . that they should seek God . . .: for
in him we live, and move, and have our being; . . . as certain even of
your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Further He is revealed as the Father of Jesus. S. John xx. 17. I
ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
S. John xiv. 12, 13 . . . I go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye
shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. S. Matth. xi. 27. All things have been delivered unto me
of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him.
The Love of the Father towards men is shown by His tenderness towards
them. Rom. viii. 39, (nothing) shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. v. 8, God commendeth
his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Psalm ciii. describes this tenderness, showing (_v._ 6) that
God's judgments against oppression are a kindness to the weak. So in
{106} many other places. Note also that vice and crime are an injury
to the wicked, and a burden to others. Hence God's hatred of sin is a
sign of His Love.
Thus the first paragraph of this Creed is an Act of Worship, from
children towards their Father, as well as from the creatures of God's
hand towards their God.
II. (_a_) What the outside world said of Christ.
The foundation of Christianity was not laid with outward marks, but in
the hearts of those who, by one, and by two, united themselves together
to serve the Lord Christ. As He had said, _The Kingdom of God came not
with observation_. Not with notice from the rulers and the mighty of
this world, but in the quietness of homes, and the darkness of prisons,
the Church became so wide as to take a foremost place, without much
record in the chronicles of kingdoms. We must therefore look to
Christian books for the history of early Christianity. At the close of
the first century after the Saviour's Birth there were living three
great writers who were united in close friendship, viz. the younger
Pliny, and the historians Tacitus and Suetonius. Suetonius wrote lives
of the first twelve Caesars, and, in his history of Nero (A.D. 54-68),
mentions the punishment of Christians, "a set of men of a new and
mischievous superstition." Tacitus, describing the same reign[1], and
the burning of Rome (A.D. 64), {107} shows that Nero tried to throw the
blame from himself, by accusing and punishing the Christians. He adds
a few words about them. "The founder of that name was Christ, who was
put to death, in the reign of Tiberius, under Pontius Pilate: which
temporarily crushed the pernicious superstition, but it broke out
again, not only in Judaea, where the evil originated, but in Rome
also." Tacitus has the idea that Christians were guilty of many
crimes: but their tortures and Nero's cruelty caused them to be pitied.
Pliny, on the other hand, made careful enquiries; and gives a very
different account of their personal character[2].
Thus we see that almost silently--'without observation'--the Christian
Life grew into its great place in outside history.
(_b_) What the Bible says of Jesus.
S. Matth. i. 21. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. xvi. 16 Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. S. John i. 14 the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth, 1 Cor. xvi. 23 our Lord Jesus
Christ. S. Matth. i. 18 his mother Mary was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. S. Luke i. 35 that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God. S. Matth. xxvi. 39 O my Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. S. Mark xv. 15 Pilate, willing
to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered
Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. 25 and they
crucified him. 37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up {108}
the ghost. 44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead. 45 And
when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And
he . . . took him down . . . and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn
out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. xvi.
1-6 And when the sabbath was past . . . very early in the morning the
first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of
sun . . . the stone was rolled away . . . entering into the sepulchre,
they saw a young man sitting on the right side . . . And he saith unto
them . . . Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen;
he is not here. S. John xx. 20 he shewed unto them his hands and his
side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Acts i.
10, 11 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which
is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. 1 Pet. iii. 22 (Jesus Christ) is gone
into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him. S. Mark viii. 38 when the Son
of Man cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, S.
Matth. xxv. 32 before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate them one from another. Rom. ii. 16 God shall judge the
secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Acts x. 42 it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of quick and dead. Rom. xiv. 10 we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
{109}
_Note_ i. Quick=living. Cf. S. John vi. 63, it is the spirit that
quickeneth, A.-S. cwic.
Jesus=God the Saviour; or God is my Saviour: the same word as Joshua.
S. Matth. i. 21.
Christ=Anointed. Ps. ii. 2; cf. Acts iv. 26.
_Note_ ii. Death is the separation of soul and body: the body returns
to earth as it was (Eccl. xii. 7), and the spirit, or soul, returns to
God who gave it. Resurrection is when the soul and body are reunited.
While we are alive there is a continual change of particles which form
the body; yet it is the same body. Similarly after death the particles
decay, but the body of the Resurrection will be in that sense the same
body (1 Cor. xv. 38). When we say that Christ was buried, we mean that
His Body was buried, and in this Creed we add that He descended into
hell: and we mean that His Soul went to the place of departed spirits,
which are waiting for the Judgment. The word, Hell, has no meaning
here of punishment. In Anglo-Saxon, helan=to cover, and hell=a covered
place. In some parts of England we still _hele_ (=cover) _over_ roots
to keep off the frost. Thus hell is used to translate Gehenna in S.
Matt. v. 22, and also Hades in Acts ii. 27, 31, which last is the
meaning here. This Creed should be compared in parallel lines with the
Nicene Creed, in order to see what phrases are here which are omitted
there. We shall notice the following: conceived, born, dead. He
descended into hell, from the dead. It is clear that the Nicene Creed
was framed to express more clearly the _Godhead_ of Jesus, which had
been denied {110} by Arius. The Apostles' Creed, on the other hand,
expresses more clearly the true human nature of our Lord: His Birth and
Death are more definitely stated--either because His Resurrection from
the dead had been doubted, or because the verity of His human nature
was not well understood. The words, _He descended into hell_, complete
the statement that he died as truly and completely as other men die.
The passage, 1 Peter iii. 19, 20 has often been quoted as indicating
that, in His death, He had a work to do amongst those who had died
before He came on earth--viz. to carry to the blessed dead the glad
tidings of His Conquest of Sin, whereby they, as well as others after
them, are saved.
_Note_ iii. Among early heretics were some who thought that Jesus,
being truly God, could not have died except by a substitute--that he
_seemed_ to die. They were thence called Docetae (from _dokein_ _to
appear_). In like manner, many people have since attributed His
Perfect Holiness to His Godhead only, and not to His human victory over
real temptations. This Creed sets forth the Bible doctrine of His
Manhood more particularly. But it also declares His Godhead--partly
because the words, _I believe in God_, belong to all three paragraphs
of it; and partly by the words, _his only Son_. See S. John i. 1-4,
14, 18; 1 S. John i. 3; S. Matth. xvi. 16. The Nicene Creed was
prepared at a time when His Perfect Manhood was universally believed,
but some thought that He was not God. It is therefore much fuller in
the statement of His Godhead.
{111}
III. What the Bible says of the Holy Ghost.
The third paragraph of this Creed is a summary of the teaching of the
Bible concerning Him whom we often call the third Person of the
Godhead--whom Jesus described as the Comforter (S. John xiv.-xvi.). He
there promised to His disciples the presence with them of One, who
should be closer to them than He had Himself been, xvi. 7: xiv. 16, 17:
who should unite them more closely to Himself, xiv. 18, 23: who should
teach them, and help them to remember His words, xiv. 26: who should
testify of Him, xv. 26: and guide them into all truth, xvi. 13: when
they should be accused and persecuted, the Holy Ghost would guide their
speech, S. Matth. x. 19, 20: S. Mark xiii. 11: S. Luke xii. 11, 12:
xxi. 14, 15.
Consistently with these promises we find all good impulses, thoughts,
and actions, in man, ascribed to the Holy Ghost--Comfort, Acts ix. 31:
Joy, Rom. xiv. 17: Baptism, S. Matth. iii. 11: 1 Cor. xii. 13:
Fellowship, Phil. ii. 1: Power, Acts i. 8: Sanctification, Rom. xv. 16:
Teaching, 1 Cor. ii. 13: xii. 3: Resolution, S. Luke iv. 1: Acts xv.
28: Vocation, xiii. 2, 4: xx. 28: He is ranked with the Father and the
Son, S. Matth. xxviii. 19: Eph. iv. 4-6: 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
His Presence is imparted through the Laying on of Hands, Acts viii. 15,
17: xix. 6: ix. 17: and before it, x. 44, in the exceptional case of
Cornelius. Thus, individually we are temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor.
vi. 19.
{112}
But further, the Holy Ghost unites us in one Body--the Church, Eph. iv.
2-4: wherein the work of each is allotted by Him who in 1 Cor. xii. 28
is called God, and in _vv._ 4-11 is called the Spirit, and in _v._ 3,
the Holy Ghost. By virtue of this, the Church is Holy, 1 Cor. iii. 16,
17, even though individual members are unworthy. And this Church was
to be One for all the world, Acts i. 8, S. Matth. xxviii. 19, 20: 1
Cor. i. 2: Eph. i. 22, 23: iii. 9, 10: S. John xvii. 20, 21. Thus it
is the Holy Catholick Church. Catholick=Universal, for-the-whole.
Also the Holy Catholick Church is the Society of Saints, the Communion
or Fellowship of Saints. S. Paul writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor. i.
2) addresses them as the Church, called to be Saints, and (after
referring to the distribution of various duties amongst the members by
the Holy Spirit) he says (xii. 25-27) that there should be no schism in
the body, but all the members should care for one another, suffer with
one another, and rejoice with one another: indeed his argument is that
the Church is a body, and that this sharing of joy and sorrow is an
existing fact. So in 2 Cor. i. his whole argument turns upon this
thought of a society, wherein the comfort of one is the comforting of
the rest, and the prayers of the rest a help to the one, the gift
bestowed upon one, a cause of the others' thankfulness; and all
stablished together by God. In Heb. xii. 22 mount Zion is taken as the
symbol of Christ's Church; and the readers are addressed as members
thereof, together with the spirits of just men made perfect, who are
enrolled in heaven as the general assembly and church of the firstborn.
Thus the {113} Church, or Society of Saints includes the imperfect, and
those who are made perfect; those who are alive there, and those who
are alive here. The condition of membership is briefly described in
Acts ii. 38, 42 Repentant, Baptized, having the Gift of the Holy Ghost,
Apostolic Doctrine and Fellowship, Communicant, Stedfast in Prayers.
Since then, Repentance and Baptism, Acts ii. 38: iii. 19 "for the
Remission of sins," "that our sins may be blotted out," are thus
associated with the gift of the Holy Ghost--see also S. John xx. 22,
23--this second great privilege of Christians is stated in the Creed;
we believe in the Forgiveness of Sins. It is preached unto us through
Christ, Acts xiii. 38: it is granted to us for His Name's sake, 1 S.
John ii. 12: the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, S.
Mark ii. 10: it is especially associated with the Presence of Christ in
the assembly of the Church, S. Matth. xviii. 17-20: 1 Cor. v. 4: S.
John xx. 22, 23. The union of the Faithful with Him in whom they have
Faith brings, through Jesus, Rom. iii. 25, remission of their sins,
through the forbearance of God.
The third great privilege, which comes to members of Christ through the
Holy Ghost, is the Resurrection of the Body, a most prominent doctrine
of the Gospel: as in the case of other articles of the Creeds, so here,
we only give representative verses. Acts xvii. 18 S. Paul is stated to
have been misunderstood, because he preached at Athens Jesus and the
Resurrection, and in _vv._ 31, 32 it is shown that he preached the
Resurrection of men to be judged. So those who {114} knew Jesus best
(S. John xi. 1-3) believed, as of course, in the Resurrection of all
men _vv._ 23, 24: in S. John v. 25-29 the Lord states the doctrine: 1
Cor. xv. shows how S. Paul taught it, and, _vv._ 37, 38, declares that
the body of the Resurrection will be a nobler and higher body, as the
plant is nobler and higher than the seed--see Phil. iii. 21: 1 Cor. xv.
43, 48, 49. Further, it is likened to the gift of Life in Baptism,
Rom. vi. 3-5, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. xii. 13:
hence it is expressly stated to be His work, Rom. viii. 10, 11. The
fourth great privilege is Life everlasting. S. John i. 12 to those who
received Jesus, He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His Name: S. John xvii. 2, 3 and this is life eternal:
S. John v. 24 which begins here on earth: but, S. Mark x. 30, is, in a
higher sense, the promise of the world to come, where, Rev. xxi. 4, 1
Cor. xv. 26, 54, there shall be no more death.
In connection with this Creed we should read the Nicene Creed, the
first Four Commandments, Articles I. to V., XI. and XV., _Gloria in
excelsis_ in the Communion Service, and the Proper Prefaces in the Holy
Communion for Christmas, Easter, Ascensiontide and Whitsuntide. Also,
note that _Gloria Patri_, and _The grace of our Lord_, are founded upon
the Faith which is expressed in the Creed: and that the Collects not
unfrequently have endings similarly founded.
[1] Annals xv. 44.
[2] See Appendix D.
{115}
CHAPTER XII.
EXCURSUS ON THE CONFESSION OF OUR
CHRISTIAN FAITH, COMMONLY CALLED
THE CREED OF SAINT ATHANASIUS.
A learned Professor once attacked the use of Creeds in Worship with the
bitter words, that "they combine the maximum of offence with the
minimum of worship." This utterance might be discussed by comparing
the use of a Creed in the worship of God, with the statement of the
merits and action of a great man.
I have often heard people praise the Professor whose words we have just
quoted. Suppose that a number of people were assembled together, and
one in the name of the rest were to speak to the Professor of his great
talents, his immense usefulness, his upright life, his loveable
character, his services to education, we should not be offended, even
if we were not fully aware of all that he had done for humanity. We
should not say that there was any minimum of praise, nor any maximum of
offence. It would not be an act chargeable with these faults, unless
we did it in the midst of those who disputed his eminence.
{116}
The House of God is a place where we ought to assume that the
revelation of God is the foundation of worship. Hence a Creed which
recites the substance of that revelation should fairly be assumed to
express the convictions of all present.
The two Creeds, known to us as _The Apostles' Creed_ and _The Nicene
Creed_, are evidently free from the charge of offence or lack of
worship. They take so little account of matters of opinion,--they deal
so entirely with the facts of Revelation, that it is hard to conceive
any other kind of words so free from the kind of charge which the
Professor brought against Creeds in Worship.
But it will be necessary to examine more at length the position of the
Creed which is called Athanasian, and to enquire what defence may
fairly be made, if it is the form against which the Professor really
brought this charge. For it must be acknowledged that many thoughtful
men do stumble at this Creed. To them it is an offence, because it is
often assumed that it is the expression of opinion about those who do
not accept the doctrines which it contains.
1. Now in reciting the Athanasian Creed, a congregation is not
attempting to deliver its opinion: we are reciting the assertions which
are implied in the Bible, concerning the Being of God, and the
Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Let us emphasize this point. The Athanasian Creed has a different form
from the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. You could not fairly describe it
as "a loving outburst of a loyal heart," as Bp Harvey Goodwin described
the Apostles' Creed. _Gloria {117} Patri_ is indeed added at the
close, thereby marking it as a Psalm or Hymn in its use in Church[1].
We think that in its form, fairly considered, it is the reflective
utterance of a Christian, who is meditating on the Being and Personal
Nature of the Godhead. As I read or say it, I am, as it were,
balancing the statements which limit my conception of the truth. On
this side I may go so far, and no further; on that side I am limited to
that expression. Between these two--including these truths--the fact
of Godhead is to be considered, and my worship is to be directed.
Hence we can see that, like the other Creeds, it deals with the
_revealed facts of God's existence_.
2. Notice that in the Creed it is the existence of GOD which is
defined. Faith does, in other forms, enter upon a consideration of
doctrines which introduce _Man_ to our view.
Predestination and Election,
Justification by Faith alone,
Sanctification,
Assurance and Perseverance,
Original Sin,
Sacramental Grace,
Sin after Baptism,
{118} and other facts and truths, on which Revelation has thrown the
only true light, are dealt with, for instance, in the Articles and
Homilies. And the Bible is the Court of Appeal in all such
perplexities. But it is no disparagement to the importance of those
truths, if we acknowledge that they do not appear in our Creeds.
The Creeds are the respectful reply of the Christian to God's
disclosure of Himself to His children. One (the Apostles' Creed) is
the reply of the Christian as such. Another (the Nicene) is the reply
of the Christian after careful self-examination. And this Third is the
reply of the Christian Student, as he meditates upon the furthest
extent of our knowledge of God.
3. But it will be said, "The Nicene Creed partly, and the Athanasian
Creed altogether, are not, in their origin, utterances of peaceful
meditation, but, rather, of polemical controversy. Heated contentions
and bitter strife are called to our minds by their terms, and not the
atmosphere of the heaven of heavens."
It may help us to a right use of the Creeds in worship, if we think of
these controversies as the meditations of a very large family. When a
deliberation can be held in a room, we can quietly put forward a
suggestion, quietly find out what fault there is in it, and as quietly
substitute a better statement than the first, guarded from the error
into which we were likely to fall. But when the family which
deliberates is distributed around such a space as the Mediterranean
Sea, the voices are apt to become loud and harsh: instead of tentative
suggestions, diffidently put forward, we are likely to hear dogmatic
assertions, made with {119} all the energy of the human lungs. The
voices which arose from the members of that Parliament of the Faith
present a greater variety of languages than the tongues at Pentecost.
In the Church's Meditation on the Being of God, and on the Person of
Jesus, we hear the Spaniard, the Gaul, the Welshman, Italian, Greek,
Syrian, Armenian, Alexandrian; there are voices from Arles, and from
Carthage, as well as from Samosata on the Euphrates, and Jerusalem on
its holy hill, and Caesarea on the sea-shore. We have to regard the
Mediterranean Sea as the Council Table, with chairs at the back for
such as could not find places on its shores. Three continents faced
one another at an oval table, 13,000 miles in circumference. Even in
thoughtful meditation, a voice must be raised to be heard in such a
conference. This will to some extent explain how it happened that men,
whom we account orthodox, are occasionally found uttering what we will
call _suggestions_, unorthodox in character.
I. _About God's Being_.
1. _The Jew_. There is but One God.
2. _The Ebionite_. Then Christ is but a Man divinely endowed--the only
man so divinely endowed.
3. _St John_. No! He is the Word. By Him all things were made; the
Word was God and was made flesh.
4. _The Sabellian_. Then perhaps,--God being One and being made
flesh,--the Word, and the Holy Ghost, are but manifestations of God.
{120}
5. _The Catholick Church_. No! They are Persons. A Father and a Son
are different persons.
6. _The Arian_. Then, if the Father is a real father, and the Son a
real son, perhaps the Father was before the Son, and the Son was made.
7. The Catholick Church. This will not do; because the Sonship would
not be real sonship unless the Godhead were equal. The Godhead of the
Son must be the same Godhead as that of the Father.
8. _Macedonius_. But at any rate the Holy Ghost may be a creature, or
a manifestation of God the Father.
9. _The Catholick Church_. That will not do either; for His Personal
Being and Godhead are implied by some verses; and in various passages
He is ranked with the Father and the Son.
10. _The Semi-Arian_. Then you really say that there is an actual
equality of the Three Persons, and yet that there is but one God?
11. _The Catholick Church_. Yes! That is the Catholick Faith.
Of course this is but a rough specimen of the dialogue which was
conducted by the Church with the various guessers at great Truths, who
debated, disputed, and dogmatized, during the early centuries. I have
left out all the other controversies, and some parts of this, in order
to present a fairly clear view. But you will observe that the order
followed in History has a good deal of the natural course of argument
and meditation: and that it is not a very foreign idea that these
heresies are the loud thinking {121} of a mighty host, as it outgrows
its childhood, and comes to years of discretion.
I will yet more briefly indicate the course of Historical meditation on
deep things, by treating similarly one of the other great
controversies, viz. that concerning the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
II. _About the Two Natures of our Lord_.
1. _The Jew_. We bear witness that Jesus of Nazareth died at Jerusalem.
2. _The Catholick Church_. And we aver that He rose again from the
dead, and was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
3. _The Gnostic_. Probably He was one of the Aeons of whom our
forefathers have told us--the leading emanation from the Most High.
4. _The Catholick Church_. He is no Aeon, Manifestation, nor Creature.
He is God as truly as He is man.
5. _The Manichaean_. Then, of course, if He was God, He could have
nothing really material about Him. Matter is evil.
6. _The Catholick Church_. On the contrary He had a body like ours.
7. _The Docetae_. No! That was only in appearance. You must leave
out all about His Baptism, Circumcision, and Crucifixion. They were
only pretence.
8. _The Catholick Church_. Not pretence at all, but real. He derived
Very Manhood from the Blessed Virgin Mary, as truly as He derived Very
Godhead from God the Father.
{122}
9. _The Arians_. Perhaps He took a human body, but not a human soul.
"The Divine Word was in the place of the soul."
10. _Nestorius_. Perhaps if these things be so--since He derived the
Person of God from God, and the Person of man from Mary--then we must
not say that He was one Person, but two.
11. _The Catholick Church_. These ideas are contrary to the Truth: for
(Council of Ephesus 431) Christ was but one Person, in whom two natures
are intimately united, but not confounded.
12. _The Eutychians_. Granting there were not two Persons, we suppose
that there were not two Natures. We hold that there was but one Nature
_mono physite_ (_mono physis_)--originally two distinct natures, but,
after union, only one: the human nature being transubstantiated into
the divine.
13. _The Catholick Church_. This also is faulty. For (Council of
Chalcedon 451) in Christ, two distinct natures are united in one person
without any change, mixture, or confusion.
14. _Honorius Bishop of Rome and the Monothelites_. Then perhaps the
human will of Christ was subservient to the Divine Will, so as always
to move in unison with it.
15. _The Catholick Church_. (3rd Council of Constantinople 680--6th
General Council.) No! You would destroy the truth of His humanity.
It is obvious that we are here returning to some part of the earlier
errors, and that everything possible {123} had been suggested, and
settled. Even orthodox people, who incline to hold that Christ's human
knowledge was divinely acquired, or His human temptations divinely
resisted, are but repeating the errors of old days.
Thus the Controversies, however disfigured by excess of language and
temper, &c. are the meditations of the Church on the Nature of Her Lord
and Her God.
Some of them are perhaps too much of the disposition of S. Thomas, who
must push his hands against the scars of the Lord's Body; but the Lord
has ever been patient towards the devout and warm-hearted men, who
share with S. Thomas, not only his doubt, but that devotion which
destroys intrusive impertinence.
The following interesting argument as to the date of this "Creed" is
worthy of study.
The Athanasian Creed appears on the scene at the close of these loud
meditations. It is unconscious of the theory that Eutyches started,
because it uses phrases which he might have perverted, e.g.
One, not by conversion &c.
As the reasonable soul &c.
Thus its date is given by internal evidence as previous to 451.
The same sort of argument may apply to Nestorius, who was condemned
431. But this is more doubtful. It insists on "one Son, not three
Sons"--but says nothing of "one Son, not two Sons" which was the
Nestorian error.
{124}
These two points may be summarised.
_Monophysites_ (condemned 451 at Ephesus) insisted on _One Nature_, to
defend One Person:
opposing
_Nestorians_ (condemned 431 at Chalcedon), who insisted on _Two
Natures_ almost, if not quite, to the assertion of _Two Persons_.
[Transcriber's note: refer to Footnote 1 on page 176 referring to an
error in the above two paragraphs.]
The date is limited in lateness by the above. It must have been before
the middle of 400-500, i.e. before the complete development of the
controversy condemned in 451.
And it could not be earlier than 416, because it plainly condemns
Apollinarians, who denied a human Soul to Christ, and said the Godhead
was in place of a human soul (360-373): and because several of S.
Augustine's expressions appear in it, whose books on the Trinity
appeared about 416, and later.
Moreover the 'Filioque[1]' appears in it, and S. Augustine was the
first to give this prominence.
Thus the date is fixed between 420 and 440.
And it is Latin, in the construction of its Sentences, not Greek; and
Gallic, in its first reception, and chief, earliest, and most numerous,
MSS and commentaries.
The Roman Church did not adopt it till 930, though Charlemagne
presented it to the Pope in 722.
Thus Waterland dates it in France between 420 and 431. Within those
dates the authors possible are, not Athanasius, for he died about 373,
but
Hilary of Arles, Bp. 429-449.
Victricius of Rouen.
Vincentius of Lérins, 434.
{125}
These arguments apply, however, not to the Creed as it now stands, but
to the documents from which it was compounded, and to the language
which it has retained.
This Psalm, or Creed, or discussion of the Creeds, appears to be formed
by the union of two documents, one of which was a discussion of the
nature of God, and the other a discussion of the Person of Christ. An
article by Professor Lumby in the S.P.C.K. Prayer Book will be
accessible to all our readers. The former document occupies 28, and
the latter, 14 verses.
The doctrine that there is a God, and particularly that there is but
one God, may be called the Catholic Religion, in a very wide sense: for
it is held by Jews, Turks, and many others who are not Christians.
The Christian Verity is the Truth that God was made man, that Jesus is
God and Man, yet not two, but one Christ. This involves the Doctrine
of the Holy Trinity.
The Catholic Faith includes both the Catholic Religion and the
Christian Verity.
_vv._ 9 and 12: the word _incomprehensible_ is the Latin word
_immensus_, elsewhere rendered _infinite_. (See Article I.) _vv._
21-23 show that there are statements which can be made of each Person,
which cannot be made of the other Persons of the Godhead: 6-18 have
been showing that there are statements which can be made of each
Person, which can also be made of the other Persons--statements
involving Godhead. 24-27 state the inference which is to be drawn from
the former verses, an inference previously stated in 3-5.
{126}
_v._ 31. The word Substance occurs frequently in the discussion of the
Godhead of our Lord, and also in the debates about the Holy Communion.
Substance is the Essential Existence: it has no necessary connection
with ideas like 'hard' and 'soft,' 'heavy' and 'light'; if we are
thinking of a spirit there is no question of Matter, for the Substance,
i.e. the Essential Being, of a spirit is not of the nature of Matter.
The phrase in the Nicene Creed _Being-of-one-substance-with_ (_the
Father_) is a translation of the word Consubstantial.
The name _Quicunque Vult_, by which this psalm is sometimes mentioned
is from the first words of the Latin original _Quicunque vult salvus
esse_=Whosoever will be safe. This phrase "be safe" occurs again in
verse 28, and again in the last verse of the psalm, where _quam
nisi--salvus esse non poterit_ should be translated _which except a man
have believed faithfully and firmly, he cannot be safe_. The
substitution of another idea--"be saved,"--is of the nature of an
addition to the meaning.
The addition is, however, independently stated in verse 2.
These verses are to be understood, like the Bible statements of similar
character, as the warning which overhangs all our actions. They say
nothing of what allowance God makes for involuntary ignorance,
prejudice, difficult perplexities, and other infirmities. They declare
our responsibility when we look up to God, and reflect on our own
actions, or on God's Being.
[1] It was used as a Psalm at Prime following cxix. 1-32. Nor did it
disturb the use of the Apostles' Creed. Bishop Barry has suggested
that until 1662 this use of both was continued. But Bishop Cosin,
whose notes and suggestions and personal influence had so much to do
with the Revision of 1662, had a note 'though it be not here set down,
yet I believe the meaning was that the Apostles' Creed should be
omitted that day, when this of Athanasius was repeated.' And words
were inserted in the rubrics to make this quite clear.
[2] See Appendix E.
{127}
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SERVICE OF PRAYER.
If we have understood the Method of Praise which, in these Services,
uses ancient forms in an ordered variety, we shall be prepared to find
similar order, and similar use of variety, in the Prayers. The Map of
the Services on p. 28 should be examined afresh, in order that we may
grasp the unity of the Prayers, as well as the unity of the Praises.
There is the Lord's Prayer _set_ for prayer (see p. 16), at the
beginning of the Prayers, to strike the keynote. Verses and Responds
follow next, asking for such things as will be again asked for, in the
Collects which are to come after them. The Collects may be divided
into two classes, viz.,
1. Those for spiritual needs--_First, Second, and Third Collects_.
2. Those for physical needs, and earthly relations.
Worship-Forms used in the Prayer Service.
See _Table of Worship-Forms_ (p. 21).
The Preces are Interjectional. The Collects are of the Amen form. The
Anthem should be {128} Antiphonal. The Litany, when used, contains
examples of four of the Worship-forms. Thus, the attention of
worshippers is arrested, and their unity of heart and voice maintained.
Another purpose is served by the mutual relation in which these forms
stand to one another. We shall show, in the Chapter on the Litany,
that a Collect may be preceded by a Verse and Respond, which anticipate
briefly the prayer of the Collect. Thus the Verse and Respond, which
are Interjectional, belong to the Collect. This tie between
Interjectional prayers and Amen prayers is very remarkable in the
Morning and Evening Services. Six couplets of Interjected prayers,
which for the sake of distinction are called Preces, anticipate the
petitions of the six (or more) Collects which follow. They correspond
Couplet and Collect, Couplet and Collect; and, being grouped so that
all the couplets come first, the whole prayer Service is made one.
The Anthem is used to strengthen this unity. Unfortunately the
Revisers stopped short of making an Antiphoner, or Anthem-book; but we
may suppose that the provision made here for Anthems was intended as a
promise of such a book. Our Hymn Books, which were recognised, when,
in 1879, shortened Services were permitted, contain a good number of
suitable hymns admitting antiphonal arrangement. They should supply
some grave thought of God's help, or Christ's mediation, or our
dependence on Him. The Anthem is a bond of union, not a musical
interruption. (See Chap. xiv.)
{129}
THE PRAYER SERVICE.
I. Preces and Collects. Morning and Evening Rubrics.
The directions concerning the Services are to be found in the Rubrics:
which are placed either (1) in the Prefaces and Tables at the beginning
of the Prayer Book; or (2) at the beginning or end of a Service; or (3)
at some break or pause in the Service. By the correction of mistakes,
the later Revisions have left very little ambiguity; but some instances
remain, which may usually be interpreted by the analogy of other parts
of the Book. A plain instance is the omission of a direction that the
Sermon is to be preached from the pulpit: but it is directed that after
it the Priest shall return to the Lord's Table.
Bishop Cosin who took a leading part in the Revision of 1661-2, and had
been preparing notes for it for about 40 years, made the remark: "the
book does not everywhere enjoin and prescribe every little order, what
should be said or done, but take it for granted that people are
acquainted with such common, and things always used already."
The two Services, which are here considered together, are still printed
together as parts of the same Chapter (see p. 25): and the Morning
Service has always had rubrics which applied to both Morning and
Evening: (see Rubrics, about the use of _Gloria Patri_ after Canticles,
cf. p. 4: and about the First Lessons).
{130}
Before 1662 a rubric, after the Canticles at Evensong, referred back to
Mattins for directions &c. about the rest of the Service. The Second
and Third Collects, being different from the Morning Collects, were, of
course, printed in full: everything else was read from the Morning
Service.
In 1662 the Evening Service was for the first time printed out in full.
The words of the Evening rubric about the Collects were retained, and
not made like the Morning rubric: also the words _all kneeling_, which
were, at that time, added to the Morning rubric, were, through
forgetfulness, not added to the slightly different Evening Rubric. The
word _all_ includes the Minister; for the people are already kneeling.
The Rubrics after the Collects.
The amendment of rubrics in this part of the Services, which was
effected in 1662, completed the directions for continuing the Service
after the Collects. Until that time, the prayers for the Sovereign,
for the Royal Family, and for the Clergy and People, were printed after
the Prayer, _We humbly beseech thee_, in the Litany; and were followed
by the second of our Ember Week prayers, and the Prayer of S.
Chrysostom. But it was plain that the Services were not to end with
the Third Collect: for, at the end of the Communion Service, six
Collects were printed, as they still are, with the provision that they
may be said "after the Collects" of Morning and Evening Prayer.
Moreover, the inclusion, in the Preces, of prayers for the Sovereign
and for the Clergy implied that Collects for {131} them would follow.
We may infer that these Services used to end much as they do now. It
was therefore a useful improvement to make the rubrics complete, and to
print the prayers in this place. Perhaps the six Collects after the
Communion Service would be more used, if they had, at the same time,
been printed with the Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings.
At the same time, a Rubric was inserted here providing for an Anthem,
or musical prayer, to be sung (in places where there are singers),
between the Three Collects and the other Prayers.
The Lord's Prayer as set for the Service of prayer.
We have before explained that the Doxology is not added here, but the
Lesser Litany is prefixed to it. The thoughts will now be different
from those which occupied our hearts at the beginning of the Praises.
The following may be suggested:
Hallowed be Thy Name . . . . . . Ask for Reverence.
Thy kingdom come . . . . . . Devotion.
Thy will be done . . . . . . Obedience.
Give us our daily bread . . . . . . Support, Health,
Teaching, Communion.
Forgive us . . . . . . Forgiveness.
Lead us . . . . . . Guidance.
Deliver us . . . . . . Deliverance.
Then the Priest is directed to stand up: thus reminding us again that
we are approaching the Majesty on High. The people, though still
kneeling, {132} are included in his priestly action, and take an equal
share of the petitions, which form the Preces (=prayers L.). Each
verse is to be said by the Minister, and its Respond by the People.
A. The Preces.
These interjected prayers do not follow exactly the order of the
Collects and Prayers, which are to come next to them. The second
couplet belongs to the two prayers, _for the King_ and _for the Royal
Family_: the third and fourth couplets belong to the prayer, _for the
Clergy and People_. The first, fifth, and sixth couplets belong to the
first, second, and third Collects respectively. The Great Breviary of
1531, according to the use of Sarum, had the 5th of these couplets as
an Antiphon for our 2nd Morning Collect for Peace, to be used at Lauds,
and also as an Antiphon at Vespers, for our 2nd Evening Collect for
Peace. The Student will find that this using of the old materials is
characteristic of the Revision of 1549. All the Preces are from the
Day Hours. With the exception of the Couplet just mentioned, they are
verses of the Psalms: First Couplet from the 85th Psalm, verse 7:
Second, from the 20th, _v._ 9: Third, from the 132nd, _vv._ 9 and 16:
Fourth, from the 28th, _v._ 9: Sixth, from the 51st, _vv._ 10 and 11.
The First couplet is that which anticipates the First Collect.
The Second couplet agrees with the Vulgate (Latin), and Septuagint
(Greek) Versions of the Psalms. Our Bible and Prayer Book Psalms
follow {133} the Hebrew division of the verse: _Save, Lord: let the
King hear us when we call_. The couplet in this place, being taken
from the Sarum Service, as a prayer for the King and people, was left
in its old form, when the correction was made in the Psalms.
In the Third couplet '_endue_' means 'clothe.'
In the Fifth couplet the Respond appears to allege the want of earthly
helps as the reason why we ask God to give us peace. Since it is
obviously impossible that this is the meaning, it will be well to
enquire what other meaning there may be. The last verse of the 4th
Psalm has the same thought; _I will lay me down in peace, and take my
rest: for it is thou, Lord, only, that makest me dwell in safety_. If
the word only be omitted, the reason appears at once to be that God's
protection suffices to assure us of safety. The introduction of the
word, _only_, adds the thought that no other protection would suffice.
The same two thoughts are united in the Respond _Because there is none
other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God_. It is as though we
said, 'Give us Peace, because thou hast the power; and we trust no
other power.'
This couplet was the Antiphon, in the Day Hours, to both the collects
for Peace; and must be taken as including both peace from "the assaults
of our enemies," and "that peace which the world cannot give." It is
suitable both to a time of External Peace, and also to a time when war,
with Peace for its object, is raging round us: the assaults, also, of
temptation are at times disturbing to our peace, in the sense which is
involved in this couplet.
The Sixth Couplet belongs to the Third Collects {134} which ask for
spiritual guidance, and spiritual light--_Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God_.
B. The Collects.
The Books formerly used in Church.
In a passage of the Prayer Book Preface of 1549, which was not struck
out until the last Revision in 1662, it was said that "by this order
the Curates shall need none other books for their public service, but
this book and the Bible." The simplification of the Services has made
it possible for everyone to find his way easily through the Prayer
Book. The progressive inventions of printing, and of fine paper, have
made it possible for him to have the books always with him.
Before the reign of Edward VI. the Services, though printed, were not
contained in one book. Before the invention of printing the books were
of necessity numerous. We may mention some of them.
A book of Lessons--Legenda; of Antiphons--Antiphonarium; of Psalms--the
Psalter: these were required for the Day Hours. As an abbreviation of
them, sufficient for practical purposes, the Breviary was arranged. A
portable form of it was called Portiforium. The Breviary was printed
in four volumes on the Continent, but in England had only a Winter
Volume and a Summer Volume.
For the Occasional Services,--the Services which mark the great events
of a Christian's life, beginning with Baptism and ending with Burial,
they had the Manual.
{135}
For the Holy Communion, they had the Missal; including (1) the Gradual,
which was an Antiphoner, or book of the musical parts of the Service;
(2) the Lectionary, or book of the Epistles; (3) the Evangelistarium,
or book of the Gospels; and (4) the Sacramentary. The Sacramentary
contained, amongst other things, the Collects.
We have already referred to the combination and simplification of the
Breviary Services, which have given us our Morning and Evening Prayer.
We must now observe that many of our Collects come from the
Sacramentaries.
Three celebrated Sacramentaries.
Three of the Sacramentaries deserve here special mention.
I. Gregory the Great, who was Pope of Rome from 590 to 604, was the
author of one of them. The English Church owes him gratitude for
sending missionaries to this country at a time when the older British
Church was deficient in missionary zeal: and we must here notice our
debt to him for a number of our best-known collects, as well as other
improvements in the Services. Canon Bright gives a list of 32 or 33
taken from Gregory's Book. Some of them may perhaps have been added
after Gregory's time; for it is often difficult to distinguish between
the original passages of an ancient Service-book and the additions
which were quickly made to it.
Twenty-eight Collects in that list are in our book amongst the Epistles
and Gospels. Besides these there are: one in the Baptism
Service--_Almighty and {136} immortal God_: the first part of _We
humbly beseech thee_ in the Litany: _O God, whose nature and property_
in the Occasional Prayers: _Prevent us, O Lord_ at the end of the
Communion Service.
II. The Sacramentary of Gelasius (who was Pope of Rome 492 to 496) had
provided much material which Gregory adopted. From this ancient source
we have our _Second Collect, for Peace_ in the Morning Service; and the
_Third Collect, for Grace_: the _Second Collect, for Peace_ in the
Evening Service: the _Third Collect, for Aid_: the Collect _for the
Clergy and People: Assist us mercifully_, at the end of the Communion
Service: the Confirmation Collect, _Almighty and everlasting God_: a
Collect in the Visitation Service: _O Lord we beseech thee_, in the
Commination: and 21 of those which are placed with the Epistles and
Gospels.
III. We go back still further for seven of the Sunday Collects, which
are taken from the Sacramentary of Leo the Great (Pope of Rome, 440 to
461).
Thus, five-sixths of our Sunday Collects are from these three
Service-books: although we do not purpose here to say much of the
Collects used in the Communion Service, and ranking as the "First
Collects" of Morning and Evening Prayer, we think it useful to note
their derivation from the 5th and 6th centuries. Even those which are
not so derived owe their form and manner to the same models.
This last remark applies to all the prayers which have the Collect
form. We may suppose that, in the years which preceded Leo the Great,
the Collects were being made. Perhaps the dignity of their {137}
diction grew by the survival of the simplest and best; by the falling
away of superfluous words; and of words of effort: in any case the
absence of small auxiliary words, in Latin sentences, contributed much
to their tone of modest dependence on God, as well as to their poetic
force.
To take an illustration, our Second Collect at Mattins is translated
from the following Gelasian Collect: _Deus auctor pacis et amator, Quem
nosse vivere, Cui servire regnare est, protege ab omnibus
impugnationibus supplices tuos; ut qui defensione tuâ fidimus, nullius
hostilitatis arma timeamus: Per &c_.
These 27 Latin words are equivalent to the 51 English words which we
use. We do not, however, suggest that the tone has been altered in the
translation. On the contrary, our Translators had so learnt the right
tone of the old prayers, that they not only translated them and the
tone, into a language of a very different sort; they also composed new
prayers, in English, which rank with the old ones, and have the same
great excellences. The Collects for Easter Eve, and Christmas Day, may
be taken as good examples of this.
What then are the characteristics which we must expect in a Collect?
1. It has three simple parts: (_a_) the Name of God; (_b_) what we ask;
(_c_) our appeal to Christ's advocacy.
2. It makes no effort to instruct the congregation, but speaks with
simplicity and directness, to Him who knows all things.
{138}
3. It asks for grace and help for our souls, whereby we may do what is
right.
Other prayers imitate Collects in one or more of these respects; and
may be called Collects, though not satisfying all the conditions.
The Three parts of a Collect.
Our Lord taught us (St John xiv. 13, 14; xv. 16; xvi. 23-26) to ask God
in His name. A Collect is a prayer made on that model. It has three
parts:
(_a_) God is addressed; and
(_b_) petition made,
(_c_) in the Name of Jesus.
(_a_) God is addressed. This may be expressed in one word, or expanded
into a sentence. It is always the reason for our prayer, that God is
able and willing to hear us: every name of God when named by His
children is an appeal to Him.
When we expand the address, we do so in order to include a claim, to be
heard because some quality in God has a special relation to that which
we are about to ask. Because God loves peace, we can ask Him for
Peace: because He is merciful, we can ask Him for forgiveness: because
He gave at Pentecost, we can ask Him for the same gift on Whitsun Day.
Thus the name of God at the beginning of a Collect often includes some
title upon which we build our hope.
(_b_) What we ask. This may be simple, or complex: it is Simple when
we ask for something without saying anything of the means, or the
results, {139} of our obtaining it: Complex, when we ask for some thing
in order that we may also have something else.
(_c_) Appeal to Christ's Advocacy. Our claim upon God is "in the name"
of Jesus Christ. Here again we vary the thought in agreement with the
petition: sometimes it is His mediation, sometimes His might, or His
love, which we mention: but not haphazard--the words are chosen to suit
what has been asked for.
One variety of this part deserves special mention--when we claim the
Saviour's advocacy, by words which recognise Him as One of the Blessed
Trinity. When His Godhead is thus mentioned, an ascription of praise
is often added.
Origin of the word 'Collect.'
It is impossible to speak with confidence about the origin of the word
Collect. We find in old Services both Collecta and Collectio. It
might be conjectured that these were references to Books of Collects
bearing those names as their titles. But the explanations which have
been offered for a thousand years, though very various, do not include
that as a possibility. Some derive it from people,
(1) collected for worship:
(2) collected in the unity of the Church:
(3) having collectedness of mind.
Others from:
(4) the sense collected from Scripture:
(5) the desires collected from the congregation.
{140}
Canon Bright[1] decides in favour of (1) as the explanation of
_Collecta_, and (5) as that of _Collectio_, preferring the former as
the source of our English word _Collect_.
Canon Bright quotes Alcuin the Northumbrian boy, the York Scholar
(735-804), who became the most learned man in Europe, and the friend,
adviser, and teacher, of the great Emperor Charlemagne. Alcuin derived
the word from _Collecta_, an assembly for worship.
The Morning and Evening Collects.
The First Collect is the Collect of the Day. The Preface (last rubric
before the Table of Lessons) orders that the Collect "appointed for the
Sunday shall serve all the week after, where it is not in this Book
otherwise ordered." The Book 'orders otherwise' for Saints' Days, and
at such special times as Christmas, Ash-Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter
Even, but has omitted, by some accident, to provide for the two days
after Ascension Day, for the week days between The Epiphany and the
First Sunday after, and for the three days after Ash-Wednesday.
A rubric at the beginning of the _Collects, Epistles, and Gospels_
provides that the Collect for a Sunday, or for a Holy Day having a
Vigil or Eve, shall be said at the Evening Service next before.
We have said something of the source of these Collects: their detailed
consideration belongs to a {141} book on the Communion Service, or on
the Epistles and Gospels.
The Second Collect, both at Mattins and Evensong, is a Collect for
Peace. Both are taken from the same chapter of Prayers for Peace in
the Gelasian Sacramentary.
The Morning Collect, desiring that our trust in God, and our
fearlessness, may be strengthened by continual knowledge of God's
protection, addresses Him as the author and lover of peace, and also as
the One whom we know and serve, and thereby have life and freedom.
_Standeth our eternal life_. Notice the phrase standeth in as a
substitute for is. We could not have said _whose knowledge is eternal
life_, because of the momentary doubt whether it referred to the
knowledge which God has, or to the knowledge which we have of Him. By
the use of an idiom not now in common use, we express the belief taught
by the Saviour's words S. John xvii. 3.
Notice also the phrase _whose service is perfect freedom_: here the
Latin original has _whom to serve is to reign_. Our eagerness to do
God's Will is, on the one hand, a service or bondage to Him; but, on
the other hand, it is what makes us masters of ourselves, and, in the
spiritual sense, kings (1 Cor. iv. 8; Rev. i. 6).
The prayer for defence from external assault has for its real motive
the attainment of trust and fearlessness.
The Evening Collect for Peace asks more plainly for spiritual peace; in
relation to (1) the tumults {142} occasioned in our consciences by
disobedience to God's commands, (2) the tumults occasioned in our lives
by outward interference. For (1), we appeal to God as the author of
good and holy desires within us: for (2), we appeal to Him as the
counsellor who helps us against our enemies. For both, we appeal to
Him who enables us, and others, to do what is just.
The Third Collect in the Morning is styled a Collect _for Grace_.
Because He is Almighty and Everlasting; because He is our Father and
our God and Lord; and, in particular, because He has brought us to the
beginning of the day; we ask Him to keep us from harm, and sin, and
danger, as the day goes on.
The corresponding Evening Collect is styled a Collect _for Aid against
all Perils_. Accepting the figure suggested by the close of the day,
we ask God to defend us from the perils and dangers of darkness. The
light which we seek is evidently inward and spiritual light; the
defence, in like manner, a defence from spiritual perils, though not
excluding the others: cf. Psalm xviii. 28: xxvii. i.
C. The other Prayers.
The change from the Three Collects to the Three Prayers which follow
may be softened by the Anthem, (or Hymn), which comes between. The
spiritual gifts, desired in the Collects, are the qualities which guide
the lives of men. When we pray that we may have a good King, or a good
Bishop, or a good People, we have evidently passed from the general to
the particular; from that which is within us to that which is external.
{143}
The Prayer for the King was inserted in 1559.
_Health and wealth_=To be hale or whole, and to be well. They are
Saxon words which include all prosperity of body and condition.
The Prayer for the Royal Family was inserted in 1604. The persons
mentioned by name have been the Consort of the Sovereign, the Queen
Dowager, and the next King and Queen. Thus in Queen Anne's reign,
Princess Sophia was mentioned until she died, eight months before the
Queen.
The Prayer for the Clergy and People. This is, in the Gelasian
Sacramentary, a prayer in a Monastery; or, in a private house.
Afterwards, the persons for whom it was said, were "an abbat or his
congregation"; then Bishops and their congregations; and finally,
Curates (i.e. the Clergy in _charge_ of parishes) were introduced in
1544. In Titus ii. 11 _The grace of God bringeth salvation_, the word
'healthful' is translated differently, but the phrase is the same as
here.
_the continual dew of thy blessing_: see Ps. cxxxiii. 3, where the
consecration of Aaron suggested Hermon (=consecration), and called up
thoughts of the dew and the clouds, running and floating from its
sides. So the blessing received from on high is received in order to
be transmitted to others.
The phrase _who alone workest great marvels_ seems to be justified by
the consideration that much is asked for in the prayer--God's spirit,
and the dew of His blessing, for all the Clergy, and for all the People.
{144}
A Prayer of S. Chrysostom is so called because it comes to us from the
Liturgy of S. Chrysostom. It is said to be older than A.D. 900 but not
so old as to have been composed by S. Chrysostom himself (354-407). It
addresses Christ as _Almighty God_, and reminds Him of His present gift
of grace, and of His ancient promise. The two blessings claimed
are--for this life, the knowledge of God's truth--for the life to come,
the knowledge of God Himself (S. John xvii. 3).
2 Cor. xiii. This Benediction is not merely the ending of the worship
in church: it is also the link between the Church Service and the
Service of God which we perform outside. We go out of church to do our
work with grace, and love, and fellowship, in the Name and Power of the
Holy Trinity.
The more solemn part of the Holy Communion, in the Clementine Liturgy,
S. Basil's, S. Chrysostom's and other Eastern Liturgies, began with
this Benediction.
The occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings. Like the six Collects after
the Communion Service, these may be used before the Prayer of S.
Chrysostom in the Morning and Evening, and (with one exception) also
when the Litany is said.
There are 11 Prayers: the first two were made in 1549: the next four in
1552: the first of the Ember prayers, in 1661: the second, in a
slightly different form, was a prayer in the Ordination Services of
1549, where it still stands. The ninth is from Gelasius' Sacramentary.
The Prayer for Parliament appeared in the last Revision (1661), but had
been printed before, in Special forms of Service.
{145}
The _Prayer for all conditions of men_ first appeared in 1661. There
are eight Thanksgivings: the first, fourth, and sixth, were printed in
1661: the rest in 1604. In the first of these, if the petition were
_Send us, we beseech thee, such weather_, the Prayer might be very
frequently used during the spring and summer. Having these, we seem to
want other, occasional prayers, and thanksgivings. The spread of
Emigration, the enlargement of our Navy and Army, the multiplication of
Municipal bodies, and other developments of the National life, demand
occasional prayers in the Service, and especially, perhaps, a prayer to
be used at times of anxiety for those at sea.
[1] See his Ancient Collects, Appendix: and his Paper in S.P.C.K.
Prayer Book Commentary "On the Collects."
{146}
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PRAYER SERVICE.
II. Anthems.
Anthem=Antiphon, fr. _antiphonon_: so called because two choirs sing
alternately.
Anthems are of two sorts--simple Anthems and compound Anthems. A
simple Anthem is one or more verses (often from Holy Scripture), used
to give character to a Psalm. A compound Anthem is a Hymn or Psalm
followed by a Verse, Respond, and Prayer. A simple Anthem was used,
for example, to give an Easter, Advent, &c. character to _Venite_.
Thus Dec. 16 is marked in the Calendar as _O Sapientia_ because on that
day the following Anthem was used with Magnificat:
O Wisdom, which camest forth out of the mouth of the Most High, and
reachest from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all
things; Come and teach us the way of prudence.
These words are taken, with some alteration, from Wisd. viii. 1. On
each of the seven days which follow, until Dec. 23, a different Anthem
was used with Magnificat; and forasmuch as these eight Anthems begin
with O (O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, &c.), they were known as the
O Anthems. Similarly on The Epiphany, S. Matth. ii. 1, 2, 11 was sung
as an Antiphon to Magnificat; and on Whitsunday S. John iv. 23. {147}
These are instances of the use of simple Anthems in the Services before
1549. The following illustrates the purpose for which they were
appointed. It will be observed that the Advent thought was made to
pervade the whole Psalm.
ADVENT SETTING OF VENITE.
Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour.
O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the
strength of our Salvation. Let us come before his presence with
thanksgiving: and shew ourselves glad in him with Psalms.
Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour.
For the Lord is a great God: and a great King above all gods. In his
hand are all the corners of the earth: and the strength of the hills is
his also.
Let us go to meet our Saviour.
The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land. O
come, let us worship, and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our
Maker, for he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his
pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour.
To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in the
provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When
your fathers tempted me: proved me and saw my works.
Let us go to meet our Saviour.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said; It is a
people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
Unto whom I sware in my wrath: that they should not enter into my rest.
Behold the King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it
was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
Let us go to meet our Saviour.
Behold thy King cometh. Let us go to meet our Saviour.
{148}
THE COMPOUND ANTHEM.
The Prioress, in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, relates that a
Litel child his litel book lernynge,
As he sat in the scole in his primere,
He _O alma redemptoris_ herde synge,
As children lerned her antiphonere:
From this we understand that _O alma redemptoris_ was an "Antym" out of
the Antiphonere, or Anthem Book. This Anthem has six hexameter lines
followed by a Verse and Respond, and the Collect which we now use for
Lady Day. This, then, is what we have called the Compound Anthem.
A good example of it is found in the Prayer Book of 1549 where the
Easter Anthems, as we still call them, were ordered to be used in the
Morning afore Mattins. Their "setting" was as follows:
Christ rising again from the dead now dieth not: Death from henceforth
hath no power upon him. For in that he died, he died but once to put
away sin; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. And so likewise
count yourselves dead unto sin, but living unto God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Christ is risen again, the firstfruits of them that sleep. For seeing
that by man came death, by man also cometh the resurrection of the
dead. For as by Adam all men do die: so by Christ all men shall be
restored to life.
Hallelujah.
_The Priest_. Shew forth to all nations the glory of God.
_The Answer_. And among all people his wonderful works.
Let us pray.
O God who for our redemption didst give thine only begotten Son to the
death of the cross; and by his glorious resurrection hast delivered us
from the power of our enemy: Grant us so {149} to die daily from sin,
that we may evermore live with him, in the joy of his resurrection;
through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
The history of the transformation of this Anthem into a Psalm, as it is
now used, may be given here. In 1552 its rubric was changed to the
present form: that is, it was no longer to be used before Mattins; it
was to be sung or said instead of _Venite_. The Verse, Respond and
Collect were omitted. In 1662 _Gloria Patri_ was added, and the words
of 1 Cor. v. 7, 8 were inserted at the beginning.
The Easter Anthems, as now ordered, are most properly set as a Psalm.
With similar propriety, when they were used _before_ the Service of
Mattins, they were set as a Prayer-Anthem--beginning with the jubilance
which is expressed by the twofold Hallelujah, and gradually modulating
the jubilance in preparation for the Service which followed.
Simple Anthems were so frequent, and their changes for special
occasions were so many, that they created some confusion and intricacy
in the old Services. We may, however, recognise the beauty and
worshipfulness of the plan. In the Visitation of the Sick, the words
_O Saviour of the world_ &c. as used with Psalm lxxi. are a survival of
it. The verse _Remember not Lord_ &c. was introduced at the beginning
of the same Service, as an Anthem to Psalm cxliii. The Psalm was
omitted in 1552, but its Anthem remains.
The singing of the Psalm and Anthem will be understood from the example
quoted above--the half choir which sang the Psalm was continually
interrupted by {150} the half choir which sang the Anthem. The
following illustration is quoted (by Martene) as of the 11th century.
In this case a verse of _Magnificat_ was sung after each verse of the
Anthem.
EASTER EVE SETTING OF MAGNIFICAT.
[Transcriber's note: In the following section, in the original book,
the material in the right-hand column was italicized. In standard
Project Gutenberg practice, such text is (usually) surrounded by
underscores ("_"), but for clarity, that underscoring has been omitted
here.]
Now on the evening of the
Sabbath, as it began to dawn My soul doth magnify the
toward the first day of the Lord:
week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the
Sepulchre.
And behold, there was a And my spirit hath rejoiced
great earthquake. in God my Saviour.
For the angel of the Lord For he hath regarded the
descended from heaven, and lowliness of his handmaiden:
came and rolled back the stone for behold, from henceforth all
from the door, and sat upon it. generations shall call me blessed.
His countenance was like For he that is mighty hath
lightning, and his raiment magnified me, and holy is his
white as snow. name.
And for fear of him the And his mercy is on them
keepers did shake, and that fear him, throughout all
became as dead men. generations.
And the angel answered He hath shewed strength
and said unto the women, Fear with his arm; he hath scattered
not ye; for I know that ye the fraud in the imagination
seek Jesus, which was crucified. of their hearts.
He is not here: for he is risen,
as he said.
Come, see the place where He hath put down the
the Lord lay. mighty from their seat, and
hath exalted the humble and
meek.
And go quickly, and tell He hath filled the hungry
his disciples, that he is risen with good things, and the rich
from the dead. he hath sent empty away.
{151}
In Galilee shall ye see him: He remembering his mercy
lo, I have told you. hath holpen his servant Israel.
Fear not ye; for he is risen As he promised to our forefathers,
as he said. Abraham and his seed
for ever.
And very early in the first Glory be to the Father, and
day of the week, they came to the Son, and to the Holy
unto the sepulchre at the rising Ghost:
of the sun.
And they said among themselves, As it was in the beginning,
Who shall roll us away is now, and ever shall be,
the stone, and when they looked, world without end. Amen.
they saw that it was rolled
away.
We have now given examples of Anthems, which show that they have their
name from the responding of two choirs to one another[1]. But Anthems
were not of necessity hymns of Praise. The place provided at Morning
and Evening Prayer, for the singing of an Anthem, is singularly
ill-suited to the singing of a Praise-Anthem: for it is the place also
of the Litany. It is sometimes pleaded that people grow tired of
prayer, by the end of the 3rd Collect, and need a change: hence, after
praying for three or four minutes, they rise up and sing praise for ten
minutes, before kneeling again for seven or eight minutes. If we have
grasped the reverent orderliness of the Services, we shall not easily
be persuaded that this was the design of the order at this place. We
have elsewhere shown that an Anthem here unites the Collects which
precede it, to those which follow.
{152}
We must believe that there was an intention to provide an Anthem Book.
Until this is done by authority, it would be well to distinguish, in
Hymn Books, between those Hymns which are suitable in the midst of the
Prayers, and those which are appropriate as Hymns of Praise. The same
might also be done in the Anthem Books, so that a Praise-Anthem, or
Hymn, might be sung at the close of the whole Service. A
Prayer-Anthem, or Hymn, or one upon the Redeemer's Love, and His Work
as Mediator, suits well as a modulation to the Prayers after the 3rd
Collect. And it might be sung Antiphonally.
[1] Rabanus, _De Inst. Cler._ Mart. IV. iv. 1.
{153}
CHAPTER XV.
THE SERVICE OF PRAYER.
III. The Litany.
Origin of Litanies. Some of the Offices of Holy Communion--especially
in the East--have had a portion after the Gospel very similar to what
we call a Litany. Thus in the Liturgy (i.e. Holy Communion Office) of
S. James, the Deacon says _The Universal Collect_, consisting of
fifteen suffrages (see Appendix F), each ending with, _Let us beseech
the Lord_: and the Response of the people is, _Lord have mercy_, which
is said thrice at the end of the petitions. Similar to this is _the
Prayer of Intense Supplication_, in the Liturgy of S. Chrysostom. Cf.
also the modern Liturgy of Constantinople.
We should expect to find the further development of Litanies, in
Churches where the Eastern influence was felt; it is therefore no
surprise to us, that the history of them next takes us to the Churches
of Southern France. "The South of Gaul had been colonized originally
from the Eastern shores of the Aegaean. Its Christianity came from the
same regions as its colonization. The Church of Gaul was the {154}
spiritual daughter of the Church of proconsular Asia[1]."
Pothinus, Bp of Lyons and Vienne, had come probably from Asia Minor.
When, at the age of more than 90, he was martyred (A.D. 177), his
successor as Bishop was Irenaeus, who received part of his early
education in Asia Minor from Polycarp, a disciple of S. John the
Evangelist. Other martyrs, at Vienne and Lyons, in that year (A.D.
177), had come from Asia Minor. A map will show that Vienne is about
16 miles south of Lyons. Thus from the first days of the Church in
France, a close connection existed between it and the Church in Asia
Minor.
About A.D. 467[2], Mamertus, Archbishop of Vienne, ordered Litanies to
be said in procession on the three days before Ascension Day; being
moved thereto by a succession of calamities--earthquake, war, wild
beasts invading the city itself--followed shortly by the destruction of
the royal palace in Vienne by lightning. The practice spread to
neighbouring dioceses, and was confirmed by the Council of Orleans
(A.D. 511). The three days before Ascension Day are thence called
'Rogation Days'; and processions for purposes of prayer are called
Rogations, or Litanies.
The Rogation Litanies were not adopted at Rome {155} until the time of
Leo III. (795-816): but in a time of pestilence at Rome, Gregory the
Great, A.D. 590, instituted the Sevenfold Litany of S. Mark's Day.
Gregory the Great has been called the Apostle of the English, because
he intended to come as a missionary to convert the English; and, when
prevented from so doing by his election as Bishop of Rome, sent
Augustine in his stead A.D. 596. The yearly Synod of the English
Church was appointed in 673 to be held at Cloveshoo--a place probably
near London but in the kingdom of Mercia. In 747 at a great council
held at Cloveshoo, March 12 was appointed as S. Gregory's Day; May 26
as the day of S. Augustine Archbishop of Canterbury[3]; and Gregory's
Sevenfold Litany, together with the Rogation Services, was sanctioned
for use in England, with a phrase which implies that custom had already
introduced them.
The 2nd Book of Homilies (1562. See Art. xxxv). contains a Homily for
Rogation Week in four parts--three of which appear to be designed for
the three Rogation Days, and the fourth for The Perambulation of the
Parish, or Beating of the Bounds--a custom which has survived into our
own time. The parishioners walked along the outline of the parish,
taking {156} care that at least one of them passed through any
obstruction which was built, or erected, across the boundary. Thus, if
a cottage were so built, a boy would be passed though the door and
window of it. Trees at corners were marked with a hatchet: a note book
was preserved as a guide for the next perambulation. From this useful
and ancient ceremony, Rogation Days were called by the Anglo-Saxons
Béddagas=Prayer-days, or Gang-dagas=perambulation-days. Boundary
stones, dated May 4, 1837, are to be seen in the thickets of Buckland
Woods, Devon, showing that Ascension Day was chosen in that year for
the perambulation of Ashburton. More recently the perambulation of
Exeter has been performed on Ascension Day. The steps by which the
religious dedication of the year's work, at each centre of agricultural
industry, passed into a municipal ceremony accompanied by social
amenities, may be conjectured. It was still a religious
service--partly in the church and partly in the fields, in the time of
Queen Elizabeth, and much later.
Litanies, however, have ceased to be processions. They are not said
walking, but kneeling. The Litany is to be said at some different
place from the Morning Prayer: for, in the Commination it is ordered,
that part shall be said by the Minister in the Reading Pew, or Pulpit,
and the rest "in the place where they are accustomed to say the
Litany." Since this recognises an accustomed place, the kneeling desk
or fald-stool[4], placed "in front of the chancel door," or "in {157}
the midst of the Church" (Injunctions of Edw. VI.), appears to be
intended.
For the order to kneel to say the Litany, we must refer back to the
rubric at the head of the Collects in Morning Prayer, where the words,
_all kneeling_, were added in 1662 (see p. 130).
The place of the Faldstool may have been suggested by Joel ii. 17, _Let
the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the
altar_.
Structure of the Litany.
The Litany is a series of prayers addressed mainly to God the Son. It
has two breaks, or interruptions, which consist of prayers addressed to
God the Father. Thus there are five sections.
Section i. from the beginning, to _O Christ, hear us_.
Thirty petitions to Jesus under the title _Good Lord_, with invocation
of Holy Trinity at the beginning, and urgent entreaty at the end.
Section ii. from _Lord, have mercy upon us_, to _world without end_.
Amen.
Earnest appeal to the Father, with _Lesser Litany_ as preface to the
Lord's Prayer.
Section iii. _From our enemies_, to _O Lord Christ_.
Eight Antiphonal prayers to Christ.
{158}
Section iv. _O Lord, let thy mercy_, to end of occasional prayers and
thanksgivings.
One fixed, and other variable, prayers for urgent needs.
Section v. The Prayer of S. Chrysostom, addressed to Christ, and the
Benediction 2 Cor. xiii.
NOTES.
i. The Invocation of the Holy Trinity in the 1st Section is very full,
and should be compared with the Invocation which is used in Section ii.
as a preface to the Lord's Prayer.
The words, _Good Lord_, are spoken to Jesus: as we may easily infer
from the words, _whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood_;
and from, _By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation, By thine Agony and
bloody Sweat_ &c. _Son of God, O Lamb of God, O Christ_.
ii. The Lesser Litany is to be repeated, verse by verse, by the
congregation; copying, in this respect, the setting of the Invocation
at the beginning of Section i. The beginning of the Section being thus
marked, the end of it is marked by the _Gloria Patri_.
iii. We shall show that these eight verses are probably intended for
Antiphonal singing.
iii. and iv. The Sarum Litany had here 10 couplets of versicles and
seven collects. Of these seven collects we may mention, _O God, whose
nature and property_ &c., _the Prayer for Clergy and People_, and the
2nd Evening Collect, _O God, from whom_ &c.
The substitution of the two sections, as they now stand, may be quoted
as an example of the improvements which were effected in the Revision
period.
{159}
iv. The 4th Section includes various prayers of the _Amen_ form. The
first of these may be known as the Collect of Complete Confidence. It
is made up of two older prayers, and the couplet which precedes it
expresses each of those two older prayers in a brief sentence. Thus
the couplet anticipates the Collect. [See also p. 128.]
The other prayers of this Section usually have equivalents in the first
Section. The repetition is made because of some urgency due to the
circumstances of the time. Thus, we have prayed for the Clergy
already, but in Ember Weeks we add, in the 4th Section, a Collect for
the Candidates for Ordination. Or again, we have prayed for sick
people, but at this point we may add a Collect for the time of any
common Plague or Sickness. Similarly, we have prayed for the
preservation of the fruits of the Earth, but may add a prayer here for
Rain, or Fair weather, or for cheapness and plenty.
Section i. Our cry to Christ.
The distinguishing feature of the Litany is that it uses a worship-form
which is not used elsewhere in the Prayer Book. The Minister dictates
briefly the subject of the Prayer, which is then made by the voices of
the People. These are called Suffrages (from _suffragium_, Latin for a
vote in favour, or approbation). That part of the Litany which is made
in this way is very full and detailed. Students should also notice the
variety of its phrases, and the beauty of its rhythm.
The use of such a form is ancient, and the Revisers in 1549 had the
substance ready to their hand. Comparing the older Litany with that
which we use, we note that the Revisers have frequently combined
several suffrages to make one suffrage, as in the following instance:
{160}
By thine Agony and bloody By thy Passion and Cross:
Sweat; by thy Cross and deliver us, O Lord.
Passion; by thy precious Death By thy precious Death:
and Burial; by thy glorious deliver us, O Lord.
Resurrection and Ascension; By thy glorious Resurrection:
and by the coming of the Holy deliver us, O Lord.
Ghost: By thy marvellous Ascension:
deliver us, O Lord.
Good Lord, deliver us. By the grace of the Holy
Spirit the Comforter: deliver
us, O Lord.
Here five suffrages are grouped into one. In like manner four are
grouped in the suffrage, _From all evil and mischief_ &c.
The number of petitions was further reduced by the omission of all the
prayers to the Saints, entreating them to pray for us. These were very
numerous--28 fixed; and 40 more, which varied according to the week-day.
The petitions which were then introduced present two features which
should be carefully studied--_Duplication_ and _Wreathing_[5].
_Duplication_ has been already explained (see p. 33), and is here of
the Progressive sort. We give numerous instances below. _Wreathing_
is when two phrases have two members each, and are united by taking the
two first members together, and the two second members together.
A simple instance of this is found in the union of the phrases,
_by their preaching they may set forth,_
_and by their living they may shew accordingly_
{161} the Word of God. These, being wreathed together, become _that by
their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it
accordingly_.
In such combinations it is necessary that the ideas shall be in harmony
with one another. God's truth is set forth in sermons, and shewn in
the preacher's life: with rather less exactness, but with sufficient
truth, and with admirable suggestion, we may say that God's truth is
set forth in the good life of a preacher, and shewn in his sermons.
One of the best instances of Wreathing is in the combination of the
three phrases
_succour all that are in danger,_
_help all that are in necessity,_
_comfort all that are in tribulation._
Danger, Necessity, and Tribulation are in progressive order of
calamity. In danger, the calamity may be avoided--we want support for
our own strength: in necessity, the blow has fallen--we want help at
once from outside: in tribulation, the disaster has come--we want
comfort.
If we have understood Progressive Duplication, we shall at once see
that Wreathing is used in unison with it.
It is convenient to describe the 1st section of the Litany, as
consisting of four subsections, viz. Invocations, Deprecations,
Obsecrations, and Intercessions. The Invocations are said by the
Minister, and repeated by the congregation. The prayers of the other
sub-sections formerly were also said twice; but, since 1549, are said
in two parts, the congregation making the respond which contains the
prayer. This is done {162} not only for variety, but to assist the
blind, or unlearned, in uniting their voices with the rest of the
people. It is moreover an exercise of the privilege of approach to
God, granted by our Lord (1 Pet. ii. 5; S. Matth. xviii. 19, 20), which
is sometimes forgotten in thoughts of the ministry which He appointed.
_Progressive Duplication &c._
The groups of sins and sufferings from which we desire to be delivered
supply instances of progress, from that which is less, to that which is
more, serious. Most of these are obvious, and call for no further
remark.
Deprecations (Prayer for deliverance).
1. _Spare thy people, O Lord_: Joel ii. 17.
2. _Crafts and assaults_: The crafty enemy is one who cannot, or dare
not, attack openly. Hence assaults imply greater strength, or greater
courage, than crafts.
3. Of personal defects, _Blindness of heart_ may be due at first to
causes for which we are not responsible. _Pride_ is that which is too
well satisfied with itself: _Vain-glory_ is that which seeks admiration
from others; _Hypocrisy_ is that which seeks admiration on false
pretences.
_Envy_ is the desire to injure, and grows into _Hatred_, which has
perhaps a vestige of candour that is absent from _Malice_.
3 and 4. _Deadly sin_. All sin is deadly unless it is forgiven by God;
on the other hand "after we have {163} received the Holy Ghost, we may
depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we
may arise again, and amend our lives," "the grant of repentance is not
to be denied to such" (Article xvi.). It should be remembered that our
Lord has taught us to interpret the Commandments inclusively, so that
they comprise all duties, and all sins--envy, hatred, and malice, as
well as murder, for instance. The old distinction between deadly sins
and venial sins has in it only an element of truth. Those named deadly
sins were Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Anger, Sloth. Of
these Pride, Lust, and Envy are mentioned here, being notable amongst
sins which war against the Soul. Two phrases here include all sins:
"all deadly sin," and, "the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the
devil." It is not easy to decide whether such a sin as Idleness falls
under the head of Covetousness, or Sloth, or Pride; nor whether it is a
deceit of the World, the Flesh, or the Devil. These classifications
do, however, help in self-examination, and sometimes suggest helps in
the battle against our sins.
5. _Plague, Pestilence, and Famine_ form a group in which we see that
Famine is the most serious, because it attacks the whole community.
Plague is a disease which befalls us as a blow (_plege_); Pestilence is
a disease which spreads from one to another. Science tends to enlarge
the host of pestilences, and diminish the number of death-blows which
cannot be explained. It is apparent that a disease which spreads
through a community is more dreadful than one which singles out one
person or many.
{164}
_battle, murder, and sudden death_, are blows which may fall upon us;
it is not prayer that we may be delivered from being soldiers, and from
the crime of murder.
6. _sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion_: sedition is the
thought; conspiracy, the plan; and rebellion, the action--of a subject
against the Government.
_false doctrine, heresy and schism_: false doctrine is the thought;
heresy, the plan; and schism, the action--of a Churchman against the
Church, and its Lord.
_hardness of heart_, is a disposition to disobey what we know to be the
command of God. If not checked, it grows into actual _contempt of His
Word and Commandment_.
Obsecrations. (Entreaty mentioning the plea.)
7 and 8. _Incarnation_: S. John i. 14; Rom. i. 3.
_Nativity_: S. Luke ii. 11. Circumcision: S. Luke ii. 21.
_Baptism_: S. Matth. iii. 16.
_Fasting and Temptation_: S. Luke iv. 1, 2.
_Agony and Bloody Sweat_: S. Luke xxii. 44.
_Cross and Passion_: S. Matth. xxvii. 41-46; Heb. v. 7.
_Death and Burial_: S. Mark xv. 44, 45.
_Resurrection_: S. Matth. xxviii. 5-7.
_Ascension_: Acts i. 9; 1 Tim. iii. 16.
_The Coming of the Holy Ghost_: Acts ii. 32, 33.
9. _Tribulation, Wealth, Death, Judgment_ are the four times of special
need.
Tribulation is derived from threshing, or crushing.
{165}
Wealth is well-doing, or welfare. Prosperity and Adversity are both
times of temptation.
Intercessions. (Prayer for others.)
10. _Universal_ is equivalent to Catholic.
11. _Governor_ refers to the relation of the Sovereign to the Church.
12. _faith, fear, and love_, an ascending order of submission to God.
_affiance_=trust.
11, 14. The names of the Sovereign, and of the Royal Family, vary in
these petitions. A Prayer Book of 1682 has King Charles, Queen
Catherine, and James Duke of York. In 1801, King George, Queen
Charlotte, George Prince of Wales, and the Princess of Wales. In 1850,
Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and Albert Prince of Wales. The date of
a Prayer Book is sometimes omitted from a title page, but may be learnt
from these petitions more accurately than from the Table of Moveable
Feasts. It is, I believe, left to the Sovereign to say who is to be
mentioned, and by what titles.
15. _Bishops_: successors of the Apostles as Overseers of the Churches
(1 Tim. i. 3; 2 Tim. ii. 2; Tit. i. 5, ii. 15). The word _epirkopos_(=
overseer) is contracted into Bishop in many languages, with slight
differences, e.g. Old English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Cornish. In
Spanish it becomes Obispo; in Italian, Vescovo; in French, Évêque.
_Priests_: successors of the Elders, or Presbyters, who ministered in
congregations (Acts xx. 17). As the Bishop has the Oversight of many
congregations with their Priests and Deacons, so the Priest {166} has
the Oversight of one congregation, or Parish. In this sense he might
be called Overseer, or Bishop, of that Parish, and S. Paul's use of
this word in 1 Tim. iii. has suggested that, while the Apostles lived,
the word Bishop was used as much in this sense as in the other. When
the word Bishop was required for the Apostolic office, the word Priest
remained for the second Order of the ministry. Priest is contracted
from Presbyter, and appears with slight variations in many languages.
_Deacons_. The Seven appointed in Acts vi. are not there called
deacons, but they are assumed to be the first who were appointed to
that office, or order of the Ministry. In some ancient churches they
retained the practice of having seven deacons.
The word means Minister, and has come from the Greek into many
languages with slight variations. Like the word Bishop, it is used in
the N.T. of other orders of the Ministry (S. Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 5; 2
Cor. iii. 6; Eph. iii. 7, &c.: Epaphras, Col. i. 7: Tychicus, Eph. vi.
21: Timothy, 1 Tim. iv. 6: Archippus, Col. iv. 17). Although in 1 Tim.
iv. 6 the word is used of Timothy, who was receiving commandment as
overseer of all the Clergy at Ephesus, we find in 1 Tim. iii. 8-10 that
Deacons were already Church Ministers, with official duties (1 Tim.
iii. 10)[6].
{167}
shew it _accordingly_: i.e. shew it in accordance with their preaching.
The "teaching" and "living" must agree together.
16. The Council of the King of England had, from of old, the duty of
making, or approving, the choice of the King, and advising him on
matters of state, and of law. Many of its duties have been deputed to
Committees, to Judges, and to Parliament. The Cabinet of Chief
Ministers of State may be regarded as a Committee of the King's Council.
In the reign of Charles II., when the Prayer Book was last revised, the
Council was still the body whose advice guided the King, although it
was growing too large for the secrecy which is often necessary in such
weighty matters. It is still a very great honour to be made a Privy
Councillor, but the Privy Council very seldom, or never, meets for
business except by its Committees, which are not chosen by the Council.
When therefore we use this petition, we may think rather of the members
of the Cabinet than of those whom the King has honoured with the title
of Privy Councillor. A petition for the House of Commons might with
advantage be introduced into the Litany.
17. _to execute justice_, in the case which is being tried, is the
first duty of a magistrate; _to maintain truth_ is also his duty, for
he must have regard to other cases which will come before the Court.
18. This concludes the petitions for our own nation. We now go on to
things which affect all nations alike.
19. _Unity, peace, and concord_. The general meaning of these words is
the same, but there may {168} be unity without peace, and peace without
concord: therefore we pray for all the three; and concord is placed
last as being the inward temper which gives reality to unity and peace.
20. Here the order is reversed--proceeding from love which is the
highest kind of bond, to _dread_ which should keep us from
disobedience, and coming finally to the outward result viz. _a diligent
life of obedience to the commandments_.
21. Takes up the last thought of the previous suffrage.
The life of obedience is here traced from hearing to receiving, and so,
_to the fruits of the Spirit_ (see Gal. V. 22-24).
22. _Erred_ is when the fault is in ourselves only; _deceived_ is when
we give way to the evil guidance of others.
23. Those who _stand_ need strength: those who are _weak-hearted_ need
comfort and help: those who _fall_, restoration.
24. See p. 161.
25. Emigration has become more common since this petition was prepared:
those who settle in foreign lands should here be remembered.
_Captives_ are war-prisoners.
26. We may mentally supply the thought of _motherless_ children.
Widows may be supposed to include widowers. Both sexes are described
as widows in some parts of England. All kinds of bereavement are of
course included in _desolate and oppressed_.
27. Just as 19 concluded a section of petitions {169} for our own
nation, so 27 concludes a section about the people of all nations. 28
adds a petition which the Lord particularly enjoined (S. Matth. v. 44).
28. _enemies, persecutors_, and _slanderers_--in ascending order of
malignity. Similarly in the Commandments, where the worst sin of each
sort is the one mentioned, we find false witness, or slander, named, in
the Commandment which forbids all falsehood.
_and to turn their hearts_--a nobler prayer even than asking God to
forgive them: for when we have asked Him for their forgiveness, we may
still long to overcome their hostility, rather than to see it
withdrawn. As Christ's disciples we here desire to forego our triumph,
and to rejoice over their conversion from evil.
29. Kindly fruits of the earth. 'Kindly' means 'natural'; from an Old
English word 'cynd' or 'gecynd,' meaning _nature, kind, manner,
condition_. (Cf. Gen. i. 11, 12, 21, 24, 25.)[7]
30. Although forgiveness is granted through the death of our Lord,
repentance is that condition of our souls wherein the forgiveness
cleanses them. _Repentance_ is therefore asked for first, then
_Forgiveness, Grace_, and _Amendment_.
_Sins, negligences, and ignorances_: cf. General Confession, 'left
undone'=negligence; 'done'=sins; 'no health in us' supplying the other
defects, which are here set down to ignorance. We are called to a holy
life, and therefore faults due to ignorance need {170} amendment and
pardon, as well as faults which come of conscious disobedience to God's
commands.
At the close of these petitions, the cry becomes more urgent. Our Lord
warned us against vain repetitions--repetitions without meaning. The
repetitions here are not vain--they express deep feelings, and anxious
entreaty.
Section ii. Our cry to the Father in Heaven.
The couplet
_O Lord, deal not with us_, &c.
_Neither reward us_, &c.
belongs to the _Prayer of the Contrite Heart_, and is a summary of it.
It is taken from Psalm ciii. 10. It offers no excuse but owns that we
have sinned and are in wretched plight, as does the prayer which
follows. This prayer was taken from the Sarum Missal, where it stands
in a Mass for Tribulation of heart.
Ps. li. 17 supplies the thought of, that _despisest not--the contrite
heart_, which is interwoven with, _sorrowful sighing_, from Psalm
lxxix. 12.
We base our claim upon our forlorn condition, and appeal to God's mercy.
Note the repetition _merciful--mercifully--graciously--goodness_. The
temper of the prayer is of kin to Psalm lxix. which--especially in verses
13 to 21, and in its final thankfulness, as sure of God's help--may have
inspired its words and thoughts.
_Psalm xliv_. _1st and last verses_. Doubtless an abbreviation of the
whole psalm, which stood at the beginning of the 3rd Rogation Litany.
{171}
If it be thought that the Gloria Patri occurs as a surprise in the
midst of these entreaties, we may notice (1) that all entreaties are
more real when they recognise truly the Majesty of God; and (2) that S.
Augustine's processional Litany when he came to Canterbury (A.D. 596)
concluded with Alleluia. "We beseech thee, O Lord, in all Thy mercy,
that Thy wrath and Thine anger may be removed from this city and from
Thy holy house, for we have sinned. Alleluia." (Taken from the 2nd
Rogation Litany), (3) the _Gloria Patri_ is always said after a Psalm
in the Services, and sometimes after parts of a Psalm.
Section iii. Appeal for help.
The eight versicles which follow next are addressed to Christ, and in
most editions of the Prayer Book are separated by a small space from
the Verse and Respond,
_Priest_. O Lord, let thy mercy, &c.
_Answer_. As we do put, &c.
These eight versicles were, even in 1544, distinguished from those two,
although they were then all marked to be said responsorially. In 1549
the direction for responsorial use was omitted for the eight verses,
and retained for the couplet which anticipates the next collect. We
may infer from this that it is intended that the eight verses should be
said, or sung, antiphonally. In the Sarum Use (3rd Litany for S.
Mark's Day), they were all to be said, first by the Minister, and
repeated by the People.
The eight versicles form a section by themselves, and have a different
setting from the sections which {172} precede and follow them. It was,
no doubt, intended to make this 3rd Section a very solemn appeal to
Christ, for help in all those difficulties and anxieties which have
been recited in Section i.; and to make this appeal more earnest,
_because_ of the evil plight which is acknowledged in Section ii.
The phrases are freely translated from the Latin of the Sarum Use,
suggested by a thorough knowledge of the Psalms, but not, we believe,
to be regarded as quotations therefrom. _O Son of David_ was
substituted for _Fili Dei vivi_, in making the translation. There is
not sufficient ground for supposing that it was done by accident. In
the appeal for a merciful hearing, it is right to ground it first upon
His Human Nature as Son of Man, and then upon His Divine Nature as
Christ, and Lord.
Section iv. The pressing anxieties of the moment.
The _Collect of Complete Confidence_, with its Verse and Respond, is
placed here to strike the keynote of the Section: and the Section is
filled up from the Occasional Prayers, or from the Collects after the
Communion Service.
This is obviously the place where other prayers may be introduced, when
urgent needs require them.
The _Verse and Respond_: Psalm xxxiii. 22. The first half of the
Collect was formerly a complete prayer, separated from the other half,
in the Litany of 1544, by _O God whose nature_, &c., the prayer _for
{173} Clergy and People_, and another prayer. The Verse contains the
thought of the first half, the Respond has the thought of the second
half.
Since the special prayers which are used in this Section are only
occasional, and rarely more than one or two at a time, they were all
placed (1662) in a chapter by themselves, after the end of the Litany.
Section v. _The final commendation of our prayers to Christ, who makes
them acceptable_: See Morning and Evening Prayer.
[1] Lightfoot, _Apost. Fathers_, Pt. II. vol. 1. p. 446.
[2] This date is variously stated. Hotham in _Dict. Chr. Ant._ vol.
11. says 477; Scudamore in the same vol. 452; Hooker 'about 450';
Burbidge 450; Maclear (S.P.C.K.) and Prayer Book Interleaved 460;
Proctor 'about 460'; Daniel, J. H. Blunt, and Barry 467. The dates
_known_ of Mamertus are between 463 and 474. (Professor Collins tells
me no others are known.)
[3] In some Churches this day was the Festival of Augustine, Bp of
Hippo. The Calendar of Le Bec, however, sets it down to our Augustine,
as our own Calendar does. I do not know whether this agreement between
them was after, or before, that famous Abbey sent us Lanfranc and
Anselm to be successors of Augustine at Canterbury.
[4] Fald-stool. Faudestola (whence French, fauteuil) is said by
Martene to be adopted into Latin; and by Brachet is traced to a German
origin, Falt-stuol. The idea of these derivations is, that the
Prie-dieu, or kneeling-desk, was able to fold up and be made, perhaps,
a chair. But the connection with Rogations suggests (A.S.) Feald-stól,
or Feld-stól (German Feld-stuhl), i.e. a moveable seat (cf. camp-stool).
[5] See George Herbert's poem, "A wreath."
[6] The settlement of words of general meaning, into titles of office,
is frequent enough to supply ample illustration of the process briefly
indicated above. Pastor, General, Major, Mayor, and many other words,
including Rector, Vicar, Curate, may be traced through changes which
are often singularly similar to those of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon.
It is a natural process--so natural as to be almost invariable.
[7] The Greek Translation of our Prayer Book has _oraious_, timely or
seasonable: the German has "lieben," dear, beloved, or kindly in the
other sense, which, though as old as Chaucer's time, is not the meaning
here.
APPENDIX C.
ON THE LESSONS IN THE DAY HOURS, (p. 55.)
The Preface to the Prayer Book _Concerning the Service of the Church_
states that, prior to 1549, the old order, for reading the greatest
part of the Bible through every year, had been "so altered, broken, and
neglected, that commonly when any book of the Bible was begun, after
three or four chapters were read out, all the rest were unread."
There was a First Lesson from the Old Testament, a Second Lesson from a
Commentary, and a Third Lesson from the New Testament.
{174}
On certain days, each Lesson consisted of three parts; and the second
and third parts of the Third Lesson were from a Commentary.
The occurrence of Saints' Days was so frequent as to disturb many of
these: for the special Lessons of a Saint's Day were read, instead of
those of the regular course.
The theory of reading the whole books had been maintained; but it broke
down in practice.
It is worthy of notice that these various Lessons, from the Bible, from
Commentaries, and from the acts and martyrdoms of Saints, were all
"set" with Verses, Responds etc. so as to be Acts of Worship, as well
as a means of Instruction.
APPENDIX D.
ON PLINY'S LETTER TO THE EMPEROR TRAJAN. (p. 107.)
[Pliny the younger was Governor of Pontus and Bithynia during some of
the early years of the 2nd century. Trajan was Emperor from A.D. 98 to
117. The letter, from which we give some extracts, has been dated (Bp
Lightfoot) A.D. 112. It shows that the marvellous spreading of the
Faith took place in the face of laws which made it a crime to be a
Christian: and that the closest enquiry on Pliny's part made him aware
of their high moral standard, and of the stedfastness of their
devotion.]
"* * * The method I have observed towards those who have been brought
before me as Christians is this; I interrogated them whether they were
Christians; {175} if they confessed, I repeated the question twice,
adding threats at the same time; and if they still persevered, I
ordered them to be immediately punished. For, I was persuaded,
whatever the nature of their opinions might be, a contumacious and
inflexible obstinacy certainly deserves correction. * * * An
information was presented to me without any name subscribed, containing
a charge against several persons; these, upon examination, denied they
were, or ever had been, Christians. They repeated after me an
invocation to the gods, and offered religious rites with wine and
frankincense before your statue * * * and even reviled the name of
Christ; whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really
Christians, into any of these compliances. * * * The rest owned indeed
they had been of that number formerly, but had now (some above three,
others more, and a few above twenty years ago) renounced that error. *
* * They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that
they met on a certain stated day before it was light, and addressed
themselves in a form of prayer to Christ, as to some god, binding
themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design,
but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery; never to falsify
their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver
it up: after which, it was their custom to separate, and then
reassemble to eat in common a harmless meal. * * * Great numbers must
be involved in the danger of these prosecutions which have already
extended and are still likely to extend, to persons of all ranks and
ages, and even of both sexes. In fact, this contagious superstition is
not confined to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the
neighbouring villages and country. * * *"
_Melmoth's Translation_ (1747).
{176}
APPENDIX E.
ON THE ADDITION OF "FILIOQUE" TO THE CREED. (p. 124.)
The Nicene Creed (325) had the words "_Proceeding from the Father_":
the Council of Ephesus (431[1]) decreed that no addition was to be made
to the Creed, as there settled. When, however, the question was raised
whether we ought not to say "proceeding from the Father, _and the Son_
(Filioque)," various Scripture phrases were adduced in support of it:
such as, _the Spirit of Christ_ (Rom. viii. 9), _the Spirit of His Son_
(Gal. iv. 6), _the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ_ (Phil. i. 19),
_the Spirit of Christ_ (1 Pet. i. 11). Also S. John xv. 26, xvi. 7,
xx. 32, and the general similarity of expressions which, speaking of
the Holy Spirit, refer to the Father, and to the Son.
The Eastern Churches were opposed to the addition of the words, "and
from the Son." The Western Churches were, mainly, in favour of it.
The controversy lasted from the 5th to the 11th century, and resulted
in the schism which still separates the Eastern and Western Churches.
It is usually agreed that the difference is not one of doctrine. The
Easterns prefer the phrase "receiving from the Son": the Westerns
prefer to assert afresh the equality of the Father and the Son, by
using the phrase, "proceeding from the Father and the Son." It may be
{177} doubted whether the words should have been added without the
assent of a General Council. But there is no denial of the equality of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in the Eastern, nor in the
Western, Churches.
[1] On p. 124, we have accidentally written 'Chalcedon' for 'Ephesus':
and _vice versâ_. The dates are correctly given on pp. 122, 123.
APPENDIX F.
ON THE GREEK ORIGIN OF LITANIES (p. 153).
_Litany_ comes from the Greek _litaneia_.
_lite_ means a prayer; whence (_litanos_) one who prays; _litaneuo_ to
be a person who prays; _litaneia_ a continued prayer. Thus _Litany_
has the meaning of "prolonged prayers."
In _the (Greek) Liturgy of S. James_, there are three Bidding Prayers
(besides the "Diptychs"), which have something of the Litany Form. The
following suffrages are selected from the one to which we have referred:
"_The Deacon_. Let us beseech the Lord in peace.
_The Laity_. Lord, have mercy.
_The Deacon_. O God, by thy love grant us safety, mercy, compassion,
and protection. _The Laity_. Lord, have mercy.
_The Deacon_. For the peace that is from above, for the love of God
towards man, and for the safety of our souls, let us beseech the Lord.
_The Laity_ (after each suffrage). Lord, have mercy.
_The Deacon_. For the peace of the whole world, and the unity of all
the holy churches of God, let us &c.
{178}
For those who bear fruit and do good in the holy churches of God, those
who remember the poor, the widows, and fatherless, strangers and needy
persons, and for those who have bidden us to remember them in our
prayers, let us &c.
For those who are in old age and weakness, by disease or illness, for
those who are oppressed by unclean spirits, for their speedy recovery
and safety through God's help, let us &c.
For those who pass their lives in singleness, devotion, or meditation,
for those in holy matrimony, those engaged in life's battle in
mountains, and caves, and pits of the earth, our holy fathers and
brothers, let us &c.
For Christian sailors, travellers, strangers, and those in captivity,
in exile, those in prisons, and bitter slavery, being our brethren, for
their return in peace, let us &c.
For the remission of our sins, and pardon of our faults, and for our
deliverance from all tribulation, anger, danger, and necessity, and
from the rising-up of enemies, let us &c.
For a mild season, gentle rains, and kindly dews, for plenteous crops,
and a perfect year crowned (with His goodness), let us &c.
For those who are present and pray with us at this sacred hour and at
any time, our fathers and brothers, for their earnestness, toil, and
readiness of heart, let us beseech the Lord.
That our prayer may be heard, and may be acceptable before God; and
that his mercies and compassions may be poured abundantly upon us, let
us beseech the Lord."
* * * * * * * *
{179}
DATES.
The principal dates which are of use in reading this book fall into
four groups:
1. The Early Church.
2. The Discussion of the Creed.
3. The Growth of Services.
4. The Growth of the English Services.
There is of course a certain amount of overlapping: but this will be
readily understood. The reader will also easily guess when the years
mentioned are those of a life, or those of a reign.
Early Dates.
A.D. A.D.
14-37. Tiberius, emp.
54-68. Nero, emp.
98-117. Trajan, emp. 112. Pliny's letter.
55-(117). Tacitus, hist.
-(120). Suetonius, hist.
138-161. Antoninus Pius, emp. 140. Justin's 1st Apology.
70-156. Polycarp, Bp.
161-180. Marcus Aurelius, emp. 86-117. Pothinus, Bp.
(125)-202. Irenaeus, Bp.
-(222). Tertullian.
-253. Origen.
-253. Cyprian, Bp.
306-337. Constantine, emp.
{180}
The discussion of the Articles of the Creed.
Doubts. Writers. Councils. Creed.
First & second
centuries.
Ebionites. Irenaeus,
abt 180.
Tertullian,
abt 200.
Docetae.
Gnostics.
Third century. Cyprian, Bp, ? Apostles'
? 253. Creed.
Sabellians.
Arians.
Fourth century. Athanasius, Bp, Nicaea, 325. ) Nicene
(300)-371. ) Creed
)
Basil, Bp, )
329-379 )
)
Apollinarians. Ambrose, Bp, Constantinople, )
340-397. 381. )
Chrysostom, Bp,
(347)-407.
Fifth century. Jerome,
346-420.
Nestorians. Augustine, Bp, Ephesus, 431.
354-430.
Eutychians, or ) Chalcedon, 461.
Monophysites. )
Seventh century.
Monothelites. Constantinople, 'Athanasian'
680. Creed.
{181}
DATES CONNECTED WITH THE
Growth of the Christian Service Books.
A.D.
112. Pliny's Letter.
140. Justin Martyr's 1st Apology.
340-397. Ambrose, Bp of Milan.
347-407. Chrysostom, Bp of Constantinople.
Before 400. Clementine Liturgy.
463-474. Mamertus, Bp of Vienne. _Litanies_.
590-604. Gregory, Bp of Rome. _Litany: Sacramentary_.
Sacramentaries of 7th century, &c., representing
work of
440-461. Leo, Bp of Rome.
492-496. Gelasius, Bp of Rome.
590-604. Gregory, Bp of Rome.
742-814. Charlemagne. Abolition of Gallican Liturgy.
747. Great Council of Cloveshoo.
DATES CONNECTED WITH THE
Growth of the Service Books in England.
200. Christianity already established in Britain. (_Tertullian_.)
314. Council at Arles in France. Three British Bishops signed.
596-605. Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury.
664. Council of Whitby.
747. The great Council of Cloveshoo.
Restraints upon the influence of the Pope in England.
1215. Magna Charta.
1279. Statute of Mortmain.
1351. Statute of Provisors.
1352. Statute of Praemunire.
{182}
Translations of the Bible Revisions of the Prayer Book
in England. in England.
8th century. Psalms (_Saxon_).
The Gospels (_Egbert_).
S. John (_Bede_).
880. The Psalms (_King Alfred_).
1085. The Sarum Use.
1380-4. Wyclifs Bible.
1526-31. Tyndale.
1535. Coverdale.
1539. Cranmer (The Great Bible).
1545. The King's Primer.
1548. The Order of the Communion.
1549. First Revision in English.
1552. Second Revision in English.
1553. (Latin) Uses restored.
1558-9. Third Revision in English.
1568. The Bishops' Bible.
1604. Fourth Revision.
1611. The Authorised Version.
1645-60. Prayer Book forbidden
by the Long Parliament.
1661-2. Fifth Revision.
1871. New Lectionary.
1872. Shortened Services allowed.
1881, 1885. The Revised Version.
{183}
INDEX.
Absolution, 29, 31, 35
Alcuin, 140
Alexandrine MS., 65, 69
Ambrose, Bp of Milan, 42, 43, 57 n., 63, 65, 78
Amen, 18, 20, 23, 37, 127-8, 159
Anthem, 20, 22, 28, 128, 142, 146-152
Antiphon, 9, 10, 19, 60, 132, 133, 134, 146
Antiphonal, 3, 40, 128, 157, 158
Antiphonary, 128, 134, 135, 148
Apocrypha, 51, 56
Apollinarian, 124
Arian and Arius, 110, 120, 122
Athanasian, see Creed
Athanasius, 124
Augustine, Archbp of Canterbury, 155, 171
Augustine, Bp of Hippo, 65, 78, 94, 124, 155
Authorised, see Bible
Basil, Bp of Caesarea, 29 n., 70, 144
Benedicite, 11, 63, 77, 78-81, 88
Benedictus, 62, 63, 83-6
Bible, 47-57, 182
-- Authorised V., 40, 41
-- Bishops', 11, 41
-- Great, 41
-- Revised V., 182
-- Wyclif, 13
Breviary, 59, 132, 134
Bright, 135, 139, 140
Calendar, 57
Cambridge Companion, 47
Canon, 57
Cantate, 63, 77, 81
Canticles, 4, 9, 37, 39, 41, 57, 59, 61, 88
Capitulum, 61, 62
Cartwright, 20, 22
Catholic Church, 105, 107, 112, 120, 121-2
Catholic Religion, 101, 125
Chalcedon Council, 97, 122, 124
Chant, 39
Charlemagne, 124, 140
Chaucer, 148
Choral Singing, 3
Christian Verity, 101, 125
Chrysostom, Bp of Constantinople, 54 n., 143, 144, 153, 158
Clementine Liturgy, 144
Cloveshoo, 155
Collecta, Collectio, 139, 140
Collects, 9, 10, 28, 127-142
Combination of Services, 9-10
Communion, Holy, 5, 10, 58, 59, 131
Communion of Saints, 112
Compline, 7, 43, 60, 63
Confession, 10, 24, 28, 30-32, 35
Consubstantial, 126
Continuous Singing, 3
Controversy, 118-123
Corinth, 18
Cosin, Bp of Durham, 61, 117 n.
Creeds, 89-94
Creed, Apostles', 28, 39, 91-8, 104-114, 116, 118
Creed, Athanasian, 92, 99, 101, 115-126
Creed, Nicene, 92, 94, 110, 114, 116, 118, 126
Cyprian, Bp of Carthage, 66, 72
Daily Service, 25, 26
Day Hours, 6, 8, 9, 10, 60, 61, 63-4, 132, 173
Deus Misereatur, 63, 83, 88
Direct Singing, 3
Docetae, 110, 121
Doxology, 24, 27, 37, 53, 70, 131
Doxology in Te Deum, 74
Duplication, 33, 34, 35, 160, 161, 162-4
Ebionite, 119
Edward VI., 26, 27, 41, 134
Ember Prayers, 144
-- Week, 159
Ephesus Council, 18
Eusebius, 95
Eutyches, Eutychian, 122, 123
Evangelistarium, see Lectionaries
Evensong, 10, 42, 141, 142, and see Mattins
Excursus, 113
Exhortation, 29, 30, 34
Extempore worship, 1, 2, 17
Faldstool, 156-7
Festivals, 44
Forms of worship, 2, 3, 4, 17
Gallican Church, 61
Gelasian Sacramentary, 137, 141, 143, 144
Gelasius, 136
Gloria Patri, 4, 10, 11, 28, 37, 39, 40, 74, 114, 116-7,
129, 149, 158, 172
Gnostic, 121
Gradual, 135
Great Bible, see Bible
Gregory the Great, 135, 155
Hampton Court Conference, 40
Haphtarah, 53
Harvey Goodwin, 92, 116
Hebrew, 18
Henry VIII., 41
Hilary of Arles, 78, 124
-- Poictiers, 78
Homilies, 155
Honorius, 122
Hook, 57
Hooker, 20, 22
Hours of Prayer, 5-6
Hymns, 9, 39, 44, 60-2, 66, 69, 76, 77
Hymn, Greek, 71
Intention, 15, 17, 24, 44
Intercessions, 161, 165-9
Interjectional, 20, 21, 23, 127, 128
Introductory, 29, 32
Invitatory, 40
Invocations, 161
Irenaeus, 95, 96, 97, 98, 154
Jerome, S., 42, 51, 54
Jew, 119, 121
Jewish Influence, 18
-- Lectionary, 53
Jubilate, 63, 83, 87, 88
Justification, 117
Justin Martyr, 3, 54, 58, 59
Kay, 88
Keble, 71
Keynote, 16, 24
Latin Services, 25
Lauds, 6, 7, 9, 43, 44, 60, 61, 62, 63, 87, 132
Lectern, 57
Lectionaries, 51-7, 135
Legenda, 134
Leo the Great, 136
Lessons, 9, 10, 18, 24, 28, 39, 41, 47-57, 76, 77, 82,
83, Appendix C, 173
Litany, 20, 23, 35, 153-173
-- Lesser, 9, 11, 131, 157
Liturgy, 10, 40, 41
-- of S. James, 153
Lord's Prayer, 9, 11, 12-17, 28, 37, 38, 131
Macedonius, Bp of Constantinople, 120
Magnificat, 63, 77, 78, 146-150
Mamertus, Bp of Vienne, 154
Manichaean, 121
Manual, 134
Manuscripts, 32
Map of Lessons, 64
Mattin-Lauds, 6, 7, 60, 62, 63
Mattins, 6, 7, 10, 42, 43, 141
Missal, 135
Monothelites, Monophysites, 122, 124
Morning Service, 8, 24, 25
Names and Titles, 10
Nero, 106, 107
Nestorian, 122, 123, 124
New Testament, 49
Nicene, see Creed
Nocturn, 42
None, 7, 43
Nunc Dimittis, 63, 83, 86, 87
Obsecrations, 161, 164
Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings, 131, 144, 145, 158-9
Office Hymns, 61
Old Testament, 48, 62
Ordinary, 7, 44
Original Sin, 102
Ornaments, 26, 57
O Sapientia, 146
Parascha, 53
Pater Noster, 11
Paul, S., 18
Petitions, 14
Pie, 33
Pliny, 107, Appendix D, 174-5
Polycarp, 154
Portiforium, 134
Pothinus, 154
Praise Terminations, 8-14, 30, 37, 47, 58, 63, 78
Prayers, 24, 112-144
Preceded Form, 21, 23
Preces, 21, 28, 128, 129, 130, 132-134
Predestination, 102
Preface, 33, 40-1, 43, 44, 119, 140, 165
Prime, 7, 43, 117 n.
Proper Lessons, 55
Prophets, 29, 49
Psalms, 18, 24, 28, 37-46, 100, 117 n., 132
Psalms, method of singing, 3, 4
Psalter, 41, 134
Quicunque vult, 11, 126
Reading, 30
Responds, 10, 39
Responsorial, 3, 20
Resurrection, 113, 114
Revelation, 90, 100, 104
Revision and Revisers, 26, 32, 33, 41, 129, 132, 134, 158, 159
Rogation Days, 154-6
-- Litanies, 155, 172
Rubrics, 4, 25, 32, 57, 129, 130, 131
Sabellian, 119
Sacramental, 112
Sacramentary, 135-7
Sanctification, 103
Sarum Breviary, 33, 132, 133
-- Litany, 158
Sarum Missal, 170
-- Use, 33, 43, 88, 171, 172
Scripture, Holy, 10
Seats, 57
Self-examination, 93, 94
Semi-Arian, 120
Sentences, 29
Septuagint, 43, 132
Services, 42
Setting, 15, 16, 17 n., 24, 147, 150
Sext, 7, 43
Socrates, 102, 103, 104, 105
Special Psalms, 44
Stanzas of Te Deum, 66-9
Substance, 126
Suetonius, 106
Suffrage, 159, etc.
Surplice, 26
Symbolum, 93
Synagogue Services, 18, 51, 54
Table of Worship Forms, 20
Tacitus, 106-7
Te Deum, 4, 63, 65-75, 76, 78, 83
Temple, 18
Terce, 7, 43
Tertullian, 95
Testament, O. and N., 62
Thanksgivings, 10, 14, 15, 28, 30, 144, 145
Theodosius, 42
Tiberius, 107
Translation, 41
Translators, 10, 173
Travers, Walter, 20
Uses, see Sarum
Variations, 1-4
Variety, 3
Venite, 11, 40, 146, 147, 149
Verity, Christian, 101, 125
Verse and Respond, 127, 132-4, 146, 148, 172
Versicles, 9, 10, 39
Vespers, 6, 7, 42, 43, 60, 63, 132
Vulgate, 43, 132
Witness of Bible, 104, 105, 107-114
Worship, 13, 18
-- Forms, 20, 11, 24, 127
Wreathing, 160-1
Zacharias, 84
Zechariah, 84
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