A New History of the Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer

A New History of
The Book of Common Prayer

CHAPTER X.

THE ORDER FOR DAILY MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER.

I. The Origin of Divine Service.

A LARGE part of the history of Divine Service has already been touched upon in dealing with the use of the Psalter and Lectionary: how important a part of the subject this is, can best be judged from the statement already made, that the Divine Service mainly exists for the purpose of the orderly recitation of the Psalter and reading of the Bible.

Two objects of Divine Service.

1. Use of Psalter and Bible.

In close connexion with this object another is also visible from the first, viz., to consecrate certain fixed hours of the day to prayer. This object was present to the Jewish mind, as is clear from Daniel’s practice of praying three times a day, or from the Psalmist’s mention of midnight thanksgiving and sevenfold daily prayer.¹ It was also the habit of the Apostles and others, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles² and soon became a recognized ideal of the devout Christian. The Didache prescribes the use of the Lord’s Prayer three times daily, presumably at the Third, Sixth, and Ninth hours, which are referred to as Hours of Prayer in the Acts of the Apostles, and by a long string of Fathers beginning with Clement of Alexandria (c. 195), and Tertullian (c. 200). From the same list of authorities similar testimony may be obtained to the use of a formal midnight prayer or Vigil. The custom of prayer on rising and retiring to bed hardly needs to be formally attested.³

2. Consecration of fixed hours to prayer.

The consecration of such hours as these to prayer was at first a matter of private devotion; but before long the practice received public recognition, and public services began to be devised. It was probably the Vigil or midnight service which first acquired this recognition. The early Christians were deeply impressed with the expectation that our Lord’s Second Coming, which they deemed imminent, would be at midnight and at the Paschal solemnities. The night preceding Easter was therefore kept as a Vigil with continuous services preparatory to Easter Communion. By a natural process the Vigil was repeated before other Sundays, and in some cases before Saturdays, that is to say, in places where Saturday was observed as a day of special solemnity. And so it came to be considered a natural preparation for any great day, and was prefixed also to Saints’ days.

Later, when monastic influences began to act powerfully upon the services,⁴ the night service became a daily institution,⁵ but by the same process it was reduced in its proportions till it became the mediæval service of Nocturns, i.e., a midnight service of psalms and lessons of varying length according to circumstances.⁶

Growth of this habit.

The Vigil.

The Hours of Prayer which next acquired public recognition and became public services were the Morning and Evening Prayer: this had probably come about by the end of the second century, and the services were started which became in the later system Lauds and Evensong (Vespers).

Morning and Evening Prayer.

The little Hours of Terce, Sext and None did not become public services till the end of the fourth century, and then at first only in monastic communities; at a still later date two further offices were added, both of them under monastic influence, and probably in Italy, that of Compline, as a service at bedtime, and that of Prime as a similar service preceding the daily Chapter or business-meeting of the monks.⁷

This system of Hours of Prayer was already complete in the West, probably by the end of the fifth century, for the Roman cursus or ‘course’ of psalmody allotted the Psalms and Canticles to this system of services, and S. Benet’s ‘course’ (530), which seems to be a revision of the Roman ‘course,’ did the like, though with important modifications.

The Little hours.

Note that “Benet” = “Benedict”.

II. The Structure of the Hours of Prayer.

The structure of the Hours of Prayer bears out and confirms this sketch of their history. The midnight service of Nocturns stands alone; Lauds is like Vespers, the three Little Hours follow one uniform plan, while Compline and Prime are clearly formed on one model. Before describing in detail the normal⁸ structure of these services as they existed in mediaeval times according to the’ secular’ type⁹ it will be well to call attention to some general points, which (with some small exceptions) hold good throughout.¹⁰

The Structure of the Hours of Prayer.

The course of Bible reading (as has been already shown) was confined to Nocturns, the night-service, and the only reading of Scripture, which took place at the Day Hours, consisted in the recitation of a short text called the Capitulum, or Chapter, generally drawn from the Epistle belonging to the corresponding Mass.¹¹ At Nocturns (later called Mattins), the lessons were read in groups of three lessons; either one or three such groups were prescribed according to the day. Each lesson was followed by a Responsorium or Respond, sung by soloist and choir.

Reading.

Psalms were sung at all the Hours, but fixed Psalms were appointed for all of them except Nocturns and Evensong: consequently it was only at these that the Psalter was sung through ‘in course’; Ps. i-cx, (English numbering) were those appointed at Nocturns, and Ps. cx.-end at Evensong, and the fixed psalms appointed for the other services were excluded from the ‘course.’

The psalms in the secular services were all sung antiphonally: the responsorial method of singing was used in the responsoria or responds, which followed the lessons and the capitula or chapters.

Psalmody.

The services began alike with introductory devotions,¹² but ended differently from one another. Nocturns ended abruptly, when the lessons and singing were over, with a versicle, said by the officiant, but without any collect; it preserved in this respect its primitive simplicity, because in practice the service of Lauds followed it immediately.¹³ In all other cases, but that of Nocturns, a collect, followed by two versicles, closed the service; except at Prime and Compline, the collect was variable according to the day, and was borrowed from the corresponding mass. On many occasions the collect was preceded by the Preces or suffrages, i.e., miscellaneous devotions largely made up of Versicles and their Responses. The suffrages were uniform at Lauds, Evensong, and the Little Hours, but Prime and Compline had suffrages of their own formed on another pattern, and embodying the recitation of the Creed as well as the Lord’s Prayer, and also a form of mutual confession and absolution.¹⁴

Opening and Close of the Services.

In process of time addenda and appendixes were incorporated into the framework of the services, and also many additional services were added, which resulted in a great complication of the system of the Breviary Hours: but the supplementary services must be passed over altogether here, and of the former it is only necessary to notice that there were added on occasion at the end of Lauds and Evensong, Memoriæ or Memorials, that is, short devotions, each consisting of Antiphon, Versicle, and Collect, and commemorating some circumstance or some particular intention appropriate to the day.

Additions.

The structure of Nocturns is as follows:—

1. Private prayers.	Pater (Ave), privately.
2. Introduction	Opening Versicles aloud.
3.	Venite with its Invitatory.
4.	Hymn.
5. The Nocturns	One or three groups of (i) Psalms said in course with antiphons, each followed by (ii) a Versicle and Response, and by (iii) Three lessons, each preceded by a blessing and followed by (iv) a Respond.
6. Conclusion.	On Festivals Te Deum.
7.	Varying Versicle and Response leading to Lauds.

Tables of the structure.

LAUDS

1. Introduction.
2. Five Psalms or canticles, fixed (with slight variations), but with varying antiphons.
3. Capitulum or Chapter, varying, and R. Deo gratias.
4. Hymn, varying, and its Versicle.
5. Benedictus with varying antiphon.
6. Collect, varying, preceded on occasion by Suffrages.
7· Memorials, varying on occasion.

EVENSONG OR VESPERS.

1. Private prayers and Introduction.
2. Five Psalms, in course, with varying antiphons.
3. Chapter, varying.
4. Respond, varying, but used on great occasions only.
5. Hymn, varying, and its Versicle.
6. Magnificat with varying antiphon.
7· End as at Lauds, Nos. 6 and 7.

TERCE SEXT AND NONE

1. Private prayers and Introduction.
2. Hymn, fixed.
3. Six portions of Ps. cxix. in three divisions with varying antiphon.
4. Chapter, varying.
5. Respond, varying, and Versicle, varying.
6. Collect, varying, preceded on occasion by Suffrages, as at Lauds.

PRIME

1. Private prayers and Introduction.
2. Hymn, fixed.
3. Psalms, fixed, with varying antiphon.
4. Quicunque vult, with antiphon (five alternatives).
5. Chapter (three alternatives).
6. Respond, fixed, but subject to slight modifications.
7. Versicle, fixed.
8. Suffrages, and Collect (two alternatives).

COMPLINE OF THE SARUM USE

1. Private prayers and Introduction.
2. Four psalms, fixed, with varying antiphon.
3. Chapter, fixed.
4. Respond (two alternatives, and only in Lent).
5. Hymn, varying, and Versicle, fixed.
6. Nunc dimittis, with varying antiphon.
7. Suffrages and fixed Collect.

III. The Structural Modifications

This system of the Hours of Prayer was in possession everywhere in the XVIth century with a thousand years of authority at its back. It had no doubt been introduced into England by S. Augustine, though little evidence is forthcoming as to its history here before the XIIIth century.¹⁵ Alterations had been made, which while leaving the broad outline of the system intact, rendered it extremely complex. Two tendencies were at work, one of addition and the other of curtailment: in accordance with the former, various novel services, such as the secondary system of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, or the office of the Dead, were added to the obligations of the clergy and to the pages of the Breviary; and also new portions were inserted in or appended to the canonical or primary Hours. On the other hand curtailment was taking place, the lessons and psalmody were considerably shortened to compensate for the fresh obligations, and the long ferial offices were to a considerable extent avoided and replaced by festival offices or commemoration offices. Other innovations simply added to the intricacy of the system: the growth of the Kalendar, already explained above, the keeping of octaves and the saying of memorials all-made fresh complications: and later still the system of ‘Commemorations’ was introduced, according to which the normal ferial office of the day was ousted on two or even three days in a week, and a special service commemorative of the Blessed Virgin, or the patron, or some other saint was substituted in its place.

Alterations in mediæval times.

Early in the XVIth century, among the many objects which clamoured for reform, the Service-books were recognized to have a paramount claim. The breach between England and Rome gave the English Church her opportunity, and a reform of the Hour Services was inaugurated and carried on by slow steps.¹⁶ The main objects of the revision were to simplify the complex system and to recover the orderly and continuous reading of the Bible and recitation of the Psalter, while removing at the same time the corruptions which had crept in,chiefly into the series of lessons: at a later date it was further seen to be advisable to make the system applicable to, the laity instead of being almost confined to the clergy, and with that object to reduce the number of Hours of Prayer, and to issue the services in the vernacular. The course of this development can be traced in Cranmer’s Drafts for the revision of the Breviary. At first he followed the lines of Quignon, kept the seven Hours and the Latin tongue, rearranged the Psalter and provided lessons at Mattins, Lauds and Evensong: the Chapters and all Responds were abolished, and but one antiphon was retained for each Hour. The Hymn at Lauds was abolished, and the hymns which were retained were all placed in a uniform position immediately after the introduction:. by this and other means as well the structure of the Hours was made more uniform.¹⁷

Changes of structure

inaugurated by Cranmer.

His first Draft for Mattins.

The second Draft shews considerable advance: the Latin language was still to be retained except for the Lord’s Prayer and the Lessons: the Hours were to be compressed into two,¹⁸ of which Mattins represented the ancient Mattins, Lauds and Prime. The Little Hours and Compline were to be omitted; and even the latter half of the new Mattins, from Te Deum onwards, might be omitted to make room for preaching.

The following table will shew the structure of the projected service.

1. The Lord’s Prayer in English said aloud, with the rest of the Introduction.
2. Hymn.
3. Three psalms, each with Gloria, but no Venite.
4. The Lord’s Prayer aloud.
5· Three Lessons, with introductory blessing and final close.
6. Te Deum.
7. A fourth lesson, on occasions.
8. Benedictus.
9. Collect.
10. [Quicumque vult, with Suffrages on Sundays only.]

Evensong is to follow the same course, but to have two lessons instead of three, then Magnificat, then the Collect, and so come to an end.

Second Draft.

From this project it was a very easy transition to the First Prayer Book. The hymns were omitted for want of English versions; the lessons were reduced to two, shorn of their introductions and closes, but placed so that singing came as a break between them; the suffrages were retained in an unchanging form as an introduction to the Collect, and this was followed by two other prayers in the position of the old ‘memorials.’

The First Book.

A slight development in 1552 brought the main body of the service into its present form by the prefixing of the Sentences, Exhortation, Confession and Absolution, and the transposition of the Creed and the Salutation so as to follow the Benedictus. The rubrical direction for adding an anthem with the five prayers or Litany was made in 1661.¹⁹

The following comparative table exhibits the development so far as the general structure is concerned :—

MATTINS

BREVIARY		FIRST PRAYER BOOK	SECOND PRAYER BOOK
			Sentences. Exhortation.
			Confession and Absolution.
MATTINS—
Introduction.		Introduction (modified).	Introduction.
Venite with Invitatory. Hymn.		Venite plain.	Venite.
1 or 3 Nocturns or	Psalms in course with antiphons and	Psalms in course, plain.	Psalms
Groups of Lessons with Responds.		First lesson, plain.	First lesson
Te Deum on festivals, and Versicle.		Te Deum,	Te Deum.
LAUDS—		or	or
Fixed psalms and canticle (on Sunday Benedicite), with antiphons.		Benedicite, plain.	Benedicite.
Chapter.		Second lesson.	Second lesson.
Hymn and Versicle.
Benedictus with antiphon.		Benedictus, plain	Benedictus or Jubilate. Creed and Salutation.
Suffrages on occasion, and Collect.		Suffrages (including Creed) and Collect.	Suffrages and Collect.
Memorials.		Collects for Peace and Grace.	Collects for Peace and Grace.
			Added in 1661: [Anthem. Litany or 5 Prayers]

The Second Book.

By a similar process Evensong was formed of materials taken out of the old service of Evensong or Vespers, together with the Nunc Dimittis and the third Collect taken from Compline. It was made to follow the structure of the new Mattins, so that both the services should be of a uniform design.²⁰ It will be seen if the tables of Evensong and Compline given above are compared with the structure of the Evening Prayer of the Prayer Book that more omission and alteration was necessary here than at Morning Prayer.²¹

It is time now after these preliminaries to turn to the actual services themselves as they stand in the present Prayer Book and consider them point by point.

IV. Introductory Rubrics

These two rubrics were placed as general directions for the service in 1552. They give rise to many questions about which there has been much difference of opinion and practice.

Evensong.

(1) In what part of the church should the Morning and Evening Prayer be said? To settle this question was the original intention of the first of these rubrics. In 1549 the simple direction was given, (The priest being in the quire shall begin with a loud voice. . . . But great diversity arose in the manner of ministration; the more ardent reformers were anxious to change every custom of the mediæval service: hence, not only did some lay aside the vestments worn by the priest, but they left the accustomed place of reading the prayers. And this was not treated as an unimportant matter; for we find Bucer calling it antichristian to say service in the choir; and opinions of the same class were constantly gaining ground throughout the reign of Edward VI.²² Accordingly, in the new Prayer Book of 1552, this was placed as a general introductory rubric, with the title prefixed, ‘The Order where Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used and said:’ and the first rubric directed it to be ‘used in such place of the church, chapel, or chancel, and the minister shall so turn him, as the people may best hear. And if there be any controversy therein, the matter shall be referred to the ordinary. . .’ In 1559 this was altered to ‘the accustomed place. . . except it shall be otherwise determined by the ordinary.’ The effect of the altered rubric was a permission to retain the traditional customs, since on Elizabeth’s accession the old usages were in force, and the accustomed place of service was the chancel: such therefore was to continue, unless the ordinary should appoint otherwise²³ for the better accommodation of the people. The direction that the chancels shall remain, as they have done in time past has no doubt saved them from destruction, but it did not save them from devastation either in Edward’s reign or in Elizabeth’s. Some attempt was made to moderate destructive zeal by the royal orders of October 10th, 1561²⁴: but soon, and especially after the Advertisements of 1566,²⁵ the chancels were commonly deserted by the clerks and the priest alike. Some bishops used the authority which was given to them, and caused a seat to be made in the body of great churches, where the minister might sit or stand, and say the whole of the Divine Service; or in smaller churches, a convenient seat outside the chancel door.²⁶ This in turn became the general custom: and the Canons (1603) direct a convenient seat to be made for the minister to read service in, ‘in such place of every church as the bishop of the diocese, or ecclesiastical ordinary of the place, shall think meet for the largeness or straitness of the same, so as the people may be most edified.’²⁷ The Canon thus forms a commentary on the meaning of the rubric, which was retained at the last revision (1661), as a sufficient guide to the minister, all mention of Puritan innovations being avoided, and the’ final direction being left in the hands of the bishop of the diocese.

Prayers to be said in the accustomed place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel.

The accustomed place.

The chancels.

Reading pew.

(2) What should be the dress of the minister? At the end of the Book of 1549 was placed the chapter, now forming a part of the Introduction, ‘Of Ceremonies,’ with ‘Certain notes for the more plain explication and decent ministration, of things contained in this book,’ couched in the following terms. ‘In the saying or singing of Mattins and Evensong, Baptizing and Burying, the minister in parish churches and chapels annexed to the same shall use a surplice. And in all cathedral churches and colleges, the archdeacons, deans, provosts, masters, prebendaries, and fellows, being graduates, may use in the quire, beside their surplices, such hood as pertaineth to their several degrees which they have taken in any university within this realm. But in all other places, every minister shall be at liberty to use any surplice or no. It is also seemly that graduates, when they do preach, shall use such hoods as pertaineth to their several degrees. And whensoever the Bishop shall celebrate the Holy Communion in the church, or execute any other public ministration, he shall have upon him, beside his rochette, a surplice or albe, and a cope or vestment, and also his pastoral staff in his hand, or else borne or holden by his chaplain.’ Also the officiating priest at Holy Communion was instructed²⁸ to wear ‘a white albe plain, with a vestment or cope,’ and the assistant priests or deacons, ‘albes with tunicles.’ And on Litany days though there be none to communicate, the Priest shalt put upon him a plain albe or surplice with a cope and say the ante-communion service.²⁹

Vestments.

The Directions of the First Book of Edward VI. for Ministers.

or Bishops,

for the Priest at Communion.

In the Second Book of Edward VI. these ornaments were reduced to the smallest possible amount; it was then ordered,³⁰ ‘that the minister at the time of the Communion, and at all other times in his ministration, shall use neither alb, vestment, nor cope: but being archbishop, or bishop, he shall have and wear a rochette: and being a priest or deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only.’

Vestments ordered in the Second Book of Edward VI.

The rubric in Elizabeth’s Prayer Book echoed the clause on this subject in her Act of Uniformity and referred to it: the present rubric is a modification of the Elizabethan rubric, retaining its provisions in spite of Puritan opposition, but following more exactly the terms of the Elizabethan Act.

The Elizabethan Book.

Two difficult questions arising out of this have been of late years the subject of much discussion; the first concerns the general meaning of the rubric as governing, the ornaments of the church as well as those of the: minister: the second refers only to the latter — the vestments.

Ornaments’ Rubric.

First. It is doubtful whether the words such ornaments. . . . as were in this Church of England by the authority of parliament in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth refer to the state of things under the First Prayer Book or to that immediately anterior to the issue of that book.³¹ The distinction is not one of very great importance,³² but the second question is more vital.

The date referred to.

The twenty-fifth clause in the Elizabethan Act provided for the retention of the ornaments ‘until other order shall be taken therein by the authority of the Queen’s majesty with the advice of’ the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, ‘or of the Metropolitan of this realm.’ The question arises whether further order was formally taken or no in this respect.

What is certain is that this clause and rubric were not fully enforced: the ornaments were retained, but a considerable number even of those specified expressly in the First Prayer Book were never put into use, and were ultimately defaced and made away with.³³ The well-known letter of Sandys³⁴ shows that in some influential quarters there was no intention that they should be used. The Bishops found that, in face of violent Puritan agitation, to exact the bare minimum of surplices with hoods in parish churches, and copes in cathedrals, was a task which would strain their power to the utmost: as early as 1560, by the time of the issue of the ‘Interpretations’³⁵ they had determined with regard to vestments not to demand in practice more than these; and this policy found a more authoritative expression in the Advertisements of 1566.³⁶

Was the rubric superseded

by the Advertisements?

These were issued by Parker and five of the southern bishops in accordance with a royal command contained in a letter of January 25,1564-5. If ‘other order’ was taken in this matter it was through these Advertisements and the Canon of 1604 which quoted them.³⁷ In that case the Edwardine vestments must be held to have been abolished by an authority based upon and equivalent to the authority of parliament; and to have remained so at any rate till 1661. If, however, these Advertisements had not the full and formal authority provided in clause 25 of the Elizabethan Act, they were powerless to override it; and whatever the Bishops might do or not do as a matter of policy, could not affect the statutable legality of the Edwardine vestments.

This is a very intricate historical point: and there remains also the further question, whether the re-enactment of the rubric by the Caroline Act of Uniformity did or did not restore the vestments, if they had been in fact abolished by the Advertisements. This question is mainly a legal one.

The historical

It is impossible here to discuss the whole problem, but it is evident that the Edwardine vestments remain legal, unless it can be proved that the Advertisements were such a formal taking of further order under the section 25 of the Elizabethan Act as to abrogate the use of all vestments except those expressly enforced by the Advertisements. It is open to grave doubt whether this· can be proved. The method by which the Crown took action under the Act is most clearly known from the two, undoubted instances of the use of the similar authority granted to the Crown in section 26, which took place in 1561 and 1604;³⁸ there is no trace of any procedure at all analogous to this in the case of the .Advertisements: moreover, in those two instances, as soon as the further action had been taken, the Prayer Book was altered in accordance with it: but the ornaments rubric has never been altered in accordance with the terms of the Advertisements.³⁹ Without going into further detail⁴⁰ these two luminous and undisputed facts seem to show that the Advertisements had only such force as belonged to episcopal action backed by the general authority of the crown: — that is to say, an overwhelmingly great force, positively, to enforce some vestments (which were already prescribed by the rubric and clause of 1559), but no force at all, negatively, to bring to an end the rubric and clause about ornaments, or to abrogate such other vestments as were there prescribed.

and legal problem.

The method of ‘taking further order.’

Elizabethan action.

Again, with regard to the further question of the bearing upon this of the revision in 1661; even if the Advertisements be held to have abrogated the use of all other vestments but those which they enforced, for the whole period up till the changes at the Restoration, it is difficult to escape the argument that the Act of 1662, in authorizing the present rubric, did in fact revive the provisions of the Elizabethan Act and abrogate whatever changes the Advertisements may be supposed to have introduced, thus restoring the legal position of the Edwardine vestments.

Action in 1661.

On the other hand it must be noted that-the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has twice⁴¹ come to the conclusion that (i) the Advertisements were a further taking order within the meaning of the Act, so that: the cope, surplice, scarf, and hood were the sole legal vestments from 1566 to 1662; and (ii) that at the latter date the intention and effect of the legislation was only to restore the status quo before the Rebellion. Such an opinion, of learned judges such as Lord Hatherley, Lord Cairns and Lord Selborne, must be taken into account in weighing the evidence, even by those who cannot in general recognize Privy Council Judgments as authoritative decisions of a proper Church Court, and although in this particular instance the final judgment, with the circumstances attending it, was very severely criticised at the time and has become generally discredited since.⁴²

Modern judgments.

3) What should be the ornaments of the church? The answer to this question depends partly upon the view which is taken on the first of the two difficult questions already discussed. If it is held that the rubric refers to the year preceding the Prayer Book of 1549, then a large number of ornaments are authorized, and these are to be ascertained by ecclesiological enquiry.⁴³

If, on the other hand, It be held that the rubric refers to the First Edwardine Book, the number of ornaments there ordered by name is exceedingly small and comprises only the following: Bible, Prayer-Book, Altar, Book of the Homilies, Poor Men’s Box, Corporas, Paten, Chalice, Font, Bell, Quire Door, Pulpit. Besides these ornaments the use of others is implied, such as cruets for wine and water, and also for oil in anointing, a pix to carry the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, a lectern, pews or seats of some kind, &c.: and some are expressed by name in the present Prayer Book and must be added to the minimum list of ornaments contemplated; such as Alms bason, Flagon, and two fair linen cloths, the one to cover the altar, and the other to be placed over the Sacrament after the Communion: others are mentioned in the Canons. But even after all such additions have been made (which in themselves sufficiently refute any strict or narrow interpretation of the rubric), this list is so manifestly incomplete that it is clear that, if the rubric is interpreted as referring to the ornaments of the Book of 1549, it cannot be strictly interpreted, but must be held to sanction other things besides those specified by name.

Ornaments of the church:

two views.

Even the most restrictive must be liberally interpreted.

The further question then remains as to how far other things are held to be covered by the rubric. It is all a question of degree and of expediency: for the last’ half century the tendency has been to make the rubric (so interpreted) increasingly elastic, and to extend it to cover an increasingly large number of ornaments.⁴⁴ Finality in such matters is probably not desirable, but whether that be so or not, it certainly has not been attained.⁴⁵

V. Morning Prayer.

§ 1. The Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution.

This commencement of our service was prefixed in 1552 to the older formularies. Reference has been made for its supposed original to the forms of worship used by . the French and German congregations in England, and severally drawn up by Valerandus Pollanus and; John à-Lasco.⁴⁶ But if the idea of placing a confession at the opening of the service was taken from the book of Pollanus, the peculiar doctrines of the French Reformers were carefully avoided.⁴⁷ This addition to the old service may be explained, however, without a distinct reference to these foreign forms. It was a time when sound exhortation was greatly needed, but when it was not wise to leave much to the uncertain care or discretion of individuals; and just as Homilies were provided to be read by those priests who were not allowed to preach, so addresses to the people were put into the Prayer Book, wherever an exhortation was felt to be required in the course of the services. This instruction, therefore, as to the necessity of a daily confession of sins to God, and of a comfortable trust in God’s promises of pardon to the penitent through faith in Jesus Christ, — the great subject of the teaching of the Reformers. — was naturally placed at the beginning of the daily prayers, and expressed in words suited to bring home religion, as a personal matter of continual obligation, to each man’s conscience. Further, in preparing the English prayers in 1549, the mediæval forms of mutual confession and absolution, which occurred in the latter part of the services of Prime and Compline, were entirely omitted, and nothing was put in their place. Hence it became necessary, in revising the services in 1552, that this defect should be supplied; and the present forms were accordingly composed and brought into a much more suitable position for the present purpose at the opening of the service, thereby agreeing with the second edition of Quignon’s Breviary and with similar arrangements in the services of foreign reformed congregations.⁴⁸

Opening of the present service.

Reason of this addition in 1552.

The texts from the Old and New Testaments fitly represent the necessity of repentance and confession of sin under the Old and the New Dispensation.

The Sentences.

It has been well observed⁴⁹ that some of them contain support for the fearful, and are designed to prevent that excessive dread of God’s wrath which hinders the exercise of devotion (3, 10, 7); some are designed to strengthen faith in God’s mercy, and thus to comfort the despairing (4, 6, 9); some to inform the ignorant, who think either that they have no sin, or that a slight repentance will procure pardon (11, 1); some to rouse the negligent to the duty of immediate repentance (2, 8); and one to reprove the merely formal worshipper (5).⁵⁰

Rationale of the Sentences,

The Exhortation connects the Sentences with the Confession: it derives the necessity for this duty from the Word of God, shows that the present time is most suitable, teaches the manner in which it should be performed, and invites to its performance. Its expressions are adapted to instruct the ignorant, to admonish the negligent, to support the fearful, to comfort the doubtful, to caution the formal, and to check the presumptuous, — tempers which are found in every mixed congregation, and which ought to be prepared for the solemn work of confession of sin.

the Exhortation,

The form provided for this purpose is called a ‘General Confession.’ It is general, because it is expressed in general terms, referring to the failings of human life, which are common to all men, and which may and ought to be confessed by all, without descending to particular sins, of which perhaps some of the congregation may not be guilty. It consists of three parts, besides the introduction, or address to God: the first, a confession of our sins of omission and commission; the second, a supplication of pardon for the past, and the third, a prayer for grace for the future.

The manner in which the Confession should be said is distinctly marked, because it differs from the manner. customary in the older services of Prime and Compline: there the Confession was said by the principal person present, and the prayer of absolution following his confession was said by all present: then vice versa the congregation said the Confession and he the absolution, adding as well a further prayer of the same sort. By the rubric of the Prayer Book the Confession is to be said of the whole congregation after the minister; i.e. the minister is to say each clause, and then the people repeat that clause after him.⁵¹ The manner of saying the Lord’s Prayer is different; that is to be said ‘with him,’ the people repeating the clauses simultaneously with the minister.

the Confession,

The Absolution also differs not only in form but also in scope from the form in the old offices: there it was in the form of a prayer suitable. to be said by all alike in mutual interchange: but here it is declaratory and ministerial: the change is emphasized by the rubric. Until the Hampton Court Conference, it ran thus: The Absolution, to be pronounced by the minister alone: the explanatory words, or Remission of sins,⁵² were added at the revision after that Conference, for the satisfaction of some who thought that the word ‘absolution’ was only popish. At the last revision, the word priest was substituted for minister, on which word the Puritans had sought to build an argument against the use of ‘priest’ at all: and a direction was adapted from the Scottish Book that he should stand while the people kneel.⁵³ This alteration shows the intention of the Church to be that deacons may read the prayers,⁵⁴ but that only one in priest’s orders may pronounce the absolution. When a deacon therefore is saying the prayers, and a priest is also present, and in his place in the choir, the most proper course appears to be, that the priest should stand, when the Confession is ended, and pronounce the, Absolution, while the deacon continues kneeling, and ready to proceed in leading the people in the Lord’s Prayer and the petitions which follow it. But when no priest is present, the deacon should continue kneeling after the Confession, and proceed to the Lord’s Prayer.

The Absolution contains four particulars: (1) a general declaration of the mercy of God to returning sinners, and (2) of the authority committed to His ministers to pronounce pardon to the penitent; (3) the declaration of that pardon on condition of true faith and hearty repentance; and (4) an admonition to ask the help of His Holy Spirit to enable us to perform those conditions, that the pardon pronounced in His Church on earth may be effectual to our eternal salvation.

and the Absolution.

Not to be said by Deacons.

It will be observed that the word Amen is printed at the end of the Confession; but that the first rubric directing it to be said by the people at the end of all prayers occurs after the Absolution, According to a later custom, which has no authority in The Book Annexed, the Amen is printed in a different type at the end of the prayers. In these, the minister says the Prayer, or the Collect, and then stops, while the people answer their Amen. In other parts, as the Confession, Lord’s Prayer, Creeds, which are repeated by the minister and people, there is no such difference; and the minister goes on and says Amen himself, thus directing the people to do the same. In the alternating portions, as at the end of the Gloria Patri, the word is printed in the same character thus directing it to be said by the same persons who have said the ‘Answer’ of the Gloria, as being a part of that ‘Answer.’

Amen.

§ 2. The Old Introduction.

We come now to the point at which the old Latin Service began. This is indicated in the original MS. of 1661 by two lines drawn across the page to make a clear division, but they are constantly omitted by modern printers.⁵⁵ In 1549, as little alteration was made in the form of the service as was consistent with reformation of doctrine. Hence the Mattins and Evensong continued to begin with the Lord’s Prayer: the Ave Maria, which had only been introduced into that position comparatively lately, was omitted, and the priest was directed to say the Lord’s Prayer with a loud voice, instead of, as before, repeating it inaudibly as part of the private preparation which each one said to himself before the service began. The first allusion to its use at the beginning of the Hours comes from S. Benedict of Aniane (810), who ordered his monks thrice a day to go round the altars and say at the first the Lord’s Prayer and Creed, i.e. before Mattins and Prime and after Compline.⁵⁶ In the Sarum Breviary it was preparatory to the service,⁵⁷ and after it the priest began the service with the versicles. The same method is now provided for by the rubric, which since 1661, has directed an ‘audible’ voice instead of a ‘loud’ voice; the intention clearly is that all the introductory part of the service up to the V. O Lord, open Thou our lips should be said audibly and congregationally, but quietly without monotone or singing.

The Lord’s Prayer.

The direction that the people should join in repeating the Lord’s Prayer in this place was added in 1661. Previously it had been said by the minister alone on its first occurrence in the Morning and Evening Prayer, and in the Communion Service; and (since 1552) by the minister, clerks, and people, when it occurred afterwards; unless indeed, as is very probable, the rubric of The Book of Common Praier Noted (1550) shews a contrary custom to have prevailed: it has here ‘The Quere wyth the Priest.’

In 1661 a further change was made, following the Eastern, in opposition to the Western use, by the addition of the Doxology⁵⁸ at the conclusion of the prayer in this and in some other parts of the services. This forms no true part of the text of the Gospels, but is found as early as the Didache. It has great liturgical value, and there is special reason for its insertion in this place, where the Lord’s Prayer immediately follows the Absolution, and the moment is one of praise.

To be repeated by the people.

The Versicles have certainly been used since the sixth century. The first is taken from Ps.li. 15, and under the old system was peculiar to Mattins, as being the first Hour of the series. It was not prefixed to Evensong till 1552, when both it and the following were put into the plural number, instead of the singular.⁵⁹ It was originally prescribed for use on first waking. Similarly, the second versicle with its response is drawn from the opening verse of the 70th Psalm, which was originally repeated entire on waking or on the way from the dormitory to the church, and then concluded with Gloria Patri.⁶⁰ Hence arose the use of the ‘opening versicles. In 1549 this section was taken from the Sarum Breviary,⁶¹ but with two changes: (i) the Gloria was assigned to the Priest alone in the ordinary books, though not in the’ Noted’ edition: in the Latin service it was sung by all together and it was not until 1661, when the traditional use was lost, that it became a V and R: (ii) instead of Alleluia, to be said throughout the year except from Septuagesima to Easter, the following was ordered: ‘Praise ye the Lord. And from Easter to Trinity Sunday, Alleluia.’⁶² The Answer, ‘The Lord’s name be praised,’ was first inserted in the Prayer Book for Scotland (1637), and was placed in the English Book at the last revision in 1661, when the words Praise ye the Lord, which before, in accordance with all precedent, were said by the people, were assigned to the Priest, through the same misunderstanding which altered the preceding Gloria.

The Versides.

§ 3. The Invitatory and Psalmody

The 95th Psalm has been sung in the Western Church from a very remote period, before the Psalms of the first nocturn.⁶³ It has been generally termed the Invitatory Psalm. It was very possibly a new introduction by S. Benet into the services of the West, and passed from thence to the Roman office, except for the last three days of Holy Week and one or two other occasions where it still is wanting. The Invitatory was a refrain sung before it, and repeated in part, or entirely, after each verse.⁶⁴ Therefore the rubric (1549) directed Venite to be ‘said or sung without any Invitatory,’⁶⁵ and the pointing of the psalm was assimilated to the rest of the Psalter, so that it could be sung to the ordinary Psalm tones instead of its own peculiar chants.⁶⁶

Venite exultemus.

The Psalms follow according to the ancient custom; the changes from the mediæval services have already been explained, the chief one being that the whole Psalter is sung through ‘in course’ every month, instead of there being fixed Psalms appointed for certain services, and the remainder sung ‘in course’ every week. The Psalter thus becomes more generally known to the ordinary Sunday churchgoer, by the whole of it being used in turn in the Sunday services.

Arrangement of the Psalter.

§ 4. The Lessons and Canticles

The position which the Church gives to the reading of Scripture in the daily service commends itself to our reason. After confession and absolution, which may be called the preparation for worship, and psalmody, we are in a fit disposition to hear what God shall speak to us by His word. Two Lessons are read, one from the Old, and one from the New Testament; showing the harmony between the Law and the Gospel, and the unity of the Church under its two dispensations; the comparative darkness of the older prophetical and typical revelation being made clear by the history of the life of Jesus Christ, and preaching of His Apostles.

The ancient method of reading the Lessons has been already dealt with above, and it has been shown that the recovery of continuous Bible reading, which had been lost in the course of time from the Breviary services, was one of the main objects of the revision of the Prayer Book: while the appointment of two chapters at Morning and Evening Prayer, one from the Old, and one from the New Testament, was itself a return to primitive custom.⁶⁷

The Lessons.

For the first Lessons on ordinary days the course begins at the beginning of the year with Genesis, and takes the books of the Old Testament in their order, omitting, however, chapters and books, which for this purpose are less useful. Isaiah is not read in its order, but is reserved for the season of Advent, on the ground that he is ‘the Gospel Prophet,’ and that his book contains the clearest prophecies of Christ.

First Lessons on ordinary days.

In the Kalendars of 1561 and 1661, and down to 1872, there were above fifty days for which Lessons were appointed from the Apocryphal books, These are read, as they have been read in the Western Church since the fourth century, ‘for example of life and instruction of manners, but not applied to establish any doctrine.’⁶⁸ The new Lectionary has Lessons from the books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch, for twenty-one days.⁶⁹

The Apocrypha.

The first Lessons appointed for Sundays form a distinct yearly course of selected chapters from the Old Testament. These are taken from Isaiah during Advent and Epiphany, and from the Books of Job and Proverbs for the last three Sundays after Epiphany. Genesis is begun on Septuagesima Sunday, which is the first step in the preparation for Lent, and the point at which the Sundays begin to be reckoned with reference to the coming Easter. This book, relating the original of our misery by the sin of Adam, and the judgment of God upon the world, has been read during Lent, as part of the instruction of Catechumens, from very early times in the Christian Church.⁷⁰ The selections then proceed through the Historical and Prophetical Books.

First Lessons for Sundays.

Another course is provided for Holy Days: proper chapters are appointed, usually for the First and the Second Lesson, which are suited to the Commemoration, either prophetical of it, or, if possible, relating the history of it.⁷¹

Lessons for Holy Days

The Second Lessons are always taken from the New Testament, so that, with the exception of the Revelation, it is read through twice in the year. The order is interrupted only on certain Holy Days which have their own proper history, appointed to be read.

The Second Lessons.

It is probable that, from very ancient times, Psalms or Canticles have been intermingled with the reading of Scripture in the public service, at the Hour Services, as well as at the Eucharist, but as a rule these were variable from day to day. In the Latin Mattins each of the Lessons was followed by a Respond: these elaborate, compositions for solo and chorus, set to words appropriate to the Lessons themselves or to the occasion, formed the bulk of the Roman chant (cantilena Romana) which was welcomed with such enthusiasm and sung with such skill when introduced by the Roman mission to England. Unfortunately it was too elaborate and magnificent for a popular and congregational service, and consequently the whole of this rich treasure had to be sacrificed and excluded from the Prayer Book. The principle, however, was maintained of singing alternately with reading, and fixed canticles or hymns were appointed after each lesson. The first of these is the hymn Te Deum laudamus. In the Breviary it is called the ‘Psalm Te Deum,’ or the ‘Canticle of Ambrose and Augustine,’ from the old legend, that, at the baptism of S. Augustine by S. Ambrose, it was improvised and sung alternately by the two saints by inspiration. Recent researches have discovered the real author in Niceta, missionary Bishop of Remesiana in Dacia at the end of the fourth century. There is no extant testimony to its use earlier than the Rule of S. Benet: by that time it was commonly known throughout Western Christendom, 1 and sung at the end of the night-office. The rubric of the Sarum Breviary appointed it at Mattins on Sundays and Festivals, except in Advent, from Septuagesima to Easter, and on some other days. In 1549 it was ordered to be used ‘daily throughout the year except in Lent,’ when, its place was to be taken by Benedicite.⁷² The exception was omitted in the rubric of Edward’s Second Prayer Book, but the Benedicite was retained as an alternative.

The Canticles.

Te Deum laudamus.

Its Author.

The following is the Latin original, taken from the printed Sarum Breviary, which gives the text in a form which modern research seems to show to be very generally correct, except in the case of the one word numerari in V.21. This has no MS. authority at all, and only appeared by mistake for munerari for the first time in the Breviary of 1491; it was, however, unfortunately accepted by the Revisers of the Prayer Book, and has left its mark there.⁷³

1 Te Deum laudamus,
    te Dominum confitemur :
2 Te æternum Patrem
    omnis terra veneratur.
3 Tibi omnes Angeli,
    tibi cœli et universes potestates,
4 Tibi Cherubin et Seraphin
    incessabili voce proclamant :
5 Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus ; Dominus Deus Sabaoth :
6 Pleni sunt cœli et terra majestatis glorire tuæ.
7 Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,⁷⁴
8 Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
9 Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
10 Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur ecclesia ;
11 Patrem immensæ majestatis ;
12 Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
13 Sanctum quoque Paraclytum Spiritum.

14 Tu Rex gloriæ Christe,⁷⁵
15 Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
16 Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem,
    non horruisti virginis uterum.
17 Tu, devicto mortis aculeo,
    aperuisti credentibus regna cœlorum.
18 Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes in gloria Patris.
19 Judex crederis esse venturus,
20 Te ergo quresumus, famulis tuis subveni,
    quos pretioso sanguine redernisti,
21 Æterna fac cum sanctis tuis
    in gloria numerari.

22 Salvum fac populum tuum Domine: et benedic hæreditati tuæ.⁷⁶
23 Et rege eos : et extolle illos usque in æternum.
24 Per singulos dies benedicimus te :
25 Et laudamus nomen tuum in sæculum et in sæculu sæculi.⁷⁷
26 Dignare Domine die isto: sine peccato nos custodire. ⁷⁸
27 Miserere nostri Domine: miserere nostri.⁷⁹
28 Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos: quemadmodum speravimus in te.⁸⁰
29 In te Domine speravi : non confundar in æternum.

The hymn contains many phrases which are familiar from their occurrence elsewhere: a specially large part of the language is akin to the contestationes, or prefaces in Gallican liturgies.⁸¹ The verses from 22 onward do not properly form part of the hymn,⁸² but were originally suffrages⁸³ in the form of versicle and response appended to it: many of these still appear in the like relation to the Gloria in exceisis in the Eastern office⁸⁴ in a position analogous to that now held by the Te Deum in the West.⁸⁵ This suggests the possibility that originally in the West the same was the case, but that when the Gloria in excelsis was transferred to the Mass, the Te Deum. was put in to fill the vacant place at Mattins.⁸⁶

The hymn thus falls into two parts with an appendix: the first part is twofold, comprising (a) a section, analogous to the Preface and Sanctus in the liturgy, setting forth the praise of God the Father, and (b) a section which expresses the Church’s chorus of homage to the blessed Trinity; the second part commemorates, like the liturgy, the work of redemption through Christ, and bases thereon a prayer to Him for help; while the appendix contains the versicles.⁸⁷

The ‘hymn,’ or ‘Psalm Benedicite,’ or the ‘Song of the Three Children,’ is a part of the Greek addition to the third chapter of Daniel. It was commonly sung among the- morning psalms in the fourth century,⁸⁸ and some writers of that age speak of it as Scripture.⁸⁹ S. Benet prescribed it in his Rule under the name Benedictiones, and it reappears in the later Gallican Rules. Thus it found a place both in the Roman and the monastic office among the Psalms of Lauds, being specially allotted to Sunday. It is easy thus to account for its selection as an alternative to Te Deum; Mattins, being ended with Te Deum, were immediately followed by Lauds, beginning with Psalms, among which this Canticle was sung.⁹⁰ In 1549 it was ordered to be used instead of Te Deum during Lent. In 1552 when a Psalm was added as an alternative to each Canticle, the rubrics concerning Te Deum and Benedicite were altered, as it appears, for uniformity, and these Canticles were to be used at discretion, without being limited to particular seasons.

They are the only portions of the kind, appointed in the English Prayer Book, which are not taken out of canonical Scripture. Benedicite is especially suitable to the first Lessons of some particular days (e. g. Septuagesima Sunday and the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity), or as a substitute for Te Deum on Sundays during Lent; but its use on week-days in Lent is no longer required by the rubric, and it is not in itself as suitable for such a position as Te Deum, which contains humble prayer as well as joyful worship.

Benedicite.

In the old office, there had been a short portion of Scripture called the Capitulum or Chapter, read after the psalms of Lauds. It was rarely more than a single verse, generally a text from the Epistle of the day. It was rejected from the Breviary by Quignon, as part of his scheme of real continuous Bible reading, and in the reformed English service, a chapter from the New Testament was appointed instead of it to be read as a Second Lesson: thus, in the present arrangement of the Lectionary, the New Testament is read through (except The Revelation), once in the Morning, and once in the Evening Service.

The Chapter at Lauds, in the old offices, was followed by the Gospel Canticle which is still used after the Second Lesson. The three Gospel Canticles had been appended to the Psalter as the Hymn-book of the Church, together with the Old Testament Canticles, at least as early as the middle of the IVth century, and they figure in this position in the Codex Alexandrinus belonging to the Vth century. The assignment of Benedictus to this position as the climax of Lauds is ascribed, but not very confidently, to S. Benet.⁹¹ At any rate when once so placed it has not moved. It was called in the Sarum Breviary the ‘Psalm Benedictus,’ or the ‘Song of the prophet Zacharias.’ In one edition of Edward’s First Prayer Book, the rubric directing its use ‘throughout the whole year’ describes it as a ‘Thanksgiving for the performance of God’s promises.’ And as by singing Te Deum after the Lesson from the Old Testament we declare that the ancient promises were fulfilled in the incarnation and atonement of the Saviour, and acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity; so, after the Lesson from the histories of the New Testament, we praise God for the fulfilment of His promises, in the inspired words of the father of John the Baptist, which may almost be called one of the earliest Christian hymns.

Benedictus.

At the revision in 1552 the 100th Psalm was added in this place, to be used instead of Benedictus. It is clear

however both from the history of its appointment, and the words of the rubric, that Benedictus should always be used, ‘except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on S. John Baptist’s day.’

§ 5. The Suffrages and Collects.

In the early forms of the Hour Services appropriate Collects were said at the close of each Psalm or Canticle and the service ended when the Psalmody and Lessons ended. This custom however disappeared, and perhaps by way of compensation short prayers, called Capitella, were added at the end for various purposes in the form of versicle and response. Some such prayers have already come under notice in dealing with Te Deum. Those at the end of the Gallican services formed in their old shape a developed litany of intercession and prayer, and at a later date they were combined with the, Kyrie, Lord’s Prayer and Creed, and ultimately adopted by the Roman rite.

This scheme of ‘suffrages’ was taken over from the Sarum service into the First Prayer Book, but in 1552 the Creed was taken out of this place and prefixed to the suffrages to be said aloud by all. It will be best: therefore first to deal with the Creed and then to return to the question of the suffrages.

Jubilate Deo.

The Creed,⁹² belongs properly to the Baptism Service: it was taught beforehand to the catechumens as the symbol of the Church’s faith and rehearsed by them in the hearing of the faithful at their baptism. This appears to have been the earliest use of the forms which are still extant of the confessions of faith of various churches or dioceses.

The Creed.

The confession of faith in order to baptism was at first of the simplest kind: ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’⁹³ But early heresies made it necessary to introduce more exact definitions, and to formulate creeds dealing with the Three persons of the Blessed Trinity in accordance with the Baptismal formula. Hence we have clear signs of a creed as early as Aristides the Apologist.⁹⁴ (circa 140), and again, towards the end of the second century, a declaration by Irenaeus⁹⁵ of the faith received from the Apostles and their disciples, and also by Tertullian,⁹⁶ in the shape of an enlargement of some articles of the Creed. What is called the Apostles’ Creed is the old Roman baptismal creed; it is first definitely cited by Marcellus of Ancyra in 341 in an early form, and is found again fifty years later in the exposition of Ruffinus⁹⁷ of Aquileia: but it took shape as early as the middle of the second century. Enlarged subsequently under Gallican influence, it did not reach its present form till the VIIth or VIIIth century.⁹⁸ What is called the Nicene Creed is not the creed accepted at the Council of Nicæa, but the baptismal creed of the Church of Jerusalem modified through the insertion by S. Cyril of the dogmatic terms sanctioned at Nicæa (325); it was probably accepted as proof of S. Cyril’s orthodoxy by the Council assembled at Constantinople (381), which also reaffirmed the original creed of the Nicene, Council. Both of these forms, the original Nicene and the Cyrillian Nicene, were received by the Fourth General Council at Chalcedon (451); and from that date the latter ousted the former, and the present creed, accepted by councils and called Nicene, appears to have become general. This is still the Creed of the Eastern Church.

Apostles’ Creed.

Nicene Creed

The Quicunque vult, or ‘Confession of our Christian Faith, commonly called The Creed of St. Athanasius,’ has been the subject of much discussion, as to the date of its composition, the value of its dogmatic definitions, and the position given to it in the Prayer Book. It is not a creed in the sense in which those hitherto mentioned are creeds; it is rather a confession of faith which was written in Southern Gaul early in the Vth century, and it has been used by the Western Church as a Canticle since the VIIIth century.⁹⁹

Athanasian Creed.

The transference of the Creed from the Baptism office for use in other services as well began in the East. The constant repetition of the Creed in the Eucharistic Office was first ordered as a safeguard against the Arian heresy, by Peter, called the Fuller, bishop of Antioch (circa 471)¹⁰⁰; Alexandria followed suit soon after, and the example was also followed by Timothy, bishop of Constantinople (511),¹⁰¹ where till that date the Creed had been recited at the Liturgy only on Maundy Thursday. At first the original Nicene Creed was in use in the East, but it gave way before the present Creed, as did also all local forms of creed. Of the Latin Churches, that of Spain first adopted this Creed and the public use of it, for the same reason that had caused its use in the East, viz. to bring the people back to the true faith after the Arian Gothic invasion: the third Council of Toledo (589)¹⁰² ordered that it should be sung aloud by the people before the Lord’s Prayer was said.¹⁰³ The custom slowly spread through the Gallican Church for the same reason, especially in the time of Charlemagne.¹⁰⁴ Rome enjoyed the reputation of being free from Arianism, and hence had not hitherto introduced the Creed into the Liturgy. But at last, under external pressure, the singing of the Nicene Creed was adopted into the Roman Liturgy (1014), in order to assimilate the use of Rome with that of France and Spain.¹⁰⁵ In this country at an earlier date the Nicene Creed was sung at Mass, being probably received from the Gallican Church.

Public Repetition of the Nicene Creed

began in the East,

and spread through the West.

The Apostles’ Creed was said several times over in the Sarum daily service. In this country we find it as early as the Anglo-Saxon times in the suffrages of Prime and Compline;¹⁰⁶ and it is from this use of it that it has come into its present position in the Prayer Book; like the Lord’s Prayer, it was said privately through, and then the last two clauses were repeated aloud in the form of a versicle and response.

In 1549 the Creed was retained in English¹⁰⁷ among the suffrages, the rubric ordered that the priest¹⁰⁸ should say it with a loud voice, but the old treatment of the last clauses was retained in the case of the Lord’s Prayer with the usual musical inflection. In 1552 this order and method was given up in favour of that now in use. The object clearly was to gain for the Hours a public recitation of the Creed by all, similar to that prevailing in the Liturgy.¹⁰⁹

Th« Apostles’ Creed, how used in the Service of the Hours,

Till then the only profession of faith that was sung publicly in the Hour Services was the Quicunque. In the Sarum Breviary it was appointed to be sung daily at Prime after the Psalms, and before the Prayers, and, as, has been stated already, this use goes back to the VIIIth century. The later tendency has been to restrict its use. Quignon, in his reformed Breviary, appointed the Athanasian Creed on Sundays, and the Apostles Creed on weekdays.¹¹⁰ In the Tridentine Breviary it is ordered to be used on Sundays only. In the American book it is omitted altogether.¹¹¹

In 1549 the Athanasian Creed was appointed to be sung or said after Benedictus upon the six festivals of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity. In 1552 seven Saints’ days were added to these six festivals; so that this Confession of our Christian faith¹¹² should be used at intervals of about a month throughout the year.

The Athanasian Creed sung publicly.

Both minister and people are directed to sing or say the Creeds, because they are the profession of every person present. They are to be repeated standing, to express our resolution to hold fast the true faith. The custom, prevalent in many churches, of turning to the East while repeating the Creed, has no rubrical authority nor any pre-Reformation precedent.¹¹³ It was begun in Caroline times, partly in imitation of the practice of the Jews, who always turned their faces in the direction of Jerusalem, towards the mercy seat of the holy temple, when they prayed, and partly in imitation of the early Christian ceremonies of Baptism, in which it was usual for the catechumens to renounce the devil with their faces to the West, and then turn to the East to make their covenant with Christ: the East, or region of the rising sun, being the source of light. Hence the turning towards the East became associated with Christian worship generally from early times, but not till quite recently in any special sense with the daily recitation of the Creed.¹¹⁴

Ceremonies observed in repeating Creeds: standing, turning to the East,

Bowing at the name of Jesus has been retained in repeating the Creed, even where it has been given up on other occasions, as a symbol of adoration of the Divine Saviour.¹¹⁵ The 18th Canon (1603) gives the meaning of this custom, and prescribes the bowing generally, and not only in the Creed.¹¹⁶

and bowing at the name of Jesus.

It has already been pointed out that the suffrages were in their origin a long and developed litany of intercession. The capitella were either triple, each consisting of a bidding, followed by a versicle and response, or else duple, each consisting of a bidding and a single response. In their fullest extant Western form they contain sixteen petitions of the first type. The first is

Let us pray for every condition in the Church.
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness,
And thy saints sing with joyfulness.

Others follow in the same form ‘for our pastors, the King, his children, our Abbat, the whole Catholic people, our brothers and sisters, for peace, for travellers by land, by sea, persecutors and slanderers, quarrelsome, penitents, almsgivers, the sick, the faithful departed,’ (with a second versicle and response), followed by four clauses ‘for our sins and negligences,’ and three ‘for our absent brethren.’¹¹⁷ Shorter collections of the same sort existed side by side with this, besides those for Prime and Compline which contained also the Apostles’ Creed. The Roman service at this period ended as it seems with Kyrie¹¹⁸ and Lord’s Prayer,¹¹⁹ and when there were appended to it such Gallican collections of the two kinds of the capitella fused together, there developed a regular type of suffrages, consisting of (i) Kyrie eleison (ii) Pater noster, (iii) more or fewer versicles and responses (the biddings of the triple capitella for uniformity’s sake being usually dropped), and finally, as the climax, (iv) a collect. This scheme reappears constantly throughout the later mediaeval services. In the Sarum Breviary two such forms were in use: (i) the schemes at Prime, and Compline, which though differing in detail were alike in outline and use; (ii) the ferial suffrages used before the collect on ferias at all the other Day-Hours.¹²⁰

The Suffrages.

In our present form, the mutual salutation of minister and people, which is of primitive if not Apostolic origin,¹²¹ together with the invitation to prayer, instead of introducing the collect as in the old suffrages, introduces the suffrages themselves. In its present position it marks the transition to a new section of the service, and is a prayer that God will hear the joint petitions of minister and people in the Versicles, and of the minister as the voice of the people in the Collects that follow.

The Salutation.

The Lesser Litany is the prelude to the Prayer, as the Doxology in its present connexion in our service may be said to be the prelude to the Praise of the service.¹²² Being addressed to each person of the Holy Trinity, by its three clauses, it fixes the object of Christian worship. In the old Latin Offices the Greek words Kyrie eleison were retained here, as at Mass, and each clause was usually thrice repeated. The direction that the priest shall stand to say the Versicles and Collect is continued from the mediaeval rubric.¹²³ The Versicles seem to have been taken not directly from the suffrages of the Breviary, either those said daily at Prime and Compline, or those said at Lauds, the Lesser Hours, and Evensong on ferias, but rather from the following similar selection which was used in the form of ‘Bidding the Bedes,’ and was probably better known to the people at large than either of the forms in the Breviary:¹²⁴—

Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam :
    Et salutare tuum da nobis.
Sacerdotes tui induantur justitiam:
    Et sancti tui exultent.
Domine, salvum fac regem:
    Et exaudi nos in die qua invocaverimus te.
Salvos fac serves tuos et ancillas tuas :
    Domine, Deus meus, sperantes in te.
Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine.
    Et benedic hrereditati tuæ.
Domine, fiat pax in virtute tua:
    Et abundantia in turribus tuis.
Domine, exaudi orationem meam:
    Et clamor meus ad te veniat.
Dominus vobiscum
    Et cum spiritu tuo.
Oremus.

These Versicles except the fourth and the last of the series, form our present suffrages: some alterations have been introduced from the text of the Psalms, from which they were originally taken,¹²⁵ the second and third pair have been transposed, the fifth versicle is used in the shorter of the two forms in which it appears. The idea of the sixth is kept, but in view of the collect for peace which is to follow the old antiphon which was used with it in the ‘memorial for peace’ is substituted for the regular versicle.¹²⁶ Similarly, in view of the collect for grace which is to follow, a new versicle and response is made and put in place of the Domine exaudi which in the old series paved the way for the collect, and is still retained in that position in the suffrages of Confirmation, Marriage, the Visitation of the Sick, and the Churching of Women.

A further change has been made in the method of saying the Lord’s Prayer. In pre-Reformation times the Lesser Litany was said alternately by the choir, the Lord’s Prayer was said silently and the officiant only began at the penultimate clause, which he said as the first versicle, while the choir responded with the last clause. Some part of this method was retained in 1549: the recitation of the creed as well as the Lord’s Prayer was ordered, but in a loud voice: the repetition of the final clauses in the form of a versicle and response was prescribed in the case of the Lord’s Prayer though not (as formerly) in the case of the Creed as well. The whole plan was altered in 1552.

The Lesser Litany.

The Versicies.

The Collects are not an ancient feature of the Hour Services: in early days each psalm was followed by private prayer, prostration, and a Collect summing up the private petitions: at a later date these disappeared and the element of prayer was represented only by the suffrages appended to the services other, than Nocturns: then the Lord’s prayer was added to these and then the Collect was borrowed from the Mass to form their close.

The Collect for the day occupies in one sense the same position in which it occurred in the unreformed offices at the end of Lauds; but in another sense its position is different, for it there formed the close of the service proper, whether preceded or not by suffrages: the Salutation and another Versicle followed and so the service ended. But, as has been stated already, on many occasions’ memorials’ were added varying from time to time. In place of these, two fixed Collects were adopted in 1549. The Collect for peace comes from the old Memorial for peace, said at the Lauds of the Blessed Virgin.¹²⁷ The third Collect is the ancient ferial Collect for Prime.¹²⁸ The relation of these to the preceding Versicles has already been explained: both of them are drawn from old Roman sources.

The Collects.

Collect for Peace.

§ 6. The Closing Prayers

Here the Order of Morning Prayer ended until the last revision in 1661. All the ‘five prayers’ except the second had been since 1559 appended to the Litany, and in the Prayer Book for Scotland (1637) a rubric was added after the third Collect of Morning and Evening Prayer, directing what is almost identical with our present usage.¹²⁹ And in 1661 the present rubric and the five prayers were inserted.

The anthem though not mentioned before had long been customary: it was common to sing an anthem or Antiphon after some of the services in pre-Reformation times, especially to sing one of the anthems of the Blessed Virgin after the Prayer ‘Lighten our darkness,’ which ended Compline.¹³⁰ It was natural therefore to do the like in the corresponding positions in the Prayer Book Services, and it was specially authorised by the Elizabethan Injunctions.¹³¹

The earliest form of the Prayer for the King’s Majesty that has yet been discovered occurs in two little books which issued from the press of Berthelet, who was King’s printer at the end of the reign of Henry VIII. and the beginning of that of Edward VI.¹³²

A prayer for the kinge.

O Lorde Jesu Christe, moste high, moste mightie, kyng of kynges, lorde of lordes, the onely rular of princis, the very sonne of god, on whose ryghte hande syttyng, doest from thy throne beholde all the dwellers upon earth: with mooste lowly hertes we beseche the, vouchesafe with fauourable regard to behold our most gracious soueraigne lorde kyng Henry the Eyght, and so replenysshe hym with the grace of thy holy spiritie, that he alway incline to thy wil, and walke in thy way. Kepe hym farre of frome ignoraunce, but through thy gifte, leat prudence and knowlage alwaie abound in his royall hert. So instructe hym, (O LORD IESV) reygnyng upon us in erth, that his humaine majestie alway obey thy divyne majestie in feare and drede. Indue him plentifully with heauenly giftes. Graunt him in health and welth long to liue. Heape glorie and honoure upon hym. Glad hym with the joye of thy countenance. So strengthe hym, that he maie vanquishe and ouercome all his and our foes, and be drede and feared of al the ennemies of his realme. AMEN.

In the Prayer Books of Edward VI. this prayer was not put into the Morning and Evening Service; it was, however, placed in his reformed Primer (1553),¹³³ as ‘the fourth Collect for the King’ at Morning Prayer; another and shorter ‘Prayer for the King’ being added to the Collects ‘for Peace,’ and ‘for Aid against all Perils,’ at Evening Prayer. At the revision of the Prayer Book in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth (1559), this prayer was altered and shortened, and together with the Prayer for the Clergy and People was placed before the ‘Prayer of Chrysostom’ at the end of the Litany.

Prayer for the King’s Majesty.

The Prayer for the Royal Family was added among the Collects at the end of the Litany, in 1604; approved, if not composed, by Archbishop Whitgift,¹³⁴ and placed in the Prayer Book among the changes made by way of explanation, after the Hampton Court Conference, on the authority of James I. It was then entitled, ‘A Prayer for the Queen and Prince, and other the King and Queen’s children,’ and began with the words,—

Almighty God, which hast promised to be a Father of thine elect and of their seed, We humbly beseech thee to bless our gracious Queen Anne, Prince Henry, and all the King and Queen’s royal progeny: endue them, &c.

In the first Form of Prayers published by authority in the reign of Charles I., being a service provided for a fast-day (1625), the words ‘the fountain of all goodness’ were introduced into this prayer, and were continued in the Prayer Book published in 1627; for the plain reason that the original clause was not thought appropriate in the case of a sovereign who was at that time without issue. Afterwards (1632) the clause was replaced, and Prince Charles and the Lady Mary were mentioned in the prayer. In the following year, however, — the first year of the primacy of Laud, — the clause was again and finally removed. The inconvenience was thus avoided of continually altering the language of the prayer.¹³⁵

Prayer for the Royal Family.

The Prayer for the Clergy and People followed the Litany in pre-Reformation days, and so came naturally into the like position in the English Litany of 1544; it is found as early as the old Roman Sacramentary called Gelasian.¹³⁶

Prayer for the Clergy and People.

The Prayer of St. Chrysostom is found in the Liturgies of S. Basil and S. Chrysostom; the composition of it cannot be ascribed to either of those fathers, but the prayer forms part of the Byzantine Liturgy from at least the ninth century onward, and Cranmer no doubt put the heading because he took it from the Liturgy of S. Chrysostom.¹³⁷

This prayer was placed at the end of the Litany, when that service was revised by Cranmer in 1544; it seems likely that he had recourse to S. Chrysostom’s Liturgy primarily for help in drawing up the Litany; and that, finding this prayer in close connexion with the Deacon’s Litany there, he translated it and used it as the closing prayer of the English Litany.¹³⁸

A Prayer of S. Chrysostom.

The Latin Hour-Services ended with the Salutation 2 and a versicle and response:—

’Benedicamus domino.’ ‘Let us bless the Lord.’
‘Deo gratias.’ ‘Thanks be to God.’

To which was added in some uses a prayer for the repose of the faithful departed. These were not taken over in 1549, and the services ended abruptly: the ‘Grace’ was first added as a conclusion to service in ‘The Litany used in the Queen’s chapel’ of 1559:¹³⁹ thence it found its way as the fifth of the five prayers into the Elizabethan Prayer Book. It is found in Greek Liturgies in a very different connexion, viz., before the Sursum Corda from the fourth century onwards,¹⁴⁰ but there seems no reason to suppose that this had any connexion with its introduction into the Prayer Book here.

The close.

VI. Evening Prayer.

The order for Evening Prayer or Evensong was formed, as we have seen, upon the ancient offices of Evensong (Vespers), and Compline, but assimilated to the scheme of the Morning Prayer of the Prayer Book. No invitatory was needed, but otherwise the structure has been identical in both cases since 1552, when the opening versicle, formerly peculiar to Mattins, was prescribed for Evensong also. The Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution were appointed, as at Mattins, in 1 552 to be said before the commencement of the older service; but this part was not printed at the beginning of Evening Prayer until the revision of 1661. The first lesson occupies the place of the, Chapter at Vespers, followed by Magnificat, which has been sung at Vespers since the time of S. Benet, who probably gave it that position.¹⁴¹ Our second Lesson occupies the place of the Chapter at Compline, which, after a hymn that is omitted, was followed by ‘The Song of Simeon’ this has been treated as a canticle from very early times,¹⁴² it has never formed part of the Benedictine Compline, and therefore its position in the secular Compline is probably subsequent to the time of S. Benet, and the tradition which ascribes its insertion to S. Gregory may be a true one.¹⁴³ The Canticles thus inserted occupy a most significant place in our service. After reading the Old Testament, we have the Song of Mary, testifying to the fulfilment of God’s promises of mercy to the fathers; and after reading the chapter from the New Testament, and there beholding how the promises were fulfilled in the propagation of the Gospel among the Gentiles, we express our readiness to receive that Gospel for ourselves, in the Song of the aged Simeon, and our faith that by so doing we shall have peace in our death, of which every night brings a type in sleep. These two canticles only were appointed in 1549. In 1552, probably for uniformity with the corresponding part of the Morning Prayer, and still retaining the ancient rule that Psalms and reading of Scripture should be alternated, the 98th and the 67th psalms were appointed’ to follow the first and second Lessons, at the discretion of the Minister, unless either of them had been read in the ordinary course of the psalms. They had not been sung among the psalms of Vespers or Compline.¹⁴⁴

The rest of the service has the same history as Mattins, except the two fixed Collects. In the old system the services began with the Evensong on the preceding night. A survival of this is found in the rubric placed before ‘The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels,’ which orders that the Collect for the following day (according to our modern reckoning) is to be said on the evening before every Sunday and any Holy Day that has a Vigil or Eve.¹⁴⁵

Structure as at Mattins.

The Canticles.

The Second Collect, for Peace, is from the old Roman storehouse, and occurs in the Gelasian Sacramentary. In the Sarum Breviary-it was the fourth Collect after the Litany, as well as the Evening Memorial for peace.¹⁴⁶

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils, which is also in the Gelasian Sacramentary, is the invariable Collect of Compline in the Sarum Breviary.¹⁴⁷

The Collects

There is a close resemblance between these ancient daily Collects of Morning and Evening Prayer. In the first of each pair, the subject of petition is the same, but the words are different, and suited to the respective seasons. We ask outward peace in the morning, to secure us against the troubles of the world; and inward peace in the evening, to comfort and quiet our minds when we are to take our rest. In the second of each pair of Collects, we ask in the morning grace and guidance to direct us in our duty; and in the evening, light and aid, when we are passive or unconscious. The metaphor of light, according to Scriptural usage, will include the two ideas of knowledge and of comfort. We therefore pray that our understanding may be enlightened to perceive the sleepless providence of God, and our hearts cheered with the assurance of His love.

The fixed Collects.

The direction for an anthem properly belongs more to Evensong than to Mattins.¹⁴⁸ In the latter part of the XVIIth Century and the beginning of the XVIIIth the custom was growing up of singing a metrical psalm or hymn in parish churches at this point: the earlier custom prescribed this immediately after the Second Lesson; and the like again at Morning Prayer between the ‘First’ and ‘Second Service,’ i.e. the equivalent of the anthem or Sanctus, which was sung there ‘in quires’ in place of the old Introit.¹⁴⁹ The modern hymn has followed these, precedents, adopting the later custom in Morning and Evening Prayer: to follow this analogy is natural enough. but on liturgical and practical grounds alike the hymn, would be more suitably placed at the end of the introductory part of the service.

Psalms and Hymns.

1 Dan. vi. 10; Ps. cxix. 62, 148; 164.

2 Acts 11. 1, 15; iii. 1; x. 3, 9, 30.

3 See the collection of passages in Pleithner, Aelteste Geschichte des Breviergebetes, or in Baumer, pp. 41 and ff. Batiffol, History of the Roman Breviary, ch. 1.

Notes

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4 The growth of monasticism exercised a very large influence on the development, as has been already mentioned. (Above, p. 313.) At first the, ‘religious’ of both sexes, other than hermits, lived at home and went to the churches for their devotions, and thus their private prayers became joint and public prayers. Then the clergy began to take an increasing part in the Hours. Meanwhile convent life was devised, and with it came a great enlargement of the system of Hour Services: this again further affected the clergy, who were not willing to be left behind in the course of progress, but were obliged to adopt the new ideas. Thus the system became obligatory upon clergy as well as characteristic of monasticism, and ‘secular’ schemes took their place side by side with monastic schemes of service, and derived from them, while the old rudimentary services of the clergy, such as are traceable, e.g, in the Hippolytean Canons, disappeared.

5 The exact line of connexion between the occasional vigil and the daily vigil cannot be very exactly traced, but it seems to have been due to these influences.

6 The whole of this history is very obscure, and most of these questions, such as the mutual relationship of secular and monastic services, as they in turn influenced one another, afford plenty of scope for conjectures, but very little for statements of established fact.

7 Cassian mentions the establishment at Bethlehem o