(c) A Supplication that we may be pardoned for the past, and a petition for grace for the future "that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober1 life, to the glory of God's holy Name" (Tit. ii. 11, 12). 8. The Absolution was entitled, as we have seen, until the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, The Absolution to be pronounced by the Minister alone. The explanatory words, or Remission of Sins, were added at the revision after that Conference, and thus it remained till the Savoy Conference in 1661, when the word Priest was substituted for Minister. By this alteration it is shown to be the intention of the Church that Deacons may read the Prayers, but that one in Priest's orders only may pronounce the Absolution, and the Rubric directs that it shall be pronounced by him alone, standing, the people still kneeling. 9. Its Division. The Absolution consists of three parts: (a) A general Declaration of the mercy of God to returning sinners, that "He desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live; and hath given power and commandment to His ministers to declare and pronounce to His people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins (Ezek. xxxiii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 9); (b) An Assurance of His pardon and absolution to all them "that truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel (Jn. xx. 22, 23);" 1 Sober, from Fr. sobre, Lat. sobrius = (1) not drunk; (2) temperate, regular; (3) discreet, grave. Compare 2 Cor. v. 13; Rom. xii. 3; Titus ii. 12. Bacon, Ess. XXIX. "Let any Prince, or State, thinke soberly of his Forces, except his Militia of Natives, be of good and Valiant Soldiers." 2 The Amen, as is indicated by the type, is part of the Confession, and is to be said by both Minister and people. (c) An Admonition to seek the grace of true repentance and the help of His Holy Spirit, "that those things may please Him which we do at this present1, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to His eternal joy." 10. The Lord's Prayer brings us to that part of the Service, at which the old Latin Use was transferred to the English Prayer-Book, and with which the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI., 1549, commenced2. In ancient times the priest was in the habit of repeating the Lord's Prayer inaudibly to himself3. By the Rubric of 1549 he was directed to say the Lord's Prayer "with a loud or audible voice," instead of repeating it inaudibly, and in 1661 the people were enjoined to repeat it with him, whereas before it had been said by the Minister alone on its first occurrence in the Morning and Evening Prayer, and in the Communion Service. This injunction was contrary to the Roman use, but had the authority of the old Greek and Gallican churches. II. The Doxology. After the Savoy Conference a 1 At this present = now, at this instant. Compare Bacon's Essays, XLIV. "Kings in Ancient Times, (And at this present in some Countries,) were wont to put Great Trust in Eunuchs;" Shakspeare, Macbeth, 1. 5: 66 Thy letters have transported me beyond See the Bible Word- Book, p. 381. 2 See above, p. 21. 3 The custom of the early Church was to keep this prayer from the knowledge of all who were not prepared for baptism. Hence, as being "The Prayer of the Faithful," it was only used publicly in the Communion Service, after the catechumens and others had been dismissed. See Bingham, Antiq. X. 5, 9; Guericke's Antiq. p. 267. 4 "Dominica oratio apud Græcos ab omni populo dicitur, apud nos vero a solo sacerdote." Greg. Epp. Lib. IX. Ep. 12. See Freeman's Principles, 1. pp. 97 sq.; Guericke's Antiq. p. 268, n. further change was made, following the Greek rather1 than the Roman use. Hitherto the Lord's Prayer had been said without the Doxology. In 1661 this was directed to be used here and in some other parts of the Service, and in this place there is special reason for its insertion, where the Lord's Prayer follows after the Absolution, and immediately precedes the second part of the-Service, that of Praise. x CHAPTER III.X THE PSALMS. 1. The Versicles. The second part of the Service is ushered in by the Versicles. Of these the first is taken from Ps. li. 15, Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew Thy praise. The second, which with its response appears in the Anglo-Saxon Offices, is taken from Ps. lxx. 1, Haste thee, O Lord, to deliver me: make haste to help me, O Lord. 2. The Gloria Patri. These short petitions are said alternately by the Minister and people, he saying one, and they answering, or responding to him, whence they are sometimes called Responses. When they are ended, the rubric directs all to stand up, the fitting posture for praise, and the Priest says, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost, to which the people answer, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. This is called the Doxology, or Gloria Patri. There were several different Doxologies in the early Church. One very general one was Glory to the Father, by the 1 See Chrysostom, Hom. in Matt. XIX. Opp. Tom. VII. 253 D; Freeman's Principles of Divine Service, pp. 108 sq. 2 It was inserted in a quarto edition of the Prayer-Book in 1630, and in the Prayer-Book for Scotland, 1637; see above, p. 39. Son, and through the Holy Ghost. But when this Form was misused by the Arians, it was altered to Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and for ever, world without end'. This is the Doxology still used by the Eastern Church. The Western Church added the words, As it was in the beginning, to express more clearly their belief that Jesus Christ was from the beginning before all things, and that by Him all things were made. 3. Praise ye the Lord. At the close of the Doxology the Minister exhorts those assembled, saying, Praise ye the Lord; to which the response is, The Lord's name be praised. In the Prayer-Book of 1549 he was simply directed to say, Praise ye the Lord; and from Easter to Trinity Sunday, Alleluia. The response, 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. 4. The Invitatory Psalm. At this point the service of Praise proper may be said to begin, and is preluded by the Venite, or the 95th Psalm, which has been from very ancient times sung before the regular Psalms of the day, and hence is termed the Invitatory Psalm. It may be said to consist of three parts : (a) First, we call upon one another to come and sing unto the Lord and heartily rejoice in the God of our salvation, to come before His 1 Δόξα Πατρὶ, καὶ Υἱῷ, καὶ ̔Αγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν, καὶ ἀεὶ, Kai els Tous alŵvas. Liturg. Jacob. ap. Assemani Cod. Lit. v. 63. After the rise of the Arian heresy the exact form of words used in Baptism was henceforth taken as the orthodox form of the Doxology: comp. Basil, Epist. cxxv., deî yàp ἡμᾶς βαπτίζεσθαι μὲν, ὡς παρελάβομεν· πιστεύειν δὲ, ὡς βαπτιζόμεθα· δοξάζειν δὲ, ὡς πεπιστεύκαμεν, Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ̔́Αγιον Πνεῦμα. 2 In Henry VIIIth's Primer it is called "A Song Stirring to the Praise of God." presence with thanksgiving and to show ourselves glad in Him with Psalms, because He is (1) a great God and a great King above all gods, and (2) because in His hand and subject to His power are all things in the world, both land and sea; (b) Secondly, we call upon one another to worship, fall down, and kneel before Him, because He is not only the Creator of all things, but the Lord our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand, even as the Jews were in the days of old; (c) Thirdly, we are warned that, if to-day we would hear the Voice of God and hear so as to obey, we must not harden our hearts, as the Jews did during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, provoking the Lord by their murmurings; or doubt Him, as they did, lest He swear in His wrath that we too shall not enter into His rest. 5. The Psalms follow this invitation to praise according to the ancient custom. The change here from the Medieval use is that the whole Psalter is taken in order every month, instead of fixed Psalms for each service throughout the week. In making such a new arrangement there was nothing unusual. Every church, and every fraternity of monks, had its own rules in this respect. 6. The Custom of saying or singing the Psalms has come down to us from the most ancient times. The Jews used them largely in their Temple Service1, and the prayers of the modern Jews are chiefly gathered from the same source. It was the Hallel, or the cxiii.— 1 Compare 1 Chron. xvi., xxv. |