Friday 30th July, 2010
The Eighth Sunday After Trinity
Evensong
 PICTURE: The choir stalls in Lincoln Cathedral |
THE Evening Sacrifice was the greater
Sacrifice of the Two, as being offered at the same Hour, wherein
the Death of Christ, typified by it, was actually accomplished.
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NB You can hear Evensong according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer from The BBC and St John's College, Cambridge.
THE Morning and Evening Prayer1 shall be used in the accustomed place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel;2 except it shall be otherwise determined by the Ordinary of the place;3 and the Chancels4 shall remain as they have done in times past.5
And here it is to be noted, that such Ornaments of the Church, and the Ministers thereof, at all times of their ministration, shall be retained and be in use, as were in this Church of England, by the authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth.6
A Prayer On Entering A Church
O LORD, I am now in thine house. Assist, I pray thee, and accept my services. Enable me, and all those that shall this day meet in thy name, to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Let thy holy spirit help our infirmities, and dispose our hearts to seriousness, attention and devotion. And grant that we may improve this opportunity to the honour of thy holy name, and the benefit of our souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
—John Shepherd (1759-1805). "A Critical And Practical Elucidation Of The Book Of Common Prayer." Introductory Sentences
An Opening Organ Voluntary
Prelude In C (Blow) | ||||
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Suite in C major: Prelude
A Hymn7
Back to top of pageSentences8
At the beginning of Evening Prayer the Minister shall read with a loud voice9 some one or more10 of these Sentences of the Scriptures that follow. And then he shall say11 that which is written after the said Sentences.12
WHEN the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness13 that he hath committed,
and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Ezek. xviii. 27.
I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Psalm li. 3.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Psalm li. 9.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:14 a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm li. 17.
Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Joel ii. 13.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; neither have we obeyed the
voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he set before us. Daniel ix. 9, 10.
O Lord, correct me, but with judgment;15 not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Jer. x. 24. Psalm vi. 1.
Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. St. Matt. iii. 2.
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. St. Luke xv. 18, 19.
Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Psalm cxliii. 2.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 St. John i. 8, 9.
An Exhortation
DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us, in sundry places, to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness;1 Jn 1:9 Jas 5:16 Mt 3:4-6 Ps 32:5 and that we should not dissemble nor cloak them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father;Is 29v15-16 Ezek 9:9 but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart;Is 59:12-15 to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same,Mt 6:14-15 by his infinite goodness and mercy.Ps 86:5 And although we ought, at all times, humbly to acknowledge our sins before God; yet ought we chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands,Ps 68:19 to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word,Acts 13:43-49 and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.16Lk 12:28-31 Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart, and humble voice,17 unto the throne of the heavenly grace,18Heb 4:16 saying after me;
A General Confession
A general Confession19 to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister,20 all kneeling.21
ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. 1 Pet 2:25 Ezek 34:1-10 We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.22Ps 140:8 We have offended against thy holy laws.Jas 2:8-9 Gal 6:2 We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;23 And we have done those things which we ought not to have done;24 And there is no health in us.25Ps 38:3 But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults.Mal 3:16-18 Restore thou them that are penitent;Ezek 18:30-32 According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord.26Acts 17:30-31 And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,1 Pet 5:6-11 To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
The Absolution27 or Remission of sins to be pronounced by the Priest alone, standing: the people still kneeling.
ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner,2 Tim 2:3-4 Ezek 18:30-32 but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live;Ezek 18:30-32 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:Jn 20:21-22 He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance,28 and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him, which we do at this present;Rom 8:7-9 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;Mt 25:21 through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The people shall answer here, and at the end of all other prayers,
Amen.
If no priest be present the person saying the service shall read the Collect for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity, that person and the people still kneeling.
GRANT, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, 1 Jn 1:9 and serve thee with a quiet mind; Is 32:14-16 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer29
Then the Minister shall kneel, and say the Lord's Prayer with an audible voice:30 the people also kneeling,31 and repeating it with him,32 both here, and wheresoever else it is used in Divine Service.
OUR FatherRom 8:14-17 Gal 4:1-7, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.Lev 23:32 Ez 36:22-23 Rom 2:17-24 Thy kingdom come.Lk 11:20 Mk 1:14 1 Cor 11:26 Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven.Mk 14:35-36 Give us this day our daily bread.Jn 6:56-58 And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against usMk 11:25 Mt 18:21. And lead us not into temptation,1 Cor 10:13 Jas 1:12-15 But deliver us from evil.Gal 1:3-4 For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever.33 Amen. Preces & ResponsesThen likewise he shall say,34 O Lord, open thou our lips.35 Here, all standing up,38 the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost; |
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Footnotes
1 "Evening Prayer". Evensong is the Christian evening sacrifice, commemorating the evening offering of the Jewish Temple, and also the culmination of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, at the ninth hour (3pm).
TO his peculiar people the Jews God himself appointed their set times of public, devotion; commanding them to offer up two lambs daily, one in the morning and the other at even, which we find, from other places hours of Scripture, were at their third and ninth hours, which answer to our nine and three; that those burnt offerings, being types of the great sacrifice which Christ the Lamb of God was to offer up for the sins of the world, might be sacrificed at the same hours wherein his death was begun and finished.
For about the third hour, or nine in the morning, he was delivered to Pilate, accused, examined, and condemned to die at about the sixth hour, or noon, this Lamb of God was laid upon the altar of the cross; and at the ninth hour, or three in the afternoon, yielded up the Ghost.
ST. Cyprian refers to the habits of Old Testament saints, and draws the rational conclusion that the events of the Gospel gave proof that there was a "sacrament," or mystery, in the ancient practice of righteous men offering prayers at these seasons, as if the spiritual instincts of good men were already moving in the light at the Cross.
"But to us, dearest brethren," he says, "besides the hours of ancient time observed, both seasons and sacraments of prayer are increased in number. In the morning we must pray," not waiting, that is, for the third hour, "that the Resurrection of the Lord may be commemorated with an early worship. This of old the Holy Spirit set forth in the Psalms, saying, 'My King and My God, unto Thee will I cry: My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning; in the morning will I stand before Thee, and will look up.' [Ps. v. 2.] And again, by the prophet the Lord saith, 'Early in the morning shall they seek Me, saying, Come and let us return unto the Lord our God.' [Hosea vi. 1.] At sunsetting likewise, and the close of day, needful is it that we should again pray. For as Christ is the true Sun and the true Day, when at the going down of this world's sun and light we make prayer and petition that the day may again return unto us, we are petitioning for that coming of Christ, which will give to us the grace of the Light eternal."
Ye shall make prayers ... In the morning giving thanks, because the Lord hath enlightened you, removing the night, and bringing the day: at the third hour, because the Lord at that time received sentence from Pilate; at the sixth hour, because in it He was crucified; at the ninth hour, because all things were shaken when the Lord was crucified, trembling at the audacity of the impious Jews, not enduring that their Lord should be insulted; at evening giving thanks, because He hath given the night for rest from our daily labours; at cock-crowing, because that hour gives the glad tidings that the day is dawning in which to work the works of light."
IN forming out of these complex services [of the Mediaeval Church] such simple and intelligible ones as our present Morning and Evening Prayer, a new opportunity was offered to the Laity of uniting their hearts and voices with that of the Clergy in a constant service of daily praise and prayer. Churches without such an offering of Morning and Evening Prayer are clearly alien to the system and principles of the Book of Common Prayer.
2 "Accustomed place". This Rubric refers us in these matters to the first Prayer Book of Edward VI's second year on the throne, 1549. The "accustomed place" in the Prayer Book of 1549 was the choir stalls within the chancel.
THE Priest beeyng in the quier [choir], shall begynne with a loude voyce the Lordes prayer, called the Pater noster.
As Charles Wheatly explains, Swiss Reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551), who had come to Cambridge in 1549, whipped up a storm of protest over this on the grounds that it separated the people in the nave from the clergy and choir.
THIS terrible outcry (however senseless and altered and trifling) prevailed so far, that when the Common Prayer upon his Book was altered in the fifth year of King Edward [1552], this following rubric was placed in the room of the old one; viz. The Morning and Evening Prayer shall be used in such places of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel, and the Minister shall turn him, as the people may best hear. And if there be any controversy therein, the matter shall be referred to the ordinary, and be or his deputy shall appoint the place.
This alteration caused great contentions, some kneeling one which way, some another, though still keeping in the chancel: whilst others left the accustomed place, and performed all the services in the body of the church amongst the people. For the appeasing of this strife and diversity, it was thought fit, when the English service was again brought into the church, at the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne, that the rubric should be corrected and put into the same form in which we now have it; viz. That the Morning and the Evening Prayer shall be used in the in the accustomed place of the Church, Chapel, or Chancel; by which for the generality must be meant the Choir or Chancel, which was the accustomed place before the second Common Prayer Book of King Edward. For it cannot be supposed, that this second book, which lasted only one year and a half, could establish a custom.
That said, Wheatly recognised that the design of some churches did place too great distance between nave and choir, and it was for those places - special circumstances, not a general rule - that the Ordinary was empowered to set up a "reading desk" at the chancel gates.
So "the accustomed place" is the choir within the chancel wherever this is possible, or at a reading-desk before the chancel gates if the design of the church poses problems.
It should be noted that audibility is vastly enhanced by singing the service to simple Gregorian or Anglican chant, rather than speaking it. Bucer, however, wanted to abolish church music altogether, which explains the problems he then encountered with voice projection in large churches.
3 "Determined by the Ordinary". The Ordinary is an ecclesiastic in the exercise of the jurisdiction permanently and irremovably annexed to his office. For a Prayer Book Parish Church, this in practice usually means the Bishop or Archdeacon.
4 "Chancels... ". The Chancel is an area at the east end of a church, where the choir sits and where the altar is set, flush against the east wall. It is separated from the nave by a fence (cancellus), hence its name, and usually reserved for the clergy and choristers.
IT [the church] was always divided into two principal parts, viz. the Nave or Body of the church, and the Sacrarium, since called The Chancel, from its being divided from the body of the church by neat rails called in Latin Cancelli.
The Nave was common to all the people, and represented the visible world; the Chancel was peculiar to the Priests and sacred persons, and typified heaven: for which reason they always stood at the East end of the church, towards which part of the world they paid more than ordinary reverence in their worship; wherein Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, they had respect to Christ: for as the East is the birth and womb of the natural day, from whence the sun (the fountain of all sensible light) does arise and spring; so Christ, the true Sun of righteousness, who arose upon the world with the light of truth, when it sat in the darkness of error and ignorance, is in scripture styled the East: and therefore, since we must in our prayers turn our faces towards some quarter, it is fittest it should be towards the East; especially since it is probable even from scripture itself, that the Majesty and Glory of God is in a peculiar manner in that part of the heavens, and that the Throne of Christ and the Splendor of his Humanity has its residence there.
In this Chancel always stood the Altar or Communion-table; which none were allowed to approach, but such as were in holy orders, unless it were the Greek Emperors at Constantinople, who were allowed to go up to the table to make their offerings, but were immediately to return back again.
5 "... as in times past". This Rubric reflects events in the 1550s, which saw the interior of many churches drastically altered on the recommendation of Swiss reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551), recently arrived in Cambridge as Regius Professor.
THE occasion of the latter part of this rubric relating to chancels, was also another of Bucer's cavils; who, in his censure of our Liturgy, in the same place that he complains of the reading prayers in the choir, inveighs as vehemently against the separation of the choir from the body of the church. This too he calls "an anti-christian practice, tending only to gain too great reverence to the clergy, who would hereby seem nearer related to God than the laity. That in ancient times churches were built in a round form, and not in a long one like ours, and that the place for the clergy was always in the middle; and that therefore our division of the chancels from the churches, was another article of treason against God."
Bucer's opinion was historically wildly inaccurate, and mercifully was ignored in the new Prayer Book of 1552. Even so, on the Accession of Queen Elizabeth I attempts were made to force the changes onto the Church. Elizabeth was compelled to order that altars be restored to the east wall, and to the old "altar-wise" arrangement with the long side facing down the nave. When in prayer to God, the priest now faced east again, at an altar against the east wall within the sanctuary, and with his back to the people.
IT is ordered that no altar be taken down, but by the oversight of the Curate of the church and the churchwardens, or one of them at least, wherein no riotous or disordered manner be used.
And that the Holy Table in every church be decently made, and set in the place, where the altar stood, and there commonly covered, as thereto belongeth.
Thus "the Chancels are to remain as in times past" means that the rectangular altar is to be right up against the east wall of the church, with its longer side facing down the nave. It should stand, where there is one, in the chancel, which should be marked off from the rest of the church by a fence or open screen through which it is easy to see and hear, and treated as an area proper to the clergy and choristers.
6 "Ornaments and Ministers ... as they were in the second year of King Edward the Sixth". That was the year 1549, in which the first Book of Common Prayer was released.
In Queen Elizabeth I's Prayer Book of 1559, this Rubric read as follows:
AND here it is to be noted, that the minister at the time of the Communion, and all other times in his ministration, shall use such ornaments in the church as were in use by authority of parliament in the second year of the reign of King Edward the VI according to the act of parliament set in the beginning of this book.
That Act of Parliament qualified the use of ornaments and vestments from King Edward's time, by saying that they were superseded by Elizabeth's own canons.
PROVIDED always and be it enacted, that such ornaments of the church, and of the ministers thereof, shall be retained and be in use as was in this Church of England, by authority of parliament,in the second year of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, until other order shall be therein taken by the authority of the Queen's Majesty, with the advice of her Commissioners, appointed and authorized under the great seal of England, for causes ecclesiastical, or of the Metropolitan of this realm.
The reference to this Act was removed for the 1662 Book, sending us back to 1549 without qualification. In terms of the Holy Communion, that implied a return to traditional vestments such as the alb and chasuble ("vestment") long contended against by the Puritan party. As regards Mattins and Evensong, in practice not much had changed.
IN the saying or singing of Matens and Evensong, Baptizyng and Burying, the minister, in paryshe churches and chapels annexed to the same, shall use a Surples. And in all Cathedral churches and Colledges, th'archdeacons, Deanes, Provestes, Maisters, Prebendaryes, and fellowes, being Graduates, may use in the quiere, beside the yr Surplesses, such hoodes as pertaineth to their several degrees, which they have taken in any universitie within this realme. But in all other places, every minister shall be at libertie to use any Surples or no. It is also seemely that Graduates, when they dooe preache, shoulde use such hoodes as pertayneth to theyr severall degrees.
Based on this and seeking to keep Anglican tradition, for the Daily Office (Mattins and Evensong) a parish clergyman will wear a black cassock (the everyday street-wear for a clergyman); a long white "English" surplice, loose and without lace; the academic hood suited to his University degree, if he has been awarded one; and a black tippet, a broad black scarf reaching to the knees.
For a more detailed table of the ornaments etc. used in Prayer Book services, assuming that we return as directed to the Prayer Book of 1549, see
7 "A Hymn". Thomas Cranmer wanted to retain the hymns of the pre-Reformation Breviary, but the task of a verse translation into English overwhelmed him.
It seems to be in keeping with the spirit of the Prayer Book to open and close Mattins with a hymn, especially one from the old Breviary, or a later hymn of similar musical, Scriptural and poetic merit.
FOR the comforting of such as delight in musick it may be permitted, that in the beginning or at the end of the Common Prayer, either at morning or evening, there may be sung an hymn or such like song to the praise of Almighty God, in the best sort of melody and musick that may be conveniently devised; having respect that the sentence [i. e. sense] of the hymn may be understanded and perceived.
8 "Sentences". These passages stress the importance of
repentance and amendment of life, and a keen awareness of the need for God's grace. You can see some
extracts from Anglican writers on these key subjects here:
» Repentance
» Faith And Works
» Forgiveness
» Comfort
THE Sentences themselves (which had nearly all been previously in use as Capitula, during Lent) are a reproduction at the beginning of Divine Service of the Invitatories which were prefixed to the Venite in the ancient Mattins. In both cases the object is to give the key-note to the service which is to follow.
9 "Read with a loud voice".
THIS is an ecclesiastical or technical phrase, the explanation of which is to be found in a Rubric before the Te Deum in the previous editions of the Prayer Book: "Then shall be read two Lessons distinctly with a loud voice." "Then shall the Lessons be sung in a plain tune, after the manner of distinct reading; and likewise the Epistle and Gospel." It is the clara vox of older ritualists, and presupposes a musical intonation, with or without inflection, to be the customary way of reciting Divine Service.
The effect we want to achieve, is that of a sung service (to project the voice and give dignity), yet with all the clarity and ease of ordinary speech. Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions of 1559 ordered:
THAT there be a modest and distinct song so used in all parts of the Common Prayers in the Church that the same might be understanded as if it were read without singing.
10 "One or more". The choice depends on how the minister judges the temper of his congregation.
THE venerable Compilers of our Liturgy have walked, like skilful physicians, in the garden of God. Finding it plentifully stored with medicines for the cure of spiritual diseases, they have collected a few of the most potent and useful. These are somewhat different in their operations, but they are all calculated to produce the same effect, that is, to bring men to repentance.
Our Reformers considered that some men are ignorant, others negligent; that some are obdurate, others tender; that some are confident and presumptuous, and others fearful and desponding: Knowing the various temperaments of various persons, and the different disposition of the same man at different times, they have presented us with a considerable variety, leaving it to the discretion of the officiating Minister to apply such as he may judge best adapted to the spiritual case of those, whose welfare he is appointed to consult.
Shepherd aranges the Sentences under pastoral headings like this:
1. Instruction to the Ignorant and Erroneous. 1 John i. 8, 9. Ezek. xviii. 2.
2. Admonition to the Negligent and Inconsiderate. Ps. li. 3. Matt. iii. 2.
3. Models Of Penitential Devotion to those who are apprehensive of God's Judgments. Ps. li. 9. Ps. cxliii. 2. Jer. x. 24.
4. Encouragement and Consolation to the Diffident and Contrite, Ps. li. 17. Dan. ix. 9. Luke xv. 18, 19.
5. And Caution to the Ceremonious and Formal. Joel ii. 13.
Alternatively, we could try a seasonal approach:
As Invitatories intended to give the key-note to the Service, they may be advantageously used in the following, or some similar, order, appropriate to the various days and seasons.
Advent: "Repent ye." "Enter not." "O Lord, correct me."
Lent: "The sacrifices." "Rend your heart."
Fridays and Vigils : "I acknowledge."
Wednesdays: "Hide thy face."
Ordinary days: "When the wicked man." "I will arise." "If we say."
Sundays, other holy days, and Eves: "To the Lord our God."
There is a well-known traditional practice of singing one of these Sentences as an anthem; "I will arise" being very frequently so used. Such a practice seems to be in strict keeping with their character as Invitatories, and in analogy with the use of the Easter Sentences referred to; as also with such a use of the Offertory Sentences in the Communion Service.
11 "Say". Elsewhere, "say" and "read" frequently imply "chant in a simple tune", even for the Scripture readings. However, it appears that the general confession (whether here or in the Communion Service) has traditionally always been spoken in ordinary speech, and it would make sense for the Exhortation to be spoken likewise.
12 "That which is written after the Sentences". That is, the Exhortation, which drives home the application of the Sentences to our common prayer in Mattins.
THE design of the Exhortation is to apply and set home the preceding Sentences, and to direct us how to perform the following Confession. It collects the necessity of it from the word of God; and when it hath convinced us of that, it instructeth us in the right manner, and then invites us to that necessary duty, for which it hath so well prepared us.
IF the Exhortation is said from memory, and with the face turned towards the congregation, it becomes much more expressive of the intention with which it was placed here, than when said as a mere form for passing away a few seconds, while the congregation is settling into a devotional frame of mind.
13 "Turneth away from his wickedness". Anglican doctrine is that we cannot turn from our sins without the help of God's grace.
THE condition of man after the fall of AdamGen 3v8-19 is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God.Rom 7v18-24 Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God,Heb 11v6 without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.Rom 8v27-28.
WE believe, that in the moment Adam fell, he had no freedom of will left; but that God, when of his own free-grace he gave the promise of a Saviour to him and his posterity, graciously restored to mankind a liberty and power to accept of proffered salvation. And, in all this, man's boasting is excluded; the whole of that which is good in him, even from the first motion of his will, being of grace and not of nature.
This grace is not reserved to some lucky people. It is offered to all (1 Tim 2:4); it can be squandered by anyone, even St Paul (1 Cor 9:27). Hence the Anglicans urge us to seize our chance when we feel feel that grace stirring within us (Ps 95:7-8, our Venite at Morning Prayer), and not fall prey to over-confidence.
FOR it is, alas, too well known, that the greatest part of those who call themselves Christians, secure of the mercy of God, the merits of Christ, and of their own salvation, pass their days without the least anxiety, being at the same time very far short of a true Christian life. Their good works, which they never perform, they renounce, acknowledge themselves the worst of sinners, and then tranquilly depend on Christ, the Mediator, to obtain salvation for them. You may persuade them to do this without any difficulty; they rush on headlong into this confidence. Those who have the cure of souls find no difficulty so great as the convincing unhappy men of this error, deluded by which they carelessly give up all care of their souls.
14 "The sacrifices of God". Evensong corresponds with the evening sacrifice of a lamb with oil, frankincense and fine flour in the Jewish Temple. Our praises are nothing of themselves; but they are carried to heaven with smoke of the sacrifice of Christ on his cross.
THIS Sacrifice did consist of two Parts. The first and chiefest was, the Lamb, that did foreshew the Lamb of God; and the second was, the Meat and Drink Offering, made of Flour, mingled with Oil and Wine: all which, being but an Additional thrown on the Lamb, Morning and Evening were counted but for one and the same Sacrifice (Exod 29:38-46; Num 28:1-10). Those secondary Oblations, so thrown and burnt upon the main Sacrifice, signified properly these Offerings, which Christians must present to God, of themselves, as their Goods, and of their Praises.
The Truth is, all what we can offer upon our own Account is but such an Oblation: as this Meat and Drink Offering of Moses was, that cannot be presented but by the Virtue and Merits of Jesus Christ, who supports it; and that can never ascend up to Heaven but along with the sacred Smoke of that great Burnt Sacrifice, which is to carry it up thither.
15 "With judgment". That is, not in a passion of anger. Of course, God does not suffer from such passions; these are human ways of thinking, which is all we have to work with.
The word rendered judgment, as we before observed, is taken in great latitude. Here it is used in the favourable sense. Correct me, but with judgment: that is, favourably, reasonably, moderately.
IT is only then, when we transcend the limits of self; when our heart goes forth in faith to God, the All-wise and Almighty, God the Merciful, God our Father; then, when the finite is forgotten in the Infinite; that the pardon comes, that the clean heart is made and the right spirit renewed within us. This faith Judas did not realise. He knew God only as an avenging Judge. He did not know Him as a loving Father. What could he hope from a Judge? What might he not have hoped from a Father?
SHALL I fear the wrath of God? My Saviour hath appeased it with His Own blood, and so hath restored me to His love and favour: for He died for me. He Himself hath now told me so; and therefore I believe it, and am now persuaded, that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord."
16 "To render thanks... set forth his praise... hear his holy word... ask those things requisite.". John Shepherd notes how ancient these four goals of Christian worship are.
IN this sacred place we meet together for the purpose of performing the four principal parts of public worship. This division of the leading duties of public worship accords remarkably with the account Austin gives of the practice of Christian assemblies. With a simple transposition of the clauses, the sentence stands thus: Veri Dei aut miracula narrantur, aut dona laudantur, aut praecepta insinuantur, aut beneficia postulantur.— Aug. Civ. Dei. lib. II. c. xxviii. And Tertullian had long before expressed nearly the same thing: In Ecclesia inter dominica solemnia, prout scripturae leguntur, aut psalmi canuntur, aut adlocutiones proferuntur, aut petitiones legantur.— Tertull, de Anima. c. ix.
Augustine: "Perhaps the miracles of the true God are rehearsed, or his gifts praised, or his commandments impressed, or his blessings asked".
Tertullian: In the Church upon the Lord's days, just as the Scriptures are read, either psalms are sung, or comfort is given, or prayers are read".
Shepherd then shows how this applies to Evening Prayer, and some other parts of the Divine Office.
1. To "give him thanks" for his innumerable blessings and benefits, for all his goodness, and loving kindness to the children of men. This we do in our general Thanksgiving, and in several of the Psalms.
2. To "set forth his most worthy praise," to laud and glorify his holy name, which we do in Psalms, Hymns, Anthems, and Doxologies.
3. "To hear his most holy word," which is read to us in the Lessons, and expounded to us in Sermons.
4. And, lastly, "to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul;" that is, to pray for the continuance of spiritual and temporal blessings, which we do in the Collects, Supplications, Intercessions, and more particularly the Litany.
17 "Humble voice". Arising not only from a sense of sin, but also from an awareness of the church as the House of God, of his presence and the presence of his angels.
OUR Church's direction in this particular is grave and conform to ancient rules. The 6th Council of Const. (in Trullo,) forbids all disorderly and rude vociferation in the execution of holy services; and St. Cyprian, advises thus; "Let our speech and voice in prayer be with discipline, still and modest: let us consider that we stand in the presence of God, who is to be pleased both with the habit and posture of our body, and manner of our speech: for as it is a part of impudence to be loud and clamorous, so on the contrary it becomes modesty to pray with an humble voice."
18 "Throne of the heavenly grace". Mattins (and all other public and private worship) actually takes place in heaven before God's throne, and accompanied by the ministration of angels. The Divines were most insistent on this, and on the implications for our deportment.
THEY see Him there by Faith in His Word: They see Him by the Light of His Countenance, which He lifts up there upon them: They see Him shining forth in His Glory, and manifesting Himself and His Goodness to them, in hearing the Prayers, and accepting the Praise they offer to Him in His Name, who is in the midst of them, and hath Promised, That whatsoever they shall ask the Father in his Name, He will give it, John xvi. 23.
ALAS! how little do they think of this, who sit or loll, and neither bow a knee, nor lift up an hand, nor move a lip at the public prayers, as if they bore no part in them; as indeed, till they mend their manners, they shall have no share in the benefit of them; who sleep, or talk with one another, or laugh, or suffer their eyes and thoughts to wander after vanity, when they should seriously attend to the word of God read or preached to them!
Methinks these men, though they regard not the angel on earth, the priest; though they have no respect to the congregation of faithful and devout Christians; yet should be awed into more reverence by the presence of the angels of heaven; and so indeed they would, if they believed and seriously considered it.
ONCE realize the idea that public worship is not a mere attendance at an appointed place to hear of God; that it is not a mere saying of prayer in public which may be nearly as well done in private; once realize the idea that it is the means vouchsafed to a privileged class, the elect of God, of offering to the King of kings, in communion with all holy creatures, cherubim, and seraphim and all the hosts of heaven, the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and praise, and of making known the Church's wants to her Divine Head; once realize this sublime idea of public worship, and the value of ceremonies will be simultaneously admitted: for by ceremonies this idea is fostered; and if we approach our earthly sovereign with much of ceremony, that we may not fall into an undue familiarity, so will the same feeling influence us a feeling of awful reverence whenever we approach the King of kings and Lord of lords, to give outward demonstration of our internal sentiments, and, like the seraphim, with whom we worship, to veil our faces when standing before Him, who if He permits Christians to approach Him as a Father, is still the Sovereign, though the paternal Ruler of all things.
19 "General Confession". This is a real confession, accompanied by a real absolution for those who are truly penitent. It is not, however, intended to replace private confession to a priest as a desirable discipline, something warmly encouraged by the Engish Reformers and Divines, from Bishops Latimer and Ridley onwards. See Confession in the Sermons section.
THE holy Scriptures assure us, that sin unrepented of hinders the success of our prayers; and therefore such as would pray effectually have always begun with Confession: to the the end that their guilt being removed by penitential acknowledgments, there might no bar be left to God's grace and mercy. For which reason the church hath placed this Confession at the beginning of the service, for the whole congregation to repeat after the minister, that so we may first be witnesses of each other's Confession, before we unite in the following service. And this, as we learn from St. Basil, is consonant to the practice of the primitive christians; "who," he tells us, in all churches, "immediately upon their entering into the house of prayer, made Confession of their sins to God, with much sorrow, concern, and tears, every man pronouncing his own Confession with his own mouth."
20 "After the Minister". Each clause of the Confession is directed to be read first by the minister, and then repeated after him by the congregation.
BISHOP Cosin erased the word "after" in this Rubric, and substituted "with;" but the original word was carefully restored, showing that a distinction was intended between the two words in their ritual use. "After the Minister" means, that each clause is to be said first by the Minister alone, and then repeated by "the whole congregation" alone — i. e. while the Minister remains silent, as in the case of a response after a versicle. "With" the Minister means simultaneous recitation by him and the congregation together, and is ordered in the Rubric before the Lord's Prayer.
21 "All kneeling". The essential posture for confession, supplication and receiving Holy Communion in the Church of England. The priest joins the congregation, all facing east towards the altar.
KNEELING is the most fit gesture for humble penitents, and being so, it is strange to see how in most places men are suffered to sit rudely and carelessly on their seats, all the while this confession is read ; and others that be in the church are nothing affected with it. They think it a thing of indifferency forsooth, if the heart be right. The 27th Canon takes order that the Communion be delivered to none but those that kneel; and it is as fit we should have the like order taken, that this following absolution be pronounced to none but those that kneel neither.
IT is highly reasonable, that the Minister should make such a pause between the end of the Exhortation, and the beginning of the Confession, that the whole congregation may have sufficient time, deliberately, and without the least hurry, to put their bodies in a praying posture, and to direct their minds to God, and fix them upon the divine Majesty, so that they may be thoroughly composed for so solemn and heavenly an exercise, by the time that the Minister begins the Confession.
22 "Devices and desires of our own hearts". Christianity does not expect us to be unemotional, or free from temptation and strong impulses. But we do accept that we can let them get the better of us, and that we do have a choice.
HERE the Church reminds us, that even in our confession we must ascribe glory to God, and take the shame of our transgressions to ourselves. The corrupt inclination of our nature, and "the desire of the flesh," may entice, but they cannot compel men to sin.
We do not throw the blame of our sins on the frailty of nature, the strength of passion, or the violence of temptation; for this were making God the author of that sin of which he is only the avenger.
Neither do we accuse our Maker for giving, nor repine at having, these devices and desires, but we condemn ourselves for "following them too much." What we confess and bewail is, that instead of regulating our imaginations, keeping our hearts with all diligence, and applying for the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, we have followed the corrupt inclination of our nature, run into the arms of temptation, made a covenant with sin, and thus have most notoriously transgressed God's laws, which are holy, just, and good.
23 "Things which we ought to have done". Known as the sins of omission.
UNDER the former head may be classed the duties of prayer, praise and thanksgiving: hearing and reading God's holy word, and frequenting the'Lord's table; with the Christian social virtues of instructing the ignorant, relieving the distressed, comforting the afflicted, loving and doing good to all men: and the evangelical graces of faith, repentance, humility, and patience.
24 "Things we ought not to have done". Known as the sins of commission.
AMONG the sins of commission may be ranked, blasphemy, perjury, and profaneness; lying, and slandering; pride, malice, and revenge; gluttony, drunkenness, and lust; covetousness, and oppression; with every species of fraud, and deceit, whether in deed or word.
25 "And there is no health in us". That is, no health in and of ourselves. Of course, the divine Physician can wash us clean, and give us the medicine of his grace to make us better; though the condition of original sin means that without continual supplies of this medicine, we immediately fall sick again.
See my short extract Christ The Physician In The Holy Communion, from a Sermon by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626).
AND this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated,Rom 6v1-14 whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greek phronema sarkos (which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh), is not subject to the law of God.Rom 8v7-8
IN the language of Scripture, the diseases of the body represent the distempers of the soul. The humble penitent, having examined himself, and being sensible of his condition, confesses to the great Physician, to him who alone can "heal our souls," (Ps. xli. 4.) his total want of health. He finds that, his whole head is sick with evil devices, and his whole heart faint with following evil desires, (Isa. i. 5, 6.) and that from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head, there is no health nor soundness in him. Wounds and bruises distract his conscience; and purifying sores, arising from internal corruption, overspread his whole frame.
The words likewise imply, that we have no means of help and salvation. We have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, and "no man may deliver his "brother." (Ps. xlix. 7.) In vain do we look for help "to the hills and mountains," to the high and mighty. (Jer. iii. 23.) "Salvation is of the Lord." (Ps. iii. 8.) To the Lord our God we therefore turn with weeping and supplications, and in the remaining part of the Confession, make our petitions to him for help and deliverance.
Believing and baptized Christians are therefore justified and sanctified; but any improvement in them is incomplete, and belongs entirely to the action of God.
WE believe that all good Christians have true inherent justice, though not perfect, according to a perfection of degrees, as gold is true gold, though it be mixed with some dross. We believe that this inherent justice and sanctity doth make them truly just and holy. But if the word 'Justification' be taken in sensu forensi, for the acquittal of a man of former guilt, to make an offender just in the eye of the law, as it is opposed to 'Condemnation', "It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?" - then it is not our inherent righteousness that justifieth us in this sense, but the free grace of God for the merits of Jesus Christ.
26 "Mankind". God's promises are made to and can be claimed by anyone.
FROM the universality of the promise, all men, because they are men, even the chief of sinners, if they repent, may receive comfort and consolation. But let none arrogate to himself or to his sect, any peculiar interest in the promises made through Jesus Christ. As men and Christians, we are thankful that we are not particularly excluded. We humbly hope that the general promise made to all, will eventually extend to us. To ourselves we modestly apply it, not because we fancy that we are favourites of Heaven, or better than others; but because we know that we have offended, feel that we are miserable, and are certain that none can more stand in need of mercy than ourselves.
27 "Absolution". Remission of sins depends on faith alone, and this Absolution does not have some magical property to bypass this fundamental gospel truth. But God would not have raised up his "ministers of reconciliation", if he had not intended to use them and their office.
SINCE the Priest has the ministry of reconciliation committed to him by God, and hath both power and commandment (as it is expressed in this form) to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent the absolution and remission of their sins; therefore when he does, by virtue of this power and commandment, declare and pronounce fuch Absolution and Remission regularly in the congregation; those in the congregation that truly repent and unfeignedly believe God's holy gospel, (though the Priest does not know who or how many they are that do so) have yet their pardon conveyed and sealed to them at that very instant through his ministration; it being the ordinary method of God with his church, to communicate his blessings through the ministry of the Priest.
AND this Absolution is an act of authority, by virtue of a power and commandment of God to his Ministers, as it is in the preface of this Absolution. And as we read, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted" (Jn 20:33). And if our confession be serious and hearty, this Absolution is effectual, as if God did pronounce it from heaven.
For those whose conscience is not settled by this general confession, there is private confession to a priest, as enjoined in the Communion Service. See Confession in the Sermons section.
Note that deacons and laity must not pronounce this Absolution, but must use the Collect for the Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity, and kneel with the congregation facing the altar, rather than stand facing the people. The priest stands, and faces the people, showing the pronouncement of authority, rather than solidarity in prayer.
AND because he speaks it authoritative, in the name of Christ and His Church, he must not kneel, but stand up. For authority of absolution, see Ezek. xxxiii. 12; Job xxxiii. 23; Numb. vi. 24; 2 Sam. xii. 13; John xx. 23.
To be pronounced by the minister alone.] Because none has received that power but a priest.
IN the Rubric after the General Confession at the communion, the Bishop or Priest is ordered to pronounce the Absolution, standing.
28 "Grant us true repentance". Repentance is still enjoined even after sins have been wiped away. Bishop Sparrow clarifies:
REPENTANCE, say divines, ought to be continual. For whereas repentance consists of three parts, as the Church teaches us in the Commination. I. Contrition or lamenting of our sinful lives; II. Acknowledging and confessing our sins; III. An endeavour to bring forth fruits worthy of penance, which the ancients call satisfaction; two of these, contrition and satisfaction, are requisite after pardon. The remembrance of sin though pardoned, must always be grievous to us. ...
Therefore in our Lord's Prayer, as soon as we have begged pardon, and prayed, "Forgive us our trespasses," we are taught to pray, "And lead us not into temptation," suffer us not to fall into sin again: which very method Holy Church here wisely intimates, immediately after pardon pronounced, directing us to pray for that part of repentance which consists in amendment of life, and for the grace of God's Holy Spirit enabling us thereunto.
See also Bishop Hugh Latimer on repentance and faith.
29 "Lord's Prayer". Bishop Cosin was at great pains to stress that Mattins actually starts here. He did not really approve of the foregoing material, and would later request (though he was over-ruled) at the revision of the Prayer Book in 1661, that the service be printed with a clear division at this point.
HERE begins the service: for that which goes before is but a preparation to it, and is newly added in King Edward's second book [1552] in imitation of the liturgy and mass of the Church of Rome. But as their hours [the Daily Office] begin with the Lord's Prayer, so begins our matins, and the high service of the altar. And they begin as they should do, for this was the ancient custom of the Christians, when they were [met] together to pray, they said that prayer for a foundation and a beginning of all the rest, which Christ Himself had taught them.
Bishop Sparrow, who had a high opinion of the penitential rite that precedes it, nevertheless agreed that the Lord's Prayer is the true beginning of Mattins.
THE Church of Christ did use to begin and end her services with the Lord's Prayer, this being the foundation upon which all other prayers should be built, therefore we begin with it; that so the right foundation being laid, we may justly proceed to our ensuing requests; and it being the perfection of all prayer, therefore we conclude our prayers with it. Let no man therefore quarrel with the Church's frequent use of the Lord's Prayer. For the Church Catholic ever did the same. Besides, if we hope to have, our prayers accepted of the Father only for His Son's sake, why should we not hope to have them most speedily accepted, when they are offered up in His Son's own words?
30 "Say...in an audible voice". Not simply speak out loud, but sing clearly and distinctly. "Say" is a technical term meaning to chant in a manner similar to the spoken voice, as opposed to "sing" which implies a more embellished melody. The direction indicates that the Lord's Prayer should be sung to an uncomplicated tune which does not obscure the words.
The music by John Sheppard (1515-1559) in the accompanying video was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I. It perhaps interprets "say" (as opposed to "sing") and "the people repeating it with him" rather loosely. The Queen was a great enthusiast of sacred music.
31 "Kneeling". Throughout the Prayer Book, the required posture for all prayer.
32 "Repeating it with him". That is, (1) not said by the Minister alone, (2) not sung in alternate verses like a Psalm, and (3) not read line by line, Minister first, then people repeating it "after him" like the Confession. Typically, the Minister will sing Our Father, and then the congregation will join in the rest of the chant.
33 "For thine is the kingdom &c".
IN the ancient Liturgies of the East, after "deliver us from evil" (said, with the rest of the prayer, by the people), the priest offers a prayer against the evil and the Evil One, culled the Embolismus; and the Doxology is then sung by the people. Probably this is a primitive usage; and the antiphon so sung has crept into the text of the Gospel.
34 "Likewise he shall say". The Minister continues to chant with a simple tone. The Answer is often set to a more elaborate music, suitable for choirs. Queen Elizabeth I said of the use of hymns,
FOR the comforting of such as delight in musick it may be permitted, that in the beginning or at the end of the Common Prayer, either at morning or evening, there may be sung an hymn or such like song to the praise of Almighty God, in the best sort of melody and musick that may be conveniently devised; having respect that the sentence [i. e. sense] of the hymn may be understanded and perceived.
35 "Open thou our lips".
THE responses here enjoined consist of prayers and praises: the first, O Lord, open thou our lips, and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise, are very frequent in ancient Liturgies, particularly in those of St. James and St. Chrysostom, and are fitly placed here with respect to those sins we lately confessed: for they are part of David's penitential psalm [Ps 51:15], who looked on his guilt so long, till the grief, shame, and fear which followed thereupon, had almost scaled up his lips, and made him speechless; so that he could not praise God as he desired, unless it pleased him, by speaking peace to his soul, to remove those terrors, and then his lips would be opened, and his mouth ready to praise God.
THIS is a most wise order of the Church in assigning this place to these verses; namely, before the Psalms, Lessons, and Collects, and yet after the Confession and Absolution; insinuating that our mouths are silenced only by sin, and opened only by God.
And therefore when we meet together in the habitation of God's honour, the Church, to be thankful to Him, and speak good of His name, we must crave of God Almighty first pardon of our sins, and then that He would put a new song in our mouths, that they may shew forth His praise.
36 "Answer". Bishop Cosin stressed that this Answer belongs to the people. The responses must be said as responses, not read out by the minister alone.
THIS is the answer of all the people. In the second book of Edw. VI. the word Choir is everywhere put for our word Answer: and by making this answer, they promise here and undertake for themselves, that they will not sit still to hear the psalms and hymns read only to them, as matter of their instruction; but that they will bear a part in them with the priest, and keep up the old custom still of singing, and answering verse by verse, as being specially appointed for the setting forth of God s praise; whereunto they are presently invited again by the minister in these words, "Praise ye the Lord." So that our manner of singing by sides, or all together, or in several parts, or in the people s answering the priest in repeating the psalms and hymns, is here grounded; but if the minister say all alone, in vain was it for God s people to promise God, and to say, that their mouth also should shew forth His praise.
37 "O God make speed to save us". Continuing with his remarks on this responsory, Bishop Sparrow says:
AND because without God's grace we can do nothing, and because the devil is then most busy to hinder us, when we are most desirously bent to serve God: therefore follow immediately those short and passionate ejaculations: "O Lord Open Thou Our Lips, O God Make Speed To Save us!"
Which verses are a most excellent defence "against all incursions and invasions of the devil, against all unruly affections of human nature; for it is a prayer, and an earnest one, to God for His help, an humble acknowledgment of our own inability to live without Him a minute, O God make haste to help us! If any be ready to faint and sink with sorrow, this raises him, by telling him that God is at hand to help us. If any be apt to be proud of spiritual success, this is fit to humble him, by minding him that lie cannot live a moment without Him. It is fit for every man in every state, degree, or condition," says Cassianus [John Cassian, ?360-435].
The same principle seems to have been taken to apply to other parts of the Divine Service.
38 "All standing up". Throughout the Prayer Book, the required posture for praise and glory.
39 "Glory be to the Father &c".
THE Doxology we meet with in the ancient Liturgies is generally thus: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, new and ever, world without end: and so it continues still in the offices of the Greek church: but the Western church soon afterwards added the words, As it was in the beginning, not only to oppose the poison of the Arians, who said, there was a beginning of time before Christ had any beginning, but also to declare that this was the primitive form, and the old orthodox way of praising God.
IT cannot easily be expressed how useful this Divine hymn is upon all occasions. If God Almighty send us prosperity, what can we better return Him, than Glory? If He sends adversity, it still befits us to say, "Glory be to," &c.. Whether we receive good, or whether we receive evil at the hands of God, we cannot say a better grace than "Glory be to the Father," &c.. In a word, we cannot better begin the day when we awake, nor conclude the day when we go to sleep, than by "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," than the Hallelujah, or Praise Ye The Lord; of which St. Augustine says, "There is nothing that more soundly delights, than the praise of God, and a continual Hallelujah."
40 "Praise ye the Lord". An English translation of the Hebrew Alleluia, which was used untranslated at this point in the old services. As in the Orthodox Churches, the acclamation is used all year round; in the Roman Church, it is studiously not used in Lent, as a time of penitence.
