Friday 30th July, 2010
The Eighth Sunday After Trinity
Mattins
The Venite1
Then shall be said or sung2 this Psalm following: Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed: and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.
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Psalm 95: O Come Let Us Sing Unto The Lord
O COME,
let us ˡ sing unto the ˡ Lord :
let us heartily rejoice in the
ˡ strength of ˡ our salˡvation.
2. Let us come before his ˡ presence with
ˡ thanksgiving : and shew ourselves
ˡ glad in ˡ him with ˡ psalms.
3. For the
Lord is a ˡ great ˡ God :
and a great ˡ King aˡbove all ˡ gods.
4. In his hand are
all
the ˡ corners · of the
ˡ earth :
and the strength of the ˡ hills ˡ is his ˡ also.
(2nd pt) 5.
The sea is his, and ˡ he ˡ
made it : and his hands preˡpared ˡ the dry ˡ land.
6.
O come, let us worship and ˡ fall ˡ down : and kneel
beˡfore the ˡ Lord our
ˡ Maker.
7. For he is the ˡ Lord our ˡ God :
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the ˡ sheep ˡ of his ˡ hand.
8. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden
ˡ not your ˡ hearts :
as in the provocation, and as in the day of tempˡtation ˡ in
the ˡ wilderness.
*9. When your ˡ fathers ˡ tempted
ˡ me : ˡ proved me, and ˡ saw my
ˡ works.
10. Forty years long was I grieved with this geneˡration, and ˡ said :
It
is a people that do err in their hearts, for they ˡ have not ˡ known my
ˡ ways;
11. Unto whom I ˡ sware in my ˡ wrath : that they should not ˡ enter
ˡ into
my ˡ rest.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Then shall follow the Psalms3 in order as they be appointed.4 And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise in the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,5
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
The Psalms
Day 30 Morning
BLESSED be the
ˡ Lord my ˡ strength :
who teacheth my hands to war, ˡ and my
ˡ fingers to ˡ fight.
2. My hope and my fortress, my castle and deliverer,
my
defender in ˡ whom I ˡ trust :
who subdueth my ˡ people ˡ that is ˡ under me.
3.
Lord, what is man, that thou hast such respect ˡ
unto ˡ him : or the son of
man,
that thou ˡ so reˡgardest ˡ him?
4. Man is like a ˡ thing of ˡ nought : his time
ˡ passeth aˡway like a ˡ shadow.
5. Bow thy heavens, O Lord, ˡ and come ˡ down :
touch the ˡ mountains, and ˡ they shall ˡ smoke.
6. Cast forth thy ˡ lightning,
and ˡ tear them :
shoot out thine ˡ arrows, ˡ and conˡsume them.
7. Send down
thine hand ˡ from aˡbove : deliver me,
and take me out of the great waters,
from the ˡ hand of ˡ strange ˡ children.
8. Whose mouth ˡ talketh of ˡ vanity : and
their right hand ˡ is a right ˡ hand of ˡ wickedness.
9. I will sing a new
song
unto ˡ thee, O ˡ God :
and sing praises unto thee upˡon a ˡ ten-stringed
ˡ lute.
10. Thou hast given victory unto kings : and hast delivered David thy
servant from the ˡ peril ˡ of the ˡ sword.
(2nd pt) 11. Save me, and deliver me from
the
hand of ˡ strange ˡ children :
whose mouth talketh of vanity, and their right
hand ˡ is a right ˡ hand of inˡiquity.
12. That our sons may grow up as the
ˡ young ˡ plants :
and that our daughters may be as the polished ˡ corners ˡ of the
ˡ temple.
13. That our garners may be full and plenteous with all ˡ manner of
ˡ store : that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten
ˡ thousands ˡ in
our ˡ streets.
14. That our oxen may be strong to labour, that there be ˡ no
deˡcay : no leading into captivity,
and no comˡplaining ˡ in our ˡ streets.
15.
Happy are the people that are in ˡ
such a ˡ case : yea, blessed are the people
who have the ˡ Lord for ˡ their ˡ God.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Day 30 Morning
I WILL magnify thee,
O ˡ God, my ˡ King :
and I will praise thy ˡ Name for ˡ ever
and ˡ ever.
2. Every day will I give thanks ˡ
unto ˡ thee : and praise thy ˡ Name
for
ˡ ever and ˡ ever.
3. Great is the Lord, and marvellous worthy ˡ to be ˡ praised
: there ˡ is no ˡ end of his ˡ greatness.
4. One generation shall praise thy
works ˡ unto aˡnother :
and deˡclare ˡ thy ˡ power.
5. As for me, I will be
talking ˡ of thy ˡ worship :
thy glory, thy ˡ praise, and ˡ wondrous ˡ works;
6.
So
that men shall speak of the might of thy ˡ
marvellous ˡ acts : and I will ˡ also
ˡ tell of thy ˡ greatness.
(2nd pt) 7. The memorial of thine abundant kindness ˡ
shall be ˡ shewed : and ˡ men shall
ˡ sing of thy ˡ righteousness.
8. The Lord is
ˡ gracious
and ˡ merciful :
long-suffering ˡ and of ˡ great ˡ goodness.
9. The Lord is
loving unto ˡ every ˡ man :
and his mercy is ˡ over ˡ all his ˡ works.
10. All thy
works ˡ praise thee, O ˡ Lord :
and thy saints ˡ give thanks ˡ unto ˡ thee.
11.
They shew the glory ˡ
of thy ˡ kingdom : and
ˡ talk of ˡ thy ˡ power;
12. That thy
power, thy glory, and mightiness ˡ
of thy ˡ kingdom : might be ˡ known ˡ unto
ˡ men.
13. Thy kingdom is an everˡlasting ˡ
kingdom : and thy dominion enˡdureth
throughˡout all ˡ ages.
14. The Lord upholdeth ˡ
all such as ˡ fall : and
lifteth up ˡ all those ˡ that are ˡ down.
15. The eyes of all wait upon ˡ thee,
O
ˡ Lord :
and thou givest ˡ them their ˡ meat in due ˡ season.
16. Thou ˡ openest
thine ˡ hand : and
fillest ˡ all things ˡ
living with ˡ plenteousness.
17. The
Lord is righteous in ˡ all his ˡ ways :
and ˡ holy in ˡ all his ˡ works.
18. The Lord
is nigh unto all them that ˡ
call upˡon him : yea, all such as ˡ call upˡon him
ˡ faithfully.
19. He will fulfil the desire of ˡ them that ˡ fear him : he also
will hear their ˡ cry, ˡ and will ˡ help them.
20. The Lord preserveth all
ˡ them
that ˡ love him :
but scattereth aˡbroad ˡ all the unˡgodly.
21. My mouth
shall
speak the ˡ praise of the ˡ Lord :
and let all flesh give thanks unto his holy
ˡ Name for ˡ ever and ˡ ever.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Day 30 Morning
PRAISE the Lord,
O my soul; while I live will I ˡ praise the ˡ Lord : yea, as
long as I have any being, I will sing ˡ praises ˡ unto my ˡ God.
2. O put not your
trust in princes, nor in any ˡ
child of ˡ man : for there is ˡ no ˡ help in
ˡ them.
3. For when the breath of man goeth forth he shall turn aˡgain to his
ˡ earth : and then
ˡ all his ˡ thoughts ˡ perish.
4. Blessed is he that hath the
God of Jacob ˡ for his ˡ help :
and whose hope is ˡ in the ˡ Lord his ˡ God;
5.
Who
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that ˡ therein
ˡ is : who ˡ keepeth his
ˡ promise for ˡ ever;
6. Who helpeth them to right that ˡsuffer ˡ wrong : who
ˡfeedˡeth the ˡ hungry.
7. The Lord looseth men ˡ
out of ˡ prison : the Lord
giveth ˡ sight ˡ to the ˡ blind.
8. The Lord helpeth them ˡ that are ˡ fallen :
the
Lord ˡ careth ˡ for the ˡ righteous.
9. The Lord careth for the strangers, he
defendeth the ˡ fatherless and ˡ
widow : as for the way of the ungodly, he
ˡ turneth it ˡ upside ˡ down.
10. The Lord thy God, O Sion, shall be King for
everˡmore : and
throughˡout all ˡ geneˡrations.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Footnotes
1 "Venite". Charles Wheatly very cleverly linked this Psalm to the four purposes of divine worship in the Exhortation which opens Mattins: Thanks, praise, hearing God's word, and prayer. (Thanksgiving may be contrasted with ingratitude, i.e. hardness of heart in the face of God's mercies.)
"OUR reformers very fitly placed it here as a proper place: preparatory to the following Psalms, Lessons, and Collects. For it exorts us, first, to praise God, shewing us in what manner and for what reasons we ought to do it; secondly, it exhorts us to pray to him, shewing us also the manner and reasons. Lastly, it exhorts us to hear God's word speedily and willingly, giving us a caution to beware of hardening our hearts by an instance of the sad event which happened to the Jews on that account, whose sin and punishment are set before us, that we may not destroy our souls, by despising and distrusting God's word as they did. For which warning we bless the holy Trinity, saying, Glory be to the Father &c..
Meanwhile, Bishop Cosin paralleled the singing of Psalms to the offering of the morning sacrifice in the Jewish Temple. Singing Psalms, and particularly the Venite, is part of the moral law that endures after the ceremonial law of sacrifices had been fulfilled and ended by Christ on his cross.
THE setting forth of God s worship and praise in psalms, is that part of moral and perpetual service, the order whereof was most particularly set down in the Old Testament in Solomon's temple.
As the sacrifice was burning upon the altar, and the wine poured out upon it in the inward court, which was their ceremonial and figurative service; in the meantime, the Levites stood upon their pulpits in the outward courts, where the people, men and women, were licensed to come, singing the psalms of God's praises, which was their moral service of it, to last for ever.
Other parts of the service are not there remembered; not but that many others were done, but to let the world know, that the psalms of God's praises, for the ordinary practice whereof such express order was taken and remembered, was not to be reckoned of by the by, but as a main part of God's public service.
And this was not the personal service of the Levites alone, but of the whole congregation of God s people assembled there, which made His praise to be the more glorious; and was there fore so much the more acceptable to Him, when the people joined together with the Levites to set it forth.
Therefore, according to King David s example, and others inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Church here hath appointed this first psalm, as an invitatory to stir up the affections of the whole congregation to that work, which they perform in some places by answering alternately, and in others by singing one side of the choir after another.
AN old custom lingers (especially in the North of England) of making a gesture of reverence at the words O come let us worship and fall down, which is a relic of the custom actual prostration as it was once made in many churches at these words.
2 "Said or sung". Technical language for chanted plain or chanted ornately. Cranmer himself wrote in a letter to King Henry VIII in 1544 concerning the Litany in procession,
IF your Grace command some devout and solemn note to be made thereunto (as is to the procession which your Majesty hath already set forth in English), I trust it will much excitate and stir the hearts of all men unto devotion and godliness. But in mine opinion, the song that shall be made thereunto should not be full of notes, but as near as may be for every syllable a note; so that it may be sung distinctly and devoutly, as be the Matins and Evensong, Venitie, the Hymns, Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, and all the Psalms and Versicles; and in the Mass, Gloria in Excelsis, Gloria Patri, the Creed, the Preface, the Pater Noster, and some of the Sanctus and Agnus.
Likewise, "read here" uses the neutral term "read" which covers any kind of singing.
As the Venite is a Psalm, we would expect to hear it sung antiphonally, e.g. one verse by the boys, one by the men; or if there is no choir, perhaps one verse by the priest/cantor, one verse by the congregation.
3 "The Psalms". The Psalms are ancient Hebrew songs, many of which were used as part of the Temple worship.
THAT which we read, as matter of speculation, in the other Scriptures, is reduced to practice, when we recite it in the Psalms; in those, repentance and faith are described, but in these they are acted; by a perusal of the former, we learn how others served God, but, by using the latter, we serve him ourselves. "What is there necessary for man to know," says the pious and judicious Hooker, "which the Psalms are not able to teach? They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation of the most perfect among others."
YOU may observe here, that St. Paul joins those two Things together, praying with the Spirit, and singing with the Spirit. What is it then? (saith he) I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray with the Understanding also; I will sing with the Spirit, I will sing with the Understanding also. Praying and Singing of Psalms, as they do now, so they did in those Times, always go together in the publick Worship of God.
An ancient practice is to select a verse from each Psalm to act as a summary, and sing it both before and after the Psalm. This is known as an Antiphon.
IN its earliest form, the Anthem, or Antiphon, seems to have been a single verse out of any Psalm repeated after the recitation of the Psalm (and, in later times, before its recitation also) with a view of fixing the key-note, so to speak, of the Psalm; of bringing into prominence, and fastening attention upon, some special idea contained within it.
Later, other sacred or even secular texts would be drafted in, a practice clearly fraught with risks.
4 "In order as they be appointed". The Prayer Book runs through the complete Psalter once each month.
WITH us the Psalms are recited much oftener than any other part of Scripture, and thus far our established practice corresponds with the usage of the ancient Church. At the same time, that all the Psalms may be read in course, and that our Morning and Evening Prayer may not tire or disgust by its prolixity, we assign for this purpose the term of thirty days.
As well as the appointed order, custom tells us that the Psalms are said standing.
STANDING has usually been deemed the most proper attitude for praise and thanksgiving. Accordingly we find that, in the ancient Church, the Psalms were almost universally recited in this posture.
In the matter of music, the 18th century writers were very much committed to antiphonal singing, where two choirs alternate. They loudly disapproved of having them ploddingly read out by the minister (or indeed congregation) alone.
THIS alternate recitation of the Psalms is not, as far as I at present recollect, enjoined by any Rubric, nor by any other injunction of our Church. But we uniformly adopt it; and in defence of our practice, we have to allege, that it is perfectly congenial to the usage of antiquity, is sanctioned by the recommendation of the wisest and best among the Fathers, has been ratified by respectable Councils, and the most approved ecclesiastical laws, and is obviously calculated to keep up the attention, and assist the devotion of the people.
AS to the manner: which is alternate or by turns, according to the ancient custom of the Catholick Church; and according to the pattern set us by the Church in Heaven, where, in singing the Trisagium [i.e. the Sanctus], the Seraphims are said to cry one to another. And this custom is well retained in our Church, whether appointed to be sung, as in our Cathedral Service, or to be said, as in our Parochial Worship. For in the former, when one side of the Choir sing unto the other, they hereby both provoke and relieve each others piety, they provoke it by this holy contention, and relieve it by this interchange. And for these reasons it is no less necessary, tho' less beautiful in our Parochial Service, where the reading of the Psalms is divided between the Minister and People.
THIS, St. Basil tells us, was a rite that in his time had obtained among all the churches of God: "After the Confession, saith he, the people rise from Prayer, and proceed to Psalmody, dividing themselves into two parts, and singing by turns."
5 "Shall be repeated". This hymn, the Gloria Patri, is certainly very ancient. Drawing on ancient historians and their account of Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna (?69-?155), John Shepherd wrote of it:
"THE earliest instance that we meet with, of the use of this Hymn, is found in the circular epistle of the Church of Smyrna, concerning the martyrdom of their beloved Bishop Polycarp; whence we learn that a Doxology, nearly resembling Gloria Patri, were the last words he uttered. Polycarp was conversant with the Apostles, and was consecrated Bishop of Smyrna by St. John the Evangelist. To him among others St. John is said to have addressed the Revelation, in which Polycarp is entitled "the Angel" of the Church of Smyrna. When this truly apostolic man fell a victim to cruel superstition and popular fury, bound to the stake, with eyes uplifted to heaven, he made a short fervent prayer to God, which is concluded with a Doxology to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost."
6 "A short voluntary".
AFTER the Psalms have been sung it is customary in many churches to play a short voluntary on the organ: this is mentioned by Archbishop Secker as having 'long been customary' in his day; and in a letter from Oxford in No. 630 of the 'Spectator.'
Perhaps it may be accounted for by a Salisbury Rubric between the Psalms and Lessons, 'Deinde dicitur Paternoster et Credo in Deum a toto choro privatim' [then let there be said 'Our Father' and 'I Believe In God' silently, by the whole choir].