SECTION V.

ABSOLUTION.

An Absolution followed the Confession formerly in the offices of the English churches, for prime, or the first hour of the day. We may perhaps assign to the Absolution thus placed an antiquity equal to that of the Confession, though Gemma Anime and Durandus do not appear expressly to mention it. The sacerdotal benediction of penitents was in the earliest times conveyed in the form of a prayer to God for their absolution; but in after-ages different forms of benediction were used, both in the East and West. With regard to these varieties of form, it does not appear that they were formerly considered of any importance. A benediction seems to have been regarded as equally valid, whether it was conveyed in the form of a petition or a declaration, whether in the optative or the indicative mood, whether in the active or the passive voice, whether in the first, second, or third person". It is true that a direct prayer to God is a most ancient form of blessing; but the use of a precatory, or an optative form, by no means warrants the inference, that the person who uses it is devoid of any divinely instituted authority to bless and absolve in the congregation of God. Neither does the use of a direct

t See Breviar. Sarisb. Ebor. Hereford. as referred to at the beginning of last section.

u For much information connected with this subject, see Bingham's Antiquities, book

xix. c. 2, and letter ii. to the bishop of Winchester. Morinus de Pœnitentia, lib. viii. c. 16. 21, &c. Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 180.

indicative form of blessing or absolution imply any thing but the exercise of an authority which God has given, to such an extent, and under such limitations, as Divine Revelation has declared.

SECTION VI.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

The Lord's Prayer was used in the English church at the beginning of matins, and the other canonical hours, some time before the reign of Edward the Sixth, when the offices were brought to their present form. In the primitive ages, however, it is totally improbable that the Lord's Prayer was ever repeated at the beginning of any public office; for it was a part of ecclesiastical discipline to keep this prayer from the knowledge of all who were not baptized"; and during the earlier part of divine service, the heathen were commonly permitted to be present. Tertullian has been often cited to prove that the primitive Christians prefixed the Lord's Prayer to their offices, but there is not the least proof that, in the place cited, he is speaking of public devotions. That Tertullian does not speak of public service in that place, is satisfactorily proved to me by the subsequent practice of all churches, who never recited the Lord's Prayer while the heathen were present; and still further by the silence of all the contemporary and subsequent Fathers,

▾ Breviar. Sarisb. fol. 2. Bingham's Antiquities,

W

book x. c. 5, § 9.

X

damento, accidentium jus est desideriorum, jus est superstruendi extrinsecus petitiones." Tertullian, de Oratione,

"Præmissa legitima et ordinaria oratione, quasi fun- c. ix. p. 133, ed. Rigalt.

who never allude to the repetition of the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of the canonical hours, or of any other public service. It is not mentioned by Isidore Hispalensis, by Benedict, by Amalarius, or by any other writer on ecclesiastical offices who lived before the thirteenth century. In fact, the custom of prefixing the Lord's Prayer to the offices of the day and night, seems to have commenced amongst the monastic orders of the West. It would appear that the first allusion to the Lord's Prayer, as used at the beginning of the hours, is found in the Book of the Customs of the Cistercian Order, where it is prescribed, that after the sign for beginning the office was given, the brethren should all pray upon the Misericordiæ (seats), repeating the Lord's Prayer and Creed, before they began to chant the commencement of the service, “O Lord, make speed to save us "." Durandus, who wrote at the end of the thirteenth century, says, that the Lord's Prayer was repeated three times on entering the church before matins, and once before the other hours. So that formerly the Lord's Prayer was not considered part of the office, but was preparatory to it; and accordingly we find in the Breviary of the church of Salisbury, that after the Lord's Prayer was repeated, the priest was to begin the service, "Postea sacerdos incipiat servitium hoc "modo, Domine, labia mea aperies," &c. Various monastic orders imitated the Cistercian after that time, and the clergy of the West in many places

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y "Dimisso officii signo, cantent." Liber Consuetudin. orationem super misericordias Cisterciensis, c. 68. faciunt, id est, Pater Noster, et Credo in Deum, antequam versum Deus in adjutorium de

z Durandi Rationale, lib. v. c. 3, fol. 226.

a Breviar. Sarisbur. fol. 2.

gradually adopted the same custom. The churches of England generally used the Lord's Prayer before the offices, as we may see by the breviaries of Salisbury, York, Hereford, &c. It does not seem to have been used in the Roman church until the publication of the Roman breviary revised by cardinal Quignon, A. D. 1536; and it was not received by public authority into that breviary until the revision made by Pius the Fifth of Rome, A. D. 1568.

At the same time that the Lord's Prayer began to be used before the offices, the Creed was repeated after it. In later ages the Ave Maria was inserted between them, and thus the introduction to the hours, according to the Roman breviary, was formed. The form beginning Ave Maria was not used before the hours until the sixteenth century, in the Roman offices. It was then first introduced into the breviary by cardinal Quignon. admits that it is modern d.

Cardinal Bona

SECTION VII.

THE VERSICLES, GLORIA PATRI, &c.

I have been considering thus far the Introduction to Morning Prayer; and it appears that no part of it can be justly said to be inconsistent with the customs of the Christian church before the reform of our offices. I now proceed to the second part of this office, namely, the Psalmody and Lessons of Scripture, which is generally of much greater antiquity; and in the present section I will notice the

b Gavanti Thesaurus a Merati, tom. ii. p. 104.

d Bona, de Div. Psalmodia, c. xvi. § 2, p. 417.

C

Gavanti, ibid.

Versicles, Gloria Patri, &c. which may be regarded as the ancient introduction to the psalms.

g

The first versicle, and response, "O Lord, open "thou our lips," &c. are spoken of by Benedict in the sixth century, by Amalarius A.D. 820, and by Walafridus Strabo, who lived in the same century 8, as occurring at the beginning of the matins and other offices: and they have been thus used from time immemorial by the English church ".

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The second versicle, and response," O God, make 'speed," &c. are mentioned by Benedict, and have also been long used by the church of England, since they appear in the Anglo-Saxon offices. Though Benedict only appoints the versicle and response which we use, yet it appears that other persons repeated not only these, which form the first verse of the 70th psalm, but the whole psalm after them, with Gloria Patri. An anonymous rule for the use of regular canons written after the year 816, directed the clergy, when they awoke in order to perform the office of matins, to repeat immediately Domine labia mea, ("O Lord, open thou our lips," &c.) and then the whole psalm, Deus in adjutorium, ("O God, make speed," &c.) ending with Gloria Patri; and then go to the church. From this