The Prayers. cluding prayer was not found in the Western Breviaries. The following is the Greek original:— 2 Cor. xii. 1.3. Ὁ τὰς κοινὰς ταύτας καὶ συμφώνους ἡμῖν χαρισάμενος προσευχάς, ὁ καὶ δυσὶ καὶ τρισὶ συμφωνοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου τὰς αἰτήσεις παρέχειν ἐπαγγειλάμενος Αὐτὸς καὶ νῦν τῶν δούλων σου τὰ αἰτήματα πρὸς τὸ σύμφερον πλήρωσον, χορηγῶν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ πάροντι αἰῶνι τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς σῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι ζωὴν αἰώνιον χαριζόμενος. This prayer was placed at the end of the Litany, when that Service was revised by Cranmer in 1544, and at the conclusion of the daily Morning and Evening Prayer in 1661, according to the rubric of the Prayer Book for Scotland (1637). The concluding precatory benediction has been used in the Liturgies of the Eastern Churches2 probably from the most primitive times; and, with the necessary change of phrase, it is used as a blessing by St. Paul. It is thus a substitution of an apostolical form for that which had been anciently given to the Jewish Church. The older form involved the doctrine of the Trinity, under the threefold repetition of the sacred Name; but this is a direct recognition of the doctrine according to the more full revelation given to the Christian Church. The benediction appointed in the Breviary at the conclusion of the prayers at Prime was nothing more than the ordinary commencement of a religious action, ‘In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' This was omitted in the reformed Service, but nothing was substituted until the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, when our present benediction1 was placed 3 1 Εὐχὴ ̓Αντιφώνου τρίτου Eucho- 3 Above, p. 192. 4 It had been the ordinary Sunday Capitulum at Tierce. at the conclusion of 'The Litany used in the Queen's Chapel' (1559).1 SECT. IV. Evening Prayer. Evening The order for Evening Prayer, called 'Evensong' in 1549, is formed upon the ancient Offices of Vespers and Compline.2 The Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution were appointed in 1552 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 (1661). Of the Versicles, the two former were added in 1552, thereby resembling the Morning Service. The place of the Little Chapter at Vespers was occupied by a chapter from the Old Testament; and was followed by Magnificat, which has been sung at Vespers as long as the Service can be traced in the Western Church. Our second Lesson occupies the place of the Little Chapter at Compline, which, after a hymn that is omitted, was followed by the Song of Simeon,' this having been sung at Evening Prayer from very early times. The Canticles thus inserted occupy a most The 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 1 Liturg. Services of Elizabeth, p. 17 (Park. Soc.). It is not printed in all the editions of the Prayer Book of that year. Ibid. pp. 75 sqq. 2 Above, pp. 192 sqq. In the Eastern Church, Magnificat is among the Morning Canticles; and the earliest trace we have of it in the West is in the Const. Apost. vii. 49. Canticles Prayer. Evening 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; but they are appropriate, especially to the season of Epiphany, as songs of praise for the announcement of salvation. The Collects. In 1549, the Service at this point followed the Breviary, putting Prayers and Collects after the Song of Simeon. At the revision in 1552, the Apostles' Creed was placed here, as in the Morning Prayer. After the Lesser Litany and the Suffrages, three Collects are said, the first being that of the Day.2 The Second Collect, for Peace, is as old as the fifth century, occurring in the Sacramentary of Gelasius 3 (494). In the Sarum Breviary it is the fourth Collect after the Litany: Deus a quo sancta desideria, recta consilia, et justa sunt opera, da servis tuis illam quam mundus dare non potest pacem; ut et corda nostra mandatis tuis dedita, et hostium sublata formidine tempora sint tua protectione tranquilla.* 1 Above, p. 193, and cf. p. 239. or Eve. A Vigil is a fast-day preceding a festival: an Eve is not a fast. Hook, Church Dictionary. 3 Muratori, Lit. Rom. Vet. 1. 690. 4 It is also the Collect in the Missa The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils, is also in the Sacramentary of Gelasius,1 as an Evening Collect, -the place which it occupies in the Sarum Breviary.2 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. SECT. V.-The Litany. Evening The fixed of Litany. A Form of Supplication, resembling those features Early Form which distinguish the Litany from the other Prayers, exists in the Apostolical Constitutions. The deacon bids the Prayer,3 or names the subjects of petition, and the people answer to each, Lord have mercy. And the prayer of the bishop proceeds with a series of short petitions pro pace; Miss. Sar., col. 827*. In the early Primer, printed by Mr. Maskell, it is the Collect for the pees' at Lauds. Mon. Rit. II. p. 36; see also p. 108, note. 1 Muratori, I. 745. 2 Above, p. 195. This ancient Collect is altered in the American Prayer Book: 'O Lord, our hea- 3 Const. Apost. viii. 6. The Litany. for all orders and circumstances of men; the form, Let us pray, being frequently introduced.1 Processions About the fourth century, the word Litany came to be especially applied to solemn Offices of Prayer performed with processions of the clergy and people. In the time of Basil (370), some changes2 had been introduced into the Litanies which were not in use in the days of Gregory Thaumaturgus (254): and processions took place at Constantinople in the time of Chrysostom (398); but the service at these processions consisted of singing hymns.3 Afterwards the procession was joined with fasting and prayers, and was used for special supplications in any peculiar emergency.* There is, however, no trace of such forms of prayer in the Western Churches before the fifth century. It is probable that the word Litany, the Kyrie eleison, and Processions, the form and great part of the substance of these Oriental prayers,-were received in the West early in that century;5 and, at first, the place at the beginning of the Litany, afterwards occupied by the invocations of numerous saints, was filled up with a 1 Const. Apost. viii. 10. See the second part of Professor Blunt's Introductory Lecture, pp. 26 sq.; Bingham, Antiq. XV. 1, § 2. 2 It is not certain what the changes were: the Litanies were peculiar penitential Services; but the Benedictine editor can find no trace in them of processions: 'A^^' οὐκ ἦν, φησὶ, ταῦτα ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου. Αλλ ̓ οὐδὲ αἱ λιτανείαι ὡς ὑμεῖς νῦν ἐπιτηδεύετε. Καὶ οὐ κατηγορῶν ὑμῶν λέγω· ηὐχόμην γὰρ πάντας ὑμᾶς ἐν δάκρυσι ζῆν, καὶ μετανοίᾳ διηνεκεί. S. Basil. Ep. CCVII. (al. 63), ad Clericos Neocæsar. Opp. T. III. 311. D. The Arians, not being allowed to use the churches within the city, assembled about the porticoes, and sung heretical hymns through great part of the night, and at dawn of Saturday and Sunday went through the city and out of the gates to their place of worship, singing antiphonally all the way. Chrysostom fearing that his people might be induced by these processions to join the Arians, established them on a more splendid scale; and by the help of the Empress Eudoxia silver crosses were provided bearing waxlights, which were carried in the processions of the orthodox. Socr. Hist. Eccl. vI. 8; Sozom. VIII. 8. 4 E.g. on account of an earthquake at Constantinople (430). Niceph. Callist. Hist. XIV. 46. 5 See Palmer, Orig. Lit. ch. II. §. |