CHAPTER VI. WORSHIP. THE manner of worship, in all essential points, is uniform throughout the Provinces of the Unity and the Foreign Missions. It is based upon a Ritual, of which an abstract is given below, and which may be found at length in the first part of the "Liturgy and Hymns for the use of the Protestant Church of the United Brethren or Unitas Fratrum," and upon certain peculiar services of the church, to be described in this chapter. DAYS AND SEASONS. The Lord's Day is of divine appointment, and its solemn observance as a day of rest and worship, absolutely binding. It is particularly, but not exclusively, set apart for the ministrations of the Word and Sacraments. Services in the Week.-Public services of various kinds are held on week-day evenings. In the Continental Province, and in some of the churches of the British, these services take place every evening in the week throughout the entire year. Church Seasons.—The seasons and festivals of the ecclesiastical year are observed, namely: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, the Passion Week, Easter, Ascension-day, Whitsuntide, and Trinity Sunday. Memorial Days.-Besides these seasons and festivals, the church has what are called "Memorial Days;" being the anniversaries of certain of the most important events in its early history. They are the following: January 19th, commencement of the mission among the heathen in Greenland, in the year 1733; March 1st, beginning of the Church of the Brethren, in the year 1457; May 12th, laying of the foundation-stone for the first church-edifice at Herrnhut, in the year 1724; and agreement to the first Statutes of the congregation there, in the year 1727; June 17th, beginning of the building of Herrnhut by the immigrants from Moravia, in the year 1722; July 6th, martyrdom of John Hus, in the year 1415; August 13th, the extraordinarily blessed celebration of the Holy Communion, in the parish church at Berthelsdorf, in the year 1727, whereby the new covenant of love and peace between the members of the congregation, entered into by the signing of the Statutes, on May 12th, was sealed, and a remarkable baptism of the Spirit granted; September 16th, the abolition of the office of Chief Elder in the church by the Synodical Conference assembled at London, in the year 1741, a memorial day particularly for the ministers and other servants of the Brethren's Unity; November 13th, powerful experience in the Brethren's Unity, on the occasion of making known the abolition of this office, that Jesus only is the Chief Shepherd and Head of the Church. These Memorial Days are generally noticed in the public services of the evening, or of the Lord's Day next following. In many churches, however, the 13th of August and the 13th of November, are celebrated as solemn festivals. As a general thing, each church also observes the Anniversary Day of its organization; and this celebration is denominated its "Congregation Festival." THE RITUAL. The Church Litany. The public services of the Lord's day begin with the Litany, which is used, in several languages, in all the churches of the Unity, including those of the foreign mission field. In the Continental Province, a separate meeting is held at nine o'clock in the morning, when the prayers of the Litany are read; in the American Province, the Litany is generally prayed in connection with the morning preaching, as follows: *LORD, have mercy upon us. Lord, Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering * In all the forms of Ritual given in this chapter, the lines in italics are responses on the part of the congregation. and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; (Exod. xxxiv 6, 7.) Incline thine ear and hear: for we do not present ou supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. (Daniel ix. 18.) Lord God, our FATHER which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever : Amen. Lord God, SoN, thou Saviour of the world. Be gracious unto us. Lord God, HOLY GHOST, Abide with us forever. Most holy blessed TRINITY. We praise thee to eternity. Thou LAMB once slain, our God and Lord, And on us all have mercy. From coldness to thy merits and death, From error and misunderstanding, From the loss of our glory in thee, From the unhappy desire of becoming great, From self-complacency, From untimely projects, From needless perplexity, From the murdering spirit and devices of Satan, From the influence of the spirit of this world, From the deceitfulness of sin, From all sin, Preserve us, gracious Lord and God. By all the merits of thy life, By thy human birth and circumcision, By thy obedience, diligence, and faithfulness, By thy holy baptism, By thy watching, fasting, and temptations, By thy prayers and tears, By thy having been despised and rejected, Bless and comfort us, gracious Lord and God. By thine agony and bloody sweat, By thy bonds and scourgings, By thy crown of thorns, By thy cross and passion, By thy sacred wounds and precious blood, By thy dying words, By thy atoning death, By thy rest in the grave, By thy glorious resurrection and ascension, By thy sending the Holy Ghost, By thy prevailing intercession, By the holy sacraments, By thy divine presence, (Matt. xxviii. 20.) By thy coming again to thy church on earth, or our being called home to thee, Bless and comfort us, gracious Lord and God. |