BOOK II. THE ORDER FOR DAILY MORNING AND EVENING PRAYER AND THE LITANY EXPLAINED. PART I. THE MORNING PRAYER. CHAPTER I. GENERAL SCHEME OF THE SERVICE. 1. The Order of Daily Prayer is, as we have seen1, chiefly formed from the corresponding Offices of the Sarum Breviary; the Morning Prayer, from those of Matins, Lauds, and Prime; and the Evening Prayer from those of Vespers and Compline. Before the Reformation, these Offices had been so arranged that the actual Public Worship,consisted of the two services for Morning and Afternoon", which are retained in the present Service-Book, while the High Mass formed a third or principal Service towards mid-day. 2. The First Prayer-Book of King Edward VI. commenced, as has been already stated3, with the Lord's 1 See above, p. 11. 2 This was the custom of the earliest age, and down to about the fourth century. Freeman's Principles of Divine Service, I. p. 149. 3 See above, p. 21. Prayer and closed with the third Collect. The Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution, were not added till the year 1552, when the Second PrayerBook was published. 3. The Immediate Original of these additions were the forms of worship used by the French and German congregations in England, and severally drawn up by Valerandus Pollanus and John à-Lasco1. But in composing them, the Reformers acted as they had done throughout the preparation of the English Prayer-Book, restoring a primitive feature of Daily Service2 to its ancient usual place, and following the old Forms to which the people were accustomed, as far as consisted with purity of doctrine and a congregational use of Divine Service. 4. Division of the Order of Morning Prayer. As now arranged, the Order of Morning Prayer may be divided into five parts: (1) The Introduction; (3) The Lessons ; (4) The Creed or Profession of Faith; CHAPTER II. THE INTRODUCTION. I. The Introduction consists of (1) The Sentences; (2) The Exhortation; (3) The Confession; (4) The Absolution; and (5) The Lord's Prayer. 2. Its Object is to prepare the minds of the congregation for the service which is to follow; for the 1 See above, p. 24. P. B. Freeman's Principles, 1. p. 57, and p. 72. 5 Psalms, in which we "set forth God's most worthy praise:" for the Lessons, wherein "we hear His most Holy Word;" for the Creed, in which we solemnly avow and profess our faith; for the Prayers, Collects, and Thanksgivings, wherein we render thanks to God "for the great benefits we have received at His hands," and ask of Him "those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul." 3. The Sentences which form the first part are eleven in number. They are taken from various parts of Holy Scripture, and are intended to remind us of the preparation of heart necessary before we draw near to the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. vi. 15), in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts xvii. 28). 4. Their Object. Of these Sentences, (a) The 1st and 11th seem designed to inform the (b) The 2nd and 8th are intended to rouse the (e) The 4th, 6th, and 9th are designed to strengthen 5. The Exhortation connects the Sentences with the Confession, and (a) First, it derives the necessity for this duty from the Word of God, which "in sundry places moveth us to confess our manifold sins and 1 Moveth, i.e. stirs, prompts. Comp. Job ii. 3, "And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me wickedness" (Ps. xxxii. 5; 1 Jn. i. 8, 9), and warns us "that we should not dissemble nor cloke1 them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart, to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by His infinite goodness and mercy;" (b) Secondly, it reminds us that, "though we ought at all times to acknowledge our sins before God," the present time is the most suitable, when we "assemble and meet together" for public worship' in God's House (Matt. xviii. 19); (c) Thirdly, it invites as many as are present to the performance of the duty of confession, and for this purpose to accompany the Minister3 against him, to destroy him without cause.' "The fifte maner of contricioun, that moveth a man therto, is the remembrance of the passioun that oure Lord Jhesu Crist suffred for us and for our synnes;" Chaucer, Parson's Tale "Your Lordship's experience of negotiation in such affairs with her majesty can move you to bear patiently some storms in the expedition;" Letter of Cecil to Sidney, 1566. "The evil ende of Lucilla should moue thee to begin a new lyfe;" Lyly's Euphues, p. 186, Arber's ed. Cloke, (from cloak, Flem. klocke, a cloak or covering), to hide or conceal. Compare Taverner's Postils, p. 132, Oxfd. ed.: "We are sure that all those that go aboute to breake peace betwene reames, and to brynge them to warre, are the chyldren of the deuyl, what holy names soever they pretende to cloke theyr pestilente malice wyth." 2 And this worship, it reminds us, consists of four parts: (c) Hearing the Word, "to hear His most holy Word." (d) Prayer, "to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul." "That is he, who at the time ministereth or celebrateth Divine Service," Bp. Cosin. "with a pure heart and humble voice, unto the throne of the heavenly grace" (Heb. iv. 16). 6. The Confession. The Form provided for this confession of sin is called a general1 confession, (1) because all are required to make it, and (2) because it is expressed in general terms, referring to the failings of human life, which are common to all men, and which need to be confessed by all, without special mention of particular sins. In perfect keeping, therefore, with its character, the Rubric requires that it be said of the whole congregation, after the Minister, all kneeling. 7. Its Divisions. It consists of three parts:- 66 (b) A Confession " that we have erred and strayed from His ways like lost sheep," that we have been guilty of sins of omission and commission, "leaving undone those things which we ought to have done, and doing those things which we ought not to have done,” so that "there is no health2 in us" (Ps. xxxviii. 3; Job xl. 4); 1 For the meaning of the word general=for all, universal, compare Hooker's Eccl. Pol. 1. viii. 4, "The sentences which reason giveth are some more some less general, before it come to define in particular actions what is good:"" I. viii. 10, "Even those offences which are by their special qualities breaches of supernatural laws, do also, for that they are generally evil, violate in general that principle of reason, which willeth universally to fly from evil:" v. lv. 1, "God in Christ is generally the medicine which doth cure the world." 2 Health saving health (Ps. lxvii. 2), salus, σwrnpía. A.-S. halo, connected with Eng. heal, whole. Comp. Ps. xlii. 11; Ps. cxix. 123. Pr. Bk. There is no help in us we are unable to help or save ourselves, and hence in the next clause we appeal to the mercy of God, |