in the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Comforter of the Church, Who ministers in it the grace which the Saviour has gained for it, the Holy Catholic Church, which is the whole number of the baptized, the mystical Body of Christ; which was founded by the twelve Apostles, and is continued in existence by the perpetuation of an Episcopal ministry; which, by the merciful Providence of the Lord, holds the true Faith; which is divided into many separate bodies, all having their own bishops, and is yet one by being united to Christ, our Spiritual and Ministerial Head. I likewise believe in the Communion of Saints, that is, the Union in Christ of all who are one with Him, whether they are among the living in the Church on earth, the departed in paradise, or the risen saints in heaven. I also believe in the Forgiveness of Sins, by the ministration of Christ's Church in Baptism and in Absolution, the Resurrection of the body, when it shall be, as now, my own very body, and reunited to my soul, and the Life Everlasting, wherein the bodies and souls of all who have ever lived will live for ever, they that have done good in never-ending happiness, and they that have done evil in never-ending misery. And, lastly, I reiterate my assent to all these truths, in the presence of God and man, by solemnly adding Amen. [For notes relating to the use of the Creed at Baptism, and to the Forms of it so used, see the Baptismal Service.] THE SUFFRAGES OR PRECES. The portion of the daily Service which comes between the Creed and the first Collect was translated, with some alterations, from the Preces Feriales inserted among the Preces et Memoria Communes of the Salisbury Portiforium. In 1552, the Dominus vobiscum and Oremus were prefixed: and the "Clerks and people" (meaning, of course, the choristers and people) were directed to say the Lord's Prayer as well as the Minister. In the ancient form of the Service the Kyrie Eleison was left untranslated in the Greek, like the Alleluia, from a special reverence for the original words, and also as a sign of the universality of the Church's prayers. They are still said in Greek in the Litany used in Convocation. Each Kyrie and Christe was also repeated three times. The Lord's Prayer was said privately by the Priest as far as the last clause, which was long the custom of the Church, the Et ne nos, &c. being repeated aloud that the people might then join. This custom was abolished in 1552. In some cases it appears that the whole was said privately by Clergy and people; and then the last two clauses were said again aloud. [See Transl. Sar. Psalter, 14, n.] The six versicles and their responses are modified from the ancient form; of which the following is a translation, as far as the Miserere: I There is enough analogy between the suffrages of the Western Church and the Ectene or Great Collect of the Eastern, to lead to the conviction that both have a common origin. And hear us in the day when we call upon Thee. Save Thy servants and Thy handmaidens, Trusting, O my God, in Thee. O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, O Lord, grant us peace in Thy strength, And let perpetual light shine upon them. Have mercy upon me, and hear me. After which preces, the fifty-first Psalm was said from beginning to end, and three more versicles, which are given at p. 22. It will be observed that the first of our versicles with its response is not found among the above ferial Suffrages. It was taken from another set which were used on festivals, and is also found at the beginning of a somewhat similar set used every Sunday at the Bidding of Prayers. The Latin form of these latter is as follows: Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam. Domine, salvum fac regem. Salvos fac servos tuos, et ancillas tuas. Salvum fac populum, Domine, et benedic hæreditati tuæ. Domine, exaudi orationem meam 2. The fifth versicle and its response are also different in the existing form. In the ancient Prymer this appears in the following shape, before the Evening Collect for Peace : Ant. Lord, yue pees in oure daies, for there is noon othir that shal fytte for us, but thou lord oure god 3. Vers. Lord, pees be maad in thi vertu. Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris. Quia non est alius qui pugnet pro nobis 2 These are given from Maskell's Monumenta Ritualia, iii. 343, but the people's responses are omitted. In Chambers' Translation of the Sarum Psalter the complete form has been compiled. Bishop Cosin altered this versicle to a form which was intended to conciliate Puritan objectors, writing "Because there is none other that saveth us from our enemies, but only Thou, O God." The alteration was not approved by the Revision Committee, and was erased. Luke xi. 2-4. Ps lxxxv. 7. Ps. xx. 9 [LXX]. Then the Minister, Clerks, and people, shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice. UR 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. Amen. T Then the Priest standing up shall say, Answer. And grant us thy salvation. Priest. O Lord, save the Queen. The sixth versicle and its response are taken from the fifty-first Psalm, which followed the Ferial Preces at Mattins and Vespers. It will also be observed that the petition for the Sovereign and that for the Ministers of the Church, have exchanged places in the course of their adaptation to modern use. This change first appears at the end of the Litany in Hilsey's Primer of 1539. The reason why the Prayer for the Sovereign is put before that for the Clergy, is, not that the secular power may be honoured above the Church, but that the supreme sovereign authority of the realm may be recognized before the clerical part of the Church 1. The mutual salutation with which this portion of the daily Office begins, is to be said while the people are yet standing, as they were during the recitation of the Creed; "the Minister first pronouncing" it "with a loud voice,” (and turning to the people,) before "all devoutly kneeling," join in the lesser Litany. It is of very ancient ritual use [see Conc. Vas. c. v. A.D. 440], and is believed by the Eastern Church to have been handed down from the Apostles. Its office is to make a transition, in connexion with the lesser Litany, from the service of praise to that of supplication: and also to give devotional recognition to the common work in which Priest and laity are engaged, and the common fellowship in which it is being done. The same salutation is used in the Confirmation Service, after the act of Confirmation, and before the Lord's Prayer: but in this case the lesser Litany is not connected with it. The constant use of this mutual Benediction or Salutation should be a continual reminder to the laity of the position which they occupy in respect to Divine Service: and that, although a separate order of priesthood is essential for the ministration of God's worship, yet there is a priesthood of the laity by right of which they take part in that worship, assuming their full Christian privilege, and making it a full corporate offering of the whole Christian body. Nor should we forget, in connexion with it, the promise "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." The lesser Litany is an ancient and Catholic prefix to the Lord's Prayer, which is only used without it in the celebration of the Holy Communion, the Administration of Baptism, and in Confirmation, and at the beginning of Morning and Evening Prayer. In the latter case its omission is supplied by the Confession: in the others the use of the Lord's Prayer is Eucharistic, as will be The same order is to be found in old formularies: e. g. in the Sacramentary of Grimoldus, printed by Pamelius in his Liturgicon, i. 511, where there is a Benedictio super Regem tempore Synodi, followed by one for the clergy and people. shown in the notes appended to it in the Communion Service. In this part of his Prayer Book, Bishop Cosin added the second recitation of each versicle as an "Answer," so as to make the lesser Litany here identical with that in the Litany itself. This probably represents the proper way of using it in Divine Service, as it was thus repeated three times in the Salisbury Use. In its original form this lesser Litany consisted of Kyrie Eleison nine times repeated: but the Western Church has always used Christe Eleison as the second versicle. Its threefold form is analogous to that of the Litany, which opens with separate prayers to each Person of the Blessed Trinity 2. This form renders it a most fitting introduction to the Lord's Prayer: and the Church has so distinctly adopted the lesser Litany for that purpose, that we may well feel a reverent obligation to use it on all occasions when the Lord's Prayer is said. Such an usage appeals, too, to the instinct of Christian humility, which shrinks from speaking to God even in the words taught us by our Lord, without asking His mercy on our act of prayer, influenced, as it must needs be, by the infirmities of our nature; and imperfect as it must appear to the all-penetrating Eye. The Lord's Prayer, as used in this place, has a different intention from that with which it was used at the opening of the Service, and is by no means to be looked upon as an accidental repetition arising from the condensation of several shorter services into one longer. In the former place it was used with reference to the Service of Praise and Prayer in which the Church is engaged. Here it is used with reference to the necessities of the Church for the coming day; preceding the detailed prayers of the versicles which follow, and of the Collects which make up the remainder of the Service. Then the Priest standing up shall say] This Rubric continues the ancient practice, applying it to the whole of the versicles, instead of only to a portion 3. The old Rubric after the Miserere, which followed the versicles above given, was "Finito Psalmo solus sacerdos erigat se, et ad gradum chori accedat ad Matutinas et ad Vesperas, tunc dicendo hos versus : Exurge, Domine, adjuva nos Et libera nos propter nomen tuum. Domine Deus virtutum, converte nos. Et ostende faciem tuam, et salvi erimus. 2 The "Mirror" also explains the triple repetition of each Kyrie as a prayer in each case against sins of thought, word, and deed. 3 But, as a general rule, "Preces" were said kneeling (except at Christmas, and from Easter to Trinity), and "Orationes" were said standing. [Deinde dicitur Oratio propria. . ]." From this it appears as if the collect, as well as the versicles, were to be said standing; and Bishop Cosin thought this was the meaning of our present Rubric. The intention of the Reformers seems indeed to have been that, throughout the Prayer Book, the Priest should kneel with the people in confessions and penitential prayers, but stand, as in the Communion Office, while offering all other prayers. The standing posture has been almost universally set aside in Morning and Evening Prayer, except during the recitation of these versicles; and its revival would be repugnant to natural feelings of humility. But it was originally ordered as a sign of the authoritative position which the Priest occupied as the representative of the Church; and official gestures ought not to be ruled by personal feeling. At the same time the established usage makes a good ritual distinction between the prayers of the ordinary offices and those of the Eucharistic Service. The same great truth as to the priesthood of the Laity, which has already been referred to, is again brought out strongly in the versicle and response, "Endue Thy ministers with righteousness: And make Thy chosen people joyful." It is impossible not to identify the latter words, in their Christian sense, with the words of St. Peter, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;" and in a preceding verse of the same chapter, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. ii. 5. 9.) This subject is treated of at greater length in the notes on the Confirmation Service; but the doctrine, or rather the practice of the doctrine, pervades the Prayer Book; the whole system of responsive worship being founded upon it. See also a note on the "Amen" of the Laity at the consecration of the Blessed Sacrament. THE THREE COLLECTS. all kneeling] See the preceding remarks on this posture in the Preces. It is only necessary here to add that the words, "The Priest standing up, and saying, Let us pray. Then the Collect of the Day," followed those of the present Rubric until 1 John v. 20. Matt. xi. 29. 30. Ps. xviii. 1. eternal life, whose service is perfect | pugnationibus supplices tuos; ut qui cf. Seneca de lix. 1. xxvii. freedom; defend us thy humble ser 1. 3. cxvii. - vants in all assaults of our enemies; 9. Eph. vi. 10-13. Rom. viii. 31. 35. 37. Jer. xi. 5 marg. I a. lxiv. 8. in defensione tua confidemus, nullius 1552, representing the old usage of the Church. As this direction was thrown further back, and no direction for the Priest to kneel inserted in its place here, the Rubric appears to order the same posture at the versicles and the collects, as has been already shown. § The First Collect, of the Day. The central point of all Divine Worship, towards which all other services gravitate, and around which they revolve, like planets round a sun, is the great sacrificial act of the Church, the offering of the Holy Sacrament. The ordinary services of Mattins and Evensong are therefore connected with it ritually by the use of the collect "that is appointed at the Communion," to which precedence is given over all other prayers except the Lord's Prayer, and the versicles from Holy Scripture. This collect is the only variable prayer of the Communion Office, and it is almost always built up out of the ideas contained in the Epistle and Gospel appointed for the Sunday or other Holyday to which it specially belongs; these latter, again [see Introduction to Collects, &c.], being selections of most venerable antiquity, intended to set a definite and distinctive mark on the day with which they are associated. Thus the first collect of Morning and Evening Prayer fulfils a twofold office. First, it connects those services with the great act of sacrificial worship which the Church intends to be offered on every Sunday and Holyday (at least) to her Lord; and, secondly, it strikes the memorial key-note of the season, linking on the daily services to that particular phase of our Blessed Lord's Person or Work which has been offered to our devotion in the Gospel and Epistle. And as all Divine Worship looks first and principally towards Him to Whom it is offered, so it must be considered that these orderly variations of the collect are not ordained chiefly as a means of directing the tone of thought and meditation with which the worshippers approach Him; but as a devotional recognition and memorial before God of the change of times and seasons which He Himself has ordained both in the natural and the spiritual world. "He hath appointed the moon for certain seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down." So the division of our time from week to week has been marked out by the Divine Hand in the rest of the Creation Sabbath and the triumph of the Resurrection Sunday; and each week of the year is also distinguished by the Church with some special reference to acts or teachings of her Divine Master, which she commemorates day by day at Mattins and Evensong, as well as at her chief service of the week. The following rules will be found practically useful as regards the use of the first collect, and for convenience those relating to Evensong are included, as well as those more properly belonging to this page:— 1. The Sunday Collect is to be said from the Saturday evening before to the Saturday morning after, inclusive. 2. Festival Collects are invariably to be used on the evening before the festival, whether it is kept as a vigil or not. When the vigil is kept on a Saturday, the festival being on the Monday following, the collect of the latter need not be said on Saturday evening; but on Sunday evening it should be said before the Sunday collect. Vita beatâ, c. XV., " Deo parere, libertas est." This beautiful prayer is translated from one which was used at Lauds in the ancient services, and was also the Post-Communion of a special Eucharistic office on the subject of peace. It appears in the Sacramentaries of Gelasius and Gregory the Great, and has probably been in use among us ever since the time of the latter, more than twelve centuries and a half. It must be taken as a prayer for the peace of the Church Militant, even more than as one for that of the Christian warrior: a devout acknowledgment in the case of both that the events of every day are ruled by the Providence of Almighty God, Who doeth according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, "What doest Thou?" The beautiful and terse expression, "Whose service perfect freedom" (though inferior to the "whom to serve is to reign" of the Latin), is a daily reminder to us of our position as soldiers of Christ, bound to Him as those who have vowed to "continue His faithful soldiers and servants unto their lives' end,” but yet bound by the yoke of a loving Captain, whose object is to save us from the slavery of sin and carry us on to the eternal freedom of Heaven. There is a mixture of humility and confidence in this Collect, which fits it well for the lips of those who are faithfully endeavouring to do their duty day by day. They "seek peace and pursue it," yet know that spiritual enemies are ever on the watch to assault them they know their danger, yet have no fear for the end Ps. xciv. 22. evi. 8. xvii. 5. 8. cxix. 133. cxxi. 8. Matt. vi. 13. Prov. iii. 5. 23. 26. XXXVI. 23. Heb. xii. 20, 21. Eph. ii. 18. Ps. xxx. 4. lxvi. 1. 1 Tim. ii. 1. vi. 15. Ps. xlvii. 2. Rev. xix. 16. ginning of this day; defend us in the | tua nos hodie salva virtute; et concede Salisbury Use. same with thy mighty power, and Amen. while the might of Him Who " goes forth conquering and to conquer" is given for their defence of Him Who can say to the troubled waves around the ark of His Church, "Peace, be still." § The Third Collect, for Grace. This Collect occupied a similar position in the Prime office of the ancient use of the Church of England as it does in our present Morning Prayer. It is found in the Sacramentaries of Gelasius and Gregory the Great, among the Orationes ad Matutinas lucescente die; and is, therefore, of as venerable an antiquity as the preceding one. It will be interesting to notice the difference between the old English use given above, the Roman use, and the ancient form in which the Collect appears in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory. Gregorian. Deus, qui nos ad principium hujus diei pervenire fecisti, da nobis hunc diem sine peccato transire; ut in nullo a tuis semitis declinemus; sed ad tuam justitiam faciendam nostra semper procedant eloquia. Per. : Roman. Domine Deus omnipotens, qui ad principium hujus diei nos pervenire fecisti; tua nos hodie salva virtute, ut in hac die ad nullum declinemus peccatum, sed semper ad tuam justitiam faciendam nostra procedant eloquia, dirigantur cogitationes et opera. Per Dominum. The Roman was the same both before and after the reform of the Breviary and the difference between it and our own shows the independent character of the English rite; furnishing evidence also that our own reformers used the Salisbury, and not the Roman Breviary, for their translations. One of the prayers in the Morning Office of St. Basil also bears considerable resemblance to the Collect for Grace, sufficient to indicate a common origin. It is thus given by Archdeacon Freeman, in his "Principles of Divine Service," i. 222 :— Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ αἰώνιος, τὸ ἄναρχον καὶ ἀΐδιον (Ps. xc. 1.) χάρισαι ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ἡμέρᾳ εὐαρεστεῖν σοι, διαφυλάττων ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας καὶ πάσης πονηρᾶς πράξεως, δυόμενος ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ βέλους πετομένου ἡμέρας καὶ πάσης ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως. (From Second Prayer) : : .... .... LORDE Jesu Christe, moste Book of Private high, most mightie kyng of kynges, lorde of lordes, the onely rular Prayers, 1545-8, and Prymer, 1553. full title above the collect as a sign of the object for which it is offered. In a few terse words it recognizes the dependence of all for spiritual strength on the grace of God, our position in the midst of temptations to sin, and the power to do good works well pleasing to God when our doings are under His governance. As a prayer bearing on the daily life of the Christian, it may be taken as a devotional parallel to the well-known axiomatic defini. tion of Christian practice, that it is "to do my duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call me." The rubrics which follow the three Collects are of more importance than they have usually been considered. The first directs that " In Quires and places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem." The Anthem itself is spoken of at length in another place. All that is necessary to mention here in connexion with it is, that (1) although this rubric was not in the Prayer Book in the time of Queen Elizabeth, there is historical evidence of an Anthem being sung at the conclusion of the Service, of which our modern organ voluntary is probably a traditional relic and (2) that Anthems were clearly not contemplated, except in "Quires and places where they sing," Cathedrals, Royal Chapels, Collegiate Churches, &c. : This gives considerable force to the word "Then" in the following Rubric," Then these five Prayers following are to be used," &c.; for it is clear that, the two Rubrics being placed where they are at the same time, the "Then" of the second derives its meaning entirely from the words which immediately precede it in the first Rubric. From this the conclusion may be drawn that where an Anthem does not follow the third Collect, the five remaining prayers are not to be said, but the Morning Prayer terminated (as it was for a hundred years after the Reformation, by express rule) at the third Collect. This view of the second Rubric is confirmed by the "as they are there placed" which concludes it. An explanation of such an usage may be found in the difference of position between ordinary parish churches and the churches defined by the expression, "Quires and places where they sing." The latter are of a more representative character than the former, and usually in a more public situation; and in these, the daily commemoration of the Sovereign, the Royal Family, and the Clergy becomes a public duty, in a higher degree than in village τὰ τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν ἔργα, . . . . πράττειν ἡμᾶς τὰ σοὶ εὐάρεστα | churches, or others where the service is usually of a more humble καὶ φίλα, εὐόδωσον. This Collect was placed here as the end of Mattins in 1549, a most appropriate prayer with which to go forth to the work which each one has to do. In the rubric it is called a prayer “for grace to live well," and Bishop Cosin wished to insert this character. Where the length of Morning and Evening Prayer is therefore an obstacle to the use of Daily Service, this Rubric provides (accidentally, perhaps, yet effectually) for the difficulty; and shows that there is an elasticity about the Prayer Book, here, as E |