APPENDIX B.

On the opening Versicles at Morning and Evening Prayer.

FEW words may be added with advantage to the rather slight treatment given to the opening versicles of Morning and Evening Prayer at pp. 172-174.

It would seem that at the time of Amalarius Fortunatus, Archbishop of Trèves, that is, about the beginning of the ninth century, the Gloria Patri followed immediately at Matins upon the words, "O Lord, open thou my lips," with its response, "And my mouth," etc. Amalarius (De eccl. officiis., iv. 9) writes: "In nocturnali officio (ie., Matins) dicimus primo Domine, labia mea aperies: Et os meum annunciabit laudem tuam. Deinde sequitur Gloria." If we are right in our inference we find that the noble form adopted by the American Church has ancient liturgical precedent.

The true rationale of the versicle, Deus, in adjutorium, etc., with its response, seems to be a continuation and amplification of the thought expressed in the petition that God would open our lips. If God does not open our lips we cannot praise Him; but, further, in setting forth His praise we need His continual help. These later versicles are a petition for God's help in the saying of the office upon which we are entering. The early commentator Walafrid Strabo (a little later than Amalarius) says that Deus, in adjutorium, etc., is placed at the beginning of all the offices, except the Mass, and that its object is to seek the divine

aid, "ut invocatio divinæ opitulationis, initio cujuslibet actionis assumpta, faciliorem faciat et postulandi constantiam et obtinendi virtutem." (De rebus eccl., c. 25.) The English Reformers, in their wish to follow more closely the sense of Psalm lxx. 1, which is the original of the versicle and response, have given us the petition that God would "make speed to save us," which, of course, tends to obscure the original purport of the versicles. If, then, it is desired to preserve the original intention, it would not be difficult to select a versicle and its response, supplicating God's help.

The case before us is of interest, as showing us how difficult it was to re-handle the old offices without loss; and here, as it seems to me, the Reformers have injured the natural flow of thought and feeling.

The compilers of the old Primers were (not like those who framed the Prayer Book of 1549) content with the Latin text as it stood in the Breviaries, and set themselves merely to render the words into English. Thus :(a) Maskell's Primers (Mon. Rit., iii. 3).

"God, take heede to myn help.

Lord, hige [hie] thee to helpe me."*

(b) The Goodly Primer, 1535. (Burton's Three Primers, etc., p. 72.)

"O God, bend thyself into my help.

Lord, haste thee to help me."

This text is followed by Bishop Hilsey's Primer of 1539. (Burton's Three Primers, p. 335-)

*

(c) Primer of Henry VIII., 1545. (Burton, p. 462.)

"O God, to help me make good speed.

Lord, make haste to succour me."

So, too, the Primer printed by Mr. H. Littlehales (London,

1892).

While treating of the opening versicles it may be observed that the words, "O Lord, open thou my [our, 1552] lips," follow the King's Primer, Hilsey's and the Primer of 1535, while the earlier Primers printed by Maskell and Littlehales follow the Latin more closely, thus:

"Lord, thou shalt open (aperies) my lips."

The turning of the statement into a prayer will be felt by most persons as a manifest gain.

The First Prayer Book, like the Breviaries, confined this versicle to Matins. With questionable judgment it was also prefixed to Evening Prayer in 1552. Of course, in a very real sense the prayer, expressed or implied, that God would open our lips, is applicable to any service and to any act of worship; but its special appropriateness is to the beginning of the day and the beginning of the service. Again, the introduction of the saying of the Lord's Prayer "with a loud voice" in 1549, and still more the prefixing, in 1552, of the Sentences, Exhortation, Confession, and Absolution, have marred somewhat the sense of the versicle as the very first words of the service. In the Sarum Breviary the priest is directed to say Pater noster and Ave Maria, but these were acts of private devotion, and the rubric runs, "Postea sacerdos incipiat servitium hoc modo, 'Domine, labia mea aperies."

In the First Prayer Book, "Praise ye the Lord" (varied by the form "Hallelujah" from Easter to Trinity Sunday) was without any response, and the service proceeded at once to "O come, let us sing unto the Lord," as if in prompt reply to the invitation. In the Second Prayer Book the alternative "Hallelujah" was struck out, but still there was no response. It was not till the Scottish Prayer Book of 1637 that we find added the form, "The Lord's Name be

praised," which (like many other changes in the Scottish Prayer Book) was adopted in England in 1662. Why was this addition made? I think it was probably due to the fact that in a very large proportion of churches it was not possible, or at least, as a matter of fact, was not the usage, for the choir immediately to commence the singing of the Venite. The minister said, "Praise ye the Lord," and then he was himself called upon to say the first verse of the Venite. The want of a response was felt, and it was supplied for a practical purpose.

I.

OF

APPENDIX C.

Additional Notes on the Burial Anthem.

F the versicles, three in number, which follow the antiphon, Media Vita, in the Sarum Breviary, at least two have been ingeniously wrought into the texture of our Burial Anthem. Rendered into English the three versicles run as follows:

(a) "Cast us not away in the time of age, when our strength faileth. Forsake us not, O Lord. Holy God, Holy One and mighty, Holy and Merciful Saviour, deliver us not to bitter death."

(6) Shut not Thine ears to our prayers, Holy One and mighty, Holy and Merciful Saviour, deliver us not,” etc.

(c) "Thou, who knowest the secrets of the heart, be merciful to our sins (parce peccatis nostris), Holy and Merciful Saviour, deliver us not," etc.

There is, first, to be observed that the markedly artificial treatment of the refrain (full in the first versicle, less full in

the second, and reduced still further in the third) is wholly set aside. This seems to me to make much for the naturalness and spontaneity that marks our Burial Anthem. It will be also observed that the order of b and c is reversed, while the thought of a (though the expression of the thought is largely due to Luther's hymn) brings the whole to a close. This is a fine example of the courageous independence of Cranmer and his colleagues, and the result seems to me very admirable.

2. It is strange to find in the text of the Prayer Book of 1549, "Shut not up Thy merciful eyes to our prayers." This reading, when we look at b, must surely have arisen from an error of the scribe or of the compositor. Strange it is also that this reading was not rectified till the revision of 1661, when "shut not up" became "shut not," and "eyes" was changed into "ears."