Chapter 23
PRAISE.
III. Hymns in the Daily Services.
We are about to explain how Hymns are attached to Lessons for purposes of worship. It will be well therefore to consider what a Hymn is, and how we arrived at the present arrangement. We will defer to the chapter on Anthems the consideration of those Hymns that may be described as Prayers set to music. Many Psalms may be described in this way, and in the Commination the 51st Psalm is used as a Prayer (see the Rubric there). But if our intention be Praise, most of those Prayer-psalms lend themselves to Praise, and are so used in this Service before the Lessons, as we have just seen. In like manner metrical Hymns are to be found in our Hymn-books which are in their plain sense prayers rather than praises.
In the Day Hour Services we find metrical Hymns--at Lauds, Vespers and Compline after the Bible "Chapter," and, at the other Services, before the Psalms. They were in Latin, and some of them have been translated and are known to us in our Hymn-books.
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Of the Office Hymns well known in modern Hymn-books, _Now that the daylight fills the sky is a good example_.
We have, moreover, in the Prayer Book itself, two translations of the Hymn _Veni, Creator Spiritus_ formerly sung at Lauds throughout Whitsun week.
The longer form of it, more a paraphrase than a translation, appeared in the Ordination Services in 1550; the shorter translation, which is so well known, in a Book of Devotions made by John Cosin in 1627, where are found also translations of other Day Hour Hymns, the book being designed from the Breviary.
When in 1661 Cosin had become Bishop of Durham and was taking a leading part in the last revision of the Prayer-Book, his translation of _Veni, Creator Spiritus_ was placed before the older paraphrase in the Ordination Services.
It is interesting to compare the Day Hour Hymns with the translations which are to be found in Hymn-books.
In _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, the following examples are found:--1, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 38, 45, 47, 55, 75, 85, 87, 88, 90, 95, 96, 97, 125, 128, 144, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 430, 483, 509, 622. The renderings are not equally close; but they give a good idea of the place in worship which they occupied in the Day Hours. They will be found to dwell on the thoughts of praise to God called forth (_a_) by the sunshine and the beauties of nature, (_b_) by the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Hymn followed the Capitulum, a Canticle came next. The Capitulum, or Little Chapter, was one or two verses from the Bible specially {62} chosen for the day; and the Hymn was directly connected in subject with it.
Thus, at Lauds on Whitsunday, the Capitulum was, _When the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place_ (Acts ii. 1), and the Hymn which followed immediately was _Come, Holy Ghost_ (H. A. and M. 157); and _Benedictus_, which came next, had an Antiphon, _Receive ye the Holy Ghost_, &c. (S. John xx. 22, 23).
These beautiful combinations show us that the Canticle after a Lesson is designed to respond to the message of the Lesson, and to make with it an act of Praise. We must dismiss from our minds all idea that our Services were put together in a zigzag fashion, introducing something different as soon as any Psalm or Lesson has been said. The Service-makers valued variety of expression and method within reasonable limits; but the Service itself proceeds from point to point in a regulated progress. When the metrical Hymns were struck out, the Canticles and the Lessons were left united together.
The Canticles.
The word Canticle means "little song" or "little chant," just as versicle means "little verse," and particle "little part."
It has long been used to signify the Hymns from the Old and New Testaments which were introduced into the Christian Services.
It will be seen that these Bible hymns are affixed {63} to the Lessons. They are commonly known by the words with which they begin in Latin: thus
_Te Deum laudamus_=Thee God we praise.
_Benedicite, omnia Opera_--Bless ye, O all Works.
_Benedictus_=Blessed.
_Jubilate_=O be joyful.
_Magnificat_ (_mea anima_)=(My soul) doth magnify.
_Cantate Domino_=O sing unto the Lord.
_Nunc dimittis_=Now thou lettest depart.
_Deus misereatur_=God be merciful.
The 1st and 2nd chapters of S. Luke supply three of these; viz. Magnificat, Benedictus, and Nunc dimittis. The Psalms supply three, viz. Jubilate (100th), Cantate Domino (98th), and Deus misereatur (67th).
_Benedicite, omnia, Opera_ is part of the Hymn given in the Apocrypha as sung by Shadrach (Ananias), Meshach (Misael), and Abed-nego (Azarias), when they walked in the burning fiery furnace.
_Te Deum laudamus_ is a very ancient Latin Hymn which may have been already very old when it became associated with the name of S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (375-397). We show its Bible origins in Chapter VIII.
The Canticles have been sung in the Services for many centuries.
_Benedictus_ and _Benedicite_ are found in the Holy Communion Service--supposed to date about 600--of the Gallican Church; in the Day Hours _Benedictus_ was sung at Lauds; _Magnificat_ at Vespers; _Nunc dimittis_ at Compline; _Te Deum_ at Mattin-Lauds; _Benedicite_ and _Jubilate_ at Lauds on Sundays.
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The rearrangement of the Day Hours in 1549 gave an opportunity to associate the Canticles more closely with the Lessons.
We show in another chapter the connection which exists between the Lessons of the Old and New Testaments, and the alternative Canticles provided for each, both at Morning and Evening Prayer.
Meanwhile it will be well to learn the following table.
MAP OF THE LESSONS AND THEIR CANTICLES.
Character of the Lesson Mattins Evensong
O. T. Creation and Providence Benedicite Cantate*
Need of Redemption Te Deum Magnificat laudamus
N. T. The Coming of Christ Benedictus Nunc dimittis
The Spread of the Gospel Jubilate* Deus misereatur*
* Added in 1552.
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THE TE DEUM PRINTED SO AS TO SHOW ITS STRUCTURE.
[Transcriber's note: In the original book, each of the following 13 items was printed on a single line. In this e-book, they have been split at a logical point, usually a colon (:).]
1. TE Deum[1] laudamus, TE Dominum confitemur: TE Aeternum Patrem[1] omnis terra veneratur.
2. TIBI omnes angeli, TIBI caeli et universae potestates: TIBI Cherubim et Seraphim[2] incessabili voce proclamant.
3. SANCTUS SANCTUS SANCTUS DOMINUS DEUS SABAOTH[2]: PLENI SUNT CAELI ET TERRA MAJESTATIS GLORIAE TUAE[2].
4. TE gloriosus Apostolorum chorus, TE Prophetarum laudabilis numerus: TE Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
5. TE per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur ecclesia: Patrem immensae majestatis. Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium. Sanctum quoque Paracletum Spiritum.
6. TU Rex gloriae, Christe: TU Patris sempiternus es Filius.
7. TU ad liberandum suscepturus hominem non horruisti Virginis uterum: TU devicto mortis aculeo aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
8. TU ad dexteram Dei sede(n)s in gloria Patris: Judex crederis esse venturus.
9. TE ergo quaesumus famulis tuis subveni quos pretioso sanguine redemisti: Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria munerari.
10. Salvum fac populum tuum Domine et benedic haereditati tuae[3]: et rege eos et extolle illos usque in aeternum[3].
11. PER SINGULOS DIES BENEDICIMUS TE[4]: ET LAUDAMUS NOMEN TUUM IN SAECULUM ET SAECULUM SAECULI[4].
12. Dignare Domine die isto sine peccato nos custodire: miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri[5].
13. Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos quemadmodum speravimus in TE[6]: in TE Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum[7].
[1] Isaiah ix. 6. [2] Isaiah vi. 3, cf. Rev. iv. 8. [3] Psalm xxviii. 9. [4] Psalm cxlv. 2. [5] Psalm cxxiii. 3. [6] Psalm xxxiii. 22. [7] Psalm xxxi. 1 and lxxi. 1.
_Note_. Some readers will at first sight be afraid of the Latin form of the Te Deum. It is however so important to the clear understanding of this beautiful Hymn that we hope they will piece together the English words and their Latin equivalents.
The task will not be really difficult, for most of the words are almost English already.
It will not surprise them to find that _Tu_ is Thou, and _Te_ Thee, that _Tibi_ is To Thee, and _Dominum_ Lord, and so on. We think that most of the words will be understood by any one who is familiar with the English.
_Aculeo_, in line 7, means _sting_, and _crederis esse venturus_ means _Thou-art-believed to-be about-to-come_.
_To face_ p. 65]
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