Chapter 34

Antiphonal singing.

iii. and iv. The Sarum Litany had here 10 couplets of versicles and seven collects. Of these seven collects we may mention, _O God, whose nature and property_ &c., _the Prayer for Clergy and People_, and the 2nd Evening Collect, _O God, from whom_ &c.

The substitution of the two sections, as they now stand, may be quoted as an example of the improvements which were effected in the Revision period.

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iv. The 4th Section includes various prayers of the _Amen_ form. The first of these may be known as the Collect of Complete Confidence. It is made up of two older prayers, and the couplet which precedes it expresses each of those two older prayers in a brief sentence. Thus the couplet anticipates the Collect. [See also p. 128.]

The other prayers of this Section usually have equivalents in the first Section. The repetition is made because of some urgency due to the circumstances of the time. Thus, we have prayed for the Clergy already, but in Ember Weeks we add, in the 4th Section, a Collect for the Candidates for Ordination. Or again, we have prayed for sick people, but at this point we may add a Collect for the time of any common Plague or Sickness. Similarly, we have prayed for the preservation of the fruits of the Earth, but may add a prayer here for Rain, or Fair weather, or for cheapness and plenty.

Section i. Our cry to Christ.

The distinguishing feature of the Litany is that it uses a worship-form which is not used elsewhere in the Prayer Book. The Minister dictates briefly the subject of the Prayer, which is then made by the voices of the People. These are called Suffrages (from _suffragium_, Latin for a vote in favour, or approbation). That part of the Litany which is made in this way is very full and detailed. Students should also notice the variety of its phrases, and the beauty of its rhythm.

The use of such a form is ancient, and the Revisers in 1549 had the substance ready to their hand. Comparing the older Litany with that which we use, we note that the Revisers have frequently combined several suffrages to make one suffrage, as in the following instance:

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By thine Agony and bloody By thy Passion and Cross: Sweat; by thy Cross and deliver us, O Lord. Passion; by thy precious Death By thy precious Death: and Burial; by thy glorious deliver us, O Lord. Resurrection and Ascension; By thy glorious Resurrection: and by the coming of the Holy deliver us, O Lord. Ghost: By thy marvellous Ascension: deliver us, O Lord. Good Lord, deliver us. By the grace of the Holy Spirit the Comforter: deliver us, O Lord.

Here five suffrages are grouped into one. In like manner four are grouped in the suffrage, _From all evil and mischief_ &c.

The number of petitions was further reduced by the omission of all the prayers to the Saints, entreating them to pray for us. These were very numerous--28 fixed; and 40 more, which varied according to the week-day.

The petitions which were then introduced present two features which should be carefully studied--_Duplication_ and _Wreathing_[5]. _Duplication_ has been already explained (see p. 33), and is here of the Progressive sort. We give numerous instances below. _Wreathing_ is when two phrases have two members each, and are united by taking the two first members together, and the two second members together.

A simple instance of this is found in the union of the phrases,

_by their preaching they may set forth,_ _and by their living they may shew accordingly_

{161} the Word of God. These, being wreathed together, become _that by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly_.

In such combinations it is necessary that the ideas shall be in harmony with one another. God's truth is set forth in sermons, and shewn in the preacher's life: with rather less exactness, but with sufficient truth, and with admirable suggestion, we may say that God's truth is set forth in the good life of a preacher, and shewn in his sermons.

One of the best instances of Wreathing is in the combination of the three phrases

_succour all that are in danger,_ _help all that are in necessity,_ _comfort all that are in tribulation._

Danger, Necessity, and Tribulation are in progressive order of calamity. In danger, the calamity may be avoided--we want support for our own strength: in necessity, the blow has fallen--we want help at once from outside: in tribulation, the disaster has come--we want comfort.

If we have understood Progressive Duplication, we shall at once see that Wreathing is used in unison with it.

It is convenient to describe the 1st section of the Litany, as consisting of four subsections, viz. Invocations, Deprecations, Obsecrations, and Intercessions. The Invocations are said by the Minister, and repeated by the congregation. The prayers of the other sub-sections formerly were also said twice; but, since 1549, are said in two parts, the congregation making the respond which contains the prayer. This is done {162} not only for variety, but to assist the blind, or unlearned, in uniting their voices with the rest of the people. It is moreover an exercise of the privilege of approach to God, granted by our Lord (1 Pet. ii. 5; S. Matth. xviii. 19, 20), which is sometimes forgotten in thoughts of the ministry which He appointed.

_Progressive Duplication &c._

The groups of sins and sufferings from which we desire to be delivered supply instances of progress, from that which is less, to that which is more, serious. Most of these are obvious, and call for no further remark.

Deprecations (Prayer for deliverance).

1. _Spare thy people, O Lord_: Joel ii. 17.

2. _Crafts and assaults_: The crafty enemy is one who cannot, or dare not, attack openly. Hence assaults imply greater strength, or greater courage, than crafts.

3. Of personal defects, _Blindness of heart_ may be due at first to causes for which we are not responsible. _Pride_ is that which is too well satisfied with itself: _Vain-glory_ is that which seeks admiration from others; _Hypocrisy_ is that which seeks admiration on false pretences.

_Envy_ is the desire to injure, and grows into _Hatred_, which has perhaps a vestige of candour that is absent from _Malice_.

3 and 4. _Deadly sin_. All sin is deadly unless it is forgiven by God; on the other hand "after we have {163} received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again, and amend our lives," "the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such" (Article xvi.). It should be remembered that our Lord has taught us to interpret the Commandments inclusively, so that they comprise all duties, and all sins--envy, hatred, and malice, as well as murder, for instance. The old distinction between deadly sins and venial sins has in it only an element of truth. Those named deadly sins were Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Anger, Sloth. Of these Pride, Lust, and Envy are mentioned here, being notable amongst sins which war against the Soul. Two phrases here include all sins: "all deadly sin," and, "the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil." It is not easy to decide whether such a sin as Idleness falls under the head of Covetousness, or Sloth, or Pride; nor whether it is a deceit of the World, the Flesh, or the Devil. These classifications do, however, help in self-examination, and sometimes suggest helps in the battle against our sins.

5. _Plague, Pestilence, and Famine_ form a group in which we see that Famine is the most serious, because it attacks the whole community. Plague is a disease which befalls us as a blow (_plege_); Pestilence is a disease which spreads from one to another. Science tends to enlarge the host of pestilences, and diminish the number of death-blows which cannot be explained. It is apparent that a disease which spreads through a community is more dreadful than one which singles out one person or many.

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_battle, murder, and sudden death_, are blows which may fall upon us; it is not prayer that we may be delivered from being soldiers, and from the crime of murder.

6. _sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion_: sedition is the thought; conspiracy, the plan; and rebellion, the action--of a subject against the Government.

_false doctrine, heresy and schism_: false doctrine is the thought; heresy, the plan; and schism, the action--of a Churchman against the Church, and its Lord.

_hardness of heart_, is a disposition to disobey what we know to be the command of God. If not checked, it grows into actual _contempt of His Word and Commandment_.

Obsecrations. (Entreaty mentioning the plea.)

7 and 8. _Incarnation_: S. John i. 14; Rom. i. 3.

_Nativity_: S. Luke ii. 11. Circumcision: S. Luke ii. 21.

_Baptism_: S. Matth. iii. 16.

_Fasting and Temptation_: S. Luke iv. 1, 2.

_Agony and Bloody Sweat_: S. Luke xxii. 44.

_Cross and Passion_: S. Matth. xxvii. 41-46; Heb. v. 7.

_Death and Burial_: S. Mark xv. 44, 45.

_Resurrection_: S. Matth. xxviii. 5-7.

_Ascension_: Acts i. 9; 1 Tim. iii. 16.

_The Coming of the Holy Ghost_: Acts ii. 32, 33.

9. _Tribulation, Wealth, Death, Judgment_ are the four times of special need.

Tribulation is derived from threshing, or crushing.

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Wealth is well-doing, or welfare. Prosperity and Adversity are both times of temptation.

Intercessions. (Prayer for others.)

10. _Universal_ is equivalent to Catholic.

11. _Governor_ refers to the relation of the Sovereign to the Church.

12. _faith, fear, and love_, an ascending order of submission to God. _affiance_=trust.

11, 14. The names of the Sovereign, and of the Royal Family, vary in these petitions. A Prayer Book of 1682 has King Charles, Queen Catherine, and James Duke of York. In 1801, King George, Queen Charlotte, George Prince of Wales, and the Princess of Wales. In 1850, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and Albert Prince of Wales. The date of a Prayer Book is sometimes omitted from a title page, but may be learnt from these petitions more accurately than from the Table of Moveable Feasts. It is, I believe, left to the Sovereign to say who is to be mentioned, and by what titles.

15. _Bishops_: successors of the Apostles as Overseers of the Churches (1 Tim. i. 3; 2 Tim. ii. 2; Tit. i. 5, ii. 15). The word _epirkopos_(= overseer) is contracted into Bishop in many languages, with slight differences, e.g. Old English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Cornish. In Spanish it becomes Obispo; in Italian, Vescovo; in French, Évêque.

_Priests_: successors of the Elders, or Presbyters, who ministered in congregations (Acts xx. 17). As the Bishop has the Oversight of many congregations with their Priests and Deacons, so the Priest {166} has the Oversight of one congregation, or Parish. In this sense he might be called Overseer, or Bishop, of that Parish, and S. Paul's use of this word in 1 Tim. iii. has suggested that, while the Apostles lived, the word Bishop was used as much in this sense as in the other. When the word Bishop was required for the Apostolic office, the word Priest remained for the second Order of the ministry. Priest is contracted from Presbyter, and appears with slight variations in many languages.

_Deacons_. The Seven appointed in Acts vi. are not there called deacons, but they are assumed to be the first who were appointed to that office, or order of the Ministry. In some ancient churches they retained the practice of having seven deacons.

The word means Minister, and has come from the Greek into many languages with slight variations. Like the word Bishop, it is used in the N.T. of other orders of the Ministry (S. Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 5; 2 Cor. iii. 6; Eph. iii. 7, &c.: Epaphras, Col. i. 7: Tychicus, Eph. vi. 21: Timothy, 1 Tim. iv. 6: Archippus, Col. iv. 17). Although in 1 Tim.