LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 Chap. Copyright Ro. 
 
 Shelf iC:5. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 €en %tttytt$ 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL 
 
 SEMINARY, NEW YORK, IN THE 
 
 AUTUMN OF 1896 
 
 BY 
 
 Charles Cuthbert Hall, D.D.; Alexander V. G. Allen, 
 D. D.; Egbert C. Smyth, D.D. ; Charles C. Tiffany, 
 D. D. ; Henry Eyster Jacobs, D. D., LL.D. ; William 
 Rupp, D. D. ; William R. Huntington, D. D. ; Allan 
 Pollok, D.D.; George Dana Boardman, D.D., LL.D.; 
 Thomas S. Hastings, D. D., LL.D. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1897 
 
 f^ 
 
.■C5 
 
 Copyright, 1897, 
 By Charles Scribner's Sons. 
 
 SStttbersttg Press: 
 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 
 
PKEFACE 
 
 THIS volume contains a history of Christian Wor- 
 ship, and an exposition of the methods of 
 worship in use in the chief religious bodies of Chris- 
 tendom. Ten representative divines, chosen from 
 seven religious denominations, present the historic 
 modes of worship from their different points of view. 
 The result is a remarkable consensus of opinion on 
 this great subject and a substantial unity in the 
 midst of a rich variety of form and method. 
 
 A Director in the Union Theological Seminary 
 generously provided for these lectures. They were 
 delivered in the Adams Chapel of the Seminary dur- 
 ing the months of October, November, and December, 
 1896. They attracted great attention not only in the 
 city in which they were delivered, but also in other 
 parts of the country. It is hoped that in their printed 
 form they may interest a still wider circle and con- 
 tribute to a richer, more expressive, and more uplifting 
 Christian Worship throughout the Church. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 i 
 
 Page 
 The Pkinciples of Christian Worship 3 
 
 By the Rev. Charles Cuthbert Hall, D.D., President-Elect 
 of the Facultv of the Union Theological Seminary, New York 
 City. 
 
 II 
 
 Primitive Christian Liturgies 33 
 
 By the Rev. A. V. G. Allen, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical 
 History in the Protestant Episcopal Theological School in Cam- 
 bridge, Mass. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The Greek Liturgies 77 
 
 By the Rev. Egbert C. Smyth, D.D., Professor of Church 
 History in Andover Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. 
 
 IV 
 
 The Roman Liturgies 107 
 
 By the Rev. Charles C. Tiffany, D.D., Archdeacon of New 
 York City. 
 
 V 
 
 The Lutheran Liturgies 137 
 
 By the Rev. Henry Eyster Jacobs, D.D., LL.D., Professor of 
 Systematic Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary, 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
Vlll CONTENTS 
 
 VI Page 
 
 The Liturgies of the Reformed Churches . . .179 
 
 By the Rev. William Rupp, D.D., Professor of Practical The- 
 ology in the Reformed Theological Seminary, Lancaster, Pa. 
 
 VII 
 
 The Book of Common Prayer 213 
 
 By the Rev. William R. Huntington, D.D., Rector of Grace 
 Church, New York City. 
 
 VIII 
 The Book of Common Order and the Directory 
 
 for Worship 249 
 
 By the Rev. Allan Pollok, D.D., Principal of the Presbyterian 
 College, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
 
 IX 
 
 Worship in Non-Liturgical Churches 281 
 
 By the Rev. George Dana Board man, D.D., LL.D., Honorary 
 Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 X 
 
 The Ideal of Christian Worship 311 
 
 By the Rev. Thomas S. Hastings, D.D., LL.D., President of 
 the Faculty of the Union Theological Seminary, New York 
 City. 
 
THE PKINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN 
 WORSHIP 
 
 By the Rev. CHARLES CUTHBERT HALL, D.D. 
 
 President-elect of the Faculty of the Union Theological 
 Seminary, New York 
 
THE 
 PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 MY first duty, under the theme assigned, is to 
 point out the relation which may be assumed 
 to exist between this lecture and the lectures fol- 
 lowing in this course. The following lectures may 
 be expected for the most part to deal historically 
 with certain liturgical types which from time to 
 time have contributed to the continuity of Christian 
 Worship. By considering successively the Primitive 
 Christian, the Greek, the Roman, and the later 
 liturgies, the student-auditor will be encouraged to 
 comprehend, within broad lines of treatment, domi- 
 nant modes of expression through which the worship- 
 sense of the Christian society has found utterance 
 in the past. He will also be prepared to view the 
 present in the rich light of history and tradition, 
 and to estimate worthily the office and the methods 
 of worship in contemporary life and the ideals of 
 worship in the future. 
 
 That the broadest foundations may be laid for a 
 course of thought which, even in outline, has great 
 
4 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 and solemn beauty, and that the chronological devel- 
 opment of Christian Worship may be joined in the 
 mind of the student with those Divine and human 
 principles and laws antecedent to an intelligent 
 liturgiology, the projectors of this series have inti- 
 mated that the first lecture shall contain some 
 account of those principles, intellectual, moral, and 
 religious, which underlie the institution of Christian 
 Worship, and by which it is commended to rational 
 and devout minds. 
 
 With this explanation of the prefatory or intro- 
 ductory character of the present occasion, I shall 
 proceed to treat of the Principles of Christian 
 Worship. 
 
 In order to do this it becomes necessary to lay 
 down a definition of the specific sense which we 
 shall attach to the word "worship," as used in this 
 lecture. For, upon reflection, it appears that the 
 flexibility of language allows a variable use of the 
 word, which at one moment may convey to the mind 
 an impression differing from that given at another 
 moment. Thus, three distinct applications of the 
 word "worship" enter into our common speech. It 
 is employed respectively to indicate a permanent 
 state of consciousness, or the concrete expression of 
 religious emotion by an individual, or, as on the 
 present occasion, the common devout exercises of 
 the Christian society. It is worth while to pause 
 and briefly to examine these distinctions occurring 
 in the variable use of the single word. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 5 
 
 When Charles Kingsley uttered that most virile 
 and suggestive sentence, " Worship is a life, not a 
 ceremony, " he conceived of worship as a permanent 
 state of consciousness. Such does it become to the 
 soul thoroughly alive unto God, — a life, not a cere- 
 mony. The operations of the Godward sense cannot 
 in such a soul be limited to the prescribed functions 
 of certain days and of certain places. Love, casting 
 out fear, beholds God in the face of Christ, glorify- 
 ing all life, and co-ordinating in the unity of the 
 Spirit and in the bond of peace all times, places, 
 duties, and relationships. The knowledge of redemp- 
 tion sheds upon life an almost eucharistic gladness. 
 Prayer verges toward companionship, and the humble 
 things that grow by the wayside gleam with the 
 unconsuming fire of new and nobler meanings. 
 Worship becomes a permanent state of consciousness. 
 
 But the term also and more frequently serves to 
 indicate the concrete expression of religious emotion 
 by the individual. That worship may be, as Kingsley 
 finely said, a life, not a mere ceremony, does not 
 invalidate the thought of times when the individual 
 consciousness is moved to seek formal and con- 
 crete expression of its emotions toward God. In 
 this, worship and love are alike. Love may be 
 "a life," involving the entirety of a man's being, 
 and sweeping like a tide "too full for sound or 
 foam" beneath all his thought; but love has its 
 times of demonstration, its resistless moments of 
 the heart's outpouring, its sacramental hours and 
 
6 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 deeds wherein the inward passion fulfils itself in 
 outward and visible signs. The heart of Christ 
 was a shrine of perpetual worship. Concerning this 
 permanent attitude toward the Father He said: "I 
 do always those things that please Him." Yet 
 Christ knew and obeyed that psychic law which 
 accentuates the devout life with occasions of formal 
 and concrete expression; and He who lived in the 
 constant light of God's face would yet rise at day- 
 break to seek that face in prayer among the waking 
 birds upon the mountain-side. Therefore we speak 
 of worship as the expression of the devout life, 
 when in the solitude of the closet, or in the com- 
 panionable loneliness of nature, or at the family 
 altar, or in the house of prayer, the heart which be- 
 lieves that God is, and that He is the rewarder of 
 them that diligently seek Him, pours itself forth 
 before Him with the consent of the will and the 
 eagerness of the affections. 
 
 Another application of the word " worship " 
 remains to be considered, and brings us immedi- 
 ately in touch with the specific end of this lecture. 
 Worship is one of the primary functions of the 
 Christian society, in the evolution of its common 
 and corporate life. There are other primary func- 
 tions named and described in the Apostolic letters 
 of the New Testament. Evangelization is a primary 
 function, the heralding, in the ears of every creature, 
 of the gospel, the good news of God. Social tender- 
 ness is a primary function, — not an incident, but an 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 7 
 
 ordained function. Love is the fulfilment of law, 
 and love is to be the dominant note of progress in 
 the brotherhood of the Son of God, — the sympathy 
 of all the members in the sufferings of one. Govern- 
 ment is a primary function. That is to say, the 
 self-government of the society, under the counsel of 
 the Spirit, through its own teachers; not as lords 
 over God's heritage, but as interpreters of the Word 
 and shepherds of the flock. Education is a primary 
 function, — the edifying, the building up of the body 
 of Christ, that membership therein may be not 
 nominal but organic, membership of His flesh and 
 of His bones. Separation is a primary function, at 
 times, alas, more honored in the breach than in the 
 observance ; not cenobitism, not corporate seclusion, 
 but spiritual differentiation, in motive, in conduct, 
 in ideal, from the world that lieth in the Evil One. 
 And so also in the constitution of the Christian 
 society, worship is a primary function; worship 
 not alone in the individualistic sense already con- 
 sidered, but worship distinctively regarded as service 
 collectively rendered unto God; common prayer, 
 common praise, common liturgical and sacramental 
 usage. It is not enough that men shall pray every- 
 where, lifting up holy hands without wrath and 
 doubting ; not enough that the worshipper shall enter 
 into the closet to commune apart with Him who 
 seeth in secret. For reasons which may be plainly 
 discerned, and which it is our intention presently to 
 enumerate, there must be more than the devout con- 
 
8 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 seriousness, more also than the individualistic out- 
 pouring. There must be the worshipping assembly, 
 the coming together, the convening of believers, for 
 solemn transactions with God which shall be for a 
 memorial before the Most High, for a testimony 
 before the world, and for the nourishment and con- 
 solation of the body of Christ on earth. 
 
 Such is the place of Public Worship in the organic 
 structure of historic Christianity; a primary func- 
 tion, an Apostolic rule, a permanent institution ; not 
 the ephemeral product of local excitement, but the 
 steadfast, universal practice of the Church, to be 
 continuously maintained during the undefined period 
 of the Lord's absence, and to grow more intense and 
 engrossing as the signs multiply that foretell the 
 nearness of the Second Advent. The common wor- 
 ship is to have reached its maximum of power and 
 earnestness, in the watchful Church, when the 
 Parousia of the Lord is at hand. Perhaps the 
 supreme example of the New Testament estimate of 
 a common worship, as a constant and cumulative 
 function of the Christian society, occurs in that most 
 moving exhortation in the Epistle of the Hebrews, 
 " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into 
 the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way 
 which He dedicated for us, a new and living way, 
 through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and 
 having a great priest over the house of God; let 
 us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, 
 having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 9 
 
 and our body washed with pure water : let us hold 
 fast the confession of our hope that it waver not ; for 
 He is faithful that promised: and let us consider 
 one another, to provoke unto love and good works ; 
 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, 
 as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another ; 
 and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing 
 nigh." 1 
 
 Having now defined the place of Public Worship 
 in the structure of historic Christianity, and having 
 discriminated between this specific use of the word 
 " worship " and such other uses as may imply indi- 
 vidual acts of devotion, or, more broadly, the general 
 attitude of a life in its reverence for God, it is well 
 to gain a more exact view of this great and venerable 
 institution by noting what appear to be its essential 
 contents. Not without some approximate agreement 
 as to the contents of the institution of Christian 
 worship can we hope to agree touching the funda- 
 mental principles upon which it rests. To treat 
 adequately of the contents of Christian worship 
 would be to explore the history of liturgies and to 
 trace to the germ that extraordinary evolution, which 
 has reached in our time a diversity extending from 
 the stately cathedral use of the Greek, the Roman, 
 and the Anglican orders, to the bold simplicity 
 of the camp-meeting and the reverential liberty of 
 the Plymouth Brothers. Such a resume is, on the 
 present occasion, impracticable. Nor is it neceg- 
 
 1 Heb. x. 19-25, 
 
10 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 sary. For, overlooking the historic divergences of 
 liturgical order, each one of which involves a 
 chronicle of human aspiration (not to say of human 
 suffering), we may repair directly to the Apostolic 
 Scriptures, there to find, sketched in broad and 
 free-hand outlines, not only the institution of Chris- 
 tian worship, but its essential contents. And what 
 are these ? It being granted that the Apostolic 
 writings exalt public worship as a primary and per- 
 petual function of the Catholic Church, witnessing 
 on earth amidst coming and departing generations to 
 Him who is ascended up on high until He come a 
 second time, are there to be found, in these Apostolic 
 writings, intimations of the fundamental elements 
 of common worship sufficiently distinct to constitute 
 what may be called a Catholic use for the body of 
 Christ, thus providing a unity of devotion beneath 
 the lamentable controversies and confusion of Eccle- 
 siastical History ? The question is intensely inter- 
 esting; to the lover of Catholic Unity it is deeply 
 reassuring; for he sees that amidst the doctrinal 
 divisions and the governmental conflicts of eighteen 
 centuries, and beneath the almost infinite variations 
 of ritual, there has been maintained throughout the 
 Christian society, presumably by the intervention 
 and care of the Holy Spirit, a practically universal 
 adherence to those elements of worship which form 
 the Apostolic and fundamental contents of the insti- 
 tution. These fundamental elements may be readily 
 found by grouping the Apostolic writings which 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 11 
 
 bear upon the office of worship. Not now may we 
 pause to cite the passages on which we base these 
 remarks. And it may be assumed that these cita- 
 tions are unnecessary in the presence of a body of 
 New Testament students. The fundamental ele- 
 ments of public Christian worship will be found 
 enumerated in the pages of him on whose great heart 
 came the care of all the churches daily. And, 
 strangely enough, those elements are seven in 
 number, — as it were a sevenfold gift from the Spirit 
 to instruct the Church how to maintain through the 
 ages of the Lord's absence the vital institution of a 
 serious, suitable, and spiritual worship. The seven 
 elements are these: The Hymn, the Scripture, the 
 Belief, the Prayer, the Oblation, the Teaching, the 
 Sacraments. 
 
 1. The Hymn. Devout music is an eternal 
 integer of the common worship, in heaven and on 
 earth. They who believe in the redemption must 
 sing. If these should hold their peace, the stones 
 would immediately cry out. As soon bid the waves 
 of ocean to break silently upon their coasts as think 
 to hush the song, like the sound of many waters, 
 from those who know that their Redeemer liveth, 
 and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the 
 earth. Music may be misused in Christian worship ; 
 it cannot be abolished. It is inseparable from the 
 new creation, as it was from the first creation when 
 the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of 
 God^ shouted for joy. 
 
12 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 2. The Scripture. The reading of the Holy 
 Oracles is an indefeasible part of Christian worship. 
 Christ reading in the synagogue the prophetic wit- 
 ness concerning Himself, while the eyes of all were 
 fastened on Him, and men marvelled at the gracious 
 words, exalts the Scripture to its supreme office as 
 a vehicle of the Spirit's power in testimony to the 
 eternal Son. At this time, when attention is so 
 continuously and so properly called to the Bible as 
 a field for devout research and criticism, it is well, 
 perhaps peculiarly well, also to affirm the use of 
 Holy Scripture as an instrument of worship. To 
 those to whom the inspiration of the Scriptures is 
 an unquestioned reality, the solemn reading of the 
 Word in the Christian assembly is as truly an act of 
 worship as it was in that impressive day of which we 
 read in the Book of Nehemiah, when " Ezra opened 
 the book in the sight of all the people; . . . and 
 when he opened it, all the people stood up: and 
 Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the 
 people answered, Amen, Amen, with the lifting up 
 of their hands: and they bowed their heads, and 
 worshipped the Lord with their faces to the 
 ground. " l 
 
 3. The Belief. The most ancient of the Catholic 
 creeds is a growth whose roots are in the Apostolic 
 Age. The Belief, the Creed, the Confession with 
 the mouth, is a fundamental element of Christian 
 worship. The word of man should be the echo of 
 
 1 Neh. viii. 5, 6. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 13 
 
 the Word of God. The heart of man should reply to 
 the outpourings of the heart of God. Confession of 
 faith should ascend in answer to revelation of truth, 
 as the blades of harvest rise and expand beneath the 
 quickening floods of sunshine. So also the creed is 
 for testimony. " God gave us not a spirit of fearful- 
 ness, but of power and love and discipline;" and the 
 spoken belief, sounding forth with joy and power in 
 the Christian assembly, is the historic continuance 
 of that objective witness-bearing which marked the 
 pioneers of Christianity, and which recruited the 
 noble army of martyrs. Strange that the use of a 
 Catholic creed in public worship should have been 
 discontinued in any part of the Church, to be sup- 
 planted by inferior and ephemeral incidents of local 
 custom. Strange that the speaking forth of the 
 belief should ever be intermitted. May it be 
 renewed and exalted in all our churches ! Belief 
 and speech are mysteriously interdependent. "I 
 believed, therefore have I spoken," is more than a 
 casual association of ideas. To believe without 
 speaking is to imperil the faith. A silent church 
 might soon become a skeptical church. 
 
 4. The Prayer. The place of prayer in Chris- 
 tian worship, while gaining the New Testament 
 liberty and love, has lost none of the Old Testament 
 glory and splendor. The Christian presbyter, stand- 
 ing or kneeling in the assembly of believers, and 
 leading them in humble, lowly, penitent, and 
 obedient approach to the throne of the heavenly 
 
14 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 grace, occupies a station great as that of Israel's 
 priestly king, interceding in the cloud-filled temple. 
 If ministerial unspirituality and popular indifference 
 have at certain melancholy periods of decadence 
 co-operated to reduce the office of public prayer to 
 thin and threadbare routine, such catastrophes but 
 emphasize, through the force of a tragic contrast, 
 the Apostolic conception of this most august func- 
 tion. The mind of the Spirit, as reflected, for 
 example, in the Pauline consciousness, makes prayer 
 the true altar of incense in the Christian ecelesia. 
 There shall be presented the fragrant gifts of adora- 
 tion, the incomparable blend of homage, faith, peni- 
 tence, and thanksgiving. And there shall all the 
 contents of the social order, and of the personal life, 
 be daily consecrated in the mystery of intercession. 
 "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, 
 prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for 
 all men ; for kings and all that are in high places ; 
 that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all 
 godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable 
 in the sight of God our Saviour." * 
 
 5. The Oblation. In the New Testament con- 
 ception of God the Father and God the Son the dis- 
 tinctive attitude of the Divine consciousness is 
 represented as that of love expressing itself through 
 giving. As to the Father: "He that spared not 
 His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how 
 shall He not with Him also freely give us all 
 
 i 1 Tim. ii. 1-3. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 15 
 
 things." As to the Son, He is "the Son of God 
 who loved us and gave Himself up for us; who for 
 our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty 
 might become rich." In perfect correspondence 
 with this view of God is the direct and indirect 
 teaching of the Apostolic writings which exalts the 
 consecration of wealth, the oblation of substance, as 
 an organic element of worship. The Divine giving 
 is, in the Christian scheme of worship, the inspira- 
 tion of the human giving. " Freely ye have received, 
 freely give." As the Eucharist is God's sacrament 
 for man, the outward and visible sign of the Divine 
 self-oblation, so the cheerful offering of wealth on 
 the scale of absolute ability is man's sacrament for 
 God, the outward and visible sign of a self-oblation 
 in human life prompted by an enlightened sense of 
 the evangelic mercy. 
 
 6. The Teaching. Worship is contemplated by 
 the Apostolic mind as no sporadic or temporary 
 factor in the life of the Christian Society, but rather 
 as the perennial harvest of faith and love ripening 
 wherever the good seed of the Word is truly sown. 
 But worship is ever regarded in the New Testament 
 as an effect of knowledge, not as the tribute of 
 ignorance and superstition. Thus said Christ to the 
 woman of Samaria, " Ye worship that which ye know 
 not, we worship that which we know. " Hence the 
 continuity of worship is maintained, and the normal 
 level of worship is preserved by incorporating "the 
 teaching" as a constant element. Worship is the 
 
16 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 expression of faith, but the substance of faith must 
 forever be recruited by growth of knowledge, else 
 faith fades into a pallid and anasmic superstition, 
 and worship sinks into the routine of materialism. 
 In the economy of the Spirit, faith cometh by hearing, 
 and hearing by the Word of God. And how shall 
 they hear without a preacher? Hence in the new 
 priesthood of believers teaching is above sacrifice, 
 and the right dividing of the Word is more vital than 
 the first-fruits of flock and field. Here, then, is the 
 coronation of preaching as a means of grace. 
 Through it is to come that perpetual increment of 
 knowledge which is fuel for the altar-fire of intelli- 
 gent worship. So the passion of the Apostle's heart 
 was that his preaching might be a veritable teach- 
 ing: "In the church I had rather speak five words 
 with my understanding, that by my voice I might 
 teach others also, than ten thousand words in an 
 unknown tongue." 
 
 7. The Sacraments. If the teaching element in 
 Christian worship may be described as that through 
 which the reason and the conscience are enlisted in 
 the approach to God, the sacramental element in wor- 
 ship is that through which, pre-eminently, an appeal 
 is made to the imagination, to the memory, and to 
 the affections. The two divinely constituted sacra- 
 ments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are pro- 
 foundly imaginative and tenderly emotional. Holy 
 Baptism, the sacrament of the blessed Comforter, 
 Holy Communion, the sacrament of the suffering 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 17 
 
 Saviour, contribute to Christian worship an imagi- 
 native aspect and an emotional potency which not 
 only perpetuate but nourish and stimulate the sense 
 of that which is supernatural. Chiefly is this 
 realized in the Eucharist, because of its recurrence 
 in our experience. The thrilling contrast therein 
 between the simplicity of the material substances 
 employed and the vastness of the event and the 
 personality which are by them sacramentally 
 delineated, lays hold of the imagination, enchains 
 the memory, kindles the affections with a sense of 
 Christ's supra-naturalism, opens the inner life for 
 the entrance of grace, and clothes with majestic 
 realism that Apostolic thought of the witness to the 
 infinite, the spiritual, and the unseen, accomplished 
 by sacramental participation: "For as often as ye 
 eat this bread and drink this cup, ye proclaim the 
 Lord's death till He come." 
 
 We have now enumerated the seven fundamental 
 elements of Christian worship, notice of which 
 appears more or less distinctly in the Apostolic 
 writings. We behold a rich and impressive unit}\ 
 No element is redundant; none is irrelevant; each 
 has its own logical and spiritual relation to the 
 other ; each contributes a specific force to the whole 
 volume of energy. All, united, blend as the seven 
 bands of the rainbow, in one radiant symbol of hope, 
 spanning the present dispensation from the Ascen- 
 sion to the Second Advent, and revealing the ex- 
 
18 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 istence of a substantial agreement (not to say an 
 involuntary agreement) among Christians, histori- 
 cally maintained amidst innumerable sectional varia- 
 tions and local adaptations. As there is one Lord, 
 one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, 
 so also may we venture to say there is, among Chris- 
 tians, in the last analysis, one worship, — the 
 Hymn, the Scripture, the Belief, the Prayer, the 
 Oblation, the Teaching, the Sacraments. 
 
 The thought which we have now given to this 
 branch of our subject has prepared the way for a 
 statement of those broad principles which constitute 
 the real foundations of Christian worship. And 
 it is hoped that this statement of principle may 
 be sufficiently clear to be of practical use to those 
 whose life-work is to be closely connected with the 
 great institution of worship now under review. 
 
 He who attentively regards the historic phenom- 
 ena of Christian worship finds d priori reasons for 
 believing that it is no fortuitous outcome of circum- 
 stances, but a divinely constituted force, operating 
 in accordance with principles which may be ascer- 
 tained and defined. Whether the powerful fact of 
 worship be regarded in the light of its permanence, 
 as abiding continuously through the politico-ecclesi- 
 astical upheavals of many centuries; or in the light 
 of its substantial conformity to the Apostolic type, 
 as we have already essayed to show ; or in the light 
 of its ethical effects as a prodigious contribution to 
 the vigor and the purity of civilization; or in the 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 19 
 
 light of its spiritual power as tending to produce in 
 all times and countries qualities of human character 
 spiritual in proportion to the spirituality of the 
 worship, — from every point of view the attentive 
 mind finds in the phenomena of worship suggestions 
 of underlying principles fully accounting for the 
 perpetuity and the immense influence of the institu- 
 tion itself. When we undertake to collect and to 
 co-ordinate these principles we discover that they 
 fall into two classes or groups, which we may con- 
 veniently describe as the subjective group and the 
 Objective Group. The term "subjective principles 
 underlying Christian worship " is intended to indi- 
 cate those inward and constitutional relationships 
 with the life of God and the life of man which are 
 found to exist in the concept of worship. The term 
 " objective principles underlying Christian worship " 
 is intended to indicate those outward uses for the 
 Church, and for society at large, which historically 
 subsist in Christian worship normally administered. 
 Our attention is now given to the subjective group. 
 The concept of worship, whether regarded in its 
 generic sense, as involving the manifold religions of 
 humanity, or in its specific sense, as an institution 
 of Christianity, is found to be the outcome of two 
 interior and constitutional ideas, — the one a belief 
 concerning God ; the other an experience concerning 
 man. The belief concerning God is that the desire 
 and will of the Divine Mind invite and enjoin wor- 
 ship on the part of created intelligences. The expe- 
 
20 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 rience concerning man is that worship is an intuition 
 of self-consciousness. As our Lord, when giving 
 the first and great commandment, and the second 
 which is like unto it, declared, " On these two com- 
 mandments hang all the law and the prophets," so 
 may we also declare with confidence concerning the 
 two ideas just enumerated : on these two subjective 
 principles, the Will of God, the intuition of man, 
 rests, fundamentally, the institution of Christian 
 worship. Consider the former, the Will of God. 
 So far as God is known in the ethnic faiths, or is 
 revealed in the Biblical Scriptures, He is known 
 and revealed as desiring and willing the worship of 
 created intelligences. If in the ethnic faiths the 
 conception of God is often one of horror, a confused 
 polytheism, or a lurid and vindictive monotheism, 
 yet is the idea prevalent and even universal, that 
 Deity desires and wills the tribute of worship to be 
 paid by the mind and heart of humanity. When, 
 from the ethnic faiths that lie outside of Biblical 
 revelation, we advance to the religion of Israel, the 
 keynote of the dispensation is the desire of Jehovah 
 to receive that homage from the created intelligence 
 which it is competent to give. This surely is the 
 substantial basis of the Divine legation of Moses ; 
 this the meaning of that most extraordinary code 
 wherein one looks in vain for any intimation of 
 immortality, or for promise even of a future life, 
 and finds, instead, a complex liturgical order for the 
 life that now is. In the Israelitish code God is self- 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 21 
 
 revealed as desiring and demanding worship from 
 created intelligences. Had He not given subse- 
 quently, in Christ, a larger self-revelation along the 
 same line, there would still exist, in the Hebraic 
 Scriptures, clear and conclusive declaration that 
 worship is not first of all a conception of man, but 
 first of all an ordinance of God. But Christ gives 
 us infinitely more than this. Christ, proclaiming 
 Himself to be the revelation of the Father, and not 
 only permitting worship to be addressed to Himself 
 as God, but explicitly providing, in the sacrament 
 of His body and blood, for a perpetual homage, 
 declared, in the clearest terms, that the mind of God 
 is not passive, but active, in its relation to those 
 offerings of the intellect and of the affections which 
 man is competent to bring to Him. "The hour 
 cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall 
 worship the Father in spirit and in truth ; for such 
 doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God 
 is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship 
 in spirit and in truth. " 1 It is not too much to say 
 that the vitality of Christian worship is commen- 
 surate with the grasp of Christian minds upon this 
 subjective principle, that God wills, desires, com- 
 mands the approach of human intelligences to Him- 
 self. Let there be in minister and in people but a 
 languid and traditionary assent to this proposition, 
 and that which is called worship subsides to the 
 level of religious routine; but let presbyter and 
 
 1 Jno. iv. 23-24. 
 
22 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 people feel that the will of the Eternal bespeaks 
 their corning together, that the Spirit of the Eternal 
 is operating on their human spirits to produce the 
 emanation of worship for the joy of Him who is 
 invisibly present in their assembly, and worship 
 becomes transfused with extraordinary and soul- 
 compelling awe, and (to adopt the very striking 
 language of Professor Sohm of Leipsic, employed in 
 another connection) l " the aim of Divine worship 
 and its crowning glory is that feeling of the imme- 
 diate omnipresence of the Divine Man which con- 
 strains the congregation to bow down in adoration. " 
 
 The second and complementary subjective principle 
 of Christian Worship is the intuition of man. It is 
 complementary as seen in relation to the Will of 
 God. God desires worship, and man, made in His 
 image and for Himself, discovers in his own self- 
 consciousness the intuitional impulse of worship. 
 In the presence of voluminous evidence supplied 
 from the history of religions, it is wholly unneces- 
 sary to consume time in pointing out the universality 
 of that impulse which prompts man to the worship 
 of Omnipotence. 
 
 The correspondence between the human intuition 
 and the revelation of the Divine Will is too complete 
 to be overlooked or to be explained away. The con- 
 clusion is psychologically necessary : Man is consti- 
 tuted a worshipping creature, and approximates to 
 an absolutely normal state as his worship advances 
 
 1 Outlines of Church History, p. 122. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 23 
 
 toward ideal spiritual completeness. The evidence 
 of this appears in the effects of worship on character. 
 He who knows the act of true worship, who has 
 experience of what it is to gaze upon God with eyes 
 of faith and holy fear, to pour out the soul toward 
 God not only in petition and pleading, but in the 
 contemplation of Himself, to say "Holy, Holy, Holy, 
 Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to 
 come," he knows that worship mysteriously affects 
 life. There is an intense incompleteness in him 
 who knows not the meaning of worship. There is a 
 lack of depth and of dignity in him who will not 
 look upon God. His life seems curtailed and 
 crippled. We give him credit for keenness, or 
 talent, or courage, or maturity of mind, or whatever 
 else he may possess, but we miss in him a certain 
 glory which can be given only in one way, by the 
 light of God's countenance. He is like a fruit that 
 has ripened in the dark and not in the sunshine. 
 We see not in him the reflection of God's face, for 
 he has not lived looking on God's face. He has 
 been intensely interested in earthly things ; he has 
 prayed hard and worked hard for success; he has 
 studied himself ; he has not studied God ; he has not 
 worshipped God. The decline of worship means the 
 withering of man's spirit. If we no longer have 
 that mystic blending of our spirit with God's Spirit, 
 we lose the mysterious resultants of worship from 
 our own life. The presence of the intuition of wor- 
 ship in man's organism is accounted for in the fact 
 
24 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 that worship is the true foundation of character and 
 channel of power. "The fear of the Lord is the 
 beginning of wisdom. " God is the ideal. To ignore 
 the ideal is to throw away the standard of character, 
 and to leave only the conventional notions of moral- 
 ity. To worship is to think of God, to fasten the eyes 
 upon Him until the heart is filled with the splendid 
 vision as with the influx of the tide. The mystery 
 of worship is that this contemplation of God founds 
 and forms character. While the man is thinking of 
 God, God is moulding him; and thus, with unveiled 
 face, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, 
 one is changed into the same image, as by the Lord, 
 the Spirit. So also worship is the channel of 
 power. Whence comes spiritual power ? Whence 
 come the courage of faith, the patience of hope, the 
 gift of ministry ? Whence are born those splendid 
 abilities to help other souls in their distresses and 
 humiliations ? Spiritual power comes not through 
 the study of self, albeit the study of self is an indis- 
 pensable part of the Christian discipline. Spii-itual 
 power comes through the contemplation of God, 
 which is worship. " They that wait upon the Lord 
 shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with 
 wings. " This is the mystery of worship, — that when 
 we forget ourselves in God, we receive most into 
 ourselves ; when we lose our lives in Him, we find 
 them. When we break away from our own petty 
 scale of thinking, cast from about us our network of 
 worries and disputings, throw away even our knotted 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 25 
 
 scourge of self-flagellation, and go out to look upon 
 the wideness of God ; when we cease from our small 
 devices for self-improvement and our hair-splitting 
 self-analysis, and cast ourselves down beneath the 
 shining of God in His strength, as on some high fore- 
 land by the sea, beneath the blessed midday sun, — 
 
 "To lie within the light of God, 
 Like a habe upon the breast, 
 Where the wicked cease from troubling 
 And the weary are at rest," — 
 
 that is worship, and that is the channel of power. 
 Our feebleness is swallowed in His strength; our 
 fears are swept away by the torrent of His love. 
 Our dwarfish notions are lost in the measure of the 
 stature of the manhood of Christ; 
 
 " God's greatness flows around our incompleteness, 
 And round our restlessness, His Rest." 
 
 Having now noted what appear to be the two sub- 
 jective principles conditioning the institution of 
 Christian worship, namely, the will of God and the 
 intuition of man, we advance to the final division of 
 this lecture, and proceed rapidly to enumerate some 
 of those objective principles which include the out- 
 ward uses, for the Church and for society at large, 
 which historically subsist in Christian worship, 
 normally administered. 
 
 When we advance to this part of our subject, the 
 territory presented to thought is so broad, we see at 
 a glance the impossibility of making a complete 
 
26 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 statement of the objective principles of Christian 
 worship. Our method of treatment must be elective 
 rather than comprehensive, suggestive rather than 
 exhaustive. Brief and concentrated references to 
 three of the objective uses of worship may at least 
 indicate the line to be pursued by the student in 
 search of thorough knowledge of this great subject. 
 
 Christian worship, considered objectively, that is 
 to say, not in respect of esoteric relations between 
 man and God, but in respect of outward uses for 
 the Church and for the community at large, is seen 
 as ideally subserving the following, among other uses, 
 and these several uses are to be regarded as principles 
 underlying the institution: the affirmative use; the 
 conservative use ; the educative use. 
 
 The affirmative use contemplates Christian wor- 
 ship as testimony, comprehending the evangelical 
 facts and uttering the same continuously and effect- 
 ively, as a propagandism of spiritual light and 
 hope, throughout a world lying in the Evil One. 
 The glory of Christianity is its undebatable affirma- 
 tion, whether men will hear or will forbear; whether 
 men consent or protest, allow or forbid, — an unde- 
 batable affirmation, sounding in the generations, 
 irrepressible, unsilenceable. Such is the method of 
 Jesus. " Go ye into all the world, preach, proclaim 
 the Gospel to every creature." The Gospel: What 
 is that? Not a cautious scholastic argument, but 
 an invulnerable assumption; still invulnerable, 
 though sought out by sheaves of arrows from the 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 27 
 
 bow of philosophic doubt. Christianity, in its 
 relation to the world, is an affirmation, not a 
 polemic, — a voice that cannot be hushed. It may be 
 prohibited; it speaks above the prohibition. The 
 ban of the State cannot stop it; the walls of the 
 prison house cannot confine it; the clods of the 
 grave cannot smother it. Most heroical and most 
 suggestive is that sequence in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, recorded without comment by the narrator, 
 as being the natural order. The injunction from 
 the council : " They commanded that they should not 
 speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go ; " the 
 action of the Apostles under that injunction, "And 
 they departed from the presence of the council, and 
 daily in the temple and in every house they ceased 
 not to teach and preach Jesus Christ," — theundebat- 
 able, irrepressible affirmation! Christian worship 
 is the perennial continuance of this affirmation. 
 Every place of sacred assembly, from the buttressed 
 cathedral, sumptuous with the spoils of time, to the 
 frail and austere chapel of some out-station on the 
 plains ; every hymn sent upward to God by the rescued 
 wanderers of the street, or by the snowy multitude 
 of stoled priests and vested choristers massed before 
 the shadowy splendors of the shrine, like Dante's 
 white rose of Paradise; every eucharistic board, 
 sweet with fair linen, august with elemental bread 
 and wine, is worship in its affirmative use, proclaim- 
 ing alike to the stolid ears of ignorance, to the 
 sinister mind of unbelief, to the prostrate helpless- 
 
28 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ness of despair, to the hallowed anguish of peni- 
 tence, "the Lord's Death till He come." 
 
 The conservative use of Christian worship is dis- 
 cerned most impressively in the solemn light of 
 history. Amidst vanishing empires and dissolving 
 philosophies ; amidst the incessant harvests of Death, 
 gathering from the scene Apostolic and post-Apostolic 
 defenders of the faith ; amidst the relentless attacks 
 in every age of that carnal mind which is enmity 
 against God; amidst internal dissensions of the 
 Church and partisan over-statements of truths which 
 were thereby compromised through those who fiercely 
 thought to do God service, — worship has been the 
 great conservative of faith. It is more than fifty 
 years since the brilliant and sympathetic man, 
 Cleveland Cox, who as Bishop of "Western New York 
 has just departed to his rest, wrote words that 
 perfectly express the conservative use of worship. 
 
 " Oh, where are kings and empires now 
 Of old that went and came ? 
 But, Lord, Thy Church is praying yet, 
 A thousand years the same. 
 
 "We mark her goodly hattlements 
 
 And her foundations strong ; 
 We hear within the solemn voice 
 
 Of her unending song." 
 
 It is through the " unending song " of a worship- 
 ping Church that the faith of Christ has been con- 
 served upon the earth, rather than through the 
 involved confessional creations that lie dormant in 
 
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 29 
 
 theological literature. They indeed bore their part, 
 and out of them came many a glorious strophe and 
 stanza for the Church's song: but the worship of the 
 Church, far more than its scholasticism, has safe- 
 guarded, through warring centuries, the faith once 
 for all delivered to the saints. The Apostles' Creed, 
 the Gloria Patri, the Gloria in HJxcelsis, the Te Deum, 
 the Nicene Creed, the Words of Institution at the 
 Lord's Supper, have kept the Catholic faith un- 
 spotted from the world, unwarped by the Church. 
 
 The educative use of Christian worship, its 
 reflexive influence on persons, on households, on 
 schools, and on communities, makes worship a part 
 of sociology. The religious nature must be reckoned 
 with in all attempts to reconstitute the dignity of a 
 fallen community, or to develop the powers of an 
 inchoate life. Man is not normal until he worships. 
 Upon the director of worship lies, therefore, the 
 burden of an educator. To him much has been com- 
 mitted, and of him shall men, without injustice, 
 require much. They have a right to the best, to the 
 noblest forms of worship; to the most devout, the 
 most studious, the most solicitous, the most reveren- 
 tial fulfilment of all the contents of that sacred 
 institution founded upon the will of God, demanded 
 by the intuitions of human consciousness. Worship 
 is an education, the leader of worship a teacher of 
 men. It is his so to serve with clean hands at the 
 altar of God, so to live in all godliness and gravity, 
 so to stand surrendered to the power of the Paraclete, 
 
BO CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 that the eternal verities of worship shall become to 
 many lives a revelation of truth, a voice from the 
 unseen, a theophany of the Spirit, sublimating 
 thought, moulding character, strengthening with 
 might the wings of the soul's aspiration. 
 
II 
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 
 
 By the Rev. ALEXANDER V. G. ALLEN, D.D., 
 
 Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Protestant Episcopal 
 Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 
 
 I PROPOSE in this lecture to discuss the litur- 
 gical motives which influenced the development 
 of worship in the ancient Church, and were finally 
 embodied in liturgies. 1 The impulse to liturgical 
 development was Oriental in its origin. It is a 
 familiar generalization that in the development of 
 the ancient Church Greece contributed the intellec- 
 
 1 List of some of the More Important Works on Ancient 
 Christian Worship. — The larger collections of Assemanni, Ken- 
 audot, Daniel, and Muratori. The Liturgies in the 2d, 7th, and 8th 
 books of the Apostolic Constitutions. Cyril's Mystagogic Catechisms. 
 Bingham's Christian Antiquities, B. XIV. c. 5, B. XVI. Dionysius the 
 Areopagite in Migne, Patrol. Gr. ii. Swainson, C. A., The Greek 
 Liturgies, chiefly from Original Authorities, 1884. Brightman, ~F. E., 
 Liturgies, Eastern and Western, being the Texts, original or translated, 
 of the Principal Liturgies of the Church, vol. i. 1896. Palmer, W., 
 Origines Liturgicce. Bunsen, Chevalier, Christianity and Mankind, and 
 Analecta Ante-Nicama. Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian 
 Antiquities ; articles on LITURGIES AND LITURGICAL 
 BOOKS. Neale, J. M., Introduction to the History of the Holy Eastern 
 Church ; also Essays on Liturgiology and Church History. Stanley, 
 The Eucharistic Sacrifice in " Christian Institutions," 1881. Freeman, 
 Principles of Divine Service. Probst, Liturgie der drei ersten christ- 
 lichen Jahrhunderten, 1870. Mone, Lateinische und griechische Messen 
 aus dem zweiten bis sechsten Jahrhundert. Gottschick, Der Sontags- 
 gottesdienst der Christl. Kirche, 1885. Kortlin, Geschich. d. Christl. 
 Gottesdienstes, 1887. Duchesne, Origines du culte Chretien, jtftude sur 
 la Liturgie Latine avant Charlemagne, 1889. 
 
 3 
 
34 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 tual formulas of doctrine, and Rome her genius for 
 law and government and administration. To this 
 may be added that Oriental countries contributed 
 the tendencies which to some extent influenced the 
 aspect of worship. And by Oriental countries are 
 meant Egypt, parts of Asia Minor, and Eastern 
 Syria, where, although the influence of Greek culture 
 had been felt, there were characteristics of tempera- 
 ment, religious traditions, a certain conception of 
 man in his relation to nature, and theosophical tend- 
 encies also, which were never entirely overcome by 
 Greek influence, and which finally left their mark 
 on Christian worship. The time of liturgical prepa- 
 ration may be said to date from the age of Constan- 
 tine, and to include the fourth and fifth centuries. 
 During this period we may trace the origin and 
 development of most of those principles which were 
 afterward embodied in the cuitus. The liturgies 
 themselves did not assume their final shape, as we 
 know them to-day, until a much later time. There 
 are no manuscripts of liturgies which date earlier 
 than the eighth or ninth centuries. The liturgy of 
 Constantinople, called after Basil and Chrysostom, 
 was not then in existence, nor was the Roman Mass. 
 The sources for our knowledge of the worship of the 
 fourth and fifth centuries are to be found in a so- 
 called liturgy, which is contained in the eighth book 
 of the Apostolic Constitutions. The exact date is 
 uncertain, but I will assume that it was put forth 
 about the year 340. The reason for this assumption 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 35 
 
 is a certain tinge of Semi-Arianism which is to be 
 detected in it, a theology which was then in vogue, 
 whose influence may be said to have culminated at 
 the Council of Antioch in the year 340 or 341. 
 This so-called liturgy is commonly known as the 
 Clementine, and as this is a convenient designation, 
 I shall refer to it by this name in the frequent allu- 
 sions which will be made to it. It was never used 
 as a liturgy, nor was it intended that it should be ; 
 it is to be regarded as a private compilation, con- 
 taining formulas of prayer which were never adopted 
 into general use. But it also contains ritual direc- 
 tions which were adopted, and therefore serves in 
 many respects as a model and type of the later East- 
 ern liturgies. Other important sources for our 
 knowledge of the worship in the fourth and fifth 
 centuries are the Lectures on the Mysteries by Cyril 
 of Jerusalem, who lived about the time of the Second 
 General Council, in 380 ; the many allusions to the 
 ritual, and comments on its significance, by Chrysos- 
 torn, bishop of Antioch, and afterwards patriarch of 
 Constantinople; and lastly, the order of worship 
 given by the so-called Dionysius the Areopagite, who 
 lived in the latter part of the fifth century. 
 
 The development of liturgical principles was con- 
 temporaneous with an age of doctrinal activity and 
 controversy, with which are connected the names of 
 Apollinaris and Cyril of Alexandria, Nestorius and 
 Eutyches. When the Church grew weary of the in- 
 cessant discussion, and losing its faith in the reason 
 
36 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 fell back upon tradition as the highest authority, 
 ritual came to the front, as if a refuge from the 
 distractions of controversy, as if the instincts of the 
 heart might be trusted, when the Christian intellect 
 seemed to have lost itself in a labyrinthine maze of 
 contradiction and confusion. 
 
 In order to measure the ritual advance of the 
 fourth and fifth centuries, we must keep in view the 
 worship of the Church in an earlier age, our knowl- 
 edge of which depends upon a few brief but precious 
 fragments There is an account of the worship at 
 the close of the Apostolic age, or about the beginning 
 of the second century, which is given in the Didache. 
 Another account is contained in the letter of the 
 Roman governor, Pliny, to the Emperor Trajan, 
 which belongs to the earlier years of the second cen- 
 tury. Justin Martyr is our next authority, whose 
 time is about the middle of the second century. 
 Nearly two centuries intervene between Justin 
 Martyr and the time of the Clementine liturgy, in 
 which we are dependent upon allusions in various 
 writers, but in which as a whole the ritual of the 
 Church is like an underground stream, collecting its 
 waters from sources which have not yet been fully 
 traced, till at last it emerges a river, which no 
 authority of council or hierarchy can control, which 
 defies tradition and makes its channel at its will and 
 pleasure. We seem to pass abruptly, and as if with- 
 out preparation, from the simple eucharistic service 
 as described by Justin, to the highly complex and 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 37 
 
 elaborate worship, the stately ceremonial of the age 
 of Constantine. 
 
 The word " liturgy " has undergone many changes. 
 According to its etymological use and its earlier 
 application, it meant a public service or function, 
 and the name Leitourgos was sometimes given to 
 the deacon as indicating his peculiar work. In its 
 widest use, when applied to the worship, the liturgy 
 included a public service, consisting of prayer, the 
 reading of Scripture, and preaching. This may be 
 called a homiletic service, whose aim was moral and 
 spiritual edification. All classes of Christians 
 were allowed to be present, — the catechumens, the 
 penitents, and also the outside world of heathens 
 and unbelievers. This service was given in the 
 morning hours. There was also from the first an 
 interior service for the faithful, in which was 
 administered the Lord's Supper, and from which the 
 public were excluded, as were also the penitents and 
 catechumens. Ritual advance or development con- 
 sisted in expanding the ceremony of the Eucharist, 
 and enhancing its importance, till finally, some- 
 where after the fifth century, the homiletic worship 
 ceased in the churches, the Eucharist was thrown 
 open to the whole congregation, the communion of 
 the Lord's Supper was practically discontinued, and 
 the people were content to witness the impressive 
 dramatization of the passion of Christ. 
 
 The earlier homiletic service now took refuge in 
 the monasteries, where its development continued 
 
38 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 till it issued in what is known in the Latin Church 
 as the Breviary, which, however intricate it became, 
 still retained its original character as a service of 
 prayer and song, readings from the Scripture, and 
 the word of exhortation. At the Reformation it 
 was reduced into the Morning and Evening Prayer 
 of the English Church. 
 
 It is then with the development of the worship 
 which is connected with the Lord's Supper that we 
 are now chiefly concerned. The office of the Eucha- 
 rist becomes the liturgy, — the only application 
 which the term now has in the Greek and Latin 
 churches. There is among us a popular use of the 
 word "liturgy" to which I may refer in passing, 
 which places a liturgical service in contrast with 
 those forms of worship where the ministrant offers 
 extemporaneous prayers. But this distinction was 
 not made in the ancient Church. In the account of 
 the worship found in the Didache, while formulas of 
 prayer are given for those who may need them, it is 
 also enjoined that the prophets are to be permitted 
 "to give thanks as much as they will." In the 
 liturgy of Justin Martyr no forms of prayer are 
 mentioned, but the president of the congregation is 
 said to pray at considerable length, and according to 
 his ability. Even in the Clementine liturgy, while 
 some forms of prayer are given in full, in other cases 
 only directions are given as to the nature or contents 
 of the prayer to be offered. According to Chrysos- 
 tom of Antioch, there were three usages in prayer. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 39 
 
 There were certain formulas pronounced by the 
 officiant alone; there was the Litany, where the 
 priest or deacon read the petitions and the people 
 responded with Kyrie Eleison ; and thirdly, there 
 was a method of common prayer, which has since 
 disappeared, in which, after the priest or deacon had 
 declared the object of supplication and bidden the 
 people to pray, there was silence in the church while 
 the prayer was offered, followed by the injunction to 
 pray more fervently, when silence again prevailed. 
 To this custom Chrysostom alluded when he ex- 
 claimed, "Great is the power of the congregation." 
 But so late as the sixth century, according to 
 Duchesne, the Leonian Sacramentary, so-called, gives 
 ground for supposing that improvised prayer was 
 still practised, or at least the insertion of phrases 
 prepared by the officiant himself. 
 
 The earliest accounts of Christian worship connect 
 the Lord's Supper with the Agape, which may be 
 denned as a common evening meal, in imitation of 
 the last supper of Christ with his disciples, when 
 " after supper he took the cup. " It is possible not 
 only that this arrangement was followed in the social 
 meeting of the Christian community, but that in 
 individual households the evening meal became a 
 Christian agape, where after supper the head of the 
 
40 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 household presided, praying over the bread and tak- 
 ing the cup. 
 
 Traces of the agape are also to be seen in the 
 Didache, and in the letter of Pliny to Trajan. Let 
 me read here these two accounts, although you are 
 already familiar with them. The service of the 
 Didache is peculiar, and according to a type which 
 has had no historical development. 
 
 "Now concerning the Eucharist, thus give thanks: 
 first, concerning the cup. We thank thee, our Father, 
 for the holy vine of David thy servant, which thou hast 
 made known to us through Jesus thy servant ; to Thee be 
 the glory forever. 
 
 ' ' And concerning the broken bread ; We thank thee, our 
 Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made 
 known to us through Jesus, thy servant : to Thee be the 
 glory forever. Just as this broken bread was scattered 
 over the hills and having been gathered together became 
 one, so let Thy church be gathered together from the ends 
 of the earth into Thy Kingdom ; for thine is the glory and 
 the power through Jesus Christ forever. But let no one 
 eat or drink of your Eucharist, except those baptised into 
 the Lord's name : for in regard to this the Lord hath said : 
 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs. 
 
 " JVbw after ye are filled thus do ye give thanks : We 
 thank thee holy Father for Thy holy name, which thou 
 hast caused to dwell in our hearts ; and for the knowledge 
 and faith and immortality, which thou hast made known 
 to us through Jesus thy servant ; to Thee be glory for- 
 ever. Thou Almighty Master did'st create all things for 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 41 
 
 thy name's sake : both food and drink thou did'st give to 
 men for enjoyment, in order that they might give thanks 
 to Thee. But to us Thou hast graciously given spiritual 
 food and drink and eternal life through thy servant. Be- 
 fore all things we thank Thee that thou art powerful : to 
 Thee be glory forever. Remember, Lord, thy Church, to de- 
 liver it from every evil and to make it perfect in thy love, 
 and gather it from the four winds, the sanctified, into thy 
 Kingdom which thou hast prepared for it ; for thine is the 
 power and the glory forever. Let Grace come and let 
 this world pass away. Hosanna to the Son of David ! 
 Whoever is holy let him come : Whoever is not let him 
 repent. Maranatha. Amen. But permit the prophets to 
 give thanks as much as they will" 
 
 In Pliny's letter to Trajan, which contains infor- 
 mation extracted from the Christians by the Roman 
 governor, it is said that " they were wont to meet on 
 a stated day before sunrise, when they offered a form 
 of invocation to Christ as to a God, binding them- 
 selves also by an oath not for any guilty purpose, but 
 not to commit thefts or robberies or adulteries, not 
 to break their word, not to repudiate deposits when 
 called upon. These ceremonies having been gone 
 through, they separated and again met together for 
 the purpose of taking food, — food that is of an 
 ordinary and innocent character." 
 
 In consequence of the prohibition of Trajan against 
 secret societies, the agape seems for a while to have 
 been given up, and the Lord's Supper as distinct 
 from the agape was transferred to the morning hours. 
 
42 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 where it followed the homiletic service. In the next 
 description of Christian worship as contained in 
 Justin Martyr's Apology, about the middle of the 
 second century, the agape is not mentioned, but the 
 Lord's Supper is described as following a service at 
 which the catechumens were present, in which the 
 Scriptures were read, prayers were offered, together 
 with a sermon or exhortation. 
 
 There are two descriptions in Justin; they are 
 short, and I will give them both. 
 
 " Having ended the prayers we salute one another with 
 a kiss. There is then brought to the president or leader 
 among the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with 
 water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to 
 the Father of the universe through the name of the Son 
 and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable 
 length for our being considered worthy to receive these 
 things. And when he has concluded the prayers and 
 thanksgivings all the people express assent by saying 
 Amen. And when the president has given thanks and 
 the people have expressed assent, those who are called by 
 us deacons give to each of those present to partake of 
 the bread and wine mixed with water, over which the 
 thanksgiving was pronounced and to those who are ab- 
 sent, they carry away a portion." ; 
 
 " And on the day called Sunday, all who live in the 
 city or in the country gather together to one place, and 
 the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the proph- 
 ets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the 
 reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs and 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 43 
 
 exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we 
 all rise together and pray, and as we before said, when 
 our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are 
 brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers 
 and thanksgivings according to his ability and the people 
 assent saying Amen. And there is a distribution to each 
 and a participation of that over which thanks have been 
 given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by 
 the deacons. And they who are well to do and will- 
 ing, give what each thinks fit, and what is collected is 
 deposited with the president who succors the orphans and 
 widows and those in sickness or want, the prisoners and 
 the strangers among us." 
 
 Justin's account might be made the occasion of 
 extended comment, which the limits of my time and 
 subject will not allow. But the main points to be 
 noted are that the Lord's Supper has been discon- 
 nected from the agape, and transferred from the even- 
 ing to the morning, following the homiletic service, 
 and we may also note the great simplicity of ritual 
 direction and observance. 
 
 But the agape had left so deep an impression, and 
 was also so beautiful an expression of Christian 
 love, that it still continued for a time to be observed. 
 Tertullian refers to it as still maintained about the 
 beginning of the third century, and also Clement of 
 Alexandria. Even so late as the Synod of Gangra, 
 in the fourth century, those are reproved who speak 
 disrespectfully of the agape. The rite, however, 
 was doomed to disappear. It was incongruous with 
 
44 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the splendid churches that began to be built after 
 the accession of Constantine, and with the solemn 
 and stately formalities of ritual. The relics of it 
 may still exist, as in the Roman Church, in the small 
 cakes called eulogice, which on certain occasions 
 are distributed to the people; or in the Eastern 
 Church, in the bread which has been blessed in the 
 Prothesis, but not consecrated on the altar, and 
 which, after the divine office is ended, is given to 
 the people who are not deemed worthy of commun- 
 ing in the consecrated elements. 
 
 This union of the agape with the Lord's Supper, 
 their subsequent separation, and the final suppression 
 of the agape, have a deep significance for the devel- 
 opment of Christian worship, because of the perpetua- 
 tion in a modified form of one feature of the agape, 
 which constituted one of its most potent charms. 
 The people themselves furnished the material for 
 the evening meal, which thus became, as it were, a 
 kind of alms or offering, in which the poor partici- 
 pated, as well as a manifestation of Christian love. 
 When the agape was discontinued, these contribu- 
 tions, which also included the bread and wine for the 
 eucharistic feast, still continued to be made, but now 
 they were enveloped with a new solemnity, and be- 
 came in themselves as if meritorious acts of worship. 
 This view, so far as it may be traced, first appears 
 in the writings of Cyprian of Carthage, who seems 
 to have been influenced by Jewish rather than by 
 heathen analogies in his doctrine of oblation and 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 45 
 
 sacrifice. The giving of alms he regards as a reli- 
 gious act, which is placed to one's credit in the 
 records of heaven, and therefore contributes to sal- 
 vation. The bread and wine brought for the Lord's 
 Supper form what is called the lesser, or " lower obla- 
 tion." After their consecration they are offered in a 
 "higher oblation" which is presented to God as an 
 acceptable sacrifice. Between the middle of the 
 third century, when Cyprian flourished, and the 
 middle of the fourth century, the date of the Clemen- 
 tine liturgy, this idea had come to prevail widely 
 throughout the Church. In the liturgy as described 
 by Justin, in the account of Christian worship in 
 Pliny's letter to Trajan, or in the Didache, there is 
 no such ritual act mentioned as an oblation. A 
 prayer is made over the bread and the wine, but they 
 are not presented to God as a sacrificial offering. If 
 the later importance attached to the oblation had 
 been assigned to it in this earlier age, it would 
 surely have been mentioned. 
 
 Let me give at this point a summary of the Clem- 
 entine liturgy to which I have referred. It is a pic- 
 ture of the worship as it was conducted in the age of 
 the Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine, 
 and although somewhat uncertain in its theology, it 
 is reverential toward Christ in the highest degree. 
 It suggests a scene in which preparation is made as 
 for some great solemnity. 
 
 " Let the children stand at the reading desk and let a 
 deacon stand by them that they be not disorderly. Let 
 
46 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the deacons walk about and watch the men and the women 
 that no tumult be made and that no one nod or whisper 
 or slumber. Let the deacons stand at the doors of the 
 men and the sub-deacons at those of the women, that no 
 one go out nor a door be opened even for one of the 
 faithful at the time of the oblation. But let one of 
 the deacons bring water to wash the hands of the priests, 
 which is a symbol of the purity of the souls that are de- 
 voted to God." 
 
 When the injunction has been renewed which has 
 ordered the departure of the unbelievers, the peni- 
 tents, the catechumens, and the hearers, the faithful 
 who remain are exhorted to have nothing against 
 any one, to come in sincerity, and to stand upright 
 before the Lord with fear and trembling to make 
 the offering. " Then let the deacons bring the gifts 
 of bread and wine to the bishop at the altar, and let 
 the presbyters stand at his right hand and at his left, 
 as disciples stand before the Master. But let two of 
 the deacons on each side of the altar hold a fan made 
 of some thin membrane, and let them silently drive 
 away the small animals that fly about, that they 
 come not near the cups. Let the High Priest pray 
 by himself, and let him put on his shining garment, 
 and stand at the altar, and make the sign of the 
 cross upon his forehead with his hand. " 
 
 At this point begins the Anaphora of the Greek 
 liturgy, the Sursum Corda of the Latin Mass. 
 
 " Let the High Priest say. The grace of Almighty God 
 and the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellow- 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 47 
 
 ships of the Holy Ghost be with you all ; to which all the 
 people are to respond with one voice, And with thy 
 spirit. The High Priest, Lift up your mind; and the 
 people, We lift it up unto the Lord. The Priest, Let us 
 give thanks unto our Lord God : the people, It is meet 
 and right so to do. Then let the High Priest say, It is 
 very meet and right before all things to sing an hymn to 
 Thee, who art the true God, who art before all beings, 
 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 
 named." 
 
 Such is the beginning of the long prayer which, 
 without any break, proceeds first to glorify God in 
 his wisdom and goodness and power, next at some 
 length and with much detail to commemorate the 
 creation of the whole world and the goodness which 
 is revealed in its adaptability to man ; then the crea- 
 tion of man, the garden of Eden, and the fall are 
 mentioned, and the beginning of the process of 
 redemption. After the leading features of the Old 
 Testament history in the successive stages of the 
 process of redemption have been rehearsed, there 
 follows the Cherubic hymn, as the preparation for 
 the recountal of the story of the Incarnation : " For 
 these things, glory be to Thee, Lord Almighty, 
 whom innumerable hosts of angels, archangels, 
 thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities and 
 powers with their everlasting armies do adore, say- 
 ing, together with thousand thousands of angels and 
 ten thousand times ten thousands of angels, saying 
 incessantly and with constant and loud voices, — and 
 
48 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 let all the people say it with them. Holy, Holy, 
 Holy Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full 
 of thy glory. Glory be to Thee, Lord most High." 
 
 The incidents of the life of Christ are then given 
 as they lead up to his crucifixion, and Christ is 
 glorified in his redeeming work as a preparation for 
 the culmination of the office, in the sacred words of 
 institution of the mystery, when he broke the bread 
 and took the cup. 
 
 The language of the prayer now grows more in- 
 tense and intimate in the intercession which follows 
 for the living and the dead, till it finally concludes 
 with the angelic hymn, the Gloria in Uxcelsis, the 
 preliminary to the distribution of the elements. To 
 the waiting congregation in the attitude of standing, 
 the bishop in turn gives the oblation, saying, " The 
 body of Christ, " and the deacon gives the cup with 
 the words, "the blood of Christ, the cup of Life." 
 And while the communion is in process, is said the 
 thirty-fourth Psalm, and a more exquisite Psalm 
 could not have been chosen : " taste and see that 
 the Lord is gracious. Blessed is the man that 
 trusteth in him." 
 
 After the distribution of the elements a shorter 
 prayer follows, and the office concludes with the 
 benediction, which has a tendency, as in other 
 Oriental liturgies, to expand itself, until it has been 
 illustrated anew what the blessing of God may mean. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 49 
 
 II 
 
 As we study this directory for worship, which is 
 in many respects the model of the later Oriental 
 liturgies as they appeared in the eighth and ninth 
 centuries, it is seen to contain some marked diver- 
 gencies from the worship of the earlier Church. In 
 the earlier age the Christians came together in a 
 spirit of gratitude to acknowledge a great work 
 which had already been accomplished, some blessing 
 which was continuously bestowed. But here the 
 solemnity centers and culminates in a great act to 
 be performed. Something is to be done by means 
 of which a desired end is to be attained. That act 
 is the oblation of the elements of bread and wine, 
 the offering of them to God after they have been 
 consecrated by the repetition of the words of 
 institution : — 
 
 " We offer to Thee," so runs the formula, " Our King 
 and God, according to His constitution this bread and 
 this cup, giving thee thanks through Him that Thou hast 
 thought us worthy to stand before Thee and to sacrifice to 
 Thee; and we beseech Thee that Thou wilt mercifully 
 look down upon these gifts which are here set before 
 Thee, O Thou God, who standest in need of none of our 
 offerings. And do Thou accept them to the honor of Thy 
 Christ, and send down upon this sacrifice thine Holy 
 Spirit . . . that He may show this bread to be the body 
 of Thy Christ and the cup to be the blood of Thy Christ, 
 
 4 
 
50 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 that those who are partakers thereof may be strengthened 
 for piety and may receive the remission of their sins, may 
 be delivered from the devil and his deceits, may be filled 
 with the Holy Ghost, may be made worthy of Thy Christ, 
 and may obtain eternal life upon Thy reconciliation to 
 them, O Lord God Almighty." 
 
 To comment fully upon the significance of this 
 change in Christian worship is here impossible. 
 But I must allude briefly at least to one of its 
 aspects, which constitutes a supreme motive in the 
 development of the ritual which was to follow. A 
 change is taking place in the thought regarding God, 
 by which what is called anthropomorphism is being 
 substituted for the earlier conception of God as a 
 spirit, whom they that worship must worship in 
 spirit and in truth. Of course our language regard- 
 ing God, from its inherent limits and deficiencies, 
 must always have an anthropomorphic character. 
 In our highest thought, He is infinite intelligence, 
 to whom the universe lies open, and in whom, as in 
 a focus, is concentred the unity and harmony for the 
 sight of which we vainly strive. Because all things 
 are known to Him, we speak of Him in anthropomor- 
 phic language as seeing whatever is done, as hearing 
 prayer. We go further, and speak of His eye as 
 fastened upon the children of men, His ear as 
 always open to their supplication. Or again, in 
 the manner of Hebrew prophets and psalmists, we 
 speak of His right hand and His glorious arm. But 
 it is important to guard our thought of God against 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 51 
 
 the imperfection of language. The eye and the ear 
 are the most spiritual of the avenues to the human 
 soul. The sense of smell, of taste, or of touch, are 
 more closely related to our material bodily organiza- 
 tion, and lend themselves less easily to the idea of a 
 spirit. It is of course hard to say in this, as in 
 everything else about which there is difference of 
 opinion or practice, just exactly where the line is to 
 be drawn which separates the higher from the lower; 
 but we generally know when the line has been 
 passed. The fathers and writers of the ancient 
 Church in the first three centuries were making a 
 desperate struggle to maintain the spiritual concep- 
 tion of Deity as a being who is " without body, parts 
 or passions,'' according to the very significant lan- 
 guage of the first of the Thirty-nine Articles of the 
 English Church. But in the fourth century this 
 spiritual idea of God had begun to yield to an 
 anthropomorphism which conceived of Deity as exist- 
 ing in bodily form. The change was silent and un- 
 perceived, accomplished without discussion, and only 
 acknowledged after the transition had been made. 
 In the earlier Church there was also sacrifice and 
 offering, but it was what we call a spiritual offering, 
 the sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving, and the 
 grateful consecration of one's self, after the likeness 
 of the offering of Christ once for all. It was there- 
 fore a momentous change from a spiritual sacrifice 
 to a physical or material one. From the higher 
 point of view, it is incongruous to offer to Deity the 
 
52 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 physical or material sacrifice, because the whole 
 world is His, and He needs none of these things. 
 There is only one thing which God has not and 
 desires to have, — the grateful love of His chil- 
 dren, manifested in obedience to His will. In His 
 mysterious economy, He has left men free to make 
 this offering or not as they choose, while using His 
 love and His power to persuade their choice. This 
 offering of the consecrated will is seen and known 
 to spirit alone. " Speak thou to Him, for He hears 
 thee, and spirit with spirit may meet." 
 
 The introduction into the worship of what is 
 called the "higher oblation," as the supreme act 
 of Christian devotion, was accompanied with a 
 change in the popular thought regarding God, of 
 which, however, the traces are slight in the litera- 
 ture of the time. And yet no such change can be 
 accomplished without some external evidence, and 
 somewhere, if we look, we shall find the conscious- 
 ness of an impending transition. In Christian his- 
 tory, it is those insignificant controversies, as they 
 seem to us, which are obscure or scandalous, and do 
 not seem as if they would repay our laborious inves- 
 tigation, which may be the turning-points on which 
 hinge momentous results. 
 
 There was one such controversy in the latter part 
 of the fourth century, not far from the time when 
 this liturgy on which I am commenting was pro- 
 duced. It is known as the Origenistic controversy, 
 and was felt in Alexandria and Constantinople, 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 53 
 
 Antioch and Jerusalem, those centres of church life, 
 for each of which was afterwards claimed a liturgical 
 interest and activity. I will not stop to describe it ; 
 one remark will answer my purpose. The contro- 
 versy began with a complaint of the monks in Egypt 
 against Origen, because he had written in his books 
 that the Father did not see the Son, or the Son the 
 Father, as with bodily vision. In other words, the 
 communion of the Father and the Son was a spiritual 
 fellowship. To this teaching, which had been 
 almost universal in the Church of the first three 
 centuries, some of the Egyptian monks now made 
 opposition, raising the cry of the woman at the 
 empty sepulchre, " They have taken away my Lord, 
 and I know not where they have laid Him." Such 
 was the beginning of the movement which finally 
 ended in the condemnation of Origen and the dis- 
 couragement of free inquiry in theology. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Again, there is to be noticed in this Clementine 
 liturgy an increase in what may be called ceremo- 
 nialism, as when the ministrant is directed to put 
 on his shining garment in order to stand before the 
 altar for the oblation. When compared with later 
 liturgies, the amount of ceremony is yet small and 
 rubrical directions are few. But compared with the 
 simplicity of worship of the earlier Church, there 
 
54 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 has been a great change in this respect, which also 
 marks the introduction of a new motive, controlling 
 the development of the cultus. We shall not find 
 any discussion over this motive in Christian litera- 
 ture, as there was over the theological opinions of 
 the time; it was a silent change, tacitly accepted 
 without being formally announced ; it seemed fitting 
 and proper that there should be an increase of form 
 or ceremonial ; it was not imposed by the authority 
 of councils, but it spread rapidly from church to 
 church, till it became universal. And yet again it 
 would be strange if somewhere in the literature of 
 the time some writer had not stated the principle 
 which explained the motive of ceremonial, and 
 attempted its defence and justification. There is a 
 passage in the writings of Gregory of Nyssa to which 
 I call your attention as being profoundly significant 
 for the history of ritual development. He lived in 
 the latter part of the fourth century, and was nearly 
 if not quite contemporaneous with the production of 
 the Clementine liturgy. He was a Cappadocian by 
 birth, which means that he shared in the Oriental 
 temperament to a certain extent, and although he 
 had received the benefits of Greek training in the 
 schools of Athens, and was a disciple of Athanasius, 
 yet he had another element in his composition, and 
 never escaped the sensuousness of Oriental influence. 
 In his treatise on the Holy Spirit, Gregory of Nyssa 
 writes as follows : — 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 55 
 
 " Inasmuch, as men when approaching emperors and 
 potentates for the objects which they wish in some way to 
 obtain from those rulers, do not bring to them their mere 
 petition only, but employ every possible means to induce 
 them to feel pity and favor towards themselves, adopting 
 a humble voice and a kneeling position, clasping their 
 knees, prostrating themselves on the ground, and putting 
 forward to plead for their petition all sorts of pathetic 
 signs to wake that pity, so it is that those who recognize 
 the true Potentate, by whom all things in existence are 
 controlled, when they are supplicating for that which 
 they have at heart, some lowly in spirit because of piti- 
 able conditions in this world, some with their thoughts 
 lifted up because of their eternal mysterious hopes, seeing 
 that they know not how to ask and that their humanity is 
 not capable of displaying any reverence that can reach 
 to the grandeur of that glory, they carry the ceremonial 
 used in the case of men into the service of the Deity. 
 And this is what worship is, that worship I mean which is 
 offered for objects we have at heart along with supplica- 
 tion and humiliation." 
 
 Comment upon this passage is hardly necessary. 
 The anthropomorphic conception of God is here seen 
 as tending toward the acceptance of the Roman 
 emperor, after he had assumed the arbitrary char- 
 acter of an Oriental despot, as the standard by which 
 to adjust the formal manner of approaching God. 
 The etiquette of an imperial court determines the 
 external aspect of Christian worship. Since Deity 
 is conceived as holding a reception on earth, there 
 
56 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 must be the same splendor of surroundings, the same 
 regulations of attitude on the part of those who 
 approach, while officials who represent or guard his 
 presence must be clothed with becoming splendor in 
 order to represent the dignity of the monarch dwell- 
 ing in some remoter grandeur ; whose secret, glorious 
 shrine so intimidates and awes the worshipper that 
 he loses his power of utterance, and must be content 
 with the physical signs of abject humility and desti- 
 tution. There may have been an educational influ- 
 ence in such a dramatization of piety towards God, 
 and it was something after all that human souls, 
 shut out from the vision or sympathy of the earthly 
 king, were still able at their will to enter the pres- 
 ence of the King of kings. It may have done some- 
 thing also to check the exercise of arbitrary power in 
 the earthly sovereign, at a time when there was no 
 other check, that he should be represented in Chris- 
 tian worship as dwarfed by the majesty of the Eternal 
 Potentate. But one also recalls the words of Christ : 
 " I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for 
 you, for the Father Himself loveth you." When the 
 disciples asked how they were to pray, the answer 
 was given, " When ye pray, say, Our Father. " 
 It was the heathens who thought to be heard by 
 much speaking. But in the dramatization of the 
 soul's relations with God, there is a danger of for- 
 mality hardly compatible with the worship which is 
 in spirit and in truth. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 57 
 
 IV 
 
 There is one other peculiarity about the Clemen- 
 tine liturgy which is so important as to demand our 
 special attention. The subject with which it is 
 related is difficult and obscure, leading us to a field 
 of inquiry which has not yet been thoroughly 
 explored. 
 
 It is a prominent feature of this liturgy that not 
 only in the eucharistic prayer given in the eighth 
 book of the Apostolic Constitutions, but also found 
 in the liturgical sketch given in the seventh book, 
 there is an emphatic and beautiful commemoration of 
 nature, external nature and this visible world. The 
 story of the creation is rehearsed in detail, and the 
 beauty of the kosmos is ackowledged in eloquent lan- 
 guage. God is praised for having beautified the 
 world, and for our comfort rendered it illustrious 
 with sun and moon and choir of stars which forever 
 praise His glorious majesty. The water is commem- 
 orated also for drink and for cleansing, the air for 
 respiration and for sound, the fire for our consola- 
 tion in cold and darkness, the navigable ocean, and 
 the land with the animal creation, the sweet- 
 smelling and healing herbs, the fruits of the earth, 
 the order of the seasons, the courses of the clouds, 
 and the winds which blow when commanded by God. 
 For all these things praise is given to Him in the 
 eucharistic prayer, as though it formed an indispen- 
 
58 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 sable element in worship to acknowledge the beauty, 
 the glory, and especially the goodness of the visible 
 world of external nature. 
 
 The commemoration of external nature forms a 
 part of every Eastern liturgy. Cyril of Jerusalem, 
 who lived in the later part of the fourth century, 
 speaks of it as if an indispensable element to a 
 true eucharist. After the Anaphora, as it is called, 
 with which the divine office begins, Cyril remarks 
 that the next step is to commemorate the creation: 
 " TVe make mention of heaven and earth and sea ; of 
 sun and moon ; of stars, and all the creation rational 
 and irrational, visible and invisible." So also 
 Dionysius the Areopagite, who lived at the close of 
 the fifth century, in his outline of the eucharistic 
 office, makes the Hierarch celebrate the works of 
 God before proceeding to consecrate the divine gifts. 
 In the words of Dionysius, or attributed to him : — 
 
 "The commemoration of Thy gifts, O Lord, exceeds 
 the power of mind or speech or thought ; nor can human 
 lips or minds glorify Thee as Thou art worthy to be 
 praised. For by Thy word the heavens were made, and 
 by the breath of Thy mouth all the supernal powers, all 
 the lights which are in the firmament, sun and moon, the 
 sea and the dry land, and whatever in them is. Things 
 which have no voice by their silence, and those endowed 
 with speech, praise Thee perpetually through word and 
 song, because Thou art by nature good, and in Thy 
 incomprehensible essence above all praise. This visible 
 creation related to the senses praises Thee, Lord, as 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 59 
 
 well as that higher intellectual world above the conditions 
 of sensuous perception. Heaven and earth glorify 
 Thee ; sea and air proclaim Thee ; the sun in his course 
 praises Thee ; the moon in its changes venerates Thee. 
 Troops of archangels and hosts of angels, powers elevated 
 above the world and above all human faculty, send their 
 benedictions to Thy throne, — sweet songs and pure, free 
 from all earthly strain ; joining all in one eternal hymn of 
 praise, — ' Holy, Holy, Holy.' " 
 
 Such was the way in which the Oriental Church 
 met and satisfied the deep unquenchable instinct 
 which in earlier ages had given birth to the nature- 
 religions, and had generated the worship of sun and 
 moon and stars. This worship the Church pro- 
 hibited and overcame, resisting the fascination which 
 it exerted. How deep and potent its charm for the 
 Oriental mind is seen in the patriarch Job's cry for 
 forgiveness, if ever he had been tempted to kiss his 
 hand to the moon riding in her beauty. 
 
 But the commemoration of nature is not to be found 
 in the Latin or Western liturgies, nor in the Sarum 
 Use in England. While it is a most characteristic 
 feature of Oriental liturgies, its absence from Occi- 
 dental worship is also deeply characteristic of the 
 Western civilization. The Western world has never 
 felt the charm of nature as it has been felt in the 
 East. Rather has it been called to resist and con- 
 quer nature, to subdue the powers of nature to the 
 will and service of man. According to the Oriental 
 interpretation of the miracle, it is wrought by sym- 
 
60 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 pathy with nature; according to the Occidental in- 
 terpretation, the miracle is essentially a violation of 
 the laws of nature, wherein lies its influence upon 
 the elevation of human life and the development of 
 personality. 
 
 It should be said, however, that the Latin Church 
 has found a place, though a subordinate one, for the 
 recognition of this view of nature, by incorporating 
 in the Breviary the Benedicite, or the Song of the 
 Three Children, which begins with the words, u O 
 all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise 
 Him and magnify Him forever." The English 
 church also adopted the Benedicite as one of the 
 Canticles in the office of Morning Prayer; retaining 
 it there despite the objections of the Puritans, who 
 requested that some Psalm or Scripture hymn be 
 substituted for it. It is possible that the Puritan 
 dislike of the Benedicite had some deeper root 
 than the circumstance of its being taken from the 
 Apocrypha. 
 
 But there is a further aspect of this subject to 
 which we must now turn. It is in the environment 
 of the Oriental Church that we must seek the expla- 
 nation of its emphatic insistence upon the natural 
 order as good, and as if alive and choral with the 
 worship of God. Much more than in Western 
 Europe had the influence been felt there of the great 
 nature religions which prevailed till the coming of 
 Christ. In Syria and in Egypt more particularly 
 was the Catholic Church confronted with both the 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 61 
 
 principle and the practice. If these worships had 
 seemed to decline, yet there came to them a revival 
 in the second century, when missionaries and priest- 
 esses of Isis, or of the Syrian mother, went forth 
 throughout the empire to propagate their ancient 
 cults. We know that they became popular, that 
 they were eagerly received, the mysteries of Mithras 
 in particular finding many and ardent votaries. 
 
 This missionary movement on the part of the old 
 nature religions came at the close of a long regime, 
 which Plato had initiated when he taught that 
 matter was evil, that man was superior to nature, 
 and had called man to the knowledge of himself as 
 his highest study. Plato had no taste for the old 
 mythologies which deified the forces of nature, but 
 rather regarded them as immoral. Socrates had 
 been put to death because he no longer believed in 
 them. When Christianity came into the world, it 
 almost seemed as if the nature worships were dead 
 or dying. Nature no longer appealed to man as in- 
 stinct with a divine life, or as worthy of worship. 
 On the contrary, the Gnostics of the second century 
 in their speculative systems denounced the natural 
 order as evil, as unworthy of creation by God. They 
 regarded it rather as the work of some evil or in- 
 competent being, who was called the world-maker as 
 distinct from the true and highest God. When the 
 nature religions began to revive and reassert their 
 old charm in the second century, Christian apolo- 
 gists had attacked them with all the power of satire 
 
62 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 and ridicule at their command. It is not impossi- 
 ble that Tertullian, before he entered the Catholic 
 Church, may have been influenced by their teaching ; 
 and the same may be true of Justin Martyr, though 
 in less degree. But even though Tertullian fought 
 the nature worships with bitterness and vehemence, 
 he also retained, even as a Montanist, traces of their 
 inherent principle in his thought. In his doctrine 
 of the magical efficacy of water and its latent spirit- 
 ual potency, in his insistence on the sacredness of the 
 flesh and the eternal permanence of the human form, 
 in his doctrine of the spiritual efficacy of physical 
 acts, may be seen the ancient conception of the rela- 
 tion between body and soul, between the material 
 and the spiritual, which prevailed before Plato 
 arose. 
 
 It was in the fourth century, in the latter part of 
 the fourth century, the age of the Cappadocians and 
 of Cyril of Alexandria, that an influence born of the 
 reverence for physical nature began to tell most 
 powerfully upon Christian thought and practice. 
 This was also the age when the principles were 
 reached which were to mould the worship of the 
 Catholic Church. The line which divides Athanasius 
 and the Nicene theology from the later theology, 
 which came into vogue in the Oriental Church, is 
 profoundly significant. Athanasius was the culmi- 
 nation of the Anti -Nicene age, not the founder of a 
 new theology. We shall not understand the history 
 of the ancient Church until we make the distinction 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 63 
 
 sharp and clear that Athanasius belongs to the 
 school of Origen, whatever departures from his 
 teaching he may have made, while Cyril of Alexan- 
 dria is the antagonist of the Origenistic principles, 
 and helped prepare the way for his further condem- 
 nation. Cyril introduced into theology a physical 
 material principle, by which the distinction between 
 spirit and body was weakened and neutralized. He 
 was seeking for some law by which the world of 
 matter should be brought into organic relationship 
 with spirit, by which matter and spirit should be 
 fused into some higher form of organic life, by 
 which matter should minister to the spiritual life. 
 When this tendency came to prevail, as it did after 
 the fifth century, is it any wonder that Origen should 
 have again become the type and embodiment of all 
 that was most false or obnoxious ! Origen, it must 
 be admitted, had gone too far; he had come very 
 near conceding that the natural order was evil ; he 
 saw evil in external nature, and he drew the infer- 
 ence that man was placed in this world to expiate the 
 sins of a former existence, that the human body was 
 a prison-house in which the soul was confined. 
 
 It is outside of my province to attempt to show 
 how this new motive, originating in an Oriental 
 source, modified Christian doctrine. Hitherto the 
 leading direction in theology had been the Pla- 
 tonic Philosophy. Now it became an Egyptian 
 mysteriosophy, which, combined with kindred tend- 
 encies in the remoter Syria of the East, and 
 
64 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 planting itself upon a modified conception of the 
 Incarnation, developed into the Oriental theology 
 which commingles nature and spirit in organic 
 fashion, and found its expression in Oriental wor- 
 ship. It is only with the latter that I am here 
 concerned. 
 
 The recovery of the truth which had been endan- 
 gered in the Church of the first three centuries, that 
 the "world is good," that there is a divine life in 
 nature, and that the natural order has been ordained 
 for the service of man by a beneficent Creator, marks 
 the greatest movement in the history of ritual devel- 
 opment. But this remark refers mainly to the East- 
 ern Church. The Latin Church in the West did 
 not feel its influence until a later age, when it was 
 too late for its incorporation into the Latin Mass. 
 In the Eastern Church it was not only introduced 
 into the liturgies, but it gave rise to a peculiar reli- 
 gious philosophy or theosophy, which pervaded every 
 part of the cultus, and gave to it unity and coher- 
 ence. So profoundly has the Eastern Church been 
 influenced by this new motive, springing from the 
 conviction that the natural order is good, and that 
 of this order humanity forms a constituent part, that 
 it rapidly became oblivious of the literature and life 
 of the Church of the first three centuries, as if it 
 were almost a barren and empty world. It was as 
 if the Church began a new career in the fourth cen- 
 tury with Basil of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem, Cyril 
 of Alexandria. In the Russian Church to-day, it 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 65 
 
 was true only a few years ago. there was no transla- 
 tion of any church father earlier than St. Basil. 
 Origen has been dismissed and forgotten as an evil 
 dream, even Athanasius is not so great a name as his 
 successor Cyril of Alexandria, and no influence has 
 been greater than that of Cyril of Jerusalem. 
 
 It was indeed an important gain for the cause of 
 truth when the conviction of the sacredness of the 
 natural order was achieved. For the foundation of 
 revealed theology must be laid deep in natural the- 
 ology. If the world were to be regarded as evil, it 
 would not have been very long before faith in the 
 goodness of God would have perished. Humanity is 
 too weak to sustain its hope, when it cannot see the 
 love of the eternal Father revealed in the visible 
 creation. In the age, however, when this conviction 
 began to prevail, that the world is good and closely 
 related to the spiritual life, there was no longer any 
 scientific study of nature. What the Catholic 
 Church from the fourth century knew about nature 
 may be seen in a little treatise of St. Basil, called 
 the "Hexameron," which was widely read, and which 
 contained a comment on the six days of the creation. 
 It may be contrasted with Origen's allegorical treat- 
 ment of the first chapter of Genesis, where facts are 
 submerged in ideas, and where his obnoxious con- 
 ception of the body as a prison-house of the soul was 
 unfortunately advanced. 
 
66 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 But now there were grave dangers connected with 
 this doctrine of the divine life in nature, which were 
 not slow in appearing. There was danger of a 
 relapse into the earlier Greek attitude before Socrates, 
 when man was conceived as part of the natural 
 order, when there was no consciousness of person- 
 ality as higher than nature, — the blissful uncon- 
 sciousness, as it has been called, of that antagonism 
 between man and natural law, out of which there 
 has grown up in Western Christendom the higher 
 civilization. 
 
 The doctrine of the Divine immanence was also in 
 danger of a one-sided perversion. In the earlier 
 Church the divine mind had been regarded as imma- 
 nent in the human reason. But that conception was 
 now yielding to the idea that the divine immanence 
 was chiefly to be sought in the physical or natural 
 order. The great bishop Theodore of Mopsuestia 
 contended for the divine immanence in the conscience 
 as that faculty of the soul where the human and 
 divine most closely intermingled; but his teaching 
 was of no avail. When we study the writings of 
 Gregory of Nyssa or of Dionysius the Areopagite, 
 whose thought is saturated with idea of the divine 
 immanence, both of whom profoundly influenced the 
 development of the cultus, it is an indwelling of the 
 Deity in the physical order upon which the stress is 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 67 
 
 laid rather than in the reason or the conscience. 
 There was danger, therefore, that the Christian cul- 
 tus would come to resemble the ancient Greek Mys- 
 teries, of which Aristotle had said " that their object 
 was not to teach anything, but to produce an impres- 
 sion on the religious feelings and imagination. " 
 
 The conviction of the sacredness of external nature 
 which filled the Eastern Church in the latter part of 
 the fourth century with a new enthusiasm, gave rise 
 to the necessity for seeking some organic tie between 
 the spiritual life in man and the latent potentiality 
 of matter. The tendency was now to connect most 
 closely body and soul, matter and spirit, natural and 
 spiritual law. Already the germs were at hand for 
 development in the cultus, in the symbol of water in 
 baptism, the chrism in confirmation, the laying on 
 of hands in ordination, and above all, the elements 
 of bread and wine in the Eucharist. Cyril of Alex- 
 andria announced the principle of transmutation, 
 transelementation, or transubstantiation, by which 
 matter passes over into spiritual force, when, in 
 speaking of the water of baptism, he declared that 
 " by the power of the Holy Ghost the water perceived 
 by the senses is metamorphosed into a certain divine 
 and ineffable power. " Cyril of Jerusalem and Gregory 
 of Nyssa speak in a similar way of the action of the 
 Holy Spirit upon the elements of bread and wine, by 
 which they are metamorphosed into the body and the 
 blood of Christ. The passage of Scripture upon 
 which they chiefly rested in making the Holy Ghost 
 
68 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the bond of unity between the physical and the spirit- 
 ual, was found in the Mosaic account of the crea- 
 tion, where the Spirit of God is said to have brooded 
 upon the face of the waters. Those words became 
 almost the locus classicus in defending or expounding 
 the sacramental mysteries. This word Mysteries, by 
 which the Eastern Church designated the sacraments, 
 may then be defined as a conjunction of the physical 
 with the spiritual, operated by the action of the Holy 
 Ghost. In every Greek liturgy the invocation of the 
 Holy Ghost becomes the essential condition for the 
 transmutation of the physical elements of bread and 
 wine into food for the immortal soul. I can only 
 here allude to the circumstance that this invocation 
 of the Holy Ghost is wanting in the Roman liturgy. 
 It has not merely dropped out ; it never was there. 
 In the Latin Mass, it is the enumeration of the words 
 of Institution by the priestly ministrant that accom- 
 plishes the transmutation. From the point of view 
 of the Greek Church, if it were strictly construed, 
 the Roman sacrament of the altar is lacking in an 
 element which is vital and indispensable. 
 
 This nature philosophy, which began to prevail in 
 the latter part of the fourth century, found its 
 strongest illustration and support in the doctrine 
 of the Incarnation, which was strongly advocated by 
 Cyril of Alexandria. In the thought of Cyril, the 
 deepest importance attached to the body of Christ, as 
 if therein were a common meeting-place of nature 
 and spirit, as though the body of Christ were endowed 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 69 
 
 with spiritual and supernatural power. Hence the 
 essence of the Incarnation now came to be identi- 
 fied with the act of the miraculous conception of 
 Christ, as if God and nature found their supreme 
 point of conjunction in the womb of the Virgin, in 
 order to the accomplishment of the transcendent 
 work of divine revelation. An act of such supreme 
 significance in itself, whose principle also covered 
 the whole range of mysteriosophy, necessarily found 
 recognition in the ritual, where the Virgin Mother 
 was associated with its most solemn moment, — the 
 time of the oblation, — as if her commemoration 
 formed an integral part in the right performance of 
 the mystery of the altar. The earlier view of the 
 Incarnation, while accepting the miraculous birth as 
 its unique initiation, had placed the emphasis, how- 
 ever, in the mind and teaching, the character and 
 the life of Christ, as reflecting the inmost life of 
 God. But from the end of the fourth century it was 
 the body of Christ, rather than the spirit of Christ, 
 which elicited the popular reverence; it was the 
 sacrifice of the body, rather than of the will, which 
 constituted the highest feature of divine atoning 
 love. Along with this estimate of the body of Christ 
 came the worship also of the bodies of the saints and 
 martyrs, till in the adoration of physical relics, 
 whether of Christ or Mary or the saints, the fervors 
 of Christian devotion found their most intense and 
 rapt expression. 
 
70 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Yl 
 
 I have now only a moment left in which to allude 
 to that strange mysterious personality who once 
 tabernacled in the flesh, as we must believe, but 
 concerning whom we know little more. The prepa- 
 ration for ritual development seemed to have been 
 completed when Dionysius the Areopagite appeared, 
 — a most profound religious thinker, a most beautiful 
 spirit, whose soul was alive with love toward higher 
 things, and burning with the flames of devotion, a 
 man without a country, without beginning or end of 
 days, the essence of whose being was so identified 
 with his thought that all except his thought has per- 
 ished. The first allusion to his books was made in 
 the year 533, from which it is inferred that his time 
 was the latter part of the fifth century. In his writ- 
 ings, the nature philosophy found fuller expression 
 and a beautiful exposition. He brought together the 
 teaching of the ancient Neoplatonism, modified as 
 it had been by Egyptian influence and the purest 
 Christian feeling. At the moment of the decline of 
 the old civilization, he lighted up the gloom of the 
 closing day with an unearthly light, which softened 
 its dark and evil memories with its subdued reflec- 
 tion. He dwelt mainly on the good in the world and 
 in man. In human sinfulness he saw mainly a 
 weakness which attracted the divine compassion. 
 He looked upon this world as some dim reflection, 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 71 
 
 some feeble reproduction of a higher and more beau- 
 tiful world, anticipating Swedenborg in his doctrine 
 of a correspondence between things natural and 
 supernatural, earthly and heavenly, human and 
 divine. He dwelt much upon angels and archangels, 
 and all the hosts of heaven, constituting them into a 
 hierarchy of which the earthly hierarchy, its minis- 
 trants and its sacraments, was but a continuation, a 
 ladder as it were let down from heaven, on which 
 angels were ascending and descending. Physical 
 objects became religious symbols, because they were 
 a divinely given alphabet for spelling out eternal 
 realities. A supernatural coloring was in conse- 
 quence thrown about the ritual, so that every slight- 
 est act became significant of some spiritual meaning. 
 Under his magic touch a new impulse was given to 
 ritual development, the extent of which or the depth 
 of which in the East and in the West can hardly be 
 exaggerated. 
 
 It is difficult to estimate the exact nature of this 
 influence, but, at least, it was of a twofold kind, 
 one aspect of which neutralized or negatived the 
 other. He seems at times so to identify the symbol 
 with the thing signified, after the cruder fashion of 
 an earlier age, that the symbol appears to become 
 in itself an indispensable agency for man's salvation. 
 But he also held that while God revealed Himself 
 through the external sign, yet there was also in the 
 symbol a concealment, as if by a veil, of his glory 
 and his power. 
 
72 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Dionysius also seems to have had an exoteric faith 
 in harmony with the Catholic Church, which was 
 expressed in symbol and ritual for the common 
 people, while for the clergy, the monks and enlight- 
 ened souls, there was reserved a more direct approach 
 to God, which no longer depended upon material 
 media. In the description which he has left us of 
 the ritual of the altar, as performed in his time and 
 possibly by himself, there is little change or advance 
 as compared with the order of the Clementine liturgy, 
 beyond the introduction of the incense : — 
 
 " The hierarcli having finished his prayer by the altar, 
 begins by incensing it, and then makes the circuit of the 
 holy building. Returning to the altar he begins to chant 
 the psalms, all the ecclesiastical orders joining with him 
 in the sacred psalmody. After this, the lesson from 
 Holy Scripture is read by the minister ; and when it is 
 ended, the Catechumens, together with the penitents and 
 those possessed, are ordered to depart from the sacred 
 enclosure, those only remaining who are worthy of the 
 sight and the communion of the sacred mysteries. Of the 
 lower ranks of the ministry, some are standing near the 
 closed doors of the sanctuary, while others perform some 
 functions pertaining to their order. Those who hold the 
 highest place among the deacons (leitourgoi) assist the 
 priests in bringing to the altar the sacred bread and the 
 cup of blessing, chanting at the same time, together with 
 the whole assembly, the universal hymn of praise. Then 
 the divine hierarch completes the sacred prayers and 
 announces to all the peace ; and when they have made the 
 mutual salutation, then follows the mystic recital of the 
 
PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN LITURGIES 73 
 
 names inscribed in the holy diptycha. The hierarch and 
 priests having washed their hands, the hierarch stands at 
 the middle of the holy altar surrounded by those chosen 
 from among the deacons, together with the priests. After 
 the hierarch has celebrated the marvellous works of God, 
 he consecrates the divine mysteries, and offers to the 
 view the things celebrated beneath the symbols reverently 
 exhibited. When he has thus exposed to view the gifts 
 of divine power, he partakes of the communion himself 
 and then invites the others ; and when he has received 
 and given to others the divine communion, he closes with 
 a sacred act of thanksgiving. But while the common 
 people have seen the mysteries under the veil of the 
 symbol, he himself is led, always by the Holy Spirit, 
 through spiritual contemplation, and as becomes a 
 hierarch, to the intellectual types of the ceremonial in 
 their original purity." 
 
 The chief significance of this account lies, as I 
 think, in its closing words, which are strangely pro- 
 phetic, as if he were writing better than he knew. 
 Wherever his influence was felt, it carried with it a 
 double tendency ; it led to increased devotion toward 
 ritual observance, and it also relaxed the tie which 
 bound the soul in bondage to the material symbol. 
 It affected Thomas Aquinas and all the scholastic 
 theologians of his age, giving also to the worship of 
 the Latin Church a charm which it could never have 
 originated. But it also inspired a Dante, and the 
 mystic reformers who prepared the way for the 
 Reformation, for the restoration of that spiritual 
 
74 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 worship which is now the common heritage and not 
 the possession of a few, — a worship in which we are 
 taught that even now we know God and see Him as 
 He is, by means of faith, while yet we wait for a 
 perfect fruition and bliss in the glory to be revealed. 
 From this point of view the ritual of the ancient 
 Church carried in it the seeds of its dissolution. It 
 was rejected by the Protestant churches, but not 
 until all that it contained of beautiful or good or 
 true had been taken up by other agencies with richer 
 and more ample possibilities of development. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE GREEK LITURGIES 
 
 By the Rev. EGBERT C. &MYTH, D.D. 
 
 Professor of Church History, Andover Theological Seminary, 
 Andover, Mass. 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 
 
 THE phrase " Greek liturgies,'' by which the 
 topic on which I am asked to speak to you 
 has been expressed, can be variously understood. 
 It may apply to the rites of the Greek or Oriental 
 Church, including not merely present uses but forms 
 or types which have been earlier observed by churches 
 now in its communion ; or it may cover all liturgies 
 written in Greek ; or it may designate Eastern lit- 
 urgies as distinguished from Western, inclusive of 
 those which exist in other languages than the Greek, 
 in so far as these are regarded as versions or deriva- 
 tives, or as marked by Greek characteristics. 
 
 The attempt would be inadmissible, within the 
 limits of this address, to notice individually the 
 various distinguishable Greek liturgies, and wholly 
 impracticable to include those in other languages 
 more or less closely connected with them. I could 
 present little more than what, in the present condi- 
 tion of liturgical investigation, must be at best an 
 imperfect enumeration, and one that would leave 
 only a confused impression. My aim will be a prac- 
 tical one, — the suggestion of a method of study, and 
 
78 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 of some incentives to it. For that acquaintance with 
 the ancient rites which it is desirable that all whose 
 office it is to conduct public worship should secure, 
 and for that personal benefit which familiarity with 
 them may bring in many ways and in rich meas- 
 ures, it is best to concentrate attention upon the 
 great liturgies — first upon the liturgy of St. James, 
 then upon that of St. Mark, then on the Byzantine 
 rite (the so-called liturgy of St. Chrysostom, with 
 that of St. Basil), in use to-day in many languages, 
 and especially interesting because of this relation to 
 the religious thought and life of so very great a 
 number of disciples of our common Lord. If one 
 desires to go further, he will naturally connect with 
 the Syrian and Byzantine rites the Armenian lit- 
 urgy, and with the Alexandrian the Coptic and 
 Abyssinian. He will include also the Persian or 
 Nestorian rite, and finally the Mozarabic and Gallican 
 liturgies. In all this range of study the acquaintance 
 of which I am now speaking will be with the accepted 
 texts, if not in the originals (which for most of us, in 
 several instances, would be, perhaps, impracticable), at 
 any rate through such scholarly translations as are 
 now available. This amount of reading could be 
 done by every minister in his preparatory courses. 
 And, if nothing more were attempted, important ad- 
 vantages would be gained. But something more, 
 even from a purely practical point of view, is desir- 
 able, may I not say incumbent. 
 
 If I may speak from my own experience, the mere 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 79 
 
 reading of the leading liturgies, those which are 
 translated, for instance, into English in a volume of 
 the Ante-Nicene Library, whether in this rendering 
 or in the original, leaves upon the mind, with a 
 measure of enrichment and stimulus, an almost pain- 
 ful sense of a lack of clear and definite distinction 
 and division, of order, proportion, and progress. We 
 find ourselves in a strange land; the tones and 
 accents we catch are unfamiliar. All this, apart 
 from much that may be positively offensive from its 
 apparent formalism, or its tendency to superstition, or, 
 its affinity with a magical interpretation of the spirit- 
 ual and holy sacraments of our faith, or from the 
 presence of corruptions of the truth and simplicity of 
 the gospel. 
 
 For the best use, therefore, — and this because neces- 
 sary to their true understanding, — for the best use of 
 these developed, aggregated, compounded, and changed 
 liturgies, these composites of many rites and many 
 successions of religious conception and life, we 
 need pre-eminently to study them by a right method. 
 This means that we must deal with them as historical 
 formations. Such a study is, in many respects, at 
 present beyond the pursuit of any but special litur- 
 gical scholars. It is not yet brought up to the 
 standards and requirements of modern historical 
 scholarship. The criticism of texts, for instance, — 
 their collection, publication, even their examination 
 and collation, — demands much patient labor beyond 
 that already expended. Liturgies is, it may fairly be 
 
80 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 said, and with very high appreciation of what has 
 been achieved, — without this we should not have 
 even the urgent pressure of a sense of our ignorance, 
 — liturgies is, at present, the least developed de- 
 partment of theological science. So much especially 
 needs to be done in order to the understanding of the 
 genesis and growth of liturgies, that a complete or 
 thorough scholarly discussion of tliem is not yet 
 possible. Yet we may not let the best be the enemy 
 of the good. We may, by a simple and practicable 
 method, gain very much light upon the structure of 
 these liturgies, and obtain some true insight into 
 their significance and value. For such a fruitful 
 study the revision of Mr. Hammond's helpful volume 
 on " Eastern and Western Liturgies," now in course 
 of publication by Mr. Brightman, of Oxford, through 
 the Clarendon Press, is an invaluable aid. The first 
 volume, the only one yet published, is limited to 
 Eastern liturgies, and is confined to texts and biblio- 
 graphical and other critical aids. It may be hoped 
 that in the second volume the author will be able to 
 make some systematic presentation of the genesis and 
 literary dependence and inter-relations of the liturgies 
 which he has classified in groups or families. 
 
 What, as already stated, I will now attempt, and 
 this only tentatively and provisionally, is the sugges- 
 tion of a method of approach to the greater liturgies, 
 serviceable to their understanding and personal use ; 
 and then, so far as time permits, the presentation of 
 some remarks on their value. 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 81 
 
 The earliest account which has come down to us of 
 an order of worship is from Justin Martyr, writing 
 about the middle of the second century. 
 
 I notice this testimony, and one which will follow, 
 for their peculiar helpfulness to an understanding of 
 the later developments. The simpler uses guide us 
 when we come to the more complex. This advantage 
 will excuse, I trust, my recalling what may already 
 have been considered in the preceding lecture (of 
 which I have seen no report), or which may be other- 
 wise quite familiar. 
 
 Justin's account implies distinct services, or com- 
 posite parts of one service. In one chapter of his 
 first " Apology " he describes the baptismal rite. In 
 another, the usual order of worship at the Sunday 
 gatherings. Each of these is followed by the com- 
 munion. We see here quite distinctly defined the 
 later distinction between what is called the Anaphora, 
 or Holy Communion, and the Proanaphoral or ante- 
 cedent part. We have a suggestion also of what 
 appears, from Cyril's " Catecheses," to have been the 
 practice in Jerusalem two centuries later, namely, 
 the substitution, under appropriate conditions, of the 
 baptismal service for the ordinary more didactic 
 observance which preceded the communion. 
 
 The essential parts of each order are substantially 
 indicated. The baptismal portion is least described, 
 noticeably so when compared with a representation 
 half a century later. We observe, however, the two 
 actions described in this subsequent account, — the 
 
 6 
 
82 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ceremony at the water, or the administration of the 
 rite, and the bringing of the baptized into the church 
 or place of assembly, to join in the prayers of the 
 brotherhood and in the communion. 
 
 Turning our attention to the other and ordinary 
 Sunday service, including the eucharistic, we find 
 this order : 
 
 1. The reading of Scripture, specified as " the 
 memoirs of the Apostles, or the writings of the 
 prophets." This continued as long as time permitted. 
 
 2. Instruction and exhortation by the 7rpoea-Ta>?, or 
 president. 
 
 3. Prayers. This included intercession for all the 
 assembled " brethren," and " for all others in every 
 place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we 
 have learned the truth, by our works also to be found 
 good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so 
 that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation." 
 
 These prayers are described as earnest or intense. 
 They were marked with power. They were offered 
 not only at the ordinary Sunday morning service, 
 but in connection with the baptismal, and contained 
 distinct petitions for those now to participate in their 
 first communion. 
 
 Probably the prayers already included the igofioXo- 
 7^o-t?, or confession of sin, which became a perma- 
 nent part of the Proanaphoral. 
 
 They are characterized as " common prayers." 
 The phrase does not require the supposition of 
 written or wholly fixed formulas. Yet this portion 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 83 
 
 of the service would naturally be early elaborated, 
 though without uniformity. One of the richest and 
 most instructive portions of later liturgies is the so- 
 called bidding-prayers. The ancient Church was an 
 interceding church. 
 
 4. The kiss of peace. " Having ended the prayers, 
 we salute one another with a kiss." This " seal 
 of prayer," as Tertullian calls it, this sign of mu- 
 tual forgiveness, peace, and unity, is recognized in 
 all ancient liturgies, Western as well as Eastern. 
 Its literal observance has now generally disappeared. 
 It survives, however, in symbolic forms, and still 
 more impressively in the injunctions, exhortations, 
 and prayers belonging to all developed or even 
 thoughtful communion services, whether written or 
 unwritten, which emphasize forgiveness, mutual 
 charity, brotherly love, as the indispensable pre- 
 requisites of fellowship with Him who is our peace, 
 and its giver, and who has left to his disciples his 
 repeated, emphasized, and sacred commandment that 
 they love one another. 
 
 The position of the sign of this love in Justin's 
 account of the early order is noticeable. It belongs 
 to the Proanaphora, or at least to the portion of the 
 service which precedes the communion. This, sub- 
 stantially, is the place assigned it in the earliest 
 Western forms, as well as in all the Eastern. It is 
 so in the Gallican liturgy and in the Mozarabic, — the 
 latter, I may be permitted to say in passing, one of 
 the richest of all. In the existi ug Koman order, 
 
84 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 in other closely related Western forms of perhaps the 
 fifth or subsequent centuries, its position is later in 
 the service, being a part of the portion pertaining 
 to the immediate administration of the sacrament. 
 Even here it precedes reception. Not unlikely the 
 Gallican and Spanish customs reflect a use which 
 once obtained at Rome also, this church having 
 departed in this respect, as in others, from some 
 tokens of its earliest catholicity. 
 
 5. The presentation of the elements, bread and 
 wine and water, or wine mixed with water, the later 
 offertory, and also the Great Entrance, so magnified 
 and to some so magnificent in the developed Oriental 
 rituals. 
 
 6. The eucharistic prayer, — further described as 
 an offering by the 7rpoe<jTcbs, to the extent of his 
 ability, of prayers and thanksgiving, of praise and 
 glory to the Father of the universe, through the name 
 of the Son and the Holy Ghost, and of thanks that 
 we are counted worthy to receive these gifts. 
 
 7. The response from the people, Amen. 
 
 8. The distribution by the deacons to the communi- 
 cants, not forgetting the absent, of the bread and 
 wine and water for which thanks had been rendered. 
 
 9. Communion. 
 
 Elsewhere, in the same " Apology," Justin refers to 
 the use of hymns, and of solemn prayers, characterized 
 by a certain dignity and splendor. 
 
 There can be no question that Justin describes a 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 85 
 
 service such as existed at Rome. This itself implies, 
 on the Irenaean principle of the necessarily repre- 
 sentative character of its church, a wide observance. 
 Justin's own knowledge of the East points in the 
 same direction, especially in connection with his evi- 
 dent aim to speak for Christians in general, and his 
 explicit declaration in one of his reports that he is 
 describing the worship of " all who live in cities or in 
 the country." 
 
 The traces of freedom in the forms of worship are 
 evident in the account. We have an outline, not a 
 prescribed order. The bishop or celebrant composed, 
 or poured out, if he chose, his own prayers. What 
 the Abbe* Duchesne happily calls the liturgy of the 
 Spirit — a phrase I do not employ with the least inti- 
 mation that such a liturgy exists alone in unwritten 
 forms — was still present in the prayers that arose as 
 the Holy Spirit, active in those who led and in those 
 who joined in them, gave a measure of expression and 
 sympathy which doubtless at times transcended in 
 power anything attainable where all is prescribed. Yet 
 we must admit that there are other demands and meth- 
 ods. The formation of prayers which, through sus- 
 tained dignity and fit expression of the great common 
 needs and of corresponding ministries of divine conde- 
 scension and redeeming love, won a right to permanent 
 use, was already in progress. It is plainly intimated 
 in Justin's words : " With gratitude to Him to offer 
 thanks by pomps and hymns " — stately and solemn 
 prayers and rhythmical forms of devotion — " for 
 
86 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 our creation, and all the means of health, and for the 
 various qualities of the different kinds of things, and 
 for the changes of the seasons," the very substance 
 of a portion of the great liturgies. It appears yet 
 earlier in the prayer at the close of Clement's Epistle. 
 Had it not long before begun, — in ancient Scriptures, 
 in the worship of the synagogues, in Apostolic benedic- 
 tions, in the prayer taught His disciples by our Lord ? 
 It is a poor freedom that cannot use the best. 
 
 With this general order or type of service derived 
 from Justin's account in mind, we come to another 
 document composed about half a century later, — the 
 so-called " Canons of Hippolytus." 1 For our subject, 
 and in some other respects, they are the most impor- 
 tant recovery of recent criticism. Their authorship 
 is not known. Some suppose that they proceeded 
 from an ecclesiastical council, the least likely sugges- 
 tion. Others attribute them to Hippolytus, whose 
 name they bear. Mr. Headlam's suggestion is valu- 
 able, that they are an early composition of this copious 
 author. On the whole, this is a probable view. The 
 
 1 Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen 
 Literatur von Oscar von Gebhardt und Adolf Harnack. VI. Band. 
 Heft 4. Die Aeltesten Quellen des Orientalischen Kirchenrechts. Erstes 
 Buch Die Canones Hippohjti von Dr. Phil. Hans Achelis. Leipzig, 
 J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1891. Rev. A. C. Headlam, B.D., 
 Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, has given an admirable account 
 of these Canons in "The Guardian," Feb. 12, May 6, June 24, 1896, to 
 which I am much indebted. I have followed mostly Mr. H.'s trans- 
 lations, so far as available. Mr. Brightman, as well as Mr. H., 
 appreciates the importance of these Canons, and of Dr. Achelis's 
 investigations. See Liturgies, Eastern and Western, vol. i. pp. xix-xxiv. 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 87 
 
 resort to an Anonymous is a confession of ignorance 
 beyond what is absolutely required. In any event 
 their date — not later than early in the third century 
 — is reasonably clear, and we may assume that they 
 are of Roman origin. What has been said of the 
 representative significance of this fact still holds. 
 They certainly found acceptance far away from Rome. 
 They probably gave definite expression to what existed 
 widely in practice or desire, and then they helped to 
 fix and extend, in observance and theory, what had 
 been so clearly formulated. They continue the path- 
 way of development opened to our view in Justin's 
 testimony, and w^hich is broadened by the Coptic and 
 the iEthiopic " Ordinances " and the " Apostolic Con- 
 stitutions," and the liturgical notices in Cyril's " Cate- 
 cheses" and Chrysostom's "Homilies," and which 
 issues in the well-known liturgies of St. James, 
 St. Mark, St. Chrysostom, and the Syrian, Egyptian, 
 Persian, Byzantine rites. 
 
 It is of advantage, for our present object, still to 
 keep to the simpler construction and forms presented 
 in these " Canons." 
 
 They are instructive in their suggestion of the 
 variety of the Christian services. The great liturgies 
 are communion services. They have given to the 
 word "liturgy" this specific sense, the order of the 
 Mass or Eucharist. This celebration was from the 
 beginning, doubtless, the centre and culmination of 
 the Christian worship. All liturgical wisdom, fervor, 
 devotion, conspired to its enrichment and develop- 
 
88 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ment. Every other service found in it, or in con- 
 nection with it, expression and power, — Lections, 
 Homily, Psalmody, Charity, even ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline and the orders of the clergy and the forms of 
 spiritual training and the impulses and consecrations 
 of an aggressive and sometimes contentious piety. 
 Yet as we read the greater liturgies, and perhaps run 
 over the many titles of others, the sacramental type 
 becomes to our thought not only predominant but 
 exclusive. We may be misled, also, by the fact that 
 so many liturgies are simply Anaphoras in appear- 
 ance, — that is, strictly sacramental prayers and rites, 
 not realizing that to all these, in their varieties, 
 belongs some Proanaphoral portion, not repeated, 
 because common to many. We need to learn how 
 rich a variety of services early appeared, and of what 
 practical worth, and then to find in the later and 
 technically denominated liturgies, deposits or appro- 
 priations from these distinguishable forms. 
 
 The " Canons of Hippolytus " are of much help 
 here. Through them, in connection with other well- 
 known sources, we gain a clearer understanding, not 
 only of how manifold a ministration there was of' 
 sympathy and charity, but of Scriptural instruction, 
 and of aids and utterances of devotion. There was a 
 regular Sunday Agape, probably, early developed, — a 
 second service, for I quite agree with Mr. Headlam 
 in thinking that the great eucharistic service was 
 probably held in the morning. There were also 
 Agapae for the poor and for widows, and in memory 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 89 
 
 of the departed. At these Agapae — held in private 
 houses and on week days as well as on Sundays and 
 in the place of common assembly — there was an 
 opening prayer, followed by the breaking of the loaf 
 and participation, the bread of exorcism, the sign 
 and pledge of unity, offerings of thanksgiving and 
 special intercession, remembrance of the departed, 
 the singing or recital of psalms, probably Scripture 
 lessons or the reading of other writings. Allusion 
 is made to preaching by the bishop, sitting, and it is 
 added naively that " when he thus sermonizes others 
 will have profit, nor will it be without profit for him- 
 self." Daily services in the churches are also men- 
 tioned, although it is implied that they were not 
 everywhere established. 
 
 Specially interesting to us is the recognition of 
 a service for the Word of God, — conventus propter 
 verbum Dei, — a Biblical and expository lecture, 
 attendance upon which is urged upon all. Business 
 men are somewhat particularly exhorted to be present, 
 that they may strenuously expel hatred of an enemy. 
 Those who can read, the educated especially, should 
 attend. The Lord is present in the place where His 
 majesty is thus brought to remembrance, and the 
 Spirit descends upon the assembly and pours out His 
 grace upon all. 
 
 But I may not linger upon these details ; they are 
 here relevant only to correct any misunderstanding 
 of the strictly liturgical services, and also for the 
 suggestion of their contribution to these. For in- 
 
90 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 stance, as has been pointed out by Mr. Headlam: 
 "The funeral banquet in memory of the departed, 
 whether at the time of death or on the anniversary 
 of the death, was a custom taken over from heathen 
 surroundings ; to this was added the definitely Chris- 
 tian ceremony of the Eucharist ; gradually the heathen 
 element was allowed to fall into disuse, and the 
 purely Christian portion of the commemoration sur- 
 vived." It survived in one of the richest and most 
 impressive portions of the liturgies, the Great Inter- 
 cession for quick and dead, in which, in the grandest 
 sense, the Church realized its spiritual unity. 
 
 Looking now more closely to these Canons for 
 what they reveal of that order of service which under- 
 lies the Liturgies, we are struck with the resemblance 
 to that described by Justin. 
 
 I pass by the baptismal portion, and notice only 
 the regular Sunday morning worship. We have for 
 its order : — 
 
 1. The Reading of Scripture. 
 
 2. A Sermon. 
 
 3. Prayer with Confession of Sin. 
 
 4. The Kiss of Peace. 
 
 5. The Oblation. 
 
 6. The Sursum Corda, — known henceforth to every 
 
 liturgy : — 
 
 " And let the Bishop say, — 
 " ' The Lord be with [you] all.' 
 
 " Let the people reply, — 
 " ' And with thy spirit.' 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 91 
 
 " Let him say, — 
 " ' Lift up your hearts.' 
 
 " Let the people reply, — 
 * ' ' We have, unto the Lord.' 
 
 ["The Bishop—] 
 " ' Let us give thanks unto the Lord.' 
 
 " Let the people reply, — 
 " ; It is meet and right.' " 
 
 7. The Eucharistic Prayer, — still free. 
 
 8. The Blessing of the Oil and First-fruits. 
 
 9. The Communion. 
 
 10. When baptism had preceded, the tasting of milk 
 and honey. The presbyters, or, in their absence, 
 the deacons, are instructed at the Communion 
 to "bear cups of milk and honey, that they may 
 teach those who communicate that they are born 
 again as little children, because such partake of 
 milk and honey." They are received after the 
 bread and cup, " in memory of the life to come, 
 and of the sweetness of good things which are 
 the desire of him who doth not return to bitter- 
 ness. . . . Now, indeed, they are made perfect 
 Christians, who enjoy the body of Christ and ad- 
 vance in wisdom, that they may adorn their lives 
 [mores] with virtues, not only in their own pres- 
 ence, but also before all nations, who, not with- 
 out envy, will admire the progress of those who 
 glory that their lives [mores'] are higher and more 
 excellent than the lives [mores] of other men." 
 
 The use of the formula of benediction appears ; 
 also, as the text stands, of the Gloria, in the form. 
 
92 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 " through Whom to Thee be glory, with Him and 
 the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen." 
 
 The administration of the sacrament is thus ap- 
 pointed : The deacon having brought in the sacred 
 elements, the bishop with the presbyters lays his 
 hand upon them, and then, standing at the table, 
 communicates the people. " Let him give them of the 
 body of Christ, saying, ' This is the body of Christ.' 
 But let them say, ' Amen.' And let those to whom 
 he gives the cup, saying, ' This is the blood of Christ,' 
 say, ' Amen.' " 
 
 Here is a basis of the later sacramentarianism, yet 
 also a corrective of its superstition. The language is 
 still Biblical. One should bring it to the reading 
 of the later formulas and of the prayers connected 
 with it. 
 
 The leading divisions of the later liturgies are 
 already represented, with one important exception, 
 — the Invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the oblation 
 and those who partake of it. This becomes a marked 
 feature of the developed liturgies, and also evinces an 
 important difference between the Eastern conception 
 and the Western of the relation of the officiating priest 
 to the change, which, though not in the same way, 
 the Greek Church as well as the Roman supposes to 
 take place in the elements. 
 
 There is, however, some reason to suppose that the 
 service represented in the " Canons of Hippolytus " 
 contained other liturgical forms than those that now 
 appear. In the " iEthiopic Church Ordinances," as 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 93 
 
 in the later Clementine liturgy and in the liturgy 
 known to St. Chrysostom, we find the Invocation. It is 
 in a form so free from elaboration, so simple and brief, 
 as to suggest antiquity. The jEthiopic liturgy may 
 in this respect as in others depend on the " Canons." 
 In any event it is likely that the Invocation early be- 
 came a part of the eucharistic service, whether em- 
 bodied in a written prayer or left to be formulated by 
 the celebrant. It is precisely a portion of the service 
 most likely to become substantially fixed as early as 
 its conception was accepted. The form in which it 
 appears matches, both in definiteness and latitude, the 
 stage of thought we have reason to suppose had been 
 reached as early as the close of the second century. 
 
 I will read the prayer from the Anaphora of the 
 " iEthiopic Church Ordinances ; " it follows the recital 
 of the words of institution : " Remembering therefore 
 His death and His resurrection, we offer Thee this 
 bread and cup, giving thanks unto Thee for that Thou 
 hast made us meet to stand before Thee and do Thee 
 priestly service. We beseech Thee that Thou wouldest 
 send thine Holy Spirit on the oblation of this church ; 
 give it together unto all them that partake [for] sanc- 
 tification and for fulfilling with the Holy Ghost and for 
 confirming true faith, that they may laud and praise 
 Thee in thy Son Jesus Christ, through whom to Thee 
 be glory and dominion in the holy church both now 
 and ever, and world without end, Amen." 1 
 
 1 Brightman, Liturgies, Eastern and Western, vol. i. p. 190. Cf. 
 Achelis, Die Canones Hippdyti, pp. 54, 55. 
 
94 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 The only rite of the Church here expressed is that 
 given in the Roman Symbol, whose existence scholars 
 have carried back into the first half of the second 
 century. 
 
 It is of no little interest to compare this form 
 with that in the present Greek liturgy, that of St. 
 Chrysostom. 
 
 But I may not pursue this special doctrinal line, 
 nor, which would be more relevant, dwell upon the 
 order which appears in this important connecting 
 link between the earliest and the later liturgies. 
 Eunsen, not unreasonably attracted by its purity and 
 simplicity, refers it to the second century. A soberer 
 judgment, founded on more critical study, puts it in the 
 line of sources between the " Canons " and the Clem- 
 entine liturgy, in the eighth book of the " Apostolic 
 Constitutions." It deserves the special attention of 
 all who would study in the way I am commending 
 the current texts of the Greek liturgies, especially 
 that now in use throughout the Greek Church, the 
 so-called liturgy of St. Chrysostom. 
 
 The Clementine liturgy just referred to has long 
 attracted attention. It is a private composition ; so 
 far as known, it never was the accepted order of any 
 church. It helps fill out our conception of the gen- 
 eral order of service in the last half of the fourth 
 century, especially at Antioch, and may not be 
 neglected. Its forms of prayer, however, are far in- 
 ferior, even apart from doctrinal considerations, to 
 those of the public liturgies. For the ends and uses 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 95 
 
 I now have especially in mind, — for liturgical train- 
 ing and personal edification, — one may pass at once 
 to the current rites. 
 
 What can I say of these in the few moments that 
 remain ? 
 
 First of all, their expansion. Every part is greatly 
 elaborated. Antiphonal singing, a large use of psalms 
 and hymns, has enriched the worship. Most of all, 
 the conception has been developed of a service which 
 shall represent, even to ear and eye, not only the 
 action of the original institution, and the sacrificial 
 import of the Eucharist, with all its elements of pas- 
 sion, triumph, heavenly sustenance, impartation and 
 reception of eternal life, but, including the preparatory 
 services, the history of Redemption from the creation 
 of light to the Incarnation, the holy life of our Lord 
 from the nativity to the public ministry, his teaching 
 and works, the passion, death, burial, resurrection, and 
 ascension, the descent of the Spirit and the eternal 
 reign, — a symbolic, scenic, and even dramatic repre- 
 sentation of all that the Church understands to be 
 given to it in that life, and an appropriate utterance 
 of its peace and joy, its gratitude and adoring praise, 
 in view of such deliverance and triumph. 
 
 This is the informing idea of the whole service, 
 giving relation and unity to its several parts, from the 
 vespers of Saturday, through matins, to the eucha- 
 ristic climax. All that is splendid in vestments and 
 processions, suggestive in ikons or images, impres- 
 sive in variety of scenes and actions, of postures 
 
96 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 and participators, all that can be gained by musical 
 responses, and flowing accompaniments to low and 
 modulated prayers, or melodious settings of the high- 
 est expressions of a worship which embraces and 
 emphasizes all the notes of a universal peace and 
 fellowship and victory, combine to impress the mean- 
 ing of the Incarnation and the glory of the Cross, 
 and of the Triune God from whom all blessings flow, 
 and who is both now and through eternal ages to be 
 adored. 
 
 Much may be said in criticism, not only of special 
 parts, but of the conception as a whole, — much 
 certainly from a doctrinal and Biblical point of view, 
 much no less from the only true liturgical point of 
 view, the ultimate test, ministry to a worship in spirit 
 and in truth. Liturgy is ministry. 
 
 But I pass all this by ; we shall inevitably bring 
 to these liturgies our Western and Protestant pre- 
 conceptions. We are not likely to forego our in- 
 herited gains in the apprehension of true worship. 
 Perhaps we are more in danger of not appreciating 
 enough the value of symbolism, the legitimate aid of 
 form and even ceremony. But, waiving all this, 
 what have these liturgies to give us to help us in our 
 own work, in the line of our own best traditions, in 
 our ministry of public prayer ? 
 
 Something in the way of diction. Not so much, 
 indeed, as the Western liturgies, which alone have 
 collects as we have come to understand the term, 
 and whose simple and even severe expression con- 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 97 
 
 stitutes a discipline never so much needed or so 
 useful as for those who, in the freedom of our ser- 
 vices, are exposed to the dangers of diffuseness. Yet 
 something, — examples, illustrations not unneeded, of 
 how invocations, reverential titles, representations of 
 divine perfections, all in close and fitting connection 
 with specific supplications, may be varied, amplified, 
 made conducive to supplication, intercession, adora- 
 tion. 
 
 Not a little in the suggestion of ways by which a 
 certain brightness and fitting splendor can shine 
 forth in the Church's worship of Him who is the 
 Light of the world, and of all life, and the Sun of 
 Righteousness. 
 
 Much, in helping to a realization of what forms of 
 thought are at the minister's command to bring the 
 realities of faith to the multitudes of men wearied 
 with the pressure of secular cares, tempted by the suc- 
 cesses as by the failures of life to a sickening and 
 palsying sense of its vanity, men needing sorely 
 the refreshments and solaces of a devotion that reflects 
 the peace and joy of those who have overcome. This 
 note of triumph ! It is the strongest anywhere struck, 
 as you find it in these old Greek liturgies. Catch it 
 there, in its beauty and strength, and you can never 
 lose it. 
 
 Connected with this is the objective character and 
 quality of the worship. Grant that it is not so deep as 
 the Western in its fundamental tone. Admit the 
 need of something that more adequately expresses the 
 
 7 
 
98 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 guilt of sin and its remedy. Recognize all the need 
 that comes in with modern introspection and sub- 
 jectivity, with changed standards and tests of historic 
 truth, with clearer perceptions of the method of 
 divine revelation, with the " pale cast of thought " 
 or new outlooks in science or visions in philoso- 
 phy. Still, after all, the early Church was right in 
 introducing into its baptismal confessions those clear, 
 evident, abiding revelations which centre in the mani- 
 festation of God in the person of His Son, those 
 events which are at once eternal truths and facts of 
 history, idea and fact in the highest mode and form 
 of being and life, a perfect and perfected Personality, 
 human and divine, the Son who reveals the Father, 
 and through whom the Father sends the Spirit, who 
 is their bond of union and from whom springs the 
 holy Church, whose office it is to proclaim and declare 
 the forgiveness of sins, and who is the pledge and 
 power of the risen and eternal life. Ever to these 
 springs must faith repair. Ever must such facts of 
 being and life, those fundamental verities which are 
 revelations of a historic Person and through Him of 
 the personality of the one only God, be in the fore- 
 front of the Church's confession of its faith, ever 
 no less the substance of worship, its inspiration, 
 and the sign and seal of its purity and power. 
 
 From this point of view even the sacramentarian- 
 ism of the liturgies may have, not merely in a 
 negative way, or as a warning, a great lesson for us, 
 but positively and inspiringly. Through the method 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 99 
 
 of study I have endeavored to trace we can see 
 where and how error came in, and the pathway of a 
 tremendous exaggeration of early misconceptions was 
 entered on and pursued. But is there not some 
 danger that in the recoil from sacerdotalism, and 
 all that interpretation and use of sacraments which 
 is a part of it or affiliated with it, we may underesti- 
 mate the true place, in our worship, of the communion 
 service, and beyond this of that conception and 
 appreciation of the gospel which flows from a true 
 and spiritual discernment of the Lord's body and of 
 His blood, and of what is symbolized and pledged to 
 us in this sacrament, and which should give a key 
 and note to all our praise ? 
 
 I may not dwell upon this, yet may be pardoned 
 for expressing the thought that we are not only 
 inheritors of our great Puritan traditions, but heirs 
 of the Christian centuries. Lotze has recognized 
 that all progress is attended with some loss. It 
 belongs, however, to the imperfection of the process, 
 even though practically necessary or inevitable, if any 
 true value is lost. History, from the religious point 
 of view, is the pathway of prophecy, the movement of 
 a divine purpose ; it is fulfilment. When we think 
 and see how early to appear, how perpetual, is the 
 sacramental aspect or appreciation of Christianity, 
 how widespread is its influence to-day, how realized 
 it is in saintly lives, how manifested and evident 
 where superstition and formalism are not among its 
 elements or characteristics, how sustaining to piety 
 
100 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 and associated with and ministrant to types of Chris- 
 tian character, forms and forces of life, in which what- 
 ever is pure, lowly, reverential, sacrificial, beneficent, 
 finds an expression no less energetic and mighty 
 than serene and beautiful, we cannot help raising the 
 question, whether, with the retention of our antago- 
 nism to mere externalism or to every substitution of 
 ceremony and form for simplicity and truth and 
 spirituality, we have not something to recover, as 
 well as to retain and hold, and that to this end a 
 thorough understanding and appreciation of the great 
 liturgies, which are sacramental services, may be of 
 inestimable advantage. 
 
 The. life of an eminent scholar and most devout 
 Christian has but recently closed. From his biogra- 
 phy I take these words. They are a part of a letter 
 from him to a clergyman who had questioned him 
 about the meaning of a " call " to the Christian min- 
 istry. The whole letter is well worthy of the atten- 
 tion of all who are preparing for this sacred office. 
 It goes to the heart of a Christian minister's dis- 
 tinctive service, the clergyman's " primary work." 
 " He must have a desire to set forth the glory of God 
 simply and directly, in those forms which show it 
 forth most nakedly. He must not only act it out but 
 speak of it, make men know it and consciously enter 
 into it. None of the phenomena of life are primarily 
 his province, but the glory and the love which under- 
 lie them all. He is not simply an officer or servant 
 of God or workman of God, but His ambassador and 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 101 
 
 herald to tell men about God Himself. He must bring 
 distinctly before men the reality of the heaven of which 
 the earth and all that it contains is but the symbol 
 and vesture. And, since all human teaching is but 
 the purging of the ear to hear God's teaching, and 
 since the whole man, and not certain faculties only, 
 must enter into the divine presence, the sacraments 
 must be the centre and crown (I don't mean central 
 subject) of his teaching, for there the real heights 
 and depths of heaven are most fully revealed, and at 
 the same time the commonest acts and things of earth 
 are most closely and clearly connected with the highest 
 heaven." 1 
 
 This, as I understand it, is the vital truth which 
 has given what we call sacramentarianism its per- 
 petuity. We may see in the Eastern liturgies some- 
 thing of the perversions and abuses of this truth. 
 We may discern, also, its presence and power. This 
 — this beyond all else — is the reason for their study, 
 a study which penetrates to their secret, a use of them 
 which appropriates their unwasted values, which 
 brings the soul under the influence of their tranquil 
 beauty, and into the peace which flows through them 
 like a river of God, and to the fountains of strength 
 and life. 
 
 1 Life and Letters ofFenton J. A. Hort, vol. i. pp. 279, 280. 
 
102 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 For a general list, see Prof. Cheetham's in Dictionary of Christian 
 Antiquities, vol. ii. pp. 1036-1038 ; C. E. Hammond's in Liturgies, 
 Eastern and Western, pp. Lxxvii-lxxx. For Eastern liturgies, see 
 the " description of materials " in Brightman's Liturgies, Eastern and 
 Western, vol. i., Eastern Liturgies, Introduction, and subsequent special 
 Introductions. 
 
 A. General Collections. — J. A. Assemani : Codex Liturgicus 
 ecclesiae universae . . . in quo continentur libri rituales, missales, ponti- 
 Jicales, officia, diptycha, etc., ecclesiarum Occidentis et Orieniis, B.om., 
 1749-66, 13 vols. H. A.Daniel: Codex Liturgicus Ecclesiae Universae 
 in Epitomen Red actus, Lips., 1847-1853. 
 
 B. Special Collections and Editions. — F. E. Brightman : 
 Liturgies, Eastern and Western, being the Texts, original or translated, of 
 the Principal Liturgies of the Church, Edited, with Introductions and 
 Appendices, . . . on the Basis of the Former TT'o?-^ by C. E. Ham- 
 mond . . . vol. i., Eastern Liturgies, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 
 1896. C. E. Hammond: Liturgies, Eastern and Western, being a 
 Reprint of the Texts, either original or translated, of the most representa- 
 tive Liturgies of the Church, from various Sources, Edited, with Introduc- 
 tion, Notes, and a Liturgical Glossary, Oxford, 1878. C. A. Swainson 
 The Greek Liturgies, chiefly from original authoi'ities. . . . With an 
 Appendix containing the Coptic Ordinary Canon of the Mass from two 
 manuscripts in the British Museum. Edited and translated by Dr. C. 
 Bezold, London, 1884. J. M. Xeale : Tetralogia Liturgica : sive S. 
 Chrysostomi, S. Jacobi, S. Alarci divinae Missae, quibus accedit Ordo 
 Mozarabicus, London, 1849; The Liturgies of S. Mark, S. James, S. 
 Chrysostom, S. Basil [in Greek and in English], London, 1868. J. Goar : 
 Evxo^oyiov, sive Rituale Graecorum Complectens Rituset Ordines divinae 
 Liturgiae, Officiorum, Sacramentorum, Consecrationum, Bene diet ion urn, 
 Funerum, Orationum, 8pc. . . . Juxta Usum Orientalis Ecclesia[e]. 
 Cum selectis Bibliothecae Regiae, Barberinae, Cryptae-Ferratae, Sancti 
 Marci Florentini, Til/ianae, Allatianae, Coresianae, et aliis probatis 
 mm. ss. et editis exemplaribus collatum. Lnterpretatione Latina, nee non 
 mixobarbararum vocum brevi Glossario, aeneis figuris, et observation ibus 
 ex antiquis PP., et maxime Graecorum Theologorum exposition ibus, 
 Illustratum [the Byzantine Rite], Paris, 1647 (Venice, 1740). Guliel. 
 
THE GREEK LITURGIES 103 
 
 Morelius : Aecrovpyiai r&v ayiwv irarepuv 'IaKco/3ov rov o\iroo~r6\ov Ka\ 
 aSe\(podeov, BacriXeiov rov pieyaAov, 'Icodvvov rov xpvo~oor6p.ov. Paris, 
 1560. [Textus receptus.] W. Trollope : 'H rod aylov 'laicdPov 
 Aeirovpyia. The Greek Liturgy of St. James, Edited with an English 
 Introduction and Notes ; together with a Latin version of the Syrian 
 copy, and the Greek text restored to its original purity and accompanied 
 by a literal English translation, Edinburgh, 1847. Amb. Drouard : 
 'H 6e?a Aeirovpyia rov aylov airocrroAov nal evayyeAiarov MoipKov 
 /xaOrirov rov aylov Tlirpov. . . . Paris, 1883 [Textus receptus. Editor, 
 Jo. a S. Andrea]. At Beiai Aeirovpylai rov aylov 'loodvvov rod 
 Xpvo~oo~r6/*ov, BcKrtAetov rod peyaKov tea) 7] rwv irporjyiao'p.eyccy. . . . 
 Rome, 1526. ["This is the editio princeps of these liturgies, published 
 with the license of Clement VII., and, according to the colophon, 
 edited with, the co-operation of the Archbishop of Cyprus and of 
 Rhodes. Beyond this the source of its text is unknown. The text 
 is reprinted in Swainson, pp. 101-187 (bottom)." See Brightman, 
 p. lxxxiii.] J. N. W. B. Robertson : The Divine Liturgies of our Fathers 
 among the Saints, John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, with that of 
 the Presanctifed, Preceded by the Ilesperinos and the Orthros, London, 
 1894 [Greek and English]. C. C. J. Bunsen: Reliquiae Liturgicae [In 
 Analecta Ante-Nicaena, vol. iii. pp. 67-300, London, 1854. Contains 
 Liturgy of S. Mark, as the editor supposes it to have been observed in 
 the time of Origen, pp. 107-127 ; that of S. James restored, as nearly 
 as possible, to the form supposed to have been observed in the fourth 
 century, pp. 107-127 ; and the Liturgies of SS. Basil and Chrysostom, 
 according to the Barberini Codex, pp. 195-236. See, also, Ibid. 
 Hippolytus and his Age, vol. iv. pp. 233-434, London, 1852]. E. 
 Renaudot: Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio, Paris, 1716 [Frankfort, 
 1847]. 
 
 II. INTRODUCTIONS, DISSERTATIONS, ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS, AND 
 OTHER HELPS IN STUDY. 
 
 [See previous titles. For Latin, German, and other versions, see 
 Brightman, pp. xlviii, lxiii, lxxvii-lxxix, lxxxi-lxxxiii.] J. M. 
 Neale : A History of the Holy Eastern Church. Part I. General Intro- 
 duction, vols, i., ii., London, 1850 [contains, with other information, a 
 full account of the Arrangement and details of an Eastern Church, and 
 of the Vestments; Translation and parallel arrangement of the 
 proanaphoral portion of S. Chrysostom, Copto- Jacobite S. Basil, the 
 Armeno- Gregorian rite, the Mozarabic rite, and of the anaphorae of S. 
 
104 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Chrysostom, S. Basil, S. James, S. Mark, Copto- Jacobite S. Basil, 
 Lesser S. James, Theodore the Interpreter, the Armeno- Gregorian rite, 
 the Mozarabic rite ; Disquisitions on the foregoing proanaphorae and 
 anaphorae ; The Liturgy of the Presanctijied]. J. M. Neale and R. F. 
 Littledale : The Liturgies of SS. Mark, James, Clement, Chrysostom, 
 and Basil, and the Church of Malabar. Translated with Introduction 
 and Appendices. London, 1868 [Revised 1869, and often reprinted]. 
 Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. xxiv. Early Liturgies and Other 
 Documents, Edinburgh, 1872 [contains the Liturgies of S. James, S. 
 Mark, and the Blessed Apostles ( Adseus and Maris)]. Same, American 
 Reprint, vol vii., Buffalo, 1886. T. Brett: A Collection of the Princi- 
 pal Liturgies used in the Christian Church in the celebration of the Holy 
 Eucharist, particularly the Ancient, viz., The Clementine, . . . The Litur- 
 gies of St. James, St. Mark, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, fyc. Translated 
 into English by severed hands. With a Dissertation upon them, showing 
 their usefulness and authority, and pointing out their several corruptions 
 and interpolations, London, 1838. C. E. Hammond, supra, Preface and 
 Introduction. W. Smith and S. Cheetham : A Dictionary of Christian 
 Antiquities, London, vol. i., 1875, ii., 1880 : Liturgical Articles. C. W. 
 Bennett : Christian Archaeology [vol. iv. of Crooks & Hurst : Library 
 of Biblical and Theological Literature], New York, 1888. W. Palmer: 
 Origines Liturgicae, with a Dissertation on Primitive Liturgies, 2 vols., 
 London, 1832 [Later Editions]. P. Ereeman : The Principles of 
 Divine Service, Oxford and London, 2 vols. 1855-1857 [Cheaper Re- 
 issue, 1871-1873]. P. Schaff : History of the Christian Church, vol. 
 iii. pp. 517-531, New York, 1884. F. Probst : Liturgie der drei ersten 
 christlichen Jahrhunderten, Tubingen, 1870. Id.: Liturgie des vier- 
 ten Jahrhunderts und deren Reform, Munster i. W. 1893. H.A. 
 Koestlin : Geschichte des Christlichen Gottesdienstes, ein Handbuch fur 
 Vorlesungen und Ubungen im Seminar, Freiburg i. B. 1887. J. W. 
 Richard, F. V. N. Painter : Christian Worship : Its Principles and Forms, 
 Philadelphia, 1892. L. Duchesne : Origines du Culte Chretien. HJtude 
 sur la Liturgie Latine avant Charlemagne, Paris, 1889. H. C. Romanoff : 
 Sketches of the Greco-Russian Church. The Divine Liturgy of St. 
 John Chrysostom, London, Oxford, and Cambridge, 1871. Lechmere, 
 J. Gennadius : Synopsis or a Synoptical Collection of the Daily Prayers, 
 the Liturgy, and Principal Offices of the Greek Orthodox Church of the 
 East. Translated, with Assistance, from the Original, and Edited by 
 Katharine Lady Lechmere. With an Introduction by J. Gennadius, 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of H. M. the King 
 of the Hellenes at the Court of St. James's, London. 
 
IV 
 
 THE ROMAN LITURGIES 
 
 By the Eev. CHARLES C. TIFFANY, D.D. 
 
 Archdeacon of New York City 
 

THE ROMAN LITURGIES 
 
 I AM, I believe, the only lecturer in this course on 
 Christian Worship who is not an adherent of the 
 liturgy he expounds. My,desire is, and my attempt shall 
 be, to be as accurate and fair as though I were. I am 
 quite sure I should not have been chosen to this task 
 had not those appointing it been convinced that I 
 should be thus impartial and charitable. There is, of 
 course, an infelicity in not being an advocate as well 
 as an expounder of the subject assigned me. Points 
 may be inadvertently overlooked which a loving eye 
 would detect, and a bias may be manifest unsuspected 
 by the writer. In studying the subject, therefore, 
 I have chiefly confined myself to Roman Catholic 
 authorities. 1 
 
 1 The Decrees and Catechism of the Council of Trent; The Mis- 
 sale Romanum ex Decreio S. S. Concilii Tridentini Restitution itself; 
 Prochiron, VuJgo Rationale Divinorum officiorum, Gulielmo Durando, 
 1551 ; Bellarmine, de Sacramento Eucharistice, especially the 5th Book 
 "de Missa ; " the Hierurgia, or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by Dan- 
 iel Rock, D.D. ; Martene, de Antiquis Ecclesioz Ritibus ; Morinus, 
 de Sacris Ecclesiai ordinibus ; and Muratori in his collection of the 
 Earlier Missals, — the Leoniue, Gelasian, Gregorian, and that of the 
 Apostolic Constitutions, — have all been inspected at first hand, as 
 
108 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 The sources from which I have drawn are almost 
 exclusively devoted to the doctrine and delineation of 
 the Mass, a term applied from very early times to the 
 service of the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, as well as 
 to other services of the Church, and derived, first from 
 the words " ite 9 missa est" used to dismiss the cate- 
 chumens and other non-communicants before the con- 
 secration of the elements of bread and wine ; and 
 afterwards, to dismiss the communicants when the 
 service of communion was over. I must confine my- 
 self, also, to the Roman Liturgy in the strict and 
 restricted meaning of the word, — that is, as the Eu- 
 charistic service ; because the time assigned me would 
 be insufficient even to enumerate and superficially 
 describe the great variety of services which the Ro- 
 man Church has provided for the use of her children. 
 Moreover, the Mass dominates all these other services. 
 The service of Benediction is the blessing of the peo- 
 ple with the Consecrated Wafer exposed in the Mon- 
 strance and held before the congregation by the priest, 
 as he waves it in the sign of the cross above their 
 bowed heads and prostrate bodies. Vespers are sung 
 before the altar whereon the reserved Sacrament is 
 kept, surrounded and confronted with the mystic glow 
 of tapers. Matins, lauds, prime, tierce, compline, — 
 
 well as what Cardinal Newman in his various writings has stated. 
 I have used also, of non-Roman writers : Maskele, Monumenta Ritualia 
 Ecclesice Anglicanai ; Palmer, Origines Liturgical ; Bingham's Antiqui- 
 ties of the Christian Church, and Smith's Dictionary of Christian Anti- 
 quities, — all reliable sources. Besides these, I have found in various 
 of them valuable references to Bona and Le Brun on the Mass. 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 109 
 
 these offices contained in the Breviary, the use of which 
 is obligatory every day by every one in orders, from 
 the Pope down to the latest sub-deacon, have, as it 
 were, been crowded out of the sanctuary, and have 
 become, in using, private services. Of the Breviary we 
 may remark in passing that it is the Reformed Bre- 
 viary of Urban VIII., published in 1631, which is now 
 in use. Up to the Reformation almost every diocese 
 and monastery had its own Breviary ; one hundred 
 and fifty different uses were to be found in Western 
 Christendom up to that time. After various efforts 
 of various Popes to revise and reduce these uses, from 
 Gregory VII., in the middle of the eleventh century, 
 to Pius IV., in the middle of the sixteenth century, 
 Pius V., after the failure of the Council of Trent to 
 complete the task imposed upon it by Paul IV., or- 
 dered a number of learned men to compile a Breviary 
 for general use. This reformed and condensed Bre- 
 viary was published in 1568, preceded by the bull 
 " Quod a Nobis" forbidding the use of any other. 
 Subsequently amended by Clement VIII., and finally 
 by Urban VIII., it is now (with the addition of some 
 services for saints since canonized) of obligation, and 
 in universal daily use by all in orders of every kind, 
 conventual and ecclesiastical. It is divided into four 
 parts, corresponding to the seasons ; winter, spring, 
 summer, and autumn. It consists of portions of the 
 Psalter, Collects, Prayers, Commemoration of Saints 
 and Martyrs, Ave Marias, and Litanies, and requires 
 one hour and a half at least for the daily recitation. 
 
110 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 It corresponds to the Order of Daily Morning and 
 Evening Prayer in the Common Prayer of the Epis- 
 copal Church, which has largely drawn from it, by 
 a condensation and amalgamation of its various 
 parts. 
 
 But while this brief passing notice of a daily service, 
 required de rigueur of all ecclesiastics, seemed neces- 
 sary as indicating the Roman discipline of worship, it 
 is the Mass or Liturgy which dominates to-day all the 
 public services of the Roman Communion; and to 
 this we must confine our chief attention. 
 
 And I speak of the Roman liturgy rather than 
 Roman liturgies, because the time would fail me to 
 delineate and differentiate the various forms of the 
 liturgy such as the Ambrosian, the very ancient use 
 of Milan and Northern Italy. This is still used in 
 Milan, though not exactly as of old or without changes 
 as edited at various times, since the second oblation 
 or the oblation of the elements after consecration, 
 which exists in the Roman liturgy, was not in it, 
 as late as the ninth or tenth century (see Palmer, 
 vol. i. p. 127) ; the Mozarabic liturgy compiled or 
 edited by Isidore Bishop of Seville in the seventh 
 century and used in Spain till the time of Gregory 
 VII., when the Roman was substituted. Cardinal 
 Ximenes in the fifteen century renewed its observ- 
 ance in Toledo and published an edition of it Anno 
 Dom. 1500 ; the various Gallican liturgies of which 
 there were many, though based on one original, prob- 
 ably to be traced to Lyons and through Lyons to 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 111 
 
 Asia and the tradition of St. John (since Irenasus, 
 a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John, 
 hecame Bishop of Lyons about a. d. 177). This 
 differed in some measure from the Roman in the 
 sixth century, as seen by the fact that Augustine, first 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, writes to Pope Gregory 
 to inquire u why one custom of liturgy prevails in 
 the church of Rome and another in those of Gaul." 
 The Roman rites were introduced in the place of 
 the ancient Gallican in the time of Charlemagne, 
 who ordained by an imperial edict that every priest 
 should celebrate the liturgy in the Roman manner. 
 He meant to unify the religious uses of his vast 
 empire and please the Pope who crowned him. Nor 
 need we dwell on the various English uses or customs, 
 as of York, Sarum, Hereford, Bangor, Leicester and 
 Aberdeen, for these had all been derived from the 
 sacramentary of Gregory, though the Sarum Use, 
 dating from Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury, 1078, be- 
 came the common Use, the whole of England, Wales, 
 and Ireland adopting it. These various missals and 
 rituals differed very little from each other, the sacra- 
 mentary of Gregory being used with various small 
 additions. The rites, however, of the English churches 
 were not entirely uniform in the middle of the sixteenth 
 century, and therefore the Metropolitans of Canterbury, 
 at the request of Edward VI., edited and compiled the 
 English Ritual and produced the First Prayer-Book 
 of Edward VI. in 1549. Of the liturgy of the British 
 Church before the mission of St. Augustine, there are 
 
112 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 no traces in any known manuscripts. That it differed 
 from the Roman, we learn from Bede, who quotes an 
 address of Augustine to the British bishops as fol- 
 lows : " In many respects you act contrary to our 
 customs, and indeed to those of the universal Church, 
 and yet if you will obey me in these three things, — 
 
 1. To celebrate Easter at the proper time. 
 
 2. To perform the office of baptism, in which we are 
 born again to God, according to the custom of the Holy 
 Roman and Apostolic Church, and 
 
 3. With us to preach the word of God to the English 
 nation, — 
 
 we will tolerate all your other customs, though 
 contrary to our own (quamvis moribus nostris 
 contraria)." 
 
 As the Roman and Gallican were the only two 
 primitive liturgies in the West of which there is any 
 record, it is probable that the early British bishops 
 (who existed early in the fourth century) derived 
 their orders from Gaul, the nearest Christian prov- 
 ince, and used the Gallican liturgy, which, as we have 
 noted, was superseded later by the Roman through 
 the edict of Charlemagne. 
 
 The variations of various liturgies derived from the 
 same source is to be accounted for by the fact that, 
 while the substantial part, or more strictly the Canon, 
 was preserved in nearly identical form, the Bishop of 
 each church appears to have possessed the power to im- 
 prove his own liturgy by the addition of new ideas and 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 113 
 
 rites. While the Roman and Gallican liturgies and 
 those derived from them, as the Italian and Mozarabic 
 or Spanish, preserved an identity of order and the 
 same series of parts, variety of expression is found for 
 every particular feast. It is in these missals that we 
 find the variations, and they grow with the develop- 
 ment of dogma, or, as our Roman friends would per- 
 haps prefer to say, with its more explicit definition. 
 Thus, as an illustration, it was in the eleventh century, 
 according to Rock, that the great elevation of the con- 
 secrated Host and the chalice, for the adoration of 
 the faithful, was instituted to emphasize the received 
 doctrine of the presence, in opposition to Berengarius, 
 who about 1047 called the commonly accepted view 
 (not decreed as dogma until 1215) " inepta vecordia 
 vulgi." His excommunication was accompanied by 
 this addition of the Elevation to the Roman Missa. 
 And it is from these Missse or rubrical directions, and 
 the ceremonies derived from them, that we deduce the 
 special Roman doctrine of the Mass, and not from 
 the words of institution, which are largely scriptural 
 and so accepted by all, though not interpreted alike by 
 all. Of course the Nicene creed must be an addition 
 of the fourth century to the liturgy. Before this no 
 creed seems to have been used in any liturgy. In the 
 Eastern churches it was introduced before it found a 
 place in the Roman, being found in the liturgy of 
 Constantinople about 511, while Berno says the creed 
 only began to be sung in the Roman churches about 
 1062, though Martene thinks it was used — or said 
 
 8 
 
114 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 — earlier. Still, the Roman liturgy, like all others, in 
 its present form is a growth, and it is in the growing 
 portions that we read its history and comprehend 
 its meaning. 
 
 Now, though the liturgies are traditionally ancient, 
 according to all authorities, not one appears to have 
 been written before the fourth or fifth century. The 
 one which appears in the Apostolical Constitutions 
 is probably as ancient as any written form, and 
 that stands about the middle of the fourth cen- 
 tury, but "it is not known [to quote Dr. Rock] to 
 have been used, as compiled in the ' Constitutions/ 
 in any church service whatever." " The early litur- 
 gies of the various churches were transmitted solely 
 by tradition ; " so that Martene, in his work " De 
 Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus," says of the so-called 
 Liturgies of the Apostles, that " learned men admit 
 none of them as genuine productions of their reputed 
 authors.' , The most ancient sources of the Roman 
 Liturgy of to-day are the Leonine Sacramentary, 
 that of Pope Gelasius, and the Sacramentary of 
 Gregory the Great. But neither Pope Leo I. (451) 
 nor Pope Gelasius (492), nor Gregory the Great 
 (590) are supposed to have composed liturgies anew, 
 but only to have improved, abridged, or in parts 
 amplified, uses which had already obtained in the 
 Church. But this usage of adding to the Missse 
 indicates how the Roman Liturgy has developed to 
 its present form. The fact, moreover, u that the prim- 
 itive liturgies were not committed to writing at first 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 115 
 
 but to memory, indicates that many variations would 
 be introduced, while the principal substance and order 
 might be preserved. 1 And it can be readily seen that 
 accretions would accumulate, according as circum- 
 stances (such as that alluded to at the time of Beren- 
 garius, in regard to the Elevation of the Host) would 
 indicate the advisability of emphasizing, or making 
 ritually apparent, a phase of doctrine which had 
 obtained credence, but which had come into dispute. 
 
 Another cause for variations in the various Missae 
 is the fact that until the eleventh century the offices 
 of the Holy Communion were not bound up in one 
 volume, but were contained in four. These were : 
 
 1. The Antiphoner, or parts to be said or sung 
 antiphonally. 
 
 2. The Lection ary, or the Books of the Epistles, also 
 called Epistolarium. 
 
 3. Book of the Gospels, also called Evangelisteria, 
 containing portions of the four Gospels. 
 
 4. The Sacramentary, or the Canon of the Mass, which 
 is the missal proper. 
 
 In all of the separated portions of the service, 
 annotations and changes would creep in, and varia- 
 tions would afterward appear, for which the cause or 
 occasion would have lapsed from memory. After the 
 eleventh century, up to the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries, the whole service bound in one volume could 
 be found, and was more secure from variations. But 
 
 1 Palmer, vol. i. p. 121. 
 
116 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 as has been previously said, the Canon, or strict order 
 of the Mass, preserved its essential features in all 
 the liturgies with considerable uniformity.. Martene 
 gives as the order of the older Sacramentaries in 
 which they essentially agreed, the following : — 
 
 1. Prayers for the Church and the conversion of 
 Infidels. 
 
 2. The Kiss of Peace. 
 
 3. Oblations of Bread and Wine, mixed with water. 
 
 4. Consecration of the same. 
 
 5. Communion, or distribution of the Sacrament. 
 
 Around this nucleus the elaborated services of 
 later dates have formed themselves. Martene also 
 gives as the order of the service in the Apostolical 
 Constitutions (a rite, as we have noted, proposed, if 
 never performed, at some time not later than the 
 fourth century) the following: After three lessons, — 
 one from the Old Testament, one from the New 
 Testament, and one from the Gospels, followed the 
 oratio, or sermon. Then the catechumens were dis- 
 missed, and then followed the Post Oblata, or prayers 
 over the oblations of the people; then the Kiss of 
 Peace ; the Prayer for all Men ; the Consecration of 
 the Elements ; the Communion. Professor Swainson, 
 of Cambridge University, in his exhaustive article on 
 " Liturgy " in " Smith's Dictionary of Christian Anti- 
 quities,' ' adds the following description of the Ordo of 
 the Canon (which is wanting or simply indicated in 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 117 
 
 the Gelasian Sacramentary). The Canon commences 
 with the Sursum Corda, " Lift up your hearts," 
 with its responses ; then a Eucharistic address to 
 God for the gift and work of his Son ; passing at 
 once to the words of institution, which are given in 
 the simplest form. The prayer proceeds : " Calling 
 to mind, therefore, His death and His resurrection, 
 etc., we offer to Thee this bread and cup, rendering 
 Thee thanks that Thou hast made us worthy to stand 
 before Thee and to perform the functions of Thy 
 priesthood." The Holy Spirit is invoked upon the 
 oblations, but there is no prayer that He will make 
 them the body and blood of Christ. The prayer is 
 that those who partake of the gifts " may be fulfilled 
 with that Spirit." The words " Sanctum Sacrificium 
 immaculatam Hostiam" are by Walafridus Strabo 
 (dec. 849) said to have been added to the Canon 
 by Leo I. 1 It is difficult to get an accurate view of 
 the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great (a. d. 590). 
 Muratori says, " No one can believe that we have the 
 book as it came from the hand of Gregory." 2 For in 
 the four or five manuscripts known to Muratori the 
 Masses vary in the several editions, the Festivals 
 vary, and all are said to include the Commemoration 
 of Gregory himself. Yet Palmer, 3 after diligent com- 
 parison and investigation, gives the following as an 
 approximate exhibition of the service as revised and 
 established by Gregory the Great : 
 
 1 See Smith, Dictionary of Antiq. vol. ii. p. 1183, Art. Sacrifice. 
 
 2 See Smith, vol. ii. p. 1033. 3 Origines Liturgicoz, vol. i. p. 123. 
 
118 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 " It began at first with a collect and lesson from 
 Scripture, among which a psalm was sung. Then 
 came the sermon, followed bj the dismissal of the 
 catechumens and silent prayer made by priest and 
 people, after which the oblations of the people, con- 
 sisting chiefly of bread and wine, were received while 
 the offertory was sung. The elements being selected 
 from these and placed on the altar, the priest read 
 the collect called ' secreta ' or super oblata, and 
 
 then began the Preface, — a Thanksgiving with the 
 form ' Sursum Corda,' etc., — at the close of which 
 the people chanted the hymn ' Tersanctus.' The 
 Canon now commenced with commending the people's 
 gifts and offerings to the acceptance of God and 
 prayers for the King and the Bishop, with a com- 
 memoration of the living and especially of those who 
 had offered liberally. This was succeeded by a prayer 
 that the oblation of bread and wine might ' be made 
 to us the body and blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord 
 and God." The commemoration of our Saviour's 
 deeds and words in celebrating the Eucharist fol- 
 lowed. After which came an oblation of the Sacra- 
 ments, as a sacrifice of bread and wine, and a petition 
 that they might be presented by the angels on the 
 altar in heaven. Then followed a commemoration of 
 the departed faithful, and prayer for communion with 
 them. The canon being now completed, the bread 
 was broken and divided into portions for distribution, 
 and then the Lord's Prayer was recited. After this 
 the clergy and people interchanged a kiss of peace and 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 119 
 
 all communicated and the priest concluded the office 
 with a short prayer." This was the order and sub- 
 stance of the Roman liturgy in the fifth century. 
 
 Having thus traced the Genesis and Method of 
 growth of Roman liturgies, we turn to consider some 
 of its salient features to-day and to indicate by the 
 exposition of its essential idea an explanation of its 
 elaborate and splendid ritual and the supreme place 
 which it occupies in the worship of the Church. 
 
 One of the salient features of the Roman Mass to-day 
 is that it is performed in all countries in the Latin 
 tongue. Dr. Rock gives as the reason, that, being 
 first originated in Latin (the language of the day and 
 country), and that by the use of St. Peter at Rome, 
 reverence for so august an origin and an aversion to 
 innovation has continued the use, which secures uni- 
 formity in public worship throughout the world and 
 makes the worshipper of whatever clime and tongue 
 feel at home in the Church in every place. Then the 
 preservation of the one language prevents variation 
 in the meaning of terms incident to frequent transla- 
 tions of them, and so is conservative of orthodoxy ; and, 
 moreover, 1 " in the performance of this sacred service 
 no office is assigned to the people. The sacrifice is 
 offered up by the priest in their name and on their 
 behalf. The whole action is between God and the 
 priest. So far is it from being necessary that the 
 
 1 I quote now the exact words of Dr. Rock (see Hierurgia, vol. i. 
 p. 314), though it anticipates what will follow concerning the Roman 
 idea of the nature of the service. 
 
120 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 people shall understand the language of the sacrifice, 
 that they are not allowed even to hear the most 
 important and solemn part of it. . . . They do not act, 
 they do not say the prayers of the priest, they have 
 nothing to do with the actual performance of the 
 Holy Sacrifice." 
 
 Such, then, being the reasons, we understand that 
 peculiarity of the Roman communion which distin- 
 guishes it from that of all other churches, in that its 
 principal service is conducted in a language not 
 " understanded by the people." 
 
 Another peculiarity of the Roman Mass is that all 
 save the officiating priest receive in one species only, 
 that of bread, from the Pope down, i. e., when there is 
 communion of the people, which is by no means uni- 
 versally the case. 
 
 It was only towards the commencement of the twelfth 
 century, according to Rock, that the public administra- 
 tion of the Sacrament in one kind began. It is held 
 that previous to this the administration in private to 
 the sick had been in one species only. But nothing was 
 authoritatively promulgated by the Church concerning 
 this regulation until a. d. 1414, when the Council 
 of Constance (in opposition to Huss, who asserted, 
 contrary to what had been the custom, that the use 
 of the cup was necessary) decreed that the custom of 
 communicating in one kind should be received as law, 
 which no one without the authority of the Church 
 might reject or alter. This decree, among other objects, 
 was meant to buttress and emphasize by a ritual 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 121 
 
 observance the doctrine, afterward decreed by the 
 Council of Trent, under pain of anathema, that " as 
 much is contained under one species as under both ; 
 for Christ whole and entire is under the species of 
 bread, and under any part soever of that species ; 
 likewise the whole Christ is under the species of wine 
 and under the parts thereof." x Earlier (a.d. 492) Pope 
 Gelasius had made a similar dogmatic use of a ritual 
 observance in a contrary direction, by insisting that 
 the communion should be received by all the faithful, 
 under both kinds, in order to confute the Manichasans, 
 who abstained from the cup from superstitious reasons. 2 
 The administration hence now is universally in one 
 kind, though it is a matter of discipline which might be 
 changed, but which is observed as a guard against 
 possible irreverence in spilling of the chalice, and on 
 the principle enunciated by Rock : 3 "In the sacrifice 
 it is by divine institution necessary for the sacrificing 
 priest to consecrate and drink of the chalice in order 
 to complete the sacrifice, — the mystic oblation of 
 Christ's body and the shedding of his blood upon the 
 Cross. In the sacrament this not required of the 
 communicant." And this is confirmed by the words of 
 the Council of Trent, 4 that " the whole and the entire 
 Christ and the true sacrament are taken under either 
 kind, and therefore, as to the fruit, that they who thus 
 receive are deprived of no necessary grace." 
 
 1 See Canons of Council of Trent, sec. xiii. chap. iii. 
 
 2 Rock, Hierurgia, vol. i. p. 285. 
 
 8 Vol. i. p. 288. 4 Sec. xxi. chap. iii. 
 
122 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 The practice of non-communicating attendance at 
 Mass is not ordered or favored by the Council of 
 Trent, nor by the most recent commentators on the 
 Mass. Moehler 1 remarks : " The unseemliness of the 
 congregation no longer communicating every Sunday 
 (as was the case in the primitive Church), and of the 
 priest in the Mass usually receiving alone the Body of 
 the Lord, is not to be laid to the blame of the Church 
 (for all the prayers in the Holy Sacrifice presuppose the 
 sacramental communion of the entire congregation), 
 but it is to be attributed solely to the tepidity of the 
 greater part of the faithful ; yet are the latter earnestly 
 exhorted to participate at least spiritually in the com- 
 munion of the priest, and in this way to enter into the 
 followship of Christ." And this is borne out by the 
 direction of the Council of Trent, 2 which speaks in 
 this wise : " The Sacred and Holy Synod would fain 
 indeed that at each Mass the faithful who are present 
 should communicate, not only in spiritual desire, but 
 also by sacramental participation of the eucharist; . . . 
 but not therefore, if this be not always done, does 
 it condemn, but approves of and commends those 
 Masses in which the priest alone communicates 
 sacrament ally." 
 
 There are many kinds of Masses receiving many 
 names from the objects for which they are celebrated, 
 but they may all be reduced to two kinds, which 
 are in themselves one, namely, High Mass and Low 
 
 1 Symbolism, p. 236. 
 
 2 Sec. xxii. chap. vi. 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 123 
 
 Mass, which are distinguished from each other, not 
 so much by their contents, though they vary a little 
 in subject matter, as by the amount of ceremonial 
 attending their performance. High Mass is sung, 
 and is accompanied with music, many attendants, 
 more splendid vestments, and some additional cere- 
 monies. Pontifical High Mass is a supreme function 
 of this class. The Low Mass is read and is devoid of 
 music, and is altogether a shorter and plainer service. 
 But the variety of Masses, of which I have seen a list 
 of thirty-six, are simply Masses on different occasions 
 and for special needs ; as Requiem Masses for the 
 departed, Nuptial Masses for the newly wedded pair, 
 A Votive Mass, formerly a Mass for some special 
 blessing, temporal or spiritual, though now it means 
 any Mass not of the day. In all these the ordo or 
 Canon of the Mass is fixed and the same, the rest 
 or the Proper of the Mass differs on different occa- 
 sions. In all these services everything is prescribed. 
 There is nothing individual, but all is official in 
 action as well as in expression. The vestments in 
 shape and color, the lights in number and size, the 
 inclinations of head and knees, the motions of the 
 hands and the eyes, all have significance ; and much 
 of this claims a remote antiquity for its origin. Dr. 
 Rock sees the precedent for lights at Mass in the 
 many lights in the upper chamber where St. Paul 
 at Troas preached unto the Brethren as they came 
 together to break bread, and continued his speech until 
 midnight. He remarks that, " The numerous lamps 
 
124 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 particularly noticed here were no doubt employed to 
 give splendor to the sacred institution ; " 2 and claims 
 that the vision of St. John as recorded in the first chap- 
 ter of the Book of Revelation, beginning," I was in the 
 Spirit on the Lord's Day," and speaking of the Seven 
 Golden Candlesticks, was an animated picture " which 
 we may presume either represents the Liturgy as it 
 was then celebrated, or became the model according 
 to which it was afterward arranged " (p. 263). I do not 
 allude to these arguments from Scripture either to 
 fault or favor them, for my province to-day is not 
 that of a critic, or of an expositor, but merely to 
 show that scriptural and apostolic precedent is 
 sought and claimed for all the general and essential 
 features of the Mass, as it is performed to-day. 
 
 To enter into a minute description of the service 
 of the Mass would take more time than the whole 
 hour appointed for this lecture, nor could it seem 
 other than cumbersome, intricate, and unedifying in 
 its detail, unless the doctrine on which it is founded 
 were thoroughly understood. Then it at once be- 
 comes plain and congruous ; and though its varied 
 features were elaborated during a long period, in 
 which stately and splendid ceremonial, as witnessed 
 at the courts of princes and emperors, was deemed 
 the noblest and truest external homage to the King 
 of kings, still these features become intelligible and 
 interpretative of the great idea which underlies the 
 
 1 Rock's Hierurgia, vol. i. p. 263. 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 125 
 
 service. It is not obnoxious to the charge that it is 
 unmeaning. It is clear when the conception of the 
 function is clear. There is not an osculation of the 
 altar, nor a sign of the cross, the lighting of a taper, 
 nor the swinging of a censer, not an attitude, nor a 
 voice, nor a silence, but what has its meaning as an 
 illustration and instrument of the action of which it 
 forms a part. 
 
 In every Mass there is : 1. The Ordinary of the 
 Mass, from the introit (Ps. xlii.) to and including the 
 Sanctus, as well as the oblation and elevation of the 
 Host and the chalice (as yet unconsecrated, but called 
 in the prayer attending Elevation, a sacrifice) ; also 
 the Epistle, Gospel, and Creed with the graduale before 
 the Gospel. 2. The Canon, or words of consecration 
 (which for the bread are, " For this is my body," 
 without the addition " which is given for you " in St. 
 Luke's account ; and for the Cup, " This is the chalice 
 of my blood of the New and Eternal Testament, the 
 mystery of Faith which shall be shed for you and 
 for many for the remission of sins"), and the Eleva- 
 tion of the consecrated Host and chalice, and then 
 follow prayers for living and dead, and the commemo- 
 ration of certain great saints, beginning with the Vir- 
 gin Mary ; then the commixture of a particle of the 
 consecrated Host in the consecrated chalice, with the 
 communion of the priest in both kinds ; after this 
 comes the communion, a short prayer of thanksgiv- 
 ing ; then if there be communicants, they receive. 
 Then follows the post-communion, thanksgiving and 
 
126 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 prayers and benediction, then "ite, rnissa est," and 
 finally the first chapter of St. John's Gospel. 
 
 This rapid survey of the principal words and cere- 
 monies of the Mass gives no adequate idea of the 
 stately and intricate service, which is calculated to 
 impress upon the worshipper the transaction of a 
 transcendent mystery. It is explicable only on the 
 Koman idea of the Church and Sacrament. Let me 
 elucidate this out of their own authors and conciliar 
 decrees. 
 
 The Church is regarded by Rome not chiefly as 
 the authoritative witness to Christ, but rather as his 
 personal embodiment. " In one point of view," says 
 Moehler, 1 " the Church is the living figure of Christ 
 manifesting himself amid and working through all 
 ages, whose atoning and redeeming acts it in conse- 
 quence eternally repeats and uninterruptedly contin- 
 ues. The Redeemer not merely lived eighteen hundred 
 years ago, ... he is, on the contrary, eternally living 
 in his Church, and in the Sacrament of the altar he 
 hath manifested this in a sensible manner to creatures 
 endowed with sense. ... If Christ, concealed under 
 an earthly vail, unfolds to the end of time his 
 whole course of actions begun on earth, he of neces- 
 sity eternally offers himself to the Father as a vic- 
 tim for men ; and the real permanent exposition 
 hereof can never fail in the Church, if the historical 
 Christ is to celebrate in her his entire imperishable 
 existence. . . ". 
 
 1 Symbolism, p. 231. 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 127 
 
 " Christ on the cross has offered the sacrifice for 
 our sins," but " the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is 
 put only for a part of an organic whole. His whole 
 life on earth . . . constitutes one great sacrificial act 
 expiatory of our sins, consisting indeed of various 
 individual parts, yet so that none by itself is, strictly 
 speaking, the sacrifice. . . . The will of Christ to man- 
 ifest his gracious condescension to us in the Eucharist 
 forms no less an integral part of his great work 
 than all besides, and in a way so necessary indeed 
 that . . . without it the other parts would not have 
 sufficed for our complete atonement. . . . Hence the 
 sacramental sacrifice is a true sacrifice — a sacrifice 
 in the strict sense, yet so that it must in no wise be 
 separated from the other things which Christ hath 
 achieved for us. . . . In this last part of the objec- 
 tive sacrifice, the latter becomes subjective and appro- 
 priated to us. Christ on the cross is still an object 
 strange to us ; Christ in the Christian worship is our 
 property, our victim. There he is the universal vic- 
 tim, here he is the victim for us in particular . . . ; 
 there he was only the victim, here he is the victim 
 acknowledged and revered ; there the objective atone- 
 ment was consummated, here the subjective atonement 
 is partly fostered and promoted, partly expressed." 
 "Now the sacrifice appears propitiatory and the 
 Redeemer present enables us to be entirely his own 
 children." " With faith in the real existence of 
 Christ in the Eucharist, the past becomes the present. 
 He is present as that which he actually is and in 
 
128 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the whole extent of his actions, to wit, as the real 
 victim . . . " so that " it is not the interior acts of 
 thanksgiving, adoration and gratitude which it (the 
 Church) offers up to God but it is Christ himself 
 present in Sacrament. " 
 
 These are not simply the words of an individual 
 theologian, but of one eminent for his genius, and ap- 
 proved and sanctioned by Roman theologians. They 
 are the philosophic exposition of the dogmas of the 
 Eoman communion as expressed in the decrees of the 
 Council of Trent, and of the Catechism of that Coun- 
 cil, which is of authority. For, as the following ex- 
 tracts will concisely show, the Church holds to not 
 only the real presence of the flesh and blood of Christ, 
 born of the Virgin Mary, but that in this flesh and 
 blood he is immolated daily on the altar by the priest 
 as his representative, i. e., that in the Eucharist Christ 
 immolates himself on the altar as he once immolated 
 himself on the Cross. 
 
 From the third and fourth chapters of Session 
 Thirteenth of the Canons of the Council of Trent 
 we make these extracts : — 
 
 Ch. III. " Immediately after the consecration the 
 veritable body of the Lord and his veritable blood, 
 together with his soul and divinity, are under the species 
 of bread and wine by the force of the words ; and by 
 the consecration [Ch. IV.] of the bread and of the wine, 
 a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread 
 into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of 
 the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 129 
 
 blood, which conversion is by the Holy Catholic Church 
 suitably and properly called Transubstantiation." 
 
 Also, in Question XXVI. of the Catechism of the 
 Council of Trent (which is of authority), it is stated : 
 
 4 'There are three things which the Catholic faith un- 
 hesitatingly believes and confesses to be accomplished by 
 the words of consecration : 
 
 44 The first is, that the true body of Christ the Lord, 
 the very same that was born of the Virgin and sits at the 
 right hand of the Father in heaven is contained in this 
 sacrament. 
 
 44 The second, that however alien to and remote from 
 the senses it may seem, no substance of the elements re- 
 mains therein. 
 
 44 The third, that the accidents which are discerned by 
 the eyes or perceived by the other senses, exist in a 
 wonderful and ineffable manner, without a subject. All 
 the accidents of bread and wine we indeed may see ; they, 
 however, inhere in no substance, hut exist by themselves; 
 whereas, the substance of the bread and wine are so 
 changed into the very body and blood of the Lord, that 
 the substance of bread and wine altogether ceases to 
 exist." 
 
 And Canon VI. : — 
 
 44 If any one saith that in the Holy Sacrament of the 
 Eucharist the Only begotten Son of God is not to be 
 adored with the worship even external of latria, let him 
 be anathema." 
 
 9 
 
130 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 So much for the real presence, or Transubstantia- 
 tion. In regard to the sacrifice of the Mass, treated 
 in Session Twenty-two of the Council of Trent, we find 
 this statement : — 
 
 Ch. II. " In this Divine Sacrifice which is celebrated 
 in the Mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated 
 in an unbloody manner, who once offered himself in a 
 bloody manner on the altar of the Cross. This sacrifice 
 is truly propitiatory. . . . For the victim is one and the 
 same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, 
 who then offered himself on the cross ; the manner alone 
 of offering being different." 
 
 Therefore Canon III. : — 
 
 " If any one saith that the sacrifice of the Mass is only 
 a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, or that it is a bare 
 commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the Cross, 
 but not a propitiatory sacrifice, or that it profits only him 
 who receives it, and that it ought not to be offered for 
 the living and the dead, for sins, pains, etc., let him be 
 amathema." 
 
 Again in Questions LXXIV., LXXV., and LXXVI. 
 
 of the Catechism of the Council of Trent we find the 
 following : — 
 
 " The sacrifice of the Mass is, and ought to be con- 
 sidered one and the same as that of the Cross, — as the 
 victim is one and the same, namely, Christ our Lord, who 
 immolated himself once only after a bloody manner on 
 the altar of the Cross. For the bloody and unbloody 
 victim are not two victims, but one only — whose sacrifice 
 is daily renewed in the Eucharist." 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 131 
 
 Q. LXXV. " But the Priest also is one and the same, 
 Christ the Lord, for the ministers who offer sacrifice, 
 when they consecrate his body and blood, act not in their 
 own but in the person of Christ . . . and thus represent- 
 ing Christ, he changes the substance of the bread and 
 wine into the true substance of his body and blood." 
 
 Q. LXXYI. " And the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is 
 not a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving only, or a mere 
 commemoration of the sacrifice accomplished on the Cross, 
 but also a truly propitiatory sacrifice, by which God is 
 appeased and rendered propitious towards us . . . We 
 immolate and offer this most holy victim ... As often as 
 the commemoration of this victim is celebrated, so often 
 is the work of our salvation being done." 
 
 This, which might seem to be a literally physical 
 sacrifice, is thus spoken of as a spiritual sacrifice by 
 Dr. Rock 1 : — 
 
 "It (the Mass) is a spiritual sacrifice where the victim, 
 though identically present, still is not observable except- 
 ing to the eye of faith only ; where the sword of the 
 sacrifice is the word of Christ, pronounced by his Minis- 
 tering Priest, aud which works the mystic separation of 
 the body from the blood — where this blood is not poured 
 out or spilled except in mystery, — and where there is no 
 death, except by representation. Still it is a sacrifice, in 
 which Jesus Christ is verily contained and immolated to 
 God under this figure of death." 
 
 In view, then, of such a doctrinal basis is the cere- 
 monial of the Mass illogical ? If the Sacrament is 
 
 1 Hierurgia, p. 254. 
 
132 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Christ's continual reacting of the sacrifice on Calvary, 
 — here mystically as there physically slain — if this 
 is the essential completing and application of that 
 sacrifice to the individual, and if not ruling and 
 reigning, not intercession and benediction, but sacrifi- 
 cial immolation on the altar is Christ's perpetual 
 action for and before his people, is it strange that 
 John Henry Newman should have written thus of this 
 great function to his former brethren of the English 
 Church: 1 — 
 
 " The idea of worship is different in the Catholic Church 
 from the idea of it in your Church, for in truth the re- 
 ligions are different. They differ in kind, not in degree. 
 Ours is one religion, yours is another. It (the Mass) 
 is not a mere form of words, it is a great action. It is 
 not the invocation merely, but (if I dare use the word) 
 the Evocation of the Eternal. He becomes present on 
 the Altar in flesh and blood before whom angels bow and 
 devils tremble. This is that awful event which is the 
 scope and is the interpretation of every part of the solem- 
 nity. Words are necessary, but as means, not ends ; they 
 are not mere addresses to the throne of grace, they are 
 instruments of what is far higher, of consecration, of 
 sacrifice. They hurry on, as if impatient to fulfil their 
 mission. Quickly they go — the whole is quick ; for they 
 are all parts of one integral action. Quickly they go, for 
 they are awful words of sacrifice — they are a work too 
 great to delay upon, as when it was said in the beginning, 
 1 What thou doest, do quickly.' Quickly they pass, for 
 
 1 See Loss and Gain, p. 328. 
 
THE ROMAN LITURGIES 133 
 
 the Lord Jesus goes with them, as he passed along the 
 lake in the days of his flesh, quickly calling first one and 
 then another. Quickly they pass, because as the lightning 
 which shineth from one part of the heaven unto the other, 
 so is the Coming of the Son of Man. Quickly they pass, 
 for they are as the words of Moses, when the Lord came 
 down in the cloud, calling on the name of the Lord as he 
 passed by, ' The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gra- 
 cious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.' 
 And as Moses on the mountain, so we too make haste 
 to bow our heads to the earth and adore. ' So we all 
 around, each in his place, look out for the great advent, 
 waiting for the moving of the water.' Each in his own 
 place, with his own heart, with his own wants, with his 
 own thoughts, with his own intention, with his own 
 prayers, separate but concordant, watching what is going 
 on, watching its progress, uniting in its consummation — 
 not painfully and hopelessly following a hard form of 
 prayer from beginning to end, but like a concert of musi- 
 cal instruments, each different, but concurring in a sweet 
 harmony, we take our part with God's priest, supporting 
 him, yet guided by him. There are little children there, 
 and old men, and simple laborers and students in semi- 
 naries, priests preparing for Mass, priests making their 
 thanksgiving ; there are innocent maidens and there are 
 penitent sinners, but out of these many minds rises one 
 Eucharistic hymn, and the great Action is the Measure 
 and the scope of it." 
 
 With these eloquent words of the great convert of 
 the century, I close this sketch of the origin, growth, 
 and doctrinal significance of the Roman liturgy. 
 
134 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 They depict in glowing language the service which so 
 enchanted his imagination and commanded his faith ; 
 and it is fitting that we should not only see what the 
 Mass means, but understand its appeal to the devout 
 Roman Catholic. 
 
 In this exposition — brief, though I fear too long — 
 of a subject on which volumes and folios have been 
 written almost without number, I have abstained 
 from criticism, for that was not my office ; but as a 
 Protestant minister, addressing Protestant students, 
 I may perhaps be permitted to say, in closing, that, to 
 me, the reading of the simple statements of the Gos- 
 pels in their account of the institution of the Lord's 
 Supper, and of the Epistle to the Hebrews in its treat- 
 ment of the nature and meaning of our Lord's sacri- 
 fice, taken together with the silence of St. Peter, Paul, 
 and James and John concerning any such view of the 
 Eucharist as forms the foundation of the Roman Mass 
 ( which view had they held, it must have appeared and 
 imparted its tone to their writings), in fine, to me, the 
 New Testament, in its voice and in its silence, is the 
 one conclusive argument against the validity of the 
 Roman liturgy. 
 
V 
 THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 
 
 By the Rev. HENRY EYSTER JACOBS, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Professor of Systematic Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran 
 Seminary, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 

THE LITURGIES OF THE LUTHERAN 
 CHURCH 
 
 IN estimating the principles of Christian worship, 
 as they have been applied in the Lutheran 
 Church, the thoroughly conservative character of the 
 Lutheran Reformation must always be kept in mind. 
 Luther did not break abruptly with the past. The 
 movement which claims him as its chief representa- 
 tive was no iconoclastic effort to demolish venerable 
 institutions, as though the entire history and experi- 
 ence of the Church for the preceding fifteen centuries 
 should be expunged. 
 
 The hand of God in the Reformation is not denied, 
 when we trace its course in the true line of the his- 
 torical development of principles inherent in the 
 Church throughout her entire existence. The Lord 
 was never untrue to His promise to be with His 
 people to the end of time. Ever since the day of 
 Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been a living power 
 within them. Side by side the twofold process may 
 be traced, by which, on the one hand, the truth was 
 corrupted, and, on the other, it was continually brought 
 to clearer apprehension and statement. 
 
138 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Had there been no Mediaeval Church, there would 
 have been no Protestant churches. Had there been 
 no Scholastic Theology, there would have been no 
 Theology of the Reformation. The religious experi- 
 ence of Luther was the product of the purest form 
 of the religious life of the Church, as he had received 
 it from his parents and teachers. The evangelical 
 principles were all present, even when the errors 
 which directly contradicted them seemed to be 
 received. More superficial natures could not be so 
 sensitive to the conflict ; but with Luther it was a 
 matter of life or death. If the one class were true, 
 the other was necessarily false. If the one class 
 were to be accepted as bringing life, the other was to 
 be rejected as soul-destroying. Without condemning 
 predecessors, who had not appreciated the extent of 
 the antagonism, he who, in his heart-struggle after 
 certainty of faith, had passed through the severest 
 anguish could not be silent. Nevertheless, even in 
 his protest and open conflict, he was only the true 
 and consistent son of the Church, who always main- 
 tained that his teaching was that of the Catholic 
 Church, and that it was his opponents who had broken 
 with the past. If in the Ninety-ninth of his Theses 
 of Sept. 4th, 1517, on the Scholastic Theology, he 
 declares, " In these statements, we believe that we 
 have said nothing that is not in harmony with the 
 Catholic Church and the Church's teachers," the 
 Augsburg Confession repeats the same statement as 
 the conviction of all the churches that had followed 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 139 
 
 Luther, in the words : " Nothing has been received 
 on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic.'' 
 
 Hence the entire work of Luther and his associates 
 was determined in the liturgical sphere, as in other 
 departments, by constant regard to well-established 
 usage, in so far as this usage was found not to con- 
 flict with New Testament teaching and practice. 
 
 With the public services of the Church of his day, 
 Luther was thoroughly familiar. He knew them 
 long before he knew his Bible. He learned to know 
 Scripture passages through them, long before the 
 entire volume was first opened by him in the library 
 at Erfurt. No one had been more diligent in the 
 observance of the Canonical Hours, — the foundation 
 for the matin and vesper services. From his boy- 
 hood, as a chorister, he had sung their words, until 
 they became a part of his very life. As a most 
 zealous and scholarly monk and priest, he was 
 thoroughly at home in the Mass. His thorough phil- 
 osophical training had accustomed him to a precision 
 in the use of terms, that made the words offered him 
 as the channels of his devotion the subjects of con- 
 stant criticism. He sought to say no more than he 
 meant, and to mean every word that he said. The 
 Book of Psalms, so constantly used in these services, 
 was a favorite subject of study, in which, as his 
 cotemporaries, especially Matthesius, tell us, he 
 weighed carefully and with protracted attention 
 every word. His first lectures, as a theological pro- 
 fessor, consisted in a verbal explanation of the 
 
140 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Psalms, and throughout his succeeding career their 
 fuller treatment was a favorite occupation, even 
 when the din of controversy was raging all around 
 him. The same intellectual habits and spiritual 
 necessities impelled him to a close attention to other 
 parts of the service. The Collects, the Antiphons, 
 the Responsories, the Graduals, the Tracts, were not 
 regarded as mere forms to be perfunctorily sung or 
 repeated, but as Church rites, that were to be used 
 only as they were the expression of Scriptural teach- 
 ing, adapted to the wants of the worshipping congre- 
 gation or of the individual believer. 
 
 In this searching examination of all the prescribed 
 Orders, his faith was refreshed by the preponderantly 
 Augustinian character of the Collects, and the fervor 
 and unction of many of the metrical compositions 
 that were found in Missals and Breviaries, and which 
 were afterwards translated or made the foundation of 
 some of his great hymns. At the same time, the 
 worship of saints, especially the Mariolatry, and the 
 centralizing of the main church service around 
 the so-called Sacrifice of the Mass, were unspeakable 
 abominations. 
 
 In the hope, however, that the protests made against 
 prevalent abuses would yet be heard, and a reforma- 
 tion of the worship, as well as of doctrine and 
 church government, would be accomplished by the 
 regularly appointed authorities, there was consider- 
 able delay in attempting any change. Luther appre- 
 ciated the difficulties before him in transforming the 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 141 
 
 service from a mere spectacle which the people wit- 
 nessed, to one in which, as spiritual priests, they 
 could all participate, and in providing for the change 
 from the Latin to the language of the worshippers. 
 Repeatedly did he express his dread of the extremes 
 into which the people might be led, unless all changes 
 were made with the greatest caution. 
 
 " I have done nothing forcibly or arbitrarily," he 
 says, " neither have I changed old things for new. 
 There are two classes of persons, because of whom I 
 have always hesitated and dreaded a change : first, 
 the weak in faith, from whom a mode of worship, so 
 long and well-established, cannot be suddenly removed, 
 nor for whom can one so recent and unusual be sud- 
 denly introduced ; and, secondly, and especially, 
 the trifling and fastidious spirits, who rush forward, 
 without faith and without intelligence, impelled solely 
 by the love of novelty, and who are weary as soon as 
 the novelty ceases. In other spheres, nothing is more 
 troublesome than this class of men; but in holy 
 things, they are particularly offensive and intolerable. 
 Nevertheless I am forced to bear with them, unless I 
 want the gospel to be entirely suppressed." 
 
 The principles, however, of public worship, accord- 
 ing to which the reformation was to proceed, he 
 outlined as early as 1520, in his " Sermon concerning 
 the New Testament." It is an earnest plea for sim- 
 plicity in all the external regulations of the worship, 
 upon the ground, " the less law, the better justice ; 
 the fewer commandments, the more good works." 
 
142 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 The chief thing in worship is declared to be the Word 
 of God; and man's chief part is not to bring some- 
 thing to God, but to receive what God brings him. 
 " If man is to deal with God and receive anything of 
 Him, the mode of procedure is, not that man makes 
 the beginning and lays the first stone ; but God alone, 
 without any of man's seeking or desire, must first 
 come, and make a promise. This word of God is the 
 first thing, the foundation, and rock, upon which all 
 the works, words and thoughts of man are to be built. 
 This word man is to thankfully receive, and is to 
 confidently believe the divine promise ; and not doubt 
 that it is and shall be precisely as it has been prom- 
 ised." This word of promise is embodied in the 
 Lord's Supper, called " the New Testament in Christ's 
 Blood." Hence, in order that the Lord's Supper be 
 properly used, the words of which it is the seal must 
 be kept in mind and laid to heart. The aim of the 
 entire service is to awaken and confirm in every 
 communicant faith in the redeeming work of Christ, 
 and in its saving application to all who feel them- 
 selves to be sinners. 
 
 It was Carlstadt's radicalism, during Luther's ab- 
 sence at the Wartburg in the winter of 1521-22, that 
 offered the occasion for the revision, that could be 
 delayed no longer. Early in the year 1523, a revised 
 Order was introduced, under his advice, into the 
 Stadtkirche at Wittenberg, and, almost cotempo- 
 raneously, a similar Order appeared at Leisnig in 
 Saxony, whose pastors had obtained from Luther a 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 143 
 
 memorandum, " On the Order of Divine Service in 
 the Congregation." In this paper he asserts, first 
 of all, that, in the reformation of the Church, the 
 provisions for public worship should be treated pre- 
 cisely in the same way as those for the preaching of 
 the Word. As preaching should not be abolished, 
 because of the many defects and abuses in the 
 sermons of unevangelical preachers, but should be so 
 reformed and regulated as to become an efficient 
 means of applying the gospel in its purity, and with 
 the utmost simplicity, to the people, so the current 
 Orders, both of Daily Morning and Evening Service, 
 and of the Sunday Chief Service, were only to be 
 purged of their false teaching and to be readjusted to 
 the highest edification of the worshippers. 
 
 Three abuses, he tells us, have heretofore prevailed : 
 first, the frequent disuse of the sermon, and the con- 
 fining of the service to the reading and singing of its 
 prescribed portions ; secondly, the introduction into 
 what is read, sung, and preached, of much for which 
 there is no foundation in God's Word ; and thirdly, 
 the regarding the service as a meritorious work, by 
 the performance of which man hopes to secure or 
 enjoy more of God's favor. For boys in school, and 
 for all others who in the spirit of Christian Freedom 
 may be disposed to attend, he recommends the con- 
 tinuance of the daily matins and vespers. These 
 services had their value in the fact that from begin- 
 ing to end, in the Psalms, the Responsaries, the Anti- 
 phons, the Chants, and the Lessons, they consisted 
 
144 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 almost entirely of the repetition of the very words of 
 Holy Scripture. The Sunday services, however, are 
 assigned a still higher position, since they claim the 
 presence of the entire congregation. 
 
 The main service was known then as the Mass ; 
 as, to the present day, the same term is employed in 
 the Scandinavian countries, after the designation of 
 the service in the ancient Church, as a Missa cate- 
 chmnenorum and a Missa fidelium. So also the Augs- 
 burg Confession declares : " Falsely are our churches 
 accused of abolishing the Mass ; for the Mass is 
 retained on our part, and celebrated with the highest 
 reverence " (Art. XXI Y.). It was the service held 
 near mid-day on Sundays, in connection with which 
 provision was always made for the administration of 
 the Lord's Supper. All emphasis, in this service, 
 Luther declares, must be placed upon the Word, 
 which then, as well as at the Sunday vespers, must 
 be preached to the whole congregation. At the Mass, 
 the Gospel for the day, and at vespers, the Epistle 
 for the day is to be expounded, unless the preacher 
 prefer to preach upon particular books of the Bible 
 consecutively. At the former service, the Lord's 
 Supper is to be administered to those desiring it. 
 
 The principles thus laid down were more fully 
 elaborated in his Formula Missce, written a few 
 months later. The Mass and the Communion, he 
 declares, are rites that were instituted by Christ 
 himself. Both under Christ, and afterwards under 
 the Apostles, they were observed with extreme simpli- 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 145 
 
 city. Afterwards so many additions had been made 
 that, besides the name, scarcely anything of the Mass 
 and communion had come down to our times. After 
 an historical examination of the various additions, he 
 considers what parts of the Mass may still be re- 
 tained. The reading and chanting of the Psalms, 
 the Kyrie, the Gospels and Epistles for the day, the 
 Gloria in Uxcelsis, the Graduals, the Hallelujah, 
 the Nicene Creed, the Sanctus, the Agnus Dei, etc., 
 are accepted, as contributing to edification, provided 
 they be not required as essentials ; that is, as com- 
 manded by God, but only as useful ecclesiastical forms. 
 " If different men use different rites," he says, " let not 
 the one judge or despise the other, but let every one 
 abound in that which is according to his judgment. 
 Even though we practise diverse rites, let us hold to 
 the same thing ; and let the rites employed by one 
 please the other, so that our diversity of rites may 
 not be followed by diversities of opinions and of 
 sects. For the kingdom of God consists in no par- 
 ticular rite, but in the faith that is within/' With 
 characteristic severity he attacks the prevalent 
 thought in the " Canon of the Mass," which had 
 perverted the Holy Supper jito the offering of the 
 body of Christ for the sins of the living and the dead. 
 The central truth, which the Lord's Supper was in- 
 tended to proclaim and seal, was thus utterly denied. 
 Each element of the Service is then separately criti- 
 cised. Instead of the Introits, he preferred the chant- 
 ing of the entire Psalms from which they had been 
 
 10 
 
146 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 taken. In the use of the Kyrie, the music should 
 vary according to the season of the Church Year. The 
 use of the Gloria in Hxcelsis was recommended ; but 
 was left to the discretion of the bishop. So Scriptural 
 are the Collects, that they commend themselves; 
 nevertheless, reverting to the Gregorian usage, he 
 directs that not more than one be used at one time. 
 The selection of lessons from the Epistles he criticises 
 for their preponderance of legal elements, styles their 
 compiler a " remarkably ignorant man," and hopes for 
 an ultimate revision which will introduce selections 
 from St. Paul touching the doctrine of faith. The 
 suppression of the Hallelujah at Lent, and at other 
 penitential seasons, he disapproves, as this is contrary 
 to the joyful spirit of the Gospel. Even when under 
 the cross, the child of God should be ready to sing 
 songs of triumphant thanksgiving. Hallelujah enim 
 vox perpetua est Ecelesiaz. Much thought was given 
 to the proper position of the sermon. Nor, on this 
 subject, did he come altogether into the clear. He 
 suggested, as a very appropriate place, that it intro- 
 duce the Service, and thus directly precede the Introit. 
 " For the Gospel is a vox damans in deserto et vocans 
 ad fidem infideles." 
 
 In the year 1524, Dr. John Bugenhagen, Luther's 
 colleague, and pastor at Wittenberg, embodied these 
 principles in a pamphlet with the title : " Of the 
 Evangelical Mass : what the Mass is, how and by 
 whom and wherefore it was instituted ; also how it is 
 to be heard, and the Holy Sacrament received," and 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 147 
 
 containing, as its third part, "An Order for the 
 Evangelical Mass, translated from the Latin." The 
 succession of parts is retained, as in Luther's Formula; 
 but after the Epistle a direction is given that a Psalm 
 translated into German, or a German hymn concern- 
 ing Christ, is to be sung. A formula for " Con- 
 fession " and a " Declaration of Grace " before the 
 Service is also provided. The express statement is 
 given that this Order must not be regarded as a law, 
 but its use must be left free. 
 
 The Strassburg Kirchen-Amt of the same year, pre- 
 pared by Kopphel, also introduces a Confessional 
 Prayer, to be used by the congregation while kneel- 
 ing, followed by the words : " This is a faithful say- 
 ing, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners ; of whom I am 
 chief." This is followed by Introit, Kyrie, Gloria in 
 Uxcelsis, Salutation and Collect, etc., as in the old 
 Orders. 
 
 Cotemporaneously appeared an Order for the 
 churches of St. Sebald and St. Lawrence at Niirnberg 
 (Dober's Mass), following the same arrangement of 
 parts, except that, instead of the Introit, a German 
 hymn paraphrasing a psalm may be sung, while the 
 minister enters the church. Instead of isolated selec- 
 tions from the Gospels and Epistles as found in the 
 pericopes, a preference is expressed for the lectio con- 
 tinua of these two portions of the New Testament. 
 
 In 1526, another classical liturgical treatise was 
 published by Luther in his Deutsche Messe. The use 
 
148 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 of the vernacular in the public worship is especially 
 urged. God is to be addressed by the worshippers 
 only in such language as they themselves understand. 
 But wherever a language is intelligible to the congre- 
 gation or a portion of it, whether that language be 
 German or Latin, its use is appropriate. "Were I 
 able/' he says, " and the Greek and Hebrew were as 
 common as the Latin, and had in them as much fine 
 music and song, as the Latin has, Mass should be cele- 
 brated, one Sunday after another, in all four lan- 
 guages, — German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew." Luth- 
 er's hymns, therefore, have their origin in his efforts to 
 translate and popularize the church service. Instead 
 of mere spectators and listeners, he sought to make 
 the people actual participants in the worship. Psalms, 
 Canticles, Graduals, and even the Creed, that had 
 heretofore been chanted by those trained for the pur- 
 pose, were paraphrased into German verse, and set to 
 familiar or easy tunes. Within the single year, 1524, 
 the most of Luther's hymns were written. Their aim 
 was not so much to supplement as to popularize the 
 service. Even the Ten Commandments appeared in 
 verse, each stanza ending with the Kyrie. Instead of 
 the Introit, a versified paraphrase of a psalm, in Ger- 
 man, was often sung. Nun bitten wir den Heiligen 
 Geist was a popular adaptation of the Gradual, while 
 the Nicene Creed appeared in Wir glauben all an einen 
 Gott. A paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer was the 
 first form of the prayer after the sermon. 
 
 As time progressed, there was a similar reforma- 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 149 
 
 tion of the service in every principality of Germany 
 that had accepted the Lutheran faith. The princi- 
 ples laid down by Luther in his Formula Missoe and 
 Deutsche Messe were consistently applied ; and that, 
 too, with the assertion of Christian Freedom in justi- 
 fying diversities according to circumstances of time 
 and place. 
 
 The Lutheran Church has peculiar capacities for 
 adaptation to diverse gifts, and degrees of culture, 
 and preferences of men, with respect to the externals 
 of worship. Laying all stress upon unity in faith and 
 confession, it is thankful that it is able to express 
 this one faith in so many diversified forms both of 
 government and cultus. What is often regarded as 
 the very strictest of the Lutheran Confessions de- 
 clares : " We believe, teach, and confess that no 
 Church should condemn another, because one has 
 less or more external ceremonies, not commanded by 
 God, than the other, if otherwise there be agreement 
 among them in doctrine, and all its articles, as well 
 also as in the right use of the Holy Sacraments " 
 (Formula of Concord, chap. x.). Lutheranism knows 
 how to discriminate between what is desirable and 
 what is essential. Uniformity in worship, if attain- 
 able, is often highly desirable ; but there are greater 
 questions at stake than that of mere external con- 
 formity to a given model. Augusti, accordingly, has 
 stated that no less than one hundred and thirty-two 
 Lutheran orders were published between 1523 and 
 1555. Nevertheless this does not indicate general 
 
150 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 confusion. In every respect, many of these orders 
 are identical, and may be regarded as substantial 
 reprints. A very few became the standards, which 
 some with more, and others with less, revision, fol- 
 lowed. They have been classified according to three 
 distinct types : — 
 
 1. The Ultra Conservative, where the effort is the 
 greatest to reproduce the Mediaeval Service, with only 
 such changes as seem to be imperatively demanded 
 for doctrinal reasons. Of this type, the Mark-Bran- 
 denburg Order of 1540, the Pfalz-Neuburg of 1543, 
 and the Austrian of 1571, are types. In the first of 
 these, the chants are sung in Latin ; the prayers 
 are made in German; the Gospel and Epistle are 
 first chanted in Latin, and then read in German, 
 with the preface : " This is the Epistle, beloved, which 
 you have heard sung in Latin." In the consecration, 
 both the bread and the cup are elevated cum modica 
 inclinations. The words of Institution and the Lord's 
 Prayer are sung in German ; while, following the 
 Agnus Dei, are three Collects, said in Latin, for the 
 forgiveness of sins. The service ends with a German, 
 followed by a Latin, Collect. The latter is subject to 
 the just criticism of transcending the Lutheran doc- 
 trine of the Real Presence, by the use of language 
 that, even if though meant in a figurative sense, 
 admits of the interpretation of a permanent union 
 between the bread and the body of Christ, and of that 
 Capernaitic eating thereof, which the Lutheran Church 
 afterwards confessionally repudiated in the Formula 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 151 
 
 of Concord : " Quod nos peccatores sumpsimus et calix 
 quern potavimus adhcereat visceribus nostris, et prcesta 
 ut ibi nulla remaneat peccati macula, ubi tarn pura et 
 saneta introierunt sacramental The Pfalz-Neuburg 
 Order follows the Mark-Brandenburg in this. 
 
 While in 1539, Luther declares his indifference as 
 to the extent to which external conformity with Roman 
 ceremonies may be carried, provided only that the 
 gospel be purely preached, the sacraments be prop- 
 erly administered, and no invocation of saints, or con- 
 secration of holy water, or Masses for the dead, or 
 sacramental processions be admitted, nevertheless, at 
 other times, he speaks freely concerning his appre- 
 hensions as to whither merely archaistic tendencies 
 may lead. Problems were presented by the Leipzig 
 Interim of 1548, concerning which the Formula of 
 Concord had to make a definite statement as to the 
 limitations with which ceremonies should be regarded 
 as mere adiaphora. Rites which, of themselves, are 
 matters of indifference, may become marks or badges 
 of a false Confession. Times there are when it 
 makes a difference whether we wear a blue or an 
 orange ribbon, a white or a red rose, though this of 
 itself be an adiaphoron. " We believe, teach and 
 confess," says the Confession just cited, "that, in 
 time of persecution, when a bold confession is re- 
 quired of us, we should not yield to the enemies in 
 regard to such adiaphora. . . . For in such case, it is 
 no longer a question concerning adiaphora, but con- 
 cerning the truth of the gospel, Christian Liberty and 
 
152 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 sanctioning open idolatry, as also concerning the pre- 
 vention of offence to the weak, in which we have 
 nothing to concede, but must boldly confess, and 
 then suffer whatever God allows the enemies of His 
 Word to inflict upon us." 
 
 2. The Conservative type, following the principles 
 set forth by Luther in his liturgical treatises. The 
 general structure of the Gregorian Order which under- 
 lies the Latin Mass is here retained, but with impor- 
 tant changes and adaptations. Of these, the most 
 influential, probably, was the Brandenburg-Niirnberg, 
 prepared by Osiander and Brentz in 1538, and revised 
 by the Wittenberg Faculty. The Orders prepared by 
 Bugenhagen for a number of States and cities in 
 Northern Germany, as Brunswick (1528), Hamburg 
 (1529), Liibeck (1531), Pomerania (1535) ; the Han- 
 over Order (1586), prepared by Regius ; and the Order 
 prepared in 1536 for Duke Henry of Saxony by Justus 
 Jonas, belong to the same class. So also do the 
 Swedish Order, and the Danish Order, prepared by 
 Bugenhagen. Another most important Order of this 
 type was the one prepared by Melanchthon and Bucer 
 in 1547 for Archbishop Hermann in his proposed 
 Reformation of Cologne. It was based upon the 
 Brandenburg-Niirnberg Order, and, although never 
 introduced, lives in the Prayer Book of the Church of 
 England, through the first Prayer Book of Edward VI., 
 which drew largely upon it, and which we claim as 
 one of the members of this group of Lutheran liturgies. 
 
 3. The liturgies of Southwest Germany, the Bran- 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 153 
 
 denburg-Niirnberg excepted. Wbile Lutheran in doc- 
 trine, they show the influence of the earlier efforts of 
 Dr. John Brentz, the Wiirtemberg reformer, in the 
 revision of the service, in which he had less regard 
 for historical precedents than at a later period. With 
 all his endeavors afterwards, to conform the Wiirtem- 
 berg Orders to the type that had been established in 
 Saxony, the most he could do was to effect a com- 
 promise. These liturgies are recognized, therefore, 
 as mediating between the Lutheran and Reformed 
 types. They assume a fixed form in The greater 
 Wiirtemburg Order of 1553, providing for two orders, 
 one for communion days, and the other for other 
 occasions. On communion days, the order is : 1. 
 Hymn to the Holy Spirit, a German Psalm, or any 
 hymn suitable to the time. 2. Sermon, followed by 
 the General Prayer. 3. Creed (German). 4. Admoni- 
 tion concerning the Lord's Supper. 5. Brief prayer 
 read. 6. Chanting of the Lord's Prayer. 7. Words 
 of Institution. 8. Administration, a hymn being sung 
 while communicants go to the altar. 9. Prayer of 
 thanksgiving. 10. Patriarchal Benediction. For other 
 Sundays : 1. A Latin Introit or a German Hymn. 
 2. Sermon. 3. Reading of the General Prayer. 4. 
 Psalm or Hymn. 5. Benediction. Some elements 
 are omitted in the enumeration, clearly because the 
 pastors were assumed to understand that they were 
 inseparable from elements that are mentioned, as, for 
 example, the reading of the Gospel, before the sermon. 
 Here the responsive features of the service have 
 
154 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 vanished, except that the Litany may be used for the 
 General Prayer, or at special services on appointed 
 days. 
 
 In all these Orders, however, even in those of the 
 first class, provision is made for a considerable degree 
 of flexibility, by express directions in the Kubrics, 
 that, in the country churches and villages, a much 
 simpler form might be followed, without destroying 
 the organism of the worship, while a more elaborate 
 rendering of the service was desirable in the cities, 
 where the necessary musical resources were accessible. 
 In thus seeking to adapt the principles of the service 
 to the conditions of the people, while at the same 
 time preserving all its parts, Bugenhagen's Order 
 provides for no less than seven hymns, as Introit, 
 Gloria in Uxcelsis, and Agnus Dei assume a hymnal 
 form. 
 
 Underlying the Lutheran conception of the service 
 are certain principles, necessary to be kept in mind 
 in order to appreciate the mutual relations of its 
 several parts. All true worship is the communion of 
 man with God, in response to an assurance of favor 
 and a divine invitation encouraging such approach. 
 Upon some word and promise of God every prayer 
 must rest. Two factors, therefore, are found in all 
 true worship ; namely, the divine invitation and the 
 human response. God is ever graciously giving, and 
 man is ever thankfully receiving. The former is the 
 sacramental, and the latter the sacrificial, element of 
 worship. A clear statement of this distinction is made 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 155 
 
 by Melanchthon in the Apology of the Augsburg Con- 
 fession. 1 The sacramental element is not limited to 
 the two Sacraments, but, in a general sense, comprises 
 every act in which God brings man a blessing, and 
 thus belongs to the preaching and reading of the 
 Word, as well as to Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 A sacrifice, however, is any act whereby man brings 
 something to God, in order to afford Eim honor. 
 Sacrifices are of two kinds. The propitiatory sacri- 
 fice, whereby God's wrath is appeased and His favor 
 gained, is found only in the sacrifice of Christ for us 
 on the Cross. But eucharistic sacrifices of prayer, 
 praise, and thanksgiving are to be continual, offered 
 by those who, through the one propitiatory sacrifice 
 once offered, are reconciled to God. 
 
 Examining the three main types of Christian 
 worship, it is claimed that these three factors, 
 the sacramental, the propitiatory-sacrificial, and the 
 eucharistic-sacrificial, distinguish three forms of Chris- 
 tianity. Romanism, and, to a less degree, Greek 
 Catholicism, obscure or deny the doctrine of the 
 completion of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary as the 
 sole propitiation for our sins. The worship centres, 
 therefore, around the Bloodless Sacrifice of Christ in 
 the Mass, for the sins of the living and the dead. 
 By being converted into a sacrifice, the sacramental 
 force of the Lord's Supper is lost. The assurance of 
 forgiveness, of which it is the pledge, has vanished. 
 
 1 Booh of Concord (Jacobs), i. 262. 
 
156 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 God no longer is recognized as approaching His people 
 with the words of pardon and comfort. But instead, 
 the priest, in order to shelter the people from the 
 divine wrath, offers the body of Christ to an angry 
 and as yet unappeased God. Nor in the Holy Supper 
 do we find, according to this conception, a divine act ; 
 but Masses are multiplied, as works whereby man 
 brings something to God. 
 
 The Reformed and Lutheran conceptions of the 
 public service are alike based upon a combination of 
 the thought of the eucharistic sacrifice with that of 
 the sacrament. The proportion, however, is different ; 
 or there is a variation in the side emphasized. The 
 question involved is, as to whether the main end be 
 the rendering to God of the sincere offering of grate- 
 ful hearts, or the receiving of God's riches of forgiv- 
 ing, renewing, enlightening, and strengthening grace. 
 Are the hearing of God's Word and the reception of 
 the Holy Supper chiefly incentives to prayer and 
 praise ? Or do prayer and praise only prepare for 
 and accompany Word and Sacrament, and help us to 
 receive them ? Is the Lord's Supper principally an 
 act whereby man professes his faith, or one whereby 
 God comes, with a peculiar blessing, to man ? Which 
 part of the minister's duty is the more important, — 
 that whereby he stands before God as the leader of 
 the congregation, or that whereby he stands before 
 the congregation as the representative of God ? 
 
 According to the Lutheran conception, the sacra- 
 mental is the main element. Not the prayers and 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 157 
 
 chants and hymns of the people, or even the word of 
 the pastor, testifying from the depth of his Christian 
 experience, but the Word of God, is itself the chief 
 part of every service. The reading and repeating of 
 this Word have a sacramental force ; as with the 
 Word, and only through the Word, comes the divine 
 blessing. The Lord's Supper is no sacrifice that the 
 worshipper offers, or that any priest offers for him. 
 He thanks God for the sacrifice made for him, once 
 for all, ages ago, when his Lord declared : " It is 
 finished.'' Of this complete redemption he finds a 
 sure pledge in the gift to him, with the bread and 
 wine, of the very Body and Blood that have paid the 
 price for his sins, and bought him back from the 
 bondage of Satan to the sonship of God. Luther, in 
 expounding the true character of the Lord's Supper 
 as a sacrament of the New Testament, says in his 
 sermon concerning the New Testament of 1520 : 
 " A testament receives no benefit from us ; but brings 
 a benefit to us. Who ever heard of a man doing a 
 good work by receiving a testament ? Man does 
 nothing but take to himself the benefit that is offered. 
 In the Lord's Supper, therefore, we give Christ noth- 
 ing ; but only receive from Him the blessing." 
 
 The entire life of the service is dependent upon the 
 reciprocal action of these two elements ; just as the 
 life of the body continues by the twofold process of 
 inhalation and expiration. God speaks. Man re- 
 sponds ; and then God speaks again. In the eucha- 
 ristic sacrifice the heart turns to God, and opens 
 
158 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 for the blessing, which is immediately followed by 
 the word of divine grace. But no sooner is the 
 blessing received than it immediately awakens new 
 emotions. The heart overflows with gratitude, with 
 the sense of unworthiness of the blessings received, 
 and with the desire for closer union with God, and a 
 more worthy service of so gracious a benefactor. 
 The expression of this is another eucharistic act, 
 to which God responds in a new blessing. 
 
 Thus the entire service is a conversation between 
 God and man ; a continual giving and receiving. 
 Now the pastor acts as the representative of the 
 people before God, when he leads their prayers ; and 
 then, as the representative of God to the people, as 
 he reads or proclaims the Word, or administers the 
 sacrament. Now the people exercise the function of 
 their spiritual priesthood, in their united hymns and 
 prayers, — the eucharistic act ; and then, again, stand 
 and speak in God's name, as, in their responses, they 
 announce to one another the consolations and admo- 
 nitions of God's Word, — the sacramental act. 
 
 So also the various parts of the service are directed 
 towards a common end. The entire plan of salva- 
 tion, from its beginnings in the counsels of eternity to 
 its completion in the new heavens and the new earth, 
 is gradually unfolded. A portion of the service, like 
 the needs of the Christian life and their supply, is 
 permanent; while another portion is variable with 
 the change of times and seasons ; yet so as to present 
 each year (such, at least, is the aim) the leading 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 159 
 
 features of the life of Christ, all the doctrines of the 
 Christian faith, and all the duties of the Christian 
 life. Not in advance was this organism of the ser- 
 vice determined. Gradually and spontaneously it 
 emerged from the experience of believers, as, from 
 generation to generation, they assembled to hear and 
 worship. Even where a fixed liturgy is discarded, 
 or no attention is given to any scientific expression of 
 principles, it reappears, without law or prescription, as 
 to its main features, from the necessities of a common 
 religious experience. 
 
 The ideal of congregational worship in the minds of 
 the Lutheran reformers could not be realized within a 
 single generation. Luther's introduction to the Small 
 Catechism (1529) may be read, if we desire to learn 
 the standard of intelligence and the extent of the 
 religious knowledge among the most of the congrega- 
 tions with which they had to deal. A people unaccus- 
 tomed to participate in the service were to be gradually 
 trained to be more than mere spectators who " attended 
 Mass." This had to be accomplished without hymn or 
 prayer-book in their hands as to-day. The time was 
 in the Lutheran Church when a book, even of hymns, 
 in the hands of a member of the congregation was 
 regarded as formalism. All hymns that were to be 
 sung, it was thought, should be committed to memory, 
 in order that men could sing from the heart what had 
 first been learned by heart. 
 
 But before the complete revision of the service 
 throughout the Lutheran churches of Germany could 
 
160 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 be attained, a new period came. Scholastic Luther- 
 anism burdened the service with labored attempts 
 at dogmatical precision of statement. Gradually 
 the freshness and warmth of the sixteenth century 
 vanish. The overwhelming preponderance of what 
 was purely didactic in sermon, prayer, and hymn 
 hinders the free movement between the sacramental 
 and sacrificial elements. Then came the scourge of 
 the Thirty Years' War, reducing the population of 
 Germany to one fourth, and devastating alike city and 
 country in many regions where the Lutheran faith 
 was most unequivocally confessed. Then came Piet- 
 ism, with its standard of what subserves the purposes 
 only of individual and temporary devotion. The Com- 
 mon Prayer and common testimony of the Church were 
 overshadowed by the individuality of the one who 
 professed to lead the devotions. Then came Rational- 
 ism, which regarded sermon and service purely with 
 respect to moral ends, and not as a means of the 
 united communion of the children of God with their 
 Heavenly Father, upon the ground solely of their 
 redemption, as lost sinners, by the blood of Christ. 
 No wonder that the orders of the sixteenth century 
 were depreciated by those whose preaching was di- 
 rectly contradicted by their Scriptural teaching. 
 
 Both in Germany and America, during the last 
 half century, there has been a widespread return to 
 these orders, accompanied with the recognition of the 
 necessity of certain adaptations to circumstances of 
 time and place. In so doing, the Lutheran Church in 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 161 
 
 America has only reverted in the liturgical sphere, as 
 she has generally done in the confessional sphere, to 
 the foundations laid by her great organizer, Henry 
 Melchior Muhlenberg, — a man who united the best 
 elements of Pietism with thorough fidelity to the 
 Lutheran Confessions, and who, as a Hanoverian, 
 came from a portion of Germany where the Lutheran 
 service of the Reformation period had been retained 
 in its purity. At the first meeting of the first Luth- 
 eran Synod in America in 1748, an Order, prepared 
 by him, was adopted, which, when the condition of 
 the Lutheran churches of that period is considered, is 
 remarkable for its fidelity to liturgical principles. 
 The order is : A hymn to the Holy Spirit ; an exhor- 
 tation to Confession ; the Confession of Sins ; the 
 Kyrie ; a versified paraphrase of the Gloria in Ex- 
 celsis ; Salutation and Collect for the day ; Epistle for 
 the day, followed by a hymn ; Gospel for the day ; 
 Paraphrase of the Creed, in verse ; Sermon ; General 
 Prayer, according to a prescribed form, than which 
 " nothing else shall be read," save only that the Lit- 
 any may be used instead, followed by special supplica- 
 tions, as circumstances suggest ; the Lord's Prayer ; 
 Hymn ; closing Collect ; Benediction ; Hymn verse. 
 
 In 1783, Muhlenberg expressed his great desire that 
 all the Lutheran congregations in North America 
 should be united with one another, and use the same 
 Order of Service and same Hymn Book. Within the 
 last decade, all the so-called General Bodies of the 
 Lutheran Church in this country, upon the motion of 
 
 ll 
 
162 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the United Synod of the South, have either adopted 
 or indorsed the " Common Service,"- — an order em- 
 bodying the consensus of the pure Lutheran liturgies 
 of the sixteenth century. " The aim has been," we 
 quote from an official statement, " to furnish the full 
 Lutheran service for all who wish to use it. But if, 
 at any time or place, the use of the full service is im- 
 practicable or undesired, it is not contrary to Lutheran 
 principles or usage to follow a simple form, in which 
 only the principal parts of the Common Service, in 
 their order, are retained.'' 
 
 Briefly following the various parts of this " Com- 
 mon Service," the Confession of Sins, with which it 
 opens, is demanded by the necessities of the Christian 
 heart. For the very first thought that arises, as we 
 come into the Divine Presence, is that of the contrast 
 between God's holiness and our sinfulness. In the 
 Orders that were followed, it is, indeed, true that the 
 weight of authorities would have begun the service 
 with the Introit. But this occurred, where there was 
 a confessional service, late on the preceding evening 
 (Beicht- Vesper), or early in the morning before the 
 chief service began. The absence of a confession, 
 where these subordinate services do not occur, would 
 have been a violation of the principle. Accordingly 
 after the example of Bugenhagen's Order and the Stras- 
 burg Order (both 1524), and the Brand enburg-Nurn- 
 berg (1533), the private prayers that, before this, were 
 prescribed for the use of the priest, as he came to 
 the altar, were adapted to the general wants of all 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 163 
 
 present, and made the prayer of the entire con- 
 gregation. 
 
 But when The Confession has been made, the heart 
 yearns for some assurance of forgiveness. Hence it 
 is followed by a Declaration of Grace, announcing in 
 three sentences the mercy of God in the gift of His 
 Son, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and the institution 
 of the means of grace, and praying that what God has 
 thus provided may be savingly enjoyed by all present. 
 This declaration differs from an absolution in two re- 
 spects, since the absolution is administered to an 
 individual, and not to an entire congregation ; and, 
 secondly, the absolution is not the prayer for forgive- 
 ness, but the absolute impartation of God's pardoning 
 grace to a penitent and believing man. 
 
 Joyful in the consciousness of the love of God thus 
 pledged, the congregation can now enter upon what is 
 properly The Service. As each Sunday presents its 
 peculiar message of divine grace, and has its pecul- 
 iar part of the plan of salvation to unfold, it is the 
 office of the Introit to announce the main thought of 
 the day. Many of the Sundays are known by the 
 opening words of the Introit. Thus we have in Lent, 
 Invocavit, Reminiscere, Oculi etc., and after Easter, 
 Quasimodogeniti, Misericordias, Jubilate, Cantate, Ro- 
 gate. The Introits, in their present form, appear 
 first in the Gregorian Order. They have their origin 
 however, in the Psalms, with which not only in the 
 Apostolic Church, but also in the synagogues, the 
 services began. Two parts belong to every Introit : 
 
164 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 first, the scriptural words announcing the thought of 
 the day, generally taken from the Psalms, and rendered 
 at first antiphonally ; and, secondly, the psalm verse, 
 which is generally the first verse of a psalm, that 
 probably was once sung throughout when thus an- 
 nounced. Then followed the Gloria Patri, which 
 belongs to the Introit, because taken from the Psalms. 
 The Gloria Patri, as used in our church services, at 
 the close of every psalm, shows that the psalms have 
 acquired a new meaning in the light of the gospel, and 
 that we use them not as Jews, but as Christians. 
 
 But no sooner has the Gloria Patri been called 
 forth in gratitude for what has been heard in the 
 psalm, than there once more arises in man's heart the 
 sense of his sinfulness and un worthiness. As even 
 the apostle who had leaned on Jesus' breast fell as 
 dead at the manifestation of the divine glory in the 
 beginning of the Apocalypse, so the devout worshipper, 
 after learning of God's favor, remembers that, even 
 though he be a forgiven child of God, rejoicing in the 
 consciousness of his sonship, nevertheless he still lives 
 upon earth, and sin still exists within and around 
 him. Hence there arises the plaintive Kyrie, Eleieson 
 (" Lord, have mercy upon us ; ' Christ, have mercy upon 
 us ; ' Lord, have mercy upon us "), which is not simply 
 a Trinitarian formula, but which looks back towards 
 the fountain of all mercy as existing before the world, 
 then to its historical manifestation in time ; and 
 finally, through all the stages of applying grace, to its 
 full fruition in the world to come. 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 165 
 
 Then, as always in the Christian life, the cry for 
 mercy is succeeded by the triumphant celebration of 
 what we are and have in Christ, as the Gloria in 
 Uxcelsis is chanted, — a hymn of which Luther de- 
 clared : " It did not grow ; nor was it made on earth ; 
 it came down from heaven." In it, the spirit of 
 devotion, under the electric thrill of intense feeling, 
 has blended many Scriptural passages, so that every 
 clause of this, the greater Gloria, uses a new Scriptural 
 phrase as the vehicle of its adoration and worship. 
 It is truly termed a summary of all the hymns of 
 thanksgiving and praise, both in this world and the 
 world to come, that follow the contemplation of 
 God's glory in the incarnation of Christ. May not its 
 foundation be " the hymn to Christ as Cod " which 
 the famous letter of Pliny to Trajan says that the 
 early Christians chanted in their early morning 
 worship ? 
 
 The first part of the service, thus concluded by the 
 Gloria in Excelsis, is chiefly sacrificial ; for it con- 
 sists mainly of prayer, praise and thanksgiving. 
 The second part is chiefly sacramental ; for in it, 
 God approaches man with His Word, to bestow His 
 blessing. The worshippers, before active, now be- 
 come receptive. The transition, however, is gradual. 
 Wherever God comes to men with His Word, they 
 meet His approach with prayer. Hence the reading 
 of the Word is preceded by a Collect. In uniting in 
 the Collect, the pastor first prays for the people in the 
 Salutation, and the people, for the pastor in the re- 
 
166 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 sponse: And with Thy Spirit; and then their com- 
 bined petition arises in the brief and condensed 
 language of these simple, but at the same time pro- 
 found and comprehensive, prayers, through which the 
 children of God have, for ages, been carrying to the 
 throne of Grace the deepest felt aspirations of their 
 hearts. That the most of them are a thousand years 
 earlier than the Reformation, and cannot be claimed 
 as the exclusive property of the Lutheran Church, 
 only renders them the more precious to us. While 
 drawn chiefly from the Leonine (a. d. 440), Gelasian 
 (a. d. 492), and Gregorian (a. d. 596) sacramentaries, 
 they were embodied there as formulas already ap- 
 proved, and we may, therefore, assume that some of 
 them are much older than the book in which we first 
 find them. Most clear and vivid expressions of the 
 Augustinian theology, they adopt, at times, the very 
 language of the great expounder of the doctrines of 
 the utter nothingness of man, and the sovereignty of 
 divine grace. Some of the very oldest came forth 
 from a period when the Nestorian controversy was 
 still fresh, and the Church gave the simplest and 
 most direct expression to the doctrine of incarna- 
 tion, with its unfathomable depths, upon which its mind 
 had been greatly exercised. Their deep spirituality 
 is the reflection of a period, when the vanity of earthly 
 things was especially impressed by the decay of the 
 Roman Empire, the inroads of the barbarians, the 
 growing insecurity, the siege, the capture, the pillage 
 of Rome itself, and when, where all was confusion 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 167 
 
 and desolation, men turned to God, and found in Him 
 that peace which the world could not give. 
 
 After the Collect, come the Scripture Lessons, where 
 the practice of the ancient Church is retained in chang- 
 ing the synagogue lessons of the Law and the Prophets 
 into those of the Epistle, the New Testament Law, 
 and the Gospel, the fulfilment of the prophets. The 
 selections themselves are those which the Reformers 
 found already made for them. But various portions 
 of the Lutheran Church have guarded against exces- 
 sive rigidity in their use, by providing schemes of 
 supplementary and even alternative lessons. So well- 
 adapted, however, are the Gospels for the day to the 
 end of presenting, in methodical order, within the 
 year, the chief events of our Lord's life on earth, and 
 the words which he left to be proclaimed, that they 
 have a hold upon the hearts of the people which, 
 without the urgency of any ecclesiastical regulation, 
 creates the demand that they be, in general, followed, 
 and renders any system of instruction unpopular 
 among us, that attempts to completely revolutionize 
 this order. 
 
 The Sermon is the application of the Word that is 
 read. The lessons are not determined by the sermon 
 that is to be preached ; but the sermon that is to be 
 preached is, as a rule, determined by the lessons. 
 The sermon is supplementary and subordinate to the 
 reading of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 But, before proceeding to the sermon, and dwelling 
 upon the one particular aspect of truth and duty pre- 
 
168 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 sented by the day, in the repetition of The Creed, a 
 survey is first taken of the entire scope of Christian 
 doctrine. While theoretically the preference is given 
 to the Nicene Creed, as the regula fidei of the ancient 
 Church, nevertheless, in general usage, except, on the 
 Chief Festivals and Communion Sundays, it gives 
 place to the Apostles' Creed, as that which is better 
 adapted to popular use. Following it, is a hymn, 
 known as " the Hymn" of the service, as it is intended 
 to particularly express the thought of the Lessons. 
 
 While, as a rule, the Sermon is upon the Gospel or 
 Epistle for the day, free texts are often used as cir- 
 cumstances may suggest or the edification of the con- 
 gregation may require. 
 
 The sermon preached, the minister descends from 
 the pulpit, where he has stood as the representative of 
 God to man, and goes to the altar, where he stands as 
 the leader of the congregation and one of their num- 
 ber, in their approach to God. 
 
 What is called The Offertory has nothing, except its 
 relative place, in common with the portion of the 
 Roman Mass which is so designated. The Fifty-first, 
 or another penitential psalm is chanted here, after a 
 custom still more ancient than the Roman Offertory, 
 as the expression of the sense of sin and of need of 
 forgiveness, called forth by the Word of God pro- 
 claimed in the sermon, and as the declaration of the 
 entire consecration of the people to the Lord, whose 
 rights have just been asserted. 
 
 The General Prayer, which follows, is not a mere 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 169 
 
 resume or application of the sermon, or even a prayer 
 whose chief contents are the necessities of the 
 worshipping congregation. At every stage of the 
 service up to this point, these necessities have found 
 expression. The purpose of the General Prayer is 
 that through it, the congregation may ask God that 
 others may obtain the blessings which through the 
 Word have been brought to them, and for which they 
 have given thanks. It is not a prayer of the officiat- 
 ing minister for the congregation to which he has 
 preached, but a prayer of the congregation itself. 
 It is the common prayer of the whole people, ex- 
 pressed in simple and well-known words, and free, 
 as far as possible, from such individual peculiarities 
 as, by inviting criticism, would interfere with the 
 intelligent adoption of all its petitions by every man, 
 woman, and child in the audience, in whom God's 
 Spirit has enkindled the flame of devotion. In it, the 
 wants of all classes and conditions of men are re- 
 called, and recounted before God. 
 
 The " Long Prayer," made in some of the Reformed 
 churches before the sermon, has a different scope, 
 since the adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, 
 and supplication for pardon for which it provides, 
 have been previously offered to God in the Order 
 which we are explaining. It is peculiarly the Inter- 
 cessory Prayer of the service. A place is found in 
 this " General Prayer " for the introduction of " spe- 
 cial supplications, intercessions, and prayers," as 
 peculiar circumstances may suggest ; but as to other 
 
170 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 parts, in order that the people may enter with the 
 least distraction into the prayer, it is urgently recom- 
 mended that, whatever variety may be employed in 
 adapting prayers to individual wants at other times, 
 in this prayer they should know beforehand not only 
 for what, but also in what words, they are to pray. 
 The aim of the Lutheran Reformers of the service, in 
 this respect, is stated in the Wiirtemberg Order (one 
 of the least conservative), where it is said : " Although 
 the Lord's Prayer is in itself a General Prayer, and 
 should always have the preference, as a brief sum- 
 mary of all other Christian prayers, nevertheless, 
 since the other prayers comprised in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, and especially in the Psalms, or, according to 
 present necessities derived from passages of Holy 
 Scripture, are an explanation and exposition of the 
 Lord's Prayer, they should not be rejected, but be 
 used, at the proper time, in connection with the 
 Lord's Prayer." 
 
 The entire structure of " the General Prayer," and, 
 to an extent, its various petitions, have reached us by 
 a clearly traceable historical process. When Luther 
 substituted « The Lord's Prayer " for " The Offertory," 
 and prefaced it by a paraphrase, explaining its peti- 
 tions in detail, he was only returning to an older 
 practice. In some of the ancient Oriental liturgies, 
 of which that of St. James was a type, it was cus- 
 tomary to comply with the Apostolic command that 
 " supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of 
 thanks be made for all men " (1 Tim. ii. 1), by a 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 171 
 
 series of exhortations, specifying at length the vari- 
 ous objects to be prayed for, as in the Bidding Prayer, 
 to which the people replied in the words, " Lord, have 
 mercy.' , So in some of the earlier Lutheran Orders, 
 a very full exhortation of a similar character is used 
 as a preface to the Lord's Prayer. Thus, in the 
 Brunswick Order, prepared by Bugenhagen in 1531 : 
 
 "Let us pray for his Imperial Majesty, and all who 
 bear the temporal sword. Pray also for the ministers 
 who feed us with the Word of God. Pray also for tem- 
 poral peace, for the sick, the weak, the sorrowing, the 
 tempted, women with child, for our enemies, for all neces- 
 sities of body and soul. Let us pray for one another that 
 all may be saved. Let us unite in the Lord's Prayer." 
 
 These exhortations, however, being themselves em- 
 bodied in particular collects with which the Church 
 was familiar, these collects were first said succes- 
 sively, as in the Brandenberg-Niirnberg Order, and, 
 afterwards, by a very natural process, were combined 
 in the continuous prayer, which is found, almost as 
 now used, in the Wiirtemberg Order of 1553. 
 
 The Consecration consists of The Lord's Prayer, the 
 Words of Institution, and the Pax. The consecration 
 itself lies in the use of the words of Institution, the 
 Lord's Prayer either preceding or following them, as 
 consecratory of the communicants in their approach 
 to this mystery, while of the Pax (" The peace of the 
 Lord be with you alway"), Luther says : "It is the 
 voice of the Gospel, announcing the forgiveness of 
 
172 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 sins, and is the only and most worthy preparation for 
 the Lord's Table." 
 
 The communicants then approach the altar while 
 the Agnus Dei is sung. In this chant, there is noth- 
 ing to justify the objection that it is connected with 
 the doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ in the Mass. 
 It has been used as a part of the Gloria in Excelsis 
 at the beginning of the service; and its repetition 
 here, where the minds of communicants are thus 
 directed to the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
 sin of the world, is most appropriate and edifying. 
 In the Distribution, each communicant receives di- 
 rectly from the pastor the consecrated elements, 
 with the words : " Take, eat ; this is the Body of 
 Christ given for thee. Take and drink ; this is the 
 Blood of Christ, shed for thy sins." The words, 
 " Given for thee," were added by Luther to the for- 
 mula of distribution, in accordance with his statement 
 that in them lay the chief stress of the sacrament. 
 
 The rest of the service is a gradual descent from 
 this exalted place, where weak and sinful man has 
 been admitted into the holy of holies, and conversed 
 almost face to face with his Redeemer and reconciled 
 Father. He has the highest joy that earth can afford, 
 and his lips pour forth the song of Simeon, " Lord, 
 now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," and, 
 after a thanksgiving collect composed by Luther, he 
 receives the patriarchal benediction, " The Lord bless 
 thee and keep thee," which was precious to Luther, 
 because the pronoun is in the singular number. As 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 173 
 
 the congregation disperses, each individual departs 
 with the peace of God in his heart, and the light of 
 God's countenance resting upon him. 
 
 The other church services hold a subordinate char- 
 acter, and follow the Orders for matins and vespers. 
 Their aim is to provide for the systematic contin- 
 uous reading of the Holy Scriptures, accompanied by 
 Psalms, hymns, and a brief exhortation. They trans- 
 fer to the New Testament the main features of public 
 worship, in which our Lord himself frequently par- 
 ticipated in the synagogues of His people. The struc- 
 ture of the two services is essentially the same. They 
 differ chiefly in the Psalms used, and in the tone of 
 the worship. In the Matin Service, thanksgiving pre- 
 ponderates ; while in the Vesper Service, supplication. 
 The former is more jubilant ; the latter breathes the 
 spirit of humble resignation and trust in the divine 
 mercy. 
 
 Where congregations, however, are not prepared to 
 use these fixed orders to edification, the Lutheran 
 Church has infinite capacities for adapting the simple 
 truth as it is in Jesus to their varied wants. The 
 service is used as a means to an end, which, like all 
 human arrangements, even when determined by com- 
 pliance with the impulses of the Holy Spirit, is not 
 an absolute finality. Fixed orders are not used, as 
 though there could be no true worship without 
 them ; nor are historical orders repudiated, as though 
 they were obsolete, and no true worship could be 
 found except in that which is born in the present 
 moment. 
 
174 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 " Of Kites and Usages, they teach," says the Augs- 
 burg Confession (Art. XV.), " that those ought to be 
 observed which may be observed without sin, and 
 which are profitable unto tranquillity. . . . Neverthe- 
 less, concerning such things let men be admonished 
 that consciences are not to be burdened as though 
 such observance were necessary for salvation." 
 
 Each age has its peculiar wants ; and for each age 
 and land God has a special message. The Lutheran 
 Church, therefore, while turning reverently to the 
 sixteenth century to find there the basis for her ser- 
 vice, is fully conscious that she cannot rest there, 
 but that the spirit of faith must mingle with the 
 voices of believers in the past, the sincere expression 
 of her own peculiar experiences in the present. Her 
 liturgy, like her hymn-book, represents all ages of 
 the Church, and must continually grow. But this 
 growth can afford permanent results, and contribute 
 to general edification, only as it proceeds upon a well- 
 established historical basis. 
 
THE LUTHERAN LITURGIES 175 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The following bibliographical list does not attempt to be ex- 
 haustive. It aims simply at giving some of the chief works ser- 
 viceable to a student, who may desire to pursue the subject further : 
 
 Daniel, II. A. D., Codex Uturgicus Ecclesice Universal. 4 vols., 
 Leipzig, 1847. (Vol. II. for Lutheran liturgies.) 
 
 Kliefoth, Th., Liturgische Abhandlungen, Schwerin, 1854, 2d ed. 
 1868, 8 vols. (The first five volumes treat of Die Ursprungliche 
 Gottesdienst-Ordming in den deutschen Kirchen lutherischen Bekennt- 
 nisses, ihre Destruction und Reformation.) 
 
 Schoberlein, L., Ueber den liturgischen Ausbau des Gemeindegottes- 
 dienstes in der deutschen evangelischen Kirche. Gotha, 1859. 
 
 Schoberlein, L., Schatz des liturgischen Chor- und Gemeindegesangs 
 nebst den Altarwesen in der deutschen evangelischen Kirche aus den 
 Quellen vornehmlich des 16ten und 17 ten Jahrhunderts geschopft. 
 3 vols. 
 
 Jacoby, H., Die Liturgik der Reformatoren. 2 vols., Gotha, 1876. 
 (Vol. I. Luther; Vol. II. Melanchthon.) 
 
 Lohe, W., Agende fur Christliche Gemeinden des lutherischen 
 Bekenntnisses. 3d ed., enlarged by J. Deinzer. Nordlingen, 1884. 
 (Valuable for its introductions and notes.) 
 
 Kostlin, H. A. F., Geschichte des Christlichen Gottesdienstes. 
 Freiburg, 1887. 
 
 Harnack, Th., Outline of Liturgies in Zockler's Handbuch der 
 theologischen Wissenschaften. 3d edition, Miinchen, 1890. 
 
 Cantionale fur die evangelisch lutherischen Kirchen im Grossher- 
 zogthum Mecklenburg-Schwerin. 4 vols., folio, Schwerin, 1886-1887. 
 
 Hofling, J. H. F., Liturgische Urkundenbuch, enthaltend die Akte 
 der Communion, der Ordination und Introduction, und der Trauung. 
 Leipzig, 1852. 
 
 Nitzsch, Praktische Theologie. 2 vols., Bonn, 1851. 
 
 Zezschwitz, Praktische Theologie. Leipzig, 1878. 
 
 Siona, A Monthly, devoted to Liturgies and Church Music, pub- 
 lished since at Gutersloh (Schoberlein, Herold, Kriiger). 
 
 Above all, Richter, A. E. L., Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen 
 des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts. 2 vols., Weimar, 1846. Contains most 
 of the chief Lutheran liturgies of the period from 1523-1598. 
 
 The Originals in large number may be found in the Liturgical 
 Library at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. 
 
VI 
 
 THE LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED 
 CHURCHES 
 
 By the Rev. WILLIAM RUPP, D.D. 
 
 Professor of Practical Theology in the Reformed Theological Seminary, 
 Lancaster, Pa. 
 
 12 
 
THE LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED 
 CHURCHES 
 
 THERE exists an intimate relation between reli- 
 gious doctrine and worship, or between creed 
 and liturgy. Worship is the expression and action 
 of faith, and faith is the root and motive of worship. 
 Religious faith will always create a system of wor- 
 ship corresponding to its own character; and any 
 system of religious rites and ceremonies will in time 
 give rise to a corresponding creed. Hence the 
 Reformation of the sixteenth century was bound to 
 be equally a reformation of worship and of doctrine. 
 The Reformers were all agreed as to the necessity 
 of a reformation in worship. The existing abuses 
 and superstitions excited their profoundest indigna- 
 tion and horror. The sacrifice of the Mass espe- 
 cially, and the idolatrous worship of the saints and 
 angels, were, in their view, the very abomination of 
 desolation, now standing permanently in the temple 
 of God. That these abuses must be removed and 
 the existing order of worship reformed, was a propo- 
 sition to which all the Reformers were agreed. But 
 they differed somewhat in the manner in which they 
 
180 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 carried out the work of reformation; and so we come 
 to have different orders of worship in different parts 
 of the Protestant Church. In this respect there is 
 a general difference between the churches of the 
 Lutheran and those of the Reformed confessions. 
 
 This difference is usually expressed by the propo- 
 sition that the Lutherans were the more conservative 
 and the Reformed the more radical in the work of 
 reformation. The principle adopted by the Luth- 
 eran reformers, it is usually said, was to reject noth- 
 ing in the cultus of the Catholic Church that was 
 not repugnant to some express statement of the 
 Bible; while the principle adopted by the Reformed 
 was to accept nothing that could not be supported by 
 direct Scriptural authority. Both parties made 
 Scripture the rule of their reforming activity; but 
 they applied this rule with varying degrees of strict- 
 ness, and hence there arose a difference in their 
 work. With some reservation this representation 
 may be accepted as correct. In reconstructing their 
 worship, the Reformed churches were guided less by 
 the principle of tradition and more by the principle 
 of Scripture, than the Lutheran Church. Hence the 
 Reformed liturgies are characterized by a greater 
 degree of simplicity and unadorned grandeur, but 
 also, in proportion as they drew upon the Old Testa- 
 ment for their material, by something of a legalistic 
 and Judaistic tone, which the student of liturgies 
 will not fail to notice. Nevertheless they all show 
 evidence, more or less plainly, of their origin in the 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 181 
 
 old order of worship, and thus of their connection 
 with the past history and life of the Church. The 
 Reformed churches are not unhistorical creations of 
 the sixteenth century; but in doctrine and worship 
 they are rooted in the old order of Christian life and 
 action within the fields in which they originated. 
 
 The Reformed liturgies may be divided into three 
 distinct families or groups, — namely, the Zwinglian, 
 the Calvinisticj and the Oalvino-Melanchthonian, or 
 the Swiss, French, and German; the Scotch and 
 English belonging to the second of these groups. 
 They all possess certain elements in common, but 
 differ in special features, according to their national 
 and historical relations. One common feature of all 
 Reformed liturgies, for instance, consists in this, 
 that the public services of God are divided into two 
 kinds, namely, preaching services and communion 
 services. In the old Catholic Church the Eucharist 
 formed an essential part of every Lord's day service. 
 In the mediaeval Church the sermon was suppressed, 
 and the Eucharist, which was now regarded as a 
 sacrifice for the living and the dead, came to be the 
 chief, indeed almost the only, part of Christian 
 cultus. The sacrifice, however, was not a service 
 rendered by the congregation, but by the priesthood 
 in behalf of the congregation. And it could be 
 effectually rendered without the presence of the con- 
 gregation, and without any communicants. But this 
 was no longer the case when the idea of a propitia- 
 tory sacrifice in the Mass was rejected, and when the 
 
182 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Eucharist was again transformed into a common ser- 
 vice of the congregation, as it had been in primitive 
 times. In the Protestant sense there can be no com- 
 munion service without communicants. Nor is the 
 idea of a common congregational service realized, 
 when a few only of the congregation participate in 
 the transaction, while the majority are mere spec- 
 tators of the solemn show. But the Eeformers soon 
 discovered that it was not possible to cause an entire 
 congregation to be present, and get them to partici- 
 pate in the communion service on every Lord's day. 
 What, then, was to be done? Luther proposed to 
 let the communion service stand as a part of the 
 service of every Lord's day, but to make optional 
 the participation in it by the people. Both sides of 
 the Reformation agreed that the ministration of the 
 divine word, the preaching of the sermon, is the cen- 
 tral and essential part of public worship ; and Luther 
 went so far on one occasion as to say, that there is 
 no use in Christian assemblies where there is noth- 
 ing but prayer and singing, and where no sermon is 
 preached. But Luther, nevertheless, proposed to let 
 the Lord's Supper remain as an appendix at least to 
 every public service on the Lord's day. If at any 
 time there should be no communicants from among the 
 people, the ministers could commune, and it would 
 still be the communion. This, although a violation 
 of the general Protestant principle, that all acts of 
 public worship must be common acts of the congrega- 
 tion, was adopted at first as the rule of the Lutheran 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 183 
 
 Church, — a rule, however, it should be added, that 
 did not maintain itself very long in Lutheran cultus. 
 Calvin was at first disposed to retain the celebration 
 of the communion in every Lord's day service accord- 
 ing to primitive custom, and to require the presence 
 and participation of the whole congregation on every 
 occasion. He soon found, however, that this was a 
 demand which could not be exacted; and subse- 
 quently, while expressing his preference for at least 
 a monthly communion, he agreed to the rule, which 
 Zwingli had already introduced at Zurich, of cele- 
 brating four communions in the year, namely, at 
 Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and some Sunday 
 in the fall. This came to be the order subsequently 
 in most of the Reformed churches. Thus the com- 
 munion service was separated from the ordinary 
 Lord's day service, and the latter came to have its 
 chief interest, its centre of gravity, in the sermon. 
 This arrangement, though a departure from all past 
 liturgical traditions, was doubtless justified by the 
 circumstances of the times, and could moreover claim 
 a precedent in the practice of the Apostolic Church. 
 In the early period of the Apostolic Church there 
 were two kinds of Christian assemblies for worship, 
 the one occurring in the temple and other public 
 localities, where nothing took place but prayer and 
 the preaching of the Gospel, the other occurring 
 mostly at night in private houses, where the Lord's 
 Supper was partaken and the love-feast celebrated. 
 The former might be called homiletic, or perhaps 
 
184 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 better, evangelistic, and the latter eucharistic ser- 
 vices. This difference still existed at Corinth at the 
 time when the Corinthian Epistles were written. 
 Agreeably to the modification of the constitution of 
 divine service made by the Reformers, the liturgy, 
 which previously signified the order of celebrating the 
 Eucharist, now came to signify for the most part 
 merely the order of beginning and closing sermons. 
 A liturgy, of course, contains other offices, like those 
 for the administration of baptism, of confirmation, 
 of ordination and installation, and so forth ; but the 
 office for the conduct of public worship forms its 
 principal feature and determines its character. 
 
 The first formal attempt at a reconstruction of the 
 order of Christian worship according to Reformed 
 principles was made at Zurich, in the year 1523, by 
 the composition and publication by Leo Judge, at the 
 request of Zwingli, of an Order of Baptism, to 
 which was attached an Order for the Beginning and 
 Closing of Sermons. This title is indicative of the 
 change which had taken place in the conception of 
 the liturgy. The order here laid down is very sim- 
 ple, merely containing directions for prayer, which 
 is to be made for the right understanding of God's 
 word, for Christian pastors, for secular authorities, 
 and for those who are in tribulation, directions for 
 the commemoration of those who have recently de- 
 parted this life, whose names are announced at the 
 beginning of the service, and directions for a general 
 confession of sin. This is in fact a directory rather 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 185 
 
 than an order of worship; and even as a directory it 
 is incomplete, and was in practice doubtless supple- 
 mented by additional forms. It was unsatisfactory, 
 and did not long maintain itself. 
 
 In 1525 a new Order of Worship was established 
 at Zurich by public authority. It contains forms 
 for the beginning and ending of sermons, for the 
 administration of the Lord's Supper, for the solemni- 
 zation of marriage, and for the burial of the dead. 
 The ordinary preaching service begins with a votum : 
 " Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you, " etc. Then 
 comes the singing of a psalm or hymn. After this 
 we have an exhortation to prayer for the presence and 
 illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit in order to 
 the right understanding of God's word; and this is 
 followed by the Lord's Prayer, and then the general 
 intercessory prayer. After this comes the reading 
 of Scripture, which may be a passage from the Old 
 or New Testament selected by the minister, accord- 
 ing to his inclination or judgment. The system of 
 pericopes is abandoned. After the reading of Scrip- 
 ture follows the sermon. And the sermon is fol- 
 lowed by a general confession of sin, a prayer of 
 thanksgiving, ending with the Lord's prayer, the 
 publication of the banns of marriage, and of the 
 names of any deceased members of the Church, an 
 exhortation to almsgiving for the benefit of the poor, 
 and the benediction. 
 
 The communion service contained in this Reformed 
 Zurich liturgy was prepared by Zwingli himself, and 
 
186 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 used for the first time on Easter Sunday, in the year 
 1525. It follows pretty closely the order of the 
 canon of the Gregorian Mass. After the conclusion 
 of the sermon, the minister is directed to stand at 
 the table containing the sacramental elements, and 
 turning his face to the people, he is to say with a 
 loud voice, "In the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Spirit, " to which his attend- 
 ants are to answer, "Amen." Then is to be said 
 the introit, or invocation, a short prayer beginning 
 with the words : " Almighty and everlasting God, 
 whom all creatures justly worship and adore," etc. 
 This is to be followed by the reading of the account 
 of the institution of the Supper in 1 Cor. xi. 20-29, 
 at the conclusion of which the congregation responds : 
 " God be praised." After this the Gloria in JExcelsis 
 is recited antiphonally by the men and the women 
 in the congregation. Then the minister says : " The 
 Lord be with you," and the people answer: "And 
 with thy spirit." Next the minister announces the 
 reading of another Scripture lesson, namely, John 
 vi. 47-63, which announcement the congregation re- 
 ceives with the response: " God be praised. " After 
 the reading the minister kisses the Bible, and says : 
 " Laud be to God, who according to His holy word 
 will forgive us all our sins," and the people respond, 
 " Amen. " This is followed by the antiphonal recita- 
 tion of the Apostles' Creed. After the creed comes 
 an address by the minister, in which the communi- 
 cants are exhorted to penitence, to faith, and to 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 187 
 
 prayer. Then the congregation kneels, and the 
 Lord's Prayer is repeated, after which another prayer 
 is offered by the minister for the divine blessing and 
 for the grace of sanctification, to which the people 
 respond, " Amen, " After this follows the consecra- 
 tion of the elements by means of the words of insti- 
 tution and the breaking of the bread. The elements 
 are then distributed by the deacons to the members 
 of the congregation, who are kneeling in their pews. 
 After all have communed, the 113th Psalm is recited, 
 the minister repeating the first verse, and then the 
 men and women reading antiphonally to the end. 
 Another short collect together with the benediction 
 closes the service. 
 
 It will be observed that this whole communion 
 service is an action of the congregation, not an 
 action of the minister in the stead or in behalf of 
 the congregation. But it will be observed also that 
 there is here a striking contrast between the compar- 
 ative richness of the communion service and the 
 baldness of the ordinary preaching service. This is 
 due doubtless to the lingering influence of mediaeval 
 tradition. In the mediaeval Church the liturgy or 
 divine service, as we have already seen, meant essen- 
 tially the offering of the sacrifice of the Mass ; and 
 of this preaching was not a part. What preaching 
 there was then took place at irregular times, and was 
 not accompanied by any special ceremonies. Preach- 
 ing was not a regular and constitutional part of 
 divine cultus. This conception still exercised its 
 
188 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 influence upon the Reformers. Though the office of 
 preaching was the chief instrument in the work of 
 the Reformation, yet the Reformers found it difficult 
 at first to give it its right setting in the general cultus 
 of the Church. The idea of the liturgy was still 
 associated mainly with the communion service, and 
 the office of preaching stood out by itself without any 
 support from the liturgy. Of course this relation 
 could not long continue. The communion service, 
 with its comparative wealth of ceremony, occurred 
 only seldom, while the office of preaching, with its 
 liturgical baldness and poverty, was performed not 
 only on every Sunday, but often also on week days. 
 Accordingly, the subsequent development of the 
 Reformed liturgies in Switzerland pertained espe- 
 cially to the ordinary service of the sermon. This 
 needed to be enriched and made more popular. The 
 idea of the communion service as being essentially 
 an action of the whole congregation, needed to be 
 extended also to the preaching service. This end 
 was accomplished to some extent by the introduction 
 of additional forms of common prayer, and espe- 
 cially by the introduction of congregational singing. 
 The office of congregational singing did not exist in 
 the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages. This 
 office had to be created by the Reformation; and 
 this was a work that could only be accomplished 
 gradually. But it was the larger extension of this 
 office in the preaching service, and the introduction 
 of additional forms of prayer in which the people 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 189 
 
 could take part, that distinguishes the later liturgies 
 of the Zwinglian type from that which was originally 
 established at Zurich. The Zwinglian type, how- 
 ever, has maintained itself in the various liturgies 
 or agendas of the Swiss churches down to the pres- 
 ent day. Zwingli's spirit still lives in the Swiss 
 churches. 
 
 The liturgies of the Calvinistic churches have their 
 type in Calvin's "Forms of Common Prayer," pub- 
 lished in 1545, as an appendix to the Geneva Cate- 
 chism, and afterwards used in the churches of 
 Geneva. "Calvin," says Henry, his biographer, 
 " regarded it as most important, for the safety of the 
 Church, to establish a durable order through uni- 
 formity in liturgical rites, and thereby to oppose 
 effectually the wilfulness of individuals. But even 
 here he would suffer nothing which was not in strict 
 conformity with the Scriptures. He in all things 
 exhibited the purest antagonism to Rome; and as 
 the papists made the central point of their religious 
 service the Mass, a miracle invented by men, so Cal- 
 vin employed the exposition of the Bible as the 
 middle point of the devotions of his Church " 
 (Henry's "Life of Calvin," vol. i. p. 410). It is, 
 then, not Calvinistic, in the sense of Calvin himself 
 at least, to reject all fixed forms of prayer as popish 
 fetters of devotion. This Calvin did not do, and 
 would most likely not approve in his followers. But 
 Calvin was the most radical of the Reformers in all 
 things relating to cultus. At least such is the usual 
 
190 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 judgment of history. While Zwingli, according to 
 Ebrard, may be said to have removed too little of the 
 old order of worship to gain room for things new, 
 Calvin, on the other hand, found everything that 
 was old cleared out of the way, and the ground pre- 
 pared for an entirely new liturgical creation. Farel, 
 who had preceded Calvin at Geneva, had abolished 
 the whole order of the Catholic Church, and in 
 cultus had left nothing remaining but the sermon, 
 which stood out in entire isolation and nakedness. 
 Here, then, there was room for the architectonic 
 skill of the great Reformer; and the result shows 
 that his skill was indeed of a superior order. It 
 should be observed, however, that Calvin's work was 
 after all not a creation out of nothing. Calvin was 
 evidently familiar with liturgical history. He was 
 acquainted with the forms of worship in primitive 
 times. And his soul was saturated with the spirit 
 of worship which prevailed in the best ages of the 
 Church, — a qualification without which no one will 
 ever be able to produce a liturgy that shall be 
 worthy of the name. He may have been somewhat 
 too coldly intellectual in temper to produce an ideal 
 liturgy ; but he was at least not ignorant of liturgical 
 practices, and was willing, moreover, to retain in 
 use the best elements of the old order, such as the 
 Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and so forth. 
 
 Calvin's originality in the treatment of the order 
 of worship, however, is shown in the very beginning 
 of his common service for the Lord's day. This 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 191 
 
 service begins, as in the primitive Church, with the 
 reading by an assistant of selections of Scripture from 
 the Old and New Testaments, together with the Ten 
 Commandments. After this the minister, having 
 taken his place in the pulpit, begins with an invo- 
 cation. Then he addresses to the congregation an 
 exhortation to the confession of sin, and invites 
 them to follow him in their hearts while he makes 
 use of a form of confession, which has become the 
 type of confessional prayer in a number of later 
 liturgies. Such a beginning with confession of sin, 
 however appropriate in itself, is something new in 
 the history of worship. No ancient liturgy begins in 
 this way — not even the Sarum Missal. And yet it 
 is the way in which the service begins in the Book 
 of Common Prayer of the Church of England. But 
 this is only one of the many traces of Calvinistic 
 influence in that wonderful work. After the con- 
 fession of sin, in Calvin's Order, a psalm is to be 
 sung by the whole congregation. A psalm is pre- 
 scribed, not because Calvin had any objection to 
 suitable hymns of extra-Scriptural origin, but be- 
 cause there were then no suitable hymns in the 
 French language. Luther was a poet of no small 
 power, and exercised his talent in the composition 
 of hymns fit to be sung in the German churches. 
 But poets are born, not made; and Calvin was not 
 only himself not born with much poetical talent, but 
 neither had he a man at his side who was thus 
 endowed. The best, therefore, that he could do was 
 
192 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 to employ the talents of Marot and Beza in turning 
 the Psalms into metrical French, so that they could 
 be sung by the congregations until something better 
 could be offered them. After the singing of the 
 psalm the minister again leads in a prayer for the 
 illumination of the Holy Spirit, to the end that 
 the word of God may be rightly expounded and 
 rightly received ; which ends with the Lord's Prayer. 
 After this comes the sermon ; and after the sermon 
 follows a general prayer of intercession, for rulers, 
 for pastors, for all conditions of men, for afflicted 
 persons, for persecuted Christians, and finally for 
 the congregation itself. This again concludes with 
 the Lord's Prayer; and after the Lord's Prayer fol- 
 lows the creed. The service ends with the Aaronic 
 benediction, an exhortation to remember the poor, 
 and the dismission. 
 
 We have already seen that, according to the order 
 adopted at Geneva, the Lord's Supper was celebrated 
 four times a year, namely, at the three Christian 
 festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, and 
 on some Sunday in autumn. A public announce- 
 ment of the communion is to be made on the Sunday 
 before its celebration, so that the people may have 
 time for proper preparation. On the day of the 
 communion it is directed that the sermon should 
 have reference, either in whole or in part, to the 
 signification and benefit of this mystery. After the 
 sermon, ir> addition to the usual intercessory prayer 
 and the succeeding Lord's Prayer, a special prayer 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 193 
 
 is offered, asking God for the grace required for 
 the right and worthy celebration of the sacrament. 
 This is followed by the Apostles' Creed. After the 
 creed comes a lengthy exhortation to the communi- 
 cants, in which they are further instructed in regard 
 to the nature and meaning of the sacrament, and in 
 regard to the necessary qualification for its salutary 
 reception. After a general sentence of excommuni- 
 cation pronounced against all idolaters, blasphemers, 
 despisers of God, heretics, sectarians, and similarly 
 impious persons, the objective character of the sacra- 
 ment is explained. It is declared to be as a medi- 
 cine for those who are spiritually sick; and in order 
 to the due reception of its benefit, there is nothing 
 required on the part of the communicants but a lively 
 consciousness of their sinfulness and misery. The 
 benefit of the sacrament, however, is not connected 
 with the elements of bread and wine. These are 
 only witnesses and signs. The communicants are 
 exhorted to lift up their minds and hearts on high, 
 where Jesus Christ abides in the glory of His Father, 
 that from thence they may obtain food and life from 
 the substance of Christ's glorified being. This is 
 doubtless all very correct in a dogmatic point of view. 
 It is a clear repudiation of the theories of transub- 
 stantiation and consubstantiation, and a distinct 
 affirmation of the doctrine of a spiritual real presence 
 of Christ in the sacrament. The only question is 
 whether this is the right place for such instruction. 
 Does not this rather belong to the sermon? The 
 
 13 
 
194 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Sursum Corda of the older liturgies, of which we are 
 reminded by some of the expressions used in this 
 address, is after all something quite different. That 
 is a spiritual and devotional action ; this is only an 
 act of intellectual reflection which, in the light of 
 correct liturgical principles, could hardly be said to 
 be appropriate just before the most solemn part of 
 the whole sacramental transaction, namely, the 
 participation of the communion itself. The distribu- 
 tion of the communion takes place at a long table, 
 which stands in the central aisle or nave of the 
 church, and along which the communicants are 
 ranged. At the conclusion of the address just re- 
 ferred to, the minister takes his place at the head of 
 the table ; and taking up the bread before him, and 
 repeating the words of institution, he breaks off 
 pieces and hands them to the elders on his right and 
 left ; these then take up the bread and pass it along 
 the table, each communicant with his own hand 
 breaking off a small portion, and reverently eating 
 it. In like manner the cup is passed along from one 
 communicant to another. While the communion thus 
 proceeds, a psalm may be sung, or a portion of 
 Scripture read. After all have communed, there is 
 offered a prayer of thanksgiving, the Nunc Dimittis is 
 sung, and the congregation is dismissed with the 
 apostolic benediction. 
 
 Besides the forms now mentioned, Calvin's liturgy 
 contains offices for the administration of baptism, 
 the solemnization of marriage, and the visitation of 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 195 
 
 the sick, as well as prayers for morning and evening 
 devotion, prayers for use before and after meals, and 
 prayers for times of public calamity. Of these no 
 particular account can here be given. These litur- 
 gical forms of Calvin became the type of the various 
 orders of worship in the Reformed churches of 
 France, Holland, Scotland, and parts of Germany. 
 "The Book of Common Order " of the Church of 
 Scotland was first framed, in 1554, by John Knox, 
 for the English congregation at Frankfort. In 1556, 
 it was adopted by the English congregation at Geneva 
 with the approbation of Calvin. Upon the return of 
 Knox to Scotland, his Order of Worship was adopted 
 there by the General Assembly in 1560, as the estab- 
 lished order of worship. It continued to be used 
 until it was displaced by the Directory of Worship 
 of the Westminster Assembly, in 1645. The Com- 
 mon Order was modelled closely after the Calvin- 
 istic original, though in devotional unction and 
 fervor it probably excelled it. In the Lord's day 
 service we have first a confession of sin ; then the 
 reading of Scripture by the minister, and the sing- 
 ing of a psalm by the congregation. After this 
 comes the sermon, and after the sermon a general 
 prayer for the whole estate of Christ's Church, end- 
 ing with the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. 
 After the creed another psalm is sung, and the con- 
 gregation is dismissed either with the Aaronic or 
 the apostolic benediction. When the Lord's Supper 
 is celebrated, which is directed to be done once a 
 
196 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 month, there comes, after the part of the service 
 usually following the sermon, an address to the com- 
 municants, instructing them in regard to the nature 
 of the sacrament and of the necessity of a proper 
 preparation of the heart for rightly receiving it. 
 This is in a tone somewhat less didactic and more 
 fervently devotional than that belonging to the same 
 part of the service in the liturgy of Geneva. The 
 address is followed by a prayer, which reminds one 
 somewhat of the preface of the old Greek liturgies. 
 It is a prayer of thanksgiving for God's goodness, 
 as displayed in the works of creation and redemp- 
 tion, and as it is witnessed especially in the institu- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper for the benefit of unworthy 
 sinners. After this follows the distribution of the 
 elements in Calvinistic fashion. When all have 
 communed, the 108d Psalm is sung, and the congre- 
 gation is dismissed with the benediction. 
 
 One of the best liturgies of the Reformed Church of 
 France is that of Neufchatel. It was formed and 
 adopted in 1713, and belongs, therefore, not to the 
 age of the Reformation. But it is important as indi- 
 cating the direction of liturgical development in the 
 land of Calvin himself in post-Reformation times. 
 At the time of its formation there was a felt need of 
 a larger number of spiritual hymns fit for use in 
 divine service, and an effort was made to supply this 
 need by the addition to the Psalms of a number of 
 canticles, which may be chanted or read according 
 to circumstances. What may be called the compar- 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 197 
 
 ative baldness and poverty of Reformed worship is 
 relieved by the introduction of additional responses 
 and antiphonies, and by the rehabilitation of some 
 of the best liturgical elements of past systems of 
 worship. For instance, in the communion service, 
 after the usual explanatory and hortatory address, 
 which is peculiar to the Calvinistic order, we have 
 the true Sursum Oorda : " Let us lift up our hearts 
 on high, and give thanks unto the Lord our God." 
 Then follows the refrain : " It is just and reasonable, 
 and a very salutary duty, that we should at all times 
 and in all places give thanks unto thee, Lord God, 
 holy and eternal Father. " This is followed by the 
 variable preface, according to the order of the 
 Roman Mass. That for Christmas day, for example, 
 reads as follows : " Through Jesus Christ, Thine 
 only Son, our Lord, who at this time was born for 
 us, and who by the operation of the Holy Spirit was 
 made very man, of the substance of the blessed 
 Virgin, His mother, and without any spot of sin, to 
 the end that He might cleanse us from all iniquity. " 
 After this comes the Tersanctus, as follows : " There- 
 fore with angels, with archangels, and with all the 
 hosts of heaven, we magnify Thy glorious name, 
 singing to Thy glory, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, 
 Lord God of hosts, the heavens and the earth are full 
 of Thy glory, God, Most High." Hereupon fol- 
 lows a prayer for the peace of the world, the salva- 
 tion of all nations, the protection of the whole 
 Church, the unity and peace of Christians, and 
 
198 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 finally for the grace required in order to the worthy 
 reception of the communion. This is followed by 
 the Lord's Prayer, and by another prayer for forgive- 
 ness of sin, which is but an expansion of the old 
 Kyrie Uleison. Hereupon follows the consecration of 
 the elements in the use of the words of institution. 
 After the communion we have, in the following order, 
 the Nunc Dimittis, the Gloria in Uxcelsis, an exhorta- 
 tion to Christian fidelity, and the benediction. 
 
 The last family of Reformed liturgies are the 
 German. They exhibit evidences of Lutheran, or 
 rather Melanchthonian, as well as Calvinistic influ- 
 ences. The most noteworthy of these are the Hes- 
 sian, first published in 1539, and afterwards often 
 revised; the Palatinate, published in 1563; and 
 the Netherland, or Dutch, published in 1566. It is 
 only of the second of these that we propose here to 
 give a more particular account. It was prepared for 
 the use of the churches of the Palatinate, by order of 
 the Elector, Frederick III., in 1563. Its authors 
 were Zacharias Ursinus, a pupil of Melanchthon, 
 Caspar Olevianus, who studied theology under Calvin 
 at Geneva, and Emanuel Tremellius, a disciple of 
 Peter Martyr, and at one time professor at Cam- 
 bridge, England. Thus German, French, and Swiss 
 tendencies are happily and harmoniously combined 
 in the construction of this liturgical book. Its 
 basis was a liturgy prepared by John A. Lasco, for 
 the use of the Dutch and Walloon churches in Lon- 
 don, which had itself been based upon an order of 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 199 
 
 worship prepared by Polanus for the foreign Reformed 
 churches of Strassburg. The latter was made the 
 basis also for the liturgy of the Netherlands. 
 
 The Palatinate liturgy attests its Reformed char- 
 acter by the distinction which it makes between the 
 communion service and the regular preaching service 
 on the Lord's day, and by the importance which it 
 attaches to the sermon as the principal element in 
 Christian cultus. It contains explicit instructions 
 concerning the preparation of sermons, the source 
 from which their material is to be drawn, and the 
 end which they should have in view. Besides offices 
 for the regular service on Sunday, the Palatinate 
 liturgy contains forms for week day services, which 
 are to be held wherever possible on Wednesday and 
 Friday, and special forms for the Christian festivals, 
 and for days of humiliation and days of thanksgiving. 
 The remaining offices are those for the administra- 
 tion of baptism and the Lord's Supper, for confirma- 
 tion, or the admission of youths to the Lord's Supper, 
 by prayer and the laying on of hands, for the sol- 
 emnization of marriage, for the administration of 
 discipline, for the visitation of the sick and of pris- 
 oners, and for the burial of the dead. Special offices 
 are provided for the administration of baptism to 
 Anabaptists and Jews. 
 
 The service on Sunday morning, in cities, towns, 
 and villages, is to begin at eight o'clock, in country 
 places somewhat later. The service opens with a 
 votum : " Grace, mercy, and peace, " etc. This is 
 
200 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 followed by a prayer, consisting of confession of sin 
 and of penitence, and of petitions for mercy, for 
 sanctification, and for saving knowledge of God's 
 word, concluding with the Lord's Prayer. Here fol- 
 lows the sermon, which, according to the rubric, is 
 not to exceed one hour in length. After the sermon 
 comes an exhortation to the confession of sin, and then 
 a confessional prayer, in which both minister and 
 people audibly unite. This is succeeded by the 
 absolution, or the declaration of pardon to the peni- 
 tent, and the announcement of the retention of sin to 
 the impenitent. Here again follows the Lord's 
 Prayer; and after this the general morning prayer, 
 containing thanksgiving for bodily and spiritual 
 blessings and petitions for the continuation of the 
 same, — petitions for all in authority, for the preser- 
 vation of the fruits of the earth and the peace of the 
 world, for the prosperity of all men, for the relief of 
 those who are suffering persecution, for the comfort 
 of the poor and of all who are in tribulation and 
 distress. For this prayer, however, others are sub- 
 stituted on special occasions, such as the Christian 
 festivals, for which the liturgy provides suitable 
 forms. The general prayer always ends with the 
 Lord's Prayer, which thus occurs three times in the 
 same service. After the prayer, a short psalm is to 
 be sung, and the congregation dismissed with the 
 Aaronic benediction. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon it is ordered that, wherever 
 possible, services are to be held in which a lecture on 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 201 
 
 the Catechism, adapted to the comprehension of the 
 young, is to be the principal feature, but which is to 
 be opened and closed with singing and prayer, forms 
 being provided for this purpose in the liturgy. This 
 liturgy, it should be observed, has no room for 
 extemporaneous prayer in public worship. It fur- 
 nishes forms for all conceivable occasions, and the 
 rubrics are mandatory in regard to the use of them. 
 
 In the order of succession of the various offices in 
 this, as in other Reformed liturgies, the office of 
 baptism comes immediately after that of the preach- 
 ing service, and before that of the Lord's Supper. 
 This implies that the Lord's Supper is regarded, not 
 as an essential element of all Christian cultus, but 
 as an occasional means of grace and help to piety, 
 the use of which may be deferred to more or less 
 distant intervals according to convenience. It is, 
 however, regarded as an exceedingly solemn trans- 
 action, requiring very special preparation for its due 
 and proper observance. The rubric provides that in 
 cities the Supper is to be celebrated every two months, 
 and in towns and villages four times a year, — 
 namely, at Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and on 
 the first Sunday in September. On Saturday preced- 
 ing the communion, a special preparatory service is 
 to be held, when all the members of the church who 
 intend to commune are to be present, and when also 
 the catechumens are to be examined and confirmed. 
 The service on this occasion consists in the usual 
 opening prayer, a sermon dwelling upon the nature 
 
202 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 and effect of Christ's suffering, and upon the mean- 
 ing and design of the Supper, and in a series of ques- 
 tions and answers, in which the congregation con- 
 fesses the sense of its need and misery, its faith in 
 Christ as the only Mediator and Saviour, and its 
 purpose to forsake sin, and to live in newness of life. 
 The service concludes with the Lord's Prayer and 
 benediction. After the dismission an opportunity is 
 given to any members of the church to speak to the 
 minister or other officer in regard to matters pertain- 
 ing to salvation, about which their minds may be 
 disturbed. 
 
 On Sunday, when the communion is celebrated, 
 the service proceeds as usual until after the general 
 prayer. Then the minister takes his place at the 
 table, and reads a very long address to the communi- 
 cants, in which the history of the institution of the 
 Supper is rehearsed in the words of Saint Paul, the 
 self-examination required in order to its salutary 
 reception explained, the forgiveness of sins announced 
 to the penitent, the impenitent and unbelieving 
 warned not to approach the Lord's table, and the 
 nature and design of the Supper set forth. After 
 the address follows the prayer of consecration, in 
 which the Holy Spirit is invoked to the end that, in 
 consequence of this sacramental transaction, the com- 
 municants may be more fully united to Christ their 
 Head. This is followed by the Lord's Prayer and 
 the creed. After the creed comes another address 
 based upon the old idea of the Sursum Corda, in 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 203 
 
 which the communicants are exhorted not to let their 
 hearts cleave to the external elements of bread and 
 wine, but to lift them up into heaven, where Christ 
 is in the glory of the Father, that they may be 
 united with Him by the operation of the Holy Spirit. 
 The administration of the communion takes place at 
 the table conveniently placed within the choir of the 
 church, which the members successively approach 
 in order to receive the sacred emblems from the 
 hands of the minister. During the administration 
 of the Supper, suitable Psalms may be sung by the 
 congregation, or appropriate Scripture lessons read. 
 After all have communed, the 103d Psalm may be 
 recited, or a short prayer of thanksgiving offered, 
 after which the congregation is dismissed with the 
 Aaronic benediction. 
 
 This Palatinate liturgy may be regarded as the type 
 of a number of German Reformed Agendas, of which 
 it would be impossible here to give any account. 
 They would be found to differ more or less from 
 each other, and to present evidences of development 
 of the liturgical principle in various directions, but 
 they would all be true to their original type. 
 
 We have said nothing of the Book of Common 
 Prayer of the Church of England, not because we 
 do not regard the English Church as a Reformed 
 Church, which originally stood in friendly and 
 fraternal relations with the Reformed churches of 
 the continent, exchanging with them both pulpits 
 and ministers, nor because we do not recognize in it 
 
204 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Reformed elements ; but, first, because it is too well 
 known to need description, and, secondly, because it 
 forms the subject of a separate lecture in this course. 
 We deem it, however, not out of place to mention in 
 this connection the Order of Worship for the re- 
 formed church in the United States, published in 
 1866. It is a Reformed liturgy resembling in general 
 conception the older liturgies of the German Calvin- 
 istic type, but having features in common also with 
 the old Oriental and Roman liturgies. The com- 
 munion service, for example, while thoroughly true 
 to the Reformed or Calvinistic doctrine of the sacra- 
 ment, has elements in common with the early Greek 
 liturgies, especially the Clementine of the Apostolic 
 Constitutions. Among these are the Pax Vbbiscum, 
 the Sursum Oorda, the invariable preface, and the 
 invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the elements of 
 bread and wine in the prayer of consecration. The 
 old responses and antiphonies, the old chants and 
 creeds, the litany, the pericopes, and collects have 
 been restored. The effort has been made to produce 
 a book of worship that should stand in vital con- 
 tinuity with the past, and yet be adapted to the reli- 
 gious wants of the present. As to the success or 
 failure of the effort, it may still be too early to pro- 
 nounce judgment. 
 
 The Reformed churches have in their liturgical 
 treasures a rich inheritance, for which they have 
 reason to be thankful, and which they cannot suffer 
 always to remain unused. But what use shall be 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 205 
 
 made of it? The old liturgies cannot be brought back 
 into the worship of the churches of the present day, 
 in the form in which they were once used. That the 
 old liturgical idea, the idea of a common service in 
 which all the people shall participate, will assert 
 itself again in the churches, we are fully persuaded. 
 There are many tendencies at the present time which 
 point in that direction. The worship of the future 
 will be liturgical. But this does not mean that the 
 Reformation liturgies, in their original form, will 
 again be introduced. There was a reason doubtless 
 for their going out of use in the past; and that same 
 reason will operate against their reintroduction now. 
 Had they fully satisfied the spirit of devotion in the 
 times succeeding the age of the Reformation, they 
 would have continued to direct that devotion. The 
 continued use of the Book of Common Prayer of the 
 Church of England is a fact that should be instruc- 
 tive to other reformed churches. But no work of 
 the past can be true and valuable for all time with- 
 out undergoing a continual process of transformation 
 and readaptation. The Reformers thought — at least 
 some of them did — that they were bringing back the 
 precise pattern of worship which prevailed in the 
 Apostolic Church. Had they done so, their work 
 would not have suited the age in which they lived, 
 and for which they labored. No one age can be a 
 law for all other ages, either in doctrine or worship. 
 The doctrinal confessions of the Reformation have, 
 indeed, maintained themselves much longer than did 
 
206 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the books of worship. But they are now generally 
 beginning to be felt to be inadequate to the demands 
 of Christian faith, and the cry for revision has gone 
 up, which will continue to resound until it shall be 
 satisfied. 
 
 But while the past cannot be repristinated, either 
 in doctrine or worship, neither can the present with 
 impunity sever its connection with the past. Con- 
 tinuity in the midst of change is the law of history; 
 and only those productions can be truly valuable to 
 the life of the present which stand in organic con- 
 nection with the life of the past. Our prevailing 
 unliturgical practices, for instance, are not a devel- 
 opment out of the liturgical practices which were 
 once universal; they imply an absolute break with 
 all past principles of public worship. Is not that a 
 reason, perhaps, why the masses among us do no 
 longer attend church? Would, then, the creation 
 of new liturgies, wholly different from anything that 
 has ever been known in the past, meet the wants of 
 the time any better ? We think not. Apart from 
 the fact that the man would have to be more than 
 human who should be able to accomplish such a work, 
 it would be a useless work after being accomplished. 
 As the life of the Church at the present moment grows 
 out of the life of the past, so the order of worship that 
 shall satisfy the feelings of devotion now must be the 
 outgrowth of the order of worship in all past ages. 
 
 Perhaps the Reformers erred in not sufficiently 
 observing this principle. Did they not in some 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 207 
 
 respects deal too violently with the productions of 
 history, and destroy where they should only have 
 purified and renovated? Did not their hatred of the 
 abuses of the old order and an extreme application 
 of their principle of Scripture, sometimes betray them 
 into violence? Take, for example, their manner of 
 dealing with the Church year. It would not, as is 
 sometimes maintained, be correct to say that they 
 destroyed it, for in principle they accepted it, by 
 accepting the great Christian festivals; but they 
 mutilated it by cutting out those parts which are 
 necessary to connect the festivals into an organic 
 whole of sacred time. Historically they were justi- 
 fied in doing this by the abuse of the sacred year in 
 the Catholic Church, which contained so many holy 
 days that honest people had no longer working days 
 enough to earn their bread. But surely that justifi- 
 cation exists no longer now. And the arrangement 
 of the Reformers could not long maintain itself. 
 Either the whole idea of the Church year must be 
 given up, as has happened in some sections of the 
 Reformed Church, or the whole circle must be 
 restored, as has been done in other sections, and is 
 proposed in our own Order of Worship. Again, some 
 of the Reformers at first dealt violently with the 
 altar ; for which there was good reason at the time, 
 in the fact that the altar had been made the recep- 
 tacle for the relics of the saints, many of them spuri- 
 ous, with which much superstitious practice was 
 connected. But Christian worship involves a sacri- 
 
208 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ficial and priestly element, — a God-ward action on 
 the part of the congregation, — and this demands for 
 its full expression the symbol of the altar, just as 
 the prophetic or teaching function of the Church 
 demands the pulpit; and consequently in large sec- 
 tions of the Reformed Church the altar has long 
 since been restored to its place. Finally, the Re- 
 formers were generally opposed to the employment 
 of art in worship, because in the old order art had 
 been prostituted to what they believed to be idola- 
 trous practices. But art has its place in worship, 
 and has, therefore, gradually come back into the 
 service of the Church, as we see in the modern styles 
 of church architecture, and in the use of organs, 
 hymns, and music. These changes are evidences of 
 the manner in which the primitive Reformed orders 
 of worship have been developed in modern time. 
 And it must be by still further development and 
 change, making old things new and taking up new 
 things into harmonious union with the old, that the 
 old orders shall again become adapted to the existing 
 wants of worship. The Reformation did not end all 
 liturgical progress, any more than it ended all prog- 
 ress in theology; only the progress that shall be 
 legitimate must be in harmony with the*order of the 
 Reformation, as well as with all that was true and 
 good in the old order that went before ; and it must 
 produce a work in which all one-sidedness and con- 
 tradiction shall be overcome, and every element of 
 devotion find its due expression. 
 
LITURGIES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES 209 
 
 It is a question, for example, whether the Refor- 
 mation has rightly settled the relation between the 
 sermon and the Eucharist in the constitution of 
 Christian cultus, and whether the ideal liturgy of 
 the future will not need some modification at this 
 point. Is the sermon really the central and essen- 
 tial element of cultus, and is the Eucharist properly 
 appreciated when it is regarded merely as an occa- 
 sional appendix to the service of preaching? As 
 over against the practice of the Catholic Church in 
 the time of the Reformation, there is doubtless a 
 degree of justification for the Reformed view. The 
 Catholic practice had made the sacrifice of the Mass 
 central, and had crowded the sermon out of the regu- 
 lar order of worship altogether. The evil conse- 
 quences of this neglect of the teaching function of 
 the Church were very apparent in the time of the 
 Reformation, and the Reformers had good reason for 
 emphasizing the office of preaching. But is this 
 emphasizing of the sermon at the expense of the 
 Eucharist with its accompanying services, which may 
 have been right and proper at the time of the Refor- 
 mation, right and proper now? Is this the ideal of 
 Christian cultus? It is a contradiction of the order 
 of worship of the primitive Church as far back as we 
 know anything of it. Is it in harmony with the fun- 
 damental idea of Christian worship? Is not this 
 theory responsible for the prevailingly intellectual 
 and pedagogic character of our church services, 
 which, while they may satisfy the intellect, fail to 
 satisfy the heart? People now "goto preaching, " 
 
 14 
 
210 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 instead of going to church or to divine service ; and 
 if the preaching is no longer to their liking, or if it 
 fails to satisfy their intellectual temper, they cease 
 going altogether. Is not this another reason why the 
 Church is losing her hold upon the modern mind? 
 Is there not needed a readjustment of the order of 
 our church services in such way that they shall 
 engage the interest of the heart as well as that of the 
 head? In our opinion, at least, this is one of the 
 pressing needs of the age. The relation of sermon 
 and Eucharist, or the relation of sermon and liturgy, 
 must be readjusted. Neither one may overshadow 
 the other. Neither one may be central in the con- 
 stitution of cultus. They may be related as opposite 
 poles of the same reality, the one always balancing 
 and supporting the other. Not that the Eucharist 
 needs to be celebrated at every service, but that the 
 central idea of the Eucharist, namely, the idea of 
 collective as well as personal communion with Christ 
 in the Spirit, should be the pervading idea of every 
 service. In this sense the liturgies of the Reforma- 
 tion may need modification in order to adapt them to 
 our time. Our age needs more of worship. The 
 heart needs to be engaged and satisfied as well as the 
 head. And to this end the old liturgical idea and 
 habit need to be brought back to the churches ; but 
 it must be the Reformation idea and the Reformation 
 habit enriched and modified by the best liturgical 
 productions of pre-Reformation times, as well as by 
 the liturgical achievements which have been accom- 
 plished since the period of the Reformation. 
 
VII 
 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 
 
 By the Rev. WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON", D.D. 
 
 Rector of Grace Church, New York City 
 
THE STORY, THE CHARACTERISTICS, AND 
 
 THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE BOOK 
 
 OF COMMON PRAYER 
 
 IT was Mr. Galton, I believe, who first suggested the 
 ingenious process known as composite photog- 
 raphy. Wishing to secure a picture which should 
 represent a class or family rather than any single 
 individual member of such family or class, he hit 
 upon the device of superimposing one negative upon 
 another, until the features of the successive sitters 
 became finally blended in a face that was the like- 
 ness of no one of them in particular, but, so to say, 
 of all of them in general. 
 
 Only by some such method as this will it be pos- 
 sible for us to make a satisfactory study of the Book 
 of Common Prayer, since, in truth, there are many 
 Books of Common Prayer, each one of which has 
 full right and fair title to be called by that name. 
 
 There is the First Book of King Edward the Sixth, 
 the editio princeps, the fount and prototype of all the 
 Prayer Books that have succeeded it. That dates 
 from 1549. Then there is Edward's Second Book, — 
 the revision of 1552. Following upon this comes 
 
214 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Elizabeth's Book, then James's. Later still, we have 
 the revised Common Prayer of the Stuart Restora- 
 tion, and " in the course of human events " the Amer- 
 ican Book, in its first revision of 1789 and in its latest 
 standard form of 1892. There are still other vari- 
 ants, — as, for example, the Scottish Book, which 
 Laud and Charles endeavored unsuccessfully to force 
 upon the people of the northern kingdom, just before 
 the breaking out of the great rebellion which cost 
 both of them their heads. There is also the Irish 
 Book, the product of the Disestablishment Act of 
 1870. It would be unfair to take any one of these 
 various readings and to treat it as if it were the alone 
 true and authentic text. The just method would seem 
 to be to approach the subject, first of all, historically : 
 to follow the romantic fortunes of the book from its 
 beginnings until now ; and then, but not until then, 
 to attempt the composite photography which is to 
 give us the means of discriminating between tran- 
 sient phase and settled type, accident and essence, 
 ear-mark and birth-mark. 
 
 The English Book of Common Prayer came into 
 being as a distinct entity in the year of our Lord 1549. 
 On the Whitsunday of that year it was born ; but to 
 discover the genesis of the book's pre-natal life we 
 should have to go much farther back. 
 
 It used to be the fashion to say that the Prayer 
 Book was " compiled " by the English Reformers, with 
 the assistance of learned friends brought over from 
 the Continent ; but stating the case in that way meant 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 215 
 
 putting a strain upon the words "compile" and 
 " compilation." 
 
 The Common Prayer was, and is, not so much a 
 compilation as a product of growth, — interrupted 
 growth, no doubt, dislocated growth, if you prefer to 
 call it that, — but still growth, pure and simple. The 
 English reformers were not as men who get together 
 around a table, saying, " Go to, let us construct a 
 liturgy suited to present-day needs." On the con- 
 trary, what they did was this : they took the devo- 
 tional system to which they and their countrymen 
 had been accustomed from their childhood, and hav- 
 ing purged it of what were believed to be superstitious 
 accretions, they sent it forth to do a better work than 
 it had ever done before. Not even for the name upon 
 the titlepage can absolute originality be claimed ; for 
 King Edward's first Act of Uniformity begins with 
 the declaration that " Of long time there has been had 
 in this realm of England and in Wales divers forms 
 of common prayer, commonly called the Service of 
 the Church." It was apparently, therefore, no new 
 thing for the Service of the Church, as those people 
 already had it, to be called " Common Prayer." What 
 the reformers aimed to do was to make the public 
 prayers really, instead of only nominally, " common " 
 by translating them from aristocratic Latin into 
 homely English, and thus giving to the people their 
 due portion of a worship which had by default lapsed 
 almost wholly to the priests. 
 
 We have first, therefore, to inquire what this " Ser- 
 
216 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 vice of the Church " was which Edward's ecclesiastics 
 undertook, midway in the sixteenth century, to re- 
 mould and refashion into better form. 
 
 The service-books in use in the mediaeval Catholic 
 Church, although many in number, were all of them 
 reducible to one or other of three sorts, — the Missal, 
 or Mass-book ; the Breviary, or Book of Hours ; and 
 the Ceremonial, or Book of Rites. No single embodi- 
 ment of any one of these types enjoyed universal 
 acceptance. 
 
 Different countries, yes, even different dioceses, had 
 their own proper missals. There were also breviaries 
 and breviaries ; but the variations were of a non-essen- 
 tial kind, the type stood. The Missal was the Office 
 of the Holy Communion, — the Liturgy, strictly and 
 properly so called. The Breviary was a collection of 
 carefully chosen psalms, hymns, and prayers, assigned 
 to the canonical hours of every day in the year. The 
 Ceremonial was a compendium of forms suitable for 
 such occasions as Holy Matrimony, the Burial of the 
 Dead, Exorcisms, Confessions, and the like. A dis- 
 tinction was made, to be sure, between such rites and 
 ceremonies as came within the province of the parish 
 priest and those that only a bishop could lawfully 
 perform ; and so there was a special book, known as 
 the Pontifical; but, not to burden the memory un- 
 necessarily, it suffices to say that the Missal, the Bre- 
 viary, and the Ceremonial were the standard books, — 
 the great devotional manuals of the Church. 
 
 Were we disposed to go into the philosophy of the 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 217 
 
 matter, we might find here the grounds for a very 
 interesting study in evolution. The proposition is a 
 defensible one that these three sorts of service- 
 books correspond to ritual uses even more ancient 
 than the Christian Church itself, — uses, in fact, which 
 may be traced back to synagogue and temple. The 
 central feature of the Hebrew worship was sacrifice, 
 an action which had, as we know, its carefully pre- 
 scribed method or ritual. We find the antitype to this 
 in the commemoration of the sacrifice of the Son of 
 God upon the Cross, the eucharistic expression of 
 which is the service of the Holy Communion, known 
 in mediaeval times and among Roman Catholics to 
 this day as the Mass. 
 
 But besides its sacrificial system the Jewish Church 
 had also its scheme of daily psalmody and prayer. 
 Peter and John, for instance, went up together into 
 the temple at " the hour of prayer " ; and it is evident, 
 from the many musical rubrics of the Book of Psalms, 
 that sacred song played no small part in the temple 
 worship. The Psalter, with its ordered sequences 
 and responsals, was practically the Hebrew's breviary. 
 But besides their acts of sacrifice and their offices of 
 daily prayer and praise, the Jews had other religious 
 usages that called for liturgical accompaniment ; and 
 these we naturally classify under the distinct head of 
 rites and ceremonies, — such would have been, for 
 instance, the official cleansing of the leper by pro- 
 nouncement of the priest, the receiving of children 
 into the fellowship of the congregation, and the like. 
 
218 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Of course, it is easy to say that all this was only part 
 and parcel of the semi-pagan sacerdotalism which 
 Christ came to sweep away and to replace. That is a 
 question by itself, — a very grave question, no doubt, 
 but not the question with which we are busy just at 
 this moment. At present I am only seeking rationally 
 to account for the existence in the Christian Church 
 of the particular sorts of service-books which, in point 
 of fact, were everywhere in use among the faithful 
 before the Protestant Reformation, and to account for 
 it with due deference to that principle of continuity 
 which is to-day as much the watchword of historical, 
 as it has long been of geological and biological inves- 
 tigation. But, be this as it may, the fact remains 
 that by the middle of the sixteenth century the mul- 
 tiplicity of the service-books had become, in the eye 
 at least of the northern portion of European Christen- 
 dom, an intolerable nuisance. 
 
 It should be remembered that in what I have been 
 saying as to Missal, Breviary, and Ceremonial, I 
 have been speaking of genera rather than of species. 
 Had these three books existed only as three vol- 
 umes, the mental hardship of familiarizing himself 
 with their contents would have been no greater for 
 the mediaeval Christian than was involved in that 
 mastering of Holy Scripture which the Reformers 
 demanded of him if he inclined to become a Protes- 
 tant. In reality, however, the mingle-mangle of the 
 service-books was much more perplexing than our 
 classification would suggest ; and it was only trained 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 219 
 
 ecclesiastics who could so much as pretend to under- 
 stand the ins and outs of public worship. 
 
 But this was not the only grievance, nor was it the 
 most serious. The era of the invention of printing 
 was the last of all times when we should have ex- 
 pected impatience at the number of service-books in 
 use to become the provoking cause of a liturgical 
 revolt. The real trouble lay deeper. The intelli- 
 gence of the age had awakened to discern the child- 
 ishness and senselessness of much that the old 
 formularies of worship contained, and there was a 
 prevalent demand that the winnowing-fan be set 
 in motion, the melting-pot made ready. The men 
 to whom new worlds were opening, both overhead 
 and over seas, could not be put off much longer with 
 old wives' fables read to them from the lives of the 
 saints. The times were waking up. Cervantes was 
 born. Presently his gentle knight, the representative 
 of a belated medievalism, would be laughed off the 
 stage of secular affairs; why should not the equally 
 superannuated priest Mumpsimus Bumpsimus be ex- 
 pelled the sanctuary as well ? A cry for veritable fact 
 was on the air. Men were clamoring for the pure 
 word of God, and their demand was that it should be 
 given them in the vernacular. All this the scholars 
 who adventured the remodelling of the devotional 
 system of the Church of England well and clearly 
 perceived and knew. 
 
 Present-day Anglicans are, many of them, very 
 mealy-mouthed indeed when it comes to any criticism 
 
220 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 of old-time methods in religion ; but the broad-minded 
 ecclesiastics who took up liturgical revision in the 
 year of our Lord 1549 were of a more robust temper. 
 The fact that a lie was masquerading in venerable 
 raiment gave it no sanctity in their eyes ; and what- 
 ever in the old usages seemed to them " superstitions " 
 they did not scruple to brand with that offensive name. 
 If you have an appetite for racy English, look up, 
 some day when opportunity serves, the First Prayer 
 Book of Edward VI., and read the Preface. You will 
 find there the frankest possible statement of the bur- 
 dens under which English Christians in that day must 
 needs stagger if they would arise and go unto their 
 Father and say unto Him anything. Take a few sen- 
 tences, picked out here and there, for a sample of 
 their style : " Whereas St. Paul would have such lan- 
 guage spoken to the people in the Church as they 
 might understand and have profit by hearing the 
 same, the service in this Church of England, (these 
 many years) hath been read in Latin to the people, 
 which they understood not, so that they have heard 
 with their ears only, and their hearts, spirit and mind 
 have not been edified thereby. . . . Moreover . . . 
 the manifold manglings of the service was the cause 
 that to turn the book only was so hard and intricate 
 a matter, that, many times, there was more business 
 to find out what should be read than to read it when 
 it was found out." 
 
 " These inconveniences, therefore, considered," they 
 go on to say, " here is set forth such an order whereby 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 221 
 
 the same shall be redressed; . . . because here are 
 left out many things, whereof some be untrue, some 
 uncertain, some vain and superstitious." 
 
 "Furthermore, by this Order," and here the na- 
 tional instinct of thrift betrays itself, "the curates 
 shall need none other for their public service but this 
 book and the Bible, by the means whereof the peo- 
 ple shall not be at so great charge for books as in 
 times past they have been. And where, heretofore, 
 there hath been great diversity in saying and sing- 
 ing in Churches within this realm, some following 
 Salisbury use, some Hereford use, some the use 
 of Bangor, some of York and some of Lincoln, now, 
 from henceforth, all the whole realm shall have but 
 one use." 
 
 With such honest, sane, and pithy sentences as these 
 was the Book of Common Prayer launched upon its 
 eventful voyage. But the ship, to continue our nau- 
 tical figure, was scarcely out of port before she found 
 herself temporarily grounded upon a bar. 
 
 The more advanced among the English reformers 
 were not entirely satisfied with the Book as it stood, 
 and presently they began to agitate for revision. 
 Their movement was successful ; and after three 
 short years of use Edward's First Book gave place to 
 his second ; otherwise known as the Book of 1552. 
 This second Book was even shorter-lived than the 
 first, for it had scarcely been set forth and made 
 obligatory before Mary came to the throne, and at a 
 stroke overthrew, for the moment, the whole Refor- 
 
222 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 mation fabric. But the labor expended upon the 
 second Book was by no means wasted ; for Eliza- 
 beth's divines chose to make it, rather than the first 
 Book, the basis of their recension, and thus what had 
 seemed abortive turned out fruitful. Almost, if not 
 quite, all of the changes made in the second Book, 
 differencing it from the first, had been in what may 
 fairly enough be called the Protestant direction. 
 Prayers for the dead were omitted ; certain vestments 
 were disallowed ; the prefatory portions of the Morn- 
 ing and Evening Prayer were amplified ; the word 
 " Table " was substituted for " Altar," the public 
 reading of the Decalogue was enjoined, and various 
 transpositions were effected in the Office of the Holy 
 Communion. There were other alterations, but these 
 that I have mentioned were among the more signifi- 
 cant. Slight as they may look from one point of view, 
 from another they may be said to have influenced 
 the whole course of English Christianity from those 
 days to these. Elizabeth's Prayer Book has been 
 twice revised, — once under King James after the 
 Hampton Court Conference, and again under Charles 
 the Second after the Savoy Conference ; but neither of 
 the Stuart monarch s in his day laid so strong a hand 
 upon the text as the Tudor queen had done in hers. 
 Substantially, the Prayer Book of the Church of Eng- 
 land to-day is what the age of Raleigh, of Bacon, and 
 of Shakspeare made it. Conceivably some Victorian 
 pen might have ministered to the devotional needs of 
 the modern English more effectively than the Eliza- 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 223 
 
 betlian has made out to do, but most lovers of their 
 mother tongue will doubt it. 
 
 Time presses ; but I cannot forbear detaining you 
 a moment for a look at the two Conferences just men- 
 tioned, seeing that they count among the more note- 
 worthy of the lost opportunities of history. 
 
 A little way out of London stands the charming 
 old palace of Hampton Court, a house of many more 
 than seven gables, and compassed about with a per- 
 fect paradise of trees and shrubs. Hither, at the 
 invitation of King James, shortly after his accession, 
 came divers Puritan divines, the representatives of 
 more than a thousand petitioners, " groaning," as 
 they declared, a under a common burden of human 
 rites and ceremonies." This common burden was 
 none other than the Common Prayer. His Majesty 
 set over against these champions of reform a brave 
 array of ecclesiastics, — to wit, one archbishop, eight 
 bishops, seven deans, and two doctors of divinity ; but 
 with characteristic Scottish shrewdness the British 
 Solomon was careful to retain the chair for himself. 
 The Puritans made their complaints, the Anglicans 
 their rejoinders, the King his caustic observations, — 
 in fact, to use his own rather piquant language, he 
 "peppered the Puritans soundly," but nothing, or 
 next to nothing, came of it. Yes, something came of 
 it ; something always does come of futile negotiations 
 for peace. The grievance rankled, and when next 
 the Puritans set their hand to the revision of the 
 Common Prayer, it was not in kings' houses that 
 
224 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 they gathered, but on the field, their pen a trooper's 
 sword. Just one and forty years after the fiasco at 
 Hampton Court, an ordinance passed both houses of 
 Parliament whereby it was enacted that any persons 
 found using the Book of Common Prayer, either 
 publicly or in their families, were to forfeit five 
 pounds for the first offence, ten pounds for the 
 second, and a year's imprisonment without bail for 
 the third. Clearly the pepper-pot had changed hands. 
 But England wearied of the Directory, even as it had 
 wearied of the Common Prayer ; and presently we 
 find ourselves lookers-on at a fresh Conference. 
 Again, ominously enough, the council chamber is a 
 palace, — the palace of the Savoy in the Strand. It 
 is the year 1661. The Stuarts are once more in the 
 saddle ; and with the fond hope that the King is at 
 last in some measure favorable to their views, the 
 Presbyterians have come to meet the Episcopalians, 
 ostensibly for peace. This time the two sides are 
 more fairly matched in point of numbers than they 
 were at Hampton Court ; for each delegation counts 
 twelve principals and nine assistants. But again, 
 alas ! the thing turns out a flash in the pan. Richard 
 Baxter, saint and scholar though he is, makes the 
 unaccountable blunder of proposing to substitute a 
 liturgy of his own impromptu manufacture for the 
 already venerable Book of Common Prayer ; the 
 bishops show themselves imperious, not to say re- 
 vengeful, certainly anything but "easy to be en- 
 treated," and the Conference perishes in collapse. 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 225 
 
 A large number of unimportant changes were made 
 by Convocation in the text of the Prayer Book while 
 the Conference was still in session, but few, if any, of 
 them were in the direction of the Presbyterians' desires. 
 
 Twenty-eight more years passed, and yet another 
 attempt was made to promote a better liturgical 
 understanding. It was in the reign, this time, of 
 William and Mary; and again there was good hope 
 felt in some quarters that Englishmen might come 
 to at least an approximate agreement in the matter of 
 their prayers. But, no, ■« this great and good work," 
 to quote the language of the Preface to the American 
 Prayer Book, " miscarried," and all things continued 
 as they had been from the beginning of the Restora- 
 tion. Yes, all things thus continued, so far as Eng- 
 land was concerned ; but see what happened next, 
 for it is a most striking illustration of what we may 
 call the reprisals of divine Providence. 
 
 "The shot heard round the world" was fired at 
 Lexington, the little group of thirteen Colonies that 
 fringed the Atlantic coast fought its way to national- 
 ity, and the long quarrel of the European powers 
 over the partition of North America ended in the 
 establishment of a great English-speaking Common- 
 wealth. What did all this portend for the Book of 
 Common Prayer ? It portended the reversal, in great 
 measure, of the judgments pronounced at Hampton 
 Court in 1604 and at the Savoy in 1661. Let us 
 quote again from the Preface to the American Prayer 
 Book, for it gives the whole story in a nut-shell : — 
 
 15 
 
226 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 " When in the course of Divine Providence, these 
 American States became independent with respect to 
 civil government, their ecclesiastical independence was 
 necessarily included ; and the different religious denomi- 
 nations of Christians in these States were left at full 
 and equal liberty to model and organize their respective 
 Churches and forms of worship and discipline in such 
 manner as they might judge most convenient for their 
 future prosperity, consistently with the laws and Con- 
 stitution of their Country. 
 
 "The attention of this Church was, in the first place, 
 drawn to those alterations in the Liturgy which became 
 necessary in the prayers for our civil rulers in conse- 
 quence of the Revolution. And the principal care herein 
 was to make them conformable to what ought to be the 
 proper end of all such prayers, namely, that ' Rulers may 
 have grace, wisdom and understanding, to exercise justice 
 and to maintain truth ; ' and that the people ' may lead quiet 
 and peaceable lives in all godliuess and honesty.' But 
 while these alterations were in review before the Conven- 
 tion, they could not but, with gratitude to God, embrace 
 the happy occasion which was offered to them (unin- 
 fluenced and unrestrained by any worldly authority what- 
 soever) to take a further review of the Public Service, 
 and to establish such other alterations and amendments 
 therein as might be deemed expedient." 
 
 So far, the American revisers of 1789. Their 
 words present a sober and modest estimate of what 
 they had just been doing in convention assembled. 
 It might look, from their own account of the matter, 
 as if they had not accomplished very much in the 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 227 
 
 line of improvement ; but if you will be at the 
 trouble of laying an American Prayer Book open 
 by the side of an English one, and will compare 
 them page for page, you will find that almost all 
 of the more serious liturgical grievances alleged at 
 London in the seventeenth century were redressed 
 at Philadelphia in the eighteenth. I say " serious 
 grievances," for very many of the criticisms brought 
 against the Prayer Book by the Puritan party at 
 Hampton Court, and by the Presbyterians at the 
 Savoy were of a sort which the ecclesiastical de- 
 scendants of those who brought them would be, to-day, 
 the first to declare frivolous and petty. 
 
 "The thoughts of men are widened with the process of the 
 
 and many things that loomed large before the eyes of 
 Puritan and Churchman two hundred years ago look 
 insignificant enough to you and me. 
 
 As to the very latest of all the revisions of the 
 Prayer Book, I mean the one made in this country 
 and brought to a conclusion four years ago, any 
 extended remark is uncalled-for. The changes 
 effected were none of them of a doctrinal charac- 
 ter, but were consented to on grounds of practical 
 expediency, as likely to heighten the book's useful- 
 ness under the present conditions of American life. 
 Whether the authorities, in their anxiety "to keep 
 the mean between the two extremes of too much 
 stiffness in refusing and of too much easiness in 
 
228 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 admitting any variation," erred most on the side of 
 boldness or on the side of timidity, it must be left 
 to the critics of a future generation to decide. 
 
 Oar swift review of the history of the Common 
 Prayer concluded, I suggest that we pass next to a 
 study of the book's characteristics, literary and theo- 
 logical, beginning with the former of the two. And 
 here let me say that I welcome the fact that I am 
 addressing an audience not supposed to be particu- 
 larly alive to the excellences of the Prayer Book, 
 because it will help to safeguard me against that 
 tendency to indiscriminate eulogy which so many An- 
 glicans betray when once you start them on the sub- 
 ject of their " incomparable liturgy." To hear some 
 people talk, one would suppose that the doctrine of 
 verbal inspiration, driven from the biblical precincts, 
 had taken up its abode in liturgical quarters. It is 
 worth our while to remember that the worship of any 
 book whatever, whether a book of Holy Scripture, a 
 book of prayer, or a book of destructive criticism, is 
 " bibliolatry." 
 
 Of course there are inequalities of style in the 
 Prayer Book, and divers varying grades of literary 
 excellence. As well go through the Pitti and Uffizi 
 galleries affirming that all the Raphaels you may 
 happen to find possess one and the same artistic 
 value simply because signed by the same hand ; as 
 well insist that " The Surgeon's Daughter" is as good 
 a novel as " Tvanhoe," or " Troilns and Cressida " as 
 great a play as " Hamlet," or " The May Queen " as 
 

 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 229 
 
 fine a poem as the " Ode on the Death of the Duke 
 of Wellington," as try to make it out that in point 
 of loftiness, dignity, and fervor all portions of the 
 Common Prayer are of a piece. The General Exhor- 
 tation and the General Confession, for instance, stand 
 next to each other in the Offices of Morning and 
 Evening Prayer ; they are so near that they actually 
 touch ; yet is the one as far removed from the other in 
 style-value as silver is from gold. 
 
 The notes of the style of the Common Prayer are 
 simplicity, majesty, and tenderness. Of course I do 
 not mean that we everywhere find these character- 
 istics conjoined ; it is not to be expected or desired 
 that we should ; all I say is that they are noticeable 
 features when we look at the book as a whole with a 
 view to appraising its value and fixing its place. The 
 simplicity is almost everywhere present ; the majesty 
 comes out whenever it is a question of addressing the 
 Throne ; the tenderness reveals itself in all that is 
 said of God's disposition towards the penitent soul, 
 and in every reference to the sorrows and calamities 
 of the mortal lot. 
 
 The simplicity of the language may be accounted 
 for on more grounds than one. A chief reason for 
 putting forth the book at all had been the demand 
 for a worship which the common people could under- 
 stand. As in the case of the translated Bible, the 
 object was to get as far away from the Latin tongue 
 as possible. This explains, perhaps, the marked con- 
 trast as respects the proportion of Saxon to Latin 
 
230 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 derivatives, between the Bible and Prayer Book on 
 the one hand, and on the other not a few of the 
 masterpieces of English letters produced at the same 
 period. The secular authors, even though writing 
 English, were not wholly loath to have the gold thread 
 of their latinity reveal itself pretty freely in the 
 texture of their homespun; but Tyndale and Cran- 
 mer had another aim in view altogether, being more 
 anxious that the ploughboy should understand them 
 than that the ear of the university don should detect 
 nothing amiss. Take as an illustration the follow- 
 ing prayer from the Matins of Edward the Sixth's 
 First Book. I have chosen it almost at random : — 
 
 "O Lord, our heavenly Father, Almighty and ever- 
 living God, which hast safely brought us to the beginning 
 of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty 
 power ; and grant that this day we fall into no sin neither 
 run into any kind of danger ; but that all our doings may 
 be ordered by thy governance to do always that is righteous 
 in thy sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 Here out of seventy-one words, only three — namely, 
 u defend," u ordered," and " governance " — -are Latin 
 derivatives. It is probable that an analysis of the 
 whole book would show a similar ratio. 
 
 Another guarantee of simplicity was supplied by 
 the healthy realism characteristic even of those cor- 
 rupt forms of devotion which Cranmer and his col- 
 leagues had before them as working models in their 
 task of reconstruction. Superstitious as many of 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 231 
 
 the old formularies were, they could not be charged 
 with indifference to things in the concrete. Hence we 
 find throughout the Book of Common Prayer a care- 
 ful avoidance of figurative speech, and a jealous 
 clinging to what is substantive and real. An excep- 
 tion should be made with respect to such imagery 
 as has the sanction of the Bible writers, — though 
 even this is very sparingly employed ; but of meta- 
 phors not Scriptural, there are, in the more ancient 
 and best-loved portions of the book, very few indeed. 
 The Litany, which a justly honored and beloved pro- 
 fessor in this Seminary, the late learned Dr. Shedd, 
 once told me he regarded as the most wonderful 
 compend of intercessory prayer to be found in the 
 whole range of devotional literature, — the Litany is 
 devoid of figurative language altogether. It might 
 seem, at first, as if this banishment of trope and 
 figure, simile and metaphor, must involve a costly 
 sacrifice of beauty, ■ — but no, that does not follow. 
 Massiveness has a beauty of its own. The interior of 
 Durham Cathedral is severe, profoundly so ; nothing 
 could be further removed from those tremendous 
 pillars and those solemn Norman arches than the 
 airy grace of the churches which exemplify the deco- 
 rated Gothic of a later period; and yet it never 
 occurs to anybody to speak of Durham as lacking 
 the element of beauty. It is a grave and serious 
 beauty which reveals itself under that high vault, 
 but it is beauty. A liturgy which is to live on, from 
 generation to generation, must possess the sort of 
 
232 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 beauty which wears. What is fascinating upon occa- 
 sion does not necessarily meet our e very-day need. 
 Eloquent prayers, tense with imaginative thought 
 and vibrant, in a good sense, with poetic feeling, are, 
 as a rule, eloquent only for once. Try to repeat 
 them and they pall. The most marvellous burst of 
 eloquence I ever listened to in my life was the extem- 
 poraneous prayer made by Phillips Brooks at the 
 Harvard Commemoration in 1865. Even the splen- 
 dors of Lowell's Ode paled, for the moment, in the 
 presence of that flame. It was the very utterance 
 for which the great occasion called. But it, or any 
 adaptation or paraphrase of it, would be simply pre- 
 posterous in a liturgy. You may reply that if this 
 be so, its being so is the condemnation of liturgies. 
 Yes, perhaps so, if the conditions which made that 
 prayer possible could be counted upon to reproduce 
 themselves every Sunday in the fifty-two that punc- 
 tuate a year, and you were sure of having a poet- 
 orator in every pulpit. 
 
 I spoke of majesty of speech as characterizing 
 more particularly those portions of the Common 
 Prayer in which we are invited to draw near to God 
 for purposes of adoration. I had especially in mind 
 the usage which there obtains, of linking some attri- 
 bute with the name of Deity in the opening sentence 
 of every prayer, and thus imparting a certain sublim- 
 ity to the very act of crossing the threshold of wor- 
 ship. " God, who showest to them that are in error 
 the light of thy truth " ; "0 Almighty God, who 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 233 
 
 alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of 
 sinful men " ; "0 God, who never failest to help and 
 govern those whom thou dost bring up in thy stead- 
 fast fear and love " ; " God, who hast prepared 
 for those who love thee such good things as pass 
 man's understanding,' , — these are illustrations of 
 what I mean. We shall all of us agree that there is 
 a quiet dignity about this method of approaching the 
 Most High in worship which, without argument, 
 commends itself to a reverential mind. But not only 
 in the prayers, majesty is the distinguishing mark of 
 the praises as well. The Te Deum is majestic : " We 
 praise thee, God, we acknowledge thee to be the 
 Lord." The Gloria in excelsis is majestic : " Lord 
 God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest 
 away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us." 
 The Ter sanctus is majestic : " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord 
 God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. 
 Glory be to thee, Lord most High." 
 
 The other characteristic of which I spoke was 
 tenderness. The tone of the Prayer Book in its ap- 
 proaches to the human soul is gentle, winning, com- 
 passionate. There is nothing anywhere between the 
 covers that even remotely resembles gush. There is 
 no shilly-shallying with the awful fact of sin. In the 
 Office for the Visitation of the Sick there is no sug- 
 gestion that opiates are a good substitute for a quiet 
 conscience, and in the Office for the Visitation of 
 Prisoners the words addressed to criminals under 
 sentence of death are in refreshing contrast to the 
 
234 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 maudlin sentimentalism which, with a strange perver- 
 sity, too often seeks to divert sympathy from the per- 
 son wronged and to transfer it to the unrepentant 
 doer of the wrong. For tenderness of this morbid 
 type, the Prayer Book has no indulgence ; but towards 
 all who sorrow, and for all who " suffer according to 
 the will of God," its tone is everywhere gentle, sym- 
 pathetic, pitiful, compassionate. It not only asks that 
 the merciful Lord will strengthen those who do stand, 
 it pleads with him to comfort the weak-hearted and 
 to raise up those who fall ; it remembers all who are 
 in danger, necessity, and tribulation, all sick persons 
 and young children, the prisoners and the captives, 
 the fatherless and the widowed, and all who are deso- 
 late and oppressed. Simplicity, majesty, tenderness, 
 — yes, these are certainly the features that we should 
 wish to see looking out upon us from a manual of 
 worship, a book purporting to teach us how to pray. 
 
 Having discussed style, we pass next to the more 
 difficult question of doctrine. What is the theology 
 of the Book of Common Prayer ? Pray observe that 
 this is a matter quite apart from the Thirty-nine 
 Articles of Religion. The Thirty-nine Articles bear an 
 important doctrinal relation to the Church of England 
 and to the American Episcopal Church ; but we are 
 not discussing these Churches, we are discussing the 
 Prayer Book, and the Articles are no part of the 
 Prayer Book, they make a book of themselves. The 
 theology of the Prayer Book must be gathered from 
 within its own covers. If we look there to find a 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 235 
 
 system of theology thoroughly well bolted and riv- 
 eted, we shall look in vain ; but this is by no means 
 an admission that the language of the formularies is 
 that invertebrate and undogmatic thing which some 
 would like to see it made. Far from it ; for not only 
 are the ancient creeds, in one or other of their au- 
 thenticated forms, made a frequent feature of worship, 
 the very prayers themselves are redolent of dogma. 
 And yet it is rare indeed to hear anybody, except an 
 extreme liberal, complain of the dogmatic feature of 
 the Prayer Book worship as a grievance. And why ? 
 Simply because the dogma has been, if I may be 
 allowed to coin a word, devotionalized. In liturgies, 
 as elsewhere, much depends upon the way of putting 
 things. By way of illustration, suppose we take some 
 orthodox statement of doctrinal truth and lay along- 
 side of it a devotionalized form of the same thought. 
 We are bent, for example, upon setting up a barrier 
 against the arch-heretic Pelagius and his vicious doc- 
 trine of human merit. Yery well, here is one way of 
 doing it, the systematic way : " Albeit that good works, 
 which are the fruits of faith and follow after justifica- 
 tion, cannot put away our sins and endure the se- 
 verity of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and 
 acceptable to God in Christ ; but works done before 
 the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit 
 are not pleasant to God." This of course throws the 
 mind of the listener into a critical and argumentative 
 mood at once ; but attend to the same thought in the 
 attractive form in which it comes wooing us through 
 
236 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the lips of prayer on the Fifth Sunday after Easter : 
 " O Lord, from whom all things do come ; Grant to 
 us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration 
 we may think those things that are good, and by thy 
 merciful guiding may perform the same, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 Most will agree, I think, that the liturgical method 
 of inculcating the truth is, for the ordinary lay mind, 
 at any rate (and the laity are much in the majority), 
 the more persuasive of the two. I do not for a mo- 
 ment pretend to affirm that the Prayer Book is always 
 equally felicitous in its attempts to clothe the hard 
 skeleton of dogma with the warm flesh and blood of 
 a personal devotion. There are marked exceptions. 
 The opening invocations of the Litany, and the Proper 
 Preface, so called, for Trinity Sunday in the Com- 
 munion Office are well-meant endeavors to fasten the 
 Nicene dogma in the affections of the worshippers ; 
 but the same end would have been more effectively 
 served, and the purposes of devotion far better met, 
 by a few quotations from that strangely neglected 
 liturgical treasure-house, the Revelation of St. John 
 the Divine. There need have been no real fear that 
 the interests of Trinitarianism would suffer. The 
 Prayer Book is Trinitarian through and through, warp 
 and woof. You would have to put it under axes and 
 hammers, as was once done in Boston, to get the 
 Trinitarianism out of it. 
 
 Again, the theology of the Prayer Book is pre- 
 eminently a biblical as contrasted with a systematic 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 237 
 
 theology. In saying this I do not mean to assert that 
 the Prayer Book is always true to the teachings of 
 Holy Scripture (though personally I believe it so 
 to be), for that, in this presence, would seem too 
 much like begging the question ; but what I mean is 
 that the Prayer Book ever shows itself more solicitous 
 that its utterances shall square with the utterances of 
 the prophets, the apostles, and our Lord Jesus Christ 
 than that they should be absolutely consistent in their 
 relations to one another. In a " system," whether of 
 theology or of philosophy, the great point is to avoid 
 self-contradiction. All things must hang together 
 logically ; there must be no broken link in the coat of 
 mail, no gap between gorget and cuirass wherethrough 
 the point of sword or lance may pierce. But the 
 Bible writers do not seem to have felt this sort of 
 anxiety. First they stated one truth, and then they 
 stated another ; and the listener was left, notably in 
 the case of the Sermon on the Mount, the most divine 
 of all discourses upon ethics, to discover for himself 
 the articulation of the truths enunciated. If they 
 seemed to him contradictory, so much the worse for 
 him. 
 
 I have already once referred to the doctrine of 
 merit by way of illustration ; let it again serve us as a 
 case in point. What a very Arminian sound, to speak 
 theologically, has the following sentence from the 
 Apocrypha which the Prayer Book orders to be read 
 at the Offertory, or Alms-gathering : " Be merciful 
 after thy power, if thou hast much give plenteously, 
 
238 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 if thou hast little do thy diligence gladly to give of 
 that little, for so gatherest thou thyself a good re- 
 ward." Here there seems to be a very evident eye to 
 some recompense for our deserts. On the other hand, 
 Calvin himself would have been satisfied with the 
 predestinarian import of a petition which occurs in 
 the very same office, later on, where the order of 
 request is that the suppliants may be given grace to 
 do such good works as have been " prepared " for them 
 " to walk in." 
 
 Another striking instance of the Prayer Book's 
 utter indifference to logical consistency, when it is a 
 question of faithfully reflecting the teachings of Holy 
 Scripture, is afforded by its eschatology. With re- 
 spect to the great central verity of the resurrection 
 to eternal life, there is no uncertain sound ; but as to 
 lesser points, and especially as to the temporal rela- 
 tions between death and the judgment, we find in the 
 Prayer Book the same ambiguity that perplexes us 
 in the New Testament. How much better this than 
 an attempt to be wise above what is revealed ! 
 
 It remains to say something about the sacramental 
 aspects of the theology of the Common Prayer. It is 
 here that we come into closest contact with that 
 great doctrinal quarrel which underlay the whole six- 
 teenth century movement. On its political side, the 
 Reformation was a protest against absolutism centred 
 at Rome ; on its doctrinal side, it was a protest against 
 an overstrained and exaggerated sacramental sys- 
 tem, or, as Froude bluntly puts it, an assertion on 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 239 
 
 the part of the laity of their own intrinsic spiritual 
 rights. 
 
 The attitude of the Prayer Book towards Roman 
 error under this head is not so much polemical as it is 
 independent and self-respecting. Those were not the 
 days when Anglicans waited with bated breath to 
 hear what Rome might have to say as to the validity 
 of their orders. The men who framed the Prayer 
 Book had a mind of their own, and did not think it 
 necessary to cross the mountains to search out what 
 was Catholic and primitive. It is true that a slight 
 panicky feeling betrays itself in the famous suffrage 
 of King Edward's Litany, " From the tyranny of 
 the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities, 
 Good Lord deliver us " ; but this is offset by the cour- 
 age and good sense which Elizabeth showed in ex- 
 punging the supersensitive clause while as yet the 
 embers of the fires which her sister had kindled at 
 Smithfield were scarcely cold. 
 
 The unquestioned prominence which the Book of 
 Common Prayer assigns to sacramental doctrine and 
 sacramental practice is not adequately explained by 
 the hypothesis of a sort of half-way covenant with 
 Rome. This is a method of dealing with the fact 
 more popular than profound. Journalists and littera- 
 teurs may be pardoned for taking that view, but 
 serious-minded theologians will scarcely be content 
 with it. The true explanation of the emphasis that 
 the Prayer Book lays upon sacramental obligation and 
 sacramental privilege is to be found in a conviction 
 
240 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 toward which many independent lines of present-day 
 thought converge ; namely, the conviction that religion 
 is, after all, far more an affair of personal allegiance 
 and personal intercourse than it is the acceptance of 
 a syllabus of sacred truths, however well authenticated 
 or accurately dovetailed. St. Paul's aspiration was 
 not " that I may know about Him," it was " that I 
 may know Him." 
 
 It might seem to be expecting a great deal of a 
 Church to ask it to retain within its confines two such 
 contrasted and apparently irreconcilable minds as 
 Pusey and Maurice. Yet each of these two men is 
 found exalting to a very lofty place in his religious 
 system the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. 
 What worthier explanation can we frame for the 
 occurrence of so unlooked-for a truce between hostile 
 temperaments than to suppose that both men have 
 discovered the emptiness of mere intellectuality in 
 religion, and, weary of what one of them was so fond 
 of stigmatizing as " a Gospel of notions," are fleeing, 
 hungry and thirsty, to the presence of the personal, 
 the true, the living Christ. 
 
 The truth is, that so far from carrying any taint of 
 Roman error, the Prayer Book Office for the Holy 
 Communion is probably, of all the formularies which 
 the book contains, the one least obnoxious to such a 
 charge. The doctrine of the Eucharist was known 
 to be the critical point in the Reformation's line of 
 defence, and it was guarded with a corresponding 
 jealousy. That the Prayer Book Office still retains 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 241 
 
 this bulwark character is sufficiently evidenced by the 
 fact that those who seek to make it do duty as High 
 Mass are compelled to mutilate and dislocate it 
 before it can be forced to lend itself to their ques- 
 tionable purpose. 
 
 I have spoken of the history and of the character- 
 istics of the Prayer Book ; bear with me a little 
 longer until I shall have said a few words about its 
 possibilities in years to come. 
 
 It would rightly have appeared a poor requital of 
 the courtesy which I began by acknowledging, had I 
 come here to exploit the Prayer Book as the special 
 possession of the Communion in which it happens to 
 be my own privilege to serve, or to make boast of its 
 excellences in the spirit of a monopolist. Such has 
 not been my attitude of mind, and I should be 
 unhappy if I thought that any one of you who have 
 so kindly listened to my imperfect setting forth of a 
 great subject had so imagined. I hold the Common 
 Prayer to be the common property of the whole 
 English-speaking race. It was originally promul- 
 gated with the intention of its being that. By what 
 disabling statute or repealing clause, 1 should like to 
 ask, has right of ownership been since limited to any 
 narrower constituency ? There are, to be sure, cer- 
 tain corporate bodies that hold the book in trust, as 
 it were, for the several nationalities into which the 
 Englishry of the sixteenth century has, under God's 
 providence, wonderfully developed, — there is a stan- 
 dard edition according to the use of England, another 
 
 16 
 
242 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 according to the use of Ireland, and another accord- 
 ing to the use of the United States ; but on the book's 
 titlepage, high up above these particulars of lesser 
 moment, stands the generous and inclusive super- 
 scription, " The Book of Common Prayer, and Admin- 
 istration of the Sacraments and other Rites and 
 Ceremonies of the Church." What Church ? Eng- 
 land's Church ? Ireland's Church ? No ; — the Holy 
 Catholic Church, the Congregation of Faithful Men, 
 the Body of all those who have been baptized into 
 the Holy Name. Do not imagine that I am about to 
 close a cool survey with a perfervid rhapsody. I have 
 no extravagant expectations for the future of the 
 Prayer Book in this country, though in common with 
 many others I entertain some, perhaps not wholly 
 unreasonable, hopes. In the light of the post-Refor- 
 mation history, covering now almost four centuries, 
 it does not seem likely that liturgical worship will 
 ever again become universal throughout Christendom, 
 least of all that it will do so in a country like this. 
 If the Church to which an eminent Presbyterian 
 divine has given the felicitous title of " The United 
 Church of the United States " ever grows into reality, 
 the probability is that we shall see within its borders 
 public worship conducted with high ritual, with low 
 ritual, and with no ritual, by liturgy or by directory, 
 according to the needs, demands, and aptitudes of 
 particular communities. 
 
 The Church of England is the only national Church 
 in Christendom that ever undertook to enforce abso- 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 243 
 
 lute uniformity in public worship, and England's 
 attempt has been a conspicuous failure. Ritualists 
 and Evangelicals succeed in making one and the 
 same liturgy speak in very different tones ; while non- 
 conformity, standing beyond the pale altogether, con- 
 trives to say its prayers without the help of any book 
 at all, and yet keeps up, strange to say, a fair show of 
 good works. 
 
 But let that pass. What I am seeking to emphasize 
 in these closing words is the common and undivided 
 interest which all English-speaking Christians already 
 possess in the ancient Common Prayer if they have 
 a mind to claim it. There are no copyright restric- 
 tions hedging the book; no ecclesiastical treasury 
 derives a royalty from its sale. Why should not 
 congregations of whatever name that feel the need of 
 a liturgy take it and use it, or so much of it as they 
 care to use, instead of setting committees at work 
 compiling formularies which after all would have to 
 shine mostly by borrowed light ? Scruples about the 
 ordination service need not be an obstacle ; for no 
 more than the Thirty-nine Articles is the Ordinal a 
 part of the Prayer Book. The Prayer Book proper 
 ends with the Psalms of David, as a glance at its table 
 of contents will show. And these are the words with 
 which it ends : " Let everything that hath breath 
 praise the Lord." 
 
244 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Palmer, Rev. "Win., Origines Liturgicce. 
 
 Freeman, Rev. Philip, Principles of Divine Service. 2 vols. 
 
 Breviary, Salisbury. 
 
 Breviary, Aberdeen. 
 
 Breviary, Quignonian. 
 
 Breviary, Mozarabic. 
 
 Muratori, Liturgia. 2 vols. 
 
 Gee and Hardy, Documents illustrative of English Church History. 
 
 Primers, The Three, of Henry VIII. 
 
 Keeling, Liturgice Britannicoz. 
 
 Parker, James, First Prayer Book of Edward VI. compared with 
 the successive Revisions. 
 
 Parker, James, Introduction to the History of the Successive Re- 
 visions of the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 Maskell, Rev. Wm., Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England. 
 
 Maskell, Rev. Wm., Monumenta Ritualia Ecclesioz Anglicanoz. 
 
 Walton and Medd, First Prayer Book of Edward VI. 
 
 Pickering, W., Reprints of Books of Common Prayer, from Edward 
 to Victoria. 7 vols. 
 
 Cardwell, Dr. E., Two Books of Common Prayer of Edward VI. 
 compared. 
 
 Henry Bradshaw Society, Liturgical publications of. 
 
 Wheatley, Rev. Chas., Rational Illustration of the Book of Common 
 Prayer. 
 
 Sanderson and Wrenn, Bishops, Fragmentary Illustrations of the 
 History of the Book of Common Prayer from Manuscript Sources. 
 
 Blue Book of House of Commons, containing Revised Liturgy of 
 1689. 
 
 Hall, Rev. Peter, Reliquioz Liturgicce, 
 
 Hall, Rev. Peter, Fragmenta Liturgica. 
 
 Baxter, Rev. Richard, A Petition for Peace with the Reformation of 
 the Liturgy. 
 
 Blunt, Rev. J. H., Annotated Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 Cardwell, Edward, History of Conferences and other Proceedings con- 
 nected with the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 Luckock, Rev. Canon, Studies in the History of the Book of Common 
 Prayer. 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 245 
 
 Daniel, Rev. Canon, The Prayer Book, its History, Language, and 
 Contents. 
 
 Proctor, Rev. F., History of the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 Campion and Beaumont, The Prayer Book Interleaved. 
 
 Hole, Rev. Chas., Manual of the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 Black-Letter Prayer Book 0/1636, Zinco-photographic facsimile. 
 
 Manuscript Prayer Book o/1662, Photographic facsimile. 
 
 Jebb, John, The Choral Service of the Churches of England and 
 Ireland. 
 
 Stephens, A. J., Book of Common Prayer with Notes Legal and His- 
 torical. 
 
 Purchas, Rev. J., Directorium Anglicanum. 
 
 Convocation Prayer Book. 
 
 Bright and Medd, Liber Precum Publicarum. 
 
 Scudamore, Notitia Eucharistica. 
 
 Maurice, Rev. F. D., The Prayer Book and the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 Goulburn, Dean, Collects of the Day. 
 
 Selborne, Earl of, Notes on some Passages in Liturgical History of 
 the Reformed English Church. 
 
 Sprott, Scottish Liturgies of James VI. 
 
 Huntington, Rev. W. R., Short History of the Book of Common 
 Prayer. 
 
 S. P. C. K., Commentary on the Prayer Book. 
 
 Barry, Rev. Wm., Teacher's Prayer Book. 
 
 Wright, Rev. John, Early Prayer Books of America. 
 
 M'Garvey, Rev. Wm., Liturgice Americanos. 
 
 The Book Annexed, Philadelphia, 1883. 
 
 The Book Annexed, as modified, New York, 1885. 
 
 The Standard Prayer Book o/1892. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER AND 
 THE DIRECTORY FOR WORSHIP 
 
 By the Rev. ALLAN POLLOK, D.D. 
 
 Principal of the Presbyterian College, Halifax, N. S. 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER AND THE 
 
 DIRECTORY FOR THE PUBLIC 
 
 WORSHIP OF GOD 
 
 JOHN KNOX'S views on the subject of public wor- 
 ship may be found in a letter written to the 
 Protestants of Scotland from France in 1556 — four 
 years before the Scottish Reformation. In this he 
 advises for their ordinary assemblies : first, Prayer 
 with confession of sins and invocation of the Spirit 
 of the Lord Jesus : then, the reading of the Scripture, 
 plainly and distinctly : then, the interpretation. In 
 reading the Scripture, he adds : " I would ye should 
 join some books of the Old and some of the New 
 Testament together, as Genesis and one of the Evan- 
 gelists, Exodus with another and so forth, ever end- 
 ing such books as ye begin : for it shall greatly 
 comfort you to hear that harmony and well-tuned 
 song of the Holy Spirit speaking in our fathers from 
 the beginning." He then recommends that common 
 prayers and intercessions be made for princes, 
 rulers and magistrates, for the "liberty of the 
 Gospel, the comfort of the afflicted, and the deliver- 
 ance of persecuted churches." This letter contains 
 the first rough sketch of the worship of the Reformed 
 
250 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Church of Scotland. We must not suppose that this 
 subject was new to the Scottish reformer, or that 
 in the enthusiasm of his anti-Romish iconoclasm he 
 had entirely overlooked public worship. On his 
 release from the French galleys, he had been em- 
 ployed by the English Privy Council preaching in 
 the north of England. After two years' service there 
 he was appointed one of King Edward's chaplain s-in- 
 ordinary — a most important office, which he retained 
 till the king's death in 1553. Thus, during four 
 years he must have been familiar with the liturgy of 
 Edward VI., both in its first form and subsequent 
 revision. Such an important work as the revision 
 of the first book could not but have occupied much 
 of his attention. As a matter of fact, Knox was 
 called up to London and consulted on the subject, 
 and by his influence significant changes were made 
 in the communion office of the Book of Common 
 Prayer. It is important to notice that the Scottish 
 reformer had formed opinions on this subject before 
 he made the acquaintance of Calvin or the Conti- 
 nental divines. In the beginning of 1554 he sought 
 safety and found leisure in Geneva, which he de- 
 scribed as " the most perfect school of Christ that 
 ever was upon earth." There Calvin had fully estab- 
 lished the Reformed doctrine and worship, and here 
 he directed the movement all over Europe. But soon 
 Knox was invited to take charge of a congregation 
 of English exiles, who had been permitted to worship 
 in Frankfort upon condition of conforming as nearly 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 251 
 
 as possible to the worship of the French church. 
 These Englishmen accordingly agreed to omit the 
 surplice, the litany, audible responses, and other cere- 
 monies of the Book of Common Prayer, but discord 
 had begun when Knox arrived, and, notwithstanding 
 all his efforts, it continued till he left, and with even 
 increased vehemence after his departure. In the 
 course of these disputes between those who were for 
 and those who were against the use of Edward's 
 book, Knox, along with some others, had composed 
 what was afterwards known as the Book of Geneva — 
 a service not the same as the Genevan order but 
 closely resembling it. The name — the Book of 
 Geneva — was derived from the fact that, upon 
 Knox's return to Geneva, it was printed and used 
 by the English Kirk of Geneva, of which John Knox 
 was minister. The title of the first edition states 
 that it was approved by the famous and learned man, 
 John Calvin. From the preface, as given in Dunlop's 
 Confessions, we find that the date of this first edition 
 is the 10th of February, 1556. This is the book 
 afterwards known as the Book of Common Order, 
 but commonly and not very inaccurately called, 
 Knox's Liturgy. We thus find that, in the rough 
 sketch addressed to the Scottish Protestants in 1556, 
 Knox wrote from long and sometimes unpleasant 
 familiarity with the subject. As was conspicuously 
 the case with Calvin, we find in all Knox's writings 
 carefully composed prayers. Neither of these great 
 men could have had the least objection to written 
 
252 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 prayers, and both were familiar with liturgical com- 
 position. How could they be otherwise when the 
 Bible is so full of prayers ? 
 
 Knox returned to Scotland in 1559, and the Scot- 
 tish Reformation was accomplished in 1560. In the 
 interval between 1556 and 1560, and for four years 
 afterwards, the Book of Common Prayer was used 
 in meetings of the Reforming party. In 1557 the 
 Scottish Lords of the Congregation resolved : " That 
 the Common Prayers be read weekly on Sunday and 
 other festival days, publicly in the parish kirks with 
 the lessons of the Old and New Testaments, conform 
 to the Book of Common Prayer." The book referred 
 to here was unquestionably the second book of Edward 
 as resumed and slightly amended at the accession 
 of Queen Elizabeth. This was afterwards disputed. 
 However, not only does the wording of the resolution 
 imply it, but it is established by contemporary testi- 
 mony. There is not the least doubt that they would 
 have preferred the Book of Geneva, but few copies 
 of this were available and copies of the other could 
 easily be procured from England. In the First Book 
 of Discipline, prepared by the famous five Johns, John 
 Winram, John Spottiswood, John Douglas, John Row, 
 and John Knox, and embodying the church principles 
 of the Scottish Reformers, the Order of Geneva is 
 spoken of as " used in our churches." In 1562 the 
 General Assembly enjoined its uniform use in the 
 administration of the sacraments, solemnization of 
 marriage, and burial of the dead. In 1564 it was 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 253 
 
 enlarged and the Psalter completed. In this form 
 its use was enjoined upon every minister, exhorter, 
 and reader. In 1567 it was by order of the General 
 Assembly translated into Gaelic for the use of the 
 Highlanders. Probably it was thus the first book 
 printed in the Gaelic language. It is constantly 
 referred to in Acts of Assemblies as the settled and 
 legalized form of worship down to the year 1645, 
 when the Directory was authorized by the Scottish 
 Estates. 
 
 In a copy of this book, printed at Aberdeen in 
 1635 — that is, shortly before the St. Giles's riot in 
 1637 — I find the following contents: a calendar 
 of the movable feasts, a short and admirable Con- 
 fession of Faith, used in the English congregation of 
 Geneva, an extract from the First Book of Discipline 
 concerning ministers, their election and duties and 
 the assemblies of the Church, the form of ordination 
 of ministers, the order of discipline in excommunica- 
 tion, repentance and absolution with all the prayers 
 prescribed for such services, the order for the visita- 
 tion of the sick, confessions and godly prayers for 
 the daily service and special occasions, forms for the 
 communion, baptism, and marriage, a treatise on 
 fasting, with Scriptures and prayers to be used at 
 such fasts. The prayer for the whole estate of 
 Christ's Church, as in all the liturgies, follows the 
 sermon. It is concluded with the Lord's Prayer. 
 Then followed the recitation of the Apostles' Creed, 
 after the following preamble : " Almighty and ever- 
 
254 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 lasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech thee to grant us 
 perfect continuance in the lively faith, augmenting 
 the same in us daily, till we grow to the full measure of 
 our perfection in Christ, whereof we make our confes- 
 sion, saying, I believe in God, the Father Almighty," 
 etc. This was followed by the benediction, either 
 from Numbers or from 2 Corinthians. The Psalms 
 in metre, along with a music score in four parts and 
 marginal notes to aid the worshipper in singing with 
 the understanding, occupy two-thirds of the book. 
 Thus it must be seen that a worshipper in the Scots 
 church, for nearly a hundred years after the Reforma- 
 tion, went to church well provided for its services. 
 So far as congregational worship is concerned, we 
 have, in losing these forms, not advanced but retro- 
 graded. 
 
 On the special features of this form of service, I 
 must restrict myself to but a few observations. The 
 peculiar title, " Book of Common Order," was well 
 chosen, for various reasons. Or do is a word which, 
 from the eighth century, was applied to rubrical di- 
 rections for the guidance of priests in the administra- 
 tration of the sacraments. It accurately describes 
 services which were sometimes discretionary in their 
 parts but never in their order. The term " Common " 
 might suggest a comparison, perhaps a contrast, with 
 the Book of Common Prayer, previously in use. It 
 was "common" because it was not only a service by 
 the people and not by priests alone, but because it was 
 for the people in every church throughout the nation. 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 255 
 
 The word expresses the meaning which, in the follow- 
 ing century, was conveyed by the word "uniform " 
 The churches throughout the land were to have a 
 service common to all. The whole form is in close 
 conformity with the Genevan liturgy of 1543, which 
 became the model for all the Reformed liturgies ex- 
 cept that of the English Church. The Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer borrowed much from them, but they 
 borrowed nothing from it. Calvin was preceded in 
 Geneva by Farel, who had swept away every vestige 
 of the ancient worship, so that his successor was able 
 to go directly back to the Holy Scriptures for guidance 
 and authority. The Genevan morning service for the 
 Lord's day began with the reading of the appointed 
 chapters of Holy Scripture and the Ten Command- 
 ments ; then, after a very brief formula of invocation 
 and a single sentence of exhortation, with the con- 
 fession. After a psalm had been sung, a prayer for 
 illumination followed. For this the minister might 
 take a form provided or one composed by himself. 
 The sermon was followed by the prayer for all con- 
 ditions, the Lord's Prayer, the recitation of the Apos- 
 tles' Creed, and the benediction. The service was 
 long neither as a whole nor in any of its parts. The 
 minister was rigorously tied down to this service once 
 a week, — that is, on Sunday mornings ; but ample 
 provision for free prayer was made by the rubric that 
 " On week days the minister useth such words in 
 prayer as may seem to him good, suiting his prayer 
 to the occasion and the matter whereof he treats in 
 
256 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 preaching." Such is substantially the service now 
 maintained in all the Reformed churches of the Eu- 
 ropean continent. All this was reproduced in the 
 Book of Common Order ; except that the prayer after 
 sermon might be varied, according to a rubrical per- 
 mission, — a liberty of which Knox often availed 
 himself in his conflicts with the Court. In the ser- 
 vices for baptism, the communion, and marriage, 
 everything is prescribed, and no latitude is given to 
 the minister. The communion was to be ministered 
 once a month, or as oft as expedient, and baptism 
 and marriage were to be in church on the Sabbath 
 day in presence of the congregation. 
 
 The fundamental principle of all the Reformed 
 liturgies, the Anglican excepted, is the conjunction of 
 free with prescribed prayer. The advantages and 
 disadvantages in each were balanced by using both. 
 But there was a common Order ; so that in the sub- 
 stance and succession the worshipper always knew 
 what was coming, and confusion and surprise were 
 prevented. At the same time, as it was not accord- 
 ant with primitive Christianity to restrain all expres- 
 sion of the free spirit, free prayer was allowed in one 
 part of the daily service and encouraged in all other 
 meetings of the Church. The rubrical directions for 
 baptism, the communion, and marriage, allowed no 
 deviation ; because these were of the nature of vows 
 or engagements. A very special feature was the 
 extensive use made of the psalms. Calvin clearly 
 perceived that the psalms were the Church's response 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 257 
 
 to the Divine message. This response burst from 
 human hearts in a warm tide of emotion diversified 
 by all kinds of experience. The psalmist might speak 
 in the first person, but he spoke as a representative 
 believer and an organ of inspiration. The psalms are 
 the voice of the Church. They everywhere breathe a 
 churchly spirit, and they were written not to be read 
 or recited but to be sung, and if possible sung respon- 
 sively. It may be confidently affirmed that this col- 
 lection of sacred song can never with propriety be 
 omitted from the services of the Church of that 
 God whom its devout aspirations bring so near to 
 the human soul, or that anything can be found on 
 earth to take its place. When we hear it merely read 
 by the minister, the psalm strikes the ear with a kind 
 of inverted majesty. It must in some way be uttered 
 by the Church which has been divinely furnished with 
 this voice in which to call upon and cry out to the 
 living God. The minister's part in the service was 
 confession, intercession, and preaching, to which the 
 people replied in the psalms by adoration, praise, and 
 exhortation. The minister's prayers contain only 
 confession and intercession, and without the psalms" 
 would have furnished an incomplete service. Calvin 
 wholly rejected audible responses without musical 
 expression as fitted not to awaken but to disturb 
 devotion. The psalms were translated into metre by 
 Clement Marot and Theodore Beza and set to plain 
 tunes which could easily be followed by the whole 
 people. Knox adopted the same method, using for 
 
 17 
 
258 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 this purpose the version of Sternhold and Hopkins. 
 This psalm singing was so marked a feature that the 
 whole Book of Common Order was usually called 
 " The Psalm Book " not only in common speech but 
 in Acts of Assembly. The liturgy and the psalms in 
 Geneva and Scotland were invariably bound together. 
 All the prayers in the Book of Common Order and in 
 the Geneva liturgy are models of simplicity and com- 
 prehensiveness, but the daily offices are especially 
 beautiful. The morning prayer was being heard by 
 Coligny when the assassins burst into his chamber; 
 and the evening prayer was read to John Knox two 
 hours before he expired. When asked if he had 
 heard it, he replied, " Would that you and all men 
 had heard as I have heard it. I praise God for that 
 heavenly sound." 
 
 The last edition of the Book of Common Order was 
 issued in 1644, and the Directory was adopted by the 
 General Assembly in 1645. In a work, known to be 
 by Alexander Henderson, published in 1641, and 
 intended to correct an impression prevalent in Eng- 
 land that the Scots had no settled forms of worship, 
 he describes the worship in his day. The churches 
 were open every day for the reading of prayers, and 
 on one day of each week there was a regular service 
 with sermon. On Sundays at 7 o'clock a bell was 
 rung to warn the people to prepare for public worship. 
 Another bell at 8 o'clock served to assemble the con- 
 gregation. Each person on entering the church 
 bowed in silent prayer. As there were no pews, the 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 259 
 
 men stood while the women sat on chairs or stools. 
 The reader read from the lectern the common prayers 
 and gave out psalms to be sung. The singing was 
 always concluded with the " Gloria Patri." He then 
 read chapters from the Old and New Testaments. 
 After an hour another bell announced the entrance of 
 the minister, who bowed as the people had done. 
 Many have wondered at the ringing of three bells in 
 Scotch churches on Sunday mornings and inquired 
 what it is done for. It is simply a survival of the old 
 worship. We have lost the prayers, and for our com- 
 fort or vexation we have the bells. The minister 
 began with a conceived prayer, which was understood 
 to be for illumination. Then followed the sermon, 
 the prayer for all estates, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, 
 and the benediction — all forming a service, scrip- 
 tural in character, logical in structure, and in harmony 
 with the order of all Reformed churches on the Euro- 
 pean continent. It was not tedious, as the age of 
 long sermons and long prayers had not arrived. The 
 Scots church would have retained it substantially till 
 now but for the violent interference of the authorities 
 of another church and another people. 
 
 At the accession of James L, a Presbyterian king, 
 the Puritan members of the Church of England hoped 
 for some relief from obnoxious ceremonies ; but their 
 most reasonable requests were contemptuously re- 
 jected. He told them that they must conform, or lie 
 would harry them out of the land. Under Charles I., 
 persecution more and more increased till the meeting 
 
260 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 of the Long Parliament, when the situation was 
 reversed, and Laud was sent to the prison to which he 
 had consigned so many conscientious men. The Scots, 
 in defence of their despised and insulted worship, had 
 invaded England, and when their Commissioners were 
 treating with the king at Ripon, Commissioners from 
 the Long Parliament arrived for a similar purpose. 
 It was at this point that the Scots and English began 
 to co-operate. In 1643 — a year after the civil war 
 had begun — English Commissioners appeared at the 
 General Assembly in Edinburgh and proposed a 
 league between the two kingdoms. As the Scots 
 desired a religious covenant also, the Solemn League 
 and Covenant was subscribed by both nations. It 
 was in consequence of this conjunction that Scottish 
 Commissioners went to the Westminster Assembly — 
 an English Council called by the Long Parliament to 
 reform the English Church. We do not know what 
 reforms the English divines might have made in the 
 Church of England, nor what kind of polity or worship 
 or discipline they would have established without the 
 aid of the Scots, but we do know that it was in con- 
 sequence of this treaty that the Scots gave up their 
 ancient Book of Common Order and adopted the 
 Westminster Directory. 
 
 It may be well to review the situation at this junc- 
 ture. The grand aim of the Court had been to reduce 
 the Church of Scotland to the English pattern, and in 
 this there was some progress made, for bishops had 
 been established in Scotland for twenty-eight years. 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 261 
 
 Uniformity in both kingdoms was the dream of James 
 and Charles and Laud, and they fondly hoped to have 
 it realized. But worship touched the feelings of the 
 Scottish people more than polity, and when a new 
 liturgy was forced upon them and their old one was 
 superseded, then the Scots threw down bishops, abol- 
 ished the Perth Articles, and cancelled all the offen- 
 sive legislation from 1605 to 1638. Along with this 
 movement in Scotland, Charles and Laud were forcing, 
 by the most cruel penalties, uniformity in England. 
 When the Scots took up arms to fight for their reli- 
 gion, the necessities of the king compelled him to 
 summon a parliament which at once took cognizance 
 of the religious grievances of the English nation. Thus 
 the king had arrayed against him the religious people 
 of both nations. Uniformity was still aimed at, but 
 now the parties had changed places. By the Solemn 
 League and Covenant, the Scots sought uniform- 
 ity, but it was Scotch Presbyterian uniformity, with 
 which they hoped to bless England. With such views 
 and expectations, the Scots Commissioners came to 
 the Westminster Assembly in the autumn of 1643. 
 As representatives of the Scots church and nation, 
 they were received with much respect by the members 
 of what has been called the most grave and learned 
 Assembly of the Church since the days of the Apostles. 
 Upon the 12th October, the Lords and Commons or- 
 dered the Assembly to commence the work of framing 
 a Directory of Public Worship. Previous to this the 
 Solemn League and Covenant had been taken by the 
 
262 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 House of Commons, the Lords, the Assembly of Di- 
 vines, and the Scots Commissioners, in St. Margaret's 
 Church, Westminster, and had been sent back to 
 Edinburgh to be subscribed throughout the kingdom. 
 It was under this conjunction and covenant that Puri- 
 tan and Presbyterian now united in framing a form 
 for public worship and Church offices. The Scots 
 Commissioners, six in number, sat as a body of assess- 
 ors, with voices but no votes, treating in the name of 
 Scotland for uniformity with England, and they took 
 more than their share in the debates of an Assembly 
 which sat without intermission for five and a half 
 years. Their influence arose, not from their number, 
 which was small, nor from their talents, which were 
 great, but from their representing the Scotch nation. 
 The preparation of the Directory was intrusted to a 
 small committee consisting of Marshall, Palmer, 
 Goodwin, Young, Herle, and the Scots Commission- 
 ers. From this it might be expected that the Direc- 
 tory would be more Scotch than English in its cast. 
 In fact, the important sections on prayer, preaching, 
 and the administration of the sacraments were ulti- 
 mately left to Henderson and his fellow Commission- 
 ers alone. The thirteenth volume of Lightfoot's 
 works, containing his " Notes " and Baillie's letters, 
 give the most distinct account of the debates on the 
 Directory, which are recorded under fifty-four sessions 
 in the end of the second volume, and twenty-one at 
 the beginning of the third of the Minutes. Not only 
 had they the co-operation of thirty lay assessors from 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 263 
 
 the Long Parliament, but their decisions were sub- 
 mitted to that body for confirmation or amendment. 
 The sentiments of the English parliamentary govern- 
 ment were thoroughly Erastian, and they did not 
 scruple to make important corrections upon drafts of 
 the Directory as passed by the divines. The work 
 was continued throughout 1644, completed in Decem- 
 ber, and sanctioned by Parliament. In February, 1645, 
 the Scottish Estates ratified and approved it in all the 
 heads and articles thereof. It ought to be noted that 
 the Scots General Assembly passed it with two reser- 
 vations — one relating to the Lord's Supper, in which 
 they say that there must be a table and the communi- 
 cants must distribute the elements among themselves, 
 and the other maintaining the order and practice of 
 the Scots Kirk in all matters, except where they are 
 otherwise ordered and appointed in the Directory. 
 These are important reservations. The Scots were 
 stiffly opposed to the Independents in their manner 
 of distributing the elements to the people in their 
 pews, as well as to the Anglican method of the min- 
 ister giving them to each communicant. They held, 
 as true Presbyterians, a place between these two ex- 
 tremes. The second reservation betrays their attach- 
 ment to their own ancient service and their desire to 
 preserve as much of it as they possibly could. 
 
 The Preface of the Directory, which sets forth the 
 views and aims of the Divines, should be carefully 
 studied by all who would understand this formulary. 
 It refers almost solely to England and the English 
 
264 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Church. They say, " We have resolved to lay aside 
 the former liturgy with the many rites and cere- 
 monies formerly used in the worship of God, and have 
 agreed upon this following Directory for all the parts 
 of public worship at ordinary and extraordinary 
 times," etc. It is called a "Directory" to distinguish 
 it from a liturgy, wherein all is set down to be fol- 
 lowed without change and no discretion is allowed. 
 Here the general heads, the sense and scope of the 
 prayers, are given " that there may be a consent of 
 all the churches in those things that contain the 
 substance of the service and worship of God." 
 The meaning of this is that, though the majority 
 desired a fixed order in all the churches, the Inde- 
 pendents did not wish even a Directory, but entire 
 and unrestricted liberty — which some may think to be 
 the beau ideal of public worship and of which we now 
 have enough and to spare. The name " Directory " 
 implies that the rubrics and forms were to be strictly 
 followed, except in parts where latitude is allowed. 
 Clauses or expressions conceding liberty in some 
 parts surely imply that in other cases the minister 
 is bound by the rubric. Without this restraint the 
 book could not be even a Directory. Those who do 
 as they please follow, not the Presbyterians, but the 
 Independents. Also in the matter of order the min- 
 ister is not left free, except where an alternative is 
 allowed. This rule applies to the order of topics in 
 prayers and exhortations. For example, along with 
 the prayer of confession before sermon is the prayer 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 265 
 
 for all conditions ; but the rubric allows the latter to 
 come after the sermon and change places with the 
 thanksgiving. As it was designed by having a Di- 
 rectory that the worshippers should always know 
 what part to expect next, the order of service and of 
 topics was not discretionary. The Preface was de- 
 bated for six sessions principally upon the point 
 whether the prayer-outlines might be moulded into 
 prayers or not. The Independents were against this, 
 and to satisfy them it was left indefinite ; so that 
 each minister might decide this for himself. Light- 
 foot, the Rabbinical scholar of his age, said that " it 
 was dangerous to hint anything against a form of 
 prayer." Curiously, there is no mention of the pos- 
 ture of the worshippers in prayer, but historical 
 testimonies prove this to have been either kneeling 
 or standing, and never sitting, except during Com- 
 munion. The long prayer before sermon is referred 
 to by Baillie as " a new fancy of the Independents " — 
 " contrary to all the practice of the church, old or 
 late." This outline, consisting of confession and in- 
 tercession, admits of easy separation into two distinct 
 prayers. The public reading of passages from both 
 Testaments is enjoined as an act of worship. The 
 Scriptures must be read in course, and no comments 
 are allowed till the reading is ended, lest the word 
 of God should be intermingled with the word of man. 
 Private prayer on entering the church is presupposed 
 by the rubric which says that " if any be hindered 
 from being present at the beginning, they ought 
 
266 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 not, when they come into the congregation, betake 
 themselves to their devotions." Here the exception 
 clearly establishes the rule. The minister also bowed 
 on entering the pulpit, until this also was abandoned 
 to please the Brownists and their followers, and so, 
 when the minister gave up this becoming practice, 
 the people did the same. This custom, the use of 
 the Gloria and the Lord's Prayer, long used in Scot- 
 land, were surrendered by the Scots, to the sorrow of 
 a great many devout ministers and people. But 
 regard for the Directory might have preserved one 
 of them, for it says : " And, because the prayer which 
 Christ taught his disciples is not only a pattern of 
 prayer but itself a most comprehensive prayer, we 
 recommend it also to be used in the prayers of the 
 Church." Notwithstanding these words, it is not long 
 since it was scarcely ever heard in our churches. 
 The compilers, following the Book of Common Order, 
 intended it probably to be introduced as a conclusion 
 to the last prayer, which is the prayer of thanks- 
 giving and Christian hope. It has been thought very 
 strange, especially in these days, when singing often 
 occupies so much of the time in public worship, that 
 so little place is assigned to it in the Directory. It 
 is referred to incidentally after the reading, and 
 again after the last prayer it is said : " Let a psalm, 
 [not part of a psalm], be sung, if with conveniency it 
 may be done." There is reason to believe that, as 
 expressed in the first Book of Discipline, singing was 
 regarded as "a profitable but not necessary part of 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 267 
 
 worship." This may have been the prevalent feeling 
 in England, but it was not so among the Scottish 
 presbyters, who had long been accustomed to the 
 singing of the Psalms as an indispensable part of 
 Presbyterian worship ; and hence, when Rouse's ver- 
 sion had, after considerable amendment, been sanc- 
 tioned by the divines and the Long Parliament in 
 1646 and sent down to Scotland for adoption, the 
 Scots were not as compliant as formerly. They con- 
 tinued to correct and compare it with their own and 
 other versions, and to ask for the advice of presby- 
 teries — in fact to take the utmost pains to secure 
 a suitable version and it was not till 1650 that our 
 present version of the Psalms was finally passed. It 
 was thus not part of the covenanted uniformity and 
 it can only with a qualification be called Rouse's 
 version. It is to this that we owe the preservation of 
 the old versions of the 100th Psalm by Wm. Keith, 
 the old 124th by Whittingham, the brother-in-law of 
 Calvin and the noble second versions of Psalms 102, 
 136, 143, and 145, by John Craig, the friend of Knox 
 and minister of Holyrood. 
 
 Coming to special services, baptism must be ad- 
 ministered in church and in the face of the congre- 
 gation — that is, not in a font at the door. Sponsors 
 are dispensed with, but, in the necessary absence of 
 the father, the child may be presented by a Christian 
 friend. This is accordant with Westminster doc- 
 trine : that a child's title to baptism is its federal 
 holiness in right of descent from those who were 
 
268 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 by profession under the covenant of grace. The 
 form contains no profession of faith, no creed, no 
 tows, and no questions ; but a promise for the perform- 
 ance of duty is required. These seem to have been 
 either excluded or expunged by the Independents — - 
 perhaps by the long Parliament. However, in the 
 Book of Common Order there is no promise required, 
 but the Apostles' Creed is rehearsed and expounded. 
 In the absence of any formal and explicit engage- 
 ment, the instruction is very carefully worded and 
 was meant to be used as a form. It embodies the 
 doctrine of the Westminster divines, that, though the 
 grace of baptism is not tied to the time of its admin- 
 istration, it ought to be desired and prayed for as a 
 blessing to be conferred in God's own time, whether 
 then or afterwards. If the seal has no connection 
 with the sign, we cannot justify the baptism of infants 
 at all. The whole Order is most complete, and 
 wholly opposed to views which are more Socinian 
 than Catholic or Presbyterian. It is a manifest 
 defect that there is no Order for the baptism of 
 adults. As to the mode : sprinkling was preferred, 
 but dipping was not excluded. There was much 
 debate in this matter, but it was not as to the one 
 right mode, but as to the exclusion of the other. The 
 exhortation to the people to improve their baptism is 
 a special feature. The whole service, including the 
 prayers, is most impressive and well worthy of close 
 adherence. 
 
 As the communion signalized the differences be- 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 269 
 
 tween the Scots and the English, and especially the 
 Independents, the debates upon this section were 
 long and ardent. It took up eighteen sessions. 
 They at last agreed upon the word " frequently " 
 and left the frequency to be determined by each 
 congregation. The qualification was reduced to the 
 smallest dimensions, probably, by the House of Com- 
 mons. Only the ignorant and scandalous are ex- 
 cluded. In the rubric a table is mentioned, but the 
 Independents were for what has been called " simul- 
 taneous communion " — to which the Scots would 
 never consent. The phrase " about it or at it " ex- 
 pressed compromise, and each nation held fast by its 
 own way. The Scots table-services, once universal, 
 have now nearly disappeared, and have carried away 
 many holy associations and sweet remembrances with 
 them. The Scots way, which continued under some- 
 times very trying circumstances — in the church and 
 in the wilderness — for three hundred years was near- 
 est to the Institution. At the risk of being called a 
 laudator temporis acti I must say that I would much 
 prefer it still. The change which the divines could 
 not make has been the work of church builders and 
 building committees who made no provision in the 
 pews for this ancient mode of celebration. In this 
 we have gone completely over to the Independents. 
 There must be an address, called sometimes fencing, 
 before the prayer of consecration. There is no lit- 
 urgy in modern times without it. The prayer in- 
 cludes the three elements of thanksgiving, a profession 
 
270 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 of faith, and an invocation. There was a debate as 
 to the distribution. In the Scottish practice the 
 communicants handed the elements, the one to the 
 other. In the rubric this matter is left undecided. 
 The prayer at the close is a prayer of thanksgiving. 
 In Scotland the post-communion prayer has always 
 included intercession for all ranks and a strong ex- 
 pression of Christian hope of reunion with departed 
 saints. This is a natural conclusion to a service 
 which not only expresses but ought always to be a 
 communion of saints — a remembrance of the living 
 and the dead. Such a prayer in the morning service 
 would be premature, would interrupt the preparatory 
 work and would make it tedious, so that, on com- 
 munion Sundays, it should be kept till the close. 
 On ordinary days, if the rubric is followed, the first 
 prayer would be the prayer of faith, the second the 
 prayer of charity, and the last the prayer of hope. 
 
 Thus was the most important part finished and sent 
 up to Parliament. The rest refers to the sanctifica- 
 tion of the Lord's day, marriage, fast days and days of 
 thanksgiving, the visitation of the sick, the burial of the 
 dead, and the singing of psalms. Marriage is to be in 
 church, and, contrary to the Book of Common Order, 
 it is recommended that it be not on Sunday. In 
 many places where Presbyterians began to celebrate 
 marriage in church, they were denounced as innovators 
 and imitators of another church. The marriage ser- 
 vice, both in its rubrics, address, and prayers, is most 
 admirable, and it is not long. The word " obey " is 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 271 
 
 not omitted from the formula, and it need not be, as 
 probably the persons addressed will, as of yore, rejoice 
 in doing just as they please. The words, " without 
 any further ceremony," refer to the custom of giving 
 the ring, which, so far as the minister is concerned, is 
 discharged. There is no service permitted at funerals, 
 but some word of exhortation is allowed. This rigor 
 was too severe to last, and prayers at the house forced 
 themselves into our practice under the pretext of 
 giving and returning thanks where refreshments 
 were common. Now a reasonable impulse has brought 
 in prayers also at the grave. No former abuses could 
 justify such a stringent prohibition of religious ex- 
 pression when earth opens its mouth to fulfil the 
 primeval curse, when we stand round the grave as 
 more than conquerors through Him that loved us, 
 and God has opened up such an opportunity for ad- 
 monishing the living. This is certainly one of the 
 most serious omissions in the Directory, — a book 
 which may be old, but is not antiquated, — may be 
 neglected, but is not obsolete. In all its ritual it 
 embodies Westminster doctrine, and, even without 
 such emendations as the Church might and should 
 make, a more strict observance of its forms would be 
 an improvement upon much of our present practice. 
 In Scotland the Directory was adopted in evil times. 
 Montrose, an apostate from the Covenant and its 
 legislation, was slaying thousands of its people. If 
 he had been successful, he would have restored the 
 Book of Common Order. Betwixt 1645 and the 
 
272 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Restoration, all was confusion, and the book was only 
 imperfectly brought into use. From the Restoration 
 to the Revolution, matters were worse, and neither 
 prelatists nor Presbyterians had any fixed form. 
 They were in that happy state which many think the 
 best. Both prayed entirely without book, as long or 
 as short and in whatever order they pleased. The 
 Directory was not legally sanctioned at the Revolu- 
 tion, which was a compromise in all respects. Only 
 the confession was adopted, and the Church was left 
 without even a catechism or a form of worship. By 
 repeated Acts, however, down to 1856 the General 
 Assembly has endeavored to strengthen the authority 
 of the Directory ; so that it is at this time the only 
 proper standard of public worship. As all this took 
 place before the divisions in the Church of Scotland, 
 the Directory occupies the same position in the non- 
 established Churches in Scotland and England, two 
 of which have marked their desire for improvement 
 by authorizing forms for special services. The book 
 issued by the United Presbyterian Church is of such 
 a character that it must be a great help to ministers 
 and people of that large and respectable body of 
 Christians. The Euchologion, or Book of Common 
 Order, first published by the Church Service Society 
 in 1865, and now in its fourth or fifth edition, has 
 wrought a reformation in the worship of the Church 
 of Scotland, as well as other Presbyterian churches. 
 The professed object of this Society has been not 
 innovation upon the present, but restoration of the 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 273 
 
 past. It has been dominated by a spirit of reverence 
 for old Presbyterian forms. The existence of asso- 
 ciations in all the three Presbyterian churches in 
 Scotland and the Presbyterian Church in England, 
 having similar ends in view, and discussing such sub- 
 jects as not only an amended Directory but also an 
 optional liturgy with some responses, the rehearsal of 
 the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' or Nicene Creed, 
 and the reading of the Ten Commandments, shows 
 plainly how the current of opinion is flowing. In the 
 United States the Directory was adopted in 1729, and 
 recommended to be used "as near as circumstances 
 will allow." The Rev. Charles W. Baird, in his 
 most instructive little book on liturgies, mentions that 
 when the Synod of Philadelphia revised its Constitu- 
 tion in 1788 it renewed the adoption of the Directory, 
 with the instruction that it was to be followed as each 
 minister " shall think meet," and threw out a number 
 of forms of prayer — for the invocation before sermon, 
 before and after baptism, at the Lord's table, upon exer- 
 cising discipline, at the solemnization of marriage, in 
 the sick room, at ordinations, and nine prayers for the 
 family, which had been drafted by its own committee. 
 He gives specimens of these rejected forms, which are 
 fine liturgical compositions and show that the Synod's 
 committee were men of taste as well as devotion, and 
 were well acquainted with that kind of literature. 
 We may speculate upon what effect the adoption of 
 their draft might have had upon the public worship of 
 the Presbyterian Church of the United States. In 
 
 18 
 
274 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Canada the Directory is part of the basis of union in 
 1875, and it is similarly part of the constitution of the 
 Irish Presbyterian Church. The acceptance is uni- 
 versal, and so also are the deviations from its explicit 
 directions. 
 
 Thus the Reformers in all countries declared for 
 fixed forms combined with free prayer. These forms 
 both in Knox's book and the Directory were supple- 
 mented by the Psalms, which are an essential part of 
 Presbyterian worship. As the Assembly of 1645, in 
 their zeal for the ancient worship, resolved to retain 
 whatever was not otherwise ordered in the Directory, 
 it would only be right and lawful in our present cir- 
 cumstances to restore the use of the Apostles' Creed, 
 the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer as 
 the most concise expression of the elements of the 
 Christian Religion, — doctrine, duty, and devotion. 
 For the daily service the Directory provided regular- 
 ity of order, and for special services a prescribed 
 form. By this method the divines, though they have 
 signally failed, honestly endeavored to control the 
 love of novelty and to check the presumption of igno- 
 rant and thoughtless men. They sought to keep a 
 middle place between the rigorous monotony of the 
 Book of Common Prayer and that unbridled license 
 in worship which was the delight of the sectaries. 
 Indeed, experience proves that without sacramental 
 forms the true doctrine of the sacraments will be 
 perpetually misstated or misapprehended, and their 
 benefits may be lessened or lost to the partakers. To 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 275 
 
 < 
 adopt any Directory with the proviso that it is to be 
 followed as far as circumstances allow, is to defeat 
 its purpose. When any latitude is given, more will 
 be taken than was given. For proof of this, we have 
 merely to point to the aspect of all Presbyterian 
 churches at the present time. A Directory compiled 
 by the most representative divines of their age, assisted 
 by lay-assessors, revised by both Houses, and accepted 
 by the Scots civil and ecclesiastical authorities, might 
 well claim some attention ; but all its provisions are 
 systematically violated. Infinite diversity prevails, 
 and confusion extraordinary. The Directory does in- 
 deed require enlargement ; but as far as it goes, its 
 order is simple, scriptural, and free from all ambigu- 
 ous and unauthorized symbolism ; but all this diversity 
 means not only that we differ from the formulary, but 
 that we have a most depraved delight in differ- 
 ing from one another. It would be too tedious to 
 enumerate these profuse and unprofitable variations. 
 Any one who pleases may do this for himself to some 
 extent — but only to some extent, for such knowledge 
 is too wonderful for any one individual. This divers- 
 ity ranges through all degrees, from sheets distributed 
 among the pews for each service to the curtailed wor- 
 ship of the last generation. A partial remedy is com- 
 monly sought by a written order being kept in each 
 pulpit for the use of the occasional supply, — an 
 arrangement very trying to the preacher for the day, 
 who has to learn a new ritual ; and who, when he has 
 enough to think about, is haunted with the fear that 
 
276 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 he may be breaking through an order which he does 
 not know. This irregularity may be expected to 
 increase by ministers using different manuals of their 
 own selection ; and all the while the Church does 
 nothing but gather hymns and hymn-tunes of all 
 kinds, and bind them for our use in volumes larger 
 than our Bibles ; and when any attempt is made to 
 reform matters, some of our most devoted ministers 
 and laymen are met with all sorts of dark sus- 
 picions calculated to excite prejudice and prevent 
 people from arriving at a correct opinion on a most 
 important subject, and with the well known cry for 
 what is called the good old way. It may be well to 
 ask, What is that way [since there are so many ways] ? 
 The Book of Common Order is one way, and the 
 Directory is another. A way might be good without 
 being old, and it might be old without being good. 
 Probably such complainers, by the "good old way" 
 mean their own way. They think that it is old, and, 
 because it is theirs, it must be good, not only for 
 themselves but for all others. But it is not always 
 good for people to have their own way, — especially 
 when it is not very old and may not be very good, 
 and when so many love it, not so much for its own 
 sake as for the delightful sensation of forcing it upon 
 other people. But Church-rulers should always re- 
 member that the people have an option ; and that 
 they can take their own way too. When persecuted 
 in one city they can flee to another. When they do 
 not find, and cannot get, what they want in one 
 
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 277 
 
 church, they can seek it elsewhere. Under ordinary 
 circumstances, the Presbyterian Church must appeal 
 very strongly to the sympathies of religious people 
 who are reasonable and don't delight in extremes. 
 It looks for its polity where it finds its doctrine and 
 discipline, — nowhere but in Scripture. In polity it 
 stands between Prelacy and Independency, and in 
 worship it ought to stand, where it stood long ago, — 
 both in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, — 
 between Ritualism and Radicalism. It ought to allow 
 some freedom, but it ought to be a regulated freedom, 
 lest it may fail in securing such respect for its or- 
 dinances as may produce respect for itself and for 
 religion. Extempore prayer being allowed, it might 
 be well to interpose such questions as the following : 
 Can it ever be a prayer not offered to but by an 
 ordinary congregation? Can the people supplicate 
 before they know or feel the want ? Can such an exer- 
 cise rise higher than a meditation ? Can the people 
 ever be more than hearers ? Are they not often 
 critics ? and, since the exercise stimulates curiosity, 
 can they well help this un devout attitude of mind ? 
 Is not the pleasure experienced in such an exercise 
 rather the delight of being witness to a succession of 
 pious reflections and emotions in another without any 
 participation of these in themselves, or any thought 
 of this ? Does not the leader in this exercise succeed 
 best when he forgets the presence of others, and, 
 becoming wrapt in himself, pours forth his own rap- 
 turous experience or desires to God ? — that is, forgets 
 
278 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 or ignores the true nature of an exercise in which he 
 is supposed to be representative and to express the 
 average wants and feelings of human beings and of 
 Christians ? Does not all this give too much a media- 
 torial character to the Christian ministry ? Can such 
 prayer ever be the voice of the Church ? Is there, or 
 can there be, in this world any exercise so difficult 
 for any mortal man ? Prayer is not a string of Scrip- 
 ture passages, but the highest result of faith, — the rich 
 flower and fruit of pious thought and experience, — a 
 holy secretion of digested thought and life. These 
 are questions of immense moment. I hope American 
 Presbyterians, with their predominating good sense, 
 are destined to answer them and practically solve 
 them for us all as they have done in many other 
 cases; and I cannot but think that a lecture course on 
 this subject, in this, one of the greatest and most pro- 
 gressive of the American theological schools, is a 
 bright augury of some change which may be an im- 
 provement in our worship, by which Presbyterians all 
 over the world will be gainers. 
 
IX 
 
 WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL 
 CHURCHES 
 
 By the Rev. GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, D.D., LLD. 
 
 Honorary Pastor of the First Baptist Church, 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 
 
 WORSHIP is a human instinct. Wherever trav- 
 ellers have penetrated (whether into the 
 polar regions, the heart of the Dark Continent, or 
 the most isolated isles of the seas), they have never 
 found a tribe so degraded that it did not worship 
 something, — God, man, beast, demon, thing. On 
 the other hand, there has never been a nation so 
 civilized that it did not have its own divinity or 
 divinities ; recall Baal of Assyria, Osiris of Egypt, 
 Brahm of India, Ormuzd of Persia, Jupiter of Rome, 
 Zeus of Greece, Jehovah of Canaan. True, there 
 are in our own favored land a few who profess them- 
 selves to be atheists. Nevertheless, even these gen- 
 tlemen have some kind of a god of their own ; if it is 
 not the personal Jehovah of the Bible, it is some 
 impersonal Absolute of Law, of Force, of Existence, 
 of Something or other. It is said that even Voltaire 
 prayed in an Alpine thunderstorm. No man was 
 ever born an atheist; if he has become one, it is be- 
 cause he has suicidally emasculated his own moral 
 nature. This innate worship of God is one of the 
 few relics of the Paradise that has been ; it is also 
 
282 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 one of the many auguries of the Paradise that is to 
 be : " They have no rest day and night, saying : 
 
 Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, 
 Who was and who is and who is to come ! " 
 
 — Revelation iv. 8. 
 
 Man worships as instinctively as he breathes. 
 
 And the God of Revelation made provision for this 
 instinct in His covenant with His ancient people. 
 Listen to Jehovah as He spake unto Israel through 
 
 His servant, saying : 
 
 " Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell 
 among them . . . There I will meet with thee, and I will 
 commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from be- 
 tween the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the 
 testimony." — Exodus xxv. 8, 22. 
 
 Observe what Jehovah declares to be the precise pur- 
 pose of His tabernacle : He did not appoint it as the 
 place where His people might gather together to wor- 
 ship Him; He appointed it as the place where He 
 would enshrine Himself and meet His worshipping 
 people. This phrase — " tabernacle of the congrega- 
 tion" (or "tent of meeting," as it is rendered in the 
 Revised Version) — did not mean the meeting-place 
 of man and man in worship, so much as it meant the 
 meeting-place of God Himself and man. It is curious 
 to recall how the Established Church of England paid 
 an unconscious tribute to "dissenters" by styling 
 their places of worship " meeting-houses " or " con- 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 283 
 
 venticles." No, Jehovah appointed His ancient tab- 
 ernacle to serve as the shrine for Himself; the con- 
 gress of Godhead and manhead ; the convention of the 
 Infinite and the finite: "There I will meet with 
 them, and commune with them from above the mercy- 
 seat, from between the two cherubim. " Accordingly, 
 when the tabernacle was dedicated, the Shechinah, 
 or dazzling symbol of Jehovah's presence, which had 
 been hovering for many weeks over Sinai, majesti- 
 cally swept downward into the plain and covered the 
 tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the 
 tabernacle. 
 
 But Jehovah not only appointed the tabernacle for 
 His own enshrinement and communion with Israel ; 
 He also appointed an elaborate system of worship by 
 which Israel could meet Him in humble adoration, 
 thanksgiving, confession, supplication, consecration, 
 communion. This was the meaning of the priesthood 
 with its minute details of vestments, ablutions, sac- 
 rifices, oblations, festivals, Levitical ritual, and the 
 like, — all this being scrupulously arranged according 
 to a divinely shown pattern. Thus this whole elab- 
 orate system of ancient worship was a divinely pre- 
 scribed liturgy. True, it appealed to the eye rather 
 than to the ear, being, so to speak, a pictorial ser- 
 vice or dramatic liturgy. Nevertheless, the chief 
 point is this, — for fifteen hundred years Jehovah's 
 ancient chosen people worshipped according to a 
 divinely appointed liturgy. 
 
 But that ancient sanctuary, with all its elaborate 
 
284 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ritual, has been abolished in Christ. Recall the 
 story of Jesus at Jacob's Well: — 
 
 " The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou 
 art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain 
 [pointing to Gerizim towering hard by] ; and ye say, that 
 in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 
 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour 
 cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, 
 shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye 
 know not : we worship that which we know : for salva- 
 tion is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, 
 when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 
 spirit and truth : for such doth the Father seek to be His 
 worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him 
 must worship in spirit and truth." — John iv. 19-24. 
 
 I know not that even the Son of God ever made a 
 more majestic annunciation. This proclamation by 
 Jacob's Well forms a momentous epoch in the moral 
 history of mankind; it marks a colossal stride in the 
 unfolding of the ideal of worship. It is as though 
 the divine prophet had said, — 
 
 1 ' Henceforth worship is not to be a thing of place and 
 time and rite. Believe me, woman, the hour is coming 
 when men will neither on your Gerizim nor on our Moriah 
 worship the Father. You Samaritans are worshipping 
 blindly. What though you accept the five books of 
 Moses ? You do not catch their meaning. But we Jews 
 know what we worship. We understand the meaning of 
 paschal lamb ; day of atonement ; holy of holies ; mercy- 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 285 
 
 seat. We know that the promised Messiah is to come of 
 Jewish stock. As then between Moriah and Gerizim, 
 Moriah must take precedence. Yet our system of wor- 
 ship, although divinely ordained, is only provisional. 
 The hour has already come in which all who truly realize 
 the ideal of worship will worship the Father in spirit and 
 truth, — in spirit as opposed to form ; in truth as opposed 
 to type. For such kind of worshippers does the Father of 
 spirits seek. Being Himself of a spiritual nature, He 
 yearns toward what in us is spiritual. All true worship 
 is but response to our Father's yearning." 
 
 What sublime teaching for a Galilean carpenter! 
 
 Alas ! how slowly the Church has been learning 
 this sublime lesson of the spirituality of Christian 
 worship ! To this day the confessors of the Prophet 
 of Jacob's Well are debating about Gerizim and 
 Moriah, — about little matters of vestments, canons, 
 re-ordination, rebaptism, terms of communion, and 
 the like. One might almost fancy that the story of 
 Jacob's Well were altogther a myth, and that the 
 Divine Man had never been born. No, worship is no 
 longer a question of form, — henceforth worship is a 
 question of spirit; no longer a matter of Jewish 
 distinctions of meat and drink, — henceforth a matter 
 of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 "Are we then (I hear you asking) to dispense with 
 all forms of worship? Must we understand our 
 Master as teaching that there is no need of church- 
 organizations, and sacraments, and set seasons of 
 worship ? " 
 
286 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Certainly not. We need all these, and such as 
 these, as helps to worship, and therefore we must have 
 them. For the body is the spirit's home, vehicle, 
 organ, inlet, outlet. Accordingly, body and spirit 
 act and react on each other. No matter how exalted 
 our ideal of a Christian life may be, no matter how 
 exalted our Christian character actually is, a quite 
 certain thing is this, — the possibility of a genuine 
 spiritual worship at any given time does depend 
 greatly on our environment: for example, on the 
 state of our bodily health; the comfortableness of 
 the temperature ; the thoroughness of the ventilation ; 
 the freedom from noise and distraction; the manner 
 of the preacher; the religiousness of the music; and 
 the like. Even the character of the architecture 
 affects the ease of spiritual worship, — many persons 
 being really aided in their devotions by 
 
 " The high embowed roof, 
 With antick pillars massy proof, 
 And storied windows richly dight, 
 Casting a dim religious light."- 
 
 — 11 Penseroso. 
 
 As a simple matter of fact, we cannot, even if we 
 would, at least while we remain in this world, get rid 
 of our bodies ; we must take them with us whenever 
 we go to church, and be more or less affected by 
 them during our worship. Here in fact is one of the 
 reasons of the incarnation or enfleshment of Deity. 
 Just because we are perforce more or less swayed by 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 287 
 
 our bodily organisms, it pleased the Father that in 
 Jesus Christ His Son all the fulness of the Godhead 
 should dwell bodily, body-wise. The incarnate 
 career of the Son of God is Deity in sensible outflow 
 and manifestation. The visible Jesus, because 
 moving in the realm of our senses, helps us to see the 
 invisible Father. Herein also lies the meaning of 
 the ordinances of baptism and communion. These 
 are outward acts, palpable to the senses ; and there- 
 fore have been appointed to help us, body-invested 
 as we are, to grasp the spiritual truths which they 
 visibly symbolize. Forms of worship then are neces- 
 sary. But they are necessary merely as means ; they 
 are not themselves ends. The great thing then is 
 to use forms intelligently, conceiving them as being 
 only aids to worship, mere ladders by which the soul 
 may climb to her eternal habitation. For God is 
 spirit; and therefore they that worship Him must 
 worship in spirit and truth. Nevertheless, we are 
 still in the body ; and therefore even spiritual wor- 
 ship must take on some kind of form or liturgy. 
 Beware then of that pantheistic philosophy which, 
 to use the words of one of its most distinguished 
 champions, teaches that 
 
 44 Religion demands no particular actions, forms, or 
 modes of thought ; man's plowing is as holy as his pray- 
 ing, his daily bread as the smoke of his sacrifice, his home 
 as sacred as his temple ; his week-day and his Sabbath 
 are alike God's day." 
 
288 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 On the other hand, Horace Bushnell never said a 
 more sensible thing than when in his sermon entitled 
 " Routine Observance Indispensable " he declares 
 that 
 
 " We need to keep fixed times, or appointed rounds of 
 observance, as truly as to be in holy impulse ; to have 
 prescribed periods in duty as truly as to have a spirit of 
 duty ; to be in the drill of observance, as well as in the 
 liberty of faith." — Sermons on Living Subjects, xvi. 
 
 Yes, I believe in Sabbaths and sanctuaries and 
 hymns and prayers and sacraments. Were it not 
 for these, and such as these, I honestly believe that 
 true personal godliness would soon perish from the 
 face of the earth. The consecrated temple, the gath- 
 ered multitude, the devout posture, the humble invo- 
 cation, the sacred melody, the holy reading, the 
 reverent adoration, the hearty thanksgiving, the lowly 
 confession, the fervent supplication, the generous 
 intercession, the ardent aspiration, the glowing con- 
 secration, the grateful offering, the uplifting sermon, 
 the solemn baptism, the peaceful communion, the 
 gracious benediction, — these, and such as these, are 
 the stately buttresses and graceful shafts on which 
 the Master of assemblies rests the temple of His 
 truth, and from which His righteousness goes forth 
 as brightness, and His salvation as a lamp that burns. 
 It is as true to-day as it was in the days of the 
 psalmist Asaph, God's way is in the sanctuary. 
 
 And as a matter of fact, even non-liturgical 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 289 
 
 churches do have some form of liturgical service. 
 Indeed, this whole question of liturgy is largely a 
 question of degree rather than of nature ; ranging all 
 the way from the simplicity of the Quaker meeting 
 to the elaborateness of the Roman ritual. The com- 
 parative bareness of the service in our non-liturgical 
 churches is not so much a denial of the principle of 
 a liturgy as it is a recoil against the excessive 
 liturgy of ritualism. In fact, do not we ourselves, 
 non-liturgical ministers though we are, have in our 
 pulpits a printed " Order of Service. " — indeed, a little 
 Breviary of our own, — varying, it is true, in different 
 pulpits, yet serving as a sort of chart for such sons 
 of Levi as may honor us with their friendly exchange, 
 and particularly for those ecclesiastical peripatetics 
 who are ever walking through dry places, seeking 
 rest, and find none? No, the question is not so much 
 a question of substance as it is a question of degree. 
 We all do have some kind of liturgy. And the 
 problem is, — How much shall we have? Where 
 shall we stop? 
 
 What provision liturgical churches have made 
 for worship in their respective communions has 
 already been eloquently set forth by my honored 
 predecessors in this course. " Worship in Non- 
 Liturgical Churches " is the topic your courtesy has 
 assigned me. And in discussing this topic, I must 
 remember that in the audience which I have the honor 
 of addressing there are many students for the Chris- 
 tian ministry, the larger part of whom are doubtless 
 
 19 
 
290 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 looking forward to service in non-liturgical churches. 
 Accordingly, I presume, it is expected of me that I 
 should say something about what I conceive to be a 
 proper manner of conducting worship in churches 
 which have no prescribed liturgy. Not that I am so 
 conceited or stupid as to presume to prescribe rigid 
 rules or modes of worship. All that I may presume 
 to undertake is to offer some hints suggested by a 
 somewhat long and varied observation and experience. 
 Let me then, young brothers, say to you first of all 
 that your responsibility in this matter will be very 
 serious. For devotions, or acts of homage, consti- 
 tute the chief part of worship. Beware, then, of 
 falling into the irreverent habit of regarding the 
 devotional services as merely subsidiary, degrading 
 them into what are profanely styled "preliminary 
 services, mere accessories," and the like. In fact, 
 the devotional part of public worship is even more 
 important than the preaching part; for the preaching 
 part is to men, but the devotional part is to God. 
 Do not then let the devotional part drift. Arrange 
 it as orderly and progressively as you would arrange 
 the movements of your sermon. Poet and scientist 
 alike sing "Order is Heaven's first law." Listen 
 to Ulysses as he stands before Agamemnon's tent: 
 
 " The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre 
 Observe degree, priority, and place, 
 Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, 
 Office, and custom, in all line of order." 
 
 — Troilus and Cressida. 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 291 
 
 It is particularly true in the sphere of public wor- 
 ship. Indeed, it was public worship which St. 
 Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian 
 Church, — 
 
 " Let all things be done decently and in order" (de- 
 corously and orderly). — 1 Corinthians xiv. 30. 
 
 If ever we are to deport ourselves with reverent 
 decorum, it is when we stand in the presence of the 
 King of kings in His own appointed audience-court. 
 
 " Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God ; 
 be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be 
 hasty to utter anything before God ; for God is in heaven, 
 and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few." 
 
 — Ecclesiastes v. 1,2. 
 
 How then shall we as a congregation of worshippers 
 express our worship? Unitedly, as one congrega- 
 tion; or isolatedly, as a congregation of one? Before 
 undertaking to answer this question, permit me to 
 say that I have the painful conviction that the wor- 
 shippers in our non-liturgical churches are allowed 
 too small a part in the public worship of Almighty 
 God. With the exception of the responsive Bible 
 readings now prevailing in some of our churches, 
 and also of the singing (alas, even this privilege is 
 in many instances artistically denied us), everything 
 is done by a vicarious worshipper. No voice but the 
 preacher's is heard in adoration, thanksgiving, con- 
 fession, supplication, intercession, aspiration, com- 
 
292 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 munion. So far as the vocal act of homage goes, the 
 preacher alone worships. Should some angelic 
 visitor enter one of our sanctuaries and observe the 
 silence of the congregation, I am not sure but that 
 he would imagine that some calamity like that which 
 befell ancient Zacharias in the temple had befallen 
 Christ's churchly priesthood to-day, and he would 
 wonderingly ask what sin this people had committed 
 that they should thus be struck dumb. Enter any 
 Roman Catholic sanctuary while the service is going 
 on. The priest is everything; the laity is nothing. 
 From beginning to ending, excepting the organist 
 and choir, it is the priest who carries on the entire 
 worship; the congregation remaining as voiceless as 
 an asylum of mutes or a graveyard of the dead. 
 Enter one of our non-liturgical churches, and the 
 same scene in its essential features is re-enacted. 
 From beginning to ending, with the exception of the 
 singing, and it may be of the responsive reading, it 
 is the minister who is everything; the congregation 
 is nothing. It is the minister who does the preach- 
 ing; and this of course is right. But preaching is 
 not, strictly speaking, a part of worship. Preaching 
 means exposition, instruction, warning, entreaty, 
 comforting, building up of the body of Christ. As 
 such, and in its own place, preaching is of supreme 
 importance, and indeed indispensable. But preach- 
 ing in itself is not a part of worship. The address- 
 ing men on the subject of their duties and privileges 
 is not worship ; except in the general sense that all 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 293 
 
 life, alike on Sunday and on week-days, in closet 
 and market, ought to be a ceaseless liturgy. Public 
 worship means the direct adoration of Almighty God 
 and the direct supplication of His favor. It means 
 the personal soaring of each individual worshipper 
 toward his heavenly Father. Alas ! this individual 
 privilege of each member of the congregation we 
 allow the minister to appropriate to himself. He 
 alone lifts the veil, and enters the holy of holies, 
 and communes before the mercy -seat; while the con- 
 gregation stands mute in the outer court. The New 
 Testament doctrine of the rent veil and the priest- 
 hood of all Christians gives way to the Old Testa- 
 ment doctrine of a sacerdotal order; or, what is 
 worse, to the Roman heresy of a priestly caste and a 
 priestly worship. Even the pulpit has been removed 
 from the side to the centre ; so that the preacher is 
 perpetually in the foreground, while the worship of 
 Almighty God is consigned to a comparatively subor- 
 dinate niche. How painfully true this is may be 
 seen in the fact that while it is not considered rude 
 to enter the sanctuary during the earlier parts of 
 the service, such as the singing or the Bible reading, 
 — that is to say, be it observed, during that part of 
 the service which is distinctly liturgical or worship- 
 ful, — it is considered rude to come in or go out 
 while the minister is preaching, as though, forsooth, 
 the main thing in worship were ignorant, feeble, 
 sinful man, instead of Jehovah of hosts. What we 
 need is a return to the ancient ways, even the good 
 
294 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 old paths of our fathers, falling in line with the 
 venerable and saintly past, worshipping liturgically, 
 as did the church of Knox and Luther, Anselm and 
 Chrysostom, Peter and Isaiah, David and Moses. 
 
 On the other hand, we must guard ourselves against 
 falling into mere routine worship. Remember what 
 our Master Himself has said in this very matter of 
 worship : — 
 
 " In praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles 
 do : for they think that they shall be heard for their much 
 speaking: be not therefore like unto them : for your 
 Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye 
 ask Him." — Matthew vi. 7, 8. 
 
 Does our Lord then mean to forbid all repetitions 
 of the same words? Certainly not. He Himself bids 
 repetition : " When ye pray, say " ; then follows the 
 Lord's Prayer according to the Evangelist Luke; 
 moreover, He Himself thrice repeated the same 
 prayer in Gethsemane. What, then, does our Lord 
 forbid? Evidently the senseless repetition of prayers 
 for repetition's own sake ; substituting quantity for 
 quality; vaporizing verbal requests into monotonous 
 iterations and reiterations. And this is a character- 
 istically heathen habit. Thus prayed Baal's prophets 
 on Carmel in Elijah's time, calling on the name of 
 their god from morning even until noon, saying: 
 " Baal, hear us ! " Thus pray Buddhist monks to- 
 day, ceaselessly repeating for whole days the sacred 
 syllable, " Urn ! Um ! Um ! " But is this much worse 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 295 
 
 than the rosary of our Roman Catholic friends, 
 which requires that each of its fifteen decades shall 
 begin with a Paternoster, be continued with ten Ave 
 Marias, and end with a Gloria Patri? Is it much 
 worse than the ritual of our liturgical friends, which 
 requires that on the recurrence of a certain day in 
 each succeeding year precisely the same prayer shall 
 be recited? Nay, more, is this Gentile custom of 
 using vain repetitions much worse than the stereo- 
 typed prayers of not a few of us non-liturgists, — 
 prayers in which the round of particulars and the 
 very phraseology may be predicted with almost as 
 much certainty as the eclipses or the tides? Ah, if 
 we cannot do better than this, — if we must use vain 
 repetitions as the heathen do, — it would pay for us 
 to buy one of the devotional machines of the Thibetan 
 Lamaists, and, cranking the wheel, set our prayers 
 a-going. 
 
 And now, to revert specifically to the question in 
 hand, how shall we conduct worship in non-liturgical 
 churches? Of course I cannot go into minute par- 
 ticulars, — questions, for example, of order of ser- 
 vice, selections for Bible reading, holy days, saints' 
 days, posture, costume, and the like. I must con- 
 tent myself with general suggestions. The chief 
 elements of public worship are two, — Praise and 
 Prayer. And just here the Model Prayer 1 is our 
 
 1 Observe, I do not say, " the Lord's Prayer ; " for, although the 
 Lord dictated it, and although it is familiarly and dearly known to us 
 as " the Lord's Prayer," yet it is not His prayer in the sense that He 
 
296 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 divine pattern. Observe how the first half, — 
 
 " Our Father who art in heaven, 
 Hallowed be Thy name : 
 Thy kingdom come : 
 Thy will be done 
 As in heaven, so on earth," — 
 
 consists in praise to God. Observe how the second 
 half, — 
 
 " Give us this day our daily bread ; 
 And forgive us our debts, 
 As we also have forgiven our debtors ; 
 And bring us not into temptation, 
 But deliver us from the evil one," — 
 
 consists in prayer for men. And observe particu- 
 larly that the praise comes before the prayer, — the 
 angels of our worship ascending before descending 
 upon the ladder of the Son of man. This divinely 
 given order of thought in praise and prayer deserves 
 
 Himself used it. For although entering sympathetically into human 
 woe and guilt, — Himself taking our infirmities and bearing our sick- 
 nesses, — yet He was evermore holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from 
 sinners. How, then, could He, who did no sin, and in whose mouth 
 was found no guile, ever pray for Himself as though He were a f ellow- 
 sinner with us, saying, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
 debtors 1" No; it is the seventeenth chapter of St. John's Gospel, — 
 that wonderful, sublime, blessed chapter which records the Lord's own 
 prayer, first, for Himself (verses 1-5); secondly, for His Apostles 
 (verses 6-19) ; and, thirdly, for His Church Universal (verses 20-26). 
 It is this seventeenth chapter of St. John which is in the strictest sense 
 the Lord's Prayer ; whereas the prayer which our Lord dictated to His 
 disciples for their use, — " After this manner pray ye " ; " When ye 
 pray, say," — this is the Church's, or the Model Prayer. 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 297 
 
 profound pondering. In studying it, let us rever- 
 ently follow the same divine order. 
 
 And first, what does praise mean? To answer in 
 general outline, praise means adoration, thanks- 
 giving, aspiration, consecration, offering, com- 
 munion, and the like. Now the question is, — How 
 shall we as a congregation of worshippers express 
 our praise, our service of adorations, thanskgivings, 
 aspirations? Let an inspired apostle answer our 
 question : — 
 
 "Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and 
 spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your 
 heart to the Lord " (speaking one to another responsively, 
 in psalms and hymns and odes pneumatic ; chanting and 
 psalming with your hearts to the Lord). — Ephesians 
 v. 19. 
 
 No wonder that Pliny, writing to his master Trajan 
 about the close of the first century, describes the 
 early Church as accustomed to assemble before day- 
 light, and sing alternately one to another, praising 
 Christ as God : — 
 
 "Ante lucem con venire, carmenque Christo quasi Deo 
 dicere secum invicem." — Epist. x. 97. 
 
 The exile of Patmos describes the worship in heaven 
 itself as liturgical (see Rev. iv. 8-11; v. 9-14; vii. 
 9-12; xv. 3, 4; etc.). 
 
 For all deep feeling, especially the feeling of 
 praise, is essentially poetical, instinctively yearning 
 
298 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 for the rhythmical accompaniment of sound. In fact, 
 the truest devotion is also the highest poetry. It 
 has been so in all lands and in all ages. Kecall the 
 pagans of Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, David, Isaiah, 
 Mary, Zacharias, Simeon ; even the great Hallel, or 
 Hallelujah, of our Lord's final Passover. The Del- 
 phian Pythoness herself was wont to breathe forth her 
 oracle in hexameter. Even the Quakers, although 
 they disallow music, yet preach intoningly, in a sing- 
 song way. In brief, music is the natural outlet of 
 devotion. What does not the Church owe in way of 
 worship to the hymns of Greek Anatolius, Latin 
 Ambrose, French Bernard, Italian Aquinas, Ger- 
 man Luther, English Watts, American Palmer? Ay, 
 here is the real concord of the ages ; here is the true 
 ecumenical. I do thank God that the Christian 
 hymns, of whatever communion, are the common 
 property of Christ's Church of all communions. 
 Here at least the non-liturgical churches are them- 
 selves liturgical ; for they join in praising God con- 
 gregationally and synchronously by using together 
 the same hymnal formulas. 
 
 But we are not only to praise God by speaking to 
 one another in hymns and spiritual songs; we are 
 also to praise Him in Psalms, chanting and psalming 
 with our hearts to the Lord. In fact, the Psalter of 
 the Bible ever has been, and I trust ever will be, the 
 chief praise -book of the Church. Indeed, many of 
 the Psalms were composed for a distinctively litur- 
 gical purpose; for example, Psalms xcii.-c. Ac- 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 299 
 
 cordingly they have an antiphonal or responsive 
 structure; that is, the lines or strophes were to be 
 chanted alternately, for example, by sections of the 
 choir responsively to each other, or by Levite and 
 congregation. For while English rhythm is the 
 rhythm of metre, and English rhyme is the rhyme of 
 sound, Hebrew rhythm was the rhythm of statement, 
 and Hebrew rhyme was the rhyme of sentiment ; or, 
 as Ewald beautifully expresses it, " the rapid stroke 
 as of alternate wings, " "the heaving and sinking as 
 of the troubled heart." Viewed in this light, 
 Hebrew poetry is as much nobler than modern as 
 rhyme of thought is nobler than rhyme of sound. 
 When will our colleges teach Job and David and 
 Isaiah as well as Homer and Virgil and Dante? 
 Now this musical burst of soul and its responsive 
 echo — this deep calling unto deep — is quite lost in 
 our Authorized Version, and also in the Psalter of 
 the Book of Common Prayer ; for in these versions 
 the parallelism of sense-rhythm or thought-rhyme is 
 ruptured into verses so-called, which, however, are not 
 so much verses as fractures. I confess that the re- 
 sponsive readings of Scripture, whether in the Psalter 
 of liturgical churches or in the Bible selections of 
 some of our non-liturgical, have never impressed 
 me deeply; for they are painfully mechanical, sug- 
 gesting neither the thought-rhythm of Hebrew paral- 
 lelism nor the sound-rhyme of modern hymnals. One 
 of the great boons which the revisers of our English 
 Bible have conferred on us is their printing the 
 
300 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Psalms (as also they ought to have printed many of 
 the prophecies) in lines instead of " verses " so- 
 called ; thus helping to preserve the parallelism so 
 exquisitely characteristic of Hebrew poetry. 
 
 And herein, as it seems to me, lies the superiority 
 of chanting. For while in certain respects it is 
 said to be more difficult than singing, yet in other 
 respects it is the simplest form of religious music, 
 and therefore it offers least temptation to pride of 
 artistic execution. Moreover, chanting is intelli- 
 gible; and this is certainly an advantage. For, 
 according to a master of spiritual music, — 
 
 " Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pips 
 or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how 
 shall it be known what is piped or harped ? For if the 
 trumpet give an uncertain voice, who shall prepare him- 
 self for war? So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue 
 speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what 
 is spoken? for ye will be speaking into the air." 
 
 — 1 Corinthians xiv. 7-9. 
 
 Once more, chanting is probably the most ancient 
 form of temple music. To the reflective worshipper 
 few things are more inspiring than the sense of join- 
 ing in strains centuries old. What can awaken a 
 sublimer feeling of worship than to join in chanting, 
 for instance, the Benedicite, the Magnificat, the Bene- 
 dictusy the Gloria in Uxcelsis, the Nunc Dimittis. 
 the Gloria Patri, the Tersanctus, the Te Beum Lau- 
 damus? What could be auguster than for a con- 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 301 
 
 gregation to rise at the beginning of worship, and 
 join in chanting antiplionally the Venite, exultemus 
 Domino ? 
 
 " O come, let us sing unto Jehovah ; 
 Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 
 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, 
 Let us make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. 
 For Jehovah is a great God, 
 And a great King above all gods. 
 In His hand are the deep places of the earth ; 
 The heights of the mountains are His also 
 The sea is His, and He made it ; 
 And His hands formed the dry land. 
 O come, let us worship and bow down •, 
 Let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker ; 
 For He is our God, 
 
 And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His 
 hand." — Psalm xcv. 1-7. 
 
 Now when this responsive chanting or antiphonal 
 recitative of the Hebrew parallelism shall become 
 more familiar in our worship, and take the place 
 due it in the musical part of our service, then shall 
 the Hebrew Psalter become still more than ever the 
 great praise-book of the Church. True, to chant 
 well is a difficult art; but it can be learned. In 
 my judgment, music composers could hardly do a 
 more sacred thing than to set the liturgical psalms 
 to simple and fitting chants ; nor could music teach- 
 ers do a richer service to the Church than to teach 
 the children of our congregations (not merely a "boys' 
 choir") how to chant the psalms; thus singing in 
 
302 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the temple Hosannas to the Son of David, and out 
 of the mouths of babes and sucklings perfecting 
 praise. Let our children of this generation be thus 
 trained to chant the melodies of the Psalter; then 
 the worshippers of the next generation will indeed 
 be, like the sons of Korah in the ancient temple, 
 singers to the Chief Musician. 
 
 But prayer, not less than praise, is a part of wor- 
 ship. Indeed, to praise without praying is to wor- 
 ship as worshipped Cain and the Pharisee. And 
 now our question is, — How shall we as a congrega- 
 tion of worshippers express our prayers, our service 
 of confessions, supplications, intercessions, aspira- 
 tions? Shall each worshipper pray silently, follow- 
 ing the minister as he prays for the congregation? 
 Or shall the minister and the congregation pray 
 together, joining their voices in familiar and appro- 
 priate formulas? In brief, shall the congregation 
 pray directly; or shall it pray by proxy? Both 
 directly and by proxy is my answer. 
 
 On the one hand, we need extemporaneous prayers. 
 Observe, however, that when I say " extemporaneous, " 
 I do not mean unpremeditated. For no minister has 
 a right to undertake to lead his people in their devo- 
 tions, and at the same time to allow himself to drift 
 before God in his praying. If ever a pastor should 
 carefully arrange his thoughts beforehand, asking 
 the Spirit's guidance in his preparation, it is when 
 he undertakes to present his flock before the Chief 
 Pastor, voicing for them their manifold desires and 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 303 
 
 needs. No; by extemporaneous prayers I mean 
 prayers that are unwritten, or at least unread. And 
 such prayers, when duly premeditated, are apt to be 
 fresh, specific, appropriate, sympathetic, fervent, 
 unctional. Just here, as I venture to think (may my 
 dear brethren of the liturgical churches forgive me 
 for saying it !), is one of the serious defects in their 
 noble form of worship. Profoundly convinced as I 
 am of the need and the beauty of liturgical forms of 
 worship, I would never surrender the precious privi- 
 leges and spiritual worth of extemporaneous prayers 
 in the house of God. But as this is already one of 
 our established usages, I need not descant on it 
 further. 
 
 On the other hand, we need forms of devotion as 
 well as the spirit of devotion. Young brethren, the 
 older I grow, the more incompetent I feel for attempt- 
 ing to lead the people's devotions extemporaneously. 
 As the flying years bring with them more of experi- 
 ence and observation, the more I shrink from the 
 possible disasters incident to extemporaneous prayers, 
 — for instance, grammatical blunders; tortuous 
 movements; forced retreats; explanatory paren- 
 theses; ill-timed allusions; unfortunate reminis- 
 cences, and oblivions as unfortunate; unintentional 
 exaggerations; personal idiosyncrasies; capricious 
 moods ; theological processes ; conscious mentalities ; 
 in one word, egoism. And therefore I thank the 
 Master of Assemblies that He has at sundry times and 
 divers manners moved saintly men of all communions 
 
304 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 to provide prayers for the use of His Church, — prayers 
 which are choice in thought; brief in statement; 
 comprehensive in range; manifold in variety; spe- 
 cific in details ; reverent in expression ; hallowed in 
 associations; reverend in antiquity. For prayers, 
 like hymns, are the common heritage of all Christ's 
 people in all lands and all times and all communions. 
 Our brethren of the Greek Church have no more right 
 to monopolize the Prayer of St. Chrysostom than our 
 brethren of the Methodist Church have the right to 
 monopolize Charles Wesley's "Jesus, Lover of my 
 Soul." If it is right to praise God by singing to- 
 gether the same hymns, why is it not right to pray 
 to God by joining together in the same prayers? Is 
 prayer less solemn than praise? Oh, brothers, why 
 take such pains to elaborate our written sermons 
 before finite and sinful men, and yet presume to 
 extemporize our prayers before infinite and sinless 
 God? Of whom shall we be the more afraid, — them 
 who can kill the body, and after that have no more 
 that they can do ; or Him who has power to destroy 
 both body and soul in Gehenna? Yea, I say unto 
 you, Fear Him. 
 
 But while all this is true, we must take care lest 
 in our use of collects and liturgical prayers we allow 
 ourselves to become slaves to a ritual. Laws which 
 alter not may have become heathen Medes and Per- 
 sians: they hardly become the followers of Christ; 
 for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 
 Appropriate, beautiful, devout, uplifting as many of 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 305 
 
 the collects are, they must not be allowed to supplant 
 liberty of conscience or freedom of emotion and ex- 
 pression. Minister and people must stand fast here 
 in the liberty wherewith Christ set us free, lest we 
 be entangled again in some yoke of bondage which 
 our liturgical fathers or our non-liturgical contem- 
 poraries may have imposed. Having thus insisted 
 on the right of Christian liberty here, I feel free to 
 say that while extemporaneous prayers and liturgical 
 prayers are both allowable, they are hardly equally 
 allowable, my judgment leaning, in the majority of 
 cases, to the use of appropriate and hallowed for- 
 mulas. Doubtless the wisest course here is to have 
 a liturgy which is flexible, judiciously blending the 
 stateliness of ancient formulas and the tenderness 
 of modern adjustments. 
 
 Glancing back at the territory through which we 
 have sped, let me re-indicate some of the points 
 where we halted for special inspections. We have 
 seen that worship is a divine instinct ; that the God 
 of Revelation made provision for this instinct in His 
 liturgy for ancient Israel; that Israel's liturgy was 
 abolished under and in Christ; that, notwithstand- 
 ing this abolition, forms of worship are still indis- 
 pensable ; that liturgy is a question of degree rather 
 than of substance; that devotions are the chief parts 
 of worship ; that worship in non-liturgical churches 
 tends to be vicarious; that we must guard against 
 vain repetitions; that "the Lord's Prayer" is our 
 model for worship; that the two chief elements of 
 
 20 
 
306 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 worship are praise and prayer ; that music is the natu- 
 ral outlet of praise ; that the Psalter is the Church's 
 chief praise-book ; that chanting is the noblest form 
 of church music ; that extemporaneous prayers have 
 certain immense advantages of freshness, adapted- 
 ness, personality, sympathy, fervor, unction; that 
 liturgical prayers have also certain immense advan- 
 tages of variety, brevity, specialty, reverence, pre- 
 ciousness, and above all, concord. 
 
 To sum up as compactly as possible : Worship in 
 non-liturgical churches should have a liturgy that is 
 flexible ; thus joining the stability of the golden altar 
 with the mobility of its soaring incense. So shall 
 the two pillars of our praise and prayer in the 
 temple of our God be called "Jachin" (that is, "He 
 shall establish ") and "Boaz" (that is, "In it is 
 strength "). 
 
 After all, young brothers, daily life is the real 
 worship ; daily character is the true liturgy. Listen 
 to Jerusalem's great Pastor : — 
 
 " Pure religion (tfp^oWa, worship, ritual) and undefiled 
 before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless 
 and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
 unspotted from the world." — James i. 27. 
 
 " There are in this loud, stunning tide 
 Of human care and crime, 
 With whom the melodies abide 
 Of the everlasting chime ; 
 
WORSHIP IN NON-LITURGICAL CHURCHES 307 
 
 Who carry music in their heart 
 
 Through dusky lane and mart, 
 Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
 Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat." 
 
 — Keble's Christian Year. 
 
 Be it for you and me thus to worship. Thus wor- 
 shipping, we shall be admitted to that nobler service, 
 in that purer realm, wherein there shall be no longer 
 need of sun or moon, church or rite; for the Lord 
 God, the Almighty, is the temple of it, and the Lamb 
 is the liturgy thereof. 
 
 " Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it 
 cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and 
 laudable service ; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so 
 faithfully serve Thee in this life, that we fail not finally to 
 attain Thy heavenly promises ; through the merits of 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ,, — Collect. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 / 
 
 By the Rev. THOMAS S. HASTINGS, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 President of the Faculty of Union Theological Seminary, 
 New York City. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ' I "HIS course of lectures began with an admirable 
 -*■ presentation of the Principles of Christian 
 Worship. Then followed historical discussions of 
 the chief representative liturgies, showing an evolu- 
 tion which prepared the way for the final theme, — 
 The Ideal of Christian Worship. 
 
 The terms are simple, and yet there may be help 
 in definition. What is an ideal? An ideal is the 
 superlative, the uttermost degree of excellence, of 
 beauty, and of power of which a thing is capable. 
 It is that toward which all development tends : it is 
 the goal of progress. The value and power of the 
 ideal can hardly be overestimated. In his History 
 of Rationalism in Europe, Lecky says 1 that it is 
 " the assimilating and attractive influence of a per- 
 fect ideal," which has been "the main source of the 
 moral development of Europe. " To some the ideal 
 is only a visionary thing. It savors of building cas- 
 tles in the air. But, as Thoreau says, 2 "If you 
 have built castles in the air, your work need not be 
 lost: that is where they should be. Now put foun- 
 
 1 Vol, i. p. 336. 2 Walden, p. 346. 
 
312 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 dations under them. " That touches the vital point. 
 We must build castles in the air, but can we, will we 
 put foundations under them? Without the ideal 
 there would be no aspiration, no progress. 
 
 The other term to be defined is worship. In the 
 most general sense it is the natural or instinctive 
 recognition and assertion of our divine kinship; it 
 is the uplifting and outgoing of the soul toward the 
 author and the end of its being. Not impression 
 but expression is its main object, its characteristic 
 idea. Worship is the expression to God of the 
 soul's convictions and emotions; — it involves rev- 
 erence for God in Christ, penitence, faith, love, joy, 
 gratitude, hope, aspiration and holy desire. It is 
 the expression of the inward faith and love of the 
 believer by methods and forms corresponding to the 
 nature of the soul. Vinet says : 1 " Worship is the 
 more immediate expression, the purely religious 
 form of religion. It is the internal or external act 
 of adoration, — adoration in act. Now adoration is 
 nothing else than the direct and solemn acknowl- 
 edgment of the divinity of God, and of our obligations 
 to Him. " It is important to remember that there are 
 two sides of worship, the divine and the human. In 
 prayer man draws near to God, and God draws near 
 to man. The divine spirit co-operates with the 
 human spirit in every true prayer. It has been 
 beautifully said that "Worship is the dialogue be- 
 
 1 Vinet's Pastoral Theology, p. 178. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 313 
 
 tween God and the soul " ; or, as another 1 puts it, 
 true prayer is "apart of God's soliloquy. " If the 
 divine participation be wanting, it is because the 
 human service is not genuine. In real worship God 
 and man are together, and are co-operating. 
 
 The question will be asked, — How much of our 
 public service is to be considered as comprehended 
 in worship? Vinet says, 2 "Public worship, other- 
 wise called service or divine office, comprehends, 
 according to the ordinary idea, whatever is per- 
 formed during the time in which an assembly remains 
 together in the name of God and for the cause of 
 God. " But our question was more fittingly answered 
 in the opening lecture of this course. We were told 
 that there are seven elements in public worship, — 
 "the hymn, the Scripture, the belief, the prayers, 
 the oblation, the teaching, the sacraments." This 
 is the general and prevailing view. And yet there 
 are some who deny that the sermon is really a part 
 of the worship. But it should be remembered that 
 the true object of a sermon is to feed the fires of 
 devotion, of consecration, and of service. Devotional 
 feeling must have a basis of knowledge, thought, and 
 conviction. Emotion is secondary ; it must be fed, 
 or it will soon burn out. Instruction feeds the flame 
 of worship, and through it comes that necessary 
 increment of knowledge which is fuel for the altar 
 fire of worship. Sometimes the tendency has been 
 
 1 Radical Problems, p. 89. 
 
 2 Pastoral Theology, p. 198. 
 
314 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 to crowd out the sermon by the predominance of other 
 parts of the service ; at other times the sermon by 
 its length has lessened the time for reading, song, 
 and prayer. Luther went to an extreme in this 
 matter. He said, " The greatest and most important 
 part of all the worship of God is the preaching and 
 the teaching of: God's Word." He even went so 
 far as to say, " Wherever the Word of God is not 
 preached, there it is better neither to sing, nor to 
 read, nor to assemble together." On the other hand, 
 the Presbyterian Directory for Worship says, a "As 
 one primary design of public ordinances is to pay 
 social acts of homage to the most high God, minis- 
 ters ought to be careful not to make their sermons so 
 long as to interfere with or exclude the more impor- 
 tant duties of prayer and praise ; but preserve a just 
 proportion between the several parts of public wor- 
 ship. " Those are wise words. The ideal of worship 
 requires that this "just proportion" of its several 
 parts be carefully preserved. Ritual and liturgy 
 must not crowd the sermon and so limit its useful- 
 ness as a means of promoting a thoughtful and an 
 intelligent worship. On the other hand, the sermon 
 must not be permitted to subordinate praise and 
 prayer, or the reading of the Word. In the non- 
 liturgical churches the sermon is generally too long; 
 while in the liturgical churches it is apt to be too 
 short. 
 
 It would be quite impossible within the limits 
 
 1 Chapter vii. 4. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 315 
 
 assigned to this lecture to speak at length of all the 
 seven elements of public worship which have been 
 named. A few words may be said concerning some 
 of these elements, and then a more extended consid- 
 eration of the others will be undertaken. I shall not 
 follow the order of the seven elements, because the 
 first, "the hymn," and the fourth, "the prayer," 
 require the chief places in our discussion. 
 
 The second element in worship is "the Scripture." 
 The reading of the Divine Word is a part of the wor- 
 ship, not as bibliolatry, but as a homage to the recorded 
 will of God. The ideal is that the Word shall be 
 read with such intelligence, clearness, and emphasis 
 that its meaning shall be apparent, and its power 
 and beauty shall be felt by the people. Responsive 
 reading makes good reading impossible. It breaks 
 the exquisite rhythm and the fine coherence and 
 continuity of the Scriptures. Another element in 
 the ideal of this part of the worship is, that as much 
 as possible of the Word should be read in the course 
 of each year in the public services. A Lectionary, 
 or table of selections from Scripture, would serve an 
 excellent purpose. It would insure a far more com- 
 prehensive public reading of the Bible than is possi- 
 ble while the minister is left, as now, to make his 
 selection with reference to his sermon, or to be 
 guided only by his taste and feeling. The Bible is 
 a large book, much larger than any one minister. 
 Its public reading should not be circumscribed by the 
 small limitations of any one man. The ideal is to 
 
316 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 have the whole of the Scriptures as fully represented 
 from year to year in the public reading as may be 
 consistent with the maintenance of a due proportion 
 of the several parts of the worship. 
 
 The third element of public worship is " the belief. " 
 That venerable and beautiful symbol, the Apostles' 
 Creed, of course belongs equally to all the churches, 
 and deserves a place in all public worship at least 
 once on the Sabbath. It should be repeated in uni- 
 son by the whole body of worshippers standing 
 together before God. 
 
 The oblation was named as the fifth element of 
 public worship. The Psalmist cries, " Give unto the 
 Lord the glory due unto His name ; bring an offering, 
 and come into His courts." (Ps. xcvi. 8.) The 
 ideal worship will no more be empty-handed than it 
 will be songless or prayerless. The gold, frankin- 
 cense, and myrrh wise men will bring whenever they 
 gather to worship the incarnate Lord. Instead of 
 occasional contributions, there will be in every ser- 
 vice free-will offerings as inseparable from worship as 
 are songs and prayers. The treasury of the Lord 
 will then be full. Giving will be a delight; not a 
 hesitant and reluctant answer to arguments and 
 appeals, but a glad and grateful, a spontaneous and 
 habitual offering unto God. 
 
 The Sacraments constitute the crowning element of 
 worship. Only a few words may be said concerning 
 the Holy Communion. This beautiful symbolic 
 ordinance deserves a high place in public worship. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 317 
 
 To put its observance at the close of an ordinary ser- 
 vice is to endanger its spiritual value, unless it can 
 be made the culmination, and not the mere hurried 
 conclusion of such a service. One thing should be 
 emphasized : the celebration of the Eucharist is not 
 by any means a fitting occasion for didactic or for 
 evangelistic talk. It is not the fitting occasion for 
 instructing or exhorting believers, much less for 
 warning unbelievers. It is pre-eminently a Com- 
 munion Service, in which fellowship with Christ and 
 with one another should characterize the worship; 
 and this fellowship should be full of praise, of grati- 
 tude, of gladness, and of hope. To my mind it would 
 be ideal if all churches could agree to be visibly one 
 in the celebration of this ordinance, both as to the 
 time and as to the mode of its celebration. It would 
 indeed be inspiring to feel that the whole believing 
 host is at the same time and in the same way com- 
 memorating the sacrifice of our common Lord and 
 Saviour. Surely we might — God grant that we may 
 — agree, in all branches of the Church, upon some 
 common order for at least this one delightful service. 
 This order should not be made by any one church, 
 but should be compiled from the usages and from the 
 historic treasures of all the churches, both liturgical 
 and non-liturgical. Could we reach such an agree- 
 ment, it would be an ideal movement toward the 
 inviting goal of Church Unity. It would be a 
 thrilling scene to angels and to men, if all be- 
 lievers, in holy concert of the common faith, 
 
318 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 would thus unite in celebrating the Supper of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Thus far all of the seven elements of public wor- 
 ship have been considered except the first and the 
 fourth, the hymn and the prayer. To these our 
 attention shall now be given. 
 
 The Hymn. — The ideal is that as many as possible 
 shall take at least some part in the service of song 
 and of prayer. Neither the minister nor the choir 
 should be so prominent as to dishonor or to discredit 
 the true priesthood of the body of believers. Chris- 
 tians are " an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacri- 
 fices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus " ; they are " a 
 royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, 
 that they should shew forth the praises of Him who 
 hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous 
 light." (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9; cf. Isa. li. 6; Rev. i. 6.) 
 As Pearsall 1 says, " The complaint of many intelli- 
 gent Christians is not that we have too much of the 
 voice of the minister, but too little of the voices of 
 the people, — that too much is done for them, and 
 too little by them. There is an excess of listening 
 in our devotional services." This complaint, of 
 which Mr. Pearsall thus speaks, is becoming more 
 and more general and imperative. The people are 
 willing that the minister and the choir should in 
 some fitting measure represent them in song and in 
 prayer, but they rightfully claim that their own 
 voices shall be heard in the services. This claim 
 cannot safely be disregarded. 
 
 1 Public Worship; the Best Methods of Conducting it, p. 160. 
 
• THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 319 
 
 Jonathan Edwards took the deepest interest in 
 this part of public worship, and he uttered these 
 pungent words, which the Church of to-day sadly 
 needs to hear: "As it is commanded of God that 
 all should sing, so all should make conscience 
 of learning to sing, as it is a thing that cannot be 
 done decently without learning. Those therefore 
 who neglect to learn to sing live in sin, as they 
 neglect what is necessary to their attending one of the 
 ordinances of God's ivorship." l These words con- 
 vict most of the churches of to-day as living in 
 sin in neglecting systematic instruction in church 
 music. In the early Christian centuries the Church 
 recognized its duty in this regard. Gregory the 
 Great established singing schools in Rome, and often 
 attended them himself. In this country, especially 
 after the Revolution, singing schools were common 
 and characteristic. But during recent years such 
 schools are scarcely known, and are not in any way 
 recognized as necessary for the proper equipment of 
 the Church, or for the maintenance of such singing 
 in the sanctuary as, to use Edwards's words, " cannot 
 be done decently without learning." Meanwhile 
 the reading of music at sight is almost a lost art, so 
 that for the most part the singing of God's praise 
 must of necessity be done by proxy, except so far as 
 the old tunes, learned by ear, are retained, to the 
 deep and restless dissatisfaction of the young and of 
 
 1 Quoted by the Reverend J. Spencer Pearsall in his Public Wor- 
 ship, p. 109. 
 
320 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 all who love good music. The churches of course 
 must suffer for this neglect of duty, and they 
 deserve no sympathy whatever for the endless trou- 
 bles they are having with choirs and with those who 
 want something more and better than "Windham," 
 " Dundee, " and "Balerrna." In England, Scot- 
 land, and Wales the situation is by no means so 
 bad. Under the influence of the Curwens, of Dykes, 
 Barnby, Smart, Monk, and of many others, there is 
 an active interest in the promotion of the practical 
 training of congregations in church music. Mr. 
 Curwen says, 1 "The example of every church whose 
 psalmody has reached a high degree of congregational 
 power and beauty shows that the key to success is 
 hard and sustained work in teaching the congrega- 
 tion. " Then this author tells us how this work is 
 done in many different churches through "Psalmody 
 Improvement Associations "; through large elemen- 
 tary classes in which congregations are taught to read 
 music ; and through regular " practices " (or rehear- 
 sals), "Psalmody Classes," and Praise Services. 
 This educational work, we are told, has yielded 
 excellent and delightful results. 
 
 We are living in the era of the Hymn-Tune Book. 
 Our forefathers had only psalm-books, and would 
 tolerate nothing else. Sternhold and Hopkins, 
 Rouse, Tate and Brady, Ainsworth's Psalms, the Bay 
 Psalm-book, and then Watts's Psalms and Hymns, 
 — this is the familiar succession. Isaac Watts is 
 
 1 Studies in Worship Music, by J. Spencer Curwen, p. 162. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 321 
 
 styled the "Inventor of Hymns." But in all the 
 editions of Watts's Psalms and Hymns, a sharp dis- 
 tinction was maintained between psalms and hymns ; 
 they were separated. But that distinction and sepa- 
 ration are practically lost. For convenience of adap- 
 tation, the Hymn -Tune Book has mingled the psalms 
 and the hymns together, and gradually the rapid 
 multiplication of hymns has been steadily crowding 
 out the psalms from our repertoire. For the last 
 forty years, that is, throughout the era of the Hymn- 
 Tune Book (which began in 1856), this process has 
 been steadily going on. What will be the result ? 
 It is to be hoped that the best and noblest of the 
 versions may be retained. We cannot afford to lose 
 them. But probably metrical versions of the Psalms 
 will be to a great extent succeeded by a revival of- 
 chanting, which, though a low order of music, has 
 this great advantage, that it preserves and honors the 
 exact language of the Psalter. Hymns must have 
 place and recognition, for it is the inalienable right 
 of each age and generation to make and to sing its 
 own songs of praise. Dr. Watts said : 1 " Moses and 
 Deborah, and the princes of Israel, David, Asaph, 
 and Habakkuk, and all the saints under the Jewish 
 state, sung their own joys and victories, their own 
 hopes and fears and deliverances ; and why must we, 
 under the Gospel, sing nothing else but the joys, 
 hopes, and fears of Asaph and David ? Why must 
 Christians be forbid all other melody but what arises 
 
 1 Works, iv. 116. 
 21 
 
322 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 from the victories and deliverances of the Jews ? 
 David would have thought it very hard to have been 
 confined to the words of Moses, and sung nothing else 
 on all his rejoicing days but the drowning of Pharaoh 
 in the fifteenth of Exodus." Of course Dr. Watts 
 was right. We must have our own hymns. Demand 
 will regulate supply. Ephemeral hymns and tunes 
 will intrude themselves for a time, but will disappear 
 as the level of education is lifted. 
 
 I have said nothing of instrumental music as an 
 aid in worship. The organ has come to stay, for it 
 deserves to stay. Dr. Bushnell said of it: 1 "This 
 is the instrument of God, and so in fact it now is. 
 The grandest of all instruments, it is, as it should 
 be, the instrument of religion. Profane uses cannot 
 handle it. It will not go to the battle, nor the dance, 
 nor the serenade ; for it is the holy Nazarite, and can- 
 not leave the courts of the Lord. " 2 But are we to have 
 other instruments in the sanctuary ? Who shall dare 
 
 1 Work and Play, p. 460. 
 
 2 In 1735, the Dean of Berkeley presented an organ to the town 
 which bears his name, but in a public meeting the people voted that 
 " An organ is an instrument of the Devil, for the entrapping of men's 
 souls"; and so they declined to receive the generous gift. (Studies 
 in Worship Music, by J. Spencer Curweu, p. 62.) The violoncello was 
 the first instrument to invade the sanctuary. It was sneeringly called 
 "the Lord's Fiddle." It drove many people from the churches. Even 
 Dr. Emmons left the pulpit, and refused to preach, when he heard the 
 violoncello in the choir gallery. The churches were distracted and 
 divided by the innovation, and in the language of that day were known 
 as " Catgut " or " Anti-catgut " churches. Comp. Hood's History of 
 Music in New England; The Sabbath in Puritan New England, by 
 Alice Morse Earle. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 323 
 
 exclude them if they can aid the service of song ? 
 Read the last Psalm in the Psalter as the best and 
 briefest treatment of this point. " Praise ye the Lord. 
 Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the 
 firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty 
 acts ; praise Him according to His excellent great- 
 ness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; 
 praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise 
 Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with 
 stringed instruments and organs [or "the pipe," as 
 the Revision has it]. Praise Him upon the loud cym- 
 bals; praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. 
 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. 
 Praise ye the Lord." This would seem to justify a 
 whole orchestra in the church, if thereby the praise 
 of God may be promoted. The best and highest that 
 we can bring to the altar we owe to Him whom we 
 worship. Art must be subordinate; must serve and 
 not dominate. Architecture and music we must 
 have. Painting and sculpture we may have, if only 
 they can serve and not rule. 
 
 One principle must be emphasized as bearing 
 equally both upon praise and prayer. While we 
 deprecate the entire silence of the people in public 
 worship, it must not be assumed by any means 
 that they cannot join in song or in prayer except 
 as they join with their voices. That would be a 
 monstrous assumption against which all churcheSj 
 liturgical and non-liturgical, must alike protest. 
 Worship may be silent. There should be some sing- 
 
324 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ing in which the people do not join with their voices, 
 but only with their hearts. Introits, Anthems, 
 Psalms, and Hymns, in some parts of the service, 
 may be so sung by the representatives of the people 
 that the singing shall be both an education and a 
 spiritual help to the silent worshippers. It can be 
 wisely claimed only that the people shall have some 
 vocal participation both in song and in prayer. 
 
 Now can we give the ideal of this part of public 
 worship ? The ministry will be so trained in the 
 theological schools that they can intelligently guide 
 and elevate the praises of the sanctuary. The Church 
 will feel that she must systematically promote and 
 maintain such musical education as will make the 
 praise of God in his house a delight and a service 
 worthy of His holy name. There will not only be 
 schools and classes for instruction, but there will be 
 gatherings of the congregations for special practice, 
 tuition, and rehearsal. As all can be taught to sing, 
 all will be taught to sing. I know that some will 
 question this statement; let me fortify it by high 
 authorities. Curwen says : 1 " The question may be 
 asked, Do you really mean that all persons can be 
 taught to sing ? What about those that have no 
 voice, or no ear ? To this I reply, that although 
 natural capacity for singing differs greatly in dif- 
 ferent people, I believe that, speaking generally, all 
 persons can be taught sufficient to enable them to take 
 their natural part in the chants and hymn-tunes of 
 
 1 Studies in Worship Music, p. 155. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 325 
 
 the service. Dr. Hullah 1 is never tired of reiterating 
 his disbelief in the common talk about people having 
 no ear, and no voice. It is, of course, easier for a boy 
 to learn to sing than a man ; it is easier for some men 
 than for others ; but it is impossible for so very small 
 a minority, that we may safely say it is possible for 
 all. " Then the people will praise the Lord in the 
 beauty of holiness. Is there any other being so sen- 
 sitive, so refined, so delicate in taste and feeling as 
 is the God we worship ? He who has made the 
 forms and colors of the flowers so fine and fair, 
 and the songs of the birds so varied and sweet, He 
 surely should have the choicest and best offerings of 
 our minds and hearts, of our hands and tongues. He 
 longs for the faith, the confidence, and the overflowing 
 affection of his worshippers; for as that exquisite 
 Scripture puts it, " The Lord taketh pleasure in His 
 people." (Ps. cxlix. 4.) 
 
 The remaining element in public worship which 
 we have to consider is prayer. 
 
 Two types of worship have characterized Prot- 
 estantism, — liturgical and non-liturgical services. 2 
 
 1 John Hullah, L.L.D., Professor of Vocal Music in Queen's College 
 and in Bedford College, London. 
 
 2 A few books may be named in two classes. 1st. For those who 
 are opposed to liturgies ; Miller on Public Prayer ; Henry on Prayer ; 
 Worship of the Old Covenant; Willis's Pulpit Prayers by Eminent 
 Preachers ; The Worship of the Presbyterian Church, D. D. Banner- 
 man ; The Worship and the Offices of the Church of Scotland, Dr. G. N. 
 Sprott. 2dly. For those who favor liturgies : Translations of the 
 Primitive Liturgies, Neale and Littledale ; The Book of Common Order, 
 
326 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 All who desire the unity of the Church should seek 
 to blend these two types in one. That is the ideal. 
 Some one has said, "The Gospel edition of Levit- 
 icus is comprised in a single verse, ' God is a 
 Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship 
 Him in spirit and in truth. ' " All will agree with 
 that. Worship is a matter of spirit rather than of 
 form. But form and spirit are not antagonistic. 
 They belong together, and form may serve and help 
 spirit, and spirit may subsidize, beautify, and glorify 
 form, transfiguring it as on the mount of vision. My 
 limits forbid a full review of the history of what the 
 Presbyterian Church has done with reference to this 
 subject. Only some necessary points shall be touched. 
 In 1787, a committee, appointed the year before to 
 revise the "Book of Discipline and Directory for 
 Worship," reported to the Synod of New York and 
 Philadelphia a collection of devotional forms, speci- 
 mens of what the public prayers should be. A 
 majority of the Synod, however, decided that only 
 directions, and not forms, should be given. Against 
 this action some of the ablest and wisest men in the 
 
 commonly known as John Knox's Liturgy ; Eutaxia, or the Presbyterian 
 Liturgies, and A Book of Public Prayer, compiled from the Authorized 
 Formularies of the Presbyterian Church, as prepared by the Reformers, 
 Calvin, Knox, Bucer, and others, both by Dr. C. W. Baird ; A General 
 Liturgy and Book of Common Prayer, Dr. S. M. Hopkins ; An Order of 
 Worship, with Forms of Prayer for Divine Service, B. B. Comegys, 
 LL.D. ; also, by the same author, Public Worship, partly Respon- 
 sive; Scriptural Prayer Book for Church Services; A Presbyterian 
 Prayer Book. Other books will be named as reference is made to 
 them. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 327 
 
 Church at that time — Doctors Rogers, McWhorter, 
 Ashbel Green, and others — protested, desiring that 
 at least some forms should be given to the churches. 
 It should be noted that forms of prayer were not for- 
 bidden, but they could not be imposed or enjoined. 
 I quote the language of the Directory : " But we think 
 it necessary to observe that, although we do not 
 approve, as is well known, of confining ministers to 
 set or fixed forms of prayer for public worship ; yet 
 it is the indispensable duty of every minister, previ- 
 ously to his entering on his office, to prepare and 
 qualify himself for this part of his duty, as well as 
 for preaching. He ought by a thorough acquaintance 
 with the Holy Scriptures, by reading the best writers 
 on the subject, by meditation, and by a life of com- 
 munion with God in secret, to endeavor to acquire 
 both the spirit and the gift of prayer. " 1 Going back 
 still further, I would emphasize the fact that in 1543, 
 Melancthon and Bucer prepared the Cologne Liturgy, 
 a translation of which was published in London four 
 years later. From this Cologne Liturgy, says Arch- 
 bishop Laurence, in his work on the Thirty-nine 
 Articles, pp. 377, 378, " Our offices bear evident marks 
 of having been freely borrowed, liberally imitating, 
 but not servilely copying it." That is the Angli- 
 can statement of the case. The Presbyterian state- 
 ment is more definite and comprehensive. It is 
 claimed that the whole Lord's day service, as usually 
 celebrated, " contains but a single prayer (and even 
 
 1 Directory for Worship, chap. v. section iv. 
 
328 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 this exception is doubtful) that can be traced to a 
 distinctively Episcopalian origin. In the occasional 
 offices of baptism, matrimony, visitation of the sick, 
 and burial of the dead, the question of authorship lies 
 between the Calvinist and the Lutheran, or between 
 the French and the German Protestant, rather than 
 between the Presbyterian and the Episcopalian." 1 
 The Book of Common Order, prepared by John Knox 
 (1564), had much in common with the Anglican 
 Liturgy, and was formally adopted by the General 
 Assembly. The Scotch Prayer Book, substantially 
 agreeing with the Anglican Liturgy, was authorized 
 by the General Assembly in 1637. This would 
 doubtless have been generally acceptable, but for the 
 attempt of Charles I. to force the liturgy upon the 
 Church. This attempt led to the Solemn League and 
 Covenant, which was the bold and decisive assertion 
 of such liberty as Presbyterians have always loved 
 and maintained. After the Restoration, the Book 
 of Common Prayer would have been adopted by 
 the Presbyterians if it had been changed in some 
 particulars, as Charles II. promised that it should 
 be. The Savoy Conference failed to bring about 
 an agreement, and then followed the famous Act 
 of Uniformity in 1662. Two thousand Presbyterian 
 clergymen thereupon at once surrendered their liv- 
 ings, and went forth penniless and homeless, because 
 they would not be compelled to use a liturgy. The 
 
 1 Presbyterian Book of Common Prayer, edited by Professor 
 Charles W. Shields, D.D., LL.D. Liturgia Expurgata, p. 55. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 329 
 
 lessons are obvious. The Book of Common Prayer 
 cannot be considered as the exclusive property of any 
 one branch of the Church; it really belongs to the 
 Church Catholic. It is a legacy, not from Cranmer 
 alone, but also from Calvin and Melancthon and 
 Bucer and John Knox. Presbyterians have a his- 
 toric right to use a liturgy, but its use must be dis- 
 cretionary, and not required. 
 
 Whether prayer be free or prescribed, its quality 
 and character will correspond with the quality and 
 character of the Church and of her ministry. So 
 Van Oosterzee says, 1 speaking of Germany: "As 
 regards the contents, we see reflected also in the 
 Church prayer, whether free or prescribed, the differ- 
 ent periods which were passed through in the sphere 
 of Church and theology. Orthodoxism petrified it; 
 Formalism lengthened it; Rationalism diluted and 
 watered it; Crypto-Catholicism restored it in a form 
 harmonizing with its own aspirations; but happily 
 also, sincere devotion animated and raised it, in 
 accordance with the wants of the time, to be the 
 worthy expression of the highest life of the soul." 
 
 In recent years there has been a growing uneasi- 
 ness with reference to this subject, both in the litur- 
 gical and in the non -liturgical churches. The former 
 want more liberty, — at least some room for free 
 prayer; the latter want less liberty and more uni- 
 formity. In 1880, in his brilliant paper read before 
 
 1 Practical Theology, hj Professor J. J. Van Oosterzee, D.D., 
 p. 406. 
 
330 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 the Presbyterian Alliance in Philadelphia, the late 
 President Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D., LL.D., said: 
 "Now in all liturgical churches, or nearly all, the 
 liturgy is no longer servant, but master. There is 
 too much of it for constant repetition. Liberty of 
 omitting portions not always apposite, is unwisely 
 denied. The absolute exclusion of extemporaneous 
 petitions is equally unwise. And the overshadowed, 
 dwarfed discourse would be a great misfortune were 
 good discourse otherwise more likely to be had. . . . 
 One of these days, though probably not till we are 
 all gone, there will be a form of public service, which 
 shall suit the matured and cultured none the less 
 for suiting the immature and uncultured. ... No 
 existing Prayer Book satisfies any good Presbyterian. 
 Still less would any good, wise Presbyterian ask to 
 have a new Prayer Book made up out of materials 
 that are new. The materials mostly are old ; some 
 of them very old, such as the ' Gloria in Excelsis, ' 
 the 4 Tersanctus, ' and the ' Te Deum. ' Christen- 
 dom could better spare any treatise of Athanasius 
 than the prayer ascribed to Chrysostom: ' Fulfil 
 now, Lord, the desires and petitions of thy ser- 
 vants as may be expedient for them, granting us in 
 this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world 
 to come life everlasting. ' The farther we get down 
 the centuries, the more precious will be to us the 
 long unbroken melodies of praise and prayer." 
 
 I have quoted these words of my honored predeces- 
 sor, because with his main positions I heartily agree ; 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 331 
 
 but I cannot quite agree with what he said about exist- 
 ing Prayer Books, and this may be because, in Dr. 
 Hitchcock's view, I am not a good Presbyterian. I 
 certainly do not want all that is found in any exist- 
 ing Prayer Book, or Ordinal, but as certainly I 
 could find in the Book of Common Prayer all the 
 forms which I would crave for the use of our non- 
 liturgical churches. And I would far rather have the 
 selections made from that venerable and beautiful 
 liturgy, than to have new forms made by any eccle- 
 siastical body, or by any association. I am not 
 unmindful of the excellent work which has been 
 done by the " Church Service Society " in Scotland. 
 That Society was formed in Glasgow in 1865. The 
 first edition of its Booh of Common Order l was 
 published in 1867, and the sixth edition in 1890, at 
 which time it was reported that there were five hun- 
 dred and six ministers and one hundred and thirty 
 laymen in the membership of the Society, repre- 
 senting more than sixty different Presbyteries. The 
 Editorial Committee of this Society has searched the 
 libraries of the great Universities to draw from all 
 the liturgical literature of the centuries contributions 
 for their work. Their methods have been scholarly, 
 their labors abundant, and the results are of exceed- 
 
 1 EvxoXoyiov. A Book of Common Order, being Forms of Prayer 
 and Administration of the Sacraments, and other ordinances of the 
 Church ; issued by the Church Service Society. William Blackwood and 
 Sons, Edinburgh and London. The volume contains a Lectionary 
 intended to secure in the public reading of the Scriptures the fullest 
 and most comprehensive representation of the whole Bible. 
 
332 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 ing value. A similar society, bearing the same name, 
 has been organized in this country. 1 But is it wise 
 
 1 Dr. Louis F. Benson, of Philadelphia, is the President. The 
 statement of the principles of this American "Church Service 
 Society " is as follows : — 
 
 " I. The Church Service Society of the Presbyterian Church in the 
 United States of America stands upon the basis of that doctrine of 
 the Church, the Ministry, and the Sacraments, which is set forth in 
 the Westminster standards ; including within its province all matters 
 and things which pertain to public worship. 
 
 " II. The society proposes as its first object an inquiry into the 
 present conduct of public worship in the Presbyterian Church, and 
 the various orders of worship in actual use. 
 
 " III. The society proposes to study the modes of worship which 
 have been in use in the different branches of the Church, and especially 
 in those Churches known as the Reformed, of which we are one ; and 
 thus to recognize the importance of this branch of historical theology, 
 to make its lessons clear to the mind of the Church, and to strengthen 
 in our services the links which bind us to historic Christianity. 
 
 " IV. The Society aims to follow this study of the present conduct 
 and past history of the worship of the Church by doing such work in 
 the preparation of forms of service in an orderly worship as may help 
 to guard against the contrary evils of confusion and ritualism, and 
 promote reverence and beauty in the worship of God in His holy 
 House, unity and the spirit of common praise and prayer among the 
 people." 
 
 The Provisional Constitution of the American Church Service 
 Society is added : — 
 
 " I. The name of the Society shall be The Church Service Society 
 of the Presbyterian Church in the Uuited States of America. 
 
 " II. The object of the Society shall be the improvement of public 
 worship in the Church upon the basis set forth in the Statement of 
 Principles. 
 
 " III. The officers of the Society shall be a President, a Vice-Presi- 
 dent, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Committee of Twelve, all of 
 whom shall be elected for the term of three years, and shall form a 
 Board of Management for the Society. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 333 
 
 to multiply forms of prayer ? In his Introduction to 
 his Systematic Theology, Dr. Charles Hodge says : l 
 " So legitimate and powerful is this inward teach- 
 ing of the Spirit, that it is no uncommon thing to 
 find men having two theologies, — one of the intel- 
 lect, and another of the heart. The one may find 
 expression in creeds and systems of divinity, the 
 other in their prayers and hymns. It would be safe 
 for a man to resolve to admit into his theology 
 nothing which is not sustained by the devotional 
 writings of true Christians of every denomination. 
 It would be easy to construct from such writings, 
 received and sanctioned by Romanists, Lutherans, 
 
 " IV. Clergymen and male communicants in good standing in the 
 Presbyterian Church in the United States of America may be admitted 
 to membership by the votes of a majority of the Board, upon the ap- 
 plicant's approval of the Statement of Principles. 
 
 " V. Members shall make an annual payment of one dollar to the 
 funds of the Society. 
 
 " VI. Any person who is in sympathy with the objects of this Society 
 and will subscribe the Statement of Principles, may be admitted to 
 associate membership by a vote of the Board, and upon payment of 
 the annual dues shall be entitled to receive a copy of the publications 
 of the Society, but without the privilege of voting. 
 
 " VII. Meetings of the Society for the election of officers and for 
 other purposes shall be called by the Board. Members may send their 
 ballots through the mails. 
 
 " VIII. Changes in the Constitution may be made by a majority of 
 ballots cast at any meeting, provided that one month's notice of the 
 proposed change has been given in writing to all members. 
 
 " IX. Changes in the Statement of Principles shall be made only 
 by a three-fourths vote of all the members of the Society, three 
 months' notice of the proposed change having been given in writing 
 to all members." 
 
 i Vol. i. pp. 16, 17. 
 
334 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 Reformed, and Remonstrants, a system of Pauline or 
 Augustinian theology, such as would satisfy any in- 
 telligent and devout Christian in the world. " This 
 statement may be assumed to be orthodox. Accord- 
 ingly, Christians of " every denomination " may be 
 asked and expected to unite with a good degree of 
 uniformity in their "prayers and hymns. " So the 
 historical spirit, the tradition of the churches, the 
 common longing for church unity, the sacredness 
 and the beauty of the affluent liturgical literature 
 which we inherit from the centuries, and the con- 
 fessed deficiency and inadequacy of the average 
 extemporaneous prayer, — all these things unite in a 
 common demand for some prescribed forms of wor- 
 ship. 1 The Lord's Prayer, all will agree, should 
 have place and prominence, and it should be repeated 
 in unison by the whole congregation. In Rhenish 
 Prussia, and elsewhere, the beautiful custom has pre- 
 vailed of tolling the bell when the Lord's Prayer is 
 repeated in the public worship, so that those who 
 are detained from the house of God by sickness or 
 other causes may join in the common service. The 
 Commandments should be read, combining duty with 
 
 1 In an article in the " New Englander" for August, 1855, the late 
 Dr. Leonard Bacon, with characteristic positiveness, made this state- 
 ment : " The responsive reading of the Psalms and of other devotional 
 parts of Scripture, between the minister aud the congregation, or the 
 repetition of the Lord's Prayer by the whole assembly, would be quite 
 certain to break down if attempted in any of our churches. Anything 
 of that sort, we are sure, will be a failure." This reads strangely now. 
 " We are sure " the good Doctor has not proved a good prophet. 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 335 
 
 devotion, and, as I said before, the Apostles' Creed 
 should be repeated in unison. To these should be 
 added the "Te Deum," the "Tersanctus," and the 
 "Sursum Corda," the latter in connection with the 
 Communion serivce. So far as this most are will- 
 ing to go. The ideal, however, demands something 
 more. The opponents of all forms of prayer assume 
 that one man can be large enough to comprehend and 
 to represent five hundred men. This seems a mon- 
 strous assumption. No one man can reasonably be 
 expected to be large enough or elastic enough to 
 comprehend so much. The priesthood of the people 
 must not be overshadowed and suppressed by the 
 excessive and false assumption of priesthood by the 
 minister who is only a minister. So the ideal of 
 prayer calls us further. Nothing could be more beau- 
 tiful and appropriate for the beginning of the Sab- 
 bath worship than such Scriptures as introduce the 
 " Order for Daily Morning Prayer " : — " The Lord 
 is in His holy temple ; let all the earth keep silence 
 before Him. I was glad when they said unto me, 
 We will go into the house of the Lord. Let the words 
 of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be 
 alway acceptable in thy sight, Lord, my strength 
 and my redeemer. Grace be unto you, and peace 
 from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. " Then a form of confession, another of 
 general thanksgiving, a prayer for the President of 
 the United States and for all in authority, and 
 another for "all classes and conditions of men," 
 
336 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 might be used in common by all the churches of all 
 denominations, and such unison and uniformity seem 
 to me ideal. It may not be best that these forms 
 should be taken from the Book of Common Prayer, 
 though this would be my preference ; it may be better 
 that they should be compiled from that and also from 
 other existing liturgies. The important thing is not 
 to add to divisiveness and confusion by making new 
 forms. Added to these forms there should be free 
 prayer, in which the pastor's heart may intercede for 
 his people under the pressing consciousness of their 
 immediate and characteristic wants. It would be 
 the ideal of worship if all Christians of all denom- 
 inations could be outwardly one at least in song and 
 in prayer. Thus on the one hand might be avoided 
 the danger which freedom in public worship involves, 
 — the danger of lawlessness, disorder, and narrow 
 inadequacy ; and on the other hand might be avoided 
 the danger which fixedness in public worship in- 
 volves, — namely, the danger of formality, monotony, 
 and restraint. The ideal must be the combination 
 or the interblending of the two methods which have 
 obtained so long, the liturgical and the non-litur- 
 gical. The best things in each method should be 
 adopted and unified. Then and thus the real one- 
 ness of all believers would be proclaimed and empha- 
 sized; then and thus the churches which differ in 
 polity or in doctrine would be visibly one before the 
 throne of grace. 
 
 The ideal of Christian worship, — feeble and inad- 
 
THE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 337 
 
 equate must be the attempts of any one man to set 
 forth such a theme. Even an archangel could not 
 do it, for he could not know and feel the Christian 
 element in worship. The fallen and the believing, 
 and only they, can realize that ideal. We try to do 
 it; we long to do it; we vie with animate and inan- 
 imate nature to swell the volume of adoration which 
 this stricken and struggling earth is ever sending up 
 to the throne of the Eternal, and God is always lis- 
 tening and is always gracious. 
 
 " From hill to hill, from field to grove, 
 Across the waves, around the sky, 
 There 's not a spot, or deep or high, 
 Where the Creator has not trod, 
 And left the footstep of a God. 
 But are his footsteps all that we, 
 Poor grov'ling worms, must know or see? 
 Thou Maker of my vital frame, 
 Unveil thy face, pronounce thy name, 
 Shine to my sight, and let the ear 
 Which Thou hast formed, thy language hear. 
 Where is thy residence ? Oh ! why 
 Dost Thou avoid my searching eye, 
 My longing sense ? Thou great Unknown, 
 Say, do the clouds conceal thy throne ? 
 Divide, ye clouds, and let me see 
 The power that gives me leave to be. 
 Or art Thou all diffused abroad 
 Thro' boundless space, a present God, 
 Unseen, unheard, yet ever near ? 
 What shall I do to find Thee here? 
 Is there not some mysterious art 
 To feel thy presence at my heart? 
 22 
 
338 CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 
 
 To hear thy whispers soft and kind, 
 In holy silence of the mind ? 
 Then rest, my thoughts ; no longer roam 
 In quest of joy, for heaven 's at home." * 
 
 i Watts's Works, iv. 510. 
 
MUMHI 
 
 mm 
 
 mm