brought in this new morning office, distinct from the nocturnal, did not diminish aught of the ancient psalmody from the nocturnal service; for they continued still to conclude their vigils before break of day with the same psalms as they were used to do before; that is, with 148th, 149th, 150th Psalms; only they set apart the 51st, 63rd, and 90th Psalms for this new office of morning service. From all which it seems very probable, that, according to the difference of times and places, the number of psalms for the morning service might vary, since there were such different methods in the observation of this solemnity, and an old and a new office, that both went by the name of morning service.

Having thus far described the order The original of of the old morning service, as it lies

Sect. 11.

antelucan and night

assemblies, in times in the Constitutions; and hinted, that

of persecution.

the morning assemblies were originally the very same with the nocturnal or antelucan meetings for Divine service, which we so often read of in ancient writers; for the further illustration of this part of the Christian worship, it will be proper to inquire a little more narrowly into the nature and management of them from their first original; which is known to have had its rise from the severity of the heathen persecutions. For the Christians, being afraid to meet publicly on the Lord's day for Divine worship, were forced to hold their assemblies in the night, meeting early in the morning before day, to avoid the observation of their enemies. This appears from that early account of Pliny, which he had from the mouths of some apostatizing Christians, who confessed to him, that the sum of their crime or error was, that they were used to meet together on a certain day before it was light, and sing a hymn to Christ, as to their God. Hence it is, that the heathen in Minucius more than once" objects to them their night assemblies, and calls them a sculking generation, that fled from the light, being mute in public, but free in discourse with one another, when they were got into their private corners. Celsus seems to mean the same thing, when he objects to them their holding of clancular meetings, ovveýkaç kρúßdŋv. And Tertullian, to show Christian women the inconvenience of marrying heathens, puts them in mind of these night

32

Psalmum 148, et reliquos qui sequuntur: quinquagesimum vero psalmum, et sexagesimum secundum, et octogesimum nonum huic novellæ solennitati novimus fuisse deputatos.

30 Plin. lib. 10. Ep. 97. Affirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpæ suæ, vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire: carmenque Christo, quasi Deo, dicere secum invicem.

31 Minuc. de Idol. Vanit. p. 25. Nocturnis congregationibus fæderantur. Latebrosa et lucifugax natio, in publicum muta, in angulis garrula. It. p. 27. Occultis ac nocturnis sacris apposita suspicio.

32 Origen. cont. Cels. lib. 1. p. 4.

33 Tertul. ad Uxor. lib. 2. cap. 4. Quis nocturnis convo

34

These contic

tions were &PEL.

assemblies: What husband, says he," will be willing to suffer his wife to rise from his side, and go to the night assemblies. And Prudentius, describing the martyrdom of St. Laurence, introduces the heathen judge telling him, that he had heard how they→ crificed in silver, and had their wax-lights set in goli for the use of their night assemblies. And this was the true original of lamps, and oil, and tapers for the use of such meetings in time of persecution. Now, though it was necessity which Sect. 11 first gave rise to these assemblies; when the p yet the church in after ages thought fit to continue them, (transferring them from the Lord's day to all other days,) partly to keep up the spirit of devotion in the ascetics, or such as had be taken themselves to a stricter life; partly to give leisure and opportunity to men of a secular life to observe a seasonable time of devotion, which they might do early in the morning without any distrac tion; and partly to guard her children against the temptations and seduction of the Arian sect, who with great zeal endeavoured to promote their heresy by their psalmody in such meetings, as appears from what Socrates and Sozomen say of them, and what Sidonius Apollinaris particularly notes of Theodoric, king of the Goths, that he was so eager a promoter of the Arian cause, that in his zeal for them he frequented their morning assemblies before day, with a small guard attending him. Now, the catholics having so many reasons to keep up these assemblies, not only continued them, but with great zeal encouraged them in their discourses. St. Chrysostom commends the widows and virgins for frequenting the church night and day, and singing psalms in these assemblies. He says, Men ought to come to the sanctuary in the night, and pour out their prayers there. In another place, speaking of the excellency of the city of Antioch, he says, It consisted not in its fine buildings or pillars, but in the morals of the men. Go into the church,” and there see the excellency of the city. Go into the church, and see the poor continuing there from midnight to the morning light. And it is remarkable what Socrates "1 says of him, when he was bishop of Constantinople, That he made additional prayers for the nocturnal hymns, on purpose to counter

38

36

mine the practice of the Arians. But I must not stand to repeat all that is said of these famous morning assemblies; for there is scarce an ecclesiastical writer" that has not given some hint of them, which I need not recite, but rather go on to show what were the chief exercises of these meetings, which usually began soon after midnight, and continued to the morning light.

Sect. 13.

The order of Di

was performed in

by St. Basil.

St. Basil, in one of his epistles,

vine service which gives us a pretty clear description of them, as described them, though but in general terms, whilst he makes an apology for the practices of his own church, against some who charged them with innovation. His words are these: The customs, says he, which now prevail among us," are consonant and agreeable to all the churches of God. For with us the people, rising early, whilst it is night, come to the house of prayer, and there, with much labour and affliction, and contrition and tears, make confession of their sins to God. When this is done, they rise from prayers, and dispose themselves to psalmody: sometimes dividing themselves into two parts, they answer one another in singing, or sing alternately, ἀντιψάλλουσιν ἀλλήλοις: after this again they permit one alone to begin the psalm, and the rest join in the close of every verse, väηxovoɩ. And thus with this variety of psalmody they carry on the night, praying betwixt whiles, or intermingling prayers with their psalms, μεταξὺ προσευχόμενοι. At last, when the day begins to break forth, they all in common, as with one mouth and one heart, offer up to God the psalm of confession, ròv tñs škoμoλoyńoews Paλμòv τy Kvpíy ȧvapépovoi, every one making the words of this psalm to be the expression of his own repentance. Here we have the plain order of these nocturnal or morning devotions. 1. Confession of sins. 2. Psalms sung alternately. 3. Psalms sung by one alone. 4. Prayers between the psalms. 5. Lastly, The common psalm of confession, or the penitential psalm, in the close of all. Whether the first confession of sins was a public or private one, is not very certain; some learned persons" take it for a public confession, like that in the beginning of our liturgy; but I rather think it was a private confession, with which we are sure their offices generally began, as appears from a canon of the council of Laodicea," where it is called the silent prayer, εὐχὴ διὰ σιωπῆς, of which I have given a fuller account in the communion service." The

42 Vid. Epiphan. in fine Panarii. Hieronym. Ep. 7. ad Lætam. Hilar. in Psal. lxiv. p. 231.

43 Basil. Ep. 63. ad Neocæsar. t. 3. p. 96.

44 Hamon. L'Estrange, Alliance of Divin. Offic. cap. 3. p. 75.

45 Conc. Laodicen. can. 19.

46 See Book XV. chap. 1. sect. 1.

47 Athan. Ep. ad Marcellinum, de Interpr. Psalmor. t. 1. p. 975.

latter confession was plainly a public one, made by a certain form, being no other but the 51st Psalm, "Have mercy on me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences." For this psalm was particularly noted among the ancients by the name of the psalm of confession. Athanasius gives it" this title, telling us that the 50th Psalm, which is the 51st in our division, is aλuòs oμoλoyńσɛws, the psalm of confession. And what further confirms this interpretation is, that this very psalm by name is appointed to be used in the close of the matins, or morning service, which the Western churches introduced as distinct from the nocturnal service, as Cassian relates, who was an eye-witness of it. See before, sect. 10.

48

Sect. 14. The account of

What number of psalms or prayers was used in this service, is not par- them out of Cassian. ticularly noted by St. Basil; nor per

51

50

haps was it stinted to any certain number, but according as the length of the psalms or time required. But in the Egyptian churches they reduced it to the precise number of twelve psalms, from whence some other churches afterwards took their model, as Cassian informs us," who says, That in other regions there were different rules and appointments: for some recited no less than twenty psalms, and these by way of antiphonal or alternate melody; others exceeded this number; others had eighteen ; so that there were almost as many ways and rules as there were monasteries and cells. Nay, in Egypt, before the rule was settled, some were for having s fifty, some sixty psalms; but at last, upon mature advice, they fixed upon the certain number of twelve psalms both for their evening and morning service, interposing a prayer between each psalm, and adding two lessons, one out of the Old Testament, and the other out of the New; which was their custom on all days, except Saturdays and Sundays, when they repeated them both out of the New Testament, the one out of St. Paul's Epistles or the Acts of the Apostles, and the other out of the Gospels, as they did also for the whole term of fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide. He adds further, That they did not use the alternate way of singing in Egypt, but only one amongst them sung with a plain and even voice, the rest sitting by, and attending to what was said. Neither did they answer, Glory be to the 52 Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," at the end of every psalm, but inter

66

posed a prayer (which was the custom of all the | East); and then at the end of the last psalm, which they called the hallelujah, they subjoined the glorification of the Trinity, which they never used but at the end of that antiphona, as they called the hallelujah in the Eastern church. When the psalms were very long, they sometimes divided them into two or three parts, and at the end of every part made a stop to interpose a prayer," thinking it better to use frequent and short prayers to keep up the fervour of devotion. It does not appear, that these were public prayers, but rather private, at the end of which the chief minister officiating is said colligere precem, to make a collect or prayer, recapitulating the prayers that were made before by the assembly in private; of which I shall have occasion to give a fuller account in another place. See Book XV. chap. i. sect. 1. It is noted further by Cassian," concerning the last of their psalms, called the antiphona, or hallelujah, that no psalm was ever used in this place but only one of those which had the inscription of hallelujah prefixed in the title of it, such as the 145th, and those that follow, one of which was commonly the concluding psalm, repeated by way of antiphona or responses. It was something particular in the manner of performing this psalmody in those Egyptian monasteries, that he that sung the psalms only stood up, but the rest heard them sitting: which Cassian 55 observes to be matter of indulgence in regard to their continual watchings and hard labour. And it was no less peculiar, that never above four persons were allowed to repeat the twelve psalms in one assembly, and that by course, every one singing three in order after one another. Or if there were but three, then each sung four psalms; and if but two, each of them sung six.

Sect. 15. This morning service much frequent

sorts.

And thus far of the nocturnal psalm

ody, which was the old morning ed by the laity of all service of the church. I only add, that though this service was very early in the morning, yet it was frequented, not by the clergy and monks only, but by the people also. For, as we have seen before, St. Basil takes notice, that the people came to church to celebrate these morning devotions; and Sidonius has told us also, that Theodoric, king of the Goths, was a constant observer of them. So here it is also remarked by

Filio, et Spiritui Sancto; nusquam per omnem Orientem audivimus; sed cum omnium silentio, ab eo qui cantat finito psalmo, orationem succedere: hanc vero glorificationem Trinitatis tantummodo solere antiphona terminari. (Leg. antiphonam terminare. Vel, ut legit Mabillon, glorificatione, &c. antiphona terminari.)

53 Cassian. Instit. lib. 2. cap. 11. Ne psalmos quidem ipsos, quos in congregationibus decantant, continuata student pronunciatione conludere: sed eos pro numero versuum duabus vel tribus intercessionibus cum orationum interjectione divisos distinctim particulatimque consummant.

56

Cassian, that this part of the church's devotions was with great exactness observed by many secular men, who, rising early before day, would not engage themselves in any of their most necessary and ordinary worldly business, before they had consecrated the first-fruits of all their actions and labours to God, by going to church, and presenting themselves in the Divine presence. A worthy example, fit to be recorded in letters of gold, to excite the emulation of the present age, wherein the daily worship of God at religious assemblies is so little frequented, and by many so much despised; though the same service with that of the ancients for substance is still retained, with some improvements, and none of the corruptions which the superstition of darker ages brought into the devotions of the church; as any one may satisfy himself, that will compare what has been delivered in this chapter with the daily service of our church.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ORDER OF THEIR DAILY EVENING SERVICE.

Sect. 1. The evening service in most this

of the morning.

THE evening service, which was called the hora lucernaris, because it began at the time of lighting candles conformed to that towards the close of the day, was in most parts the same with that of the morning, only with such variation of psalms, and hymns, and prayers, as were proper to the occasion. The prayers for the catechumens, energumens, candidates of baptism, and penitents were all the same; so were the prayers for the faithful or communicants, called the prayers for the peace of the world, and the whole state of the catholic church, which are described at large in the following Books, to which the reader may have recourse.

The first thing wherein they differed was, the initial psalm: for as the morning service began with the 63rd Psalm, so the evening service is appointed to begin with the 140th

Sect. 2.
But they dared,

first, in that a propointed for the eves

per psalm was aping, called the even

ing psalm by the stitutions

author of the Coa

Psalm, which we reckon the 141st. "Lord, I call upon thee, haste thee unto me, and consider my

54 Cassian. ibid. Illud quoque apud eos omni observantia custoditur, ut in responsione alleluiæ nullus dicatur psalmus, nisi is, qui in titulo suo alleluiæ inscriptione prænotatur. 55 Id. lib. 2. cap. 11 et 12.

56 Cassian. Collation. 21. cap. 26. Quod devotionis genus multi etiam sæcularium summa cautione custodiunt, qui ante lucem vel diluculo consurgentes, nequaquam familiaribus ac necessariis mundi hujus actibus implicantur, priusquam cunctorum actuum suorum operationumque primitias, ad ecclesiam concurrentes, divino studeant consecrare conspectui.

voice when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice," &c. This psalm the author of the Constitutions calls emphatically τὸν ἐπιλύχνιον ψαλμὸν, the evening psalm, in the place where he describes the order of this service. And though he does not in that place either name the psalm, or mention any words in it; yet he infallibly means the psalm now spoken of, because in another place he expressly calls it the 140th Psalm, requiring it to be used in public assemblies at the daily evening service.

Sect. 3.

tioned under the

by Chrysostom and other writers.

And that which puts the matter beThis psalm men- yond all dispute, is, that Chrysostom, same denomination in his Comment upon this psalm, takes notice of the use of it in the church upon this particular occasion. Hearken diligently, says he, for it was not without reason that our fathers appointed this psalm to be said every evening; not barely for the sake of that single expression, "Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice;" for other psalms have expressions of the same nature, as that which says, “At evening, and morning, and noon-day will I show forth thy praise:" and again, “The day is thine, and the night is thine:" and again, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning :" and many other such like psalms may one find, that are proper for the evening season. Therefore our fathers did not order this psalm to be said upon the account of this expression, but they appointed the reading of it, as a sort of salutary medicine to cleanse us from sin; that whatever defilement we may have contracted throughout the whole day, either abroad, in the market, or at home, or in whatsoever place, when the evening comes, we might put it all off by this spiritual charm, or song, which is a medicine to purge away all such corruption.

Sect. 4.

prayers for evening service.

After this psalm was ended, there Secondly, Proper followed the same prayers for the catechumens, energumens, penitents, and common prayers for the world and the church, that were used in the morning service; but after them the deacon bid the people pray in a certain form proper for the evening, which the author of the Constitutions 4 styles προσφώνησις ἐπιλύχνιος, the evening bidding prayer, and it runs in these words: "Let us pray to the Lord for his mercies and compassions; and entreat him to send us the angel of peace, and all good things convenient for us, and that he would grant us to make a Christian end. Let us pray, that this evening and night may pass in peace, and without sin, and all the time of our life unblamable and without rebuke. Let us commend ourselves and one another to the living God through his Christ."

This said, the bishop, if present, made this commendatory collect, which is there styled iπiλúxos Euxapioría, the evening thanksgiving, and is conceived in the following words: "O God, who art without beginning and without end, the Maker and Governor of all things through Christ, the God and Father of him before all things, the Lord of the Spirit, and King of all things both intellectual and sensible; that hast made the day for works of light, and the night to give rest to our weakness: for the day is thine, and the night is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun: do thou now, most kind and gracious Lord, receive this our evening thanksgiving. Thou that hast led us through the length of the day, and brought us to the beginning of the night, keep and preserve us by thy Christ; grant that we may pass this evening in peace, and this night without sin; and vouchsafe to bring us to eternal life through thy Christ; by whom be glory, honour, and adoration unto thee in the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen."

After this, the deacon bids the people kλivare ry Xapoleoia, bow down to receive the benediction with imposition of hands, and then the bishop makes this following prayer: "O God of our fathers, and Lord of mercy, that hast created man by thy wisdom a rational being, and of all thy creatures upon earth dearest unto thee, that hast given him dominion over the earth, and hast made us by thy pleasure to be kings and priests, the one to secure our lives, and the other to preserve thy lawful worship: be pleased now, O Lord Almighty, to bow down and show the light of thy countenance upon thy people, who bow the neck of their heart before thee; and bless them by Christ, by whom thou hast enlightened us with the light of knowledge, and revealed thyself unto us: with whom is due unto thee and the Holy Ghost the Comforter, all worthy adoration from every rational and holy nature, world without end. Amen."

There are two expressions in these prayers, which may seem a little unusual to a modern reader; one, where prayer is made for the angel of peace; and the other, which styles God the Father, Lord of the Spirit: but both these occur in the morning prayers for the catechumens, hereafter, where I show out of Chrysostom, that prayer for the angel of peace was a common petition in many of the known forms of the church: and for that other expression, which styles the Father, Lord of the Spirit, which is a harsh way of speaking, and looks like Macedonianism, as Cotelerius remarks upon it, I have showed out of Bishop Bull, that it may fairly be interpreted to a sound and catholic sense from parallel expressions in Justin Martyr. So that we

need not condemn this author as an Arian or Macedonian heretic, only allowing him the favour of a candid interpretation.

To return, therefore, to the prayers themselves: the deacon, after these collects made by the bishop, dismisses the people with the usual form, as in the morning service, ПIpoéλ0ɛre ¿v ɛipývy, "Depart in peace." And this is the conclusion of the evening service, according to our author in this place.

Sect. 5. Of the evening hymn.

But in another place' he speaks also of an evening hymn, which he styles Exη ¿omeρivòs, an evening prayer or thanksgiving, which is a sort of doxology to God, like that used before in the morning prayer. The form is in these words: "Praise the Lord, ye servants, O praise the name of the Lord. We praise thee, we laud thee, we bless thee, for thy great glory, O Lord and King, the Father of Christ the unspotted Lamb, that taketh away the sin of the world. All praises, and hymns, and glory, are justly rendered unto thee our God and Father, by thy Son, in the most Holy Spirit, for all ages, world without end. Amen. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel."

It is not here said, whether this hymn was for public or private use. However, that there were such sort of hymns in use among the ancients at the first bringing in of candles in the evening, is evident from St. Basil, who mentions one part of such a hymn, which he styles ἐπιλύχνιος εὐχαριστία, the thanksgiving at setting up lights. It seemed good, says he, to our forefathers not to receive the gift of the evening light altogether with silence, but to give thanks immediately upon its appearance. We cannot certainly tell who was the first author of that thanksgiving at setting up lights; but this we are sure of, that the people have of old used this form of words, (and no one ever charged them with impiety for so doing,) Aivouμev Пlarépa, kai ‘Yiòv, kai "Aylov Пvevμa Otov, We praise the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God.

Bishop Usher' and Dr. Smith" have given us an ancient form of this kind more at large, out of the Alexandrian Manuscript of the Septuagint, and some other ancient copies of the Psalter in Greek, which it may not be improper to insert in

7 Constit. lib. 7. cap. 48.

Basil. de Spir. Sancto, cap. 29.
Usserii Diatriba de Symbolis, p. 35.

10 Smith's Account of the Greek Church, p. 302.

Η Φῶς ἱλαρὸν ἁγίας δόξης ἀθανάτου Πατρὸς, οὐρανίου, ἁγίου, μάκαρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τοῦ ἡλίου δύσιν, ἰδόντες φῶς ἑσπερινὸν, ὑμνοῦμεν Πατέρα καὶ Υιόν καὶ "Αγιον Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ. (al. Θεόν.) Αξιος εἶ ἐν πᾶσι

this place. It goes in some books under the title of vμvos coπepivòs, the evening hymn; and in others it is called ὕμνος τοῦ λυχνικοῦ, the hymn said at setting up lights. We cannot certainly say this is the same that St. Basil refers to, but all that St. Basil mentions out of that ancient hymn, is now found in this; which makes it probable that they are the very same. It is as follows:" "O Jesus Christ, thou joyful light of the sacred glory of the immortal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father! we now, being come to the setting of the sun, and seeing the evening light, do laud and praise the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit of God (or the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that is God). Thou art worthy to have hymns at all times sung unto thee with holy voices, O Son of God that givest life. Therefore the world glorifies thee." Bishop Usher, by mistake, says this hymn was the same as the ψαλμὸς ἐπιλύχνιος, the evening psalm mentioned in the Constitutions, lib. 8. cap. 35. Whereas indeed that evening psalm was quite another thing from this evening hymn; that being one of David's Psalms, as I showed before out of Chrysostom and the Constitutions themselves; and this a hymn of human composition. Neither is it the same form with the evening hymn related before out of the Constitutions, but seems more likely to be that mentioned by St. Basil, which, I conceive, was not a form for public, but only private devotion, to be used at home by all Christians, as a pious ejaculation or hymn to Christ," the true Light that enlightens every man that comes into the world." But I only offer this as a conjecture, because I find not this hymn mentioned, as inserted into the public offices, either by the author of the Constitutions, or St. Basil, or any other.

But then it may be asked, Were there no hymns used in the evening service? Were there no lessons read, nor psalms, besides that called the evening psalm, sung in the church?

Sect. &

Whether there psalms, or so service besides the

were any hymUIS, OF

read in the evening

141st Psalm.