The Prayer Book Explained Part 22

THE COMPOUND ANTHEM.

The Prioress, in Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, relates that a

Litel child his litel book lernynge, As he sat in the scole in his primere, He _O alma redemptoris_ herde synge, As children lerned her antiphonere:

From this we understand that _O alma redemptoris_ was an "Antym" out of the Antiphonere, or Anthem Book. This Anthem has six hexameter lines followed by a Verse and Respond, and the Collect which we now use for Lady Day. This, then, is what we have called the Compound Anthem.

A good example of it is found in the Prayer Book of 1549 where the Easter Anthems, as we still call them, were ordered to be used in the Morning afore Mattins. Their "setting" was as follows:

Christ rising again from the dead now dieth not: Death from henceforth hath no power upon him. For in that he died, he died but once to put away sin; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto G.o.d. And so likewise count yourselves dead unto sin, but living unto G.o.d in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Christ is risen again, the firstfruits of them that sleep. For seeing that by man came death, by man also cometh the resurrection of the dead. For as by Adam all men do die: so by Christ all men shall be restored to life.

Hallelujah.

_The Priest_. Shew forth to all nations the glory of G.o.d.

_The Answer_. And among all people his wonderful works.

Let us pray.

O G.o.d who for our redemption didst give thine only begotten Son to the death of the cross; and by his glorious resurrection hast delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so {149} to die daily from sin, that we may evermore live with him, in the joy of his resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

The history of the transformation of this Anthem into a Psalm, as it is now used, may be given here. In 1552 its rubric was changed to the present form: that is, it was no longer to be used before Mattins; it was to be sung or said instead of _Venite_. The Verse, Respond and Collect were omitted. In 1662 _Gloria Patri_ was added, and the words of 1 Cor. v. 7, 8 were inserted at the beginning.

The Easter Anthems, as now ordered, are most properly set as a Psalm.

With similar propriety, when they were used _before_ the Service of Mattins, they were set as a Prayer-Anthem--beginning with the jubilance which is expressed by the twofold Hallelujah, and gradually modulating the jubilance in preparation for the Service which followed.

Simple Anthems were so frequent, and their changes for special occasions were so many, that they created some confusion and intricacy in the old Services. We may, however, recognise the beauty and wors.h.i.+pfulness of the plan. In the Visitation of the Sick, the words _O Saviour of the world_ &c. as used with Psalm lxxi. are a survival of it. The verse _Remember not Lord_ &c. was introduced at the beginning of the same Service, as an Anthem to Psalm cxliii. The Psalm was omitted in 1552, but its Anthem remains.

The singing of the Psalm and Anthem will be understood from the example quoted above--the half choir which sang the Psalm was continually interrupted by {150} the half choir which sang the Anthem. The following ill.u.s.tration is quoted (by Martene) as of the 11th century.

In this case a verse of _Magnificat_ was sung after each verse of the Anthem.

EASTER EVE SETTING OF MAGNIFICAT.

[Transcriber's note: In the following section, in the original book, the material in the right-hand column was italicized. In standard Project Gutenberg practice, such text is (usually) surrounded by underscores ("_"), but for clarity, that underscoring has been omitted here.]

Now on the evening of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn My soul doth magnify the toward the first day of the Lord: week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre.

And behold, there was a And my spirit hath rejoiced great earthquake. in G.o.d my Saviour.

For the angel of the Lord For he hath regarded the descended from heaven, and lowliness of his handmaiden: came and rolled back the stone for behold, from henceforth all from the door, and sat upon it. generations shall call me blessed.

His countenance was like For he that is mighty hath lightning, and his raiment magnified me, and holy is his white as snow. name.

And for fear of him the And his mercy is on them keepers did shake, and that fear him, throughout all became as dead men. generations.

And the angel answered He hath shewed strength and said unto the women, Fear with his arm; he hath scattered not ye; for I know that ye the fraud in the imagination seek Jesus, which was crucified. of their hearts.

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.

Come, see the place where He hath put down the the Lord lay. mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek.

And go quickly, and tell He hath filled the hungry his disciples, that he is risen with good things, and the rich from the dead. he hath sent empty away.

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In Galilee shall ye see him: He remembering his mercy lo, I have told you. hath holpen his servant Israel.

Fear not ye; for he is risen As he promised to our forefathers, as he said. Abraham and his seed for ever.

And very early in the first Glory be to the Father, and day of the week, they came to the Son, and to the Holy unto the sepulchre at the rising Ghost: of the sun.

And they said among themselves, As it was in the beginning, Who shall roll us away is now, and ever shall be, the stone, and when they looked, world without end. Amen.

they saw that it was rolled away.

We have now given examples of Anthems, which show that they have their name from the responding of two choirs to one another[1]. But Anthems were not of necessity hymns of Praise. The place provided at Morning and Evening Prayer, for the singing of an Anthem, is singularly ill-suited to the singing of a Praise-Anthem: for it is the place also of the Litany. It is sometimes pleaded that people grow tired of prayer, by the end of the 3rd Collect, and need a change: hence, after praying for three or four minutes, they rise up and sing praise for ten minutes, before kneeling again for seven or eight minutes. If we have grasped the reverent orderliness of the Services, we shall not easily be persuaded that this was the design of the order at this place. We have elsewhere shown that an Anthem here unites the Collects which precede it, to those which follow.

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We must believe that there was an intention to provide an Anthem Book.

Until this is done by authority, it would be well to distinguish, in Hymn Books, between those Hymns which are suitable in the midst of the Prayers, and those which are appropriate as Hymns of Praise. The same might also be done in the Anthem Books, so that a Praise-Anthem, or Hymn, might be sung at the close of the whole Service. A Prayer-Anthem, or Hymn, or one upon the Redeemer's Love, and His Work as Mediator, suits well as a modulation to the Prayers after the 3rd Collect. And it might be sung Antiphonally.

[1] Raba.n.u.s, _De Inst. Cler._ Mart. IV. iv. 1.

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CHAPTER XV.

THE SERVICE OF PRAYER.

III. The Litany.

Origin of Litanies. Some of the Offices of Holy Communion--especially in the East--have had a portion after the Gospel very similar to what we call a Litany. Thus in the Liturgy (i.e. Holy Communion Office) of S. James, the Deacon says _The Universal Collect_, consisting of fifteen suffrages (see Appendix F), each ending with, _Let us beseech the Lord_: and the Response of the people is, _Lord have mercy_, which is said thrice at the end of the pet.i.tions. Similar to this is _the Prayer of Intense Supplication_, in the Liturgy of S. Chrysostom. Cf.

also the modern Liturgy of Constantinople.

We should expect to find the further development of Litanies, in Churches where the Eastern influence was felt; it is therefore no surprise to us, that the history of them next takes us to the Churches of Southern France. "The South of Gaul had been colonized originally from the Eastern sh.o.r.es of the Aegaean. Its Christianity came from the same regions as its colonization. The Church of Gaul was the {154} spiritual daughter of the Church of proconsular Asia[1]."