O God 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 worshipfulness 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 illustration 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 God 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.