THE ORDER FOR MORNING PRAYER,
17. Daily throughout the Year.
In coming into Church (as in going out of the same, and in going up to, and coming down from the altar) obeisance is made by the minister as an ancient and devout usage[c].
18. At the beginning of Morning Prayer the Minister shall read with a loud voice some one or more of these Sentences of the Scriptures that follow. And then he shall say that which is written after the said Sentences.
Two terms are here used, viz., 'read with a loud voice,' and 'say.' The words 'a loud voice' have been continued in the opening rubric of the service since 1549, when the Priest was directed to 'begin with a loud voice the Lord's Prayer,' which previously had been said 'secreto.' In 1552, when the office was arranged to begin with the Sentences, they were ordered to be 'read with a loud voice.'
That 'read' may mean a musical recital, whether monotone or inflected, can be inferred from the rubric of the lessons which existed in the Prayer-Book from 1549 to 1604. "Then shall be read two Lessons distinctly with a loud voice, that the people may hear. . . . And, to the end that the people may better hear, in such places where they do sing, there shall the Lessons be sung in a plain tune after the manner of distinct reading, and likewise the Epistle and Gospel." The 'Ministers' in 1661 took 'Exceptions' to this rubric on the ground that this portion of the Service "being for the most part neither Psalms nor Hymns, we know no warrant why they should be sung in any place, and conceive that the distinct reading of them with an audible voice tends more to the edification of the Church." To this the bishops replied, that "the rubric directs only such singing as is after the manner of distinct reading, and we never heard of any inconvenience thereby, and therefore conceive this demand to be needless."
The latter portion of this rubric, explaining the most effectual manner of distinct reading, was indeed omitted in 1662; but, though the Lessons, Epistle, and Gospel are no longer required to be 'sung' anywhere, the word 'read' must have included that manner of reading when directed for the Sentences in 1552.
The word 'say' was applied to the Exhortation, 'Dearly beloved,' &c., when that was introduced in 1552, and has been continued ever since. It occurs in the rubric before the versicles after the first Lord's Prayer (No. 23, below), viz., 'Then likewise shall he say,' dating from 1549, where the word 'likewise' indicated that the word 'begin' in the preceding rubric of that book meant 'say.' And if the word 'likewise' had been used in the latter portion of this rubric, 'read' must have been also interpreted to be identical with 'say.' But it is not used here, and therefore, the word 'read' need not mean the same as the word 'say;' and, consequently, while 'say' strictly means a monotone (as distinct from 'sing,' which implies inflections); 'read' includes some other mode of reciting the Sentences, such as singing.
This rubric does not give any direction as to the posture or position of the Minister at the Sentences and Exhortation. But the next rubric implies standing to be the posture; while his position is indicated in the answer of the Bishops to the Ministers in the Savoy Conference, "The Minister turning to the people is not most convenient throughout the whole ministration. When he speaks to them, as in Lessons, Absolution, and Benediction, it is convenient that he turn to them." The Exhortation falls under this class. Further, the Bishops said, "When he speaks for them to God, it is fit they should all turn another way, as the Ancient Church ever did." But the Sentences are not in the nature of prayer; therefore, the Minister in reading them would seem to be correct if he stood 'stall-wise,' as he would in complying with the order that 'the chancels shall remain as they have done in times past.'
In selecting the particular Sentences for use at certain seasons it seems suitable to use