A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

For these reasons we cannot but protest against the conclusion of the following paragraph taken from the works of Mr. Boston, a man of exemplary piety, but, as it would seem, of strong prejudices: “From the whole, I think it is evident, that a prayer formed upon the model of this excellent pattern, having the substance of the several petitions interspersed through it, though expressed in other words, is a true Scriptural prayer” (granted, it must be so); “and that there is no necessity to conclude with the Lord’s Prayer” (this is less certain). “And, therefore, I cannot but think that Papists, and many Protestants who conclude their prayers with the very words of the Lord’s Prayer, make a very superstitious use of it, causing people to imagine that the bare recital of the words of the Lord’s Prayer sanctifies their other prayers; and that no prayer can be accepted of God where this, I cannot but call it vain, repetition is omitted.” It is confidently hoped that, if what is collected in the present article be perused with attention, the members of the Church of England will be led to exclaim, “We ‘have not so learned Christ.’”

The Lord’s Prayer is to be said with an audible voice.—It was an ancient custom for the priest to say some parts of the liturgy internally, (secreto, ἐν ἑαυτῷ, or μυστικῶς,) in an unintelligible whisper; and in some instances the people joined in this manner, as was the case with respect to the Lord’s Prayer and the creed. This unreasonable practice was put an end to at the Reformation, and the Lord’s Prayer in particular was directed to be said “with an audible voice,” “with a loud voice;” probably that the people might sooner learn this most essential prayer; a practice from which the ignorant may even now find benefit.

The flaming ardency of the seven spirits, and of all the heavenly choir, appears in the intenseness and loudness of their songs, “To him all angels cry aloud!” They do not breathe out faint or forced hallelujahs; their songs resemble, as St. John describes them, “the voice of many waters,” and “the voice of mighty thunderings.” (Rev. xix. 6.) But where are the least tokens of this seraphic ardency in our worship here on earth? The sacrifice of this our public service, like Elijah’s, is put in excellent order, but we ourselves “put no fire under!” On the contrary, a voluntary coldness runs through all the parts and offices of it, like the water poured on by Elijah, which “ran round the altar and filled all the trenches.” And it is next to a miracle if God accepts such cold offerings, or answers us from heaven, unless with the fire, not of acceptance, but of vengeance.—Bisse on the Lord’s Prayer.

The people are to repeat it with the priest.—When the Lord’s Prayer was directed to be said with an audible voice, it was, in the Romish Church, said by the priest alone; but in the Greek and ancient Gallican Churches, by the priest and people together—a custom which the Church of England has adopted in preference to the Roman. Until the review of 1661, the minister began the prayer, and went through it alone to the conclusion of the last petition, “but deliver us from evil,” which the people said; in order, as Bishop Sparrow remarks, that they might not be interrupted from bearing a part in so divine a prayer. In a rubric in the Communion Service, near the conclusion, the manner in which the Lord’s Prayer should be used is clearly laid down. “Then shall the priest say the Lord’s Prayer, the people repeating after him every petition.”

In none of the successive editions of the Prayer Book till the last review, was there any direction for the people prefixed to the first occurrence of the Lord’s Prayer. In King Edward’s First Book at its second recurrence, after the creed, the latter clause, “but deliver us from evil,” was inserted. This was altered in the Second Book of King Edward; and the direction, “Then the minister, clerks, and people,” &c., inserted, as we have it now. In the Litany, the two last clauses were marked as verse and response, till the last review. In the Communion no direction was given for the people;—at its second occurrence, the verse and response were marked, as in the Litany: but in the Second Book, the people were directed to repeat after him every petition, as now. The Scotch Prayer Book (temp. K. Chas. I.) first inserted the doxology, at both its occurrence in Morning and Evening Prayer, and at its last in the Communion. At the last review the doxology was inserted at its first occurrence in the Morning and Evening Prayer, and at the end of the Communion; and the versicular arrangement in the Litany was altered. The notation of the verse and response, with their proper cadences, is retained in the old choral manuals.

Wheatly remarks that “the doxology was appointed by the last review to be used in this place, partly, he supposes, because many copies of St. Matthew have it, and the Greek Fathers expound it; and partly because the office here is a matter of praise, it being used immediately after the absolution.” And again, in the Post Communion, “the doxology is here annexed, because all these devotions are designed for an act of praise, for the benefits received in the holy sacrament.” And in the Churching of Women, “the doxology was added to the Lord’s Prayer at the last review, by reason of its being an office of thanksgiving.”

In the Romish service, except in the Mass, the priest speaks the words, “Et ne nos,” &c., “Lead us not into temptation,” in a peculiar tone of voice, by which the people are apprized of its being the time for them to answer, “But deliver us from evil.” This also is a custom at the end of every prayer, that the people may know when to say “Amen.” In the Mosarabic liturgy the priest says the prayer by himself, and the people answer “Amen” to each petition.

The catechumens and the energumens, or those possessed with evil spirits, were not suffered in the primitive Church to join in the tremendous cry sent up by the people, but only bowed their heads in token of assent.

It may be observed that the several paragraphs of the Lord’s Prayer are made to begin, in our Church Prayer Book, with a capital letter, in order, most probably, to mark accurately the places where the people should take up their parts; and this method is adopted in the confession in the daily service, in the creeds, the Gloria in excelsis, in the Communion Service, and in the confession and deprecation in the Commination Service on Ash Wednesday.

But it must likewise be observed, that this method does not seem to be so closely followed in the Cambridge as in the Oxford books, the former combining the fourth and fifth paragraphs, the seventh and eighth, and the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth in the Lord’s Prayer; and yet in these copies the word “and” is retained before “the power,” &c., but dropped in the latter.