A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

Though the words of these hymns have lost something from time, the prayer is too serious, too important, ever to be forgotten. We are not so enthusiastic as to expect an extraordinary communication of the Spirit to any minister of the gospel. Neither are we so void of spiritual feeling as to imagine that the Divine influence, which God himself has promised, and an innumerable host of Christians have displayed by their conduct, cannot touch our hearts. We do truly believe that it is the grace of God, operating with our spirit, which enables us to fulfil our duty in so arduous a situation. We may “resist and quench the Spirit” (Acts vii. 51; 1 Thess. v. 19); and we may “grow in grace.” (2 Pet. iii. 18.) From these expressions we are taught, to leave our hearts open in the one case, and in the other to aim at greater perfection. In both our connexion with the Spirit is made manifest; for, “if we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his.” (Rom. viii. 9.) May the Spirit of Divine grace “visit our minds,” and “inspire our souls” with holy affections, that we may improve those “manifold gifts,” which alone give stability to the Church of Christ, and are derived from him, “the fountain and the spring of all celestial joy.”—Brewster.

VENITE. The 95th Psalm. The Psalmist here calls upon us with this arousing exhortation, “O come, let us sing unto the Lord!” and the apostle to the same purpose wills us to “admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto God.” (Col. iii. 16) Where he seems to quicken our backwardness, and to stir us up to a due sense of the Divine favour and goodness. And this is to be done, both outwardly with the voice, by singing unto the Lord; and inwardly with the heart, by heartily rejoicing in God, who is “the strength of our salvation.” It is by his power that our salvation is effected, and upon his mercy alone all our hopes of it are founded, and therefore both our heart and tongue are to become the instruments of his praise.—Hole.

Whenever we repeat this psalm, we should, if we wish to improve and be edified by it, always make some such reflections as these that follow. The wandering of the Israelites through the wilderness represents our travelling through this world; their earthly Canaan, or promised land, being a type or figure of heaven, of that blessed country, to which we are all invited, and where, if it be not our own fault, we may all one day arrive. The same Divine providence which once guided and protected them, now watches over and defends us;—“they did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink.” (1 Cor. x. 3, 4.) The manna, with which they were miraculously sustained, was an emblem of the true “bread of life, which came down from heaven,” for the support of our souls; and the water, which they drank out of the rock, prefigured the graces of the Holy Spirit, which we receive from the true fountain of life; for “that rock was Christ,”—that is, it represented Christ. Now if they, through their infidelity and disobedience, notwithstanding all the signal favours they enjoyed, fell short of the promised rest, and perished in the wilderness, so shall we, who are blessed with still higher privileges, if we tread in their steps, most assuredly fail of our eternal inheritance in the heavenly Canaan, and be doomed to everlasting destruction. “Take heed,” therefore, “brethren,” as the apostle justly infers, “lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb. iii. 12, 13.) Let us not rest in a bare speculative belief, but endeavour to obtain and preserve a lively faith and hearty trust in the promises of God made to us in the gospel. This, and this only, will support us in our pilgrimage here on earth, and carry us safe to our eternal rest in heaven.—Waldo.

According to ancient use in the Western Church, the Venite always precedes the Morning Psalm, except on Easter Day, when another anthem is appointed.

VERGER. (From virgu, a rod.) He who carries the mace before the dean or canons in a cathedral or collegiate church. In some cathedrals the dean has his own verger, the canons theirs: in others the verger goes before any member of the church, whether capitular or not, when he leaves his place to perform any part of the service. An officer of a similar title precedes the vice-chancellor in the English universities.

VERSE. A line or short sentence, generally applied to poetry, but also applicable to prose, as Cicero employs it. See Facciolati in voc. Hence it came to mean a short sentence. It has, in an ecclesiastical sense, these several meanings:

1. The short paragraphs, numbered for the sake of reference, into which the Bible is at present divided, are called verses. These divisions were introduced into the Old Testament by Rabbi Nathan, in the fifteenth century. Those in the New were introduced by Robert Stephens in 1551.

2. The short sentence of the minister, which is followed by the response of the choir or people, in the Latin ritual. These are marked V. & R. It is something like the versicles in our service, but is frequently longer.

3. A sentence or short anthem, as in the Introits of the Latin service.

4. Verse in the English choral service means those passages in the hymns or anthems which are sung by a portion only of the choir, sometimes by a single voice, as contradistinguished from the full parts, or chorus. Thus we have full and verse anthems.