A

RITUAL INTRODUCTION

TO THE

PRAYER BOOK.

SECTION I.

THE PRINCIPLES OF CEREMONIAL WORSHIP.

FORMS and ceremonies in Divine Service are bodily manifestations of spiritual worship, and the ordinary means by which that worship is expressed before God.

The whole scheme of Redemption is based on a principle which shews that God establishes communion between Himself and mankind to a great extent through the body and bodily acts, and not solely through purely mental ones, as the exercise of thought or will. For when a perfect and unimpeded spiritual intercourse was to be renewed between the Creator and His fallen creatures, God, Who " is a Spirit," took upon Him a bodily nature, “ of a reasonable Soul and human Flesh subsisting," and by means of it became a Mediator, through Whom that intercourse could be originated and maintained. For the particular application, also, of the benefits of His mediation, Christ ordained Sacraments, which are outward and visible sigus endowed with the capacity of conveying inward and spiritual grace to the soul through the organs of the body. "Hadst thou been incorporeal," says St. Chrysostom, “Christ would have given thee His incorporeal gifts pure and simple: but as the soul is bound up with a body, He gives thee spiritual things in sensible forms." [CHRYSOST. on Matt. xxvi.]

In analogy with this principle, Ceremonial worship, or Ritual, may be defined as the external body of words and actions by which worship is expressed and exhibited before God and man. As it is ordained that men shall tell their wants to God in prayer, although He knows better than they know themselves what each one's necessities are, so it is also ordained that spiritual worship shall be communicated to Him by words and actions, although His Omniscience would be perfectly cognizant of it without their intervention.

The Divine Will on this subject has been revealed very clearly and fully in the Holy Bible; from its earliest pages, which record the sacrifices of Cain, Abel, and Noah, to its latest, in which the worship of Heaven is set forth as it will be offered by the saints of God when the worship of Earth will have passed away.

Before the origination of the Jewish system of ceremonial, we find customs which indicate the use of certain definite forms in acts of Divine worship. The chief of these is Sacrifice, in which the fruits of the earth were offered to God, or the body of some slain animal consumed by fire on His altar. Such acts of sacrifice were purely ceremonial, whether or not they were accompanied by any words; and the account of Abraham's sacrifice, in Genesis xv. 9-17, illustrates very remarkably the minute character of the ritual injunctions given by God even before the time of the Mosaic system. The Divine institution of the outward ceremony of Circumcision is another instance of the same kind, and one of even greater force, from the general and lasting nature of the rite as at first ordained; a rite binding on the Jewish nation for nearly two thousand years. Another ceremonial custom to be observed in the

Patriarchal times, is that of "bowing down the head" when worshipping the Lord [GEN. xxiv. 26, 48]; another, that of giving solemn benedictions, accompanied by laying on of hands [GEN. xxvii. 27-29; xxviii. 1-4; xlvii. 10; xlviii. 9-20]; another, that of setting up a pillar, and pouring oil upon it [GEN. xxviii. 18; xxxv. 14]; another, purification before sacrifice [GEN. xxxv. 2]: and, to name no more, one other, the reverent burial of the dead [GEN. xxiii. 19; xxxv. 19; 1. 10], which even then was an act of reverence towards God, as well as of respect and affection towards the departed.

The introduction of a higher form of corporate worship than that of Patriarchal times was accompanied by a great developement of ceremony or ritual. Of what was previously in use, we can only infer that it was divinely instituted; but the Divine institution of the Jewish system of ritual is told us in the most unmistakeable terms in the Holy Bible, and the narration of it occupies more than eight long chapters of the Book of Exodus [xxiv-xxxi.], together with the greater part of the twenty-seven chapters of Leviticu

This system of ritual (sometimes called "Mosaic," but in reality Divine) was revealed with circumstances of the utmost solemnity. After a preparation of sacrifices, Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders, went up into the lower part of Mount Sinai, and from thence "they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of Heaven in clearness." Moses was then commanded to go up to the summit of the mountain, “and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him into the mount : and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights" [EXOD. xxiv. 9-18]. During this awful time of converse between God and His servant Moses, it appears that the one subject of revelation. and command was that of ceremonial worship: the revelation of the moral law being recorded in the single verse, "And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God" [EXOD. xxxi. 18].

The revelation of God's will respecting forms and ceremonies thus awfully given to Moses, went into very minute particulars, which were chiefly respecting the construction of the Tabernacle, the dress of those who were to minister in it, the instrumenta of Divine Service, and the ceremonies with which that service was to be carried on. The architecture of the structure itself, the design of its utensils, and of the priestly vestments, and that kind of laws for the regulation of Divine Service which we now know as rubrics, were thus communicated to Moses by God Himself, and in the most solemn manner in which any revelation was ever given from Heaven. And when the revelation was completed, "the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. . . . And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee" [Exod. xxxi. 1-6]. Thus Divine Inspiration was given to the principal architects and superintendents of the external fabric by means of which Divine Service was to be carried on, as well as a Revelation of its structure, and of the ceremonial itself; and no words can heighten the importance and value which Almighty God thus indicated as belonging to ceremonial worship.

Nor did this importance and value belong to ceremonial worship only in the early period of the Jewish nation's life. It was not given to them as a means of spiritual education, by which they should be gradually trained to a kind of worship in which externals should hold a less conspicuous position. Nothing whatever appears, in the revelation itself, of such an idea as this; but the ceremonial is throughout regarded as having reference to Him in Whose service it was used, looking to the Object of worship, and not to the worshippers. And accordingly, when the Jewish nation attained its highest pitch of prosperity, and probably of intellectual as well as spiritual progress, in the latter years of David and in the reign of Solomon, this elaborate system of ceremonial worship was developed instead of being narrowed. The magnificent preparations which David made for building the Temple are recorded in 1 Chron. xxii., xxviii., and xxix.; and those which he made for establishing the service there, in 1 Chron. xvi., xxiii-xxvi.: the descriptions of the structure and of the utensils being almost

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as minute and detailed as in the commandments of God on Sinai respecting the Tabernacle. In this more intellectual age of the Jewish nation, and for this developement of ceremonial worship, God vouchsafed to give inspiration to His servants for their work, as He had done to Bezaleel and Aholiab. When the Holy Bible gives the account of David furnishing Solomon with the designs for the Temple and its furniture, these significant words are added, "And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit." Even more striking are David's own words: "All this the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. . . . The Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord" [1 CHRON. xxviii. 12, 19]. The fulfilment of this prophetic promise is indicated in a subsequent place by the words, "Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God" [2 CHRON. iii. 3]: and the Divine approval of all that was done is strikingly shewn in 1 Kings ix. 3; 2 Chron. v. 11-14; and vii. 1, 2. Nor should the fact be overlooked that the most costly and beautiful house of God which the world ever saw was built, the most elaborate and gorgeous form of Divine Service established, by one who was no imaginative enthusiast, but by one whose comprehensive knowledge and astute wisdom exceeded those of any man who had ever before existed, and were perhaps greater than any learning or wisdom, merely human, which have since been known. Solomon was a man of science, an ethical philosopher, and a statesman, and with all these great gifts and acquirements he was also a ritualist.

Thus the use of Ceremonial Worship in some form is shewn to have existed even in the simple Patriarchal ages; and to have been ordained in its most extreme form by God Himself in the times of Moses, David, and Solomon. Let it be reverently added, that it was this extreme form of Ceremonial Worship which our Lord recognized and took part in when He went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the great Festivals, and the restoration of which in its purity He enforced both at the beginning and end of His ministry by His "cleansing the Temple" from the presence of those who bought and sold there. The vain and empty private ceremonies which the Pharisees had invented met with the severe condemnation of our Lord; but there is not one act or word of His recorded which tends in the least towards depreciation of the Temple service; or which can lead to the supposition that the worship of God “in spirit and in truth" is to be less associated with forms and ceremonies when carried on by Christians, than when it was offered by Moses, David, Solomon, and the Old Testament saints of many centuries who looked forward to Christ.

The ritual practices of the Apostolic age are to some extent indicated in the New Testament, but as the Temple service was still carried on, and Jerusalem formed the religious centre of the Apostolic Church, it is clear that an elaborate ceremonial was not likely to be established during the first quarter of a century of the Church's existence. Yet this earliest age of the Church witnesses to the principle of ceremonial worship, as the Patriarchal age had done; and each foreshadowed a higher developement of it. A learned German ritualist has written thus on this subject: "On mature reflection, I am satisfied that the Apostles by no means performed the Divine Liturgy with such brevity, at least as a general rule, as some have confidently asserted. The faithful, whether converts among the Jews or Gentiles, were accustomed to ceremonies and prayers in their sacrifices; and can we suppose that the Apostles would neglect to employ the like, tending so greatly as these must do to the dignity of the service, and to promote the reverence and fervour of the worshipper? Who can believe that the Apostles were content to use the bare words of consecration and no more? Is it not reasonable to suppose that they would also pour forth some prayers to God, especially the most perfect of all prayers which they had learned from the mouth of their Divine Master, for grace to perform that mystery aright; others preparatory to communion, and again, others of thanksgiving for so inestimable a benefit?" [KRAZER, de Liturgiis, i. 1-3.]

But there are distinct traces of actual forms of service in the Acts of the Apostles, and in some of the Epistles. In the second chapter of the former, at the forty-second verse, it is said of the first Christians that they continued stedfastly in the doctrine [Ty didaxn] and in the fellowship [T Kowwvia] of the Apostles; and in the breaking of the Bread [tû kλáσei toû äptov], and in the prayers [Taîs πρоσevɣaîs]; the two latter expressions clearly indicating settled and definite ceremonial and devotional usages with which the writer knew his readers to be acquainted. St. Paul's reference to a Sunday offertory [1 COR. xvi. 1]; to the observance of decency and order in the celebration of Divine Service [1 COR. xiv. 40]; to the ordinances, or traditions, which he had delivered to the Corinthians, and which he had received from the Lord Himself [1 COR. xi. 2]; and to the Divisions of Divine Service in his words, “I

exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications [denoes], prayers [πpoσeυxàs], intercessions [évteúĝeis], and Eucharists [evxapiorías], be made for all men" [1 TIM. ii. 1],—these shew that an orderly and formal system was already in existence; while his allusion to "the traditions" [Tàs Tapadóσeis], seems to point to a system derived from some source the authority of which was binding upon the Church. [See also Introd. to Liturgy.] Such an authority would attach to every word of our Blessed Lord; and when we know that He remained on earth for forty days after His Resurrection, and that during that period He was instructing His Apostles in "the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God" [ACTS i. 3], it is most natural to suppose that the main points of Christian ritual were ordained by Him, as those of the Jewish ritual had been ordained during the forty days' sojourn of Moses on Sinai. It is to be remembered also that there are forms and ceremonies in use by the Church which were undoubtedly ordained by Christ, such as the laying on of hands in Ordination, the use of water and certain words in Holy Baptism, and the manual ceremonies at the Holy Communion.

At a later period, when the Temple service had nearly or quite come to an end, when the temporary dispensation of a miraculous Apostolate was drawing to a close, and when the Church was settling into its permanent form and habits, St. John (the last and most comprehensive of the Apostolic guides of the Church) wrote the Book of the Revelation; and several portions of it seem intended to set forth in mystical language the principles of such ceremonial worship as was to be used in the Divine Service of Christian churches. In the fourth chapter, the Apostle is taken up to be shewn, as Moses had been shewn, a " pattern in the Mount;" and as that revelation to Moses began to be made on the Sabbath of the Old Dispensation, so it was "the Lord's Day" on which St. John. was "in the Spirit," that he might have this new revelation made to him. As, moreover, the revelation made to Moses was one respecting the ritual of the Jewish system, so there is an unmistakeable ritual character about the vision first seen by St. John; the whole of the fourth and fifth chapters describing a scene which bears a close resemblance to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, as it was celebrated in the early ages of the Church, and as it is still celebrated in the East.

The form and arrangement of churches in primitive times was derived, in its main features, from the Temple at Jerusalem. Beyond the porch was the narthex, answering to the court of the Gentiles, and appropriated to the unbaptized and to penitents. Beyond the narthex was the nave, answering to the court of the Jews, and appropriated to the body of worshippers. At the upper end of the nave was the choir, answering to the Holy Place, for all who were ministerially engaged in Divine Service. Beyond the choir was the Bema or Chancel, answering to the Holy of Holies, used only for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and separated from the choir by a closed screen, resembling the organ screen of our cathedrals, which was called the Iconostasis. As early as the time of Gregory Nazianzen, in the fourth century, this screen is compared to the division between the present and the eternal world [Carm. xi.], and the sanctuary behind it was ever regarded with the greatest reverence as the most sacred place to which mortal man could have access. "When," said St. Chrysostom in one of

his sermons," thou beholdest the curtains drawn up, then imagine that the heavens are let down from above, and that the Angels are descending." [CHRYS. in Eph. Hom. iii.] The veiled door which formed the only direct exit from it into the choir and nave was only opened at the time when the Blessed Sacrament was administered to the people there assembled, and thus the opening of this door brought into view the Altar and the Divine mysteries which were being celebrated there. And when St. John looked through the door that had been opened in Heaven, what he saw is thus described: "And behold a Throne was set in Heaven, . . . and round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold: . . . and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the Throne, . . . and before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal." Here is exactly represented an arrangement of the altar familiar to the whole Eastern Church, to the early Church of England, and to the Churches of Italy, France, and Germany at the present day, in which it occupies the centre of an apse in front of the seats of the Bishop and Clergy, the latter being placed in the curved part of the wall. And, although there is no reason to think that the font ever stood near the altar, yet nothing appears more likely than that the "sea of glass like unto crystal" mystically represents that laver of regeneration through which alone the altar can be spiritually approached.

Another striking characteristic of the ancient Church

Neale says that reservoirs to supply water for use in Divine Service are sometimes found in the eastern part of Oriental churches. [NEALE'S Introd. to Holy East. Ch. p. 189.]

In his Additions and Corrections he also says, "There is a well open rather in front of the place where the altar once stood in the Church of St. Irene in the Seraglio at Constan

was the extreme reverence which was shewn to the book of the Gospels, which was always placed upon the altar and surmounted by a cross. So "in the midst of the Throne, and round about the Throne," St. John saw those four living creatures which have been universally interpreted to represent the four Evangelists or the four Gospels; their position seeming to signify that the Gospel is ever attendant upon the altar, penetrating, pervading, and embracing the highest mystery of Divine Worship, giving “glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, Who liveth for ever and ever." In the succeeding chapter St. John beholds Him for Whom this altar is prepared. "I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the Throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as It had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." It cannot be doubted that this is our Blessed Lord in that Human Nature on which the septiformis gratia was poured without measure; and that His appearance in the form of "the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing," represents the mystery of His prevailing Sacrifice and continual Intercession. But around this living Sacrifice there is gathered all the homage of an elaborate ritual. They who worship Him have "every one of them harps," to offer Him the praise of instrumental music; they have "golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints," even as the angel afterwards had "given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the Throne:"1 they sing a new song, mingling the praises of "the best member that they have" with that of their instrumental music; and they fall down before the Lamb with the lowliest gesture of their bodies in humble adoration. Let it also be remembered that one of the Anthems here sung by the choirs of Heaven is that sacred song, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Which was, and is, and is to come," the Eucharistic use of which is traceable in every age of the Church.

These striking coincidences between the worship of Heaven revealed to St. John and that which was and is offered at the altars of the Church on earth, warrant us in considering this portion of the Revelation as a Divine treasury wherefrom we may draw the principles upon which the worship of earth ought to be organized and conducted. And the central point of the principles thus revealed is that there is a Person to be adored in every act of Divine Worship now, as there was a Person to be adored in the system which culminated in the Temple Service. This Person is moreover revealed to us as present before the worshippers. And He is further represented as our Redeeming Lord, the "Lamb that was slain," He Who said respecting Himself to St. John at the opening of the Apocalyptic Vision, "I am He that liveth and was dead, and am alive for evermore."

This Presence was promised by our Blessed Lord in words which the daily prayer of the Church interprets to have been spoken with reference not only to Apostolic or Episcopal councils, but also to Divine Service: "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them" [MATT. xviii. 20]. It is quite impossible to view this promise in the light of Holy Scripture, and especially of that part of the Revelation which has been referred to above, without seeing that its fullest and most essential meaning connects it with the Eucharistic Presence of Christ, the "Lamb as it had been slain." This truth so pervaded the mind of the ancient Church that in its primitive ages Divine Service consisted of the Holy Eucharist only; and the early Liturgies speak to Christ in such terms as indicate the most simple and untroubled Faith in the actual Presence of our "Master" and Lord. Hence the Ceremonial Worship of the early Church was essentially connected with this Divine Service; and to those who were so imbued with a belief in the Eucharistic Presence of their Lord the object of such ceremonial was self-evident. The idea of reflex action upon the worshipper probably never occurred to Christians in those times. Their one idea was that of doing honour to Christ, after the pattern of the four living creatures, the four and twenty elders, the angels, and the ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands who said "Worthy is the Lamb:" after the pattern of those who, even in Heaven, accompanied their anthems with the music of harps, and their prayers with the sweet odour of incense.

The mystery of our Lord's Presence as the Object of Divine Worship lies at the root of all the