Sunday 1st August, 2010
The Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Mattins
The Venite1
Then shall be said or sung2 this Psalm following: Except on Easter Day, upon which another Anthem is appointed: and on the nineteenth day of every month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms.
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Psalm 95: O Come Let Us Sing Unto The Lord
O COME,
let us ˡ sing unto the ˡ Lord :
let us heartily rejoice in the
ˡ strength of ˡ our salˡvation.
2. Let us come before his ˡ presence with
ˡ thanksgiving : and shew ourselves
ˡ glad in ˡ him with ˡ psalms.
3. For the
Lord is a ˡ great ˡ God :
and a great ˡ King aˡbove all ˡ gods.
4. In his hand are
all
the ˡ corners · of the
ˡ earth :
and the strength of the ˡ hills ˡ is his ˡ also.
(2nd pt) 5.
The sea is his, and ˡ he ˡ
made it : and his hands preˡpared ˡ the dry ˡ land.
6.
O come, let us worship and ˡ fall ˡ down : and kneel
beˡfore the ˡ Lord our
ˡ Maker.
7. For he is the ˡ Lord our ˡ God :
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the ˡ sheep ˡ of his ˡ hand.
8. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden
ˡ not your ˡ hearts :
as in the provocation, and as in the day of tempˡtation ˡ in
the ˡ wilderness.
*9. When your ˡ fathers ˡ tempted
ˡ me : ˡ proved me, and ˡ saw my
ˡ works.
10. Forty years long was I grieved with this geneˡration, and ˡ said :
It
is a people that do err in their hearts, for they ˡ have not ˡ known my
ˡ ways;
11. Unto whom I ˡ sware in my ˡ wrath : that they should not ˡ enter
ˡ into
my ˡ rest.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Then shall follow the Psalms3 in order as they be appointed.4 And at the end of every Psalm throughout the year, and likewise in the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated,5
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
The Psalms
Day 1 Morning
—Bishop George Horne (1730-1792).
BLESSED is the
man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stood in the ˡway of ˡ sinners :
and hath not ˡ sat · in the ˡ seat of the
ˡ scornful.
2. But his delight is in the ˡlaw of the ˡ Lord : and in his law
will he exercise himˡself ˡ day and ˡ night.
3. And he shall be like a tree
planted by the ˡwater-ˡside :
that will bring ˡ forth his ˡ fruit in due
ˡ season.
4. His leaf also ˡ shall not ˡ wither :
and look, whatsoever he ˡ doeth,
ˡ it
shall ˡ prosper.
5. As for the ungodly, it is not ˡ so with ˡ them : but they
are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away ˡ from the ˡ face of the
ˡ earth.
6. Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to ˡ stand · in the ˡ judgement :
neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
7. But the
Lord
knoweth the ˡ way · of the ˡ righteous :
and the ˡ way of · the unˡgodly shall
ˡ perish.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Day 1 Morning
—Bishop George Horne (1730-1792).
WHY do the
heathen so furiously ˡ rage toˡgether :
and why do the people
iˡmagine a ˡ vain ˡ thing?
2. The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers
take ˡ counsel toˡgether :
against the Lord, and aˡgainst ˡ his Aˡnointed.
3.
Let us break their ˡ bonds aˡsunder :
and cast aˡway their ˡ cords ˡ from us.
4.
He that dwelleth in heaven shall ˡ laugh them to ˡ scorn :
the Lord shall ˡ have
them ˡ in deˡrision.
5. Then shall he speak unto them ˡ in his ˡ wrath :
and vex
them ˡ in his ˡ sore disˡpleasure.
6. Yet I have ˡ set my ˡ King :
upon my ˡ holy
ˡ hill of ˡ Sion.
7. I will preach the law, whereof the Lord hath ˡ said unto ˡ me :
Thou art my Son, this ˡ day have ˡ I beˡ gotten thee.
8. Desire of me, and I
shall give thee the heathen for ˡ thine inˡheritance :
and the utmost parts of
the ˡ earth for ˡ thy posˡsession.
9. Thou shalt bruise them with a ˡ rod of ˡ iron :
and break them in pieces ˡ like a ˡ potter's ˡ vessel.
10. Be wise now
therefore, ˡ O ye ˡ kings :
be learned, ye that are ˡ judges ˡ of the ˡ earth.
11.
Serve the ˡ Lord in ˡ fear :
and rejoice ˡ unto ˡ him with ˡ reverence.
12. Kiss the
Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the ˡ right ˡ way :
if his wrath be kindled, (yea, but a little,) blessed are all they that ˡ put their ˡ trust in
ˡ him.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Day 1 Morning
—Bishop George Horne (1730-1792).
LORD, how are they inˡcreased
that ˡ trouble me : many are ˡ they that ˡ rise
aˡ gainst me.
2. Many one there be that ˡ say of my ˡ soul :
There is no ˡ help
for him ˡ in his ˡ God.
3. But thou, O Lord, art ˡ my deˡfender : thou art my
worship, and the ˡ lifter ˡ up of my ˡ head.
4. I did call upon the Lord ˡ with
my ˡ voice : and he heard me ˡ out of his ˡ holy ˡ hill.
5. I laid me down and
slept, and ˡ rose up aˡ gain :
for the ˡ Lord susˡ tain-ed ˡ me.
6. I will not be
afraid for ten ˡ thousands · of the ˡ people :
that have set themselves aˡgainst
me
ˡ round aˡbout.
7. Up, Lord, and help me, ˡ O my ˡ God :
for thou smitest all mine
enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the ˡ teeth of ˡ the unˡgodly.
8.
Salvation belongeth ˡ unto the ˡ Lord :
and thy blessing ˡ is upˡon thy ˡ people.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Day 1 Morning
—Bishop George Horne (1730-1792).
HEAR me when I call,
O ˡ God of my ˡ righteousness : thou hast set me at
liberty when I was in trouble; have mercy upon me, and ˡ hearken ˡ unto my
ˡ prayer.
2. O ye sons of men, how long will ye blasˡpheme mine ˡ honour :
and
have such pleasure in vanity, and ˡ seek ˡ after ˡ leasing?
3. Know this also,
that the Lord hath chosen to himself the ˡ man that is ˡ godly: when I call
upon
the ˡ Lord, ˡ he will ˡ hear me.
4. Stand in ˡ awe, and ˡ sin not : commune with your
own heart, and in your ˡ chamber, ˡ and be ˡ still.
5. Offer the ˡ sacrifice of
ˡ righteousness : and ˡ put your ˡ trust in the ˡ Lord.
6. There be ˡ many that
ˡ say
: Who will ˡ shew us ˡ any ˡ good?
7. Lord, ˡ lift thou ˡ up : the light of thy
ˡ counteˡnance upˡon us.
8. Thou hast put gladness ˡ in my ˡ heart : since the time
that their corn and ˡ wine and ˡ oil inˡcreased.
(2nd pt)9. I will lay me down in
peace, and ˡ take my ˡ rest : for it is thou, Lord, only,
that ˡ makest me ˡ dwell
in ˡ safety.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Day 1 Morning
—Bishop George Horne (1730-1792).
PONDER my ˡ words, O
ˡ Lord : conˡsider my ˡ mediˡtation
2. O hearken thou unto
the voice of my calling, my ˡ King, and my ˡ God :
for unto ˡ thee will I ˡ make my
ˡ prayer.
3. My voice shalt thou hear beˡtimes, O ˡ Lord :
early in the morning
will I direct my prayer unto thee, ˡ and will ˡ look ˡ up.
4. For thou art the
God that hast no ˡ pleasure in ˡ wickedness :
neither shall any ˡ evil ˡ dwell with ˡ thee.
5. Such as be foolish shall not ˡ stand in thy ˡ
sight : for thou ˡ hatest
all ˡ them that work ˡ vanity.
6. Thou shalt destroy ˡ them that speak
ˡ leasing : the Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty
ˡ and deˡceitful
ˡ man.
(2nd pt)7. But as for me, I will come into thine house, even upon the
multitude of ˡ thy ˡ mercy :
and in thy fear will I worship toˡward thy ˡ holy
ˡ temple.
8. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness, beˡcause of mine ˡ enemies :
make thy way ˡ plain beˡfore my ˡ face.
9. For there is no faithfulness ˡ in
his
ˡ mouth : their inward ˡ
parts are ˡ very ˡ wickedness.
10. Their throat is an
ˡ open ˡ sepulchre :
they ˡ flatter ˡ with their ˡ tongue.
11. Destroy thou them,
O
God; let them perish through their own
iˡmaginaˡtions :
cast them out in the
multitude of their ungodliness; for ˡ they have reˡbelled aˡgainst thee.
12.
And let all them that put their trust in ˡ thee reˡjoice :
they shall ever be
giving of thanks, because thou defendest them; they that love thy Name
ˡ shall
be ˡ joyful in ˡ thee;
13. For thou, Lord, wilt give thy blessing ˡ unto the
ˡ righteous : and with thy favourable kindness wilt thou
deˡfend him ˡ as with a
ˡ shield.
Glory be to the Father, and ˡ to the ˡ Son :
and ˡ to the ˡ Holy ˡ Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ˡ ever ˡ shall be :
world without ˡ end. ˡ Aˡmen.
Footnotes
1 "Venite". Charles Wheatly very cleverly linked this Psalm to the four purposes of divine worship in the Exhortation which opens Mattins: Thanks, praise, hearing God's word, and prayer. (Thanksgiving may be contrasted with ingratitude, i.e. hardness of heart in the face of God's mercies.)
"OUR reformers very fitly placed it here as a proper place: preparatory to the following Psalms, Lessons, and Collects. For it exorts us, first, to praise God, shewing us in what manner and for what reasons we ought to do it; secondly, it exhorts us to pray to him, shewing us also the manner and reasons. Lastly, it exhorts us to hear God's word speedily and willingly, giving us a caution to beware of hardening our hearts by an instance of the sad event which happened to the Jews on that account, whose sin and punishment are set before us, that we may not destroy our souls, by despising and distrusting God's word as they did. For which warning we bless the holy Trinity, saying, Glory be to the Father &c..
Meanwhile, Bishop Cosin paralleled the singing of Psalms to the offering of the morning sacrifice in the Jewish Temple. Singing Psalms, and particularly the Venite, is part of the moral law that endures after the ceremonial law of sacrifices had been fulfilled and ended by Christ on his cross.
THE setting forth of God s worship and praise in psalms, is that part of moral and perpetual service, the order whereof was most particularly set down in the Old Testament in Solomon's temple.
As the sacrifice was burning upon the altar, and the wine poured out upon it in the inward court, which was their ceremonial and figurative service; in the meantime, the Levites stood upon their pulpits in the outward courts, where the people, men and women, were licensed to come, singing the psalms of God's praises, which was their moral service of it, to last for ever.
Other parts of the service are not there remembered; not but that many others were done, but to let the world know, that the psalms of God's praises, for the ordinary practice whereof such express order was taken and remembered, was not to be reckoned of by the by, but as a main part of God's public service.
And this was not the personal service of the Levites alone, but of the whole congregation of God s people assembled there, which made His praise to be the more glorious; and was there fore so much the more acceptable to Him, when the people joined together with the Levites to set it forth.
Therefore, according to King David s example, and others inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Church here hath appointed this first psalm, as an invitatory to stir up the affections of the whole congregation to that work, which they perform in some places by answering alternately, and in others by singing one side of the choir after another.
AN old custom lingers (especially in the North of England) of making a gesture of reverence at the words O come let us worship and fall down, which is a relic of the custom actual prostration as it was once made in many churches at these words.
2 "Said or sung". Technical language for chanted plain or chanted ornately. Cranmer himself wrote in a letter to King Henry VIII in 1544 concerning the Litany in procession,
IF your Grace command some devout and solemn note to be made thereunto (as is to the procession which your Majesty hath already set forth in English), I trust it will much excitate and stir the hearts of all men unto devotion and godliness. But in mine opinion, the song that shall be made thereunto should not be full of notes, but as near as may be for every syllable a note; so that it may be sung distinctly and devoutly, as be the Matins and Evensong, Venitie, the Hymns, Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, and all the Psalms and Versicles; and in the Mass, Gloria in Excelsis, Gloria Patri, the Creed, the Preface, the Pater Noster, and some of the Sanctus and Agnus.
Likewise, "read here" uses the neutral term "read" which covers any kind of singing.
As the Venite is a Psalm, we would expect to hear it sung antiphonally, e.g. one verse by the boys, one by the men; or if there is no choir, perhaps one verse by the priest/cantor, one verse by the congregation.
3 "The Psalms". The Psalms are ancient Hebrew songs, many of which were used as part of the Temple worship.
THAT which we read, as matter of speculation, in the other Scriptures, is reduced to practice, when we recite it in the Psalms; in those, repentance and faith are described, but in these they are acted; by a perusal of the former, we learn how others served God, but, by using the latter, we serve him ourselves. "What is there necessary for man to know," says the pious and judicious Hooker, "which the Psalms are not able to teach? They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation of the most perfect among others."
YOU may observe here, that St. Paul joins those two Things together, praying with the Spirit, and singing with the Spirit. What is it then? (saith he) I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray with the Understanding also; I will sing with the Spirit, I will sing with the Understanding also. Praying and Singing of Psalms, as they do now, so they did in those Times, always go together in the publick Worship of God.
An ancient practice is to select a verse from each Psalm to act as a summary, and sing it both before and after the Psalm. This is known as an Antiphon.
IN its earliest form, the Anthem, or Antiphon, seems to have been a single verse out of any Psalm repeated after the recitation of the Psalm (and, in later times, before its recitation also) with a view of fixing the key-note, so to speak, of the Psalm; of bringing into prominence, and fastening attention upon, some special idea contained within it.
Later, other sacred or even secular texts would be drafted in, a practice clearly fraught with risks.
4 "In order as they be appointed". The Prayer Book runs through the complete Psalter once each month.
WITH us the Psalms are recited much oftener than any other part of Scripture, and thus far our established practice corresponds with the usage of the ancient Church. At the same time, that all the Psalms may be read in course, and that our Morning and Evening Prayer may not tire or disgust by its prolixity, we assign for this purpose the term of thirty days.
As well as the appointed order, custom tells us that the Psalms are said standing.
STANDING has usually been deemed the most proper attitude for praise and thanksgiving. Accordingly we find that, in the ancient Church, the Psalms were almost universally recited in this posture.
In the matter of music, the 18th century writers were very much committed to antiphonal singing, where two choirs alternate. They loudly disapproved of having them ploddingly read out by the minister (or indeed congregation) alone.
THIS alternate recitation of the Psalms is not, as far as I at present recollect, enjoined by any Rubric, nor by any other injunction of our Church. But we uniformly adopt it; and in defence of our practice, we have to allege, that it is perfectly congenial to the usage of antiquity, is sanctioned by the recommendation of the wisest and best among the Fathers, has been ratified by respectable Councils, and the most approved ecclesiastical laws, and is obviously calculated to keep up the attention, and assist the devotion of the people.
AS to the manner: which is alternate or by turns, according to the ancient custom of the Catholick Church; and according to the pattern set us by the Church in Heaven, where, in singing the Trisagium [i.e. the Sanctus], the Seraphims are said to cry one to another. And this custom is well retained in our Church, whether appointed to be sung, as in our Cathedral Service, or to be said, as in our Parochial Worship. For in the former, when one side of the Choir sing unto the other, they hereby both provoke and relieve each others piety, they provoke it by this holy contention, and relieve it by this interchange. And for these reasons it is no less necessary, tho' less beautiful in our Parochial Service, where the reading of the Psalms is divided between the Minister and People.
THIS, St. Basil tells us, was a rite that in his time had obtained among all the churches of God: "After the Confession, saith he, the people rise from Prayer, and proceed to Psalmody, dividing themselves into two parts, and singing by turns."
5 "Shall be repeated". This hymn, the Gloria Patri, is certainly very ancient. Drawing on ancient historians and their account of Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna (?69-?155), John Shepherd wrote of it:
"THE earliest instance that we meet with, of the use of this Hymn, is found in the circular epistle of the Church of Smyrna, concerning the martyrdom of their beloved Bishop Polycarp; whence we learn that a Doxology, nearly resembling Gloria Patri, were the last words he uttered. Polycarp was conversant with the Apostles, and was consecrated Bishop of Smyrna by St. John the Evangelist. To him among others St. John is said to have addressed the Revelation, in which Polycarp is entitled "the Angel" of the Church of Smyrna. When this truly apostolic man fell a victim to cruel superstition and popular fury, bound to the stake, with eyes uplifted to heaven, he made a short fervent prayer to God, which is concluded with a Doxology to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost."
6 "A short voluntary".
AFTER the Psalms have been sung it is customary in many churches to play a short voluntary on the organ: this is mentioned by Archbishop Secker as having 'long been customary' in his day; and in a letter from Oxford in No. 630 of the 'Spectator.'
Perhaps it may be accounted for by a Salisbury Rubric between the Psalms and Lessons, 'Deinde dicitur Paternoster et Credo in Deum a toto choro privatim' [then let there be said 'Our Father' and 'I Believe In God' silently, by the whole choir].