Full Text for Matins as the Chief Service (Text)

er die Scbafe ull terweise. wi. 5ie rfcbte Cbri,ten sollen soin. sondern auch dnnebcn den Woollen w.hr .... dass ie die Scbafo nicbt angrelfen und mit fnIscher Lohre verfuehren und Irrtum ein· fllehren. - Luther. Es i,t kein Ding. das die Leute mebr bei der Kirche behaelt denn die gute Predigt. - Apo/Ollie. Art. 2.+. II the trumpet give an uncertain Bound. who 'hall prepare himself to tbe battle! 1 Cor. L+. 8. Published for the E v. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States CONCORDIA PU:BLISHI NG HOUSE, St. Louis, Mo. Matins as the Chief Service. 437 1529. ,,~eet~tebigt roiber ben stlitfen." - :iDiefe 6ef)tift fef)liejit fief) eng an bie borige an. 6ie rourbe am 20. Dt±ober begonncn unb roa~rfef)einlief). fe~r balb beenbigt, ba Butf)er fef)on am 28. Dltober an m5enseslaus Bin! fef)riell, baji fie gebrudt rocrbe. :iDie sroeite ~uflage etfef)ien am 3. :;Sanuat 1530. But~et roenbet bie 6telle :iDan. 7 an aUf ben stiitfen, unterfiint es abel' auef) lJier nief)t, aUf bas antief)riftifef)e fieief) bes qlaHtes f)in3urueifen. sman ruunbert fief), ball Butl)er in biefen iYragen io gtlinblief) Q'Jefef),eib ruujite. (6t. Bouifer ~usgaoe XX, 215'1-2195.) 1529. "iSel)ruabacl)er SJ(rtifeL" - :iDiei e Sef)tift ent~ii1t bie fieb3elju ~rtHe{, bie bon BuH)er unb feinen 9](itatbeitetn auf bem 3rueiten Sef)ruabaef)n: 5ronbent am 16. Oftober 1529 borge{egt unb angenommen murben. ;sm niief)ften :;sal)re Heji 53utlJer biefe iScI)tift aUfs neue ausgeI)en mit ber iiberfef)rift ,,~uf bas 6ef)reien etlief)er qlapijten libet bie jieli3ei)n ~tmel". (6t. Bouifer SJ!usgabe XVI, 564-569.) 1529. ,,~Jlar!lUtger ~(rtifeL" - :iDies fiub bie ~rtitel, bie bem 9JlarDurget @eipriid) 3ugtunbe fagen. :iDie Sef)ruabacter 'llrtitel roann 3ruifef)en bem 26. ;sufi unb bem 14. 6e~tember berfajit ruotben. Obgleid) fie etft am 16. Oftolier fotmeU angenommm ruurben, io bienten fie boef) afS @nmbiage flir bie !Dlarbmger ~rtiM, luie fie liei bem ~oIloquium berlJanbe1t 1mb biS aUf bm fe~ten ?punlt bon allen .RDUoquenten augenommen llJurben. (St. Bouiier ~usgalJe XVII, 1939-1943.) SJ( n mer f It n g. - SJ(ujlct biefen bornel)mjten iSciJriftcn Butl)er5 lllii~tenb bes :;saf)tes 1529 (Jut e1' fleiflig un ieiner iibetjeilung bes~Iten :teftaments ge o arbeitet. Unter ben ~tuslegungen bes ;;safJres finben fief): ,,:iDer 119. qlfulm, bail uns @ott bel feinem Wort erfJuIt'. ;;stem bet 83. qlfalm jamt 'ner ~uslegul1g", ,,6d)DIien ,um 118. qljalm", lffiocf)enlmbi(1ten iibe1' bas 5. Q)uel)smofe (eill '0tUcf 15ClO gebtuiit, vcrs @an3e lSlH). '1.\. G:. ~ r e ~ l1t n n 11. (i'iodfetmng [olg!.) Matins as the Chief Service. There arc three denominations (using the teUll in its popular con- notation) which are properly designated liturgical. This means that they have a liturgy, a service of sacramental and sacrificial material in which both the officiating ministers, elergymen, or priests and the congregation join, ineluding responsive or antiphonal chanting of a more or less elaborate kind. But it is not generally known, or at least it is not correctly understood by many, that of the thTee liturgical denominations only the Lutheran Ohurch has caught and preserved the spirit of the ancient liturgy, that of the apostolic and suhaj)ostolic ages. The Lutheran Church has, on the one hand, eliminated all the accretions which tended to change the character of the Ohristian wor- ship since the days of Tertullian, especially the material connected with the disciplina arcani und that pertaining to the sacrifice of the Mass. Harnack (Der christZiche Gemeindegottesdienst irn apostoli- schen und aZtkatholischen Zeitalter, 64) is right in stating: "Es ist kZar, class diese A ~lffassungs- ~tnd DarstelZungsweise cles K uZtus, die in dm' Arkandisziplin zur Erscheinung kornmt, wesentlich von der w'spruengZ·ichen, apostolischen clifferierte." Hence the critici"m of Luther, directed chiefly ag·ainst the Canon Missae, can well be applied to a large part of the Roman Catholic liturgies which were dependent 438 Matins as the Chief Service. upon, or strongly influenced by, the Petrine (i. e., the Roman) liturgy: "Abhinc omnia fel'c sonant ac oZent oblationem." 1) - On the other hand, the Lutheran Ohurch has guarded against the excrescences which crept into the Anglican liturgy after it had broken away from the 1,uthcran influence (between 1525 and 1542), especially those which exhibit Reformed or Oalvinistic influences. The first Praycr- book of Edward VI, of January, 1549, still shows the Lutheran in- flucnce quite strongly, while the second Boole of Common Prayer, of 1552, shows Calvinistic influence to be in the ascendency. The Prayer- book of Elizabeth proposed 110 essentia.l changes in the liturgy, though many other features were introduced. (Cp. Jacobs, The Luthcmn Movement in England, chap, XIX; Kretzmann, Ohristian Ad, 290 ff.) The purpose of Luther and of the Lutheran movement was to go back as much as possible to the purity of the apostolic and postap08tolic ages, while retaining all 8uch additions to the liturgy as were in agTee- ment with Scriptures and as truly served for the edification of the congreg'ation. What are the principles of Lutheran liturgics as set forth by some of the leading Lutheran theologians and lJY some prominent liturgiol- ogists 1 One of Luther's fundamental liturgical demands was this, that the congregation should not come together for either singing or praying unless there was also a proclamation of the vVord of God, "Gottes TV art im Schwang zu halten." The principles of liturgical form are the following. The first canon is that which demands single- ness, wholeness, unity, so that the service does not present a disjointed conglomeration, but organizes into a single whole the many parts and intricate relations of a great symphony or a Gothic cathedral. The parts of the service must each fall into its proper place in some total design. The second canon is that of movement, for the liturgy must represent the flowing stream of vital life. Points of transition from one part to another must be smoothly made and add momentum to the service. The third canon pertaining to the liturgy is that of rhythm, or alternation, "the forth-and-back swing of the attention from the One to the many, from the self to God," or, as we prefer to put it, the proper alternation between the objective and the subjective, the sacramental and the sacrificial.2) These demands, if rightly car- ried out, will make for a clear pattern, or de~ign, a true work of art. C Cpo Vogt, ]{ oclem Worship, chap. II.) How will the Lutheran liturgiologist apply these principles? He will observe the difference between services that are predominantly 1) That is: Hernach, was dem folgt, klingt una stvnkt allzumal eitel Opfer. 2) Sacralllental is applied to the pal'ts of the liturgy in which God deals with us through the means of grace; sacrificial, to those in which we approach God in pTayer, etc. (Cf. Trigl., 388, §§ 16-18.) Matins as the Chief Service. 439 sacramental and such as are chiefly sacrificial in chaTacter. And he will carefully take note of the development or progression of the ser- vice, especially the alternation between the sacramental and the sacri- ficial parts and the development of the service with a definite climax. For that reason the Lutheran liturgiologist (and liturgist) will never interrupt the service of the Word by introducing extraneous material, just as he will never obtrude the elemcnt of good works into the sacra- mental chaTactcr of its essential features. (Op. OONOORDIA TIIEOI"" ],{ONTHLY, III, 940.) It goes without saying" that the Word of God, the preaching of the Gospel, must occupy the central position in the Lutheran liturgy. "The Word of God, then, is the alpha and omega of the Lutheran service. But the Word must find an echo in the . hearts of the assembled believers. God's speech to man must evoke a response in man's speech to God, in prayer. In prayer and in hymns of supplication the congregation accepts in utter humility and thank- fulness God's wonderful gift of grace, assents to it with firm faith, and appropriates it with glad confidence. 'Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and blessedness,' this saying from Luther's Small Oatechism might stand as the key-note of the Lutheran servic2. 'With all its seriousness there is manifest in it an intense joy welling forth from assurance of salvation, the joy of the redeemed. Herein lies, as Leonhard Fendt in his great book on the Lutheran church service in the sixteenth century has shown, the close relationship of the Lutheran service to the early Ohristian." (Heiler, The Spirit of Worship, 82 f.) All of this discussion was necessary in order to lead us to the topic proposed in the heading of this short presentation. For it in- tends to ~how that there is an essential difference between the Lu- theran liturgy and the Roman, on the one hand, and the Calvinistic, on the other. In the Roman liturgy we have, in the one direction, a juridical severity, a monumental objectivity; in the other, an almost violent subjectivity. "The sacrifice of the Mass is not only a dramati- cally symbolical representation, but a real renewing of the sacrificial death of Christ. Irnrnolatio nostra non tanturn est repraesentatio, sed imrnolatio vem, id est, rei irnrnolatae oblatio per manus sacerdotis. (Albertus Magnus.)" (Heiler, I. C., 63.) Yet the world-embracing' liturgical unity, born as it is of the papal claim to the pleniit!do potestatis, ever anew exercises a direct religious attraction upon be- lieving hearts. (ld., 69.) In the Ualvinistic service, by way of con- trast, the ultimate ideal is the gloria Dei. "To proclaim God's glory, to praise and magnify it, to bow before the awful majesty of God, and to make lJetitioll to the King of the eternal glory - that is the end and aim which the Oalvinistic service sets before it." (ld .. 96.) In spite of thjs difference, by a strange paradox, the Calvinistic service embodies to a remarkable degree Old Testament and Oatholic cultus 440 Matins as the Chief Service. ideas.' Thus Calvin, in his reform of the service, took a direction wholly different from that of Luther, who insisted that the central thought of the service E.houlcl 1)e the consolation and peace brought by the forgiYeness of sins. What is the idea of matins? In the Roman liturgy they are one of the early morning services, a combination of vigils and prime with the matin seryice, now celebrated, according to the various service books, just before dawn. Matins in every respect are a service of prayer, a sacrificial performance. The inyitatory is Ps. 95. A number of psalms, :weraging about twelve, are then chanted, with antiphon or hallelujah after each psalm or part of a psalm. There is also a hymn, a lection, the Te Deum, and the Canticum de Evangelio, followed by the Litany and the Lord's Prayer. - In the Anglican Church, accord-' ing to Gwynne (Primitive Worship and the Praye1'-boolc, 205), matins are likewise a sacrificial performance. They consist of the following parts: T. Penitential Introduction (sentences, exhortation to repen- tance, confession and absolution, the Lord's ~Prayer); II. Acts of Praise and Thanksgiving (versicles, Invitatory, Psalter for the day, lessons, 1'e Det!m or Benedichts, or psalm); III. Prayers and Inter- ceSSIOns. When Luther performed his reformatory labors for the liturgy, he combined the Roman matins, lauds, and prime and changed the cha1'3cter of the service to meet the liturgical requirement which he himself had so emphatically stated. Nevel,theless the sacrificial aspect of the senice remained its most prominent feature, as Luther's own discussion of the matter shows. "The service of matins opens with the Versicles Domine, labia ('0 Lord, open Thou my lips'), Ps. 51, 15, and the Deus in adiuto- 1'ium ('Make haste, 0 God, to deliver me'), Ps. 70, 1. Both the prais- ing of the Imd for the gift~ of the day and the supplicating for their gracious vouchsafing are expressed in these opening sentences. And the Gloria, Patri addresses the prayer to the Triune God, whose praise . is expressed in the II alZelujah and faith in whose willingness to help :is confessed in the Amen. "Immediately after the opening the Invitatory, Ps. 95, 6, is chanted, with the Venite, Ps. 95, 1-7, added. This psalm is always used at matins with the invitatory, having been in use in that capacity since ancient times. Even if other psalms (1-109) are chanted in order in the course of about a month, this psalm always fonns a part of the wOTship .... "After a hymn, which should express the central thought of the season or the day, has been sung, the psalms are read or chanted, those from 1 to 109, as noted above, being used in Matin services. Each psalm has an Antiphon preceding and following it as an invitatory, which should conform to the character of the season. The GlO1'ia Matins as the Chief Service. 441 Patri is sung after every psalm. After the psalms come the lessons, which are so chosen that every part of Scripture suitable for public reading is used in the course of the year. . .. After each lesson the Response 'But Thou, 0 Lord, have mercy' is sung or said. "After this follows either a Hymn or the Responsory, the latter serving to connect the lessons with the church-ycar. It is in the fOrr!l of a farced verse, with a short Glol'ia PatTi . ... "The Sermon, which comes next, was introduced according to the maxim of Luther in regard to the necessity of the instruction in the Word of God. After the sermon, which will be in the nature of a homiletic discussion or brief exposition, comes the Oanticle Te Deum Laudamus. . .. l-nder circumstances the Athanasian Oreed, often called the Hymn of St. Athanasius concerning the Holy Trinity, or the psalm 'Quicunque vult may be substituted. "The prayers are next in order, consisting of the Kyne, a cry over the misery and distress of fallen mankind, but also of faith in the merciful help of the Lord, the Lord's Prayer, and the Collects. So far as the latter are concerned, either the Oollect for the Day or that for Grace [or that for Peace] may be used. To give pl'Oper variety to the services, the 8nffrages or the Litany, of which Luthcr thought so highly, may be inserted here. The service closes, like the chief ser- vice, with the Benedicamlls, followed by the Benediction of St, Paul, 2 Oor. 13, 14." (Kretzmann, Ohr'istian Art, 387 f.; cpo Explanation of the Common Service, 71-86.) On the basis of its history and by virtue of all its associations matins are a minor service, liturgically considered. The matin service is chiefly sacrificial and subjective in its liturgical parts and hence differs essentially from the chief service, the }lorning, or Common, Service, with Oommunion. From the standpoint of Lutheran litur- gics it is not proper to substitute the matin service for the chief ser- vice of the Sunday or festival day. The argument used in favor of such substitution, namely, that the Common Service is not complete without the Eucharist, does not hold good. For the Eucharist is not the real climax of the morning service, the second and higher moun- tain, as has been asserted, but only the further application of the Word of God in announcing the forgiveness of sins. The senice is thus quite complete if it closes with the General Prayer and the Aaronic Benediction. If we emphasize the Eucharist 'unduly, we shall make the mistake of the early Catholic Church, when its dis- ciplina arcani accorded to the Lord's Supper a place of dispropor- tionate importance. Highly as we value the Eucharist and convinced as we are that it should be celebrated far more frequently, we cannot place it above the service of the Word proper; for, after all, it receives its authority only from the Word of God, as Luther shows so clearly in his exposition of the Sixth Ohief Part. 442 The Minister in the Sick-Room. However, if some congTegation, for reasons which seem valid enough to its membership, desires to use the basis of the 1.1:atins liturgy to build up a form for the chief service of the day, the follow- ing points might be considered. Opening Sentences of an appropriate nature may be used. The Oonfession of Sins may precede the opening Versicles. In that case it may be well to add the Kyrie and also the Suffrages at this point; for the Kyrie is best connected with the Oon- fession, if the sacramental nature of the service is to be brought out more strongly. Following the Venite and the l1ymn, the number of psalms may be reduced to two or even to one, so that the lessons of the day may by an means be read. The Oreed should follow the lessons, since it represents the confession of the congregation as con- nected with the lessons, preceding the Sermon. And let us by an means, give proper attention to the principles of Lutheran liturgics as stated above lest a greater confusion than ever be caused by various home-made orders of services. P. E. RRETZMANN. The Minister in the Sick-Room. * Disease, that indefinable, inexplicable foe of the mind and body, has challenged the thought and faith of humanity since the beginning of time. The mysteriousness of its origin, the uncertainty of its out- come, the destructive result of its ravages - these are the factors that have led men to question the ways of God. It has driven men, through fear and apprehension, into every kind of superstitious prac- tise, secret cults, charms and magic potions, votive offering or weary pilgrimages, in a pathetic attempt to appease angry spirits, to ward off noxious influences, or to counteract unknown evils. With Ohrist's coming our whole conception of the care of the sick was utterly changed. Since then the ministry of healing has had an important place in the program of the Ohristian Ohurch. In this the minister has an important part to play. In addition to directing the way to salvation and comforting the dying, he may be a help and stimulus in speeding the recovery of the patient with his cheerfulness and well-balanced optimism. Well-directed, normal suggestions will leave new, helpful thoughts with the sick long after the minister has gone. Physicians employ suggestion habitually, usually unconsciously, but effectively. The mind influences the physical condition of every patient, no matter what his ailment. Even incurable cases are kept comfortable by simple and proper means which affect the mental processes. * This short article from extra-Lutheran sources may be of interest.