Dissertation on The Prymer. CHAPTER I. LTHOUGH I do not propose to give in my present work any portion of the Breviaries of the Church of England, yet the Prymer which I am now about to lay before the reader is so connected with them, in matter and arrangement (in one sense, indeed, a part of them), that it would seem I think an unpardonable omission to pass them by unnoticed. And, moreover, these volumes being intended to illustrate, so far as their limits will allow, the early and later Ritual and Offices of our Church, I feel for that reason bound to take this opportunity of giving a short account of the ancient divisions and offices of the ecclesiastical day, from which our modern Matins and Evensong have been derived. The remarks which I have made in the preface to the Ancient Liturgies, upon the variety of Uses as regarded the missal, which formerly to a much greater extent than now, prevailed through the whole Western Church, are equally applicable to the breviary. That power which, as I have there said, was vested in each Bishop to provide as he himself, under certain conditions, thought best for the public worship of the churches of his diocese, would not have failed to have been exercised over the less solemn offices, as well as over the most important of them all, which concerned the Eucharist. Hence there were the Breviaries of York and Sarum, which have been printed; and doubtless an accurate examination into the manuscript stores of our great libraries, would give us examples still extant of the Breviaries of the other great English Uses, the Hereford, the Lincoln, and the Bangor. The observations which follow, will not be affected by the differences, whether great or small, which unquestionably existed between the Service Books of those Churches. By the word Breviary we are to understand an arrangement of certain Divine Offices, constructed out of Prayers, and Psalms, and Hymns, and Canticles, and Lessons taken from the sacred Scriptures or writings of the holy Fathers; which was authorized and ordained to be continually performed before God, at certain hours of the day and night throughout the year, by and for the Church." Other terms to signify the same arrangement are frequently to be met with: such as, Officium divinum, or ecclesiasticum, or canonicum; or Orarium, or Hora canonica, and sometimes Cursus. 1 Compare Azevedo, de Div. Off. Exercit. 1. Cursus, to signify the service of the Hours, occurs in an early English canon, 7th of the council of Chalcuith, A. D. 785," Ut omnes ecclesiæ publicæ canonicis horis cursum suum cum reverentia habeant." Wilkins. Concilia. Tom. 1. 147. About the same time, Amalarius wrote: who in 2 his work "de ordine Antiphonarii," says in the Prologue, "cupio summatim aliquid scribere, quasi quoddam manuale de solis nocturnalibus officiis, et de his, quæ vocantur vulgo cursus.' And immediately after, "Cap. 1. Incipit adnotatio de nocturnalibus officiis et diurnalibus, quæ vulgo cursus vocantur." Bibl. Patr. Auctarium. Tom. 1. 506. Every reader of ecclesiastical history is aware that in the earliest ages, as well as in succeeding ones, there were heretics, who affirmed that men should never cease from prayer; such for example as were the Messalians, or Euchitæ. On the other hand, there were some, far more numerous, who objected to all stated forms and times for prayer; such as the Pelagians, and many whom we could name. Holding as she ever has, the just mean between these two extremes, and guided by the Holy Spirit of God, His Church laid down precise rules upon this matter. With the one side which she condemned she yet agreed, knowing that there is no time which is not fit to be employed in prayer; that men must pray without ceasing: with the other, no less to be condemned, she yet sympathized, remembering the infirmity and weakness of humanity. Hence, according to the often cited passage of the Psalmist," Septies in die laudem dixi tibi," she especially appointed seven Offices for seven different times of the day. These were portions which came to be so well known as the Canonical Hours. We do not know when the first opposers sprung up of the laws and customs of the Church. Neither do we know how early the Canonical Hours were settled. Some would say, by Popes Damasus, or Gelasius, or Gregory but these it is quite certain did nothing more than Popes in after times, that is, reform or correct the services which they found already in use. We read that it was at the third hour when the Apostles were assembled together, that the Holy Ghost came down on them. Again, "Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour." It was at night, towards the morning, when S. Peter, after the Angel |