The Prayer Book Explained | Page 4

WORDS AND PHRASES. Much has been said from time to time concerning Extempore Prayers and Extempore Praise, as opposed to those which are more carefully prepared and agreed upon.
The discussion has been somewhat confused by the misuse of the word Extempore. Prior to the invention of Printing every one who had to conduct Services was required to know them by heart, so as to be able to say them without book. The fact that he used no book did not make the prayers extempore. In like manner one who is about to conduct the prayers of a Congregation may carefully prepare his subjects, phrases, and words, so as to avoid disorder in the subjects and unfitness in the words. His prayers in that case are not strictly extempore.
{2}
If however he determines to leave the order of subjects and the choice of words and phrases to the impulse of the moment, his thoughts may travel too fast, or too slowly, or too irregularly for the essential result: for the blessing which Christ promised is to those who unite in worship. (S. Matth. xviii. 19, 20.)
When a few people gather together with the same difficulties, temptations, dangers, sins, successes, a truly extempore prayer may be made by one of them without creating any discord of desire amongst the rest: but as soon as the congregation begins to include men and women of different occupations, tempers, ideas, talents--if moreover the persons for whom intercessions should be made are widely scattered and very variously employed--it becomes necessary to supplement by careful preparation the impulses of any one who leads the worship of a congregation. There is also great advantage in choosing the best phrases for expressing and including the worship of all.
We cannot doubt that the earliest prayers of the Collect form had local colouring; but those which have survived for our use are so expressed as to include many local applications, and a very great variety of circumstances.
Further, it will be clear that an extempore prayer may be part of a form of Service, just as much as a printed prayer. If the Service is composed of, The short Prayer, a Lesson, the long Prayer, the Sermon and several Hymns at fixed, or unfixed, places, the Service is a form. The description of the Holy Communion in the time immediately after the death of S. John the Evangelist (Justin Martyr, Apology i. 65-67, {3} see p. 58) shows us a form which provided for the essentials of such a service, with prayers, praises, lessons, offertory, Consecration, Communion, in order, although he who conducted the Service had a certain amount of liberty in using parts of it.
We may assume then that forms are good, and that it is good to have preparation and order and chosen phrases. The next question is how to provide for that Variety which shall sustain interest and engage the mind of the worshipper in the great business of his Service.
We may consider Variety of method, Variety of singing, and Variations in the component parts of the Service.
(a) Variety of Method. The worshippers are divided into two or more parties who take up their parts alternately, or together. It is evident that such a division may be made in many ways. Those which have been adopted in former times have resulted in the survival of five Varieties for general Congregations [see chap. III. f.].
(b) Variety in Singing. There were of old four methods of singing the Psalms:
1. Direct or Choral. 2. Antiphonal. 3. Responsorial. 4. Continuous.
1. The Direct or Choral Singing was done by the whole choir:
2. The Antiphonal by the two halves of the choir alternately:
3. The Responsorial by the Priest and choir alternately:
4. The Continuous by the Priest alone.
{4}
A careful study of the Rubrics will show that great liberty is allowed in the Prayer Book in respect to the singing.
There is a Rubric in the Morning Service which prescribes the manner of saying or singing Gloria Patri, viz. that it is to be Responsorial. The order is that after the Morning and Evening Canticles As it was in the beginning, &c. is to be an answer to Glory be to the Father, &c. And this order may be found also after the Versicles of Mattins and Evensong, O Lord, open thou our lips. It might be inferred from this that the Psalms and Canticles were intended to be sung in the same way. But it is more likely that it was designed to continue an ancient freedom of choice which is now represented in our custom of using the Antiphonal Method when we sing, and the Responsorial when we say them. The division of Gloria Patri into two verses was, no doubt, intended in any case. The Prayer Book does not recommend the fourth method; many rubrics indicate