# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 05 15_S148
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

148

to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be." It is an imitation of similar doxologies in the New Testament and consisted in the first centuries of the first words: "Glory be to the Father"; but about the year 325, in opposition to the Arians, the words were added: "And to the Son and to the Holy Ghost," to which later, for greater certainty, was added still the clause: "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be." This doxology has also been taken over into the Lutheran church and has been much used, particularly after the Introitus, where choir and congregation sang this little Gloria.

The Kyrie eleison, or LORD, have mercy upon us, is an echo of Biblical sighs of prayer, for example Ps. 123, 3.: Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us. Matt. 20, 30.: O LORD, thou Son of David, have mercy on us! It is found already in the earliest Greek church, where after the church prayer spoken by the deacon the whole congregation answered with Kyrie eleison; the Roman church added the "Christe eleison," so that it now became three-lined: "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison," and thus it gained a reference to the holy Trinity. The Lutheran church took over the Kyrie almost universally and left it also its former place after the little Gloria. On the other hand, however, it let the people take part in singing it, and distributed the existing Kyries among the various Sundays and festival days in such a way that it took over only the pure ones, at first in Latin, but soon also in German translation; thus the Wittenberg hymnbook of the year 1573 contains eight different Kyries. The Kyrie usual among us, Gott Vater, is called the Kyrie summum, or the highest, and is to be sung especially from Trinity to Christmas.

The great Gloria, or doxology of God, is originally the song of praise of the holy angels: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," Luke 2, 14. Already in the third century an enlargement of this Gloria is found, and the position which it had in the Greek and then in the Roman church at the beginning of the chief service it also originally retained in the Lutheran church; it let the preacher intone the "Glory to God in the highest" and the choir respond with the words "and on earth peace," and indeed both in the Latin language. An almost literal translation of the "Hymnus angelicus" (song of praise of the angels), which the Greek and Latin church has used as the answer to the intonation just mentioned, is contained in the excellent but little-known hymn: "All' Ehr' und Lob soll Gottes sein," out of which the well-known, but now often terribly mutilated hymn: "Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr'" arose, the author of which cannot, as is often asserted, be Dr. Selnecker, since the hymn was already sung in the year 1535, when he was only three years old. So the oldest Lutheran church orders now direct that the preacher shall intone: "Glory to God in the highest," and the congregation answer: "Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr'."

The Salutation (greeting) or the "The LORD be with you" arose very early out of the Biblical greeting "Peace be with you." In the old church orders this call is found not only before the opening collect, but also before the Preface, and mostly before the closing collect, in part also before the reading of the Gospel. This greeting, "The LORD be with you," the congregation is to answer with the response "and with thy (namely the preacher's) spirit," as was already done in the earliest antiquity.

The Versicles, or short Biblical verses, also called Antiphons or alternating songs, because the preacher begins a part of a Biblical verse by singing and the congregation answers singing with the other. Such a versicle or antiphon is never found in the old Lutheran Agenden before the opening collect, but only before the closing collect; to the intonations as well as to the responsories the "Alleluia" (praise the LORD) is frequently added, after the example of the Roman church, except in the season of Lent.

The Collects, or short prayers, which the servant of the church sings before the altar in his own name and that of the congregation, beginning with the words: "Let us pray" — and which the congregation is to pray along silently and at the close confirm as its prayer by singing the "Amen." The origin of these collects goes back to the apostolic age, since Tertullian and Justin already mention them. The collects now in common use, particularly those for the festivals as well as those for each day of the week, are said to derive for the most part from Gregory the Great (sixth century). If one compares with them the many collects composed in recent times for the several Gospels and Epistles, one will soon recognize their great distance from the earlier ones, both in content and in form. With full right, and notwithstanding the opposition on the part of the Reformed, the Lutheran church has until the most recent time not read the collects but had them sung, because, as has already been remarked above, the well-sung word can not only be heard more distinctly, but also be prayed along with more devoutly. The manner of singing, however, as all the older Agenden prescribe it most exactly, Dr. Luther restored out of the Gregorian chant, which he purified of its artificial corruption, and how much he himself thought of such altar singing is evident from his well-known blunt saying: "A preacher who cannot sing, I do not look at at all."

The reading of the Epistle and the Gospel corresponds to the arrangement of the Old Testament worship in the synagogues, in which first a passage from the Law and then a section from the prophetic books was read; this practice appears very early in the church, for which reason it is also prescribed in all Lutheran church orders, and indeed so that both, before the altar, like the collect and for a similar reason, were not read but sung, for which the melodies are likewise prescribed in most of the old Agenden. Of the practice, however, of reading instead of the Gospel another Biblical section or a so-called Lection, there is found in the oldest Agenden no trace.

The Credo and Patrem, which occurs in public worship only from the fifth century on, the Lutheran church took over from the Roman at first in the Latin language and then translated it, letting the preacher after the reading of the Gospel intone the Credo, or "Ich glaub' an Einen Gott allein," and the choir respond with the Patrem or "Almighty Father," etc.; in the place of the latter there later came the hymn composed by Dr. Luther: "Wir gläuben all' an Einen Gott," yet the preacher's intonation just mentioned always preceded it.

The hymns which were not sung on all Sundays and festival days (like the Kyrie, Allein Gott, the Creed), but only at certain times, must here still be especially mentioned. The Lutheran church found in the Roman a multitude of pieces of song, which however were composed only in the Latin language and intended for the sole use of the choir; of these it took into its worship especially the Sequences, so called because they followed the Alleluia after the Epistle, and indeed at first in such a way that first a Latin sequence was sung by the choir and then a German hymn by the congregation, until gradually the Latin sequences were transformed into German hymns; thus the hymns: "Komm, Heil'ger Geist" and "Es ist gewißlich an der Zeit" are adaptations of the sequences "Veni, sancte spiritus," and "Dies irae, dies illa." In order, however, that in the choice of the hymns to be sung a certain uniformity might obtain and all mistakes be prevented as far as possible, the old church orders have also for this reason given directions and named the hymns "De tempore," or those which are to be sung at a certain time in the church year. Instead of the Introitus, which almost all church orders allow to be exchanged for a German hymn, there was to be sung at Christmas, for example: "Gelobet seist du, JEsu Christ" or "Ein Kind ist uns geboren heute." The so-called morning hymns are mentioned in none of the older church orders and are also not suited for the beginning of public worship. In the place of the later so-called chief hymn we find especially hymns of petition and thanksgiving, for example for the Easter season: "Christ ist erstanden von der Marter alle," for the Advent season: "Lob sei dem allerhöchsten Gott," on the ordinary Sundays: "Gott der Vater wohn' uns bei," etc.