In the High Mass, moreover, the Christian Church always sings:
Thou only art holy; Thou only art the Lord;
Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost
Art most high in the glory of God the Father.
--Valerius Herberger, The Great Works of God, p. 234.
3 comments:
Which always confused me, because later in another dedication he plainly states that he is writing "on the feast when the Church borrows the song of the holy angels and sings 'Glory be to God on high,'" which means he's talking about Christmas, but here it sounds like they sang the Gloria every Sunday, which had been the prerogative of bishops. Thoughts?
Oh, they did sing Gloria every Sunday (even during Advent and Lent), at least according to the overwhelming majority of Lutheran Church orders. But I wonder if the designation here of "High Mass" mostly likely indicates the Latin Gloria, which was not quite so common as the "German" Gloria - Allein Gott in der Höh' Sei Ehr - but would have been used on the highest feasts. His comment about the Gloria and Christmas doesn't imply, though, to my ears that that's the ONLY time they sang it; but that that IS a feast when we borrow the song of the Holy Angels - remembering that it was given us that very night. My $.02.
Thanks, that makes sense! :)
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