RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Worship
ness by the first Christian congregations. In regard to the principal rite which was not taken over from the synagogue, the Lord’s Supper, it is hardly necessary to dwell on the radical divergence between the modern Protestant and Roman Catholic views of its purpose and nature—the former holding it to be a mere symbolic commemoration of a past historic event, while the latter regards it as not merely the representation in figure but the re-presentation in actual reality of the sacrifice of Christ, and the feeding of priest and worshipers with the body and blood of their God (see, for the contrasting views, Lorp’s Suprpr, IV., §§ 1-3; Mass).
' It falls within the scope of the present treatment to
point out that from the whole pagan world—although some of the Jews, unmindful of the primitive traditions of their forefathers, said skeptically, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat? ””—the doctrine of John vi. in its literal sense would have evoked a responsive memory of their most ancient religious traditions. In like manner baptism, as the means of initiation into a voluntary and extranational religious brotherhood, was a ceremony familiar to the adherents of the mysteries among the Mediterranean peoples. Some of them had already regarded their lustrations as not merely a washing away of old sins, but as a spiritual regeneration; and in the rites of Isis baptism with water was supposed to raise the mortal to participation in the divine nature. (For various parallels among savage tribes, showing the prevalence in primitive societies of the idea of death and rebirth at initiation, see J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough, iti. 424-446, London, 1900; E. Crawley, The Tree of Life, p. 57, ib., 1905.)
Worship, reaching its culmination in the Eucharist, became from the first a recognized part of Christian duty. The celebration of the Lord’s Day was from the first in universal custom, as it has long been by strict and positive law throughout the Catholic Church, marked by participation in this
rite, including, besides the central
22. Eucha- mystic offering, the presentation of
ristic Wor- bread and wine by the congregation
ship; Latria (a reminder of primitive cereal oblaand Dulia. tions, preserved in the Roman rite as
late as the ninth century), and, tacitly
at least, the self-oblation of the worshipers as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,” their “reasonable service” (Rom. xii. 1). An interesting feature of the liturgical researches of Duchesne (Christian Worship, p. 161, Eng. transl., 2d ed., London, 1904) is the distinction in the early Ordines Romani between the “ stational,’’ or public, and the less solemn, or private, masses. To the great liturgical assemblies known under the former title, all the clergy and people of the entire local church were convoked; and whether in one of the great basilicas or in a simple presbyteral church, whether the pope or an ordinary priest was the celebrant, the ceremonies were of an elaborate type; and the entire function was thus a reproduction in essence of the ancient communal sacrifices offered by and in presence of the whole tribe. In this place it may be well to speak of the distinction (alluded to at the beginning of this article) between various forms
Worship THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 440
Wrath of God
a
of veneration understood in Roman Catholic theology. It is emphatically laid down that worship in the stricter sense of the word, or what is called technically latria, is and can be offered to none, under any circumstances, but to God alone; and the supreme and perfect form of such worship, the only adequate worship, is the eucharistic sacrifice, in which Christ is conceived to be both priest and victim. The derived or lower reverence paid to the saints is known as Dulia (q.v.), with hyperdulia, attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as its highest possible form.
In closing, it may be well to say a few words on the ethical aspect of worship, and its results upon the man who offers it. It has been pointed out by Caird that religions. of the objective type are not wholly without ethical influence upon their followers. ‘Even in a very primitive form of such religion, the gods are regarded as the forefathers of the race of their worshipers; and their
x worship is therefore bound up with the
23. The natural piety which unites the indi-
Ethical vidual to his kinsmen. So also in
Aspect of Greece and Rome civic patriotism was
Worship. consecrated by a religion which com-
bined the worship of the gods with the service of the state. And it may fairly be said that, throughout all the ancient world, the principle of nationality and the worship of a national god were bound up together.” This, however, is very far from being all that follows from it as the subjective consciousness develops. Rites of purification were at first conceived in a half-conscious and non-moral spirit; but they did not remain on this low ground. As the religious consciousness broadened and deepened, men saw more and more clearly what must be in their hearts as they brought their gifts to the altar. Among the Chinese, worship was regarded as one aspect of an exercise in good manners and in human dignity through offerings and through observance of rules and respectful conduct toward the great forefathers and divinities; and this moral conception was a special feature of Chinese worship. Prayer, a very prominent and well-nigh universal element in primitive religions, whether it appears as thanksgiving by praise, or as petition for assistance and protection, or, again, as penitence for neglect of duty, can not be sincerely offered without affecting him who makes it. It has been justly remarked by L. W. E. Rauwenhoft that all worship is of a twofold character. Man approaches his God, and God approaches man. This reciprocal relation is suggested to Augustine by the Latin word for worship; cultus designates not only the adoration of the Deity, but the tilling of a field or the care of the body (Serm., cexiii. 9). The transition is abrupt to a sage of a very different temper from the African bishop; but Emerson teaches the same lesson of result: “ The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.” The student of the history of worship must journey far, through obscure and perplexing paths; but at least he sees that worship, in its origin and essence, is “a, striving after union with God, and the worshiper’s periodical escape from the turmoil of everyday life with its petty cares and great sorrows, its strife and
discord, its complete immersion in the material, in order that he may for a while breathe a higher and purer atmosphere.” A. I. pu P. CoLEMAN.
BrsiioGRAPHY: On'‘worship in non-Christian religions consult: Lord Avebury, Origin of Civilization, London, 1870; C. F. Keary, Outlines of Primitive Beliefs among the Indo- European Races, New York, 1882; A. Kuenen, Natural Religions and Universal Religions, London, 1882; A. Réville, Religions des peuples non-civilisés, 2 vols., Paris, 1883; OC. P. Viele, Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte, Gotha, 1886; idem, Elements of the Science of Religion, 2 vols., London, 1897-99; O. Speeman, Die gottesdienstlichen Gebriuche der Griechen und Rémer, Leipsic, 1888; E. Clodd, Myths and Dreams, 2d ed., London, 1891; C. Caird, The Evolution of Religion, ib. 1893; Smith, Rel. of Sem., 2d ed., Edinburgh, 1894; F. Granger, The Worship of the Romans, London, 1895; L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, 5 vols., Oxford, 1896 saq.; A. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, New York, 1897; D. G. Brinton, Religions of Primitive Peoples, ib. 1899; A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion, 2 vols., 2d ed., London, 1899; idem, Magic and Religion, ib. 1901; B. Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Native Tribes of Western Australia, ib. 1899; idem, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, ib. 1904; J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3d ed., ib., 1906 sqq.; P. Gardner, An Historic View of the New Testament, ib. 1901; E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2 vols., 4th ed., ib. 1903; P. Le Page Renouf, The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, new ed., ib. 1904; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus der Germanen, new ed., Berlin, 1904; idem, Wald- und Feldkulte, 2d ed., ib. 1905; R. H. Nassau, Fetishism in West Africa, New York, 1904; E. Crawley, The Tree of Life, London, 1905; P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte, 3d ed., Tiibingen, 1905; W. Karsten, Origin of Worship, Wasa, 1905; R. E. Dennett, At the Back of the Black Man's Mind, London, 1906; Jane E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 2d ed., Cambridge, 1908; F. B. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, 4th ed., London, 1908; E. Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, 2 vols., ib. 1908; S. Reinach, Cultes, mythes, et religions, 3 vols., 2d ed., Paris, 1908; idem, Orpheus, a General Hist. of Religions, New York, 1909; A. Le Roy, La Religion des primitifs, Paris, 1909; R. R. Marett, The Threshold of Religion, London, 1909; F. Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, Chicago, 1911; M. Jastrow, Jr., Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, New York, 1911.
For Christian worship use: Bingham, Origines (above all usable for the details and history); E. Marténe, De antiquis ecclesie@ ritibus, 2d ed., 4 vols., Antwerp, 1736- 1738; M. A. Nickel, Die heiligen Zeiten und Feste der katholischen Kirche, 6 vols., Mainz, 1836; H. Alt, Der christlichen Cultus nach seinen verschiedenen Entwickelungsformen und seinen einzelnen Theilen historisch dargestellt, Berlin, 1843, 2d ed., 2 vols., 1851-60; J. G. Miller, Geschichte der christlichen Feste, Berlin, 1843; K. L. Weitzel, Die christlichen Passafeier der drei ersten Jahrhunderten, Pforzheim, 1848; G. Huyssen, Die Feste der christlichen Kirche, 2 vols., Iserlohn, 1850-59; H. Abeken, Der Gottesdienst der alten Kirche, Berlin, 1853; T. Harnack, Der christliche Gemeindegottesdienst im apostolischen und altkatholischen Zeitalter, Erlangen, 1854; F. Probst, Lehre und Gebet in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten, Tiibingen, 1871; H. Otte, Glockenkunde, 2d ed., Leipsic, 1884; H. A. Késtlin, Geschichte des christlichen Gottesdienstes, Freiburg, 1887; O. Gisler, Gottesdienst der katholischen Kirche, Winsiedeln, 1888; P. Kleinert, Zur christlichen Kultus--und Kulturgeschichte, Berlin, 1889; E. Doumergue, Hssai sur l’histoire du culte réformé principalement au XVI. et XIX. siécle, Paris, 1890; M..A. Goldstein, Gebet und Glaube. Beitrag zur Erklirwng des Gottesdienstes, Budapest, 1890; K. Moser, Der Gottesdienst in Kirche, Schule, und Haus, 4th ed., Innsbruck, 1891; E. Meuss, Die Gottesdienstlichen Handlungen in der evangelischen Kirche, Gotha, 1892; D. Sokolow, Darstellung des Gottesdienstes der orthodox-katholischen Kirche des Morgenlandes, Berlin, 1893; G. R. Crooks and J. F. Hurst, Theological Encyclopedia and Methodology, pp. 527-547, new ed., New York, 1894; C. C. Hall and others, Christuan Worship, New York, 1897; F. Lemme, Wegweiser in den evangelischen Gottesdienst, 3 parts, Breslau, 1897; J. Keating, The Agape and the Eucharist in the Early