e generation to another.
14. I said, Lord be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned
against Thee.
15. Lord, I fly to Thee; teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God;
16. For with Thee is a well of life, in Thy light shall we see light.
17. Extend Thy mercy to them that know Thee.
18. O holy God, holy Strength, holy Immortal, have mercy on us. Amen.
Verses 2. to 7. are identical with the _Gloria in Excelsis_, or the Angelic
Hymn, sung at the conclusion of the Lord's Supper in the Anglican Church,
but which commences the Mass in the Romish Church. It is of great
antiquity, being attributed to Telesphorus, A.D. 139, and is found in the
_Apostolic Constitutions_, vii. c. 48.
Verses 8, 9. 11. are the same as in the Latin _Te Deum_.
Verse 12. is from Psalm cxix. 12.
Verse 13. is from Psalm xc. 1.
Verse 14. is from Psalm xli. 4.
Verse 15. is from Psalm cxliii. 9, 10.
Verse 16. is from Psalm xxxvi. 9.
Verse 17. is from Psalm xxxvi. 10.
T. J. BUCKTON.
Lichfield.
In answer to your correspondent HONORE DE MAREVELLE'S Query regarding the
_Te Deum_ as sung in Russia, I beg to inform him that in whatever language
the Emperor Nicholas is most familiar with this hymn, it is sung in all
their churches in Sclavonic, which is only intelligible to the priests and
a _very small_ number of the laity, the mass of the people being quite
ignorant of this old language. All the services in Russian churches are
performed in Sclavonic.
The _Old_ Testament is not permitted to be read by the people in modern
Russ, by command of the Emperor; it is circulated sparingly in Sclavonic,
which is of course useless to most of the people, for the reason named
above. The _New_ Testament is, however, allowed to circulate in modern
Russ, and not _half_ the population read that, perhaps not more than a
third.
With regard to their images or pictures (alluded to by me in Vol. viii., p.
582.), I had not only perused the works mentioned by G. W. (Vol. ix., p.
86.) before I wrote about the Russian religion, &c., but several other
works besides.[1]
Having been in the country for some little time, and paid some attention to
the subject, I was certainly surprised to find little, if any, mention made
of their manner of worship or superstitious customs in Dr. Blackmore's
works, and wished to contribute my mite towards giving your readers some
information as to the state of this semi-civilised
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