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O ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Oye Lightnings and Clouds, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O let the Earth blefs the Lord: yea, let it praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Mountains and Hills, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye green Things upon the earth, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Oye Wells, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Seas and Floods, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Whales, and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Fowls of the Air, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

O all ye Beafts and Cattle, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Children of Men, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O let Ifrael blefs the Lord: praife him, and magnify

him for ever.

O ye Priests of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Oye Servants of the Lord, blefs ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Oye Spirits and Souls of the righteous, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye Holy and Humble Men of Heart, blefs ye the Lord. praife him, and magnify him for ever.

O Ananias, Azarias, and Mifael, blefs ye the Lord: praife him, and magnify him for ever. Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the beginning, &c.

¶Then fhall be read in like manner the Second Leffon, taken out of the New Testament, and after that the Hymn following; except when that fhall happen to be read in the

Chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on St. John Baptift's day.

BL

Benedictus. St. Luke i. 68.

LESSED be the Lord God of Ifrael; for he hath vifited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty falvation for us: in the houfe of his fervant David;

As he fpake by the mouth of his holy prophets: which have been fince the world began;

That we fhould be faved from our enemies: and from the hands of all that hate us;

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers: and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he fware to our forefather Abraham: that he would give us;

That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies: might ferve him without fear,

In holiness and righteoufnefs before him: all the days of our life.

And thou, Child, fhalt be called the Prophet of the Higheft: for thou fhalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of falvation unto his people: for the remiffion of their fins,

Through the tender mercy of our God: whereby the Day-fpring from on high hath vifited us;

To give light to them that fit in darkness, and in the shadow of death; and to guide our feet into the way of peace,

Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the beginning, &c,

Benedictus] The fecond leffon for morning fervice being felected either from the Gofpels, or the Acts of the Apoftles, which contain the hiftory of man's redemption, the hymn before us, uttered by Zacharias at the circumcifion of his fon, was judged an appropriate portion of Scripture to be recited after the fecond leffon; as it contains a thanksgiving to God for the unfpeakable bleflings of redemption. But as the latter part of it is lefs general than the former, and refers particularly to John the Baptist and his office, the following pfalm is generally ufed, and with propriety, in the room of the Benedictus,

Or this Pfalm.

Jubilate Deo. Pfalm c.

Be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: ferve the Lord with gladnefs, and come before his prefence with

a fong.

Be ye fure that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourfelves; we are his people, and the fheep of his pasture.

O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praife: be thankful unto him, and fpeak good of his name.

For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlafting: and his truth endureth from generation to generation. Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the beginning, &c. *

Then fhall be fung or faid the Apostles Creed by the Minifter and the People, Standing: except only fuch days as the Creed of St. Athanafius is appointed to be read. Believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven

And in Jefus Chrift his only Son our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghoft, Born of the Virgin Mary,

Jubilate Deo] This hymn was first added to our Morning Service in the fecond Prayer-Book of Edward VIth. It is faid to have been compofed by King David, on the occafion of fome public thanksgiving; and was afterwards adopted into the Jewish ritual, and fung as the priest entered into the temple to offer up the peace-offering.

The Apostles' Creed.] This admirable fummary of our faith has its name, not from its being the production of the Apoftles, but because it comprizes a compendium of the doctrines they taught, and was compofed for the most partin times of high antiquity, not very remote from the Apoftolic age. In its moft ancient and original form, it wanted the following articles, viz. "He defcended into hell;" "the communion of the faints," and "the life everlafting," which were all added in after times, in oppofition to certain herefies and errors that had fprung up in the church, and corrupted the purity of its doctrines. There is evidence, however, that the Creed in its prefent form exifted as far back as the middle of the fourth century; for we find it nearly verbatim in the works of St. Ambrofe, who died in 397. In the liturgies of the ancient Chriftian church, the Creed was appointed to be recited after the gofpel; a practice obferved alfo by our church at prefent, with this flight difference, that an hymn is introduced between the leffon from the gofpel and the Creed. It is to be repeated standing; a posture emblematical of our stedfaftness, and determination to stand faft

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried; He defcended into Hell; The third day he rofe again from the dead; He afcended into Heaven, And fitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he fhall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghoft; The Holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The forgiveness of fins; The refurrection of the body, And the life everlafting. Amen.

And after that, thefe Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling; the Minister firfi pronouncing with a loud voice, The Lord be with you.

Anfw. And with thy fpirit.

Minifier. Let us pray. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

in the profeffion of our faith in fpite of every oppofition. In the ancient churches of Poland and Lithuania the manner of repeating the Creed was ftill more expreffive of the firm adherence of the worshipper to his religion; it being the cuftom of the nobles to draw their fwords whilft they recited it, in token of their being ready to defend their faith with their blood. The bowing at the name of Jefus is in obedience to a pofitive canon of our church, (founded upon that injunction of St. Paul, that "at the name of Jefus every knee fhould bow," Phil. ii. 10) which orders, that "when in time of divine fervice the Lord Jefus fhall be mentioned, due and lowly reverence fhall be done by all perfons prefent, as it has been accustomed; teftifying, by thefe outward ceremonies and geftures, their inward humility, Chriftian refolution, and due acknowledgment that the Lord Jefus Chrift, the true eternal Son of God, is the only Saviour of the world, in whom alone all the mercies, graces, and promifes of God to mankind for this life, and the life to come, are fully and wholly comprifed."

The Lord be with you] This and the following verficle are taken from fcripture. Vide Ruth ií. 4, 2; 2 Theff. iii. 16; 2 Tim. iv. 22; Gal. vi. 18. They are faid to have been ufed by the Apoftles in their public worship; and are to be found in almost all the ancient liturgies preferved to our times; particularly that of the Western church, afcribed to St. Peter.

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Let us pray] This exhortation alfo occurs often in the ancient liturgies; and feems to have been adopted from a practice obferved at Heathen facrifices, where an attendant called out to the affembled people, "Ho agite;" attend to what is going forwards. In the early Chriflian church it was the deacon's duty frequently during the fervice to call upon the people "to pray, to pray fervently, to pray itill more fervently." Andaμer; εκτενώς δεηθώμεν, εκτενέστερον δεηθώμεν ; a pradice which accounts for the repetition of it in our fervices.-Vide Euchologion, p. 121, note 49.

Lord have mercy, &c.] Thefe three verficles are called the leffer Li tany; the firft and third of which are a tranflation of the ancient Kyrie Eloefen. They occur frequently in the old liturgies of the Eaftern

Then the Minifter, Clerks, and People, fall fay the
Lord's Prayer with a loud voice.

UR Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy

kingdom l'hy will be done in

earth, as it is in heaven: Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trefpaffes, As we forgive them that trefpafs against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Then the Priest standing up, fhall fay,

O Lord, fhew thy mercy upon us;
Anfw. And grant us thy falvation.

Prieft. O Lord, fave the King;

Anfw. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Prieft. Endue thy Minifters with righteoufnefs;
Anfu. And make thy chofen people joyful.

Prieft. O Lord, fave thy people;

Anfw. And blefs thine inheritance.

Prieft. Give peace in our time, O Lord;

Anfw. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.

Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;
Anfw. And take not thy holy fpirit from us.

and Western churches; and are repeated frequently in the prefent fervice of the Romish churches. An ancient council (that of Vaisons) directs, that they should be used three times every day in the public service.

Then the Minifter, Clerks, &c.] This rubric was firft inferted in the fecond book of Edward I. The clerks mentioned in it were the perfons appointed, at the begining of the Reformation, to affift the minister in the performance of the fervice; to look out the leffons, give the anthem, name and pitch the pfalms, &c.; offices which are now fulfilled by the parish-clerk. Deliver us from evil. Amen] The doxology as it is called, or form of words beginning "for thine is the kingdom," &c. is omitted here, because it is not found in St. Luke, nor feveral copies of St. Matthew's gofpel. It was introduced at the repetition of the Lord's prayer in the earlier part of the fervice, becaufe many copies of St. Matthew's gospel have it, and the early Greek fathers of the church have expounded it.

O Lord, fhew thy mercy, &c.] Thefe fentences, alternately recited by prieft and people are taken from holy fcripture; Pfalm xxx. 7; xx. 9, according to the Septuagint tranflation; cxxxii. 9; xxviii. 9; 1 Chron. xxii. 9; Pfalm li. 10, 11; xxii. 11.

Standing up] This rubric was introduced in 1552, in conformity to a practice in the Romish church, where the minifter in praying kneels betore the altar; but when he alternately repeats with the people, he stands up and turns to them,

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