1 Here all standing up, the Priest shall say, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, &c. Answ. As it was in the beginning, &c. Prieft. Praise ye the Lord. Anfw. The Lords Name be praised. : Then shall be faid or fung this Psalm following: Except on EasterDay, upon which another Anthem is appointed: and on the Nineteenth Day of every Month it is not to be read here, but in the ordinary course of the Psalms. + Venite, exultemus Domino. Come, let us fing unto the Lord: Pfalm 95. let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his prefence with thanksgiving: and shew ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God: and a great King above all Gods. In his hands are all the corners of the earth: and the strength of the hills is his also. The fea is his, and he made it: and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship, and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. 1 Paraphrafe on VENITE, EXULTEMUS. O come let us fing joyful Hymns of Praise to the Lord our Defender. Let us offer up to him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving. For he is the God most worthy to be praised, because he is superior to all that are called Gods. By him all Things consist, and are supported in being. For by him they were all created. Come then let us alfo worship and pray to him as our Creator. For he is particularly our God: and we are under the continual protection of his Providence. Let us diligently + This ninety-fifth Pfalm has been properly termed the invitatory Pfalm, because it is calculated to all the Offices of divine Worship, ift to Thanksgiving, O come let us fing unto the Lord, &c. 2dly, to Prayer, hearken to his voice in the Holy Scriptures, wherein he exhorts us not to reject his instructions as the Ifraelites did in the Wilderness; when they murmured and rebelled against him notwithstanding the Miracles which he wrought in their favour. Forty years they provoked him by their Iniquities, infomuch that he declared they were so obstinately hardened in Wickedness; that he absolutely determined they should not enter into the Land of Canaan. All Glory and Praise be afcribed, &c. O come let us worship, &c. 3dly, hearing, to day if you will hear his voice, &c. It is therefore fitly placed before the Pfalms, which relate to all those. : To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; When your fathers tempted me: proved me, and saw my works. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said: It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways: * Unto whom I sware in my wrath: that they should not enter into my rest. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. Then shall follow the Pfalms in order as they are appointed. And at the end of every Pfalm throughout the year, and likewise at the end of Benedicite, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis, shall be repeated, Glory be to the Father, &c. : As it was in the beginning, &c. W Then follows the First Lesson. Te Deum laudamus. E praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting. Paraphrase on We praife, and confess thee, O God, to be the only Lord of all Things The whole Universe joins in acknowledging thee to be its eternal Creator-All Angels and heavenly Powers unite in loud Hallelujahs • Unto whom I fware, &c. This is a strong expression in the Eastern Language; which, tho' it may found harshly in an English Ear, signifies only, that the TE DEUM. -The highest Orders of celestial Beings continually celebrate thy infinite Purity, and proclaim thee Lord of Armies-Both Heaven and Earth are full of thy glorious Majesty-The choir of the Apostles exalt thy it is the more awakened to pious Meditation opened to us in the Scriptures: and when delighted with be God fully determined that the Ifraelites, for their holding the wondrous Things of God's Law, it eas Wickedness, should not enter into Canaan. For as God is a Spirit, so neither parts nor paffions can be afcribed to him, any otherwise than metaphorically. † After the Pfalms follow the Lessons. For having (according to the Exhortation) fet forth God's most worthy Praise, we proceed to hear his most holy Word. And when the Soul has been exalted by acts of Praife, gerly returns to Thanksgiving. § Therefore after the first Lefsson, is properly appointed the Hymns Te Deum or the Benedicite. Thefe from their natural majesty and sublimity lift up the Mind, and fit it for attending to the higher Things revealed in the Gospel, which now in the fecond Leffan are read to the Congregation. To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. † To thee Cherubin, and Seraphin: continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory. *The glorious Company of the Apoftles: praise thee. The goodly. Fellowship of the Prophets: praife thee, The noble Army of Martyrs: praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknow ledge thee. The Father of an infinite Majefty: Thine honourable, true and only Son : Also the Holy Ghoft: the Comforter. Thou art the King of Glory: O Chrift. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man': thou didft not abhor the Virgin's Womb. When thou hast overcome the sharpness of Death: thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers. Thou sittest at the right Hand of God: in the Glory of the father. We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Judge. Paraphrafe on TE DEUM. praise, who shine as the Stars for ever and ever-The graceful assembly of the Prophets hymn forth thy Glory-The illuftrious body of Martyrs magnify thee, who in witnessing thy Truth have been faithful unto Death -Chrift's univerfal Church professeth her Faith in thee the Father, whose greatness is unbounded; in thy only begotten Son who is true, and highly to be reverenced; and in the Holy Spirit, whom thou sendeft to be the Comforter of thy People. - Thou art our glorious King, O Chrift-Thou art the Son of God the Father, whose Throne is for ever and ever. Thou didst condescend to be born of a poor Virgin, in order to our Redemption. By thy Refurrection from Death thou hast given the affurance of eternal Life to all that truly believe in thee. Thou art exalted to the right Hand of the Majesty on high, in the Glory which + To thee Cherubin, and Seraphin, &c. These are supposed to be the highest Orders of Angels. The thou hadst with the Father before the World was-We believe that thou shalt appear at the last Day to be the Judge of quick and dead.-For the fake of that precious Blood, therefore, which thou haft flied for our Redemption, help us to serve thee acceptably-Grant us an inheritance among the Saints in Light-Lord, fave thy People from their Enemies, and bless their labours in thy Service. Rule over them by thy Providence, and exalt them to thy Manfions of Glory We praise thee daily; and glorify thee for evert-Lord, "preserve us this Day from Sin-We most carnestly intreat thee to pardon our Offences. Shew thy merciful kindness towards us, for in thee alone is our confidence. - Suffer me not to be disappointed of my Hope in thec, O God. معبود Name of the first fignifies Fullnes of Knorstedge the second, Burning, or Fervency of Affection. We therefore pray thee help thy Servants: whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious Blood. Make them to be numbred with thySaints: in Glory everlafting. Day by Day: we magnify thee; And we worship thy Name: ever World without end. thee. 1 O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded. Then shall be read in like Manner the Second * Lesson, taken out of the New Testament : And after that the Hymn following, &c. Benedictus. S. Luke 1.68. BLeffe Lessed be the Lord God of Ifrael: for he hath visited, and redeemed his people; And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us: in the house of his Servant David; C As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets: which have been since the world began; That we should be saved from our enemies; and from the To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers; and to remember his holy covenant; Praised be God, for he hath redeemed his People by a mighty Saviour of the Lineage of David, which he foretold by his Prophets, even from the beginning of the World-declaring by them that we should be delivered from the Dominion of all our Enemies, in The Second Lesson is chofen from the New Testa ment, because it was the second in the course of Re performance of that folemn promife which he made to Abraham and his descendents that we being thus saved from our Foes, might chearfully! dedicate our Lives to his service in all Holiness and Godliness. And thou, John, shall be an extraordinary Prophet, for velation, and because in it the Law and Prophets are fullled and brought to perfection... : * To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham: that he would give us; That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies: might serve him without fear; : In holiness and righteousness before him: all the days of our life. And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of falvation unto his people: for the remission of their fins, Through the tender mercy of our God: whereby the § Dayspring from on high hath visited 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. Or this Psalm : Jubilate Deo. Pfalm 100. Be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his prefence with a fong. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves, we are his people and the sheep of hispasture. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name. For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting: and his truth endureth from generation to generation. Paraphrafe on the 100th PSALM. O all Nations fing joyful Hymns to Jehovah. For he most assuredly is our God: fince he alone hath created us, and continually supports us by his Providence-Go therefore and publickly praise him, and acknowledge his goodness towards you in his holy Temple. For his kindness towards you never ceaseth: and his promises never fail to the most distant Generations. All Glory and Praife, &c. Traveller is thereby enabled to pursue his journey with safety and certainty. So the World when buried in the Egyptian darkness of Sin and Corruption was revived and enlightened by Jesus Christ; and guided in the Path that leads to eternal Life. |