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the English Book reads, "Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb;" and the first clause would probably be better translated, "When Thou tookest upon Thee the nature of man to deliver it." In the nineteenth, His Second Advent as Judge, as said by the angels at the Ascension, is considered as the complement to the First. The whole section constitutes a Creed of Christ, very like the Apostles' Creed, which is a recital of facts, and not of speculative dogma.

The last division is a prayer to God in Christ. First, for the whole Church of the redeemed, for His servants, His people, His heritage, whom He is petitioned to save, to bless, to govern, to uplift. "Make them to be numbered " should probably read "rewarded;" munerari for numerari. After the burst of thanksgiving, "Day by Day," etc., the close of the Prayer is for ourselves; "Vouchsafe," etc., as in the Lord's Prayer. The last verse but one has, in the English Book, "lighten upon us;" the conclusion is an outburst of confidence, and should read, "I shall never be confounded (confundar)." The close is as well suited to the Church Militant as the beginning is to the Church Triumphant. The whole is a peculiarly appropriate connecting link between the Old and New Testament Lessons. It is not followed by the Gloria; it is itself a greater Gloria.

The alternative Canticle, called the BENEDICITE, was first used in the Jewish synagogue worship, and St. Chrysostom calls it "that admirable and marvellous song." It is a paraphrase of the 148th Psalm, and is also the Song of the Three Holy Children in the fiery furnace, as given in the Apocrypha, and also in the Septuagint version of the prophet Daniel, probably in Cranmer's

translation. It may be used at any time, but Lent and Advent are especially appropriate, and Trinity Sunday as well, when the First Morning Lesson is the story of the Creation. It is also used on Thanksgiving Day, because it summons material things to praise the Lord. As composed and sung in the fiery furnace, it may be said to befit times of affliction; at all events, it brings into contrast our own shortcomings with the praise of even irrational and inanimate creation. Its idea is very simple, though elaborating in great detail, and with a constantly recurring refrain, the praise of the Creator.

It has four parts. Great natural powers and forces are summoned in the first ten verses; angels being named as God's ministers. The "Heavens " are the firmament, and the "Waters" above it the clouds. As in Isaiah the mountains are called "my mountains," so here the winds are styled "winds of God." With "Winter and Summer," through seven verses we address all the phenomena and changes through which Nature passes, such as the varying seasons, day and night, and even the moods in which she appears. In the third division the Earth is called upon to join, with all its wealth of animal and vegetable life. "Wells," to us a strange juxtaposition here, were a great need and a well-known object in the Hebrew life of the desert. "Beasts and cattle " divides animals into wild and tame. Lastly, thanksgiving is enjoined on all mankind, ancient Israel, God's priests and His servants, the righteous living and dead, men of "holy and humble" heart. Responsive use brings out a reciprocal call from Servants to Priest, and from Priest to Servants. The English Book has a thirty-second and final verse, “O

Ananias, Azarias and Misael," the Hebrew names of the "three children," Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. As a whole, it is to be followed by the Gloria.

After the Second, or New Testament Lesson, comes the Gospel Hymn BENEDICTUS, or the song of Zacharias at the Circumcision of St. John Baptist, as given by St. Luke, probably from Cranmer's version. It appears in full, though the last eight verses may be omitted, except in Advent to which it is particularly appropriate. It has been used since the sixth century, and was originally the only-Canticle after the Second Lesson. It is the last of the Old Testament prophecies and the first of the New. The English rubric directs its omission when it occurs in the Lesson for the Day, or on St. John Baptist's Day, when it forms part of the Gospel. As a thanksgiving to God for the Incarnation, almost every phrase has its counterpart in Psalm or Prophecy. Its first eight verses look back over the history of Israel, and recount the mercies of Jehovah. The last four are a prophetic charge to the forerunner of Christ, who is called the Day-spring, giving light and peace.

The JUBILATE, or the Hundredth Psalm, so familiar in metre, follows as an alternate; a favorite song of both Churchmen and Sectarians since the Reformation. It is the last of the Royal Liturgical Psalms of the Temple Service; a joyful anthem of praise to the Good Shepherd, everlasting in mercy from generation to generation. It has no direct Gospel reference. Its use is preferable for the Trinity season. It has been in the Prayer Book since 1552. The Service of Praise in Morning Prayer ends here.

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THE CREEDS.

"Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."-The Sixth Article of Religion.

THE

HE culmination of the Daily Service is THE CREED. From the beginning of the Office a logical and harmonious sequence of liturgical observance is sustained, leading the soul upward from the penitential attitude suitable to its entrance on the public worship of Almighty God, through Absolution, responsive Praise and the hearing of God's Word in both Testaments, till the climax is reached in the public profession of the Christian Faith by the congregation, led by their Minister. There is no grander sight than this standing protestation of our allegiance to our Leader and Saviour Christ, and of our unity with the great host, who in all ages, climes and circumstances, have professed the same undying faith of the Universal Church. It ought to be felt and recited as a personal war-cry in our mortal combat with the world, the flesh and the devil.

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Having heard the Word, we now profess our faith

in it, thus receiving it into honest and good hearts" in such a manner as should "bring forth fruit with patience." The Lessons are thus summarized in the Creeds, which therefore fitly close the third section of the Service. These Creeds are the "form of sound words" which St. Paul bade Timothy hold fast, and are simple recitals of facts, without any admixture of purely speculative dogma. They comprise "the faith once for all delivered to the saints," and are incapable of being added to or subtracted from, as matters of vital belief. They each start from the same central germ, and are paraphrases and expansions of the Baptismal Formula given by our Lord Himself, just as the Communion Office is an expansion of the original Words of Institution. Indeed, the reason for the insertion of the Baptismal Office after the Second Lesson, when occasion requires, is that such Baptism shall be immediately followed by the Articles of our Belief.

He who believes in Father, Son and Holy Ghost believes these Creeds. Each of them teaches the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Although deriving some of their claims from human testimony, they still recite truths which are in no wise dependent for their existence upon human assent; as the truth that “fire burns" is not impaired by a child's unwise use of this knowledge. They are not elaborated definitions, as are the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, which are indeed preserved in our Prayer Book, but concern only the Clergy, and are assented to by them in their general promise of conformity to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Church. The latter are theological definitions, more or less

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