cause even for all that do not renounce Communion with it and the Church for it is the Common service of them all Commanded to be offered up in the names of them all and agreed to by all of them to be offered up for them all and therefore is accepted for all them though presented to God by the Priest alone as the Lamb offered up to God by the Priest Ex. 29. was the sacrifice of the whole Congregation of the children of Israel a sweet smelling savour a savour of rest to pacifie God Almighty daily and to continue his favour to them and make him dwell with them Exod. 29. 42 45. Good reason therefore it is that this sweet smelling savour should be daily offered up to God Morning and Evening whereby God may be pacified and invited to dwell amongst his people And whatsoever the world think thus to be the Lords Remembrancers putting him in mind of the peoples wants Esay 62. Being as it were the Angels of the Lord interceding for the people and carrying up the daily prayers of the Church in their behalf is one of the most useful and principal parts of the Priests office So S. Paul tells us who in the 1 Ep. Tim. chap. 2. Exhorts Bishop Timothy that he should take care First of all that this holy service be offered up to God I exhort first of all that prayers and supplications intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For KINGS c. What is the meaning of this first of all I will that this holy service be offered up daily and the faithful know how we observe this rule of S. paul offering up daily this holy sacrifice Morning and Evening S. Chrys. upon the place S. Paul in the first Chapter of this Epistle at the 18. verse had charged his son Timothy to war a good warfare to hold faith and a good conscience and presently adds I exhort therefore that first of all prayers c. be made as if he had said you cannot possibly hold faith and a good conscience in your Pastoral office unless First of all you be careful to make and offer up prayers c. For this is the first thing to be done and most highly to be regarded by you Preaching is a very useful part of the Priests office and S. Paul exhorts Timothy to preach the word be instant in season out of season And the more because He was a Bishop and to plant and water many Churches in the Infancy of Christianity among many Seducers and Temptations But yet First of all he exhorts that this daily office of presenting prayers to the throne of grace in the behalf of the Church be carefully lookt to This charge of S. Paul to Tim. holy Church here laies upon all those that are admitted into that holy office of the Ministery that they should offer up to God this holy sacrifice of prayers praises and thanksgivings this savour of rest daily Morning and Evening And would all those whom it concerns look well to this part of their office I should not doubt but that God would be as gracious and bountiful to us in the performance of this service as he promised to be to the Jews in the offering of the Lamb Morning and Evening Exod. 29. 43 44. He would meet us and speak with us that is graciously answer our petitions he would dwell with us and be our God and we should know by comfortable experiments of his great and many blessings that he is the Lord our God Of the Mattins or MORNING SERVICE THe Mattins and Evensong begin with one sentence of holy Scripture after which follows the Exhortation declaring to the peoyle the end of their publick meetingâ— Namely To confess their sins to render thanks to God to set forth his praise to hear his holy Word and to ask those things that be necessary both for body and soul. All this is to prepare their hearts which it does most excellently to the performance of these holy duties with devotion according to the counsel of Ecclus. 18. 23. Before thou prayest prepare thine heart and be not as one that tempteth God To which agrees that of Ecclesiastes 5. 1. Be not hasty to utter anything before God but consider that he is in Heaven and thou upon earth Of CONFESSION The Priest and the People being thus prepared make their CONFESSION which is to be done with an humble voice as it is in the Exhortation Our Churches direction in this particular is grave and conform to ancient rules The sixth Counc of CONSTAN Can. 75. forbids all disorderly and rude vociferation in the execution of Holy Services and S. Cyprian de Orat. Dominica advises thus Let our speech and voice in prayer be with Discipline still and modest Let us consider that we stand in the presence of God who is to be pleas'd both with the habit and posture of our body and manner of our speech for as it is a part of impudence to be loud and clamorous so in the contrary it becomes modesty to pray with an humble voice We begin our Service with Confession of sins and so was the use in Saint Basils time Ep. 63. And that very orderly For before we beg any thing else or offer up any praise or Lauds to God it is fit we should confess and beg pardon of our sins which hinder Gods acceptation of our Services Psal. 66. 16. If I regard iniquity with mine heart the Lord will not hear me This Confession is to be said by the whole Congregation Sayes the Rubr. And good reason For could there be any thing devised better than that we all at first access unto God by prayer should acknowledge meekly our sins and that not only in heart but with tongue all that are present being made ear-witnesses even of every mans distinct and deliberate Assent to each particular branch of a Common Indictment drawn against our selves How were it possible that the Church should any way else with such ease and certainty provide that none of her children may dissemble that wretchedness the Penitent Confession whereof is so necessary a preamble especially to Common-Prayer Hooker The ABSOLUTION Next follows the ABSOLUTION to be pronounced by the Priest alone standing For though the Rubrick here does not appoint this posture yet it is to be supposed in reason that he is to do it here as he is to do it in other places of the Service And in the Rubrick after the general Confession at the Communion the Bishop or Priest is ordered to pronounce the Absolution standing Besides reason teaches That Acts of Authority are not to be done kneeling but standing rather And this Absolution is an Act of Authority by virtue of a Power and Commandment of God to his Ministers as it is in the Preface of this Absolution And as we read S. Iohn 20. Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted And if our Confession be serious and hearty this Absolution is
of grace and pardon as well as the rest in all confessions of sins and penitential prayers such as the Litany is directed to beg his pardon and grace upon his knees He being moreover a Priest or Minister of the most high God that hath received from him an office and authority sometimes stands to signifie that his office and authority which office of his may be considered either in relation to God or the people As it relates to God so he is Gods Embassador 2 Cor. 5. 20. to whom is committed the Ministery of Reconciliation in which respect he is to Teach Baptize Consecrate the holy Eucharist Bless and Absolve the penitent and in all these acts of Authority which he does in the name and person of Christ he is to stand As his office relates to the people so he is in their stead for them appointed by God to offer up gifts and sacrifices to God particularly the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving together with their prayers so we read Heb. 5. 1. Every high priest or priest so the words are promiscuously used Heb. 8. 3. 4. taken from among men is ordained for men or in their stead in things pertaining to God to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins Which definition of a Priest belongs not only to a Priest of the Law but also to a Priest or Minister of the Gospel For S. Paul from this definition proves that our Lord Christ who was after the order of Melchisedeâ—k not of Aaron a Priest of the Gospel not of the Law ought not call himself v. 5. but was appointed by God and moreover that he ought to have gifts and sacrifices to offer Heb. 8. 3. because every high Priest or Priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices These arguments of S Paul drawn from this definition are fallacious and unconcluding unless this be the definition of a Gospel-Priest as well as a Legal Seeing then that we must not conclude S. Pauls arguments to be unconcluding we must grant that the Ministers of the Gospel are appointed by God to offer up the sacrifices of prayers and praises of the Church for the people thus to stand betwixt God and them and to shew this his office in these services he is directed to stand By this we may see what advantage it is to the people that their prayers are offered up by a Priest For God having appointed him to this office will certainly assist and accept his own constitution and though the Minister be wicked or undevout in his prayers yet God that will punish this neglect in himself will certainly accept of his office for the people Upon this ground probably it was that God sent Abimelech to Abraham to pray for him for he was a Prophet Gen. 20. 7. The Collects The Collects follow which are thought by divers to be so called either because they were made by the Priest super collectam populi over or in behalf of the Congregation meeting or collection of the people or rather because the Priest doth herein collect the Devotions of the people and offer them up to God for though it hath been the constant practice from the beginning for the people to bear a vocal part by their Suffrages and Answers in the publick service of God which for that very reason was by the Ancients called Common Prayer as may be gathered out of Iustin Martyr Apol. 2. 8. Aug. Epist. 118. and others yet for the more renewing and strengthning of their earnestness importunity and as it were wrestling with God and hope of prevailing they desired that themselves and their devotions should in the close be recommended to God by the Priest they all joyning their assent and saying Amen to it And that is the reason why in many of the Collects God is desired to hear the petitions of the people to wit those that the people had then made before the Collect that they come in at the end of other devotions and were by some of old called Missae that is to say Dismissions the people being dismissed upon the pronouncing of them and the Blessing the Collects themselves being by some of the Ancients called Blessings and also Sacramenta either for that their chief use was at the Communion or because they were uttered Per Sacerdotem by one consecrated to holy Offices But it will not be amiss to enquire more particularly what may be said for these very Collects which we use they being of so frequent use and so considerable a part of the Devotion of our Church And first concerning their Authors and Antiquity we may observe that our Church endeavouring to preserve not only the Spirit but the very Forms as much as may be and in a known tongue of ancient Primitive Devotion hath retained these very Collects the most of them among other precious Remains of it for we find by ancient testimony that they were composed or ordered either by S. Ambrose Gelasius or Gregory the Great those holy Bishops and Fathers of the Church and therefore having daily ascended up to Heaven like Incense from the hearts and mouths of so many Saints in the Ages since their times they cannot but be very venerable and relish well with us unless our hearts and affections be of a contrary temper Secondly for the object of these Collects they are directed to God in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord for so usually they conclude and very fitly For Christ is indeed the Altar upon which all our prayers are to be offered that they may be acceptable Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you S. Iohn 16. 23. And so it was the custome of old Itaque Orationes nostras vitam Sacrificia omnia nostra offerimus tibi Pater assiduè per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum c. Bernard de Amore Dei cap. 8. But yet we may observe that a few Collects are directed to Christ and in the Litany some supplications to the holy Ghost beside that precatory Hymn of Veni Creator in the Book of Ordination and that some Collects especially for great Festivals conclude with this acknowledgement thâ— Christ with the Father and the holy Ghost liveth and reigneth one God world without end And this seems to be done to testifie what the Scripture warrants that although for more congruity we in the general course of our prayers go to the Father by the Son yet that we may also invocate both the Son and the Holy Ghost and that while we call upon one we equally worship and glorifie all Three together Quiâ— dum ad solius Patris personam honoris sermâ— dirigitur bene credentis fide tota Trinitaâ— honoratur saith Fulgentius lib. 2. ad Mâ—nimum Thirdly for their Form and Proportionâ— as they are not one long continued prayer but divers short ones they have many Advantages to gain esteem The Practice of the Jews of old in whose prescribed Devotions we find a certain
did confirm And S. Hierom. dial adv Lucifer saies it was Totius orbis consensus in hanc partem the general acknowledgement of the whole Christian World The Office begins on this wise Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord. Of such short ejaculations in general hath been said in the Morning Prayer concerning these in particular that they are fitted to the Office will appear to them that consider that Confirmation is appointed for the strengthning of us against all our ghostly enemies which though they be many and great yet is there no reason to despair of obtaining strength enough to resist them for Our help stands in the Name of the Lord who hath made heaven and earth who is therefore able enough and willing also to help them that call upon his Name Blessed therefore be the Name of the Lord hence forth and for ever After these Versicles follows a Prayer that God would strengthen the baptized with the holy Ghost the Comforter who had in their baptism received him as a Sanctifier These two wayes to omit others we are taught in holy Scripture that the holy Ghost may be received as a sanctifier and cleanser in holy baptism Tit. 3. 5. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost and after baptism we may receive him again as a Comforter and strengthener The Apostles who received him the first way in baptism are promised to receive him the second S. Iohn 16. 7. Acts 1. 8. which was performed Acts 2. 4. They were filled with the holy Ghost Then shall the Bishop lay his hands upon them severally By this sign certifying them of Gods Goodness towards them and consigning it upon them This is the most ancient and Apostolical Rite of Confirmation Acts 8. 17. and by this name it is known Heb. 6. 2. The doctrine of baptisms and laying on of hands After a most excellent prayer for their continuance in Gods love obedience to him the Bishop departs them with a Blessing Of such blessings hath been said already This holy Rite hath been too little understood by many and therefore too lightly esteem'd and valued for the remedy whereof it may not be amiss to shew the benefit of it in these conclusions following 1. The Holy Ghost was given to persons baptized by the Apostles prayers and laying on of hands Acts 8. 14 15 16. Acts 19. 6. 2. This gift of the Holy Ghost so givâ—n was not only nor principally the gift of miracles or speaking with tongues For first Confirmation is reckoned by S. Paul amongst Fundamentals Heb. 6. 1 2. which were necessary to all ages of the Church but the gift of miracles was not such for that lasted but a whâ—le as experience hath taught us Again confirmation was administred to all baptized persons Acts 8. 15. 19. 6. but all baptized persons were not to have the gift of miracles 1 Cor. 12. 8 9. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom to another the working of miracles And again 29. verse Are all workers of miracles It is true that in the Apostles times the inward grace of confirmation was attended with miracles but it will not thence follow that miracles were the principal intended gift in confirmation no more than that the visible opening of Heaven is the proper effect of baptism because at our Saviours baptism the heavens were so opened S. Matthew 3. or that the proper effect of preaching is to work miracles because that at the Apostles preaching miracles were wrought Acts 10. 44. In those first times the Holy Ghost fell upon Believers and they spake with tongues Signa erant tempori opportuna Those signs were seasonable to those times does any man now expect that those that receive the holy Ghost by our prayers and imposition of hands should speak with tongues and if they do not speak with tongues is any man of so perverse a heart as to say that they have not received the holy Ghost S. Aug. in ep S. Ioh. tractat 6. In the beginning of spiritual and marvellous dispensations outward signs appeared to confirm the new preached faith but now that the faith is sufficiently confirm'd although such miracles be not wrought yet we receive those inward graces and vertues which were signified and demonstrated by those signs Chrys. in S. Matth. Hom. 13. 3. The proper and principal effect of confirmation was and is Ghostly strength and power to resist temptations as our Church teaches Rubr. 1. before the Catechism That the baptized when they come to years and the use of reason may have not their baptism confirm'd which needs no confirmation to perfect it but themselves and their souls by some new vertue and power or by an addition and increase of former graces by which they may be enabled against those temptations that shall assault them whence it is called Confirmation Regeneramur ad vitam per baptismum in hoâ— confirmamur ad pugnam By baptism we are regenerated to life in confirmation we are strengthned to fight against our enemies Melchiad ep ad Epis. Hisp. about the year 311. In Confirmation the Holy Ghost is given for strength as he was given to the Apostles at Pentecost that Christians may boldly confess the Name of Christ. Conc. Flor. Tertul. de bapt Cypr. ep 2. ad donat For our fuller perswasion of this it will be necessary to consider that our Lord Christ promised to his Apostles after they had been baptized that When he went away he would send them the holy Ghost to be their comforter or strengthener S. Iohn 16. 7. to make them able to bear witness of Christ notwithstanding all the threats and terrors of men S. Iohn 15. 27. 16. 1 2 3. And Acts 1. 5. he promises them that Not many daies hence they should receive the holy Ghost or the power of the Holy Ghost whereby they that forsook him formerly and fled should be henceforth emboldned and encouraged to bear witness to him all the World over vers 8. This promise was performed at Pentecost Acts 2. 4. They were filled with the holy Ghost and began to speak and to bear witness of Christ with courage verse 36. This very promise made to the Apostles formerly and perform'd at Pentecost belongs to every one of us that are baptized Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost For this promise of the holy ghost fulfilled on us verse 33. is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off And what S. Peter here promises them was fulfilled by him and the other Apostles for by their prayer and imposition of hands they received after baptism the holy Ghost not only enabling them to speak miraculously but also strengthening and comforting them inwardly as he did the Apostles For the same that was promised to the Apostles belonged to them
the Father c. which is the Christians both Hymn and shorter Creed For what is the summ of the Christians faith but the mystery of the holy Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost which neither Jew nor Pagan but only the Christian believes and in this Doxology professes against all Hereticks old and new and as it is a short Creed so it is also a most excel-Hymn for the glory of God is the end of our Creation and should be the aim of all our services whatsoever we do should be done to the glory of that God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this is all that we can either either by word or deed give to God namely GLORY Therefore this Hymn fitly serves to close any of our Religious services our Praises Prayers Thanksgivings Confessions of Sins or Faith Since all these we do to Glorifie God it cannot be unfitting to close with Glory be to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost It cannot easily be expressed how useful this Divine Hymn is upon all occasions If God Almighty send us prosperity what can we better return him than Glory If he sends Adversity it still befits us to say Glory be to c. Whether we receive good or whether we receive evil at the hands of God we cannot say a better Grace than Glory be the Father c. In a word we cannot better begin the day when we awake nor conclude the day when we go to sleep than by Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Then the Hallelujah or Praise ye the Lord of which S. Augustine sayes There is nothing that more soundly delights than the praise of God and a continual Hallelujah The VENITE O come let us sing unto the Lord. THis is an Invitatory Psalm For herein we do mutually invite and call upon one another being come before His presence to sing to the Lord to set forth His praises to hear His voice as with joy and chearfulness so with that reverence that becomes His infinite Majesty worshipping falling down and kneeling before Him using all humble behaviour in each part of His service and worship prescribed to us by His Church And needful it is that the Church should call upon us for this duty for most of us forget the Psalmists counsel Psal. 69. 7. To ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his Name into his Courts we come before the presence of the Lord of the whole Earth and forget to worship him in the beauty of holiness The PSALMS THe PSALMS follow which the Church appoints to be read over every Month oftner than any other part of holy Scripture So was it of old ordained saith S. Chrys. Hom. 6. de poenit All Christians exercise themselves in Davids Psalms oftner than in any other part of the Old or New Testament Moses the great Lawgiver that saw God face to face and wrote a Book of the Creation of the World is scarcâ— read over once a year The holy Gospels where the Miracles of Christ are preached where God converses with Man where Death is destroyed the Devils cast out the Lepers cleansed the blind restored to sight where the Thief is placed in Paradise and the Harlot made purer than the Stars where the waters of Iordan to the sanctification of Souls where is the food of immortality the holy Eucharist and the words of life holy precepts and precious promises those we read over once or twice a Week What shall I say oâ— blessed Paul Christs Oratour the Fisher of World who by his 14. Epistles those spiritual Nets hath caught Men to salvation who was wrapt into the third Heaven and heard and saw such Mysteries as are not to be uttered him we read twice in the week We get not his Epistles by heart but only attend to them while they are reading But for holy Davids Psalms the grace of the holy Spirit hath so ordered it that they should be said or sung night and day In the Churches Vigils the first the midst and the last are Davids Psalms in the Morning Davids Psalms are sought for and the first the midst and the last is David And Funeral Solemnities the first the midst and the last is David In private houses where the Virgins spin the first the midst and the last is David Many that know not a letter can say Davids Psalms by heart In the Monasteries the quires of Heavenly Hosts the first the midst and the last is David In the Deserts where Men that have crucified the world to themselvs converse with God the first the midst and the last is David In the Night when Men are asleep David awakes them up to sing and gathering the Servants of God into Angelical troops turns Earth into Heaven and makes Angels of Men singing Davids Psalms The holy Gospels and Epistles contain indeed the words of eternal life words by which we must be saved and therefore should be sweeter to us than Honey or the Honey-comb more precious than Gold yea than much fine Gold but they are not of so continual use as Davids Psalms which are digested forms of Prayers Thanksgivings Praises Confessions and Adorations fit for every temper and every time Here the penitent hath a form of confession he that hath received a benefit hath a Thanksgiving he that is in any kind of need bodily or ghostly hath a prayer all have Lauds and all may adore the several excellencies of Almighty God in Davids forms and these a Man may safely use being compos'd by the Spirit of God which cannot erre whereas other Books of Prayers and Devotions are for the most part compos'd by private men subject to error and mistake whose fancies sometimes wild ones are commended to us for matter of devotion and we may be taught to blaspheme while we intend to adore or at least to abuse our devotion when we approach to the throne of grace and offer up an unclean Beast instead of an holy Sacrifice May we not think that this amongst others hath been a cause of the decay of right and true devotion in these latter dayes namely the neglect of this excellent Book and preferring Mens fancies before it I deny not but that Collects and other parts of Devotion which the consentient Testimony and constant practice of the Church have commended to us may and especially the most divine Prayer of our LORD ought to be used by us in our private devotion but I would not have Davids Psalms disused but used frequently and made as they were by Athanasius and S. Ierome a great if not the greatest part of our private devotions which we may offer up to God as with more safety so with more confidence of acceptation being the inspiration of that holy Spirit of God who when we know not what to say helps our infirmities both with words and affections Rom. 8. 26. If any man thinks these Psalms too hard for him to understand and apply
styling the one Canonical the other Apocryphal As for the second Lessons the Church in them goes on in her ordinary course The HYMNS Te Deum c. AFter the Lessons are appointed Hymns The Church observing S. Pauls Rule Singing to the Lord in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs every way expressing her thanks to God The antiquity of Hymns in the Christian Church doth sufficiently appear by that of our Saviour S. Matth 26. When they had sung an Hymn they went out upon which place S. Chrys. sayes They sung an Hymn to teach us to do the like Concerning singing of Psalms and Hymns in the Church we have both the Precepts and Examples of Christ and his Apostles S. Aug. Ep. 119. S. Paul ordered it in the Church of Coloss. Singing to your selves in Psalms and Hymns Col. 3. Which we find presently after practised in the Church of Alexandria founded by S. Mark Eus. Hist l. 2. c. 17. where Philo reports that the Christians had in every place Monasteries wherein they sang Hymns to God in several kinds of Meeter and Verse S. Ambrose brought them into Millaine to ease the peoples sad minds and to keep them from weariness who were praying night and day for their persecuted Bishop and from hence came all Hymns almost to be called Ambrosiani because that by him they were spread over the Latin Church With the Morning and Evening Hymns God is delighted saies S. Hierome and Possidius in the life of S. Augustine tells us c. 28. that towards the time of his dissolution S. Augustine wept abundantly because he saw the Cities destroyed the Bishops and Priests sequestred the Churches prophaned the holy Service and Sacraments neglected either because few or none desired them or else because there were scarce any Priests left to administer to them that did desire them lastly because the Hymns and Lauds of God were lost out of the Church These Hymns are to be said or sung but most properly to be sung else they are not so strictly and truly called Hymns that is Songs of praise and not only by the Church of England but by all Christian Churches of old was it so practised and so holy David directs Psal. 47. 6. O sing praises sing praises unto our God O sing praises sing praises unto our King The profit of which singing Hymns is much many wayes especially in this that they inkindle an holy flame in the minds and affections of the hearers O how I wept sayes S. Aug. in the Hymns and holy Canticles being enforc'd thereunto by the sweet voices of thy Melodious Church by reason of the proneness of our affections to that which delights it pleas'd the wisdom of the Spirit to borrow from melody that pleasure which mingled with heavenly mysteries causes the smoothness and softness of that which touches the ear to conveigh as it were by stealth the treasure of good things into mens minds to this purpose were those harmonious tunes of Psalms devised And S. Basil. in Psal. By pleasing thus the affections and delighting the mind of man Musick makes the service of God more easie When we sing or say these Hymns we stand which is the proper posture for Thanksgivings and Lauds Psal. 134. Praise the Name of the Lord standing in the Courts of the Lord. And 2 Chron. 7. 6. The Priests waited on their office the Levites also with instruments of musick of the Lord which David the King had made to praise the Lord with the 136. Psalm because his mercy endureth for ever when David praised by their ministery and the Priest sounded Trumpets before them and all Israel STOOD The erection of the body fitly expresses the lifting up of the heart in joy whence it is that rejoycing in Scripture is called the lifting up of the head S. Luke 21. 28. Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh So then joy being a lifting up of the soul and praise and Thanksgiving being effects of joy cannot be more fitly expressed then by erection and lifting up of the body Standing in the Courts of the Lord when we sing praise unto him After the Morning first Lesson follows Te Deum We praise thee O God or O all ye works of the Lord c. called Benedicite The first of which We praise thee O God c. was as is credibly reported framed miraculously by â— Ambrose and S. Augustine at his Baptism and hath been in much esteem in the Church ever since as it deserves being both a Creed containing all the mysteries of Faith and a most solemn Form of Thanksgiving Praise Adoration and what not and so hath that other Canticle O all ye works of the Lord in the which the whole Creation praises God together been received and esteemed universally in the Church Concil Toletan 4. c. 13. After the Second Lesson at Morning Prayer is appointed Blessed be the Lord God of Israel called Benedictus or O be Ioyful in the Lord called Iubilate After the Evening Lessons are appointed Magnificat or My soul doth magnifie the Lord and Nunc dimittis Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace or else two Psalms And very fitly doth the Church appoint sacred Hymns after Lessons For who is there that hearing God speak from Heaven to him for his fouls health can do less than rise up and praise him and what Hymns can be fitter to praise God with for our salvation than those which were the first gratulations wherewith our Saviour was entertained into the world And such are these Yet as fit as they are some have quarrell'd them especially at Magnificat My soul doth magnifie the Lord and Nunc dimittis or Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace The Objections are these That the first of these was the Virgin Maries Hymn for bearing Christ in her womb The latter old Simeons for seeing and holding in his arms the blessed Babe neither of which can be done by us now and therefore neither can we say properly these Hymns The answer may be that bearing Christ in the womb suckling him holding him in our arms is not so great a blessing as the laying up his holy word in our hearts S. Luke 11. 27. by which Christ is formed in us Gal. 4. 19. and so there is as much thanks to be returned to God for this as for that He that does the will of God taught in his word may as well say My soul doth magnifie the Lord as the holy Virgin for Christ is formed in him as well as in the Virgins womb S. Matth. 12. 50. Whosoever doth the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my brother and sister and mother And why may not we after the reading of a part of the new Testament say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace as well as old Simeon for in that Scripture by the eye of Faith we see that salvation which he then saw and more clearly reveal'd We have then