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O all ye Beasts, and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

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

O let Israel bless the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

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

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

O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous, bless ye the Lord praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Then shall be read in like manner the Second Lesson, taken out of the New Testament. And after that, the Hymn following; except when that shall happen to be read in the Chapter for the Day, or for the Gospel on St. John Baptist's Day.

Benedictus. St. Luke, i. 68.

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LESSED be the Lord God of Israel: for he hath visited, and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began;

"Then shall be read," &c.-According to the nature of the several books of Scripture, and ancient custom, our church has appointed that the reading of the Old Testament should always precede the Lessons taken from the Gospel. No inquiring mind could be well satisfied were a different course pursued.

"Blessed be the Lord," &c.-This song of Zacharias is well adapted to follow the reading of the Gospel, and it is to be regretted that it is so generally passed over.

That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us;

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

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

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 salvation unto his people for the remission of their sins,

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

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

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Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Jubilate Deo. Psal. c.

BE joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song.

Be ye sure that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his

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people, and the sheep of his pasture.

"O be joyful," &c.-This psalm was not inserted in the first edition of the Liturgy. It affords however, the means of giving some variety to the service, and is in itself admirably calculated to animate the heart with a thankful spirit.

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. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Then shall be sung or said the Apostles' Creed by the Minister, and the People, standing: except only such days as the Creed of St. Athanasius is appointed to be read.

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BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,

Who was con

ceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried, He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholick Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the life everlasting. Amen.

"I believe," &c. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. In this apostolic maxim we see the foundation of the several

And after that, these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling; the Minister first pronouncing with a loud voice,

The Lord be with you.

Answer. And with thy spirit.

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

Lord, have mercy upon us.

arguments which establish the necessity of a public profession of faith. The primitive origin of the Apostles' Creed is attested by the universal voice of antiquity. Under the title of the Symbol, it was regarded among Christians as the signal of their consent to the doctrines of the Gospel; and as the standard which they were to bear in their conflict with error and disbelief. Viewed in immediate relation to the principles of heavenly truth, it afterwards obtained the name of the Canon, or rule of faith; and many learned men have contended that these titles were bestowed because it had the authority of Apostolic inspiration, even as to the words and phrases in which it is set forth.

It is well known, however, that the earliest copies of this venerable creed present certain variations which, though not interfering with its general structure, or the wording of the more important articles, afford a strong objection to the notion that it was compiled by the Apostles. The cautious inquiries of acute and learned theologians have led to the conclusion that its real claims to reverence rest on the conformity of its articles to the plain language of Scripture; on the agreement respecting their truth to be found in the writings of the fathers, and on the well ascertained fact, that its general use may be traced up to times immediately succeeding those of the Apostles; if not to the very period when they lived and wrote.

The circumstances which attended the increase of the Church obliged the chief directors of its discipline to adopt more than one form of confession. Every bishop had the right of drawing up a creed in such language as he deemed best suited to the wants of his particular flock. But on the comparison of these creeds, one with another, they are all found to agree in substance with that which has the higher claims to Apostolic authority. It has been observed by Dr. Grabe, that the slight differences found in the copies of this ancient formulary, are to be accounted for by the mode in which it first came into use. Not written with paper and ink, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart, it was orally communicated from one believer to another. When the members of the Churches in different countries became too numerous for this primitive mode of instruction, the Creed was written out: and from the collation of the several copies thus made, that was published, and at a very early period, which is at present used in all the churches of Christendom.

It was not, however, till the fifth century that the creed was repeated in the ordinary services of the day. Before that time it was confined to the baptismal service, and such occasions as seemed to demand some especial declaration of a pure and orthodox faith. The daily use of it in these latter ages of the Church is justified by many important considerations. It assists the uneducated, implanting in their minds a summary of divine truths exhibited in their proper order and mutual dependence; and to Christians of every class it presents the ever valuable means of declaring their union, and of their continuance in the faith as once delivered to the saints.

“And after that, these Prayers,” &c.-When the Creed has been repeated with earnest and devout attention, these simple prayers and blessings will be heard as the spontaneous effusion of holy hearts. To confess our faith in the sublime doctrines of the Creed is not only an acknowledgment of God's majesty and goodness, but an assertion of our own dignity and privileges. We enjoy, through the gift of heavenly light, the vision of those things which many wise men of other days desired, but were not permitted, to behold. A mingled feeling of thankfulness and awe, therefore, becomes the mind when occupied with a confession of faith. That the Lord may be present among us, that the Saviour whom we have acknowledged may shed the dew of his mercy on our souls, and thereby both quicken and establish them in the faith; these are the

Then the Minister, Clerks, and People, shall say the Lord's Prayer with a loud

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O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.
Answer. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen.

Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.
Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful.

Priest. O Lord, save thy people.

Answer. And bless thine inheritance.

Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord.

desires which help us to fulfil the Apostle's saying, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness."

The brief exhortation, "Let us pray," is introduced, as in the old Liturgies, to excite the people to that fervency of spirit, without which devotion languishes, and misses the blessing which it seeks. It is also to be observed that a division in the service is hereby pointed out, the following portion consisting entirely of prayer. This could not be more appropriately commenced than in the words dictated by the Lord himself, according to the spirit of whose teaching we now continue to declare our wants and desires.

"Then the Priest standing," &c.-This rubric was not inserted till 1552; and appears to have been added in conformity with the principle, that when short supplications are offered up by the priest and the people together, the former is to be considered as their guide to the throne of grace. The petitions themselves are supposed to answer respectively to the following collects. They carry us, indeed, over a wide sphere of supplication, embracing the wants incident to both our temporal and spiritual condition. In this respect they might be considered as an accompaniment to the Lord's Prayer; but they were probably inserted with no other view than that of affording the people a succinct form for expressing their desires, and in imitation of the short Litanies so common in the ancient services.

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